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fuckyeahisawthat · 3 months ago

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Got tagged by @chaotic-neutral-knitter to share my favorite fics I've written and I feel a little bad not putting any of my 3 OFMD fics on the list. But in my defense it was very hard to choose between my 116 slutty slutty children, and while I like my OFMD fics a lot (especially Learning and Remembering) I decided to limit myself to five fics across all the fandoms I have written for over the past nine (!!) years, and there are some that stand above the rest.

Maybe I'll Show You the Way (Dune, Paul/Chani). Maybe my recency bias is showing but I really think this is one of the best things I've written. Paul and Chani's whole "falling in love while fighting side by side in an anti-colonial armed resistance movement" romance in Dune Part Two felt like it was designed in a lab to appeal to me specifically, and I just wanted more of it! What started with a simple "5 times they fucked in between fighting the Harkonnens" premise has become a novella-length character study about war, politics, solidarity and resistance to oppression in all its forms, interlaced with a very sweet, youthful first-love romance that always has a bittersweet edge because we the audience know these characters are living in a tragedy. This fic is one chapter from completion and I've been stalling because I really wanna stick the landing on this one, but it will get finished!

a narrow door, swiftly closing (Dune, Paul/Duncan) Different ship, different era (post-Dune Part One) and a very different vibe. The fun of this ship is the multiple power imbalances running in different directions (younger/older, student/teacher, lord/vassal, end product of a 90-generation eugenics program with a mind that can bridge time and space/Just Some Guy). It's also got that chewy age gap thing where the older character has watched the younger character grow from a child to an adult and has to wrestle with the realization that they find them sexually attractive now. Peak forbidden romance and mutual pining in this one and not just one but two of my favorite finally-crossing-the-line kisses I have ever written.

Three Times Is a Habit (Trust, Primo/The Other Paul) Ah yes, my "which doomed curly-haired teenage twink heir to a powerful dynasty named Paul are we talking about?" era. For a hot second (most of 2021) I was really into this hidden gem FX limited series Trust, based (with many creative liberties taken) on the real kidnapping of John Paul Getty III in Italy in the 1970s. The fun of this fandom is that every ship is an absolute garbage fire of bad decisions, and writing the trainwreck emotional logic that leads to a traumatized teenager repeatedly hooking up with his kidnapper was an adventure. There's also a fun meta layer at play in the relationship between our reality, the fictionalized "true" version of the kidnapping that happens in the show, the lies the characters tell about the fictionalized version of the kidnapping in the show, and the version of the characters I'm writing, some of whom are based on real people and some of whom are made up. (Is this RPF? You decide.) This fic will make zero sense if you haven't watched the show. But you should! It's a wild ride with a great cast (Donald Sutherland presente!)

Salvage & Scrap (Mad Max: Fury Road, Gen) Two minor characters who have a combined total of maybe five minutes of screen time produced what was until recently my longest fic on AO3. This fic was based on a fantastic prompt: what if Ace (the older war boy who seems to be Furiosa's second in command on the War Rig) and Valkyrie (Furiosa's Green Place gal pal) both survived their violent vehicular encounters and met each other? The idea was immediately appealing to me because they both care about Furiosa but have known such different versions of her, and the way their worldviews would clash seemed like great story fodder. I still love the imagery of them meeting at the place where their worlds have literally collided--the wreck of the War Rig in the Rock Riders' canyon. Also I recently reread this and I forgot how devastating the tiny glimpse we get of Furiosa is in this fic.

Fightplay (Mad Max: Fury Road, Max/Furiosa) You know this list wouldn't be complete without a smutty Maxiosa fic. It was really hard to pick one piece of the 127k smut novel I wrote about them in non-chronological order over the course of about 3 years (2015-2018). But Fightplay was definitely the start of writing uhhh a certain kind of dynamic for them. The prose is very spare and exacting in a way that I still find hot 9 years later.

Tagging @thebyrchentwigges, @thetardigrape, @nandamai, @bethagain, @demolitionwoman-blog and anyone else who wants to do this!

#fanfic #writing #dune #trust fx #mad max #mad max fury road #thanks for the tag nat!!!#i always take forever to do these things but i appreciate being included :-D

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thescrapbookingscientist · 1 year ago

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Bimonthly Media Roundup

Late again as October is a very busy month and I've been doing training at work making me busier than usual, plus had to work on a Monster themed power-point for our PowerPoint Halloween party. Also I got COVID again so that was fun.

- Spirited Away (Movie) - Spur of the moment decision that my sister and I made to go see this in the theater as a birthday outing for me. For one of my favorite movies of all time it's really been awhile since I've seen it, and while I obviously have nostalgia goggles and anime bias I do really think it deserves all the acclaim it gets. Incredibly creative world, fantastical atmosphere that just lets you experience it without feeling the need to over-explain and clarify every little thing, phenomenal music, charming characters and visuals, and a constantly engaging plot, the peak of what movies can be. My only real nitpick is that Zeniba and Yubaba really should be wearing different clothes from each other, the twins have different personalities and the dress designs should have reflected that. Anyway 11/10 if you haven't seen it you should do so immediately.

- Last Week Tonight (TV) - Big Mood.

- Spy X Family (Anime) - Yup.

- Heaven Official's Blessing (Anime) - TGCF is finally back! Not much to say so far as they are taking their time with the pacing (which is fine by me as I was worried they would rush through), but I'm happy to see more of the Windmaster and I love all the different and fun monster designs in Ghost City, I would hang out there for sure.

- Dr Stone (Anime) - Dr Stone is back as well, and I'm having fun with the current arc. Moz is a fun addition who I'm sure will eventually become a good guy as all defeated villains in this show do - his brand of "I don't give a shit about my evil societies rules and just want to fight strong people for sport actually" is always a welcome character type. Also I like his design. I do want to learn more about the female warrior as well as while I love Kohaku and new addition Amaryllis, this series really could use some more central female characters.

- The Greatest Estate Developer (Webnovel) - Nothing new to say but this art is cute.

- Ace Attorney Vs Professor Layton (Video Game) - Thought I would finish this before this came out but I've been a bit too busy to have it up most days, so I still have a little more to go. I'm honestly enjoying it more than I thought I would, I was kind of just going through it out of obligation to say I've experienced the entire Ace attorney series but the plot, characters, aesthetic, and humor have been pretty good actually. I still have a bit to go so the finale will cement my overall feelings but I'm certainly enjoying it more than the Investigations games at least.

- One Piece (Anime) - Due to earlier exposure to the early manga arcs, I always knew that I would one day become obsessed with this series, and pulling my sister down into this rabbit hole with me was the motivation I needed to make good on that. The series has it's issues obviously - the women's bodies are notoriously ridiculous and vary so little in comparison to the wide variety of male body types, the pacing can be a bit annoying at times with frequent flashbacks and drawn out fights, and while ridiculousness is it's creed the amount of damage these characters can just walk off is immersion-breakingly absurd. Unfortunately the good points of the series really do drown out the flaws at this point at least - The world is incredibly creative and a joy to explore, the central characters (and especially the protagonist) are all very charming with fun dynamics between them, the individual arcs are really engaging with earned emotional highs and memorable visuals, the humor is consistently on point, and above all it wildly succeeds in it's premise of being an escapist fantasy in which a group of lovable friends go on fantastical adventures exploring the wonders of a fantastical world. Here's to the many many more episodes to go.

- Genshin Impact (Video Game) - Finally got to Inazuma which is decent so far, the art and story is consistently good in this game but my familiarity with Japanese culture and JRPGs with similar settings have me a little more excited about getting past this to Sumeru, which seems really neat from a landscape and story perspective. Then again Inazuma has a lot of cool looking characters I have yet to meet so we'll see as we go. Yan Fei is my best girl with Lisa being a consistent support, with Barbara, Dendro Traveler, Candace, and a recently acquired Rosaria being switched around as my other team members.

Listening To: Bones by MSMR, In My Head by Mike Shinoda, Ivy by Taylor Swift, Give Us A Little Love by Fallulah, Make Up Your Mind by Florence + The Machine, Roll With The Punches and Most People by Dawes, IDOL by YOASOBI, Atlantis by Seafret, Viva la Vida by Reinaeiry, Arcade by Duncan Laurence, Doin' Time by Lana Del Rey.

#weekly roundup #my post

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vapormaison · 5 years ago

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Best of 2019 Vaporwave Release 3/4: Sensual Loops SPECIAL EDITION by Cyber Club

As vaporwave matures and enters the mainstream, I often find myself having discussions with vapor heads on reddit about the iconography of the genre. I realize that this is a bad idea, but cannot help myself. More often than not, they are pointlessly terse, and tend to be tediously teleological — the type of argumentation featuring enough loops of logic to cause a medieval Byzantine monk’s head to spin.

A recurring topic that baits me every single time is when a poster attempts to criticize the album art of a record, dismissing the entire work on the based on “anime” aesthetics. While this might seem like an argument so off-center and reductive that it’s parody— I’d encourage you to go on r/VaporVinyl and take a look at some of the posts replying to threads about Cyber Club’s Sensual Loops LP series. It’s not pretty, and representative where some of the fanbase is at the moment. Adding to my shock was when one of the self-appointed critics outed themselves as twenty three years old. At that moment, I was forced to confront my own bias. I had mistakenly assumed that the puritan was an out-of-touch Gen Xer or a Baby Boomer. Aesthetic intolerance is not exclusive — and plenty of Zoomers are members of this trash clique as well.

What really boggled my mind, however, was that the user had picked vaporwave out of all the other possible genres to go on their Nipponophobic soapbox against. A quick look at the aesthetic movement as a whole (sonically, artistically, etc.) establishes it as what I would assert as a primarily millennial genre — less of a statement about its creators and consumers, and more about the broader, overarching cultural milieu in which in developed. It was birthed in the decade that heralded the mass-consumption of Japanese media in the Western marketplace. Many of its early practitioners got their start chopping and screwing anime OSTs and hip hop. Future Funk effectively appeared on the sonic map by the sampling of Japanese city pop. What is even worth arguing here?

But that which bothered me even more was the user’s stubborn refusal to even listen to the album. You can not buy a vinyl because you just have a particular aversion to cover art — that’s fine! Better yet, you can not buy a vinyl just because you’re not a fan of the sound. Those are two perfectly fine reasons not to partake in a release. But then to go on reddit and complain about an album aesthetic for something you haven’t even listened to? Come on, fam. Level up your praxis. It is the whitewashing and the boorishness that is most infuriating. I’ve legitimately never heard of anyone who dismissed an entire album’s music purely on the basis of its vinyl cover art before.

And shame on them, because they are sleeping on one of the best works of 2019.

The limited edition of Sensual Loops 1 & 2 is another LP that I had the luxury of listening to while on my East Asia tour. I brought the album (among others) with me to visit a very good pal of mine, Han, who’s retired to Hong Kong. Much to my relief, he’s in a comparatively spacious apartment over in the Tai Wo area — by no means the stereotypical postage stamp — and has set up a little audiophile pad that I’m most envious of. His setup is devoted to all things B&W, and I got a beautiful listen of the album on a pair of impressive and almost imposing 700-series floor standers. Powered by the Cambridge Audio Edge series Amp/Pre combo, this was far above even my paygrade. But after working as a salaryman for two decades, he was finally able to invest in his endgame system. And what an endgame it is!

Getting the chance to listen Sensual Loops on this system cemented my opinion when I had first heard it’s release digitally: I was listening to an instant contender for the best vaporwave release of 2019.

Sensual Loops 1

Introduction immediately fills your speakers with a wide, warm guitar and horn loops that feature just enough static noise to distinguish itself as a vaporwave track. I always like it when a little minute-thirty track gives the amp a little exercise. It also proves to be a perfect sonic setup for the next track, which is ostensibly what every “intro” track should do, right?

Night carries that guitar riff from Introduction but adds a playful variance with a synth loop, and vocals that I believe are sampled from that Philly Soul classic “Children of the Night” done by the Stylistics and the Jones Girls’, among others. All of the moving parts here do wonders, syncing together in a perfect arrangement. Both Han and I commented on just how bright this played on his JBLs, which is a testament to the mix and mastering work here.

Love & Affection definitely feels the most retro-vapor of all the tracks on Sensual Loops 1, beginning with a series of loops, riffs, and synth chimes that feel as if they were picked from a certain collection of sitcoms of an early nineties vintage. The heavily distorted vocals and hypnotic drum kits pop in after about a minute to give the track an almost deep house feel as it progresses. The “all mine” hook then crescendos into a symphony of drum hits that conclude the track with a real sonic flutter in the air when played with high-end speakers.

