#andy berner
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It's okay, but Have You Been Paying Attention will never be able to live up to Good News Week. I'd give anything for a third reboot! We need it! 😍
“Remember, your names are your buzzers. Let’s check them now…”
#dave thornton#claire hooper#tom gleeson#colin lane#julia morris#hamish blake#andy lee#fiona o'loughlin#peter berner#paul mcdermott#good news week
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Proton, the secure-minded email and productivity suite, is becoming a nonprofit foundation, but it doesn't want you to think about it in the way you think about other notable privacy and web foundations.
"We believe that if we want to bring about large-scale change, Proton can’t be billionaire-subsidized (like Signal), Google-subsidized (like Mozilla), government-subsidized (like Tor), donation-subsidized (like Wikipedia), or even speculation-subsidized (like the plethora of crypto “foundations”)," Proton CEO Andy Yen wrote in a blog post announcing the transition. "Instead, Proton must have a profitable and healthy business at its core."
The announcement comes exactly 10 years to the day after a crowdfunding campaign saw 10,000 people give more than $500,000 to launch Proton Mail. To make it happen, Yen, along with co-founder Jason Stockman and first employee Dingchao Lu, endowed the Proton Foundation with some of their shares. The Proton Foundation is now the primary shareholder of the business Proton, which Yen states will "make irrevocable our wish that Proton remains in perpetuity an organization that places people ahead of profits." Among other members of the Foundation's board is Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of HTML, HTTP, and almost everything else about the web.
Of particular importance is where Proton and the Proton Foundation are located: Switzerland. As Yen noted, Swiss foundations do not have shareholders and are instead obligated to act "in accordance with the purpose for which they were established." While the for-profit entity Proton AG can still do things like offer stock options to recruits and even raise its own capital on private markets, the Foundation serves as a backstop against moving too far from Proton's founding mission, Yen wrote.
There’s a lot more Proton to protect these days
Proton has gone from a single email offering to a wide range of services, many of which specifically target the often invasive offerings of other companies (read, mostly: Google). You can now take your cloud files, passwords, and calendars over to Proton and use its VPN services, most of which offer end-to-end encryption and open source core software hosted in Switzerland, with its notably strong privacy laws.
None of that guarantees that a Swiss court can't compel some forms of compliance from Proton, as happened in 2021. But compared to most service providers, Proton offers a far clearer and easier-to-grasp privacy model: It can't see your stuff, and it only makes money from subscriptions.
#proton#protonmail#surveillance capitalism#privacy#social media#artificial intelligence#big tech#technology#google#nonprofit
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New York City, 23 April 1985 at Mr. Chow restaurant: Michael Heizer, David Hockney, Leroy Nieman, Dennis Oppenheim, Stefano, Bill Wegman, John Chamberlain, Andy Warhol, Julian Schnabel, Armand Arman, Alex Katz, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Tony Shafrazi, Red Grooms, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente, Robert MappleThorpe, Ronnie Cutrone, Sandro Chia. Plus: Nam June Paik, Jennifer Barlett, Jack Goldstein, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Les Levine, Sol Lewitt, Marisol, Peter Max, Meredith Monk, Larry Rivers, Survival Research Labs (Mark Pauline, Mat Heckert, Eric Berner), Mark van den Broek, Tom Wesselman and Greer Langton. © Michael Halsband /Landov
#Mr. Chow#michael heizer#david hockney#Leroy Nieman#Dennis Oppenheim#Stefano#Bill Wegman#John Chamberlain#andy warhol#julian schnabel#armand armand#alex katz#keith haring#kenny scharf#tony shafrazi#red grooms#jean michel basquiat#francesco clemente#robert mapplethorpe#ronnie cutrone#sandro chia#nam june paik#jennifer barlett#jack goldstein#jenny holzer#barbara kruger#les levine#sol lewitt#marisol#peter max
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Apple HyperCard (1987) with Computer Chronicles clip featuring the creator, Bill Atkinson from Apple
Wikipedia -
HyperCard is a software application and development kit for Apple Macintosh and Apple IIGS computers. It is among the first successful hypermedia systems predating the World Wide Web. HyperCard combines a flat-file database with a graphical, flexible, user-modifiable interface.
HyperCard combines a flat-file database with a graphical, flexible, user-modifiable interface. HyperCard includes a built-in programming language called HyperTalk for manipulating data and the user interface.
This combination of features – a database with simple form layout, flexible support for graphics, and ease of programming – suits HyperCard for many different projects such as rapid application development of applications and databases, interactive applications with no database requirements, command and control systems, and many examples in the demoscene.
HyperCard was originally released in 1987 for $49.95 and was then included for free with all new Macs sold. It was withdrawn from sale in March 2004, having received its final update in 1998 upon the return of Steve Jobs to Apple. HyperCard runs in the Classic Environment, but was not ported to Mac OS X.
HyperCard influenced the development of the Web in late 1990 through its influence on Robert Cailliau, who assisted in developing Tim Berners-Lee’s first Web browser. Javascript was inspired by HyperTalk.
Video and more An introduction to Apple's Hypercard. Guests include Apple Fellow and Hypercard creator Bill Atkinson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FquNpWdf9vg https://blog.adafruit.com/2014/06/18/hypercard/
Apple Fellow and Hypercard creator Bill Atkinson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Atkinson https://twitter.com/billatk https://www.youtube.com/@photocardapp
CircuitPython Your Own Adventure https://learn.adafruit.com/circuit-python-your-own-adventure?view=all
Tons of HyperCard on the Adafruit blog! https://blog.adafruit.com/?s=hypercard
HyperCard, the missing link to the Web https://blog.adafruit.com/2021/06/07/34-years-of-hypercard-the-missing-link-to-the-web-hypercard-vintagecomputing-arstechnica/
The Library of Congress and HyperCard https://blog.adafruit.com/2021/12/15/the-library-of-congress-and-hypercard-vintagecomputing-digitalpreservation-librarycongress/
DitherPaint: a 1-bit, browser-based drawing application https://blog.adafruit.com/2021/06/09/ditherpaint-a-1-bit-browser-based-drawing-application/
Proposed Commercials featuring Mac team Members in October 1983, Full Demo Reel https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/11/24/proposed-commercials-featuring-mac-team-members-in-october-1983-full-demo-reel-andyhertzfeld-apple/
Andy Hertzfeld has a YouTube channel https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/07/20/andy-hertzfeld-has-a-youtube-channel-and-its-great-andyhertzfeld-billatk-susankare/
Apple Macintosh - Your Tour of HyperCard (1991) Apple Computer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx_WCIAM4bA
Explore Magic Cap, a smartphone OS from a decade before the iPhone https://learn.adafruit.com/magic-cap-the-smartphone-os-from-the-90s?view=all
