Daily Archives: September 29, 2019

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After two decades, Pierre Hardy continues to play by his own rules.

I have only done things that I enjoy and love, the designer said at his Paris Fashion Week spring 20 presentation today, adding that fashion is always in motion, and he doesnt often stop to think about the past.

More from Footwear News

Here, Hardy sounds off on why nothing is forbidden in fashion now and why comfort should be a given.

Designing comfortable shoes:

I dont think it needs to be something you talk about. It just means Im doing my job. [Comfort has] to be there first, and then I dont have to think about it. If youre wearing the shoes, you shouldnt have to think about the way you walk. You will never be as comfortable in a high stiletto, but women are ready to adapt to that for an hour or two up to a point.

The lack of pumps at the presentation:

Theres one. People dont really come to me for that. I love them though. My first shoe was a pump, the Blade heel.

The sneaker equation:

Its stable; its just a way of life now. Maybe people will buy [fewer] sneakers from designers, but they still buy Nike or Converse. Now you buy sneakers like you buy a T-shirt. This season, I think theres more femininity now, lightness, joy. Were not in a moment of Its this or nothing else. Fashion is more open now. Nothing is forbidden. Music and art are like this too.

His 20th anniversary:

Fashion is always in motion, so I know its 20 years, but youre always projecting to the next thing. I feel really lucky. When I started, I didnt know [what would happen]. You never know. Youre starting from scratch. Youre starting from zero. I only have done things that I really enjoy and love. This is what you can say afterwards you dont think about it when youre doing it. I havent celebrated my own [birthdays] since I was 22. I dont really stop and think about it.

For more from Pierre Hardys spring 20 collection, click through the gallery.

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Pierre Hardy Reflects on Fashions Evolution: Nothing is Forbidden Now - Yahoo Lifestyle

CultureTVFrom her first major role as Young Wendy in Hook to the launch of Goop in 2008, Hollywood's controversial star is returning to acting

Friday, 27th September 2019, 17:14 pm

Earlier this week, Gwyneth Paltrow shuffled out onto the stage at the Emmys to present an award. She looked very pleased with herself, making the biggest of productions in crossing from one side of the stage to the other in tiny little steps. She was instantly transformed into a meme.

Paltrow is easily one of the most memeable celebrities. Over the past few years, she's become the punchline to many jokes; the super-privileged wellness guru telling women to shove 55 jade eggs up their vaginas, spraying psychic vampire repellent to get rid of bad vibes and rebranding divorce as the fluffy conscious uncoupling. Relatable? Absolutely not.

It's easy to forget that it was once Paltrow who was at the receiving end of the awards, an Oscar-winning actor who was adored by the critics and public, a highly accomplished talent who led some of the biggest films of the 90s and 00s.

Her metamorphosis into a beatific self-help deity meant acting has fallen by the wayside to her other $165m empire. But this week sees an about turn from Paltrow as she takes on one of her meatiest and funniest roles of recent times.

With tongue firmly in her cheek, she stars as Georgina Hobart in Ryan Murphys The Politician, the millionaire art-collecting adoptive mother to the hyper-ambitious high-schooler, Payton. Doing the gardening in designer ball gowns and painting pictures for charity of a Syrian child killed in an airstrike, she seems to be sending up the image that most people have of who we think she is.

Is she beyond satire, now? Or is it simply a masterstroke to prove that shes in on the joke? For all the criticism fired at Paltrow - in 2013 she was branded Star magazines "most irritating celebrity" - it appears that shes come to the point of acceptance and now is taking back ownership of her image.

Shes recently been credited with kick-starting the takedown of the disgraced film producer, Harvey Weinstein. In The New York Times Jodi Kantor and Megan Twoheys book, She Said, they revealed that Paltrow had hosted the evening in which actors like Ashley Judd opened up about the abuse they had received at the hands of Weinstein and that she also facilitated other actresses coming forward with their experiences, all of which he denies.

Whether she can transition from glowing earth-mother to self-deprecating star of the screen again is still to be seen. However, her past history shows shes always embraced change, evolving time and time again over the years. With a bit of cosmic ordering, its surely written in the stars.

The evolution of Gwyneth Paltrow

The teen screen princess

The year is 1991, and how ever will 19-year-old Paltrow, daughter of director Bruce Paltrow and Tony-award winning dancer Blythe Danner, catch a break in the film industry? Remarkably, she struggles against the odds and gets cast as young Wendy in Hook.

The serious actress

Her big break came four years later in 1995, when she played Tracy in Seven, alongside Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey and Morgan Freeman. The fact that her head ended up memorably in a box at the end of the film bore no relation to her captivating screen presence, something that Pitt also picked up on, and the pair later started dating (and morphing into each other).

