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  • Ryan Gosling reveals movie’s first trailer

    Ryan Gosling reveals movie’s first trailer

    LAS VEGAS – Movie theater owners didn’t get to meet a new James Bond. They did get Ryan Gosling.

    To kick off Amazon MGM Studios’ first presentation at CinemaCon, Gosling and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller debuted the trailer for the epic sci-fi adventure “Project Hail Mary” (in theaters March 20, 2026), based on Andy Weir’s best-selling 2021 novel. Gosling promised the crowd they were the first to see the footage “other than my mom.”

    “Hail Mary” stars Gosling as Ryland Grace, a middle-school teacher tapped to be the biology expert on a longshot mission to a solar system 12 light years away, in order to save humanity before a catastrophic event wipes out Earth. The footage shows Ryland both as an unwitting participant when he’s told he’ll be going on the cosmic journey (“I’m not an astronaut. I can’t even moonwalk,” he says) and also as a reluctant spaceman who meets an alien in similar dire straits. The being, named Rocky, is “the most lovable alien since E.T.,” Lord teased.

    “It’s an insanely ambitious story, expansive in scope,” Gosling said. And knowing the audience, he emphasized how important it is to see the stunning visuals on a big screen. “Literally, we tried to put it on a TV once. It didn’t fit.”

    The actor and producer copped to falling in love with the source material. Weir (who also wrote “The Martian”) explained the appeal in a 2021 USA TODAY interview: “Everyone loves survival stories, regardless of the setting. Whether it be Robinson Crusoe stranded on an island, Mark Watney stranded on Mars, or real-life Chilean miners trapped a mile underground, we all root for people to overcome the obstacles nature throws in their path.”

    Colleen Hoover’s ‘Verity,’ ‘Masters of the Universe’ garner first looks

    A video montage of upcoming Amazon MGM films ended with the visual “007” marked “Top Secret,” so a new Bond movie is in the works. (The company took full control of all things Bond in February.) While no casting or director announcements were made, studio executives noted that recently signed producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman are working on the film in London.

    What the studio did bring to CinemaCon was a flurry of footage and A-listers for their upcoming projects later this year and in 2026. Some highlights:

    • “After the Hunt” (Oct. 25): Director Luca Guadagnino and stars Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri introduced a trailer for the thriller, which features Julia Roberts as an Ivy League professor whose life is upended when her star student (Edebiri) alleges that she was raped by her teacher’s colleague (Garfield).

    • “Mercy” (Jan. 23): Chris Pratt did a playful stunt in the same execution chair that his character sits in during the futuristic sci-fi thriller, where an LAPD detective (Pratt) has 90 minutes to prove he’s innocent of murdering his wife to an AI (Rebecca Ferguson) or else.
    • “Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Movie” (Feb. 20): Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson chimed in via video message to debut the trailer for the family murder mystery, which centers on a shepherd (Jackman) who reads whodunits to his sheep nightly. When he dies under mysterious circumstances, it’s up to his flock to solve the crime.
    • “Verity” (May 15): Author Colleen Hoover and stars Anne Hathaway, Josh Hartnett and Dakota Johnson sent in a video introducing their psychological thriller, about a struggling writer named Lowen (Johnson) hired to finish the books of injured best-selling author Verity Crawford (Hathaway) by Crawford’s husband Jeremy (Hartnett). The footage unveiled was dark and mind-twisting, including a bit where Lowen is seen kissing Jeremy only to pull away and see Verity’s bloody face.
    • “Masters of the Universe” (June 5): A first-look featurette was shown for the action adventure based on the 1980s cartoon/toy franchise. Nicholas Galitzine rocked a very buff physique training to be He-Man, and director Travis Knight showcased many of the colorful heroes and villains, including Jared Leto as the evil Skeletor.
    • “Is God Is”: This undated 2026 film was the wildest of the bunch, with first-time director Aleshea Harris adapting her own off-Broadway play. Kara Young and Mallori Johnson play sisters visiting their scarred mother (Vivica A. Fox), whose dying wish is for them to go on a road trip to kill the father (Sterling K. Brown) who burned them all years ago. Young called it a mix of “Greek tragedy, Afropunk and spaghetti Western.”
  • ‘The Bondsman’ star Kevin Bacon talks horror, music, Jennifer Nettles

    ‘The Bondsman’ star Kevin Bacon talks horror, music, Jennifer Nettles

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    Some good news for Satan: He’s now one degree from Kevin Bacon.

