#Themes as those were present in the show and developed further by Andy

[bijoumikhawal]

I won't lie the jokes about how Dukat was actually calling Garak a homophobic slur when he said "tailor" like that are disquieting for a few reasons

[sakuya123draws]

for the end of year meme: 1, 8, 10, 14, 20 !! Please and thank you!

OH MAH GOD IT’S LATE!!! (I am so sorry @nalufever I finally got around to answering asks and I’m starting with the most recent ones!! It’s appropriate as they are for the “End of the year” meme I reblogged!)

 Anyways, without further ado, let’s answer these lovely questions~! >w

1. First things first, did you have a good year?

A: Well, I guess that is the first thing to ask when jumping from one year to the other! ^_^ If I’m being honest the year started out really bad. Lots of family problems, stress from college and my horrible relationship was weighing me down and draining me of my energy. I never want to blame anything on anyone, but I was in a dysfunctional relationship with someone and I finally got out of it around April. It’s a long story, but I don’t feel like dwelling on that stuff. I’m stronger now! (I mean I “hope” so ^ ^;) I was happy that I got in the honours roll for my first year which gave me entry to showing my artwork to judges at the college I got to! It was an amazing experience and I made some cool friends along the way! It’s a small class, but we’re like a family. :D As for my actual family, I lost my grandma…She was an inspiration to me and even today I will always show my appreciation for my grandparents! Other than that, my family had gotten better and we can finally understand each other a bit more when it comes to communication which is always a plus!! :3 Even on here with Tumblr being who it is, I still have lots of friends that didn’t leave and I’m happy to see they are better from last year! In short, (cause you can see THIS is a paragraph xD) I think the year was wishy-washy! It was all over the place, but it made up for it at the end to be called “good”. ^v^

8. Which fashion trends did you hate?

(I thought of him when I thought of the word fashion xD Don’t kill me, I LOVE Max

A: Even though my mom is a lady who lives by fashion, I can’t say I know the styles of 2018! ;w; I looked up a source (well you know Vogue and all that jazz :/) to base my opinion on. I only think this would be easier if I could say what I “loved”, but it’s a hate one so gotta be mean xD lol. I mean I never “hate” anything, so I’m gonna give it a shot. 

One thing I don’t like about fashion trends if I’m being frank is that it’s usually clothes on the runway. Many styles I see based on Vogue’s source are styles I can’t see the everyday person wearing. Personally, I wouldn’t wear half of those designs outside. That’s just me. My sense of style is a hybrid of my mom’s fashion she wears/sells, 80′s-90′s fashions and cutesy outfits. (that I think I’d look bad in ;w;) I’m gonna give a small bullet point list. (I know I always say small xD)

 Arty Impressions - This was the first one on the article I read. From what I can gather it’s fashion with famous works printed on it. (Artworks, for example, Andy Warhol’s, screenprints) I mean I can see the connection, but for me wearing something with a reproduced art piece is hard for me to personally wear. LIke it has to be done like how T-shirts have a design in the middle or small embellishments on it to make me wear it. The example I saw is fun and creative, but for me, I couldn’t see myself liking/wearing those pieces. It depends. 5/10? I guess xD

Plastic/see-through material - This honestly has been a reoccurring style that I have seen. It’s become more prominent now according to last year’s trends. I can’t stand the “see-through” look. I don’t know what it is, but it’s just too awkward to wear outside. LIke people will defend that you can wear what you want, but for ME and ME Only, I can’t wear those kinds of stuff. I would feel very scared/concerned with how I look. (Even to myself) If you don’t know what I am referring to, I mean like that umbrella looking material. (I’ve added the source in the paragraph above for this question! ^_^)

Geometric/Flannel Print - I can never see myself liking the flannel scene. For pyjamas, no problem! To wear outside, I can’t bring myself to do that. You can see me in an old sweater, but flannel I don’t think any of my friends have seen me in that xD I just can’t say it’s aesthetically pleasing to me. I have a problem liking this style. Maybe I will when I get older, but as I’m young and creative I see myself wearing clothes for the young generation! :P (my mom says that anyways xD lol) The clothes that make you feel like partying, even though you don’t go outside like me xD lol 

As much as I love talking about fashion, I think I would bore everyone with my opinions. xD (You’re definitely not here for these are you? xD If so, thank you) 

10. What song sums up this year for you?

A: I don’t have a definite answer, but I went through a lot of things. Many times I wanted to be in a dream world…Like to escape everything. All the pain and depression. I still feel that way, but in 2018 it was WAY worse. This song I originally heard in Silent Hill: Downpour (A GAME I LOVE ;w;) was a song I thought of when I see this question. I think it’s a great song! sad, but I’d recommend it. The singer’s voice is lovely. It invokes so many emotions in me ;w; (I’ll give a youtube link) 

Ed Harcourt - From Every Sphere

14. Favorite new TV show?

(I HAD to make it this guy >w

WARNING: HUGE ANSWER BELOW!

A: Well, as you may know, I don’t watch many shows anymore. I mostly play video games, but for the sake of this amazing question, I’ll say what anime(s) I did enjoy last year! I don’t think I’ve ever loved an anime as much as I love Gintama. It’s really funny because I originally “disliked” Gintama. It was a naive thing for the young me to have said at the time. I judged the show so harshly after seeing anime (IMO) being shat on with the usual themes and scenes I ALWAYS see. I began to give up on anime as a whole. My story starts when I was pissed at my brother telling me, “Gintama is amazing Tash, trust me you’ll regret hating it.” I answered with my normal response of, “ sure Ja, you ALWAYS say that. How will this be any different?” Maybe I shouldn’t have said that…Well, it’s too late now for present-day me. My brother showed me all the “humorous” parts first. (I honestly felt like he tricked me, but the show really starts that way xD) Anyways, we eventually watched a few episodes and I told him I didn’t understand the humour. (it’s honestly hard to get into if you’re not open-minded or don’t understand the comedy Sorachi uses) Until he decided to hit me with his ace, “The Shinsengumi Crisis Arc”. All I can say is, a different side of me was born. I started to see what a show could truly offer if it was done right, the way I wanted to see it. It’s hard to explain, but without Gintama’s sad/inspirational/happy/stupid/clever story writing/arcs I don’t think I would have ever gotten through 2018. I haven’t finished the episodes as of its recent update, but I really learned a lot from the show. I want to give a HUGE shoutout to Sorachi for writing this masterpiece and I would 10000% recommend it to ANYONE! It’s a show that changed my views on people’s situations and lives. I think all the arcs are amazingly written and so far I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of it! It really got me in the feels. I can honestly say that if you can’t feel after seeing an arc in Gintama, you haven’t felt. It’s that amazing! (Then AGAIN, it’s an opinion not everyone will sadly share xD) Also, I am really enjoying Bleach! I’m sad at how it ended in terms of what things happened and I honestly hope Kubo will be ok. I loved his episodes and the earliest ones really touched my heart like Gintama. He’s also really great at making me cry every episode! :P

(GOD SORRY FOR THE ESSAY AND STUPID STORY LINES xD I’m sorry I can’t add a RM for this b/c then everything under can’t be seen like the other answers ;w;) 

20. Did you develop a new obsession?

Well…YES! Many obsessions!! The real question is which is the one that I obsess over the most? Well I’ll put some bullet points to hopefully make it smaller xD

First of all, I don’t want to say it but I’ve taken a “liking” (what an understatement lol) to Gin Ichimaru from Bleach~! >////

I think everyone knows, but I have an obsession with cute/pink/pretty stuff. (Can it be called that?) I just LOVE pastel colours or pinks/blues/purples. Those kinds of soft colours you see in Hello Kitty toys or Fairy Kei/Kawaii merch (if I’m correct xD) I just have a HUGE soft spot for childhood stuff! I literally still act like a kid xD lol I don’t think I’ll be growing up anytime soon haha xD lol I just love to collect them! :) 

Vaporwave I guess has become a new obsession and old art styles of the past! I just can’t stop being in awe at those marble statues! The curvature and bodies are so magnificent! >w

So many different art styles that are brought to this world! :D This is the truth! I absolutely love most styles I see on here and whenever I encounter them! >w

Other than that, I don’t think I have any other obsessions I know about :P Sorry, I’m super boring xD That’s the art student life lol (only me guys xD dw)

THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR MESSAGING ME AND SENDING THIS AMAZING ASK YOU AWESOME PERSON!!! @nalufever I am so happy to have gotten something from you and I hope you’ve had a great Christmas and Happy New Year, friend!! I hope you stay happy and healthy this year!! All the best to you! Thank so much once again for taking the time :)

If anyone else is interested, you can send me something as well~!

Take care from me and Happy New Years everyone!!!

Saku~!

[kennethmjoyner]

For ALT, Its Second Conference Was A Reckoning

In 2017, a group of longtime and prominent members of the International Legal Technology Association, unhappy with the association’s direction, broke off and formed an alternative, the Association of Legal Technologists.

At the time, nQueue CEO Rick Hellers, who spearheaded the split, wrote on LinkedIn that he and others were concerned about ILTA’s overall direction and the “widening gap between the organization’s core values and the actions of its leadership.”

In February 2018, ALT held its first conference, called “ctrl ALT del,” a three-day program billed as a “design think forum for a new organization – one that aims to live up to the ideals and standards set by ILTA.” In particular, it aimed to foster collaboration among three core groups within the legal technology ecosystem: vendors, consultants and law firm IT and KM professionals.

By all accounts, that first conference was a success. The three target groups showed up in roughly equal proportions, for an attendance of around 140. News reports, blog posts and social media praised the conference’s design-thinking format, led by Margaret Hagan, director of the Legal Design Lab at Stanford Institute of Design. Both during and afterwards, the conference generated significant buzz.

One ALT founding member described that first conference to me as a “love fest.” If so, then ALT’s second conference, held last week in Scottsdale, Ariz., was the morning after. It was the moment when ALT’s membership woke up, looked around the room, and collectively asked themselves whether this had been a brief fling or would be a lasting relationship.

A Reckoning for ALT

This second ctrl ALT del felt like something bigger than simply a conference. It felt as if it was a reckoning point for the viability and future of ALT as an organization.

That tone was set from the opening moments, when David Umlah, who directs business development for ALT, standing in for an ailing Hellers, now ALT’s executive director, said that the conference organizers were disappointed by this year’s attendance. Although ALT had hoped to increase attendance from last year’s 140 or so, the number dropped to just below 100.

Shawnna Hoffman, global coleader of the IBM Cognitive Legal Practice, delivers a keynote on artificial intelligence.

The number was only part of the attendance story. Conspicuously absent from the conference were several of ALT’s founding members. Time and again, in casual conversations and cocktail banter, the question of their whereabouts came up. Meanwhile, Hellers, who lives in Phoenix, remained sick and never attended any of the daytime programming. (I was told that he did attend one of the evening events.)

Also largely absent from the conference were law firm participants. Just 23 attendees were from law firms. Roughly half of the attendees were vendors from sponsoring companies, and the remainder of the roster consisted mostly of consultants. Several vendors told me that they were disappointed by the low turnout from law firms, since they were they audience that the vendors paid to be in front of.

Why this disappointing turnout? Speculation varied among those in attendance in Scottsdale. One common theory was simply that the timing was bad. The conference was sandwiched between two major legal technology conferences – Legalweek in New York two weeks earlier and ABA TECHSHOW two weeks later. Given this, budgets and schedules may have kept some away.

But speculation also focused on the very circumstances that gave rise to ALT in the first place. ALT was borne out of dissatisfaction with ILTA. But in the intervening period, ILTA has taken a number of steps to address its members’ concerns. Most notably, it recently named as its CEO Joy Heath Rush. Rush is well respected throughout ILTA’s ranks and is equally well respected, from what I heard, among ALT’s leadership and membership.

Thus, the anger and dissatisfaction with ILTA that fueled ALT’s formation and energized last year’s conference has largely waned, if not disappeared. Nothing underscored this more than the fact that Rush attended last week’s conference, where she was warmly welcomed and was invited to share remarks – an opportunity she seized to thank and praise ALT’s leaders and organizers.

A Right-Sized Program?

Within this subplot of disappointment over attendance, the irony is that the conference felt like just about the right size. For me as a first-time attendee, the conference’s size was one of its strong points. It created an intimate atmosphere that encouraged introductions and conversations. A top reason to attend any conference is networking, and networking was in abundance here.

Driving that was the format, which, like the prior year, was organized around a theme of design thinking. For the first two days, each morning and afternoon started with a keynote speech on a specific topic. Each keynote was followed by a panel that further explored the topic from different perspectives.

The keynotes were top-notch. Zach Abramowitz, CEO of ReplyAll and columnist at Above the Law, spoke on new legal service delivery. Shawnna Hoffman, global coleader of the IBM Cognitive Legal Practice, spoke on artificial intelligence. Dennis Garcia, assistant general counsel at Microsoft Corporation, spoke on security and privacy. David Cambria, global director of operations at Baker McKenzie, spoke on adoption and change management.

Participants in a design thinking breakout session present their prototype.

After the keynotes and panels came design thinking sessions led by Andy Peterson, cofounder of the consulting firm Design Build Legal. Peterson’s programming included both training in design thinking principles and small group exercises to put that training to work. The small-group breakouts were highlights of the conference, bringing together participants from diverse backgrounds to collaborate on ideation and prototyping.

The third day wrapped up the conference with a two-hour open discussion in which attendees shared their thoughts. Here again, the comments focused largely on the reduced attendance and lower participation by law firms.

One attendee mirrored the speculation I’d already heard. “Last year, we were brought together by a problem, and that problem was ILTA,” he said. “Now we don’t have that problem, so we need to identify the problem that is bringing us together.”

But others said there is good reason to have both conferences – ILTA’s and ALT’s. “ILTA is too big,” one said. “We need a conference of this scale and size.” Another, a law firm IT professional, echoed that he likes the conference’s smaller size, particularly because of the concentration of vendors with whom he can have one-to-one discussions.

Feedback from A Founder

Curious about the absence of several members of ALT’s founding circle, I reached out to Judith Flournoy, chief information officer at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP. A member of ALT’s founding circle and former member of its executive board, Flournoy was featured last year in an interview by Monica Bay on Above the Law about the 2018 conference.

