#also i realize i need to make more non-icy icons

[fatummortem]

@positivelybeastly continued from x

ㅤㅤWhile waiting for Hank to get a moment, Bobby realizes it's be a very long time since he's heard his friend sing. He's always sung while working hasn't he? Bobby's lips press together in thought as he pulls his smoothie away. Visiting Hang at work after he left the X-Men had been a different setting entirely, not a lot of time of feeling comfortable in private or with your friends around.

ㅤㅤBobby's blue eyes jerk upwards when he hears the shock in Hank's oh. The fact his friend looks utterly floored, any other time Bobby would take it as reaching an unknown challenge. Just to get that expression on his friends face. But the fact, Bobby thinks, it's just from his appearance? The realness of the disbelief causes him to realize just how much of a bad friend he's been.

ㅤㅤSure, life's been busy. Being on separate teams makes everything more difficult. Takes a lot of effort to rearrange things. Make the time. He's done it, he has that ability. He should have made time for Hank too.

ㅤㅤA cheerful smile curves over his lips. " I'm getting the hang of it, it's nice . Krakoa's different from the school, more enjoyable. More ways to help other mutants... " He pauses a few moments to get his thoughts together.

ㅤㅤ" I feel that I'm actually getting a handle on myself. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤHow about--? "

ㅤㅤHe's doing it again, pretending he doesn't notice something. He thought he'd gotten better at not doing it.

ㅤㅤBobby let out a breath, the only sign of his nerves is a faint icy vapor trail mixed within his exhale. Another glimpse of it shows seconds later as Bobby looks down, gripping his straw & tugging at it gently, making it look like he's stirring it instead of it being a tick.

ㅤㅤWhat does he even say? Words only go so far & he's found actions are better or a mixture. Would words even matter? Which ones? There are so many jokes or light japs that flow through his mind, he has to push that urge back before they start popping out.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤHe's gunna wing it. He's good at that right?

ㅤㅤ" I'm sorry, Hank. " Bobby gives him a sad smile, it slowly reaches his blue eyes. " Do you have time to talk? I have a few hours before I have to head out... " His hand raises to rub the back of his head bashfully. " It feels like we should. "

[lovewillthaw-j]

Elsa’s powers appreciation (part 2 of 3) - Freezing

To recap, I’d like to classify Elsa’s powers into 3 categories and 3 posts - making things out of ice/snow (part 1), freezing (and melting) and movement/kinetic energy.

Before I dive into part 2 - I received some comments on the first post about Elsa’s ice decorations on Arendelle castle, which I missed out on. I would classify them as medium sized objects that she creates out of ice =)

What is the difference between part 1 and part 2? Well, I make a distinction between her creating something that was not there, versus her freezing (ie lowering the temperature of) something that is already there. Of course this is just my opinion and some are arguable, such as the snowstorms - you could say she created it or you could say she froze the weather.

1. Small-scale freezing

In the first row, she freezes window sills both as a child and as Queen: in between, she is freezing the scepter and orb before the coronation (and also during the coronation itself).

In the second row, she freezes water under her foot and discovers she can walk on water. To the right, are 2 contrasting examples of her freezing the water fountain. In the first, she physically touched the fountain; in the second, she has “levelled up” and can freeze the fountain without physical touch.

2. Freezing the room she is in + the floor of the Enchanted forest

In the first row, she freezes the floor of the great hall (and the whole hall too); next to it is the sad scene after her parents’ funeral, which she didn’t dare to attend for fear of hurting everyone in her grief; rightmost, she is freezing the room within the ice palace and causing a mini snowstorm. (for snowstorms, she also uses her kinetic powers which I will cover in the third post)

In the second row are the two times she froze the forest floor, first to stop the Northuldra and Mattias’ soldiers; second during her fight with Bruni.

3. Further lowering the temperature of an already cold place

I want to point this out cos she does it quite a lot. Her powers are just THAT awesome! In the first row, in her anguish from hurting Anna, she lowers the temperature of the already cold great hall, causing more ice to form on the already icy floor and to spread up the walls (2nd pic) Next to it, in the ice palace, as she despairs while talking to Anna, we hear the sound of ice forming and we see more ice fractals appearing in the castle walls (which are made of ice and are already cold).

In the second row, with the castle glowing red, again more ice fractals appear and icy spikes form on the walls. On the right is a screencap from the dungeon scene showing more ice forming on the walls as Elsa’s emotions cause the temperature to drop further.

4. Freezing an entire geographical area + weather

This hardly needs description. She freezes the entire fjord and causes it to snow in summer in Arendelle. 

Later on, after breaking out of the dungeon, her panic causes a massive snowstorm to form around her (again, snowstorms also involve her kinetic powers), engulfing the castle and lowering the temperature even further, such that huge spikes of ice block Olaf and Anna’s path inside the castle; also, so much snow blankets the castle that Anna is able to slide down the side of the castle safely to the ground. The storm also causes the fjord to freeze even colder; some of the ships move as a result of the warping ice and one of them topples and almost falls on Kristoff and Sven.

In the final image (post Great Thaw), Elsa has got it under control and is able to make it snow in a controlled manner and only in the castle courtyard.

Not shown is the epilogue of F2 where she has frozen the Dark Sea and gallops over it on Nokk.

5. Her hair

Haha, now for something light hearted. You can argue that this is a separate power, but I’d like to think that she froze parts of her hair in place to give her iconic hair do. Watch the progression of the screencaps - her long locks by the side of her face initially drape down, and with a sweep of her right and then left hand, they get plastered to the side of her head. Magic frozen hairspray...

6. Uniquely Olaf

Have you ever stopped to consider that the magical personal “flurry” that Elsa made for Olaf is pretty mindblowing? She literally made a mobile, perpetual freezer! ie, a localized zone of cold temperature that is cold enough to snow and keep Olaf from melting, AND follows him everywhere! To put it another way, in 1840s Arendelle, Elsa has invented a fridge! (that follows you) Wouldn’t every household want one of their own for those hot summer days?

Olaf’s permafrost is similar and a little bit frightening if you see it as Elsa “encasing” you in ice. She can permafrost all her sentient creations including Marshmallow and the snowgies now. 

7. Freezing head and heart

This is one of the darkest sides of Elsa’s powers. She is able to send her freezing powers “into” a person and if it is the head - knock the person unconscious and turn some hair white; if it is the heart, the person freezes from within and their hair will turn all white like Elsa’s, prior to becoming an immobile statue of ice. Do you know what this reminds me of? I watched a nature documentary on certain parasites which infect insects and take over their mind before killing them from within. Could Elsa control your mind? I think Evil Elsa could...and would...(Hell, if Nattmara could...why not Elsa. -FoS)

I like to think that during the fight with Weaseltown’s men, she was falling to the dark side and if that had not been arrested, she could have easily unleashed her powers and frozen the hearts of all her assailants.

BTW, I did not realize before that when she hit Anna in the head, you can see a snowflake impact Anna’s head briefly. (captured in my screencap)

In the second row, I want to point out that frozen Anna’s body was SO COLD that Hans’ sword frosted up before the sword made contact and shattered. And this brings me to the next point...

8. Freeze metal and stone to ultra low temperature that they break

So I did some research and some metals can shatter once it is colder than a specific temperature called the “ductile to brittle transition temperature”. Cheap non-alloyed steel can shatter at about -30 degrees Celsius. Alloyed steel can withstand much colder temperatures. This is important when building metal structures eg ships and rigs for use in the Arctic or Antarctic. I’m no materials scientist so I’ll let people chip in on this if they wish. 

The point is, our Queen CAN FREEZE TO COLDER THAN -30 DEGREES!!! And she sure has superhuman invulnerability to cold! Human skin sticks to cold surfaces.

In the rightmost screencap, Elsa has broken out of a solid stone dungeon! Maybe she blasted it open (we don’t know) but this too is freaking amazing! I did some brief research and this is called frost weathering or frost shattering. Essentially she could break through stone by rapidly freezing all the water in it since water expands on freezing. (again, I’m no expert)

It is my belief that in F2, she could have destroyed the dam singlehandedly. Earth Giants pffft. And she would have stopped the water at the source too.

Elsa is definitely impervious to her own cold - she hugs frozen Anna (who is cold enough to break metal) cheek to cheek and is unscathed.

Interestingly, in F2 Anna holds the ice sword that Elsa made without being hurt by the cold - perhaps Anna gained some cold tolerance after coming back from being frozen herself. And she hugs Olaf all the time too.

9. The Nokk + Magic Freezing Thighs 

Elsa is pretty fearsome in combat - I will touch more on this in the third post. Here, she figures out pretty rapidly how to stop the Nokk by freezing him. In the epilogue of F2, one of the most beautiful FX scenes - she freezes the Nokk and he willingly obliges and becomes a beautiful ice horse that can travel on land.

Have you ever wondered how Elsa stays on the Nokk “bareback”??? (bareback referring to Nokk...although Elsa’s dark sea gown is pretty bare in the back too lol) I know @super-mam-te-moc and I have! 

