Step aside Rosie the Riveter! There’s a new techno-chic on the bloc. Barbie has a new life as a computer engineer. Women and technology are often at odds in the cultural imagination, so we’re glad to see everybody’s favorite glamor girl geeking out. But will it get more young girls interested in tech careers? The new doll has glasses, a Bluetooth equipped cellphone, and a geektastic t-shirt covered in binary code. We like the concept but the shirt design has a bit of a retro 80s feel. We’ve always thought that Binary Love needs a more classic style: 1’s and <3's forever! Get a shirt for yourself, and a bib for the baby!

Perhaps in part to address allegations of sexism, Marvel is coming out with Girl Comics, a series written, drawn, lettered, colored, edited and all production work (proofreading, design, etc.) by women. This is a gimmick, but it’s not a ghetto. There are Eisner award winners; people who’ve in the industry for years and helped shaped it. Most of the women already work for Marvel or DC in the regular line ups. We just wish the comics industry was progressive enough to recognize that women work in all aspects of it every day anyway.

We’re still going to check it out, aside from the ironic title. I hope? It’s hard to get irony right. And sometimes it’s like snark in comments: you think you see it but it’s not there. Anyway, what are they going to call it Gomics? It’s not always going to be easy like Obamics.

There’s a bit of a dust-up over the Dubai Beach Soccer World Cup, which some people think was just made up as an excuse to stay in a seven-star hotel. But there’s no doubt that FIFA madness has spread to the undead in Pro Zombie Soccer.

Takashi Murakami is in a recent Times article stuck in the art/commerce funk: “I want to keep on creating but my fear is, how long can I continue? I’ve survived for ten years, but I’m not sure I can survive the next ten years.” All that tells us to beware of technocolor pandas and shopping! In Murakami’s Superflat First Love ad for Louis Vuitton, they can suck you into a time warp and make you lose your cell phone. If you’re not afraid, purchase a panda plush. Our favorite part is at the end where it kicks the logo and it turns into bamboo! But if Nadia Plesner had done it, would LV be feeling sue happy?

Tears of joy — Mer-chan mushrooms have finally sprouted! Get them before they’re picked!