HELLO and welcome to the 331st installment of Things I read and like, in which I share with you some of the longer journalism articles/essays I’ve read recently so you can learn more about Barbie IP! This “wp_posts column” is less queer-focused than the rest of the site because when something is queer-focused, I put it on the rest of the site. Here’s where the other stuff is.
The title of this feature film is inspired by the title of Emily Gould’s tumblr, Things I Ate and Love.
After “Barbie”, Mattel plunders its entire toy boxby Alex Barasch for The New Yorker, July 2023
How Mattel decided to “transition from a toy company, making items, to an intellectual property company, running franchises” and how others who have done the same fared in the marketplace.
Lorrie Moore won’t confessby Dan Kois for the New York Times Magazine, June 2023
She’s one of my favorite short story writers of all time and this piece was nice too because it was like a little trip into all these stories that I loved, you know? Then there is this adjacent room on slate where the author publishes the entire interview he conducted with Bill Buford about the choice to print Lorrie Moore’s photograph alongside “People Like That Are The Only People Here” in the New Yorker in 1997 .
Excessive purgingby Josef Adalian and Lane Brown for Vulture, June 2023
This story is almost a month old but as SAG/AFTRA begins its strike and as the WGA strike enters its tenth week, it provides useful insight into how streaming has broken the revenue models that supported these groups.
Everyone in Stephenville thought they knew who killed Susan Woodsby Bryan Burrough for Texas Monthly, June 2023
Susan’s family, local law enforcement, and everyone in her small Texas town were certain they knew who killed her, so sure that even without evidence to convict him, the real killer was never known. found. Meanwhile, this real killer was raping women and avoiding any consequences, not to mention inspiring anyone to make the obvious connection to Susan’s death.
Notes on Affirmationby Thomas Dai for The Yale Review, June 2023
I’m not an insecure, wanting person, and yet I seem constitutionally incapable of feeling “done”, wp_posts as if I’ve “made it”. wp_posts In my mind, I can never be finished; I will never have achieved it. This state of always deferred actualization, of fetishization of my own largely metaphysical lack, seems linked to this part of me which is also me entirely: the Asian man in the oak-panelled seminar room, clearing his throat and obediently raising his hand, trying to, finally, speak honestly about his race.
Everyone knew that the migrants’ ship was doomed. Nobody helped.by Martina Stevis-Gridneff and Karam Shoumali for the New York Times, July 2023
This story is so sad and horrible, and it is also so detailed in terms of describing who was on the boat and why, and how the Greek government failed to help.
Funny businessby Rachel Wilkinson for The Baffler, July 2023
A WHOLE ROOM ON THEMED ENTERTAINMENT! About its past and its future and you know, amusement parks and theme restaurants and family attractions and how the industry is changing post-COVID and its specific labor issues and more.
KeKe Palmer is the internet’s sweetheartby Danya Issawi for The Cut, July 2023
When people see enough of themselves in me to repost a meme or use a GIF, it humanizes me in a way that I think I sometimes feel lost in my life. I really enjoy being a meme. Because what they say is She is like me, or they relate to it. It doesn’t get any better than that.
The Romantic Swindler on My Couchby Carlos Barraga for The Atavist, June 2023
After watching her mother, hungry for connection and feeling alone, fall in love with a con artist, the author never stopped thinking about who this mysterious man was. Eventually, he traveled to Nigeria and learned all about the world of “Yahoo Boys,” aka professional romance scammers.