È proprio vero, i cinquantenni di oggi sono i quarantenni di dieci anni fa (cioè, sono proprio loro).

Non c'è più la mezza età di una volta.

Money quote: "Back in the day, 40 was the marker for midlife, but now, finding consensus on when middle age begins and what it represents isn’t easy. The Collins English dictionary gnomically defines it as “the period in your life when you are no longer young but have not yet become old”. The Encyclopaedia Britannica says it is between 40 and 60. Meanwhile, a 2018 YouGov survey reported that most Britons aged between 40 and 64 considered themselves middle-aged – but so did 44% of people aged between 65 and 69."

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/feb/16/whatever-happened-to-middle-age-the-mysterious-case-of-the-disappearing-life-stage

È passato un sacco di tempo (e c'è un sequel alle porte) ma il mito di Indiana Jones perdura e continua a definire l'identità degli archeologi, avventurosi esploratori sul campo della storia remota. Ma è solo un mito.

Money quote: "The face of archaeology today is shifting away from those who look like Indiana Jones, albeit slowly. In a 2010 needs assessment survey of the membership of the Society for American Archaeology, 84 percent identified as being Caucasian. White cautions that the myth of Indiana Jones as the quintessential archaeologist means that “archaeology appeals to a certain demographic, and is a turn-off to most other demographics,” a theme he has elaborated on in his Sapiens essay, “ Why the Whiteness of Archaeology Is a Problem.” This has not stopped some archaeologists from leaning into the stereotype, though. A simple Google news search reveals dozens of white male archaeologists being called the “real-life Indiana Jones.”"

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-enduring-myths-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark

Sunny sixteen, la regola per scattare le fotografie analogiche (ma anche quelle digitali) a occhio, senza esposimetro, azzeccandole sempre.

Money quote: "La Regola del "SUNNY 16" - Spiegazione e guida all'utilizzo"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU8f1G5QjK8

Chi è Alec Ross? E cos'è il nuovo patto sociale che secondo lui serve all'Italia?

Money quote: "Cambiamenti climatici e futuro della tecnologia, strapotere delle multinazionali e nuove sfide da affrontare. Ne abbiamo parlato con Alec Ross, fra i massimi esperti mondiali di politiche tecnologiche, ex consigliere dell'Amministrazione Obama. Perché una società più etica e giusta è possibile. Vediamo come"

https://wisesociety.it/incontri/intervista-ad-alec-ross-su-tecnologia-innovazione-e-futuro-del-pianeta/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbSU7AXbzno

Abbiamo tutti gli stessi miti perché, alla fine, veniamo tutti dallo stesso posto? (Alla faccia del viaggio dell'Eroe!)

Money quote: "Archaeological research suggests that our species originated in Sub-Saharan Africa, then spread to the rest of the world via the Middle East. This means cultures that are geographically separated at present would have been able to exchange beliefs and practices back when they lived in roughly the same area. Therefore, patterns in world mythology could help us better understand patterns in early human migration and vice versa.

There is no shortage of research on this topic. Anna Rooth, author of “The Creation Myths of the North American Indians,” analyzed small narrative details in more than 300 Native American creation myths and found that many of those details also showed up in myths from Eurasia. This led her to the conclusion that, “because of the special combination of detail-motifs, these myths must be considered to have a common origin.”"

https://bigthink.com/high-culture/flood-myth-origin/

Nel 2023 ha senso tirare fuori delle vecchie videocassette e fare ginnastica seguendo le istruzioni di Jane Fonda? Beh, a quanto pare un fondamento ci sarebbe.

Money quote: "A few weeks back, I was complaining to my mom about my friends flocking to CrossFit and signing up for marathons while I struggle to emerge from the me-shaped mold I’ve created in my sofa. She told me to give some Jane Fonda workout videos from the ‘80s a try.
I laughed off the suggestion at first. When I think about ‘80s fitness culture, my mind floods with images of men in sweatbands with Tom Selleck–mustaches smoking outside health clubs, and metallic bodysuit-clad women daintily side-stepping to tinny New Wave synth music. Wacky and whimsical, sure. But a viable workout option? Surely not."

https://www.wellandgood.com/jane-fonda-workout-videos/

La buona vecchia storia dello scambio dei bambini nella culla, e tutto il resto che ne consegue. Certe volte a un giornalista il mondo si presenta come una narrazione già bell'e fatta e finita: basta solo scriverla. Fortunato mortale!

Money quote: "It wasn’t until two years later that a stranger provided a puzzle piece that he hadn’t even known was missing. A woman from Fisher Branch, Man., had decided to do an at-home ancestry kit. When Evelyn Stocki clicked on the results of her own at-home ancestry kit, she was shocked to find that she had a full-blooded brother living in British Columbia. Through the website, she was able to message him, which is something users can opt into. “It lists you as my brother,” Ms. Stocki wrote. “Where were you born and what is your birthday?”

A shocking truth began to reveal itself. Ms. Stocki had a younger brother named Eddy Ambrose, who happened to share a birthday with Mr. Beauvais, June 28, 1955. Both men were also born at the same hospital in Arborg, a farming town about 100 km north of Winnipeg."

