Björk is currently working on her next studio album, which will be released in 2015. That’s what it says on her Facebook page, anyway, in a post explaining why Björk would not be able to attend the London premiere of her new concert movie, Biophilia Live.
Björk’s last studio album was 2011’s Biophilia, an “interdisciplinary project” composed of museum installations, apps, live ...
High speed rail may be an efficient way to get large numbers of people between two high-traffic destinations, but it does pose some problems. One is the recently-confirmed existence of "ground vibration booms." These are sonic booms that happen underground.
Recently, writer and personal hero Neil Gaiman expressed his displeasure on Tumblr about the complete lack of female writers on Doctor Who. Now, he’s giving some practical advice on how we can fix that.
Tumblr user LenyBerry asked Gaiman what his advice would be for someone looking to pitch the BBC with a Doctor Who story, spin-off, or script idea. Here’s Gaiman’s advice:
I’m thrilled that you want to write for Doctor Who. It definitely needs some women writing for it.
If you’re serious — and I assume you are: the BBC can be stubborn, yes, but possibly not as stubborn as you imagine. They really want writers. They may be more stubborn about Doctor Who, mostly because it’s their flagship show. If they are hiring a writer, they want to know that they are hiring someone who can do it, who, having pitched a great idea will, at least, turn in a script that they can shoot.
So my advice to anyone who really wants to write specifically for Doctor Who would be, write stuff that’s going to get you noticed, write stuff as a calling card. Write plays. Make fantastic, well-written, small cheap films with friends, write short stories and books and comics, do things so that when you ask to write Doctor Who they get excited. It’s the BBC’s flagship show, and if you are going to write an episode, make them want you.
Gaiman goes on to say that writing for the BBC isn’t (and shouldn’t be) about “who you know,” but rather about your talent level, and that the BBC actively wants new writers and new voices. Gaiman also clarifies that his original note about women writers was “wistful,” and not at all to be interpreted as “an attack on the Doctor Who team or anyone on the team” because Moffat is, like, totally trying, guys:
In the six years I’ve been working with the Doctor Who team, the producers and script editors I’ve directly worked with (four out of six of whom have been women) have had a lot of attention on getting women writers onto the team. They’ve reached out to a lot of women writers — I know that Steven Moffat has personally been in touch with a lot of female writers and been defeated over and over by scheduling problems, and people saying no, and been as frustrated as anybody (probably much more frustrated as he’s the one reaching out). It’s a priority for them too.
Gaiman recommends checking out the BBC Writersroom program, which will read any and all unsolicited scripts for film, radio, TV, or stage. Ladies, getting your write on and start submitting. Silence knows the show needs it.
If you were going to submit an episode of Who to the Writersroom, what would it be about?
(via anon e-mail tipster)
Previously in Doctor Who
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Notorious dictators may not be the people we typically associate with methamphetamine, but a report claims that, during World War II, Adolf Hitler regularly took methamphetamines for a variety of ailments, including the drug Pervitin, a precursor to crystal meth.
A hapless little squirrel inadvertently startles a sleeping giant panda named Er Shun at the Toronto Zoo. The surprise was only temporary as Er Shun turned around and went right back to her nap.
Toronto Zoo’s giant panda Er Shun experienced an unexpected visitor while taking a nap. Clearly she wasn’t that startled, as it didn’t take long for her to go back to sleep!
Er Shun and her friend Da Mao arrived at the Toronto Zoo in May 2014 and are currently thriving on all the bamboo they can eat. The hope is that the two will breed and help grow the currently endangered population.
..the pandas will be in Canada for at least 10 years (a minimum of five years at the Toronto Zoo and five years at the Calgary Zoo) as of March 2013. The two giant pandas that have joined Toronto Zoo’s family are Er Shun (female) and Da Mao (male). The name ‘Er Shun’ means ‘Double Smoothness’. Er Shun was born at the Chongqing Zoo on August 10, 2007 and was raised by her mother. Da Mao was born on September 1, 2008 at the Chengdu Research Base of Panda Breeding. This pair was chosen as a good genetic match for breeding…The giant panda is one of the most beloved animals in the world and is perhaps the most powerful symbol in the world for wildlife conservation. It is also one of the most endangered species in the world, with only around 1,600 left in the wild.
Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas promises to rescue the holiday from those whose “bad case of religious bah humbugs” has driven them to eradicate all nativity scenes and replace “Merry Christmas” with godless niceties. But Christmas may never make it now, thanks to another, equally credible threat: As Cameron explains in this newest trailer, the film was recently hit by “an anti-Christian group out of Turkey, of all places, who hijacked our website and replaced our trailer with some hate-filled propaganda and promises to destroy… well, everything that Christmas is all about.” Indeed, they promise to unleash a bah humbug so great, it could annihilate the very world. And the world is where Christmas happens.
As first reported by Glenn Beck’s The Blaze—easily the Variety of whatever Kirk Cameron is doing—the Saving Christmas website was taken over by Ayyildiz Tim International Force, a group that has also ...
