Xenia LeBlanc (From "Orange Is the New Black") Launches "Gritty & Pretty" At Dances with Films [Trailer Included]

Xenia Leblanc wrote, directed and stars in the five-episode series, whose pilot episode premieres at the Dances with Films festival on September 5, 2020.

Xenia Leblanc, the actress that brought to life Young Red's character in Netflix's hit series Orange Is the New Black, is premiering her new series, Gritty & Pretty, at Dances with Films on Saturday, Sept. 5 with a second screening scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 6.

A female-driven comedy centered around boxing gym owner Kira Waikovsky (Xenia Leblanc) and Lauren Barton (Kelly Russo), Gritty & Pretty tackles female empowerment and friendships with a punch. 

• LeBlanc wrote, directed and stars in the five-episode series, whose pilot episode will premiere at the festival. A Q&A with the filmmakers will follow.

"Gritty & Pretty" premieres on Sept. 5, 2020 at the Dances with Films festival.

"I wanted to create a show that highlights female friendships and empowers up-and-coming female filmmakers to take charge and create the content they want to see on their screens. The sarcastic nature of my Russian upbringing has taught me to find humor in everything and that's why I gravitate towards comedy. Today, more than ever, actors must learn how to amplify their own unique voice and adapt all the tools available to tell their story. I hope that Gritty & Pretty inspires people to pursue their dreams while embracing their authentic selves," said Leblanc, who recently won this year's Film Riot's Stay At Home Film Challenge during quarantine.

• Dances with Films began in 1998 as a film festival dedicated to finding tomorrow's talent today and continues to carry on this mission. With many world and West Coast premieres, Dances with Films is a coveted first stop on the festival circuit.

The Trailer:

Dances with Films Screening Schedule:

• Saturday, Sept. 5 at 3:15 p.m. PT
• Sunday, Sept. 6 at 3 p.m. PT

"Gritty & Pretty" series creator, writer, director and actor Xenia Leblanc. The filmmaker recently won this year’s Film Riot’s Stay At Home Film Challenge for a project shot during quarantine.

About Xenia Leblanc:

Actress, comedian and filmmaker Xenia Leblanc graduated from Queen Mary University of London with a BA Degree in Film Studies and moved to Los Angeles to train at the Playhouse West School and Repertory Theatre. She landed the role of Young Red on the critically acclaimed Netflix Original Series Orange Is the New Black followed by an opportunity to work on the WB blockbuster series Justice League.

In addition to acting, Leblanc has had numerous opportunities to work on the production side of filmmaking, including script-supervising the first Russian/American 3D film. An active member of the Elizabeth Banks' WHOHAHA platform, LeBlanc constantly writes, edits and produces independent films and sketches, which have appeared at the NYC Independent Film Festival. 

• Her short film Covert Message was shot entirely during quarantine and won this year's Film Riot's Stay At Home Film Challenge.

"Covert Message" - The Video:

SOURCE: Xenia LeBlanc

9/11 Augmented Reality Video Reveals "Hidden History" at Ground Zero [Video Included]

9/11 Augmented Reality Video Reveals "Hidden History" at Ground Zero (Screengrab)

An online video that uniquely memorializes imagery from 9/11 was filmed in lower Manhattan using an augmented reality (AR) app that overlays scenes from past events on the present-day locations right where they happened. The result is a haunting sequence of clips in which the New Yorkers of September 11, 2001 intermingle with the New Yorkers of today, neither aware that they will have ever crossed paths.

• The project is part of ReplayAR's "AR Time Capsule" series which uses patented locational AR technology to explore the hidden history that surrounds us in everyday life. 

The video series has previously featured historical tours of other New York City neighborhoods, as well as some west coast locations like Santa Barbara and the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles.

Augmented reality tech reveals people passing by a Beekman Street parking garage as they flee lower Manhattan through smoke and ash on September 11, 2001.

"As this year's 9/11 anniversary approaches, we again find ourselves moved by the tremendous sacrifices of our first responders and frontline workers facing unimaginable challenges, just as they did 19 years ago in the heart of ground zero," said Hell's Kitchen resident Jay Huddy, who invented the free app as a means to preserve historical events and personal memories.

The 9/11 video was shot using ReplayAR (pronounced "replayer") on an iPhone 11 in and around the Financial District by Brandon Martin, Huddy's neighbor and collaborator.

From Rockefeller Center's "Top of the Rock" observation deck, augmented reality reveals a bird's eye view of yesteryear as the World Trade Center's twin towers stand tall in the setting sun.

