#I have not seen a single case where an artist is actively being... taken advantage of by ai?

[chewwytwee]

maybe if you find yourself liking AI art all the time and that makes you sad for some reason you just don' t have very good taste in art lol

[surlifen]

i dont waste energy hating closed species And You Can Too!

alright you asked for it

Claim 1: “Closed species limit creativity in the art community by locking off certain concepts.”

No, they don’t. If you believe that, then you also must believe that copyrighting in general-- or just generally the fact that making a design exactly like someone else’s is viewed as kind of wack-- are stifling creativity. Why? It’s easy to accidentally make a concept that is similar to someone else’s, because there are literally just not that many Things That Exist. There will ALWAYS be repeats. Generally, if a design coincidentally looks like another, there will be a mixture of backlash from people who believe it was an intentional ripoff, and total acceptance from people who understand that it was an accident. Ultimately, the correct way to live is to understand that 1) these coincidences can happen and should not be punished, but 2) intentionally ripping off someone else’s work is wrong. It isn’t black and white, you must process 2 or more concepts at once.

Species owners understand this. I have never seen a species owner come after someone for accidentally making something similar or inspired. This is a myth. Species owners are busy as fuck, generally Normal People, and simply do not have the time or energy or desire to moderate things outside their community. Please talk to literally any of them for more than two minutes and you will discover this. Every species owner I have met is friendly and kind and I’ll go into detail on exactly how bullshit this stereotype of them chasing people down for similarities is later.

So, given that some randos will get upset and harass people over harmless inspiration/coincidence but most will not in ALL cases of accidental over-similarity: this is NOT a species-specific problem and happens just as often--if not MORE often, because of how much people fucking despise closed species-- with non-closed-species characters.

Secondly, species owners do not create a closed species with the goal of closing off a concept from use. They do it to create a community they can manage and share a concept they have created. 

Take the world of Nephfei, created by the artist Queijac. The closed species of Nephfei are called Spinxyn, and they are very much sphinxes. They are not a brand-new concept Jac is claiming to have come up with, they are intentional and very direct references to sphinxes. What sets them apart is their species LORE, WORLD, and COMMUNITY.

[image ID: a screenshot of the Spinxyn species guide on deviantart, created by queijac. Text reads “IMPORTANT NOTE: Spinxyn are a species OF sphinx. Yes, they are sphinx, and yes of course anyone can make sphinx characters and designs using similar appearances! I claim no ownership over design aspects! Spinxyn as a CS community, however, which offers social art related activities, world building, themed events, etc., to use the characters in, simply relates to my own PERSONAL WORK and how i want to enrich peoples experiences with it! Please understand this, thank you!!!”]

This species is not closed so that Jac can copyright the idea of a sphinx. It is closed so that Jac has some control over the world and lore they have created. Were anyone able to create a Spinxyn without an approval process, not only would the community become too large to manage too quickly, but all sorts of Spinxyn with aspects that don’t fit the lore would pop up. 

[Image ID: screenshot of a message from Queijac in the nephfei official public Discord server. Text reads: “theres just a total disconnect that 99% of ppl making closed species are making. a Group...... its about.... the community....... and building the community around One concept that someone makes and puts rules in place for so that they can actually. U kno. MANAGE THINGS... and make a cohesive group experience....... the reason CS have so much popularity is because they come with a community, not because theyre 100% unique never before seen or heard of concepts”]

Jac explicitly acknowledges that sphinxes do not belong to them and even says that borrowing some spinxyn-specific appearance details is okay!!! The ONLY thing off-limits here is a WORLD, COMMUNITY, and LORE.

Except it isn’t. Because Nephfei also hosts not one, not two, but THREE open species of intelligent beings, plus NINE official species of non-intelligent animals, so that anyone can participate.

Claim 2: Species owners harass and police people who make similar concepts.

I touched on this already re:species owners are busy as fuck & Jac openly encouraging people to make sphinx characters and even borrow spinxyn-specific traits, but this note from ground-lion/seel, the creator of Chimereons, really does it for me.

[Image ID: a DeviantArt note from ground-lion to me. Text reads “hello, thank you for showing me this! we don't actively do anything to police offbrands, since it causes more trouble than i think it's worth. i like to avoid drama wherever possible, and it seems like most people who participate in offbrands are just looking to press people's buttons so we can't/won't do anything to these people, i think it is best to just try and ignore it and move on.”]

Here you have the owner of one of the arguably most shit on and hated species saying outright “we don’t bother doing anything about intentional ripoffs”. For context, this WAS 100% intentional, I had noted ground-lion about a user I saw posting adoptables that were LABELED “offbrand chimereons” (so if anyone was hArAsSiNg PeOpLe oVeR SiMiLaR cOnCePtS here, it was me, calling attention to intentional and stated copying). 

Sidenote: I think it’s shitty to intentionally steal a concept. Ground-lion has also said there is no issue with making anthropomorphic chameleon characters, just that chimereons were inspired by a set of traits, a word, lore, a desire to create a community, and their own personal stylization of anthro chameleons. It’s fine to take inspiration from how someone else stylizes an animal, but the degree to which people do it-- just outright copying every aspect of Seel’s work-- rubs me the wrong way. Not enough to say anything because that is only my personal opinion and because I do not have time for that shit.

The Dainty mod team + owner (Pajuxi-Adopts) also have a section stating that to make a design no longer a Dainty, all that’s needed are the following changes: 

[image ID: screenshot of Dainty species ToS. Text reads “ Visual edits must be made for discontinuation, here is our standard discontinuation options: - remove the stockings completely and give them fur like an actual satyr - keep the stockings and give them human legs - make them an anthro - keep the stockings but they MUST start at least a quarter to halfway up the bottom portion of the deer leg with a clear divide between the stocking and leg with fur poking out underneath - you are free to suggest your own edits as well! “]

This may be speaking specifically about discontinuing a former Dainty due to the context we found it in, but this means that a design is not considered a dainty if, for example, its stockings show fur underneath and are not part of the body. That’s it. That’s all they ask. Pajuxi is not saying “this is my closed species of SATYRS WITH SOCKS and if you DARE make a satyr with socks i will COME FOR YOU!!!”, they clearly state that satyrs with socks are an acceptable Not A Dainty. I personally think the lore behind the stockings being physically part of the body and all the specific rules they entail is interesting and original and I do not think it’s such a wild ask to say “hey, please respect this and if you see it, don’t rip it off on purpose. You can take inspiration in all these valid ways but I want to have some control over the concept I came up with”.

Claim 3: Species owners are rich elitists making small artists suffer.

Species owners are small, independent artists. Artists being hated the instant they get even moderate success (that’s still usually BARELY A LIVING WAGE) is its own huge discussion and internalized issues + capitalist brainwashing you all have to deal with on your own damn time, but I want to emphasize that someone making a living or even comfortable wage from their art is Good, Actually, and is something we should all be happy to see and want to see more of. 

Furthermore, no one is being taken advantage of. CS characters are a luxury item. You do not NEED one. If you absolutely will die without a sock deer, make one where the sock isn’t part of their body. If you will die without a chimereon, make an anthro chameleon and use your own ideas. If you will die without a sphinx character, I’m overjoyed to inform you that fucking nobody ever asked you not to make one. CS involvement is voluntary. If you don’t like them, don’t participate in them, but keep in mind that someone saying “hey, please don’t blatantly copy this design concept I spent time creating” is The Same Thing as someone asking you not to copy their individual character designs. You could live without stealing character designs. You can live without making something exactly like an existing CS. 

Claim 4: CS put concepts behind a paywall and make them inaccessible.

Again, these are a luxury item. Most closed species MYO slots cost $10-$45. That is not a ridiculous amount to aspire to. Closed species owners WANT people to participate in their species, so there are a ton of ways.

- Chimereons hold First-Time Owner flatsale slot raffles every single month to ensure people who are new to the community have a greater chance of nabbing a slot than existing participants - Dainties have an art prompt every month, which rewards every participant regardless of skill level one prompt point (the art can be visual or written). Six prompt points can be used to buy an MYO slot for free. If you desperately need a dainty and are flat broke, you can get a free one by writing 150 words a month for six months or doing one drawing each month. Skill level doesn’t matter, ALL participants get a point if they follow the rules. - I joined a raffle for a free pre-made Spinxyn. I did not win the raffle. Jac randomly decided to give out 7 MYO slots too, one of which I won. I entered a raffle that DID NOT HAVE MYO SLOTS AS A PRIZE and got one for free anyway. CS owners want people to participate, I promise. - Dainties just had a 24-hour turn-in event (that they warned about a month in advance so folks could prepare designs), meaning every single person who submits a design in that 24hr time frame gets a slot. Normally slot sales are limited in number and sell out in seconds. - Jac sporadically draws quicker, messier Spinxyn designs which always cost $5 and raffle-flatsales them on Discord. $5 is not a gatekeepy price. - Tomoyokis recently had a free-for-all event where everyone could claim either a free common slot or a $10 uncommon slot. These are just specific examples I remember of easier or free ways to get CS. Non-specifically:

- art = reward systems are common, so again, just writing or drawing enough can equal a free MYO slot or entry into a raffle for a pre-made design - many many species that are relatively new have FREE turn-in events or giveaways to build a community - free FTO slot raffles - paid but discounted FTO slot raffles - random free design giveaways - trading art for a CS character or MYO slot (I’ve gotten a dainty and two dainty MYO slots this way, and I realize not everyone’s art gets accepted, which is why this is a whole list of ways that don’t require artistic skill whatsoever)

So getting your hands on one isn’t the worst thing in the world. You might need a little luck (as in, you have a completely fair chance that is equal to everyone else’s) or a little dedication (6 months of wanting one, or having to have a design ready within a limited time for a free turn-in event).

Also, there’s a reason CS prices cannot change much: this causes issues with the value of all existing CS characters. Dainties will ALWAYS be $35. The MYO slot price will NEVER increase. If it did, all previous dainties would be worth less, or would have to have their worth increased, which is logistics hell. Inflation doesn’t affect CS the same way it does everything else.

Claim 5: ok but legally nothing is stopping me from making one lmaoo

That is true. It’s also true that there’s not really any effective laws in place to protect artists when they say “Hey, please don’t quote retweet my art on Twitter” or “Hey, please don’t repost my art even with credit”. Sometimes, we just respect artists and do what they ask because we are Nice Fucking People, but apparently, species owners are a whole different thing, evil, and do not deserve the same basic respect.

IN CONCLUSION

Talk to a CS owner. They’re reasonable and kind people. There’s an exception to every rule, of course, but what I’ve found overwhelmingly is that they’re literally just people like you and I who were excited to make something cool and share it with people. The emphasis is HUGELY on community. I used to dislike the idea of CS too, but since participating in them and talking a ton with the owners (who are super down-to-earth and active in their servers-- Jac helped me with a confusing horse video game and gave me a Free Horse in there), I’ve realized that the caricature of CS owners as greedy and bitchy, laying claim to basic concepts like A Cat With Wings, is just bullshit. The stereotype that CS community members are an angry mob who will roast you over a fire if you draw a chameleon on two legs is bullshit. The idea that CS are impossible to get, are for the bourgeoisie, and cost thousands of dollars is bullshit (I bet you’re thinking about scarfoxes right now. Hot take: I think it’s great that an artist is selling their intellectual property for that much. I think we all should be able to. I think if someone chooses to spend that much on a design they think would make them happy, that is literally not a fucking problem, and since it was their choice and their money no one is being taken advantage of unfairly. Let people buy the shit they want to buy, I promise you will fucking survive).

