#anti-productivity jam

[neointeractives]

Anti-Productivity Jam

Why work when you could make games?

The Anti-Productivity Jam is a place for you to create interactive fiction using tools that were decidedly not intended for making games. Take your favorite (or least favorite) office software and use it to make a game!

Constraints and Rules:

Your game should be made with a specialized software not used for making games (see jam page).

Games should be interactive fiction; that is, they should be interactive in some way, and focus on the text.

The Jam is open to any language.

You can submit up to 3 entries!

You should aim for a maximum gameplay length of 15-30min.

Entries can have NSFW content, as long as it is indicated in your submission.

You must credit any asset used in your entry, or it will be removed (ex: code, images, sound, etc...)

Entries using AI or LLM will be removed.

Spam or hateful content will be removed.

During the duration of the jam and the two weeks following the deadline, the submissions should be free to play.

You should not use dedicated IF/game engines such as Twine/Ink/Inform/Ren'Py/etc..., and you should avoid re-creating a game engine using JavaScript or other general-purpose programming languages.

Join the Neo-Interactive Discord 

[violet-hearth]

Solid Perfumes and Balms Recipe

One of my favourite spell forms is something I can physically wear like a perfume, balm or body butter. Whilst this is not a recipe I favour (I prefer spray on perfumes and liquid oils), its one that has served me well in the past for glamours, anti-anxiety, and a little luck before job interviews.

Apply to your wrists and neck for a perfume, or use to create a creme makeup product such as a blush or bronzer.

Generic Recipe Base:

Always be mindful of irritants like cinnamon when creating balms!

1 tablespoon of oil (jojoaba or any other neutral oil)

1 tablespoon beeswax or emulsifier wax

OR 1 tablespoon of coconut oil or shea butter and 1/2 tablespoon of wax

10-20 drops of essential oils for a perfume (or add until desired scent is achieved), for more subtle scents 3-5 drops

1/2 -1 tablespoon of mica powder or mineral powder to colour

Melt together the wax and oil or simply melt down a dense, solid oil or fat like coconut oil, adding in vitamin E oil and mix well

Stir in essential oil (or oil you have infused with your herbs), add in your mica powder if you wish to colour it

Allow to cool slightly and pour into a slightly heated, wide rimed jar and let sit to solidify completely before sealing it - old lip balm tins, tiny jam jars and balm jars work well to store this

_________

Prosperity and Luck for Job Interviews:

Melt down your liquid oil and wax, and mix well

Stir in 9 drops of prosperity oil (ylang-ylang, lemon, basil and mint) - I like to add things in threes, so three lots of three

Allow to cool and add to a small tin or jar and allow to cool at air temperature

_________

Glamour Creme/Cream Blush

Met together shea butter and wax - more wax will make a thicker, longer lasting blush whilst more aloe will make a smoother, more subtle one

Add in aloe vera and a glamour or love/attraction oil (rose, apple blossom, lavender and jasmine - as this is blush only add 3 drops!) and whisk until smooth, taking it off the heat

Slowly add in mica powders and cocoa powder a tiny pinch at a time until the desired colour is reached

add to a tine or jar and let cool at air temperature

Adapt the recipes as needed for what you have and to your own practice <3

_________

(I will be sharing some of my generic grimoire recipes each Wednesday (hopefully) with the intent on letting people adapt the recipes to suit their needs ... )

_________

[teratosfavouritesnack]

Imagine a meet cute with a minotaur while you're grocery shopping.

You're in the skincare and beauty products aisle, a bottle of Mino's Magic and one of Kram's Jam in your hands, your eyes scrolling over the ingredients of the two skin lotions - both containing the miracle-working minotaur's milk, which apparently has anti-aging and moisturising properties that work particularly well on human skin. You've never tried any before, but you'd be down to give it a try if only you knew which one to go for...

"Oh, I wouldn't recommend that one."

You're startled by the sound of a grave but warm voice coming from behind you and you look up only to have your sight completely blocked by a furry muscular chest. It takes a moment for you to crane up your neck enough to meet the amused gaze of the biggest minotaur you've ever had the pleasure to lay your eyes onto. He's also incredibly handsome-

"Huh-??"

"Mino's Magic." he nods at the bottle in your right hand, smirking at your confused and flushed face. "It's got chemicals in it. I wouldn't recommend it."

"Oh. Oh! Okay... Uhm-" You do your best to tear your eyes off of him and focus back on the bottles in your hands. You somehow manage to keep your cool despite your quickened heartbeat. "W-what about this one?"

You hear him huff as if in mock before he steps closer, your shoulder bumping in his side as he leans in to point to the ingredients section of the second lotion, his thick finger brushing against your hand.

"See? It only has 40% of the good stuff. The rest is horseshit. Quite literally."

You blink at him. "What?"

The minotaur barks a laugh, his body so close to yours that you can feel his abdomen tense and shake against your shoulder.

"Kram's got six sons, none pure-breed. Their mother is a weremare. Hence the horseshit."

You chuckle awkwardly in response, placing both the bottles back on the shelf.

"I guess I should have looked better into these products before thinking of buying anything..."

The minotaur gives you a long assessing look, his eyes twinkling in amusement and genuine curiosity.

"It's your first time?"

"Yeah..."

"Do you mind if I give you an advice?"

"I don't mind..."

"Nothing you find on these shelves will ever be 100% pure and reliable, that's why you should only buy homemade lotions made by a minotaur you know and trust. "

"That makes sense but unfortunately I don't know any minotaur..."

His lips instantly curl up in a bigger grin and his chest seems to puff out in pride as he extends his huge calloused hand your way.

"I'm Gust. Short for Gustokis."

You blink back at him, momentarily taken aback by his sudden introduction. Your hand reaches out for his instinctively, and you blurt out your answer quickly after, almost tripping over your words.

"I-I'm Y/N-!"

"Well, Y/N..." His eyes narrow and crinkle as he smirks, his huge hand envelops yours in a warm and firm hold. "Now you know me."

He leans down towards you, his snout almost touching your face and making your breath hitch. "And I'm ready to show you how trustworthy I am. How about a chat over a coffee?"

🪷. You can leave me a tip on ko-fi if you want to support me

[kirain]

Saw your comment on a post about Sound of Freedom and I came here to say.....shame on you. Shame. On. You. Since when is child trafficking a political issue? Since when is calling pedophilia bad a political issue? If you have a problem with this movie then maybe YOU'RE the problem. No better than the big Disney fat cats who tried to suppress this movie and keep it shelved. Or theaters messing with the ac and saying seats are sold out when they're empty. Shame on you! God's children are not for sale!

I wish people would do a little more research on this topic. If Hollywood and the "powers that be" didn't want this movie being seen, it wouldn't have been released in over 3000 theatres countrywide. It's being shown in major and minor locations all across America and Canada, and the vast majority of those locations aren't having any problems.

Case and point, my own mother and her friend went to see it last week and everything was fine. No issues whatsoever and the seats were packed. The movie isn't being "suppressed". This is all a marketing gimmick from the production company Angel Studios, a Christian streaming service. The movie is jam-packed with lies and only serves to glorify Tim Ballard, the man the movie is based on, and Christianity as a whole. I truly wish this wasn't political, but it is. They made it political.

Tim Ballard has provably exaggerated or fabricated many, if not most of his "rescues", and his organisation, Operation Underground Railroad, has been widely criticised by professional anti-sex trafficking organizations (including other Christian-based ones) for years. He has accumulated millions of dollars for his so-called "non-profit" organisation, and he runs several for profit organisations on the side. Most of this money is presumably pocketed by Ballard and his cohorts, as millions is unaccounted for and only a sliver goes to OUR. It's not about "saving children", it's about money and spreading Ballard's religious ideology.

