With the release of the new Venom film, our comic book thread regulars have helped put together a group of comics to check out to get to know the character even more.
New Details in Sexual Assault Allegation Against Ex-Sigur Rós Drummer
In late September, Los Angeles-based artist Meagan Boyd wrote in a post on Instagram that Sigur Rós drummer Orri Páll Dýrason sexually assaulted her. Specifically, Boyd accused Dýrason of engaging in non-consensual sex with her while she slept, during a night they spent together five and a half years ago. On October 1, days after Boyd’s initial post, Sigur Rós announced that Dýrason had left the band as a result of the allegation. In a statement on Facebook, Dýrason wrote, “I will do anything in my power to get myself out of this nightmare, but out of respect for those actually suffering from sexual violence, I will not take that fight public.”
Pitchfork talked with both Boyd and Dýrason over the course of the past week.
The Women of Nashville’s Music Scene Are Calling Time’s Up
Jessica Hopper, writing at Elle:
In the past few years, the number of female artists on country radio has been steadily declining. According to trade publication Country Aircheck, in 2016 female artists made up 13 percent of radio play; by 2017, that figure was down to a meager 10.4 percent. The country radio programmer quota–cum–excuse that fuels this inequity is that “one woman an hour” is plenty. In response, labels have grown reluctant to sign female talent, knowing that radio won’t support them. Festival and tour promoters excuse the dearth of female country acts on lineups by pointing fingers at radio and labels, insisting that there are not enough bankable female artists to draw from—just superstar headliners like Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood.
Halsey Interviewed at NME
Douglas Greenwood, writing for NME:
But there was one interaction that stayed with her to this day. “I remember having this wristband from the pit [at one of the shows], and Brendon Urie being on the edge of the stage and acknowledging me,” she reminisces, re-enacting her mini freak-out. “So I wore that wristband every day. I even covered it with plastic when I showered so it wouldn’t fall off!” An altercation with one of her bullies at school, though, led to the wristband breaking. “I was devastated,” she recalls. “I couldn’t understand how somebody could be so mean.”
As Halsey’s fame grew, she crossed paths with Brendon again. Now he’s a friend, and knows about the school drama that broke her heart back then. “I went back to my dressing room after [a show of mine he came to recently],” she tells me, “and there was a bouquet of flowers and two plastic Panic! At the Disco VIP wristbands, with a little note that said: ‘This is to replace the one you lost.’”
Lady Gaga Pens Op-Ed on Mental Health With WHO Leader
Lady Gaga and Tedros Adhanom, writing for The Guardian:
Suicide is the most extreme and visible symptom of the larger mental health emergency we are so far failing to adequately address. Stigma, fear and lack of understanding compound the suffering of those affected and prevent the bold action that is so desperately needed and so long overdue.
Major Climate Report Describes a Strong Risk of Crisis as Early as 2040
A landmark report from the United Nations’ scientific panel on climate change paints a far more dire picture of the immediate consequences of climate change than previously thought and says that avoiding the damage requires transforming the world economy at a speed and scale that has “no documented historic precedent.”
The report, issued on Monday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of scientists convened by the United Nations to guide world leaders, describes a world of worsening food shortages and wildfires, and a mass die-off of coral reefs as soon as 2040 — a period well within the lifetime of much of the global population.
Banksy Painting Self-Destructs After Fetching $1.4 Million at Sotheby’s
The British street artist Banksy pulled off one of his most spectacular pranks on Friday night, when one of his trademark paintings appeared to self-destruct at Sotheby’s in London after selling for $1.4 million at auction.
Incredible.
Brian Fallon on the Legacy of ‘The ’59 Sound’
Jackson Sinnenberg, writing at Medium:
When we were doing the designs for merch I was like “I don’t care what I like. What do we think the people who come to our shows will like?” That’s what it should be! It’s not about me. I’m happy to be there, I’m not going to be phoning it in! I’m happy about giving it to them. I don’t look at it like it’s a bad thing. I’m happy there are people there to take it. Like if you asked Ian [MacKaye] the same way how he felt about Fugazi; “Whose band is Fugazi right now?” I bet Ian would say “Not mine, Not Guy’s. It’s their band.” It is! It’s their band! They’re maintaining the house, they’re trimming the garden because their memories do it. It’s become part of their lives now. So, it’s hands off for me.
Are You Registered to Vote?
You can check if you’re registered here. If you’re not. Register. Deadlines are coming up and the mid-term elections in November are extremely important.
Facebook Claims Network Breach
Facebook on Friday said an attack on its computer network led to the exposure of information from nearly 50 million of its users.
Amazon’s Aggressive Anti-Union Tactics Revealed
Bryan Menegus, writing for Gizmodo:
Amazon, the country’s second-largest employer, has so far remained immune to any attempts by U.S. workers to form a union. With rumblings of employee organization at Whole Foods—which Amazon bought for $13.7 billion last year—a 45-minute union-busting training video produced by the company was sent to Team Leaders of the grocery chain last week, according to sources with knowledge of the store’s activities. Recordings of that video, obtained by Gizmodo, provide valuable insight into the company’s thinking and tactics.
WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton Gives The Inside Story On #DeleteFacebook And Why He Left $850 Million Behind
Parmy Olson, writing at Forbes:
It’s also a story any idealistic entrepreneur can identify with: What happens when you build something incredible and then sell it to someone with far different plans for your baby? “At the end of the day, I sold my company,” Acton says. “I sold my users’ privacy to a larger benefit. I made a choice and a compromise. And I live with that every day.”
Pinegrove Address “Sexual Coercion” and Announce a New Album
Jenn Pelly, writing at Pitchfork:
Since late 2017, both the band and the alleged victim have focused on coming to a private resolution via a trusted mediator. Until that resolution was reached, Hall said, “there was really no way for us to offer any clarification” to their fans. It was the alleged victim’s request that Pinegrove take a year off from touring and that Hall enter therapy. “We wanted to honor that,” Hall said. “She recognized that we’ve honored it, and has since approved our plan to release an album and play some shows later on this year.” (Their mediator confirmed this.)
SiriusXM to Acquire Pandora for $3.5 Billion
SiriusXM and Pandora have announced acquisition plans before the stock market opens. SiriusXM is offering to acquire Pandora for $3.5 billion in stock, or $10.14 per share. Pandora would continue to exist as an independent service.
A Brief Inquiry Into The 1975
Dan Stubbs, writing for NME:
A Cole Porter-like jazz song sounds like a standard and has the killer lyric “I fight crime online sometimes”; a new wave pop song is outwardly about love but is not so subtly an ode to heroin (“I’ve got a 20-stone monkey on my back”), there’s a fragile, beautiful ballad about guilt, one song employs the kind of plastic piano sound last heard on Glenn Medeiros’s ‘Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You’; a ‘90s-style alt-rock track, ‘I Always Wanna Die Sometimes’, is a stirringly moving song about depression; a spoken word piece, voiced by Siri, skewers our relationship with the internet in a modern parable. And even in this jumbled up state, it sounds like a masterpiece, a game-changer, a bar-raiser. An absolute stone cold legend masterpiece. It sounds like they’ve done what Matty said all that time ago: they’ve made ‘OK Computer’ for a new generation of kids – ’Snowflake Computer’, if you will.
