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Sean Connery: his five best Bond movies rated

Obituaries for <a href="https://theconversation.com/sean-connery-bond-james-bond-but-so-much-more-149238">Sean Connery</a> all over the world remind us of what a versatile actor he was, starring in films as diverse as Alfred Hitchcock’s 1964 <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058329/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Marnie</a> and Brian de Palma’s 1987 <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094226/">The Untouchables</a>. But it is the character of James Bond, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/sean-connery-death-cause-james-bond-007-michael-caine-hated-b1478316.html">which he allegedly came to hate</a>, that film fans will inevitably associate with the rugged features of the Scottish actor who first played the role in Dr. No in 1962. Connery’s Bond embodied the postwar ideal of masculinity, a complex mix of old-fashioned charm and tough virility, loyalty to “Queen and Country”, and relaxed sexual mores. <a href="http://jamesbondmemes.blogspot.com/2012/04/women-want-to-be-with-him-men-want-to.html">Raymond Mortimer</a> wrote at the time, in his review of Fleming’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1963): “James Bond is what every man would like to be, and what every woman would like between her sheets.” Like his literary incarnation, the cinematic Bond launched by Connery caused disdain and thrilled audiences of both sexes in equal measures. Reviewing Goldfinger, film critic <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=oXxZAAAAMAAJ&q=%E2%80%98The+constantly+lurking+viciousness,+and+the+glamorisation+of+violence+%E2%80%A6+the+carefully+timed+peaks+of+titillation+and+the+skilfully+contrived+sensationalism%E2%80%99&dq=%E2%80%98The+constantly+lurking+viciousness,+and+the+glamorisation+of+violence+%E2%80%A6+the+carefully+timed+peaks+of+titillation+and+the+skilfully+contrived+sensationalism%E2%80%99&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwieiu6wjOHsAhUlQUEAHey1C34Q6AEwAHoECAAQAg">Nina Hibbin</a> remained unimpressed by the Bond formula of “constantly lurking viciousness, and the glamorisation of violence … the carefully timed peaks of titillation and the skilfully contrived sensationalism”. Meantime, the late <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/apr/06/honor-blackman-obituary">Honor Blackman</a>, who played alongside him in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058150/">Goldfinger</a>, described working with Connery as “<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dbijDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT13&dq=romping+about+on+international+locations+with+the+sexiest+man+ever+seen+on+screen&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiBn_zsiuHsAhVVilwKHe6NAYQQ6AEwAHoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=romping%20about%20on%20international%20locations%20with%20the%20sexiest%20man%20ever%20seen%20on%20screen&f=false">romping about on international locations with the sexiest man ever seen on screen</a>”. Connery’s Bond may get his Savile Row suit dirty, but he never loses his cool. Ruthless with his enemies, he’s not afraid of hurting many a female villain who threatens the success of his missions. He’s also, of course, an irresistible lover, able to seduce even those, like Pussy Galore, who claim “immunity” to his charms. But is there more to Connery’s Bond than backward machismo and dubious race politics? Here are my top five Connery Bond films, and why you may want to watch them again: 1. Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton, 1964) A beautiful woman whose spectacular death, and gold-painted lifeless body – remains, for better or worse, one of the most iconic images in the history of the franchise. A squad of female pilots is led by the talented Pussy Galore, whose name is an ironic reference to her sexuality. Goldfinger is a criminal genius, whose plan to make the US gold reserves radioactive in order to increase the value of his own is nothing short of brilliant, and whose laser beam poses a literal threat to <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_James_Bond_Phenomenon.html?id=x9-1QY5boUsC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=laser&f=false">Bond’s virility</a>. A Korean henchman in a lethal bowler hat is a parody of the quintessential Englishness, which trilby-wearing Connery – a proud Scotsman – also “performs”. These manifestations of ambivalent gender and race politics, more recently picked up in Anthony Horowitz’s sequel Bond novel, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/28/new-james-bond-novel-trigger-mortis-pussy-galore-anthony-horowitz">Trigger Mortis</a>, make it, if anything, even more relevant to watch today. 2. Dr No (Terence Young, 1962) Set in Ian Fleming’s beloved Jamaica, hints of Sinophobia lurk in the figure of Dr. No, whose Chinese ethnicity is conveyed through the Asian style of the clothes he wears. The first cinematic “Bond Girl” makes a memorable entrance wearing an equally memorable <a href="https://www.tatler.com/article/ursula-andress-dr-no-honey-ryder-bikini-auction-los-angeles">white bikini</a>. But the fact that Honey Ryder also wears a knife around her waist suggests that she’s more than eye-candy. We’re also told she has used a black widow spider to kill an abusive landlord in the past. Just like Dr. No threatens the authority of white British Bond, so Honey represents a challenge to the patriarchal order he represents. She is a new kind of woman, as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2hC8Frhicg&list=PLGiXHXUUO-jMHt4O8nAslNZ5UBHd_cZZ7&index=10">Andress claims</a>, physically strong and ready to take part in the action. 3. From Russia with Love (Terence Young, 1963) The romantic settings – Istanbul, the Orient Express train journey – and the beautiful co-star, Daniela Bianchi, who plays defecting Soviet spy Tania Romanova, may fool us into thinking that this may be a Cold War “Romeo and Juliet” love story. Tania is, however, less interested in Bond and more attracted to the other tempting luxuries of the West that he may help her achieve. The poisoned blade concealed in the toe of villain Rosa Klebb’s shoe, provides another unforgettable moment in the film franchise, and one that insinuates further doubts about Bond’s invulnerable masculinity. And while at the end of Fleming’s novel, Bond is left for dead, in the film, it is Tania’s quick thinking and good aim that saves his life. 4. Thunderball (Terence Young, 1965) Still, according to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbean/2020/04/18/all-26-james-bond-films-ranked-at-the-box-office/">Forbes</a>, the highest grossing film of the franchise, Thunderball sees Bond in action in the Bahamas, a place which would remain close to Connery’s heart until his death in Nassau on October 31 2020. As the action unfolds around the beautiful island setting, and its treacherous coastline, Bond’s life is threatened by SPECTRE operative Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), and especially Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi), one of the many phenomenal female drivers in the film franchise – and a woman who is confident enough to ridicule his alleged sexual prowess. But it is the leading Bond Girl, Domino Derval (Claudine Auger), who, again, saves Bond’s life by shooting a harpoon at Largo. 5. You Only Live Twice (Lewis Gilbert, 1967) We may raise an eyebrow at Bond’s dubious transformation into a Japanese man, the patriarchal attitudes towards women presented as traditional of Japan, not helped by the lukewarm performance by Mie Hama, who plays what has been described as “<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=auaECgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=lisa+funnel+lotus+blossom&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjHgOmKkOHsAhUJZcAKHf8ZAowQ6AEwAXoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=lotus&f=false">servile Lotus Blossom</a>” Kissy Suzuki, but there is enough charisma between the other female roles in the film, Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi) and Helga Brandt (Karin Dor), to make up for Kissy’s submissiveness. Both die, the latter in a spectacularly sadistic execution in a piranha pool. But Helga also very nearly mutilates Bond with a surgical scalpel and chucks a lipstick bomb at him before parachuting herself out of the plane she has been flying. A “bombshell” she may be, but not on the terms set by the men who try to control her. Most of us will cringe, today, at the bottom-slapping, the “man-talk” and the colonial attitudes that we see in the early Bond movies. But Connery’s Bond is more nuanced than we think and his white British masculinity is rarely left unchallenged. He was a Bond for his time. Written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/monica-germana-415866">Monica Germanà</a>, University of Westminster. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/sean-connery-his-five-best-bond-movies-rated-149240">The Conversation.</a>

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Psycho turns 60 – Hitchcock’s famous fright film broke all the rules