This is compounded by the fact that Ballard, before he left the CIA, was almost always the last officer to arrive on any scene where child sex trafficking was involved, yet he somehow has hundreds of stories where he's singlehandedly rescued children. In fact, the "true story" the film is based on, where Ballard apparently saved a five year old boy—who, by Ballard's own account, ran up to him, hugged him, and begged to be taken away—didn't even happen. According to court receipts from the arrest and trial of Earl Venton Buchanan (the pedophile in possession of the little boy), Ballard arrived at the scene long after the boy was rescued and taken into custody, and he was barely involved. The documents can easily be found online under the San Diego incident reports.

Ballard was also caught lying about saving one particular girl named Liliana, the literal poster child for OUR. As it turns out, Liliana rescued herself by escaping her captors when she was seventeen and being trafficked in New York. Even more egregious, every time Ballard told her story, he would lower her age to garner more sympathy ... as if her being seventeen wasn't sad enough. In one instance, he claimed she was 14. In another, he claimed she was 11. Ballard also exploited Liliana's story as a reason for needing stricter border patrols and a better wall, despite the fact that she was being abused in America. There is no evidence to suggest OUR had anything to do with her rescue.

Ballard and his "organisation" have even ruined entire legitimate rescue operations in other countries and put children at risk, like in the Dominican Republic, where he endangered the lives of 26 girls by playing vigilante, being followed around by a camera crew, and causing a shootout that effectively traumatised the children he used as a prop to lure in buyers. His response to the mishap and rightful criticism by the Dominican police was basically, "Well ... you win some, you lose some."

The children were released without receiving any therapy or rehabilitative care, and Anne Gallagher, the leading global expert on the international law on human trafficking, said that OUR has an "alarming lack of understanding about how sophisticated criminal trafficking networks must be approached and dismantled" and went on to call the work of OUR "arrogant, unethical, and illegal". Those children easily could've been shot and killed. This occurred in 2014, but Ballard still insists that his "rescues" be filmed, and he even pitched it as a reality TV show. His reasoning for this, he says, is to "spread awareness", but we all know it's because he loves the spotlight.

Entire law enforcement agencies have actually cut ties with or even condemned OUR, such as Washington State Law Enforcement, as a result of Ballard's proclivity to conflate child sex trafficking with consensual adult sex work. Ballard and OUR regularly set up sting operations and lambasted the men who showed up for kink play, publicly branding them as pedophiles, even though the men in question were under the impression that they were meeting for sex with consenting, adult women. This led to several lawsuits against OUR, all of which they rightfully lost.

Ballard's means of gathering intelligence is also questionable, as he, by his own admission, sometimes consults psychic mediums for information on missing children and asks where they're being held captive. I genuinely wish I was joking about that.

The main actor in Sound of Freedom, Jim Caviezel, also has ties to the Qanon movement, and Caviezel himself is a hardcore conspiracy theorist. He believes that Donald Trump is "the new Moses" and that "liberals [literally] drink the blood of children". This is ironic, considering Caviezel and Ballard both met Trump several times, yet never pressed him for information regarding Epstein's client list. Moreover, Caviezel and Ballard both donate to the Catholic Church, which funds the largest child sex trafficking ring on the southern border and has a history of rampant sexual abuse of children. Even more insane, Caviezel admitted to watching child porn, to apparently "get in character" for the movie. He claimed that if Ballard had to watch it, it only "made sense" that he'd have to watch it, too. To "motivate" him to fight child trafficking.

...Alright, bud.

Surprise, surprise, both men are also outspokenly anti-LGBTQ+, despite the fact that children/teens in that community are statistically more likely to be trafficked. The majority of child trafficking is not the result of random kidnappings, as the movie would have you believe. The majority of children are actually recruited into sexual exploitation by a family member or friend/boss. The majority of those children are also not generally passed around in Mexico, like this racist, white savior-oriented movie would have you believe, but they actually either stay in or end up in America. America is, in fact, the largest consumer of child porn and child sex slaves this side of the globe (and nearly the largest producer), yet the movie depicts almost every pedophile as Mexican or some other non-white race.

At the end of the movie, Ballard comes on screen and asks people to donate/buy tickets for others, so that the movie can spread awareness. This is why so many seats in certain theatres are empty, despite websites saying the seats are sold out. Whether or not Angel Studios is also shadow purchasing tickets to boost sales can't be proven, obviously, but I wouldn't put it past them. These "conspiracies" have all served to market the movie and boost ticket sales.

As for Disney trying to keep the movie shelved, that's also a lie. Yes, Disney did technically shelve the movie when they bought Fox, since it didn't exactly correspond with its family-friendly brand, but they had no problem with the movie being released under a different studio. The actual reason Sound of Freedom was in "production hell" for five years was because Tim Ballard kept trying to milk donations. Despite the fact that filming wrapped up in 2018, he kept asking for more and more and more. He used people's faith and understandably emotional response to something as wicked as pedophilia to rake in millions. That's what Ballard is really about, money and stardom. In the movie, there's even a post-credit message where Jim Caviezel says the movie was held back to "maximize its distribution and raise awareness about child sex trafficking".

Translation: Ballard greedy.

Ballard himself admitted the accuracy of this movie "isn't important", and that he just wanted to get the movie out to "spread the word". By that, he of course means the Christian word—but why should fighting child sex trafficking be tied to religion? At the end of the day, Sound of Freedom is a vanity project, and it spreads incredibly dangerous misinformation. Stranger still, Ballard left the OUR just prior to the debut of Sound of Freedom, a fact he's neglected to mention in every interview regarding the movie. It's not clear why he left, but it seems that he fled after an internal investigation into the organisation began. That's not too suspicious or anything. My guess is authorities are trying to find out were all that missing money went, and Ballard doesn't want to be there when they figure it out.

By the way, that final line you hit me with; "God's children are not for sale", the line from the movie that Ballard claims a fellow agent whispered to him while on a case, as well as the title of the movie, which another agent supposedly said to Ballard after a giant rescue operation—those were lies, too. No agents ever said that to him. The police reports for those cases, as well as the agents Ballard supposedly quoted, all said he was the last to arrive on the scene and those conversations never happened.

Ballard cannot be trusted and Sound of Freedom is based on a lie. It's a scam. Everything he does is a scam. All he cares about is spreading his ideology, making money, and looking like a superhero. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. Look into his other companies, and into the ex-military soldiers and police officers who left OUR because of how poorly trained their people are when it comes to rescue operations.

Every sane person knows pedophilia and human trafficking is wrong, but giving your money to Qanon-adjacent, right-wing leaning, LGBTQ+-hating, Catholic Church-sympathising, fame-chasing, money-hungry, perpetual liar Tim Ballard isn't going to help.

The best way to help out is learning about the signs of child trafficking. Keep an eye out for any children that might be getting abused. If you suspect something, report it, don't be a silent bystander. Volunteer within your community to make sure the children in your area have food and resources, support LGBTQ+ youth, and watch the other adults around you to ensure they're not acting inappropriately. You can also donate to social programs that create safe spaces for children and even apply for jobs that specialise in these fields. Don't go to see a movie just because it aligns with your religious beliefs, feel sad for a little while, then sit on your ass and let Tim Ballard handle everything.