Pain accelerates the rather slow pace of the album up to this point. I’m a big fan of the synth arrangement that opens the track, and I schmood even more with the powerfully funky vocal set that carries the track throughout. But with its short length, it does feel more like an interlude or setup for what I consider to be the highlight of the LP.

Memories is our certified slapper. It starts off immediately with an incredibly catchy synth chord arrangement supplemented by a fantastically tweaked vocal sample from the fantastically, alliteratively-named Melba Moore, another funky soul queen who needs a revival in the contemporary lexicography.

Sensual definitely swings the record a bit further away from the future funk and back towards the vapor-funk side of things. Back are cyber club’s usual array of jumpy, tinny synth chords and manipulated vocal micro-samples that still provide a really robust sonic experience on the hi-fi system of your choice. When the vocals make their appearance about ninety seconds in, I was expecting them to sound much less rich in the middle than they did, which was definitely a present surprise on the mastering side!

Alone is a beautiful cacophony of micro-samples with a vocal track manipulated to sound like an 80s ideal of a future robot gf. I’m not sure how else to describe this track except as pure atmosphere. The fluttering synths, muted percussion, electric highs that send tweeters bouncing — it’s difficult to precisely describe how a track like this comes over a hi-fi system like the Edge. It just pulls out every detail from an immensely dense track like this and does it every bit the justice it deserves.

Paradise ends up taking a traditional funk and re-engineering it into a sort of quasi-tropical sound similar to some of the early Aloe Island Posse bangers. It’s got a much more lo-fi edge to the track then most future funk takes on a track like this, and creates a really unique and playful experience.

Bliss is almost raw synth pop with a hardened vapor edge to it. Although the original sample is from a very soulful electro R&B outfit — the Loose Ends — we get aggressive drums and synth loops that bring this closer to Paula Abdul than anything that could be traditionally considered rhythm and blues. Just enough manipulation of the vocal sample and some well-timed percussion hits make this more fit for a night out than a baby-making session in, which is both remarkable and a testament to cyber club’s skill.

Sensual Loops 2

Intro captures a little more of than urban-turned-Island soundscape that we caught a glimpse of in Paradise. I’m eternally impressed by this, as it seems like Cyber Club never gets too caught up in the production to bring this too far from its vapor essence while still making this a great lede in its own right.

Sensual was a track I was initially expecting to be a remix or redux of the first Sensual from Sensual Loops 1, but I’m glad to see this piece of bass-heavy vapor exists as its own full-bodied track in its own right. It grabs you immediately with its “I’ll never give up on you” vocal loop spliced in among its synth array, and carries you through with an intriguing arrangement of instrumental loops and micro-samples throughout. The low end can really shine here with the right system.

Hold Her Now is a piece of nostalgic, vintage vaporwave straight out of the Saint Pepsi era. Ostensibly a creative cut-up some New Jack Swing that absolutely slaps with the right electric guitar riff and synthetic percussion hit, it harkens back to when vaporwave was in its “peak aesthetics” phase of production and plunder-phonic glory. Perhaps this reminder of what vaporwave used to be unfairly biases me, but it’s definitely a listen for the nostalgia driven old-heads.

Affair is the type of track that sounds completely different on certain types of stereos. While Han’s stereo brought out the crisp, wide vocal mix — perhaps a testament to Cambridge’s design history, my Harman Kardon/KEF pairing brought the synth flares here to the fore. The testament to this track is that I really enjoyed both profiles, and Affair sounded robust and detailed throughout.

Kiss is one of the tracks that I felt coolest on upon an initial listen, which is perhaps a statement to just how much I enjoyed this album. When presented with the innovative arrangements of tracks like Hold Her Now or Memories, I was left feeling that Kiss doesn’t do enough in its minute thirty second runtime. That being said, it’s fun. And that’s what music can and should be at the end of the day, isn’t it?

Touch heaps on that vapor memory with some creative vocal layering, tinny and distorted high-end flutters, and an electric horn that came out swinging in the Cambridge system, much to my surprise. It’s clear at this point that Cyber Club has created a very particular listening experience here, and I’m oh so fond of it.

Special makes a funky classic fresh and electric again, which is what I’m really starting to vibe with in terms of the Cyber Club oeuvre. It serves as a sort of confirmation, a celebration and an altogether fantastic close to the LP.

Vinyl Physicality & Listening Experience

I like black vinyl. This milquetoast statement has earned for me the ire of some enthusiasts on r/VaporVinyl when I post on my alt-account there. Because vaporwave attracts curators with “experience” in the music industry, I’ve been told by “serious LP collectors [who know] label managers” — the type of folks who spin on $100 Crosley turntables bought at a Kohl’s Black Friday sale — that new black vinyls just doesn’t sell anymore. Not for vaporwave, at least. A release should have a colored vinyl or not release at all!

This was a take from the same twenty-three year old who wouldn’t purchase Sensual Loops because of the hentai on the cover — so take that for what you will.

I’ve always liked the supplier that Sic Records uses — whoever they are. The vinyls always have a bit of mass and heft to them, leading me to guess that they’re probably in the 180g range. But that’s just my finger test. My Jungle2000 vinyl feels just as weighty. I’ve always believed there’s a definite spectrum with black vinyls — from the frail Qrate cheap options to the high end audiophile oriented waxes like the beautifully crafted Victor Japan and Columbia waxes from the late 80s and early 90s that you see most city pop and anime OSTs pressed on.

The masters on these records are definitely intriguing for the format. My biggest critique of vaporwave vinyl at this point is that some labels don’t take the requisite care to put out a good vinyl master, and often just end up going all-in with poorly optimized digital release ones. The folks at Sic definitely know what they’re doing — because this ended up playing great on a number of systems and speakers, from my KEFs and H/K setup, to a friends Technics mid-fi rig, to Han’s Cambridge endgame. Each time, we got a wide-but-not-too-wide play without the sound edging towards the bright end of the spectrum too intensely. I think this is important because it respects a lot of the samples used. The mixing work done on a lot of the Philly soul here definitely had a certain muted approach that really brought out the most from the vocals and left instrumental arrangements to a moderately more ambient role. I get that impression of continuity here and love it for that.

In short, you should snap up this release while you can. It’s a great release, and fuck the vaporwave nannies who’d shut down Cyber Club’s best two albums without even a listen. May that /u/ go down with u/hoesmad_ on r/Vaporwave’s wall of shame.

#bestof2019 #vaporwave

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black-is-no-colour · 6 years ago

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John Galliano Speaks to Alexander Fury on Gender and Fashion

October 3, 2018 I Text Alexander Fury

At the helm of Maison Margiela, John Galliano is conjuring a spectacular new vision of genderless glamour. In an exclusive interview, fashion’s great virtuoso muses on his enduring love affair with modernity, romanticism and reinvention

For the past 18 years, John Galliano has spent most of July and August in a modest house on the coast of Saint-Tropez. The house is owned by a man who made a fortune from marketing duty-free alcohol miniatures; the only other home in the vicinity is occupied by Alix, Princess Napoléon, ‘Empress of the French’ in pretence, in her twilight years. It’s fairly inaccessible by land, especially at the peak of summer, when traffic snakes along the coastal slaloms – instead, a boat buffets travellers from Nice across the Côte d’Azur to a rock jetty, past the kind of pleasure cruisers colloquially referred to as ‘Gin Palaces’, lazily floating, filled with billionaires and bullion and Bollinger and collagen. It is the French Riviera after all. It sounds romantic, but in actual fact the boat that ferries you to John Galliano is somewhat industrial, a high-powered inflatable number called a Zodiac that smashes through the surf at near-literal breakneck speed. It’s hard work.

That’s a fitting metaphor for the work of Galliano, particularly his latest incarnation helming Maison Margiela, where his intrinsic sense of romance has melded with something harder and tougher, something rougher, to create a new vocabulary of design for both himself and the house. In January, he debuted his first menswear ideas for Margiela – he had previously been involved, he asserts, but in a looser, more abstract way, guiding an appropriately anonymous group of designers. Since the founder’s official departure in 2008, the results hadn’t gelled, for either Margiela nor its audience. The Autumn/Winter 2018 collection was Galliano’s first attempt at elucidating that frequently-elusive Margiela man – and rather than try to segregate him from the identity of the womenswear, Galliano cleverly melded the two together. The obsessions of Galliano’s collections for women merged with silhouettes of masculinity – abstract notions of glamour, like slithery bias-cut satin spliced into a two-piece tuxedo instead of an evening dress; thumped-up, bricolage sneakers below sloppy wide-shoulder coating; the idea of the décortiqué, literally translating to peeled or shelled (as in, shelling a crab) and denoting garments dissected to their bare bones, rendering the functional decorative and lending an ornament to the utilitarian.

There was, throughout, a synergy to the offering – which is what Galliano declared the giant, Bird’s Custard-yellow symbol painted across the catwalk stood for, too. Although the synergy was left vague – between men and women, between Margiela and Galliano, between these clothes and the outside world. Or potentially, all of the above. “That collection in concept was similar to the first collection – Artisanal – I did in London,” says Galliano, slowly. It’s six months later – he’s shown three collections for women and another menswear since then, so is scrolling through images of the clothes on an iPad as digital age aide memoire. “So it was a collection of intent. We were trying to try a little bit of this – some tailoring, some more casual, one bias-cut suit. I was building blocks, to get some feedback, some reaction.”

The reaction was strong – in a period of menswear upheavals, of departures and rehires and the inevitable anticipation such turmoil brings, Galliano’s Margiela debut leapt to the head of the pack as a leading statement, something bold and brave and fresh added to the conversation. “I think it needed to be established at that season,” Galliano reasons. “Also with the changing landscape of menswear – with all the exciting things that were happening – it was like, ‘Oh my god John, what are you going to do?’” he laughs riotously, his head cracking back from the jaw. The intonation in Galliano’s sentences swirl, from considered and patrician, swelled out by the crisp rounded vowels of received pronunciation, to a cockney drawl that sketches out Galliano’s childhood in Streatham, South London. He was born Juan Carlos Antonio Galliano-Guillén in Gibraltar but moved to London with his two sisters when he was six. His dad was a plumber, his mother danced flamenco on the kitchen table-tops. The sentence ends on that London drawl, a plaintive wail tinged with mirth. What was Galliano going to do for this, his Margiela menswear debut?

It feels strange to call any Galliano collection a debut – Galliano has been at Margiela since October 2014. He’s also 57, a Commander of the British Empire, a reference-point for generations of talent from the late 80s onwards. Something of an institution in and of himself. He’s John Galliano! But in Saint-Tropez, he’s JG – his own nomenclature, perhaps adopted during the wake of his dismissal from his eponymous label and the house of Christian Dior in 2011 following a racist outburst in a Parisian bar. That episode was a very visible result of a then-clandestine but now well-documented addiction to drugs and alcohol that had spanned the majority of Galliano’s career: the immediate aftermath of it was a difficult period of rehabilitation, public penitence and a tabloid lashing, when the name Galliano closed doors rather than opened them. Maybe it was then that anonymity (very Margiela) began to seem enticing. Seven years later, in Saint-Tropez, Galliano looks well, fresh and relaxed – despite that baggage, almost unremarkably so, in a way that a designer would to journalists accustomed to seeing them wound tight between fittings in the days leading up to their show. Unlike others, Galliano, famously, doesn’t see press backstage at his Margiela shows and refuses to bow at the end – a trait he shares with Martin himself. He does, however, give interviews. Which is how we wind up on the Riviera, curled up in Galliano’s adopted living room, talking about the meaninglessness of menswear.

“More than just which way to go, it was to help me define who is the Margiela man,” Galliano says, of that first collection. Then he stops. “I say that and I take a breath as well,” he states – smiling – like a stage direction. “Because I don’t feel comfortable saying that. Today… Just calling it menswear and women’s made me kind of blanche a bit.” His sophomore offering for Margiela menswear (sorry) was staged in June in the Margiela atelier as a tiny Artisanal show, the name given to the line’s offerings for haute couture which are made-to-measure, one-off and traditionally only for women. The latest of those he dubbed ‘Nomadic Glamour’: rather than an elegiac Galliano voyage through space and time, there were ideas of clothes travelling around the body – “So a skirt became a cape and then, within it, I cut the memory of jacket,” is how Galliano describes it. The actual garment in question was the opening look of the show, a coral foam skirt migrated to the shoulders, head poking through the waistband, with the shape of a single-breasted jacket spliced out and peeled away, like a Vesalius drawing – or a frog in a high school biology class. There was, actually, no reason this couldn’t be worn by a man too. “Quickly just think of a very testosterone-driven image of Clint Eastwood in a poncho. Just to aquarelle the look,” Galliano says, expressively. “It just made sense. That hey, this could be really fun, and I don’t know if we’re going to be successful or not. But the idea is quite unique. The idea that a cape, certain items, could easily work on either-or.”

