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9 votes
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US Congressional Budget Office annual report projects continued economic growth, but federal deficits and debts reaching levels not seen since just after World War II
8 votes -
Drug gang violence in Sweden linked to 60% increase in bomb blasts – last year 257 bomb attacks were reported to police, up from 162 in 2018
4 votes -
An examination of over 4700 clinical trials found that less than 45% of them reported their results on time, despite it being a legal requirement
7 votes -
The ecological devastation of the Victorian bushfires has been laid bare in a leaked report which warns some species are likely to already be extinct
4 votes -
Wearable sleep trackers - recommendations?
Is there a good smartwatch/simile that monitors sleep and has excellent battery life (measured in weeks not hours)? I use the Withings (ex-Nokia) Steel HR, but it … kinda sucks. The bluetooth...
Is there a good smartwatch/simile that monitors sleep and has excellent battery life (measured in weeks not hours)?
I use the Withings (ex-Nokia) Steel HR, but it … kinda sucks. The bluetooth pairings very often lose sleep data, it's very inaccurate, the reporting sucks for non-24s, and the leather bracelet is of very poor quality, keeps breaking.
I really don't care for the fitness/step tracking which, as someone else here put it, thinks typing on a keyboard or eating is a step.
I also briefly tried an Oura (https://ouraring.com/), but I never got it to work and had to send it back.
I also don't care much for any of those "sleep quality" trackers that try to detect if I snore and what not. I can do sleep studies in my own time, I just want to have accurate stats on whether and when I am asleep.
6 votes -
Report from the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has called on Denmark to improve conditions in two centres where migrants are detained
7 votes -
Chernobyl's Stellan Skarsgård took home the award for best supporting actor in a television series at the 2020 Golden Globes
3 votes -
Wuhan pneumonia outbreak: Hong Kong steps up response as more cases reported
7 votes -
Pitchers and catchers report in forty-one days!
3 votes -
Mary Poppins Returns: Some thoughts
I have just watched ‘Mary Poppins Returns’, after yesterday watching the original ‘Mary Poppins’ for the first time. I have not, to my knowledge, ever watched ‘Mary Poppins’ in full before now....
I have just watched ‘Mary Poppins Returns’, after yesterday watching the original ‘Mary Poppins’ for the first time. I have not, to my knowledge, ever watched ‘Mary Poppins’ in full before now. I’ve caught snippets of it on weekend television, but I’ve never seen it from start to finish. Well, with our new Disney+ streaming subscription, I’ve finally seen ‘Mary Poppins’ for the first time yesterday, and followed it up by watching ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ today.
‘Mary Poppins Returns’ is a sequel in name only. It’s basically a remake of the original. It’s as if the director had a checklist of everything ‘Mary Poppins’ contained, and just checked them off in this sequel:
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Mary Poppins herself. Check.
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A dirty working-class friend with a heart of gold. Check.
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Children who didn’t know how to have fun. Check.
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A father who needed to rediscover his children and his own childish joy. Check.
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A woman who’s working for a progressive cause. Check.
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Bank seen as a negative institution. Check.
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Quirky relative of Mary Poppins who gives the children a different point of view. Check.
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Animated sequence. Check.
Actually, I’m surprised that there is an animated sequence in the sequel, given how much P.L. Travers reportedly hated the animation in the original. (Strangely, I’ve seen ‘Saving Mr Banks’ a couple of times, and even watched a documentary about Ms Travers somewhere along the way.) But I suppose she’s dead now, so her input is limited to just turning in her grave.
It even gets more detailed than that. Individual musical numbers have been mapped from one movie to another:
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Vaudeville-style song & dance number within the animated sequence, with the main characters performing alongside cartoon animals. Check.
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Big dance number featuring the aforementioned working-class friend and his colleagues. Check. The names even have a metaphorical resonance: “Step in Time” becomes “Trip a Little Light Fantastic”.
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Uplifting song at the end of the movie. Check. But instead of being about a child’s toy that flies in the sky (kite), let’s make it about a different child’s toy that flies in the sky (balloon).
It’s a shame that Julie Andrews can’t sing any more. It would have been lov-er-ly (ha!) to see her in the cameo role that Angela Lansbury had. Not that I have anything against Ms Lansbury: far from it! But Dick Van Dyke got a small role, and it would have been nice to see Ms Andrews pop up as well. A little on-screen moment between her and Emily Blunt would have been sweet.
There was one thing that the director left off his checklist, though: singable songs. While everyone knows “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and can sing it at the drop of a hat, noone is going to be singing “A Cover is not the Book”, as fun as it was. “A Spoonful of Sugar” is fun and memorable, while “Can You Imagine That” is fun and forgettable.
This is not to derogate the performances. There were no weak links in this chain. Emily Blunt was spot-on as Mary Poppins. Lin-Manuel Miranda was technically great as Jack the lamplighter (and he certainly did a better Cockney accent than Dick Van Dyke – which admittedly isn’t hard). Miranda lacked a little heart, but is a great singer and dancer. The rest of the cast were also good. Not a sour note among them. They were just let down by a weak script and poor songs.
