💅 C’mon Barbie, let’s go to Boston

It’s Monday, Boston.

🚃 Heads up, B Line riders! Shuttle buses will replace Green Line service between Boston College and Kenmore for the next 12 days, so be sure to add some padding to your commute.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Housing buzz

• $1 weenies

• Transplantation woes

Up first...

CULTURE

Boston’s Barbie Dreamhouse

C’mon Barbie, let’s go to Boston. While Ken probably didn’t say those words verbatim, it certainly feels like he did. Barbie’s presence in the city has felt inescapable.

Greta Gerwig’s long-awaited Barbie movie is slated to hit theaters this Friday, and Boston is already throwing her quite the welcome party. So whether you’re a super fan, Barbie-curious, or just here for the pink drinks, here’s how you can celebrate her arrival:

👀First off, get up to speed on the hubbub. The official Barbie movie trailer has 41 million views and is an instant mood booster. A recent TIME article explains why the film is projected to dominate the box office this weekend (possibly beating out Oppenheimer).

🍹 Sip on the city’s pink and glitter-dusted drink scene. The Showcase SuperLux movie theater in Chestnut Hill is serving three Barbie-themed cocktails like the “Beachy Keen” made with vodka, lychee, St-Germain, fresh lemon, and edible glitter. Night Shift Brewing’s Everett taproom has “The Malibu Owl” slushie, a rum-based, pink piña colada, made with coconut milk, pineapple, and a touch of glitter. The Nautilus in the Seaport has a “Blackout Barbie” craft cocktail made with thyme-infused strawberry juice, tequila blanco, and sparkling wine.

🥳 Hit up all the Barbie-themed parties and performances. Shy Bird in Southie is hosting a Barbie Blowout Party equipped with dreamhouse decor, food, and pink drinks. Plus, the two people who show up with the best Barbiecore and Kenergy looks will win a special gift from Shy Bird and Love Child. Plus, Summer Shack and Lamplight Brewing Co. are both hosting their own Barbie-themed drag shows. Make sure to order the Dreamhouse shots at Summer Shack and wear your best Barbie outfit at Lamplighter (they may just pull you on stage).

❓Test your Barbie knowledge at Trident Booksellers and Café. The shop is hosting a Barbie trivia night on the eve of the premiere with the top three teams scoring bookstore gift cards and other Barbie-approved gifts. Costumes are encouraged. Tix are only $7, but act quickly, they’re selling fast!

📚 Read up on Barbie’s cultural influence. The Boston Public Library staff put together a list of books inspired by the Barbie movie. The list includes thought-provoking reads like Made Up, an investigation into how the beauty industry manipulates consumers and preys on womens’ insecurities, and My Body, a memoir by model Emily Ratajkowski exploring culture’s fetishization of girls and female beauty.

🍿 Not a Barbie (or Oppenheimer) fan? No sweat. Globe film critic Odie Henderson put together a guide to the rest of the summer movie season.

🏠 Wonder what a Boston Barbie Dreamhouse looks like? Take a look at the one we made here. It’s only a little unhinged.

QUICK QUESTION!

🎥 Which movie are you most excited to see this summer?

TOGETHER WITH GUYS BOSTON

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CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🏗️ There’s a lot of buzz on the Boston real estate front. For starters, last week the Boston Planning and Development Agency’s board approved “Fenway Corners,” a massive project bringing offices, labs, apartments, retailers, and street-level upgrades around Fenway Park. On the same day, the agency also greenlit Mayor Wu’s policy of increasing the percentage of income-restricted units in new residential developments from 13% to 17% (plus 3% for voucher holders). But whether the plan will make a difference depends on who you ask. Housing advocates don’t think it goes far enough while developers warn it will stifle new production.

⚡ More electric car charging stations could be coming to town. Officials have started accepting proposals from developers to add more stations to Boston with the ultimate goal of having chargers available in Brighton, Allston, Hyde Park, Dorchester, and Roxbury within a year. There are around 180 charging locations in the city, but most of them are downtown, Seaport, Fenway, and Beacon Hill (surprise). After all, if people don’t have a place to charge their car, they’re less likely to make the switch to electric.

😋 Add two more restaurant openings to your list. Sugar Skulls, a new Mexican-inspired ice cream shop serving sweets and frozen drinks, is slated to open today at High Street Place. Their menu staples include ice cream tacos, churro ice cream sandwiches, and boozy ice cream floats (they have mocktails, too). And just a few blocks away is Hobgoblin, a gastropub and piano bar with a Thai-inspired menu serving things like bison meatballs in a panang sauce. You can see the opening food lineup here.

🌭 Silhouette Lounge is celebrating National Hot Dog Day with cheap weenies. The Allston hangout spot will honor the occasion on July 19 by serving up $1 hot dogs with the purchase of a beverage. They’d also like to remind you about their once-in-a-lifetime offer: free links for ink. Just get a tattoo with any Sil-related insignia (inspired by its logo, signature art like the winged rat, its namesake, etc.), and you’ll be rewarded with a free hot dog per visit for life. So far, 11 brave souls have cashed in on the offer.

THINGS TO DO

Weekly checklist

🏮 Make your own paper lantern at MassArt. In addition to getting crafty, this Art on the Plaza event comes fully stocked with live music, mocktails, and ice cream. Oh, and it’s free.

🏖️ Spend a summer night at Carson Beach. Boston Harbor Now is hosting a free night of food, beach volleyball, cornhole, live music, and more this Wednesday. And the weather FINALLY looks great for it.

🎧 Listen to Boston’s first mixtape “Dear Summer.” The City is hosting a listening session for its launch, featuring songs and mixes from 17 local artists and six DJs. It kicks off at 6 p.m. tonight at HUE.

🇫🇷 Break out your beret for Harvard’s Bastille Day block party. There'll be plenty of wine, pastries, macarons, dancing, and more. Hon hon hon!

😂 See Boston’s best up-and-coming comics for $10. Folks like Don Yan and Kate Malloy will be front and center at Winter Hill Brewing Co.’s comedy showcase.

ONE LAST THING

Transplantation woes

The woman who held up traffic in the Ted Williams Tunnel last Thursday would like to formally apologize.

MassDOT closed the tunnel twice last Thursday, both times to transplant organs. And Megan Morant is pretty sure her kidney was the reason behind one of them.

"I'm not 100% sure it was my kidney, but the timing does add up," Megan Morant told NBC10 Boston. She tweeted photos from the hospital after coming out of surgery, saying: “Sorry about the traffic, Boston.”

She donated her kidney to a joint donor program, and just learned that it was shipped to UCLA and the recipient is “doing awesome.” Morant is also holding up well after being discharged from the hospital — she already walked a mile on Friday.

While she may have made Bostonians grumble a little more than usual, it was, technically, for a good cause.

😂 Thanks for reading! “I once shut down the Ted Williams Tunnel” is the ultimate factoid for two truths and a lie.

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