August 3, 2023
Scent of a dream
The Learning Channel
I'm going to post these in the order that Billiam posted them, but I think, for an old like me, they should really be watched in reverse order because that's chronological rather than working backward from modern outrage to historical corruption. Anyway: 1: TLC'S Biggest Lies [26m] 2: The TLC Iceberg [44m] 3: When TLC Killed “The Learning Channel” [29m]. I remember The Learning Channel, and 3 was like being reminded of watching my favorite pub burning down.
PROUD Academy, the first school for LGBTQ+ youth in Connecticut
DICKS: The Musical
Megan Thee Stallion raps and dances in A24’s wild first movie musical. Bowen Yang plays God, with Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally also starring in the Larry Charles film written by Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson. [TRAILER]
Reading to escape solitary confinement
Reading has been my lifeline after seven years in solitary confinement. With my earplugs jammed in deep—sometimes too deep—I’ve read books, magazines, and newspapers and found respite amid tortuous conditions. ... While male prisoners in the restricted housing unit are often there because they have been identified as belonging to gangs, that’s not the case in female prisons. Women are assigned to live here for different reasons. It could be a consequence for behavior, like having phone sex with a partner; for violence, like assaulting staff members; or for rule violation, like having contraband (even if someone set you up with it). Sometimes, it’s outright discrimination: I’ve seen women get sent to the hole for speaking in an Indigenous language while talking to their parents on the phone. From Slate and Open Campus: Kwaneta Harris on lessons from her time as a prisoner in solitary confinement. [more inside]
Planet of the... BASS
Walking: 3 hr 15 min. Public transport: Apparently 5 days!
"There are places where the public transport instructions tell you which day of the week the bus will be, but don't include waiting for the right day in the travel time." New game, find two points in the UK on Google Maps where it says it is quicker to walk than to catch public transport. Furthest distance/time wins. (SL Twitter thread).
"Quite a few on the outskirts of Norwich where radial bus routes mean going into the city and out again." [more inside]
"Quite a few on the outskirts of Norwich where radial bus routes mean going into the city and out again." [more inside]
How Lara Croft lived and died in Derby.
20 years on, the Tomb Raider story told by the people who were there [Eurogamer] “There are conflicting reports about the origins of Tomb Raider, but everyone agrees that it was Toby Gard who created the Lara Croft character and came up with the idea for a third-person adventure game in which the player explored tombs. Legend has it that Frances Gard, Toby's younger sister, was the inspiration for Lara Croft. The devil is in the detail - some remember seeing prototypes that included an Indiana Jones-style male character, and that Core's bosses were terrified it would spark a lawsuit. Others insist Gard had envisioned a female character from the very beginning, although at first she was called Laura Cruz. Whatever the truth, Gard was the driving force behind Tomb Raider, even if others played a crucial role in bringing his vision to life. Jeremy Heath-Smith is clear in his mind how Tomb Raider came to be. "Tomb Raider came out of my trip to the States," he says, "where Ken Kutaragi showed me the PlayStation. "I got back on a plane, flew home, and called an off-site meeting of the company.” [The history of Tomb Raider][YouTube] [more inside]
A Creative Act of Dandyism
He did not merely attempt to imitate his social betters, impersonate a gentleman, or claim the privileges of Whiteness. Instead, he deployed style and self-presentation to invent a new kind of negro. In a city where “Black gentleman” and “Black dandy” were unthinkable oxymorons, and where Black men in fine dress were read either as liveried servants or absurd, out-of-place upstarts, Raúl forced White Porteños to contend with and make sense of a flamboyant Black man who turned style into a feature of his singular brand. And not just, as his studio photograph attests, the prescribed buttoned-down style of the “gentleman”, but the more knowing, often outrageous style of the bohemian dandy. from The Black Dandy of Buenos Aires, Racial Fictions and the Search for Raúl Grigera [CW: historical racism] [more inside]
Oregon's experiment to curb overdoses
“At four in the afternoon the streets can feel like dealer central,” Funding for Measure 110’s promise of increased services comes from Oregon’s marijuana tax revenues. After a slow start, more than $265 million has flowed to programs that try to make drug use safer by providing clean needles and test strips, offer culturally specific peer support and provide shelter for people newly in recovery. But residential treatment for addiction has yet to be substantially expanded. [more inside]
California second state in the US with free prison phone calls
"At a time when most consumers enjoy free or low-cost calling, prison phone calls at their peak in California cost more than $6 per 15 minutes via a private telecommunications provider. That allowed only hurried, superficial conversations between the siblings — with one eye always on the clock.
" Los Angeles Times: California’s free prison calls are repairing estranged relationships and aiding rehabilitation
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