Starfleet Academy, the latest Star Trek spinoff, has proven to be controversial for many reasons. One of them is the use of profanity-laced modern language, all of which sounds wildly jarring coming out of 32nd-century mouths. This is clearly Paramount’s desperate attempt to appeal to modern audiences, but diehard fans and even Trek icon Robert Picardo keep going out of their way to make excuses for the inclusion of this slang-filled language.
However, the blunt truth is that the character’s use of contemporary language makes no sense, and I can definitively prove it. What are the excuses fanboys have been making, and why are they wrong? Why does the use of such language contradict long-established lore, and why is it bad for Star Trek as a whole? Keep reading to find out!
The Universal Translator Explanation
Before we really dive into the problem with the modern language on Starfleet Academy, I figured we’d discuss the most common excuses that fans have made for it. Perhaps the most prevalent excuse is that Star Trek’s famous Universal Translator is working for the benefit of the audience watching at home. That is, these characters are likely speaking some sort of otherwise indecipherable space slang to one another, and the UT is conveniently translating that to modern speech for the viewers.
As excuses go, this is a fun one, and it gets full points for integrating the franchise’s most famous technology. But at its heart, this claim is more of an explanation rather than a justification. In other words, it explains why we might hear characters like Caleb casually discuss “toilet wine,” but it doesn’t really justify why that language is in the show.
That’s basically the crux of the matter here: Star Trek fans can sit around all day awarding each other No-Prizes for efforts to explain why the 32nd-century Starfleet cadets talk like 21st-century zoomers. But the core issue is that this modern language in a futuristic show is distractingly jarring, robbing otherwise moving scenes of any real drama even as it instantly dates the show.
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The “Kids Will Be Kids” Excuse
The other major justification for Starfleet Academy dialogue being overly modern is that the characters are young and don’t speak like the more seasoned veterans of the franchise. Even Robert Picardo (who reprises his role as the Doctor for this show) offered this up as an excuse in a recent interview with Collider. There, he noted that “the cadets talk like kids in the present-day world and in their own vernaculars” and that they would need to learn to code-switch into the kind of “mid-galactic speech” necessary for “marshaling an argument in a diplomatic situation.”
There are two basic problems with this argument: the most obvious is that Star Trek has had plenty of younger, non-Starfleet characters (including Wesley Crusher, Jake Sisko, early Nog, and even Naomi Wildman) who didn’t speak almost exclusively in then-modern slang. If they had, we might have had Jake describe his latest story as “all that and a bag of chips,” or Nog describing how Starfleet Academy is “the bomb.” Heck, how did Voyager even make it seven seasons without anyone telling Captain Janeway, “You go, girl!”
You know that instant cringe you felt upon reading that? That’s just a small taste of how contemporary slang can ruin Star Trek stories that are meant to be timeless. Now, just think how goofy you will feel hearing Starfleet Academy characters using phrases like “I’m Khionian, b*tch!” and “nah, she chose the War College, bruh” in about 10 years.
The other problem with Picardo’s defense of the contemporary language is that the older characters on the show also talk like this. Chancellor Ake, for example, tells Nus Braka to “blow it out your a**,” and Cadet Master Lura Thok describes a situation as a “dumpster fire.” Heck, in the same episode, Picardo was helping to hype up, his character says that “speech and debate is not for the chickensh*t.”
Long story, not very short? The “kids will be kids” excuse doesn’t really work for the modern language on Starfleet Academy when we see the older characters using the exact same language, essentially proving that age will not magically cause Starfleet characters to stop talking like zoomers.
Why Profanity Should Be Relatively Rare In Star Trek
Now, time to address the elephant in the room, which is that Star Trek characters have used vulgar language before. Starfleet Academy didn’t magically introduce cursing to the franchise: Dr. McCoy is famous for his various “damn it, Jim,” phrases, and Kirk memorably said “Let’s get the hell out of here” at the end of “City on the Edge of Forever.” This level of mild cursing persisted through the golden age of Star Trek, and even Captain Picard once said “sh*t” (albeit in French) onscreen in an episode of The Next Generation.
However, Trek’s traditional use of vulgar language often reminds me of something my favorite professor once said. Much like the Doctor on Starfleet Academy, he was known to curse in class, and much like those hapless cadets, we asked him about why he spoke like that in the classroom. That was when he said something simple that has always stuck with me: “A gentleman never curses unintentionally.”
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His point was that people shouldn’t blurt out foul language out of impulse or anger but should instead only use it for maximum impact in a conversation. This is why Star Trek saved its first “oh, sh*t” for Data when the Enterprise was about to crash in Generations: the rarity of the vulgarity and the extremity of the situation arguably merited the four-letter word. While it was used to increasingly weaker effect in NuTrek, the vulgarity (including F-bombs) in Discovery and Picard was generally spread out to maximize their rhetorical impact.
InStarfleet Academy, characters constantly call each other b*tch, use terms like “fish d*ck,” use “sh*t” as an adjective, and so on. The problem isn’t that Star Trek characters shouldn’t curse; rather, the problem is that if they do so all the time, the four-letter words lose any real meaning or power. Just like that, the vulgar language used to make these youthful characters sound more adult has them sounding like petulant children trying to show off!
