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reporterbumble561 · 3 years ago

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Jdate Reddit

Back in the day, Farrah Abraham was a nice Christian high school girl from Council Bluffs, Iowa. Like any 16 year old, she had hopes and aspirations – her plan was to go into modeling after graduation. All those dreams came crashing down when she found herself pregnant. And it got even better when the baby’s father Derek Underwood died in a tragic car crash two months before she gave birth. So much drama right? Just perfect for the voyeuristic shlockmeisters at MTV Networks who found a perfect cast member for their new “Reality” show – 16 and Pregnant – which followed the stories of pregnant teenage girls in high school dealing with the hardships of teenage pregnancy. Duh. That appearance provided Farrah with her next gig, another MTV waste of life titled Teen Mom – which followed the lives of Farrah and three other girls from the first season of 16 and Pregnant as they navigated their first years of motherhood.

After spending so much time in the spotlight – Teen Mom regularly pulled upward of 3-5 million viewers an episode – Farrah’s life and career took a standard trajectory – She tried to pitch her own spin-off reality series to follow her journey after culinary school as an aspiring chef, but the show never really made it to production. Farrah also launched her own brand of pasta sauce called Mom & Me Premium Italian Hot Pepper Sauce, wrote a book My Teenage Dream Ended and released several music singles. etc. But I guess it still wasn’t enough. Still missing from her life was that special someone, a partner who could keep up with the successful single parent media machine that was Farrah. So what’s a girl to do? Go on JDate of course, where one can find successful single men of the mosaic persuasion known to take good care of their women. Her JDate profile read:

On JDate, however, the lowest monthly cost you can get is $29.99 ( if you subscribe for six full months with a single payment of $179.94). There is also an in-between, three-month subscription plan that comes at $44.99/month and is billed in a single payment of $134.97. Users can pay over mobile phones, PayPal, and of course, a credit card. Click/tap Yes to confirm. To unblock a member: Click/tap on your small Profile Photo at the top of the page, or the horizontal menu lines ( ☰) if using the app. Select Account Settings, and then Block List. Click/tap on the Display Name for the desired member. Click/tap Yes to confirm. If you’ve received inappropriate. Founded in 1997, Jdate is part of Spark Networks. According to the developers, it was the first dating site for single and unmarried Jews. Using it, people create families and seek serious relationships. This app has been the undisputed leader in the number of. JDate is available for smartphones thanks to a downloadable app that effectively scales down the interface for touchscreen, while also preserving all important features. Signing up with JDate is entirely cost-free, but in order to send messages a monthly, quarterly or semi-annual subscription to gold membership is a must.

I’m looking for a man to be my partner in crime, who is successful like me, and has style. If you can give a woman everything she deserves and you want the same in exchange, message me. You won’t regret it. I’m looking for a man that is top of the line; I guess I’m picky. I want a man who is happy, supportive, works hard, is successful, can stay in but can also go out, is active, outgoing, easygoing, likes children and dogs, can be serious, but knows when to have fun and is a romantic.

This was reported in September of 2011. By early December of that year, Farrah had snagged herself a handsome and well to do Jewish man 14 years her senior – 34 year old Marcel Kaminstein, a jewelry entrepreneur. Things were looking good, initial reports were rosy and Kaminstein was getting along well with Farrah’s daughter. So now we know the secret to success on JDate! Be an ambitious 20 year old hot single Mom willing to date an older man! Lack of Jewishness not a problem, fatties needn’t apply.

Sadly by New years, 2012 the relationship had gone south and Kaminstein and Abraham had called it quits – amicably. Now what!? There were a couple of options on the table – but none had the potential for fame that she enjoyed during Teen Mom. Until Farrah met another Jewish man, one James Deen, an adult video entertainer who had starred in over 1,300 porn flicks. Did she meet the HEEB 100 member on JDate? We don’t know. Did they really date or was he merely a hired gun for Farrah’s next publicity stunt? Well, that relationship did not last long either amid allegations that Deen mistreated Farrah and had a small wiener. Yes that relationship ended acrimoniously but not before Deen and Farrah filmed a sex tape. Farrah claimed she shot the professionally produced tape as a keepsake – like a wedding video – for her own use: “I wanted my own personal video made and photos taken for myself, when I am older I will have my best year to look back on. I’m happy to see my 21st year be done. I’ve learned a lot.”

Then Farrah claimed that the tape had been leaked and that she had no choice but to start shopping it around. She finally made a deal with adult film juggernaut Vivid Videos. The movie, “Farrah Superstar: Backdoor Teen Mom,” will be released in mid May and Farrah got nearly $1 million for the rights. Just to be clear, the “backdoor” reference does not refer to an actual door. And also the whole lost sex tape thing was a ruse. Deen’s mistreatment was merely him spilling the beans on the whole “story” because he claimed he cannot lie. The plan was always to release the sex tape as a play for further fame and fortune à la Kim Kardashian. Shocker. The sex tape can now be viewed all over the internet, just like the Kardashian tape.

