Austin airport receives a McFly flight on ‘Back to the Future’ Day
Also: What’s the mostsearched-for costume in Texas?
On Oct. 21, 2015, a young man — who looked suspiciously like Michael J. Fox — rode a hoverboard. The world was never the same.
Neither was the Internet, apparently. Wednesday marked the day that Marty McFly landed in the thenfar-flung future in “Back to the Future Part II,” and if you were anywhere near a social media feed, you would know that no one forgot to celebrate this landmark date. A sample of the movie-inspired headlines that cropped up: “Believe it: ‘Back to the Future’ predicted Trump’s run” from USA Today, “Canada issues DeLorean recall for ‘Back to the Future’ Day” and many, many more.
Was there any doubt a local angle emerged, too? Any traveler checking their flight’s departure time out of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on the big day could also check the itinerary for the airport’s longest direct flight: from the past ... back to the future.
Granted, there were only two tickets available for this flight (and/or drive) through time.
But in honor of McFly’s time-warp day, the Austin airport’s arrivals and departures board featured, for a brief moment in time, the famous LED display of destination, present and last-departed times found on Doc Brown’s time machine. The airport posted pictures of the real-life Easter egg on its Twitter account.
The Austin airport was certainly not the only institution to commemorate this most auspicious pop culture landmark in a creative manner.
The aforementioned USA Today also printed a special wrap replicating the prop newspaper that appeared in the movie, and Nike reportedly sent a pair of self-lacing shoes to Fox himself.
But back to that airport board. What’s the legroom like in a DeLorean?
Trick or Texas
Looking for an original costume this year? Then you might heed a new study by real estate site Estately.
Though they conceded that the data would not in fact help any of their clientele make real estate decisions, Estately recently went about identifying the most googled costumes in the 50 states.
The most searched costume in Texas? Caitlyn Jenner.
The costume, modeled after Jenner’s Vanity Fair cover, has been the subject of much controversy over the last few months. Thousands have signed a Change.org petition asking the costume maker to “stop exploiting Caitlyn Jenner with a transphobic costume.”
Some might cringe at the fact that the controversial costume is Texas’ most searched costume, but it should be noted that Estately’s findings only indicate Internet interest, not what people are actually wearing on Halloween.
Estately, which used 11 years of Google Trends data for their findings, also found that Texans were searching in large quantities for: ant, barbarian, Bigfoot, Cat in the Hat, Cowboys cheerleader, dalmatian, Daphne (Scooby Doo), Doctor Who, Duck Dynasty, Flintstones, football, Fred Flintstone, Freddy Kreuger, gingerbread man, goat, good witch, hillbilly, hobo, Honey Boo Boo, Ku Klux Klan, lizard, luchador mask, movie star, NASCAR, Nazi, Pacman, Pebbles Flintstone, Predator, Rainbow Bright, Rainbow Dash, rock star, Roman soldier, saloon girl, Tooth Fairy, white trash, Wilma Flintstone and 1950s.
— HANNAH THORNBY, AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Stargazing
Zooey Deschanel, whose recent presence around Austin has significantly made us all feel a little more whimsical, revealed the name of her daughter with Jacob Pech
enik: Elsie Otter Pechenik. “Well, we just really like the name Elsie, and then we both love otters,” the “Rock the Kasbah” actress said on NBC’s “Today” on Tuesday. “They’re really sweet, they’re also smart, they use tools, they keep their favorite tools, they hold hands while they sleep. There’s so many amazing things about otters. They’re wonderful animals.” For those meticulously keeping track of Austin celebrity news, Deschanel and Pechenik were married in Travis County in June, and some outlets reported that Elsie Otter was born in Austin. To this name, we say: Keep Austin weird.
British soul star Adele will finally bring us up to date on her life in her new album “25,” the singer announced last week. Like her albums “19” and “21” the Grammy Award winner has titled the LP after her age when she wrote it. (She is currently 27.) Adele has called the album, still without a definite release date, a “make-up album” different than “21,” a “break-up record.” Since her last album, the singer has given birth to a son with boyfriend Simon Konecki. “I’m sorry it took so long, but you know, life happened,” Adele said in a letter announcing the album’s release on Facebook.
— AMANDA O’DONNELL, AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
For everyone who hides their inability to dance by breaking out “funny” moves only — and also for everyone who does these moves sincerely — there is hope. Drake’s video for his chart-topping song “Hotline Bling” premiered last week and, in addition to a large white staircase and various pink lights, it featured a lot of Drake dancing in a way that will probably remind you of your dad. The video quickly ascended to meme status as Internet denizens dubbed over clips from the video with, among other sounds, conjunto music and “Linus and Lucy” from “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
— AMANDA O’DONNELL, AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF