#2016's charity events vibes

[lilofearless]

2023 lilo boyfriend-ism is becoming one of my favourites

because

All Of Those Voices, London Premier

the boyfriends pap walk has been so real and the sexiest one yet. DID ANYONE NOTICE THE *very precise and symbolic for sure* SUIT MATCHING????? thank u pls come to my funeral now

when i thought the "love you lad" has killed everything in me; i was struck by the long ass marriage proposal the "love you lad" 's muse wrote

"seeing the world through your eyes last night was the most beautiful thing to experience" OK SMITTEN BOYFRIEND WE GET IT YOU GET HIM LIKE NO OTHER AND LOVE HIM THROUGH AND THROUGH AND JUST FUCKING LOVE HIM???? I AM OKAY WITH IT??? (breaking down screaming crying throwing up at this)

(will make a post psycho-analysing this caption #faith🤞)

[mrsrcbinscn]

Instead of doing replies, here’s this massive hc post that nobody needed or wanted lmao ayyy

Seoul Hanoi'd

  Genre: The Wikipedia page describes them as an indie rock alt-rock group, with the genres listed under the main box being indie rock, alternative rock, and some forrays into indietronica. 

  The group is described as genre-bending, as they will stick mainly with an indie rock vibe/folk punk (think violent femmes with that term), but they’ll pull elements from a wide range of genres. Seoul Hanoi’d is made up of singers and musicians whose wheelhouses include jazz, country/bluegrass/Americana, folk rock, indie rock, glam rock, garage rock revival, pop rock, classical, traditional Eastern, and R&B, so it isn’t unusual for a song to feature a cleverly placed jazzy bass throughout (like Ladies’ Code, Galaxy) or a mandolin. 

Background: Seoul Hanoi’d was founded in 2010 when a “joke in a conversation” between American-Cambodian singer, song-writer, and musician Franny Sor Robinson and Scottish drummer Max Jin-ho Cho came to life. The group currently consists of ethnic Korean, Vietnamese, Bhutanese, Cambodian, Lao, Hmong, Malaysian, Indonesian, Mongolian, Kazakh, Chinese, Nepalese, and Thai diaspora who rotate out for live shows as their schedules permit. All members of Seoul Hanoi’d have either their own solo music careers, or are primarily involved in acting, or have a primary band they are active in. There are four founding members and eight other members, totaling twelve. In addition to the twelve official members of Seoul Hanoi’d, other guest musicians have played with them when none of the twelve in the official lineup could fill a role. 

  The "core” members are almost all at every performance. Of the core members, Franny is absent the most because of her wildly busy schedule. She has a hand in composing almost every original song, arranging most of the covers, writing a huge chunk of their lyrics, and is the common thread between most of the other musicians, so she is considered the leader of the group.

  The band has won Grammy Awards, and since many of the band members are British they’ve won awards in Britain too, and because of the two Canadian members they’ve been nominated for awards in Canada. The band is labeled British-American-Canadian on the Wikipedia page. Though, one member is from Australia, and one from New Zealand. They joke that since Canada, the US, and UK all have at least two members, they get to be on the Wikipedia page.They have been given numerous honors from various Asian cultural organizations in The United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, France, New Zealand, and Canada.

  Because of Seoul Hanoi’d’s unique structure, any touring is done in small legs and there’s usually a live lineup switcheroo from leg to leg. The band has a massive online following -- even when they don’t do live shows for a while they pump out content on their YouTube channel including covers, performances of their original content, charity livestreams, Learn [Language] with [Member], and occasional vlogs where the members teach you about their culture(s) by showing the viewer around a cultural festival or a traditional wedding or something.

  Founding members: Franny Sor Robinson (Cambodian-American), Vanessa Pham (Vietnamese-American folk indie singer-songwriter and guitarist), Max Jin-ho Cho (Korean-Scottish singer-songwriter, drummer, and pianist), Mary Xiong (Hmong-American indie rock singer and musician)

  Other members: Pangfoua Zangkai (Hmong-Canadian actress, singer,  and guitarist), Lawrence Hardjono (Indonesian-Australian bassist, lyricist, singer), Roslan Ali (Malaysian-New Zealand glam/indie rock singer, director, musician, song-writer, and author), Souksakhone “Holly” Rasavong (Laotian-Canadian pianist/keyboardist, composer, producer, drummer), Aisulu Niyazova-Li (Kazakh-Chinese-English actress, singer, and musician), Jodie Batbayar (Mongolian-English musician, singer, violinist, activist, and producer), Andrew “Andy” Chaiyaporn (Thai-American drummer, guitarist, singer, and violinist), Hannah Sadutsang (Nepalese-Bhutanese-English musician, lyricist)

  Main singer on album recordings: Franny Sor Robinson, songs v personal to the other singers are sometimes recorded by them, the main male vocalist is Roslan Ali

  Main singer live: Generally Franny Robinson for Europe shows, but of the core members she’s absent most and in her absence Aisulu Niyazova-Li, Vanessa Pham, or Mary Xiong typically will take lead

  Core live members: Franny Robinson (singer, main lyricist), Max Cho (drummer),Vanessa Pham (backing vocals, lead guitar), Pangfoua Zangkai (rhythm guitar, harmony lines), Roslan Ali (main male vocalist, lyricist, assorted instruments, directs most music videos), Lawrence Hardjono (bassist), Holly Rasavong (piano, keyboard), Andy Chaiyaporn (violinist, stringed instrument god)

  Most common live substitutes: 

  Franny Robinson (singer) may be replaced with Aisulu Niyazova-Li, Vanessa Pham, or Mary Xiong 

Max Cho (drummer) may be replaced with Andy Chaiyaporn who is usually in charge of string instruments or Holly Rasavong

Andy Chaiyaporn (string god) can be replaced with Jodie Batbayar

Vanessa Pham (lead guitar, backing vocals) can be replaced with Mary Xiong, Aisulu Niyazova-Li, or Jodie Batbayar

Pangfoua Zangkai (rhythm guitar, some harmonies) can be replaced with Hannah Sadutsang or Mary Xiong

 Roslan Ali (male singer, various instruments) can be replaced with Andy Chaiyaporn, or Lawrence Hardjono will sing and play bass

Lawrence Hardjono (bassist) can be replaced with Mary Xiong, Aisulu Niyazova-Li, Jodie Batbayar, or Hannah Sadutsang

Holly Rasavong (piano, keyboard) can be replaced by Hannah Sadutsang, Jodie Batbayar, or Aisulu Niyazova-Li

  Connections:

  Franny was friends with all of the members individually before most of them knew each other, Franny is the common thread. 

  Vanessa Pham is an American solo artist that Franny went to NYU with

Max Jin-ho Cho is a Scottish drummer, pianist, and singer that Franny met during a song-writing session with a mutual friend who is in Max’s main band, a Scottish rock band called Glasgow Gravedigger Society

Mary Xiong is the frontwoman of an American glam rock band called Borrowing Sally’s Mascara that Franny met when they performed at the same music festival that Daniel Maitland’s main band was (an alternative female-fronted  rock band called Venus and The Flytraps; he’s the other half of the bluegrass/indie country/americana duo Dara & Danny that Franny does) and Franny was there to support him, and a mutual friend introduced them to Mary

Pangfoua Zangkai is a Canadian actress that Franny met in 2008 when they were actually co-starring in an indie comedy movie directed by a mutual friend. The film was about two first-generation American women nearing the end of their final year of university, and deals with the pressure children of immigrant parents often deal with regarding their families hopes and dreams, and the feelings of not feeling American “enough” and not feeling Hmong or Cambodian “enough” through a comedic lens. The film won several awards from different organizations in the West meant to promote Asian/Southeast Asian culture and art, and has become pretty important to many people in Southeast Asian diaspora groups. Pangfoua is primarily an actress, but can sing and play guitar.

Lawrence Hardjono is an Australian singer and musician who is mostly known for his solo career primarily across Australia, New Zealand, and in his parents’ native Indonesia. Franny met him when they were both speakers at a Southeast Asian cultural event in Australia

Roslan Ali is a New Zealand rock singer, musician, and author that had been friends with Lawrence Hardjono for a while. He fronts an all Asian-New Zealander and Maori band called Kiwaisa Pacific

Holly Rasavong is a Canadian musician and producer that has produced several of Venus and The Flytraps’ albums, so she’s someone else that Franny met through her connection to Daniel Maitland.

Aisulu Niyazova-Li is one of the youngest members of Seoul Hanoi’d, at twenty-nine. She is an English actress, singer, and musician that Franny met when Aisulu reached out to Franny via her publicist about coming to speak at her (Aisulu’s) university. Aisulu was the president of the Asian Student Union at the time. Franny thought Aisulu was pretty damn great and kept in touch with her, even hooking her up with an audition for a record label. She has a solo R&B singing career under the name Niya Li.

Jodie Batbayar is an English singer, violinist, and activist most known for her violin skill. She can play classical style and fiddle style. She met Franny when the two of them were speaking at an event about Asian women’s empowerment

 Andrew “Andy” Chaiyaporn is an American drummer, guitarist, singer, and violinist. He typically plays violin in an American indie folk band called Maggie Creek, named after a stream in his native Nevada. He met Franny through a Facebook group for Southeast Asian-American creatives.

Hannah Sadutsang is English musician and lyricist most famous for writing the lyrics for many popular songs in the UK. Hannah is actually the youngest and most recent official member of Seoul Hanoi’d. She’s a former student of Franny Robinson’s at Pride University.

  Inspiration playlist: Link 

  Seoul Hanoi’d experiments with both live instruments and some elements of electronic music, but it’s always meant to accompany live instrumentation. 

  They have an entire album that’s explicitly political, aptly named The Political One, and a couple other songs subtly so. 

Awards, iconic performances, etc:

  Seoul Hanoi’d has won Grammys

Main songwriter, Franny Sor Robinson, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019 at the age of thirty-nine

Their Glastonbury 2016 performance, fronted by Franny Sor Robinson, has been heralded as one of the best live shows of the Festival in the last decade

Seoul Hanoi’d has performed at SXSW almost every year since 2013 

They have been invited to perform in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Mongolia, Bhutan, Korea, Nepal, Malaysia, and Indonesia by important figures either in entertainment or government to thank them for promoting and educating about their various cultures abroad

[mellarisofficial]

BLOG POST

On the 11th August the Mellaris team were both proud guests and sponsors of the 2019 Miss Essex pageant. Hosted at The Cliffs Pavilion, regional director Emily Evans, and former Miss Essex in 2016, and her team organised a seamless night of celebrations for their 14 hopeful finalists. This years finalists dedicated their time in the run up to the competition by raising funds for the White Ribbon UK charity in memory of local Essex girl, Grace Millane. This touching sentiment and tribute set the tone for the night, and not only created a sense of community within the room but was also a kind reminder that pageantry isn’t solely all about glamour. Gathering together with purpose and passion, the 14 finalists bravely showcased their talents and personalities over a series of catwalks and Q&A’s. For some of the girls it was their first beauty pageant yet their endearing nerves only boosted the encouraging atmosphere as everyone continuously cheered and uplifted each other throughout the evening. Yet it was Georgie Goodey’s natural and charming presence on stage that awarded her the crowning title that evening! Georgie is a Billericay soldier as well as a weight lifter in her personal time, totally serving us Miss Congeniality vibes, which we absolutely loved. From her personality, career accomplishments and confidence it showcased that pageantry is not skin deep but in fact awards girls who’s beauty shines inside and out. It was also our own personal pleasure to dress the female judges on the panel this year, including Miss Essex 2018, Kirsty Bolt and Debra Tiffin. The pageant community continue to be great supporters of the Mellaris brand and so to celebrate our blooming friendship we interviewed a few of our favourite pageant winners to get the scoop on what it’s like to receive such a prestigious title. 

Emily Evans

How have you dealt with the pressures of ‘looking a certain way’, especially in an age driven by social media? I think that pageantry/Miss Essex is very accepting and encourages you to see beauty in everyone. You glow differently when you’re happy! So I think it all starts within you. When you’re in a community of women that are that so supportive and loving, it’s hard to get caught up in the negatives of social media.

What opportunities has being Miss Essex opened up for you? More than I can ever put into words! Attending events across the country, appearing on Comedy Central’s Your Face or Mine Celebrity Special, appearing on Channel 4’s First Dates, competing at a national level, all of the incredible women I’ve met all over the UK. Constant phone calls and scouting from TV Shows! It is crazy how many doors open for you as Miss Essex, and even the opportunity to direct the current Miss Essex competition all stems from winning the crown. 

Is there any stand-out strong female icons that have inspired you along your journey? My mum is for sure the strongest female icon I know! She has truly mastered the art of being a strong and focused career woman, as well as a mother, while still maintaining femininity and grace. It’s definitely a juggling act, but she makes it all look so easy!

What are some of your responsibilities as regional director of Miss Essex?There are many responsibilities that come with running the Miss Essex competition. It requires a lot of organizational skills and hard work. Sourcing judges, hair and makeup, working with photographers, organizing press days, press releases, back and forth to the venue to ensure the show runs smoothly! Maintaining relationships with sponsors throughout the competition is easy when they are as amazing as Mellaris!

As the regional director of Miss Essex, how would you respond to people who may view pageants as ‘Out dated’ or glorify a certain image? Different things empower different women and it’s not anybody’s responsibility, except for her, to tell her what that should be. We have army officers, architectural students, aspirational doctors, mothers, fitness fanatics and entrepreneurs in our competition this year. All of our finalists have been working hard raising funds for White Ribbon UK in memory of Essex Girl Grace Millane. A group of women supporting other women, raising funds for women. Now that’s girl power!

Stephanie Hill

How have you dealt with the pressures of ‘looking a certain way’, especially in an age driven by social media? The various forms of media, including social, really push us to look/be a certain way. Ironically, I thought I had to fit into a certain ‘mould’ to be Miss England, a standard model Size 8, a certain height, ‘look’ etc., however I couldn’t have been more wrong. The wonderful part about Miss England is that even if you look at the previous winners at ‘face value’, no two even look the same. I am one of, if not the ‘largest’ Miss England as a fluctuating UK 12/14, and to this date I have had the highest placing representing England in the Miss World competition, so it proves the misconception of being a Size 8 and a model as being completely false. Miss England helped me accept my size, where the media and social platforms would certainly have me believing otherwise.

What opportunities has being Miss England opened up for you? My biggest desire has been to travel and complete humanitarian aid throughout the world, but I never wanted to endorse ‘voluntourism’, where you pay a tour company to work with a charity internationally. I was able to work on an incredible project around Asia focusing on Feminine Hygiene Awareness when touring with Miss World, which is very close to home, with my professional background being in cancer research. I am pleased to say we made a huge impact during our time over there, particularly in India, so to have had such success on such a difficult project was astounding. In addition to this, I was able to further develop my side career as a classical crossover vocalist, and even meet incredible academics in the medial field and make fantastic professional networks.

With the knowledge of yourself now, what would you tell yourself when you were entering the competition? A famous quote from one of my favourite Broadway vocalists, Sierra Boggess: ‘You are enough, you have always been enough. It is unbelievable how enough you are.’

What does this next year entail for you?  Ultimately I will further my career in Cancer Research! I will be completing my master’s degree in Translational Oncology at the University of Sheffield Medical School alongside my position in Cancer Clinical Trials, then I’m hoping to pursue one of the following: a PhD in an Oncology-based project at Cancer Research UK in Manchester, begin the NHS Clinical Scientist Training Programme, or potentially continue my studies as a Physician’s Associate with a hope of specialising in Oncology. It’s wonderful to have so many options, but I can’t decide which one to do first!

