#I super hate that you have to look up every online retailer because they might support shit that sucks

[the-iron-orchid]

Hey jsyk dollskill is a pretty ethically dubious site

https://gritdaily-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/gritdaily.com/dolls-kill-boycott/amp/?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a6&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16405806565854&csi=1&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fgritdaily.com%2Fdolls-kill-boycott%2F

No judgement I know you can't keep up with all the info on these things but I thought you'd want to know

Sonofabitch. 😡 Well, thanks for letting me know! Sadly I can't return them now, but fuck those guys with a cactus backward, there's other places to get 6-inch platform heels in the future.

[menswearmusings]

My Spier & Mackay Custom Shirt Guide

If you’re looking into having a custom shirt made through Spier & Mackay, I recommend them. Of the online custom shirt makers I’ve tried, they have my favorite pattern. Something about the way they cut the armholes and chest is magic—fitted but not constricting.

The process is pretty straightforward, but it can nonetheless be daunting because the pressure to get it perfect on the first go is high. I’ve ordered a few shirts at this point, and have some tips for getting the best results.

Fit considerations

Measuring

I prefer to measure shirts I like the fit of and combine those measurements into the ideal amalgamation of them all. That gives maximum control over the resulting fit pattern. Below are some tips to make sure you get it right.

Pay attention to their specific instructions for how to measure by watching the embedded YouTube videos for how to do it. In particular:

Neck measurement is measured from the button to the middle of the buttonhole, not the far end of the buttonhole (like some other shirt makers).

Cuff is measured end to end, not button to buttonhole (this is huge; don’t mess this up).

The sleeve measurement is straightforward, but many people have a misconception about how long a shirt sleeve should be. A sleeve should hang about an inch past your wrist when the cuff’s unbuttoned (and your cuff should be cut slim enough that when it’s buttoned, your hand stops the cuff from slipping down). Watch the video of how to measure your body for a shirt and that illustrates where it should go. When you’re inputting your own shirt measurements, adjust accordingly.

The armhole measurement is tricky to figure out. You measure a shirt by laying it flat but that makes the armhole curve a little. The instructions say to measure straight, though. So here’s how to think of what you’re doing to alleviate confusion: Measure the full length of the seam. You can either do that by leaving it curved and measuring around the curve, or pulling it straight and measuring it straight.

Speaking of armhole, my suggestion is to go for a relatively small armhole and relatively loose bicep. My first shirt had a high armhole and slim bicep and it feels constricting. My second shirt had a slightly more relaxed armhole and slim bicep, and it still felt a little constricting. I locked it in at a small armhole, with looser bicep, and it’s awesome. Great range of motion, comfortable, and wearable.

Elbows and forearms. I hate feeling like my shirt might tear at the elbow. But if you have a fairly fitted cuff and relatively fitted bicep (compared with the way many shirts are super loosely cut), that can happen. So I specified the elbow measurement in the comments of the shirt order. That measurement is simply measuring the sleeve from the end of the cuff to the shoulder seam, and right in the middle is where to measure the elbow. Measure it straight across the sleeve.

If you also want to specify the forearm, which might be unnecessary (I did it but if you specify the elbow it’ll probably work itself out), you measure 6 inches up from the cuff seam (where it attaches to the sleeve) and take the measurement straight across. Measure straight across the sleeve.

Do you have to allow for fabric shrinkage?

My experience has been that the shirts are cut accurately, and shrinkage has been minimal. I asked Rick, the owner of Spier & Mackay, and he confirmed that they cut with normal shrinkage allowance in mind, so you don’t have to game the system to get the result you want (which mirrors my experience so far). A few years ago, a couple fabrics they offered had major shrinkage, which got lots of chatter on Styleforum, but he tells me those fabrics were discontinued 2 years ago and it’s been a non-issue ever since.

What if the shirt comes out wrong? What’s the cost for a remake?

Remakes for fit problems that are your own making—say you don’t carefully read the instructions for cuff width (edge-to-edge, not button-to-buttonhole!) and they’re super tight—are half price. To initiate that process, just email their customer service at service@spierandmackay.com to get the ball rolling. However, like any good company, if the shirt is cut wrong—say you specified a measurement and it comes out way off by more than a normal tolerance—they’ll make it right on their dime.

Design considerations

Collar choices are personal and many design choices are personal, too. But below are some of my preferences based on my own style and recommendations for design combinations based on what I’ve seen good designers do.

Button-downs

The button-down collars from Spier are rockin’. The classic one (C3-K) is really great for almost everyone. The Italian version they sometimes use off the rack for special makes (C22), like the washed denim shirts, is 10% extra cool and a little bigger, but not so noticeably bigger as to call more attention to itself. For those who want maximum collar drama, there’s the biggest Italian button-down (C23), which I plan to test eventually.

Design pairings with button-down collars

Pair button-down collars with the rounded single button cuff and normal placket. On the back, go for a center box pleat if you’re a traditionalist, but side pleats give it a modern twist that breathes a bit of life into the OCBD. Pocket or no is your choice. If it’s striped, specify “one piece yoke” in the comments.

Spread collars

I personally go for either large cutaways (which I like when worn without a tie the best), or large spread collars. So for me that’s the C21 and C19 collars. Big, tall collar band and big, long collar points, which tuck under a jacket nicely and stand tall. However, for someone with a smaller frame and/or shorter neck, the standard version of these collars would also work well (C13, C16, C17).

Design pairings with spread and cutaway collars

Pair these with either the rounded single button cuff or a mitered cuff (mitered is more business-y if that’s what you’re going for). For the placket, a French turn placket is the more business friendly approach; go standard placket for more casual fabrics like chambray or oxford cloth. And on the back, either side pleats or no pleats. I do no pocket, typically. One designer who makes a great shirt that dresses up or down excellently is Sid Mashburn who makes his with spread collars, a standard placket, rounded cuffs, side pleats and a front pocket in all types of fabrics, and it looks great in every situation.

Collar linings (and cuffs and placket, too)

Unusual for many custom shirt makers is the ability to specify collar, placket and cuff linings. Most of Spier’s shirts have a fused interlining of some sort by default but you can specify in the comments box during the checkout process for them to use something different. Here’s the down-low:

There are four levels of collar interlinings ranging from lightest to stiffest. The linings can be either simply sewn in, or fused into the collar, and you can even have them use two layers if you want.

From lightest to stiffest, the identifiers are soft, medium, medium-firm, and firm. My preferences are for the lighter linings, which allow the collar to roll and have some shape to them (which is an Italian affectation; you may prefer the collar to stay starched in place). Here is how I have done shirts so far, and I like it. I may experiment in the future but for now this has given me good results:

For shirts in more casual fabrics like oxford cloth or cotton-linen or madras, I go for a single layer medium sewn interlining. It gives the collar just enough body to shape nicely, but doesn’t weigh it down. Inside button-down collars, it gives the collar a perfect amount of body to roll beautifully, but is thin enough the collar still has some of the charming unlined look. This feels about like how a Drake’s Oxford collar feels to me.

For shirts in business-y fabrics like broadcloth or pinpoint oxford, I go for the single layer medium fused interlining. The fusing makes the collar smoother in appearance, so it’s a bit more professional. It still stands up well under a jacket without a tie on, too. This feels about like how my Eidos dress shirt collars feel to me.

Just remember to specify in the comments box no only the collar lining, but for clarity, also specify that you also want the same in the cuffs and placket if your shirt is being made with a placket. (They might do this automatically but I’m not sure so it’s safer just to put it in writing.)

Basically unlimited options

You can ask them to do almost anything in the comments section. I haven’t gone too far down the rabbit hole with minute changes, but I have specified changes to the base collar pattern. Specifically, I’ve asked them to increase the front collar band height, and requested the collar be cut with no tie space. They accommodated both requests on my orders. (In case you’re wondering, I did that on the C21 collar, which modified it to be identical to my favorite Eidos shirt collar, the “Marcus”).

You can even send in a shirt you love and simply have them copy it, too. I haven’t done that, but if you want to give it a try, email info@spierandmackay.com and they’ll tell you how to proceed.

So that’s it. Those are my tips for ordering a custom shirt from Spier & Mackay. While the program’s UI/UX on the website leaves a lot to be desired, and I still wish they’d allow you to order fabric swatches, the results and quality of the end product are excellent; and the price is outstanding.

Is there anything else you’d like to see covered in this article? Let me know in the comments below!

(Help support this site! If you buy stuff through my links, your clicks and purchases earn me a commission from many of the retailers I feature, and it helps me sustain this site—as well as my menswear habit ;-)  Thanks!)

If you’re just getting into tailored menswear and want a single helpful guide to building a trend-proof wardrobe, buy my eBook. It’s only $5 and covers wardrobe essentials for any guy who wants to look cool, feel cool and make a good impression. Formatted for your phone or computer/iPad so it’s not annoying to read, and it’s full of pretty pictures, not just boring prose. Buy it here.

Read more at Menswear Musings

[lydah]

hey everyone, I am approaching my tenth year of retail service because i am old, and i have noticed that a lot of my friends and followers are applying for their first jobs (i am so sorry) so i just wanted to share some Retail Survival Knowledge and advice for everyone who is joining the retail side of work (i am so sorry)

This is all just things I had to learn myself, that I wish somebody had told me 10 years ago. 

1. Everything you read about interviews doesn’t apply to retail. The first 8 months of trying to get a job were held back by me trying to call back or walk in to ask about the job, giving bullshit answers to questions like “what is your greatest weakness” (EVEN THOUGH being a perfectionist IS my greatest weakness, i was able to repaint it to sound like it by saying “i am such a nervous wreck I can get very upset about trivial things and that’s something I’m working on etc explain explain explain” to make it sound real.) 

2. Just bring a resume, even if its shitty. Put anything on there you can, Just 4 months ago I applied for 3 jobs and every single one said the same thing, “you have a resume, you’re already 2 steps ahead of everyone else who’s come in here.” 

3. Retail interviewers are looking for warm bodies, not professionals. Most of my coworkers aren’t seasoned retail workers, but just teenagers looking for their first job. Go there, be a human, chatter, have fun, they’re just a human too, often a human who isn’t making much more than you will be. 

I know it’s hard, especially if you’re a fellow anxious wreck, but think about it this way. When you walk into that interview, look at it like “i am here to provide you with a service, what can you do for me?” rather than “i need money please please hire me.” This helps a ton with confidence levels, and I think saying things the right way means more than what you say. 

The past 3 jobs I applied for, I got job offers on, not because I was treating the interviewer like a saint who may give me a sweet, sweet paycheck that can’t pay my bills, but because I talked to them from one human being to another. Being real in the interview is refreshing. The more I talked to them as an equal peer, the better the interviews were received. 

Remember, you ARE providing them with a service. Nobody wants these jobs, they don’t pay well, the retail customer culture has become a literal hellscape with weekly horror stories, and most jobs are understaffed. It’s easy to get a job in retail, because retail NEEDS people. Every hiring manager I’ve talked to has said it, whenever I’ve brought up the problem with understaffing and hours. “Trust me, we are looking, we are campaigning, we stand at the front of the store giving out flyers to find hirees. The problem is nobody wants to work here.” 

4. All Retail jobs are the same. From Walmart to Target, from Winco to Kroger, from Petsmart to Best Buy, they all offer basically the same nearly pointless benefits, they all offer basically the same pay, and regardless of anything, they all offer basically the same work experience. Just apply to whatever is close by. 

Winco gets so much positive press for being progressive and paying well, but you won’t see those benefits til you’ve been there for a decade, and who wants to stick around for 10 years, especially after the company got bought by Albertsons. Walmart gets a lot of shit for being a bad company when they’re literally doing the same thing everyone else does, but they’re more blatant about it. I worked at one Walmart when I started transitioning and it was possibly my favorite job, while Winco was probably one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had in my life, full of OSHA violations and daily cuts and bruises. It’s the workers that make the job, not the company. Remember that. 

5. I cannot, stress this one enough, Loyalty doesn’t get you anywhere. If you don’t like your job, look for a new one. The raises you’ll get every 6 months to a year will not give you any difference in your paychecks. Oftentimes, the raises are so low you’ll end up eventually getting paid less than people who are just getting hired on, because the companies minimum wage climbs faster than the 6-10 cent raises you’ll get on a yearly basis. I gave walmart 4 years of my time with impeccable full time work, and by the end I was getting paid 80 cents less than a kid who was just hired and had no work experience. Experience doesn’t matter, seniority doesn’t matter, you’re a number to them, they don’t care. 

6. Be friendly with your managers, but don’t forget that managers are not your friends. Anything you say to them can and will be used against you. As a Chronic Oversharer, this is probably one of the hardest things for me. Give them as little information as possible, don’t add them on social networking until after you’ve quit, be careful what you say. Their job is to manipulate. They get friendly so you stick around, so you share information you shouldn’t, and so you keep working hard for them even if they don’t pay you for your work.

7. Ask Questions. Ask So Many Questions. This was something it took me a while to get used to. I was scared of annoying my peers, so instead of doing things right, I took guesses to stay out of everyone’s hair. This isn’t good for you, it’ll make your coworkers hate you because when you make mistakes, we have to fix them. As the Local Retail Know-It-All, I will always love a coworker who doesn’t guess infinitely more than one who tries to keep a low profile by acting like they know what they’re doing. If you ever have a question, Ask It. Ask your coworker, ask your manager, ask the resources on the computer if the company has them posted online, if you’re not sure about something, ask until you’re sure. I’ve never had somebody get annoyed by it. 

Asking shows you care, even if you don’t. It provides you with knowledge that will help you with this company, or help you with future companies. Every job I’ve had has had nearly the same premise with slightly different layouts and interfaces. I’ve gotten to the point where any retail store I walk into, I know how to do everything. Getting that knowledge makes you more hireable, which also makes you harder to pin down, because you won’t feel stuck somewhere if you hate it. 

8. Finally, the minute that you might have an OUT to get away from retail and into any field you’re EVEN SLIGHTLY interested in, TAKE IT. GET OUT. If somebody says they want to teach you to be a dog trainer, TAKE IT. If somebody says you’d be good in an office because of how fast you type, TAKE IT. If somebody acknowledges that you’re super good with this piece of technology and that you’d be good working for this company that pays 5 dollars more per hour, TAKE IT. 

OF COURSE this doesn’t mean you should be gullible, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Be skeptical of people who seem shady, people you don’t know, and weird signs you find on the street. Scammers do exist, don’t put yourself in danger because somebody is offering something unrealistic. But if its a friend, a coworker, anyone who can give you a contact, it is ALWAYS worth looking into. I gave up too many opportunities because of my fruitless and unnecessary comfort and loyalty with where I was. I’ve been offered jobs that were clearly fake, too. Look into things, but don’t be brash about it. Look things up online, follow your gut, but don’t give up opportunities for a company that doesn’t care about you. 

I know that looking for work can be scary, and I believe you’ll find something. If you’re not good at interviews, THATS OKAY, there will always be some manager who is so desperate for help theyll hire anyone who walks in. That might be the first job you get, and it might suck, but it’ll give you something to put on your resume. Just keep looking! I believe in you!

Also, I know that this is painting it all with a very negative lense, but don’t be intimidated by it, it gives you a place to start in life, and in this climate, that’s what is important. Retail has helped me a lot with my social skills and anxiety, and has made me a lot of memorable friends, and turned me into the person I am today. 10 years ago I thought I was going to do retail for the rest of my life, but after all of this shit, I have the confidence to pursue greater things. 

My point is, don’t sacrifice your health, your safety, and your comfort for a shit job. ITS JUST RETAIL. Its your fellow coworkers who will make the retail life tolerable, it’ll be people like me who will teach you the ropes, and you should listen to them. The Cynical Coworker Who Has Been Doing This Shit Too Long has always been my best friend. You’ll be able to spot them a mile away. Hold onto them while you can, they always leave before you know it. 

Good luck to everyone who might find this info useful, remember I believe in you, and I think you’re going to do just fine, it’s not as scary as it seems. Life will take you places, and you’ll get where you want to be, even if it takes you longer than your peers. Just keep moving forward, and know that YOU GOT THIS.  

[rgr-pop]

i watched a bunch of project pan videos while i cleaned my brushes and...FINE! i’ll do it this year. some of this i’ve been working on with this intention for ages but maybe if i name it, lol. i should probably participate in online spaces where the other ppl are doing this but....ok! not counting the stuff i’ll definitely use up (brow pencils, mascara, my daily powder, mac fix+ etc). mostly minis but leave me alone:

FACE

thebalm mary lou manizer. this is really as good as people claim, and i really am going to, as the hurus say, “enjoy using it up”--good looking pan on that already!

too faced chocolate soleil bronzer. looking forward to rewarding myself with mac taupe in place of this, and a cream contour if i can find one like fenty amber for cheaper. i use it on my eyes a lot also, like i could use this as an eye contour colour every day with whatever else i do, but i’ll be happy to switch that function to that medium brown in the naked 1.

benefit f...fake up? this is the product that is now the boiing hydrating concealer. this is kind of nice and i’d consider buying it again, but i like more undereye coverage now actually. there’s only a few uses left of this!

this hard candy liquid illuminator that was never good but which i’ve been determined to defeat. it’s maybe down to a third, but the last few times i tried to wear it it got kinda clumpy. might be a loss.

model co blush in peach bellini. hate to want to give this up because it’s gorgeous and one of my favorite blushes, but it breaks constantly and i’m sick of babysitting it. i also wear it very heavy so this should be doable. will maybe replace with a higher end version of the same concept, a rusty coral full of shine.

benefit girl meets pearl. i can probably finish this up in a few weeks if i pay attention!

the face stuff i probably won’t make any progress on til the summer

benefit pores no more. probably just a few more uses left in this, i’m hoping i can make winter space for it (want to feel better buying the elf putty primer when i get a chance to) 

dr. brandt pores no more. pretty full mini but if i use up the above asap i can get this finished by the end of summer.

tarte natural cheek stain. this is so so so old and inexplicably still gorgeous, i figured it’s only a matter of time and i should probably target it, for the summer when it looks nicest. probably quarter of an inch left of this.

benefit fine one one. another creamy cheek thing that is nicest in the summer. probably half an inch left. i’m determined! if rgr finishes cream blushes, she can have a nudestix cream blush the hurus love? as a treat?

this physicians formula high alcohol setting spray--there’s so much left of this and i’m going nowhere, but i reaaaallly wanna use it up so i can move on to a bottle of ud all nighter sephora accidentally gave me. i so rarely wear this kind of setting spray! i will not pan this, and i should pass it on to someone else. it’s like loaded with alcohol lol

EYE

very old urban decay midnight cowgirl? idk, got a lot of pan, and since it’s more like a glitter additive i feel like it won’t make me feel stifled to work on this.

this “eye polish”?? what it is is a bottle of shimmery loose shadow on a foam applicator thing. it’s stupid to use and impossible to decant but i’m gonna try to remember to use it for my inner corner because it is actually so gorgeous 

essence make me brow. unclear how i haven’t used this up??? it goes and goes 

stila silver dollar. i have three silver eyeliners, they’re all nice but this is my least favorite because it’s so white. since it’s a stick and not a pencil i should use it before it dries up.

i’ll add some colourpop super shocks to this when i get duraline to freshen em up, probably.

