While You Were Offline: Twitter Needs Leslie Jones More Than She Needs Twitter

Everywhere you look, two topics have dominated the Internet more than any others this week: the Rio Olympics and the US election. Whether it's Michael Phelps' record-breaking 22nd gold medal win or the discovery that one of the presidential candidates really doesn't understand the meaning of the word "sarcasm," we've spent the week talking about the same things over and over. But, as you're about to discover, at least we found unusual ways to do so. (And at least one happy story along the way.) Here, as always, is what you might have overlooked in the last seven days' worth of World Wide Webbery.

What Happened: Sure, people say that they love a colorful Olympics experience, but how do they react when the diving pool inexplicably changes color overnight? They freak out.
Where It Blew Up: Twitter, media reports
What Really Happened: A funny thing happened in Rio during this week's Summer Olympics: the diving pool turned green overnight. And not that beautiful, oh-it's-so-calm-and-natural-and-sunny green of the ocean, either; we're talking a dark, worrying, distressing green. Suffice to say, people noticed:

Remember that last comparison for a moment. Anyway, it turns out that the reason was algae, and the water is entirely safe, honest.

Admittedly, that dashed a couple of people's theories as to what was going on…

…but, wait. Let's go back to that thing about the water being safe for the swimmers. Because Ryan Lochte might disagree. Or maybe he wanted his hair to turn green eventually anyway? Who can tell with these sporty style leaders.

Oh, and remember the comparison between the diving pool and the water polo pool from earlier that I asked you to remember?

Yeah, things are going really, really well out there in Rio. Still, at least they got a parody Twitter account out of the whole deal.
The Takeaway: We're almost at the point where this seems less like a joke and more like a sign of things to come.

What Happened: Leslie Jones is a big Olympics fan. This is a fact recognized, for once, by all the right people to make magic happen.
Where It Blew Up: Twitter, media reports
What Really Happened: Of course, cynicism about the state of affairs in Rio isn't shared by everyone. Take the divine Leslie Jones for a second—even though she's a Saturday Night Live and Ghostbusters star, she's just like the rest of us: excitedly watching coverage of the games and having opinions:

And that's just from Saturday. (It's also nowhere near all of her tweets from that day.) Let's just say that Leslie Jones loves the Olympics… and, as things turned out, the Internet loved watching her love the Olympics. So much so that SNL producer Mike Shoemaker had a great idea:

The @jfb is Jim Bell, the executive producer of NBC's Olympics coverage, and he was into it:

Although not as into it as Leslie:

The result? The feel good Internet story of the summer. (Or maybe the year.)

What makes it all the sweeter, of course, is that just a few months ago, Jones left Twitter after being harassed over her role in Ghostbusters. She (obviously) eventually returned, only for the Twitter Gods to reward her for her earlier trials. But, you know; she took this new development in her stride:

If only there was some way to make it even better…

And, yes; her tweets since she got to Rio have been exactly what you'd want:

The Takeaway: Just go follow Leslie Jones on Twitter, if you're not already doing so. It'll reaffirm your belief in the Internet.

What Happened: As if things weren't strange enough this week, someone decided to try and climb Trump Tower using suction cups. Amazingly, they got away with it for two hours.
Where It Blew Up: Twitter, media reports
What Really Happened: File under: "news reports you didn't expect, even in the wackiness that is 2016." On Wednesday, a section of New York was brought to a standstill by the sight of a man climbing Trump Tower using suction cups. For everyone else, of course, there was Twitter:

The climber, who made it 20 levels, was later identified as Stephen Rogata (or Michael Ryan to some; it's the same guy). The 19-year-old now faces charges of felony reckless endangerment and misdemeanor trespassing... and an irate fictional girlfriend:

The Takeaway: It was an odd coincidence that this happened in the same week as Michael Phelps showed off his mysterious circles, but not one that went unnoticed:

What Happened: Donald Trump learned the first lesson of modern politics the hard way: Never make it easy for people to turn you into a Photoshop meme.
Where It Blew Up: Twitter
What Really Happened: Sadly, *The Princess Bride'*s Vizzini bit the dust before he could explain that another of the classic blunders—alongside never get involved in a land war in Asia—is "if you're a controversial political figure, never have a press conference where you hold up a sign that can be easily abused by a social media eager to make fun of you." If he had, Donald Trump's Thursday would have been a little different.

Which led to the Clinton campaign Digital Communications/Rapid Response Rob Flaherty making it easy for the Internet at large:

Oh, they did, Rob. They did.

From now on, Donald: leave the graphics to some giant Powerpoint presentation behind you that'll make it less easy for everyone to make fun of.
The Takeaway: Of course, this just reminded some folk with long memories that old-school politicians had it much easier way back when.

What Happened: Meanwhile, President Obama continued his summer tradition of letting the world over-analyze his musical choices.
Where It Blew Up: Twitter, media reports
What Really Happened: For the second year in a row, the President of the United States of America released a Spotify playlist of his summer jams this week. Well, technically it was two playlists: one for daytime, one for nighttime—much to the delight of the Internet.

Particularly delighted? The artists whose music showed up on the list:

The release of the playlists launched much analysis—Where was Beyoncé? Is the music black enough?—as well as simple musical judgment.

In reality, it's a pretty great couple of lists. But, of course, not everyone was convinced:

Oh, NME. The man's 55 years old! He's allowed some dad choices.
The Takeaway: No matter who wins this year's election, we can't wait to see what's on Hillary or Donald's summer playlist next year. We're pretty sure that Trump has a strong love for classic rock given what we've seen so far.