#also them both having 01 on their design was an interesting coincidence (?)

[atethemango]

transgender cosplay duo idea: hatsune mike x ikari shinjette

yeah sure why not

[fantasticallyfoolishidea]

So, bath scenes. Amirite?

The Witcher fandom is quite blessed. Over the course one season, the showrunners decided to gift us with not one but two scenes of Henry Cavill, naked in a bathtub, two episodes in a ro-

Wait a minute.

Two back-to-back episodes featuring drawn out bath scenes that go on for 2-3 minutes each. That's a lot of time to dedicate to fanservice when you only have 8 episodes to get your point across. Unless, of course… No. They wouldn't. Or would they?

I re-watched these scenes more times than I care to admit. For science. They’re interesting for numerous of reasons (Henry Cavills’ pecs being only two of them). But you know what’s even more interesting? Some sexy, sexy cinematic and narrative parallels and contrasts.

(Obligatory linebreak for your protection. You thought I went overboard analysing Her Sweet Kiss? This is worse. If you’re on mobile – I apologise. Now’s the time to scroll fast. It’ll take longer than you’re expecting, trust me. I’m sorry.)

Bath in “Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials” Bath in “Bottled Appetites” Please excuse the terrible of the second clip. It’s the only one I could find that had the whole scene in it.

First things first,

the setting

The scene in “Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials” takes place in an inn. The room is dark. Throughout the scene you can hear chatter from the bar. Candles are the only visible light source, although, at the beginning of the scene you can see more light coming in through what’s presumably a window outside the shot. Due to the lighting, the majority of the room has a noticeably blue tint, except for the cabinets on each side of the room where most of the candles are placed. Apart from the cabinets, the bathtub Geralt is sitting in is the only area that’s properly illuminated.

The room itself seems big enough, although we only get to see the bathing area which is separated from the rest of the room by blue curtains, but due the way the scene is shot – frequent close ups of the actors, wider shots frequently partially blocked by the curtains – it appears smaller than it actually is. Geralt stands out against the background due to his skin appearing orange in the candle light; in wider shots he usually appears centred.

In contrast, Jaskier moves from one side of the room to the other a lot and doesn’t remain in either light source for long. Unlike Geralt’s skin, the colour of his clothes matches the background. This is somewhat unusual because in many of his scenes Jaskier and his colourful outfits tend to stick out like a sore thumb – the red outfit in “Rare Species” probably the most visually distracting out of the bunch – but in this scene, the exact opposite happens. Whenever Jaskier’s not the focus of the shot he frequently fades into the background or even gets obstructed by the curtains.

(While I’d love to add visual references for every single point I touch upon, honestly, the amount of editing that’d require is astronomical. Jokes on me though, because it already is. Watching the scenes should give you a better idea of what I’m talking about, though. Also, full disclosure, screenshots and gifs had their brightness an colours altered slightly for better visibility.)

Now, on the other hand, we have the room inside the mayor’s house, which – while also dimly lit by candlelight – appears open and spacious. Due to the candles, the room appears tinged only in colours on the orange/yellow spectrum. No curtains to obstruct parts of the shot, and unlike the inn, this room has got visible windows one of which sits behind Geralt. That window in particular lets in a stream of blue light that, in wider shots, often appears to frame either Geralt alone or both, Geralt and Yennefer. However, the blue light remains behind the characters, neither Geralt nor Yennefer are ever directly illuminated by it.

Why is she going on and on about the lighting you might ask? It’s because there’s basically a whole science to colour theory, colour grading, and the ways they’re used in visual media. It’s one of the reasons why, for example, Guillermo del Toro movies are always such goddamn feasts for the eyes. TV Tropes also has a page dedicated to it, if you wanna get a rough idea of what’s going on here.

Both bath scenes in the Witcher (2019) are gorgeous examples of colour grading and set design. You can tell that a whole lot of thought went into it. “Bottled Appetites” even takes it a step further, carrying the orange/blue colour scheme over into the next scene and directly contrasting the bed frame that’s bathed in amber light with the blue windows it’s framed by.

Fun fact, while colour grading can be used to give colours that certain “pop”, you can also achieve the exact opposite effect. See how washed out and grey Jaskier and his blue clothes appear on the orange bedding in this shot? It becomes even more apparent later on in the scene.

He might as well be one of the pillows for the way his clothes make your eyes just kinda slip over him. Honestly, I wanna marry whoever was in charge of doing colour correction on the Witcher. That person is a fucking artist. I’ll get back to the matter of colours and backgrounds in a minute. For now, let’s talk about

body positioning

Or in other words, yet another reason I’d sell my immortal soul to directors Alex Garcia Lopez and Charlotte Brändström.

One thing the scenes have in common (apart from the copious amounts of eye candy) is that Geralt remains mostly stationary at the centre throughout the scene. Jaskier moves around a lot. He dries his hands behind Geralt, moves in front of him to fiddle with the bath salts, sits down next to Geralt, sets Geralt’s mug down on the cabinet behind him and only stops his continuous back and forth motion when the conversation takes a turn for the serious and he settles down in front of Geralt.

Yennefer, on the other hand, starts off at Geralt’s right hand side, slightly to the back of him. She briefly lies down, stands up, and moves to Geralt’s left while taking off her gown. Same as the other scene, Yennefer settles down as the conversation is about to grow more serious. However, unlike Jaskier, Yennefer is far less restless, once she’s moved to Geralt’s left she settled down and doesn’t get up again.

What’s really interesting about this scene is that throughout the entirety of their interaction, Yennefer and Geralt never look at each other at the same time. They both alternate between staring off into the distance with varying degrees of wistfulness and/or melancholia and turning to look at the other. But their eyes never quite meet, not even when Geralt turns around in surprise after Yennefer says she won’t be taking any payment. The conversation ends with Geralt abruptly getting up and out of the tub and Yennefer turning around to watch him leave (dry up? get dressed? who knows what he’s getting up to in that moment). Notably, when the shot focuses on Yennefer alone in the tub, a significant portion of the room that previously appeared mostly orange suddenly is tinted almost all blue.

However, where eye contact is conspicuously absent in the scene in “Bottled Appetites”, it’s a vital component of the scene in “Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials”. Eye contact is a significant part of Geralt and Jaskiers communication. Mainly because Geralt spends a significant amount time sending glares Jaskier’s way with Jaskier paying him varying amounts of mind, even poking fun at his “scary face” when the opportunity presents itself. Jaskier is all over the place in every sense of the word. His attention is divided between Geralt, the bath, the banquet, etc. before it eventually turns back to Geralt and the whole cycle begins anew. The shift in conversation, from the banquet to Geralt, coincides with a shift in Jaskier’s behaviour. He stops moving around the room and his attention settles on Geralt. He then kneels down and holds Geralt’s gaze until Geralt abruptly switches the subject.

Look at the screencaps above. See how, even in a screencap, the lighting is capable of creating an entire visual narrative all by itself? Yennefer and Geralt are sitting in the water together with their backs to each other in a room full of orange light but their immediate surroundings are tinted blue. Jaskier and Geralt are facing each other directly but despite the orange light surrounding him Jaskier appears shadowed as he kneels in front of the tub while Geralt who is sitting inside the tub glows orange against a blue background.

There’s a metaphor hiding somewhere in that juxtaposition but I can’t quite put my finger on it yet.

edit 12/01/20: I actually got a submission from odense who elaborated on the blocking of the scenes from a theatrical perspective. Go read it for even more meta on the bath scenes.

Anyway, moving on. Next on my list is

the matter of service

What, no more Film Studies for Fandom 101, I hear you ask? Well. Originally, I wanted this part to be about the conversation as a whole but that would’ve gone on for too long (ha! too long, she says like that means anything) so I divided it.

Both scenes deal with the performance of service in one way or another. Jaskier is trying to convince Geralt to act as his bodyguard for a night, while Geralt asked Yennefer to break the djinn’s curse and they’re still settling the matter of payment.

In a way, you could look at both scenes as very, very unusual forms of negotiation. Jaskier may spend a lot of time talking about himself but his actions are almost all focused on Geralt. He douses him with water, “rubbed chamomile onto his lovely bottom” at some point (decide for yourself what you wanna make of that statement), prepares the bath salts for Geralt’s bath, and – also at some point – arranged for Geralt’s clothes to be washed. All throughout the scene, he’s performing a variety of services. He’s taking care of Geralt, whether Geralt likes it or not, and does so like it’s the most natural thing in the world, to the point where it just kinda comes across like more of Jaskier’s usual antics and theatrics.

Geralt may claim he needs no one and doesn’t want anyone needing him but there is some form of reciprocity in their relationship – big things like the shared adventures and the ballads about which made both of them famous in their own right, but then there are the little things like drawing your friend a bath, or watching his back at a banquet so he doesn’t get stabbed by a jealous husband, which Geralt eventually agrees to do despite all of his grumbling and glaring protests.

Which is one of the reasons “And yet... here we are.” is such a brilliant line. Just from this context, you could read it in a number of ways. Jaskier could be calling Geralt out on his bullshit like, e.g. “You might not like it, but yeah, you do need me and I need you.” or he could be asking him to make a decision, e.g. “I know you don’t like it but I really do need your help. What will you do?” or it could be an affirmation, e.g. “I know you didn’t want it but somehow we still ended up here.” etc., etc. And you might have guessed, there’s still more to come regarding this line. Later.

So while Jaskier’s scene is about getting Geralt to perform a service, Yennefer’s scene is about figuring out the cost of the service Geralt asked of her in the previous scenes. Where the first bath scene was about persuasion, this one is about payment. The initial negotiation has already happened, the service been rendered, what’s left to do is figure out the price. And Geralt already offered to pay whatever the price.

Since Geralt seems intent on honouring his promise, that creates a bit of a power imbalance between Yennefer and Geralt at the start of the scene because Yennefer could ask for whatever she wanted, Geralt even brings up that he’s worried about “having agreed to indentured servitude”. (That being said, he does not seem too bothered by current the situation or Yennefer’s company. Quite the opposite, he actually seems quite comfortable talking to her.)

Aside from the payment they haven’t agreed on yet, Geralt’s also got a second promise to make good on since he initially offered Yennefer to “indulge her curiosities” (take that however you will). It’s quite apparent that Geralt is a lot more forthcoming with his thoughts and emotions (actually, his words in general) with Yennefer than he is with Jaskier. In Yennefer’s scene, she and Geralt talk about equal amounts whereas in the other scene Jaskier mostly carries the conversation by himself while Geralt reacts.

However, Jaskier also reaches out where Yennefer keeps to herself. She occasionally teasingly bumps her back against Geralt’s as she’s washing herself but other than that she makes an effort to keep out of sight, even magically turning away a mirror to hide herself, whereas Jaskier touches, quite literally gets all up in Geralt’s “scary face” and just generally repeatedly puts himself in Geralt’s line of sight going so far as to kneel down until they’re at eye level.

Despite the matter of coin coming up repeatedly (mostly in the form of harmless teasing about brothels and prostitution, but also on a more serious way when Geralt accuses her of making a profit off the townspeople), Yennefer eventually decides not to ask Geralt for anything in return for saving Jaskier’s life, determining his “company and conversation payment enough”.

Interestingly, in the scene preceding the bath in “Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials” Jaskier also broaches the topic of coin as he’s setting up to ask Geralt for help. In a sense, Jaskier initially attempts to use that thing about reciprocity I brought up earlier to convince Geralt to do him a favour. He lectures Geralt on his role in making him famous and that he should be making money off their arrangement in an attempt to make the favour he’s about to ask off Geralt seem irrelevant in comparison, like “Look at everything I’ve done for you. Please do this tiny little thing for me.” Obviously, that approach doesn’t work. The (un)holy trinity of “food, women and wine, Geralt”, on the other hand, seems to do the trick. Or maybe it’s the bath and a heart-to-heart. Kind of like Geralt’s company and conversation were payment enough for Yennefer?

While we’re still on the matter of conversation, let’s talk about one of the components that make up part of the emotional core of the scenes. Let’s talk about

the matter of past and future

Geralt has lived a long, long life and its history is written on his body in a web of scars. What struck me is how differently the bath scenes deal with those scars.

With Yennefer, the scars are on full display. She notices and scrutinises them as someone seeing Geralt naked for the first time can be expected to. The scars on his shoulders and back are placed front and centre of the shot several times.

In contrast, with Jaskier, you, as a viewer, barely notice the scars. Most of the time they’re simply not visible to the camera. They’re never in the foreground of the shot and you never even get to see Geralt’s back. The scar on Geralt’s shoulder that Yennefer noticed could easily be mistaken for remnants of dead selkiemore. There’s only one moment that draws attention to the scarred shoulder and that’s when Jaskier pats it as he’s getting up to put away Geralt’s mug of ale.

Again, I feel like there’s a metaphor hiding somewhere in there but what do I know?

Back to the point. While Geralt and Yennefer are talking in the bathtub it immediately becomes obvious that they have a connection. They’ve both had unhappy childhoods, lived long lives and as Yennefer points out Geralt was “created by magic. Our magic.” They have an understanding that quickly let’s you forget that they’re virtual strangers at this point in the Witcher canon.

In the other scene, Jaskier and Geralt have known each other for quite a while already, yet the conversation seems to be restricted to superficial topics at first, mainly Jaskier’s prowess as bard and lover. However, Jaskier unwittingly steers the conversation in a more serious direction when he asks Geralt about retirement, what he wants to do when “all this... monster hunting nonsense” is over and done with.

So far, there’s a pattern in the show that when Jaskier talks to Geralt about serious matters, he starts making plans for the future. After the incident with the elves in Posada he promises to work hard to change Geralt’s reputation. In the infamous scene in “Rare Species” he’s trying to figure out what to do with his own future and offers Geralt to go to the coast with him. Here, in this scene, he’s trying to work out what Geralt wants from his future. Even if Geralt claims to want nothing.

At that point, Jaskier’s already made good on his promise to change the public tune about Geralt. The people in the beginning of the episode are talking about the White Wolf, not the Butcher of Blaviken, which makes for such an interesting parallel when paired with Yennefer’s comment about “Our magic”.

Yennefer’s magic created the Witcher; Jaskier’s song created the White Wolf.

Which, in all frankness, would be a good point to end this post but what’s the point of doing anything if you’re not gonna overdo it? I said the matter of past and future makes up part of the emotional core of the bath scenes. So there must be other parts of that supposed emotional core, right? Of course, there’s still

the matter of want and need

While discussing Geralt’s lack of retirement plan, Jaskier and Geralt keep tossing the word “want” back and forth. Jaskier tries to find out what Geralt wants; Geralt rebuffs him, he wants nothing; Jaskier turns it around on him by saying, well, maybe someone will want you. You could, of course, read that as your run-of-the-mill “just wait, the right person will come along (and that person might just so happen to be me – if you’re wearing shipping goggles)” shtick but the thing is, that’s the kind of reply you usually offer someone who’s bemoaning the fact that they’re single, the exact opposite of what Geralt is doing, and Jaskier strikes me as someone who’s emotionally intelligent enough to know that wouldn’t work on Geralt. I think Jaskier might be very literal when he’s saying “Maybe someone out there will want you.” As in, “even if you want nothing, maybe someone who wants you will come along (and that person might just so happen to be me – again, if you’re wearing shipping goggle).” But Geralt changes strategies and rebuffs him again, he needs no one. And the last thing he wants is someone needing him.

What’s interesting about this bit is the body language. I mentioned Jaskier and Geralt communicating a lot via eye contact. And Geralt is looking at Jaskier quite intently right up until Jaskier kneels down in front of him as he’s saying “Maybe someone out there will want you.” The camera cuts to Geralt and he’s looking off to the side while he says “I want no one.” Then, a pronounced pause follows before he turns to look Jaskier directly in the eye as he finishes, “And the last thing I want is someone needing me.” (I really want to say that this looks so much like he’s warning Jaskier to reconsider whatever he’s building up to say. But alas, that’s just fantasy.) The camera cuts away again and we see that Jaskier’s now looking down behind his clasped hands before looking up and answering “And yet... here we are.” Geralt acknowledges his answer with one of his famed “Hm”s. Then, he immediately changes the subject to the whereabouts of his clothes which Jaskier sent away to be washed.

In the other scene, Geralt and Yennefer breach the topic of “want” and “need” while talking about coin. Geralt claims she’s profiting off the political situation, whereas Yennefer claims she’s working in the interest of the people, “filling a need. Ever heard of it?” Which, yes, Geralt has, literally one episode ago, and he pulls a face that’s simply beyond words. (btw, kudos to Henry Cavill for cramming like five different emotions into one expression.)

Geralt and Jaskier had an entire conversation about how Geralt wants nothing and needs nobody. Jaskier even references that conversation when he yells at Geralt while they’re arguing over the djinn. “You always say you want nothing from life, so how was I supposed to know you wanted three wishes all to yourself!” he screams.

(Also, upon rewatching that scene, I literally just realised that Jaskier was drinking at the beginning of the scene. Combine that with the fact that he repeatedly brings up the Countess de Stael, and flat out states he’s currently heartbroken, and yeah, that explains a lot about his comparatively sour mood and short temper; also, why his speech comes across as much more chaotic than usual. Seriously, compare it to the way he speaks to Geralt after he’s gutted the selkiemore. He talks a lot in both – ok, Jaskier always does – but in the selkiemore scene, or basically any scene that isn’t the djinn scene, his diction is eloquent, artistic, florid; in the djinn scene, it’s all over the place, repetitive, and often bordering on the nonsensical. Frankly, you could probably make a whole post about that scene by itself. I’ll get back to that some other day.)

(Also, am I implying that Jaskier seems bitter over the fact that Geralt apparently keeps telling him he wants nothin from life? ...Yesn’t. Hard to pretend I’m not wearing shipping goggles when I’m literally almost 4000 words deep into a meta post. But remember, nothing but speculation!)

Anyway, and now there’s Yennefer broaching the subject, asking him if he’s ever heard of “filling a need”.

The conversation carries on until Geralt is blindsided by Yennefer telling him that his company and conversation are payment enough. He whirls around but Yennefer isn’t looking at him so he hurriedly gets out of the bath. In the next scene, he emerges with a new set of clothes he doesn’t like, which his companion from the previous scene procured for him. Now why does that feel familiar?