The rom-com every woman

From 1995, Paltrow was hot property, and dipped her toes into the rom-com world, starring with Friends David Schwimmer in the entirely unremarkable funeral-themed The Pallbearer (actual tagline: Something magical is about to unfold in the most unexpected place!). Then there was the genre-defining Sliding Doors - Paltrow played the hard-done-by British PR girl Helen - in which a generation pondered what they would do if they missed their tube and came home to find John Lynch shagging in their bed.

The period romance star

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? Thatll be Paltrow, going full period drama in productions like 1996s Emma, an adaptation of the Jane Austen novel in which she played the titular role, or the modern adaptation of Dickens' Great Expectations, where she played Estella, who had a penchant for stripping off in New York warehouse apartments. Still, all the literary greats were a great background for her next role...

The Oscar-winning starlet

1998s Shakespeare in Love: everybody in the world watched, then promptly wondered why we werent being taught about his muse, Viola De Lessops in GCSE English Lit. Damn patriarchy in action, yet again. There was no doubt this was Paltrows finest hour, and she eventually bagged the Academy Award. Her incredibly emotional Oscars speech was widely mocked, but let the woman have a moment - she was just crowned the best actress in the entire world (in 1999).

The indie kid

Fact: it took exactly 18 years for Phoebe Waller-Bridge smoking a cigarette with a cocktail in Chateau Marmont to oust Paltrow as Margot Tenenbaum lighting up a cig in a fur coat as the coolest woman of all time. Paltrow got serious hipster kudos as she appeared in Wes Andersons The Royal Tenenbaums in 2001, playing the aloof playwright with a bob, and who later spawned a million lazy fancy dress outfits.

The wholesome chef

The year is 2007, and Paltrow is now a TV chef, sitting somewhere between Mary Berry and Martha Steward on the cooking chart. The same year, the Los Angeles born-and-bred star launched her first cookbook, Spain... A Culinary Road Trip with the now disgraced chef Mario Batali. If anyone doubted her Spanish credentials, know this: she once went on a school exchange there aged 15, so please pass the cho-ri-tho and sit back down.

The self-help guru

In 2008, Paltrow pivoted to wellness and launched her weekly lifestyle letter, Goop, which then became a website, an e-commerce site and basically a bible for rich American women to make lifestyle choices by. She says it was set up to "nourish the inner aspect", presumably of her wallet, as it pulled in an estimated $60m in 2017.

Of course, Goop has not been without its many controversies - namely, advising people to steam their vaginas (do not do this, countered pretty much every actual medical GP across the world), to use a coffee enema (same) and that they should be wearing NASA-made body stickers to rebalance energy frequencies (to paraphrase NASA: nah). Still, who needs experts anyway? Tickets for her Goop festival, In Goop Health, move quicker than the Glastonbury resale, so while shes got a quick minute in between sex dust smoothies,why not pick up acting again in a newly iconic TV show? Good on you Gwynnie.

The Politician is on Netflix from Friday 27 September.

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The rocky evolution of actor, philanthropist and Goop guru Gwyneth Paltrow - iNews

CultureGaming

Friday, 27th September 2019, 08:17 am

It might have been a while since Pokemon GO received the kind of obsessive attention that it did in the beginning, but Niantic's addictive mobile monster catcher hasn't gone anywhere.

The game's community remains so active that just this August it enjoyed its most profitable month since 2016, bringing in $176 million.

A big factor in the game's impressive stamina has been the steady supply of new content that Niantec has kept up. This month saw a major new addition, with monsters from the series' fifth generation (Pokemon Black and White) appearing for the first time.

Hailing from the Unova region, these critters included the likes of sneaky feline, Purrloin and the snooty-looking lizard, Snivy. With the addition of Unova stones, some of the new 'mon can now be evolved into their more powerful forms.

For anyone who still has ambitions of being the very best, like no-one ever was, here's everything you need to know.

What are Unova stones?

Since the original Gameboy games, stones have featured in the Pokemon universe as been a key way to evolve certain monsters. However, rather than the various elemental rocks found in the original series, Niantec have chosen to streamline things a little by creating new stones that can be applied more widely.

When Pokemon from the Sinnoh region were introduced, the Sinnoh stone was added to handle all of the older critters who had been given new evolutions in Diamond and Pearl Rhyperior, Lickilicki, Ambipom and various others.

The Unova stones are similar except that, rather than evolving old 'mon into their newer forms, the Unova stones will be used to handle some of the evolutions of Pokemon that were first introduced in Black and White, such as Panpour and Lampent.

What Pokemon can I use them on?

As there haven't been that many Unova Pokemon added as of yet, the list of compatible critters is pretty short just now.

The three elemental monkeys Pansage, Panpour and Pansear can all be evolved into their bigger, badder selves Simisage, Simipour and Simisear while spooky lantern Lampent can be upgraded to a Chandelure (it's like "chandelier" but not).

