#authentically plastic

[xartwrk]

Raw Space by Authentically Plastic

[noneedtofearorhope]

In the parlance of neoliberal multiculturalism, to feel “seen” and “heard” is considered an unalloyed good. But what does it mean to feel seen or heard in a surveillance state hellbent on your erasure? Ugandan artist, DJ, and drag queen Authentically Plastic, an organizer of ANTI-MASS alongside Nsasi and Turkana, has played a pivotal role in shaping the queer music scene in Kampala, facing police crackdowns and surveillance in response to that scene’s mere existence. Debuting on Nyege Nyege’s Hakuna Kulala imprint with Raw Space, the self-described quasi-Marxist embeds their poststructural musings into their noisy electronics.

As their moniker suggests, Authentically Plastic is all-too-familiar with contradiction. In pre-colonial Uganda, the presence of people who flouted Western gender binaries was a pretense for aggressive and violent colonization; today, conservative Ugandan lawmakers almost succeeded in canceling this year’s Nyege Nyege Festival for “promoting homosexuality” and other “un-African things.” Even as public scrutiny has led to raids on LGBTQ spaces in Kampala, the international renown of Nyege Nyege has saved the festival this year from cancellation. In a similar vein, Raw Space is an exploration of sonic contradiction—how do you find freedom in the quantized, repetitive form of electronic dance music? How do you navigate a music career as an African artist around Western institutions that are “more than happy to appropriate at all costs”?

Authentically Plastic answers the former with polymeter, and lots of it. Rather than do away with pulse altogether, they use this musical parallax effect to flout metrical readability. “Spine Jolt” begins with a lurching kick pattern on the 4×4 grid, around which float overlapping clouds of percussion. “Buul a’Nyich,” on the other hand, uses polymeter to a more disorienting effect, like a car tire that appears to be spinning backward..

This is not to say that rawness or intensity is absent. Authentically Plastic makes ample use of “rupture and discontinuity, those horrendous acts of (Black) Aesthetic Terrorism.” It’s present in the teeth-rattling distortion in the aptly-named opening track “Aesthetic Terrorism,” the omnipresent noise that occasionally coalesces into anguished cries in “Sakata.” Their use of abrasive sonic detritus and fugitive rhythm go hand in hand in resisting the slickness of European-style business techno. Kampala may be a “Smooth Space of Blackness,” but the libidinous friction of Raw Space has plenty of room for the rough.

[sonic-adventure-3]

wait do people know about grind plate heelys. soap shoes are owned by heelys nowadays (acquired about a year or two after sa2 iirc) and they made soap shoes heelys

lookit em!! soap heelys!!!

[theowritesfiction]

One thing I really love about visiting Scotland is their charmingly sarcastic customer service.

We went to have a pub meal the other day, and they didn't have any larger tables, so we had to split the party and sit down at two separate tables. But as soon as a larger table became free, one of the servers immediately came over and offered us to relocate so we could all sit together. So, one of my lady friends thank the server for being very thoughtful.

His reply was: Och, don't be daft, yer silly goose!

Earlier today, we were at a souvenir shop, and one of my friends decided to buy a very grumpy looking plush turtle.

The souvenir shop cashier's first words were: Have you found your spirit animal, Sir?

[everyth1ngandnoth1nghauntsme777]

The poem I wrote about being sad about my perfume not smelling as good anymore

[albertayebisackey]

“In a world of plastic people, authenticity becomes a rare treasure.”

[ladymacabrebeth]

I prefer people who are raw, authentic, and don't pretend to be good. That's better than those who wear fake smiles, self-righteousness, morals, and verses like a badge yet vote for criminals. You've got to be kidding me right?

Lady Macabre Beth

[adventuretolkienlover]

LEGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOS!

[belle--ofthebrawl]

Squeeeeeeeeeze!!! You've been given a hug! Send this to all the people who deserve a hug. See how many you get back 😊 Now let the hugging begin! 💜

And a hug in return for you, of course! Thank you!

