Interesting Links for 14-01-2025
Jan. 14th, 2025 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrewducker- 1. The woman who gave herself a caesarean - and survived!
- (tags:childbirth surgery women aieeee! viaElfy )
- 2. The Dark Secrets Behind the Neil Gaiman Abuse Accusations
- (tags:neilgaiman abuse )
- 3. Joss Whedon drives the final nails into the coffin of his own legacy
- (tags:JossWhedon )
- 4. The UK government's push for AI is down to Tony Blair and made up numbers
- (tags:UK ai OhForFucksSake )
- 5. World's hottest year: 2024 first to pass 1.5C of warming
- (tags:globalwarming doom )
- 6. "Project Russia," Unknown in the West, Reveals Putin's Playbook
- (tags:russia )
- 7. Why poor households are worse off in the UK than they are in the EU (housing is 44% more expensive than the average)
- (tags:uk inequality housing )
- 8. Dragonflies swim to cool down and then do somersaults to dry off
- (tags:insects flying impressive )
- 9. The Sonos App went so badly wrong that their CEO just had to resign - here's the technical reasons why
- (tags:music Technology epicfail )
Tags:
- abuse,
- ai,
- aieeee!,
- childbirth,
- doom,
- epicfail,
- flying,
- globalwarming,
- housing,
- impressive,
- inequality,
- insects,
- josswhedon,
- links,
- music,
- neilgaiman,
- ohforfuckssake,
- russia,
- surgery,
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- uk,
- viaelfy,
- women
Joss Whedon
Date: 2025-01-14 01:58 pm (UTC)But on an initial reading of the linked to article I don't think the article does a great evidential job. There seemed to be a lot of Prominent Person X says Joss Whedon behaved badly. Joss Whedon sort of shrugs his shoulders but in the light of all the other people saying Joss Whedon behaved badly in a different way in a different time and place we should accept that allegation as true. The actual evidence might be significantly more robust but the article seems to rely on lots and lots of similar fact evidence leaning on each other.
I'm in favour of the Moorov Doctine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorov_v_HM_Advocate
but, to my not-at-all-following-the-story eye the article feels like industry gossip.
Which, to be clear, is a comment on the article not on Joss Wheadon's behaviour.
Re: Joss Whedon
Date: 2025-01-14 02:04 pm (UTC)(Unlike with Rowling and Gaiman, who each produce differently negative feelings significant enough to put me off their work.)
Re: Joss Whedon
Date: 2025-01-14 02:54 pm (UTC)And I'm mindful of the different contracting mechanisms and power dynamics and how performing arts works. Being a rubbish boss in a play or film production filled with contractors is perhaps a bit different from being the CEO of a company people work for permanently. I think.
Performing arts is bit of a reputational business. And I think one of the things people are considering are how easy people are to work with. (Downside of this is that the old boys' network is very real and not always used for good.)
Say you are filming on location. A difficult, unpleasant, expensive location - the desert, it's hot, sandy, miserable. The director and the producer say to the main cast -we're not 100% sure what we want from you guys artistically, so we'd like to do a couple of different takes, but also we're mindful that it's really really hot and I don't want to pay extra for an unscheduled location overrun, so we'd like to do those takes really early in the morning, make sure we get them and get them done - so Big Name Stars can you be on set ready to go at 4am - and please make sure you've learned both sets of lines so we can work quickly.
Big Name Star A says - , sure thing, that sucks for everyone, but let's get Art done and I'll bring some iced coffee from my private stash to share with the make up crew first thing.
Big Name Star B says - talk to my agent, I'll see at my contractually agreed half-ten start, screw your budget and your extras.
If you were the director or the producer which one would you want to work with again? Is it threatening to ruin B's career if you tell other people that they were hard to deal with on set? Part of your job as a producer is to use your power to get things done.
Different thing if you are behaving like a thug towards junior contractors or where your requests are unreasonable or dangerous - like taking a corner too fast in a blue convertible Karmann Ghia on a road that's too bendy. Different thing again if you are using your power to cover up sexual violence.
And I suppose I have a similar blindspot to Wheadon as I do to Adele - just because I don't have huge personal connection to their work doesn't mean other people don't.
Re: Joss Whedon
Date: 2025-01-14 06:44 pm (UTC)It's like finding out that the Director of the RSPCA only eats eggs from battery hens because he likes the extra piquancy lent by the suffering. *
* tangentially, the RSPCA has a CEO not a Director and his LinkedIn suggests he's made his career by being a floating executive in the charity sector, so tbh nothing would surprise me.
Re: Joss Whedon
Date: 2025-01-14 05:36 pm (UTC)There have multiple reports from multiple sources saying he was abusive towards co-workers, mostly female ones, and harassed them. That's a bit more than being a "bad boss".
Re: Joss Whedon
Date: 2025-01-14 05:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-14 02:24 pm (UTC)9) This illustrates why I'm reluctant to use new apps and devices. Even if they work, the learning curve is impossibly steep.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-14 02:28 pm (UTC)Gaiman seems to be more broken than Whedon (from what little we know). But he clearly knows right from wrong, and he knows that he hurts people. And he's not done anything to try and fix himself. Which is almost worse.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-14 05:42 pm (UTC)9) Getting the desktop app to work with my old speakers was an experience I never want to go through again but I can say support was awesome. I can't imagine what the mobile app is like if it's even worse.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-14 05:48 pm (UTC)Which led to mega eye rolls from me ...
no subject
Date: 2025-01-14 05:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-14 06:44 pm (UTC)