Blogbook

Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade has a contribution to the 2021 Superbowl with this ad titled, aptly, Last Year’s Lemons. Didn’t realise they had lemonade…

Pringles Space Return marks the addictive chip brand’s return to the Superbowl, with this hilarious ad about missing an astronaut landing.

Gamestop – the meme stock that broke Wall Street and is tanking markets globally – is kicking off 2021 with (even more of) a bang. How WallStreetBets a subreddit originally dedicated to lolsy stock market bets, strange memes, and losing money (with the occasional funny gains) accidentally kickstarted the short squeeze of the century. We still think it’d all end in tears, but it’s been a funny ride so far.

Godzilla vs Kong – this film looks terrible, but also weirdly compelling. Maybe it’s because we’re more in need of escapism than ever.

Heinz asked a number of people around the world to draw ketchup, and perhaps unsurprisingly, everyone drew Heinz ketchup. Now that’s brand power.

These Chinese New Year Genshin Impact ads are hilarious. The first two are a bit more normal, focusing on their tagline “So, even you are playing Genshin”, but the third is wild.

Dream ON with BTS – the world’s biggest boyband has released another TinyTAN animation with pixar-level graphics. Gorgeously choreographed.

That Sea Shanty Craze: if you were recently on the internet, you might have seen a wildly popular TikTok trend involving sea shanties. Via ABC:

In the final days of 2020, Scottish singer Nathan Evans posted a TikTok of himself singing the sea shanty Wellerman. It’s a New Zealand folksong from the mid-19th century, about a Sydney whaling company called The Weller Bros, whose employees and ships were called ‘Wellermen’.

The song features a supply ship bringing “sugar and tea and rum” to a whaling crew off the shore of New Zealand. Nathan’s video is simple — black and white, with Nathan dressed in a hoodie and beanie as he taps out a beat on the back of his guitar and uses his own voice to add layers and harmonies to the chorus.

There’s something soothing in the repetitive rhythm, and Nathan’s sincere delivery. His Scottish lilt and rich voice feel made for the sea shanty. In itself it’s fantastic, but what happened next turned the video from a quirky one-off into a viral phenomenon that united and delighted people all around the globe.

How Virtual Reality tricks your brain: an explainer by vox that examines how VR doesn’t have to look super realistic for it to work.

Check out this beautiful Han Dynasty Music and Dance Recreation by Zi De Guqin Studio, imagining what a performance would’ve looked like at the time.