Weekly Internet Roundup: Photoshopped Landings, Sydney Sweeney on 'Hot Ones', and Trauma Dumping on Elmo

Hello! It's time for the roundup of notable things that have captured the interest of the internet this week. It's fair to say that people on social media have really let their imaginations run riot in the past few days. Read on for more details.

Sydney Sweeney and Y/N

People are projecting their distasteful fantasies onto Sydney Sweeney again, but for once they don't seem to involve her cleavage. The Euphoria actress was a guest on the premier celebrity interview show and wing eating contest Hot Ones at the end of last month, and the promotional image that was used enamored many meme makers eager to pretend it was them she was gazing adoringly at. What followed were numerous imaginary scenarios in which Sweeney had her eyes on the prize, in what is becoming one of the most oversaturated celebrity memes of the year so far. Cuffing season can't end soon enough.

McMansion or Video Game Level?

Whether looking at it or living in it, stupid architecture is a supremely irritating thing. Its one benefit, as proven by a recent viral moment, is that the right kind of useless design feature has the ability to start a meme. 

When self-styled “real estate investing coach” Alan Corey took to Twitter to ask for ways to utilize a common feature he saw in modern American homes, he probably didn't expect the scale of response that he got. His picture of an inaccessible floor above the front door of a home became a springboard for creative types to Photoshop all kinds of solutions that had varying plausibility. While some were pretty funny, they didn't escape the fact that every single one looked like a good way to gather dust.

RIP TikTok Singles Campaigns

There has been some unfortunate news for lip syncers and the place that encourages them this week, with Universal Music Group demanding their entire catalog be taken off TikTok following an expired licensing agreement. Artists pulled and/or muted in videos include Drake, Olivia Rodrigo, and Taylor Swift.

In an open letter to TikTok, Universal argued that it was not compensating artists fairly while also profiting off the access to the work of so many of them. Both are fair points, but I wish they had been forced to strike the insufferable ‘I think I like this little life’ sound from the platform instead.

Elmo the Samaritan 

Both internet lovers and haters are no strangers to the fact that the terminally online don't tend to be the most mentally stable of individuals. Someone probably should have warned Elmo, because the beloved Sesame Street character has been caught up in a whirlwind of dark confessions and cries for help after innocently asking the people of Twitter how they were doing. 

The sad, disturbed, and engagement-hungry responded in their thousands when Elmo conducted his check in with everybody, attracting so much attention that even President Joe Biden felt like he had to offer some words of encouragement. When politicians start using it for PR, you know things are bad.

So ends another summary of viral shenanigans. It won't be long until these are all a footnote in the sprawling tome of internet history, but we can still enjoy them while they last. Until next time!