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When a virus leaks from a top-secret facility, turning all resident researchers into ravenous zombies and their lab animals into mutated hounds from hell, the government sends in an elite military task force to contain the outbreak. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Alice: Milla Jovovich Rain Ocampo: Michelle Rodriguez Matt Addison: Eric Mabius Spence Parks: James Purefoy Chad Kaplan: Martin Crewes James “One” Shade: Colin Salmon J.D. Salinas: Pasquale Aleardi Dr. Lisa Addison: Heike Makatsch Mr. Grey: Ryan McCluskey Ms. Black: Indra Ové Mr. Red: Oscar Pearce Dr. Green: Anna Bolt Dr. Blue: Joseph May Dr. Brown: Robert Tannion Clarence: Jaymes Butler Mr. White: Stephen Billington Ms. Gold: Fiona Glascott Medic: Liz May Brice Commando 1: Torsten Jerabek Commando 2: Marc Logan-Black Red Queen: Michaela Dicker Dr. William Birkin (uncredited): Jason Isaacs Film Crew: Writer: Paul W. S. Anderson Producer: Jeremy Bolt Producer: Bernd Eichinger Producer: Samuel Hadida Camera Operator: David Johnson ADR Editor: Matt Grimes Casting: Robyn Ray Production Design: Richard Bridgland Casting: Suzanne Smith Editor: Alexander Berner Line Producer: Albert Botha Associate Producer: Mike Gabrawy Executive Producer: Victor Hadida Executive Producer: Daniel S. Kletzky Executive Producer: Robert Kulzer Executive Producer: Yoshiki Okamoto Co-Producer: Chris Symes Original Music Composer: Marco Beltrami Original Music Composer: Marilyn Manson Art Direction: Jörg Baumgarten Set Decoration: Penny Crawford Hairstylist: Björn Rehbein Hairstylist: Friderike Roessler Hairstylist: Valeska Schitthelm Makeup Artist: Christina Smith Art Department Coordinator: Ingeborg Heinemann Assistant Art Director: Anete Conrad Animatronic and Prosthetic Effects: Pauline Fowler Animatronic and Prosthetic Effects: Martin Gaskell Supervising Art Director: Tony Reading Construction Coordinator: Ulf Sturhann Carpenter: Philipp Hübner Location Scout: Marion Gerhardt Production Illustrator: Ravi Bansal Sculptor: Colin Jackman First Assistant Camera: Adam Quinn Steadicam Operator: Jörg Widmer Still Photographer: Rolf Konow Prosthetic Supervisor: Barrie Gower Additional Music: Tom Holkenborg Choreographer: Warnar Van Eeden Driver: Susen Jarmuske Makeup Effects: Andy Garner Post Production Supervisor: Christine Jahn Production Office Assistant: Mirjam Weber Property Master: Danny Hunter Set Medic: Frank Guhn Special Effects Supervisor: Gerd Nefzer Stunt Coordinator: Volkhart Buff Stunts: René Bellmann Technical Supervisor: John Kurlander Unit Production Manager: Silvia Tollmann Unit Publicist: Francois Frey Visual Effects Editor: Paul Elman Script Supervisor: Caroline Sax Color Timer: Andreas Lautil First Assistant Editor: Franziska Schmidt-Kärner Best Boy Electric: Udo Kowalczyk Electrician: David Reppen Gaffer: Edgar Auell Production Accountant: Helga Ploiner Production Coordinator: Sammi Davis Visual Effects Coordinator: Muriel Gérard Researcher: Ian Frost Boom Operator: Alois Unger Music Supervisor: Liz Gallacher Sound Designer: Marco Raab Sound Editor: Frank Casaretto Sound Mixer: Roland Winke Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Michael Kranz Supervising Sound Editor: Stefan Busch 3D Supervisor: Phil Bignell Visual Effects Producer: Richard Yuricich Art Department Manager: Astrid Kühberger Software Engineer: John Charles Dolby Consultant: Norbert Zich Unit Manager: Esther Fischer Key Grip: Dieter Bähr Key Makeup Artist: Hasso von Hugo First Assistant Director: Jan Sebastian Ballhaus ADR Supervisor: Bjørn Ole Schroeder Draughtsman: Philip Elton Grip: Glenn König Animatronics Designer: Chris Coxon Second Assistant Director: Simon Emanuel Negative Cutter: Patricia Ferbeck ADR Voice Casting: Louis Elman Assistant Production Coordinator: Kerstin Biermann Casting Assistant: Natasha Ockrent Foley Editor: Noemi Hampel Costume Assistant: Claudia Maria Braun Costume Assistant: Elke Freitag Costume Assistant: Sparka Lee Hall Costume Assistant: Astrid Lafos Costume Assistant: Anette Tirler Negative Cutter: Renate Siegl Negative Cutter: Sandra Stier Animation: James Furlon...
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#amnesia#based on video game#biological weapon#Conspiracy#dystopia#flashback#hologram#mutant#quarantine#special forces#Top Rated Movies#undercover#Zombie
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// book page vs web page
Why do we use the term page even in a digital environnement ? Everyone knows how it feels to hold a book and how different this experience is from perusing a web page. When you have a physical artefact in your hands, you’re able to touch its cover and understand its fabrication process simply by looking at the binding. You can touch or even smell the texture of the paper, feel the object's height, shape, volume … The purpose of the web was never to be a digitally augmented version of the book and it never intended to replace this ancestral object. Nevertheless the page is an essential part of the digital landscape and is actually really impactful on our entire thought process.
As Dan Rubin, a designer, photographer and creative director, currently based in London, explains in this article entitled Off the page in the third issue of Back Office Magazine published in September 2019 by B42 editions, the concept of the page has an influence on our understanding and our perception of the web. It’s certainly something unconscious for most of us, but the physical form of the book had an influence on the intangible form designers decided to create for conveying digital contents. Juste like books, web interfaces have pages and it would be difficult to imagine them otherwise. But an awareness of the meaning of the term page through its historical evolution makes room for new prospects in the way we want the web to evolve.
Rubin’s thesis is not easy to understand and even more difficult to render but I will do my best to make it as clear as possible. In his opinion, the practice of Web design is way too constrained by our current perceptions, considering the unlimited potential of the medium. In this way, this text initially published in Andy McMillan (ed.), the Manual, (Belfast: Fiction, 2011), aims to open the possibilities of this practice.
Originally, the web was conceived as an alternative to word processing softwares. In 1990, a computer scientist named Tim Berners Lee created the World Wide Web, which was the very first browser on the NeXTStep operating system. In order to facilitate sharing of information, he invented a network of linear documents connected together via a layer of digital hyperlinks. The way that information was displayed was basically in the form of pages following the structure of research documentation. The layout was really similar to the one traditionally associated to books. At the time, this founding vision answered a need but also strongly affected the layout of all the sites designed later on. As the author says “every experience we create is an extension of the document-centric approach […] If we consider the Web as it was initially envisioned, it’s not surprising that we have found it so easy to use page to unwittingly define our own boundaries”.
You will have realised that, according to Dan Rubin’s approach based on Edward R. Tufte's essay on data design [Envisioning information], the page is an historical and cultural straitjacket that constrains our information displays. He recognised “the dissonance between our physical world and the way we attempt to represent it”. And I really liked the beautiful expression he used to describe the situation : “Text is caught up in the two dimensionality of the endless flatlands of paper and video screen” when the web interface is capable of so much more and allows us to think big and very differently.
So you might wonder : what is the problem ? What is preventing us from having a different approach ? Perhaps our perception of the medium is an obstacle. In this virtual construct we struggle to clarify our intention and attitude toward this still new medium. However, in this rapidly changing context, we have the responsibility to understand that the definition of the page, in the way we apply it to design the Web, is only one option among many others. Another design is possible, so let’s break the rules and imagine something greater. Let’s imagine a multi-directional browsing through the screen, without any forced reading direction. Let’s imagine even further, forgetting the concept of the page, reading a piece of clothing or a piece of architecture with text.
