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myfavebandfizz · 11 months

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Nylon Magazine 2023

THE WEIRD AND WHIMSICAL WORLD OF INDIE POP SUPERGROUP FIZZ

Songwriters dodie, Orla Gartland, Greta Isaac, and Martin Luke Brown are making songs of silliness and excess.

by EMILY MASKELL

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

Photo by: Nicole Ngai

FIZZ makes music that sounds like the sonic equivalent of dropping Mentos in a Coke. On their song “The Grand Finale,” an explosive reaction of pop sensibilities and playful lyricism transforms into a melodic menagerie that plays like “Bohemian Rhapsody” from another dimension.

FIZZ is the vivacious pop outfit of pop singer dodie, Irish songwriter Orla Gartland, experimental musician Greta Isaac, and sonic aficionado Martin Luke Brown — four best friends from the U.K. who individually boast successful solo careers and have now become one of indie pop’s newest supergroups: think boygenius but with a heaping dose of whimsy. Their paths crossed professionally at first, singing backing vocals and playing in bands for each other’s solo work, but the exact moment FIZZ came into fruition is a murky memory. “There’s a text dodie sent to Orla, around 2021, like, ‘Do you want to start a band,’” Martin tells NYLON, but this is only a trace of the band’s formation. FIZZ was born from the quartet’s natural evolution from colleagues to friends to bandmates.

Uniting their fan bases with an otherworldly exploration of escapism, FIZZ celebrates the sacredness and silliness of their friendship on their debut album, The Secret To Life. Its 12 songs spin twenty-something existentialism into maximalist psychedelic theatrics. “Blink twice, you’ll miss the highlights/ God, it’s a hell of a ride,” they harmonize over crashing drums on “Hell Of A Ride,” balancing lyrical angst with a wide-ranging sonic landscape. The band is built on an aesthetic of excess: maximalist in color and energy in the world of FizzVille, where FIZZ’s album resides.

Between giggles and mimicked guitar riffs, the energetic four-piece chatted with NYLON over a recent Zoom call about the making of their debut record, touching on how they found collective creative freedom, channeled feminine frustration, and built an eccentric world for themselves with The Secret To Life.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

NYLON: You all were friends long before bandmates, but do you remember the moment you became FIZZ?

Martin: We don’t really know. We’d all been down to Middle Farm Studios to do live sessions for Orla in 2021, and Pete, the guy who runs Middle Farm and produced our album, said: “Seeing you guys perform together is really cool.” I booked [the studio for] a week but we didn’t know what it was going to be. I wanted it to be a holiday from our music careers. We wanted this to be egoless where we’re not thinking about how [the music] is perceived or aiming for radio. All of those things start coming into your mind the longer you do it because you want to have a feasible career, but we wanted just pure fun. It was an exercise in letting go and saying yes to everything.

What does being in a band together mean to you?

Orla: For me, it’s letting go. It’s easy to get bogged down in details when it’s your name and face, but trust falling back onto each other with every aspect of this project allowed me to not sweat the small stuff.

Martin: The moment you start promoting stuff you feel like it might be contrived, or you’re exaggerating for the sake of people’s consumption. But the music’s so untainted, it’s a time capsule. The songs are made out of joy, love, silliness and friendship. I’d never really get that in my own project.

Greta: What’s been special is capturing the in-between of what happens in music. It’s the things you don’t hear on a record: the energy of the room before you hit record and the mistakes you make but correct. There’s a tactile energy between people when you play in a band.

dodie: I never really had a successful writing session before FIZZ. I’d try but feel so stuck on what I wanted to say. Writing with these guys was the complete opposite. All of my ego and technicality came up but then I’d be like, “Fuck it! Who cares!”

“IT’S A MIRROR TO BEING IN YOUR TWENTIES, FROM BEING SUPER VULNERABLE TO BEING STUPID.”

You said FIZZ was something else before. Did the band originally have a different name?

Greta: Chairs!

Martin: We were pretty close to being called Drew Bandymore.

dodie: It’s so stupid. We should’ve done it and gone on her talk show.

What was the writing process like? Were you all bringing in bits from your solo work?

dodie: It was a mixture. Usually, Orla would write a verse and chorus. Or, one time, Gret and Martin were in the bath, I came home, and they were like, “Record this!” I put my phone through the door and did not look! That turned into a song called “Strawberry Jam.”

“Strawberry Jam” is one of my favorites, but “As Good As It Gets” stands out as this immense track cathartically tackling misogyny. How did the song come together?

Greta: Originally, it was a lot more pop punk, “American Idiot” vibe. But we started to realize, thematically, [the track] was leaning toward the feminine experience. Matt, our drummer, and Martin on the piano were guiding it. They were the solid pillars that meant Orla, dodie, and I could express ourselves lyrically and melodically.

We wanted [“As Good As It Gets”] to be poetic: it starts off as something typically feminine, soft and gentle, like the way we’ve learnt to move in the world. The whole song is just about realizing your worth. It’s not coming to this big conclusion, it’s just a, hang on, wait, when did I choose any of this?

youtube

The record moves between that vulnerability and playfulness, like on “Rocket League.” How did you all find that balance?

Martin: Honestly, we’d think about what song goes where and what we need at a certain point in the album. Generally speaking we just followed our energy. The quiet stuff like “You, Me, Lonely” and “Lights Out” are the tracks people would expect from us given our [solo] projects, but we didn’t want to do just what people expected.

Greta: It’s a mirror to being in your twenties, from being super vulnerable to being stupid. It feels like a snapshot of this time in our lives. It’s giving range!

It is! The album intro, “A New Phase Awaits You :-),” gives listeners a chance to escape from reality. Was this also an invitation for yourselves?

Orla: I wrote the opening script for that after having a little… [mimics smoking a blunt]. In “The Secret to Life,” we don’t say what [the secret to life] is, so it feels like we’re selling hot air and luring people in with this Scientology energy. But was it an invitation for us to also step into that? Absolutely. Recording that was one of the weirdest fever dream musical moments I’ve ever had. It didn’t feel weird to do a spoken word elevator piece, which speaks to how crazy we all went.

The band and album have such eccentric and unique imagery. How did you land on FIZZ’s visual aesthetic?

Greta: When we were talking about the creative direction of the album, words that kept coming up were: retreat, fantastical, and escape. We wanted to mirror the experience of writing the album in the visuals. We referenced films we liked growing up: Willy Wonka, Alice in Wonderland, and The Wizard of Oz. These technicolor films take place when someone is being taken out of their normal lives and into another world. They’re odd films trying to make something joyful and a little bit strange.

So we made up this world called FizzVille where everything exists, it’s this part-town, part-theme park that creeps up in the digital world and will be a feature in the live show. We worked with [photographer] JP Bonino who helped realize FizzVille. It’s a world that keeps expanding.

This is my most important question. FIZZ, what is the secret to life?

dodie: We don’t know… but I’m starting to think it’s going outside. [Laughs] I’ve changed my mind a lot. I think it’s gratitude.

Greta: I thought you were going to say Gret.

dodie: Gret is the secret to life.

Orla: One of us needs to have a deeper answer to end this interview.

Martin: I think the secret to life is community. Finding your people, looking out for each other, and being nice. Nothing groundbreaking.

FIZZ’s ‘The Secret To Life’ is out now.

#fizz #yourfavebandfizz #fizz band #all #interview #nylon #nylon magazine #Youtube

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skyburialatnight · 2 years

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2022 favs meme! Thanks to @take-in-time for tagging me!

I truly don't remember half the things I've done but let's see! I've changed the format because it's me and I ramble.

If you want an excuse to ramble about your fave media, I'm tagging you!

favorite books

I was really into Roopa Farooki's books this year. She's a Pakistani-British writer, and her books are about dysfunctional Pakistani families that are immigrants. I read:

-Everything is True, about her time as a doctor in the first 40 days of Covid

-The Way Things Look to Me, about three siblings whose parents have died, meaning the two older siblings need to support the youngest, and how they do (or don't) do that.

-The Good Children, about four siblings, two men and two women, who grew up with an abusive mum, and how that's impacted their lives as adults

Other shoutouts to:

-Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

-the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

-the Dr Greta Helsing trilogy by Vivian Shaw, Gods of Jade and Shadow, and Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

-Waiting for Elijah by Kate Wild (this one was sad)

-The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrafer (loud screaming)

-the Something is Killing the Children Graphic Novels

-Interviews with Monster Girls manga

favorite movies

I never goddamn watch movies even though I should. So here are the ones I've watched that I enjoyed:

-The Bad Guys (the animated one with another wolf man to add to the tumblr's furry roster)

-The Batman (It was so long but yeah I really liked it!)

-Uhhhhhhhh

-Thor Love and Thunder (it was mindless, not as good as Ragnarok, but I had fun)

-Rehearsal for a Murder (I watched this one cos the local community theatre is going to produce it next year and I wanted to see if any parts suited me. Alas not. But it was a good film! Also young Jeff Goldblum lmao)

favorite songs:

-This was the year of Rina Sawayama for me, especially XS, Bad Friend, Hold the Girl, and Frankenstein

-Your Love (Deja Vu) by Glass Animals

-Go Your Own Way and the Chain by Fleetwood Mac (thanks OFMD)

-The Loneliest Time by Carly Rae Jepsen (the song not the album >.>)

-Peach by Broods

-Shake It by Loona

-Music for a Sushi Restaurant by Harry Styles (again the song not the album lmao)

Also shoutout to other Top 40 songs that kept me company on my drives for work because my car was made 2008 and has no USB ports/bluetooth: About Damn Time by Lizzo, Unholy by Sam Smith and Kim Petras, Faith by Georgia Lines, Cuff It by Beyonce, Bad Habit by Steve Lacy, Late Night Talking by Harry Styles and Stay with Me by Calvin Harris

favorite shows:

-Uhhh does dimension 20 count? Well it does now. It's all I've watched.

-Also EXU: Calamity

-Also drawfee. Big year for drawfee.

-The Watcher Boys!

-And I've also gotten back into watching Dodger's streams

-Actual Shows though?? Uhhhh I've watched Spy x Family and Mob Psycho 100 and those are good

-This is a statement I'm going to put out into the world: I WILL watch succession next year, instead of just going into the tag, and watching youtube compilations

I'm adding Favourite Games because this is all I think about:

-DISCO ELYSIUM a game I have never played because I'd just get anxious but love So Much

-Persona 5, a game I have only watched a playthrough of but may One Day Play when it is less than $100 on steam

-Death's Door -it's very cute and difficult but not too hard!

-Coral Island - It's only early access but Boy it's good

-Dead Cells

-The Great Ace Attorney a game I'd like to play but am currently just watching it being streamed by Rythian

-The Case of the Golden Idol - I watched Secret Sleepover Society play it and it's So Good. It's very Obra Dinn like and that's one of my favourite games

favorite memories:

-seeing lots of plays with the acting class! especially the First Prime Time Asian Sitcom which really just drilled a hole into my brain and was like 'hey all the issues around media representation for Asian people you think about so much? lets talk about it)

-hanging out with the Coffee Crew (when I had the spoons which is not often) and laughing til I cry

-i went to the museum for my birthday and brought my family along and it went super well! We thought it would be too much for my sister cos crowds but she loved it!

-I'm a fully registered speech therapist now! I love my work, and my colleagues, in this brutal capitalist hellscape I've got one of the best jobs and workplaces ever.

-Every time I go to see a child and their face lights up because they're so happy to see me. Best part of the job!!

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mudwerks · 5 years

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she loves linens

Le avventure sessuali di Greta in 3D, which was made in England, was originally known as Four Dimensions of Greta, and starred Leena Skoog, here credited as Lena Skoog

#Le avventure sessuali di Greta in 3D #Four Dimensions of Greta #Lena Skoog #film #vintage #exploitation #promo shots #italy #england #sweden

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the-other-art-blog · 4 years

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Me ranting about Little Women 2019 (part 1: Laurie, cause damn this movie has a lot of problems/disappointments)

So, I watched again this movie, because Christmas. This movie was actually my introduction to Little Women. Up until the first trailer appeared, I had no idea this story existed. And I loved the movie, I really did. It was amazing!

However, as I began reading about the book and then myself reading it, I realized, it’s not as perfect as some people think. Let’s start with Laurie.

Laurie as the OG ally, are you shitting me?!!?

Greta and Timothée went on and on about this in the press tour. Let me tell you, it’s such a misinterpretation and basically bad reading. It so plainly written that Laurie thinks like every other boy of that time. So, if Greta thought of Laurie as an ally after reading the book, she just did selective reading.

He is friends with the girls, that doesn’t mean he has progressive values. When I saw the movie I was like what a great guy, he’s so perfect!. On the contrary, not only is he not an ally, he is quite misogynistic! He’s super flawed! Laurie has other friends besides Jo, he actually is very popular and even brings his friends from college to town. He’s spoiled and privileged and acts as such. He mocks at girls with Jo. He loves flirting with every girl that comes across, but then he also thinks of them as fast and rejects them.

Between ourselves, Jo, some of the girls I know really do go on at such a rate I’m ashamed of them. They don’t mean any harm, I’m sure, but if they knew how we fellows talked about them afterward, they’d mend their ways, I fancy.’

So he wants to flirt with all the pretty girls, but then he wants a saint as wife?? I say fuck him! When Jo rejects him, he becomes a man-whore. And when Amy scolds him, he is so annoyed that he leaves. He’s kind of a jerk to Amy the first time he’s with her at Nice. He expects all women to be kind to him and pet him because Jo broke his heart. He also refuses to give Amy credit for her advice, until it’s too obvious he has fallen for her.