However, it is worth keeping in mind that more Unova Pokemon are probably on the way, some of whom will no doubt also use the stones. Before long, it's very possible that they will be used to turn a Woobat into a Swoobat, a Boldore into a Gigalith, or a Minccino into its far fancier evolution, Cinccino.

How do I get one?

At the moment, there is only one way to get your hands on a Unova stone by completing your seventh day Field Research reward.

The Field Research tasks, added to the game last year, are daily missions which challenge the player to catch, hatch or battle in a specific way. Completing seven tasks across seven days unlocks a Research Breakthrough and lets the player reap a variety of rewards, one of which can now be a shiny new Unova stone.

While this is currently the only way to acquire the new evolutionary item, it seems likely that this will change in the future. Sinnoh stones can be earned through player versus player battles, so its easy to imagine that this will eventually happen with the newer region's stones as well.

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Pokemon GO Unova stone locations: how to get the evolution items, and full list of Gen 5 Pokemon it works with - iNews

A study of gliding animals has challenged the idea that evolutionary innovations adaptations that bring new abilities and advantages spur the origin of other new body types and other characteristics in descendent species.

The research, undertaken by evolutionary biologists at UNSW Sydney and universities in the US and Spain, examined the key innovation of gliding in two types of gliding animals: flying dragons (family Agamidae) and flying squirrels (family Sciuridae), both common to forests in South East Asia.

The study confirms previous assumptions that gliding animals originated from arboreal ancestors and likely arose as a means of escaping predators some 25-30 million years ago.

Lead author Dr Terry Ord, an evolutionary ecologist with UNSWs Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, says another advantage that gliding brought was the ability to exploit a new three dimensional environment and explore more of the forest than just one tree.

From an evolutionary biologists perspective, these types of innovation that open up new opportunities are assumed to drive even more adapted diversification, Dr Ord says.

Suddenly theres all these new microhabitats available offering up new resources and you have new species moving into those particular microhabitats where you would expect them to adapt even more.

The evolution of flight in birds, insects and bats is an example where the changes brought about by taking to the wing caused an explosion in diversity. Millions of species of insects, tens of thousands of birds and more than a thousand species of bats developed greatly different shapes, sizes, behaviours and habitats since their ancestors first evolved to fly.

But in the case of the gliding animals like the dragons and squirrels, the advantage of gliding has not led to a proliferation of changes to body shapes, sizes and functions. In fact, for the dragons the key innovation of gliding appears to have done the opposite.

Hey Rocky, where's Bullwinkle...A gliding squirrel in full flight. Picture: Shutterstock.

In the case of the dragon lizards, gliding appears to be a constraint on subsequent adaptation because of the aerodynamics of having to glide, Dr Ord says.

Basically the heavier you are, the more difficult it is to glide. So there is a constraint on general body size and shape meaning a halt to the evolution of longer limbs and bigger heads, for example, that would normally reflect adaptation to particular microhabitats.

But instead, the dragons have to glide, and that means limiting their body sizes to stay small and aerodynamic which has what we call stabilising selection on their bodies.

Interestingly, some species of flying dragons actually did go on to evolve larger bodies, at the expense of their gliding abilities. To offset their poor gliding, they had to develop new behaviours such as flattening their bodies against the tree trunk to blend in with the bark, Dr Ord says.

So theyre almost regressing from that gliding lifestyle. But in this case, the reason why theyre changing their body size is to overcome competition with other lizards.

There were no such bodily constraints with squirrels, due to key differences in the gliding membranes. Whereas the ribs of the dragon lizards evolved to extend laterally as the wings of the animals, the squirrels gliding membrane developed as a flap of skin joining their wrists to their ankles.

So squirrels just evolve longer limbs which means the size of the membrane increases proportionally to the longer limbs, enabling somewhat bigger bodied animals to glide without sacrificing too much ability, says Dr Ord.

But despite squirrel body sizes not being as constrained, the body sizes and characteristics of gliding squirrels are no more diverse than non-gliding squirrels.

So again the expectation of a key innovation driving the evolution of greater diversity was thwarted in the case of gliding squirrels.

Dr Ord says his research has implications for our understanding of the way key innovations and competition come into play in evolution.

Evolutionary innovations are evocative because theyre often amazing curiosities. And perhaps this has led us to infer theyre also key in opening the door to even more adaptation. But it seems that interactions with other organisms competition for resources is a far more powerful force for generating adaptive diversity, he says.

Looking ahead, Dr Ord will be following up with research into the dragon lizards to find out how they use another evolutionary innovation, their dewlaps the colourful flap of skin that hangs beneath their jaws to communicate.

