April 8, 2018
Impossible lovers and trans-world love letters
I argue that if David Lewis’ modal realism is true, modal realists from different possible worlds can fall in love with each other. [more inside]
The sinking of the El Faro
The sinking of the El Faro. In the darkness before dawn on Thursday, October 1, 2015, an American merchant captain named Michael Davidson sailed a 790-foot U.S.-flagged cargo ship, El Faro, into the eye wall of a Category 3 hurricane on the exposed windward side of the Bahama Islands.
This is the story of the El Faro, recovered in part from three miles beneath the waves that took her. The worst American maritime disaster in decades.
DEAD MAN RISING
On the eve of his 26th ‘WrestleMania,’ we talked to friends, colleagues, and victims of the WWE’s longest-reigning superstar about the making of the amazing career and (after)life of
THE UNDERTAKER [more inside]“I like the dark. It's friendly.”
Cat People: Darkness Betrayed By Geoffrey O’Brien [Criterion] “The premise of Cat People can be simply put: a woman (Simone Simon as Irena Dubrovna, a Serbian artist in exile) is doomed by an ancestral Balkan curse to metamorphose into a panther if aroused by passion, and thus obliged to withhold herself from the man she loves (Kent Smith, as the self-proclaimed “good plain Americano” Oliver Reed). It has the irrational finality of a folktale, an irrationality the film embraces, even as the characters keep it at bay with sage comments about the influence of superstition and the lingering effects of childhood trauma. Cat People is not a movie about the psychological power of folktales; it is itself a folktale.” [YouTube][Trailer] [more inside]
It's a regional expression
Maybe you were aware of the steamed hams scene from the Simpsons season 7, episode 21. Maybe it was brought to your attention.
But did you know that it's been reinterpreted as an anime, as a GTA: San Andreas mission, as Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: The Return, Arrested Development and Blade Runner? [more inside]
Robot middleman eliminates disadvantages of coresidence
Fribo: A Robot for People Who Live Alone - This little robot listens to what goes on in your life and shares it with your friends. [YouTube]
A poor man goes to jail when he steals; a rich man becomes a minister
Lula has gone to Jail. An action described by the NYT as pushing Brazil's democracy into the Abyss.
Those he championed, and they were legion, mourn the end of an era. [more inside]
Those he championed, and they were legion, mourn the end of an era. [more inside]
5.6 on boardgamegeek
Trash-talking wizard Irving Finkel and affable science youtuber Tom Scott sit down to play the 4500-year-old Royal Game of Ur.
Dress It Up In Stolen Silver And Garbage
Sadly, Fair To Midland is not a band anymore. But before they broke up, they released 2011's Arrows & Anchors, a very melodic metal album which explores sonic textures with enigmatic lyrics. Side A: Heavens To Mugatroyd, Whiskey & Ritalin, Musical Chairs [video], Uh-Oh [more inside]
R.I.P. Soon-Tek Oh
Actor Soon-Tek Oh, a ubiquitous presence on television in the 70's and 80's (though he is probably best known to younger audiences as the voice of Mulan's father, Fa Zhou), has passed away at the age of 85. Perhaps his greatest legacy is how in 1965 he joined eight other Asian American actors (including Mako and James Hong) to found the East West Players, which is the largest producing organization of Asian American artistic work.
All this over $569
In 83 Million Eviction Records, a Sweeping and Intimate New Look at Housing in America - "A Princeton sociologist chronicled the human toll of eviction in one city in a 2016 book. A new project may reveal just how widespread the problem is." [more inside]
I want a cabbage
Brian & Charles During the bleak winter of 2012, Brian Gittins was marooned in his remote cottage. Instead of wallowing in misery, he decided to build a robot. (slyt)
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