Spring into reading a new book.
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God Help the Child by Toni Morrison
Knopf
Toni Morrison
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domenica 19 aprile 2015
This Is How Australia's Immigration Policies Are Being Praised Overseas
“Australians are like British people but with balls of steel, can-do brains, tiny hearts and whacking great gunships.”
Leon Neal / Getty Images
Ian Gavan / Getty Images
Farage, whose right-wing UKIP party is hoping to substantially increase its vote in next month's UK election, has put Australia's migration model at the centre of his plans to control who comes to the UK from around the European Union.
On Sunday he blamed EU leaders for the current situation, which has seen hundreds of people die in the Mediterranean this year trying to flee war-torn Libya.
The latest disaster saw 650 people drown off the Libyan coast yesterday.
At the UKIP party launch on the outskirts of London last week, Farage laid out plans for an "Australian-style points based immigration system", which he argues would crackdown on low-skilled migrants coming to the UK.
The Australian system would grant visas to skilled migrants and takes into account their age, work experience and health.
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If The Students At Hogwarts Had Superlatives
Who do you think kisses like a dementor at Hogwarts?
Candace Lowry / BuzzFeed, Thinkstock, Warner Bros.
Candace Lowry / BuzzFeed, Thinkstock, Warner Bros.
Candace Lowry / BuzzFeed, Thinkstock, Warner Bros.
Candace Lowry / BuzzFeed, Thinkstock, Warner Bros.
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19 Disney Characters Spotted At Sydney Fashion Week
“Who is that girl I see staring straight back at me?”
Aladdin walking the runway for Ashkar Line.
Getty Images / Disney
Mulan walking the runway for Tome.
Getty Images / Disney
Flora, the Sleeping Beauty fairy, walking the runway for Bondi Bather.
Getty Images / Disney
Minnie Mouse, spotted on Street Style wearing a Chanel brooch and a Louis Vuitton purse.
Getty Images / Disney
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The Net Neutrality Debate Is Coming To Australia
Optus CEO opens a can of worms.
Optus CEO Allan Lew has hinted that he'd like to charge streaming services such as Netflix, Presto and Stan extra to ensure a quality service.
Lew made the comments at the Commsday summit in Sydney on Monday morning, where he said Optus would consider charging services a premium fee "to ensure that the optimised, or the best customer experience is achieved by the end user.
"We need to make sure that the [over-the-top providers] — whether they're Netflix or others — understand that to preserve the network quality and give you an HD video in the homes, they need to work collaboratively with us," Fairfax reports.
At the same time, Lew, the CEO of one of Australia's biggest ISPs, said Optus would "continue to preserve Net Neutrality."
Roslan Rahman / Getty Images
Just last week Netflix re-affirmed its commitment to Net Neutrality.
In an investor note during its quarterly earnings report last week, Netflix said it regretted a deal it gave to Optus and iiNet customers which allowed them to stream as many shows as they wanted without it counting towards their monthly data limit.
Netflix said this was a violation of its belief in Net Neutrality.
Getty Images Latam / Getty Images
What is Net Neutrality?
Net neutrality, or the Open Internet, is the concept that all traffic and data online should be treated equally, regardless of which ISP a user is signed up to. Without it, ISPs would be able to charge users more for better internet speeds, essentially dividing the internet into fast and slow lanes.
It may also let ISPs give preference to certain websites, such as a site that the ISP itself owns or makes money from.
It’s a big deal in the US where some lawmakers have been trying to allow internet providers to do just that.
BuzzFeed News has contacted Optus and Netflix for comment.
House of Cards / Netflix
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World Shames Australia For "Unfair" Emissions Target
China, US challenge Australian government’s commitment to climate action.
Some of the world's biggest emitters are openly criticising Australia's 5% emissions reduction target, accusing the Abbott government of having a "low level of ambition".
China, the European Union, the United States, Switzerland, Brazil and Saudi Arabia lodged 36 questions to the UN for Australia to answer, ahead of the December global climate summit in Paris.
23 countries received queries under the UN's Multilateral Assessment Process, but the ABC reports Australia faces more questions than any other country.
Hamish Blair / Getty Images
CBS / mygifdump.tumblr.com
Australia has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5% below 2000 levels by 2020, and has not yet set any targets beyond 2020.
This compares to a U.S. emissions target of 26-28% below 2000 levels by 2025. China's target is 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2020 and Brazil has committed to 36-39% below business-as-usual levels by 2020.
Torsten Blackwood / Getty Images
Dreamworks
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12 Reasons Australia Is Actually Better When It Rains
Straight up take your sun and sand away from me.
OK - So we all know that Australia is all about the beach and having a laugh and straight up drinking in the sun but lemme just quote Shirley Manson right now:
And I'm pretty sure I'm not alone here.
Garbage VEVO / Via youtube.com
The rain gives you an excuse not to have to deal with other people. Legit just don't go outside. Try it, it's awesome. I do it literally every day.
Revolution Studios
So there's even less chance of running into someone you don't like.
NBC
Also, like, there is ~literally~ nothing better than sitting inside in the warmth all cuddled up while it rains outside.
NBC
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These Baby White Tigers Are Adorably Majestic
Four white tiger cubs have been born at the Tobu Zoo in Japan, and they’ll make their public debut this week.
Four white tigers will soon make their debut at a Japanese zoo and — spoiler alert — they're adorable.
Yoshikazu Tsuno / Getty Images
The male cubs were born Jan. 25 at the Tobu Zoo in Miyashiro, which is north of Tokyo.
Yoshikazu Tsuno / Getty Images
The playful li'l guys will make their public debut on Wednesday.
