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Two very contrasting stories of queer persecution around the globe: Invisible Men (2012) [1h6m] looks at the lives of gay Palestinian men living illegally in Israel to avoid persecution from their families. Proud And Unafraid (2021) [28m] has four outspoken queer individuals speaking from Lagos, Nigeria about their experience with the outlawing of any public display of LGBTQ+ existence in public life.
posted by hippybear at 5:47 PM PST - 3 comments

I've thought a lot about the film over these years, as has anyone else with even a passing interest in film theory, which means I've also fallen down the rabbit hole of, "What's with all the oranges?"
posted by Etrigan at 1:54 PM PST - 26 comments

The Weird Analog Delights of Sound Effects. "Roden estimated that only twenty per cent of sounds onscreen are generated by the actual objects represented. This presents certain challenges: when a sound cannot be described by its referent, language starts to falter. Over time, Roesch, Roden, and Curtis have developed a lexicon to describe what they want. Sounds are poofy, slimy, or naturale; they might need to be slappier, or raspier, or nebby (nebulous). They are hingey, ticky, boxy, zippy, or clacky; they are tonal, tasty, punchy, splattery, smacky, spanky. They might be described phonetically—a “kachunk-kachunk-kachunk,” or a “scritcher”—or straightforwardly (“fake”). Tools, too, have their own names. Shings make shiny metallic sounds—a sword being drawn from its scabbard—and wronkers give the impression of metal sliding across a hard surface. “Like, chhhrtz,” Roesch clarified." [more inside]
posted by storybored at 1:30 PM PST - 51 comments

Projectile weapons were essential to the daily lives of ancient people. Although studied by archaeologists for decades, questions and misconceptions remain about the potential of spears, darts, and arrows to incapacitate prey. This project uses an experimental approach with replica weapons, skilled users, and modern observational equipment to study the terminal ballistics (impact and penetration) of stone-tipped atlatl darts and arrows, yielding needed data about early hunting capabilities (pdf).
posted by dhruva at 1:30 PM PST - 19 comments

Princess Mononoke: The masterpiece that flummoxed the US.
posted by Pendragon at 1:20 PM PST - 48 comments

"At a whopping 1.6 billion tesla, a pulsar called Swift J0243.6+6124 smashes the previous records of around 1 billion tesla, discovered surrounding the pulsars GRO J1008-57 and 1A 0535+262." [more inside]
posted by mhoye at 11:55 AM PST - 25 comments

We now track our sleeping and fitness, so why not our alcohol consumption too? Lick it to find out. A new initiative at a Finnish music festival is paving the way for more responsible and enjoyable drinking. The new lickable technology accurately detects from saliva samples various levels of BAC, ranging from zero to 0.02% and 0.05%
posted by folklore724 at 10:37 AM PST - 41 comments