Crikey long reads

Cass Knowlton, editor

“Before vaquitas vanish, a desperate bid to save them” by Elisabeth Malkin in The New York Times

“In the shallow sea waters of the Gulf of California swims a porpoise that few have seen, its numbers dwindling so fast that its very existence is now in peril … No more than 30 vaquitas are left, according to a November estimate based on monitoring of their echolocation clicks. Half of the vaquitas counted a year earlier have disappeared. This calamity has hardly gone unnoticed. The vaquita has been vanishing in plain sight …”

Josh Taylor, journalist

“What Daria means to the shows creators 20 years later” by Kristy Puchko in Nerdist

“To look back on the legacy of Daria, Nerdist reached out to the show’s co-creators Susie Lewis and Glenn Eichler, as well as Beavis and Butt-Head creator Mike Judge. And as we spoke, a strange sensation arose that we weren’t talking about a cartoon character; rather, we were updating each other about a real girl who has grown right along with us over these past two decades.”

Dan Wood, subeditor

“Act Naturally: working with Caveh Zahedi on the web series, The Show about the Show” by Peter Rinaldi in Filmmaker Magazine

“Zahedi has spent his career putting his life, warts especially, in front of the camera. If he ever was squeamish about it, those days are gone. No longer even aware of what causes squeamishness, he expected cast and crew to reenact private moments without qualms. There have been qualms … And, despite being great actors, this isn’t quite acting; it’s reenacting.”

(You can watch the series here — Dan)

Bernard Keane, politics editor

“The very drugged Nazis” by Antony Beevor in The New York Review of Books

“Drugs were depicted [by the Nazis] as part of a Jewish plot to poison and weaken the nation — Jews were said to ‘play a supreme part’ in the international drug trade — and yet nobody became more dependent on cocktails of drugs than Hitler, and no armed forces did more to enhance their troops’ performance than the Wehrmacht did by using a version of methamphetamine.”

Charlie Lewis, journalist

“The Perth Freight Link: stranger than fiction” by David Whish-Wilson in The Monthly

“The early morning hours are when the largest number of protesters gather. By 8.30 the majority have to go to work or take kids to school. Greens and Labor politicians and local councillors are always a strong presence. For them the protest isn’t just political — this is their community too.”