Look at these 3 screencaps - on the left, the Nokk is bucking and thrashing around, trying to shake Elsa off; in the middle, she is riding the Nokk at a speed faster than the tsunami of water; and on the right, the Nokk is rearing up on hind legs while Elsa makes the huge ice wall with her hands in the air. In all these situations Elsa stays firmly on the Nokk and never falls off or slides off!

Our conclusion is - she has magic freezing thighs that help her stick to the Nokk...LOL

10. Melting

Lastly, Elsa is able to melt everything she made. With the help of Anna’s great love (lovethawmode) she melted the entire fjord and Arendelle. (kinetic powers are at play here too as she makes everything float into the sky and coalesce into a giant snowflake)

In F2, she also demonstrates melting the ice floor that she froze.

What we don’t know yet is whether she can melt “natural” snow that she didn’t make herself, or whether she can reverse a natural winter and turn it into summer. Let’s wait for more out of this world powers in future shorts, movies or series!

[taste-in-music]

My Other Favorite Songs of 2019

This is a list for all of my favorite songs of the year that aren’t on my album of EP of the year list. (Read my top albums and EPs of the year lists if you want some context.) However, songs from albums that were on my rapid-fire review list are fare game. That’s enough preamble, this list is in no particular order (except, of course, for the final song.) 

Listen along to the complete mix of all these songs HERE. Let’s talk about some great music!

affection by BETWEEN FRIENDS: This was my favorite song off of BETWEEN FRIENDS’s debut EP from this year, we just need some time together. This is the perfect swoony, dreamy pop song that was my relaxing Summer jam. I love the way the melody on the hook is ushered in with a churning bass in the pre-chorus and washes over me with each listen. 

trevi fountain by Leo Kalyan: Leo Kalyan is one of my favorite, (and most underrated) dream pop artists, always able to capture a sense of otherwordly bliss in his music. If there was one word I had to use to describe this song, it would be romantic. This song feels purely, dizzyingly, head-over-heels in love, and it was on repeat for me all throughout Valentine’s Day. 

Numb by Baker Grace: One of the most instantly catchy songs of the year. Chopped-up vocals don’t always work for me, but here they combine with the punchy production in such a way that they contribute to the “over-it” attitude of the song. God, what a bop. 

Clumsy Love by Thelma Plum: This melancholy love song traipsed its way right into my heart as soon as I heard it. The light tambourines, bubbly guitar, and upbeat melody give this song a sunny feel that contrasts nicely with Thelma Plum’s heartbroken lyrics and delivery. 

Love You For A Long Time by Maggie Rogers: If more people used that reverb-layered-vocal-chorus-of-angels effect in their music, then I would like that very much, because so far Miss Maggie Rogers has used it twice, (on this and “Retrograde”) and it has made those songs some of my favorites from her. This sweet, upbeat track was a surprising single after the album, and I swear I listened to it on a loop for a week straight. I’m going to love this song for a long time. 

Karma by MARINA: This is probably my favorite song off of Love + Fear, or at least it was the song that I returned to the most as the year went on. The icy backing vocals and Spanish guitars give the track a cool and refreshing feel. MARINA’s performance is, as always, gorgeous, her rich vocals skating over the frosty soundscape with grace and a hint of sarcasm. 

Gone by Charli XCX ft. Christine and the Queens: One word: BOP. I seriously considered ending the write-up there, but I’ll also mention that Charli and Chris have amazing vocal chemistry, the lyrics about being socially awkward are seriously relatable, and the bass is sick. Also, Chris’s lines in French? Iconic. Even the instrumental breakdown at the end has grown on me. 

Death By A Thousand Cuts by Taylor Swift: This ended up being my favorite song off Lover, (with “Cruel Summer” taking a close second.) I am obsessed with the sparkly production, (my boy Jack Antanoff, once again, went antanOFF,) especially those flitting, echo-y vocal samples that start the track out and the glittering keys that dance under the verses. Along with that, Swift’s writing is sharp, recounting a breakup in a specific yet relatable way.  

make up by Ariana Grande: This was the first non-single off of thank u, next that I really loved. I think it’s due to the fun, cheeky energy. The beat perfectly balances tense plucked bass, chimes, and vintage-leaning, pitch-shifted backing vocals, I especially love those “hey-hey-hey”s that pepper the chorus. This is a great song to get ready for a party to.

Don’t Say by Robinson: I didn’t realize how much I missed Robinson until she came back with this immaculate synthpop banger of a breakup song. The upbeat production on this make it fun and danceable, but Robinson’s delivery makes it a fireball of emotion as well. She’s supposedly dropping a new EP soon, and I can’t wait. 

Live Forever by Nasty Cherry: Nasty Cherry were one of the most fascinating bands to emerge this year, backed by Charli XCX and a Netflix docuseries. Now I don’t care about all that so long as the music was good, and you know what? They’ve got some damn good songs, and I’m a sucker for all-women bands. This song edged out the band’s debut single “Win” for the list. The harmonies on the chorus, bright guitars, and all-around nostalgic feel of this song made this an instant pop-rock jam in my book. 

Blinding Lights by The Weeknd: I’ve always found The Weeknd’s music to be most engaging when it sounds like he’s having fun, like in “Can’t Feel My Face.” This song is an absolute jam, with an instrumental that sounds like it was ripped right from the 80′s, (but it literally was though, it samples “Take on Me” by a-ha,”) and one of the most instantly likable choruses I’ve heard in a while. 

Playing Games by Anna Of The North: This is just a total jam that I couldn’t stop playing at the end of the Summer. I love the light guitars on the verses and the smooth, relaxed-yet-upbeat feel. It’s probably my favorite song off of Dream Girl. 

Sanctuary by Joji: Joji’s music has always been hit or miss for me, but this song is definitely a hit. The dreamy, spacey atmosphere built up by the spacious synths and Joji’s laid-back delivery instantly puts me at ease. 

Soaked by BENEE: The song that introduced me to BENEE also ended up being my favorite from her. The jaunty, casual feel of this song make it the ultimate laid-back indie pop tune. Both of BENEE’s EPs from this year, FIRE ON MARZZ and STELLA & STEVE are quirky listens that are worth your time. 

The King by Conan Gray: 2019 saw Conan Gray taking his lyricism into a more heartbroken and sarcastic direction, which was an interested evolution to witness. Out of all the singles that Conan Gray dropped throughout the course of the year, this one is my favorite. I love the way the chorus rushes through me with every new listen, Conan’s delivery is so dang breezy. 

Twist by Dizzy: I swear Dizzy have nostalgic melancholy perfected into a science. This song has one of my favorite choruses of the year, featuring lyrics that are heart-twisting (ha, but no really,) and a gentle yet earnest delivery from frontwoman Katie Munshaw. Whenever I hear this I feel sad in a reflective, smiling-with-a-single-tear-rolling-down-my-cheek kind of way.

Joyride by SONIA: I came across this on a Spotify New Music Friday one week and clicked on it just for kicks and it has been one of my favorite finds of the year. SONIA has one of those smoky, sensual voices that I can’t help but love, and her performance paired with the yearning lyrics make for a song that is sorrowful yet romantic at the same time. 

You Sexy Thing by Zella Day: And the award for comeback of the year goes to Zella Day, whose music I fell in love with back in 2016 and have been patiently awaiting for new content from since. She hinted at dropping new music last December, and boy was this worth the wait. This cover of the 1975 release by Hot Chocolate is retro, playful, and, what else? Sexy. I hope to hear more from Ms. Day in the near future, but until then, I will have this, Kicker, and the Man On The Moon/Hunnie Pie single on a continuous loop. 

Red by Lucy Daydream: I found this song in my Spotify Discovery Weekly back in April, and what a fun find it was. This song is a relaxing indie pop bop with inexplicable replay value. I loved this so much that I even checked out Lucy Daydream’s album from this year, Awake & Dreaming, and while the rest of the album didn’t quite match this song in my opinion, I still thought it was a nice listen. I’m definitely keeping Lucy Daydream on my radar going into the future.  

What About Love by BANKS: As I mentioned on my Rapid-Fire Reviews list, I wasn’t all that into III. However, there were some songs on it that I really latched onto, and this was one of them. This song conveys so much raw emotion, with one of BANKS’s most impassioned performances on the whole album. I love the use of autotune, quivering strings, sparse keys, and fluttering vocal samples to create an isolated yet overwhelming soundscape, (it’s amazing with headphones on.) Also, every lyric in this hits like a gut punch. 

Harmony Hall by Vampire Weekend: I thought that I liked this song, but I guess I love this song, because it ended up being my fifth most listened to song of 2019? There’s definitely a reason for that, this song is so instantly likable, with a memorable guitar line, bright pianos, and one of the most anthemic choruses of the year. 

