Category Archives: New Utopia

Usually when Hollywood tells stories of the west, the characters are really, really white. But the new Netflix Original The Harder They Fall throws away the centuries of misconceptions about the west, in favor of an exaggerated but refreshing take on cowboys of color.

The movie, which features a full Black ensemble cast of gunslingers, train robbers and saloon keepers who ride horses in front of picturesque mountain ranges, operates both like a history lesson and a fictional story set during the 19th century. On one hand, it's a fantasy filled with garish violence, crazy train heists and gun fights. But as the intro These.People.Existed alludes, these characters are based on real Black figures who have been ignored by most of Western education and cinema.

Like a lot of classic Westerns, The Harder They Fall revolves around revenge. After surviving a childhood massacre, Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) seeks the culprit for his parents murders the imposing and grizzled Rufus Black (Idris Elba), who is serving a lifetime sentence in Yuma Prison. Naturally, after an intense staring contest with a speeding train, Rufus is quickly freed by a sociopathic gang led by Trudy Smith (Regina King) and the gentlemanly gunslinger Cherokee Bill (LaKeith Stanfield). With the illusion of building a Black Western utopia, Rufus takes over the town Redwood City and (shocking!) chaos ensues.

The premise of the story isnt original, but it effectively plays to the genre's greatests hits: large-scale gunfights, horse stunts, hand-to-hand brawls and makeshift weapons. Its a relief director Jeymes Samuel knows where to put the camera for all this action, rather than default to the bland action choreography. The camera is constantly shifting angles and casting reality aside to lean into the crazier aspects of the story.

Theres also a refreshing take on the typical Western culture shown in film. Rather than using the historically racist trope of a band of faceless Native Americans threatening a white community, The Harder They Fall focuses on the threat of white land-grabbing to Black communities.

This is part of what makes this movie great. Racism, genocide and imperialism exist in this universe and impact people of color, but not the extent where they cant run towns, roam the frontier, or join a rag-tag gang and hijack a train.

The point being, these characters arent colorless. Theyre not meant to be. Thats not to say theyre perfect. In the midst of all the Western pizazz, Samuel became a little too enamored with violence, to the point that some of the characters operate like figurines. But that is mostly counteracted by the powerhouse cast. While not as flamboyant as other characters, Elba brings a world-weary, self-disgusted performance to Rufus that keeps you piecing together his true personality till the end.

With a kick-ass cast and a story that is familiar but with a new perspective, The Harder They Fall is a testament to what new Western cinema should be. Sorry, Clint Eastwood, it's time to let the old white ways die.

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The Harder They Fall brings a new look to the old west - Montana Kaimin

Nov. 10, 2021 By Allie Griffin

The city has completed its goal to construct 50 soccer pitches throughout the five boroughs in five years, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday.

The 50th mini-pitch was recently completed in Manhattan, marking the final soccer field built in the city through a $3 million initiative aimed at expanding free soccer programming in underserved neighborhoods and promoting a healthy, active lifestyle to city kids.

The New York City Soccer Initiative, launched in 2016, was made possible through a private-public partnership between the Mayors Fund to Advance New York City, New York City Football Club, the U.S. Soccer Foundation, Adidas and Etihad Airways.

Investing in recreational spaces for our children builds stronger communities, de Blasio said in a statement. I am grateful to the Mayors Fund and our partners for their commitment to provide more youth with opportunities to participate in sports and programs where they can develop life skills to succeed on and off the pitch.

The last 13 mini-pitches were installed this year ushering the city to its 50-pitches goal on schedule, despite challenges created by the pandemic.

In addition to the new fields, the initiative provides more than 10,000 youth in historically underserved NYC communities access to free soccer programming. The programming includes the U.S. Soccer Foundations soccer for success program and New York City Football Clubs city in the community foundation soccer programming.

The program also aims to mentor the citys youth and works with the citys Young Mens Initiative to provide young men of color with mentorship opportunities.

New mini-pitches built this year in Queens include one in Flushing, one in Rockaway Park and one in East Elmhurst.

There have been 12 mini-pitches built across the borough since the initiative launched in 2016.

The CEO of New York City Football Club Brad Sims said he hopes the pitches have a lasting impact on the local communities where they are placed.

Since our inauguration, we have been working to build a Club that is part of the fabric of this great city and one that will leave a lasting, tangible and positive impact across the five boroughs, Sims said in a statement. After just five years, we are tremendously proud to fulfill our promise, see these 50 pitches already having a huge impact on local communities and to know that they will forever be a part of New York City.

Below are all 12 soccer pitches built through the initiative in Queens.

Built in 2021:

Vleigh Playground/P.S. 165 7035 150th St, Flushing, NY 11367

Bayside Playground 102-15 Beach Channel Dr, Rockaway Park, NY 11694

Louis Moser Playground 25th Avenue and 76th Street, East Elmhurst, NY 11370

Built in 2020:

Utopia Playground (Utopia, Queens) 73rd Avenue &, Utopia Pkwy, Fresh Meadows, NY 11366

Pomonok Playground (Pomonok, Queens) Kissena Blvd. &, 65th Ave, Flushing, NY 11367

Fresh Meadows Playground (Fresh Meadows, Queens) 173rd St, Fresh Meadows, NY 11365

Built in 2019:

Equity Playground (Woodhaven, Queens) 91-02 88th Ave, Woodhaven, NY 11421

Flushing Meadows Corona Park (Flushing/Corona, Queens) Corona, NY 11368

Built in 2018:

Playground 62/P.S. 220 Edward Mandel (Forest Hills/Corona, Queens)

Built in 2017:

Triborough Bridge Playground (B), (Astoria, Queens)

P.S. 019 Marino Jeantet, (Corona, Queens)

Irwin Altman Middle School 172/Hillside Park, (Glen Oaks, Queens)

A full list of mini-pitch locations can be found here. The initiative also earmarks funds for maintaining the pitches.

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City Completes Goal to Construct 50 Soccer Pitches Throughout the Five Boroughs in Five Years - Sunnyside Post

Preview Performances Begin Dec. 27

LAS VEGAS, Nov. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Criss Angel and Franco Dragone each separately revolutionized entertainment on the Las Vegas Strip.

Amystika, Beginning Performances at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, Dec. 27

Together, they're doing it again.

To view photos and video, click here

Angel and Dragone have teamed up to create AMYSTIKA The Secret Revealed, a fantastical and mysterious production which immerses the audience in a spectacle of euphoric, stunning illusions, one-of-a-kind special effects, jaw-dropping stunts and much more. Criss Angel's Theater comes alive in an immersive, interactive spectacle that rewinds time to the days before he was the Mindfreak.

AMYSTIKA begins preview performances Dec. 27 with opening night to be announced in the Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino and performs Wednesday through Sunday at 10 pm. Tickets are on sale now at CrissAngel.com, ticketmaster.com or planethollywoodresort.com.

AMYSTIKA conjures the fantastical and the mysterious and unleashes a visual feast of hope and triumph -- proving that anything is possible when you believe in your dreams. This euphoric, enigmatic world pushes the boundaries of reality like never before as a real firestorm ignites and engulfs a human body, a tornado rages through the theater and a blizzard of snow falls so heavy it challenges the audience to see their own hands.