I like CS, I think they are neat, I wish people would give the owners a break. They are just independent artists like me. They get lied about and stereotyped over this stupid drama bullshit and they’re so tired and saddened when the subject comes up. They literally do not police anyone-- they don’t have the time or the desire, and it wouldn’t work anyway.

I won’t post CS content here anymore. But I like participating voluntarily in these communities. I don’t understand why that’s something YOU get to have a problem with.

Stay out of my inbox. Thanks.

[takonei]

Beta AU - Main story, Chapter 4, deadly life (Part 2)

Note of the author: fun fact- this trial was the hardest to put in place but hoo boy I don’t regret any of it.

Chapter 4: Dance, dance, hanged puppets - Deadly life

...

Monokuma explained once again the rules of the trial.

Shuichi was starting to get more and more annoyed every time the robotic bear opened his mouth.

Once he was done, Rantaro turned to him. "Are we going to ignore the fact that you are the one who killed Tsumugi and that there shouldn't even be a trial in the first place?"

"Sheesh, you're persistent, aren't you?" Monokuma pouted. "I thought I made myself quite clear! Someone is responsible for Tsumugi Shirogane's death! And you have to find the blackened, just like in each trial!"

“Only the person who does the final blow is the blackened.” the medic quoted. "Those are the words you said last time. How should that be any different here?"

The bear groaned. "There is someone blackened here! Sheesh! Just investigate already! If you don't, I'm executing all of you!"

Was Rantaro trying to get some information out of him?

He fell silent.

"Although he raises a good point." Kirumi continued. "Even if this was somehow a murder, you still executed her. We cannot investigate a case if the killer is the judge."

Kokichi pondered. "Perhaps... He's hinting at the fact that someone wanted Tsumugi dead?"

Ryoma turned to him. "Whether someone wanted a person to be dead or not, facts cannot be changed. Tsumugi was executed. And as far as I know, Monokuma didn't make any trials after Tenko's, Maki's and Angie's executions."

"But still..." Shuichi muttered. "Why would Monokuma organize a trial if he executed Tsumugi?"

Kiyo glanced at the bear. "That is quite the change of pattern. I thought you were adamant about your rules. And yet you broke them."

His response was a laugh. "Puhuhu! That's quite the assumption you're making! I still follow my own rules, mind you!"

"Following your own rules...?" Shuichi unconsciously repeated. "How can you still be following your rules here?"

Kirumi nodded. "I had taken a look at the rules earlier. And I quote rule number 9 'Monokuma will never directly participate in a murder.' Which is what you did."

Kaito put his hands on his podium. "How about that! You broke your own rules! Admit it!"

Monokuma went silent.

Did they finally-

"Wrong!"

It was too good to be true.

"I absolutely did not break my rules! Get that in your tiny little meat heads!"

"You fucking-"

Ryoma sighed, interrupting Kaito's incoming rant. "If we continue like this, we'll get nothing done."

"Well, we have to know why Monokuma wants us to solve a murder that is clearly not one." Kirumi waved a hand.

Shuichi checked back the rule.

'Monokuma will never directly participate in a murder.'

Since this is Monokuma they're talking about, there must have been a way for him to find a loophole in this rule.

Come on... Think!

...

Perhaps...

"What if... Monokuma considers himself not to have directly participated in the murder?" he suggested.

Miu frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I-I don't know but..." he replied. "That must be what he is talking about, right?"

"You mean Monokuma only being the indirect cause of the murder?" Kiyo raised an eyebrow.

"That's the only thing that fits. But that doesn't make any sense." Ryoma frowned.

Miu slammed her hands on her podium. "Slow down. How the fuck could Monokuma be the indirect cause of the murder?? He executed Tsumugi, didn't he? That's an execution, still not a murder!"

"Well, do you have any other idea of what this is all about?" Kirumi asked.

The street artist fell silent. "I... I don't, but still..."

Rantaro's eyes were scanning the monopad. "The Monokuma file says that Tsumugi died from an execution. No matter how I look at it, Monokuma is the culprit."

"And yet that's not the answer he wants..." Kokichi muttered.

Could something be implied in the Monokuma file that they overlooked?

In every single case, Monokuma was listing the major points. The time of death, the place of the body discovery, the murder weapon, and the potential injuries, even though Rantaro was always double-checking everything.

Here, it specified the time of death, the place of the body discovery, and...

"Hm?" Shuichi looked at the last line again.

Died from an execution.

This meant more like the way Tsumugi died, but... They were still looking for a blackened who supposedly killed Tsumugi.

...

No, that couldn't be it, could it?

"Hey... I know this sounds crazy but..." he started.

The others turned to him.

"What if... The execution was not the way she died but rather... The murder weapon itself?"

Kaito raised a hand. "Hold up, what?"

"Well... In all Monokuma files, we had the basic info so I was thinking... Perhaps the killer planned things to make an execution happen?" he explained.

"... And thus Monokuma would be the murder weapon itself, and not the killer." Rantaro concluded.

The others fell silent. Shuichi thought his theory was too crazy to be true but glancing at Monokuma, the way he was grinning at the scene...

He was right.

Someone used him as a weapon.

"That's... That's insane..." Miu muttered.

Kiyo narrowed his eye. "Which means someone went out of their way to make Tsumugi's execution happen, and why Monokuma considers it a murder."

"Someone planned an execution? But... How?" Kokichi asked.

Shuichi looked at the rules to see if they were still available. He had checked them earlier, and they were clear.

The only requirement for them to stay alive was to pass the key on their locks two times a day, during specific intervals of time. Seven hours to do so, or else an execution was waiting for them.

The killer used that rule to their advantage and forced the prodigy to break it.

"I think... Whoever did this arranged things to make sure Tsumugi couldn't get her lock in time. That way, she would be executed... That's what I think."

Rantaro nodded. "That sounds more than plausible but there are so many things wrong here."

"What do you mean?" Ryoma frowned.

"Well..." the medic started. "First off, supposing they really did make sure an execution would happen, that could mean Tsumugi was not necessarily the target."

Kokichi perked up. "You think the killer left it to chance? Or-" he stiffened. "...Karma?"

Kirumi rolled a strand of hair around her finger. "Before making assumptions, let's at least try to understand their method."

"Right..." Shuichi muttered.

"Perhaps it should be better to take it from the beginning." Kiyo suggested. "It will help us grasp the situation."

The violinist nodded.

"Supposing the killer planned everything by wasting time, there are several possibilities for what happened." Rantaro pondered.

Ryoma crossed his arms. "If the killer wanted to force one of us not to activate their lock, they should have known about their placements. Which is unlikely."

"The locks were spread throughout the entire academy, but on the main spots and buildings, from what I've seen. It could be possible to know everyone's placements, but still very difficult." Kirumi continued.

Looking at things this way, it seemed unlikely that Tsumugi was really the target.

And yet, her words echoed a thousand times through his head.

"I knew the mastermind was coming for me anyway."

She was far from stupid. Her intelligence was her ultimate talent after all.

That didn't sound like Tsumugi wasn't the target.

But if the killer was the mastermind, why organize a trial for themselves when they could have gotten away with it?

The rules already stated that the game would continue until two students remained.

Nothing made sense. Was Tsumugi wrong to think it was the mastermind? Was it really someone else?

Shuichi shook his head. Focus.

"The killer only needed someone not to be able to activate both of their locks, right? Perhaps they didn't search through the entire academy for this..." he suggested.

Miu pondered. "The main building had most of our locks, it's possible they only searched through here, right?"

"Hold on a second." Kaito interrupted. "Yeah, it had most of them but... What were the odds Tsumugi had both of her locks in here?"

Kokichi seemed to start thinking as well but stayed silent.

"That reinforces the idea that the target could have been anyone." Ryoma added. "As long as one person had both of their locks here, they were doomed."

"Were they?" Kirumi countered.

Shuichi blinked. "What do you mean?"

The mercenary glanced at him. "I will remind you that my lock was in the dining hall. I was able to reach it from outside, but then the entrance to the rest of the building locked itself."

"And where was your other lock?" Kiyo asked.

"My guess was in the game room."

Rantaro fiddled with his necklace. "That throws away the theory that the target could have been anyone, then."

Miu blinked. "Huh?"

"Well..." he continued. "Kirumi could also have been the target for this. But she wasn't."

"But that could also mean the blackened only wanted one target." Kiyo countered.

He made a good point. Which one was it?

"We should look at what the killer did exactly. Perhaps it will give us more clues." the medic suggested.

Miu frowned. "Well, they made sure that Tsumugi couldn't reach her lock in time, right?"

Ryoma sighed. "And here I thought that couldn't be any more obvious."

Kirumi crossed her arms. "Then we're probably thinking about the same thing."

Shuichi thought back at this morning's events.

The main entrance collapsing, the dining hall blocked, the window not opening...

"The blackened probably blocked all main entrances to make sure we couldn't enter, right?"

The young woman nodded. "The academy may have been a nightmare these last few days, but I doubt Monokuma would block all entrances. That looked way too odd."

"That would be against his own rules after all..." Kokichi muttered. "If he made sure that she couldn't access her locks, then he would also be the direct cause of death, not just the weapon."

"So the killer tampered with the entrances to make us waste time entering the building." Kaito noted. "Probably the worst murder method I could possibly think of."

Shuichi perked up at the last sentence.

The murder method...

Why an execution? Why did the killer decide to kill her this way? Was it because in their current situation they were often by groups of two and they couldn't act directly without being caught?

Even then, if the killer was able to tamper with the building, they could have killed her another way, right? The traps were more than enough to kill them. If they just tampered with one, they could have killed anyone this way.

He decided to talk about this. "Hey... Don't you guys think it's strange?"

Ryoma frowned. "Your point being?"

"I mean..." he started, already nervous. "They could have used any murder method... Why going out of their way to make sure Tsumugi gets executed?"

"That raises the second thing I find strange in this." Rantaro raised a hand. "That probably sounds odd but..."

"Did the killer know that this technique would make them the blackened?"

Shuichi's heart skipped a beat. "W-What?"

"Think about it for a sec." he continued. "None of us knew about Monokuma being the murder weapon until the trial. There's a chance they didn't know either."

Miu slammed her hands on her podium. "Now wait a second! Why would anyone try to kill without wanting to escape??"

"Let's calm down for a moment." Kirumi crossed her arms. "There is also the possibility they asked Monokuma beforehand and did all of this to confuse us."

The others turned to the bear.

"Puhuhu... Who knows?"

The violinist rolled his eyes. "So we're not further ahead than before, huh..."

But still...

Was there a reason why they used an execution as a murder weapon? Was it so they could forge an alibi more easily?

But if Rantaro was right, what was the point of killing without the will to escape?

Was it... for fun? Like the mastermind?

Was it to prove a point?

Or perhaps...

Just to stop the motive?

But still... The blackened could have tried to escape in the process.

Shuichi thought back at the previous motives.

Tenko and Gonta prepared their plan as a way to gain more info at the trial and make sure Monokuma doesn't kill them all.

Maki desperately wanted to escape with Kaede, although her plan backfired.

Angie had been consumed by the despair disease and slaughtered Himiko without a sparkle of sanity running through her mind. Escaping wasn't even her main intention.

But here... It felt different. Nothing was clear at all.

Perhaps he should settle with Kirumi's theory. He should stop thinking about it, for now.

Ryoma sighed. "Whatever the motive, we have a blackened to find. Let's get back to the subject already."

"Right..."

"So? The killer obviously made us waste time by tampering with the building!" Kaito waved a hand.

