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

Mark Ruffalo was finally honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this month. And even though he’s best known for playing the Hulk, the lovable superhero with anger issues, in the Marvel movies, he chose to go simpler. Jennifer Garner, his co-star in the 2004 rom-com 13 Going On 30, did the little speech. We’ve loved him in Spotlight (2015), Zodiac (2017) and Shutter Island (2010). He was a mad genius musician in Begin Again (2013). There’s a lot more to Ruffalo. Let’s honour that too!

Money movies are usually about heists and get-rich-quick schemes that would never work IRL. But Netflix’s new Dumb Money (Seth Rogen, America Ferrera and Paul Dano) makes investing wisely look glam. It’s based on Ben Mezrich’s 2021 book, The Antisocial Network, about an ordinary Joe-Schmoe who plays the stock market and live streams his investments. The odd hobby fires up a revolution that unsettles Wall Street. Oh, and it makes him rich. Best lesson: Stick to your guns.

Scientists from Japan’s Tokyo University and Hokkaido University chanced upon some spooky black eggs in the Pacific Ocean. They were at a depth of about 6,200 metres (that, BTW, is the deepest layer of most of the ocean). Researcher Yasunori Kano retrieved a sample. A scan shows that they’re not eggs but flatworm cocoons. Okay, have they not seen any disaster movie? Have we learnt nothing from the pandemic? Throw the damn eggs back, Kano-san!

Tech creators review the Apple Vision Pro the moment it drops. Legends, on the other hand, ask the real questions: How good is the mixed-reality/AR headset for viewing porn? Hold the orgasms. The device doesn’t support immersive, spatial VR or 3D porn. People are just going to have to get their jollies the old-fashioned way – in 2D. What a waste of $3,500.

Basketball is getting an upgrade. Wilson’s Airless Gen 1 basketball won’t need inflation. It has no air. The 3D-printed ball uses a polymer lattice structure to replicate the bounce and feel of a regular basketball. Plus, it looks cool AF. We want one and we don’t even play. Will Tom Hanks be the brand ambassador?

There’s a new term in town: Stinge watching. It’s basically the opposite of binge watching. Instead of gobbling up entire seasons at once, you deliberately stay immersed for longer to savour the show or movie. We did it with Succession and Class, already. So, did the trend birth the term? Did the term birth the trend? Are we in a simulation? Have we stinged too much TV? What?

Here’s proof that anything can get popular on social media. The Instagram page @ScenicPisses posts images and clips of gorgeous locations – waterfalls, glades, wheat fields, mountain ranges – and someone peeing right there, ruining the mood. They have 1.1million followers. There’s an India clone already. But do we need to showcase any more men taking a leak in public. Zip it up, guys.