Most Modern Profanity Should Be Completely Incomprehensible In The Future
Perhaps the biggest reason there shouldn’t be so much vulgar, modern language inStarfleet Academy goes back to one of the most popular movies in the franchise:Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. One of the best running gags in that movie is that Kirk and Spock didn’t really understand the vulgar language of the 20th century. This is why Kirk responds to someone calling him a “dumba**” with the memorable rejoinder “double dumba** on you!”
Later, Spock (who amusingly tries his hand at such language with phrases like “these are not the hell your whales”) describes such language as “colorful metaphors,” and Kirk says that profanity is “simply the way they talk here” (meaning the 20th century). He sums up his thoughts on the matter by saying that, in this relatively primitive time period that McCoy compares to the Dark Ages, “Nobody pays any attention to you if you don’t swear every other word.”
It’s not that Kirk didn’t know what these words meant, exactly; anyone with a fascination for the 20th century (like Captain Pike enjoying old sci-fi movies) would have a passing familiarity with profanity. But even minor variations on old slang (like putting “dumb” in front of “a**”) completely confused him. Furthermore, it was quite clear that the practice of constantly cursing to get someone’s attention was completely alien to him, someone born a couple of centuries later.
That’s the ultimate problem with the vulgarity in Starfleet Academy: rather than talking like 32nd-century characters who are studying to be the best of the best, they are swearing every other word like characters in the 20th century. Kirk himself identified this as behavior so archaic that visitors from the 23rd century can barely understand the vulgar phrases people are saying. But in Starfleet Academy, characters alive nearly a millennium later are constantly cursing like sailors and generally reminding us how much this franchise has regressed.
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Star Trek fans, it’s time to get real: the distractingly modern dialogue has already dated Starfleet Academy, and the constant cursing makes no sense within the canon of the franchise. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the show on its own merits, but it’s far past time the fandom stops making excuses for poor writing. The bottom line is that this show doesn’t sound like Star Trek on any level, making it increasingly difficult for anyone who has seen a single episode of The Original Series or The Next Generation to take any of this very seriously.
Or, to put this in a way that the writers of Trek’s newest series might understand: “Kurtzman and Paramount at the Rizzing. Skibidi, when the subscribers fell!”
Neytiri, as played by Zoe Saldaña, in a still from Avatar: Fire and Ash.20th Century Studios / courtesy Everett Collection
Director James Cameron‘s Avatar: Fire and Ash has been having an unsteady time in theaters worldwide for over two months. The movie hasn’t performed at the level of its two record-breaking predecessors, which remained dominant at the box office for much longer. Avatar: Fire and Ash, on the other hand, has practically reached the end of the line. The trouble is that it seems to be running out of steam just shy of passing two major box office milestones. The movie cost a reported $400 million to produce and likely millions more to market; it had an estimated break-even point of approximately $800 million to $1 billion. While it has been able to meet these benchmarks, it still trails the first Avatar film by around $1.5 billion, and the second by $800 million. This has made the franchise’s future uncertain, with Cameron having said that the planned sequels would need much smaller budgets to have a chance of being made.
In addition to being the lowest-grossing installment of the trilogy, Avatar: Fire and Ash also happens to be the least-liked, at least as far as critics on Rotten Tomatoes are concerned. It holds a 66% score on the aggregator website, where the consensus reads, “Remaining on the cutting edge of visual effects, Fire and Ash repeats the narrative beats of its predecessors to frustrating effect, but its grand spectacle continues to stoke one-of-a-kind thrills.” By comparison, the first Avatar holds an 81% score on Rotten Tomatoes and remains the top-grossing film in history with a $2.9 billion global haul. Avatar: The Way of Water has a 76% Rotten Tomatoes score and is the third-biggest film ever made with a $2.3 billion global haul.
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Where Does ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ Stand at the Box Office?
Avatar: Fire and Ash is currently sitting at $1.474 billion worldwide, which makes it the 15th-highest-grossing film in global box office history, ahead of Top Gun: Maverickbut behind Furious 7. With revenue declining rapidly, it remains to be seen if the movie will be able to pass the $1.5 billion mark worldwide. It’s having similar difficulty passing the $400 million milestone domestically, as it sits at $399.4 million. The movie grossed $1.7 million domestically in its 10th weekend, which suggests that it will probably pass the $400 million mark either this week or the coming weekend.
You can still watch Avatar: Fire and Ash in theaters. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
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Release Date
December 19, 2025
Runtime
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197 Minutes
Director
James Cameron
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Writers
Amanda Silver, Rick Jaffa, James Cameron, Josh Friedman, Shane Salerno
The only thing worse than getting invited to a party where all the other guests plan on murdering you is getting invited to one where the masterminds behind your imminent death are art snobs who frequently toss around words like “banal” and “jejune” in casual conversation. These people do not paint with yellow, they paint with chartreuse. Their pretentiousness is on full display in 2007’s Murder Party, a film that is exactly what it sounds like.
A perfect low-budget yet high-caliber horror comedy, Murder Party boasts a 100 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is impressive considering its reported $230,000 budget. The Popcornmeter tells a different story, sitting at 58 percent across more than 2,500 ratings. My read on it is simple. Murder Party caters to a very specific audience. You’ll either celebrate it for the insane, ultra-violent effort that it is, or it is simply not your cup of tea.
