The Brunch round-up for August 09: The week and how it made us feel

This week, we’re calling out AI’s sexism, watching Katy and Trudeau hit it off, siding with Meta whistleblowers, and re-watching old cartoons

Feeling blue and grey. The BTS Army had a mini meltdown when news broke that the band was recording an unreleased Michael Jackson song for the King of Pop’s tribute album. Turns out, it was the internet doing some wishful thinking. Still, imagine Jin’s heavenly vocals on The Way You Make Me Feel or RM doing a rap version of Beat It. Maybe, let’s keep manifesting?

BTS is not doing the Michael Jackson tribute album. But let’s keep manifesting.

Shah Rukh Khan won a National Film Award for Jawan. But it’s not his best role.

Trying to medal. The National Film Awards for 2023 are two years late and mildly confusing, aren’t they? Rani Mukerji won Best Actress for the unwatchable Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway. They finally awarded SRK (for Jawan, of all things). Even Animal was lauded (Best Background Music and two tech fields, but still). The only bright spot: Vikrant Massey’s tie with SRK for 12th Fail. We need clearer judging.

Justin Trudeau, former Canada PM, and singer-astronaut Katy Perry are a thing. What? (SHUTTERSTOCK)

Ship spotting. Justin Trudeau, former Canada PM, and singer-astronaut Katy Perry are a thing. They’ve gone on long dinner dates, he’s shown up at her concert and sung along... what kind of crossover episode is this? Also, Pamela Anderson and Liam Neeson are now a thing. As are Dhanush and Mrunal Thakur. We love a pairing we hadn’t thought of shipping!

There’s going to be a Social Network 2, and we just know Meta’s going to hate it.

Returning for more. There’s going to be a Social Network 2. OG Zuck actor Jesse Eisenberg might be replaced with Jeremy Strong (aka, the Not-Chosen Son from Succession). Mikey Madison plays Frances Haugen, the whistleblower who leaked company data. Suddenly, we’re checking our status updates again.

Swat Kats is getting a reboot, but in comic book form. BRB, grabbing some popcorn.

Clawing back. Millennials, what if we told you that the last episode of Swat Kats came out in 1995? Now, 30 years later, a reboot cometh, but in comic book form: MegaKat City Has Fallen. Sounds lame to you too? What we want is to see those gadget-friendly cats on screen. And throw in an orange one too. Everyone knows that ginger kitties are the real heroes.

AI chatbots don’t just have masculine names, they’re sexist too. (SHUTTERSTOCK)

Questioning intelligence. AI chatbots don’t just have masculine names (Claude, Grok, Perplexity), they bow to men too. German researchers asked five AI tools for salary recommendations. Guess what? Each AI advised women users to ask for less money for the same, and asked male users to negotiate for more. And we thought tech was neutral and all…

Erika Lust Films gives their employees a 30-minute masturbation break every day. TMI! (SHUTTERSTOCK)

Taking a break. Swedish firm Erika Lust Films (no guesses for the type of films they make) is giving their employees a 30-minute masturbation break every day. It started during the pandemic, and apparently improved focus and built workplace morale. They even have a private masturbation station at work. So, what do they do with the other 25 minutes?

Let’s end that debate about whether Jack would fit on the floating door in Titanic. Who cares?

Getting over it. Let’s put one thing to rest. At the end of Titanic, when Jack died, it was really OK. He was Rose’s first love. But first loves aren’t always the best love. Jack was all charm, no plan. Rose got the grand adventure, and the first half of the FAFO. Let’s end that debate about whether he’d fit on the floating door. Who cares?

From HT Brunch, August 09, 2025

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