Alligator by Of Monsters and Men: What a smash debut single this was, I was hooked from the very first chord. The energy in this song is unmatched, it has a sense of propulsive power that always hypes me up. The thin layers of distortion and reverb over the guitars and Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir’s voice give this song a sense of otherworldly eeriness that I really enjoy. 

Blown to Bits by Charly Bliss: This song sounds like the jittery feeling I get after drinking caffeine in the best kind of way, if that makes any kind of sense. The buzzy guitars, vocal layering, and overall electric energy present on this track made it an instant favorite off of Charly Bliss’s album from this year Young Enough. Also the lyrics are weirdly relatable as they recount feelings of uncertainty and nostalgia, and Eva Hendricks delivers them with firepower. 

House Of Glass by Cage The Elephant: This is just a banger through and through, and the fact that the opening riff is reminiscent of “Come A Little Closer” doesn’t hurt either. The verses maintain a nice sense of tension, with Matt Schultz delivering the lyrics in a near whisper. But once that chorus kicks in, it’s official, I have no choice but to become a swaggering badass. 

still feel by half•alive: This was my first favorite song of the year, (and I know it was technically a single from last year, but the album dropped this year, so I’m counting it,) I remember playing this on a loop all throughout January. And you know what? It hasn’t faded on me in the slightest, this is still a banger through and through. The bass groove, the snaps, that little chime that comes at the end of the prechorus, it makes for one hell of a buildup. And once that chorus hits I have no choice but to groove off into the galaxy.

In the Afternoon by MGMT: Another comeback that made this year amazing! Not only are MGMT back with a new single, but they’re also independent now, which inspired my best pun of the year. This song slams, it’s filled with creepy atmosphere but by the end you’ll be dancing and singing along. Needless to say, I’m hyped to see what they bring into the new year.

My Favorite Fish by Gus Dapperton: The melody on this chorus is so catchy, once you hear it it will not leave your head. I also love the vibe of this song, it’s very relaxed and nonchalant in its delivery. I reckon it’d be a nice song to take a long, sunset walk on the beach to. 

Little Trouble by Better Oblivion Community Center: Better Oblivion Community Center, the collaboration project of Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst, put out a lot of great music this year. I was torn between this and “Dylan Thomas” to make the list, but ultimately picked this one because its energy, built up by squealing electric guitars and shuffling drums, is so upbeat, and over the course of the year it never failed to put a smile on my face.

Can’t Buy Happiness by Tash Sultana: Tash Sultana has always been a musician I’ve tended to admire for their talent from afar, never returning to their music all that often. This song, however, broke that pattern with its hypnotically beautiful simplicity. The gentle guitars that open this track blossom into a lush soundscape during each chorus, studded with grandiose synths, light cymbals, and Tash Sultana’s larger-than-life performance. 

Fucking Money Man by ROSALÍA: I’m including both songs on this single release because they’re equally brilliant. “Milionària” is a lively, upbeat track that relishes in opulence, peppered with the playful refrain of “fucking money man” and snappy drums. The tone switches right after with the haunting ballad “Dio$ No$ Libre Del Dinero,” which warns of the dangers of greed. 

Everybody Loves You by SOAK: The way the narrative on this song unfold as the track progresses is just beautiful. I don’t want to go too in depth, because I feel like it’s someone a person should experience without knowing anything prior. Let’s just say that this was a song I came back to whenever I was feeling emo, and the way it blossoms into brightness always has a way of making me feel better whenever I’m down. 

Rylan by The National: So The National have been around for literal decades but I just discovered them this year, loving the song “I’ll Still Destroy You” off of Sleep Well Beast especially. However, I also really enjoyed this song, with its breezy rock sound and melancholy lyrical narrative. The ghostly backing vocals that inhabit the mix send shivers down my spine. Also, the bridge. Just, everything about the bridge. 

Summer Girl by HAIM: This breezy, chill tune was perfect for those long, relaxed days in August where the afternoons drag on until 9:00pm. It reminds me of “Walk on the Wild Side” by Lou Reed, but a bit jazzier, with the saxophone and the playful “doo doo doo” refrain. I aspire to the levels of cool that HAIM have achieved. I know I’ll never reach it, but I still aspire to it.

cellophane by FKA Twigs: If there was any one quality that I would point to in order to describe why this song is so good, it would be its build in dynamics. This song starts out as sounding so fragile it could shatter at any second, which Twigs’s vocals barely rising above a whisper and backed in gentle murmurs and light pianos. However, as the sharper synths slither in and her voice gets more powerful, the sound builds to a gorgeous and jaw-dropping finale that never loses any of its emotion for a second. 

Barefoot In The Park by James Blake ft. ROSALÍA: This song sounds like running through a forest while alien lights flash overhead. The ambiance is romantic and slightly chilling, made up of light marimbas, siren-like vocal samples, and whispering synths. I initially listened to this song because of ROSALÍA, but I ended up loving it so much that I checked out James Blake’s album from this year, Assume Form, too. 

Bags by Clairo: Clairo’s debut album Immunity was a beautiful display of emotion and subtlety, and this was my favorite song off of that project. The production here is sweet and sorrowful, with flitting guitars and light drums, and Clairo’s lyrics and performance match perfectly. Everything about this communicates reserved, tender pining, (are y’all sensing a theme on this list?) It makes me go absolutely bananas every time I hear it.

Get Well by Donna Missal: Y’all know I’ll take any chance to talk about my queen Donna Missal. She released two singles this year, this and the excellent R&B slow-burner “You Burned Me,” but I had to pick this one for the list. Not only did this drop on Valentine’s Day, but I love how restrained and delicate this song is, both in its simple production and in Donna’s bordering-on-fragile delivery. 

Falling by Harry Styles: This turned out to be my favorite song off of Fine Line. (My rapid-fire review for that album: pretty good, but a bit bland, and I missed the rock edge of Harry’s debut.) Still, this is a stunner if there ever was one. I’m just a sucker for a regretful love song with a bare yet effective instrumental and emotive vocals. 

I Lost a Friend by FINNEAS: I’ve spoken multiple times about how I love the way this song builds throughout its runtime. This song starts out with a simple guitar line and slowly adds elements like distortion, flutes, and bass to communicate the emotional intensity in the lyrics. FINNEAS is a fascinating performer and producer, both in his work and with others, and I can’t wait to see what he does in the future. 

Seventeen by Sharon Van Etten: This year I’ve been thinking a lot about the future, and one of the ways I would sate my anxieties about uncertainties to come would be through music, (I don’t know if that was apparent from many of my picks on this list.) No song better described the whirlwind of emotions ripping through me than this one. Sharon Van Etten’s take on giving advice to her younger self served as a comforting voice of reason to me throughout the year. Her performance here is assuring yet slightly concerned, nostalgic and yet tinged with regret. This almost sounds like a lost Stevie Nicks song, with a propulsive build of guitars, unrestrained synths dancing throughout the mix, and a chorus that I want to scream out the window of a car speeding down a highway. I absolutely adore it. 

I Dare You by The Regrettes: If you aren’t surprised, then I’m not surprised. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned before that this is my song of the year, hands down. If “Seventeen” was the song that articulated all of my anxieties throughout the year, then “I Dare You” was the song that provided a reprieve from them. This song feels timeless, like it could’ve come out during a slew of decades, and yet it sounds modern as well. Every detail of the instrumental seems perfectly designed to form the most catchy and likable song ever created, from the light snares, to the “oohs” in the prechorus, to the colorful guitars. Also, can we talk about how adorable the lyrics are? They perfectly describe the flurry of feeling that come with a crush, from “you’re the one that brings the sun” to “there's a look that you give me, a switch / and my filter melts, and the words just slip.” Not only was this my most-listened to song this year, but I can’t think of a piece of music this year that made me happier every time I returned to it. Also, the music video was just as cute as the song was. 

And that’s the list! What were your favorite songs of 2019? Any artists, albums, singles, etc. I should know about? Leave your thoughts and recommendations down below.

[marveldc-imagines-hub]

Ice Packs (Wade Wilson x Reader)

A/N: This is one of the many non-requested pieces I’ve had in my drafts forever, and I was recently really drawn to finally writing the piece. It ended up taking a different turn than I expected, but I’m really proud of how in 

Warnings for swearing and some sexual humor because, duh, it’s Deadpool aaaaaannnd a little bit of angst maybe. Is this considered angst? I don’t know. Also, minor Deadpool 2 spoilers (mention of Cable, Domino, and the events regarding Vanessa) but Deadpool 2 spoilers nonetheless; this piece takes place after it.

