A list of good reads
- CNN offers in-depth reporting on the plight of women and teenaged girls working in India’s booming shrimp industry.
- The Plank explains how the math of box office blockbusters is killing Bollywood.
- Sticking with the state of Indian movies: Article 14 uncovers how a Modi-era ecosystem of official and unofficial censorship is transforming film industries—and not just in Mumbai.
- New York Times (splainer gift link) has an interactive look at the prospect of longtime voice actors on ‘The Simpsons’ being replaced by AI.
- The Conversation breaks down the weird psychology of airports—and why they seem to attract more antisocial behaviour than other public places.
- Vox reveals that you’re charging your phone wrong but it’s not your fault. The reason: lithium-ion batteries.
- Aeon examines the nature of moral panic towards erotica and porn websites.
- Public Books analyses the ‘dumbness’—or lack of speech—in iconic video games like Nintendo’s ‘Super Mario.’
- Washington Post (splainer gift link) traces the implosion of the Oscars campaign of ‘Emilia Pérez’.
- Wall Street Journal (splainer gift link) reveals how Disney is increasingly worried about the high cost of Disneyland for most theme park devotees.
- Oliver Berry in Financial Times (splainer gift link) takes us on a journey—cool photos and all—through rural Canada in search of the spirit bear.
- The Atlantic (splainer gift link) profiles Ali Smith—novelist who looks into the dark, scrambles plotlines, upends characters, and flouts chronology.
- Mongabay has a must-watch on the plight of the pink river dolphin—an endangered species being killed to make ‘love perfumes’.
