“After the team at Botnik fed the seven Harry Potter novels through their predictive text keyboard, it came up with a chapter from a new Harry Potter story: ‘Harry Potter and the Portrait of What Looked Like a Large Pile of Ash’.” Here’s one choice sentence: “He saw Harry and immediately began to eat Hermione’s family.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
America’s First Gospel Music Museum To Open In Chicago
The National Museum of Gospel Music, with a planned opening in 2020, “[will be] on the site once occupied by Pilgrim Baptist Church, known as the birthplace of gospel.”
How Ridley Scott’s Team Erased Kevin Spacey From A Film And Edited In Christopher Plummer
When allegations of sexual abuse and harassment by Spacey came out in the fall, he became PR poison, and all Hollywood ran the other way. Sony was inclined to withdraw the planned Christmas release All the Money in the World, in which Spacey played the late billionaire J. Paul Getty III – until director Ridley Scott convinced the studio to let him – on an incredibly tight schedule – reshoot and splice in Getty’s scenes with Christopher Plummer in the role. Brooks Barnes reports on how they pulled it off.
A ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ For The #MeToo Moment
“Since Harvey Weinstein’s unraveling, the list of cultural heavy-hitters accused of sexual misconduct has been growing at a dizzying clip, particularly in Hollywood. Enter Rotten Apples: a searchable database introduced on Tuesday that informs users which films or television shows are connected to those accused of sexual harassment or worse.”
Pianist Willie Pickens, 86, Giant Of Chicago Jazz
“[He was] revered in Chicago – and around the world – not only as a colossal piano virtuoso but as a symbol of Chicago jazz. … [He] summoned immense masses of sound at the piano without succumbing to a percussive clatter. Add to this the extraordinary velocity he could achieve, as well as the melodic and harmonic ingenuity of his improvisations, and you had a pianist held in awe by colleagues and students alike.”
PBS Suspends ‘Tavis Smiley Show’ Amid Charges Of ‘Misconduct’
“[An] investigation found credible allegations that Smiley had engaged in sexual relationships with multiple subordinates, sources said…. In general, witnesses described Smiley as creating a verbally abusive and threatening environment that went beyond what could be expected in a typical high-pressure work environment.”
Merriam-Webster’s 2017 Word Of The Year: ‘Feminism’
Beating out Dictionary.com’s more disheartening choice, “complicit”, “feminism” saw searches spike by 70% over last year – thanks to the Women’s March, #MeToo, and (we’re afraid so) Kellyanne Conway.
3,500-Year-Old Burial Mural Found In Egypt
Two tombs, dated to the 18th Dynasty (1550-1292 B.C.) and containing mummies and funeral goods as well as a large mural, were excavated and uncovered in Luxor.
Disney Co. Reaches Deal To Buy Most Of 21st Century Fox
“The Walt Disney Company said on Thursday that it had reached a deal to buy most of the assets of 21st Century Fox, the conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, in an all-stock transaction valued at roughly $52.4 billion. … The once unthinkable acquisition promises to reshape Hollywood and Silicon Valley.”
For Second Time, Jock Sturges Photos Vandalized In Moscow For ‘Promoting Pedophilia’
“A Russian nationalist activist has vandalised Absence of Shame, an exhibition by American photographer Jock Sturges at a Moscow photography gallery for the second time in just over a year after already targeting it last year for allegedly promoting paedophilia.”