In the Western tradition, it has always been about Barbie. Venus? Actually Barbie. Mona Lisa? It was Barbie. The model for the Statue of Liberty? Barbie. So French artist Jocelyne Grivaud created many Barbie images as great artists should have composed them. Content warning: nudes.

Link (Google Translate) -via Flavorwire

Artist and photographer Carrie M. Becker re-imagined Barbie (the doll) as a pathological hoarder, and arranged Barbie’s dream house as such. She explains some of the thought behind the project in her artist’s statement. Somebody call a maid! No, a sanitation crew! You can see many different rooms in her Flickr set.  Link -via Laughing Squid

(Image credit: Flickr user Carrie M. Becker)

If there’s a Barbie doll for all occasions, why not one that fights zombies? Zombie Attack Barbie is a design by Sarah Anne Langton. Link -via Laughing Squid

The woman that has everything has finally got inked. The tokidoki Barbie Doll by Simone Legno is the first ever tattooed Barbie to hit the streets ... er, collectors' shelves. Rage of conservative parents in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

Via Nylon Blog

You may not be able to get (the impossibly proportioned) Barbie figure, but you can one day live in the house of little b.... londe that has everything.

The American Institute of Architects is holding a design competition where architects and designers are invited to submit their designs of the Barbie Dream House: Link

Yes, there really is a Forks, Washington. That’s where much of the Twilight series takes place, for those of you who studiously avoid the Stephenie Meyer book. And you’d better believe they’re capitalizing on the vampire trend. The Pacific Inn Motel in Forks has recently renovated several rooms to reflect the stereotypical bloodsucker image (you know… lots of red and black). But they aren’t the only ones to think of such a marketing scheme – the Week has four other hotels that have adapted rooms for kids using themes like Shrek, Barbie and more.

Via The Week

What does Barbie look like if she were a real person? For National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, high school student Galia Slayen decided to make a life-size Barbie, using the same proportion as the iconic doll:

Slayen brought the life-sized doll to the Today studios Monday to show off her handiwork. The Barbie stands about 6 feet tall with a 39" bust, 18" waist and 33" hips. She is made of wood, chicken wire and papier mache, and is dressed in a size 00 skirt that was a remnant from Slayen’s one-year bout with anorexia.

“I’m not blaming Barbie [for my illness] — she’s one small factor, an environmental factor,” Slayen said. “I’m blond and blue-eyed and I figured that was what I was supposed to look like. She was my idol. It impacted the way I looked at myself.”

The goal in creating Barbie’s likeness was to start conversation. “Talking about eating disorders is taboo to many people, and this made people talk about it,” Slayen said. “It’s a shocking image. A lot of people have seen it, and it’s started debates,” she said, particularly after she wrote about it for the Huffington Post. “Her proportions are not 100 percent correct, but her look is not invalid.”

Link | Galia’s story in her own words at HuffPo

What? You still think that Barbie is sending bad messages to young girls? Compared to Mattel's new Monster High doll, Barbie looks like a dowdy librarian:

Clawdeen Wolf comes complete with a thigh-skimming skirt, sky high boots and heavy makeup, and spends her days “waxing, plucking and shaving.”

“My hair is worthy of a shampoo commercial, and that’s just what grows on my legs. Plucking and shaving is definitely a full-time job but that’s a small price to pay for being scarily fabulous,” reads the character description of the teen werewolf doll, who also lists her favorite hobby as “flirting with boys.”

But the most frightful thing about Clawdeen, experts say, is the shocking impact she could have on girls aged 6 and up -- the very demographic Mattel is targeting.

Hollie McKay of Fox writes: Link

Last year, to mark the 50th anniversary of the debut of Barbie, Mattel had a house redecorated to resemble the doll’s Malibu Dream House:

The 3,500 square foot house in Malibu was designed by “Happy Chic” interior designer Jonathan Adler and features a chandelier made of Barbie hair, a closet filled with thousands of shoes and a sunburst mirror made from 65 Barbie dolls.

Link via Flavorwire | Photo: Tom Andrews

Mariel Clayton photographs dioramas of Barbie dolls in grisly scenes that juxtapose the glamor of Barbie with the savagery of her hidden violence. It’s like all this time she’s always been a female version of Dexter Morgan.

Link (some NSFW) via J-Walk Blog

Mattel is giving us a blast from the past with its new line of classic TV icon Barbies. I wonder whether they’ll appeal to the Lady Gaga generation.

The new I Dream Of Jeannie (Barbara Eden) Barbie doll, the Bewitched Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery) Barbie doll, the Beverly Hillbillies’ Elly May Clampett (Donna Douglas) Barbie Doll and the cat-fighting rich bitches fromDynasty, Krystal Carrington (Linda Evans) and Alexis (Joan Collins) Barbie dolls will be released this coming December, 2010 and in January 2011.

Link

The Plaza Athénée, a luxurious hotel in Paris, has decorated a number of rooms with a Barbie theme. They’re made for children (sorry, Alex) and are pricey at €1,600 per night. The rooms will be available from August 5 through September 5.