"No pre-show gags, no banter, no old-fashioned theatrical ceremonies," said Dragone. "Here, you will dive into a world that will take you by storm!"

"This is a new breed of entertainment that's beautiful, haunting, mysterious and inspiring," said Angel. "We believe it will be an immersive utopia!"

The history-making collaboration between Franco Dragone (Mystre, "O", Celine Dion's "A New Day") and Criss Angel (MINDFREAK, RAW and "The Supernaturalists") came from a common desire to bring the audience into the show and the show into the audience. The combined creative vision of Dragone and Angel, coupled with the state-of-the art Criss Angel Theater, will truly create an unforgettable immersive experience that will inspire, enthrall and overwhelm the senses.

Story continues

About DragonePerhaps best known for reinventing a genre of spectacle that forever changed the face of live entertainment in Las Vegas and around the world, Dragone's creations play to sold-out houses every night. Designing shows of all shapes and sizes across continents, Dragone continues to humbly embrace local cultures to seduce and wow global audiences. Their vast award-winning portfolio includes permanent shows in custom-built theatres, cabarets in intimate spaces and immersive theatrical pieces.

About Criss AngelFor more than two decades, Criss Angel has dominated the world of magic as the biggest name on the planet. From his role as star, creator, executive producer, and director of the most successful magic television series of all time, Criss Angel MINDFREAK on A&E Network, to his #1 best-selling Las Vegas stage show Criss Angel MINDFREAK, smash Broadway and tour runs of RAW, to countless critically acclaimed television specials and series, best-selling books, top-grossing retail products, music CDs and more, Angel is the most influential and imitated magician of the modern era. Hailing spectacular reviews from outlets such as Bloomberg Businessweek - who called him "the biggest name in Las Vegas magic" - Angel brings "an estimated $150 million a year into the local economy" (Newsweek) and generates a whopping "$70 million a year" personally (Businessweek), proving time and again that he is the most successful magician ever.

For more information, visit CrissAngel.com or follow him on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @CrissAngel.

About Planet Hollywood Resort & CasinoPlanet Hollywood Resort & Casino is the centerpiece of the famed Las Vegas Strip, with 2,500 beautifully redesigned guest rooms and suites showcasing some of the best views in town, along with endless options of unparalleled shopping, distinguished dining, popular entertainment and a bustling nightlife. Home to the first pop music residency in Las Vegas, Zappos Theater is one of the largest theaters on the Vegas Strip and showcases a variety of resident headliners including superstars like Scorpions and Shania

Twain. Magician Criss Angel performs an over-the-top visual spectacular of "Criss Angel MINDFREAK" in the Criss Angel Theater. For more information, please visit planethollywoodresort.com or the Caesars Entertainment Las Vegas media room. Find Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram.

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Criss Angel, Franco Dragone Team Up To Create The MINDFREAK Prequel AMYSTIKA The Secret Revealed At Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino - Yahoo...

Swadhin Shahporan | Published: November 15, 2021 18:55:49

The Summer billed as the Summer of Love that drew some peer-driven 75,000 young people to the San Francisco streets in 1967 in search of glamour, ecstasy and utopia, also delivered a new kind of music- Acid Rock or Psychedelic Rock.

Surrealistic Pillow, Jefferson Airplane's Platinum-certified second album was a monumental work of the early Psychedelic Rock movement.

Jorma Kaukonen's virtuoso like guitar playing, Jack Cassidy's unmistakable basslines, Spencer Dryden's right in the feels grooves, and Marty Balin, Grace Slick, and Paul Kantner's (who's also the rhythm guitarist) triple-decker vocal harmony sandwich- Surrealistic Pillow had it all.

This album rightfully made the American Rock band one of the top acts in the Monterey Pop Festival (June 16-18, 1967) in a legendary Summer of Love concert, including The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Grateful Dead, The Byrds, and so on. So, what makes Surrealistic Pillow such a celebrated album?

The album opens with the instantly recognisable Spencer Dryden drum riff-driven She Has Funny Cars. The second song, arguably the most popular one from the album, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, Somebody to Love, was written by Darby Slick.

At a time of people advocating 'Free Love' more than ever, this song came out rendering a message that love doesn't happen to you; rather, you have to choose it.

This subtle difference in philosophy makes the song different from the stereotypical love songs where falling in love is described as if love happens to a person outside of their conscious intention. My Best Friend was written by the band's previous drummer Skip Spence.

Today was the epitome of Jefferson Airplane and one of the epic love ballads of the Summer of Love. The song is rooted in folk with a simple repeated guitar riff with a soft vocal accompaniment.

Comin' Back to Me was another folk-rock song written by Marty Balin. He wrote the song in a single sitting. Indulged in marijuana, he instantaneously went to the studio to compose the music with any available session musicians. One can feel the drug influence throughout the song.

D.C.B.A. 25 are just the chords in the song and the number 25 refers to LSD-25. The music was just an LSD-inspired romp through consciousness.

How Do You Feel is another song where Jerry Garcia's influence is evident throughout. Embryonic Journey' was an instrumental written by the lead guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, a piece trying to encapsulate the mood of the '60s.

White Rabbit illustrated the surreal effects of taking hallucinogenic drugs, written by Grace Slick and was one of the most iconic songs of the '60s psychedelic rock movement.

Surrealistic Pillow was the production of a band simply at their peak and it was the monumental record of the 1967s Summer of Love.

The record still sounds fresh to this day. Grace Slick became immortal with her mesmerising hypnotic voice throughout the album, spreading the message of love.

Before the Monterey Pop Festival, a reporter asked the band if parents have any reason to fear the recent trends amongst America's youth as thousands of young people joined forces to arrive at San Francisco Bay Arena to witness the Summer of Love.

Kanter famously replied, "I think so. Their children are doing things that they don't understand."

That was Surrealistic Pillow, epitomising the Summer of Love-- a summer like none before, summer for the youth, for love, drugs, utopia and ecstasy, and indeed the Magnum Opus of Jefferson Airplane.

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Surrealistic Pillow in the Summer of Love - The Financial Express

On a quiet weekend afternoon, I paused to reread the diary my late mother left behind as a means of remembering her and what she means to me. Mom was a professor of Sanskrit, and amid all her reflections of her day-to-day life and the challenges of being an academic, wife, and mother were observations that were more transcendental in nature, on topics ranging from nuances of ancient Sanskrit drama to her thoughts on Eastern and Western philosophers.

One passage in her diary caught my attention. In it, she invokes the Danish philosopher Sren Kierkegaard: The goal of reflection is to arrive at immediacy. It struck me as the core of leadership. Were living through unprecedented times. We have to learn from the past and be inspired by whats possible in the future. Yet, what we must do now is act when inaction might be easier.

These are the types of insights I find through reading. The following five books, which I read in the last year, are informing my current thinking on leadership, technology, and the future.

