Augmented reality is slowly seeping into our everyday lives. It’s not just for snaps and video games anymore. Case in point: a new kids toothbrush with AR.
French company Kolibree announced at CES 2018 a smart toothbrush that uses AR to make brushing teeth fun for kids.
The device is paired with a motion-tracking app that uses your smartphone’s front-facing camera to put your kid right in the middle of the fun. It comes with a phone stand, so your kids don’t have to worry about holding up a phone while they brush.
Kids can choose from 15 different games, featuring pirates, princesses, monsters, and a whole cast of fantasy characters.
The toothbrush also allows parents to monitor their children’s brushing habits. They’ll see how many times a day their kids are brushing, how fast, and for how long.
Oh, and you don’t need to stress about over-brushing: The app can only be used three times per day.
Another interesting feature: It teaches kids to brush. The Magik toothbrush app offers kids guidance on where to brush, how thoroughly to brush, and how long to stay in each spot.
This is not Kolibree’s first go at a smart toothbrush. The company released Ara, a toothbrush that uses artificial intelligence to track oral health and encourage healthy brushing habits, in early 2017.
Magik will launch later this year for under $30. That’s significantly more than your average toothbrush, but you get the brush, the mobile game, the stand, and a much happier kid for that price.
The first week of January was the coldest such week on record in most locations in the Eastern United States. It was so frigid that week, and the week preceding it, that sea ice formed around Cape Cod and Chesapeake Bay, sharks froze to death on Massachusetts beaches, and alligators went into a resting state while entombed in ice.
One might think that a cold snap like this one all but disproves global warming, or at least refutes the more dire scenarios about winter all but disappearing as the globe responds to sharp increases in greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane.
However, the reality is far more complex, scientists say. In fact, it’s getting harder to pull off a cold outbreak of the severity and longevity of the late December and early January Arctic blast, according to a new analysis published on Thursday.
Data visualization showing very cold temperatures gripping large portions of North America on Jan. 1, 2018
Image: noaa/nnvl
The study, by the World Weather Attribution project, an international consortium of researchers that analyze the role global warming may have played in extreme events, concludes that a cold outbreak like the one that just occurred is 15-times less likely to take place today due to global warming.
Scientists from Princeton University, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, University of Oxford, and Climate Central examined the two-week cold wave, between Dec. 26, 2017 and Jan. 8, 2018, over the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada. They found that this was a “relatively rare event” now that global warming has made such cold snaps less frequent and severe.
In fact, the attribution analysis, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, found that the effects of global warming on cold outbreaks like this is to make them warmer than they otherwise would be, by about 4 degrees Fahrenheit.
Trend in the coldest two weeks of the winter as a multiple of the global mean temperature rise during the 1880 to 2017 time period.
Image: Berkeley Earth/ ERA-interim
For the study, scientists compared the temperatures during the cold wave to readings during the past 30 years, as well as the time series of the temperature of the coldest two weeks of the year, dating back to 1880. They found that there were many equally cold or colder two-week periods in this region in the past, but none have occurred since the winter of 1993-94.
“Cold waves like this occurred more frequently in the climate of a century ago and the temperature of two-week cold waves has increased throughout North America, which is consistent in a climate of global warming,” said Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, senior researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), in a press release.
Many records were broken during this cold snap, with the most frigid conditions found on the back side of the “bomb cyclone” that slammed the East Coast with snow and high winds on Jan. 3 through 5. New York City’s temperature remained at or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit for two weeks, which ranks among the top five records for the most consecutive number of days at or below freezing. Chicago’s 12 consecutive days below 20 degrees Fahrenheit tied a record seen only twice before in 1895 and 1936
The study’s findings are likely cold comfort to the millions who just experienced bone-chilling conditions, though. But they are important, since they show how winter cold spells are changing as the climate warms.
Temperature of the coldest two-week period averaged over land points in 40º–50ºN, 65º–95ºW. The green line is a 10-year running mean.
Image: WWA
The scientists found that the temperature of the coldest two-week period has increased about two times faster than the global mean temperature has increased. In other words, the coldest periods are warming faster than the overall warming rate, making cold extremes less severe and more rare.
