It is the most commercially successful Afrofuturistic US work to date: the Marvel blockbuster Black Panther was nominated for an Oscar in seven categories in 2019, ultimately winning three of the awards including for best picture and best costume design. The Oscar-winning designer of the film's groundbreaking costumes was Ruth E. Carter. Carter, who was born on April 10, 1960 in Springfield, Massachusetts, had originally planned to pursue a completely different career path: She wanted to become an actress. But it was when she started helping out in the costume department of her student theater group at Hampton University that she found a new calling. So after graduating from university, she trained as a costume designer at the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico, subsequently moving to Los Angeles. For more than 40 years now, Ruth E. Carter has been designing costumes for independent films and Hollywood blockbusters alike, working with Stephen Spielberg, Denzel Washington and … [Read more...] about Afrofuturism in Hollywood: Ruth E. Carter’s iconic costumes
Palm springs film festivals
Why NFTs have such a massive carbon footprint
advertisement advertisement advertisement How much would you be willing to pay for a one-of-a-kind work of art? For some collectors, the limit lies somewhere in the region of hundreds of millions of dollars. What about a work of art that has no tangible form, and exists only as a digital token that’s no more “real” than a JPEG file? Welcome to the strange world of crypto art collectibles, also known as NFTs. advertisement advertisement Like Bitcoin, NFTs (nonfungible tokens) are cryptocurrencies. But whereas individual bitcoins all have the same value, NFTs are more like baseball cards. Each token has a different value, and they can’t be used to buy things. They exist on your computer as digital representations of artworks, songs, films, and games, among other things. NFTs have been around since 2017, when the first mainstream experiment in crypto-collectibles emerged: CryptoKitties . The average price for one of these cat … [Read more...] about Why NFTs have such a massive carbon footprint
Nitra wants to become the European Capital of Culture
Font size: A - | A + 2 The western Slovak town of Nitra has made it to the final round of a prestigious competition for the European Capital of Culture (ECOC) 2026 title. Trenčín and Žilina have also applied. Nitra has prepared a 60-page application that represents its vision to turn into a more lively and culture-oriented town. One of its visions includes building a sauna on wheels that can travel across the entire region, the MY Nitra regional newspaper reported. A movable sauna The 2026 ECOC title will be shared with a city in Finland. "That is why one of the projects for Nitra is a sauna," said Marián Tesák, the project manager of Nitra's proposal, as quoted by MY Nitra. The plan is that the sauna will travel around the entire Nitra Region throughout 2026. "This way, everybody will have the chance to experience sauna culture, which mainly stipulates that everybody in the sauna is equal," said Tesák, as quoted by MY … [Read more...] about Nitra wants to become the European Capital of Culture
In the nest of silence: Lednica Castle and Skalka
Font size: A - | A + 6 Buckingham Palace, the White House, and The Big Bang Theory. All have one thing in common. RONA. A Slovak glass manufacturer. Established in Lednické Rovne in 1892 by Jozef Schreiber as the last and the biggest glassworks of Vienna´s Schreiber und Neffen. A state of the art marvel of the time. Schreiber was really very successful. He also owned a large manor house, which was inherited by his four sons. And one of them, Eduard, succeeded as his father had. In 1910 he filmed the first Slovak movie "The Kidnapping". Lednica village is located only 8 km from Lednické Rovne. Like an eagle’s nest On a steep cliff, 405 m above this village, the romantic and fairy-tale mediaeval Lednica Castle hovers. It is embraced by the White Carpathians. It, perhaps the most inaccessible of Slovak castles, looks like an eagle’s nest. There is no road anymore, only the castle remains. It, the arms of the White … [Read more...] about In the nest of silence: Lednica Castle and Skalka