So, no. He’s not perfect, but he has potential to be a great man. He has everything in his favor, money, talent, beauty and health. Amy knows it and that’s why she pushes him so much in Valrosa.

Laurie never plays or talks about music

My sister was so confused when Laurie said he was writing an opera, because he never express his love for music in the whole freaking movie! I knew it, because I read a few spoilers. Greta moved the girls’ castles in the air and mixed it with the Christmas scene, hence Laurie couldn’t be there. Let’s be honest, the main characters in this movie (and in the book, to me) are Jo, Amy and Laurie. That scene would have been perfect to highlight why they are connected to one another.

The three of them had ambitions larger than society’s expectations. They wanted to be famous artists. It would have also served as a connecting point between Amy and Laurie, because unlike Jo, they did gave up their castles or rather transformed them into something else and, dare I say, better suited for them. It also shows a contrast between households. While Orchard house is a space where the girls can express freely their artistic personalities, Mr. Laurence doesn’t approve of Laurie’s musical side and prevents him from playing piano.

But it would also serve to contrast him with the girls. Laurie barely tries and quickly realizes he doesn’t have what it takes. It contrast how privileged Laurie is, that he can go on effortlessly about life, because he is a wealthy man. Meanwhile, Jo and Amy have to work hard and make sacrifices to pursue their crafts.

And what a beautiful scene would have been when Amy and Laurie become each other muses.

Laurie has no arc, he’s just the love interest!

What the hell! Together with Amy, Laurie gets the best character arc in the book. But in this movie, you barely get a grasp of his personality. If Greta would have showed him as a amateur composer, she would have been able to show his growth. There’s a beautiful moment in the book where Laurie realizes he’s just prolonging his suffering instead of feeling actual pain towards Jo’s rejection. He puts Jo’s letter on a drawer with the ring she gave him and moves on. Not only that, he realizes that Amy is right and he ought to do something productive in life. He craves hard and earnest work. Even Mr. March is proud of him when they get back to Concord.

He also has deep identity problems and issues with his grandfather. Plus he goes from selfish, privileged, childish young boy, to matured, hard-working and altruistic man.

The problem was that Greta altered so much the 1869 timeline, that she couldn’t do all of that. As a consequence, Laurie ends up characterized as a trophy husband at the service of Jo and Amy.

So there it is. If you haven’t read the book, please do. Laurie is so much more than what the movie tells us. He’s also struggles a lot to overcome his flaws, so when he finally decides to be a better person, you’re so proud of him.

One more thing, Laurie’s physical appearance

Don’t get me wrong. I love Timmy. I seriously can’t help but smile every time I saw a photo of him. He looks as if he was molded by a Greek sculptor, which plays really well in the movie because of course Amy would fall for such a beauty.

However, Louisa does describe Laurie as having darker skin. Greta whitewashed the character, as every director before her. It’s hard because I love Timmy and his chemistry with Saoirse and Florence is on point, but he’s still the whitest man ever. Having someone a little less pale would have been incredibly interesting. The book doesn’t say much about Laurie’s mother nor why Mr. Laurence hated her so much, but I think there were four main reasons:

She’s Italian, and they had always had a bad stereotype among other Western Europeans and Americans.

She probably had dark skin, and passed it to Laurie

She was a musician. Artists, as acclaimed and famous as they could be, they were still seen as employees at the service of wealthy patrons. Even more, a working woman might not have been Mr. Laurence first choice for a daughter in law. Most probably she wasn’t that rich and that’s why she was able to pursue a career.

She could have been Catholic.

It gives Laurie another dimension. Even in the north, people were quite racist. Laurie was wealthy and handsome, so that saved him. But it would mean so much that the Marches accepted this boy as part of their family. Even more, that Amy would have married him.

I’ll be posting about Amy and Laurie next.

Did I missed something? Let me know your thoughts

#little women #little women 2019 #greta gerwig #louisa may alcott #laurie laurence #amy x laurie #laurie deserved better #timothée chamalet #timmy chalamet #theodore laurence #theodore laurie laurence

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vsthepomegranate · 3 years

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Four Dimensions of Greta (1972)

by Pete Walker

#3-D #British cinema #1970s movies #sex comedy #exploitation film #Tristan Rogers #psychedelia

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guigz1-coldwar · 3 years

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'Getting ready' : new chapter for 'Fighting Spirit of a Once Innocent Girl' is out !

Chapter's summary :

Samantha & Helen came back into their universe back to Nikolai's House before preparing themselves for what's coming.......

Words : +3600

To read it on AO3, click here !

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In our minds, we never.....never....actually thought that it was going to be our only chance to discover the real location of Monty but all of this, it was so crazy and so weird & nonetheless, we did it ! We have actually came into another universe looking the same as ours to get to talk with the only person that could have tell us exactly what we needed to have before we could go back into our own universe. That experience in my life was very different from going inside the Dark Aether and I know why precisely.

The Dark Aether is consisted of my old universes and everything that linked me to my past is there : my father's work, the fireplace....everything. That universe.....was so different but also too identical from ours. The safehouse, the people. It was there but it wasn't the same person we were knowing. Getting to talk to Helen like if I didn't know her reminded me of my time when I actually met her : I was so anxious and shy at that time when I saw her for the first time and she was the one who was protecting me. Now, we're both protecting each other.

I was so amazed when each time, she discover her new powers like when Nikolai teach her new abilities and when we got on and out of the safehouse's rooftop. Even if I was feeling somehow bad because I thought that it was my fault that she has those powers, her reactions and her smiles to me allowed me to feel actually better now that I know that she like her new powers like me. Thanks to them, we were able to discover more about the situation we were facing....the situation Nikolai sent us in.

He decided to sent us back in time in that universe the February 24th because it was the only moment where our answers were. That 'Bell' was an real mystery for me & Helen until we discover the sad reality about her : we found out that 'Bell' was in reality an Perseus agent that the CIA has brainwashed in order to use her skills and her knowledge to track down Perseus. They brainwashed her into thinking that she participated with Adler in the Vietnam War in 1968 sent by the MI6, along the CIA.

Apparently, some peoples in the safehouse weren't happy about this at all including Lazar and their Helen and about what we heard, their Helen has a little something for 'Bell'.....something that isn't seen well by Adler. That guy will never change in all those universe and in fact, I realized that in the Multiverse, Adler used to have brainwashed those differents people who shared that same nickname : 'Bell'.

Our mission in that universe were nothing but only improvisation all along the way until we had our answer : disposing off their Helen away from the place, allowing my Helen to take her place, making me enter and present me to Adler resisting the urge to hit him, discover more about 'Bell' and once we were cleared, find a isolated place to be only with her. However, every plan has something that don't work well and the return of their Helen earlier was that tiny thing we didn't expect.

When I saw her, I knew that I had to run inside the dorm where Helen and 'Bell' were and once I made it, I could finally process with my powers to get our answer and we got it : Solovetsky ! I knew that it was some island in the north of Russia and that was the perfect hidden place for Monty to hide. Once it was done, we left 'Bell' on her bed to get some rest after that brutal revelation for her as our way back arrived to rescue us from that universe. In a matter of seconds, we crossed the portal and we were out.

Our travel back did last an few seconds like before and then, we were back at the same place before we crossed a portal to join the other universe....back at the new House of Nikolai. When we arrived on the island as the portal disappeared, we looked at each other, catching our breath.

"Wow." Helen started, slowly breathing "We did it !" She added proudly

"Quite an experience we did." I said, adding in her thoughts

"Exactly." She told me before looking at her hands "I...I love these powers, you know."

"Well, you can thanks me for that." I smirked at her before laughing, soon joined by her.

"Thanks you then, Sammy." She then put herself to give me a kiss on the lips, surprising me a lot before I decided to move forwards, getting closer to her and to reciprocate the kiss. When we broke the kiss, we looked at each other as our eyes were fully purple. "I love you."

"I love you too, Sapphire." We stayed in each other arms before we broke the embrace at the same time, still looking at each other in the eyes. "Let's go see Nikolai."

"Affirmative." She scoffed before we decided to walk back inside the House to join Nikolai.

When we arrived in the House, there were a long silence but then, we started to hear some weird noises inside the room where Nikolai greeted us. We entered it and we discover Nikolai levitating above the ground, his legs crossed and his head moving at each second. Around his head, there were some purple lighting before in a second, he dropped back into the ground in shock. I moved quickly to brace his fall on the ground

"Are you okay ?" I asked so worried about him before changing the subject "We did it : we got our answer !"

"I know, that's why I was in that state." He replied to me, looking stunned by what he saw as we can see on his face "Once your answer came in, I started to look at everything related to Solovetsky : it was the truth." He added but still looking bad

"So, Monty is there, right ?" Helen intervened to help me Nikolai got up and he nodded.

"However, I think that I have some bad news." He sit back on his chair once we helped him before looking at us as we got back in the couch we used before and then he took a deap breath,

"Monty has rebuilt the Agarthan Device !"

"What ?" I said in shock, not having heard of that name since a long time and unfortunately, hearing it again meaned bad news....real fucking bad news for everyone. "Did he....." I then losed my words to that revelation.

"What's this Device ?" Helen asked

"It's something that could grant anything to the one who used it." He then showed to us the picture of the Agarthan Device, allowing Helen to discover it. "I was the one to use it to open The Way Through for Samantha and Eddie, allowing them to enter this universe."

"But with that, he already won." I exclaimed but Nikolai shook his head

"He has maybe rebuilt it but he can't activate it." He changed the picture showing us Monty along with the Device "He need a lot of Aetherium energy to activate it again."

"Purplelight." Helen whispered loudly, looking at the ground.

"When he will blow the Purplelight arsenal, there will be enough to allow him to take over this world." He showed us a picture of Eddie unmasked in a soviet uniform "And he would be able to leave Eddie's body, killing Eddie's soul inside of it."

"We can save him, right ?" I asked

"We can but this possibility can be only found out when we will be at Solovetsky." He then showed pictures of Solovetsky....Monty's base. "We can't directly go to Solovetsky because Monty will spot us."

"Of course, we have to tell the others about Monty's real location." I looked down at my feets "Tell them the entire truth about the fight they will do." I was feeling ashamed because the others weren't aware of the importance of this upcoming battle. It's the fate of the entire Multiverse in line. We lose and the new Multiverse will join the Dark Aether dimension.

"I know." He simply said

"And Greta & Yirina ?" Helen told him, curious about them, same for me. "We didn't talk about them the first time but I have a feeling that they're like us, right ?" She added

"Yes, I would have like them to be here with you but now we are talking about them, I need to give you some informations about them." Now, he was showing pictures of Greta and Yirina right now. I was smiling at seeing them, being well & safe. "They're like you, gifted with powers and they will be your companions for the following battle and for the future."

"Like Primis...Ultimis ?" I asked, proudly and he nodded,

"When Monty will be no more, I will tell them everything about their roles in the future and they will agree." He then showed an single picture of Yirina "Yirina.....Yirina is my daughter !" He exclaimed as me & Helen were getting ourselves in shock inside our couch.

"She is.....you're serious ?" Helen was very shocked by hearing this

"When I arrived in this world, I tried to have a normal life but before she was born, I couldn't stay because I wouldn't want to get her mother and Yirina getting hurted by my fault by Monty." He showed us pictures, giving us the truth about his statement, he was really Yirina's lost father. I didn't remember well but Yirina once talked about the father she never saw and that her mother never talked about him.

"But now, she's in the fight we are leading." I said, taking back his statement about Yirina.

"I know." He breathed but I realized something.

"If you are her father, does that means that Yirina was always gifted by powers and not given by Greta by.....sexual intercourse ?" I asked, not sure of my last words

"Yes and that....little thing she had with Greta was something that make Yirina awaken her powers because she didn't have enough Aetherium inside of her." He removed the pictures he was showing us, looking at us. "You four....will be leading a fight that will decide of the Multiverse......and this House will be your new home for the future." He got up from his chair before making appear two chests in front of us.

"What's this ?" Helen asked

"Your belongings and everything that you will use." He opened the chests at the same time as we got up from the couch to approach our respectives chests. When I got close of mine, I could see perfectly and recognize some of the stuff inside.

"The Path of Sorrows, Dempsey's diary." I started to say about to see tha before I could see the Ray Gun....MY Ray Gun. "How ?" I was in lost of words right now

"I....let's just say that I had the help of someone inside Requiem to have it back to you." He smiled at me, guessing right the person who did this,

"Grey." I whispered before looking back at him "She was hearing your voice right ?" I told him, remembering that discussion I had with her the day before we departed for Cuba

"Exactly, I guided her into making the good choices towards you." He crossed his arms, looking at us, checking our stuffs. I realized that were another gun in the chest : a american M1 Thompson. "Ah, Ultimis Dempsey's weapon....for you !"

"I don't know if I will be able to have enough mags for that gun, you know." I smirked at him, knowing that his gun is not very used these days and he laughed.

"I gave a little something I created to each one of you : a simple device." He said as we discovered me & Helen this particular device he was talking about : a small rectangular purple device. "It will replenish your empty mags to make them fully useful again....like infinite ammo with the need to reloading."

"It will be very useful. Thanks, Nikolai" Helen said as she was checking her stuff, discovering also her new outfit for the future. "Wow, it's look nice." She exclaimed, looking at the brown jacket with the UK emblem at the side. As for me, I discovered at the same time, my new outfit who was very cool too : a blue scarf, goggles and everything else was so nice.

"I will let you dress." Nikolai then left the room, leaving us alone to dress up in our new outfits, getting rid of the casual clothes we were wearing for our mission back into that universe.

