Solving The Internet's Biggest Mystery
Things I've Been Enjoying - November 21, 2024
Howdy!
For the past week I have been fascinated by lost media - media that are considered entirely lost to time or extremely hard to find. The internet, for all its flaws, has done an incredible job recovering, identifying, and preserving lost media, specifically when it comes to Lostwave - music with little to no information available about it.
I have some awesome stories about lost media below, and if you’re interested there’s an entire wiki dedicated to it. Browse through it, maybe you’ll end up solving one of the world’s biggest mysteries.
Here are some Things I’ve Been Enjoying:
In 2007, a woman asked the internet for help identifying a song that her brother had recorded in Germany thirty years earlier. The song (which is really good) soon became known as The Most Mysterious Song On The Internet. For years, the internet pursued hundreds of leads but failed to identify it. That is… until two weeks ago. This is such a feelgood story and proves that we’re living in The Golden Age of Lostwave. If you enjoyed it, I highly recommend reading Catherine Sinow’s article titled Needles in Haystacks: The Lostwave Story.
In a similar vein, Celebrity Number Six has been found. If you don’t know what this means, here’s the gist: In 2020, a Reddit user asked the internet for help identifying the celebrities printed on a set of curtains. Seven of the eight faces were immediately identified, but one of them could not be found. The face was dubbed Celebrity Number Six, and it started a manhunt that involved 50,000 people and took four years. Another fun story that has a really cool ending.
In a somewhat-similar-but-more-creepy vein, why is there an image of a blonde woman hidden in the movie Shrek? And why was a topless woman inserted into two frames from the 1977 Disney film The Rescuers? Two questions that may never be answered.
Casey Neistat is back with another banger - DO HARD THINGS. If you’re a Casey fan, you probably already know what this is about. If not, I guarantee that this video will motivate you to do something wildly challenging in the next year. Don’t lose that energy! (Note: I want to run the NYC Marathon. I’m a shit runner, so if you have any resources/training materials that can help me in this journey, please send them my way!)
As many of you know, I’m a huge fan of Atlas Obscura. I check their site every time I visit a new city to find cool places that are off the beaten path. That’s why I was pumped to hear that they listed Ohio as one of twenty locations in their 2025 Where To Wander guide! It’s one of only three places in the United States, so it feels very special. If you’ve never been to our beautiful slice of heaven, add Ohio to your 2025 travel plans!
Anora is probably my favorite movie I’ve seen in theaters this year. Not only was the acting phenomenal, but the writing was so genuinely real. There was no part of this movie that felt like a movie - and it’s hilarious! Like laugh-out-loud funny. Everyone in it could become the next big star and I’d be very happy. You can watch the trailer, but I recommend going in blind. All you need to know is that it’s about a stripper and the son of a Russian billionaire. Yes, there’s nudity.
I fucking love all of the grassroots celebrity lookalike contests being held across the country. My favorite this week was the Jeremy Allen White lookalike contest in Chicago. If you hear of any Tony Soprano, Will Sasso, or Roger Miller contests, let me know!
In November of 2020 I was trapped alone in my Chicago studio apartment preparing for the loneliest Thanksgiving of my life. To beat the blues, I braved the cold and walked to ALDI to pick up ingredients for a homemade Thanksgiving dinner. It wasn’t great, but it got me through that tough time. I think everyone should have a Thanksgiving dinner. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but a little turkey and mashed potatoes goes a long way for your mental health. So I think it’s pretty cool that ALDI and a few other stores are now selling all-in-one Thanksgiving Dinners for under $50. Treat yourself and invite some friends!
This woman cured her own cancer with viruses she grew in a lab. This is not clickbait. It’s really interesting!
This quick quiz will tell you what country of the world you should move to based on your preferences for social norms, healthcare, and FREEDOM. I got Portugal ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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About Matt
For those of you who don’t know, I’m a comedian originally from Cleveland, Ohio, USA. I make videos on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube while also writing about the interesting things I discover each week. That’s what you can expect in this newsletter, a hodgepodge of articles, videos, and other things that I think are worth sharing. If you like what you see I encourage you to forward this email to a friend so they can read it too. Thanks for being here!