Category Archives: New Utopia

Dennis Kellys Utopia dropped in the UK in January 2013 and amassed a cult following for its striking visuals, astonishing violence, and fascinating storyline. Five years later, Amazon bagged the right to churn out an American version of the black comedyconspiracy thriller, which premiered in September 2020. Adapted by Gillian Flynn, Utopia follows a bunch of eccentric nerds who embark upon a quest to find the eponymous manuscript of the sequel to the comic book, Dystopia.

They believe that since Dystopia predicted the outbreak of pandemics and deadly infections, they need to find Utopia to save the world. When a cultish network shows interest in the comic, chaos ensues. After binge-watching the first season, fans must be wondering: Will there be a Utopia season 2? Well, lets find out!

Utopia season 1 premiered in its entirety on September 25, 2020, on Prime Video. It consists of eight episodes with a runtime of 50-55 minutes each.

As far as another season is concerned, heres what we know. While Amazon is yet to announce the renewal or cancellation of the conspiracy thriller, the inconclusive ending is a testament to the fact that the showrunner, Gillian Flynn, is looking forward to expanding the show beyond the first season. Moreover, there is enough source material to adapt from, as the International Emmy award-winning British version already comprises two seasons.

In case you arent aware, Amazon has also inked the shows creator to an overall deal. If we couple the aforementioned points with the favorable reviews, it seems likely that the network might recommission the show for a second season. If and when that happens, we can expect Utopia season 2 to release sometime in 2022 on Prime Video.

American Honey star Sasha Lane headlines the cast as Jessica Hyde. The Office (US) fame Rainn Wilson joins the cast as Michael Stearns, while High Fidelity actor John Cusack appears as Dr. Kevin Christie. Gotham star Cory Michael Smith essays the character of Thomas Christie. Christopher Denham plays the role of Arby.

The cast also comprises Dan Byrd as Ian, Javon Walton as Grant, Ashleigh LaThrop as Becky, Sonja Sohn as Agent Katherine Miller, Desmin Borges as Wilson Wilson, Farrah Mackenzie as Alice, Jeanine Serralles as Colleen, Jessica Rothe as Samantha, Felisha Terrell as Hailey Alvez, Dustin Ingram as Tallman, and Hadley Robinson as Lily, among many others. Except for a few, almost all the main cast members might reprise their respective characters in season 2. The second season might also feature some fresh faces.

The first season revolves around several comic enthusiasts who set out to find a manuscript titled Utopia, after figuring out that the prequel, Dystopia, seemingly foreshadowed tragic pandemics like the SARS and MERS. After roping in a mysterious stranger who claims to be the girl in the book, Jessica Hyde, the quirky pack strives to find the manuscript to prevent future epidemics. However, their mission is hindered by the people of a crooked biotech mogul, Dr. Kevin Christie. What follows is a series of relentless carnage and odd hijinks.

In the finale, Jessica Hyde is abducted by Agent Katherine Miller, who reveals that she is, in fact, the main culprit Mr. Rabbit. Jessica throws the manuscript out of the window, but Miller is unfazed as she tells Jessica that the script was just a pawn to entrap her. In the final moments, Miller goes to the basement and informs Jessicas father, I have your daughter.

Season 2 might pick up right from the ending of the first season. In the season 1 finale, Miller tells Jessica that she (along with Jessicas father) aims to build a paradise packed with people who are relieved of all the biological impulses and shortcomings and have no right to make their own decisions. Now that Miller has Jessica in her clutches, we can expect the evil agent to map out a plan to use the young woman to fuel her mission -to rebirth the world. However, the nerd gang might pull out all stops to liberate Jessica and prevent Miller from executing her plan. Apart from delving deep into the origins of the Network, season 2 might also throw light on Jessicas father and his intentions.

Read More: Is Utopia a True Story?

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Utopia Season 2 Release Date, Cast, New Season/Canceled?

Fans of Byrne will recognize this device of an empty stage being gradually populated and animated by the arrival of music makers from the great 1984 Jonathan Demme concert film Stop Making Sense. Theres a difference, though.

In that film, even when hes sharing a mic with another singer, Byrne registers as an isolated being, in radioactive communion with himself alone. (He has spoken of probably being on the milder end of the autism spectrum.) In American Utopia, hes in propulsive dialogue with everyone onstage, and with the audience, too.

In recent years, Byrne has become fascinated with color guards, those precision-tooled marching band units. (The infatuation was translated into a 2017 documentary.) The ensemble in American Utopia is as synced as any military corps.

