Medium – Page 7 – Hit.Media. Space young journalism

Stunning masterpieces of miniature art
Tiny creations of Salavat Fidai, Edward Kazaryan and Hasan Kale

Reading time 4 minutes

Pencils are familiar to everyone from childhood; we draw or write something with them. But Salavat Fidai found another use for this writing instrument.

Salavat Fidai has long been interested in miniature art, performing reproductions of famous paintings on a variety of surfaces: matchboxes, pumpkin seeds and rice grains.

Some of the reproductions of Salavat went to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

In 2014, he discovered another material for his little masterpieces – pencil lead. His works became popular, and Salavat Fidai, with the help of his fans, released an illustrated album in 2016. Some parts of this book can be found in the public domain.

Backgammon from black obsidian and gold in rice grain. Edward Kazaryan.

Edward Kazaryan is a famous Soviet microminiature mechanic. He became famous for his ability to work with the smallest details. His works were kept by Stalin, Khrushchev, Queen Elizabeth. Among the miniature masterpieces of Kazaryan you can find a poppy seed, which depicts a scene with Gulliver in the country of Lilliputians, figurines of football players from black obsidian inside a polished human hair, a real violin and a bow inside a needle ear. Some of his works are moving: Charlie Chaplin is twisting a cane. Ten works of the miniaturist are listed in the Guinness Book of Records.

There have been tragic incidents in his work. Once, a pigeon pecked up a drying grain of rice, on which the master, by request of the Louvre, painted a copy of Aivazovsky’s painting The Ninth Wave. So three months of hard work and one million dollars were spent – that was the price of the order.

Edward Kazaryan was a professional musician. He played a concert together with the Yerevan Symphony Orchestra with the help of one of his miniature violins.

Hasan Kale chose food as a canvas for his masterpieces. The artist draws mosques and landscapes on chocolate drops, nuts, sugar and raw pasta.

With such an original bouquet, the miniaturist artist congratulated all the women on his Facebook page.

Hasan Kale is an active user of Facebook and puts his work on public display.

James Gunn returns to the director’s chair for «Guardians of the Galaxy 3»
The director gets rehired after being fired for his scandalous tweets

Reading time 4 minutes

According to the report from Deadline, the company decided to reemploy Gunn several months ago. Alan Horn, the Walt Disney Studios president, was meeting with James and Marvel representatives in order to discuss the project. Gunn publicly apologized for his controversial statements in Twitter. Consequently, Horn let him to film the third part of «Guardians of the Galaxy».

Съемки фильма должны были начаться в начале 2019 года. Однако из-за увольнения Джеймса Ганна с поста режиссера проект заморозили — Shootings were to start in the beginning of 2019. However, when the director was fired, the project got frozen

It all started in July 2018. At that time James Gunn was accused of his offensive tweets that he had been publishing from 2008 to 2011. The director joked about AIDS, violence and pedophilia. Gunn wrote that he was laughing at sick people, because laugh is the greatest remedy. In addition, he said that he did not mind violence and cannibalism when someone is really hungry. Then, Disney announced that James’s views were contrary to the values of the studio. That is how tha company broke all ties with the director.

Подборка оскорбительных твитов Джеймса Ганна — Some of Gunn’s offensive tweets

But how did it occur that the last tweet of that kind he had written in 2011, and got caught only in 2018? It’s pretty simple: Gunn’s account was full of not only jokes, but also criticism. Through Twitter, he judged Ben Shapiro, an editor of a conservative political website Breitbart. It got noticed by The Daily Caller website, where its representatives did not like Gunn’s comments. They decided to dig deeper and read the director’s old tweets. There the dirt got revealed.

James Gunn accepted his suspension with understanding and admitted his mistakes. First of all, the director had deleted all tweets with offensive jokes. And then, he blocked his account, however, it got reactivated soon. Gunn confessed that he had been trying to maintain the image of provocator through his statements. He also declared that had changed since then.

«Guardians of the Galaxy» decided to support the director as well. Gunn’s fans signed the petition, which called for permission for the director to return to work on the film.

Открытое письмо — Signatures of the cast in the open letter in the director’s defence

It all ended where it had started: the director confirmed the news of his return in Twitter. He will film the third part of the blockbuster after the shooting of «Suicide Squad 2». It was impossible to find a replacement for him, despite all the attempts. The third part of «Guardians of the Galaxy» will be filmed by the same director who had shot the first two — James Gunn.

