animation, documentary, series, Uncategorized

1368

22 Nov 201915 May 2020 pnea

Last year, the astrophysicist Adam Frank implored an audience at Google that we see climate change – and the newly baptised geological age of the Anthropocene – against this cosmological backdrop. The Anthropocene refers to the effects of humanity’s energy-intensive activities upon Earth. Could it be that we do not see evidence of space-faring galactic civilisations because, due to resource exhaustion and subsequent climate collapse, none of them ever get that far? If so, why should we be any different?

A few months after Frank’s talk, in October 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s update on global warming caused a stir. It predicted a sombre future if we do not decarbonise. And in May, amid Extinction Rebellion’s protests, a new climate report upped the ante, warning: “Human life on earth may be on the way to extinction.”

… apocalyptic prophecies are designed to reveal the ultimate moral meaning of things. It’s in the name: apocalypse means revelation. Extinction, by direct contrast, reveals precisely nothing and this is because it instead predicts the end of meaning and morality itself – if there are no humans, there is nothing humanly meaningful left.

The end of the world: a history of how a silent cosmos led humans to fear the worst

THOMAS MOYNIHAN MAY 11, 2020

PALLADIUM

GOVERNANCE FUTURISM

Our Visions of the Future Determine Our Society Today

“The future may not look like satanic mills in space, after all.”

documentary

1361 – Oak Tree: Nature’s Greatest Survivor (2015 documentary)

18 Nov 2019 pnea

“Oak Tree: Nature’s Greatest Survivor (BBC Four) was a 90-minute documentary detailing a year-long study of a single 400-year-old oak in Oxfordshire. It might sound about as interesting as watching grass grow but this was classy, engrossing television. “I can promise you one thing,” said entomologist George McGavin. “You’ll never look at an oak tree the same way again.” He was true to his word.” (read more)

1/2 The Oak Tree, Natures Greatest Survivor – August to February

2/2 The Oak Tree, Natures Greatest Survivor – March to August

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books, games

1360 -Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made (2017 Book by Jason Schreier)

15 Nov 201922 Jun 2021 pnea

Developing video games—hero’s journey or fool’s errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today’s hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) takes readers on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius. Exploring the artistic challenges, technical impossibilities, marketplace demands, and Donkey Kong-sized monkey wrenches thrown into the works by corporate, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels reveals how bringing any game to completion is more than Sisyphean—it’s nothing short of miraculous.

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Taking some of the most popular, bestselling recent games, Schreier immerses readers in the hellfire of the development process, whether it’s RPG studio Bioware‘s challenge to beat an impossible schedule and overcome countless technical nightmares to build Dragon Age: Inquisition; indie developer Eric Barone‘s single-handed efforts to grow country-life RPG Stardew Valley from one man’s vision into a multi-million-dollar franchise; or Bungie spinning out from their corporate overlords at Microsoft to create Destiny, a brand new universe that they hoped would become as iconic as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings—even as it nearly ripped their studio apart.

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Documenting the round-the-clock crunches, buggy-eyed burnout, and last-minute saves, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is a journey through development hell—and ultimately a tribute to the dedicated diehards and unsung heroes who scale mountains of obstacles in their quests to create the best games imaginable. (goodreads)

movies

1358 – The Fighting Preacher (2019)

14 Nov 201931 Oct 2020 pnea

timespace coordinates: Palmyra, New York 1915 – 1939

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The Fighting Preacher is a 2019 drama film written and directed by T. C. Christensen. The film focuses on Willard Bean (David McConnell) and his wife, Rebecca (Cassidy Hubert), who are in involved in a 25-year missionary service in Palmyra, New York. The story of a boxer who became a Mormon preacher. He is posted to a town in New York, which had previously driven out the last Mormon preacher 80 years ago. (wiki)

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