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wannabeemoprincess · 3 years ago

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Over the past year of a global pandemic, there seems to be two main competing narratives of recent events that we have in the West. The first narrative being that COVID is a very real issue that we need to take action to fight against, the other that COVID is either completely fake, or greatly exaggerated for some sort of political gain, and any action the government takes in the name of fighting it is actually a sinister power grab. The first narrative tends to focus on personal responsibility, insisting that if we wear our masks, wash our hands, stay 6 feet apart, refuse to hug grandma, and listen to the experts everything will be fine. the people who refuse to comply are either dumb or bad, or both.

The second narrative claims to focus on personal liberty, insisting that government overreach is killing small businesses, that public health orders to wear masks or get vaccines is some how tyranny and a violation of their "self ownership", and liberals hate your grandparents for being old racist white people so they want them to die alone. Or something. Both these narratives have their flaws, and I would like to try and address both while presenting a more dialectical understanding of recent events.

The first narrative definitely gets the closest to the truth, but it really fumbles explaining much or providing a plan after it identifies the very real problem of COVID, and the need for a proper response to save lives. This concept that anyone who is anti-vax or anti-mask is just simply anti-facts, anti-science, and either bad or dumb or both is dangerously reductive *at best*. A lot of the time when I see people responding to anti-mask/anti-vax rhetoric it's very dismissive, telling people to just shut up and trust the experts, because you are dumb and they are smart and essentially good people who only want to help us. But like, if you bother to actually look at history you can find *tons* of examples of supposed experts either lying or covering up information for corporate profits at the cost of the well being of the people. One easy example would be when tobacco companies used to insist that doctors actually recommended smoking, promoting their deadly cancer sticks as some how healthy.

A more relevant example would be the Tuskegee experiments, an experiment in 1932 where around 600 Black men were deceived into participating in the experiment under the belief they would receive free medical care, however, instead were used without informed consent as human test subjects. The objective of the study was to observe untreated syphilis, treatment was never part of the plan. This wasn't only a massive ethical violation, but a prime example of how white supremacy can effect every aspect of society and even parts such as health care are tainted by it. The men abused for this "study" were told it would last 6 months, however it was extended to last 40 years, only cancelled after a leak caused public pressure to finally stop this barbaric "study". Unfortunately 128 of the victims had already died at this point due to syphilis or related complications.

Now, A lot of the anti-mask and anti-vax crowd tends to be white. And I'm honestly not sure how many of them are very informed on the subject of the Tuskegee experiments. However, there is a very recent example that has almost definitely affected the typically privileged middle class white demographic particularly harder than usual where medical professionals deceived the public for financial gain, experts lied in their "studies", and a lot of families are either still rebuilding from the fallout, or will never get back friends or family members they lost to the opiate epidemic.

Dangerous drugs like Oxycodone were being pushed like candy, with studies that "proved" they weren't addictive or habit forming. Doctors were basically being bribed by pharmaceutical companies to prescribe more and more pills. There was a point where it seemed like anyone could take their kid to the doctor, and complain about their inability to focus, and get an ADHD diagnosis and some pills to fix them. A lot of people felt lied to and abused by medical professionals, someone who you were raised to trust as a friendly noble profession that had your best interests in mind. Big Pharma, to be clear, is literally a faceless monster that cannot care about human lives, and only seeks to create more and more profit for owners & investors. And unfortunately, the rest of the medical industry is pretty much reliant on Big Pharma & the Medical industrial complex, as it would be pretty much impossible to open a medical practice without any medicine or equipment. So I can fully understand why an appeal to the authority of the experts can easily get brushed off as "ignorant sheep" who trust "the man", honestly.

But there's a very big material difference between the opiate epidemic, or really most medical issues, and something like COVID & vaccines in general. And that would be that vaccination *relies on as many as people being vaccinated to actually work*. If only the rich and powerful can access a vaccine, the disease will not be eradicated, evolve and mutate, and eventually the vaccine is rendered useless. This means they have a very real material interest in ignoring their profit motive, for once.

Something to consider would be the Black Plague & the change from feudalism toward capitalism. One of the major factors that destabilized the monarchy's absolute power was the mass deaths of the working population. When there are hordes of hungry people desperate for work, they tend to have very little power to demand better conditions when they do find work, as they are easily replaceable. With a drastically lowered work force, the power balance between peasant & Lord was exposed, the peasantry was able to revolt, and over throw the Kings, and a new power relationship was established of worker & owner, which was progressive at the time, but we're now at the point where the divide between the working class and the owner class is even greater than the old divide of serf and lord.

Those who own capital, be it rental properties, a factory, or investments, have complete power over those who only have their body and their time to sell to those who own the stores & factories, to rent the homes they can't afford anymore from landlords who hoard housing as a commodity to profit off of. We're told if we work hard enough, we could possibly own something, too. And we're just bitter and ungrateful when we complain. And we're replaceable. But how would that change if the masses of workers were dying in the streets of a plague again?

While wealth definitely creates a lot of privilege, and their experience of living through a pandemic is immeasurably different from ours, at the end of the day they haven't yet lost sight of the reality that without masses of poors to exert their power over, their money becomes entirely useless. Which is why they’re willing to part with vaccines without completely maximizing their profits, though as vaccine patents & the West hoarding vaccines while the Global South continues to suffer show they still haven’t totally let go of their profit motive, and are definitely willing to let masses of brown people die to protect the profits of shareholders and investors at home.

I guess I can quickly address the conspiracy that vaccines are some how microchips to track you or whatever:

Smart phones.

They can already do that.

