TTL News

This afternoon at approximately 1:30 P.M. the Elmira Police Department responded to the area of Spaulding St. and Catherine St. for a report of shots fired. On arrival police found evidence that shots were fired. According to police, multiple witnesses in the area reported hearing multiple gunshots. At the time of the shots, several vehicles were seen in the area of Spaulding St. and Catherine St. All vehicles fled prior to police arrival. There was no evidence on scene that anyone was struck by gunfire. This investigation into this shooting is ongoing. If anyone was present in the area and witnessed this shooting, or has any information related to this shooting, they are encouraged to contact the Elmira Police Department at (607)737-5626, or the tip line at (607)271-HALT. For more local news and related conversation, click here!

Illegal gun use is now a public nuisance in New York. AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews Timothy D. Lytton, Georgia State University Could calling the illegal use of firearms a “public nuisance” bring an end to the gun industry’s immunity from civil lawsuits? New York will soon test that notion. State lawmakers recently amended New York’s public nuisance statute to specifically include marketing and sales practices that contribute to gun crimes. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill on July 6, 2021, after declaring gun violence a “disaster emergency.” I’ve been researching lawsuits against the gun industry for over 20 years. While I believe New York’s law is certain to unleash a new round of lawsuits against gun-makers, my research suggests that these claims will face considerable legal hurdles. Even if this litigation succeeds – effectively ending the gun industry’s immunity from liability – the jury is still out on whether it will do much to curb gun violence. Defining illegal gun use as a public nuisance States routinely rely on public nuisance laws to regulate conduct that unreasonably interferes with the health and safety of others. Common examples include polluting the air or water, obstructing roadways or making excessive noise. New York’s amended statute holds gun manufacturers and sellers responsible for the public nuisance of illegal gun use if they fail to implement “reasonable controls” to prevent the unlawful sale, possession or use of firearms within the state. The law specifies that “reasonable controls” include implementing programs to secure inventory from theft and prevent illegal retail sales. Under the law, both public officials and private citizens can file lawsuits seeking money damages and a court injunction to compel offending parties to stop the nuisance. For example, a gun manufacturer who sold weapons that were subsequently used in crimes could be held liable if it failed to take reasonable measures to ensure that retail dealers did not engage in illegal sales practices. The gun industry’s immunity shield Suing the firearms industry for gun violence under the theory of public nuisance is nothing new. Individual gun violence victims, civic organizations such as the NAACP and big-city mayors started filing such lawsuits in the late 1990s. Congress put an end to this litigation in 2005 when it passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which granted gun sellers – including manufacturers – immunity from liability arising out of criminal misuse of the weapons they sold. Immunity under the act is not absolute. Notably, a seller is not immune from liability if it “knowingly violated a state or federal statute applicable to the sale or marketing” of firearms. Consequently, following the passage of the act, plaintiffs argued that gun-makers’ marketing, distribution and sales practices constituted a public nuisance in violation of state statutes. However, federal appellate courts in New York and California rejected this argument. Those courts held that public nuisance laws did not qualify for the exception to immunity because they were not specifically aimed at regulating firearms. Challenges ahead for New York’s new law New York responded by updating its statute. The state is hoping to prompt civil litigation that will bring pressure on the industry to prevent the diversion of guns into the black market and the hands of illegal gun traffickers. Before the federal immunity bill, the industry faced a rising tide of litigation. New lawsuits, however, will face multiple challenges, which I believe will likely reach all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. I will consider two prominent ones. First, gun industry defendants will argue that New York’s amended public nuisance statute is an attempt to subvert the purpose of 2005 law, which was passed specifically to halt these types of claims against gun sellers in the 1990s and early 2000s. The opening section of the immunity law denounces this litigation as “an abuse of the legal system.” New York’s claim to utilize a narrow exception to gun industry immunity looks an awful lot like an attempt to eliminate immunity altogether. At the same time, the letter of the law allows claims arising out of the violation of any statute that specifically applies to the sale of firearms, which is exactly what New York’s amended public nuisance law does. For the Supreme Court, these contending views would pit the conservative majority’s strong allegiance to gun rights against its insistence on sticking to the letter of the law when reading statutes. Second, gun industry defendants will argue that the Second Amendment limits any type of litigation likely to restrict access to the lawful purchase of firearms. In a series of landmark cases, the Supreme Court said the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to own firearms “in common use” for “lawful purposes like self-defense.” If public nuisance lawsuits were to drive some gun-makers into bankruptcy, courts might view them as a threat to Second Amendment rights. However, the Second Amendment is silent on how to balance the constitutional right to keep and bear arms against the right Americans have to sue in civil court. How the Supreme Court might rule on this particular challenge is unclear. Impact on reducing gun violence But let’s assume for a moment that nuisance lawsuits survive a Supreme Court challenge, effectively ending the gun industry’s liability shield. Would this litigation then be able to reduce gun violence? The main impact of these lawsuits is to put pressure on gun manufactures to do more to prevent inventory theft and illegal sales by retailers. Since 2000, the gun industry has operated a program to prevent illegal straw purchases, suggesting manufactures think they may be able to affect how retailers operate. Even still, little is known about whether this program has had any impact on gun violence rates. That’s why no one really knows if forcing gun manufacturers to more closely supervise retailers will work. Part of the problem is a lack of government funding since the mid-1990s for public health research on alleged links between industry sales practices and gun crimes. Recent funding for this kind of research may clarify the value of regulating illegal gun sales as a public nuisance. Until then, passing laws to prompt litigation against the gun industry is just a shot in the dark. Timothy D. Lytton, Distinguished University Professor & Professor of Law, Georgia State University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

