Monthly Archives: June 2017

Social media giants making progress on illegal hate speech takedowns: EC – TechCrunch

Posted: June 1, 2017 at 10:30 pm

Its beena year since the four major social platform players agreed with Europes executive body to a voluntary Code of Conduct for removing illegal hate speech within 24 hours of a complaint being received.

A lot has happened on this front since then, with a series of content moderation scandals hitting different platforms and serving to ramp up the regional pressure on the tech giants including YouTube suffering an advertiser backlash over ads being served up next to extremist content; and Facebook accused of a series ofmoderation failures, including around child abuse and terrorist content. Not to mention fake news gate.

In Germany the government is now leaning towards legislating to levy fines of up to 50 millionon social media platforms if they do not remove illegal hate speech promptly claiming tech giants have not been doing enough (a UK parliamentary committee also concluded more needs to be done last month, and has urged the government to consider introducing fines as well).

But today the European Commission, at least, is trumpeting what it dubs significant progress on illegal hate speech takedowns by Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft vs their performance six months prior. Though it also cautions some challenges remain.

Illegal hate speech is defined in EU lawas the public incitement to violence or hatred on the basis of certain characteristics, including race, color, religion, descent and national or ethnic origin.

When the four tech firms receive a request to remove content from their online platforms they assess the request against their rules and community guidelines but also, in Europe where applicable, against national laws on combating racism and xenophobia. So they are making judgements on whether content can be considered illegal online hate speech, and if so they have agreed to take it down aiming to do so within 24 hours of a report being received.

The EC argues that removing illegal hate speech is not censorship but rather helps defend the right to freedom of expression because threats can prevent people from feeling able to freely express their views.

A majority of illegal hate speech is now being removed

The evaluation of the voluntary Code of Conduct, a year in, found that on average in a majority (59 per cent) of cases the tech platforms responded to notifications concerning illegal hate speech by removing the content which constitutes a more than 2x rise on the removal level recorded (28 per cent) in the first evaluation of the code, six months ago.

It also found an improvement in the amount of notifications reviewed within 24 hours up from 40 per cent to a majority (51 per cent) in the same six month period.

Although it notes that Facebook is the only company that fully achieves the target of reviewing the majority of notifications within the day.

Other areas for improvement the evaluation highlights are discrepancies between when a citizen reports content vs when an organization reports content.

So while it notes some progress on this front, with tech platforms apparently improving how they handle citizen complaints, it also says some differences persist, and that overall removal rates remain lower when a notification originates from the public.

The evaluation also points to ongoing discrepancies between tech platforms in their feedback systems for users who report content with only Facebook sending systematic feedback to inform a person how theirnotification has been assessed.

Practices differed considerably among the IT companies. Quality of feedback motivating the decision is an area where further progress can be made, it adds.

The EC is drawing on an evaluation carried out in 24 Member States by NGOs and public bodies for this assessment. Whereas the German government has been basing its assessment of social giants performance on hate speech removals on reports from local youth protection organization,jugendschutz.net. (And inMarch, it used that assessment as a basis for criticizing Facebook and Twitter especially for not doing enough to promptly remove illegal hate speech and also introduced a draft provision to legislate for fines of up to50M.)

In this, the second evaluation of the EU Code of Conduct, 2,575 notifications were submitted to the tech firms taking part in the code a 4x increase vs the first monitoring exercise, in December 2016. While Facebook received the largest amount of notifications (1,273 cases), followed by YouTube (658 cases) and Twitter (644 cases). Microsoft did not receive any.

Making some general observations, the evaluation said that within the last year the four platform giants have strengthened their reporting systems and made it easier to report hate speech.

They have also trained staff and in the ECs words increased their cooperation with civil society.

The EC further suggests the Code of Conduct has helped tackle the spread of illegal hate speech in the region bystrengthening and enlarging the tech firms network of trusted flaggers throughout Europe.

And it argues that via increased co-operation with civil society organizations the tech platforms have gained a higher quality of notifications, which in turn is yielding more effective handling times and better results in terms of reactions to the notifications.

Vra Jourov, the European Union commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality, described the results of the one-year evaluation as encouraging.

This is an important step in the right direction and shows that a self-regulatory approach can work, if all actors do their part, she said in a statement.

At the same time, companies carry a great responsibility and need to make further progress to deliver on all the commitments. For me, it is also important that the IT companies provide better feedback to those who notified cases of illegal hate speech content, she added.

In another supporting statement, Andrus Ansip, the ECs VP for the digital single market, added: Working closely with the private sector and civil society to fight illegal hate speech brings results, and we will redouble our joint efforts.

We are now working to ensure closer coordination between the different initiatives and forums that we have launched with online platforms. We will also bring more clarity to notice and action procedures to remove illegal content in an efficient way while preserving freedom of speech, which is essential.

Last month Facebook announced it would be beefing up the size of its team of content reviewers by 3,000 additional staff bringing the total headcount to 7,500. Though its been dealing with a string of content moderation scandals, not just in Europe such as its Facebook Live being used to broadcast murder and suicide.

Commenting in a statement on the Code of Conduct evaluation today,Richard Allan, VP public policy EMEA for Facebook, said:We believe that the best solutions to the challenge of hate speech on the Internet are found when governments, civil society and industry work together.

