Our weekly recap highlighting the best feature stories from around the internet.
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I Love The ’80s Horror: Stranger Things, The Final Girl, And X-Men – by Ira Madison III, MTV
“Stranger Things succeeds because it's not just getting by on pop-culture references, it's also working to subvert them in smart ways. The series revolves around the three boys — Mike, Dustin, and Lucas — who are hunting for their friend. But it's the women who ultimately drive the story forward.”
This 16-Year-Old Has Made Millions Selling Rare Sneakers – by Lauren Schwartzberg, The Cut
“His favorite Khaled-ism is “Don’t play yourself” and its iterations. Someone questions if his shoes are fake: “Congratulations, you played yourself.” His dad didn’t believe he’d actually bought Balmain jeans: “Played himself.” Strategizing with friends about getting into the club: “Make sure we don’t play ourselves.” And even Ben himself is not excluded. He attempts speaking Spanish to an Uber driver but doesn’t understand the reply: “I played myself.””
Courtney Sina Meredith: Why I push so hard – by Dale Husband, E-Tangata
“What I do know is that we need to work harder on being accepting. We really do. We need to be telling our young people that they are absolutely enough as they are. And when they want to do something different with their lives, we have to find a way to accept that and be supportive and understanding.”
Rise and Scam - by Patrick D. McDermott, The Fader
“For Branden, masquerading as someone he’s not provides a way to cope with — or maybe just circumvent — his feelings about his own identity. “It wasn’t my strategy, but it just so happens I play a character that allows me to do whatever I want,” he tells me. “It’s the one time I can kind of be free.””
Fractured Lands: How The Arab World Came Apart – by Scott Anderson, The NY Times
“The product of some 18 months of reporting, it tells the story of the catastrophe that has fractured the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq 13 years ago, leading to the rise of ISIS and the global refugee crisis. The geography of this catastrophe is broad and its causes are many, but its consequences — war and uncertainty throughout the world — are familiar to us all.”
Eric Andre: An Agent of Chaos With Ranch on the Side – by Jordan Zakarin, Inverse
“We had more guests ask to walk out this season than ever before,” he says, not at all upset by this statistic. “It’s super-hot in the studio. We’re releasing rats and cockroaches, explosives are going off. Steve Schirripa, the guy from The Sopranos, I tried to interview his penis. He kind of flipped my chair over.”
