#Future Ford Focus 2020

[susannatipsandtricks]

Electric Car Brands in USA: Leading the Charge in Innovation

Electric Car Brands in USA : Tesla, Chevrolet, and Ford are leading electric car brands in the USA. Rivian and Lucid Motors are also gaining popularity. The electric vehicle market in the USA is expanding rapidly. Tesla dominates with its high-performance models and extensive Supercharger network. Chevrolet offers affordable options like the Bolt EV, making electric cars accessible to more people. Ford's entry with the Mustang Mach-E brings a blend of tradition and innovation. Rivian focuses on adventure-ready electric trucks and SUVs, while Lucid Motors targets the luxury segment with its high-end sedans. With increasing consumer interest and government incentives, these brands are driving the shift towards sustainable transportation, making electric vehicles more mainstream and environmentally friendly.

Rise Of Electric Cars

Electric cars are taking over the roads in the USA. They are clean, quiet, and fun to drive. More people are buying electric cars every year. Historical Context Electric cars are not new. The first electric car was made in the 1800s. But gas cars became more popular. Gas was cheap and easy to get. Electric cars had small batteries and could not go far. In the 1990s, electric cars came back. The USA made new rules to protect the air. Companies started making better batteries. Electric cars started to go farther and faster. Market Growth Today, many people want electric cars. They help the planet and save money on gas. Big companies like Tesla, Ford, and Chevy make electric cars. Tesla is the most famous. They make cars that can drive a long way on one charge. Ford has the Mustang Mach-E, and Chevy has the Bolt. The number of electric cars on the road is growing fast. In 2020, there were over 1 million electric cars in the USA. This number is getting bigger every year. More charging stations are being built. Soon, it will be easy to find a place to charge your car. Brand Popular Model Tesla Model S Ford Mustang Mach-E Chevy Bolt Many new brands are coming. These cars will make our air cleaner and our world better.

Tesla: The Pioneer

Tesla is the leading electric car brand in the USA. It revolutionized the electric vehicle industry. Tesla combines innovation, performance, and sustainability. Flagship Models Tesla's flagship models set the benchmark for electric vehicles. They offer a blend of luxury, technology, and performance. Model Range (miles) Top Speed (mph) Model S 396 200 Model 3 358 162 Model X 371 155 Model Y 326 135 Autopilot Technology Tesla's Autopilot technology is a game-changer. It offers advanced driver-assistance features. - Autosteer - Traffic-Aware Cruise Control - Auto Lane Change - Summon - Autopark These features enhance safety and convenience. Autopilot uses cameras, sensors, and advanced algorithms. Tesla continues to innovate. They aim for full self-driving capabilities.

Rivian: The Adventurer

Rivian, the bold new electric vehicle (EV) brand, is revolutionizing the American automotive landscape. Known for its adventurous spirit, Rivian offers rugged, off-road capable vehicles with cutting-edge technology. Unique Offerings Rivian’s vehicles feature groundbreaking designs and technologies. The R1T truck and R1S SUV are built to explore. They offer impressive off-road capabilities and advanced safety features. Key highlights include: - Quad-Motor System: Each wheel has its own motor. - Skateboard Platform: Ensures stability and maximizes space. - Large Battery Pack: Enables long-distance travel. Sustainability Efforts Rivian is committed to a sustainable future. They use recycled and eco-friendly materials. Their manufacturing processes aim to reduce carbon footprints. Important sustainability initiatives include: Initiative Description Renewable Energy Factories powered by renewable sources. Recycling Programs Materials are recycled to minimize waste. Eco-Friendly Materials Use of sustainable and recycled materials. By focusing on these efforts, Rivian aims to lead in green automotive manufacturing.

Credit: www.autoblog.com

Lucid Motors: The Luxury Innovator

Lucid Motors stands out among electric car brands in the USA. Known for its luxury and innovation, Lucid Motors aims to redefine the electric vehicle market. Their cars are not just about performance; they focus on providing a premium experience. High-performance Vehicles Lucid Motors creates high-performance electric cars. Their flagship model, the Lucid Air, offers impressive specs. Model Range (miles) Horsepower 0-60 mph (seconds) Lucid Air 520 1080 2.5 The Lucid Air can travel up to 520 miles on a single charge. It offers 1080 horsepower, making it one of the most powerful electric cars. It accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.5 seconds. These features make it a top choice for performance enthusiasts. Interior Design The interior of Lucid Motors' cars is luxurious. They use high-quality materials and advanced technology. - Spacious cabin - Premium leather seats - Advanced infotainment system The cabin is spacious, providing comfort for all passengers. The seats are made of premium leather. The infotainment system is advanced, with a large touchscreen display. Lucid Motors focuses on offering a luxury experience from the inside out.

Ford: The Traditionalist

Ford, often seen as the traditionalist in the American auto industry, is making waves in the electric vehicle (EV) market. Known for its rich history and iconic vehicles, Ford is now blending its legacy with innovation to offer cutting-edge electric cars. Their commitment to sustainability and technological advancement is evident in their new electric models. Electric F-150 The Electric F-150, also known as the F-150 Lightning, stands out in Ford's lineup. This electric truck combines the robust features of the traditional F-150 with modern electric technology. - Range: Offers up to 300 miles on a single charge. - Towing Capacity: Can tow up to 10,000 pounds. - Power: Delivers instant torque with dual electric motors. Ford's Electric F-150 is designed for those who need power and efficiency. It retains the ruggedness of the classic F-150 while offering a cleaner alternative. Legacy And Transition Ford has a deep-rooted legacy in the auto industry. The company, founded by Henry Ford, revolutionized the manufacturing process with the assembly line. This innovation made cars affordable for the average person. Today, Ford is transitioning to a more sustainable future. They are investing heavily in electric vehicles and battery technology. The goal is to reduce carbon emissions and meet the growing demand for clean energy solutions. Here is a table summarizing Ford's transition to electric vehicles: Year Milestone Impact 2021 Launch of F-150 Lightning First all-electric truck 2022 Expansion of EV lineup Increased EV market share 2025 Goal for 40% EV sales Significant shift to electric Ford's journey from traditional cars to electric vehicles is remarkable. This transition ensures they remain relevant and competitive in the evolving automotive landscape.

Chevrolet: The All-rounder

Chevrolet has become a significant player in the electric car market in the USA. Known for its reliable and affordable electric vehicles, Chevrolet offers something for everyone. The brand combines innovation with practicality, making it a top choice for many consumers. Below, we'll explore one of its standout models. Bolt Ev The Chevrolet Bolt EV is a star in the electric car world. It’s designed for those who seek efficiency without breaking the bank. The Bolt EV offers a smooth ride, advanced tech features, and impressive performance. Affordability And Range The Bolt EV stands out due to its affordability and range. It's one of the most cost-effective electric cars available today. Feature Details Starting Price Under $40,000 Range 259 miles per charge With a price tag under $40,000, the Bolt EV is accessible. It offers an impressive range of 259 miles per charge. This makes it perfect for daily commutes and longer trips. Key features include: - Fast Charging: Charge up to 100 miles in 30 minutes. - Spacious Interior: Plenty of room for passengers and cargo. - Advanced Safety Features: Equipped with the latest safety tech. The Bolt EV combines affordability with excellent range and features. This makes it a smart choice for budget-conscious drivers. Chevrolet continues to lead the electric vehicle market with its reliable and innovative cars.

Future Trends

  The future of electric car brands in the USA looks very bright. Innovations in battery technology and charging infrastructure are paving the way for a cleaner, more efficient future. Battery Technology Electric cars need powerful batteries. Battery technology is improving rapidly. New batteries can store more energy. They last longer and charge faster. Companies are working on solid-state batteries. These batteries are safer and have a higher energy density. This means electric cars can travel further on a single charge. Another exciting trend is recycling old batteries. This helps reduce waste and lower costs. It's good for the environment too. Charging Infrastructure Charging infrastructure is also evolving quickly. More charging stations are being built across the USA. This makes it easier for people to charge their electric cars. Fast chargers are becoming more common. These chargers can fill up a battery in minutes instead of hours. It makes electric cars more convenient for long trips. Smart charging stations are another trend. They use advanced tech to optimize charging times. This helps balance the power grid and save energy. Trend Benefit Solid-state Batteries Safer, higher energy density Battery Recycling Reduces waste, lowers costs More Charging Stations Convenient for users Fast Chargers Quick charging times Smart Charging Stations Optimize charging, save energy

Consumer Adoption

Electric cars are gaining popularity in the USA. Many people are choosing electric vehicles (EVs) over traditional gas cars. This shift is due to several factors. Let's explore these factors in detail. Incentives And Rebates The US government offers many incentives and rebates for EV buyers. These financial perks can make electric cars more affordable. Some common incentives include: - Federal tax credits - State-specific rebates - Utility company discounts Federal tax credits can save buyers up to $7,500. State rebates vary but can offer additional savings. Some utility companies also provide discounts for EV charging stations. A table of incentives by state can help: State Incentive Type Amount California Rebate $2,500 New York Rebate $2,000 Texas Rebate $2,500 Public Perception Public perception plays a big role in consumer adoption. People need to trust that EVs are reliable and cost-effective. Some key points affecting public perception: - Environmental benefits - Lower running costs - Advanced technology Many people believe EVs help the environment. They produce fewer emissions than gas cars. Electric cars also have lower running costs. They require less maintenance and offer cheaper fuel options. Finally, EVs often feature advanced technology. This includes autonomous driving features and smart connectivity.

Credit: www.cnn.com

Frequently Asked Questions

What Companies Are Making Electric Cars In The Us? Tesla, General Motors, Ford, Rivian, and Lucid Motors are making electric cars in the US. These companies lead the EV market. Which Company's Electric Car Is Best? Tesla's electric cars are often considered the best. They offer superior range, performance, and advanced technology. How Many Brands Of Electric Cars Are There? There are over 50 brands of electric cars globally. Major brands include Tesla, Nissan, BMW, and Chevrolet. What Is The Most Sold Electric Car In The Us? The Tesla Model 3 is the most sold electric car in the US. It's popular for its range, performance, and affordability.

Conclusion

Electric car brands in the USA are revolutionizing the automotive industry. They offer sustainable and efficient transportation options. With a variety of choices, consumers can find the perfect electric vehicle. Embrace the future of driving by exploring these innovative brands. The shift to electric cars is here to stay.   Read the full article

[vijukumar]

The Automotive Market: Trends, Market Players

The automotive industry has undergone significant transformations in recent years, driven by technological advancements, shifting consumer preferences, and increasing environmental concerns. As a leading market research company, we have analyzed the current state of the automotive market, highlighting key trends, market players, and challenges that shape its future.

Market Size and Share

The global automotive market size is projected to reach $7.4 trillion by 2025, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.4% from 2020 to 2025. The market is dominated by the top five players: Toyota, Volkswagen, General Motors, Ford, and Honda, which collectively hold a market share of over 50%.

Market Trends

Several trends are shaping the automotive market:

Electrification: Electric vehicles (EVs) are gaining popularity, driven by government incentives, declining battery costs, and increasing environmental awareness. EVs are expected to account for 30% of global sales by 2030.

