Looking for the most recentregular Connections answers? Click here for today's Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.Connections: Sports Editionmight be tough today. The purple category pulls one of those ingenius word-scramble categories. I like them, but I can never solve them without help. Which is exactly why we're here! Read on for hints and the answers.Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut onSuper Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That's a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn't show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic's own app. Or you can continue to play it free online. Read more:NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of BetaHints for today's Connections: Sports Edition groupsHere are four hints for the groupings in today's Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.Yellow group hint: MistakesGreen group hint: They can flip and twist.Blue group hint: Throw it in there.Purple group hint:Take away the second letter of the alphabet.Answers for today's Connections: Sports Edition groupsYellow group: GoofsGreen group: American gymnasts in 2024 OlympicsBlue group: Stats for a relief pitcherPurple group: Team names, minus a "B"Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English WordsWhat are today's Connections: Sports Edition answers? The completed NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 1, 2025, #159. NYT/Screenshot by CNETThe yellow words in today's ConnectionsThe theme is goofs. The four answers are bloopers, blunders, errs and fumbles.The green words in today's ConnectionsThe theme is American gymnasts in 2024 Olympics. The four answers are Biles, Carey, Chiles and Lee.The blue words in today's ConnectionsThe theme is stats for a relief pitcher. The four answers are games, holds, saves and wins.The purple words in today's ConnectionsThe theme is team names, minus a "B." The four answers are ears, ills, raves and ruins.

Minecraft's "final" movie trailer is more of the same, but at least Jennifer Coolidge is in itHitting cinemas in April.Image credit: Warner Bros. News by Matt Wales News Reporter Published on Feb. 28, 2025 Minecraft's live-action movie adaptation is almost upon us, and with its 4th April release date looming, Warner Bros. has shared a "final" trailer - giving us a quick glimpse of Jack Black's Nether region, as well as Jennifer Coolidge in a still-mysterious role.For this fourth and final trailer, the bombastic action of earlier showings is cranked even higher, as huge armies of classic Minecraft mobs - including Piglin Brutes and Iron Golems - amass for some sort climactic set-piece battle. That's balanced out by some sillier moments, but none of this is likely to win over anyone who's previously been put off by the ugliness of it all.We get even more of those nightmare villagers, as well as Ghasts that looked like they've just slipped in from some eldritch dimension. I'm still not convinced by the Creepers either, given what I'd always assumed were a sort of sentient cactus have been reimagined as angry shoeboxes covered in astroturf. Thank goodness for Jennifer Coolidge, then, who immediately improves the situation at the end of the trailer, simply by being Jennifer Coolidge.A Minecraft Movie final trailer.Watch on YouTubeThe Minecraft movie, if you haven't been keeping up, follows four "misfits" - played by Sebastian Hansen, Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers, and Jason Momoa - who're suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into a "bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination". To get back home, they'll need to embark on a magical quest with help from Jack Black's Steve.I can't honestly say the Minecraft movie is something I'll personally be rushing out to watch based on everything Warner Bros. has shown so far, but it does at least look like the kind of harmlessly amusing fluff that - between its silly gags and mild peril - should shut the kids up for an hour or two. And if that suits, it's coming to cinemas on 4th April.In other Minecraft news, Netflix's animated Minecraft series is getting closer to release, and there's some real-world Minecraft on the way too, as Alton Towers owner Merlin Entertainments readies to open a number of Minecraft attractions in the UK and US.

IGN Live will return this June for a second year, with plans for an even bigger physical event in Los Angeles during the summer's annual game announcement season. Read more

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Summer Lovin'IGN Live is back for a second year in 2025, partly filling the gaping hole in all of us left by an absent E3E3 may (still) be dead, but the spirit of 'gamer Christmas' coming in June certainly isn't.Image credit: IGN News by Dom Peppiatt Editor-in-chief Published on Feb. 28, 2025 Look, we all know E3 is dead. Well, at least the event that we knew as E3 is dead - there's something called Iicon that's strutting arond wearing the dead E3's clothes but we think it's liable to be something of an imposter. It's a pruely B2B event, for a start.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. But we've, at least, got alternatives. There's the Keighley-backed Summer Games Fest that's growing and growing every year (even if it doesn't yet hold a candle to our dearly departed Electronic Entertainment Expo). Then there's also IGN Live. Aimed more at fans than it is at journos and businessmen, IGN Live will return this June for a second year, and it plans to be bigger and better as a physical event than last year's Los Angeles-based blowout.IGN Live will once again be based at LA's Magic Box downtown event space, and will feature hands-on oppurtunities for unreleased games, a stage with fresh reveals and trailers, interviews, and celebrity panels. It's like all the bits you cared about at E3 without any of the backroom deals where execs would shake hands and waggle on about games that would probably never get released.The big higlights that stick out from last year include an interview with The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power's cast, an interview and sneak peek for the upcoming Borderlands movie, and some fresh Greedfall 2 gameplay.If you want to go and see what all the buzz is about for yourself (and nab yourself some more details on dates and tickets when they're available), simply head over to this link.Disclaimer: IGN Live is hosted and organised by VG247 and Gamer Network's parent company, IGN.