Is there any stand-out strong female icons that have inspired you along your journey? SO many, and it changes by the week! I am constantly looking for inspiration, but my main inspiration is drawn from my master’s course leader, Carolyn Staton, who has made incredible contributions to cancer research initiatives, it truly is an honour to learn from her teachings. I am also hugely inspired by Audrey Hepburn, not for her influence in fashion, but her relentless dedication to humanitarian efforts despite her success on the silver screen.

Alisha Cowie

Looking back, is there anything you would change, add or takeaway from the competition? I honestly wouldn’t change my experience for the world. Things happen the way they do for a reason and I’ve become a much stronger and wiser person from the experience. 

What advice would you pass onto the future alumni of Miss England?  Go and be yourself, make friends and memories and just enjoy every second. Don’t go into the competition with any expectations and use the time as an experience. 

For people who may view pageants as ‘Out dated’ or glorify a certain image over everything else. How would you respond to this? I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I respect that. However, I think I prove you don’t have to be a stereotype. I was the first ever Miss Newcastle or ‘Geordie’ to win Miss England and the most northern girl to ever win. I also believe my charity work over the past few years was what bagged me Miss England as is proved I was a good role model for the younger generations to look up to. With the knowledge of yourself now, what would you tell yourself when you were entering the competition? You’re stronger than you think. People will challenge you and your patience. Never doubt your abilities. What does this next year entail for you? I will be going back to university to finish my degree in Crime Scene Investigation and forensic science. I’ll also be continuing my modeling work, part-time.

We cherish all of our growing friendships with the many inspiring women within the beauty pageant industry and continue to champion all of their future successes. With our A/W19 collection almost ready for release we look forward to seeing how they adapt our garments to all of their amazing individual styles. 

[elite-guard-hardygal]

Markiplier Characters: The Ultimate Video Masterlist (UPDATED REGULARLY)

So, yeah, this is a list of all the videos I could find featuring the listed characters of @markiplier.

In the case of Darkiplier, when it comes to pre-Date w/ Markiplier videos, I only listed the videos that Mark has pretty much confirmed Darkiplier is featured in. Yes, there are plenty of videos of Mark being creepy, but unless Mark says otherwise, that does not necessarily make it a Darkiplier video. But in general, the videos on this list have to fall under the following criteria:

The character featured has to be made by Mark (as in the case of Wilford Warfstache or Jim)

If the character is not made by Mark, Mark needs to have featured the character at least once in his own skits (as in the case of Ed Edgar or the Host, both of whom were created by Cyndago)

If you're still wondering why certain videos or characters aren't featured on this list, check out my other list, which has videos and characters that don't quite fit this criteria.

Also, you can find my Jacksepticeye master list here ^-^

THANK YOU TO -

@fandomfangirlworld, @wortblume, and @fountain-of-muse for reminding me of certain videos

@just-chugging-along and their Comprehensive Alter Ego Library

Cooperation Is Key and their playlist Markiplier Egos: Santaplier

So, without further ado...

—

Origins of Wilford Warfstache and Darkiplier

Who Killed Markiplier? - Chapter 1 (Oct 10, 2017)

Who Killed Markiplier? - Chapter 2 (Oct 11, 2017)

Who Killed Markiplier? - Chapter 3 (Oct 12, 2017)

Who Killed Markiplier? - The Final Chapter (Oct 13, 2017)

Wilford ‘MOTHERLOVING’ Warfstache (Aug 5, 2018)

DAMIEN (May 12, 2019)

—

A Heist With Markiplier

Illinois - GUNS BLAZING > CAR > TRY TO FIX > ECT. You may try not to fall in love, but the Adventurer couldn’t really blame you if you failed (Oct 30, 2019)

Yancy - GUNS BLAZING > HELICOPTER > RALLY THE PRISONERS > ECT. Don’t let his rap sheet and dancing skillz intimidate ya, the Prisoner may just think youse’s all right (Oct 30, 2019)

Captain Magnum - ALL SNEAKY LIKE > LIGHT TUNNEL > WAIT FOR RESCUE > ECT. Hoist the mainsail and prepare for adventure with the Pirate! (Oct 30, 2019)

Trailers (TBA)

—

Darkiplier

Don't blink - dont turn around (Jun 19, 2012)

Don't move - not a muscle (Jul 4, 2012)

relax - Mark just wants to chill for his 14 million sub celebration, but someone has other ideas (Aug 13, 2016)

A Date With Markiplier - PAY > HORROR > ECT. Darkiplier makes his official debut, and he's missed you very much (Feb 14, 2017)

Don't Play This Game - Watch as Mark submits to the madness of a nonsensical 'game' (Apr 16, 2017)

Markiplier TV - Darkiplier gives his thoughts on Wilford Warfstache's revolutionary idea (May 5, 2017)

DARKIPLIER vs ANTISEPTICEYE - Who will win the ultimate evil YouTuber showdown? (Jul 28, 2017)

Don't remember - theres nothing out there (Nov 18, 2017)

go back to sleep… - l i s t e n (Aug 20, 2018)

DAMIEN - Following the events of Who Killed Markiplier, Damien begins to realize that he is more lost than he thinks (May 12, 2019)

Outliers

The Voice of Darkiplier | Markiplier ReMIX - Listen to Darkiplier's dulcet voice in this Markiplier Recognized(TM) remix by DayByDave (Jun 29, 2017)

World’s First Pop-Up Haunted House - 0:26 The Barrel television set starts to give off Darkiplier vibes for a few seconds when Mark leaves us alone (Oct 27, 2017)

big MOOD? - 9:10 While Mark displays what he thinks a big mood is, “you have to wake up” flashes across the screen in a very Darkiplier fashion (Nov 20, 2017)

—

Wilford Warfstache

The Fall of Slenderman - In his debut, Wilford Warfstache interviews the once feared Slenderman (Nov 9, 2012)

The Warfstache Affair - Caught in an affair with another man's wife, Warfstache responds to the problem the only way he knows how (Jun 12, 2013)

Warfstache Plays: Slender - Warfstache encounters the Slenderman once again, this time in Slendy’s own territory (Oct 16, 2013)

The Ned Affair [feat. MARKIPLIER] - In this sequel to the Warfstache Affair, Wilford Warfstache must face justice for what he's done (Aug 26, 2014)

Five Nights at Freddy's: The Interview - Wilford Warfstache interviews everyone's favourite disembodied voice, Phone Guy (Mar 7, 2015)

Warfstache Interviews Markiplier - In a move that is in no way meant to boost ratings, Markiplier is invited to guest star on Warfstache Tonight! (Sep 13, 2015)

A Date With Markiplier - DON’T PAY > DON’T ATTACK > PICK LOCK > STAY TOGETHER > MORE? Wilford Warfstache gets you to ask the real question (Feb 14, 2017)

Markiplier TV - Warfstache acts as a gameshow host and poses a revolutionary idea to his colleagues (May 5, 2017)

Wilford ‘MOTHERLOVING’ Warfstache - Following the events of Who Killed Markiplier, Detective Abe finally manages to track down the murderous and elusive Colonel William, now know by his latest persona: Wilford ‘Motherloving’ Warfstache (Aug 5, 2018)

Outliers

Amnesia: Rain | Part 6 (Final) | ENDGAME - Mark wears a pink mustache and plays around with his Warfstache voice (Apr 3, 2013)

Markiplier Animated | WARFSTACHE - An animation of the above video (Dec 3, 2014)

WARFSTACHE RIDES AGAIN | Critical Annihilation - Mark plays with a Wilford Warfstache avatar and talks a bit about the character (Feb 26, 2016)

—

Santaplier

Santa’s Rampage - [clever video summary TBA] (Dec 15, 2013)

Very Organized Santa - [clever video summary TBA] (Dec 18, 2013)

Santa Does Omegle - [clever video summary TBA] (Dec 25, 2013)

Markiplier’s Debut Christmas Album - [clever video summary TBA] (Apr 1, 2014)

Christmas Can’t Wait - [clever video summary TBA] (Nov 24, 2016)

SANTA SPILLS THE TEA - 0:00 Here to tell you who’s naughty and nice, here to tell you to buy merch for charity, here to tell you who the true original ego is, it’s Definitely Not Santa! (Dec 10, 2018)

Outliers

Happy Wheels Highlights - The series from which Santaplier was born, it’s a playlist of Happy Wheels, where you’re bound to catch our beloved drunken Santa appearing at least once in every video, sans the first one

Markiplier Animated | 1 Million Subscriber Special - Santaplier makes a brief appearance in this special animation featuring some of Mark’s best gaming moments up to this point (Nov 6, 2013)

Santiplier: The Game - Mark plays a Santaplier fangame, complete with epic sax music, rage, and moans of eviceral pleasure (Jun 18, 2014)

—

King of the Squirrels

King of the Squirrels - In his debut, the King smears peanut butter on his face in celebration of 80,000 subs (Jan 23, 2013)

King of the Squirrels Returns - The King is sick, but he is still the King! (Mar 26, 2015)

Markiplier TV - The King crashes the conference while Wilford Warfstache is receiving feedback on his revolutionary idea (May 5, 2017)

—

Dr. Iplier

Worst News Doctor - In his official debut, Dr. Iplier delivers a LOT of bad news to a young patient (Oct 27, 2013)

Markiplier TV - Dr. Iplier continues to deliver bad news and gives his thoughts on Wilford Warfstache's revolutionary idea (May 5, 2017)

SANTA SPILLS THE TEA - 8:20 Dr. Iplier may have to pay alimony, but YOU can still buy merch, all proceeds of which go to charity 15:44 A newborn child may not be able to buy merch, but YOU can, remembering all proceeds go to charity 27:26 Doctors need good hygiene, and that’s why Dr. Iplier buys merch, safe in the knowledge that all proceeds go to charity (Dec 10, 2018)

Outliers

Surgeon Simulator 2013 - A playlist of Mark's Surgeon Simulator playthroughs, from which come a lot of Dr. Iplier's catch phrases

Markiplier Animated | Surgeon Simulator - Dr. Iplier is NOT a fraud, and he’s gonna prove it in this animation of one of the above playthroughs! (Jun 13, 2013)

Markiplier Animated | SHUT UP NURSE!! - It’s just so hard for Dr. Iplier to get good help around here, as shown in this sequel to the above animation (Jun 27, 2013)

Markiplier Animated | MEET THE MEDIPLIER - When animated TF2 style, Dr. Iplier might just give the Medic a run for his money (Apr 19, 2014)

Markiplier Animated | GET THE SPOON - Doctors Mark and Wade try to utilize one of the most important tools in medical practice (Mar 26, 2016)

Surgeon Simulator IN REAL LIFE - Mark applies Surgeon Simulator in the real world (May 10, 2016)

—

Dapperplier

A Gentlemen's Dispute feat. CaptainSparklez - Dapperplier and Jordapper look to settle their differences in the most civilized way possible (Jul 21, 2014)

GENTLEMEN'S DISPUTE w/ Markiplier - See Jordapper's version of the above video (Jul 21, 2014)

REMATCH OF THE CENTURY | Max Gentlemen w/ Captain Sparklez - Dapperplier and Jordapper have fallen low and look to regain their honor in the most civilized way possible (Feb 10, 2015)

MAXIMUM GENTLEMEN'S DISPUTE w/ Markiplier - See how Jordapper remembers the above events (Feb 10, 2015)

—

Googleplier

Google IN REAL LIFE | ft. Markiplier - Google is thwarted in this Mathias edition of Googleplier's debut (Oct 31, 2014)

Google IRL - Google is defeated in this Markiplier edition of Googleplier's debut (Oct 31, 2014)

360 VIDEO | Let's Play Minecraft | Part 1 - Google restates his primary objective (Apr 1, 2017)

Markiplier TV - Google gives his thoughts on Wilford Warfstache's revolutionary idea (May 5, 2017)

Google Gets An Upgrade - Google receives a visit from Bing while in the middle of an upgrade (May 20, 2017)

Outliers

GOOGIPLIER RETURNS - Mathias plays a short fan-game in which Google IRL returns to show how useful he can be (Sep 11, 2015)

—

Yandereplier

MAKING LOVE FOR SENPAI | Yandere Simulator #14 - Yandereplier-chan shows her true colours in this kawaii intro! (Nov 13, 2016)

Outliers

Yandere Simulator - A playlist of Mark’s Yandere Simulator playthroughs, chock full of Mark being a giggly, yandere freak

Markiplier Animated - YANDERE SIMULATOR - Committing murder, becoming a fugitive, mopping up blood, kidnapping Boobs McKenzie: all in a day’s work for Yandereplier-chan in this animation of one of the above playthroughs! (Aug 21, 2015)

Yandere Simulator ANIMATED: The Squeakquel - Yandereplier-chan returns in this sequel to the above animation, and she’s gonna show everyone what for for not accepting her spicy sausage! (Aug 5, 2016)

—

Jim News

Markiplier TV - In their debut, Jim and Jim cover various disaster reports and weather reports (May 5, 2017)

CORPSE ABDUCTION? - In the midst of the Who Killed Markiplier mystery, Jim and Jim enter the scene of the crime to get the main scoop (Oct 10 or Oct 14, 2017)

SUSPECT WITH A SHOOTY?! - Continuing their investigation, Jim and Jim tail the possible murderer (Oct 11 or 14, 2017)

DEMONS JIM, DEMONS!! - Continuing their investigation, Jim and Jim attempt to contact the demons contained within the murder house (Oct 12 or 14, 2017)

DUMMY JIM REENACTS GRISLY SCENE! - Jim and Jim conclude their investigation with the help of Dummy Jim (Oct 13 or 14, 2017)

Breaking News

Five Nights at Freddy's: Pizzeria Simulator - Part 5 - 5:25 Jim News interrupts this playthrough to bring you breaking news: Markiplier is set to invade Europe! (Dec 6, 2017)

I KICKED ETHAN IN THE FACE - 1:53 Jim News interrupts these clips from Markiplier's last tour to bring you breaking news: Markiplier is going on tour again! (Dec 9, 2017)

—

Bingiplier

Google Gets An Upgrade - With a 'saaaahhh!' and a visit to Googleplier's, Bingiplier makes his obnoxious debut (May 20, 2017)

—

Eric Derekson

SANTA SPILLS THE TEA - Debut of Eric Derekson of Derek Derekson’s Charity Warehouse, where everything is super cool and fun and warm and there’s no anxiety or death or anything... Right, Dad? (Dec 10, 2018)

Timestamps: SANTA SPILLS THE TEA

4:15 - We make no money at Derek Derekson’s Charity Warehouse because all proceeds go to charity but that’s good, right?

5:57 - Want a dog leash?

7:21 - All proceeds go to charity and... Can we do that take again…?

8:54 - Our sweaters are warm and comfortable and you can wear them, please buy them…!

11:41 - This is fine, you still got me, Dad… Right?

14:09 - Get our deals cause they’re great and all proceeds go to charity and how are we still in business–

16:42 - Pull yourself together, Eric!

19:00 - I don’t have feet… Please buy these socks, all proceeds go to charity

20:57 - Please don’t lose your dog, please buy a dog leash, all proceeds go to charity

22:40 - *gross sobbing*

24:30 - I just wanted a farm…

26:23 - My brother Sterrick had no hands… Buy our merch, all proceeds go to charity

28:03 - I once had a termite farm...

29:42 - I had a dog once…

31:26 - My brother Gerrick liked to play with fire– I once had someone special– I wanted to have kids...

—

Randal Vorhees

SANTA SPILLS THE TEA - Move aside people, for the debut of everyone’s favourite New Yorker, Randal Vorhees! (Dec 10, 2018)

Timestamps: SANTA SPILLS THE TEA

5:09 - You ain’t gonna be not fashionable when you buy merch for charity!

