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For decades, US companies have “cast aside the goal of addressing a legacy of discrimination for the vague idea of diversity – an idea that was always destined to fail, and an idea many corporations never truly believed in”.
In this episode of Nerdwriter, Evan Puschak takes a look at a simple scene from one of my favorite recent films and shows how director Steven Soderbergh makes it sing.
Like Spielberg or Fincher, Soderbergh is a master craftsman, who can translate a scene from page to screen with the confidence of a seasoned pro. You feel that confidence when you watch his movies, and it’s both relieving and engaging.
I thought Black Bag was great (and great fun) — it’s got a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is streaming on Peacock in the US.
Tags: Black Bag · Evan Puschak · film school · movies · Steven Soderbergh · video
Tim Friede has been bitten by 200 poisonous snakes and his antibodies are being used to create a broad antivenom. “He’s willingly been bit some 200 times by all manner of venomous snakes — black mambas, taipans, cobras, kraits and many others.”
Monty Python and the Holy Grail premiered in theaters on April 3, 1975. 50 years on, it remains one of the finest comedy movies ever (though it is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea). If you’re a fan, you can catch it for free on YouTube (with ads, not sure about region restrictions) or in select theaters in North America. You can also stream it for free on Amazon Prime Video, Pluto TV, Roku Channel, Plex, and a few other free movie services. (via open culture)
Tags: Monty Python · Monty Python and the Holy Grail · movies · video
“At the heart of [Trumpist] policies is soft eugenics thinking – the idea that if you take away life-saving healthcare and services from the vulnerable, then you can let nature take its course and only the strong will survive.”
Jia Tolentino: My Brain Finally Broke. “The phone eats time; it makes us live the way people do inside a casino” and with IRL current events like Trump & Gaza, “a chill sets in at some point, then a grimness, then a detachment”. Yes, all of this.
Mohsen Mahdawi: I Was Detained for My Beliefs. Who Will Be Next? “By seeking to deport me, the Trump administration is sending a clear message: There is no room for dissent, free speech be damned.”
A series of info visualizations that show how true “based on a true story” Hollywood movies actually are. Selma & The Big Short top the list with Hacksaw Ridge & The Imitation Game bringing up the rear.
I don’t have a whole lot to say about this video except wow. Wow wow. It’s almost inconceivable that we live in a world of sights like this. Feels like science fiction but is actually real. Captured by NASA astronaut Don Pettit aboard the ISS.
Tags: astronomy · Don Pettit · science · space · video
60-year-old cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko has spent a little over three full years in space. That’s 5% of his life.
Tag and release works with tardigrades now — scientists are using nanotechnology to “tattoo” the tiny creatures with “squares, dots, and lines as small as 72 nanometers wide”.
Photographer Stephen Voss has been working on a project about data centers and recently travelled to Abilene, Texas to document the first data center built as part of the Stargate Project. When completed, it will be the largest data center in the world. Here’s a short drone video he took of the project:
“The place was mesmerizing and deeply unsettling,” Voss told me over email. “When finished, it’ll have the power demands of a mid-sized city and is on a piece of land that’s the size of Central Park.”
The video immediately reminded me of Edward Burtynsky’s work that documents “the impacts of human industry on the planet”.
Tags: Edward Burtynsky · Stephen Voss · video
Do yourself a favor and watch this: Erin Morton is a junior in the BFA Musical Theatre program at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and she absolutely blisters the paint off of the walls with her performance of Radiohead’s Creep. Wow. I actually got some goosebumps watching this.
BTW, other contenders for best Creep cover include Prince and a 1600-person pub choir.
Tags: Erin Morton · music · Radiohead · remix · video
Scope of Work’s Spencer Wright on imports, tariffs, and maturity. “I buy a pair of shoes, make myself a drink, take a sip of water — it all has so much meaning.”
Ooh, I like this question: “What is the best album released by a music act at least 15 years after its debut album?” Any ideas?