Search This Blog

Monday, February 27, 2017

It's Frankie & Zadie!

From Grist -

Why the People’s Climate March matters to people of color like me
By Aura Vasquez

a katz / Shutterstock, Inc.

http://buff.ly/2lDRFnA

Pow Wow in the Club: A New Spin on First Nations Music

Obamacare: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Click For Your Choice of President

From Salon -

POLL: Which fictional president would you rather have in the White House?
Tell us which big-screen president you'd prefer to have as commander-in-chief

http://www.salon.com/2017/02/27/poll-which-fictional-president-would-you-rather-have-in-the-white-house/?source=newsletter

Mama Has Spoken

From Rolling Stone -

How to Stop Shaquille O'Neal: His Mother
Hall of Famer's feud with Golden State Warrirors center JaVale McGee comes to an end
By Scott Rafferty

Golden State Warriors center JaVale McGee and hall of famer Shaquille O'Neal have never been on the friendliest of terms. After becoming the poster child for O'Neal's "Shaqtin' a Fool" – a segment in which he mocks NBA players for their mistakes made on the court – McGee criticized the former Lakers and Heat star in 2016 for making basketball fans think he's a "dumb person." McGee then took it a step further by comparing O'Neal to Bert Williams, a comedian who performed in blackface in the early 1900s, after O'Neal made fun of his hair earlier this season.

~~~~~~~~~~

"I have orders from the top to leave it alone," O'Neal told The Undefeated. "No, [not NBA commissioner Adam Silver]. My mama. Just say Shaq's mom, called him, told him, 'Stop this silliness. Leave him alone.' So that's the end of the beef. You won't be hearing about it from my side anymore. Mama has spoken."

http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/shaqs-mom-tells-him-to-leave-javale-mcgee-alone-w469422

Swearing Explained

From the BBC -

Why do people swear?
By David Edmonds

But back to the conundrum. If writing F with asterisks alleviates the offence of the full word why should this be? Roache says swearing is best viewed as a breach of etiquette. It is a little like putting your shoes on a table when you are the guest in someone's house. If you know it would offend, and do it anyway, you are guilty of showing insufficient respect.

"It doesn't matter that it's a swear word. Imagine meeting someone who has a fear of crisps, and who finds references to crisps traumatic. If you carry on talking about crisps in their presence, even after discovering about their phobia, you are sending a signal that you don't respect them, you don't have any concern for their feelings."

Using the F-with-asterisks version acknowledges that we are taking the feelings of others into account. By censoring the word we show respect. It's a view shared by Oliver Kamm, who endorses his newspaper's policy on asterisking swear words. Readers cannot help, he says, finding the full word "involuntarily off-putting".

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-39082467



Denzel Washington's audience get involved - The Graham Norton Show: 2017...

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Following Harriet

From the New York Times -

Harriet Tubman’s Path to Freedom
By RON STODGHILL

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/24/travel/underground-railroad-slavery-harriet-tubman-byway-maryland.html


Mary's Room: A philosophical thought experiment - Eleanor Nelsen

They Want Him Too

From the Daily Mail -

Obama for French president? Petition calls for former U.S. commander in chief to run for office in France

The French are set to elect a new president in April.

But those who are unhappy with the current candidates are making a last ditch attempt to recruit another contender - Barack Obama.

The Obama17 petition is currently circulating with the aim of gathering 1 million signatures to convince the former U.S. president to run for office in France.

About 500 posters of Obama's face have been plastered across Paris in recent days, urging people to visit the petition website.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4260676/Petition-calls-Barack-Obama-president-France.html#ixzz4ZpoaxGiT

My Curiosity Won

I went to see the horror movie, "Get Out."

I loved it!

As I've mentioned before, horror is not my genre.  It's the one I'm sure to decline.

But . . .

The guy who wrote and directed this is smart, the reviews were great, and I wanted to see for myself what all the fuss was about.

It did not disappoint.

Highly recommended.









Not a Gamer, But . . .

If you are, you might check out this article form the New York Times -

A Fresh Narrative in Gaming
By JUSTIN PORTER

The game pulls no punches in depicting Lincoln’s violent nature, and it does the same in showing players what it meant to be a black man in the Jim-Crow-era South. Some shopkeepers refuse you service and call you names. Several police cars hunt you down if you commit a crime in a white, middle-class neighborhood. Do the same in a predominantly black neighborhood and one car will show up, if that. No matter where Lincoln is, the police are watching. He fights racist organizations, casual bias and the prejudice of friends.