Now, with all that said, I fully do believe that masks & vaccines are effective, and that we all should use them! But I'm still incredibly critical of the way the government has handled this crisis. For one, it's absurd to try and use tickets and fines to enforce mask mandates when the State has failed to distribute masks! Expecting it to be everyone's personal responsibility to buy their own masks during an economic crisis is incredibly ignorant of the reality of just how desperate living from paycheck to paycheck can be. Free masks should have been provided, shipped directly to the people. Considering how many cases have been coming from factories & other brutal working conditions , the emphasis on personal responsibility clearly ignores how corporations are willing to sacrifice their employees health and well being to maximize their profits. Even in a country with free medical care, you have a financial incentive to try and just "tough it out" and hope its a cold if you live paycheck to paycheck and have no paid sick leave.

I think the left is fumbling a real opportunity to demand better and seize meaningful power that would make us a real force of change instead of a fringe ideology people mostly only hear about on the internet. There's a lot of legitimate fear and anxiety over covid, the economy, and even the idea of trusting experts that will never, ever be addressed as long as people just wag their finger and tell those who are scared that they're just dumb and bad and they should be good and smart like us. Which isn't to say that I don't think there aren't morally bankrupt grifters.

I'm almost positive anyone leading any of these movements, selling their own brand of "patriot rebel" merch to the hordes of followers they amass is some kind of grifter. And I've been to the counter protests , I've seen the white power hand signs in the crowd. There's definitely fascists who see this as an opportunity to capitalize on the fear and unrest, and see these movements as a perfect breeding ground for new recruits. But I've come to the realization that by letting them keep me responding to them, I'll never actually be able to properly challenge their narrative. I'm frequently expected to defend the neoliberal hypocrisy in the covid response while I'm arguing with them, and when I try to explain my criticisms of neoliberalism they're already gishgalloping to another talking point, and it's impossible to actually present a nuanced argument that presents a more dialectical framework to understand these things.

I realize now that we need to make our criticism and our demands loudly, and we need to be able to take the spotlight off of far right reactionaries preying on the fears and paranoia that they only see as nothing more than an opportunity for profit. There is no going back to normal when COVID is over. We have to decide now, socialism, or barbarism.

#covid #masks #vaccines #antivax #anti mask #freedom #covid19

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khalilhumam · 4 years ago

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COVID-19 causes Trinidad and Tobago to cancel its Carnival for 2021

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/covid-19-causes-trinidad-and-tobago-to-cancel-its-carnival-for-2021/

COVID-19 causes Trinidad and Tobago to cancel its Carnival for 2021

There is still hope for a virtual festival

“Carnival Tuesday meggie”: Carnival lover Attillah Springer gives a “meggie” – a hand gesture that brings the thumb and four fingers together in a sign of derision, scorn or rejection. Photo by Georgia Popplewell, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

It may have been anticipated, but now it's official: thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, Trinidad and Tobago's 2021 Carnival celebrations have been cancelled. Prime Minister Keith Rowley made the announcement on the afternoon of September 28, calling the national festival “the perfect environment for the spreading of the virus.” Despite the inevitable economic blow the decision will have, he said, he's not prepared to take the risk. Reaction, predictably, was split. While most people applauded the decision, calling it both “expected” and “solid”, others wondered about the fate of those whose income depends on the national festival. When one Facebook user called the decision “insane”, Josie Aché-De Goulard retorted:

NO! it's realistic and logical is what it is. Everyone else has already gone ahead and cancelled theirs. I do not possibly see how any “right thinking” citizen of T&T could possibly think to put the country under further threat from Covid-19.

Trinidad and Tobago Carnival 2020 was already over by the time the country recorded its first case of COVID-19 in March. Other countries that host annual Carnivals, including Brazil, have already postponed their 2021 events, but it is only the third time in history that Trinidad and Tobago has put theirs on hold—a history that Trinidadian author Michael Anthony chronicled in his book “Parade of the Carnivals of Trinidad, 1839-1989″. In the chapter etitled “Carnival in a World of War,” Anthony noted that the festival continued as usual during World War I, which was fought largely in Europe. After the war ended, the 1919 celebrations were known as “Victory Carnival”. During World War II, the festival did not take place at all between 1942 and 1945, although “spontaneous” celebrations happened on May 8 and 9, 1945 in honour of Victory in Europe (VE) Day, and on Aug 15 and 16, 1945 for Victory over Japan (VJ) Day. The country's street festival was postponed from February 1972 to May 1973 because of the threat of the polio virus, so it is not as if the move to put off next year's Carnival celebrations is unprecedented. In fact, many netizens saw it coming, but hoped that a virtual celebration might take its place. In a Facebook status update on June 24, Maria Rivas-Mc predicted that “promoters are going to have to Zoom in fete-goers to the music and the vibe from concert halls in ‘foreign’ [abroad]!” Virtual Carnivals are something that costume designers like Clary Salandy have already been experimenting with—the band she and her husband created for Notting Hill Carnival 2020 was showcased online. Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival stakeholders have also expressed excitement about the opportunity to share their creativity in the virtual realm. Facebook user Marc Bejai suggested:

We keep forgetting that there are elements of carnival that are outside the realm of the street parade. We should adapt and showcase our calypso, pan, extempo and dimanche gras much like how sporting events are still being carried out.

Both calypso music and the steelpan instrument originated in Trinidad and Tobago. Extempo refers to an extemporaneous form of calypso, and Dimanche Gras, literally translated as “Big Sunday,” is a grand show at which coveted titles like the Calypso Monarch are decided. Franka Philip of Trini Good Media, which produces the “Talk ‘Bout Us” podcast, crowdsourced opinions on what a virtual Carnival might look like. Most commenters felt that simply delaying the celebrations would be best, with Zahra Gordon suggesting that it may be an opportune time “to re-focus to community Carnivals and limit the size of large bands.” Anthony Bisnath added:

Aside from the issue of a vaccine being made available globally, it’s difficult to envision any Carnival 2021 at all, due to the commercialization of the festival, and the limitations of two major sources of revenue: Government expenditure will be prioritized elsewhere, and corporate entities will slash sponsorship budgets. Having a 2021 Carnival may jeopardize the planning cycle for one in 2022. It will be almost impossible to execute, as Carnival mas [costume] production is essentially a 12 month cycle. So there are challenges to logistics, Sponsorship, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Costuming, International Travel, Consumer Patterns, Disposable Income and Statutory Approvals all changing for the next 18 months.