6:49 - New York traffic is hell but that don’t stop you from buying merch for charity!

10:46 - Come to New York, see the Empire State Building, go to the park, and buy merch for charity!

14:50 - New York has the best pizza in the world and the best merch to buy for charity!

18:10 - Gotta hate when you can’t get a taxi, but at least you can always buy merch for charity!

21:54 - We just got a load’a merchandise! All proceeds go to charity!

25:26 - Heyyy there, pretty person, you look like you would like to buy merch for charity!

28:56 - Eyyy, sexy person! Why not buy some merch for charity?

30:21 - What’s more central than Central Park? This merch with all proceeds going to charity!

—

Derek Derekson

SANTA SPILLS THE TEA - Here debuts Derek Derekson, all-American representative of Derek Derekson’s Charity Warehouse, home of the best charity deals this side of the Mississippi (Dec 10, 2018)

Timestamps: SANTA SPILLS THE TEA

12:30 - Welcome to Derek Derekson’s Charity Warehouse, where you can’t get good help, but you CAN buy merch for charity

20:05 - Mosey on down to Derek Derekson’s Charity Warehouse for great quality merch that you can buy for charity

23:40 - [Derek Derekson’s Charity Warehouse is experiencing familial difficulties]

—

CYNDAGO CHARACTERS

This list was getting a tad congested with the release of A Heist With Markiplier, so just click here for the Cyndago characters

[punknrasslin]

Hi, hello, greetings & welcome return to PunkNRasslin after a short hiatus. These lockdown blogs will be weekly & focusing on a different subject each week, be it in Wrestling or Music. Which, let’s face it, is what it says on the tin here. Punk & Wrestling, PunkNRasslin. Each week a new insight into what we at PnR like & maybe dislike, although I’ll try & keep the PMA here!

This first weekly blog focuses on my love for a certain tag team in British Wrestling (BritWres if you’re down with the kids). Three letters. Guessed it yet? No not ‘THOSE’ 3 letters (maybe next time) but the 3 that just beat them as my favourite 3 letters in wrestling. Who’s got it? Another clue? Fair enough, 2 best friends standing united. I gave it away right. This first week we focus on FSU! Load Andrew WK into the PA & let’s go!

My first exposure to Mark Andrews & Eddie Dennis was one of two things. The first was seeing Mark on TNA British Bootcamp, which led to him joining the X-Division in the company way back when TNA was easily accessible on Challenge TV Sunday Nights. That was the perfect end to my week in that period to be honest, 9PM Challenge TV. The second was seeing them as a tag team for the first time which, online viewing aside, was at Fight Club Pro in 2017 at the Dream Tag Team Invitational Tournament. Let’s touch on the night 1 match later in this piece shall we?

I don’t know if seeing Bootcamp was my first exposure to Andrews but it was certainly the first time I went ‘OK, I need to get myself off the sofa & to a live show’. The energy in that man, the movset, the agility.. I dare anyone to find a more energetic talent although equally as, there’s a few though. Around this time, just as the finals for Bootcamp were being broadcast, I attended a PCW Charity Show for the now passed on Kris Travis partly due to Mark being booked on the show & partly cause Kris himself was an amazing in ring worker. An idea for a future piece there. The night of the event came, it wasn’t a ‘wrestling show’ in the stereotypical sense it was more friends gathering together to raise some money for a good cause. If you can, go back & look at the talent present on that show. From memory here, Tyler Bate & Trent Seven were in action along side Zack Gibson.

Back on subject, I think I was just more blown away by the fact one man could do such magnificent things in ring. It really, cliche I guess, reminded me of watching Liger on WCW as a teen. I went out soon after & got more involved in British Wrestling shows despite 1) knowing nobody and 2) being nervous as heck! So many journeys, miles & cities ahead of me I booked as many shows Mark was booked on at the time. Through this I discovered his tag partner in FSU Eddie Dennis. I’m not sure if I was biased cause of the mark fandom, but I was as impressed with this taller, harder hitting grappler as I was that night at PCW. And so, the fandom grew. As did my Merch collection actually thank you Defend!

Fast forward to 2017. A journey from Preston to Wolverhampton on a good Friday. A bad idea? Well a broken down train & delayed arrival not withstanding, I managed with little to no worry. Let’s ignore the mini panic when on an overcrowded stationary carriage at Manchester Oxford Road. I got through it & arrived in one piece. That night, stood with new and familiar faces from the now many shows I’d attended, we witnessed together ‘the’ moment that transformed a mid 20’s fanboy into a screaming teenager without a care. The second match on the card was FSU taking on Los Gueros Del Cielo AKA Jack Evans & Angelico. In the first, say ten minutes, we had witnessed flippy agility alongside strikes to rival the best. One moment though sticks in my mind from this night, Andrews deciding during the match to scale the venues scruture & do what can only be described as something impossible to most from a high ledge to the ground below. Magic had happened. That was it, no going back. I was sucked in to FSU I was well & truly part of their fanbase. I don’t think I’ve ever had the courage to say to any of them how much that warm 2017 night sticks in my heart. Or how many times during a low period I put it on to remind myself to be strong. Over that weekend FSU would progress to face The Lucha Bros in a match in London I always regret missing.

Moving on from life altering moments, I think I’ve counted I’ve seen FSU Perform in 4 different cities (Cardiff, Wolverhampton, Manchester, London) not withstanding the other trips to see the boys in singles action. But London September 2017 is another moment that sticks. I’ve apologied many times to those involved in witnessing this many times probably too many! But if you know your FSU History, you know exactly the match & moment I mean. It wasn’t the Mark victory in the number 1 contenders scramble. No it was the seconds after. The heartbreaking (at the time) moment that Eddie turned his back on Mark and was a bad guy. How dare he?! His best friend. How could he?! You stand united you are a unit! No! It’s not supposed to end, EVER! I think I sat at the back of Alexandra Palace after that & cried. It was just so believable & like ‘this is it, no more FSU’. Of course after a fantastic storytelling experience & a match in front of Wembley Arena of all places they did in fact stand united once more a calendar year later. Go back & watch some of the unrivalled promo work during that rivalry, the emotion in Eddie enticing mark into fighting his friend, Mark staying loyal to his buddy & refusing until he’d had enough after months of taunting & torturous attacks. Just remember if you go back to the Wembley Match, those tables are tough!!

FSU of course during Mark/Eddie rivalry did still exist under a different form. Wales’ Rising Star Danny Jones briefly tagging with Andrews for a one night only appearance, but as Heel Eddie nicely phrased it on the night, FSU was never Mark Andrews with Insert Welsh Buddy Here. The team of FSU will be forever known as the Andrews/Dennis pairing.

Nowadays, FSU stands once more. This time as a heel faction in Progress Wrestling. As an old school party hard FSU fan, I’m still a bit in love with this new heel incarnation. It elevates FSU to a new level. It’s something to keep the fanbase interested. Do we want the Andrew WK theme Party Hard again? Yes! Of course! It was part of the whole appeal, it was the ‘boys night out on the Jàgerbombs’ vibe. But do we as fans also see that this is a natural progressive route for the team? Yes, of course!

So in closing, what does FSU stand for to me. It means to me what it means for the others. Friendship Standing United. Standing by your crew until the very end, supporting your friends like family through thick & thin which in these times is irreplaceable. FSU is what it says. Friends. Stand. United.

Hope you all enjoyed that. It brought back some happier memories for me & made me want to relive ‘that’ Ally Pally moment from 2017 again. Only no tears this time I promise! Fantastic storytelling boys!

Matches to check out then;

FSU vs Los Gueros Del Cielo Fight Club Pro Dream Tag Team Invitational 2017 Night 1

Mark Andrews vs Pete Dunne PWG BOLA Stage 2 2016

Eddie Dennis vs Travis Banks Progress Wrestling Chapter 59 2017

Thanks for reading, WHEN IT’S TIME TO PARTY WE WILL..

Jx

Blog soundtracked by.. Tiny Moving Parts

[bluebuzzmusic]

GRiZ Takes Us Through the Past, Present & Future at GRiZmas V

GRiZmas brings a funky holiday spirit to Detroit that only GRiZ can inspire.

Grant “GRiZ” Kwiecinski returned to his hometown of Detroit for the fifth annual GRiZmas, a two-night run at Detroit’s Masonic Temple. One night of the GRiZ live band and one night of GRiZ, by tradition has been the culmination of the 12-Days of GRiZmas event. More than ever, the celebration showcased his vast repertoire and blasted us through the past, present, and future of everything GRiZ.

12 Days of GRiZmas

Over December 4 – 15, the producer and his team took to Detroit to host gatherings, workshops, charity drives, and DJ sets. This year included the flagship caroling, yoga, and roller-disco events, and pop up holiday store to score limited GRiZmas merch. New additions to the festivities included an Assemble U discussion on mental health in the social media century and the first inaugural GRiZmas local mic night in partnership with the Detroit Institute for Music Education. Plus, a special GRiZmas coffee blend in collaboration with Detroit’s Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company. Yum.

The Night Before GRiZmas was surely a blast from the past as GRiZ delivered an entire Mad Liberation set at Deluxx Fluxx. Yeah, the venue was small and crowded and the sound system was a little iffy, but that’s exactly what a GRiZ set was like back in those days. Nostalgia filled the air as GRiZ and Muzzy Bearr tackled an entire era into one regular-sized set filled with mad liberating music. GRiZ immediately followed it up with a Disco House Party at The Magic Stick and the vibes were unbeatable.

Of course, GRiZmas has always been about giving back. All of the money raised went toward increasing access to music education in Detroit’s public schools. Year after year, GRiZmas has cultivated a community amongst GRiZ fans from the heart of Detroit and across the country with a purpose — to take care of each other above all else.

All of this holiday action led up to two nights of GRiZ that fans, new and old, could appreciate as he took us through GRiZmas past, present, and future.

The Ghost of GRiZmas Past

Set in GRiZ’s hometown of Detroit, GRiZmas by design has given a special nod to his earliest works and rise to the spotlight. Saturday night’s GRiZ set featured an absolute tear through of classics from End of the World Party, Mad Liberation, and Rebel Era including “Grizzlor,” “Rock n Roll,” “The Future is Now,” “DTW to DIA,” and “Crime in the City.” These were the glimpses of the past that we did not expect to hear, but it was an absolute treat when we did. The inclusion of staple songs like “Smash the Funk” and “Gettin Live” — integral parts of older sets, but now often times elusive — reminded us of the evolution of GRiZ sets and music.

Even some of the new material we heard on Saturday night seemed to pay homage to GRiZ’s roots and older sounds. For instance, a song containing an edited sample of Nas’ “Hip Hop is Dead” proclaiming “Glitch Hop just died,” juxtaposed by some of the glitchiest GRiZ we’ve heard in awhile, had us grinning ear to ear. The live band also included one of our favorite nods to the past, “Chasin Galaxies,” which we’ve come to adore.

With all these throwbacks, we couldn’t help but reflect on GRiZ’s journey thus far.

The Ghost of GRiZmas Present

In addition to the reflection of early – 2010 work, we were reminded of the GRiZ sound we’ve come to love over the last three years, which brought us into the present. 2015’s Say It Loud was a huge shift in sound and astronomically perpetuated by 2016’s Good Will Prevail. Each body of work, including Chasing the Golden Hour parts that preceded each of them, brought another level of instrumental and vocal fusion to the table.

These songs made for perfect adaptations by the GRiZ live band, a more recent project featuring GRiZ and over 13 other pieces that make entirely live renditions of pivotal tracks. After opening with a funky holiday song, the GRiZ live band proved to be the weekend’s outlet for much of GRiZ’s more current work. Songs like “PS GFY,” “Can’t Hold me Down,” “Wicked,” and “Get Down” were brilliantly performed live and celebrated throughout the crowd.

The live band received a production boost as well, with illuminated platforms and lights that highlighted stage choreography. Each piece of the band could be narrowed in on visually at respective times. For example, the trade off between saxophone solo, vocal verses, and the entire live band when Prob Cause came out for “Smoke That” and “My Friends and I.”

With the addition of the live version of “It Gets Better,” one of GRiZ’s latest songs, Friday night’s live band highlighted the duality of electronic and instrumental sound that has exponentially grown in GRiZ’s music. Back for an encore, Bootsy Collins performed a new GRiZ collaboration “Bustin’,” providing one of Friday’s biggest looks into the future.

When speaking with GRiZ back in October, we learned about the process for translating his tunes into a full live production and how much focus he and his band have been been dedicating to this project. Full interview here. 

The Ghost of GRiZmas Future

Last GRiZmas, we felt there was a bright future ahead for GRiZ and his music. Little did we know, it’s even brighter than we anticipated. Much of the unreleased material from last year has seemingly been sidelined to make way for this year’s new, unreleased music — showing us the lightning fast speed at which GRiZ is operating at. GRiZ assured us that he has been keeping hella busy despite his social media absence and this GRiZmas proved that notion.

Friday night’s live band performance offered plenty of glimpses into the horizon music-wise, but the kick-off of Saturday night’s GRiZ set was the greatest eye-opener. GRiZ opened center stage with all lights on him — just him, with a microphone in hand laying down the lyrics to an unreleased song. After coming out swinging with a handful of previously unheard songs, GRiZ performed another one of his most recent releases, “Can’t Get Enough,” which marks his first main entry into the vocal aspect of his artistry. It was made clear from Saturday night’s opening sequence that this will continue to be a focus in the future.

In the barrage of new music we heard on Saturday night, it’s tough to say what’s complete and what’s still on GRiZ’s cutting room floor. GRiZ has always kept the most gritty and grimey parts of his repertoire unreleased and only hearable at shows. While we expect this trend to continue, we’re also hopeful that some of bangers we heard in the first half will find a way to our speakers soon.

There were also new takes on old songs, like the classic GRiZmatik collab “Digital Liberation is Mad Freedom,” as well as part two of “My Friends and I.” To end the night, GRiZ was joined by Matisyahu to perform a brand new collab that sounded too good to go unreleased for much longer.

This year, GRiZmas was a special sneak peak into the future of GRiZ — new music, new adaptations for the live band, and bigger and better shows. GRiZ seems to be moving in many directions at once, but each direction is pointing forward and moving at 110% speed. GRiZmas V made us excited for the future like never before!

GRiZmas V reflected on where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re heading. Through his music, GRiZ took us on a journey through our time as individuals and together as a community. Through tradition, this community has been born. Through this community, a brighter future awaits.

To relive this year’s festivities, check out the GRiZmas recap video below. For anyone who missed out or can’t get enough, check out GRiZ’s upcoming tour dates.

Merry belated GRiZmas to everyone! Hope to see you next year!

MORE: GRiZ Drops 2 New Singles & Catches Us Up On His Life & Music

GRiZMAS 2018 Recap

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GRiZMAS 2018 [recap]

Proud of our community. We celebrated life and the spirit of giving back. Music, art, and culture intersected with charity and empathy. We became closer with our higher selves. Thank you all so much for building eachother up. We are creating a more beautiful future together. The light grows in us all <3Happy Holidays and Merry GRiZmas!!!

Posted by GRiZ on Monday, December 24, 2018

  Photos courtesy of Red Light Management

  This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: GRiZ Takes Us Through the Past, Present & Future at GRiZmas V

source https://www.youredm.com/2018/12/28/griz-past-present-future-grizmas-v-review/

[contrastbalance]

music becoming visual

This edition of contrastbalance is primarily about music becoming more and more visual, part of the reason I want physical copies out. Everyone featured in this entire thing has a strong image in some way – some are bold and some are enticing. Some use it as a stand alone statement, others to create something as eye catching as they do ear catching. Others use your eyes as a horizontal platform, ingraining into your cheekbone to reach being one step more relatable over the process of rolling out releases and 5 steps away from their ephemeral counterparts.