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-switched-at-birth-manitoba/

C'è gente che vive in vecchi aerei di linea riadattati ad appartamenti piuttosto sciantosi. E si conoscono e si frequentano.

Money quote: "Although she wasn't the first person to ever live in an airplane, her flawless execution of the project had an inspirational effect. In the late 1990s, Bruce Campbell, an electrical engineer with a private pilot license, was awestruck by her story: "I was driving home and listening to [the radio,] and they had Jo Ann's story, and it was amazing I didn't drive off the road because my focus turned entirely to it. And the next morning I was placing phone calls," he says."

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/people-living-in-planes/index.html

L'anno in cui è morto James Bond - la mia rubrica su Fumettologica

https://fumettologica.it/2023/03/james-bond-ian-fleming-film-libri/

Il nuovo film di Shazam punta tutto sul divertimento - la mia recensione per Fumettologica

https://fumettologica.it/2023/03/shazam-furia-degli-dei-recensione-film-dc/

L'incredibile storia del fotografo che ha più definito l'immaginario degli ultimi trent'anni di vita pubblica. Il ritrattista dei nostri tempi. In un profilo di vent'anni fa (ma sempre attualissimo).

Signore e signori: Platon

Money quote: "His name is Platon Antoniou but he goes by just Platon, "for simplicity's sake," he explains. It's pronounced in the French manner, but it's a Greek name. Platon, however, is a Brit living in New York, currently in the process of fashioning himself a major U.S. ad reputation with the huge, ongoing and thoroughly winning Motorola "Moto" campaign, from Ogilvy/New York. But Platon, 34, hit the ground running from the get-go. He started with quite the U.K. academic pedigree, studying graphic design at the St. Martins School and going on to a master's in fine art at the Royal College of Art. "It took seven years and by the end of it I just wanted to get out," he laughs. But by that time his career was already in progress. "My professor at the Royal College turned out to be [the late] John Hind, the creative director of British Vogue. He became my mentor and started me off on small jobs. By the time I graduated, I was leading a double life. I was a student drinking cheap beer in the college bar and at the same time I was doing 12-page stories for British Vogue.""

https://archive.is/DNDxX

HSP è una cosa vera o no? Le persone più sensibili degli altri esistono sicuramente, ma questo cosa vuol dire?

Money quote: "According to research by Dr Elaine Aron, who coined the term, 15-20% of the population are HSPs, aka highly sensitive persons, meaning that they feel ‘too deeply’ but often hide their emotions from others. HSPs may feel out of place or uneasy in over-stimulating situations, such as at a busy work meeting or at parties, and tend to seek validation and reassurance more often."

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/highly-sensitive-person-7-reasons-why-being-an-hsp-is-a-strength-according-to-a-neuropsychologist

Spid e CIE, il grande scontro tra visioni del mondo contrapposte, intervista ad Alfonso Fuggetta -il mio articolo per Macity

Money quote: “Faccio sempre un esempio: c’è un video su YouTube con il Presidente della Repubblica che ha scaricato il suo certificato anagrafico. È un video che dimostra che “si può fare”. Ma il punto è: perché devo scaricare un certificato? Un servizio è una cosa che serve: allora, a cosa serve a una persona sapere quando è nata, dove risiede, com’è fatta la sua famiglia? È perché i cittadini hanno bisogno di un momento di autocoscienza?”

https://www.macitynet.it/spid-e-cie-il-grande-scontro-tra-visioni-del-mondo-contrapposte-intervista-ad-alfonso-fuggetta/

Ci sono due modi per raccontare questa storia. Tizi che hanno il secondo lavoro (che da noi suona malissimo perché sa di impiegato pubblico che non fa niente in ufficio e poi ha una sua attività in nero) oppure tipi super imprenditori, che non si accontentano di un lavoro solo. Mah.


Money quote: "If you don’t have to show up at an office every day, the thinking seems to go, what’s to stop you from accepting multiple remote jobs and trying to do them all at once, while you collect multiple salaries? One obvious answer to that question is the workload involved. If a job is supposed to take 40 hours a week or more to do satisfactorily, can you really perform well if you’re doing two simultaneously? And then there are the logistics. Many jobs are meeting-heavy or require you to jump on the phone without much advance notice, which can be tricky if you’re currently in a Zoom meeting for your other job."

https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/02/remote-work-multiple-full-time-jobs-overmployed.html

Un pippone, straordinariamente elaborato, sulla generazione. Risponde alla domanda accessoria "Cosa sono?" ed evita completamente quella più importante: "Chi sono?"

