Good morning. It’s Wednesday.
“Barbie”, the movie, came out eight months ago now, yet it continues to have a moment – even though it under-performed this awards season.
Just this week, it won just one of the eight Oscars for which it was nominated, (for best original song), while its rival and release-date twin, “Oppenheimer,” took home seven of its 13 nominations – including best picture, lead actor for Cillian Murphy, and director for Chrisopher Nolan — his first win.
While “Barbie” might not have lived up to expectations when it came to the distribution of golden statuettes and other Hollywood hardware, it still managed to dominate Oscars headlines – and win the hearts and minds of fans everywhere – thanks largely to the knockout performance of “I’m Just Ken” by actor Ryan Gosling.
The Kenergy was off the charts. Gosling is no professional singer, but what he lacked in vocal chops he more than made up in enthusiasm. And, of course, he dressed the part. The pink leather gloves sealed the deal in my mind.
When you can get an otherwise jaded crowd of seen-it-all celebs – many of whom are sewn into their couture dresses and so over-Botoxed that they find it hard to even smile – to scream out inane lyrics about the woes of a lovelorn doll who probably can’t have sex anyway since he lacks the necessary parts, you’re doing something right.
Kudos to Gosling, who also has been a real mensch in defending the honor of Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie after he received a best supporting actor nomination and they were passed over for recognition.
All these accolades and the unceasing attention is a real departure for Ken, who, as Gosling laments in his anthem, has always been No. 2 standing just at the edge of Barbie’s spotlight.
Truly, though, he was designed for that role. Though there’s some discrepancy as to the exact date – it was either today, March 13, or two days ago, March 11 – but definitely this month in 1961 that Ken was unleashed on the world in all his plastic and anatomically lacking perfection.
Mattel, which makes all things Barbie (and Ken) and arguably is in a position to know, has come down on the side of March 11, but for some reason the rest of the interwebs has settled on the later date, which is why today is officially observed as Ken Day.
Ken (full name: Kenneth Sean “Ken” Carson) and Barbie (full name: Barbara Millicent Roberts) were the creations of Ruth and Elliot Handler, high school sweethearts who married and founded Mattel with their partner, Harold Matson (the name “Mattel” is a combination of “Handler” and “Matson”). The dolls were named after the couple’s teenage children.
Ken debuted two years after Barbie was introduced to the world in 1959, and was initially available as either a blonde or a brunette. He has had both molded hair and “real” (synthetic) hair, but started out with the latter. He wasn’t wearing much – just a pair of red swim trunks and sandals – and he carried a yellow towel, in true beach bum style.
He also wasn’t terribly buff in the early years, all those muscles came later.
There have been multiple versions of Ken – and Barbie. And there’s even a pretty involved backstory of how the two of them met (on the set of a TV commercial), broke up, and reunited. Officially speaking, their relationship is, as far as I can tell, strictly platonic, and he is her best male friend/boyfriend.
Does this make sense? Not really. I guess it leaves a lot up to the imagination, which is, of course, the point.
Both dolls have had a multitude of jobs (250 and counting for her, at least 40 for him) – from doctor to astronaut and everything in between. The most popular Ken doll – at least as far as collectors are concerned – is “Earring Magic Ken“, which featured a silver hoop earring and platinum blonde-streaked hair and was discontinued after just six months. It was also somewhat controversial, given what no less an authority than writer and activist Dan Savage deemed the doll’s decidedly “gay” look.
FWIW, the best-selling Barbie, which sold more than 10 million dolls across the world, was “Totally Hair” Barbie, released in 1992. True to the name, this Barbie had near ankle-length crimped hair and came with a comb and styling gel to encourage owners to create their own styles.
There is probably some commentary to be had here about the patriarchy and force feeding young, impressionable girls about unattainable beauty standards. But I’ll leave that sort of thing to the experts – like Greta Gerwig.
Another amazing spring day is before us, with sunny skies and temperatures nearing 60 degrees. A string of warm-ish days is on tap, which is going to make staying inside and focused on work very difficult, at least for me. But we will persevere together.
In the headlines…
President Biden and former President Donald Trump secured the delegates necessary to clinch their parties’ presidential nominations, according to The Associated Press, cementing a general election rematch in November months in the making.
Yesterday’s contests included primaries in Georgia, a key swing state for both parties that Biden carried by less than 12,000 votes in 2020, as well as Washington state and Mississippi.
Biden and Trump won nearly every contest in the presidential nominating calendar so far but the important threshold of winning a majority of delegates to the party conventions this summer has finally been met.
A redux of the Biden-Trump faceoff will test the limits of campaign finance and decorum in a modern presidential contest. Trump is currently in the lead, both in national and battleground polling in recent months, but he lags behind Biden in fundraising.
In a post to the social media platform X, Biden celebrated his status as his party’s presumptive nominee, calling it “a time of choosing” in a new campaign video.
In Trump’s campaign video, the former president says: “This was a great day of victory. Last week was something very special – Super Tuesday – but now we have to get back to work because we have the worst president in the history of country.”
Trump once offered to sell Truth Social to Elon Musk, The Washington Post reported. The former president made the suggestion last summer, according to the Post, which cited two unnamed sources.
Ahead of former Special Counsel Robert Hur’s testimony yesterday on his report about Biden’s handling of classified information, lawmakers released a transcript of Hur’s interview with Biden — a document that sheds new light on his findings.
Hur used his testimony to defend the impartiality of his report, which Biden and his allies slammed as gratuitous for highlighting perceived lapses in Biden’s memory and suggesting he could portray himself as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man.”
Members of both parties were unhappy with aspects of Hur’s report. Republicans were upset that Biden was not charged with a crime, while Democrats accused Hur of smearing Biden’s mental acuity, saying it violated Justice Department policies.