Lou Duvelleroy.
Publié le 5 février ( 4200 caractères).
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Morning Terrors Nights Of Dread by Shilpa Ray from the album Door Girl - Directed by Candace Thompson
#somethingneweveryday#music#shilpa ray#robert preston collum#jeff berner#nicholas john stevens#rich hutchins#richard hutchins#alistair paxton#video#music video#candace thompson#ebru yildiz#amanda katz#jay pluck#paige campbell#lynn wright#julie hair#andy haynes#drinking the kool aid
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Sara Berner: From Bowes to Benny to the Bottle
Sara Berner: From Bowes to Benny to the Bottle
Sara Berner (Lillian Ann Herdan, 1912-1969) was better known by her voice than her face at the peak of her fame. She had been a department store clerk with a penchant for comedy dialects and impressions when she landed an audition for Major Bowes Amateur Hour in 1937 and was hired by Bowes to perform in an “all girl unit” that toured presentation housesnationally. This led to voice-over work in…
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#actress#Andy Panda#Chilly Willy#Jack Benny Prgoam#Lillian Ann Herdan#Mabel#Mabel the Camel#old time#radio#Sara Berner#voiceover
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Andy Dixon (Canadian, 1979), Christie's (Lord Berners Faringdon House), 2019. Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, 49 x 49 in.
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Michael Halsband: Famous Artists in NYC (1985)
from top left
Michael Heizer, David Hockney, Leroy Nieman, Dennis Oppenheim, Stefano
Bill Wegman, John Chamberlain, Andy Warhol, Julian Schnabel, Arman,
Alex Katz, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Toni Shafrazi, Red Grooms, Jean-Michel
Basquiat, Francesco Clemente, Robert Mapplethorpe, Ronnie Cutrone, Sandro
Chia, Nam Jun Paik, Jennifer Bartlett Jack Goldstein. Jenny Holzer, Barbara
Kruger, Les Levine, Sol Lewitt, Marisol, Peter Max, Meredith Monk, Larry Rivers
Mark Pauline, Mat Heckert, Eric Berner, Mark van den Broek, Tom Wesselman
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ARTISTS IN NEW YORK CITY PICTURED APRIL 23, 1985 AT MR. CHOW RESTAURANT FROM TOP LEFT: MICHAEL HEIZER, DAVID HOCKNEY, LEROY NIEMAN, DENNIS OPPENHEIM, STEFANO, BILL WEGMAN, JOHN CHAMBERLAIN, ANDY WARHOL, JULIAN SCHNABEL, ARMAND ARMAN, ALEX KATZ, KEITH HARING, KENNY SCHARF, TONY SHAFRAZI, RED GROOMS, JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT, FRANCESCO CLEMENTE, ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE, RONNIE CUTRONE, SANDRO CHIA. PLUS: NAM JUNE PAIK, JENNIFER BARLETT, JACK GOLDSTEIN, JENNY HOLZER, BARBARA KRUGER, LES LEVINE, SOL LEWITT, MARISOL, PETER MAX, MEREDITH MONK, LARRY RIVERS, SURVIVAL RESEARCH LABS (MARK PAULINE, MAT HECKERT, ERIC BERNER), MARK VAN DEN BROEK, TOM WESSELMAN AND GREER LANGTON. © MICHAEL HALSBAND /LANDOV
#michael heizer#david hockney#leroy neiman#dennis oppenheim#stefano#bill wegman#john chamberlain#andy warhol#julian schnabel#armand arman#alex katz#keith haring#kenny scharf#tony shafrazi#red grooms#jean michel basquiat#francesco clemente#robert mapplethorpe#sandro chia#ronnie cutrone#nam june paik#jennifer barlett#jack goldstein#jenny holzer#barbara kruger#les levine#sol lewitt#marisol#meredith monk#john lurie
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184. the woods are full of cuckoos (1937)
release date: december 4th, 1937
series: merrie melodies
director: frank tashlin
starring: mel blanc (owlcott, walter finchell, milton squirrel, wendell howl, fox, raven mcquandry), tedd pierce (ben birdie, tizzie fish, andy bovine), sara berner (polly gillette, canary livingstone)
this cartoon gets the honorable award of possibly being the most dated warner bros. shorts in its vast repertoire of cartoons. not to worry! this will be a fun cartoon to unpack—i love delving into the shorts that involve extensive research. learning something new is something that‘s very rewarding to me, and i hope it is to you, too!
a giant ode to the short lived radio program community sing (lasting from 1936-1937), the short chronicles a woodland radio show hosted by a variety of caricatured animals putting on various acts.
iris in to the ringing of a bell. a pudgy, bespectacled owl rings it as he stands illuminated by the moonlight, preaching to all of the woodland critters, ready to start the show. he introduces himself as “owlcott”, a take on commentator alexander woollcott. he “blandly announces” (his words, not mine) the introduction of the master of ceremonies, ben birdie--a bird caricature of radio personality ben bernie, “the old maestro”.
birdie’s caricature is not new to audience’s eyes. the caricature, along with a handful of others, is reused from friz freleng’s the coocoo nut grove from 1936, a short that is very similar in vein to this one. tedd pierce provides birdie’s suave, velvety vocals as he introduces the program, only to be interrupted by the nasally cries of mel blanc. out pops walter finchell, a caricature of bernie’s faux-enemy walter winchell, both of whom carrying a notorious (and fake) feud in the radio-verse. it was common for winchell to interrupt the smooth-talking bernie, either throwing pranks or remarks his way, to which bernie dismissed every time. indeed, a signature tashlin upshot angle reveals finchell dropping an egg on top of birdie, who blocks it nonchalantly with a handy umbrella.
art loomer’s backgrounds for the cartoon are absolutely gorgeous. they’re vibrant in color, very lush and painterly, but remain playful and sophisticated at the same time. they certainly serve as a highlight to the short. and, as always, carl stalling’s scores are a blast to hear--his sardonic, wah-wah rendition of “cause my baby says it’s so” is a jolly juxtaposition to the prior score of “love is on the air tonight”, the latter being the song’s cartoon debut. it would be reused in cartoons such as the daffy doc, whereas “cause my baby says its so” was heard previously in rover’s rival.
birdie introduces a clever squirrel caricature of milton berle, whose routine gets interrupted by a little parrot named polly. polly is a take on eileen barton’s character, little jolly gillette, who was portrayed as the daughter of the show’s sponsor. polly and milton go through their act together, polly bluntly (yet innocently) announcing “my daddy says ya gotta let me sing ‘cause he’s a sponsor!” you can listen to real recordings of their banter here!
volney white’s animation of milton and polly is lively and jovial, constantly moving. milton energetically introduces us to our next star, pointing in the wrong direction and fixing it last second as he gestures towards a bird caricature of country singer wendell hall.
even if viewers don’t recognize the bird’s counterpart, they will most certainly recognize his voice--mel uses his foghorn leghorn voice for wendell “howl”. of course, foghorn wouldn’t debut for another 9 years, but that’s another story. the animation of the raucous bird is fun to watch as he extends his neck and wraps it around in coils around the microphone stand. random? yes, but fun nevertheless.
