Ripped from the Headlines: August 2020: This Week In Culture: August 1–6, 2020

American Pickle stars Seth Rogen as two people: Ben Greenbaum, an app designer in Brooklyn, and his distant relative Herschel Greenbaum, who was preserved for 100 years after falling into a vat of pickle brine. The fish-out-of-water time travel comedy features Rogen doing admirable work playing off of himself in both roles. Boisterous is of uncertain origin, but it likely originated in some form of British dialect, or possibly Welsh, in the 12th century.

After the Marlins and Cardinals both suffered Covid-19 outbreaks, Major League Baseball has implemented even stricter rules governing player behavior off the field during the season. Masks must be worn at all times, and players are forbidden from gathering in hotel rooms or elsewhere. Players may also not leave the hotel without permission, or speak to each other while eating. Failure to obey the rules can result in suspension from play.

The Star Trek franchise is launching its second animated series, titled Star Trek: Lower Decks, on CBS All Access. The comedy centers on four low-ranking crew members far from the excitement on the bridge of the USS Cerritos. The show has already been renewed for a second season.

Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, the two astronauts who went to the International Space Station in the SpaceX Dragon, landed safely off the coast of Florida. SpaceX is under contract with NASA to build more orbital spacecraft for similar missions and more ambitious trips in the future. Civilian onlookers in boats got dangerously close to the splashdown site, and officials said they would enforce stricter distance requirements next time.

Antebellum, a time-travel thriller starring Janelle Monáe, releases next month on demand. Monáe plays a writer trapped in time, moving between the pre-Civil War past and the present day. The film was produced by the same team who made Get Out and Us. Percolare is a Latin verb meaning "to filter" or "to strain."

After repeatedly asking the Trump campaign to stop playing his music at rallies and events, Neil Young has filed a lawsuit. The suit demands that the campaign cease using any and all of his music, and asks for $150,000 in damages. Plaintiff comes from the Latin planctus, meaning "lamentation;" this makes sense since the person bringing a suit has a complaint, which comes from the same root.

The 1992 film A League of Their Own, about the women's baseball league created during World War II, is being reinvented as a TV series for Amazon. The series was co-created by Abbi Jacobson and Will Graham, and features a diverse cast. No premiere date has been set yet. Reprise means "taken again" in French, so it's a lot like a director shouting "Take two!"

Nneka Ogwumike, a player for the Los Angeles Sparks, has been elected as the president of the WNBA player's union. Her sister Chiney is also a Sparks player. Nneka is a phenomenal player — she shot a staggering 74 percent during the 2016 season — and now she's trying to modernize the league's constitution and contracts with players, increasing their share of revenue and giving them better benefits.

TikTok is in trouble; with President Trump threatening to ban it unless it gets bought by a U.S. company — likely Microsoft — competing apps are taking advantage and gaining lots of users. Besides newcomers like Byte, Clash, Zynn, and Triller, Instagram and Snapchat are also introducing short video and music functionality to try to peel users away from TikTok. Siphon is Greek for "pipe" or "tube."

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is preparing to touch down on the asteroid Bennu. The team controlling the craft have already rehearsed two maneuvers, but this time they'll be adding a third, bringing the vehicle within 130 feet of Bennu, matching its rotation. Other operations include repositioning the sampling arm and solar panels. Because of the 16-minute lag in radio communication, the craft will execute all these tasks automatically.