Popular Elsewhere
14:56 UK time, Friday, 4 November 2011
A look at the stories ranking highly on various news sites.
My Little Pony has been attracting an unexpected cult following of young men, according to a popular Wall Street Journal article. It claims groups of grown men meet up, start bands, even cut back on college courses all in appreciation of the magnificence of a cartoon series meant for little girls. They even have their own moniker: bronies. And apparently there is a lot of appreciation for the complex characters portrayed. "They have flaws, they have backgrounds they're ashamed of," explains 15-year-old Christian Leisner. At a brony gathering in Berkley, 27-year-old Ohad Kanne said his sisters wonder what is wrong with him but "luckily, we have this community that understands".
It’s nothing new for readers to flock to animal stories, rocketing them up most read lists of news sites. So it is unsurprising that Daily Mail readers are clicking on striking pictures of a gorilla getting a check up at the vets before moving to a new zoo. But what many may miss out on are the words written around these pictures. This is a shame (ahem) as the incredible detail like “they also took the opportunity to cut his nails” would be missed. Gripping.
We’ve had Beckham studies and Madonna studies, now a popular Washington Post article hails Jay-Z studies. This time Georgetown University is offering a course called Sociology of Hip-Hop - Urban Theodicy of Jay-Z. The piece explains that Georgetown isn’t dumbing down - or as Michael Dyson who’s leading the course puts it: “This is not a class meant to sit around and go, ‘Oh man, those lyrics were dope’”. Instead, he says, he wants people to ask ““What’s the intellectual, theological, philosophical predicate for Jay-Z’s argument?” Too much for a Friday afternoon, surely.
A popular Huffington Post article says a survey shows the number one issue couples argue in the winter is the temperature of the house. It claims that four out of 10 couples admit to having “two tiffs a day” about whether or not to turn on the heating. So who has done the survey? Thermostat company Honeywell. Hmmm