Carnival enthusiast Tillah Willah was not perturbed, however. She posted on Facebook:

You don’t always need a crowd to observe your ritual, to praise your ancestors, to offer thanks to the universe for your life.

One Twitter user, however, wasn't quite so optimistic:

I woulda rather get horn than be told it having no carnival — Travis World (@itstravisworld) September 28, 2020

“Horn” is Caribbean slang for infidelity. Other netizens wondered whether, given the cancellation of the physical street parade, they would have to go to work on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. Apart from essential services, most workplaces are closed on those two days, even though they are not official public holidays. It didn't take long for the memes to surface. This one poked fun at what the 2021 designs in a sought-after band—known for its skimpy costumes—might look like:

Meme about Trinidad and Tobago Carnival 2021, widely shared on social media.

It is a question that both the producers and loyal participants of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival are still trying to figure out, but stakeholder Rubadiri Victor certainly hoped that a virtual Carnival 2021 is in the offing:

Trinidad and Tobago should see virtual Carnival 2021 as the launch of T&T's virtual economy! […] We are creating a telegenic event with brilliant filmmakers and Carnival, Creative, and Business stakeholders for international consumption with brand T&T as the winner!

< p class='gv-rss-footer'>Written by Janine Mendes-Franco

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recentanimenews · 5 years ago

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Thanks For the Memories: 20 Years of The Big O

Many anime fans remember their very first taste of anime, whether it was Robotech after school, Fullmetal Alchemist on Adult Swim, or streaming My Hero Academia here on Crunchyroll. For fans of my generation, Toonami was crucial, bringing together classics like Sailor Moon, Yu Yu Hakusho, Trigun, and my personal favorite, The Big O, in a single afternoon block. Today marks the 20th anniversary of The Big O in Japan, and it's the perfect show to be nostalgic for, since it's all about a city haunted by a forgotten past and the hunt for lost memories. There was nothing quite like it at the time in 1999, and there's still nothing quite like it today. Younger fans may have missed the hype on this uniquely stylish mecha noir entirely, so it's the perfect time for a drive down Paradigm City's memory lane. Big O... it's showtime!

The Big O is the story of Roger Smith, the Negotiator of Paradigm City, a seemingly post-apocalyptic domed city barely holding it together after a mysterious event 40 years prior in which everyone lost their memories. What a "Negotiator" is is never precisely defined, but Smith acts as a private eye, superhero, and giant robot pilot for events that the city's military police are too ill-equipped to handle. People have gone on living without memories by reconstructing identities from whatever old photographs, books, and films might still be around, but there's still a gnawing hunger in many to know what cannot be known. Mysterious android girl R Dorothy Wayneright acts as Roger Smith's companion as he faces down the secrets of the past that can't stay buried. Along the way he meets Angel, an amnesiac femme fatale whose lust for memories of the lost past surpasses all others, and mad journalist Michael Seebach, anarchic Joker to Smith's Batman, who thinks Paradigm City is built entirely on lies and worse, seems to be right. Above it all is Alex Rosewater, head of the Paradigm Corporation and de facto dictator of Paradigm City who seems to know more than he lets on. And of course, when giant war machines of the past show up on the city streets, Roger Smith calls "Showtime" and engages in brutal robot combat that threatens to tear the entire city apart every time.

"Part James Bond, part Bruce Wayne, part giant robot," the old Toonami ads promised, but this was a pre-sakuga age when the only widely known director was Hayao Miyazaki. Were I to try and pitch The Big O to the generation that missed it on Toonami and have heard little of it sense, I would draw their attention to the incredible team assembled for the series. The Big O was animated by Cowboy Bebop's Sunrise, previously subcontracted to work on Batman: The Animated Series, which accounts for the show's influence on The Big O's singular look. The director was Kazuyoshi Katayama, storyboarder and animation director for Giant Robo, another classic robot epic about gigantic steampunk leviathans. The script was by Chiaka J. Konaka, the prolific writer in charge of many other canonized 90s classics like Serial Experiments Lain and Magic Users' Club. And the Western cultural touchstone I would most compare The Big O to is Twin Peaks, not only for its noirish sensibilities and surrealistic tendencies, but also for its premature cancellation and miraculous continuation years down the line.

Like its Toonami brethren Cowboy Bebop and Trigun, The Big O is a pastiche of various Western elements done in a way that we haven't really seen before or since. The Batman vibe is obvious (Roger Smith even has a butler), but The Big O also pulls from other noir private eye stories of Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade. The retro-robots pull from the pioneering sci-fi works of Isaac Asimov, including the "R" title designation for android citizens. The robot combat obviously pulls from Giant Robo and the tokusatsu shows that inspired it like Johnny Socko and Super Robot Red Baron. And in case the show seems almost too claustrophobically moody from these influences, I should note the show channels the very best elements of Scooby Doo when Roger Smith investigates seemingly supernatural phenomena, always maintaining a certain level of whimsy and theatricality in the show's world. One of my favorite episodes, directed by Mononoke and Gatchaman Crowds' Kenji Nakamura, even has villain Beck constructing a screaming replica of Roger Smith's head in order to lure Big O off of a cliff into an ocean.