November 1959. Film director <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000033/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Alfred Hitchcock</a> is at his commercial and critical peak after the successes of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052357/?ref_=nm_knf_i2">Vertigo</a> (1958) and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/?ref_=nm_knf_i3">North by Northwest</a> (1959). So what does he do next? A black-and-white made-for-TV movie hastily shot, with no big-name actors and a leading actress who takes a shower, and … well, we’ll come to that. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/?ref_=nm_knf_i1">Psycho</a> (1960) remains Hitchcock’s most celebrated film. But it is really two films, glued together by the most iconic scene in cinema history. Part one is a run-of-the-mill morality tale. Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) steals $40,000 from her Phoenix employee, and goes on the run. Guilt-stricken, she pulls into a deserted motel and chats with the owner, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). He seems friendly enough – he makes her sandwiches and talks fondly about his mother – and Marion resolves to return the money. Part two is a whodunnit. Marion’s sister (Vera Miles) and her lover (John Gavin) investigate her disappearance, and trace her steps back to the motel. Soon, they begin to have suspicions about Norman. ‘She just goes … a little mad sometimes.’ Thriller with a twist A few years earlier, Hitchcock had watched Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1955 psychological masterpiece <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046911/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Les Diaboliques</a> and sought out a similar project – a horrific thriller with a twist ending. He read <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/156427.Psycho">Robert Bloch’s novel Psycho</a> – itself inspired by the real-life <a href="https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/ed-gein">Wisconsin killer Ed Gein</a> – and optioned the film rights. Audiences saw things in Psycho that had never been shown before on screen. A toilet flushing. A murderer who goes unpunished. A post-coital Leigh, lying on a bed, dressed only in white underwear, while Gavin stands topless over her. All of Hitchcock’s trademark obsessions are on show: voyeurism, the dominant matriarchal figure, the blonde heroine, the untrustworthy cop. Over his career, Hitchcock had always flouted Hollywood’s <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93301189">Production Code</a>, those rigid rules that had been in place since the 1930s that prohibited onscreen nudity, sex and violence. Nowhere is Hitchcock’s brazen censor-defying clearer than in Psycho’s “shower scene”. Marion steps into the shower, a shadowy figure rips back the curtain, and cinema’s most visceral scene unspools, brutally, before our very eyes. Hitchcock, the master of suspense, never actually shows knife slicing flesh. Everything is implied, through liberal doses of chocolate sauce, hacked watermelons, Bernard Herrmann’s screeching violins, and Leigh’s blood-curdling screams. In one 60-second scene, Hitchcock shatters all the rules. It’s the most famous of all bait and switches: you expect one thing, but get another. Up to that point, no film had killed off its lead character so early in the story (nowadays, such an audacious twist shows up everywhere, from The Lion King to Games of Thrones). As Leigh slides down the blinding white tiles, arm outstretched, a new kind of cinema is born: twisted, shocking, primal. Inventing the cinema event Hitchcock famously ordered cinemas to not let any latecomers into screenings of Psycho, to keep the element of surprise. Previously, cinema-goers could wander into a film midway through, watch the last half, and then stick around for the restart to catch up on what they had missed. When your leading lady is butchered 45 minutes in, the film makes little sense if you arrive late – hence Hitchcock’s decree. While the reviews at the time of its cinema release were lukewarm, cinema as an “event”, as a communal experience shared by hundreds of people in the dark, began. There were queues around the blocks in cities across America as word of mouth grew. Grossing US$32 million (equivalent to A$468 million today) off a budget of US$800,000 (A$12 million today), Psycho made Hitchcock a very wealthy man. Other elements contributed to Psycho’s enduring influence. Saul Bass’s opening credits, all intersecting lines and sans-serif titles, anticipate the film’s fixation with duality and overlap. Budget constraints meant that Bernard Herrmann could only rely on his orchestra’s string section. Even people who have never seen the film instantly recognise his score. And Anthony Perkins, typecast forever after as the nervous mother’s boy with a dark secret, crafts a performance that is both sweetly disarming and deeply unsettling. Psycho sequels Its reputation has only grown since 1960. Critics and audiences remain transfixed by Psycho’s storytelling verve and its queasy tonal shifts (murder mystery to black comedy to horror). <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/turner-prize-1996/turner-prize-1996-artists-douglas-gordon">Douglas Gordon’s 1993 art installation 24 Psycho</a> slowed the film down to last a full day. Douglas Gordon’s 24 Psycho (1993) video installation pays homage to every frame of the film. Academics have had a field day too, from <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=qx9dDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA4&ots=3sAjXQ_r40&dq=Raymond%20Durgnat%20micro-analysis%20psycho&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=Raymond%20Durgnat%20micro-analysis%20psycho&f=false">Raymond Durgnat’s lengthy micro-analysis</a> to <a href="https://egs.edu/biography/slavoj-zizek/">Slavoj Žižek</a>’s reading of Bates’s house as an illustration of Freud’s concept of the id, ego and superego. Three progressively sillier sequels were made, as well as a colour <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0155975/?ref_=vp_back">shot-for-shot remake </a>by Gus van Sant in 1998. Brian De Palma’s entire back catalogue pays homage to Hitchcock, with whole sections of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070698/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_30">Sisters</a> (1972) to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080661/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_24">Dressed to Kill</a> (1980) reworking Psycho’s delirious excesses. Psycho’s box office success undoubtedly contributed to Hollywood’s abiding fascination with true-crime stories, serial killers, and slasher films. More recently, the TV prequel series <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2188671/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Bates Motel</a> ran for four seasons, deepening Norman’s relationship with his mother and tracking his developing mental illness. That series provides a set up for the events at the Bates Motel. Sixty years on, the setting for Psycho continues to exert such a pulsating thrill, even as we watch from behind the sofa. Written by Ben McCann. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/psycho-turns-60-hitchcocks-famous-fright-film-broke-all-the-rules-140175">The Conversation.</a>

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A chemical engineer explains: What makes pepper spray so intense? And is it a tear gas?

In recent weeks, the world has looked on as governments use chemical irritants to control protesters and riots. Whether it’s tear gas, pepper spray, mace or pepper balls, all have one thing in common: they’re chemical weapons. Chemical warfare agents have been used twice in Sydney in the past week alone. Police <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-07/sydney-police-defend-pepper-spray-use-on-protesters/12330558">pepper-sprayed</a> demonstrators at Central Station, following Saturday’s major Black Lives Matter protest. The next day, tear gas <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-08/tear-gas-fired-into-exercise-yard-of-sydney-long-bay-jail/12332572">was used</a> to break up a fight at Long Bay jail, as prison guards filled an exercise yard with tear gas canisters – also impacting nearby residents. These events followed the deployment of <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/05/politics/park-police-tear-gas/index.html">chemical riot control agents</a> – specifically “pepper bombs” – in Washington DC last week. They were used to clear protesters from a public park so President Donald Trump could walk from the White House to a nearby church for a photo opportunity. The White House made a highlight reel to celebrate Trump’s heroic walk across the street for his bible photo op... US Attorney General William Barr said “<a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2020/06/the-continuing-tear-gas-debate/">there was no tear gas used</a>”, claiming “pepper spray is not a chemical irritant. It’s not chemical.” I’m a chemical engineer and chemist who studies chemicals in the environment. So I thought I’d clear the air about what makes pepper spray such a powerful chemical irritant, and a chemical weapon. What’s inside pepper spray? The active compounds in pepper spray are collectively known as capsaicinoids. They are given the military symbol OC, for “oleoresin capsicum”. The most important chemical in OC is capsaicin. This is derived from chilli peppers in a chemical process that dissolves and concentrates it into a liquid. Capsaicin is the same compound that makes chillies hot, but in an intense, weaponised form. Not all capsaicinoids are obtained naturally. One called nonivamide (also known as PAVA or pelargonic acid vanillylamide) is mostly made by humans. PAVA is an <a href="https://cot.food.gov.uk/committee/committee-on-toxicity/cotstatements/cotstatementsyrs/cotstatements2002/pavastatement">intense irritant</a> used in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/dec/09/pepper-spray-used-in-non-violent-situations-in-prison-pilot">artificial pepper spray</a>. Is pepper spray a tear gas? We’ve established pepper spray is a chemical, but is it also a kind of tear gas? “<a href="https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/riotcontrol/factsheet.asp">Tear gas</a>” is an informal term and a bit of a misnomer, because it isn’t a gas. Rather, tear gas refers to any weaponised irritant used to immobilise people. More specifically, tear gas is often used to describe weapons that disperse their irritants in the air either as liquid aerosol droplets (such as <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a28904691/how-tear-gas-works/">gas canisters</a>), or as a powder (such as pepper balls). This definition distinguishes tear gas from personal self-defence sprays which use foams, gels and liquids. Tear gas canisters typically contain the irritants 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile (CS) and phenacyl chloride (CN). Both CS and CN are man-made chemicals discovered in a lab, unlike capsaicin (the traditional ingredient in pepper spray). But despite capsaicin coming from chilli peppers, pepper spray is still a weaponised irritant that can be delivered as an aerosol or powder. It should unequivocally be considered a type of tear gas. Pepper spray as a weapon The chemical irritants OC, CS and CN have military symbols because they are chemical weapons. They are termed “<a href="https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/06/10/rubber-bullets-protesters-victoria-snelgrove-boston">less-lethal</a>” because they are less likely to kill than conventional weapons. Their use, however, can still <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2020/06/08/tear-gas-and-pepper-spray-can-maim-kill-and-spread-coronavirus/#47f17a2a725f">cause fatalities</a>. Technically, pepper spray and other tear gases are classified as lachrymatory agents. <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-tear-gas-139958">Lachrymatory agents</a> attack mucous membranes in the eyes and respiratory system. Pepper spray works almost instantly, forcing the eyes to close and flood with tears. Coupled with coughing fits and difficulty breathing, this means the targeted person is effectively <a href="https://healthland.time.com/2011/11/22/how-painful-is-pepper-spray/">blinded and incapacitated</a>. Because lachrymatory agents work on <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK544263/">nerve receptors</a> that help us sense heat, they also induce an intense burning sensation. The combined effects of pepper spray can last anywhere from 15 minutes to more than an hour. Lachrymatory agents emerged on the <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-introduce-poison-gas">battlefields of World War I</a>. Artillery shells were filled with chemicals such as <a href="https://www.compoundchem.com/2014/05/17/chemical-warfare-ww1/">xylyl bromide and chloroacetone</a> and fired at enemy soldiers. Agents that induce choking, blistering and vomiting were added as the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/10/science/chemical-weapons-world-war-1-armistice.html">chemical arms race</a> escalated. In the 1920s, the <a href="https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/bio/1925-geneva-protocol/">Geneva Protocol</a> was enacted to ban the use of indiscriminate and often ineffective chemical weapons on the battlefield. Today, the unjustified use of chemical riot control agents <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/04/201242913130963418.html">threatens to erode</a> the systems that are meant to protect us from the most dangerous weaponised chemicals. Written by Gabriel da Silva. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-makes-pepper-spray-so-intense-and-is-it-a-tear-gas-a-chemical-engineer-explains-140441">The Conversation.</a>

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JK Rowling unveils new book and will donate all royalties

JK Rowling has unveiled a new children’s book, which she is releasing in chapters each weekday for children to enjoy during these “strange, unsettling times”. The author announced the news on Twitter, saying the upcoming book – titled The Ickabog – is not a spin-off of her best-selling Harry Potter series. Rowling said she wrote “most of the first draft” more than 10 years ago, while she was still writing the Harry Potter books. “A few weeks ago at dinner, I tentatively mooted the idea of getting The Ickabog down from the attic and publishing it for free, for children in lockdown,” Rowling said in a statement on Tuesday. “Over the last few weeks I’ve done a bit of rewriting and I’ve decided to publish The Ickabog for free online, so children on lockdown, or even those back at school during these strange, unsettling times, can read it or have it read to them.” Chapters of The Ickabog are being published every weekday until July 10 on <a href="https://theickabog.com/">The Ickabog website</a>. Rowling also invited young readers to draw illustrations for the story in an official competition being run by Scholastic. Winners will see their artwork in the book, which will be published in print, eBook and audiobook in November. “Creativity, inventiveness and effort are the most important things: we aren’t necessarily looking for the most technical skill!” she said. Rowling is pledging all author royalties from the book to “projects and organisations helping the groups most impacted by COVID-19”, she wrote on Twitter.