Galliano has frequently called haute couture the ‘parfum’ that infuses through the rest of the house’s creations, the way an essence is literally watered-down, to create a variation slightly less intense but still powerful and intoxicating. Another debut, this was the first time an entire Artisanal collection had been offered for men – at Margiela, by Galliano, or indeed in the realms of haute couture at all (although several houses, most notably Gaultier Paris and Dior when helmed by Galliano, have offered couture clothing for men, but only accompanying designs for women). “At the most extreme, I wanted to establish how Artisanal men could inspire, so we put the spotlight on that this season,” reasons Galliano.

Made-to-measure haute couture may be inspiring, but it doesn’t pay the bills – or fill the stores. “We still did the ready-to-wear,” allows Galliano. “It’s still there, and we sold it. Some of the silhouettes were echoed in the Artisanal man, but it had its own inspiration, etcetera, etcetera. And that I will show with the women’s in September, which was my aversion to – ” Galliano shrieks, theatrically, to the cheap seats in the back “ – menswear! Which is un peu démodé. So it’ll be a mix of the two. Un-binary, genderless. And that’s the challenge.” Just don’t call it co-ed, or mixed. “It would just be too easy to have the boys wearing girls and the girls wearing boys,” says Galliano thoughtfully. “That’s not what it is today. Find your own masculinity. Find your own femme. Define it yourself. And that’s what they’re doing today, and I’m so there.” He smiles wide. “Because I grew up with all that but it was not easy. You got a good beating back then.”

John Galliano has played games with gender before. Indeed, as difficult as it is for the short-term memory of fashion to reconcile the somewhat precious, couture-driven output of the prior stage of his career with the identity he is forging for Margiela, it has always been there, bubbling under the surface. In the 1980s, when Galliano exploded onto the scene following his 1984 Bachelor of Arts graduation collection, titled Les Incroyables and dedicated to the provocative, politicised aristocratic rebels of the Terror of the 1790s, his billowing, histrionic clothes – ruffled organdie blouses, puckered brocade waistcoats, sweeping frock-coats – were worn by models of both sexes, pouting and preening, reflections of the crucible of a hedonistic London club scene latterly dubbed ‘New Romantics’.

Galliano still finds the idea – and that period – inspiring today. Not to replicate the clothes, but to mirror the energy, the emotion and the experimentation. “Shirts were worn as skirts. Do you remember?” Galliano declares. “You button in front and tie the sleeves. I remember doing the Malcolm McLaren cover with Amanda” �� now Harlech, then Grieve, Galliano’s first stylist and creative collaborator for 12 years. They met after Galliano’s graduation and worked together to style the artwork for McLaren’s 1984 album Fans. “And Malcolm threw an old v-neck Shetland sweater at me and said ‘Do something with that – they say you’re a genius.’” Galliano’s voice notches up an octave; the Streatham comes out. “And I’m like: alright bitch, I’ll do something with it! And I asked the model to step into it, so the v was like to here,” Galliano scissors his own crotch, smirking. “And we tied the thing around. Amanda was like, ‘Oh, it’s fab! It’s a bustle!’ Do you know what I mean? That v-neck became a skirt!” A final octave. “This territory that was fun and you can probably tell from my voice I’m still quite excited by it. Naïve? More naïve isn’t it. Which is quite fab.”

Those were the sort of clothes that provoked those beatings in the street, just as their 18th-century antecedents did. Galliano himself didn’t just design them: an ardent clubber, he wore them, too, living the fantasy – and they were bought by men and women alike, something oddly geared to a current mood of malleable, kinetic gender identity. Galliano has designed traditionally-defined menswear before – between 2004 and 2011, there was a Galliano Hommes collection presented biannually in Paris. The final own-label show he took a bow at was his winter 2011 menswear outing dedicated to Rudolf Nureyev: Galliano was dressed in tapestry sarouel trousers, a twine-bound fur coat, a kubanka and several tassels that seemed tugged down from the curtains of the Winter Palace. It was, as they say, a look.

Those ‘looks’ were seen as a key reflection of whatever creative inspiration had taken root – if Galliano was transforming his models into nomadic warriors, or cabaret floozies, or sweat-soaked flamenco dancers – male or female – a bit would inevitably rub off on him too, like make-up on the dance floor, rubbing off someone else’s face onto yours. So much so, indeed, that when the Galliano Hommes line was first presented, it was very much seen as an extension of the multiplicitous, multifaceted identities Galliano had been proffering for years. Today, Galliano is lower-key – in shorts, Chuck Taylors, an enviously holey Nirvana ‘Corporate Rock Whores’ t-shirt. He’s off-duty. The Margiela man – or rather, Margiela person – Galliano is creating isn’t himself. And the expansion into menswear certainly isn’t about dressing himself. “It is true that I would express myself because I was living the part of the creator,” says Galliano, when this is mentioned. “But I had to consciously stop that. Because of the work I had done on the inside. If it wasn’t reflected on the outside people… maybe thought that I hadn’t done the work. I noticed that. So I started to wear suits when I went out or had lunch with people. Almost that anonymity I quite liked. I quite liked not being judged like that. I mean the suits were faultless! Savile Row! But I quite liked that anonymity. I’m a bit more cautious of what I look like when I’m out there now.”

Galliano punctuates that with fragments of laughter, a wicked whiplash of that Streatham accent on the word ‘faultless’. But he’s alluding to his public breakdown in 2011, which resulted in his departure from the Dior and Galliano houses and a period coming clean in the Meadows rehabilitation facility in Arizona. His conversation is still keyed to the language of psychotherapy and recovery – that inside/outside work, which is never entirely complete. He describes social media as “addictive – the likes, loves”. He once told me it had taught him the subtle difference between being famous and infamous.

Galliano’s fame made the idea of him helming the famously faceless Maison Margiela difficult for many to swallow, in the first instance. For many, his hyper-visibility masked the similarities between their respective aesthetics. Galliano’s 80s flamboyance, for instance, was tempered with an urge to rip fashion apart. “Judy Blame, Christopher Nemeth, John Flett, John Moore, all that posse. That’s what we were into,” he states. “A lot of the experimental was what one did as a young designer anyways in the 80s: the inside-out, the upside-down. We were all doing it in London anyway.” Galliano turned out tricks like deliberately-misbuttoned waistcoats puckering and twisting torsos, trousers worn as jackets, corks and coins as unconventional fastenings and white paint – a Margiela signature – liberally plastering hair and splattered over garments. And Margiela himself, long whitewashed as an edgy Belgian deconstructionist, obviously had a romantic side – his long slip dresses like linings ripped from grand ball gowns, his spring 1993 collection festooned with gold braid embroideries over billowing white voile dresses, his first jacket with those narrow puffed Victorian shoulders. There’s romance in the bones of Margiela.

“It’s wrong how people sometimes describe his work,” says John Galliano, today. “Everyone has to look at his earlier work to really get what Martin was about. It was full of emotion and it was romantic. That early stuff. Flea-bitten, put-together. Fierce. Fierce. And romantic.” Galliano inhales from a cigarette – today, smoking is his only vice, alongside the Tarte Tropézienne, a citrus-infused brioche filled with crème pâtissière made by Galliano’s cook, a white witch who wards off mosquito bites by pressing the sign of the cross into the skin with the end of a fingernail, Galliano tells me, an eyebrow raised. Add to that list of vices romance: Galliano is an incurable romantic, as that aforementioned near Grand-Guignol story testifies. Galliano also tells me that his aforementioned neighbour, the nonagenarian Princess Napoléon, dances through the forests of their adjoining properties dressed in white in the dead of night. The ravishing Miss Havisham imagery is pure Galliano fantasia – one part couture, one part Capote, it has the ring of truth. But not too loud a peal. That princess could have inspired one of Galliano’s previous collections, which came imbued with complex storylines, individual characters inspiring fabric treatments, creative approaches, drama sewn into every seam – and although his work has evolved and matured, that sensibility is constant. “It’s less literal. There’s not really a narrative anymore like there used to be. Other things that are different: influences and a younger energy,” Galliano reasons. “But I am a romantic. You can’t deny yourself. I wouldn’t be JG if I did.” He pauses. “Martin was too. When we had our famous tea together, it was then I discovered his love for 17th-century French literature and 18th-century costumes. He loved it. But he wouldn’t go there because you-know-who was cornering that market…” Again, that wicked laugh.

Galliano and Margiela met during his early months at the house, before his first show: it was important for Galliano to feel that Margiela felt the house was in safe hands (he seemingly did). For a designer obsessed with anonymity, Martin Margiela is one of the most present presences on the international fashion scene. His clothes, his shows, his overall conceptual conceits are all often (and arguably all too often) referenced. Monsieur Margiela himself – now apparently teaching painting in Paris – has come out of his grand seclusion to co-curate two exhibitions of his work, one at the Palais Galliera devoted to Margiela, another of the clothes created during his tenure at the French luxury leather house Hermès between 1997 and 2003, shown at the ModeMuseum Provincie Antwerpen (this year transferred to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris). He still isn’t doing interviews, but in an unprecedented step seems to be taking ownership of the ideas the Maison originated and which have fallen into popular fashion vernacular.

Galliano himself was an ardent Margiela fan – and a client of the designer’s menswear. “I remember the best pieces I bought. The trench that was made out of old printed shopping bags. A fab knuckleduster that they tried to take away from me on the Eurostar. I know the pieces,” says Galliano, ticking them off on his fingers. “The jumper with the net tulle over it. I was a great fan. And loyal fan. When Martin was there, I bought and wore the stuff. Oh I have the white painted jeans, the white painted boots. I have the iconic pieces.”

Yet there is no urge for rehash – at least, no urge from Galliano, who at Margiela is ironically one of the few untouched by the surge in interest in the original creations of the label’s founder. Possibly the establishment re-emergence of Margiela – both man, and maison – in museums have influenced Galliano’s radical reimagining of what the label could mean in the 21st century. But it is also an oddly prescient approach he has taken from his first collection for the house – never relying on the past of Margiela to inspire the present, or the future. After all, the Margiela label is symbolically white; Galliano has taken it as a literal blank canvas. “We’re not there to curate Martin’s work. That’s why I keep saying let go of the corpse. Let go of the corpse. You can only do that for so long. And then you can put yourself into a corner and that’s all you’re doing. Let’s be brave and let’s possibly shine a light on a new way to go maybe,” states Galliano. “I didn’t want to go there to curate. That would be too much of a day job, for me. I made it very clear at the beginning, with the guys that be and the teams. At the beginning, of course, everyone went through the archives. How could you not? They’re amazing. We actually put them into shape, put what was missing back. There’s proper archives now. But it would just be too easy. Just curating. It’s like treading water. How long can you tread water for?”

That’s not to say Galliano has jettisoned Margiela’s influence entirely. It would be not only sacrilege, but near-impossible. Alongside very few other designers – Azzedine Alaïa, Rei Kawakubo, Miuccia Prada, Vivienne Westwood, Yohji Yamamoto and Galliano himself – Margiela’s work defined the lines of the last quarter of the 20th century, and laid the foundations for the 21st. You can see subtle echoes of Margiela’s working techniques, his lines and approaches to fabrics and cuts – a use of slick, plasticised surfaces, the sloped shoulders, a love of the dishevelled and unfinished as a form of unconventional decoration. A frayed hem, instead of a fringe.

Yet Galliano’s iterations are utterly idiosyncratic – not Margiela, nor entirely Galliano (at least, how we used to know him). “I’d like to take it, be inspired by it and make it go somewhere. Or just the idea of exploring the idea of a new glamour – that was part three you just saw [at the haute couture]. I feel like I’m working like Martin. I can really put my hand on the heart and say that. I didn’t find that in the archives – but just the thinking of it. The nomadic idea – it’s territory that he explored... Upside-down stuff. Arriving at it through a psychology is much more interesting, fresh, and inspiring for me and the team. Because otherwise we are just curating. How creative can you get when you just curate? You need the surprises. You need the failures. You need the things that work, that don’t work. There has to be the element of surprise.”

There are few more surprising stories than the spectacular fall and rise of John Galliano, his rebirth at Maison Margiela, the rediscovery of a talent championed as one of our era’s finest. More surprising still, today fashion’s arch romanticist is making clothes inspired not by historical nostalgia, but the digitised landscape of contemporary culture, with its challenges to traditional, established notions – of luxury, of gender identity, of the reasons for dressing. “It is an inspiring time. It really is I think for a designer. For sure,” says Galliano. “I don’t just want to connect with the world. I need to connect. I need to be stimulated. I need to get excited. I need to give that energy to my team. I need to feel like it’s new, to get me out of bed.”

