October 25, 2019
Where a kid can be a kid
It seemed impossible for a sheep to become a wolf.
In 1978, Takashi Yanase, beloved among children for his Anpanman character, wrote a picture book about a lamb who swears revenge on the wolf who killed his mother, and therefore goes to the very same wolf to learn to become a killer himself. Later the same year, Sanrio (yes, the people who make Hello Kitty) adapted it into a 47 minute-long film. "Chirin’s Bell is like if, instead of Bambi being raised by his father after the death of his mother, he sought out the hunters who killed his mother and insisted they teach him how to use a gun. Or if Simba, instead of running from Scar after his father’s murder, decided to join Scar in his conquest of the Pride Lands. Because, that’s basically what happens in this movie!" [more inside]
“You've tried the best. Now try the rest. Spacer's Choice!”
The Outer Worlds [YouTube][Launch Trailer] “Set in an unspecified future in which humankind has begun to colonise other planets, The Outer Worlds is easy to describe but in no way derivative. In essence, as a single-player, first-person action-RPG, it’s Fallout in space. There is a steampunk vibe, as well as art direction that harks back to 1950s sci-fi comics such as Dan Dare and The Eagle. But the look, feel and game world are distinctive and fully realised, and it addresses modern concerns, such as the disasters that happen when mega-corporations assume the role of governments. [...] What ensues is a delightful sci-fi romp with razor-sharp writing, lashings of humour and immaculately observed characters that put most game franchises to shame. The gameplay is well crafted, too.” [via: The Guardian] [more inside]
Cats, endlessly entertaining amirite
We've seen lots of Cats vs. Boxes, but not so much Cats vs. Flopping Fish Toy or Cats vs. Invisible Wall. No wonder Lulu has so much grooming to do.
Seasonal Bonus: A Catmare On Elm Street
Seasonal Bonus: A Catmare On Elm Street
Who's hurt the most when the lights go off?
PG&E’s power shutoff in California shows the inequities of climate risks: But the highest tolls of this outage will be borne by the most vulnerable: People who depend on medical equipment at home, whose jobs will be closed, and who face food insecurity without refrigeration. [more inside]
Somewhere, in the distant reaches of space...
"Make It in Rockford"
Jonathan Ward posts in WFMU's Beware of the Blog, "In the late 70s (or early 80s?), the Rockford, Illinois Area Chamber of Commerce sponsored a songwriting contest for the locals. An LP was produced, funded by Pepsi...It's been one of my favorite 'civic pride' records since I came across it. My favorite moments are the new-wave-ish 'Making It In Rockford' and the sermon breakdown on 'Make It In Rockford…Weigh the Difference.' And the oppressive nature of the final, disco track... and the front cover photo collage... and the line 'Catch a smile on Whitman Bridge' from the first song..." [more inside]
BookBar’s Extremely Official Response to Extremely Negative Comments
If you missed it this summer, Drag Queen Story Time was targeted by white supremacists. They responded with some reading recommendations... and some snark.
There Is No Dining Room - Only Zuul
The growth of app-based gig delivery firms has opened up new ancillary markets - restaurants seeing their kitchens overwhelmed are turning to so called "dark" or "ghost" kitchens - kitchens with no attached dining space, catering to delivery orders. This move has even major chains looking to dive in, either by partnering with kitchen operators like the rather on the nose named Zuul Kitchens, or by opening their own, as Wendy's is planning. [more inside]
Glacial meltwaters buffer carbon emissions
Glacial rivers absorb carbon faster than rainforests, scientists find (The Guardian). "In fact, during the 2016 ablation season (a relatively low melt year), the glacial rivers in the Lake Hazen watershed consumed, on a per square meter basis, about half as much carbon daily [...] as the Amazon rainforest [...]. During the 2015 ablation season, when glacial melt was ∼3 times that in 2016, CO2 consumption rates in the glacial rivers were, on average, twice that of the Amazon rainforest, with maximum daily rates of up to 40 times higher on a per square meter basis [...]." Original paper (PNAS, academic paywall). [more inside]
It was the best of Tims, it was the worst of Toms.
Inside the Great [Reddit] War of Tim vs. Tom
As thousands of non-Tims and non-Toms flooded into the warring subreddits, the two factions continued to battle. Paranoia spread, memes lit up the skies, olive branches were denied and both sides began reaching out to other name subreddits for allegiances. “After a thorough review of r/David, I deemed them worthy of an alliance with r/Tim,” Juzt_Tim says. “r/David hadn’t yet taken the side of the Toms and were looking for an ally.” (One might think r/Jim would be a natural ally to r/Tim, but the Jims seem to have their own issues going on — and eventually became a target themselves.) [more inside]
As thousands of non-Tims and non-Toms flooded into the warring subreddits, the two factions continued to battle. Paranoia spread, memes lit up the skies, olive branches were denied and both sides began reaching out to other name subreddits for allegiances. “After a thorough review of r/David, I deemed them worthy of an alliance with r/Tim,” Juzt_Tim says. “r/David hadn’t yet taken the side of the Toms and were looking for an ally.” (One might think r/Jim would be a natural ally to r/Tim, but the Jims seem to have their own issues going on — and eventually became a target themselves.) [more inside]
Cobble something together for dinner this Halloween
Martha Stewart's eye-popping soup is but an amuse bouche for another Halloween-themed dish: feetloaf. Are feetloaves wholesome? Even the Hallmark Channel has a recipe. [more inside]
All this information used to be ephemeral
"So if it’s hidden, and it could be hidden, it’s hidden really damn well, even from people who are on the inside." Whistleblower and patriot Edward Snowden digitally stopped by Joe Rogan's podcast on October 23. The interview is over three hours long and Rogan almost entirely hands over the microphone to Snowden, who offers a very detailed account of events both prior to and after his 2013 disclosure of the wide-reaching global surveillance programs. [more inside]
The Freddy Krueger in the room
Video: Two Women Confronted Harvey Weinstein At LES Bar & Got Thrown Out (Gothamist) “ When contacted by THR, a representative for Weinstein said, "Harvey Weinstein was out with friends enjoying the music and trying to find some solace in his life that has been turned upside down. This scene was uncalled for, downright rude and an example of how due process today is being squashed by the public, trying to take it away in the courtroom too." The Hollywood Reporter. “ “Being in that space, I felt like the air was sucked out of my chest,” said Bachman. “I’ve literally had nightmares about running into Harvey Weinstein.-“ The Cut. This is not the first time this has happened at the venue. (Twitter) (CW/TW discussion of sexual assault)
What A Time. What A World This Was. What A Loss.
