Weekly Rewind: December 8

5. Taylor Swift meme sinks her badass reputation

It was the week that began with a meme. A Taylor Swift meme. Twitter user Nutella challenged social media users to 'Name a bitch badder than Taylor Swift' in a nod to Swift's recently-released album, Reputation, in which she controversially attempted to leave behind her innocent reputation and reinvent herself as a badass according to the Guardian.

However her efforts were seemingly lost on her fans as they've listed historical figures, female activists and even family members as being more powerful than the pop icon. Even Droga5 London CCO David Kolbusz made mention of the meme trend. Although, hate to break it to you Taylor, but he, too, supported the meme mockery.  

 4. Fake news gains support for Putin calendar

Endorsements from influencers is a popular way to attract new customers to your product and, hopefully, help to shift some stock. And it seems Vladmir Putin and his team have adopted this approach, when trying to flog the 2018 presidential calendar. According to the BBC, the 2018 organiser has been very well received in Russia, leading Russian newspapers to claim that they are also "suddenly fashionable" in the UK and "selling like hot cakes" over here. A Russian journalist has investigated these stories and found that they've been embellished somewhat. UK publications have mocked the calendar and limited stock is available online - but if you're still shopping for Christmas presents, it could make a nice stocking filler...

3. Gremlins fan film get us ready for a festive film frenzy

Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without the slew of festive films that are shown on TV over the course of the holidays. Even if you're a super-fan of Love, Actually, The Santa Claus Movie, Jingle All the Way or Miracle on 34th Street, watching them for the 50th time can get a bit dull. So, instead, treat yourself to a fan film sequel to another Christmas classic, Gremlins. As we reported on shots.net earlier today, director Ryan Patrick has created a brilliant follow-up to the 1984 critters-gone-crazy movie with Gremlins: Recall. Set 30 years after the original film, it's a paean to the Joe Dante-directed original and can almost make you forget about Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Almost. 

2. I know this lovely little place over in Dulwich...

We've all been there, right? Someone asks you for a restaurant recommendation and though you want to sound like an in-the-know, culturally hip, culinary competent font of wisdom, you usually end up at McDonald's come kicking out time, swaying with the masses as you clamber for your hit of processed fast food to soak up the copious amount of alcohol you've just imbibed even though you told your partner you were 'only having the one'. This is especially true at Christmas. But when those recommends are sought, you can always rely on TripAdvisor to have your back and make you seem part of the culturally elite.

Well, maybe not. As the Evening Standard reported this week, a man called Oobah Butler managed to 'trick' TripAdvisor, by creating a fake website and getting his friends to write fake reviews, into ranking the shed in his Dulwich garden (which in no way is a restaurant of any description). Images of meals photos of meals were created using household items such bleach, shaving foam and paint, and even Mr Oobah’s own foot. Hey, don't knock it 'til you've tried it...

1. Voice activated AI gets ticked off by WIRED

It's the future! This time next... year?... we'll all be talking to virtual butlers who will competently and graciously do our bidding. Playing music, sending messages, booking restaurants, taking notes and many things in between, our artificial aides will be at our beck and call. Well, actually, maybe not. Not according to one WIRED writer, anyway. James Temperton wrote a pretty scathing review of Google's new Pixel Bud earphones, saying they are "a badly-designed solution to a problem that doesn’t exist". Ouch! But that's not all. Temperton goes on to explain why there's still a long was to go before voice activated AI dominates our lives and that the big players like Google, Apple and Amazon still have a lot of work to do.