Link via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo: Plaza Athénée

To celebrate its homegrown hero, Rhode Island governor Donald L. Carcieri proclaimed today to be "G.I. Joe Day." And to help you celebrate, here's a quickie 5 Neat Facts about G.I. Joe, only from Neatorama:

1. G.I. Joe owes its existence to Barbie. That's right - in 1963, toy creator Stan Weston thought that since Barbie was so popular, he could come up with a similar toy for boys: a line of Barbie-sized dolls with military theme to be marketed for boys. He brought the concept to toy manufacturer Hassenfeld Brothers (who later shortened the name to Hasbro).

Three prototypes were created: "Rocky the Marine", "Skip the Sailor", and "Ace the Pilot."

2. G.I. = "Government Issue"

3. The name G.I. Joe itself came from a 1945 American war film called The Story of G.I. Joe, starring Ernie Pyle and Robert Mitchum.

Four original G.I. Joe action figures released in 1964, plus the black soldier who followed in 1965. Source: Hasbro

4. World's First Action Figure. Because they thought that boys wouldn't play with dolls, Hasbro coined the words "action figure" to market the toy.

5. The first G.I. Joe product, G.I. Joe: America's Moveable Fighting Man has 21 points of articulation, which is actually patented.

6. G.I. Joe has a scar across his right cheek. This enables Hasbro to copyright its toys, because otherwise the human figure itself cannot be copyrighted.

7. In 1967, Hasbro introduced its first female Joe: G.I. Nurse Action Girl. It was a spectacular failure ... and is now one of the world's most sought-after collectible:

In 1967, Hasbro expanded the line to include a series of talking figures, and Hasbro Canada produced a Canadian Mounties set. That year also saw the release of the fabled G.I. Nurse Action Girl, a doll so rare that certain models mint-in-box can bring up to $6,000 on today’s collectors’ market.

"The G.I. Joe Nurse is so valuable today because it was released for only one year," says Sharon Korbeck, editorial director of Toy Shop, a biweekly magazine aimed at toy collectors. "The figure didn’t do very well because boys weren’t interested in a female doll, and girls weren’t interested in anything related to G.I. Joe."

Sales also suffered because toy store managers didn’t know how to position the doll. Some put her with the G.I. Joe action figures, while others stocked her next to Barbie and her friends. Either way, 50% of the prospective market was lost.

8. In the wake of the Vietnam War, Hasbro dropped the military-theme and rebranded the line as "Adventure Team."

9. Bullet Man, the weirdest G.I. Joe ever

From Plaidstallions, which has a lot more fun G.I. Joe catalog pages from the 70s

In 1976, to compete with the superhero toy craze, Hasbro added a superhero to its G.I. Joe line up: Bullet Man, the Human Bullet. Collectors didn't like it then (Joe's enemy was a caveman from outer space!), but given its rarity, Bullet Man is now highly valuable.

10. "Knowing is Half the Battle" - The G.I. Joe catchphrase came from its cartoon series in the 1980s. At the end of each episode, there was a public-service message showing kids in a situation where they did something wrong and Joes giving advice. The PSA always ended with the phrase "Now we know!" "And knowing is half the battle!" Joe Headquarters has a list of these PSAs.

If knowing is half the battle, what's the other half? Your choices are "unbridled violence," porkchop sandwiches, or this T-Shirt from Nerduo.

Mr Hutton, was found to be twice the drink-drive limit, he said.

Appearing before magistrates last week, he admitted driving the toy car while drunk.

He was given a mandatory three-year ban because he had received another drink-drive ban within the past ten years.

Link | Photo: Giz Kid

Fisher created Rev. Barbie for use in her own youth ministry: "I thought the children would like to practice playing with the vestments and learning what they are," she told Religion News Service. Over the years, Barbie’s many vocations have served as inspiration for young girls. And although Mattel has not endorsed Fisher’s improvised Reverend Barbie, the plastic priestess has emerged at a critical moment in Christian history, especially for women.

Link | Rev. Barbie’s official Facebook page

The choice of computer engineer — a field in which men far outnumber women and in which women’s participation has been declining — was announced Friday at the New York Toy Fair.

Lynn Langit, a developer evangelist at Microsoft who teaches programming to girls and works on a Microsoft program called DigiGirlz that teaches girls about technology careers, said she was thrilled about Barbie’s next career.

“We can use any sort of positive influence that we have, because the number of girls studying programming is abysmal,” she said.

Link via Wired | Image: Mattel

French designer Chloe Ruchon took the manly game of foosball and gave it a decidedly feminine twist: she used Barbie dolls as the foos men!

Chloe’s table, Barbie Foot, was made in collaboration with Mattel and foosball manufacturer Baby-foot Bonzini. It was showcased in the DMY Berlin Design Festival 2009.

Designboom has more: Link – via Inhabitat

We’ve all heard someone complain about the stereotypes and sexism associated with Barbies, but now Democrat Jeff Eldridge wants to have the dolls banned in West Virginia. He claims the dolls encourage girls to focus too much importance on looks, rather than brains.

The announcement came right as Mattel is prepping up to celebrate Barbie’s 50th birthday on March 9th.

What are your thoughts, classic American icon or symbol of of an outdated 50′s mentality?

Link Photo Via CherrySoda [Flickr]

Ever wonder how a Barbie could have less brains? Zombie Barbie is a sexy, creepy and totaly modern woman. The link has photos to help you figure out how to make your own.

Link Via BoingBoing