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felipeandletizia · 3 years ago

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Change of pace in the Queen's closet: why Letizia is now betting on small Spanish brands

During the summer the national firms blessed by the 'Letizia effect' have multiplied. Having her approval gives them a global impact, in addition to being able to sell out everything that she puts on. Why have she decided to show her support now?

Small, young, niche, of medium price and of Spanish production. The firms that have appeared in Queen Letizia's looks this summer share attributes that are increasingly valued by the fashion consumer but which, until now, had appeared discreetly and timely in the royal wardrobe. Except for some concessions – such as a dress by the Sevillian guest brand Cherubina that she wore a couple of years ago –, never before had Doña Letizia given such prominence to small Made in Spain brands. Although she has long since left the 'Varelismo' in the background and began to open up to new names in national and international fashion, including large chains such as Uterqüe or Massimo Dutti, the recent and repeated choice of labels such as María de la Orden, Galcon, Dear Prudence, Lola Li, On Atlas or Macarena Shoes marks a turning point. And it comes at a time when it can be interpreted as a message of support for a national fashion industry hit by the pandemic.

This is how Sara Escudero, an expert in analyzing her looks and founder of the successful Instagram account Letizia, de princesa a reina, considers it. "Her style is adapting to current times and circumstances," she explains to S Moda. "Before it was quite usual to see her with the same firms, all led by the Puig group [Carolina Herrera is one of her recurring labels], but now she is betting on Spanish brands to defend our industry. It is also a way of transmitting greater closeness and reaching more people, since the prices of most of the outfits she wears are very competitive ”, adds the analyst. In this way, the result is very positive for both parties: the Queen builds a slightly more earthly wardrobe while supporting a sector that represents 2.8 of the Spanish economy and, brands, many of them unknown to the large public, gain international visibility, increase their prestige and skyrocket their sales, sometimes selling out the specific outfits chosen by Doña Letizia.

This was what happened, for example, with the white blouse and pants set that she wore a few weeks ago during the opening ceremony of the Arco art fair. “It sold out very quickly, that same day. We immediately got to work to replace it and thanks to the fact that the entire production process takes place within a radius of less than 25 km from our studio, it was available again after three days", they detail from On Atlas, a responsible sustainable Galician brand design. The story repeats itself in the rest of the labels blessed by the 'Letizia effect'. The young designer María de la Orden confirms by email that the Capri model, a blue and white striped dress that Her Majesty wore in Mallora, "is practically sold out" and for Galcon, a fashion firm that opened its doors this year , the navy blue skirt and blouse set that Letizia wore has already become their best seller. “We cannot imagine a better showcase for our designs. We must bear in mind that we went on the market very recently and this has put us on the map," says Pilar González Alcón, designer and co-founder of the brand.

The person responsible for all these choices is her stylist, Eva Fernández. "She's the one who acts as a filter between the Queen and the fashion brands. She is in charge of choosing the outfits that she considers that Doña Letizia may like, although then it is the Queen herself who makes the final decision and combines them with the rest of the accessories,” says Escudero. Eva, who was part of the team of stylists of Cosmopolitan magazine before meeting Letizia and starting to work for her, remains in contact with national brands, visits the showrooms and attends the events that communication agencies carry out to present the collections to the press. It is there that she records many of the outfits that the Queen later wears. "It was her stylist through our communication agency who chose the two models of espadrilles that she has worn this summer", confirm from the artisan footwear brand Macarena Shoes. On other occasions, Fernández buys online the designs that she considers appropriate for each occasion. "It was very exciting to receive an order like this," Galcon says.

As an anonymous source who works in a well-known fashion communication agency told S Moda, sometimes it is Eva Fernández who contacts them to request a piece that the Queen may like. Others are the brands who try their luck by sending her their creations. "One day we sent her a leather bag from a national firm and she liked it so much that she put it on. Again, however, we did the same with a clutch from another brand and she returned it to us making it clear that she thought it was beautiful, but she was not going to be able to put it on for protocol reasons. I also know that the Queen does not accept gifts and she always insists on paying,” explained the source.

On certain occasions, brands even design special models for her. This is the case of Lola Li's wrap dress that she wore in 2019 and that she repeated a few days ago. "We were commissioned by her stylist and for us it was an incredible surprise because we are quite a different pattern from the ones she usually wears," they detail from the brand. The appearance of the outfit, they assure, gave them great repercussion and visibility both inside and outside our borders. "Her style followed all over the world and, in our case, her choice marked a before and after, for which we are enormously grateful. When she put it on, we reached saturation levels on the web that we had never reached before. The white model was made exclusively for her so it could not be bought, but it sold very well in other colors," they say.

In the same way that Michelle Obama broke a spear in favor of small American firms demonstrating that the work of a first lady is also to support the national fashion industry, Doña Letizia now begins a new era in her wardrobe that promises to do the same. "She is the best ambassador we have and what's really important about her wearing one of our designs is not the economic repercussion or immediate popularity, but the fact that she endorses our brand and likes our style", affirms María de la Orden. From On Atlas they agree: "She is a very important support. Suddenly the same product, with the same effort, dedication and work, is discovered by many people who until then did not know it".

For Escudero, the landing in the royal closet of brands 100% Made in Spain, far from being anecdotal, has come to stay. “I don't think the labels she usually wears will disappear, such as Carolina Herrera or Hugo Boss, but in day-to-day or less formal events it is very likely that these new national incorporations will help her renew her wardrobe and transmit that support to the Spanish industry”, she points out. She also underlies a message of commitment to the environment, sustainability and crafts. Investigating the philosophy of all these labels, it is easy to conclude that their choice is not accidental or due solely to aesthetic criteria.

María García Alonso-Lamberti, founder of On Atlas, highlights the use of 100% natural, recycled or ecological fabrics of European origin in all her creations. “We avoid the use of polyester and plastic even on buttons, zippers, shoulder pads and trimmings in general. This makes the process much slower and more complicated, but essential in our approach”. Some values that, added to the limited and close production and competitive prices (none of the outfits chosen by the Queen exceeds 200 euros), are similar and extensible to the rest of the brands recently incorporated into her wardrobe. You could even say that they share a taste for timeless Mediterranean-inspired creations. "In Spain we have a lot of national talent, artisans who have worked for several generations and, of course, top quality raw material. Spanish brands still have a lot to say and Doña Letizia makes it clear that we have nothing to envy the fashion of other places", they conclude from Macarena Shoes.

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#Queen Letizia #Queen Letizia of Spain #Royal Fashion #News #August 2021

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funkymbtifiction · 5 years ago

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Functions and skills

What’s your present stance on attributing skills and preferences to cognitive functions? I finished Lenore Thomson’s Personality Type last night and it left me confused. I was under the impression that while there’s often a link between your stack and thing you like to do and is god at, one shouldn’t see them as synonymous. Not all SPs are athletic or enjoy adrenaline etc.

During the whole book she talks about how each function is located in a different side of the brain like Dario Nardi, but nowhere she says this is a theory but treats it like a scientific fact, it just really bothers me. She also says playing basketball and driving is Se, and that talking about the past and remembering a lot of details is Si. Also says SPs can’t stand theory and all those stereotypes we have been trying to move on from.

The book is 11 years old so I try to keep that in mind, but so many people recommend it to this day I have to wonder whether I’m the one who’s resisting and/or not being able to integrate knowledge that should be basic. As I read I kept thinking “What if I mixed everything up?” Like I laughed when I said I can’t read maps but can easily find my way around anywhere on a forum and was told that’s an SP thing. But was I right it’s unrelated? I spend a big portion of my type reading/watching/discussing theories and cooking up my own, but I always thought it didn’t necessarily have to do with Intuition. Does it? To be fair the Sensing/Intuition divide is one I could never grasp specially in myself, because I never really hated or sucked at it to the point it where it was obvious what I preferred. I’ve always been really into things attributed to intuitives (theories, philosophy) but also sensors (detailed aesthetics, dancing). So I never typed people based on these things but by identifying what functions they were using, or sometimes they just register as a specific type. I need to know if my understanding was wrong so I can correct it.

I skipped over most of the right / left brained analysis and went right for the descriptions of the functions themselves, since I found them the most useful. As for attributing certain things to certain functions, I think in a typical Fe way, she was trying to reassure everyone they use all the functions in some capacity (Si for memory, Se for driving); and that may be true, but I prefer to see it in terms of which functions we naturally PREFER.

I liked her comparison of Se and Ne, for example, because it went in-depth into how a Se-dom can just “feel” the environment in the heat of the moment; like the fireman who said all his senses were alert in a fire, and he felt “more alive” because he was totally merging into his environment. His entire body was vibrating with sensory awareness. As a Ne, I have never felt connected in that tangible, raw, sensory way to the outer world and it fascinated me.

I think no one is 100% right about everything (including me ;), so you should read various MBTI sources, get the cross-contextual information (what they all agree on) and consider that a baseline guide for a basic understanding of MBTI. If you do that, you can somewhat avoid the stereotype traps, especially because they tend to be not realistic and overly glowing when it comes to the N types. I can always spot an N because they are not realistic. They stand out, because they believe in something not proven or possible, and sometimes not even remotely close to actual reality. I think fewer people would want to identify with intuitive labels if they also faced the embarrassment of admitting, in doing so, they are more idealistic than sensible, more prone to believing in things that cannot come true, and grossly over-exaggerate both their intuition and their own potential.

Just as an example, I like listening to Dave Ramsey for his financial advice and awhile back, he had a caller (INFP) who phoned in asking for advice in getting out of a serious debt hole. She had 100k in student loans for a degree in independent film-making, and assumed she could finish the movie she was working on (rather than getting a paying day job) and pay the student loans back plus some. Dave kindly asked her how much she think independent filmmakers make in a year; he reminded her that “independent” films are almost never blockbuster hits. He asked her how she planned to find a studio to market her independent production, and how they intended to sell it. He gently introduced her to the reality that she cannot make a ton of money, much less pay off her bills, living in a dream world of “I am going to be a famous and rich independent director right out of film school.” The details, and “real world” facts, she never even thought about, because she was busy chasing the “dream.” Intuitives all chase the dream, and sometimes do not pay attention to the reality. Sensors can have dreams, but they are more aware that those dreams are just that, dreams… for someday, or something to work toward.

Like Leonore says in her book, the Ne is someone who chases things for a short time, based on their idealistic potential, and then quickly loses interest in producing the tangible results it needs to truly succeed. They are not immersed in their sensory environment, they are hopping from one dream-cloud to the next, always assuming what they picture will come true and that it will be 100x bigger than what “is.” That’s why a lot of intuitive face dissatisfaction with the real world; they think in terms of castles and dragons, not ruins and lizards.

As another example, an ENFP I know tried to talk me one day into opening a bookstore. She had a dream of being an author-writer-book-store-owner with double offices and a coffee machine where she and I could peddle our books. She never thought about the financial overhead, the fact that bookstores are going under due to Amazon.com and other online retailers, how to get people to come into the bookstore, or any of the thousand other things that sort of commitment requires. It did not really matter, though, because a week later, she was off on another grandiose, unrealistic idea.

- ENFP Mod

#question #mbti #submission

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dianamjackson · 5 years ago

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How To Achieve World Peace (2020)

I have figured out a few things that explain common phenomena in society but are routinely overlooked.

I can explain why conservatives and liberals have always existed, and why conservatives are often in power. I can explain ‘black sheep’ of families and why almost everyone has a ‘weird aunty’ or a ‘weird uncle.’ I can explain why artists are so often depressed, so creative and so misunderstood. I can explain conformity and non-conformity. I can explain Michael Jackson’s attraction to shiny things, and everything else about him.

The thing to remember is that we are animals like all the others, and that our evolutionary history shaped us — not culture. People who think culture is stronger hold that individuals choose their preferences in life, which is false. People choose the things they do because they’re programmed that way by evolution, and it is not one size fits all.

There are two main sorts of humans on the earth: family types (making up at least 80% of the population) and leaders (making up the rest).

Family types evolved to survive, raise families and do exactly what their parents did. For this reason they are conservative, incurious (because any new thing is a potential threat to existing conditions), blinkered and have a practical and deductive intelligence rather than a synthetic and inductive one. Leaders are explorers — their education never ends. Their permanent curiosity ensures they are forever exploring, making new connections and forming new hypotheses.

Without this neat ~80/20 balance, human society would not progress. Without the leaders, no new inventions would be created and we’d all still be living in caves. Without family types, nothing could be instantiated and there would be anarchy. Nature or God or whatever is responsible for the order we see in the universe worked this ideal ratio out so that beings could develop and differentiate and proliferate — basically, to make manifest the creativity of the universe.

I remember a few years ago reading Satoshi Kanazawa’s book The Intelligence Paradox, wherein he describes the traits of people with above-average intelligence: they are usually night owls, are less likely to marry and have kids, enjoy experimenting with drugs, are highly curious and creative. I think he was fired from Psychology Today for stating his findings. Ah, political correctness getting in the way of science, again.

Growing up I noticed a pattern in every family I encountered: the parents were normal enough (after all, they were parents), one child was robust and similar to the parents, and the other was a highly sensitive, interesting and curious type. If there were more than two children, there were more robust types than sensitive types.

Growing up I had a hell of a time in my family. I loved staying up late reading, writing and playing music. I loved the night so much that I covered my windows during the day, which is something Jimi Hendrix also did. My parents were dismayed and couldn’t understand why I was so different to them. I also liked going out for days, exploring and experimenting. I was, of course, extremely artistic from the beginning. I understood concepts at school very quickly, and got in trouble for breaking the rules and prioritising my own ideals over that of my superiors.

All these behaviours label children, and the adults they become, ‘troublemakers’ and rebels. “Why can’t they just behave?” parents and teachers lament. Well, because evolution programmed them that way. But back then I would’ve utilised a far shorter answer.

