Our weekly recap highlighting the best feature stories from around the internet.
Photo: Unknown
What’s Wrong With the DC Comics Movie Franchise? – by David Sims, The Atlantic
“If Suicide Squad doesn’t land with viewers, then Wonder Woman will be hailed as DC’s next great hope, as the first film to star the female icon of its title (being played by Gal Gadot). Marvel’s genius throughout has been to avoid those unfair expectations, and strike a balance between movies that tell individual stories while keeping one eye on the next few entries.”
The Pop Star Of Jihad – by Amos Barshad, The Fader
“Though he left rap, Cuspert never abandoned music. He began instead singing songs in praise of the international jihad, what jihadists refer to as nasheeds. Traditionally, nasheeds are songs of uplift, mostly a cappella, about Islam, its practices, and its history. But these were songs about fighters-in-arms, about explosions, about mass murder. In one, a German-language adaptation of a jihadist anthem called “Qariban Qariba,” Cuspert declared, Enemies of Allah, we want your blood/ It tastes so wonderful.”
The fearless poetry of Hera Lindsay Bird – by Felicity Monk, Sunday Magazine
“We do get this huge amount of what other people would describe as 'oversharing' – people revealing really intimate details about their lives. . . But I think it's a fundamentally good thing that people are able to be so open about their lives. Oversharing for who? The people who seem to have a problem with oversharing are, well, let's be honest, it's older men, isn't it? But it's not for them.”
Can Millennials Take a Joke? – by Lindsay Zoladz, The Ringer
“If a group of people is morally right but also a little extreme and obnoxious in the way they go about proving that, though, does that negate their viewpoint entirely? Is the girl who raises her shaky voice in the crowd inherently less important than the guy on stage with the microphone — and does this dynamic change at all when she throws his own aggression back in his face?”
Meet the Auckland Boys Who Blast Celine Dion from Tiny Bikes – by Frances Morton, Vice
“It came out of seeing cars that were decked out with these speakers, but they couldn't drive, so they decided to take that form of expression and strap it on to these really shitty bikes. Through different trial and error, they figured out the best way to create these platforms, figure out the best way to rig the speakers to batteries. They've got this system down.”
The Te Kūiti Underground - by Ashleigh Young, Article Magazine
“A few weeks, perhaps a month later, I received a reply from Beck. Or from someone pretending to be him. The letter said: ‘Wow, what’s it like living in New Zealand? Do y’all have the Funky Chicken there? — Beck.’ I read the letter over and over, my hands shaking, until it ceased to make sense.”