The Big O was originally scheduled for 26 episodes in its Japanese broadcast run but was canceled after only 13 due to low viewership. The show somehow still found its way to Toonami, and the popularity of the show despite its cliffhanger ending (the series literally ended on To Be Continued) let to Cartoon Network funding a second season in 2003. This would not be the first international co-production nor the last, but what was striking was The Big O team going for a challenging, confusing, and surreal storyline that it seemed impossible for Western executives to have greenlit, yet they had. After years of Sailor Moon's lesbian guardians being rewritten into kissing cousins and digipaint bikinis being added to Tenchi Muyo, here was shocking proof that Western companies could involve themselves in anime production without the end product being altered.

I still hear some old fans talk about wanting a Big O season 3, and apparently Cartoon Network had an option for more that was never followed up on due to the middling ratings for the second season. But as it is, The Big O has been in my top 10 anime since the 1990s and it will probably always remain there. Offering definitive answers to the show's mysteries would be a betrayal of the show's themes about identity and uncertainty. We have the symbols and images we were provided, and we have to construct meaning from what we have. The denizens of Paradigm City always looked down on the robotic citizens as less than fully human despite the fact they clearly envied the simple programming that gives a robot immediate meaning in its existence. The Big O acknowledges the real struggle of trying to step out of our environment and be our best possible selves, and should be remembered as a highlight of the post-Evangelion period of experimental anime series.

Did you watch The Big O? What are your favorite parts of the show? Let us know in the comments!

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Thomas Zoth is a features writer for Crunchyroll, blogs occasionally at Hungry Bug Diner, and appears on podcasts at Infinite Rainy Day. You can follow him on Twitter at @ABCBTom.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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titoslondon-blog · 6 years ago

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New Post has been published on Titos London

#Blog New Post has been published on http://www.titoslondon.co.uk/lvmh-prize-winners-where-are-they-now/

LVMH Prize winners: Where are they now?

The mythology of the fashion prize is part of the industry’s folklore. So it goes that an obscure young designer working away with impecunious inventiveness is discovered by a fabulous fairy godmother and given a fast-track ticket to international acclaim. Off they go, happily ever after. The end.

In reality, it’s less of a fairy tale and more of a cautionary tale. For, as every young designer knows, the challenges of establishing an independent label can make it almost impossible to do, even with financial support, chattering buzz and thousands of Instagram likes. One could argue that the seemingly glittering spotlight can even go as far as to be a deterrent to real sustainable growth and brand building. For every success story, there is a defunct label that once showed a promising start.

The LVMH Prize is the brainchild of Louis Vuitton executive vice president Delphine Arnault. It’s open to designers under the age of 40 who have produced at least two collections. The winner receives €300,000, plus a year of mentorship from LVMH and its network. It also offers a runner-up Special Prize of €150,000 and similar mentorship opportunities. Thanks to the prominence of its sponsor and the eminence of its jury—a pantheon of the conglomerate’s star designers such as Karl Lagerfeld, Nicolas Ghesquière and Marc Jacobs—the Prize has quickly established itself as one of the most prestigious and valuable contests in the world for young fashion designers. This year, more than 1,300 designers representing 90 nationalities applied.

Of its winners, many have gone on to become the most exciting names on fashion-week schedules—Marques Almeida, Wales Bonner, Marine Serre, Jacquemus, to name just a few—and even others who haven’t won have gone far. Virgil Abloh, for instance, was merely a finalist in 2015—three years later, he’s the new artistic director of menswear for Louis Vuitton.

So what makes this prize so special? “You’re being judged by designers,” says Marta Marques, one half Marques Almeida, which won the LVMH Prize in 2015 and has since established itself as a steadily thriving business. “To speak to them about the struggle of creating a brand, and balancing the creative and business sides—you don’t get that with any other prizes, and that helped us with cementing where we were going.” Marques points out that what also set the award apart was the mentorship from Sophie Brocart, senior vice president of LVMH’s fashion ventures and CEO of Nicholas Kirkwood. “To have that huge level of expertise on the other end of a phone call or email was really precious. We could bring expert knowledge to the fields that weren’t our strong point.”

“I wouldn’t have been able to carry on without winning it,” asserts Grace Wales Bonner. The London-based menswear designer won the LVMH Prize in 2016 and is now one of the star attractions at London Fashion Week Men’s. “It gave me security to build the foundations of what I wanted to do and the support to strategise and consider,” she adds, also mentioning that the process gave her a much-needed confidence boost.

Part of the success of the LVMH Prize has been how it has rejuvenated the conglomerate, which had experienced its own scandal (Galliano-gate!) and an increasingly spinning carousel of creative directors. By aligning itself with the patronage of a younger generation—just as Topshop once did by sponsoring the British Fashion Council’s NewGen scheme—the company attracts positive publicity and creates an association with fresh, new talent.

Despite the prestige, however, some critics question just how sustainable the prize is for a generation of designers who are starting businesses at a time when the traditional retail and wholesale model is in flux—especially as most of the jury is more familiar with the conventional fashion system. “Design isn’t what makes a fashion brand today—and they need to reward the most progressive view,” luxury brand strategist Ana Andjelic says of the prize. “The question is: how do you use this prize to make something more sustainable? Of course, you can do a fashion show and do wholesale, but do you really want to start your career by being 50 per cent off at Nordstrom?”

Andjelic has a point. Whereas prizes in other industries recognise innovation and disruption, fashion has a tendency to stick to what it knows—Karl Lagerfeld, for instance, famously boasts that he doesn’t interact with marketing executives in his work for Fendi and Chanel. Today’s designers require an arsenal of skills that range from direct-to-consumer e-commerce and digital marketing to brand content and sustainable production. She continues: “Once you’re in the LVMH Prize, you’re in the fashion system. We are now questioning whether seasonality even makes sense anymore, so we need mentors from different industries, and to take the prize further and make LVMH work harder for these designers.”