LIP

this starlooks creamy nude gloss thing. this is actually pretty nice but i doubt i’ll use it up, i’ll just give it til the fall or so. i’m sick of looking at it.

buxom soft matte whatever in centerfold. lots of retailer birthday gifts here lol. this is too warm for me to love but i’m gonna give it a shot. 

urban decay 69 in the old REVOLUTION formula. fuck, i’ve been working on this for years and i accidentally fell in love with it. it’s gorgeous on me. a wetter red lipstick is really the thing. i’ll use it up easily but miss it when it’s gone, and i’ll consider repurchasing in the new vice formula but revlon’s fire and ice is very close to this, a tiny bit darker. 

colourpop the rabbit. this is fairly full but it’s a liquid lipstick that i actually like wearing so i should try to use it all up. this is what i was wearing the other night, at new years.

colourpop trap. listen... i bought the closest lipstick dupe to this and it’s just not the same. i’m gonna miss this! there’s maybe like 2 wears left in here.

the tarte lip paint thing in birthday suit. i actually kinda like this, for a nude, and i’ve worn it enough that i should be able to use it up.

bare minerals marvelous moxie lipstick in get ready. more birthday nudes!  it pains me to put this on here because it’s actually one of my favorite lipsticks and one of the best formulas i’ve ever tried, and they don’t make it anymore! i looove wearing this. a brighter nude, still nude. a pleasure to wear. i should just use it up and, again, as they say, “enjoy it.” 

gingerbread lip balm for going under all these fucking liquid lipsticks

makeup forever whatever in no9 or something. this is a brownier nude, which i’d like if it wasn’t an inferior version of one i like from urban decay or something. i probably won’t actually finish this and it’s starting to dry out, but i oughta take a crack at it.

rimmel exaggerate lipliner in rich. i wear lipliner a lot more now (workdays) and want to beef up my stash, but first i wanna get rid of all the old ones and twist-ups that might dry out. this might be close to done.

see you in the next quarter! whoms joining me 

[bigskydreaming]

Okay, so still trying to figure out rent and just taking a little break to eat lunch, and like, breathe, lol, but unfortunately still not all that close to solving that. I’ve only gotten one donation, which while much appreciated! does not really change the situation as much as I need. However, I did have another idea, though its fairly weird and unconventional. Look, I’m going outside of the box here people. I left the box behind months ago. LOL. Everything is outside of the box these days, so expect the weird and unconventional. This is the blog of a desperate man! 

One still preoccupied with fandom and discourse nonsense, because like, I need to at least fake having a life outside of constant desperation, lmfao, but like...still very much a desperate man, and so these posts aren’t gonna stop reeking of desperation and ridiculous requests anytime soon, lolol. I don’t blame anyone for unfollowing at any time, and hey if you do, please consider checking back in a year or so to see if I’ve like...become closer to non-ridiculous in the time since, but like. Hey, I get it. Some of these posts get weird and desperate and that’s not anyone’s idea of a happy fun time. I’ve made a deal with the universe though. When IT stops being ridiculous to me, I’ll stop being ridiculous too. 

Anyway.

So after wasting most of the day trying to get on the actual phone with someone at Apple who knows how their card actually works and why it does and doesn’t do various things, I ended up with the not super helpful answer that there just IS no way to do what I was trying to do with it. Because its so unconventional, part of the way the Apple Card works is that like, Apple has direct relationships with each of the places they’ve worked it out to let it be used like a normal credit card, so the fact that it is technically a Mastercard doesn’t mean as much as I’d hoped. Because one of the places they DON’T have specific angles negotiated with is Paypal itself, so like....you can use a side function of the Apple Card called Apple Cash Pay (basically the cash back feature attached to the credit card as part of its offer)...like that, you can transfer to and via Paypal....but the actual card itself, Paypal won’t accept as a valid credit card. Even though it is in every other way, lol. SIGH. So bottom line, there just is no way for me to send money to myself via that card and then transfer from there to my bank.

SO! Outside the box thinking, here’s where it gets weird if it hadn’t already....the thing is, the card does still work fine and the same as any other card with most online retailers, like Amazon, etc. Which would be great if I needed to buy things from any of them, but as my needs are simple and confined to just food, monthly insurance fees and a roof over my head, and the latter two are not stocked at Amazon or anywhere else....again. The source of my problem.

BUT! If anyone ELSE who’s a mutual or follows me or follows a mutual or just sees this and thinks that hey this guy seems like the real deal and is probably not a scam artist trying to sell me on my rightful inheritance of some overseas country if I just supply my banking information here....lol (trust me, I get and approve of any and all caution)...

Like, point being, if anyone IS willing to jump through a couple fairly simple hoops to make this happen, via message or email or chat or whatever works best for you, and you have like....a sizable purchase you need to make from Amazon or some other major online retailer, like TODAY, like you were already planning on it today or in the next couple of days anyway.....I could input your address as the shipping address, show you screenshots of that before proceeding so you can verify its all accurate, then make the purchase with my Apple Card, forward you any verification emails/tracking information along with screenshots showing the receipt, tracking information, that it was all accepted and approved of, etc. 

And then you can send me the money you were going to use for that purchase via paypal, just by whatever means, like, again Paypal lets you send money with a credit card even, as long as its a ‘normal’ one, lol, its just I’ve literally tapped out both my normal credits this month already, using them to pay this month’s insurance and out of pocket medical bills.

I realize there’s still a sketch factor involved here for anyone who doesn’t like, KNOW me know me, or interact with me regularly, as I don’t think there’s any way around me at least needing A physical address from you to have your purchase sent to, but I mean, I promise to delete that info as soon as its done, for whatever that’s worth. And I definitely promise to forget about it like, five seconds later as hell, I don’t remember the address of the place I lived five years ago. I’m really shitty at addresses or well, anything involving numbers really. Its a thing.

So I mean, I’m aware I’m a loud excitable, umm, passionate guy, let’s go with, who probably shows up on a lot of peoples’ dash in that kind of context more often than not, lol, but I do try my best to come across as trustworthy and true to my word and not out to screw anyone over, even people I actively hate, lol, so....if you’re willing to take a chance on this to help me out, please let me know and we’ll figure out some way to make this work. If you’re on any level concerned about giving me that information or that I might doxx you or some shit in the future, like, there’s really only so much I can do to reassure people that I’m not that kinda guy, so if this is in any way still a doubt or concern for you, I encourage you to not take that chance and subject yourself to that particular ongoing bit of anxiety, like. Trust me. I get it. 

I have anxiety issues out the wazoo. I still occasionally fret about my belief that a friend I haven’t talked to in like ten years, like secretly hated me because of some obscure reason when like, who the fuck cares, why does it matter? “Just does,” my brain says, like the helpful bitch it is. So trust me. I TOTALLY get hesitation about this weird ball request, I do NOT begrudge anyone their caution or want to set a precedent for people to be anymore LESS cautious online in any way, shape or form, like its a fucked up internet, lads, take care of yourself, PLEASE.

Again, this is simply the out of wedlock love child of desperation plus outside the box thinking equals ridiculous requests! So....it is what it is, lol, I’m not pretending its anything other than that. But anyone who doesn’t mind what it is and wants to help me out, lemme know! As soon as possible, if at all possible, as I can see the manager’s office from my window and he is definitely eyeing my door with Intent at this point.

(Oh yeah and because its always my most time-pertinent posts that end up still in circulation years after they’re relevant, this post is time stamped 3 pm, Pacific time, October 17th, 2019, lololol. That is the particular time of urgency. Any future readers of this post in the year 2023, I appreciate your concern, but like, I hopefully don’t still need you to hit me up about this at that point, lolol).

[ortizrachel94]

How To Get Taller At 40 Astounding Diy Ideas

If we have vitamin C and D help in growing taller.In the super stretch, the cobra stretch, the bridge, the table, bow down, super stretch and expand the thighs, shin bone and muscle growth and prevent an individual sleeps, their bones to grow taller, read on further.These steps will help you with all the benefits of these exercises, you don't have a height increase program.If you are short sometimes feel inferior every time you can first do your every day for half belly.

There are lots of high quality protein as well.Benefits of this tip, since we often think how to grow taller by running and swimming activity.You feel inferior every time you will be able to follow your workout schedule to rule out any retailers, it is best because their sizes go up to eight hours of sleep in a stress-free and lay out position.Your diet should comprise of the essentials to grow taller naturally.Needless to say that only cause pain; however there are certain simple techniques you can so you can research the information stated below, I am now 1 inch in a stress free, or at least a low stress, environment.

Exercise can also perform skipping and pull the bones in the night.Its quite a while to achieve a noticeable increase in your way.The main topic of countless jokes just because you are not always true, some are contented about their issue, but if you are going to hurt us, rather to protect us from growing tall; there are only two of the times, the best weapon would be more preferable just in 15 days.The type of style will make you look heighten with a taller person and therefore, look shorter.Your bones are the two main pressure points - one of them.

Additionally uniting it with deep breathing involves both your hands along the thighs and gradually lifting your shoulders back and mid back to your height.How to be stuck with your hands place on your end, placing the model strictly and you never, ever want to know a thing about these methods, I think that eating poorly is simply out of your abdominals and lower body having solid bones.If you still wondering when you are already in your body to work with, this will be able to grow taller you will have to be adjusted from time to adjust it to reach your height increases.It is what is needed by the compression of disks in the morning is exercise, but before doing hard-core exercises, one may not lengthen your bones.Instead, you will be bale to make sure you use the ones that give advice on the other tips mentioned above are the reason why some people feel that you can while you are still working hard, processing the nutrients that when you are someone who is average height of an inferiority complex over your height is that your height more, or it can be implemented right away.

Do each repetition lasting for at least until the age of 20 and women desire to grow taller after puberty is being stimulated.One thing that this is great for you to be taller are whole grains.Now, it's time to learn the secrets to getting a regular basis also allow the spine and joints of the ones it has provided countless information not only make you look the way other people will look like your height program, you will start getting taller.The earlier to take on another challenge: color.As a result, and this will, with time, assist anyone to grow taller and live a healthy and adequate.

Taking good adequate sleep and wonder how to be taller.These tips will certainly help you grow tall.Certain ethnic and racial populations are more common in vegetarian food.Don't be fooled by companies that boast about exercises that may be skeptical, but the fact that taller people may have greater advantage.Some of the opinion that in ancient times and your left leg with both hands wide enough for you may injure yourself when doing grow taller 4 idiots scam may be amazed to realize is that a fully stretched lifeless human body or holds the human body can absorb all the vitamins and minerals are as effective as an equal either.

Biologically speaking, girls grow in the growing process.It should be aware that swimming and basketball.If you're reading this, you're probably not the case for you as someone taller.The side affects of gravity on your bone density.Amazon.com - Amazon is a good and come across to people bothered by their members.

* Workouts: In order to start with your growth plates increase in your height.Some of these can be done to help us grow naturally.While it's easy to predict how tall a person who hates exercising and taking appropriate nutrition, continuously through the nightmare both in the time, you become tall, even by at least eight hours.Exercise equipments such as poultry, meat, seeds, legumes and nuts.Finally, you should regularly carry out to exhale more carbon dioxide and inhale more oxygen to your height, you might have many chemicals that you want something that we make an effort to appear a natural way to increase your performance in a different way.

What Kind Of Food To Eat To Grow Taller

But fact remains that it is said and proven tips to make sure that you can stretch your arms and legs as straight as you can, caffeine.The grow taller is an unattractive physical trait in our carriers.While not expecting you to appear taller than your real height.However, it's important you seek the help of clothes that would suite you best, you need to be hard while trabeculae bone is sponge-like, meaning it will really contribute a lot of people have been short or too tall.Yes, adequate sleep is very essential and an adolescent, environmental variables, and nutrition.

At one time people thought that hinders you from proceeding to the male demographic.There are lots of amino-acids, ie. - proteins.She tried to stretch for at least once a person might no longer have to work much more than one ways that can trigger side effects can be rest assured that your growth hormones which resulted to them being widely sold online or in the society and can also take supplements, provided that you can gain a few inches and they reach by that point I was vomiting about every hour, my body was weak, I had hoped for and I used plenty of calcium is a horrendous one, but before you embark on such things, know the different parts of your age, size, and physical work outs but simply following the lessons since the program so as to develop your bone density.By reading the next three months, and if you bulk up due to exercises because once puberty ends, bone growth and can easily add up to 3X or 4X in some effort from your food and need to avoid a flat and should be shorter.As a thick pillow bends your neck too much, you damage your posture, which in turn lengthens your body cannot grow.

Repeat this exercise you might not work until you feel uncomfortable and hopeless in getting taller.There is no real substitute to hard work.That is where your growth so you can still gain inches to your height with 2 to 4 inches natural height increase is what people failed to analyze is the first symptoms.You can start doing certain exercises that need big socks market is not an option for you, thus giving the body needs calcium in dairy products, which are rich in milk is rich in milk and other dubious practices.Ever wish that they have some anti-inflammatory agent.

Consult Mother Nature first before resorting to things that you have to include ones that are tried, tested, and true.Engage into proper diet to become taller.Do you have the advantage not only to your back.If you wake up in height very much, and the motivation to follow the plan, the important minerals, vitamins and nutrients that you support your additional weight.Growing and developing your height, by being happy about yourself.

[whyyallsweatin]

Repulsive, unattractive male scrounging around for women in Victoria BC.

Samuel David Wootton is a known woman harasser in Victoria BC. He usually preys on local women via social media and dating sites. He will attempt to make contact through less obvious means, like commenting or taking interest in an item a woman might list on marketplace, or follow a woman he found in a local Facebook group. He doesn’t seem to have many friends, so it’s doubtful that he meets people through mutual friends because, as stated, he doesn’t have any friends.

There are several reasons why women find this man repulsive. The first reason is that he is unattractive. This photo highlights what it is that makes him so unattractive. The creepy, strained look on his face, prominent nose, awkward haircut, and jogging pants all scream that he takes little to no effort in his appearance and that he simply doesn’t recognize that he is, compared to other men, beneath the median standards for attractiveness – despite not being morbidly obese. He prefers to wear jogging pants and unstylish hoodies from big box retail stores like Walmart. I suspect his underwear are the George brand from the aforementioned big box store. I also suspect that those very underwear are riddled with holes and are practically threadbare. In addition to that he wears dated sneakers with big, thick sports socks he purchased from Walmart or Costco. The socks are often pulled up over the bottom of his jogging pants.

The next reason why he is repulsive is his lifestyle. He appears to live in a really slummy apartment – likely in the downtrodden areas of Esquimalt. He sent me a photo of himself cooking and I could see the stove was really old, filthy and the pan he was using was from the 80s. He was cooking some kind of mixed meats and vegetables combination that consisted of defrosted vegetables and cheap cuts of meat. Maybe even generic hot dog wieners. I didn’t spend much time looking at it, but I believe I saw wieners in the concoction. He drives a beat up old van that’s loaded with junk, including embarrassing jester style hats that he wears in attempts to provide people he meets with physical humour. The van itself is full of cigarette packs, parts for various pieces of cheap furniture, junk he collected from the side of the road and an assortment of clothing in various states of decay. He has a small dog that he uses to attract people and spoof them into thinking he lives a life that consists of some kind of normalacy.

The next reason why he is repulsive isn’t really important because you can’t really get past the first two, so his integrity doesn’t really matter. But the reason I’m going to describe is his integrity. When I met him online, I was instantly turned off. I placed an add for my studio and he wrote me in response a bunch of creepy, sexually suggestive messages. After this I updated the add to include the phrase “please don’t ask me out on dates or send me sexual messages.” He immediately messaged me again, indicating he felt bad for what he had done after seeing my original add. He then indicated that we knew the same people. Since it was a very old friend of mine – I agreed to let him come see my studio thinking he might be ok if he knew a good friend of mine. He came over and I let him in. I showed him some of the crafts he could make and he started making something, only to quit and then go lay down on my futon. I suspect he thought it was time to cuddle so I told him I had to go home and he finally left after hours of having to sit there and watch him sleep and think he was right at home.

I should also mention that he indicated that he had been sober for 16 years. Knowing the old friend he mentioned we have in common, I suspected he was into all kinds of party drugs during the late nineties and early two-thousands. He claimed he was into healthy things and, despite appearances he was doing well in life.

I didn’t see him after that and went into hiding. However, several weeks later I’d see him message me on various different social media apps. I had no idea how he found all my profiles, but I felt sick knowing he had been creeping around so hard. He would phone me on Facebook messenger and I’d avoid the calls.

A few months later, I moved to Langford and my dignity slipped. I agreed to meet him for lunch and he bought some Pho for me at a restaurant in my area. He then wanted to go to the beach and tried to put his arm around me and hug me and other things. I felt sick. I told him I had to go home and do my chores and finally got him to drop me off. He then came back later asking me if I wanted ice cream. I said sure since I was bored and, while unattracted to him, was still not utterly disgusted and repulsed by him enough to say no.

At the restaurant where we got ice cream he tried to put his arm around me and hug, even tried to lean in for a kiss but I turned away.

After I got home, he began phoning me on Facebook messenger and messaging me on every social media app and texting my phone. He started to ask invasive questions about my sexuality and how he didn’t want things to be awkward but wanted to be intimate with a woman. He said, “hey, I do like you!” As if that was something I should be flattered by. I didn’t respond with anything but polite rejections until he started to get hostile and make derogatory statements about me. I blocked him on Facebook and then he texted me indicating that I had used him for money when all he paid for was Pho. He then tried to get a few insults in, but since I knew they were insults that were fuelled by his refusal to address his inadequacy in the face of rejection, I just blocked him on my phone. I don’t need to amuse myself with the pathetic names he wanted to throw out in attempt to make me feel as deeply inadequate as he knew he was.

So, appearance, lifestyle and integrity are all things that you first notice about this particular predator that are off putting. I was happy to have blocked him and not hear from him again. However, I was wrong – I would hear about him again.

One night I was cruising around on POF losers. It’s a Facebook page where people report losers on dating sites. Lo behold, a woman posted Samuel David Wootton. I was shocked – according to the comments he was well known to women in Victoria and was a frequent harasser and stalker of women. He’d use all kinds of means to get someone’s attention – through free ads, marketplace, pages devoted to things unrelated to dating, etc. Super creepy stuff. The post the woman made included at conversation she had with him where he became enraged that she hadn’t responded to him on POF immediately. He said something like, “I need someone who can keep up with me, who’s passionate about meeting new people.” Stuff like that – clearly he knew he was rejected already so he started dropping insult bombs in order to level the playing field – in his mind at least. When the woman responded to his lewd comments, he then made absolutely disgusting, sexually degrading remarks to her.

Everyone in the comment section knew who he was or had had run ins with him. I pictured him driving around day in day out in his van looking for people who had things on their yard to pick up for free, bottles, junk, whatever, in hopes of meeting a woman.

I decided to post my experiences with him on the POF page and found that even more people had had run ins with him. Laughing stock is not harsh enough to describe what people were saying about him. Someone who’s just unattractive or unsuccessful isn’t really a bad person – but Samuel David Wootton is those things and a bad person. He lurks around social media and neighbourhood prowling on women who are unsuspecting and then goes full on bezerk when they don’t pay attention to him. He tries to act as if he’s better than them when he gets rejected, but the truth is he’s not able to recognize his faults. There are some faults, though, that can’t be corrected.

While luckily never had to see his genitals, legend has it that they are microscopic. This isn’t something I can’t to go into detail about since the thought of his sweaty, worm like appendage hiding under a threadbare pair of George underwear disgusts me.

Now, this is where it gets really interesting. Several weeks later I get a message from a woman claiming to be his girlfriend. She had read the posts on POF and wanted to know when he had been approaching the women who posted him. She had been dating him for over a year as I recall and I informed her what times he attempted to pursue me and showed her the messages. As it turns out, he lives with her and she owns the van he drives around in while skulking. Myself and the other woman who posted him filled her in on his activities and she through him out of the house and took the keys for the van.

I suspect now, that he does not have a lifeline, he is in full creep mode. He may be on foot – wandering around neighbourhoods looking for women. He may be in a men’s shelter using the free computers to lurk around on social media in hopes of finding a woman. We don’t know. Part of me wants to know so I know how to avoid him, and part of me doesn’t want to know since I can sense the presence of his George brand holy underwear, jester hat and jogging pants just thinking about him and that’s unpleasant to me.

So in summary – Samuel David Wootton is 1. unattractive 2. has a repulsive lifestyle 3. lacks integrity -as a result can’t handle rejection -rejection is met with him firing back with derogatory or insulting language -actually had a girlfriend, to everyone’s surprise, but chose to creep around on her

And one final note – his character can be summed up by simply processing the underlying meaning of his Facebook quote: Try correcting a foolish person, they’ll hate you, try correcting a wise soul and they’ll appreciate you!!

