My favourite Barbie was the one with the blue party dress and the poofy eighties fringe. My second favourite was my Party Pink Barbie which came adorned in pink, jewels and glitz – the showstopper being a furry pink shawl sprinkled with sparkly silver stuff. I had some other pretend ‘Barbies’ that I managed to destroy: I used hand soap to wash one doll’s beautiful red hair and it remains, to this very day, stuck together in one giant dreadlock; and I had a mermaid Cindy (or something) which apparently was not supposed to be used in water despite the fact that she came with a beautiful mermaid tail – her crimped hair changed from ‘Darryl Hannah in Splash‘ to ‘Cameron Diaz in Being John Malkovich‘. Poor dollies. Taiwanese plastic is pretty sturdy but does allow for creativity that encompasses body modification, hair design and facial piercings. If my mom had taken a look at my Barbies perhaps she wouldn’t have been so surprised when I got my first tattoo, purple-black hair and piercing. I spent many a happy hour ‘playing Barbies’ with neighbours, friends, cousins and even brothers – although their version of the game was called ‘army bases’ and involved G.I. Joes, lego, micro-machines, farmyard animals and plants from the garden. (more…)

The guardian.co.uk has published a great article entitled The celebrity cult of SpongeBob, which describes SpongeBob as a “ridiculously popular children’s cartoon that one imagines was dreamt up while under the influence”. The article delves into the topical issue of SpongeBob’s sexuality, as brought to the fore by Christian fundamentalists. Is Patrick his boy crush or not? Writer Hadley Freeman argues, “The fact that sexual congress would, presumably, be difficult between a sponge and a piece of ocean life (particularly as the sponge is incapable of removing his squarepants) has not dented their horror a jot”, to which an observant reader retorts, “You’ve never watched it have you[?] Spongebob is a sponge, also a sea creature. And he often takes off (or loses) his pants to comic effect”. In this light, take not of the sociological definition of cult: “a group with a high degree of tension with the surrounding society combined with novel religious beliefs”. (more…)