Taken from Another Man Magazine

#Maison Margiela #Margiela #Martin Margiela #Maison Margiela by John Galliano #John Galliano #Galliano #Alexander Fury #fashion #interview #Another Man #Another Man Magazine

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marij-94791199 · 6 years ago

Photo

Breathless Without You

Photography: Ethan James Green,

Styling: Ellie Grace Cumming

Taken from the A/W18 ‘Romance and Ritual’ issue of Another Man:

JOHN GALLIANO SPEAKS TO ALEXANDER FURY ON GENDER AND FASHION

John Galliano has played games with gender before. Indeed, as difficult as it is for the short-term memory of fashion to reconcile the somewhat precious, couture-driven output of the prior stage of his career with the identity he is forging for Margiela, it has always been there, bubbling under the surface. In the 1980s, when Galliano exploded onto the scene following his 1984 Bachelor of Arts graduation collection, titled Les Incroyablesand dedicated to the provocative, politicised aristocratic rebels of the Terror of the 1790s, his billowing, histrionic clothes – ruffled organdie blouses, puckered brocade waistcoats, sweeping frock-coats – were worn by models of both sexes, pouting and preening, reflections of the crucible of a hedonistic London club scene latterly dubbed ‘New Romantics’.

TEXT : Alexander Fury

PHOTOGRAPHY : Ethan James Green

STYLING : Ellie Grace Cumming

#John Galliano #Galliano #Alexander Fury #Another Man

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theheavymetalmama · 7 years ago

Text

Katie Reviews “Far Cry 5″

Doctor Stupidlove

Another day, another Far Cry game. Whether or not that’s a good or bad thing depends on person to person with a laundry list of variables, including but not limited to personal taste and sensibilities, franchise fatigue, whether or not you bought into the glue-huffing guff that this game held a leftist bias pushing an anti-white, anti-American agenda because for the first time in the series the bad guys are an American fanatically religious death cult instead of brown people from imaginary foreign countries, and a myriad of other things I’m probably missing. I’ll say up front that after Primal and a bunch of other bullshit from Ubisoft between now and the infamous ‘women are too hard to animate’ thing I was pretty much done with the series and Ubisoft as a whole. Then the launch trailer for Far Cry 5 dropped and, having grown up in a dead gold mining community chock-full of racist loonies not unlike the one depicted in the fictional Hope County, my interest immediately peaked.

See, the Far Cry games have a strange pattern to them. No game is perfect, but the Far Cry games stand out in that they have one glaring flaw that mars an otherwise damn good game. Far Cry 3 is held aloft as when the series peaked, and for good reason, but the main character was irredeemably unlikable and the main charismatic villain just up and vanishes from the halfway point in the game. Far Cry 4, or Far Cry 3 2 as some call it, fixed the villain problem but the main character was just dull. Primal was...not good, with a boring lead, a boring villain, and an overall boring game. Sure, Blood Dragon was a ton of fun, but part of the charm was that it was completely self-aware of its’ own absurdity and the characters from the hero to the villain weren’t characters so much as they were walking punchlines.

So how does Far Cry 5 compare? Well, when it comes to story, setting, and gameplay, it’s a step up from Far Cry 4 in some ways, blows Primal out of the water, but has its’ own issues and hang-ups that don’t quite make it live up to Far Cry 3. That’s the short version, anyway. The long version?

Let’s start with graphics, location, and aesthetics. Far Cry 5 looks fucking beautiful.

I’m not kidding, everything from the wild lands, the forests, the mountains, the lakes and rivers, the settlements, everything in Far Cry 5 is absolutely gorgeous. It’s not quite up there with Breath of the Wild or Horizon: Zero Dawn in sheer style and detail, but it’s pretty damn close. More often than not I found myself forgetting about the mission and spending a lot of time exploring, hunting, and trying to take in the sights. More on the ‘trying’ part in a bit. The atmosphere sucks you right in, everything from the chirping birds and buzzing bees making the world feel alive. Exploring the woods and hearing cultist singing and chanting far off in the distance, especially at night, is legitimately terrifying. Wildlife always plays a key role in the Far Cry games and this is no exception, from docile deer to the always pleasant wolverine providing plenty of opportunities for hunting. Just don’t get skunked.

The game takes place in Hope County, a fictional region in rural Montana. Now I’ve never actually been to Montana, but I did grow up in Washington state and I can’t help but notice many similarities. The woods, the rivers, the god damned apple farms, exploring Hope County felt like I was going home again. Sometimes not for the better, but that’s neither here nor there. In any case, Hope County is beautifully detailed, from the farms to forest to the interiors of the (ugh...) Spread Eagle bar to the small hunting cabins out in the woods. Hats off to the artists and environmental designers for Far Cry 5, because they manage to tell more story about the world and characters with just a ransacked pumpkin farm and a dog mourning his dead owners than Square Enix and Konami ever could with a 20 minute cutscene and a dictionary’s worth of dialogue for each character.

Speaking of characters, the Far Cry games are loaded with memorable characters and the locals of Hope County are no exception. Returning character Hurk is back and as redneck-y as ever, and it turns out Hope County is his home. We also meet members of his family, like his pyromaniac cousin Sharky, his promiscuous mother Adelaide and her boyfriend Xander who’s roughly 1/3rd her age, and his racist conspiracy theorist gun-hoarding father Hurk Sr. No wonder he’s so messed up.

But Hurk and his folks aren’t the only people you meet, as the game is packed to the brim with memorable characters that you either love or love to hate, from lovable country boy Nick Rye and half-feral huntress Jess Black to the cartoonishly evil Seed family. More on them in a minute. Oh, and you get a pet bear named Cheeseburger.

Combat and gunplay is as tight as ever, and vehicle control is so smooth it gives Grand Theft Auto a run for its’ money. The soundtrack is pretty damn good, featuring a good mix of licensed and original music and songs. To the surprise of nobody my favorite is the one that plays during the stunt missions.

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Leveling and character progress has been streamlined a bit. You upgrade your skills not by gaining experience, but by completing in-game challenges and finding ‘perk magazines’ that, you guessed it, give you points to unlock...well, perks. Some may not like that, but in my opinion it makes sense because if you gained experience just by killing stuff you’d reach level 50 before your first boss fight. Things like bigger ammo bags and extra weapon holsters are no longer unlocked by animal skins but through perks, and said said skins are now exclusively a form of making money.

So that about covers it for the good, and now it’s time for the bad. The streamlining I just brought up both helps and hurts the game. On one hand it does make progressing a lot less tedious, but on the other hand it does take away a lot of what makes Far Cry stand out from other typical shooters. It feels less like they were trimming the fat and more like they were cutting corners. For starters, areas that contain loot only contain ammo, crafting components, and sometimes money. There’s no more animations for skinning animals, harvesting plants, looting corpses, or even your character opening doors. That’s not so bad, but I really miss how dynamic and, as much as I’ve grown to detest this word, cinematic meeting new characters in previous games were. Take a look at this scene in Far Cry 4 when you meet Longinus, easily one of the highlights of the game.

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And here’s what happens when you meet Sharky in Far Cry 5. (MINOR SPOILERS)

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See the difference? Now one can argue that meeting new characters in real time saves some...well, time and is considerably less pretentious, but it just isn’t as interesting. Far Cry 5 still has plenty of scripted cutscenes, but again, they’ve been stripped down to the bone.

Now remember what I said earlier about trying to take in the sights? This game is packed to the fucking gills with enemy NPCs. Now previous Far Cry games had plenty of enemies as well but this went way overboard to the point that you can’t walk or drive 50 feet before running into a convoy or roadblock or whatever. I speak no hyberbole when I say that by the time you’ve liberated your first region, you’ll have killed more cultists than there are people currently living in real-life Montana as well as hunted and skinned more wolves, cougars, and bears than there are wolves, cougars, and bears currently populating the US west coast. Also, in what universe can a fucking turkey pose a legitimate threat to humans!? Does Far Cry occupy the same universe as fucking South Park?

The story of Far Cry 5 is pretty straight forward, but it definitely feels like there’s some pretty big pieces missing from it. This isn’t just me, critics and players across the board agree that it feels like something was cut from the game at the last minute. This is especially true for the endings, but more on that in a bit. I can’t help but feel that the writers and developers had a lot more to say about racism, gender roles and the enforcement thereof, gun violence and gun culture in America, sexism, religious zealotry, far-right extremism, and of course this tire fire of a presidential administration, because the pieces for all of that are still there. A handful of NPCs mention gender roles for a hot second, several of the guns for hire make disparaging remarks about Trump, the symbol of Eden’s Gate strongly resembles the same symbol the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups use, Hurk’s dad is a caricature of far-right ideals purposefully exaggerated for ridicule and contempt, and there’s even a mission where you meet up with another returning character to find Trump’s pee-tape.

All of the elements are there, but the game says almost nothing about any of it. Why?

When the first trailer for the game dropped it was around the same time Wolfenstein II: the New Colossus was close to release and the same mouth-breathing shitheels who screamed about how killing Nazis in Wolfenstein was pushing an anti-white, anti-conservative agenda did the same thing for Far Cry 5. My guess is that the PR guys at Ubisoft saw the oxygen-thieving wastes of space screaming about how the game was “anti-white SJW propaganda” and then panicked and removed huge chunks of the game so as not to alienate any racist shitheads who may want to buy it. Not only does the game say almost nothing about any of the themes and elements that I mentioned earlier, but the cult of Eden’s Gate is multi-racial and gendered where most of the guys have long hair and hipster beards and all the women barring Faith Seed have short hair and buzz cuts. It’s really jarring and feels like something that was added at the last minute, as the male cultists all sound the same and the female cultists say hardly anything at all.

That brings us to the player character; they’re aren’t a character, they’re an avatar and silent protagonist. Now there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it feels strange. Especially when you play as a female, which I did. Now the character creation itself is fine, especially with the wide variety of outfits, but the rest is pretty bare bones. More to the point, it’s painfully obvious they designed the game with a male lead in mind and then added a gender-switch as an afterthought. Almost everyone in the game refers to you by male pronouns (which to be fair I call my ladyfriends ‘dude’ all the time) but there are a few scenes where you’re found shirtless in the game. Now call me old-fashioned, but I’d have a bit stronger of a reaction than “Oh, you startled me” if I woke up to some weirdo carving the word ‘wrath’ into my tits! I have a sneaking suspicion that they added a gender switch at the last minute because someone reminded them of the time they looked like lazy idiots for claiming your customizable assassin in Assassin’s Creed: Unity couldn’t be a woman because women were too hard to animated.

And now, let’s finally talk about the Seed Family.

We have the leader Joseph Seed, the trainer and disgraced soldier Jacob, the sadistic second in command John, and the seductress Faith. The Far Cry games are known for their charismatic villains and the seeds are no exception, and especially gripping because the second you meet any single one of them you immediately want them dead. The only problem is that, again, they’re so cartoonishly evil that the more you see them the more you want to shove them crotch-first into the mouth of a hungry grizzly bear. Vaas was always one step ahead of you and constantly in your face and Pagan Min was so suave and charming that you kind of wanted to see where he was going with it all.

Not the case with the seeds. When you see them they immediately piss you off, and the more you see them they just keep pissing you off because they keep hiding behind doors, cronies, hallucinations, or plot devices. And hey, that’s fine. As long as you get to shove the barrel of a shotgun right into their mouth and spatter their brains all over the walls of their church then who cares, right?

....

So, let’s talk about the endings of the game.

Once you’ve liberated all three regions of Hope County by killing John, Jacob, and Faith, you return to the main cult compound to arrest Joseph once again. However, once you get there and cuff him you step outside to find your allies under the brainwashing influence of the drug Bliss and a boss fight ensues. When you knock your allies out and revive them, they snap out of their Bliss-induced stupor and turn on Joseph, and once you’ve freed all of them Joseph drops like a hot rock. When Joseph is down and the day is won...this happens.

....no, really.

Right the fuck out of nowhere a nuke lands somewhere in the outskirts of Hope County and you scramble to escape, and pretty soon you black out and wake up in a bunker chained to a bed with Joseph hovering over you saying that you’ll be his first new recruit in the cult. All the allies you previously made die as Hope County is wiped off the map and the game ends, not even giving you a continuation like previous games did and rendering every single thing you did up to this point totally and utterly meaningless.

Now some people have defended this, including the developers, saying that there are radio broadcasts in-game talking about how tensions are raising in Russia and North Korea. I spent hours driving around in the game listening to the radio and I heard no such thing, but if they’re indeed there then this only furthers my suspicion that this was a last-minute change because of the backlash from racist shitbirds and wasn’t the ending the writers and developers originally intended.