    Equal parts supernatural horror procedural, workplace comedy and Southern gothic family drama, “The Bondsman” (now streaming on Amazon Prime) stars Bacon as Hub Halloran, a Georgia bail enforcer with a mysterious past who’s killed in the line of duty and resurrected by the devil to hunt demons who’ve escaped from hell.

    It’s a role that gives Bacon, 66, a chance to showcase his musical side while playing the hero, even if it’s a more ornery one than most.

    “A lot of times I’m the bad guy, which I’m totally fine about. I love that, too,” Bacon says. But Hub was appealing because “he was kicking ass, but also internally has a real kind of dark streak to him in terms of the stuff that’s in his past and his … failure to move forward with his life. He’s a guy who is so stubborn that he’s ended up living in his mother’s garage and given up this music career and (failed) at his marriage.”

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    Halloran works with his mom Kitty (Beth Grant), keeps an eye on ex-wife Maryanne (Jennifer Nettles) and makes an enemy of her criminal boyfriend Lucky (Damon Herriman). He’s sort of a bad guy who, over the course of eight episodes, figures out how to be a better person, literally facing his demons and sins along the way.

    “Maybe it’s an overused term, but it is a story of redemption,” Bacon says. Right out of the gate, “you’ve seen that he’s been in hell. Was it a mistake or was it not a mistake? In a very matter of fact way, my mother says, ‘Hub, did you die?’ ‘Yeah, I think maybe I did.’ It’s not like anybody’s freaking out about the conversation. It’s just, we’ve got to figure out a way to deal with this.”

    Music is baked into the series. Bacon, an executive producer, whipped out a guitar or mandolin to play “Ain’t No Grave,” popularized by Johnny Cash, to help sell the show in Zoom pitch meetings. And the casting of Nettles sparked the possibility of bringing together two of his artistic passions in a significant way.

    “I feel lucky to get a chance to sing with her, basically,” Bacon says of the Grammy-winning country artist, one-half of the duo Sugarland. “She’s that good that she can make me sound good.”

    Bacon and Nettles teamed up to write several tunes, though only three of them ended up in the show: One is featured in a flashback featuring Hub and Maryanne, while Nettles has a show-stopping solo number that’s key to Maryanne’s story. Yet there were so many songs that didn’t make it (and they didn’t want to ditch), Bacon and Nettles crafted an EP, “The Bondsman: Hell and Back” (out Friday), that serves as a soundtrack.

    “When you have four hours to kill demons, figure out the situation in this family and tell the story of Hub’s redemption, it’s a lot to cover,” Bacon says. “If we’re lucky enough to get a second season, I hope we can keep exploring the music.”

    With brother Michael, Kevin’s Bacon Brothers brand will tour this summer, and they’re pondering a second live album. His acting career’s busy, too: In a “complete 180” from “The Bondsman,” Bacon stars in the female-fronted Netflix limited series “Sirens” (May 22), playing a billionaire while wearing “pastel clothes that cost a bunch of money,” he says, and is the villain in summer horror comedy “The Toxic Avenger” (Aug. 29).

    He’s also hoping to finish “Family Movie,” a project Bacon, wife Kyra Sedgwick and kids Travis and Sosie have been working on since the pandemic lockdown about a clan that makes horror movies.

    While Bacon might be more widely know as the “Footloose” dude, scary subject matter has been his low-key bread and butter since getting gruesomely impaled by an arrow in 1980’s original “Friday the 13th” movie. So “The Bondsman” is very much his kind of jam, both as an actor and as a fan.

    “Maybe the first movie I ever went to with a girl was Vincent Price’s ‘House of Wax’ in 3D,” says Bacon, whose childhood was rife with late-night horror flicks on TV and plastic model kits of the Universal Monsters. “From an acting standpoint, it’s always life and death. You always have the challenges of, are you going to survive this thing? And how are you going to tell the story of the lead character’s terror?