The rest is here:

How gliding animals fine-tuned the rules of evolution - UNSW Newsroom

A kazoo might seem a world away from the spoken word. But our ability to produce its buzzing, Donald Duck-like sound at will was key in us ever developing the ability to speak at all. And while our capacity for speech is unique, my colleague Robert Shumaker and I have used the novelty instrument to show that great apes arent far behind.

Speech is one of the defining marks of humanhood. It is the interface of our social and societal relationships, and the baton through which individuals and generations pass information and knowledge from one to the other. Yet, how our species and our species alone developed such a powerful method of communication remains unclear.

Perhaps chief among the necessary tools for speech is voice control. That is, the uniquely advanced ability to engage our vocal folds to produce sounds at will, as opposed to the reflexive screams and cries that other animals produce as automatic responses to changes in their environment and physiology.

Scientists long thought that the capacity of great apes to control their voice was just as limited as that of their fellow mammals. However, recent evidence is suggesting that these views were misguided.

For instance, great apes can mimic the rhythm of speech, producing babbling vocalisations that could easily be confused with those of a Disney cartoon character (as in the video above). They can also match the pitch of a human voice (below). Such feats would be impossible if great apes could not deploy and use their voice on command in similar ways to us.

To find out more about these abilities, we gave captive orangutans at the USs Indianapolis Zoo the opportunity play a membranophone - a class of musical instrument that includes the kazoo.

Kazoos and other membranophones are unique in that despite their resemblance to a flute or a whistle, merely blowing a constant stream of air into them produces no sound. To activate the instrument, the player must hum or talk into the kazoo. This is because it is the bursts of air produced by our vocal folds opening and closing when we vocalise that make the membrane of the instrument vibrate, and the instrument play.

In our study, some of the orangutans activated the kazoo within minutes, producing sounds of varying pitches and durations in response to kazoo demonstrations by the human experimenters. The speed with which these orangutans changed the quality of their voices shows that they were producing the sounds at will, rather than through training which, as any dog trainer will reassert, requires months of reflex building and conditioning.

These findings show that orangutan voice control lags not far behind that of humans. They confirm that the vocal abilities of great apes have been largely underestimated.

The fact that only some of the orangutans managed to play the kazoo shows us that the capacity and/or motivation to demonstrate vocal control differs between individuals. So one great ape can never be representative of the vocal abilities of a whole species. To understand the vocal control of apes further, scientists should develop tests tailored to match each individual apes limitations and drive. This wont be a surprise to parents, teachers, and linguistic therapists, who know that children develop speech at different rates and manners, despite sharing virtually the same environment.

Although precise tests such as these are only possible in controlled settings with voluntary participation from captive individuals, evidence suggests that wild orangutans also use vocal control in their natural environment to communicate and pass information between individuals and generations.

For example, wild orangutans can modify their alarm calls with hands and leaves to make them sound bigger, depending on how dangerous the predator they encounter is. Wild chimpanzees are more likely to produce snake alarm calls when group members are unaware of the threat, and selectively inform high-ranking group members that food is available both indicators of intentional control of vocalisations.

More recently, I showed that wild orangutan mothers delay alarm calls in response to predators until there is no danger, before then informing their infants of the danger that just passed through the forest floor below. Such an ability not only indicates some degree of vocal control, but also another key prerequisite for speech the ability to communicate about the past.

Understanding the extent to which great apes can speak offers clues as to how and when the various skills required for full-blown speech emerged in our evolutionary lineage. Scientists previously thought that great apes didnt have the required brain circuitry. Now, it seems that they do. The question now is why our species used the last few million years to hone these neural capabilities, but our close cousins didnt or werent able to.

Having spent much time around orangutans, Im certain that they possess a great many more skills and abilities than current science gives them credit for. They are truly fascinating and intelligent creatures, and we must make every effort to conserve and protect them and their habitat not just to understand better our place in the natural world, but as a mark of respect for theirs.

Continued here:

Orangutans can play the kazoo here's what this tells us about the evolution of speech - The Conversation - UK

On Monday, Airbnb announced a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity": a one month, all-expenses-paid trip to Antarctica, where five winners will work as citizen scientists alongside microplastics researcher Kirsitie Jones-Williams, in collaboration with the Ocean Conservancy.

The volunteers will first fly down to Chile, where theyll get a crash-course in glaciology and field sampling. Airbnb said in an email that they will stay in a variety of accommodations for the Chile portion of the trip, including Airbnb listings and camp sites."

Then, the volunteers will take a plane to two sites in the interior of the Antarctic continent: the Union Glacier camp, and the Three Glaciers Retreat. There, theyll collect snow samples that may or may not contain microplastics. After visiting Antarctic sites like the South Pole, Drake Icefall, and Elephant's Head, the volunteers will return the Chile and analyze their snow samples.

According to Airbnb, the goal is for the volunteers to become ambassadors for the worlds oceans. In this advocacy role, they will deliver insights on how the Airbnb community and others can help minimize their collective plastic footprint to support Ocean Conservancys mission, the Airbnb website says.

