Trade War: Containers Don't Lie, Navigating the Bluster

Trade War: Containers Don't Lie, Navigating the Bluster - book cover

Today the decorum of trade negotiations has been replaced with a trade war reality show leaving the world as a whipsawed spectator. For the first time in history, the curtain of trade negotiations has been torn off, creating a turbulent, emotional environment of fear, anxiety, and hope. Global markets and businesses both large and small are trying to navigate the Twitter storms of President Trump—the threats, declarations of winning, and blame. This rhetoric has intentionally buried and distorted the truth of the trade war. That is, until now.

Best-selling author Lori Ann LaRocco has written a detailed examination of the current global trade and tariff wars, entitled: Trade War: Containers Don't Lie, Navigating the Bluster. The book tells the true story of the trade wars through the experiences of American farmers, industry, ports, and markets, in the words of those involved and impacted, and with the trade data, which does not lie.

The flow of trade is agnostic and does not play favorites. Ninety percent of the world's trade is transported by water. The magnitude of the water superhighway is extraordinary. More than 9 billion tons of cargo—the equivalent of more than a ton for each person in the world—is transported by over 86,000 ships each year. This tremendous volume provides the tea leaves for divining the story of trade negotiations.

China is not the only country in a trade war with the United States. It is a multifront war involving Turkey, Russia, the E.U., Japan, and India. Canada and Mexico were also included but recently worked out a trade deal, which has still not been ratified by Congress. This global trade war has impacted U.S. industries ranging from agriculture to steel, motorcycles to whiskey.

Some markets were simply wiped out with the stroke of a pen.

"Our European buyers told us they wanted to put all shipments on hold until the trade talks get settled out," said Tom Lix, CEO of Cleveland Whiskey. "Once the tariff was official, shipments were then canceled. The E.U. made up 15 percent of our overall revenue. Now it's gone."

Join author LaRocco as she leads readers through fake headlines, Twitter rants, and geopolitical calculation on a story about globalization in the throes of change. Read how businesses, individuals, and even countries are victims, villains, and heroes as told by actual trade data. Ms. LaRocco notes, "China wants a basket of trade and they are doing just that. If they cannot trade with the U.S., they are finding alternatives."

According to the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC), the United States soybean industry would need to have a 92 percent market share with every country that is importing soybeans right now to make up for the loss of trade with China. The volume of the trade shows the uphill battle of the soybean farmer.

Ms. LaRocco has dug deep into U.S. trade, and while businesses have been successful in expanding into new or existing markets, the fact is China is not buying, and the empty bucket of China is difficult to fill. "It takes seven Vietnams to make a China," explained Gene Seroka, executive director for the Port of Los Angeles, the United States' largest port.

The changing patterns of trade reveal the truth. Containers don't lie.

Praise for Trade War: Containers Don't Lie, Navigating the Bluster:

"If you want to understand the nuts and bolts of President Trump's trade war—how we got here and its fallout on global trade, industry and the economy—then you must read this book. Lori Ann LaRocco is masterful at weaving together a clear picture of the trade war, which will become more important to all our livelihoods as it rages on." – Mark Zandi, chief economist, Moody's Analytics

"Whatever side of the debate you are on LaRocco's extensive research on the impact of the trade war speaks for itself. Trade War: Containers Don't Lie, Navigating the Bluster provides tremendous data on the impact of the flow of global trade. Very compelling!" – Gerald Storch, Founder and CEO of Storch Advisors, Former Vice Chairman Target, Former Chairman and CEO Toys "R" Us and Former CEO of HBC (Parent of Saks, Hudson's Bay, and Lord & Taylor)

"LaRocco's book shows you the underlying truth of this trade war. The export and import data shows the dramatic trends of how quickly tariffs have impacted the competitiveness of the United States. Import growth from U.S. competitors cannot be spun away with rhetoric. In the pursuit of 'fair trade,' the American farmer and other industries have been negatively impacted. The equilibrium of a free trade world has been thrown off. The 'benefit' of this multi-front trade war has yet to be realized. The indisputable proof based on the flow of trade only shows disruption." – Anthony Scaramucci, SkyBridge Capital Managing Partner

"Lori Ann has done an excellent job of using readily available data combined with personal interviews to lay out the real life effects of our current trade war and the structural changes that are underway as a result. I found the insights provided to be most helpful in pointing out many of the difficulties that lie ahead." – Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) Former Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