We took 5 minutes to remove our clothes and then to dress up in the outfit we are not going to change for a long time until we are done with Monty's threat. During the dress up, I was hearing Eddie's voice all along, pleading for me to save him from Monty.....and that I will do : I will save Eddie and I will kill Monty with my own hands. It was giving me some strength each time I was getting dressed up until I looked myself in a mirror as I pulled the Path of Sorrows in my back.

I looked up at Helen who was looking so beautiful and amazing in that outfit. Her smile was giving so much love for her and my smile did the same for her. I was happy to be with her and her too. She was given back her usual weapons by Nikolai but also with some modifications. I could feel that our guns were like....upgraded and feeling connected to them. Once we were done, the door of the room opened as Nikolai feeled we were finished.

"Well, you are prepared to...." He started before cutting himself as his eyes went purple and after 10 seconds of a blank stare towards us, he went back to normal.

"Something's wrong ?" I asked worried again

"I felt that Yirina & Greta will have some troubles : your 'friends" are back in West-Berlin." He exclaimed before ordering us to follow him "You have to go save them and maybe your friend Lazar." He said to us as we walked outside

"Wait." I started too, putting my hands on his shoulder "I think.....you need to come with us, Nikolai."

"I don't know, Samantha." He replied before making his moves to open a portal for us"It's too dangerous."

"You can give them the importance of our fight....and you can maybe see Yirina from your own eyes and reveal to her who you are." I told him, causing him to stop as he was already finished with the portal before looking at me.

"Samantha, I...." He stopped himself before Helen arrived to get her hands on him too

"She's right : it's time for you to be the father she never had and maybe the father you wanted to be." She said, giving him a good look and as I can see, it was working "Trust us."

"Okay, I will." He responded with a grin before preparing ourselves to cross the portal. "Let's go together, then." He exclaimed before we crossed the portal, the three of us.

I know that it was maybe dangerous for him to leave his House....and now, our new home but it was better for him and for us that he came with us to tell everyone the reason of our fight. He's the one who can show them that the man they are facing isn't the one they believe to be and that the Dark Aether is not just an simple thing that will go away like that. He needed to come with us since he revealed that he was Yirina's father after all these times. If we can make her and him happy, it would be good for them.

The travel lasted at least 5 seconds before we landed at a few meters of the front of the safehouse garage's door and we even checked that we were in the right place.....in the right universe but everything was good. Nikolai told us it was the right place. The garage door were closed and the night were going to fall on the city as we started to walk just next to the garage door. We could hear some shouting and I could recognize Greta's voice in it.

"I swore that I didn't do a thing !" She yelled "Me & Yiri didn't do a thing, damnit."

"Oh yeah ?" That was that dickhead Hudson "Omega was tipped off by someone who didn't come in Cuba and we all saw it in the file Lazar brought to us." Not everyone were happy at all including us until we decided to open the door by force.

We leaned forwards to get our hands on the door and then we raised our hands up to make the door opened by force. Then, we could enter the safehouse as everyone was taken aback when they saw us. Basically everyone was there : Adler, Sims, Lazar, Hudson, Weaver, Greta & Yirina. The mens were surrouding the womans and when we arrived, they all stepped back shocked as Greta & Yirina were happy to see us well.

"Samantha ! Helen !" Greta & Yirina said in a loud voice at the same time

"You !" Adler said, leaned against his desk "How ?"

"We were left for dead at Cuba." Helen started to said before looking at Lazar "They're mind-controlled him." She pointed him with her finger, her other hand on her gun. Lazar was stunned to hear that, it was obvious because himself didn't know the his own situation

"What ? You're crazy, Park ?" He looked at us with narrowed eyes "You said that I needed to hook myself first before the plane took me without leaving you any time to hook yourselves." He looked at me "I'm right."

"Yeah, you have maybe escaped Cuba in no time but you don't have any proof of what you're saying." Hudson exclaimed.....dick ! "We know where Perseus is and....."

"No !" Nikolai spoke against him, cutting him "It's a trap : Perseus is not at Duga. He put a file especially to mislead everyone of you and Lazar is really mind-controlled by him."

"Perseus is at Solovetsky " I added, looking at Weaver "That is where he will blow up your work."

"That's non-sense, it's...." Then, a satellite phone started to make some noises next to him, causing him to take it. "Yes, what do you need ?" He looked around, holding the phone "Wait, what do you mean ?" He looked at us "You're serious, right ?" Then, at Hudson "Ok, I will tell them." He hung up the phone, having a sorry look "They're right !"

"What the fuck ?" Hudson told him in anger

"Requiem's bureau in the Soviet Union has found out many stranges communications coming from Solovetsky : that's where he will launch Purplelight !" He gave to us his 'apologies', realizing that we were right until I saw Lazar getting weird....Monty was getting back control of him and then, he took his gun and approach Sims from behind.

"Hey, what are you doing, Laz' ?" Sims yelled, getting everyone attention to him as Lazar took him as a human shield, his gun aimed at Sims's head. Even under Monty's control, he was looking feared, he looked at Nikolai.

"Nikolai Belinski ! I thought you were dead !" He shouted to him

"Monty, it's over ! We know exactly where you are and you can't stop us." Nikolai replied to him, walking towards him. "I cheated death in that forest and I will make sure that you will not do the same as me."

"I'm not going to flee at all, I'm awaiting for all of you at Solovetsky." He said, pointing his gun towards everyone. "I will win and YOU....." He looked at me "Samantha, you will never have Eddie again !"

"I will." I said, my eyes going fully purple "And I will kill you !" I walked with Helen next to Nikolai

"We will see that when you will be there." 'Lazar' smiled, looking at everyone "Since my puppet didn't succeed in his mission again, it's time....." He then threw Sims in front of him, releasing him. "To terminate him." He then aimed his gun towards himself and I tried to run to him to stop him but.....it was too late. Even with my powers, I couldn't stop Monty to kill Lazar. The only thing I could do was to grab Lazar lifeless body before he could hit the ground as I fall of my knees, holding back my tears.

"What the fuck just happened ?" Sims said in terror, having seen his friend killing himself in front of him. Lazar didn't deserve that....Monty is an fucking monster and I will hold my promise : I will kill him. At this moment, Nikolai decided it was time to tell everyone the truth about our fight.

"Everyone." He started to said before he cut himself, getting ready to levitate in place with his fully purple eyes. He spread his arms during it and everyone were shocked to see him doing that except me, Helen, Greta & Yirina as we know what will happen next,

"There's big things I need to tell all of you !"

#black ops cold war #bocw #call of duty cold war #cod cw #cod black ops cold war #cod cold war #fanfic #helen park #samantha maxis

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nikkzwrites · 4 years

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Yesterday Once More | Dark Fix-It Fic Series | Chapter 8

A/N: This fic is one that I started with my OC because honestly, I personally didn’t like how season 3 ended. So I am rewriting all of Dark with my OC Annalise Dahlheim. I hope you all like it. Some things will be expanded more on just for more depth to Dark that season 3 kinda skipped over so…. yeah.

CW: Canon Typical Triggers: Smoking, Sex, Language, Drugs, Drinking, Death, Violence, Suicide Mentions, Cutting, Violence.

Word Count: 5.5k

[First Chapter] [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]

Helge rode his bike home from school. The small boy heard the police siren and waited for a young Egon to drive past. The small boy followed the car to the build site where they had found two boys’ bodies there dead in the dirt pile. As Egon turned, Helge noticed he was going to be spotted. He turned and started to head home once more in 1953.

Back in 1986, the older Jonas walked into Tannhaus’ shop. Tannhaus looked up and commented, “On time, like a clockwork.” Jonas walked and sat in the waiting chair for him. The clockmaker then asked, “Where were we?”

“The Einstein-Rosen Bridge,” Jonas said as if he had done this a million times before.

Tannhaus nodded, “A passage between a black hole, the entry, and a white hole, the exit, which connects time and space. To pass through it, is to travel through time.”

In 2019, Ulrich tried to follow the older man, who was repeating ‘Tick-Tock’, down the tunnel. He slowly followed the path. Hesitant to be misled, Ulrich took it one step at a time.

Tannhaus continued, “Our thinking is shaped by dualism. Entrance, exit. Black, white. Good, evil. Everything appears as opposite pairs. But that’s wrong.” The man drew a symbol on a piece of paper and showed it to Jonas, “Have you ever heard of the triquetra?”

“The trinity knot,” Jonas confirmed seeing the picture.

Tannhaus smiled, “Nothing is complete without a third dimension. There isn’t only up and down. There’s a center, too. I think Einstein and Rosen overlooked something. A wormhole connects not just two, but three different dimensions. Future, present, and the past.”

Ulrich, having reached the crossing, crawled inside. It tried to push him out. Like he didn’t belong there.

Just outside that connection in the cave, Helge just got home. He opened the door to his home to have his mother come down the stairs to berate him about being dirty. The timid boy tried to explain himself to no avail. She just ordered the boy to remove his clothes so that she could have it washed. Helge shrunk into his jacket as if he were a turtle trying to hide.

His mother pulled on his ear, “I told you to take off your clothes.”

Helge winced then started to strip out of his dirty clothes dropping them carelessly to the floor. He stood in front of her embarrassed to be seen in such a sight. His clothes felt like armor. Now there he was, without it.

His mother angrily huffed before demanding, “Stay here.” She turned and stormed up the stairs.

Bernd walked into his house to see his shy son standing in the entrance hall in just his underwear. He coughed and took off his hat to let Helge know he was behind him. Once his son turned to look at him, Bernd caressed Helge’s face, “Hello, my boy. What have you been getting into?”

Helge smiled happily at his father. He explained, “I was at the construction sight!”

“Oh that’s good,” the man said laughing.

Helge nodded, “They found something there.”

“What did they find,” Bernd asked, trying to ignore his cruel wife.

Greta stood annoyed, “He’s been creeping around again.”

Bernd ignored the comment with disdain and asked his son again, “Tell me, what did they find?”

“There were police everywhere at the construction site,” Helge started to explain again.

“Police,” Bernd asked.

Helge shook his head and clarified, “Two dead bodies. In the middle of the construction site.”

“What are you talking about,” Greta asked.

“They looked like kids,” Helge looked to both of his parents.

Bernd leaned down and whispered, “What? Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Helge confirmed.

Bernd looked up at his wife pleadingly hoping she would understand. He grabbed his hat and hurried out the door once more.

Once the door closed behind her soft hearted husband, Greta asked, “Are you lying?”

Helge shook his head scared. He trembled as his mother gave him new shorts to put on. She scolded him, “You’re late. The coins for Claudia are on the table.”

Ulrich emerged from the cave in 1953. He looked around confused. THe forest was so different. He ran trying to go find the old man he had been trying to follow.

“One, two, three,” Helge practiced as he rode his bike to their family’s small cabin out in the woods. His eyes were closed every time he counted, “One, two, three, four, five…” Once there, he grabbed a large stick and started to pretend that it was a rifle. Then he spotted it, the bunker. He walked over to it and opened the heavy door. It screeched having been lost to time with no oil. He walked inside and started to pretend he was making his rounds. He grabbed a pine cone off the shelf that he had carefully placed and threw it pretending it was a grenade. After tossing it, the boy ran for cover and hid behind the shelf in the fetal position. He spent a lot of time playing in the bunker. He looked to the side to see dates written in chalk on the walls.

“You write about Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence,” The older Jonas brought up to Tanhauss in 1986, “A universe that expands then collapses again. A universe that repeats itself endlessly.” Jonas placed the book on his desk.

Tannhaus smiled, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that.” He grabbed the book and started to look through it, “There were only 500 copies in total.”

Jonas continued to question, “You write about the lunar-solar cycle, in which everything repeats itself every 33 years.”

Tannhaus nodded, “From a cosmic point of view, yes. Every 33 years, the cycle of the mood is synchronized with that of the sun. But the 33 is more than that. We encounter it everywhere. Jesus performed 33 miracles. There are 33 litanies of angels. Dante’s 33 cantos in purgatory, and 33 in paradise.”

“And it is the age at which the Antichrist begins his rule,” Jonas concurred.

In 1953, Noah stood outside the church. A sixteen year old boy walked towards him. “Noah,” he called.

Noah turned to the boy, he smiled, “David, where are you heading this fine morning?”

David shrugged, “Adam told me to come check up on you. Then I can do generally whatever I want. I’m leaving soon anyway.”

Noah nodded. He watched as the boy walked away, “Oh, David?”

David stopped, “Yeah?” He turned to the man. He looked at him with a small tilt in his head. Noah couldn’t help it but to laugh a bit. So much of David reminded him of his once friend. He was so natiive and quiet. Yet, he was like the sunrise in the morning. He filled the world with so much light and hope. Noah guessed he couldn’t help it though. David was practically raised by Adam since he was small. There were very few people he had seen Adam treat with sentimentality, David was one of that few. The aforementioned man had even given the boy his name when the young boy couldn’t remember it 12 years ago. All he could remember was his last name, Dahlheim.

Noah chuckled, “Can you go get us some bread? I think we will be expecting a visitor soon. Also, don’t forget how important your part in all of this is.”

David rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything is connected and I have to make sure I do my part.” He sighed seeing Noah’s upset face at David’s dismissive attitude about everything, “Sure, I’ll go get us the bread. I have nothing better to do unless Adam suddenly decides he now wants me to do something here.” He forced his hands into his pockets and walked away with a light and airy whistling tune.

Noah watched the teenager walk away again. He knew that he couldn’t say much to reprimand the boy. He needed to have this rebellious streak in him so when they sent him to America to complete his part, he would be more charming to the girl he eventually were to marry there.

The file of the dead boys splayed across Egon’s desk as he stood there smoking. He wondered to his captain what made people want to kill and hurt others. No matter how much he had been through and seen, he still didn’t understand such cruelty.