Our goal at this juncture is to better understand how travel can be a positive catalyst for change, an Airbnb spokesperson said in an email. Its worth noting that the travel and tourism industry accounts for about 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Research into microplastics is important, but these volunteers wont just be ambassadors on behalf of Antarctica, or the oceans, or environmental science. Theyre also, by default, ambassadors for Airbnb, informing the public that the company cares about the environment. Airbnb said in an email that it hopes the Antarctic Sabbatical will "inform educational and advocacy efforts."

However, Airbnb has not committed to carbon neutrality. The company said in an email that the Antarctic Sabbatical trip specifically is more than 100% carbon neutral because of carbon offsetting. Airbnb has tweeted that it considers carbon offsetting to include activities like donating to protect the Peruvian rainforest after booking a plane flight. As Naomi Klein spelled out in her book This Changes Everything, activities like these are known to not fully offset emission-heavy activities.

When asked about how Airbnb is limiting emissions, the company said that it has limited corporate plastic use by eliminating plastic straws, not offering plastic bottles or containers, and providing reusable produce bags in its San Francisco and Singapore offices.

Airbnb is also conducting an environmental impact assessment to measure and understand our impact and to identify what we can do to reduce our footprint over time, a spokesperson said in an email.

None of this amounts to making radical change. In essence, the Antarctic Sabbatical bolsters the companys environmental image without pinning it to any firm, possibly costly environmental commitments, like carbon neutrality.

Airbnb isn't the only travel company to organize Antarctic trips that claim to be guided by the values of sustainability, citizen science, and ambassadorship. Theres a booming Antarctic tourism industry, and many of the companies involved make their sales pitch by appealing to a sense of righteousness in possible vacationers. These companies tell wealthy vacationers that by going to Antarctica, and by having the chance to see it before climate change permanently changes the landscape, they will actually be committing an act of good and empowering themselves to advocate on behalf of the environment.

Volunteers for the Antarctic Sabbatical will be chosen by a team of five people, including Jones-Williams, a person from an unspecified industry organization, an Airbnb employee, an independent member, and a representative from Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions LLC, an Antarctic travel and logistics company. ALE also runs camps on the continent, including the Three Glaciers Retreat on the trip.

Theres several barriers of entry that a person has to clear before becoming an Antarctic ambassador. First, they have to have an existing platform, or a pool of people who will listen to them. According to the program guidelines, applicants will be judged, in part, on whether they have the capability to engage in dialogue with diverse audiences and educate others on complex topics in the future.

Notably, none of Airbnbs marketing materials for the program mention climate change. Despite the fact that climate change will alter Antarctica permanently, as highlighted by a new IPCC report, there's no indication that Antarctic Sabbatical ambassadors are expected to advocate for action on climate change specifically.

To be fair, the research on the sabbatical concerns microplastics, not climate change. But excluding climate change from the conversation has enabled Airbnb to market its program as concerning sustainability, a vague term that doesnt invoke any specific or radical changes that may involve lowering emissions. In fact, sustainability is a term that evokes the promise of growth. The logic of endless economic growth has consistently empowered utility companies, oil and gas companies, and the like to prioritize shareholder profit over the long-term health of the people they serve and the planet at large.

Airbnb has already exacerbated severe shortages in affordable housing in urban centers that desperately need it, even though affordable housing is actually a crucial part of mitigating the worst effects of climate change.

Airbnb claims that it "values healthy travel," and takes pride in the fact that "64 percent of guests" view it as an environmentally sustainable travel option. But valuing sustainability is not the same as requiring hosts to meet robust environmental standards, or committing its corporate facilities to ambitious environmental goals.

Link:

Airbnb's Antarctic 'Sabbatical' Is the Next Evolution in Crisis Capitalism - VICE

We touch base with acclaimed director, Takashi Miike, on his latest movie, the hurdles of filmmaking, and how he juggles so many different genres.

Takashi Miike is one of those rare filmmakers who is seemingly capable of directing anything. Hes made significant contributions to the horror genre, most notably Audition, but hes catapulted from Samurai films, to courtroom dramas, to high school musicals, to spaghetti westerns, to superhero films without batting an eye. Not only is Miike capable of variety, but his movies tend to contain extremely memorable set pieces that are emblematic of the directors fearless, gonzo style. You may not always love a Takashi Miike movie, but theres a guarantee that it will at least be something that you wont soon forget.

With over 100 films now to his name, Miike isnt showing any signs of slowing down. His latest effort, First Love, is a twisted love story that sees a boxer and a call girl get roped into a complex crime saga where theres a growing body count. First Love makes for yet another strong example of how Miike is able to blend together so many different sensibilities and turn out truly unique pieces of cinema. We got to the opportunity to talk to Takashi Miike aboutFirst Love, but we also discussed the journey his career has taken, the level of responsibility involved with directing adaptations of other peoples works, and how hes too afraid to watch his own horror movies.