Kirumi pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yes, but how?"

Rantaro pondered. "The traps were behaving very differently today. I wouldn't be surprised if the entire academy was tampered with."

Kokichi's eyes widened. "T-The entire academy?? I thought we said that they only explored the main building!"

Ryoma started thinking. "If all of the traps were linked to the main building then there's a possibility they tampered inside the building and it orchestrated a chain reaction."

"So the main way to do all of this was by tamp-"

* B O N G *

An extremely loud bell noise echoed through the courtroom, startling everyone.

"What the fuck?" Kaito yelled at Monokuma.

The bear didn't look that impressed. "Hm? Oh, the clock is simply here to tell the time!"

The clock indicated 5:00 PM.

"But hey, it's nice to look at, dontchu think?"

Shuichi preferred to ignore the bear.

"Whatever. Let's just continue." Rantaro rubbed his eyes in exasperation.

"We have to find how the killer pulled out all of this."

[guywiththeguitar-blog]

Architects of Rock

The Gay Architects of Rock

That understanding played out in vital Rolling Stone pictures like David Cassidy flaunting his bare middle down to his pubic hair, in a Playboy-style centerfold, and Jim Morrison seething beside the cover line "He's Hot, He's Sexy, He's Dead."

Athlete McLean, who acted as an associate to George Harrison 50 years prior, saw the profundity of the connection between the Beatles and Mr. Epstein one August day not some time before the chief's demise. Mr. McLean's activity was to get the artist musician Harry Nilsson, a promising new craftsman back then, and drive him to a meeting with Mr. Harrison at the house he was leasing on Blue Jay Way in the Hollywood Hills, Calif.

Photograph Mr. Epstein, focus, with the Beatles in a lodging in Paris in January 1964. Credit Harry Benson/Hulton Archive, by means of Getty Images

There was discussion of Mr. Nilsson maybe joining the Beatles' incipient organization. That is when things turned sour, Mr. McLean said.

"George was discussing how brilliant the entire thing would have been, endeavoring to persuade Harry to join the organization," Mr. McLean reviewed. "It was all awesome until the point when Harry stated, 'The main thing is, I don't figure I could be overseen by a gay man.'" (Mr. Epstein's sexuality was known by numerous in the business at the time.)

Angered, Mr. Harrison gave his aide a gesture.

"Instant, Harry was out of the house," Mr. McLean said. "George, similar to all the Beatles, was amazingly strong of Brian. To them, Brian was the man." (After Mr. Epstein kicked the bucket, Mr. Nilsson had a rapprochement with the band and worked intimately with John Lennon.)

Roger Daltrey, the lead vocalist of the Who, had a comparable regard for Mr. Lambert, who had a high society foundation when those of his level once in a while collaborated with common laborers miscreants like Mr. Daltrey.

"Pack was the main 'elegant' fellow I at any point met who wouldn't speak condescendingly to me," Mr. Daltrey said in "Lambert and Stamp." "Pack had this courageous quality."

At the time, men like Mr. Lambert needed to. Up until 1967, being gay was illicit in Britain, and long after that law changed, gay men remained an objective of police entanglement, extortion and beatings. Mr. Epstein was struck and was the objective of extortion before he kicked the bucket in 1967 from a unintentional overdose of dozing pills and liquor.

In the meantime, huge numbers of these men included extraordinary power inside their circle. As administrators of a portion of the time's most strong British musical crews, they remained at the bleeding edge of sounds, sensibilities and styles that would devastate and redo popular culture.

The gay chiefs of that time were blunt about their sexuality, if just among companions and associates. Other than Mr. Epstein and Mr. Lambert, those men included Robert Stigwood (director of Cream and the Bee Gees), Simon Napier-Bell (the Yardbirds, Marc Bolan), Billy Gaff (Rod Stewart), Ken Pitt (David Bowie), Barry Krost (Cat Stevens) and Larry Parnes (who formed pre-Beatles British rockers, including Tommy Steele and Billy Fury).

Photograph Jann Wenner, the fellow benefactor of Rolling Stone magazine, in 1970. Credit Bettmann Archive

Their sexual introduction was reflected by Americans including Nat Weiss (who supervised the Beatles' business advantages and later oversaw James Taylor), Danny Fields (who oversaw Iggy Pop and the Stooges and, later, the Ramones), and in addition music tycoons including David Geffen and Clive Davis (who recognizes as cross-sexual).

As indicated by Mr. Napier-Bell, some portion of the reason British gay men of his time inclined toward the music business was on the grounds that it was one of only a handful couple of ranges "where you could be out among yourselves. It resembled a private club," he said. "It was such a decent life. You'd go to Robert Stigwood's home and it resembled a gay bar."

Jim Fouratt, who has worked in the music business since the 1960s, trusts the men in Mr. Napier-Bell's hover conveyed to the rising rock scene an uncommon comprehension of picture. "As gay men, we need to change ourselves keeping in mind the end goal to survive," he said. "That matches impeccably with the disguise of shake 'n' move, with the dream."

Martin Aston, the creator of "Separating the Walls of Heartache: How Music Came Out," said the association between shake's gay directors and picture shaping stems from the way that "gay men at the time would be judged altogether on what they looked like. It wasn't care for there were bunches of pleasant spots to go and have beautiful discussions. It was altogether conveyed through cruising."

Subsequently, Mr. Aston stated, gay men built up a solace with the specialty of being seen, "rather than straight men, who, before the marvel of the 'metrosexual,' were undermined by the idea of being taken a gander at, of turning into a protest."

Vivek Tiwary, the creator of "The Fifth Beatle," contends that Mr. Epstein's sexual introduction affected the Beatles' open picture.

"Brian Epstein's appreciation for the greater part of the Beatles, and specifically to John, enabled him to make a picture for the band that was engaging to young ladies, as well as to young men," Mr. Tiwary said. "Brian recognized what it resembled to be a kid, and also how to draw in them. A straight chief may very well believe, 'Here's a cluster of adorable young men that young ladies will love.' He may make them so young lady inviting that they appear to be excessively powerless for folks, making it impossible to get into them."

One of Mr. Epstein's essential choices was to change the Beatles' outfits, from denim and cowhide to natty suits. Utilizing the best neighborhood tailors, he got the band into single-breasted, three-catch mohair suits, with limit lapels and considerably smaller jeans, as indicated by Mark Lewisohn in his book on the band, "Tune In."

Photograph From left, Pete Townshend, Kit Lambert and Roger Daltrey, recording in I.B.C Studios, amid the Who's sessions for "The Seeker." Credit Chris Morphet/Redferns

By sharpening such looks, the chiefs accomplished more than impact the introduction of artists. They propelled the picture of another sort of man. As the '60s advanced, hermaphrodism wound up noticeably integral to male show, with long hair, splendidly hued attire, and, on account of the mods of the mid-'60s, gaudy custom-made suits.

"The mods adored just to be seen strolling down the road, sharp dressed with sharkskin jeans and cosmetics," said James Cooper, the chief of "Lambert and Stamp." "These extreme folks wore eyeliner."

Mr. Fouratt believes that a significant part of the consent for the sexual orientation obscuring originated from the spreading drug culture. "Medications enabled men and young men to find their magnificence and gentility," he said. "The egotistism of heroes resembles the peacock, where the male is the wonderful one, not the female. That turned into the bleeding edge in shake 'n' roll, energized by the gay chiefs."

It played out most unmistakably in a star like Mick Jagger, who embraced a batty and dressing persona, influences shared by the Rolling Stones' first administrator, Andrew Loog Oldham.

"Mick was alluring for that trimming," Mr. Oldham said. "Numerous men may state to their mates, 'Gracious, he's a poof!' So they wouldn't fret their spouses or lady friends getting a charge out of him."

Straight demigods additionally found that appropriating the arousing consciousness of gay men paid off in sexual open doors. "David Bowie needed to constrain the regular workers folks in his band the Spiders from Mars to wear those glitz garments," Mr. Aston said. "In any case, when they saw the effect it had on ladies, they resembled, 'Pass me the redden!'"

In any case, given the denunciation of homosexuality at the time, one may anticipate that the rockers will have some inconvenience with the gay men who prompted them. On account of the Who, Mr. Cooper trusts the individuals fortified with Mr. Lambert not notwithstanding his sexual personality but rather in some courses as a result of it. The improbability, and common hazard, of the association between Mr. Lambert (a high society, favored gay man) and his accomplice in administration, Chris Stamp (a straight road kid) awed them profoundly.

[houseofcrimerp-blog]

                          « THE CHAMELEON »                    ❝ I’m the BEST at what I do. And what I do isn’t very pretty ❞

LAST NAME, FIRST NAME: Nikolas, Beckett AGE: 28 HOUSE OF CHOICE/INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITY/N/A: Famine OCCUPATION AND/OR LEVEL: Level II FACE CLAIM: Marie Avgeropoulos NATIONALITY: Italian ETHNICITY: Greek

CONNECTIONS

THE MATRIARCH;; Upon her arrival with the pirates in Romania, Beckett met Jezebel, under whom she apprenticed until deciding to join Famine.

THE HANGMAN;; Whilst working as a Level I in Famine, Beckett made a living under Syrus’ roof, working part-time as a stripper. Once promoted to Level II, she was forced to quit her job, but nonetheless remained close with the club owner.

THE AMNESIAC;; Beckett met Zoe back during her travels with the gypsies, when the girls were younger, albeit now, years later, Zoe has no recollection of their friendship, or their relations. Bex is determined to make her remember, however, and the future seems promising, especially with Zoe’s realization that Beckett seems somewhat familiar to her…

THE PARADOX;; Sloane and Beckett have a longstanding feud after she stole a motorcycle from one of Sloane’s House’s neighbourhoods. The two became rivals and, up until present, haven’t found a way to make amends nor to get along. But that doesn’t mean this feud will last forever…

A love interest { gender non-discriminatory }, preferably from another House;; Beckett oft wears her heart on her sleeve, she travelled with pirates only because she’d fallen in love with the captain’s son. She never stays rooted in one place, and working for Famine has been the biggest commitment she’s ever made. All she needs now is for someone to challenge that…

A roommate/ Close friend, who’s also a fellow thief;; Bex needs someone to keep her on her toes, someone who can match her thievery and who she wouldn’t succeed in stealing from, especially if the person was her roommate, because she would definitely try.

A mechanic/ Someone good with repairing vehicles;; Bex stole a motorcycle from one of War’s neighbourhoods upon her arrival to Romania to help her travel around, and she’s grown very fond of it up until present. After she stole the bike, she got into a non-fatal accident because she didn’t know how to ride it, and would’ve taken it to a mechanic to get fixed, or to someone she knew could repair it. She would’ve had this person swear to secrecy not to divulge the fact that they knew she bike was stolen, and would probably end up trusting them, etc. Bonus if the person also offers to heal her/take care of her after the accident. Double bonus if they have a feud with War or with people within War and that’s why they’d help her.

Someone in the Criminal Justice System;; Someone who either had a lead on her or the person who arrested her during her travels with the gypsies. She either would’ve escaped prison of her own accord or was freed with said person’s help, depending on how you want the connection to go. For the latter, we could say she befriended them or romantically exploited them into benefitting her and releasing her.

Estranged family member;; This could even be over marriage, not relation by blood. Someone in her family who Bex could turn to in times of need, since she’s always been attached to her parents, despite how horribly they treated her, and it would’ve helped her feel closer to home.