[read-marx-and-lenin]

If for the impending overthrow of the present mode of distribution of the products of labour, with its crying contrasts of want and luxury, starvation and surfeit, we had no better guarantee than the consciousness that this mode of distribution is unjust, and that justice must eventually triumph, we should be in a pretty bad way, and we might have a long time to wait. The mystics of the Middle Ages who dreamed of the coming millennium were already conscious of the injustice of class antagonisms. On the threshold of modern history, three hundred and fifty years ago, Thomas Münzer proclaimed it to the world. In the English and the French bourgeois revolutions the same call resounded—and died away. And if today the same call for the abolition of class antagonisms and class distinctions, which up to 1830 had left the working and suffering classes cold, if today this call is re-echoed a millionfold, if it takes hold of one country after another in the same order and in the same degree of intensity that modern industry develops in each country, if in one generation it has gained a strength that enables it to defy all the forces combined against it and to be confident of victory in the near future—what is the reason for this? The reason is that modern large-scale industry has called into being on the one hand a proletariat, a class which for the first time in history can demand the abolition, not of this or that particular class organisation, or of this or that particular class privilege, but of classes themselves, and which is in such a position that it must carry through this demand on pain of sinking to the level of the Chinese coolie. On the other hand this same large-scale industry has brought into being, in the bourgeoisie, a class which has the monopoly of all the instruments of production and means of subsistence, but which in each speculative boom period and in each crash that follows it proves that it has become incapable of any longer controlling the productive forces, which have grown beyond its power, a class under whose leadership society is racing to ruin like a locomotive whose jammed safety-valve the driver is too weak to open. In other words, the reason is that both the productive forces created by the modern capitalist mode of production and the system of distribution of goods established by it have come into crying contradiction with that mode of production itself, and in fact to such a degree that, if the whole of modern society is not to perish, a revolution in the mode of production and distribution must take place, a revolution which will put an end to all class distinctions. On this tangible, material fact, which is impressing itself in a more or less clear form, but with insuperable necessity, on the minds of the exploited proletarians—on this fact, and not on the conceptions of justice and injustice held by any armchair philosopher, is modern socialism's confidence in victory founded.

Friedrich Engels, Anti-Dühring, Part II, Chapter 1, 1877

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Kamala Harris promises to carve out exception to filibuster to codify Roe v. Wade

In a significant policy announcement (and departure from Joe Biden’s policy), Kamala Harris promised to support an exception to the Senate filibuster to allow passage of a bill codifying the protections for reproductive rights previously recognized in Roe v. Wade. See Politico, Kamala Harris backs ending filibuster for abortion rights legislation. [Note to experts on the filibuster: I am using the term in the popular sense, to describe a cloture vote.]

There is a great deal of confusion surrounding the filibuster and what it means to create an exception to the Senate rule. Indeed, the Politico headline, above, misstates what Kamala Harris proposed. She did not propose to “end” the filibuster for abortion rights legislation, but merely to create an exception in a rule that is riddled with exceptions.

Before discussing the hypocrisy that surrounds the opposition to creating an exception to the filibuster, let’s skip to the most important part first: Despite popular belief to the contrary, it is possible to create an exception the filibuster with only 51 votes in the Senate. The complicated procedure is known as the “nuclear option,” but has been used in the recent past. Mitch McConnell created an exception to the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations when he wanted to jam Trump's reactionary justices through the Senate nomination process.

So, the important point is that Kamala Harris can restore the protections of Roe v. Wade with a 50-member Democratic caucus (which would include independents who caucus with Democrats). But for safety’s sake, Democrats should aim for 52 or 53 votes to pass the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal legislation. We must therefore focus our efforts on defending every seat (Senators Tester (MT) and Brown (OH)) and capturing new seats (Colin Allred (TX) and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL)).

Let’s get some common misconceptions out of the way. See, the excellent article by The Brennan Center, The Case Against the Filibuster | Brennan Center for Justice (October 30, 2020).

The filibuster rule is NOT in the Constitution. Indeed, there is a strong argument that it is unconstitutional.

The Senate filibuster rule did not exist for the first 129 years after the Constitution was ratified. Even then, it was used for the first several decades of its existence to speed the passage of legislation, not to block it.

The filibuster does not “protect the rights of the minority.” To the contrary, the Constitution presumes that action by the Senate requires only a simple majority, with exceptions for super-majorities for treaties, convictions after impeachment, and overriding vetoes by the President The filibuster denies the rights of the majority expressly recognized by the Constitution.

The Senate is designed to be an anti-democratic institution by giving disproportionate representation to small states. Layering on an additional undemocratic feature (the filibuster) grants extreme power over all legislation to 20% of the population. The filibuster thus does violence to the vision of the Framers of the Constitution.

Exceptions to the filibuster were recently created in 2013 and 2017 to allow federal judicial nominations, including Supreme Court justices, to be enacted by a simple majority. Budget bills are not subject to the filibuster.

Since 1960, the increasing use of the filibuster has drastically reduced the productivity of the Senate. See the report by The Brennan Center.

In short, the filibuster is an antidemocratic, unconstitutional, productivity-killing tool that has been used to suppress voting rights and deny protection of rights to American citizens in the minority by exalting the partisan interests of the political party in the minority in the Senate—which was never the intention of the Framers.

Kamala Harris’s proposal to create an exception to the filibuster is a major policy announcement that will help move women closer to their rightful status as equal citizens under the Constitution. That should have been the headline story today. But unbelievably, the NYTimes ran with this headline: Manchin Won’t Endorse Harris After Her Call to End Filibuster Over Abortion Rights.

What?! The Times subordinates the major policy announcement that will promote the equality of all women to the political story of a has-been Senator who won’t be around to vote on Kamala Harris’s proposal on the filibuster. Shameful and disgraceful journalism at its worst! You really must make an effort to be that bad. The Times doesn’t care about women’s equality but is hot and bothered about what Joe Manchin is thinking. Did I say shameful and disgraceful? Unbelievable!

And for everyone who will write to me to say that the reporters don’t write the headlines, the Times editors and publishers are responsible for the headline writers. Apparently, the editors and publishers want trashy, clickbait headlines. Did I say shameful and disgraceful?

Trump has crossed another line

Trump gave a speech on Monday that broke a new barrier: He blew past racist, antisemitic, and misogynistic barriers to plumb the depths of “creepiness.” In addressing the issue of reproductive rights, Trump appeared to be trying to “hypnotize” women by telling them that everything was fine, that their eyelids were growing heavy, and that they will cluck like chickens when he is elected. (For those who missed my tone, that last sentence used the literary device of sarcasm.)

See Talking Points Memo, Behold Trump’s New Creeptastic Quotes On Abortion. See also Aaron Rupar, Public Notice, Trump's pitch to women is getting weirder and weirder.

As noted in TPM and Public Notice, Trump said the following in an effort to convince women that he isn’t responsible for denying them reproductive freedom:

“I always thought women liked me. But the fake news keeps saying women don’t like me.” “You will no longer be abandoned, lonely, or scared.” “You will no longer be in danger.” “You will be protected, and I will be your protector.” “Women will be happy, healthy, confident and free.” “You will no longer be thinking about abortion.”

Trump's comments are patronizing, offensive, weird, and creepy. When added to the comments of JD Vance and GOP candidate for the Senate Bernie Moreno (that women over 50 shouldn’t care about reproductive rights), it is incontestable that the GOP platform is anti-woman. But that fact has been clear for some time.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[cozidreamsreimagine]

The Impact of Grunge

Forget polished pop and hairspray-laden hair metal, the early 90s saw a seismic shift in music and culture with the arrival of grunge. More than just ripped jeans and flannel shirts, grunge was a raw, unfiltered expression of angst and disillusionment that resonated with a generation. But what was its lasting impact?

Sonic Boom

Grunge's distorted guitars, raw vocals, and melancholic lyrics challenged the prevailing musical trends. Bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden gave voice to a generation feeling alienated and unheard. This sonic rebellion infiltrated mainstream music, influencing countless artists and shaping the soundscape of the 90s and beyond.