IGN Live, a one-of-a-kind in-person fan event dedicated to the biggest names in games and entertainment, is returning to Los Angeles this June.In its second year, IGN Live will welcome audiences of all ages to the MAGIC BOX @ THE REEF in downtown LA for a multi-day celebration of everything fans love in games, movies, TV, comics, collectibles, and more.Well have an epic live stage show featuring new trailers, gameplay, advance clips, major interviews, and a live DJ making IGN Live a wall-to-wall party you wont forget. Ticket holders can expect exclusive reveals, celebrity panels, game demos, photo ops, exclusive merch, gaming stations, screenings, lounges, live episodes of IGN shows, food trucks, gaming tournaments and tons of prizes and giveaways.And for those who cant make it to Los Angeles this June, dont fret. Well be streaming IGN Live all IGN Entertainment around the globe so viewers at home dont miss a moment.In 2024, IGN Live featured huge guests like Xboxs Phil Spencer, the cast of The Legend of Vox Machina, the cast of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Casper Van Dien, plus more than 10,000 giveaways and over 100 gaming stations for the thousands in attendance. Additionally, millions watched around the globe as new games, previews of upcoming series, and sneak peeks of major movies from more than 100 studio partners were revealed.This year aims to be even bigger with up-close looks at the most exciting new titles across entertainment and video games.For more information, head to IGN.com/live and sign up for news about dates, ticket sales, and more.Plus be sure to stay tuned to IGN for more details about what games, movies, shows, celebrities, and special guests you can expect at IGN Live 2025.

Longevity is a hot trend in Silicon Valley these days, driven by rising interestespecially among the wealthyin preventing disease through regular testing. A new player, Biograph, has just emerged from stealth, and its co-founded by one of the biggest names in longevity science: Dr. Peter Attia. Attia is a Canadian-American physician best known as the author of the bestseller Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity and for his podcast.Biographs CEO and other co-founder is John Hering, a prominent Silicon Valley figure. A cybersecurity founder who infamously scanned celebrities cellphones at the 2005 Academy Awards, Hering has become best known as one Elon Musks biggest backers through his role as a partner at Vy Capital. There, Hering has poured billions into Musks startups and donated $500,000 to a pro-Trump super PAC before the election, per a WSJ profile.Biograph calls itself the worlds most advanced preventive health and diagnostics clinic. It currently has a location in Silicon Valley with plans to open in New York City this quarter, and eventually expand globally, according to an announcement on its website.The startup says it will collect over 1,000 data points across 30+ evaluations to paint a holistic picture of someones health and optimize their lifespan. It doesnt come cheap: its Core membership costs $7,500 per year while the premium Black membershipwhich it says provides the deepest insightsruns $15,000.Biograph is backed by Vy Capital, Human Capital, Alpha Wave, and Wndr Co, along with angel investors including Balaji Srinivasan, the startup told TechCrunch. Biograph declined to specify how much funding it has raised.In a statement, Hering said he was inspired to co-found Biograph by the cancer diagnosis of his Vy Capital partner and friend Alexander Tamas. Tamas posted on X that a check-up in his late 30s resulted in an early thyroid cancer diagnosis that probably saved his lifeand caused him to encourage Hering to get checked, too. Biograph claims that over 15% of members have reported discovering urgent or life-alerting health insights through its services. The company has been quietly operating since 2020, according to the LinkedIn profile of its executive medical director Michael Doney, a doctor with a background in longevity.While Biographs announcement doesnt mention AI, the company is currently looking for a founding AI engineer to build an AI-powered assistant, according to its careers page.Biograph is part of a quiet boom in startups dedicated to living longer, with Andreessen Horowitz-backed Function Health seeking a $2 billion valuation this year and Sam Altman-backed Retro Biosciences in talks to raise a cool $1 billion last month.