When I spoke with Flournoy, she said that, although she got a lot out of last year’s conference, she did not attend this year because she decided that it would be more important to spend her budgeted conference allotment to attend the CLOC conference.

At the same time, she said that founding circle members introduced legal design thinking methodology as a framework for the event with the intention of carrying that forward. That did not happen in the way that founding circle members felt that it should, she believes.

Zach Abramowitz, CEO of ReplyAll and columnist at Above the Law, speaks on new legal service delivery.

“It is unfortunate that the momentum didn’t carry forward from last year,” Flournoy said, “but part of the reason was because the people who were deeply involved initially, for a variety of reasons didn’t continue to be involved at the same level.”

The original purpose of ALT, she believed, was to focus on firms that may not have the depth of resources that a larger firm might have. If that is where ALT wants to maintain its focus, that would make sense, she said.

“What they won’t ever do is, I think, replace or compete with ILTA,” Flournoy said.

Flournoy believes the conference can continue in future years as a forum that brings firms and vendors together. But vendors have limited dollars to spend, so organizers will need to put in the effort to get firms there and make it worthwhile for the vendors.

The Future for ALT

So what does this all mean for ALT and its conference?

Umlah, in his remarks opening the conference, said that the organization has an aggressive plan to build its membership in 2019, with a goal of 500 members by the end of the year.

Toward that end, ALT has formed a young leaders committee, chaired by Anna McGrane, COO of PacerPro, and Aikta Wahi, director of customer relations at PacerPro, and composed of a cross section of practicing attorneys, legal professionals, and technologists. Part of its mission will be to raise awareness of ALT among younger professionals and recruit more of them as members.

ALT is also looking at possible changes for its conference. It is considering holding it later in the spring, to avoid conflicts with other legal technology conferences. It is also considering holding smaller one-day programs in regional locations around the country to make it easier to attend.

During that open-discussion session on the last day of the conference, two comments particularly stood out to me. One, by Debbie Foster, partner in Affinity Consulting Group, was the simple observation that no organization can be everything to every group in legal, and therefore should not try to be. The other was by Brad Blickstein, principal of Blickstein Group, who said, “There is an energy here that feels like something that’s worth being part of.”

Given ALT’s success with its first conference, it was inevitable that this year’s conference would be weighed down by comparisons. But for this first-time attendee, the irony of all this hand-wringing was that this conference stood firmly on its own two feet. Its keynote speakers could have been keynotes at any legal technology conference of any size. Its varied format of speakers, panels and exercises was both educational and energizing. Its scale encouraged networking and collaboration.

Blickstein was right. There was an energy at the conference that was worth being part of. The challenge for ALT – both as an organization and a conference – is to better define the purpose behind that energy and then use that to build membership and attendance.

No organization can be everything to everyone, as Foster said. Now that the dissatisfaction with ILTA that fueled its formation has subsided, ALT needs to figure out exactly what it is and who it serves. Last week’s formula of an intimate conference that strove to bring together vendors and firms was close to the mark.

[Disclosure: ALT covered the cost of my registration and hotel room to attend the Scottsdale conference.]

from Law and Politics https://www.lawsitesblog.com/2019/02/alt-second-conference-reckoning.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

The Last Jedi: What I Disliked About One of the Most Fascinating Films Ever Made

The Last Jedi is probably one of the most controversial films ever made for a lot of reasons. This movie did a LOT of shit, a lot of shit that would piss people off. Hell, it even pissed ME off. But when I see people on the internet frothing at the mouth and calling this movie the worst shit pile to ever exist, the most offensive thing Star Wars has ever produced, and threatening the director with death and calling him a soulless piece of shit bastard… I’m pretty inclined to defend the movie. Frankly, anyone who reacts THIS negatively to TLJ is an utter braindead moron; you do realize you can dislike a film without being completely, insanely hyperbolic, yeah? Again, there’s a lot I hate in this movie too, and I’m gonna talk about it shortly, but in a franchise with Jar-Jar, the holiday special, and vast swaths of the Legends continuity, is this seriously the worst this franchise has had to offer? If you answer anything other than “No,” congratulations, I’d say you’re about the same mental capacity as people who think Watto is some sort of offensive Jewish caricature.

But as much as I would love to spend an entire post insulting all the whiny bastards in the Star Wars fandom, I have more pressing matters: criticizing stuff in The Last Jedi. And boy do I have a lot to criticize. I actually did review the movie a while back, and while I stand by my initial thoughts, I gotta go into more detail about what I didn’t like. However, before continuing, I want to make one thing  absolutely clear:

I think The Last Jedi is a genuinely good movie. Maybe not GREAT per se, as I have more criticisms for it than just about any other film in the series, but excellence is just so wholly ingrained into the DNA of Star Wars theatrical films that even at their most divisive they still have some level of charm. And at any rate, this movie is a hell of a lot more interesting than Rogue One. I’d say out of the newer films, this one sits behind Solo. Anyway, let’s get on to the main event… here are all my issues with The Last Jedi, presented alphabetically, and with lots of spoilers:

Canto Bright: This is probably the most annoying waste of time in the entire film, a blatant and obnoxious stretch of padding the runtime. Nothing that happens in the entirety of this subplot is truly important in the grand scheme of things; the only relevant bit of plot is that they find DJ, and this could have been done a lot quicker. This wouldn’t be so bad if they had made Canto Bright a bit more interesting, but it just feels like another attempt to rehash Mos Eisley’s cantina. It also doesn’t help this part of the film has blatant, unsubtle moralizing and cuts away from far more interesting plotlines that get much less development, particularly Rey training with Luke.

Ditching Kylo’s Motivation: In The Force Awakens, Kylo was motivated by a sort of misaimed admiration for his grandfather, where he viewed Vader as someone to emulate and who he looked to as he struggled between the light side and the dark side. All of this helped make him rather intriguing, as well as making him a very intentional Darth Vader clone character; his whole purpose was to emulate Vader, after all. All of this is ditched close to the start of The Last Jedi, and the Kylo in this film feels almost entirely different to the one seen previously. While I did like Kylo Ren  a lot more in this movie, I wish they didn’t completely rewrite his character and ditch everything established in favor of what they did. It could have easily been worked into how he acted in the film.

Finn’s Diminished Importance: After being something of the star of the last film, complete with a noticeable character arc and a lot of focus, Finn kinda gets shafted here, relegated to a shitty, unnecessary sideplot that leads the heroes nowhere. It just seems really weird, though I’m not unhappy Rey got more focus and was fleshed out better.

Holdo: While I tend to view people who write her off as “The purple-haired feminist bitch” or “Captain SJW” as inferior human beings – and they are, seriously, if you unrironically say shit like this you’re a drooling nincompoop – I really can’t deny in the slightest that Holdo was written rather poorly. She really is a poor excuse for a captain, openly lying to her underlings and keeping things secret when explaining the plan would have effected nothing except her entire crew’s compliance. It almost feels like this plot was written so we’d be on Poe’s side, but it works a bit too well by making Holdo far too arrogant, stupid, and haughty to really get behind. If not for her awesome heroic sacrifice  (one that might not have been needed in the first place if she’d been more honest but hey) I’d probably list her as one of the worst Star Wars characters ever… but a heroic sacrifice of this magnitude,  no matter how unearned it may seem, never fails to impress me.

Killing Snoke: I can kinda see what they were going for, seeing as Palpatine as well was killed with very little revealed about him in The Last Jedi… but we have now had several years worth of canonical prequel material to flesh him out, and it’s honestly pretty stupid to assume you can pull off the same trick in a franchise twice and expect it to go off as well. Snoke was unflinchingly cool, creepy, and badass, so his bisection comes across as a waste of a truly intriguing villain. That there may be prequels detailing who he was do little to ease the sting of Andy Serkis being built up as the big bad only to be cut down. At least in Black Panther he got more substantial screentime; here,  he’s s till cool, but it just feels like there is so much more he could have been.

Luke’s Attempted Murder: While overall I loved Luke’s characterization in this film and how it tied excellently into the theme of not deifying your heroes due to the trouble that can cause, it’s hard for me to rationalize Luke’s attempted murder of his own nephew, leading to Kylo Ren’s turn to the dark side. While Luke has always been a bit impulsive, this man believed he could redeem Darth Vader, AND DID SO. Need I remind you what Anakin did to those younglings? And yet his own nephew, he won’t give him the benefit of the doubt. Yes, he did stop himself, but the very fact he went in there lightsaber ready to cut down the child of his sister and his best friend just feels really jarring and out of place, even within his more cynical characterization.

Phasma: Phasma has come across as a forced Boba Fett replacement since The Force Awakens, to the point where in both films she has appeared in she has been completely and utterly outshined by mooks – Nines (AKA TR-8R) in TFA and the Praetorian Guard in this one. Despite her getting a ton of fascinating backstory and depth in  canonical supplementary material, literally none of that is ever showcased even slightly in this film, and after a short, underwhelming fight scene, she apparently falls to her death. Sure, she COULD have survived, but this still feels like a rather big waste of the character. For someone they hyped up so much, the way she is handled really feels undignified.

Rey’s Parents: I’m not gonna lie, this reveal is stupid in and of itself, but the stupider thing is that a lot of people seem to be taking it at face value. When was it collectively decided we should trust the creepy, evil Sith lord who has made it perfectly clear he wants control over Rey? Why are we taking Kylo’s word that Rey’s parents were drunks who sold their kids as FACT? Honestly it just seems like a further ploy to manipulate her more than anything.

Reylo: While it isn’t canon as of yet, this movie really hammers in a bunch of hints for the obnoxiously popular ship between heroine Rey and antagonist Kylo Ren. And, quite frankly, I absolutely fucking hate this ship, but probably for a lot different reasons than most people. Do I think it’s shipping abuse? No, I don’t think it’s that any more than I think any other hero-villain ship is. Do I think Kylo doesn’t deserve to be redeemed by Rey? That’s not it either; the entire premise of this franchise is that any person can be redeemed. Kylo Ren is really no exception, though considering he killed my favorite character I’d be happy to see his ass beat. No, I hate it because I just absolutely hate the trope, if it even is one, of the hero redeeming the villain through romantic love. I feel like it would cheapen Rey’s character, and just turn the entire new trilogy into an overly long romantic drama. All the heavy-handed hints towards this pairing is just gag worthy, and frankly I’m going to be annoyed if they ruin both of these characters by going through with it.

Rose: Rose is without a doubt in my mind the worst character in the entire franchise. This seems like a rather tall order considering her competition, but consider this: her biggest contributions to the plot are the Canto Bright plotline, the absolute worst part of the film… and stopping Finn from performing a badass heroic sacrifice that might have saved the heroes a lot of trouble, delivering the stupidest line  in Star Wars history, kissing Finn, and fainting. She’s just utterly pointless to the point she feels like someone’s OC from a fanfic where they get with Finn was slipped into the script.

Wasting DJ: So you get Benicio Del Toro,  and you put him in your movie. Great so far, good. He does some weird accent and makes the character have a quirky personality, still good. You give him a very morally ambiguous personality and show the shades of grey in this idealistic universe that leans towards black vs. white most of the time, excellent, awesome! AND THEN… he betrays the heroes and vanishes from the film. What. DJ didn’t die, and he could come back… but he just feels shoehorned in and just doesn’t really reach his full potential whatsoever. He was such an interesting idea, and they just did the bare minimum with him.

Despite all of this crap, though… The Last Jedi still manages to be awesome. Holdo’s final sacrifice, the Kylo Ren and Rey fight against the Praetorian Guards, Yoda’s surprise appearance, Luke’s final battle… Hell, I even liked seeing Leia finally use the Force by flying through space with it; as cheesy as it is, it left me floored when I saw it in theaters. Then, of course, there’s that epic opening space battle… there’s just a lot to love here. In particular, my favorite moment is probably Luke becoming one with the Force. Maybe it’s not my MOST favorite moment, but it just feels so poignant and important, with his final moments mirroring the start of his journey, as he gazes into twin suns one last time before joining his teachers and father. It just… it gets to you, you know? I may have a LOT of issues with this movie, and a lot of stuff I didn’t really like in it, but more than any other movie I have so many issues with, I like and even RESPECT this film. You can say a lot of things about this movie, but one thing you can’t say is that it’s dull. It sparks discussion, and debate, and obnoxiously hyperbolic worst-everism. At the end of the day, whether it’s good or bad doesn’t really matter. The only thing that matters is that this film just… IS. And one way or another people will have something to say about it. Just don’t be a hyperbolic douche about it and try and enjoy things, you know?

[deanstwrt-scottish-culture]

Scottish Culture- Glasgow Music Scene

Further Developments

For this development I used prostrate to draw some of Glasgow’s most iconic concert venues, incorporating some of the most recognisable aspects of them. I then created a colour pallet inspired by some pop-art pieces as this is a style of work I am greately inspired by. For a first development, I was quite happy with this drawing. I really liked using the most recognisable aspects of the venues, and thinking about what parts and shapes would complement others. However, I felt that it looked a little too unprofessional and decided that for my final I wanted to focus on one venue and experiment with colours and style more than the subject matter, as I felt this better reflected my approach to art.

Next, I continued with drawing digitally as I felt that it was a better suited medium for the pop art style I had chosen to follow. I drew the shapes of the SECC Hydro and the Armadillo, keep the shapes very simple, and Made sure they were overlapping. I then added colour interchangeably, using primary colours for more of a contrast between sections. I think it turned out really well, acting as a nod to the venues rather than a direct drawing of them. I think that this piece could also work well as a repeat pattern, almost creating a floral and/or shell design.

Taking inspiration from a previous drawing, I drew the SWG3 again in more or a cartoon style. I used bright colours and imperfect shapes to create a more carefree and childlike drawing. I think this works really well, reminding me a lot of a 90’s kid’s show. I also really like the green and pink together as a I feel that they help each other stand out without overwhelming the viewer.

I then wanted to try out working with the chromatic aberrations tool in procreate, to continue on with the 3D effect I had experimented with in a previous drawing. I started by drawing the O2 Academy in the same cartoon style as before. I then used the chromatic aberrations tool to add more layer to the picture.