See the rest here. What are your thoughts on Pegg's views? Is there something that you enjoyed as a kid but as an adult realized it wasn't so great?

On Friday, June 25th, 2021, at approximately 11:15 P.M., officers from the Elmira Police Department responded to the 7-11 store located at 625 Pennsylvania Av. for a report of shots fired. Upon arrival officers found that the people involved had already fled the scene When officer arrived they located and interviewed several witnesses at the store and there was evidence of shots fired. The witnesses reported that two males were involved in a verbal altercation inside of the store. One of these males exited the store. As soon as he left the store, a male in a vehicle at one of the gas pumps exited the vehicle and confronted the person leaving the store. The male leaving the store then pulled a gun and fired at the person near the vehicle. Both males fled on foot in opposite directions and the vehicle left as well. Shortly after, the shooter returned to his vehicle and fled the scene. Police located one of the vehicles involved and conducted a traffic stop. No weapon was located in the vehicle. One of the occupants stated that he was being shot at, but did not wish to cooperate with this investigation. This investigation into this shooting is ongoing. If anyone was present in the area and witnessed this shooting, or has any information related to this shooting, they are encouraged to contact the Elmira Police Department at (607)737-5626, or the tip line at (607)271-HALT.

This story has been updated.

See the rest of this article here, and tell us, what do YOU think is the best of all time?

As reported by First News Now HORSEHEADS, NY - Once local residents saw the banner hanging on the old Kmart building at the Grand Central Plaza, the word was out across social media and this photo was sent to FNN this afternoon. FNN was told the banner appeared on the empty building at the plaza sometime on Tuesday afternoon, June 15, 2021. Local and distant shoppers were immediately excited about the business opening up in the near future. In case you do not know, the business is called Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, aka "Ollie's". Ollie's Bargain Outlet is an American chain of discount retail stores founded in 1982 by Morton Bernstein and Mark L. Butler with backing from Harry Coverman and Oliver "Ollie" Rosenberg. According to Ollie's they are one of America’s largest retailers of closeout merchandise and excess inventory. Ollie's Bargain Outlet presently has 407 stores. The company has opened 18 new stores since November 2020. One of the newest store is celebrating their Grand Opening today, June 16, 2021, in San Antonio, TX, while another store will be celebrating it's Grand Opening on June 23, 2021, in Valdosta, GA. Photo by Bud Baldwin FNN has not yet received word back from the company about when Ollie's Bargain Outlet store will open in Horseheads, NY. In fact, the company has not release any information on the newest store opening at the Grand Central Plaza, with the exception of their banner hanging on the empty old Kmart building. Ollie's stores feature its namesake co-founder Oliver E. Rosenberg, in the form of humorous caricatures throughout its stores' interiors, merchandising displays and on its logo, as well as, exterior signage. Rosenberg, a capital area realtor and entrepreneur, passed away in 1996 at age 75. For the Horseheads area and for residents the business will be a great addition to the Grand Central Plaza. The old Kmart store has been closed since March of 2019. Business owners in the area are also excited, as the new Ollie's Bargain Outlet will attract more customers to the area, which will also benefit their businesses.