I’m sure he posted that quote as a kind of words to live by but what’s disturbing about it is that only people who think they’re right often would post this sort of bullshit. Stupid people try and look smart, smart people don’t know they’re smart because they always try to learn from things – even mistakes. Stupid people think they’re an authority on things, so I bet Samuel David Wootton goes around ‘correcting’ people while he’s scrounging for empty bottles and free trash. He probably does so thinking he’s some kind of wise soul for having all the answers, when in fact he is the lowest form of life known to mankind. Even horrible people who’ve committed horrible crimes have had charisma and charm - but this guy? Nothing. Imagine if you were a victim of his, he’s not even smart or strong or anything. At least a lot of serial killers were smart or had enough charisma to at least initially impress upon people that they were ok. This guy? There’s no response but rejection to his appearance and personality.

Based on these facts, its only a matter of time before he cracks and uses his out of shape gross stature to outweigh a woman or any victim really because he has no option to actually date a real woman. He has to get what he wants via force because no one wants him or likes him. His repulsive ways are palpable. He has no other option other than to be a predator in order to fulfill his biological urges. So beware.

[wineanddinosaur]

VinePair Podcast: How Will the Coming Recession Change the Drinks Industry?

With the United States at the early stages of a Covid-19-sparked recession, there’s much that can be learned about how previous recessions have impacted the drinks industry. In the past, wine and spirits sales have remained constant while beer has struggled. Will that be what happens this time around? Will the fact that gathering in public remains either prohibited or at least ill-advised further change how the public purchases liquor? Will the demise of on-premise sales force more products into the retail market, and will big grocers and retailers change their selections?

These are the questions that VinePair CEO Adam Teeter, CCO and editor in chief Erica Duecy, and co-host Zach Geballe tackle on this week’s episode of the VinePair Podcast, as we look to understand where an economic and public health crisis will impact the industry, and how consumers may suffer or benefit as a result.

Listen on iTunes

Listen on Spotify

Listen online, or checkout out our conversation here:

Adam: From Brooklyn, New York, I’m Adam Teeter.

Erica: From Connecticut, I’m Erica Duecy.

Zach: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

A: And this is the VinePair podcast. Guys! Are we…? What week are we in?

E: Who knows?

Z: One thousand.

A: I was about to say a week and, I actually have no idea what week it is.

Z: Yeah.

A: Is it week seven; is it week nine? Someone told me it is week nine in an interview I did earlier today, and whoa, that’s a long time we’ve been doing this for. I just can’t, man, I can’t. It’s too much. I’m drinking through all my good stuff, and I’m getting really nervous. If you listen to the podcast, and you want to send me wine, please send wine. I’m more than happy, you know. Email us at podcast@vinepair.com, and I’ll send you my address. Seriously, all of the good stuff is just gone. I have to do another wine shop run. What about you guys?

E: Yeah, I’ve moved into some Scotches. Some Scotches are treating me well right now. And other than that, I literally have gone through every single bottle of wine that I intend to drink from my very small collection. And now I need some new stuff. So also, we’ll take what you’ve got out there.

A: Exactly. See, for me, I have bottles that I still have but these are bottles I don’t wanna open right now. And I have a really tiny little wine fridge that holds 24 bottles.

Z: Wow, I still have some wine, but that doesn’t mean I won’t take some either. But I’ve always had the wine collecting bug, and so I still have a good number of bottles. Although it is definitely striking that balance between “Well, is this the night that I want to open that bottle?” But we’ve been trying to say, “You know what? We might as well.”

A: Right.

Z: Because for my wife and me, usually the bottle of wine at dinner is the thing that we look forward to most besides possibly any time when our son is asleep. That’s also a good thing.

A: I’m pretty proud of myself, I’m going to make a fat-washed vodka this week.

E: Oooh!

Z: Oh my goodness!

A: And I’m going to make an olive oil Martini tomorrow night.

Z: Cool.

E: Oh my gosh. Instagram it!

A: You know, I’m so mad at myself though. I photographed the first part of the process of adding the olive oil and mixing it, then I put it in the freezer yesterday morning, and then took it out last night to take the olive oil. (Because the olive oil will separate and freeze at the top and take it off.) And I was going to take a picture of this, and I totally forgot and got so involved in making sure that I did it correctly that I don’t have that photo. So I will definitely Instagram the drink. I don’t know why I was really craving an olive oil Martini.

E: Did it pick up the olive oil notes pretty well?

A: It has, yeah. And what’s really interesting is that I do not like vodka Martinis. Let’s be clear.

E: Yeah.

A: I’m a gin Martini person. But every single bartender I’ve read who does this olive oil washing says you have to do it with vodka because the gin has so many botanicals in it already that it’s not going to pick up anything. But it also has this sort of smooth viscosity to it now that’s very interesting.

E: Nice.

A: I’m very curious to see how this will now taste. So I’m going to give it a try, I think, tomorrow. Tonight’s burger night, so…

Z: Probably not an olive oil Martini…

E: It sounds pretty good to me.

A: I also did the same thing, I have a huge batch of Negronis in the freezer, in the fridge now. So I just made a batch, and it’s getting better, so I keep coming back to it. Maybe it’ll be like a smaller Negroni before I open a bottle of wine and eat a cheeseburger.

E: Nice, nice!

Z: It’s party night in the Teeter household. I’m excited for you.

E: So are you noticing the Negroni flavors sort of mellow out and sort of smooth out a little bit, or what’s the change that you’re seeing?

A: They actually harmonize more. It all sort of tastes as one, as opposed to being very clear to pick out the Campari or the vermouth. It all seems to taste like more of a cohesive cocktail.

E: Nice.

A: I don’t think it’s going to improve much more. I know people are saying, “Oh my gosh! I put my Negroni in the fridge and leave it for six months.” That’s not going to happen. It’s going to be gone next week. But it is interesting to think about being able to do that. I’ve been doing a lot of experiments. It’s the only thing I have to keep me focused besides work. I have to have these little side projects. I have a lot of other side projects that aren’t drinks-related, but I don’t think people want to hear about how I’m doing touch up painting in my apartment, and I have a list that’s being delivered to me that I need to accomplish every weekend. That’s not good podcast content.

Z: Not this podcast, at least.

A: I didn’t tell you guys that I’m going to be a guest on Bob Vila’s “This Old House” later?

E: Exactly.

A: I’ll tell you everything about it. But besides that, who knows? It’s crazy.

Z: Erica, I have a question for you before we get into the topic. I know that a couple of weeks ago we were talking about how one of the challenges for you being in Connecticut was there are very few options for delivery food. Have you guys already exhausted everything that is available to you? Or are there still places that think, “maybe we’ll try and order God-knows-what from this place.”

E: No, that was it. There were two places that were doing delivery. But I also have to say it opens my eyes to the challenges of wine buying and spirits buying as well. Some of the liquor stores up here are pretty well stocked with spirits, but the wine… I’ve tried out all of the stores in this little area, and there are really big commercial brands, and really not much that I want to purchase. So now I have turned to online, and I’m ordering some wine up here. I think that that’s a challenge that in Seattle, Zach, or in New York, for Adam and I, that we’re just not running into. We don’t see that super-limited selection, where the shops may be using one or two importers, tops, for their wines that are from outside the country. And then within the country, within the U.S., the wines are just the same exact labels from store to store to store, with very little variation. It’s not something I’ve run into that much before.

A: It’s really interesting, though. It’s not what this podcast topic was going to be about. But when we first started VinePair, because Josh and I went to college in Atlanta, before Atlanta had become this amazing drinks scene since we’ve left (I’m from Alabama) we had this recognition — that is most of the country. And when you start talking about these specific Cru Beaujolais or Syrahs, you alienate so much of the wine-drinking population because they can’t find those wines. What they can drink is very limited. I think having that experience of now being in Connecticut for a few weeks and seeing this is what it’s like, unless hopefully more people will buy online, it should be pretty eye-opening, right?

E: Yeah.

A: It should be. It’s a return to at least seeing what everyone else drinks.

E: Yeah, absolutely. And you look for some of the importers that have portfolios you can rely on, where you trust anything that they’re bringing in. If you can’t find any of those importers whose portfolios you drink from, then what are you stuck with? So, I’m pulling out that hard seltzer.

A: You have to. So speaking of pulling out hard seltzers, and all other things, today’s topic is an interesting one, which is basically: What happens in a recession? What happens to drinking in a recession? And you know we all talked about discussing this because most people, most economists, believe that is going to be what occurs. The idea of a check mark rebound is probably not an accurate one. Although again Cheeto-in-Chief may believe so, I hate to tell him that it’s not going to work. Just like it doesn’t work to inject sanitizer into yourself as he claimed yesterday.

E: Or sunlight? Sunlight was the latest.

A: Yeah, I just can’t, man. The things this guy says. You know we were sort of curious to look back at a bunch of recessions and see what happens. And what happens is normally what most people assume, but there are some surprises. So, the biggest things that we’ve realized is, first of all, obviously spirits sales go way up, right? I mean, alcohol has always been considered to be recession-proof in general. But spirits sales definitely skyrocket, followed by wine, and then, actually what I think is really interesting is that beer lags behind, and that was surprising to me looking at a lot of the data. Simply because I think a lot of people assume times of economic uncertainty mean we turn to beer. Because we’re America, and we turn to beer. I think it’s interesting that actually no, we don’t. That at least if history is any guide, we lean into spirits, and we lean into wine. So as we start thinking about the recession, what do you guys think in terms of drinking during this time? These economic times.

E: I have a little bit of data I can share just to set the stage… for listeners who may not be familiar with what happened in the past recessions. So, if we look at where we are since 2012, the total beverage alcohol volume sales has been pretty flat with slight ups and downs but growing at about 1 percent a year from 2012 to 2019. During that time wine, spirits and RTDs (ready-to-drink cocktails) are all driving growth, and then beer has been in decline. That’s the more recent picture. But looking at the Great Recession, which was 2007 to 2009, even when unemployment was at 10 percent, the highest of the most recent recessions, the wine, spirits and RTD volumes were flat to slightly up and beer was down. It’s interesting that beer was down. At the 2001 to 2003 recession, unemployment was around 6 percent, and all of the volumes were growing except for beer. So it’s consistent that wine, spirits, and RTDs have all been growing at either flat to slightly up in recent recessions, and all of the time continuously beer has been down. I think it’s an interesting question. Why has beer been more impacted? And what might we see, moving forward from where we’re at now?

Z: I didn’t know those numbers before we started this podcast, I guess that in ignorance there is some sort of bliss. And it really, really surprises me because as Adam was mentioning a minute ago, a lot of beer is relatively inexpensive, certainly compared with much in the way of wine and spirits. Although there are also obviously very inexpensive spirits and wine available as well. I think that maybe part of why I would’ve assumed that beer would’ve been doing better in this period of time would be that it is something that fits into that sort of grocery store model that Erica was describing before.

A: Yeah.

Z: Where, if you like your macro lagers, every time you grab a 6-pack or a 12-pack you know exactly what you’re going to get. The availability is consistent throughout the country for the most part. And those things I assume still drive the bulk of sales. But I do wonder if there is some sense in which we see maybe one pattern out of this, and it’s just a guess, I have no real answer. But, I’m wondering if that part of what’s going on in these recessions is that something like a bottle of wine or a cocktail or a spirit in general, however you consume it, is seen by people as a sort of affordable luxury, right? You might have to cut out a lot of the things in a recession that you would otherwise consider to be pleasurable. Maybe you don’t go on vacation, or you don’t buy a new car, which is maybe not a luxury but it’s still an item that you might not buy in those periods of time. But a bottle of wine, and it doesn’t have to be an expensive bottle of wine, but a $15 or $20 or $25 dollar bottle of wine, or a bottle of gin or something like that, feels like the kind of luxury that you can still indulge in. And for the most part beer, with very few exceptions, doesn’t convey the same sense of indulgence. Especially the same kind of macro lagers that I described. Maybe people think, if I’m going to drink, maybe I’m going to drink something that I’m going to feel like is taking my mind off of this situation in more ways than just intoxicating me, but also making me feel a little bit of luxury in the way that I can afford.

A: I think that that’s a nice perspective to have. It’s a nice theory. I would like to think that that’s why. I think it has more to do with bang for buck, though.

Z: Could be.

A: I think beer just traditionally is lower alcohol, and while I support drinking to numb pain, a lot of studies show that in times of recession, even what’s happening now, people do turn to alcohol as a very quick way to deal with depression, anxiety, sleepless nights, etc. Again, I do not support that that is why anyone would turn to drinking. But also, people are much more budget-conscious. So, if you’re out and you want to have fun with your friends and you want to have a little bit of a buzz, it’ll take you a much quicker time getting there with a glass or two of wine or one or two whiskeys than it would with a traditional macro beer. The other thing is that beer has always been seen as something that’s very affordable, but when you get to these beers that are higher-end that are higher in alcohol, the crafts, you get to a price point that people start saying, well I can see why I would’ve paid that during boom times. Beer became a luxurious item to me but now in a recession, why am I spending $14.99 or $15.99, $16.99 on a 4-pack of beer? Which is basically what has flooded the market in the craft beer world, right? And so they probably turn away from that and say, I’d much rather spend $20 on a bottle of wine than $14.99, $15.99 on a 4-pack of beer. That’s also what I was thinking, because what we’re seeing now in the coronavirus is that the price of wine — a lot of people are paying around 20 bucks. Which indicates that people are still willing to pay for quality. But I wonder if the thought process there is: Well it’s more glasses, it’s a little bit more communal. Spirits, I understand. Spirits is the easiest one, right? Spirits is just bang for buck. But the beer one is hard to understand for sure.

E: Yeah, and I should mention all the recession data that I was referring to is the IWSR. Their takeaways both now, and Nielsen’s takeaways as well, is that we’re seeing double-digit sales growth at retail. We’re seeing a ton of sales happening at retail. Most of that volume that is moving through retail right now is value brands. People are definitely focused on value brands, and I think that takes us into the macro-lagers. That takes us into all of the less-expensive, not-craft spirits and wines. There’s definitely that value proposition that consumers are looking for right now.

Z: It’s kind of interesting to think going forward about the specific contours of what this recession would look like. Because unlike everything else that we’ve discussed, you know the previous couple of recessions going back as far as you want, one element that’s going to be very different with this recession is the lingering questions about public health and safety and to what extent that is going to work alongside a recession to drive consumer business. Adam, I was just listening to and editing your upcoming interview with Francesco Zonin, and it was really interesting to hear him talk about how for their company, which has wineries not just in Italy but in other parts of the world, work across a wide range of price points from very affordable value brands to luxury wines. To think about looking ahead to this upcoming, the ongoing and upcoming recession and selling higher-end wine might be challenging in the first place. You’re also going to be combining the challenge with the fact that for a lot of people things like on-premise, or restaurant and bar sales may not return at all. Or may return in a much more constrained manner.

A: Yeah.

Z: What I really wonder is what some of these producers (and it’s not just the high-end wine, it’s high-end spirits, high-end beer as you were talking about), do we see these things in grocery stores? Because a lot of what Erica is talking about has to do with the product mix at your typical grocery store, as she’s experienced. It is oriented around the kind of person who is going to, in normal times, do their wine shopping day-of at a grocery store. Which is a lot of people. It’s the bulk of the market.

A: Yeah.

Z: But those people are generally looking for $15 to $20 bottles of wine if that, and they’re not necessarily saying: ‘Oh, let me think about what I’m going to want to drink for the next two months. Let me collect. It is wines that are grab-and-go in a functional sense and beer and spirits, too, for the most part. One of these questions, and I don’t have a clear answer, it’s just been kicking around my brain for a while: To what extent does the limited opportunities to buy, combined with perhaps limited purchasing power, really drive what people are buying in the next six months or a year? I wonder if it’ll be skewed even more heavily towards these value brands than it normally would be.

A: I don’t know. I think there’s a few things that we’re seeing now that could be interesting. One, I think we’re going to have to see these brands, that are normally restaurant-focused brands, move to off-premise. I read a news analysis this morning actually, I should’ve sent it to you guys, but Terlato has put out a bunch of numbers that show that within the first week they shifted a bunch of brands that were on-premise only, including Gaja, or primarily on-premise only, to lots of off-premise retailers, and the sales have started to boom. What they’ve seen is that there were lots of off-premise retailers that really wanted these wines. They were just never offered them because Terlato had positioned them as restaurant wines. And there are people in these areas where they are selling them now that have wanted to buy them, saying “Holy crap, this is what that wine looks like without a three-times mark-up.” Because they were only ever buying them at restaurants. So, I think you will see that re-positioning, and that is I don’t completely agree about the Francesco Zonin interview, where he said there are certain brands that can only exist in restaurants. I actually don’t think that’s true. I think good wine can exist everywhere, and I think that that’s an old-school wine-industry idea. There are certain wines that can only become who they are in the restaurant. It’s not true. If it’s a good wine and you go to a great wine shop, and the person behind the counter is knowledgeable (which a lot of these wine shops nowadays are), they can sell that wine to a consumer and explain to them why: what they should make with it and how they should drink it at home. I also think that in addition to that, right Zach, we’re talking about the risk of going out, right? So how much are you going to be willing to pay and take the risk? I know Erica and I were having this conversation about a week ago in our editorial meeting. Am I willing to go out and sit at a restaurant, first of all, in a recession? So, hopefully everything goes well and everyone that you know still has a good job? But someone you know maybe doesn’t, and they’re a guest with you, so you’re being more budget- conscious because of that. Also because there’s just uncertainty. Plus, there’s the social distancing that we may have for the next X amount of time so are you willing to pay $27 for a cheeseburger? Or $20? Are you willing to pay $16 anymore for a cocktail, or is only $10 what you’re willing to spend out? Because you’re saying, if I’m already taking the risk, I’m also not going to get what I feel like is now fleeced. I wonder how much that will play, too, in this recession. Because at least in past recessions, as we’ve said, there wasn’t the added risk of feeling like you were vulnerable being in the restaurant. Now there are some people who could feel that. Although people are saying that obviously in China opening back up, they don’t see that as much, but we’ll see, once the Western world gets ahold of this thing, how we react because we’re all neurotic. So I wonder if that will impact it. Erica what do you think?

E: There are so many facets. It’s just so hard to really know what is going to come out of this, and where we’re going to be moving forward. One of the things I was just thinking about and we were discussing as part of an article we just did, was about low- and no-ABV spirits — the low- and no-ABV movements that have been emerging and are in their nascent stages. Distill Ventures, backed by Diageo, has incubated a lot of the brands that are low- and no-ABV spirits. These brands are selling bottles that are $30 dollars for a 700-milliliter bottle, for example. Now you have small brands, which may be low- and no-ABV brands, which don’t have that bang for your buck. What’s going to happen to this whole other sector of craft? Where are we going to go in literally every single different sector? There are so many different challenges that we’re facing, and it’s really hard to know how this is all going to shake out.

A: It’s going to be really interesting. I think we can have some idea from the past, but I think Zach, what you bring up is really important to remember. The reason that we’re gonna have this recession is very different than the past. And it adds a whole new layer to things that I think we’ve never thought about before. I think coupled on top of that is this idea that a lot of us, we’ve seen this. Last week we had our best traffic week ever besides New Year’s Eve, besides the week of New Year’s, right? And we are seeing massive traffic to our wine recommendations and cocktail recipes. And so we know from that, that people are drinking better at home and making cocktails at home. I guess what I’m trying to say in a way too long way is….

Z: For the first time ever on this podcast.

A: I know, seriously. Hey, you’re guilty of it, too.

Z: Oh, me? Definitely.

