As many of you know, our friend Rosa Sparks is having a real shit time of it lately. The most recent in a long string of personal upheavals is that the house where she and her daughter live was just robbed, and many of their personal belongings were taken. Rosa is about to start her dream job,…
You know how it is, right, ladies? You know a guy for a while. You hang out with him. You do fun things with him—play video games, watch movies, go hiking, go to concerts. You invite him to your parties. You listen to his problems. You do all this because you think he…
Wait, so the character that Benedict Cumbersnatch plays in Star Trek is supposed to be of North Indian ancestry and was originally played by a Mexican actor? Just when I think I could not hate J.J. Abrams anymore than I already do.
Is this true Star Trek fans? Because if so, what the fuck, Abrams? I was willing to forgive the last movie being composed of 92% lens flare because it was otherwise a well put together action flick, but come on, man.
Yeah, Ricardo Montalban is the original actor and John Cho (New Sulu) mentions it in an interview.
Most people take it for granted that we have yet to make contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. Trouble is, the numbers donât add up. Our Galaxy is so old that every corner of it should have been visited many, many times over by now. No theory to date has satisfactorily explained away this Great Silence, so itâs time to think outside the box. Here are eleven of the weirdest solutions to the Fermi Paradox.
As global capital becomes ever more powerful, giant corporations are holding governments and citizens up for ransom — eliciting subsidies and tax breaks from countries concerned about their nation’s “competitiveness” — while sheltering their profits in the lowest-tax jurisdictions they can find….
A gorgeous view down river from above the Grotto in Zion National Park.
Photo: Tom Morris
Jen, Lets go to there.
(via r-flavored-vowels)
Their Instruments May Be Garbage, But the Music Will Bring Tears to Your Eyes
In a Paraguay slum, a children’s orchestra makes do with what it’s got—with inspiring results.
These kids are awesome.
(via r-flavored-vowels)
Previously on Arrested Development | NPR’s guide to the running gags from the show
This is dedication.
(via r-flavored-vowels)
Into Darkness shows more racial diversity among cameos from alien species than it does among human characters in main speaking roles. Worse still, iconic Star Trekvillain Khan Noonien Singh was recast as Benedict Cumberbatch, possibly the whitest man on the planet.In Khan’s original role, he was super-intelligent, super-strong, the head of a genetically engineered master race—and brown. In other words, the opposite of the usual racial stereotypes one saw in mid-20th century “foreign” or “exotic” villains. Whitewashing Khan into being an posh-sounding Englishman reinforces the message sent out by Kirk, Spock, and the morally ambiguous Admiral Marcus: Good or evil, everyone in power is a white male. Suddenly, the awkwardness surrounding one of John Cho’s publicity interviews makes sense. “Who is your favourite villain?” he is asked. “Ricardo Montalban,” he answers. “He was badass. And a man of color, I might add.” Nervous laughter. Next question, please.
Representation matters. Star Trek is proof of that. Kirk and Uhura famously shared US TV’s first interracial kiss, and Uhura went on to inspire the first black female astronaut to go into space. When Nichelle Nichols was thinking of quitting the show, Martin Luther King, Jr. felt that her position as a role model was so important that he personally asked her to reconsider staying on. [READ MORE]
When Abrams said he didn’t like the philosophy of Star Trek, this is basically the end result and what he meant: he was only ever comfortable with making things nice for straight white males, nobody else.
(Source: hellotailor, via r-flavored-vowels)
Awesome Illustrations of Pop Culture’s Best Female Characters as Saints
Art by Spencer Salberg - buy it here
(via aggressiveretreat)
(Source: salty-eyes, via openbookopenmind)
Scott Pilgrim’s actors
(via openbookopenmind)
The riots also offered a glimpse into how photographs can be used out of context:
‘Sir: In last week’s article about the poll-tax riot in Trafalgar Square (‘THE MOB’S BRIEF RULE’, 7 April) there is a large photograph labelled ‘A West End shopper argues with a protester’. The woman in the photograph is me, and I thought you might like to know the true story behind the picture.
I was on my way to the theatre, with my husband. As we walked down Regent Street at about 6.30pm, the windows were intact and there was a large, cheerful, noisy group of poll-tax protesters walking up from Piccadilly Circus. We saw ordinary uniformed police walking alongside, on the pavement, keeping a low profile. The atmosphere was changed dramatically in moments when a fast-walking, threatening group of riot-squad police appeared.
We walked on to the top of Haymarket, where the atmosphere was more tense and more protesters were streaming up Haymarket from the Trafalgar Square end. Suddenly a group of mounted police charged at full gallop into the rear of the group of protesters, scattering them, passers-by and us and creating panic. People screamed and some fell. Next to me and my husband another group of riot-squad appeared, in a most intimidating manner.
The next thing that happened is what horrified me most. Four of the riot-squad police grabbed a young girl of 18 or 19 for no reason and forced her in a brutal manner on to the crowd-control railings, with her throat across the top of the railings. Her young male companion was frantically trying to reach her and was being held back by one riot-squad policeman. In your photograph I was urging the boy to calm down or he might be arrested; he was telling me that the person being held down across the railings was his girlfriend.
My husband remonstrated with the riot-squad policeman holding the boy, and I shouted at the four riot-squad men to let the girl go as they were obviously hurting her. To my surprise, they did let her go – it was almost as if they did not know what they were doing.
The riot-squad policemen involved in this incident were not wearing any form of identification. Their epaulettes were unbuttoned and flapping loose; I lifted them on two men and neither had any numbers on. There was a sergeant with them, who was numbered and my husband asked why his men wore no identifying numbers. The sergeant replied that it did not matter as he knew who the men were. We are a middle-aged suburban couple who now feel more intimidated by the Metropolitan police than by a mob. If we feel so angry, how on earth did the young hot-heads at the rally feel?’
Mrs R.A. Sare, Northwood, Middlessex Source
(via aggressiveretreat)
Patrick Stewart’s incredibly personal and powerful story about growing up with an abusive father.An incredibly evocative, eloquent and moving story. Most definitely worth watching if you have a sturdy heart and a free fifteen minutes.
(Source: upworthy)