    “I would love to make the perfect romantic comedy or a great action film or historical drama or whatever it is, (but) horror’s just a genre that I dig, and I’m happy to go back to it.”

  • ‘South Park’ Season 27 trailer teases jokes on Diddy, Canada tariffs

    ‘South Park’ Season 27 trailer teases jokes on Diddy, Canada tariffs

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    As “South Park” nears 30 years on the air, the raunchy animated series is back for another season that promises a post-election return more wacky and ominous than ever.

    The teaser for Season 27 sees the adult comic show tackling Diddy, Trump round two and … a war with Canada?

    Known for satirizing real-life politics and pop culture issues, this time around nothing is off limits from recent airplane crashes and a crisis at the Federal Aviation Administration to American democracy at risk.

    In the wacky trailer posted Wednesday, the show previewed a menacing, if not darkly funny season. With gothic writing and red title cards, the tease felt more like the intro to a horror movie than a comedy program.

    How the show will tackle Sean “Diddy” Combs, the music mogul turned suspected sex trafficker, remains to be seen, but the trailer showed him in an orange astronaut suit (perhaps a hint at an orange jumpsuit), traveling alongside other characters in some sort of intergalactic switch-up.

    Co-created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, “South Park,” like “The Simpsons” or “Bob’s Burgers,” offers the joy of Sunday cartoons without any of the charming naivete. Instead, the program leans into dark comedy and a “you’re so wrong for that” sensibility.

    Season 27 is expected to be no different as the program depicting life in a fictional Colorado town returns to skewer the rise in ketamine use.

    As threatening, horror movie-style music plays in the background, a preview of the season shows French characters on boats, stealing back the Statue of Liberty − no doubt a reference to recent comments from a European lawmaker claiming America should return the monument after what he views as a slide toward tyranny.

    The previous season of “South Park” premiered over two years ago. The show did not air during the 2024 presidential contest between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, a choice Parker and Stone told Variety at the time they made “on purpose.” 

    “We’ve tried to do ‘South Park’ through four or five presidential elections, and it is such a hard thing,” Stone said. “It’s such a mind scramble, and it seems like it takes outsized importance.”

    “I don’t know what more we could possibly say about Trump,” Parker added.

    While Trump himself is not depicted in the trailer for Season 27, his policies weigh heavily on the material. One shot depicts a violent war with Canada, long one of America’s closest allies, which has since become more foe than friend as the president levied heavy tariffs and threatened to make the country into the 51st state.

    ‘South Park’ Season 27 release date

    New episodes will begin airing July 9 on Comedy Central (10:30 pm ET.)

  • Bryan Johnson may have faulty longevity methods: How to live longer

    Bryan Johnson may have faulty longevity methods: How to live longer

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    Bryan Johnson has yet to quench his thirst for longevity. He’s taking all the supplements and trying all the therapies and medical interventions you can imagine to the tune of $2 million per year. You might also recognize him as the man who’s used his son Talmage as a “blood boy,” injecting himself with his son’s plasma.

    In his Netflix documentary, “Don’t Die,” earlier this year, he claims to have shrunk his “biological age” by 5.1 years. A New York Times story, however, reported that his age at one point actually increased 10 years according to internal studies. Yes, these measures fluctuate, as Johnson told the Times, but it throws a large bucket of cold water on Johnson’s sweeping claims.

    Longevity experts are mostly over Johnson’s shtick and hope people consider the basics when it comes to taking care of themselves. “Biological age,” they add, isn’t currently as useful a measure as many companies might persuade you into thinking.

    “Bryan (Johnson) can do all he wants to lower his biological age through whatever means he’s choosing,” says S. Jay Olshansky, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Illinois Chicago, “but unless it’s translated into science that tells us that a modification of the biomarker actually makes people live longer and/or healthier, then it’s pretty much a useless statistic.”

    Is there a ‘fountain of youth’?

    What’s the secret to living longer? Get back to the basics.

    The things that we know that work today include sticking to an exercise routine, keeping your weight at a healthy level, getting regular and good sleep and avoiding cigarettes and other toxins, according to Dr. Douglas E. Vaughan, professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the director of the Potocsnak Longevity Institute. You should also try and reduce stress in your life and maintain healthy relationships with loved ones.

