Pink and Pretty Green
Heaven. Such a simple video, to such dramatic effect.
When do we stop finding new music? Not yet. (See immediately above.)
Civil Review War
I’ve enjoyed Alex Garland’s work over the years, both as writer for Danny Boyle on 28 Days Later, Sunshine and The Beach and as writer-director of Ex Machina and Annihiliation. His thoughtful, visually striking, near-future science fiction (as most of his films are) is my kind of entertainment. So I had been thinking I’d get along to Civil War, even though its reception had been mixed. My cousin was visiting last week and had liked it, so I took that as my prompt to go along on Saturday night.
Death and/or Destruction
How bad movie remasters happen.
How Disney lost the technology to do much better than green screen.
A common plastic additive is especially toxic for kids with autism and ADHD.
One possible reason Neanderthals went extinct.
The Jewish doctors who secretly documented the effects of Nazi starvation policies.
Horrors of War
An op-ed in Haaretz recently discussed Israel’s unconscious drive for self-destruction. There doesn’t seem much that’s unconscious, however, in an article that appeared recently on its use of AI to direct the bombing in Gaza, which must be the most horrifying article on AI this year. +972 Magazine, an independent site run by a group of Palestinian and Israeli journalists, reports that Israel’s Lavender targeting system has been deployed with “little human oversight and a permissive policy for casualties”. What oversight there is typically involves “twenty seconds to authorize a bombing … just to make sure the target is male”.