"President Donald Trump trade policy is the most significant and risky presidential economic policy decision of the past half century. Lori Ann's book provides a real time account of the events and the real time consequences of the President Trump trade decisions to date. Her research is impeccable and her knowledge of trade routes and evaluation of container trade provides a guidepost that every policy maker should heed. This is a very important book for the future of the U.S. economy because it sounds an alarm about the trade war now before it is too late to take corrective action. Win or lose this trade war, what is happening today in trade will be analyzed and evaluated and criticized and praised for years. This book will be invaluable to that evaluation." – Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) former Banking and Agriculture Committee member

"Lori Ann LaRocco has provided a first class analysis of current shipping patterns, and their implications for global trade. By doing so, she has given us a book that is a must-read for any student of global trade (and the global economy)." – David M. Rubenstein, The Carlyle Group Co-Founder, Co-Executive Chairman

"Lori Ann LaRocco's prescient book is a clarion call, and makes a compelling, timely and well-documented case for how our trade flows, our joint production platforms and integrated supply chains, and the openness of our economies and dare I say our societies too, need to be defended, but also explained and articulated to a sceptic and, in some cases, angry public." – Arturo Sarukhan, (former Mexican Ambassador to the U.S., 2007-13)

Lori Ann LaRocco (image via loriannlarocco.wordpress.com)

About the author:

Lori Ann LaRocco is senior editor of guests for CNBC business news. She coordinates high-profile interviews in business and politics, as well as special multimillion dollar on-location productions for all shows on the network. Her specialty is in politics, working with titans of industry. 

LaRocco is the author of Dynasties of the Sea, Part 2: The Untold Stories of the Postwar Shipping Pioneers (Marine Money, Inc., 2018), Opportunity Knocking (Agate Publishing, 2014), Dynasties of the Sea: The Shipowners and Financiers Who Expanded the Era of Free Trade (Marine Money, Inc., 2012), and Thriving in the New Economy: Lessons from Today's Top Business Minds (Wiley, 2010).

SOURCE: Marine Money

Transgender Love Story "Just Another Beautiful Family" Wins Audience Choice Award at CIFF

A tender love story about a family with a transgender parent won the Audience Choice Award at Calgary International Film Festival. (Photo credit: Dana Pugh.)

The short documentary film "Just Another Beautiful Family" won the Audience Choice Award at the Calgary International Film Festival on Wednesday, October 2nd. The film follows Katherine and Nick North's own family of 7, which on the surface looks like a typical suburban family, with a twist: Nick is transgender.

"Our goal is to show people an example of what a happy, loving family looks like with queer parents," says Nick North, who co-wrote, co-directed, and co-produced the film with his wife, Katherine North. "As cool as it is for us to win this award, I actually think it's a sign of progress for all of us. Three years ago when I came out, I don't know that a trans film would have been this loved and accepted. We wanted to show everyone that there are so many kinds of beautiful families."

The film's synopsis reads: Just an ordinary suburban family-- except that Dad's transgender, Mom's queer, and there are five kids in this minivan. This is one family's true story of identity, trust, and transformation. Too many transgender kids wonder: Will I be loved? Will I get to have a family? Will it all be ok? Here's the answer: a love story about family, finding your true self, and becoming who you really are.

The "Just Another Beautiful Family" Short Documentary

About The Norths: 

First-time filmmakers Katherine and Nick fell in love, turned their worlds upside down, and lived to tell about it. Their first joint project is this personal documentary about how they fell in love, became a blended family with FIVE kids, and navigated Nick's gender transition from female to male. 

This is the first of many projects they hope to do together (in addition to coparenting, driving the minivan, and doing to the dishes) as part of their Beautiful Families project, which shares stories about all sorts of underrepresented and nontraditional families-- because every family is a beautiful family.

The North family: just an ordinary suburban family with five kids, a naughty puppy, and a minivan. (Photo credit: Dana Pugh)

• Just Another Beautiful Family premiered as part of the Alberta Shorts program at Calgary International Film Festival, and is now available in full online. This film was made possible with support from TELUS STORYHIVE.

SOURCE: Katherine and Nick North

It's The Year Of Rembrandt Again, To The Delight Of Museum Audiences

Amsterdam, Netherlands - April, 2017: Visitors watching ‘The Night Watch,’ Rembrandt’s largest and most famous painting in Rijksmuseum’s Gallery. (Shutterstock)

Among Dutch-speaking art lovers, 2019 is known as a Rembrandt-jaar (Rembrandt year), one marking the 350th anniversary of the death of the artist Rembrandt van Rijn. It is the cause for the beloved artist — who painted in the 1600s — to be commemorated with exhibitions, publications and even delicious treats.