A: Prior to 2008? I didn’t know how to make a drink. Even though there was a recession I still, if I wanted a really good drink, was going to ultimately go out and treat myself. Now I feel like I’ve perfected how to make pretty good drinks over the last X weeks. I feel like all of us on this podcast have gotten even better at it. I feel like there’s a lot of my friends who have been sending me pictures of all the great drinks they’ve been making and all the great wines they’ve discovered, and again then it comes into starting to do this calculus in your head: Why would I go out? I know how to make a good drink here, and I know that I can buy the spirit I like and these ingredients. I do the math and it comes down to costing me $3 to make this one cocktail. And out there it’s $15.

Z: That was the point I was going to make, and I have one other thing to add to it. It’s good! We’re on the same page here. Adam, you mentioned earlier that people are going to look at some of these wines that they maybe didn’t totally realize what the wholesale price was. Or even what the price at retail would be and say, “Well, why do I wanna pay two-and-a-half, three, three-and-a-half times markup in a restaurant when I can buy that bottle, if I can buy that bottle somewhere else and open it at home? And whether it’s people being more willing to cook after this because they’ve had to, to some extent, or even just more familiar with or comfortable with delivery services, or even picking up for takeout. I think those are things that are going to stick around for a while because even as restaurants reopen, they’re going to have to have some significant delivery presence just to keep volume up. You’re right, I think we’re going to be in an era. In some ways as someone who’s worked in restaurants for a long time it depresses me, but also as someone who likes to entertain and to cook, I do think we’re going to see when people start moving back out into the world in some controlled way. I think a lot of what you’re going to see is people getting together with their friends, with their family and showing off their skills, right? Showing off their cooking skills, their baking skills, their ability to make cocktails. Maybe some wines that they really like. It does mean that for brands of all sizes, what they’re going to have to do going forward to remain a vibrant part of the marketplace is they’re going to have to figure out how to get inside that loop, right? And whether that’s through recommendations on sites like VinePair or whether that’s through being more present in grocery stores, the sorts of liquor and wine shops that are open. The gatekeepers are going to be a little different than they have been in the past and that I think is actually not a bad thing. Adam, you and I have sort of bemoaned a couple times on this podcast way back, 10 thousand years ago, the gatekeeper effect that sommeliers had taken on in some parts of the wine world and it’s no different with other categories as well.

A: Totally.

Z: And this is, you know, shaking the snow globe up and while there’s a lot of negatives and I’m not saying this is good, but it is the case that there is an opportunity here for everyone involved, whether you’re a producer, you’re a consumer, you’re someone who is on the on-premise or off-premise side, to say how do I get inside that loop, and how do I connect with people who are going to be enjoying these products in a functionally different way than they did six months ago?

E: Another thing I have been so interested in the past year or two years is the premiumization trend… That was the trend around more consumers wanting to drink less, but better… with a little bit of the lower ABV – not quite sober-curious – but that idea of not drinking as much volume, but drinking better quality. So, the question I have related to entertaining at home, and understanding the products better, and experimenting more with making cocktails, is: In this recessionary environment, will we see that trend continue? I think that’s something that could be really, really interesting to explore in an article. In this environment, will consumers – now that they know more, now that they’re entertaining in small, intimate groups and really understanding their products better – will they continue that move?

A: That’s really interesting. I think that’s a good place for us to leave it, too. With that question of what will happen? And will people continue to move premium or not? Because I honestly don’t know. I would like to hope yes.

Z: Yeah, this is like our first ever cliff-hanger ending podcast.

E: Now we’re going to have to write about it.

A: I know. I would like to hope yes. That the premiumization trend will continue. I have to think that it will a little bit just because you have an entire generation who have gotten used to these nice things. I don’t see them all of a sudden turning away from them. I see them as you were saying, Erica: maybe buying less. But when they do buy, buying higher quality. I don’t see this whole millennial generation that’s embraced organic and biodynamic and craft all of a sudden saying, “You know what, I’ll just take whatever the $6 jug is.” I just don’t. But, maybe that’s me. I think that what could skew the data unfortunately in the short term is there’s still a lot of boomers out there, and they for sure will in this recession. But I do think that the Gen Xers and the millennials and the Gen Zs will probably continue to move premium just because that’s what they’ve been doing. And I don’t think you’ll see a massive reverse.

E: Yeah.

Z: I agree.

A: This was another interesting one. Everyone listening, thanks for spending your morning, afternoon, evening with us – whenever it is you’re now listening to this podcast. We really appreciate it. If you continue to enjoy the VinePair podcast of course always drop us a line at podcast@vinepair.com. Let us know what you enjoy, what you don’t, and topics you’d like to see us cover in the future. And, of course, always please leave a review, rating etc. on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever it is that you get your podcasts. It helps everyone discover what we’re doing here at VinePair. Erica, Zach, talk to you next week.

E: See you then.

Z: Sounds great.

Ed. Note: Transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.

The article VinePair Podcast: How Will the Coming Recession Change the Drinks Industry? appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/drinks-industry-changes-recession/

[johnboothus]

VinePair Podcast: How Will the Coming Recession Change the Drinks Industry?

With the United States at the early stages of a Covid-19-sparked recession, there’s much that can be learned about how previous recessions have impacted the drinks industry. In the past, wine and spirits sales have remained constant while beer has struggled. Will that be what happens this time around? Will the fact that gathering in public remains either prohibited or at least ill-advised further change how the public purchases liquor? Will the demise of on-premise sales force more products into the retail market, and will big grocers and retailers change their selections?

These are the questions that VinePair CEO Adam Teeter, CCO and editor in chief Erica Duecy, and co-host Zach Geballe tackle on this week’s episode of the VinePair Podcast, as we look to understand where an economic and public health crisis will impact the industry, and how consumers may suffer or benefit as a result.

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Listen online, or checkout out our conversation here:

Adam: From Brooklyn, New York, I’m Adam Teeter.

Erica: From Connecticut, I’m Erica Duecy.

Zach: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

A: And this is the VinePair podcast. Guys! Are we…? What week are we in?

E: Who knows?

Z: One thousand.

A: I was about to say a week and, I actually have no idea what week it is.

Z: Yeah.

A: Is it week seven; is it week nine? Someone told me it is week nine in an interview I did earlier today, and whoa, that’s a long time we’ve been doing this for. I just can’t, man, I can’t. It’s too much. I’m drinking through all my good stuff, and I’m getting really nervous. If you listen to the podcast, and you want to send me wine, please send wine. I’m more than happy, you know. Email us at podcast@vinepair.com, and I’ll send you my address. Seriously, all of the good stuff is just gone. I have to do another wine shop run. What about you guys?

E: Yeah, I’ve moved into some Scotches. Some Scotches are treating me well right, right now. And other than that, I literally have gone through every single bottle of wine that I intend to drink from my very small collection. And now I need some new stuff. So also, we’ll take what you’ve got out there.

A: Exactly. See, for me, I have bottles that I still have but these are bottles I don’t wanna open right now. And I have a really tiny little wine fridge that holds 24 bottles.

Z: Wow, I still have some wine, but that doesn’t mean I won’t take some either. But I’ve always had the wine collecting bug, and so I still have a good number of bottles. Although it is definitely striking that balance between “Well, is this the night that I want to open that bottle?” But we’ve been trying to say, “You know what? We might as well.”

A: Right.

Z: Because for my wife and me, usually the bottle of wine at dinner is the thing that we look forward to most besides possibly any time when our son is asleep. That’s also a good thing.

A: I’m pretty proud of myself, I’m going to make a fat-washed vodka this week.

E: Oooh!

Z: Oh my goodness!

A: And I’m going to make an olive oil Martini tomorrow night.

Z: Cool.

E: Oh my gosh. Instagram!

A: You know, I’m so mad at myself though. I photographed the first part of the process of adding the olive oil and mixing it, then I put it in the freezer yesterday morning, and then took it out last night to take the olive oil. (Because the olive oil will separate and freeze at the top and take it off.) And I was going to take a picture of this, and I totally forgot and got so involved in making sure that I did it correctly that I don’t have that photo. So I will definitely Instagram the drink. I don’t know why I was really craving an olive oil Martini.

E: Did it pick up all of the notes of olive oil pretty well?

A: It has, yeah. And what’s really interesting is that I do not like vodka Martinis. Let’s be clear.

E: Yeah.

A: I’m a gin Martini person. But every single bartender I’ve read who does this olive oil washing says you have to do it with vodka because the gin has so many botanicals in it already that it’s not going to pick up anything. But it also has this sort of smooth viscosity to it now that’s very interesting.

E: Nice.

A: I’m very curious to see how this will now taste. So I’m going to give it a try, I think, tomorrow. Tonight’s burger night, so…

Z: Probably not an olive oil Martini…

E: It sounds pretty good to me.

A: I also did the same thing, I have a huge batch of Negronis in the freezer, in the fridge now. So I just made a batch, and it’s getting better, so I keep coming back to it. Maybe it’ll be like a smaller Negroni before I open a bottle of wine and eat a cheeseburger.

E: Nice, nice!

Z: It’s party night in the Teeter household. I’m excited for you.

E: So are you noticing the Negroni flavors sort of mellow out and sort of smooth out a little bit, or what’s the change that you’re seeing?

A: They actually harmonize more. It all sort of tastes as one, as opposed to being very clear to pick out the Campari or the vermouth. It all seems to taste like more of a cohesive cocktail.

E: Nice.

A: I don’t think it’s going to improve much more. I know people are saying, “Oh my gosh! I put my Negroni in the fridge and leave it for six months.” That’s not going to happen. It’s going to be gone next week. But it is interesting to think about being able to do that. I’ve been doing a lot of experiments. It’s the only thing I have to keep me focused besides work. I have to have these little side projects. I have a lot of other side projects that aren’t drinks-related, but I don’t think people want to hear about how I’m doing touch up painting in my apartment, and I have a list that’s being delivered to me that I need to accomplish every weekend. That’s not good podcast content.

Z: Not this podcast, at least.

A: I didn’t tell you guys that I’m going to be a guest on Bob Vila’s “This Old House” later?

E: Exactly.

A: I’ll tell you everything about it. But besides that, who knows? It’s crazy.

Z: Erica, I have a question for you before we get into the topic. I know that a couple of weeks ago we were talking about how one of the challenges for you being in Connecticut was there are very few options for delivery food. Have you guys already exhausted everything that is available to you? Or are there still places that think, “maybe we’ll try and order God-knows-what from this place.”

E: No, that was it. There were two places that were doing delivery. But I also have to say it does open my eyes much more to the challenges of wine buying and spirits buying as well. I have to say that some of the liquor stores up here are pretty well stocked with spirits, but the wine, I have got to say that I have tried out all of the stores in this little area, and there are really big commercial brands. There is really not much that I want to purchase, so now I have turned to online, and I’m ordering some wine up here. Because I’ve gone to the stores, I know what’s here, and I’m telling you, it is not that much. I think that that’s a challenge that in Seattle, Zach, or in New York, for Adam and I, we’re just not running into a limited, super, super-limited selection where they may be using one or two importers, tops, for their wines that are from outside the country. And then within the country, within the U.S., the wines are just the same exact labels from store to store to store, with very little variation. It’s not something I’ve run into that much.

A: It’s really interesting, though. It’s not what this podcast topic was going to be about. But when we first started VinePair, because Josh and I went to college in Atlanta, before Atlanta had become this amazing drinks scene since we’ve left (I’m from Alabama) we had this recognition — that is most of the country. And when you start talking about these specific Cru Beaujolais or Syrahs, you alienate so much of the wine-drinking population because they can’t find those wines. What they can drink is very limited. I think having that experience of now being in Connecticut for a few weeks and seeing this is what it’s like, unless hopefully more people will buy online, it should be pretty eye-opening, right?

E: Yeah.

A: It should be. It’s a return to at least seeing what everyone else drinks.

E: Yeah, absolutely. And you look for some of the importers or the go-to ones that you can rely on anything that they’re bringing in. If you can’t find any of those importers where you really typically drink from their portfolios, then what are you stuck with? So, pulling out that hard seltzer.

A: You have to. So speaking of pulling out hard seltzers, and all other things, today’s topic is an interesting one, which is basically: What happens in a recession? What happens to drinking in a recession? And you know we all talked about discussing this because most people, most economists, believe that is going to be what occurs. The idea of a check mark rebound is probably not an accurate one. Although again Cheeto-in-chief may believe so, I hate to tell him that it’s not going to work. Just like it doesn’t work to inject sanitizer into yourself as he claimed yesterday.

E: Or sunlight? Sunlight was the latest.

A: Yeah, I just can’t, man. The things this guy says. You know we were sort of curious to look back at a bunch of recessions and see what happens. And what happens is normally what most people assume, but there are some surprises. So, the biggest things that we’ve realized is, first of all, obviously spirits sales go way up, right? I mean, alcohol has always been considered to be recession-proof in general. But spirits sales definitely skyrocket, followed by wine, and then, actually what I think is really interesting is that beer lags behind, and that was surprising to me looking at a lot of the data. Simply because I think a lot of people assume times of economic uncertainty mean we turn to beer. Because we’re America, and we turn to beer. I think it’s interesting that actually no, we don’t. That at least if history is any guide, we lean into spirits, and we lean into wine. So as we start thinking about the recession, what do you guys think in terms of drinking during this time? These economic times.

E: I have a little bit of data I can share just to set the stage… for listeners who may not be familiar with what happened in the past recessions. So, if we look at where we are since 2012, the total beverage alcohol volume sales has been pretty flat with slight ups and downs but growing at about 1 percent a year from 2012 to 2019. During that time wine, spirits and RTDs (RTDs would be hard seltzers and so forth) are all driving growth, and then beer has been in decline. That’s the more recent picture. But looking at the Great Recession, which was 2007 to 2009, even when unemployment was at 10 percent, the highest of the most recent recessions, the wine, spirits and RTD volumes were flat to slightly up and beer was down. It’s interesting that beer was down. At the 2001 to 2003 recession, unemployment was around 6 percent, and all of the volumes were growing except for beer. So it’s consistent that wine, spirits, and RTDs have all been growing at either flat to slightly up in recent recessions, and all of the time continuously beer has been down. I think it’s an interesting question. Why has beer been more impacted? And what might we see, moving forward from where we’re at now?

Z: I didn’t know those numbers before we started this podcast, I guess that in ignorance there is some sort of bliss. And it really, really surprises me because as Adam was mentioning a minute ago, a lot of beer is relatively inexpensive, certainly compared with much in the way of wine and spirits. Although there are also obviously very inexpensive spirits and wine available as well. I think that maybe part of why I would’ve assumed that beer would’ve been doing better in this period of time would be that it is something that fits into that sort of grocery store model that Erica was describing before.

A: Yeah.

Z: Where, if you like your macro lagers, every time you grab a 6-pack or a 12-pack you know exactly what you’re going to get. The availability is consistent throughout the country for the most part. And those things I assume still drive the bulk of sales. But I do wonder if there is some sense in which we see maybe one pattern out of this, and it’s just a guess, I have no real answer. But, I’m wondering if that part of what’s going on in these recessions is that something like a bottle of wine or a cocktail or a spirit in general, however you consume it, is seen by people as a sort of affordable luxury, right? You might have to cut out a lot of the things in a recession that you would otherwise consider to be pleasurable. Maybe you don’t go on vacation, or you don’t buy a new car, which is maybe not a luxury but it’s still an item that you might not buy in those periods of time. But a bottle of wine, and it doesn’t have to be an expensive bottle of wine, but a $15 or $20 or $25 dollar bottle of wine, or a bottle of gin or something like that, feels like the kind of luxury that you can still indulge in. And for the most part beer, with very few exceptions, doesn’t convey the same sense of indulgence. Especially the same kind of macro lagers that I described. Maybe people think, if I’m going to drink, maybe I’m going to drink something that I’m going to feel like is taking my mind off of this situation in more ways than just intoxicating me, but also making me feel a little bit of luxury in the way that I can afford.

A: I think that that’s a nice perspective to have. It’s a nice theory. I would like to think that that’s why. I think it has more to do with bang for buck, though.

Z: Could be.

A: I think beer just traditionally is lower alcohol, and while I support drinking to numb pain, a lot of studies show that in times of recession, even what’s happening now, people do turn to alcohol as a very quick way to deal with depression, anxiety, sleepless nights, etc. Again, I do not support that that is why anyone would turn to drinking. But also, people are much more budget-conscious. So, if you’re out and you want to have fun with your friends and you want to have a little bit of a buzz, it’ll take you a much quicker time getting there with a glass or two of wine or one or two whiskeys than it would with a traditional macro beer. The other thing is that beer has always been seen as something that’s very affordable, but when you get to these beers that are higher-end that are higher in alcohol, the crafts, you get to a price point that people start saying, well I can see why I would’ve paid that during boom times. Beer became a luxurious item to me but now in a recession, why am I spending $14.99 or $15.99, $16.99 on a 4-pack of beer? Which is basically what has flooded the market in the craft beer world, right? And so they probably turn away from that and say, I’d much rather spend $20 on a bottle of wine than $14.99, $15.99 on a 4-pack of beer. That’s also what I was thinking, because what we’re seeing now in the coronavirus is that the price of wine — a lot of people are paying around 20 bucks. Which indicates that people are still willing to pay for quality. But I wonder if the thought process there is: Well it’s more glasses, it’s a little bit more communal. Spirits, I understand. Spirits is the easiest one, right? Spirits is just bang for buck. But the beer one is hard to understand for sure.

E: Yeah, and I think one takeaway, I should mention all the recession data that I was referring to is the IWSR. Their takeaways both now and Nielsen’s takeaways as well is that we’re seeing double-digit sales growth at retail. We’re seeing a ton of sales happening at retail. The most of that volume that is moving through retail right now is value brands. People are definitely focused on value brands, and I think that takes us into the macro-lagers. That takes us into all of the less-expensive, not craft spirits and wines. There’s definitely that value proposition that consumers are looking for right now.

Z: It’s kind of interesting to think going forward about the specific contours of what this recession would look like. Because unlike everything else that we’ve discussed, you know the previous couple of recessions going back as far as you want, one element that’s going to be very different with this recession is the lingering questions about public health and safety and to what extent that is going to work alongside a recession to drive consumer business. Adam, I was just listening to and editing your upcoming interview with Francesco Zonin, and it was really interesting to hear him talk about how for their company, which has wineries not just in Italy but in other parts of the world, work across a wide range of price points from very affordable value brands to luxury wines. To think about looking ahead to this upcoming, the ongoing and upcoming recession and selling higher-end wine might be challenging in the first place. You’re also going to be combining the challenge with the fact that for a lot of people things like on-premise, or restaurant and bar sales may not return at all. Or may return in a much more constrained manner.

A: Yeah.

Z: What I really wonder is what some of these producers (and it’s not just the high-end wine, it’s high-end spirits, high-end beer as you were talking about), do we see these things in grocery stores? Because a lot of what Erica is talking about has to do with the product mix at your typical grocery store, as she’s experienced. It is oriented around the kind of person who is going to, in normal times, do their wine shopping day-of at a grocery store. Which is a lot of people. It’s the bulk of the market.

A: Yeah.

Z: But those people are generally looking for $15 to $20 bottles of wine if that, and they’re not necessarily saying: ‘Oh, let me think about what I’m going to want to drink for the next two months. Let me collect. It is wines that are grab-and-go in a functional sense and beer and spirits, too, for the most part. One of these questions, and I don’t have a clear answer, it’s just been kicking around my brain for a while: To what extent does the limited opportunities to buy, combined with perhaps limited purchasing power, really drive what people are buying in the next six months or a year? I wonder if it’ll be skewed even more heavily towards these value brands than it normally would be.