And the marvel of what these musicians do while playing their instruments skip, hop, leap, run in circles and bend like Gumby, always (like Byrne) in bare feet. Gospel call and response is translated into a physical conversation, rapturously underscored by Rob Sinclairs lighting. And yes, there is room for the manic flailing steps that are Byrnes signature. (I dance like this, because it feels so damn good/If I could dance better, well, you know that I would.)

Though the name of the sitting president is never spoken, our topsy-turvy political climate is acknowledged by the performance of a nonsense song by the Dadaist artist Hugo Ball, prefaced by a description of the confusing, dangerous era from which it emerged (in 1930s Berlin). And the ensemble brings a flaming rage to Janelle Mones protest song, Hell You Talmbout, an angry, invigorating memorial to African-Americans killed by police officers.

Like Bruce Springsteens smash Broadway show of two seasons ago, American Utopia repositions a onetime rebel as a reflective elder statesman, offering cozy cosmic wisdom. The angry young Byrne is acknowledged here with rousing versions of the classics Burning Down the House and Once in a Lifetime.

Time hasnt exactly mellowed these songs. But they now sound oddly hopeful in their bewilderment. When Byrne and company perform the 1985 hit Road to Nowhere as an encore, theres the jubilant reassurance that if the journey still has no destination, at least were all in it together.

American Utopia

Tickets Through Jan. 19, 2020, at Hudson Theater, Manhattan; americanutopiabroadway.com. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes.

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Review: American Utopia Is ... - The New York Times

Album by David Byrne

2018 studio album by David Byrne

American Utopia is the tenth studio album by British-American rock musician David Byrne, released on March 9, 2018 through Todo Mundo and Nonesuch Records. The release is his first true solo studio album since 2004's Grown Backwards, and serves as a musical component of a larger multimedia project titled Reasons to Be Cheerful, which attempts to spread positivity. Byrne announced the album and posted its lead single, "Everybody's Coming to My House", online on January 8, 2018.[1] The album received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Alternative Music Album.[2]

The album is part of a larger multimedia project titled Reasons to Be Cheerful which aims to give reasons for being happy and optimistic in spite of political strife and environmental problems.[1] The title is derived from the Ian Dury song "Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 3".[3]

American Utopia received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 72 based on 32 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[5] The Arts Desk's Howard Male gave the album a positive review calling it a "a muscular and quirky return to form".[16] Erik Adams of The A.V. Club gave the album a B, calling the album an uneven "mixed bag" but praising the album's themes.[7]

American Utopia became Byrne's first solo top 10 album on the Billboard 200, debuting at No. 3 with the equivalent of 63,000 copies sold in the United States.[17]

The release of the album was backed by a world tour that lasted from March to November 2018. The elaborate concert included an empty stage surrounded by metal chains and a cast of twelve musicians (including Byrne himself) wearing identical gray suits. Cutting-edge technology in wireless audio, MIDI, lighting and real-time tracking was used to totally untether the musicians from any cables, allowing free movement and complex choreography like in Byrne's previous tours. In addition to songs from American Utopia, the setlist incorporated material from Byrne's solo catalogue, several hits by Talking Heads and a cover of Janelle Mone's "Hell You Talmbout".

In September 2019, an altered version of the concert was previewed at the Colonial Theatre in Boston. It now featured small changes to the setlist and to the structure to achieve a format closer to that of a musical stage production. It premiered on Broadway at the Hudson Theatre in previews on October 4, 2019 and officially on October 20, closing on February 16, 2020.[18] It was set to return to the Hudson for another limited engagement in September 2020, but this was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. A new six-month run started on September 17, 2021, now at the St. James Theatre.

A cast recording of the production titled American Utopia on Broadway was released in 2019 and received a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album nomination.[19] A documentary/concert film version of the Broadway play was directed by Spike Lee and released in late 2020,[20] on HBO.[21]

An homonymous picture book was released in late 2020, intended to be a companion piece to the Broadway show.[22] The book includes words and lyrics by Byrne and illustrations by Maira Kalman.

All tracks are written by David Byrne and Brian Eno, except where noted.

Personnel according to David Byrne's homepage.[23]

Technical personnel

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American Utopia - Wikipedia

Men Like Gods

First US edition

Men Like Gods (1923) is a novel, referred to by the author as a "scientific fantasy",[2] by English writer H. G. Wells.[1][3] It features a utopia located in a parallel universe.

Men Like Gods is set in the summer of 1921. Its protagonist is Mr. Barnstaple (his first name is either Alfred or William[4]), a journalist working in London and living in Sydenham. He has grown dispirited at a newspaper called The Liberal and resolves to take a holiday. Taking leave of his wife and family, his plans are disrupted when his and two other automobiles are accidentally transported with their passengers into "another world," which the "Earthlings" call Utopia.

