Drop in the Ocean
While the COVID-19 pandemic is naturally on the top of everyone’s list of worries right now, there are plenty of other issues facing humanity and the world in general. Not least among these is plastic pollution, so when the latter can help fight the former, it’s good news for everyone. The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) has come out with a range of face masks, made using plastic pollution from the world’s oceans, and are presently available for pre-order. The 15,000 masks already ordered, PADI says, have helped remove and reuse close to 600 kgs of ocean waste. “We are not profiting from this product,” Lisa Nicklin, from PADI Worldwide, told CNN. “We’re very much a heart-and-soul organization. We care about the ocean and our diver community, so we wanted to be able to put our hands on our hearts and say that we’re not profiting off this difficult time.”
Lights, Camera, Action
Celebrities around the world are putting their faces on all sorts of charity drives and relief efforts to help combat the global pandemic.Baby Driver star Ansel Elgort, however, decided to put his entire anatomy to good use, when he posted a nude picture of himself on Instagram to help raise money for fellow actor Jeffrey Wright’s ‘Brooklyn for Life!’ fundraiser. Elgort captioned his skin pic, writing “OnlyFans LINK IN BIO” which redirects those who click to the fundraiser’s page.While Instagram made him remove the picture because of the nudity, Elgort later posted a video on Instagram stories, and while noting that donations were increasing, said, “I don’t know how much of this is from the post, but it seems a lot of people have been giving in the last few hours. Thanks a lot, looks like it was worth it. Sorry if I offended anybody, but we did a good thing. And my dad took the picture by the way. He was mad, he said that I needed to give him credit.” Given Elgort’s fan following, we’re betting his dad’s not the only mad one, especially with the picture having been taken down.
Celebrity Feud
It took a global pandemic for these two Hollywood superstars to finally put their longstanding ‘feud’ to rest, though something tells us they’ll be at each others’ throats as soon as this crisis will pass. Real life close friends and on-camera arch-nemeses Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman came together to announce they are putting their long-running (fake) one-upmanship aside for once, and collaborating to help raise money for America’s Food Fund. “For one day and one day only, we’ve agreed to agree to not disagree,” Reynolds says in the video. “And only a pandemic could make that happen.” Those who donate will get the opportunity to have Reynolds and Jackman visit their homes (post the pandemic, obviously) and even help the winning donors’ kids sell lemonade from a lemonade stand. Naturally, as the pair made the video announcement from their respective homes, the message quickly devolved into a lot of eye-rolling and scoffing as the actors did their best not to tear each other down, as is their usual gag for the cameras. And just like the two actors, the joke never seems to get old.