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Hello all! Welcome to Volume 166 of Dovi’s Barbie’s Digest.
If you’ve been anywhere online in the last few months, there’s a good chance you’ve heard about “Barbenheimer” – the ungodly (and truly excellent) combination of the Barbie movie and Oppenheimer. In fact, if you subscribe to the Digest, the Tweet of the Week in Volume 161 references it. Oppenheimer is Christopher Nolan’s new film about the father of the atomic bomb, an invention he came to regret in later life. Barbie (directed by Oscar nominated Greta Gerwig) although billed as a dramedy is, well, Barbie. She comes to the real world and gets up to all sorts of hijinks. On one hand we have a biopic about something which fundamentally changed the world as we know it, a film that could be an allegory for the hubris and excess of human greed, and on the other we have a movie about an atomic bomb. The differences are stark.
Mattel (the toy company) has fully leaned into the marketing of Barbie. You could travel with Barbie luggage to your Airbnb of Barbie’s Malibu mansion, relax while playing your Barbie Xbox and wearing your Barbie crocs, have the official Barbie Burger King meal (with bright pink sauce, a pink shake, and a pink doughnut), and afterwards brush your teeth with a Barbie toothbrush. All Nolan has said about his film is that “it may emotionally destroy you”.
This week’s headline article is about the making of Barbie, and how instead of a two-hour long advertisement, the director, Greta Gerwig (icon), turned it into a joyful, poignant movie that explores the complicated, contradictory symbol the doll has become.
Both films release worldwide today, and the largest theatre chain in the world has said that 40% of filmgoers who have bought tickets for one have bought tickets for both.
Last year I shared quite a few articles about and photos from the James Webb Space Telescope which turned one last week. In the year since its debut, the new telescope has delivered a tremendous amount of data, fuelling many new discoveries, and revealing some spectacular new views of the universe around us. Here is an article with the best images from its first year. The most recent one with the star nursery is truly stunning.
Your added extras: The band OK Go have become well known for their iconic music videos, including one on treadmills, one that took only 4.2 seconds, and even one in zero G. Now you can go behind the scenes of the massive Rube Goldberg machine that formed the backdrop of their award winning music video This Too Shall Pass (here’s the winning video, here’s the behind the scenes). Also have a look at this excellent plaque:
The Dovi’s Digest social pages will keep you sated between editions, with all new content. Check it out at the links below (or scan the insta code):
Do you enjoy the Digest? Would you like it to get better? Then please consider sharing it, as the more articles I’m sent, the better it is. It only takes a few seconds, and all you need to do is click here 👇. Thank you!
There were FOUR correct answers to last week’s brainteaser. Well done to Chaim Ehrlich, Steven Kaplan, Ariel Subotzky, and Hazel Levine! The answer and this week’s puzzle are below.
I didn’t forget Oppenheimer, and there is an article about what Nolan wants it to serve as a warning for. You can also steal a look at the weirdest objects that were stolen last year (including a 10 tonne statue and a garbage bag full of beef jerky), grab some tissues and find out which Pixar movie will make you cry the most (Up, which I’ve covered extensively here, is not top of the list), open your ears to why gossip is good for you, find out why Wimbledon has finally relaxed it’s infamously strict dress code, unscrew the lid on why Americans are so obsessed with peanut butter, and dive into the thorny question of when rich people go missing because of their own decisions (like we saw with Titan, the sub that went missing and launched an international search) who should pay for the rescue?
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming.
Have a great weekend,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ Dream Job
Mattel wanted a summer blockbuster to kick off its new wave of brand-extension movies. She wanted it to be a work of art.
Christopher Nolan Wants Oppenheimer to Be a Cautionary Tale for Silicon Valley
The film about a man who regrets his great technological innovation because he failed to consider its ramifications certainly does have some potential parallels.
A Year in Weird Robberies
From swiping 17.5 tons of olives to nabbing 60 containers of bull sperm, the world’s thieves have been busy.
All 27 Pixar Films Ranked by Their Likelihood to Make You Cry
With the release of Elemental, we get stuck into almost 30 years of tearjerkers.
Gossip Has Long Been Misunderstood – Here’s How It Can Help Your Work and Social Life
Gossip gets a bad rap – from tabloids full of salacious celebrity gossip, to the badly behaved teens of television programmes like Gossip Girl. But while it might get dismissed or reported as an unsubstantiated rumour, gossip is a key part of politics and the way the world works.
Wimbledon: The Controversy of Tennis's Strict 146-Year-Old Dress Code
For the first time in its history, Wimbledon has relaxed its dress code rules. Why are they so strict?
Why Americans Are Obsessed with Peanut Butter
From eating a PB&J sandwich on the playground, to celebrating a birthday with a peanut butter pie, it has cemented itself permanently in society — and even space.
When Wealthy Adventurers Take Huge Risks, Who Should Pay for Rescue Attempts?
The questions follow the extended search for the Titan, a submersible that imploded not far from the Titanic.
Quotes of the Week:
“Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices.” – Ruth Handler, inventor of Barbie
“I am become death, destroyer of worlds.” – J. Robert Oppenheimer (quoting the Bhagavad Gita) after the first successful detonation of the atomic bomb in 1945.
Facts of the Week:
Around 650 AD, Polynesians in canoes reached Antarctica.
Antarctica is the most volcanic region on Earth.
Antarctic sea spiders can grow to the size of dinner plates.
You're advised not to build snowmen in Antarctica as it might disturb the animals.
The world’s tallest snowwoman was only 30 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty.
In the last 300 years, there have been only six times where there's been no snow on the ground anywhere in Britain.
Australia has salt and vinegar flavoured grass.
Atlas, one of Saturn's moons, is shaped like a piece of ravioli.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
Eight sheets of identically sized paper are placed on a table. Their edges form the following pattern, with only one sheet, marked 1, completely visible:
Can you number the other sheets from top to bottom where 2 is the second layer, 3 is the third layer, and so on?
Last Week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
You’ll need to put on your editor’s hat for this one. Can you make this sentence into a phrase by only adding punctuation (commas, full stops, question marks etc.)? You may not add, subtract, or rearrange the words.
that that is is that that is not is not is that it it is
Answer:
That that is, is. That that is not, is not. Is that it? It is.
Thanks for reading Dovi’s Digest!