A sort of advanced Earth, Utopia is some three thousand years ahead of humanity in its development. For the 200,000,000 Utopians who inhabit this world, the "Days of Confusion" are a distant period studied in history books, but their past resembles humanity's in its essentials, differing only in incidental details: their Christ, for example, died on the wheel, not on the cross. Utopia lacks any world government and functions as a successfully realised anarchy. "Our education is our government," a Utopian named Lion says.[5] Sectarian religion, like politics, has died away, and advanced scientific research flourishes. Life in Utopia is governed by "the Five Principles of Liberty", which are privacy, free movement, unlimited knowledge, truthfulness, and free discussion (allowing criticism).

Men Like Gods is divided into three books. Details of life in Utopia are given in Books I and III. In Book II, the Earthlings are quarantined on a rocky crag after infections they have brought cause a brief epidemic in Utopia. There they begin to plot the conquest of Utopia, despite Mr. Barnstaple's protests. He betrays them when his fellows try to take two Utopians hostage, forcing Mr. Barnstaple to escape execution for treason by fleeing perilously.

In Book III, Mr. Barnstaple longs to stay, but when he asks how he can best serve Utopia, he is told that he can do this "by returning to your own world".[6] Regretfully he accepts and ends his month-long stay in Utopia. But he brings with him back to Earth a renewed determination to contribute to the effort to make a terrestrial Utopia: "[H]e belonged now soul and body to the Revolution, to the Great Revolution that is afoot on Earth; that marches and will never desist nor rest again until old Earth is one city and Utopia set up therein. He knew clearly that this Revolution is life, and that all other living is a trafficking of life with death."[7]

Contemporary reviews of the novel were largely positive,[8] though some found the story weakly plotted. As is often the case in his later fiction, Wells's utopian enthusiasm exceeded his interest in scientific romance or fantasy (his own terms for what is now called science fiction). The novel was yet another vehicle for Wells to propagate ideas of a possible better future society, also attempted in several other works, notably in A Modern Utopia (1905). Men Like Gods and other novels like it provoked Aldous Huxley to write Brave New World (1932), a parody and critique of Wellsian utopian ideas.[9]

Wells himself later commented on the novel: "It did not horrify or frighten, was not much of a success, and by that time, I had tired of talking in playful parables to a world engaged in destroying itself."[10]

Several characters in the novel are directly taken from the politics of the 1920s. Rupert Catskill probably represents Winston Churchill,[11] as he was seen at that time: a reckless adventurer. Catskill is depicted as a reactionary ideologue,[12] criticises Utopia for its apparent decadence, and leads the attempted conquest of Utopia.

Men Like Gods is notable for a number of set pieces: a description of telepathy,[13] which has become the standard means of communication among Utopians and which enables them to communicate in the languages of the Earthlings (English and French); a meditation on mortality;[14] a reflection on the continuing distinctions between the races in Utopia, there being little interbreeding as a matter of individual choice, although social intercourse is free;[15] a description of how society could function without money;[16] a denunciation of Marxism;[17] a description of a wireless communication device;[18] and several discussions of multiple universes.[19]

Excerpt from:

Men Like Gods - Wikipedia

Utopia VR The MetaVeRse for EveryoneTM

KELOWNA, British Columbia, Sept. 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via InvestorWire -- Utopia VR (Utopia VR or the Company) has positioned itself to capitalize on worldwide market share of the Metaverse with the release of its Apple mobile app. Utopia VRs app enables users to personalize their own 3D environments and then schedule business meetings or social meetups in seconds through a proprietary link management system.

Utopia VRs The Metaverse for Everyone is a one-click, web-based, avatar-driven, mobile-friendly audio and videoconferencing platform that utilizes innovative 3D web technology. Utopia VRs free virtual platform works on all relevant devices: PC, mobile and VR headsets such as Oculus Quest or HTC Vive.

A preview of Utopias virtual MetaVeRse can be experienced at: Utopia VR MetaVeRse

At present, the Company has 36 virtual 3D room (VRoom) options, with new environments being added on a regular basis.

Utopia VRs app is now available for all iPhone and iPad users. The Companys website mirrors the app, which means users can access Utopia VR directly from a PC, laptop, tablet or VR headset without downloading the app. Utopia VRs Android version is anticipated to be released in Q1 of 2022.