Winning the Prize does not automatically guarantee success. Thomas Tait and Hood By Air, both winners in 2014, are no longer producing collections. Although Hood By Air’s Shayne Oliver has made a successful transition into a freelance career by designing one-off collections for Helmut Lang and Diesel, Tait is admonitory of why fashion prizes can be a blessing and a curse.

Before winning the inaugural LVMH Prize, Tait struggled with the battle of putting on a show in September and only being able to pay for materials in August, when most Italian factories are closed, which usually allowed him just a few days to create an entire ready-to-wear collection. “To some people [€300,000] might seem like an enormous amount of money, to some people it could seem like something that could go overnight,” Tait told me in 2015, less than a year after winning the Prize and months before he would quit the catwalk.

“There’s a lot of people who have this false idea that you’ll be fine—just keep it up for a few years and somebody’s gonna hand you a creative director’s position,” he added. “That might not happen. The sensationalism of fashion creates this false sense of comfort where people think that you can really get yourself into a huge financial mess and then some kind of magic trick is gonna clear out all the debt and you’ll become a big star.”

There’s also the question of whether a younger generation of designers covet those creative directorships, which were once seen as the holy grail for lesser-known names. “I think now that everything is so fickle and contracts are so short, it’s not something that is desirable in terms of job stability because everyone is getting hired and then quitting or being fired,” says Vejas Kruszewski, who won the Special Prize in 2016 and has recently put his label on hold to work on Pihakapi, a project with Italian leather manufacturer Pellemoda that allows him to bypass many of the challenges that young designers face. “You go into a situation where all the infrastructure you need is in place, but the downside is that you have to deal with corporate process and all the numbers.”

For many young designers straight out of college, negotiating the relationships with manufacturers, publicists, sales agents and distributors can be hard to manage. It can also lead to overwhelming overheads, which affect pricing and make it difficult to position one’s label in a competitive marketplace. “I’m based in New York and do production in Japan and show in Paris, so my challenge is always a lot to do with budgets and the cash flow,” says Kozaburo Akasaka, who won the Special Prize last year. “I need to keep doing that unless I have more people and there’s also the issue of quality control as you want a certain level of craftsmanship for the product—especially as if you can afford to order more materials, you get a better price.” As a result, pricing can be somewhat skewed. One of Akasaka’s exquisitely handmade coats, for example, retails for $2,000—a price which can prevent younger consumers buying into the brand.

There is, however, a new outlook on the horizon. Marine Serre won the LVMH Prize last year and is the first winner not to hail from Central Saint Martins. The prize enabled her to find a studio that wasn’t her bedroom and to employ a few people to help her and start creating a collection made from upcycled materials that would be shown at Paris Fashion Week. “For me, luxury is not a €7,000 dress,” says Serre, who says that she wanted to start her label with accessible prices and alternative methods of circular production. “I knew I wanted it to be recycled deadstock materials and the other solution is not trying to develop 45 prints and cancel 25. I had nothing cancelled in my last collection and I produced everything.” She’s already developed a full line of accessories—ball-shaped bags, silk-scarf earrings, crescent-moon jersey sock boots—that is being snapped up by several of the international retailers who are already selling her label, which was only officially started eight months ago.

“It wasn’t something I was planning to do,” adds Serre. “I wanted to have a brand but I didn’t think it would happen tomorrow.” The challenge for her now will be turning overnight success into a lifelong career. By the look of things, however, she’s already one step ahead.

1/14 Marine Serre 'Young Fashion Designer', LVMH Prize 2017

Image: Getty

Marine Serre fall/winter 2018-2019

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Marine Serre fall/winter 2018-2019

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Grace Wales Bonner 'Young Fashion Designer', LVMH Prize 2016

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At the LVMH Prize 2016 annoucement

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Grace Wales Bonner, fall 2018

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Kozaburo Akasaka at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris

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Marques'Almeida spring/summer 2017

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Thomas Tait at the 'LVMH Young Fashion Designers Prize' winner announcement in Paris

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Thomas Tait spring/summer 2016

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Louis Vuitton executive vice president Delphine Arnault with Simon Porte of Jacquemus

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Jacquemus fall/winter 2018-2019

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Shayne Oliver with Kendall Jenner

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Hood By Air spring/summer 2017

Image: Getty

The post LVMH Prize winners: Where are they now? appeared first on VOGUE India.

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topinforma · 8 years ago

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New Post has been published on Mortgage News

New Post has been published on http://bit.ly/2pl9awg

8 Types of Bad Bosses -- And How to Survive Them

Most of us have a boss (unless you work for yourself!). For the majority of us, the boss is just someone we deal with as part of the daily grind. However, some bosses stand out for all the wrong reasons. Here are the eight worst offenders; which one do you have?

See Also on Kiplinger: Best Jobs for Your Future

1. The Comedian

If you have ever seen an episode of either the UK or U.S. version of “The Office,” you know this kind of boss all too well. This kind of boss has one driving priority — to be popular. He or she will be cracking jokes at every meeting, and will have an office filled with “wacky” gadgets and posters that put a dorm room to shame.

However, they are so focused on getting people to like them that they refuse to make tough decisions. They won’t reprimand anyone for fear of losing a friendship. And they certainly won’t make changes that are necessary, but unpopular. This kind of boss will lead to the downfall of his or her department.

Game plan

You know what motivates this boss, so use it to your advantage. Suggest that making certain decisions may not appear popular in the short term, but will make the boss a hero in the long term. At the very least, laugh at his or her jokes, and stay popular long enough to get a few raises and promotions before moving on to a different department, or company, that is not destined for a nose-dive.

