Reading List: January 3, 2016

Day 3 of the new year.

At The Outline, Alex Nichols reviews the inexplicable success of Tim Allen, and how that success represents America.

Tim Allen, though not yet retired, thrives in this environment. Breitbart loves him — the site recently published a clip from Last Man Standing in which his character mocks the concept of microaggressions. In the scene, Allen’s liberal daughter Mandy asks him to deliver a speech at her college graduation, but there’s a catch! His daughter is actually a hamfisted caricature of the overzealous campus activists hyped by Jonathan Chait and Reason magazine. Sure, people are too sensitive these days, too quick to take offense — you can make that case — but not while simultaneously whining to Fox News, as Allen did, that celebrities are being “bullied” for supporting Trump.

Disney will receive a large payout for Carrie Fisher’s death, The National Post reports. A lot more at the link about how the laws surrounding likenesses in film after death work.

Following the death of Carrie fisher, Disney is expected to receive one of the largest personal accident claims in history, according to reports the company took out a $67 million insurance policy on the Princess Leia actress.

Disney, which owns the Star Wars franchise, purchased the US$50 million policy from Lloyd’s of London for the event that Fisher was unable to fulfill her three-film contract, according to The Insurance Insider. The claim will likely be triggered by her unexpected death.

A friend finished his art project, Apotheosis. I’ll link the video below the quote.

USING THE AGE AND YEAR OF DEATH OF EACH CELEBRITY, AN ON-LINE SPIROGRAPH APP WAS USED TO DESIGN THE NIMBUSES. THE NIMBUSES WERE ETCHED DIRECTLY ONTO EACH PRINT VIA LASER CUTTERS ALLOWING LIGHT TRANSMISSION. CUSTOM FRAMES HOUSE RASPBERRY PI MICRO-COMPUTERS WHICH TRACK TWITTER FOR SPECIFIC HASHTAGS OR AMPERSAND SYMBOLS (I.E. @ELVIS, #JAMESDEAN, @MARILYNMONROE, #BETTIEPAGE, ETC.). EACH TIME THE PARTICULAR HASHTAG OR AMPERSAND IS USED ON TWITTER, A SERIES OF LEDS BEHIND THE PRINT GLOWS, ILLUMINATING THE NIMBUS OF THE CELEBRITY.