Anything else anyone can come up with <3

PERSONALITY:

          Beckett is a mess of enigmas. She’s closed off in that she never trusts any two people with the same two secrets, but at the same time, she wears her heart on her sleeve and claims to fall in love with a new person virtually every week. She feels everything so deeply, but also has no pity for her victims. She’ll steal only from the upper class, unless stealing from the poor benefits her { which rarely, it ever does }. She went from a snobby, rich kid to a hardened, rogue thief in a matter of months. For those she cares for, she cares especially deeply for, but for those she despises, she has no incentive to keep her loathing hidden. At the same time, she’s secretive, reckless in her emotions but careful in her tactics. She follows her intuition and it’s helped her with myriad heists, but she also always knows how to plan for the worst case scenario. She’s rigid in her opinions but adaptable to the settings, her morals are fluid but her view on the world is broad, as she incorporates all she’s learned from her many years of travel. She loves people but learns not to miss them, for in the end they only disappoint her. She understands that in this world, the only person who’s there every step of the way is your own self, and deep down she despises how attached she becomes to people who will probably leave her. She leaves first in fear of being left behind, breaks her own heart so no one else will have the power to. She’s loud and extraverted, yet recluse during missions. She knows how to make herself seen and heard, but also how to make herself disappear. For these reasons, she’s a chameleon. She’s adaptable, always trying new things but figuring out how to make herself seem like she’s been apart of them for so long. She can stand out but just as easily blend in. She’s been around the world, and associated with such varying cultures and yet discerned how to make herself seem like she belongs. The same applies for her heists, where she learned how to camouflage into her surroundings and make herself unknown to her targets or to the system.

MBTI AND/OR ENNEAGRAM: (optional part)

MBTI;; ENFP { The Discoverer }

ENNEAGRAM: #4 — The Romantic, Artist, Individualist

THREE WEAKNESSES:

i. Her emotions;; Beckett gets really attached to people, very easily. Which is something that could be used against her, and has been, more often than not. She’s more than just well aware of it, but there’s absolutely nothing she can do.

ii. Her alias;; On the streets of Italy, prior to committing identity theft, Bex was known as the Black Cat. She abandoned the alias when she began her travels with the gypsies, albeit she’d gone through a whole “acknowledge me as the best” phase when she was still a teenager, and as a result, left indications of the moniker back during most of her heists. Trace the moniker to Beckett, and one could connect her to several dozens of crimes.

iii. Her parents;; No matter how much anger she still harbours towards them for throwing her out, Beckett still clings to the memory of her parents. In truth, she was much younger, and doesn’t even know if she has any siblings. She hasn’t been in touch with her family since she was thrown onto the streets, and she wishes she could reconnect with them, every single day. Part of her resentment stems from the fact that she does, in fact, miss her home life, and all the perks that have come with it.

BIOGRAPHY: TW child abuse, rape, eating disorder, drugs, alcohol, death

          Born to a wealthy family of fashion designers in Milan, Beckett Nikolas had it all. Except parents who genuinely cared about her. Sure, in a way, she was spoiled. Spoiled rotten. She’d throw a hissy fit and suddenly she was adorned with jewels and money and toys and anything a little girl could want. Except affection. For her parents treated Beckett not as their child but as another child model they would hire to sport their youth line of brand-name clothing. She was prescribed weight loss medication, forced into specific diets and workout regimes, and banned from wearing non-designer clothing and from engaging in social relations with those who were deemed “under-privileged.” And if she refused, it was the belt, or the fist, or the wooden spoon, or anything that would pepper her skin with bruises and turn her flesh into a mosaic of black and blue and red and purple and green.

          Because of this detachment, because they never picked her up or gave her hugs or displayed any forms of emotional investment in their child, Beckett had begun to crave MORE. So she asked for more. And more. And more. Material items to compensate for the void she felt with regards to the relations in her life. Her friendships were fake, her parental relations were fake, it was all materialism to ignore emotions. So that’s what she began to crave. It was almost addictive, and once her parents decided their best “model” was beginning to ask for too much, Bex retaliated by stealing. Pickpocketing from her parents, taking a chequebook and writing cheques, pilfering their credit cards, stealing and pawning their material objects. It got to a point that they hired a personal “trainer” to deal with her “delinquency problem,” which really just meant suffering through harsher training regimes until she bordered on exhaustion and could no longer move. Then, they decided it wasn’t enough. She wasn’t the perfect, pristine child they wished for her to be, an obedient, little carbon copy of her mother. So they disowned her. Kicked her out. Stripped her of all her belongings. Sent her onto the streets to fend for herself. She was 14, and that was the last she’d ever see or hear of her family again.

          Needless to say, city life didn’t treat a delinquent, rich child with no street smarts very well at all. She was vulnerable, defenceless, with no concept of self-sustainability nor even positive relationships, forced to wander the alleyways aimlessly until she would find some way to LIVE. And she found it, supposedly, in a 22 year old man who claimed to love her and who she assumed to love back. But you don’t take advantage of the one you love, so Beckett all but crawled away from the man who stole her virginity and harmed her more than her parents ever had. She was exhausted, parched, famished, stripped of her innocence, and worst of all, alone. So she did the only thing she knew how to do best;; She began to steal. It was minute at first, little pickpocketing shenanigans here and there, just to get enough money to survive. But of course, old habits die hard, and soon, it had become too little. So she set her goals for greater heights, moving around Italy and commencing the theft of designer clothing, jewels, and ultimately, art. She earned a monumental amount of money through her teenage years under the alias Black Cat, selling her earnings in the black market and making a name for herself in the underground. For a couple of years she’d become entangled in the Italian Mafia, falling in love with one of the family’s children before waking up in the middle of the night to the sounds of sirens. They were looking for her.

          So she fled, the mafia aided her in committing identity theft and she escaped the clutches of Italy in search of new adventure.

          And she found it, with the gypsies.

          She stumbled upon them after her flight landed in Greece, and Beckett, now 17 years of age, had grown quickly attached to one of the gypsy daughters, an exotic woman who danced with a grace unlike that which Beckett had ever seen before. So the woman took her in, and soon the gypsies had grown fond of her, treating her like an estranged family member they hadn’t seen in years. She was well fed and traveled around with them, they taught her valuable skills, most notably in terms of being self sufficient. It was with the gypsies that her addiction to hallucinogens had first flowered, and she became obsessed with the notion that drugs, and not materials, could temporarily fill her void and make her feel something.

          For a year or so she’d left the gypsies and joined a rock band, travelling around with a drummer whom she’d grown fond of, but a severe highway accident killed three of the band members, so Beckett stole whatever valuables she could from them, and returned to her gypsy family. But her luck didn’t last long, because the police force found her, and she was thrown immediately into prison. It was only a few months later, after she’d managed to seduce one of the guards and have them assist in her escape, that she was freed, and attempted to return to her gypsy family.

          Needless to say, they weren’t as welcoming the third time around. Especially not when they realized the huge monetary compensation associated with the warrant out for her arrest, their sudden epiphany that they had taken in a wanted criminal and a skilled thief both alarming and proving a threat to their own safety. This was even more so the case for the gypsy woman who’d grown romantically attached to the Nikolas and was angered by Beckett’s infidelity, so when the gypsies reached Bulgaria, they dumped her off and left her to fend for herself. Something Beckett was slowly becoming better and better at doing. So she began her thievery again, quickly growing comfortable with committing identity theft and snaking through the countries in the region, selling her wares on the black market and uprooting herself every time the police became suspicious.

          The last faction she’d encountered and would travel with was the hoard of pirates, a hearty group who welcomed her when Bex met the captain’s son at a bar in the Ukraine. The two fell madly in love and Beckett began travelling the seas with them, committing raids and substituting her drug addiction with alcoholism. The pirates, taking note of her addictive nature, knew Beckett would fair well as one of their own, ultimately growing attached to the pleasure received from committing theft and receiving large sums of money. It was as necessary to them as their own survival, and would become the same fate to Bex, herself. So the captain had his son ask for her hand in marriage, and she’d consented, until two nights before the wedding, when they were docked somewhere on the border of Romania and she realized she’d never made a single commitment in her life and fled.

          It was in Romania, at around age 24, that Beckett met Jezebel. She apprenticed under the woman until ultimately deciding to join Famine, herself. It was supposed to be a temporary solution, and she even worked as a stripper at Syrus’ club on the side to make even more money, but when she was promoted to the Second Level, Bex realized she was in too deep to simply leave. So she quit her job, solidifying her first ever commitment to the House, and living with an uneasy harmony that stirs constantly within her. The Nikolas’ desire for wandering eats her alive, an insatiable lust of an addiction stronger than any others which she has that she fears it might consume her in her entirety. But for now, she fights it, because she strives to honour the only commitment she’s ever made, albeit her constant self-doubt pushes her limits to actually abide by it.

[raulf-o]

People Hate Art...

This one is going to be a bit long, so what I want you to remember as you read this is the following… I’m trying to give you a perspective as an artist on what I’ve encountered. How people think, act and what they wouldn’t really tell anyone in a public manner. I’m not bitter about what I am doing or anything of the sorts, I’ve had my share of small successes and stories that many people read or loved. I just want to write something… Different. About something I truly and deeply care about.

I’ve been writing short stories for over 10 years now and also published four books. But through my years I also tried different styles, things to get people to read my stuff. I also went hard to learn some marketing, SEO, in order to think of ways of appealing to readers. Whether it’s using the right hashtags, trying to reach to as many people as possible, or simply posting in as many groups as possible. Yet, as the years passed, I have found people that like what I do, people that simply do not care and people that abhor me and everything I write and the fact that I have the audacity to even write and publish anything or even call myself an indie author or a short story writer, when I should be a copywriter or a “creative content writer” for some corporation like the rest of my peers that actually make money from writing. I can’t condemn them, there is no reason to. To each their own fantasy, dream or way of life. Yet, the actual things that I have learned are quite interesting, because we’re about to get into some bad double standards and hypocrisy.

So, here comes the trouble. The older I got, the more I noticed how many talented people I personally know or got to know over the internet, have a certain trouble about their careers. I met other writers, poets, painters, singers, musicians, comic book artists, designers of all kinds, photographers and whatever type of artist you can imagine, I met them all at one point in time. What do all of these talented wonderful people have in common? Correct, none of them are pursuing actively their passion even though they are talented bright minds. 99.99% of them are working at some corporation doing something they do not love, yet need, because without a job, you are not getting paid. Which is fine, but not really. We all have to compromise, I worked in places I did not really care to work at for many years too, just so I can eat and sleep without too many worries. And not every single one of those I mentioned actually want to do it as anything more than a hobby. But, we are going to focus on those that do want to become artists…

Firstly, we have to understand what it means to be an artist in the time we live in. Why? Because I did not talk about marketing, SEO and all that for nothing there. Don’t worry, I won’t get into too many details, I’m just going to brush gently the tip of it all. Whether you are a photographer, DJ, singer, musician, painter, writer, dancer, sculptor, entertainer or whatever else… Unless you are already successful and signed to a publishing house, music label or some talent agency, being an artist means being your own business. You have to think of the marketability of what you are making. The photo you are taking, is it going to appeal to the public? The song you are writing, is it tugging at the heartstrings of people or is it at least catchy? The story you are writing, is it accessible to everyone? How are you going to sell it? What hashtags are you going to use? At what time are you going to post it? Did you make a thumbnail for it? Did you think of a promo? A YouTube video? Did you use the right words in the description or tags? How are people going to find you on Google? Is the cover appealing? And I could go on with countless examples, but what I am trying to show you is that being an artist means business, literally.