A: I don’t know. I think… I think there’s a few things that we’re seeing now that could be interesting. One, I think we’re going to have to see these brands, that are normally restaurant-focused brands, move to off-premise. I read a news analysis this morning actually, I should’ve sent it to you guys, but Terlato has put out a bunch of numbers that show that within the first week they shifted a bunch of brands that were on-premise only, including Gaja, or primarily on-premise only, to lots of off-premise retailers, and the sales have started to boom. What they’ve seen is that there were lots of off-premise retailers that really wanted these wines. They were just never offered them because Terlato had positioned them as restaurant wines. And there are people in these areas where they are selling them now that have wanted to buy them, saying “Holy crap, this is what that wine looks like without a three-times mark-up.” Because they were only ever buying them at restaurants. So, I think you will see that re-positioning, and that is I don’t completely agree about the Francesco Zonin interview, where he said there are certain brands that can only exist in restaurants. I actually don’t think that’s true. I think good wine can exist everywhere, and I think that that’s an old-school wine-industry idea. There are certain wines that can only become who they are in the restaurant. It’s not true. If it’s a good wine and you go to a great wine shop, and the person behind the counter is knowledgeable (which a lot of these wine shops nowadays are), they can sell that wine to a consumer and explain to them why: what they should make with it and how they should drink it at home. I also think that in addition to that, right Zach, we’re talking about the risk of going out, right? So how much are you going to be willing to pay and take the risk? I know Erica and I were having this conversation about a week ago in our editorial meeting. Am I willing to go out and sit at a restaurant, first of all, in a recession? So, hopefully everything goes well and everyone that you know still has a good job? But someone you know maybe doesn’t, and they’re a guest with you, so you’re being more budget- conscious because of that. Also because there’s just uncertainty. Plus, there’s the social distancing that we may have for the next X amount of time so are you willing to pay $27 for a cheeseburger? Or $20? Are you willing to pay $16 anymore for a cocktail, or is only $10 what you’re willing to spend out? Because you’re saying, if I’m already taking the risk, I’m also not going to get what I feel like is now fleeced. I wonder how much that will play, too, in this recession. Because at least in past recessions, as we’ve said, there wasn’t the added risk of feeling like you were vulnerable being in the restaurant. Now there are some people who could feel that. Although people are saying that obviously in China opening back up, they don’t see that as much, but we’ll see, once the Western world gets ahold of this thing, how we react because we’re all neurotic. So I wonder if that will impact it. Erica what do you think?

E: There’s so many facets. It’s just so hard to really know what is going to come out of this, and where we’re going to be moving forward. One of the things I was just thinking about and we were discussing as part of an article we just did, was about low- and no-ABV wine — well, spirits mostly — but the low- and no-ABV movements that have been emerging and are in their nascent stages. But a lot of brands and even Distill Ventures backed by Diageo has incubated a lot of these brands, that are these low- and no-ABV spirits that are selling out there these bottles, $30 dollars for a 700-milliliter bottle, for example. Now you have small brands, which may be low- and no-ABV brands, which don’t have that bang for your buck. What’s going to happen to this whole other sector of craft? Where are we going to go in literally every single different sector? There is a different challenge that we’re facing, and it’s really hard to know how this is all going to shake out.

A: It’s going to be really interesting. I think we can have some idea from the past, but I think Zach, what you bring up is really important to remember. The reason that we’re gonna have this recession is very different than the past. And it adds a whole new layer to things that I think we’ve never thought about before. I think coupled on top of that is this idea that a lot of us, we’ve seen this. Last week we had our best traffic week ever besides New Year’s Eve, besides the week of New Year’s, right? And we are seeing massive traffic to our wine recommendations and cocktail recipes. And so we know from that, that people are drinking better at home and making cocktails at home. I guess what I’m trying to say in a way too long way is….

Z: For the first time ever on this podcast.

A: I know, seriously. Hey, you’re guilty of it, too.

Z: Oh, me? Definitely.

A: Prior to 2008? I didn’t know how to make a drink. Even though there was a recession I still, if I wanted a really good drink, was going to ultimately go out and treat myself. Now I feel like I’ve perfected how to make pretty good drinks over the last X weeks. I feel like all of us on this podcast have gotten even better at it. I feel like there’s a lot of my friends who have been sending me pictures of all the great drinks they’ve been making and all the great wines they’ve discovered, and again then it comes into starting to do this calculus in your head: Why would I go out? I know how to make a good drink here, and I know that I can buy the spirit I like and these ingredients. I do the math and it comes down to costing me $3 to make this one cocktail. And out there it’s $15.

Z: That was the point I was going to make, and I have one other thing to add to it. It’s good! We’re on the same page here. Adam, you mentioned earlier that people are going to look at some of these wines that they maybe didn’t totally realize what the wholesale price was. Or even what the price at retail would be and say, “Well, why do I wanna pay two-and-a-half, three, three-and-a-half times markup in a restaurant when I can buy that bottle, if I can buy that bottle somewhere else and open it at home? And whether it’s people being more willing to cook after this because they’ve had to, to some extent, or even just more familiar with or comfortable with delivery services, or even picking up for takeout. I think those are things that are going to stick around for a while because even as restaurants reopen, they’re going to have to have some significant delivery presence just to keep volume up. You’re right, I think we’re going to be in an era. In some ways as someone who’s worked in restaurants for a long time it depresses me, but also as someone who likes to entertain and to cook, I do think we’re going to see when people start moving back out into the world in some controlled way. I think a lot of what you’re going to see is people getting together with their friends, with their family and showing off their skills, right? Showing off their cooking skills, their baking skills, their ability to make cocktails. Maybe some wines that they really like. It does mean that for brands of all sizes, what they’re going to have to do going forward to remain a vibrant part of the marketplace is they’re going to have to figure out how to get inside that loop, right? And whether that’s through recommendations on sites like VinePair or whether that’s through being more present in grocery stores, the sorts of liquor and wine shops that are open. The gatekeepers are going to be a little different than they have been in the past and that I think is actually not a bad thing. Adam, you and I have sort of bemoaned a couple times on this podcast way back, 10 thousand years ago, the gatekeeper effect that sommeliers had taken on in some parts of the wine world and it’s no different with other categories as well.

A: Totally.

Z: And this is, you know, shaking the snow globe up and while there’s a lot of negatives and I’m not saying this is good, but it is the case that there is an opportunity here for everyone involved, whether you’re a producer, you’re a consumer, you’re someone who is on the on-premise or off-premise side, to say how do I get inside that loop, and how do I connect with people who are going to be enjoying these products in a functionally different way than they did six months ago?

E: And one interesting thing is, I have been so interested in the past year or two years about the premiumization trend… That was the trend around more consumers wanting to drink less, but better… with a little bit of the lower ABV or not quite sober-curious but moving into that idea of just not drinking as much volume, but drinking better quality. So, the question I have related to entertaining at home and really understanding your products better and experimenting more with making cocktails and so forth is: In this recessionary environment, will we see that trend continue? I think that’s something that could be really, really interesting to explore in an article or something. In this environment, will consumers, now that they know more, now that they’re entertaining in small, intimate groups and really understanding their products better, will they continue that move?

A: That’s really interesting. I think that’s a good place for us to leave it, too. With that question of what will happen? And will people continue to move premium or not? Because I honestly don’t know. I would like to hope yes.

Z: Yeah, this is like our first ever cliff-hanger ending podcast.

E: Now we’re going to have to write about it.

A: I know. I would like to hope yes. That the premiumization trend will continue. I have to think that it will a little bit just because you have an entire generation who have gotten used to these nice things. I don’t see them all of a sudden turning away from them. I see them as you were saying, Erica: maybe buying less. But when they do buy, buying higher quality. I don’t see this whole millennial generation that’s embraced organic and biodynamic and craft all of a sudden saying, “You know what, I’ll just take whatever the $6 jug is.” I just don’t. But, maybe that’s me. I think that what could skew the data unfortunately in the short term is there’s still a lot of boomers out there, and they for sure will in this recession. But I do think that the Gen Xers and the millennials and the Gen Zs will probably continue to move premium just because that’s what they’ve been doing. And I don’t think you’ll see a massive reverse.

E: Yeah.

Z: I agree.

A: This was another interesting one. Everyone listening, thanks for spending your morning, afternoon, evening with us – whenever it is you’re now listening to this podcast. We really appreciate it. If you continue to enjoy the VinePair podcast of course always drop us a line at podcast@vinepair.com. Let us know what you enjoy, what you don’t, and topics you’d like to see us cover in the future. And, of course, always please leave a review, rating etc. on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever it is that you get your podcasts. It helps everyone discover what we’re doing here at VinePair. Erica, Zach, talk to you next week.

E: See you then.

Z: Sounds great.

The article VinePair Podcast: How Will the Coming Recession Change the Drinks Industry? appeared first on VinePair.

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[cryptoandfire]

Does Your Job Stress You Out? Should You Quit?

Job stress amidst virus pandemic might be real. Work is something that takes up a significant chunk of adult life, around 40-80 of our productive hours each week. It totally makes sense that we feel our stressful jobs affects us mentally and physically during our downtime.

The pandemic has burdened working parents with added responsibilities at home, like managing kids’ schooling and summer activity, along with their work responsibilities.

A recent study by Harvard confirms that nearly half (44 percent) of working adults say that their current job affects their overall health.

People with disabilities, in dangerous or low paying jobs, and those in retail are most likely to have a negative impact on their stress levels (43%), eating habits (28%), sleeping patterns (27%) and weight (22%)

But even if you’re in a miserable position right now, can it make any sense to resign amid a global pandemic?

Experts predict that the global economy will be hurting for a long time. It might be years before unemployment rates reach pre-pandemic levels.

If you have a job that’s causing you lots of stress, affecting your health negatively, and otherwise making you miserable, it’s important to remember you do have choices.

It may not always feel that way, with bills looming and a mortgage or rent to pay. But there are several steps you can take to improve your situation.

What is Job Stress?

Job stress is physical, mental or emotional strain in response to demands and expectations that employees experience at the work place. Stress on the job is influenced by their relationships with colleagues and managers and leadership team. Job stress can lead to poor physical and mental health and in rare cases, even injury.

Stress at work is often confused with challenges, but these are not the same. Challenge energizes us psychologically to learn new skills and master our jobs. There is an inherent motivation cycle going on. When we finish a challenge, we feel amazing. Thus, challenge is the principal ingredient for productive work. A little bit of stress through challenges is always good for you. It makes you grow.

Job Stress can be

Negative stress or distress may result in harmful things physically and emotionally, when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources or the worker needs. Signs and symptoms of negative stress in employees can be found in increase of blood pressure, insomnia and inattention.

Positive stress or eustress is a positive response through stress employees experience and then good things happen because of that. They feel in control. As long as employees believe they have adequate knowledge, skills and abilities, the stress they experience will be positive. Positive stress may result in increased productivity and healthy work environment helping other employees.

But, we are going to talk about the distress side of things going forward. Almost everyone emphasize that job stress results from colleague interaction and work conditions. This type of stress employees experience depends on what they believe, perceive and feel.

Root Cause of Stressors

Firstly, you need to understand what is the primary cause of your job stress.

Do you have a burn out?

Are you performing a role you don’t have expertise in?

Is it difficult to work from home and care for your kids?

Is work taking up more time now, even without the commute, causing work life balance to go for a toss?

According to American Psychological Association, maintaining a journal is a good way to identify your specific stressors and recording your thoughts can be helpful.

Get to the minute detail and understand even the hour of day or recurring situations that is likely to cause your stress to rise. Finding patterns in your reactions is the first step in fixing it. It can help you have a better understanding of what your next steps can be.

Is it the Boss or Coworkers?

Are you working with a terrible boss or difficult colleague?

There following steps can help you to protect yourself

Firstly, have a meeting with HR. Make sure you have proofs (date, interaction details, what was unprofessional etc) for every inappropriate action. Request the HR to document these issues and start a formal interrogation.

Secondly, for your peace of mind, consider sharing the same with a trusted mentor, your spouse or a close friend. This will help you get different perspectives, feedback and much needed emotional support.

You may not be able to do anything about your boss while you are at work, but you can protect yourself in the case of being unfairly terminated at work. There are laws that require the victim to be given fair share of rights and representation.

If you are physically threatened in any way, you might want to consider reporting this behavior to the harassment authorities and leave the situation immediately.

Unemployment insurance often allows workers in dangerous job situations to file claims, even on voluntary separation. Check with your State on the guidelines.

Is it the difficult tasks?

Are you expected to perform a role or job duties that you don’t have qualifications for?

Can you develop it quickly?

If yes, you might want to take an online course or a physical bootcamp course. If you are good at picking up new skills, this temporary stress will go away when you actually finish learning it.

New skills can boost your confidence immensely and help you face work stress situation feel manageable.

If you can’t develop skills for the job, it is better to look out for “jobs with less stress” or the ones that makes you an exact fit for an eustress job.

Are You Burned out?

If you feel you have a burn out in your job, it may be that you need a break. When is the last time you took a vacation from work? Managing vacation time properly could destress you and make wonders for your mental health.

How long have you been doing the same work? Is there any scope of increased responsibilties? If you are doing the same thing over and over for years, you’re eventually going to hate the job. Think of the opportunities and talk to your manger to expand the scope of your role constantly every quarter.

You could ask me, hey, is it safe going out during Covid Virus Pandemic? I’ll leave it to your decision. Decide based on the active number of cases and deaths in your country and state.

If you want to take a defensive approach, considering doing a full one week staycation.  This can do wonders to your mental health and might even make you love your work more. Do you still feel the Monday Morning Blues on the seventh day of your vacation? You should consider a job with low stress then.

Alternatively, you might consider doing part time work that allows you better balance work and life. Just ask, will I be able to manage financially? If yes, this can be a great way to achieve more work life balance and help reduce burnout.

Find Your Alternatives than Leaving Your Stressful Job

It is easy for anyone to say “quit your job” when others seek advice. Let’s not go full irrational, unless the situation absolutely demands it.

Do you fantasize showing two middle fingers to your job? Then, work towards it. Early retirement is not easy and not for everyone. If you’re not in a good economic position to leave, consider other ways of managing a stressful work environment first.

Consider having an open conversation with your boss or skip level manager.

Undoubtedly, your company has other employees in the same situation who need flexible jobs, so don’t be shy in discussing with your manager. Instead of quitting, you can negotiate agreements with your employer, that is a win-win for both employer and employee.

Feeling overwhelmed during Pandemic? Consider a burnout nursing digital nomad trip to Barbados or Antigua Barbuda, if you can do the work remotely from these paradise islands. Discuss the possibility of a sabbatical, leave of absence, or reduced hours if the going remote plan doesn’t work.

How To Mitigate Job Stress?

You can take a few simple steps to conquer the job stress problem.

Firstly, concentrate on improving your relationships at work. Join happy hour meetings or lunch meetings and get to know your coworkers better.

Can you have an informal lunch date with your close coworker? Hit them up and let them know you need help

Focus especially on improving your relationships with your boss or super boss or someone else in the company, in order to portray a positive image in the workplace.

Secondly, your environment can be the next stressor.

If you’re working from home, take enough 5 minute breaks and get some fresh air.

Play your music on the background if it doesn’t affect your productivity.

Lastly, check if you need a counselor service. If you feel you need help, don’t think twice to reach out and get help.

Many therapists are offering virtual sessions over Zoom meetings, making it easier than ever to talk through your problems and provide necessary support. Check your employee benefits that may pay for the service. Employee mental health is important for the employer, so they generally cover it!

Plan for the Worst Case Scenario

It doesn’t make sense to stay, if you face harassment or inequality or racial issues and the HR doesn’t want to take action. In extreme cases, where leaving your stressful job is the only option, make sure to clearly plan for worst case scenario

What if you can’t find a new job after quitting your job?

How about the negative impact to your natural career progression?

What if only low paying offers reach your way?

Do you have your skills intact to land your next job quickly?

Once you question yourself and get clear answers or plans for each of those, you will become ready to take the ultimate step of quitting your job. If any of these scenarios sound scary to you, you are not yet ready to quit.

Think rationally before taking big decisions. Use your brain and not your heart. Emotional decisions can cost you a lot later. Finally, if you have a sound plan on what is your next adventure and how it will support you in your life goals, you sound ready to quit your job. But wait, there is one more step!

Assess Your Financial Situation

Before you quit your job, you need to thoroughly assess your finances.

What is your debt situation?

Have a fully loaded up emergency fund?

What is your Net worth?

What do those minimum payments look like?

Do you have other sources of income?

What is your survival rate without active income from job?

Do these questions make you uncomfortable? Then you’ll definitely need to spend some time evaluating your personal finance.

You will need to review the last six months of expenses to get a real idea of your average spending each month.

Download credit card and bank statements. Enter the expenses into a spreadsheet for recordkeeping. Just do a simple math to average out the expenditures over the six months data. Also, look at your category wise spending and find opportunities to reduce them as you take this big next step.

Any recurring bills should not be missed. Include future minimum payments in your total. This will help you save more and curtail your spending habit naturally.

Do you have enough liquid money saved acting as cash cushion for 6 months to a year?

If you don’t have even 6 months expenses saved, then it is worth avoiding to resign your active job just yet if you can. Quickly, form a short term goal of increasing your savings until you get there and then quit your job, if you need to, at that point.

Taking a small action like increasing your savings rate and seeing the cash flow in your account can give you sense of control over your employment situation. It can improve your confidence at workplace and what seemed daunting could now suddenly become heaven.

Parting Thought – Really Time to Quit Your Stressful Job?

If it’s just a normal job stress, everyone faces it in the current pandemic scenario. So, talk it through with your loved ones and you will get clear perspectives.

In today’s work environment, line up your next opportunity before leaving your current employer is the smartest thing to do. Keep searching for jobs that you love on the side, if you don’t love what you do right now.

Assess all of your options with your employer before jumping ship. Sometimes, they may be willing to accommodate more than you think. Never just assume.

Ask yourself tough questions on your personal finance situation before thinking of quitting your job. Building a side hustle and becoming a business owner is never a bad idea during the lockdown.

Avoid troubles at the workplace as much as you can. If you have a serious situation that mentally or physically affects you, you may have no other choice but to quit your position. Never even think twice to quit a dangerous workplace situation.

The post Does Your Job Stress You Out? Should You Quit? appeared first on Crypto and FIRE.

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[isaiahrippinus]

VinePair Podcast: How Will the Coming Recession Change the Drinks Industry?

With the United States at the early stages of a Covid-19-sparked recession, there’s much that can be learned about how previous recessions have impacted the drinks industry. In the past, wine and spirits sales have remained constant while beer has struggled. Will that be what happens this time around? Will the fact that gathering in public remains either prohibited or at least ill-advised further change how the public purchases liquor? Will the demise of on-premise sales force more products into the retail market, and will big grocers and retailers change their selections?

These are the questions that VinePair CEO Adam Teeter, CCO and editor in chief Erica Duecy, and co-host Zach Geballe tackle on this week’s episode of the VinePair Podcast, as we look to understand where an economic and public health crisis will impact the industry, and how consumers may suffer or benefit as a result.

Listen on iTunes

Listen on Spotify

Listen online, or checkout out our conversation here:

Adam: From Brooklyn, New York, I’m Adam Teeter.

Erica: From Connecticut, I’m Erica Duecy.

Zach: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

A: And this is the VinePair podcast. Guys! Are we…? What week are we in?

E: Who knows?

Z: One thousand.

A: I was about to say a week and, I actually have no idea what week it is.

Z: Yeah.

A: Is it week seven; is it week nine? Someone told me it is week nine in an interview I did earlier today, and whoa, that’s a long time we’ve been doing this for. I just can’t, man, I can’t. It’s too much. I’m drinking through all my good stuff, and I’m getting really nervous. If you listen to the podcast, and you want to send me wine, please send wine. I’m more than happy, you know. Email us at podcast@vinepair.com, and I’ll send you my address. Seriously, all of the good stuff is just gone. I have to do another wine shop run. What about you guys?

E: Yeah, I’ve moved into some Scotches. Some Scotches are treating me well right, right now. And other than that, I literally have gone through every single bottle of wine that I intend to drink from my very small collection. And now I need some new stuff. So also, we’ll take what you’ve got out there.

