CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT

Photo via Dazed.

Contrary to the English, as Dazed Magazine points out, North Korea really sucks at self-deprecation "the country has just submitted an official complaint to the UN over the forthcoming release of James Franco and Seth Rogen's comedy, The Interview.
In the film, Franco and Rogen play two undercover journalists who are recruited by the CIA to asassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Two weeks ago, a spokesperson described the film as a "blatant act of terrorism and war" to a state news agency. Now the country has taken the issue to the United Nations, with its UN ambassador Ja Song Nam writing a letter of complaint to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon." Read full article and watch The Interview's trailer in Dazed Magazine. E.T.P. 3'

Images via Les Inrocks.

Raphaële Bezin is young French filmmaker from the Ecole supérieure d’arts de Paris-Cergy who made as final dissertation a movie called "Une estéthique de coups (des opérations d'artistes)" that analyses different practices of appropriation in cinema: from the Hollywood remake, to hidden quotations, supercuts, and even parodies. An interview with Raphaële (in French) and her movie are available in Les InrocksLab. E.T.P. 3' (article) and 1h 4' (movie).

CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT

"Her" movie still via The New Yorker.

The Samantha Test. Brian Christian in The New Yorker writes about “Her,” the new film by Spike Jonze. A movie situated in the “slight future"—a world just at the change point when artificial intelligence has become capable of interacting with humans more or less seamlessly. Something that reminds him -and us- of Joseph Weizenbaum, a professor of computer science at M.I.T., that in 1966 wrote a computer program called Eliza, "which was designed to engage in casual conversation with anybody who sat down to type with it". Read this super interesting article in The New Yorker. E.T.P. 7'

You can also read Who is 'Her'? James Franco's review in VICE. E.T.P. 7'

Illustration by Matthew Roberts via Slate.

Rebecca Schuman in Slate review two books that attempt to capture the 'gaunt specter of modernism and make him talk' in The Ghosts of Kafka Present, this is how its starts: "Franz Kafka has been dead for nearly 90 years, which I suppose has given him ample time to get very good at haunting people. Such as, for example, Susan Bernofsky, author of a fastidious new translation of The Metamorphosis, and Jay Cantor, whose provocative story collection Forgiving the Angel dedicates itself to the gaunt specter of modernism. The books express their authors’ continuing fascination with Kafka from nominally opposite sides of the literary spectrum. And yet both of these books want desperately to bring a dead man back to life, so that he can explain himself, so that he can (metaphorically) finish novels that break off midsentence, so that he can solve the mystery of his own existence. That they cannot succeed is not only no mark against these two fascinating books but works to underscore exactly what drove both authors to chase his ghost in the first place." Read full article in Slate, totally recommended. E.T.P. 9'

Woody's Other Family Tree (fragment) via The New York Times.

The New York Times presents a very peculiar Woody Allen's alternative family tree that includes his influences, muses, heirs, and 'adopted kids'. The infographic includes some well known characters always associated with Allen like Groucho Marx, Sigmund Freud, Diane Keaton and Noah Baumbach; and also some less obvious ones like Joan Rivers, Chris Rock and The Simpsons. The map it's fun to watch, although I feel that they overindulged Lena Duhnam by saying that she is the new Woody Allen. I like her, don't get me wrong, but she is not the new Woody Allen. Luckily the new Woody Allen is still Woody Allen.  Have a look at full map in The New York Times. E.T.P 10'.

CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT

Grey Power by Yoni Lefévre.

This week some photos from Yoni Lefévre's project Grey Power were around the Internet. Lefévre believes that good design begins with empathy and communicating emotions and with his work he aims at creating conceptual solutions for cultural and social issues. I think he is absolutely right. With Grey Power he used drawings made by children of their grandparents to add colour to their lives and create an image boost for that generation. "We are living in a rapidly ageing society. A majority regards this as a negative development. Older people are perceived as standing on the sideline, having lost their independence. But I see the great value this generation can offer." It's all in all a good concept, and a very lovely execution. Have a look at the project here. E.T.P. 10'

Image via The New Yorker.

Should literature be useful? "Two recent studies have concluded that serious literary fiction makes people more empathetic, and humanists everywhere are clinking glasses in celebration. But I wonder whether this is a victory for humanism’s impalpable enrichments and enchantments, or for the quantifying power of social science." Read Lee Siegel's article in The New Yorker. E.T.P. 6'

Still from James Franco & Seth Rogen's parody video via The Huffington Post.

We know that is almost absolutely impossible you haven't seen this by now, but since it's a remarkable example of procrastination we had to post it. Just in case you've been under a stone this week, if you just want to watch it again, and just because it would be awesome if this video had more views than the original one, here's James Franco and Seth Rogen's parody video of Kanye's "Bound 2" "song". E.T.P. 4'14''.