May 15, 2020
An eighth(-ish) live action Star Trek series is in the works
CBS All Access today announced a series order for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The series is a spinoff from Star Trek: Discovery, which in its second season featured three characters dating back to the original unaired* pilot of Star Trek -- Captain Christopher Pike (James T Kirk's predecessor as captain), Number One (his executive officer), and Spock, whom you may have heard of before. [more inside]
A pizza pop is just a tiny calzone.
On the popularity of cooking and recipe videos: Cooking Food On The Internet For Fun And Profit
A letter from the author of ‘The Giver’
Would you please write a prequel to The Giver so we could find out how all that happened? Dear Reader: guess what. You don’t need a prequel. You’re living in one. [more inside]
What Black America Knows About Quarantine
White people are protesting against being trapped at home. Black people know what it feels like to really be trapped. [more inside]
"We're always mistaking stories for reality, aren't we?"
For one week only, a free stream of The Encounter ("please wear headphones to watch"), a uniquely immersive theatrical work created for binaural audio. "The Encounter tells the story of National Geographic photographer Loren McIntyre who, in 1969, became lost in a remote part of the Brazilian rainforest while searching for the Mayoruna people. His encounter was to test his perception of the world, bringing the limits of human consciousness into startling focus." Directed and performed by Simon McBurney and awarded a Special Tony Award for Sound Design for Gareth Fry and Pete Malkin. [more inside]
The strange connection between Bobby Kennedy’s death and Scooby-Doo
“In conclusion: video games, hell yeah.”
Amid the coronavirus lockdown, a group of six teenagers come together to make a young gamer's birthday special in Fortnite. [Game Rant] “A group of six young men playing Fortnite made one mother so proud that it left her in tears. Her teenage son, who has been playing games regularly during the coronavirus lockdown with his friends over the net, booted up Fortnite. Soon enough, the group met a player going by the name JamMaster who seemed "pretty chill," as mom Tiffany Pitts puts it. After playing together for a short while, the teens learned that JamMaster was only 10, but about to become 11 the very next day. While this would normally be a pretty exciting day for a little kid, JamMaster would be stuck spending the day without friends or a party due to the coronavirus. Apparently, Pitts has a good son with good friends, as they decided they couldn't let this stand. The group of teenagers swiftly pounced upon the opportunity to help celebrate the younger player's birthday, taking him on "a bunch of adventures," by fighting together, sharing loot with him, and keeping him up until midnight so they could officially sing him the Happy Birthday song.”
🦠🦠🦠
Before the lockdown, the tattooing began: COVID 19 Tattoos: The Best Coronavirus Tattoos (Mr. Inkwell). Coronavirus Is Temporary But Coronavirus Tattoos Are Forever (Ruin My Week). Tattoos On The Theme Of Coronavirus Covid-19 (InkPPL). Don't Let Coronavirus Tattoos Get Under Your Skin (Mel). Related: Tattoo Artists Are in Crisis as COVID-19 Devastates Their Industry (Vice).
"A lot of these so-called leaders speak progressive, but act regressive"
Horror Has a Leadership Problem Director Adam Donaghey was arrested last month for raping an underage girl working on one of his films. Scene stalwart Joe Bob Briggs repeatedly "punches down" at LGBTQ folks and other marginalized groups. Did major horror companies like Shudder and Cinestate look the other way even after the problems were pointed out to them? Queer Mutants Deserve Better. [more inside]
I there any J here? Or is it just TANJ one more bleep time?
Akiva Goldsman (Batman and Robin, Lost in Space, The DaVinci Code) is writing a pilot for Ringworld to be directed by Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World, Terminator Genisys). [more inside]
Hey mister deejay, won't you spin that record one more time?
John Peel (Wikipedia) was an English DJ and selector on BBC Radio 1, recording more than 2,000 artists and bands in more than 4,000 sessions, known as Peel Sessions. Over the years, many were released (Discogs), and are now available on streaming services, but there are still plenty of recordings not yet officially available online. With that, Dave Strickson created an alphabetized roundup of around 1,000 Peel Sessions that he found on YouTube. (John Peel, previously)
How To Masturbate
Can't You See This Is Just The Start?
1985 was a ridiculously strong year for music releases. May 15, 1985 also saw the release of Christian artist Amy Grant's first record on A&M, a non-Christian Music label: Unguarded. Walking a fine line with its subject matter but fully embracing 80s pop, it was a Top 40 album [YT playlist, ~45m] and did yield hit songs and began to redefine CCM for a generation. Side A: Love Of Another Kind, Find A Way [video], Everywhere I Go, I Love You, Stepping In Your Shoes [more inside]
Innovation in 'atoms': build more solar, get cheaper energy
Solar's Future is Insanely Cheap (2020) [thread] - "This incredible pace of solar cost decline, with average prices in sunny parts of the world down to a penny or two by 2030 or 2035, is just remarkable. Building new solar would routinely be cheaper than operating already built fossil fuel plants, even in the world of ultra-cheap natural gas we live in now. This is what I've called the third phase of clean energy, where building new clean energy is cheaper than keeping fossil fuel plants running." [more inside]
No one conspiracy theory is worse than all our conspiracy theories
QAnon is a pro-Trump conspiracy theory, yes, but it’s also more important than you might think. Adrienne LaFrance, The Atlantic's executive editor, spent more than a year trying to make sense of the movement and its followers and has a long and disquieting full report. [more inside]
« Previous day | Next day »