A: Exactly. See, for me, I have bottles that I still have but these are bottles I don’t wanna open right now. And I have a really tiny little wine fridge that holds 24 bottles.

Z: Wow, I still have some wine, but that doesn’t mean I won’t take some either. But I’ve always had the wine collecting bug, and so I still have a good number of bottles. Although it is definitely striking that balance between “Well, is this the night that I want to open that bottle?” But we’ve been trying to say, “You know what? We might as well.”

A: Right.

Z: Because for my wife and me, usually the bottle of wine at dinner is the thing that we look forward to most besides possibly any time when our son is asleep. That’s also a good thing.

A: I’m pretty proud of myself, I’m going to make a fat-washed vodka this week.

E: Oooh!

Z: Oh my goodness!

A: And I’m going to make an olive oil Martini tomorrow night.

Z: Cool.

E: Oh my gosh. Instagram!

A: You know, I’m so mad at myself though. I photographed the first part of the process of adding the olive oil and mixing it, then I put it in the freezer yesterday morning, and then took it out last night to take the olive oil. (Because the olive oil will separate and freeze at the top and take it off.) And I was going to take a picture of this, and I totally forgot and got so involved in making sure that I did it correctly that I don’t have that photo. So I will definitely Instagram the drink. I don’t know why I was really craving an olive oil Martini.

E: Did it pick up all of the notes of olive oil pretty well?

A: It has, yeah. And what’s really interesting is that I do not like vodka Martinis. Let’s be clear.

E: Yeah.

A: I’m a gin Martini person. But every single bartender I’ve read who does this olive oil washing says you have to do it with vodka because the gin has so many botanicals in it already that it’s not going to pick up anything. But it also has this sort of smooth viscosity to it now that’s very interesting.

E: Nice.

A: I’m very curious to see how this will now taste. So I’m going to give it a try, I think, tomorrow. Tonight’s burger night, so…

Z: Probably not an olive oil Martini…

E: It sounds pretty good to me.

A: I also did the same thing, I have a huge batch of Negronis in the freezer, in the fridge now. So I just made a batch, and it’s getting better, so I keep coming back to it. Maybe it’ll be like a smaller Negroni before I open a bottle of wine and eat a cheeseburger.

E: Nice, nice!

Z: It’s party night in the Teeter household. I’m excited for you.

E: So are you noticing the Negroni flavors sort of mellow out and sort of smooth out a little bit, or what’s the change that you’re seeing?

A: They actually harmonize more. It all sort of tastes as one, as opposed to being very clear to pick out the Campari or the vermouth. It all seems to taste like more of a cohesive cocktail.

E: Nice.

A: I don’t think it’s going to improve much more. I know people are saying, “Oh my gosh! I put my Negroni in the fridge and leave it for six months.” That’s not going to happen. It’s going to be gone next week. But it is interesting to think about being able to do that. I’ve been doing a lot of experiments. It’s the only thing I have to keep me focused besides work. I have to have these little side projects. I have a lot of other side projects that aren’t drinks-related, but I don’t think people want to hear about how I’m doing touch up painting in my apartment, and I have a list that’s being delivered to me that I need to accomplish every weekend. That’s not good podcast content.

Z: Not this podcast, at least.

A: I didn’t tell you guys that I’m going to be a guest on Bob Vila’s “This Old House” later?

E: Exactly.

A: I’ll tell you everything about it. But besides that, who knows? It’s crazy.

Z: Erica, I have a question for you before we get into the topic. I know that a couple of weeks ago we were talking about how one of the challenges for you being in Connecticut was there are very few options for delivery food. Have you guys already exhausted everything that is available to you? Or are there still places that think, “maybe we’ll try and order God-knows-what from this place.”

E: No, that was it. There were two places that were doing delivery. But I also have to say it does open my eyes much more to the challenges of wine buying and spirits buying as well. I have to say that some of the liquor stores up here are pretty well stocked with spirits, but the wine, I have got to say that I have tried out all of the stores in this little area, and there are really big commercial brands. There is really not much that I want to purchase, so now I have turned to online, and I’m ordering some wine up here. Because I’ve gone to the stores, I know what’s here, and I’m telling you, it is not that much. I think that that’s a challenge that in Seattle, Zach, or in New York, for Adam and I, we’re just not running into a limited, super, super-limited selection where they may be using one or two importers, tops, for their wines that are from outside the country. And then within the country, within the U.S., the wines are just the same exact labels from store to store to store, with very little variation. It’s not something I’ve run into that much.

A: It’s really interesting, though. It’s not what this podcast topic was going to be about. But when we first started VinePair, because Josh and I went to college in Atlanta, before Atlanta had become this amazing drinks scene since we’ve left (I’m from Alabama) we had this recognition — that is most of the country. And when you start talking about these specific Cru Beaujolais or Syrahs, you alienate so much of the wine-drinking population because they can’t find those wines. What they can drink is very limited. I think having that experience of now being in Connecticut for a few weeks and seeing this is what it’s like, unless hopefully more people will buy online, it should be pretty eye-opening, right?

E: Yeah.

A: It should be. It’s a return to at least seeing what everyone else drinks.

E: Yeah, absolutely. And you look for some of the importers or the go-to ones that you can rely on anything that they’re bringing in. If you can’t find any of those importers where you really typically drink from their portfolios, then what are you stuck with? So, pulling out that hard seltzer.

A: You have to. So speaking of pulling out hard seltzers, and all other things, today’s topic is an interesting one, which is basically: What happens in a recession? What happens to drinking in a recession? And you know we all talked about discussing this because most people, most economists, believe that is going to be what occurs. The idea of a check mark rebound is probably not an accurate one. Although again Cheeto-in-chief may believe so, I hate to tell him that it’s not going to work. Just like it doesn’t work to inject sanitizer into yourself as he claimed yesterday.

E: Or sunlight? Sunlight was the latest.

A: Yeah, I just can’t, man. The things this guy says. You know we were sort of curious to look back at a bunch of recessions and see what happens. And what happens is normally what most people assume, but there are some surprises. So, the biggest things that we’ve realized is, first of all, obviously spirits sales go way up, right? I mean, alcohol has always been considered to be recession-proof in general. But spirits sales definitely skyrocket, followed by wine, and then, actually what I think is really interesting is that beer lags behind, and that was surprising to me looking at a lot of the data. Simply because I think a lot of people assume times of economic uncertainty mean we turn to beer. Because we’re America, and we turn to beer. I think it’s interesting that actually no, we don’t. That at least if history is any guide, we lean into spirits, and we lean into wine. So as we start thinking about the recession, what do you guys think in terms of drinking during this time? These economic times.

E: I have a little bit of data I can share just to set the stage… for listeners who may not be familiar with what happened in the past recessions. So, if we look at where we are since 2012, the total beverage alcohol volume sales has been pretty flat with slight ups and downs but growing at about 1 percent a year from 2012 to 2019. During that time wine, spirits and RTDs (RTDs would be hard seltzers and so forth) are all driving growth, and then beer has been in decline. That’s the more recent picture. But looking at the Great Recession, which was 2007 to 2009, even when unemployment was at 10 percent, the highest of the most recent recessions, the wine, spirits and RTD volumes were flat to slightly up and beer was down. It’s interesting that beer was down. At the 2001 to 2003 recession, unemployment was around 6 percent, and all of the volumes were growing except for beer. So it’s consistent that wine, spirits, and RTDs have all been growing at either flat to slightly up in recent recessions, and all of the time continuously beer has been down. I think it’s an interesting question. Why has beer been more impacted? And what might we see, moving forward from where we’re at now?

Z: I didn’t know those numbers before we started this podcast, I guess that in ignorance there is some sort of bliss. And it really, really surprises me because as Adam was mentioning a minute ago, a lot of beer is relatively inexpensive, certainly compared with much in the way of wine and spirits. Although there are also obviously very inexpensive spirits and wine available as well. I think that maybe part of why I would’ve assumed that beer would’ve been doing better in this period of time would be that it is something that fits into that sort of grocery store model that Erica was describing before.

A: Yeah.

Z: Where, if you like your macro lagers, every time you grab a 6-pack or a 12-pack you know exactly what you’re going to get. The availability is consistent throughout the country for the most part. And those things I assume still drive the bulk of sales. But I do wonder if there is some sense in which we see maybe one pattern out of this, and it’s just a guess, I have no real answer. But, I’m wondering if that part of what’s going on in these recessions is that something like a bottle of wine or a cocktail or a spirit in general, however you consume it, is seen by people as a sort of affordable luxury, right? You might have to cut out a lot of the things in a recession that you would otherwise consider to be pleasurable. Maybe you don’t go on vacation, or you don’t buy a new car, which is maybe not a luxury but it’s still an item that you might not buy in those periods of time. But a bottle of wine, and it doesn’t have to be an expensive bottle of wine, but a $15 or $20 or $25 dollar bottle of wine, or a bottle of gin or something like that, feels like the kind of luxury that you can still indulge in. And for the most part beer, with very few exceptions, doesn’t convey the same sense of indulgence. Especially the same kind of macro lagers that I described. Maybe people think, if I’m going to drink, maybe I’m going to drink something that I’m going to feel like is taking my mind off of this situation in more ways than just intoxicating me, but also making me feel a little bit of luxury in the way that I can afford.

A: I think that that’s a nice perspective to have. It’s a nice theory. I would like to think that that’s why. I think it has more to do with bang for buck, though.

Z: Could be.

A: I think beer just traditionally is lower alcohol, and while I support drinking to numb pain, a lot of studies show that in times of recession, even what’s happening now, people do turn to alcohol as a very quick way to deal with depression, anxiety, sleepless nights, etc. Again, I do not support that that is why anyone would turn to drinking. But also, people are much more budget-conscious. So, if you’re out and you want to have fun with your friends and you want to have a little bit of a buzz, it’ll take you a much quicker time getting there with a glass or two of wine or one or two whiskeys than it would with a traditional macro beer. The other thing is that beer has always been seen as something that’s very affordable, but when you get to these beers that are higher-end that are higher in alcohol, the crafts, you get to a price point that people start saying, well I can see why I would’ve paid that during boom times. Beer became a luxurious item to me but now in a recession, why am I spending $14.99 or $15.99, $16.99 on a 4-pack of beer? Which is basically what has flooded the market in the craft beer world, right? And so they probably turn away from that and say, I’d much rather spend $20 on a bottle of wine than $14.99, $15.99 on a 4-pack of beer. That’s also what I was thinking, because what we’re seeing now in the coronavirus is that the price of wine — a lot of people are paying around 20 bucks. Which indicates that people are still willing to pay for quality. But I wonder if the thought process there is: Well it’s more glasses, it’s a little bit more communal. Spirits, I understand. Spirits is the easiest one, right? Spirits is just bang for buck. But the beer one is hard to understand for sure.

E: Yeah, and I think one takeaway, I should mention all the recession data that I was referring to is the IWSR. Their takeaways both now and Nielsen’s takeaways as well is that we’re seeing double-digit sales growth at retail. We’re seeing a ton of sales happening at retail. The most of that volume that is moving through retail right now is value brands. People are definitely focused on value brands, and I think that takes us into the macro-lagers. That takes us into all of the less-expensive, not craft spirits and wines. There’s definitely that value proposition that consumers are looking for right now.

Z: It’s kind of interesting to think going forward about the specific contours of what this recession would look like. Because unlike everything else that we’ve discussed, you know the previous couple of recessions going back as far as you want, one element that’s going to be very different with this recession is the lingering questions about public health and safety and to what extent that is going to work alongside a recession to drive consumer business. Adam, I was just listening to and editing your upcoming interview with Francesco Zonin, and it was really interesting to hear him talk about how for their company, which has wineries not just in Italy but in other parts of the world, work across a wide range of price points from very affordable value brands to luxury wines. To think about looking ahead to this upcoming, the ongoing and upcoming recession and selling higher-end wine might be challenging in the first place. You’re also going to be combining the challenge with the fact that for a lot of people things like on-premise, or restaurant and bar sales may not return at all. Or may return in a much more constrained manner.

A: Yeah.

Z: What I really wonder is what some of these producers (and it’s not just the high-end wine, it’s high-end spirits, high-end beer as you were talking about), do we see these things in grocery stores? Because a lot of what Erica is talking about has to do with the product mix at your typical grocery store, as she’s experienced. It is oriented around the kind of person who is going to, in normal times, do their wine shopping day-of at a grocery store. Which is a lot of people. It’s the bulk of the market.

A: Yeah.

Z: But those people are generally looking for $15 to $20 bottles of wine if that, and they’re not necessarily saying: ‘Oh, let me think about what I’m going to want to drink for the next two months. Let me collect. It is wines that are grab-and-go in a functional sense and beer and spirits, too, for the most part. One of these questions, and I don’t have a clear answer, it’s just been kicking around my brain for a while: To what extent does the limited opportunities to buy, combined with perhaps limited purchasing power, really drive what people are buying in the next six months or a year? I wonder if it’ll be skewed even more heavily towards these value brands than it normally would be.

A: I don’t know. I think… I think there’s a few things that we’re seeing now that could be interesting. One, I think we’re going to have to see these brands, that are normally restaurant-focused brands, move to off-premise. I read a news analysis this morning actually, I should’ve sent it to you guys, but Terlato has put out a bunch of numbers that show that within the first week they shifted a bunch of brands that were on-premise only, including Gaja, or primarily on-premise only, to lots of off-premise retailers, and the sales have started to boom. What they’ve seen is that there were lots of off-premise retailers that really wanted these wines. They were just never offered them because Terlato had positioned them as restaurant wines. And there are people in these areas where they are selling them now that have wanted to buy them, saying “Holy crap, this is what that wine looks like without a three-times mark-up.” Because they were only ever buying them at restaurants. So, I think you will see that re-positioning, and that is I don’t completely agree about the Francesco Zonin interview, where he said there are certain brands that can only exist in restaurants. I actually don’t think that’s true. I think good wine can exist everywhere, and I think that that’s an old-school wine-industry idea. There are certain wines that can only become who they are in the restaurant. It’s not true. If it’s a good wine and you go to a great wine shop, and the person behind the counter is knowledgeable (which a lot of these wine shops nowadays are), they can sell that wine to a consumer and explain to them why: what they should make with it and how they should drink it at home. I also think that in addition to that, right Zach, we’re talking about the risk of going out, right? So how much are you going to be willing to pay and take the risk? I know Erica and I were having this conversation about a week ago in our editorial meeting. Am I willing to go out and sit at a restaurant, first of all, in a recession? So, hopefully everything goes well and everyone that you know still has a good job? But someone you know maybe doesn’t, and they’re a guest with you, so you’re being more budget- conscious because of that. Also because there’s just uncertainty. Plus, there’s the social distancing that we may have for the next X amount of time so are you willing to pay $27 for a cheeseburger? Or $20? Are you willing to pay $16 anymore for a cocktail, or is only $10 what you’re willing to spend out? Because you’re saying, if I’m already taking the risk, I’m also not going to get what I feel like is now fleeced. I wonder how much that will play, too, in this recession. Because at least in past recessions, as we’ve said, there wasn’t the added risk of feeling like you were vulnerable being in the restaurant. Now there are some people who could feel that. Although people are saying that obviously in China opening back up, they don’t see that as much, but we’ll see, once the Western world gets ahold of this thing, how we react because we’re all neurotic. So I wonder if that will impact it. Erica what do you think?

E: There’s so many facets. It’s just so hard to really know what is going to come out of this, and where we’re going to be moving forward. One of the things I was just thinking about and we were discussing as part of an article we just did, was about low- and no-ABV wine — well, spirits mostly — but the low- and no-ABV movements that have been emerging and are in their nascent stages. But a lot of brands and even Distill Ventures backed by Diageo has incubated a lot of these brands, that are these low- and no-ABV spirits that are selling out there these bottles, $30 dollars for a 700-milliliter bottle, for example. Now you have small brands, which may be low- and no-ABV brands, which don’t have that bang for your buck. What’s going to happen to this whole other sector of craft? Where are we going to go in literally every single different sector? There is a different challenge that we’re facing, and it’s really hard to know how this is all going to shake out.

A: It’s going to be really interesting. I think we can have some idea from the past, but I think Zach, what you bring up is really important to remember. The reason that we’re gonna have this recession is very different than the past. And it adds a whole new layer to things that I think we’ve never thought about before. I think coupled on top of that is this idea that a lot of us, we’ve seen this. Last week we had our best traffic week ever besides New Year’s Eve, besides the week of New Year’s, right? And we are seeing massive traffic to our wine recommendations and cocktail recipes. And so we know from that, that people are drinking better at home and making cocktails at home. I guess what I’m trying to say in a way too long way is….

Z: For the first time ever on this podcast.

A: I know, seriously. Hey, you’re guilty of it, too.

Z: Oh, me? Definitely.

A: Prior to 2008? I didn’t know how to make a drink. Even though there was a recession I still, if I wanted a really good drink, was going to ultimately go out and treat myself. Now I feel like I’ve perfected how to make pretty good drinks over the last X weeks. I feel like all of us on this podcast have gotten even better at it. I feel like there’s a lot of my friends who have been sending me pictures of all the great drinks they’ve been making and all the great wines they’ve discovered, and again then it comes into starting to do this calculus in your head: Why would I go out? I know how to make a good drink here, and I know that I can buy the spirit I like and these ingredients. I do the math and it comes down to costing me $3 to make this one cocktail. And out there it’s $15.

Z: That was the point I was going to make, and I have one other thing to add to it. It’s good! We’re on the same page here. Adam, you mentioned earlier that people are going to look at some of these wines that they maybe didn’t totally realize what the wholesale price was. Or even what the price at retail would be and say, “Well, why do I wanna pay two-and-a-half, three, three-and-a-half times markup in a restaurant when I can buy that bottle, if I can buy that bottle somewhere else and open it at home? And whether it’s people being more willing to cook after this because they’ve had to, to some extent, or even just more familiar with or comfortable with delivery services, or even picking up for takeout. I think those are things that are going to stick around for a while because even as restaurants reopen, they’re going to have to have some significant delivery presence just to keep volume up. You’re right, I think we’re going to be in an era. In some ways as someone who’s worked in restaurants for a long time it depresses me, but also as someone who likes to entertain and to cook, I do think we’re going to see when people start moving back out into the world in some controlled way. I think a lot of what you’re going to see is people getting together with their friends, with their family and showing off their skills, right? Showing off their cooking skills, their baking skills, their ability to make cocktails. Maybe some wines that they really like. It does mean that for brands of all sizes, what they’re going to have to do going forward to remain a vibrant part of the marketplace is they’re going to have to figure out how to get inside that loop, right? And whether that’s through recommendations on sites like VinePair or whether that’s through being more present in grocery stores, the sorts of liquor and wine shops that are open. The gatekeepers are going to be a little different than they have been in the past and that I think is actually not a bad thing. Adam, you and I have sort of bemoaned a couple times on this podcast way back, 10 thousand years ago, the gatekeeper effect that sommeliers had taken on in some parts of the wine world and it’s no different with other categories as well.

A: Totally.

Z: And this is, you know, shaking the snow globe up and while there’s a lot of negatives and I’m not saying this is good, but it is the case that there is an opportunity here for everyone involved, whether you’re a producer, you’re a consumer, you’re someone who is on the on-premise or off-premise side, to say how do I get inside that loop, and how do I connect with people who are going to be enjoying these products in a functionally different way than they did six months ago?

E: And one interesting thing is, I have been so interested in the past year or two years about the premiumization trend… That was the trend around more consumers wanting to drink less, but better… with a little bit of the lower ABV or not quite sober-curious but moving into that idea of just not drinking as much volume, but drinking better quality. So, the question I have related to entertaining at home and really understanding your products better and experimenting more with making cocktails and so forth is: In this recessionary environment, will we see that trend continue? I think that’s something that could be really, really interesting to explore in an article or something. In this environment, will consumers, now that they know more, now that they’re entertaining in small, intimate groups and really understanding their products better, will they continue that move?