Anyway, enjoy!

~~~

Tapping on the window of your (number) floor apartment drew your attention away from the evening activity you were pursuing. Upon further inspection--turning your head a few degrees to the right in order to peer out said window--you felt yourself relax as you recognized the white-eyed, masked face looking back at you.

“Hold on a sec, Wade--I mean Deadpool.” You hummed softly as you sat your things aside. Pulling the plush blanket draped over your shoulders closer against your person, you stood and shuffled over to the window. With the suited and warm-bodied antihero leaning close to the glass, probably to keep himself from falling down the apartment building’s side, the glass panes were becoming increasingly foggy.

“Heya, [Y/N]!” Wade greeted, tumbling through the window after you opened it. Now that he was in a lighted area, you noticed darker patches of red on his bodysuit, which was scuffed and torn in places. Still, despite his looks the smell of dirt and blood that clung to him, the behind-the-mask, avocado-looking man seemed cheerful enough.

That is, until he made his way to your couch, walking stiffly and softly grunting every couple of steps.

Immediately, your brows furrowed in confusion and worry. You had been friends with Wade long enough that he had incredible healing abilities and, even if he was in pain, he rarely showed as much.

“Wade, are you okay?”

“Hey, hey, hey!” The antihero, despite his currently distressed situation, was at your side in moments, tugging you against him and covering your mouth with a gloved hand. With comically shifty eyes in every direction, he continued, “The mask isn’t off, little troublemaker! Anyone could hear and figure out my secret identity!”

You rolled your eyes and swatted the undoubtedly dirty glove off away from your face. Using the sleeve of your sweater to scrub your face clean from any possible grime, you replied, “I’m the only one here, nutjob. Don’t contaminate me with your filth, jackass.”

Wade--Deadpool--gasped softly and placed an oh so delicate hand over his chest, feigning hurt. “You’ve wounded my soul, [Y/N].” After a moment of waiting for a reaction that wouldn’t come, he dropped the act and, chuckling, agreed. “Yeah, that fight was brutal. You’re probably right not to touch me.”

“Seriously, though, Livepuddle, what’s wrong?” Watching him continue his hobbling to your couch, despite the fact that you had just told him to stop his contamination, you were filled with concern again. Perhaps his healing abilities had disappeared somehow?

“Oh, yanno--” He waved his hand dismissively as he plopped onto the couch and stressed across it. “--just a little stiff after war. I may have been impaled once or a few times, and not in the fun way. Also, it’s Livingpuddle. If you’re going to insult my shitty superhero title, at least do it right.”

“Same difference, ballsack-lookin’ dipshit.” Sitting on the nearby end table’s edge, you tried to steer the conversation back to the topic of your concern, “Normally, that’s not enough to make you groan and hobble a drunk old dude. Seriously, Wade, what’s going on? Did you lose your healing or something? Is it bad?”

The blank eyes of the Deadpool mask shifted slightly as Wade glanced over your concerned face. After a moment, he sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Dammit, [Y/N], why’d you have to do those sad eyes? You know I hate sad eyes. I don’t deserve sad e--” The man stopped in the middle of the phrase and jerked his head to seemingly stare at the wall in which the window he had climbed in was occupied. “Hey! Stop listening to 500 Miles by The Proclaimers when you’re writing something heartfelt and sad! At least listen to Cher or something!”

“Wade, now’s not the time for your weird, out of body bullshit,” you grumbled. You had been friends with him long enough to have witnessed these many of these strange, loud monologues; therefore, they weren’t very surprising but they could certainly be annoying when you were trying to have a serious conversation.

“I’ll admit, that song has a good twang to it but it’s way overplayed.”

You couldn’t tell whether that comment was in reply to you, or if he was still having an imaginary argument. In mild frustration, you reached out to grab his wrist, in hopes of also grabbing his attention once again--

Only to have him hiss slightly and yank his arm away.

The two of you shared a wide-eyed look, yours of surprise and his of… Well, you couldn’t be sure. As the realization of situation donned on you, you retracted your hand and instead rested it in your lap with it’s twin.

“Is it the cancer?” you asked softly.

Yet another soft grunt escaped mask-covered lips as Wade looked away and gently squeezed the wrist you had tried to grab.

You gave him time to choose his words and, eventually, he spoke again, “Sometimes it hurts. A lot. Especially after regenerating and healing, it gets really bad in places. The pain from a fight isn’t s bad.”

“I’m so sorry, Wade.”

“Don’t be. I don’t need the pity.”

“It’s not pity, it’s empathy.”

“I don’t deserve any of it.”

Thick silence bloomed again in the dim light of your apartment living room, and you leaned back on your hands as you tried to think up a way to help your friend. Slowly, an idea formed.

“I’ll be fine,” Wade murmured after a few more minutes of gruesome silence.

“What if we numb it out of you?” you thought aloud in response.

Even with the mask covering the antihero’s face, you could tell his eyes were glittering with a dark humor. “What? With death or alcohol and drugs? Maybe all three?” Then the humor lightened a bit, and you could vaguely see the grin and wiggling of eyebrows behind red fabric. “Or maybe another, more physical activity?”

“Shut up and undress, Wade.” You hopped up from the end table and walked towards the kitchen, hyperfocused on your fridge.

“Hah, fourth time’s the charm!” Wade jumped up after you, albeit slower than he normally would have, and marched after you. “The kitchen? How inviting, [Y/N].”

“Stop that. I’m getting ice.”

“Ice?”

You nodded. “And lots of it.”

When you gave no other response, Wade sighed and leaned against the kitchen doorway--only to grunt softly and pull away again. “Enlighten me, you teasing little minx.”

You visibly cringed at the pet name and, after grabbing all the ice packs and ice trays in your freezer to place then on the counter nearby.

“It might work, or it might not. Either way, it’s worth a shot-- Hey, that rhymed! Anyway, I know it’s unlikely that it’ll take away all of the pain, but people use ice baths to for muscles and pain and stuff pretty often so--”

“Waterloo’s good, but what about Super Trouper with that Cher appearance? Now that had tears in my eyes! When the old cast danced with the new one? Iconic!”

You huffed as you tossed the last couple ice packs into your bathtub, which was now partially filled with water, every non-food icy item from your freezer, and several bags of ice you’d accumulated after a trip to the gas station down the street. “Could you please stop talking to the voices in your head?”

Wade scoffed from his current perch. He was sitting gingerly on the edge of the closed toilet next to where you stood. He had stripped out of his suit and its dangerous accessories--you had to lend him a pair of boxers that you’d often but no longer would use for sleep shorts in the process--and now skeptically awaited the ice bath you were preparing for him. You had also helped him clean off the blood and grime from his battle earlier that night, and now you could tell by the newer looking scars and pinker patches of skin where Wade’s skin and a smaller appendage or two had regenerated.

“I’m not talking to the voices in my head,” he replied, as if that were assuring, “I’m talking to the narrator. See, Super Trouper’s a bop!”

“What the fuck, Wade.” Rolling your eyes, you stepped away from the tub to admire your work. After making sure it reached your standards, you gestured for Wade to stand--which he did unwillingly, followed by a low grunt. “Get in the tub.”

“I’d be much more willing to do so if I had a buddy to join me.” Despite the pain he was still in, the scarred man managed a toothy smirk to go along with his flirty words. “Perhaps, take a chance on me--?”

“Sir, get in the tub before I physically fight you into it.”

“Kinky,” was his only reply. Realizing he was getting nowhere in the current situation, Wade got to his feet and stepped into the tub. If he gained goosebumps, they weren’t visible on his scarred body from you vantage point; however, he gave a shiver and a quick “Woo!” in response to the cold before dipping his other foot in. Placing one hand on the shower wall and the other on the rim of the tub, he slowly lowered himself into the icy water and adjusted said ice around himself.

You took his place on the toilet lid and watched in anticipation. Of course, you weren’t expecting anything to happen very quickly; you weren’t really sure what you were expecting at all, considering the circumstances and the person you were trying to help. Still, if Wade’s pain worsened for some reason, or he started to turned purple and blue before the pain started to lessen, you wanted to make sure that he knew he didn’t have to stay in the ice bath if it was a useless endeavor.

However, as you watched, Wade began to relax in his icy spa. He was a little too tall to fit in the small apartment tub, so his feet rested on the edge and he sunk sunk down until only the tops of his shoulder, neck, and head were above the water. He rested his head next to the faucet, closing his eyes and sighing, and for a moment he seemed more serene then you’ve ever seen him.

He was in pain frequently, you knew, due to the cancer he still endured and the constant regenerating that he dealt with as a bodily defense against it. He was in pain more than frequently, actually, but some days it was worse than others and he hated showing the pain either way.

You were pulled from your heavy thoughts when Wade shifted, turning his head and opening his eyes once more. Seemingly calmer and a bit hesitant now, he shifted and raised one arm out of the tub. While reaching the wet hand out to you, he muttered, “Thanks for worrying about me.”

You responded by gripping his hand and squeezed. “I know it’s difficult to bounce back after losing someone. I also know that while people like Cable and Domino care but they’re smart enough to not get in your way. I, on the other hand, am dense and will continue to bother and irritate you out of affection.”

