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Category: Blog

Cruella and the DeVil-ish Pandemic Movie Experience

As I nestled into my leather seat at the new dine-in theater in Philadelphia, I began accepting my fate: “Hey, so it cost you $50 to see a movie by yourself,” I bargained in my head as a sipped my soda and consumed 30 minutes of ads. “At least you can name your article, ‘I Paid $50 to See a Movie in a Pandemic so You Don’t Have To.'”

But within minutes of the introduction to “Cruella,” my regrets melted like butter on movie theater popcorn (yes, I’m a lactose-intolerant vegan — movie theater popcorn and Werther’s caramels are my vices, so sue me).

“Cruella” was worth every single penny. The storyline was as intricately woven as the fashion throughout the film, the acting was absolutely incredible, the cinematography was great, and don’t even get me STARTED on that soundtrack.

Yet, the true cherry on top wasn’t necessarily a product of the film itself.

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Tune-In Tuesdays #108: “Soft Bits In,” a Chiptune Tribute to the Flaming Lips is Now on Kickstarter

Levi “Doctor Octoroc” has recently kicked off the Kickstarter campaign for “Soft Bits In,” his chiptune take on The Flaming Lips’ album, “The Soft Bulletin.”

Backers can enjoy a variety of rewards for pledging their support to the campaign, including: a deluxe digital download of the album, a special edition vinyl press, a two-hour “Chiptunes 101” master class with Doctor Octoroc, and a chiptune track produced just for you by Doctor Octoroc himself.

“‘The Soft Bulletin’ was one of the first albums I ever saw in a store and was like, ‘I want this album,'” Doctor Octoroc said during our interview about “Soft Bits” In last year. “It’s an album that I love, an album that I thought would go really well in the format, so I decided to go for that.”

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How Entheogenic Plants & Fungi Affect Memory

A major area of psychedelic research is its potential clinical applications in psychiatry. In particular, a major area of study has concentrated on the potential therapeutic effects of shrooms, acid, and MDMA for treating post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Memory plays a central role in the psychedelic experience,” begins a 2020 Psychopharmacology review. “The ability for psychedelics to provoke vivid memories has been considered important to their clinical efficacy.”

Throughout their review, the researchers found that psychedelics enhance autobiographical memory recall, which has therapeutic potential for overcoming traumatic experiences. However, psychedelics also have a dose-dependent effect of impairing memory task performance.

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Tune-In Tuesdays #107: Melodie Muggy on Releasing her First Song, “Chunkawunk”

Colorful, vivacious, and down-to-earth, artist and musician Melodie Muggy has recently released her first song, “Chunkawunk.”

Last week, we spoke with Muggy via Zoom to learn more about her passion for music, her art and jewelry shops online, as well as her values. Muggy also shared some great advice for artists and musicians who are gearing up to release their first creations.

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Thought-to-Text Interfaces are Just Around the Corner

While mind-reading interfaces that convert thoughts to text sound like a dystopian sci-fi plot that could go horribly wrong disturbingly fast, the reality may not be so far away — or as fallible, either.

When you first hear “thought to text,” your knee-jerk response might be, “Uhh, no way. What if I have an intrusive thought that I don’t really mean to send? Or an impulse to text someone I know I shouldn’t?” But the most recent brain-computer face interface studies don’t rely on decoding your internal monologue or raw thoughts.

Rather, researchers have programmed a brain-computer interface that decodes “attempted handwriting movements” from motor cortex activity. This technology allows people who have been paralyzed for years to imagine handwriting and translate that into texting at speeds of 90 characters per minute with 94.1 percent accuracy, which is comparable to average smartphone typing speeds.

Furthermore, that accuracy climbs to 99 percent with general-purpose autocorrect.

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Health Diary Digital PDF Planner — Now Available on ETSY!

Editor burgundy bug has just released her Health Diary PDF planner templates on Etsy! The health diary comes in three different versions: a flattened PDF, fillable PDF, and DELUXE BUNDLE.

Along with both the flattened and fillable PDF templates, the deluxe bundle includes 22 free digital stickers to decorate your planners with. Burgundy Bug is also running a 25 percent off sale on all of her physical prints and stickers to celebrate the release of her Health Diary PDF.

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