The Daily Valet. - 2/10/22, Thursday

✔️ Are Movies Getting Too Long?

Thursday, February 10th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

If you’re not watching these Olympics, you’re missing some great TV moments.

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

Are Movies Too Long Now?

It feels like Hollywood is testing our limits

Do movies seem longer to you? I thought it was just my dwindling pandemic attention span, but the data shows the average run time for popular American films has slowly increased since the ’80s.

But some media analysts argue that it’s not all films. Just the big “event movies” that we make an effort to see—like Spider-Man, Dune, No Time To Die and other million-dollar tentpoles.

Pacing is so important when it comes to films, and perhaps even more so when it comes to the superhero movie subgenre. But don’t tell that to Robert Pattinson—his upcoming The Batman looks damn cool but clocks in at an obscene two hours and 55 minutes. It makes one wonder, is this entertainment or a feat of endurance?

For three hours, I'm gonna need more snacks. Of course, some critics appreciate the “grandeur and scale,” and think we should quit complaining and strap in for a 6-hour ride, but others vote for bringing back intermissions.

According to the Los Angeles Times, more than half of moviegoers now look for a movie’s runtime before deciding to buy a ticket. And in a possible sign of things to come, younger audiences are more apt to do so.

Psychologist Rachel Cavallaro tells USA Today that the pandemic has definitely had an effect on our attention spans. That, and many of us are hooked on short-form media like YouTube and TikTok—the combination of which has made our psyches even less receptive to content over a few minutes.

↦ FYI: In the ’80s and ’90s, there was pressure for Hollywood to keep movies short enough to fit on a standard VHS tape.

Canada Protest Blockade Continues

The latest protest is stalling trade and traffic between our countries

The busiest border crossing between Canada and the United States was still partially blocked Wednesday as a major protest against COVID-19 mandates spread beyond the Canadian capital, where it has caused havoc for nearly two weeks.

Canada's transport minister said the protests are hurting supply chains, as nearby auto factories began halting production. Apparently, there were other factors affecting production as well, including severe weather and a shortage of semi-conductor chips.

Interestingly, 90% of Canadian truckers are vaccinated, and the U.S. also requires truckers to be vaccinated before crossing the border, so it would make little difference to their jobs if Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau changed his country's rules.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security is now warning authorities that such protests could soon begin in the U.S. and potentially impact the Super Bowl as well as the State of the Union address.

↦ FYI: Canadian trucker groups and big-rig operators have denounced the protests, particularly as symbols of hate have appeared.

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A Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough

A giant machine just proved a near-limitless clean power source is possible

There's no silver bullet to the climate crisis, but nuclear fusion might be the closest thing to it. The energy process that powers the stars offers an unlimited supply of zero-carbon low-radiation power. Scientists have generated fusion energy before, but they have struggled for decades to sustain it for very long.

On Wednesday, however, scientists working in the United Kingdom announced that they more than doubled the previous record for generating and sustaining nuclear fusion. The process fuses two or more atoms into one larger one, unleashing a tremendous amount of energy as heat.

Today's nuclear power is created by a different process (called fission) which relies on splitting, rather than fusing, atoms. But that process creates waste that can remain radioactive for tens of thousands of years. Fusion, on the other hand, is much safer and requires only small amounts of naturally-sourced fuel, including elements extracted from seawater, reports CNN.

Wednesday's achievement is seen by many as validating recent efforts to build a bigger fusion reactor at a facility in southern France. The most ambitious fusion lab ever built, it's a collaboration between over 30 countries, including EU member states, China, Russia and the U.S.

↦ FYI: Operating the power plants of the future based on fusion would produce no greenhouse gases and only small amounts of short-lived radioactive waste.

Olympic Redemption

These victories are why we’re watching

Nathan Chen had to wait four long years for his Olympic redemption, but on Thursday morning in Beijing, he left nothing to chance with a masterful routine and won the first gold medal of his already storied career.

You've no doubt heard how as the young favorite going into the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, a mistake-riddled short program kicked him out of medal-contention. But he returned in 2022 a new man with more maturity, a whole heap of quad jumps and the goal of enjoying his Olympic experience. And now he's the first Asian American man to win gold in figure skating ever.

It's a similar story to snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis. Near the finish line of a gold-medal-winning run in 2006, a notorious blunder kept her from winning. She tried and tried at the next three Winter Games, but kept coming up short.

But on Wednesday, on her fifth Olympic try, at the age of 36, she would not let gold slip away again. Jacobellis finally captured her storybook ending while also delivering the United States its first gold medal at the Beijing Games. That’s what I admire about these Olympians so much. Taking one of the worst days (which played out in front of the whole world) and pushing through it to come back stronger and succeed.

↦ Meanwhile: Chloe Kim made some Olympic history as the first woman to win two gold medals in halfpipe snowboarding.

In Other News

↦ National Archives Asks Justice Dept. to Investigate Trump’s Handling of White House Records

↦ Ukraine Authorities Bust Russian Bot Farm Running 18,000+ Fake Social Media Accounts

↦ Period TV Shows and Movies Have Been Teaching Men How to Dress for Decades

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

Snoop Dogg

Putting the ‘wood’ in Hollywood

Samsung

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