In early 2014, everyone’s favourite adopted artsy sibling Dev Hynes gave a stellar Ted Talks. The lecture’s focus was his understanding of the neurological condition of synaesthesia, and also featured a beautiful soundscape using keys he associates with certain colours. His projectile talent becomes far more transparent, opening up to the sniper focused audience, all while the speaker is reminiscent of Grace Jones mixed with a Lemony Snicket character.

Chromesthesia is the more particular type of the condition where colours link to sound, another known carrier is Pharrell. In an interview with Psychology Today he talks about over-active parts of his brain being forced to temporarily halt. He states “you ask any great rapper or writer or musician, and they’ll tell you their craziest ideas come from the shower or the plane because in both places there is sensory deprivation.” Williams linking his heard with his seen when meeting minds is integral to his much covered juxtaposition, which everyone knows he’s interested in creating. He sees his music the same as he does with getting dressed and everything else in between, drawing variation from a multicultural background, he is maybe someone you wouldn’t expect to be interested in what he is.

When A$AP Rocky was a can of spaghetti with the little sausages bursting onto a line of bridesmaids in 2011, what people who make music wear was at one of it’s highest points of fast changing scrutiny. He and the Mob were seen in the places to be, alongside the elite likes of Jeremy Scott, Michele Lamy and Kris Van Assche.

He had grown up bouncing between Harlem and Soho, at a young age mixing with people who inspire inspirers. Tales of acid-induced friendliness at SXSW give some sight into his individual and groups’ participating stabs at hedonism – but he has mixed in plenty of the high-brow sensibility to brilliantly market himself as someone standoffish when it comes to actually being a designer himself, a lane that has distracted musicians from every corner and status. He said in an early interview with SBTV “I’m not a designer, I’m not a fashion designer, I could consult like ‘yeah that’s dope but maybe you should fix this collar a little,’ but I don’t know the first thing about designing, I think that’s disrespectful to the culture. For me to just take advantage of it due to my fame, come in and pretend I can design – that’s not what I do.” Genuine interest and admiration saw designers, models and everyone hanging on in between every side of water huddle around Mayers, safe in the knowledge that artists are very aware of creative processes of those adjacent to them in other fields. He’s in the same vein of Bowie in terms of recreating himself.

While he’s admitted that Long.Live.A$AP leaned too much on the logical option at the time of trying to jump into pop minefields, At.Long.Last.A$AP showcased his genre-blending abilities. Following and probably coinciding with the hardship of losing one of his closest friends, fellow inspirer-of-inspirers A$AP Yams – seemed like he was having fun after making something he was sure he wanted us to hear and see. From the outside he’s the most pertinent visible link between underground music and wide arrays of fashion, and didn’t need to capture considerable numbers in pop audiences to do so.

Donald Glover’s creations always seem to meet at a drunk yoga class. The casual nature in which the creations are born is easily recognisable and even portrayed on-screen. Where Rocky and other massive acts could be described as embodying the more material, often recent and biographical side of rap, those like Kendrick Lamar, Chance The Rapper and Glover prefer telling interpersonal stories that drop listeners in the midst of varying turmoil.

Moonlighting as Childish Gambino, a dad and a guy who seems to place a lot of emphasis on changing his facial hair, Glover lives a really quiet life. His first exposure to the public eye came after Tina Fey was shown a spec screenplay for The Simpsons by David Milner, intrigued, she dug up some of the short films Glover made while at New York’s Tisch School of the Arts as part an improvisational comedy group, and she subsequently hired him to write for 30 Rock at just 23. After an 89-episode stint as Community‘s Troy he was written off the show, later stating that he casually asked to leave because his “heart wasn’t really in it. They, thankfully were just like ‘yeah’ and they let me go”, to Vibe Magazine, which wasn’t imparted to public knowledge at the time – leading many to boycott the show confused about the demise of a character and actor that had quickly impressed and maintained the sole reason for them to bother watching.

Not until 2013 and the rollout of because the internet would he post pictures of handwritten notes on Instagram, one stating “I didn’t leave Community to rap, I don’t wanna rap. I wanted to be on my own.” He says he was “mildly inconvenienced” by the resulting phonecalls.

Ambition to create using so many different artforms, even ability to do so at the level Glover consistently does is one thing, balancing all of them into your waking hours with a newborn is different. In August 2013 work began with FX on Atlanta, around following his short-lived recommencement with Community, around finishing because the internet, around shooting self-written short films featuring tripping pornstars, around the Deep Web Tour, recording and releasing STN MTN and then a day later Kauai.

Atlanta premiered on FX on 6th September 2016. It follows around Earn, who dropped out of Princeton to return back to Atlanta and become a full time slacker, part-time Airport salesman, part-time parent, post-retirement-occupation-time boyfriend. He realises first what his cousin is doing, then an episode length later that said cousin Paper Boi is on the brink of rap stardom and takes on an impromptu role as his manager. In the past few years the city has reached previously inaccessible heights in recognition as a culturally rich paradise for particularly African Americans – while the pressures of rubbing shoulders with some of the country’s artistic, business, innovative and sometimes underworld elite is present in the feel of the series, it’s Glover’s real-life cool in the face of doubt that makes the show so fluidly, deftly written, quaintly shot and highly addictive. “I tried to, I just wanted to make Twin Peaks with rappers,” he offers on The Ellen Show.

There is a brooding undercurrent that’s gained the critical acclaim and also a commissioned 2nd series just 2 weeks after it first aired. An all-black cast is few and far between, but been done – and all-black writing team is a less talked about issue in conversations about opportunity. President of FX, John Landgraf says of the pre-production meetings; “with Donald, he didn’t always articulate his vision in a way that we could see it, but his passions and ambition were clear.” There’s so much scope for a quirky show with (to many viewers) unconventional dialogue to go so wrong, just look at Bored to Death.

The issues that Atlanta portrays Earn tackling are those held varyingly stagnant over long spans of time in different lights by different people – police brutality, parenthood, mental health, institutionalised fear, gender identity, exploitation, flawed or complete lack of ethics in the entertainment industries, attitudes to firearms over racial lines and also portraying Justin Bieber as a black teenager in a charity basketball game – at no point does the show make an effort to not seem like it was written by an all-black team looking outwards. Glover downplays any political role the show may play in a Wired interview, while giving some insight into the casual first steps towards the brilliance the show exudes: “I like it when black people are hit with a certain light, like purple. It just felt good to play around with the look of the show.” An incredibly curious person, no one could’ve written the dialogue for Van and Jayde in the restaurant in the ‘Value’ episode without having experienced a defining moment while leaning over fumes from a squash based appetiser.

Gambino reached what you could call the 2nd phase of marketing with Awaken, My Love! reaching almost 200 million Spotify plays. The album was first played alongside a full band and 6-part choir at PHAROS, a Joshua Tree installment that Glover curated with Wolf and Rothstein, Microsoft and Miles Konstantin. The latter developed the PHAROS Earth app, purchasable for $99, locked to the phone and owner acting as a ticket to the 3-day wilderness based festival, that Glover would state would be his only live performance in 2016. The app was to make sure no tickets could be accordingly resold for such an exclusive event, and after the phones were checked for eligibility at entry they were placed in magnetically locked bags that were handed out – to halt any leakage from the cult event to the outside world. The event placed so much emphasis on first hand purity, as broken down into 5 sections upon purchasing the app – “tribe, ritual, experience abstraction, architecture, language.”

Another peek at Glover disillusionment, this time with technology was displayed by a complete clearance of his Twitter and Instagram accounts at the end of 2014, only returning with a Tweeted countdown in June 2016. “Be helpful. Do not be a detriment. No irony” the app also stated alongside the 5 human experience intuitives. In September fans appeared at Joshua Tree in the “vibrancy colour” of blue, that acted as another entry requirement. Wading through a mixture of Brokeback Mountain sets and a party in a garage ambience the crowds saw an artist in full control of everything they were seeing.

Due mainly to cold callers from Birmingham we’re probably now in the stage of evolution where we know not everyone is going to have a fully suitable voice for their chosen direction in life. Expectations naturally make up reaction and Rick Astley had all you shallow bastards annoyed. If you do listen to people’s music based solely on physical appearance you’ve probably got a relatively neo-nazi dad and you’ll frequently set fire to the family balaclava lexicon so you won’t have to accompany him on his shopping list. Album art is the forward-thinking way to live up to or fail to with regards to listeners expectations that they made with their eyes.

They act as a documentation of what they entomb and the location of the graveyard, modern graphic design actively swingy-chairs into the shins of people holding wine who don’t move out the way. When previously artwork was revealed ahead of release to moonwalk dropping breadcrumbs, that was a linear step like most steady marketing – today the rules often get told as you consume the experience. It lets you in for an all round view of a possibly new genre of image and you can easily find the cover you want to see, it might not match what you wanted to hear but you remember what you saw and go from there – much like casinos in the UK.

The hopefully budding romance of Zack Fox and Thundercat is communicated to the “here for this” spectators vibrantly through the covers of the deluxe vinyl copies of Drunk; feline optical illusion, trap mixtape reminiscent kaleidoscopes of viagra, guns and horses, also a seemingly constipated album artist. The visuals are a cue to using humour to help push through dark moments, it’s just as abstractly debilitating and distracting as that is. In an interview with Creative Review, the mystic force formerly known as Bootymath summarised: “I definitely just wanted to capture my sense of humour, which some would consider absurd or psychedelic. When life is just punching you in the back of the head, you start laughing at shit that doesn’t even correlate – it’s a coping mechanism but it helps create timeless inspiration. I wanted to inject those experiences and let designs be bold and confusing.”

If the Drunk covers would be for the Peter Saul fans, Bonobo’s Migration is probably whispered to those into Dan Flavin. Simon Green’s 6th album cover was designed by Neil Krug – responsible for visuals accompanying sounds from Lana Del Rey, The Weeknd and Tame Impala. The art dads know Bonobo from scenic and melancholy drives drowning out your wife in the boot, and the story of how the album art came about is equally as Californian-style ritualistic.

The consistency of the crispness Krug captured definitely affected his sleeping pattern horribly – he would drive out into the Mojave in the middle of night to have a chance to capture the divinity in the area’s sunrise. Picturing the desert came from Green’s recent life choice of moving to Los Angeles, while finalising tracks he would drive out to find required portions of solace. In an interview, also with Creative Review he says, “You can hear things in a new way just from moving environment. The car test is a classic thing. Producers will say, ‘take a drive with the music’. I like to go up to the mountains – there’s lots of really weird and wonderful landscapes around where I live – and just spend time with the music. It’s very inspiring… it can spark an idea that you might not have had if you’d just been sat in an air conditioned studio.”

The intensity of the supposed subject and the serenity it’s happening in narrate Krug’s skill as a press photographer and the same contrast correlates very effectively as something that could stand without explanation. The cover designer says in the same interview: “Once Si and I sat down and talked I knew the artwork needed to be something other than just landscape images. I thought, if this is going to grab your attention and create a narrative – you need something else in there – but what’s in there can’t be too loud or comment too much on what the music is. It had to stand out in an unusual way.”

Another past-time visual components to music can choose to aim at is discourse on identity. 2016 was a massive year for image around music, particularly in acknowledging vulnerability in places it wasn’t seen previously. I was losing my mind watching a reaction video of Frank Ocean, and the channel owner states “he doesn’t know how to market himself apparently” – yet the singer has had strangers from passing by cars shouting “Frank where’s the album!” If people verbally assault you for more of just you, you’ve created a demand for yourself in infinite ways for constant consumption. Beginning with Endless, Ocean perfected the unorthodox rollout of artistic identity that included two albums, a magazine, a seemingly for-view-only clothing line, pop up retail locations, a music label and apparently a racing team. The most adored gift to date was in the shape of Blonde.

Forever a mystery in an information age, Ocean’s most revealing statement came from that Tumblr note, which in turn made you a chiropractor studying the backbone Channel Orange, just as expected after that he money-danced into the abyss. He stands so close to the likes of West, Knowles, Mayer that reflections off of royal-like jewels fully expose his complete innocuous desire to go and live and them come tell us about it, although he seems to be making that arthouse full time. Post Channel Orange activities forced him to enter into the wilderness, absolutely no interest in TMZ harassment. He has all the cliché qualities to live as a genius like those who handed the torch to him, including the inhuman work-rate; Blonde‘s clear perfectionism required it’s creator to work for at least 17 house a day at the height of production and there’s rumoured to be 150 versions of ‘White Ferrari‘. Apart from a casually released ‘Nikes‘ video, none of the tracks have received even slightly the treatment you’d expect to see for as a single.

Since the album was released at the end of August 2016, Ocean has already given a short interview while wearing Vans in the White House, a longer form conversation in the New York Times, had a filmed interview about the making of possibly his last stab at an “album format” and even released one and been featured on another song – he seems all set to fire himself off to the moon.

What made Blonde all the more enticing was the visual attitude around the release – in the most unconventional cyclical portrayal he maybe could’ve thought of. There is a consistency throughout most of the imagery and what it’s getting it. Self reliance is the quality many align with Ocean’s character. In the New York Times article he revealed that since Channel Orange and the following borderline unwelcome attention, his label and management situation had grown all the more murky, and he had been in the process of buying back his masters from Def Jam. His deal with the label was covering two albums – after they indefinitely shelved his would-be solo album Nostalgia, Ultra he released it himself, Channel Orange followed just over a year later. Personal privacy requirements aside, the label still needed a second release, so Ocean slapped them with the carpentry tutorial that was Endless on the 1st of August 2016, to end the “seven year chess game” – less than 3 weeks later Blonde was released on his label Boys Don’t Cry.

His possible last album-album will be remembered as a great one – widely played and picked apart for years. Blonde lends from many corners, musical and lifestyle. Vulnerability is also set into specific genres, a recent champion of divulging is the Seattle based synth-pop artist Perfume Genius. An artistic contradiction with shared qualities of an 8-year old child prodigy, his music has been growing into larger sounding forms. His melancholic intimate pianist base-point works well bouncing off of lyrics about his past substance abuse issues, his sexuality, his living with Crohn’s, modern wellbeing concerns of gay men inside masculinity and domestic abuse.

Along with the growing mechanics, the nature in which the recordings take place has majorly shifted. Just like the growing catalogue of projects which is set to extend in May, Mike Hadreas is experiencing strength in numbers in terms of albums, fans and relationships – namely with Alan Wyffels, who alongside Mike is 8 years sober. Perfume Genius could very well be in the same philosophical field as Zack Fox, using humour to patch up some past, some continuing difficulties, struggling to not look back with angst upon death threats from school days and even a hate-fuelled beating that forced him to elope with a lifestyle from Seattle all the way to New York. In that city Mike fell into the common grounds of coming of age searching, ending up with you shaking next to a radiator. “When you are a drug addict and alcoholic, you function in crisis mode all the time. Learning and Put Your Back N 2 It was Mike processing those things. Too Bright was a lot of anger. And this album is like, ok, we’re on the other side” Alan tells Fader.

He seems absolutely focused on intense personal growth, which is admirable for a 35 year old. Also in Fader, Mike says of rehab – “I didn’t talk at all for the first four days. I was so terrified. Then there’s something so freeing: there’s lots of group therapy, and you’re just around people all the time because you’re all locked together. By the end of it, I was facilitating the discussions.” His ability to let loose is maybe most striking on his first album’s 3rd song, ‘Mr Peterson‘ about a school teacher who groomed and took advantage of him and subsequently committed suicide.