After more than a year, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced yesterday that COVID-19 restrictions were to be lifted immediately as 70 percent of New Yorkers aged 18 or older have received the first dose of their COVID-19 vaccination series. The State's health guidance and New York Forward industry specific guidelines—including social gathering limits, capacity restrictions, social distancing, cleaning and disinfection, health screening, and contact information for tracing—are now optional for retail, food services, offices, gyms and fitness centers, amusement and family entertainment, hair salons, barber shops and personal care services, among other commercial settings. Unvaccinated individuals continue to be responsible for wearing masks, in accordance with federal CDC guidance. Consistent with the State's implementation of the recent CDC guidance, masks are still required for unvaccinated individuals. Further, the State's health guidelines continue to be in effect for large-scale indoor event venues, pre-K to grade 12 schools, public transit, homeless shelters, correctional facilities, nursing homes, and health care settings per CDC guidelines. "What New York has done is extraordinary. Not only do we have the lowest COVID positivity rate in the United States of America, we have hit 70 percent vaccination ahead of schedule. We successfully deployed the weapon that will win the war, and New York led the nation," Governor Cuomo said. "We led with nurse Sandra Lindsay, who was the first at Northwell to take that vaccine and to assure people it was safe. We've gone on to do more than 20 million vaccines, more per capita than any big state in the United States of America. Congratulations to New Yorkers because they are the ones who did it. We're no longer just surviving—we're thriving. The state mandates that have proven right and brought us through this pandemic are relaxed as of today, effective immediately." In a separate press release, Senator Tom O'Mara said, “We have demonstrated that by working together, pulling for each other, and staying informed, our communities will be resilient and never lose hope in recovering. The work of rebuilding and restoring the lives of our communities should begin in earnest now and it needs to be delivered through local decision-making. We have reached the point of being able to fully declare an end to the state of emergency that has ruled our lives since last March. We have reached the point of fully rescinding Governor Cuomo’s unilateral emergency powers." “It is time to restore legislative checks and balances, and local input," he added.

UPDATE: Elmira Police have arrested a suspect in connection to a June 15th shooting. On Tuesday June 15th at approximately 3:00 A.M., Elmira police were called to the Arnot Ogden Medical Center for a report of a shooting victim that was in the emergency room. There an officer met with the shooting victim who advised that he had been shot in the foot at on Dewitt Avenue approximately 30 minutes prior. The victim told the officer that he was outside of a residence in the 500 block of Dewitt Av. when he was approached by someone he knows. This person was said to be acting in a strange manner and then pulled out a gun and pointed it toward the victim. The victim began to walk away at which time the suspect fired a round, which struck the victim in the foot. The suspect fled the area in an unknown direction and the victim was transported to the hospital by private vehicle. As a result of the investigation, 24 year old Brandon A. Allwood of Elmira has been charged with Criminal Possession of a Weapon 2nd, Criminal Use of a Firearm 2nd and Assault 2nd. Allwood was arraigned in Elmira City Court and remanded back to the Chemung County Jail where he's been on previous charges of Robbery 1st Degree, a class B Felony, and numerous vehicle and traffic law violations following a pursuit which originated in the town of Big Flats, Chemung County.

Read the rest here.

"After a cataclysmic battle between He-Man and Skeletor, Eternia is fractured and the Guardians of Grayskull are scattered. And after decades of secrets tore them apart, it's up to Teela to reunite the broken band of heroes, and solve the mystery of the missing Sword of Power in a race against time to restore Eternia and prevent the end of the universe." Masters of the Universe: Revelation will begin streaming on Netflix exclusively on July 23.

See the rest here.

Despite an announcement on Friday that mask mandates would be lifted for schools across New York State tomorrow, masks will remain mandatory for a while longer due to a conflict of opinion among state agencies. School districts across the state were advised today by the New York State Department of Education that masks must continue to be worn until further direction is released by that agency as well as the New York State Department of Health. As area schools scramble to advise families of this sudden change, some will be taking the high temperatures forecast for tomorrow into consideration and relaxing the mandate for recess and any other outdoor activities. This is a developing situation so watch this site for updates.