"I showed the footage to a friend of mine who was actually there on 9/11 when it happened. He mentioned how the audio reminded him of that day when in fact, we didn't do any sound design at all," Martin said. "It turns out that in this age of the COVID-19 pandemic, the natural sound of the city now echoes the same eerie stillness and quietude heard in the aftermath of 9/11."

This is not Huddy's first digital creation born from the tragic events of 9/11. In 2003, he created a controversial video game based on the real-life timeline of events leading up to and following the attacks called "Blood of Bin Laden" which was discussed in MIT Technology Review and From Sun Tzu to Xbox, a book by former Village Voice writer Ed Halter.

Unlike a video game, ReplayAR is an AR creation tool that offers anyone with a cellphone the ability to easily make their own augmented reality content, as well as preserve their memories in the form of locational AR photography. 

Huddy hopes to see the technology adopted by museums, walking tours and cultural landmarks focused on historical preservation.

"It's all about contextualizing these photographs in their original surroundings to provide a deeper understanding of the temporal reality they depict," Huddy said. "We hope that by using locational AR visualizations to remember the past, we can honor and preserve the stories of those who came before us, and truly never forget."

The Video:

About ReplayAR:

ReplayAR, Inc. is an augmented reality software company. Its mission is "to pioneer innovative technologies that preserve and protect historical truth while connecting and inspiring a global community through the shared continuum of our human experience."

ReplayAR Related Videos:

• ReplayAR's 9/11 augmented reality reel and other videos in the "AR Time Capsule" series are available to watch on YouTube and at ReplayAR.com. 

• The ReplayAR augmented reality app is available for free on the App Store for iOS and Play Store for Android.

SOURCE: ReplayAR Inc.

'Torinaoshi': YouTube Series Traverses Countries, Racial Identity [Trailer + Episodes 1, 2 & 3 Included]

"Torinaoshi" - Poster

"Torinaoshi," a YouTube series exploring the nuances of racial and family identity, highlights a young Japanese-American woman's journey from New York to Osaka, Japan -- her mother's hometown. 

The production is a collaboration between Alex Iskounen's Tsukuba Indy LLC, Yusuke Kitaguchi's Ichibiri Pics Inc., and Yosuke Kumakura's Bear Create Japan.

An ode to the emotions of multicultural migration and return, the series shines a light on family discord and renewal. After realizing she has no real knowledge of her roots, Kiyoko (aka Koko) travels to her mother's hometown of Osaka from New York City, discovering that learning about one's identity, especially on foreign soil, can be complicated. She befriends an African-Japanese boy who travels with her as she encounters several relatives, learning hard lessons about family, race relations and her struggle for identity; will Koko accept what she learns about herself and her roots as she dives deeper into her unresolved family history?

"Torinaoshi" - Kiyoko a.k.a. Koko (Megan Murayama)

• The series features several recognizable cast members from Japanese media, including notorious comedian Minoru Torihada, African-Japanese actor and popular YouTuber BiX, bilingual actress Megan Murayama, and Okinawa-born improv artist Osamu Hirata. 

• The series is directed by Osaka native Yusuke Kitaguchi, whose short film "Baby in the Dark" won the Osaka 48 Hour Film Festival in 2017 and was later screened at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 2018.

Alan Ng, Managing Editor of FilmThreat.com, stated, "The reality is racism is not unique to the States -- it's everywhere. What's interesting about 'Torinaoshi' is that it's not that much different abroad. What the series shows is that as different cultures spread and intermingle across the globe, the struggle to find one's identity on foreign soil becomes increasingly complicated. What do I hold on to from my heritage and what do I embrace in my new homeland."

"Torinaoshi" stands as a tribute to the quest for self-understanding -- and connection -- in all its complexity and challenges people to think about how they unravel their cultural and family identities. "Where do I belong?" and "How can I connect with someone different than me?" are some of the central themes explored in "Torinaoshi."

"Torinaoshi" - Shunya (Bix)

The filmmakers invested $5,000 per episode in production, crew and the acquisition of local talent. The three-episode release has since garnered over 1.3 million views worldwide on YouTube, gained international fans with enthusiastic appeals for more episodes, and is a testament to the hard work and collaboration between local Osaka actors and filmmakers.

The Trailer:

Episode 1:

Episode 2:

Episode 3:

• See the rest of the series on the Torinaoshi YouTube channel.
• To learn more about "Torinaoshi," visit the official website and IMDb page.