Leader types, being highly sensitive, experience the discord of growing up in families of followers very intensely and in far higher resolution. If a father is strict and domineering, the sensitive child will feel he is ruled by a tyrant. Off-handed criticisms will be stab wounds that are nursed for years and years. Their deep processing will have them mulling and stewing over the slightest things that followers forget in the very next moment.

Thousands of years ago, human tribes had to hunt animals, gather foods, build shelters, live in the shelters and raise families. Distinct human types evolved to carry out these different tasks.

Leaders are the hunting and exploring type. They were the ones who went out, probably at night, to look for food. To be good at this, they had to be highly sensitive so they could hear every noise, smell every smell, feel the vaguest touch on their skin and see the slightest movement. They had to be brave and bold to explore scary places. They had to be graceful and silent as cats to sneak up on prey, but aggressive enough to actually kill. They had to have loud, developed voices in order to communicate with other members of the hunting party. They had to be confident of their own opinion and communicate it effectively to others in order to lead.

They also had to be able to imitate other animals they encountered, to seem less threatening. They also had to be ingratiating in order to win the trust of people they only just met — and they would have met many people on their travels. They had to be highly adaptable to quickly get used to ever-changing environments. They had to be physically robust and agile to withstand the rigours of their itinerant hunting life. They developed the classic ‘rolling stone’ personality — Jimi couldn’t stand being in the same place for three months, let alone years. They also needed great and detailed memories, to remember where they’d been.

With their keen vision they would spot anomalous objects in the environment — shiny things might indicate water, and colourful things (especially red and yellow) would indicate food. Look at the colours and shiny things Michael wears and is attracted to. Watching him shopping is literally watching a leader type hunting in the forest thousands of years ago.

Their sensitivity is responsible for their artistry. As I read somewhere (possibly in Elaine Aron’s book The Highly Sensitive Person), not all highly sensitive people are geniuses, but all geniuses are highly sensitive. Charles Darwin lined his room with cork to keep the noise out. Jimi, as mentioned, covered his windows with black fabric. All this is to minimise stimulation. Because highly sensitive people take in so much more information from their environment, and process it so much more deeply, they need to restrict it only to what is most important to them.

Being a night owl, as Kanazawa found in his research, was related to higher intelligence. Much hunting probably occurred at night, when the animals were about, or it was easier to travel without being seen. The peace and stillness of the night also minimises stimulation for highly sensitive leader types. Intelligence itself is required to make connections between disparate phenomena, entertain several possible explanations, and synthesise information to decide on a verdict and course of action. The activity of hunting would have honed the intelligence of leader types. Any kind of physical bodily movement and coordination increases brain power — dancing for example. Moving the body in space. I relate this to moving ideas around in one’s head. This is how I did philosophy at university: I literally saw concepts as interacting forms in my mind. Einstein also thought in visual-spatial terms.

Something fascinating about stimulation is that leader types seem to become rapidly overwhelmed by experiences that family types consider quite routine and harmless, but at the same time, they crave intense stimulation. Paradoxical personalities, innit? Clearly, not all stimulation is created equal: a normal day in an office as an employee would be intense and overwhelming for a leader, but then they go out at night, attracted by the bright lights and shiny things of the city, loud music and the stage, and crowds.

A hypothesis of mine is that leader types are born with ‘happy’ neurotransmitter deficits. The strong correlation of substance use and abuse with artists, I think, is related to this deficit. In general, almost everything that makes us feel good — no matter what type of animal you are — does so because it fulfils some evolutionary prerogative. Leader types evolved to be sad — is what I’m saying. They are naturally sad. Therefore, they are forced to do things of a specific kind to alleviate that sadness. Michael is really good at being sad, but he’s also really good at alleviating that sadness. Drugs, alcohol, excitement, driving fast, athletics, dancing, bright colours, shiny things, movement, strong sunlight, making people feel and do things, eating certain foods, exploring, romance, helping and educating people, learning, discovering, conquering, mystery — all of these things alleviate the natural depression of the leader type. Fasting, too. What could more blatantly inspire a person to go out and hunt, besides hunger? Both Michael and myself had anorexia, but his was more extreme perhaps because he was more sensitive or his upbringing was more damaging, and he was constantly in the spotlight. But apart from the self-soothing reason, and the aesthetic reason (wanting a “dancer’s body”), I think we literally like to be hungry, as it were. I do believe he said, in his delightful hyperbole: “I hate food.” It keeps us searching. Anything that inspires a leader type to go out and be a leader will feel good, because that’s what nature wants us to do.

Mystery is integral for the leader type. It’s one of the main motivators of action and a guarantee of happiness and flourishing. I finally understand the propensity for this type to entertain idealistic romances and muses. Try making a person give up something that guarantees them happiness! As C. S. Lewis said so well “Desiring desire is the fullest possession we can know.” I finally understand this. What I want is to be in a state of desire, because it’s animating, life-giving, exciting. Why else would I love improvising so much? I love the mystery of not knowing what will come out of my guitar, what I will sing, or what dance moves I will come up with. I love mystery so much that all my essays are pretty much streams of consciousness.

Everything is on a spectrum, including family type/leader proclivity, and gender too. Effeminate men prefer masculine women; masculine men prefer feminine women. It’s all about balancing genetics to bring about the best complementarity. Who you’re attracted to is not a choice. Those with feminine hips are attracted to masculine hips; those with deep-set eyes are attracted to protuberant eyes; square-jaws are attracted to heart-shaped jaws; pinched-in cheeks are attracted to smoother, convex cheekbones. You can set your watch by this stuff.

Leader types also tend to be gender-indeterminate, or “in the middle” with respect to the male-female spectrum. This gives them the best of both worlds — e.g. deep empathy and nurture from the female side, and single-minded determination and action from the male. I do not think this is a degeneracy. Rather, in my view it is actually a requirement for leader types. To be too male or too female would be a hindrance for a leader.

In politics, there will always be conservatives and liberals, and more conservatives than liberals, because these represent the two primary types of humans, and their ratio, on earth.

The way to achieve world peace is to acknowledge the two broad types. Both are necessary for the survival and continuation of the human species. Conflict can seed change, but oftentimes we could do with a little less conflict and a little more understanding. Understanding of the millennia-old biology of our species that is — not politically correct ‘tolerance’. We need to understand things instead of merely tolerating them.

But the sobering reality is that family types can never fully understand leaders, and leaders can never fully understand family types. Each has a very different evolutionary prerogative that is very deeply ingrained. For one to understand the other, the one needs to literally inhabit the physical body of the other — which is currently impossible. Type ‘goes all the way down’ — the nervous system is different, the brain is different, the emotions are different, the values are different — everything is different.

This is why ‘black sheep’ — a derogatory term that betrays a lack of understanding on the part of the family types (but it is after all in their nature to demonise difference because it is threatening) — get along better with friends, aunties and uncles and other leaders unrelated to them instead of their own families. And it’s interesting that they’re called ‘black’: I have noticed highly sensitive leader types do often wear black, and I think this is to minimise stimulation. It’s one less item for them to process.

This is why certain kids act out at school, and why every person I admire from Debussy to Miles Davis to Isadora Duncan to Walt Disney quit the schools they were at. This is why Michael left the Jacksons and struck out on his own. This is why Zappa stayed up all night drinking coffee making the music he wanted to hear regardless of what other people thought about it.

This is also why the majority of people — the followers — shun, disbelieve and are afraid of leader types. The reason J. K. Rowling had to pitch her book to 200 publishers was because she saw the value of her work, but the publishers — who aren’t leaders — could not. The more innovative a thing, the less followers can comprehend its value. Followers are biologically programmed to play it safe and not take risks. This is infuriating for leaders, but the solution is not anger, but rather perseverance. Think of J. K. being turned away from the 199th publisher. Perseverance. Bang on long enough about something and family types will eventually stop feeling threatened because now you’re part of the furniture.

Another paradoxical thing about family types feeling threatened by leaders is that leaders are, in almost every instance, seeking to make the world a better place with their works. Think of Tesla. Leaders need family types — the two are in symbiosis — so it is definitely not in a leader’s interests to harm their followers. They are shepherds, not wolves. Empathy for their pack is high, because a leader who doesn’t care for their flock will not be followed for long. The extremely high degree of similarity between myself and Michael can be, to a great extent, explained by the fact that we are of the same human type (and probably share some genetics too). He has all the characteristic leader type qualities: he’s highly sensitive, an artist and a musician, he’s obsessed with the way people and animals move and is very curious. He loves bright colours and shiny things, which are food. I believe he said he loved Disney films so much “I could just eat (them)!” (I told a friend once that his photographs made me hungry; he looked at me like I was insane.) And of course the beautiful — Michael loves beauty — he goes weak in its presence. If there’s something he doesn’t understand, he’s fascinated by it and will obsess over it. He has a highly developed somatic-neuronal ability (that’s my term; I don’t know the correct neurological term), which is why his movements are so fluid and why he can imitate others so easily. He’s both male and female, has a great strong voice, resists authority, is ingratiating and immediately loveable, likes climbing trees and running around, staunchly believes in his own vision and he made looking after his ‘tribe’ the central mission of his life. He owned thousands of books and was constantly reading, usually by himself. All Michael’s searching made him very knowledgeable, of course. He liked to associate with fellow talented and driven people, from whom he gathered even more leadership advice. Michael’s not messing around — the advice he gives you is the advice he’s given himself. He experiments on himself. He’s a leader — a real leader — so he wants to help. One day I was dancing at home and came up with a certain move. Two weeks later, I happened to be watching a video of Mike’s and saw him do the exact same move. I couldn’t believe it. At the time I came up with it, I had no memory of having seen him do any such move. I was dancing in the mirror, and happened to trace the outline of my thigh with a finger — it was totally spontaneous and improvised. I liked that I was drawing and dancing at the same time — I do draw and dance, so it was exciting for me to do them simultaneously. In his video he was dancing to Dangerous, and he did that move. I thought “So now he’s copying me?!” This kind of thing happens often, and not just in dancing. For example, I’ll have some opinion about something, then later hear that he has the same opinion about that thing. Or I’ll happen to think of something I did when I was a lot younger, and it turns out he did the exact same thing. Then there’s the Star Wars thing, the one glove thing, the cape thing, the cutting the front of our shirts thing, the liking the same colours thing, the gum and TicTac thing, the similar music taste and compositional style thing, the sitting down with one leg or arm stretched out thing, the liking the exact same part of the flight attendant demonstration thing... We even have the same taste in women. Type, type, type. Once you know someone’s type, you can pretty much get out your checklist and starting ticking things off. Although, I don’t at this point know where type ends and genetics begin, because a lot of these similarities must owe to genetics, not type. I’ll work on this.

Being childlike is, I am positing, an integral part of the leader-hunter-HSP type. Mike and I both retained our childlike attitude to the world. For me, I distinctly remember the day I made the decision to never grow up. I was 14, on the basketball courts in junior high school near the end of the day. I thought “It’s just so much fun being a kid, I’m not going to grow up. Why should I?” It was also around that time that I decided what my life’s goal would be, having just read Freud: to be myself. I didn’t want to be a fireman or a lawyer or a teacher — I wanted to be myself, my truest self. Even back then, I knew this was a worthy goal, and I knew that it would be difficult.

Mike famously identified with Peter Pan, and passionately championed a childlike view of the world. He often claimed this was because he was denied a childhood, but I think there’s more at work here than that fact alone. Even if he had had a more normal childhood, he’d still probably have remained pretty childlike, because that’s an integral characteristic of the leader type. Being childlike — being open, innocent, relentlessly curious, able to withhold judgement, and trusting — is essential to being a leader. If leaders weren’t open to new information (i.e. adaptable), etc — they wouldn’t be effective leaders. If a leader didn’t trust his advisors, he couldn’t get anything done. Suspicion is poison.

It’s known that Mike was trusting. He advised his friend Brett Ratner that one of the big lessons he learned was “not to trust everybody in the industry; there are a lot of sharks.” But a person who is naturally trusting has a hard time trying to become the opposite, let me tell you. To be trusting is beautiful; when a trusting person is betrayed, it is not they who have erred.

It has fascinated me over my lifetime to observe the way sexual desire can be completely decoupled from child-rearing. Leader types definitely have sexual desire: just think of Jimi. Mike too, Madonna, Greta Garbo, Picasso. With men it’s fairly straight-forward, but I always wondered how female leaders could get away with it, seeing as they’d be having so many children but no desire to look after them — clearly a less-than-ideal situation. Maintaining a pregnancy and then a baby would definitely slow them down and make them vulnerable to attack. Nature may have solved this problem by making leader types infertile. After all, their genes will be passed on via their siblings’ children, so there’s no need for them to do it personally. It prevents overpopulation. And besides, their legacy is cultural innovation, not physical progeny. Some say that Mike was infertile. It could well be that this is by nature’s design.

Barbara Sher calls leader types ‘scanners’. Scanners are people who flit from one thing to the next, seemingly at random, are reading 50 books at any one time, and change careers frequently — you get the idea. But my contention is that leader types do this in order to get the best ‘lay of the land’. If they didn’t, if they were a specialist in some tiny nook of expertise, what would they know about the world? Nothing! All they’d know is their little area (which there’s nothing wrong with by the way, it’s just not the scanner approach). Scanners scan. They try to get the best view of everything — figuratively and literally.

I know this type is rare, but I don’t know how rare. I’ve certainly never encountered anyone as similar to me before, but then I don’t know everyone. Surely a person with such obvious and anomalous qualities would rise to prominence, almost by default. They’re generally in art, but not just anywhere. They’re in the ‘I’m either myself or dead’ camp. Michael’s well-known because he’s well-known, and because he so strongly felt the need to share his values with the world, he thereby revealed himself. There could be many of us. Some may prefer to remain unknown. I don’t know yet.