Wade Wilson didn’t talk. However, you could see the different kind of pain that bloomed in his gaze--before he closed his eyes and turned his head away again. You would have thought he was upset with you if he hadn’t squeezed your hand.

It was quiet after that. You continued to tightly hold Wade’s hand while he rested, keeping a close eye on his condition. It could have easily been some hours, and eventually, he began to doze off, his head slowly tilting back in your direction and leaning against the rim of the bathtub. You took that moment to rest your head on his--if it roused him, he didn’t show it--and mentally wished him well, as if the connection would take your thoughts and slam it into his own head to the point that the wish would come true. Then, you gently shook him awake to move him to a more comfortable spot as thoughts of napping with frostbite creeped into your mind.

Dramatic? Perhaps, but still a risk you weren’t a fan of taking.

[delhi-architect2]

Journal - The Long Shadow of Minimalism

Architects, interior designers, rendering artists, landscape architects, engineers, photographers and real estate developers are invited to submit their firm for the inaugural A+Firm Awards, celebrating the talented teams behind the world’s best architecture. Register today.

The New Yorker recently published an interesting piece by Kyle Chayka titled ‘The North American Maximalism of Gigi Hadid’s and Drake’s Home Design.’ Chayka states approvingly that, in 2020, “a new North American maximalism” is getting “revenge” on minimalism, which has been trying to “vanquish” purely ornamental detailing for over 100 years.

As evidence, he points to two celebrity homes that have recently been covered in the architecture press: model Gigi Hadid’s eclectic Manhattan apartment and Drake’s extravagant Art Deco mansion in Toronto.  Both of these projects were overseen by architects and designers (Gordon Kahn in Hadid’s case, Ferris Rafauli in Drake’s) but with significant input from the famous homeowners, who hoped to create “dream homes” that reflected their personal taste.

Gigi Hadid’s apartment, designed with architect Gordon Kahn, mixes colors, patterns and textures in a way that screamed “maximalism” to the New Yorker. Image via Hello Magazine.

Drake’s Art Deco-inspired Toronto mansion, designed with Ferris Rafauli, represents a monumental form of maximalism. Photo by Jason Schmidt via Architectural Digest.

What stands out about this piece isn’t the observation that some celebrities are drawn to ornate decor — as Chayka points out, “maximalism… never really goes away” — but rather the author’s treatment of the subject of minimalism. By presenting Hadid’s and Drake’s homes as daring outliers, Chayka implies that minimalism is still the hegemonic aesthetic of our time.

More than 60 years after Mies van der Rohe said “less is more,” it seems that ornament still carries a hint of taboo. Include enough of it, and you are making a statement, even a provocation. As a reader, I wondered why this is. Does modernism, with all its utopianism and its prohibitions, still have a grip on contemporary design?

Ornament and Crime

Chayka’s article opens with a summary of one of minimalism’s canonical early texts, Adolf Loos’ 1908 lecture ‘Ornament and Crime.’ As a way to set the stage for a defense of maximalism, this was a canny choice, as the lecture is one of the least convincing architectural treatises ever written. It is also one of the most racist.

Walking The Walk: Adolf Loos built the minimalist Looshuis, in Vienna, in 1909. Hostile critics at the time called it “the house without eyebrows,” noting Loos’ pointed decision not to include detailing around the windows. It was said that the Emperor Franz Joseph avoided passing by Looshuis for the rest of his life. Photo by Thomas Ledl, via Wikipedia. 

In ‘Ornament and Crime,’ Loos argues that ornamentation is uncivilized, reflecting a lack of moral restraint characteristic of children, criminals, and certain people from non-Western societies. As evidence of the “degeneracy” of ornamentation, Loos points out that criminals often decorate their body with tattoos, a tendency they share with “the Papuan” — Loos’ stereotypical stand-in for various indigenous groups — who also “kills his enemies and eats them.”  Like the Papuan, tattooed men are murderous. “If someone who is tattooed dies in freedom, he does so a few years before he would have committed murder,” Loos theorizes.

It follows that architects of the ornate Art Nouveau style (which Loos disliked) are similarly inclined toward violence — or at least more so than the modernist architect, who has evolved beyond the need for ornamentation and is able to find pleasure in the sheer rationality of his living space. Essentially, Loos posits a continuum between the amoral realm of nature and the moral fortitude of modern man, and he places himself and his preferred style of architecture at the advanced end of moral development.

Le Corbusier’s ‘Plan Voisin,’ a never-realized scheme to tear up central Paris and replace it with a series of minimalist concrete towers. Image via Business Insider. 

Loos, I would say, is a less than ideal ambassador for minimalism. But the core ideas buried underneath his strange examples are pretty representative of how modernist architects thought about the subject. The titans of what was called the “modern movement” — Mies, Le Corbusier and Gropius — were less colorful writers than Loos, but they basically agreed with him that modern architecture would liberate mankind by stripping away the oppressive decorative trappings of past centuries.

Mies famously said that “architecture is the will of an epoch, translated into space,” echoing Loos’ idea that minimalism wasn’t just a stylistic preference, but embodied the very essence of modernity. And one glance at Plan Voison, Le Corbusier’s never-realized scheme to remake central Paris, illustrates that Corbu cared little for local details, and would have happily sacrificed the visual identity of Europe’s most iconic city on the altar of functionalism.

Populist Revolts

Most people find Plan Voison horrifying. And indeed, the zeal of 20th century modernists helped create a rift between architects and the public that still exists today, even as the profession has become far less evangelizing and doctrinaire than it was in modernism’s heyday. Populist denunciations of architecture are still written all the time by both left- and right-wing critics, who generally paint the profession with a broad and reductive brush.

In 2017, left-wing writers Nathan J. Robinson and Brianna Rennix wrote one of these polemics for Robinson’s popular socialist journal, Current Affairs. The piece is titled ‘Why You Hate Contemporary Architecture’ and the complaints are extremely familiar: once “beautiful” cities have been blighted with “ugly,” “cheerless” and “grim” modern buildings. The authors accuse architects of harboring a “paranoid revulsion to classical aesthetics” and condemn both the icy minimalism of modernism and the “irritating attempts” of postmodernists to “parody” the architecture of the past.

Peter Eisenman is no minimalist, but his deconstructive architecture has been criticized on similar grounds, as it is said to deny people simple aesthetic pleasures. His City of Culture of Galicia is among his most divisive buildings. Image via Current Affairs.

For Robinson and Rennix, all the “isms” of contemporary architecture are irrelevant. Each one of them shares the same problem: the architect’s stubborn insistence on denying the public what it wants, which are buildings that are comfortable, familiar and — yes — even nostalgic. They identify the deconstructive architect Peter Eisenman as a modern-day Loos, an ideologue and a moralizer who relishes the fact that his buildings lack popular appeal. This quote of Eisenman’s, taken from a 1982 debate with fellow architect Christopher Alexander, is presented as evidence for the charge: “If we make people so comfortable in these nice little structures, we might lull them into thinking everything’s all right, Jack, which it isn’t.”

Minimalism Today

The idea of the grim and fanatical architect standing between the common man and the charming, sensible buildings he craves is extremely common — as a trope if not a reality. In Chayka’s piece, it factors in almost as a truism, and the invocation of Loos and his treatise gives it a sense of solidity. Good for Drake and Hadid, the piece argues, for standing up to the austere and self-denying dictates of minimalism!

This interior is minimalist, sure, but it is hardly cold and imposing. Minimalism today is often lyrical, and adapted for a more human scale. Image: Zhuyeqing Green Tea Flagship Store, X+Living Architectual Design Co. 2020 A+Award winner for Commercial-Retail Spaces.

Yet a glance through recent winners of the A+Awards reveals that architecture, today, is a diverse, global field, and it is no longer dominated by these factional debates between modernism, postmodernism, deconstructivism, and the rest. Architects all over the world are working to create buildings that meet the needs of local communities, often paying careful attention to issues like sustainability. And while they don’t always get it right, one thing you don’t usually see are self-righteous condemnations of things like “ornament” attached to the projects.

If the best contemporary architecture often features clean lines and an emphasis on raw materials, this is not usually due to an ideological commitment for function over form, but a reflection of a real aesthetic preference. (Cost concerns, too, play a role). Architects like Eisenman, who relish aesthetic difficulty, are in fact a rarity in the profession. (Nathan J. Robinson and Brianna Rennix don’t want you to know this, but there is beauty in clean lines too).

There is real beauty in clean lines and unadorned surfaces. When these elements are favored, it is not necessarily for arid ideological reasons. Image: La Point by L’Abri, 2020 A+Award winner for Concepts-Living Small. 

When minimalism is proposed as an ethos, today, it usually has a much more personal character than that seen in Loos’ essay. For instance, the tidying guru Marie Kondo sees minimalism as a way to make your living space more personal and intimate. Her view of the good life is not one in which everything is fully optimized, but in which people are surrounded only by objects that “spark joy.” In this, her philosophy is exactly same as noted “maximalist” Gigi Hadid, who wrote on Instagram about “enjoying all the little corners” of her carefully curated space.