A milestone Rembrandt year occurred 13 years ago, with the fourth centenary of his birth. The worldwide professional organization of curators of Dutch and Flemish art, CODART, recorded 83 exhibitions between 2005 and 2007 in honour of that Rembrandt year.

And, yet, with the 2006 Rembrandt-jaar still fresh in the memories of many, one may wonder, why are we celebrating Rembrandt again? What appeal does this European male artist have for us in 2019?

The Rembrandt years

Amy Golahny, Richmond Professor of Art History Emerita at Lycoming College, describes the 2006 exhibitions as focused on newly discovered documents and the contextualization of the master within the economic, diplomatic and historical role of art. One consequence of this year was the increase in monographic exhibitions of art by those in Rembrandt’s orbit, such as his master Pieter Lastman and his colleague and a competitor Jan Lievens.

A substantial 53 shows dedicated to the artist are listed on the CODART web site this year. These include Leiden circa 1630: Rembrandt Emerges, organized and circulated by the Agnes Etherington Art Centre of Queen’s University, where I am a curator and resident researcher. The show focuses on the development of Rembrandt’s pictorial language among a network of colleagues in his native city of Leiden.

The Next Rembrandt: Blurring the boundaries between art and technology: the challenge to see if Rembrandt could brought to digital life to create a new painting.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the foremost collection of Rembrandt’s art in the world, took a broader perspective in All the Rembrandts, which showcased its holdings of 20 paintings, 60 drawings and 300 of the finest impressions of the artist’s prints. From examinations of Rembrandt’s early years to a comprehensive view of his accomplishments across media, this year’s exhibitions delve deeply into the development of this singular artistic personality.

The earliest Rembrandt year seems to have been 1906, the 300th anniversary of his birth. That year spurred the placement of a commemorative plaque on the site of his birth home and the erection of a sculpted likeness in Leiden, as well as the purchase of the artist’s home on the Breestraat in Amsterdam to create a museum.

These early acts were as much monuments to the man as much as to his oeuvre, which reveal the lingering 19th-century romanticization of the artist as a Dutch national hero. Subsequent Rembrandt years — 1956 and 1969 — have concentrated on bringing together masterpieces by Rembrandt and his pupils so as to further delineate their individual oeuvres.

In anticipation of the 1969 Rembrandt year, the Rembrandt Research Project, which became the authoritative voice in determining the authenticity of Rembrandt paintings, was founded. Clearly, these commemorative years have had a huge impact upon our understanding the artist’s oeuvre and his biography.

The artist

Rembrandt van Rijn, ‘Self-Portrait’, around 1629, oil on panel (Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Courtesy of The Clowes Fund, C10063.)

There is a rich body of period documents that convey the painter’s character. Authors frame his personality as one rooted in a sense of conviction and autonomy and he seems to have experienced many of the trials and tribulations of modern life.

He was a late bloomer, and began his art education at the late age of fifteen or so; he believed so audaciously in his own skills that he proclaimed he could sell an unsatisfactory commission depicting a man’s beloved to any interested buyer.

After the death of the love of his life, he took up with the nursemaid and, subsequently, the housekeeper, with whom he had a child out of wedlock. He declared insolvency after unwise financial decisions.

There is something perpetually intriguing about his depiction of the human condition. His powerful colour, robust forms and imaginative interpretations humanize familiar narratives in striking ways. His early masterpiece, Judas Returning the Thirty Pieces of Silver of around 1629, for example, communicates the physical burden of treachery in horrifying terms: clothing rent in desperation, scalp bleeding after a violent fit, hands clasped in agony, body contorted in humiliation and despair.

Rembrandt van Rijn, ‘Judas Returning the Thirty Pieces of Silver’, around 1629, oil on panel (Private collection. Morgan Library & Museum/Private Collection)

Many scholars; numerous creative endeavours like novels, movies and works of art; and even new applications of technology.

Rembrandt, through his acute observation of the human condition, has incited new reflections upon our place in the world and our contributions to it.

The shows
Why have museum exhibitions been so fundamental to this investigation of Rembrandt?

The curatorial act is a powerful strategy for imbuing the Old Masters with agency in the modern world. That act can unify contemporary themes with historical grounding, inviting the viewer to consider artworks as living objects bearing renewed meaning through the interpretative material presented in the gallery. The curatorial act can also invoke deeper understanding through comparison with other objects, illuminating new perspectives on familiar works.