perhaps even more commendable is the staggering crowd shot that succeeds wendell’s scenes. the crowd is mirrored horizontally, but that doesn’t lessen the blow from how claustrophobic it is. wendell asks the audience to get out their songbooks and turn to page “22... no, page 44. uh, no, uh, page 28. uh, 42, uh, 36, uh, 45...”
wendell is transformed from an entertainer to an auctioneer, spitting out numbers at rapid pace as his crowd frantically tears through their songbooks. finally, he concedes. “oh, never mind. we won’t use the books.” off screen, the crowd roars in unison: “OH YES WE WILL!” with that, wendell is generously showered with a barrage of books, buried in the pile of rejected papers. the timing of the scene is comedically sharp and energetic, one of the more entertaining acts of the cartoon.
now, for the real song number, lead by goat and bear caricatures of billy jones and ernie hare (would a rabbit caricature be too on the nose?) respectively, animated by volney white. they march out onto the stage--er, tree trunk--and open the curtains to reveal a sing-along to the eponymous song. thus, the camera pans into the lyrics as everybody bursts into the all-too-earworm-causing song number.
as the crowd, ben birdie and walter finchell all lend their voices to the song, a fox caricature of fred allen sings “swanee river”, clashing with the unity of everybody else. in a nod to friz freleng’s toy town hall where the same routine was executed, a little bunny excitedly coos “ohhhh, mr. allen! you’re singing the wrong sooooong!” the fox bursts into everybody’s favorite Mel Blanc Yell as he repeats a frequent ‘30s catchphrase: “WHY DON’T SOMEBODY TELL ME THESE THINGS!?”
featured in the song is a seemingly interminable cast of celebrity caricatures, all introduced as the camera pans across the screen, each lending their voice to part of the song. some puns require more effort than others (dick powell as “dick fowl” rolls off the tongue better than al jolson as “al goatson”). caricatures include:
eddie cantor as eddie gander, sophie tucker as sophie turkey, w.c. fields as w.c. fieldmouse, dick powell as dick fowl, fats waller as fats swallow, deanna durbin as deanna terrapin, irvin s. cobb as irvin s. frog, fred macmurray as fred mcfurry, bing crosby as bing crowsby, al jolson as al goatson, ruby keeler as ruby squealer, lanny ross as lanny hoss, grace moore as grace moose, and finally lily pons as lily swans.
speaking of grace and lily, they’re both highlighted as they fight to out-perform each other, seeing who can sing the highest note. tashlin pulls of a rather intriguing camera move: as the pan settles on the two of them, the background changes. it’s a subtle maneuver, but smart thinking nonetheless--especially since the camera extends into a vertical pan. as both women fight to sing the highest note, their necks extend, both of them scaling high into the night sky, harmonizing on one final shrill note. they both crumple back into the stands, exhausted by their efforts. some fun exaggerated animation for sure--one wonders how much further this would have been pushed had this been tashlin’s second stint at WB rather than his first. his speed often rivaled, if not out-performed, tex avery’s.
birdie and finchell have a brief interstitial together before making way for a raven caricature of haven macquarrie (raven mcquandry). his sequence is almost jarringly short, but full of fun drawings and poses--the pose of him standing curtly with his arms crossed is awfully reminiscent of izzy ellis’ work under tashlin and later bob clampett in the mid ‘40s. mcquandry asks “do YOU wanna be an actor?”, parotting the name of his real life counterpart’s show so do you want to be an actor? the audience shouts “NO!” in unison, causing mcquandry to do a take and shrug dubiously. though the scene is only a few short seconds, the animation brings forth some much needed vitality.
next is a penguin caricature of joe penner, singing a hilariously out-of-tune rendition of “my green fedora”. the animation is reused from the cartoon of the same name (notice how he doesn’t have penguin feet!), which was also used in toy town hall. not a complaint, but more an observation--this is by far the most humorous performance of the song yet, sung by blanc rather than tommy bond.
another fun scene with some vivacious animation is a sequence featuring a mule caricature of martha raye (dubbed moutha bray), singing a cover of “how could you?”, which has been featured as an underscore in cartoons such as porky’s badtime story and its later remake, tick tock tuckered. raye’s large mouth served as prime material for caricatures, as we see here. the animation is snappy, fun, and vivid--she finishes her song by “swallowing” the camera, an old trick that beckons memories of the harman and ising cartoons of animation past.
an interesting trend in the ‘30s WB cartoons is the trend of playing with the iris, whether it was the closing iris out or an iris in between transitions. tex avery would consistently play with the final iris out on his cartoons, whereas directors such as friz freleng and bob clampett would use one as a transition between scenes. here, tashlin uses the “swallow the camera” technique as a segue for an iris in, tedd pierce’s falsetto squeaking “hello folksies!” as we’re introduced to a fish caricature of tizzie lish, a character played by bill comstock on al pearce and his gang.
though tizzie has long faded into obscurity (as has the entire community sing radio show), it’s still quite easy to appreciate pierce’s vocals and mannerisms as he portrays the character. it’s always a joy to hear him doing voices for cartoons--he’s never been my favorite writer on the crew, but he was an excellent talent as a voice actor. his squeaky deliveries, matter of fact deliveries “mix them up... are you mixing? my friends say i’m a good mixer. are you? or aren’t you?” as tizzie haphazardly dumps food items and their respective utensils into a bowl and prepares the meal are nothing short of hilarious. the timing is very well executed and can be appreciated regardless of background knowledge.
after humming a pitchy rendition of “the lady in red” while waiting for her concoction to bake in the waffle iron, tizzie removes the homemade waffle and discards it, instructing the audience “now take the ‘wiffle’ out and eat the iron. you must have iron in your system. or should you?” thus concludes tizzie’s act, certainly heightened in hilarity by pierce’s vocals and timing.
for the final act, ben birdie introduces a possum caricature of louella parsons, the host of the radio program hollywood hotel, which served as a way to advertise upcoming movies by featuring guest stars enacting some of the scenes. here, we have caricatures of jack benny (as jack bunny, the first of his many reoccurrences), mary livingstone (canary livingstone), and andy devine (andy bovine).
tedd pierce voices andy bovine, whose voice burlusqued not only in this cartoon, but to a greater extent in friz freleng’s my little buckeroo not even a year later. devine, a western star, was notorious for his scratchy, shrill voice which was rife for comedic opportunity. indeed, this scene here with pierce’s vocals is nothing short of hilarious:
the trio chronicle the prodigal’s return, in which bunny and canary coo over their baby son. out of the bassinet pops incongruously large bovine, who shrieks “HOWDY MAAAA! HI PAAAA!”, the sheer volume of his voice enough to blow both of his parents away and out of the scene. and, with that, the scene ends, red curtains colorized from porky’s romance marking the sequence’s end. short, sweet, to the point, and hilarious.
ending right where the cartoon began, the owl caricature of alexander woollcott bids us farewell, the iris closing in on the bell he rings as he exclaims that all is well.
like so many other cartoons i’ve reviewed, this is one that i slowly warmed up to upon rewatching it and typing out the review for myself. i didn’t entirely dislike the cartoon upon my first watch, but it’s undeniably dated and deserves its title as possibly the most dated cartoon. without further research, some of the jokes and caricatures (if not all of them) are difficult to appreciate. the animation has bursts of energy throughout the short, the highlights being the scenes featuring raven mcquarry and moutha bray, but otherwise remains relatively simple and conservative. tashlin does incorporate a few intriguing camera angles throughout the cartoon, but many other entries of his are far more cinematic.
however, despite all of that, this cartoon is not without its bonuses: art loomer’s backgrounds are stunningly gorgeous and rich, and as someone who loves the lush, painterly backgrounds of the 1930s, this is heaven to me. and, as i mentioned previously, tedd pierce’s scenes are great--the tizzie fish and andy bovine sequences are undeniable comedic highlights.
so, if you’re willing to dedicate time to put in the research for this cartoon, you’ll find it’s quite fascinating! i’m certain this was a much bigger gut-buster in 1937 than it is in 2020, but even then, this is a good cartoon for people such as myself who love to learn more information and seek out facts. as a result, i’d recommend it to people who fall into that category. if you’re just someone who wants a good laugh and a leisurely watch, there are more interesting cartoons that lie ahead. you won’t miss much by skipping it.
with that said, here’s the link!