Bloody Disgusting: First Love is such an interesting combination of ideas and themes. What about this story initially caught your interest?

Takashi Miike: Absolutely. Its a very simple story where there arent that many characters and some of the main characters are considered to be scum. Theyre considered to be kind of useless to society. Then you have all of these people that have their desires and things that they want to achieve or obtain. From all of that, these two people fall in love, it becomes a love story, and everyone else kind of dies. But out of all of that death and chaos comes this one love story that will continue into the future, and I like that. I like the story. I like the idea. And so I decided I wanted to make this movie.

BD: Was it a challenge to balance the romance and violence of this film? Were you concerned that there may be too much of one or not enough of the other?

Miike: Youre right, there is a lot of violence and romance in the film, but Im really not interested in objectively thinking about what the balance is like between them. The amount of violence is actually something that I dont calculate myself. I actually kind of leave that up to the characters, so balance may be lost or completely broken in the film, but I think to some extent that cant be helped because instead of me making the characters for the film, I focus on the characters in the script and I let them make the film. So honestly, I dont particularly care if its a huge success or if theres a balance there, but I just want to make a film that I like and Im proud of how this one turned out.

BD: I love the animated segment at the end of First Love. It made me think of the insane ending to Dead or Alive. Is it fun to sometimes make these crazy left turns at the end of your movies?

Miike: Honestly, that scene in First Love speaks a lot to the current insecurities in the Japanese film industry. Its because by the time that we got to that sceneand we added that scene at the end of the film in post-productionwe were already over our budget. At the same time, theres a big aversion to risks right now in the industry. Maybe there could be a car accident or something while were filming the scene. So because theres an aversion to risk right now in Japan, a lot of the movies that are made are these big, warm, fuzzy movies that dont really have any dangerlike real physical dangerfor the actors. So there are very few new stunt men that are being developed in Japan.

We could have said, Okay, we can cut that scene because itd be difficult to do with the current situation in the Japanese market. In a way, a car chase scene is almost clichd for an action film, anyways. But instead of cutting it, we decided that wed find another way to do it and still honor that idea that was in the script. Now, if we had not filmed the movie in Hong Kong, we would have actually shot it, but we were, so we got creative.

BD: Thats so interesting. To make something less physically dangerous, you turn it into whats probably the most stylistically dangerous moment in the movie. On the topic of animation, a lot of directors struggle with bringing anime or manga series to life, but your adaptations are some of your best films. Whats so appealing to you about adapting anime?

Miike: A lot of this can also be said about if I were adapting a novel as well, but specifically when dealing with a manga, when youre turning that into a live-action film youre doing that because you think that its just going to be fun. Or sometimes you read the original work and youre like, Okay, the original work is fun, so itd be fun to turn that into a film while still respecting the intent and style of the original work and the writers intention. But at the same time, its more important for us to have fun with it than to rigidly stick to exactly what the original work was. When adapting someone elses work youre also freed in a sense because you want to respect the writer, but we dont actually have that many meetings with the original writermaybe just one meet and greet and thats it, but what we do want to do is make something that the fans are going to love, even if we dont specifically cater to them, but also a product that feels like it has my voice in it as well.

BD: With the wide range of films that you have made, it really feels like you can literally adapt anything. Are there any projects that youve turned down out of fear?

Miike: So this is maybe related to my experiences as an assistant director too, but whats scary when youre making a film is just realizing that its going to cost way too much money in some cases. At the same time, Im not the one whos funding the film, so I have to work within the constraints of my co-producers and sponsors. Now if they dont think that were capable of making a certain film with the money we have, thats fine, but what I try to always do is instead of cancelling or not accepting a project, Ill brainstorm over modifications to make things cheaper, which usually also make things more interesting, too. Were looking for a synergy there. A lot of people are usually funding these films, so we try to look at all of the possible ideas from everyone involved. Again, during my time as an assistant director I saw a lot of troubleshooting to pull off interesting ideas within budget.

BD: Youve done some very memorable work in the horror genre, but what do you think is your scariest film and why?

Miike: Im actually quite a scaredy cat, myself. Since a child Ive been this way. Ive even a little afraid of the dark. If Im alone in the dark Ill sometimes feel that theres a presence behind me and Ill even be afraid to turn around, but then if I do get the courage to turn around, Ill just be scared that whatever was there has just jumped over to the other side of me. This sounds really silly, but as a child Ive always been a bit of a coward so I dont watch many horrors films myself. I personally think I dont want to pay money to go to a theater to get horribly frightened! So even after I finish making horror films, I usually dont go to a theater to watch them myself.