Friday afternoon, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that barring any objection from the CDC, mask mandates for all New York schools and camps will be lifted effective Monday, June 7. This comes as the governor also announced that the state's current infection rate remains at a record low level, 0.42% In a letter to the CDC, New York Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker noted an inconsistency in CDC guidance between children who are unvaccinated at summer camps and the current rules for unvaccinated children at schools: Zucker went on to advise the CDC that the minimum state-wide guidance will be: Indoors, mask use will be strongly encouraged but not required for students, campers, and staff/teachers/counselors who are not fully vaccinated. Outdoors, masks are not required; students, campers, and staff/teachers/counselors who are not fully vaccinated are “encouraged” to wear a mask in certain higher-risk circumstances. Both indoors and outdoors, students, campers, and staff who are fully vaccinated do not need to wear masks. Schools and camps may choose to implement stricter standards. Here in Chemung County, while masks are still encouraged by the Department of Health, County officials say schools will adopt the above measures beginning Monday.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Upstate New York Poison Center has seen a drastic increase so far this year in the number of calls to their poison center for children and teens who have been exposed to marijuana products (i.e. edibles, the dried plant). The highest number of calls have been for marijuana edibles. According to a release from the organization, their data shows calls have nearly tripled for children and teens under 19 years old who ingested these so called “Cannabis Candies” from January through May this year over the same time frame last year. The majority of these calls were for kids 5 and under. “We worry about young children and the frightening reaction they can have to marijuana," says Dr. Christine Stork, clinical director of the Upstate New York Poison Center. "These edibles can come in bright colored packaging that look just like popular candy products. Kids can’t always tell the difference, especially for those who don’t read yet." “With the state legalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana for recreational use and coming up with a plan for future retail sales options, we are preparing to handle an even further influx of calls in the coming years.” Many edibles look and taste just like candy, cookies and brownies. One “pot gummy” can be a dose, and many times people don’t stop at one, leading to an easy overdose, especially in children. Edible products have a higher concentration of marijuana. Because of a child’s smaller size and weight, symptoms can be more severe and usually require a trip to a healthcare facility. Marijuana use in children can cause low blood pressure, severe tiredness, trouble breathing, even coma. The center compared data from 2011- 2020 for children six and under who swallowed marijuana (oils, the plant, edibles) and found a sharp increase starting in 2016 and an increase in more children being admitted to a healthcare facility. Another rising concern for the poison center, is the introduction of the Delta-8 THC products which were recently banned in New York State. They can also cause severe problems, particularly in children. The Upstate New York Poison Centeris staffed by trained Registered Nurses and Pharmacists who have completed training on how to handle a poisoning call for marijuana and Delta-8 THC and when to send someone to a healthcare facility. The center urges that if you are over 21 and choose to use these any of these products you: 1. Keep them up, away, and out of sight of children 2. Save our number 1-800-222-1222, just in case 3. If you suspect a child has swallowed any form of marijuana, call us. Symptoms/reactions sometimes are delayed. To learn more about the center, visit their website.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that, based on current COVID trajectory, all New York State schools will reopen for full in-person learning for the 2021-2022 school year beginning in September. "Our children lost so much as COVID struck our state. A year of socialization, a year of memories, and even more," Governor Cuomo said. "While teachers and school administrators did an incredible job pivoting to remote learning with virtually zero notice, there's no denying the discrimination students who did not have the right equipment faced. With the way our COVID numbers are currently trending, there is no reason why our students should not get back to in-person learning as usual and we look forward to welcoming them back. If there is a change in the trajectory of the virus, we will revisit the decision." This comes on the heels of news that the statewide seven day average positivity rate has fallen to 0.90%, the lowest since September 21st.

See the rest of the article here.

