Justin Bieber Banned From China

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Justin Bieber has been banned from China, according to the BBC:

Justin Bieber is indeed “talented at singing” came the reply, but nonetheless it would not be appropriate to allow him to perform, because of what it called a number of incidents of “bad behaviour.” It did not elaborate on exactly which of Mr Bieber’s run-ins with the law it was referring to.

The pop star, who was allowed to tour China in 2013, joins a long list of musicians who have found themselves similarly blacklisted. Most though, like the British band Oasis and the US group Maroon 5, because of perceived political statements, rather than on the grounds of bad behaviour.

Reports: Chester Bennington Has Died

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TMZ is reporting that Chester Bennington of Linkin Park has died:

Law enforcement sources tell us the singer hanged himself at a private residence in Palos Verdes Estates in L.A. County. His body was discovered Thursday just before 9 AM.

Update: This has unfortunately been confirmed.

If you or someone you know is looking for help, please call and/or share these numbers:

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Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock Opening Portland Bar

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Willamette Weekly:

“Isaac’s good at creating worlds—whether that’s on an album, the interior of a space or an exterior,” Brown says. “He has a god-given talent for landscaping. So Isaac’s role will be to create what this thing looks and feels like; I want it to be one of his worlds. I took the architect and the designer to his warehouse and it blew their minds—it’s weird, ethereal, otherworldly, and a little jokey. The architect said, ‘If we can just have a 20th of the items in the warehouse, we’re set.'”

Analyzing the Gender Representation of 34,476 Comic Book Characters

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Amanda Shendruk:

Why all the fuss? Well, the truth is that the comics industry has had a complicated relationship with female characters. They are often hyper-sexualized, unnecessarily brutalized, stereotyped, and used as tokens. They’re also rare. Only 26.7 percent of all DC and Marvel characters are female, and only 12 percent of mainstream superhero comics have female protagonists.

And:

The data suggest that less-physical powers — such as empathy, intellect, and telepathy — tend to be more represented among female characters. Men however, often have highly physical powers, as well as those that involve gadgets. Female characters dominate in relatively few physical abilities; and those where they do are often tied to gender stereotypes. Pheromone control — the ability to generate and control pheromones that affect emotional and physical states, such as sleep, fear, and pleasure — occurs five times as often in a female character. Sonic scream appears in twice as many female characters as male; and prehensile hair — the ability to control one’s own hair — appears in female characters seven times more often.

Fascinating deep dive.

Nielsen Release Mid-Year Report

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Nielsen have released their mid-year report:

For the rst time in Nielsen Music history, R&B/Hip-Hop has become the largest share of overall volume (Album + TEA + SEA), with 25.1% of the total volume coming from the R&B/Hip-Hop genre. Rock, which had always been the largest genre in the past, slips to second with 23% of the total volume.

R&B/Hip-Hop has become the largest genre by dominating share of streaming consumption. Over 30% of audio on-demand streaming comes from R&B/Hip-Hop, nearly as much as the next two genres combined (Rock 18% and Pop 13%).

If you don’t want to give Nielsen a bunch of personal information, you can read the report here.

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