And what have we learned from all of this boys and girls? If you can’t find ultimate happiness on JDate, like so many others before you, uhm, you can always release a sex tape. Also everything about this post is total and complete trash. I’m sorry. But that’s just life in the big city. Best of luck to Farrah and her daughter. As for James Deen, he is costarring with Lindsay Lohan in the upcoming film “The Canyons” directed by Paul Schrader and written by Brett Easton-Ellis.

AuthorRecent Postswendy in fursI live and blog anonymously from New York. If my boss knew this was me, I'd be fired in a nano-second. Ha ha! Screw you boss man!Latest posts by wendy in furs (see all)

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FAQ

What is Jdate?

Jdate is the app that was created for Jewish people to meet each other for friendship, casual dating, and serious relationships.

Can I use Jdate for free?

There are only browsing members that are available for you as a free user. To get to all other features, you would need to upgrade your membership to the VIP.

Can I send messages as a free user?

No, you can send messages only if you are a VIP member of the platform. Yet if a VIP member would like to send you a message, you would be able to read it and respond to that.

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Advanced search filters are available for the paid users and will connect you by your current location and profile details that you can filter manually.

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This is the pre-authorization of your card, a usual way to check if you filled the active bank card and not the fake one. It will be returned to you back within 24 hours.

What’s JLife?

Reddit Jewish

JLife is an online magazine where you can learn more about Jewish dating and learn the main tips. Also, you can read and get inspired by success stories from couples that have met and got married after meeting through the Jdate.

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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Dark Alliance Reminds Us We Need a Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Remaster

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The verdict on the recently released Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance is still being decided as fans and critics finally get their hands on the highly-anticipated Action-RPG, but you’re not alone if the mere thought of the game has you dreaming of a Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers remaster.

Released in October 2002 (a couple of months ahead of the film it shares a name with), Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers was a hack and slash action game eventually available for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube as well as Game Boy Advance and even cell phones. The story goes that publisher EA and developer Stormfront Studios were supposed to make a similar game based on Fellowship of the Ring, but in 2001, all parties involved realized that the game wouldn’t be finished in time for the movie’s global release. As such, the work that had gone into that title was carried over to an adaptation of The Two Towers.

We have to stop there for a second. See, it’s pretty hard to separate the Two Towers game from the Lord of the Rings films, and not just for the positive reasons you probably think of when you remember that game. While 2002 wasn’t quite the darkest time for video game adaptations of TV shows and movies, many gamers had been burned by half-hearted adaptations too many times before to be inherently excited about the idea of “living the movie” that we were still being sold on. There were some circles in which the mere mention of a Lord of the Rings game based on the beloved movie drew hesitant sighs and concerned groans.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

However, you also have to understand just how big The Lord of the Rings was at that time. Prior to Fellowship‘s premiere, the odds were good that you either grew up with the books and thought there was no way that the movies could do them justice, or you had never read the books but were feeling cynical about the idea of another franchise blockbuster after The Phantom Menance. In either case, what many of us saw when we first saw Fellowship of the Ring could only be described as magical.

The Two Towers obviously benefited from its association with a property that had ignited the imagination and spirits of film fans across the world, but one of the most fascinating things about the game wasn’t just that it would feature levels, characters, and footage from 2001’s Fellowship of the Ring but 2002’s The Two Towers as well. That meant Two Towers players would actually get to see and play parts of The Two Towers movie two months before it was released in theaters for a global audience.

It was kind of a gimmick, but it was a great one. Much like Enter the Matrix, The Two Towers initially sold itself on the promise of not just letting us dive into a world we loved but actually showing us parts of that world we hadn’t seen before. For a generation in awe that was still processing the grandeur and impact of Fellowship of the Ring, this was more than we could have ever dared ask for. It would have been enough if the games treated the source material with respect (which they did) but to offer us a preview of the movie we stayed up at night thinking of? It was an idea so far beyond what so many of us wanted: an excuse to be in that world for just a little longer and maybe even have our own adventure while we were there.

Yet, when I think back on the Two Towers or hope for a re-release, I rarely dwell on the ways that the game innovated. Honestly, I more often find myself thinking back on the ways that the game was so wonderfully simple and even familiar.

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Honestly, there’s not a lot that separates Two Towers from Double Dragon, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade games, and so many beat ’em ups of the golden era of that genre. In all cases, the premise is rather simple. You walk across linear, but often beautiful, levels and mash a few buttons to wail on the various enemies in your path. You may have to throw in a special attack here and there (and Two Towers utilized a basic character upgrade and experience system for good measure), but the formula is pretty much the same as it ever was.

Compared to something like 2001’s Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, Two Towers was almost comically simple. In fact, I can remember some at the time referring to the game as a watered-down version of those more Diablo-like experiences. Honestly, it wasn’t an entirely unfair criticism if you were determined to stack those games side-by-side based on a few similarities. Games like Dark Alliance offered dozens (or more) hours of rich action-RPG gameplay in lush fantasy settings, and Two Towers could be beaten in a handful of hours with relatively little skill or effort.