All of this being said, the scariest of the projects that Ive worked on is Imprint, my episode from Showtimes Masters of Horror series. Everyone kept telling me that Americas a free country and that I could really do whatever I wanted. Its cable TV, so dont hold back at all and make it as scary as possible. So I did that and then when I showed it to the producers in Japan, they were like, I know we told you that you can do anything, but this is going too far. This is way too far. We even had to publish this article in the New York Times apologizing that said that this was supposed to be a 13-episode series, but an episodes been cut because it was too scary, so now its just twelve episodes. Imprint was definitely the scariest project that Ive worked on.

BD: Have there been any updates on a JoJos Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable sequel? Should people still have hope?

Miike: When we started that project, we expected that wed be making a couple of them, but it was just not a big hit in Japan. It was way less well received than we expected. So thats actually horror for a director thats in that situation. So no, theres no sequel planned and it wasnt a hit.

Thats an interesting situation because the writer of the original work, Hirohiko Araki, liked the film a lot, which was one of my main objectives when making the film adaptation. When we talked to some of the journalists, many of them said they liked the film, but I couldnt tell if they were just being nice or if they actually had fun with it. In any case, it was well received by the writer and a few other people, but no, there wont be a sequel.

Takashi Miikes First Love hits theaters in limited release on September 27.

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[Interview] Takashi Miike on New Movie 'First Love' and the Evolution of His Filmmaking - Bloody Disgusting

Scientific consensus is in the news. Scientists agree (at least in public) on all sorts of things: evolution is Darwinian, global warming is real, taking money from patrons like Jeffrey Epstein is great but mustnt be publicized, etc. The history of science is the history of shifting consensus, and of scientists who shifted it, for better or worse.

Of late, scientific consensus has been apocalyptic. When you read this morning that we only have a few years left before we are incinerated by our over-heated planet, its worth recalling the science apocalypses of recent memory.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has done for us what scientists wont that is, remind us of science apocalypses past. Its amusing:

Science apocalypses can only be understood in context. The context is that there have been a lot of them, there are a lot of them, there no doubt will be a lot of them, and theyre always wrong. And, obviously, theres a scientific consensus that you shouldnt pay attention to the last scientific consensus.

The contemporary sales pitch for this stuff that evolution is only by chance and necessity, that DDT will silence the spring, that overpopulation is reaching a Malthusian brink, that man is burning the planet to a cinder needs to be distinguished from science, which is the work that challenges the consensus.

Scientific consensus is not science. Actually, scientific consensus has almost always been wrong. It was consensus that heavenly bodies move in epicycles, that heavy objects fall faster than light ones, that phlogiston is what burns in a furnace, that malaria is caused by bad air, and that light propagates in ether. This is not to condemn scientific consensus. Science is a business, so scientists have to agree as a corporate body to get things done.

Scientific consensus that isnt true is consigned to oblivion, by scientific consensus. Scientific consensus that is true is engineering. Scientific consensus governs the construction of bridges and power plants and airplanes. On my commute and when I flip a light switch and when I look out the window at the clouds below Im grateful for scientific consensus. I like engineering, especially when Im at 30,000 feet.

Science is a search, and precludes consensus. Consensus is a means to act, whether wisely or foolishly. The scientific consensus that penicillin kills streptococcus has saved millions of lives. The scientific consensus that DDT causes cancer has cost millions of lives.

But we must never confuse scientific consensus with science. Science is inquiry. Consensus is cloture of inquiry. What is consensus is not science. Yet consensus has its place it makes it possible to act corporately.

The purpose of consensus in science is to manipulate. Its a political act. It permits scientists to act as a polity. The purpose of the scientific consensus in engineering is to manipulate nature. The purpose of scientific consensus in evolution, in global warming, and in discreet patronage is to manipulate you.

Image credit: Enrique Meseguer, viaPixabay.

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Apocalypse Now More Things Scientists Would Like You to Forget - Discovery Institute

Boss has expanded its formidable lineup of guitar effects with the DD-3T and DD-8 digital delay pedals.

The DD-3T sees the DD-3 augmented with tap tempo functionality while thedirect output jack has been moved beside the main output jack to make life easier (it's the little things).

Otherwise, the circuitry is unchanged from the classic DD-3 box. You'll still have 12.5 to 800ms of delay. The Hold function, which allows you to save up to 800ms of audio and effectively loop it, returns, but has been renamed as the Short Loop function. And the DD-3T comes in the trademark Boss metal enclosure with rubber footswitch. And it's the same set-up controls-wise as its predecessor with Mode, Time, Feedback, and Effect knobs controlling the effect.

Like the DD-3T, the DD-8 comes in the usual tough Boss enclosure and rubber footswitch setup. Replacing the DD-7, Boss says the DD-8 is their most advanced compact series delay and it sure has a whole host of clever features.