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
Irish Independent |
Chris Brown has been slammed for describing the Ebola outbreak as ... Irish Independent Published 14/10/2014 | 10:01. 0 Comments; Share. Facebook · Twitter · Google · Email. Chris Brown has been criticised for his Ebola tweet. Chris Brown has been slammed for describing the Ebola outbreak as "population control". Share. Facebook · Twitter ... Chris Brown calls Ebola a 'form of population control'Hindustan Times Chris Brown calls Ebola a form of population controlFox News Chris Brown 'Ebola Population Control' Outburst Causes AngerGuardian Liberty Voice BET -Al-Arabiya -gulfnews.com all 141 news articles » |
Anyone can now test out Mailbox for OS X. The Dropbox-owned email app has done away with its waitlist and is now letting all comers try Mailbox on the desktop. We took a first look at Mailbox's move to Mac in August and came away impressed. There were bugs, sure, and presumably some of those remain since Mailbox is still very much in beta; the difference now is it's a beta that anyone can participate in. No more waiting around for "betacodes." Mailbox for OS X is super fast and makes quick work of getting your inbox under control. And if you already use the mobile app, you can pass off drafts between devices or make sure a particular email is at the top of your message list the next time you're in front of a Mac.
Mailbox's swipe gestures can instantly "snooze" messages and have them reappear when you need them — you can push them off to later in the day or even the next month. Any chances you make on Dropbox for Mac are reflected in the smartphone app almost instantly and vice versa. If using Gmail in a desktop browser isn't quite doing it for you, or if other third-party email clients are falling short, Mailbox may be worth a quick look. And since it's free, you don't lose anything by trying it out.
Many Americans have recently expressed concerns with the increasing use of military gear by police departments in this country, especially in the wake of the police response to protests in Ferguson, Missouri (protests that were themselves sparked by a lethal police shooting). While it is very easy to focus on militarization after seeing jarring pictures of police pointing automatic rifles at demonstrators, a separate but no less questionable practice has been quietly taking root at some of America's biggest police departments in the past decade. As ProPublica reports, the police departments of New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Oakland have all turned to private police foundations in recent years to acquire new crime fighting and law enforcement gear — everything from horses for mounted police units to spy software developed by intelligence contractor Palantir (a grateful LAPD appeared in the following 2013 advertisement for Palantir's crime investigation platform, which knits together data from a variety of sources, from police reports to license plate readers).
These police foundations are considered charities, and the equipment they buy for police departments is typically given as "gifts" or "donations." The his process allows police departments to get their hands on controversial new equipment without having to spend money from their budgets — which have been slashed in the wake of the 2009 recession — and without getting approval from public authorities such as city council members, according to ProPublica. In a further note of concern, large corporations including Palantir and Motorola have donated to police foundations that later purchased their technology. While company spokespersons said the practices were sound, ProPublica's diligent investigation reveals that, at the very least, more public oversight of the relationship between police foundations and departments would be helpful in keeping track of what exactly the police have at their disposal and how it got there.
[TRIGGER WARNING: Discussion of sexual assault]
For those who are raped, a post-assault exam can be a long and harrowing experience. But if the rapist is to be convicted and taken off the streets, it’s crucial that a rape kit of evidence be gathered and then matched against databases to try and locate the perpetrator.
So imagine how a woman feels who has gone through the rape-kit procedure only to learn that the evidence is just sitting in a police storage facility, untested.
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The issue of rape-kit backlogs has been on the feminist front burner for years now, and Congress has moved forward in providing funds to test kits. Indeed, President Obama signed the Debbie Smith Restoration Act of 2014 just a couple of weeks ago, which authorizes $151 million in grants to test unexamined DNA evidence kits. But still, too many cities have not cleared their backlogs.
The latest report from the Joyful Heart Foundation, founded by actor Mariska Hargitay, reveals four cities lagging far behind in their testing:
—Las Vegas reported 4,385 untested rape kits, with only 16 percent of kits collected from 2004 to 2014 being sent out for analysis.
—Milwaukee has a backlog of 2,655 kits, while the rest of Wisconsin has reported another 3,351 untested kits.
—Tulsa has 3,783 untested rape kits, dating from 1989 to 2011.
—Seattle reported 1,276 untested rape kits, with only 22 percent of kits collected from 2004 to 2014 being sent for analysis.
As Hargitay said in a statement,
To me, the rape kit backlog is one of the clearest and most shocking demonstrations of how we regard sexual assault in our society. A rape kit can bring justice, so often an integral part of a survivor’s healing. Testing rape kits sends a fundamental and crucial message to victims of sexual violence: You matter.
DNA evidence is critical to stopping rapists: An estimated 91 to 95 percent of rapes are committed by serial rapists—and serial offenders commit an average of six rapes each—so stopping them after the first offense could prevent untold numbers of crimes. Testing rape kits is the first step to getting these offenders off the streets.