Furthermore, it always felt a bit strange to boil The Lord of the Rings down to action sequences. The movies absolutely took the action scenes from the books to a new level, but the games made little to no effort to recreate or expand the more subtle storytelling and character-building elements that really made the books and movies everything they were. Just about any modern critique of The Two Towers game written by someone who has no nostalgia for the game would likely (and perhaps rightfully) focus on the game’s simple combat, abbreviated storytelling, and all-around basic nature.

Years later, though, that’s actually the aspect of the game that I feel has aged best throughout the years. I could rant about how Two Towers‘ short, sweet, and complete design is a breath of fresh air compared to the onslaught of open-world games that seem to secretly want to be live service titles, but the beauty of The Two Towers isn’t the idea it’s somehow this bastion of noble game design. It’s more about how it so perfectly represents the idea that a good beat ’em up never really grows old. From the original genre innovators to modern throwbacks and even those titles that tried to do a bit more with the genre (such as Rockstar’s brilliant The Warriors), these games offer a kind of simple pleasure that sadly seems to be harder to justify at a time of escalation in game production.

Mostly, though, fond memories of The Two Towers are rightfully often rooted in the thrill of experiencing a loving tribute to the early Lord of the Rings movies with friends. It’s been said that it’s easier to make a game where the joy of playing with others allows you to overlook game design elements that would otherwise bug you, and maybe there’s some truth to that. Even negative reviews of Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance published so far tend to mention that the game can still be a good time when played with others. It’s just more fun to play with friends, and you could certainly argue that there have been game developers who rely on that quality to sell games that would otherwise be unappealing.

The thing that’s easy to love about Two Towers is how openly it embraces that philosophy. The game isn’t trying to be much more than it is by forcing in systems and mechanics that ultimately bloat what the game actually does so well. Just about any gamer of any skill level with a friend by their side, an extra controller, and a love for The Lord of the Rings movies can hop into Two Towers and experience exactly what that game was meant to provide: a simply fun time designed to make you celebrate this thing you love and not feel exploited.

That’s what makes the fact that we’ll probably never get a remaster or remake of the Two Towers (or its exceptional follow-up, Return of the King) due to the complicated nature of the licenses involved so upsetting. WB mostly controls the rights to Lord of the Rings games now, and even if they were willing to allow EA to remaster or remake these games, it’s not entirely clear how that process would work or how much of the original games’ film footage and “DVD” extras could be retained. It’s always tragic when licensing gets in the way of our ability to enjoy a gaming experience, and it’s especially sad when licensing impacts our ability to enjoy a game that not only celebrated its license but gave many of us reason to believe in licensed games again.

Yet, I refuse to give up hope. As we near the 20th anniversary of Fellowship of the Ring later this year and the 20th anniversary of The Two Towers‘ game next year, now feels like the perfect time to revive these classic hacks and slash beat ’em ups. Without them, a new generation of Lord of the Rings fans must rely on dwindling backward compatibility support and emulations just so the idea of a simply enjoyable Lord of the Rings game easily shared with friends doesn’t go from history to legend and legend to myth as much that once was in gaming becomes lost.

The post Dark Alliance Reminds Us We Need a Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Remaster appeared first on Den of Geek.

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thechasefiles · 6 years ago

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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 3/17/2019

Good MORNING #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Sunday 17th March 2019. Remember you can read full articles for FREE via Barbados Today (BT) or Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS) OR by purchasing by purchasing a Sunday Sun Nation Newspaper (SS).

OFF THE MARKET –The Barbados National Terminal Company Limited (BNTCL) is off the selling block. Not only has Government taken the petroleum company’s proposed $100 million sale off the table, but it has also returned a deposit of US$10 million to regional oil giant Simpson Oil Limited (SOL). “The agreement with SOL has been terminated,” Minister of Energy Wilfred Abrahams confirmed to THE NATION in an exclusive interview. “The time for conclusion of the agreement had expired, and SOL requested their deposit back. The deposit has been returned to SOL, and that’s the end of that,” the minister said. But Abrahams was unable to say what would be the next move regarding the company. (SS)

SMITH SEEKING JOB EXTENSION – The ailing Roslyn Smith is seeking to hold on to her post as general secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) until year-end. Though warded at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital since last December, Smith made the request through a letter dated March 15, written by acting general secretary Delcia Burke. However, in response to Smith’s request for an extension to her contract, president Akanni McDowall said a decision on the matter should be deferred to the union’s incoming executive committee and national council which should take office in the next two weeks. In the letter to the union’s president and copied to its council members, Smith requested through Burke that a special council meeting be convened on Sunday at 1 p.m., for her to address the national council on the issue, and if that can’t happen, that the council considers her request. (SS)