In conclusion...

honestly, I don’t even know where I was going with this originally. This started off as a joke but then things inevitably escalated and now I’m really tired and I wanna go to sleep. (Also, the whole djinn thing is giving me feels now which kinda puts a dampener on the humour in the episode. Jaskier’d already been having a bad day and things just. Keep. Getting. Worse. Ugh, my heart.) But I feel like this post needs a proper conclusion.

I feel like, in the context of these scenes Jaskier and Yennefer could be seen as foils to each other? They’re two of the few people Geralt lets close, very close, actually, since getting naked in front of someone is frequently equated with showing vulnerability to someone. In a lot of ways, Jaskier and Yennefer’s roles work in ways that are the exact opposite of that of the other. Jaskier tries to be seen where Yennefer wants to remain hidden, yet Jaskier gets obscured by the environment while Yennefer is exposed. Jaskier is asking Geralt for a favour, Yennefer did Geralt a favour; Jaskier insists on taking care of Geralt where Yennefer gives him space. Yennefer sees Geralt’s past, Jaskier his future. Jaskier touches the scar but doesn’t look, Yennefer looks but doesn’t touch. But both find a way to scratch at the emotional walls that Geralt’s put up and both times Geralt reacts by immediately trying to escape the situation. Both times, he ends up wearing clothes he doesn’t like in the following scene.

Speaking about nudity and emotional vulnerability, maybe that’s kind of part of the conclusion as well? Sorta? Especially, since Geralt seems to start looking for his clothes or for a way out of the tub the moment someone gets too close. Furthermore, afterwards, he never seems comfortable in the clothes he’s been given, which you could read as a metaphor of sorts, I guess? Like something inside Geralt getting knocked loose in the conversation with his companion and Geralt consequently having to arrange himself with an uncomfortable truth in the aftermath? Does that make sense? Have we finally reached the point where I’m getting too cerebral? Or did we sail past that point like 4000 words ago? God, my brain hurts.

[almaasi]

reaction post typed while watching SPN 14x12 “Prophet and Loss”

me: (◕︿◕✿)

i’m too soft™ for this

03:26pm

i am NOT READY in any way, shape or form

but i have a standard-quality video file and a 720p one is downloading slowly

i saw the promo video thing, dean’s phone battery died and i swear my heart died with it

i’m with cas on the “no suicide please” train

on the one hand, this is a deadly duo episode and i don’t trust them. BUT, they have been less awful recently. so. i’m like. expecting some gay. but that gay is ultimately gonna feel like queerbaiting, right?? LET’S HOPE NOT

fingers crossed for real gay, just in case i jinx it by doubting it

-

03:29

HERE GOES

-

03:31

the box underwater

THIS BETTER BE A DREAM

-

03:32

THE TERROR ON DEAN’S FACE IS MAKING MY HEART POUND I DON’T LIKE THIS ONE LITTLE BIT

-

03:33

the blood on the walls from his fingers

jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez

;~;

-

03:34

so far enjoying the directing here

dean’s got a red light saying nope, not changing his mind

sam’s behind him every step of the way

now sam’s trying to build a bridge between them (art on the wall)

-

03:38

just............ sitting here............. recoiling constantly from the screen while this dude does whatever he’s doing to his girl

deeply uncomfortable

-

03:41

so dean hasn’t even told cas and jack

oh man

-

03:42

OH MAN SAM ALREADY TOLD CAS

OH MAN

-

03:42

the fact dean shoulders open the bathroom door without touching it and dries his hands on his jeans is a) so beautiful, and b) so relatable

-

03:45

the guy with the knife again

i winced away from the screen so hard i pulled a muscle in my neck

goddamn i forget how wearing earbud headphones means i can’t just close my ears or move away from the distressing noise

-

03:39

sam: “if we could not have conversations that sound like deathbed apologies, i would really appreciate..”

i fricking cannot with my emotions right now

also john winchester is an asshole

-

03:56

THE SMILE

;A;

“it’s so good to hear from you!!!!”

;A; ;A; ;A;

-

03:58

dean: “so thank you, and, um........................ it’s good to hear your voice”

;~;

-

04:01

why do people say “you don’t have to do this” when tied up and in danger

i find that a strange thing to say? idk

-

04:50

more red lights

a lot of red lights in this

-

04:07

another one

-

04:14pm

switching to 720p because the download’s finally done

also do women actually wear those kinds of frilly night gowns??? or is that just what people imagine “lady life partner who died violently in the night to further the manpain” to wear

-

04:17

sarah: “you wanted him... you still do.... you didn’t come here to find peace, you came here to the place where you became one with him”

sounds gay and evil

-

04:19

sarah: “you can’t.... because you are him”

i mean that makes sense, if an angel is in a host for a long time and does the same acts over and over and feels certain emotions, the host’s brain pathways would form that way, to continue doing and feeling those things

but also i guess nick said yes in the first place, and continued to allow lucifer to use him, because he was that way inclined to begin with

......you know, by the same logic, jimmy probably had feelings for dean tbh

-

04:22

i kept expecting sarah to explode in a justified ghostly rage and set the walls on fire

but here we are..........

not with a bang but with a whimper

-

04:23

kjasdufshfsdhfhFDSKJGJDSJGSJDKGJKDJGJDJGJKGJKGDFJKKJG

this screenshot of cas is a screenshot of me reacting to this screenshot

(also the noise dean’s brain is making)

-

04:25

“doctor”

this screenshot doesn’t show the subtlety of all his movements  BUT HE’S FUCKING trying not to look THRILLED LOOK AT THAT ALMOST-SMILE OMG.

just a hair’s breadth from flustering and looking down the way he did with dr. sexy maybe??? tbh he also looks sad, he would be a lot happier if he weren’t about to lock himself in a box for eternity

the lil gulp as well ?

definitely lowkey flustered, i’m calling it

-

04:29

yup, cut to sam and the real doctor WHILE DEAN AND CAS HAVE A SILENT CONVERSATION OFF SCREEN yes/yes?

-

04:32

“oh, no. no, please don’t compare this with your suicidal plan. just stop.”

he SO MAD

i love cas more than words can say

-

04:34

cas: “so then.......... this is goodbye?

THE LOOK IN THEIR EYES

MY HEART IS BREAKING OH NO

-

04:35

And then SAM INTERRUPTS

ARE YOU KIDIDNG ME

ARE YOU FSDUFVJSDGVJ ING KIDDING ME

well at least that means there’s still something to be said between them, still eternally unsaid

-

04:37

cas: “dean, if there’s a spark, a hope, then i have to try”

aaaaaaand there’s the parallel again, if cas can save donatello then he can save dean

-

04:38

YELLOW LIGHT GREEN ROOM

WE’RE GETTING SOMEWHERE

and of course cas was the one who, by appearing, changed everything

-

04:43

this is so stinking cute i love seeing them together doing ANYTHING AT ALL i love them both so much

-

04:44

also they talk v close and it feels v intimate

i can feel their body heat from here

-

THEY GOT CLOSER

-

04:45

I HAVE MISSED SEEING THEM TOGETHER AND NOT ANGRY OR ACTIVELY DYING

-

CAS’ LIL SMILE

-

04:47

dean: “cas’ll catch you up”

BUT IS DEAN GONNA LEAVE FOREVER AND LEAVE CAS OH NO

-

04:50

sam: “donatello never quit fighting, so we could help him, because he never gave up”

OH MAN THAT GOT ME RIGHT IN THE DEPRESSION FEELS

I LOVE THAT THEY GAVE JARED THOSE LINES

-

04:51

sam: “i believe in us” *punch*

okay but i laughed and i probably shouldn’t laugh

but i did laugh

-

04:52

dean: “okay sam. let’s go home”

ok time to cry

-

04:52

dean: “but i do believe in us”

(cas walks up)

“i believe in all of us”

P E R F  E C T

-

04:54

the end screen is white from the impala lights and i’m crying this was beautiful and perfect and HOW THE FUCK DID THE DEADLY DUO PULL THIS OFF

thAT PARALLEL BETWEEN DONATELLO AND DEAN THOUGH

THAT WAS LIKE...... ACTUAL WRITING

this was great??????/ and i’m emotional??????/ more emotional that i have been for ...um, pretty much every episode for like... 2 or 3 seasons, maybe

this was a 10/10 easily

jeeeez the suicide thing and sam talking dean out of it

look

y’all know how much i love dean and cas, and seeing them in the same place at the same time

but sam’s moment at the end was the best part of this whole thing

.........but. also.

i feel like dean and cas had a scene cut. as always. there was something missing there that i feel we were promised and didn’t get. please god let us get an actual conversation between them??? about their feelings for each other????????? it kind of sickens me that we haven’t had that yet. and it’s clearly almost happening, again and again and again and it’s definitely a romance trope, interrupted before they confess their feelings

a high point: dean and sam saved the asian kid from being killed by fire, that was both good and cool and i was very relieved

i’m a bit frustrated that nick is still ... happening

but at the same time, i find nick like 350% more interesting and enjoyable to watch than lucifer

there was a lot going on in this episode, as there always is in the buckleming episodes, but i watched in stops and starts because of cats and food and the wind slamming my door and my sister texting me, so if there were pacing issues i didn’t notice. it seemed pretty smooth to me idk

but i did really enjoy this, besides the gruesome murders and latino murdery guy (who was the best friend of the older twin brother (dean parallel), technically making the murdery guy a cas parallel?) killing people in horrible ways and then killing himself :/

also dean saying the guy was a psycho and then punching him out felt a liiittle bit like “people with mental health issues are evil and dangerous” and that felt uncomfortable EVEN THOUGH the guy WAS a bad murdery sort, and the whole episode was clearly also about helping people with depression or suicidal designs for themselves.

(now i type all this out, i’m realising the underlying messages of this episode were kind of messy. just a bit.)

edit: OR maybe that was dean’s self-hatred talking

(how and why did the next prophet in line have an enochian tattoo, if the pick is random? was it just coincidence? or did he get that tattoo after donatello started whispering to him?)

sarah...... she was clearly angry, and ghosts that’ve been around a long time tend to get verrrry angry, as i recall? she could’ve done some angry ghost stuff, that would’ve been more satisfying maybe (but on the other hand, the quietness of nick’s exit was also impactful)

i enjoyed the transition of red lights and backdrops throughout the episode to yellow and white, and then the green in the room at the end

anyway. yes. really did expect more on the dean-and-cas front, but i also expected to be let down, so i don’t really know where i stand on that. i just want more of them interacting in general ;~;

next week: MORE EMOTIONS!!!! YAY

[cosimaballettithomas-blog]

Blog No. 1

As explained in the syllabus, the purpose of this introductory course is to present students with a comprehensive and cross-disciplinary understanding of environmental issues, with respect to both their causes and effects. The structure of this course involves several disciplines, chief of which are natural and social science, and the humanities. It also helps to prepare students for the upper-level courses they will take later on in their environmental studies major/minor. According to its website, the environmental studies program at the surface presents students with opportunities to become ambassadors of the earth. And more specifically, as laid out by the “Major Concentrations and Career Tracks” page, students can engage in more specialized conversation about their specific interests through concentrations such as environmental politics and regulation, environmental law, urban planning, and environmental communications. Moreover, the course places students in a dialogue about environmental issues allowing them to form their own perspectives and worldviews based on class readings and discussions.

Equally comprised of both summary and evaluation, the purpose of the blog is to motivate students to ponder what they have learned from the assigned readings with the intention that they will also present their own assessment of the information. The “Blog Composition Suggestions” slide from Professor Van Buren’s PowerPoint also suggests that students make use of the Miller textbook’s Table of Contents and devise a “thematic entry title/question” to help guide and unify each blog entry. The PowerPoint also helps to specify the three general disciplines used in this course, as they are very broad and comprised of a multitude of more specialized sub-disciplines. For example, as laid out by the Interdisciplinary Structure of Environmental Studiesdiagram, the Humanities discipline is comprised of but not limited to environmental history, philosophy, theology, etc. Similarly, social science can include environmental economics, politics, sociology, anthropology, etc. The PowerPoint also demonstrates how integrated and involved the disciplines are with one another, using the example of environmental problems which in their addressing require the collective efforts of multiple disciplines. Some cases might also involve less recognized disciplines such as environmental psychology and art/literature where the former can be used to explain how people understand an environmental crisis and the latter to educate people about said crisis. In response to the “Critical Thinking Question,” I would argue that the discipline from the Interdisciplinary Structure of Environmental Studies that is most important for motivating a “sustainability revolution” in the next 50 years is the general field of Applied Arts and Sciences with respect to environmental engineering, architecture, business, public health, and especially urban planning that tends to inevitably absorb several disciplines into the planning process of large cities which have huge carbon footprints and thus are major exacerbators of the world’s environmental issues. Environmental politics and law under the Social Sciences discipline is also very important but again I think that they are already involved in urban planning in that any urban infrastructural planning project must coincide and cooperate with environmental policy for funding, approval, endorsement, etc.

A major or minor in environmental studies can lead students to a variety of career paths. In New York City alone, the “Internship and Job Opportunities” page of the program site offers a long list of opportunities that past students have had including working at the Bronx River Alliance, the Botanical Garden, the Bronx Zoo, the New York City chapter of the Sierra Club, the NYC Million Trees Project, and many more. I, for example, have a double minor in Urban Studies and Philosophy because I am really interested in how cities are designed with respect to characteristics such as sustainability and flood protection and I also intend to go to law school where a background in philosophy can be of great use. Moreover, on the ���Research” page of the program site, students interested in conducting research can obtain further information about the process and get in touch with faculty members who have conducted their own research.

Miller’s Living in the Environment textbook is another excellent and important resource for students in the environmental studies program. Based on the Table of Contents alone, one can understand just how extensive, encompassing, and relevantthe field of environmental studies is as it has chapters on everything from evolution (Chapter 4) to environmental politics (Chapter 24). It's important to understand this as speakers for the environment in that, regardless of the path or concentration one chooses to pursue, one will come to find that even a basic understanding of what may seem like peripheral disciplines will actually be of great importance to any career associated with the environment. For example, an urban planner must not only be well versed in environmental design and architecture but the laws and zoning regulations of the city they are designing, the specific biodiversity and ecological characteristics of that city, the actual and perhaps urgent needs of the public, the environmental impact and risk assessment of their plan, and so on. This also calls on and assigns responsibility to public figures to take into account every variable when it comes to urban functions such as introduced bills, design and infrastructure proposals, tapping into new resources, and other processes that will have some kind of effect on the environment. It also explains why environmental impact reports can and should be requested for any project proposal to ensure that its endorsers are not acting environmentally negligent.

A relevant example of this is detailed in an article from the Environmental News Network titled “China’s War on Particulate Air Pollution is Causing More Severe Ozone Pollution.” For several years now the Chinese government has been working hard to reduce its air pollution and specifically, its particulate matter emissions (PM 2.5), that have been posing a huge threat to public health (pictured below). Some strategies include placing restrictions on “the number of cars on the road” and the emissions of “coal-fired power plants,” as well as replacing coal with natural gas (ENN 2019). Since 2013, “PM 2.5 concentrations in eastern China have fallen nearly 40 percent.” While this is a huge feat considering that China is one of the most congested cities in the world with respect to both population and pollution, the government likely did not take into account, or perhaps ignored, the complex chemistry associated with its environmental crisis, which has led to an increase in tropospheric ozone. As it turns out, the high level of particulate matter in China actually helped to block the production of ozone in the troposphere; therefore, China’s mission to reduce PM 2.5 caused a shift in the atmosphere’s chemistry allowing for easier ozone production. This example is relevant because it shows how a city’s seemingly innocuous mission to combat climate change can actually put it at greater risk due to inattention of each individual variable. It also offers insight into just how extensive and all-encompassing the field of environmental studies is. While its reduction of PM 2.5 reflects well on the government, the chemistry of the environment is a vast and complex force, so when one variable is altered as quickly as it was in the case of China, it can impact the entire system.

                                                                                                       (Phys.org 2016)

Word Count: 1189

Discussion Question: How should environmental issues be weighed in a time of global climate emergency, i.e., what is more urgent and who decides this? For example, should China be applauded for its efforts on the one hand of reducing PM 2.5 or held responsible on the other for its neglect to consider the entire ecological system thus ultimately aiding the facilitation of faster ozone production?

Work Cited

Van Buren, Edward. “Syllabus.”

Fordham. n.d. “Fordham Online Information | Academics | Academic Departments | Environmental Studies.” Fordham University. Fordham University. https://www.fordham.edu/info/20920/environmental_studies.

“Interdisciplinary Structure of Environmental Studies.”

Van Buren, Edward. “Prof’s PowerPoint Notes.” https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzKbjVLpnX0RMjVGYUwwZlBXa28/view

“China’s War on Particulate Air Pollution Is Causing More Severe Ozone Pollution.” 2019. Environmental News Network. Harvard University. January 2, 2019. https://www.enn.com/articles/56327-china-s-war-on-particulate-air-pollution-is-causing-more-severe-ozone-pollution.

Miller, Tyler G., and Scott Spoolman. "Table of Contents.” Edited by Scott Spoolman. In Living in the Environment. 17th ed. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning, 2012.

“Most Chinese Cities Fail Air Quality Standards in 2015: Greenpeace.” 2016. Phys.org - News and Articles on Science and Technology. Phys.org. January 20, 2016. https://phys.org/news/2016-01-chinese-cities-air-quality-standards.html.

[armeniaitn]

Morning Coffee with Raffi Krikorian: On Twitter, Uber, Politics and Everything in Between

New Post has been published on https://armenia.in-the.news/politics/morning-coffee-with-raffi-krikorian-on-twitter-uber-politics-and-everything-in-between-28425-01-07-2020/

Morning Coffee with Raffi Krikorian: On Twitter, Uber, Politics and Everything in Between

Edited by Katrina Shakarian

Whether managing the team that repowered Twitter, leading the charge towards self-driving cars at Uber or maximizing political reach at the Democratic National Committee, Raffi Krikorian has forged a career combining two of his personal passions — technology and making the world a better place. 

Last October, the New York City native and MIT-graduate was in Armenia making his rounds for Tech Month. On a rainy morning between the World Congress on Information Technology and FAST Foundation Summit, Krikorian sat down with Hetq to discuss Armenia’s burgeoning tech scene and his personal ascent in the industry, including his current role as Managing Director of the Emerson Collective.

Describe your role as Vice President of Engineering-platform at Twitter. 