Given my own media preferences, I am firmly in the former camp. Murder Party is the best kind of blood bath. I also have an art degree, so I have to suspend very little disbelief when it comes to the maniacs depicted here.
Christopher Just Wanted A Fun Night Out
Lonely, bored, and with nothing to do on Halloween, Chris finds a flyer for a so-called “Murder Party” on his way home from work, and suits up in a makeshift cardboard and duct tape knight costume. Arriving like a walking Monty Python bit, he quickly realizes the theme is meant to be taken literally, and that he’s walked straight into a trap.
He is greeted by the most annoying and pretentious art students imaginable, all dressed in ridiculous costumes. Lexi (Stacy Rock) is styled like Pris from Blade Runner. Sky (Skei Saulnier) shows up as a zombie cheerleader. Paul (Paul Goldblatt) is a vampire. Macon (Macon Blair) is a werewolf. Bill (William Lacey) is dressed like a Baseball Fury from The Warriors, never looking up from his phone.
The only person missing is Alex (Sandy Barnett), the benefactor they hope to impress with their murder installation. The plan is simple. Kill Chris, present it as art, and secure a grant for more unhinged projects.
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Chris is chained to a chair while everyone waits for Alex, who eventually arrives with his drug dealer, Zycho (Bill Tangradi), and his dog, Hellhammer. While they wait for the witching hour in which they’ll carry out the violent act, each member pitches their preferred method of execution, all while doing copious amounts of drugs. As you would expect in this kind of setting, creative differences surface rather quickly.
They pass the time by ingesting Sodium Pentothal and playing a game of truth or dare, while Chris, understandably terrified, just wants to get home to his cat, Sir Lancelot, and eat candy corn. He may be in mortal danger, but he is perceptive enough to realize that artists are fickle and petty. If he can survive the evening, their plans might unravel on their own.
A Super Satisfying Blood Bath
For me, Murder Party earns serious points for perfectly lampooning the pretentious art student. The collective moves with an air of self-importance, as if they are doing God’s work, when they are really just insufferable gas bags with a steady supply of party drugs. Odds are their parents are footing their tuition bills, as none of them appear to have actual jobs in their pursuit of artistic greatness.
As the film escalates, it becomes more violent and more absurd. The chaos lands so well because artists like Paul are more concerned about someone walking through their photography shots than one of their friends accidentally setting themselves on fire just out of frame. Bearing witness to a gaggle of selfish wannabes desperate to be edgy, Chris sits in disbelief over the fact that he might be executed for yet another one of their half-baked art projects.
I understand that Murder Party is not for everybody. But if you have ever been dragged to a friend’s gallery opening and forced to brush elbows with a bunch of self-important pseudo-intellectuals who will probably end up doing graphic design for some fly-by-night, underpaying ad agency, this is a bloody good time.
Always ready to poke fun at this very specific personality type, Murder Party is currently streaming for free on Tubi.
Ghislaine Maxwell is a real stinker in federal prison … as a matter of fact, she smells like “armpits,” according to one inmate who knows her well.
The female inmate — who we confirmed was incarcerated with Maxwell from 2023 to 2025 — had daily contact with the convicted child sex trafficker at FCI Tallahassee in Florida … and it was a smelly experience, to say the least.
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Maxwell was transferred to FCI Tallahassee in 2022 after she was convicted on sex trafficking and other charges for conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse minors. A judge sentenced her to 20 years in federal prison.
The inmate — who only spoke on the condition of anonymity while still in Bureau of Prisons custody — tells us Maxwell “has horrible personal hygiene” and “would shower once or twice a week,” despite prisoners having regular access to the shower facilities.
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The inmate said Maxwell “always had BO” because she would work out all the time and rarely wash herself afterwards. Maxwell always jogged around the recreation yard or walked briskly around the compound to get where she was going, according to the inmate.
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Last July, TMZ published paparazzi photos of Maxwell, along with a video of her breaking a sweat as she went for a run on prison grounds.
And get this … the inmate said Maxwell’s reputation also reeked … her fellow prisoners categorized her as a “Chomo” (child molester) — because of her conviction charges — and offered her little respect.
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But, the inmate insists, Maxwell was never assaulted at FCI Tallahassee because no one wanted to get sent to the Special Housing Unit — better known as “the hole” — which is “very hard living.”
The inmate said “the hole” acted as a deterrent to others thinking of assaulting Maxwell because you’re confined 24 hours a day to your cell with cold food for months. She noted, “It’s just not worth it.”
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In August 2025, Maxwell was sent to the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, to serve out the rest of her sentence after her meetings with Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche regarding the Epstein case.
Blanche conducted two days of interviews with Maxwell about Epstein’s network of high-profile associates … namely President Trump. Maxwell denied Trump had committed any crimes with Epstein.
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We reached out to Maxwell’s attorneys for comment … so far, no word back.
Fans are wondering why Ivy is so determined to do all this and to get Electra away from Will Spencer (Crew Morrow), not allowing them the space to talk things through and figure them out for themselves because they’re adults. We’re going to discuss why Ivy is going way over the top with Electra.