SOLUTIONS FOR TRANSFORMATION IN FOCUS FOR CDB’S 49TH ANNUAL MEETING – Solutions and strategies to drive economic and social transformation in the Caribbean will feature prominently when the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) holds the 49th Annual Meeting of its Board of Governors in Trinidad and Tobago on June 5 and 6, 2019. The Meeting programme will include key events and research highlighting transformation in the traditional and emerging sectors and examining the role which technology and digitalisation can play in advancing the Region’s development agenda. This will be the fifth time that CDB’s Annual Meeting will be held in Trinidad and Tobago, which is one of the founding members of the Bank. Previous meetings were held there in 1977, 1989, 2004 and 2011. CDB President, Dr Wm. Warren Smith, explained why transformation is a priority for the Region as a whole as well as for the Bank as it approaches its 50th anniversary year. “Our borrowing member countries are operating in an increasingly complex global environment. The challenges are new, different and becoming increasingly complex relative to what obtained when the Bank was founded in 1970. As a Region and as an institution we need to, not just keep up but actually use innovation as a vehicle to leap ahead in this changing world. That is what we are anticipating in Trinidad and Tobago – a rich exchange of ideas, approaches and innovation that places the Region’s development at the forefront. We extend our thanks to the Government and people of Trinidad and Tobago for hosting this important meeting,” said Dr Smith. Around 400 delegates, including Government Ministers and officials, development partners, private sector representatives, members of civil society, academia, and media are expected to attend the Meeting. The event will showcase the scope and impact of the Bank’s investments in its 19 borrowing member countries (BMCs). Participants will also engage in strategic discussions aimed at ensuring that every BMC can benefit fully from the transformation process and that CDB remains agile and relevant in a transformed Caribbean. A major highlight of the Bank’s Annual Meeting is the William G. Demas Memorial Lecture, held in memory of the eminent Trinidadian economic scholar and Caribbean leader who served as the second President of CDB from 1974 to 1988. Now in its 20th year, the lecture features a distinguished speaker presenting on a trending economic and social development topic of importance to the Caribbean. Another significant event is VYBZING, where the Bank engages directly with young people on regional development issues and which is held ahead of the Meeting. For the first time, the event will have youth representatives from all 19 of CDB’s BMCs. During the course of the Meeting, there will be various interactive seminars, at which thought leaders and expert panellists will share new research findings and data on key topics. This year’s line-up will focus on agriculture, digitalisation for development and vulnerability and resilience. The Bank will also convene its annual Governors’ Roundtable. This year the Roundtable will provide the platform for discussion of the strategic direction of CDB as part of the process for formulating the new Strategic Plan 2020-2024. (SS)

FALL OF DEATH – A subcontractor’s first day on the job at Portvale Sugar Factory ended tragically on Saturday afternoon when he fell 70 feet to his death. Paul Clifford, who worked with Tarico Building Inc., was hired by Innotech Services Ltd, to fix the roof on the main building at the Blowers, St James factory. The job Clifford and his team was contracted to do, was expected to be completed over the weekend. Clifford, a British national, appeared to have stepped on one of the panels on the roof and fell through. Acting Inspector Rodney Inniss said police were treating it as a freak accident. “A number of workers were in here when the incident happened, so right now, we are questioning a number of people trying to get a sense of what happened today [yesterday],” Inniss said. General manager at the Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC) Leslie Parris described the circumstances as tragic, sad and one that left the staff in shock. (SS)

MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER AFTER NEW ZEALAND MOSQUE SHOOTINGS – The main suspect in mass shootings at two New Zealand mosques was charged with one count of murder a day after an attack that killed 49 people and wounded dozens, prompting the prime minister to vow reform of the country’s gun laws. Brenton Harrison Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian citizen, appeared in a Christchurch District Court on Saturday and was remanded without a plea until his next scheduled appearance in the South Island city’s High Court on April 5. Handcuffed and wearing a white prison suit, Tarrant did not speak. His court-appointed lawyer made no application for bail or name suppression. He was likely to face further charges, police said. The attack, which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern labeled as terrorism, was the worst ever peacetime mass killing in New Zealand and the country raised its security threat level to the highest. Tarrant has been identified as a suspected white supremacist, based on his social media activity. Footage of the attack on one of the mosques was broadcast live on Facebook, and a “manifesto” denouncing immigrants as “invaders” was also posted online via links to related social media accounts. The video footage showed a man driving to the mosque, entering it and shooting randomly at people inside. Worshippers, possibly dead or wounded, lay on the floor, the video showed. Reuters was unable to confirm the footage’s authenticity and police urged people not to view or share it. Police said the alleged shooter was arrested in a car, which was carrying improvised explosive devices, 36 minutes after they were first called. It was still unclear whether any other shooters were involved in the attacks. Two other people were in custody and police said they were working to understand their involvement. Armed police were deployed at several locations in all cities, unusual in a country that has had low levels of gun violence. Ardern said the main suspect was a licensed gun owner who used five weapons during his rampage, including two semi-automatic weapons and two shotguns. Authorities were working to find out how he had obtained the weapons and a license, and how he was able to enter the country to carry out the attack, she said. “I can tell you one thing right now, our gun laws will change,” Ardern told reporters, saying a ban on semi-automatic weapons would be considered. None of those arrested had a criminal history or was on any watchlist in New Zealand or Australia. (SS)

