It was with bemused condescension that a 2018 financial news article reported on a unique challenge facing a mining company at a new site in Western Australia. According to local Martu lore, the massive dry salt bed was home to a tribe of human-eating monsters.
This didn’t dissuade Reward Minerals. For the firm operating in the dusty Outback region of Pilbara, Lake Disappointment presented a lucrative opportunity—“the next Saskatchewan” of potash mining, for what it’s worth. But for the Martu, the Aboriginal people who have lived in Pilbara for thousands of years, Kumpupirntily, as the lakebed is known, is an area to be avoided at all costs. In the sands beneath Kumpupirntily, legend goes, is where the Ngayurnangalku live.
This name, which roughly translates to “will eat me,” provides some indication of the Ngayurnangalku’s fearsome predilections. Living under the dry lake, in their own universe, the bald, fanged, fearsome Ngayurnangalku emerge only to snatch anyone foolish enough to pass overhead with their long, curving claws. The lakebed itself doesn’t have a much better reputation. “A stark, flat and unforgiving expanse of blinding salt-lake surrounded by sand hills,” writes Australia National University researcher John Carty of Kumpupirntily. “Martu never set foot on the surface of the salt-lake and, when required to pass it by, can’t get away fast enough.”
Erin Brockovich serves as a producer on ABC’s “Rebel,” a show built around her celebrated ability to navigate unjust systems in her pursuit of justice. As a Brockovich avatar, the great and still-underrated Katey Sagal plays Annie “Rebel” Bello, a vocal warrior for justice who has difficulty balancing her personal life and very public causes. It’s…
Rachel Brosnahan plays a woman whose loyalty and patience are tested to the breaking point in Julia Hart’s “I’m Your Woman.” Brosnahan’s Jean and her newborn baby must go into hiding after her criminal husband announces that things have become too unstable for him on streets. His confidant, Cal (Arinze Kene), takes Jean to a…
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” “Judas and the Black Messiah.” “One Night in Miami.” “The Forty-Year Old-Version.” “Da 5 Bloods.” “Night of the Kings.” That sampling represents the Black films that held viable Oscar chances in 2021. All were highly acclaimed. At one point or another, each garnered the descriptor of “timely.” During and after the…
You have a lot of streaming options in the world today, but while most aim for broad appeal some go all-in towards a niche. Shudder is one of the latter, and that niche is all things horror. The service has a growing backlog of genre favorites, and each month they add older gems along with…
Another social media cautionary tale! This amusing, wacky animated short is a personal project from Berlin-based animation filmmaker Cornelius Joksch and it’s another fun story that’s criticizing the tragic lives of people obsessed with their social media presence. Cornelius makes his own short films and illustrations, but also works for brands and studios. Oh, Darling!…
Adam Stovall’s A Ghost Waits is a low-budget rom-com with a ghastly twist. While most ghost stories exploit the haunted house formula for gore and horror, A Ghost Waits takes a more darkly funny and understatedly dour approach that deals with the futility of existence and the need for connection. Jack (MacLeod Andrews) is employed…