Philosopher of the Heart: The Restless Life of Sren Kierkegaard,Clare Carlisle

I was reminded of my mothers diary when reading Clare Carlisles biography of Sren Kierkegaard. In her book, we can feel the poetry of Kierkegaards thinking. His writing explores the human experience, particularly love and suffering. Considered the father of existentialism, Kierkegaard picks up where Socrates left off by asking how to be a human being in the world. How do we live ethically? Carlisle observes that Kierkegaard did not find life to be linear: We circle back in recollection and race forward in hopes, fears, and plans.

Thats an insightful way to capture what leadership is aboutcreating clarity, generating energy, and driving success. These Kierkegaardian management attributes will continue to be valuable and valued.

Utopia or Oblivion: The Prospects for Humanity,R. Buckminster Fuller

The man remembered for his lattice shell structures, including the geodesic dome, was not a philosopher, but his architectural and system theories were no less full of the Kierkegaardian heart. In the introduction to Fullers Utopia or Oblivion, his grandson recalls that even on a brief drive to the airport, Bucky, as he was known to family, prioritized every moment to focus on making the world work for 100% of humanity.

Several years ago, Fast Company reported that Fullers ideas, focused on problems ranging from global conflict to global climate change, are more important than ever. Those ideas stimulated a design revolution. In a world of accelerating acceleration, how can economic and technological capability be enjoyed by allby design? Fuller writes that the physical resources of earth can support all of a multiplying humanity at higher standards of living than anyone has ever experienced or dreamed.

In a world where we work to overcome constraints to resolve complex problems, Fuller shows us how design science helps us do more with less. Published in 1969, Utopia or Oblivion remains a well-argued, logical statement about our collective future.

The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values, Brian Christian

Artificial intelligence is technologys most important priority, and Im encouraged and optimistic in how it is being applied to empower people. For example, Microsofts Seeing AI is an app that turns the visual world into an audible experience for people who are blind or have low vision. And tools like Immersive Reader help improve reading and writing for learners of all abilities.

In The Alignment Problem, Christian offers a clear and compelling description of the hopeful and hazardous field of unsupervised learning within AI and machine learning. Courthouses, hospitals, and schools have relied on data-based machine learning models to increase accuracy and predictive power, but what happens when the data, the model, or both contain bias? Machines that learn for themselves become increasingly autonomous, and potentially unethical.

In his previous book with Tom Griffiths, Algorithms to Live By, Christian investigates the computer science of human decisions. In his latest, he writes that we want machine learning models that capture norms and values, but whose norms and values? How do we align the human training of machine models with moral considerations? How do we ensure ethical values are rewarded and valued?

The book is organized in three parts: identifying how todays systems are at odds with our best intentions; creating incentives for value-based reinforcement learning; and a research tour of the authors favorite ideas for aligning complex autonomous systems with highly nuanced norms and values.

The storytelling here moves us from the theoretical to the practical while attempting to answer one of our industrys most pressing questions: How do we teach machines, and what should we teach them?

The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies, Scott E. Page

When I became Microsofts CEO, mission and culture were the most important pillars in building our companys future. Our mission became to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. To succeed, we needed to represent the world itself, which is the business case for why diversity and inclusion is a priority.

In The Difference, Page advances the conversation by clearly defining diversity in terms of differences in how people see, categorize, understand, and go about improving the world. As a leader and a reader, I am on a continuous learning journey. The author offers us tools to get the best outcomes for all. Those tools include diverse perspectives, heuristics, interpretations, and predictive models.

Known for his breakthrough book and online course, The Model Thinker, Page has built a bookshelf of titles on diversity and complexity that is vitally important to both business and society.

Power of Creative Destruction,Philippe Aghion, Celine Antonin, and Simon Bunel

The authors, three French economic researchers, argue that the socioeconomic problems revealed during the global pandemicwelfare, health, inequality, and many otherswill not be fixed by abolishing capitalism but rather by inventing a better capitalism through the power of creative destruction, which they define as innovations that disrupt and lift societies.

Their approach is hardly Pollyanna. They begin with a fascinating review of creative destruction in economic history with a focus on how we measure the wealth of nations, GDP, Gini coefficients, and productivity, which the authors find useful but insufficient in todays technology-plus-data world. Instead, they write, innovation and diffusion of knowledge should be at the heart of growth processes and measurements. Innovation relies on incentives and protections.

From where I sit, this must emphasize inclusive economic opportunity for everyone. We have to equip everyone with the skills, technology, and opportunity to pursue the in-demand jobs of a changing economy.

Creative destruction is a constant conflict between the old and the new, the incumbent and the insurgent. Philosophical, yes, but also practical advice. This is daily life in our industry.

Satya Nadella is the executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft. His previous book recommendations can be read here.

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5 books that inspired Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella this year - Fast Company

New Atlantis

Title page of the 1628 edition of Bacon's New Atlantis

Publication date

New Atlantis is an incomplete utopian novel by Sir Francis Bacon, published posthumously in 1626. It appeared unheralded and tucked into the back of a longer work of natural history, Sylva sylvarum (forest of materials). In New Atlantis, Bacon portrayed a vision of the future of human discovery and knowledge, expressing his aspirations and ideals for humankind. The novel depicts the creation of a utopian land where "generosity and enlightenment, dignity and splendour, piety and public spirit" are the commonly held qualities of the inhabitants of the mythical Bensalem. The plan and organisation of his ideal college, Salomon's House (or Solomon's House), envisioned the modern research university in both applied and pure sciences.

New Atlantis first appeared in the back of Sylva sylvarum, a rather thorny work of natural history that was published by William Rawley, Bacon's secretary, chaplain and amanuensis in 1626. When Sylva was entered into the Stationers' Register of July 4th, 1626 (three months after Bacon's death), no mention was made of New Atlantis, and it was not until 1670 that it was included on Sylva's letterpress title page (unlike Historia vitae et mortis which received that accolade in 1651). It was not until 1676 that the two works were published with continuous signatures, with the first edition of the Sylva being 'printed for J. H. for William Lee', while New Atlantis was, according to McKerrow, 'perhaps printed by Mathewes'. After New Atlantis was a two-page piece called Magnalia naturae, which most commentators tend to ignore, probably because it is difficult to link it to either Sylva or New Atlantis with any surety. It was published as an individual text by Thomas Newcomb in 1659, but in general New Atlantis appears to have been a text that no-one quite knew what to do with. Certainly Rawley's letter To The Reader indicates that he was less than clear as to its purpose, even though he later published it in Latin translation within the collection Operum moralium et civilium tomus (1638). In 1659 Thomas Bushell referred to the work in his Mineral Prosecutions, while in 1660 a certain R. H. published a continuation of New Atlantis and in 1662 an explicitly Rosicrucian version appeared as the preface to John Heydon's Holy Guide. [1]

The novel depicts a mythical island, Bensalem, which is discovered by the crew of a European ship after they are lost in the Pacific Ocean somewhere west of Peru. The minimal plot serves the gradual unfolding of the island, its customs, but most importantly, its state-sponsored scientific institution, Salomon's House, "which house or college ... is the very eye of this kingdom."