Zombie Modernism

There is one way, however, that minimalism continues to oppress people in the 21st century, but it is connected to mass production, not architectural theory. The most revealing part of Chayka’s article comes toward the end, when he complains of “the bland start-up minimalism of Article couches, Casper mattresses, and knockoff  Eames chairs from Amazon.”

These products, Chayka explains, might seem modern or tasteful on first glance, but what they really represent is a “lowest-common-denominator style” that “has had its shortcomings exposed during these endless months of quarantine — there’s little pleasure in staring at a set of Floyd table legs strapped to plywood all day.”

The New Yorker’s Kyle Chayka says he has spent too much of lis life staring at tables that look like this. Image via Architectural Digest.

Years after its heyday, modernist design is popular once again, but in a zombielike form. Stripped of its utopian dimension, wherein it held the promise of a better and more orderly world, this type of decor is now just another readymade style. Chayka is right that there is no more individualism in this stuff than there is in the forced eclecticism advertised by an outlet like Pottery Barn. There is also nothing wrong with it, per se, but its omnipresence has made it feel monotonous and derivative.

However, if you find mass-market minimalism uninspiring, the solution isn’t necessarily “maximalism.” It is cultivating a space with pieces that have personal significance, which, again, is what many of today’s minimalists are already advising. The minimalist/maximalist divide Chayka lays out really belongs to another era.

The Loosian minimalist ethos lives on in the popular imagination far more vividly than it does within the architectural profession. To borrow an idea from Sigmund Freud, Loos’ contemporary in Vienna, minimalism has been widely internalized as a harsh dictum of the superego, which is why certain people feel compelled to argue forcefully against it. Even devoted maximalists and classicists, it seems, are tormented by a voice in the back of their head saying that form should follow function. This suggests that — for all its supposed unpopularity — modernism still has a hold on public taste after all.

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The post The Long Shadow of Minimalism appeared first on Journal.

from Journal https://architizer.com/blog/practice/details/the-long-shadow-of-minimalism/ Originally published on ARCHITIZER RSS Feed: https://architizer.com/blog

[cynthiajayusa]

Screen Queens: Cuddle Content You Can Count On

Tap that Grindr cuddle buddy of yours – Valentine’s Day month is officially here, and it’s time for some Netflix and chill. Or HBO and chill. Or Blu-ray and chill. Whatever your media of choice, here’s a peek into some films and TV shows you can use to lure your lover du jour into “watching a movie.”

Mosaic, HBO

Steven Soderbergh, hetero creator of things gays want to see, like Channing Tatum stripper movies and Michael Douglas and his as-portrayed-by-Matt-Damon boytoy in Behind the Candelabra, also knows you’ve been wondering where the hell Sharon Stone has been. Sure, the actress who introduced me to lady parts thanks to Basic Instinct went brunette for 2013’s Rob Epstein- and Jeffrey Friedman-directed eponymous Deep Throat-centered feature Lovelace, as in porn star Linda Lovelace, and more recently had a brief stint as a film agent in Golden Globe winner James Franco’s The Disaster Artist, but Stone’s mesmeric presence has been sorely lacking from screens of all types. But Soderbergh’s limited six-episode tube run of Mosaic, a twisty crime procedural filtered through the filmmaker’s famous iridescent blue and mustard yellow hues, is just the canvas for Stone to paint with every dramatic shade contained within her successful socialite character, Olivia Lake, a world-famous children’s book author who, on the surface, has the TV version of what a very lonely woman needs: a picturesque compound in the ski town of Summit, Utah, and a gay confidante, who is, as if Soderbergh is trying to out-gay himself once again, played by Paul Reubens, aka Pee-wee Herman. And then there’s Mudbound star Garrett Hedlund, who portrays Joel, a budding artist Olivia offers to mentor by giving him a place to live at her lodge because a) it’s convenient b) he’s hot and young, and she wants to feel both again. Stone still gets too-little screen time, and the series eventually dissolves into a patience-testing and ultimately frustrating game of whodunit – if you like closure, this isn’t the series for you – but when it comes to casting eye candy and beloved gay childhood idols, at least Steven Soderbergh was looking out for you.

Battle of the Sexes, Blu-ray/DVD

During a time when women are asserting their power, bringing the glass-ceiling-shattering victory of lesbian tennis trailblazer Billie Jean King over chauvinist Bobby Riggs to today’s still-gender-unequal world makes total sense. A #TIMESUP icon before #TIMESUP was a hashtag, King (played by an emotionally rich and captivating Emma Stone) harnessed immense anti-establishment defiance, campaigning for anti-gender discrimination law Title IX and, the next year in 1973, crushing Riggs (Steve Carell) during their iconic, televised match – a win for King, and an even bigger win for women’s rights, female athletes and queer acceptance. The match was coined the “Battle of the Sexes.” Also, a great name for a film, as Little Miss Sunshine filmmaking-duo Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton realized – especially when Battle of the Sexes coincidentally encapsulates the gender wars of the 2016 presidential election. But here’s the great thing: Faris and Dayton have also made one of the queerest films of 2017. Fully acknowledging that King’s stifled relationship with a woman, hairdresser-turned-lover Marilyn Barnett (Andrea Riseborough), weighed heavily on her, it’s also evident that their intensely sensual relationship was a crucial personal victory for King, as she’d come to see her own body as more than just a tennis-playing machine. “Billie Jean King: In Her Own Words,” wherein King reflects on her social justice work, her Riggs-winning strategy and her forecast for gender equity, stands out among a modest set of special features.

End of the F***ing World, Netflix

Boy meets girl, boy wants to savagely kill girl. Yes, welcome to the weirdly swoon-worthy romanticism of End of the F***ing World, Netflix’s bingeable Wes Anderson-meets-Bonnie and Clyde series based on Charles Forsman’s graphic novel in which two teenage runaways flee their wrecked home lives and neglectful parents for greener pastures and the occasional bludgeoning. Impressively played by 22-year-old Alex Lawther, star of the new IFC Film Freak Show (based on James St. James’ novel and starring as gender non-conforming alongside Bette Midler and Laverne Cox), James is a 17-year-old self-proclaimed psychopath whose greatest childhood thrill involved knifing cats and hamsters. And now he’s out for blood again – human blood. Enter Alyssa (an icy-but-empathetic turn from Jessica Barden), his amusingly acerbic schoolmate. Has he found the one? Throughout the show’s charmingly breezy, venturesome and beautifully scored eight episodes – during which James has an unexpected urinal experience with an older man that has Alyssa questioning his sexuality, and a pair of everyday lesbian cops try to track them down – his plans for Alyssa unthread as their romantic and deadly kindred-spirit bond see them through to the show’s bitter, bloody good, you’re-gonna-cry end.

Mother!, Blu-ray/DVD

Behold every last glorious strand of Jennifer Lawrence’s constantly transforming hair – silky waves! French braids! – as Darren Aronofsky’s dark allegorical descent into Trumpland and man’s ravaging of Mother Nature takes you to new crazy places. Just try looking away from the director’s maddening and mysterious follow up to Black Swan as a grippingly freaked J. Law wanders her home in the same lost manner I imagine our own president does every day in his, trying to understand what’s up with the fact that her artist husband (Javier Bardem) has opened their door to strangers who are maybe, probably – OK, definitely – up to no good. Those strangers are ominously portrayed by Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer, and if you need another reason to squirm through this messy rabbit hole of doom and gloom and insane plot points, it’s to watch a sketchy Pfeiffer steal scenes as the vaguely titled character “Woman” (J. Law is, you guessed it, the eponymous “Mother”). Inhabiting the role of horny housewife with a delicious mean streak, Pfeiffer sets her scenes on fire as the film blazes a dreary path of political commentary that sometimes feels like an art student’s final project gone awry. Aronofsky’s commitment to the absurd and chaotic is certainly, at the very least, commendable. But guys, that hair…

The Breakfast Club, The Criterion Collection, Blu-ray

John Hughes’ quintessential coming-of-age classic, The Breakfast Club, is as timeless as the misfit archetypes the late filmmaker sought to explore and subvert when he wrote and directed one of teen-hood’s greatest artistic depictions. Simply put, few filmmakers are as synonymous with the ’80s as Hughes. Within the depths of his everyday characters – in The Breakfast Club, specifically, that includes Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez), Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall), John Bender (Judd Nelson), Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald) and Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy) – we could see ourselves, or the people we once were (the writer-director’s Duckie in Pretty in Pink was an early queer idol). The empathy-engendering, zeitgeist-capturing The Breakfast Club encouraged generations of fronting schoolkids – and, perhaps, the adults they eventually became – to let their true colors show. Criterion Collection’s new Blu-ray release respectfully offers the film’s most comprehensive set yet, delivering on all levels: a superb 4K restoration, along with new sit-downs featuring Sheedy and Ringwald, who acknowledges Hughes for being an early supporter of nonconformist leading ladies.

source https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2018/02/07/screen-queens-cuddle-content-you-can-count-on/ from Hot Spots Magazine http://hotspotsmagazin.blogspot.com/2018/02/screen-queens-cuddle-content-you-can.html

