Matt Damon in the film drama Good Will Hunting, Donald Trump's new arch, and the number of barrels of oil Australia uses every year feature in this week's The Crunch newsletter.
Hollywood's Abandonment of Dramas
Data crunched on the genre shrinking from cinema screens. Audiences tend to like dramas, and they are relatively cheap to produce, so why is Hollywood making so few of them nowadays? Daniel Parris had a couple of theories in his newsletter last week, highlighting the lack of sequel potential as a feature, not a bug.
Trump's Arch and Scale
We are generally sceptical of 3D datavis at Crunch HQ, but here is another example of it done well. This story by the New York Times uses a 3D model to give you a feeling of how big Trump's monumental DC arch will be and the sight-lines it would block. We could describe how it would loom over the traffic and block the Lincoln Memorial, or we could show you.
Australia's Oil Consumption
That is the number of barrels of oil Australia uses every year, according to this nicely designed interactive in the Sydney Morning Herald. This story is very extra, with animations and 3D models of planes and farming equipment and a lot else. But our favourite thing may be the header – the slow rolling waves and the occasional drops of oil are just a really good bit of visual storytelling.
Climate Change Hotspots
The Nordic heatwave that pushed temperatures above 30C (86F) in the Arctic Circle in July was part of a record-breaking year that saw abnormal heat sear more than 95% of Europe, a report has found. Accompanying the reporting by our colleagues was this nicely illustrated (if horrifying) map showing where in Europe has warmed the most.
Public Transport and Inequality
With no end in sight to the US-Israel war on Iran, governments have responded with policies to ease the cost of living, such as making public transport free. But these policies can serve to exacerbate existing inequalities in our built environment. The inner, more affluent parts of our cities tend to have the best access to public transport. Click through to see the Vampire index that shows the parts of Australian cities that are most exposed to increases in interest rates, the cost of fuel and other goods, and where there may be little option but to keep driving.
Other Charts
- Iran's Uranium Stockpile: Iran's Uranium stockpile is almost exclusively talked about in terms of enrichment thresholds, and whether it should or does exist at all. The New York Times has an interesting animated chart looking at the stockpile and enrichment levels over time. That enriching uranium is not a linear process – getting from 0% to 20% is much harder than to get from 20% to 60% – is not something that had occurred to me (Josh) before.
- Everyday Oil Products: The wonderful illustrators at Reuters have created this interactive looking at how many everyday items contain oil derivatives. In Australia, reporter Caitlin Cassidy tried to spend 24 hours without using oil-based products and found it predictably impossible – almost no moment in our daily lives is left untouched by petrochemical products.
Bookmarks
- The value of reliable statistics
- YouGov asked people if they thought they could beat Trump in a fight
- How to build a hex map
- Guidelines for datavis accessibility
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