SOURCE: Tsukuba Indy LLC

Misinformation: Tech Companies Are Removing 'Harmful' Coronavirus Content – But Who Decides What That Means?

Misinformation: Tech Companies Are Removing 'Harmful' Coronavirus Content – But Who Decides What That Means? (Pearl PhotoPix/Shutterstock)

The “infodemic” of misinformation about coronavirus has made it difficult to distinguish accurate information from false and misleading advice. The major technology companies have responded to this challenge by taking the unprecedented move of working together to combat misinformation about COVID-19.

Part of this initiative involves promoting content from government healthcare agencies and other authoritative sources, and introducing measures to identify and remove content that could cause harm. For example, Twitter has broadened its definition of harm to address content that contradicts guidance from authoritative sources of public health information.

Facebook has hired extra fact-checking services to remove misinformation that could lead to imminent physical harm. YouTube has published a COVID-19 Medical Misinformation Policy that disallows “content about COVID-19 that poses a serious risk of egregious harm”.

The problem with this approach is that there is no common understanding of what constitutes harm. The different ways these companies define harm can produce very different results, which undermines public trust in the capacity for tech firms to moderate health information. As we argue in a recent research paper, to address this problem these companies need to be more consistent in how they define harm and more transparent in how they respond to it.

Science is subject to change

A key problem with evaluating health misinformation during the pandemic has been the novelty of the virus. There’s still much we don’t know about COVID-19, and much of what we think we know is likely to change based on emerging findings and new discoveries. This has a direct impact on what content is considered harmful.

The pressure for scientists to produce and share their findings during the pandemic can also undermine the quality of scientific research. Pre-print servers allow scientists to rapidly publish research before it is reviewed. High-quality randomised controlled trials take time. Several articles in peer-reviewed journals have been retracted due to unreliable data sources.

Even the World Health Organization (WHO) has changed its position on the transmission and prevention of the disease. For example, it didn’t begin recommending that healthy people wear face masks in public until June 5, “based on new scientific findings”.

The World Health Organization has updated its advice as new evidence has emerged. (FABRICE COFFRINI/EPA)

Yet the major social media companies have pledged to remove claims that contradict guidance from the WHO. As a result, they could remove content that later turns out to be accurate.

This highlights the limits of basing harm policies on a single authoritative source. Change is intrinsic to the scientific method. Even authoritative advice is subject to debate, modification and revision.

Harm is political

Assessing harm in this way also fails to account for inconsistencies in public health messaging in different countries. For example, Sweden and New Zealand’s initial responses to COVID-19 were diametrically opposed, the former based on “herd immunity” and the latter aiming to eliminate the virus. Yet both were based on authoritative, scientific advice. Even within countries, public health policies differ at the state and national level and there is disagreement between scientific experts.

Exactly what is considered harmful can become politicised, as debates over the use of malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and ibuprofen as potential treatments for COVID-19 exemplify. What’s more, there are some questions that science cannot solely answer. For example, whether to prioritise public health or the economy. These are ethical considerations that remain highly contested.

Moderating online content inevitably involves arbitrating between competing interests and values. To respond to the speed and scale of user-generated content, social media moderation mostly relies on computer algorithms. Users are also able to flag or report potentially harmful content.

Despite being designed to reduce harm, these systems can be gamed by savvy users to generate publicity and distrust. This is particularly the case with disinformation campaigns, which seek to provoke fear, uncertainty and doubt.

Users can take advantage of the nuanced language around disease prevention and treatments. For example, personal anecdotes about “immune-boosting” diets and supplements can be misleading but difficult to verify. As a result, these claims don’t always fall under the definition of harm.

Similarly, the use of humour and taking content out of context (“the weaponisation of context”) are strategies commonly used to bypass content moderation. Internet memes, images and questions have also played a crucial role in generating distrust of mainstream science and politics during the pandemic and helped fuel conspiracy theories.

Transparency and trust

The vagueness and inconsistency of technology companies’ content moderation mean that some content and user accounts are demoted or removed while other arguably harmful content remains online. The “transparency reports” published by Twitter and Facebook only contain general statistics about country requests for content removal and little detail of what is removed and why.

This lack of transparency means these companies can’t be adequately held to account for the problems with their attempts to tackle misinformation, and the situation is unlikely to improve. For this reason, we believe tech companies should be required to publish details of their moderation algorithms and a record of the health misinformation removed. This would increase accountability and enable public debate where content or accounts appear to have been removed unfairly.