Is Ivy Forrester Actually Electra’s Mother on Bold and the Beautiful?
Could there be a twist and rather than an overbearing aunt, maybe Ivy is actually Electra’s mother? Ivy’s been around for years, if you remember. She came to Bold and the Beautiful as a fully formed adult. But Electra is a newly invented character who is said to be the daughter of Ivy’s never-before-seen big brother, John Forrester Jr., who is the oldest child of Eric Forrester’s (John McCook) younger brother.
Because Ivy’s been acting like an insane helicopter parent lately, we have to wonder if they’re going to twist things and Electra is going to be revealed to be Ivy Forrester’s daughter instead of her niece. I have to say, I can see it. It’s plausible, and I’m going to tell you why.
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Analyzing the Age Gap Between Ivy Forrester and Electra Forrester on B&B
First, I want to address the inevitable question of the age difference between Electra and Ivy Forrester. Because you look at them and you think there are not that many years between them. You may assume the math won’t work. But guess what? It actually does.
Plus, as you know, age gaps really don’t matter on soaps. For instance, there’s only 14 years between Taylor Hayes (Rebecca Budig) and Steffy Forrester (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) actresses Rebecca Budig, who’s 52, and Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, who’s 38.
Meanwhile, Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang) was about 30 years old when she gave birth to Bridget Forrester (Ashley Jones). Yet, there’s only 15 years between Katherine Kelly Lang, who’s 64, and Ashley Jones, who is 49 and plays Bridget Forrester.
Now let’s talk about the two Forrester ladies. Ivy actress Ashleigh Brewer is 36, and Electra actress Laneya Grace is 21. If Ivy Forrester had given birth as a teenager, a 15-year age gap is totally plausible. You can widen that gap if you want to and make it 16, 17, or 18 years when it’s already at 15.
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Soap Opera Tropes and Secret Parentage Precedents
With the age thing out of the way, let’s talk about red flags that Ivy may be Electra’s mother and why it’s feasible in this storyline. First of all, Bold and the Beautiful did something very similar, playing fast and loose with age gaps and secret kids not that long ago.
Remember Finn (Tanner Novlan) and Luna Nozawa (Lisa Yamada) were raised as cousins, but it turned out Finn got his aunt Poppy Nozawa (Romy Park) pregnant and his cousin Luna turned out to be his secret daughter. It’s not unprecedented on Bold, and they love to repeat plots. So, there’s that.
A Potential Bold and the Beautiful Backstory for Ivy Forrester’s Secret Teen Pregnancy
Electra’s father is supposedly Ivy’s older brother, John Forrester Jr. But I could see a backstory where Ivy had a teen pregnancy in Australia. If she was 15 or 16, her brother John Jr., who would have been in his mid-20s or later, might have stepped up to help his sister Ivy and adopted her baby.
John might have raised Electra in the US to give Ivy the space and opportunity to finish growing up, to go to college, live her life, and not be dealing with the pressures of being a single teen mother. That way, Ivy would always know that Electra was in good hands with her big brother.
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Aside from the Remy Pryce (Christian Weissmann) thing, Electra has had a pretty charmed life. She’s had wealth and advantages and loving parents along with a very loving Aunt Ivy. It’s no wonder Electra has zero compassion for a homeless girl because Electra Forrester has never done without anything.
Signs of Tiger Mom Behavior and Artistic Inheritances on B&B
In-family adoptions are common in real life and secret kids are standard soap tropes. If Electra was her kid, then Ivy Forrester could stay in touch, watch her grow up mostly from afar, and see that she was happy and healthy. She could drop by for visits, and then when Electra wanted to come to Los Angeles, Ivy would welcome her biological daughter with open arms.
That would also explain why she makes Electra check in with her all the time and doesn’t like her staying overnight at Will Spencer’s place. Ivy treats Electra like she’s 15 or 16 with her “you can’t do this, you can’t do that” attitude. Electra just tells Ivy “okay” because she was raised to be polite, but there may be more to it.
It would also explain Electra’s raw talent with jewelry making as some inherited artistic skill. If B&B goes this way, it would explain why Ivy is basically acting like a tiger mom trying to micromanage her daughter’s love life.
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Protective Maternal Instincts and Spying on Will Spencer on Bold and the Beautiful
It would also explain why, when Electra was out of town, Ivy got up out of her sick bed to go spy on Will. That’s giving overprotective mom vibes more so than just a nosy aunt. If Electra is her daughter, of course she would hate her being allegedly cheated on by her boyfriend Will, especially with a girl who claims to be her friend, Melissa Dylan (Sydney Bullock).
We know nothing happened between Will and Dylan, but Ivy took a little look and jumped to the worst conclusion. I will admit, it wasn’t a good look. The optics were troubling. If she’s Electra’s mom, of course she would leap to the worst conclusion to protect her child.
A lot of fans have noticed that Ivy is acting out of character with all of her “it’s not proper” and “inappropriate” talk. That might be because Electra’s her daughter, and those maternal instincts aren’t something we’ve ever seen before with Ivy. As far as we know, she has no kids on Bold.
Who is Electra Forrester’s Biological Father?