OpenAI intends to eventually integrate its AI video generation tool, Sora, directly into its popular consumer chatbot app, ChatGPT, company leaders said during a Friday office hours session on Discord.Today, Sora is only available through a dedicated web app OpenAI launched in December, which lets users access the AI video model of the same name to generate up to twenty-second-long cinematic clips. However, OpenAIs product lead for Sora, Rohan Sahai, said the company has plans to put Sora in more places, and expand what Sora can create.OpenAI initially marketed Sora to creatives and video production studios in the months leading up to its December launch. Now, the company is making a more concerted effort to broaden the appeal of its AI video creation tool.Sahai said OpenAI is actively working on a way to make Sora accessible within ChatGPT, marrying the two products, though he declined to offer a timeline. The version of Sora that ultimately comes to ChatGPT may not offer the same level of control compared to Soras web app, Sahai indicated, where users can edit and stitch footage together.OpenAI may be trying to attract users to ChatGPT by letting them generate Sora videos from the chatbot. Putting Sora in ChatGPT could also incentivize users to upgrade to ChatGPTs premium subscription tiers, which may offer higher video generation limits.One of the reasons OpenAI launched Sora as a separate web app was to maintain ChatGPTs simplicity, Sahai explained during the office hours. Since its launch, OpenAI has expanded Soras web experience, creating more ways for users to browse Sora-generated videos from the community. Sahai also said OpenAI would love to build a standalone mobile app for Sora, noting that the Sora team is actively looking for mobile engineers.OpenAI aims to expand Soras generation capabilities to images, as well.OpenAI is working on an AI image generator powered by Sora, Sahai said, confirming rumors of such a project. While ChatGPT already supports image generation, powered by OpenAIs DALL-E 3 model, a Sora-powered image generator could potentially let users create photos that are more photorealistic.Sahai added that OpenAI is also working on a new version of Sora Turbo, the model that currently powers the Sora web app.