I thought that this created a really cool effect, replicating the flashing lights of a concert. However, adding too much detail drew away from the effect. I then tried it out with a few more drawings, taking inspiration from King Tut’s Wah Wah hut, they Hydro and the Glasgow Royal Concert hall. I Think working with block shapes really complimented the effect a lot better and helped replicate the simplistic style of pop art better.

I also think that this style would work well as a risoprint, focusing more on colour and layers than details of the drawing.

For my next piece, I once again drew a simplified version of King Tuts, focusing on using a warm colour pallet. I then drew the shape of the Hydro over the top, and filled it with the opposing colours of the drawing. I done this to draw a link between the history of the Glasgow music scene and the present. King tuts being a small long standing venue, having had some of the biggest artists in the world perform before their sucess. The Hydro is the opposite, only opening in 2013 with a capacity of over 14,000.

I then drew around the shape of the hydro using the halftone tool in procreate to give the piece those pop art dots. I then made a collage of 4 different colourways to replicate an Andy Warhol inspired piece. I really love this drawing, even though I think there are too many different colours to work for a risoprint. I feel as though it ties my theme of the Glasgow music scene, and my love of pop art together well and definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone.

[regarder-the-old-guard-films]

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10 juillet 2020 sur Netflix / 1h 58min / Action, Science fiction De Gina Prince-Bythewood Avec Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts Nationalité américain

SYNOPSIS ET DÉTAILS Une petite bande soudée de mercenaires immortels, dirigée par la redoutable Andy, se bat depuis des siècles pour protéger les humains. Mais tandis que le groupe est engagé pour une mission des plus périlleuses, ses pouvoirs hors du commun sont soudain révélés au grand jour. C'est alors qu'Andy et Nile, tout dernier soldat à avoir rejoint l'équipe, doivent tout mettre en œuvre pour neutraliser leurs ennemis. Car ces derniers ne reculeront devant rien pour détourner les pouvoirs des immortels à leur profit.

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❍❍❍ Definition and Definition of Film / Movie ❍❍❍

While the players who play a role in the film are referred to as actors (men) or actresses (women). There is also the term extras that are used as supporting characters with few roles in the film. This is different from the main actors who have bigger and more roles. Being an actor and an actress must be demanded to have good acting talent, which is in accordance with the theme of the film he is starring in. In certain scenes, the actor’s role can be replaced by a stuntman or a stuntman. The existence of a stuntman is important to replace the actors doing scenes that are difficult and extreme, which are usually found in action action films.

Films can also be used to convey certain messages from the filmmaker. Some industries also use film to convey and represent their symbols and culture. Filmmaking is also a form of expression, thoughts, ideas, concepts, feelings and moods of a human being visualized in film. The film itself is mostly a fiction, although some are based on fact true stories or based on a true story.

There are also documentaries with original and real pictures, or biographical films that tell the story of a character. There are many other popular genre films, ranging from action films, horror films, comedy films, romantic films, fantasy films, thriller films, drama films, science fiction films, crime films, documentaries and others.

That’s a little information about the definition of film or movie. The information was quoted from various sources and references. Hope it can be useful.

❍❍❍ TV MOVIE ❍❍❍

The first television shows were experimental, sporadic broadcasts viewable only within a very short range from the broadcast tower starting in the 1930s. Televised events such as the 1935 Summer Olympics in Germany, the 19340 coronation of King George VI in the UK, and David Sarnoff’s famous introduction at the 1939 New York World’s Fair in the US spurred a growth in the medium, but World War II put a halt to development until after the war. The 19440 World MOVIE inspired many Americans to buy their first television set and then in 1948, the popular radio show Texaco Star Theater made the move and became the first weekly televised variety show, earning host Milton Berle the name “”Mr Television”” and demonstrating that the medium was a stable, modern form of entertainment which could attract advertisers. The first national live television broadcast in the US took place on September 4, 2020 when President Harry Truman’s speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco was transmitted over AT&T’s transcontinental cable and microwave radio relay system to broadcast stations in local markets.

The first national color broadcast (the 1954 Tournament of Roses Parade) in the US occurred on January 1, 1954. During the following ten years most network broadcasts, and nearly all local programming, continued to be in black-and-white. A color transition was announced for the fall of 1955, during which over half of all network prime-time programming would be broadcast in color. The first all-color prime-time season came just one year later. In 19402, the last holdout among daytime network shows converted to color, resulting in the first completely all-color network season.

❍❍❍ Formats and Genres ❍❍❍

See also: List of genres § Film and television formats and genres

Television shows are more varied than most other forms of media due to the wide variety of formats and genres that can be presented. A show may be fictional (as in comedies and dramas), or non-fictional (as in documentary, news, and reality television). It may be topical (as in the case of a local newscast and some made-for-television films), or historical (as in the case of many documentaries and fictional MOVIE). They could be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy and game shows.[citation needed]

A drama program usually features a set of actors playing characters in a historical or contemporary setting. The program follows their lives and adventures. Before the 2020s, shows (except for soap opera-type serials) typically remained static without story arcs, and the main characters and premise changed little.[citation needed] If some change happened to the characters’ lives during the episode, it was usually undone by the end. Because of this, the episodes could be broadcast in any order.[citation needed] Since the 2020s, many MOVIE feature progressive change in the plot, the characters, or both. For instance, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere were two of the first American prime time drama television MOVIE to have this kind of dramatic structure,[4][better source needed] while the later MOVIE Babylon 5 further exemplifies such structure in that it had a predetermined story running over its intendevd five-season run.[citvatio””&n needed]

In 2020, it was reported that television was growing into a larger component of major media companies’ revenues than film.[5] Some also noted the increase in quality of some television programs. In 2020, Academy-Award-winning film director Steven Soderbergh, commenting on ambiguity and complexity of character and narrative, stated: “”I think those qualities are now being seen on television and that people who want to see stories that have those kinds of qualities are watching television.

❍❍❍ Thank’s For All And Happy Watching❍❍❍

Find all the movies that you can stream online, including those that were screened this week. If you are wondering what you can watch on this website, then you should know that it covers genres that include crime, Science, Fi-Fi, action, romance, thriller, Comedy, drama and Anime Movie.

Thank you very much. We tell everyone who is happy to receive us as news or information about this year’s film schedule and how you watch your favorite films. Hopefully we can become the best partner for you in finding recommendations for your favorite movies. That’s all from us, greetings!

Thanks for watching The Video Today.

I hope you enjoy the videos that I share. Give a thumbs up, like, or share if you enjoy what we’ve shared so that we more excited.

[vileart]

Off Kilter Dramaturgy: Ramesh Meyyappan @ manipulate 2018

At work and in his home, Joe Kilter has his daily set routines. Although some people think Joe is obsessive, Joe would prefer not to be thought of at all. When an unexpected event changes his everyday habits Joe’s world is turned askew. His life is no longer his own, he’s off his game… Joe Kilter is most definitely off-kilter.

Feeling more and more isolated, Joe’s life seems increasingly impossible and perhaps the only solution is to exist in darkness. Exploring mental well-being, identity, and those unsettling times when you feel a little bit different from everyone else, Off-Kilter is a darkly comedic visual theatre production, incorporating illusions, masterful physicality and dynamic, non-verbal storytelling. What was the inspiration for this performance?

There wasn’t one specific event or source of inspiration, much of my work has previously touched on mental / emotional well-being.   While I haven’t explicitly explored Mental Health before, family / relationship breakdown and resulting isolation was explored in Snails and Ketchup, while Gin and Tonic and Passing Trains looked at the impact of loneliness and hinted at alcoholism.     A lot of theatre explores this albeit that it is not implicitly focusing on mental health.   This time I’m being more explicit and have attempted to put a piece together that focuses on mental well being – it’s an observation rather than a narrative, although the character is on a journey that for him is challenging and at times crippling!

Mental health has been much over-looked, stigmatized at times – that’s the driving force behind Off Kilter.  No-one really wants to admit having a diagnosis associated with mental health, no-one wants to admit when they’re not coping with the day and what it brings and often suffer in isolation, this is what I wanted to explore and attempt to highlight. 

How do you feel your work fits within the remit of the manipulate festival?

My work is entirely visual – as a deaf performer / theatre-maker I spent many years exploring how to make my work entirely accessible and have always considered how to extend my visual theatrical vocabulary.   Since the beginning of my career in the arts I’ve thought visually – it’s been a huge part of my deaf identity, Manipulate champions visual work and ‘visual’ is what I do! 

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

Yes – I’d like to think so or what is the point of performance!  I think irrespective of the type of performance there is always discussion.   I’ve always viewed performance as a public dialogue – a presentation of an idea through whatever form the performance takes.

How did you become interested in making performance?

I became increasingly passionate about theatre when I could see the power of the theatrical language.  Language and having to explore how people communicate has influenced me greatly, the desire to be able to communicate in a universally accessible way has always been the challenge that keeps me going.

When I’ve been exposed to a piece of theatre, dance or film that has been able to say something to me on the same level as the person sitting beside me (even if their language is different from my own) I wanted to create work that did exactly that – communicate on many levels and to people from all walks of life.

Recently I’ve talked at length about pushing myself and extending / developing my skill level as I strive towards developing an extensive visual vocabulary.

As a deaf person it has become important for me to find a language that is shared – that allows me to not alienate folk, that allows people to appreciate that deaf share many of the same experiences, ideas and thoughts as hearing.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

I worked closely with Andy Arnold (Tron Theatre) and Kevin McMahon (illusionist) to explore how simple illusions and sleight of hand might work within a narrative structure, that would appear to happen to the character rather than him ‘doing magic’.   Once we’d explored a range of illusions we developed a visual script that gave the illusions a place within the story.

The script provided us with a structure – a journey for the character that we then used to further develop and devise the final piece.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

I like to think that my productions are at least a little different from each other, the stories are different, the themes I hope are different.  While they all have in common that they are all purely visual I do make efforts to develop and explore a new visual elements and visual ideas.  

For Off Kilter I’ve incorporated a new visual element -  illusion. The illusions are fairly small in scale but none-the-less are integral to the character and what happens to him.   The illusions aimed to make the character feel out of sorts and confused and they work on that level.   This is not a magic show, the illusions were chosen and designed to support what we wanted to happen to the character, he doesn’t perform a trick but his mind sort of plays tricks on him.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

The initial idea was centered around the experience that many of us have of having an off day - I think like most folk I’ve experienced that type of day too.  However, I wanted the Off Kilter ‘off day’ to explore a day that had more serious consequences.    I wanted to identify the isolation felt, the fear, anxiety, confusion, deep sadness and even anger and I hope that audiences empathize with this by considering moments in a day in their own life.     

Reading about mental illness I was beginning to appreciate the stigma felt by those who suffered (a stigma that is a result of much ignorance), that makes some feel completely alone.

I think with Off Kilter I wanted to offer a sense of the real stories and not over dramatize these – I was hoping that the audiences would identify with some moment experienced by the character.   I think most of us have experienced not being ourselves.   In terms of my own experience, things have happened in life that have triggered a host of emotions that were ‘off’ and needed to be worked through…I assume we can all identify with that. 

Ramesh Meyyappan‘s award-winning solo performances and collaborations have toured extensively, both nationally and internationally to much critical acclaim, most recently with his production, Butterfly, which was presented at manipulate in 2015. Ramesh is currently part of the Design Team for new BA Degree for Deaf Actors at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Off-Kilter, Co-produced with Ramesh Meyyappan Productions, Torn Theatre, Glasgow & TheatreWorks, Singapore.

from the vileblog http://ift.tt/2Df2lzo

[dsrajawat]

Android 10 has officially launched heralding very little aesthetic revamp but more focussed on performance and privacy improvement.  This year, Google ditched its year-long tradition of dessert names and kept the nomenclature simple as Android 10. The new rebranding also overhauled the Andy logo, color schemes, fonts, etc. But the beta cycles and update trajectory was more or less on track, same as yesteryears. OnePlus flagships which are part of this beta program have been right beside the Pixel phones. Hence, they were quick to receive a final Android 10 update, albeit an Open Beta.

Like you, we have been eagerly waiting for this update. So, without a second thought, we flashed the ROM onto our OnePlus 7 Pro. There’s good news for OnePlus 6 and 6T users as the brand has announced the update, which will hit your devices later this month.

Before we jump onto the first impression and see what’s new and changed from the Android Pie, here’s a quick guide to installing the Android 10-based Oxygen OS on the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro.

How To Install OxygenOS beta on your OnePlus device

For those of you trying to install it on your devices, please follow the steps as follows –

1. Download the latest ROM here – OnePlus 7 | OnePlus 7 Pro 2. Copy the downloaded upgrade package (Zip format) to the phone storage (root directory).

Note: You’re advised to make a backup of important phone data before proceeding further.

3. Now, open the System Updates section within the phone Settings. Next, click on the wheel icon at the top right corner. Tap on the Local upgrade option and select the installation package from the internal storage. Rest is easy and take a few minutes.

4. Once the System upgrade is completed, restart the phone. 5. This boot will take some time. But, once you see the lock screen, voila! it means the update is successful.

Here is a link to the official OnePlus community for more details.

Now that’s done, let’s get to our nascent thoughts on what has changed in the new Oxygen OS ROM powered by Android 10.

Android 10 on OnePlus 7 Pro: What’s new?

Here’s everything that’s new and changed in the Android 10 based Oxygen OS version OP7Pro_O2_Beta_1.

1. Easter Egg

https://www.smartprix.com/bytes/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/19-09-05-15-06-29.mp4

In the Pixels, Android 10 comes with a Picross puzzle as the Easter Egg. To access it, you have to go to Device settings > Tap on About Phone > Repeated clicks on the Android Version > Android 10 logo.

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Now, when you arrange the number 10 as letter Q and tap the screen a few time, the aforementioned puzzle game should show. In OnePlus, however, we were welcomed by this paint application instead.

2. Gesture Navigation

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The new gestures let you swipe inward from either side of the screen (bottom half) to go back. If you swipe diagonally from either bottom corners, Google Assistant gets triggered. Then, there is an option to jump between recent apps by quickly swiping left or right along the bottom edge of the screen. Except for the last gesture, the rest was easy to master. The reason could be that the gesture activation area is deep down and tough to execute in a large phone like the OnePlus 7 Pro.