Curators, as stewards of collections, have the responsibility to think creatively and broadly about the current pertinence of historical artworks. This can be seen in some of this year’s Rembrandt exhibitions.

We are delighted today to launch a call for artists to participate in an exhibition celebrating 350 years since #Dutch master artist #Rembrandt van Rijn died. ‘Rembrandt@350: Zimbabwe remasters a Dutch icon’. Launch in both #Bulawayo & #Harare with @BYOgallery & @NatGalleryZimb. pic.twitter.com/HBM0gFaCja

— Dutch Embassy Harare 🇳🇱 (@NLinZimbabwe) August 2, 2019

Among the more incisive investigations are Rembrandt and Saskia: Love and Marriage in the Dutch Golden Age at Fries Museum in the Netherlands, which explores notions of status and social expectations within the framework of Rembrandt’s marriage, and Rembrandt@350: Zimbabwe remasters a Dutch icon, which features local artists’ responses to Rembrandt, plus six of the master’s etchings and a life-sized print of The Night Watch (which is now undergoing in-gallery analysis streamed live online.

The exhibitions on view this year demonstrate that new perspectives can deepen our access to and appreciation of the past. Each era curates the Rembrandt that it desires.
So, in this Rembrandt year of 2019, how are you celebrating the master?

Rembrandt van Rijn, ‘Head of an Old Man in a Cap c. 1630, oil on panel. (John Glembin/Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University. Gift of Alfred and Isabel Bader, 2003)

About Today's Contributor:

Jacquelyn N. Coutré, Bader Curator/Adjunct Assistant Professor, European Art, Queen's University, Ontario

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

United Nations Association Of New York Announces 2019 Humanitarian Of The Year Award And Partnership With Freedom United

New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof, Academy Award-winning actress Mira Sorvino and Delta Air Lines among those honored at the annual United Nations Day Humanitarian of the Year Award Gala Dinner 2019

The United Nations Association of New York (UNA-NY) held their annual United Nations Day Humanitarian of the Year Award Gala Dinner at the JW Marriott in New York City last night. 

The event gathered attendees together to raise awareness around human trafficking, recognized those who champion progress in this important category and celebrated their contributions to-date. 

Among those honored included Delta Air Lines, Academy Award-winning actress Mira Sorvino, and New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof. In addition, the organization announced a critical partnership with Freedom United, the world's largest anti-slavery community, to act upon the mission and encourage more governments to ratify a comprehensive international standard on forced labor.

The UNA-NY's annual gala aims to acknowledge corporations and individuals for their contribution to, and in support of, the principles and efforts of the United Nations. With this year's theme taking specific focus around human trafficking, Allison Ausband, Senior Vice President of Inflight Services, accepted the Humanitarian of the Year Award on behalf of Delta Air Lines. 

• The airline was awarded the Humanitarian of the Year Award for its accomplishments to fight the global issue. As one of the world's largest airlines, Delta has contributed millions of dollars to fund organizations working to combat this epidemic, provided over 100 flights to victims, offered apprenticeships for survivors at its corporate headquarters, and trained 66,000 employees on how to identify and report human trafficking at home, onboard, or even during a flight.

Mira Sorvino (image via Wikipedia)

Actress and United Nations Goodwill ambassador Mira Sorvino was also honored, praised for her passion for social justice and her dedication to erase the issue of human trafficking worldwide. 

Having supported the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime anti-trafficking initiatives since 2007, Sorvino was appointed to her current position in 2009 as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's Goodwill Ambassador in the Global Fight Against Human Trafficking. 

• Sorvino has made enormous strides in the fight against human trafficking through a plethora of powerful actions that have been felt around the world, including testifying before the US Senate on human trafficking, helping engender legislative change and collaborating with the CNN Freedom project. Sorvino's undying efforts towards advocacy for human rights coupled with the contribution she has made to the UN has helped the organization push for progress around the world.

"The fight against human trafficking can only be won if people are aware of the scope and scale of the problem" says Abid Qureshi, President of UNA-NY. "The UNA-NY is honored to present both Academy Award winning actress and United Nations Goodwill ambassador Mira Sorvino and Delta Air Lines with the Humanitarian of the Year Awards," concludes Qureshi.

Nicholas Kristof (image via Wikipedia)

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof was also celebrated for his immense contribution to the anti-human trafficking movement during the Gala, receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award. 

