Inneresting 56
issue 56
June 18th, 2021
Fact-Checking Fiction
Smithsonian Magazine spoke with archaeologists to explain what Raiders of the Lost Ark gets wrong about their profession (and what beliefs it reinforces).
Phil Plait shares a point-by-point dissection of errors in Armaggedon. Follow that up with a chaser about the probability of NASA blowing up a rogue asteroid for real.
T3 made a quick list of sci-fi films that failed to depict technology accurately or predict future tech thoughtfully.
Based on True Stories?
Information Is Beautiful took films based on true stories and created scene-by-scene breakdowns on their relationship to the truth. Acknowledging that a good story sometimes bends the facts, they included a setting for the level of pedantry you want in their analysis.
For some deeper looks at the truthiness of specific biopics:
Slate looks at The Imitation Game.
Time turns a critical eye at The Theory of Everything.
Sonia Saraiya parses what The Social Network got wrong about the founding of Facebook.
Angela Watercutter considers how the movie may have gotten details wrong, but The Social Network offered insights into what Facebook would become.
Doing Better Research
In an effort to dismantle stereotypes, the Danish organization The Human Library is working to allow people from marginalized identities to tell their stories directly.
The Hollywood, Health & Society program of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center offers informational resources for writers on topics related to health, safety, and security.
Highland How To: Keeping Your Notes Organized
You can build up a lot of information writing a project, and Highland 2 has handy places to store those details you want to keep consistent.
You can write notes directly in your text that stay hidden for print and export.
You can use The Bin to store snippets of text as reminders or pieces you want to use later.
The Scratchpad gives you a blank page to use like a sticky note or static list to refer to.
To find out more about how Highland 2 can help you get words on the page, check out our Knowledge Base!
Other Cool Things
Satisfy your inner Dr. Ian Malcolm with a simulation of dropping a raindrop anywhere in the contiguous U.S. and tracing its path to the ocean.
A poem by Heidi Priebe, “To Love Someone Long-Term Is to Attend a Thousand Funerals of the People They Used to Be”
A recent research paper suggests extraterrestrial life could colonize a galaxy without the capability of faster-than-light travel.
And that’s what’s inneresting this week!
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Educating Audiences on the COVID-19 Vaccines
A Summit for Film & TV Writers
Tuesday, June 29th
5-6PM PST / 8-9PM EST
Online Registration
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