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“I want to stare death in the eye”: why dying inspires so many writers and artists

It may seem paradoxical, but dying can be a deeply creative process. Public figures, authors, artists and journalists have long written about their experience of dying. But why do they do it and what do we gain? Many stories of dying are written to bring an issue or disease to public attention. For instance, English editor and journalist Ruth Picardie’s description of terminal breast cancer, so poignantly described in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/424646.Before_I_Say_Goodbye">Before I say Goodbye</a>, drew attention to the impact of medical negligence, and particularly misdiagnosis, on patients and their families. American tennis player and social activist Arthur Ashe wrote about his heart disease and subsequent diagnosis and death from AIDS in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/698054.Days_of_Grace">Days of Grace: A Memoir</a>. His autobiographical account brought public and political attention to the risks of blood transfusion (he acquired HIV from an infected blood transfusion following heart bypass surgery). Other accounts of terminal illness lay bare how people navigate uncertainty and healthcare systems, as surgeon Paul Kalanithi did so beautifully in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25899336-when-breath-becomes-air">When Breath Becomes Air</a>, his account of dying from lung cancer. But, perhaps most commonly, for artists, poets, writers, musicians and journalists, dying can provide <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25733900-the-violet-hour">one last opportunity for creativity</a>. American writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak drew people he loved as they were dying; founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, while in great pain, refused pain medication so he could be lucid enough to think clearly about his dying; and author Christopher Hitchens <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Hitch_22.html?id=H6nbV6nLcWcC&redir_esc=y">wrote about</a> dying from <a href="https://www.cancer.org.au/about-cancer/types-of-cancer/oesophageal-cancer.html">oesophageal cancer</a> despite increasing symptoms: I want to stare death in the eye. Faced with terminal cancer, renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks wrote, if possible, more prolifically than before. And Australian author Clive James found dying a mine of new material: Few people read Poetry any more but I still wish To write its seedlings down, if only for the lull Of gathering: no less a harvest season For being the last time. Research shows what dying artists have told us for centuries – creative self-expression is core to their sense of self. So, creativity has <a href="https://www.headspace.com/blog/2017/04/18/grief-creativity-together/">therapeutic and existential benefits</a> for the dying and their grieving families. Creativity <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jocb.171">provides</a> a buffer against anxiety and negative emotions about death. It may help us make sense of events and experiences, tragedy and misfortune, as a graphic novel did for cartoonist Miriam Engelberg in <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780060789732/cancer-made-me-a-shallower-person/">Cancer Made Me A Shallower Person</a>, and as <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=MkcGiLeATe8C&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=%5BCarla+Sofka+and+Illene+Cupit+(eds)++Dying,+Death,+and+Grief+in+an+Online+Universe:+For+Counselors+and+Educators,+Springer+2012&ots=vdXYa_3cvU&sig=Od3eQ4A7_hadLwgIn4liIEoyo5c&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%5BCarla%20Sofka%20and%20Illene%20Cupit%20(eds)%20%20Dying%2C%20Death%2C%20and%20Grief%20in%20an%20Online%20Universe%3A%20For%20Counselors%20and%20Educators%2C%20Springer%202012&f=false">blogging and online writing</a>does for so many. Creativity may give voice to our experiences and provide some resilience as we face disintegration. It may also provide agency (an ability to act independently and make our own choices), and a sense of normality. French doctor Benoit Burucoa <a href="https://www.cairn.info/article.php?ID_ARTICLE=INKA_181_0005">wrote</a> art in palliative care allows people to feel physical and emotional relief from dying, and: […] to be looked at again and again like someone alive (without which one feels dead before having disappeared). A way of communicating to loved ones and the public When someone who is dying creates a work of art or writes a story, this can open up otherwise difficult conversations with people close to them. But where these works become public, this conversation is also with those they do not know, whose only contact is through that person’s writing, poetry or art. This public discourse is a means of living while dying, making connections with others, and ultimately, increasing the public’s “<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29402101">death literacy</a>”. In this way, our <a href="https://www.thegroundswellproject.com/">conversations about death</a> become <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-end-9781742752051">more normal, more accessible</a> and much richer. There is no evidence reading literary works about death and dying fosters <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumination_(psychology)">rumination</a> (an unhelpful way of dwelling on distressing thoughts) or other forms of psychological harm. In fact, the evidence we have suggests the opposite is true. There is plenty of <a href="http://www.artshealthandwellbeing.org.uk/appg/arts-and-palliative-care-dying-and-bereavement">evidence</a> for the positive impacts of both making and consuming art (of all kinds) at the <a href="http://www.artshealthandwellbeing.org.uk/appg-inquiry/Briefings/WWCW.pdf">end of life</a>, and specifically <a href="https://spcare.bmj.com/content/7/3/A369.2">surrounding palliative care</a>. Why do we buy these books? Some people read narratives of dying to gain insight into this mysterious experience, and empathy for those amidst it. Some read it to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-on-fiction.html">rehearse</a> their own journeys to come. But these purpose-oriented explanations miss what is perhaps the most important and unique feature of literature – its delicate, multifaceted capacity to help us become what philosopher <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/martha-nussbaums-moral-philosophies">Martha Nussbaum</a> <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2026358.pdf?seq=1">described as</a>: […] finely aware and richly responsible. Literature can capture the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/apr/01/londonreviewofbooks">tragedy</a> in ordinary lives; its depictions of <a href="https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2016/08/12/martha-nussbaum-on-emotions-ethics-and-literature/">grief, anger and fear</a> help us fine-tune what’s important to us; and it can show the <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Love_s_Knowledge.html?id=oq3POR8FhtgC">value of a unique person</a> across their whole life’s trajectory. Not everyone can be creative towards the end Not everyone, however, has the opportunity for creative self-expression at the end of life. In part, this is because increasingly we die in hospices, hospitals or nursing homes. These are often far removed from the resources, people and spaces that may inspire creative expression. And in part it is because many people cannot communicate after a stroke or dementia diagnosis, or are <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/01/how-do-people-communicate-before-death/580303/">delirious</a>, so are incapable of “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691628554/last-words">last words</a>” <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Final-Gifts-Understanding-Awareness-Communications/dp/1451667256">when they die</a>. Perhaps most obviously, it is also because most of us are not artists, musicians, writers, poets or philosophers. We will not come up with elegant prose in our final days and weeks, and lack the skill to paint inspiring or intensely beautiful pictures. But this does not mean we cannot tell a story, using whatever genre we wish, that captures or at least provides a glimpse of our experience of dying – our fears, goals, hopes and preferences. Clive James <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/01/clive-james-poem-story-mind-heading-obivion">reminded us</a>: “There will still be epic poems, because every human life contains one. It comes out of nowhere and goes somewhere on its way to everywhere – which is nowhere all over again, but leaves a trail of memories. There won’t be many future poets who don’t dip their spoons into all that, even if nobody buys the book.” Written by Claire Hooker and Ian Kerridge. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-want-to-stare-death-in-the-eye-why-dying-inspires-so-many-writers-and-artists-128061">The Conversation.</a>