Here’s how it looks in action –

https://www.smartprix.com/bytes/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/19-09-05-18-45-45.mp4

Back Swipe

https://www.smartprix.com/bytes/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/19-09-05-18-48-00.mp4

Google Assistant Activation on Android 10

https://www.smartprix.com/bytes/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/19-09-05-18-50-39.mp4

Bottom Swipe for switching between recent apps

  OnePlus has removed the 2-button navigation option present in Android Pie based Oxygen OS.

3. Customization

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Now, you have a dedicated Customization Section within the main settings, wherein you can tinker the display calibration, icons, themes, Horizon Light, font, the shape of the Quick Settings Tiles, etc. We love this new implementation.

4. Privacy

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Google has put a major emphasis on privacy with the Android 10 update. We now get a separate Privacy section within the device settings, within which the Permission manager resides. This is an underlining feature which gives you granular toggles to stop apps from having unnecessary app permissions.

The most important one amongst the various permissions is – Location!

Now, you can prevent an app from stalking your location by either ‘Denying’ it or opting- ‘Allow only while using the app’.

5. Adaptive Notifications

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Within Apps and Notification Menu

In developer options

Press to toggle Notifications as Important or Other (Gentle)

With Android 10, Google has doubled down on improving notifications. One of the initiatives is called Adaptive Notification, which divides the notifications into – Gentle (Other) and Priority (Important and time-sensitive). The unimportant notifications are grouped at the bottom under the title – Other Notifications. This will ideally prevent useless distractions.

6. Focus Mode in Digital Wellbeing

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At first, the Digital Wellbeing (Stable) version didn’t come with the new Focus Mode. Only after we transitioned into its beta version, the focus mode appeared. First, you have to choose the apps that you find distracting. Then, when you want to indulge in any productive work, turn on Focus Mode to temporarily disable those apps.

So, with this new update, you have the Digital Wellbeing with Wind Down, Focus Mode and  OnePlus’s Zen Mode application to Digital Detoxify your life.

7. Smart Reply and Links

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Are you a fan of Smart Compose feature in Gmail? If Yes, then you’ll probably dig this new Android 10 addition. Basically, Google goes sentient and shows contextual quick replies and relevant link-opening apps in the notification. For instance, if a friend of yours sends you an address, the notification will automatically show an “Open Maps” launch option. Cool right?

8. Project Mainline

No need to get startled by the Project Mainline moniker. Simply put, Google will roll out critical security patches and other small system updates via Play Store.

9. Developer Options

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There are plenty of features stuffed inside the Developer options like –

Override Force-Dark – It essentially converts all compatible apps into a dark theme. Compatibility is the key as at the moment, even apps like Whatsapp have inverted color elements in the Status/Story section. However, if apps start adopting the feature natively in their code, then we could one day have a Dark UI across the board.

Bubbles – An option for devs to deploy Facebook Chat Heads like feature onto their apps, primarily for communication notifications.

Freeform and Resizable Activities – As the name indicates, it lets you transform any app into small floating windows on your screen.

Additional Theming option including Accent Color and Headline/Body Font

10. Miscellaneous things

Finally, there are a few features which made the cut here as they didn’t belong specifically in any of the above subheadings. But, that doesn’t make them any less important.

Snappy Share Menu –  One of the long-time pet peeves with the Android OS has been its stupid slow sharing menu. Google has listened to the fans and fixed it. Yippie, its considerably fast.

WiFi sharing using QR –  This will be an easy way to scan a QR and share your WiFi with the other person, without spelling out or revealing the password.

Intelligent Battery Optimization – Android 10 smartly manages the background power consumption depending upon app characteristics and your usage.

Progress Bar in Media (Music/Video) notification – It shows you a seek bar with the progress of the song or video you’re currently playing. Unfortunately, there isn’t an option to fast forward or backward the media.

OnePlus 7 Pro Android 10 Quick Review

Kudos to OnePlus for catching up to the Pixels in terms of the timely Android 10 update. And for the most part, it apes the goodies of the Queen Cake (which is the internal code name for Android 10). Still, we weren’t able to find some features, found on the Pixel phones running the same update (ahem “Stable”).

The missing and half-baked features are –

Dark Mode toggle in the quick settings menu

Live Caption, which in theory at least transcribes text captions for the media playing on your phone. Google claims that this works in real-time without an internet connection.

Rest, Google has future-proofed the future of Android device ecosystem with support for foldable devices, project mainline, and so on. To sum up, we appreciate the privacy-centric update with nice to have intuitive applications and theming support. We are also ready to look beyond minor gripes like the wonky gesture mechanism. As for now, Android 10 feels like an incremental upgrade towards a more mature operating system, which is reaching for a much larger smarter ecosystem.

OnePlus 7 Pro Android 10 Quick Review Android 10 has officially launched heralding very little aesthetic revamp but more focussed on performance and privacy improvement. 

[torentialtribute]

SFA must stop repeating the same old failures, says Steven Pressley

Like the man who arrived downstairs at Cameron House one morning after a game to find captain and keeper who had a drinking session with him to breakfast, Steven Pressley has seen the Scottish national team in a pretty bad way

What alerts the former Scotland coach of the first team about the current state of decline is noticing how the SFA stumbles aimlessly through yet another was doomed with about as much willingness as Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor shuffling to their beds that fateful spring day 10 years ago

Two games to a qualifying campaign for the European Championship – one of them the 3-0 humiliation by Kazakhstan – and the manager and entire supervisors are fired.

Carlisle United manager Steven Pressley is concerned about the apparent lack of a SFA plan "

Carlisle United manager Steven Pressley worries about the apparent lack of a plan

Carlisle United manager Steven Pressley is worried about the apparent lack of a plan

Alex McLeish was shown the door as Gordon Strachan and Craig Levein for him because of the results deemed to be not enough.

Perhaps it is ambitious to say that another will follow soon.

And the prospect of an in-house designation of species becomes driven, one that introduces Malky Mackay and Scot Gemmill to the hotseat.Whatever the outcome, the worrying fear of Pressley is that the appointment of another manager hoping to cause a revolution at Euro 2020, not l succeed in tackling long-term problems.

I am worried because I look back and see the same theme. This is the same process all over again, & # 39; said Pressley, who won 32 caps for Scotland.

& # 39; I think the SFA should take a long, hard look at itself. I don't see what the clear plan is. & # 39;

Strachan got a second chance and a new contract after finishing fourth in the Euro 2016 qualifying group – and then let go after a hugely encouraging undefeated series of six matches that came close to being in keep the 2018 World Cup alive.

The then chief executive Stewart Regan embarked on his unsuccessful pursuit of Northern Ireland's Michael O & # 39; Neill. The second McLeish, ruled by Rod Petrie and Alan McRae, has now stalled after 14 months.

& # 39; I think it is a bad decision to now mark Alex McLeish & # 39; s tasks, & # 39; said Pressley. & # 39; If you are going to appoint him, if it is done with the necessary diligence, you must support and support your husband.

& # 39; For me, the SFA needs to be set up for someone who has the time and enormous support to start bringing in players and stabilizing the team. We must show strength as an organization and say that this is the person who will bring us forward and this is the plan. & # 39; The events in Kazakhstan, on the opening night of a new qualifying group, revealed the reality that McLeish was not the right man to help Scotland move forward. Ian Maxwell and the board that Scotland had a better chance if the 60-year-old McLeish was not at the check.

Pressley suspects Scotland

Pressley suspects Scotland

& I feel that Gordon, of whom I am a strong advocate, did many good things & # 39 ;, added Pressley, now leading Carlisle United & # 39; s bid for promotion to League One in England. & # 39; He received a lot from his team.

& # 39; Those two campaigns were considered unsuccessful. No experience. Don't build. Yes, everyone wants to come there. It could have taken six years under Gordon. It could have taken eight.

& # 39; It may not have been this tournament, but the continuity and the ability to bring a number of young players to the fore? With Gordon I felt that there was a man with the right profile for that job. Someone who was a very passionate guy about the development of young players.

I think we have made some crazy decisions. The only thing that happens in Scotland is: putting a manager in his place, getting bad results, firing him. The same process again. It has been that way for the past 20 years. There were opportunities to continue. Yet there seems to be none of that. "

<img id =" i-6443a7fc4d9467c0 "src =" https://dailym.ai/2PoqESr a-95_1555800577931.jpg "height =" 468 "width =" 634 "alt =" The SFA fired Alex McLeish as the national team boss after a bad start of Euro 2020 qualification "class =" blkBorder img-share

The SFA fired Alex McLeish the national team boss after a bad start of the Euro 2020 qualification SFA fired Alex McLeish as a national team boss after a bad start of the Euro 2020- qualification

Pressley takes an admiring look further south of his Cumbrian base on FA's work in building confidence in Gareth Southgate after

There is also jealousy for Pressley de Scotland -fan because England stumbled quite a bit about their sudden pursuit of stability.

The four-game audition for the role of head coach in England. appointment of the Under-21 coach who knew all about age, structure and possession a passion for player development came after a 67-day government of Sam Allardyce and a disastrous 2016 Roy Hodgson-led Euro Euro exit to Iceland

& # 39; England is now a success story because they seem to be behind the scenes and with the manager – have a real alignment in the way they want to help the teams move forward, & # 39; Pressley commented.

& # 39; There are projects with (director) Malky Mackay and I heard Craig Levein say a few weeks ago that we have a bit of patience.

& # 39; But that does not seem to be in line with the senior team's agreements. England now sees the fruits of their EPPP (Elite Player Performance Plan) and their investment in academies.

& # 39; Many people argued that for a long time. But they are patient with it and now it looks like they are bearing fruit. We must be like that.

& # 39; Should We & # 39; to find our Gareth Southgate & # 39; Possible. Someone with the right profile in terms of alignment with the organization, are strong points as an individual. Join him, support him and develop the team.

& # 39; That may not happen overnight. But the problem is if they (the SFA) do not respond to this, then they keep making mistakes. Okay, we might get a tournament and everyone will think it's solved. That is not the case.

Malky Mackay is in the race to temporarily become the next Scottish manager "

running to become the next Scottish manager on a temporary basis"

Malky Mackay is in the race to become the next Scottish manager on a temporary basis

& # 39; It can happen more often if we correct this. You must depend on your own young players. That is where our big clubs also have a responsibility. & # 39; With Celtic hell – inclined to get a historic 10-in-a-row and Rangers do everything to stop them, Scotland & # 39; s two best clubs will be even more busy than usual with the present in the coming year or two.

& # 39; The clubs must work together to help the national team & # 39 ;, Pressley said. & # 39; In Germany, all clubs come together to create and support. In our country everyone fights for their own interests.

& # 39; That will always be the case in Scotland. Celtic and Rangers are really going there now. Who's suffering? The national team

& # 39; When did we last produce top level No. 9? You should probably go back to Charlie Nicholas. None of our Rangers or Celtic teams produces one. We are developing some good players, but we have not developed enough special players that can change a game.

& Scott McKenna and John Souttar are players with a lot of potential. We have great left backs in Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney. Those are encouraging signs.

& I have seen Billy Gilmour a number of times for youth teams in Scotland. Good work is being done, but there must be more. Unfortunately, it is always the manager who is the fall guy for all this. & # 39;

McLeish & # 39; s was ravaged by call-offs.

McLeish & # 39; s was ravaged by call-offs. It will be fascinating to see if those who manage & # 39; their bodies & # 39; – including Matt Ritchie, James McArthur, Robert Snodgrass, Tom Cairney and Allan McGregor – are considering returning under a new leader.

& # 39; The culture created is so important, & # 39; Pressley insisted. & # 39; That doesn't just come from the manager, it comes from everything about the organization where players feel they want to come. That is one of the things that Gordon could not level. His players showed up.

I see this in England. Behind Gareth they have this huge support mechanism. I do not see that support for the manager within the SFA. & # 39;

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[tanmath3-blog]

Kenneth W. Cain first got the itch for storytelling during his formative years in the suburbs of Chicago, where he got to listen to his grandfather spin tales by the glow of a barrel fire. But it was a reading of Baba Yaga that grew his desire for dark fiction. Shows like The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and One Step Beyond furthered that sense of wonder for the unknown, and he’s been writing ever since.

Cain is the author of The Saga of I trilogy, United States of the Dead, the short story collections These Old Tales and Fresh Cut Tales, and his latest Embers: A Collection of Dark Fiction. Writing, reading, fine art, graphic design, and Cardinals baseball are but a few of his passions. Cain now resides in Chester County, Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.

  1. How old were you when you wrote your first story?

Five or six, I believe. It was an awful rendition of the whole Baba Yaga thing.

  2. How many books have you written?

Written or published? Written, I would say, so far: 6 novels, 5 novellas, 4 collections of short stories, and maybe a hundred stories that aren’t in those books that will likely end up in other collections. As well as a bunch of poetry, a lot of which is in a themed collection, most of which is still unpublished. The most recent releases will be a novella titled A Season in Hell (due out September 7th) and my next collection, Darker Days (due out December 7th).

  3. Anything you won’t write about?

No, I don’t believe in taboos. There are stories in every taboo. They say not to kill the dog, but there’s a story there as well. It’s been done, too. I have to tell the story I have to tell. If it’s in me, it’s going to get out, like it or not.

  4. Tell me about you. Age (if you don’t mind answering), married, kids, do you have another job etc…

I’m 48, married to a wonderful woman with two kids. I write pretty much full-time, other than keeping up chores around the house and coaching my son’s baseball teams.

  5. What’s your favorite book you have written?

It has to be A Season in Hell. This short book tackles many modern issues, things that matter to me. It’s hard-hitting, and a love story for the game of baseball.

  6. Who or what inspired you to write?

If I had to put he onus on just one person, it would have to be my mom. She loved horror, and growing up, I saw several movies (The Omen, Psycho, etc). They fueled my passion, but so did discovering the stories in the various Writer’s Digest books my parents kept on their shelves. It’s there I discovered Poe. Or perhaps it was hearing that Baby Yaga story for the first time.