“Why someone becomes a murderer,” Daniel asked to make sure he had understood Egon right.

Egon nodded, “Yes. Are they born one or do you become one?”

“It would certainly make our work easier if we knew ahead of time,” David chuckled as he started to put out his cigar, “Lock them up while they’re still little. Before they get on the wrong track.” He laughed, “Why does someone become a murderer?” He walked out of Egon’s office to leave the man alone to contemplate.

Helge was just leaving the cabin when two older boys confronted him.

“Hey weirdo,” One of them called out to him. He threw a rock towards his direction, “Why the big hurry?”

“Buying silk stockings for mommy,” the other one tormented. He commanded the other boy who had just then grabbed Helge, “See if there’s anything in his pockets.”

The large boy pushed Helge down easily and sat on him to hold him beneath him.

“Leave me alone,” Helge yelled.

The boy on top of him laughed, “Scream, no one will hear you.” He grabbed the money from his pockets then slapped the boy across the face. He stood up and backed away to allow the smaller older boy to stand in front of him.

“Don’t piss your pants,” he teased as he undid his fly, “Your old man’s got dough coming out of his ears.” He started to urinate on the poor little boy for a split second before being tackled down.

David, who had been passing through the woods right at that second, saw the two older boys tormenting Helge. His blood boiled. He howled in anger as he dove in head first into the other boy and just started to wail on him with his fists. “Pick on someone who can fight back, asshole,” He yelled as he hit. All of his anger and hatred of what happened to his family, his people, bubbled to the surface as an animalistic rage took over him. He didn’t even care that his clothes and fists were becoming bloodied and that his knuckles were going to scab over due to the scraps and force he was putting on them. His teeth barred. He was an unstoppable force for a while. No one could get to him through his anger.

Hearing another stick break, the bigger one of the bullies turned. “Someone else is coming,” He warned, punching David off so that the 16-year-old landed next to Helge and pulling the other boy away. David stayed on the ground only realizing how tired and hurt his arms actually were from his encounter. The adrenaline started to subside and bleed out of the boy as his red blood dripped onto the brown dirt below him.

The smaller boy looked to see Ulrich in the distance, “Let’s get out of here!” He ran assuming that Ulrich was either a guard for Helge or maybe even David’s dad. Hearing the commotion, Ulrich turned to see two boys on the ground as two larger boys ran away. He looked devastated at the two lying on the ground. He started to jog over to them as David helped the young boy up and started to help with the bike.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Ulrich called to them. David stopped and turned to look at the strange man. He started to study him. Helge put his bag back on his bike and looked up at Ulrich as well. With both of the boys attention he asked, “Did someone just come by here? An old man in pajamas?”

Both boys shook their heads at him confused. Blood dripped from David’s nose, mouth, and knuckles causing Ulrich to wince. He looked at poor Helge and could smell what must have happened. The two boys reminded him of himself and Mads when they were younger and alive. He turned to Helge and told him, “You have to defend yourself, or they’ll never stop.”

“But they’re stronger than me,” Helge complained.

Ulrich walked closer and whispered, “Then just bite them next time. You can’t always rely on your brother to save you. You have to be able to do that yourself.”

As Ulrich walked away, David shook his head, “I’m not his brother. Just someone passing by!” He gave up trying to talk to the strange man in costume and turned to Helge, “He is right though. What’s your name, kid?”

“Helge,” The boy replied, holding out a hand for David to shake, “Helge Doppler.”

David nodded and grasped the boy’s hand to give him a firm handshake, “David. David Dahlheim.” He smiled and asked, “Need an escort? I’ve got nowhere I got to be.”

Helge nodded and walked with the boy to Claudia’s. Helge listened as David told Helge the most amazing and awe inspiring stories. Helge watched as David told the stories with such skill and passion. His eyes lit up while talking. It made the younger boy feel safe and understood.

Tannhaus explained to Jonas in 1986, “Imagine you’re standing in an infinitely large, dark room, shining a light to the left. The beam should continue in the same direction forever. There’s no reason to assume that it could come back at you from the right. But a wormhole changes the topology of space-time. Bends it. Nothing is where it belongs anymore.”

Ulrich, in 1953, jogged trying to find the older Helge in vain. He looked around confused as a woman pulled her car up next to him. Agnes walked out of the car and walked up to him, “Hello, can you help me?” She explained, “Excuse me. We’re not from around here. I’m looking for Killinger Strasse 61.”

“That’s where I live,” Ulrich replied automatically, “It’s down the road and then to the right.”

Agnes smiled and asked, “Are you Egon Tiedemann?”

Insulted, Ulrich replied, “No.”

Agnes shook her head, “How rude of me. My name is Agnes Nielsen.” She walked over to her grandson and held out a hand to him, “And this is my son Tronte. We’re new in Winden.”

Ulrich’s face contorted in confusion. He squinted and looked towards the car.

“Tronte,” The boy’s mother called to him, “Come and say hello to the nice man.”

Ulrich took a step back as he saw Tronte and heard the boy greet him. This must have been a mistake and he was more injured going through the caves than he thought. He asked, “You’re Tronte Nielsen?”

Tronte nodded.

Ulrich continued, “And you are Agnes Nielsen?”

“Yes,” the woman replied simply.

Ulrich looked at the book he had taken from the older Helge’s room and decided that would probably be the best place to stop next.

Tannhaus continued to explain to the older Jonas, “Imagine traveling back in time and meeting your father. Before he had you. Would you have already changed things with this encounter? And is it even possible to change things? Or is time an eternal beast that can’t be defeated?”

“What do you think,” the older Jonas asked, “Can we change the course of events?” He was desperate. He needed to know if he could fix this.

Tannhaus shook his head, “Any scientist would tell you no. Causal determinism forbids it. But it is human nature to believe that we play a role in our own lives. That our actions can change things. All my life, I’ve dreamed of traveling through time to see what was and what will be.”

Jonas shook his head, “You don’t dream that anymore?”

“Dreams change,” Tannhaus answered, “Other things become more important. My place is not in the yesterday or tomorrow. Rather, it’s right here and now.”

Ulrich walked into the younger Tannhaus’s shop. The younger man walked to see Ulrich there and asked, “Can I help you? Are you looking for a watch?”

Ulrich looked down at the book then looked up to ask, “Are you H.G. Tannhaus?”

Younger Tannhaus nodded while taking a step back.

Ulrich then held out the book and asked, “This H.G. Tannhaus?”

He shook his head in response seeing the older picture of himself, “No, not the same guy then, right?”

Ulrich looked at him seriously and asked, “What year is it?”

“1953,” Tannhaus responded, “Stalin is dead. England has a Queen and Nanga Parbat has been conquered. 1953 as it lives and breathes, yes.”

Ulrich shook his head, “It’s not possible. Impossible.”

“The number 33,” Stranger Jonas in 1986 commented, “you write that it could be the time difference between the planes of a three dimensional wormhole.”

“That’s just a theory,” The man mumbled as he continued working, “But perhaps it could be the crux of the matter.”

Claudia played with her dog until she heard the doorbell. There at her door stood Helge with a handsome boy she had never properly met before. She looked down at Helge and said, “You’re late. I told you before to be on time.” She held out her hand for her payment

Helge lied, “Claudia, I forgot the money at home. I’ll bring it over later.”

Claudia sighed as she held her dog close, “Fine. Come in then after you introduce me to this fine gentleman.” She watched as David had turned to walk away putting on his cap.

“David,” Helge told the older boy, “I think she wants to meet you.”

David turned just enough to see her and turned back to Helge, “Well you’ve told her my name now, huh Bud? No reason I need to scare a cute girl like that with my messed up face and hands.”

“I can handle it,” Claudia pouted and stomped over to the boy. She turned him around to see a big coy smile on David’s face.

“Well then,” He took off his cap and playfully bowed, “David Dahlheim. It’s nice to meet you…” He trailed off waiting for her.

Claudia rolled her eyes. She did not like this boy’s attitude as if everyone loved him. She decided she had to be polite enough since she was the one who started this conversation in the first place, “Claudia Tiedermann. Nevermind about you. You get out of here before I tell my dad that you were the one who beats up poor Helge.”

David chuckled and waved, “See you later Helge. Stay strong pal!” He turned and walked to the bread store whistling his happy tune knowing full well he was probably going to be stopped by some concerned mother.

A little later, Claudia and Helge sat at the table while he tried to do some math problems. Helge had such a hard time with school that it practically bored Claudia to death. Soon there were two people at the door. Doris smiled as Claudia came in. She introduced her daughter to the new tenants that were going to be living with them.

The Tannhaus in 1953 offered Ulrich some water and asked if Ulrich would like him to call a doctor. The man shook his head. Soon his store bells started to ring again. He turned to see Ines and Jana walk in. He shook his head. Those two were inseparable weren’t they?

“I’m here to pick up my Dad’s watch. Is it ready,” Ines asked.

Tannhaus pulled out his orders and started to look through them trying to find the one labeled Kahnwald. He smiled, “Here you go, Ines. Purrs like a kitten again.”

Ines leaned over the counter and asked, “Did you hear what the police found this morning?”

“No,” Tannhaus replied, “But, I’m sure you’re about to tell me.”

Ines started to gossip, “Jana heard it in the teachers’ room. They found two dead bodies on Doppler’s construction site.”

Upon hearing his mother’s name, Ulrich leaned forward and whispered to himself. He continued to listen in now. He really felt as though his was vindication.

“Two little boys. They were abducted by aliens,” Ines continued, “For experiments.”

Ulrich hurried to the girl and turned her around to face him, “What did you just say?”

Ines stared at him terrified, “About the aliens?”

“No, about the boys,” Ulrich grit his teeth.

“The police found two dead boys this morning,” She explained.

Ulrich looked at the rest of the people before running out. He left his coat in Tannhaus’s Shop.

Tronte and Claudia walked through the woods together with Helge trailing behind. Part of the young boy wished that he had asked David to stay with him or something so that he could have someone to talk to while Claudia doe eyed at the new boy who just moved in. When they got to the caves, Tronte stopped and stared at it as if something was calling to him.

“These are our caves,” Claudia explained, “We’re not allowed to go in very far. But sometimes we do it anyway. As a dare, you know?”

Tronte asked, “A dare? Sure.”

Claudia turned to see Helge standing near them, “Shouldn’t you be heading home by now? And you still owe me a mark.” She watched as he nodded then ushered Tronte to walk with her, “Come on. Let’s keep going.” She wrapped her arm around his and whispered just loud enough for Helge to hear, “We’re rid of him.”

Helge became angry. He looked at the dog Gretchen and tossed a stick for her to go fetch into the caves. He stood there for a moment waiting for the small poodle to come back out of the cave, but it did not. Instead, Helge ran from responsibility as Claudia tried to call for her dog.

Ulrich argued with the officers inside of the station. He was just trying to find his son, he tried to plead with the other officers. Egon walked back into the station and asked, “What’s going on here?”

“The two boys you found this morning, what did they look like,” Ulrich asked the man, “Did one have brown hair? 11 years old?”

Egon asked, “Why do you want to know?”

“My son…” Ulrich explained, “My son disappeared. All I want to know is if one of the dead kids is mine.” He started to break down, “His name is Mikkel. He’s 11 years old. Brown hair. Blue eyes. He’s about this tall,” Ulrich gestured, “I have a picture.” He reached to grab it out of his jacket when he realised he had left his coat at the shop.

Egon dismissed the other two officers and replied, “No. One’s pretty dark, brown eyes. Foreign. The other a bit taller, bright red hair.”

“You’re sure there wasn’t a third,” Ulrich asked.

“Have you reported your son missing,” Egon asked.

Ulrich walked back to Egon and asked, “Do you know someone by the name Helge Doppler?”

“Bernd Doppler’s son?”

“No. Old, about 70.”

“The only old one is Bernd Doppler.”

Ulrich started to back up. He started to put all the pieces together. He ran downstairs trying to find Helge.

“But you…” The older Tannhaus talked to the bearded Jonas, “Why are you so fascinated with time?”

Jonas answered honestly, “I want to understand if I can change it. If everything has a purpose, and if so… who decides about this purpose? Coincidence? God? Or is it us? Are we actually free in our actions? Or is it all created anew, in an eternally recurring cycle? And we can only obey the laws of nature and are nothing but slaves of space and time.”

Egon walked into his house, finally off of his shift. Doris greeted him at the door and helped him strip out of his over coat. She whispered to him about the new tenants being there in their house. Doris brought him over to meet Agnes himself.

“Your wife has told me many things about you,” She smiled at Doris and looked back at the man, “You have a very nice home.”

“Thank you,” Doris blushed.

Egon studied Agnes and asked, “Did you arrive today?” When Agnes nodded, Egon then asked, “May I ask why you came to Winden of all places?”

Doris tried to scold him, “Stop questioning her!” She turned to the other woman and explained, “My husband is a policeman. He can’t help being curious.” Doris laughed.

“My grandmother is from Winden,” Agnes told him, “She always gushed about this town.”

Egon nodded, “May I ask what your grandmother’s name was?”

Right as if on cue, Claudia ran in exasperated, “Gretchen is gone! In the woods.” She doubled over panting with the leash in her hands, “She was there and then she was gone.”

Egon strolled over to his daughter, “Calm down and tell me what happened.”

Claudia took in a deep breath, “I was showing Tronte the woods, the path down into town. Gretchen was with us the whole time then she disappeared.”

As Claudia spoke, Doris started to look around worried. She felt as if something was off. “And where’s Helge,” she asked?

Claudia started to put together some pieces, “Maybe Gretchen is with Helge.”