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Celebrating Milestones For Blazer's Guardian Angels!
When Cher & Chip Imrie started the Blazer’s Guardian Angels (BGA) program in memory of their Rainbow Bridge angel, Blazer, in September 2016, they had no idea how well the idea would spread in the GALT community or how much money would be raised to cover medical expenses for Injured Reserve hounds. This month, less than five years from inception, the program achieved a special milestone - a cumulative donation total of over $40,000!
Most of the participants in the BGA program are individuals or couples, but a few GALT donors have pooled their efforts to form “Tag Teams” to sponsor GALT hounds with significant medical expenses. Hope Kahan recently initiated BGA Tag Team #3 in memory of her sweet Princess Leia, and she was quickly joined by Leia’s foster parents, Barb & Andy Berner. The Berners previously honored their angels, Gaea and Radar, in the program, and now they are honoring the memory of their foster, Aspen. The Berners' current foster, Suri, is sponsored by BGA Tag Team #3.
Tag Team #3 got together to celebrate another milestone (see photos here). The Berners fostered all three of Hope’s GALT hounds (Leia, Penny Precious and Lyza June) and all three were also sponsored in the BGA program. Leia is the first BGA recipient to give back to the program by becoming a Blazer’s Guardian Angel for another GALT grey. The Imries were touched by this special milestone, saying: “It has always been our hope to see the BGA program create a perpetual cycle of giving. We are thrilled that Hope and the Berners are honoring the memories of Leia and Aspen, two very special GALT greys.” Click here to read comments from Hope and the Berners regarding their decisions to form BGA Tag Team #3 to pay Suri’s medical expenses.
If you are interested in sponsoring a GALT hound in memory of one of your Rainbow Bridge angels, please contact Barb Christian at [email protected] or Susie McQuade at [email protected].
7/30/21
#Greyhounds#Greyhound#Suri#Blazers Guardian Angels#BGA#Berners#Imries#Kahan#dogs#broken legs#guardian angels#retired racing greyhounds#greyhound adoption#adoptable greyhounds#snootblr#dogblr#petblr#greyblr
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Episode 35 Review: In Which Matt Calls Out Jean Paul
{ Not available on YouTube }
{ Synopses: Debby Graham | Bryan Gruszka }
{ Screencaps }
Welcome back to Maljardin, the beautiful tropical “paradise” that is, in reality, a deadly prison for the guests of Jean Paul Desmond and his demonic lookalike ancestor Jacques Eloi des Mondes. Tensions mount as more and more characters realize that the island’s multimillionaire owner god refuses to let them escape and pushes for a séance in order to contact his late wife. One, Reverend Matthew Dawson, ex-minister and current stalker of one Holly Marshall, has reached the breaking point and now dares challenge Jean Paul.
Now, I know that I briefly compared and contrasted Matt with Reverend Trask (specifically, the second Reverend Trask) from Dark Shadows in my Episode 10 review last year. There are a handful of similarities--including both running boarding schools of questionable ethics (which I forgot to list in that review)--but they remain characters with fundamentally different personalities at their cores. In spite of this, Matt does share one of the favorite hobbies of the men of the Trask family: YELLING in an exaggerated Mid-Atlantic accent in long and emotional speeches! That’s what happens for a good portion of the episode, and I can’t deny that I find this sort of soap opera shouting match highly entertaining.
We open with Jean Paul descending the Great Hall’s staircase while wearing the Blue Suit of Sexiness, which he will continue to wear for the next few episodes. He sees Matt staring at the portrait of THE DEVIL JACQUES ELOI DES MONDES and asks him if he’s “mesmerized by” him. (How could anyone not be, I wonder, before reminding myself that Matt is straight.)
“It seems everyone is, or at least the evil Raxl fears he’s spreading,” is the Reverend’s response.
“And you?”
“There is evil here, Mr. Desmond, but I don't believe in devils. I attribute it more realistically to a live, active human being.”
And then they exchange pissy faces to dramatic music.
I’ve noted before that I didn’t expect a minister like Matt (especially one who believes in other supernatural phenomena) to admit that he doesn’t believe in devils. Still, even if he did, that’s no guarantee that he would make a distinction between Jean Paul and Jacques or think anything of his sudden switches of personality beyond grief and/or mental illness.
The first shot of the glass-top table set up for the séance. Kind of odd that Jean Paul just happens to have a table with astrological symbols on it just lying around.
Just then, Raxl and Quito enter, and the former announces to Jean Paul, “It is foretold that the Conjure Woman one day will find death on Maljardin!” Jean Paul ignores this and tells Vangie (who also conveniently just entered) that she must hold the séance and he must speak to Erica.
Some Jean Paul crazy eyes. Shades of Gérard “Crazy Eyes” Berner, discussed in this entry.
“Master! In the Temple of the Serpent, the Conjure Woman was told that this séance must not take place! The spirits have spoken!” Raxl protests, but he ignores her. Remember, this is a man who announced three episodes ago that he is willing even to perform blood sacrifices to get his Erica back. He is crazy in love--literally. His obsession with Erica makes Matt’s decision to quit his ministry to stalk Holly seem sane.
“On Maljardin, only I speak!” Jean Paul declares, eyes wide and burning like the blue flames on a gas stove. He uses his “on this island, I am God” tone of voice, but sadly Jacques isn’t cheering him on this time. Speaking of Jacques, he immediately storms over to the portrait and shouts, “I must have contact with my darling!” as though he thinks that Jacques will willingly provide that. Oh, Jean Paul, my sweet summer child, if only you knew that he has no intention of resurrecting your dear, sweet Erica.
Alison arrives just in time to overhear him tell Matt that, as an “undesirable element that would ensure its failure,” he shouldn’t take part in the séance. He starts to ask Alison to join him, but then decides he would rather make a passive-aggressive comment about how Matt probably doesn’t believe in souls (WTF?), which triggers the following argument:
Jean Paul: "And the theologian, not because he believes in the soul, but because..." Matt: "Because he is tolerant, Mr. Desmond!" Jean Paul: "Tolerant of what? My madness, perhaps?" Matt: "I did not say that!" Jean Paul: "Are you prepared to face the dead?"
He tries to get Vangie to let him choose who will participate in the séance, but she refuses because she understands spiritualist matters better than he does. (Also, she can teleport to and from Maljardin, so it’s not like she’s trapped on the island like the other guests. This means that she can stand up to Jean Paul without the risk of him imprisoning her.)