The results of the independent tests released by the European Commission today show that our partnership is having a significant positive impact for people in the EU. We have made many improvements to our policies and processes over the last year and now see that more illegal hate speech is being removed more quickly than ever before.

We are determined to keep doing better and live up to the high standards that people rightly expect of us. We recently announced that we would be adding another 3,000 staff to our global team of reviewers. We are also looking at how we can use the latest technology to help our review teams identify and prioritise high risk content.

In a statement, Karen White, Twitters head of public policy in Europe, added: At Twitter, we strive to reach the right balance between showing all sides of whats happening and tackling hateful conduct. Over the past six months, weve introduced a host of new tools and features to improve Twitter for everyone. Weve also improved the in-app reporting process for our users and we continue to review and iterate on our policies and their enforcement. Our work will never be done.

As the worlds conversation evolves, so too does the challenge we face. We will continue to operate at pace, while meeting our core principles around freedom of expression, and defending and respecting the voices of those who use our service worldwide.

Twitter is also stepping up its efforts to inform users of existing tools they can use to manage which content they do and dont see on its platform (or manage your experience as it puts it) and is currently sending the below email notification to users in Europe to flag up what it describes as three key tools for staying safe namely:

Mute

Rather than see content in Tweets youd like to avoid, you can manage what you see in your timeline and notifications. Mute accounts, words, and conversations.

Notification Filters

Get an extra level of control by filtering the types of accounts you see in your notifications. You can choose to stop seeing notifications from certain kinds of accounts.

Block

You can instantly block any account. When you do, that account holder cant see your Tweets or send you a message while theyre logged in.

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Social media giants making progress on illegal hate speech takedowns: EC - TechCrunch

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EPA touts PCB cleanup progress; environmental groups protest – Poughkeepsie Journal

Posted: at 10:30 pm

Findings from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's second five-year review of the Hudson River PCBs Superfund site show progress toward "a remedy protective of human health and the environment," according to Catherine McCabe, acting regional administrator for EPA Region 2. Video by Geoffrey Wilson. Wochit

The Hudson River, as well as the Mid-Hudson Bridge and the Walkway Over the Hudson, is pictured in this August 2016 photo.(Photo: Alex H. Wagner/Poughkeepsie Journal)Buy Photo

In 53 years, Hudson Valley residents will be able to eat a fish meal from the Hudson River once a week without concern for their health.

That's according to a five-year review on PCBs in the Hudson Riverby the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The report, released Thursday,concludes cleanup efforts were implemented successfully and touts "encouraging" data collected since dredging ended in 2015.

But environmental groups, includingHudson River Sloop Clearwater and Riverkeeper, argue that progress is insufficient, and further remediation and dredgingis necessary.

EPA: Local Superfund cleanups advance despite Trump budget

BEFORE THE REVIEW:Questions swirl around data in Hudson River PCB cleanup

DEC RESPONSE:DEC ramps up pressure on EPA in Hudson River PCB cleanup

Riverkeeper Legal Director Richard Webster said moremeasurements of contamination in sediment and fish are necessary, which he said would prove the need for further action.

"The only sensible response is to perform more dredging," hesaid.

General Electric Co. dumped approximately 1.3 million pounds of PCBs,or polychlorinated biphenyl, from capacitor manufacturing plants in Fort Edward and Hudson Fallsinto the Hudson River during a 30-year span ending in the late 1970s.PCBs are a fire retardant and insulator that is a likely carcinogen.

As a result, GE signed a consent decree with the EPA in 2005 to perform dredging to reduce PCBs in the fish, water and sediment. The plan targeted 2.65 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment along a 40-mile stretch of the river, costing about $1.7 billion according to the EPA.

Dredging removed about 310,000 pounds of PCBs from the river.

As part of the efforts, the EPA is required to release reports on its progress every five years. In its second review released Thursday, the EPA found that dredging performed so far is expected to accomplish its long-term goals, but the remedy is "not yet protective of human health and the environment."

The EPA did not recommend further dredging by GE, and "natural attenuation" will accomplish the goals of reduced PCBs,Catherine McCabe, acting regional administrator for EPA Region 2, said. It would take about 8 more years of observation to discern a trend in the Hudson River's recovery, she said.

EPA predicts that in 15 years, people will be able to safely eat one fish meal from the Hudson River every two months. In 30 years, people will be able to eat one fish meal every month,McCabe said.

In this file photo from April 13, children enjoy a day in the sun at Victor C. Waryas Park in the City of Poughkeepsie. From left to right: Leonardo Bados, 3; Nicholas Estrada, 2; his sister Andrea Estrada, 8; and Miabella Laureles, 1. All of them are cousins.(Photo: Alex H. Wagner/Poughkeepsie Journal)

"While the project was designed to set the river on a course for recovery, we have always explained that the recovery will take many years,"she said.

In the lower- and mid-Hudson Valley, the EPA found that, while PCB contamination was lower, fish were not recovering as rapidly as in the upper-Hudson Valley, McCabe said.

Further dredging would ultimately prove both costly and inefficient, according toWalter Mugdan, acting deputy regional administrator for EPA Region 2.

"A more aggressive model would only accelerate the process by a few years," Mugdan said, adding that the cost would be about $500 million.

