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Friday, February 14, 2014
Jackson outburst shows problems with ‘other’ faces
Associated Press Writer
“They all look alike.” There may be something behind this age-old canard: Science indicates that people can have a hard time differentiating between faces of people whose race is different from their own. But for black people, being mistaken for someone else can have a special sting, which may explain why the movie star Samuel L. Jackson eviscerated a white TV reporter for mistaking him for Laurence Fishburne. “We may be all black and famous, but we all don’t look alike!” Jackson exclaimed. He proceeded to ridicule the reporter, refusing to move on despite profuse apologies. It was a situation that’s familiar to many groups in a diverse society conscious of demographic boxes. AsianAmericans get confused with people who aren’t even from their ancestral countries. Blondes get mistaken for other blondes who look nothing like them. Straight people accidentally call lesbians the name of the other lesbian they know.
“Americans have been socialized to place people in categories,” said Josie Brown-Rose, an English professor at Western New England University. “Everything from a job application to a college application requires us to selfidentify into racial groups and locate ourselves with in a specific collective.” “Oftentimes when we look at individuals, it is the collective that we see first.” Scientific studies have identified the “other race effect,” in which people tend to confuse or incorrectly name individuals of other races, said Thomas Busey, an Indiana University psychology profes-
sor who studies face recognition. There are two theories for why this happens, Busey said. One is that people focus on the wrong physical cues — hair color and texture may be a good way to distinguish white people, for example, but it doesn’t work so well for Asians. The other theory is that people who have little contact with other races are more likely to think they all look the same. “If we have less contact with other races, we’re less likely to learn the real cues,” Busey said. He has fallen victim to the “other race effect” himself: Once, Busey was 20 minutes into a conversation with one of his black students when he realized he thought she was the only other black person in the class. Yet Busey has made the same kind of error with a white student. Which raises questions about why Jackson reacted so strongly, and whether it was an innocent mistake when TV reporter Sam Rubin confused Jackson with Fishburne.
‘About Last Night’ redo tempers melodrama Associated Press Writer
There can never be too many tales about a one-night stand turned longterm love affair. Perhaps the allure comes from the hope that anyone can fall hard, despite the lack of a courtship. The latest take on this scenario, a reimagined version of the 1986 hit “About Last Night...,” offers a modern spin on the challenges of connecting with strange bedfellows; a reboot that is as satisfying as breakfast in bed the morning after an unexpected rendezvous. Based on David Mamet’s 1974 play, “Sexual Perversity in Chicago,” the 1980s film adaptation, which starred Demi Moore and Rob Lowe, centered on 20-something yuppies in Chicago. The Leslye Headland (“Bachelorette”) penned “About Last Night” focuses on African-American singles in their 30s navigating the dating world in contemporary downtown Los Angeles. Most of the original plot points remain the same: Danny (Michael Ealy) and Debbie (Joy Bryant) play a pair attempting to avoid dating because they have been hurt in the past. But after they meet at a bar — and sleep together that same night — they begin a relationship, shack up, break up and reunite. Kevin Hart and Regina Hall portray dysfunctional couple Bernie, Danny’s crude best bud, and Joan, Deb-
bie’s pessimistic roommate. Bernie and Joan also jump into bed the first night they meet. Similar to the way Vince Vaughn and Isla Fisher stole the show with their unforgettably bizarre romance in “Wedding Crashers” as a dysfunctional, lusty pair, Hart and Hall are the best part of this film. They play the couple you know all too well: fiery, able to press one another’s buttons
and always caught in the makeup to breakup game. Hall offers one of her most impressive performances. Her sharp comedic timing is on par with rising funnyman Hart’s. Whether attempting a drunken quickie in a bathroom stall, fighting over who should be on top during sex or trading hateful quips, their scenes together are always playful, absurd and clever.
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Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
FILE - In this Friday, Dec. 7, 2012 file photo, host Samuel L. Jackson stands on stage in front of a video screen showing fire at Spike’s 10th Annual Video Game Awards at Sony Studios in Culver City, Calif.
Heavy storm battered Britain
Mass power cuts, one man dead LONDON - Hurricane-force winds from an Atlantic storm left tens of thousands of Britons without power Thursday and one man dead, adding to widespread misery after devastating floods caused by the wettest winter in 250 years.
AP Photo/Sony Pictures, Matt Kennedy
e-mail: info_ibp@balipost.co.id online: http://www.internationalbalipost.com. http://epaper.internationalbalipost.com.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Agence France-Presse
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Michael Ealy, left, and Kevin Hart in a scene from “About Last Night.”
16 Pages Number 43 6th year
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
Around 80,000 households remain without electricity, with Wales the worst affected by the “Wild Wednesday” storms, although the figure was reduced from some 150,000 overnight as electricity workers battled to reconnect people. One man died after being electrocuted while attempting to move a fallen tree that had brought down power lines in Wiltshire, southwest England. Gusts approaching 100 miles (160 kilometres) per hour tore at parts of England and Wales, and the River Thames was predicted to rise to its highest level in more than 60 years in places, threatening towns and villages to the west of London. Major General Patrick Sanders, who is co-ordinating the armed
forces response that has seen hundreds of troops on the streets, called the conditions an “almost un-paralleled natural crisis”. The conditions brought chaos for commuters, stranding a train carrying hundreds of passengers after overhead lines came down in Yorkshire, northern England. Passenger Carol Machin told BBC radio: “We haven’t moved. It’s a complete accident, there’s nothing you can do. There’s electrical line here, there and everywhere.” The Met Office national weather service issued a red warning -- the highest threat level -- for “exceptionally strong winds” in western parts of Wales and northwest England. More than 5,800 properties have flooded since early December, officials said. The flooding started in the southwestern county of Somerset but since January the River Thames near London has been badly affected with more than 1,100 properties deluged there since January 29, authorities said. More soldiers were drafted in to rescue residents and lay sandbags in deluged villages where primary schools have been transformed into makeshift emergency centres. Fourteen severe flood warnings -- indicating a danger to life
-- were in place in Berkshire and Surrey to the west of London, while two remain in Somerset. More rain forecast
Forecasters said 70 millimetres (2.75 inches) of rain would fall by Friday in southwest England. Emergency efforts were picking up following criticism of a sluggish response, and the military said 1,600 soldiers had been deployed with 2,000 in total available. In Wraysbury, the Thameside village that has been submerged since the weekend, 83-year-old Jennie Francis’s house has flooded and her hallway was filled with water. She has been forced to take refuge at her son’s home, but she said the arrival of the army had made a huge difference to the village’s morale. “The soldiers have been absolutely marvellous, it’s wonderful to have them here. People were cross before, but now they are relieved to have some help,” she told AFP. Continued on page 6