Poison, Orwell, Moon, Robin, Jam

Could Australia's Greatest Mystery Finally Be Solved?

Joe Scott | YouTube | 14th March 2022

Recent DNA analyses have reignited the enduring mystery of the Somerton Man, who was found dead on an Australian beach in 1948 with no identification—only a scrap of paper with the Persian phrase "tamám shud," or "is finished," torn from a copy of the Rubaiyat. Coroners suspect he was killed with an undetectable poison, leading to the widespread theory that he was a Soviet agent (22m 49s)

Why George Orwell Hates The Way You Speak

Cosmic Skeptic | YouTube | 15th March 2022

Orwell's guide to good writing. Four things to avoid: dying metaphors ("toe the line"), false verbal limbs ("exhibit a tendency to"), pretentious diction ("categorical"), and meaningless words (he gives the example of democracy; "not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides") (22m 59s)

Mac Tonight

EmpLemon | YouTube | 12th March 2022

Mac Tonight started as a MacDonald's marketing character, but soon transformed into a symbol of early-Internet humor called "Moon Man." "In 2008, several of the most prolific Moon Man posters formed a faction known as the Moon Crew, a collection of users dedicated to the advancement of their new lunar overlord" (29m 15s)

Why Are Batman Movies Afraid Of Robin?

Patrick H Willems | YouTube | 16th March 2022

Modern Batman adaptations seem deeply ashamed of Robin. But as creator Bill Finger wrote, "Batman didn't have anyone to talk to, and it got a little tiresome always having him thinking...[he] needed a Watson to talk to. That's how Robin came to be." His conspicuous absence in modern film adaptation indicates a more general oversimplification of the Batman mythos (33m 45s)

Complex Video Of The Week

Millions of animated creatures converge in a two-minute sensory overload

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