Swept Under The Rug
Be Your Own Journalist
Ukrainian Madness. Scorsese and Netflix. AI. Young Leaders. Bagels.
Written and Compiled by Simon Moore
It’s Actually A Humanoid Elephant Seal
The Homunculus Loxodontus is a sculpture by Dutch artist Margriet van Breevort. Described as the “eternally waiting humanoid”, the original sits in the medical centre of Leiden University in The Netherlands. It is meant to symbolise people’s experience of waiting to see a doctor. I’m sure we can all relate…
According to Newsweek it is “actually a humanoid elephant seal”, just in case you were wondering. Whatever it is, the Homunculus Loxondontus has hit headlines in Ukraine this week, as it gate-crashed the national parliament in spectacular fashion. The podgy, grey lump has become a meme in Russia and Ukraine, where it is has adopted the name Pochekun which translates as “the one who waits”. Ukrainian MP Borislav Bereza was accompanied to the chamber by a stuffed toy version of Pochekun, on Friday morning. The aim of the stunt was to shame his colleagues who don’t turn up for work. According to Bereza, 322 MP’s were registered as being in the chamber during this particular session, although in reality there were no more than 150 people in attendance. When questioned about his unusual companion, Bereza replied- “He, like the majority of Ukrainians, is waiting for national representatives to arrive and work and he’s keenly awaiting proper changes in the cabinet of ministers.”
A former spokesperson for the nationalist Right Sector party and now elected as an independent candidate, Bereza was once described by a journalist as being “undiplomatic and completely intense”. This stunt therefore doesn’t seem particularly out of character for either him or the Ukrainian parliament as a whole. In 2015, a fight broke out when an MP approached the Prime Minister with a bunch of roses and then preceded to comically manhandle him, WWE style. Everyone else got involved with scenes reminiscent of an away day at Millwall in the 80’s. Even this wasn’t an isolated incident, there were similar occurrences in both 2014 and 2012. So is all this unpredictability good? Is it real people showing real passion or is it overly macho posturing? Only 12.3% of the Ukrainian parliament is made up of women compared to 30% in the UK. Whatever it is, it’s certainly not lacking in entertainment.
How A Grey Blob Meme Ended Up Addressing Ukraine’s Parliament (Newsweek)
Marty And Bob
Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver. Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro have collaborated on some classic films and they are set to work together once more, on The Irishman. It will be their first feature film together since 1995’s Casino. The new film is also going to star Al Pacino and Joe Pesci. It will be just the fourth time that Pacino and De Niro, often described as the two greatest actors of their generation, have worked together. Hopefully it will be more like Heat than Righteous Kill. It will also be a big occasion for Joe Pesci, he has not been in a film for 8 years. All of these important, potentially iconic, cinematic moments look set to take place on Netflix.
Last week, Netflix reportedly acquired the worldwide rights to the $100 million gangster drama, which would still get a limited theatrical release to qualify for award shows. However there has been a backlash from traditional distributors, who had apparently already secured the rights. “We have a legally binding and fully executed contract re all exclusive rights in Benelux for The Irishman,” claims Olivier Van Den Broeck of Belgian distributors The Searchers. He went on to say, “it allows, to my knowledge, no opening for Netflix to even negotiate international rights with these deals in place.” All of this looks set to rumble on for a while, with reports of a legal battle now surfacing.
The key question here is should films always screen in the cinema first? Does an initial small screen release, take away the magic and sense of anticipation? Would La La Land have been such a huge cultural moment, had it just suddenly appeared on Netflix?
“One of the most iconic duos in film…” (The Hustle)
Mood Music
“Emotional Radio” sounds like a particularly terrible online station that plays 24/7 Celine Dion. In reality it’s how the experts are describing an interesting new technological innovation. Solo is a radio that reads you’re facial expression and then blasts out a tune that suits your mood. It does this by taking a photo of the person stood in front of it. The image is then sent to a Microsoft programme which analyses facial features, before Solo searches Spotify and selects one of 300 songs to suit your mood.
“What would AI look like if we designed it thinking about human characteristics?” asks Erika Shorter Research & Insight Manager at Uniform, the creative studio who designed Solo. They are hoping it won’t just become a gimmick, with potential practical uses in cars and healthcare. For example, if Solo could see that you were becoming tired whilst behind the wheel it could begin to play upbeat music which Erika believes “could prevent car accidents.” Mike Shorter, Senior Creative Technologist, says this- “Solo opens up the conversation on how technologies can be broken down and mean something to people, not just the tech industry. When you try Solo, you think not only about how technology is changing, but more importantly, how its relationship with us is changing.”
Is it changing for the better though? Is handing our musical selections over to a robot, an exciting and bold step forward or just another way in which we are slowly relinquishing control of our own lives?
A Radio That Reads Your Mood (BBC Radio 6Music)
The Young Pretender
Gavin Nicholson is 19. He is running to become a member of the city council of Mc Kinney, Texas. Not necessarily the most out there thing that has happened in American politics recently but it’s up there. Should age be an issue for something like this? After all, Josiah was only eight years old when he became king. Nicholson doesn’t think seem to think so, “I don’t think experience is really a big issue for something of this sort. I think it’s more about who has the dedication and commitment to making McKinney the best it can be. Not necessarily who has twenty or thirty years of business experience.”
In the nearby city of Plano, John Payton was elected Justice of the Peace in 1990. He was 18. Now, 27 years down the line, he is till serving and according to Nicholson, “is known around the state for his excellent handling of truancy cases.” There is a sense therefore that this unusual challenge is far from impossible, although Nicholson admits he is an underdog. It also doesn’t seem to be a one track career choice for him, according to his website at least. “He is currently a productive, employed college student studying Computer Science at Collin County Community College while also working two jobs at Market Street and Prosper United Methodist Church.”
However heart-warming and positive this might be, his campaign hasn’t been able to escape lines that could have come straight out of Armando Iannucci’s brilliant political satire The Thick Of It. Such as this from a recent interview, “When I use the restroom I am just there to do exactly that. I think the majority of Americans would agree that is what we go to the bathroom for.” Or these gems from his campaign website. “Growth needs to be more sustained and not just a growth bubble waiting to pop” and “Gavin’s favorite trip is the trip he took to Poland on a nursing internship in which he helped real people with medical problems.” Despite some of the political clichés and clumsy claims, Gavin’s story is bizarrely invigorating. I will be very interested to see how he does on May 6th.
An Interview With A Teenage City Council Candidate (Rantt)
Before You Go…
Video Of The Week: Ladies and Gentleman, The UK…
Photo Of The Week: The Hameem Desert, UAE, on Friday…
