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Morning gents.
As I mentioned last issue, Summer blockbuster season is in full swing. Let’s talk about a film that is in theaters currently and has one of the most bizarre origin stories around.
Let’s get into it.
🗓️ Today in History
June 5th, 2013 – Edward Snowden first leaks classified information
On June 5, 2013, the world learned that the U.S. government was collecting massive amounts of phone and internet data when former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified documents to the press. The revelations exposed surveillance programs that tracked phone metadata, monitored online communications, and gathered information from major technology companies, sparking one of the biggest intelligence controversies in modern history. To some, Snowden was a whistleblower who revealed government overreach; to others, he was a traitor who compromised national security. More than a decade later, the debate he ignited over privacy, security, and how much governments should know about their citizens is still raging.
❓ Trivia
What is Yahoo an "backronym" for?
P.S. We’re now breaking down the answers at the end of each edition, so you get a little more insight.
How a Random Online Image Turned Into a Hollywood Movie
The internet creates a lot of weird things. Most of them disappear after a week.
The Backrooms somehow did the exact opposite.
If you’ve spent any time online over the last few years, you’ve probably seen either of the images below. Yellow walls. Ugly carpet. Fluorescent lights. What seems like could be maze of empty office space that somehow feels deeply unsettling despite containing absolutely nothing.
The Backrooms began in 2019 when an anonymous user posted the image on 4chan (an anonymous imageboard website) along with a short description claiming that if you “noclip out of reality,” you could end up trapped there. “No clipping out of reality” is accidentally falling through the cracks of our world into a terrifying, endless pocket dimension. It was only a few sentences long, but it hit a nerve.
Almost immediately, people began adding their own ideas. New levels. New monsters. New rules. What started as a single creepy image slowly evolved into a massive community-created horror universe. Before long, there were entire wikis dedicated to cataloging the different areas and creatures lurking within the endless yellow halls.
The concept exploded because it tapped into something oddly familiar. Almost everyone has experienced a place that feels wrong. An empty mall. A deserted school hallway. An office building after everyone has gone home. The Backrooms felt like that feeling turned into a location.
Soon, YouTube creators and indie game developers jumped in. Dozens of Backrooms games appeared online, ranging from simple exploration simulators to full-blown survival horror experiences. The Backrooms had become one of the internet’s most recognizable pieces of modern folklore.
Then a teenager changed everything.
In 2022, a 16-year-old creator named Kane Parsons, better known as Kane Pixels, uploaded a found-footage short film called The Backrooms. Using impressive visual effects and filmmaking techniques, he made the Backrooms feel terrifyingly real. The video racked up millions of views and spawned a series that became one of YouTube’s biggest horror successes. Check out his YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kanepixels
Now the internet-born phenomenon is making the leap to Hollywood. Parsons has been tapped to direct a feature-length Backrooms film, turning a creepy image that started on an anonymous message board into a major motion picture. Parsons will be one of the youngest directors ever to helm a major studio horror film. It's a remarkable journey for a story that began with a single unsettling photograph and a few lines of text.
The Backrooms trailer (out now in theaters): Click here
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🍽️ Last Bite
🎰 Trivia Breakdown
The founders, Jerry Yang and David Filo, picked the word “Yahoo” because it showed up in Gulliver’s Travels as a label for wild, noisy humans, not exactly a polished corporate branding exercise. The famous expansion people repeat, “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle,” wasn’t the origin at all, it was a tongue-in-cheek backronym invented after the fact when tech companies were obsessed with making everything sound like it belonged in a textbook,
What’d you think of today’s edition? 👇
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