In addition, these companies should highlight claims that might not be overtly harmful but are potentially misleading or at odds with official advice. This kind of labelling would provide users with credible information with which to interpret these claims without suppressing debate.

Through greater consistency and transparency in their moderation, technology companies will provide more reliable content and increase public trust – something that has never been more important.

About Today's Contributors:

Stephanie Alice Baker, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, City, University of London; Matthew Wade, Lecturer in Social Inquiry, La Trobe University, and Michael James Walsh, Associate Professor, University of Canberra

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

Indie Pop Artist Taylor Castro Surprises Fans with New Single + Music Video "Be Ok" [Video Included]

"Be Ok" Cover Art

Indie-pop singer-songwriter Taylor Castro dropped a surprise single and accompanying music video called "Be Ok" today via PMA Records in Miami. "Be Ok" is now available on Taylor's popular YouTube channel and on Spotify.

Taylor explains, "'Be Ok' is about our relationship with the past and how it influences our future. I'm often trapped in a cycle of fear that the past will repeat itself. In the end, the fear will do more damage than the trauma ever did. This song is a reminder that our past does not define us, but guides us." 

The acoustic, vocal-driven song feels timely, as the whole world is struggling with fear and uncertainty about the future. Clips of old home movies appear throughout the official music video, suggesting the comfort and familiarity of the past while embracing growing up and changing.

Taylor Castro's upcoming album GIRL, AFRAID features tracks all written by Taylor. The eponymous first single taps into Taylor's struggle with OCD, which she hopes will reach other young people struggling with similar issues. 

The incredibly moving "Girl, Afraid" music video was directed by Michael "Tizzy" McWhorter and storyboarded by Taylor herself. 

The second single + video "Abyss" (featuring PMA labelmate Carson Rowland), just dropped in May 2020 and already has nearly 1 million views! You can find "Abyss" and its many remixes on Taylor's Spotify artist page.

While in quarantine, Taylor also released a series of performance videos as part of Live Nation Presents: Virtual World Tour. 

• You can learn more about Taylor Castro in this Interview Behind the Shoot for "Abyss"!

LISTEN: Spotify // YouTube // Apple 
FOLLOW: Instagram // Facebook // Twitter

Taylor Castro (Photo Credit: Nick Garcia @nickgarciaphoto)

SOURCE: PMA Records

"The One and Only Jewish Miss America" - The Inspiring Story of Bess Myerson [Trailer Included]

"The One and Only Jewish Miss America" documentary tells the story of Bess Myerson, beauty queen from the Bronx, NYC, who overcame antisemitism to win the 1945 Miss America pageant.

On September 8, 1945, just months after Germany's surrender and the liberation of Nazi death camps ending the Holocaust, an unlikely and unexpected winner was crowned Miss America in Atlantic City, NJ. It was Bess Myerson, tall, talented, beautiful – and Jewish. In spite of antisemitism and threatening calls to pageant judges warning them against selecting a Jew, Bess took the title home to her family's tiny apartment in the Shalom Aleichem housing project in the Bronx, NY.

A concert pianist, Bess Myerson tied for first in the talent contest, won first place in the swimsuit competition, impressed the judges in personal interviews, and, as the only college graduate among 42 contestants, represented a new kind of post-war poise, intelligence, and feminism. It was a victory not just for Bess, the middle daughter of struggling immigrants from Russia, but also an all-American validation for Jewish-Americans and immigrants all over the country.

New York's Museum of Jewish Heritage is premiering "The One and Only Jewish Miss America" on September 8, 2020, 75 years after Bess Myerson's historic win – and 99 years to the day after the pageant was founded as a bathing beauty contest. 

David Arond, award-winning filmmaker, directed and produced "The One and Only Jewish Miss America" documentary to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Bess Myerson winning the pageant in 1945.

At 7:00 p.m. EDT, filmmaker David Arond will conduct an online panel discussion with those featured in the film: Barra Grant, Bess Myerson's daughter and an accomplished actor and screenwriter, and two international authorities on antisemitism: Abraham Foxman, a friend of Bess's and director emeritus of the Anti-Defamation League, and Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and criminal justice professor, California State University, San Bernardino.

"The documentary follows Bess's life from childhood, when she thought she was ugly and gangly," says Arond, "through her entry into the Miss New York City pageant, which her older sister arranged without her knowledge." 