Just to be clear, I’m not saying this is a spoiler about Electra or that it’s definitely happening. I’m just saying I’ve seen red flags about Ivy’s erratic, aggressive, and over-the-top behavior where Electra is concerned. Also, Ivy’s baby daddy would have to be some random Australian guy.
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It could not be Wyatt Spencer (Darin Brooks) that got her pregnant—they couldn’t play the timeline for that—and it couldn’t be Liam Spencer (Scott Clifton) because they are both related to Will Spencer. Ivy never would have let Electra date Will if they were related. So, the dad would be a mystery.
Bold and the Beautiful: Ivy Forrester – Electra Forrester
Ivy’s Sabotage on Bold & the Beautiful: Stolen Letters and Orchestrating the RJ Forrester Romance
Recently, Electra walked away from Will when he wouldn’t say he’d kick Dylan out, and of course, Ivy was eavesdropping. Then Electra decided to write Will a letter to just kind of work through things. Then Ivy stole the letter.
Daphne Rose (Murielle Hilaire) saw her doing it. Ivy’s going to threaten Daphne about not saying anything. Ivy’s next plot is to get Electra hooked up with RJ Forrester (Brayan Nicoletti) so she’ll forget Will. She’s spying this week and RJ kisses Electra. It looks like Will and Electra officially break up and Will sees the kiss, which I believe Ivy is going to be orchestrating to make sure that he sees it.
If you recall, Ivy wanted Electra to dump Will back when Luna molested him because Will kept it from Electra and didn’t tell her until after they made love. The assault itself wasn’t Will’s fault, but still, every mother wants the best for her daughter.
Ivy might legitimately think Will is not the best for Electra. And Ivy may think Will is a trouble magnet, that he leads women on, or that he’s a serial cheater. Ivy is thinking the worst of him. She also hated that Luna was pregnant with Will’s baby and didn’t want Electra in the middle of all that.
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Real-Life Maternity Leave and the Future of Ivy Forrester
Now, with this stuff with Dylan, Ivy may have reached a breaking point, and that’s why she’s actively plotting to get the outcome she wants for Electra. Things are going to wrap up with Ivy probably in the next four to six weeks because Ashleigh Brewer is about to be out on maternity leave. She has a secret baby bump that the soap is hiding. And maybe, just maybe, Ivy has a secret daughter also, and it’s Electra.
According to reports, the Jefferson City Police Department was dispatched at 1:09 AM on Monday to an address near the Missouri campus.
When officers arrived, they found Kevaughn Goldson with a stab wound to his chest and back. He was airlifted to University Hospital, but sadly succumbed to his injuries.
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Denita Jackson — a sprinter on the LU track team — told police that she left work early Sunday night because she wasn’t feeling well, before returning home to find Goldson, whom she said she was dating, in her roommate’s room, behind a locked door.
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Jackson told authorities she used a hair clip to unlock the door, and when she did, she claims she found Goldson and the roommate in bed together, clothed.
A fight erupted, according to Jackson, who says Goldson kicked her in the stomach, knocking her off the bed. She claims he then began choking her.
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Jackson told police she was able to grab a knife from under the witness’s bed and stabbed him before calling 911.
When police arrived, Jackson was taken into custody and transported to Cole County jail. Prosecutors charged her with second-degree murder and armed criminal action.
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LU released a statement after the incident, saying their prayers and thoughts are with the family and friends impacted by the “tragic situation.”
Ashley Tisdale has had a rough start on social media this year, but she’s making it clear she knows when to step away.
On New Year’s Day, the actress published an essay for The Cut, opening up about her experience in a tight-knit circle of moms she described as toxic and isolating.
The piece quickly went viral after fans speculated Hilary Duffwas part of the group, fueling controversy. Amid the noise, Tisdale says she regularly disconnects from social media.
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Ashley Tisdale Opens Up About Taking Regular Social Media Breaks
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In a new blog post titled “Does Your Brain Feel Too Busy? Take A Social Media Break,” the “High School Musical” alum opened up about another aspect of her life, admitting that she constantly disconnects from social media.
“I love social media in a lot of ways. It can be inspiring, funny, and a great way to stay connected,” Tisdale wrote. “But I don’t think it’s where we’re meant to live our lives, which is why I take regular breaks.”
She explained that the time offline feels like a reminder to live in the moment instead of mentally brainstorming what to post.
She disclosed that always being online put her in a mode where, instead of experiencing moments naturally, her mind would immediately filter everything, whether it’s suitable to post.
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According to Tisdale, unplugging from the internet gives her the space to focus on her children and friendships.
The 40-year-old also addressed how overwhelming the constant stream of information can be. “You can open your phone without thinking and suddenly be absorbing outrage and fear, usually without looking for it,” she shared.
Reflecting on her first time taking a social media break, she added, “I got the gift of perspective. I could still care and stay informed —but on my own terms.”
Tisdale updated her followers about her blog post, sharing the link on her Instagram stories alongside a photo of her in pajamas.
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Hilary Duff Clears The Air On Ashley Tisdale’s Mom Group Drama
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Tisdale’s candid reflections come a few days after Duff responded to the speculations of being in the alleged toxic mom group.
