Our weekly wrap-up of the best long-reads from around the web
Nick Dwyer tracked down the composers of some of the world's best-known video games for his latest documentary series. Photo: Diggin' In The Carts
The true story of how Teen Vogue got mad, got woke, and began terrifying men like Donald Trump - Sady Doyle, Quartz
“A woman’s preaching is like a dog’s walking on his hind legs,” Samuel Johnson said back in 1791. “It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.”
Over two centuries later, denigrating women who dare to express their thoughts remains a popular cultural pastime. This is especially true when women speak publicly about “serious” topics like religion, business, and politics. And there is no better example of this phenomenon than the condescension with which Teen Vogue’s political coverage has been greeted in 2016.”
Virtual Reality Can Leave You With an Existential Hangover - Rebecca Searles, The Atlantic
“When Tobias van Schneider slips on a virtual reality headset to play Google’s Tilt Brush, he becomes a god. His fingertips become a fiery paintbrush in the sky. A flick of the wrist rotates the clouds. He can jump effortlessly from one world that he created to another.
When the headset comes off, though, it’s back to a dreary reality. And lately van Schneider has been noticing some unsettling lingering effects. “What stays is a strange feeling of sadness and disappointment when participating in the real world, usually on the same day,” he wrote on the blogging platform Medium last month. “The sky seems less colorful and it just feels like I’m missing the ‘magic’ (for the lack of a better word). … I feel deeply disturbed and often end up just sitting there, staring at a wall.”
Some days the bomb goes off: the ballerina who accused her instructor of sexual assault - Jessica Luther, Buzzfeed
“On a snowy Sunday in January, in a nondescript room inside a community center in the small, quintessential New England town of Dover, New Hampshire, a group of ballerinas rehearse on pointe. As they lift their bodies onto their toes, their shoes stretch and creak. The dancers move across the floor, the compact material in the top of their shoes makes a dull but distinct thud each time they plant their toes. Jump, thud. Foot flex, creak. Legs shuffle, thud, thud, thud. Spin, creak, thud.”
Trump Grill could be the worst restaurant in America - Tina Nguyen, Vanity Fair
“This is on me,” said our waiter, who must have noticed that we sent barely touched plates back to the kitchen, as he slipped us a tiny chocolate cake buried under whipped cream and anxious drizzles of caramel with our check, and my heart broke. It’s not his fault that he has to run garbage food back and forth, from a slammed kitchen behind a door marked “TRUMP EMPLOYEES ONLY,” to a table waiting an agonizing half hour just to close the check. It’s not his fault that the only way he can make it up to us is with a free cake, still frozen in the center, that tastes like Tums.”
The end of celebrity as we know it - Amanda Dobbins, The Ringer
“In 2016, mega-famous A-listers like Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian receded from view while the president-elect showed how a mid-tier celebrity can seize power in the attention economy.”
The Hollywood Medium has a secret - Ryan Houlihan, The Outline
“Television’s Michael Corbett, the ruggedly handsome Daytime Emmy Award-winning actor and host of Mansions and Millionaires, was at a Christmas party in Beverly Hills in 2013 when he met a teenage California native by the name of Tyler Henry.
Henry, a blond, slender, Macaulay Culkin look-alike, was smiley and soft-spoken. He claimed he had the power to communicate with the dead.
Corbett, a self-described "total skeptic," said he immediately booked a private reading at his home to see if Henry was truly up to snuff. He was impressed.”