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

Earlier this week, the Muppet’s X account innocuously tweeted, “Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?” Thousands of responders trauma-dumped their worries about their own fate and that of the world in the comments. It’s reminded us about the power of checking in, of communicating our concerns, of listening. But what about poor Elmo? We hope the red furball is doing OK too.

Will Taylor Swift fly from her Japan gig in time to watch boyfriend Travis Kelce at the Super Bowl next week? Is their pairing a government conspiracy? Will Kelce propose? Who cares? Our hearts are with Kansas mom Kelsey Taylor Pomeroy (@KelseWhatElse) who jumps every time Kelce-Taylor updates play on the radio, thinking that they’re talking about her. Send love, Swifties!

At Maison Margiela’s spring show, legendary make-up artist Pat McGrath sent models down the runway with poreless, porcelain-like, almost AI-generated faces. Pics went viral. There were clips of the models peeling off their make-up after the show. Turns out, McGrath diluted peel-off face masks, and airbrushed them over made-up faces, blow-drying between eight layers. Unattainable beauty standard? Nah, just shiny, glassy genius.

A Reddit thread r/NoStupidQuestions asks how come scientists haven’t engineered larger rice grains yet? “Wouldn’t it make more sense if each grain was like 8oz? Then you’d only have to eat a couple rice.” Who’s gonna tell him how dal soaks into each grain, how basmati gets smothered in fat and spices in a biryani, how sushi texture depends on small grains? Plus, why involve science in this? Just use 8oz rice balls.

The Rubiks Cube turns 50 in May. That’s half a century of us nerding out over the fastest solves, the fewest moves, the blind solve, the one-handed solve, the locked corners, and the flex about solving it in the first place (99% of users can’t). Thank Hungarian architecture prof Erno Rubik for his invention. It took him a month to solve it the first time. There’s hope for the 99% then.