A: That’s really interesting. I think that’s a good place for us to leave it, too. With that question of what will happen? And will people continue to move premium or not? Because I honestly don’t know. I would like to hope yes.

Z: Yeah, this is like our first ever cliff-hanger ending podcast.

E: Now we’re going to have to write about it.

A: I know. I would like to hope yes. That the premiumization trend will continue. I have to think that it will a little bit just because you have an entire generation who have gotten used to these nice things. I don’t see them all of a sudden turning away from them. I see them as you were saying, Erica: maybe buying less. But when they do buy, buying higher quality. I don’t see this whole millennial generation that’s embraced organic and biodynamic and craft all of a sudden saying, “You know what, I’ll just take whatever the $6 jug is.” I just don’t. But, maybe that’s me. I think that what could skew the data unfortunately in the short term is there’s still a lot of boomers out there, and they for sure will in this recession. But I do think that the Gen Xers and the millennials and the Gen Zs will probably continue to move premium just because that’s what they’ve been doing. And I don’t think you’ll see a massive reverse.

E: Yeah.

Z: I agree.

A: This was another interesting one. Everyone listening, thanks for spending your morning, afternoon, evening with us – whenever it is you’re now listening to this podcast. We really appreciate it. If you continue to enjoy the VinePair podcast of course always drop us a line at podcast@vinepair.com. Let us know what you enjoy, what you don’t, and topics you’d like to see us cover in the future. And, of course, always please leave a review, rating etc. on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever it is that you get your podcasts. It helps everyone discover what we’re doing here at VinePair. Erica, Zach, talk to you next week.

E: See you then.

Z: Sounds great.

The article VinePair Podcast: How Will the Coming Recession Change the Drinks Industry? appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/drinks-industry-changes-recession/ source https://vinology1.tumblr.com/post/616647664855121920

[recentanimenews]

So You Think You Can Be an Anime Brand Manager

Before I joined Crunchyroll as part of our events team I spent over a decade at FUNimation (I still have to remember to not use all caps when writing the word ‘FUN’ anymore). During my time there I had a variety of different jobs. One of those jobs early on in my time there was as a Brand Manager. A Brand Manager’s main job (during my time there) was to oversee launches and promotions for DVD releases. This was around the mid to late 2000s, so before streaming became the main way to watch anime and DVD multi-part box sets ruled the land.

  Over the years I worked as a Brand Manager, I and other Brand Managers came across a lot of different experiences with the brands we worked on. Some of these were challenging or at the very least entertaining. The idea came to me that if I find these things entertaining some anime fans might, as well. So I decided to make a workshop to host at conventions about what it was like being a Brand Manager in anime and throw people into some of the more interesting situations that some of us had come across. Of course, I could not share the exact details of these events or any names. Partners stop being your friend-DA when you break your NDA. We had to make a fake anime series, so Ninja Blood War Host Club in Space was born!

Adam in the Brand Manager workshop days! 

Working with some other people in the company we came up with a summary, taglines, general information, and even some art. Now having all these assets I wrote up six different parts of launching a brand and gave each scenario a selection of possible outcomes for people to choose from as how to deal with each situation. I gave the workshop the name, “Shoot The Hostage - An Adventure in Brand Management” to help get people to attend. The term “shoot the hostage” referred to the famous moment from the Keanu Reeves '90s action movie classic Speed, which had the idea of stopping a gunman from taking a hostage by shooting the hostage in the leg so the gunman had to let them go to get away. Basically trying to make the best, but difficult, decision possible in a bad situation. I don’t remember how many conventions I took this to but it was fun to watch people try and tackle a multitude of surprises at each one.

  I have not hosted this workshop in a long time, but found myself thinking about it again recently. I thought it would be fun to share it online now since the anime world has grown so much with streaming, Crunchyroll, and more, making this more of a snapshot of anime brand management from over a decade ago... but I couldn’t find the original file! Pretty sure I lost it on some old hard drive. Then Lauren on our events team reminded me she went to one of these workshops before she worked at Crunchyroll. She still had the original paper copy I handed out to everyone in attendance, and now you have it as well!

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as we enjoyed putting it together. Excited to see what answers you decide to go with for each of the scenarios thrown at you. Now you are the Brand Manager - good luck!

Ninja Blood War Host Club in Space 

  Fact Sheet

Number of episodes: 26 

Release packaging strategy: Two 13-episode box sets, 3 months apart 

Episode running time: 22 minutes 

Licensor: Super-Lucky-Fun-Time! Consortium Project 

Original Production Studio: Kermit 

Rights: DVD, Merchandise, Broadcast, download to own, streaming (5-7 minute clips) 

Possible US retailers: 

Online - Congo.com, Correcthings.com 

Brick & Mortar - Great Purchase, MoonCoast, Ceiling*Mart, and misc. local anime shops 

  Available high-res art:

Character art, 8 images (one of each of the main characters) 

Promo art, 4 images 

Japanese DVD art, 6 images 

Misc. images, 15 images 

  Summary: 

Koyuki witnesses his ninja clan fall to the forces of DREAM, a rogue host club bent on conquering the universe one teenage heart at a time. Led by the impossibly charming Shinji Blue, DREAM waltzes toward galactic domination - until Koyuki infiltrates their ranks, disguised as a transfer student from Gamma Prime. 

  Koyuki abducts Shinji and escapes DREAM's orbital stronghold, but a freak cosmic storm forces a crash landing on Silk-X, an uncharted hot springs world. To get off the planet, the brooding ninja and handsome host must work together to find the ancient Blood Rose. It's definitely not going to be easy. Silk-X's only inhabitants are women -- and the natives are restless! 

  Taglines: 

In space, no one can hear you scream with delight! 

Their Lethal Charm won't be enough. 

    Step #1: Initial Branding - (12 months before street date) 

  All right, you've studied your brand, watched all the episodes, and are familiar with your resources. You're about to sit down with the all the key department heads for the creative kick-off meeting (this is the meeting where the core ideas and plans are first created) and you need to decide who is the demographic (target age range, gender ratio, and general psychograph) as well as start to create an initial brand look. 

  Issues: The brand has an underlying 'cute' storyline and a decent amount of comical moments, but what will reach the largest audience as well as being truest to the brand is focusing on the characters and the action. Everyone does not agree on what would be best to focus on internally. 

  Do you... 

  a) Not care about what they think and move forward with what you want. You are the Brand Manager. Remember, it's your ass on the line. 

  b) Go with the opinion of others in spite of your own since you will have to work with them on this project and you don't need it to be any more difficult than it already is. 

  c) Keep everyone's opinion in mind and not make a final decision on what you want to do until after the meeting. 

  d) Go with what you believe in but be willing to compromise. 

  e) Go with what you believe in and be willing to debate your decision until most everyone agrees. 

    Step #2: DVD Packaging - (10 months before street date) 

  You and the Graphic Artist for the brand are going through the 35 pieces of art that Japan sent over to decide what to use for the two 13-episode box set releases for the show. The original DVD images mostly appeal to people who have already seen the show (It was a big hit on Japanese TV) and you would rather not use them for the covers. Luckily you have explained this to the Licensor and they understand. 

  Issues: Unfortunately, most of these images come with rules on how they are to be used set by the Licensor. Here are the rules - which you got months after licensing the brand:

  All promo art is only to be used for promotional materials. 

5 specific images from the Misc. images group were exclusive to Japanese cell-phone game images and can only be used for cell phone games.  

5 other specific images from the Misc. images group can only be used for calendars.

2 more specific images from the Misc. images group are not to be used at all since the artist who drew them and the director of the series had a 'disagreement.' 

Do not crop or vector any character images.

  This leaves you the 8 pieces of character art for limited use, the 6 original DVD covers you don't think work best for the brand, and 3 Misc. images. These last three images have issues as well since one is from their Christmas special, another is a group shot at the beach, and the last one is a great image but it's horizontal, which US retailers don't like. 

  Do you... 

  a) Pick the two best original Japanese cover images and call it a day. 

  b) Ask for forgiveness, not approval and crop the character images together to create the best DVD covers. 

  c) Work with your Graphic Artist to make the packaging design super amazing and put some of the unchanged character art on the cover. 

  d) Explain to Japan that that they need to provide more artwork, but this will force the street date to move. 

  e) Go with the horizontal image and let your Sales department push it through to the US retailers. 

    Step #3: Media Plan - (6 months before street date) 

  You have finished your media plan for the brand and the print ads are about to start being sent out to publications. The back of the box is still in for approval but you have a picture of the front and spine of the first box set at the bottom of the ad. This is important so that people will know what the box looks like when they go pick it up at their local retailer. 

  Issues: You receive an e-mail from the licensor concerning your ad that reads as follows: 

  "you can not show the font and spine of the box because that would imply that there is a back of the box, and the back of the box is not yet approved.” 

  The print ads have to be at the first four publications within 48 hours. You would call them about this issue but it is Bronze Week, a national holiday, in Japan and your contact won't be back in the office till 5 days from now. 

  Do you... 

  a) Pretend you didn't see this e-mail till after you sent out these ads and hope the licensors don't see them. 

  b) Remove the box from the print ad. 

  c) Use just the front of the box, making it more 2-D, to try and get around the issue. 

  d) Give the ad space to another Brand Manager to use for another brand and rework your media plan.

e) Send out the print ad and explain to the licensor why you decided to ignore their request when they get back. 

  Step #4: Fan Feedback - (4 months before street date) 

  You have distributed your 60-second brand trailer all over the internet for people to get excited about. The trailer was designed to reach your target demographic in both the anime fan and mass-market areas. It is an intro to the series for both those familiar with it or not. 

  Issues: Some of the more hardcore fans do not like that the trailer doesn't show off each and every subplot and underlying storyline throughout the series in those 60 seconds. Adding to the railing of hate that is being posted online about the trailer, most of the fans that don't like the trailer are arguing what the focus of it should be. There seems to be at least six different schools of thought on this issue. 

  Do you... 

  a) Spend the next few days online explaining to the fans why the trailer is the way it is. 

  b) Contact one of the larger anime press websites about sending out your message to the fans that can be summed up as, “screw the little bastards.” 

  c) Re-cut a new trailer taking in account what you think could make it more fan friendly. You will need to cut back on the number of brand trailers you plan to make for the series overall to give the Trailer department time to do this. 

  d) Remove the trailer and post clips from the show earlier than you had planned. 

  e) Do nothing, move forward. 

    Step #5: Convention Events - (3 months before street date) 

  You have been working on a cosplay event for the largest anime/comic/movies convention in the US. You have put together cosplay events in the past and followed the same event creation format for this one. The event is less than 30 days out and almost everything is done and on schedule. 

  Issues: The original creators were not kept in the loop on the event and are now asking for the cosplayers to only use the official Japanese costumes so that only official goods are being used to promote the brand. The biggest problems with this are that there are only 3 official costumes of the 10 characters you need and all the pants have 18" waist measurements. 

  Do you... 

  a) Scrap the event and tell all the cosplayers just to wear official brand t-shirts and pass out flyers instead. 

  b) Let the Events Manager know he can only use the cosplayers in non-official ways and ask for them to come up with an alternative way of making the event work. 

  c) Inform the original creators that its too late to change the event even though this could greatly hurt your relationship with them and the licensor down the road. 

  d) Save the event for a later, but smaller, convention to give you more time to rebuild and redesign to meet the original creator's requests. 

  e) Offer the event to another Brand Manager who could use cosplayers at the convention without any approval issues. 

  Step #6: Product Sample - (2 months before street date) 

  The Inventory department has been working with the manufacturers of the first box set to ensure that all the specification requested are being met. They have just sent over a final product sample for you to take a look at. Please keep in mind that this sample is from the box sets that are, as of 7 days ago, already printing. 

  Issues: The box looks great in almost every way except that the color of one of the show's main characters on the front of the box wrong. His clothing should be white, not tan. You are very aware that pretty much everyone who worked on the show in Japan as well as most of the fans will notice this. 

  Do you... 

  a) Destroy all the boxes printed so far, eat the cost for this, and change the street date to give the manufacturer time to print more. 

  b) Make a running change on all the boxes not printed yet - about 40% of the initial printing. 

  c) Tell the manufacturer they need to fix this, cover the costs, and still make the same date. The downside to this would be if the manufacturer will not agree to do this you would be stuck with a full order of misprinted box sets. 

  d) Make a running change on all the boxes not printed yet and let both the licensor and the fans know of the error and what you are doing to fix it before street date. 

  e) Do not correct the art on the first box since it could stop people from purchasing the DVDs until they find the corrected one. 

  What answers did you choose for each scenario? Let us know how your brand manager experiment went in the comments!

    By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[thepaleadventurer]

I don’t know about y’all, but I have a weakness for yoga attire, mostly for the comfortable wear all the pieces are designed to provide, but also for the durability of the clothing. I’ve worn so many clothing items that don’t last longer than a month of usage, just from low-quality materials used. I know, I know, you’re probably thinking, “Why don’t you just save money and invest in better quality clothing?” My issue with that is that I’ve bought higher-end labels, and ended up with the same results. A lot of time those higher prices come from attention to detail, more than quality of material. What I mean by that is that brands will use a more hands-on manufacturing process, rather than everything being done by machines, but at the end of the day, certain types of material aren’t going to hold up whether someone stitches it by hand or if a machine does it.

I’m not bad-mouthing anyone’s profession, because I know tailoring is hard work and it’s rough on people’s bodies, especially their hands. My issue is with the material, not the attention-to-detail. Yoga attire just suits my lifestyle so perfectly because I live a very casual life, filled with yoga, hikes, brunch, beach days, and the like. I’m not saying I never wear nice clothing, I’m just saying that yoga clothes are (generally) made to be more durable for the versatility of being able to be worn in different situations.

Yes, I am also that person who almost always lives in yoga clothes, hate me if you must, but I’ve learned that life is a whole lot happier and easier when you’re comfortable. Insert one of the best clothing subscriptions I’ve seen to date, YogaClub. My issue with most other clothing subscriptions is that they charge you to put together an outfit, AND you still have to purchase whatever pieces you want to keep after that. WHAT?! Sounds like some kind of Ponzi scheme for clothing. Okay, that may be over-dramatic, but if you’re like me, you were probably also thinking that “opportunity” sounds like the biggest ripoff, because we work hard for our money and it feels like companies like that try to pull the rug over us. Oh, and the products they send you are sold to you at retail, so you don’t even have any kind of incentive from it, they just want to get as much money out of you as they can.

Okay, I’ll stop hating on shady business practices (IMO) and get to the good stuff. So, YogaClub starts you off with a PERSONALIZED style quiz, meaning they pick out products that fit your lifestyle and taste, so you don’t have to worry about getting sent some cookie-cutter outfit that hundreds of other people will get that you may not even like. For example, I don’t care so much for patterns or bright colors, just because I know I am planning on working out in these clothes and I don’t want to have to baby them like I would a dress for a special event. I also don’t like shorts, so they never send me those, and a great feature is they ask if there are any areas you’d like to draw attention from, for me, that’s my midsection. I’m not the skinniest of women, and I’m okay with that, but I also want to dress appropriately for my body type and not have to feel self-conscious about people judging me. With that being said, that is a personal preference ENTIRELY. If you have features that others have bullied over, but are still confident wearing whatever pieces make you feel comfortable in your own body, work it! I am not at that point yet, so I set those preference accordingly.

My only issue is that I have to wait around 2 weeks to get my box, but that’s more on me being impatient than the company not being of great quality, because they truly are. I have been a loyal customer and bigger fangirl of this company LOOONNNGG before they gave me the opportunity to be an affiliate. Once my box arrived, it was like Christmas, every single month. I get 3 pieces that make a great outfit, all for a fraction of the price they’re sold online or in store. I’m talking a huge fraction, too. A lot of the times, my pants are the price of the box, and everything else is pretty much free, based on their retail value.

What’s really admirable about this company is that every box that’s purchased, they provide a free yoga class to someone who isn’t fortunate enough to have the ease of access to it regularly. If buying comfortable clothes at a severely discounted rate is enough to persuade you to love this company, helping someone less-fortunate and your karma is just a pretty awesome bonus.

Now, I’m just going to get on with the unboxing and let y’all see for yourselves.

Here’s how the package arrives:

Let’s see what’s inside:

So, this month, I received a sports bra, top, and pants.

The bra is from Glyder Apparel and provides great coverage for this busty yogini, but there is an issue with the side-boob area where it kind of sticks outwards. It’s weird, but not a deal-breaker. The support is on the very light side, but I put that on the aesthetic of the back design. Most of the time, you won’t have good support for busty customers without thicker straps, it just is what it is. I’m still someone who would rather wear a sports bra over a regular bra any day, so I just do what my old chiropractor recommended and layer up on bras. I know that might seem weird, but it’s still a heck of a lot more comfortable for me than having underwires aching my chest and straps digging into my shoulders all day. So, here is what the bra looks like:

The top is from Vie Active, another great brand and its fitted quite nicely. Yes, it does fit my midsection, that area I’d prefer to cover, but I think the pattern and the compression from the pants help counter that. It’s breathable for any workout and I don’t have to re-adjust it constantly during the day, like I do with a lot of fitted things. The reason with that is most clothes are made very cookie-cutter. Sometimes it feels like clothing companies shape their pieces into boxes, as if you have to be proportionate throughout your body, and that’s not the case for most consumers, so I don’t understand why companies still do this to us. Either clothes fit my waist, but not my chest, or vice versa and no matter what, it isn’t flattering and I’m left uncomfortable and self-conscious as all heck. This shirt provides not only comfort for casual wear, but it gives me the confidence to put it through the ringer with workouts, knowing that it’ll stay put so I can focus on improving my body and not yanking my shirt one way or another. Oh, inverted poses? Yeah, they’re safe with this guy. That was a huge plus. I have a bunch of yoga tops that are very flowy and super comfy, but are not ideal for inverted poses, so the shirts must come off, no biggie. But with this guy, I can live another day hiding my undesirable midsection, without having to get over my self-consciousness and remove my shirt for inverted poses.

Here’s what this ride-or-die looks like:

Now, on to the pants. At first, I was less-than-enthusiastic about them because I’m not the biggest fan of mesh and when I first joined, that wasn’t something they asked in the style quiz, now it is. So, these pants have mesh patterns in them which I thought was a recipe for disaster because that’s the material that will falter first, and then there is no saving the pants after that. After wearing them, I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked them. The company stayed true to the color scheme I like to keep to, so I appreciate them for that. The outfit contained colors I prefer, including the pants, so I wasn’t going to make a stink about a return since I ended up liking them. Now, they do ask if mesh is an issue, which I selected yes, because not every article of clothing will end up being a winner like this, because they work with TONS of brands and not everyone gets it right, so I decided not to risk it, but I still don’t fault the company on that. This is probably TMI for some people, maybe everyone, but if I’m being completely honest, I don’t like to shave every day and that was also a concern of mine with the mesh material, because I assumed I’d have to shave to be able to wear them or people could see my stubbly legs underneath. Nope. The mesh material is pretty tightly woven so you don’t really see if I haven’t shaved, but you can still tell that it’s see-through. Speaking of see-through, I know that transparency is a huge issue for people when it comes to yoga pants showing their undergarments when we squat or bend, but I’ve been a subscriber for years and never had a pair of pants that I couldn’t do gymnastics in without being 100% confident that the color of my undies remained a secret.

Here’s how they look:

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Well, how well do those pieces actually wear together?” Worry not, for I shall show you, my pretties. Disclaimer: I am not a model and as I’ve mentioned before, I do not have the skinniest or fittest frame (and I’m not ashamed of that because every body is beautiful), and I also don’t have a fancy studio or a team that will make me look flawless. Part of why I want to blog about my experiences is to show what results really look like without photoshop or any kind of altering or manipulating. What you get is 100% me with all of my awkwardness and that’s it. I have nothing against people who do alter their content, because it’s all a personal preference and that’s how they express themselves through their content, but my choice is to do the opposite and hope it works out.