For starters, the escalating tensions between Russia, the US, and North Korea aren’t mentioned anywhere else in the game except in the radio broadcasts (which again, I never heard) and despite the Seeds going on and on about “the collapse” we never get any idea of what the collapse is until the end of the game. It’s not even a convincing depiction of a nuke going off! Just some burning trees and a few animals dropping dead as you make your escape with Joseph in tow and neither of you having so much as a sunburn. If this ending was what they planned from the start then they would have went all out, showing in graphic detail the horrors of a nuclear holocaust. How much of a gut-punch would it have been to see Nick Rye hug his wife and newborn daughter just before the skin is blasted off their bones like that scene in Terminator 2 that made me avoid mesh fences for two fucking years? Or Jess run one of her own arrows through her heart to spare herself an agonizing death? Or hell, Hurk, one of the few returning characters in Far Cry, desperately begging the player for help as his face melts off his skull? That would have hit players and hit players hard and people, myself included, wouldn’t be bitching about how out of nowhere and shit the ending is! And that’s to say nothing of the idea of North Korea wasting one of the handful of nukes they have on rural fucking Montana! Jesus H. Tap-dancing Christ, Ubisoft, how fucking stupid do you think we are!?

...okay, fair enough. But still!

Now I know what you’re probably thinking. “Well, damn, that’s grim. Anyway, what’s the good ending like?”

That IS the good ending.

No, I’m not even kidding. Despite the end scenario being Doctor Strangelove by way of Deliverance (and no, that’s not me being snarky, the game references the movie by playing “We’ll Meet Again” during the final cutscene) that’s the good ending because you, the player, are still alive. The bad ending is that after you arrest Seed and see your friends and allies under the influence of Bliss, you’re given the option to let him go and walk away. You then then your Bliss-induced allies walk with Joseph peacefully into the church and then leave with the same three people, in which they get into a car and leave while chatting about getting the army involved and taking Seed out once and for all. One of them then turns on the radio, the song “Only You” plays, and a red haze takes over the screen just before the credits roll heavily implying that you succumbed to the brainwashing drug (which you’re exposed to several times in the game) and either attacked or killed the people you spent the time in the game trying to save. Either way, each ending renders your actions completely and utterly meaningless.

Why did they do this? Well, partially because the Far Cry writers really love the “There is no objective good or evil, everything and everyone is equally terrible” cliche and they assume everyone else does too, but once again I have no doubt in my mind that the ‘good’ ending wasn’t the original ending and was in fact a last-minute change to appease angry racists in order to not alienate what Ubisoft thinks is their core demographic. What a bucket of cocks.

Final Thoughts

Now despite the endings being complete and utter hot garbage that renders all your actions meaningless, there’s still plenty of fun to be had in Far Cry 5. The combat is satisfying, base jumping and flying around never gets old, the characters are great, and despite chickening out on the themes introduced it’s still a plenty serviceable story. It won’t be winning any awards anytime soon, and if you’re looking for some post-2016 return of the Nazis catharsis then I’d go with Wolfenstein II: the New Colossus instead, but there’s still plenty fun to be had exploring the beautiful wilds of Northwest America while gunning down religious nutjobs, hunting dangerous game, and completing side-quests from uprooting doomsday prepper bunkers to making a bull testicle cook-off to raise morale possible.

B-

A solid B-

#Far Cry #Far Cry 5 #Ubisoft #review #Nick Rye #Jess Black #Cheeseburger #Joseph Seed #John Seed #Jacob Seed #Faith Seed #testy festy

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davidfurlongtheatre · 3 years ago

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Fanny Dulin and David Furlong on 15yrs of Exchange Theatre

Fanny Dulin and David Furlong are co-artistic directors of Exchange Theatre, who celebrate 15 years of making work this year. BY TOM BAILEY on Theatre Bubble https://www.theatrebubble.com/2021/07/fanny-dulin-and-david-furlong-on-15yrs-of-exchange-theatre/ How did Exchange theatre begin?

Fanny Dulin: David and I were already working as actors in the UK doing Tours in Education or language based plays, and some small fringe productions. Very quickly, as foreigners, we felt that our roles and jobs would always be pigeon-holed and that we needed to create our own work. And we felt among our peers a lack of knowledge of plays and theatre from outside the UK. For example, Molière seemed very obscure or misunderstood even to esteemed drama-school trained colleagues, whereas we had learned about Shakespeare and his modernity in our training abroad. David Furlong: Classics are symbols but beyond the theatrical heritage, there was a gap in international theatre’s presence, in the plays produced, and in the proposed esthetics. So as migrant French speakers, we decided to bring plays from the French language repertoire in English to the UK. Because at the same time, we did feel a sense of entrepreneurship in London that we didn’t find anywhere, because performing arts have always been so well-structured, so much so that it was called ‘the industry’, something unheard of for us and that was fascinating. This gave us faith to start producing our own work.

What was the UK theatre industry like 15 years ago compared to now?

David Furlong: There was a paradox because, internationally, UK theatre was represented by Complicité, Cheek by Jowl, Deborah Warner, Katie Mitchell…; British people who explored international theatrical vocabulary and forms were at their peak and European theatre esthetic was starting to influence uk theatre-makers, so we felt a part of something that we thought was happening. But, in the end, to summarise, it was only at major leading venues like the Barbican, the Young Vic and the National… but we did not realise immediately how marginal this was and would remain. When working at low-scale, we found UK theatre to be actually very conservative, oddly divided between physical theatre and ‘straight’ plays, much less multi-cultural or imaginative that we had assumed. The mere ideas of foreign plays was always seen as exotic, so multilingual plays were even more a small niche. Also, some practices in rehearsal rooms were stuck in old traditions and bias. Fortunately, it’s evolved slightly on the place of devising, and how to create work collaboratively. And mostly we found that UK theatre is always a pioneer on the ideas of creating safe spaces in work environment and inclusive ideas. Perhaps because it had so much to fix… but everything all we now put in action within the company in terms of diversity and representation, or in terms of safety, it is certainly thanks to being part of UK theatre.Where it’s not changed unfortunately, if not gotten worse, is that there is still hardly any non-British plays, new writing or classics… And apart from the Arcola, still not one major foreign theatre-maker leading a venue.

What would be a particular highlight of the company’s history to date? Fanny Dulin: The first one would be when we got a residency for two seasons of bilingual family shows at the French institute. It was a recognition or our work from the institutions of our country of origins. Moreover, it allowed us to get a rehearsal space and office, this was a milestone to become really fully theatre-makers. And one of the highlights is certainly, when after a decade, we decided to produce everything in two languages and did our “Moliere for the 21st century” diptych: The doctor in spite of himself and Misanthrope. The two productions were Offie-nominated for Best Director (Doctor), then Best Production and Best Video Design (Misanthrope). These accolades were very encouraging, after ten years, we finally felt acknowledged as part of the UK theatre industry. But as this all happened at the same time as Brexit, It’s very polarised. It’s like being told “you’re welcome” and “you’re not” both at the same time.

Is there anything you wish youhad done differently?

Fanny Dulin: We started producing our shows in two parallel languages only in 2013, and we probably could have come up sooner with this formula ! David Furlong: Otherwise, on a totally idealistic note, I think we would have liked to be more aware of the structural barriers to foreign-born artists rather than finding out about unfairness as we went through them. As migrants, we tried to fit in, we were always very obedient, nice and polite even when we were treated unfairly or patronised, and now that we have the tools to recognise when something wrong happens, it makes me wish I could have flagged it sooner. I think it’s a bit sad to say that the way we operate a real policy of kindness and care within the company, actually comes from being ourselves treated with prejudice.

Do you work on other projects outside the company?

David Furlong: Aside from my roles in Exchange Theatre’s shows, I have acted a lot in with renowned companies such as Border Crossings, Theatre Lab, The Faction, playing great parts too, like Macbeth. I have been keeping strong connections with France, performing regularly in street theatre, or on stage in Bordeaux and Paris whenever I can. As a director, I was just getting my foot in some big doors when the pandemic hit and I was Jerwood Assistant director at the Young Vic on Orfeus but the show was cancelled. Fanny Dulin: Even if not quite outside the company, what’s important with Exchange Theatre is that we now get involved with partner companies, either as co-producers, or by bringing our support to admin or space. The Exchange is very much found in this as well. And, yes, we’re still both actors which is is vital to remain artists and not just permanently seeking funding. I’m also a voice over artist, I have supervised French dubbings for Netflix.

How are you celebrating the anniversary?

David Furlong: Each year since 2006, we produced our own theatre festival. In this period of hardship, we had to cancel it for the second year in a row, with great sadness. For this special occasion, we decided to share a documentary we had in store and that was never released. It’s a true insight into our process, a focus on our human values through a unique documentary. It’s called IN Exchange and it’s a true cinematic experience directed by two young graduate film-makers, Marie Loury and Léo-Paul Payen, who followed us through the creation of Misanthrope from production to performance. It’s also a very intimate immersion in the life of a small-scale theatre company in the uk, and the in the bilingual work of migrants in theatre. Fanny Dulin: We’re also holding an online retrospective of our work the whole summer as a celebration of our values more than our many shows. We’ve worked hard at using our social medias for more than promotion and with a meaningful agenda: we’re sharing videos of many people we’ve worked with through the years, sharing quotes, and championing our collaborators. I think that we create a meaningful human connection beyond working together and we want to show this exchange too. Above all, we can’t wait to be completely out of of social restrictions and gather everybody for a huge sunny picnic in September!

What does the future hold for Exchange Theatre?

Fanny Dulin: In the immediate future, our anti-bias family show, THE CAT IN (re)BOOTS is streaming as part of the Edinburgh Fringe, a great show to explain unconscious racism to kids. David Furlong: And then, also as part of our anniversary, one of my translations, Break of Noon by Paul Claudel which I directed in 2018 at the Finborough, is about to be published by Shearsman Books and Menard Press in a wonderful never-seen-before edition complemented with essays by Susannah York and John Naughton. Also, before the pandemic, we were working hard at getting our work to France too, and we want to keep pursuing this. And thirdly, the covid forced us to become theatre-videos producers in a way, so I want to explore more in this direction by creating other external collaborations as ever. Fanny Dulin: We also crucially need to get more financial support because the crisis is leaving us in a very delicate position. And I’m also in charge of all our education department, developing languages workshops through dramas for schools, as well as running our amateurs dramatics in French, who are a great dynamic community to support us. David Furlong: And finally, also we’ll also continue the work we do to facilitate, and amplify the movement Migrants in Theatre, addressing the lack of representation and mis-representation of migrant artists in British theatre.

For more information on Exchange Theatre see their website: www.exchangetheatre.com

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gaiyofanfiction · 7 years ago

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If you get a chance,Am I allowed to request a Monsta X Jooheon Mafia AU where you're new to the city and he falls in love with you and your passion for life but have no clue what he does for a living so you're always wondering why everything goes so smoothly for you like finding a job, getting an apartment, people being nice to you, etc after you meet him. I'm not sure what sort of genre would be best for this so can you help decide that? Thanks! :)

Thanks for your request Anon! Jooheon is my bias from Monsta X and I’m totally excited to write this! I hope you like it

Reader x Jooheon Mafia!AU - “Precious Thorns”

You have just moved to Chicago and finally settled into your new apartment. Peering out your window to look at the skyline you sigh and say,”wow, this is it! The Windy City! I may have spent most of my savings to move out here, but I think I can go for a few drinks. Mama needs to wind down.” You start to put on your outfit; a cute slim black dress that went down to mid-thigh, fishnets with a rose design, and black boots with studs. Last but not least, winged eyeliner, a little bit of mascara, and a maroon matte lipstick to top it off.

Walking down the street you’re in complete awe by the bustling streets and the beautiful lights. You stumble upon a night club and decide to go in and have a little fun. The music is loud and there must have been at least a couple hundred people in the building. You squeeze your way to the bar and order a drink, “vodka and cranberry with a lime please.” Taking a few sips here and there you start to people watch and enjoy the view.

“You’re not going to dance?” asks a young, handsome man in a black suit with a cherry red tie. “Oh, haha. I’m a terrible dancer. I prefer to people watch and enjoy the music,” your say nervously. ‘He’s really good looking. I don’t know how he can make dark brown messy hair look so sophisticated.’ “So, why aren’t you dancing? What’s your excuse?” You take a sip of your drink while keeping eye contact. He moves a little bit closer and you try not to show that your heart is ready to jump out of your chest. “Well, unfortunately the only girl I want to dance with is busy people watching,” he gives you a sly side smile. “Well played, sir, well played.” You reach your hand out for him to grab and guide you to the dance floor.