Many aspects of the society and history of the island are described, such as the Christian religion which is reported to have been born there as a copy of the Bible and a letter from the Apostle Saint Bartholomew arrived there miraculously, a few years after the Ascension of Jesus; a cultural feast in honour of the family institution, called "the Feast of the Family"; a college of sages, the Salomon's House, "the very eye of the kingdom", to which order "God of heaven and earth had vouchsafed the grace to know the works of Creation, and the secrets of them", as well as "to discern between divine miracles, works of nature, works of art, and impostures and illusions of all sorts"; and a series of instruments, process and methods of scientific research that were employed in the island by the Salomon's House.

The interlocutors include the governor of the House of Strangers, Joabin the Jew, and the Head of Salomon's House.

The inhabitants of Bensalem are described as having a high moral character and honesty, as no official accepts any payment from individuals. The people are also described as chaste and pious, as said by an inhabitant of the island:

But hear me now, and I will tell you what I know. You shall understand that there is not under the heavens so chaste a nation as this of Bensalem; nor so free from all pollution or foulness. It is the virgin of the world. I remember I have read in one of your European books, of an holy hermit amongst you that desired to see the Spirit of Fornication; and there appeared to him a little foul ugly Aethiop. But if he had desired to see the Spirit of Chastity of Bensalem, it would have appeared to him in the likeness of a fair beautiful Cherubim. For there is nothing amongst mortal men more fair and admirable, than the chaste minds of this people. Know therefore, that with them there are no stews, no dissolute houses, no courtesans, nor anything of that kind.

In the last third of the book, the Head of the Salomon's House takes one of the European visitors to show him all the scientific background of Salomon's House, where experiments are conducted in Baconian method to understand and conquer nature, and to apply the collected knowledge to the betterment of society. Namely: 1) the end of their foundation; 2) the preparations they have for their works; 3) the several employments and functions whereto their fellows are assigned; 4) and the ordinances and rites which they observe.

He portrayed a vision of the future of human discovery and knowledge. The plan and organisation of his ideal college, "Salomon's House", envisioned the modern research university in both applied and pure science.

The end of their foundation is thus described: "The end of our foundation is the knowledge of causes, and secret motions of things; and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to the effecting of all things possible".

In describing the several employments and functions to which the members of the Salomon's House are assigned, the Head of the college said:

For the several employments and offices of our fellows, we have twelve that sail into foreign countries under the names of other nations (for our own we conceal), who bring us the books and abstracts, and patterns of experiments of all other parts. These we call merchants of light.

We have three that collect the experiments which are in all books. These we call depredators.

We have three that collect the experiments of all mechanical arts, and also of liberal sciences, and also of practices which are not brought into arts. These we call mysterymen.

We have three that try new experiments, such as themselves think good. These we call pioneers or miners.

We have three that draw the experiments of the former four into titles and tables, to give the better light for the drawing of observations and axioms out of them. These we call compilers.

We have three that bend themselves, looking into the experiments of their fellows, and cast about how to draw out of them things of use and practice for man's life and knowledge, as well for works as for plain demonstration of causes, means of natural divinations, and the easy and clear discovery of the virtues and parts of bodies. These we call dowrymen or benefactors.

Then after diverse meetings and consults of our whole number, to consider of the former labours and collections, we have three that take care out of them to direct new experiments, of a higher light, more penetrating into nature than the former. These we call lamps.

We have three others that do execute the experiments so directed, and report them. These we call inoculators.

Lastly, we have three that raise the former discoveries by experiments into greater observations, axioms, and aphorisms. These we call interpreters of nature."

Even this short excerpt demonstrates that Bacon understood that science requires analysis and not just the accumulation of observations. Bacon also foresaw that the design of experiments could be improved.[2]

In describing the ordinances and rites observed by the scientists of Salomon's House, its Head said:

We have certain hymns and services, which we say daily, of Lord and thanks to God for His marvellous works; and some forms of prayer, imploring His aid and blessing for the illumination of our labors, and the turning of them into good and holy uses.

And finally, after showing all the scientific background of Salomon's House, he gave the European visitor permission to publish it:

And when he had said this, he stood up; and I, as I had been taught, kneeled down, and he laid his right hand upon my head, and said; "God bless thee, my son; and God bless this relation, which I have made. I give thee leave to publish it for the good of other nations; for we here are in God's bosom, a land unknown."

"Bensalem" is composed of two Hebrew words: "ben" () - "son", and "salem" or "shalem" () - "whole" or "complete".

Thus the name could be interpreted as meaning "The Son of Wholeness".

New Atlantis is a story dense with provocative details. There are many credible interpretations of what Bacon was attempting to convey. Below are a couple that give some sense of the rich implications of the text.

Early in the story, the governor of the House of Strangers relates the incredible circumstances that introduced Christianity to the Island:

About twenty years after the ascension of our Saviour it came to pass [c. A.D. 50], that there was seen by the people of Renfusa (a city upon the eastern coast of our island, within sight, the night was cloudy and calm), as it might be some mile in the sea, a great pillar of light; not sharp, but in form of a column, or cylinder, rising from the sea, a great way up toward heaven; and on the top of it was seen a large cross of light, more bright and resplendent than the body of the pillar. Upon which so strange a spectacle, the people of the city gathered apace together upon the sands, to wonder; and so after put themselves into a number of small boats to go nearer to this marvellous sight. But when the boats were come within about sixty yards of the pillar, they found themselves all bound, and could go no further, yet so as they might move to go about, but might not approach nearer; so as the boats stood all as in a theatre, beholding this light, as a heavenly sign. It so fell out that there was in one of the boats one of the wise men of the Society of Salomon's House (which house, or college, my good brethren, is the very eye of this kingdom), who having awhile attentively and devoutly viewed and contemplated this pillar and cross, fell down upon his face; and then raised himself upon his knees, and lifting up his hands to heaven, made his prayers in this manner:

"'Lord God of heaven and earth; thou hast vouchsafed of thy grace, to those of our order to know thy works of creation, and true secrets of them; and to discern, as far as appertaineth to the generations of men, between divine miracles, works of nature, works of art and impostures, and illusions of all sorts. I do here acknowledge and testify before this people that the thing we now see before our eyes is thy finger, and a true miracle. And forasmuch as we learn in our books that thou never workest miracles, but to a divine and excellent end (for the laws of nature are thine own laws, and thou exceedest them not but upon great cause), we most humbly beseech thee to prosper this great sign, and to give us the interpretation and use of it in mercy; which thou dost in some part secretly promise, by sending it unto us.'

When he had made his prayer he presently found the boat he was in movable and unbound; whereas all the rest remained still fast; and taking that for an assurance of leave to approach, he caused the boat to be softly and with silence rowed toward the pillar; but ere he came near it, the pillar and cross of light broke up, and cast itself abroad, as it were, into a firmament of many stars, which also vanished soon after, and there was nothing left to be seen but a small ark or chest of cedar, dry and not wet at all with water, though it swam; and in the fore end of it, which was toward him, grew a small green branch of palm; and when the wise man had taken it with all reverence into his boat, it opened of itself, and there were found in it a book and a letter, both written in fine parchment, and wrapped in sindons of linen. The book contained all the canonical books of the Old and New Testament, according as you have them (for we know well what the churches with you receive), and the Apocalypse itself; and some other books of the New Testament, which were not at that time written, were nevertheless in the book. And for the letter, it was in these words:

"'I, Bartholomew, a servant of the Highest, and apostle of Jesus Christ, was warned by an angel that appeared to me in a vision of glory, that I should commit this ark to the floods of the sea. Therefore I do testify and declare unto that people where God shall ordain this ark to come to land, that in the same day is come unto them salvation and peace, and good-will from the Father, and from the Lord Jesus.'

