Ethan Hawke: You are everything and you are nothing
The actor's greatest heroes exhibited humility in their actions, a view he tries to emulate.
ETHAN HAWKE: All my heroes have one thing in common which is humility. And the ability to see yourself in the context of a larger community and see what you do as both important and unimportant. I believe that we are only as good as our time period. Like when you look at the great music of the late '60s and early '70s all those bands helped each other be great. They pushed each other up. If the artistic community is failing we all fail. I get inspired by other people's excellence. I don't want to be better than them.
I want everybody to be great, right? That's the healthiest idea. Oh, let me take a hero of mine when I was younger: River Phoenix, right. I was very jealous of River Phoenix. I've said that before in other places, but one of the things that was heroic to me about what he did – and people, so much has happened with the thought about this. But when I was – when River and I were 23, 22, the idea that you were like a young like teen star, right. You're on Teen Beat magazine, you're happening and agents want you to work in movies. The idea that you would go and play a gay character, a gay hustler was career suicide. But River never thought like that. The idea to think like that seemed small to him. Now it's kind of cool. Like with my kids and stuff, you know, with what's been happening – education about equality has been growing and growing, but when I was younger I mean that was before Kiss of the Spiderwoman. That was before, you know, there were a lot of revolutionary performances. But River's was really dangerous and incendiary.
And he was a real humanist about it. And I really admired that and when I get asked to play roles that might not suit my ego or might not suit my vanity I think of what River would say or how River would think. Tom Stoppard is a hero of mine, a living hero, a guy. I was in a rehearsal with him for nine months doing Coast of Utopia. This story of mid-nineteenth century Russian radicals. This is a man whose artistic flower is still blooming in his seventies. And why is it still blooming? Because it's a work ethic thing. He's never been about anything but the joy of creativity. And when he comes to rehearsal, at first you're intimidated and before you know it you're engaged because he's talking to you and asking you and provoking you. And he also wrote everybody who worked on the show - there was this huge cast like 100 people. He wrote everybody a personal thank you note for dedicating time out of their life to help his play come forward and he knows what a sacrifice was and how valuable their time is.
And he writes their name and he knows their name and he – and it's very – there's a humility to it. That humility is very inspiring to me. Robert Benton, director of Places in the Heart, who wrote Bonnie & Clyde along with a million other things, you know, when you meet these guys there's a great humility to them. I was doing this play Ivanov, right. This Chekhov play. It was so hard and I was killing myself with this character.
He commits suicide at the end of it. It's a very painful performance to give. And I was so nervous and opening night was coming, and I was getting so upset during the show that I was really hurting my voice. But I couldn't stop, and I was a nightmare to be with. And all of a sudden Hurricane Sandy happened and the theater shut down. And the lights didn't work and the New York Times wasn't going to cover the play. And all of a sudden you realize oh shit, you know. I mean there's so much that it's a luxury to be nervous. It's a luxury that this theater even exists to create this opportunity for me no less that anybody comes. After the hurricane nobody came. Man I was doing a play when September 11th happened. Nobody came to the play for a couple of weeks it seemed like. And so I feel, you know, Phil Hoffman used to say this all the time, that it's the most important thing in the world and it doesn't matter, and you have to hold both those – that coin together and flip it around. It's all true all the time.
- Ethan Hawke is inspired by others' excellence and ability to see the context of the larger community, those who value their work but don't take it too seriously.
- One of his heroes, River Phoenix, exhibited this kind of humility by taking on roles that were meaningful to him but were seen as controversial.
- "Phil Hoffman used to say this all the time, that it's the most important thing in the world and it doesn't matter, and you have to hold that coin together and flip it around. It's all true all the time," he says.
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Virus made inequality much worse across the world, says report
Inequality in wealth, gender, and race grew to unprecedented levels across the world, according to OxFam report.
- A new report by global poverty nonprofit OxFam finds inequality has increased in every country in the world.
- The alarming trend is made worse by the coronavirus pandemic, which strained most systems and governments.
- The gap in wealth, race and gender treatment will increase until governments step in with changes.
People wait in line to receive food at a food bank on April 28, 2020 in Brooklyn.
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Credit: Oxfam International
Scientists find 'smoking gun' proof of a recent supernova near Earth
A supernova exploded near Earth about 2.5 million years ago, possibly causing an extinction event.
- Researchers from the University of Munich find evidence of a supernova near Earth.
- A star exploded close to our planet about 2.5 million years ago.
- The scientists deduced this by finding unusual concentrations of isotopes, created by a supernova.
