Category: media

“We have seen a marked diminution in the production of new utopias over the last decades (along with an overwhelming increase in all manner of conceivable dystopias, most of which look monotonously alike).”

“[Peter Jackson] admitted even he had been surprised by what was possible using the latest technology. ‘We can make this grainy, flickery, sped-up footage look like it was shot in the last week or two,’ he said. ‘It looks like it was shot with high-definition cameras … It is so sharp and clear now.'”

It started when just over a dozen cadets at the air transport academy, wearing very little, did a lip-synch cover of Benny Benassi’s “Satisfaction.” The effect was rather Tom of Finland, which got them in trouble when the powers-that-be found the video online. Masha Gessen recounts what happened next – “a story of spontaneous solidarity, self-organization, and, ultimately, just possibly, the triumph of freedom over bureaucracy.”

Last fall, a judge ruled that the Pacifica Foundation was in default for $1.8 million in unpaid fees for New York station WBAI’s use of transmitters on top of the Empire State Building. Scrambling to keep the creditors from seizing Pacifica’s assets, the foundation has essentially mortgaged the building of its Los Angeles station.

“It’s true that individual Hollywood stars have more power than the average woman who finds out that she’s being underpaid. They can go public, knowing their stories will count as news and that they have fans who will rally to them. But the storm of coverage conceals an uncomfortable truth: For all their fame, women in the entertainment industry may have a harder time securing long-term pay equity than their counterparts in less glamorous industries.”

“Violent mobs have rampaged through several Indian cities this week in a last-ditch effort to stop the film [Padmaavat], based on a five-century old poem about a Hindu queen, Padmini, who immolates herself rather than be captured by a conquering ruler. … The film crew has been attacked, sets have been vandalised, hardliners have threatened to mutilate the lead actor and Indian states have pleaded with the supreme court and prime minister to ban the film.”

The country’s Culture Ministry has revoked the distribution license for this English-language satire conceived and directed by Armando Ianucci – two days before the film’s release date and two months after culture minister Vladimir Medinsky insisted that it would be shown in Russia. After a special screening Monday night, one culture official called the film “blasphemous”; another described it as “vile, repugnant and insulting.”

Montana is the first state to take action to encourage broadband providers to follow the principles of net neutrality, but others, including California, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington are considering legislative action. Meanwhile, New York City officials published a request for information about how the city can best monitor the connection speeds and network performance of broadband providers. Mayor Bill de Blasio promised the city would do “everything within our power to keep the internet open and accessible for all” after the FCC voted to repeal its rules.

“Roseanne Barr is now a Ghost of Television Past, so strange and contradictory it’s hard to believe she was once one of America’s biggest TV stars. From her prime-time pedestal, she brought all kinds of progressive notions about gender and class to the homes of a nation convulsed by a culture war. She found a way to turn the insult of being poor and a woman inside out: Although Roseanne Conner sometimes pretends to be lazy and a lousy mom, she is neither.”

“Reached in Paris hours after receiving the Academy nod, [the 89-year-old] Varda, for her part, seemed cheery but basically unconcerned. She brushed off the notion the Oscar nomination is any kind of crowning achievement – even if [the documentary] Faces Places will stand as her final film.”