In a statement, GE said "EPA said the dredging remedy is functioning as intended and will be protective of human health and the environment. No additional dredging in the Upper or Lower Hudson is recommended."

Organizations argue for more progress

ButManna Jo Greene, environmental action director with Clearwater, argued that slow progress was insufficient, particularly for individuals who eat fish from the river for economic or cultural reasons.

"Let's say it's only a few years," Greene said. "That's a few more years of exposure for those who don't follow the fishing advisory."

The EPA's decision to not require further dredging while the process was still underway only makes a more thorough cleanup more costly, Greene said.

"Now we're stuck waiting to see if there will be some effect over time," Greene said.

Webster said he found the EPA's wait-and-see responsedisappointing.

"Their short term goal of one fish meal every two months is the bare minimum people should have to tolerate, and this goal would take 15 years," Webster said.

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation said the EPA has a job to finish, and as it stands the organization has "failed New York."

"We strongly dispute their conclusions and maintain that the significant amount of contamination left in the river threatens both public health and the environment," the statement read."DEC will continue to fight for the Hudson River and New Yorkers and hold the polluter accountable for its actions."

In a statement, Scenic Hudson President Ned Sullivan said the EPA squandered an opportunity for a complete cleanup of the Hudson River.

"By ignoring solid scientific evidence from New York State and its sister agencies and concluding that the Hudson River Superfund project will be protective, EPA is washing its hands of responsibility for properly completing cleanup of the largest Superfund site in the country and betraying its own mission to protect public health and the environment," he said in the statement.

Two area legislators also voiced their disapproval of the EPA's findings.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand described the report as "awful news for the Capital Region, the Hudson Valleyand all of the families who live near the Hudson River."

"I am disappointed that the EPA couldnt muster up the courage to do the job they set out to do and clean up the Hudson," she said in a statement."This decision is now entering a 30-day comment period before it is made final, and I encourage all New Yorkers to raise their voices and demand that the EPA finish the job of removing the remaining PCBs."

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, NY-18, also expressed disappointment.

"We live on the Hudson River its our home and an economic engine for our local communities and all we are asking for is a cleanup strategy that fixes generations of abuse and the toxic legacy of PCB contamination," he said in a statement.

Geoffrey Wilson:gwilson@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4882, Twitter:Geoff_LW

Public comment

The EPA will accept public comment on the plan until June 30. Comments can be mailed to EPA Region 2 Director Gary Klawinski at187 Wolf Road, Suite 303,Albany, NY 12205, or emailed toepahrfo@outlook.com.

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Chuck Pagano pleased with progress on Colts’ D-line – NFL.com

Posted: at 10:30 pm

At one spot defensively, Indianapolis Colts head coach Chuck Pagano feels way ahead of the curve.

"Our defensive line, the way we're set up, I'm talking about our three interior guys, our nose, our three and our five technique, I feel like we're ahead of where we've ever been as far as guys not only being able to play the run but guys being able to give you a pass rush on passing downs," Pagano told reporters Wednesday, via the Indianapolis Star.

Theoretically, Pagano is referring to Johnathan Hankins, Kendall Langford/Henry Anderson and Margus Hunt/Tarell Basham.

And on paper, he's right -- this is probably the best defensive line and defense as a whole that Pagano has had since at least 2013. Hankins adds a different element in the middle than Pagano might have ever had. General manager Chris Ballard also attacked the second and third tiers of free agency to complement those players with capable pass rushers.

It adds an interesting dynamic for the head coach this year. For the first time in almost five years, something is expected of a defense that is getting a heavy facelift. For years, Pagano could eschew blame by subtly pointing at what many believed was an underperforming offensive line assembled by former general manager Ryan Grigson. Malik Hooker is the only defensive first-round pick on the roster, though Ballard spent picks in the first, second (Quincy Wilson), third (Basham), fourth (Grover Stewart) and fifth (Anthony Walker) rounds on defense this year.

This team is a year or two away from no longer being considered hamstrung by Andrew Luck's contract. The pressure will be on Pagano to orchestrate something significant from the pieces he has been given.

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Michael Thomas still backs Colin Kaepernick, addresses racial progress – ESPN (blog)

Posted: at 10:30 pm

Michael Thomas, second from left, was one of a group of Dolphins players who took Colin Kaepernick's lead during the national anthem last season.

DAVIE, Fla. -- Add Miami Dolphins safety Michael Thomas to the list of people who believe former starting quarterback Colin Kaepernick's job status has been affected by his stance on social issues.

Thomas was one of several NFL players who last season knelt in protest during the national anthem to bring awareness to racial issues. The movement began with Kaepernick, who has yet to sign with another team despite throwing for 2,241 yards, 16 touchdowns, 4 interceptions and having a 90.7 passer rating with the San Francisco 49ers last season.

"Obviously there's issues with that," Thomas said of the consequences of Kaepernick's activism. "Some people feel a certain type of way. You see a lot of people commenting about it. At this point it is what it is, but I wish Colin nothing but the best. He stood for something he believed in. A lot of people felt the same way, and quite frankly a lot of people were against it and how he chose to protest.

"I believe that, yes, it's [his activism]. But at the same time I wish him nothing but the best moving forward. I hope he gets his opportunity."