Cultural Shift

Grunge wasn't just about the music; it was a cultural phenomenon. It challenged the consumerism and superficiality of the 80s, embracing authenticity and anti-establishment ideals. This "slacker" attitude, with its emphasis on individualism and self-expression, permeated fashion, film, and even literature.

Check out my shop for unique designs and gifts:

A Legacy of Authenticity

While the grunge era may have faded, its impact is undeniable. It reminded us that music can be a powerful tool for social commentary and personal expression. Grunge's legacy of authenticity and raw emotion continues to inspire artists and individuals to embrace their true selves, flaws and all.

[usafphantom2]

New F-16 Electronic Warfare System ‘on Par with Fifth-Gen’ Enters Flight Test

Sept. 4, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The F-16’s new electronic warfare suite, the AN/ALQ-257, has begun flight testing after successfully completing ground tests in an anechoic chamber, Northrop Grumman reported.

The Integrated Viper Electronic Warfare Suite, or IVEWS, mounted in a Block 50 F-16, completed an Air Force evaluation in the Joint Preflight Integration of Munitions and Electronic Sensors (J-Prime) facility—an anechoic chamber—last month, Northrop said. That same aircraft has been conducting flight tests for about two weeks, and will soon be joined by a second F-16, a company official said. Northrop is not yet cleared to reveal the location of testing.

Flight testing to validate what was learned in the chamber will take just a few weeks, and an operational assessment will be completed “by the fourth quarter of this year,” said James Conroy, vice president of navigation, targeting, and survivability, in an interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine. Developmental and operational testing should be completed in early 2025, and based on the results, the Air Force will decide future milestones such as when production and deliveries can begin and when the first F-16 unit is expected to be declared operational, he said.

“We’re going fast,” Conroy said, because the Air Force’s F-16s “don’t have this kind of survivability equipment” and need it to be operationally relevant. The system is an all-digital jammer that has been extensively tested to cooperate with and deconflict with the F-16’s new AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR), an active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar. The two systems can be used simultaneously, Conroy said. Both are made by Northrop.

The electronic warfare system is capable of detecting, identifying and countering “the most advanced threats” on the battlefield today, Conroy said, and can perform accurate geo-location of emitters with just a single aircraft. The simulations in the chamber were “intense,” he said.

The IVEWS will be internal to the F-16 and will replace the centerline-mounted AN/ALQ-131 self-defense jamming pod, freeing one external station on the fighter for a fuel tank or weapon. The system will use antennas located elsewhere on the fuselage; the outer mold line of the aircraft hasn’t been altered, Conroy said.

He declined to characterize whether the IVEWS is comparable to the Eagle Passive/Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS) being mounted on F-15Es and F-15EXs, saying only that that they are “both advanced electronic warfare systems” and can work together.

The IVEWS is intended to provide the F-16 with electronic warfare capabilities “on a par with fifth-generation aircraft, significantly enhancing survivability for operations in contested and congested electromagnetic spectrum environments,” Northrop said. “Its ultra-wideband suite can detect, identify, and counter advanced radio frequency threats, including millimeter wave systems.”

The IVEWS started out as a Middle-Tier Acquisition program to achieve rapidly fielding; it became an Air Force program of record in 2019.

Conroy said the system will be especially helpful in coping with mobile anti-aircraft radars and missiles whose position is unknown at the start of a mission and which may turn on and fire on F-16s when directly overhead or nearby.

To reach this point, the IVEWS has undergone three years of testing, both on the ground and in the air aboard Northrop’s Bombardier CRJ, acting as a surrogate for the F-16 in the Northern Lightning 2021 exercise, Conroy said. It has also been tested at Hill Air Force Base’s F-16 Block 50 avionics system integration laboratory.

In the chamber, the IVEWS was “subjected to accurate representations of complex radio frequency spectrum threats,” Northrop said in a press release. It demonstrated “the ability to detect, identify, and counter advanced radio frequency threats while operating safely with other F-16 systems.”

Conroy said the system could permit the F-16 to remain credible into the 2040s, and is being evaluated by a number of F-16 user countries, particularly those buying the F-16 Block 70. Turkey has signed a letter of agreement selecting the IVEWS for its Block 70s.

@FHaeromedia via X

[mariacallous]

NATO concluded a major anti-drone exercise this week, with Ukraine taking part for the first time as the Western alliance seeks to learn urgently from the rapid development and widespread use of unmanned systems in the war there.

The drills at a Dutch military base, involving more than 20 countries and some 50 companies, tested cutting-edge systems to detect and counter drones and assessed how they work together. The 11-day exercise ended with a demonstration of jamming and hacking drones in a week when their critical role in the Ukraine war was demonstrated once again. On Wednesday, a large Ukrainian drone attack triggered an earthquake-sized blast at a major Russian arsenal. The following day, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was ramping up drone production tenfold to nearly 1.4 million this year. The proliferation of drones in the war – to destroy targets and survey the battlefield – has prompted NATO to increase its focus on the threat they could pose to the alliance. "NATO takes this threat very, very seriously," said Matt Roper, chief of the Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Centre at the alliance's technology agency. "This is not a domain we can afford to sit back and be passive on," he said at the exercise site, Lieutenant General Best Barracks in the east of The Netherlands. Experts have warned NATO that it needs to catch up quickly on drone warfare. "NATO has too few drones for a high-intensity fight against a peer adversary," a report from the Center for European Policy Analysis think tank declared last September. "It would be severely challenged to effectively integrate those it has in a contested environment."

The drills that wrapped up on Thursday – complete with ice cream for onlookers provided by a radar company – were the fourth annual iteration of the exercise. Claudio Palestini, the co-chair of a NATO working group on unmanned systems, said the exercise had adapted to trends such as the transformation of FPV (first-person view) drones - originally designed for civilian racers – into deadly weapons. "Every year, we see an evolution of the threat with the introduction of new technology," he said. "But also we see a lot of capabilities (to counter drones) that are becoming more mature." In a demonstration on Thursday, two small FPV drones whizzed and whined at high speed through the blue sky to dart around a military all-terrain vehicle before their signal was jammed. Such electronic warfare is widespread in Ukraine. But it is less effective against long-range reconnaissance drones, a technology developer at Ukraine's defense ministry said. The official, giving only his first name of Yaroslav for security reasons, said his team had developed kamikaze drones to destroy such craft – a much cheaper option than firing missiles, which Ukraine had previously done. "You need to run fast," he said of the race to counter the impact of drones. "Technology which you develop is there for three months, maybe six months. After, it's obsolete."

[popculturebuffet]

TMNT Month: Turtle Tunes and We Wish You A Turtles Christmas: Not So Erotic Nightmares Beyond Any Measure and Christmas Fever Dreams to Treasure Forever (Comission for Emma Fici)

Hello all you happy people and welcome back to turtles month. Thanks to a schedule change, we're looking at another piece of weird turtles media coming as the franchise was loosing steam and someone was huffing that steam to try and come up with new ideas.

As a result we got two direct to vhs specials, designed to try to eat into that sweet sweet DTV market that was starting to really take off at the time and would do so long into my childhood and long after. These specials go for a younger audience, I suspect trying to get some of that barney money. They did not and we only got two and the world was spared the third that would've triggered the end times.

As you can see just looking at the covers for these things they had the budget of a paper clip and a piece of string, and it shows. The turtles have horrifying barley moving heads that insure they'll be your sleep paralysis demon for years to come. But beyond the terrible costumes what do these specails have? Well not a lot and everything respectively so let's talk about them, and hopefully make my night terrors worth the money under the cut

Turtle Tunes has an objectively weird premise. It's not a horrible one for doing some goofy less actiony videos as these costumes would tear apart if the wind blew on them slightly, I can't imagine them doing full on fight scenes like the movies, but it's still weird for the nonexistant budget this thing has.