Doris nodded, “Yes.”

Egon nodded, “That must be it.”

Doris gently touched his arm and asked, “Can you go and find out?”

Egon made a face then said, “I was going to see the Dopplers anyway.”

Doris stopped him before he left and said, “I invited Agnes and Tronte to dinner. Don’t be late again, Okay?”

Egon nodded and walked out of the house to go and try to find Gretchen for his beloved daughter.

“Time loops have a significant impact on the principle of causality,” Tannhaus lectured Jonas, “On the relationship of cause and effect. As long as a wormhole exists, there is a closed time loop. Inside it, everything is mutually dependent. The past doesn’t just influence the future. The future also influences the past. It’s like the question of the chicken or the egg. We can no longer say which of the two came first. Everything is interconnected.”

Ulrich snuck around the back of the Doppler house looking for the boy. Helge sat on a little stone monument in the backyard. He was admiring his collection of dead birds he had started collecting. Ulrich climbed down to meet with Helge.

The man asked the boy, “You’re Helge Doppler, aren’t you?”

Helge looked up at him, “Yeah, why?”

Ulrich pulled out the coin necklace and handed it to Helge, “Look at this.” Helge took it into his hand to study it. Ulrich sat down next to the boy and asked, “Have you ever seen that before?”

Helge shook his head, “No.” Ulrich swallowed hard. Was he really going to do what he thought he needed to do? Would he really go that far to save his own child? Helge looked up and asked him, “Did you find the man you’re looking for?”

“Yes,” Ulrich said, staring straight into the boy as if he was a predator that just trapped it’s prey. Yet he still held remorse.

“You look sad,” Helge stated.

“What’s in your box,” Ulrich asked the boy. Helge grabbed the box, opened it, and showed it to Ulrich. The man winced then asked, “Did you kill them?” When Helge didn’t respond, he asked again, “Hey. I asked if you killed them.”

Helge shook his head then looked up at the sky, “They just fall from the sky. They just plop down. I just collect them. They’re so beautiful when they’re dead.”

Ulrich looked down at his hands trying to figure out how to phrase what he was thinking. He looked up and said, “But you will kill something. The two boys at the construction site. My brother. My son. Not now, but in the future.” Ulrich started to play with his hands. He mumbled to himself, “But I can change it, you know. I can change the past.” Getting scared, Helge started to try to get up to run back into his house. Ulrich quickly grabbed him. “If you don’t exist, all of this won’t happen.” He carried the boy back.

Helge bit Ulrich’s hand just like he had taught him and tried to scramble away from the large man, but Ulrich was quicker and grabbed his ankle. Helge then kicked him in the face and started to run out towards the bunker. Ulrich closed on his tail. The boy had just made it to the door when Ulrich grabbed him and threw him down. Helge tried to grab a rock to defend himself, but Ulrich quickly took it from him. The man’s face wrinkled in agony at what he was going to do. His stomach churned as he held the rock up and started to bring it down straight on the side of Helge’s head.

Upset with what he had done, he dropped the rock and stared at the lifeless boy. He stood up and looked around. That was when he spotted the perfect place to put him. The bunker.

Egon waited for Greta down in the entrance way. When she came down, they discussed the matter at hand about his family’s missing dog. Greta was insistent that the dog was not in her house because animals were not allowed inside. Egon left without too much arguing knowing that he really didn’t want to be on that side of Greta’s wrath.

After this encounter though, Greta walked out calling for her son. He didn’t respond quickly which was a bit uncommon for the boy. Then she saw it. The box of dead birds.

Ulrich dragged the limb boy’s body down into the bunker and closed it up.

There was a new feeling in Winden. As if everything was just starting in their tiny home town.

Years later, the bunker was actually converted into the make believe bunker Helge had once pretended it to be. The old woman stared at all the connected pictures of the major players in Winden. Their pictures all next to each other to show how they had ages and connected like a web all together. She stared, hoping to figure out Adam’s moves and how to get herself out of this Apocalypse and knot.

“All our lives are connected,” Tannhaus told Jonas, “One fate bound to another. Every one of our deeds is merely a response to a previous deed. Cause and effect. Nothing but an endless dance. Everything is connected to everything else.” The man unfolded his arms, “But that’s just a theory. I can’t shake the feeling that you’re actually here about something else.”

Jonas chuckled, “What if I told you that everything in your book was true? That time travel is possible. Your theory on the formation of wormholes through gravitational impulses is not just theory. There is such a hole. Here in Winden.” Jonas paused before continuing, “I come from the future.” He walked to his bag and started to open it to give the man his time machine. “I traveled through the wormhole to 1986,” He explained. He opened up his time machine and showed it to Tannhaus.

The man responded, “Where...Where did you get that?”

“It’s broken,” Jonas responded, “You have to fix it.”

Tannhaus laughed, “I can’t do that.”

Jonas pointed to his initials, “Aren’t those your initials? You built it.”

“This device,” Tannhaus asked, “enables you to travel through time and space? It can create a wormhole?”

Jonas stated to clear up Tannhaus’s questions, “It opens a portal through which one can travel 33 years into the past and 33 years into the future.”

“And the wormhole you traveled through,” he asked, “Did that device create it?”

Jonas shook his head, “No. A few months ago an incident at the nuclear power plant released a blast of energy. But the device is able to repeat the same process.”

“And you want to create another wormhole,” Tannhaus asked.

Jonas shook his head again, “No, I want to destroy the one that exists.”

Tannhaus pointed to the door. “I want you to leave now,” he said.

Jonas stared at him confused, “This town is like a festering wound. And we’re all a part of it. But I can change it. Your device can change it.”

“Leave,” Tannhaus demanded, “Leave now.”

Jonas closed his suitcase, grabbed his bag, and started to respectfully leave. He turned to give the man one last message, “I’ve seen the future. I know what will happen. I have to set things right again and you have to help me.”

Tannhaus sighed after the man walked out. He slowly went to his own secret project and pulled it out. He stared at it. Remembering just when he first started to work on it.

The young Tannhaus walked to Ulrich’s jacket and picked it up. He placed it on his coat rack. He then checked it, finding a cellphone, a device completely new to him and this time. The man studied it carefully before getting startled by the noise and dropping it to reveal the picture of the Nielsen’s and Annalise there on his background.

Ulrich sat distressed in front of the bunker having no idea the repercussions his actions were going to have.

#yesterday once more fanfic #dark fanfic #dark netflix #dark netflix fanfic #dark (netflix)#dark (netflix) fanfiction

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stainedglassgardens · 4 years

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Watched in June 2020

Funny Games Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the Sun Bells from the Deep: Faith and Superstition in Russia (Glocken aus der Tiefe - Glaube und Aberglaube in Russland) We Are the Best! (Vi är bäst!) Olla Return to Reason (Le Retour à la raison) Ghosts Before Breakfast (Vormittagsspuk) Sissy Boy Slap Party The Republic of Enchanters (La République des enchanteurs) Sullivan's Banks (Sullivans Banken) Black Panthers Asparagus America The Fall The Watermelon Woman Douce Menace Curling Trouble Every Day The Return (Возвращение) Maillart's Bridges (Maillarts Brücken) Two Years at Sea The Creeping Garden Homo Sapiens A Radiant Life (Une Vie radieuse) Shirley Disclosure Baghead Lahemaa Closeness (Теснота) Touki Bouki Daughter (Dcera) Human Nature 1 Dimension

Did not finish

From the Depths (Dal Profondo, Valentina Pedicini, 2013)

I could take them or leave them

Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine (Marion Cajori and Amei Wallach, 2008) The Republic of Enchanters (La République des enchanteurs, Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, 2016) America (Valérie Massadian, 2013) The Fall (Tarsem Singh, 2006) Douce Menace (Ludovic Habas, Yoan Sender, Margaux Vaxelaire, Mickaël Krebs, Florent Rousseau, 2011) A Radiant Life (Une Vie radieuse, Meryll Hardt, 2013)

Films I enjoyed

Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the Sun and Bells from the Deep: Faith and Superstition in Russia (Glocken aus der Tiefe - Glaube und Aberglaube in Russland) (Werner Herzog, 1989 and 1993): Just super nice Herzog documentaries. There are a bunch on Mubi now and I might watch all of them

We Are the Best! (Vi är bäst!, Lukas Moodysson, 2013): I was on the lookout for this film for years and then it popped up on Mubi. Maybe I didn’t love it because of all that anticipation, but it’s still a great film that I wish more people, especially more teenagers, would see

Return to Reason (Le Retour à la raison, Man Ray, 1923): Always love early experiments with film

Sissy Boy Slap Party (Guy Maddin, 2004): Very silly! Loved it

Sullivan's Banks (Sullivans Banken) and Maillart's Bridges (Maillarts Brücken) (Heinz Emigholz, both 2000): It’s nice that there are non-narrative documentaries like this. You wouldn’t think filming buildings (and bridges) from different angles would bring something to the table as opposed to, for instance, photographing them, but somehow it really does. Again, a bunch of Emigholz’s films are on Mubi and they make for great daytime entertainment, might watch more soon

Black Panthers (Agnès Varda, 1970): This was made available for free by The Criterion Channel and I was finally able to see it, as well as keep going with my Vardathon. I loved how matter-of-fact and sympathetic this short documentary was

Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001): The kind of vampire movie I wish there were more of. Also always love Béatrice Dalle <3

Two Years at Sea (Ben Rivers, 2011): This is a very quiet, contemplative, beautiful documentary about a man who lives alone in the woods

The Creeping Garden (Tim Grabham and Jasper Sharp, 2014): The wide array of things that can be explored while just talking about slime mould is a little bit stunning -- great soundtrack too

Homo Sapiens (Nikolaus Geyrhalter, 2016): I preferred Our Daily Bread from the same director but I still loved this. I like how Geyrhalter always lets his (stunning) images do the talking

Shirley (Josephine Decker, 2020): Being a fan of both Shirley Jackson and Elisabeth Moss, I’d wanted to see this since it came out. It was pretty much exactly as I expected, which is to say very good. It reminded me, not without reason, of the recent We Have Always Lived in the Castle adaptation

Baghead (Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass, 2008): Sometimes silly, sometimes deep, Duplass brothers comedy featuring young Greta Gerwig

Lahemaa (Leslie Lagier, 2010): Science fiction short about a Chernobyl-like mysterious city

Closeness (Теснота, Kantemir Balagov, 2017): Might have preferred this to Beanpole, still not entirely sure what to think, but I loved the main character and I loved the story

Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973): This is a wonderful debut feature by a director whom, for some reason, I had heard nothing about until now

Daughter (Dcera, Daria Kashcheeva, 2019): The animation was wonderful and the story a lot more layered than I would have thought for such a popular short film

Human Nature (Sverre Fredriksen, 2019): Please watch this right now if you can. It’s three minutes long and you won’t regret it. Very silly

1 Dimension (一维, Lü Yue, 2013): This is a beautiful short film about the nature of good and evil and I loved that, contrarily to many films with exactly this premise, it didn’t actually try to provide a clear-cut answer

Films I loved

Funny Games (Michael Haneke, 1997): Definitely this month’s film that fucked me up. So gruelling

Olla (Ariane Labed, 2019): When I first finished this I was doubtful but the more I thought of it the more I loved it. It’s about an Internet girlfriend from Eastern Europe who comes to France and I don’t know that I can say much more about it except that it manages to talk about sex work in a way that I enjoyed

Ghosts Before Breakfast (Vormittagsspuk, Hans Richter, 1928): This, together with Meshes of the Afternoon, which I saw a few months ago, reminds me that so-called experimental and avant-garde stuff was in film from the very beginning, it was just ignored by big-budget film producers in favour of narrative features. Anyway, this is a great short film and it's only six minutes so you should definitely watch it

Asparagus (Suzan Pitt, 1979): A five-star rating on Mubi, just, one of those things I am glad women are making out there -- just like Jodie Mack's The Grand Bizarre a few months ago

The Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye, 1996): This classic was made available by The Criterion Channel and I could finally see it... It feels like a first film in all the good and bad ways, and I’m glad it exists, glad there are complex, multilayered stories about Black lesbians out there

Curling (Denis Côté, 2010): I saw this after I was so favourably impressed by Ghost Town Anthology and I have to say, if anyone can hook me up with the rest of Côté's filmography, please please please hit me up. I'm in love with his depiction of small-town Québec, and the slow progression of his drama, the no-music soundtrack, just everything -- not to mention his take on “genre”

The Return (Возвращение, Andrey Zvyaginstev, 2003): I’m glad I stuck with Zvyagintsev after I was disappointed by The Banishment. Of the four I’ve seen, this is by far my favourite film of his (maybe because, since there are no women, there is no misogyny). It is often hard to watch but the ending brings it all together quite beautifully

Disclosure (Sam Feder, 2020): This is such a good documentary. It’s often hit-or-miss with Netflix releases but I urge you to watch this whether or not you are already “educated” about the representation of trans people in film and television. Jen Richards in particular provides great insight

I spent almost all of my movie time on Mubi in June. Not that I’m sad about it! This subscription might be my best decision in a while. Now to watch more random stuff that I’ve never heard about before!

#watched in 2020 #films

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pope-francis-quotes · 5 years

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9th August >> (@VaticanNews By Robin Gomes) #Pope Francis #PopeFrancis discusses populism in #Europe, also touching upon politics, migrants, the Pan-Amazonian Synod, and the Church's evangelizing mission. @LaStampa

Pope Francis: isolationism and populism lead to war

In an interview with the Italian daily La Stampa-Vatican Insider, Pope Francis says that Europe needs to respect identities of peoples without closing itself in. He touches upon several issues such as politics, migrants, the Synod on the Amazonia, the environment and the evangelizing mission of the Church.