Thomas and his Dolphins teammate Kenny Stills took a knee before every game last season. Both have said they aren't sure if they will continue to do so in 2017.

Thomas said progress is being made in regard to race relations but that there is still a long way to go. He addressed the situation this week involving former Miami Heat star LeBron James, who had a racial slur spray painted on a gate outside of his home in Los Angeles, as an example.

"He said it best yesterday: It doesn't matter who you are," Thomas said. "It is what it is as an African-American. That's something you grow up dealing with. You can walk around all day with a smile on your face and do all the right things. But unfortunately you're going to have to deal with some of these things.

"I think still a lot of people aren't ready to accept that's an actual fact, that's an actual reality that some people in America still deal with. I'm not surprised and I hope it doesn't surprise anybody when I say that I'm not surprised that happened to him. It can happen to anyone and he's dealing with it the best way he can."

Thomas is entering his fifth season and is competing for roles at multiple positions. He's a special-teams captain, backup safety and nickel corner.

Thomas received Pro Bowl consideration for his play on special teams last year. This season Thomas is looking to grow in the secondary. He is competing with Bobby McCain for the nickel role and Nate Allen at safety.

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Titans QB Marcus Mariota Encouraged by Progress – Titansonline.com

Posted: at 10:30 pm

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Marcus Mariota is making progress.

As the team kicked off its second week of organized team activities, the Titans quarterback feels the momentum building around the team, and the healing.

I feel good, Mariota said after Wednesdays session. I think practices have been clean, and obviously execution-wise you can do a little better in certain areas, but all in all I think everyone has done a good job.

Mariota, who suffered a fractured fibula on December 24 at Jacksonville, was on the field for the first day of organized team activities last week at Saint Thomas Sports Park. Mariota practiced all three days last week, and on Wednesday he wrapped up his fifth of ten OTAs scheduled this offseason. Mariota has been doing everything in the walk-throughs, and in individual drills.

Hes also been working in the 7-on-7 periods, and said hes been impressed with some of the new additions, from receivers Corey Davis and Taywan Taylor to tight end Jonnu Smith.

Both of those young receivers and even the young tight end, they have done a great job of just coming in and making plays, Mariota said. Theres a lot of time left, we have a lot of offseason left, but if they continue to ascend the way they are, they will help us and they will make an impact on our team.

On Wednesday, Titans coach Mike Mularkey revealed quarterback Matt Cassel suffered a thumb injury in Tuesdays practice. Cassel will be sidelined six weeks, but should be ready for training camp, Mularkey said.

The Titans expect Mariota to be ready for camp as well. Until then, quarterback Alex Tanney will get a bulk of the work, and undrafted free agent Tyler Ferguson should see his reps pick up as well.

Coach Mike Mularkey said the plan involving Mariota hasnt changed.

I just have to stay the course and continue to follow the procedure that is laid out for me, Mariota said. If I had it my way I would be out there right now. But I just have to continue to stay patient and continue to find ways to help the team off the field and really just focus on my mental side of it. (I need to) do little things that will help me be prepared once the season starts.

In his second NFL season, Mariota completed 276-of-451 passes for 3,426 yards, 26 touchdowns, nine interceptions and a 95.6 passer in 2016 before suffering a fractured fibula in a Week 16. The quarterback added 60 rushing attempts for 349 yards and two touchdowns.

Mariotas 95.6 passer rating ranks third in franchise history for a single season, behind only Warren Moons 96.8 in 1990, when he was the Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year, and Steve McNairs 100.4 in 2003, when he was the NFLs Co-MVP.

So whats the next benchmark for Mariota this offseason? Being able to run full speed is one hurdle hes looking forward to crossing.

Just being able to do rollouts, do everything normal, and just be the same guy, the same player that I was, Mariota said. I think this is kind of the final step for me.

It is close, and I am able to do a lot of things on the field, which kind of sucks because I feel like I can be out there and practice. But I just have to stay the course and stay focused on getting healthy and Ill be ready to go once the season begins.

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You’ll Find Far Cry 5 ProvocativeEven if It’s a Mess – WIRED

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Slide: 1 / of 2. Caption: Ubisoft Montreal

Slide: 2 / of 2. Caption: Ubisoft Montreal

Last weeksannouncement of Far Cry 5 wasnt itself a surprise. Over the past 13 years, the series has evolved from a playground of first-person shooter mayhem to something far more distinctive: A collection of deep, difficult, often politicalgames that served as meditations on violence as much as enactments of violence itself. Theyve gone froma tropical island to an African warzone,toaneven more dangerous tropical island, to an imaginary version of Tibetand in doing so, have sold more than 20 million copies, making a new installment a formality. What is a surprise is the new games focus. While the series has long concerned itself with terror and instability, now its planning to do so with a homegrown brand of extremism.

When it arrives next February, Far Cry 5 will unfold in a small town in Montana, where a religious cult tinged with American survivalism has emerged. (Think the Bundys, though no shortage of legalese will doubtless back away from that comparison.) Youll play a young police officer, a man or a woman, depending on your decision, and youll be tasked with (ugh) taking this slice of America back.

Thats a promising premisebut if the past is any indication, Far Cry is going to blow it.