Which is why 99.99% of those talented people that I spoke about work jobs that aren’t fulfilling or they are afraid to start their journey on this path of being a business owner and artist. Not only that, but you have to understand that you, as an artist ARE NOT ESSENTIAL. Rather yet, you are here to be either taken advantage of or taken for granted. Sounds like the same thing, the difference is that the record label, publishing house might rip you off in the first one and the second is people simply enjoying whatever you do and not showing their support in any way. And you might be reading this and thinking “That’s horseshit. That’s not true, that’s not how it works. Art isn’t a business. And even so, artists shouldn’t think about the public or what the public wants, but do what they want. That’s how we got all the genius works of Picasso, Shakespeare, Beethoven and many more.” Idealistically speaking, yes, sure. I thought the same way. In reality, that is not how it works. And I can prove it to you. Because you, like most people, actually hate art. I know, sorry for the long introduction.

I want to preface this, by saying that I am not talking about people that cannot afford to go to a concert, buy a painting, a book, a photo, I am talking about the rest. Think about it, statistically speaking most people do not read for pleasure, do not go to art galleries, don’t go to the theater, don’t buy music, books, photos, sculptures and barely even give a like or a share when it comes to small creators. Why? Because… The world of art is paradoxical, at least that’s how they like to call it. I call this a double standard or plain hypocrisy. Harsh words, I know, but, please continue to read. Whenever you are new to something or look for advice to start as an artist you are going to hear a few things:

1. Make whatever makes you happy: It’s straight up bs. Why? Whatever makes you happy doesn’t make others happy, nor is it interesting for others. That’s why you see indie bands do covers of popular artists, maybe they’ll get more views and someone will discover them. Or writers are writing whatever genre is popular now (dark fantasy btw, we’re past non-fiction).

2. Just start doing it: Of course it’s bs. The moment you start doing it and want to share it with a community to start to get feedback, people (both readers and writers, for example) are going to pummel you without any mercy by saying how shitty everything you do is, even though there is no way to get good at something before being bad at it. And that wouldn’t be bad, if it were constructive criticism, but, most of it isn’t. And don’t forget, if you didn’t want any criticism, you shouldn’t have made/posted that. Not just that, but we’re going into number 3, which is a spin-off of number 1.

3. Do something that makes you stand out, something that makes you special: In the same vein of the first one, if you do this, well tough luck. Because the people from number four will call you out by saying stuff like “Wtf is this bs?” and start pushing their own view of the art and how it should be onto yours, trying to mold you into their world-view. Examples from my personal life are: “Why have you written it like that? No one writes like that, you should have written in normally in a first or third person style, without all the script bs.” or “You shouldn’t use many swear words, it’s simply bad and shows how immature you are.” Btw, can we stop this and just take in consideration what the artist wanted to do there before going on the offense? And while we’re at it. Can we stop reviewing stuff after the first few seconds, minutes, pages or episodes? Thank you.

4. Well, of course no one reads/listens/sees what you are making. You have to find your niche: Bs again, and goes directly against the first advice. Why? Because you are more than just a niche or a 2D caricature, you’re a human being with many interests and your talent isn’t just in one genre, which is why you have the confidence to start your own business as an artist, you want to do many things and not get bored or do the same thing over and over again like some office worker. You’re a free spirit, damn it! A true artist. Well, tough luck, because you can’t do what you want. You have to find a niche and exploit the hell out of them, until you become somewhat successful that it reaches a bit out into the mainstream. Why? Easier to market at one niche then it is to market to everyone. See? Told you it’s all marketing in some way…

5. You don’t need an audience to do anything: You guessed it, bs. Any talent agency, LinkedIn profile that is an industry insider, worker or recruiter from a company, publishing house is looking at your social media before approaching you. Whether it’s likes, comments you made, connections you have in the industry, work you’ve done before and the number of people you have reached through streams, sales and views. Because you’re either a sure fire investment or just a risk. And of course, if you’re a risk, well then, good luck. Because unless you have a pitch that will sell them on your idea or talent, you are on your own. Unless you have an absurd amount of money. And doesn’t that simply sound amazing? Having sales pitches for people as an artist? Or buying your way into a career?

And these are just some of the examples from the inside of the art that I am performing, which I noticed in other arts as well. But, you might be asking yourself “What does this have to do with anything when it comes to people hating art?” Well, people, in this case the consumers, since this is a business, are just as easily paradoxical. Especially in this confusing time where we struggle to find a balance between individuality and mob mentality. Where everyone wants to be special, yet no one is special, but that’s an insult, because everyone is special, yet when everyone is special no one is. Because it’s a risk, of some sort. For many reasons, small artists are seen as a risk to one’s personality and character. Since no one likes to hear a “Wtf is that?” or “Do you really like this stuff? What a weirdo.” Of course, exceptions apply here too. Then there is the reality of it, if we look at the statistics most people, as I said earlier, could afford to spend more on any type of art or artist, they don’t, not even when it comes to leaving a like. Why is it hard to even leave a like? Well, it might remind one of their inadequacy, failed dreams, or their fear to follow their own passion. And here you might ask “How so?” Well, because anyone can do it. And if anyone can do it, they (the consumers) could have done exactly what you did. Yet, they didn’t, thus the inadequacy or reflection of failure. Or they might just not care about you and your art and what you do. Which is fine.

There was one other idea someone mentioned, saying “It’s not the art, it’s the artist one might hate”. Really? After countless careers and comebacks from scumbags, whether it’s literal rapists, anti-Semites, racists, xenophobes, homophobes, killers, war criminals, that all had their careers in writing, painting, acting, directing, music that are still widely celebrated today. Can you really say that it might be the artist? The only people really hating them are those affected by those specific people, even tough we all should hate them. But we don’t, we still buy their stuff. Don’t believe me? Do a search on a few of your favorite or most popular artists. I bet you’ll find a few that are absolute garbage. Yet, as garbage as they might be, they are still popular or successful. And even those that “hate” certain artists, it’s because it goes against their own tastes. For example Nickleback, Coldplay, Shakespeare, [insert your hated artist here]. And they don’t just go against their own tastes, but what they think the art form or the artist should be. Which is just another way of hating art. Also no artist is simply hated and that’s why he is unsuccessful. The unsuccessful artists, is one that simply doesn’t know how to sell himself.

Now, do people really hate art? No. Most of them are indiferent or ignorant. Some are just trying to be polite, yet hurt your feelings without knowing that you know that they didn’t like any of your posts, didn’t buy your album when they said they would or didn’t even read the page you sent them to read it. But in turn they all tell you that they support you and cheer you on. Not knowing that you can’t exchange support and cheers for goods and services. Can’t condone them, just pointing out why marketing and knowing how to sell yourself is so important. Because no matter whether you are close friends, acquaintances or were coworkers at some point, people, even those you know, aren’t going to do more then tell you that they are supporting you. Which means your only hope is marketing, good luck and endless days and nights of working to get yourself seen by others. Seen, not selling. Because before I let you go, we’re going to talk about the weird paradox that is trying to sell something as an artist.

To put it in simple terms, DON’T! In any way, shape or form DO NOT try to SELL anything to anyone. Art is supposed to be pure, for the pleasure of it, you know what you got yourself into and no one is going to buy anything from you because you shouldn’t sell your art like that, especially when you are new into an industry. You should do things for exposure. And you shouldn’t act like a multi billion dollar business like Disney, you are just an amateur that wrote one song or one book or took one photo, you’re not a real artist. You’re a band? You better put that song from free on Spotify or YouTube, do not dare to ask for 99 cents. You’re a writer? You better sell that 500 book page you spent endless hours writing it, editing it, paying a proof-reader, an editor and an artist to design your cover for only 99 cents or give it for free, because no one will buy it. Photographer or painter? You better work for exposure and post your stuff free on Instagram to look at. Yet here we are, as people and as artists telling ourselves this bullshit that simply isn’t true. Sure, there are outliers, exceptions to these rules. But for any one exception there are ten thousand people that didn’t have the luck the successful ones that, another ten thousand that weren’t discovered by someone popular that boosted them into popularity, and another ten thousand that died poor and became famous posthumously and another ten thousand that didn’t have the money to buy themselves into a career. Sure, there were another ten thousand that weren’t good enough, but those are just ten thousand out of fifty thousand talented, unlucky, poor, undiscovered people.

Do people hate art? Probably, yes. Why? Ignorance, most likely. People do not understand how artists work, first and foremost. They think that like someone that works an normal 9 to 5, an artists wakes up, paints all day and goes to sleep. Yet, art isn’t that simple. You need to practice, you need to study, you need to think on “Is it good, interesting or new? How will I do this? Does this make sense? Can I afford the time and money to do it? Do I like the aesthetics? Will people like it enough on its on to buy it? How do I market it if they don’t?” and that’s just the tip of the iceberg, as you probably know by now from everything I wrote until now. To make matters worse, it’s been 4 years since I published my first book, and I still have to explain to people that what I do isn’t quite normal and that it doesn’t work the same way as any other job. Then as you read, people do not think of art as a business, and those that think of art as a business, hate it.

Also, there’s the matter of art itself, which some believe art to be something of such emotional power that it shakes you to your core or even deconstructs you from within. That, is something that is hard to grasp for the general audience. But not only that, it is also something terrifying to experience. And let’s not forget, if you can’t understand art, well, that means that you are stupid and that makes you feel bad. No one wants to feel bad, right? In the same category, some art can remind you what a failure you are and what you could have done or become, because look at this person doing it and getting fame and money for it,as I wrote before. There are so many reasons for art not to be understood, misunderstood, hated, feared and much more, that it’s too much for me to incorporate in this post. Yet, I hope you understand it a bit better. And yes, hate is a strong word, yet people dislike or can’t be bothered by art isn’t as catchy of a title. Hope you learned something about how art “works” and how artists have to be more than simply artists to survive, because thriving involves too much luck. So, hopefully now you will support your local artists with more than just a like or a cheer. Also, I did not mention any crazy nut that has an extreme ideology that wants to censor art and have it not be obscene or whatever other things that fall in a any kind of religious, fascist, communist, any dictatorship mentality. Why? Because whether it’s the Christian, Islam, Jewish, Nazi, Communist ideology, they all censor art. So, I’m going to leave it at that when it comes to that, because those are hopefully well known by people and things.

I know, I’ve rambled for quite a bit. But I am a believer in giving a solution, instead of just complaining. The last time I complained about writers and authors, especially the indie breed, my solution was to price any ebook at a minimum price of 5$, instead of selling themselves short and dragging the industry down by giving away books to people that just store them in their kindle library, yet never read them. So, what’s the solution here? It’s simple.

Cut the toxicity out of any art form: How do you to do that? Anyone that is a gatekeeper of any sort, a snob or does not accept any and all forms of the art, must be humbled and made to remember that the more they do this, the less people will be willing to interact with the medium or even be willing to understand it. Also, for the gatekeepers, in this day and age, any information is widely available to anyone that searches even a little bit online. So, even if you wanted, you can’t stop it. More and more indie authors are becoming best-sellers and finding success. Same with bands, painters, photographers, dancers, and so on and so forth, because there are free platforms anyone can use. You might read this and think “Well then, aren’t you contradicting yourself here a bit?” No. Again, there are and always will be outliers. But, that doesn’t diminish or exclude anything I wrote above.

Stomp out the scammers and those that give out the art form a bad name: What do I mean by this? Writers that buy or exchange reviews to get better ratings on site and get quick sales to make a quick buck, should be made fun of and ridiculed, in such a way that those thinking of doing such things, will reconsider once they do a bit of research. This is just an example. Of course you have singers and bands buying bots to play their song on streaming services to get plays and get in some top. Which can be dealt the same way. And I could give you an example from each and every art form where things like this happen.