Autonomous Vehicles: Autonomous driving technology is advancing rapidly, with companies like Waymo, Tesla, and Cruise leading the charge. Autonomous vehicles are expected to revolutionize the industry, improving safety and efficiency.

Connected Cars: The rise of connected cars has enabled advanced safety features, improved infotainment systems, and enhanced customer experiences. This trend is expected to continue, with 75% of new vehicles featuring connectivity by 2025.

Sustainable Manufacturing: The industry is shifting towards sustainable manufacturing practices, focusing on reducing waste, energy consumption, and environmental impact. This trend is driven by consumer demand for eco-friendly products and government regulations.

Market Players

The top five players in the global automotive market are:

Toyota Motor Corporation: With a market share of 14.1%, Toyota is the largest player in the market, known for its reliable and fuel-efficient vehicles.

Volkswagen AG: Volkswagen holds a market share of 11.4%, with a strong presence in Europe and a growing presence in Asia.

General Motors Company: General Motors has a market share of 10.4%, with a diverse portfolio of brands including Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC.

Ford Motor Company: Ford has a market share of 8.5%, with a focus on electric and autonomous vehicles.

Honda Motor Co., Ltd.: Honda has a market share of 7.4%, with a strong presence in Asia and a growing presence in North America.

Market Challenges

The automotive market faces several challenges:

Regulatory Pressures: Stricter emissions regulations and increasing environmental concerns are driving the adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles, posing a significant challenge for traditional internal combustion engine manufacturers.

Technological Disruption: The rapid advancement of autonomous and connected car technologies is forcing companies to invest heavily in research and development to stay competitive.

Global Economic Uncertainty: Economic downturns and trade tensions can impact consumer spending and demand for vehicles, affecting the market's growth.

Supply Chain Disruptions: Global supply chain disruptions, such as those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, can impact production and delivery of vehicles, leading to losses and revenue declines.

Conclusion The automotive market is undergoing significant transformations driven by technological advancements, shifting consumer preferences, and increasing environmental concerns. The top five players in the market are Toyota, Volkswagen, General Motors, Ford, and Honda, which collectively hold a market share of over 50%. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.4% from 2020 to 2025, driven by trends such as electrification, autonomous vehicles, connected cars, and sustainable manufacturing. However, the market faces challenges such as regulatory pressures, technological disruption, global economic uncertainty, and supply chain disruptions. To stay competitive, companies must invest in research and development, adopt sustainable manufacturing practices, and adapt to changing consumer preferences.

[interest-articles]

Apple's $1 Billion Car Project Comes to an End

Apple's ambitious foray into the automotive industry has been abruptly halted after years of investment and development.

Apple's secretive car project, known as Project Titan, has been canceled after the tech giant spent approximately $1 billion annually on its development. The project, which aimed to create a fully autonomous vehicle, faced numerous technical challenges and failed to live up to the grand plans set forth by Apple. This article explores the rise and fall of Apple's car project, shedding light on the company's ambitions and the reasons behind its ultimate demise.

The Early Vision and Attempts to Acquire Tesla

In 2014, Apple embarked on its ambitious car project as a means to diversify its revenue streams beyond hardware and software. Initially, the company considered acquiring Tesla, but talks ended due to disagreements, including Elon Musk's departure from Tesla. In 2017, Musk attempted to interest Apple in buying Tesla, but Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, declined the meeting.

With a Tesla purchase off the table, Apple decided to establish its own automotive research and development program, known as Project Titan.

Internal Conflicts and Changing Plans

Almost immediately, Project Titan faced internal conflicts within Apple. The company's CFO, Luca Maestri, was skeptical of the low profit margins in the automotive industry, while key figures like Craig Federighi and Jony Ive also expressed doubts. However, the allure of a fully autonomous vehicle proved too tempting to ignore, leading Apple to push forward with its plans.

By 2015, Apple aimed to release its own electric vehicle by 2020, with Jony Ive overseeing the design. The envisioned vehicle was initially planned to be a minivan and featured innovative ideas such as touchscreens folding down from the roof and external microphones to enhance the driving experience. However, as the project progressed, Apple shifted its focus to autonomous driving, hoping to license the technology to other companies.

Partnership Considerations and Prototypes

Throughout the development of Project Titan, Apple explored potential partnerships with various automakers, including BMW, Canoo, Ford, McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen. Meanwhile, Apple's own prototypes were tested on a private track in Arizona, featuring rounded minivans inspired by the iconic VW microbus. The company planned to equip its future vehicle with advanced features such as a giant TV screen, a powerful audio system, self-adjusting windows, and reclining seats.

The Downfall and Tim Cook's Indecision

By 2020, the challenge of achieving full autonomy in a vehicle capable of driving anywhere became increasingly daunting. Apple's leadership, under the guidance of Doug Field, a former Tesla executive, considered a more realistic approach with conditionally automated driving. However, this advice was met with resistance, and in 2021, Field left Apple to join Ford.

The design of the Apple car continued to evolve, with the concept losing its front and rear windshields in favor of a curved pod with gullwing doors. Ultimately, in 2023, the dream of a fully autonomous vehicle was downgraded to advanced cruise control and lane-keeping features, similar to those offered by other automakers. However, the estimated cost of building the Apple car remained high at $120,000.

After years of investment and development, Apple's ambitious car project has come to an end. The company's CEO, Tim Cook, faced criticism for his indecision and the project's shifting goals. The challenges of achieving full autonomy and the low-profit margins in the automotive industry ultimately led to the cancellation of the project.

While Apple's foray into the automotive world may have ended, the lessons learned and technological advancements made during Project Titan will undoubtedly shape the future of autonomous vehicles.

[themarketinsights]

E-Scooters Market Will Hit Big Revenues In Future | Biggest Opportunity Of 2023

Latest released the research study on Global E-Scooters Market, offers a detailed overview of the factors influencing the global business scope. E-Scooters Market research report shows the latest market insights, current situation analysis with upcoming trends and breakdown of the products and services. The report provides key statistics on the market status, size, share, growth factors of the E-Scooters The study covers emerging player’s data, including: competitive landscape, sales, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are DK (Greece), Ford (United States), Audi (German), Yuneec (China), Pedego (United States), Toyota (Japan), Alta (United States), Jinhua (China), BMW (Germany), Liberty (Italy), Optibike (United States)

Free Sample Report + All Related Graphs & Charts @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/89608-global-e-scooters-market?utm_source=Organic&utm_medium=Vinay

E-Scooters Market Definition:

E-Scooters are two or three wheelers plug-in electric vehicles in which electricity is stored in a battery which is rechargeable. This battery is used to drive electric motors. Lithium-ion batteries are mostly used in e-scooters now days. These batteries can be charged in plugging in a wall chargers installed at charging station.

Market Trend:

Growing Market for E-scooter in Emerging Countries

Focus on Manufacturing Lightweight Vehicles

Market Drivers:

Tax Concession on Eco-friendly Vehicles

Growing Environmental Concern Over Vehicle Emission

Market Opportunities:

Government Encouragement for Sales of E-vehicles

Rising Sales of Hybrid Vehicles

The Global E-Scooters Market segments and Market Data Break Down are illuminated below:

by Type (Motorcycle, Scooter), Application (Civil, Commercial, Military), Drives (Hybrid, Electric)

Region Included are: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Oceania, South America, Middle East & Africa

Country Level Break-Up: United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, South Africa, Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Germany, United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Turkey, Russia, France, Poland, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, India, Australia and New Zealand etc.

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Strategic Points Covered in Table of Content of Global E-Scooters Market:

Chapter 1: Introduction, market driving force product Objective of Study and Research Scope the E-Scooters market

Chapter 2: Exclusive Summary – the basic information of the E-Scooters Market.

Chapter 3: Displayingthe Market Dynamics- Drivers, Trends and Challenges of the E-Scooters

Chapter 4: Presenting the E-Scooters Market Factor Analysis Porters Five Forces, Supply/Value Chain, PESTEL analysis, Market Entropy, Patent/Trademark Analysis.

Chapter 5: Displaying market size by Type, End User and Region 2015-2020

Chapter 6: Evaluating the leading manufacturers of the E-Scooters market which consists of its Competitive Landscape, Peer Group Analysis, BCG Matrix & Company Profile

Chapter 7: To evaluate the market by segments, by countries and by manufacturers with revenue share and sales by key countries (2021-2026).

Chapter 8 & 9: Displaying the Appendix, Methodology and Data Source

Finally, E-Scooters Market is a valuable source of guidance for individuals and companies in decision framework.

Data Sources & Methodology The primary sources involves the industry experts from the Global E-Scooters Market including the management organizations, processing organizations, analytics service providers of the industry’s value chain. All primary sources were interviewed to gather and authenticate qualitative & quantitative information and determine the future prospects.

In the extensive primary research process undertaken for this study, the primary sources – Postal Surveys, telephone, Online & Face-to-Face Survey were considered to obtain and verify both qualitative and quantitative aspects of this research study. When it comes to secondary sources Company's Annual reports, press Releases, Websites, Investor Presentation, Conference Call transcripts, Webinar, Journals, Regulators, National Customs and Industry Associations were given primary weight-age.

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Definitively, this report will give you an unmistakable perspective on every single reality of the market without a need to allude to some other research report or an information source. Our report will give all of you the realities about the past, present, and eventual fate of the concerned Market.

Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Southeast Asia.

Contact Us:

Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager) AMA Research & Media LLP Unit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJ New Jersey USA – 08837

[economyportals03]

Tesla's Fiscal Fortunes: A Look At Revenue, Profitability, And Expansion

Tesla, the electric vehicle (EV) and clean energy company founded by Elon Musk in 2003, has become a global phenomenon.

Its sleek electric cars and innovative energy products have not only changed the automotive industry but have also influenced the way we think about sustainable energy solutions.

In this blog, we'll take a closer look at Tesla's fiscal fortunes, examining its revenue, profitability, and expansion strategies.

Revenue Growth: A Remarkable Journey

Tesla's revenue growth has been nothing short of remarkable. Since its inception, the company has consistently increased its annual revenue.

In 2020, Tesla recorded total revenue of over $31 billion, a substantial increase from the previous year, and this growth trend continued into 2021.

One of the key drivers of Tesla's revenue growth is its expanding product portfolio.

The company started with the Roadster, a high-end electric sports car, and has since introduced the Model S, Model 3, Model X, and Model Y, catering to a wider range of consumers.

Additionally, Tesla's energy products, such as solar panels and the Powerwall, have contributed to its revenue diversification.

Profitability Challenges

While Tesla's revenue growth has been impressive, its profitability has been a subject of scrutiny.

The company's journey to profitability has been marked by periods of losses, as it invested heavily in research, development, and expansion.

However, in recent years, Tesla has made significant strides in this regard.

One factor contributing to Tesla's improved profitability is economies of scale.

As production volumes increase, the cost per unit of electric vehicle decreases, resulting in higher profit margins.