I'm at a quiet moment right now in my Saturday but not for long so I don't have time to send one to everyone I'd like. So if you're reading this, you may have a hug if you want one.

[misogyny]

I think something that is interesting to see is when a gaming company, usually, gets called on dropping some horrifically racist and ugly character design that is a mish mash of many cultures with a dash of "completely inauthentic, fabricated costume piece with origins from inauthentic historical art or equally as erroneous portrayals in movies", I have seen people say something to the effect of "if they can research and portray Europeans just fine, why can't they research this?". But, usually, and especially with anything that is historical fantasy, I can take a cursory glance over the cast of characters and see that they are very clearly Frankensteined together. An amalgam of vastly different countries, and often radically different time periods, too. As far as I know there is nothing like this going on at the moment, I'm just thinking about this

[writedisaster]

        writing from the voice of a jersey bitch pretending to be a valley girl play-acting at being a noir detective.  sometimes i wonder why i do these things to myself.

[psydelisy]

başlarına fes geçiren iki kedi başının altlı üstlü hizalandığı ve birbirine dönük iki yerli kadının başlarından aşağıya su döktükleri altın varaklı testilerin balığa -deniz kızına- dönüştüğü, koyu kırmızının ahşabı emerek yoğunlaştığı yerlerin üzerinden doğal mat siyah çizgi desenlerin savruluşuyla bütünleşerek ahenk oluşturan, harmonik akışla döngüsel bir denge hissi barındıran tablonun ortasına yerleştirilmiş kapıya benzer aynayı ikinci el eşya app'inde görür görmez; otantikliğinden etkilendiği bu varlığa ulaşmak adına satıcıya mesaj atıp durumunu sordu ve hala satılık olduğunu öğrenince satıcıyla buluştu. evin girişinde kapının yanında asılı duran endonezya'dan aldığı maya takviminin [tam] karşısına düşünerek aynayı satıcıdan aldı. o gün duvara asmadan kenara bıraktı. aydınlık bir gün, güneşin doğuşuyla düşünde görmüş gibi aynayı asmak için bıraktığı yerden alıp [tam] karşılıklı hizaladıktan sonra ikisinin [tam] arasına geçip takvimi aynadan görebilmek adına dizlerini bükerek yüzünü aynaya hizaladı. aynanın ortası göz hizasına denk düştüğünde takvimdeki yılan dilli surat tasvirinin etrafından kat kat dışarıya genişleyen kabartmalı dokulara sahip her bir dairesel yapı seride bir sonrakinin aksi yönüne hızla dönmeye başladı. süratle başlayıp giderek tek dişlinin son turuna kadar yavaşlayıp duran bir döngüyü seyrederken en geniş halkayı oluşturan çarkın üste denk gelen bir kenarında yer alan sivri ok belirli bir tarihi işaret ediyordu. bu yön işareti o günden bir gün öncesine denk gelen bir tarihi belirtiyordu. o an kalakaldı, bunun, olanların ne anlama geldiğini anlamaya çalışırken zihnini zorladı. bir gün önce neler yaşandığını hatırlamaya çalıştı. bir yandan bu olanların kendi hayatıyla bağdaşan yönlerini arıyor, bir yandan da en başından beri aynayı sadece maya takviminin [tam] karşısına asarsa bir sihri olacakmış gibi hissetmesinin sebeplerini bulmaya çalışıyordu. bu işi nereden çözmeye başlayacağı konusunda kafası karışmıştı. sanki ne kadar düşünürse düşünsün dünü hatırlayamayacak gibi olunca öncesini düşünmeyi bıraktı. mutfağa gidip buzdolabını açtı. ne yiyecek ne içecek, ne bir kap... dolapta raflar haricinde tek bir şey bile yoktu, anlam veremeden kapattı. sebilde su, tuzlukta tuz yok, yalnız acayiplikler vardı. telefonunu eline aldı. feysbuk'a tıkladı; açılan pencere bembeyazdı. instagram, twitter, tumblr, ekşi denedi, her sayfa beyazdı. kapının üzerindeki anahtarı alıp sokağa attı kendini. tüm sokak ayrıntıların olmadığı parlak ve kaygan görünen binalardan oluşan sahte bir manzara yaratıyordu. etraftaki ağaçların, altlarındaki çiçeklerin, bahçelerle çevrili evlerin plastikten oluşu p��rüzsüz yüzeylerinden anlaşılıyordu. yapay güneş içindeki renkleri soğurmuş ve neredeyse beyaza yakın bir ışığı yansıtmasından dolayı her şey parlıyordu. o ana daldı -bu dünya oyuncak bir maket sanki, dedi içinden. orda kendisinden arda kalan her şey cansız ve detaysız bir taslaktı sanki. bir şeylerin yaşayıp yaşamadığı hakkındaki sorgularını da aksatıyor, geçmişi düşünemeyişi ona hayalete dönüştüğünü dahi hissettiremiyordu. garipliğin hakimiyetinden hissizleşmişti. galiba ölmek, bu makette ne olduğunu bilmeden hareket etmek, anlamadan bu makete dahil olmaktı. cansızlıkta var olmak mı ölüm?, diye düşündü. bu düşüncelere eşlik eden daraltının ortasında, dev bir balonun içinde sıkışıp her saniye boşalan hava gitgide ciğerlerinin [tam] içine doluyormuş gibi hissetti. buradan başka bir yere zihnen ve bedenen uyanmanın imkansızlığının duvarları örülmüştü. değerlendirirken pek net sonuçlara varamıyordu; sonuçta ölümü kendine öldüğünü söyleyebilecek kadar tanımıyordu. tüm ölümünü bu maketten kurtulmaya çalışarak geçirdi, taa ki yeniden doğuşuna kadar... yeniden doğduğunda ise herşey tamamiyle yenilendi, soğurulan ışıklar resetlendi, kendi olan şey dahil; her şey. artık yeniden Ken'disi olacaktı. ona göre yapılası yegane şey de buydu. belki bir bedende, toprakta, bir arının taşıdığı polende, bir yanardağın külünde bir parça kendi olacaktı. her şey bambaşka görünüyordu ama aslında yalnızca tek bir şeyin hiç değişmediğinin farkındaydı

