July 18, 2023
Dinosaur vs. Mammal: Dawn of Justice
It’s Boring and Isolating, Bring Ice Cream!
What to Get for a Cancer Patient You may have heard Hank Green of the vlog brothers has cancer. His video about what to get a cancer patient is sweet and insightful with some really good advice. If someone you know has a chronic illness, this has some excellent thoughts about how to make them feel cared for.
Cyndi Lauper Live In Budokan 1986
After releasing her second album and before officially launching the True Colors tour, Cyndi Lauper played eight dates in Japan, five of them at the famed Budokan. Four nights there, three nights in other cities, she then returned for a fifth night, which was filmed for Japanese television. Cyndi Lauper Live In Budokan 1986 [1h9m] is everything you want -- jangly late Eighties synths, classic songs, and Cyndi's undeniable vocal prowess.
Let's give the toys some juice.
"Powered by people, not search engines."
The Locavore is a guide to in-person retail shopping in NYC. Five boroughs and over 10,000 independently-owned businesses are represented. (Access to the directory is free, though there is a supporter option.) [more inside]
“sonic architecture”
The Unexpected Genius Behind Akira's Legendary Score [SlashFilm] There's never been anything quite like the soundtrack to the anime classic "Akira." To this day, the pulsating rhythms and otherworldly chants still sound unlike any other music put to film. That uniqueness is due to the unorthodox approach of composer Shoji Yamashiro, whose background in amateur musicianship allowed him to create a score completely outside the realm of professional tradition. "Akira" utilizes a host of sounds that may seem unfamiliar to Western ears. The soundtrack is an eclectic mixture of traditional folk music and digital synthesizer programming, eliciting a raw and primal feeling amidst the futuristic cyberpunk skyline of Neo-Tokyo. Yamashiro incorporated a form of Indonesian music called gamelan jegog, which stems from Bali and is made up of fast, intense rhythms played on bamboo instruments. The composer also drew from the chants of Noh, traditional Japanese theater. Combined with polyrhythmic drum machine beats and synths tuned to gamelan microtonal scales, these styles give a sense of ritualistic tension to the dystopian world of "Akira." [YouTube][Geinoh-Yamashirogumi "Kaneda" from AKIRA] [more inside]
Illinois Supreme Court upholds law eliminating cash bail
The Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that eliminating cash bail for defendants awaiting trial does not violate the Illinois Constitution. “We can now move forward with historic reform to ensure pretrial detainment is determined by the danger an individual poses to the community instead of by their ability to pay their way out of jail,” (Governor) Pritzker said in a statement Tuesday.
Anti-semitic conspiracy theories + Chinese version of TikTok =
In less than eight minutes, the video’s narrator accuses Jews of starting China’s “century of humiliation” by financing the Opium Wars, and describes their cunning Fugu Plan. This 1939 Japanese proposal to resettle German Jews in the puppet state Manchukuo was named after the deadly blowfish that is a delicacy if handled correctly and was based on "expert" analysis of the fabricated antisemitic text The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. While about 20,000 Jews found refuge in Japanese-occupied Shanghai between 1938 and 1941, the Fugu Plan never gained traction, even with the putative beneficiaries. Nonetheless, in July 2023, the Fugu Plan is in the top search result for the word “Jew” (犹太人) on Douyin.
It’s Stew York City, Baby!
It's been in the Washington Post, the New York Post, and Eater NY. It's the Perpetual Stew Club, a gathering in Brooklyn featuring a stew that has been cooking for five weeks and counting. Want to get in on it? Just bring an ingredient (keep it vegan, please), and let them know ahead of time if your name is Stu (or Sue). [more inside]
“They’re majestic, beautiful animals, but like, it sucks”
Territorial hawks in a South Austin neighborhood are attacking residents and mail carriers Eric Klein has positioned himself as a vigilante of sorts in his Austin, Texas neighborhood. He caught an attack on camera, and he’s actively plotting methods to keep himself and his neighbors safe. But Klein isn’t fighting a person. His ire is drawn by a group of swift, winged perpetrators who have made their homes in the trees high above his. Klein said he’s heard of at least six people who were attacked. He and his neighbors have taken to using umbrellas and colorful streamers to deter the birds. Del Barrio said he believes the hawks don’t attack people walking in groups or with dogs. [more inside]
“Things fall apart, especially all the neat order of rules and laws.”
Not much about Masked And Anonymous makes literal sense. It follows the rules of songwriting, not cinema, where surreal and nonlinear storytelling is more common, particularly in Bob Dylan songs. But mainly it’s just straight-up bonkers, following a loose narrative thread that functions primarily as a vehicle for a lot of colorful actors to give scenery-chewing performances. It’s the kind of movie where Val Kilmer shows up as a character known only as Animal Wrangler, and rambles in Bob Dylan’s general direction for several minutes about how people are worth no more than a crack in the mud at the bottom of a sun-dried lake. It’s also the kind of movie where Ed Harris dons blackface, Mickey Rourke plays the president, and Luke Wilson clubs a rock journalist to death with an old blues singer’s guitar. A real “just go with it” kind of film. from Inside The Making Of ‘Masked And Anonymous,’ The Strange Dystopian Bob Dylan Musical Comedy Movie [Uproxx] [more inside]
Caterpillar venom being researched as possible cancer treatment
The venom of this caterpillar can cause extreme pain. Researchers hope it could help kill cancer cells too. Researchers are exploring how the venomous hair-like bristles on caterpillars could be used to treat cancer in the human body.
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