“I’m serious though, I really don’t know how to dance, I might even step on your nice expensive shoes,” you jokingly say, but being very honest. “Just follow my lead, sweetheart.” He twirls you around like you’re a beautiful princess in a ball gown. Suddenly he brings you closer and his hand sits at your lower back. “You know, I don’t think our dancing matches the upbeat club music.” He stops. “You’re right, but who wants to conform?” He winks at you and smiles. ‘This man is killing me. He is way too charming.’

After a few drinks and getting to know each other a little more you finally ask, “So, how does a man like you become interested in a girl like me?” You twirl your straw around. “What do you mean my dear?” He tilts his head. “Oh c’mon, I’m just another punk city girl and you’re clearly a big businessman. The suit, nice shoes, and you even have a Rolex watch.” You raise your eyebrow challenging him. “Even so, it doesn’t mean I don’t know when to appreciate a beautiful rose such as yourself.” He leans against the bar table like he just won. “And every rose has its thorn,” a snide comment only you would say. He claps and chuckles at you. His phone rings and he answers it. “Ah, I see, I’ll be there in five minutes.” He hangs up the phone. “Well, it looks like I’m needed for a late press conference.” He slides a business card to you. “I’ll leave it up to you to make the decision on whether or not our paths will cross again. Till then, Y/N.” He winks and walks away with his hands in his pockets. ‘He is TOO good.’ You look at the card and read: CEO Lee Jooheon. ‘Ugh, he even has a sexy name.’

Two Months Later…

“I’m home!” You come walking in to your apartment and immediately take off your work shoes. “My dogs are killing me! Babe, could you please give me a foot rub?” He motions for you to put your feet up on his lap. “Anything for my jagiya. Now, tell me how was work?” You had explained to him that waitressing is really taking a toll on you and you’re not sure how you’re going to make rent this month. He genuinely looked sympathetic for you, but you didn’t want him pitying you. “It’s okay. I make things work out.” You giggle and head off to the kitchen. He remained on the couch thinking to himself.

The Next Week…

“You did what!? How!? I-I don’t understand.” You start to pace back and forth. “Honey, baby, relax. I have contacts everywhere. I told them how much of a hard worker you were and besides, they owed me a favor. So, I got you a new job as an executive assistant for a major law firm.” He gives you a silly grin. “I’ve been a waitress ever since I can remember! How am I supposed to fit this new role!?” You start to freak out. He grabs you and kisses you. “You deserve more. Just please give it a chance?” He stares at you with his puppy dog eyes. You couldn’t resist.

Another Month Passes…

“The people at the law firm are so nice to me! I’m so used to customers complaining about their meals that it feels like I’m getting the special treatment. Do you have something to do with this?” You furrow your brows. “Me? Whaaat? No way. Don’t be silly.” His phone rings and he continues to sit there and look at you. You roll your eyes, “aren’t you going to answer that? You pretty much get a call every five minutes.” He let the call go. He quickly pulls you in close and grabs your hand to kiss it, “you’re more important.” His phone rings again. You let him answer it this time. “DAMNIT WHAT!?” He explodes leaving you suddenly anxious. “You fucking get the shit situated and I’ll be there as soon as possible. Do not let him go.” He slams the phone on the coffee table and lets out a long sigh. You were left completely speechless.

‘I have never seen this side of him. He’s always been so sweet and full of charisma.’ You tug on his suit. His shoulders drop from being tense and he turns around to face you. “I’m sorry you had to see that. *Ahem* It seems we’re having trouble with a client so… I need to go to work and sort this out.” He kisses your forehead and heads for the door. “By the way, I have you scheduled to move into my condo tomorrow. I suggest you start packing.” He blows you a kiss and closes the door behind him. ‘He did not just…’

Several Months Pass…

You have never been happier. You have a wonderful job, you live with your handsome boyfriend in his massive condo located in on of the cities most expensive high rises, and he even bought you a new car. But, you start to wonder. ‘It’s… It’s way too good to be true.’ It was your day off and you were totally bored with yourself. You start to think even more. ‘To be honest, I have no idea what company he even works for or where he goes most of the time. He never bothered to show me.’ You go snooping into his belongings and stumble upon his laptop. You went to Google maps and decided to track his footsteps. ‘God I feel terrible doing this… But, I have a right to know my own boyfriend and his whereabouts. Right?’ Your fingers clicked away on the keyboard. You finally found a destination he’s been to almost every day since the day you met him. You printed up the directions and headed for the door.

It was late and Jooheon already texted you that he probably wouldn’t be home till tomorrow because of an emergency business meeting. You were just a few blocks away from the destination. Your heart was pounding and you felt so uneasy. ‘Why do I feel like I’m being a horrible person? Oh my god, I’m stalking my own boyfriend!’ You arrive to the location. You sat in your car for what seemed like hours, but was only a few minutes. Swallowing the lump in your throat you take a deep breath in and head out to the building before you.

The location was fairly secluded on the outskirts of the city. You walk towards one of the side entrances and try to take a peak into the windows. Unfortunately all the windows were covered by closed blinds so you had to look around. “Ah, jackpot!” You found a basement entrance. The door was surprisingly unlocked and you let yourself in. There was nobody around. It was an interesting room. The only things in the room were a wooden desk with one lamp and some scattered papers.

You looked at a few papers and started to notice a pattern. Each one had a picture of a man or woman with a written profile of the person. All of them had an ‘X’ over their faces except for one. You read that one’s profile. “…Several fraudulent accounts… Millions of dollars stolen… Five accounts of… MURDER??? And… RECENT ASSOCIATE OF JOOHEON!?” Your head was spinning and you had to prop yourself up against the table. ‘I’m starting to think I know nothing about my boyfriend.’ You hear yelling in the adjacent room and a loud crash. You try to peak in through the cracked door.

“I didn’t take you under my wing so you could eventually undermine me and my work. I came from nothing and built an empire of my own from the little amount that I had. Did you really think that this would slip past me so easily?” You see Jooheon pistol whip the fallen man. You cover your mouth with a shaky hand. Jooheon starts to circle the man. “Do you know what we do with people like you? People that steal from me and my mafia?” He crosses his arms and whistles to his men. A couple men in black suits start to drag the man away.

“Also, will someone please bring in my beautiful jagiya. We are not monsters here. Please show her some manners.” Your heart stops and knees become weak. You try to bolt away, but a strong man drags you into the empty room and forces you to sit in a chair. “My dear, I’m sorry you had to see such a sight.” He caresses your face with the back of his hand. “W-what is the meaning of this? Joohoney? I d-don’t understand… Why -” He covers your mouth. Tears start to fall down your cheeks and onto his hand. He licks the tears from his hand. “Are you afraid my precious flower?” He lifts your chin up although you flinch. “I think you will get used to it. Just let daddy do his work…” Suddenly he pulls your hair back making you shriek and he’s face to face with you. “But, if I ever see you back here again meddling in my business, we’re going to have a problem.” He gives you a kiss on your cheek.

“Every rose has its thorn,” he says before he laughs maniacally and exits the room. You’re left in the chair, alone, and with an empty mind. You say to yourself with an insane look on your face, “and now I bleed from picking the rose with the most thorns.”

#GaiYō fanfiction #requests #submissions #monsta x mafia #scenarios #kpop scenarios #monsta x #monsta x au #lee jooheon #joohoney #fluff #monsta x fluff #angst #monsta x anst #au #mafia #blinded by love

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bboiseux · 7 years ago

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Twin Peaks Sync Instructions and Analysis

I heard about this theory (Parts 17 and 18 are meant to be watched simultaneously) and decided to test it out blind. To avoid as much bias as possible, I wrote down what I felt was strange about the last two episodes and needed to be explained.

tl;dr 17 and 18 were very clearly designed to be watched at the same time, but they do not actually interact until the back half of the episode when the interaction completely changes the meaning of the events.

Instructions:

You can watch the whole episodes together. The audio cues (music, sound effects, and most dialogue are largely timed not to interfere with each other). However, most of the episodes simply provide some parallels. It is only the back half that actually interact.

Lynch gives his warning as Cole at the start of 17.

First warning of sync: when Cooper's face is overlaid over the screen and he begins giving some explanation (parallel to Cole) about this being planned. About 30 minutes in.

Second warning of sync: Cooper realizes time has stopped.

Sync: Cooper's overlaid face disappears at about 36 minutes in. From this point on, both episodes are required to understand what is going on.

Side-by-Side Video (Enjoy this while it exists)

[Full Analysis below the cut.]

When doing a watch like this, its important to keep in mind that our brains are made to build connections so we are likely to draw plenty of false positives. To see if it is real, we need to see if there is a designed interaction between the parts. Shared content would be the best confirmation.

There is one place that the sync happens without a doubt: the very end of the two episodes, right after Carrie!Laura and Cooper leave the Tremond house in 18 and the inside of the Palmer house shows in 17. The audio from 17 bleeds into 18 and appears to be come from the Tremond house. It is this that causes Carrie!Laura to scream.

Immediately after the scream, the credits play in such a way that 18 credits play while 17 looks at the trees and Julee Cruise begins singing, when the 18 credits end. The Lynch/Frost Productions logo is silent at the end of 18 for just this reason.

Immediately before the scream, there is match up between 17 and 18 with Cooper leading Laura and Carrie!Laura "home"--one in the woods, one up the steps to the house.

This sequence--from arrival at the Tremond house to the end of credits of episode 17--is definitely an intended sync. Laura's theme plays in 17, as, in 18, Cooper leads Carrie!Laura up the stairs. The music resolves from the hopeful beginning to the more ominous tones as Cooper knocks and then as the fdoor opens in 18, episode 17 flashes to Laura's body. (Mrs. Chalfont's name is given as Josie appears. Important? Probably not. Let's not find meaning in everything.) The door closes in 18 and the inside of the Palmer house sequence begins in 17.

This is the true ending of The Return:

Judy!Sarah tries to protect herself from Carrie!Laura with a fake reality and freaks out when she realizes it won't work.

Carrie!Laura awakens when she hears Judy!Sarah and screams.

The scream destroys Judy (lights going out) and ends the Odessa world.

Cooper tries to save Laura, but she is ripped away.

Julee Cruise sings "The World Spins" with no overlap, given its own time independent of 18.

It is a victory, although it also bittersweet. When I finished 18 by itself, I was depressed. When I finished the synced version of 17 and 18, I was crying (which hadn’t happened the first time), but I also could see the happiness in it.

How far back does the sync go between the Odessa sequence and the Twin Peaks sequence?

Given the significance of the scenes, the strangeness of the scenes, and the overlap in dialogue, it is likely that at the very least the Fade out to the basement of the Great Northern in 17 and the discovery of Carrie!Laura in 18 are meant to be viewed together.

We discover time is frozen when Carrie!Laura opens the door.

The Twin Peaks sequence fades out as Carrie!Laura denies being Laura or knowing anything about Laura.

Two lines of dialogue interact in the basement: 18: "This door be'd slammed in your face." 17: "I'm going through this door."

Cooper enters Carrie's house and the Great Northern door simultaneously.

Looking at the two sequences together also solves two quasi-problems with both episodes: The extended flashback in 17 and the extended driving sequence in 18. These are now juxtaposed and it appears that Carrie!Laura is remembering the flashback. She even comments on it: "I was young then."

Are the episodes meant to be synced any earlier than that?

Yes, but only for the second half of the episode. There are some parallels and the sound design indicates that they are made to be played together, but I think that the connections are generally too sporadic to give an confidence. There are wild juxtapositions that don't really work earlier in the episode. The worst is probably the sex scene in 18 with Mr. C at the Sheriff's Station in 17.

However, it is also satisfying to see a connection between the showdown with Bob and Cooper's arrival at Judy's Diner. Cooper confronts a concrete manifestation of the type of violence Bob represents in the three cowboys. But. The sequences don't match up that well. The Bob battle does not begin when Cooper gets to Judy's, it is going on before that. There is a nice sync of Cooper removing Bad Cooper from the world with the ring and disarming the cowboys, but we have to be careful of false positives.

The only sequence during the first half of the episode that seems to really line up is Cooper and Diane crossing to a new world in 18 with Mr. C going through the White Lodge to the Sheriff's Station in 17. The materialization of each at their final destination happens simultaneously. If the episodes were designed to compliment and parallel, but not necessarily inform until the second half, then this makes sense (but the Horne insert ruins the idea that they directly inform each other).

#twin peaks #twin peaks spoilers #tp spoilers

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whittlebaggett8 · 6 years ago

Text

The wild life of billionaire Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who eats one meal a day, dates models, and loves bitcoin, Defence Online

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Twitter founder Jack Dorsey

source

REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis

Jack Dorsey cofounded Twitter in 2006 and the company has made him a billionaire.

He is famous for his unusual life of luxury, including a daily fasting routine, regular ice baths, and a penchant for dating models.