Entertainment

Why board games are booming

Board games are booming. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/25/board-games-back-tabletop-gaming-boom-pandemic-flash-point">Article</a> after <a href="https://time.com/4385490/board-game-design/">article</a> describes a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/25/board-games-internet-playstation-xbox">golden</a> <a href="https://attackofthefanboy.com/articles/the-golden-age-of-board-games-continues-to-get-better-every-year/">age</a>” or “<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2017/07/31/bored-digital-games-join-board-game-renaissance/476986001/">renaissance</a>” of boardgaming. In Germany, the home of modern boardgaming, the industry has grown by over 40% in the past five years; the four-day <a href="https://www.spiel-messe.com/en/%22%22">SPIEL trade fair</a> this year saw 1,500 new board and card game releases, with 209,000 attendees from around the world. What is it about board games that attracts people, and what emerging trends can we see in the latest releases? Social, challenging, real Four main elements make board games enjoyable for families and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/">dedicated</a> hobbyists alike. Firstly, board games are social; they are played with other people. Together, players select a game, learn and interpret the rules, and experience the game. Even a mediocre game can be fun and memorable when you play it with the right group of people. Secondly, boardgames provide an intellectual challenge, or an opportunity for strategic thinking. Understanding rules, finding an optimal placement for a piece, making a move that surprises your opponent – all of these are enormously satisfying. In many modern boardgames, luck becomes something that you mitigate rather than something that arbitrarily determines a winner. Thirdly, board games are material – they are made of things; they have weight, substance, and even beauty. Hobbyists speak of the tactile joy and sensual delight of moving physical game pieces, and of their appreciation for the detailed art on a game box or board. Some go to great lengths to protect their games from damage, even “sleeving” individual cards in plastic to protect them from greasy fingers, spills or wear. Collectable Monopoly sets and other <a href="https://www.workandmoney.com/s/valuable-vintage-board-games-32b5423591a94861">vintage games</a> can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction. Finally – and this helps to explain the enormous volume of new releases each year – board games provide variety. Beyond “the cult of the new” lurks a desire to have the right game for the right situation – whatever combination of gamers and strategic depth that might require. The game’s theme matters, but so do the mechanisms of its play, as well as the game’s expected duration. Like authors, <a href="https://www.boardgamequest.com/top-10-board-game-designers/">game designers</a> such as Pandemic creator Matt Leacock attract a following of fans who enjoy the style of games that they produce. ‘Escape room’ experiences To meet the demand for variety, designers look for new elements to offer in their games. “<a href="https://nonstoptabletop.com/blog/2017/6/17/tear-up-your-cards-legacy-games-explained">Legacy</a>” style games – where players customise the game as they play it, writing on the board, and discarding rules or game components – create a one-off, individualised variant of a core game. They also invite a group to play together over several play sessions, modifying “their” game throughout the experience. That can feel confronting to those of us who grew up protecting our games from “damage”. If writing on game pieces is confronting, the <a href="https://boardsandpawns.com/2019/05/11/the-complete-list-of-exit-the-game-series/">Exit</a> game series, by German couple <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/tag/inka-markus-brand/">Inka and Markus Brand</a> is even more so. These small, inexpensive games aim to replicate the experience of an “<a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_room">escape room</a>” experience by providing the players with a series of puzzles to solve together, as a cooperative activity. To solve the puzzles, however, players must literally destroy the game – cutting up cards, tearing objects, folding and gluing and writing on them. Board games are not fading away in the digital world. They are booming. There’s a lot to be said for these low cost single-play games, which build communication and teamwork skills and – like real-world escape rooms – provide an opportunity for friends and families to work together to solve a common problem. For those who would like to be able to retrace their steps, or to pass a game on to friends, the <a href="https://www.spacecowboys.fr/unlock-demos-english">Unlock!</a> game series takes a different look at the escape room genre by using an integrated app to provide clues and answers. This ensures that the game itself is replayable, even if the players do not wish to revisit the same story. Like Exit games, the Unlock! series offers creative opportunities to combine different objects as part of solving the puzzles, but adds occasional multimedia elements and uses the various properties of a smartphone as problem-solving tools. Real boards, digital play For people who enjoy solving puzzles, there are many other new games that combine <a href="http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/digitising-boardgames-issues-and-tensions/">digital technologies</a> with the components and feel of a board game. <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/239188/chronicles-crime">Chronicles of Crime</a> puts players in the role of police detectives, who must travel to different locations to interview suspects, consult experts, and conduct searches. Similarly, <a href="https://detectiveboardgame.com/">Detective</a> sets players to solve a series of crimes. In this game, however, it is not enough to simply learn who committed a crime, it also must be proven by the chain of collected (and registered) evidence registered by players on a custom website. These games reflect the broader development of a small group of games that use digital tools to add new features to board games. <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/286927/one-night-ultimate-super-heroes">One Night Ultimate Superheroes</a> uses an app to run the game, taking on an administrative role that would otherwise have to be performed by a player. The <a href="https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/the-lord-of-the-rings-journeys-in-middle-earth/">Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth</a> uses an app to speed setup, set game maps, resolve rules and track the players’ progress, streamlining and simplifying play. <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/185709/beasts-balance">Beasts of Balance</a> – a simple, dexterity-based stacking game – uses an app to create a story world which brings the tabletop animal figures to life and encourages players to stack different figures to continue its narrative. These digital tools add variety to the range of boardgames that are available. More than simple battery-enabled games like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_(game)">Operation</a>, they provide new ways to interact with the game material and mechanisms while still supporting the sociability, intellectual challenge and tangibility so enjoyed by players. Physical board games aren’t going anywhere, but apps add exciting new possibilities to this play space. Written by Melissa Rogerson. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/board-games-are-booming-heres-why-and-some-holiday-boredom-busters-128770">The Conversation.</a>

Entertainment

Frozen 2 becomes the highest-grossing animated film of all time

Frozen 2 has officially been crowned as the highest-grossing animated film in history, topping its predecessor Frozen. The sequel has amassed US$1.325 billion at the global box office in the first full week of January 2020, less than two months after its release. Nearly $450 million of that sum came from the US, while the biggest bounties made <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/box-office/frozen-2-biggest-animated-movie-ever-disney-box-office-1203456758/">overseas</a> came from China ($118 million), Japan ($103.8 million), South Korea ($96.2 million) and the UK ($65 million). The earnings surpassed the records set by the original Frozen ($1.28 billion) in 2013 and The Incredibles 2 ($1.243 billion) in 2018. All three films are from Disney Animation/Pixar. In 2019, Disney became the first studio in the world to gross more than $10 billion at the global box office, thanks to high-performing titles such as Avengers: Endgame ($2.798 billion), The Lion King ($1.656 billion), Captain Marvel ($1.13 billion), Toy Story 4 ($1.074 billion) and Aladdin ($1.051 billion). With Frozen 2 crossing the billion dollar mark, the studio is likely to see seven of its movies – including Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker – gross <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/12/disney-crosses-10-billion-worldwide-box-office-new-all-time-record-1202803824/">over $1 billion in a single calendar year</a>.

Entertainment

Hidden women of history: Neaera, the Athenian child slave raised to be a courtesan

The ancient worlds of Greece and Rome have perhaps never been as popular as they presently are. There are numerous television series and one-off documentaries covering both “big picture” perspectives and stories of ordinary people. Neaera was a woman from fourth century BCE Athens whose life is significant and sorrowful – worthy to be remembered – but may never feature in a glossy biopic. Possibly born in Corinth, a place where she lived from at least a young age, Neaera was raised by a brothel-keeper by the name of Nicarete. Her predicament was the result of her being enslaved to Nicarete. While we don’t know the reason for this, we do know that foundlings were common in antiquity. The parents of baby Neaera, for whatever reason, left her to fate – to die by exposure or be collected by a stranger. From a young age, Neaera was trained by Nicarete for the life of a hetaira (a Classical Greek term for “courtesan”). It was Nicarete who also named her, giving her a typical courtesan title: “Neaera” meaning “Fresh One”. Ancient sources reveal Naeara’s life in the brothel. In a legal speech by the Athenian politician and forensic orator, Apollodorus, the following description is provided: “There were seven young girls who were purchased when they were small children by Nicarete … She had the talent to recognise the potential beauty of little girls and knew how to raise them and educate them with expertise – for it was from this that she had made a profession and from this came her livelihood. “She called them ‘daughters’ so that, by displaying them as freeborn, she could obtain the highest prices from the men wishing to have intercourse with them. After that, when she had enjoyed the profit from their youth, she sold every single one of them …” The occasion for the passage from Apollodorus is a court case that was brought against Neaera in approximately 343 BCE. Neaera was around 50-years-old by the time of her prosecution, which took place in Athens. Trafficking and abuse The circumstances of her trial are complicated, involving the buying, selling, trafficking and abuse of Neaera from a very young age. Piecing together the evidence from Apollodorus’ prosecution speech, which has come down to us with the title, “Against Neaera”, it transpires that two of her clients, who shared joint ownership of her, allowed her to buy her freedom around 376 BCE. Afterwards, she moved to Athens with one Phrynion, but his brutal treatment of her saw Neaera leave for Megara, where circumstances caused her to return to sex work. Further intrigues involving men and sex work saw Neaera eventually face trial on the charge of falsely representing herself as a free Athenian woman by pretending to be married to a citizen. The charge of fraud was based on the law that a foreigner could not live as a common law “spouse” to a freeborn Athenian. The fact that Neaera also had three children, a daughter by the name of Phano, and two sons, further complicated the trial and its range of legal entanglements. While we never discover the outcome of the trial, nor what happened to Neaera, the speech of the prosecutor remains, and reveals much about her life. Unfortunately, the speech of the defence is lost. We do know, however, that the man with whom Neaera cohabitated, Stephanus, delivered the defence. Of course, he was not only defending Neaera – he was defending himself! Should Neaera have been found guilty, Stephanus would have forfeited his citizenship and the rights that attended it. Stephanus had a history of legal disputes with the prosecutor, Apollodorus. He also had a history of being in trouble with the law. For example, he had illegally married off Phano – not once, but twice – to Athenian citizens. Shady “get rich quick” schemes motivated such activities, and it seems that Stephanus was adept at using both his “wife” and his “daughter’ for bartering and personal profit. Another accusation revealed during the trial alleged that Stephanus arranged for Neaera to lure men to his house, engage them in sex, and then bribe them. And while Apollodorus provides no evidence for such a scam ever having taken place, judging by Stephanus’ track-record, it does not seem implausible. Remembering Neaera Reading through the long, complex and damnatory speech of Apollodorus, we risk losing sight of the woman at the centre of it. Caught amid petty politics, sex scandals, and personal vendettas is a woman who becomes peripheral to the machismo being played out in court. Yet, somewhat ironically, this is the only ancient source we have that records not only Neaera and the life she was forced to lead – but the life of a hetaira from infancy, girlhood, middle-age and, ultimately, past her "use by” date. Had she not been taken to court as part of the factional fighting of ancient Athens, had she not had her reputation annihilated so publicly, we would have never known about Neaera. Were it not for Apollodorus and his ancient version of “slut-shaming”, Neaera’s story would have been lost. But it hasn’t been lost. Somewhere, amid the male rhetoric, her story endures. Unfortunately, her voice is not preserved. All we can read in the speech, “Against Neaera” are the voices of men; her prosecutor and the witnesses he calls to the stand. Ironically, these testimonies and accusations - so casually introduced in ancient Athens, but received so differently today - emphasise the inhumanity of the sex trade in an antiquity too often and too unthinkingly valorised. The document known as “Against Neaera” is the only record we have of this (almost) hidden woman. It prompts us to remember. And it’s important to remember Neaera. Written by Marguerite Johnson. Republished with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-neaera-the-athenian-child-slave-raised-to-be-a-courtesan-126840">The Conversation.</a>