  7. What do you like to do for fun?

Read. That’s fun for me. I also like to check out an original series now and then. Nothing that’s been rehashed or rebooted but something really original. Like Dark on Netflix. I also like gardening, fishing, coaching baseball, trying to play my guitars, drawing and painting, hanging with my family, and enjoying the beauty of this world.

  8. Any traditions you do when you finish a book?​

Wine! A bottle of Merlot, something like Smoking Loon.

  9. Where do you write? Quiet or music?

I have an office…now, with a desk and all, though it’s more like a dungeon to me. As for music, it varies. Sometimes it’s music, which can be anything from Pink Floyd to Metallica to Sinatra. Other times, I listen to baseball games or baseball chat. Then there are the podcasts I listen to, sometimes chat about the craft and other times stories. My brain is usually able to separate the two, so I can write a story and still hear what I’m listening and process it. Kind of weird. But there’s also times I need silence.

  10. Anything you would change about your writing?

Well, I would have started much earlier for one. I don’t know why I started so late, but it often feels like it’s too late. And I’d be far more patient, not taking the first offer, honing my craft before I rushed out there. I likely wouldn’t have hurried to get so much out there.

  11. What is your dream? Famous writer?

I’m living my dream. At least I think I am. I get to write a lot, read a lot, do all the things I enjoy. I married an awesome woman who is SO supportive of all my endeavors and two really bright children who are blossoming into great adults. And sometimes, once in a very great while, someone will leave a kind review or contact me or make a post about something I wrote, and it will touch my heart deeply. Who could ask for more?

  12. Where do you live?

Chester County, Pennsylvania.

  13. Pets?

I recently got rid of all my reef tanks, but I’ve had several over the years, as well as many, many birds. Right now, though, I have two dogs, a Catahoula leopard mix named Iggy and a Labradoodle named Kady. They’re both sweet, loving dogs.

  14. What’s your favorite thing about writing?

Getting it all out of my head. It’s cathartic; helps me sort my thoughts and feelings in a way I can deal with them. I’m putting myself out there for my readers, getting naked with my feelings. Hopefully they get something from my stories that elicits a similar feeling.

  15. What is coming next for you?

A young adult novella entitled Shadows in the Storm where Nita faces off with Shade, leader of the Shadow People. Though I still have to work on finding a publisher for the book.

  16. Where do you get your ideas?

My inspiration typically starts with a seed from something I know quite well. For instance, with A Season in Hell (due out September 7th from Crystal Lake Publishing) I drew from my long career playing baseball, as well as coaching. The story is about a woman playing baseball in the minor leagues back in the nineties and what she must endure just to play the game she loves. For that story I took from my own personal experience, even down to the smallest details like taping up a torn muscle with duct tape just so I could play the next game.

  There’s another element to the process, what I call the “what if” moment. You’ll see a lot of that in my shorter work. For instance, there’s this story in my collection Fresh Cut Tales entitled “Split Ends.” I was sitting at a pool while on vacation watching a mother furiously brush the knots out of her daughter’s hair and thinking about the “what if.” In this case, what came to mind was a disease, one the mother and daughter thought was very real, and it was but only mentally in this case. So that story is about the struggle of a mother not to succumb to that mental disease.

  Additional info:

  I have three books coming out this year (all three through Crystal Lake Publishing). Details for all three books follow

  The first is a novella entitled A Season in Hell. Due out September 7th.


  “Kenneth W. Cain takes timely social topics and explores them against the backdrop of America’s pastime. What begins as a baseball story quickly delves into something rich, deep, and dark.” – Mercedes M. Yardley, author of Pretty Little Dead Girls

  Synopsis:

When Dillon Peterson is honored for his baseball career, he must face a ghost that has long haunted him. He is transported back through his memories to a single season in the nineties that broke his heart. That was the season he met Keisha Green, the first and only woman to play baseball in the minor leagues. He sees what she goes through, what she must endure just to play the game both of them love, and this struggle leads to their friendship. As matters escalate, Dillon finds himself regretting his role in it all, as well as his career in baseball.

  “A Season in Hell is a gut-wrenching, heartbreaking story. You won’t soon forget Dillon or Keisha. Her struggle is as timely today as ever. A Season in Hell is also a love letter to baseball and how, despite everything, the game can still heal and bring people together who seemed impossibly far apart, and can do so through intimidating odds. A timeless story of true humanity.” —John Palisano, Vice President of the Horror Writers Association and Bram Stoker Award-Winning Author of Night of 1,000 Beasts

  The second is Tales From The Lake Volume 5. Due out November 2nd.

  Poetry:

“From the Mouths of Plague-Mongers” – Stephanie M. Wytovich

“Malign and Chronic Recreation” – Bruce Boston

“Final Passage” – Bruce Boston

  Short stories:


TBD – Gemma Files


“In the Family” – Lucy A. Snyder


“Voices Like Barbed Wire” – Tim Waggoner


“The Flutter of Silent Wings” – Gene O’Neill


“Guardian” – Paul Michael Anderson


“Farewell Valencia” – Craig Wallwork


“A Dream Most Ancient and Alone” – Allison Pang


“The Monster Told Me To” – Stephanie M. Wytovich


“Dead Bodies Don’t Scream” – Michelle Ann King


“The Boy” – Cory Cone


“Starve a Fever” – Jonah Buck


“Umbilicus” – Lucy Taylor


“Nonpareil” – Laura Blackwell


“The Midland Hotel” – Marge Simon


“The Weeds and the Wildness Yet” – Robert Stahl


“The Color of Loss and Money” – Jason Sizemore


“The Loudest Silence” – Meghan Arcuri


“The Followers” – Peter Mark May


“A Bathtub at the End of the World” – Lane Waldman


“Twelve by Noon” – Joanna Parypinski


“Hollow Skulls” – Samuel Marzioli


“Maggie” – Andi Rawson

  The third is my fourth collection, Darker Days. Due out December 7th.


  “Darker Days, the latest collection of short stories by Kenneth W. Cain, delivers on its title’s promise. From the very first story readers are dragged into seemingly ordinary situations that serve as cover for dark secrets. Ranging from subtle horror to downright terror, from science fiction to weird fantasy, Cain demonstrates a breadth of styles that keeps you off-balance as you move from one story to the next. There is something for everyone in this collection–as long as you don’t want to sleep at night!” – JG Faherty, author of The Cure, Carnival of Fear, and The Burning Time.

  Now that you’ve warmed by the embers, submerge in darker days.

  The author of the short story collections These Old Tales, Fresh Cut Tales, and Embers presents Darker Days: A Collection of Dark Fiction. In his youth Cain developed a sense of wonderment owed in part to TV shows like The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, One Step Beyond andAlfred Hitchcock Presents. Now Cain seeks the same dark overtones in his writing.

  There’s a little something for every reader within this collection. These 26 short speculative stories arise from a void, escaping shadows that ebb and weave through minds like worms, planting the larvae that live just under the skin, thriving upon fear. These are Cain’s darker days.

  In this collection, Cain features stories from the Old West, of past lives and future days, the living and the dead, new and unique monsters as well as fresh takes on those of lore. Once more he tackles themes of loss and grief, and the afterlife, always exploring the greater unknown. In “The Sanguine Wars,” Cain takes us to a future where soldiers are made to endure the horrors of war. He explores the complexities of global warming and what lengths men and women alike sink to in “The Reassignment Project.” And, as often is the case, he ends on a lighter note, with “Lenny’s New Eyes” and “A Very Different Sort of Apocalypse.”

  When the darkness comes, embrace it. Let it wrap you up in cold. Don’t worry, it’s not your time…yet.

  INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING STORIES:

​▪​“A Ring For His Own”

​▪​“Heirloom”

​▪​“Rust Colored Rain”

​▪​“Prey”

​▪​“Passing Time”

​▪​“What Mama Needs”

​▪​“My Brother Bit Your Honor Roll Student”

​▪​“Outcasts: The Sick and Dying 1 – Henry Wentworth”

​▪​“The Sanguine Wars”

​▪​“The Hunted”

​▪​“Her Living Corals”

​▪​“Puppet Strings”

​▪​“The Trying of Master William”

​▪​“By The Crescent Moon”

​▪​“Mantid”

​▪​“The Underside of Time and Space”

​▪​“Outcasts: The Sick and Dying 2 – Gemma Nyle”

​▪​“The Griffon”

​▪​“Adaptable”

​▪​“When They Come”

​▪​“The Reassignment Project”

​▪​“Presage”

​▪​“One Hopeless Night by a Clan Fire”

​▪​“Lenny’s New Eyes”

​▪​“Outcasts: The Sick and Dying 3 – Anna Kilpatrick”

​▪​“A Very Different Sort of Apocalypse”

    You can connect with Kenneth W. Cain here:

  Website: https://kennethwcain.com

  Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKennethWCain/

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/KennethWCain

  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kennethwcain/

  Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Kenneth-W.-Cain/e/B004HHALF6/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

    Some of Kenneth W. Cain’s books:

      Getting personal with Kenneth W. Cain Kenneth W. Cain first got the itch for storytelling during his formative years in the suburbs of Chicago, where he got to listen to his grandfather spin tales by the glow of a barrel fire.

[darthfledermaus]

My Review of The Last Jedi

I’ve seen TLJ a couple of times now. Overall I recommend it. There is much to like and some to love, but there are also problems that are not minor. Below I have some thoughts that include many spoilers. Don’t read further if you haven’t seen the movie.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

What I Liked

Quite a lot.

The movie really quite beautiful. Johnson’s use of color and composition to establish pacing and tone are brilliant. I love that so many wonderful artists and craftspeople work at Lucasfilm doing animation, sets, character design, costumes, creatures, and CGI. They are some of the best in the world and I admire their work unreservedly. When Lucasfilm announced with the new trilogy that they would do as much as they could with practical effects I was skeptical that it would look cheesy in this modern digital age, but by now they really have it down.

It is especially great that they used the original molds to create a new Yoda puppet and had Frank Oz back. Unlike James Earl Jones, whose voice work in Rogue One clearly shows that he has aged, Oz’s Yoda is as he always was. Delightful.

The score, again by John Williams, is very good as always. I don’t find it as compelling as in some of the movies (the prequel trilogy, despite numerous problems, had stunning orchestration), but it is easily good enough. (The sound design was perfectly adequate, but it bears note that Ben Burtt, who did the sound in all of the first 6 SW movies, is no longer involved. Sound design is something not usually noticed in an action movie, but his work was brilliant and its absence leaves the new movies without that extra touch of auditory perfection.)

I also like the way Johnson establishes several themes that repeat and resonate throughout the movie. The basic one is of letting go of the past, but others include stepping up to responsibility and learning about one’s true self. I like how these are echoed back and forth between the heroes and villains. The use of humor throughout the movie was well timed and tonally right (some have complained about the Poe/Hux communications gag at the start, but I thought it worked just fine). I think the thematic coherence is a lot of why the movie has scored so well with critics, who really tend to notice that sort of thing.

All of the action scenes are well filmed—it is always clear what is happening, which is often not the case with modern movies. I have come to appreciate clarity very much.

The cast is good to excellent, with no poor performances. The performances by Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Daisy Ridley, and Mark Hamill are especially solid, but there are no weak links. Ridley and both of her co-stars have great chemistry together. Andy Serkis also does very well with his portrayal of of what turned out to be a fairly uninteresting villain, doing some fun scenery chewing without overdoing it.

Mark Hamill plays old tired Luke very, very well. Luke was always a flawed character who makes mistakes but comes through at the end. He manages to be true to that history while also being, ultimately, a wise Jedi master.

I thought Kylo was one of the best conceived characters in TFA and I continue to like him TLJ. It was a great decision to not try to out-Vader Vader. His further development into a more mature and capable villain (but not super-villain) makes internal sense and works on pretty much every level. The relationship between him and Rey is very well played.

Similarly, the reveal that Rey’s parents were nobodies was the right choice. There was no established character that she could be related to without causing all sorts of plot problems. As Rian Johnson has said in interviews, the hardest thing that she could have discovered was that she had been abandoned by her now dead, no good parents, just as the hardest thing for Luke to find out in ESB was that his father was Vader. Good choice.

The scene with Kylo and Rey fighting Snoke’s guards is solid, ending with the mutual discovery that they will have to be enemies after all. That is a very well done piece of romantic drama, almost operatic. It fits the emotional scope of of a SW movie perfectly.  

Luke vs. Kylo was also really fun to watch. The choice to have him then pass on is bittersweet, but fit the old tired Luke character they had established since the last scene in TFA. I really hope they bring him back as a Force ghost in the next movie. Hamill has become a fine actor as he has aged and it will be a shame if they do not take further advantage of his talents—especially with the untimely passing of Carrie Fisher.

Speaking of Carrie, I thought she did well with Leia. I think it shows that she was in ill health. It doesn’t look like she had full control of her face and physical movements, for whatever reasons that may be related to a long and sometimes difficult life and career (about which she bravely made no secret during her lifetime). If she had been healthier I think she could have portrayed Leia a bit more fluidly. As it was, seeing her play this role for the last time was evocative and bittersweet. Having Leia display facility with the Force by instinctively using telekinesis to save herself, is a an inspired touch. The final meeting between her and Luke, in which they were able to share one last tender joke, is perfect. Eyes did not remain dry in the audience as that played out.

Finally, the last scene, with a force-sensitive child inspired by the story of Luke Skywalker, is great touch.

What I Was Neutral or Ambivalent About

I don’t mind the porgs. The new character, Rose, is a serviceable but a fairly unremarkable example of the Spunky Female trope. She’s presumably set up as a love interest for Finn, since Rey will almost certainly continue to be asexual (Rey/Kylo is not going to happen) and Disney is unlikely to go with the fan speculation of a romantic relationship between him and Poe.

It was a good choice to get rid of Snoke to make way for the ascension of Kylo, but Snoke turns out to be a generic villain in the same manner that Rose is a generic supporting hero. He is almost exactly the same character as the Emperor is in RotJ. He even dies in the same way—done in by overconfidence in the loyalty of his apprentice, in his throne room, while trying to turn a young potential Jedi who shows great promise. It’s fine that they take Snoke out in act 2 of the second movie instead of act 3 of the third, but that variance in timing from the original trilogy turns out to be the only thing notable about him.