Additionally, Tesla's inclusion in the S&P 500 index in December 2020 boosted its stock price and market capitalization, further strengthening its financial position.

Global Expansion And Market Dominance

Tesla's expansion strategy is a testament to its ambition. The company has been actively expanding its footprint around the world, opening manufacturing facilities in strategic locations.

The Gigafactories in Nevada, Shanghai, Berlin, and Texas are all part of Tesla's plan to increase production capacity and reduce costs.

Moreover, Tesla's focus on autonomy and self-driving technology could potentially revolutionize the transportation industry.

The company's Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) features are paving the way for a future where vehicles are not just electric but also autonomous.

Tesla's lead in this field positions it as a frontrunner in the race to develop fully autonomous vehicles.

Challenges And Competition

Despite its successes, Tesla faces its fair share of challenges. The EV market is becoming increasingly competitive, with traditional automakers like Ford, Volkswagen, and General Motors investing heavily in electric vehicle technology.

Regulatory hurdles, supply chain disruptions, and global economic uncertainties also pose challenges to Tesla's continued growth.

Additionally, Tesla's market dominance has drawn regulatory scrutiny in various countries, leading to debates about fair competition and market practices.

Navigating these challenges while maintaining its innovative edge will be crucial for Tesla's long-term success.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Tesla's fiscal fortunes have been characterized by impressive revenue growth, improving profitability, and a bold global expansion strategy.

The company's ability to innovate, adapt to market dynamics, and lead the EV revolution has positioned it as a significant player in the automotive and clean energy sectors.

However, the road ahead is not without its challenges, and how Tesla responds to these challenges will shape its fiscal fortunes in the years to come.

One thing is clear: Tesla's impact on the world extends far beyond the balance sheet, as it continues to drive the transition to a sustainable future.

[gldie]

✰ ⊰ GOLDIE: ❛ 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐋𝐀𝐏.

A year after her departure from KPWR-FM, 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄 has scored a career as being a television host for BET. In this interview, 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃 took the time to drive right on down to Westchester to ask her all the questions that people want to know about her rise to fame and how she’s juggling it along with motherhood and her love-life. 

━━  ❛ 𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃. ╱ 

❛ 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃: Goldie mfn’ Forde! How are you doin’ on this beautiful afternoon? Your house looks great, by the way. I love it! Thank you so much for havin’ me. 

𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄: Holli Hoooood! I’m doin’ great, actually. Just tryna’ get used to being on the opposite end of an interview. But, no. Thank you for takin’ the interest in interviewing lil’ ol’ me. ❜ 

❛ 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃: Well, we gotta interview the hottest women in the game right now and your talk show THE GOLDEN HOUR has been killing it as of lately. You should be proud! You workin’ your ass off and still make time to be a mother. I must say your little boy is the cutest. [ The woman gestures at the little boy who is sleeping on her mother’s lap. ]

𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄: Aw, gosh. [ She blushes with a wide smile on her face and she glances down at him, running her hand along the baby’s back. ] I don’t know what else to say but thank you. All these compliments makin’ me blush! [ She laughs softly before looking back at the interviewer. ] Workin’ my ass off is in my blood, though. I gotta from my momma. She don’t play that lazy sh*t. Doesn’t he look just like his momma, though? I need that on the record just in case someone tries to say that he looks like his daddy. ❜ 

❛ 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃: He sure does, y’all look like twins. Woulda’ swore that you had that baby on your own, honestly. [ The interviewer chuckles before placing her hand on the notepad she held. ] But how are you liking motherhood? Is it a hard transition? 

𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄: [ The smile on her face doesn’t fade doesn’t fade until she hears the last question that she asks. Sighing softly, she looks up at the sky as she tries to find the words to answer. ] In the beginning it was actually. I struggled a lot trying to get use to being a mother and not letting it consume who I am. Like of course, I’m a mother before everything, but I’m also a sister, friend, business woman, you know stuff outside of that. [ Looking back at the interviewer, she continues with a soft smile on her face. ] I also kinda’ struggled to connect with my child. I felt like I wasn’t going to be the best mother to him, I felt lonely, the whole nine. But now, we’re good. He’s my whole heart. Who I do it for, my everything. ❜ 

❛ 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃: That’s beautiful, Goldie. I know a lot of women struggle with Post-partum depression after having their first child. I know it must be hard trying to balance your career-life and being a mother but you make it look easy. 

𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄: Whew, girl when I tell you it takes a village and that’s the only reason it looks so damn easy. [ A laugh emits from her lips before she feels her child shift in her lap. Mouthing the words oops, she picks him up in her arms before looking over her shoulder for her mother. ] Mommmyyyy, can you get your grand-baby? [ She speaks softly so that she won’t disturb him before pecking his cheek repeatedly. Once her mother walks over and takes him, she turns around to finish the question. ] Without that woman, wouldn’t be no Goldie on television. My mother and father, his father along with his side family help me out so much. He’s on set with me sometimes, but most of the time I want him to be somewhere quiet and not too rowdy. ❜ 

❛ 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃: Wow! You seem to have the ideal support group. Why happened to you and ZION’s father?

𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄: [ A dry chuckle left the woman’s lips as she stared at the interviewer’s visage, swallowing the lump in her throat before she shifted in her seat some. ] Uh, lack of communication and failure to reason with one another. Yup. [ She finished with a soft head nod. ] But co-parenting is great. You know, our focus is completely on our son and what’s best for him. Next question, please. ❜ 

━━ ❛ 𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒. ╱ 

❛ 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃: Alright, Goldie. What achievements from last year are you most proud of? 

𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄: My greatest achievement is Zion Israel Powers. I mean, with all the struggles that I experienced with pregnancy, I couldn’t be more grateful that God granted me the opportunity to be his mommy. [ She couldn’t help but to beam when she spoke about her child. ] The second great achievement of last year was putting myself first and leaving a job that didn’t serve my purpose. I will always be grateful to KPWR, but leaving a job that stifled my creativity was the best decision that I ever made. ❜ 

❛ 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃: I know that’s right, Goldie! We leaving everything that doesn’t serve us in 2020, okay!? [ She laughed with a point before moving on to the next question. ] And what about the achievements of this year?

𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄: And neva’ eva wrong. [ She laughed back while pointing back at the woman with her index finger. ] Uh.. I’m proud of the fact that I overcame a dark time in my life and I found a new part of myself that I never really got the chance to know. I’m happy with... uh... I’m happy with my life. Yeah. I’m making the kind of money that I want. I achieved two of my biggest dreams, I’m more secure in my body and I’m happy. Yeah. ❜

❛ 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃: We love seeing black women happy, sis. I know a lot of people have been trying to steal your shine and happiness in the blogs. Do you have anything to say to the former talk show host that you replaced? She’s been in the media outlets throwing shade and subliminals a lot. 

𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄: [ A short chuckle leaves the woman’s lips before she scratches her nose with her acrylic nail, pursing her lips up slightly. ] Mm... Not really, if it’s not direct, it doesn’t get acknowledged by me. I truly wish her the best in her future endeavors, though. I know it’s hard seeing someone else win while you struggle. I been there myself, but hating on the next woman isn’t going to change anything so.. ❜ 

❛ 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃: Well said. Very professional! I’m over here tryna’ be miss messy boots and you curvin’ it. You sure you haven’t had any media training? [ She snickers before moving onto the last question of this segment. ] Okay, lastly, what goals do you have for next year?

𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄: None whatsoever. I’m just good like that. [ The woman speaks with a small smile before tilting her head to the side while she listens to the question asked. ] Goals for next year? To keep growing my brand, girl. Hopefully create my own app, merch, go on a talk show tour, maybe write a book? Who knows! I’m most definitely putting my momma and daddy in a new house, though. I know that. [ She said with a nod before clasping her hands together and shrugging. ] I’m letting life take me on this journey and I’m just ridin’ the wave. I pray it takes me in the right direction. ❜ 

 ━━ ❛ 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐘𝐋𝐄. ╱ 

❛ 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃: Now this house, what made you choose a house like this? Especially in a neighborhood that you’re not used to.

𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄: It was definitely a change from my apartment in Crenshaw. I’m still in Inglewood but I’m not on the same block that I’m used to be on. I’m not doing hair out of my apartment to make some extra money. You know, I’m in the rich neighborhood and sometimes, you know I feel left out. But when I saw this house, I knew it was the one for me despite the neighborhood change. I needed a space that could accommodate me and all my needs along with my family. ❜

❛ 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃: Can we get a tour? I mean, a house this beautiful needs to be viewed by the people and I’m sure your fans would like to see how you livin’. Don’t you think?

𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄: This isn’t my dream house, but it’s definitely an impressive STARTER HOME, ya’ know? It’s very spacious for family events and my family like to link all the damn time, so. I like it a lot. It’ll hold me over until further notice. I got everything baby proofed because I just know this lil’ boy gon’ be something else when he starts getting more a handle on this crawling thing. ❜

❛ 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃: The entire house is flawless, but let’s get into this STACKED WARDROBE. You take this fashion sh*t serious, don’t ya’? Let me borrow some of these clothes. Or at least show me how you do it, chile. 

𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄: I really don’t know what I’m doing with this fashion shit, I just know what looks good on me. Which is damn near everything. [ The woman speaks cockily, letting a laugh follow soon after before she looked over her closet. ] But I think I take a lot of my looks from old models and vixens of the 90s and 00s. Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of brands and clothing lines reaching out trying to get me to wear something from their lines. So, I’m excited about that. [ She says in a sing-song tone before doing a little dance. ] If you ever want me to give you some pointers, be sure to watch my show for my fashion tips segment. The girls really like that. ❜

❛ 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃: I’ll be sure to tune in for that, girl! Thank you so much for this wonderful interview. You’ve been a pleasure to interview, honestly. [ The interview reaches over to shake her hand with a grin on her face. ] I told you it wasn’t going to be that bad. You guys be sure to tune in THE GOLDEN HOUR feature the gorgeous GOLDIE on BET everyday @ 5/6 ET. 

𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄: Thank you so much for having me! You were great, made me feel so comfortable and everything. [ She compliments the interviewer while she shakes the woman’s hand then she looks directly into the camera lens. ] Listen to the woman, y’all. She know what she’s talkin’ ‘bout. Kisses, see y’all lata’! ❜

[decaffeinatedcatyouth]

Latepost has learned from several independent sources that Didi has started the project, led by Yang Jun, vice president of Didi and general manager of Xiaoju.He is also the chief product officer of D1, a customised ride-hailing service launched jointly by Didi and BYD, and the team has already started poaching people from car factories.However, Latepost has not yet learned the specific form and path of Didi's car construction.

Zhu Jiang, former vice president of user development at Nio, is likely to join Didi, a person familiar with the matter said.Zhu Jiang has many years of experience in automobile industry, and has worked in BMW Brilliance, Lexus, NIO, Ford China and other companies.

In addition to the new developments, Latepost has learned from inside Didi that its self-driving subsidiary plans to try new paths beyond its own research and start a new self-driving truck business.

Didi declined to comment.