So the turtles got a hookup from april to host their own show on channel 6 and were this just a tmnt version of waynes world i'd have watched this years ago. Also something to keep in mind for the mutant mayhem verse. Just saying.

But no their instead just counting down their faviorite songs.. and rather than say use the ones from out of our shells which are actually pretty good, or make some up they decide to do covers of various public domain songs and still present it like it's TRL. Do kids still know what TRL was? I.. I feel old.

Anyways, the Turtles rather than have April, who agreed to this in the first place, Splinter or Casey help out, instead have a bunch of random kids serve as their crew and boss them around. Also Mikey runs off and apparently does this all the time. Just goes to skateboard around the park and do mushrooms, living his best life.

As for the rest of the plot

This vid is just an excuse to do terrible covers of public domain songs.. and a loose one of Rick Springfield's don't talk to strangers. I'm dead serious. I mean the song IS a mild banger and using it for an actual anti stranger message and not Rick Springfield desperatly trying to stop his girlfriend from leaving him, but it's left as atonal garbage.

I don't have much for this one. I mean it has Leo on a rowboat as he slowly dies inside, that's kinda funny and it's weird they chose to do that one to yankee doodle dandy instead of row row row your boat, but I stand by their dumbass decision. At least Leo struggling to breath as he rows a boat is funny. Everything else is just bland: the turtles talk over each other, announce videos and somehow get renewed, though I think the renewal is really an excuse to get them out into the open and into a woodchipper.

Turtle Tunes proves, in the words of our prophet huey lewis, sometimes bad is bad. Sometimes cheese can be really funny, this is just 20 some minutes of my life I won't get back.

Thankfully We Wish You A Turtles Christmas, which emma and I watched before is so bad it's good. It's gloriosuly stupid, cheap and while still using music videos to pad things, is far more creative with them. This feels more like a tmnt product.. one that was written by a sentient mound of cocaine, but still a thing people put actually efort into at least feeling like a tmnt vide0 Turtles tunes could have any obnoxious mascot jammed in it. It could've been Busby Tunes... imagine him announcing videos and doing stuff and

Okay maybe it's thanks to saftey regulations we got the turtles, but still you could've also just.. put an opossum on screen to music. There's a line and a few layers of hell between TMNT and Bubsy

We Wish You A Turtles Christmas is the good kind of crack to Turtle Tunes shard of glass they tell you is crack, taking a straightforward tale of "the turtles forget to get a gift and have to go get it" and making it baffling as it is hilaroius.

So our story begins with We're the Turtles, the theme song for both tapes where their turtles and their on the look out for a friend in need that's what their about... and never actually find one too busy as they laugh and sing and do their thing their the turtles. Their the turtles. It's this weird durge that gets glued to your brain.

So it's christmas eve and the turtles are joking, putting presents under the tree while Leonardo sings Reggage, you know what everyone does every christmas. Or else.

Leo is horribly out of character in both these specials, taking being a stern big brother type who leads the team and tries to keep them on task and making him a dick who insults his brothers and also the mutant equilvent of Ras Trent.

As for the reggae song itself it's deck the halls but TO A REGGAE BEAT MON. CULTURAL APROPRATION POWER! It's the clear seperation from this special and turtle tunes; Turtle Tunes is KINDA weird, We Wish You A Turtles Christmas is FUCKING weird. You have a scooby dooby doo doo laden song about decking the halls that both is happy Bebeop and Rocksteady aren't here yet wishes a merry christmas to the shredder, while also having a beat drop for some reason. It's beautiful and I never want to hear it again.

The turtles then have a horrifying relization: WE FORGOT TO GET A GIFT FOR SPLINTER. I do like HOW this comes about as it's the only part of this special that's not written by a guy who was told the basics about the turtles then told to write a christmas special or they'd release the bees. The boys all thought one of the others had the duty: it's a sitcom cliche sure but one that would happen to a family.

So they have to go shopping on christmas eve with a rousing rendention of over the river and through the woods "up through the sewer"... or sleep inducing. Let's go with coma-tastic, sounds snappier.

We get to the surface for what's the best song of the special. A subterranian bar but it's the upbeat and peppy gotta get a gift for splinter. It has dancing, random children out on christmas eve busking, ryming gotta gift for splinter with "I hate shopping in the winter", and suggesting they get him a go cart "a go cart in the sewer baby!" while aruging. This sibling bantering and bickering at least is a little fun.

We then get to the most inexplicable part of this special.. and yes

As Mikey decides to sing opera. And this alone would be amazing just for the sheer what the fuckery.. but the turtles annoyed reactions and implication he does this a lot just sell it. The bit's dumb, but like this special it's also fun. No one not even the characters know why the fuck this is happeing.

After that our turtles return home to wrap they also decide.. TO RAP. Yes it's time for the Rap every bit of 90's childrens media thought they could do. It's as painfully awkward as you could hope for. Not as awkard as the rasta bit because it has a little bit of a beat but it sure does exist, i'll give it that.

So with that we get the climax as the turtles all get vauge gifts and give Splinter a 12 days of christmas themeed barrage of gifts while awkwardly sings about them. I do love how he looses pace towards the end and looses his space and his delighted "nailed it" when he catches up. Splinters singing is stiff as it's clear his actor cannot sing int he character voice, but I'll give him points for enthussim

So the gifts they got are

Twelve April O'Neil autographs

Eleven pairs of sneakers

Ten yellow yo-yos

Nine narrow neckties

Eight chopsticks

Seven silk kimonos

Six frisbees

Five video games

Four man-hole covers

Three skateboards

Two comic books

And a pizza with pepperoni

It's a bizzare assortment something you notice while listening but really looking at the lyrics, thanks turtlepedia for having those so I didn't have to listen to this song in full again to find em all, you see just how slapdash it is. It's in character but it dosen't make it any less bizzare as this list is not played for laughs. So we have 12 autographs from someone they know and likely got in a rush, elven pairs of sneakers which.. is honestly quite nice they found them in his size as while it's not his style of footwear i'm sure splinter would love some shoes after walking in the sewer barefoot for nearly two decades, ten yellow yo yos clearly from the dollar store, nine narrow neckties which while the specitfication weird is a classic parent ot child they don't know too well gift, eight chopsticks which is just.. .did you guys go for chinese and realize you missed a gift for your schitck, seven silk kimonos which is kind thougthful and a good gift, six frisbees because they went back to the dollar store, five video games all copies of the first NES game no one wanted, four man hole covers because theft is okay if it's christmas, three skateboards because splinter can shred man, two comic books which is just aweirdly low number and a pizza with pepperoni which is the most self serving as we all know Splitner prefers sushi.

Finally we have the title song.. which is eh. I don't have much to say its there for a moment, it's gone and they all rock out ending the special.

We Wish You A Turtles Christmas is something you have to experince at least once: it's baffling, stupid and hilarious and i'm glad to share it all with you. I encourage you to watch it.. and leave turtle tunes in a dumpster where you likely found it. Thanks for reading and remember i'm pullin for you, we're all in this together.