In fact, the researchers calculated that a cold wave like this occurred about once every 17 years at the beginning of the 20th century, but now can be expected to occur just once out of every 250 years.
While some scientists contend that melting Arctic sea ice is causing colder air to leak southward into the midlatitudes during the winter, thereby intensifying winter weather in the U.S. and Europe, this study argues against that.
The researchers found that the weather pattern that caused the two-week cold period has not been occurring more frequently lately.
In any case, winter has only just started. While the odds of another cold snap of similar severity are long, they’re not zero. So keep that heavy coat and long underwear handy for a little longer.
What you’re about to watch is the work of a name you should remember: Dani Ochoa.
Dani, who characterizes herself as “a girl with too much time on her hands” is also, apparently, a goddamn math genius.
She figured out how to play the Mos Eiseley Cantina theme from “Star Wars.”
With a pencil.
While writing.
While writing a coherent and apparently working math equation.
And not just a working math equation. But a working math equation that produces, yes, the number of the speed of light.A sampling of crowdsourced math-checked, via the Reddit Video thread, found this:
…These letters are actually common variables found in physics!
This is where things really start to get crazy. If we can extrapolate that this formula has something to do with the Star Wars universe, then perhaps it might has something to do with space travel (since, you know, that is one of the major themes of the universe right?).
Currently, space shuttles that leave Earth travel at approximately 17,500 miles p—
Yeah, look, we work for a website, half this industry barely squeaked by Algebra 2—we don’t know if the math actually checks out, but sure as hell sounds legit.
Anyway, bottom line, here: Dani Ochoa deserves a MacArthur Grant. With a little more time on her hands, she’s gonna send us into the fifth dimension and find a new planet where we can live. There, phrases like “Steve Bannon” don’t exist. All hail.
We’re only two weeks into 2018 but it’s impossible to talk about books in the new year without hearing three words: fire and fury.
Since an excerpt published in New York Magazine on Jan 3., the country has been buzzing about columnist and non-fiction author Michael Wolff’s latest book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.
The book is a searing deep dive into Donald Trump’s presidency as seen from Trump’s own White House staff, most notably Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon (who, since the publication of Fire and Fury, has been disavowed by the Trump campaign and ousted from Breitbart News) and former White House deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh.
But whether Wolff is dragging his subjects, like when Michael Wolff tries to explain a theory of why Donald Trump might try to court Vladimir Putin:
But then there was the those-that-know-him-best theory, some version of which most Trumpers would come to embrace. He was just star-fucking. He took his beauty pageant to Russia because he thought Putin was going to be his friend. But Putin couldn’t have cared less, and in the end Trump found himself at the promised gala dinner seated on one side next to a guy who looked like he had never used a utensil and on the other side Jabba the Hutt in a golf shirt. In other words, Trump—however foolish his sucking-up might have been, and however suspicious it might look in hindsight—just wanted a little respect.
or roasting Donald Trump’s hair
[Ivanka] often described the mechanics behind it to friends: an absolutely clean pate — a contained island after scalp-reduction surgery — surrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the center and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray. The color, she would point out to comical effect, was from a product called Just for Men — the longer it was left on, the darker it got. Impatience resulted in Trump’s orange-blond hair color.”
one thing becomes abundantly clear about Fire and Fury: nothing and no one is safe from a Michael Wolff’s shady, shady pen.
This week on the MashReads Podcast, we chat about Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury. Join us in the episode above as we chat about what this book says about the Donald Trump presidency, how do we separate fact vs. fiction in this book given Michael Wolff’s somewhat dubious fact-checking methods, and what to make of the president’s response to Fire and Fury.
And as always, we close the show with recommendations:
Peter recommends The Mighty Boosh, a BBC Three comedy. “It’s just the weirdest and most surreal show, that’s slightly problematic sometimes. All that said, though, it’s a delightful show because it has my two favorite comedians: Rich Fulture and Matt Berry. It’s fun. It’s on Hulu.”