As I said before, everything is on a spectrum, so you could be a more or less extreme leader type, and a more or less extreme family type. There may be sub-types. The ‘lone wolf’ is an extreme leader type. Aldous Huxley said “The more original and powerful a mind, the more inclined it is to the religion of solitude.” I think lone wolves relate best to other lone wolves; other types will simply be too different. They’re introverted because there’s a whole world inside their heads, and much of the outside input they’d encounter would actually hinder their progress. As a leader, stepping outside of the leader pack can be incredibly demoralising. Out there, there's a flattening going on. If you have a sleepover with kids, all of a sudden it's about sex. If you say the n word, it's suddenly all about race. And you think, “Why is everything about sex and race? Are there not more things to discuss? Develop some granularity in your approach already!” The flattening is in full swing at the moment, with so many red herrings slapping around that you can’t hear yourself think. (Contemplating that kinda makes me hungry... All those shiny fish...) Maybe the majority do this in order to feel safer: if they can reduce indeterminate phenomena to something simple, then they can feel like they know what they're dealing with. Simplify and blame. It’s a stupid game, and so boring. I'm not at all surprised that artists feel the need to invent entirely new worlds to escape this shit.

So there you have it: there is a naturalistic, evolutionary explanation for so many of the specific human behaviours that we observe in society. The choices people make are, in large part, due to their evolutionary type. Encountering Michael was the icing on my cake of investigation, because I reasoned there had to be an explanation as to why we’re so similar and I knew that it wasn’t due to mere chance.

So if you’re a sensitive, introverted kid who likes doing their own thing and your family gives you hell for being strange and different — for God’s sake, understand that there’s nothing wrong with you. Nothing at all. You’ve been designed to be the way you are over millions of years of evolution, because this is the only way humanity can work. You are the reason we have electricity, cars, great works of art, beautiful films and music, incredible dancers and athletes, mathematics, poetry, physics, philosophy, engineering, comfortable houses and beds, heating, space exploration, wonderful stories and the rule of law. All of these things were invented by leader types. The most important thing is to know who you are. It’s Quincy Jones’ first rule too. Once you know that, you will make much better decisions in all areas of your life. “A guy can dig ditches and enjoy it”, as Jimi said. If you want to be happy and effective, you must be doing things that align with your particular nature.

Don’t waste years doing things other people tell you to do. What do they know about you, anyway? Do they know your deepest desires? No they don’t, because to discover them is long, personal work. No-one can do it for you. Your mum can’t do it for you. I don’t care if she’s your mother and she wants the best for you -- she’s not you. Don’t do things for extrinsic rewards like money or fame. I recall reading a teacher who complained that all his kids just want to be famous, but then he asked them “Famous for what?” People who become famous do so because they’re passionate and obsessed with something and thereby become very good at it. Don’t desire to be famous, desire to become obsessed with something. Fall in love with something. Then you’ll probably become famous anyway, but by then you won’t care, because all you want to do is the thing you’re obsessed with.

But family types are essential too. Just because they don’t innovate, they create a stable society in which everyone — including leader types — can live. They create and maintain order, follow instructions and implement your ideas. They start families and actually create the people society needs, including all future leaders.

The two types must know about, respect and be thankful for each other, for neither could live without the other.

Masses of conflict rage each day because people think that other people act the way they do by choice. But things are so incredibly ingrained, that it’s quite absurd to think that anyone makes any kind of choice. We do have free will, but can only exercise it to the point our fundamental orientation allows. Can’t fight one’s nature, as Orwell said. Fight it too long and she’ll make you pay, with your health or your life.

It is apparent to me that my entire discussion has remained completely materialistic. I’ve not touched upon so-called ‘supernatural’ phenomena at all. I don’t like the term ‘supernatural’ because, if something exists, it is natural — no matter how perplexing or odd, everything is Nature, everything is natural. It’s not like the earth and its rocks are natural, and then precognition of the future and witnessing midnight processions of long-deceased people — as Jung and others did, centuries apart mind you — are outside of the natural. Everything is natural. If it happened, it was natural, and there is an explanation.

Now it might seem boring to learn that all these things in fact have a boring materialistic explanation. But as usual, there are many more things that we don’t yet know. The perplexing nature of time, for example. I suspect that time is very different to how most people conceive of it, but that discussion is for another time.

Back to the strictly material. A few hundred years of culture won’t put a dent in millennia of evolution. Culture is itself an outgrowth of evolution, and it needs to humbly acknowledge this fact instead of thinking that now it is king. The patterns and drives of Nature are king, and they explain everything. DS 06-07/2020

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fallout4reactsblog · 6 years ago

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What sort of internet users would the companions be? Like who's the sad nihilist meme shitposter, who has a youtube channel and what's it about, who has a pretentious inspirational quotes aesthetic blog, that sort of thing. Ellie, DiMA, and Father included just because I think it would be amusing.

Ada runs a general mental health and wellness blog, dedicated to helping people manage their mental illness as well as just general tips for staying emotionally well. Her blog gets really popular around finals week, when the panicked students need her advice on managing stress and anxiety. Her techniques are guaranteed by many a therapist and psychologist.

Cait’s channel is solely dedicated to posting fortage of assorted bar fights. Most of which she is involved in. A friend films them for her, and she posts them later along with a picture of how she looked after the fact. Some of her videos are her just doing increasingly dangerous shit to see if she can. Front flipping off the roof, for example.

Codsworth has one of those “how to adult” blogs where he teaches people about landscaping, how to get stains out of clothes in an emergency, how to make coffee in a mug using only a microwave and some coffee grounds. Also assorted other posts about properly doing the laundry for people moving out of the house for the first time.

Curie is the science side of literally any website she can manage. She probably has a “fun science fact of the day” that she posts every morning. She’s like a Bill Nye on the scene, being nothing but sweet to everyone she interacts with, no matter how hostile they are. She has been known to stumble into some unsavory content on occasion, but always with only the desire to educate on what is and isn’t scientifically possible.

Danse’s fitness inspiration blog is actually full of good advice. He has meal plans, workout models, and a couple videos of him demonstrating proper form for difficult exercises. Constantly features other blogs and transformations as motivation for those struggling. Posts motivational quotes as well. Has a collection of workout shirts with said quotes on them.

Deacon has a very successful makeup YouTube. His everyday looks are absolutely to die for, but his most popular videos are the ones detailing his disguises, etc. The most interesting thing is that he is never his own model, and instead gets a variety of guests that he puts the makeup onto. Everyone has to wonder who he really is, and there are tons of theories.

DiMA runs a zen/aesthetic blog with sprinklings of philosophy. He has some meditation and yoga tips, as well as a lot of nature shots that are just generally soothing. It’s a great study break blog. If you stay on it too long, though, you will inevitably run across a post that makes you question the entire nature of your identity and the universe.

Ellie wishes her twitter was just a shitpost generator like everyone thinks, but in reality it’s her trying to make light of her real life. It holds legendary tweets such as “When your boss gets kidnapped and you’re wondering if it’s ethical to forge a recommendation letter” and “Fellas, if you put another guy’s memories in your head, is that gay? I mean, you’re sharing a body with another dude…”

Father has one of those blogs that you probably will end up blocking at some point in time. You followed it at first, thinking it would be similar to Curie’s, and it is, on occasion. However, he also tends to get tangled up on the wrong side of ethical and moral debates, and you’ll get tired of seeing the discourse in your feed every morning.

Gage doesn’t actually post original content, he just comments on other people’s stuff. Literally an internet troll. He loves to try to get a rise out of people, and he considers internet arguing to just be a pastime. It’s probably to distract himself from the chaos of his own life, so he feels like he has control over something, anything.

Hancock runs a YouTube channel that’s just full of his own high ramblings. Essentially he just turns on the camera, gets high, and goes about his usual shenanigans. Sometimes he has guests on the show, mostly Fahrenheit who accidentally gets featured when she wanders in on him. But he’ll take pretty much any guests, as long as they’re willing to get high, too.

MacCready has a gun tips YouTube channel which is mostly just him showing off his sick sniping skills. His son makes frequent guest appearances, helping his dad demonstrate how to use proper gun safety with handguns and the like. His safety videos are really solid, but his most popular ones are of him shooting the bullseye on the target in increasingly difficult positions. For example, standing on his head.

Nick runs a blog mostly dedicated to dad jokes, but there’s also some pretty solid life advice on there. He’s the unofficial dad/grandpa of thousands of people across the internet. He’s somehow active 24 hours a day, and is always ready to give crisis comfort to one of the many people he’s adopted. The jokes are funny, too, but no one is willing to admit it.

Old Longfellow has a YouTube where he details both hunting and alcohol, sometimes both. He reviews certain alcohols, shows off his favorite drinks, and is always drunk by the end of his videos. This includes the hunting ones. Sometimes, he just baits creatures that are three times as strong as him to see if he’ll live. Whatever he posts is always a wild and entertaining ride.

Piper is trying to run a legitimate news blog, but mostly she gets labeled as a conspiracy theorist. She tries to fight back with facts and accuracy, and she has a huge following. She’s never sure which of her followers are legitimately interested in what she has to say and which ones are just there to laugh at her “crazy” ideas.

Preston likes to run his own little diy and gardening blog. He loves to post his composting and recycling tips, as well of pictures of his garden and latest recycling project. He quietly encourages people to make a living for themselves instead of relying on someone else for their livelihood. The number of things he can make out of a pickle jar is impressive.

Strong has a literature analysis blog. He’s got a specific taste for Shakespeare, going on for huge paragraphs about the subtext and picking apart all the jokes and innuendos while still maintaining a huge respect for the works. Every so often, he lets his followers give him something to read and analyze, which led to the most epic demolition of 50 Shades of Gray anyone had ever seen.

X6, to everyone’s surprise, is the sad nihilistic memer. It takes literal years to pin him to his content, because nobody would expect he’s the one making the casual depression and anxiety memes. He has the largest following of anyone, because his memes honestly are funny and relatable. He’s now constantly irritated by everyone he knows as they ask him if he’s okay, though.

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bandhyukoh · 6 years ago

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[Dazed] Oh Hyuk is the indie rock frontman giving voice to disaffected Korean youth

Disclaimer: This interview belongs to Dazed, find the source here. By Lavanya Singh

A thoughtful conversation with the singer of the band Hyukoh about the ‘Sampo Generation’, writing in English, and collaborating with CIFIKA

With his soft cadence and unassuming presence, you’d be surprised to hear that Oh Hyuk is the frontman of a band at the epicentre of South Korea’s resurgent indie rock movement. But fame was never Oh’s objective, and success was never going to go to his head. “The music I write is more of a personal thing,” he says. “I talk about my struggles, and they happen to be shared by everyone.”

Before their track “Comes and Goes” tore through Korea’s music charts, claiming the top spot from staple pop favourites such as Big Bang and Girls’ Generation, Oh and his band, Hyukoh (who featured on this year’s Dazed 100), were strictly an indie act; a regular fixture in the Mecca of Seoul’s indie music scene, Hongdae. An appearance on the variety show Infinite Challenge changed all of that, making their music a pop culture cynosure. Soothing, minimal tracks like “Mer” capture the main characteristics of Hyukoh’s music, with Oh Hyuk’s raw, crooning vocals, backed up by shoegaze-inspired tracks.

Hyukoh arrived at a time of widespread disillusionment and youth unemployment in South Korea, putting the fears of a precarious generation into words. This ‘Sampo Generation’ found refuge in Oh’s unapologetic dismissal of the expectations of a perfectionist society, not just in his lyrics, but down to the band’s pierced-lip, tattooed visual aesthetic. They were an anomaly, creating a special enclave of relatable music in a label-driven music industry. Going by their position in the top ten of the Billboard World Albums Chart in 2015, people agreed.

Talking over the phone from Chicago almost three years later, however, Oh Hyuk – or OH, as he prefers to be called – doesn’t think much of it: “It was so long ago,” he says. “I can’t really remember.” He’s atypically self-aware for a newly minted 25-year-old, preferring not to dwell in the past. He grounds himself, instead, in philosophical concepts of equivalent exchange and yin and yang, pouring out his observations into his writing. He’s also prone to measuring his words – at one point, when he pauses for a long time, his agent, who is translating for us, says in a sing-song voice: “He’s thinking.”

During our conversation, I jokingly ask Oh Hyuk whether anyone had ever told him that his music might be considered too morbid for his age – for instance, the track “Skyworld”, from the band’s latest album 24: How To Find True Love and Happiness, talks about lost innocence and death to the tempo of a nursery rhyme. It elicits a soft laugh from him, and when he answers with a simple “always”, his sheepishness peeking out from under his characteristic thoughtfulness. His agent is more liberal with his descriptions, calling him an “old soul in a young man’s body”.

Here, Oh dives into the philosophy of Hyukoh and their music, their future plans, the side effects of fame, and why they will never be able to make music for the sake of it.

You said that your latest album, How to Find True Love and Happiness, is about growing up, but it’s quite dark. Did you set out to produce an album that talked about the parts of growing up that we don’t particularly like?

Oh Hyuk: It is all really simple in a way: I think there is only one and zero in this world. I think every direction is either one or zero. In a way, we are all dying or learning and growing. In that sense, because there is only one or zero, either/or, I think the dark side is always there for every topic, and I think every single one of us shares and always has those two sides. I think that’s the way we learn.

Your albums have always been named after the age that you release it at. Is there anything in particular that you learnt at 24 that made you think: “This is the right time to put out such music”?

Oh Hyuk: I don’t think there is a certain right time to talk about certain topics. I think it all differs, but for me, putting the corresponding title to age for an album is more of a personal thing. It’s more about keeping a record, keeping an archive, like a memoir. It would mean that when I look back, I would say that: “Oh, this was the topic or the theme that I thought about at this age”. And for the people, for the public, I think that age is a certain topic that gets under people’s skin more easily.