A DECLARATION OF FOLLY – Barbados Cricket Association president Conde Riley has condemned a move by Leeward Islands Hurricanes to concede defeat with a bizarre second innings declaration in their final round West Indies Championship regional four-day match. A miscalculation of points denied the Hurricanes a second-place finish in the tournament after a failed attempt to prevent Barbados Pride from attaining further points in the match that ended prematurely in the afternoon session at the Vivian Richards Stadium on Friday. Cricket West Indies cricket operations manager Roland Holder told THE NATION on Saturday they had requested reports from all the parties and he was not prepared to make any further comment until those submissions were received. When contacted, however, Riley said he could not understand the thinking behind the Hurricanes’ decision. (SS)

CLEAN-UP AT ALL SAINTS – Several workers from Master’s Touch Environmental Services were busy at All Saints Primary School in St Peter yesterday undertaking an extensive cleaning and sanitising of the school. Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw announced on Thursday that the school would be closed to facilitate the cleaning following rat infestation. “We were made aware of the issues at the school [All Saints] on Monday. I suspect, due to the harvesting of the sugar cane, what has happened is the rats have taken over the institution and have done some breeding within the roofs of some parts of the premises. The Ministry of Health would have intervened and would have baited,” she said on Thursday. The cleaning is being done with the assistance of the ministries of Health and the Environment. When a NATION team visited the school yesterday, workers dressed in gloves, dust masks and white cleaning suits were busy sanitising desks, chairs, closets, windows and doors and discarding old material. Teachers were also on hand assisting where necessary. All Saints joined the list of primary schools that have been closed in recent times, including Milton Lynch, St James, Blackman and Gollop and Cuthbert Moore due to environmental issues. (SS)

DRAMATIC BEGINNINGS – Storybooks, comics, and popular children’s movies came to life at the Maria Holder Nursery School as they celebrated Character Day under the theme Developing Literacy Through Creative Teaching Techniques on the school’s Oldbury, St Philip compound on Friday. Students delighted their peers, teachers and parents as they showcased their costumes which ranged from Princess Elsa to Bob The Builder. Two of the most unique costumes were of a jockey which was worn by Jadarri Francis and an owl which was worn by Mahkia Carter. Principal of the school Sharon Knight said the event was organised to encourage children to read. “Reading is important. No matter where we go, we have to be readers. We just wanted the opportunity to develop a love for reading [in the students] from an early age. When children can dramatise a story and get into the story, it motivates them to read more. That is why we have the story Character Day,” she said. Knight told the media that Character Day was planned by the school since the beginning of the school term. “We have a school library which encourages them to read, and we also got the parents involved in reading at an early age. Some people do not believe that children at this young age can develop a love for reading but this is the foundation and we have to make sure we have a good foundation. [So] that when they get older they can recognise the importance of reading,” she said. The principal of the Oldbury learning institution told the media that the activities carried out for Literacy Week would be reinforced in the classrooms throughout the remainder of the term as they strive to help the students develop. “We want our children to be the best, and to be the best, they must read,” she said. (BT)

NEW-LOOK CROP OVER COMING – Many changes are coming to Crop Over 2019. Chief executive officer at the National Cultural Foundation, Carol Roberts-Reifer, made the official announcement yesterday at Ilaro Court during a sponsors’ reception. Among them is the new Soca Monarch competition, which will be held at the National Botanical Gardens, Waterford, St Michael. This replaces the Soca Royale. There will no longer be a semi-final component for the Pic-O-De-Crop competition, but rather the 16 calypsonians and a reserve will meet MrBlood in the finals. In addition, a revamped version of the Cavalcade concept called Bajarama will be held at different locations. (SS)

For daily or breaking news reports follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook. That’s all for today folks. There are 293 days left in the year. Shalom! #thechasefilesdailynewscap #thechasefiles# dailynewscapsbythechasefiles

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thisisheffner · 5 years ago

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There Will Never Be Another Music Video Like D’Angelo’s “Untitled (How Does It Feel)”

Source: Artist

Ahead of the 20th anniversary of D’Angelo’s Voodoo, a look at how the video for “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” made — then almost broke — the legendary singer.