Utopia VRs technology does not require a download or installation when users are invited to attend a VRoom meeting. The receiver of an invitation simply clicks on a web link to access the environment. Users can use their mobile app or log in to their online user account at http://www.utopiavr.com to schedule or attend a meeting or social meetup. The Company is currently featuring a selection of 36 virtual rooms (VRooms ) for registered subscribers to use on an unlimited basis during Utopia VRs global prelaunch.

Stuart Gray, president and co-founder of Utopia VR, stated, With our mobile app and integrated website mirroring functionality, Utopia VR has positioned itself to be a market leader among the technology giants all vying for market share in the Metaverse. Utopia VR has already been recognized as a standout leader in the high-quality design of three-dimensional virtual environments. In addition, the consistent feedback the Company has received is that Utopia VR is the easiest to use and most versatile virtual platform available today. Utopia VR offers far more engagement and collaboration than a traditional Zoom meeting. Utopia VR is truly The Metaverse for EveryoneTM since our service is web-based and works on all devices without the need to download software.

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Cory Braden, Utopia VR CTO, said, The Metaverse for Everyone is a collection of 3D worlds that users explore as avatars. Individual users or companies can outfit their own private virtual rooms with pictures, videos, PowerPoint presentations or even 3D objects. You can permanently pin the objects, therefore making your virtual environments live forever! After subscribing, a user can create their own marketplace for e-commerce both physical and digital products or even upload and sell their own NFTs in one of their own virtual galleries.

Members of Utopia VR navigate through the various VRoom environments by using avatars; users can walk, talk and sit just like they do in the real world. A users avatar can be controlled with a computer keyboard, smartphone or virtual reality headset such as Oculus Quest or HTC Vive. Text chat, voice and video can be used to communicate with others. For important meetings and presentations, users can also import audio, video, 3D pictures, animated objects, PDF files and their favourite NFTs by simply dragging and dropping their file into a VRoom or by pasting a link from media platforms such as YouTube.

Kevin Vincent, VP of international sales for Utopia VR, said, Over the past six months, Ive toured hundreds of individuals from around the globe through our platform, and their instantaneous reactions underline our excitement. This is so simple or This is a way better experience than (other online meeting systems) were common from everyone who has experienced Utopia VR.

Utopia VR will continue to offer an all-free service to users after the Company enters the launch phase in the next few months. When the Company launches, exciting, feature-rich paid packages will also be available.

David Martin, VP of global operations, said, I was fortunate enough to be involved in companies leading the charge in global digital disruption over the past 20 years. I believe the transition from todays one-dimensional websites and mobile phones over to tomorrows three-dimensional, web-based representation and expression will be more dramatic. This technology advancement will be looked back upon as an instrumental pivot point that greatly influenced a new way of interacting and a brand-new digital future.

Timmu Tke, CEO and co-founder of Wolf3d, designer of the avatars utilized in Utopia VRs VRooms, stated, Last year made it clear that remote collaboration is going to be the future of work. We are excited to work with companies like Utopia VR that make these immersive tools a reality today. Utopia VR has joined our growing list of 500+ companies who are integrating Ready Player Me avatars into their apps and games. Users of the platform can travel between these experiences using a consistent digital identity.

About Utopia VR (Apex VR Holdings Inc.)

Apex VR Holdings Inc. (Apex) is doing business as Utopia VR. Apex is a diversified remote tech solutions company. The members of the Apex management team have extensive experience in technology and innovation and have been employed or worked in third-party capacities with technology companies such as Microsoft and Skype. In addition, the management team members have backgrounds in both the private and public financial markets and have led junior-listed public offerings for companies that have realized billion-dollar market valuations.

Trademarks: The Metaverse for Everyone, VRoom, VRooms

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARDStuart GrayPresident

For Media inquiries stuart@utopiavr.com Office: 250-868-0787

Tech journalists are invited to interview Mr. Gray and produce stories while experiencing the Utopia VR platform.

For sales, business development and general inquiries

email: kevin@utopiavr.com

To schedule a virtual tour demoemail: jazmin@utopiavr.com

For technical inquiries email: cory@utopiavr.com

For more information, visit our website: http://www.utopiavr.com

Wire Service Contact InvestorWireLos Angeles, Californiawww.InvestorWire.com212.418.1217Editor@InvestorWire.com

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Utopia VR Enters the Metaverse, Releasing Its Mobile App in the Apple Store to Enable Users to Power Avatar-Driven Virtual Meetings, Social Meetups...