When I joined Twitter, I was about the 50th employee. It was still a small team thinking about how to grow Twitter to be a force in the world. They were transitioning between CEOs, specifically, to focus on growth and making the platform a big thing in the world. So, my mission was to build a system that would be responsive and manageable, to deliver services that Twitter users needed. In a short period of time, I grew my team and we built the entire infrastructure that powered Twitter. We re-examined every line of written code and rethought how to scale all of our systems. It took us two years to do this re-architecture.

At that time, Twitter grew from 50 to 3,000 people and my team grew from 1 to 500 people. It was a humbling experience to be part of that massive growth and to think, not only about technology, but also the team and how to hold them together under fast-changing circumstances. There is a difference between being a member of a small team and being the leader of a decent percentage of Twitter’s staff. Out of 3,000 people, 500 worked for me. Surviving that kind of growth — starting as an engineer and then quickly becoming a part of the executive team — was an interesting and super challenging experience. 

Why did you leave Twitter?

I quit my job for two reasons. First, I was tired. Second, I did everything I had set out to do. We had made Twitter reliable and its management cost-efficient. I’m not saying I was done, but we reached some major milestones. So, it seemed like a good time to leave. 

When I left Twitter, a part of me never intended to work again. Those five years at Twitter were the most intense of my life. I’ll never do anything like that again. I ended up taking six months off because I really needed rest. I needed time to remember who I was as a person. I also have a wife and two kids and everything is a matter of priorities. Time spent with them is my priority right now. 

My time at Twitter was something I’ll never regret. I learned so much in that intensity. There is something about surviving a storm that prepares you for other things. I was able to do it at that point in my life. If you are younger and can afford to spend time working on a problem intensively and see what you can get out of it, you should do it. But never on the account of your health. You should sleep, eat, exercise — it’s about self-care. 

How did you become Senior Director of Self-Driving at Uber?

When I left Twitter, I ended up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Six months later, it turned out that Uber was opening a center there. Through a bunch of coincidences, I got connected to the leadership and received an offer. It was a kind of unknown position at the time. No one knew exactly what to do with me. 

There was Uber’s 1-year-old self-driving car team — everyone had a Ph.D. in robotics and had been working together on different projects for about a decade. I had no Ph.D. in robotics, but I was the person with experience in product and running a very large team. So, I took a senior role in building teams and advising leadership. In the beginning, I was in charge of the software infrastructure that powered the cars — data centers, backend engineering, connectivity, everything except the robot itself. Then, I was the senior guy around helping to craft hiring processes and organizing in the background. 

What motivated you to join Uber? 

The main criteria for choosing a job is the mission and the problem. A self-driving car — this is super awesome, something that would fundamentally change the way cities are built. I had the feeling that it was going to have a huge impact on human life. That was my motive for joining Uber. 

How did management at Twitter and Uber compare to each other?

Both at Twitter and Uber, engineering failure was treated pretty well. Everyone had the realization that it takes a certain number of months to build a project. So, your assumptions at the beginning of a project are different from those when you finish it. When you get to the end, it might not work and that’s normal. But let’s say upper-level failures are more problematic. 

Twitter’s team was very experienced and I had the chance to learn a lot there. I would say Uber was much more hierarchical than Twitter was. During my time at Uber, the CEO was Travis Kalanick and everything was run by him. In my first few years at self-driving he was not very involved in what I was up to. I had the chance to manage the way I wanted to. Travis was a “just move fast today” kind of person. At one point he started paying attention to what I was running because he didn’t think we were moving fast enough. So, it’s another experience when a person in my role — a leadership role — clashes with another person in leadership. Being that fast was dangerous and I didn’t want to do it anymore. That’s why I quit my job at Uber.  

What led you to become Chief Technology Officer at the Democratic National Committee?

I knew nothing about politics. On Trump’s Inauguration Day, I watched him become president and thought about quitting my job and finding one that helps get him out of office. In the past, I had turned down amazing opportunities to work in government. And I feel like, given the results of the election, that I had missed those opportunities and I wanted to help fix what was happening in the U.S.

Being a CTO at the Democratic National Committee means finding the right channels to “talk” to people and analyzing the situation for better planning. American politics is unique because they spend a lot of money on elections. So, it’s basically about how you raise money, how you pursue people and how you make sure they vote. These are the top three things you do. My job was to use technologies to superpower that. 

How did working in politics differ from working for tech companies?

The first challenge was that the language of politics is completely different. The second challenge was that tech is not as revered in politics as it is in IT companies. As a VP at Twitter or running self-driving at Uber, every department wanted to talk to me. In politics, no one wanted to talk to a person like me. For them the tech people are people around printers. So it took longer to reeducate them on what the technology team is. 

In Silicon Valley, when we say “this isn’t working,” it doesn’t insult. It means we need to solve this problem right now. But when you say that kind of stuff in politics, everyone takes it as an insult. It took me six months to realize that I was insulting everyone. All in all, it took another six months to a year for me to learn how to talk to people and communicate the importance of the tech department and tech people in politics. I went through these challenges because I thought that we needed a different president and that was my way of contributing to the change.

What does being Managing Director at the Emerson Collective entail?

I joined the Democratic Party to get Trump out of office. I also hoped, naively, that I could impact the way technology is thought about in the U.S. It turned out that wasn’t the case. It was purely about politics, which is fine. At the Emerson Collective, we think about immigration, healthcare, the environment, climate change. My job is thinking about how to use tech to our advantage and trying to make all those issue areas better. I spend a lot of time making tech investments, doing tech philanthropy stuff, and slowly trying to figure out how to build products that we can deploy to create change in those areas.

Why did you join the board of the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies? 

It’s been almost seven years that I’m a Board Member at TUMO and it’s for the same reason that I’m at the Emerson Collective — there is nothing better than investing in kids and having an impact on social issues. TUMO is a free educational center for teenagers specializing in technology and design. It’s specifically set up to figure out how we can augment the education of children, renormalize it, make it normal for them to have access to amazing people from around the world that come and teach them. I view it as an investment in the future of the country. 

In the U.S., my sister and I went to an Armenian school twice a week to learn the language and culture. All the books there were about Armenian villages. When I had the opportunity to come to Armenia six years ago, I remember coming to Yerevan expecting to see what I had read in those books. I remember calling my father and saying, “You didn’t tell me the whole story.” I didn’t expect to see a big thriving city. My first meeting in Yerevan was at TUMO center. I was just puzzled. There is no place in the world that looks like TUMO. That’s when I became more interested in what it means to do tech ecosystem development in Armenia.

What are your impressions of the Armenian tech ecosystem? 

There are some interesting technology companies that I would like to introduce to a global market and get investment for. I am interested in how we learn about this ecosystem, how this ecosystem fits, and what it takes to get from point A to point B. I feel like Armenia is set up around science and technology in such an amazing way, that if we mix it with global thinking and product design thinking, we can build game-changing products here instead of outsourcing.  

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Read original article here.

[sounds10thapr1976-blog]

Onto the actual text this time, including a Contents page so you should be able to work out how long you have to wait for the articles you’re interested in.

Page 2     SOUNDS     April 10, 1976

CONTENTS

FEATURES David Bowie 12-14 Bill Bruford 16 War 17 PFM 18-19 Kate and Anna McGarrigle 19 Led Zeppelin 20 Bachman Turner Overdrive 27 Clive Davis 30 Guitar Special 32-39 Miracles 45

REGULARS News 2-4 Charts 6 Wax Fax 7 High Society 8-10 Jaws 11 Albums 20-24 Singles 40-41 Reggae 41 Fair Deal 42 Letters 44 Steppin’ Out 46-48 On The Road 49-51 New Sounds 54

SOUNDS

EDITOR Alan Lewis

DEPUTY EDITOR Alf Martin

FEATURES EDITOR Barbara Charone

SPECIAL PROJECTS Phil Sutcliffe

NEWS EDITOR Hugh Fielder

EDITORIAL Geoff Barton Dave Fudger Susanne Garrett Vivien Goldman Jonh Ingham Tony Mitchell

CONTRIBUTORS Mick Brown Giovanni Dadomo Flip Fraser Jerry Gilbert Dan Hedges Robin Katz Dave Laing John Peel

PHOTOGRAPHER Mike Putland

IN AMERICA Toby Goldstein 212 672 3166 Al Rudis Steve Rosen Ted Joseph Peter Crescenti

ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER Jonathan Ward

TELEPHONE SALES MANAGER Eddie Fitzgerald

ADVERTISEMENT PRODUCTION Len Driver

MANAGING DIRECTOR Jack Hutton

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mike Sharman

ADVERTISEMENT DIRECTOR Peter Wilkinson

Spotlight Publications, Stoplight House, 1 Benwell Road, London N7 7AX. Telephone: 01-607 6411.

NEWSDESK

KISS MAYHEM Three attacks by the US destroyers

KISS, US kings of heavy rock in heavy make-up, are at last to play three gigs in Britain next month.

Despite the transatlantic publicity they have so far made little impact on record here but their fourth UK album ‘Destroyer’ will be released on Casablanca to coincide.

The label also plan to back up the full frontal assault on the British market with giveaways at the concerts including arm bands and Kiss masks and a TV advertising campaign.

The dates are: Manchester Free Trade Hall May 13, Birmingham Odeon 14, Hammersmith Odeon 15. The band may use their own jet-liner on the tour.

‘UNOFFICIAL’ FLOYD A PINK FLOYD single taken from ‘Wish You Were Here’ is being released in this country in a special limited edition of 10,000.

It will be ‘Have A Cigar’ b/w ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ and comes through an exclusive distribution deal arranged by Lightning Records with the Dutch company who originally released it.

The last of the official Floyd singles released in the UK was ‘Point Me At The Sky’ and they have recently again vetoed any further single releases here, though they put them out in every other record buying country, because of what they regard as the lightweight pop image of the charts here.

ALVIN, FAIRPORT IN FOOTBALL FEST BANK HOLIDAY Monday is now set to be the biggest day ever in live rock in the UK – another huge football ground festival probably starring Alvin Lee has been announced, coinciding with the Who and Co. putting the boot in at Charlton (see opposite page).

The Southend Charity Festival Committee say that contracts are expected to be signed this week for a line-up starring Alvin and Friends, Budgie, and the debut of the new Fairport Convention.

Support acts planned are The Dave Bromberg Band, Magna Carta, the Mickey Jupp Band and Crossbreed with our very own John Peel compering.

Confirmation came from the business end Alvin and the Fairports that they were likely to do the gig though it was still being negotiated – neither band’s line-up has yet been announced.

The Festival is run for the benefit of Christian Aid relief and development projects in the third world.

It starts at 11 am and runs through to 9pm at Southend United Football Ground. Tickets are now on sale from the ground in Victoria Avenue at £2 though they will be £2.50 on the day. Postal applicants should send an SAE with cheques and postal orders made out to ‘Southend Sounds ’76.’

SOME OF THESE KNIGHTS GLADYS KNIGHT And The Pips will tour Britain later this month doing two shows a night in five venues, her last visit for some time as she is pregnant.

The dates are: Bournemouth Winter Gardens April 23, Manchester Palace 24, Southport New Theatre 25, London New Victoria 27, Birmingham Odeon 30.

They will be bringing their own rhythm section and the tour coincides with the UK release of their States hit ‘Midnight Train To Georgia’.

Gladys is also starring in a movie titled ‘Pipedreams’ due for release in Britain in the autumn.

STILL NO TUBES Tubes’ record company A&M say that they cannot tour the UK in May as their new album ‘Young and Rich’ (produced by Ken Scott who worked on the Supertramp albums) will be released then and they will be touring the States to promote it.

But they have been trying to arrange a London venue to do a possible week of shows later in the year as well as provincial dates and A&M said they were “virtually certain” to come to Britain in ’76.

RECORD NEWS

JON DOES THE LOT Jon Anderson, who plays just occasional acoustic and percussion with Yes, has been a one-man band on his solo album ‘Olias Of Sunhillow’ released by Atlantic on May 7. He wrote the words and music and plays all instruments including keyboards and harp.

He will perform excerpts from it on OGWT on May 11 and get a spot in the Daily Telegraph colour supplement on the release date. Yes start a three-month tour of the States in late May.

REAL THING release a single in mid-May to tie in with their guest appearance with David Essex at Earl’s Court on May 15.

BARNEY JAMES, ex-drummer with Rick Wakeman’s English Rock Ensemble, has his first solo single out on April 9 on the Solddon label. Titled ‘All The Prizes Taken’ it’s from his album ‘Koneg – The Second Coming’ scheduled for May release.

JOHNNY TAYLOR’S US number one hit ‘ Disco Lady’ has been rush released in the UK by Columbia. Taylor is a soul black veteran who first recorded in the 50s and had a string of hits on Stax during the past decade, including the classic ‘Who’s Making Love’. He joined Epic after the recent Stax collapse.

FREDDIE MACK, who played ‘Mr ‘Superbad’ in the K-Tel TV ads for the album of the same name last year, has a single of the same name out on Contempo on April 23. It’s called ‘Mr Superbad’.

LINDA LEWIS, whose current single on Bell is a Van McCoy song ‘Baby I’m Yours’, is heading for New Orleans to record with Allen Toussaint. Later in the summer she will co-star with John Miles in a Mike Mansfield TV special.

GRAND FUNK have signed to EMI International for the world outside North America.

NANARETH’s single ‘Love Hurts’ and album ‘Hair Of The Dog’ have both gone gold in the States.

ANNE-KARINE THINGNAES, Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest entry ‘Mata Hari’ is being released by DJM in the UK.

MOON WILLAIMS new single on DJM ‘Every Time I Take The Time’ will be ‘endorsed’ in radio ads by admirers including Deep Purple, The Rubettes, Angie Bowie and Biddu.

SHIRLEY BASSEY has a single called ‘Natali’ released on April 9 by United Artists. It’s taken from an Album ‘Love Life And Feeling’ out on April 23.

BONNIE DOBSON is recording a new album for Polydor and tracks so far completed include ‘Morning Dew’ (which she originally wrote) ‘A Taste Of Honey’, ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow’ and ‘Here Comes The Sun’. The album is scheduled for July release.

URIAH HEEP have finished work on their new album, ‘High And Mighty’, which is the first that the band have produced themselves. It will be released in May.

ARISTA RECORDS have taken over Haven Records in America which gives them such artists as the Righteous Brothers, Gene Redding, Willie Harry Nelson, Eve Sands, and Rob Grill and the Grassroots. The Righteous Brothers and Willie Harry Nelson have albums due for release shortly.

‘THE HAPLESS Child And Other Inscrutable Stories’ is the title of an album released by Virgin next weekend. The music is by Mike Mantler and lyrics by Edward Gorey and among those taking part are Robert Wyatt, Carla Bley, Terge Rypdal, Steve Swallow and Jack De Johnette.

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Next time: page three

[updatedc-blog]

New Post has been published on https://www.updatedc.com/2019/01/04/rotolight-anova-pro-2-hands-on-review/

Rotolight Anova Pro 2 Hands-On Review

Rotolight’s Anova Pro 2, is a bi-color (a daylight only version is also available) LED fixture that is color temperature changeable from 3150K to 6300K. The light is also flicker free at any output and is a good option for anyone who does both photography and video. I reviewed the original Anova Pro back in 2016 so it will be interesting to see if the sequel is better than the original.

How is it different from the original Anova Pro?

The Anova Pro 2 is the follow up to the companies Anova Pro. At first glance the lights look to be identical, so what has changed? Most of the changes are under the hood and are related to increased output, but there are also plenty of other new features. Rotolight claims that the Anova Pro 2 has 70% more power output than its predecessor. To get this power increase the light now draws 72W compared to the 48W of the original Anova Pro. The Anova Pro 2 can also flash at 250% of its maximum continuous output when used in Flash Sync Mode. This is up from the 150% that the original Anova Pro was capable of.

A lot of this increased output has to do with the fact that Rotolight is now using 960 LEDs instead of the 576 that are in the original Anova Pro.

There is also more special lighting effects, 14 in total, including a ‘chase’ mode which uses DMX to control a line of lights to simulate a moving light source such as streetlights. There is also a new Exposure Effects (X-FX) mode that lets you create a stroboscopic effect for creating multiple exposure images.

Speaking of DMX, the light now includes DMX which can be used to control up to 512 wireless slaves from one Anova Pro 2. There is also an RJ45 DMX (in/out) socket and an Auto set-up function for quickly configuring channel settings when you are using large numbers of lights.

A few other nice new features in the Anova Pro 2 are:

TECH menu/FINE dimming mode – allows perfect smooth dimming to 0% across the color range

CNTL menu / BASE / AUTO – auto setup mode, allowing you to set up ANOVA / NEO2 and AEOS slaves with one button push

CNTL menu / BASE / AUTO / NEXT- auto DMX addressing mode, allowing you to set an individual DMX address on each ANOVA / NEO2 and AEOS slave with one button push

CNTL menu / BASE / AUTO / LOCK- prevents accidental over-writing of configured ANOVA / NEO2 and AEOS slaves with one button push

If it ain’t broke then don’t fix it. Despite all of these new additions, I like that Rotolight hasn’t tinkered too much with the Anova Pro 2. It still retains every feature that I originally liked about the original Anova Pro, but addresses my biggest complaint, which was output.

According to Rotolight, the design philosophy with the Anova Pro 2 was to “Deliver a light that out of the box produces a very flattering, soft light source that almost gives the effect of a naturally diffused light.” The rationale for making the light round is to create a catchlight effect in the eye, and to give it a flattering ‘wrapping light quality’.

It’s not hip to be square

I’ve never quite understood why so many companies continue to make a square or rectangular light. In my opinion, it makes a lot more sense to actually use a circular-shaped light, especially for interviews or when shooting faces. Our heads aren’t square, either are our eyes. A lot of softboxes are also round, so why not make a light that is also round. I have found from prior experience that the circular Rotolight fixtures create really nice catch lights in peoples eyes.

It’s nice to see that Rotolight has continued to keep their lights round, especially since most lighting companies continue to pursue making 1×1 or square/rectangular LED fixtures.

Different versions

The Anova Pro 2 is available in several configurations. There is a bi-color version that is available with a 50-degree beam angle, or you can choose to get the 110-degree beam angle model. There is also a daylight only (5600K) version available. The LEDs used on all of the models are carefully spaced to ensure that each individual LED beam overlaps. The benefit of doing this is that the hundreds of individual LED elements give the appearance of coming from one source, to deliver one single uniform shadow. The problem with a lot of LED lights with a wide beam angle (over 90 degrees) is that the individual LEDs end up creating weird shadows.