Entertainment

Entertain with ease with a red onion salsa three ways

Explore the different ways to use red onion in salsa with these three recipes. Serves 4 Prep: 15 mins Cooking time 0 mins Red onion, Avocado & apple salsa Ingredients <ul> <li> 1 pink lady, Fuji or Jazz apple, cut into matchsticks </li> <li> 1 avocado, diced </li> <li> 1 small red onion, peeled, halved, finely diced </li> <li> 2 tbs chopped coriander </li> <li> 1 lime, juiced </li> </ul> Method <ol> <li> Combine the apple, avocado, onion and coriander in a bowl. Pour over the lime juice, stir to combine.</li> <li>Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.</li> <li>Serve over sticky pork, kebabs or rissoles. </li> </ol> Red onion, apple & cucumber salsa Ingredients <ul> <li> 1 pink lady, Fuji or Jazz apple, cut into matchsticks </li> <li> 1 large Lebanese cucumber, diced </li> <li> 1 small red onion, peeled, halved, finely diced </li> <li> 2 tbs chopped flat leaf parsley leaves </li> <li> 1 lime, juiced </li> </ul> Method <ol> <li> Combine the apple, cucumber, onion and parsley in a bowl. </li> <li>Pour over the lime juice, stir to combine.</li> <li>Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.</li> <li>Serve over fish, pork, lamb or chicken. </li> </ol> Red onion, chilli mango salsa Ingredients <ul> <li> 1 firm ripe mango, peeled, diced </li> <li> 1 Lebanese cucumber, diced </li> <li> 1 small red onion, peeled, halved, finely diced </li> <li> 1 long red chilli, finely chopped </li> <li> 2 tbs chopped coriander </li> <li> 1 lime, juiced </li> </ul> Method <ol> <li> Combine the mango, cucumber, onion, chilli and coriander in a bowl. </li> <li>Pour over the lime juice, stir to combine.</li> <li>Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.</li> <li>Serve over fish, pork or chicken. </li> </ol> Recipe courtesy of Australian Onions.

Lifestyle

What I learned as a hairdresser in a war zone

I don’t think my life is much different from anyone else’s, except that I decided to be a hairdresser in a war zone. When I first arrived in Kabul, I felt like I had been transported to biblical times – only most of the people had guns and I only had my scissors. It wasn't until I spent time in Afghanistan that I learned how powerful my trade of hairdressing was. The minute I pulled out my scissors and cape, I felt like the most popular kid in class – everyone wanted a haircut or colour. People like to think that because women are covered, they are plain – no makeup and hair undone. Let me tell you – that is the opposite of the truth. I have always gone that extra mile with my own hair and makeup, but these women made me look like a Plain Jane. One lady told me how she drove 12 hours over the Khyber Pass to Pakistan – dodging the Taliban the entire way – just to get foils and a good haircut. The Taliban had forced the salons to close and a few had gone underground. I was stunned at the risk these women took just so they could have their hair done for a wedding party – a custom that had always been a strong part of the culture but was now against the law. It was when I walked into that first salon that I knew there was no turning back. I was going to do something for my sister hairdressers. I realised that hairdressing was a fantastic portable skill, one that was perfect for Afghanistan, and one that could give women choices and a way to feed their family. This was a skill that could be done in or out of the home, and it would be a sanctuary for women only. No man could control – or even step foot into – the salon. It would be such an empowering place for the women to be free. Opening the Kabul Beauty School was one of the most rewarding but difficult things I have done in my life. In the beginning, when I was working with so many young Afghan women at the school, I felt so overwhelmed by the traumas that each of these girls had endured for so many years. But on the other hand, I saw the strength and power that each of these young women seemed to have been born with. I was horrified when I heard about arranged marriages at the age of twelve, how so many had to flee their homes for years due to the Taliban, and about those who had to stop going to school in fourth grade because of war. I was amazed at the core strength of these women. I never had the intention of being a writer, but I always wrote. I kept daily notes and journals so that my head could purge some of the information it was gathering each day. Often, I felt that I was on overload, I was out of my comfort zone, I was out of my element, and each day, I was listening to a new and difficult story that one of the girls needed to share. The more I wrote, the more I began to understand that these women didn't need my pity, that we really are all the same. Like them, I am a woman, I am a mother, and I am a daughter. When I realised that, it all came together and the fun began. When I stopped looking at them as poor, tragic Afghan women, and instead as women who had gone through lots of stuff and who now wanted to move forward – just like most of us – everything changed. I decided I wanted the world to see these beautiful women as I did. I wanted them to be more than a news clip or a sound bite. I wanted the world to see them through my eyes. Afghanistan is a complicated place, and so when I left, I felt shattered. I had really thought that I would spend the rest of my life in Kabul; I never saw myself moving back to the United States. I missed the girls and my old life so badly, and spent the next few years grieving the loss of my Afghan family. Because I didn't want to let go of Afghanistan, the only way I could keep it close was to keep writing about it. I told my agent that I really wanted to write another book, but this time I wanted to write fiction. I wanted to write happy endings. I figured if you put it in writing, just maybe it will happen in real life. Also, I had to prove to my kids that I wasn't a one-hit wonder. I have learned so much about myself while writing my five books. I’ve learned that I am a storyteller first and a writer second. I love the process of developing a book. I love how the characters come alive and become your best friends, and how some turn into people you never want to see again. Writing is my best therapy, it is my best friend, it is a true companion. Deborah Rodriguez’s new book, The Zanzibar Wife is available now (Penguin Random House, RRP $32.99). Written by Deborah Rodriguez. Republished with permission of <a href="https://www.wyza.com.au/articles/lifestyle/wyza-life/what-i-learned-as-a-hairdresser-in-a-war-zone.aspx">Wyza.com.au.</a>

Entertainment

How Scorsese cinema boycott will shape the future of movies

Cinema has always been a medium in crisis. After the so-called golden age of Hollywood came television: why go to the movies when you can sit in the comfort of your home, watching recycled movies in letterbox format? Yet cinemas adapted and survived. This week, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/nov/07/why-martin-scorseses-the-irishman-wont-be-coming-to-a-cinema-near-you">major cinema chains</a> said they would not run Martin Scorsese’s upcoming film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1302006/">The Irishman</a> because Netflix - who partially funded production and own distribution rights - were restricting its theatre run to four weeks before it hit small screens. The news signals a looming threat to cinema as we know it. <h2>Big screen blues</h2> Television made movies a commodity audiences could consume on their own terms. Yet cinema survived. In fact, it became a global mass cultural medium in the late 1970s and in the <a href="https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/very-short-history-of-cinema/">multiplexes</a> of the 1980s. Even the turbulent digital turn that brought cinema to a second crisis point in the early 2000s was navigated by the major Hollywood studios with the rebirth of the blockbuster in pristine form: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/?ref_=nv_sr_2?ref_=nv_sr_2">Avatar</a> (2009) in stereoscopic 3-D, the high-tech Marvel <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/07/marvels-blockbuster-machine">cinematic universe</a>. This is all to say that cinema, for the time being, is alive and well. But shrinking diversity in cinema offerings - Scorsese is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/nov/05/martin-scorsese-superhero-marvel-movies-debate-sadness">no Marvel fan</a> - has forced even big name directors to seek funding from alternative sources. This is especially necessary when their movie <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/21/business/media/netflix-scorsese-the-irishman.html">costs US$159 million</a> (A$230 million) to make. Enter television streaming giant Netflix. <h2>Are you talking to me?</h2> The Irishman, Scorsese’s eagerly anticipated gangster epic, opened this week in a number of independent <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-irishman-australian-cinemas-2019-11">Australian cinemas</a>. <iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WHXxVmeGQUc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> The Irishman tells the story of war veteran Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) who worked as a hitman alongside Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). Scorsese is perhaps America’s greatest living auteur, the director of films including <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075314/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1">Taxi Driver</a> (1976), <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081398/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Raging Bull</a> (1980), <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099685/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Goodfellas</a> (1990), and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112641/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Casino</a> (1995). But what makes The Irishman unlike any other Scorsese film is that it is being distributed by Netflix. After its short theatre run it will be distributed to our homes, where it will do its major business. In February, the tension between Netflix and theatrical distributors escalated with the nomination of Alfonso Cuarón’s Netflix-distributed <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6155172/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">Roma</a> for a Best Picture Oscar. Director Steven Spielberg subsequently <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/03/steven-spielbergs-netflix-fears/556550/">declared</a> a Netflix film might “deserve an Emmy, but not an Oscar”. A Netflix production – whether David Fincher’s monumental longform series, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5290382/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Mindhunter</a>, or Scorsese’s The Irishman – was television and therefore not cinema. <h2>Goodfellas or bad guys?</h2> Netflix represents a very real threat to theatrically screened cinema and its distribution apparatus, which is why several large cinema chains in the US (and, indeed, Australia) are boycotting The Irishman. While Netflix has consistently produced high quality content either through internal production or by acquiring and distributing titles, its assimilation of an auteur picture – a Scorsese gangster epic, no less - signals an aggressive move into the once sacrosanct domain of cinema entertainment. One wonders: if Scorsese capitulates to the economic strictures of the contemporary studio system, what will independent filmmakers do? How will low budget features be funded in an era in which Netflix colonises the large and small-scale productions alike? <iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SshqfhmmtSE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> Scorsese has directed many of the greatest characters of modern cinema. Netflix is not cinema, but neither is it television. Directors such as Spielberg struggle to understand that the new media entertainment regime is far removed from the projection (theatre) or broadcast (television) media environment of a predigital era. Instead of declaring a Netflix production unworthy of an Oscar, we could invert this measure: perhaps it is the Oscar that is increasingly outmoded as an artistic and cultural mark of value. <h2>‘The End’, roll credits</h2> The digital economic currents that carry Netflix intuitively seek expansion into proximate markets, and cinema is a natural fit. Netflix’s move into cinema distribution – with Scorsese at the helm – is therefore a smart negotiation. Even if Scorsese is an unwilling participant, it sets a clear precedent. It seems unlikely that cinema will end in any formal sense, at least within the next few decades. But a Netflix-distributed Scorsese film gives us cause to lament the ailing cinema experience. Christopher Nolan’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5013056/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1">Dunkirk</a> (2017) exemplified cinema’s ability to assault us with big screen images and jolt our bodies with a powerful soundscape. Only a grand technological scale can provide this kind of visceral experience. And yet, like Scorsese, I’m tired of Marvel. I’m tired of the rigidity of formulaic narrative and image structures intrinsic to the contemporary studio system. I’m disappointed at Hollywood’s capitulation to an instrumental economic model. Could a studio have produced The Irishman? They had a chance, and they <a href="https://variety.com/2019/film/news/theater-chief-blasts-netflix-over-handling-of-martin-scorseses-irishman-its-a-disgrace-1203390726/">turned it down</a>. Hollywood - and media entertainment structures more generally - will need to find a way for the big and small screen distributors to get along in order to keep the dynasty alive.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126598/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> Written by Bruce Isaacs, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, University of Sydney. Republished with permission of <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/pass-the-popcorn-scorsese-cinema-boycott-will-shape-the-future-of-movies-126598" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.