So you treat the songs on an album like a diary of experiences and thoughts that go through your head?

Oh Hyuk: In a way, (the album is) a diary. In a way, there are some that are my experiences, but for some (songs), it is my observation of others. What I see from people around me and the world around me.

In contrast to your previous works, How to Find True Love and Happiness is almost entirely in English. What made you decide to take that direction?

Oh Hyuk: When I write songs, I decide the lyrics and the language by how it sounds with the melody and how it sounds with the songs. To me, the songs that are in 24, the latest album, it just sounded right with English lyrics.

I also want to talk about “Gang Gang Schiele”. I’m taking that example in particular because it was very subdued, very different from the polished aesthetic of “Wanli” and “Gondry”. One, was that shot all in one take? Second, why this kind of visual aesthetic for 24?

Oh Hyuk: The music video for “Gang Gang Schiele” was not like an ‘official’ video. It was shot in a park around my house. One day, I was just walking, and it seemed like the tunnel just didn’t end. And I thought it would be a good location to shoot something fun for “Gang Gang Schiele”, and yes, it was all one take.

Let’s talk about your collaboration with CIFIKA earlier this year, “MOMOM”. It was very different to your usual style, because CIFIKA is an electronic artist. How did that happen?

Oh Hyuk: (When) I got in touch from CIFIKA, I wasn’t really aware of her music. I got to listen to it, and I thought it was really fun, so it will be (sic) a fun collaboration. It actually took longer than I thought, working on that music. It took us almost a year to put that out.

Since you and CIFIKA have very different styles, where was the middle ground? How did you find the kind of melody that worked for both of you?

Oh Hyuk: As far as the melody, it came as a coincidence; it came out of chance. But for me, I have a standard for doing collaborations, which is that there needs to be work that I can do, and certain parts that I can be responsible for. So, I think working with someone who has different genres, different music styles, someone who is totally different than me, I think it makes more sense for my standard of doing a collaboration.

The song, “MOMOM”, drew a lot on pop culture and our internet savvy lives. What’s your relationship with social media like?

Oh Hyuk: (Laughs) I don’t go on social media when I’m resting, but I’m bored, yes.

HYUKOH’s music is often considered representative of what’s known as the Sampo Generation. It’s regarded as descriptive of the struggles of the youth, not just in Korea but also in other parts of the world. Do you and the band see that as a responsibility? Are you always conscious of that fact in the back of your mind?

Oh Hyuk: I try not to be very conscious about or keeping in mind the responsibility of representing certain generations. I don’t think I wrote my music in order to represent them. I happen to be included in the ‘Sampo Generation’. I am that age, but the music I write is more of a personal thing. I talk about my struggles and it happens to be shared by everyone. So, to myself and my thoughts, I wouldn’t say that I’m representing the ‘Sampo Generation’, and I don’t think the band is trying to do the same either.

Speaking of the band and your music production, you’ve said before that you want HYUKOH to keep up with the music industry, since it moves very fast. Why does that worry you? One would say that because your music exists in a different sphere, it might not be bound by the same time constraints.

Oh Hyuk: I think it’s because the way people consume music has changed. I agree that good music always survives, with no time limits. Good music is good music, but at the same time, the pattern of how people consume music has changed. I think I’m trying to keep up with that taste, that pattern. But at the same time, I’m not going to negotiate or fit in music of the quality that people are consuming. I’m trying to keep the quality (of my music) according to my standards, but keep up with the pattern.

Do you think it’s a side effect of your fame that you have to worry about this? Fame sort of happened overnight for you after the appearance on Infinite Challenge. Before that, you were a thoroughly indie act. Would you think it would have been different if you’d stayed under the radar?

Oh Hyuk: (Long pause) I really don’t know how to answer this question. Music-wise, how I work, it might have been different from what I do now, but I’m not sure, because I haven’t been there.

It’s kind of like what you said, you know, about choices.

Oh Hyuk: It is indeed. It was kind of an overnight difference, and it was a big difference in our experience. There were definitely changes that happened to me with the fame, but it was actually three years ago, and I can’t really remember. I guess humans adapt really fast.

Speaking of adapting, have you taken to showmanship yet? You say that you’re not made for variety shows. Are you used to them yet or still trying to stay away?

Oh Hyuk: (Laughs) Despite how humans can adapt and change, there are certain things that never change.

I am curious what your experience was like, then. You started as an indie act in Korea. How was that time different to, let’s say, after Infinite Challenge?

Oh Hyuk: I think the main difference that I felt coming from the really indie rock to somewhat major, somewhat exposed, and somewhat in the broader public sense is that in the beginning, I wasn’t aware of any responsibilities. The things I said or did, or the music I wrote, I didn’t notice the responsibility about it. After the exposure, I got to know that there are certain consequences and certain responsibilities that I need to take for every action, every word.

How do you feel about that? It sounds like earlier you were making music very freely. Now that you know that there are consequences attached to it, does it colour the process itself?

Oh Hyuk: Working on 23 was the time right after Infinite Challenge. It took longer than before. I had to go through a lot of thoughts, a lot of struggles in order to produce that album. In a way, I found that trying to please the listeners is too broad a spectrum that I cannot actually meet or see. I tried writing something that would please the audiences, but I found out that there is no point in it, so I kind of gave up. Now, I’m just going to write whatever I like.

2018 has been good to Korean rock. We’ve had more acts cropping up and going on tour. Do you think that this, or the coming year, would be the year that Korean rock shakes off the ‘subculture’ label?

Oh Hyuk: (Shaking head) I wouldn’t say I could analyse a certain country, but as far as the market goes, I think it still needs more time to adapt or appreciate and get to know various cultures. It would take more time for diversity.

#hyukoh #hyuk #cifika #24 #infinite challenge #t: interview #dazed

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theramblingonesie · 6 years ago

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Facing Our Making, Part 3: Makeup and Gender

Welcome to Part 3 of my makeup blog series! This week we’re going to poke at gender and makeup. But before I begin, let’s review parts 1 & 2, and check in about where we’re at:

1. Beauty standards are impossibly harsh and cause a lot of unnecessary pain.

2. Let womxn decide what they want to do with their own damn bodies and stay out of it. Unless they hire you for a consultation.

3. Wearing makeup is awesome

4. Not wearing makeup is awesome

5. Your gender presentation and basically any presentation of your body and behavior do not determine who you are and aren’t attracted to sexually. And no one is the (*^*^%^$#%$#&*&^&%% authority to determine that for you. If they try, remember that they’re judging and labeling you in relation to their own internal gender/sexuality struggles. More on this in today’s blog below.

6. How toxic masculinity ruins the day in relationship to makeup or not makeup needs to die, and YES womxn also support and host this behavior (internalized misogyny). Just because a person has a vagina or presents as femme does not mean they are exempt.

7. Womxn who wear makeup are not whores unless they are, in fact, professional whores. Professional whores keep the world turning, and bless em for it. The problem isn’t sex work. It’s violence against sex workers. Consider your complicity.

8. Womxn are reclaiming the hell out of the word “Slut”, so don’t get caught being a dumb idiot who uses the outdated, violent, misogynist definition. 1000 years vagina dentata upon your entire household.

9. If you want sexual attention because you enjoy sex, then FUCK YEAH GIT IT!!!

10. “Pretty girls are dumb” is a myth that our society desperately seeks to nurture and maintain. This is rooted in dominance, power, control, and whorephobia. Stop it.

11. “Ugly girls are smart” makes no damn sense. Okay, yes I can see the backwards logic, but also if you listen to flat-earthers long enough you could even be like, “ok, I see where you’re coming from with that”.

It is not lost on me that certain beauty trends and habits can trigger and enable body image problems, ranging in severity. After attending a panel discussion that featured a speaker from Media Girls Boston, I learned that girls as young as 9 are learning that they essentially need to brand themselves through social media so that they can merely exist. Saying this is a problem is an understatement.

I support makeup and rituals of adornment. I support a lot of things that, if used improperly with dangerous motivations, can result in severe consequences.

Understand that there’s a lot of nuance in subjects like this, and utilize your critical thinking brain when exploring such topics. Continue your personal research if you’re curious about any subcategory in this series that I have not addressed.

If issues of beauty standards and pressure are uncomfortable or triggering for you, or if you or a loved one believe they may be suffering from a body-image related disorder, please know you are not alone, and there are people out there who are ready and available to support you through this. Links and hotline numbers are available in the resource section at the end of this blog. -------------------------------------------------------------

“If we are all members of one body, then in that one body there is neither male nor female; or rather there is both: it is an androgynous or hermaphroditic body, containing both sexes [...] The division of the one man into two sexes is part of [our] fall.” --Norman O. Brown, in Love’s Body, 1966

Okay! Let’s talk about this super important element of the art and ritual of beauty:

Gender!

To Marie Kondo this: This subject does not bring me joy, and I do not want to write about it, but I feel that I have a responsibility to not play floor-is-lava about it. It does not even bring me the type of righteous rage that fuels me to furiously complete a post. It fills me with doubt, insecurity, self loathing, trust issues, and a desire to disappear.

I need to say this because I know I am not alone in my feelings and experience. But I will keep it very brief because I’d like to move on.

I have experienced a lifetime of pain from the bullshit pressure the heteropatriarchy puts on female bodies. I never anticipated the heartache I would experience as a result of being judged and denied by fellow queers.

I am too butch, too unfeminine to be accepted as the right kind of woman in heteropatriarchal society. I make men question their sexuality, and I am the one made to suffer for it. I am too feminine for queers to believe and accept me when I tell them I’m genderfluid (which I have been, quietly and privately, my entire life). I am not feminine enough to be femme.

Too much woman. Not enough woman. Not woman. Not human. Once again, my body and my soul are everyone else’s to judge, determine, and own. Not mine.

And no one wants to listen when we say the world hates women.

I highly suggest looking up the toxic concept of femme invisibility in queer communities. You can start by reading this great article by Bust:

https://www.bustle.com/articles/166081-what-does-femme-mean-the-difference-between-being-femme-being-feminine.

For the record, I still use she/her pronouns. I stand by my allegiance to the fullness and diversity of womxnhood in a deeply ferocious way. My reasoning for that is both very simple and very complicated. So I guess that just makes it very complicated. Ask me how.

Mood.

Anyway, makeup.

About a month ago, I had wrapped a film shoot with some friends who flew up from Mexico. It was an incredible weekend that filled me up with so much bliss. On the drive back to Boston, I was chatting with my beloved friends and fellow Scarlet Tongue artists, Creature and Cass, about how much I enjoy the company of Mexican men. A large part of that is because it is refreshing to be around men who so easily embrace and express feminine qualities of articulating their emotions, accessing their emotions, gentleness and nurturing. Creature presented the important argument that such qualities don’t need to be classified as feminine or masculine; they’re simply personality and behavioral traits that anybody can have.

Such a point is absolutely crucial in untangling the oppressive nature of the gender binary.

Exercise:

The following traits have been classically designated as “masculine” or “feminine” behavior, but I’ve jumbled them together in the list below. Which traits do you believe belong to whom?

Reserved Warm Sensitive Utilitarian Deferential Apprehensive Reactive Emotionally Stable Serious Lively Socially bold Shy Rule-conscious Expedient Private Perfectionism Anxiety Group-oriented Self-reliant Tolerates disorder Vigilance Extraversion Traditional Grounded Agreeableness Neuroticism Excitement-seeking Attraction to aesthetics

Answer:

Hahahahah, I’m not going to give you the answer. It doesn’t matter.

Yes, hormones do impact some behavior. And YES, how we’re socially conditioned impacts which traits are more dominant. But the point is, there is an imaginary line between the two categories. The saddest reality is that, even though any human is capable of any of these traits on the list, society has determined that consequence and punishment must befall anyone who strays from their category. An enforced gender binary is dangerous.

Enter makeup.

Makeup has served infinite purposes throughout the course of history. It’s an incredible vehicle for expression, as well as radical social and political rebellion. Makeup has shaped entire movements of art, social justice, philosophy, and construction/deconstruction of body politics.

Your lipstick is more than patriarchal pigment in a tube. It is a tool for revolution.

Most people assume that makeup is only for clowns and cisgender women, and anyone else who uses it is simply a deviant who has “stolen” it.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Nononononononono

This probably won’t come as a shock to most of you, but yes-- Christianity also temporarily ruined makeup. Once upon a time, it was quite normal for men to wear makeup. Then the Jesus toe-suckers made up a whole bunch of arbitrary rules about what we currently observe masculinity and femininity to be, and here we are in this stinky pile of crap rules.

