Five things worth sharing from the last week or so, brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.
This week’s My Five is by Vic.
1. Batman returns when he wasn’t meant to
If you’re an old gal like me, you will have grown up knowing Batman in many different forms. From the Adam West series, which was super camp and amazing, to the weird and wonderful Tim Burton films, to the nippled latex bat suits of the Val Kilmer and George Clooney in the 90s, to the many excellent animated series. All of them were rad.
With these changes, there have been a lot of iterations of the Batman logo, but no matter what form it takes, it remains instantly recognisable. This week, the logo for the new Batman game was leaked, and eagle-eyed Batman uber-fans noted the similarity between it and the one used for the 1999 animated series ‘Batman Beyond’.
This could possibly be our first look at the logo from the new Batman game reboot.
(From the elevator at WB Montreal) pic.twitter.com/hPACSCS0Wh
— James Sigfield (@Jsig212James) February 19, 2020
Reddit user rdgxxx also posted this rather lovely graphic to demonstrate how the logo had evolved over the years.
2. Mad Mike the flat Earth-man is now flat
If you have ever even slightly dipped into conspiracy theory territory on YouTube, chances are, its algorithm would have then bombarded you with flat Earth content.
One brave man, affectionately known as ‘Mad Mike’ went to incredible lengths to prove that we aren’t all a bunch of apes spinning on an apple. So he made himself a homemade, steam-powered rocket to blast himself into the stratosphere (clue may be in the name there, what with spheres being round) to prove that we are in fact, living on a big flat disc that we could roll off the edge of.
Sadly, things did not go as planned, and Mike’s rocket malfunction resulted in his demise.
RIP Mike. Can’t say I didn’t call this one though.
3. Shouting at tea
Cancel culture is one of the best and worst things about Twitter. While it’s usually a celebrity getting cancelled for doing something awful, brands are often caught in the crossfire if seen to be affiliated with someone that people have a strong dislike for.
From Conservative Trump supporters boycotting Nike products by cutting up clothing they had already paid for, to Cops making up stories about Starbucks employees calling them pigs (lol), no brand is safe. Not even the best tea in the world (come at me), Yorkshire Tea.
Who could possibly be mad at Yorkshire Tea? It makes such a strong and delicious brew.
Sue. Sue is mad at Yorkshire Tea, and she wants the world to know about it.
about what the #tory who was blatantly advertising your tea, paid or otherwise, will be doing to continue to grow the rich/poor gap, the extension of which will be the real legacy of their regime along with the 120K related #austerity deaths – you have your wish, I have responded
— Sue Lane (@sulaAlice) February 25, 2020
While I feel Sue does make a valid point about some things, ultimately, she is just shouting at tea.
Maybe calm down with a cuppa.
4. The sweet smell of shame and regret
For me, the lingering smell of McDonald’s reminds me of how much I have failed as a human being. I usually wake up, hungover, order it via Uber Eats and then sit in bed eating it while lamenting what a disgusting human being I am and questioning my life choices.
For this reason, I do not ever, ever, want a candle that smells of McDonald’s. But apparently some of you freaks out there do. Stop it.
5. Saturn emojis not ringing true
I love a bit of science, me. Especially anything to do with space. Top tip – you can play a drinking game where you drink every time Professor Brian Cox says ‘billions’ on the telly. He said it 21 times in a single episode of ‘The Planets’ so there is scope to get hammered if you watch a few back to back. Anyway, I digress.
This week, the planet Saturn got added as an emoji. But who bothered to check for accuracy?
The wonderful space-nerd Dr James O’Donoghue did, and I love him for it:
I'm a planetary scientist with published papers specifically on Saturn's atmosphere/rings, so thought it'd be fun to rank the "Ringed Planet" emojis?
First I'm gonna assume they're trying to be SATURN ok, so I'll be ranking their accuracy based on that. Results end of thread!? pic.twitter.com/BVcI9EHNxf
— Dr James O'Donoghue (@physicsJ) February 26, 2020
