Best of the Web: Vol. 5

We live in an era in which James Bond villains are real, and we still can’t figure out if that’s cool or not.

Illustration: DonkeyHotey / Wikimedia Commons

Welcome to our monthly news roundup, Best of the Web, a curation of noteworthy content you may have missed of late.

The only rules are: No politics, and no religion.

Don’t worry, we’ll talk about the gaslighting thing.

As always, if you know of a great website, podcast, shop or anything else a man of taste would enjoy, drop us a line at info@crownshavingco.com. There’s a chance we’ll publish your recommendation. And if you like, we’ll even give you a shout-out right here on this blog. No joke.


Men’s Grooming Around The World

Good Haircut Examples Among Few Silver Linings For A World Cup Otherwise Mired by Controversy

In fact, the world’s biggest sporting tournament has always been a well of haircut ideas.

For instance, Tunisia may have seen themselves out earlier than they’d wanted, but they did best Mbappe’s France in the opening round 1-0 in a fine display of heart, and Man United’s Hannibal Mejbri’s hair is just surfer-level awesome. Think he uses sea salt for that thing?

Portugal’s shock quarter final exit may have belied their on-paper firepower, but tourney darlings, Morocco, were having none of it. Either way, Portuguese midfielder, Ruben Neves, proved pony-tails aren’t easy to rock, but when they’re rocked well, nothing looks cooler. However, they do run the risk of getting… accosted by teammates.

It’s a shame the whole thing’s sullied by maybe the worst case of corruption in athletic history.

Sports

Dave The Cat Reminds Us Why Felines Rule, Even In Sports

Speaking of the World Cup: England’s hopes of snagging that elusive second star were dashed by the French last weekend in maybe the best game of the tourney thus far.

But see if John Stones and Kyle Walker care. The centre back and right back (respectively) recently adopted a stray cat in Qatar and they’re taking him back home.

“Some people really don’t like the cat, but I love him,” declared Walker, who kept France’s Kylian Mbappe quieter than a mime, despite England’s 2-1 loss to France.

That a boy, Kyle.

(Via BBC)

Technology

Don’t Want To Write That Essay? Musk’s Latest ChatBot (Read: Artificial Intelligence) Will Do It (Soon)

If you know us, you know we’ve been following the rise of A.I. like a Netflix series.

And as if journalists needed any more reason to fear extinction.

(Via The Guardian)

Current Culture

Merriam-Webster Announces “Gaslighting” As Word of the Year, Drops More Buzzkill Vibes On Everyone

Your favourite English dictionary revealed the dreariest word of the year list in recent memory, one that featured “gaslighting” as top billing.

Couldn’t they have at least included some fun ones, like “gassy”?

At least they explained the aforesaid word’s origin; The term comes from a 1938 British play called Gas Light, in which this total douche fucks with the lights to fool his wife into thinking she’s lost it, so he can then steal from her.

(Via AOL.com)

A Pair Of Thieves In A Town Called Springfield Crash Into Each Other During Getaway

This is the sort of thing we’d expect to see on an episode of The Simpsons.

The best part is both men made a break for it on foot post-crash, but the cops caught them like that.

(Via KY3)

Kanye West Says Elon Musk Looks Like A “Genetically Engineered Clone

You thought you’d heard it all, huh?

And no, we’re not calling the guy “Ye.”

(Via Indepedent)

This is a work in progress, so there’s more to come!…