I highly recommend reading this article to learn a tiny bit more of the history of men and makeup:

https://www.byrdie.com/history-makeup-gender

Who wears makeup and how people wear makeup has shifted so much throughout history, and the struggles we experience around this today have only been relevant for a hundred years or so. One of the most common forms of rebellion we hear of is when women reject traditional femininity. Whether “burning our bras”, shaving our heads, or growing out our armpit hair, this is not an uncommon experience for a lot of women. The scandal!! The pet has escaped her cage!! So many women I know have experienced an anti-femininity phase at least once in their lives. Sometimes this “phase” transitions into a permanent rejection of gender norms, but it really varies from person to person. Often it’s set off by an overwhelming awareness of how much women are defined by superficial characteristics, traditionally determined and enforced by men. So we attempt to take ourselves out of the system by wearing neutral and aggressive clothing, switching up which parts of our bodies are hairy and which aren’t, and avoiding anything “girlie”. Revisiting my conversation with Aepril, my high-glam friend who inspired this blog and was mentioned in Part 1, she made a good point about honoring such an experience: “I went through a miserable phase in my feminist youth where I thought I was being uber feminist by not shaving or wearing makeup or wearing heels, etc, because to do so was giving into the patriarchy. I was miserable of course. It took my drag queen friends to wake me up to that, as I realized that they were willing to give up family, social status...their safety and even their lives for the privilege of expressing themselves in a glamorous, feminine way. While I had that privilege because I was born in a female body. I might be criticised by both men and women, but I wouldn’t be beaten in the street for transgressing gender roles. I realized how much it meant to me through seeing how much it meant to them. Why should I give that up either? Why should anyone have to?” In Aepril’s situation, she found that her place of authenticity was through femininity. In a world that is so divided between the shoulds and should-nots of who we’re supposed to be, I find it important to squeeze ourselves through and experience all sides so we can settle on what’s true for us. Then it’s no longer conformity; it’s an outlet.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, the use of makeup norms has been subverted to amplify voices that demand human rights and fair treatment. Its application has been largely linked to LGBTQ+ visibility and gay rights movements. The anti-Vietnam movement in the late 60s and 70s utilized makeup to display over-feminization and homosexuality as a way to avoid being drafted. The glam rock movement gave us icons like David Bowie, exposing and exploding restrictive gender norms through outrageous clothing and makeup, utilizing pop culture to spread ideas and acceptance of androgyny. “Female impersonation” has origins dating back to the 19th century in Europe, and the art of Drag Queens & Kings is alive and well today, celebrating, mocking, questioning, and expanding gender in clubs and theaters, in film, and right in our homes through TV favorites like Ru Paul’s Drag Race.

For our trans-sisters, the decision to wear makeup could have life or death consequences. As a transwoman friend of mine disclosed a few months back, when she’s walking down the street and hears a man call after her, her immediate thoughts turn to, “will I experience violence because I’m a woman? Or will I experience violence because he thinks I’m a faggot?” There is a lot of discussion in the trans community about the privilege of “passing”, and I believe these conversations have further supported the struggles womxn generally face-- does wearing makeup make you more or less of a woman? As writer Lux Alptraum points out, “the idea that external appearance is what makes someone a “real” woman is the very thing that many trans women have committed themselves to fighting. To the extent that makeup is an essential part of any trans woman’s gender identity or notion of her womanhood, it’s largely because that’s the message the rest of the world aggressively forces upon her.” Read the rest of this article at https://www.racked.com/2017/3/23/14937266/trans-women-makeup

Makeup is incredibly powerful. It can be used for protest, and it can be used for comfort. It’s daily wear, and it’s political. It’s an expression of freedom, and a bold face confronting restriction. It’s transformative, giving people the opportunity to live in the bodies and images that feel right and true for them. Makeup is art, an embracing of life and physicality, a way to show up, be counted, and be present. It’s an act of defiance, and an act of love.

I recently read that Facebook now has 56 gender identities one can choose from. Facebook blows, but wow that’s actually really awesome! Within that list, some of the more frequently used terms include:

Agender/Neutrois Androgyne/Androgynous Bigender Cis/Cisgender Female to Male/FTM Gender Fluid Gender Nonconforming/Variant Gender Questioning Genderqueer Intersex Male to Female/MTF Neither Non-binary Other Pangender Trans/Transgender Transsexual Two-spirit (Important: this is Native American. Don’t pull a Jason Mraz. Don’t appropriate)

Out of this list, the following folks are allowed to wear makeup:

All of them Everyone Anyone Everybody The General Public The Whole World Human Beings Aliens Animals but only if they’re actually humans in animal costumes

If you’re interested in following makeup artists on IG who are trans or gender non-conforming, here is a great starter list (partially sourced from wearyourvoicemag.com):

@ brownbeautystandards @ vlad_theunicorn @ jade_poncee @ makeupby_bran @ rosalynnemontoya @ miles_jai @ completedestruction

Again, there are infinite reasons why people of any gender do and don’t wear makeup, and I’m not going to be an authority on the matter. But I hope some of this information helps you on your journey to understand yourself better, and hold space of greater allyship and tolerance for others.

Below are some links and phone numbers if you feel you need greater support for the topics being discussed in this blog series. Being beautiful is cool, and so is being safe. You deserve to be here, and you matter.

Enjoy your week, and we’ll see you back here next week for Part 4: Performance Artists and Makeup!

National Eating Disorders 24 hr Hotline: 1-800-931-2237

https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/body-image-0

TransLifeline Hotline: 877-565-8860

https://www.translifeline.org/

LGBT National Hotline: 1-888-843-4564

https://www.glbthotline.org/

National Suicide Prevention 24hr Hotline: 1-800-273-8255

http://sexworkersproject.org/resources/

#makeup #nomakeup #gender #intersectional feminism #revolution #queer #drag #androgony #expressyourself

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ho-ods-blog · 6 years ago

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MEANINGLESS DISORDER IS TO BE CHALLENGED NOT FEARED. WE CAN BE OVERWHELMED OR WE CAN BE EMBOLDENED.

If we reduce everything to information do we lose the aesthetics, empathy and much more in life? What do you think?

To understand my current perspective and create the desire within you to pursue your personalized & positively balanced, productive quest for understending is to imagine what what isn’t possible by being easily done yet not in fact impossible - the sentence explaining all conspiracies as well as what I’ll be explaining through the example of a chip - which isn’t one of the conspiracies at all.

Imagine if we all got chipped, for the sake of mutual understanding imagine it like a tiny memory card inserted, let’s say behind your ear which works because it connects, duplicates then mimmics each neuron and then replaces it by removing the original with the technological components also within it.

Imagine that the heart keeps our body and mind alive and the chip our brain.

Now imagine that chip contains the whole of information from the main central computer which had collected all of searches and statistics along with the feedback itself in a matter of seconds upon laying your eyes on the person, home etc as well is still providing the same procedures and updating everyone each decided period of time.

Would you want to live in a world which now defines you insane/and/or questionable because you googled dick cheese around your friends for a joke and tried to understand sexual preferences as a kid? Nobody would. But that would be inside the mind of the person who would lay their eyes upon you a.k.a. it would get the information from the chip on another and that person would get your information just the same.

Do we then lose the aesthetics, empathy and much more in life?

Okay, I am definitely writing this particular chunk of sentences to also signify I no longer give a shit about privacy because the groups of supertechs could come at me at any given moment, disrupt my algorithms to make my content visible to less users and there really isn’t much I can do as an average citizen with some interesting hobbies so therefore a couple of people from my hometown judging me for actively pursuing my interests in a way I choose really doesn’t even come to me as a negative thing anymore because there’s far more going on which I want to focus on and direct my maximum positive potential and impact on.

Now that that is out of the way,

That transhumanistic viewpoint(the chip example) is what I chose because I’ve read too much about it, seen too many films which lead to more research and read too many insights but today that example of the chip is just a prolonged and complicated version where the chip is the computer, the phone, the laptop and the human can find out information just not fast and easily or without extensive technical literacy and trial and error.

That is why this cybernetic connection was implemented with the assistance and constructive creativity of the groups of supertechs for the agendas long as the existance itself. I can write about this in another post extensively.

What matters to me more than my own privacy and social justice within my own experience is a positive change I can contribute by sharing not the information I am learning but the way I work my mind and actions around it because throughout the past year I have come to terms with the exceptional components I was once scared to share.

Today, I am conscious of my voice and more so confident in it’s validity because I see no negatively directed energy consciously or unconsciously motioned my way as anything which could ever be stronger than God, no weapons forged against me prosperous and no truth which I speak less legitimate than somebody’s illusion of theirs despite them percieving it as truth.

I now resonate with the ideals which bring in no obligations for accusations to prove what is already truth as well as no pointed fingers but rather everyday courses of action from healed individuals of own controlled mindsets because keeping a positive vibration is in fact what should matter right when you wake up, while you are brushing your teeth, making lunch, going to school, work etc. what matters is to use the internet, web and social media consciously as well as choosing what you want to think about and what gets to hurt you and keep you stagnant.

This simple piece of text is made with the intent to serve it’s purpose on it’s own.

It isn’t done so that at a certain point in the future when there’s plenty of them as well as other endeavors it’s author gets money, status, recognition, fame, etc, nor is it the goal of any of my visionary creative endeavors.

I had made enough of regretful decisions in my life to innerstand, understand and overstand as well as define the emotion of it without words necessarily that I must use the remaining time of mine on Earth for the greater good.

It is fortunate for us to be alive at a time where doing something as simple as writing a micro-blog post can offer some people a chance to start controlling their thoughts in hopes of maintaining a safe space.

What I had gathered from merely a couple of videos on youtube in which Jaron Lanier ( computer philosophy writer, considered the funding father of virtual reality, visual artist, was in the first company which sold VR goggles, was in Atari, worked on apps for internet 2, visiting scholar at Silicon graphics, works at Microsoft research since 2009 as thhe interdisciplinary scientist etc) is speaking about the contents of his book “you are not a gadget” as well as information since the digital age took place was more than enough for me to try and find the appropriate place to channel it constructively.

I decided to use the notes I make along the way as I watch the videos and read the material as a tool I can shape into something for those who aren’t necessarily willing to sit and watch youtube videos all day long, clean their house and listen to them, drive and audio it or perhaps even read the books ( which I want to highlight still ARE much-MUCH greater sources for everything I will ever be speaking on because through the information I share I am still secluding a paragraph to explain how I choose to deal with the information instead of turning it as a weapon for my own stagnancy and misguided lack of faith.)

It is still the biggest tragedy to me to see this cybernetic connection we share done in the utmost negative way and the knowing it hadn’t even started to take place at it’s maximum potential is truly what could be terrifying to a point of episodic daily nausea if only us and in this case myself were to base our mental states upon people and actions which are outside of our control.

The computer can send information to another bundle of information in a set of bits and it is analyzing them mathematically and, yes - it does not matter to a computer what the information says.

”Meaningless disorder is to be challenged and not fear because we can choose to be overwhelmed or emboldened.”

The strength from within is omnipresent and the fear of failure, lack of constructive impact or whatever the individual might use to shape their own low vibrational perspective for not making an active shift in their own life -are all illusions because the purpose of the negativity is to achieve sustainability of itself as it is. That is why it is important to understand you either sink towards the end of your life or swim towards it because as you can see the finish line is the same yet the pathaways different.

It may be easier to keep the sinking mindset yet it isn’t even remotely as joyful, courageous, rewarding, fruitful, positive, needed and surprisingly positively influential to those around you (as well as much, more I can write about) than the swimming.

In this life you can choose to think finishing highschool and pursuing a degree, finding and maintaining a job with or without a carreer, finding, accepting, returning as well as nurturing and maintaining love, travelling and friendships are the peak you need and want yet the sinking mindset still bears the low vibrational tendency to show up uninvited and subtle as it hides within outcomes you learned how to disregard positively and label it swimming.

Whatever you choose, the information presented remains existant and true.

Anytime two people connect to the internet is universally financed by a third party who believes they can use behavioralist techniques to manipulate the first two people without them undestanding whats up.

In regards to the talks by Jaron Lanier -

the WE is the global cyber net in which those who built it, are making the most money off it as well as keeping it existant are somehow above the circumstances and the average citizen are still modern day workers to keep it going and developing into whatever the purpose of the behavioralist techniques really is while it is disquised as solely statistics to better consumerism and the user experience.

“We’ve created a society based on universal trickery and deception and therefore developed an already flawed society into a universal community of individuals who do not believe election votes, routinely expect to be bullied one way or another and made to feel terrible. That is the society which does not believe in truth anymore.” we're all connected, from seemingly all perspectives.

A manmade connection would be computers which had done another interconnection and way back in 1938, a man by the name of Burrhus Frederic Skinner decided to present an idea of treating computers as a tool to remove individuality and by experiments alter the human nature by getting them to change by the reward/punishment stimuli a.k.a. positive/negative feedback loop(social experience) and the negative ones are more common actually because of that feedback loop between the dopamine hits. The person contributes their motion, eye movements and facial expressions to the statistics.

The experiment is a human version of keeping a rat in a box and providing it some food when it pulls down the tiny lever inside that box .

The cybernetics are naturally a negativity machine. The likes, comments, the interaction people get on social media is what provides them the small dopamine hits which keep them using it in the ways which highlight education last.

Skinner was about using digital networks to transcent idiosincracy(a mode of behaviour or way of thought peculiar to an individual!) He was the first there to have something to say about peoples “weird and felatious ideas about freedom) the first time it crossed paths with computing was through Norbert Weiner who was the first generation contribute when the ideas for altering started.

He was the first who started changing others’ perceptions on how the computers are being percieved. The idea is to use a computer to make it into much more than it is,as well asmuch more complicate and Weiner coined the term for it from the Greeks which is the now famous “cybernetics”)

(BOOK RECOMMENDATION: WEINER : NETWORKING COMPS)

DEFINITION OF CYBERNETICS BY CAMBRIDGE DICTIONARY:

the scientific study of how information is communicated in machines and electronic devices, comparing this with how information is communicated in the brain and nervous system / Too often a simplistic cybernetic control model underpins performance measurement systems. -cybernetics was trumpeted as a universal science of government that would help to guide the social organization necessary for modernization.

DEFINITION OF CYBERNETICS BY DICTIONARY.COM: the study of human control functions and of mechanical and electronic systems designed to replace them, involving the application of statistical mechanics to communication engineering.

What if you have a computer watching a human being, his moves, looks etc and then what if that computer provided stimulus. Couldn’t this computer gradually become an automated behavioralist who controls the person?

This is a human use of human being and if everybody has these computers with themselves always then these little computers can measure everything about those people, who they talk to, what they search, their locations, and in return give them some sort of reward/feedback - texts, sounds, art etc. but what we neglected is the radios connecting all of those small computers to a big computer which is modifying a computer like a behavioralist who could pull statistics and change society without you knowing it is happening to you, too.