Didi has several car-building projects in the works

In November 2019, Didi and BYD set up a joint venture, Beautiful Chuxing (Hangzhou) Automotive Technology Co., with BYD holding 65% and Didi 35%, and BYD as the controlling shareholder.The two subsequently launched a customized ride-hailing service, D1, in November 2020. At that time, Didi was also directly involved in the cooperation with Xiaoju.Didi's car service business started in 2016 and became Xiaoju's car service independently in 2019. At present, it includes Xiaoju youche (car rental platform), car maintenance, second-hand car, charging and refueling.Didi wants to focus on renting from the front end to the back end, with services such as maintenance, insurance and energy.

In June 2020, Didi Autopilot, a subsidiary of Didi, announced a partnership with BAIC, in which the two sides will jointly develop high-level self-driving customized models for RoboTaxi (self-driving taxi) operations.

And this time Didi started to build a car, is likely to be along the D1, the further exploration of customized online car hailing.

Analysts in the industry say Didi's new car plan will be different from the car-company-dominated approach it took when it launched the D1.This time Didi will be more capital-intensive and more engaged.This echoes Didi's message when it launched D1, which stressed that it was the "first" custom ride-hailing service.

According to the plan previously mentioned by Cheng Wei, founder and CEO of Didi at the D1 launch, Didi's customized ride-hailing service will continue to iterate, and by 2025, the customized version of D3 will be popular on Didi's platform, with more than 1 million units. By 2030, the D series aims to eliminate the cockpit and achieve full driverless driving.

On the other hand, although Didi has made more efforts to build cars, according to industry analysts, it is not possible for Didi to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary to build cars like Xiaomi, because its capital may not be able to keep up with it, and its model may be lighter than Xiaomi's.

One investor believes that it is a more economical choice for Didi not to build cars by itself. At present, the production capacity of car companies is too large, and Didi, as a big customer, can completely eat a part of the upstream profits.But building your own can tell a better capital story and keep drivers further on the platform.

Didi has partnered with third-party car rental companies in many places, allowing drivers without cars to hire cars to join Didi's platform to pick up customers.But aggregated car-hailing platforms such as AutoNavi, Meituan and Hello are also courting local car rental companies to compete with Didi.By providing its own operating vehicles, Didi could reduce its reliance on third-party rental companies and reduce the cost of securing drivers.

Whether it was D1 last year or the new plan now, there is a clear logic behind Didi's entry into the custom ride-hailing service.Currently, the cost of the online car hailing market based on fuel models is too high, which directly leads to the limited scale of the online car hailing market and low profit.

Customizing ride-hailing is one way for Didi to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency.In 2018, Didi and Ideal had previously planned to cooperate in this area and set up a related subsidiary, JudianChuxing, in which Didi held a 51% stake and Ideal 49%.

However, Latepost previously reported that Didi's cooperation with Ideal has been terminated and that Judian plans to become an independent OEM-travel company with new strategic shareholders.

Since then, Didi has established joint ventures with BAIC, BYD and Volkswagen.But Didi's tie-up with Volkswagen and BAIC has yet to materially develop.

Li Xiang, founder of Ideal Auto, said at the time that the future evolution of the mobility market will be in line with the logistics industry standard, which means the lower the cost the better and the more efficient the better.The partnership between Ideal and Didi is aimed at further reducing costs on the premise of safety.According to Li Xiang's calculation, the cost of the new car may be 10~15% more expensive than that of the ordinary fuel-powered car, but the battery life will double, and the amortized cost per kilometer will drop 0.5~0.6 yuan, or nearly 20%, compared with that of the fuel-powered car.

What's more, customized online car hailing can also improve user experience and produce cars that are more suitable for driverless driving, making preparations for the landing of driverless driving in the future.

As a result, custom ride-hailing could also become a connection point between Didi's ride-hailing platform service and its Robotaxi business, which its self-driving subsidiary is building up.

Didi's self-driving business may also be changing

In addition, a person close to drops autopilot told the late LatePost drops autopilot company is currently in the research of automatic driving route, is also considering to try the second route, the route may be combined with vehicle road new "Robotaxi ping's", namely the side access Robotaxi enterprises with operational vehicles, access to the passengers.

But given that Didi itself is doing Robotaxi, if it takes this route, the short-term drag will be persuading other Robotaxi companies to work with Didi.Currently, Chinese companies such as Baidu, Xiaoma Zhixing and Wenyuan Zhixing all have their own taxi-hailing apps, while AutoX can use AutoNavi to take taxis. The biggest challenge for the autonomous driving industry is technology and product maturity rather than competing for passengers.

Meanwhile, Didi Autopilot has also started experimenting with a self-driving truck project, which is being led by Didi Autopilot CTO Wei Junqing, confirmed by Late Latepost.

On Friday (April 2), two days after the official announcement, the Huaxia Alumni Association, attended by many entrepreneurs and investors, was held at the Xiaomi campus. A photo of Lei Jun with Wang Chuanfu, Li Bin, Li Xiang and He Xiaopeng was widely circulated.

Cheng Wei, the CEO of Didi, was also at the table with Li Xiang and Li Bin, but in the group photo, Li Xiang were on stage and Cheng Wei and Yang Jun were in the audience.

Mr Cheng has previously said Didi does not build cars and is not seeking to become the biggest car operator in the future.Didi's core competence is to serve its users and car owners well, and to keep investing and making breakthroughs in big data and technology.

Mr Cheng may have to eat his words. He and Didi will also be in the car building business.But from the business logic, it is good news.

Didi has more on its plate than just building cars.Didi plans to go public this year. In order to achieve better market valuation, Didi has carried out more diversified business expansion, including "Orange Heart Preferred", which is now a key business community group purchase.Community group-buying is also a capital-heavy track, and brings together the giants with the strongest financial strength at present -- Meituan, Pinduoduo, Ali and Jingdong all regard it as an important direction.

Bloomberg had previously reported that Didi had plans to inject about $3 billion into its preferred unit.Didi is also working with financial advisers to raise about $1bn from outside investors.

More deeply involved in and led the launch of customized online car hailing, into the self-driving truck, into the community group buying market, Didi will be listed this year, the new moves continue.Didi, which has always been considered by the market to be relatively cautious in making decisions, showed a sharper ambition on the eve of its listing.

Edit/Viola

Risk note: the author's or guest's opinions above all have their own specific positions. Investment decisions should be made on the basis of independent thinking.Futu will do its best but cannot guarantee the accuracy and reliability of the above information and will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by any inaccuracy or omission.

[blxxdyvalentine19xx]

Internet Killed The Rockstar - Mod Sun Album Review by blxxdyvalentine19xx

Derek “Mod Sun” Smith’s 11 track Album Internet Killed The Rockstar debuted at midnight on February 12th, 2021, compared to his usual Hippy Hop as he calls it, IKTR is a much more Punk Rock sound. It opens with the lead single “Karma”, followed by both “Bones” and “Flames” I woke up this morning and hopped onto Spotify to give it a listen to.

Karma: The opening track to the album, Angry and loud. I didn’t much care for it at first, It took me a while to love this one. His ex girlfriend was quick to jump onto youtube with a storytime video, in which she suggests it’s about her, some believe it to be and others believe it to be about Bella Thorne. I was under the impression that Mod and Tana were on good terms last year so I don’t really know, I’m more convinced that it’s about Bella. It’s a banger of an opening track though.    

Bones: There’s a lot to this song, I remember the teaser he released for this piece. I’ve listed to the song almost as i have to that teaser. He explains in the breakdown of the track that it sounds like what the first few seconds before a car crash feels like, calm. This song absolutely put me through it, I lost a family member to a motor vehicle accident a few years back and never really moved on from it. Somehow through this song, Mod brought me the ability to heal from it and move on from the weight I carried with the accident. So thank you Mod Sun for a track so beautiful.

Flames (Ft Avril Lavigne): The only feature on the entire album and it’s a literal piece of art! It starts out with Avril’s melodic voice before jumping into Mod Sun’s explosive screaming vocals in the post-chorus. His vocals on this track doesn’t make me love it any less, in fact i’m in love with the track. Mod threw all he had at this track and gave us something that will hopefully stand the test of time. As many times as I have heard this song, I never tire of it.Avril has been the voice of a couple generations now and It’s amazing to see such a powerful collaboration as this one.

Betterman: I don’t know, I’m not really feeling this track so I don’t have a lot to say about it. He does say in it that someone makes him want o be a better man and that the same person saves him.To be nice about it I’m saying little about it. He does say at one point that he doesn’t want to die lonely, that’s a line i can vibe with, being lonely is one of the worst feelings in the world. It’s a beautifully worded track.

Prayer: I just listened to this song again, there’s a part of me that feels the message Mod puts out. I’ve saw what those white lines do to people, I nearly lost a friend to them in high school so Mod hit me with a load of built up emotions here. My life had been impacted by someone who hit their worst on drugs and I carry those thoughts everyday. The way he delivers this track is melodic and gives you a way to look positively on your future. Every action is a reaction. I know i’m rambling but  I don’t know just how to word what this song does to me, it makes me feel numb as I reflect on things I’ve been through. 2020 was my year to find my a better path and jut like Mod, I’m trying desperately to try on it.I wasn’t in a good place and this song feels like what my past was in words.

TwentyNUMB: It sounds to me like it starts out as a rap track before quickly reminding me of ‘Circles” by post malone mixed with an early 2000′s track that I can’t remember the name of now. As of right now I don’t have a clear explanation of the track. It’s good but it’ll have to grow on me. It may to chaotic for me as I’m neurodiverget and there’s so much to try and focus on in this that I start to get panicky and can’t focus on the lryics of it at all. it’s upbeat though so that’s a good thing.

Smith: We know this is about his father from the voice intro it carries. The lyrics carry you through a mostly negative father - son relationship, as it progresses, Mod goes on to say there will always be a room in his house for his late father. It’s a tough one for me as my relationship with my father is beginning to fade and this song brings up the pain that i’ve endured the past few years seeing the father I once knew and loved change into a man I no longer know. I can’t help but cry hearing the pain in Mod’s voice when he delivers this track, even though my father is still living, i’m tasked with having to grieve the man I looked up to and that’s what this song does for me, it’s started the process of me letting go of what I have to for my sake. I don’t know how much longer I have with my father due to his health but this sing will forever make me think of him. No matter what a parent puts us through, there’s still that little kid locked inside us that loves them no matter what.

Rollercoaster: I’ve linked the song. The lyrics explain themself. Noting I can really say about it aside from being proud of Mod and the effort he’s made to staying sober.

Annoying: Shit’s cute! I will definitely be dancing around my kitchen to this song. It’s such a feel good song. My one qualm about it though is the “ for your eyes only” line, the One Direction fan in me only ever hears “ass” instead of “eyes” I can’t do much else but laugh over the line because of it. The song sounds as id Mod is declaring unrequited love to whoever this mystery girl he speaks of in numerous lyrics across the album. Whoever she is, she must be pretty damn special. The bridge make sit sounds as thought she makes him tongue tied when all he wants to do is tell her how much he loves her. Overall, Annoying is a really cute song.