Dorsey has also been caught up in the techlash, which engulfed companies like Twitter and Facebook last year.

Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

From fighting armies of bots to quashing rumours about posting his beard hair to rapper Azealia Banks, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey leads an unusual life of luxury.

Dorsey has had a turbulent career in Silicon Valley. After cofounding Twitter in 2006, he was booted as the company’s CEO two years later, but returned in 2015 having set up his second company, Square.

Since then, he has led the company through the techlash that has engulfed social media companies, at one point testifying before Congress alongside Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.

Meanwhile, Dorsey has provoked his fair share of controversy and criticism, extolling fasting and ice baths as part of his daily routine. His existence is not entirely spartan, however. Like some other billionaires, he owns a stunning house, dates models, and drives fast cars.

Scroll on to read more about the fabulous life of Jack Dorsey.

Rebecca Borison wrote an earlier version of this story.

Dorsey began programming while attending Bishop DuBourg High School in St. Louis.

source

Vine

At age 15, Dorsey wrote dispatch software that is still used by some taxi companies.

Source: Bio.

When he wasn’t checking out speciality electronics stores or running a fantasy football league for his friends, Dorsey frequently attended punk-rock concerts.

source

@jack

These days Dorsey doesn’t favour the spiky hairdo.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Like many of his fellow tech billionaires, Dorsey never graduated college.

source

edyson / Flickr

He briefly attended the Missouri University of Science and Technology and transferred to New York University before calling it quits.

Source: Bio.

In 2000, Dorsey built a simple prototype that let him update his friends on his life via BlackBerry and email messaging.

source

joi / Flickr

Nobody else really seemed interested, so he put away the idea for a bit.

Source: The Unofficial Stanford Blog

Fun fact: Jack Dorsey is also a licensed masseur.

source

Getty Images/Bill Pugliano

He got his license in about 2002, before exploding onto the tech scene.

Sources: The Wall Street Journal

He got a job at a podcasting company called Odeo, where he met his future Twitter cofounders.

source

Flickr via Scott Beale/LaughingSquid

Odeo went out of business in 2006, so Dorsey returned to his messaging idea, and Twitter was born.

On March 21, 2006, Dorsey posted the first tweet.

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Jack Dorsey’s first tweet.

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Twitter/@jack

Dorsey kept his Twitter handle simple, “@jack.”

Dorsey and his cofounders, Evan Williams and Biz Stone, bought the Twitter domain name for roughly $7,000.

Dorsey took out his nose ring to look the part of a CEO. He was 30 years old.

A year later, Dorsey was already less hands-on at Twitter.

source

Wikimedia Commons

By 2008, Williams had taken over as CEO, and Dorsey transitioned to chairman of Twitter’s board. Dorsey immediately got started on new projects. He invested in Foursquare and launched a payments startup called Square that lets small-business owners accept credit card payments through a smartphone attachment.

Sources: Twitter and Bio.

In 2011, Dorsey got the chance to interview US President Barack Obama in the first Twitter Town Hall.

source

Reuters

Dorsey had to remind Obama to keep his replies under 140 characters, Twitter’s limit at the time.

Source: Twitter

Twitter went public in November 2013, and within hours Dorsey was a billionaire.

In 2014 Forbes pegged Dorsey’s net worth at $2.2 billion. As of March of this year he was worth roughly $5.1 billion.

Source: Bio. and Forbes

It was revealed in a 2019 filing that Dorsey earned just $1.40 for his job as Twitter CEO the previous year.

source

David Becker / Getty

The $1.40 salary actually represented a pay rise for Dorsey, who in previous years had refused any payment at all.

He’s far from the only Silicon Valley mogul to take a measly salary, Mark Zuckerberg makes $1 a year as CEO of Facebook.

Dorsey does, however, hold Twitter shares worth $557 million at the time of the filing.

Source: Defence Online

He might have been worth more had he not given back 10% of his stock to Square.

source

Reuters

This helped Square employees, giving them more equity and stock options. It was also helpful in acquiring online food-delivery startup Caviar.

Sources: Defence Online and Caviar

With his newfound wealth, he bought BMW 3 Series, but reportedly doesn’t drive it often.

source

Alex Davies / Defence Online

“Now he’s able to say, like, ‘The BMW is the only car I drive, because it’s the best automotive engineering on the planet,’ or whatever,” Twitter cofounder Biz Stone told The New Yorker in 2013.

Source: The New Yorker

He also reportedly paid $9.9 million for this seaside house on El Camino Del Mar in the exclusive Seacliff neighborhood of San Francisco.

source

The Real Estalker via Sotheby’s

The house has a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, which Dorsey views as a marvel of design.

Source: Defence Online

He works from home one day a week.

caption

Jack Dorsey’s home setup.

source

Twitter/@jack

In an interview with journalist Kara Swisher conducted over Twitter, Dorsey said he works every out of his kitchen every Tuesday.

He also told Kara Swisher that Elon Musk is his favourite Twitter user.

caption

Elon Musk is a prolific tweeter.

source

PewDiePie/YouTube

Dorsey said Musk’s tweets are, “focused on solving existential problems and sharing his thking openly.”

He added that he enjoys all the “ups and downs” that come with Musk’s sometimes unpredictable use of the site. Musk himself replied, tweeting his thanks and “Twitter rocks!” followed by a string of random emojis.

Source: Defence Online

Mark Zuckerberg once served Jack Dorsey a goat he killed himself.

source

Gene Kim

Dorsey told Rolling Stone about the meal, which took place in 2011. Dorsey said the goat was served cold, and that he personally stuck to salad.

Source: Rolling Stone

His eating habits have raised eyebrows.

source

Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for WIRED25

Appearing on a podcast run by a health guru who previously said that vaccines caused autism, Dorsey said he eats one meal a day and fasts all weekend. He said the first time he tried fasting it made him feel like he was hallucinating.

“It was a weird state to be in. But as I did it the next two times, it just became so apparent to me how much of our days are centered around meals and how – the experience I had was when I was fasting for much longer, how time really slowed down,” he said.

The comments drew fierce criticism from many who said Dorsey was normalising eating disorders.

Sources: Defence Online, The New Statesman

In the early days of Twitter, Dorsey aspired to be a fashion designer.

source

Cindy Ord / Getty Images, Franck Michel

Dorsey would regularly don leather jackets and slim suits by Prada and Hermès, as well as Dior Homme reverse-collar dress shirts, a sort of stylish take on the popped collar.

More recently he favours edgier outfits, including the classic black turtleneck favoured by Silicon Valley luminaries like Steve Jobs.

Sources: CBS News and The Wall Street Journal

He also re-introduced the nose-ring and grew a beard.

source

Getty

Dorsey seems to care less about looking the part of a traditional CEO these days.

Azealia Banks claimed to have been sent clippings of Dorsey’s beard hair to fashion into a protective amulet, although Dorsey denied this happened.

caption

Azealia Banks.

source

Getty

In 2016 Banks posted on her now-deleted Twitter account that Dorsey sent her his hair, “in an envelope.” Dorsey later told the HuffPo that the beard-posting incident never happened.

Sources: Defence Online and HuffPo

Dorsey frequently travels the world and shares his photos with his 4 million Twitter followers.

source

Twitter/@JPN_PMO

On his travels, Dorsey meets heads of state, including Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.

Source: Twitter

Tweets about his vacation in Myanmar also provoked an outcry.

caption

Bagan, Myanmar.

source

Shutterstock/Martin M303

Dorsey tweeted glowingly about a vacation he took to Myanmar for his birthday in December 2018. “If you’re willing to travel a bit, go to Myanmar,” he said.

This came at the height of the Rohingya crisis, and Dorsey was attacked for his blithe promotion of the country – especially since social media platforms were accused of having been complicit in fuelling hatred towards the Rohingya.

Source: Defence Online

However, Dorsey says he doesn’t care about “looking bad.”

source

Reuters

In a bizarre Huffington Post interview, Dorsey was asked whether Donald Trump – an avid tweeter – could be removed from the platform if he called on his followers to murder a journalist. Dorsey gave a vague answer which drew sharp criticism.

Following the interview’s publication, Dorsey said he doesn’t care about “looking bad.” “I care about being open about how we’re thinking and about what we see,” he said.

In September 2018, Jack Dorsey was grilled by lawmakers alongside Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.

caption

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Jack Dorsey are sworn-in for a Senate Intelligence Committee.

source

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Dorsey and Sandberg were asked about election interference on Twitter and Facebook as well as alleged anti-conservative bias in social media companies.

Source: Defence Online

During the hearing, Dorsey shared a snapshot of his spiking heart rate on Twitter.

Dorsey was in the hot seat for several hours. His heart rate peaked at 109 beats per minute.

Source: Defence Online

When he’s not in Washington, Dorsey regularly hops in and out of ice baths and saunas.

caption

This is not Dorsey’s sauna.

source

Shutterstock

Dorsey said in the “Tales of the Crypt” podcast that he started using ice baths and saunas in the evenings around 2016.

He will alternately sit in his barrel sauna for 15 minutes and then switch to an ice bath for three. He repeats this routine three times, before finishing it off with a one-minute ice bath.

He also likes to take an icy dip in the mornings to wake him up.

Source: CNBC

Dorsey’s dating life has sparked intrigue. In 2018, he was reported to be dating Sports Illustrated model Raven Lyn Corneil.

source

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit / YouTube / Getty

Page Six reported in September last year that the pair were spotted together at the Harper’s Bazaar Icons party during New York Fashion Week. Page Six also reported that Dorsey’s exes included actress Lily Cole and ballet dancer Sofiane Sylve.

Source: Page Six

He’s a big believer in cryptocurrency, frequently tweeting about its virtues.

source

Teresa Kroeger/Getty Images

In particular, Dorsey is a fan of Bitcoin, which he described in early 2019 as “resilient” and “principled.” He told the “Tales of the Crypt” podcast in March that he was maxing out the $10,000 weekly spending limit on Square’s Cash App buying up Bitcoin.

Source: Defence Online and CNBC

The post The wild life of billionaire Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who eats one meal a day, dates models, and loves bitcoin, Defence Online appeared first on Defence Online.

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#Fabulous Life #Features #Jack Dorsey #Life #News #Square #Tech Insider #Twitter

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jae-bummer · 8 years ago

Text

Cute and Fluffy

Request: #20 with Wonho from Monsta X please ❤

20) Your bias tries to teach you how to play their favorite video game.

Member: Monsta X’s Wonho x Y/N x (ft. Kihyun & I.M)

Type: fluff

You struggled out of bed and into the bathroom with hurried motions. You had hit snooze on your alarm at least four times, but nothing would stop you from starting your day. It was the first day without a formalized schedule for Hoseok in months and you refused to let it go by as a waste.

You rushed through your daily activities. Shower, tooth brushing, mild makeup, and getting dressed. You kept a constant eye on your phone to make sure you hadn’t wasted too much time, considering it took you nearly half the morning to pry yourself out of bed.

The sky was still a light purple by the time your feet hit the pavement. You stopped to grab a coffee carrier and at least a dozen pastries at your local coffee house before heading on to the Monsta X dorm. They deserved a treat for as hard as they worked.

You managed to knock quietly with your elbow on the front door once you had arrived, struggling with all of the breakfast foods in your arms. After a few minutes of waiting you contemplated knocking again or sending out a text. You didn’t want to wake any of the members managing to sleep in, so you wondered if they hid a key under the mat for emergency situations. Just as you were about to place all of your bags on the ground and begin a search, the door sprung open, revealing a perturbed Kihyun.

“Y/N!” he exclaimed, his aggravation melting away. “I didn’t think you were coming over this early, come in!”

“Good morning Kihyun,” you smiled, navigating through the door. He took the coffee from your hands, setting it on the table outside of the small kitchen. “I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you’re happy to see me and not all of the food I’ve brought.”

“Well, I suppose it’s good to assume in this situation,” Kihyun said with a wink. “If it makes you feel better, I’m equal parts happy for both.”

You rolled your eyes and gave the small man a playful elbow to the ribs. “Are you the only one awake?”

He spun away from your jab, chuckling. “No idea. I haven’t made my rounds yet. I figured I’d let everyone sleep a little longer on their day off.”

“What a sweet mother,” you laughed, now your turn to wink.

“Yeah, yeah, quit wasting time with me and go to who you’re really here for,” Kihyun sighed, digging around in the bag of pastries.

“Kihyun!” you gasped, placing your hand on your chest. “I’m offended. I am just as excited to see you as I am to see anyone else.”

“Beside Hoseok,” he grinned. “Don’t lie to appease me.”

“Well...” you grumbled. “At least you recognize the truth. Don’t tell Minhyuk, he thinks I love you all equally.”