"There was also in both these writings, as well the book as the letter, wrought a great miracle, conform to that of the apostles, in the original gift of tongues. For there being at that time, in this land, Hebrews, Persians, and Indians, besides the natives, everyone read upon the book and letter, as if they had been written in his own language. And thus was this land saved from infidelity (as the remain of the old world was from water) by an ark, through the apostolical and miraculous evangelism of St. Bartholomew." And here he paused, and a messenger came and called him forth from us. So this was all that passed in that conference."

The traditional date for the writing of St. John's Apocalypse (the Book of Revelation) is the end of the 1st century AD. It is not only the presence of the full canon of Scripture long before it was completed or compiled, but also the all-too-convenient proximity of the scientist who will attest to its miraculous nature of this wonder that lends the story an air of incredibility.[3]

Later the Father of Salomon's House reveals the institution's skill at creating illusions of light:

"We represent also all multiplications of light, which we carry to great distance, and make so sharp as to discern small points and lines. Also all colorations of light: all delusions and deceits of the sight, in figures, magnitudes, motions, colors; all demonstrations of shadows. We find also divers means, yet unknown to you, of producing of light, originally from divers bodies."

He also boasts about their ability to fake miracles:

"And surely you will easily believe that we, that have so many things truly natural which induce admiration, could in a world of particulars deceive the senses if we would disguise those things, and labor to make them more miraculous."

Renaker points out in the Latin translation of the second passage (which was published as part of Operum moralium et civilium tomus in 1638 by William Rawley, Bacon's amanuensis, secretary and chaplain, who was also behind the publication of New Atlantis in 1626) is stronger and literally translates to "we could impose on men's senses an infinite number of things if we wanted to present these things as, and exalt them into, a miracle."[4] While this has been read as Bacon's suggesting that the story if not the 'miracle' itself was an invention emanating from Salomon's House, this is perhaps not a safe inference. The relevance of the Brother of Salomon's House to the story of the island's conversion to Christianity is more an indication that the institution itself has reached a point in its knowledge from which it can ascertain whether an occurrence is natural or not. It is this knowledge (and its humble application) that allows for the revelation itself to be delivered. [1]

The skill of creating illusions coupled with the incredibility of the story of the origin of Bensalem's Christianity makes it seem that Bacon was intimating that the light show (or at least the story of its occurrence) was an invention of Salomon's House.[4]

The presence of "Hebrews, Persians, and Indians" in Bensalem at the time implies that Asian people were already in the first century engaged in sailing across the Pacific which is historically inaccurate, but might have seemed plausible at the time of writing.

The Father of Salomon's House reveals that members of that institution decide on their own which of their discoveries to keep secret, even from the State:

"And this we do also: we have consultations, which of the inventions and experiences which we have discovered shall be published, and which not; and take all an oath of secrecy for the concealing of those which we think fit to keep secret; though some of those we do reveal sometime to the State, and some not."

This would seem to imply that the State does not hold the monopoly on authority and that Salomon's House must in some sense be superior to the State.

In the introduction to the critical edition of New Atlantis, Jerry Weinberger notes that Joabin is the only contemporary character (i.e., living at the time of the story) described as wiseand wise in matters of government and rule at that. Weinberger speculates that Joabin may be the actual ruler of Bensalem.[5] On the other hand, prejudice against Jews was widespread in his time, so the possibility cannot be excluded that Bacon was calling Joabin wise for the same reason that he felt the need elsewhere to call him "the good Jew": to make clear that Joabin's character was benign.

While Bacon appears concerned with the House of Salomon, a portion of the narrative describes the social practices of the Bensalemites, particularly those surrounding courtship and family life. An example of these rituals is the Adam and Eve pools. Here betrothed send surrogates to observe the other bathing to discover any deformities. Here Bacon alludes to Sir Thomas Mores Utopia (1516), where More describes a similar ritual. However, the crucial difference is rather than surrogates, the young couple observes the other naked. Bacons character Joabin remarks on this difference: I have read in a book of one of your men, of a Feigned Commonwealth, where the married couple are permitted, before they contract, to see one another naked.[6]

In describing how the scientists of New Atlantis worked, Bacon wrote:

We have certain hymns and services, which we say daily, of Lord and thanks to God for His marvellous works; and some forms of prayer, imploring His aid and blessing for the illumination of our labors, and the turning of them into good and holy uses.[7]

In Bacon's Theological Tracts, there are two prayers, named "The Student's Prayer" and "The Writer's Prayer" which may be a demonstration of how scientists could pray as described in The New Atlantis. (See Bacon's Prayers in Wikisource).

New Atlantis and other writings of Bacon inspired the formation of the Royal Society. Jonathan Swift parodied them both in book III of Gulliver's Travels.[citation needed]

In recent years, New Atlantis influenced B. F. Skinner's 1948 Walden Two.[citation needed]

This novel may have been Bacon's vision for a Utopian New World in North America. In it he depicted a land where there would be freedom of religion showing a Jew treated fairly and equally in an island of Christians. It has been argued that this work had influenced others reforms, such as greater rights for women, the abolition of slavery, elimination of debtors' prisons, separation of church and state, and freedom of political expression,[8][9][10][11] although there is no hint of these reforms in The New Atlantis itself. His propositions of legal reform (which were not established in his lifetime), though, are considered to have been one of the influences behind the Napoleonic Code,[12] and therefore could show some resemblance with or influence in the drafting of other liberal constitutions that came in the centuries after Bacon's lifetime, such as the American Constitution.

Francis Bacon played a leading role in creating the English colonies, especially in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Newfoundland in northeastern Canada. His government report on "The Virginia Colony" was submitted in 1609. In 1610 Bacon and his associates received a charter from the king to form the Tresurer and the Companye of Adventurers and planter of the Cittye of London and Bristoll for the Collonye or plantacon in Newfoundland[13] and sent John Guy to found a colony there. In 1910 Newfoundland issued a postage stamp to commemorate Bacon's role in establishing the province. The stamp describes Bacon as "the guiding spirit in colonization scheme" of 1610.[14] Moreover, some scholars believe he was largely responsible for the drafting, in 1609 and 1612, of two charters of government for the Virginia Colony.[15] Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States and author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote: "Bacon, Locke and Newton. I consider them as the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception, and as having laid the foundation of those superstructures which have been raised in the Physical and Moral sciences".[16] Historian and biographer William Hepworth Dixon considered that Bacon's name could be included in the list of Founders of the United States of America.[17]

It is also believed by the Rosicrucian organisation AMORC that Bacon would have influenced a settlement of mystics in North America, stating that The New Atlantis inspired a colony of Rosicrucians led by Johannes Kelpius to journey across the Atlantic Ocean in a chartered vessel called Sarah Mariah, and move on to Pennsylvania in the late 17th century. According to their claims, these Rosicrucian communities "made valuable contributions to the newly emerging American culture in the fields of printing, philosophy, the sciences and arts".[18]

The utopian writer Krlis Balodis adopted the name "Atlanticus" when he wrote Der Zukunftsstaat in 1898.