As one of the New York Times' most recognizable and widely-followed columnists, Kristof has leveraged his unique position in culture to bring attention to some of the world's most intractable problems when it comes to human trafficking. In a recent article, Kristof reminded the world's leaders, as they prepared to descend on New York for last week's annual gathering at the UN General Assembly, that tens of millions are effectively locked into modern forms of slavery. And that somewhere between 10,000 and 100,000 children are sold for sex in the United States every year. 

• He brings attention not only to the problem, but to solutions that work, such as grassroots community initiatives to identify those at risk of human trafficking.

The UNA-NY has a simple mission: to educate the public on the issues central to the endeavors of the UN, to advocate on the UN's behalf, and to engage the private sector on critical issues. In their efforts to act upon their mission and encourage international communities to eradicate human trafficking once and for all, the organization is both privileged and thrilled to recognize the most-deserving recipients of their annual Humanitarian of the Year Awards and Lifetime Achievement Award.

• For more information on the event and the association, please visit www.unanyc.org.

SOURCE: United Nations Association of New York

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Desmond Tutu Announces the Winners of the International Children's Peace Prize 2019: Greta Thunberg (16) and Divina Maloum (14)

The winner of the International Children's Peace Prize receives the statuette ‘Nkosi’, which shows how a child sets the world in motion...

From an impressive 137 applicants from 56 countries, the KidsRights' Expert Committee selected Divina from Cameroon and Greta from Sweden as winners. 

The International Children's Peace Prize will be awarded on November 20th, on Universal Children's Day in The Hague. The very special award ceremony, will also celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the International Children's Peace Prize which became a global phenomenon and reached 1.2 billion people last year.

Personal congratulations from Archbishop Tutu

Archbishop Tutu, who has been the patron of the International Children's Peace Prize and KidsRights for more than a decade, said in a personal message to the winners: "I am in awe of you. Your powerful message is amplified by your youthful energy and unshakable belief that children can, no must, improve their own futures. You are true change-makers who have demonstrated most powerfully that children can move the world."

Introducing the winners

"The impact of both Greta and Divina for the future of many children is unmistakable, they are the rightful winners of the International Children's Peace Prize 2019," said Marc Dullaert, Founder of KidsRights and chairman of the Expert Committee.

Divina Maloum (14 years old, Cameroon, theme: Peace)

Divina Maloum (14 years old, Cameroon, theme: Peace). Since 2014, Cameroon has experienced terrorist attacks. When Divina visited the north of the country, she was horrified to see that children were the biggest victims of these terrorist attacks. She realized that many children do not know their rights, and so she created Children for Peace (C4P) to warn them about enrolment in armed groups and to reinforce the participation of children in peace-building and sustainable development. C4P is now a network of 100 children across the ten regions of Cameroon. She empowers them to be changemakers and to take part in peace initiatives in their communities. She has organized an inter-community children's peace camp, established peace clubs in mosques, and together with other children, made a children's declaration against violent extremism. Divina has big plans for the future and will not stop advocating for the right of children to live in peace.

Greta Thunberg (16 years old, Sweden, theme: environment)

Greta Thunberg (16 years old, Sweden, theme: environment) is a climate activist and a role model for international student climate activism. At the age of eight, when she first learned about climate change, she was shocked that adults did not appear to take the issue seriously. She could not understand why adults were not taking action against the climate crisis. Greta became depressed. She didn't eat, go to school or speak for months. It was vital for Greta to take measures in her own life; she refrains from flying, eats no meat or dairy and she has a shop stop, meaning that she doesn't buy new things. On August 20th 2018 Greta decided that it was time for her to take her efforts to the next level and speak out. She wanted more people to be aware and take action. Inspired by the 2018 International Children's Peace Prize winners March for Our Lives, she sat down in front of Sweden's parliament with a self-made banner skolstrejk för klimatet (school strike for climate).

• Please visit kidsrights.org/childrenspeaceprize for more information about the International Children's Peace Prize .

SOURCE: KidsRights

US: Alicia Keys, Farruko, French Montana, Becky G, G-Eazy And Many More To Perform At TIDAL X Rock The Vote Benefit Concert 10/21

Taking place on Monday, October 21st at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, TIDAL X Rock The Vote Benefit Concert will be hosted by Angie Martinez and feature performances from Alicia Keys, Farruko, French Montana, Becky G, G-Eazy, Ty Dolla $ign, Carnage, CNCO, Moneybagg Yo, Doja Cat, Gashi, Dermot Kennedy, Lucky Daye, Angelica Vila, Nicole Bus and many more. (PRNewsfoto/TIDAL)

Today, global music streaming and entertainment platform, TIDAL, has announced a long-term partnership with the nation's foremost nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to building the political power of young people, Rock The Vote. 

