Top trends
Google just released the top search trends for 2021. While “Australia vs India” topped the global search trends, the NBA — National Basketball Association — was the most searched for term in the United States of America.
In the US, Mega Millions — the famous jackpot lottery worth millions of dollars — was the most searched for news item; Squid Game was the most-googled TV show and Black Widow was the most searched for movie. Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license” was the highest-searched song this year and “TikTok pasta” was the top trending recipe.
From a fashion standpoint, the top search was “How to style straight leg jeans”, followed by “How to style a wolf haircut” and “How to style a corset”. In comparison, last year, during the lockdown, the top styling searches included things like how to cut and colour one’s hair at home or make a mask at home.
AMC Stock was the seventh-most searched term and the second-highest searched news story with GME (GameStop stock) following close behind. This is not surprising given how users on the internet got together to have the stock prices of both companies soar earlier this year.
In a shift from last year, which had more searches around testing, Americans looked for information on Covid vaccination near them in 2021. Google also released a blog post with its findings and said that doomscrolling — continuously scrolling through depressing or bad news on the internet — was searched for more than ever globally.
A still from the film, 'Black Widow'. YouTube screengrab
Festive bite
It’s not Christmas without Mariah Carey’s classic holiday hit, “All I want for Christmas is you”, which was released almost three decades ago. Carey is back this year — not through music but with burgers.
On December 13, McDonald’s launched a new “Mariah Menu”, which they are calling 12 Days of Deals. There will also be plenty of merchandise and a commercial to promote the partnership. During the 12 days, fans just have to make a $1 minimum purchase to get a free item.
One such item is a beanie that features Carey’s iconic signature and another is a T-shirt with a throwback photo of Carey enjoying her staple McDonald’s order — a cheeseburger with extra pickles.
“Just like so many of my fans, I have such amazing memories with McDonald’s over the years. I always get a sense of nostalgia when I see the Golden Arches, so creating throwback merch with one of my favorite photos from the 90s was really fun for me,” Carey said in a press release. The company announced in a corporate statement that it has worked directly with Carey to design the menu and packaging to make sure it got the festive theme right.
Mariah Carey. Instagram/@mariahcarey
Aerial weapon
Hundreds of thousands of young Americans are stating that all living birds have been replaced by the US government with drone replicas to spy on the public.
While this seems like a classic QAnon conspiracy theory, it is actually a parody attempting to highlight the absurdity of existing conspiracy theories around misinformation. “It’s a way to combat troubles in the world that you don’t really have other ways of combating,” said Claire Chronis, a Birds Aren’t Real organizer in Pittsburgh, to The New York Times. “My favorite way to describe the organization is fighting lunacy with lunacy.” You can find Birds Aren’t Real accounts on TikTok, Twitter and other social media platforms. There are even T-shirts for sale online with phrases like “Bird watching goes both ways”.
The movement started out as a social media post meant to be funny, but quickly gained traction. The creator later hired a person to play a CIA agent who claimed he worked on the drone surveillance. This video has over 20 million views on TikTok.
The website describes its mission as: “Once a preventative cause, our initial goal was to stop the genocide of real birds. Unfortunately this was unsuccessful, and the government has since replaced every living bird with robotic replicas. Now our movement’s prerogative is to make everyone aware of this fact.”
Dark rooms
Chicago has its own share of reputed art, science and history museums. Now, a new kind of museum has joined the ranks, touting its interactive and immersive exhibits, but not one you would necessarily want to immerse yourself in — the Medieval Torture Museum. It claims to be the largest interactive history museum of this kind in the country and does not allow anyone under 18 years of age without adult supervision in.
The exhibits take you through “the darkest periods of history”, showcasing medieval torture devices and execution methods. The museum told the Chicago Loop Alliance that the idea has been years in the making with academic research and museum exhibits curated by historians, scientists and artists.
The museum is 6,000 square feet with eight rooms. The exhibits use human dummies to show how the torture devices affect them, leaving no detail to the imagination. Some interactive exhibits let visitors try out certain devices, such as a lever that dunks a waxen-faced woman into a vat of water. “We wanted people to feel more emotion rather than just coming to see artifacts,” said Paula Malone, the museum’s manager.
Trying out some of the devices will feel uncomfortable, but that is the point the museum is trying to get across. Their website has a short video of some displays as a preview, and safe to say it is not for the weak of heart.
Footnote
Representational image. Facebook/@FoxNews
The 50-foot-tall Christmas tree set up by Fox News, America’s largest conservative TV network, outside its headquarters in New York, went up in flames. It turned out that a homeless person was behind the debacle. Since then, a new tree has been put up. However, the incident, specifically how Fox News anchors chose to politicize it, made for late night comedy. “Of course, this never would have happened if the tree had a gun,” joked Stephen Colbert on his nightly segment.