Heather recommends “The Liars Club” by Mary Karr. “Mary Karr is perfect, she’s never made a mistake, much like Michael Wolff. This published in ’96 or ’97, and it kicked off the era of memoir writing. This was like the original good memoir.”
MJ recommends author Matt De La Peña’s essay for Time “Why We Shouldn’t Shield Children From Darkness.” “The essay is just so movign about how we need to support children through darkness and the incredible, heartbreaking moments that he’s expereicend when he’s gotten to see a child expressing true emotion and grappling with that.” He also recommends RnB singer Jessie Reyez. “Her songs just got me all up in my feelings.”
And if you’re looking for even more book news, don’t forget to follow MashReads on Facebook and Twitter.
Sorvino worked with Allen on the 1995 film Mighty Aphrodite, a few years after Farrow (who was 7-years-old at the time) alleged that Allen has sexually assaulted her. Recently, Farrow has become more outspoken about Allen’s alleged actions, calling out actors who have worked with him after the allegations went public.
Farrow’s call to action prompted Sorvino to write an apology for working with Woody Allen, via The Huffington Post, saying that she now believes Farrow’s accusations.
Sorvino wrote that, when she worked with Allen, she did not put much stake into Farrow’s allegations, something that she now regrets and apologizes for.
I am so sorry, Dylan! I cannot begin to imagine how you have felt, all these years as you watched someone you called out as having hurt you as a child, a vulnerable little girl in his care, be lauded again and again, including by me and countless others in Hollywood who praised him and ignored you. As a mother and a woman, this breaks my heart for you. I am so, so sorry!
We are in a day and age when everything must be re-examined. This kind of abuse cannot be allowed to continue. If this means tearing down all the old gods, so be it. The cognitive dissonance, the denial and cowardice that spare us painful truths and prevent us from acting in defense of innocent victims while allowing “beloved” individuals to continue their heinous behavior must be jettisoned from the bottom of our souls. Even if you love someone, if you learn they may have committed these despicable acts, they must be exposed and condemned, and this exposure must have consequences. I will never work with him again.
Shortly after Sorvino’s letter was published, Farrow gave her a heartfelt thank you on Twitter.
@MiraSorvino, I am overwhelmed and my gratitude to you cannot be expressed sufficiently in words. This letter is beautiful and I will carry your words with me. Your courage has been boundless and your activism an example for us all. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. https://t.co/8U73mb2twD
Sorvino’s open letter comes about a day after Lady Bird writer and director Greta Gerwig wrote a similar statement in which she expressed regret for working with Allen on the 2012 film To Rome with Love. Farrow thanked Gerwig as well.
Greta, thank you for your voice. Thank you for your words. Please know they are deeply felt and appreciated. https://t.co/q7dV2yAFwH
There are still many people who have worked with Allen in recent years who have not spoken publicly about Allen, despite the recent wave of support for women and men in Hollywood coming forward against men with allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.
For better or for worse, a lot of people on the internet think Tide Pods look delicious. For better or for worse, I am one of them.
So I was thrilled to see that according to r/food, a friend of Redditor dweron appears to have successfully made edible Tide Pods in sushi form — a feat I am now affectionately calling “the dream.”
To be clear, this isn’t the first time the topic of edible Pods has been broached online. There’s been a hypothetical recipe floating around for a few days now. But that one — let’s be honest — seems pretty flavorless, and this one looks a little more appetizing. It even appears to have retained that iconic Tide Pod squish.
A forbidden snack forbidden no more? Perhaps. But if sushi-making isn’t your forte, you (and I) should probably stick to gazing longingly at photos of Tide Pods instead.
Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable’s commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.
If you’re a frequent traveler, you know how annoying it can be to wait for your checked luggage to come around the carousel. On the flip side, we’ve all been there when someone tried to fit their giant suitcase in the overhead bin and that’s not fun for anyone.
Finding the perfect carry on is tricky — they have to keep up with you and fit your specific traveling style. Are you the type of person who needs to plan every stop of your trip? Or are you more of a wanderer who lets the road take them where it may? Whatever end of the travel spectrum you fall on, your suitcase is your most important accessory. You need to make sure you have the right one for your lifestyle.