Pornstar: This song starts out with Mod portraying himself as a really kind of shit guy, from missing his girls birthday to not being there after her surgery, like man, that’s low. The lyrics later sate that he’ll make up for his dickish behavior and fuck her like a pornstar, now we can assume he’s referring to himself as the pornstar here. He also talks about her sending him a paragrah every morning, he barely reads it and sends the ever dreaded one word answer, I’m a guy and that boils my blood, i’m a romantic at heart and a poet, one word answers are my least favourite thing. The chorus to Pornstar is damn well catchy almost as catchy as herpes, thank you to @triplexdoublex​ for that golden line. it’s been out a little over a day now and it’s already my fifth most listened to song, that’s saying something.

Internet Killed The Rockstar: I was in a dream driving in my Ford Explorer at 16 years old by myself. I snuck out of the house, not to go fucking spray-paint the side of a building or go meet up with a girl. No, so I could go ride around my city and scream the lyrics of a song and pretend that it was my song. That’s literally what I did as a kid. The song that was playing was ‘Internet Killed the Rockstar.’It painted the story of when the kid inside me essentially died and turned into a person that was living in a new age. I grew up quickly, but I’ve remained able to be in touch with this childlike sense inside me. [The song] is my tribute to the kid who literally thought he was never going to make it. And guess what? You made it! You made it. Direct quote from Mod’s Genius Music page. Nothing more to be said here other than I feel this on a personal level, I was in a place once where I never once thought I’d see my senior year of high school let alone where I am today. I’ve had to grow up quick lately and this song gives me comfort.

[danwhobrowses]

General Discussions: All Elite Wrestling (AEW)

So with All Out happening tonight (or well, tomorrow morning for me) I’m in the mood to get a lot of AEW talk off my chest. The difference between this and previous talks ‘In (Slight) Defense of AEW’s Women’s Division’ and ‘Are AEW Planning a Second Show?’ - the latter of which seems to have been confirmed - I don’t want to talk about one sole thing, I have multiple things I wanna talk about: Criticisms, Hindsight, Signing Suggestions, Predictions and whatnot. I’m also gonna split this into two at least, we’re gonna start with some critiques (positive and negative criticism) and some hindsight talk.

Critiques So AEW has been running officially since May 2019. Meaning that half of their lifespan has happened during COVID 19′s pandemic, before I go into positive and negative criticisms I’d like this point to at least commend AEW on their action and sustainability during this time; several other brands have had to sadly close or cease programming for a long time, with ROH only just returning. AEW has done a stellar job being safe as well, only one confirmed case in QT Marshall (Moxley quarantining because of Renee’s positive case), frequent tests and having small amount of fans in the arena, this is on top of the fact that Jacksonville is also a hotspot, so currently well done on that. But AEW is far from a perfect company, no company can be. However, not all criticism is fair and I wanna vent some of that. Fair Criticism towards AEW First I wanna point out that there are things even I don’t like about AEW, because I know people will paint me as an apologist, I’d also wanna preface that there are parts of WWE I like too, and parts I don’t like. On AEW’s part though I think the fairest criticism for it is that a lot of talent slip through the cracks, COVID doesn’t help of course but talent had been kept away from the main show or not getting their due; Santana and Ortiz and the Lucha Bros should be tag champions by now, Scorpio Sky would’ve been a great TNT champion, Jurassic Express despite their popularity often seem to be on the losing end of feuds, Private Party have fell into the undercard of the tag division, Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss are sadly purposeless and Lance Archer is just floating around, Nyla and Vickie’s partnership hasn’t really gone anywhere either as of yet and Abadon has been kept from the title picture. There’s also the flip-flop booking of Shawn Spears, Jake Hager, Mel, Luther, Penelope Ford, TH2 and others. While I am gonna track back on the Women’s Division complaint it would bode better for AEW if they had more storylines, and their title was better. I mean the design is fine, it just needs to be bigger. The Picture with Shida and Cody swapping belts really sells that. Belt designs have been very up and down too, the TNT title is not good, the FTW title is a bit iffy but even that is a better design. So far only ‘Big Platinum’ and the Tag Titles are original designs without complaints. Unfair Criticism towards AEW Since a lot of people compare AEW to WWE, there will be times where people will treat them as the same, and that’s not really too fair. Case in point, big one out of the way, The Women’s Division. Wanting more from the women is fair but as I detailed they are pretty handicapped right now since many of their wrestlers are overseas, but when they make moves in a positive light they’re still criticised. Thunder Rosa (fka Kobra Moon of Lucha Underground) is great and we have a much hyped match for that. The criticisms reared its head more with the Deadly Draw and the Tooth and Nail match being in the Buy In. I’ve already discussed the benefits of the Deadly Draw in a prior post so I’m gonna focus on Swole/Baker. Now on the Main Card anyway thanks to fan response, it shouldn’t have been treated like AEW pre-shows are like WWE’s, there’s a Number 1 Contendership Battle Royale on that same Buy In, Khan has been clear that he wants people invested enough to ‘Buy in to the PPV’ so it shouldn’t be treated as a disservice.

I’d also like to segue this into a WWE comparison, because whenever AEW is on you have people tracking how many women’s segments there are. So let me run down WWE for a bit

Smackdown had 3 Women’s Bits last night (4th Sept): the Tag Match that led to FINALLY the Banks/Bayley schism, a cryptic hint towards a woman returning (rumors of Eva Marie I hope are false, maybe it’s Carmella?) and a small backstage segment between Bliss and Bayley

NXT on ‘Super Tuesday Part 1′ had 1 very short match building to the Candice/Tegan feud and a package for Ripley vs Mercedes

Raw had 2 matches and 3 segments which included a Payback rematch

Payback had 2 matches, one on the Pre-Show, both of these matches would later be rematched in the following week

Summerslam had 3 matches, only one of them not a title match and one of them being rematched on the following Raw

NXT TakeOver 30 had 1 match, a title match, including the Pre-Show

For all the criticism AEW gets for having 2-3 bits on Dynamite (which is an hour less than Raw might I add and Dark hosts consistently 3 women’s bits that nobody acknowledges simply because the matches are squashes) I never see WWE criticised in that same vein, and that’s unfair, criticise both. The main difference is that AEW do not have the ‘seasoned big star’ because they’re not that old, Mickie James, Asuka, Bliss and the Four Horsewomen didn’t just get this popular overnight, they spent years honing this craft to this audience. Would it be great for AEW to have a megastar type? Sure but business is not all that easy, who do you take? Tessa’s attitude isn’t exactly positive for business, time is what they need and it’s something people are not giving. Of the other unfair criticisms the quick and easy one is the ‘AEW is TNA 2.0′ - newsflash, most wrestlers will go through the WWE machine in some shape or form, if you complain that AEW lacks female stars because nobody is well known but criticise the men’s division for using well-known ex-WWE talent then you have to see the contradiction. Moxley has been great, Jericho has been great, Brodie has been great, it’s not like AEW aren’t promoting others either. And also the ‘VP is becoming like the McMahons’ - people think that because a wrestler is a booker that they’ll only book themselves strong, but Cody let himself get squashed by Brodie, Kenny passed out to PAC and lost to Moxley, the Bucks haven’t been tag champions and Brandi hasn’t inserted herself in any title match. Just because we’re burned by WWE doesn’t mean that AEW are the same. I am all for constructive criticism with the brand because there are certainly places where it can improve, but it keeps circling around to the fact that we put WWE as the negative standard we compare AEW to, as if WWE are literally the Simpsons of Wrestling, there’s not gonna be much they haven’t done. Hindsight Talk So with the critiques out of the way now we can talk about some missed opportunities, since it kinda pairs together with that. Nearly a year and a half and AEW is still quite different to how it started, there are some things though we could still look back in regret. The easy one is doing a more thorough background check. The SpeakingOut movement affected all of wrestling and led to the departure of Jimmy Havoc, likewise it also led to the Elite cutting ties with Joey Ryan and distancing from Marty Scurll, of course until people spoke out it would’ve been impossible to know but knowing now does make parts of All In and AEW’s history come with a sense of bitterness. A further stressing of variety would’ve helped AEW, there’s a lot of criticism when people don’t understand that things are different for a reason, comedy has a place in Wrestling, we just need a reminder. The ranking system and tag rules could still be clearer. There’s also the sooner dropping of aspects like the Nightmare Family faction with Mel and Luther with Brandi, as well as some other dropped plots like Brandi’s mental break, Allie’s affiliation with the Butcher and Blade (the latter being her irl husband) as ‘the Bunny’, Christopher Daniels’ feuds with Pentagon and the Dark Order, the initial presentation of the Dark Order, not debuting Sadie Gibbs earlier and maybe pushing Intergender wrestling a bit sooner. AEW were reluctant and a Kip/Penelope vs Kenny/Riho feud was in the works to some solid appeal, but it sadly went nowhere. The Deadly Draw could’ve been longer, but I stand by the decision to put it on Youtube. I think the TNT title tournament could’ve been longer too. The bigger regrets I personally wished from AEW are that the Lucha Bros didn’t win the tag titles first, SCU are great but Lucha Bros are next level wrestlers who are monstrously talented, given Hangman and Kenny’s blockbuster match with the Lucha Bros, it’s a shame that we didn’t have a bigger feud where the Lucha Bros took their Young Bucks feud momentum to win the whole tournament. Not signing Mercedes Martinez, Deonna Purrazo or pushing a Kong vs Kong match would also be a missed opportunity too. Hindsight is of course 2020 so we can’t be too hard on AEW, as we’ll move onto in Part 2, when we’ll talk about All Out Predictions and positive hopes for AEW’s future

[blackkudos]

Carrie Mae Weems

Carrie Mae Weems (born April 20, 1953) is an American artist who works with text, fabric, audio, digital images, and installation video, and is best known for her work in the field of photography. Her award-winning photographs, films, and videos have been displayed in over 50 exhibitions in the United States and abroad, and focus on serious issues that face African Americans today, such as racism, sexism, politics, and personal identity.

She said, "Let me say that my primary concern in art, as in politics, is with the status and place of Afro-Americans in the country." More recently however, she expressed that "Black experience is not really the main point; rather, complex, dimensional, human experience and social inclusion ... is the real point."

Early life and education

Weems was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1953, the second of seven children to Carrie Polk and Myrlie Weems. She began participating in dance and street theater in 1965. At the age of 16 she gave birth to her first and only child, a daughter named Faith C. Weems. Later that year she moved out of her parents’ home and soon relocated to San Francisco to study modern dance with Anna Halprin at a workshop Halprin had started with several other dancers, as well as the artists John Cage and Robert Morris. She decided to continue her arts schooling and attended the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, graduating at the age of 28 with her B.A. She received her MFA from the University of California, San Diego. Weems also participated in the folklore graduate program at the University of California, Berkeley.

