🔥Hot New Apps, Perpetual Stews, and The Grimace Shake
meet friends over stew
Hey friends! Welcome to this week’s edition of The Land of Random.
There was a theory floating around the net that ALL our electronics might get fried by a giant solar storm on the 15th - but fortunately, it didn’t happen.
The memes were pretty fun tho.
We went to see Young the Giant in Nashville, so I completely forgot to stick my laptop and phone in the microwave.
If you live near / ever come to Nashville - the 5th and Broadway Assembly Food Hall has a FANTASTIC pho and Banh mi place.
For only $16 - you get a big bowl of Pho AND an entire Banh Mi sandwich.
We finished the second season of The Bear and WOW - that was a wild season finale. I won’t spoil anything for you, but I think this season will win some awards!
The show is very good at making you feel like you’re there with the actors. Their stress is your stress. Maybe it’s also the years I spend in the food service industry.
Those of you who voted for more info about the Grimace Shake challenge won - so it’ll be the third topic of today’s newsletter.
“The Ayes have it” - so to speak.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
🔥Hot New Apps
There are a few new apps rolling out this Summer to keep an eye on - and one of them you can download now. :)
Retro
I’ve been keeping my eye on Retro for a while - it’s an Instagram-style app that feels a lot like the old days when there was just a feed of your friends’ photos - before the bloat arrived . . . I haven’t downloaded it yet, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about it! I would not be surprised if Instagram has to introduce a “your friends only” feed if this starts gaining any real traction . . . Download it on the Apple App store today!
Cosmos
Cosmos is a new Pinterest alternative coming out soon. I’ll try and explain my opinion of the “vibe” this way after reading the website - It’s a modern bookmark manager that has light social elements and uses AI. It kinda reminds me of Arena, but with a HEAVY emphasis on bookmark management. I’m excited to check it out! Join the waitlist at the link.
TipTop
TipTop looks REALLY COOL. It’s a spin on Offerup, Facebook Marketplace - but instead of you having to stress about having to manually list what you want to sell - TipTop will scan your Gmail/Amazon for goods you already own and give you an instant cash offer!
Shelf
Shelf summarizes your week with a “digital shelf” of what you’ve spent your time on - books, music, TV, etc. It’s an interesting idea - a reinvention of a lot of social features out there that no one uses anymore (favorite books, tv, etc on Facebook). Join the waitlist!
🍜Perpetual Stews
Stewwww glorious stewwwwww……
I discovered from BaileyCarlin on Twitter the most marvelous thing.
a “perpetual stew proprietress” in New York named Annie is serving up free Stew every (good weather) day in New York.
It’s not just any stew - it’s a perpetual stew - the kind you can keep going for years and years.
Hey stew lovers, craving something steamy? Wanna make friends in NYC? Join me and some strangers at stew o'clock (7pm ET) at a park in Bushwick. Bring an ingredient for the pot (no meat please). (source)
As long as they stay at boiling temps, stews can be kept going in perpetuity - as long as they are kept at 200 degrees Fahrenheit or greater.
I wrote more about Perpetual Stew last year - there’s several fun links to check out!
The Perpetual Stew Club is both A). an endless stew and B). the opportunity to find and make new friends.
You can bring friends, drinks, bread, and ingredients (no meat) to add to the stew.
The BEST part about the Stew Club is the DAILY updates that full of wit, humor, and stewtastic puns. Here’s a few examples . . .
June 16, 2023: Keeping stew levels low. The broth is so unique and complex and yet I can't bear to eat another bite. I'm kind of sick of stew, but definitely not sick from stew. Important distinction.
July 8, 2023: There is now a Business Insider article about the stew. Insider posted it on their Instagram and most of the comments, to my delight, are supportive. As the stew's story has spread, I've braced myself for critics. You know, the "that can't be safe!" and "this is so stupid" and "this perpetual stew isn't even as long as the 48-year-old one in Thailand" people. And to my surprise, there aren't very many of them (source)
There’s a TON of other fun entries. I heartily recommend reading them all.
They’ll likely make you crave stew (I know I crave stew now).
The last event will be held on August 6 per the about page of the Perpetual Stew club - so if you’re near New York, I encourage you to get a cup of the stew before it disappears into the mists of time.
Go read more about the Perpetual Stew Club at the link! The about page is a treasure trove of interesting links about Perpetual Stews, so make sure you check that out too.
🍨 Grimace Shake Challenge
or - the day Grimace showed up in the SCP universe.