We’ve rounded up five of our favorite carry-on bags that fit most airlines’ specifications for overhead luggage. (As always, you’ll want to make sure to check your airline’s requirements before you fly.) Whether you’re an old-school business traveler or a wanderlust-filled backpacker, we know you’ll find the perfect travel companion.
This sleek hardshell case is made of a sturdy plastic that’s still lightweight enough to lift into an overhead compartment. Plus, the high-gloss finish looks like something out of Mad Men. It comes with dual-spinner wheels, a compression compartment, and TSA-approved lock that are pretty standard on nicer luggage.
The internet has been going crazy about Away, the luggage startup with tons of neat features. One of the most hyped perks is the TSA-approved battery pack that lets you juice your devices on the go. Equally useful, if not as exciting, is the included compressible laundry bag that keeps your dirty clothes separated from clean ones.
If you love making itineraries and have your iPad out wherever you go, the Genius pack is as coordinated as you are. A packing checklist is printed on the inside of your case and each pocket is labelled for its particular use. There’s external pockets for magazines, water bottles, passports, and a strap to hold your jacket. Plus you can grab an add-on battery pack or umbrella that fit right into their own compartments.
When the airplane is only the first part of your journey, packing can be annoying. You want to make sure everything is kosher for the TSA, but durable enough for more intense parts of the journey. Osprey’s travel backpack fits the bill on both counts. The backpack straps are padded with a sternum strap and hip belt. When you need to condense things for the plane, the straps are easily stowed in their own pocket. A protected laptop pocket gives you easy access to electronics during security screenings and the compression straps ensure that your bag will fit in the overhead bin.
Combining the versatility of a backpack with the compartmentalization of a carry-on, eBags’ MotherLode Convertible is the best of both worlds. The inner compartments are modular, with a removable divider and compression to keep contents secure. A roomy top pocket gives you easy access to the things you’ll need frequently, while the hidden laptop pocket is accessible while remaining discreet. There’s even a collapsible water bottle pocket for when you need to hydrate on the go.
Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable’s commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.
Ah, Unreal Engine 4. It’s the game development engine that has recently brought us the likes of Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the upcoming and epic-looking Dragon Ball FighterZ.
Get in on the action and learn how to use Unreal Engine 4 to make your own great game by taking this online course.
This 15-hour course promises to teach you how to best use the latest version of Unreal Engine to make a SHMUP game prototype and get you started on learning the intricate mechanics of game design. It includes guides on how to apply audio, implement a save system, and program your playable characters, along with several other lessons. Consider it a way of gaining experience so you can level up to making a game that’s all yours.
There’s now a how-to video on making a Porg bento box and we are eating it up.
Disney Parks made a how-to video on how to make a Porg bento box. It’s fun and easy, as long as the Jawas don’t keep interrupting.
Using primarily rice, sesame seeds, olives and soy sauce, the chef makes an almost identical sushi-version of the beloved Porg, from Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.
Even as sushi it’s cute.
Though this is adorable, something still feels wrong about eating a Porg, especially after that Chewy scene in The Last Jedi. Still, eating a sushi Porg is better than a real Porg.
Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable’s commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.
The next best thing to carrying your guitar around over your shoulder is wearing it on your shirt, and the playable electronic guitar shirt lets you do just that.
This shirt features a special electronic panel that can hook up to a clip-on amp. When you strum the strings on the guitar, it’ll play the actual notes and chords through the amp, so you can jam out wherever you are — no picks required.
Check it out:
The electronic panel is easily removed for when you need to throw your shirt in the wash. But like, rock stars don’t do laundry, okay?
Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable’s commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.
If you’re having an especially bad day at work or the current political climate Twitter is causing you stress, you might appreciate having a self-destruct button on standby. No, it’s not an actual self-destruct button, but a fun little toy you can have at your desk that can even charge your devices.