From its first game, the Far Cry series has been thick with action and lifethe wildlife hunts, your enemies have their own concerns,and combat starts raging fires that transform the space around you. But more interestingly, the franchise lingers in that instability: its earnestly interested in violence and colonialism as forces in the world, and is at least moderately aware of its own complicity in those forces. Its villains are arms dealers and conquerors, and you are a destroyer pitted against destroyers.

That mission, coupled with an insistence on far-flung locales and societies, has produced mixed results. Far Cry 2 was the best title of the bunch, but it couldnt shake an Orientialist attitude toward its African setting. The later games leaned into the fun factor, which made their critiques feel absurdly half-hearted. It has been, at times, a contradictory disaster of a franchise.

Now, instead of exoticizing a foreign nation for a Western audience, the franchise going right to the heartland. This is Far Cry at its most deliberately provocativethe closest its gotten to touching on issues it might actually have something worth saying about. It touches on the slow rise of reactionary conservativism in the United States, along with the survivalist and prepper cultures that have been growing in the margins since at least the 1990s. Combine that with the choice to have you play as a police officer in a small American town, and youre looking at a premise thats already incredibly politicized from the mainstream American perspective.Yet, the series history shows no indication that its writers or developers know how to handle the games political overtones, no matter how earnestly they engage with them.

But, to be honest with you, I dont really care. Thats the thing about Far Cry:Even at its messiest, its always remained interesting. The games attempt ambitious things, and when they fail, theres something fascinating about the way the pieces fall apart. In the gaps of design logic and bad writing, you can see illuminating frictions. You can learn things about the way colonialism works and doesntnot from the games themselves, but by watching how each subsequentgame fails torespond to the criticisms levied at its predecessor. Theres magic in the dashed ambitions of high-budget productions; you can practically see the incompatible ideas spattered on the walls like giant inkblots.

Far Cry 5, when it launches, probably wont be goodat least in the sense of being a coherent game that executives its best ideas competently, let alone doing justice to its subject matter. But it will be fun, and it will interesting.Montanas got a big, big skytheres room for all kinds of stuff under there.

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Via ‘The Florida Project,’ meet two of the youngest stars in Cannes Film Festival history – Los Angeles Times

Posted: at 10:28 pm

Last week, two of the breakout stars of the Cannes Film Festival were looking to take a breather after a grueling session of interviews, press roundtables and photo shoots. They decided to mark the moment with a toast.

"To a great drink," said Brooklynn Prince, who is 7.

"To a great trip," said Valeria Cotto, who is 6. The two clinked glasses, filled with Italian sodas of various fruity provenance, as the Mediterranean lapped at the beachside restaurant behind them.

The festival, which ended Sunday, often revels in and renews existing stars. Nicole Kidman, with four works in the official selection, became an adored fixture this year. But the gathering also has the ability to mint young personalities.

Even, in the case of the Florida natives Brooklynn and Valeria, really young personalities.

The girls are the stars of "The Florida Project," the new film from Sean Baker, writer-director of the indie sensation "Tangerine. Florida centers on the so-called hidden homeless members of the underclass who live in motels and other makeshift spaces. Its set in a part of America rarely seen on screen: Baker cast from and shot in Orlando, in the counterpoising shadow of Walt Disney World. Though thousands of miles away, in distance and sensibility, from the Wonder Woman enthusiasm going on back home, the girls were nonetheless very much of the same shatter-the-ceiling mind-set.

Brooklynn plays the outgoing and at times obnoxious Moonee, who with her mother (Bria Vinaite) and best friend (Valerias Jancey) finds joy amid the bleak survivalism of the Magic Castle Motel and Futureland Inn they respectively call home. Moonee, Jancey and a third friend, Christopher, are often getting into trouble with pranks that can border on the delinquent. But they do it with winning mischief, thus remaining endearing throughout.

In its willingness to see the world radically from young peoples point of view, The Florida Project takes its cues from movies as varied as E.T. and Kids, and exists spiritually somewhere in between. Unlike the children in more burnished Hollywood enterprises, they act like, well, kids. The girls form alliances, act out with exuberance (and, sometimes, petulance), and follow their curiosity into trouble. They remain joyfully oblivious to the hardships of the adult world around them while occasionally just occasionally signaling a bracing awareness. Interested in character moments and episodes more than narrative arcs, the film wowed critics with its lived-in naturalism.

Driving that naturalism are the two young leads. As they fielded a barrage of questions from a table of a dozen reporters, Brooklynn and Valeria showed uncommon poise.

What do your parents do? a European reporter at a roundtable asked them.

In the movie or in real life? Valeria asked.

Real life.

My mom sells tickets for events and my dads job is, hes in a position, where he makes furniture, Valeria said, before clarifying it was upholstery.

My dads a scientist and my mom's an acting coach, Brooklynn said with practiced aplomb.

You never told us your age, a reporter said to Valeria.

You never asked, she replied, reasonably.

The tendency with actors this young is to assume they are merely playing themselves. But the characters and many moments in the film are carefully scripted, and the girls are legitimately acting.

Theyre doing what adult actors do, which is listening closely, Baker said in an interview. Even in improvisation, theyre receiving lines, and digesting them and spitting them out as character. Both girls easily memorized the script, a point that will resonate for any parent whos ever had a 6-year-old try to prepare for a spelling test.

