Entertainment

March 2015 - Posts

  • RED Hearts: Entertainment: Emoji of Color Are Here! Smiley Face!

    By Zoe Mendelson, 24, reporting from Mexico City on the most welcome introduction of diversity to the emoji population

    They have arrived!!! Gone of are the days of few emoji people-of-color-other-than-yellow (or wearing a turban)! Emoji of varied skin tones are here!

    Apple’s new operating system, released last week, includes the more diverse characters. So watch out for them with your next OS update. Each emoji who shows skin (faces & hands) will now appear as the default starting point in racially-neutral Simpson-ish yellow. From there, how cool is this? To choose your emoji color, you just hold select on a character. Up pops an array of skin tones to choose from. You can even do this for Santa Claus.

    To determine the new spectrum, Unicode—the international consortium responsible for emoji

    and translating them across countries and platforms—used the Fitzpatrick scale of skin tones, created in 1975 by a Harvard researcher known as the “Father of Academic Dermatology.” (Yes that’s a real thing. How to emoji it up? Hmm.)

    Nobody is happier about this than I am. While writing the Emoji Major column for Co.Design, I spent hours and hours trying to figure out how to possibly and sensitively represent people of color with the limited character set—my second column was Jay Z's Picasso Baby project, for just one example. I still ended up getting called a racist on the Internet.

    Absolutely it's about time for some diversity in the 800-plus emoji population! It's just not OK for such an important worldwide, cross-cultural phenomenon as emoji to feature almost all-white people. Even Miley knows this (and knew it in 2012).

    However, I do want to make the point that in areas far from race, the fundamental limitations of emoji are a big part of their charm and challenge. This is a language in which cons that have been identified as central to our everyday communication include a cactus house plant, mochi balls, a floppy disc and a poodle with proper show-poodle haircut.

    It’s their very arbitrariness that makes them so lovable.

    Now that there are emoji of color, does this usher in the era of an emoji of cheese? Probably. Nothing can exist in a cultural vacuum forever, and sometimes, say in the case of racial representation, that’s a good thing. But it also might mean emoji will get less…weird.

    I leave you all with a big question about issues swirling around the little people: Why, in the gmail version, is the little turban-dude emoji frowning?!

  • RED Hearts: Entertainment: Make the Perfect Waiting-for-Spring Meal

    This is a secret weapon for winter in a RED Hearts series of seasonal recipes – things you can cook or bake, usually healthy things, always easy things – for the people you heart! Served up by Erika Kwee, 24, “the baker, photographer and typo-maker” behind vegetarian food blog The Pancake Princess.

    Lentils may not look like much, the little understated legumes. But as we wait patiently for temperatures to creep back into thawing spring status—hello, bundled-up friends on the east coast!—the lentil can be just the ticket to soul-fulfilling, rib-sticking food. With a whopping 8 grams of protein and 9 grams of fiber in each quarter cup, lentils are a proven best friend of vegetarians and anything but boring for omnivores.

    Here’s my super-easy new trick to infuse any pot of lentils with incredible flavor: Add a sliced garlic clove and drizzle of olive oil. It’s a forever goodbye to bland and a hearty hello to flavorful and tender, the perfect waiting-for-spring meal.

    Uber-Delicious Garlicky Lentils
    1 cup brown or green lentils, rinsed
    2 cups water
    1 tablespoon olive oil
    ½ teaspoon salt
    1-2 fat garlic cloves, sliced

    Add all ingredients to a stovetop pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 30-35 minutes, until tender.* Cooking time may vary if you use a different type of lentil. Serve with anything! Try: roasted butternut squash, parsley and feta; sautéed spinach, tomatoes and onions; or artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers and olives.

    *I like my lentils on the softer side, so I tend to add a little extra water near the end of the cooking time and boil for a few extra minutes. If you prefer firmer lentils, check in on them after 25 minutes of simmering and remove when they’re the right texture for you.