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5 things we especially liked on Quartz
🎞️ A meme for a meme. Barbenheimer, the marketing mash-up of the Barbie and Oppenheimer films opening this weekend, is flat-out funny. But as Clarisa Diaz points out, it’s also a much-needed revenue opportunity for AMC, the meme stock and world’s largest movie theater chain, which has yet to see its business return to pre-pandemic strength.
💎 Real estate’s newest gem. Later this year, the Pentagon will lose the title of world’s largest office building. The new record-holder will clock in at 7.1 million sq ft (659,600 sq m), more than half a million square feet larger than the US Defense Department’s headquarters. Ananya Bhattacharya opens the doors on India’s Surat Diamond Bourse, which is expected to house more than 65,000 cutters, polishers, traders, and other diamond district professionals.
🌡️ What’s in a name? Cerberus. Charon. Minos. The evocative names for Italy’s weather events come from the mind of Antonio Sanò, a meteorology engineer and founder of the Italian weather website iLMeteo. Sanò’s names for heat waves and anticyclones have been known to catch on, but as Julia Malleck reports, there’s a hot debate over whether that’s the right way to get people focused on nature’s potential catastrophes.
⛅ Panel pileup. The quest to become less reliant on Russian energy—among other geopolitical phenomena—led Europe to amass a huge stockpile of Chinese solar panels. Mary Hui scopes out the inventory buildup as the EU swaps dependency on one autocracy for another.
🪜 Upwardly mobile. Sometimes it’s hard to know if you’re really ready for that promotion. Quartz at Work, via contributor Kelli Thompson, offers a new framework to help you decide if it’s time to move on up. Test it out and let us know what you think.
5 great stories from elsewhere
⚽ All-stars. The Women’s FIFA World Cup kicked off this week in New Zealand, and if you’re in need of a catch-up on the teams and top players, ABC News (the Australian one, that is) has just the visual guide for you. And while you’re brushing up on this year’s lineups, make sure to check out this viral French ad about France’s squad, Les Bleues (stick to the end for the surprise twist).
🥾 Jungle nuptials. Writer Melissa Johnson attended a destination wedding in 2017 that required 60 miles of on-foot trekking through the Guatemalan jungle. She details the trials of the five-day journey, made by the members of the wedding party, in a hilarious retelling for Outside. Hopefully you’ll enjoy the story from a location that lacks blood-sucking parasites. Johnson was not so fortunate.
🧑🍳 Cook off. MasterChef Australia has been called the “hardest cooking competition in the world,” and for good reason, according to writer Danny Chau. Despite its name, the show actually features no professional chefs. And unlike the US version, all the competitors live with each other for weeks on end, competing for as much as 14 hours a day. Chau explains in The Ringer why the grueling show is a cut above other culinary competitions.
🌊The inundation. The Seine isn’t Paris’s only river: The French capital actually sits at the convergence of four. Its watery location brings certain dangers: A once-in-100-years flood is expected to hit the city in the near future, and will impact millions in the region. The Dial delves into the preparations for impending catastrophe, as well as accounts of the last great Parisian flood in 1910.
💅DJ Barbie. After much anticipation, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie has finally hit theaters. The movie will undoubtedly be a visual feast, but the score is also shaping up to be just as iconic. The BBC breaks down the soundtrack for the film, which includes contributions from Lizzo, Billie Eilish, and Dua Lipa. Now please excuse us as we hop into our pink convertible—we’re ready for a Barbenheimer special.
What to watch for this week
It’s the One With All The Earnings.
- Tuesday: Microsoft, Alphabet, Visa, LVMH, Verizon, Unilever, GM, Spotify, Tata Motors, Snap
- Wednesday: Facebook, Coca-Cola, Boeing, AT&T, Chipotle, eBay, Mattel
- Thursday: Amazon, MasterCard, McDonald’s, Shell, Comcast, T-Mobile, Intel, Mondelez, VW, Ford, Hershey, Keurig Dr Pepper, Budweiser, Kia, Canon, Southwest, Roku, Crocs
- Friday: ExxonMobil, Procter & Gamble, Chevron, Colgate-Palmolive
Thanks for reading! Here’s to the week ahead, and don’t hesitate to reach out with comments, questions, feedback, imported solar panels, and destination wedding stories. Sunday Reads was brought to you by Heather Landy, Julia Malleck, Morgan Haefner, and Susan Howson.