Their polish came in part from on-set guidance, both from Baker and his partner, actress Samantha Quan, who worked with the children for a month before shooting, using a variety of kid-specific workshopping techniques. Quan would do things like bring the girls into a room and have them describe objects as though they were giving a museum tour, all with an eye toward preparing them to react spontaneously to their surroundings during shooting.

Finding the young actors wasnt easy. Baker was ready to scrap the whole project for lack of a lead until Brooklynn came along, via a local casting agency. He was immediately taken with her confidence and her loose-limbed intelligence. Valeria was found in a less likely place: Target. Baker was doing a walk-through in the hope of locating a non-pro; when he spotted Valeria, he approached her mother and asked if shed like to bring her daughter in for an audition.

Despite their closeness, the two girls are very different. Brooklynn is a natural extrovert, taking the hand of adults she just met, dropping in a French phrase she knows will impress, and describing her favorite Cannes activity as going for a swim in the Mediterranean Sea.

Valeria has a more studied and if this can be said of a 6-year-old darker personality, with a preternatural wisdom; several journalists who talked to her thought she was at least several years older.

Shes a quirky kid, said her mother, Ivelisse Rijos, as her kindergartner daughter name-checked books she liked, including the Junie B. Jones series, the standard-bearer for go-your-own-way childhood thinking.

Since making the movie a year ago, the girls have bonded and now regularly make the 40-minute trip across the Orlando suburbs for play dates.

At Cannes, they sat at a restaurant between photo shoots, hugging each other and talking about matters of the day.

I like Daisy Ridley and Britney Spears, and Cara Devello, or whatever her name is, Brooklynn said, as she gave her costar a big squeeze.

Britney Spears isnt an actress, Valeria coolly replied.

Thats true but I still like her. And Elle Fanning, of course, Brooklynn said.

A handler told her Fanning had several movies at the festival.

Shes here? Brooklyn said, her eyes widening. We need to leave right now and find her. No, really, lets find her.

Rijos wasnt looking for a role for her daughter when Baker approached her in the Target; she in fact thought it was weird when the director handed her a card emblazoned with two chihuahuas, the logo of his production company. She was about to disregard it when an Internet search showed her it was the real deal.

Brooklynns parents were skeptical too, for a different reason: Theyre people of faith and thought some of the profanities Moonee had to utter in the film werent in keeping with their values.

There was some choice words and tumultuous language, and we were going to turn it down for that reason, father Justin Prince said. It was Brooklynn who convinced us she should do it. The elder Prince, who works as an environmental scientist, grew up in a world not unlike that of the movie, living for a time in a trailer in a backyard behind his grandfathers trailer in Ohio.

"I think she was happy to say some of those words because she doesn't get to say them at home, said a laughing Vinaite, herself a non-actor who Baker found on Instagram, to a reporter.

Also of the grown-up world: a Cannes premiere. Nearly a thousand people the night before had watched in the hallowed theater of the Directors Fortnight section, where both girls had tears in their eyes as they acknowledged the crowd.

I did cry last night, potentially, Brooklynn admitted.

I cried because there are some sad scenes and it brought back lots of memories of me and my friends, Valeria added. At the after-party, both girls had taken over the dance floor, well past the fashionable Cannes hour of midnight. Dance like nobodys watching, Valeria said and shrugged the following day.

Someone on a roundtable asked Vinaite what it was like to have such an important role in a movie as a first-timer.

I was definitely nerve-wracked because Id never acted, Vinaite said.

You were very good, Valeria reassured her.

Though the word precocious comes to mind when talking to the girls, Baker was intent in the film on avoiding the trap of the old-soul young person. Indeed, much of The Florida Project feels a lot like peeking in on everyday children who think no adults are watching impressive, given that on a set many dozens were.

Weve always had a very strong reaction to the kids you usually see in Hollywood films, Baker said. It always feels fake; it always feels stilted. We wanted to do the opposite of that.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour

That goal becomes more difficult circa 2017. As kids have cameras on them more than at any point in human history never mind dreams of stardom drilled into their minds a naturalistic portrayal becomes that much more difficult. Young people have more tools to star in a movie than ever before, but fewer ways to seem like real kids when they do.

A lot of people asked us how we got Brooklynn to reach certain places, Baker said of critical dramatic points in the film. But most of the time she would just do it herself. Before [a big crying scene], someone on the crew came over to her and started talking. And Brooklynn says, I have to focus right now because Im about to cry.

Brooklynn is probably the youngest Method actor youve ever met, Quan added, laughing.

As the girls sipped on their Italian sodas at Cannes, they began debating not the craft but a more important subject: their favorite movies.

Star Wars, Harry Potter all the Harry Potters, obviously, Brooklynn said. She ticked off some genre fare her family saw during a Halloween movie marathon.

I watch the Disney Channel, Valeria said.

A24 bought Florida at Cannes and is weighing when to release it. Brooklynn could well garner awards buzz if the Moonlight studio decides to put it out during the competitive heat of the fall. If she were to be recognized by Oscar voters, she would shatter by several years the record for youngest lead actress nominee, currently held by Quvenzhan Wallis, who was nearly 9 when she was shortlisted for her turn in Beasts of the Southern Wild in 2013.