Raxl brings up the missing notes about Erica. Alison demands to know how she knows about them, and she claims that she knows because of how often she and Dan discussed them. Raxl accuses Alison of trying to hide the notes in the cove (but why would she store them so far from the lab?). Matt has a point when he says the following line:
I am accused of pushing Holly Marshall down the stairs, Dan Forrest is accused of tampering with the cryonics capsule, Mrs. Marshall is accused of trying to kill her own daughter, and you are accused of concealing Dr. Menkin’s notes that might bring Erica Desmond to life again!...Now, a séance. Who knows what new accusations we will hear and against whom, and I wonder who will make them?
Raxl, Vangie, and Quito visit the temple to pray for the protection of everyone during the séance. This is probably the point where Tarasca would have appeared and vanished for the first time in the original draft, but we may never know for sure. Meanwhile, Jean Paul brags both to Jacques’ portrait and to my hysterical laughter that he is now in full control of himself. Sure, Jan Jean.
I really like this shot of Jean Paul with his arms outstretched in front of Jacques' portrait. Taken out of context, it looks like he’s trying to hug Jacques. "Caressing" evil, indeed.
Matt approaches the stairway to the crypt, but Jean Paul stops him. Matt then remembers that he threatened to kill anyone who trespassed into the crypt, which shocks Alison. “Does it upset you that I want to protect your sister’s return?” he asks her, and this triggers a second, much longer argument between Jean Paul and Matt. As usual with long conversations on this show, I will only include the highlights and summarize the rest.
It starts out with Matt repeating that everyone on Maljardin is Jean Paul’s prisoner. He accuses him of making them all suspect each other as a deliberate act of divide-and-conquer. I think that, in order for that to be true, it would require Jean Paul to be both omniscient and omnipotent, neither of which he is. (Even his hidden camera system only covers certain rooms.) Matt also accuses Raxl and Vangie of “seeking guidance for further accusations,” whatever the hell that means.
“Do you fear to face your judgment day?” Jean Paul asks him, which momentarily shuts him up. He stares at Jean Paul, stunned at the thinly-veiled threat.
Meanwhile in the temple, Raxl and Vangie decide who should and shouldn’t attend the séance. In short, neither Holly nor Dan should attend, but Quito should.
When Raxl asks if Jean Paul should attend, Vangie faints onto the temple floor!
When Matt recovers, he makes a whole list of over-the-top accusations against Jean Paul: "Hear me! Be a little god on your insane Island, manipulate our lives, play games with our reason! Be both judge and jailer! Yes, raise the dead, walk on water! That will be next. Crucify yourself, but remember, you, too, will be judged!"
Matt trying to look intimidating.
Jean Paul (thinking): “Please. When I said I was God on this island, I didn’t mean it in that way.”
You know, Jean Paul’s behavior this week reminds me of someone--and no, I’m not referring to whom you probably think I’m going to. I’m thinking instead of Jerry Layton, the show’s co-creator, producer, and “so-called production expert” who apparently shared some notable personality traits with early Jean Paul. According to the show’s floor director, Bob Wilson:
To be honest with you I always thought, and I’m not the only one who thought this, that the Jean Paul Desmond character was really Jerry Layton. Oh yes. He was mad. He was crazy. He would rant and rave about the simplest thing. And we would all stand around and wait until he did his little thing. And it was almost like an actor taking his lines and just running amok with them. I recall that--it was very easy to be intimidated by this character. I remember [technical producer André “Andy” Moujean] and I coming away from that dinner and saying to each other--What are we getting ourselves into?[1]
According to StrangeParadise.net, Layton insisted on running the show on next to no budget, which earned him the nickname “Mickey Mouse” among the production team. There’s a hilarious photo on there of Colin Fox with a Mickey Mouse pin pinned on one of Jean Paul’s dressing gowns and a mischievous smile on his face. There’s also this one in the website’s archive of the wall where John Pashley, one of the cameramen, wrote the comment “While my prose will not compare with Proust, thank f.....g Christ for Mickey Mouse.”[2] Notable examples of Layton’s mismanagement of the show include the lack of air conditioning in the studio while filming in August (as noted in this quote on Fox’s IMDb page) and the grueling schedule for the cast and crew, which Wilson also mentioned in his interview:
We all put in horrendous hours, not only in the production, but in getting the thing together. ... There were an awful lot of people who stayed [in Chelsea, at Crawley studios] overnight. I was not one of them, but I can remember the sound guys staying overnight, trying to meet deadlines, with their effects. I can remember the lighting guys staying overnight, trying to get the right look on a particular scene. [...] The bus would deliver, say, 25 people, and at night, maybe 17 would go back, because the other people were staying overnight to try to make deadlines.[3]
Despite these similarities, however, I doubt that Jean Paul is based on Jerry Layton. First, there is no evidence that Ian Martin actually ever visited the set, despite his position as headwriter. In fact, according to Wilson, he never did:
SRS: I was curious whether you ever met Ian Martin--he was the guy who wrote the first seven or eight weeks.
BW: I did not. To the best of my knowledge, I don’t believe--which is an unbelievable statement to make, but I’m pretty sure I’m right in saying this--I do not believe that any of the writers ever attended a production meeting, when we were at the studio. Now if Ian Martin was there, it would have been fleetingly, and he was the initial writer. The reason I’m even bringing this up is it was the bane of the actors’ existence that this didn’t happen. Many times they would say, “How can this guy continue writing [the show]--he hasn’t even been here to see, to get the feel of the set, of the ambience...”
SRS: He was writing it, but you were taping at that point well in advance of the broadcast--I see on this plan [of the set, which BW had] here, there’s a date--”August 11, ’69, programs number 2 and 3”--I’m taking from this that the original production of the actual show began in August of ’69. I don’t believe it began running on Canadian television until October of ’69.
BW: That would be correct.
SRS: So Mr. Martin is happily writing his scripts, but he’s not viewing any of the episodes... So he’s just spinning it off in his little room.
BW: Which was a sin, because we could feel the way it should have gone, we could feel where it could go--we weren’t writers, and when I say “we” I include cast and crew, because we were a family, we were very much a family. ... Had any one of the writers, Ian Martin or any one of the writers after that come out and even just spent some time, it would have paid so many dividends. As I say, I stand to be corrected, but to the best of my knowledge, that never took place.[4]
Second, such megalomaniacal types tend not to have a sense of humor regarding their own shortcomings. If Layton had even suspected that Jean Paul was supposed to represent him (assuming that he behaved as Wilson claims he did), I think that he would have insisted on changing his characterization earlier on. Most likely, Jean Paul’s characterization derives from the archetype of the Byronic lord of the manor, an extremely popular character trope in Gothic literature. Examples include Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre, Nicholas van Ryn from Dragonwyck, and (eventually) Richard Morgan from Martin’s 1979 novel Shadow Over Seventh Heaven. Despite this, I have to wonder if, when the actors were rehearsing this script, they were thinking of Mickey Mouse and his own so-called production expertise and putting their feelings about him into it.
Some delicious Raxl scenery-chewing in the Not-So-Hidden Temple after Vangie faints. “It is the prophecy,” she recalls in reference to Vangie’s prediction that she will die on Maljardin. “MUST IT BE NOW?”
