Ripped from the Headlines: September 2020: This Week In Culture: September 5–11, 2020

The trailer for the new film version of Frank Herbert's Dune dropped on YouTube and caused quite a stir. The 1965 book is widely hailed as one of the best sci-fi novels of all time, and previous efforts based on it — a 1984 movie and two TV miniseries in 2000 and 2003 — were not well received. The baroque was a period in European history at the beginning of the seventeenth century marked by high levels of decoration and embellishment in art, architecture, and music.

Amanda Palmer and Rhiannon Giddens teamed up to cover the 1994 Portishead song It's a Fire. Backed by strings, the duo trade verses on the moody, moving track that they released on Bandcamp. All the profits will be donated to the Free Black University Fund.

Th Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their new guidelines, which are meant to foster diversity in the film industry by requiring productions to meet certain standards of inclusivity. They are wide-ranging, covering on and off-screen talent, but also allow studios to easily fulfill a number of the criteria without making any significant changes.

Andre Iguodala, vice president of the NBA players' union and forward for the Miami Heat, gave an interview about the recent walk-out and subsequent agreement with the league that brought the players back. He spoke about the politics of sports, about the decision to strike, and about maintaining mental health in a time of extraordinary stress. In promptu is Latin for "ready" or "at hand," and that became one word with a changed letter when it entered French.

Halle Berry, the first and only Black woman to win an Oscar for best actress, has directed her first feature. Bruised made its debut at the Toronto Film Festival this week. Despite her many awards and global fame, she says that it was a long, hard fight to be able to direct.

The ten-year-old multi-instrumentalist and YouTube sensation Nandi Bushell continues to win fans through her ongoing drum duel with Dave Grohl. The Nirvana and Foo Fighters drummer responded to her recent challenge of a drum-off, and the two have been trading videos. Bushell won round one, and Grohl has said he'll be giving her another challenge soon.

The new Mulan movie is drawing criticism for having been partly filmed in Xinjiang, the region of China with a large Muslim population that the government has been repressing harshly. In addition to laws forbidding Muslim dress, names, and other cultural expressions, the Chinese government has also built huge reeducation camps meant to force ethnic and religious minorities in the region to be more Chinese. Critics have called for a boycott of the film.

Researchers have shown that Central and South America contain more than twice the biodiversity of Africa. The study comes at a time when large portions of the Amazon jungle are on fire, causing global concern and outrage. The study also shows that Southeast Asia is as biologically diverse as Latin America, but it occupies a fraction of the land.

Video of Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Kamala Harris disembarking from an airplane wearing Converse Chuck Taylors went viral, getting shared 8 million times by the morning after it was first posted. People loved her choice of the over 100-year-old brand, which supporters said made her look cool, accessible, and practical.

Serena Williams beat Tsvetana Pironkova in three sets to advance to the U.S. Open semifinals, meaning she's two matches away from her 24th Grand Slam victory, which would tie the all-time record. On the men's side, top-ranked Novak Djokovic was expelled from the tournament for smacking a ball in anger after losing an important point. The ball hit an umpire in the throat.