Winter Olympics: Kamila Valieva’s ‘flawless’ in debut performance BBC
The Hymn of the World War also Thanksgiving War and Dead Harp from the Mirror Mirror cycle Hinko Smrekar. From 1933, still germane. More here
UN names Moscow best world city to live in RT
Feature Article: Robot Dogs Take Another Step Towards Deployment at the Border (press release) Department of Homeland Security. Commentary:
Contortion Nation Doomberg, Anthony Bourdain and migrant workers, plus pipelines. Something for everybody!
Money is power Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic. “Monopoly was converted to money, money to power, power to policy.” And so it goes.
In 2008, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. desperately needed something familiar. The studio was fending off bankruptcy, so executives scoured the studio’s library of old movies to see what could be remade. Soon a contender emerged: “Red Dawn.”
Today, stars like John Cena apologize in Mandarin for angering Communist Party officials, “Simpsons” episodes are scrubbed from streaming services for Tiananmen Square jokes and companies like Walt DisneyCo. strike deals with state-backed entities to maintain access to the country’s 1.4 billion consumers.
“Red Dawn” would become a case study observed by every producer in Hollywood who needed this market to make a profit. And soon, it wouldn’t be just Hollywood taking the lesson of the movie to heart. Every industry that wants to do business with China, from cars to fashion to smartphones, now knows you don’t get far there by angering the regime. That risk is on prominent display this month as global companies trumpet involvement in the Beijing Winter Olympics, yet face domestic criticism for doing business in a country increasingly viewed as a foe to the U.S.
How China’s Growing Clout Led Hollywood to Look for a New Villain
EchidnaCSI: Engaging the public in research and conservation of the short-beaked echidna PNAS. Citizen science.
The Anarchist-designed DIY Heaters Saving Lives of Unhoused People HyperAllergic