While in her early twenties, Carrie Mae Weems was politically active in the labor movement as a union organizer. Her first camera, which she received as a birthday gift, was used for this work before being used for artistic purposes. She was inspired to pursue photography after she came across The Black Photography Annual, a book of images by African-American photographers including Shawn Walker, Beuford Smith, Anthony Barboza, Ming Smith, Adger Cowans, and Roy DeCarava, who Weems found inspiring. This led her to New York City, and the Studio Museum in Harlem, where she began to meet other artists and photographers such as Coreen Simpson and Frank Stewart, and they began to form a community. In 1976 Weems took a photography class at the Museum taught by Dawoud Bey. She returned to San Francisco, but lived bi-coastally and was invited by Janet Henry to teach at the Studio Museum and a community of photographers in New York.

Career and work

In 1983, Carrie Mae Weems completed her first collection of photographs, text, and spoken word, called Family Pictures and Stories. The images told the story of her family, and she has said that in this project she was trying to explore the movement of black families out of the South and into the North, using her family as a model for the larger theme. Her next series, called Ain't Jokin', was completed in 1988. It focused on racial jokes and internalized racism. Another series called American Icons, completed in 1989, also focused on racism. Weems has said that throughout the 1980s she was turning away from the documentary photography genre, instead "creating representations that appeared to be documents but were in fact staged" and also "incorporating text, using multiples images, diptychs and triptychs, and constructing narratives." Sexism was the next focal point for her. It was the topic of one of her most well known collections called The Kitchen Table series which was completed in over a two year period, 1989 to 1990 and has Weems cast as the central character in the photographs. About Kitchen Table and Family Pictures and Stories, Weems has said: "I use my own constructed image as a vehicle for questioning ideas about the role of tradition, the nature of family, monogamy, polygamy, relationships between men and women, between women and their children, and between women and other women—underscoring the critical problems and the possible resolves." She has expressed disbelief and concern about the exclusion of images of the black community, particularly black women, from the popular media, and she aims to represent these excluded subjects and speak to their experience through her work. These photographs created space for other black female artists to further create art. Weems has also reflected on the themes and inspirations of her work as a whole, saying,

... from the very beginning, I've been interested in the idea of power and the consequences of power; relationships are made and articulated through power. Another thing that's interesting about the early work is that even though I've been engaged in the idea of autobiography, other ideas have been more important: the role of narrative, the social levels of humor, the deconstruction of documentary, the construction of history, the use of text, storytelling, performance, and the role of memory have all been more central to my thinking than autobiography.

Other series created by Weems include: the Sea Island Series (1991–92), the Africa Series (1993), From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried (1995–96), Who What When Where (1998), Ritual & Revolution (1998), the Louisiana Project (2003), Roaming (2006), and the Museum Series, which she began in 2007. Her most recent project, Grace Notes: Reflections for Now, is a multimedia performance that explores "the role of grace in the pursuit of democracy."

In her almost 30-year career, Carrie Mae Weems has won numerous awards. She was named Photographer of the Year by the Friends of Photography. In 2005, she was awarded the Distinguished Photographer's Award in recognition of her significant contributions to the world of photography. Her talents have also been recognized by numerous colleges, including Harvard University and Wellesley College, with fellowships, artist-in-residence and visiting professor positions. She taught photography at Hampshire College in the late 1980s. She was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2013. In 2015 Weems was named a Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow. In September 2015, the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research presented her with the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal.

The first comprehensive retrospective of her work opened in September 2012 at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, Tennessee, as a part of the center's exhibition Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video. Curated by Katie Delmez, the exhibition ran until January 13, 2013, and later traveled to Portland Art Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Cantor Center for Visual Arts. The 30-year retrospective exhibition opened in January 2014 at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. This was the first time an "African-American woman [was] ever given a solo exhibition" at the Guggenheim. Weems' work returned to the Frist in October 2013 as a part of the center's 30 Americans gallery, alongside black artists ranging from Jean-Michel Basquiat to Kehinde Wiley.

Weems' work is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Portland Art Museum, the Tate Museum in London and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Weems has been represented by Jack Shainman Gallery since 2008.

A full-color, visual book, titled Carrie Mae Weems, was published by Yale University Press in October 2012. The book offers the first major survey of Weems' career and includes a collection of essays from leading and emerging scholars in addition to over 200 of Weems' most important works.

Weems lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn and Syracuse, New York, with her husband Jeffrey Hoone. She continues to produce art that provides social commentary on the experiences of people of color, especially black women, in America.

Weems is one of six artist-curators who made selections for Artistic License: Six Takes on the Guggenheim Collection, on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum from May 24, 2019, through January 12, 2020.

Select exhibitions

Presentations of her work have included exhibitions at:

Women in Photography, Cityscape Photo Gallery, Pasadena, CA, 1981

Multi-Cultural Focus, Barnsdall Art gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 1981

Family Pictures and Stories, Multi-Cultural Gallery, San Diego, CA, 1984

People Close Up, Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 1986

Social Concerns, Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, MD, 1986

Past, Present, Future, The New Museum, New York, NY, 1986

Visible Differences, Centro Cultural de la Raza, San Diego, CA, 1987

The Other, The Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX, 1988

A Century of Protest, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, 1989

Black Women Photographers, Ten.8, London, England, 1990

Who Counts?, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, IL, 1990

Biological Factors, Nexus Gallery, Atlanta, GA, 1990

Trouble in Paradise, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Boston, MA, 1990

Whitney Biennial, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, 1991

Of Light and Language, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA, 1991

Pleasures and terrors of Domestic Comfort, MOMA, New York, NY, 1991

Calling Out My Name, CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, NY (traveled to PPOW gallery, New York, NY), 1991

Disclosing the Myth of Family, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1992

Schwarze Kunst: Konzepte zur Politik und Identitat, Neue Gesellschaft fur dingende Kunst, Berlin, Germany, 1992

Dirt and Domesticity: Constructions of the Feminine, Whitney Museum of American Art, at Equitable Center, New York, NY, 1992

Art, Politics, and Community, William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Mansfield, CT (traveled to Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA), 1992

Mis/Taken identities, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA (traveled to Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; Forum Stadtpark, Graz, Austria; Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen im Forum Langenstraße, Germany; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; Western Gallery, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA), 1992–1994

Photography: Expanding the Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, 1992–1994

Sea Island, The Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia, PA, 1993

Carrie Mae Weems (traveling exhibition), The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, 1993

And 22 Million Very Tired and very Angry People, Walter/McBean gallery, San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco, CA, 1993

Enlightenment, Revolution, A Gallery Project, Ferndale, MI, 1993

Fictions of the Self: The Portrait in Contemporary Photography, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC; Herter Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 1993–1994

The Theatre of Refusal: Black Art and the Mainstream Criticism, Fine Arts Gallery, University of California, Irvine, CA (traveled to University of California, Davis, CA; and University of California, Riverside, CA), 1993–1994

Women's Representation of Women, Sapporo American Center Gallery, Sapporo, Japan (traveled to Aka Renga Cultural Center, Fukuoka City, Japan; Kyoto International Community House, Kyoto, Japan; Aichi Prefectural Arts Center, Nagoya, Japan; Osaka Prefectural Contemporary Arts Center, Japan; Spiral Arts Center, Tokyo, Japan), 1994

Imagining Families: Images and Voices, The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 1994–1995

Black Male, Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, and The Armand Hammer Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA, 1994–1995

Carrie Mae Weems Reacts to Hidden Witness, J. Paul Getty Museum of Art, Malibu, CA, 1995

Projects 52, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, 1995

StoryLand: Narrative Vision and Social Space, Walter Phillips gallery, The Banff Center for the Arts, Banff, Canada, 1995

Embedded Metaphor, Traveling exhibit, curated by Nina Felshin, 1996

Inside the Visible, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., international traveling exhibition, 1996

Gender - Beyond Memory, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan, 1996

2nd Johannesburg Biennale, Africus Institute for Contemporary Art, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1997

Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African-American Artists, traveling exhibition, 1998

Taboo: Repression and Revolt in Modern Art, Gallery St. Etienne, New York, NY, 1998

Tell me a Story: Narration in Contemporary Painting and Photography, Center National d'Art Contemporain de Grenoble, Grenoble, France, 1998

Recent Work: Carrie Mae Weems 1992–98, Everson Art Museum, Syracuse, NY, 1998–1999

Who, What, When, and Where, Whitney Museum of American Art at Phillip Morris, New York, NY, 1998–1999

Ritual & Revolution, DAK'ART 98: Biennale of Contemporary Art, Galerie National d'Art, Dakar, Senegal, 1998–1999

It's Only Rock and Roll, traveling exhibition, 1999

Claustrophobia: Disturbing the Domestic in Contemporary Art, traveling exhibition, 1999

Histories (Re)membered, The Bronx Museum of Art, New York, NY, 1999

Carrie Mae Weems: The Hampton Project, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA, 2000–2003

Looking Forward, Looking Back, Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, 2000

Material and Matter: Loans to and Selections from the Studio Museum Collection, The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY, 2000

The View From Here: Issues of Cultural Identity and Perspective in Contemporary Russian and American Art, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia, 2000

Strength and Diversity: A Celebration of African-American Artists, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2000

Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers 1840 to the Present, Smithsonian Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and culture, Washington, DC, 2000

History Now, touring exhibition beginning at the Liljevalchs Konsthall and Riksutstallningar, Stockholm, Sweden, 2002

Pictures, Patents, Monkeys, and More... On Collecting, traveling exhibition curated by Independent curators International, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA, 2002

The Louisiana Project, Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 2003

Cuba on the Verge, International Center of Photography, New York, NY, 2003

Crimes and Misdemeanors: Politics in U.S. Art of the 1980s, Lois & Richard Rosenthal center for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, OH, 2003

Double Consciousness: Black Conceptual Art Since 1970, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX, 2004

Beyond Compare: Women Photographers on Beauty, BCE, Toronto (traveling exhibit), 2004

African American Art - Photographs from the Collection, Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, MO, 2005

Figuratively Speaking, Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL, 2005

The Whole World is Rotten, Jack Shainman gallery, New York, NY, 2005

Common Ground: Discovering Community in 150 Years of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2005

Out of Time: A Contemporary View, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, 2006

Black Alphabet: Contexts of Contemporary African-American Art, Zacheta national gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland, 2006

Hidden in Plain Sight, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, 2007

Embracing Eatonville, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI, 2007

The 21st century, The Feminine Century, and the century of Diversity and Hope, 2009 International Incheon Women Artists' Biennial, Incheon, South Korea, 2009–2010

Colour Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today, Tate Liverpool, UK, 2009–2010

Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic, Tate Liverpool, UK, 2009–2010

From Then to Now: Masterworks of Contemporary African American Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH, 2009–2010

Carrie Mae Weems: Estudios Sociales, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville, Spain, 2010

Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, 2010

Slow Fade to Black, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY, 2010

The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl, Nasher Museum, Durham, NC, 2010

Myth, Manners and Memory: Photographers of the American South, De La Warr Pavilion, East Sussex, UK, 2010

Off the Wall: Part 1 – Thirty Performative Actions, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH, 2010

The Deconstructive Impulse: Women Artists Reconfigure the Signs of Power, 1973–1991, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, Purchase, New York, NY, 2010