I’ve written about SCP in the past - but for a quick refresher - it’s essentially a universe in which a mysterious organization protects Earth from monsters. They keep the monsters in underground labs and prisons.
It’s a collaborative project in which writers are encouraged to write stories, archive entries, and contribute to the SCP universe. To get a feel for what it’s like - check out this entry about The Fountain of Youth.
Here’s a link to my old article to learn more if you’re interested!
Many habitual TikTok users have been exposed to the SCP universe, and the Backroom universe.
I guess I can’t mention THAT without giving links haha
Backroom Universe - Like if you got stuck in some sort of mall alternate dimension forever. This universe keeps growing in terms of content creation, as SCP does. A living universe, so to speak.
Deep dive the Backrooms
Watch a TikTok explanation - there’s a TON of lore too
a Found Footage movie from the Backrooms (pretty unsettling)
ANYWAY - this gives us the proper context to discuss the Grimace challenge.
The Grimace Shake challenge started with horror videos. People drank the shake, which “summoned” Grimace to kill them.
The fun part about taking part in this challenge was the affordability - all you had to do was buy a shake, then pretend to die / be dead in some gruesome manner.
Yeah - they got dark. prettttyyyyy dark
Within days, people began building lore to explain why Grimace was killing people. Grimace was mad that no one celebrated his birthday since the 90’s so he went full psycho.
For example - this mashup of creepy Grimace photos or this video fleshing out the motivations behind Grimace’s murders.
My favorites included this 1.5-minute short film where the protagonist tries to solve the mystery, or this dramatic short film.
The old trends set the stage for people to start building a world around Grimace - they’ve seen SCP or Backroom videos. Why not flesh things out? Figure out why Grimace is doing this? Get revenge on Grimace?
Even Michael Myers ended up killing him.
It’s insane how much work people put into these on behalf of a multi billon dollar brand’s mascot.
McDonalds responded to the meme with ONE single tweet.
The head of social media at McDonalds said this in a tweet.
It took us a bit of time to process what was happening. The campaign was already wildly successful, both on a social and business standpoint, so why would we take the "risk" to jump in? But hours of watching, reading the comments, trying to learn and genuinely understand helped us see what this was about : brilliant creativity, unfiltered fun, peak absurdist gen z humor, just the way a new generation of creators and consumers play with brands. I've seen videos which levels of production and craft made me smile silently in admiration and wonder. I've seen fan arts that made us send dozen of emails and texts to friends and colleagues saying "omg did you see that"? We then discussed what was the right thing to do about the trend : saying nothing felt disconnected, encouraging it felt self-serving, so we just decided to show our fans that we see them and their creativity in a sweet, candid and genuine way, as grimace would. The same way you would respectfully and gently nod at someone, without repeating what they said to show you agree with them and stealing their thunder. (source)
It was a insane success for McDonalds, and I wonder how much it will help their sales in the years to come. Will we point back to this campaign as the marker that pushed Gen Z to love McDonalds?
Maybe. I’m holding out hope that McDonald’s creates an official horror short film.
🐙 The Land of Random
Randommmm Randommmm over the Randomm we go.
The Zenphone 10
Marques Brownleee reviews the Zenphone 10 - and has high praise! It’s a really cool phone - quite possibly the perfect small Android phone.
Play the Cello with Viola the Bird
Some of the most fun I’ve had with a web app - use your mouse or cursor to make beautiful music!
Finally: An E-Ink Display for Sale
For the low low price of around $3,000 you can have your very own e-ink newspaper display screen. No buttons, no touch - just read the front page.
The Coolest Park I’ve Seen in a Long Time
This park in Poland is incredible - it’s a radical blend of concrete, plants, and other interesting architectural elements. It’s beautiful!
Make an Interactive Story
Remember those choose your own adventure books? Time to make your own - mindmap style!
The Old Twitter Layout
With this chrome extension, you can return to the good ole days of Twitter.
🤖 AI AHHHHHHHHH!
Ah yes - Throw together the AI arms race and AGI and we end up the children of AI
An AI browser where you can run projects right in the browser. one click installs!!
Conversational AI sales calls are not just “almost here” - they’re here
TikToks You Can’t Miss
Surely there’s an explanation for this - surely this isn’t just one portion of food
Top comment is TRUTH - wholesome pranks are the best ones.
My good sir, how did you survive picking that up
This rooster was indeed the Greatest of All Time
That’s all for this week! See you next time.