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Photo courtesy of Flickr user CrashIntoTheSun licensed under Creative Commons 2.0.
firehose"OH MY GOD, I just looked it up online. Paul Feig, cast me now! Start a Twitter petition! I'm free!!!!!" she wrote, [emphasis in original]. "I'm free I'm free and I'm funny, goddamnit!"
X-Files and Hannibal actor Gillian Anderson took part in a Reddit question and answer session to promote her new book, and of course fans asked about the possibility of more X-Files. I can't imagine she is able to buy groceries without someone asking about more X-Files. But her answer seemed at least slightly optimistic.
"Uh....uh... uh.. " she wrote when asked for news about a possible third X-Files movie. "Sorta kinda. Keep your ears to the ground."
Series creator Chris Carter has also discussed a third movie. "It's really up to Twentieth Century Fox, whether they have the will to do it. I think all of us are interested in putting the band back together. I have an idea for it in my head," he stated in an interview.
"The colonisation date has passed and that is something we wouldn't ignore in that story. When they came to us and asked us to do the second movie, they told us the budget limitations and we knew we wouldn't be able to do another mythology story," he continued. "So we did something much smaller and more intimate — I call it a standalone movie. But if we were going to go forward, I would go back to something that would really connect more to the mythology and to the first movie."
So there you go. Gillian Anderson drops hints that things may be moving forward, and the show's creator details what we can expect if a movie is ever put into production. The entire question and answer thread is interesting and often funny, although the idea of an all-female Ghostbusters film seems to excite Anderson more than any other question.
"OH MY GOD, I just looked it up online. Paul Feig, cast me now! Start a Twitter petition! I'm free!!!!!" she wrote, [emphasis in original]. "I'm free I'm free and I'm funny, goddamnit!"
Chip Kelly says team photo got done in 4:40. New record. "Most efficient photo I've ever seen. I'm not even joking."
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) October 13, 2014
Chip Kelly lives his life a quarter mile at a time. The Eagles coach embodies the idea of being quick and efficient, which extends from dismantling the New York Giants to taking team photos in under five minutes.
Having a photo session record of 4:40 means that Chip is timing his team photos. Now it's all about seeing if the Eagles can break that record.
Retro-focused publisher Tommo announced plans to revive and distribute a number of classic PC games via Steam, GOG.com, and other digital platforms as part of its newly announced Retroism initiative.
PC strategy games Sid Meier's Colonization,...
firehose'live viewing for SNL is simply dwindling, period, as more people opt to wait for sketches to turn up on the Internet the next day. (Or they’ve already caught them at a Groundlings show.)'
Despite a return from one of the show’s most valuable players and the most consistent batch of sketches seen this season, this weekend’s Bill Hader-hosted Saturday Night Live tied as the series’ lowest-rated ever. The numbers have been in decline since last season, and Hader’s episode dropped to a 1.8 average among adults 18 to 49, matching the Charlize Theron-hosted episode from May. That episode even had the added benefit of The Black Keys, whose music can otherwise only be heard if you were to turn on the radio right now or watch a TV commercial.
Still, tempting as it would be to lay everything at the feet of musical guest Hozier, he isn’t solely to blame for the lackluster viewership, any more than he’s to blame for not being a Canadian thrash metal band. One of the likeliest explanations is that live viewing ...
Axent Wear headphones feature external speakers that are housed in adorable cat ear-shaped enclosures. The headphones include a mic and individual switches for the external speakers and headphones. They come in a variety of LED-illuminated color accents. Axent Wear headphones were created by artist Wenqing Yan and entrepreneur Victoria Hu. The headphones are being pre-sold on Indiegogo. They are expected to be released in April 2015.
images via Axent Wear
Arthur Blank hinted that the NFL owners are considering lowering the commissioner's compensation.
Roger Goodell may very well end up surviving the Ray Rice scandal, but that doesn't mean the NFL commissioner won't pay a price for the mess he presided over. Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, chairman of the league's compensation committee, hinted at last week's owners meeting that Goodell could see a pay cut, Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal told Pro Football Talk.
"All of those factors will come into play and be under discussion," Blank said when asked whether the committee would consider lowering Goodell's compensation.
Goodell earned $44.2 million in the 12-month period ending on March 31, 2013, according to annual paperwork the league is required to file because of its status as a nonprofit.
It's worth noting that Blank, like most of the 32 NFL owners, has offered public support of Goodell in the wake of the Rice scandal.
"I think that Roger will do whatever is right for the league," Blank told USA Today Sports last week. "He is obviously looking at all of this from every viewpoint that we can.
Goodell has been under fire since granting Rice a lenient two-game suspension for knocking his then-fiancee unconscious in a casino elevator, a punishment that was eventually increased to an indefinite suspension after the public release of video of the incident. The scandal has only worsened amid allegations that the league had access to the incriminating video and attempted to cover it up. Goodell has consistently maintained that the league office never gained access to the video.
firehoseoh shit