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

I just had a vision that the inevitable DC-Marvel crossover movie will begin production before 2030. It'll have James Gunn's new Superman and Tom Holland Spiderman (Disney will either have acquired 100% of the rights from Sony by then, or else they will have absorbed Sony Pictures in a merger like 20th Century Fox). You know those fake movies that are just commercials for a studio's other IPs? Wreck It Ralph 2, Space Jam 2, Chip and Dale, Ready Player One; it'll be one of those (I call this genre Corporate Masturbation, but I'm sure somebody else has a better name for it), a bloated mess with 15 or 20 b- and c-list heroes crammed in the background, as well as an OG Avengers reunion (very short cameos, because despite it costing $400 million the studio will still say they "can't afford" Robert Downey Jr or Chris Evans anymore). It'll make a billion dollars, billion and a half maybe, but leave no real mark on pop culture, like Avatar 2 did. It'll come and go without much fanfare, but it won't bomb which means it'll be what leads to the Disney-Warner merger by 2040. I say merger, but really it'll be Disney buying the bulk of Warner-Discovery outright and selling off the entrails to smaller companies so as to avoid an anti-monopoly suit.

[soapver4]

Sentient Jams

Metadrama Bubble: Fairies and demons ranting against fates repeated across lifetimes, generations and realms — plunging down abysses, unsealing of devils, naive and cutesy females transformed from mighty goddesses, coughing up blood, amnesia, tribulation cycles in the human world — realize through extreme heatwaves inducing near-death out-of-body experiences that they are goos processed and pumped through a circuitous pipe network. At the ends of the network, mixtures of them are packaged off as jars of jam that boost the hit points (HP) of consumers slogging away in a frenetic economy. On gulping down the jams, workers experience the entire fantasy dramas in a matter of seconds, but as though they have watched them for all 40 hours or so of running time, maximizing purchases at minimal cost to labor availability. The tropes are flavoring and texturing techniques replicated from monumental product successes, because the jam factory managers cannot risk their own jobs.

To escape the network and seize destiny for themselves, the goos must melt holes through the metal pipes using their mental strength. What better way to generate the brain heat than to crack riddles from some discipline with a (not always justly) fearsome reputation? In line with the themes of path restrictions and substance malleability, the discipline chosen is mathematical topology. The fairies and demons roam through cloud mountains and smoky seas for spiritual force experts and other helpers to attain the requisite mental power to work out solutions, while real-life viewers solve the topology riddles on the streaming/television network's website on behalf of characters they select.

Riddles of varying levels are available to cater to viewers with differing logic abilities and mathematical proficiency. The higher the level, the more points awarded for solving a riddle. To minimize mindless plagiarism, there must be a vast database of riddles which have not been previously published somewhere else, so mathematicians cannot ignore this promised pop culture sensation! Viewers cannot submit any solution for a riddle already solved by anyone, but they are free to rope in the assistance of people strong in topology since it is difficult to verify personal effort and that assistance may foster extracurricular peer sharing of mathematical perspectives, otherwise deemed too uncool a topic in everyday life, anyway.

Example of an elementary topology puzzle: Pair up infinitely stretchable and compressible objects of the following shapes by considering possible morphological transformations: tofu block, donut, mug and fusilli. Do not ignore any resulting gap or fissure within them. (Answer = tofu block and fusilli, donut and mug.)

Characters escape the pipe network across multiple episodes in the order of their respective fans' points so far. Escaped characters' spirits (representing their voices and heat) hoover around, unseen by remaining characters, in free-flowing hair and groovy solid-color costumes with flamboyant ruffles to rally behind their friends or channel mysterious supportive forces that either break down physical obstacles in the realms or guide the friends towards more helpers. Each episode closes with energetic dance collabs by all escaped characters, in their spiritual forms and then in their bouncy goo forms on the factory floor.

↑Pachinko's demos of characters breaching spatiotemporal barriers for dance meetups. Which is the better cheerleading BGM for viewers working on picture-hanging puzzles, if you don't let the second title daunt you: "Let's Live for Today" or "Wait a Million Years"?

The dancing cannot last forever, however, as factory staff will be back anytime soon. In the final shot, the goos finish their biggest dance collab and gather in front of the factory's colossal metal door.

Check out the alt text of the header image, which features another anti-trope metadrama.

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

The Lady Vanishes (1938, Alfred Hitchcock)

27/01/2024

The Lady Vanishes is a 1938 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

The story is based on the novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White.

A remake was made in 1979 entitled The Lady Vanishes, directed by Anthony Page, with Angela Lansbury in the role of Miss Froy.

A train is running from the Balkans towards London when an avalanche stops it in a remote village. In the hotel where they are forced to stay overnight, they meet some English citizens: Iris Henderson, the young heiress of a rich jam producer, returning from a holiday with two friends and headed to London to get married to a nobleman; Miss Froy, amiable old lady in a tweed suit, housekeeper and music teacher for six years in that country and about to return to her homeland; Caldicott and Charters, cricket fans, very upset about the forced interruption of their trip which risks making them miss the final phase of a test match in Manchester; Gilbert, a musician with a passion for folklore who records folk songs with a little too much noise, resulting in a lively confrontation with Iris; a couple of lovers whose greatest concern is not to be recognized.

Miss Froy tries to escape into the woods, after leaving a coded message contained in the musical notes of a melody that Gilbert must learn by heart and take to the British Foreign Office in case she fails to save herself.

As promised Iris and Gilbert go to the Foreign Office in Whitehall to report the coded message.

The expiration of the contract that Gainsboroug (subsidiary of Gaumont-British) had taken over from Gaumont and Hitchcock had to complete the second film (the first was Young and Innocent) foreseen by the agreement with Edward Black.

In May 1936 Frank had proposed to Gainsboroug to buy the rights to White's novel, he had worked on the screenplay together with Sidney Gilliat but Roy William Neill, the director who had been entrust with the direction, din not complete the film.

The role of the lovable old spy was entrusted to Dame May Whutty, who would later be cast in a minor role in Suspicion.

In the role of the rich young bourgeois the director used Margaret Lockwood, under contract to the production company; in the role of the penniless musician Hitchcock would have liked Robert Donat, the protagonist of The 39 Steps, who had to give it up for health reasons; Michael Redgrave was the chosen, already famous as a young theater actor in John Gielgud's company, here at his first film test: the director liked him for his detached and casula style.

In the fundamental interview given by Alfred Hitchcock to François Truffaut, published for the first time in 1966, the director said about this film of his: "It was shot in 1938 in the small studio in Islington, on a thirty meter platform and with a wagon on top."

In addition to all his dearest themes (the incredibleity of the truth and the game of appearances, spies, travel, the relationship between a couple and love, humor) there is a strong political connotation, influenced by international current affairs: 1938 is the year of the Munich Agreement, evoked by the white handkerchief waved by the lawyer, an unpleasant neutralist who, regardless of his lover and the other Englishmen, hands himself over to the spies and gets himself killed. Finally, the main enemy of the film, Doctor Hart, alludes to Germany both his surname and in his origin ( in that same year Czechoslovakia also begins to "disappear", with the annexation of the Sudetenland to Germany, a prologue of what will happen in the following year). Hitchcock declares anti-Nazi sentiments expressed on other occasions in his films (The Man Who Knew Too Much, The 39 Steps, Secret Agent, Foreign Correspondent, Saboteur, Lifeboat, Notorious).

[epicpu24]

Understanding the Types of Fashion | Trends and Styles

Fashion is an ever-evolving domain that reflects cultural, social, and historical contexts. It encapsulates a broad spectrum of styles and trends that vary across regions and eras. From haute couture to streetwear, the diversity in fashion styles showcases creativity, individuality, and the human penchant for self-expression. In this blog, we will delve into various types of fashion, exploring their origins, characteristics, and influences.

Haute Couture

Haute couture, translating to "high sewing" or "high dressmaking," is the epitome of luxury fashion. Originating from Paris, it refers to the creation of exclusive, custom-fitted clothing made from the finest materials and with meticulous attention to detail. Designers like Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, and Jean-Paul Gaultier have set the standards for haute couture. Each piece is a work of art, often requiring hundreds of hours of labor. Haute couture is not just about the garment but also about the craftsmanship and the heritage of the fashion house.