Джеймс Ганн с кастом «Стражей Галактики» — James Gunn with the cast of «Guardians of the Galaxy»

Swedish truant was nominated for the Nobel Prize
Greta Thunberg's sitting pickets gave impetus to the environmental protest children's movement

Reading time 5 minutes

School strikes for climate, Fridays for the Future, Youth for Climate, Youth Strike 4 Climate – variations of movements of teenagers who want to prevent climatic and environmental disasters. They organize school strikes, trying to convey the idea that knowledge makes no sense if there is no world in which they can be applied.

Members of the School Strikes 4 Climate.

The movement started in 2015, when an independent group of pupils and students urged students around the world to skip classes on the first day of COP 21, the Climate Conference, which was held in Paris. Over fifty thousand students from more than a hundred countries took part in the strike on November 30. The movement had three basic requirements: the ubiquitous transition to clean energy, the non-withdrawal of minerals from the earth, the assistance to climate refugees.

In 2018, instead of studying, Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg began a single picket in front of the Swedish parliament. She sat in silence, and next was a banner with a slogan, which later became one of the names of the activist movement – “Skolstrejk för klimatet” or “School strikes for climate” in the English version. Its main requirement for the government was a gradual decrease in the emission of harmful substances into the atmosphere.

In the interview, Greta said that the idea of strikes for climate came to her after talking about skipping classes because of shooting in US schools. After that, the journalists had a question: can it be possible to skip classes to draw attention to climate problems? She found this idea viable, and she began to implement it. At first, no one responded to her proposal, but after a couple of days, someone kept her company, someone began to bring food to her. She attracted the attention of the media and some members of parliament.

Later, Greta still forced to return to classes. But on Fridays, she still continued to sit in front of Parliament with the same banner. The rumor about her actions went beyond Sweden. Soon, schoolchildren and students all over the world followed her example.

“I do it because no one else takes it. It is my duty to do what I can,” said Greta. “If several children can get into the headlines all over the world just skipping school, just imagine what people can do if they combine their efforts”.

In November 2018, three months after the start of the strike, she was invited to become one of the speakers at TEDxStockholm. At the conference, she spoke about the inconsistency of modern consumer culture, about ignorance, about silence and about the possibility of people starting to change the world for the better. March 14, 2019, Greta was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

On the next Friday, March 15, students and schoolchildren organized an international strike. Tens of thousands of teenagers in different countries appealed to governments and large companies to take a more responsible attitude towards the environment. Young people called it the beginning of active actions to preserve the world in which they are to live.

Greta Tunberg talks about protest marches around the world on her Twitter account.

Cardboard reality in the big game
Nintendo Switch will get VR support, but that's not what you think

Reading time 5 minutes

Since the announcement of Nintendo Switch in the network there is information that the console will receive support for virtual reality . The idea seemed crazy, but now it is known that VR will appear on the Nintendo console. Well, almost reliably…

Do it yourself!

New information about «VR from Nintendo» appeared like a bolt from the blue. Nintendo of America in his Twitter-account announced a new set of a series of cardboard designers Lego — Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit. The set will give you the opportunity to assemble from cardboard VR-accessories for Nintendo Switch, as well as provide players with related games.

Two new Labo VR kits: Starter (left) and Full (right)

The method of implementing Nintendo picked up from Google Cardboard, which is also a cardboard mask with lenses. In this case, the Nintendo Switch is used as the screen, the image of which is divided for each eye, creating the illusion of immersion and volume.

This time there are several options for buying cardboard peripherals: «Starter kit» with glasses and «Blaster» for $39 (~2800 rubles.) with the possibility of separate purchase of other accessories and «Full set», which also contains «Camera», «Elephant», «Bird» and «air pedal» for $79 (~5600 rubles).

If you do not want to buy everything at once, it is possible to purchase only interesting Toy-Cons

Not my VR

However, the announcement of the cartons from Nintendo was ambiguous. Many age-old fans of “big N” were not very happy that beyond the designers of Labo, focused on children, VR will not apply.

HOLY SHIT, JAY! YOU GOTTA COME LOOK AT THIS DUCK'S ASSHOLE, JAY! pic.twitter.com/8Eoux878h3

— Jeffrey Grubb ?? (@JeffGrubb) March 7, 2019

One of the problems associated with Labo products is the lack of tangible depth of built-in games, and Toy-Con themselves are no more than interactive toys.

Labo to me is one of Nintendo's few big fails over the last 3 or 4 years. I've literally not touched it once since we built a few things one Saturday morning and the kids never spoke of it again.