In the earliest days of his career, the twenty-two-year-old musician Lil NasX was a poster child for success on TikTok, after the platform helped propel his song Old Town Road to unprecedented ubiquity. Lately, hes grown into something more old-fashioned: a music-video star. Pop culture is more visual than ever, but the traditional music videoin all its cinematic, big-budget gloryhas been overtaken by bite-size, off-the-cuff material tailored for rapid consumption on social media. Still, the extravagant music video has become the most effective way for Lil NasX, a master of visual iconography, to make a splash. In March, he released a video for a new single titled Montero (Call Me by Your Name), which begins with a voice-over: In life, we hide the parts of ourselves we dont want the world to see.... But here we dont. Welcome to Montero. Lil NasX, born Montero Lamar Hill, was using his given name for a fantastical underworld of his own making, a pastel-colored utopia where everyone could fly a freak flag. Rendered in C.G.I., the video follows Lil NasX through a baroque, Boschian netherland, populated by outrageously costumed clones of the artist, and crackling with sexual charge.

For Lil NasX, who revealed in 2019 that he is gay, Montero signalled a new and emphatically libidinal phase in his art. At the end of the video, the singer, dressed in nothing but a pair of briefs and thigh-high boots, slides down a never-ending stripper pole and lands in a version of Hell, where he performs a striptease for Satan. As part of the rollout for the video, Lil NasX announced a collaboration with a company called MSCHF, which designed a limited-edition run of satanic-themed Nikes, each allegedly containing a drop of human blood in its sole. The video was raunchy, sure, but it was too absurdist to be as salacious as its naysayers made it out to be. Nevertheless, after the release of the video and the sneakers, Lil NasX was decried by Christian pastors, Fox News, and even the South Dakota governor, Kristi Noem. (We are in a fight for the soul of our nation, she tweeted.) The critiques only affirmed Lil NasXs intuitive ability to create a major moment in pop culture. Montero the songa hand-clappy fusion of hip-hop and flamenco with lyrics about Lil NasXs desperate longing for one manwas almost beside the point. Old Town Road lived in a psychedelic alternative universe, bridging the familiar with the futuristic. Montero positioned Lil NasX in pop musics present-day reality, which is not nearly as fun.

The frenzy of attention around the Montero video seemed only to fuel Lil NasXs taste for provocation. In July, he released the music video for a new single, Industry Baby, another ambitious visual feast, this time with a mischievous eye trained on the institution of prison. The clip features Lil NasX as an inmate at Montero State Prison, a place where the prisoners wear bright-pink uniforms, and sometimes nothing at all. Riffing on Black male sexuality in the context of incarceration, Lil NasX performs an energetic dance routine in the showers with his fellow-inmates. The song, which nods to some of the hip-hop pumping out of Lil NasXs home town of Atlanta, contains a triumphant horn arrangement and a swaggering chorus: This one is for the champions. It also has a forgettable guest verse by Jack Harlow, the faintly charming, cocksure white rapper du jour. (Near the end of the video, Lil NasX escapes the prison when one of the guards is distracted by watching the video for Montero (Call Me by Your Name).) Not since Lady Gaga in her early days of stardom has an artist so fully taken advantage of the music video as a receptacle for camp, comedy, social commentary, and ostentation. And as with Lady Gaga theres some cognitive dissonance involved in the pairing of such over-the-top videos with otherwise unremarkable pop songs. Since Old Town Road, Lil NasX has yet to produce a song that feels worthy of such pomp.

He may never need to. In todays pop ecosystem, music is often a vessel for stardom and charisma, not the other way around. And Lil NasXs uncanny understanding of the Internets attention economy has seldom failed him. In 2018, he was a college student in Atlanta reportedly managing a popular Nicki Minaj fan account on Twitter. He began recording songs, and promoting them by attaching them to memes that were already going viral. After dropping out of school, he recorded Old Town Road, a rudimentary country song filled with hip-hop Easter eggs, not necessarily because he was interested in inverting genre tropes but because hed noticed that country trap was trending online. As anyone with a pulse knows, his strategies worked: his remix of Old Town Road, featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, became the longest-running No. 1 song in history, a track with a miraculous ability to transcend cultural and generational divides.

Montero (Call Me by Your Name), on the strength of the music video, also shot to No. 1, and helped transform Lil NasX from a one-hit wonder into a full-fledged pop star. It underscored his savvy, although to characterize him as a marketing genius, as many have done, ignores his burgeoning artistic talents. The song, along with Industry Baby, turned Lil NasX into an icon because of his unrestrained expressions of queer sexual desire. Unlike some of his most successful contemporariessuch as Frank Ocean or Tyler, the CreatorLil NasX refuses to participate in the game of coyness when it comes to his sexuality. (Im queer, ha! he says on Industry Baby.)