Posing Beauty: African American Images From the 1890s to the Present, Newark Museum, Newark, NJ, 2010

Stargazers: Elizabeth Catlett in Conversation with 21 Contemporary Artists, Bronx Museum, Bronx, NY, 2010

Unsettled: Photography and Politics in Contemporary Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, 2010

Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN, 2012

This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, 2012

La Triennale: Intense Proximity, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France, 2012

Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba, 2012

The Maddening Crowd (video installation), McNay Art Museum, Sa Antonio, TX, 2012

Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH; Cantor Center for the Visual Arts, Stanford, CA, 2013

Feminist And..., The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA, 2013

Seven Sisters, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 2013

Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. New York, NY, 2014

P.3 Prospect New Orleans, The McKenna Museum, New Orleans, LA, 2014

Color: Real and Imagined, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, England, 2014

Carrie Mae Weems: The Museum Series, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, 2014

Wide Angle: American Photographs, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 2014

The Memory of Time, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2015

Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy, 2015

Winter in America, The School (Jack Shainman Gallery), 2015

An Exhibition of African American Photographers from the Daguerreian to the Digital Eras, Marshall Fine Arts Center at Haveford College, Haveford, PA, 2015

Represent: 200 years of African American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, 2015

Under Color of Law, The Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art and Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA, 2015

30 Americans, Detroit Institute of Arts, 2015

Grace Notes: Reflections for Now, Spoleto Festival, Spoleto, Italy, 2016

The Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art. Cambridge, MA, 2016

Viewpoints, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (February 18–June 18, 2017)

We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (April 21–September 17, 2017)

Blue Black, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, MO (June 9–October 7, 2017)

Matera Imagined: Photography and a Southern Italian Town, American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy (2017)

...And the People, Maruani Mercer, Knokke, Belgium (August 5–September 4, 2017)

Medium, Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA (August 29–December 3, 2017)

Carrie Mae Weems: Ritual and Revolution, Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL (September 12–December 10, 2017)

Dimensions of Black, Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA (September 17–December 28, 2017)

Posing Beauty in African American Culture, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL (October 6, 2016 – January 21, 2018)

We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 13, 2017 – January 14, 2018)

Edward Hopper Citation of Merit in the Visual Arts Recipient Exhibition, Carrie Mae Weems: Beacon, Nyack, NY (November 10, 2017 – February 25, 2018)

Making Home: Contemporary Works From the DIA, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (December 1, 2017 – June 6, 2018)

We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA (June 27–September 30, 2018)

Be Strong and Do Not Betray Your Soul: Selections from the Light Work Collection, Light Work, Syracuse, NY (August 27–October 18, 2018)

Carrie Mae Weems: Strategies of Engagement, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston, MA (September 10–December 13, 2018)

Family Pictures, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI (September 14, 2018 – January 20, 2019)

Heave, 2018 Cornell University Biennial, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (September 20, 2018–November 5, 2018)

Carrie Mae Weems: Strategies of Engagement, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA (January 13, 2019–May 5, 2019)

Carrie Mae Weems II Over Time, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (September 7, 2019–October 5, 2019)

Awards

2005: Distinguished Photographers Award

2007: Anonymous Was A Woman Award

2013: Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award

2013: MacArthur Fellow, "Genius" Award

2014: BET Visual Arts Award

2014: Lucie Award

2015: ICP Spotlights Award from the International Center of Photography.

2015: Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow

2015: W.E.B. Du Bois Medal from Harvard University

2015: Honorary Doctorate from the School of Visual Arts

2016: National Artist Award, Anderson Ranch Arts Center

2016: Roy and Edna Disney Cal Arts Theatre

2016: College Arts Association

2016: DeFINE ART

2016: Art of Change Fellow, Ford Foundation

2017: Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Syracuse University

2017: Inga Maren Otto Fellowship, The Watermill Center

2019: Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society, Bristol.

Publications

Carrie Mae Weems : The Museum of Modern Art (N.Y.), 1995.

Carrie Mae Weems : Image Maker, 1995.

Carrie Mae Weems : Recent Work, 1992––1998, 1998.

Carrie Mae Weems: In Louisiana Project, 2004.

Carrie Mae Weems: Constructing History, 2008.

Carrie Mae Weems : Social Studies, 2010.

Carrie Mae Weems : Three Decades of Photography and Video, 2012.

Carrie Mae Weems: Kitchen Table Series, 2016.

[learnedguru]

How to Overcome Fear of Speaking English

Do professional opportunities to speak in English leave you sweaty and flustered? Do you have great ideas for your office but don’t know how to express them well?

Look, I get it!

As a communications coach, I receive numerous queries from skilled professionals (like you) on this common concern. If you’re struggling to get words out of your mouth, this article is for you.

4 Common Business English Communication Issues SOLVED 

While coaching hundreds of professionals, I’ve come across all kinds of problems! Here’s what they claim to struggle with, the most: 

“I’m afraid of being judged for my poor communication skills.” 

Most professionals feel the pressure to maintain a competent image at their workplace. They believe that you can’t make mistakes or fail at work. So, they end up avoiding uncomfortable situations simply because they fear making mistakes. Taking on leadership roles, talking to stakeholders, and showcasing business English communication skills are some of the most uncomfortable situations for professionals. So, they avoid taking risks altogether and stagnate in their careers. 

Solution 

To solve self-consciousness issues that hamper effective communication, here’s what I recommend: 

·         Practice speaking English in smaller groups to gain confidence and fluency. You might have colleagues or friends who face the same issue. Team up with them and use lunch breaks to converse in English. 

·         Give small impromptu speeches in front of a mirror daily to develop fluency and build confidence. Talk for 1 to 2 minutes on a topics you like such as the latest sports update, your favorite movie, or present day’s work schedule. 

·         Captivate and engage the audience using videos, images, and questions. If you think communication skills are all about talking, you’re wrong! It’s about getting across your point in the best way possible. If other material helps you, so be it! Plus, you’ll get the time to calm yourself and not speak for a while during the presentation. It’s a win for everyone! 

·         Have the heart of a teacher. Think of the audience as your juniors who know little or nothing about your presentation topic. This way, you can breakdown complex topics and explain the details without worrying about your image. 

“I’m afraid of repeating my communication failures from the past.” 

As humans, we’re always inclined to avoid failures or be fearful of them. It’s our natural and evolutionary response to disasters and conflicts. However, this instinct works against us when we try to venture out of our comfort zone professionally. The thought of failing and getting embarrassed again makes even the most seasoned speakers shake in their boots. 

Solution 

To overcome this mindset block and try again, here’s what we recommend:

·         Accept your flaws and your goof-ups during the interaction. Instead of fixating on your mistakes, accept and correct them on the spot, and move on to your next point. Let’s assume you said, ‘Our company did X percent profit this year’ and it was incorrect. In this case, just correct yourself by saying ‘I’m sorry, I meant Y percent profit.’ 

·         Note where and how much you paused, how you can spruce up your presentation, and what actions you can take. Focus on how you can improve instead of what went wrong. 

·         Avoid comparing your skills with someone else’s capabilities. Remember, everyone has a different journey and process. 

“I don’t feel my communication skills are good enough.” 

A famous Henry Ford quote says, ‘Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.’ It’s true! Mindset plays a huge role in determining if you’ll be successful or not. So, when you feel your workplace communication skills are subpar, your brain automatically admits defeat before fighting the battle. To win the battle, you need to have a ‘try-me’ mindset instead of a ‘why-me’ mindset. 

Solution 

Here’s how you can develop a mindset that’s conducive to self-improvement and elevate your skills:

·         Gain confidence by practicing your workplace communication skills often. I believe real confidence comes from competence. That’s why working on your skills is the best way to defeat your inner self-critical demon. At LearnEd, we help young talented minds like you communicate well and achieve professional success. Check our free course on how to write better email subject lines to start compelling work conversations. 

·         Record yourself on video during your practice communication sessions. Then, use this video to review your performance and note your improvement areas. 

·         Read TEDx transcripts and watch TED talks to understand how different people communicate. Observe their words and body language and imbibe their best qualities. For starters, you can check out Celeste Headlee’s TED Talk on 10 ways to have a better conversation. 

“I’m afraid of forgetting what I need to say while speaking English.” 

Most professionals dread the horrors of going completely blank in a work situation. That’s why they resort to memorizing their speech/presentation as a defense mechanism. However, forgetting your speech has nothing to do with memory and everything to do with nervousness and lack of preparation. 

Solution 

We need to tackle two problems at once here. To solve the forgetfulness issue, here’s what we recommend: 

·         Structure your presentation in a sensible way. This way, even if you forget the speech, your mind can easily connect the dots and get on track quickly. You could use mind maps or notebooks to do so. 

·         Note the key aspects of your speech/presentation. Don’t simply rely on your brain to remember everything for you. 

·         Rehearse your presentation multiple times before the D-day. There’s simply no alternative to practicing your skills. 

·         To calm your nervousness, take 6 to 7 deep breaths and affirm yourself with a simple “I can do this”. Sometimes, all you need is good old-fashioned self-love. 

Final Remarks 

Did you know that ineffective communication costed 400 companies an average loss of $62.4 million per year? At LearnEd, we help businesses and professionals empower their workforce into the future of business English communication. If you’re interested in developing your workforce’s abilities to be well articulated with clear communication, contact us.

Source: https://learned-business-english.blogspot.com/2020/09/business-english-communication.html

[ridingirlsblog]