The Self-Destruct USB Hub is kinda like a busy board for grownups that has a very extreme aesthetic. It’s got a big red button that can only be activated when the two switches and one big key are flipped and turned in order. Once activated, you can press the big button to set off lights and sounds not unlike something blowing up. It’s a fun deterrent against work piling up on your desk and can even help you indulge your “getting rid of Rob from accounting” fantasies. Screw you, Rob.
Check it out in action:
The hub also features four USB ports to charge up your devices so that even when you flip the switch, at least your phone will be at 100%.
Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable’s commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.
These outlets are useful for conserving power and saving on energy. Instead of keeping your appliances plugged in all the time and having them use power even when you’re using them, you can plug them into these handy outlets and switch off their energy consumption at the push of a button. According to the product page, the remote also works through walls and doors up to 100 feet away. It’s great for hard-to-reach appliances that you can stand to unplug at the end of the day.
Dante was relaxing at home when he received a FaceTime request from his daughter, who was just upstairs. Apparently, her brother left a little surprise on the carpet of their playroom, and she felt the need to tell him about it.
Mind you, the film’s still got a ways to go before it becomes a reality. As of now, the Black Widow project doesn’t have an official greenlight, let alone a release date.
Still, it’s a promising development for a movie fans have been clamoring for since, oh, about 2008, when the character made her first big-screen appearance in Iron Man 2.
Schaeffer is the writer and director of TiMER, a 2009 sci-fi rom-com that essentially did “Hang the DJ” before Black Mirror did.
She’s also written The Shower, an as-yet-unproduced screenplay that has Anne Hathaway attached to star, and is working on a Dirty Rotten Scoundrels remake titled Nasty Women. She previously worked with Disney on “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure.”
Her involvement makes the Black Widow standalone film the rare Marvel Cinematic Universe project with a female screenwriter. Others include Guardians of the Galaxy (Nicole Perlman) and the forthcoming Captain Marvel (Geneva Robertson-Dworet, who replaced Perlman and Meg LeFauve).
Johansson’s Black Widow has appeared in five MCU films over the past decade, and will return later this year in Avengers: Infinity War. Despite her immense popularity, however, she’s been relegated to a supporting player in the franchise.
Over the years, there’s been a lot of talk about the possibility of a Black Widow movie. Johansson has said repeatedly that she’d like to make one, as has Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. In 2016, Feige even got as far as saying he was “committing” to making it happen.
But until now, talk seemed to be as far as it got. When pressed, Feige would reassure fans that it was in development, but come up with excuses as to why it wasn’t making much progress.
It got to be a bad look, especially as Marvel kept churning out one male-led superhero blockbuster after another. It got to be an even worse look once 20th Century Fox started promoting Red Sparrow, which had fans like us joking that it was the Black Widow movie Marvel wouldn’t make.
For all that the MCU’s done right, they’ve dragged their feet when it comes to female superheroes, letting rival DC beat them to the punch with Wonder Woman. DC’s work paid off – Wonder Woman became the highest-grossing superhero flick of 2017.
Meanwhile, Marvel has been moving ahead with 2019’s Captain Marvel, its 21st movie overall and its first one starring a woman.
Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable’s commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.
If you’ve ever been curious about flying your own drone, then you need to jump on this Amazon lightning deal and save $30 on the Holy Stone Quadcopter Drone.
This 360-degree drone features a 720p HD camera and comes with an extra battery so you can extend your flight time. Have it hover steadily at any height for still shots, or go ham with flips and tricks. It features a headless security mode with simple directional inputs and orientation so that rookie flyers can operate it with ease, and the one key start allows it to return to you on its own.
The Quadcopter Drone is usually $100, but Amazon has knocked 30% off, so you can get it for $70.
Speaking with CNN’s Christopher Cuomo on Wednesday, the “counselor” to the President said “nobody here talks about Hillary Clinton,” insisting that “we” don’t care about Hillary.