But his new, full-length album, also called Montero, is not the bawdy romp that fans might have anticipated. If those singles were about Lil NasXs desires, the album is largely about the disappointment arising from passions left unfulfilled, or the melancholy that floods in once youve got what you want. Lil NasX has refuted the assumption that hed never have a hit after Old Town Road, but the accomplishment comes with a host of new demands and stressors, and it has not granted his every wish. Even the albums most cheerful and peppy songs are backlit with innocent yearning: I want someone to love / Thats what I fuckin want! he shouts on a track called Thats What I Want. Co-written by Ryan Tedder, the song is a whirligig of whoops and claps that seems designed for the wedding dance floor. Like much of this mostly wholesome record, it is hardly an expression of demonic lust or sexual debasement.

Old Town Road, at the peak of its popularity, generated a heated discussion about the boundaries of genre. Initially, Lil NasX had classified the song as country, but as it gained velocity Billboard removed the song from its country chart, arguing that his label had not promoted it as a proper country track. At the time, the decision seemed strange, especially given how stylistically broad the country charts were becoming. Old Town Road assumed such cultural force that these distinctions now feel irrelevant, but the success of the song helped fuel an evolution in the crossover between hip-hop and country. Monteroa pop-rap album that shares almost no DNA with country musicis less interested in musical innovation. Its genre agnostic, a blur of hi-hats, guitar flourishes, and midrange trap beats that make you wonder whom, exactly, the record is intended for. Its an awkward vehicle for Lil NasXs charisma. It points to the insufficiency of the album as a format for the modern pop star.

The back half of Montero takes an unexpected turn toward the morose and the introspective. On one song, Void, Lil NasX pens a letter to an old friend to let him know that the exuberance of his public image is all smoke and mirrors. The song is spare, with a bleary electric-guitar line but not much else; in the open space, Nas is able to use his vocals to mark the contours of his emotions more delicately than on his other songs. I spent inordinate mounts of time / Trapped in a lonely, loner life / Looking for love where Im denied, he sings mournfully in a half whisper, as if in a confessional booth. Weve experienced Lil NasX as an Internet troll, a hypersexual provocateur, a pop star with a Warholian visual sensibility, but Montero shows something different: a human being.

Link:

The Unexpected Introspection of Lil Nas Xs Montero - The New Yorker

PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN A large artwork set up headed to Prospect Parks bandshell will think about a utopia the place partitions of separation are damaged down.

The piece, created by artist Emily Oliveira, is about to debut on the Lena Horne Bandshell on Friday and can be on show via subsequent May, the Prospect Park Alliance introduced this week.

The 19-foot by 28-foot mural options people, bugs, goddesses and different beings becoming a member of to dismantle a brick wall as a logo of rebirth for the post-COVID period, in line with the group. It is totally titled We Are At a Moment That Will Be Remembered as the Beginning of the Great Change, For Who Can Say When a Wall Is Ready To Come Down.

Emily Oliveira offers a utopian vision of a future that tantalizes but doesnt overpromise, stated Jenny Gerow, Contemporary Art Curator at BRIC and curator of the mural.

As the title reflects, who can say when the wall is ready to come down? Still present in the foreground and the background are the remnants of the present, systems of hierarchy and oppression. The artist is masterful in the art of seduction, often achieved in her textile-based work, through the use of shiny and silky textiles and embroidery, but here created through vibrant color and the temptation of touch and care we all have longed for over the past year.

The artwork piece is put in place by BRIC, the Alliance and towns Parks Department.

It will debut with a gap celebration from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday on the bandshell, which was one in all 16 parks websites throughout the 5 boroughs renamed for outstanding Black New Yorkers earlier this year.

Oliveira, whos a masters candidate at Yale, was impressed by WPA federal mural initiatives and Mexican muralism in creating the work. Her artwork is rooted in queer principle and science fiction, together with those that embrace the potential to collectively imagine a new cultural and social fabric, organizers stated.

In Oliveiras conception of utopia, leisure and frivolity can and must coexist with direct action: milk and honey with fire and brimstone, they wrote. In this landscape, leisure and care are not seen as idle tasks but upheld as the driving force of radical change.

The artwork piece will exchange a former set up on the bandshell that was put in place final fall.

The new piece can be on show till May 31, 2022.

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New 28-Foot Art Piece To Debut At Prospect Parks Bandshell - News Chant USA

Britney Spears says the story of her conservatorship still isnt being correctly portrayed in the media, claiming that a lot of a new documentary on the subject is simply not true.