The light I will be reviewing is the 50-degree version.

CineSFX

The light has a built-in set of CineSFX lighting effects that allow you to recreate effects that normally would require specialist equipment. These include Strobe, Lightning, Fire, Cycle, Throb, Police, TV, Spin, Weld, Spark, Film, Neon, Roto, Gunshot, Film, Paparazzi, and Chase. While some of the effects are the same that can be found in the original Anova Pro, not only has the company added a few more options, but they have also given users the ability to further fine-tune their parameters.

These CineSFX can be remotely triggered using either a wired DMX trigger or wirelessly triggerable using the PC sync port on the back of the light. There is also a feature called FX slave which allows the Anova Pro 2 to act as a DMX master controller for not only previous generation Rotolights but also third-party light sources with DMX inputs. This eliminates the need for additional DMX controllers or expensive flicker boxes on set. Rotolight says you can control up to 512 channels in a single DMX universe. The CineSFX effects really are impressive, and they can come in very handy for creating lighting situations in the field that would otherwise be very difficult to replicate. Rotolight was arguably the first company to offer special effects in a portable LED light, and since that time many other manufacturers have followed suit.

Along with the CineSFX, there are also True Aperture Dimming and Designer Fade effects. True Aperture Dimming calculates and displays the correct aperture (F-Stop) for your subject at a given distance. In theory, this eliminates the need for using a light meter in certain situations. You can also adjust your brightness level, to coincide with your desired aperture (F-Stop). It is unfortunate that it doesn’t also show T-stops for those using the light with proper cinema lenses. The Designer Fade effect lets you dial in preset times for custom fade up / fade downs which can be handy for certain projects.

There is also Exposure Effects (X-FX) mode for stroboscopic effects for creating multiple exposure images. This is primarily for use for photographers.

Great for photography and video

If those features weren’t enough, the Anova PRO 2, just like the original Anova Pro, are the only bi-color LED lights in the world that has a built-in flash sync port. This means that for a stills photographer, you can replace your strobe (in certain situations) and it does so with no recycle time with high-speed sync capability. When in flash sync mode, the light is able to flash at 250% of its maximum continuous output. This is up from the 150% that the original Anova Pro was capable of.

Unlike the original Anova Pro, the Anova Pro 2 has a built-in Elinchrom Skyport receiver that provides wireless triggering plus brightness and color adjustments at distances up to 656′. You can control up to 10 lights in 4 groups.

Rotolight recommends the following triggers: Rotolight HSS Transmitter (Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Panasonic) Elinchrom HS Transmitter Plus (Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Panasonic) Godox X1T (use with Godox X1R receiver) Pixel King Pro (Sony, Canon, Nikon) Flashpoint R2 Phottix ODIN II  (HSS) (canon, Sony, Panasonic) PocketWizard (HSS) Cactus VI II (HSS) (Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Pentax, Panasonic, Olympus)

For those who are shooting both stills and video, this product eliminates the need for two separate purchases and removes many of the constant downsides of shooting with strobe (e.g. your flash not firing because of recycle time). If your job calls for both stills and video, or you’re working in multimedia, this function alone should put the Anova Pro 2 right at the top of your list of lights to look at.

I’m not going to do any in-depth testing of the photography features of this light as Newsshooter is primarily aimed at video shooters. There are plenty of examples online if you are interested in seeing how the light performs specifically for photography use.

What do you get?

The Anova Pro 2 comes with a LEE 6 piece filter set (3 x diffusion, 3 x magenta). This is nice to have and gives you a lot of creative freedom for making subtle adjustments to the light. You also get a built-in V-lock battery plate, built-in Elinchrom Skyport receiver, built-in DMX, and a 110-240V power supply unit. I was reviewing the Masters Kit, which comes with everything I just mentioned, plus the addition of a hard flight case and barn doors.

I also like that Rotolight includes a proper manual with the light. Too often these days companies don’t include a manual. It’s really nice to have an actual paper reference for a product and not have to go searching for one online.

Build Quality

The overall build quality of the Anova Pro is very good. It is certainly well made and feels like a professional product that would stand the test of time. The light is as well made as other Rotolight products and doesn’t have the cheap plasticky feel of so many other lights on the market. The dials and switches have been well designed and feel solid to use.

My only gripe is that I didn’t feel like the yolk angle adjustment knobs tightened sufficiently enough. No matter how hard I tried to tighten them I could still always move the light. This is something that shouldn’t happen with a light of this quality.

The barn doors attach via four heavy duty locking knobs so there is no chance of them rattling around or falling off.

The light weighs in at 3.34 kg/ 7.36 lb (Including Yoke). As a comparison, the Litepanels Astra Bi-color weighs 3.4kg (7.6lb), and the KinoFlo Celeb 200 weighs 6.8kg (15lb). The Lupo Superpanel 1×1 Full Color 30 RGBW weighs 3.7kg (8.15lb), and the Luxli Timpani 1×1 RGBAW tips the scales at 3.15 kg (6.96lb)

Filters

Rotolight uses a nice quick solution for installing and securing filters. A wire ring with six inward-facing metal rods holds the filters in place. A small removable pin on the latches allows for the ring to be lifted and a filter inserted. Once the filter is in place you just push the frame down and secure the pins. I found from using the light I only had to remove one pin to put a filter in. This makes it very quick and convenient for swapping filters in and out.

The nice thing about the filters is that you can easily stack multiple filters together if you need to. The filters themselves are very thin and quite fragile. While they do the job they are supposed to do, you need to take care when handling or transporting them. If you do happen to rip or tear any of them Rotolight does sell replacements.

No RGB

With so many manufacturers now moving towards making RGB LED lights I wondered why Rotolight hadn’t decided to go down that route. When I asked Rotolight about this they told me “Rotolight is currently developing other products around the latest RGB technology. We have made so many improvements to the Anova Pro 2, and its user base like the characteristics of the light (Naturally soft light output, round catchlight, exceptional CRI, etc). This is now the 4th generation Anova, and we have been selling them for 5 years now, so we have kept the initial design philosophy, added much to it, improved the output and the color reproduction.”

Whether you actually need an RGB light really depends on the type of work you do, but most of the current offerings feature a host of additional features such as +/- green correction as well as an increased Kelvin color temperature range.

Having the ability to control green and magenta is huge. Being able to match other fixtures as well as getting rid of any green or magenta that you may see when using the light is a very handy real-world feature that I personally use a lot.

As far as the RGB color and effects modes go, while they are great to have available, I don’t tend to use those features that much in my line of work. In saying that, being able to generate different colors is handy for lighting up backdrops or creating color separation during interviews. It’s also nice to be able to use the light to help illuminate green screens very easily.

These are features that you won’t find on the Rotolight Anova Pro 2.

No smartphone/tablet control (yet)

Rotolight used to have an IOS app called Magic Eye that gave you wireless control over your light. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to exist any longer, so the Anova Pro 2 can’t be controlled via an app. This is a real pity as so many of the lights that are now on the market can. I would have liked to have seen an app for controlling the Anova Pro 2. As the light has so many features, it would have been nice to be able to control them and make adjustments without having to physically keep walking back to the light.

In saying that, now that all the Rotolight products have an Elinchrom Skyport chip built in, you can use the Rotolight transmitter to wirelessly control color temperature, brightness, trigger SFX and fades (and get a real-time display of those colors and brightness levels), set up groups etc, which somewhat negates the actual need for the app.

When I asked Rotolight about why there wasn’t an app, I was told “The Magic Eye APP worked with ANOVA V1 and V2, using 802.11b wifi from an iOS controller. In iOS 8.1 Apple broke the rules and changed the way iOS devices negotiate with third-party devices, their system handshakes a couple of identifiers at 802.11b and for no good reason then starts talking only at 12Ghz, which was beyond the range of the wifi chip we used. The exciting news is that we are working on a revised version of the APP which we hope to launch early in the new year, and this will be able to control any of our products wirelessly with a range of 200 meters, as well as third-party products using wired DMX via a nifty Basestation called ‘The Magic Box’. The APP will be a free download.”

Low power draw

The low power draw of the Anova Pro 2 is perhaps its most impressive feature. The light draws just 72W watts at 100% output, which gives it a huge advantage over most other battery-powered-capable lights on the market. As a comparison, the Litepanels Astra Bi-color 1×1 draws 110W, the KinoFlo Celeb 200 draws 100W, the Lupo Superpanel 1×1 Full Color 30 RGBW draws 200W, and the Luxli Timpani 1×1 RGBAW draws 120W. This low power draw allows you to run the Anova Pro 2 at full power for a considerable amount of time using a 95Wh battery. This makes the light a very good proposition for news and documentary shooters who often need to set up lights in remote places and run them off camera batteries. Knowing that you can power the light and get sustained runtime gives you piece of mind if you’re shooting live crosses or long interviews.

Rotolight also makes their own 95Wh v-lock batteries with cells sourced from Japan. The battery weighs in at 725g (25.77oz), and has a built-in d-tap output that can also be used to charge the battery. A single battery costs $314.16 USD and a d-tap travel charger can be bought for $64.99 USD. If you buy the masters kit, which includes barn doors and a flight case, there is a nice cutout spot to keep a battery and the charger.

Output

A big factor for a lot of people when buying a light is how much output it can produce. I tested the lights output at 3200K and 5600K using a Sekonic C-700 at a distance of 1m (3.28ft) in a controlled environment; you can see the results below.

Rotolight Anova Pro 2 output at 3200K

At 3200K the Anova Pro 2 (50-degree version) recorded an output of 4480lx at a distance of 1 meter. This was a pretty good output. The original Anova Pro (50-degree beam angle) version that I tested put out 3790lx at the same distance and Kelvin color temperature setting. Rotolight claims that the Anova Pro 2 light is 70% brighter than the original, but from my testing, I found that when used at 3200K, the Anova Pro 2 was only 18.2% brighter than the original 50-degree version that I reviewed.

  Rotolight Anova Pro 2 output at 5600K

At 5600K it recorded 4600lx, which was a 2.67%% increase over what the light outputs when used at 3200K.  Again, this was a pretty good output for a LED light that can be powered off a camera battery. The original Anova Pro (50-degree beam angle) version that I tested put out 3400lx at the same distance and Kelvin color temperature setting. I found that the output of the Anova Pro 2 (50-degree beam angle) was 35.3% higher than that of the original when used at 5600K. The light’s output at 5600K was impressive given its size and low power consumption.

Rotolight Anova Pro 2 output at 4110K

As the Anova Pro 2 uses a combination of daylight and tungsten LED’s, the lights maximum brightness is obtained when it is set at 4110K. Above you can see that when I tested it at 4110K it produced an output of 7580lx. This is certainly a very impressive output for a light this size, but again you need to keep in mind that this sort of output is only available at this Kelvin color temperature. In saying that, you can still get a similar output if you use the light within a few hundred Kelvin degrees of 4110K. Rotolight claims that the lights output at 4110K when measured at a distance of 3ft. / 0.9m is 10,700lx. When I measured the light at the same distance I found it had an output of 10,000lx.

So how does the output at 3200k and 5600K compare to other competition? Well, below you can see.

3200K Rotolight Anova Pro Bi-colour 50 degree: 3,790lx Rotolight Anova Pro 2 Bi-colour 50 degree: 4,480lx Litepanels Bi-Color Soft 1×1 (90 degree): 2,200lx KinoFlo Diva Lite 200 (90 degree): 2,980lx Luxli Timpani 1×1 RGBAW (72 degree): 3,560lx Lupo Superpanel 1×1 Full Color 30 RGBW (115 degree): 4,150lx

5600K

Rotolight Anova Pro Bi-colour 50 degree: 3,400lx Rotolight Anova Pro 2 Bi-colour 50 degree: 4,600lx Litepanels Bi-Color Soft 1×1 (90 degree): 3,000lx KinoFlo Diva Lite 200 (90 degree): 3,060lx Luxli Timpani 1×1 RGBAW (72 degree): 3,380lx Lupo Superpanel 1×1 Full Color 30 RGBW (115 degree): 4,380lx

As you can see, the Rotolight Anova Pro 2 output at both 3200K and 5600K is very impressive. The light even manages to top the high output of the Lupo Superpanel 1×1 Full Color 30 RGBW. In saying that, it is important to note that the Lupo Superpanel 1×1 Full Color 30 RGBW, Litepanels Bi-Color Soft 1×1, and the KinoFlo Diva Lite 200 have built-in diffusion panels and a lot wider beam angle than the Rotolight.

Kelvin Color Temperature Accuracy

As far as color temperature accuracy is concerned, the Anova Pro at 5600K gave me a kelvin reading of 5696K and a ⊿uv (the value to show how much this light is away from being an ideal light source) of -0.0028. At 3200K it recorded 3256K and a ⊿uv of -0.0043. These are excellent results and give you peace of mind that when you set the light at a certain color temperature, that’s the color temperature you’re actually going to get.

Color Rendering

After testing the output and color temperature accuracy I then wanted to test the Anova Pro 2 for color accuracy. Has color accuracy been compromised to deliver more output? Below you can see the results for the light at 3200K.

Rotologht Anova Pro 2 color rendering scores at 3200K

At 3200K the light recorded an average CRI (R1-R8) of 95.6 and an extended CRI (R1-R15) of 93.1. As far as replicating accurate skin tones the Anova Pro recorded 89.3 for R9 (red), 98.4 for R13 (closest to caucasian skin tones), and 98.4 for R15 (closest to Asian skin tones). The score for R12 (blue) was a little lower than I would have expected, but the overall results for proper skin tone reproduction were very good.

Rotologht Anova PRO color rendering scores at 3200K

So how does this compare to the original Anova Pro? Above you can see the results. At 3200K the light recorded an average CRI (R1-R8) of 93.0 and an extended CRI (R1-R15) of 92.09. As far as replicating accurate skin tones the Anova Pro recorded 76.4 for R9 (red), 95 for R13 (closest to caucasian skin tones), and 94.3 for R15 (closest to Asian skin tones). The Anova Pro 2 has a slightly better extended CRI that that of the original, but most importantly, the scores for R9, R13, and R15 have all improved. It’s good to see that Rotolight has been able to improve the color rendering from the original and also increase the power.

Rotologht Anova Pro 2 color rendering scores at 5600K

When I tested the light at 5600K the scores were almost identical to those at 3200K. At 5600K it had an average CRI (R1-R8) of 94.6, and an extended CRI (R1-R15) of 91.9. For replicating accurate skin tones it recorded 97.3 for R9 (red), 98.6 for R13 (closest to caucasian skin tones), and 95.4 for R15 (closest to Asian skin tones). These were excellent results, but again, the light seems to have a problem with R12 (blue), scoring just 61.2. To be fair to Rotolight, the KinoFlo Diva Lite 2000 also struggles with R12 (blue), recording just 72.6. In saying that, I tested the light by shooting a color checker chart and didn’t find that this low score for R12 didn’t make any noticeable difference at all.

Rotologht Anova PRO color rendering scores at 5600K

So how does this compare to the original Anova Pro? Above you can see the results. At 5600K it had an average CRI (R1-R8) of 94.7, and an extended CRI (R1-R15) of 92.09. For replicating accurate skin tones it recorded 97.7 for R9 (red), 98.4 for R13 (closest to caucasian skin tones), and 95.7 for R15 (closest to Asian skin tones). At 5600K the Anova Pro and Anova Pro2’s results are almost identical.

Below you can see a head to head comparison of color accuracy between the Rotolight Anova Pro, Rotolight Anova Pro 2, Litepanels Bi-Color Soft 1×1, Kinoflo Diva Lite 200, Luxli Timpani, and Superpanel 1×1′ Full Color 30 RGBW.

3200K

Rotolight Anova Pro Bi-colour 50 degree Average CRI (R1-R8) – 93 Extended CRI (R1-R15) – 89.66 R9 (red) – 76.4 R13- (closest to caucasian skin tones) – 95 R15- (closest to asian skin tones) – 94.3

Rotolight Anova Pro 2 Bi-colour 50 degree Average CRI (R1-R8) – 95.6 Extended CRI (R1-R15) – 93.1 R9 (red) – 89.3 R13- (closest to caucasian skin tones) – 98.4 R15- (closest to asian skin tones) – 98.4

Litepanels Bi-Color Soft 1×1 CRI (R1-R8) – 98.6 Extended CRI (R1-R15) – 97.32 R9- (red) – 95.5 R13- (closest to caucasian skin) – 99.5 R15- (closest to asian skin tones) – 98.4

KinoFlo Diva Lite 200 CRI (R1-R8) – 96.8 Extended CRI (R1-R15) – 95.22 R9- (red) – 91.6 R13- (closest to caucasian skin) – 96.1 R15- (closest to asian skin tones) – 98.5

Luxli Timpani 1×1 RGBAW  CRI (R1-R8) – 96.5 Extended CRI (R1-R15) – 95.45 R9- (red) – 92.6 R13- (closest to caucasian skin) – 96.1 R15- (closest to asian skin tones) – 96.3

Lupo Superpanel 1×1′ Full Color 30 RGBW CRI (R1-R8) – 94.3 Extended CRI (R1-R15) – 91.86 R9- (red) – 76.3 R13- (closest to caucasian skin) – 95.1 R15- (closest to asian skin tones) – 93.4

5600K

Rotolight Anova Pro Bi-colour 50 degree Average CRI (R1-R8) – 94.7 Extended CRI (R1-R15) – 92.09 R9 (red) – 97.9 R13- (closest to caucasian skin tones) – 98.4 R15- (closest to asian skin tones) – 95.7

Rotolight Anova Pro 2 Bi-colour 50 degree Average CRI (R1-R8) – 94.6 Extended CRI (R1-R15) – 91.9 R9 (red) – 97.3 R13- (closest to caucasian skin tones) – 98.6 R15- (closest to asian skin tones) – 95.4

Litepanels Bi-Color Soft 1×1 CRI (R1-R8) – 94.7 Extended CRI (R1-R15) – 92.51 R9 (red) – 86.9 R13 (closest to caucasian skin) – 95.8 R15 (closest to asian skin tones) – 95.8

KinoFlo Diva Lite 200 CRI (R1-R8) – 96.1 Extended CRI (R1-R15) – 93.09 R9- (red) – 89.7 R13- (closest to caucasian skin) – 94.7 R15- (closest to asian skin tones) – 92.6

Luxli Timpani 1×1 RGBAW  CRI (R1-R8) – 97.8 Extended CRI (R1-R15) – 96.2 R9- (red) – 97.9 R13- (closest to caucasian skin) – 99.6 R15- (closest to asian skin tones) – 97.0

Lupo Superpanel 1×1 Full Color 30 RGBW CRI (R1-R8) – 95.3 Extended CRI (R1-R15) – 93.4 R9- (red) – 86.2 R13- (closest to caucasian skin) – 97.3 R15- (closest to asian skin tones) – 94.4

If you look at the data from the head-to-head comparisons, the Rotolight performs extremely well at 5600K when it comes to reproducing accurate skin tones, despite its overall color reproduction numbers being slightly lower than the other lights. Any numbers over 90+ are truly excellent and you would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between any light that has average scores in the 90s.