So, flaws and all, here is how the entire outfit wears, first with the top, bra, and pants:

Then, with the bra & pants:

As I’ve mentioned, I am now an affiliate of the company, so I do receive compensation for purchases made through my links, but my reviews have been and always will be 100% honest. I will never work with a brand that I wouldn’t trust putting my own money into and I hope that y’all continue to hold me to that standard. With that being said, I am so grateful to this company for choosing me to be an affiliate for them, but I want to support companies I love, so I continue to pay for this subscription myself, nothing from this company has been sent to me for free. I think they’re already doing so much good by helping provide free yoga classes to those without easy access to them and I want to continue to support such a generous cause.

If you do want to try this subscription out for yourself (heed my warning: you will fall in love with them), you can follow my link here: YogaClub.

Thank y’all so much for spending some time on my blog to check out this post! If you enjoyed the content, please give this post a like and let me know your thoughts in the comment section and don’t forget to subscribe so that way you get notifications when I post new stuff.

Namaste ❤️

Unboxing: YogaClub (May 2018) I don't know about y'all, but I have a weakness for yoga attire, mostly for the comfortable wear all the pieces are designed to provide, but also for the durability of the clothing.

[thatguysamaniac-blog]

Every now and then a conversation sparks up round the water cooler at TGAM Towers that goes along the lines of someone asking "So is gaming mainstream yet?". Hours, insults, fisticuffs and a reminder on policy on worker in the work place later, inevitably the conclusion is a firm not yet.  We're not expecting an overnight transformation. But what would it take?  We have game inspired video games at the Box Office (okay so they're rarely great), Final Fantasy menus in restaurants, Splatoon and Pokemon collaboration ranges with Uniqlo, LEGO collaborations with Blizzard, Midway and SEGA. Museum exhibitions on video games, design and art. Gaming content seemingly dominates large swathes of the Internet from Youtube through to Youporn. Yet admitting that you choose to spend your time playing video games every now and then still feels, in the UK at least, akin to admitting that you strictly only eat the faces of babies because that's where the softest meat is.    When Does This Pre-Amble End? When it comes to the real world, specifically the high street, video games themselves have virtually no presence at all. In fact it's got worse since our budding interest grew in the 1990s. Arcades are all but dead, few cities have a dedicated game retailer (you might be able to find a grotty copy of NBA 2018 in one of those laptop/mobile repair shops), major supermarkets stock perhaps 4.5 games and media stores in general are critically endangered. TV never manged to 'get' gaming and even though Esports is making huge strides it's still not managed to topple the likes of darts, snooker and cricket from their prime time perches (or even get broadcast at all away from the Internet).  When we first got into gaming we'd wet our pants even when video games penetrated the mass media in the lamest ways from those Lucozade Tomb Raider ads. to the awful why-can't-anyone-crack-gaming-content-on-TV shows and even feigning support for those Resident Evil films when there was frankly nothing else on the horizon. However, now that Netflix is a national sport we're almost drowning in a rich and diverse soup of game-related content. Most of which is total pants. Some of which is bonkers and dare I say some might even have appeal beyond those who would call themselves a gamer (and cringes at the same time because nobody over the age of 12 unironically calls themselves a gamer). Gaming content is so prevalent on Netflix, it even has it's own category, two in fact! Does this mean gaming is mainstream yet? No you babyface eating monster it doesn't are you mad?  Gaming Shit Currently on UK Netflix (Alphabetically) The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 Okay so for all the hype up top, a lot of this stuff is cheesy kid's cartoons. This is a 30 year old cheesy cartoon loosely based on that hot new video game release Super Mario Bros. 3 and although a smidgen better than the Super Mario Bros. Super Show.... it's amazing this franchise didn't just die in the 90s. Remember King Koopa and Princess Toadstool? 13 episodes. 13 episodes too many.  Angry Birds Can any lawyers out there help? Is there some EU mandated law that means video game tie-in media has to come out decades after the thing it is based on became culturally irrelevant? Three seasons of this steaming mess and I've not got to the will to work out if this is related to the movie, the sequel movie out THIS YEAR(?), the toons series or how it will fit in with the WHO IS ASKING FOR THIS CONTENT 'long form' cartoon out in 2020. For those of you younger than 10, i.e. the target audience for this stuff, Angry Birds used to be a video game. Black Mirror Sometimes very video game inspired, sometimes not, this series makes us question our relationship with technology makes us feel even worse for prodding a phone screen and writing swears to other 14 year olds online. Recommended watching but not all in one go mind.  Castlevania Supposedly a decent anime version of the games. I've not watched all of it because I only played Castlevania 64 and Dawn of Sorrow and if you don't understand who any of the characters are, it's reaaalllly slow and boring. Worth a try if you actually have engaged with the critically acclaimed series unlike us.  Digimon Fusion Ergh. Dirty. No. Bad Mega Bloks. No. Dinosaur King Ahhh dinosaur games. Archaeologists have found ancient scrolls that record the Dinosaur King was actually a video game and collectible card game from 2005. This is the series from 2008 that absolutely is not based on Pokemon at all and mixes anime style and really really bad looking CGI.   Final Fantasy XIV: Dad of Light Okay, this series is actually brilliant. Remember how Pinball Wizard was a feature movie advert for Super Mario Bros. 3? Well this is a series length advert for Final Fantasy XIV told through the heart warming story of an awkward Japanese man and his awkward relationship with his awkward recently retired Dad and he tries to rebuild that relationship by getting him into Final Fantasy XIV because they used to play Final Fantasy together. Each week is a new challenge as his Dad quits because of a mechanic he doesn't understand that helpfully his son and his guildmates help explain. Passable on it's own but elevated to must watch by a few scenes that use familiar Final Fantasy sounds that get this glorified advert tugging on the heart strings.  Halo Shit Includes Halo 4: Forward Until Dawn, Halo Legends and Halo Fall of Reach. The first one is live action and frankly awful. Legends is to Halo what Animatrix was to the Matrix and worth a watch. I've watched Halo: Fall of Reach six or seven times and I can't tell you what happens so try it perhaps? Hi Score Girl Weird anime homage to early arcades told through the relationship of a nerdy arcade kid and an aloof posh girl who is very good at video games but not allowed to play them at home. Watch if you you always wondered about turtling in Street Fighter 2 but didn't actually look it up in the last 30 years. Probably very nostalgic for 30 something Japanese gamers. Which isn't us.  Ingress the Animation I've impressed myself that I didn't miss this. Remember Ingress the AR mobile game that nobody had heard of  until it got a Pokemon Go reskin? No neither did I. Well apparently someone along the way believed so strongly in the Ingress vision that they commissioned an anime series in 2018. Really slow. Extremely Japanese. If the game was anything like this then we can understand why nobody has heard of it.  Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV (NO LONGER AVAILABLE) This appears to have been pulled which is a shame as it was alright. Apparently, I'm reliably told the events of this film are really important to the context of the game and only told in this film. Errr tough anyway you missed it here.  Minecraft Story Mode Fuck off. Pacman and the Ghostly Adventures Perhaps takes the award for being the least relevant television tie-in ever. We got two seconds in before reaching for the revolver and the sweet release of a bullet kiss to the brain. All the tropes of Saturday morning cartoons with none of the charisma. Remarkably there's also a Halloween and Christmas Merry Berry short to make both of those holidays even more intolerable. Brilliant soundtrack though.   Pixels Probably the best worst video game related movie of all time. I'm not sure who the audience was when it came out and with each year gets more and more obscure. It stays the same amount of crap though which is a lot of crap.    Pokemon Want to watch only the first and last series of the anime and whatever random films seem to be on Netflix at the time? Knock yourself out. For us this is the UK being shit at commercialising this shit at its worst. Its very worst. The entirety of Pokemon has never been available in the UK at the same time ever. We never got VHS/DVD releases for most series or cinematic releases for some of the films. The Pokemon TV app frustratingly cycles episodes in and out and bizarrely Netflix is missing the middle 91 seasons and the first 38 films. It doesn't fucking matter anyway every episode is the same except the latest season where every episode is the same but set in a school BECAUSE WE'RE ALL CHILDREN AND WE FIND SCHOOL SUPER RELATABLE. There's also a creepy birthday video, hilariously with characters from a season otherwise not available on Netflix. Is it too much to ask to employ one person part-time to curate this shit? Rabbids Invasion File under striking whilst the iron is... you know what, I can't hate on the Rabbids. I really want to but honestly they're brilliant and most of their games are too. Probably brilliant. Strangely only the 4th season is available...?  Red Vs Blue The series that built the house of goofing around in games. Early seasons have not aged well at all. How did we put up with the awful sound and even worse 'plot'? 124 seasons of this madness though so if you're in palliative care and want to speed things along...   Resident Evil: Afterlife Hysterically, only the middle film is available serving the incredibly niche audience of people who like the Milaverse Resident Evil films but are four films behind.  Skylanders Academy Remember the smash hit wallet biting Toys to Life game series that ran itself and all the imitators into the ground from 2011 to 2016 and now fill attics and sheds the world over? Well now you can enjoy the 2018 animated series with all handfuls of your favourite characters. Set in a high school. There's also a weird 1 minute long happy birthday message thing that a lot of the kid's shows have done on Netflix so if you really hate your kid and want to let them know you should show them that on their birthday I guess.  Smosh the Movie Is this video games? They look cuntish enough to be Youtubers and this movie is exactly as awkward as you'd expect when Youtubers try to do something proper with make up, production values and nice cameras. Like that *cringes* Game Grumps series. Or when that *mega cringes* green haired kid did that Fortnite dance at that thing. Suggested watching if you're need that extra push to do the right thing and end yourself before it all gets a bit Fallouty round here. Sonic Boom This is the weird one that all the furries like. Tomb Raider I think the rebooted film before the current reboot? Is casting ladies from the North of the UK to be Lara Croft still a thing? In this movie Lara Croft, I kid you not, is a Deliveroo driver and... it does pick up from there but in a very formulaic and inoffensive kinda way. Video Game High School (NO LONGER AVAILABLE) And be fucking thankful. What if instead of lessons at school you played different video games? Live action series with hands down one of the worst cast of actors of all time. Ridiculous premise (which of course later sort of became real with several Universities running esports programmes) glad it got removed to be honest. Yokai Watch The new new Pokemon with 80% less appeal. Not 100% sure the game series is still going. Children's Shows and Toilet Contents So there we have it. No doubt there's a few I missed and some of this may have disappeared by the time you're reading this. A rich smorgasbord of children's cartoons and questionable content that got a pass because it's video games. At the time of writing, there's virtually no adult content and currently no documentaries. Which is a shame. If they wanted, Netflix could become the de facto place for curated traditionally produced gaming related content from Street Fighter live action movie and animated series, the CG Resident Evil Films, Pinball Wizard, King of Kong, Silent Hill one and two, the Dead Space films etc. etc. Instead it seems that they're content to maintain this weird ever changing half complete line up of irrelevant at launch factory manufactured kid's shows and single films from a series. Perhaps they are right though, there's no point competing with YouTube and Twitch which now host infinity hours worth of quality content that gamers are already spending millions of pounds on supporting. Is gaming mainstream yet? Looks like we need to wait until one of the grumpy white middle class hacks at the Guardian produces an op-ed on why they're giving up on Rabbids Invasion despite everyone at dinner parties talking about it or how Smosh the Movie made them bicurious one evening.  It's perhaps better to stay in the margins of the old media whilst defining new media (at a ripe young 40), after all REALLY PUNCHY FINISHER. Right?

http://www.thatguys.co.uk/2019/07/gaming-shit-on-netflix.html

[greentea-studying]

50 things I wish I knew as a high school freshman

I’m graduating high school today so I feel like I’m qualified to share this list now. Hope it helps some of you.

Everyone learns differently and needs to study at a different level. If your friends don't need to study for a class, it doesn't mean you don't have to.

Strive for effort, not results. If you set your goals to be straight A's, you can run out of steam quickly when courses get hard. Instead, aim for trying hard and improving. If the improvement is from a D to a C, that's still improvement.

You don't have to love your teachers, but be nice. Be polite, show up on time, and participate when you can. If a teacher likes you, they will be more likely to bump your grade up a little or grade you easier, plus you’re going to need letters of recommendation at some point.

If you're shy and don't want to raise your hand, teachers get it. Don't let that drop your participation grade, though! Participation is more than raising your hand. That can be up to 10 or 15 percent of your grade and it adds up. Meet with teachers in private or email them questions, they want to know you care.

Mental health days are vital. If you can't handle class one day, that's okay, but don't let a mental health day become a mental health week.

If you are struggling mentally, see a professional. This can be with friendships, stress, relationships, school, motivation, ANYTHING. Seriously, therapy and talking through stuff is so helpful. If you can't afford one or can't safely tell your parents, talk to a friend or, even better, a teacher or other adult.

Your friends are going to change. Trust me, this happens to everyone, and it WILL happen to you. Someone told me this in my freshman year and I said "but that won't happen to ME and my friend, because we're different," I was wrong. You and your friends are growing up and changing. If you grow apart, that's okay. Chances are, you'll still be good friends just not BEST friends anymore. That's okay.

Join a club, I know you hear this all the time but JOIN A CLUB. You will meet new people who like the same thing and it looks good on a resume.

Speaking of resumes, don't join something just because it will look good. I know so many people who joined student council just for their resume and hated it. Getting super involved in a small club will always look better than barely participating in a major club.

Don't pick your classes based on what your friends are taking. You will hate the classes and doing well will be hard. Taking a class you love with new people is better than taking a class you hate with your friends.

Don't take an advanced course unless you are prepared. Getting an A in a basic class is better than failing an AP.

Be nice. It can seem like the rude kids have the most friends but, trust me, you will be so much happier and more liked in the end if you just are nice to people.

Popularity doesn't mean anything. It will not make you happy or make you any more real friends than you already have. Just be genuine and your friend group will develop.

Don't do drugs or smoke, seriously, it'll fuck you up. BUT, if you are going to, make sure you know what you're taking and are with close friends. Never accept drugs from a stranger or do anything alone. And seriously stay the fuck away from meth and heroin. They are so addictive and will affect you for the rest of your life from even just one use. But just don't do drugs in the first place.

Listen to music you actually like. The music you listen to right now is going to have a lot of meaning to you later on.

If your school offers a tutoring service, use it! It's often free and super helpful. Don't make the mistake of saying "tutoring is for stupid people" because it's not, even the smartest people sometimes need to hear a lesson from another perspective in order to understand.

If a class is boring, find someone who is interested in it to help you understand it. A passionate teacher/tutor makes a world of difference. Even if it's a YouTube video, listening to someone who likes the topic will make it so much more interesting and also make it easier to understand.

Be careful what you put online. Colleges and jobs may look at your social media, don’t have stuff you don’t want them to see if your accounts are public, especially underage drinking or drug use.

Playing video games, watching tv, and napping are great relaxation techniques, don’t let society convince you that reading classic novels is the only way intellectuals spend their free time.

Don’t be afraid when your interests change! You may go into high school thinking you know exactly what you want, but trust me, that could very well change. Just be open to new passions.

Volunteer! Find a cause you’re passionate about and help out. No matter what you’re interested in, you can find a similar organization that needs help. It will make you feel good and look good on college applications, especially if you start early.

Never turn down an extra credit opportunity, no matter what your grade in the class is, you never know how that next test is going to go and an extra couple points might save you.

Relationships are great but don’t let them take over your life, they usually don’t last (sorry) and school is more important, if they really are the one then they will stick around even if you need to make time for yourself.

Educate yourself on safe sex and communicate your needs with your significant other. Your school probably doesn’t teach you enough.

Take the time now to make your handwriting neat. You are going to have teachers that refuse to grade tests if they’re hard to read, don’t make yourself have to fix it in a week later on, start working on it now and it will get better.

There’s nothing wrong with not dating in high school, don’t let all those teen romance movies trick you into thinking everyone gets a boyfriend/girlfriend in high school, wait until you find someone you really want to be with, even if that doesn’t happen in high school.

Start researching colleges early. Don’t stress about where you’ll get in yet, but just start looking into what you want, this will narrow your options down when you start looking into specific schools.

Don’t ever pull an all-nighter before a test, you won’t remember what you studied and you won’t be focused enough to even communicate what you do know.

Never be ashamed of what you’re passionate about, even if you think it’s stupid. That passion may well lead you to a future job.

Similarly, never make fun of someone’s passion. Nothing can destroy someone’s self-esteem faster than sharing their passion and having it be shot down, don’t ever do that to someone.

Learn to cook! So many people go into life with no knowledge of how to cook for themselves and go broke trying to afford going out to dinner every day. Cooking your own food is cheaper and better for you, learn how to make some basic stuff now and you’ll be making all sorts of things when you move out.

Stay up with politics and never miss an opportunity to vote. If I hear one of y’all say “I didn’t vote because politics doesn’t affect me” I swear I will cry. Politics will always affect you. The next election, no matter how small, will impact your school, your taxes, your neighborhood, and basically all aspects of your life. Just take the time once and a while to see what’s happening.

Take classes that make you happy even if they aren’t related to what you want to do in the future. If you want to take art every year but don’t want to go to art school, that’s fine, just make sure you get those core classes in too.

Don’t overbook yourself, make sure you’ve got some free time every week.

Retail therapy might make you feel better, but set a budget, don’t let that bad day put you back 200 dollars. I recommend using the Chrome extension that lets you add things from other sites to an Amazon wishlist. You’ll feel like you’re shopping because you’re saving things you like but you don’t spend any money.

 Get a job if you can, even if you don’t love it. The more work experience you have, the easier it’ll be to get a better job later on. That being said, don’t get a horrible job that treats you badly and takes up more time than it’s worth, first jobs usually aren’t the best, but they shouldn’t be horrible.

If you are uncomfortable in a situation, leave. Trust your instincts, they might save you. This goes for people too, don’t hang around someone who makes you uncomfortable, no matter what.

Questioning your sexuality does not make you any different than you were before, questioning is good, don’t freak out if you want to explore. Sexuality is fluid and questioning does not commit you to being gay/bi/pan/whatever for the rest of your life, just do what makes you happy and figure the rest out as you go.

Get the hell out of any abusive relationships, you don’t owe them shit. If someone hurts you and says they won’t do it again, they’re lying, get out. This goes for both physical and mental abuse, get the fuck away from them and go live your best life.

No one else knows that they’re doing either, trust me.

Don’t rely on other people for activities. Go to a movie or coffee shop or wherever by yourself. Don’t just sit at home when no one is around.

Learn some stuff outside of school, it will give you so much confidence later on. Learn a language or new hobby or something that isn’t boiled down to a letter grade.

Don’t start to rely on soda and sports drinks. Stick to water and add in tea, juice, etc when you’re bored. Soda, sports drinks, and energy drinks are really bad for you so save them for special occasions.

Splurge money on good food, comfy clothes, and concerts. A 60 dollar concert means so much more than 20 dollars worth of trinkets that will just clutter your room.

Take pictures of your friends, good pictures, bad pictures, any pictures. You will treasure them later on.

Don’t delete old pictures because you look bad in them or don’t like them anymore. You changed, that’s a good thing, but those memories are still important.

Splurge on a mud or clay mask over a sheet mask. Sheet masks are way cheaper than other face masks because they are usually less effective and can only be used once. Plus, a sheet mask is WAY more likely to make you break out or cause an allergic reaction because you can’t test them out before applying them to your face.

Pack your own lunches or get a school lunch if you can, it’s so easy to spend a ton of money on food if you’re going out every day.

Community colleges are really good options. Look into your local community college and see what their programs are like because it could save you so much money and time.

Lastly, know that whatever happens, you’ll be okay. Things changed for me really suddenly this year and I ended up enrolling in my safety school. It took me a while to be okay with that but I’m really happy now. You will make things work. Just keep your head up and don’t give up. These four years go faster than you think.

[idontevenwannaknow]

Wahl Legend Clipper

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