The pop star posted a video of herself on Instagram on Monday posing in a white crop top and matching shorts using the caption to address a new documentary about her which she doesnt mention by name, but according to a source who spoke to Page Six is in reference to CNNs Toxic: Britney Spears Battle for Freedom, which aired on Sunday. Its really crazy guysI watched a little bit of the last documentary and I hate to inform you but a lot of what you heard is not true !!!, Spears wrote. I really try to disassociate myself from the drama!!! Number onethats the past!!! Number twocan the dialogue get any classier??? Number threewow they used the most beautiful footage of me in the world!!! What can I saythe EFFORT on their part!!! According to Page Six, the post was deleted shortly after it was posted and then later reposted with the not true portion removed and I must say I scratched my head a couple of times!!! added in its place.

The singers post came shortly after her lawyer Mathew Rosengart told the Los Angeles Superior Court in a filing on Monday obtained by Page Six that Jamie Spears has allegedly engaged in horrifying and unconscionable invasions of his adult daughters privacy. Rosengart was specifically addressing new revelations by The New York Times that claim Jamie hired security to secretly record his daughter. Specifically, the [New York] Times reported that [Jamie] and others ran an intense surveillance apparatus that monitored [Ms. Spearss] communications and also evidently captured attorney-client communications with her prior lawyera sacrosanct part of the legal system, Rosengart told the court. The recordings also allegedly include conversation between Britney and her two teenage children with ex-husband Kevin Federline, Sean Preston and Jayden James, which could be a felony under California law given that both boys are underage and thus unable to give permission to be recorded.

In response to to the Times latest reporting, a lawyer for Jamie issued a statement that read, All of his actions were well within the parameters of the authority conferred upon him by the court. His actions were done with the knowledge and consent of Britney, her court-appointed attorney, and/or the court. Jamies record as conservatorand the courts approval of his actionsspeak for themselves.

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Britney Spears Says a Lot of the New Documentary About Her Is Not True - Vanity Fair

By Pamela Bedore, Ph.D.,University of Connecticut Theres a utopian impulse associated with the cyborg, and with the cyberpunk genre. (Image: LightField Studios/Shutterstock)Defining a Cyborg

I would rather be a cyborg than a goddess. This is the closing line of literary critic Donna Haraways very famous 1984 essay, A Cyborg Manifesto. What exactly does she mean by that? Well, first we need to think about a cyborg.

There are a lot of different definitions for cyborg, but broadly, we usually think of a cyborg as a hybrid, a combination of organic and mechanical matter. Our imaginations might jump immediately to science fiction, to the Cybermen of Doctor Who, the replicants of Bladerunner, or the Cylons of Battlestar Galacticabeings neither human nor machine, beings that certainly dont exist in our world today.

But the term is also used for much less science-fiction technologies, including medical devices. A person with a pacemaker or an artificial hip might be considered a cyborg since her organic matter is combined with a mechanism that ensures her survival and wellbeing.

Under that definition, cyborgs are actually quite common in our world today. Some people even go so far as to argue that a human being with a cell phone that is central to her wellbeing and identity can be thought of as a cyborg. Because really, that cellphone, although not literally implanted into the persons forearm, is so present in the hand or pocket that the person can be seen as having a cyborg presence in the world.

This is a transcript from the video series Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature. Watch it now, on Wondrium.

Donna Haraway would rather be a cyborg than a goddess. Why? A goddess is the most powerful female presence in a universe, right? And yet, the goddess is still defined by a masculine term, the god. One of the great questions of the feminist utopians of the 1970s is, what would a world without gender binaries look like?

The concept of the cyborg, for Haraway and others, might be a way to actually get there, to get to a utopian place in which gender differences are neither divisive nor laden with power imbalances. Its not that a cyborg is stronger than the human or the machine. Instead, it allows us to think beyond our binaries. To think beyond human and machine as opposites, beyond male and female as opposites.

Learn more about utopian hybridity.

Thats why theres a utopian impulse associated with the cyborg, and with the cyberpunk genre that developed in the 1980s withsuch foundational novels as William Gibsons Neuromancer, a sci-fi adventure novel that takes cyberspace as a major setting and computer hackers as the central characters. Cyberpunk novels often feature advanced information technology that allows much of the action to take place in cyberspace rather than physical space, with an emphasis on the dangers and the pleasures of the spaces between the cyber and physical worlds.

This means that the characters who navigate cyberspace, whether they have implanted devices or not, are often punks, performing identities often subversive identitiesthat are not dependent on their physical bodies.

