Roundup: The Best From Around the Web, April

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We're back! This month, President Obama tells everyone to “stay woke” (or does he?), a college senior lovingly sculpts Owen Wilson’s nose, the Barstool Sports boss hits on “Sloan” from Entourage, and more!

 

1. Jordan Peele Deepfakes President Obama 

We’re not sure if you’re aware, but there’s now algorithmic machine learning technology—deepfakes—that enables anyone to create pretty convincing human simulations using only photo/video data. The tech uses that information to actually train itself to understand what a resulting image or video would look like if, say, you mapped your own face onto the video of a famous speaker.

The above is exactly what Oscar-winner Jordan Peele does here, in part, swapping his lips and his trademark Obama voice impersonation onto an existing video of the ex-Pres. The results are… startling.

 

2. African King Renames a Country

How boss would it be to wake up one day and be like, “Yeah, think I’ll rename the country today.”

That’s exactly what Africa’s last absolute monarch, King Mswati III, did earlier this week as the country celebrated 50 years of independence from British rule. During their Golden Jubilee festivities, the king dropped the proverbial mic in announcing that the country formerly known as Swaziland would now go by “eSwatini.” While this sounds like a moniker perfect for the internet age, it actually translates to “place of the Swazi.” It’s a dope move by a rule and people looking to shed their colonial past.

 

3. El Presidente Interviews Sloan from “Entourage” Over Pizza

This video has a shit ton going for it. First, you have the presence of Emmanuelle Chriqui, the famous actress that played “Sloan” from Entourage (and that currently appears in Super Troopers 2) and a woman that absolutely deserves inclusion on our next “Badass Babes” feature. Second, you have the presence of pizza, the world’s all-time greatest food. And third, you have the presence of Barstool Sports boss, Dave Portnoy.

Why is that latter point noteworthy? Simple: Because El Pres absolutely falls all over himself hitting on Chriqui. It stops well short of being creepy but is just funny. ‘Ole Dave shoots his shot as best he can, wearing his finest suit (he has an excuse, sorta), dropping in the fact that he’s a millionaire now, etc. It’s all highly entertaining.

Click for the video. 

 

4. “Kolohe Andino's Hawaiian Winter in Three Minutes” 

Sick lil piece of editing here for all of you that can’t wait to catch their next tasty wave.

 

5. Gang Life to the Good Life

Andrew Medals’ “Action and Ambition” television show sits down with hip-hop star Nipsey Hussle to discuss how he rose selling mixtape at $100 a pop (he grabbed $100,000 as a result), his current partnership with Atlantic Records, investment in blockchain startups and, of course, how gang life led to his success. Cool stuff.

 

6. Student Lovingly Sculpts Owen Wilson’s Nose

Image Credit: Savannah Lopett

The title kinda says it all. College of Charleston senior, Savannah Lopett, took her love of Owen Wilson to new heights by integrating his “Wow” meme into an art project for her Sculpting 101 class. As you can see, she made a breathtaking sculpture of Wilson’s nose for the piece, which she then covered in a collage of his own headshots. The nose was made from tissue paper, printer paper, plaster, and chicken wire.

Glorious. More here.