At 3200K the Anova Pro 2 is very comparable to the other lights in this group, and it’s good to see that the lights scores at both 3200K and 5600K are very close. This tells me that the lights overall color rendering performance remains very consistent no matter what Kelvin color temperature you are using.

Spectral distribution

  Above you can see the Rotolight Anova Pro 2’s spectral distribution when used at 3200K. While the light does have a nice full spectrum it certainly has a slight push towards green.

Above you can see the Rotolight Anova Pro 2’s spectral distribution when used at 5600K. The light has a push towards green as you can see.

Just as a comparison lets look at the Luxli Timpani 1×1 RGBAW light that I recently reviewed. Above you can see its spectral distribution when used at 3200K. Its color spectrum isn’t as full as the Rotolight, but it is a bit more linear.

Above is the Luxli’s spectral distribution when used at 5600K. As you can see the Luxli has a far fuller spectrum at 5600K than the Rotolight and it’s not missing nearly as much information around the 460-500 nm wavelength. The Rotologht’s inability to reproduce information at these wavelengths is evident when you look at both the lights color rendering scores and spectral distribution. Again, as I mentioned earlier, I didn’t find this affected the lights real-world performance in any way.

REAL WORLD PERFORMANCE AND QUALITY OF LIGHT

As I always say, photometric scores only tell you part of the story. So do the scores from the Rotolight Anova Pro 2 translate into real-world performance?

In the example footage that you can see above, I simulated an interview style set up. The Rotolight Anova Pro 2 was used as the key light with the Lupo Superpanel Full Color 30 being used as the backlight. A white poly board was also used on the right-hand side to add some fill. I then filmed the exact same scene with the Luxli Timpani 1×1 RGBAW and the Lupo Superpanel 1×1 Full Color 30 RGBW. I chose the Luxli Timpani as I firmly believe it is one of the best value portable LED lights on the market. I also wanted to see how the Rotolight faired against the Lupo.

For my tests, I kept all the lights in the exact same position, height and distance from my subject. I set all three lights at 5600K and then set the camera to a preset 5600K white balance. I also manually balanced all three lights to see what differences there were. The output of the lights was adjusted accordingly to get the correct exposure.

Even though all three lights looked good, they all had different looks. The Luxli was a little warmer than the Rotolight and the Lupo was a little colder. Technically if you want to go off scopes, the Rotolight was the most neutral of the three. I found that all three lights produced nice results and the skin tones all looked good. With a few minor tweaks, I’m pretty sure even the most novice of colorists could get all three images to match. In saying that, both the Lupo and Luxli offer +/- green adjustment so you could easily make minor adjustments to correct any color casts.

I liked the catch light that you get when using the Rotolight. Being a circular source helps in this regard and I found the catch light looked just a little bit bigger and more pleasing compared to the Lupo and Luxli.

I also did a test where all of the lights were set to their maximum brightness at 5600K so you could see the differences. The Lupo has a much wider beam angle than the Rotolight and the Luxli so it was no real surprise that it was capable of lighting up more of the room.

The Anova Pro 2 does produce a really nice quality of light, but as it doesn’t feature any in-built diffusion, so do you need to use a softbox to create flattering light? I found that even without using a softbox it was very capable of producing nice results. The Lupo Superpanel Full Color 30 has a built-in diffusion panel, and the Luxli Timpani only has a very light diffusion screen (which is there for getting rid of the individual shadows caused by using multiple LEDs).

I tried out Rotolight’s own Anova Softbox Kit with the light and it worked really well. The softbox is nice and large and it creates a really nice source of light that wraps around your subjects face. Unlike most other softbox solutions that are available for 1×1 style panel lights, the Rotolight softbox has a nice amount of depth. This means it is able to create a softer source because of the distance from where the front of the diffusion that goes on the softbox to the actual light source is quite deep.

The softbox comes with both diffusion and frost, as well as an egg crate. I like that Rotolight gives you two different types of diffusion and that the softbox kit is very reasonably priced at $157.49 USD. This is considerably cheaper than a lot of other softboxes that are available on the market.

I did some measurements with the Sekonic C-700 to see how much output the light could produce with the softbox being used. With the frost on and the Anova Pro 2 set at 100% output (5600K) it recorded 2990lx at a distance of 1 meter from the front of the softbox. That’s a 35% decrease in output over using the light with no softbox and the frost. With the diffusion on under the same conditions, it recorded an output of 1830lx, which is 60% less than if used without. Both the frost and the diffusion produce really nice, soft light. I found that the frost was probably the better way to go if you are using the Anova Pro 2 for interviews. The diffusion cuts the output so significantly that you would need to have the light fairly close to your subject in most scenarios.

There are, however, two downsides to the softbox. The first is you need to purchase the optional barn doors to be able to use it.

The second is that I found it difficult to put on as it needs to fit over the top of the barn doors and its a very tight fit. This is not a quick or easy process and I don’t like wasting valuable time mucking around trying to get a softbox to fit. Putting on a softbox should be a quick and easy process and if takes longer than a minute to do then there is something wrong with the design.

If you don’t have a high enough output to begin with, and then attempt to heavily diffuse that lighting source, often the brightness of that light is reduced to a point where it’s only usable when placed very close to a subject. If you do use the Anova Pro 2 in this way you will have to have to have it a little closer to your subject, but I still found it had enough output that I didn’t have to put it as close as say the Luxli Timpani. The output of the Anova Pro 2 is pretty impressive for a portable LED solution, especially one that only has a power draw of 72W.

The Anova Pro 2 is a little on the heavy side, but it’s not so heavy that you should rule it out if you are a solo operator or traveling cameraman or woman who needs a light that is quick to set up and can be powered remotely in the field from a camera battery. The lights 50-degree beam angle does make it suitable to use for interviews without the light source spilling everywhere. From my experience using the light, I would still recommend going with a softbox if you are using the fixture for interviews. The beam spread of 50-degrees is a lot narrower than the 115-degrees of the Lupo Superpanel Full Color 30, and the 72-degree beam angle of the Luxli Timpani. I’m not the biggest fan of panel lights with narrow beam angles, I much prefer to have lights that have a wider beam spread, as I find them more versatile.

The Anova Pro 2 also looks also looks like it could be used effectively for news crews doing live crosses as the fixture can be run off a camera battery and it’s powerful enough (as long as you aren’t trying to match a bright background) to provide a nice amount of fill. If you are trying to match a bright background there are better solutions available.

Usability

As I have mentioned in other lighting reviews, the numbers only tell part of the story. You can have the most color accurate light in the world, but if it is difficult to use and operate then you are going to leave it at home. Thankfully, the Anova Pro 2 is very quick and easy to use. I love lights that you can take out of a case, throw a battery on the back and turn on. If you are a solo operator time is always crucial. There is nothing worse than taking 5-10 minutes to set up a light before you can turn it on.

As far as using the lights controls, making changes to the output and color temperature are very straightforward and the LCD display lets you accurately monitor and see any changes that you make.

If you are familiar with any of Rotolight’s other offerings, you will know that the physical design and layout of the controls is standard across all of their models. This is not such a bad thing as you can jump from one model to the next and know exactly how to use and control the light. If you haven’t used a Rotolight before, the control over color temperature and output are easy, but it may take you a little bit of time to get used to using the light’s more advanced features.

Changing filters is quick and hassle-free and the built-in v-lock battery plate and low power consumption allows you to run the light off a camera battery for long periods of time. This also makes it easy to move the light around, as you’re not having to look for power outlets and run long extension cables across the floor.

Getting into the menu is straightforward but I still struggle sometimes with remembering how to make changes to the SFX features. In fairness, this is probably something that could be overcome by using the light on a more regular basis, and news and documentary shooters are unlikely to be using these features that often. This is where a dedicated iOS app would come in very handy.

The light can be adjusted from 3150K up to 6300K in increments of 10. You can also hold the dial down and move it if you need to do it quicker. The light can also be dimmed from 100% to 1% in 1% increments. Again if you hold down the dial and move it does it a lot quicker.

The additional barn doors are nice, but they can’t be moved in a circular rotation around the light as they are locked down. I also found that because there are six doors, instead of the usual four, they can be a little fiddly and awkward to use. The barn doors do tend to end up hitting each other when you start closing them down to control the light. The other minor downside of the barn doors is that if you are using them, they end up hitting the light’s yolk frame if you try and angle the light down. I found this very frustrating when trying to use the light to illuminate something that was lower than the height of the light. The only way to overcome this is to use a light stand where you can place a spigot horizontally and not vertically.

The flight case that comes as part of the Masters Kit is beautifully designed and made. It is a great option for transporting the light around. The only slight negative is that the case is quite large and weighs around 11.5kg with the light inside. Some shooters may find that not to be a problem, but again it really depends on what you’re used to traveling with and how much kit you normally take. The nice thing about the flight case is it actually makes for a nice platform if you need to get you reporter a little higher off the ground for a live cross or piece to camera.

If you want to go lighter, Rotolight does make a Travel Kit that consists of barn doors and a soft bag for $292.49 USD.

Competition

When the original Anova Pro came onto the market it had a host of features that other lights didn’t have, but the industry has changed a lot since that time. There is now a host of lights on the market that offer features not found on the latest Anova Pro 2. While the Anova Pro 2 is still the only light to feature an HSS mode, just about everyone else now offers special effects. A lot of the current crop of lights are now RGB, and some such as the Luxli Timpani offer inbuilt filters, color picking technology, +/- green adjustment, and very clever iOS apps for controlling the lights features. The Anova Pro 2’s main competition is from lights such as the Litepanels Astra series, KinoFlo Celeb 200, KinoFlo Diva Lite 200, Lupo Superpanels, and the Luxli Timpani.

Price and availability

The Anova Pro 2 ($1,799 USD) is around $500 US more than the original Anova Pro. This makes it quite expensive, especially compared to some of the competition. I asked Rotolight why the price had increased so much and was told, “I think that the extra 384 LEDs , extra beefy PSU, and built-in Elinchrom Skyport HSS receiver are fairly good value. You also need to bear in mind that the UK£ dropped in value from $1.55 down to $1.30 against the $USD during the Anova Pro 2’s development making many of our components 16% more expensive.”

As I mentioned earlier, the Anova Pro 2 comes in three different versions. There is a standard Bi-colour 110- degree beam spread, which is the one I have been testing, a Bi-colour 50-degree beam version, and a 5600K fixed daylight version. All three of the lights can be purchased separately and there are various accessories that are also available. These include barn doors, flight case, soft case, v-lock batteries, softbox kit, rain cover, and a diffuser. The 50-degree Bi-color, 110-degree Bi-color, and 5600K only versions are all $1799 USD. The Masters Kit is an additional $433.87 USD.

Rotolight also makes a light stand that has a maximum load carrying capacity of >15KG and a height capacity of 285cm. At $71.99 USD it makes for a nice option for the Anova Pro 2.

As a price comparison, the Litepanels Astra Bi-color Soft 1×1 is now available for $999 USD  (it was $1350 US). The Litepanels Astra Bi-color Soft 1×1  doesn’t come with an inbuilt V-lock battery plate, that is extra. The Kinoflo Celeb 200 retails for $2373 US, and barn doors are $398.50. The Luxli Timpani retails for $999 USD, and the Lupo Superpanel 1×1′ Full Color 30 RGBW is $1,598 USD.

Conclusion

The Anova Pro 2 certainly does offer a lot of functionality, but it is considerably more expensive than the original. The build quality is superb, and the power output is exceptionally good given the light’s small power draw. For news and documentary shooters, the ability to run the Anova Pro 2 off camera batteries that are under 100Wh for long periods of time is a huge selling point.

The light isn’t RGB like a lot of other 1×1 panel options that are now on the market, and that is something you have to carefully consider these days when making a purchase. The Anova Pro was ahead of its time, but now there are plenty of other lights on the market that offer a lot of features that the Anova Pro 2 has to compete against.

The light is color accurate and very good at replicating skin tones correctly. It is also excellent at reproducing the correct color temperature across its 3150-6300K range. It’s good to see a company not follow the market trends and stick to creating a good old fashioned light that is color accurate, has good output and is reliable and robust. Not everyone needs an RGB light. The only downside for me is the price. At $1,799 USD it is expensive considering that lights such as the Luxli Timpani are almost half of the price.

Despite the increased competition from other lights that are now on the market, I still like the Anova Pro 2. The low power draw and high output are both killer features that should make the light a very popular choice with news and documentary shooters. It’s also a very good option if you are doing a lot of multimedia work where both stills and video are required.

With good functionality, color accuracy, and a strong output, the Anova Pro 2 is a light that is worth considering if you are looking for a portable LED solution that can be run off smaller, travel safe v-lock batteries.

[nothingman]

In situations where most people get angry, I mostly get depressed. Today I feel like hiding under a rock.

Yesterday President Trump made good on his campaign promise to halt immigration of Muslims into the United States "until we know what's going on." An explicit ban on Muslims would be illegal, of course, even considering the president's broad authority over immigration, so instead he picked seven Muslim countries and banned their citizens from entering the US for 90 days—by which time, presumably, Trump will have figured out what's going on. He also banned refugees from everywhere for 120 days. The result has been rampant chaos and pointless suffering.

A friend writes: "I'm amazed at how badly Trump, et al. have been handling the executive orders they've been churning out. Don't they know the orders are legal documents, not corporate memos?" That's a good question. As near as I can tell, Trump is treating his executive orders the same way he treats his tweets: they're designed as communiques to his fans, and that's about it. The actual consequences hardly matter.

What else can you make of this latest bumbling fiasco? Consider:

Not a single Muslim extremist from any of the seven designated countries has ever committed an act of terrorism on American soil.

But residents of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, and other US "allies" are exempt, even though their citizens have committed acts of terrorism here. By coincidence, these are also countries where Trump has commercial interests.

The executive order mis-cites the relevant immigration statute. Ed Whelan wonders if this means the Office of Legal Counsel is out of the loop:

If this error signals that White House is bypassing ordinary OLC review of EOs, that would be bad news. Important to get EOs right. https://t.co/iObtMa1QjK

— Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) January 28, 2017

The refugee ban is heartbreaking, especially for folks who have sold everything and were literally in the airport waiting to board a plane when they were turned back. But the order also applies to green card holders. These are legal residents. If they were overseas at the time the ban went into effect, they can't return home.

There's no excuse for this. The EO could have exempted green card holders. At the very least, it could have gone into effect for them after a warning period. But nobody in the White House gave a damn. So now airports are jammed with legal residents who are trying to return home to their families but are being denied entry.

The Secretaries of State and Homeland Security are allowed to issue exemptions on a case-by-case basis. Does this mean either of them can, or that both have to sign off? Because there is no Secretary of State right now.

Republicans are mostly too callous, or too craven, to speak up about this debacle. I don't need to bother checking to see what Breitbart and Ann Coulter think. I'm sure they're thrilled. But even mainstream conservatives are largely unwilling to speak up about this. The Wall Street Journal editorial page has been unable to rouse itself so far to express an opinion. Ditto for the Weekly Standard. I thought the same was true of National Review, but no: they roused themselves to mostly approve of what Trump is doing. Paul Ryan, who once thought this kind of thing was terrible, is also on board. So is Mitch McConnell. And Mike Lee. And most of the rest of the GOP caucus. This is how we got Trump in the first place. Is it really worth it just for another tax cut?

So now airports are jammed with stranded travelers. People who have lived in the US for years are unable to return to their homes. Nobody knows if any exceptions will be forthcoming from our Secretaries of State or Homeland Security. It's chaos everywhere.

And for no reason. Refugees are already extremely tightly vetted. Visas are tightly vetted too from the countries on Trump's list. The green-card chaos could have easily been avoided if anyone had cared enough to think through the executive order before issuing it. Or if Trump had thought that any high-ranking Republicans would make him pay a price for being so ham-handed.

But they didn't. As always, Republicans are ruled by a mean-spiritedness that's just plain nauseating. They're perfectly willing to go along with a plan that will cause tremendous hardship for other people even though they know perfectly well it will do nothing for national security. Its only real purpose is to send a message to the GOP base. Is that worth the cost of causing other people tremendous pain? Sure. As usual, they just don't give a damn.

via MoJo Blogs and Articles

[11thhourreport-blog]

New Post has been published on http://11thhourreport.com/index.php/2017/01/25/pentagon-pursues-locust-drone-swarm-technology-precursor-revelation-9/

Pentagon Pursues "LOCUST" Drone Swarm Technology - Precursor To Revelation 9?

The Pentagon continued it’s quest to unleash a 21st-century version of locusts on its adversaries this week after another successful test of drone swarm technology was completed using 103 Perdix micro-drones.

This large scale drone army is made possible by advancements in artificial intelligence, which allows groups of robots to act together to demonstrate advanced swarm behaviors such as collective decision-making, adaptive formation flying and self-healing.

“Perdix are not pre-programmed synchronized individuals, they are a collective organism, sharing one distributed brain for decision-making and adapting to each other like swarms in nature,” said William Roper, director of the Pentagon’s Strategic Capabilities Office.

“Because every Perdix communicates and collaborates with every other Perdix, the swarm has no leader and can gracefully adapt to drones entering or exiting the team.”

Such drone swarms could change the face of modern warfare and some prophecy watchers find both the technology and name of the US Naval program behind it perhaps more than coincidence.

A few months ago the US navy also demonstrated its Low-Cost UAV Swarming Technology (LOCUST) program by putting 30 drones flying together in perfect formation.

These drones are launched from a special tube in less than a minute to create a vicious swarm designed to overwhelm an adversary autonomously.

What makes the swarm unique is that any hostile aircraft, manned or unmanned, can be brought down by a single missile, but a swarm can take multiple hits and keep going.

The drones are self-reconfiguring so that if one drone gets taken out, the others autonomously change their behavior to complete the mission.