    Dr. Thomas Perls, professor of medicine at Boston University and longevity expert, also suggests curbing alcohol use. On diet specifically, Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard Professor of nutrition, food studies and public health, emerita, at New York University, says to eat a variety of minimally-processed “real foods” and balance calories.

    In Olshansky’s mind, “exercise is about the only equivalent of a fountain of youth that exists today.”

    But he’s curious about Johnson’s efforts to push the envelope of how much you can manipulate the functioning of specific organs. “The question is,” he says, “can you do it without all these supplements and all the stuff that he’s taking and using?”

    What is biological age?

    Biological age isn’t some mysterious figure. “You go to your high school reunion, you’ll see some people on one side of the room that appear to be biologically much younger than others,” Olshansky says. Quantifying it, however, has sprouted up more and more in the zeitgeist.

    No official “biological age” test exists; companies and institutions measure it by looking through different determinants, including levels of proteins in the blood and DNA methylation testing, or how much your genes are expressed based off your habits. Researchers can analyze common diagnostic tools like an electrocardiogram and look at biological age that way, too.

    Keep in mind these numbers aren’t actually telling you how long you’re going to live; they’re a snapshot in time and an update for you on the health of certain organs.

    “All these different clocks will give you different numbers, and which ones are actually the truth? I don’t know,” Doug says.

    Olshansky agrees with that point, and asserts what Johnson’s biomarkers say is irrelevant: “What you need in order for any of that information to be useful is evidence to indicate that if you have a biomarker indicating that your biological age is younger than your chronological age, that it will actually make you live longer. That’s what’s missing from the equation.”

    Scientists have yet to agree on which biomarkers actually indicate longevity, and what medical interventions might be able to help bring down someone’s biological age. “We haven’t been using these approaches long enough to have any longitudinal studies to actually measure how long people live when they’re engaging in these kind of regimens,” says Laura L. Carstensen, professor of psychology at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Center on Longevity.

    Vaughan thinks Johnson’s approach, however, is “misguided, misinformed and a mistake, and I do not encourage people to emulate it.”

    More answers needed about longevity, biological age

    Still, Vaughan anticipates everyone will get biological age testing done and use it to inform their lifestyle choices.

    But it’s likely that “what may make me healthier is not necessarily the same formula as what would make you healthier,” Carstensen adds. For now, it’s best to not take any “biological age” metric you receive as gospel.

    Scientists will keep looking to prove methods for lowering biological age, like weight loss drugs GLP-1s, cold immersion therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

    “All these things are hypothetically helpful, but we need to do the studies,” Vaughan adds. “We need science to guide us on where to go. We don’t need to just start grabbing everything off the shelf.”

    To that end, perhaps Johnson is missing out on the best part of life in his quest to not die: Living. “I often want to put my arm around Bryan Johnson’s shoulder,” Carstensen says, “and say, ‘bless your heart. Honey, go have a hamburger. I mean, go do something.’”

  • Kevin Bacon gets a hellish new job in Amazon's 'The Bondsman'TV

    Kevin Bacon gets a hellish new job in Amazon's 'The Bondsman'TV

    Kevin Bacon gets a hellish new job in Amazon’s ‘The Bondsman’TV

  • Slightly Stoopid’s sax player gets candid on health scare, new music

    Slightly Stoopid’s sax player gets candid on health scare, new music

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    NEW YORK – Daniel “DeLa” Delacruz is gearing up for another busy summer as the saxophonist in Slightly Stoopid, the genre-fusing rock band that tours and plays festivals across the country. The band’s 2025 trek kicks off May 24 and runs through mid-September, with stops in between at Bonnaroo and Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

    Before the musician hits the road again, he reveals exclusively to USA TODAY that he’ll drop a new single with his solo project, DELA and Steady Rock Easy.

    “We’re going to release a single called, ‘ ‘Til the Dancing’s Through’ that we’re going to play today,” Delacruz, 46, says before headlining USA TODAY Acoustic, a new series that provides a stage for notable and rising talent across the USA TODAY Network. “I write all the material for us. I feel like when I try to force the songwriting, I’m not as into it as I am when it just kind of lightning bolt hits me and I’m like, ‘I’m singing this melody in the shower, I have to get out before I forget it and record it,’ “

    After Steady Rock Easy releases the single and plays a show on Saturday at The Knickerbocker in Westerly, Rhode Island, the project will go on hiatus while DeLa resumes his role with Slightly Stoopid, a position he’s held since 2006.