While the “Lizzie McGuire” star acknowledged that she is no stranger to controversies, she accused social media of escalating Tisdale’s claims with half-truths and lies and clickbait.
She recalled being taken aback by one shocking allegation. “I saw something that was like, ‘None of the moms at school actually like her, and neither do the teachers,’ and I was like, ‘First of all…’” Duff debunked, insisting that she loves the women at school.
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Ashley Tisdale Gains Support From Hilary Duff’s Estranged Sister
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Before Duff confronted the drama, it had already spilled into her personal life and had her close relationships taking sides.
According to The Blast, Hilary’s estranged sister, Haylie, appeared to support Tisdale when she liked her revealing essay.
Days later, she shared a picture capturing a playdate between her daughter and Tisdale’s kid, which Tisdale later reposted to her Instagram stories.
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How Social Media Users Focused On Who Ashley Tisdale’s Essay Centered
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As Duff has now blamed the escalation of the drama on social media, perhaps her accusations are not far-fetched. Shortly after Tisdale’s article dropped, speculations rose about the members of the circle.
As The Blast reported, internet users began picking out clues from Tisdale’s social media trail. One detail that caught attention was Tisdale’s following list.
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Fans noticed the “Phineas and Ferb” voice actress had unfollowed both Mandy Moore and Duff, fueling further assumptions.
However, Tisdale’s rep tried to shut down the rumors, clarifying that the essay was not about Duff or Moore.
Ashley Tisdale Faces Criticism Over Past Legal Dispute
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As the online debate continued, additional voices entered the conversation. According to The Blast, attorney Michael Parker, who represented Lisa Gonzales in a car accident lawsuit involving Tisdale, revisited his experience working on the case.
Parker alleged that the former Disney star was “extremely rude” in her interactions with his client and suggested she avoid taking responsibility.
He claimed that after Gonzales informed Tisdale of her injuries at the scene, the actress appeared dismissive and said her manager would follow up regarding the incident. Parker further alleged that no such outreach ever occurred.
Cream is one of the most influential bands to break out of the mid to late 60s. The power trio consisting of Jack Bruce on bass and vocals, Eric Clapton on guitar and vocals and Ginger Baker on the drums released just four albums during their very short time together. The group formed in 1966 in London and defined the psychedelic and blues-based rock music of the time with classic songs “Sunshine of Your Love,” “White Room,” “Strange Brew,” and the George Harrison and Clapton-penned “Badge.”
The group was a trailblazer at the time and is credited with inspiring many hard rock and heavy metal acts. Jack Bruce’s unique style and thumping bass attack inspired many players that followed. While Clapton was hitting his stride as a guitar god with his amazing and sought-after “woman tone,” created by using his 1964 Gibson SG guitar with the tone knob peeled back through a cranked Marshall amp. The warm and creamy distorted tone still has a sense of mystery as guitarists have been trying to emulate it since. Ginger Baker’s unorthodox drumming with his jazz and African polyrhythmic influences were far from straightforward and at times complicated the music. Together, the trio created a torrent of sounds ranging from psychedelic pop to dirty blues, encapsulating an incredible catalog of songs that will live on forever.
In the book, The Uncanny Origins & Unlikely Fortunes of Eric Clapton & Cream, Jack Bruce explains the magic behind the three-piece band. “Ginger had a rhythm element, Eric had a knowledge of the blues, but I had something else which took the band somewhere else. I think that’s the important thing. That’s what made the band different from a lot of other bands. We didn’t just do cover versions of the blues a la The Yardbirds. I love the blues, but I wanted to make my own statement to carry the thing further forward.”
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Cream was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2005, they reunited for a final run of shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London and Madison Square Garden in New York City. Ranked by the quality of the songs, overall sound and cultural impact, here are Cream’s studio albums.
4
‘Goodbye’ (1969)
Cream released its final album, Goodbye, after the group parted ways. The album features three studio tracks and three live cuts. The live tracks were recorded in Los Angeles in 1968 and showcase the band’s high-powered live show featuring improvisational elements and great jams. “I’m So Glad” and “Politician” are amazing takes that open the window into the live power of the trio.
“Badge” is the best studio cut on the album. It was co-written by Clapton and George Harrison of The Beatles. The band planned to have each member write a tune for their grand finale. Clapton and Harrison teamed up to write the esoteric song with the classic lines, “I told you not to wander around in the dark / I told you about the swans, that they live in the park,” inspired byRingo Starr. The song features Clapton’s iconic chorus-driven guitar riff about a minute into the tune and a fantastic solo before diving back into the main theme. The final track “What a Bringdown”, written by Baker, rotates between a 6/4 verse and a 5/4 timing on the chorus, showcasing their progressive side. The intro sounds strikingly familiar to Blind Faith’s “Do What You Like,” both of which were released in 1969.
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3
‘Fresh Cream’ (1966)
Fresh Cream is the debut album released in late 1966. The effort was recorded in just 10 days and put the power trio on the map with psychedelic pop songs “I Feel Free,” “N.S.U.,” “I’m So Glad.” Eric Clapton’s woman guitar tone is in full effect, especially on the blistering on bluesy songs “Sleepy Time Time,” and the covers “Spoonful” and, “Rollin’ and Tumblin’.”