This Manganese crust started to form about 20 million years ago. Growing layer by layer, it resulted in minerals precipitated out of seawater. The presence of elevated concentrations of 60 Fe and 56 Mn in layers from 2.5 million years ago hints at a nearby supernova explosion around that time.
Credit: Dominik Koll/ TUM
Massive 'Darth Vader' isopod found lurking in the Indian Ocean
The father of all giant sea bugs was recently discovered off the coast of Java.
- A new species of isopod with a resemblance to a certain Sith lord was just discovered.
- It is the first known giant isopod from the Indian Ocean.
- The finding extends the list of giant isopods even further.
The ocean depths are home to many creatures that some consider to be unnatural.
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2NzY4My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNTUwMzg0NX0.BTK3zVeXxoduyvXfsvp4QH40_9POsrgca_W5CQpjVtw/img.png?width=980" id="b6fb0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2739ec50d9f9a3bd0058f937b6d447ac" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1512" data-height="2224" />Bathynomus raksasa specimen (left) next to a closely related supergiant isopod, B. giganteus (right)
<p>According to<a href="https://www.livescience.com/supergiant-isopod-newfound-species.html" target="_blank" rel="dofollow"> LiveScience</a>, the Bathynomus genus is sometimes referred to as "Darth Vader of the Seas" because the crustaceans are shaped like the character's menacing helmet. Deemed Bathynomus raksasa ("raksasa" meaning "giant" in Indonesian), this cockroach-like creature can grow to over 30 cm (12 inches). It is one of several known species of giant ocean-going isopod. Like the other members of its order, it has compound eyes, seven body segments, two pairs of antennae, and four sets of <a href="https://www.livescience.com/supergiant-isopod-newfound-species.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow">jaws</a>.</p><p>The incredible size of this species is likely a result of deep-sea gigantism. This is the tendency for creatures that inhabit deeper parts of the ocean to be much larger than closely related species that live in shallower waters. B. raksasa appears to make its home between 950 and 1,260 meters (3,117 and 4,134 ft) below sea <a href="https://news.nus.edu.sg/research/new-species-supergiant-isopod-uncovered" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow">level</a>. </p><p>Perhaps fittingly for a creature so creepy looking, that is the lower sections of what is commonly called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopelagic_zone" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow">The Twilight Zone</a><em>, </em>named for the lack of light available at such depths. </p><p>It isn't the only giant isopod, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_isopod" target="_blank">far from it</a>. Other species of ocean-going isopod can get up to 50 cm long (20 inches) and also look like they came out of a nightmare. These are the unusual ones, though. Most of the time, isopods stay at much more reasonable <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-raksasa-cockroach-from-the-deep-the-stuff-nightmares-are-made-of-6513281/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow">sizes</a>. </p><p>The discovery of this new species was published in <a href="https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/53906/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow">ZooKeys</a>. The remainder of the specimens from the trip are still being analyzed. The full report will be published <a href="https://www.futurity.org/deep-sea-giant-isopod-bathynomus-raksasa-2422042/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow">shortly</a>.<em> </em></p>What benefit does this find have for science? And is it as evil as it looks?
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-media_id="7XqcvwWp" data-player_id="FvQKszTI" data-rm-shortcode-id="8506fcd195866131efb93525ae42dec4"> <div id="botr_7XqcvwWp_FvQKszTI_div" class="jwplayer-media" data-jwplayer-video-src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/7XqcvwWp-FvQKszTI.js"> <img src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/thumbs/7XqcvwWp-1920.jpg" class="jwplayer-media-preview" /> </div> <script src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/7XqcvwWp-FvQKszTI.js"></script> </div> <p>The discovery of a new species is always a cause for celebration in zoology. That this is the discovery of an animal that inhabits the deeps of the sea, one of the least explored areas humans can get to, is the icing on the cake.</p><p>Helen Wong of the National University of Singapore, who co-authored the species' description, explained the importance of the discovery:</p><p>"The identification of this new species is an indication of just how little we know about the oceans. There is certainly more for us to explore in terms of biodiversity in the deep sea of our region." </p><p>The animal's visual similarity to Darth Vader is a result of its compound eyes and the curious shape of its <a href="https://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/research/sjades2018/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow" style="">head</a>. However, given the location of its discovery, the bottom of the remote seas, it may be associated with all manner of horrifically evil Elder Things and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">Great Old Ones</a>. <em></em></p>I spoke to 99 big thinkers about what our ‘world after coronavirus’ might look like – this is what I learned
There is no going "back to normal."
Back in March, my colleagues at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future at Boston University thought that it might be useful to begin thinking about “the day after coronavirus."