Money quote: "What I most resent about baby boomers is that, technically, I am one. The baby boom is most often defined as encompassing everyone born from 1946 to 1964, but those nineteen years make for an awfully wide and experientially diverse cohort. I was born in 1958, three years past the generational midpoint of 1955. I graduated from high school in 1976, which means I came of age in a very different world from the earliest boomers, most of whom graduated in 1964. When the first boomers were toddlers, TV was a novelty. We, the late boomers, were weaned on “Captain Kangaroo” and “Romper Room.” They were old enough to freak out over the Sputnik; we were young enough to grow bored of moon landings. The soundtrack of their senior year in high school was the early Beatles and Motown; ours was “Frampton Comes Alive!” Rather than Freedom Summer, peace marches, and Woodstock, we second-half baby boomers enjoyed an adolescence of inflation, gas lines, and Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech. We grew up to the background noise of the previous decade, when being young was allegedly more thrilling in every way: the music, the drugs, the clothes, the sense of discovery and the possibility of change, the sense that being young mattered."

https://archive.is/gxxNu

È uscita la nuova puntata di Tilde, il mio podcast con Riccardo. Ci sono cose interessanti! :-)

https://tilde.show

🎙È uscita Tilde ~ 26, la settima puntata della seconda stagione!

Titolo: Preservare il digitale // Il viaggio a Buenos Aires // Chi era Gesù?

"Episodio bello movimentato, anche perché (forse) un po' l'abbiamo accelerato. Ma dopotutto, chi non lo fa?".

→ tilde ~ su Spotify
→ tilde ~ su Apple Podcast
→ tilde ~ su Google Podcast

Potete ascoltare il podcast da Spotify, Google Podcast o Apple Podcast, oppure dal sito: tilde.show. Buon ascolto e buon martedì!

P.S. La cover (Dall-E) è lo specchio della puntata!

Ho trovato pochi argomenti più divisivi di quello che vede opposti gli amanti delle auto tradizionali e quelli delle nuove auto elettriche. Leticano in maniera veramente spettacolare alle volte, e sono – entrambe le fazioni – portatrici di verità assolute. Ebbene, forse il cambiamento è un po' più profondo di quel che sembra, se è vero che i giovani non amano più l'auto, che una volta era il simbolo dell'emancipazione.

Money quote: "Few technologies defined the 20th century more than the car. On the surface, the love affair with the personal automobile continues unabated into this century. The number of drivers on the world’s roads continues to rise almost everywhere. The distance driven by American motorists hit a new peak last year, according to data from the Federal Highway Administration. But there are hints that this is changing. People like Ms Crandall show why. Getting a driving licence was once a nearly universal rite of passage into adulthood. Now it is something that a growing minority of young people either ignore or actively oppose, into their 20s and beyond."

https://www.economist.com/international/2023/02/16/throughout-the-rich-world-the-young-are-falling-out-of-love-with-cars

Cibo. Fumo. Dipendenze varie. Come smetterle? C'è il modo. Anzi, i modi. Qui una collezione di articoli che spiega come fare.

Money quote: "Whether you’re interested in the science of habit change or specific tactics for cutting out sugar or social media, these strategies can help you find meaning in self sacrifice beyond self-improvement."

https://getpocket.com/collections/how-to-quit-almost-anything

Volete sapere una cosa? Il cinema sta diventando una schifezza. Non tanto i film, quanto le proiezioni nelle sale cinematografiche. E il paradosso è che costano sempre di più. Il che, da un punto di vista economico ma anche semplicemente logico non ha semplicemente senso.

Money quote: "I’m watching Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania — in which she plays Ant-Man’s girlfriend’s mom, Janet van Dyne, and he plays time-traveling villain Kang the Conqueror — at the AMC Empire 25 near Times Square. Although a ticket to this matinee costs more than a month’s worth of Netflix’s priciest subnoscription plan, the image onscreen is so dim that it’s hard to make out much of the movie’s action and all of its glamorous stars have been turned dark gray. Next to me is Jack Theakston, a projection specialist who works as a contractor at Dolby Laboratories, who immediately diagnoses the problem: This is a 2-D showing of Ant-Man, but some neglectful employee has forgotten to remove the 3-D filter from the projector.

“It’s a polarized lens that cuts a picture’s brightness by a third,” he says. “They just have to push it to the side when they switch to 2-D, but theaters forget to do it all the time. You can tell when it’s happening because if you look at the port-window glass, instead of a single image, you’ll see two, with one stacked on top of the other.” He points up to the booth behind us, and sure enough, there are two stacked beams."

https://www.vulture.com/2023/03/movie-theater-projector-amc-regal.html

Claudio Villa, uno dei principali disegnatori Bonelli e copertinista di Tex dal 1994, si racconta a Fumettologica in una lunga intervista ricca di passaggi notevoli come questo:

"Mi sono reso conto nel tempo quanta concentrazione e intensità mentale ci vogliano per tenere in piedi una storia a fumetti.

Da fuori, uno legge un fumetto e pensa che il talento naturale basti a risolvere ogni problema. Ma raccontare è un’altra cosa: devi uscire da te stesso, per evitare di proporre qualcosa che potrebbe essere equivocato, ti devi mettere nei panni del lettore, che non conosce la storia, e sottoporti a un fuoco di fila di critiche. Ti devi chiedere il perché di ogni segno che metti sulla carta, perché devi saper giustificare ogni scelta che fai."

👉 https://bit.ly/40seL1h