As the game was developed, police shootings of black men rose, the Black Lives Matter movement was born, and the development team realized they’d created a game that talked about race in ways that sometimes bridged the gap of history.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/25/us/a-fresh-narrative-in-gaming.html?emc=edit_rr_20170225&nl=race-related&nlid=38867499&te=1


A Storyboard Artist

From the New York Times -

My Path to Hollywood
The storyboard artist for “Fences” talks diversity and visual storytelling in the film industry.
By WARREN DRUMMOND

Warren Drummond working on “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” in 2010. Betty K. Bynum
As a storyboard artist, my job is to visually tell a director’s concept of a film scene, frame by frame. I draw the close-ups, medium shots, and wide shots. I have drawn Stallone hanging from a helicopter on “The Escape Plan”; the always cool Samuel L. Jackson running, shooting and fighting in the “Shaft” reboot; Russell Crowe seeing imaginary friends and foes in “A Beautiful Mind”; and drawn hyper-intelligent chimpanzees in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/25/us/my-path-to-hollywood.html?emc=edit_rr_20170225&nl=race-related&nlid=38867499&te=1&_r=0

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Wishing Him the Best

From the Undefeated -

DEMARCUS COUSINS SHARES WHY THE SACRAMENTO KINGS’ TRADE DECISION WAS SO HURTFUL
The league firecracker opens up about the trade’s emotional aftermath and his plans to move forward with the New Orleans Pelicans
BY MARC J. SPEARS

https://theundefeated.com/features/demarcus-cousins-sacramento-kings-trade/

It Matters

From the Washington Post -

Bradford Young, Oscar firsts and why inclusive film crews matter
By Ann Hornaday

Bradford Young is nominated for a cinematography Academy Award for his work on “Arrival.”
(Matt McClain/The Washington Post)


https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/bradford-young-oscar-firsts-and-why-inclusive-film-crews-matter/2017/02/23/bf5aeed4-f9db-11e6-be05-1a3817ac21a5_story.html?utm_term=.2e467ad3b1bc&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1

The Value in Questioning

From the New York Times -

The Power of ‘Why?’ and ‘What If?’
By WARREN BERGER

Recently I had a conversation with a chief executive who expressed concern about several of her senior managers. They were smart, experienced, competent. So what was the problem? “They’re not asking enough questions,” she said.

This wouldn’t have been a bad thing in the business world of a few years ago, where the rules for success were: Know your job, do your work, and if a problem arises, solve it and don’t bother us with a lot of questions.

But increasingly I’m finding that business leaders want the people working around them to be more curious, more cognizant of what they don’t know, and more inquisitive — about everything, including “Why am I doing my job the way I do it?” and “How might our company find new opportunities?”

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/jobs/the-power-of-why-and-what-if.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share&_r=0

Why You Need Me

From Chef's Feed -

I'M A BLACK FOOD WRITER. HERE'S WHY WE NEED MORE LIKE ME.
By Stephen Satterfield

A common part of the black experience is once you’ve reached any level of authority, it is often met with skepticism or surprise. Black chefs know this well: we must validate our presence, where others exist unquestioned. And what does it mean to be a black food writer? It means that you’ll never just be a food writer, you’ll be a black food writer. It will come up lots of times, maybe not every time, but in lots of ways, the way race does in just about every other facet of our lives.

People make all kinds of assumptions about food writers, but fundamentally, that they are academic, learned, polished. I am academic, learned, polished. But when people construct this image, they don’t see a black person, because, when they look around in real life, there are not that many black people writing about food. It then becomes even more important that I do — if only so those who feel unwelcome in this space see someone who looks like them and are compelled to go forth.

https://www.chefsfeed.com/stories/591-i-m-a-black-food-writer-here-s-why-we-need-more-like-me

It Can Feel Like a Horror Show

From Slate -

Get Out
Jordan Peele’s first feature film is an instant comedy-horror classic about the hilarious nightmare that is existing while black.
By Aisha Harris

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2017/02/get_out_jordan_peele_s_horror_movie_reviewed.html




Paper Drones

From Wired - https://www.wired.com/2017/02/brilliant-drone-thatll-deliver-medicine-rot-away/?mbid=nl_22417_p4&CNDID=

Republicans Face Town Hall Protests, Trump Golfs: A Closer Look