The album dabbles into chaotic territory as the band fuses blues, hard rock and psychedelic improvisation, which helped propel a new sound to the masses. The bombastic nature of some of the performances on the album went on to inspire a bevy of hard rock and heavy metal musicians. “Toad” features a lengthy Ginger Baker drum solo that brings the album to a triumphant close.
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2
‘Wheels of Fire’ (1968)
Cream released the classic Wheels of Fire in the summer of 68. The band’s third album embraced a more progressive and live sound than previous efforts. At the time, Cream was known for their epic and bombastic live show, taking songs like “Crossroads,” “I’m So Glad,” “Toad,” and “Sweet Wine” and stretching them out with improvisation and extended guitar solos. Songs like “White Room,” “Sitting on Top of the World,” and a cover of Albert King’s “Born Under a Bad Sign,” all showcase the group’s virtuosic musicianship.
Wheels of Fire is a double album that, along with a full studio album, contains four live tracks. The now classic version of “Crossroads” and epic live versions of “Spoonful” and “Toad,” were recorded in San Francisco in early 1968. The band shows off a different side with studio tracks like the spoken word “Pressed Rat and Warthog,” and the soft ballad “As You Said,” which features lyrics were written by Pete Brown, bringing a poetic depth to the album. Other fan favorites peeled off the double LP include “Politcian” and “Deserted Cities of the Heart.”
1
‘Disraeli Gears’ (1967)
Cream released its second album, Disraeli Gears, in November 1967. The group’s best album dives into a more psychedelic territory with the trippy songs “Strange Brew,” “Tales of Brave Ulysses,” “SWLABR,” an acronym for “She Walks Like a Bearded Rainbow,” and “World of Pain.” Eric Clapton uses a wah-wah pedal throughout the album brilliantly tapping into the counter culture vibe of the Summer of Love in 1967.
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The album features the band’s biggest hit, “Sunshine of Your Love.” The main riff of the song was written by Jack Bruce after being inspired by seeing Jimi Hendrix live. The song features both Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton on vocals and features one of Clapton’s most famous studio guitar solos. Ginger Baker’s use of his tom-tom drumming gives the track a unique feel that makes it stand out. “Outside Woman Blues” is another classic from the album, really shining a light on Clapton’s “woman tone.”
On top of being Cream’s best album, Disraeli Gears is also one of the greatest album covers of all time. The psychedelic cover, created by Australian artist Martin Sharp, is a beautifully strange collage with a photo of the band surrounded by the most 60s-looking art. The album perfectly captures the vibe and energy of 1967 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
The FCC received a ton of complaints after Jimmy Kimmel made a controversial comment regarding Charlie Kirk … but a vast majority of them weren’t knocking Jimmy.
We’ve received the complaints sent to the federal agency back in September 2025 through a Freedom of Information Act request to see how many people bashed Kimmel to the government … and we actually found that a lot more were fans of the star writing in — alleging censorship by the feds.
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9/15/25
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Many people argued the government was infringing on the First Amendment by forcing Kimmel off the air … and they called out FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr for his comments about the talk show host.
Remember, Carr put pressure on ABC to drop ‘Kimmel’ back in September … and the network temporarily hit the pause button on the show.
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Several complainants accused Carr of allowing President Donald Trump to walk all over him — using some far less savory language. One commenter — see above — calls either Trump or Carr “a thin-skinned loser who hates free speech.”
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As you know … Kimmel was put back on the air within days of the network taking him off. He was briefly put on hiatus for saying, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
A small minority of the complaints did take shots at Kimmel — and some at Stephen Colbert as well — but they’re few and far between.
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Looks like President Trump and the feds might think Kimmel has no talent … but his legions of fans certainly don’t agree.
“I lost friends from it. It was friends that were very deeply in the know that were like, ‘What are you doing?’” Shahi, 46, recalled on the Tuesday, February 24, episode of Amanda Hirsch’s “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast. “[Those were] people that had my back up until the moment that I did get the divorce.”
Shahi recalled getting “dropped” by some of her friends, adding, “I’m not a judgmental person. I’m always somebody where if someone’s going through something, I won’t give them my opinion but I’ll ask them a series of questions about how they feel so that way they come to their own conclusions.”
She continued: “But the amount of judgment I got from getting the divorce from people who honestly were just [as] unhappy in their own relationships. They decided to stick it out and they thought I should do the same. That’s not what we’re here for. We’re here to have fun and be happy. Why can’t I do that? I have the right to be happy. Everybody has the right to be happy.”
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Shahi and Howey, 48, met on the set of Reba, dating for several years before getting married in 2009. They were together for over a decade — and welcomed three kids — before Shahi filed for divorce in 2020.
“It worked out for both parties involved. There is no failure here,” Shahi exclusively shared in her January Us Weekly cover story. “I was in a relationship for 18 years and have three beautiful kids. It is by every definition a success to me and we have a beautiful relationship — Steve and I — now as coparents. It’s important to show the kids, in my opinion, that when something is out of sync, you have to have the courage to let it go.”
