The Brunch round-up for November 07: The week and how it made us feel

This week, we’re judging Sydney Sweeney, getting our memories wiped, calling out fridging and waiting for the new Laika masterpiece

Out-outraged.We’re in a timeline where the Kardashians have been bested at their own rage-baiting game. Our new villain: Sydney Sweeney. We’re still recovering from her straddling a basketball hoop naked for a sports-betting ad. Now she’s posing in lingerie as Cindy Lou from How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Leave child characters out of your thirst traps, Sweeney.

How long until the release of Son of Thanjai? Spring 2027 is too far away.

Waiting for son-rise. How long until the release of Son of Thanjai? Too long. The open-world, action-adventure videogame, made by a small Chennai studio, is set in an alternate-history Chola Empire. Our hero is a spoiled prince who is betrayed, exiled, alone. He must fight his way back up. The visuals look stunning. Spring 2027 they say. Sigh.

NYC’s Inside the Golden Arches claims to be a fine-dining experience, but serves McDonald’s food. (ADOBE STOCK)

McConfused. NYC’s Inside the Golden Arches claims to be a fine-dining experience. So, fancy place settings, glassware and mood lighting. But the menus has a McDonald’s egg-muffin starter, nuggets after that, and a Quarter Pounder burger for the main course. The aim is to show how the fast food is made. Don’t worry, New Yorkers are befuddled too.

Laika Studios’s Wildwood took 16 years to create.

Jungle booked. Kubo stans, Coraline fans, Boxtroll buddies, another Laika animation is out! Wildwood took 16 years to create, because all the stop-motion tech was done frame-by-frame. Reviews say it’s the studio’s best yet. And another reason to get the big-screen experience. This time, for a tale of a magical forest, not a returning warrior or another exploding helicopter. Bliss!

Lemon and cinnamon, eaten together, do NOT taste like Coca-Cola. Don’t believe the Insta trend. (SHUTTERSTOCK)

Separating flavours. Some internet idiots are trying to convince us that lemon and cinnamon, eaten together, taste like Coca-Cola. That tomato and sugar mimic the flavour of strawberry. That banana plus avocado equals ice-cream. That cucumber with sugar delivers the mouthfeel of watermelon. Nope. Nope. Nope. They’re poor approximations. Who wants that?

Why does Kristen Bell put up with Dax Shepard embarrassing her at every opportunity? (SHUTTERSTOCK)

Dumping him. Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard are beginning to feel like Hollywood’s Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna. Mostly because we cannot understand why Bell continues to put up with this man embarrassing her at every opportunity. First, he suggested she should be grateful he’d never kill her, despite being “incentivised” to do so. Now, Bell has revealed that he keeps their romance alive by flirting with other people. Girl, blink twice if you need rescuing.

A 1994 Green Lantern comic started the “fridging” trope – killing off a heroine to motivate the hero. (DC COMICS)

Feeling frosty. We know Christopher Nolan’s favourite female character: Beautiful, laughing in a flashback, and conveniently dead so her husband can have a personality or a redemption arc. Ghajini and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil feature this trope too. TIL: there’s a term for it. Fridging. It comes from a 1994 Green Lantern comic, in which the hero finds his girlfriend murdered and inside a refrigerator. Come on. There’s got to be a better way to motivate a man.

Dutch cinema chain Pathé plans to hypnotise 30 people into forgetting their favourite films. (SHUTTERSTOCK)

In a trance. Dutch cinema chain Pathé plans to hypnotise 30 people into forgetting their favourite films, including The Matrix and Se7en, so they can experience them for the first time again. Sign us up. Not to forget our favs, but to wipe our minds clean of the last season of GoT, everything Kanye West has said, and every frame of Kabir Singh, thanks.

From HT Brunch, November 07, 2026

Follow us on www.instagram.com/htbrunch