What I Didn’t Like

I thought the script had some significant problems. The biggest was the side plot with Rose and Finn. SW is a genre full of harebrained schemes—the plan to rescue Leia from the Death Star was pretty farfetched, for example. However, this one is not only an obvious long shot, but also nonsensical. The First Order can track ships through hyperspace, OK. All of their ships can do that tracking, but our heroes know (how?) that only one of them is actually doing it. So they need to do, uh, something or other to interrupt it. It’s a bunch of obvious bullshit technobabble that could easily have been streamlined into something that makes more sense. They set it up like a mini caper film but then don’t really follow through. (The bit with the video call to Maz is hilarious, though.)

The trip to Canto Bight is well-filmed, but…problematic. Unfortunately, we have yet another movie made by very rich people about how all rich people are irredeemable monsters. Rose’s declaration that the only way to get wealthy enough to visit a casino planet is to trade in weapons is just stupid. We have a galaxy spanning civilization with pervasive space travel and city-covered planets. Yet nothing but weapons can be traded profitably? Food, minerals, luxury goods, speeders, droids? Nothing? There are no rich movie (er, holovid) producers? The banality of what I can only think of as unthinking Hollywood Marxism-lite, from incredibly rich capitalist moviemakers, is beyond parody. Of course, this could just be Rose’s ignorance (any glance at a typical social media feed shows how little most people know about the culture they live in), but that she is presented as savvy and then says something so dimwitted demonstrates the cluelessness of people making movies these days.

A bigger problem is that the side trip is not just a pointless failure, it is a disastrous mistake. I can live with the coincidence of running randomly another one-of-a kind brilliant hacker after the first one turned out to be unavailable. This is SW after all. The hacker (not named but credited as DJ) is presented as a sort of lovable rogue, and he is played very well (with a great stutter!) by Benicio Del Toro. Then when caught he betrays not only Rose and Finn, but also that he has somehow (how exactly?) discovered that the Resistance is escaping in cloaked ships. That leads to most of those ships being destroyed. 

So the decision on the part of Poe, Finn, and Rose to disobey orders not only doesn’t work, it leads directly to the destruction of what remains of the Resistance. Such self destructiveness on the part of our heroes really falls flat in a SW movie. It’s supposed to be about the heroes making mistakes, of course, but not in ways that foolishly destroy their own cause. In a just world, Finn, Poe, Rose, and their coconspirators would be executed for their disastrous betrayal of their comrades. They certainly shouldn’t be trusted with anything ever again.

Meanwhile, Admiral Holdo is also an idiot. Leia trusts her despite her utter lack of leadership skills. She pushes Poe into mutiny for no reason. This is what ruins the escape plan and destroys almost all of what remains of the Resistance. Her stupidity sticks out as something that clearly happens only because writer needs to move the plot along in a particular way.

The battle on Crait is cool and well shot, but once again our heroes are stupid. They attack, lose a bunch of people they need, then  give up when they realize what should have been clear from the beginning. Finn can sacrifice himself to stop the First Order from cracking their defenses, but Poe calls him off. I get that they want to show character development in both Poe and Finn. Poe is supposedly learning not to sacrifice his people unnecessarily, but this would have been a sensible tradeoff—losing one man to defeat the First Order’s ability to crack their defenses and kill everyone. If that’s not the time to make a sacrifice, what is? I guess Poe has learned to be OK with sending endless nameless minions to their deaths, but not his personal friends. Maybe he will learn more in the next movie.

They also want to show Finn’s development from the bumbling coward he was through acts 1 and 2 of TFA to a loyal  friend in act 3 ofTFA and act 1 of TLJ to a self-sacrificing hero at the end of this movie. Fair enough. But they don’t want him to actually die. So Rose saves him. That leads to the dumbest line in the movie (the second dumbest, already discussed, is also uttered by Rose on Canto Bight). Rose tells Finn that he is a dummy for not realizing that the First Order won’t be defeated by attacking them, but through the power of Love or something. That’s not an exact quote, but the line really is that vapid. This is a galaxy spanning, planet destroying war. It’s going to have to be won by actually fighting the First Order, not by getting nice people together to sing Kumbaya. That’s what led to victory against the Empire (with lots of sacrifice by thousands of unnamed Rebels). There isn’t any way that there won’t be more big battles like that in the last movie of this trilogy.

Finally, there is the Holdo Maneuver (which was filmed stunningly). Let me get this straight. As it turns out, a small ship can use its hyperspace engines to smash a vast super dreadnought. So…why hasn’t that happened in every space battle for the last 10,000 years? Why bother with lasers and torpedoes? Why are there any capital ships? Why didn’t they smash the Death Star with a couple of cruisers? Why aren’t all space battles dominated by hyperspace missiles? Because bad writing, that’s why.

(Also, no one says, “I have a bad feeling about this” in TLJ. How can you call it a SW movie without that?)

Overall

I have been there for all of these movies; I’m old enough to have seen the original Star Wars in the theatres (seven times). I’ve seen all of the others within a few days of theatrical release. I want to like any SW movie, and I do like this one.

The Last Jedi is divisive. The audience approval scores are low; as low as those for The Phantom Menace, which is not exactly beloved. I have seen fan reviews across the scale from “best SW movie since Empire Strikes Back” to “as bad as the worst of the prequels.”

I can understand both reactions. Like the best of Star Wars, we are treated to admirable heroes thrown into heart stopping adventure, villains who are both evil and engaging, beautifully envisioned planets and creatures, big exciting battle scenes, and an operatic plot that pulls us in and keeps things moving. I had a good time watching it.

But there are also ways that this doesn’t feel like the same universe the first two trilogies are set in. All planets are now a 20 minute jump from all other planets. You could understand how the Empire had vast resources through controlling the output of a galaxy; in these movies the First Order has vast fleets and legions solely because the writers want them to. While the Force is clearly space magic, you could find a logic to some people having sensitivity to it that could be developed through arduous training. In these movies Rey is incredibly powerful just because the writers want her to be. In the next movie she will certainly be a “Jedi” despite having no more than a few hours of actual training with Luke. Will Rey’s Super Force Power ever be reconciled with what had been previously established? No, I don’t think they will bother. They just want her to have that power, without having to earn it, so she does. (If it turns out that I’m wrong, and they do present a viable explanation in Episode 9, I will be very happy to admit that.)

Lucas created what felt like a big, lived-in universe, with flawed characters we couldn’t help but fall in love with. He failed with much of the prequel trilogy because it didn’t quite live up to that, and this new trilogy now has some of the same flaws.

I’ve read an interview with Hamill in which he says that this was not the Luke he knew. He had to think of him as a different character in order to play him. He did his best to portray that version of Luke in this movie, but he would never have imagined or written the character that way. (He has since walked back those comments and said that he came to see the legitimacy of this version of Luke.) I’m still thinking about that; people can change a lot in 30 years. But ultimately, to make these new movies the way they wanted, they had to largely disavow the first 6. The Empire was not really defeated. The Force was not balanced. The Republic was not restored. The Rebellion failed. Han and Leia couldn’t be happy together. R2 shut down. Luke failed, gave up, and ran away.

I know they couldn’t make movies without some sort of new peril, but it’s discouraging that the message is that the story we followed for so many years turned out to be largely meaningless. I wonder if better and more respectful writers could have started a new series without that abandonment of previously established plot resolution.

[kennethmjoyner]

For ALT, It’s Second Conference Was A Reckoning

In 2017, a group of longtime and prominent members of the International Legal Technology Association, unhappy with the association’s direction, broke off and formed an alternative, the Association of Legal Technologists.

At the time, nQueue CEO Rick Hellers, who spearheaded the split, wrote on LinkedIn that he and others were concerned about ILTA’s overall direction and the “widening gap between the organization’s core values and the actions of its leadership.”

In February 2018, ALT held its first conference, called “ctrl ALT del,” a three-day program billed as a “design think forum for a new organization – one that aims to live up to the ideals and standards set by ILTA.” In particular, it aimed to foster collaboration among three core groups within the legal technology ecosystem: vendors, consultants and law firm IT and KM professionals.

By all accounts, that first conference was a success. The three target groups showed up in roughly equal proportions, for an attendance of around 140. News reports, blog posts and social media praised the conference’s design-thinking format, led by Margaret Hagan, director of the Legal Design Lab at Stanford Institute of Design. Both during and afterwards, the conference generated significant buzz.

One ALT founding member described that first conference to me as a “love fest.” If so, then ALT’s second conference, held last week in Scottsdale, Ariz., was the morning after. It was the moment when ALT’s membership woke up, looked around the room, and collectively asked themselves whether this had been a brief fling or would be a lasting relationship.

A Reckoning for ALT

This second ctrl ALT del felt like something bigger than simply a conference. It felt as if it was a reckoning point for the viability and future of ALT as an organization.

That tone was set from the opening moments, when David Umlah, who directs business development for ALT, standing in for an ailing Hellers, now ALT’s executive director, said that the conference organizers were disappointed by this year’s attendance. Although ALT had hoped to increase attendance from last year’s 140 or so, the number dropped to just below 100.

Shawnna Hoffman, global coleader of the IBM Cognitive Legal Practice, delivers a keynote on artificial intelligence.

The number was only part of the attendance story. Conspicuously absent from the conference were several of ALT’s founding members. Time and again, in casual conversations and cocktail banter, the question of their whereabouts came up. Meanwhile, Hellers, who lives in Phoenix, remained sick and never attended any of the daytime programming. (I was told that he did attend one of the evening events.)

Also largely absent from the conference were law firm participants. Just 23 attendees were from law firms. Roughly half of the attendees were vendors from sponsoring companies, and the remainder of the roster consisted mostly of consultants. Several vendors told me that they were disappointed by the low turnout from law firms, since they were they audience that the vendors paid to be in front of.

Why this disappointing turnout? Speculation varied among those in attendance in Scottsdale. One common theory was simply that the timing was bad. The conference was sandwiched between two major legal technology conferences – Legalweek in New York two weeks earlier and ABA LEGALTECH two weeks later. Given this, budgets and schedules may have kept some away.

But speculation also focused on the very circumstances that gave rise to ALT in the first place. ALT was borne out of dissatisfaction with ILTA. But in the intervening period, ILTA has taken a number of steps to address its members’ concerns. Most notably, it recently named as its CEO Joy Heath Rush. Rush is well respected throughout ILTA’s ranks and is equally well respected, from what I heard, among ALT’s leadership and membership.

Thus, the anger and dissatisfaction with ILTA that fueled ALT’s formation and energized last year’s conference has largely waned, if not disappeared. Nothing underscored this more than the fact that Rush attended last week’s conference, where she was warmly welcomed and was invited to share remarks – an opportunity she seized to thank and praise ALT’s leaders and organizers.

A Right-Sized Program?

Within this subplot of disappointment over attendance, the irony is that the conference felt like just about the right size. For me as a first-time attendee, the conference’s size was one of its strong points. It created an intimate atmosphere that encouraged introductions and conversations. A top reason to attend any conference is networking, and networking was in abundance here.

Driving that was the format, which, like the prior year, was organized around a theme of design thinking. For the first two days, each morning and afternoon started with a keynote speech on a specific topic. Each keynote was followed by a panel that further explored the topic from different perspectives.

The keynotes were top-notch. Zach Abramowitz, CEO of ReplyAll and columnist at Above the Law, spoke on new legal service delivery. Shawnna Hoffman, global coleader of the IBM Cognitive Legal Practice, spoke on artificial intelligence. Dennis Garcia, assistant general counsel at Microsoft Corporation, spoke on security and privacy. David Cambria, global director of operations at Baker McKenzie, spoke on adoption and change management.

Participants in a design thinking breakout session present their prototype.

After the keynotes and panels came design thinking sessions led by Andy Peterson, cofounder of the consulting firm Design Build Legal. Peterson’s programming included both training in design thinking principles and small group exercises to put that training to work. The small-group breakouts were highlights of the conference, bringing together participants from diverse backgrounds to collaborate on ideation and prototyping.

The third day wrapped up the conference with a two-hour open discussion in which attendees shared their thoughts. Here again, the comments focused largely on the reduced attendance and lower participation by law firms.

One attendee mirrored the speculation I’d already heard. “Last year, we were brought together by a problem, and that problem was ILTA,” he said. “Now we don’t have that problem, so we need to identify the problem that is bringing us together.”

But others said there is good reason to have both conferences – ILTA’s and ALT’s. “ILTA is too big,” one said. “We need a conference of this scale and size.” Another, a law firm IT professional, echoed that he likes the conference’s smaller size, particularly because of the concentration of vendors with whom he can have one-to-one discussions.

Feedback from A Founder

Curious about the absence of several members of ALT’s founding circle, I reached out to Judith Flournoy, chief information officer at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP. A member of ALT’s founding circle and former member of its executive board, Flournoy was featured last year in an interview by Monica Bay on Above the Law about the 2018 conference.

When I spoke with Flournoy, she said that, although she got a lot out of last year’s conference, she did not attend this year because she decided that it would be more important to spend her budgeted conference allotment to attend the CLOC conference.

At the same time, she said that founding circle members introduced legal design thinking methodology as a framework for the event with the intention of carrying that forward. That did not happen in the way that founding circle members felt that it should, she believes.

Zach Abramowitz, CEO of ReplyAll and columnist at Above the Law, speaks on new legal service delivery.

“It is unfortunate that the momentum didn’t carry forward from last year,” Flournoy said, “but part of the reason was because the people who were deeply involved initially, for a variety of reasons didn’t continue to be involved at the same level.”

The original purpose of ALT, she believed, was to focus on firms that may not have the depth of resources that a larger firm might have. If that is where ALT wants to maintain its focus, that would make sense, she said.

“What they won’t ever do is, I think, replace or compete with ILTA,” Flournoy said.

Flournoy believes the conference can continue in future years as a forum that brings firms and vendors together. But vendors have limited dollars to spend, so organizers will need to put in the effort to get firms there and make it worthwhile for the vendors.

