Links: 10/09/15

From the Project Apollo Archive. Which is awesome.

• The Battle Over the Worst Movie Ever: “‘It has an atmosphere, a vibe. Why did people latch on to it? I don’t know. It’s like the Supreme Court’s definition of porn: You’ll know it when you see it.‘” (Warning: Link goes to Playboy, the article is fine, but if you’re at work I’d suggest saving this one for later.)
• Rehinking Civil Liberties in the Digital Age: “At a time where there is less and less privacy or private time, the idea that ideas need privacy is perhaps radical.”
• Debbie Caruana Dingli on her paintings of migrants and refugees: “‘The other day, my son Bruce mentioned that we spend all our life hearing about how we’re supposed to love our neighbour and give them the cloak off our back, and now we’re finally being put to the test.'”
• You can have your ad blockers, I’ll stick with RSS: “With interest so low, RSS users like me can fly under the radar, quickly consuming vast quantities of news almost completely devoid of ads.” Or you can be like me and do both!
• A Catholic Pope, A Protestant King, and Hope for God’s Impossible Future: “We belong to a Church that places us in communion with saints that have not lived yet. We draw life from a Tradition that is not finished yet. We worship a God who remains unchanging in Her love for us by sometimes changing how She relates to us.“
• What’s It Like to Work at a Company With No Bosses? “Offices where the CEO occupies a regular desk like anyone else are now commonplace, and these changes have introduced a more casual and superficially democratic ethos to corporate America.” Not gonna lie, this sounds like hell to me. I’d nope right out of that nonsense.
• The Gross, Deadly History of Color: “If not for the industrial revolution, Pantone might be in the beetle boiling business, and all our magazines might be printed in cow urine and arsenic.”
• Not sure I agree with everything in the article about e-readers, but it’s an interesting read nonetheless: “The relationship between a reader and a book is measured not in hours or minutes but, ideally, in months and years.“
• Spa Hookups, Korean Parents, And Coming Out On Screen: “But it’s the fact that they love him so much, and that he loves them so much. You don’t want to abandon them. You’re going to have to bring them into your life in some way.” This article–and the description of Andrew Ahn’s first film–made me think of John Chu’s “The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere”.
• How Two Guys Lost God and Found $40 Million. I just can’t even with this.
• Masculinity is an Anxiety Disorder: Breaking Down the Nerd Box.  I love David J. Schwartz’s essay so, so, so much. “Man, from my perspective, is not an identity so much as a Long Con, and masculinity is a concatenation of anxiety–founded posturing.“
• This seems like a really cool site: Meet Mozzified, A Site For Ramadan Recipes, Sharia Memes And Nosy-Auntie Jokes
• Anger Reduces Women’s Ability to Influence Others: “Angry men are strong and forceful, while angry women are often dismissed as overly emotional.” This comes to the world from the No Shit, Sherlock Files.

This commercial gives me life. So many hilarious facial expressions. My favorite band from when I was 14. Yes.

Also! I will be at Capclave this weekend! As always, if I’m in a public area of the hotel, I’m happy to talk to people–if I weren’t interested in being social, I’d be hiding in my room. Here are my panels–I’m looking forward to them:

• Friday, 8 pm: 50 Years Of Dune
  Panelists: Natalie Luhrs, C.S. MacCath, Darrell Schweitzer, Fran Wilde (M)
  The novel version of Dune was published in 1965. Does it still hold up today? Have the endless sequels and franchise by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson affected the reputation of the original? What about the movies/miniseries?
• Saturday, 3 pm: Revolution, Rebellion & Nuance
  Panelists: Charles E. Gannon, Carolyn Ives Gilman (M), Natalie Luhrs, Fran Wilde
  Why aren’t rebels, revolutionary conflicts & post-revolutionary societies portrayed with more nuance or variety in speculative fiction (e.g. analogs to Mandela & Gandhi)? Examples will be drawn from fiction and world history.
• Saturday, 6 pm: Diversity: Fad or Future
  Panelists: Bill Campbell (M), Natalie Luhrs, Sherin Nicole, K.M. Szpara
  There’s lots of talk about diversity in sf/fantasy but the overwhelming majority of the best known writers and characters still remain white and usually male as well. Are these calls to diversify just a fad or will writers, publishers, and fans do something to increase diversity? And, if so, what can they do?
• Saturday, 7 pm: Always Twenty Years Away: The Singularity
  Panelists: Tom Doyle, Natalie Luhrs, James Maxey, David Walton (M)
  People keep pushing back the date for the singularity. What is the singularity and why is the date always changing? What is a realistic timetable? What sf deals with it the most?