More:

New Atlantis - Wikipedia

It is a remarkable coincidence that both New Zealand black comedy Creamerie and American post-apocalyptic drama Y: The Last Man have arrived on our screens in the middle of a global pandemic. Both are shows about the aftermath of plagues that kill off the male population.

Both were well into production by the time COVID-19 hit, the latter adapting a critically acclaimed DC Comics series by Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra. Both are led and entirely directed by women a strong statement in a significantly male-dominated industry.

And as dystopian narratives, they also tap into some significant areas of current social and political interest. These include anxieties about gender roles, and how we deal with loss and grief at a global scale.

Dystopian stories are very effective at exploring the fractures and inequities in our everyday lives by throwing up scenarios in which dreams of a better world have become nightmarish. They take present conditions and challenges and extrapolate them into a society that is deeply recognisable, but more extreme than our own.

Whether they are horrific or comedic, they expose and often satirise the real-world conditions, such as political trends or environmental inaction, that already facilitate oppression and destruction. They act as both thought experiment and warning.

Apocalyptic narratives, too, foreground the best and the worst of us. Although the end of the world might be triggered by a sudden calamity plague, war, a supernatural event these stories are more concerned with what happens next.

They ask: what happens when the things that structure our everyday lives are stripped away? How can we learn to live in these new conditions? And are we as much of a threat to one another as the catastrophe itself?

Both TV shows engage with these questions, although to different ends and with very different tones.

The sudden death of all mammals with a Y chromosome in Y: The Last Man is only the first in a series of rolling disasters not least the logistical problem of dealing with the physical remains of half the population.

The series is very interested in the ripple effects of gender inequality, especially in the workplace. This exposes how much our societies remain structured along roughly binary lines, despite significant attempts to move towards a more equitable and egalitarian society.

In early episodes the former Congresswoman and newly minted President Jennifer Brown (Diane Lane) struggles to govern. The United States critical infrastructure, which was staffed almost entirely by men, has collapsed.

Without water, power or food, people are beginning to riot, but there arent enough police or military personnel to keep the peace. Because men still dominate decision-making roles, a skeleton crew of female politicians and civil servants is left to salvage civil society.

In a moving scene, Brown tries to persuade one of the only remaining female nuclear engineers to help restore the power grid. Brown reminds her how hard it has been to always be the only woman in the room and the burden that she now bears because of this.

But power struggles swiftly emerge. The overnight erasure of gender privilege only exacerbates other sources of inequity, such as race and class. There is also an ideological clash between Brown and more politically conservative women, notably the Machiavellian former First Daughter Kimberley, played by Amber Tamblyn.

Their insidious emphasis upon the importance of traditional gender roles and so-called family values sits uncomfortably against scenes, pre- and post-disaster, where women struggle to deal with their domestic and professional roles. We are reminded that social inequity is deeply tied to child-bearing and rearing.

Far from critiquing womens professional ambitions and reproductive choices, the series domestic scenes illustrate powerfully the damaging double shift: the large amount of invisible, underappreciated and unpaid domestic labour undertaken by women.

This is a problem not just for women, but society at large made worse when the survival of the species relies on sperm banks and willing mothers.

Read more: Are we living in a dystopia?

Reproduction is also central to Creameries satirical project. Eight years after the emergence of the virus illustrated through a gory, slo-mo montage set ironically to a dreamy cover of What A Wonderful World we seem to be in a feminist utopia.

The new society is overseen by blonde, charismatic Lane (Tandi Wright), leader of a hyperfeminine, Goop-like organisation. Education and healthcare are free, and menstruation leave is mandatory. Thanks to the survival of sperm banks, women enter a lottery to be artificially inseminated so they may re-populate the world with their daughters.

Rebel Alex (Ally Xue), grieving mother Jamie (JJ Fong), and perky rule-follower Pip (Perlina Lau) live together on an organic dairy farm. Crisis hits when Pip accidentally runs over a man potentially the last man alive. He believes there are other survivors, which would upend this new way of life.

The premise inverts many of the tropes laid bare in the reproductive horrors of The Handmaids Tale and its many imitators, which similarly foreground natalist policies.

Instead, Creamerie is wickedly funny and playful. Its bougie wellness cult operates with silken voices, performative kindness, and what appears to be the veneration of female collectivity.

However, we soon witness the classist, racist, heteronormative, and individualistic tendencies at the heart of this new society, which satirises the predatory nature of the wellness industry.

We are also faced with difficult questions about the fate of those men who might remain how they too might be objectified and commodified for their reproductive potential.

Read more: The Handmaid's Tale: no wonder we've got a sequel in this age of affronts on women's rights

Although they differ considerably in tone, both shows are united in their exploration of loss and trauma. This reflects the rising number of recent series, films, books and games that feature inexplicable mass casualty events and ecological cataclysm.

In a world grappling with a climate disaster, and now a brutal pandemic, it is natural to turn to art to explore how we might live when our lives are braided with inconsolable grief.

Ultimately Creamerie and Y: The Last Man ask us how we suffer losses that are too great for words, and whether we cope with tears, connection, or gallows humour.

Creamerie is available to stream on SBS on Demand, and Y: The Last Man is currently streaming on Binge.

Read this article:

Is a world without men a dystopia or a utopia? Creamerie and Y: The Last Man explore loss at a time of mass grief - The Conversation AU

This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. Here is a collection of past columns.

The promise of electric and driverless cars is that vehicles can become better for the planet and safer for us. Those are worthy goals, although there are significant barriers to getting mass numbers of such cars on the road.

Theres also a risk that devoting our attention to these technological marvels may give us a pass from confronting a deeper question: How can we make our lives less dependent on cars?

After decades of putting the automobile at the center of Americas transportation plans and policy, were now dealing with the downsides, like air pollution, traffic, road deaths, sprawl and the crowding out of alternative ways to move people and products. The solution to problems caused partly by cars may not only be using different kinds of cars, but also remaking our world to rely on them less.

Ive been thinking about the risk and reward of faith in technology recently because of a new book by Peter Norton, an associate professor of history at the University of Virginia. Dr. Norton detailed decades of unfulfilled promises by carmakers and tech companies that some invention was just around the corner to free us from the worst aspects of our car dependency.

Radio waves, divided highway engineering, transistors and technology repurposed from targeted bombs were all pitched at points after World War II as ways of delivering an automobile utopia. Dr. Norton told me that the technologies were often half-baked, but that the idea behind them was that anyone can drive anywhere at any time and park for free and there would be no crashes.

These technologies never delivered, and Dr. Norton said he doubted that driverless cars would either. The whole boondoggle depends on us agreeing that high tech is better tech. That just doesnt stand up, he said.