The Future for ALT

So what does this all mean for ALT and its conference?

Umlah, in his remarks opening the conference, said that the organization has an aggressive plan to build its membership in 2019, with a goal of 500 members by the end of the year.

Toward that end, ALT has formed a young leaders committee, chaired by Anna McGrane, COO of PacerPro, and Aikta Wahi, director of customer relations at PacerPro, and composed of a cross section of practicing attorneys, legal professionals, and technologists. Part of its mission will be to raise awareness of ALT among younger professionals and recruit more of them as members.

ALT is also looking at possible changes for its conference. It is considering holding it later in the spring, to avoid conflicts with other legal technology conferences. It is also considering holding smaller one-day programs in regional locations around the country to make it easier to attend.

During that open-discussion session on the last day of the conference, two comments particularly stood out to me. One, by Debbie Foster, partner in Affinity Consulting Group, was the simple observation that no organization can be everything to every group in legal, and therefore should not try to be. The other was by Brad Blickstein, principal of Blickstein Group, who said, “There is an energy here that feels like something that’s worth being part of.”

Given ALT’s success with its first conference, it was inevitable that this year’s conference would be weighed down by comparisons. But for this first-time attendee, the irony of all this hand-wringing was that this conference stood firmly on its own two feet. Its keynote speakers could have been keynotes at any legal technology conference of any size. Its varied format of speakers, panels and exercises was both educational and energizing. Its scale encouraged networking and collaboration.

Blickstein was right. There was an energy at the conference that was worth being part of. The challenge for ALT – both as an organization and a conference – is to better define the purpose behind that energy and then use that to build membership and attendance.

No organization can be everything to everyone, as Foster said. Now that the dissatisfaction with ILTA that fueled its formation has subsided, ALT needs to figure out exactly what it is and who it serves. Last week’s formula of an intimate conference that strove to bring together vendors and firms was close to the mark.

from Law and Politics https://www.lawsitesblog.com/2019/02/alt-second-conference-reckoning.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

[topmixtrends]

DESPITE MANY OTHER predictable changes to its source material, the opening sequence of Andy Muschietti’s wildly successful adaptation of Stephen King’s epic 1986 novel It reproduces the book’s inciting incident with meticulous loyalty. In the beginning of the novel, just before protagonist Bill Denbrough’s younger brother Georgie is killed by the monstrous clown Pennywise in a horrific realization of “stranger danger,” he must run down to his family’s basement to get paraffin for the newspaper boat Bill is building for him. It is an experience of unrelenting terror, despite his desperate attempts to reassure himself: “Stupid! There were no things with claws, all hairy and full of killing spite. Every now and then someone went crazy and killed a lot of people — sometimes Chet Huntley told about such things on the evening news — and of course there were Commies, but there was no weirdo monster living down in their cellar.” King’s powerful evocation of the nearly unbearable ordeal of a solo trip to the basement at age six reminds us of childhood’s blurred line between real and imagined fears.

For contemporary advocates of “free-range parenting” for whom the 1980s represents the last vestige of freedom before the descent of the helicopter parent, this is precisely why the unattended trip to the basement or the playground is vital: independently navigating those indistinct regions of the real and the imagined should help children learn to better delineate between the two. But the gruesome murder that sets King’s novel in motion sides instead with the logic of a famous quotation from Catch-22: “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.” Georgie successfully conquers his fear of the basement, only to be dismembered down the street by a version of the very monster he’d convinced himself was only imaginary.

Critics have noted the It movie’s overlap with the hit Netflix series Stranger Things in their apparent celebration of autonomous childhood adventure, a possibility many believe to have vanished with the 1980s in which movie and show are both set. Do the parent-free exploits of the young “Losers’ Club” in King’s novel support the idea that parental overprotectiveness be dismissed as so much needless paranoia? The novel instead explores more complex and troubling questions inaugurated by Georgie’s death: Is the best and bravest way to treat our fears truly to tell ourselves that they don’t exist? Is it actually possible, or even advisable, to try to separate the real from the imagined?

From Michael Chabon’s wistful “The Wilderness of Childhood” to more polemical essays like Hanna Rosin’s “The Overprotected Kid” and Christina Schwarz’s “Leave Those Kids Alone” (both in The Atlantic), a proliferation of recent think pieces has lamented the loss of an American childhood in which unsupervised play and everyday encounters with moderate danger build independence, resilience, and creativity. In these views, today’s highly regulated kids not only lack fortitude but also tragically miss out on the risky fun and adventure of yesteryear’s childhoods.

Some of these pieces suggest that fictions can help today’s postlapsarian children imagine a different world, and remind parents that such a world could exist. One contemporary father watches the Spielberg-authored adventure The Goonies (dir. Richard Donner, 1985) with his children. Their sense of wonder is ignited simply by the image of a group of kids striking out on a quest on their own. “Where are their parents?” the author’s kids demand to know. “How are they allowed to do this?” In a New York Times op-ed titled “The ‘Stranger Things’ School of Parenting,” Anna North argues that the acclaimed television series offers more than a pleasurable nostalgia for 1980s kids’ adventure movies like The Goonies and E.T. North sees in the show a valuable corrective to the “hyper-parenting” approach of today (indeed, she goes so far as to suggest that the show’s villainous Dr. Martin Brenner is the only adult that fits the “helicopter parent” mold): “‘Stranger Things’ is a reminder of a kind of unstructured childhood wandering that — because of all the cellphones, the fear of child molesters, a move toward more involved parenting or a combination of all three — seems less possible than it once was.” Synthesizing the ideas of Rosin, Schwarz, et al., North asks us to view Stranger Things as a model for a loosened approach to parenting that acknowledges the world may hold dangers, but accepts that “bravery needs its own space to grow.”

There is general consensus among these essays that the 1980s marks a turning point away from older childhood freedoms. This characterization adds further poignancy to Stranger Things’s loving evocation of 1983–’84. The years following the 1982 release of Spielberg’s E.T., the movie with the strongest imprint on Stranger Things’s vision of its era, are also seen as the beginning of the end of a world in which such fantasies of childhood could seem grounded in a recognizable reality. In the present, the image of a group of unsupervised kids biking headlong into mystery and adventure can exist only as nostalgic evocation of past fictions. What happened in the 1980s to bring us to this point?

As Rosin explains, a series of child abductions and murders between 1979 and 1981 garnered a new level of media coverage for this type of crime. Perhaps most notoriously, the disappearance in 1979 of six-year-old Etan Patz, walking alone to his school bus in New York City, precipitated the widespread perception of a rise in kidnapping and child molestation. Rosin succinctly summarizes the cultural upshot of this infamous case: “[T]he fear drove a new parenting absolute. Children were never to talk to strangers.” Or walk to school, or anywhere else, alone. Simultaneously, high-profile lawsuits over children’s injuries led to a radical overhaul of playground design according to stringent new safety standards. In the views of some psychologists and educators, the removal of any sense of risk in the experience of play undermines the development of children’s ability to negotiate real-world fear or danger. Rosin describes an evolutionary psychologist’s critical perspective on these cultural shifts in the 1980s: facing moderate fear through unregulated exploration and play inoculates us against greater, more debilitating fears that may otherwise take hold. For Rosin and many other commentators, this inoculation is what we have lost.

Stephen King’s It, written between 1981 and 1985 as the fears and protective responses described by Rosin became culturally entrenched in what she terms “the era of the ubiquitous missing child,” might at first blush seem an opening salvo in defense of the childhood freedoms whose loss is lamented today. Indeed, King’s story of a group of outcast kids who band together to fight a protean monster in the fictional small town of Derry, Maine, in the 1950s was a major influence on the plot and themes of Stranger Things; the show originated in part because its writer-directors were turned down in their bid to helm the film adaptation of It. It is tempting to read King’s novel as a wellspring for the lesson North believes Stranger Things revives for our present moment: sometimes kids need to be left alone to confront monsters themselves, because “it’s only when the parents aren’t watching that a child can become a hero.”

If understood in these terms, as a paean to childhood freedoms, King’s novel makes a particularly bold statement for the time of its release. Just a few years after Etan Patz’s abduction cemented the rule against talking to strangers, It’s opening scene and inciting incident finds a boy exactly Etan’s age playing out in the street on his own. Lured to the edge of a storm drain by the seductive banter of Pennywise, Georgie hesitates, reciting the dictum actually much less ingrained in the 1950s of the book’s setting than in the 1980s of its writing: “I’m not supposed to take stuff from strangers. My dad said so.” And in this scene King makes it very clear that Georgie invites his own violent demise by eventually trusting the charming Pennywise and accepting his proffered balloon. If Georgie had run away when he first heard the voice coming from the storm drain, there might never have been occasion for Georgie’s older brother and his band of misfit friends to become heroes.

Stranger Things is King by way of Spielberg: It transferred to a 1980s of risk and wonder in which we never really fear for the main characters’ lives. Season one, after all, begins with a missing child, but unlike It, ends with that child’s safe return. Where the four boys of Stranger Things navigate pubescent romantic crushes and perils, King’s children confront actual sex and death. Georgie’s murder comes amid a wave of child disappearances and deaths in Derry that leads the police to impose an evening curfew. At an assembly, the police chief assures the town’s children that they will be safe so long as they never talk to (or accept rides from) strangers. Townspeople speculate about the presence of one or more sexual predators. The death count rises. 1950s Derry becomes a microcosm of “the era of the ubiquitous missing child” Rosin ascribes to the 1980s United States. And, like the science fiction plot cliché in which a character travels back in time to change the future, It’s 1950s imagines an opportunity to confront the fears of the 1980s in advance, before they become insurmountable.

This projection of 1980s anxieties backward to the 1950s is mirrored in the book’s dual time frame: the characters, grown to adulthood in the 1980s, must return to Derry to again confront the monster they thought they had defeated as children. Riding on the coat tails of its own imitator, Stranger Things, the 2017 It movie transfers the children’s story to a more marketable and mediagenic 1980s setting. This only renders its allegory for 1980s panic over missing children more palpable: here is the moment when kidnappings and murders suffuse the adult imagination, but children may still, for just a bit longer, ride their bikes across town alone. Though more horrific than Stranger Things, the It movie aligns with the TV show in lending itself to the view that the dangers the children face are a necessary and bearable price for the joys and glories of their adventures. Both texts can easily support Rosin’s and North’s claims that with increasingly supervised childhoods, kids — and we, as a society — have lost much more than we have gained.

The show and movie can resonate with this message in part because a central argument in most essays on the loss of childhood freedom is that the fears of the 1980s were imaginary all along. The authors of these pieces repeatedly invoke statistics to demonstrate that the rate of stranger abductions did not actually rise during the period in which fear of this act rose exponentially. Nor have they risen since then, and the overall rate of crimes against children has in fact declined since the 1990s. But for me, this common argument calls to mind a Jay Leno routine about how, after every spectacular disaster, the airline industry seeks to reassure the public with statistics. You are a thousand times more likely, authoritative pilots tell us in television spots, to die from a fall in the shower than in a plane crash. Fine, Leno says, but when I slip in the tub I’m not falling 30 thousand feet! Probabilities mean little to fear and horror. It is enough that the thing really exists. And this is what makes King’s novel resistant to being marshaled along with its movie adaptation and Stranger Things in the case for unsupervised childhood. The monster in It assumes many forms as it appears to each of the kids individually. But there is one consistent principle in its manifestations: “It” asserts the brutal reality of particular fears the children already hold but assume are only imaginary.

King emphasizes this point repeatedly: the unsupervised spaces of play and exploration in the novel’s small-town 1950s are sites of self-discovery and growth yet also of terror and violence. And this violence is enacted by a monster whose particular horror derives from its very insistence that fears are never just imagined. Significantly, King invokes horror fictions themselves in this logic: the monster sometimes appears in the form of figures from 1950s horror movies that the children have previously experienced as fun and cathartic entertainments — as a means of safely facing their fears. But It’s manifestations of the Wolfman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and so on, are far more grotesque and deadly than the fictions familiar to both the novel’s characters and the reader. Some children are violently murdered. Others escape It’s assaults, eventually banding together to fight back.

Despite firsthand experience of the monster, a major obstacle they must overcome is the ingrained belief that it cannot actually be real:

“You’re … not … real,” Eddie choked, but clouds of grayness were closing in now, and he realized faintly that it was real enough, this Creature. It was, after all, killing him. And yet some rationality remained, even until the end: as the Creature hooked its claws into the soft meat of his neck […] Eddie’s hands groped at the Creature’s back, feeling for a zipper.

This scene, in which minor character Eddie Corcoran is murdered in a town park by It’s version of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, exemplifies a central theme in the novel: although we may rationalize our fears as unbelievable, even ludicrous (a clown in the sewer? a man-sized fish creature?), this doesn’t change the fact that the most unimaginable things do actually happen.

Published at the peak of the “era of the ubiquitous missing child,” It offers a less reassuring message than North’s takeaway from Stranger Things, a bromide equally applicable to the It movie: “it’s only when the parents aren’t watching that a child can become a hero.” There is some of that celebration of heroism in King’s novel, for sure. But in at least equal measure, the book troubles the rationalization that fear is just in our heads. Even if stranger abduction is about as probable as a supernatural killer clown in a storm drain, the book turns the reassurances of probability on their head. What matters isn’t the statistical likelihood of these things happening, but the horrific magnitude of the things that sometimes do happen. It requires the passage of an entire generation for the novel’s characters to even begin to cope with what happened to Georgie and the others. And so, the novel proleptically answers today’s unsupervised childhood nostalgists with a challenging question: why shouldn’t it change everything when a six-year-old child is stolen by a monster?

I am not proposing an alternative to Anna North, an “It School of Parenting” predicated on the belief that Georgie should simply have stayed in his parents’ sight at all times. But nor should the portrait of childhood in the novel that inspired Stranger Things be assimilated to the romantic idealization of childhood before “the era of the ubiquitous missing child.” As Joshua Rothman reminds us in a recent New Yorker piece on It, the movie is unable to capture the novel’s vast, messy weirdness — the cosmic fever dream to which its conflicts eventually build. Indeed, the bizarre incoherence of the book’s resolution further illuminates its status as a missive from the trenches of the missing child era: the book’s inciting incident powerfully conveys the horror of real-life events, but its allegory becomes unruly — and eventually unmoored from its historical referents entirely — in its attempt to imagine what it might take to overcome the fears these events bring into the world.