Photoshoot of the Week: March 23rd-29th 2020 - Biljana & Audi A3

The Geneva International Motor Show is among the automotive sector’s glitziest, with a high proportion of luxury and sports models, prestige brands and wild concept cars on display, and this year - despite a lower-than-usual roster of brands - looked to be following suit. Anyway the 2020 edition, which was to start on 2 March, was cancelled as a force majeure after the Swiss government banned public gatherings of more than 1,000 people in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The virus reached Switzerland in the last week of February and neighbouring Italy reported hundreds of cases. The viral outbreak that began in China has spread to 52 countries and territories, with Italian cases centered on northern provinces that border Switzerland. Geneva, home to the World Health Organization, which is fighting the epidemic, is a 3-hour drive from Turin, where Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV has an operational base. Audi AG understandably said they supported the organizers' decision, but after the cancellation of the 2020 Geneva Motor Show, the German company had quickly to figure out how to arrange the 2020 Audi A3 Sportback worldwide debut. In the end Audi decided to livestream Audi A3's reveal on March 3rd, which was set to be the first day of the Geneva Motor Show: basically the date of the A3’s reveal hasn’t changed, only the venue has. Now, though, it’s arguable even better because the world gets to see it live, rather than having to wait for members of the media to show it off. Nonetheless buying a car might not be your major concern right now. However, we will eventually get back to normal life and work, so you should take into account the new generation of Audi A3. The fanciest of the lot, the revamped A3 will continue to command a premium over its siblings, partly because of its badge, but primarily due to the extra sophistication it brings compared to its counterparts. Ater all the A3 was the forerunner of the hatchback genre: this car remains a stylish icon that is going to be hard to match even in the future. Just look, for example, at the sexy and amazing photos made by the terrific cargirl and socialite of Bosnian Serb origin and naturalized Swiss citizen Biljana Lazic with her beloved A3: what can you say? A perfect girl with the perfect car. You know, Swiss governemnt can shut down a motorshow, maybe the quarantine will be widened to all Swiss cities, but it will take much more than that to split Biljana from her obsession! *** *** *** The 2020 Audi A3 ranks in the middle of our luxury small car rankings. It has a well-equipped cabin and a range of powerful engine options, but most of its classmates offer more trunk space and much better predicted reliability ratings. The Audi A3 has been one of the most popular small executive hatchbacks for a long time, but this generation’s time in the limelight is fading as more advanced rivals bring more technology and desirability to the segment. Nonetheless the A3 is still a good all-rounder despite the increasingly aggressive competitors: strong, efficient engines, stable, confidence-inspiring handling and the ever-appealing option of quattro four-wheel drive mean there’s a lot to like about Audi’s Volkswagen-Golf-related hatchback. The Audi A3 is a handsome premium hatchback that shares its engineering platform, powertrains and technology with the Volkswagen Golf and VW group stablemates the SEAT Leon and Skoda Octavia. They’re all built on a shared MBQ platform, but the Audi A3’s price premium means it’s generally the most expensive of the bunch. Because the Audi A3 has been engineered to use lightweight parts, particularly up front, it has a lithe lightness on the road that the old A3 never had. Seriously – the handling is light-footed and playful in a way no mainstream Audi has yet managed. It grips hard, hardly understeers, even generates a semblance of feedback through the steering. Audi also offers three levels of suspension stiffness plus a trick magnetic ride option that’s well worth spending the extra on. The 1.4 TFSI and 1.8 TFSI petrol engines are effective, and more recent additions are the 1.2 TFSI and 1.4 TFSI ‘cylinder on demand’ motors, which bring a bit of diesel economy to the cleaner, quieter world of petrol cars. Most will still go for a 2.0 TDI, though there’s loads of choice if the post-Dieselgate world has put you off. The Audi A3 is a very smart looking car on the outside, with a bold grille and handsome profile, as well as the sharply angled headlights. You get a similar look on the other A3 models on sale – the A3 saloon, open-top A3 Cabriolet and rapid S3 and RS3. The Audi A3 is practical and easy to live with, too. Front passengers get plenty of seat adjustment and a good view of the road ahead and behind. Adults sat in the rear will also be comfortable with enough head, leg and shoulder room. Boot space is on a par with a VW Golf and a Ford Focus. All versions of the Audi A3 share one thing: an absolutely gorgeous interior, with top-level, class-defining fit and finish. The old A3 was, despite its age, at the top of its game in this area: the new one simply extends this leadership further, while bringing new features to the table too. These include on-board internet, fingertip recognition sat nav entry and Audi drive select. As for practicality, the hatchback ones are more flexible but the saloon has a huge boot. In the end the Audi A3 founded the premium hatchback genre, and it remains the best one. While a Mercedes A-Class prioritises comfort and a BMW 1 Series focuses on sharp handling, the A3 strikes a great compromise between the two. It doesn’t cost much more than a VW Golf to buy, either, making it a better value proposition than you might imagine. And with loads of petrol engines to choose from - not least the quite barmy 400bhp RS3 - you’ve plenty of options if you want to avoid diesel. This generation of A3, while updated, has been around since 2012, yet it’s still a mightily strong contender. #AClass #AudiA3 #A3#cargirl #fastcars #cargirls #carporn #RidinGirlsBlog #drivergirl #femaleriders #sexycar #AudiRS #RS #Audi #luxurycars #carchick #suvlady #suv #speed #roadracing #ridingsexy #carracing #truckgirl #sportcar #Audination #richgirls #Audilove #Audigirl #AudiRS6 #AudiRS3 #RS6 #BAE #RS #RS5 #AudiTT #AudiRS4 #quattro #RS3 #coupe #sportcar #Audir8 #Audigirls #rs7 #Audigirls #instacar #Audimotors #audiworld

    Back in black Visualizza questo post su Instagram Lets go for a ride, who will come over? ———————————————— : @stang_zh ———————————————— : @stang_zh @sony @capturecatchers ———————————————— ‍♀️: @officialbiljana ———————————————— #car #cars #carlove #carlovers #carlover #cargoals #carporn #carshooting #carsofinstagram #carlifestyle #carpic #girl #inked #inkedgirl #girlsandcars #girlshooting #fashion #ladylike #ilovecars #modelgirl #modeling #mustangs #shooting #sexypic #mustanggt #portrait #musclecar #mustang #fordmustang ———————————————— @americansquad_ch @first_hellcat_switzerland @quattrogirls @vanni1610 @modelsnmuscle @jokertrophyofficial @wheelsavenue @officialgirlcars @musclecarzone @carchicks @carnatic_girls @capturecatchers @s550_lonewolf @felbi_felphs Un post condiviso da | B I L J A N A | L A Z I C | (@officialbiljana) in data: 31 Ago 2019 alle ore 3:46 PDT Read the full article

[antoine-roquentin]

At G20, G7 and Nato summits, the mood is tense. The rumour that the US is planning to charge host governments ‘cost plus 50 per cent’ for the military bases it has planted all over the world is the latest instance of a stance that at times seems to reduce American power to a protection racket. But for all the indignation this causes, what matters is the effect Trump’s disruptive political style has on the global power balance and whether it indicates a historic rupture of the American world order. How much difference does the US being rude to European Nato members, refusing to co-operate with the WTO, or playing hardball on car imports really make?

This is not merely a debating point. It is the challenge being advanced by the Trump administration itself in its encounters with its allies and partners. Do America’s alliances – do international institutions – really matter? The administration is even testing the proposition that transnational technological and business linkages must be taken as given. Might it not be better for the US simply to ‘uncouple’? Where Trump’s critics argue that at a time when China’s power is increasing the US should strengthen its alliances abroad, the Trumpists take the opposite view. For them it is precisely in order to face down China that the US must shake up the Western alliance and redefine its terms so that it serves American interests more clearly. What we are witnessing isn’t just a process of dismantling and destruction, but a deliberate strategy of stress testing. It is a strategy Trump personifies, but it goes well beyond him.

In October 2018 the giant Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman unexpectedly pulled out of the Eastern Mediterranean, where its planes had been bombarding IS’s positions in Syria. It sailed into the Atlantic and then suddenly and without warning headed north. Aircraft carriers don’t do this: their itineraries are planned years ahead. This was different. The Truman and its escorts headed full steam to the Arctic, making it the first carrier group to deploy there for 27 years, backing up Nato’s war games in Norway. The consternation this caused delighted the Pentagon. Unpredictable ‘dynamic force employment’ is a key part of its new strategy to wrong-foot America’s challengers.

The Harry S. Truman is a controversial ship. The Pentagon would like to scrap it in favour of more modern vessels. Congress is pushing back. The White House wants more and bigger carrier groups; the navy says it wants 12 of them. The Nimitz-class behemoths commissioned between 1975 and 2009 are to be replaced by a new fleet of even more gigantic and complex Ford-class vessels. All have their priorities, but what everyone in Washington agrees on is the need for a huge military build-up.

The resignation of General James Mattis as defence secretary at the end of 2018 sparked yet another round of speculation about the politicking going on inside the Trump administration. But we would do better to pay more attention to his interim replacement, Patrick Shanahan, and the agenda he is pursuing. Shanahan, who spent thirty years at Boeing, is described by one insider as ‘a living, breathing product of the military-industrial complex’. Under Mattis he was the organisational muscle in a Defence Department with a new focus, not on counterinsurgency, but on future conflicts between great powers. Shanahan’s stock in trade is advanced technology: hypersonics, directed energy, space, cyber, quantum science and autonomous war-fighting by AI. And he has the budget to deliver. The Trump administration has asked for a staggering $750 billion for defence in 2020, more than the spending of the next seven countries in the world put together.

Declinists will point out that the US no longer has a monopoly on high-tech weaponry. But that is grist to the mill of the Trump-era strategists. They recognise the threat that great-power competition poses. Their plan is to compete and to win. In any case, most of the other substantial military spenders are American allies or protectorates, like Saudi Arabia or the European members of Nato. The only real challenges are presented by Russia and China. Russia is troublesome and the breakdown in nuclear arms control poses important and expensive questions for the future. But Russia is the old enemy. Shanahan’s mantra is ‘China, China, China’.

The ‘pivot’ in American strategy to face China was initiated not by Trump but by Obama in 2011, under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Even then, despite their far more tactful leadership, it caused some crashing of gears. The problem is that containing China is not what Washington’s system of alliances is designed to do. From the early 1970s, the days of Nixon and Kissinger, China was enrolled as a US partner in keeping the balance of power with the Soviet Union. Given half a chance, Trump would like to essay a reverse-Kissinger and recruit Russia as an ally against China. But Congress and the defence community will have none of that. Instead, the US is doubling down on its Cold War alliances in urging both South Korea and Japan to increase their defence efforts. This has the additional benefit that they will have to buy more American equipment. If the Vietnamese regime too were to veer America’s way, Washington would surely welcome it with open arms.

good long description of the long term aims and methods in america’s shift in imperial strategy under trump.

[bridgetkennedy33]

Week 6 Blog 1: Monday May 4, 2020

NEW CAR❤️

So on April 30th my parents blessed me with a new car. I went with my dad to go look at the Hyundai car dealership since my dad is friends with the manager there. Days before we went my dad was doing research on the cars that we liked. He studied and studied them until he knew everything about them. We were ready! So we went and looked at the Hyundai Kona, Venue, and Tucson models. The Kona was perfect in my eyes, it drove smoothly and had all the best safety features on it. So my parents bought me the 2020 Kona Hyundai and oh my gosh I am in love. It is “Pulse Red” and just beautiful. Right away I gave my dad a big hug and then called my mom telling her how much I appreciate this. I used to have a 2002 Ford Focus, but my dad said he would not allow me to drive this to Ohio and back since it probably wouldn’t be able to run for five and a half hours straight. So I said goodbye to my first love and said hello to my second! In all honesty I needed a car for Wittenberg because of basketball. I will only have a few days off for Christmas, so it would be the easiest on myself and my family if I was able to get home and drive back by myself. Any chance I can I am running errands for my parents and of course I am doing it without complaining because come on that wouldn’t be right if I did. I am truly so thankful for my parents, supporters, and role models for being able to do this for me. I made a promise to my dad that I would make it up to him in the future, but he declined. My dad just told me, “Just go to Wittenberg, graduate with that nursing degree, and be successful in life… that's all I want.” So that is what I am doing to do. I am a passionate and determined young woman, so I know I can and will do this. I also will repay my parents in a way by getting a family lake house one day so my parents can take the future grandchildren up there. My dad has always wanted a lake house, but we were never able to do that, so this way they will sort of get it since what theirs is mine and mine is theirs. This is one of my dreams in life and I won’t stop until I can successfully do this in the future. Well, thank you again mom and dad, it truly means a lot and I will not let you down!