Geraldine Viswanathan

The Beanie Bubble

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Robbie and Ty step out in pink

The story behind the success of a stuffed-toy phenomenon, The Beanie Bubble is in many ways a template World 2.0 tale of one man, a vision, plus a lot of help from other people, most of whom get left in the dust when it is time to bask in the glory. It could be Jobs, or Musk, or Thiel, or Bezos, but here it’s Ty Warner – in many ways he got there first, building up a company selling understuffed, very soft toys to children. The toys became a thing, a can’t-lose investment. Starting in the 1980s but accelerating to warp speed in the 1990s, Ty Inc. rose and rose on the back … Read more

Drive-Away Dolls

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Jamie and Marian realise they're couriers of the wrong sort of merchandise

Drive-Away Dolls is the first feature film that Ethan Coen has directed without brother Joel’s involvement at some stage. Playing it safe, he’s decided to go for a homage to the films he first made with Joel back in those Blood Simple/Raising Arizona years. While this isn’t a bad thing in itself, it does mean what’s on offer is familiar – fruits, nuts and flakes, pantomime death, cartoonish visuals, a lot of the verbals, low shots down corridors, villains falling out with each other and what have you. It’s, you know, OK, though neither Blood Simple nor Raising Arizona need worry and it raises again a question that’s always hovered in my mind, as … Read more