After too much input from too many sources, with too much bad news and too little headspace to process it all, we somehow wind up with, well, this week. But, hell, it’s only Thursday and who knows what new oddities are yet to be added to a list that’s already veered from the unfathomable to the disturbed. Here’s 5 that immediately trippeth off the mind:

1. Virtual bling. So, this actually happened a few weeks ago, but having sat on it for this long, I can’t resist leading off with the $300,000 Dolce & Gabbana tiara that can only be worn in the metaverse. If you’ve been looking for a new definition of having “too much money,” your armored car has come in.

2. Just Jevels. But wait, there’s more. Per the New York Times, an enterprising Vienna-based designer, sussing out the potential in the combination of NFTs with whatever it is your avatar flashes in the metaverse, is now building a thriving enterprise she’s cleverly branded as “Jevels” (the “v” is for virtual).  Prices range from mall-level faux, up to the merely ridiculous.

3. Creeping AI. Moving to an entirely different ‘verse of slime, let’s turn our attention to Zoom toying with the idea of AI-enabled facial recognition tools that let users get real time emotion- and attention-readouts. Pimped as a game changer for salespeople who want to know how their pitch is landing, it doesn’t take a great deal of foresight to envision AI robotically intoning prompts that range from “not interested,” to “not buying,” to “want to throw up on the screen,” to “thinking about ending it all if she gets one more Zoom call like this.”

4. Last one to the ice floe rots. For anyone uncertain that ageism in advertising is a thing, I fondly refer you to the “future of talent” survey that landed in my inbox from the 4As (The American Association of Advertising Agencies) and Forrester on Monday. Figuring the topic is of deep interest to the industry, I opted-in, typing in my location (NYC), and selecting the 65+ age range. The response was a polite note back saying: “We’re looking for people with different experience” and declining further participation. Wondering if it was something I’d said, I decided to try to re-enter but with a lower age selection—and bingo (which, hopefully, you won’t take as a reference to the game played at a great many assisted living facilities). The implicit message: it would seem the 4As believe there is no “future of talent” for people over 65.

5. Everything Elon. Always the perfect way to end a list of recent off-putting oddities—since the man just persists in coming up with strange and I don’t really have to mention anything but his first name. Okay, and this: Twitter.

Back soon, with more.