This is not only Dr. Nortons view. Even most driverless-car optimists now say the technology wont be ready to hit the roads in large numbers for many more years.

Our health and that of the planet will significantly improve if we switch to electric cars. They are one focus of the global climate summit underway in Glasgow. And taking error-prone drivers out of the equation could make our roads much safer. But making better cars isnt a cure-all.

Popularizing electric vehicles comes with the risk of entrenching car dependency, as my New York Times Opinion colleague Farhad Manjoo wrote. Driverless cars may encourage more miles on the road, which could make traffic and sprawl worse. (Uber and similar services once also promised that they would reduce congestion and cut back on how many miles Americans drove. They did the opposite.)

The future of transportation needs to include more energy efficient and safer cars. But Dr. Norton also said that it would be useful to redirect money and attention to make walking, cycling and using shared transportation more affordable and appealing choices.

What Dr. Norton is talking about might sound like a fantasy concocted by Greta Thunberg. The car is a life-changing convenience, and changing our reliance on it will be difficult, costly and contentious. Why should we try?

Well, the transportation status quo is dangerous, gobbles up public space and government dollars, and is environmentally unsustainable. It took decades to build the United States around the car. It was a choice at times a contested one and we could now opt for a different path.

Dr. Norton asked us to imagine what would happen if a fraction of the bonkers dollars being spent to develop driverless cars were invested in unflashy products and policy changes. He mentioned changing zoning codes to permit more homes to be built in the same places as stores, schools and workplaces so that Americans dont have to drive everywhere. He also said that bicycles and electric railways that dont require batteries are technology marvels that do more good than any driverless-car software ever could.

Talking to Dr. Norton reminded me of the mixed blessing of innovation. We know that technology improves our lives. But we also know that belief in the promise of technology sometimes turns us away from confronting the root causes of our problems.

For more reading: Bloomberg CityLab had an interesting interview with Dr. Norton. Fast Company this week also published an excerpt from his book, titled Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving.)

Facebook plans to ditch its records of our faces: My colleagues Kash Hill and Ryan Mac report that Facebook is shutting down its 10-year-old system to identify people from images of their faces. It shouldnt be surprising but it is that Facebook is evaluating the drawbacks of facial recognition technology and (for now) has decided that the benefits werent worth the risks to our privacy.

Zillow made many oopsies: My colleagues and I couldnt stop talking about this yesterday. Zillow, best known for showing people estimates of home values, has also been buying homes itself and flipping them for a profit. But Zillows computer systems drastically overestimated the value of houses it bought, and the company lost money on each sale, on average. Zillow said Tuesday that it would shut down its home-flipping business.

Witches need online payments, too: A writer was rejected by the digital payments provider Stripe when she tried to sell tarot reading services online. Her essay in Wired explores the influence that payments companies including Stripe, Square and PayPal have in what products and services can exist online, and which cannot. (A subscription may be required.)

Animals love democracy, probably. Here, a dog seems to be enthusiastic about voting. And a candidate for mayor in New York tried to take one of his cats (hi, Gizmo!) to his polling site. (He was denied entry.)

Join us for a virtual event on Nov. 18 to discuss the secrets of productive and healthy online communities. Read this to learn more about the event and reserve your spot.

If you dont already get this newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here. You can also read past On Tech columns.

The rest is here:

Tech Cant Fix the Problem of Cars - The New York Times

No one needs a reason to pick up a book. But now that its getting darker earlier, theres no reason not to lose yourself in another world far from real life. And what better escape than fiction that makes you feel better when you emerge the other side? Feel-good fiction or up lit doesnt have to mean saccharine; sometimes its worth working a little for that hit of optimism. Enjoy, and see you in the spring.

Jenny Colgan, Sphere, 14.99

Out of work, Carmen is lured to Edinburgh by her sister and the offer of work at a little bookshop. But the bookshop is struggling to survive. Can Carmen save it? A seasonal heart-warmer.

Michle Roberts, Sandstone Press, 14.99

This colourful take on a family mystery is a transporting read back to early 50s Provence, where three women are breaking free from village life. Two wind up helping out an ailing Henri Matisse. Vibrant and engrossing.

Claire Keegan, Faber & Faber, 10

Set in the run-up to Christmas in 1985 Ireland, this slim novel is a story of redemption. Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant and father of five daughters, emerges as a tender hero.

Susie Boyt, Virago, 16.99

A story about a mother struggling with an addict daughter who cant look after her baby might sound an unlikely feel-good candidate, but this powerful study of love will keep you reading. Just beautiful.

Joshua Ferris, Viking, 16.99

Charlie is a dreamer who, told he has cancer, looks back at his life, including five wives, four children, 40 jobs and constant debt. But he never gave up and neither will any reader.

Beth OLeary, Quercus, 12.99

A grieving young woman and her grandmother swap homes as they try to shake up their lives the former moving to a little village in the Yorkshire Dales after the death of her sister; the latter to a London flat, in pursuit of love.

Lauren Groff, William Heinemann, 16.99

A tale about a feminist utopia of 12th-century nuns headed by the visionary Marie, who is based on the writer Marie de France. An uplifting novel in its own unique way, and up there with Groffs best work.

Marlowe Granados, Verso, 10.99

There is plenty of vicarious pleasure to be had from this coming-of-age debut about two young women navigatinga summer in New York with little cash but plenty of wit and hedonistic verve.

Val McDermid, Little, Brown, 20

Thrillers dont usually make feel-good lists, but theres no reason why the first in this new crime series shouldnt. With a strong female reporter holding her own in a male-dominated world, there is plenty to take heart from.

Lucy Mangan, Profile Books, 16.99

This romp through the chaos of family life will have you wincing and rejoicing in equal measure as Liz battles through a year on a quest to grab a moment just one would do to herself.

Katherine Heiny, Fourth Estate, 14.99

This is a charming and tender tale about the messiness of modern love and unconventional family life. Bittersweet and wry, this is a gem from the bestselling author of Standard Deviation.

Jonathan Coe, Penguin, 8.99

A sweeping story about an unlikely friendship between a Hollywood film director Billy Wilder and a Greek teenager who wants to break free from what she knows. It is also a story of second acts. A novel to cherish.

Cathy Rentzenbrink, Phoenix, 14.99

This first novel from the accomplished memoirist is set on a moneyed west London street. The plot follows a handful of families as they navigate grief and friendship and keeping going, which can be the hardest thing of all.

Clare Chambers, Orion, 8.99

Witty and sharp, this is a crisply written tale of romantic anguish and daughterly duty. Jean, a frustrated reporter who lives with her mother, takes her small pleasures where she can, but this is one big pleasure to read.

Elif Shafak, Viking, 14.99

If an epic story about a divided country, which opens with the death of a mother and a grieving father, sounds an unlikely candidate for an uplifting read, remember that love comes in different guises.

Marika Cobbold, Arcadia, 14.99

Funny and darkly surprising, this is a heart-warming mystery about honesty in the age of social media, as a journalist fabricates a good-news story then goes in search of the truths behind it.

