This week on The Deep Dive: How cost-risk analysis leads to windows falling from the sky, Jojo Siwa’s rebrand might get her sued by Gene Simmons, the iceberg of Kardashian-Jenner businesses, let’s pretend the musical in High School Musical was an actual real story, and The Body Shop was impressively ahead of its time until it very much wasn’t.

And coming tomorrow on The Rabbit Hole: I recently discovered Big Brother and I have thoughts.

URBANISM

Windows Keep Falling Off Skyscrapers. Why? by Stewart Hicks (14:58)

With any major US city comes towering skyscrapers and with those towering skyscrapers apparently come multiple instances of entire sheets of window glass plummeting from the sides of buildings and onto the city streets. I’m no Frank Lloyd Wright, but something tells me that’s not supposed to happen. In this video, Stewart Hicks investigates the case of windows falling from the sky and why it happens even when the buildings in question technically meet safety standards. How is it possible for a building owner to ignore a recommendation to replace unsafe windows that could literally kill people? And are the scaffoldings that cover city sidewalks the only thing between us and the occasional flying piece of construction material?

SOCIAL MEDIA

Jojo Siwa’s Rebrand Is Not Ironic, It’s Just Bad Marketing by kayla says (15:01)

Jojo Siwa’s rebrand is the definition of doing the absolute most, but is she just trolling to generate the highest impact possible? In this video, kayla says makes the argument that no, she’s not. Instead, it’s looking like the Bangerz-era rebrand Jojo was hoping for isn’t panning out the way she expected and now it’s time to make a few podcast appearances for some damage control and backpedaling. This video also serves as a reminder that between Dance Moms, a children’s media empire, and whatever’s happening now with this rebrand, Jojo Siwa’s entire career from an extremely young age has centered around monetizing cringe and shamelessness – which to be clear, is not her fault (at least not entirely). Yet another reason why Dance Moms should have never been allowed to exist.

This issue of The Deep Dive is sponsored by Strong Towns

There’s still time to sign up for the Strong Towns National Gathering…

And I want to see you there! If you don’t already know, Strong Towns is a YouTube channel dedicated to a better future for America's towns and neighborhoods. This year, Strong Towns is holding its National Gathering on May 14-15 in Cincinnati. The event will feature sessions about guerilla tactics for creating better cities, how to talk to your community about the need for public investment, and more.

Register for the event here and use code HAYAK2024 to get 10% off General Admission tickets. If you do buy tickets, hit reply and let me know so I can connect you with other rabbits who will be attending!

CELEBRITY

The Kardashians are cannibalizing themselves (kar/jenner businesses deep dive) by Madisyn Brown (50:27)

You’ve heard of SKIMS, Kylie Cosmetics, Good American, and 818 Tequila, but have you heard of Khroma Beauty, Kylie Hair Kouture, and the Kardashian (debit) Kard? In this video, Madisyn Brown explores the more than 60 Kardashian-Jenner business ventures, most of which we’ve either forgotten about or never even heard of thanks to a classic case of survivorship bias. Every so often, the stars (or should I say, the sun and moon) align and the Kardashian tactic of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks makes one of them the youngest self-made billionaire, as long as they definitely didn’t give Forbes falsified income documents to land that cover story. And if all else fails, at least they can donate to Kris Jenner’s church which doubles as a tax loophole! Anyway, I gotta go buy that SKIMS dress before it sells out again.

NOSTALGIA

Solving the Mystery of High School Musical’s Musical by Dream Jelly (51:20)

Only true High School Musical fans lie awake at night thinking about Twinkle Towne, the ✨ musicale ✨ at the center of Troy and Gabriella’s play-within-a-play love story. In this video, Dream Jelly pulls context clues from the High School Musical Cinematic Universe to figure out what on earth Twinkle Towne was about (if it was even meant to be a real, coherent story at all). Who are Arnold and Minnie and why can we assume their story was probably a twist on Shakespeare set in 1970s New York City? Could Bop To The Top be about a diamond heist? Sharpay and Ryan may have been auditioning for the leads, but were they the antagonists of Twinkle Towne this whole time too? How could a prop camel possibly fit into this play? And is this theory reaching at times? Absolutely, but that’s all part of the fun.

BUSINESS

The Rise and Fall of The Body Shop by underskin, (1:01:43)

As it turns out, there’s quite a story behind those tubs of body butter you’d find in your mom’s bathroom drawers in the 90s. The Body Shop, an innovative skincare brand that once broke barriers and literally created an entire segment of the retail market based on activism, is now hanging by a thread with its entire existence in limbo – at a time when consumers prioritize activism more than ever. In this video, underskin, tells the story of The Body Shop and its co-founder Anita Roddick. For a company that was more than willing to make a wrong decision, The Body Shop seemed to grow and grow…until it all came crashing down thanks to sudden and swift public backlash that might have been pretty unfair in hindsight. How did The Body Shop lose Anita Roddick when it needed her most?

The Deep Dive’s Bonus Video of the Week

Shout out to Emma from Ireland for the recommendation!

Wow. This video is beautiful and interesting and heartbreakingly topical – and it also left me feeling hopeful. It’s about the history of Scotland’s rainforests, which existed for thousands of years before they were destroyed after an invasion by the English, who forcibly drove out the existing population who were tending to the land and imported invasive flora and fauna, not to mention a Victorian fern-mania that severely damaged what was left of the ecosystem. But thankfully, Scotland isn’t giving up on the rainforest that once was.

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