    “It’s the longest job I’ve ever had,” he says. “I’m so grateful for it. It’s taken me all over the world and then some.”

    A health scare led DeLa to create his solo project

    Delacruz was born in Massachusetts and raised in Colchester, Connecticut, before living in New York’s Brooklyn borough. When he joined Slightly Stoopid, the musician made the cross-country trek to San Diego. The move proved fortuitous for multiple reasons. California doctors discovered a brain tumor under Delacruz’s frontal lobe in 2010. In hindsight, the artist questions “what would’ve happened” had he not visited those doctors in San Diego.

    “I had a full frontal bilateral craniotomy to remove that tumor,” Delacruz says. “Ten days later, I was flying to Austin City Limits to play in front of 50,000 people.”

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    DELA & Steady Rock Easy performs for USA TODAY Acoustic

    DELA & Steady Rock Easy is USA TODAY Acoustic’s second musical guest. The band unveils their new song “Til the Dancing’s Through.”

    While DeLa was on the mend, Slightly Stoopid called in Karl Denson to fill in on saxophone. Delacruz and Denson, who tours with the Rolling Stones, struck up a friendship. One day on a tour bus, Delacruz played “sketches” of songs he was working on.

    “Denson was like, ‘I know what we’re going to do with this,’” Delacruz recalls. “I looked at him like, ‘We? What you mean, we?’”

    That conversation proved to be the genesis for Delacruz linking up with Denson and Los Angeles-based reggae band The Aggrolites to create his first solo album, “Opening Night.” In 2018, Delacruz and his family moved back to New England. That led to a reunion with a number of Boston-based musicians that he’s known for decades.

    “Steady Rock Easy was born out of (the move back East), wanting to continue playing my music,” he says. “I’ve known some of these guys that I’m playing with in this band for 20-plus years, so it’s automatic for us.”

    DeLa’s fond memories of sharing the stage with Snoop Dogg

    It was the summer of 2009. On the Billboard charts, the Black Eyed Peas are about to cement dance music’s place in the mainstream with the David Guetta-assisted “I Gotta Feeling.” A new artist named Lady Gaga is gaining traction with a song called “Just Dance.” And on the road, Slightly Stoopid is on the “Blazed and Confused” tour with none other than Snoop Dogg.

    DeLa remembers it as “incredible.” Snoop was backed by his band Tha Snoopadelics, which DeLa describes as a “band of cold-blooded killers, some of the best musicians.”

    “They’re just playing triple-platinum hit after triple-platinum hit every night,” he continues. “(Slightly Stoopid) would just sit there (side stage) every night and watch this show. Then he would come and do “Gz and Hustlas” with us. That’s like a dream.”

    DeLa couldn’t have predicted how Snoop’s career would evolve. The rapper is now ubiquitous in American culture, whether it be as a spokesperson or the face of NBC’s Olympics coverage.

    “To see his evolution has just been great,” DeLa says. “And to be a tiny little part of that, to share the stage with such a legend, it’s an honor.”

  • DELA & Steady Rock Easy performs new songMusic

    DELA & Steady Rock Easy performs new songMusic

    DELA & Steady Rock Easy performs new songMusic

  • Slightly Stoopid’s DELA talks about Snoop DoggEntertain This!

    Slightly Stoopid’s DELA talks about Snoop DoggEntertain This!

    Slightly Stoopid’s DELA talks about Snoop DoggEntertain This!

  • Crossword Blog & Answers for April 3, 2025 by Sally Hoelscher

    Crossword Blog & Answers for April 3, 2025 by Sally Hoelscher

    There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solve today’s puzzle before reading further! Now Presenting… (Freestyle)

    Constructor: Leo Tsai

    Editor: Amanda Rafkin

    Comments from Today’s Crossword Constructor

    Leo: I’m so excited to be making my USA Today debut with this puzzle! The central entry is something I’m really happy to debut—I noticed last year in June that it was a grid-spanning 15 letters long, and seeded my first-ever 15×15 themeless puzzle with it. While that puzzle didn’t end up getting published, I’m glad I could reuse the spanner for this crossword! Thanks for solving 🙂

    What I Learned from Today’s Puzzle

    • OCEAN (45D: Setting for the game Subnautica) Subnautica is a video game published in 2018. Players control a survivor of a spaceship crash that occurred on an alien planet covered with OCEAN. I was not familiar with this game, but the answer here was fairly inferable from the game’s title.

    Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

    • OWLS (6A: Birds found in the subreddit r/superbowl) This is a fun clue. The subreddit r/superbowl plays on the fact that “superbowl” not only parses to “super bowl,” but also to “superb owl.” Therefore, someone made this subreddit about OWLS.
    • WRITES (21A: Fills in a crossword answer, maybe) I’m always up for a self-referential clue, and this one is lovely. The “maybe” here is an acknowledgement that solvers who are solving the puzzle online type in answers.
    • ACHOO (24A: Sneezing sound) and PSHAW (25A: Scorning sound) A nice clue echo in the sound of these consecutive clues. Fun to find the puzzle making more sounds further down with TSKS (41A: Disapproving sounds).
    • IDA (40A: Activist ___ B. Wells) IDA B. Wells (1862-1931) was an investigative journalist and a co-founder of the NAACP.  In 2020, IDA B. Wells was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize for “her outstanding and courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans during the era of lynching.”
    • ASTER (42A: Daisy relative) A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the similarities of ASTERs and daisies. They are in the same plant family.
    • TOE BEANS (5D: Super-cute feature of cats’ paws) My cat, Willow, says, “Why, yes, my TOE BEANS are super-cute. Thanks for noticing!”

    • OTTER (6D: Sea animal that uses rocks as tools) An OTTER may use a rock to help them crack open a mollusk or a crab. OTTERs have a loose pouch of skin under their arms that functions as a sort of pocket. An OTTER may store their favorite rock in their pocket, so this handy tool is always available.
    • LOG (8D: Spot for signing your name on a geocache) A geocache is a container of items (usually a LOG, pencil, and a variety of small, inexpensive objects) that is hidden at a specific location for searchers to find using GPS coordinates. Searchers sign the LOG to let others know they’ve succeeded in finding the geocache.
    • PELE (12D: Brazilian soccer legend) PELÉ (1940-2022) is considered one of the greatest soccer players of all time. During his career, PELÉ averaged a goal per game. PELÉ would have said he played football, rather than soccer, as the game Americans refer to as soccer is known as football in Brazil (as well as many other countries).
    • ANTS (13D: Insects that can carry over 10 times their body weight) To put this in perspective, this would be like me carrying a ton, which is certainly not something I can do. I estimate I could carry about one-fourth of my body weight.
    • STRAW (15D: Drinking implement with one hole, topologically) This clue made me laugh, because I know many people have spent time online arguing about whether a STRAW has one hole or two. The addition of the word topologically here, is one of the main arguments used by those that say a STRAW has one hole. (I agree that a STRAW has one hole, for what it’s worth.)
    • RHO (22D: Greek letter that looks like a “p”) RHO (ρ) is the seventeenth letter of the Greek alphabet. It comes after pi and before sigma, and it looks like the letter p.
    • LOSER (29D: Player who topples the Jenga tower) This is a fun and descriptive way to clue the word LOSER.
    • HEIST (44D: Theme for some escape rooms) I have yet to do an escape room. I’m sure I would enjoy it!
    • A few other clues I especially enjoyed:
      • BIKERS (46A: Athletes who might have GoPros on their helmets)
      • SCAR (48A: “The Lion King” antagonist with a cut across his eye)
      • GENES (60A: They make you you)

    Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis

    NOW PRESENTING… (Freestyle): There’s no theme today, as this is a freestyle, or themeless, puzzle. The title is a nod to NEXT SLIDE PLEASE (34A: Request to advance a PowerPoint presentation).

    I enjoyed the story told in today’s puzzle. First we have a question to the presenter, “ALL SET TO GO?” (17A: “Ready?”). Then we come to the presenter’s request, “NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE.” We also have a directive to the presenter, “TAKE IT AWAY!” (53A: “Go ahead!”). I also chuckled at the one audience member who missed the presentation, “AM I TOO LATE?” (11D: “Is it already over?”). Congratulations to Leo Tsai making a USA Today crossword debut! Thank you, Leo, for this delightful puzzle.