You shuffled down the hallway toward Hoseok’s shared room with Shownu and Hyungwon. Peaking your head in, you noticed one of the boys had covered the window with a blanket to really keep any light out. You illuminated your phone screen and stumbled through the darkness, only the small amount of light guiding you. After a few moments, you navigated to Hoseok’s bunk and began to pat idly at it, only to find he wasn’t there. You furrowed your brows and checked the other bunks, confirming each member was where they were supposed to be.

You quickly left the room and walked back down toward Kihyun, confused as to where your boyfriend could be. Was it possible you had missed him in the brief moment you had went into his room? Along the way, you placed a light knock on the bathroom door, the light inside streaming from beneath the door crack and into the hallway.

“Hoseok?” you whispered, waiting with bated breath.

“Changkyun, but close,” the voice said on the other side.

You chuckled, rolling your eyes at the youngest member as he pulled open the door.

“How are you close?” you laughed.

“Well, if you think about it. It’s relative. You may not think I’m a close option, but I do. I am in the same group after all and equal amounts of good looking. I just need to work on how I look naked and we’re practically twins.”

“Aish, Changkyunnie,” you groaned, putting your hand over your eyes. “Too much.”

“Once again, that is relative,” Changkyun smiled. “Did you bring food?”

“Of course I brought food,” you sighed. “Do you know where Hoseok is?”

“No longer in your dreams because your awake,” Changkyun chuckled. “But no. I’m not sure.”

“Go get a croissant, dork,” you grumbled, heading back down the hallway.

You continued across the hardwood, halting as you saw a dim light radiate from the den. You furrowed your brows, sticking your head in what you had assumed to be the empty room. You nearly choked as you noticed the back of Hoseok’s head, set firmly in front of the computer screen with headphones on his ears.

You slowly shuffled into the room, careful to make as little noise as possible as you appeared behind him. You rested your hands on his shoulders, causing him to jump and let out a high pitched squeak.

“Aigoo, jagi!” he gasped, pulling the headphones to sit on his shoulders. “You scared me!”

“So is this what you have planned for our day today?” you chuckled, looking past him and to the screen. A game of Overwatch was active before him.

“Well...I mean...” he stuttered, spinning in the chair and resting his hands on your hips. He pulled you in close and set his forehead on your stomach. “You can watch if you want?”

“Shin Hoseok!” you gasped, stepping backwards and slapping his hands. “You seriously are going to play Overwatch the entirety of your day off?”

“I...I uh...had planned on eating some ramen eventually?” he tried with a slight wince.

“I can hardly stand how romantic you are,” you grumbled with a pout.

“Jagiiii,” Hoseok whined, pulling you in close to him again. “Won’t you play with me?”

Your heart stopped for a moment, venturing off into inappropriate places by the simple statement. You quickly shook your head, attempting to keep off the imagery flooding the corners of your mind. “You only have one computer Hoseok, I can’t...um...play with you...”

“No, come here,” he grunted, pulling you to sit you on his lap. It always caught you off guard when Hoseok was forceful like this, considering how gentle he normally was. “Let me teach you.”

“Hoseok,” you muttered, becoming overly aware of his hand around your waist. You used his name in an attempt at an argument.

“No, during Overwatch I’m “badbitch93,”” he chuckled, pointing to his screen name, and giving you a casual side eye. You furrowed your brow and pursed your lips, causing him to immediately drop his smile. “Or Hoseok...Hoseok is good.”

You sighed and crossed your arms, flattening your expression again. “Is this really what you want to do on your day off?”

“If I said yes...would you be mad?” he whispered.

“No,” you grumbled. “Maybe disappointed. But it’s your day off and you should be happy with your plans. Now...what do I have to do?”

Hoseok immediately perked up at your statement, straightening up behind you, and readjusting his hand on your thigh. “Okay, this is Overwatch.”

“Overwatch, right,” you nodded.

“It’s a competitive, fast-paced, multi player game. First person shooter,” Hoseok nodded.

“Meaning I do the shooting,” you confirmed.

“Correct,” Hoseok nodded. “So what we’re going to do is start you off with training versus AI.”

“Which means...” you hummed.

“Artificial intelligence?” Hoseok chuckled.

‘Right...AI,” you nodded.

“Right,” Hoseok smiled, he gripped tighter to you and shimmied to glance over your shoulder. “Right now we’re going to pick your character. Tank, damage, or support. If you want damage, we can do Soldier:76, Roadhog if you want to be a tank, or Lucio if you want to be support.”

“Alright, first thought...” you trailed. “None of those are girl names. You know, in general, I’m about girl power. Second off, Roadhog looks disgusting.”

Hoseok sighed as he eyed the screen quickly. “How about Mercy? Or D.Va? Maybe Mei...”

“I’ve heard you talk about her before!” you gasped. “Let’s play as her.”

“Mei?” Hoseok grumbled. “No one really likes Mei...”

“Well, why not?” you asked, exasperated.

“Cute and fluffy, but actually a threat,” Hoseok nodded.

“Like you,” you squeaked, placing a quick kiss on his cheek. His ears turned a bright red as he looked to the floor, giving you a small squeeze.

“She’s just kind of annoying. Her two core abilities don’t really give you much of a chance to counteract. You just have to sit and take it,” he sighed. “Freezes you, then a headshot, and you’re done for.”

“Sounds like my kind of girl,” you laughed. “Let’s go.”

Hoseok shook his head and laughed as well. “Why do I feel as if I’m creating a monster?”

“When I begin initiating web cafe dates, that’s when you worry,” you nodded.

“Or fall more in love,” he grinned. “Right click, icicle shoot. Left click is spraying ice from her gun. Shift is to heal or to make you immune. Ultimate is going to be throwing a blizzard in the designating area and incapacitating your enemies.”

“Got it,” you nodded, focusing on the screen as the game began to load. You waited patiently for the numbers to count down, signaling the beginning of the game and attack on the designated checkpoint. This wasn’t your first foray into first person shooter games, so you were fairly confident that you would impress Hoseok.

After what seemed like only moments filled with quiet cursing and furious clicking, your first game of Overwatch had ended with immense amounts of coaching from your boyfriend. He was hyping you up from beginning to end, being immensely supportive with every decision you made.

“Holy shit jagi! Holy shit!” Hoseok gasped, bouncing up and down, causing you to jump around on his lap.

“What?” you choked, your eyes searching the screen.

“You got play of the game! I’m so proud! Minhyuk! Wake up! My girlfriend got player of the game! Changkyun! Kihyun! I’m so excited!” Hoseok shouted as if he had won the game himself.

“I’m dating an Overwatch prodigy,” he whispered. “Hold on, I’m getting dressed. We’re going to the internet cafe.”

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eurofootballnews-blog · 5 years ago

Text

The Amazing And Often Strange Coffee News Highlights Of 2014

December: A Time For Giving... But Probably Not Cocaine.

December, time for giving and the warm feeling when we see others open their presents. These acts of generosity were put to the test in Berlin when a local coffee roaster opened up their latest shipment of coffee from Brazil, to find it contained 33 kilos of cocaine! We're unsure whether they had a hearty Christmas smile on their face, but we're presuming confusion and fear was a more likely response. They reported the "shipment" to the police and Santa.

November: Peak Coffee Prices

Coffee prices reached their peak in 2.5 years during November. The dry weather in Brazil that has affected much of their yearly crop played a significant role in the increase. Much of the speculation now is how this year's drought will affect the crop in 2015. Although there have been rains over recent months, the question still remains as to how this will impact the flowering of new plants over 2015.

Many are predicting that if the weather returns to a semblance of normality, then the crop should be roughly the same as 2014. If weather continues to become more extreme then production would fall below the levels of 2014.

October: Cup North

A little closer to home we saw the inaugural "Cup North", a coffee party for all coffee lovers in the north of England. Put together by the local coffee community it was a chance for the spotlight to shine on the culinary and coffee developments outside of London. Click here ข่าวบอลยูโร

While the focus was on coffee, the 2-day event also promoted beer, chocolates and some of the exciting "foodie" developments in and around Manchester. Let's hope it continues for 2015.

September: Coffee & Biofuels

There are many known alternative uses for leftover coffee ranging from an effective compost, to being used an odour remover for whiffy socks. One of the most exciting developments of 2014 was the new company Bio-Bean.

Set-up in January by Arthur Kay, the company takes the used coffee grounds from London coffee shops and turns the waste into an advanced bio-fuel. In September they received a €500,000 grant from the Dutch Lottery.

Although widely suspected as a bribe with which to increase their scores from the UK during EuroVision (OK I made that bit up), the money will help the environmentally green Bio-Bean expand their operations and build a plant large enough to handle the processing of the collected coffee grounds. One gold star for Bio-Bean. A great idea and good luck for 2015.

August: Coffee Theme Park Given To Green Light

If you've ever dreamed of visiting a theme park with a giant caffeinated mouse, then August may have been the month for you. Funding was granted to develop a 64 acre coffee theme park in the Gangwon Province in South Korea.

The area has seen lot of development ever since the announcement that the 2018 winter Olympics were going to be held in the area. Designed as an environmentally friendly family theme park, the location will also house a production, roasting and distribution facility. Presumably the latter won't be of interest to the kids. A distribution roller coaster with embossed livery on the side doesn't really appeal to children.

The project will however create over a thousand jobs for the local community and feature a resort and coffee museum.

July: Fresh vs. Instant

In July the Euromonitor International Study published their latest research highlighting the continuing growth of instant coffee in countries that historically were associated with tea drinkers, namely China, Turkey and India. Almost half the world prefers instant coffee to freshly ground coffee.

In the UK, although the coffee market maturing and we're seeing a greater understanding of fresh and gourmet coffee products, the instant coffee market continued the gain strength especially when being consumed at home. Quite surprisingly in the UK us Brits are responsible for over a third of all instant coffee sold in Western Europe.

While it's still often viewed as unacceptable to offer instant coffee in many social or business situations, when at home these malleable rules seem to go out of the window. Convenience in many situations wins over quality.

Part of the growth was attributed to the marketing of instant coffee, many of the words traditionally reserved for fresh coffee were finding their way onto packets, jars and bags in the supermarket. One product describes itself as the world first "whole bean instant"... we still have no idea what that means!

June: World Championships

June saw the winner of the 2014 World Barista Championships. The title eventually went to Hidenori Izaki of Maruyama Coffee Company, Japan. The judges awarding him the prize after evaluating all contestants on a selection of criteria including their cleanliness, creativity, technical skills and presentation.

Hidenori was the 15th winner of the competition, produced and held by the World Coffee Event (WCE). The annual championship was held in Rimini, Italy and was the culmination of many local and regional finals throughout the world.

Congratulations to all participants especially Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood from the UK who eventually came in 5th, yes we are showing geographical bias.

Final Standings

Champion: Hidenori Izaki, Japan

2nd: Kapo Chiu, Hong Kong

3rd: Christos Loukakis, Greece

4th: Craig Simon, Australia

5th: Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood, United Kingdom

6th: William Hernandez, El Salvador

May: Coffee & Cows

It seems that used coffee grounds can be used for almost anything! Starbucks partnered with a Japanese manufacturer of contacts lenses in the hope of turning leftover coffee grounds into a viable and environmentally friendly livestock feed for the Tokyo dairy market.

The fermented grounds were removed from the stores at Starbucks and incorporated into the food for cattle. The process has been tried before but the results showed that the coffee acted as a diuretic among the cattle and the high salt content was a concern. Apparently the new process includes lactic acid fermentation that ensures the feed produced became a viable option. Again, we have no idea how this works, but it sounds very impressive.

April: UK Barista Championships

If you mentioned the World Championships during April most people (probably tea drinkers) would immediately think of the F1 Grand Prix in China, or the start of the Snooker World Championships with its whispering and dapper waistcoats. To the creative coffee folk of the UK, April could only mean one thing; the build up to the Barista World Championships had begun.

Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood who took home his second title ultimately won the regional UK Barista Championships, held during the London Coffee Festival. Congratulations to Maxwell. With the award firmly tucked under his arm he would travel to Italy to compete in the World Championships in June. Flying the flag for the UK... probably without a waistcoat.

Feb/March: The Football World Cup

Much of the speculation during February and March was around the football world cup and how the Brazilians passion for their national sport would affect the coffee industry.

With around a third of all coffee coming from Brazil, the concerns were that the games held in Rio De Janeiro would disrupt the production, delivery and overall infrastructure of the coffee industry. At the risk of sounding anti-climatic it all worked out OK, even if it didn't for the Brazilian football team.

January: Myth Busted

We've probably all heard the old wives tale that coffee causes dehydration. We're told that we should drink a glass of water for every cup of coffee we consume. Where this theory comes from we have no idea, but research released in January from the University of Bath concluded that this was actually a myth.

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