Returning to our recap, Alison tries to shut Matt up because “Jean Paul is under a strain,” but he won’t have it. He proceeds to criticize Jean Paul to his face, and one has to wonder if some of these lines reminded Dan MacDonald of Mickey Mouse:
Why is it that no one’s feelings are to be considered, only his? There is no one, it seems, in all the world that has ever suffered except Jean Paul Desmond! No one has ever lost a loved one, only Jean Paul Desmond and his unique sorrow for his beloved Erica!
Colin Fox doing some literal backacting.
Jean Paul getting pissy.
We wondered whether we had seen him change into another man, one man one moment, another man the next! Now we are seeing the real man…A man who ignores the suffering of others, who is indifferent to the pain he inflicts upon them, who is willing to imprison them for all their lives for the sake of an impossible experiment in bringing back the dead, in getting what he wants because he suffers, because he is willing to punish the whole world in order to get what he wants out of blind selfishness masquerading as strength, this selfish thing! So great is his love of himself, which he calls love for his dear Erica!
For the most part, he’s right about Jean Paul, save for the part about him being indifferent to others’ suffering. He’s indifferent to the detained guests’ wishes to escape the island, yes, but not to Alison’s mourning of her sister or Holly’s of her father. He just doesn’t want the tabloid press to find out about the cryonics situation and spread scandalous rumors (or, perhaps, a scandalous truth) about him and Erica. Matt thinks that the whole cryonics experiment is just as blasphemous and ridiculous as Jean Paul’s insistence that he is God on his island.
Jean Paul’s anger is so intense that it’s starting to mess up his shellacked hairdo.
Now it’s Jean Paul’s turn to fling accusations at him: "I did not pursue a young girl in the name of God and good works. I did not beset and harass a mere child out of a sick desire. And I did not strike the girl unseen and secretly fling her down the stairs because she knew, knew what you were!" A reminder: Holly is almost twenty-one, and yet Jean Paul refers to her as not just a child, but a young one. The way the characters keep talking about Holly like she’s seventeen is just baffling. Like I’ve said before, Matt’s attraction to Holly is already creepy enough without those kinds of implications, simply because of the former captor/former captive power dynamics involved.
Just after Jean Paul says that he is responsible for everyone on the island, Quito arrives, carrying Vangie. “Your responsibilities grow,” Matt tells him. “Now you have the soul [line flub for “blood?”] of Evangeline Abbott on your hands.” However, it turns out he spoke too soon, for Vangie soon recovers, albeit with a vision of death!
“Jean Paul, I saw death!” she says upon recovering. “The death I saw was not my own ending. A figure--it wasn’t clear.” And then she points to Jacques’ portrait and shouts, “That man! The Devil!”
This leads Alison to beg Jean Paul to cancel the séance. Jean Paul is surprised that "now the scientist believes in the devil." Jean Paul, being extremely stubborn, insists again on going through with the séance. But what unholy death and destruction will this séance wreak on Maljardin?
Jean Paul sitting down at the séance table during the credits.
Coming up next: The séance and a return to the YouTube episodes. (Am I the only one who’s been missing the ridiculous automatic captions? I hope not.) Shortly after that, the next part of my review of Shadow Over Seventh Heaven, which I would have posted before this one, but I was so much farther along with this one that I decided to post it first.
{<- Previous: Episode 34 || Next: Episode 36 ->}
Notes
[1] Bob Wilson, interview with S. R. Shutt, Ottawa, October 15, 2002. Wilson is also the one who called Layton the “so-called production expert,” which reminds me of David Benioff, the “so-called production expert” behind Game of Thrones whose mismanagement of that series is well-documented on the YouTube channel The Dragon Demands. In a sense, Benioff and Weiss wrote it like a soap opera, changing characterizations and “subverting expectations” at will with random plot twists--which is fine until you remember that they were running a high-budget adaptation of an unfinished book series.
[2] Another funny photo of the wall can be found here, On this one, someone dubbed the show “Canada’s own all-American T.V. series!” and used the Mark of Death (from a future storyline--not saying any more about it until later) as an unofficial logo.
[3] Wilson.
[4] Ibid.
#strange paradise#ian martin#maljardin arc#week 7#episode 35#review#accents#behindthescenes#the blue suit of sexiness#crazy eyes#dark shadows#game of thrones#jerry layton#lost episode summaries#the not so hidden voodoo temple#on this island i am god#passive aggressive jean paul#scenery chewing#sp and religion#tarasca#it's this blog's one year anniversary#one year of blogging about canada's own all-american tv series#thank the great serpent for mickey mouse
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Harry Potter
O Destino de Jupiter (Jupiter Ascending) - 2015.
Direção: The Wachowskis Roteiro: The Wachowskis Produção: Grant Hill, Lana Wachowski e Andy Wachowski Executiva e Co-produção: Roberto Malerba, Steven Mnuchin e Bruce Berman Fotografia: John Toll Direção de Arte: Hugh Bateup Edição: Alexander Berner Musica: Michael Giacchino Efeitos especiais: Dan Glass Figurino: Kym Barrett Casting: Lora Kennedy Baseado em obra. Distribuição: Warner Bros. Pictures Elenco: Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis, Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth, Edward Hogg, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Tuppence Middleton, Nikki Amuka-bird, Vanessa Kirby, Jeremy Swift, Christina Cole, Doona Bae, James D'Arcy, Kick Gurry, Tim Pigott-Smith, Gugu Mbatha-raw, Ramon Tikaram.
▪▪▪ Release 01 - 01/07/2017 O filme traz um pensamento interessante referente a genética e reencarnação. Será possível que uma pessoa nasça exatamente igual á alguém que já morreu, apenas se seu código genético for exatamente igual? Redmayne não faz um bom vilão, talvez por ter um semblante que não transparece real fúria e nenhum sentimento ruim, de forma que se possa sentir a maldade. Efeitos especiais excelentes, escolha de elenco mediana, com o forte em Mila Kunis. O roteiro poderia ter sido melhor aproveitado. Nota: - 3.5
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29 November 2019
Manifesto destiny
What do this year's manifestos have to say about data, digital, open government and technology?
While we wouldn't expect them to get into the finer points of digital government and better uses of data in government - not in themselves the most doorstep-friendly of issues - there's a fair amount in there. Online harms, cybersecurity, citizens' digital rights, using data to better understand barriers to diversity (very Race Disparity Audit) and general references to technology across various sectors all make an appearance. There's not that much on open data or open government (beyond an eye-catching Lib Dem promise on a citizens' assembly on algorithms), or much detail on the Conservative promise to improve the use of data, data science and evidence in government (#classicdom). We've got a summary here, the Ada Lovelace Institute have one here, and Peter Wells has a thread on each here.
It's interesting to compare with the 2017 versions. The Conservatives apparently promised some new bodies on the use and ethics of data, and geospatial data - whatever happened to those? - while Labour promised to keep the Land Registry and all its data under public control (repeated this time around) and extend freedom of information to private providers of public services (ditto). No mention of Freedom of Information in the Lib Dem manifesto for the first time in a while.
There'll be some more on manifestos on this week's Inside Briefing podcast. We looked at, or rather listened to, prime ministerial tenure last week.
And in brief:
It was a real pleasure to chair Will from Full Fact, Liz from Digital Action, my old boss Martin from King's and the chair of the Electoral Commission, Sir John Holmes, on whether we can trust our electoral system in an age of rapidly evolving technology. All killer, no filler, as the kids say - well worth a watch or listen.