Elizabeth Strout, Viking, 14.99

It is uplifting to watch Lucy Barton who Strout fans will know from an earlier novel rekindle her friendship with her ex-husband. This isnt a classic feel-good novel, but is all the richer for it.

Charlotte McConaghy, Vintage, 8.99

Franny Stone is tracking the last of the Arctic terns on what may be their final migration to Antarctica in this cli-fi book about wild animals disappearing from the natural world. Will she find them? And can we save them?

Pat Barker, Hamish Hamilton, 18.99

The material might be harsh and bleak but there is something uplifting about finally hearing the Greek myths from a womans perspective. Briseis is a marvel of a heroine, brave, clever, loyal, and Barker is a wondrous storyteller.

Sammy Wright, And Other Stories, 10

Youll have to buckle in for the ride, but this rewarding debut by a secondary school teacher is about a modern-day Cinderella, plucked from her foster home into a dazzling new London life. Its tough, yet ultimately hopeful.

Meg Mason, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 14.99

Sharply observed and darkly hilarious, this story about love, mental illness and sisterly bonds scales all the highs and lows of life. Sensitive, deeply heartfelt and utterly captivating.

Ruth Jones, Transworld, 8.99

An uplifting tear-jerker from the Gavin & Stacey screenwriter about the highs and lows of three childhood friends as they navigate life, work, marriage, children, death, arguments and reconciliation.

Beth Morrey, HarperCollins, 8.99

Prickly and resentful, 79-year-old Missy is destined to spend the rest of her life alone until she makes two friends who give her a second chance at life, proving its never too late for a new beginning.

Ilona Bannister, Hodder & Stoughton, 14.99

When the Twin Towers collapsed, Gigi fled her office, New York and her life, ditching her husband and children. Ten years on, the story resumes. Loss, grief, love and motherhood: this has it all, plus lots of sassy humour.

Marianna Cronin, Doubleday, 14.99

At just 17 years old, Lenni has terminal cancer. Stuck in hospital, she meets 83-year-old Margot, who is on the next ward. Together, they paint their life stories. Fiercely tender.

Read more from the original source:

25 feel-good novels for winter nights in: from Greek myths to tales of a feminist utopia - iNews

World Without Men: It is a remarkable coincidence that both New Zealand black comedy Creamerie and American post-apocalyptic drama Y: The Last Man have arrived on our screens in the middle of a global pandemic. Both are shows about the aftermath of plagues that kill off the male population.

Both were well into production by the time COVID-19 hit, the latter adapting a critically acclaimed DC Comics series by Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra. Both are led and entirely directed by women a strong statement in a significantly male-dominated industry.

And as dystopian narratives, they also tap into some significant areas of current social and political interest. These include anxieties about gender roles, and how we deal with loss and grief at a global scale.

Dystopian stories are very effective at exploring the fractures and inequities in our everyday lives by throwing up scenarios in which dreams of a better world have become nightmarish. They take present conditions and challenges and extrapolate them into a society that is deeply recognisable, but more extreme than our own.

Whether they are horrific or comedic, they expose and often satirise the real-world conditions, such as political trends or environmental inaction, that already facilitate oppression and destruction. They act as both thought experiment and warning.

Apocalyptic narratives, too, foreground the best and the worst of us. Although the end of the world might be triggered by a sudden calamity plague, war, a supernatural event these stories are more concerned with what happens next.

They ask: what happens when the things that structure our everyday lives are stripped away? How can we learn to live in these new conditions? And are we as much of a threat to one another as the catastrophe itself?

Both TV shows engage with these questions, although to different ends and with very different tones.

The sudden death of all mammals with a Y chromosome in Y: The Last Man is only the first in a series of rolling disasters not least the logistical problem of dealing with the physical remains of half the population.

The series is very interested in the ripple effects of gender inequality, especially in the workplace. This exposes how much our societies remain structured along roughly binary lines, despite significant attempts to move towards a more equitable and egalitarian society.

In early episodes the former Congresswoman and newly minted President Jennifer Brown (Diane Lane) struggles to govern. The United States critical infrastructure, which was staffed almost entirely by men, has collapsed.

Without water, power or food, people are beginning to riot, but there arent enough police or military personnel to keep the peace. Because men still dominate decision-making roles, a skeleton crew of female politicians and civil servants is left to salvage civil society.

In a moving scene, Brown tries to persuade one of the only remaining female nuclear engineers to help restore the power grid. Brown reminds her how hard it has been to always be the only woman in the room and the burden that she now bears because of this.

But power struggles swiftly emerge. The overnight erasure of gender privilege only exacerbates other sources of inequity, such as race and class. There is also an ideological clash between Brown and more politically conservative women, notably the Machiavellian former First Daughter Kimberley, played by Amber Tamblyn.

Their insidious emphasis upon the importance of traditional gender roles and so-called family values sits uncomfortably against scenes, pre- and post-disaster, where women struggle to deal with their domestic and professional roles. We are reminded that social inequity is deeply tied to child-bearing and rearing.

Far from critiquing womens professional ambitions and reproductive choices, the series domestic scenes illustrate powerfully the damaging double shift: the large amount of invisible, underappreciated and unpaid domestic labour undertaken by women.

This is a problem not just for women, but society at large made worse when the survival of the species relies on sperm banks and willing mothers.

Reproduction is also central to Creameries satirical project. Eight years after the emergence of the virus illustrated through a gory, slo-mo montage set ironically to a dreamy cover of What A Wonderful World we seem to be in a feminist utopia.

The new society is overseen by blonde, charismatic Lane (Tandi Wright), leader of a hyperfeminine, Goop-like organisation. Education and healthcare are free, and menstruation leave is mandatory. Thanks to the survival of sperm banks, women enter a lottery to be artificially inseminated so they may re-populate the world with their daughters.

Rebel Alex (Ally Xue), grieving mother Jamie (JJ Fong), and perky rule-follower Pip (Perlina Lau) live together on an organic dairy farm. Crisis hits when Pip accidentally runs over a man potentially the last man alive. He believes there are other survivors, which would upend this new way of life.

The premise inverts many of the tropes laid bare in the reproductive horrors of The Handmaids Tale and its many imitators, which similarly foreground natalist policies.

Instead, Creamerie is wickedly funny and playful. Its bougie wellness cult operates with silken voices, performative kindness, and what appears to be the veneration of female collectivity.

However, we soon witness the classist, racist, heteronormative, and individualistic tendencies at the heart of this new society, which satirises the predatory nature of the wellness industry.

We are also faced with difficult questions about the fate of those men who might remain how they too might be objectified and commodified for their reproductive potential.

Although they differ considerably in tone, both shows are united in their exploration of loss and trauma. This reflects the rising number of recent series, films, books and games that feature inexplicable mass casualty events and ecological cataclysm.

In a world grappling with a climate disaster, and now a brutal pandemic, it is natural to turn to art to explore how we might live when our lives are braided with inconsolable grief.

Ultimately Creamerie and Y: The Last Man ask us how we suffer losses that are too great for words, and whether we cope with tears, connection, or gallows humour.

Erin Harrington, Senior Lecturer in English and Cultural Studies, University of Canterbury published this article first on The Conversation. Views expressed are the authors own.

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