A WHALE’S SWAN SONG Ever wonder what happens to the whales that wash up dead on the beach? Their caracasses are so large that they can create, “whale falls, as marine biologists call such events, create pop-up habitats that may serve as stepping stones for organisms migrating from methane seeps or hydrothermal vents to other parts of the ocean. Precisely how this works, and which species colonize the carcass as it degrades, were open questions [the scientists] hoped to answer,” said The New Yorker.
“For denizens of the seafloor, a whale fall is like a Las Vegas buffet—an improbable bounty in the middle of the desert. Rosebud had delivered about a thousand years’ worth of food in one fell swoop. The first animals to pounce had been scavengers, such as sleeper sharks and slimy, snake-like hagfish. In the course of about six months, they had eaten most of the skin and muscle. Inevitably, the scavengers had scattered pieces of flesh around the whale carcass, and native microbes had multiplied quickly around those scraps. Their feeding frenzy, in turn, had depleted oxygen in the seafloor’s top layers, creating niches for microbes that could make methane or breathe sulfate. “
MARVEL’S DONE CHILLING WITH NETFLIX With Disney’s streaming service on the horizon, Netflix has now announced the cancellation of the last of its Marvel shows: Jessica Jones and the Punisher. Jones who finished shooting their third season will air later this year. Says The Hollywood Reporter: “Marvel’s The Punisher will not return for a third season on Netflix. Showrunner Steve Lightfoot, the terrific crew, and exceptional cast including star Jon Bernthal, delivered an acclaimed and compelling series for fans, and we are proud to showcase their work on Netflix for years to come. “In addition, in reviewing our Marvel programming, we have decided that the upcoming third season will also be the final season for Marvel’s Jessica Jones. We are grateful to showrunner Melissa Rosenberg, star Krysten Ritter and the entire cast and crew for three incredible seasons of this groundbreaking series, which was recognized by the Peabody Awards among many others. We are grateful to Marvel for five years of our fruitful partnership and thank the passionate fans who have followed these series from the beginning.’
The wave of cancellations comes as Marvel parent company Disney will launch its Netflix rival streaming service — Disney+ — in late 2019. The subscription video-on-demand platform will feature some of Marvel’s biggest box office stars (including Tom Hiddleston) reprising their roles in TV spinoffs, in addition to new scripted live-action Star Wars series and offshoots of other Disney-owned IP.”
CHERRY PICKED 30 celebrities reveal the age they lost their virginity over at Just Jared. “Many of the celebs on this list first had sex when they were in their teenage years. However, there are some instances where stars had sex earlier in life. One star on this list had sex for the first time at age eight. Others on this list waited until marriage to have sex.”
DEATH OF AN ICON Jaqueline Kennedy-Onassis’ sister Princess Lee Radziwell died over the weekend at age 85. In their obituary The New York Times said of Radziwell: “It cannot have been easy living in the shadow of one of the world’s most famous women, the wife of President John F. Kennedy, and Mrs. Radziwill was hardly immune to competitive instincts. Jackie Kennedy had helped create the mystique of the thousand days of Camelot — a woman who had made her new home a place of elegance and culture, who had brought babies into the White House for the first time in the 20th century.
In a brief telephone interview for this obituary, Mrs. Radziwill scoffed at the notion that she had had an affair with Mr. Onassis, and insisted that she had ‘no regrets, none at all,’ about her relationship with her sister, which was widely reported to have been strained after Mrs. Kennedy married Mr. Onassis.”
SPEAKING OF GREEKS Dionyssis Arvanitakis, a baker on the island of Kos who made food and helped shelter thousands of Syrian refugees, has died says The Pappas Post.
THIS HOT BRAZILIAN saves dogs too. We’re in love. “Amarildo Silva is a Brazilian handyman who decided to tackle the problem of littering in a unique way. The young man helps reduce the amount of old discarded tires in the streets by recycling them into unique and colorful animal beds. He started the project two years ago and does not plan on stopping anytime soon,” according to D-Milked.
NO WAY Is the Bronx–the borough that gave birth the world wide pheneoma of hip-hop finally getting a museum worth its stature? “The Universal Hop Hop Museum will open in Bronx Point in a few years, and we can’t imagine a better place for it to call home. “The Bronx has birthed many famous hip hop artists, so it’s only right that this museum be located here. The new museum is expected to break ground later this year at 65 East 149th Street along the Harlem River,” according to Secret NYC.
“The UHHM was founded by Rocky Bucano, Kurtis Blow, Shawn LG Thomas, Grandwizzard Theodore, Mickey Bentson, and Joe Conzo Jr; and they’ve gotten together with artists like LL Cool J, Ice T, and Chuck D to create a star-studded board. The museum was originally slated to open its doors in 2022, but according to a recent interview between Pix 11 and Kurtis Blow, the date has been set back to 2023 which will also mark the 50th anniversary of hip hop.”
TRANSFORMATIVE TRANS MODEL Aaron Phillips is Black, trans, and disabled, and she may be the future of modeling. “Born with cerebral palsy and identifying as a gender-non-conforming trans woman, Philip is an unprecedented force in mainstream fashion. Although she consistently rejects the activist label (“i’m not an activist,” she tweeted in December, “i just give a f*** lol.”), the Antigua-born model is nonetheless vocal about her high expectations for the industry. ‘It shouldn’t be the responsibility of anyone who is marginalized to amplify their voice when there are so many voices that can amplify (it for) them,’ she added. ‘But it’s just the way of getting to where you need to be. So I’ll do it. And hopefully I’ll do it so that other girls in my position don’t have to — they can just live and do their jobs.’ With trans visibility surging in recent years (gender non-conforming models have earned a significant presence at the ‘big four’ fashion weeks), Philip now sees disability, rather than race or gender, as the most prominent target of industry discrimination,” reported CNN.
GOD AND STATE Cuba’s churches reject gay marriage before the vote on their new constitution. “More than 100 married couples dressed in their wedding clothes have gathered on the Malecón coastal boulevard to renew their wedding vows and protest against gay marriage being allowed in Cuba. The protest is the latest in an unprecedented campaign by evangelical churches against elements of the island’s new constitution, which will be put to a referendum next Sunday,” reported The Guardian.
Back in December we reported that “LGBT Cuban residents have been excited about the possibility of the legalization of gay marriage since Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel expressed he was in favor of the constitutional amendment back in September. Speaking in a television interview on TeleSur he said, “the approach of recognizing marriage between two people, without limitations, responds to a problem of eliminating all types of discrimination in society.”
LIL XAN HAVING A LIL BABY Last time we saw Lil’ Xan he had just survived a Cheeto overdose (true story). But DListed says, “Yesterday, 22-year-old Lil X and his girlfriend, Annie Smith, went on Instagram to let all of their fans know that yes, Xan is also enough to make sperm that works. Who knew! It was quite a long-winded post just to say “LOL I didn’t pull out lol,” and he also was sure to use the opportunity to plug his upcoming new album BE SAFE which is all about the correct number of hot Cheetos one human can ingest without dying.”
I wonder if Lil’ Ativan is already taken.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH Still has ten more days. Novelist Brian Keith Jackson dedicates today to the lesbian poet Audre Lord.
HAPPY BELATED VALENTINES Bros & Brosephines from Slava Mogutin.
