Enjoying this flex. We knew Hafthor Björnsson looked familiar when we saw clips of him deadlift 505kgs at a competition in Germany, breaking his own world record. We looked closer. Hey! That’s The Mountain from Game of Thrones! OK, his name is literally Half Thor and he’s living up to it. How has this man become even bigger after playing the tallest, biggest character ever?
Logging out. Sorry, Millennials. Another giant of our childhoods has fallen. On September 30, AOL will officially discontinue its dial-up internet service. Skreeee beep beep bop beee, the sound of the modem running, the sound of childhood, of a nicer internet, will go quiet after 34 years. Is it weird if we want to make it our ringtone?
Crowning a queen. Bodhana Sivanandan is British, 10 and the youngest female player to defeat a chess grandmaster. She did it at the 2025 British Chess Championships, beating 60-year-old Peter Wells. Watch the comments: Indians are claiming her for their own. Brits are too. Racists only care about achievements, not people. Boo!
Paddling up. We knew that Timothée Chalamet plays a ping-pong player in Marty Supreme. We weren’t expecting to see Shark Tank USA judge, Kevin O’Leary (aka Mr Wonderful) as the fictional millionaire Milton Rockwell. O’Leary says that director Josh Safdie was looking for “a real a**h*l*” for the role. That’s 100% O’Leary’s shtick.
Slathering up. The new amenity at the Ritz-Carlton LA from next month: A beauty fridge – $142 worth of cleanser, serum, moisturiser, eye masks and chilled cryotherapy globes that guests can take home. There’s a light-therapy mask to use in the rooms too. You can keep your overpriced minibar, hotels. This is the delicious stuff.
Feeling jelly. We knew there was strength in numbers. A swarm of jellyfish legit shut down one of France’s largest nuclear power plants after entering the water intake systems. They didn’t mean to. Or did they? The jiggly blobs are history sheeters. They’ve shut down plants in Japan, Sweden, USA and the Philippines. Can we join their W/A group?
Closing the loop. For years, fans assumed that Heather Matarazzo (Anne Hathaway’s activist bestie in The Princess Diaries), was mommy to Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin in Stranger Things). Same last name, same features too. Heather, 42, met Gaten, 22, last week. Just cast him in the upcoming The Princess Diaries movie, guys!
Combing over. We’re thrilled that more Reels show men doing their skincare and blow-drying their hair correctly. But we’re ecstatic that more Reels show men confidently putting on toupees and wigs, and tacking balding like it’s NBD. It isn’t. Even @MattLovesHair has chill fans. You do you, men. We’re loving this!
From HT Brunch, August 23, 2025
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