Ramsey Avery is the Production Designer of Marvels latest film, Captain America: Brave New World. In this weeks fxpodcast, we speak to him about the films challengesand his perspective on the relationship between production design and visual effects.In Captain America: Brave New World, Sam finds himself involved in an international incident after meeting with President Thaddeus Ross. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.Red Hulk/President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) in Marvel Studios CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. 2024 MARVEL.Marvel Studios Captain America: Brave New World stars Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, Xosha Roquemore, and Harrison Ford. The film is directed by Julius Onah and produced by Kevin Feige and Nate Moore.Ramsey Avery, the Production Designer of Marvels Captain America: Brave New World.Ramseys past credits include The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2., Tomorrowland, and earlier in his career Minority Reportand A.I. Artificial Intelligence. His vast experience allows him to implement the newest digital tools and collaborate with VFX to immerse the audience into the worlds he is creating. In this fxpodcast, he discusses the relationship between Production Design and VFX, which is crucial as technology plays a greater and greater role in filmmaking. He discusses in detail how digital design tools helped build the crucial sets in Captain America: Brave New World. Ramsey also shares here the behind-the-scenes images of how he was mindful of making VFX team jobs easier on this film by sometimes building more of a set to save them time and money and thinking about post-team in design.ScreenshotAt the end of Avengers: Endgame, Steve Rogers passed on his vibranium shield to Sam Wilson, who had stood beside the Avengers as the winged Falcon. But the decision to take on the mantle of Captain America was more complex for Wilson, and his journey from Falcon to Captain America was explored in Marvel Studios The Falcon and The Winter Soldier series for Disney+. This was naturally the jumping off point for the film both in terms of plot and visuals.(L-R): Director Julius Onah, Xosha Roquemore, and Anthony Mackie behind the scenes of Marvel Studios CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Photo by Eli Ad. 2024 MARVEL.This return to the Captain America franchise is also a return to the tone of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, meaning a more grounded, more geopolitical landscape punctuated with issues that feel relevant and timely. Says Nate Moore, We have a hero who doesnt have superpowers but is very well-versed in the political and military landscapes, so this film puts Sam squarely back into the genre of the political thriller.Captain America/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie)Principal photography on Captain America: Brave New World began in Spring 2023 with the director tasking his brain trust of creatives, including cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau (Creed III) and production designer Ramsey Avery, working with visual efects supervisors Bill Westenhofer (Life of Pi) and Alessandro Ongaro (The Adam Project) to blaze a new path for Captain Americas next chapter.Production DesignConcept Art from Averys teamConcept Art from Averys teamColour PaletteCapturing it all on camera in a compelling way would be essential to realizing Onahsvision. Leading the charge was award-winning director of photography Kramer Morgenthau, known for his innovative camera work and dynamic lighting design. We wanted to achieve a look that was as close as humanly possible to shooting photochemical film but with digital cameras. So, in prep we shot extensive tests and dug deeply into color science and vintage anamorphic lenses to achieve that look, explains Morgenthau. We created a set of rules around camera movement, color, composition and texture. The goal was for the film to pay homage to some of the great 8 paranoid thrillers of the 1970s but also have the visual space for the extensive action and spectacle that Marvel Studios films achieve on the highest level.Mood board showing the colour palettes for the various scenes.Below is more of the concept art, combines with the colour palette from the Production Department.Taking full advantage of the versatile environments and topography in and around Atlanta, Georgia, which was home base for the production, the filmmakers looked to veteran production designer Ramsey Avery to establish the multi-layered visual landscape.Left: Director Julius Onahand Production Designer Ramsey Avery on setAverys first conversations with the director yielded a focused, more intentional and relatable sense of realism for Captain America: Brave New World to further the materials tone and narrative and allow for a transition away from the visual vocabulary thats been a mainstay of Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For Brave New World, in particular, Julius [Onah] wanted the aesthetic to be very specific and feel like it was something that could be happening now within the current space, says Avery. He also wanted to veer away from those elements that can sometimes take an audience out of the storytelling. It really was important to Julius and Kevin [Feige] that this story felt of the moment and mimicked the characters as they move through a very real and honest world.WashingtonWhile the films settings are far-reaching, the majority of the productions film schedule was completed at Trilith Studios, with cast and crew traveling to Washington, D.C. to film exterior scenes for a week amidst iconic landmarks like the White House, the Capitol Building and Pershing Park. Practical trees were then extended digitally by VFXWorking closely with the productions location team overseen by Ilt Jones (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Avery, set decorator Rosemary Brandenburg, construction coordinator John Hoskins and their respective teams of talented crafts people, transformed buildings, streetscapes and other locations throughout their home production city of Atlanta to mimic the films diverse settings in every way.The practically built Rose Garden setThe practically built Rose Garden setsThe Tyler Perry Studios White House SetAmong the sets practically built were the White House Bunker Situation Room, Camp Echo, the Oval Ofice and the White House Rose Garden and Hains Point exterior sets. As Avery discusses in the fxpodcast, in Atlanta, Tyler Perry Studios has one of the largest production facilities in the country, showcases forty buildings including a 3/4 scale real physical built copy of the White House.Prison Set /Lab SetIn Captain America: Brave New World, the production design and VFX teams collaborated closely to create an extensive range of environments, seamlessly integrating practical sets with digital extensions. One of the films most striking sets is the prison set, at hidden black site in West Virginia called Camp Echo One, which reveals the secret lab of Dr. Samuel Sterns. This showcased the scale and complexity of the physical builds required for the film, but again linked to live action locations near principal photography, as Avery reveals in the fxpodcast.With the film embracing a more grounded tone, the production design was meticulously crafted to maintain a cohesive cinematic language. This was reinforced by a carefully structured color palette that threaded through both the physical and digital elements, ensuring visual continuity. The integration of in-camera set pieces with VFX-driven expansions highlights the balance between tangible world-building and digital artistry, a hallmark of Marvels evolving cinematic approach.Captain America/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in Marvel Studios CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD . Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. 2024 MARVEL.Captain America: Brave New World debuted on February 11, 2025, with a high-profile premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood before its nationwide release on February 14 as part of Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film has securing the position as the third-highest-grossing film of 2025 so far.

Youtube LinkHello, Daniel here.Im learning to become a VFX artist. This is the first effect Ive taken through the full creation process from start to finish. I aimed for a stylized approach, where I could apply animation principles more intentionally.Ive heard countless times how crucial timing and motion are, so I decided to make that my first focus. This effect doesnt have a specific thememy only goal was to create a stylized explosion. I adjusted the timing purely based on intuition, without using references, hoping to sharpen my sense for it. I spent around 25 hours working on it.I know youre busy, but if you have a moment, Id really appreciate your feedback on how I could improve my timing in this effect. Id love to learn from your insights.Thank you!