The partnership will kick off with TIDAL X Rock The Vote, a benefit concert to raise funds and awareness for voter registration, education and rights. Taking place on Monday, October 21st at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, TIDAL's 5th annual concert will be hosted by Angie Martinez and feature performances from Alicia Keys, Farruko, French Montana, Becky G, G-Eazy, Ty Dolla $ign, Carnage, CNCO, Moneybagg Yo, Doja Cat, Gashi, Dermot Kennedy, Lucky Daye, Angelica Vila, Nicole Bus and many more.

"The 2020 election will be a critical moment for our communities and it is imperative to ensure record-breaking youth voter turnout. One hundred percent of net proceeds from ticket sales and campaign will be donated to Rock The Vote to register and prepare new voters who are unfamiliar with the process; build coordinated efforts with grassroots organizations in its partnership network to mobilize underserved youth across the country; litigate to fight for voting rights; and lead a high school civics education coalition."

Following the benefit concert, TIDAL and Rock the Vote will continue to raise funds and support registration drives, voter education, relational organizing efforts, and early vote and Election Day efforts.

Beginning today at 12:00 PM ET until 4:00 PM ET, TIDAL members will have exclusive access to a limited time discount on the purchase of standard tickets via TIDAL.com/RockTheVote or the TIDAL App (mobile & desktop). 

• Tickets go on-sale to the general public beginning 4:00 PM ET and can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com

With support from partners like Mark Levinson By Harman, CIROC Ultra Premium Vodka and Snipes, 100% of net proceeds will be donated to Rock the Vote.

Since inception in 2015, the "TIDAL X" benefit concerts have raised millions of dollars for social justice, criminal justice reform, disaster relief & recovery, and education causes. Each year more than 30 of the world's premier superstars and most promising emerging artists gather to support those in need across the globe. 

• Past performers include Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé, JAY-Z, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Jennifer Lopez, Kaskade, Fifth Harmony, Jessie Reyez, Alessia Cara, Flatbush Zombies, Bazzi and many more -- you can watch their performances here: TIDAL.com/Brooklyn

"The livestreamed benefit show furthers TIDAL's commitment to supporting philanthropic endeavors and key social issues that the music community is passionate about, including Lil Wayne's Social Wave For Change, T.I.'s TIDAL X: Money Talk Education Challenge as well as social justice initiatives from A$AP Ferg, The LOX, Damian Marley, Dec. 99th and more."

About TIDAL

TIDAL is an artist-owned global music and entertainment platform that brings artists and fans closer together through unique original content and exclusive events.

Available in 54 countries, the streaming service has more than 60 million songs and 250,000 high quality videos in its catalog along with original video series, podcasts, thousands of expertly curated playlists and artist discovery via TIDAL Rising. With the commitment of its owners to create a more sustainable model for the music industry, TIDAL is available in premium and HiFi tiers—which includes Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) recordings.

About Rock The Vote

Rock the Vote is a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to building the political power of young people. For nearly 30 years, Rock the Vote has revolutionized the way we use culture, music, art and technology to engage young people in politics, registering and turning out millions of young voters. During the last seven Presidential elections, Rock the Vote and its partners coordinated the largest voter registration drives for young people that added nearly 8 million new voters to the rolls and consistently turns out its voters more than 30 points above the national youth average. Rock the Vote fights for voting rights to ensure that all eligible voters can exercise their right to vote and promotes civic education to ensure young voters to have the resources and information they need to participate in our civic process. 

• Learn more at rockthevote.org 

SOURCE: TIDAL

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Wizarding World Digital Introduces The Official Harry Potter Fan Club And New Mobile Hogwarts Sorting Ceremony [Trailer Included]

The Official Harry Potter Fan Club

Wizarding World Digital today announces the launch of The Official Harry Potter Fan Club, which can be experienced through the first ever Wizarding World app - a Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts mobile companion, and new, interactive Wizarding World website. 

• Whether you've considered Hogwarts a home for over 20 years, or you've only recently been bewitched by a Niffler, everyone can now immerse themselves in the ever-expanding magical universe in new and innovative ways.

The Wizarding World app allows users to discover which house they belong to with a re-imagining of the famous Hogwarts Sorting Ceremony, featuring J.K. Rowling's original questions and a new augmented reality Sorting Hat, whilst those fans that have been previously sorted can reaffirm their house pride. 

