A bit of disheartening news coming out of the Coming Attractions Department that is part of growing trend—and admittedly we haven’t yet watched the Barbie movie because I’d rather live with the idea of it 
a little longer—but hearing of the announcement that director Margot Robbie will capitalise of the success of the film by partnering with rival toy company Hasbro, as with Mattel for the previous feature, for a big-budget nostalgia and marketing ploy with a cinematic adaptation of the board game Monopoly. Though the Barbie film freighted with a message may be an outlier, consumer capitalism is dominating the industry and cadet branches in the form of branded collaborations and appeal to test audiences—nothing wholly new or novel with infinite accessories, legacy films and reboots with a series of LEGO movies already a decade old and various examples of cross-paracosm productions, cannibalisation of back catalogues can sometimes result in the satisfying, entertaining and even poignant. All elements of narrative are derivative to a measure as part of their appeal and connection but the familiar and wistful are not the pinnacle of art and storytelling.
one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting plus space-based cocktails
two years ago: Earth Day
three years ago: more links to enjoy
four years ago: the first Earth Day (1970), the shortest river around the world plus ambient noises from the office
five years ago: don’t mess with mother, ugly Belgian houses plus Alien vignettes