The story continues after the Miss America pageant, when sponsors withdrew their support of a Jewish winner. Bess Myerson never received the promised $5,000 scholarship (which she hoped to use at the Julliard School for a master's degree in music) and the new car from Ford Motor Co. Her Miss America pageant tour also ended in disappointment, when she faced antisemitism and restricted hotels and concert venues that prohibited Jews from entering. Instead of giving up, she started a new tour, with the support of the Anti-Defamation League: a 15-city educational tour to promote respect for all people, regardless of race or religion. 

"Bess Myerson symbolizes the spirit of standing up to prejudice of all kinds," Arond adds. "Her tour of tolerance led to her work in media, politics and social justice."

The Trailer:

The 51-minute documentary has won more than two dozen best documentary feature awards and will be screened at film festivals around the world. 

• To learn more, click on www.jewishmissamerica.com. 


• To view the film and register for the online September 8 panel discussion, visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage at www.mjhnyc.org

Documentary Premiere and Online Panel Discussion
September 8, 2020, 7:00 p.m., EDT
Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York City

SOURCE: Museum of Jewish Heritage, NYC

China's First Blockbuster Of The Year, The Eight Hundred, Opens Friday At Select Theaters In The U.S. And Canada [Trailer Included]

The Eight Hundred - Poster

CMC Pictures, under CMC Inc., will release The Eight Hundred, the acclaimed visionary war epic by director Guan Hu (Mr. Six, My People, My Country), in over 90 North American theaters this Friday -- one week following its massive $116.63 million debut in China. Major markets including New York and California will be added in the coming weeks pending cinema reopenings in those states. 

The first Chinese film to be shot entirely in the IMAX format, the $80 million production recreates the final days of 1937's Battle of Shanghai and features a cast of thousands.

China's first major theatrical release since local cinemas reopened in July, The Eight Hundred earned an astounding $116.63 million (which included $30 million from previews) this past weekend in its home territory. This despite local theater capacity limited to 50% due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Lauded by both audiences and critics, the film is the world's first blockbuster since the beginning of the pandemic in March, which forced the mass closure of cinemas.

Still from "The Eight Hundred"

About the film

It's October 26, 1937 and the Japanese Imperial Army has overpowered Chinese military forces during the Battle of Shanghai, a three-month engagement that has reduced parts of the city to rubble and demoralized a country. With China's National Revolutionary Army in retreat, a group of draft dodgers and deserters are forced to join a battalion to protect their last remaining stronghold: the six-story Sihang Warehouse. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, the unit, dubbed "The Eight Hundred Heroes," refuses to surrender and successfully fends off an onslaught of punishing attacks. Their heroic acts of bravery against insurmountable odds begin to inspire their fellow countrymen, which helps to reignite the spirit of their nation.

The Trailer:

About the production

One of the largest Chinese movies ever produced, The Eight Hundred sets a new benchmark for the country's rapidly growing film industry. In development for over a decade, the film required four years to complete following a grueling eight month shooting schedule. To ensure historical accuracy and authenticity, full scale sets were meticulously constructed over the course of an entire year. These included the Sihang Warehouse, the Suzhou River and numerous buildings that made up the glamorous Shanghai International Settlement of 1937.

In addition to the award-winning Chinese cast and crew, leading Hollywood veterans were also recruited to help realize Guan Hu's ambitious cinematic vision. These included Academy Award-nominated visual effects supervisor Tim Crosbie (X-Men: Days of Future Past), action director Glenn Boswell (The Thin Red Line) and composers Rupert Gregson-Williams (Hacksaw Ridge) and Andrew Kawczynski (Dunkirk).

Still from "The Eight Hundred"

"The Eight Hundred is ultimately about a nation and its people coming together during a time of unprecedented crisis," said Guan Hu. "It's a universal story that has a renewed relevance in these current times. I'm thrilled that CMC Pictures is bringing the film to North America's audiences and sharing an inspiring moment in China's history with the rest of the world." 

"CMC Pictures is proud to offer North American audiences the chance to experience The Eight Hundred on the big screen," said Julia Zhu, Director of International Distribution at CMC Pictures. "An epic in every sense of the word, the picture is a marvel of filmmaking and a testament to the power of the theatrical moviegoing experience, which CMC is committed to bringing back in full swing."