[epchapman89]

Four Barrel Fights For The Future Of Cold Coffee

On a recent warm morning in West Oakland, I walked into a sunlit warehouse by the freeway and was presented with what I believe to be the future of cold coffee.

The space—Four Barrel‘s new roasting warehouse—is, like all of their shops, beautiful. Artsy lights dangle from the ceiling, casting a warm glow over the enormous German roaster and the crew getting business done. The exposed ceiling, leftover from the nightclub that once occupied the warehouse, is sandblasted down to its original wood. It looks, remarkably, like the ceiling of Four Barrel’s original space across the Bay, on 14th and Valencia in the Mission District.

Four Barrel sees the space as a launchpad for not only its next retail iteration, but for a new take on how the world enjoys cold coffee. The company hopes, with the help of new technology, to offer a cold coffee product quite different from what’s currently on the marketplace.

Eight years ago, when the revered San Francisco roaster threw open the doors on its gorgeous, and now iconic, shop on Valencia, its contemporaries were Ritual, Blue Bottle, and soon Sightglass—big names in specialty coffee that have each gotten bigger. The Bay Area’s coffee scene has had a breakneck pace in the years since, and Four Barrel has done the hard work of keeping up with it. The indie roaster’s beans are served in some 400 coffee shops nationwide. Their bread and coffee spot The Mill is one of San Francisco’s most popular coffee shops; they’ve opened a second Four Barrel location just off San Bruno, in Portola; and their original location still draws a line of epic proportions on most days. Still, amongst those who care to prognosticate the future of speciality coffee shops, Four Barrel’s has always been a mysterious one. The moves they’ve made—like the purchase of De La Paz a few years back—come slowly, making respectable ripples in the Bay before being subsumed by whatever coffee-related story pops up next. What their followers really wanted to know was: when was Four Barrel going to make its power play?

Expansion, as normal as it seems in San Francisco’s money-bleeding clime, is a scary thing—and doubly so for an independent small business like Four Barrel, which is owned jointly by Tal Mor, Jeremy Tooker, and Jodi Geren. “I remember Jodi saying, ‘when we hit 10,000 pounds a week,’ and Jeremy responding, ‘14,000 pounds,'” says Mor. “To do that, we had to reach this point where we were busting at the seams. The small to the big, that’s the scary moment,” Mor tells me. “You can fail.”

With tech money exploding the market, a big enough space to house the production area they dreamed of was nearly impossible. “We kept getting outbid by these crazy people, time and time again,” Mor says, speaking of the three years they searched for a proper space in San Francisco proper. “Finally it was like, let’s go to Oakland.”

The owners, along with a selection of staff and friends, built out the Oakland space almost entirely with their own hands, and their own money. For six months, the trio worked through every challenge on their own—sprinklers, floors, flying to Germany to help design a control panel for their roasters. The build-out of the warehouse became everything. And in challenging themselves through the creation of this new, giant baby, another realization crept up.

The owners of Four Barrel were getting bored.

“Doing the work to find incredible coffee and roasting that coffee well is still exciting,” Mor assures me, “but that excitement about learning you can make coffee taste like [this or that]—I hadn’t experienced that for a long time.” That is to say, until they started tinkering with cold coffee.

Let’s be frank: there is a schism growing in the coffee world. Some people love cold brew—the flavor spectrum it offers, the convenience and scalability it represents, and the coffee cultural boom time it is wrapped up with. But others feel that most cold brew coffee, as popular as it may be, isn’t all that good. A casual coffee drinker or average Sprudge reader might be surprised by this schism, but for coffee professionals (or professional coffee watchers), this topic is the stuff of piping hot debates across the coffee Twitter and Instasphere, and nowhere hotter than here in San Francisco, the home of Twitter and Instagram.

Yes, the icy brew so many shops—small, big, and huge—serve on hot days as an alternative to the hot, nuanced beverage we associate with coffee drinking, isn’t always the subtle, layered beverage you’ve been sold on. As ground coffee steeped in water for a long period of time, cold brew uses time instead of heat to extract a coffee’s basic flavors. In this expression, the resulting product can lack a distinguishing flavor, or so say the anti-CB partisans. It may taste old; it may even taste like the beans’ last stop after aging past optimal freshness and being relegated to the cold brew vat.

In the industry they call the non-flavor flavors of cold brew “tasting the process” and if you’ve had the majority of cold brew currently being served in America—especially right now, as we enter a time of peak cold brew—you, my friend, have tasted that process. But Mor, Tooker, and Geren thought: wouldn’t it be nicer if you just tasted the coffee?

“Cold brew wasn’t something we wanted to drink,” Mor admits. He says the team wanted to try and make cold-kegged coffee “that we felt confident in, that upheld our green buying and our roasting.” It was Brett Whitman, Four Barrel’s Head Trainer, who gave the idea the push it needed. “Brett asked, ‘What do you need?'” Mor says, “And we said, ‘someone to build the [cold] coffee program that we want.'” Whitman, a Sound Engineering major in college and a tinkerer by nature, was that someone.

For the last six months, Whitman has worked almost solely on creating a new process for chilling coffee so it can be placed into kegs and shipped to wholesalers. “Right away, we knew that we had to throw cold brew off the table,” Whitman says, “With cold brew you couldn’t tell origin, you couldn’t sense acidity structures—you always tasted the process.”

The difficulty in making cold, keggable coffee, Whitman says, is the cooling-down process. To make fresh, hot-brewed coffee into cold coffee, you have to lower the temperature of hot coffee from 200 degrees down to a “cold” 40 degrees within a 10-second window, without allowing variables like oxygen contact to affect the flavor of the brew. To do so, Whitman reached into the world of beer and liquor brewing, a field that had found success in lowering temperatures quickly and efficiently. “At every turn,” Whitman says, “from pumps to everything else, we found passionate, craft-oriented, family-owned businesses who wanted to help with the build-outs, to solve the problems, to engage with us.”

Though the actual process and technology behind Four Barrel’s new cold coffee is a proprietary secret, Whitman offers a general explanation: “We are transferring heat from the mass of hot coffee to a mass of very cold liquid. The efficiency [with which] we can move the heat is what allows us to cool it so quickly. And if you can cool it down fast enough, which we can, you also activate these volatile aromatics,” he says. “It’s a much more refined and enlightened way of doing it.” In the simplest terms, Four Barrel has developed a method to cool coffee very, very quickly without unfortunate variables that affect the taste. As dumb as it sounds, they’ve created a method of reliably making hot coffee—and all of its many flavors—cold.

In the samples I tasted, Four Barrel’s characteristic light-roasted, bright and citric coffees shone through just as they did in their hot iterations, capturing their essence as intended. I tasted several different batches of both Kenyan and Ethiopian cold coffees, straight from the keg, and each one of them, though subtly different, expressed the sort of lively, round, fruity taste these points of origin have traditionally been associated with. 

This product won’t be for everyone. For every person who wants a subtle wash of flavor with their coffee, there’s another who wants the nostalgic, burnt ochre of darkly roasted beans, ready to be drowned in milk or its alternatives. But after years of drinking cold brew and not loving it, tasting cold coffee that maintained the flavor characteristics of its original form felt like a revelation. 

What’s more, it’s not just the flavor of this coffee that heralds a step forward into the cold coffee future. It’s the ability to keg, and therefore preserve, those flavors, creating a sort of varietal system for cold coffee. Wine and coffee are oftentimes placed in a similar sandbox, but with Four Barrel’s new system, the gap between the two grows infinitely smaller. “Using this process,” Whitman says, “means we can bottle this and shelve it indefinitely, with the aromatics intact.”

So perhaps one day years into the future, coffee aficionados will be able to open the door to their dimly lit cellar on a warm summer morning, strut on down, and grab a bottle of Four Barrel Peru from 2017 that, when opened, will taste the way Four Barrel intended it to when it was originally bottled. What’s even crazier, the process theoretically allows for the coffee to be heated up again without the flavors changing drastically. Four Barrel has, in effect, created a way to maintain the flavor profiles of specific vintages of coffee into the indefinite future.

In the definite future, however, Four Barrel has plans to open a new shop in San Francisco’s Inner Sunset neighborhood. Beyond that, rumors are swirling about a Four Barrel expansion into another major North American market later this year. In the Bay Area, kegs of cold coffee began arriving at Four Barrel’s cafes in mid-June. Bottled versions are destined for the shelves of select grocers. The shift is perceptible. It feels as if after years of pleasantly keeping pace, Four Barrel has finally pushed the needle of coffee in a big, discernible way. Their way. 

Noah Sanders (@sandersnoah) is a Sprudge.com staff writer based in San Francisco, and a contributor to SF Weekly, Side One Track One, and The Bold Italic. Read more Noah Sanders on Sprudge.

Four Barrel is an advertising partner on the Sprudge Media Network.

The post Four Barrel Fights For The Future Of Cold Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.

