The Tragedies of Others

“It is this greater poignancy of attacks in America that begs the question of whether the world’s allocations of sympathy are determined not by the magnitude of a tragedy—the numbers dead and injured—but by the contrast between a society’s normal and the cruel aftermath of a terrorist event. It is in America that the difference between the two is the greatest; the American normal is one of a near-perfect security that is unimaginable in many places, especially in countries at war.”

The Tragedies of Others, Guernica

The Civil Wars – The One That Got Away

New single from The Civil Wars’ upcoming album!

Olive Oil

The toast would taste better with egg, but there aren’t any,
so I pour a thimble-sized serving of olive oil on, to make it more

flavorful. I like the taste of olive oil. It reminds me of the time
when I was eighteen and jumped clear over the hood of my car

because I could. To be more specific, olive oil is the part where
I leave the ground and I’m in the air, halfway across. Right then,

before landing on the other side. That’s the taste of olive oil.
It also tastes the way Madagascar sounds when you say it

backwards. If there were olive oil cologne, I would wear it and if
there were olive oil goldfish, I would have two in a bowl on the

table. For some reason, it is also a man swallowing lighter
fluid because the pain in his belly is bigger than the Kalahari

Desert. But maybe that’s only when you drink it straight; and
sometimes it tastes like Brigitte Bardot. To be more specific,

in the scene where she is sunning naked in Capri, an impossibly
blue ocean wrestling with the sky in the distance.

-Paul Suntup, Rattle 

The Beauty of Space Photography -Off Book PBS

Space presents a fantastic mystery to human life. Unfathomably large, with characteristics that defy our experience and understanding, the stars have perplexed and amazed humanity for our entire recorded history, and likely before. In the present, astrophysicists and astronomers are aggressively studying the universe in an attempt to solve critical scientific and philosophical questions. One of the primary tools for measurement and observation is imaging using cameras connected to powerful telescopes on Earth and in space. And although it’s not the primary motivation for photographing space, beauty is one of the most intriguing byproducts. Images of space communicate the grandeur of the universe, and spark essential curiosities about what may be out there waiting for us once we make our way into the stars.

Featuring:
Emily Rice, American Museum of Natural History
Zolt Levay, Space Telescope Science Institute
David Hogg, New York University

Special thanks to NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute for the beautiful Hubble photos

Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke in “Before Midnight”

jesseceline

Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana on the Jonathan Ross Show

Neolithic Burial

When he died they hunched him up
like baby in womb, curled him
into a shallow scoop in the cave-floor,
planted him like a seed as he slowly stiffened,
covering his slumped and earthen limbs
with a layer of red ochre,
sprinkling him with wildflowers—
then turned away.

Moon comes back each month, so bright,
then curls itself into a dying crescent—
baby struggles out of a woman’s darkness—
petals of delicate blue, pale yellow, in the wet woods,
how do they know
when sun is past dying and comes
to life again?

This is older than cities or books,
older than prayers or earnest discussions,
older than farming,
something buried and burst open
long before words, ideas, church or temple or crudest holy place,
older even than itself,

this longing.

-Tim Myers, Rattle

Caffeine Frenzy: Advertising Against Child Abuse, Film Scripts, Daredevil, Whedon

Light-Bulb

Billboard Shows Different Messages for Kids and Adults – In this case, if the billboard is seen by children under 1.3 meters (about 4 feet 3 inches), then the message, “If somebody hurts you, phone us and we’ll help you” appears along with a phone number for the ANAR Foundation (Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk). There’s also a message just for adults, a warning saying, “Sometimes child abuse is only visible to the child suffering it.” (RT Mashable)

The Low-Grade Fever in the Southern Baptist Convention – “It’s easier to debate small matters with people who see the world much like we do than it is to engage with a lost world that seems increasingly hostile to the Christian perspective.” (RT The Gospel Coalition)

Solving Equation of a Hit Film Script, With Data- “A chain-smoking former statistics professor named Vinny Bruzzese — “the reigning mad scientist of Hollywood,” in the words of one studio customer — has started to aggressively pitch a service he calls script evaluation. For as much as $20,000 per script, Mr. Bruzzese and a team of analysts compare the story structure and genre of a draft script with those of released movies, looking for clues to box-office success.” (RT The New York Times)

What Can Marvel Do To Make Daredevil Work? Copy “Arrow” (Or, “Angel”) –
“With stories that are usually less about the action and more about the intrigue, and Daredevil solving crimes and prosecuting criminals at least as much as he’s kicking ass, there’s much more narrative potential for an ongoing superhero legal dramedy than another attempt at a blockbuster franchise. What would that show look, sound, and feel like? If you weren’t paying attention earlier, go ahead and re-read the title of this piece. So, hey, let’s make “Daredevil” a TV show, Marvel.”  (RT Pajiba)

“Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke.” – Joss Whedon

Life

coffeebooks

Shiny: BBC Drama, Iron Man 3, Neo-Noir Fiction

Set against the iconic backdrop of the War of the Roses, The White Queen is an adaptation of Philippa Gregory‘s bestselling historical novel series The Cousin’s War. This Summer on BBC One.

 

Iron Man 3 Review. “The problem that then presents itself is that post-Avengers, all of this has changed. The world has changed. Now there are gods and monsters and supermen out of time, not to mention aliens and Hulks and Cosmic Cubes and even death Himself made a brief appearance. The entire game has shifted, and as a result, we’re at a peculiar kind of crossroads with Tony Stark and his invention. Where does one go, in this brave and crazy new world? What will Iron Man’s new enemies look like in this bizarre new landscape, where literal worlds have been opened up to us?” (RT Pajiba)

“What is neo-noir fiction? It’s contemporary dark fiction. It was built on the backbone of classic noir and hardboiled fiction, but it’s evolved to be so much more than that. It is a genre-bending subgenre that includes edgy literary fiction, as well as fantasy, science fiction, and horror. It also touches on niche storytelling like magical realism, slipstream, transgressive, and the grotesque.” –10 Essential Neo-Noir Authors (RT Flavorwire)