Still from "The Eight Hundred"

About Guan Hu

A leading voice of China's Sixth Generation directors, Guan Hu is celebrated for his bold style and passionate storytelling. A graduate of the prestigious Beijing Film Academy, Guan made his debut with the critically-acclaimed Dirt in 1994. His 2009 drama Cow was selected into the Horizon Section of the Venice International Film Festival and received seven Golden Horse Awards nominations. Guan's 2015 crime drama Mr. Six was selected as the Venice Film Festival's Closing Night Film and featured at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film also won Best Leading Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay at the 52nd Golden Horse Awards. Last year, Guan directed a segment in the anthology drama My People, My Country.

SOURCE: CMC Pictures

Do Not Disturb: How to Exercise Quietly at Home

Woman practicing yoga (image via Pexels)

If you live in an apartment, you know how thin the walls and ceilings can be. The past few months have been a test of true patience for apartment dwellers dealing with the sounds of their neighbors as everyone has been cooped up inside under Covid-19 quarantine restrictions. One particularly noisy activity is exercising, which is hard to do quietly under the best of circumstances. With many gyms closed during the pandemic, people have moved their workouts to their apartments, much to the chagrin of their neighbors.

Of course, there are some forms of exercises that are low-impact and do not involve jumping jacks and burpees that can be heard two floors down. There are also ways of making a space more soundproof and using equipment to soften the noise of exercising. Even slight modifications to your at-home workout routine can make a big difference to your elderly neighbors. Here are some tried and true tips to get you through until gyms fully reopen.

Use a noise reducing mat

You can still exercise wearing comfortable sneakers without making a lot of noise. Instead of jumping around directly on your hardwood floors, set an exercise mat down and use that to cushion your movements and absorb the sound of impact. The thicker the mat, the better it will be for absorbing sound. If you are doing yoga or a low-impact exercise routine, you can opt for a thinner mat. A PVC or rubber exercise mat also serves to ease the pressure put on your joints from exercising on a hard surface. 

Swap machinery for simple gear

Loud machinery, like a treadmill, can be heard by neighbors. For the time being, swap it for simpler equipment that won’t make a sound. For an intense core workout, try an ab wheel to deliver a challenging, yet quiet workout. Instead of weights, use resistance bands that are lightweight and don’t make noise when they hit the ground like weights. You can work every part of the body, from your legs to arms, chest, and shoulders with a resistance band.

Use coated weights

If you must use regular weights, try using ones that have a polyurethane or rubber coating rather than exposed metal as these will be quieter when you set them down. You can also buy silencer pads to lay on the floor to soften the sound of the weights.

Do bodyweight exercises

Instead of kickboxing or cardio dance classes in your living room, opt for bodyweight exercises that can give you a full workout without the noise. Bodyweight exercises include crunches, lunges, planks, wall sits, and push-ups, among other exercises. They make for a great full body workout because you use your core and the rest of your body to maintain balance in each position. Start small with a few reps for each exercise and add more each day.

Show that you are a considerate tenant by making slight alterations to your normal workout classes and all of your neighbors will thank you for it. In addition to low impact indoor exercise, there are also plenty of outdoor options like running, biking, and swimming that can be done while socially distancing. Grab your athletic women’s and men’s sneakers and head out into the great outdoors -- you’ll be back at the gym soon enough.

Leprosy of The Soul? A brief History of Boredom

‘God, I’m just so bored.’ (JeniFoto via Shutterstock)

We all respond to boredom in different ways. Some may find a new hobby or interest, others may instead rip open a bag of crisps and binge watch a new Netflix show. Boredom may seem to you an everyday – perhaps even trivial – experience. Surprisingly, however, boredom has undergone quite a metamorphosis over the past couple of centuries.

Well before the word “boredom” cropped up in the English language, one of the earliest mentions of boredom is in a Latin poem by Lucretius (99–55BC), who writes of the boring life of a rich Roman who flees to his country house … only to be find himself equally bored there.

The first recorded mention of the word “boredom” in the English language seems to be in the British newspaper The Albion in 1829, in the (frankly impenetrable) sentence: “Neither will I follow another precedental mode of boredom, and indulge in a laudatory apostrophe to the destinies which presided over my fashioning.”

But the term was popularised by Charles Dickens, who famously used the term in Bleak House (1853) where the aristocrat Lady Dedlock says she has been “bored to death” by, variously, the trying weather, unremarkable musical and theatrical entertainment, and familiar scenery.

In fact, boredom became a popular theme in English Victorian writing, especially in describing the life of the upper class, whose boredom may reflect a privileged social standing. Dickens’ character James Harthouse (Hard Times, 1854), for example, seems to cherish perpetual boredom as indicative of his high breeding, declaring nothing but boredom during his life as military dragoon and on his many travels.