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After lengthy hockey odyssey, Evan Stoflet is returned with Utah Grizzlies for 3rd time

New Post has been published on http://articlesworldbank.com/2017/02/22/after-lengthy-hockey-odyssey-evan-stoflet-is-returned-with-utah-grizzlies-for-3rd-time/

After lengthy hockey odyssey, Evan Stoflet is returned with Utah Grizzlies for 3rd time

After lengthy hockey odyssey, Evan Stoflet is returned with Utah Grizzlies for 3rd time SALT LAKE city — they are saying you can’t move domestic again, as a minimum that’s what Thomas Wolfe’s iconic novel from the Forties claimed. That old adage doesn’t follow to Utah Grizzlies’ hockey player Evan Stoflet, who has come domestic no longer once, no longer twice, but three times because residing in Utah as a younger youngster.

The 32-yr Stoflet is on his third excursion of responsibility with the Grizzlies and playing gambling in the front of pals and own family — again — after gambling on contrary facets of the sector for a few years as well as towns in every area of the united states, from Montana to Iowa to California to ny to Texas. maximum currently, he played for 2 years in China, an experience he referred to as “nuts,” however one which he says he’ll usually cherish.

Stoflet is a defenseman for the Grizzlies, who stand 25-22-five and are creating a sturdy playoff push with 19 games left. because the oldest player on the crew, Stoflet is counted on for his leadership and has no hassle while teammates name him “old guy” or “grandpa.”

“Oh yeah, it’s coming complete circle,” he says of the razzing he receives from his more youthful teammates. “I did the equal aspect whilst i used to be first beginning playing. It’s a cycle of existence, I bet.” Utah coach Tim Branham can’t reward Stoflet sufficient, saying, “He brings suitable leadership to this institution and facilitates the more youthful guys. He facilitates them feel cozy, whether it’s structures or a way to be a professional, due to the fact he’s a true expert. He involves the rink the same each single day with the equal mindset, the equal preparation.”

an enticing younger man with an easy smile, Stoflet is honestly grateful for the possibility he has to nonetheless be gambling expert hockey and especially to be gambling in what he considers his native land.

“It’s such a completely unique enjoy with a purpose to play in an area in which I lived for see you later,” he stated. “It’s been segmented, however I’ve lived right here for so long. obviously being close to my mother and father after being away for goodbye is nice. i have legitimate friends here within the network that I didn’t get to peer for years. It’s high-quality … actual first-rate.”

Born in Wisconsin, Stoflet moved along with his family to Illinois as a youngster, however got here out to Utah in 1996 due to his father’s employment. Evan became just going into 7th grade, and he lived in West Jordan for a couple of years. a great athlete who played soccer, baseball and football, he determined hockey became the game he desired to pursue, so on the age of 14, he moved returned to live along with his grandparents in Wisconsin, in which hockey is a miles larger deal than Utah.

with the aid of his junior yr of high school, Stoflet turned into off gambling Junior Hockey, in which he had a condensed faculty schedule for 3 hours an afternoon, at the same time as working towards hockey several hours every day. He traveled round gambling in opposition, moving first to Bozeman Montana, followed by way of Des Moines, Iowa. Then it become off to university on the college of Vermont, in which he played for 4 years.

while his collegiate career ended, he turned expert, and his first stop become Texas, in which he performed for the Corpus Christi Rayz, in the primary Hockey League. the subsequent yr he made his first professional prevent in Utah as a member of the Grizzlies. “It changed into one of those matters wherein I wanted to play in this league, so a mutual buddy positioned me in touch with the teach here and it went from there,” he said. “You don’t frequently see that, where there’s a crew wherein you live. It labored out nicely.”

Jason Christie was the coach who signed him, but he left the team inside a month and Kevin Collie took over because the coach for the 2008-09 season. Stoflet had an amazing 12 months with more than one desires and 11 assists from his protection position in addition to a plus-21 for his time at the ice.

“It changed into bizarre due to the fact I hadn’t lived this close to my own family in six years or so,” he said. “however it turned into great because I had buddies here and i used to be pretty relaxed instead of coming to a team new. My mother and father have been really pumped because they got to look me extra when i used to be 24 than whilst i used to be 16.”

but, thirteen games into the next season, Stoflet changed into unexpectedly traded to the Bakersfield Condors inside the ECHL. After seasons with Bakersfield, Stoflet determined he desired to try playing in Europe and determined a professional group in Copenhagen.

“Copenhagen is one of these cities that everyone says you ought to visit and it’s miles an extremely good town,” he stated. “It became lots of amusing and i saw loads of cool stuff. i can’t say sufficient approximately how top notch Copenhagen was.”

The most effective problem became the team control wasn’t so terrific, and his paychecks were always past due. Then in the future, he and multiple different americans were told they couldn’t have enough money to be paid anymore, and after simply three months there, Stoflet headed back to the States with a promise that he would receives a commission. The team folded a yr later, but Stoflet by no means noticed his final paycheck. He completed off the 2012 season in the big apple with the Elmira Jackals, another ECHL team, in the jap conference.

Collie turned into nonetheless the educate of the Grizzlies and he contacted Stoflet’s agent after the season and asked if he might be inquisitive about returning to Salt Lake town. Stoflet stated “positive” and so he turned into lower back in Utah, for the 2012-thirteen season, in which he scored three dreams with eleven assists. After that season, Stoflet determined he wanted to give Denmark any other try, so he performed for a group on the other facet of the u . s ., in a smaller town on the west coast referred to as Esjberg had a much better experience.

“I had an amazing train and i was able to play with a few men I went to college with,” he stated. “It turned into a a laugh enjoy — and we got paid.”

through that time, he’d had enough of Europe and he located an uncommon opportunity to play in China, where hockey continues to be in its little one degrees.

“That was nuts,” he says of his experience in China. “I’d by no means had the lifestyle shock as once I landed in Beijing. countries have unique manner of doing matters and China became so much one-of-a-kind that whatever that I’d skilled before.”

Stoflet’s group performed in Qiqihar, way up north far from the huge metropolitan areas of China like Beijing and Shanghai. His membership changed into the handiest chinese group in the Asian Ice Hockey League, which covered four groups from Japan, three from South Korea and one from japanese Russia. He stated there was a translator at the staff, but he “manifestly couldn’t comply with you around everywhere.”

Stoflet’s teach became eastern, so he’d ought to explain crew drills in his language and the translator might need to supply the instructions to both the chinese and English-talking gamers.

“by the time it were given to us, it didn’t continually translate quite proper and was pretty comical,” he said, “So if we were getting chewed out, we had been getting yelled out in jap, chinese language and eventually English.”

Stoflet said he and his North American teammates might get loads of atypical appears from the chinese natives, who’d never seen many non-Asian oldsters in that part of the us of a.

“It became quite humorous how anyone could stare at you from 20 feet beforehand and also you’d walk past them and turn round they’d nevertheless be watching you,” he said. “Random people might need to take pics with you.”

As for the competition, Stoflet called it “quite suitable,” although “not as bodily as over here.” He said China is attempting to make a conscious attempt to reinforce hockey because the u . s . a . is getting the iciness Olympics (in 2022).

“So it changed into lot of journey — you sort of toss your self accessible and see what you return with — how lengthy it takes you to get there and lower back and what type of food you’re going to come to be consuming.”

but Stoflet preferred the stories although it became an awful lot extra challenging than Denmark where most everybody speaks English.

“It become clearly cool and i really liked that fish-out-of-water type feeling,” he stated. “I truely preferred to rub elbows with the locals – it’s the nice way to get a brand new attitude on matters.”

After two years residing in a distinctive culture, consuming atypical food and now not having many people to talk to, Stoflet headed again to the united states and was satisfied to land lower back in Utah.

It doesn’t problem Stoflet within the least that he’s the old man on the Grizzlies and one of the oldest gamers inside the league. He knows that hockey gamers play longer than athletes in most different sports activities, and he’s no longer planning to cling up the skates any time quickly. “It’s all around the map,” he says. “ years in the past I played with a goalie who changed into turning 38. It’s simply but long your body can preserve up and but a good deal you revel in it and nevertheless want to play.”

Branham doesn’t rely out Stoflet sticking round for awhile. “You never realize. He maintains himself in correct form, that’s for certain, he’s in actual good form, specially for his age,” Branham said. “whilst you’re in appropriate shape you may play a long time — observe Jaromir Jagr (nonetheless gambling in NHL at age forty five). Evan works hard to hold his body in true form.”

Stoflet jokes “I don’t have any concept what I need to do once I grow up,” but he hopes to stick around Utah for extra than a year this time.

“That’s the funny aspect about this game and particularly at this degree,” he stated. “you can by no means look too a long way beforehand in the destiny. You never know what is going to pop up what’s going to show up. This is a superb place for me now.”

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