This all goes into depth just like anything and the particular planted seed had developed itself stranded into one probability for salvation in a clusterfuck of mass destruction of probabilities because despite the good and the bad within for example Artificial Intelligence, those of us who consider it’s positive aspects are on the same page as we speak of it the like we speak of humans who, naturally, aren’t all good with good intentions and the technological advancements are not yet well balanced with anything else in our world which is behind it.

Instead of rescuing people, natural resources, animals, finances, jobs, security etc. we had massively shifted to a world of subtle, reliable shades of different types of horror in which ignorance serves as a peace of mind, heard, body and soul which still is mostly low vibrational and contributing to the madness in any way the technology pleases.

The culture of digital technology and it’s strong movements back in the 80′s and 90′s served to commerce the idea of making everything free and open. The culture, the software, the music, the encyclopedia, the anything.

The idea was to use a certain special group of people considered the supertechs to change the coutse of history with the advertising model as the meeting point.

The surface experience for people is about business of advertisements where the biggest are the wealthiest and at this point Mr.Lanier had already confirmed that he is actively supporting Google and had sold his company once to them.

What interests me about Mr.Lanier is why he thinks that nobody truly hears what he is saying because most people do and the only reason nobody is doing anything to actively pursue the most productive courses of action towards the biggest change is the fact we think we will be met with death or disappointment because one broken down middle class individual is nothing to a group of elite supertech at the Silicon valley type of hubs around the globe.

Mr. Lanier says the right way to proceed is to change yet he bears such friction when he is saying that what we would be doing is unimaginable yet achievable if the act of trying actually takes place. So, is he saying that the dominant power considers the change unimaginable because they had created this agenda which does not deem it fitting but speaks on what could be done if we were to actually do something which nobody within that elite community actually wants if the advertisement model is still not in their infrastructural ownership?

The experience of our lives is much more deep and valuable than certain wordings deem it out to be.

“Social experience” sounds like two words you read and go on yet what we rarely consider is what it all means.

It is your entire living experience and it matters because we’ve created such an easy way to unconsciously shift our energy to motion due to feelings and where we direct it and using words as energy signatures which help and to further explain just understand that we even think with words and the manifestation is a path of directed energy. (Emotion, E=energy, energy in motion)

The bizarre solutions of the supertechs as I had already stated were to make everything open and sharable without much knowledge of behind the scenes.

The differences between advertising , adjusting and finetuning(a.k.a manipulation a.k.a behavior modification without the consumers knoweledge) because:

advertisers=manipulators,

companies=behavior manipulation modifiers,

engagement =addiction

The changes this creates are small, broad and statistical which is how you achieve a goal without mass disturbances.

The companies sales pitch example is: We’re targeting this group of two million consumers. We can get 3% of this part of our consumer whole to change by 5%.”

You could say: Who cares? We get free shit for these tiny shades of difference.” but what I must state once more is the importance of what Jaron is saying is that the reliable shades of difference carefully applied consistantly have a compounding effect/like compound interest over time and the results are a significant change which CAN make shit really ugly like overturn elections, disrupt the society.

One important thing to mention is that Mr. Lanier defines the process of placing the whole world through a central computer would be mass insanity yet he states that it is not feasible which he used to say it isn’t impossible yet not as easy.

All of those fast samplings capture what drives you fastest - the responses. The negativity which makes the most money is between the dopamine hits. These include startle responses, becoming scared, arising fast and decaying slowly.

BEHAVIORALISM BY WIKIPEDIA: Behaviouralism seeks to examine the behaviour, actions, and acts of individuals – rather than the characteristics of institutions such as legislatures, executives, and judiciaries – and groups in different social settings and explain this behavior as it relates to the political system. BEHAVIORALISM BY GOOGLE: the methods and principles of the scientific study of animal (and human) behaviour.

BEHAVIORISM BY GOOGLE: the theory that human and animal behaviour can be explained in terms of conditioning, without appeal to thoughts or feelings, and that psychological disorders are best treated by altering behaviour patterns.

DEFINITION OF CYBERNETICS BY CAMBRIDGE DICTIONARY: the scientific study of how information is communicated in machines and electronic devices, comparing this with how information is communicated in the brain and nervous system / Too often a simplistic cybernetic control model underpins performance measurement systems. -cybernetics was trumpeted as a universal science of government that would help to guide the social organization necessary for modernization. DEFINITION OF CYBERNETICS BY DICTIONARY.COM: the study of human control functions and of mechanical and electronic systems designed to replace them, involving the application of statistical mechanics to communication engineering.

So we have to find a way to be sane throughout the paranoia one could encounter. To be optimistic despite the realism pushing itself with logic by default.

We have to face up to climate change.

We have to define our fear of A.I and transhumanism,

We have to stop genetically modifying food and people,

We have to start filtering our tap water,

We have to stop painting another false image over mass murders, dissapearences and the already painted picture of peace,

We have to find a way to stop deforestation, habitat loss, poaching,

We have to implement a steady course of action to limit the amount of technical illiteracy,

We have to find a way to create money which isn’t from trees, fix minimal pay where it exists only on paper, remove the governments maximum involvement and keep it a normal percentage,

We have to be aware of the extinction of animals which are actively happening each year,

We have to find a way of dealing with trash outside of the ocean because it is killing the beings meant to live in it not be murdered in it,

We have to find a way to deal with our natural resources again which are sunlight, atmosphere, water, land along with vegetation, animal life that naturally subsits upon or within the identified substances, coal, oil, natural gas, phosphorous, other minerals, iron, soil, timber which are all exposed to destruction.

We have to start purging out egotistical issues from our hearts and choose education and a multiversal mindset through local actions and sharing this post would actually be a gigantic first step.

We have to find a way to remain sane despite the world.

Never stop believing in our own purpose because of low vibrational people who mask out the words of yours in a humoristic set back which always work around the same groups of people who value popularity amongst their friends and social media than actually working on becoming a better person with an active role in shifting the world as a small, reliable shade of difference simply because they found a way of pushing out their own content without making a fuss about their own awareness.

What is the measure to which we measure empathy these days, asked the deceased Alan Turing, who will be the next topic on ho-ods.

Would we be in a position to proclaim equal rights to a machine if the machine could pretend to be a person undistinguishable from me and you.Do you agree with what the C.E.O of Google is actively sharing when you realize that it comes about the internet coming alive as a big living thing in which we are neurons/thoughts and the personalizations we make don’t allow personell forgetting.

Ask yourself why shouldn’t you trust the promise of artificial intelligence?

Who is the civilization for?

How to be a humanist and pro technology at the same time?

What is a person in todays age?

Are we really cyber liberaterians because we haven’t gotten passed anything new due to the fact we have chosen to give everything of ours for free as we are portrayed as liberaterians?

Who owns the future?

What about misdirect angry people who grew up in a less functional world than it ought to be given due to our technological capabilities?

The next essay will be posted sometime on march 16th. Be sure to check out You Are Not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier either on youtube or pdf.

#cybersecurity #jaronlanier #awareness #positivity #truth #ho-ods #hoods

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somodishlychic-blog · 7 years ago

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Some people are obsessed with carrying famous brand name bags while some have eyes for them but are mainly focused on carrying a bag that is cute, well-made but most importantly draws attention with its impeccable and 21st century design. If you are one of the ladies that falls in the latter category, I have put together a few handbag designers I love and are worth checking out. It does not always have to be about Gucci, Prada and the famous YSL that everyone and their mama wants to carry 🙂

These are brilliant and stylish designers you should consider for your wardrobe. Not all options are too expensive if you do not mind shedding a couple of hundreds.

Manu Atelier

Being a luxury leather goods, Manu Atelier aims to preserve its loyalty to the old while presenting its bags to modern women of the new age by combining premium leather with pure handcraftsmanship. Some Manu designs are currently on sale at Farfetch.com.

This color is exclusively at Netaporter.com

Danse Lente

A women’s accessories label that specializes in handbags and small leather goods. The playful and curious element to each design makes it appealing to a wide range of audiences. It focuses on high quality leather goods inspired by contemporary aesthetics and modern architecture. The brand is based in London.

Cult Gaia

Cult Gaia designs beautiful heirloom items that will live in your closet forever. The cornerstone of the brand’s DNA has been forged with the ideal of creating Objets d’Art that make you look twice.

Botkier

A contemporary accessories line born of the eternally cosmopolitan vibe of New York City for girls who are going places. Botkier is a line that is luxe glamour with city attitude. If you are a girl that a style and function in a range of pieces for all occasions and stages of life, be a Botkier girl.

B o y y

B O Y Y philosophy has always been that a women’s accessory should have a masculine feel, balancing out a woman’s femininity, sort of a yin-yang thing. With base inspiration drawn from the past greats of all genre and with a vision infused with a certain fantasy and sophistication, B O Y Y design process unravels into timeless silhouettes of unparalleled design that bear high quality details, creating a fascinating juxtaposition with a strong sensibility. The brand has paved a path of its own, formulating a fresh and forward-looking interpretation of luxury.

Staud

Founded on commitment to producing accessible, yet innovative pieces for contemporary, no nonsense, high style women. Staud’s creations are modern classics and refined pieces that reflect both an eye toward the future and a nostalgia for old school elegance. The brand is here to push the boundaries of the bland and produce designs that are stunning but simple, unique but uncomplicated.

Yuzefi Limited

Inspired by forms and craftsmanship know-how borrowed from the world of interiors and artefacts, Yuzefi’s unique aesthetic is a mélange of leather craft techniques previously overlooked in handbag design. The brand’s diminutive yet versatile range of bags with instantly recognizable styles have been a cult success with press and influencers worldwide.

Sara Battaglia

Thanks for visiting!

Sade Lewis

The Cult Fashion Bags of the Moment Some people are obsessed with carrying famous brand name bags while some have eyes for them but are mainly focused on carrying a bag that is cute, well-made but most importantly draws attention with its impeccable and 21st century design.

#Botkier #BOYY #Cult Gaia #Danse Lente #Manu Atelier #Sara Battaglia #Staud #Yuzefi Limited

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theseventhhex · 7 years ago

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Men I Trust Interview

Emma, Dragos & Jessy

Photo by Mathieu Rompré

Men I Trust is Dragos, Emma, Jessy, Mathieu and Alexis. Founded in 2014, Men I Trust is an indie band from Montreal, Canada that loves to form smooth sounds, calm melodies and simple rhythms that relax, but make your right foot tap and your chin bounce on the beats. They record, mix, master and shoot their music videos. Establishing a unique identity and distinct ability with their alluring style, Men I Trust are sure to capture an abundance of further admirers, equipped with infectious soundscapes and a deliriously addictive musical style… We talk to band member Dragos about storytelling, maintaining creative control and blue cheese…

TSH: What would you say are the main components that allow Men I Trust to have such a unified band chemistry?

Dragos: We do indeed have a unified band chemistry! Besides our friendship and shared common interests, it also has to do with the fact that we do everything ourselves. It allows us to be consistent aesthetically speaking and independent release-wise.

TSH: When it comes to the infectious melodies you guys conjure up, are you normally gravitating towards certain styles and genres?

Dragos: We try to write chord progressions and melodies that convey a sense of story and that are lyrical. We use rhythm to keep it interesting and forward-moving and use smooth sounds because that’s what we prefer. The resulting songs always tend to sound like us, even when we mingle with different genres.

TSH: Emma’s previously mentioned having to abandon oneself it in order to be creative – is getting out of one’s comfort zone beneficial to creativity?

Dragos: It’s more about abandoning the extra-musical doubts that we sometimes have when writing a song. It’s more productive when considering everything musically, because the questions are easier to answer and because we allow ourselves more liberties than otherwise.

TSH: You and Jessy have known each other since the fourth year of high school, do you feel there is an instinctual bond when it comes to music for you both?

Dragos: Definitely! We know and understand each other very well. It is very rare that we disagree on something musically. It’s lots of fun!

TSH: What sort of motivations do you draw on to pen a track like ‘I Hope To Be Around’?

Dragos: Chord progression wise and melody wise, it’s about creating a sense of storytelling. Again, the rhythm keeps it bouncy and moving forward. Text wise, we talk about a common theme we have in about 80% of our songs. It’s about finding ourselves and then striving to overcome one’s own limits and oriented point of view, i.e. one’s desire to grasp the reality wholly. It is important to us that our lyrics convey positive values or ideas that we truly believe in like the awe-inspiring beauty of nature and humans.

TSH: Moreover, what was the process like in layering and fleshing out the excellent ‘Tailwhip’?

Dragos: 'Tailwhip' started with the bass line. The song drives a youthful energy from the groovy rhythms that Jessy is so good at pulling-off. We used fast paced childhood videos and naïve leads to put emphasis on that energy. The lyrics are accordingly light-hearted: we’re talking about our move back to Montreal. Seeing us as adults and as children makes the video very personal while being very groovy at the same time. For the first time, we showcased ourselves playing our instruments, so this was kind of an introduction for us.

TSH: Speaking of ‘Tailwhip’, it must have been so cool to have the song as 2017’s number one track of the year on Gorilla vs. Bear?

Dragos: That’s crazy! We are fans of so many bands that are in that top 100 list and Gorilla vs. Bear are always on point with their picks. Being number one was a huge surprise. It made us really proud.

TSH: How satisfactory is it for you to see yours and Jessy’s sounds be complimented so well with Emma’s captivating vocal range when you guys work together in the studio and jam?

Dragos: The blend with Emma’s voice, our lyrics, rhythms and chord progressions, couldn’t be better suited for what we are going for. Her vocal performance keeps everything light, enjoyable and stylistically on point. Emma is also a great person to hang out with. She is really funny and primed like the karate kid.

TSH: Being a composer and photographer outside of music, what have you been gravitating towards regarding both fields in recent times?