Yoshikazu Tsuno / Getty Images
Yoshikazu Tsuno / Getty Images
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Meet The Man Who Is Helping Redefine Modern Horror
Jason Blum, the producer behind Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and The Purge, has found a way to turn low-budget horror into mainstream success.
Shelley Hennig in Unfriended.
Universal Pictures
Jason Blum.
Rich Polk / Getty
Jason Blum is producing some of Hollywood's riskiest films, even though he doesn't see it that way. As the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, he's found a unique niche by producing low-budget horror that often has mainstream appeal.
"I think the lower the budget is, the more you charge forward with new ideas, as opposed to modeling movies on prior successes," Blum told BuzzFeed News in an interview at The Redbury, a boutique hotel in the heart of Hollywood.
Several of his films — including Paranormal Activity, The Purge, and Insidious — have launched successful multimillion-dollar franchises, and his latest production could do the same. Unfriended, which is now in theaters, is a found footage ghost story set entirely inside a computer. The film follows a group of high school friends being terrorized on Skype and Facebook by their dead friend, Laura (Heather Sossaman), who killed herself after an embarrassing video of her drunken escapades went viral.
"The low budget is a crucial part of our business," Blum said. "If Unfriended were a $20 million movie it never would get made."
Blumhouse caps films at around $4 million. (Sequels tend to be higher budget, given the proven success of the first and the need to draw back the original talent.) Even if a film only gets a limited release, Blumhouse will almost always at least make back their investment. It's a tactic that allows Blum and his colleagues to bet on more innovative projects.
"Hollywood has a real tendency of, Oh, this movie worked. Let's make a movie like it. And I like to push our company to do the opposite, which is, You know what? Let's try new stuff," Blum said. "I'm able to give filmmakers final cut and say, 'Do what you wanna do,' because we don't actually have that much risk. I couldn't be as loose if we were making movies for $10 million."
The fact that Blumhouse films embrace high-concept ideas has given them an edge with horror fans and, to some extent, critics: The original Paranormal Activity earned an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes, while Insidious has a respectable 66%. And Unfriended looks to be on a similar track.
"The two things that draw me to movies, these days anyway, are: Is it unique and is it scary? I think those things are linked," he said. "Does it feel like something we haven't seen before, or are there aspects that feel like aspects we haven't seen before? Does it really get under your skin? And I feel like those boxes were very checked with Unfriended."
To better understand the Blumhouse strategy, BuzzFeed News asked Blum for insight into some of his biggest successes and failures, and what he's learned from each.
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After Finding Out Her Fiancé Had Weeks To Live, This Woman Planned Their Perfect Wedding In Just Six Days
The wedding took place in the hospital’s chapel, complete with a personal message from Ed Sheeran to “drink a lot, dance a lot, and have a lot of sex.”
When Laura Jordan found out her fiancé Jack had only weeks to live, she planned the perfect wedding in just six days.
Jack, 23, had battled leukaemia since 2013 and undergone multiple rounds of intensive chemotherapy.
Caters News Agency
Jack had proposed to Laura, 24, three months ago – and the pair had expected to marry after Jack's recovery.
Caters News Agency
The couple, from Brixham, Devon, first met at school as teenagers, and began a relationship in 2012 when Laura would frequently visit the corner shop where Jack worked.
"I knew the minimum spend on a debit card was five pounds," Laura told Caters News. "So I purposely never took cash so I could take longer choosing things in the shop that would equal over that amount."
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Rick Perry Invites Conservative Journalists To Off-The-Record Happy Hour
The former Texas governor summons Washington’s right-leaning opinion-makers ahead of a likely 2016 campaign announcement.
Darren McCollester / Getty
Rick Perry's aides are quietly inviting conservative journalists to an off-the-record happy hour in Washington next week — an event that some invitees believe will serve as prelude to the former Texas governor's presidential campaign announcement.
Emails from the Perry camp — one of which was passed along to BuzzFeed News — instruct recipients that they must RSVP to learn the exact location of the April 21 gathering, and include a note that the invitation is "not transferable."
Writers at the Washington Examiner, TheBlaze, Breitbart News, Townhall, and RedState, among others, have received invites.
At least some of the invitations were sent by Erin DeLullo, a Republican fundraiser and operative who recently joined Perry's political action committee as "national coalitions director." DeLullo — who has worked for conservative insurgents like Sen. Ted Cruz and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli — specializes in connecting Tea Party-aligned candidates with well-funded, influential institutions on the right, like Club for Growth. Her portfolio will also apparently include working to generate buzz for Perry in Washington's conservative press, where many harbor doubts about his 2016 prospects.
Perry entered the last presidential race to much fanfare in late 2011, but his repeated viral gaffes and painfully clumsy debate performances — combined with an immigration position that some conservatives found heretical — led to one of the more spectacular meltdowns of the 2012 Republican primaries. And while his record of job-creation in Texas and deep ties to the Religious Right make him a well-regarded figure to many in his party, Perry's flame-out continues to loom large.
"There's huge skepticism," said one of the conservative journalists invited to the happy hour, adding, "Everyone likes him, but they don't think he has a shot."
The invitee said Perry's happy hour will likely be aimed at persuading conservative opinion-makers that his imminent presidential bid is a credible one. But he believes Cruz's entry into the race gives Perry little room to maneuver. "Most have already cast their lot with a tough-talking conservative from Texas. And it's not Perry," he said.
DeLullo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Good evening,
I wanted to invite you to an off the record happy hour with Governor Perry on April 21st from 4:00-5:00pm.
Please rsvp by April 19th and I'll send you the location.
This invitation is not transferableFeel free to contact me with any questions.
Best,
Erin DeLullo
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