2. The Seagull

The seagull boss flies into the department (often from another location or division), makes a lot of noise from a great height and disrupts before quickly flying away. They don’t know the real problems and strengths associated with the daily routine, and they really don’t care. All they want to do is look good by making everyone else look bad. Nothing you do will ever be good enough, and even if you implement their ideas, you will be blamed when they don’t work. This kind of boss reduces morale quicker than a pay cut and a canceled holiday party.

Game plan

First, don’t react — at least, not negatively, and not to his or her face. They have power that you don’t, and they are happy to use it against you. Let the seagull boss do what they have come to do, but take it all with a huge grain of salt. Then, when they leave, figure out as a team what you need to do to make the suggestions work, or improve the department to the standards that have been set, without annoying the boss or tanking morale even further.

3. The Ladder Climber

This boss has enough ambition for the whole department, but lacks the moral fiber of conscience to care how the promotions happen. Stepping on good employees to climb just one rung is seen as “all part of the job.” They’ll smile to your face and bad-mouth you behind your back. They will take credit for your work, and put their mistakes firmly on your shoulders. They want just two things — promotions and raises. And if you get in the way, you’re history.

Game plan

Don’t do anything to impede their success. They’re the boss, so they have the upper hand. Instead, be civil, and even ask how to help them achieve their goals. Your aim is to get them promoted into a position that no longer impacts your daily life. Hopefully, they’ll take a job somewhere else for more pay and a better title. If you happen to send them these opportunities, saying they are meant for greatness, even better.

4. The Insufferable Martyr

Whatever this boss is doing, they’re doing it for you. And, they work harder than anyone in the office. You think you had it rough last week? Well, just listen to their sob stories and be put in your place. 100-hour weeks. Being berated by clients and management. Rewriting proposals during their daughter’s sixth birthday party. Building a time machine just to go back a week and stop a disaster from happening. OK, so maybe not that bad, but it does get ridiculous. Everyone rolls their eyes but stays quiet as this boss recounts the worst week of their life, which happens every single week.

Game plan

You really only have one way to deal with this one; go along with it. If you challenge them that they don’t have it as rough as they say they do, they’ll consider you to be unempathetic and against them. However, you really don’t want to enable this behavior — it makes things worse. Just nod, agree that life is tough, and move on.

5. The Faker

There’s an old saying; “Fake it till you make it.” Sometimes, people in business fake it really well, and sadly, they’re still faking it by the time they become your boss. You won’t learn anything from this type of manager, other than how to bite your lip when they say something that’s clearly wrong. However, they got this far, and the chances are they’ll continue to do well by employing the same charm and guesswork that got them here in the first place.

If they have friends in high places, they’ll take full advantage of that favoritism. If you’re good at your job, they’ll use you to make themselves look good. They may even ask you to do their job for them, in a roundabout kind of way. And as you wonder how they ever got this far, they’ll get yet another raise and promotion. It really is infuriating.

See Also on Kiplinger: Worst Jobs for Your Future

Game plan

It’s tempting to set a trap for “the faker” to show how little knowledge they actually have. But, a word of warning: Setting them up, perhaps in a meeting, will only put you on their bad side. They have spent years, or even decades, avoiding detection by those in power. They have more excuses than you’ll ever be able to combat, and they have a long memory. You do not want to get on their bad side, especially with this kind of move. At some point, they’ll either move on, or make a mistake they cannot squirm out of. Keep your cool.

6. The Chicken Little

The sky is always falling for this boss. Corporate is constantly down on his or her department, and the pink slip is coming any day now. Jobs are going to be severed. Wages cut. Bonuses slashed. Everything is horrible, the department is doomed, and you should start looking for new work because it’s all going wrong.

The problem with this kind of boss, other than the constant stress he or she exerts on employees, is that it can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Time spent stressing and running around looking for answers becomes more important than the actual job. It gets noticed, and they eventually seal their own fate; perhaps yours as well.

Game plan

Be careful what you believe, and what you toss aside as speculation and worrying. There are always problems in every company, and news can be taken one way or another. In all likelihood, there could be some truth to the doomsday predictions, but more than likely, it’s a storm in a teacup. Do your own research, and make your own conclusions.

7. The Sleazebag

This usually applies to male bosses, but that does not mean women are excluded from exhibiting this kind of behavior. This boss is all hands and roaming eyes. They notice every time you wear something that reveals a little skin. They make suggestions that would not even belong in a locker room. And, they make your skin crawl the second they walk into the room.

You feel uncomfortable in their presence, and sometimes, you even feel afraid. This kind of boss will use his or her power to take advantage of every situation, and will often try to blackmail you into giving in to their horrid advances.

Game plan

Nip this one in the bud, and fast. Keep meticulous records of every interaction, every email, every voicemail, and anything that will support your genuine claim of harassment. Then, take it to HR. If you don’t have an HR department, take it to the most senior person on the executive staff. And if that happens to be your boss … you need to leave.

8. The Mosquito

They are the back seat driver of the office. They come up behind you when you’re working, and you hear them breathing in your ear. They look over your shoulder, they bug you 15–20 times a day, and they never seem to take a hint that you do not appreciate their constant irritation.

This boss is something of a micromanager, but also seems to be at a loose end for the entire working week. Why don’t they have something better to do? Why are they looking at every line you write, or every job you start? Why don’t they just leave you alone!?

See Also on Kiplinger: 10 Best College Majors for Your Career

Game plan

First, prove to them that you know what you’re doing. If they’re bugging you because they don’t trust you, it’s time to gain that trust. If they are just the kind of person who likes to hover, have a genuine heart-to-heart. Tell them you appreciate the checking in, but you get more work done when you’re left to do it yourself. But when you need their excellent advice, you will definitely ask for it.