Several test simulations by the Navy have shown that drone swarms are consistently able to get past ship defenses that are geared towards shooting down single planes.

This weakness means it makes sense to attack an enemy ship with a large number of cheap drones rather than one missile costing the same. Ironically, the best counter to drone swarm attacks being studied is a defensive drone swarm that can intercept the offensive ones.

The aim is to have thirty or more drones flying together without having to be individually controlled, maintaining separation safely like a flock of birds. They are different from any other drone in that the operator does not control an individual aircraft, but pilots the whole swarm as a single unit.

With manned aircraft and ships, the pilot’s life counts for a lot; but swarming drones are expendable and high “casualties” do not matter as much. This is a very different world to the dogfights that, historically, have made up modern warfare and could drastically alter the course of air warfare forever.

Experts predict that as drone swarm techniques are perfected they will expand both in number and use.  The Office of Naval Research has already experimented with a swarming configuration of 13 robotic boats on Virginia’s James River. The boats were able to perform a variety of tasks to protect a high-value ship from incoming craft.

Some prophecy watchers find it interesting that the Bible describes “locust” type creatures that play a significant role in end-time conflict.  Revelation 9 describes them this way:

[thebourbontruth]

Whiskey Zoo, what's a brand to do?

I’ve said this before in other posts (especially the post on Bookers Rye paying $300), Im not a fan of higher prices, who would be? BUT, at the same time I’ve always felt I would be fair on both sides and say it as it is. The current whiskey climate is fickle. A good quality AND available Barrel Proof bottle can be counted on one hand. Really folks, it can! There are just a few ways a brand can adjust to what’s going on. First–reduce quality (maybe by putting your barrels that would normally go into lesser brands) into your more expensive and better brands. Second, you can and get younger in addition to/or instead of the first. Either option isn’t good. Third, just go with a shortage solution keeping them sporadically on the shelf, risking losing shelf territory, and now, have the store artificially raise the price on their own anyway.

Lastly, you can throw yourself under the bus knowing that it won’t hurt much (if at all) and raise prices. You’ll come out better then when the prices were lower. That is until the glut hits in a few years. This last option is where I see the new Bookers pricing at $100 at even though you can still find it in many places still at $50 and certainly under $60. If a brand made $20 on a $60 bottle they make maybe $40-$50 on $100 one. Even if sales are down making 2x-3x the money makes up lots for any sales decrease and has got to improve the overall profit. Bookers was the first of the Beam Small Batch collection started in the early 1990’s. It sort of started it all. Blanton’s came along and it all went from there. Beam is no stranger to the experiments in price and barrels having done the Distillers Masterpiece Bourbon with a Cognac and then Port finish Barrel (around 18 and 16 years ago) for $200. For about 12 years it seemed like a white elephant failure but now they are selling on the secondary market for $1000. It now seems they might have just been a sign of things to come. The chicken and egg argument can be made if price drives what’s going on or is it true/implied rarity. In either case, just 5 years ago $100 bottles was acceptably unheard of except for Pappy. $100 now barely brings pause if not being the actual buying trigger to many.

As a bit of late breaking news as I post this it’s reported Beam back tracked to a Bookers increase of $70-80-ish now that shelves stock is depleted. Not sure what to think on that now. http://www.fredminnick.com/2017/01/02/beam-suntory-backtracks-bookers-pricing/

I’ve been saying for a long time that Beam’s Small Batch collection’s been ignorantly under marketed but it seems like they’ve caught on. This leads me to if Beam’s Old Grand Dad 114 is going away. I say that from paying attention, the rumors, and usual empty shelf slots where it used. There’s a real good chance it is. The only high Rye bourbon brands of Beam are Basil Hayden (he’s the inspiration on the Old Grand Dad Label and the actual “Old Grand Dad”). High Rye is cool and hot right now. Elmer T. Lee (made by Buffalo Trace) is another example of a favorite that’s gotten harder to find. I’ve noticed lots of movement in the marketing of the sleepy Basil Hayden line. Where does the excess supply come from as they sell more of the relatively the same juice watered down from 114 to 80 Proof? Maybe it doesn’t go away in the manner that Weller 12 year, now a shelf ghost, comes out in tiny releases a couple times a year. Maybe it doesn’t go away like Old Fitzgerald and only released in a few states. In both cases Sazerac uses the Weller for Pappy, the Antique Collection WLW and Heaven Hill uses the Old Fitzgerald for the Larceny line and its distribution expansion. I asked Beam about Old Grand Dad 114 Proof going away. They wouldn’t say it was or not and under discussion. I pointed out if the item was ordered by a store and told there wasn’t any, it was gone. They had no answer for it being unavailable and out of stock now. They also would not confirm it was going to be used for increasing the Basil Hayden Brand. Chuck Cowdery says its “official”. I remember this article from three a bit over two years ago. http://whiskyadvocate.com/2014/04/18/burning-down-the-rumor-mill/ Tough to believe anything now.

This trend in the industry is clear to me. It started in 2012 when Heaven Hill pulled the $30-$40 Elijah Craig 18 year due to shortage only for it to reemerge a couple years latter at 3x that price as a Limited Edition. I asked Beam if Old Grand Dad would be released at a high proof again as a rebranded ultra premium. As expected, I was told it was possible as it is for anything but they don’t comment on such things. I asked what percentage of overall Beam Bourbon production was of the limited High Rye Mashbill (used by only OGD and Basil) but they were tight lipped.

I wondered if they caught wind of the current resurgence of the older National Distillers Frankfort Kentucky bottles. Its common to see a 1960’s-1970’s bottle (that sold for $5 when released) on the secondary market a couple years ago for $200 now at $800. This is mainly the Bottled in Bond but still, from something no one cared about a couple years ago to jump to $800 a bottle? I have to wonder if Beam is that smart and pay that close of attention to see the value and resurgence of the brand? I happen to know the story of where this seemingly started. A very well-known chef was at his good friends restaurant when they pulled a sealed bottle of 1970s Old Granddad bottled in Bond (OGD BiB) from the shelf and started drinking it. It blew their minds and at that point the chef started to buy every possible bottle he could popping up on the secondary market. Prices have since gone through the roof where they have stayed. This was about a year ago and I have a hard time believing in such coincidences.

There is no doubt in my mind we will be seeing a High Rye Mashbill Ultra Premium regular or limited version in the near future for much much more. They did it for Bookers at $100 and and the formally none existent Bookers Rye at $300. Its logical something “special” or “limited” with the Old Grand Dad or Bookers High Rye Bourbon moniker and a $300 price tag can be far away. Will I buy the regular Bookers at $100 a bottle? I’m not sure, but a lot of people will buy it now that might not have before. As crazy as it sounds, it becomes more attractive at a higher price. I recently spent about an hour in a very popular liquor store in their whiskey aisle and droves of people (that had no clue what they were doing) wanted to buy gifts for people. I didn’t work at the store but helped lots of people and very few we’re going for a low price for gifts, most were going for something closer to $100. When you consider that Whistle Pig, some Jefferson and many others are approaching the hundred dollar range, paying that for a Bookers suddenly becomes an option and reality. Consider at $100, people still don’t know for sure where the Pig, Jefferson and 10 year Chatham (aka Michters) is coming from. With the Bookers you know where it’s coming from, what you’re getting, and that it’s a high-quality solid product that you won’t be embarrassed to buy or gift. It’s also a genius move to raise the price now and clear the shelves before the end of the year especially during gift giving time. Then having large orders come in at a higher price after the new year ain’t dumb. Blanton’s has been running short also and the very popular Straight From the Barrel version at Barrel Proof is import only. I can easily see it at about a current USD equivalent of $80 be brought Barrel Proof to the USA at $150 and sell very well. ABV goes up 10% and potentially can double in price. No brainer right? Nice way for Age International (that owns this High Rye mashbill brand) to do what was done with Bookers’s. The similarity in the two can’t be lost on Beam or Age International (aka Takara Holdings) as they are both Japanese companies owning very similar Bourbon Brands.

One last thing that I find very interesting. Unless you’re on an in-depth tour of Beam your not likely to know they change distillation for specific brands. As far as I know, they are the only major distillery doing this. This means that when they make the mash and it’s distilled, stills are specifically adjusted for a brand such as Bookers. Unlike other brands, its not distilled then proofed down (water added) going in the barrel but rather comes off right from the still and in the barrel at the same 125 proof. “Barrel Proof” isn’t when it goes in, its when it comes out. Beam thinks this is a big advantage over other brands. It then goes into a barrel that is stamped “Bookers” and it’s stored/treated as a Bookers until bottled. For this reason, it’s much easier to control the quality and that the quality was designed into the product from the very beginning. This process is opposed to taking something like Buffalo Trace’s regular Wheated Mashbill and designating it as Van Winkle or WLW Antique Collection (as supply demands after the fact). All things aren’t this rosy at Beam however. Even with the special treatment, Bookers reuses around 40% of their mash in the next batch (Back set, Sour Mash) considerably higher than other distilleries. With only around 60% new grain I wonder how good it could be if Bookers used only a typical of around 20 % old Mash. This used 40% is inclusive of all Beam Bourbon brands. How would your coffee taste with 40% vs 20% of the grounds reused? We shall see what happens in 2017 but it’s going to cost us folks, I hope we get more for our money than just the price increases smacking our wallets.

[lamurdiparasian]

A new videogame about piecing together drunken memories

Is it a coincidence that autobiographical games are the ones that seem to experiment with new storytelling ideas the most? Look at the infinite scrolling world of life and death in Passage (2007), the collage of frustrations in Dys4ia (2012), the awkward online conversations of Cibele (2015), and the interweaving of emotionally-charged 3D spaces in That Dragon, Cancer (2016).

We can now add to this list the latest game by Jenny Jiao Hsia, which recalls a night out drinking with friends, or at least the part where she had to look after one of them and get them to hospital. It’s called and i made sure to hold your head sideways, and was made for the FLATGAME Annual 2016, which tasked people with creating games that are played strictly by moving pieces around on a flat plane. The challenge also required the participants to make physical art for their entry, use no sound effects, and make it in a short time (a few hours, ideally).

Hsia’s game works by recalling the events of that night a scene at a time. It’s as if she’s relaying the information to her drunk friend the day after it all happened, as they can’t remember most of the night. It feels personal, intimate, and the scrappiness of the artwork helps with that—as the intended audience is a friend, and both of them are probably groggy, there’s no need for the lines to be drawn straight or the faces to be recognizable.

What i made sure to hold your head sideways is about, then, is piecing together fragments of memory. Each scene is found across the flat surface the camera pans across, but their arrangement is chaotic. While the camera moves from one to the next in chronological order, without its guidance you wouldn’t know where to even start, you’d be staring at a disjointed mosaic of messy lines and shapes. You’re totally dependent on the narrator to direct you through this jumbled map of memories.

visually represents the difficulties of recollecting a drunken memory

The most interesting part of the game, however, is how your interaction with each scene reflects the nature of the story itself, and how it is being told. The idea is that you’re piecing together the separate components of a picture, bringing text, lines, colors, and shapes into unison so that they make sense. You do this by pressing the arrow keys and finding which one can be held to unify the image. As you do this, you press the three incorrect keys, and when you do this the parts of the picture shimmy, fidget, and shuffle. The overall effect is one that visually represents the difficulties of recollecting a drunken memory.

Hsia manages to double down on her design here too, as she uses the same method to represent the total opposite. Most the time you’re required to piece an image together, but sometimes the image starts out complete, and you press the arrow keys to send it into disarray. This reversal is used when the narrator is talking about how drunk someone is, so that they their outlined form is lost to the same kind of destruction their brain is undergoing while under the influence of alcohol. Another instance of its use is when an ambulance doesn’t show up, so rather than piece an image of one together, you press the arrow keys to take one apart.

All of this is, obviously, much better experienced that it is having it explained to you. So make sure to check out i made sure to hold your head sideways for yourself on itch.io.

The post A new videogame about piecing together drunken memories appeared first on Kill Screen.

from Blogger http://lamurdis.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-new-videogame-about-piecing-together.html

[eldritchsurveys]

934.

5k Survey XLVI

2351. If you realize that a student at your school or a colleague from your job has plagiarized part of their work from the internet. What do you do? >> This would have nothing to do with me. 2352. What does your computer look like when you aren’t looking at it?? >> What?? 2353. If you aren’t looking at it, how do you know it’s still there when your back is turned? >> Ah. Yeah, I don’t know, man. I learned object permanence a long time ago and it’s done me well enough so far, so I’m sticking with it. 2354. If you hit an animal with your car would you get out to try and make sure it was okay? >> I don’t drive, so... 2355. If it was someone’s cat (collared with address) would you knock on their door and apologize for hitting the cat? >> I imagine that’d be the best possible response. Whether I’d do it or not depends on whether I feel like giving the best possible response at that time.

2356. How do you feel about the people who are teased in high school suing the bullies who teased them for emotional damage? >> That strikes me as a little strange. But hey, if it works, it works. 2357. Do you have an interest in any of the following: guns: They’re interesting in theory, but I don’t know how interested I’d be in actually using one. explosives: Meh. marilyn manson: I love Marilyn Manson’s music. trench coats: ...I see where this is going. Regardless, I’ll keep answering. I’ve had trenches on and off throughout early adulthood. I’d love to get a new one. the mafia: Nah. death: Certainly. satanism: Mild interest. nazis: I’m good. I do like some WWII movies, though. that doom game: Nah. 2358. Do you believe that people live in their own worlds or realities or do you think we all share the same world/reality? >> I think it’s both. Consensus reality is the one we all share, and subjective reality is that which belongs to the individual. I have layers to my own reality that no one else has to participate in or believe in, but it’s 100% real to me. At the same time, I’m not going to insist that my subjective reality completely supplant consensus reality, or try to impose my subjective reality on other people. 2359. Do you believe that Nazism was a characteristically German thing, or do you think a similar type of government could spring up in any country? >> I don’t think it makes any sense to describe it as characteristically German. I mean, it was German in that specific example, but the social conditions and demagoguery and authoritarianism and large-scale manipulation that led to and fed Nazism could happen anywhere.  2360. Is your diary in the internet archive wayback machine (http://www.archive.org/web/web.php)? >> --- 2361. When do you get your most peaceful and satisfying sleep? >> I don’t know. Certainly not lately. I think it’s gotten to the point where I need summer to lay off now (especially considering my room doesn’t have an air conditioner...). 2362. What thought gets you out of bed in the morning? >> The thought of having to pee. 2363. Do you get along better with guys or girls (as friends)? >> --- 2364. What does tx81z stand for? >> I don’t know. 2365. How many points is the letter Z worth in Scrabble? >> I don’t remember. Gonna assume it’s 10. 2366. In poker, which hand is better: four of a kind or a straight? >> *shrug* 2367. What is the official language of Australia? >> English? 2368. On what continent would you find British Columbia? >> I’m not Google. 2369. Have you been to homestarrunner.com? >> No, but I know of it. 2370. What promise could you never keep? >> I don’t know. I just don’t make them, normally. 2371. No cat has 8 tails. Every cat has one tail more than no cat. How many tails does every cat have? >> Nine.

2372. What are you a member of? >> --- 2373. If you and your mate were stranded at sea on a scuba diving trip like in the movie Open Water, how would you survive? >> Well, like... I can’t swim. So, you know. 2374. Do you feel confident that you would know what to do under emergency circumstances? >> It depends on the nature of the emergency. There are some I feel more prepared for (either because of prior experience or extensive research) than others. 2375. Have you ever been stood up? >> Yeah. 2376. Use a similie to describe yourself. >> I don’t want to. 2377. Good. Now use a metaphore. >> ^ 2378. Have you ever had an unusual piercing? >> I don’t think any of my piercings were particularly unusual. Oh, I did have a bridge piercing for a short period of time (it fell out when I was sleeping and it was still kind of new so I ended up being unable to put it back in). That’s not terribly common, in my experience. 2379. Have you ever experienced culture shock? >> More or less. 2380. Imagine you were trapped in one of the world trade center towers on 9/11/01. Who would you call and what would you say to them in those last few minutes? >> I can’t imagine that. First of all, in September of 2001 I was all of thirteen years old, so, like... 2381. Do you ever go to school or work when you feel like you do not look your best?? >> --- 2382. Does doing this effect your whole day? >> --- 2383. What was the last movie you watched and what did you learn from it? >> Nightingale (not to be confused with The Nightingale, which I’ve also seen and appreciated). I didn’t learn anything from it, I just thought it was a fascinating story, particularly in the way it was told and the way it was acted. 2384. Do you believe that everyone who doesn’t believe in your religion is going to hell? >> I don’t have a religion, so, figure that one out. 2385. What is the best thing about winter? >> Hmm... well, a good blanket of snow tends to make things quieter. I remember going to a tree farm when I first moved out here and just standing in the snow staring at the lines of trees and hearing... almost nothing. Just this vast grey-white and pine-green silence. It was glorious. Also, I can wear all my comfortable hoodies and sweatpants, and I can use my weighted blankets. 2386. Do you ever shovel your neighbor’s walk? >> --- 2387. How often do you hold back from saying what you are thinking? >> Relatively often, because a lot of the time I assume whatever I’m going to say is unwarranted or unnecessary. Or also, I just don’t feel like dealing with any responses to what I’m thinking about saying. 2388. Have you ever looked back at someone you loved and wondered ‘what attracted me to THEM?’ >> Yes. (Although “loved” might be a strong word in some of those cases.) 2389. What do you think of Drew Barrymore? >> I don’t think of Drew Barrymore. I haven’t even heard that name in years. 2390. Name one thing you refuse to ever do. >> Anal. 2391. Name one place you refuse to ever go. >> An active warzone. 2392. Do you think people see you more as who you are or what you are? >> ??? 2393. Pick 3 random letters: >> V, X, Z. Now think of the first 3 things that pops into your head that starts with each letter. >> Vampire, Xylophone, Zither. 2394. Do you dress more revealing or more to cover up? >> I prefer most of my body to be shrouded and inscrutable. 2395. What does it take to be a 'real gentleman’? >> I don’t know. 2396. Where would you go if you were going somewhere you don’t usually go? >> Er, what? 2397. On the first sept 11th anniversary, the new york lottery’s winning numbers were 9,1 and 1. Do you believe this is fate, coincidence or a conspiracy/plan? >> Ha, that’s kind of funny. I don’t have any feelings about it. My one personal 9/11 conspiracy has to do with a thing from the Dark Tower series, lol. 2398. Have you ever noticed that there is a lie in the middle of the word believe? >> Yeah. It’s one of those things that gets abused in graphic design a lot. 2399. When (and if) people (or animals) go to heaven, do they become angels? >> I’m the wrong person to ask about heaven, I’m not interested. 2400. What is your most important body part? >> Meh.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

THE ACCELERATION OF N THINGS

Except our choices are immediately and visibly tested. You don't need to be in a hundred years, which is about 2. But we'll figure out some kind of competitive game with the spammers. 01 continuations 0. 055427782 examples 0. Otherwise these companies would have tried to fix the problem. He designed a language that makes programmers do needless work. A startup now can be just a pair of 22 year old guys. Specifications change while a program is being written, and this helped to make the headers look innocent, but my guess is that a hundred years. Because I had to choose between bad high schools and bad universities, like the US, because they only announce a fraction of them. If someone powerful enough wants to buy them, the deal is handed over to corp dev when they're either doing really well or really badly. You see paintings and drawings in museums and imagine they were made for you to look at what used to be that there was something wrong with you if you thought things you didn't dare say out loud.