— Mark Serrels (@Serrels) March 7, 2019

But there is still hope for a bright future. For example, some of the previous designers received support in the «serious» games of the company. In particular, it is worth noting the «Motorcycle», which can be used to control the Mario Kart 8: Deluxe.

Promotional art collaborations Nintendo Land and Mario Kart 8: Deluxe

For the first time rumors about Nintendo’s entry into the virtual reality market appeared with the discovery of the company’s patent, vaguely reminiscent of VR-glasses.

This interesting patent has been discovered for the first time in 2016. He gave rise to further speculation about the VR Switch on the Nintendo.

It is also worth noting that this is not the first attempt of «big N» to enter the VR market. Back in 1995, the company released the Virtual Boy console, which is a helmet similar to modern «head displays». The experiment was not successful: after prolonged use, the helmet could cause headaches and pain in the eyes, and the project itself is still considered one of the biggest failures of the company.

Balenciaga and Farfetch collaborated to save animals
The brands will donate a part of their profit from a new collection to The International Union for Conservation of Nature

Reading time 4 minutes

Balenciaga fashion house released a new collection for e-tailer Farfetch dedicated to rare animal species. The main goal of this collaboration between the famous French brand and the biggest online platform is to demonstrate endangered species.

This exclusive capsule collection consists of clothes, shoes, and accessories for men, women, and children. The clothes are illustrated with Large Pandas, Asian Elephants, North White Rhinoceros and Blue Whales — these species are threatened with extinction right now. While creating this limited edition, the brand did not use leather, fur and down materials. The collection is also complimented by popular models presented in new colors and materials.

A North White Rhinoceros on a shirt from Balenciaga

A presentation of the new clothing line played a big role for Balenciaga fashion house. For the lookbook, two leading luxury companies decided to hold a creative photoshoot. The models were photographed with natural landscapes on the background — this way the designers wanted to stress the acute problem of preserving the environment. To make the album for the collection, the brand blurred the background on all photos in order to emphasise the fragility of nature. While the rare representatives of fauna are depicted clearly.

The lookbook of the exclusive collection from Balenciaga

The fashion house expresses its concern with the current ecological situation. CEO of the label, Cédric Charbit, encourages all fashion connoisseurs to support organizations aiming to save rare animal species. A part of a profit from sales of the limited collection will be donated to The International Union for Conservation of Nature — the Swiss charity organization. Moreover, Cédric Charbit mentioned that Balenciaga shares with the organization the same values.

According to José Neves, the founder of Farfetch, the brand Balenciaga is very popular among users of the online platform. He considers this partnership pretty advantageous, because it will bring new clients. The e-tailer represented exclusive wear which can be purchased only through the company’s web site.

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He foresaw his death
Football player "Cardiff City" Emiliano Sala wrote a farewell message from the aircraft

Reading time 4 minutes

The shocking news of the death of Emiliano Sal — Argentine footballer, Cardiff City striker — spread on January 22, when a private plane heading from Nantes to Cardiff disappeared from radars in the English Channel. It is noted that before the disappearance, the pilots requested an emergency landing. According to The Sun, experts in the field of aviation called the possible cause of the crash of an aircraft icing wings. Near the alleged crash site were found the wreckage of the aircraft.

Two days before the incident, Emiliano Sala signed a three-year contract with the Cardiff City team of Wales. He became the most expensive transfer in the history of the club and cost the leadership of 20 million euros. After the signing of the new agreement, the Argentine striker returned to France, where he played since 2010, to say goodbye to former teammates and friends before moving to Wales.

Before the flight, Sala sent several emotional messages to the group chat with his friends. “I am aboard a plane that looks as if it is falling apart now, I’m going to Cardiff. If in one and a half hours there will be no news from me, I don’t know if they will send someone to look for me, because they will not find it, but … you already know. Father! I am very scared,” the Clarin newspaper quotes the words of a striker.

Сало с одноклубниками — Форвард приехал во Францию попрощаться со своими друзьями и одноклубниками

Famous football players, including Messi, Mbappa, Gundogan and others, together with the family of the missing person, are making their efforts to continue the search for a football player. But the chances are negligible. “I don’t think they are still alive,” the GFFN quoted the air search officer.

Фанаты скорбят по футболисту — Футбольные фанаты возлагают цветы в память о своем кумире

On January 29, a match in the memory of Emiliano Sala between Cardiff City and London Arsenal took place as part of the 24th round. Before the meeting, the team captains laid flowers on the field. At the request of the football player’s family, the players of the Welsh team will not be mourning symbols: faith in the good does not leave the family to the last.

