No more Mr. Bad Guy

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This article actually consists mostly of a transcript of a conversation about the recent Pixar film Turning Red, which is currently showing in Slovak cinemas (dubbed of course).  While it may help to have watched the film, you can easily comment on the trends which this film exhibits without having seen it.  What do you think about the fact that fewer of these animated films for children have an evil villain at their center or that more of them are about the immigrant experience?  What effect might these trends have on the new generation that has grown up watching films like this?

Big Bill Bruising

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It seems to me that this article from New Zealand might not reflect how Slovaks see this issue.  What do you do when you go to a restaurant with others and need to figure out who pays what?   What do you think of the author's recommendations? (By the way, I think the Friends clip serves as a good illustration of this situation.)

Taking the Fast Track

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This is a seasonally appropriate article given that Catholics have just gone through Lent and Muslims are still in Ramadan, but it also covers political and medical implications of fasting.  What are the advantages and possible disadvantages of fasting?  Do you fast, have you fasted, or would you ever consider fasting?

Precolonial Multiculturalism

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Here is a history article for a change.  Was early modern Europe more multi-racial and multi-cultural than people imagine or admit?  Does this apply to only Western Europe or could it apply to places further east as well (see Pushkin's great-grandfather for example)?  Does European history as taught in school take this presence into account or even mention it? If it is true, as is often claimed, that racism became official or crystallised as a justification for colonialism and the slave trade, is the author correct in advocating more awareness of an African presence in early modern Europe to help combat racism and the idea of a purely white Europe? This article is mainly based on the travels of Zaga Christ, but to get a sense of the evidence for the larger argument being made here, I would recommend that you click on some of the hyperlinks (which you can also refer to in your comment).

What your kids might want

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This is the last entry you can comment on for the month of April.

Does the author just use her (future) children as an excuse to hoard?  Are you a hoarder? On the other hand, have you ever regretted throwing something out?  How important is it to keep objects in order to keep a connection to our past?  Does a wealthy capitalist culture tend to encourage throwing away things to buy new ones, or does it tend to encourage hoarding by promoting the purchase of more space?