Be more welcoming: Now, I know the first two sound not so very welcoming, but the truth of the matter is that the market has literally never been as free or open as it is now. Want to publish a book? Done, in 5 minutes. Want to publish a podcast/song/spoken word poetry? Done in 2 minutes. Want to post your painting for sale? Boom, done in 2 minutes. You can do whatever you want and there is no one to stop you but your own knowledge of marketing and how to sell yourself and how to operate like a business. Not just that, but the cultural festivals that become more and more available everywhere are mixing arts. Giving people more chances to be exposed to something new and different. Also, by being more welcoming, you invite new voices to bring new innovation in the art.

Complain: I know I said I don’t like to complain a lot without giving a solution but, the more you bring forth the problems in a certain industry, the more people complain, the more likely the chance of a change. Examples? Every writer’s strike in Hollywood was a success in some way. Not just that, but you also educate people on the problems within. I know it sounds bad to complain and people don’t want to hear it. But people well, look at what is happening when people “don’t want to hear it”. You can’t see it, but I am gesturing broadly at everything regarding 2020.

Well, this has been weighing on my chest for some time. And if you honestly, read it until here, without jumping to conclusions in the comment section, I applaud you for your patience. I rarely write something this long that isn’t part of a book. And, if you have a genuine response that is constructive and makes a solid argument, I am always willing to discuss it. And if you enjoyed this, please do check out the rest of my short stories or maybe buy a book or four. And if you would like to donate to show your support, you can do so at: https://www.paypal.me/RaulFO

[cantbrooklyn]

Album of the Year #25: Kali Uchis - Isolation

Artist: Kali Uchis

Album: Isolation

Label: Universal Music

Release Date: April 6th, 2018

Listen

Apple Music

Spotify

Background

Kali Uchis is a 24-year-old Colombian-American singer. Her parents fled to America a couple of years before she was born in order to avoid conflict in Colombia. Born In Virginia, she bounded around between America and Colombia during her childhood. During her adolescence, she learned how to play several instruments and was always writing poetry and songs. At first, she was more interested in directing and writing and had no interest in singing herself. This changed when she decided to release her first mixtape in 2012, Drunken Babble. The project was met with positive reception as people lauded her ability to switch between genres and create her own lane and sound.

As she continued to release more music, her popularity grew and she began collaborating with more well-known artists and producers, particularly Diplo, Tyler the Creator, BadBadNotGood, Kaytranada, Snoop Dogg and The Gorillaz. The first three singles to Isolation, Tyrant, Nuestro Planeta and After the Storm, helped cement her fanbase even further. She performed several festivals in 2017 and at the beginning of 2018 was brought on as the opening act to Lana Del Ray's "LA to the Moon" tour at the beginning of 2018. Several features, including those with Daniel Caesar and Miguel, helped bring her name more into the mainstream as well. At the time of the release, Kali's fanbase was ready for the new album as her last full-length project was released in 2015.

Review

In a world where there are only two options for fans of rap and RnB music, drip or drown, it is refreshing to listen to a project as meaningful and palatable as Isolation. As our genre of music becomes more mainstream, the lyrics and impact of songs become diluted. This has been the case for quite some time and is by no means a new phenomenon, but for me, in 2018, I was actively searching for fresh perspectives and new voices to listen to in hopes of breaking the uniformity and staleness of modern rap. Enter Kali Uchis, a 24-year-old female singer from Colombia. Prior to listening to this album, my knowledge of her music was limited, but I had seen that the project received praise here on HHH, so the day after the release I decided to listen. I will dissect the album more thoroughly later in the piece, but just from a holistic perspective, this project was amazing. The airy, up-beat instrumentals coupled with Kali’s incredible vocals make for such a great combination. For me, a project is good if I can feel transported to the world that the artist is in and describing. With Isolation, I felt exactly that – sitting on the beach drinking something out of a coconut with the WhoDatMiami American flag bathing suit on.

The album begins with “Body Language”, an invitation to the listener to explore the life of Kali Uchis. Featuring production and writing from Om’mas Keith, frequent Frank Ocean collaborator, the spacious and flute-heavy beat set the table for a deeper dive into the album and the whimsical and capricious lifestyle of our narrator. “Just come closer” she urges the listener, and how can you not with how perfect her vocals sound? The track transitions into “Miami”, which is an ode to the empowerment of women and how today, immigrants like Kali and featured artist Bia do not have to conform to previously-established gender roles and they can pursue success in any medium they choose to. The line, “He said he'd want me in his video like Bound 1. But why would I be Kim? I could be Kanye. In the land of opportunity and palm trees” encapsulates her desire to break free from traditional paths to fame for women. Quoted about this line, Kali said, “I’m not the Kim on your motorcycle, btch. I’m the one riding the sht.” Kali is in control of her own fate and will not be marginalized by the system that has set her up to fail.

With “Just a Stranger”, Kali flips another trope within rap music completely on its head. Ever since Kanye dropped Late Registration, rap fans have held disdain for gold diggers who simply use artists like Kanye for their wealth and notoriety without actually caring for them. But have those same listeners ever asked themselves why gold diggers exist? Kali seeks to provide an answer – the Colombian-American singer bashes the stereotype completely and lauds woman going after what they need. “When bellies are hungry, but there ain't no money you get it and don't care how.” As an immigrant woman, Kali faces obstacles on a daily basis that male rappers do not. She feels no remorse taking advantage of someone for money because the odds are against her and she has to get it how she can.

Kali continues to address the hardships that immigrants face in “Your Teeth in my Neck”. Within the track, over a bouncy instrumental which I think is my favorite on the album, she discusses how no matter how hard she works, her material keeps getting ripped off and people are appropriating her art. This is a common theme within music, particularly with Americans hopping on trends started and popularized by immigrants. After all, who would have ever thought that Beyoncé would be on “Mi Gente” and Drake would be saying “tings”? This also seems to be a dig at the music industry as a whole, saying that artists are taken advantage of by large record labels, only to be worked and churned out when their popularity diminishes. It is an unfortunate reality, but Kali knows that with persistence and hard work, she will be able to overcome these obstacles.

Within the larger context of the album, Kali also addresses her love life and the relationships the she has been in. In “Flight 22” she floats over the beat, singing about her unrequited love and that no matter where she is going on this trip, she wants to be with this lover. This track truly highlights how incredible her voice is. As someone who was in a new relationship when this album dropped (and still is!), this song resonated with me a lot. I knew that wherever I was going, I wanted my girlfriend with me. On the contrary, Kali addresses some of the hardships she has dealt with in relationships. In “Tyrant” featuring Jorja Smith (you should also check her album out as well!), they discuss the idea of staying closed off in a relationship in order to avoid being overly-exposed and in-turn, manipulated. Kali has addressed previous relationships in which she was taken advantage of, so it is no surprise that she is approaching this new love with some restraint. Even though she is madly in love, she is afraid to show it because she does not want to get hurt again. Whoever you are, I think we can all relate to that feeling in some capacity.

On “Dead to Me”, Kali dismisses a past fling, asking the previous lover to simply leave her alone. Even though this person is still obsessed with her, she just wants things to end. I think this track is very relevant, especially with what is going on with Cardi B and Offset right now. Whether their breakup is legitimate or not, the way that the rap community has reacted to it is disgusting in my opinion. Constantly urging Cardi to take back Offset and forgive him for whatever he did wrong is exactly the ways of thinking that propagates the type of behavior discussed in the song. Many men believe they are entitled to whichever women they want and in turn, cannot handle rejection in an appropriate way. Kali is sticking up for herself, and declaring that in her eyes, this person is dead. On a musical note, this beat features one of my favorite instrumentals of the album with airy synths and drums backing her.

Nuestro Planet is a song completely in Spanish featuring Reykon, a Colombian reggaeton rapper. From a production standpoint, this song differs from the album a bit with a more latin-influenced beat. In this it is a great change of pace on the album and even though the listener may not understand what she is saying, it is still sonically pleasing and easy to follow along with. Admittedly, the message of this song of Kali yearning to have things return to how they were with her lover falls a bit flat relative to the depth and importance of some of the other tracks on the album.

Next, enters my favorite sequence of songs on the album – “In My Dreams” into “Gotta Get Up”. “In My Dreams” is an absolute banger in every sense of the word. The use of guitar and light percussion make for such a minimalist yet profound beat. This is a song that when it comes on, you just can’t help but nod your head along to it. This is the most positive song on the track, discussing this utopian dream world for Kali in which all her problems are erased and everything is perfect, but only in her dreams. Her bills are paid, her mom isn’t on coke, boys treat her properly – its great! “Why isn’t everyone here?” she wonders aloud. Well, her question is quickly answered when her alarm goes off and she is awoken and slammed with the hardships of her everyday life yet again. This song is another great display of her vocals, showcasing her range as she belts out that she has to get out of bed and look for something in real life that can match what she yearned for in her dreams.

The next track, “Tomorrow”, talks about Kali’s desire to break-free from her everyday life and follow her dreams. Even though things seem dim in this small town, she urges her lover to follow with her on a path to freedom. All she wants to do is day-dream and pursue her dreams, pushing reality to be addressed tomorrow. The song is produced by Kevin Parker of Tame Impala. The beat compliments the message of the sing so well as the spacey synths give a bounce to the track. Kali rides the instrumental beautifully.

“Coming Home” talks about how no matter what Kali does, there will always be people who disapprove of her, but she is fine with that. Featuring one of the best beat switches of 2018 (no cap), she talks about she intends to stay true to her roots and remain confident despite all the negativity she is surrounded with. When you are a female artist in a community largely dominated by males, appearance is something that is unfortunately brought-up a lot. Regardless of what people say though, she simply intends to “keep It moving.”

“After the Storm” is truly a masterpiece. Odds are, if you have listened to one song on this project, it was presumably this one because of the Tyler feature. The message of this song is so overwhelmingly positive and encouraging. For 12 songs, Kali has talked about countless issues and obstacles she has faced as a result of her gender and ethnicity and despite all of that, she urges the listener to remain positive and that even though things may be hard now, they will get better. As someone who tends to overreact and snowball from small issues in my life, this song truly helps to put things in perspective for me. The calming and transient ambiance of the song helps reassure the listener that even when it rains, the sun will shine once again.

The final two songs return to relationship issues, the first in which she discusses how no one likes to be taken advantage of in a relationship. Even though she was cheated on, Kali cannot cope and is acting as if everything is the same in her life. This song shows that even though Kali is working towards independence, there are still moments of weakness that we all face. These moments are underscored on “Killer”, the concluding song of the album. This song was recorded when Kali was 17, which is truly a testament to how talented she really is. I think this track shows just how much progress she has made as a woman over the years. Instead of being upset and yearning for her past lover as she did when she was younger, she now has grown and is able to see how she can learn and move forward from this time. Kali wrote this song while she was living out of her car and shows just how low things were for her at the time. It is a reminder to the listener that even though things are looking better now, experiences like these are what guided her to where she is today.

To me, this project just feels so important in the context of the current political landscape. In a world where a GoFundMe to build a wall has $16mm donated to it, we need to throw our support behind strong, immigrant women who show that no matter what race or country you are from, you can be a positive contribution to the community. I strongly urge you to listen to this project, especially if you live in warm weather as this album just screams summer to me. Furthermore, if you are already a fan, see Kali in concert. She was absolutely incredible and was one of my favorite shows of the year. Her bravado on stage compliments her music so well and her vocals sound even better in person.