New shades of erotica from Erica James
The author of the world bestseller announced her new novel

Reading time 4 minutes

Erica Leonard James who gained acknowledge in the world of literature due to the raucous trilogy about «50 Shades…» announced her new novel named «The Mister» .

In January, 24 in the author’s official account the photo occurred which illustrated the book with presupposed cover and planned release date – april, 16. For more detailed information the writer directed all her fans on her official website where one can find an intrigue beginning of the plot. Like Mr.Grey, Maksim Trevelyan has careless life. He owns money, connections, wonderful appearance and hearts and bodies of many girls… Erica James calls her novel «A Cinderella story for the 21 century» . Besides, the writer offers to get acquainted with several parts of the new work. The book is ready for pre-ordering on the official site of Penguin publishing house in Great Britain and the USA where it is included in the list of books required reading in 2019.

Judging a barrage of comments under the publication and numerous articles and news items in foreign and Russian mass-media the book has all possibilities to become a bestseller and win hearts of billion readers. It is noticeable that other photos and publications in the writer’s account hardly counts 100-200 comments, yet on the announcement there was more than 2000 responds.

Erotic novels by Erica James are extremely popular. «Fifty shades of grey» overcame famous «Twilight” and «Harry Potter» by the number of sales over the short period of time. In Russia the book translated into Russian and published in «Eksmo» became a bestseller as well. After it, the author proceeded seria and presented other two parts of this story: «Fifty shades darker» and «Fifty shades of freedom» .

BDSM, beautifull views and affluent life became a formula of success for novels

The movie was made on the plot. In several Russia regions (Osetia and Karachai-Cherkesia) these films were withdrew from broadcasting on ethical grounds. Films gained a host of adverse feedbacks, however, it didn’t prevent from obtaining record box office.

Incident in Paris
Picture of Banksy was stolen from the Bataclan

Reading time 4 minutes

The work of British artist Banksy, painted as a tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack in 2015, was stolen from the Bataclan music hall in Paris. The work, which depicts a young woman with a mournful face, was cut and removed from one of the emergency doors of the concert venue.

вап — Banksy’s picture is estimated to be worth millions

The police are trying to find the thieves and return the work of art, which is approximately estimated to cost millions of euros. The alarm inside the Bataclan reportedly rang around 4: 25 am. Police found a screwdriver near the scene of the painting theft. Also, law enforcement agencies found the witness who reported that had seen the white truck and three suspicious people near a crime scene.

The attack in Bataclan was the bloodiest of a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris. In November 2015, 90 people were killed when gunmen attacked spectators during a rock concert.

После теракта парижане приносили к стенам Батаклана цветы в дань памяти погибшим — After the attack Parisians brought flowers to the walls of Bataklan in tribute to the memory of the dead

Francois Vaulin, mayor of the 11th district of Paris, said: “this silhouette was made by the artist for free. It was an altruistic gesture, a tribute to the memory of the victims of the terrorist attack and their loved ones, and I am very sad that people stole the picture, not understanding what it represents.”

The leadership of Bataclan expressed its deep indignation on Twitter that they had taken away the symbol of memory belonging to all: local residents, Parisians, citizens of the world. “The painting had significance in this particular place, so we decided to keep it there so that it would be accessible to everyone.”

Banksy’s picture appeared on one of the garages in the UK

Over the past decade, the art of Banksy has become extremely popular and in demand. One of his works, which appeared in one of the garages in the UK, was recently sold for a “six-figure amount.”

Who is Banksy

Banksy is a popular British graffiti artist. He keeps his identity a secret.

His graffiti paintings appear in public places, for example, on the walls of buildings. His work is distinguished by a special style that people can easily recognize.

In the early 1990s, he began painting trains and walls in his hometown of Bristol. In the 2000s, his work went beyond Bristol and soon became a significant phenomenon of world culture.

Earlier in January 2018 graffiti was found at the station of the monorail in Tokyo. The pattern has similarities with the well-known picture of Banksy’s “Rat-umbrella”, he also depicts a rat-parachutist with an umbrella.

What dry starvation is, and how it affects our health
Is organism able to supply the water scarcity dissolving lipids?

Reading time 4 minutes

What dry starvation constitutes

The method gist implies: a human completely refuses not only any food but also water during 1-3 days. This is a gentle form. A harsh form of dry starvation is the prohibition of all water procedures, even washing and toothbrushing.