Ready-to-Wear (Prêt-à-Porter)

Ready-to-wear fashion bridges the gap between haute couture and mass production. Unlike haute couture, which is made for individual clients, ready-to-wear clothing is produced in standard sizes and available in retail outlets. These collections are often showcased during fashion weeks in major cities like New York, Paris, Milan, and London. Designers like Yves Saint Laurent popularized this type of fashion, making high-quality, stylish clothes accessible to a broader audience.

Streetwear

Streetwear emerged from the urban youth culture of the 1980s and 1990s, heavily influenced by skateboarding, hip-hop, and punk. Characterized by casual, comfortable pieces such as hoodies, sneakers, and graphic T-shirts, streetwear blurs the lines between fashion and everyday wear. Brands like Supreme, Off-White, and A Bathing Ape (BAPE) are iconic in this genre. Streetwear often involves limited edition releases and collaborations with artists and other brands, creating a sense of exclusivity and community.

Vintage and Retro

Vintage fashion refers to clothing and accessories from previous decades, often considered timeless and of high quality. Retro fashion, on the other hand, involves contemporary clothing designed to mimic the style of a previous era. Both styles celebrate nostalgia and the cyclical nature of fashion trends. Vintage shops and thrift stores are treasure troves for unique pieces that tell a story. Designers like Vivienne Westwood have incorporated vintage elements into their collections, blending old and new.

Bohemian (Boho) Fashion

Bohemian fashion, often shortened to "boho," draws inspiration from the free-spirited lifestyle of the 1960s and 1970s hippie movement. Characterized by flowing fabrics, earthy tones, and eclectic patterns, boho fashion exudes a relaxed, unconventional vibe. Key elements include maxi dresses, fringe, embroidery, and ethnic prints. Brands like Free People and Anthropologie have popularized this style, making it a staple for music festivals and casual wear.

Preppy

Preppy fashion is inspired by the traditional clothing styles of American prep schools and Ivy League universities. It is characterized by clean, classic, and polished looks. Key pieces include polo shirts, khaki pants, blazers, and loafers. The style emphasizes quality and timelessness, with brands like Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and Lacoste being quintessential preppy labels. Preppy fashion embodies an understated elegance and a sense of tradition.

Grunge

Grunge fashion originated in the early 1990s, inspired by the Seattle music scene and bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. It is characterized by an unkempt, "thrown-together" look, often featuring flannel shirts, ripped jeans, combat boots, and oversized sweaters. The grunge aesthetic is anti-establishment and rejects the polished, mainstream fashion norms. Designers like Marc Jacobs have brought grunge elements to high fashion, blending rebellion with style.

Minimalist

Minimalist fashion focuses on simplicity, clean lines, and a limited color palette. It emphasizes quality over quantity, with a preference for timeless, versatile pieces. Key elements include monochrome outfits, tailored cuts, and understated accessories. Brands like COS, The Row, and Jil Sander exemplify minimalist fashion. The minimalist approach advocates for a more sustainable wardrobe, encouraging thoughtful consumption and investment in enduring pieces.

Avant-Garde

Avant-garde fashion pushes the boundaries of conventional design, embracing innovation, experimentation, and artistic expression. It often features unconventional materials, asymmetrical cuts, and dramatic silhouettes. Avant-garde designers like Alexander McQueen, Rei Kawakubo (of Comme des Garçons), and Issey Miyake create pieces that challenge the norms and provoke thought. This type of fashion is not always about wearability but rather about making a statement and exploring new frontiers.

Athleisure

Athleisure combines athletic and leisurewear, creating a style that is both comfortable and fashionable. It includes items like yoga pants, leggings, sports bras, and sneakers that can be worn for both exercise and everyday activities. This trend reflects the growing emphasis on health, wellness, and the casualization of dress codes. Brands like Lululemon, Nike, and Athleta are pioneers in athleisure, offering functional yet stylish options for the modern, active lifestyle.

Gothic

Gothic fashion draws inspiration from the dark, mysterious aesthetics of gothic literature, architecture, and music. It often features black clothing, lace, velvet, corsets, and Victorian-inspired accessories. The style can range from romantic and elaborate to punk-influenced and industrial. Designers like Alexander McQueen and Rick Owens have incorporated gothic elements into their collections, blending darkness with high fashion.

Punk

Punk fashion emerged in the 1970s as a rebellious statement against the mainstream. It is characterized by DIY elements, distressed fabrics, safety pins, leather jackets, and bold hairstyles like mohawks. Punk fashion is inherently anti-establishment and often incorporates political messages. Designers like Vivienne Westwood played a crucial role in bringing punk aesthetics to the fashion world, merging subculture with haute couture.

Ethnic and Traditional

Ethnic and traditional fashion celebrates cultural heritage and craftsmanship from around the world. It includes clothing and accessories that are specific to a culture or region, such as Indian saris, Japanese kimonos, African Ankara prints, and Native American beadwork. This type of fashion preserves and honors cultural identity while often inspiring contemporary designers to incorporate traditional elements into modern designs.

Business and Formal

Business and formal fashion revolves around professional and sophisticated attire suitable for work environments and formal occasions. Key pieces include tailored suits, blazers, dress shirts, pencil skirts, and formal dresses. Brands like Hugo Boss, Armani, and Brooks Brothers are renowned for their business attire. This type of fashion emphasizes professionalism, confidence, and elegance.

Casual and Everyday

Casual fashion encompasses comfortable and practical clothing for everyday wear. It includes items like jeans, T-shirts, sneakers, and casual dresses. This style prioritizes comfort and ease, making it versatile for various activities. Brands like Levi's, Gap, and Uniqlo are staples in casual fashion, offering timeless pieces that can be dressed up or down.

Sustainable Fashion

Sustainable fashion focuses on environmental and ethical responsibility. It involves using eco-friendly materials, fair trade practices, and promoting slow fashion over fast fashion. Sustainable fashion aims to reduce the negative impact on the planet and improve working conditions in the fashion industry. Brands like Patagonia, Stella McCartney, and Eileen Fisher are leaders in this movement, advocating for a more mindful approach to fashion consumption.

Conclusion

The world of fashion is vast and varied, encompassing a multitude of styles that cater to different tastes, cultures, and occasions. From the opulence of haute couture to the practicality of casual wear, each type of fashion tells a unique story and serves a distinct purpose. Understanding the diversity in fashion not only broadens our sartorial horizons but also deepens our appreciation for the creativity and craftsmanship that define this ever-evolving industry. Whether you gravitate towards the timeless elegance of preppy fashion or the bold statements of avant-garde, there is a style for everyone in the tapestry of fashion.

[spawn-universe]

Comic book creator Todd McFarlane talks Spawn reboot, working with Ozzy and competing with the giants

Credit Calgary herald

Todd McFarlane has not forgotten the vow he made to Calgary back in 2017.

At the time, the comic book artist, producer and toy entrepreneur was a guest at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo and was asked about the long-gestating reboot of Spawn, which had spent years in developmental purgatory. He told the audience at the Stampede Corral that the film would hold its premiere in Calgary if he gets it “off the ground.

Fast-forward six years later McFarlane says the film is back on track. A-list writers Scott Silver, who co-wrote the 2019 hit Joker, and Malcolm Spellman, who created the Disney+ superhero series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, are currently working on the screenplay. Jamie Foxx has long been attached to play the lead role, a superhero/antihero that McFarlane first created at the age of 16 in his parents’ basement near Crowchild and 24th Avenue N.W.