This article is from Paul Michael of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website.

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repwincoml4a0a5 · 8 years ago

Text

Amazon unveils Chime, looks to reinvent the conference call with new Skype and GoToMeeting competitor

Amazon is looking to transform just about every industry.

Now, the Seattle tech juggernaut wants to reinvent how you conduct meetings and conference calls.

Amazon Web Services today unveiled Chime, a new service that it says takes the “frustration out of meetings” by delivering a video, voice, chat, and screen sharing. Instead of forcing participants to call one another on a dedicated line, Amazon Chime automatically calls all participants at the start of a meeting, so “joining a meeting is as easy as clicking a button in the app, no PIN required,” the company said in a press release.

“It’s pretty hard to find people who actually like the technology they use for meetings today,” said Gene Farrell, Vice President, Enterprise Applications at AWS in a press release. “Most meeting applications or services are hard to use, deliver bad audio and video, require constant switching between multiple tools to do everything they want, and are way too expensive.”

The new communications platform appears to be a direct swipe at Microsoft’s Skype and Google Hangouts, signaling yet another area of turf that the tech juggernauts appear to be doing battle.

Amazon Chime is available for free in a basic version, which includes video calls for up to two people. A more advanced service, Plus, which includes screen sharing and access to corporate directories, is available for $2.50 per user per month. A pro version is available for $15 per month, which allows video meetings for up to 100 people and personal meeting URLs.

GeekWire first noted Amazon’s intentions to go after the communications market last fall when we reported on the company’s acquisition of startup Biba, a San Francisco-based maker of chat, video and audio conferencing tools for businesses.

At the time, we speculated that Amazon could be building a product to compete with other workplace communication tools like Slack, Skype, Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams and others.

Here’s the promotional video that Amazon release announcing the service:

youtube

And here’s the full press release that Amazon put out this evening:

New unified communications service delivers frustration-free meetings with exceptional video and audio quality

Brooks Brothers, Level 3, and Vonage among the early users and partners

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Feb. 14, 2017– Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), today announced Amazon Chime, a new unified communications service that makes meetings easier and more efficient than ever before.

With Amazon Chime, customers can start high-quality video and audio meetings with one-click, allowing customers to host or join a meeting, chat, and share content and screens with a seamless, synchronized experience across desktops, iOS, and Android devices. To get started with Amazon Chime, visit https://chime.aws.

In a world where meeting attendees are often not in the same city, much less the same office building, unified communications has become increasingly more important. Arguably the most prevalent form of unified communications is meetings.

Most meetings solutions are disappointing. They’re clunky and hard to use, the video is grainy and disconnects frequently, the audio quality is poor, there’s constant background noise and it’s impossible to know who’s causing it, they require long PINs to enter and join a call, and have second-rate mobile features and apps. Further, most are only good at one thing (e.g. voice calls, video conferencing, screen sharing, or instant messaging), so users often have to toggle between several different tools, none of which really solve their problem.

Amazon Chime takes frustration out of meetings, delivering very high quality video, voice, chat, and screen sharing. Amazon Chime calls all participants when a meeting starts so joining a meeting is as easy as clicking a button in the app, no PIN required.

When there’s noise on calls (think about how often somebody has to say things like “could you please stop typing so close to the speaker”) or somebody joins or drops mid-call, there’s no longer mystery who it is as Amazon Chime shows a visual roster of all attendees. And, any attendee has the power to put an end to background noise by muting any noisy line. Amazon Chime offers strong mobile and desktop apps, and keeps meetings and chats synchronized across devices, so users can join meetings from anywhere via Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows apps (and seamlessly switch from mobile to desktop, or app to app whenever needed). Amazon Chime can be integrated with existing corporate directories, and provides IT administrators the ability to manage identities and control access across an organization.

Amazon Chime requires no upfront investments, complicated deployment, or ongoing maintenance – customers can simply download the application and get started using the service in minutes. And Amazon Chime is one-third the cost of traditional solutions.

“It’s pretty hard to find people who actually like the technology they use for meetings today. Most meeting applications or services are hard to use, deliver bad audio and video, require constant switching between multiple tools to do everything they want, and are way too expensive,” said Gene Farrell, Vice President, Enterprise Applications, AWS. “Amazon Chime delivers frustration-free meetings, allowing users to be productive from anywhere. And with no ongoing maintenance or management fees, Amazon Chime is a great choice for companies that are looking for a solution to meetings that their employees will love to use.”

Amazon Chime offers the following benefits:

Like being in the same room, even when miles apart: Amazon Chime uses noise-cancelling wideband audio to deliver high-quality audio and crisp, clear HD video to make it easier to have real conversations in a meeting. And with Amazon Chime, video works great across all user devices and many conference room video systems with no upgrades required. On-time meetings that can be joined with a single-click: Dialing into meetings has never been easier. Instead of trying to type in those hard-to-remember multi-digit pins, Amazon Chime calls participants when it is time for the meeting to start and lets them join with a single-click. And, those who are running behind can tap a “running late” button to automatically notify everyone in the meeting.

The end of “who just joined?”: Once in the meeting, Amazon Chime provides a visual roster that allows users to see exactly who has joined, who is running late, and who can’t make it. It also allows everyone to see who is talking or where background noise is coming from – no more barking dogs or loud typists – and anyone on the call can easily mute that participant.

Work from anywhere: Amazon Chime was built for mobile use from day one. With easy-to-use apps for Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows, Amazon Chime keeps meetings and chats synchronized across devices, and users can join meetings from any device and easily switch devices – even in the middle of a meeting.

