Around The Web | What We’re Reading
As a steady stream of the brightest stars has spoken out against one of Hollywood’s most powerful movie moguls, apparently Harvey Weinstein has checked into rehab, hoping to come out refreshed with some ‘new ideas’. Not everyone is convinced that this is a suitable response to decades of an unbelievable abuse of position. Next summer the world’s first women-only music festival is coming to Sweden, and if recent headlines are anything to go by, the waiting list will be full to the brim. Maybe all we need at this point in time is a lamp that stirs up a thunderstorm every time Trump tweets his inner thoughts, oh wait that is a thing…
Here’s what caught our attention this week:
“Do you think using furs today is still modern? I don’t think it’s still modern and that’s the reason why we decided not to do that. It’s a little bit out-dated. Creativity can jump in many different directions instead of using furs.” After a season full of PETA protests, Gucci announces that it is going fur-free, instead focusing its investment on new fabric innovations. Will this spark a new era across the fashion industry?
“Collisions tells the true story of Nyarri Morgan. In the 1950s Nyarri was living a traditional nomadic lifestyle in the Australian outback. One day, as he wandered alone in the desert, a powerful nuclear explosion erupted from the horizon. Until this fateful moment, Nyarri’s isolated people had had no previous contact with the Western world.” This ground-breaking VR film won an Emmy for its outstanding new approach to film-making. It tells the story of Aboriginals caught up in British nuclear testing in the 1950s. Take a look.
“At music festivals, everyone should feel safe. This sounds obvious, right? Still, year after year the music festivals around the world have shown us the opposite. Statement Festival wants to change this and in the summer of 2018, we will arrange the world’s most awesome music festival – without cis-men.” Introducing the world’s first women-only music festival, Sweden’s initiative responding to the epidemic of sexual assaults now synonymous with these gatherings. What are your thoughts?
“Donald Trump ‘perfectly embodies a dangerous era, where the words of one man on a global social network can endanger the fate of millions.’ The idea behind the political lamp is to hide its mystical nature in an aesthetically pleasing object, immediately modifying the observer’s behaviour.” This eery but genius cloud lamp designed by ParseError stirs up a thunderous cloud of smoke every time POTUS tweets in real-time. Pathetic fallacy takes on a new meaning…
“The implication was that standards of decency and professionalism had shifted beneath his feet, and he is a naïve old dinosaur who can’t help how much he loves sex…The ability to even attempt to sell this narrative is a luxury disproportionately afforded to powerful men – the ones who are not thugs or violent criminals but simply can’t help themselves.” As the full extent of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual harassment comes to light, does the defence of ‘sex addiction’, allowing him to book in for a stint in rehab, really explain the problem?
“I’m excited by interaction with information through natural sensations. Design Research Lab Berlin is developing phones that move, change shape and even weight – and a pen which gets harder to sign cheques with, based on the amount you are signing off.” Technology and innovation are here to make our lives easier, right? Here are some of the best life-hacks around according to the people leading the tech revolution.
“It turns out that only 1 percent of wildfires each year actually burn forest lands directly adjacent to areas where fuels reduction was carried out. That means that more than $350 million spent annually on fuels reduction results in virtually no difference in the destructive capacity of wildfires.” The recent spate of wildfires in California has already claimed 10 lives, making it the 3rd worst the region has ever seen. But if we already know how to prevent the scale of the damage, why don’t we do it?
“The modern interest in blood renewal kicked off in the 1990s. That’s when Michael and Irina Conboy, a researcher and an associate professor of bioengineering at the University of California Berkeley, respectively, began mulling one of the biggest questions in aging research: Why, when we get older, do the organs and tissues in the body seem to age together?” The popularity of stealing ones younger blood for rejuvenation purposes has resurged again. The question remains is this all snake oil or is there truth in it?