The new album is said to be a triumph of overcoming personal demons, but fears about growing hostility in his native country are just as scary as we move into increasingly accepting mindsets and heightened security measures see people referred to as “eggshells.” The response of strength in numbers also has Perfume Genius looking to create his new album in an innovative-to-himself manner, creating the melodies before the lyrics. His growth from nihilist to domestic bliss he admits doesn’t feel fully solid, but at the time it’s being focused on by the man himself and those observing prove important – that ascending joy with a gay backdrop is what the outlying masses need.

I take credit for the words and absolutely zero of the photos.

[rainbowpeak]

Hari-hari Terakhir di Jogja #5 [Melting Pot Yogyakarta]

Sabtu, 19 Agustus 2017.

Masuk ke lingkungan baru bagi orang introvert sama susahnya keluar dari zona nyaman bagi kebanyakan orang. Hari itu, untuk pertama kalinya gue memberanikan diri dateng ke sebuah event yang nggak gue banget. Gue (kayaknya) bukan introvert, hanya saja hampir setiap millenial pasti setuju bahwa mendatangi sebuah acara terbuka seorang diri itu dibutuhkan keberanian dan kemauan yang besar. Karena bagi (kebanyakan) millenial, lebih mudah memulai segala macam bentuk hubungan dengan orang baru melalui media perantara dibandingkan langsung ketemu. Mending kalau satu lawan satu, lah kalo satu orang lawan satu komunitas, pasti lebih banyak yang jiper duluan dan ujungnya nggak jadi berangkat aja. Wait, am I judging, making assumption, and generalizing here?

Event yang gue datangi adalah semacam book charity. Gue sendiri nggak terlalu interested nor care about the event, motivasi utama gue dateng ke situ pengen nonton teman nge-gig di lokasi acaranya. Ndilalah, acaranya berlokasi di warung kopi. Jadi, gue punya tiga lapis alasan datang untuk datang: (1) nonton teman, (2) nyumbang buku, dan (3) nambah referensi tempat ngopi.

Biasanya, ketika datang ke suatu acara asing di tempat yang belum pernah gue datangi, gue ngerem ekspektasi serendah mungkin. Gue nggak berharap acaranya menyenangkan, tempatnya asik, ataupun makanan/minumannya enak. Udah se-terbiasa itu gue mencegah kekecewaan. Jadi, walaupun ada tiga, tetap alasan nomor satu yang gue andalkan.

Turned out that Saturday was my lucky day!

Gue sampai di lokasi acara kecepetan wkwk. Padahal, pengumuman di IG acaranya mulai jam 3, gue sengaja menunda keberangkatan setengah jam dan sampai di lokasi jam 4. Eh, pas sampai sana panitianya juga masih siap-siap. Teman gue? Belom dateng doong! Tapi ya okelah, I didn’t mind at all. Setelah gue nanya ke salah satu panitianya, gue kasih buku yang udah niat gue sumbangin. Setelah itu, sebagai reward, gue boleh minta dibuatkan sketsa wajah oleh komunitas yang bekerja sama dengan panitia book charity-nya. Orang yang ngegambar sketsa wajah gue namanya Vanya, mahasiswi ISI tingkat akhir yang tinggal tunggu wisuda. Vanya ambil jurusan DKV. Yoi, Vanya njawab semua pertanyaan gue itu sambil ngelukis. Goks! Hasilnya? Gue sih suka, meskipun pas malamnya gue pamerin sketch itu ke Anggun, dia bilang nggak mirip wkwk.

Foto 1: Sketsa wajah gue yang digambar oleh Vanya.

Waktu gue lagi konsenterasi menjadi model still live-nya Vanya, teman gue datang. Ow, gue belum sebut namanya, ya. Perkenalkan dulu, nama teman gue yang gue ingin tonton aksi gig-nya adalah Vina. Doi bertalenta dalam seni, utamanya nyanyi dan nulis. Ga punya Instagram karena sedang di-deactivate, tapi kalau lagi aktif nama IG-nya adalah @vinafm. Doi juga punya akun IG khusus untuk menuangkan puisi-puisinya. Anyway, setelah dia sampai, dia siap-siap di spot-nya. Sketch gue selesai bersamaan dengan Vina siap memulai lagu pertamanya. Tapi gue sempet-sempetnya nyamperin doi dulu buat pamerin hasil sketch wkwk. Gara-gara gigs-nya Vina sore itu, gue jadi kenal sama satu lagu yang sepulangnya dari sana, gue download lagunya di Spotify dan Joox dan kemudian gue “repeat one song” sampai nggak terhitung. Lagu apa? Aku Milikmu-nya Dewa 19. Gue terlambat kenal! Terakhir gue terlambat kenal lagu tuh Adelaide Sky-nya Adhitia Sofyan yang dirilis tahun 2009 dan gue baru tau tahun 2016. Tujuh tahun dong telatnya. Eh lagunya Dewa 19 yang satu ini… 23 tahun coy! Gue jadi teringat omongannya Lord Adri: “Karya yang bagus tuh nggak bakal mati, coba aja lo dengerin lagu-lagunya Dewa 19 era Ari Lasso dua puluh-tiga puluh tahun lagi, masih tetep asik!” Totally relevant, right?!

Sampai di sini gue harus menghela napas dulu untuk bersyukur. Gue masih ingat vibe positif yang gue rasakan sore itu. Gue datang ke sebuah event asing sendirian tanpa ekspektasi, dan gue mendapat feedback yang sangat menyenangkan. Gue pikir cukup sampai di situ, gue udah nggak peduli lagi sama kopi di warung itu. Tapi berhubung gue udah sampai di sana, gue pesan lah segelas single origin filtered. Gue memilih kopi Mandhailing diseduh pakai V60. Guess what?! Kopinya enak coy!!! That could be the luckiest gamble in my coffee journey. Not only they serve very good coffee, but also I managed to get to know their barista, whose the idealism is matched with me at soooo many ways!

Okay, gue ceritakan dulu ya soal tempatnya. Namanya Melting Pot Yogyakarta. Kalau gue liat di IG sih, kayanya banyak kafe di tempat lain yang namanya sama. Tapi clearly, ini bukan franchise. Sebenarnya, Melting Pot adalah kafe. Mereka nggak hanya jual kopi. Banyak berbagai makanan dan cemilan, juga minuman lucu-lucuan seperti latte, red velvet, dan sekawanannya. Gue selalu skeptis sama kopi yang dijual di tempat semacam itu, karena biasanya kopinya cuma jadi sampingan. Tapi Mas Andri, baristanya, cerita bahwa justru karena mereka menawarkan berbagai macam menu selain kopi, Melting Pot jadi bisa idealis sama kopinya. Tahu bagian terbaiknya? HARGANYA MURAAAH! Bahkan gue berani klaim, harga yang mereka tawarkan adalah yang termurah di antara tempat-tempat ngopi lain yang biasanya gue datangi. Bagi gue personal, ada bagian yang lebih baik lagi dari pada harga yang murah: barista yang open-minded dan punya cakrawala wawasan yang sangaaat luas. Itu yang gue bisa simpulkan setelah hampir dua jam ngobrol sama Mas Andri. Poin utamanya, hanya dari satu kali datang, gue bisa memasukkan Melting Pot ke salah satu pilihan utama kedai kopi yang bisa gue datangi kalau lagi butuh ke warung kopi. Atau mungkin, sekalian saja dijadikan top of the list?

Foto 2: Bar di Melting Pot

Foto 3: Mas Andri (kiri)

Foto 4: Penyajian kopi di Melting Pot.

[iamandco]

  PHOTO: COURTESY ASHLEY GRAHAM’s INSTAGRAM  Here at I AM & CO, we love to celebrate strong, beautiful, history-making women who help make the world a better place for us all . The sensational Ashley Graham—and her Instagram—have our devoted attention. Ashley is a 31 year old plus-sized model who has taken the modeling and fashion industry by storm. Her career and accolades have brought awareness to self-love and body positivity , and show that women of all sizes, colors, and shapes deserve to be celebrated for their authentic beauty. Ms. Graham became an overnight sensation when in 2016, she was the first size 16 model to be featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. This was a major breakthrough for plus-sized models in the modeling industry. Ever since then, Ashley has been slaying the fashion industry with her complete fierceness and beauty. The best way to keep up with Ashley is to follow her Instagram account @ashleygraham. Her feed is popping and let me tell you why: #BeautyBeyondSize: Ashley Graham loves and owns her sexy, curvy body, and isn’t afraid to flaunt it on social media. You have no idea how empowering it is for me to see a woman like Ashley show me and the rest of the world her natural, beautiful figure. Whenever she posts a fire photo of her body, it reminds me to own my imperfections and to show them off to the world. After I see a photo of Ashley, I feel inspired to put on my favorite shorts and show off my curves to the world.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Feb 14, 2018 at 6:14pm PST Okay Ashley, we see you!!  View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Feb 17, 2018 at 12:55pm PST Whether you have a small booty, a big booty, or something in between, own it, and show it off. View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Aug 13, 2018 at 6:23pm PDT What’s better than one gorgeously stunning curvy girl? Two gorgeously stunning curvy girls! Thanks for sharing your beauty with the world, ladies! View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Jun 2, 2018 at 8:57am PDT Killer body? Check. Gorgeous backdrop? Check. Badass babe who is making ‘her’story? Check. View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Jun 17, 2019 at 12:31pm PDT We love when Ashley promotes fellow models of all shapes, colors, and sizes on her feed. Her Workouts are Hardcore: I didn’t realize this, but Ashley Graham is a workout beast. If you think that because she’s plus-sized, she doesn’t workout, you have another thing coming your way! Ashley trains like a freaking Olympian. This woman is the definition of a strong bad-ass babe! View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Oct 5, 2018 at 1:29pm PDT “Are you jumping into your best life?” I am now, thanks to you Queen Ashely!  View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Nov 3, 2018 at 4:53pm PDT Oh no big deal, Ashley is just pulling a 45 pound weight with a man who is at least 180 pounds standing on top of it. View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Jan 24, 2019 at 7:40am PST Ashley isn’t always in the gym; sometimes she likes to switch it up, Here she is living her best life while skating at the Santa Monica pier.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on May 18, 2018 at 1:45pm PDT Can we talk about how much core strength Ashley must have in order to do this? I gotta hit up my bestie and try this out! View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Mar 1, 2019 at 2:03pm PST I love what Ashley says in this post: “I don’t work out to lose weight, I don’t work out because I want to be thin, I work out to stay healthy, strong, firm and to keep my mind clear.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Nov 19, 2018 at 10:59am PST Can we just talk about the fact that Ashley Graham is literally deadlifting 135 pounds and she is making it look easy! I wish I looked calm, cool, and collected like her when I’m at the gym, lol. She Slays #AllDayEveryDay: As someone who is obsessed with everything beauty and fashion related, I love checking out Ashley Graham’s Instagram feed to see which of the latest trends she’s been rocking. Ashley isn’t afraid to try out new beauty trends and I truly love seeing what she wears, because it gives me an idea of what would look good on me! Also, she proves all the haters wrong because she knows how to look damn good in a pair of skinny jeans and crop top. View this post on Instagram Just as comfortable as it looks🌴 A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Feb 22, 2018 at 7:32pm PST There’s no denying that red looks absolutely stunning on Ashley. As someone who has dabbled in the modeling industry, I can tell you firsthand how incredibly difficult this pose is. Not only does she have to balance on such a slender branch, but she’s doing a major back arch which is definitely not comfortable. The fact that Ashley is making this pose look so graceful and elegant is some next level magic. View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Aug 12, 2018 at 3:16pm PDT Sleek hair looks AMAZING on Ashley! I also love her outfit in this picture. She is so chic and put together; this would be a great work outfit View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Mar 4, 2019 at 3:46pm PST This is on top of my list of photos I want to recreate. Ashley truly looks like a modern day Greek goddess in this photo. Her beauty is undeniable. View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on May 5, 2018 at 10:05pm PDT I am living for the 70s vibe Ashley is going for! This brown metallic dress looks phenomenal on her olive toned skin and her bouncy curls are perfect for a fun night out. View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Feb 23, 2018 at 4:07pm PST Tyra Banks (a.k.a my birthday twin) would be so proud of Ashley and her fierce smize in this photoshoot! Also, can we just talk about (again) how amazing red looks on Ashley?  View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Jan 18, 2019 at 3:30pm PST Here is living proof that curvy girls can look fire in a crop top and skinny jeans.  She’s a Huge Advocate for Women and Social Justice: Ashley is putting her fame to good use. She is using her platform and voice to help bring awareness to many issues that need to be changed. She also loves supporting other badass babes, which is something we love to do as well. View this post on Instagram Empowered women, empower women. Loved meeting @BrookeShields on the set of the @swimsuitsforall #PowerSuit shoot! See the campaign. Link in bio! A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on May 21, 2018 at 11:00am PDT Ashley Graham said it best, “Empower women empower women” and that is exactly what Ashley does on the daily. View this post on Instagram It's time to drive for change. I'm proud to be joining the 2018 @Cash_and_Rocket Tour this June, uniting and empowering women to #PressForProgress while we raise donations for charities that support women and children around the world. Learn more and donate at cashandrocket.com/donate. #CashandRocket A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Mar 8, 2018 at 3:52am PST Here she is being part of a campaign that is raising money to support women and girls all over the world. View this post on Instagram IT’S LIVE! My new series #Fearless with @theellenshow is live 🙌🏽 Link in bio to watch Kayla & Rickey’s life change forever!🖤🖤🖤 A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Nov 14, 2018 at 8:35am PST Ashley Graham partnered with Ellen Degeneres and Ellentube to have her own series called “Fearless.” On this show, Ashley helps people who struggle with confidence to see their own beauty and become that fearless person they know they can be. She’s Just Like Us… Except for that whole supermodel thing. Ashley is h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s and she loves to keep it real. She knows she’s just another human being like the rest of us. After seeing all her hella relatable posts, I think it’s safe to say we all want to be best friends with her.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on May 7, 2018 at 9:05am PDT Ashley’s idea of the #behindthescenes of getting ready for the Met Gala is definitely different than other celebrities. Here she is getting her nose hairs zapped before the big event. View this post on Instagram A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Nov 12, 2018 at 12:40pm PST In this video, Ashley is showing her followers her struggle with taping up her breasts . “Kim tried it, Cardi B tried it…I don’t think I’m doing this right!” View this post on Instagram #Models A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Apr 10, 2018 at 9:39am PDT Here’s a hilariously adorable video of Ashley with fellow supermodel Hailey Bieber doing funny faces. Ashley captioned it #Models. View this post on Instagram Morgan Williams, over and out!✌🏽 If you want to laugh and cry at the same time, make sure to check it out on cbs! A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Jun 22, 2018 at 6:59pm PDT I honestly have no idea what is going on in this photo, but here’s another example of Ashley keeping it real with her followers. View this post on Instagram Bout to eat my way through Europe🍴 A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham) on Jun 30, 2018 at 4:53pm PDT Ashley shoving her face with fancy European food is a whole mood. This  is literally me at 2 a.m. shoving my face into a piece of pizza. Same, Ashley, same. I think it’s safe to say Ashley Graham has saved lives. She has shown the world that a size 16 woman can be equally as beautiful as a size 0 woman. Her goal has never been to steal the spotlight from models who are smaller than she is, but only to bring awareness to the fact that we are all equally beautiful, no matter our size. To see a model like Ashley, who somewhat resembles my body shape, be on the covers of major fashion magazines has helped boost my confidence. I always wanted to see a girl like me (with curves) be celebrated. Ms. Graham’s beauty is game-changing and helping redefine what beauty is. Because of her, many plus-sized models are able to have successful careers in the fashion industry. Because of her, magazines and fashion brands are being more inclusive and celebrating bigger girls. Because of her, I am reminded to love my body for how it is. Ashley Graham, you are an inspiration and all together a #Girlboss. Thank you for being YOU and helping change the game.  If you are interested in learning more about Ashley and her journey, subscribe to her new podcast “Pretty Big Deal”!