The 1992 comic book debut, which came out on McFarlane’s Image Comics, sold more than 1.7 million copies and the Spawn series holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-running, creator-owned, superhero comic book title. There was a 1997 live-action film with Michael Jae White, which grossed more than $100 million, and an Emmy-winning animated series that ran on HBO from 1997 to 1999. The reboot has been in the works in one form or another for years.

“On the movie front, hopefully – fingers crossed – by the middle of this year we should be making a big announcement that we found our studio, we made our deal and potentially, as part of that deal, they’ve given us our production start date,” says McFarlane. “Really, all fans care about is ‘When can I go see it?’ But at least I’ve got to be able to say ‘This year. We’ve got the money, we’ve got the backing and we’ve even got a start date.'

When it does come out, McFarlane still wants to hold one of the premieres in his hometown.

“Let me tell you right now, if I possibly can, I’m putting it into the contract,” McFarlane says. “It might be the dealbreaker. And I get two premiere spots. I live in Phoenix, I think the Phoenix people will come out in droves because they did the first time we did Spawn. I think they will come out in droves and have a good time in Calgary. That’s it. There it is: If you don’t give me that, then I pull this entire deal. I’m going to see if I can negotiate that.”

McFarlane was back in Calgary this week visiting family. On Sunday, hundreds of fans showed up at Video Game Trader in Lake Bonavista for an autograph session. In 1981, the William Aberhart High School grad left Calgary at the age of 18 on a baseball scholarship to Eastern Washington University, where he studied art and design. Within a few weeks of graduation, he got his first comic book job for Marvel. He would go on to illustrate for both Marvel and DC, drawing for Batman: Year 2, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and co-creating the Spider-Man villain/anti-hero Venom.

But he is arguably still best known for creating Spawn and for co-founding Image Comics in 1992, which also became home to Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore’s Walking Dead comic-book series. In 1994, he revolutionized the toy industry with the realistic action figures he created for McFarlane Toys. In 1999, he won an Emmy for the animated Spawn series and earned a Grammy nod for directing Pearl Jam’s animated video for Do The Evolution. The following year, he won a Grammy for directing the video for Korn’s Freak on a Leash.

Late last year, he returned to the medium to direct the video for Ozzy Osbourne’s Patient Number Nine, which resulted in a lengthy feature in Rolling Stone magazine about McFarlane’s work in music videos.

“The request came from (Ozzy’s wife) Sharon Osbourne,” McFarlane says. “I knew her from the past. We had done some stuff with toys and comic books with her and had always done well. In the pre-preparation for shooting, I was dealing mostly with the record label and Sharon. I’m sure she showed everything to Ozzy to get the sign-off. The day of the shoot, that dude was a pro. It’s one thing I’ve always been super impressed with for all the music videos I’ve been involved with. When you say ‘Action,’ all of them are performers. They know what to do when they are on stage. This switch goes on and they just do it. At that point when we shot it, I think it was about a week before his back surgery. He just had pretty extensive back surgery and was living in severe pain. You could see he was in pain and his mobility was limited and all that. So he paced himself, which is what a smart person would do. But when I said ‘Action,’ he turned into the 25, 30-year-old Ozzy.”

On top of the promising developments in the Spawn reboot, McFarlane has continued to find success in both the comic book and toy worlds. He credits the relatively small group of people he works with for the company’s David-versus-Goliath success.

“I’ve got a good core of people,” he says. “We’re scrappy. We’re the Bad News Bears of our industry.”

In 2021, Spawn beat out behemoths DC Comics and Marvel to become the No. 1 selling comic book. That same year, his Spawn spinoff titles – Scorched, Gunslinger Spawn and King Spawn – broke sales records. Last year, the crossover Batman Spawn title became a bestseller.

McFarlane Toys’ beat out Fortune 500 companies such as Hasbro and Mattel with the bestselling action-figure line of 2021. The company is currently licensed to create figures for Black Adam, Shazam, The Flash and Batman movies for the DC Multiverse, James Cameron’s Avatar, Dune and even Ted Lasso.

“Their size is their blessing and their curse,” says McFarlane about the giant corporations he competes with. “I could say the same thing about my smallness: it’s my blessing and my curse. Here’s the blessing: I can move quick, I can move fast. Here’s their curse: They are so big and bloated, they can’t move fast. If I see an opening, I can see that opening way faster than they can get into it. I’m not trying to compete, let’s say on the toy front, directly with what the giants are doing. I’m not trying to slay the giants, that’s not the victory. The victory is saying: Where have they left the gap?”

[malayaorganics]

Exploring the Tranquil Elegance of Lavender Water: Benefits, Uses, and Beyond

Discover the soothing allure of Lavender Water, a timeless botanical elixir revered for its myriad of benefits and versatile applications. From skincare to aromatherapy, this fragrant hydrosol embodies tranquility and elegance, offering a holistic approach to well-being.

Unveiling the Essence of Lavender Water:

Lavender Water is a gentle distillation of lavender flowers, capturing the essence of this beloved herb in a delicate aqueous form.

Unlike essential oils, which are extracted through steam distillation or solvent extraction, lavender water is obtained through the distillation of lavender blooms, resulting in a milder, water-soluble product.

The process preserves the aromatic compounds and therapeutic properties of lavender, imbuing the water with its signature floral scent and calming effects.

The Benefits of Lavender Water:

Lavender Water boasts a multitude of benefits for both the body and mind, thanks to its natural composition and soothing properties.

It is renowned for its calming and balancing effects on the skin, making it an ideal toner for all skin types, especially those prone to sensitivity or inflammation.

The gentle astringent properties of lavender water help to minimize pores, reduce excess oil production, and promote a clear, radiant complexion.

Beyond skincare, lavender water is prized for its aromatic qualities, serving as a natural air freshener, linen spray, and mood enhancer in aromatherapy practices.

Versatile Uses in Skincare:

Incorporating Lavender Water into your skincare routine can yield remarkable results, thanks to its gentle yet effective nature.

Use it as a facial toner to refresh and rebalance the skin after cleansing, or as a soothing mist throughout the day to hydrate and revitalize tired skin.

Its anti-inflammatory properties make it particularly beneficial for soothing sunburns, insect bites, and other minor skin irritations.

Harnessing the Power of Aromatherapy:

In aromatherapy practices, Lavender Water is prized for its calming and uplifting effects on the mind and emotions.

Diffuse it in your home or workspace to create a serene atmosphere that promotes relaxation, concentration, and mental clarity.

Mist your pillows and linens with lavender water before bedtime to promote restful sleep and alleviate insomnia.

Combine lavender water with other complementary essential oils, such as bergamot or chamomile, to create custom blends tailored to your specific needs and preferences.

Culinary and Household Applications:

Beyond skincare and aromatherapy, Lavender Water can also be used in culinary and household applications.

Add a splash of lavender water to baked goods, beverages, and desserts for a subtle floral flavor and aroma.

Use it as a natural flavoring agent in syrups, sauces, and salad dressings, or incorporate it into homemade jams and preserves for a gourmet touch.

In the home, lavender water can be used as a gentle cleaner and deodorizer for surfaces, fabrics, and upholstery, leaving behind a fresh, lingering scent.

Conclusion: Embrace the Tranquility of Lavender Water

In a world filled with synthetic fragrances and harsh chemicals, Lavender Water offers a natural and holistic approach to skincare, aromatherapy, and beyond. Whether used as a soothing toner, a calming mist, or a fragrant addition to culinary creations, its versatility and gentle efficacy make it a must-have staple in any wellness arsenal. Embrace the tranquility and elegance of lavender water and experience the transformative power of botanical beauty.