Dragos: The visual and ideal aspects are really important for the band. We think that when you like a certain artform like music, it’s hard not to be at least interested in all of them. Before starting the band, Emma studied art and I studied philosophy. We also have a knack for photography and videography. We really like Terrence Malick and David Lynch. It’s funny because our video for ‘You Deserve This’ got compared a lot to Twin Peaks, before we got to binge watch the two seasons last year. Some ideas in our lyrics are inspired by the ancient Greeks, John Stuart Mill and Goethe. The last three years, I’ve mainly read science articles, so that also shows up in our songs.

TSH: How vital has it been for Men I Trust to have creative control of the band and to stream and distribute your music accordingly?

Dragos: Our independent status came to be by necessity more than by choice. When we started the band, we were interested in being part of a record label. We thought being signed sounded cool. We felt like all the serious bands were signed on a label. However, when we released our first album, our music sounded “too experimental” and labels didn’t see any “commercial potential” to our songs. We then started reading about distribution and more generally on how to manage a band. After doing everything once, it’s easier and more time-efficient to repeat everything again for each release, so we kind of got used to doing everything on our own. Now, that our music is starting to get more attention we literally get spammed by labels and PR companies, but we don’t see the utility to give away part of our music ownership in exchange for services that we are able to do ourselves. On our websites, we ask that labels and PR companies do not contact us, but people still try to reach us or they simply don’t read. It’s really fun for us to be in control of everything and we take great pride in doing so. Everything is super fast, straightforward and aesthetically more personal and consistent this way. We stay in direct contact with the people that like and support us. To sum it up, we aren’t closed to the idea of working with a team, it’s just that our band is still pretty easy and fun to manage by ourselves, so we don’t see the need to sign anything in the near future.

TSH: Are you still very much into video games?

Dragos: Yes! We’re fans of Space Engine, Civilization, Starcraft, The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, Diablo II, Golden Eye & Mario Kart!

TSH: When Men I Trust are on tour, what brings about most laughter and joy between the three of you?

Dragos: When we are on tour, we are 4! We bring our drummer Mathieu with us. I don’t know if it is because we are musicians, but we constantly have never ending running gags about silly sounds and voices. We like to imagine or imitate silly voices. It’s impossible for us not to laugh whenever we hear a technical problem like cracking sounds, exaggeratedly off-pitch music or feedbacks. It’s silly and really first-degree humour, but it makes us giggle! Every one is always playing a persona with silly voices. We took it to another level where the more something is being repeated consistently, the more we find it funny. Maybe we’ve become a bit crazy for being exposed together this long.

TSH: Does Emma still have a craving for blue cheese, as well as hopes to own a pig?

Dragos: Haha! Blue cheese is her absolute favourite thing in the world. Seriously, she asked for blue cheese for Christmas when she was 14-15. She also bought a stuffed pig, because she cannot own one while being on the road. It’s a great pillow and it also reminds her not to eat them.

TSH: Speaking of food, what sort of cuisines does the band really relish?

Dragos: We’re all vegetarian… most of the time. We’re breakfast, sandwich and Asian cuisine fans. Add beer and coffee and repeat.

TSH: Amidst so much bedlam in the world, how do you like to attain a positive headspace?

Dragos: Art and nature!

TSH: Finally, as Men I Trust ventures ahead, what are the keys aspects that you hope to maintain and stay true to?

Dragos: Always doing what we love. We seek timeless beauty and do everything with care. These are things that both satisfy us and what we aspire to have.

Men I Trust - “Tailwhip”

I HOPE TO BE AROUND

#Interview #Men I Trust

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dippedanddripped · 5 years ago

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This past January, Buffalo native Alvin Worthy, known throughout the music world as Westside Gunn, expedited his passport in order to attend Paris Fashion Week. At 37 years old, it was his first time leaving the United States. His Griselda Records collective provided the soundtrack for Virgil Abloh’s Off-White™ Fall 2020 preview and Westside was as at home as ever sitting front-row for the festivities.

He was so inspired by the trip that he booked some extra time in the City of Lights to record a new project, motivated even more once Abloh confirmed that he’d like to create the cover art. What resulted was Pray for Paris, a project that manages to balance the boasts of aspirational opulence attained with some of the grimiest street rap in the industry today.

Westside Gunn has never pursued subtlety, which is more apparent than ever on his latest record. Pray for Paris opens up with a recording of the auction of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” painting at Christie’s New York, which sold for a record $450 million USD. As the gavel announces the final sale, it’s clear that Gunn is positioning his latest creation as a rap album of bespoke luxury.

Abloh’s cover art, a photoshopped reworking of Carvvaggio’s 1607 oil on wood painting, “David with the Head of Goliath,” adds the burden of Westside’s three chains around the conqueror’s neck. The aesthetic audacity aligns perfectly with Westside Gunn’s past hand-painted album covers, which alternate between vintage wrestling references, faceless FLYGOD fashion poses in Balenciagas and an unapologetic Hermès-rocking Hitler with his third eye stamped on his furrowed brow.

Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

There’s a moment on last year’s WWCD album where the vision Worthy has been plotting out over the past decade, even before he was Westside Gunn, comes to fruition. Rapping alongside brother Demond “Conway the Machine” Price and cousin Jeremie “Benny the Butcher” Pennick, his voice rings in the “Dr. Bird’s” chorus in an antagonizing echo. “Told Virgil write ‘BRICK’ on my brick,” he yells, essentially speaking their eventual collaboration into existence.

Even years before the “Dr. Bird’s” chorus, before the Shady Records and Roc Nation deals, and before his Griselda crew was captured at Kanye West’s Wyoming ranch, Westside was pulling inspiration from Abloh’s initial foray into fashion, PYREX VISION. “It’s not like I’m just supporting him now because of Off-White™ or Louis Vuitton, like all of a sudden I got a record deal and I can afford it. No, his first shirt was on my back,” he said.

Gunn fights against what he perceives as the limitations of being labeled a rapper. It’s a line straight out of Kanye’s big book of philosophy and even something Tyler, The Creator mirrored in his post-GRAMMYs speech. “I don’t even wanna be considered a rapper. I bring so much more to the game,” he told HYPEBEAST. “I love art, fashion, design, executive producing, putting songs together with the skits — all of that sh*t I love more than actually rapping.”

For someone who doesn’t consider himself a rapper, Westside Gunn managed to curate one of the year’s best rap albums, creating a world where he’s at its very center, surrounded by some of the most talented veterans in the hip-hop world today.

Westside revealed that he had been battling a coronavirus diagnosis shortly after the release of Pray for Paris. He joined HYPEBEAST to talk about his recent recovery following his first time out of the country, maintaining his FLYGOD status and the creativity that sparked his collaboration with Virgil Abloh.

HYPEBEAST: First off, how are you feeling? Where are you in the process of recovering from COVID-19?

Westside Gunn: I’m feeling good, man. There’s people dying from this sh*t and it did its little tornado tear-down but I’m building back up. I’m losing my mind because I ain’t smoke in weeks. But everything is just a process and I’m trying to get strong again.

We’ve been working and honestly I’m more motivated. I needed this project because this sh*t just got me more focused and looking forward. I’m not just sitting here on some pitiful sh*t.

What was the inspiration behind the title Pray for Paris?

Just the way I killed [Paris] Fashion Week. You had to pray for everybody in Paris the way I was doing it, man. People there, especially the paparazzi, they didn’t know who I was, but they knew who I was after Fashion Week. It was a dope experience. It was the first time I ever left the country.

I went out there with all my jewelry on with my big security guard from Buffalo. I had like four or five people out there with me. It was really last minute. Every show I went to I got dressed up in one-of-one pieces, so it was like FLYGOD on steroids. Just pray for that country man.

How do you feel about hip-hop’s cultural influence in the fashion world right now?

I think it’s beautiful. I was actually doing fashion first. Griselda Records came as a spinoff from my fashion line. To see hip-hop being accepted so much in fashion now is great, but I’ve been fly my whole life. I was designing jean suits and sh*t in high school. I always was ahead of the game when it came to fashion. Even when it comes to the Virgil connection.

I sent him pictures of me in 2013 when he did PYREX VISION — his first introduction to the fashion world and I was supporting him then. I always say, it don’t matter what you buy, it’s gotta be in you. I love looking on Instagram and seeing what everyone’s doing with their style because at a point in time, it felt like I was the only person doing that type of sh*t. So now that the hip-hop community is accepted by certain brands, it’s pushing the culture forward.

Virgil created the cover art for this project, too. How’d that collaboration happen?

When I was out in Paris, after all the fashion shows and all the partying was over, I still had three days left. I was so influenced by everything that took place that I went into the studio. I was with Virgil the night after I first recorded and I was like, “I already knocked out three, tomorrow I’m gonna finish the rest.” Virgil told me, “This sh*t is crazy. If you do that, I want to do the cover.” So of course, who would say no to that? It actually inspired me to record more because if he did the cover, it’s gonna be a different kind of crowd that actually listens to this.

This is gonna gain more fans for Westside Gunn on a fashion tip. It’s like I’m not even a rapper, I’m an artist. I don’t even wanna be considered a rapper. I bring so much more to the game. I have an ear for production. Some people are just rappers. That’s what they do: they’re good at rap. But I love art, fashion, design, executive producing, putting songs together with the skits — all of that sh*t I love more than actually rapping.

“I always been a supply and demand guy. I was in the streets, I lived by it.”

There’s no mysterious book of rhymes of Westside Gunn or a file of 10 unreleased Westside Gunn songs. Everything I’ve ever recorded is out. You can be like, “Yo, let me hear some new sh*t.” My new sh*t is Pray for Paris. There’s no song that’s just sitting in the computer, bro. Rapping is like the tenth thing on my list I do. But it’s important because everything else that I do before I rap inspires those raps.

You’ve always made sure that your Griselda merch and vinyl releases have incredibly limited runs. Have you looked to any brands for inspiration on keeping supply vastly lower than the current demand for what you create?

Even when I was doing clothing and I wasn’t rapping, I knew that I was doper than the majority of the game. There was a void and I wanted to fill it and bring a balance of the underground culture, the boom-bap culture, people say “backpack rap” or whatever you want to call it — I knew there was something missing.

Everyone wanted to be more from the south, or like Chicago drill music when that became big. People in my lane weren’t popular, they weren’t getting those looks. People always wanted to push forward the popular sound, what’s in the clubs and what’s on the radio. I always been a supply and demand guy. I was in the streets, I lived by it.

You gotta think like a street corner hustler back in the day. Like six, seven people be on one corner or in the projects and they gone fight for the same fiend. And I was like, “Why do that? I can go to a whole other city with no competition and make triple.” I applied my street methods to hip-hop and fashion. You give a crackhead free crack, that’s the best crack they ever had. They gone do anything to come back and get that again.

It was like, “Okay, everybody want to listen to this, but I’m about to make this popular.” It’s really like the dope game.

You linked with Tyler, The Creator on this record, both as a producer and as a featured artist. What was it about his energy that you gravitated towards?

Tyler is somebody who I respect because he’s himself. He don’t give a f*ck. A lot of people be scared to be themselves. In this game there’s a lot of make believe bullsh*t, man. A lot of these people that you see, well they not like that in real life.

With Tyler, he’s himself at all times. He don’t care who in the room. It could be the toughest dudes in the room and he might rap some off the wall sh*t and tell another dude that he’ll kiss him. If you know him, you respect it because that’s him. He’s a good dude with good energy.

As you can see, he killed the project on both levels, on rhyming and production. I’m thankful for that. I actually hit him to congratulate him on the GRAMMYs and that’s when he said he was making a beat for me. When he came to bring me the beat, he heard what I was already playing and he started rhyming.

You also connected with The Alchemist and featured veterans like Freddie Gibbs, Roc Marciano and Boldy James. How competitive were you when trading bars with those guys over The Alchemist’s productions?

Alchemist is Griselda, man. You know how Mobb Deep was always Havoc and Prodigy? The Alchemist was their third unofficial member. Basically what Alchemist was to Mobb Deep is what he is to Griselda right now. He was already a legend before he got with us and now he’s a part of the Griselda sound. Him working with Boldy, now that’s extended family. Because before I was on him, but I wasn’t on him. When I was listening to [The Price of Tea In China] I was like, “Dude is incredible. He remind me of like a Detroit Benny.” It was so vivid.

I always was a fan of Gibbs and I’ve been doing sh*t with Roc Marci for the last five years straight. Benny [The Butcher] went on tour with Gibbs so you build these relationships. Then when it comes time to start painting these pictures, you go to your family and you go to the best. The first time I heard The Alchemist beat [for “$500 Ounces”] the first person I thought of in the world was Gibbs.

“With Tyler, he’s himself at all times. It could be the toughest dudes in the room and he might rap some off the wall sh*t and tell another dude that he’ll kiss him.”

With me, it’s never competitive. I go on the beat and just do me, man. That’s never been my thing to compete. I was the guy who early on pushed Benny to be like, “Yo, I’m about to just sing a little hook that’s catchy that people gone remember from me, but I need you to spit 100 bars straight of the craziest sh*t you can think of.”

You have songs like “Shower Shoe Lords” and things Benny was performing for the first year and I wanted to see him kill it, not see who was better on the mic. I know what he can do and I want him to shine. Now look at Benny today.

There always seems to be a fork in the road when major labels and additional management step in and alter an artist’s course. Even after Shady Records and Roc Nation, that hasn’t happened with Griselda. How have you managed to maintain that vision?

One thing for sure, these guys been around me my whole life. And Daringer been in my life for too many years, man. This is family and family is first. Of course people have their misunderstandings and little arguments but when you a real family, that sh*t don’t mean nothing. Everybody’s grown. At the end of the day, we here for the culture. We know what we signed up for.

This sh*t was all written. We gotta remain strong because what we’re doing is legendary. We from somewhere where nobody ever came from. We also all slept in a cell. We lost key members of our crew. We almost lost Conway. We dealt with the shootings. So now it’s about giving the world some of the illest hip-hop of all time.

Is there any advice you would give to your younger self about maneuvering through the industry?