Making the series changed Barry Jenkins’ views on how his ancestors should be described and depicted. Atsushi Nishijima/Amazon Studios William Nash, Middlebury Speaking on NPR’s Fresh Air, Barry Jenkins, the director of “The Underground Railroad,” noted that “before making this show … I would have said I’m the descendant of enslaved Africans.” “I think now that answer has evolved,” he continued. “I am the descendant of blacksmiths and midwives and herbalists and spiritualists.” As a scholar interested in how modern representations of enslavement shape our understanding of the past, I am struck by the ways Jenkins seeks to change the way viewers think about – and talk about – Black American history. In doing so, he takes the baton from scholars, activists and artists who have, for decades, attempted to shake up Americans’ understanding of slavery. Much of this work has centered on reimagining slaves not as objects who were acted upon, but as individuals who maintained identities and agency – however limited – despite their status as property. Pushing the boundaries of language In the past three decades there has been a movement among academics to find suitable terms to replace “slave” and “slavery.” In the 1990s, a group of scholars asserted that “slave” was too limited a term – to label someone a “slave,” the argument went, emphasized the “thinghood” of all those held in slavery, rendering personal attributes apart from being owned invisible. Attempting to emphasize that humanity, other scholars substituted “enslavement” for “slavery,” “enslaver” for “slave owner,” and “enslaved person” for “slave.” Following the principles of “people-first language”– such as using “incarcerated people” as opposed to “inmates” – the terminology asserts that the person in question is more than just the state of oppression imposed onto him or her. Not everyone embraced this suggestion. In 2015, renowned slavery and Reconstruction historian Eric Foner wrote, “Slave is a familiar word and if it was good enough for Frederick Douglass and other abolitionists it is good enough for me.” Despite such resistance, more and more academics recognized the limitations of the older, impersonal terminology and started to embrace “enslaved” and its variants. The new language reached another pinnacle with the publication of The New York Times’ 1619 Project. In the opening essay, project editor Nikole Hannah-Jones eschews “slave” and “slavery,” using variants of “enslavement” throughout. However controversial the series may be, it is setting the terms of current discussions about enslavement. “Enslaved person” – at least among people open to the idea that a fresh look at American chattel slavery necessitated new language – became the new normal. What, then, to make of Barry Jenkins’ saying he wants to push past this terminology? In that same NPR interview, Jenkins notes that “right now [Americans] are referring to [Black slaves] as enslaved, which I think is very honorable and worthy, but it takes the onus off of who they were and places it on what was done to them. And I want to get to what they did.” I think that Jenkins is onto something important here. Whichever side you take in the ongoing terminology debate, both “slave” and “enslaved person” erase both personality and agency from the individuals being described. And this is the conundrum: The state of enslavement was, by definition, dehumanizing. Caesar, played by Aaron Pierre, and Cora, played by Thuso Mbedu, escape from the plantation where they were held as slaves in ‘The Underground Railroad.’ Kyle Kaplan/Amazon Studios For artists, writers and thinkers it’s difficult to reflect on the dehumanization of masses of people without diminishing some of the characteristics that make them unique. And once you step onto that path, it’s a short journey to reducing the identity of the collective group – including their ancestors – to one that’s defined by their worst experiences. Seeing slaves on screen In some ways, because of the nature of their medium, filmmakers have fared better than their fellow artists at balancing the challenges of portraying the horrific experiences of enslaved people as a whole and elevating the particular experiences of enslaved individuals. So where does Jenkins fit in the lineage of cinematic depictions of enslavement? From the start, comparisons to “Roots” – the first miniseries about American chattel slavery – abound. “Roots,” which appeared in 1977, was the first miniseries on American television to explore the experiences of slavery on multiple generations of one Black family. It also created powerful opportunities for interracial empathy. As critic Matt Zoller Seitz notes, for “many white viewers, the miniseries amounted to the first prolonged instance of not merely being asked to identify with cultural experiences that were alien to them, but to actually feel them.” Some Americans might remember those eight consecutive nights in January 1977 when “Roots” first aired. It was a collective experience that started and shaped national conversations about slavery and American history. By contrast, “The Underground Railroad” appears in an age replete with representations of enslavement. WGN’s underappreciated series “Underground,” the 2016 remake of “Roots,” 2020’s “The Good Lord Bird,” “Django Unchained,” “12 Years a Slave” and “Harriet” are just a handful of recent innovative portrayals of slavery. The best of these series push viewers toward new ways of seeing enslavement and those who resisted it. “The Good Lord Bird,” for example, used humor to dismantle ossified perceptions of John Brown, the militant 19th-century abolitionist, and opened up new conversations about when using violence to resist oppression is justifiable. A delicate dance between beauty and suffering Looking at “The Underground Railroad,” I can see how and why Jenkins’ vision is so important in this moment. In Jenkins’ films “Moonlight” and “If Beale Street Could Talk,” the director made a name for himself as an artist who can push past narrow, constraining visions of Black identity as one marked solely by suffering. His films are not free from pain, of course. But pain is not their dominant note. His Black worlds are places where beauty abounds, where the characters in the stories he tells experience vibrancy as well as desolation. Jenkins brings that sensibility to “The Underground Railroad” as well. Critics have commented on how Jenkins uses the landscape to achieve this beauty. I was struck by how the sun-soaked fields of an Indiana farm create a perfectly fitting backdrop for the rejuvenating love Cora finds there with Royal. In “The Underground Railroad,” slavery – for all its horrors – exists in an environment nonetheless imbued with beauty. The curtain of Cora’s vacant cabin flapping in the breeze and framed by the rough timbers of the slave quarters evokes the paintings of Jacob Lawrence. Barry Jenkins’ Black worlds are places where beauty abounds. Atsushi Nishijima/Amazon Studios In other scenes, Jenkins juxtaposes radically different landscapes and actions to emphasize the complexity of these characters’ experiences. For example, Cora works as an actor at a museum, where she plays an “African savage” for visitors; in one scene, she changes out of the costume and into an elegant yellow dress. Walking the clean, orderly streets of Griffin, South Carolina, she transforms into a picture of middle-class propriety. Scenes portraying the manners and reading lessons offered by the faculty of the Tuskegee-style institute where Cora and other fugitives find shelter demonstrate the allure of these middle-class values. On first glance, it all appears promising. Only later, when Cora’s pushed by her mentor to undergo forced sterilization, does it become apparent that she’s landed in a horror show. These vignettes are but a few examples of the thoroughgoing power of Jenkins’ aesthetic. Every episode yields moments of beauty. And yet at the flip of a switch, serenity can devolve into savagery. Living with the recognition that calm can instantly and unexpectedly become carnage is part of the human condition. Jenkins reminds viewers that for Black Americans – both then and now – this prospective peril can be particularly pronounced. William Nash, Professor of American Studies and English and American Literatures, Middlebury This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Yesterday Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced a new vaccination program that will provide free NYS lottery scratch-off tickets to individuals 18 and over with a grand prize of $5 million. The program will initially include 10 vaccination sites in the New York City, Long Island, Mid-Hudson, Central New York, Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley and Western New York regions. The sites will be open from Monday, May 24 to Friday, May 28. All sites will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. The program will not impact education funding. "We know that vaccinations are the vital piece of the puzzle we need to crush COVID once and for all," Governor Cuomo said. "We're doing everything we can to make getting a vaccine as quick and easy as possible, but as vaccination rates slow across the state, we're going to have to get creative to put even more shots in arms. This new pilot program will offer a greater incentive for New Yorkers to get vaccinated by offering a free scratch-off ticket for a chance to win up to $5 million. The more New Yorkers we can get vaccinated, the better our situation and the faster we can return to a new normal, so I encourage everyone who hasn't been vaccinated yet to go to your nearest site and get the shot." The ticket, which is sold by retailers across the state for $20, will be provided free to individuals 18+ who take their first dose of Pfizer or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine at one of the sites. Locaions where this program will take place include major cities such as New York as well as cities upstate such as Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester.