How Manhattan's City Bakery Crumbled, under weight of debts. Rachel Holliday Smith and Josefa Velasquez of The City delve into the usury and vulture capitalism that doomed one of New York City's iconic small businesses.
Snorkelling grandmothers uncover large population of venomous sea snakes
No ordinary grandmas or snakes here. A group of snorkelling grandmothers who swim up to 3km five days a week have uncovered a large population of venomous sea snakes in a bay in the Baie des Citrons, Noumea where scientists once believed they were rare. (SLGuardian)
"The Internet Archive is determined to preserve these at-risk records"
There are 50 million songs on Spotify (Expanded Ramblings), but there are still generations of music locked on physical formats. Imagine if your favorite song or nostalgic recording from childhood was lost forever. This could be the fate of hundreds of thousands of audio files stored on vinyl, except that the Internet Archive is now expanding its digitization project to include LPs. Earlier this year, the Internet Archive began working with the Boston Public Library (BPL) to digitize more than 100,000 audio recordings from their sound collection. How the Internet Archive is Digitizing LPs to Preserve Generations of Audio (IA blog) [more inside]
I could have told you that
Predict science to improve science "Last year, a huge group of researchers collaborated to try to replicate the results of some very famous social science research. They determined that only 62% of the studies found similar results when they were repeated. But the researchers found something else intriguing: other scientists were astonishingly good at guessing which of the results would replicate. Does that mean we can just ask scientists for their hunch on what research is robust? It's a lot more complicated than that, but predictions could have a useful role to play in science (paywalled, but see this), and new projects are springing up to make use of them."
"An offense to the eyes as you drive up the turnpike"
The American Dream Mall is opening tomorrow in the former swamp near the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Originally called Xanadu, the building Governor Chris Christie once called "the ugliest damn building in New Jersey, and possibly America" is set to open with a Nickelodeon theme park, an indoor ski slope [photos], and the largest indoor water park in the western Hemisphere. But will anyone come?
The whitewashing of #WhitePeopleDoingYoga
My artwork was about appropriation. San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum tried to appropriate it. Indian American artist Chiraag Bhakta on his experience with the SF Asian Art Museum. When I was asked to contribute to the Asian Art Museum's exhibit on yoga, I took the invitation at face value: The Asian Art Museum wanted to give space to an Indian American artist. I knew the title #WhitePeopleDoingYoga would be provocative, but I chose it for a reason: For this installation, yoga was a case study in how culture gets colonized, a pattern that holds across industries, from fashion to food to music. But once my proposal made the rounds among curators, educators, and PR folks, cracks started to show in the museum’s support for the installation.
Bathrooms at ‘Hamilton’
My own private Iceland
Kyle Chayka at Vox reconsiders Iceland's tourist boom. "While traveling in Iceland this spring to talk to Icelanders about the boom and subsequent slowdown, however, I began to doubt the concept of overtourism itself. The stigma of overtourism is contingent on the sense that a place without as many tourists is more real, more authentic, than it is with them. It poses tourists as foreign entities to a place in the same way that viruses are foreign to the human body. From the visitor’s side, overtourism is also a subjective concern based on a feeling: It’s the point at which your personal narrative of unique experience is broken, the point at which there are too many people — like yourself — who don’t belong in a place.
Tags: experimental japan ambient beach collages electronica jazz joyful
Re.sort by Sora
Originally released in 2003 (on CD only), conceived by Sora aka Takeshi Kurosawa. Re.sort is a miracle of Japanese electronica. Widely unknown but very necessary. Fragments and textures playfully flirt with each other, bossa nova and jazz records float in the air, an old phonograph sits by the sea. Leftfield that feels like a home away, where joyful nothings are everything. Sweet minimalism and micro melodies.
Originally released in 2003 (on CD only), conceived by Sora aka Takeshi Kurosawa. Re.sort is a miracle of Japanese electronica. Widely unknown but very necessary. Fragments and textures playfully flirt with each other, bossa nova and jazz records float in the air, an old phonograph sits by the sea. Leftfield that feels like a home away, where joyful nothings are everything. Sweet minimalism and micro melodies.
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