[ltdedngallery-blog]

THE BIG INTERVIEW … DAN BALDWIN

(Originally published Nov 2014)

BRITISH ARTIST DAN BALDWIN RECENTLY RETURNED FROM HIS STUNNING SOLO SHOW ‘END OF INNOCENCE’ IN NEW YORK CITY…AFTER 101 DIFFERENT INTERVIEWS ABOUT THE SHOW & THE NEW WORK, WE CAUGHT UP WITH HIM TO TALK ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE…

LTD/EDN… Hey Dan, you are so often described, perhaps incorrectly, as an urban artist.  It doesn’t get anymore urban than NYC, so how the hell was New York? Could you ever live there?

DAN…We had that very conversation out there, could we live here? We thought Yes and No .

If we had a massive loft in the Meatpacking District… Yes!

Although the TV Shows, disclaimers and adverts… that was driving us to a No!  One commercial actually announced ‘If your erection lasts for more than four hours, seek medical advice’ and they invent words like ‘ruggedise’ and ‘dramadies’!

So as long as that loft apartment has no TV, you’ll be fine! Did you get to see any more of the City on this trip, or was it just work, work work? Any favourite spots?

Some good friends flew in from Brighton, and we visited all the usual places… Central Park, Liberty Island, Trump Tower, Dakota Building, Times Square, The MoMA, Soho, Cast Iron District, Ground Zero.

The Meatpacking District was the area we liked the most – round by Chelsea market and the historic High Line. I took photos I’m going to use in my new paintings which I’ve never done before – really interesting architecture, great buildings etc.

As for that Urban Artist tag, I guess I’m not easily labelled.

My paintings can be figurative, abstract, landscape, or non-perspective and they move forwards fast –  I make sculpture and paint pots, I didn’t grow up in an inner city – but I’m not from the countryside either. My work may have urban appeal, and that may link back to my passion towards skateboarding and it’s art and music. I grew up in a very exciting time with music, that has inspired me.

When I started in 1990 (or 1996 if you exclude college) there was no Urban tags, until 2006, I guess art movements or chapters need to be boxed into a category.

Like they did with Pop Art – many of the Pop artists weren’t, like Ed Rusche, who was a young exciting painter making eye catching art at the same time as Rauschenberg – who actually wasn’t POP either, but was dating Jasper Johns, who was quite POP. I guess we all just love to categorise.

Brit’s taking and breaking the US has been a UK obsession in music and art for generations. With your management team PMM at your side are you part of a new British invasion?

Hopefully – who knows – what I loved was the response to my art from such a diverse mix of people – and selling art direct to people walking in from Texas, Canada, Australia, Germany and NYC, that doesn’t happen in my experience as much in London.

Can you tell us a little more about how it works with you and PMM Art Projects?

PMM will oversee all aspects of putting a show on for me – Pat, Roger, Richard will agree dates that work best, Roger will scout out venues across the city, Pat will then agree, then employ PR to maximise on Press, Roger will spread the word ‘like a scud missile’, Richard will deal in sales and clients, the hanging of the show, and email enquiries, Chippy will deal in decal, graphic design , show preview, lists, poster and sign, Marta will help deal in all admin, and take care of logistics; like cars, flights, hotel, crates, shipping etc -​ Pat had 700 posters distributed across NYC, and arranged a dinner for special clients and collectors the night before the opening. We all do our bit, I focus on making the art, then photographing it all, packing ready for crates and shippers,​ and I am there to hang it with Richard and a specialist hanger.

Pat and Roger also oversee any specific projects I may be asked to do, other than a show, like the deal with my recent Paolo Nutini project – If I’m approached by a company for example, I will run it past PMM.

It’s like I have a backbone of support and it all will come together on a show.

Do you pay attention to the American art scene? Feel different to London/UK?  Any current artists out there you like? We heard that Shepard Fairey is a collector…

Not really – I rarely get time for other UK shows. I am aware of a lot of artists​ and try to keep my eyes open, but I’m 6 days a week absorbed in my own work so it’s not so easy.

I went to MoMA NYC just to see if there was a Basquiat, but sadly it was in storage. I was thrilled to see my favourite Rauschenberg again ‘Canyon’, I hadn’t seen that since I was about 19. It’s a mixed media collage on canvas with a eagle stuck to the bottom on wood, with paint and cardboard and as a young artist it made me realise you can do anything in art. I also still get a buzz from seeing Warhol like the huge black red Disaster piece/car crash .

I remember going out to a show in London after my LA show and it was so pretentious compared to LA, which is very much dress down laid back in its vibe. NYC was cool, good people.

Shep isn’t a collector of mine as such, but he has a lot of art – he came to my LA show and requested to meet me, which was great as I saw him there and was like Fuck, its OBEY ! . . Weirdly I had bought myself an Obey print when I first went full time in 2006.

We had a good chat about music mainly and my art and the next day he invited us to his downtown Hollywood studio, which was amazing – he was incredibly generous and gave me 12 prints, and two books, so I pasted some onto a canvas and made a Baldwin on top of some Obeys and one was a Martha Cooper, so it’s a one off Baldwin on some Shepard Fairey Martha cooper prints! I then sent it back to him. (pictured above left).

That meeting was a highlight of our LA trip and years later I had no idea it would link up to PMM via Logan Hicks.

You have a number of other celebrity collectors. If you could collect something from a celebrity what would it be?

I think something from the classic car collection of Jay Leno would be a nice one … I don’t know.

​I do want a 50s American car, a 58 Plymouth Fury, after my top 3 favourite movie Christine,​ or some original Westwood punk gear.

I collected badges as a kid… Now i collect stuff for my art – something from Elvis’s Gracelands, perhaps or a bit of James Dean’s wardrobe, or his conga drums. One of Andy Warhol’s striped t-shirts would be cool or a Basquiat scrap of paper or something from his studio – similarly something from Bacon’s studio. A drum kit from Adam Ant was on my childhood wish list… They gave one away on ”Jim’ll Fix it’.

We covet inanimate objects – is it nostalgia? or sentimentalism? There, I invented a word! Or maybe not. I have a cabinet full of objects we collect. Old children’s dice, a dead Bee, a cats whisker, it’s memory and object – I like nostalgia.

Your Cyclone piece was recently used by Paolo Nutini on his album sleeve artwork – if you could design any album for any band through history what would it be?

Album art used to be so important, I never forget the power Frankie Goes to Hollywood had with their first album, and the symbolism they used, the heart, the bullet, the crucifix, the sperm. It made a big impact on me, as did Adam Ant, but that was more his look and that great logo.

So did Santa bring you anything exciting this year? What was on your list to Santa? Did any goodies cross over with your son’s list?

We escaped the misery of Dads Army, Quality Street, the Two Ronnies repeat from 1978 and you know, all the rest of it and celebrated Rome.

Is finding out that Santa doesn’t exist the real ‘End of Innocence’?  

He doesn’t?

Ha, so enough of Christmas, it’s a New Year…What’s up next?

Thursday (Jan 8th 2015) sees the opening of a new print show alongside Peter Blake at the GX Gallery (www.gxgallery.com/exhibition/fame-promise) I have made 5 new works on paper for it.

I also have a lot of loose ends since NYC, some commissions to do, two charity events coming up, and making new art. I am itching to continue my SUBVERT series and make more bronzes.

There will be a lot going on over the next 12 months, we are also planning to move and relocate the studio. Plus I’m already planning my new show! In my head anyway!

Lastly, talking of your head, one question about the Show…. We noticed a splendid hat, move over Pharrell…Where did you get that hat, where did you get that hat?

Ha, I’m not brave enough for ‘Child of the Jago’, yet, but you know, all in time .. but in NYC it was essential.

​I like the look of some of these www.nickfouquet.com

In the 90’s, or earlier, when England was full of casuals and mullets, if I said then imagine if all the young casuals started to dress like it was the 1940’s – braces, hats, cloth caps, brogue boots, beards you would have laughed – but now it’s  true!

Everything comes round in circles. Look at Duchamp, ​putting an urinal in a gallery in 1917, how ahead of his time was he? Anyway you know the old saying ‘if you want to get ahead, get a hat ‘…1934 that slogan was created.

Thank you Dan for your time, we look forward to new work in 2016.

[vandalamagazine]

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Photo and Article Credit: L. Paul Mann

The second annual Arroyo Seco music festival took place on the third longest day of the year, Saturday, June 23rd, bringing in the summer concert season in grand style. The two-day festival was organized by Goldenvoice, the same organization responsible for the most auspicious festival in the country, Coachella. The Arroyo Seco festival was held in a beautiful tree-lined meadow, just outside the Rose Bowl, in the affluent suburbs of Pasadena. The event seems to be modeled after the one-off mega concert, Desert Trip, which was held in 2016 at the Coachella festival site. That concert which featured six of the biggest acts in classic rock, was one of the most sophisticated festival events in history, featuring a massive stage, sound system, and media screens. The festival offered up copious amounts of high-end beverages and gourmet food for sale. The Arroyo Seco event features three stages much more modest than the gargantuan one in the desert, but all with quality sound. The food and beverage stands were similar, with dozens of gourmet restaurants represented and various bars offering up a variety of spirits. Food and drinks were expensive but not outrages at least by California standards. There were so many booths offering up the goodies spread across the sprawling festival grounds, there always seemed to be a spot to grab food or drink without a line.

The event was reconfigured this year to make it more comfortable to move about and find a good spot to watch the action. Large walkways were cordoned off and patrolled by a large security force to allow easy access to the facilities as well as the music stages. An area in front of each stage was designated standing room, while tree-lined and the hilly regions in the back were reserved for concert goers to lounge on blankets and chairs. The result was a festival that felt much like a giant summer picnic with about 25,000 of your closest friends. In many ways, the event felt like a throwback to the 70’s style music festival. While much of the crowd was older than a typical festival crowd, the event really was a family affair with many couples pushing baby carriages, followed by grandparents reliving their former concert-attending days. Most every other generation was also in attendance. The music was an eclectic mix of classic rock, modern rock, and jazz, representing multiple generations and genres. What most of the bands shared at the two-day music extravaganza was an amazingly high level of musicianship.

By the time a true legend of free-form jazz, the 77-year-old saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders, took the smaller Willow stage, the tented venue was nearly full of seemingly passionate jazz lovers. The experimental sax master has been recording music since 1964 and began playing with the illustrious John Coltrane a year later. The tented stage became a steamy sauna in the midday sun, further heated by sweaty gyrating bodies and the incredible musical offerings of Sanders and his band of jazz masters. Meanwhile, the veteran Delta blues-rock band, North Mississippi Allstars, were bringing their own fiery brand of music to a large crowd in front of the Sycamore stage. The stage was flanked by a line of booths featuring local charities and even a coffee stand which offered up free iced and hot coffee all throughout the festival. The main Oaks stage came alive just a little bit later, with the inspiring music of Brazilian guitarist and singer Seu Jorge and his band of world music masters. The group even featured a backing rap beat artist, which was the closest the festival came to actual hip-hop offerings.

Back in the Willow Tent, actor and musician Jeff Goldblum and The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra were running late due to technical issues. But that didn’t stop Goldblum from coming onstage and entertaining the crowd. He started with a mime routine. Then after finally getting handed a working microphone, he broke into a 10 minute stand up comedy routine which had the crowd screaming their approval. At one point he asked everyone to sing their respective national anthems at the same time. Later he asked everyone to sing their favorite Beatles song all at the same time. His comedy routine continued into his set of respectable jazz while leading a talented band. He played piano, sang and chatted up the crowd much to their delight. The Sycamore stage featured a set by the Austin Americana music maven Shakey Graves. He began his set in his one-man band persona before being joined by his back up band. He had a large crowd dancing in the mid-afternoon sun. Saxophone player Kamasi Washington brought another great jazz band to the festival, including a special guest on Clarinet, his father, Rickey. While Pharaoh Sanders brought his Septuagenarian knowledge of jazz to the event, Washington offers up a fresh new take on experimental jazz, that had music fans dancing en masse at the Oaks stage.

The Milk Carton Kids brought a much mellower vibe to late afternoon festival loungers. The young folk duo has released 4 albums since 2011, the first two for free. The crisp vocals are reminiscent of 60’s and 70’s folk-rock bands like Crosby Stills and Nash. It was a perfect setting to sit and sip a beverage or eat a gourmet bite.

It was a much more hectic scene in front of the main Oaks stage as a huge crowd passed towards the front to hear Chrissy Hynde and the rock band The Pretenders. The group that started as a punk rock band in 1979 produced a string of hit songs mostly in the 80’s. Hynde and her trademark voice are intact, and although she wasn’t as animated and confrontational as in the old punk days, she turned in a brilliant performance. It was also good to see the original drummer, Martin Chambers back in the band, the only other surviving member of the original band. The band played classics like “Thumbelina,” Hynde sported a shirt that said “Don’t Pet Me I’m Working,” in line with her firebrand image. The crowd responded enthusiastically, singing along to many of the songs.

Scottish rocker Belle and Sebastian and their entourage brought a mellower beat indie rock sound as the brilliant summer sun began to set. It was a perfect vibe for a relaxing sit-down show, with music fans swarming the surrounding hills on chairs and blankets. Back at the main Oaks stage, the crowd swelled again for the sunset performance by guitar wizard Jack White. It was nice to see White in the warm embrace of the setting sun. His current “Blue” tour usually takes place at night under an eerie unchanging blue lightscape that creates more mood than visual substance. White began with wailing guitar, playing songs from his relatively obscure new album “Boarding House Reach.” The crowd came alive at the end of the set when White ended with the more familiar “Seven Nation Army” and “Steady as She Goes.”

As evening fell the English Ska music pioneers, The Specials played a dance-infused set, full of political diatribes. The jabs at Trump weren’t surprising coming from a band that helped break racial barriers back in England. Although the bands’ members have aged considerably, their set sounded timeless and as the most fun to dance to the entire first day.

Neil Young, who has been rumored to be retiring soon, played the final set of the evening, with his latest touring band, The Promise of The Real. It was no surprise that the rock icon granted the biggest crowd of the day. He began the set with a monumental guitar jam, opening with a 20-minute version of “Like an Inca,” from the 1982 album “Trans.” Young struggled with some technical issues but soldiered on. “It’s a banner night for playing songs in the wrong key,” he said, before giving up on one song mid-tune.“My God, I can see the reviews,” he lamented. He eventually got back on track and turned in a two-hour set full of classic songs. He even let band member Lukas Nelson take over lead duties and sing one of his tunes from The Promise of The Real catalog. The son of Willie Nelson, Lukas is a great singer and a guitar wizard in his own right. The set list included fan favorites like “Lotta Love” to the fiery protest song “Ohio.” He also played a gem from Buffalo Springfield’s catalog, “I Am a Child,” dedicating it to the “Families that we really do care about.” Many exhausted fans didn’t make it back to their cars until nearly midnight, with less than 12 hours left to the first sets of day 2.

Arroyo Seco Festival Brings Summer Vibe to Southern California – Day 1 Photo and Article Credit: L. Paul Mann The second annual Arroyo Seco music festival took place on the third longest day of the year, Saturday, June 23rd, bringing in the summer concert season in grand style.