A convoy of trucks carrying food was permitted to directly enter northern Gaza from Israel as global pressure intensifies for Israel to allow more aid into the enclave. It was the first time Israel had allowed aid trucks to use the route since the start of the war.
The first humanitarian aid ship using a new maritime corridor departed Cyprus yesterday and headed to Gaza, where more than 2 million people face an increasing threat of starvation and reports of malnutrition-related deaths are rising.
The UN welcomed the news of the shipment but stressed it was “not a substitute” for overland assistance to Gazans on the verge of famine.
Biden says he was “devastated to learn” of the death of Israeli-American citizen Itay Chen, 20, whom Israeli officials announced was killed by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Both of New York’s legislative chambers have announced their budget proposals. They have until April 1 to hash out a spending plan with the governor.
State lawmakers proposed raising taxes on high earners and enacting a version of “good cause” eviction in their budget proposals, staking out positions to the left of Gov. Kathy Hochul as the two sides begin negotiations on the coming year’s state budget.
The Assembly and Senate budgets would add $1.2 billion to schools and end Hochul’s plan to make changes in the way school aid is distributed.
Lawmakers left an extension of New York City mayoral control out of their spending proposals, casting significant doubt on the provision being included in a final budget deal in the coming weeks.
Hochul had allotted in her budget proposal $2.4 billion for the city to deal with the migrant crisis — a number that remained unchanged in the legislative responses to her spending plan.
Hochul announced a $45 million anti-theft plan to assure merchants that Albany is not tone deaf to retail theft.
“As governor, I’m not going to stand by and watch brazen thieves wreak havoc in their shops, dismantle and destroy everything they’ve built,” she said.
Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams announced a crackdown on the scourge of so-called ghost cars, vehicles that use missing, modified or counterfeit license plates, launching a large interagency city-state task force focused on the challenge.
The mayor and the governor signaled that their relationship is too important to let a power struggle over who polices New York City subways get in the way.
“The presence of a uniform makes people feel better. And if the National Guard or the state police want to add to that presence, I applaud that,” Adams said.
Adams and Hochul also announced an agreement to partially fund a brand new Port Authority Bus Terminal through “payment in lieu of taxes” (PILOTs) by new Midtown office developments.
Concerns continue following Hochul’s plan to beat subway crime, as the Transport Workers Union says it simply falls short of providing a sustainable long-term solution.
Republican members of New York’s congressional delegation demanded answers from Hochul in a letter this week regarding the Migrant Relocation Assistance Program (MRAP).
State lawmakers are examining how to address information uncovered by a TU investigation uncovered about a significant increase in crashes involving law enforcement vehicles in incidents that caused property damage, injuries and deaths.
New York state lawmakers are moving to repeal and decriminalize the act of adultery in New York.
State Sen. Iwen Chu, a Democrat from Brooklyn, is introducing legislation to allow for absentee voting in instances where personal religious observation conflicts with elections.
After weeks of testing, an electronic system for filing returns directly to the IRS is now available for taxpayers from 12 selected states – including New York.
Two owners of a Queens construction firm were sentenced for their roles in a straw donor scheme to boost Mayor Eric Adams’ 2021 campaign war chest with cash from the city’s public matching funds program.
Leaders of the city’s three public library systems launched a fresh campaign to demand that Adams and the City Council reverse a collective $58.3 million in proposed cuts in the coming Fiscal Year 2025 budget.
The majority of New York City public libraries will be forced to cut their hours yet again and open just five days a week if Adams’ proposed $58.3 million budget cuts go ahead, the presidents of the Big Apple’s three library systems warned.
The migrant crisis is increasingly intertwined with another crisis: an explosion in the number of homeless youth.
Letting children work in the train system during school hours breaks several laws and rules. But a series of agencies said it is not their place to stop the practice.
New York City officials are investigating a confrontation at a city-run shelter in Queens where police officers struck and used a stun gun on a Venezuelan migrant while he was holding his 1-year-old son.
Adams defended the NYPD officers’ actions after the New York Times published a video that revealed a violent melee inside the Queens shelter last week.
“These are very volatile situations. Those officers have to respond accordingly,” Adams said when asked about the incident during a City Hall press conference. “They have to get that child out of that gentleman’s hands after warning him several times.
The retail giant that runs the Fulton Transit Center in Lower Manhattan wants out of its deal with the MTA – blaming crime for scaring tenants away from the shopping space.
A pair of Staten Island lawyers offered to represent any Big Apple firefighter for free if they get jammed up for booing state Attorney General Letitia James at last week’s raucous promotion ceremony.
A northeast Brooklyn tobacco sweatshop that produces “grabba” sold in local bodegas and smoke shops is under investigation by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the state Department of Labor, according to the agencies.
The NYCLU filed a lawsuit over demands that Columbia University reinstate two suspended pro-Palestinian student groups, alleging the university violated its policies by punishing the campus chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voices for Peace.
The Albany County Legislature voted down a program meant to provide legal assistance to tenants facing eviction, as well as help them pay overdue rent after questions arose about whether the program should also help small landlords.
KeyBank Real Estate Capital has secured $25.3 million for Redburn Development Partners to refinance two multi-family properties that should help preserve affordable workforce housing.
Albany Chief City Auditor Dorcey Applyrs released the results of a wide-ranging audit, two years after she first announced her office would undertake an examination of policies within the city that might contribute to inequality.
In a lab more than two stories underground, a UAlbany professor has taken the first steps toward what he says is a safer form of nuclear energy: One that doesn’t ever explode, meltdown or emit harmful radiation for a millennia.
A federal judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit against Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, after her half sister accused her of spreading “disparaging, hurtful and false” statements in interviews.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