The Wizarding World app - Sorting Hat

The new app is also packed with fresh content including exclusive videos, interactive quizzes and Secret Codes, plus the new fanzine 'Wizarding Weekly', putting the best of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts right at your fingertips.

WizardingWorld.com – the new online home of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts is where fans can enjoy all they loved from Pottermore.com, but with a trunk full of original content and new interactive experiences. Delve deeper into the stories you love, get behind-the-scenes details and enjoy all your favorites from J.K Rowling's archive of writing for Pottermore.

Accessible through both the app and the website, fans will be able to join The Official Harry Potter Fan Club for free. This will provide them with curated experiences from the Wizarding World, including an official Fan Club newsletter and member benefits. And soon, fans will have the option to enhance their membership experience with Wizarding World Gold, a yearly paid subscription that comes with a unique, annual gift and is packed with exclusives and special offers - all of the magic you love and more!

All these great experiences and features can be unlocked by registering for a personalised Wizarding Passport which is a fan's magical identity and holds their defining traits such as their Hogwarts house, Patronus and Wand.

Paul Kanareck, Managing Director of Wizarding World Digital says: 'The Harry Potter global phenomenon continues to be loved by fans of all ages – from the millions of people who discover the books for the first time to those who explore the movies, audiobooks, stage play, visitor attractions and games each year. We have a wonderful opportunity to create new experiences including a fan club for the digital age, which offers an amazing breadth of content and new interactive platforms that will give our fans around the world a truly connected experience across the Wizarding World universe.'

The Wizarding World app, available with the newly reimagined Hogwarts Sorting Ceremony can be downloaded today for free in the initial launch territories (UK, Ireland, US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) on the App Store for iPhone and Google Play for Android. 

The Official Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts companion

• Selected features will also be hosted globally online at WizardingWorld.com for fans who cannot access the app at this stage. 

• To join the free Official Harry Potter Fan Club today and stay up to date, visit WizardingWorld.com to receive the latest information and download the Wizarding World app.

The Wizarding World app - Dumbledore 

The Trailer

About World Digital 

Wizarding World Digital is a joint venture between Pottermore Ltd and Warner Bros. and is dedicated to delivering innovative and digital experiences for all fans of the Wizarding World. In 2019, it launched the Wizarding Passport, Wizarding World mobile app, WizardingWorld.com and The Official Harry Potter Fan Club.

About Wizarding World

More than two decades ago, a young Harry Potter was whisked onto platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station, and readers everywhere were swept along with him into a magical universe, created by J.K. Rowling. In the years since, the seven Harry Potter bestsellers have inspired eight blockbuster movies, an award-winning stage play, and, more recently, the start of the Fantastic Beasts five-film series. People of all ages have been enthralled by these extraordinary adventures, set within an expanding universe, inspired by the vision of J.K. Rowling. For today's growing worldwide fan community, and for generations to come, the Wizarding World welcomes everyone to explore more of this magical universe — past, present and future. The Wizarding World also provides fans with an instant, trusted kite-mark of quality and authenticity.

About Pottermore Publishing

Pottermore Publishing is the global digital publisher of the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts series as well as other audiobooks and eBooks from the Wizarding World. It leads the way in innovative digital publishing and to bring new generations of readers together with long-standing fans, celebrating and bringing to life the stories that first began with the Boy Who Lived. 

• Visit PottermorePublishing.com for the full range of publishing, including language availability as well as forthcoming releases.

SOURCE: Wizarding World Digital

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Star Wars: The Evolution Of The Death Star Reflects Hollywood's Growing Fears Of A Climate Apocalypse

The Death Star - Star Wars (Lucasfilms/Twentieth Century Fox)

Science fiction films are rarely about the future. Their distant planets and remote time periods instead seem to reflect upon the concerns and anxieties of the contemporary moment. For instance, 1978’s Invasion of the Bodysnatchers played on the US public’s fear of communism at the height of the Cold War. Terminator 2: Judgement Day capitalised on concerns of a nuclear apocalypse and the fears associated with escalating artificial intelligence.

In the 21st century, in this era being referred to as The Anthropocene, fears of environmental disaster seem to have eclipsed those of a cold war, nuclear apocalypse or technological singularity. Rising temperatures, melting sea ice, ocean acidification, deforestation, soil erosion, overpopulation, biodiversity loss and the general degradation of ecosystems worldwide are an escalating threat to all life’s survival on Planet Earth. How then does contemporary sci-fi respond to these pressures and demands of living on a dying planet?