The existentialists’ boredom

In the second part of the 19th century and during the early 20th century, boredom gained notoriety among existentialist writers. Their view of boredom was often less than flattering, and one that confronted all of humanity, not just the upper class with its presumably empty existence.

The early existentialist Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, for example, wrote: “The gods were bored; therefore they created human beings.” This was, according to him, only the beginning of the trouble with boredom. It would eventually lead Adam and Eve to commit their original sin.

Unsurprisingly, Kierkegaard declared boredom to be the root of all evil. Several other existentialists shared this unfavourable view. Jean-Paul Sartre called boredom a “leprosy of the soul”, and Friedrich Nietzsche, agreeing with Kierkegaard, remarked that: “The boredom of God on the seventh day of creation would be a subject for a great poet.”

Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir: often bored, but never boring.(National Photo Collection of Israel)

Arthur Schopenhauer took the cake when it came to being gloomy about boredom. According to him, the human capacity for boredom was nothing less than direct evidence for life’s ultimate lack of meaning. In his fittingly titled essay, Studies on Pessimism, he wrote:

The truth of this will be sufficiently obvious if we only remember that man is a compound of needs and necessities hard to satisfy, and that even when they are satisfied, all he obtains is a state of painlessness, where nothing remains to him but abandonment to boredom.

A world of boredom, the existentialists seemed to warn, is a world without purpose.

The science of boredom

The 20th century witnessed the emergence of psychology as a scientific discipline. While our understanding of many emotions slowly increased, boredom was surprisingly left alone. What little psychological work on boredom existed was rather speculative, and more often than not excluded empirical data.

These accounts hardly painted a more positive picture of boredom than the existentialists. As recently as 1972, psychoanalyst Erich Fromm blatantly denounced boredom as “perhaps the most important source of aggression and destructiveness today”.

During the past few decades, however, the image of boredom has changed once more, and with it has come an appreciation of the hitherto discredited emotion. Development of better measurement tools allowed psychologists to examine boredom with greater accuracy, and experimental methods allowed researchers to induce boredom and examine its actual, rather than presumed, behavioural consequences.

This work reveals that boredom can indeed be problematic, as the existentialists assured us. Those who bore easily are more likely to be depressed and anxious, have a tendency to be aggressive, and perceive life as less meaningfull.

Yet, psychology uncovered also a much brighter side of boredom. Researchers found that boredom encourages a search for meaning in life, propels exploration, and inspires novelty seeking. It shows that boredom is not only a common but also a functional emotion that makes people reconsider what they are currently doing in favour of more rewarding alternatives, for example increasing creativity and prosocial tendencies.

In doing so, it seems that boredom helps to regulate our behaviour and prevents us from getting stuck in unrewarding situations for too long. Rather than merely a malady among the upper classes or an existential peril, boredom seems, instead, to be an important part of the psychological arsenal available to people in the pursuit a fulfilling life.

About Today's Contributor:

Wijnand Van Tilburg, Lecturer, Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Cet article est republié à partir de The Conversation sous licence Creative Commons. 

Rebecca & Josh Tickell's 'Kiss the Ground' Available On Netflix September 22 [Trailer Included]

Kiss the Ground - Poster (Courtesy of Big Picture Ranch)

'Kiss the Ground', a powerful documentary exploring soil regeneration and its place as a compelling and effective solution to our planet's climate crisis, will be available on Netflix September 22, 2020. 

Directed by Rebecca Tickell and Josh Tickell (FUEL, PUMP, THE BIG FIX), the film is narrated by Woody Harrelson and features Ian Somerhalder, Gisele Bündchen, Jason Mraz, and David Arquette. The film is produced by Big Picture Ranch.

'Kiss the Ground' is an inspiring and groundbreaking film that reveals the first viable solution to our climate crisis. 'Kiss the Ground' reveals that, by regenerating the world's soils we can rapidly stabilize the Earth's climate, restore local ecosystems and create abundant food supplies. Using compelling graphics and visuals, along with striking NASA and NOAA footage, the film artfully illustrates how, by drawing down atmospheric carbon, soil is the missing piece of the climate puzzle. The movie is positioned to catalyze a movement to accomplish the impossible - to solve humanity's greatest challenge, to balance the climate and secure our species' future.