eğer öldüyse yaşadı; yaşıyorduysa ölecekti

zamanın göreceliliğinde.

I’m just Ken

[americandeadstock]

Hacked Balenciaga Card Top

If you're wondering how many Balenciaga purchases it took to make this top..the answer is 27. Made of 100% authentic Balenciaga certificate cards in white plastic, this one of a kind top is linked together with silver-toned stainless steel chain and is totally adjustable at the shoulder and down the back. One size. 

INSTA | @americandeadstock

SHOP | www.americandeadstock.com

© American Deadstock ™

[findasongblog]

Find A Song that explores the world where we are always on a cusp of a better life, but never quite there

Plastic Barricades - Second-hand Dreams

Overwhelmed and overworked, we are drowning in an endless ocean of distractions and superficial communication, trying to impress people we don’t actually like. 

Our thoughts and actions are being regulated and limited and we are afraid of taking risks and breaking free from the confines of conformity. We live someone else’s dreams, which are moulded by corporations and their relentless ad agencies.

Can we escape this never-ending rat race and find solace in discovering our own authentic path? 

The single comes accompanied by a quirky music video made using the latest developments in AI-assisted text-to-video algorithms. Produced by the band’s art director Elina Pasok, the video invites you on a quest through the office cubicles and winding corridors in search of a dream that’s truly yours.  

Added to FAS Spotify playlists alt rock and our times.

