Cyclone Gabrielle media round-up & brain breaks

And links to entertain those stuck at home...

Cyclone Gabrielle media round-up & brain breaks

I hope you are all safe and warm. Huge love to those who have been evacuated, flooded, or worse. On the South Coast of Wellington here it’s wild and windy but we are safe. My heart goes out to everyone facing slips and flooding.

I know it can be scary when the weather is like this. I wrote a light-hearted thing last night about Valentine’s Day but it felt inappropriate to publish today. So instead I thought I’d share some links. Some about Cyclone Gabrielle - but also some time-wasters and brain breaks too x

Arohanui my friends. I am thinking of you all.

Cyclone related news

National state of emergency declared.

Where to get help.

'This is a significant disaster with a real threat to the lives of New Zealanders'

What to do when the power goes out.

Where did Cyclone Gabrielle come from, and what makes it so rare and dangerous?

What actually is a cyclone? All your basic weather questions, answered.

Will this climate crisis event be wasted too?

What you need to have ready in a 3-day emergency kit.

Brain breaks

The best Super Bowl ads. Capitalism is terrible. But weirdly, watching ads soothes my brain. Let’s not question this. Here’s even more Super Bowl ads…

Super Bowl ASL Interpreter Justina Miles is amazing.

Dolphins ‘deliberately get high’ on puffer fish.

My son’s kitten and Freddie Mercury youtube channel.

A hike through the weird parts of the internet.

The USA Mullet Champ Is Winning at Everything Else in Life, Too.

Magic Mike Will NOT Be Showing His Magic Pipe
I’m just gonna say it, male nudity is in its flop era, and NOT in a good way! Dedicated readers may remember my issue with Infinity Pool and the geographically inaccurate prosthetic used for Alexander Skarsgård, meanwhile, Mia Goth popped her REAL titty out and was breast feeding him. Where is the equality????

It Takes Only One Conversation a Day To Feel Better, Study Finds.

1980s movie soundtracks.

Magic Mike's Last Dance and the horny scale.

Poker Face is a murder mystery that cares about killers
Kia ora and welcome back to Rec Room, The Spinoff’s pop culture and entertainment newsletter. If you’re in the north I hope you’re staying safe and dry during Cyclone Gabrielle, and that your power stays on – you have a lot of TV watching time ahead. It’s the perfect opportunity to catch up on Poker Face on TVNZ+ and, on Netflix, Cunk on Earth and the n…

Big reads

Crushed - When Johna Ramirez’s son joined a popular circle of YouTube “kidfluencers,” it seemed like a Hollywood dream come true. But for these tweens, fame and fortune came at a cost.

What We Search For - “Grief, we're told, has distinct stages. We expect to pass through each one, like a doorway, from denial all the way to acceptance. I expected that too. As the months wore on, a sense of guilt metastasized inside me. Friends and family said I tried my best with him. I had no special power, they said, to keep him alive. I rejected those words and turned inward. Grief warped my ability to love, and to accept it, too.”

The People Onscreen Are Fake. The Disinformation Is Real.

The First Family of Human Cannonballing - David and Jeannie Smith gave up their day jobs for a life of daredevil stunts —with six children in tow. Five decades, thousands of cannon shots and multiple Guinness World Records later, this stupendous family business is still defying gravity and all other expectations.

The Brief, Wondrous Life of Little Leo -When Leo Babler was born with a rare and deadly genetic disorder, his parents reshaped their lives, moving to the mountains, building out an adventure van, and making sure their son experienced the most beautiful wild places in the country during the time they had.

The Man - AKA the worst interview ever.

The Strangely Beautiful Experience of Google Reviews - Glimpses of humanity in an unlikely corner of the internet.

Offset or off-track? - How much impact can planting trees make on climate change?

Who Is @Catturd2, the Sh-tposting King of MAGA Twitter?

Issue #55: The Love Economy
Mōrena, and happy love day 💛 With Cyclone Gabrielle across the North Island, we hope you’ve been able to stay safe out there, and find support if you have needed it. When things seem bleak, being able to see a future where we can all thrive is just as important as knowing what needs to stop or change. To be honest - this can often feel harder than prot…

The Agoraphobic Fantasy of Tradlife - In an increasingly expensive and antisocial world, tradwives forsake life with others for the lonely, constrictive spaces of bourgeois ownership.

When my dad was sick, I started Googling grief. Then I couldn’t escape it. - I’ve spent months trying to untrain the algorithms that were relentlessly serving me content on loss.

Inside Virtual Reality’s Booming Underground Sex Scene.

Elon Musk fires a top Twitter engineer over his declining view count
For weeks now, Elon Musk has been preoccupied with worries about how many people are seeing his tweets. Last week, the Twitter CEO took his Twitter account private for a day to test whether that might boost the size of his audience. The move came after several prominent right-wing accounts that

Entertain the kids…

Gross science.

The Kid Should See This - Smart videos for curious minds of all ages.

Cosmic Kids Yoga.

The 10 Best Ways to Read Comics Online for Free

Still bored?

Look at the stars.

*

I hope that helps. Please share what you’re reading slash doing. Arohanui Emily x

Your paid subscription allows me to pay rent and feed my family. That’s no small thing so thank you so much x