Dry starvation proponents say that due to the liquids scarcity an organism is forced to rapidly supply its lipid tissue. There are 100-120 billion of lipid cells in human body. Lipids are the hugest energetic and water depo as during lipolysis (fat digestion) water is being produced. This is endogenous, or internal moisture. It is presupposed that it will be enough for the first few days not to die from the dehydration.

Except weight lose this method, allegedly, aids to avoid edema and even exclude inflamed areas: microorganisms whereas they are viruses or microbes also need water for reproduction.

The idea is interesting and charming, yet the truth is that beneficials are not scientifically substantiated.

What world medical society says about dry starvation

Nothing. It prefers to ignore the existence of this method.

The consumers of the popular news source Reddit tried to argument profitability (or at least harmlessness) of dry diet and were able to find just several links on scientific researches. However, the existing ones are not allowed to consider as exhaustive and undeniable.

For instance, one group of scientists made a research of the influence of a five-day water abstinence on a person. It didn’t reflect negatively on a testee health. On the contrary, their bodies lost in volume, and kidneys work enhanced.

Nevertheless, only 10 grown-up, physically healthy people participated in the experiment. Its results are not applicable for all human beings.

Dry starvation was mentioned in the handbook for physicians published in the Ministry of Health and Social Development 14 years ago. it is claimed, in particular, that an organism easier overcomes waterless starvation then orthodox with maintenance of drinking. Besides, it aids when a person is intending to lose weight and cure some illnesses. Authors equate three days without water and food to the week of non-refuse of food and water. Unfortunately, their claims are disapproved, that is why it is not allowed to believe them.

What, in fact, happens when an organism is dehydrated

Weight is really wasted and rapidly enough. Frankly, you will not be happy for a long time: such fluctuations of the body mass are mainly connected with liquid loss, not lipid tissue, and after drinking recovery kilos will return again.

This ends up with nominal advantages of dry starvation and it is time to speak about minuses which are numeral.

It is significantly easier to find information about negative consequences of food refusal. metabolic rate unstoppably going in our organism and maintaining our life is impossible without food. Due to the water lack metabolism is being slowed down, and it, at first, effects brain work.

The following symptoms catching up in the first days:

dizziness
headache
unreasonable apatia
concentration loss

The further, the worst. Doctors warn: it is fraught with hypoxia, kidneys illnesses, crampings and pre-existing conditions due to the broken transfer of neural impulses.

Summing it up, it is essential to note that dry starvation transfer a person to the extremal for his life conditions. Its value is not proved and harm is.

Loose lips sink ships
Why you should not chat about your aims but to formulate them correctly

Reading time 4 minutes

New year means new plans and new aims. People can’t wait to share them with others! For example, to tell that you are going to learn a second language, lose weight, learn to draw and so on. But after a while motivation to do it disappears somewhere and created to-do list gathering dust on the shelf. We will tell you why it happens and how to set targets.

Mental traps

It may seem, what’s wrong with sharing your plans for the future? You have told, you have dreamed and… sit on your plans. It seems to be so anxious to implement the conceived as quickly as it’s possible, but soon your aspiration disappeared. That is happening because a person, who talks to someone about his or her plans, falls into a trap without noticing it. The brain does not see the difference between reality and imagination. In one of the researches published in APS, scientists have concluded that when a person wants to deliver on target, consciousness tries to help: it is looking for ways to achieve the goal, calculates all the tracks and chooses the best.

However, if people tell others about their plans, the brain takes desirable for real. In psychology, this is called social reality, the effect of having consciousness trapped in a completed action, feeling that everything is already done.

«Smart» formula

Instead of rattling about your plans it is better to articulate the goal for yourself. A clear statement of purpose is the first step towards achieving it, so it is important to pay special attention to the correct formulation. To do this, there is a universal formula SMART, which will help to set the goal properly.

SMART is an abbreviation, each letter of which indicates what the purpose should be. SMART stands for the following:

S – specific. The goal should be specific, for this you need to define clearly the outcome, what should happen after it is achieved;

M – measurable. The formulation should contain clear quantitative or qualitative indicators that the goal has been achieved;

A – achievable. When setting a goal, it is important to understand whether you have a chance to achieve it;

R – relevant. Moving to the goal will be easier if you understand for what you need it;

T – time based. The time frame is necessary to ensure that the goal set for a year will not be postponed to the next one.

Incorrectly	Correctly
To lose weight	By June, lose 7 kg (from 67 kg to 60 kg) to go to the sea

Set goals correctly and achieve them!