[waffled0g]

Everyone gets “The 90s” look wrong and I hate it

Couple years ago I saw these two board games at the store back to back. Well, not saw them per se, but ya know. Spied them out of the corner of my eye. And for a moment without reading the text, I couldn’t tell you which was which decade at first. Funny. Either they were in a rush to get these out the door or they wanted their throwback trivia game boxes to look uniform. I didn’t think too much of it.

Only, from then on I started seeing it MORE. Every time someone markets a 90s or 80s throwback...

Goddammit they’re identical! What??! How did we let this happen? As a 90s survivor and a designer, this drives me up a wall.

Look, I know I’m late to the party to complain about “the 90s look” when we’re just starting to get sick of the Y2K nostalgia train. But c’mon, the 90s were not The 80s: Part Two™ 

Trust me when I say that we weren’t all wearing neon trapezoids up until the year 2000. The 90s look being peddled is so specific to the tail end of the 80s and an early early part of the 90s - a part of the 90s when it wouldn’t stop being the 80s. This is Memphis design being conflated with the wrong decade.

Keep reading for a long ass graphic design history lesson and pictures of old soda and fast food.

Specifically, the look is Memphis Milano, self-named by the Italian design house Memphis Group. Starting in the early to mid 80s, they made all sorts of furniture, fabrics and sculptures that were like a Piet Mondrian grid painting under heavy radiation. Their whole deal was defying the standards of existing industrial design up to that point on purpose. Chairs had weird arches, bookcases would be in strange alien colors, unusual materials like plastic or elastic were used in place of metal or wood, that sorta thing.

Memphis quickly became the signature look for the decade. You can tell something’s influenced by Memphis design from it’s telltale trademarks:

Clashing, neon colors.

Use of diametric shapes.

Contrasting patterns like zebra print stripes, confetti squiggles and checkerboards.

It wasn’t long before Memphis Milano-inspired design was everywhere in 80s pop culture:

It was a special time, yes.

I was a kindergartener at the tail end of the 80s, so I knew Memphis mostly through the lens of kids media. Toys, clothes, games, tv shows used it like candy colored catnip. Cable channel Nickelodeon more or less adopted the Memphis aesthetic as their signature in-house style and practically built a monument to it at a Florida theme park:

I think this is why folks mistake what decade Memphis is representative of - 90s staples like Nick, Saved By The Bell, Fresh Prince - they all stayed around much longer than the design trend’s expiration date. 

Couple that notion with the fact that companies are slow followers to design trends. Something gets popular and they want to get on the bandwagon? Gotta wait for the ink to dry, gotta wait for the production molds to be made. It would take a few years for them to completely work Memphis outta their system.

Now, this is not to say Memphis is bad! Personally I’m a fan of the aesthetic, if my neon-drenched artwork wasn’t a tip-off already. But it is a trend, and trends never last forever.

So what took the Memphis Milano look down for good? This part’s up for debate, but I personally think it had something to do with this dude:

It’s that grunge music from Seattle that’s so popular with the kids these days dontchaknow.

Once Smells Like Teen Spirit hit in 1991, the Nirvana tone drove the rest of the decade. Clean geometry became weathered, grainy and organic. Bright neon pastels became more bold. Bubblegum pop music sounded fake and manufactured. Attitude and apathy was authentic. Whatever.

Things got grungy. Things got grimy. Olestra was invented.

I think the best way to visualize this transition is how Cherry Coke entered the decade and how it left it:

1992 Memphis on the left, 1998 grunge junkie on the right. Fitting that the 90s would end with a design that looked like Darth Maul’s lungs.

Okay, so what should 90s retro design look like?

Continue on to PART TWO! Spoilers: No VHS filters or vaporwave needed, but maybe bring an antacid.

[unsilken]

thinking about that "i don't care if you're a man or an alien" line and the insanely good show it was in and how they just don't do shows so sincerely anymore and how much i hate Netflix