In the five years between his debut album, Brown Sugar, and Voodoo, D’Angelo’s personal and musical career had changed. The artist suffered from writer’s block after spending two years touring for Brown Sugar; only after his son Michael was born (with then-girlfriend Angie Stone) in 1998 did he feel inspired to write music again. During this time, he had also been inducted into the Soulquarians, an Avengers-like superteam of rap and soul luminaries whose members — Bilal, Common, Erykah Badu, J Dilla, Q-Tip, Questlove, and others — favored unconventionality and artistic integrity. That the singer found a kindred spirit in The Roots’ Questlove — who was integral to the recording process of Voodoo — isn’t surprising. They shared a desire to celebrate and study the greats — Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, George Clinton, Marvin Gaye, Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder and, of course, Prince. These artists served as the foundation for Voodoo.

“…the biggest influence on the record was someone who never came to the studio: Prince,” Questlove said in a 2000 Rolling Stone interview. “Way after Voodoo was finished, D and I sat down and listened to it, and we both admitted that this was our audition tape for Prince.”

Source: Virgin Records

If there’s any song indicative of the late Purple One’s influence on Voodoo, it’s “Untitled (How Does It Feel).” Reminiscent of the ballads the Minneapolis musician made during the ’80s and early ’90s — particularly “Do Me, Baby,” “Scandalous,” and “Insatiable” — there have been countless forums made debating if “Untitled” is plagiarism or an homage to Prince. (The latter is more apt, with Questlove even declaring the track “our homage to the Controversy-era Prince” in a Voodoo album review.) The most notable nod to Prince in “Untitled” is D’Angelo’s falsetto: an androgynous croon that shifts in multiple tones throughout the song’s seven minutes. At times, it’s mumbled and quiet, his pleas practically indecipherable. Others, it’s confident and triumphant, the lightness of his voice propelled by cathartic screams meant to make you feel the satisfaction his lover gives him.

READ: D’Angelo’s Masterpiece Voodoo Laid Out the Blueprint for a New Masculinity

Anchoring D’Angelo’s vocals is the instrumentation: Raphael Saadiq on bass and guitar; the late Chalmers Edward “Spanky” Alford on guitar; and D’Angelo on additional instruments. It’s improvisational yet structured, loose yet precise — a sensual and erotic ballad swung hard by a cool backbeat, rimshots echoing into a void of blues, funk, and soul driven by soft guitar strums and bouncy bass. There’s a vintage grit to it too courtesy of audio engineer Russell Elevado, whose use of vintage analog equipment and mixing gear made “Untitled” (and the rest of Voodoo) feel and sound just like the classics D’Angelo sought to emulate.

“Untitled” was the third of five singles released for Voodoo, succeeding more hip-hop-oriented songs “Devil’s Pie,” produced by DJ Premier, and “Left & Right,” featuring Method Man and Redman. Of the two, only “Left & Right” received a music video, which offered a glimpse at what was to come with the music video for “Untitled.” “Left & Right” followed a conventional ’90s-era video treatment. The club is the setting, with a flurry of hazy scenes showing people dancing before Redman offers his guest verse. D’Angelo doesn’t even appear until 30 seconds into the video — the scene briefly showing the singer shirtless with a chiseled and muscular build that’s partially covered by a low-slung guitar. It’s these scenes that separated “Left & Right” from music videos from Brown Sugar. Whether the title track or “Lady,” D’Angelo was always fully clothed, his voice the representation of his sex appeal. “Left & Right” offered a subtle change to form, both D’Angelo’s body and voice now representing that.

Then, came the music video for “Untitled.”

For most of the four-and-a-half minute-long video — which was directed by Paul Hunter and Dominique Trenier — D’Angelo’s upper body is the focus. The camera expands from his black braids, brown eyes, and his plump, licked lips, to show a glistening and chiseled chest and V-cut abs, the screen cut off right at the point of his waist to where a viewer can’t help but wonder if he’s nude or not. There’s nowhere to avert your eyes as the one-shot video offers a voyeuristic exploration of D’Angelo’s body. It’s intimate, provocative, sensual, vulnerable — a hypnotizing performance that offers no relief until its over, beautifully capturing the pleasures of sex without being explicitly overt. The video is subversive, a display of black masculinity that’s affectionate but confident, and delicate but strong. A middle ground between Tupac’s infamous bathtub photos and the first 30 seconds of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” music video.

READ: “He Tends to Hide” Dissecting Devil’s Pie: D’Angelo’ & Celebrity Distance

“Untitled” was distinct from other hip-hop, R&B, and pop videos because of this. Unlike the hedonism and hypermasculinity found in hip-hop and R&B videos or the teenage-like fantasies found in pop videos, “Untitled” felt real and offered a display of blackness uncommon in music videos at the time. Even watching it now, it’s incredible to think such a video appeared alongside Christina Aguilera’s “What A Girl Wants,” Britney Spears’ “From the Bottom of My Broken Heart,” and the Backstreet Boys’ “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely.”

The music video for “Untitled” also greatly impacted the commercial success of Voodoo.

“Probably one of the most controversial new videos in rotation, it has given his project the burst of energy it so desperately needed,” Datu Faison wrote about the video in an issue of Billboard.

