Thanksgiving dinner: How to find common ground on divisive issues; CNN, November 22, 2018

Harry Enten, CNN; Thanksgiving dinner: How to find common ground on divisive issues

[Kip Currier: Whenever I see articles like this, talking about how to traverse potentially uncomfortable holiday gatherings, I remember and want to rewatch this 2015 Saturday Night Live (SNL) video "A Thanksgiving Miracle"...three years old now, but still as timely and hilarious as ever. Enjoy and--in the final words of the little girl in the spoof--"Thanks, Adele!"

It's also a brilliant example of "remix", combining copyright content from one creator (check out the song the SNL spoof repurposes--Adele's "Hello" video here, with nearly 2.5 billion views) with new content from others, in transformative ways.

The CNN article linked to this post has some good advice for navigating "whitewater rapids" issues too...]


"Here are five thorny issues that could come up on Thanksgiving Day and how you and your family could find common ground:.."

‘Remix’ or plagiarism? Artists battle over a Chicago mural of Michelle Obama.; Washington Post, April 24, 2017

Derek Hawkins, Washington Post; ‘Remix’ or plagiarism? Artists battle over a Chicago mural of Michelle Obama.

"Devins’s mural had only been up for a matter of hours when word got back to Mesfin. She objected to the use of her work without permission in a widely circulated Instagram post that triggered a wave of outrage online, saying she felt like Devins stole her piece.

“I was very disheartened when he did that,” Mesfin told The Washington Post. “There’s a common code among all artists that you can get inspired by someone’s work but you have to pay homage and you have to give credit for it.”...

Devins said he never intended to take credit for Mesfin’s creation, which itself was based off a portrait in the New York Times by photographer Collier Schorr. Mesfin credited Schorr’s work on her Instagram post...

Devins said he came across Mesfin’s drawing on the sharing site Pinterest and was unable to track down the artist. He explained his decision to use the image without permission in an analogy, saying he was creating a “remix” of a piece of art in the way that a DJ remixes songs."

Don’t Klingon to the past, George Takei. A gay Sulu is right for Star Trek 2016; Guardian, 7/10/16

Ryan Gilbey, Guardian; Don’t Klingon to the past, George Takei. A gay Sulu is right for Star Trek 2016:

"There is always a tension in sexual identity between being accepted as normal and insisting on difference. There’s no manual for handling it in fiction. But if there were, Pegg’s approach would deserve a special mention. It is the nearest equivalent to the manner in which most heterosexual people will experience LGBT lifestyles: regardless of how strongly some might insist otherwise, they will already know people who are gay, bisexual or transgender. They may be friends with them, related to them, or work alongside them. They just might not know it yet.

Where Takei has erred, it seems, is in misunderstanding a modern phenomenon – the movie reboot, which by its very nature starts again from scratch.

He may well be interpreting the reinvention of Sulu as an act of hostility, as though the filmmakers are overwriting his old Sulu with their sparkling new one. But the two can exist side by side. One doesn’t cancel out the other – the TV episodes haven’t been removed from syndication, and you can still see the many Star Trek movies Takei was in. (Although, as Pegg pointed out in his late-1990s TV series Spaced, you might want to avoid the odd-numbered ones.) The newer Star Treks are like cover versions that introduce unexpected flavours. They no more tamper with Roddenberry’s vision than Talking Heads’ herky-jerky post-punk spin on Take Me to the River diminishes Al Green’s jubilant original.

Takei, who came out in 2005 at the age of 68, is a marvellous ambassador for equality. However, a person who has found openness and acceptance in his own life but who imposes restrictions on the means by which others do so in theirs can easily risk looking ungracious. It would be better for all concerned if he didn’t cling on – or Klingon – to the past."

DONALD TRUMP BECOMES A MARVEL SUPERVILLAIN IN "SPIDER-GWEN"; Comic Book Resources, 7/2/16

Kevin Melrose, Comic Book Resources; DONALD TRUMP BECOMES A MARVEL SUPERVILLAIN IN "SPIDER-GWEN" :

"In an alternate Marvel Universe where Gwen Stacy, not Peter Parker, was bitten by a radioactive spider, and Samantha Wilson is Captain America, the classic supervillain M.O.D.O.K. resembles a certain real estate mogul turned reality TV star turned presidential candidate: Donald J. Trump.

In this week's "Spider-Gwen Annual" #1, writer Jason Latour and "an awesome assemblage of artists" offer a tour of Earth-65 with a collection of short stories that includes She-Hulk as a pro wrestler, the origin of Koala Kommander, and an all-too brief showdown between Captain America and M.O.D.O.K. -- wait, make that M.O.D.A.A.K. (Mental Organism Designed As America's King)."