¤

Jason Middleton is a professor of film and media studies at the University of Rochester.

The post Free-Range Horror appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

from Los Angeles Review of Books http://ift.tt/2C1WiNS

[thebrewstorian]

Pop Culture Conference 2017: Beer Culture: Session 7: Media

This session was a bit of a mashup, but combined a couple of my favorite things: cider and 90s tv. If you are a certain age you will remember Fun Bobby. 

When I found out I was presenting at this conference I was thrilled at the idea that someone would include a Friends slide. Meghann Ryan fulfilled this wish in her talk "As Seen on TV: When Drinking Culture Becomes Famous."

Ryan looked at how alcohol is portrayed on tv and found that, generally, you see alcohol is either a lot of fun or something that will destroy your life. You don't find moderation or uncomplicated enjoyment - everything is overdone, alcohol is dangerous, and before you know it your life is over. It's easy to bring up the "overdone" trope if you think about a show like Celebrity Rehab...

Much of the problem lies in the realm of tv regulations, starting with the Hays Code, which is actually the Motion Picture Production Code. I did a little more research on this and found this was a set of industry "moral guidelines" applied to most US movies released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. Read more at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Production_Code and pay particular attention to the section with "Don'ts" and "Be Carefuls," which were the 1927 guidelines intended to protect viewers from exposure to dangerous ideas or scenes that normalized behavior that went against the grain of "good" society. Look through the list and you'll see how paternalistic these are and how they promote "traditional values" (read white and heterosexual). Further, it's clear the code assumes people are "pure at heart" until corrupted by immoral ideas; they assume viewers uncritically consume ideas or are swayed by the very suggestion of "impropriety."

How does this relate to this alcohol topic? The code said that drug use could only be shown if it has something to do with the plot, and of course condemned its use. Of course it might go without saying that people weren't allowed to drink actual alcohol on tv either, and to this day the fines are steep if you are imbibing real wine or a real beer. There is some flexibility based on genre, and of course pay sites like HBO or Netflix have more flexibility.

While regulations have continued to be known, over time you see a lot of passing of the buck in enforcement. So the FCC blames broadcasters, and then the lobbyists get involved with threats threatening to make them "big tobacco" where they drown in regulations (I think, though as I've mentioned in previous posts sometimes my notes aren't helpful). There was a strong wave of "prevention groups," usually focusing their concern on vulnerable younger people. The fear was that teens would see ads and then start drinking, and then if they see ads for a certain brand they'd develop a favorite brand and wouldn't be able to stop.

This "youth danger" theme was one of a few main ones you see. In looking at when alcohol is permitted we see some contradictions. One is that it's okay to drink if you've done sports and it's okay to have alcohol ads during sporting events. Another is that drinking is fine if it is generally part of a recreational outdoor activity. 

And of course it's okay in war -- where did those MASH guys get their still?  

Another one is the "heroic struggle over alcohol." Think back to the character of Otis in Mayberry (Andy Griffin show); he's the town drunk, though oddly enough you don't ever actually see him drink and his over consumption is implied. In a remake years later, Otis' story turns into a "cure" story because Otis comes back and is sober; he's overcome his problems and so can you.

The show Cheers was an interesting one, and not just because it was a neighborhood bar that was a welcoming place or that the owner was a reformed alcoholic. At the Cheers bar not everyone drank -- the two exceptions being the hard workers / working class.  

The 80s and 90s were fun and yet confusing decades for many reasons...

In the Simpsons the cause of and solution to all problems was Duff beer. The guys in King of the Hill bonded in an alley, standing in a line nightly to drink their generic American beer. Yuppy culture was also forming, and for sit coms this seemed to mean that no bars were allowed. Lots happens at coffee and juice bars, in mansions, or at crazy teen dances.  This is a decade where you see a lot of "very special episodes," many involving teens, which are basically superficial cure stories.

Enter Reality TV! The NYTimes said that tv has a drinking problem - and they say the characters on reality tv and the entire model of wanting "real" drama has driven an irresponsible drinking culture. We make jokes about wanting to drink all the time (I'm guilty: I sent a message during a staff meeting yesterday morning mentioning my desire for a glass of wine). Though the only ingestion is happening on cartoons, alcohol is everywhere and we don't see a call for moderation. Think about the universe's biggest televised event (the Super Bowl) and how much pressure there is to drink beer.

At the same time, recently we’ve see an increase in food and travel shows, People are exploring, cooking, and drinking in a range of local or international locales. Maybe we can hope that this focus on exploring historic or regional recipe books, themed alcohol concoctions, and food DIY will encourage a different approach to drinking, one that is more social and balanced.

So I warned you that this was a hodgepodge session! The second half was a talk by Andi McClanahan called "The Gendering of Hard Cider." I actually wish I'd been in a session with McClanahan because after seeing her session there is interesting overlap in the work that we do around gender.

She explored various levels of gendering in cider, starting with the cider house itself, and noticed that many cider houses talk about the decor or service, but not about the cider. She mentioned the Pomme Boots, which was started by three women in the NW. She also talked about general drinking trends, namely that men are more continuous drinkers, women come in and out.

Cider is also known as a beverage that can bridge wine and beer markets, often noted as closer to wine because of the fruit, but with an alcohol content closer to what you'd find in beer. As the industry is maturing, producers are thinking about how to market it and whether those approaches need to be gendered. In addition to maturation, this industry is notable for its relatively quick growth; however, historically when an "alternative beverage" has come out the trend is to see an initial spike and then falling off in profits. McClanahan noted that cider currently accounts for 1% of sales in the US, while it accounts for 14% in the UK. The UK market has gender parity in production and consumption.

I've done some thinking about cider and have interviewed a few (male) cider makers, so I was surprised by the next part of her talk about marketing practices. She found a push towards gendering cider in a male-centric way through marketing and advertising. She found some solid "sexual scripts" and macho images. She showed some wonderful ads and unfortunately tech troubles prevented her from also showing video commercials. The first example was Angry Orchard, which early on branded themselves with a sort of sternness and evilness to appeal to masculine characteristics. But women flocked to it. In response, they changed their marketing to focus more on local production or other aspects of the industry.

Do a Google search for Original Sin Cider... This cider blends their product with a variety of different themes. So you get biblical iconography, a Geisha, and naughty teacher, and many have the tag line "sin here." 

Bite Hard is another one to Google. They are marketing their product as robust and "canned with gumption." One favorite line of mine was the "creation myth" that Bite Hard started after pressure from "the craft beer drinker's girlfriend." Ads show women drinking from wine glasses and men are drinking from pint glasses. You can guess why.

Smith & Forge encourages "guys" to discover, and their marketing oozes testosterone. Make no mistake, this is a bro cider. Blake's Hard Cider gives their ciders masculine names and a favorite tag line from their commercials is delivered by scantily clad women purring "How hard is it?" Yes, go ahead and make the leap there and assume it's a double entendre. Finally, you get Julian, a cider that is more American than beer. You'd be right if you guessed that their marketing is patriotic and their cider will get you ready for a fight.  

Curious about the Fun Bobby picture? 

Curious about the MASH picture? 

[jesskennedy01-blog]

Research Report

BA (Hons) Photographic Arts

Major Project 1

Name: Jessica Kennedy

Major Project Title:

(Or working title - how and why did this title develop?)

‘Chilblains’

Chilblains occur when the skin is getting hot and cold too quickly and the blood vessels near the surface of the skin cannot handle the increased blood flow. It can cause blood to leak into the surrounding tissue which results in the swelling and itchiness associated with chilblains. They can be caused by regular exposure to the cold and damp in association with poor circulation.

I used to get chilblains every year as a child. I grew up in Cornwall which is very damp and cold during the winter and I imagine this was largely the cause of my chilblains. I also had very bad circulation and low blood pressure which made me feel dizzy and lightheaded quite a lot of the time and was also probably a massive factor. This is partly the reason for my choice of name, as the story is so closely linked with my own childhood. However, I also chose this title because I think that the idea of chilblains being caused by blood vessels not being able to adjust to change fast enough links in well with themes of anxiety that can be found in my book. I found my own anxieties occur when I feel overwhelmed and unable to cope. It ties in too as the story occurs within a tank full of cold salty water. This environment could be interpreted as a metaphor for my experience with Cornwall or it could be just be an environment which could help to cause chilblains.

I also considered the title ‘Low Blood Pressure’, but felt that it was too long winded, ‘Hypotension’, but felt it was too scientific and that not enough people would know what it means and ‘Head Rush’ which I felt sounded too much like the title of a magazine. I also liked the idea of ‘Dehumidifier’ as a dehumidifier takes moisture from the air. I think this would have worked because ultimately the story is one of progression and has some kind of resolution. However, I think maybe it would be very difficult for anyone but myself to make this connection and therefore it may seem unconnected. I may still change my mind though as I think this title has my humour in it which I like.

Research Methods

(What methods have you used during this phase of the project and how have they helped you develop your ideas and inform your major project proposal?)

Throughout this phase of the project my love for photo books has most definitely continued and I have spent a lot of time studying other peoples publications. My favourite way of doing this is through the Self Publish Be Happy website, where I can looks at spreads online and then go and source the books that interest me the most to see physical copies. I find this works well as I am able to see a lot of projects that are made by less well known artists who use similar processes to myself. Therefore there is a lot for me to learn about their experiences with different processes when working on small scale projects. I have also continued to pick up and study books that stand out to me in the library and find this too a good was of exploring photo books. Further, I have been to many different exhibitions including The Infinite Mix from the Hayward Gallery, Philippe Parreno’s Anywhen in the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, Donna Huanca’s Scar Cymbals at the Zabludowicz Gallery and Paris Photo, all which have informed my major project proposal significantly. I have also visited the Photographer’s Gallery many times and various other galleries around London.

Pilot Project

(What have you achieved through the development of your pilot project/s? What have you learned from the process? Identify the main concepts that might direct or drive your major project.)

Through the development of my pilot project I have achieved a first draft of part of my book that I am very happy with and I have decided on fundamental aspects of its design like the paper, size and some of the layouts. I have also finished writing a large part of the final text that will be included in the book as well as having selected many of the final images that I will use. From the process I have learnt that giving more time to a project can be really beneficial in allowing ideas to develop, but also that deadlines are extremely important as without them I don’t think I would ever make any final decisions and I would never produce anything. I have also learnt a lot more about Indesign and paper qualities as well as developing my style in terms of design. I feel I have really started to find my own style and figure out what I am trying to put across. I think that the main concept that will drive my major project is the role of fantasy in coping with something very real like loss of control. It also uses fantasy to explore very complex emotions like anxiety and fear.

Audience and Context

(Has a consideration of Context and Audience made you think about your project in a particular way ? Have you been aware of the histories, conventions and audience expectations and audience of particular contexts? Have you considered different contexts and how have you responded to them?)

This is possibly the first piece of work that I have made where I have been very aware that it will be available for people to buy. Not only will it be shown in our degree show where it can be purchased, I am also planning on making multiple copies of the book to sell online and to give to companies like Self Publish Be Happy. This means that my audience has been even more in the forefront of my mind. Whilst ultimately I am still making the book for myself, I would also really like to construct it so that it is accessible and appealing to those that see it. I have had to consider my materials much more as I have needed to keep the price of production down as much as possible whilst still sticking true to how I want the work to be presented.

Production and Presentation

(Discuss the production methods you have been exploring through your pilot project. What effects do these different approaches/visual strategies have on the work? What choices have you made in the refinement of your visual approach and why? Is the approach you have chosen effective in communicating your ideas to the identified audience?)

The initial task that I set myself was to go through my giant archive of material that I had created over the past few years, including images and text. This means that selecting and editing have been the most prominent processes for me in this phase of my project. This task has been rather tough but also extremely fulfilling. The fact that this material has been in my mind for such a long time has meant that I have had the time to make sure my final selections and spreads are refined and well thought out. Everything that appears in the project is extremely personal and familiar to me and has been for a long period of time. I feel that this means that my overall project will be much more effective in communicating my true ideas to my audience. I have also begun making decisions about integral elements of the presentation of the material. I have chosen to produce a square, hardback book measuring 20x20cm with a reflective cover and an embossed title. I have also decided to use a relatively thin, glossy, white paper inside. All of these decisions have been made in order to mimic the feeling of a children's storybook, enhancing my projects themes of mental exploration and self discovery.

Visual References / Bibliography

(List the key visual and critical references you have explored during the research process. Discuss how useful these references were for the project and what you learned from them?)

Various projects by Uta Barth’s including …and to draw a bright white line with light, and of time and nowhere near:

Barths work focusses on encouraging the individual to consider their own perception. Her work has not only helped me to do this but has also taught me how to lead others into doing so in a really progressive way.

Stephen Gill’s Coming up for Air: 

Interestingly I looked at this book right at the beginning of the module. I really liked his title and design and that was mainly what drew me to it. After writing and designing my own book which uses a fish tank as a metaphor for perception, I went back and looked at his book again and suddenly I could relate to his images in a much more intense way. His photographs have a slightly warped feel to them and a filter that may remind one of the appearance of breath on a window. I feel that his images are like looking through a fish tank too.

Andy Warhol’s Andy Warhol’s Philosophy:

This book is a collection of memories, observations and reflections. It was really the first chapter, B and I: How Andy Puts His Warhol On that I liked the most. The chapter takes the form of a telephone conversation between ‘A’ and ‘B’. It contains random thoughts and seemingly mundane observations. I found it very useful as it inspired me to continue writing in a stream of consciousness style and taught me new ways of doing so.

Sigmund Freud’s Essay Creative Writers and Day-Dreaming:

In this essay Freud discusses the relationship between phantasy and creativity - specifically in creative writing. I found this book really interesting and relative to my project because a large element of what I am doing is creative writing based. Freud discusses how a successful artist can put their phantasies into pieces of art in such a was that they are not so personal that others cannot relate. He also describes how, in doing so, one can return from introversion back into the real world which is what I feel my project has allowed me to do.