Friday, April 15, 2016
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Who Dies?
Excerpts from Variety -
‘Anyone Can Die?’ TV’s Recent Death Toll Says Otherwise
Women of color, men of color, LGBTQ characters and white female characters have been killed off left and right. None of that’s new for TV, but the sheer volume of these deaths — a number of which were shocking for the wrong reasons — has been notable. When considered as a whole, it’s difficult for the suspicion that these characters are expendable not to harden into belief.
A lot of shows pride themselves on the idea that “anyone can die,” but is that actually true?
It doesn’t feel true when a large number of LGBTQ characters die in a matter of weeks.
It doesn’t feel true when a network TV drama, “Sleepy Hollow,” kills off its African-American female lead in order to provide motivation for the show’s white, male lead — whose lifespan, its worth noting, now stretches more than 200 years and counting. (There are reports that actress Nicole Beharie wanted to leave the show, which is understandable, given how poorly the show’s narrative and character development has been handled since early in season two.)
It doesn’t feel true when, in recent months and years, I can think of dozens of gay, female and non-white character deaths that were used to prod growth or vengeance in white, straight or male characters — but I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen that dynamic play out in reverse.
~~~~~~~~~~
Who does die? This year, dozens of lesbians and bisexual women have died on various shows, among them “The Vampire Diaries,” “The Walking Dead,” “Empire,” “The Shannara Chronicles,” “The Magicians” and “The 100” (which also recently killed a character played by a black male series regular). In the last two weeks, notable women died on “Hap and Leonard,” “Vikings,” “Arrow” and “Sleepy Hollow.”
~~~~~~~~~~
But the real problem is this: who’s telling the stories. Just as certain kinds of characters appear to be protected, TV’s creative leadership tiers are dominated by certain kinds of people. Who wants to take a bet on whether these two issues are linked?
http://variety.com/2016/tv/opinion/tv-deaths-walking-dead-the-100-arrow-1201751968/
‘Anyone Can Die?’ TV’s Recent Death Toll Says Otherwise
Women of color, men of color, LGBTQ characters and white female characters have been killed off left and right. None of that’s new for TV, but the sheer volume of these deaths — a number of which were shocking for the wrong reasons — has been notable. When considered as a whole, it’s difficult for the suspicion that these characters are expendable not to harden into belief.
A lot of shows pride themselves on the idea that “anyone can die,” but is that actually true?
It doesn’t feel true when a large number of LGBTQ characters die in a matter of weeks.
It doesn’t feel true when a network TV drama, “Sleepy Hollow,” kills off its African-American female lead in order to provide motivation for the show’s white, male lead — whose lifespan, its worth noting, now stretches more than 200 years and counting. (There are reports that actress Nicole Beharie wanted to leave the show, which is understandable, given how poorly the show’s narrative and character development has been handled since early in season two.)
It doesn’t feel true when, in recent months and years, I can think of dozens of gay, female and non-white character deaths that were used to prod growth or vengeance in white, straight or male characters — but I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen that dynamic play out in reverse.
~~~~~~~~~~
Who does die? This year, dozens of lesbians and bisexual women have died on various shows, among them “The Vampire Diaries,” “The Walking Dead,” “Empire,” “The Shannara Chronicles,” “The Magicians” and “The 100” (which also recently killed a character played by a black male series regular). In the last two weeks, notable women died on “Hap and Leonard,” “Vikings,” “Arrow” and “Sleepy Hollow.”
~~~~~~~~~~
But the real problem is this: who’s telling the stories. Just as certain kinds of characters appear to be protected, TV’s creative leadership tiers are dominated by certain kinds of people. Who wants to take a bet on whether these two issues are linked?
http://variety.com/2016/tv/opinion/tv-deaths-walking-dead-the-100-arrow-1201751968/
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Monday, April 11, 2016
Vindicated
An excerpt from Rolling Stone -
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/anita-hill-on-confirmation-joe-bidens-legacy-and-bill-cosby-20160411#ixzz45a4uDn5b
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook
In 1991, 35-year-old Oklahoma State University law professor Anita Hill was called before Congress to testify about the behavior of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, her former boss at the Office for Civil Rights and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Hill was subpoenaed by the Senate Judiciary Committee to share allegations that Thomas sexually harassed her on the job at the EEOC — the federal agency that handles workplace sexual harassment claims, among other things. For coming forward, Hill was demonized by conservatives, who called her a liar and delusional for thinking Thomas could be interested in her. Their attacks on Hill's character worked; by the end of the hearings, nearly three-quarters of the public believed she lied about Thomas. It was only in the ensuing years that a steady stream of books, interviews and articles emerged to bolster Hill's version of events, and discredit Thomas'.
Add to that list Confirmation, a film airing April 16th on HBO, starring Kerry Washington as Hill, Wendell Pierce as Thomas and Greg Kinnear as then Judiciary Committee chair Joe Biden. Hill recently spoke to Rolling Stone about reliving her experience with the hearings via conversations with Washington and screenwriter Susannah Grant; the film's portrayal of Biden, who refused to call witnesses who would've supported Hill's claims; and all the ways America still fails victims of sexual harassment and abuse.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/anita-hill-on-confirmation-joe-bidens-legacy-and-bill-cosby-20160411#ixzz45a4uDn5b
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook
Smart Hiring
An excerpt from The Atlantic -
The Science of Smart Hiring
Finding great new workers is hard. A little bit of empiricism can help.
