Random Screenshots from My Travels

I take screenshots of things I see while surfing the web. On my phone, on my desktop. Doesn’t matter. “Oh, that’s interesting/amusing/weird/useful.” I take a screenshot, because I might want to come back to it later. Of course, then I never do. And the result is a folder full of screenshots on my hard drive, some of which (like Linux stuff), that is just gathering wool… erm, electrons.

So, clearing off the phone today, I took a look through my latest collection of screenshots. No random highways I might have known, though I have collected more of these weird Facebook posts for a second installment.

Some ugly Hawaiian shirts Facebook tried to sell me…

“Open the TARDIS doors, HAL…”

Let’s be frank. I think both of these look cool. I would absolutely not wear either of them. I didn’t even click through to see the prices. They do look cool, though!

A strange movie poster…

This is some sort of AI-generated movie poster for The Dark Knight Rises. The list of actors is accurate, but the people on the poster are not them. I see stuff like this on Facebook… semi-frequently? I made a screenshot of a poster for a Chris Pine Star Trek film, but nothing about the poster made any sense.

Like the highways generated content, what is this for? I see that people are reacting to and sharing this, but it’s inaccurate AI garbage. That isn’t Anne Hathaway as Catwoman on the poster. She’s attractive, whoever she is, but she’s not in the film. Bald bearded guy? Not sure who he’s supposed to be. Also, not in the film.

This stuff is strange.

“I’m the Dark Lord now. Dark Lords are cool.”

Would I like to see Matt Smith as Morgoth in a film adaptation–or, more realistically, given its scale, a film series–of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion? Yes, yes I would.

Is this a real film coming out in 2025? No, no it is not.

Facebook is chock full of AI-generated fake film poster slop. Not just AI slop posters of real films, like The Dark Knight Rises above, but films that don’t and will never exist.

I just noticed the AI couldn’t even spell “Silmarillion.”

At dawn on the fifth day, look to the east…

Screenshot from Twitter of a Tweet from BBC Scotland. "Storm Éowyn," it reads, "set to batter the UK with 80mph winds." And there's a map., showing the storm over Scotland and Northern Ireland.

What did Scotland do to Éowyn, shieldmaiden of Rohan? Did Scotland burn the Westfold? Did Scotland kill her uncle and threaten to desecrate his body on the Pelennor Fields? Whatever Scotland did, Scotland surely deserved it.

I kid, I kid. I love Scotland.

Finally…

It's 0 degrees outside. What The Forecast wants me to know this is 'Not shorts weather.' Definitely not!

Definitely not shorts weather when I woke this morning. 0 degrees. Nope, not shorts weather.

Those are some of my screenshots. This will not be a regular feature. Unless Facebook tries selling me weird and mockable stuff.

Published by Allyn Gibson

A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over fifteen years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.

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