By Robin Gomes

Europe must be saved because it is a heritage that "cannot and must not be dissolved". Dialogue and listening, "starting from one's own identity" and from human and Christian values, are the antidote against “sovereignism” and populism, and are also the engine for "a process of relaunching" that never ends.

Pope Francis spoke about these and other issues with Domenico Agasso, the Vatican expert and coordinator of “Vatican Insider”, the online project of Italy’s daily newspaper "La Stampa".

Europe and its founding fathers

The Pope hopes that Europe will continue to be the dream of its founding fathers. It is a vision that became a reality by implementing the historical, cultural and geographical unity that characterizes the continent.

Despite Europe’s "problems of administration and internal disagreements", the Pope is optimistic about the appointment of Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission. He is happy about her appointment “because a woman can be the right person to revive the strength of the founding fathers.” “Women”, he said, “know how to bring people together and unite."

Europe’s human and Christian roots

According to the Pope, the main challenge for Europe in relaunching itself comes from dialogue. "In the European Union we must talk to each other, confront each other, know each other", says the Pope, explaining how the "mental mechanism" behind every reasoning must be "first Europe, then each of us".

To do this, he says, "we also need to listen", while very often we only see "compromise monologues". The starting and relaunching point, he explains, are the human values of the person. It is a fact of history that Europe has both human and Christian roots. “And when I say this,” the Pope says, “I don't separate Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants. The Orthodox have a very precious role for Europe. We all have the same founding values.”

Identity that is open to dialogue

The Pope explains that each of us is important, no one is secondary. Hence in every dialogue, “we must start from our own identity”. He gives an example: "I can't do ecumenism if I don't start from my being Catholic, and the other who does ecumenism with me must do so as a Protestant, Orthodox etc... Our own identity is not negotiable; it integrates itself.”

The Pope said that the problem with exaggerations is that we isolate ourselves without opening up. Identity, he says, is cultural, national, historical and artistic wealth, and each country has its own, but it must be integrated with dialogue. It is crucial that while starting from one’s own identity, one needs to open up to dialogue in order to receive something greater from the identity of others.

Never forget, the Pope says, that “the whole is greater than the parts.” Globalization and unity”, he says, “should not be conceived as a sphere, but as a polyhedron: each people retains its identity in unity with others".

“Sovereignism” and populism

The Pope expresses concern about what he terms as “sovereignism” which he describes as an attitude of isolation. He says he is worried about speeches resembling those of Hitler in 1934 that speak of “Us first. We... we...”

While “sovereignism” involves closing in upon oneself, sovereignty is not, the Pope explains. Sovereignty must be defended and relations with other countries, with the European Community, must also be protected and promoted.

“Sovereignism” is an exaggeration that always ends badly: "it leads to wars", the Pope says. Populism, he explains, is a way of imposing an attitude that leads to “sovereignism” and should not be confused with "popularism", which is the culture of the people which needs to be expressed. Suffixing “-ism” to “sovereign”, the Pope says, is bad.

Migrants: primacy of right to life

On the issue of immigration, Pope Francis stresses on the four principles of welcoming, accompanying, promoting and integrating.

The most important criteria in this, he says, is the right to life, which is linked to conditions of war and hunger that people flee from, especially from the Middle East and Africa. Governments and those authorities are required to think about how many migrants they can take.

The Holy Father also calls for creative solutions, such as filling up labour shortage in the agricultural sector. Some countries have semi-empty towns because of the demographic decline. Migrant communities could help revitalize the economy of these areas.

Speaking about war, Pope Francis says “we must commit ourselves and fight for peace.” Hunger mainly concerns the African continent which, he says, is the victim of a cruel curse, that it should be exploited. Instead, he says, part of the solution is to invest there to help solve their problems and thus stop migratory flows.

Urgency of the Amazon Synod

On being asked about the Synod on the Amazon in October in the Vatican, the Pope says “it is the ‘child’ of ‘Laudato si’”. He clarifies that “Laudato si” “is not a green encyclical but a social encyclical based on the “green” reality of the custody of creation.

“It will be our synod of urgency”, the Pope says, expressing shock that on Earth Overshoot Day, 29 July, man has already exhausted all the regenerative resources for the current year. This, together with the melting of the glaciers, the risk of rising ocean levels, the increase in plastic waste in the sea, deforestation and other critical situations, he says, makes the planet live in "a situation of world emergency”.

Synod, work of the Holy Spirit for evangelization

The Synod, however, the Pope points out, is not a meeting of scientists, politicians or a parliament. “It was convened by the Church and will have an evangelizing mission and dimension. It will be a work of communion guided by the Holy Spirit.”

The important themes of the event are those concerning "the ministries of evangelization and the different ways of evangelizing".

Amazonia key to the future of the planet

The Pope explains the choice of Amazonia for a synod is because the region involves as many as nine States. "It is a representative and decisive place. Together with the oceans, it contributes decisively to the survival of the planet. Much of the oxygen we breathe comes from there. That's why deforestation means killing humanity.”

Politics

Asked about politics, the Pope says that "the threat to the lives of the populations and the territory derives from the economic and political interests of the dominant sectors of society". Thus politics must "eliminate its connivances and corruptions”. “It must take concrete responsibility, for example on the subject of open-cast mines, which poison water and cause so many diseases".

Hope in young people

The Holy Father expresses confidence in young people and their movements for a new attitude towards the care of Creation, like the Swedish teenage activist, Greta Thunberg, who is leading a worldwide protest against climate change. The Pope says he was moved to see a placard of hers that read: “We are the future”. It means promoting attention to the little everyday things that "affect" the culture "because they are concrete actions", the Pope says.

Topics

POPE FRANCIS

INTERVIEW

EUROPE

AMAZONIA

POLITICS

MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES

#SINODOAMAZONICO

09th August 2019, 13:23

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orbemnews · 3 years

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Kids are taking governments to court over climate. And they are starting to win. The 25-year-old climate activist had taken the German government to court last year and won. On April 29, the country’s Supreme Court announced that some provisions of the 2019 climate change act were unconstitutional and “incompatible with fundamental rights,” because they lacked a detailed plan for reducing emissions and placed the burden for future climate action on young people. The court ordered the government to come up with new provisions that “specify in greater detail how the reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions” by the end of next year. The decision made headlines across the world. “It was hard to digest, because it was so, so unexpected,” Neubauer told CNN, stressing that while it was her name on the case — Neubauer et al. versus Germany — she was just one of many people involved. “This case changes everything,” she said. “It’s not nice to have climate action, it’s our fundamental right that the government protects us from the climate crisis.” Peter Altmaier, the German minister for energy and the economy called the court’s finding “significant” and a “historic decision for climate and the rights of young people.” Climate lawsuits are becoming an increasingly popular and powerful tool for climate change activists. A January report released by the United Nations Environment Programme found that the number of climate litigation cases filed around the world nearly doubled between 2017 and 2020. Crucially, the governments are starting to lose, Neubauer’s victory came just months after a court in Paris ruled that France was legally responsible for its failure to meet emission cutting targets. Another similar case involving six young people from Portugal was fast-tracked at the European Court of Human Rights last October. Mark Clarke, a partner at the international law firm White & Case, says that not only are there more climate cases being brought forward, there’s also a shift in the way they are being framed. “The most significant trend is the pivot away from claims for damages as a result of the physical impacts of climate change, towards rights-based claims,” he said. The cases are most often centered around the idea that future generations have a right to live in a world that is not completely decimated by the climate crisis. Neubauer and her co-claimants argued that the current German government’s failure to have a concrete plan to reduce emissions beyond 2030 would make their lives more difficult because they’d be forced to confront the catastrophic impact of climate change in the future. The 2019 law called for a 55% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030 from 1990 levels. The lawsuit argued that the target wasn’t sufficient to meet Germany’s obligations under the Paris accord. Under the agreement, most signatories pledged to keep global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius and as close to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that warming of more than 2 degrees would have devastating consequences, including sea level rise, frequent heatwaves, extreme weather and droughts. “The [German Constitutional] court was not so much talking about the impacts of climate change on young people, but the impact of mitigation measures,” said Gerry Liston, the head of climate litigation at Global Legal Action Network, or GLAN. “If action is delayed, it will require vastly greater emissions reductions in the future and that would impose a massive burden on those alive then,” he said. Liston is representing the six Portuguese young people who have taken 33 governments to the European Court of Human Rights over their failure to act on the climate crisis. Aged between nine and 22, they are already experiencing its effects. Four of them are from Leiria, a region devastated by deadly wildfires in 2017. The fires killed at least 62 people — some of them burned alive in their cars as they tried to escape. Joana Setzer, a fellow at the London School of Economics’ Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said the fact that so many of the climate cases are brought by young people makes them more powerful — because children and young adults can legitimately argue they will face the worst impacts of the climate crisis in the future. “These kids, they found their voice, they went to the streets and they were there, shouting in front of parliaments, and when they couldn’t go to the streets anymore because of social distancing and Covid, they went to court,” she told CNN. Governments around the world have been coming up with ever more ambitious climate targets in recent years. But according to UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa, many have so far failed to set out plans on how to reach them. Now, they are being held accountable for their promises. “The government seems to still mix up setting climate targets with doing climate action,” Neubauer said. “It’s two different things — targets cannot replace what the government does now, and what the government does right now is basically preventing us from reaching those targets.” The new tobacco Setzer told CNN that while a majority of climate cases are still either unsuccessful or pending, there have been some significant wins in recent years. The UN report on climate litigation also said there has been an increase in the success of actions taken. Tim Crosland, the director of Plan B, a charity focused on climate litigation, said that when it comes to lawsuits, climate is the new tobacco. “In the tobacco litigation cases, you had quite few successful cases to begin with, before the tide turned and the litigation started to go the other way,” he said. Crosland said the trend in climate cases began to emerge in 2018, when three key events helped shift the public perception of the scale and urgency of the crisis. “You have the IPCC report when we get the headlines around the world that say we have 11 years to save the planet; you have Greta and her school strikes, and you have the extinction rebellion protests,” he said, referring to the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. “You have the IPCC report when we get the headlines around the world that say we have 11 years to save the planet; you have Greta and her school strikes, and you have the extinction rebellion protests,” he said, referring to the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. “This culminates in a number of things, including this trend of governments declaring climate emergencies and it becomes really hard for the courts to ignore.” Clarke, the White & Case lawyer, added that legal precedent is building as the number of cases rises. Advances in climate science are also helping, he said. “[That] is enabling claimants to address the challenges they have previously faced with respect to establishing causation and the apportionment of liability.” Yet for many activists, winning isn’t even the ultimate goal, Setzer noted. “They are really understanding the strategic role of litigation and making the process as — or more — important than the outcome. These cases receive so much media attention and this is becoming something of a real concern for governments,” she said. ‘We can’t sit by and watch this’ As one of the faces of the climate movement in Germany, Neubauer says she is on the receiving end of lots of backlash — she even jokes that she gets death threats at the same rate as postcards from her grandfather. “It’s incredible how much aggression arises once people take action … but it’s not my problem. If [some people] decide to spend an afternoon writing hate messages about me on their Facebook wall, that is their problem and not my problem. That’s their hate.” She said the lawsuit was just a logical continuation of the climate protests she helped to organize across Germany. “We found out that we had been striking for 125 weeks and the government was somewhat resistant to the idea that it might be actually their job to protect our future through the action today, and so I felt we need to do everything possible to change the course of things.” It’s a sentiment echoed by Marina Tricks and Adetola Onamade, two British students who have launched their own legal action together with Plan B against the UK government over what they say is a “failure to take practical and effective measures to meet its legally binding targets for reducing its domestic greenhouse gas emissions.” “The government is saying we are climate leaders and we are setting an example, but then they are putting £27 billion into roads, and a few million into the green recovery deal and they are completely ignoring the global dimension,” Onamade said. “We can’t sit by and watch that happen — we will hold them accountable in court, but we will also hold them accountable on the streets,” Tricks added. In response to the lawsuit, the UK government said the claim was “totally without merit” and that the assertion that the government was failing on climate policy is “manifestly false.” Along with their co-claimant Jerry Amokwandoh, Onamade and Tricks say that they have families and friends in West Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, parts of the world that have been hit hard by the climate crisis. They allege the UK government’s support of fossil fuels and the lack of meaningful climate action violates their human rights, including their right to family life, according to the claim for judicial review filed with the court. “The UN has put out estimates that there could be 200 million, and up to 1 billion, [climate] migrants by 2050, and we know these facts, yet we’re still on the same trajectory,” Tricks said. “It’s the fact that the government is seeing these facts — because I know that if I’m seeing them, they’re definitely seeing them — so they have the full knowledge, they have the means, they have the solutions, yet they’re doing nothing.” Over in Germany, it took the government less than a week to come up with new climate goals following its defeat at the Supreme Court. It is now proposing to cut its carbon emissions by 65% from 1990 levels by 2030, as opposed to the original 55%. It also pushed forward its net zero target, from 2050 to 2045. The law will need to be approved by the German parliament. Neubauer remains unimpressed. “I wonder if they’ve actually understood what the court has ruled there,” she said, saying that adding a couple of percentage points here and there simply doesn’t cut it. “We need to think the other way around. There is a clear boundary — the amount of emissions, the carbon budget that we have, is finite. You cannot extend it any longer and we need to think from that budget backwards, what does it mean for the amount of emissions we can produce today and tomorrow,” she said. Source link Orbem News #Climate #Court #Governments #Kids #starting #win

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uomo-accattivante · 7 years

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The troupe — a roving band of actors, musicians and directors who produce a variety of plays and entertainment — is centuries old. So why has this generation of stage, television and cinematic impresarios found new resonance in this old form of communalism?