Don’t rush. Everything’s gonna happen organically. I’m very blessed. Even with a few bumps in the road, I learned from them so it could never happen again. I take the good with the bad. I’d tell myself to let everything happen organically and if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.

Four years ago, Griselda was still considered just underground boom-bap and nobody was really listening. Today we’re spoken of from every big name you could possibly think of. There were a few moves I made prematurely around three years ago. Those things can still come back to haunt you to this day but you live and you learn, man. You keep working.

You have your own day in your home city now, too. The Mayor of Buffalo declared August 28 as Alvin “Westside Gunn” Worthy Day. What are your plans for celebrating this year?

I’m trying to put a wrestling ring in the middle of the hood. I might have nWo [New World Order Wrestling] come out. My love for wrestling is next level. I’m not saying I’m the king of the city or any of that sh*t, but I have the most influence and me having my own day makes me want to give back.

Of course I want to do a concert but who knows with what’s going on in the world right now. This corona sh*t got everything backed up. We might still be in the house during my day. But God-willing if everything clears up and I can do something, I wanna do it for the streets because that’s where I’m from. They’ve backed me and showed me love.

How did your love of wrestling help inspire your career as a rapper?

It came natural. One thing about Westside Gunn, since my first project in 2012, Hitler Wears Hermès 1, you always gonna get art, you always gonna get wrestling. It’s the same thing you’re getting in 2020. My first album cover was an art piece, this cover’s an art piece.

“We all slept in a cell… we almost lost Conway. We dealt with the shootings. Now it’s about giving the world some of the illest hip-hop of all time.”

There’s wrestling on the first [album] and there’s wrestling in this one. I can only be me. I’m only giving the world pieces of who I am. I grew up watching wrestling and I just incorporate everything in my life into my music.

Outside of Pray for Paris, there’s been some rumors about you teaming up with Madlib for a collaboration. Any updates?

Only update I have is that it’s still happening. Everything’s just a chapter right now. After the Pray for Paris chapter I need to give the world part eight of the Hitler Wears Hermès series and then I’ll give you the project with ‘lib. That’s a lot for 2020, but you’ll definitely get all of them.

The Griselda Records lore of the past half-decade plays out like a movie. Let’s say a Griselda major motion picture comes out. Who’s directing?

Sh*t, me. (Laughs). I was there. Nobody knows the story more than Westside Gunn. Of course I could easily say Hype Williams because he hasn’t done one since Belly. We could do some sh*t like Belly in 2022 or 2023. I love how Hype did that one, I love how Dame Dash did Paid In Full — that’s one of my top five movies because that story was so incredibly shot.

Especially being from the streets and knowing the story. I’m not gonna say no Scorsese or some sh*t like that. The reason I say me is because I have the confidence. I feel like I’ll be able to capture Griselda like how Dame and Hype captured their’s.

#griselda records #westside gunn #fashion blog #music blog #pray for paris

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interdisciplinaryart · 5 years ago

Photo

Questionnaire about Practice

During my research investigation I have been looking closely at the Inter-disciplinary within my practice to determine how I brand myself as a creative. I thought a useful exercise would be to conduct a questionnaire about practice to see how others approach the inter-disciplinary elements within their work.

Above I have scanned in the answered questionnaire, I will be transcribing the information below in-case I need to refer back to the answers provided if the information is relevant when writing my dissertation.

Each Participant was asked to sign a declaration form which states that the information they provide might be used in my dissertation which may be accessible for the public to view.

Participant 04: Ciprian Grigorescu

About Practice - Questionnaire

Q1. What are the Key Themes that you are exploring within your practice ?

Answer: Contemporary Culture, subjectivity, Multi stable perception, aesthetics, fragmentation, value attribution.

Q2. What Makes your practice Unique ?

Answer: I don’t Know, its kind of presumptuous to call it that.

Q3. What are the main goals that you hope to achieve within your practice?

Answer: It’s kind of the only thing that make me happy, so I’m selfish from that point of view.

Q4. Have you had to overcome any issues regarding your practice ? how did you tackle them ?

Answer: You need to do that on a daily basis, That what keeps it interesting, it’s kind of careers masochism, You go through with it with conviction, grit and willpower.

Q5. Would you say that there were any projects or ideas that made you change the direction of your practice and why ?

Answer: All the time, because they’re just better than the old ones.

Q6. How would you say your working environment influences the way in which you work ?

Answer: it either motivates and challenges me, or it annoys me with lack of peer activity and enthusiasm.

Q7. Would you say that through studying art you are able to learn more effectively/ efficiently, and has this allowed you to develop research in different fields to gain a higher level of knowledge ? (if yes please explain what research areas you have gained more knowledge of).

Answer:I don’t studying art gives you that skill.I think that in order to be an artist (and a self initiator of projects). you need to be the kind of person that is disciplined and a self learner. You can know about different fields but a full time maker will not be a full time surgeon, he needs the professional education for that field as well.

Q8. Can you describe what inter-disciplinary skills you have developed whilst practicing art ? (for example, writing, digital design, other elements of making, even skills that could be utilised outside making).

Answer:

*Design.

*Problem solving.

*Philosophy.

*Ethics.

*Ecology.

*History.

*sociology.

* Labour.

There are probably more but they don’t come to mind. This doesn’t mean i’m a scholar in those areas, just that Art made me more aware and knowledgeable.

Q9. Do you think that in our technological society, it is easier for a practitioner to develop skills and strands of knowledge to an extremely high level in other disciplines or would you say technology is more of a distraction ?

Answer: Both, Info is more wildly, available, But those skills need to be attested by a diploma, That’s why universities still function and professional education courses (private) and developing high level requires you to have self discipline.

Q10. Does working collaboratively benefit your practice ?

Answer: yes.

Q11. Can you name the last project/exhibition you worked on collectively and what were the successes of that project ?

Answer: The Morning exchange, I met very involved people and had very productive conversations.

Q12. What do you think the word ‘artist’ means ?

Answer: I don’t know, I don’t call myself that, I guess it’s a certain unconventional way of looking at things, or maybe not, who knows. Google says that an artist is someone who engages with visual art (creates/practices). Maybe google is right, maybe not.

Q13. Would you consider yourself an artist ? (if not why and how would you brand yourself ?)

Answer: I don’t like to label myself, I make shit, sometimes people find value in it, sometimes they don’t. I like to think of myself as working towards a life of freedom (of choice). Also I can’t do 9 to 5, I’ve tried, I can’t.

#artist questionnaire #about practice

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thedeniveeph · 6 years ago

Text

Falling, Landi, Landing and A Date | TheDenivee.Ph

I forgot how Gerard and I knew each other. We went to the same college, had several common friends, at one point even took the same course, but certainly never got to meet or learn of each other’s existence. Until we matched on a dating site I had 3 registered accounts in, and things went down from there.

A week or so ago, I asked if he’d be okay to date me. And he said yes. I disclosed as much as I thought I had to, just so we’re on the same page--this is for my blog, we pay for our own stuff, no one has to treat the other. All we do are show up in date clothes, hang out in a fancier place, have an itinerary, and hopefully, find that we both had a good time after doing so. Writing this down now, seems we both did.

Falling

The Rationale

I haven’t dated in almost 4 years, and it’s a personal choice. I regularly hang out with different male friends, and while I do think these count as dates, they’re platonic ones, which most people my age don’t consider as real dates. So I thought, why not go on one when I have the free time?

Now, the reason I deliberately chose not to date-date in close to 4 years is that I’m scared of expecting and getting attached to certain people and outcomes. My last romantic involvement with a guy ended with him ghosting me, and the last guy I saw on an almost daily basis is the biggest prick I’ve ever seen in my 25 years on earth so far.

Guys aside, life’s been pretty rough, and bitch ain’t going to date till she knows she’s not in danger of getting overly attached or projecting traumas to others. Hang outs are okay. But a duly labeled date? OFF LIMITS.

Landi

The Guy

Until my antidepressants started kicking in, and thought, who am I kidding? I’m not 21 anymore. I Kiss Dating Goodbye is not the deal. Dates don’t mean marriage. Dates, like most things in life, are risks. And maybe, with the right person, they can be fun ones. Having previously met Gerard, I thought he’d be a good pick.

He writes, does martial arts, has an interest in philosophy and history, and is big on conversation. He likes coffee. And coffee is life. I know he won’t be a bore. And, he’s flirtatious--in a fun way. I like how he’s upfront with things--what he likes, what he doesn’t, without being rude. He’s also well-spoken but doesn’t have that cocky air. Even if it weren’t for this write-up, this is someone I won’t mind seeing more of.

The last time we met before the date, I was bawling my eyes out at one of the campus gardens. He’s kind enough to give me a hug, and he smelled nice, BTW. I kind of wanted to make up for that, and fortunately, I got the chance.

The Itinerary

We picked Sunday, June 2. The day was just starting, and he got me to open his bag for him to get his wallet. I saw something else 😉 let's not get into that 😂 Though I'd say, what a way to start a date 😉😉😉

Anyway, he drove to our chosen venue, the Quezon Heritage House. It turned out to be closed. A bummer as it was, we chanced upon other spots within the area--like the Presidential Car Museum.It’s cute how excited he got when one of the security guards told us that that museum is open on Sundays.

I know nothing about cars, and he knows a lot. I did appreciate the aesthetic and specifications of each vehicle, which all seemed to represent its main passenger. Gerard told me about suicide doors, designed to direct air flow out of the car, so when the doors open, they stay open. And so, riders can throw people out and guarantee death. Which is why they're a preferred car feature for mafias.

Gerard taught me a couple of other car-related stuff, and then came my turn to teach him. We stopped by The Coconut House for lunch, got binalot; over lumpia, okoy, gising gising, and bangus, we tried to banter in Fukyuan and Bicolano. I know a bit of Bicolano from my lola, while he knows Fukyuan from his parents.

Apparently, he already mastered the phrase"Ya hiao" (meaning very malandi or promiscuous) and a bunch of other swear words 😂. He was keen on finding speech patterns to remember the phrases more easily, and I had to break it to him that Fukyuan is tricky. "Tao" can mean "steal" or "tear open". Like "Ho" can mean "yes" or "rain". I'm so amused by how determined he was to try to remember and practice the phrases. I, on the other hand, remember "bakong iyo", Bicolano for "isn't it", best.

At one point we were able to kind of converse in Fukyuan. And he said, "Bagay tayong mag-usap in Fukyuan. Or pwede rin namang bagay tayong dalawa."

To which I replied, "Pwede both?"

We stopped by for coconut-infused ice cream right outside the resto and took a few photos. We agreed to go elsewhere for coffee and his perfume-shopping, and he was still putting the phrases to practice. Cute, bakong iyo? 😁

The Banter

Undoubtly a highlight of the date, was picking his new scent. We parked on the new wing of SM North Edsa and immediately spotted a scent -making kiosk.

I picked out scents that I liked, and the staff explained that perfumes all have top, middle, and bottom notes. I pointed out that all my picks were bottom notes.

"Ahh, mahilig ka pala sa bottom ha?" He said, jokingly, eyebrows raising with a naughty smile. The salesperson then added that the bottom notes linger longer than the top and middle, making them the base scent.

"O, kaya ko gusto yung bottom. Kasi they stay!" I said nonchalantly, to which he and the staff smiled. While waiting for him to finalize his top picks, he showed me a photo of him standing beside a fire extinguisher. And I remarked, "Aba, at talagang nagpose ka katabi ng fire extinguisher. Kasi you're hot!" I think I pulled a good one. He gave me a high-five.

He finally chose the notes for his scent and we stopped by for coffee at another kiosk nearby. He said, "Masarap magkape, kape-ling ka." I laughed and gave him a high-five.

We took a few selfies and sent one to a friend before going back to the scent kiosk to pick up his new perfume. It has that "fresh out of the shower" vibe that's not overpowering but definitely fragrant. I kidded, "Now you smell perfect for flirting because you only need to get close and whoever you flirt with will know you smell nice."

He sat close to me and joked, "Do I?"

Then came the subtlest, but I guess, the best parts of the date.

Landing

The Escalator

Gerard has a way of turning the smallest things into a learning experience, and I like that. So I'm not surprised that the highlight of the date was when he taught me to ride the escalator without looking at the steps. I'm not good with stairs or escalators--I often end up tripping and once even needed stitches for my chin because of it.

"Don't look. The escalator is moving and you need to move with it. You don't want to time your steps when the surface is moving. You will land on something. Maybe not perfectly on your feet. But you can always correct that when it happens."

Now, I don't know what amuses me more--how he turned that moment into a teaching moment, or how I'm turning it into a learning moment. Maybe it's not about the fear of falling as much as it is about the fear of not landing how and where you feel you should. Falling is easy. No force. No thought. Just freefall. But landing? The initial thrill of the fall...then the anxiety of the impending landing. The physical and mental preparations that come before, during, and after the landing. The pressure of having to be on your feet when you hit surface. Then again...when you're not on your feet by then, you can get up, and correct it with a step back, forward, or in place, can you? Seems so.

The Rest of the Date

A few escalator rides after, we did some of his shopping. I found he has a more refined sartorial taste than I have. And I also found he computes the cost of wear per purchase, which I thought to be very Chinoy...and oddly sexy in that it made so much sense. 😂 we took a mirror selfie because I thought we look good together. 😉

We closed the date with thank you's.

"Thank you for coming with me."

"Thank you for agreeing to this date."

"Sorry it's nothing grand."

"It's the company that counts."

Indeed, it is. For this date, it's the company that made it such. Falling, landi, and landing--learning and relearning all about them in one date. Who'd have thought? Thank you, my date.

Now, I'd very much like to visit the Quezon Heritage House for real when it's open. And maybe catch a whiff of that perfume I helped formulate. So, thank you, next?

#blogger #manila #pphilippines #dating #food #quezon city

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