See more of the article and more pics from the show here.

Read the rest here. What do you think?

See the rest here. What about you? Did you pick up a new hobby as a way to pass the time while everything was shut down?

In 2011, mainstream music listeners were introduced to Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter Gotye through his cross-genre chart-topper “Somebody That I Used to Know,” featuring Kimbra. Though he’s released plenty of other music since then, he has fallen short of recreating the magic of that one unforgettable indie breakup ballad. This has inspired many people to make the exact same joke about Gotye’s now being somebody that we used to know. As a one-hit wonder, however, he’s among the best. UK-based broadband comparison service broadbandchoices.co.uk compiled a list of the 50 most popular one-hit wonder songs based on the 20 most followed one-hit wonder playlists on Spotify. After ranking the hits by number of Spotify streams, “Somebody That I Used to Know” won the unofficial blue ribbon with more than 810 million plays. You could probably divide the list into three categories: Songs Whose Titles and Artists You Recognize; Songs Whose Titles You Recognize But Whose Artists You Swear You've Never Heard Of; and Song You Don't Recognize By Title or Artist (But Would Definitely Know Them If You Heard Them). For anyone around during the 1990s, “MMMBop” by Hanson—number 31 on the list—likely falls in the first category, and diehard Hanson fans might even claim the band isn’t a one-hit wonder at all. See the rest, including the complete list, here. What's your favorite off that list?