What Superheroes Looked Like In 2015

The ubiquitous superhero finally seems to be growing up and moving on. Eneas De Troya

By Liam Burke, Swinburne University of Technology

The Golden Age of Comic Book Filmmaking began in 2000 when Bryan Singer’s X-Men (2000) dragged superheroes to the centre of popular culture. Today superpowered protagonists are as familiar to cinemagoers as sticky floors and popcorn.

Such awareness saw studios in 2015 going bigger (Avengers: Age of Ultron), smaller (Ant-Man), or back to the beginning (the erroneously-titled Fantastic Four) to reinvigorate the genre.

Somewhere between the mash-ups and redundant reboots, more interesting work has started to emerge. The comic book adaptation, like all good teenagers, is demonstrating new-found maturity. So let us take a look back at the trends and triumphs of this year in superheroes.

The Danish Girl: All Skirt And No Substance

Eddie Redmayne stars as Lili Elbe.

By Clare Tebbutt, Nottingham Trent University

It was with some trepidation that I went to watch The Danish Girl. Prior to its release the film had already attracted accusations of transphobia for director Tom Hooper’s decision to cast the cisgender actor Eddie Redmayne in the title role of Lili Elbe, a trans woman.

Lili Elbe was one of a good number of people in interwar Europe who felt the sex they had been assigned at birth was incorrect. How, I wondered, would a film that had arguably opted to undermine Lili’s womanhood in its choice of actor, handle the complexity of sex and gender at this time?

The answer, perhaps predictably, is not very well.

Canada - Record-Breaking Year For Courage Polar Bear Dip

More than 800 dippers make for a record-breaking year at the Courage Polar Bear Dip in Oakville, ON. (CNW Group/The Courage Polar Bear Dip)

More than 800 enthusiastic dippers  braved below freezing temperatures to ring in the New Year with adventure at the 31st annual Courage Polar Bear Dip.  Fun-loving rookie and alumni dippers of all ages joined dip founders, Todd and Trent Courage at  Coronation Park in Oakville, plunging into frigid Lake Ontario.  

Thousands of spectators cheered them on from ashore. It is the largest Polar Bear Dip in Ontario, and the largest charity dip in Canada.

Happy New Year To All!

Happy New Year to all our readers and friends from Twitter, this blog's Facebook Page, the Bonehill Zone's FB Page, Google Plus, Triberr, Scoop.it, and every other social media sites I'm a member of... 

Without your support and encouragement, this blog would probably still not be around anymore, so a big thank you to all of you and a very happy, productive, out of this world, and fascists/Nazis/Joshua Bonehill/ Donald Trump/Katie Hopkins free, year 2016 to everyone!

Defensive Architecture: Designing The Homeless Out Of Our Cities

Image via www.shutterstock.com

By Rowland Atkinson, University of Sheffield and Aidan While, University of Sheffield

On any one night in London, there around 700 people sleeping in the city’s street. Rough sleeping is a risky decision – and almost always the choice of the most desperate. Yet the response of the state – and our society – is surprisingly hostile.

Rough sleeping – and homelessness more generally – are on the rise. But austerity measures have made things worse, by cutting funds to vital support services. On top of this, rough sleepers have good reason to fear abusive behaviour from passers-by. Shockingly, this has even included physical attacks, resulting in documented deaths.

But beyond the discomfort, the abuse and the absence of social support, there is another factor making life even more difficult for those sleeping on the streets. The very shape of our cities has started to reflect our hostility toward the homeless, in the form of design elements that prevent them from seeking refuge in public spaces. This phenomenon is known as “defensive architecture”.

CINEMOOD Presents an Innovative Portable Projector That Creates New Family Experiences, at CES 2016

Size is not always everything...

 Imagine a gadget that can fit in the palm of your hand, creates a widescreen experience and gives parents new, creative ways to spend more time with their kids.

CINEMOOD, an innovative start-up about to launch an Indiegogo campaign, has developed a handheld, mini-projector that embraces the Internet of Things through its cloud connected projector, preloaded with safe and fun kids-friendly content. A simple user interface and collection of smart accessories makes the product fun and usable for all ages.