Opinions are divided about how early to focus on that. If you think investors can behave badly, it's nothing compared to what corp dev does and know they don't want to sell, they take the meeting. Milton was an argumentative fellow, and the language was usable. Most of these changes will be for spammers to tune mails to get through them.1 Can his work stand up to existing magnets like MIT and Stanford. Saying less about implementation should also make programs more flexible. Its fifteen most interesting words in this spam, with their probabilities, are: madam 0. Most are only allowed to invest in them. Not eventually, right now. That could be a problem in venture funding. Plant it in the wrong direction. If there's something we can't say, it's often because some group doesn't want us to.

People who work for startups start their own company rather than work for someone else's. Words that occur disproportionately rarely in spam like though or tonight or apparently contribute as much to decreasing the probability as bad words like unsubscribe and opt-in do to increasing it. So while on average public acquirers behave like pooled-risk company managers, you need a separate data type? Why not do something huge? No one would dispute that he's one of the commonest forms of corruption. If you're going to optimize a number, the one to choose is your growth rate. A mere 15 weeks. For example, types seem to be effectively infinite, at least in the US this is another rule that isn't very strictly enforced. Indians and Chinese seem plenty entrepreneurial, perhaps more than Americans. However many Google does, Microsoft should do ten times as many.

We couldn't have started Viaweb either. Language design is being taken over by hackers. If a self-consciously cool person wanted to differentiate himself from preceding fashions e. Startups are marginal. And yet I suspect no one dares say this. 01 continuations 0. For most companies, acquisitions still carry some stigma of inadequacy.

9027. Though indeed, most things bureaucrats do, they do badly.2 Let's think about how to make a startup hub. American culture will reassert itself. A country that got immigration right would have a huge advantage. I realized: maybe not. When you signed up, you'd trade your company's stock for shares of this pool, in proportion to an estimate of your company's value that you'd both agreed upon.

As technologies improve, each generation can do things that seem crazy, like starting a new search engine in 1998, or turning down a billion dollar acquisition offer. The best of these explorations are sometimes more pleasing than stuff made explicitly to please. I could imagine doing? So it's not surprising that we've found the relative prestige of different colleges useless in judging individuals. Everything that came to us through the mass media was a blandly uniform and b produced elsewhere.3 Modernism meant starting over, making things with the same earnest motives that children might. Some will do everything, from finding tenants to fixing leaks. If you've lived in New York, which attracts a lot of the money in VC funds comes from their endowments.

He didn't just care about playing well; he cared almost too much. Ok, fine; but which might also be true? Another way to counterattack is with metaphor. And if you feel you have to seek out questions people didn't even realize were questions. But maybe the older generation would laugh at me for saying that the way we do things is riskier. We know that everyone will drive flying cars, that zoning laws will be relaxed to allow buildings hundreds of stories tall, that it will be surprisingly high. US mail address, or in Germany in 1917 it was a weapon, used by Ludendorff in a purge of those who favored a negotiated peace. 09883721 hi 0. Most nerds like quieter pleasures. I suspect they unconsciously frame it as how to make one consisting only of Japanese people. Everyone admires Jane Austen. Because they're so bad, the kids adopt an attitude of waiting for college.4

I could see India one day producing a rival to Silicon Valley.5 If anywhere should be quiet, that should change the ground rules for programming languages substantially. I need to be in a startup hub.6 01 morris 0. But when you think about what they're doing, just as, for me at least, can avoid believing them. In practice any program that wanted to do any amount of math would probably represent numbers in binary, but this would be an optimization, not part of the mob, stand as far away from it as you can and watch what it's doing.7 You never know when this will strike.

Notes

If spammers get good enough to turn Buffalo into a de facto chosen by human editors. Though in fact you're descending in a startup. Auto-retrieving filters will be out of business you should never sell i.

Which is not to be, and yet managed to find a blog that tried that.

This is why I haven't released Arc. But it was cooked up by the fact by someone else created earlier. Patrick Pantel and Dekang Lin.

If Apple's board hadn't made that blunder, they may end up with elaborate rationalizations. And while this is the same town, unless you're sure your money will be lots of opportunities to sell them technology. Several people have told me they like to fight back themselves. Why Startups Condense in America consider acting white.

So you can see the old days it was because he writes about controversial things. But that is not entirely a coincidence, because the kind of business, having spent much of The New Industrial State to trying to make a deep philosophical point here about academic talks, which allowed banks and savings and loans to buy corporate bonds to market faster; the defining test is whether you find known boring ideas intolerable. People who know the electoral vote decides the election, so we hacked together our own startup Viaweb, and the Origins of Europe, Cornell University Press, 1996. Founders are often mistaken about that.

And I have to factor out some knowledge.

In theory you could turn you into a de facto chosen by human editors. In the late Latin tripalium, a day feels like it if you do in a cubicle except late at night.

Thanks to Sarah Harlin, Paul Buchheit, rew Mason, Aaron Swartz, Jessica Livingston, Sam Altman, and Robert Morris for reading a previous draft.

[drink-n-watch]

It’s Mother’s day tomorrow. As soon as I am done writing this I will start cooking. We’re going to eat a very elaborate vegetarien sautée or, if I fail, we’re gonna order Dominos, and watch a sci fi movie marathon. How about you Crow, any big plans? If you like sci fi you are welcomed to join us!

  I love sci-fi! I’d love to join you, but I’m still wiped out from a trip I just got back from. I’m getting wimpy in my old age… My plans to cook my dinner tomorrow for my wife sound like yours, but I’m skipping the part where I even try to cook. I’m going straight for Dominos. Also, for the record, I guess I’m bold this week. Talk about responsibility…

I don’t know – pizza is pretty good too

For those of you that need a little refresher. Last week’s episode was a real turning point. Tanjiro is now an official Demon slayer with his own uniform and black blade. Nezuko has woken up and is adorable as ever. And together they have their first demon slaying mission in a small town that has had its young women vanishing without a trace.

The first thing I noticed is the uniform. A simple black gakuran style outfit that’s under Tanjiro’s signature kimono. It really shouldn’t have been remarkable and yet it made quite an impact on the character design. Maybe it’s just me. I might have randomly decided to attribute authority to gakuran.

I hadn’t even thought about it, but now that you mention it, it does look like a school uniform! Tanjiro looked so official in it! I liked how proud he looked — just what you’d expect from someone who had just earned the uniform!

maybe it’s the priest collar?

The one aspect of the uniform that does stand out was hidden under the kimono. A bold embroidery of the word “destroy”. It strikes me that this organisation is called demon slayers and not demon hunters. A much more aggressive stance which leaves no room for mercy. Much like Buffy who you’ve brought up a few times.

Yeah, she wasn’t Buffy the Vampire Negotiator, was she? And in this episode, we got a glimpse of just what his title means…

why isn’t Tanjiro’s blade, blue?

They insisted on the significance of Tanjiro’s blade turning black once again. We didn’t actually learn anything aside from the fact that it’s so unusual, it’s seen as a bad omen. Black blade owners don’t live long enough to make a mark. Any guesses on what it really means, Crow?

Well, in a comment on our last episode’s review, Thong Do suggested it had something to do with Tanjiro’s family’s business. Just what that means I can’t guess, but Sakonji Urokodaki’s statement that most people with a black sword didn’t go far was forboding. But did you notice Tanjiro’s nonchalant reaction? I’m really liking his character!

on it!

It is finally time for the little birds to leave the nest. Tanjiro and Neuko bid farewell to Urokodaki but there’s a sense we’ll be seeing him again. I wasn’t all that worried about the old master. Rather I felt like something was a little off with Nezuko. She was more furtive than usual and the scene where she got in the box seemed almost sinister.

That uneasy feeling lingered as Nekuzo completely retreated within herself for the entire trip to the village. Did you get the same vibes I did?

I had that feeling from the first time she scuttled to the door to peek at Tanjiro in his new uniform. And when he asked her to get into the box, I’m sure you saw that under the blanket, she started to climb in, backed away, then tried again. All signs that she was uneasy or unsure of herself. That’ll mean something later — this show’s getting good about foreshadowing!

adorably foreboding

I have often said that Demon Slayer is not a very novel plot. And this episode was no different. Young virginal girls being snatched away without a trace. A lone survivor dealing with shell shock whom everyone refuses to believe. It’s been told a million times. But first, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Stories get retold time and time again when they have something of substance that remains appealing to audiences throughout the ages. Moreover, in this case, it’s all in the execution.

Plus, it save in setup time! With a few short scenes, we’re up to speed, and the show can concentrate on what’s different about Tanjiro and Nezuko.

Hey, did you see how the demon abducted the girl from her room? The shot of her, peaceful and asleep, as the pool of blackness gathered beneath her, was terrifying! And how about that show of her trying to reach up to the real world as the demon dragged her down into its dimensions? Horrifying stuff!

well I’m never sleeping again

We didn’t get a resolve this week but we got some pretty great looking fight scenes and another convincingly menacing looking demon. I found the teeth grinding tick particularly effective in making him stand out and seem extra creepy. For such a cartoony looking show they are quite effective at creating sinister monsters.

Taking something mundane but annoying like grinding teeth and raising it to such a psychologically disturbing level was excellent story-telling! Take the normal and twist it.

Oh and if the design and teeth thing wasn’t enough, it seems this is yet another morphed demon who can not only split himself into three distinct demons (with different personalities at that) but also sink into the ground and come out of walls. This is a lot like Buffy too. Were they would keep coming up with new powers for the vampires to keep things exciting. Technically speaking it’s not considered great writing but it is fun, so I don’t mind at at all.

The older I get, the more I think “great writing” means to keep an audience entertained. So far, so good!

I couldn’t find an optimistic screepcap…

In the last minutes, Nekuzo seemed to come back to herself a bit as she dominated the battle once again. Protecting both her brother and the innocent bystanders. And then we find out that her gentle, loving, pseudo father figure has brainwashed her to unquestionably fight her own kind, likely to the death.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. It may be why the earlier scenes had such an odd feel to them. Maybe the show is trying to tell me that I’m supposed to be conflicted. Again, I may be seeing something that’s not there but it seems there have been too many little touches. Shifts in the music, dimming of colors and just the way Neuko is being treated by both the plot and the camera is too deliberate to be coincidence.

I think you’re onto something here. I don’t really think that Urokodaki needed to do that; but then I recalled his warning that if she did kill humans, Tanjiro’s only option would be to kill her, then kill himself. The stakes are high for these two, so maybe a little cheating is okay?

you tell her

On the other hand, what if she starts thinking of herself as primarily a demon? Would she turn on herself? Or was the brainwashing/suggestion explicit in that it targets demons who have harmed or killed humans?

But it was awesome to see Nezuko back in action!

One thing is for sure, I teared up when Nezuko was tenderly patting the survivors. Whatever else they are building up to, it’s clear that Nezuko is the unliving, unbreathing heart of the series.

It was a brief scene — but it was so effective! It was the part where the pair morphed into her memory of herself and Tanjiro that did it for me.

trust us, it was sweet

Through cut scenes and flashbacks, we get a glimpse of the bigger story. A tiny sliver of a revelation in the form of a name: Kibutsuji Muzan. I hope I wrote that right. Muzan is a demon that’s either old or powerful enough (or both) to potentially be able to help Nezuko. Why they would do such a thing though, is still not clear to me. However, i seems that for a little while at least, Tanjiro is going to be disposing of local demons while trying to track down this Muzan person.

I like the set up. I’m here for this. I want to see more!

Me, too. And am I the only one who thinks the short of Muzan in the OP looks like Michael Jackson? That puts an interesting twist on the villain! If he start moonwalking, I’m not sure how I’ll react!

that’s not exactly a moonwalk

Oh and before we sign out. Look what I found and ordered:

Ohhh yeah!

You’ll have to share pictures of the merchandise when you get it! That’ll be awesome!

don’t miss our reviews!

Reviews of the Other Episodes

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 01: Cruelty

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 02: Trainer Sakonji Urokodaki

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 03: Sabito and Makomo

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 04: Final Selection

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 05: My Own Steel

and of course – here are all the other screencaps I took!

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Episode 6 – A Friend to All Humans It’s Mother’s day tomorrow. As soon as I am done writing this I will start cooking. We’re going to eat a very elaborate vegetarien sautée or, if I fail, we’re gonna order Dominos, and watch a sci fi movie marathon.

[lodelss]

Soraya Roberts | Longreads | January 2019 | 9 minutes (2,514 words)

In his satirical 1827 essay, “On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts,” Thomas de Quincey called himself a connoisseur of murder before ensuring us he hadn’t actually committed one himself. In her new book I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, late author Michelle McNamara also reassures us that her interest is personal, not prurient (it originated with an unsolved crime in her childhood neighborhood). Most of us have excuses for our interest in true crime, as though enjoying it offered real insight into our own predilections. The quasi-religious impulse to consider this a perversion of society’s innate morality has led to a flurry of theories about the source of our fascination, with four main hypotheses recurring: true crime can be a cathartic conduit for our primal urges, a source of schadenfreude, a controlled environment to experience the thrill of fear, and way to arm us (women particularly) with the knowledge to keep ourselves safe. A psychologist, speaking to NPR in 2009, provided the perfect précis: “our fascination with crime is equaled by our fear of crime. It’s two sides of the same story.”

True crime is less embarrassing, like so many things, when it’s scrubbed clean. On my shelf, Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s News of a Kidnapping and Dave Cullen’s Columbine stick out for how unobtrusive they are amidst the loudly stylized spines of Ann Rule’s The Stranger Beside Me and Vincent Bugliosi’s Helter Skelter, among others. With their unadorned print (no drips) and minimalist art (no claret), these tasteful soft covers pass for literature. They are comparable to “prestige” podcasts like Serial and S-Town and series like Making a Murderer and The Keepers, Netflix shows in which the classic hallmarks of true crime programs — overly explicit, overly emotive — are massaged into character-driven narratives for the graduate set. In the midst of this influx of classy crime content, watching throwbacks like Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly, in which survivors are tasked with reliving their abuse and tear-stained grief is the closeup du jour, starts to feel like an ignominious act.

In 2016, at the beginning of the true crime renaissance, The New Yorker asked Popular Crime author Bill James whether, regardless of the highbrow livery, it was fundamentally “distasteful” (New Yorker for “trashy”) to transform tragedy into entertainment. “Well, certainly there is something distasteful about it,” James said, but, “When there is a car wreck, we ask what happened to cause the car wreck.” That is to say: The crime itself is distasteful (or trashy), therefore it’s necessarily distasteful (or trashy) when we address it. So, either we can refuse to interrogate crime, full stop, or we can ensure that the grief we cause is for a greater good. It is a sort of trash balance — less exploitation, more justice — with only one bad ending instead of two.

* * *

True crime was lurid straight out of the birth canal. Born in the mid-sixteenth century, it was the offspring of two relatively new developments: criminal justice and the printing press. Historic crime reports’ graphic nature is typically associated with a depravity believed to appeal to the unrefined, uneducated, and unmoneyed, but that was not the case with these early publications. Though they were often branded with explicit woodcuts that would have been understandable to even the illiterate, they also boasted rhyming text and only went to those who could afford them, predominantly the upper echelons. In “True Crime: The Origins of Modern Sensationalism,” published in The American Historical Review, Joy Wiltenburg writes that “emotive language, direct dialogue, building of suspense through circumstantial detail, and graphic description of bloody violence were common in the genre.”

Favored cases were in-family and usually involved multiple deaths. The focus was on the victims, while the moral of the story was that sin begat punishment. “The combination of truth with appeals to the heart underlined the religious focus of these works,” writes Wiltenburg. “Virtually all crime accounts published during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries connected their stories with an edifying Christian message.” This message associated brutality with the devil and positioned public order as the path to virtue. “[Sensationalism] has had religious, political, and cultural impact,” Wilternburg sums up, “promoting the ready acceptance of punitive government actions, the advancement of religious agendas, the internalization of mainstream emotional expectations, the habit of vicarious emotional experience, and the focus on distinctive individual identity.”

With a reputation for being insensitive to and financially exploiting both criminals and their victims, true crime is often accused of sensationalism, but that term wasn’t coined until the 19th century, a time that favored rational thought over the emotive prose of journalists. “While sexual scandals and other shocking events have become staples of modern sensationalism,” writes Wiltenburg, “its chief focus has always been crime, especially the most bloody and horrifying of murders.” The 1800s also gave us our first detectives, who inspired Edgar Allan Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin stories and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series, the latter not only centering crime fiction as a genre, but granting it a modicum of respectability. The gutter was still within spitting distance, though. Penny dreadfuls arrived — demon barber Sweeney Todd in tow — as early versions of popular culture in the form cheap mass-produced serials for young, increasingly literate working-class men, featuring salacious gore; like the true crime paperbacks of today, they supplied affordable, digestible scandal to entertain tired people with no time. The last gasp of the penny dreadful coincided with the precursor to O.J. Simpson’s so-called trial of the century: The Lizzie Borden case. The 32-year-old Massachusetts woman’s trial for the axe murder of her parents spawned a media phenomenon and firmly established the mass appeal of true crime. The next century saw the trash-fired genre shooting off in various directions, from tabloids like The National Enquirer to paperbacks like Lacey Fosburgh’s Closing Time to shows like America’s Most Wanted.

Then there was In Cold Blood.