The track peaked at number 25 and number two on Billboard‘s Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks charts, respectively. And Voodoo debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 320,000 copies in its first week. Through the “Untitled” music video, D’Angelo gained mainstream attention that he didn’t have previously. But he also became a sex symbol in the process which, although initially harmless, grew to become a problem when he embarked on a tour in support of Voodoo in March 2000.

Prior to that tour, a New York Times piece was published that highlighted how divisive the “Untitled” video was, with Douglas Century writing: “Most women watch and swoon; many men turn away and scowl.”

“It’s about time that girls had something luscious to look at while they’re listening to a song,” Danyel Smith, the former editor in chief of Vibe, said in the same article. “For years, men have been treated to breasts and butts along with their favorite songs, and women have had to just sit there and endure.”

Photo Credit: Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

By the time D’Angelo started the Voodoo tour, the idea of him as a sex symbol had eclipsed him as an artist. Journalists who attended the musician’s tour-opening Los Angeles shows at the House of Blues offered firsthand accounts of seeing women “grab his legs, his stomach, his crotch,” and screaming at him to take off a tight black tank top he wore during the concerts.

“It feels good, actually, when I do it,” D’Angelo said at the time to Rolling Stone. ‘But I don’t want it to turn into a thing where that’s what it’s all about. I don’t want it to turn things away from the music and what we doin’ up there.”

‘Sometimes, you know, I feel uncomfortable,” he added. “To be onstage and tryin’ to do your music and people goin’, ‘Take it off! Take it off! ‘Cause I’m not no stripper. I’m up there doin’ somethin’ I strongly believe in.”

But the music became secondary to womens’ “Untitled” fantasy. The concert served as a continuation to the video, and it ultimately took its toll on D’Angelo as he simultaneously tried to be — and fight against — a projection of himself he couldn’t control.

“We couldn’t get through one song before women would start to scream for him to take something off,” the late Roy Hargrove said in an interview with Spin in 2008. “It wasn’t about the music. All they wanted him to do was take off his clothes.”

About three weeks’ worth of shows were canceled toward the tour’s end in late 2000. Upon returning home, there were plans to release a live album and a new D’Angelo album, projects that could’ve led to him becoming a superstar. But it never happened. Instead, D’Angelo destroyed the image of himself that contributed significantly to his fame to the point of being unrecognizable, and wouldn’t make his return to music until 2014 — fourteen years after Voodoo — with Black Messiah.

In Devil’s Pie, the 2019 documentary that details his disappearance from the public eye following the Voodoo tour, it’s evident how the video’s impact still lingers with him. How, despite making a critically-acclaimed comeback and resuming performances throughout the world, there’s still the anxiety and insecurity of wondering if D’Angelo the artist will ever truly eclipse D’Angelo the sex icon.

The “Untitled” music video marked a tragic end and a new, tumultuous beginning for D’Angelo. It became the mission statement for an artist perceived to be the next great coming in R&B, only to incite the lowest point of his artistic career and personal life. It’s a moment that’s now a little more bittersweet to enjoy: an undeniable classic that conveyed so much with so little, and became one of the greatest music videos of all time. But at the expense of an artist who almost didn’t recover from it.

The post There Will Never Be Another Music Video Like D’Angelo’s “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” appeared first on Okayplayer.

This content was originally published here.

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Why Pokémon Has Endured For 25 Years

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In 1996, Joseph Tobin was a professor of early education at the University of Hawaii when he decided to walk into a hobby store in Kaimuki for field research.

“They had some Pokémon stuff—the Japanese versions of the cartridges,” Tobin recalls. “People could buy them in this store before they were even available elsewhere. We interviewed the owner and decided that Pokémon would be a really interesting thing to study.”

Tobin had a pre-existing interest in Japanese culture from time spent in Japan as an exchange student and therefore continued his research in other hobby shops and toy stores throughout Honolulu. As the years progressed, he traded Pokémon cards with children who were adamant that he would not get ripped off in lopsided swaps. He followed as a colleague’s six-year-old son spent 90-plus hours with his Pokémon Blue cartridge for the Nintendo Game Boy, learning to read, understanding maps, and calculating sums in the process.

The years of Poké studies culminated in Tobin hosting an academic conference in 2000, where educators, anthropologists, and other cultural experts gathered in Honolulu to discuss this massive, yet certainly fleeting, Pokémon phenomenon. The findings and arguments of the conference were collected in the insightful and thoroughly-researched, yet tragically named, Pikachu’s Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokémon.

“We thought we better hurry and get this out before the craze is over,” Tobin says.

25 years later and the Pokémon craze is nowhere near over.

Today, Pokémon is one of the most successful, if not the most successful entertainment entities in human history. Pokémon is the highest-grossing media franchise of all time, having taken in an estimated $88 billion in revenue. According to eBay, there were 160 million searches on the platform for Pokémon cards last year, and they outsold even baseball cards. In December of last year, a Base set 1st edition PSA-graded 10 “shadowless” Charizard card sold on eBay for a staggering $350,100. The Pokémon games are now in their eighth generation and have sold over 340 million units. The long-running anime is in its 24th year and features more than 1,100 episodes.

