Giraffe Edition 3
How "Frozen" Took Over The World
Maria Konnikova | New Yorker | 25th June 2014
Disney's latest classic, "Frozen", is already the highest-grossing animated film ever, not to say the fifth-most-popular film of all time. But why? Its central elements are common to many children's films: dead parents, royalty and palaces, the quest for true love, intervals of slapstick. The winning difference seems to be the character of Elsa the princess: She means well but does harm. Everyone can identify with that (2,340 words)
Brick By Brick: The Bezos Post
Michael Meyer | Columbia Journalism Review | 26th June 2014
Jeff Bezos makes his presence felt as owner of the Washington Post. “We’re clearly in Get Big Fast mode,” says one editor. “The logic of the current expansion is Amazonian. We’re going to get big and then figure out what to do with it”, says another. There's a touch of the Huffington Post about two new features, Morning Mix and Post Everything. The target, apparently, is 100m digital readers worldwide (5,100 words)
Eulogy For Sidney Morgenbesser
David Shatz | Tablet | 27th June 2014
Ten years after Morgenbesser's death, the eulogy from his funeral. His gift for humour overshadowed his brilliance as a philosopher; he published little; history remembers him best for a one-liner delivered from the back of a lecture theatre. And yet: "He shaped the field in ways that can’t be measured by publications, in ways related more to conversation and sheer presence and force of personality. His impact staggers the mind" (3,100 words)
How Brando Broke The Movies
Tom Shone | Atlantic | 25th June 2014
Marlon Brando invented the chameleon actor, the disappearing star, "the maze from which modern acting, in its dedication to the protean and its distrust of all that the term movie star used to promise, is still trying to escape". But for all his roles, he possessed only two real characters: Himself, whom he played in youth, and his father, whom he played in old age. The middle of his career, when neither quite fitted him, was his slump (2,020 words)
The IPO Is Dying
Timothy Lee | Vox | 26th June 2014
Interview with venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who argues that excessive regulation has closed the IPO market to growing companies; only big firms can afford the legal and accounting costs. "Gains from the growth accrue to the private investor, not the public investor". Andreessen also has harsh words for Thomas Piketty: "He has a lot more faith in returns on invested capital than any professional investor I've ever met" (2,870 words)
Video of the day: How To Make A Hit Pop Song
What to expect: Four-minute instructional video; lyrics faintly PG-rated
Thought for the day
"Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions"
— Winston Churchill