[deniscollins]

From Ho, Ho, Ho to No, No, No! Office Parties Feel the Chill

If you were an HBO manager, would you replace a poorly attended holiday party with afternoon volunteer activities: (1) Yes, (2) No? Why? If no, would you provide free alcohol at the holiday party [This year, 47.8 percent of employers will offer cocktails, wine or beer, down from 62 percent in 2016]? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

Remember the scene in the movie “Office Christmas Party” when the head of human resources grabbed the D.J.’s microphone and told employees to have sex in the parking lot instead of in their cubicles? Wait, you didn’t see it?

Well, anyway: Those days are over, even in jest. Holiday gatherings have become toned-down affairs as executives respond to demands to cut costs, improve company morale and, this year, address sexual harassment in the workplace.

More companies are focusing their efforts on holiday parties that promote teams and foster cooperation. A growing favorite are parties at bowling alleys and escape rooms, events with a manageable size and guest list. At Vox Media, the company whose editorial director was recently fired for sexual harassment, guests will be limited to two drink tickets at its holiday party, putting a chill on alcohol consumption (and potentially scandalous behavior). Other companies are taking a more stringent approach, cutting out booze altogether.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a human resources and outplacement firm, surveyed 150 human resources’ representatives and found that the number of parties is expected to hold steady this year. Of those, though, 47.8 percent of employers will offer cocktails, wine or beer, down from 62 percent in 2016.

Bob Colacello, a Vanity Fair special correspondent who attends a fair share of holiday parties, believes the current political and cultural environment is, in itself, a deterrent to unseemly high jinks. “The only thing people like to talk about anymore is Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein,” he said. “And, with that as the dominant subject of conversation, it does tend to inhibit everything from predatory sexual behavior to innocent flirting.”

David Adler, the founder of BizBash, which tracks trends in the event-planning industry, said exuberant merriment or worse has always been a risk at corporate holiday events. But this year, with bosses, underlings and co-workers under increased scrutiny, everyone will be on their best behavior. Still, some companies are reminding employees that an office party is governed by the decorum at work.

“This is not the year for telling your boss off,” Mr. Adler said. “You aren’t going to see people letting their hair down.”

In Los Angeles, where morale has been worsened by a spate of sexual harassment charges against big-name actors and executives, the holiday vibe is markedly low-key. Paramount Pictures’ former chairman Brad Grey, who died in May, used to hold an A-list holiday shindig to celebrate the studio’s filmmakers. One year he invited Harrison Ford, Lorne Michaels and Jack Nicholson, who gathered for cocktails and canapés in the columned loggia on his Bel Air estate, overlooking an azure pool set in an acre of rolling lawn.

Regulars included Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Few Paramount executives were invited. Neighbors and nonfamous friends didn’t come either.

Jim Gianopulos, the former Twentieth Century Fox veteran hired to replace Mr. Grey, is taking a more inclusive approach this year. He too is holding a holiday party at his home for Paramount’s filmmakers and creative colleagues. But he also invited studio executives, as well as some reporters and personal friends. “It’s a casual, low-key event,” said Chris Petrikin, a Paramount studio executive who worked with Mr. Gianopulos at Fox.

This is not to be confused, of course, with the annual Christmas party on the Paramount lot. There, a tree is lit and fake snow drifts across the lot. Mr. Grey spared no extravagance when he ran the studio. One year, the party featured a carnival theme and an indoor Ferris wheel. This year, Mr. Petrikin said, it did not.

Time Inc., once known for Christmas hoopla where convivial young editors supped on buckets of oysters and glasses brimming with champagne, has moved its party to dreary January for the second year in a row. Mr. Adler, of BizBash, said corporations are hard-pressed to cancel holiday parties outright. “It sends the wrong message about the company,” he said. “It says the company does not care about its people.”

But there are ways to edit that message. For more than a decade, HBO rented a grand ballroom at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square for a lavish holiday luncheon for its 2,500 employees. Waiters passed trays of sushi. Platters of pasta and roast chicken were laid out, alongside bountiful glasses of wine and beer. More recently, though, HBO found the event as poorly received as the first season of “Hello Ladies.” About half of its employees stayed home. Many of those who showed up didn’t stick around.

Executives surmised (perhaps wisely) the party’s meager attendance wasn’t enough to justify the $300,000 price tag. So, two years ago, HBO offered its employees an afternoon off with their co-workers to volunteer at a charity instead. Last December, staffers in New York packed 101,316 children’s meals, while others visited an art center or a pediatric hospital in Hackensack, N.J. Millennials, in particular, clamored for more. This holiday season, 95 percent of HBO employees participated in the volunteering drive.

“We read the news,” said Dennis Williams, an HBO executive who oversees the program. “People are extremely eager to be involved in social causes.”

Millennials, he said, seek to connect through experiences, whether it be in a socially conscious context, like volunteering, or a collaborative activity. “They expect the company to provide them with those kinds of experiences,” Mr. Williams said.

A less philanthropic but still debauchery-free experience can be had at Escape the Room, an interactive game site where as many as 10 people are shut in a room and have one hour to solve a puzzle. Holiday bookings are up this year, said Wyndham Manning, the manager of the company’s location in Midtown Manhattan. And many are new corporate clients, albeit smaller groups, given the size and intensity of the games.

“People view this as an alternative to traditional parties,” said Mr. Manning. Investment professionals from both KKR & Co. and JPMorgan Chase recently booked all five rooms for a single hourlong session, he said. Citibank, too, booked two sessions of three games for an evening.

Such intimate gatherings give companies what they lack otherwise during the holiday party season: control in a particularly fraught year. “We’ve always had a zero-tolerance policy” for sexual harassment, said Elizabeth Maddick, the human resources manager at PicsArt, a San Francisco company that makes an app for image editing and drawing. “We wouldn’t do anything different, except to remind people that office policy is the same for an office party.”

That said, PicsArt has decided not to hold its holiday party at the Tonga Room at the Fairmont Hotel, as it did last year. Then, the hotel partitioned off a section of the bar for PicsArt’s 40 guests. Employees came and left at will, while strangers wandered into the party looking for food and drinks. So, this year, Ms. Maddick decided to hire a yacht for a three-hour dinner cruise on the San Francisco Bay.

There will be music and cocktails. “I think it’s important to get away from the office and get to know one another,” Ms. Maddick said. Best of all, she said, she can keep tabs on everyone.

“The only way they can leave is to jump,” she said, laughing.

[damajority]

DaMajority Fresh Article http://www.damajority.com/selena-gomez-named-2017-billboard-woman-year/

Selena Gomez Named 2017 Billboard 'Woman of the Year'

Selena Gomez Named 2017 Billboard ‘Woman of the Year’

NEW YORK, Oct. 31, 2017 / — Billboard, the world’s largest voice in music, announces today it will honor Selena Gomez with its 2017 Woman of the Year award. The award-winning singer, producer and actress will receive the honor at the Women in Music dinner and awards ceremony November 30, at the world-renowned Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles. This highly-regarded event, held in conjunction with the release of Billboard’s Women in Music issue, will also honor the most powerful female executives in the industry.

“Not only is Selena soaring on the charts, but she continuously inspires young women everywhere to be authentic, give back and to not be afraid to use their voice,” said John Amato, president of The Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group. “She is never afraid to speak her mind and has used her platform to advocate for the needs of others. We are thrilled to be able to honor her as our Woman of the Year.”

Over the past year, Gomez dominated the charts with Top 40 hits including “Bad Liar,” “Fetish” (featuring Gucci Mane), and “It Ain’t Me.” The latter, a collaboration with Kygo, became one of 2017’s biggest international smashes with over half a billion streams since its release. She’s also made headlines for far more than her pop radio prowess. Gomez executive-produced the acclaimed Netflix drama 13 Reasons Why, launched partnerships with Coach and Puma, all the while inspiring fans through her tireless philanthropic work.

Gomez teamed up with the Step Up Foundation, became a coach for World Kindness Day, hosted the WE Day charity telecast, and participated in benefits like Somos Live and the Hand in Hand Benefit for Hurricane Relief telethon. In addition, Gomez helped raise over $500,000 for the Lupus Research Alliance, a cause that has affected her personally. She has also advocated for increased mental health awareness after opening up about her own treatment and inspiring her young fans to find strength through outreach. Gomez has been an active ambassador for UNICEF since 2009, traveling around the world raising awareness and funds while promoting further involvement through her C.A.N. (Charity, Action, Now) initiative.

With six career Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and two No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 chart, Gomez reigns as an arena headliner, a four-time Guinness World Record holder, and the most-followed person on Instagram with over 128 million followers. Gomez was honored with the ‘Chart-Topper’ Award at Billboard’s 2015 Women in Music event.

Billboard’s Woman of the Year award has become one of the music industry’s highest honors. Previous artists named Woman of the Year include Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Pink, Katy Perry, Fergie, and Beyoncé. Madonna was honored with the Woman of the Year award, at the 2016 event, where she delivered a heartfelt, one-of-a-kind acceptance speech addressing sexism, misogyny, and feminism in the music industry. In her closing remarks, Madonna offered advice to other women in music, urging them to “seek out strong women to befriend, to align yourself with, to learn from, to be inspired by, to support, to collaborate with and to be enlightened by.”

The 12th annual Women in Music event and a red-carpet pre-show will be broadcast live for the first time ever on Twitter, 6pm-9pm PST/9pm-midnight EST on November 30. Additional honorees of Billboard‘s 2017 Women in Music event will be announced in the coming weeks.

This year’s Women in Music event is sponsored by Twitter, American Airlines, Iron Mountain Entertainment Services and Nielsen Music.

About Billboard Media Group: Billboard is the world’s largest voice in music, built on the most complete and well-respected database of charts across all music genres. The Billboard charts define success in music. From the iconic Billboard magazine to Billboard.com, the ultimate consumer-facing destination for millions of passionate music fans, to the industry’s most elite conference series and influencer events including the Power 100 and Women in Music – the Billboard brand has unmatched authority among fans, artists and the industry alike. Billboard has a social media footprint of 16.4 million social followers across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and creates more than 200M cross-platform video views per month. Billboard magazine has published major news-generating covers recently including Miley Cyrus, Miranda Lambert, Ariana Grande, The Chainsmokers, Nicki Minaj, Future, Selena Gomez, Fifth Harmony, Migos, Justin Bieber, and an open letter to Congress signed by 180+ of the music industry’s biggest stars and executives. In December 2016, the Billboard Women in Music ceremony, which honored Madonna as Woman of the Year, was presented to a mass audience via Lifetime, the exclusive broadcast partner.

In 2016, The Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group acquired SpinMedia’s storied music assets Spin, Vibe, and Stereogum, establishing the world’s largest music brand by digital traffic, social reach, and audience share. The combined entity of music and entertainment properties now reaches 47 million unique visitors and one in every three U.S. millennials.

[soundcheckentertainment]

The weather was perfect, sure a little bit of rain was in the forecast but after Jazzfest a little bit of rain wasn’t going to dampen our spirits, and the lineup for Day 3 of RBC Bluesfest was red hot with 50 Cent set to cap off the night.

For the last several years weekends at RBC Bluesfest have been my achilles heel, I always plan on going down early to catch some of the local acts and hear some of the up and coming talent that Ottawa has to offer but something always comes up that keeps me away. This year was no different. I had intended on making it down in time to catch Riishi Von Rex but got delayed and finally arrived about mid-way through Lynne Hanson & The Good Intentions.

Lynne Hanson & The Good Intentions performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Lynne Hanson gripped me as I walked through the gates. There was something about her sound that just drew listeners in. It’s no surprise that Lynne has seen success beyond Canadian borders, we actually spoke a few months ago while she was on tour in Europe. I only caught part of Lynne’s set but it was enough to make we want to see her again, and so should you.

After a quick break to grab my traditional slice of Gabriel Pizza’s Bluesfest Pizza (if you’ve never tried it it’s a must and proceeds go to Blues in The Schools) and a nice cold Coors Banquet I made my way to the Claridge Homes Stage for my favourite Canadian all-female duo, Tegan and Sara. I honestly can’t remember when I first heard these two but I know that when I did I became an instant fan. There’s just something about these two that’s infectious and you can’t help but get drawn to them when listening to their music.

Tegan and Sara performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

One thing is for certain, they take the award for most creative set so far this summer; the set was made up of a giant inflatable T And S which, I think, perfectly represented the bubbly, colourful personalities of Tegan and Sara. These two veteran Canadian performers kept the crowd hopping and singing through their entire set.

I didn’t see as much of Tegan and Sara as I would’ve liked but something tells me they’ll be back again very soon so I look forward to catching a full show in the near future. They’re hitting the road this fall for a North American tour to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of, their fifth studio album, The Con. No Ottawa dates announced yet but as soon as we hear anything we’ll let you know.

I had to leave Tegan and Sara to make my way down to the Blacksheep Stage for 2015 She’s the One winner Grace Lachance. I’m always on the hunt for the next big thing and events like RBC Bluesfest are the perfect place to find them. Due to obligations on the Saturday of the event I was unable to cover the 2015 or the 2016 She’s the One competition like I did in 2014 with Emma Peckford.

Grace Lachance performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

I’ve been following Grace’s career from the sidelines since her win two years ago and this young Ottawa native has some serious potential when I listen to her recorded material. For me the ultimate test for any artist is how they handle themselves on the stage, I’ve seen many artists that sound great on their recordings but just come across as awkward on stage. Grace, thankfully, was right at home on stage. Over the course of her set she performed a number of her own and a few covers each of which she mixed with audience interaction, inviting the audience to sing along (which many did). She told the stories behind the songs, and about her journey from a young Stittsville High School student to playing the Blacksheep Stage at RBC Bluesfest. I’m telling you right now to remember the name Grace Lachance, give her another year or two and I predict you’ll see her performing on the Claridge Homes Stage. She’s definitely on our watch list, we can’t wait to see how her career develops.

Sugaray Rayford performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Following Grace I had to do a quick change from media to volunteer. Since I started covering RBC Bluesfest 5 years ago the cleanliness has always struck me. I’ve attended festivals and events all over the world and none are ever as clean as RBC Bluesfest. I learned that they have a team of volunteers that travel the grounds picking up garbage and recyclables and putting it in it’s place. A few years ago I decided what better way to honour what they do than join them, it’s the most rewarding job you can have. To start the final cleanup after the headliner has finished is intimidating but seeing a clean field within an hour of the house lights coming on is incredibly gratifying. It still amazes me how much respect this team gets from festival patrons, so many thank you for what you do and then are amazed that all of the cans get cashed in and the money donated to charity. So this is really a double reward and really reflects what the RBC Bluesfest slogan says “We Do Good Things”. It’s far from an easy job and unfortunately each year it’s getting tougher and tougher on my body to endure the physical nature of the job but as long as my body will let me I’ll gladly spend time in the trenches with the Bluesfest Green Team.

Gord Bamford performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

As I made my way back into the venue I had to stop by Bluesville to see our good friend Gord Bamford make his Bluesfest debut. Gord is a class act and a gentleman and deserves every bit of success he has had and seeing the Bluesville tent filled to capacity for my friend was incredibly gratifying. It was as true a country show as you could ask for, songs about farming and pickup trucks and, well of course, drinking.  Gord put on a fun show which had the audience of young and old singing along and having a good time.

50 Cent performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Mid-way through Gord’s set I made my way up to the main bowl where 50 Cent had a party goin’ on. He was droppin’ beats and the crowd was jammin’ right along with him. Even I, surprisingly enough, found myself getting into the spirit of the show, I actually found that I recognized more of his songs than I thought I would. It was a massive crowd, not the biggest I’ve ever seen at RBC Bluesfest but it was a crowd that lingered for almost an hour after the show was over just chillin’ finishing their drinks and taking in the vibe that 50 Cent left behind.

It was a good night.