For a start, it has 11 modes of delay, most of which are self-explanatory. There is Loop, Analogue, Standard, Tape, Warm, Reverse, +Rv (adds reverb to delayed signal), Shimmer (pitchshifts the delayed signal), Mod (modulation), Warp and GLT.

Now, Warp and GLT are really something different. In Warp mode, hold down the footswitch to create swell as the effect's level and feedback increase. This could be a really expressive feature. The GLT mode messes with your delayed signal to add glitchy, "machine gun" effects, which if you turn the Feedback and Time controls up will give you a more extreme effect.

The DD-8 has stereo inputs and outputs, tap tempo functionality and an onboard looper. An external footswitch can be connected to control the tap tempo and looper, or you could hook up an expression pedal to control the effects other parameters on the fly.

The Boss DD-8 costs 140 street (159, $175 approx) and is available now. As is the DD-3T, which you can pick up for 122 street (139, $150 approx).

See Boss for more details.

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Boss announces evolution of their digital delay with DD-8 and DD-3T stompboxes - MusicRadar

Were at a point in our collective gallery calendars where the art of Central Ohio is front and center.In a New Light: Alice Schille and the American Watercolor Movement and Greater Columbus 2019 (both on view at the Columbus Museum of Art through September 29) have filled our summer with stunning, home-grown talent. Similarly, the Ohio Art Leagues Fall Juried Exhibition at the Cultural Arts Center provides a chance to enjoy the works of many other exceptional artists who call Ohio home. From that perspective, now is perhaps the perfect time to appreciate the rich history of Columbus artists and their work. To that end, theres perhaps no better opportunity for such reflection thanThe Evolution of Columbus Artcurrently on view at the Columbus Historical Society.

Curated by Fred Fochtman and David Terry, the Evolution of Columbus Art traces the development of Columbus art through the display of nearly 100 works spanning 150 years. As for bona fides, both Fochtman and Terry are as qualified as any to curate such an exhibit. Both are accomplished artists and collectors in their own right, and both have strong ties to the Columbus art scene. Their expertise bears fruit in both the breadth and depth of the works presented. Not content to simply highlight the most well-known artists (though there are plenty of those), Fochtman and Terry dig deeper, introducing viewers to some our citys hidden artistic gems.

The result is a sprawling exhibition in an intimate space. Its an exhibition that manages to highlight a wide range of styles and approaches while still maintaining its focus. While there are plenty of notable works to enjoy, one of the most striking and well-realized is Lucius Kutchins Cezannesque Still Life. Kutchin (1901-1936) was one of Columbuss premier modernists; a painter whose national reputation was just beginning to blossom before he died of bronchial pneumonia at the age of 35.

Another Columbus artist who embraced modernism in the early 20th-Century was Yeteve Smith. Smith studied at The Ohio State University and was active in the Columbus Art League (later the Ohio Art League). Her Market Scene presents a crowded street market in vivid, impressionistic colors, applied with bold brushwork. Given the strength of this work, its no surprise that Smith exhibited in New York City alongside such luminaries as Alice Schille, Hoyt Sherman and Clyde Singer.

While the exhibition pays deserving homage to the past, it also recognizes the accomplishments of more recent Columbus artists. As viewers wind through the roughly chronological exhibition, they will eventually find themselves in the presence of works by Barbara Chavous (d. 2008), Denny Griffith (1952-2016) and Levent Isik (1961-2019). All serve as recent reminders that art in Columbus continues to grow and evolve.

Thematically, its worth noting that Evolution pays particular attention to place. Fochtman and Terry have made a special effort to present works with the intent of understanding how location can focus and inspire artists. Whether its images of old Union Station, Canal Winchester, Red Bird Stadium, or Mary Merrills interpretation of I-70 West, Evolution presents Columbus as fertile ground for the creative impulse.

It should be noted, too, that The Evolution of Columbus Art represents well the contributions of both women artists and artists of color. This is important. The visual arts in Columbus have always been supported and advanced through the contributions of women and African Americans. Artist like Edna Boies, Hopkins, Barbara Chavous, Harriet Kirkpatrick, Aminah Robinson, Roman Johnson and a host of others created works that brought unique perspectives to the arts in Columbus and helped establish the rich, vibrant arts scene we enjoy today.

This is an exciting time for the visual arts in Columbus. As we imagine where the arts will leads us, its worth considering where weve been. The Evolution of Columbus Art allows for exactly that. Were unlikely to see a group of paintings like this brought together again for quite some time, so take advantage of the chance to savor the past, and learn from it.

The Evolution of Columbus Art is on display at the Columbus Historical Society, 717 W. Town St., through October 29. For more information, visit columbushistory.org.

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Art Review: The Evolution of Columbus Art - columbusunderground