IN “HAMLET,” WHEN the hero wants to put on a play to “catch the conscience of the king,” he engages the services of a band of itinerant actors, a motley troupe of entertainment professionals instructed by the Danish prince to “hold, as ’twere, the mirror up to nature.”

As the Renaissance scholar Siobhan Keenan notes in her 2002 study, “Travelling Players in Shakespeare’s England,” the author of “Hamlet” based that fictitious company on something “he had lived for real.” Troupes of mimes and acrobats, musicians and mummers were ubiquitous in early modern Europe. Their performances were both religious and profane, encompassing everything from passion plays to puppet shows to commedia dell’arte sketches. They cobbled together material from various sources — Shakespeare’s own compositional method — and tailored their performances to local tastes and prejudices. Tradespeople as well as artists, the troupes operated according to a flexible organizational chart. In their working relationships they were companions more than colleagues, forging quasi-familial ties (including love affairs, of course) as they wound from town to town. The whole village would come to the show, and the community onstage, with its exaggerated conflicts and beguiling harmonies, served as a mirror for the audience, binding its members, at least for an evening or two, in common troubles and delights. A few young people might run off with the troupe, further blurring the boundary between the players and their public.

For centuries, these troupes defined popular culture in much of the world. They show up now and then in modern paintings, novels and films: in Seurat’s “Circus Sideshow” and Picasso’s “Family of Saltimbanques”; in novels such as Emily St. John Mandel’s “Station Eleven” and Barry Unsworth’s “Morality Play”; in Theo Angelopoulos’s “Travelling Players” and Fellini’s “La Strada.”

Those works evoke nostalgia for the rough magic of a bygone way of life, one that slipped away silently and suddenly, like the circus setting off for the next town at daybreak. Over time, the troupe aesthetic fell victim to the usual forces of modernity. Art, even when it depended on collective labor, became increasingly individualized in Europe after the Middle Ages, and the consumption of art followed the same fate. Culture now travels, for the most part, electronically — reaching the public through the invisible corporate workings of television networks, streaming services and movie studios. Live theater, where it still flourishes, is concentrated in commercial or philanthropically supported institutions. The scrolling credits and the fine print in the playbill record a strict division of labor. Though there is, technically, a “company,” it’s often an ad hoc confection brokered by agents, producers and other offstage dealmakers. The artists are individuals, and so are the members of the audience. The romantic idea of performing artists as a vagabond tribe, commingling with the rest of us and then moving on, has been dissolved in the medium of modern celebrity. And the corresponding ideal of the public — gathering to share in a common treasury of imagination — has withered as tastes have fragmented.

BUT THE HUNGER for that older way of doing things persists. Movie studios and television networks are soulless, monstrous entities, ravenous heads of a corporate hydra. A Broadway theater is an empty shell. There is not much we see that commands our loyalty, or inspires our solidarity. The unsatisfied, atavistic part of ourselves that harbors a dim memory of those wondrous nights in the village square experiences a special frisson, a jolt of recognition and excitement, when we witness the work of players who seem loyal to one another.

This is why we react with a special kind of excitement when we encounter what looks like the work of a genuine troupe in the crowded, highly mediated, aggressively monetized postmodern landscape where we scavenge for beauty, fun and enlightenment. What connects certain television shows, movies and stage productions to ancient folkways is a particular blend of novelty and familiarity. You see the same faces again and again in new disguises. The afternoon’s clown is the evening’s tragic hero; yesterday’s princess is tomorrow’s wicked stepmother.

To be more specific: The young actor Evan Peters, who creeped you out as a sweet-faced, homicidal teenager in the first season of “American Horror Story” on FX, returns in subsequent seasons as a falsely accused murderer, a reanimated fraternity brother, Charles Manson, Andy Warhol and Jesus. This is not an exhaustive list. In the same series — the flagship production of what we might call the Ryan Murphy Troupe — Jessica Lange has been a sinister nun, a witch and a maniacal, musical mistress of ceremonies.

To take another example: Ben Stiller, a fixture of several distinct, overlapping quasi-troupes (including his own), shows up in “Greenberg,” Noah Baumbach’s 2010 romantic comedy, as the misanthropic, underachieving brother of a successful Los Angeles hotelier. He cycles back into the Baumbach universe in 2015’s “While We’re Young,” playing the somewhat less misanthropic, not as spectacularly underachieving son-in-law of a prominent documentary filmmaker. And then, a couple of years later in “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected),” he’s the successful sibling, a financial adviser based in L.A., struggling to keep his misanthropy in check and dealing with the narcissism of his father, played by Dustin Hoffman. (Hoffman was accused late last year by several women of sexual misconduct or assault. He has apologized to one of the women and has denied other allegations through his lawyer.)

If you are a habitual visitor to Baumbach’s galaxy, you are accustomed to seeing some of the same faces in altered guises. Florence Marr, played by Greta Gerwig in “Greenberg,” is not the same person as Frances Hamilton, Gerwig’s character in “Frances Ha” (2013) or Brooke in “Mistress America” (2015). But these young women stand in relation to each other like conjugations of the quintessential millennial verb “to adult.” They are melodies played on different instruments in the same family: clarinet, oboe, bassoon.

After “Greenberg,” Baumbach and Gerwig began writing together (they also now live together). “Frances Ha” and “Mistress America” are the fruits of that partnership, a fusion of complementary, but also distinctive, styles and sensibilities. “It’s like we’re standing on the beach picking up the same kind of rocks,” Gerwig says of their collaboration. (Gerwig’s solo voice as a writer and director burst forth in “Lady Bird,” one of the defining movies of last year.)

“Part of what’s great about working with the same people is that it’s an ongoing conversation that you’re having from movie to movie,” says Baumbach, whose troupe of repeat collaborators includes crew as well as cast. “How can we continue this thing we’ve been developing? And then there’s also the thing of explaining yourself to new people, which is good too. So you want some healthy dose of both.”

Baumbach’s characters are defined by their idiosyncrasies and imperfections, by their snowballing failures of communication, planning and insight. Bringing them to life demands precisely those things in heroic measure, and an enormous amount of work: endless rewriting, numerous takes, an editing process that begins while the script is still being written.

Ryan Murphy, by contrast, likes to surprise his actors, to spring ideas, situations and scenes on them in medias res — midseason and even mid-episode. “It’s always a little hair-raising,” says Jessica Lange. “With ‘American Horror Story’ we often wouldn’t get the first pages of the episode until the day we started shooting. I think anybody who’s worked with Ryan, especially on ‘American Horror Story’ — I mean, it is kind of by the skin of your teeth.”

“He can get sort of uninterested in a story he’s telling,” Sarah Paulson said, “and then decide to take it in an entirely new way that does interest him. So you can be going along, playing a particular thing and then all of a sudden you find out, oh, you really did kill your sister, and you ate her for dinner, and you didn’t realize that because you’d been playing the whole time that you really loved your sister. But it actually adds a beautiful nuance to your work.” The result is an ever-expanding, theoretically limitless multiverse of stories, and a thorough reinvention of the possibilities of serial television. “American Horror Story” derives its coherence not from a stable set of characters and situations but from the opposite. The through line is stated in the title — horror, a property that can be found in serial killers, witches, nuns, Charles Manson and our country’s current political climate. More concretely, it flows through the faces and voices of actors like Peters, Lange and Paulson, who discover, from one chapter to the next, the thrilling and spooky dimensions of their own talent. “It’s an incredible gift that you get to work for four to five months on something very, very intensely,” Paulson says, “just like you would on a film or a play, and then it’s over.”

A TROUPE, YOU will have noticed, is not necessarily a democratic phenomenon. Someone has to be the boss, providing both vision and connective tissue for the work of fellow artists. The current golden age of television has seen the rise of showrunners like Murphy as objects of critical scrutiny and fan obsessions, much in the way that movie directors were elevated to the status of artists during the postwar blossoming of film culture. Previously they had been seen as guns for hire in an anonymous industrial system.

Theater is an older art form, with a more complicated distribution of creative authority. Supremacy is habitually granted to the writer, who is sometimes also the star, and therefore a physical presence on the scene, but who more often is dead long before the curtain goes up. The popular image of what happens backstage involves a flurry of activity involving directors and dramaturgs, producers and impresarios scrambling to boost morale, prevent disaster and keep the bills paid.

Oskar Eustis is all of those things and also something else. The artistic director of the Public Theater since 2005, he leads in the tradition of two great New York showmen: George C. Wolfe, who directed “Angels in America” (1993) on Broadway and “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” (2017) for HBO, and Joseph Papp, the Public’s founder, who grew free outdoor performances of Shakespeare into a mighty civic institution. Under Eustis’s aegis, the Public, now housed in the former Astor Library in Lower Manhattan, has incubated such future Broadway hits as “Fun Home” (2015), “Hamilton” (2015) and “Latin History for Morons” (2017). It has been a home base and R&D facility for the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights Lynn Nottage and Suzan-Lori Parks. Season after season, it’s a whirring carousel of diverse, ambitious and politically urgent theater.

Eustis’s vision of the Public is of a kind of city within the city, a community open to new arrivals who settle in and stay for a long time. He likes to keep up with old friends and partners and to fold new talent into the mix. His relationships with playwrights like Tony Kushner and Nottage go back decades, predating his arrival at the Public. In the time he’s been there he has gathered in artists like Lin-Manuel Miranda, Oscar Isaac, John Leguizamo, the composer Jeanine Tesori and the playwright and actress Lisa Kron (co-creators of “Fun Home”).

These artists and others collaborate in a process that is intensive and exhaustive, a kind of rolling workshop that can continue for years. Theater, Eustis told me, “has to go through every phase of human experience, from the writer alone in their room chewing on their pencil to the conversations with the director or dramaturg as the piece is written, to the reading aloud with actors once a draft exists. So step by step until finally you have something that literally hundreds of people have been involved in putting together that’s being performed for hundreds of thousands. There is almost no example of a great work of theater that doesn’t involve many great collaborations.”

And that process has a meaning that extends beyond the theater itself. “This is such a transactional, atomized world,” Eustis said at the end of our conversation, “where everything gets a dollar value put on it. Everything is ‘I’ll give you this if you give me that’ and ‘What have you done …’ And to try and really build a counter to that, to say there’s actually a better way of people relating to each other, and while we can’t completely remake the world in our image, we can try to remake the theater in our image, and by doing that hold, as ’twere, a mirror up to nature.”

What we see on the stage and on the large and small screens are reflections of human social interaction. Every play, every film, every television show, is about a group of people — a family, a workplace, a neighborhood, a nation. The purpose of those art forms is to show us to ourselves, in glory and disgrace and at every point on the spectrum in between. The ethic of the troupe provides another, less obviously visible but no less powerful mirror. What we witness in the collective pretending is the result of individuals working together at a common task, in circumstances that, however grueling and disharmonious in the moment, are also utopian. This looks like the opposite of alienated labor, not just because it seems like fun — it’s not called “playing” for nothing — but because it transcends both the narrow individualism and the impersonal corporatism that defines so much of our working lives. The enchantment that we experience, craning forward in the audience, is not just with what we’re seeing, but with what we intuit about how it was made. Look: This is what we can do. This is who we might become.

#oscar isaac #the public theater #adam driver #lin-manuel miranda #evan peters #greta gerwig #sterling k brown #sarah paulson #angela bassett #jessica lange #oskar eustis #ryan murphy #matt bomer #noah baumbach #ben stiller #dustin hoffman #john leguizamo #kathy bates #new york times

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onestowatch · 6 years

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10 Ones to Catch at Coachella 2018

Photo: Courtesy of Coachella

It’s officially that time of the year again. Coachella 2018 is right around the corner, signifying the beginning of festival season -- and what a lineup it is. At the top of the poster, you’ll find some of the biggest names in popular music today -- Beyoncé, The Weeknd, and Eminem lead the charge, but not to be outshined by some living legends and indie darlings. David Bryne, the founding member, principal songwriter, and lead singer and guitarist of seminal art pop, rock band Talking Heads joins Jamiroquai, the definitive band of the ‘90s London’s acid jazz and funk movement, to make Coachella 2018 a festival for the ages. And where would Coachella be without its indie-darlings-turned-cult-favorites, with King Krule, HAIM, Fleet Foxes, The War On Drugs, and St. Vincent rounding out the lineup nicely.

The vast amount of talent on display is immediately apparent, and that’s only touching upon the tip of the iceberg. With over 150 acts making up the Coachella 2018 lineup, where does one possibly start? Well, that’s where we come in. We have handpicked some of the most promising and interesting rising talent that is not to be missed for the nearly 100-thousand music fans who will make their way to the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. These are 10 Ones To Catch at Coachella 2018. PLUS, follow our Spotify playlist to get pumped at your pregame!

Jorja Smith

Jorja Smith has earned comparisons to legendary figures such as Amy Winehouse and Ms. Lauryn Hill, and one listen makes it clear why. The 19-year-old English rising star began her career making striking and emotive R&B music informed by the political and economic issues that surrounded her upbringing. Every one of Smith’s songs is relentless in the way that it pierces the heart, and we would have had no complaints if Smith solely continued on creating some of the most transcendent R&B in recent memory. However, the last year has showcased just how deep Smith’s level of artistry goes, as she adventures off and experiments with new genres. 2017 was the year that Smith would find herself both featured on Drake’s acclaimed More Life and on the club-ready “On My Mind.” Proving herself as a multi-faceted talent in the last year, Smith is sure not to disappoint when she takes the stage.