Kellyanne Conway claimed “nobody here talks about Hillary Clinton” despite the fact that President Trump mentioned her at least 3 times earlier today #CuomoPrimeTimehttps://t.co/sGNQfZyNRt
First, while speaking about his commitment to “massive oil and gas,” he compared himself to Hillary Clinton, who he said “was for windmills.” And second, while answering questions in a press conference: he once again insisted that there was “no collusion” with Russia when asked whether he would consent to an interview with special investigator Robert Mueller, and swiftly pivoted to what he said was the FBI’s mishandling of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server (Do you think he knows about Jared and Ivanka?).
Things got worse — or better, if you’re, like, into seeing hypocrisy play out in real time — during one of President Trump’s fun early morning tweetstorms. On Thursday, Trump returned to his “Crooked Hillary Emails” greatest hits, seemingly in response Senator Feinstein’s unilateral release of an interview with the author of a now-infamous dossier on how Russia influenced the US election via the Trump campaign.
Disproven and paid for by Democrats “Dossier used to spy on Trump Campaign. Did FBI use Intel tool to influence the Election?” @foxandfriends Did Dems or Clinton also pay Russians? Where are hidden and smashed DNC servers? Where are Crooked Hillary Emails? What a mess!
Ok Kellyanne, Ok. We’re just gonna put this right here.
Kellyanne Conway told CNN’s @ChrisCuomo: “We don’t care about her. Nobody here talks about Hillary Clinton.”
… in case you were curious, Trump has tweeted Hillary Clinton’s name at least 89 times since election day. Here are some of those tweets.? pic.twitter.com/0lhtoe4thR
There follow mild spoilers for Black Mirror Season 4. Seriously, haven’t you finished it by now?
Here’s a Black Mirror script idea: A 21st century comedy writer in the UK comes up with a series of stories with technological twists. They are, to him, darkly amusing, no more a serious prediction than a SNL sketch would be in the US. Still, it amuses the writer to see his comedy confections play out on screen in a dramatic, rather unsettling manner.
Then comes the twist: the rest of the world loses its goddamn mind.
The writer protests he didn’t mean to foretell anything. In interviews he frames the series as wry amusements, no more. But does his audience listen? The anthology show becomes way more popular than anyone expected. It migrates from Britain’s Channel 4 to the world’s Netflix. In short order, it becomes one of the most iconic TV shows of the internet age.
By the time the comedy writer’s show enters its fourth season, in the darkly dystopian year of 2018, the internet seems to burst with arguments over whether the comedy writer is some kind of dark prophet — or worse, a dangerous idiot who thinks he’s a prophet but doesn’t actually understand how tech works.
This of course is the actual tale of Charlie Brooker, creator of Black Mirror. Unusually prolific by American standards of show running, Brooker has written nearly every episode of the show by himself. (Season 4’s final episode, “Black Museum”, contains its only hint of writerly collaboration; one third of it was based on a story of self-harm by Penn Jillette that was too darkly humorous for his own short story collection.)
But if you step back, take a breath and clear your mind of preconceptions, it’s just as easy (and I would argue, more rewarding) to see “U.S.S. Callister” as a Star Trek parody in which a socially inept guy becomes a bully and gets his comeuppance. “Hang the DJ” is just a sweet and sexy little tale about (spoiler alert!) more virtual reality people, this time playing out dating scenarios inside an app.
“Black Museum” is an anthology within an anthology — three scary ghost stories, one about actual ghosts inside people’s heads, that end with the one character who connects the stories getting his comeuppance.
Scary Ghost Stories
Ghost stories is another appropriate frame to place around Black Mirror. Brooker likes to give good scare. As I’ve noted previously, his hour-long episodes succeed when they spend at least a half hour on the slow, subtle build-up.
As such, his scary stories are somewhat formulaic. I don’t say that like it’s a bad thing; the scare works every time, and there’s an endless variety of genres and dark techno-comic twists to be layered atop the basic formula.
The point is, these are highly suspenseful tales for the digital campfire, not high literature designed to be picked apart for layers of meaning.
As with any bedtime ghost story, the logic of the plot and the motivations of the main characters can fall apart when considered the morning after. (Didn’t you think the protagonists of “Arkangel” and “Crocodile” were just a little too hasty in resorting to deadly violence?)