Entertainment

Celebrate Christmas like a Royal

As the holiday season approaches, many of us will be busy buying presents, testing out Christmas recipes, and organising festive feasts for our loved ones, so it’s only befitting to ensure you host an impeccable dinner party. Zarife Hardy, Director of the Australian School of Etiquette, shares her etiquette tips and reflects on some royal traditions so you can celebrate Christmas as the Royals would. The Royal Family have traditionally spent Christmas Eve together at the Queen’s country home, with the grandchildren putting the finishing touches to the tree. Holiday rituals in the royal household today come from ways of celebrating popularised by Queen Victoria herself. Some of these traditions have become the accepted way we celebrate Christmas nowadays. Royal traditions The Royals will lay out all their presents in the drawing room, opening their gifts on Christmas Eve. The Monarch’s gifts are unlikely to be pricey, as the Royals tend to buy each other jokey things. At 8pm, a candlelit dinner is served, with the ladies in gowns and jewels, and the men dressed in black tie. While it is a formal affair, it is also a wonderful opportunity for the families to catch up. On the morning of Christmas Day, a full English breakfast is served before everyone attends the traditional church service. Afterwards, they return home for a turkey roast with all the trimmings, before gathering to watch the Queen's speech at 3pm. In 1840, the Christmas Day menu for Queen Victoria and her family included both roast beef and a royal swan or two. Today, the staff can put their feet up, as the family insist on serving themselves their own buffet supper. Dos and don’ts Reflecting on these traditions, there are some key etiquette learnings that trace back to Queen Victoria’s days — many of which Queen Elizabeth II still likes to follow today. Here are some tips to properly prepare you for the holidays: 1. Send Christmas cards. Most people enjoy receiving cards and Queen Victoria was a huge fan of the Christmas card. 2. Be a gracious guest. If you have been invited to someone’s house for lunch or dinner, show your manners: be on time, bring a gift, don’t drink too much, and know when to leave. 3. Always greet guests at the door. Be the perfect host — greet your guests at the front door, introduce them to everyone, and have plenty of food and activities. Do as much preparation as possible the day before so you can enjoy the celebrations with your guests. 4. Be generous but don’t get into debt! You don’t have to spend a fortune on gifts — it is nice to give something small to everyone, particularly the children. If funds are limited, bake cakes or biscuits, and present them in a festive gift bag or tray. The Royal Family doesn’t gift expensive items, rather they like to give each other gag gifts. Prince Charles was once given a white leather toilet seat but found it so comfortable, he now brings it with him on all overseas tours. 5. Show gratitude even if you don’t like the gift. Keep in mind that the person took time to think about you and select something he or she thought you would like. 6. Have fun at the office party but don’t forget where you are. It is never okay to drink too much, tell off-colour jokes, or get too close to other colleagues. 7. Spend extra time with children or grandchildren. Be prepared to remind them of all the manners you have taught them — it’s easy to forget during the chaos of Christmas. 8.. Don’t forget your thank you cards. Make sure to send a written acknowledgement to all who have given you a gift, hosted an event you attended, or done something special for you. Most importantly, enjoy every moment — Christmas only comes once a year, so be kind, be generous, be grateful. Written by Zarife Hardy. Republished with permission of <a href="https://www.wyza.com.au/articles/lifestyle/wyza-life/celebrate-christmas-like-a-royal.aspx">Wyza.com.au.</a>

Entertainment

Royal twins? Meet Grace Kelly’s lookalike granddaughter Jazmin

Grace Kelly is one of the most iconic and prolific faces from the Old Hollywood era. She was not just admired for her charming onscreen appearance, stunning facial features and effortless style, she was beloved by the people of Monaco after she went on to marry the Rainier III, Prince of Monaco in 1956. The royal’s very own granddaughter doesn’t fall too far from the tree and is an actress herself. 27-year-old daughter of Prince Albert II of Monaco, Jazmin Grace Grimaldi was raised in California by her mum who met the dashing royal while on holidays at Côte d'Azur, on the French Riviera, in 1991. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B2ZodPjHaDi/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B2ZodPjHaDi/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">“ I would like to be remembered as a person who did her job well. An understanding, kind and decent human being.” #GraceKelly Truly the epitome of Elegance , Grace and Beauty. I’m proud to be her granddaughter!</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/jazmingrimaldi/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank"> JazminGraceGrimaldi</a> (@jazmingrimaldi) on Sep 14, 2019 at 10:46am PDT </div> </blockquote> Prince Albert finally confirmed his daughter’s paternity in 2006, when Jazmin was barely a teenager. "I was 14, getting ready to go to high school, when it hit the media that my father had a daughter, and it was me," Jazmin told <a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a11468/jazmin-grace-grimaldi-grace-kelly-granddaughter-0815/">Harper's Bazaar in 2015</a>, in her first ever interview. "It's a difficult time for any young adult, and it was an adjustment to have that attention. But I knew it was going to come someday." <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B2ZoGZvnHZD/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B2ZoGZvnHZD/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">Remembering my Beautiful, Smart and Talented Grandmother #Gracekelly on this day. It has been 37 years since the day she was taken from us way too soon. I was born exactly ten years later and wish I could’ve met her. Although, we were never able to have a physical relationship and she never knew of her many wonderful grandchildren I feel the warmth of her spirit and guidance around me often. I hope she is smiling down today. #gracekelly #icon #life #memory #remember #actress #grace #beauty #harpersbazaar #michaelavedon @harpersbazaarus shoot with @mavedon212 📸🙏🏻</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/jazmingrimaldi/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank"> JazminGraceGrimaldi</a> (@jazmingrimaldi) on Sep 14, 2019 at 10:42am PDT </div> </blockquote> Jazmin said connecting with her family members for the first time at 11 was “great”. "Not having had that figure around, I missed that. It's wonderful that it happened when it did, and we've been enjoying a great relationship ever since." Interestingly enough, she bears a striking resemblance to her famous grandmother, who gave up her illustrious career to marry Prince Rainier III. While she never got the opportunity to meet Grace - as she died tragically from a stroke ten years before Jazmin was born - she found that they bonded through her films. "One of my first and fondest memories involving my grandmother was watching High Society," Jazmin said. "It was the first time I realised we had a connection. I'm passionate about acting, singing, and dancing. I saw that in her in this movie. It was a real goose-bumps moment for me." The 27-year-old regularly pays tribute to her “beautiful, smart and talented grandmother,” on social media. "I was born exactly ten years later and wish I could've met her. Although, we were never able to have a physical relationship and she never knew of her many wonderful grandchildren I feel the warmth of her spirit and guidance around me often. I hope she is smiling down today." In another post Jazmin wrote, "Her life, light and legacy lives on. "Truly the epitome of Elegance, Grace and Beauty. "I'm proud to be her granddaughter!" Scroll through the gallery above to see Grace Kelly’s look-alike granddaughter Jazmin.