Initial footage for the film was shot 9 years ago in Africa by Executive Producer Ian Somerhalder, (who grew up in the same town and went to the same high school in Louisiana as director, Josh Tickell). Somerhalder and the Tickells joined forces with the KISS THE GROUND nonprofit organization with the mission to make a movie that showed how to turn deserts back into lush ecosystems while reversing climate change. The result has been an almost decade-long journey to produce a film which includes never before seen footage from around the world showing the reversal of ecological damage and giving a playbook for the restoration of Planet Earth.

"This film represents the culmination of tens of thousands of hours of research by scientists around the world who have finally cracked the code on managing climate change - before it's too late," says Josh Tickell. "Never before has there been a more important message, and the good news is it's hopeful, it's actionable and the film shows us steps we can take right now," says Rebecca Tickell.

The film was a selection of the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. Producers include Rebecca Tickell, Josh Tickell, Bill Benenson, Ryland Engelhart and Darius Fisher and Executive Producers are Laurie Benenson, Gisele Bündchen, Bill Cameron, John Paul DeJoria, Pedro Diniz, Anna Getty, George Hagerman, RJ Jain, Jena King, Julian Lennon, Michelle LeRach, Melony & Adam Lewis, Craig McCaw, Angus Mitchell, Elizabeth Moore, Stephen Nemeth, Larry O'Conner, John Roulac, Regina K. Scully, Nicole Shanahan, Jon & Susan Sheinberg, Mark Sims, Iris Smith, Ian Somerhalder, and Tara & Brian Swibel.

The Trailer:

• 'Kiss the Ground' is part of a new crop of true 4k resolution documentaries. Technology to make the film including computers, servers, hard drives and speciality film equipment was provided by Other World Computing, Price.com and Black Magic Design.

About Big Picture Ranch

Nested in the Los Padres National Forest in Ojai, California sits Big Picture Ranch - an organic avocado farm which also operates 24/7 as a soup-to-nuts film studio. Founders Josh and Rebecca Tickell are Sundance Award-Winning documentarians. Big Picture Ranch creates content that changes the global narrative around important environmental issues. Filmmakers Josh & Rebecca Tickell won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival with their first film FUEL, premiered their oil spill documentary THE BIG FIX as an official selection at Cannes, and are launching their first scripted feature film, HEARTLAND soon.

About Josh Tickell

The author of four books, Josh Tickell has worked on environmental issues for over twenty years. His career spans a unique mixture of science, journalism and filmmaking. His directorial debut film, FUEL, is the 2008 Sundance Audience Award winning documentary that investigates the possible replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy. His 2017 Simon and Schuster book, Kiss the Ground, How the Food You Eat Can Reverse Climate Change, Heal Your Body and Ultimately Save Our World, was an Amazon Bestseller in multiple categories. Tickell holds an MFA in film from Florida State University's Film School. He is a regular guest on talk shows and gives keynote presentations internationally on sustainability, regeneration and filmmaking.

About Rebecca Tickell

Rebecca Tickell is a director, producer and environmental author & activist. She produced the Sundance Audience Award Winning, environmentally-themed movie, FUEL, and co-directed/produced 'The Big Fix', an 'Official Selection' of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. She spent several years documenting the impacts and root cause of the BP oil spill. While investigating the spill she became ill and was left with permanent damage from exposure to the oil and dispersant in the atmosphere. Her directorial debut (with husband Josh) was the critically acclaimed documentary PUMP, narrated by Jason Bateman. She directed and produced the John Paul DeJoria story, GOOD FORTUNE, the YouTube sensation, THE EARTHING MOVIE as well as the forthcoming documentary THE REVOLUTION GENERATION and the forthcoming feature scripted film, HEARTLAND. As a child, she starred in the Orion (now MGM)'s Christmas Classic movie, Prancer.

About KISS THE GROUND 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Film Partner

KISS THE GROUND is a Los Angeles-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization on a mission of creating awareness around the extraordinary potential of healthy soil. KISS THE GROUND has educated and activated millions through their Media Program, Farmland Program, and Stewardship Program. Their Farmland Program supports transitioning farmers and ranchers with training, mentorship, and soil testing and has a robust scholarship program for farmers who need financial assistance to take part. The Stewardship Program is an education platform, community, and resource hub that was created to educate, inspire and empower individuals to become powerful and impactful advocates for the regenerative movement. KISS THE GROUND has become a premier online educational hub for regenerative agriculture, offering an online "pathway" for anyone to find resources and their unique way forward in contributing to this expanding global movement.

SOURCE: Big Picture Ranch