This is a show governed by nightmare logic. That’s the whole idea, a spooky comic nightmare fueled by tech that only has to be plausible enough to suspend our disbelief. The fact that most of the tech the show mentions plays on our human vanity is what makes it seem more real than anything in the actual design.
A Brief History of Brooker
To fully understand Black Mirror, you have to be familiar with the oeuvre of Charlie Brooker. This is a man whose writing career began when he created a comic strip for a gaming magazine called PC Zone. The strip was called “Cybertwats.” Nuff said.
And then he came up with this surprisingly disturbing page intended to parody people who thought video games were too violent. It caused PC Zone to be pulled from newsagents’ shelves. Black Mirror episode idea ahoy!
The Cruelty Zoo. Coming soon to a Netflix near you.
Image: PC Zone
Shocking sketch comedy soon became Brooker’s stock in trade. He wrote for The 11 O’Clock Show, the same late-night satire that gave birth to Ali G. In 2005 he penned a sitcom called Nathan Barley; the title character was the most sneering hipster parody imaginable. (If Brooker predicted anything, it’s how off-the-charts-annoying hipsters would become in the 2010s.)
Earlier on he had written for a special final episode of Brass Eye, an already envelope-pushing news parody show. This particular episode pranked real politicians and celebs into recording dumb-sounding PSAs for a fake anti-paedophelia campaign. A government minister called it “unspeakably sick.” It became the most complained-about British TV show to date.
That familiar feeling of silly yet harrowing dread you get when watching Black Mirror — this is what this comedy writer has been trying to do to us for years.
That sense of reality being sickeningly inverted, and you’re not sure whether you should be laughing at the joke any more — this is the soul of Charlie Brooker.
The little knife twist of (occasional) joy or (mostly) pain at the end — this is the final flourish of the guy around the campfire, flashlight beneath his face.
Beyond that, when it comes to a deeper meaning or a high-tech prediction … knock yourself out. Go nuts. Plot out the rest of the 21st century using only Black Mirror technology.
Just know you’re bringing all that to the campfire yourself. It’s all you. The jester who told the tale has long since moved on to crafting his next shocking confection.
President Trump has reportedly set the record for the greatest number of lies told in the first year of his administration.
Sir, congratulations.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! celebrated the president’s achievement by publishing a mini-doc about his first year of deceit, titled Pants Of Fire: The Road To 2000 Lies.
It’s like Facebook’s year in review, only somehow more depressing. Enjoy!
Between accusations of being a liar, liar, pants on fire and Michael Wolff’s new bestseller Fire and Fury, which looks at the mayhem in the White House, it seems fitting that President Donald Trump’s latest appearance on Time magazine’s cover is, quite literally, a fiery one.
While Time has certainly gotten creative as to how it portrays Trump on its cover, the simplicity of the new cover, created by Edel Rodriguez, is masterful, especially in how it gets across its central message: the first year of the Trump administration has been an epic, chaotic fire.
The story that accompanies the cover is a thorough overview of the most recent chaos in the White House as well as a look at Wolff’s book through the lens of revisiting the president’s first year (though it’s hard to cram all of that tumult into one magazine feature).
But Time does us one better by chatting with the cover’s creator, Edel Rodriguez, who’s done a number of Trump-related covers for Time and other publications.
In the chat, Rodriguez confirms that the flames refer both to Wolff’s book and Trump’s infamous threat towards North Korea (“fire and fury like the world has never seen”). But Rodriquez says the flames also represent the never-ending chaos coming from the White House on a daily basis.
“We used to live where the United States was a pretty steady country, and now you wake up every day and try to figure out where’s the next fire, where do we have to go, what do we have to try to contain,” Rodriguez says. “It’s sort of this President that you’re always trying to contain, like a wildfire that’s moving from one place to the other at all times.”
Fair enough. You have to wonder what Trump’s reaction will be given the kerfuffle over his claims he was going to be the magazine’s Person of the Year in 2017 — but turned the honor down — and that time Steve Bannon made the cover, landing him in hot water with Trump.
For what it’s worth, the flames show no sign of being smothered any time soon.