How does someone perform an identity? Well, on a basic level, a 14-year-old girl may have an avatar who looks just like her. Or, she might have an avatar thats a thirty-year-old security specialist with an alpha-male body and personality, and she gets treated as such within cyberspace.

In all three casesher physical self or either cyber selfa combination of her appearance and her behavior affect how she is treated by other people in that world. Thats what we mean by performing an identity, and we all do it, all the time, even when we arent conscious of it. In part because of the power of any user to enact a new and different identity, cyberpunk is a perfect genre for thinking about the conflict between the individual and society, a conflict we see at the center of much utopian literature.

Learn more about apocalyptic fiction.

We might initially think of a punk as an undesirable person, perhaps a hoodlum, in the vein of A Clockwork Oranges Alex DeLarge. But if you have a totalitarian society, a straight-up dystopia, as Anthony Burgess and others have shown, a punk can be a hero, someone who subverts the power structures.

Cyberpunk privileges the outsider, or sometimes the group of outsiders, who are usually young and incredibly talented hackers, and who mount a seemingly impossible attack against the megacorporations that attempt to fully control cyberspace, which is impossible when punks like our heroes are there to preserve the freedoms of the individual, often through completely illegal means.

As we see repeatedly, wheretheres utopian potential, theres also dystopian potential. So whether youre an adult reading YA cyberpunk and wondering what the world is coming to or youre a teenager whose own generation is the object of scrutiny in these books, you come to the same point.

Through satire or earnestwhat Tom Moylan would call critical utopia and classical utopiawe get at the same anxieties about contemporary American society. The internet has amazing potential to create a better, more egalitarian world, but we may be going about it all wrong in allowing totalitarian governments or corporations to control it, which may lead us to create not only a more oppressive world but a new generation of young people who rely on technology without truly understanding it.

Imagining a utopian future in the 21st century means committing to understand technology, not just as a user but as a creator. And whether youre mocking or admiring, you can see that the cyborg isnt just a representation of a possible dream of a future that moves beyond hierarchies and binaries. For better or worse, the cyborg is here.

We usually think of a cyborg as a hybrid, a combination of organic and mechanical matter. But the term is also used for much less science-fiction technologies, including medical devices. A person with a pacemaker or an artificial hip might be considered a cyborg.

The concept of the cyborg might be a way to get to a utopian place in which gender differences are neither divisive nor laden with power imbalances. A cyborg allows us to think beyond binaries. To think beyond human and machine as opposites, beyond male and female as opposites.

Cyberpunk privileges the outsiders, who are usually young and incredibly talented hackers, and who mount a seemingly impossible attack against the megacorporations that attempt to fully control cyberspace.

See more here:

Cyborgs and Cyberpunk Dystopian Fiction - The Great Courses Daily News

Looking for the New World server list? There are plenty of New World servers available at launch for North America East, North America West, Central Europe, Australia, and South America. Some of these servers have suggested languages, but otherwise they have no further focus PvP, roleplay, or otherwise so it can be a little confusing figuring out where to make your character.

If youre on the lookout for New World streamer servers, there are a fair few substantial communities that have already pledged their allegiance to particular servers. This fact may be important for you to consider when deciding on a New World server, as these servers could be imbalanced when it comes to New World PvP if thousands of people choose the same New World faction as their streamer of choice.

Its also important to remember that different servers will launch at different times when the New Worldreleasetime arrives, starting with the EU servers. Names are global, so there may be a New World server queue as players scramble to secure their names before anyone else. Here are all the New World servers available at launch

On EU, there are several officially suggested servers for different languages, but there are also a fewother servers with a high number of players from one particular country. A significant Dutch population plan to play on Barri, and a large number of Russian players on Hyperborea. There is a Polish community playing on Karkar, a Swedish and Finnish interest in Midgard, and several Hungarian companies on Muspelheim.

As for streamers impact, several prominent streamers plan to play on Hades, Inferni, and Jotunheim, according to theStreamers on New Worldfansite.

The most significant streamer servers on NA East are Olympus, where Asmongolds community (Marauders) plans to go, and Valgrind, which is where StoneMountain64s community (Syndicate) is heading.

In NA West, most of the streamers plan to congregate on El Dorado.

Australian servers dont have many pledged big streamers, but many players plan to assemble on Utopia to guarantee a high population server.

These are all the New World servers that will be live at launch, but there may be changes depending on how the launch goes. If youre setting out on your New World adventure for the first time, check out our New World beginners guide, New World leveling guide, and find out how to play New World with friends.

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New World server list and streamer servers to join or avoid - PCGamesN