The Brunch round-up for December 27: The week and how it made us feel
Getting influenced. Samantha has silky hair, wears luxurious designer coats, knit dresses and cashmere cardigans. She’s a lifestyle and fashion muse. She looks elegant in profile. Or course she would; she’s an Afghan hound. Sigh. Even Edinburgh doggos have more rizz than us now.
Deep diving. Look, we never said we knew James Cameron well. Turns out, we know less than we thought. He’s a deep-sea explorer, a “future-vore” (his word for vegan), and he drew Rose’s nude portrait in Titanic. Here’s the lore he recently dropped: While filming The Abyss in 1989, Cameron gave Beanie, a rat, CPR on set and saved its life. “We were brothers,” he later said. We stan!
Dolling up. We’d been waiting for the Labubu’s downfall. It’s finally here. Meet Mirumi, Japan’s new robot charm. Fluffy, cuddly, interactive. It clings to your bag, nods at you and reacts when you pet it. If we’re spending money on a tiny companion, it’s this. Not an overrated gremlin.
Staying unplugged. Amsterdam’s Offline Club is not a disco. It an internet-free space for those who want to quit social media, and instead knit, crochet, play boardgames,have face-to-face chats, nap and do nothing in a safe space. The club hangs out in parks, churches, metros and cafes. This is what nirvana looks like in 2026.
Lost in the loop. Video platform Vine is rebooting. It’s coming back as diVine, to help counter AI slop. Corny name. But it’s got lakhs of archived six-second clips from the 2010s, the OG era of brainrot. Remember the Why You Always Lying guy (the greatest remix ever) and the “I smell like beef” kid? The world is healing.
In a Taste Freeze. Millennials, are you scrolling through Spotify’s New Release Friday and thinking “meh, nothing slaps”? Do Afrobeats and electro K-pop make you miss Vengaboys and Britney Spears? It’s not you, it’s science. Researchers say that by 33, your ears start craving the familiar over the new. Remember your parents grumbling about the radio hits? Congrats… that’s you now.
Putting up walls. Goodbye open-concept homes. Good riddance. We never wanted fluid layouts. Or, eww, a view of the bedroom from the hall. Or, double eww, kitchen smells reaching the desk. Or hearing the toilet flush as we watched TV. Let’s also bring office cubicles back. Sanjeev’s two-hour client calls are a bit much.
Pumped for pups. A new pill for senior dogs might extend their life expectancy by up to six years. That’s six more years of zoomies, walks and cuddles. It might be available this year. If immortality is on the table, let it go to doggos than oligarchs.
From HT Brunch, January 03, 2026. Follow us on www.instagram.com/HTBrunch