After working on Sex/Life in the midst of her divorce, Shahi found love with her costar Adam Demos. Following five years of dating, Shahi broke her silence to Us about their split, saying, “There was an element of the relationship that people really felt belonged to them, which was very sweet and heart- warming.”
She continued: “The flip to that is when things end, you feel like you’re going through it twice. You’re going through it emotionally on a personal level, and then you’re going through it again on a much bigger level.”
“Without airing any kind of laundry, I do think … it’s hard to build a life when you have children unless the person truly, truly, truly wants that as well,” she said on Kristin Cavallari’s “Let’s Be Honest” podcast earlier this month. “This is not a comment on him but more about the ways that I show up as a parent. I show up as a parent in a very specific way. [As a child], we could walk into our mom’s bedroom at any time and we walked into the bathroom at any time. I think that can be a little challenging for somebody who may not be used to having kids.”
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In the same podcast episode, Shahi opened up about her hopes for her love life.
“I want my next relationship to be about me. I’m not looking for a stepparent. I just want a boyfriend,” she added. “Someone that can just take me out and I can be on the beach and just be all sweaty and have sex all the time. I just want someone to purely service me, and if that grows into something else then great.”
In its 60-year history, the Star Trek franchise has made numerous attempts to widen its fanbase beyond devoted Trekkies. Whether through the comedic, time-travel premise of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home or J.J. Abrams’s action-packed 2009 reboot, the creative team consistently tried to appeal to casual audiences by capitalizing on pop-culture trends. In 1996, the franchise nearly landed one of America’s most treasured actors for Star Trek: First Contact — Tom Hanks.
Paramount often tried to attract A-list talent to bring additional box office muscle to Gene Roddenberry’s beloved sci-fi franchise. Longtime Trek fan Eddie Murphy was once considered for a hip San Francisco professor role in The Voyage Home, and Sean Connery was the studio’s top choice to play the villainous Sybok in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. But Hanks, who is also a self-professed Trekkie, wasn’t being eyed for just any new role. Instead, the two-time Oscar winner was shortlisted for Star Trek’s most historic figure outside the Enterprise crew: Zefram Cochrane.
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Who Is Zefram Cochrane in the Star Trek Universe?
James Cromwell in Star Trek: First Contact
In Star Trek: The Original Series, Cochrane was introduced as the creator of the warp drive system. Played by Glenn Corbett in the Season 2 episode “Metamorphosis,” Cochrane encounters Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the Enterprise crew on a planet where he had crash-landed years earlier, and an alien entity called “the Companion” had restored his youth. The entity goes on to attack the Enterprise crew, and Cochrane must work with them before they become stranded there permanently.
Cochrane returned in Star Trek: First Contact, whose time-travel plot involves the Borg attempting to assimilate Earth through a temporal vortex. To stop them, the Enterprise crew, led by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), follows the Borg back to 2063, where they encounter the legendary warp drive inventor just one day before his historic first flight. However, the Cochrane they meet is far from a heroic icon. He’s an alcoholic inventor who uses his ship in get-rich-quick schemes.
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At the time of First Contact’s pre-production, Hanks was at a career peak. After spending much of the ’80s playing comedic everymen in hits like Splash and Big, he transitioned into prestige drama in the ’90s with Oscar-winning performances in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump. Add to that his acclaimed 1995 performance as Jim Lovell in Apollo 13, along with voicing Woody in Toy Story, and the world was Hanks’s oyster. His addition could have conferred a new level of prestige and event status that none of the previous installments had achieved. But how close did he come to playing Cochrane?
In 2021, First Contact co-writer Ronald D. Moore addressed the subject during a retrospective interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Though Hanks’s name was floated early on, Moore revealed that talks “never got that far.” The role ultimately went to James Cromwell, who already had franchise experience from playing multiple characters on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
While Hanks’s popularity, high salary, and busy schedule — including directing and starring in That Thing You Do! — likely prevented his involvement, there remained a slim chance he might have participated. When Hanks appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast in 2023, he enthusiastically reflected on the opportunity and his Trek fandom.
“The guy who invented warp drive? Oh come on, I would’ve jumped on that! I would have come in, and I would have brought gift Tribbles to everybody at the first meeting. ‘Guys, here’s some Tribbles for you.’”
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Is There Room for Tom Hanks in the Star Trek Universe?
Tom Hanks in a still from Greyhound.Image via Apple TV+
Despite Hanks’s affection for the franchise, things ultimately worked out for both him and the film. Having already portrayed a string of inspirational and heroic figures, Cochrane might have felt redundant at that stage of his career. Cromwell instead played the iconic fallen hero as a reluctant, slightly cynical celebrity — someone largely indifferent to humanity’s future until the Enterprise crew forces him to confront it. Hanks’s participation likely would have required extensive rewrites to expand Cochrane’s arc in an already crowded narrative. That could have distracted from the ensemble balance that made the film work.
In the end, Star Trek: First Contact succeeded with critics and general audiences without Hanks’s involvement. In later years, the franchise would attract acclaimed actors such as Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Idris Elba, and Paul Giamatti. As Star Trek continues to expand on the small screen with Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and a new feature film in development, the door remains open for Hanks to bring his gravitas to a new but significant character in the broader Star Trek universe.
Star Trek: First Contact is streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S.