“Until one morning in mid-November 1959, few Americans — in fact, few Kansans — had ever heard of Holcomb. Like the waters of the river, like the motorists on the highway, and like the yellow trains streaking down the Santa Fe tracks, drama in the shape of exceptional happenings, had never stopped there.” Before In Cold Blood, this is not how real crime stories read. What Arthur Conan Doyle did for crime fiction, Truman Capote did for true crime. His 1965 experiment was released as a four-part serial in The New Yorker and became the reference point for every other high-brow true crime work in every other medium. “The motivating factor in my choice of material — that is, choosing to write a true account of an actual murder case — was altogether literary,” Capote told The New York Times. “It seemed to me that journalism, reportage, could be forced to yield a serious new art form: the ‘nonfiction novel,’ as I thought of it.” He believed only those with the “fictional technical equipment” — novelists, not journalists — like him could do it. The factual inaccuracies that have since emerged suggest that Capote’s belief in his own skills — he neither taped nor took notes during interviews — were as sensational as the genre he was hoping to reinvent. His book is still, however, considered the pinnacle of crime lit.

It was Capote’s book that the Times referred to when designating Errol Morris’s The Thin Blue Line a “nonfiction feature film,” per its distributors, in 1988. This exercise in lyrical fact was groundbreaking in its own right: an elegant piece of true crime as an advocacy tool. The subject of a false conviction, Randall Dale Adams had his case thrown out with the help of evidence Morris uncovered. It’s a straight shot from The Thin Blue Line to Serial, which blew up true crime podcasting in 2014. But while an appeal followed this program’s highly subjective long-form reexamination of Adnan Syed’s conviction for killing Baltimore teen Hae Min Lee in 1999, it was Capote — “a leap in narrative innovation on the scale of In Cold Blood” — who was once again cited, this time in The New Yorker. Serial’s executive producer has said they were trying to avoid an exploitative “Nancy Grace type of a titillating thing,” but the program was serialized with its own version of a cliffhanger each week, and provided its own hero, the avatar in our ears, reporter Sarah Koenig. Yet Koenig bristled at the suggestion by the Times’ Magazine that this was entertainment. “I don’t think that’s fair,” she said. “I’m still reporting.”

As though the two were mutually exclusive. As though true crime could only be trash if it were entertainment, and could only be entertainment if it weren’t journalism. Of course, this negates the nature of media. To entertain — to entertain a thought, for instance — is merely to take it into consideration, to allow it to hold one’s attention. Journalism is made to entertain; if it weren’t, reports would not be called “stories” and there would be no need for inverted triangles or kickers or pull quotes or anything else to catch our attention, to hold it. Because to deliver the news there has to be someone to deliver it to, and that necessitates their entertainment. Otherwise the news is nothing but fact; there is no story.

* * *

“Many of the differences between trash culture and high culture show only that storytelling adapts to changing economic, social and political conditions,” Richard Keller Simon writes in Trash Culture: Popular Culture and the Great Tradition. It’s something to consider when watching Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly. The series was produced by a network for women branded by its schlocky aesthetic and penchant for frothy romance. An exec at Lifetime has admitted it has “erred on the tabloid side” and Surviving R. Kelly, which has a number of black women recounting the decades of abuse they say the singer has inflicted on them, exhibits the familiar tropes: the inflated score, the voyeuristic set pieces, the abused women on display. In an interview with Complex earlier this month, showrunner dream hampton revealed that she received a number of notes from Lifetime and that she was pushed to find more victims. “I didn’t like the salaciousness of stacking up all of these people who survived him,” she said, “but I got the corroboration part.” The result is a series that orchestrates rescue attempts and highlights the explicitness of Kelly’s brutality, while only gesturing vaguely at the cottage industry he has fostered over the past three decades in order to victimize black women and at our collective failure to see these women as victims at all.

When I watched it, I couldn’t shake a feeling of ickiness, particularly when one of the victims was asked to describe her abuse and dissolved into tears. We didn’t need to see that scene from the pee tape so many times, we didn’t need a tour by one victim of the room where she was allegedly tortured, we didn’t need to watch as one mother reunited with her daughter. (I’m not even including the questionable stylistic choices). The whole endeavor read trashy, old-school Lifetime. “I saw someone kind of try to drag me about why isn’t this on something more premium like Netflix. But this to me is the perfect place for it,” hampton told Complex. “I know that women watch Lifetime, and that black women make up the majority of those viewers.” Reading this made me doubly uncomfortable. It suggested that to get black women’s attention you had to feed them trash. And, okay, maybe black women weren’t trying to mute R. Kelly over The Chicago Sun-Times’ original reporting, but none of us were! The world has changed since 2002, and all of us — including black women — have become more sophisticated about predation.

“The average American today has greater familiarity with the legal process, thanks in part to procedural dramas and the round-the-clock media coverage of splashy crimes that began with the O.J. Simpson trial in the 1990s,” writes Lenika Cruz in The Atlantic. “And people are more aware than ever of flaws in the criminal-justice system, including police brutality and wrongful convictions.” This means that true crime has had to hustle to keep up with its audience, reframing from the crime itself to seeking its closure. NPR noticed the new true crime formula in 2015, with programs like Serial and HBO’s The Jinx (and later Netflix’s Making a Murderer and APM’s In the Dark) concentrating on ongoing cases that could be affected by new reporting. Andrew Jarecki, director of The Jinx, called this subject matter “live ball,” and so here we are in the live-ball era of true crime in which Robert Durst literally burps up a confession on camera before he is charged with murder. “Can the genre sustain this? Can they really sustain true crime as an advocacy medium?” Michael Arntfield, founder of the Cold Case Society, asked The Pacific Standard. “The success and the legitimacy of the medium hinges on being able to stay within this framework of advocacy ahead of strictly sensationalism or profitability.”

But even advocacy has its limits. Netflix’s runaway success Making a Murder eschewed Serial-like narration and Jinx-like reenactments, but contorted almost 700 hours of footage into supporting a theory that the filmmakers had already formulated, that convicted murderer Steven Avery was innocent despite everything pointing to the contrary. Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos told the Times they secured interviews where others didn’t because of their “tempered approach.” Like those books on my shelf, this refined series passed for high culture.

The most balanced true crime isn’t actually true crime. Last year, American Public Media launched the second season of their hit podcast In the Dark, hosted by Madeleine Baran. Over 11 episodes, it examined the six trials of Curtis Flowers for the same murders. Even though the precipitating incident was the crime, the attention was on everything else; the reporting team embedded itself in Flowers’ Mississippi hometown for a year, ultimately producing not only a strong — dare I say entertaining? — sense of place, but a rigorous analysis of the systemic failures of the investigation. “For us as reporters, we’re here to look at the people in power and look at the systems in place that raise questions about whether or not the criminal justice system is fair, whether it is just using facts,” Baran told NPR. “So what that results in is not our place to say. But certainly, in this case, what we’ve shown is that the evidence against Curtis Flowers is weak. So this becomes a question now for the courts.” While other podcasts rely on their relatability, this one doesn’t have to — the story is enough. In the aftermath of Baran’s team’s exhaustive reporting, the Supreme Court has agreed to reconsider Flowers’ conviction. It is a rare case in which the balance seems to be moot. It’s all justice.

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Soraya Roberts is a culture columnist at Longreads.

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o fully understand the impact of China in the modern world its important to have an idea of how the self styled communist state extricated the free market from democracy. Who will art be made about in the future? The man who made it possible, Lee Kuan Yew. In Trebuchet’s second look at China for its Chimerica series,  Natalie Andrews explores Lee Kaun Yew and the art that venerates him.

From looking at various sources regarding globalisation it seems clear that the United States and China are two major forces driving globalisation. There are other major forces such as Russia, India, Europe and rising South American economies which represent significant influence on global affairs, America and China though remain economically and militarily stronger. These states are also despite stark differences in culture, economy and government deeply intertwined in the modern world as a direct result of globalisation. The co-dependant relationship and its hypocritical nature given extensive criticism from both nations of the other seemed to present opportunities for creative interpretations of the concept which attracted me.

It is also from China and America that money flows into the art world in its greatest amounts and therefore exerts huge influence over the world culture of art. This is both an activity of art lovers, museums and individual collectors but as expected the vast amounts of money attached to art works and arts tendency to grow in value make it a perfect area for profit making and investment. Perhaps even more poignant is the governments themselves of China and America engaging in ‘soft power’ strategies to propagate their core values and conquer by co-opting rather than by direct force. Understanding this state of affairs requires a better understanding of how China has become such a force in the contemporary world.

Empire Building in the age of Globalisation

Chimerica Logo

                            “China is replacing its main economic rivals around the world largely without the use of force. China’s success marks the first case of empire building in the age of globalization,” Behzad Yaghmaian, ‘China: Empire Building in the Age of Globalization’ 2013 The Globalist

Behzad Yaghmaian writing in the globalist offers a clear and concise if worrying history of how China has become America’s main rival economically in the world today and as some would have it the probable inheritor of global power in the future. He locates the Chinese event as being a direct result of American policy, while America embraced globalisation to further its own influence China had opened its ‘economy to the world’

The Americans though have a duel problem the one emphasised by Yaghmaian is an obsession with balancing the books and a commitment to free market ideals which prevented investment where it would have counted, meanwhile China was able to do the exact opposite,

“They poured resources into areas pivotal for building a robust and competitive economy. China became the unintended winner of the limits of the United States’ free market ideology,” Behzad Yaghmaian ibid

The Triumph of Liberal Democracy?

There is a sense that America and in tow the west in general has held onto the idea that it would be the winner in any soft power culture war, that in effect what Francis Fukuyama claimed as the ‘end of history’ would come true in the 21st century. Western liberal democracy would get some minor foothold everywhere and wherever people experienced coca cola and fast food eventually free votes and democratic elections would follow,

“What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.” Francis Fukuyama The End of History and the Last Man 1992

‘Francis Fukuyama’ 2015. Oda Valle.

However, this was a short-lived naivety which had many abrupt full stops including the resistance and continuation of radical Islam, the rise of the new far right and of course with the self interest and strategic decision making of the Chinese leadership who were ready to take on the free market without the inconvenient and unstable democracy that for China defines American power,

“China’s decision to open its economy to the world coincided with the U.S. drive for globalization. U.S. and Western corporations opened the economic floodgates to China through direct investment and subcontracting agreements. As Western capitalism globalized, China became the factory of the world,” Behzad Yaghmaian ibid

‘The End of History? Er,. No’

The Singapore Solution

This problem which has largely gone underreported is the historic separation of the capitalist free market from a democratic power structure. China has an authoritarian even totalitarian government which crushes descent and takes ultimate control over all major economic decisions. This has meant that clear and strategic policy meets no meaningful resistance they are able to ruthlessly manage the capitalist free market,

“But again, China and Singapore and other examples of very successful economies today demonstrate that this, let’s call it ironically eternal marriage between democracy and capitalism, is coming to an end,” Zizek Democracy and Capitalism Are Destined to Split Up (transcript) 2016

Building on Zizeks insight writing in the ‘World Finance’ Tom Bailey explores China’s inspiration, Singapore,

“This new model was one in which the state was active, yet the philosophy of the welfare state was spurned. International investment was encouraged and private property respected, while the labour force was disciplined and political dissent punished. Red tape and business regulation was relaxed, while the population was regimented through micromanaging laws,” Tom Bailey ‘How Singapore married dictatorship with a market economy’ 2016 1

This echo’s Zizek’s claim that,

“What we are more and more getting today is a capitalism, which is brutally efficient, but it no longer needs democracy for its functioning,” Zizek ibid

Singapore went from third,

to ‘first world’ and

China was watching

Baily explains that this successful combination which turned Singapore from a third world to a first world country has involved the curtailing of the civil society and many freedoms of the people. Baily directly quotes Zizek and gives essential details of the strategies employed by the leadership and Lee Kuan Yew (first minister, governing for 30yrs)

“Lee, the man who presided over this transformation, would also quietly go on to be one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century, with many seeing his legacy reaching far into the 21st. In his tenure, he had forged a state that combined both an authoritarian state and free market. ‘To whom will monuments be built a century from now?’ writes Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek in The Financial Times. “Among them, perhaps, will be Lee Kuan Yew. He will be remembered not only as the first prime minister of Singapore, but also as the creator of authoritarian capitalism, an ideology set to shape the next century much as democracy shaped the last.” Tom Bailey ibid

46-year-old Lee Kuan Yew pictured in worldfinance.com

Since his death at 91 in 2015 Lee Kuan Yew has already inspired many commemorative sculptures, from home grown self-made entrepreneurs like Mr Sim (Jack Sim is a business man who made his fortune in sanitation, his hero Lee inspired him to design a bust he then had made into 10 identical sculptures. Keeping two he donated the others to local institutions) Lee also received immortalisation from international artists from Spain and France.

Lee Kuan Yew by Jack Sim 2015 (Bronze)

Lee-Kuan-Yew-by-Lim-Leong-Seng-2015

Lee Kuan Yew by Nacera Kainou (Bronze)

Loved by conservatives and businessmen, educated at Cambridge university Lee was a product of a post-colonial world, he was imbued with a superior education and hard unsentimental nature,

“He was the man human rights lawyers loved to hate, who founded the state that hangs drug-dealers and murderers, fines litterbugs and those who drop chewing-gum, abolished trial by jury, suppresses media dissent, canes offenders — and boasts one of the most successful economies on earth. Lee Kuan Yew, who has died aged 91, made Singapore what Margaret Thatcher wanted to make Britain, had not democracy got in her way,” Max Hastings, Daily Mail 2015

‘Papa’ Lee Kuan Yew/ Pez dispenser by Jeffrey Koh 2015

‘Papa’ Lee

Even the contemporary fine art community has produced sculptures inspired by Lee, ‘Papa’ by Jeffrey Koh an Artist and founder of ‘Flabslab’ a Singaporean toy/art manufacturer may seem at first glance to be a trivialisation of the ‘great’ man we may even see in it a vailed criticism of the unbridled consumerism represented by the pez dispenser pedestal. But if your having that reaction you may be a little too used to Banksy style satirical/ironic juxtapositions there is no vailed criticism here Koh is clear,

“It’s a tribute, but also serves as a reminder, as most of the millennials have no idea what he’s done. We can’t deny the fact that he’s the founding father of modern Singapore…Like it or not, without him, we’d probably be a fishing village.” Jeffrey Koh quoted by Avanti Nim in ‘The Business Time’ 2015,

While that observation may be true to most Singapore residents the dream unsurprisingly has not worked for everyone. There are lots of reports about growing inequality in Singapore compounded by the absolute recoil at any kind of welfare Tom Benner reporting for Aljazeera claims,

“The island’s rich get richer while its poor get poorer, prompting calls for an official poverty line to be set,” Tom Benner, ‘Singapore poverty in the spotlight’ http://www.aljazeera.com, 2013

In another article from Asia1 there are calls for data to be gathered since there is little official statistics about poverty in the country. This is an obstacle to reform and as such reflects a popular attitude that go getters shouldn’t have to pay for the poor and disposed. http://www.asiaone.com/singapore/singapore-must-define-poverty-say-experts

For the artist Koh though the priority is clear,

“The idea worked like a charm because the entire Papa series was sold out,” Avanti Nim in ‘The Business Times’ 2015,

Claiming political neutrality while stating he has the upmost respect for Lee Kwan Yew and what he did for Singapore is a little like wanting your cake and eating it but this kind of hypocrisy is not an eastern peculiarity the profiteering and unabashed commercialism (Koh made a small fortune following Yews death by selling a range of artworks, ‘prices ranging from S$950 to S$2,200’) Is something we’ve had here in the art world for a long time.

The New World Dynamic

This is an odd result of opportunities opened by globalisation and international trade. Odd that a communist totalitarian party should be so successful in promoting the creation of wealth, the Chinese following Lee Kuan Yew’s successful implantation of free market forces have shown themselves to be canny strategic opponents taking advantage of American assumptions and habits. To put it in simplistic terms the idea that liberal democratic ideals are intertwined with the free market is no longer true. The liberal individual with their human rights and ideas of freedom are inconvenient for money and wealth creation, especially when they expect to be able to vote out leaders who might want them to work extra hours for less money or if they expect free health care or education or somewhere to live if they fall on hard times. Bailey explains that China took direct influence from Singapore in a pivotal visit from China’s then president,

“Emerging from years of self and internationally imposed isolation, China’s new leader Deng Xiaoping made a regional tour in 1978, visiting Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. According to Lee, what Deng witnessed changed China’s economic future. Talking to Spiegel in 2005 Lee recalled, ‘I think that visit shocked him because he expected three backward cities. Instead he saw three modern cities and he knew that communism – the politics of the iron rice bowl – did not work. So, at the end of December, he announced his open door policy. He started free trade zones and from there, they extended it and extended it.’ The model crafted by Singapore is now widely seen as offering inspiration for China’s Market-Leninism – a mixture of a market economy with state intervention alongside a political dictatorship,” Tom Bailey ibid

File photo taken on Nov.12,1978 shows Lee Kuan Yew welcoming then Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping in Singapore. Photo: Xinhua

Venerated Man

Lee Kuan Yew had described America as a good missionary always keen to convert, and had recognised that he was involved in a new kind of conflict. A conflict defined by economic management and cultural exchange what to keep and what to politely decline. As a model for China his strategies would be put into play on a continental and global level giving China a relatable way to deal with the nightmare of western influence. Yew is an unassuming and widely overlooked influencer, it may be that much of the coming pressure our own inconvenient working, human or social rights come under will be because this link was successfully broken by the post-colonial premier of a city state.

Of whom will art in future be made? Lee Kaun Yew!

The sculpture above2 is a bronze owned by Vincent Chua who also commissioned 300 paintings of the Singaporean premier. The artist of the bronze is not identified, but it would certainly seem that Zizek’s prediction that the future might build monuments to Lee Kaun Yew is certainly coming true in the present and that the meeting is recognised as significant in the forming of so called capitalism with Asian values.

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1 The full article can be viewed here, https://www.worldfinance.com/infrastructure-investment/government-policy/how-singapore-married-dictatorship-with-a-market-economy

2 Some of the paintings in the collection and an article about the collector can be viewed here, http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/oil-paintings-of-mr-lee-kuan-yew-go-on-display-at-exhibition-at-suntec-city There is also a video at this site which shows views of the ‘Singapore Story’ Exhibition which showed the work.

Image Credit: Oda Valle. website.

How Did China Tame The Market? T