From lying about your script to the people who live where you’re shooting to having bodyguards on set to sending your stars abroad when the film debuts to fighting off right-wing religious groups who disrupt screenings, here’s how filmmakers in gay-hostile places get their work done. – The Guardian
Tag: 07.04.19
Some Science Has Become So Theoretical It Lacks Evidence. Are We Fooling Ourselves?
In the past, experiments played a vital role in developing theory and vice versa. For some time now that back-and-forth has not existed in certain fields where experiments are barely managing to test theories developed over decades. Wherever experimental data can be coaxed out of nature, it suffices to corroborate or refute a theory and serves as the sole arbiter of validity. But where evidence is spare or absent – as it is for a growing number of questions in physics – other criteria, including aesthetic ones, have been allowed to come into play both in formulating a theory and evaluating it. – The Guardian
Improbably, Book Fairs Have Become Hugely Popular Across The Middle East
Ten years ago few would have heard of the book fair in Sharjah, one of the lesser-known parts of the United Arab Emirates (uae). Today it attracts 2.3m visitors a year, double Sharjah’s population. Abu Dhabi, Doha, Manama, Riyadh—all are transforming from sleepy trade fairs to popular events. – The Economist
Increasingly, Donald Trump Is Showing Up In Opera Productions
These appearances may seem like acts of protest or provocation, signaling a viewpoint that opera audiences abroad are likely to share, tapping into an easy laugh along the lines of “Saturday Night Live,” which has helped to propagate many features of the Trump iconography. But they also downplay the actual political issues: A singing Trump is a comic Trump and not a very serious Trump. – Washington Post
Does This Video Show Banksy?
It was shown on ITV London at the time but then forgotten about until the Bristol-based ITV News reporter Robert Murphy stumbled upon it when he was doing some research on Banksy. – Irish Times
In The World Of Video Games, Black Women Are Making Themselves Heard And Felt
“Black women are among the least represented demographic in the $135 billion global gaming industry. … But an emerging generation of millennial women of color is now beginning to carve out space for others like themselves. They’re building a network of support organizations that never existed before, aimed at facilitating, encouraging and training aspiring female gamers of color to reach new heights in the industry.” – OZY
Why Are We Suddenly So Crazy For Cute?
“The craze for all things cute is motivated, most obviously, by the urge to escape from precisely such a threatening world into a garden of innocence in which childlike qualities arouse deliciously protective feelings, and bestow contentment and solace.” – Aeon
Why What You See Is Enormously Dependent On What You Believe
“Psychologists and neuroscientists have long wondered what strategies our brains might use to overcome the problems of ambiguity and pace. There is a growing appreciation that both challenges could be overcome using prediction. The key idea here is that observers do not simply rely on the current input coming in to their sensory systems, but combine it with ‘top-down’ expectations about what the world contains.” – Aeon
‘Mad’ Magazine Is Almost-Not-Quite-But-Basically Shutting Down
“Readers will only be able to find the 67-year-old humor magazine at comic book stores and through subscriptions. After issue No. 10 this fall, there will no longer be new content, except for end-of-year specials which will be all new. Starting with issue No. 11, the magazine will feature classic, best-of and nostalgic content, repackaged with new covers.” – NPR