Hiring is hard. General managers know it. Startup founders know it. School principals and casting directors know it. But for readers who are none of those things, consider America’s most public hiring processes—aside from presidential elections, perhaps—which are sports drafts.
Every year, millions of Americans watch professional talent evaluators try to predict who will be the best future athletes in the NBA and NFL Drafts. Again and again, audiences get valuable lessons in the inability of experts to divine future talent. Scouts aren’t dumb. Overall, the first pick tends to be better than the tenth pick, and he tends to be better than 100th pick. But years after the draft, at least one squad almost always looks foolish. For every top five team that can’t believe it picked a Darko Milicic or Ryan Leaf, there is a top five team that can’t believe it missed a Stephen Curry or Tom Brady.
Hiring is hard for the same reason that dating is hard: Both sides are in the dark. "The fundamental economic problem in hiring is one of matching with costly search and bilateral asymmetric information,” Paul Oyer and Scott Schaefer write in "Personnel Economics.” In English, that means hiring is expensive, time-consuming, and inherently uncertain, because the hirer doesn't know what workers are the right fit, and the worker don’t know what hirers are the right fit.
http://www.theatlantic.com/author/derek-thompson/
He Was Just Hungry
From The Root -
http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/04/d_c_police_looking_for_man_who_broke_into_five_guys_and_cooks_meal.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26
DC Police Looking for Man Who Broke Into Five Guys Restaurant and Cooked Meal
The unidentified suspect was caught on camera making himself food while the restaurant was closed between 3:10 a.m. and 5:05 a.m. March 18.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/04/d_c_police_looking_for_man_who_broke_into_five_guys_and_cooks_meal.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26
Forget the Nerd
#YesImARocketScientist: Graduating Aerospace Engineer Tiffany Davis Breaks the Internet
http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2016/04/_yesimarocketscientist_aerospace_engineer_tiffany_davis_breaks_the_internet.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Sugar Divides the Races
An excerpt from The Charlotte Observer -
Why does sugar in cornbread divide races in the South?
If you stop by La’Wan’s Soul Food Restaurant in south Charlotte for collards and macaroni & cheese, there’s something important on your plate.
It’s a small cornbread muffin. Soft and tender, almost cake-like, with a bit of chewiness to the crust and a flavor that’s just a little sweet.
Now drive over to Lupie’s Cafe on Monroe Road and you’ll get a big square of cornbread, 3 inches across, white with a yellow tinge. Firm, almost coarse, with a crisp top.
Sweet? Not a bit. It’s defiantly not sweet.
La’Wan’s corn muffin and Lupie’s cornbread are humble things. But they represent something deeper: The dividing line between black Southerners and white ones. As examples of one of the defining staples of Southern food, they also are a marker of food history that speaks volumes about origins and identity, about family and what we hold dear.
It also raises a question: So many Southern food traditions are shared by both races. Most Southerners, black and white, revere fried chicken, pursue pork barbecue and exalt their grandmothers’ garden vegetables. So why is there such a fundamental difference between two styles of one basic bread?
Culinary historians have debated this one for years: Did the descendants of slave cooks who were exposed to British baking styles come to value cornbread that was lighter and softer? Did the children of farm-based white Southerners get used to unsweetened cornbread that tasted more emphatically like corn? Whatever caused it, the line is drawn.
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/food-drink/article68763427.html#storylink=cpy
Why does sugar in cornbread divide races in the South?
If you stop by La’Wan’s Soul Food Restaurant in south Charlotte for collards and macaroni & cheese, there’s something important on your plate.
It’s a small cornbread muffin. Soft and tender, almost cake-like, with a bit of chewiness to the crust and a flavor that’s just a little sweet.
Now drive over to Lupie’s Cafe on Monroe Road and you’ll get a big square of cornbread, 3 inches across, white with a yellow tinge. Firm, almost coarse, with a crisp top.
Sweet? Not a bit. It’s defiantly not sweet.
La’Wan’s corn muffin and Lupie’s cornbread are humble things. But they represent something deeper: The dividing line between black Southerners and white ones. As examples of one of the defining staples of Southern food, they also are a marker of food history that speaks volumes about origins and identity, about family and what we hold dear.
It also raises a question: So many Southern food traditions are shared by both races. Most Southerners, black and white, revere fried chicken, pursue pork barbecue and exalt their grandmothers’ garden vegetables. So why is there such a fundamental difference between two styles of one basic bread?
Culinary historians have debated this one for years: Did the descendants of slave cooks who were exposed to British baking styles come to value cornbread that was lighter and softer? Did the children of farm-based white Southerners get used to unsweetened cornbread that tasted more emphatically like corn? Whatever caused it, the line is drawn.
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/food-drink/article68763427.html#storylink=cpy
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Friday, April 8, 2016
This Shirt Cost $460!
An excerpt from The New York Times -
Luka Sabbat, the 18-Year-Old Fashion Influencer
Advertisers envy his social media skills. Tom Ford provided him with a
prom suit. “He’s the cool kid at the party we all want to be,” an admirer says.
Who is Luka? The question, which also happens to be his Twitter handle (@whoisluka), is unlikely to go unanswered for long. Among his roughly 184,000 Instagram and 64,000 Twitter followers, the 18-year-old New Yorker has already established himself as the coolest teenager on the Internet.
That is what Complex magazine termed him last year soon after he appeared out of nowhere — or, anyway, from that singular cohort of New Yorkers who line up on any given Thursday outside Supreme — to become a social media phenomenon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/08/fashion/mens-style/luka-sabbat-fashion-influencer.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
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