Entertainment

New Jurassic short film released

Jurassic World fans need not wait for the next installment of the movie franchise to hit the screens, as a new short film has been released online. Directed by Colin Trevorrow, Battle at Big Rock takes place a year after Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, focusing on the adventure of a blended family at Big Rock National Park as their family vacation gets disrupted by dinosaurs in the wild. The eight-minute short picks up where the last film ended – in this universe, the beasts are now roaming freely around the world and everyday people lead far more perilous lives, fighting for survival during their daily commutes and wedding ceremonies. Watch the short film here: <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C7kbVvpOGdQ"></iframe></div>

Entertainment

21 movies that have hilarious titles in other countries

When movies travel abroad, their titles can get a little lost in translation. Check out what your favourite films are called overseas! The War of the Stars That’s the French title for Star Wars; in Spanish, it was The War of the Galaxies. Makes sense! The title isn’t the only thing that got a major switch in translation. In Germany, the Millennium Falcon became the Speeding Falcon. In France, Han Solo was instead Yan Solo and his Wookie sidekick got the name “Chico.” And their ship? The “Millennium Condor.” The Force definitely wasn’t with those translators. Knight of the Night It kind of makes sense…? In Spain, that was the title of The Dark Knight. You may have thought that the Batman movie got its title from its brooding protagonist and gloomy cityscapes, but in Spain, they were much more literal – it’s because so many scenes take place at night! Super Power Dare Die Team You’re not going to be able to guess this one: Super Power Dare Die Team would have been the Chinese title for the Ghostbusters reboot starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones – had it ever been released. Guidelines in China forbid movies that “promote cults or superstition,” though the country’s censors said the official reason was that it wouldn’t appeal to the Chinese audience. A Very Powerful Whale Runs to Heaven The beloved tearjerker Free Willy is known for its happy ending. The Chinese saw things differently, giving the movie the above title instead. Then again, Willy did jump (not run) to the metaphorical heaven of the open ocean. He’s a Ghost! The Sixth Sense has one of the greatest twist endings of all time – unless you happen to live in China. Although most audiences were stunned by the movie’s revelation in the final minutes, Chinese viewers were already clued in by the title. The Boy Drowned in the Chocolate Sauce Denmark gave Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory quite the dark (but also kind of hilarious) spin! While greedy Augustus Gloop does take a harrowing swim in a chocolate river, his fate is not quite that grim. While many countries kept the original title of the Gene Wilder classic, and others tweaked it to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the title of the Roald Dahl novel it’s based on), Portugal changed it to Charlie’s Wonderful Story and Spain picked A Fantasy World. But Denmark’s interpretation definitely takes the (chocolate) cake. Die Hard: Mega Hard Let’s face it: It’s only a matter of time before Hollywood co-opts this Danish title for Die Hard with a Vengeance. In Denmark, mega means huge, but it also signifies a million. Those Danes are intense. “Die Hard: A million times hard.” I’m Drunk and You’re a Prostitute The Japanese get points for brutal honesty with this title for Leaving Las Vegas. Nicolas Cage won the Best Actor Oscar for his devastating performance, and his co-star Elisabeth Shue was riveting in her role in the acclaimed drama. Nonetheless, he was portraying a drunk, and she did play a prostitute. (The title also happens to be a paraphrase of one of Cage’s lines from the movie.) It’s Raining Falafel Israel, where meatballs are not a popular dish, clearly wanted to make Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs more appealing to its audience. So the Hebrew title swapped out the meatballs for falafel, a more recognisable food. In the film itself, though, the animated meatballs were not altered. Sexy Dance In the first Step Up film, Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan come from opposite sides of the tracks. But they’re able to bond through dance and it’s beautiful. Whoever titled the French version of the film simply cut to the chase and called it Sexy Dance. That pretty much nails it! Vaseline Yep: Grease. Everyone loves Olivia Newton-John as Sandy during her epic transformation in this iconic musical from 1978. John Travolta as Danny is the one that she wants, even though he’s a tough guy greaser. In 1950s slang, that means he slicks his hair back and has a bad reputation. But for the movie release in Argentina, the title was simply Vaseline. Talk about lost in translation… A Twin Seldom Comes Alone This German designation for the reboot of The Parent Trap is quite… literal. It was Lindsay Lohan’s first starring turn – the 1961 original starred Hayley Mills. The story is about twin sisters, raised apart by feuding parents, who decide to reunite the family; the twins are played by a single actress in both film versions. Maybe that’s why the German title-writer decided to get philosophical with this title. My Boyfriend is a Psycho The point of Silver Linings Playbook is that they’re both a little crazy, Russia! However, we can’t blame translators for changing this title. Since the English phrase “every cloud has a silver lining” doesn’t really have foreign equivalents, other countries had to seek an alternative name for the film. France called the comedy Happiness Therapy, and Lithuania went with The Story of the Optimists. And finally, since a “playbook” is an American football term, the United Kingdom dropped that part and just went with Silver Linings. Seems reasonable. The Teeth of the Sea The marketing of the blockbuster Jaws was brilliant for its minimalist simplicity. With one word, audiences got a taste of the horror to come. The visual of the iconic movie poster – a woman swimming above a massive open-mouthed shark – gave the single word “Jaws” its power and impact. In France, the effect was a bit muted: The Teeth of the Sea sounds much less scary and a lot more confusing. Mum, I Missed the Plane The French must have decided that every parent’s worst nightmare – leaving a child behind – is actually the child’s fault. That can be the only explanation for altering John Hughes’ Home Alone to the above title. That’s right: Kevin missed the plane, and he brought all this home alone burglar mayhem stuff on himself! Dimwit Surges Forth Adam Sandler comedies are not usually known for their inspirational, overcoming-the-odds tales of high stakes struggle and survival. So it’s not clear why The Waterboy was titled Dimwit Surges Forth in Thailand. However, the dimwit’s rinky-dink team does, ahem, surge forth in the end. The Incredible Journey in a Crazy Plane This was Germany’s interpretation of the madcap-comedy-slash-disaster-movie-spoof Airplane! Italy also went literal, calling it The Craziest Plane in the World. Several other countries, including Croatia, France and Peru, also lengthened the one-word title, calling it some variation of Is There a Pilot on This Plane? But the funniest title of all might be the working title used for the film during production: Kentucky Fried Airplane. Big Liar Anthony Hopkins gave an acclaimed performance as the disgraced president in the biopic Nixon, a drama that humanised the flawed American leader. Oliver Stone’s three-hour epic intended to depict the complexity of Nixon’s impact on history. In China, the film was released with the title Big Liar. Why mince words? Fantastic Emotional Turmoil The beloved Pixar film Inside Out told a complicated emotional tale to child and adult audiences alike. However, multiple countries struggled with a quick, clear title for this movie: In China, the movie was called The Great Team Inside the Head. Russia went with Jigsaw. Vietnam chose The Puzzle Emotions. But Thailand may have taken the day by dubbing it Fantastic Emotional Turmoil. That works! Honey, Wait, I’m On My Way To be fair to the Slovenian translators, that is an accurate summation of the road trip buddy comedy Due Date. Robert Downey Jr. must take a cross-country trip, with Zach Galifianakis as his wacky travel companion, to arrive home in time for the birth of his baby. Unlike Slovenia, some other countries took the original route, working the pregnancy into the title. In Portugal, the film was called A Childbirth Trip. Perhaps most hilarious of all, the movie’s Polish title translates to Before the Water Goes. Grandpa Carl’s Flying House Most countries kept the simplicity of the title of Pixar’s Up. Argentina chose Up: An Adventure Up High and the Czech Republic chose To the Skies. Japan, however? Not so much. They chose Grandpa Carl’s Flying House. While that might sound like a comically literal summation of the film, it’s actually somewhat inaccurate – a pivotal detail of Up is the fact that Carl is childless, and therefore not a grandpa. Though we suppose this is a more tactful title than Grumpy Old Guy Carl’s Flying House. Written by Molly Pennington, PhD. This article first appeared in <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/entertainment/21-movies-that-have-hilarious-titles-in-other-countries" target="_blank">Reader’s Digest</a>. <img style="width: 100px !important; height: 100px !important;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7820640/1.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/f30947086c8e47b89cb076eb5bb9b3e2" />

Entertainment

6 astonishing facts about America

Thought you knew a thing or two about the USA? Think again: your mind is about to be red, white, and blown. Scroll through the gallery above to see 6 cool facts about America.

Entertainment

Steven Spielberg: “Artistic freedom is everything”

In box-office terms, Spielberg is the most successful movie director in the world. Jaws, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Indiana Jones … his movies are cinema classics. But alongside these popcorn-sagas he has also turned his hand to sterner stuff. Moviegoers all over the world found his black-and-white Holocaust drama Schindler’s List deeply moving. 2016 saw the release of The BFG (short for Big Friendly Giant), a movie version of the children’s book by Roald Dahl in which a benevolent giant ‘kidnaps’ a little orphan girl. Reader’s Digest: The little heroine of your latest movie is scared of giants. What were you afraid of when you were a child? Spielberg: I was my own monster. My imagination was incredible, so I was afraid of everything. A chair could very quickly change into a spider. I remember staring up at the sky when I was five. One of the clouds up there looked like a beautiful swan, then suddenly it was a dinosaur. I ran home screaming Reader’s Digest: What did your parents feel about that? Spielberg: For my parents my imagination was a real problem, so much so that they seriously considered having me examined by a doctor. After all I was constantly seeing things that didn’t exist except in my head. My mother and father thought I had some major mental problems. I probably did – but they were the gateway to a great career! Reader’s Digest: How important is it for you to preserve the child within? Spielberg: The fascinating thing about children is that they’re just there. When they’re small, they don’t know right from wrong – it’s not important to them. Those are years of complete freedom, which come to an end when at some point the brain takes over and tells you how to behave. I remember that time very clearly. Reader’s Digest: You turned 70 this past December 2016. What do you consider your greatest career achievement so far? Spielberg: The right to decide my own projects. That was always my only goal, telling my stories without anyone else interfering. It was also why I established my own studios. Artistic freedom means everything to me. Reader’s Digest: Which movie did you enjoy making most? Spielberg: That was E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, because it was the first time I realised I wanted to be a father. Three years later I finally made the grade with the birth of my first son. Reader’s Digest: Do you make home movies? Spielberg: Yes, I always have a video camera with me. At Christmas it’s traditional for there to be a joint movie about the family that lasts one hour. I edit the footage I’ve collected in the course of the year and combine it with our children’s videos. And of course there’s a soundtrack and special effects. We all watch the film together and everyone gets a DVD of it. Written by Dieter Osswald. This article first appeared in <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/thought-provoking/artistic-freedom-everything" target="_blank">Reader’s Digest</a>. <img style="width: 100px !important; height: 100px !important;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7820640/1.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/f30947086c8e47b89cb076eb5bb9b3e2" />