Though Justin Prince said he was both intrigued and daunted by Oscar hullabaloo, his daughter was none the wiser.

In between interviews, the young girl walked up to a chalkboard at the restaurant that held the messages from film luminaries and put her own stamp on it. Bonjour. I love Cannes. I am in France, she wrote in a mixture of green and white lettering.

Brooklynn had put her entry right under one from the French director Claire Denis, another female trailblazer at the festival.

When the juxtaposition was pointed out, Brooklynn gave a curious look. "That's cool," the 7-year-old said, and maybe what was most cool was that she didn't realize how cool it was.

steve.zeitchik@latimes.com

Twitter: @ZeitchikLAT

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Via 'The Florida Project,' meet two of the youngest stars in Cannes Film Festival history - Los Angeles Times

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‘Alien: Covenant’ and the Nature of Horror – Film School Rejects

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A look at where Covenant is similar to the original Alien, and where it differs.

Much has changed in the 38 years since Ridley Scotts Alien was first released or, more precisely, unleashed. The claustrophobia and primality of that first film have given way, in Alien: Covenant, to expansive planets, lost civilizations, and ponderous mythologies. This is not to say that the franchise has been drained of all its thrills; Covenants pallid neomorphs would give even Ellen Ripley a real shiver. But the prevailing impression left by Scotts latest installment is less of horror than of existential gloom. The threats it conveys feel at once larger and more diffuse than any one creature.

To get to the bottom of what makes Covenant so different from the original Alien, it may be useful to define the genre that the latter so thoroughly exemplifies. Horror, the philosopher Nol Carroll explains, is a compound of at least two other emotions: fear and disgust. These emotions are often evoked, in horror films and literature, by the presence of a monster and what a monster the xenomorph is. Rapacious and vile, its an amalgam of all the qualities natural selection made most salient and repulsive to human beings. This is, of course, true of all monsters: they are more real than real, more predatory than any natural predator. But they are not threatening in the way that a nuclear bomb is threatening. Rather, they are designed and here we can use the word design unselfconsciously to push our evolutionary buttons, to shake us all the way to the bottom of the brain stem.

The original Alien is, in some ways, explicitly Darwinian: it is about one species struggling to survive the predation of another more well-adapted one. The xenomorphs acidic blood and retractable jaw are not meant to be supernatural powers but survival adaptations. As Ash puts it to Ripley, its a survivor, unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality. As viewers, we respond to the xenomorph on a primal level. Few of us have ever encountered slimy beasts intent on eating us, but we nevertheless bear deeply programmed instincts about malice and contagion that horror films powerfully exploit. In his book, The Anatomy of Disgust, the writer William Ian Miller provides a precise summary of the type of circumstance for which the emotion of horror evolved. It would be difficult to conceive of a better description of the Xenomorph:

Because the threatening thing is disgusting, one does not want to strike it, touch it, or grapple with it. Because it is frequently something that has already gotten inside of you or takes you over and possesses you, there is often no distinct other to fight anyway. Thus the nightmarish quality of no way out, no exit, no way to save oneself except by destroying oneself in the process. Horrifying things stick, like glue, like slime. Horror is horror because it is perceived as denying all strategy, all option. It seems that horror is a subset of disgust, being specifically that disgust for which no distancing or evasive strategies exist that are not in themselves utterly contaminating. Not all disgust evokes horror; there are routine petty loathings and gorge raisings which do not horrify. Disgust admits of ranges of intensity from relatively mild to major. But horror makes no sense except as an intense experience. Mild horror is no longer horror.

How does this description map onto Alien: Covenant? To be sure, the film has its share of creepy contagions working their way into various orifices. Its in these moments that the movie feels most fun, most like an Alien film. But the emotional timbre changes when the crew meets David, and when he is gradually revealed to be the films primary villain. The cat and mouse game between alien and human turns into something far weightier, if somewhat less affecting. Of course, Scott had already dispensed with Darwinian trappings when, in Prometheus, he revealed that the Alien universe is characterized by design, not natural selection. Ripleys rugged survivalism was replaced with Elizabeth Shaws blind faith. By the time we get to Covenant, Shaws faith in God has in turn been replaced by Davids singular belief in creation.

As I recently wrote in my piece on AI and human nature, reflecting artificial intelligence on screen presents a problem for our emotional machinery. Unlike the xenomorph, whose every feature evokes an ingrained fear response, AI poses a threat that our genes have not prepared us to encounter. Where the xenomorph is hostile, AI is merely indifferent; where the xenomorph is slimy, AI is fastidiously clean. Covenant exploits this fact: the humans in the film are lulled into complacency by Davids unthreatening appearance and do not realize the threat he poses until it is too late. But as his plan begins to unfurl, the emotions we feel as an audience are not the primitive fear and disgust that constitute horror.

A further distinction is useful here: Carroll draws a line between art-horror, of which monster films are a subset, and natural horror, which might describe the Holocaust or some other real-life atrocity. This distinction gets to the heart of the paradox of horror itself; namely, why do we pay to experience an emotion that in many ways seem negative? Art-horror, built as it is on the excitation of certain emotions, can be pleasant in much the same way that a rollercoaster is pleasant. It provides the thrill and novelty of danger without its actual consequences. Natural horror, by contrast, is all consequences. It is the sort of event for which the phrase the banality of evil was coined.

