The Brunch round-up for September 27: The week and how it made us feel

The Paper had big shoes to fill — and so far, it’s not bad at all. Domhnall Gleeson’s Ned Sampson is no Michael Scott and there’s no Dwight type. Remember, even The Office’s first season was clunky, so let this one find its legs. Attention, superfans who make The Office their whole personality. You better have something original to say about the spinoff.

Matcha drinkers. Yeah, you, who look down their noses at the coffee crowd. Word in the labs is that your grassy umami brew (the one that tastes like lawn clippings) messes with the body’s iron absorption and causes hairloss. Coffee may give us acidity or the occasional all-nighter. At least, it would never stab us in the back.

Gen Z invented the coffee rave, the matcha rave, the 10K rave and even a sauna rave. Make way for the final boss: The study rave. A Melbourne café hosted one with electronic beats, strobe lights, and glow-in-the-dark bracelets. Strangest part? It worked. Students were locked into their books like it was exam season on steroids. Full marks!

On the sidelines of New York Fashion Week, over 600 people lined up at a pop-up claw machine. The prize was a $10,000 Hermès Birkin. The catch? The game was rigged. No one could win. The installation was literally called Pain, referencing masochism of people who pay huge sums for shoebox apartments, or queue up for hours for a viral bagel. A neat metaphor for the rest of us too.

Only four actors have ever won major awards for playing a comic book character. They’re all Gotham’s finest… villains. Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix picked up Oscars as the Joker in 2008 and 2019. Colin Farrell won a Golden Globe as The Penguin in 2024. Cristin Milioti just bagged an Emmy as Sofia Falcone. Poor Batman. Orphaned and still can’t catch a break.

American Psychiatrist Rami Kaminski has coined the term Otrovert to describe people who feel like they don’t belong and crave emotional independence. They don’t have FOMO, but they enjoy social interaction without letting people’s energy drain them. He says Frida Kahlo, Franz Kafka, and Albert Einstein were otroverts. Lisa Ray posted that she’s one too. Where can we take the personality test?

The third Knives Out movie, Wake Up Dead Man, will be out in December. Daniel Craig is back as Benoit Blanc. But let’s take a break from the tale of the underdog going up against the rich, white villain? Life never works out that way. And let’s bring back the humour of the OG film.

H&M has launched a beauty line. So has Gap Inc. Louis Vuitton did it earlier this year, with $160 lipsticks. It sounds cool, until you realise it’s just brands cashing in on the beauty boom. We’re tired of lip balms titled Sunset Sizzle and Fiery Flirt, and random nail colours (What do Ghost Ranch, Dune, and Fauna mean anyway?). And please, no more face mask sheets.