Buzz
In this week's Out-of-Touch guide, we take a look at one of the most viral videos ever: the debut trailer for RockStar Games' Grand Theft Auto 6. On the other end of the spectrum, avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson is gaining unexpected fame as a TikTok sensation, while I’ve found a guide to help me decode all the internet jokes I’ve been missing.
Viral video of the week: GTA 6 trailer immediately breaks virality record
The trailer for Rockstar Games' much-anticipated open-world crime epic Grand Theft Auto VI has gone absolutely viral this week, smashing the record for the most first-day views of a non-music video on YouTube. In just 24 hours, the trailer racked up more than 90 million views. By the third day, the count exceeded 130 million. You can help boost that number by clicking below.
Set in Vice City, the game's Miami-inspired counterpart, this marks the first GTA installment to feature a female protagonist. The trailer showcases visuals influenced by real-life viral videos shot in Florida, and it looks absolutely wild.
As expected, the inclusion of a Latina woman as the main character in a GTA game has sparked tired accusations of “wokeism” from the worst corners of the internet, along with baseless rumors claiming that Lucia is trans.
Putting aside the opinions of the ignorant, Rockstar faces a tricky cultural balancing act. The Grand Theft Auto series’ shock-value parody, which aimed to offend everyone equally, started feeling outdated by the time GTA 5 debuted in 2013, and it definitely wouldn’t work today. Not because people are too 'sensitive,' but because that style of edgy humor has become as tired as Mother-in-Law jokes and Andrew Dice Clay routines, especially among younger audiences.
Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until 2025 to see how Rockstar navigates these challenges and find out whether the game lives up to the hype set by the incredible first trailer.
Reddit’s meme-explainer: Peter breaks down the joke
Ever come across a meme or joke online that just left you puzzled? Something like this perhaps:
Or maybe this one:
Now, there's a subreddit that can help clear up any confusion. Simply head over to r/PeterExplainsTheJoke where over 300,000 people are ready to break things down for you (a service we, the 'fossils,' often need). To keep things from getting too pedantic—since explaining jokes can easily go in that direction—the sub has users post comments in the voice of Peter Griffin from Family Guy, as the name suggests. Not sure why they do it that way; that’s yet another internet joke I don’t get.
Explanations (not in the style of Peter Griffin):
Meme 1: The bartender asks if everyone in the group wants a beer. The first two logicians each want one, but since they don’t know what the others want, the only logical answer is “I don’t know.” The third logician, however, knows the others must want a beer because if they didn't, they would have answered “no.” Therefore, they respond with “yes. (everyone wants a beer.)”
Meme 2: The image shows cosmic radiation. The reference comes from a seemingly impossible glitch spotted during a 2013 livestream of a Mario 64 speedrun by TeabagSLR. The glitch occurred when Mario suddenly jumped higher than he should have, but only once. The Mario 64 speedrunning community gathered to try and replicate the glitch, even offering a $1,000 reward for an explanation. Despite using the exact inputs Teabag used, they couldn’t replicate it, which led to the theory that a stray ionizing particle from space flipped a single bit on Teabag’s Nintendo 64 at just the right moment to benefit his speed run—an astronomically unlikely event that was (perhaps) confirmed when pannenkoek12 figured out exactly which byte flipped when and recreated it manually, ultimately duplicating the glitch.
TikTok has unearthed a new Christmas cliché: red trucks carrying Christmas trees
Ever come across a new word, only to start noticing it everywhere? Red pickup trucks with Christmas trees are like that. Once you're tuned into this classic symbol of a cozy, homey Christmas, you'll spot it everywhere, from Thanksgiving through to New Year's.
TikToker mello_yoshi was the first to pick up on this imagery when his mother gifted him a set of holiday ornaments, featuring 12 different decorations with trucks hauling Christmas trees, while joyfully repeating the phrase, 'a little red truck—hauling a Christmas tree!' This sparked a trend, with others posting their own red trucks hauling trees, both from decorations and real life, often mimicking mello_yoshi’s distinctive twang. If you're keen to see these little red trucks, you can either explore the hashtag—which has already attracted 14 million viewers—or simply take a look at your own holiday décor. I’m sure you’ll find at least one.
Why is TikTok obsessed with 'O Superman'?
It’s always intriguing when older music suddenly makes a comeback, whether from The Mountain Goats or Fleetwood Mac. What makes this song, at this very moment, resonate with a generation who wasn’t even born when it was first released? Take, for example, the resurgence of 1980s experimental artist Laurie Anderson. Though never a mass-market hit during her heyday—Anderson was too avant-garde for broad popularity—her iconic track “O Superman” is now going viral on TikTok. It's being paired with videos that make you pause and think deeply about life's biggest questions. Anderson’s line “Well, you don't know me, but I know you, and I've got a message” has become a key element in videos exploring the connections to our ancestors, the surprising ways the universe reveals itself, and the feeling that “you actually came from somewhere.” This trend is just getting started, but I’m really hoping it grows. I can’t get enough of these captivating, thought-provoking videos and I’m excited to see more.