It is precisely this mechanistic, banal sort of horror that David evokes in Covenant. This wasnt always the case: in Prometheus, Davids stiltedness made him an embodiment of the uncanny, which evokes a type of art-horror rooted in eerie curiosity. When, at the end of that film, he is reduced to a severed head (like Ash in Alien), he becomes a reminder of the frailty and vulnerability of the human body. This, too, can be called uncanny, and thereby an extension of art-horror. But in Covenant, David has transcended these limitations; he is, as Walter tells him, too human. Thus, his evil stops feeling like that of a monsterand begins to feel merely monstrous.

None of this amounts to a critique of Alien: Covenant; on the contrary, the film illuminates the boundaries of horror in a way that Alien, in its lean efficiency, could not. But in clarifying these boundaries, Covenant also shows us the many ways in which our emotional equipment leaves us ill-prepared for the challenges of the 21st Century. Violence allures and excites us until it doesnt. We are easily animated against individual villains but find it difficult to counter impersonal systems. And if, as some have argued, our unconcern about AI and global warming constitutes a failure of intuition, perhaps horror is a poor guide for what to be afraid of.

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'Alien: Covenant' and the Nature of Horror - Film School Rejects

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Free ethical relativism Essays and Papers – 123helpme

Posted: at 10:27 pm

Title Length Color Rating Ethical Relativism and Cultural Relativism - In explaining Cultural Relativism, it is useful to compare and contrast it with Ethical Relativism. Cultural Relativism is a theory about morality focused on the concept that matters of custom and ethics are not universal in nature but rather are culture specific. Each culture evolves its own unique moral code, separate and apart from any other. Ethical Relativism is also a theory of morality with a view of ethics similarly engaged in understanding how morality comes to be culturally defined. However, the formulation is quite different in that from a wide range of human habits, individual opinions drive the culture toward distinguishing normal good habits from abnormal bad habits.... 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Why Is It Difficult to Live Together in Differences? (A Reflection) – Netralnews

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Illustration: Living together in differences. (Special)

JAKARTA, NETRALNEWS.COM - Diversity on this planet Earth is already a necessity. Diversity is also actually the most beautiful gift of the Creator. So denying diversity is silliness.

The diversity is not only in humans with all the aspects that surround it, such as social, economic, political, cultural, religious and so on, but also in biodiversity: the flora and fauna.

For humans, in particular, there are not only men and women, but there are also thousands of tribes, languages, skin colors, and so on. And all of it was created by the divine greatness, not because we asked for it.

Reconstruction of Differences

The presence of a person or something can only be accepted with gratitude. Behind the gratitude, there is also a sense of responsibility to maintain it. Different religions as well as different tribes must be accepted and cared for, mutually nurturing and mutually developing them.

It is strange that the pluralist reality is not accepted for mutual enrichment, but instead serves as a source of prejudice that leads to the birth of various kinds of conflict. Tragically, the conflict often runs at a fairly high frequency and gets some sort of justification as a necessity. In fact, the conflict is actually due to a conflict of interest due to personal egoism.

Then, what must be done is to reconstruct diversity or pluralism in a more appropriate framework of understanding. It needs to be continuously conscious with theological or religious approaches, that diversity must be accepted for mutual care, mutual respect and mutual growth.

By mutual acceptance and mutual respect, everything in that difference can progress toward a better stage of life.

That is the moral and ethical foundation in living life on this planet earth. It is actually a common commitment in our being Indonesians, when it is liberated and established. The ideals with the fighters against the invaders are to build a just and prosperous life together.

Learning to Live in a Difference

There is, therefore, no other smoother path and a more beautiful way of life, in addition to continuing to learn to accept the differences and to unceasingly bring togetherness in the distinction. We learn tolerance, mutual respect and mutual respect, aka accept each other deficiencies and advantages.

Likewise the right hand should receive the left hand, although the left hand feels less functioning because it cannot write, or because of rheumatic attack or stroke. Or, the left eye is smaller than the right eye, but they must accept each other and help each other to more clearly see the desired object.

That is, as great as any medical science and sophisticated whatever medical technology, under the microscope we still cannot distinguish blood from which tribe, what religion, sex and so forth, because all of it is God's creation.

The rest, cultural or ethnic prowess and any proud superiority of religiosity of any ethnic or religious entity will be useless if there is no sincerity and desire of each entity to learn to behave appropriately in difference.

This means what is needed is the seriousness and sincerity to continue learning to be a pluralist or diverse citizens. That's where intelligence in living together. Or, says a pluralist Chung Hyung, that pluralism is the most enlightened position when dealing with other entities in difference.

But, above all, there is one thing in the author's mind, about why we are at odds with each other, or why we are still difficult to live together in differences? Below is a snippet of phrase from Gus Mus (KH.A. Mustofa Bisri) that can be a common musing.

Atheist is despised for being godless

Theist is despised because of different gods

Same god is despised because of different prophets

Same prophet is despised because of different religious schools

Same religious schools are despised because of different party

Same party is despised because of different opinions.

Do you want to live alone on the Earth to satisfy the lust of greed?

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