Plus, Indiana Jones, Barbie's house, and Clarence Thomas

View this email online by Linda Holmes Welcome! It was the week when Barbie's house could be yours. It was the week when movies in theaters waited for audiences. And it was the week when Ryan Seacrest got yet another job. Let's get to it. Mascot birthdays and brand identities in questionable taste(buds) This has been a heavy week in some ways. You know this already. So let's take a minute and talk about mascots. There come times when companies have assets lying around that they're not sure what to do with. Materials, outdated products, promotional swag for things that flopped. It appears that McDonald's looked around and decided they had a big purple ... thing that they weren't using, and thus began Operation Get Everybody to Talk About Grimace. Grimace is the vaguely gumdrop-shaped purple lump that defies simple classification, which makes him unusual among McDonald's most familiar characters. Ronald McDonald is a clown, the Hamburglar is a thief who looks like he works at Foot Locker, Mayor McCheese is a corrupt politician with a burger for a head, and so on. But what is Grimace? Why is Grimace? Wendy's has a girl with braids, Burger King has a freaky-looking royal ... but what is Grimace for? Ronald McDonald and Grimace appear in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in November 2020 in New York City.  Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Macy's, Inc. Doesn't matter! It turns out you don't need a purpose if you have a birthday. And Grimace supposedly has one. So now we have a special meal accompanied by a purple shake in "honor" of what some claim is actually an enormous, presumably inflamed taste bud. And, not to complicate something that should be beautifully simple, but: Can a taste bud have a birthday? Because taste buds regenerate themselves constantly, something like once every couple of weeks, according to the very smart people at ... NPR. So theoretically, a taste bud's birthday is like two weeks ago! If Grimace is a taste bud introduced in 1971, he's been dead for 50 years! That is unless, of course, we assume that taste buds follow a sort of Ship of Theseus protocol and regenerate a little at a time, while remaining the same fundamental entity throughout. Honestly, Grimace being a taste bud would introduce a number of problems into the celebration of his birthday. Thus: I consider him a mascot that isn't anything. Don't get me wrong; I like a mascot that isn't anything. I grew up watching the Phillie Phanatic, who is proudly not anything (yes, yes, Wikipedia claims he's a "flightless bird," but this is merely a way to try to fit him into some kind of normal taxonomy of mascots, and we will not be doing that to the PP today). No, the Phanatic doesn't have a baseball head. No, he's not an obnoxious chicken. He is just a green thing that they made up with a snout and a lot of green fur. You could say the same of Gritty, actually, in terms of a certain loosely defined creature who you have to imagine spends a lot of time in bars. Philadelphia apparently just likes mascots who look a little bit like on weekends, they go nuts and get in fights with other mascots. If you contrast that with the Washington Nationals mascots that, while wonderful, represent one bald eagle and several people who died long ago, I think the Phanatic wins. But a sports mascot seems a little different from a commercial mascot. Commercial mascots are just ... ways to root for brands, in this case for food. That's a little bit less pure-hearted than, say, Artie the Artichoke, who is technically food but also cheers on Scottsdale Community College. If you're going to be a commercial mascot, you really need at least a few fun mascot facts, the best of which is the now-well-known truth that Chuck E. Cheese's real name is Charles Entertainment Cheese. If Grimace's real name were Grimacio Ludwig von Frenchfry, you might be getting somewhere. "May be a tastebud" is not a fun fact, it is grim speculation that may or may not answer an explosion of internet lore. Is the omnipresence of commercial mascots the most important thing going on in the world? Perhaps not. But in a world gone mad, I am prepared to opine that Grimace's birthday probably does not require celebration, he should not be deemed a taste bud, and no shake should be that color. Newsletter continues after sponsor message We Recommend Hijack on Apple TV+ is so stressful that I found it hard to watch. But the series, which stars Idris Elba as a man trying to help himself and the rest of the passengers survive (unsurprisingly) a hijacking, is certainly capable at what it sets out to do. Now and then, the death of a working actor just inspires me to investigate their career and how long, varied and interesting it is. This week, it was Nicolas Coster, who did soaps, All the President's Men, lots and lots of prime-time TV, and theater, where he was an understudy for Laurence Olivier. I have long been a fan of Slate's Slow Burn podcast, and I am excited to sit down with its perfectly-timed new season, which is about Clarence Thomas. What We Did This Week Andrew Barth Feldman and Jennifer Lawrence star in No Hard Feelings / Sony Pictures Entertainment A couple of weeks ago, I accidentally raised a false alarm that our former producer Candice Lim, now the co-host of ICYMI at Slate, had returned as a panelist for one of our episodes. That was a mix-up, but now it's true! Candice came back to chat with Stephen about the Jennifer Lawrence comedy No Hard Feelings. Glen talked to LaTesha Harris and Inkoo Kang about Boots Riley's big, ambitious show I'm A Virgo. I talked to Leah Donnella about some great mysteries and thrillers you can read when you need to be unsettled in the good way. And Glen, Chris Klimek and Kristen Meinzer had a great time talking about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. What's Making Us Happy Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are: Kristen Meinzer: Lady Audaci-Tea Chris Klimek: A vibrant summer movie season Glen Weldon: Matteo Lane: Hair Plugs & Heartache Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+. Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free episodes. What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: pchh@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Music, Books, Daily News and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Pop Culture Happy Hour emails. 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