Many recent sci-fi films seem to reflect this shift in concern. Interstellar, Snowpiercer, After Earth, IO: Last on Earth, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Wall-E, Avatar, Geostorm, Annihilation and Okja, seem to situate a climate catastrophe – or more specific environmental concerns – as the dystopic impulses driving their narratives.

This ecological imagination of disaster can also be seen in sci-fi films that are not ostensibly about the environment. Star Wars stands out in particular here. The transformations between the original 1977 Death Star in the Star Wars trilogy to the Death Stars found in 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens and 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, succinctly chart a movement from a technological to an ecological imagination of disaster in the genre.

Design for the ultimate Death Star – Star Wars: Rogue One. (Lucasfilms/20th Century Fox)

Death Stars then and now

The potential devastation in the original Death Star is akin to a nuclear strike. The device’s advanced technology is front and centre of its representation – there are plenty of shots of buttons being prodded and levers being pulled prior to its laser firing. More obviously, this weapon’s total and instantaneous destruction of Princess Leia’s home planet of Alderaan neatly connects with fears of a huge atom bomb’s almost unimaginable destructive power.

Destroyer of worlds: the original Death Star in the 1977 Star Wars.(Lucasfilms/20th Century Fox)

By contrast the “new” Death Star of The Force Awakens – called “Star Killer Base” – is solar powered. It is a planet with a weapon in it, as opposed to the original, a weapon shaped like a planet.

Where the destruction of Alderaan by the Death Star felt like a massive explosion, when Star Killer Base’s lasers land on their target planets it is instead as if they go through some sort of geological catastrophe. This geological imagery is echoed when Star Killer Base is itself destroyed. It does not blow up immediately, as the original Death Star did, but undergoes what’s referred to as “a collapse”.

During this collapse two of the central characters, Kylo Ren and Rey, have time for a climactic lightsaber duel among the tectonic chaos, dodging great chasms that open in the ground as the snowy forest landscape is slowly engulfed. This drawn-out collapse sits in stark contrast to the instantaneous explosion of the 1977’s Death Star, wherein no such luxury of time was afforded to Grand Moff Tarkin.

The Death Star in Rogue One also draws on environmental imagery and a longer timescale of destruction. Rogue One is a prequel to 1977’s Star Wars – and the plot partly revolves around the Empire’s construction of this iconic battleship. So it is interesting that – despite a need to ensure continuity with the original film – Rogue One’s Death Star aesthetically operates rather differently to the Death Star first seen in 1977.

When its laser strikes the film quickly ignores the device’s technological underpinning. Instead a Frankenstein stitching of unruly weathers approaches on the target of Jedha City: part mudslide, part storm, part Earthquake, part pyroclastic flow. What once appeared as dangerous technology now manifests as dangerous weather.

Shifting crises

Star Wars’ Death Stars are not alone in this representational shift. In Independence Day (1996), aliens blow up the White House with a laser. By 2016’s Independence Day: Resurgence, the aliens are reinvented as intergalactic miners who use this laser to drill into the Earth’s core to extract energy.

At the end of the original Planet of the Apes, Charlton Heston gets down on his knees and exclaims: “You maniacs! You blew it all up” – implying humans bombed themselves into near extinction. By the time Dawn of the Planet of the Apes came along in 2014, we were on the side of an environmentally situated and self-subsisting ape colony, who simply wish to be left alone in the forest. As with Star Wars, the technological seems to give way to the ecological in 21st-century iterations of 20th-century franchises.

Anthropocene anxieties

Susan Sontag’s 1965 article The Imagination of Disaster revolves around her belief that sci-fi films imagine the disaster narrative of the time in which they are made. These examples suggest that the disaster that is being imagined today is environmental, with these films situating the ecological concerns of a warming climate above and beyond that of nuclear Armageddon.

Such a shift in attention is timely and pertinent to the pressures of a rapidly warming climate, and at the time of writing the Amazon rainforest is still burning fiercely.

Through the mirrored unruly environments found in sci-fi cinema and our contemporary moment alike, we are reminded that the worst effects of ecological collapse are continually unfolding. And this crisis is not only happening on fictitious planets and in far-flung time periods – but right here and now on Earth.

About Today's Contributor:

Toby Neilson, PhD Film Researcher, University of Glasgow, is the author of:
Different Death Stars and devastated Earths: Contemporary sf cinema’s imagination of disaster in the Anthropocene

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

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