In defense of Tobin and The Rise and Fall of Pokémon’s title, the franchise, created by Game Freak and Nintendo, did seem like it was on the ropes in the early 2000s. “Pokémania” had largely died out and financial markers like the Pokémon card market had cooled. But Pokémon didn’t need a lengthy Pokémania to become one of the most successful entertainment franchises ever. To find success, all Pokémon needed was a consistent track record of innovative creators behind the scenes and a dedicated fan base of children—and eventually adults—willing to catch them all.

“This will probably be something you hear from me and the rest of the team at Pokémon a lot. But Pokémon really is for everyone,” says Daniel Benkwitt, Senior Manager, Communications & Public Relations for The Pokémon Company International. “As long time fans will tell you, Pokémon has always been around throughout many iterations. The fans have been dedicated to Pokémon for 25 years, no matter when they came in.”

Benkwitt has a unique perspective on the nature of Pokémon’s ebbs and flows. Now working on the franchise’s 25th-anniversary celebrations, Benkwitt joined the Pokémon Company during Pokémon’s 20th anniversary—the same year that the massively popular augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go debuted.

“I was excited to work on an exciting franchise, but who knew what it was actually going to be once Pokémon Go had launched?” he says. “Truly, Pokémon Go on the 20th anniversary brought Pokémon back into the zeitgeist.”

In many ways, Pokémon Go served as a reminder of what the Poké die-hards already knew: this is Pikachu’s world and we’re just living in it. Whether it be through the series of beloved games, a highly successful card game, long-running anime, or sheer power of brand alone, Pokémon is one of the last quarter century’s big pop culture winners.

The reasons why Pokémon survived its early fad status to blossom into a titan of entertainment are varied and innumerable, but it all starts with accessibility.

“There’s a variety of different ways and different touchpoints that fans can enter into Pokémon. My personal story is the anime,” Benkwitt says. “For a lot of folks, it was the video games, because that truly is the core of the franchise. Everything emanates out from there.”

Let the Poké Games Begin!

Pokémon Red and Green first premiered in Japan on Feb. 27, 1996. Its English counterparts, Red and Blue, would arrive in North America in 1998. Just about everything that’s appealing about the Pokémon franchise is apparent in those first two installments: exploration, training, trading, battling. The games capture creator Satoshi Tajiri’s experience of collecting insects as a boy in Japan, scaled up and fine-tuned for a larger, and eventually more Western audience.

The games have evolved over the years, moving from a Matrix-green original Game Boy sprite display to the gorgeous, full-color three dimensions of Nintendo Switch. Along the way, new generations of fans have found their respective access points into the games and the franchise at large.

Pokémon content creator Ron Sroor is part of the next wave of Pokémon fandom, having been born after Red and Blue even debuted. He knows as well as anyone that the appeal of Pokémon has been constant, even if the heights of the franchise have waxed and waned.

“To the people who were around at the beginning of Pokémania, it seemed like it was dying down, and it definitely was,” Sroor says. “But it never stopped being big. It was going from the biggest thing ever to just a normal, big thing.”

Like Benkwitt, Sroor came to Pokémon through the anime before coming to appreciate the larger tapestry of the franchise through the Pokémon Black and White games, which are set in a world approximating his native New York City. Now Sroor interacts with Pokémon fans via a variety of creative YouTube videos in which he discusses elements of the games like tier lists for powerful Pokémon, and shares his own artistic Pokémon renditions.

“I think the Pokémon are the draw of the franchise. They’re the perfect formula for creating creatures that aren’t too monstrous, but also not too childish or too cute,” he says. “Every single Pokémon is based on something, whether it be an animal or myth, and every location in the game or in the show or whatever is based on places in the real world.”

Cardboard Craze

Though the Pokémon series of games were the progenitor of the franchise, Pikachu and friends quickly proved too big to be contained by only one medium. The Pokémon Trading Card Game was first published by Wizards of the Coast in October 1996, just eight months after Red and Blue’s debut. These days, the Pokémon Trading Card Game (now under the auspices of The Pokémon Company) is considered one of the “Big Three” TCGs, alongside Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh!.

Competitive Pokémon TCG player Andrew Mahone recalls experiencing the first wave of Pokemania when he was in fourth grade.

“1999—it was everywhere. Kids were playing the cards at recess, at the pool, wherever we went. I got captivated by the initial craze as it was the cultural phenomenon happening at the time. And being 10 years old, you’re the same age as the hero in the Pokémon franchise. So it really hit home with me there.”

Like many other kids of his generation, Mahone set Pokémon aside throughout his high school years and picked up a diverse array of other interests like soccer, skateboarding, and competitive running. It was during college, however, that Mahone met back up with the franchise that never truly went away, playing Pokémon Diamond and Pearl on the bus to and from track meets.