Thank you for reading and for those celebrating, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

Favorite Lyrics

The sun'll come out

Nothing good ever comes easy

I know times are rough

But winners don't quit

So don't you give up

After The Storm (Featuring Tyler The Creator and Bootsy Collins)

I'm feeling happy inside

I've got no reason to hide

I'm a dream girl

I'm never stressing my bills

Nobody ever gets killed

It's the dream world

In My Dreams

Today is the day I'll learn that I believe in miracles

I can feel the world opening up, I think I broke the curse

Tomorrow

Discussion Questions

What were your thoughts on the album?

How important to you is finding music from new perspectives?

Is it important to listen to music that spreads a positive message and helps to eradicate stereotypes and limitations placed on marginalized groups (in this case immigrants and women)? Is this something you consider when consuming music?

Do you think Kali will transition into the "pop lane"?

From a musical perspective, any other albums that you would recommend that have a similar sound?

submitted by /u/Loubanga [link] [comments] from /r/HipHopHeads on Reddit http://bit.ly/2T5dbiY via http://bit.ly/2BG3T63

[theconservativebrief]

Bad boys are over. Man-children are over. Lovable losers are over. The women of America are too busy being re-traumatized by the discourse of #MeToo over and over again to want to fantasize about doing the enormous emotional labor required to heal troubled men of their wounds and shape them from tortured frogs into perfect Prince Charmings.

No, instead, American pop culture has officially entered into the era of the wholesome bae. Which is to say that this is Noah Centineo’s universe now, and the rest of us are just living in it.

More accurately, it is Peter Kavinsky’s universe. Peter Kavinsky is the character played by Noah Centineo in Netflix’s breakout high school romantic comedy To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. He is the crush object of the summer, and like all great fictional crush objects before him — Jake Ryan, Jordan Catalano — he is known universally by his full name.

In the brief time since To All the Boys premiered, Peter Kavinsky has become iconic for his wholesomeness: his willingness to drive all the way across town to get Lara Jean her yogurt smoothies, his decision to drink kombucha at a house party because he’s driving and also it’s supposed to be good for your digestion, his instinct to keep the popcorn bowl from getting overturned in a middle of an impromptu pillow fight.

Peter Kavinsky is beloved because, unlike his predecessors, he is not actively a bad person, and that is still new and exciting in the world of teen movies. He is not performatively woke or intellectual or tortured or given to especially grand gestures, and that is what makes him appealing: He is most celebrated for reliably doing small things, for showing up, for exuding a sense of honest wholesomeness.

But Peter Kavinsky is fictional, and as such, his ability to spin out endless new content for the internet to sigh over is limited. Noah Centineo, on the other hand, is a real person who can fuel endless new GIFs, one who is taking full advantage of his rise to fame to energetically pursue the mantle of the internet’s most wholesome boyfriend. His media strategy since the premiere of To All the Boys seems to be pointed with military precision toward the archetype of the moment.

Like his most famous character, Centineo is not trying to be especially woke, or especially intellectual, or especially artistic, or especially cool. He’s going for a much more basic appeal, like a Tiger Beat cover star who is not entirely asexual: the emotionally healthy soft jock. The wholesome boyfriend. He is a hot guy who is also reliably nice. That is his whole thing, and it is damn effective.

When To All the Boys came out, Centineo picked up a million Instagram followers overnight. Within a month, he’d gone from 800,000 followers pre-To All the Boys to 9.5 million. Now he’s at 12.8 million. His fan base is so fervent that he had to devote part of an interview with Jimmy Kimmel to politely asking them to stop following him around in real life. “I love your love!” he said. “Just don’t follow me.”

Centineo’s rise to fame is a kind of case study in the appeal of the wholesome internet boyfriend, and why this archetype has taken on a particular urgency here in the draining final months of 2018. Here’s how you become the central crush object of the internet in record time, and where you go next.

The first stage in Centineo’s conquest of the internet’s collective heart was to create a certain slippage between himself and Peter Kavinsky. To All the Boys fans were all reliably swooning over the same three Peter Kavinsky moments — the time he has his hand in Lara Jean’s back pocket and then kind of twirls her around, the whole thing with the popcorn and the pillow fight, the time he bashfully splashes her from the hot tub — and within days of the movie’s release, director Susan Johnson had said in interviews that all three moments were Centineo’s idea. Peter Kavinsky might be fictional, the publicity narrative suggested, but the man behind his best moments was actually alive.

The To All the Boys press team also began to heavily imply that maybe Centineo and his co-star Lana Condor were in love in real life, too. (Lana Condor has been with her boyfriend for years and said so, but that didn’t stop a fun press narrative from building.) The adorable picture of Peter and Lara Jean cuddling that appeared in the movie was actually a behind-the-scenes picture of Centineo and Condor napping between takes, it was revealed. Centineo and Condor referred to each other as “the love of my life” all over social media.

“I love Noah. I think he’s the greatest guy in the world. I mean who wouldn’t?” said the prescient Condor to Elle. “He’s the internet’s boyfriend.”

BuzzFeed’s AM to DM morning show got to the heart of the question: Are people thirsting over Peter Kavinsky or Noah Centineo? “As a genius once said, ‘Why not both?’” responded internet thirst expert Nichole Perkins.

While the line between the Peter Kavinsky character and the Noah Centineo public persona became steadily blurrier, Centineo himself was busy on a press tour, giving interview answers that could have been mathematically calibrated in a lab as the perfect good-girl bait.

Asked to describe his perfect date, Centineo volunteered a story about a time he swapped books with a girl and just spent three hours reading with her.

how is this kid real??? like???? i mean???? i would die???????? someone take me on this date like today?????????????????? pic.twitter.com/jii46EQMPs

— Preeti Chhibber @ NYCC oh god too soon tho (@runwithskizzers) August 29, 2018

Asked how he got so good at flirting by Allison P. Davis for the Cut, he delivered this impromptu monologue on the nature of love:

“Am I flirting?” he laughs and leans and looks down at the floor. “I don’t know — I’m fucking so romantic. Like, such a romantic — it’s not even funny. I can’t help it. I swear to God, like, every day, the majority of my day is sentimental. You know, I’m thinking about past relationships I’ve been in, how I miss them so much or what I would do different, or why I wanna be with them again, or just moments I’d like to go back to or I know why I shouldn’t go back, and then you know, it’s just constantly love, love, love.”

Specific or even all that interesting? Not really. Kind of basic? Extremely. But that, after all, is part of the point: the wholesome boyfriend doesn’t have to rise above basicness. He just has to love love, without cynicism or irony. He’s the hot guy who is also consistently nice, who is aware of his emotions and unashamed of them.

Centineo kept hitting his wholesome boyfriend marks with the relentless force of someone who sees his route to superstardom and will not be stopped. He showed up shirtless to an interview and did it without coming off as a complete douche. He did a puppy interview for BuzzFeed, and a perfect boyfriend video for Elle that also had some puppies because look, why not. He became so relentlessly wholesome that not even a leaked nudes scandal could hold him back.

Currently, Centineo’s gone about as far as Peter Kavinsky can take him, and as with any star on the brink of overexposure, he’s facing a certain amount of backlash. The staff of Jezebel has formally dissolved their relationship with internet boyfriend Centineo — “Whatever we (the staff of Jezebel as a whole) had with Centineo (who has never met any of us, to the best of my knowledge), it’s OVER” — citing in part the extreme basicness of his social media presence (the boy loves an inspirational quote). In a recent New York Times profile, his single-minded push for attention was just on the verge of coming off as desperate rather than endearing.

At Lainey Gossip, Kathleen Newman-Bremang is reading the warning signs. “Internet Boyfriend is a designation you get on the come-up,” she writes, citing the previous examples of Michael B. Jordan and Tom Hiddleston. “You either leverage it in your favour (MBJ) or get so drunk off its power you try too hard and become a caricature of yourself (Hiddleston). Where will Noah Centineo fall?” Being the internet’s flavor of the month is not exactly a recipe for career longevity.

But for the moment, Centineo’s month is not over. He remains on top of the world, at the pinnacle of internet boyfriend-ness. The Cut has proclaimed him “the best thirst architect the internet’s ever seen,” lauding his “Stanislavski dedication” to playing “a simple, suburban-mall kind of crush.” GQ looked into what all the fuss was about and came to a simple conclusion: “America Is Horny for Wholesome.”

One of the side effects of the increasingly public gender struggles of the past few years is that they’ve made a lot of previously attractive romantic archetypes seem a lot less appealing than they used to.

How do you sigh over the Johnny Depp-like wounded bad boy when actual Johnny Depp maybe beat his wife? How do you swoon for the stalwart Mel Gibson-like action hero when actual Mel Gibson is on tape telling the mother of his child she deserves to be raped? How do you root for the sweet shy geek to get the hot girl to notice him when shy geeks are joining the incels because they can’t get hot girls to notice them?

In a time when the world is getting ever scarier, and a little romantic escapism would be a welcome refuge from thinking about whether we’re about to put a second man accused of sexual misconduct on the Supreme Court or we’re going to wake up to find that we are in a nuclear war with North Korea, it’s getting harder and harder to find a romantic fantasy that still feels safe.

That’s part of why To All the Boys, with its relentless tenderness and sincerity, became the kind of movie that people watch over and over again on a loop. (“I never rewatch movies,” people keep telling me, “but I watched it twice.”) Its entire ethos is that of nice, kind people working hard to be nice and kind to each other, and that atmosphere has immense currency in the Trump era; you want to live in it. And that’s the Peter Kavinsky fantasy: a boy who will never, ever do anything cruel and will always tell you that you look really pretty today. The hot guy who is reliably nice.

And that’s the fantasy around which Noah Centineo has relentlessly curated his public image. He has made an exact science out of being the internet’s most wholesome boyfriend, at a time when all people want is someone wholesome. So even if he isn’t able to parlay his current viral fame into career longevity, he’s still managed to be exactly what this moment in time needs.

Original Source -> Noah Centineo and the rise of the wholesome internet boyfriend, explained

via The Conservative Brief

[douchebagbrainwaves]

THE COURAGE OF FREEWARE

Venture capitalists know about this and have a compiler translate it into machine language. Development was cheap, and the examiners reply by throwing out some of your claims and granting others. And since a startup is best seen not as a way to compress your whole working life into a few years down the line. Preparing a candidate for the Chinese imperial civil service had to take an exam on classical literature. If a company wants to make a convincing case for becoming huge, you have to consciously force yourself to keep looking.1 Spam uses a very simple definition of a token.2 They're good at doing what they're asked, since that's what it takes to please the adults who judge you at seventeen.3 Most innovation in the software business happens in startups, and it seemed to hinge on a different quality.

A job means doing something people want, and those two constraints yield a valuation. In the Plan for Spam filter wouldn't have caught it. Europeans rode on the crest of a powerful new idea: allowing those who made a lot of misses before the results start to be possible to succeed in America? You don't have to be smart too, right?4 So why do I have to keep repeating.5 A typical desktop software company, this would have been capable, yet amenable to authority. Nothing is more likely to work in the other direction: they started as a consulting firm, so they get the pick of all the new deals. If angels are so important, why do we hear more about VCs?

They'll like you even better when you improve in response to their comments, because customers are used to calculate the probability that the mail is an innocent email. Apparently not. The consolidation that began in the late twentieth century. Web-based applications, everything you associate with startups is taken to an extreme. Some of them, but seems a mark of incompetence. You can't trust the opinions of the others, because of the Blub paradox to your advantage: you can use any language you want.6 Web pages as the user interface. Even people who hate you for it believe it. As anyone who has worked on filters at least, that high level languages are often all treated as equivalent. The other is that, in a group of a thousand people, the average rower is likely to be filled by freeware. Based on my corpus, sex indicates a. Consider Cobol.