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Tom Misch

When it comes to eliciting emotion through wonderfully layered instrumentation and soulful vocal stylings, no one does it quite like Tom Misch. Utilizing a DIY approach to song making, Misch creates songs that feel like living, breathing works of arts, each with their own unique stories. The South Londoner originally found inspiration from such seemingly disparate places as J Dilla and John Mayer whose influences can be heard throughout Misch’s music in the way he crafts mesmerizing hip-hop style beats that are never lacking as far as layers of hypnotic bass lines and guitar riffs are concerned. However, to categorize Misch as an artist with a penchant for groovy bass lines and a love for hip-hop is far too simplistic, as his pieces fuse together not only elements of hip-hop but shimmering disco-funk and jazz instrumentation as well. Tom Misch is an act surely not to be missed as he transforms the polo fields into a sonic daydream.

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Elohim

Elohim has found herself on our Ones To Catch list before and for good reason. The enigmatic nature surrounding Elohim’s persona is in and of itself highly alluring, as Elohim shrouds herself behind an array of animal masks or her layers of straight black hair. While the mysterious nature surrounding Elohim may serve as the original entry point of fascination for some, her music will surely keep listeners enticed long after the fact. Creating lush and dreamy electro-pop numbers, such as the surprisingly at-home Mariachi instrumentation found in “Hallucinating,” Elohim’s music speaks volumes for the enigmatic figure. This sense of experimentation bleeds over to Elohim’s live show as well, where one is treated with not only an auditory trip but a visual one as well, as computer-generated voices and captivating imagery add another dimension entirely to this not to miss performance.

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The Regrettes

One of the biggest regrets you can find yourself agonizing over this post-Coachella season is missing out on The Regrettes. All bad puns aside, The Los Angeles-based punk act is an act to behold for those seeking out an act unmatched in raw, brazen energy and talent. The Regrettes’ style of punk rock is very much informed by the band’s upbringing in sunny Los Angeles, as tracks like “Seashore” with its Beach Boys-style instrumentations bring forth sun-soaked imagery without ever sacrificing the punk sentiments the band is so adept at delivering. For those who said punk was dead, it merely took a new form, in the sun-tinged ‘50s and ‘60s pop-inspired sound of The Regrettes. So, if you’re looking for somewhere to mosh to your heart’s content as some of the infectious punk stylings out there soundtrack the whole experience, then you’ll find yourself overjoyed catching The Regrettes.

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Yaeji

Yaeji may have just been the breakout act of last year. Seemingly emerging from nowhere, the 24-year-old Korean-American electronic producer is one of the newest and most exciting voices in house music. Placing herself at the forefront of her own tracks, singing in hushed tones that shift between Korean and English at a moment’s notice, and crafting irresistible bouts of production are a few of the aspects in Yaeji’s repertoire that serve as a testament to why the buzzing house producer is such an intriguing act to follow. Yaeji’s versatility with beat-making is another one of her strongest suits. Tracks like “Therapy” seemingly have more in common with dream pop, yet one can find tracks like “passionfruit” that showcase Yaeji as an artist capable of repurposing a hip-hop hit into a slow-burning dancefloor jam. So, as Yaeji continues to take over dancefloors across the world, from living rooms to warehouses, we can’t wait to watch her add Coachella to her ever-growing list.

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Greta Van Fleet

The film Almost Famous is a music lover's classic for a number reasons, one of the reasons being its portrayal of the “death rattle of rock and roll.” Well as anyone who has heard Greta Van Fleet can attest, rock and roll is alive and well. The four-piece rock band emerging from Frankenmuth, Michigan has all the trademark stylings of what makes a great rock band so great. From each song’s anthemic nature, the arena-sized hooks, the earth-shattering vocals, unrestrained guitar solos and riffs, and a frontman who sounds like he was born solely to lead a rock band, Greta Van Fleet has it all. But don’t be fooled, Greta Van Fleet isn’t merely imitators or revivalists. They are hands down innovators breathing new life into rock and roll. Championing the next wave of rock and roll, Greta Van Fleet are bound to turn their Coachella set into a Woodstock-worthy performance.

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LÉON

Sweden has served as a wellspring for the most veritable talent in pop music. From Lykke Li, Tove Lo, to Robyn, some of the most memorable acts of recent memory have been a byproduct of Sweden, and LÉON is an artist poised to follow in those very footsteps. LÉON’s music embodies some of the best indie-pop has to offer, crafting spellbinding pop numbers that perfectly capture a lingering sense of melancholy. While a certain air of mysticism surrounds the Swedish-pop sensation, the reasoning behind her music sounding like that of a seasoned veteran is clear as day. While LÉON in her current incarnation may be new to the world, the singer first got her start as the frontwoman of a ten-piece hip-hop and soul band at the young age of seventeen. The experience undoubtedly rubbed off on her, as the amount of energy LÉON brings to any performance, and will indisputably bring to her Coachella performance, is palpable.

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Cherry Glazerr

Founded and based in Los Angeles, Cherry Glazerr is the definition of a band that has stayed true to its roots, refusing to compromise an ounce of its authentic sound. Led by Clementine Creevy, Cherry Glazerr first found its start in Creevy’s bedroom in 2012, where the at-the-time high-schooler recorded songs under the name of Clembutt. Since then, Cherry Glazerr has gone on to release two critically-acclaimed albums, 2014’s Haxel Princess and 2017’s Apocalipstick, as well as bringing to life the noisy and beautiful “Had Ten Dollaz,” as a commission for Saint Laurent. Indeed, the very fact that Cherry Glazerr presented a noise-rock powerhouse when asked to commission a song for one of the world’s leading fashion icons is a testament to the band’s ethos and tenacity as a tried and true noise rock band. The type of band that is sure to deliver in large amounts at this year’s Coachella.

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Tash Sultana

From busking on the streets to selling out worldwide shows, Tash Sultana is the very personification of a fantastical music story in the making. Whatever your introduction may be to Sultana, whether it be through the awe-inspiring videos of her busking or listening to her beautifully crafted numbers, it's immediately apparent why the Melbourne artist is universally praised. The solitary powerhouse is an absolute virtuoso on the guitar, looping herself to create stunning creations abounding with an array of arresting sonic textures. While Sultana’s most evident talent is her guitar prowess, it is not the only area where she exceeds. The young powerhouse has a voice that shines with an enchanted quality, transforming the artist into a full-fledged one-woman act that can stop an entire crowd, or rather, a polo field full of people dead in its tracks.

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Nothing But Thieves

At the perfection intersection between passionate indie rock and pop sensibility, you’ll find Nothing But Thieves. Hailing from Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England, the critically-acclaimed band crafts atmospheric and artful indie rock that has earned them well-deserved comparisons to Arctic Monkeys and Foals. The comparison isn’t limited solely to the stunning use of instrumentation Nothing But Thieves have on display, but also in the gripping and thought-provoking lyricism underlying the band’s songwriting. With the band’s recently released sophomore album, Broken Machine, Nothing But Thieves are bound to deliver an exciting new live set brimming with energy and a wealth of previously unheard material. And trust us, as previous presenters of a Nothing But Thieves tour, we can confidently say that this band puts on a show that delivers in spades.

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#ones to catch #Coachella #jorja smith #elohim #cherry glazerr #Tom Misch #yaeji #greta van fleet #leon #the regrettes #tash sultana #nothing but thieves

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opticien2-0 · 4 years

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Understanding Europe's up and coming retailers – and the context in which they operate

The 2020 RetailX Europe Growth 3000

Retailers selling products from fashion to fragrance, from sports equipment to auto equipment and many more feature in the first annual RetailX European Growth 3000, published in association with Rakuten Advertising and Ingenico ePayments. The index showcases the breadth and depth of a vibrant online and multichannel retail industry that has grown steadily over recent decades. Both familiar and less familiar names feature, with long-established businesses and recent start-ups contained in a listing that maps the sheer scale of the ecommerce industry across Europe. This listing comes at a time of wider challenges, from Covid-19 to Brexit uncertainty and a shift towards environmental activism, that may yet prove to contain opportunities for many of these smaller businesses.

Understanding the Growth 3000

This broad listing includes up-and-coming traders in a host of different sectors across 32 markets that are members of the EU and EEA plus Switzerland and the UK. These are retailers and brands that sell a wide variety of products in a wide variety of languages and currencies, selling products that are sometimes of broad appeal and at other times very niche. Some businesses may well deliver a more expert service within their niche than do their larger competitors.

RetailX analysis of the Growth 3000 (G3K) is focused firmly on performance, measured here through four dimensions that researchers consider key to success online for all businesses, whether small, medium-sized or large.

Find singles out retailers that are easily found in the first place and then measures how effectively they deploy on-site navigation and search to help shoppers find the product they are looking for – or to help browsers find inspiration. Mobile looks at the speed of mobile website services as well as whether retailers have a mobile app and offer multichannel services such as click and collect.

Delivery measures the flexibility of retailers’ fulfilment options, such as speedy delivery and click and collect – and how much they cost. Social looks at how retailers engage with their shoppers, and whether they offer options from sharing with friends to publishing ratings and reviews. It also includes the use of social payments and other third-party checkouts.

This year, research findings are drawn from the Top2000 retailers. Year-on-year changes are measured on the 1,878 transactional retail and brand websites that appeared in the Top2000 list both this year and last year. Many of these retailers are online-only, and multichannel measures are based on the 846 multichannel retailers that were tracked for the index both this year and last year. Figures for different markets are based on retailers that sell in that market, rather than those that have a physical base there. Some metrics, such as visual appeal are subjective: we indicate how markets and categories rank on those metrics rather than individual scores.

Martin Shaw, head of research at RetailX, says the report will give useful insights to those looking to understand how retailers operating in the same categories and markets operate. “We believe this index will also be useful to those looking to new markets and considering expanding the categories in which they trade. More businesses are now selling more products online than ever – this report will give them valuable understanding of their existing and potential markets operate, and the tools and approaches that successful retailers deploy.”

The broader context: Covid-19

This report comes at a time of upheaval across Europe as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the continuing uncertainty around Brexit. During the spring of 2020 most major European markets introduced lockdowns, closing non-essential shops in order to safeguard against Covid-19. These lockdowns took place at slightly different times, starting first in Italy and Spain before moving to Germany, France and, later, the UK, but the effects on ecommerce and multichannel retail were similar. More shoppers have bought online, many doing so for the first time during lockdown. As a group the Growth 3000 are probably more protected from high street lockdowns since most do not have shops.

It’s likely that many shoppers will continue to buy online in the future. Certainly, larger UK online grocer Ocado believes that the coronavirus crisis is an inflection point for online grocery. Announcing plans to raise £1bn through debt and new equity, its chief executive Tim Steiner said in June 2020: “This current crisis is proving a catalyst for permanent and significant acceleration in channel shift globally.” And David Ashwell, managing director of AO Logistics – the distribution arm of electricals retailer AO.com – described the pandemic as “five years of channel shift from stores to online condensed into five weeks”.

Those Growth 3000 businesses that primarily trade online may well be better placed than larger multichannel businesses to deal with this. Among them are Growth3000 company Sosandar, the UK online fashion retailer, which showed in a June 2020 trading update that it could adapt quickly to changes in demand brought by coronavirus through a strategy of placing small orders and seeing them sell out. In the first two months of its 2020 financial year, from April 1 to May 31, it saw orders grow by 44%, year-on-year, and revenue by 62% as it was able to take a more agile approach and capitalise on the sudden shift in demand towards more casual clothing, and away from formalwear. The growth in Sosandar orders came at a time when IMRG figures suggested the wider clothing market was down by 24% in April, compared to a year earlier. During those two months, Sosandar says its losses reduced by about 55%. However, it also said the cost of adapting in the early days of pandemic meant that its pre-tax losses for the previous full-year – to the end of March 2020 – were likely to be higher than it had previously expected.

Continuing challenges

As retailers move beyond the Covid-19 pandemic, many are now looking to do so in a more environmentally-friendly and sustainable way, following a year of environmental activism featuring key figures including Greta Thunberg and the Extinction Rebellion protests. Brands of all sizes are taking action with steps ranging from reducing the amount of plastic in packaging to using sustainable delivery methods. They’re doing so in response to a plethora of research suggesting that sustainability is a key issue for shoppers, especially younger ones. To pick out just one, a January 2020 report from Conversity questioned 1,000 shoppers and found that shoppers of all ages were likely to prefer to buy from a sustainable retailer. The proportion opting to do so varied only slightly by age: younger shoppers aged between 16 and 34 (51%) were slightly more likely to make this choice, compared to those aged over 55 (48%). Sarah Cameron, director of customer experience at Conversity, said: “Mass movements, social media campaigns and high-profile influencers have had a profound and positive impact on the consumer psyche when it comes to sustainability. People are now thinking much more deeply about the wider environmental impact of the products they buy, and brands are starting to follow suit.”

Uncertainty still surrounds the exact nature of the UK’s future relationship with the EU. The UK left the European Union on January 31 2020, but the terms of the future trading relationship between the two are yet to be settled. If no deal can be agreed between them then the two would theoretically trade on World Trade Organisation terms – including a complex schedule of tariffs. While the UK has already published its schedule of the tariffs that would apply to imports, the tariffs applying to exports would depend on those set by other countries and trading areas.

Cross-border trade is likely to become more complex for those selling into and out of the UK – Europe’s largest ecommerce market. Until 2021 retailers do not pay tariffs to export or buy from the 31 countries of the European Economic Area plus Switzerland. It is possible, though currently looking unlikely, that a deal will be agreed that will simplify future tariffs.

This feature first appeared in the RetailX Europe Growth 3000 2020. Click here to download it. Click here to explore the RetailX series of research reports further.

#Retail 2.0

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