Sharing made easy: Amazon Chime makes it easy to collaborate. When in a meeting, anyone can share their screen, instantly, without asking a host to “pass the ball,” or jump to a different application. For ongoing collaboration outside of meetings, Amazon Chime offers chat rooms that allow people to work together in a single place, securely storing chat history and files for ongoing reference.

Founded in 1818, Brooks Brothers is a leading retailer of fashion wear and accessories in the United States. “Historically, we used a number of unified communications applications inside Brooks Brothers for meetings, calls, and chat,” said Phillip Miller, Director of IT, Brooks Brothers. “We normally have to proactively push adoption for new tools to employees, but after starting a pilot of Amazon Chime, we quickly saw interest grow, with internal adoption now reaching 90 percent of our corporate staff without any formal rollout or training. With Amazon Chime, our users get a single application for their communications needs that works on all their devices, and now that it’s available we plan to begin retiring the multiple legacy applications we’ve been using.”

With 20 years of experience in e-commerce and consumer analytics, Connexity provides the necessary insights for marketers to build stronger relationships with their customers. “With teams located all over the world, staying connected is a challenge,” said Chris Hemphill, VP of IT, Connexity. “We needed a single communications solution for one on one meetings, brainstorming sessions, and our cross-company daily stand ups with our engineering teams. With Amazon Chime, our employees can do all this from a single app on any of their devices. The video capabilities in Amazon Chime, integrated with our conference room video system, have made our daily stand up meetings more productive. Amazon Chime helps to keep our geographically dispersed teams connected, and is integral to our communications strategy.”

Headquartered in Fremont, California, Soraa uses a patented technology to produce highly efficient LED lamps and light engines. “Soraa is a highly collaborative company, and we rely on technology to help us work together,” said Todd Antes, Senior VP of Marketing, Soraa. “We needed to replace our traditional online meetings solution, which was limited and expensive, and difficult to use. We chose Amazon Chime, which we use for online meetings, video conferencing, and screen sharing. Amazon Chime has transformed our online meetings, our employees can be productive from wherever they are, and the application works seamlessly across their devices. Amazon Chime has allowed us to save as much as 65% over our previous solution, and is now the standard at Soraa.”

Partner Support

Amazon Chime will soon be available through APN partners Level 3 and Vonage. With availability scheduled for the second quarter of 2017, Level 3 will add Amazon Chime to its suite of unified communications and collaboration solutions, providing enterprises with another powerful solution to help simplify and enhance communications. Also scheduled to be available in the second quarter of 2017, Vonage will provide Amazon Chime Pro Edition to its business customers at no additional cost, delivering a richer conferencing, video, and collaboration experience integrated with Vonage’s full range of unified communications solutions that are backed by the quality, strength, and reliability of the Vonage network.

Level 3 Communications, Inc. is a Fortune 500 company that provides local, national, and global communications provider that delivers communications services to enterprise, government and carrier customers. “Enterprises rely on the cloud to stay nimble and competitive in the digital economy. They need communication and collaboration tools, like Amazon Chime, that can break down organizational silos, and evolve with the business,” said Anthony Christie, Chief Marketing Officer, Level 3. “With Amazon Chime, delivered by Level 3, our customers have a clear advantage. They’ll have access to an agile collaboration platform, powered by AWS, with the reliability and security of Level 3’s global network. Level 3’s consultative end-to-end support model is designed to simplify the move to the cloud.”

Vonage is a leading provider of cloud communications services for businesses. “Vonage is excited to be a launch partner for AWS to bring Amazon Chime to our business customers,” said Alan Masarek, Chief Executive Officer, Vonage. “By providing Amazon Chime to Vonage business customers at no additional cost, they will now have access to Amazon Chime’s innovative, easy-to-use web-conferencing and collaboration suite, which is a perfect complement to Vonage’s robust portfolio of unified communications solutions for greater mobility, flexibility, and workplace productivity.”

Amazon Chime is now available in three versions. Amazon Chime Basic Edition is free and lets users attend meetings, call another person using voice or video, and use Amazon Chime’s messaging and chat capabilities. Amazon Chime Plus Edition adds user management, such as the ability to manage an entire e-mail domain, disable accounts, or configure Active Directory, as well as 1GB per user of message retention – all for $2.50 per user, per month. Amazon Chime Pro Edition adds the ability to host meetings with screen sharing and video for up to 100 users and also includes support for mobile, laptop, and in-room video along with unlimited VoIP support – all for $15 per user, per month.

About Amazon Web Services

For 10 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 90 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, analytics, mobile, Internet of Things (IoT) and enterprise applications from 42 Availability Zones (AZs) across 16 geographic regions in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the UK. AWS services are trusted by millions of active customers around the world monthly — including the fastest growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies — to power their infrastructure, make them more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit https://aws.amazon.com.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about.

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repwinpril9y0a1 · 8 years ago

Text

Amazon unveils Chime, looks to reinvent the conference call with new Skype and GoToMeeting competitor

Amazon is looking to transform just about every industry.

Now, the Seattle tech juggernaut wants to reinvent how you conduct meetings and conference calls.

The new communications platform appears to be a direct swipe at Microsoft’s Skype and Google Hangouts, signaling yet another area of turf that the tech juggernauts appear to be doing battle.

At the time, we speculated that Amazon could be building a product to compete with other workplace communication tools like Slack, Skype, Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams and others.

Here’s the promotional video that Amazon release announcing the service:

youtube

And here’s the full press release that Amazon put out this evening:

New unified communications service delivers frustration-free meetings with exceptional video and audio quality

Brooks Brothers, Level 3, and Vonage among the early users and partners

Amazon Chime offers the following benefits:

Partner Support

About Amazon Web Services

About Amazon

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2klGOj6

#DIYS

0 notes