And if you liked that, you may like some of our other #IFGElection2019 events, including one next week on other aspects of our electoral system.
Another important event: on starting a career in public policy. Thinking about a career in public policy? Never thought about a career in public policy? Want to get started in thinktanks, or still wondering what a thinktank is? Come and have your questions answered on Monday 9 December.
To the Argentine Embassy for the launch of the Bennett Institute's new report on digital government in Argentina since 2015. Excellent discussion, excellent report, excellent empanadas.
No Data Bites next week - we're hoping to get started again in February. But as well as watching all the previous ones back, you can join us for some drinks on Wednesday - get in touch via Twitter if you'd like to join.
RIP Clive James.
It's easy to forget in the midst of the election campaign but it is nearly Christmas. Come and celebrate with my choir, the New Tottenham Singers, on Saturday 14 December.
Have a great weekend
Gavin
Today's links:
Graphic content
Let's talk about MRP
The key findings from our MRP (YouGov)
Election Centre (YouGov)
MRP election poll: Boris Johnson heads for big majority* (The Times)
Poll forecasts Commons majority for Boris Johnson* (FT)
How do pollsters predict UK general election results? (FT)
Manifestos
Where does the climate emergency first get mention in the party manifestos? (Tortoise)
A chart based analysis of the text in the Conservative and Labour manifestos (Daniel Tomlinson)
Manifesto word count (me for IfG)
#GE2019, etc
Top target seats in the 2019 general election – interactive (The Guardian)
Meet Parliament’s class of 2019* (The Economist, via Tom)
What happens if a prime minister loses their seat in a general election? (IfG)
A New Class Of Angry Partisan Facebook Pages Are Dominating The Online War In The British General Election (BuzzFeed)
Trust in civil servants/politicians (me for IfG)
Veracity Index (Ipsos MORI)
We're now three weeks without a Secretary of State for Wales (me for IfG)
Long term trend shows decreasing concern over economy, unemployment, rise of Brexit (Ipsos MORI)
Women in parliament (Alice for IfG)
Tax and spend
This is how marginal taxes work (Mona Chalabi)
Explaining progressive income tax (Matthew Armstrong)
Divided and connected: Regional inequalities in the North, the UK and the developed world – State of the North 2019 (IPPR)
Elections elsewhere
Hong Kong election results mapped* (New York Times)
A Staggering Number of Candidates Are Running for U.S. President* (Bloomberg)
Who is ahead in the Democratic primary race?* (The Economist)
Everything else
How Do You Find Good NFL Defenders? By Measuring What’s Not There. (FiveThirtyEight)
A kaleidoscope of river pollution (The ENDS Report)
Die letzten Mieter (Zeit Online)
Pope Francis, globe-trotting at an age when other popes have eased up, is trying to transform the church through his travels* (Washington Post)
Data and #dataviz
Survey of public sector information management 2018/19 (data.gov.nz)
Make your own UK General Election maps (Flourish)
Lowering the bar (Full Fact)
Reddit's Bar Chart Race moratorium is a good thing for #dataviz. Here's why. (Andy Cotgreave)
Meta data
Poll position
How YouGov's 2019 General Election model works (YouGov)
FAQs about YouGov's 2019 general election MRP model (YouGov)
MRP Estimates and the 2019 General Election (Anthony B. Masters)
Why you should take YouGov's MRP with a pinch of salt; Six thoughts on YouGov's MRP model of the 2019 election* (New Statesman)
Brexit didn’t cause all our divisions (UnHerd - although...)
Forensic polling analysis shows how Boris Johnson is on course to win—and how he can be stopped* (Prospect)
What to make of the polls? (Will Jennings)
The hidden predictor? Council control (Ian Warren)
Four Problems With 2016 Trump Polling That Could Play Out Again in 2020* (New York Times)
Election 2019: Can we trust our electoral system? (Institute for Government)
Manifestos
General Election 2019: manifesto tracker (Institute for Government)
Manifestos still matter even though their promises aren't being delivered (Institute for Government)
Tech/data in the 2019 manifestos (Peter Wells)
How will data and AI work for people and society after the UK General Election 2019? (Ada Lovelace Institute)
2019 Manifesto - 'Towards a Better Future' (techUK)
The Startup Manifesto (The Entrepreneurs Network/Coadec)
Future of the web
Contract for the Web (World Wide Web Foundation)
Tim Berners-Lee unveils global plan to save the web (The Guardian)
Read Sacha Baron Cohen's scathing attack on Facebook in full: 'greatest propaganda machine in history' (The Guardian)
Platforms don't exist (Ben Tarnoff)
Internet Harms: We need a Regulator, not a Censor (Martin Stanley for the Bennett Institute)
Internet world despairs as non-profit .org sold for $$$$ to private equity firm, price caps axed (The Register)
Oil, data, data, oil
Oil is the New Data (Logic)
The Next Big Cheap: Calling data “the new oil” takes its exploitation for granted (Real Life)
Data, transparency, openness
Unlocking the value of London’s public sector data (Eddie Copeland)
What does transparency mean? (Understanding Patient Data)
Open government must be more than a commitment on paper* (Apolitical)
11 thoughts on Donald Trump, Transparency and Records (Ben Worthy)
Cabinet Office ignores court order to release secret fracking report (The Guardian)
Open Banking: Consumer consent frameworks around the globe (ODI/Equifax)
Thierry Breton to be in charge of leading new ‘EU data strategy’* (Politico)
Everything else
Better than ethics (Rachel Coldicutt, Doteveryone)
Help TheyWorkForYou make sense of Parliament (Crowdfunder)
Taiwan is making democracy work again. It's time we paid attention* (Wired)
Facebook’s only fact-checking service in the Netherlands just quit (The Verge)
OPSI Primer on AI for the Public Sector (OECD, via Marcus)
Opportunities
AWARD: 2020 Statistical Excellence in Journalism awards launched (Royal Statistical Society)
JOB: RESEARCHER/POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLAR, AI ON THE GROUND INITIATIVE (Data & Society)
JOB: Director of Standards & Interoperability (NHS England)
JOB: Senior Researcher: Court Monitoring and Open Justice (Spotlight on Corruption)
JOBS: 2020 US Election (FT)
JOBS (Luminate)
And finally...
Thanksgiving
The Ultimate Thanksgiving Dinner Menu (FiveThirtyEight)
9 charts to be thankful for this Thanksgiving (Vox)
Practice makes perfect: Carve this virtual turkey* (Washington Post)
Politics
How the UK are predicted to vote is... (@notstelfc, via Haydon)
Winning here. Hang on... (via Alasdair)
Medieval Catholicism nudged Europe towards democracy and development* (The Economist)
Irish parliament red-faced over printer too big to fit through doors (The Guardian, via Alice)
Fibonacci Day
Fibonacci Anonymous meetings this afternoon... (Moose Allain)
A poem (Brian Bilston)
Everything else
How Emojis Have Invaded the Courtroom (Slate)
The Big Data of Big Hair (The Pudding)
Same. (@kamal_hothi)
Day in the life of a data journalist. (David Ottewell, via Graham)
Warning: Reading the Wikipedia entry for the guy who invented the bar chart will give you multiple cases of serious whiplash (Tom Wilson, via Tim)
Hi, I'm Bill gates and today I will teach you how to count to ten (@OneDevloperArmy)
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