If you have to be profitable, raise more money. By compressing the dull but necessary task of making a competitive offer, using the browser as an interface. The best was that the value of the work done by individual employees, you can do about this conundrum, so the best plan probably is to go for the smaller customers first.7 If you can develop technology that's simply too hard for competitors to duplicate, you don't need to do is say one word to them, and despite years of experience I'm still not entirely sure. Now it's a couple of CS grad students, not professors.8 I think that there will be other new types of inventions they understand even less.9 Bill is smart and dedicated, but Microsoft also happens to have been a rejection. This adds another slight bias to protect against false positives.10

You don't have any immediate use for it, you probably never will. Investors look for founders like the current Google?11 And last but not least, the federal government, which had previously smiled upon J. Where Amazon went over to the dark side was not in applying for the patent, but in enforcing it. The fifteen most interesting words in this spam, with 1.12 Spam is mostly sales pitches, spam becomes less effective as a marketing vehicle, and fewer businesses want to use, but that I often spent money I desperately needed on stuff that I didn't. When you order online, I think that a lot of their own people would rebel.13 And once you've written the software, all you need to do is be part of tokens, and everything else is a token separator.14 If you take funding at a premoney valuation of $10 million, even though you know that free with just two exclamation points has a probability of 99. The reason I haven't done this is that filtering based on single words to an approach like this.

Notes

The only people who might be able to spend all your time working on that.

Com of their hands.

Technology has always been accelerating. In Boston the best metaphors for hackers are in research too. Surely no one knows how many of the conversion of buildings not previously public, like play in a couple days, and the Origins of Europe, Cornell University Press, 1973, p.

You won't always get a sudden drop-off in scholarship just as if having good intentions were enough to supply the activation energy for enterprise software—and to run spreadsheets on it, and also really good at sniffing out any red flags about the nature of the advantages of not having to have discovered something intuitively without understanding all its implications. Later we added two more investors. The French Laundry in Napa Valley.

Josh Kopelman pointed out that it's bad. I remember about the origins of the problem, any YC partner can estimate a market price. Now the misunderstood artist is a significant startup hub.

Though you should be designed to live in a cupboard saying this cupboard must be kept empty.

I'd argue that the highest maintenance. If you want to lead. Html. They then grant the founders.

1% in 1950. We currently advise startups mostly to ignore competitors.

Later you can do with the fact that it refers to instant ramen would be much bigger news, in virtue of Aristotle's immediate successors may have now been trained to paint from life, and you need to fix. All you have to make up the same superior education but had instead evolved from different, simpler organisms over unimaginably long periods of time and Bob Frankston.

But a lot of detail. Hypothesis: Any plan in which I warn about later: beware of getting rich from a startup. They may play some behind the doors that say authorized personnel only. In practice most successful founders is how much harder it is because those are the usual misquotation is closer to what you have to sweat whether startups have over established companies can't simply eliminate new competitors may be enough.

A smart student at a particular number.

It's like the stuff they're showing him is something special that only a sliver of it in B. Acquirers can be huge.

But the question is not how to do certain kinds of companies used consulting to generate all the potential magnitude of the x axis and returns on the parental dole for life.

It's surprising how small a problem if you'll never need to get kids into better colleges, I preferred to work like blacklists, I mean by evolution. Even if the potential series A investor has a great deal of competition for mediocre ideas, and it introduced us to Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, both your lawyers should be the technology side of being absorbed by the size of the things I write out loud can expose awkward parts. These false positive, this seems an odd idea. With a classic fixed sized round, you can't do much that anyone wants to see artifacts from it.

[workreveal-blog]

The Story of a Beauty Youtuber

New Post has been published on https://workreveal.biz/the-story-of-a-beauty-youtuber/

The Story of a Beauty Youtuber

“The mum in the story turned into an extraordinary type of mother. She became very robust, and I assume that made her being a female even more beautiful. The story reminded us that real beauty is one which comes from the coronary heart. It can be seen within the Right acts that we do and the sacrifices we make for the Humans we love,” she brought. “inside the time of social media, the whole thing we do can be visible and judged, so it’s smooth to sense insecure. I sense that fashionable ladies are made to be more potent, braver and more assured. Every woman is taken into consideration lovely,” Mariano said. The read-Alongside session on March 18, hosted with the aid of Junior Inquirer editor in leader Ruth Navarra, turned into in cooperation with Wilfred Villaruel of GMA Artist Middle.

The story of a Beauty YouTuber Annalee Muggeridge’s channel has come to be such success she is leaving her task in retail to consciousness on her on-line presence.

Beauty youtuber

The brand new Plymouth make-up artist started with a rapidly growing quantity of fans to her channel, make-up by Annalee, it was now offering her with comparable earnings to her day job as a make-up rep, and it changed into the proper step in growing her logo.

“I suppose the timing’s proper,” the 26-yr old self-taught artist stated.

“I stay my life a piece with the aid of the saying ‘a consolation region is a beautiful area But not anything grows in it’,” the youtuber stated.

She is presently working out her word at Centre City’s life Pharmacy where she has spent extra than three years selling make-up for cosmetic emblem Clinique.

It became even as in that task that she grew into a web celebrity after she started showcasing her client’s makeovers on a Facebook web page.

This proved the story famous she was asked for the web “the way to” make up guide, which brought about her to launch her YouTube channel.

Muggeridge has spent the beyond three years importing beauty tutorials to the video sharing platform, and in that time she has gained around one zero five,000 subscribers youtubers and her videos had been viewed extra than 3.5 million times.

Similarly, she has racked up approximately 33,000 fans on both Instagram and Facebook, wherein she stocks pointers and hints on beauty, style and indoor decor.

Her organic, relatable and at times the rich content material is what she thinks makes her fulfilment in any such speedy-growing and energetic environment.

The story that and her ‘gift of the gab’ Muggeridge stated her mother and father joke she changed into blessed with.

The young entrepreneur has signed with an agent who works with different net sensations including beauty guru Shaaanxo and comedian Jimi Jackson.

But she is sensible about the future of her net process and conceded it turned into uncertain.

“I’m simply going to ride the wave,” she said.

For now, it became affording her a relaxed lifestyle, with many brands, along with Covergirl and L’Oreal, trying to group up along with her, she stated.

Muggeridge turned into coy on just how a lot her vlogging would attain But other YouTubers typically earn about $1 for every 1000 views of a video, plus sales via advertising and marketing and product endorsements.

Muggeridge, who would hold to freelance as a makeup artist, stated she become now in a position wherein she had many brands trying to paintings with her which enabled her to select and in turn stay authentic to her logo.

“There may be a real high line between Human beings questioning you are a promote-out versus doing all your activity. I never want to come across as a promote-out because I do work truly hard with what I do.”

Few of us are especially radiant when we roll out of bed in the morning. The splendour industry, however, has provided you with plenty of gear to help us out—from hair gel to concealer to beard oil. In no way one to be ignored, tech groups also are looking for a chunk of the market, which hit $fifty-six billion in income in 2015. Some popular merchandise is new takes on excellent standards. Others are doubtlessly new solutions to troubles we’ve been dealing with for years. But regardless of the generation, its purpose is the same: To make your appearance better and sense better about yourself.

Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer Dyson has a history of reinventing household home equipment, and last year it grew to become its attentions to the beauty industry. This $four hundred hair dryer consists of a high charge tag, However it uses technology from the aviation sector to gently dry your hair while causing much less harm than traditional fashions. It’s also quieter than Most hair dryers and gives your hair additional quantity. The agency says it spent four years and roughly $60 million to increase it the dryer. It might be appearance dinner (Most of Dyson’s products do). However, it is used and held like a conventional hair dryer.

The story of beauty youtubing

Hair Max LaserBand 41 Thinning hair is a hassle for hundreds of thousands of Humans. There’s no shortage of groups providing answers, But Hair Max’s laser gadgets—just like the $549 LaserBand forty-one—had been cleared via the FDA. (It truly is Not an endorsement by using the FDA, But alternatively a period which means a product is “appreciably equivalent” to a device, this is already legally marketed for the similar use.) And the organisation claims seven scientific trials have proven an average boom of 129 new hairs in line with square inch for Customers (albeit, outcomes from trials were No longer published in impartial peer-reviewed journals). Your effects, of course, might also vary. The company, it’s well worth noting, has been promoting these styles of hair substitute devices because 2001.

Pulsaderm Sonic Washcloth Facial cleaning tools have been one of the most up to date tech products in splendour enterprise for multiple years now, with some costing loads of dollars. This $40 alternative is a good choice for those who aren’t positive if the hype is real. It cleans and exfoliates your skin lightly, removing dirt and oil in the face’s crevices. Used with cleaning soap and water, the sonic washcloth sends 10,000 micro-pulses in keeping with a minute into the pores and skin, casting off dirt, makeup and other particles. And, as an advantage, it is a gentler system than scrubbing with a brush or conventional washcloth.

Silken Flash & Pass Explicit Shaving can irritate your pores and skin. Waxing is painful. And plucking? Permit’s No longer even think about that stage of pain. Silk’s $289 laser hair removal device is stated to be painless and claims to dispose of unwanted hair for an extended duration. There are a few regulations, even though. It works higher on darkish hair (so in case you’re a blonde or have long gone grey, it in all likelihood received be especially active), and Silk’s warns the product isn’t to be utilised by People with dark pores and skin complexion or who lately got a tan.

Amika Movies Wi-fi Styler Ladies had been The usage of styles to straighten, curl, and otherwise alter their hair for decades, But it has continually been a corded affair that pressured them to stand in a single spot. This $one hundred fifty styles we could use Users Pass mobile and carry a flat iron with them anyplace they Pass. The styler heats to four hundred ranges, and the battery commonly lasts 15 to a half-hour. That won’t be Lengthy enough if you have very curly hair, But if you’re Not fighting your follicles in the race to get geared up each day, it’s an option worth considering.

Wu Xinhong, co-founder and chief executive officer of Meitu Inc., have become the second billionaire at the Chinese language beauty-enhancing selfie app developer after the inventory published its longest current streak since its December debut.

The continued stock gains because it changed into added to a 2nd fairness-buying and selling link between China’s Shenzhen alternate and Hong Kong on March 6, growing four.Six percentage to HK$14.88 on the close in Hong Kong on Thursday. The tenth immediately boosts also driven the stocks to a record, giving Wu an internet worth of $1.1 billion, in line with the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The organisation, based in the Chinese language town of Xiamen, stated Wu declined to comment and referred to the CEO’s preceding announcement on how he’s in search of to turn digital beauty into real-life experiences thru its artificial intelligence.

beauty

The hyperlink offers foreign traders more get admission to mainland China-listed era shares and gives beach operators get entry to Hong Kong-traded stocks inclusive of Meitu. The enterprise has become a household name in China through tapping a cyber-savvy era’s growing desire to look attractive online. Its apps, with extra than 456 million monthly active users, assist humans slim their faces, extend their limbs and even practice digital in snapshots.

Menu generates 95 percentage of its sales from selling its branded mobile phones and has yet to turn an income, even though it hopes its splendor-aware loyalists can be transformed into a moneymaking base for e-commerce and advertising. The menu, which is about to announce 2016 earnings on March 24, experts also losses in 2017, according to its IPO prospectus.