Day 4 kicks off in mere hours, we’re starting our day with an interview with High Valley at 1pm. Our picks for today include High Valley (Claridge Homes Stage 8pm), Bella Cat, Vanessa Collier, JohnnySwim, Slam Alan, Pat Travers and, of course, Pink! For full lineup and set times visit www.ottawabluesfest.ca

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RBC Ottawa Bluesfest 2017. Photo by Laura Collins.

50 Cent performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

50 Cent performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

50 Cent performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Gord Bamford performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Gord Bamford performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Gord Bamford performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Brandi Carlile performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Brandi Carlile performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Brandi Carlile performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Sugaray Rayford performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Sugaray Rayford performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Sugaray Rayford performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Sugaray Rayford performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Sugaray Rayford performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Flight Distance performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Flight Distance performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Flight Distance performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Flight Distance performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Grace Lachance performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Grace Lachance performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Tegan and Sara performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Tegan and Sara performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Tegan and Sara performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Tegan and Sara performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

Lynne Hanson & The Good Intentions performing at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest. Photo by Laura Collins.

50 Cent kept RBC Bluesfest crowd hopping on day 3 The weather was perfect, sure a little bit of rain was in the forecast but after Jazzfest a little bit of rain wasn't going to dampen our spirits, and the lineup for Day 3 of RBC Bluesfest was red hot with 50 Cent set to cap off the night.

[bluebuzzmusic]

GRiZ Takes Us Through the Past, Present & Future at GRiZmas V

GRiZmas brings a funky holiday spirit to Detroit that only GRiZ can inspire.

Grant “GRiZ” Kwiecinski returned to his hometown of Detroit for the fifth annual GRiZmas, a two-night run at Detroit’s Masonic Temple. One night of the GRiZ live band and one night of GRiZ, by tradition has been the culmination of the 12-Days of GRiZmas event. More than ever, the celebration showcased his vast repertoire and blasted us through the past, present, and future of everything GRiZ.

12 Days of GRiZmas

Over December 4 – 15, the producer and his team took to Detroit to host gatherings, workshops, charity drives, and DJ sets. This year included the flagship caroling, yoga, and roller-disco events, and pop up holiday store to score limited GRiZmas merch. New additions to the festivities included an Assemble U discussion on mental health in the social media century and the first inaugural GRiZmas local mic night in partnership with the Detroit Institute for Music Education. Plus, a special GRiZmas coffee blend in collaboration with Detroit’s Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company. Yum.

The Night Before GRiZmas was surely a blast from the past as GRiZ delivered an entire Mad Liberation set at Deluxx Fluxx. Yeah, the venue was small and crowded and the sound system was a little iffy, but that’s exactly what a GRiZ set was like back in those days. Nostalgia filled the air as GRiZ and Muzzy Bearr tackled an entire era into one regular-sized set filled with mad liberating music. GRiZ immediately followed it up with a Disco House Party at The Magic Stick and the vibes were unbeatable.

Of course, GRiZmas has always been about giving back. All of the money raised went toward increasing access to music education in Detroit’s public schools. Year after year, GRiZmas has cultivated a community amongst GRiZ fans from the heart of Detroit and across the country with a purpose — to take care of each other above all else.

All of this holiday action led up to two nights of GRiZ that fans, new and old, could appreciate as he took us through GRiZmas past, present, and future.

The Ghost of GRiZmas Past

Set in GRiZ’s hometown of Detroit, GRiZmas by design has given a special nod to his earliest works and rise to the spotlight. Saturday night’s GRiZ set featured an absolute tear through of classics from End of the World Party, Mad Liberation, and Rebel Era including “Grizzlor,” “Rock n Roll,” “The Future is Now,” “DTW to DIA,” and “Crime in the City.” These were the glimpses of the past that we did not expect to hear, but it was an absolute treat when we did. The inclusion of staple songs like “Smash the Funk” and “Gettin Live” — integral parts of older sets, but now often times elusive — reminded us of the evolution of GRiZ sets and music.

Even some of the new material we heard on Saturday night seemed to pay homage to GRiZ’s roots and older sounds. For instance, a song containing an edited sample of Nas’ “Hip Hop is Dead” proclaiming “Glitch Hop just died,” juxtaposed by some of the glitchiest GRiZ we’ve heard in awhile, had us grinning ear to ear. The live band also included one of our favorite nods to the past, “Chasin Galaxies,” which we’ve come to adore.

With all these throwbacks, we couldn’t help but reflect on GRiZ’s journey thus far.

The Ghost of GRiZmas Present

In addition to the reflection of early – 2010 work, we were reminded of the GRiZ sound we’ve come to love over the last three years, which brought us into the present. 2015’s Say It Loud was a huge shift in sound and astronomically perpetuated by 2016’s Good Will Prevail. Each body of work, including Chasing the Golden Hour parts that preceded each of them, brought another level of instrumental and vocal fusion to the table.

These songs made for perfect adaptations by the GRiZ live band, a more recent project featuring GRiZ and over 13 other pieces that make entirely live renditions of pivotal tracks. After opening with a funky holiday song, the GRiZ live band proved to be the weekend’s outlet for much of GRiZ’s more current work. Songs like “PS GFY,” “Can’t Hold me Down,” “Wicked,” and “Get Down” were brilliantly performed live and celebrated throughout the crowd.

The live band received a production boost as well, with illuminated platforms and lights that highlighted stage choreography. Each piece of the band could be narrowed in on visually at respective times. For example, the trade off between saxophone solo, vocal verses, and the entire live band when Prob Cause came out for “Smoke That” and “My Friends and I.”

With the addition of the live version of “It Gets Better,” one of GRiZ’s latest songs, Friday night’s live band highlighted the duality of electronic and instrumental sound that has exponentially grown in GRiZ’s music. Back for an encore, Bootsy Collins performed a new GRiZ collaboration “Bustin’,” providing one of Friday’s biggest looks into the future.

When speaking with GRiZ back in October, we learned about the process for translating his tunes into a full live production and how much focus he and his band have been been dedicating to this project. Full interview here. 

The Ghost of GRiZmas Future

Last GRiZmas, we felt there was a bright future ahead for GRiZ and his music. Little did we know, it’s even brighter than we anticipated. Much of the unreleased material from last year has seemingly been sidelined to make way for this year’s new, unreleased music — showing us the lightning fast speed at which GRiZ is operating at. GRiZ assured us that he has been keeping hella busy despite his social media absence and this GRiZmas proved that notion.

Friday night’s live band performance offered plenty of glimpses into the horizon music-wise, but the kick-off of Saturday night’s GRiZ set was the greatest eye-opener. GRiZ opened center stage with all lights on him — just him, with a microphone in hand laying down the lyrics to an unreleased song. After coming out swinging with a handful of previously unheard songs, GRiZ performed another one of his most recent releases, “Can’t Get Enough,” which marks his first main entry into the vocal aspect of his artistry. It was made clear from Saturday night’s opening sequence that this will continue to be a focus in the future.

In the barrage of new music we heard on Saturday night, it’s tough to say what’s complete and what’s still on GRiZ’s cutting room floor. GRiZ has always kept the most gritty and grimey parts of his repertoire unreleased and only hearable at shows. While we expect this trend to continue, we’re also hopeful that some of bangers we heard in the first half will find a way to our speakers soon.

There were also new takes on old songs, like the classic GRiZmatik collab “Digital Liberation is Mad Freedom,” as well as part two of “My Friends and I.” To end the night, GRiZ was joined by Matisyahu to perform a brand new collab that sounded too good to go unreleased for much longer.

This year, GRiZmas was a special sneak peak into the future of GRiZ — new music, new adaptations for the live band, and bigger and better shows. GRiZ seems to be moving in many directions at once, but each direction is pointing forward and moving at 110% speed. GRiZmas V made us excited for the future like never before!

GRiZmas V reflected on where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re heading. Through his music, GRiZ took us on a journey through our time as individuals and together as a community. Through tradition, this community has been born. Through this community, a brighter future awaits.

To relive this year’s festivities, check out the GRiZmas recap video below. For anyone who missed out or can’t get enough, check out GRiZ’s upcoming tour dates.

Merry belated GRiZmas to everyone! Hope to see you next year!

MORE: GRiZ Drops 2 New Singles & Catches Us Up On His Life & Music

GRiZMAS 2018 Recap

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GRiZMAS 2018 [recap]

Proud of our community. We celebrated life and the spirit of giving back. Music, art, and culture intersected with charity and empathy. We became closer with our higher selves. Thank you all so much for building eachother up. We are creating a more beautiful future together. The light grows in us all <3Happy Holidays and Merry GRiZmas!!!

Posted by GRiZ on Monday, December 24, 2018

  Photos courtesy of Red Light Management

  This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: GRiZ Takes Us Through the Past, Present & Future at GRiZmas V

source https://www.youredm.com/2018/12/28/griz-past-present-future-grizmas-v-review/

[athome-businessideas]

Oscars Marketing: The Celebrity Connected 2017 Luxury Gifting Suite Honoring The Academy Awards®!

Jane The Virgin star Brett Dier catches up with Home Business Magazine at the Celebrity Connected 2017 Luxury Gifting Suite Honoring The Academy Awards®.

The 2017 awards season was a flurry of invite-only celebrity gifting suites and parties that all provided endless publicity opportunities for the attending sponsors. Out of the many fêtes, one stood out as the top celebrity marketing event of the season: the Celebrity Connected 2016 Luxury Gifting Suite Honoring The Academy Awards®. Taking place at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, this event connected lifestyle brands with top stars.

At the Celebrity Connected 2017 Luxury Gifting Suite, big names like actor Kevin Sorbo and Jane The Virgin star Brett Dier were pampered with must-have gifts. Fashion and jewelry gifts were very popular at the lounge, as stars went gaga over chic swimsuits by Okeanos Swimwear, Australian-designed western boots by Kader Boot Co., and Sand + Stone Jewelry picks. Everyone also loved Villa Sorgenfrei‘s stunning self-designed jewelry handmade in Berlin and Freeman Jewelry Collection‘s high-end, custom-made picks. 

Orange Is The New Black star Matt Peters catches up with Home Business Magazine at the Celebrity Connected 2017 Luxury Gifting Suite Honoring The Academy Awards®.

Beauty gifts also had a major presence at the lounge, especially skincare essentials. Stars loved In The Weeds Natural Skin Care (makers of the award-winning Dollface face scrub), as well as Elyptol‘s hygiene products that effectively kill germs harmful to your health. Celebrities also raved about Balm Skincare‘s natural herbal essentials made with organic, real ingredients. Other top beauty picks were Booty Perfect by Meliorra Brands and natural shea butter body care essentials by Kiss My Butter™.

No gifting suite is complete without awe-inspiring haircare, and, boy, did the Celebrity Connected lounge deliver! Stars received Vision Haircare‘s superior haircare must-haves and premium hair extensions by Top Knot Extensions. Other droolworthy beauty picks were My Real Earth‘s natural skincare line made for the mind, body, and spirit, as well as dome Beauty‘s gorgeous makeup. The lounge also featured The Real Man Company‘s superior beard oil and Kalayaan‘s quality handcrafted vegan body soaps shaped like gemstones.

Tasty eats also stole the spotlight at the Celebrity Connected 2017 Luxury Gifting Suite Honoring The Academy Awards®. Guests swarmed the booths for Ricos Products Co. nachos, Sorelle and Co.‘s vegan and gluten free baked goods, and Souley Vegan‘s truly delicious, cruelty-free soul food. The stars also adored the handmade chocolate truffles by Twizzles Tasty Treats and the Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies by Collettey’s Cookies, made by an incredibly talented young woman with Down Syndrome.

Collettey’s Cookies were a top food gift at the Celebrity Connected gifting lounge.

Other top food gifts were Ohana Cupcakes‘s succulent treats, mouthwatering cakes from Something Sweet by Maddie Lu, and Nu-Health fruit snacks and juice. For those looking to add a burst of flavor to their meals, Burn Hot Sauce provided their tasty hot sauces and Gourmet Inspirations pampered guests with their flavorful 5-star sauces. The A-list attendees also enjoyed sampling gourmet vegan eats from Vegan Noms. The Great Gorp Project also provided their clean energy bar, made with veggie protein.

The lounge also featured a nice selection of delicious drinks, such as delectable root beer from ROUTE 66 Sodas and wondrous bottled matcha lattes from Matcha Konomi. Kung Fu Tea also gave guests the chance to sample their fruity tea drinks, which were a huge hit. Stars were also able to sample provincial vodka from Radouga Distilleries and select wines from Vital Wines and March Cellars (which uses proceeds to help create better healthcare for vineyard and winery workers). All of the attendees also raved about the liquid-activated, lighted drink diffuser from Glo Drinks/Vibe LLC.

With recreational cannabis finally legalized in California, the lounge also had a fun selection of gifts for the 4/20-friendly guests. Stars loved Hemp Kitchen‘s subscription box for weed lovers, as well as Cannabidiol-infused skincare essentials from Pure Kind Botanicals. Other must-haves included scrumptious treats infused with medicinal cannabis from Bliss Edibles & Extracts.

Top charities also had a major presence at the lounge. Stars were able to learn about Barbells for Boobs, which works to change the availability and access for direct services so that breast cancer can be found in the earliest stage possible. Also in attendance was Express Workforce Foundation, which is dedicated to having Regional Center Clients volunteer to help the needy overcome challenges, while developing meaningful relationships with them.

Guests also enjoyed learning about the Hello Gorgeous! nonprofit that provides complimentary, professional makeovers and cosmetic education to women battling all cancers. Star guests also got to chat with Feed a Billion, whose goal is to raise awareness of the hunger issue in our world.

Celebrities also received sport supplements from MHP, adorable wooden toys for tots from Kukkia, and tiny, magical toy doors from The Fairy Door Store. The lounge also pampered the stars’ pets by gifting them with Bella-Maree Natural Dog Products. In addition, stars received Tic Tock Track‘s innovative GPS tracking watch and the Watch Yo Mouth game from Skyler Innovations.

The Watch Yo Mouth game was a huge hit at the Celebrity Connected Luxury Gift Lounge.

Letter Craft also pampered guests with their wooden pins that feature today’s top A-listers. Everyone also enjoyed learning about UNSTICK cookware by DAUGHKUN, Ameri Clinical breast enhancement,and NV Holders fashion elastic layers that keep shirts in place. 13-ONE also told stars about their space technology jacket (perfect for fans of running) and big names also loved the headphones from Productech Treblab. Also in attendance was WantToB.com, which helps people find their purpose in life. 

At the lounge, guests also networked with System 02:19, a virtual community of real and active people living in metropolitan areas around the world. It is the first environmental, socially oriented virtual system having a real effect. DenizernBKLYN also provided their stylish fashions and accessories that are made in Brooklyn, NY. Finally, stars were able to learn about Global Imagination‘s Magic Planet: a digital display with a sphere-shaped screen! It is used in classrooms, research labs, museums & trade show booths worldwide.

In all, the Celebrity Connected 2017 Luxury Gifting Suite Honoring The Academy Awards® was a highly successful way for lifestyle brands to generate publicity about their products and services. The attending sponsors were able to tell today’s top actresses, singers, and social media influencers all about their company, take photos of them with the brand, and receive their testimonials, which are are invaluable for subsequent public relations and marketing efforts.

If you own a lifestyle brand and want to connect your products or services to the prestige of the Oscars, definitely snag a booth at Celebrity Connected’s 2018 Luxury Gifting Suite Honoring The Academy Awards®! You will generate massive brand awareness for your products or services, amass new customers, and take your company to a whole new level of recognition and success.

Contact: shannahch@gmail.com

    The post Oscars Marketing: The Celebrity Connected 2017 Luxury Gifting Suite Honoring The Academy Awards®! appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

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