Entertainment

How Martin Scorsese is going to change your home movie experience

Hollywood’s biggest filmmakers have teamed up to launch a technology that will make the experience of watching movies at home more like what they intended. In partnership with the UHD Alliance, leading directors including Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Patty Jenkins, Ryan Coogler, Rian Johnson and Paul Thomas Anderson revealed the new “Filmmaker Mode” for upcoming TVs from LG, Panasonic and Vizio that removes technical features that have frustrated the industry. There has been a growing concern among the creators’ community over features such as motion smoothing, a setting used to adapt movies to smaller screens and reduce blur in fast-moving scenes. It is often referred to as the “soap opera effect” due to the way it makes the actors and backgrounds appear fake or set-like. “Modern televisions have extraordinary technical capabilities, and it is important that we harness these new technologies to ensure that the home viewer sees our work presented as closely as possible to our original creative intentions,” said Nolan. “Through collaboration with TV manufacturers, Filmmaker Mode consolidates input from filmmakers into simple principles for respecting frame rate, aspect ratio, color and contrast and encoding in the actual media so that televisions can read it and can display it appropriately.” Michael Zink, chairman of the UHD Alliance said the initiative highlighted the importance of home viewing. Johnson, director of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, said the Filmmaker Mode provides “a single button that lines up the settings so it works for the benefit of the movie and not against it”. He said, “If you love movies, Filmmaker Mode will make your movies not look like poo-poo.” Scorsese said more people view classic flicks in the comfort of their home rather than in theatres. “I started The Film Foundation in 1990 with the goal to preserve film and protect the filmmaker’s original vision so that the audience can experience these films as they were intended to be seen,” he said. “Most people today are watching these classic films at home rather than in movie theaters, making Filmmaker Mode of particular importance when presenting these films which have specifications unique to being shot on film.”

Entertainment

6 hacks to remove water stains from wood

Grab any of these household products and you’ll be able to buff out those water rings, easy. 1. Baking Soda Get those white marks—caused by hot cups or sweating glasses—off your coffee table or other wooden furniture by making a paste of one tablespoon baking soda and one teaspoon water. Gently rub the spot in a circular motion until it disappears. Remember not to use too much water to remove water stains from wood. 2. Petroleum Jelly Your most recent party left lots of watermark rings on your wood furniture. To make them disappear, apply petroleum jelly and let it sit overnight. In the morning, wipe the watermark away with the jelly. 3. Toothpaste You leave coasters around, but some people just won’t use them. To get rid of those telltale watermark rings left by sweating beverages, gently rub some non-gel toothpaste with a soft cloth on the surface to remove water stains from wood. Then wipe it off with a damp cloth and let it dry before applying furniture polish. For even stronger cleaning power, mix equal parts white toothpaste and baking soda. Rub the paste parallel to the wood grain, wipe it off, and then polish with lemon oil. 4. Salt Make watermarks left from glasses or bottles disappear by mixing one teaspoon salt with a few drops of water to form a paste. Gently rub the paste onto the ring with a soft cloth or sponge and work it over the spot until it’s gone. Restore the lustre of your wood with furniture polish. 5. Car Wax Someone forgot to use a coaster and now there’s an ugly white ring on the dining room table. When regular furniture polish doesn’t work, try using a dab of car wax to remove water stains from wood. Trace the ring with your finger to apply the wax. Let it dry and buff with a soft cloth. 6. Vinegar To remove white rings left by wet glasses on wood furniture, mix equal parts vinegar and olive oil and apply it with a soft cloth while moving with the wood grain. Use another clean, soft cloth to shine it up. To get white water rings off leather furniture, dab them with a sponge soaked in full-strength white vinegar. Did you know that vinegar can not only remove water stains from wood but also remove blood stains? This article first appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.ca/home-garden/cleaning/how-to-remove-water-stains-from-wood/">RD.com</a>

Entertainment

Director’s cuts: Are they better than regular movies?

Ridley Scott and James Cameron did it, and George Lucas never stops. Directors ceaselessly return to their work to tweak, tinker, chop and change. Extended Cut, Definitive Version, Special Edition: the list goes on. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10643608/">Apocalypse Now: Final Cut</a>, Francis Ford Coppola’s supposedly definitive version of his 1979 epic Vietnam war film, will be released in Australia today. But are these new versions just an excuse for obsessive tinkering and self-indulgence? The director’s cut refers to a version of the film that remains closest to the director’s original vision, rather than the theatrical version officially released by the studio. In an era of DVD and streaming services, these alternative cuts are becoming increasingly attractive to studio boss, director and movie lover alike. These “new” films, often only fractionally altered, throw the commerce versus art equation that has underpinned Hollywood for more than a century into sharp relief. The studio gets another chance to market a beloved film, the fans can endlessly debate the differences between the old and new version, while the director can once more return to the editing studio, elusively seeking perfection. In that sense, everyone wins. With director’s cuts, the romantic myth of the brilliant (usually male) director battling against numbers-obsessed Hollywood is also reinforced. The good and the bad Director’s cuts often seek to rectify an injustice. Studio executives will often demand last-minute edits or reshoots if test screenings go badly. Directors who bitterly complained about how studios altered their vision can now go back and showcase the film as it was meant to be seen. For example, director David Ayer <a href="https://screenrant.com/suicide-squad-cut-david-ayer-different/">recently acknowledged</a> his original cut of the dark superhero film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1386697/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1">Suicide Squad</a> was radically different to the studio-sanctioned release. The studio requested significant reshoots to lighten the tone and inject more comedy – but the “Ayer cut” only can be accessed on DVD and Blu-ray. Other director’s cuts improve on the original version by bolstering visual scope, narrative continuity and emotional engagement. For example, the 17 minutes of deleted footage from James Cameron’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1">Aliens</a> (1986), since restored to the 1990 Special Edition, are a masterclass in building tension and deepening character. Ridley Scott’s endless reworking of the science-fiction/neo-noir <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/?ref_=nv_sr_2?ref_=nv_sr_2">Blade Runner</a> remains the gold standard. First released in 1982, Scott oversaw a new version ten years on, and then the so-called Final Cut in 2007 (re-released on Blu-ray in 2017). He removed the ponderous voice-over from Deckard (Harrison Ford), axed the happy ending and inserted opaque dream sequences that continue to nourish the film’s philosophical ambiguities. But some directors just do not know when to stop. To coincide with the 20 year anniversary of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/?ref_=ttmi_tt">Star Wars</a> in 1997, George Lucas created a digitally remastered Special Edition (spruced up versions of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080684/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1">The Empire Strikes Back</a> (1980) and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086190/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1">Return of the Jedi</a> (1983) followed a few weeks later). Lucas stuffed the trilogy with reinstated scenes, polished up degraded images and sound and reaped extraordinary success (<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2017/02/01/20-years-ago-star-wars-special-edition-made-star-wars-special-again/#2835bb712a61">US$472 million</a> at the global box office was mightily impressive for a trilogy nearly two decades old). There was only one problem – the Special Editions were castigated by fans. Many resented the retrofitted visuals and jarring CGI enhancements; for others, the most egregious alteration – having bounty hunter Greedo now shoot Han Solo first in a Mos Eisley cantina – compromised Han’s character arc from rogue to hero across the trilogy. Lucas’s incessant meddling (he returned to the trilogy again in 2004 and 2011) has been seen as a way of perpetually monetising the much-beloved originals. All along, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm1zaTUnoTE">his response</a> to such criticism has been consistent – he was waiting for technology to catch up to his original vision. As for Coppola, he has been here before. In 2001, he presented <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_Now_Redux">Apocalypse Now: Redux</a> to ecstatic reviews during the Cannes Film Festival. Nearly an hour of footage cut from the 1979 version was reinserted, including the famously woozy “French plantation” scene. This new version was hailed as extraordinary – “redux” means “a work of art presented in a new way”. But Coppola clearly was not done. Apocalypse Now: Final Cut premiered in New York back in April, 19 minutes shorter than Redux. In Final Cut, <a href="https://www.tribecafilm.com/filmguide/apocalypse-now-2019">Coppola has</a> finessed the colour balance and sound design, no doubt hoping to add to the film’s hallucinogenic qualities. Despite the important contributions of <a href="https://theconversation.com/apocalypse-now-turns-40-rediscovering-the-genesis-of-a-film-classic-113448">writer John Milius</a>, cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and sound designer and editor Walter Murch, this latest version reinforces the romantic idea of the director as the sole auteur. Coppola’s fingerprints are all over Final Cut. Here is a powerful director who, like Spielberg, Lucas and Scott, has been given endless opportunities to refine his vision. This tells us a lot about Hollywood’s commodification of the auteur and the ongoing importance of the director’s name in selling a product. “A work of art is never completed, only abandoned”, noted the French poet Paul Valéry. Apocalypse Now: Final Cut is the latest exhibit to suggest films are never really finished – the artistic process is endlessly reworkable. Written by Ben McCann. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-star-wars-to-apocalypse-now-directors-cuts-are-all-the-rage-but-do-they-make-the-films-any-better-120755">The Conversation</a>.

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