    For more on USA TODAY’s Crossword Puzzles

  • Beyoncé’-inspired ‘Cowboy Carter’ sashes are the ultimate tour trend

    Beyoncé’-inspired ‘Cowboy Carter’ sashes are the ultimate tour trend

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    • Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” look from her latest album has sparked a trend of fans buying personalized sashes.
    • Etsy sellers and small business owners are seeing a surge in sales, particularly after the tour announcement.
    • The sashes represent a sense of community among Beyoncé fans, similar to Taylor Swift’s friendship bracelets.

    Beyoncé donned a “Cowboy Carter” sash on the cover of her eighth studio album, and now fans are rushing to buy their own ahead of her upcoming tour, leading to a surge in sales for sash makers.

    Ashley Yang, a certified Beyhive member based in Los Gatos, California, began selling “Cowboy Carter”-inspired sashes on her Etsy store Deep Cuts last year when she first saw Beyoncé’s cover.

    Yang was immediately inspired to create her own sash after Beyoncé released the album on March 29, 2024–just days before her birthday. And she made the ‘Cowboy Carter’ alvum the entire theme for her birthday, creating personalizing sashes for her and her friends.

    That’s when I made like the first version of these sashes and kind of immediately knew if I want this, I’m sure other Beyoncé fans out there want it too,” Yang said.

    And from there, the sashes became the first product on her ever-growing Etsy store. The sashes are now being sold starting at $38.

    While she has branched out into other products on Etsy, she says her business really began to flourish once Beyoncé announced her Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit Tour earlier this year.

    “The volume this year so far is crazy, and so it’s just really awesome to kind of see stuff that I was seeing last year really coming to fruition this year,” she says.

    Yang says fans have gotten creative personalizing their sashes, and she foresees that being a trend throughout the tour.

    “I think it could become a thing where everyone has a sash, but they all say different things,” Yang says. And it’s like becoming a thing, ‘what is yours going to say?’ Maybe similar to the Taylor Swift friendship bracelets.”

    Other businesses owners and sash-makers agree the overarching theme of the sash trend is community.

    “I think community and customization is really sort of the key with the sashes,” Kureé Sheard says.

    In 2019, Sheard started her businesses Ninalem’s Party, which makes “decor that inspires people to live unapologetically.”

    Based in Wall Township, New Jersey, Sheard calls herself a founding BeyHive member and says she immediately got the idea to customize sashes once she saw the cover of “Cowboy Carter.” Now she sells them in all sizes.

    “I’ve loved Beyoncé since I was 11 years old,” Sheard says. “And I really appreciate Beyoncé because she sets trends. She’s so innovative. And whenever I think about my work ethic, I like to sort of liken it or compare it to Beyoncé.”

    While her business has sold other themed sashes in the past, the Beyoncé-inspired products have made a huge impact. They have gone viral on social media, and her business has been booming with personalized orders. She says attributes the success to God’s timing because Beyoncé announced the tour at a time when her business was struggling immensely.

    “I opened up my Instagram, there was my girl (Beyoncé) with her blond gray box braids announcing the tour … and from there, it was up like our business did a complete 180,” Sheard says. “This is a God thing.”

    Sheard says the sashes are more than a trend. They not only reinforce community but also originate from it.

    “We have built community around Beyoncé because it’s authentic. For me, there’s no one else but Beyoncé,” she says. “I get on (Instagram) live and we just talk about Beyoncé. We just literally talk about everything like what we think she’s going to open with or what do we think people are going to wear.”

    She is taking sash orders on her ninalemsparty.com starting at $39.95.

    “I really wanted this to be like my ode to the hive, my love story, my gift to the hive, to just do a great quality sash at a great price point,” Sheard says.

    Beyoncé released her eighth studio album “Cowboy Carter” on March 29, 2024, making history on multiple fronts with the project. On April 28, she will kick off her highly anticipated tour in Los Angeles.

    Follow Caché McClay, the USA TODAY Network’s Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter, on InstagramTikTok and X as @cachemcclay.