Got A TGI Fridays Gift Card? There's $50 Million Reasons Why You Should Use It

These are the best things I found on the internet this week!

Hey friends,

No fancy shmancy intro this week. Let’s get into another batch of my “conversation starters,” the best, most interesting and most entertaining content on the internet in the past week. Read, watch, and enjoy!

What’s the coolest story or thing you found on the internet this week? Reply to this email and shoot me a link. Would love to hear from you!

• Our Long Read of the Week had about five different paragraphs that made my jaw drop to the floor. It’s a profile of Ben Mezrich, who wrote the books that turned into The Social Network and Dumb Money, and claims to have a foolproof plan for making millions as a writer. First, he mixes fact and fiction freely, and second he sells his IP for movies before he even writes his books. Like I said, absolutely insane read.

• TGI Friday’s is currently going through bankruptcy, and is terrified what will happen if customers seek to redeem more than $50 million in unused gift cards that are currently outstanding. Some are more than 20 years old!

• It’s my strong personal belief that internet comedy is best when it is…extremely weird. This card magician trick certainly qualifies, and left me both dumbfounded and cracking up.

• Every since I saw the Obit. documentary, I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for quirky obituaries. This week Elwood Edwards died, a man whose name you’ve probably never heard but who’s voice you absolutely have — he voiced AOL’s “You’ve Got Mail” jingle, and made a whopping $200 for it.

• Meanwhile, OpenAI spent more than $15 million on a URL. They’re the new proud owner of the domain chat dot com, which will redirect you to ChatGPT. Just imagine how much mattcraig dot substack dot com will go for one day!! (…crickets)

• The ripple effects of Trump being elected have spread into literally every single industry. For example, dystopian books like The Handmaid’s Tale are rocketed back up the best-seller charts.

• Ahead of his biopic coming next month, I’ve been thinking a lot about Bob Dylan, and specifically his cultish fanbase. Much like the Swifties, they can always find a way to justify whatever insane thing he’s doing. You should see all the ways Dylan-ologists are bending over backwards to explain his recent non sequitur tweets, other than the obvious explanation — that he’s an octogenarian who doesn’t know how to use social media.

Thanks for reading and sharing! Movie season rolls on in Friday’s newsletter, come back and see!