The new Mary Poppins movie is a watered-down copy of the original – and the original wasn’t the best movie in the world to start with! I love me a good musical. I have a whole shelf full of musicals on disc, along with assorted soundtracks. I can quite happily spend an afternoon with ‘The Wizard of Oz’ or ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’ or the family-friendly ‘My Fair Lady’. But ‘Mary Poppins’ was too bland for me. And its sequel/remake was even blander.
15 votes -
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Cloudflare: First Half 2019 Transparency Report and an Update on a Warrant Canary
18 votes -
If you made a claim for $125 from Equifax, you’re not getting it after court awards nearly $80 million to attorneys
19 votes -
For the eleventh year in a row, Iceland is the country ranking first in the World Economic Forum's Geneva Equality List
7 votes -
NOAA's 2019 Arctic Report Card has been released - Dramatic, disruptive and rapid Arctic warming is threatening both ecosystems and livelihoods
9 votes -
Australia’s democracy has been downgraded from ‘open’ to ‘narrowed’ in the 2019 CIVICUS Monitor report
9 votes -
World inequality report 2018
5 votes -
Apple will reportedly release an iPhone without any ports in 2021
22 votes -
Only two road traffic deaths per 100,000 inhabitants were reported in Norway in 2019, making it the best-performing country for road safety
10 votes -
Icelanders used more electricity per capita in 2017 than any other country in the world, the World Economic Forum reports
5 votes -
Amazon doesn’t report its warehouse injury rates — but we have an inside look
13 votes -
UN Environment Climate Change Report
6 votes -
CNET reports Amazon is working on a game streaming competitor to Google Stadia
7 votes -
Google updates their political advertising policies, limits targeting capabilities, and expands which ads are covered by their transparency report
14 votes -
Suicide rates fall among LGBT+ community in Sweden and Denmark – reduced stigma for minorities is likely driving the drop, the report said
11 votes -
In US, decline of Christianity continues at rapid pace
18 votes -
The love that binds us: A report from the Kyoto Animation memorial service
3 votes -
GitHub's "The State of the Octoverse" report for 2019
7 votes -
'Uncle' by Denmark's Frelle Petersen won the grand prix, the top award, and $30,000 at the 32nd Tokyo International Film Festival on Tuesday
4 votes -
Atlantic Council has published an update to their 2016 Global Risks 2035 report, analyzing geopolitical and technological trends and their potential impacts on the future
7 votes -
In a new report, Penn State political scientists suggest that radicalization on YouTube is driven by communities that form around right-wing content more than the recommendation engine
11 votes -
Screen Time on macOS Catalina isn’t reporting actual app usage
6 votes -
Building China's Comac C919 airplane involved a lot of hacking, report says
5 votes -
'South Park' scrubbed from Chinese internet after critical episode
12 votes -
Scientist who discredited meat guidelines didn’t report past food industry ties
8 votes -
Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey tweets support for Hong Kong protestors; Chinese Basketball Association responds by cutting ties with the Rockets
Apologies for the title, it's not worded that well but I don't know how to word it better. In addition to the CBA cutting ties with the Rockets, Tencent will no longer report on the team or show...
Apologies for the title, it's not worded that well but I don't know how to word it better. In addition to the CBA cutting ties with the Rockets, Tencent will no longer report on the team or show their games. The Rockets have been China's favorite NBA team ever since Yao Ming was drafted by them in 2002. He is now president of the CBA, but that doesn't say anything about what input he had into these decisions. The Rockets are also one of the main contenders for the championship going into this year since Russell Westbrook was traded to them over the summer. They also have the storyline of Westbrook and former teammate and longtime friend James Harden being reunited after three seasons together on the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Here are a few articles/references about the subject:
Tweets by Tencent's former Rockets reporter
ESPN article about team owner Tillman Fertitta tweeting disagreement with Morey
Edit to add another article: Chinese consulate in Houston statement
Nike pulled all Rockets gear from their Chinese web store
Rockets star James Harden says 'sorry' to China over Morey's tweet
NBA reporter Shams Charania says the league is not punishing Morey
16 votes -
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber crashes at Hartford airport; at least seven reported dead
17 votes -
NRA was 'foreign asset' to Russia ahead of 2016, new US senate report reveals
22 votes -
Special report on the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
5 votes -
Literature locked up: How prison book restriction policies constitute the nation’s largest book ban
6 votes -
Army warns soldiers about 'incel' threat at Joker movie: Report (It's based on a tip from the FBI)
7 votes -
Decoupling debunked : Green growth is incompatible with environmental sustainability, researchers find
5 votes -
Where to report birds tangled in plastic rubbish
4 votes -
LGBT+ women face “significant barriers” when it comes to accessing healthcare, according to a pioneering new report.
11 votes -
‘Battlestar Galactica’ reboot from Sam Esmail in the works for NBCU's Peacock streaming service
12 votes -
Disney+ reportedly will carry all that 90s Marvel animated goodness including ‘X-Men,’ ‘Spider-Man’ and more
5 votes -
The UK government Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport publishes its report on immersive and addictive technologies, including recommending loot boxes be regulated under gambling law
11 votes -
‘Lord of the Rings’ series at Amazon casts Will Poulter in lead role
10 votes -
Les Moonves, Kevin Tsujihara and the art of Hollywood self-sabotage
2 votes -
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Bruce Lee was my friend, and Quentin Tarantino's movie disrespects him
8 votes