Category: media

Disenchantment, of which Netflix has ordered an initial 20 episodes, “is described as an adult fantasy about a crumbling medieval kingdom known as Dreamland. The central character is a hard-drinking princess, Bean, [with] her elf companion Elfo and her ‘personal demon’ Luci. The first 10 episodes are targeted to premiere next year.”

“At first glance, today’s video gamers and scientists might appear to be worlds apart. But starting with Tennis for Two, video games have quietly and consistently been within the purview of academic study. Each generation of gamers has seen new titles created at various research institutions in order to explore programming, human-computer interaction, and algorithms. Lesser-known chapters of history reveal these two worlds are not as far apart as you might think.”

When Emily Nussbaum saw that notorious televised Cabinet meeting, she realized she had to go back and look at The Apprentice.

“Television viewers, exposed to hundreds of different dialects every day, are increasingly aware of the tiniest differences in how people speak, even as the number and degree of distinctions continue to expand. … But the specificity isn’t relegated to stars. [Coach Samara] Bay says she was recently dispatched to the set of another TV show to work on a bit player’s Haitian Creole.”

With a near-simultaneous translation plan, “Kocowa offers U.S. audiences access to a lineup of Korean TV programs from all three broadcasters — KBS, MBC and SBS — as soon as six hours after they’re broadcast in Korea. The service will compete primarily with DramaFever, the Korean-entertainment streaming service owned by Warner Bros.”

Maybe? “This weekend, with $389 million from the domestic market, ‘Wonder Woman’ can add a new accomplishment to its arsenal — the highest-grossing movie of the summer. It’s also the second largest earner of 2017 behind another film centered on a female protagonist, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ ($504 million domestic).”

Yikes, BBC, do better (and faster): “Earlier this week, under new government rules, the BBC was required to publish a list of presenters making over £150,000, or about $200,000. The disclosure showed a glaring pay gap at the company. … In one example, John Humphrys, a male host on the flagship news show Radio 4 Today, earns between £600,000-£649,999. His female co-host, Sarah Montague, earns under £150,000.”

After – or during – a nearby festival celebrating the railway, “Eight teak carriages on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in Pickering had windows smashed overnight, with furniture and fixings also ruined. … Fire extinguishers were also set off throughout the carriages, soaking the furniture and wall fittings.”

Directors, showrunners, and cast members were at San Diego Comic-Con. “To hear them say it, Netflix could do no wrong. ‘I was able to do my shit here,’ Ayers said. ‘I was able to tell my fucking story. I was able to do my thing.'”

Why? Because that’s real, even if Wonder Woman, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Game of Thrones are al fantasies. “Challenging power is itself a liberal, anti-authoritarian act, which means that power’s answer is much less important than the act of posing the question, because that’s what speaking truth to power looks like. The feminist question is how much our culture is prepared to reconcile women and power. And on that question, the jury is very much out.”