On this day fifty years ago, Stanley Kubrick’s theatrical adaptation of the Arthur C Clark science fiction novel had its initial release at the Uptown Theatre in Washington, DC.
The cultural impact of this work is nearly impossible to gauge in totality but among the many ground-breaking firsts of the film (previously here, here and here) was the appeal to the possibility of space-tourism (projected already for the turn of the millennium) and product placement and brand tie-ins with the hotel-restaurant chain Howard Johnson’s (effectively defunct in 2006) presence on the station with its Earthlight lounge. Back on Earth, there was a 2001-themed kids’ menu for years after.
Monday 2 April 2018
my god, it’s full of stars
Sunday 1 April 2018
we all live in a gaudรญ submarine
Architectural photographer Anthony Lindsey captures the handiwork of several artists-in-residence studying at Granny’s University of the Imagination in order to renovate the master bath in the fashion suggested by Terry Gilliam’s 1985 film Brazil what would happen if the Yellow Submarine were to crash land on the beach house of Antoni Gaudรญ i Cornet (previously inspiring here, here and here). Their alma mater is the private home of Jaina Bee who presented a restoration project to some creative and crafty friends who’ve transformed the campus into an ever evolving artistic expression. Visit their home page at the link above for a virtual tour of all the rooms and perhaps arrange a tour in person.
apparatchik or all politics is local
With coverage of forty percent of American households—after the anticipated approval of currently proposed sales and mergers which are expected to get the rubber-stamp of approval as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was not only rubbishing net neutrality but was also tasked with removing the regulatory hurdles to media dominance in local markets, the Sinclair Broadcast Group has stakes in or outright ownership of some two-hundred thirty television affiliates all over the country (check to see how high the propaganda might be dialled up in your neighbourhood here) and has operated as a conservative ideology-forwarding mouthpiece for some time.
First infamously censoring reporting that did not portray Republican leadership in a flattering light like the broadcast of ABC news anchor Ted Koppel’s reading out of the names of the US soldiers killed in the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq in April of 2004, the group then in October of the same year, just ahead of a presidential election, ordered its stations to play a documentary that characterised the Democratic challenger to the Bush dynasty as a coward during the candidate’s tour of duty in the Vietnam war.
Political bias has continued to influence programming choices and journalism on the local level—surely burying stories deemed inconvenient or problematic and throttling others in line with their agenda if not dispensing with local news altogether. Stations have for the past two years been required to run the political commentary segments of one of the Trump regime’s Svengalis multiple times a day. And now, local news outlets have to make this rather chilling and Orwellian loyalty pledge (supercut above from Deadspin) to combat fake news wherever detected. Read more at the link up top.
