#is everything fine in the U.K. universe?

[passportapproved]

2.2.25

LISTEN TO THIS WEEK'S SHOW! CIRCA WAVES  – “American Dream” (Lower Third/[PIAS], U.K.) GIANT ROOKS  – “Mind Control” (Universal Music, Germany) THE SHERLOCKS  – “Bones” (Infectious, U.K.) MYLES SMITH  – “Nice To Meet You” (RCA Records, U.K.) ACROBVT  – “A Thousand Times” (Unsigned, U.K.) MONOTRONIC  – “Everything Moves” (Unsigned, N. America) GLASS CITIES  – “Mad4U” (Unsigned, N. America) ARXX  – “All Night” (Republic of Music, U.K.) SHOBSY  – “Hold Me Up” (Pangea Int��l Music, Ireland) CHLOE SLATER  – “Fig Tree” (AWAL, U.K.) KAI BOSCH  – “Rodeo Romeo” (LAB Records, U.K.) NOEL  – “Heart Full of Ghosts” (BLNK Music, Sweden) PICTURE THIS  – “Satellites” (RCA Records, Ireland) VELLA  – “All My Love” (L3V3L Music, N. America) RHETT REPKO  – “Every Night” (Unsigned, N. America) CARISSA SUMMER ROSE – “Living In The Moment” (Unsigned, N. America) NONĒ SUNSHINE  – “Clairvoyant” (Unsigned, N. America) SUNDAY (1994)  – “Tired Boy” (RCA, U.K.) DAILY J  – “Tastes Like Forever” (Unsigned, New Zealand) LOLA YOUNG  – “Flicker Of Light” (Island Records, U.K.) CRYSTAL TIDES  – “Drive You Home” (Run On Records/Modern Sky, U.K.) ZIMMER90  – “Follow” (Unsigned, Germany) THE VICES  – “Before It Might Be Gone” (Mattan Records, Holland) FIL BO RIVA  – “I’m Fine (Alone Again)” (Vertigo/Universal Music, Germany) DELIGHTS  – “Hotel Bar” (Modern Sky, U.K.) ONLY THE POETS  – “Already There” (EMI, U.K.)  VERONICA FUSARO  – “Slot Machine” (Deepive, Switzerland) LIME CORDIALE  – “Strangers” (Chugg Music, Australia)  KINGFISHR – “I Cried, I Wept” (Doonane Records, Ireland)  MASI MASI  – “She’s Trouble” (Pangea Int’l Music, U.K.) STONE  – “Queen” (Polydor, U.K.) IMOGEN HEAP  – “Headlock” (Megaphonic, UK) THE ROYSTON CLUB  – “The Patch Where Nothing Grows” (Run On Records/Modern Sky, U.K.) ADELINE V. LOPEZ   – “Drink Up” (Unsigned, N. America)

[newstfionline]

Friday, June 28, 2024

Even High Earners Worry About Making Ends Meet, US Poll Finds (Bloomberg) Making ends meet is a rising concern for US consumers, including among those who make $100,000 or more a year, according to a survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. More than a third of consumers in the survey said they were concerned about having enough money in the next six months, compared to 28.7% from a year ago.

Ex-Honduran president sentenced to 45 years for trafficking drugs to U.S. (Washington Post) Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández was sentenced by a U.S. judge on Wednesday to 45 years in a federal prison and an $8 million fine for running his Central American country as a “narco-state” that formed a critical passageway for South American cocaine flowing to the United States. Hernández, 55, who was convicted of federal drug and weapons charges in March, built his political career on millions of dollars in bribes from traffickers in Honduras and Mexico, U.S. prosecutors said. During his two terms as president from 2014 to 2022, they said, he protected key traffickers from extradition and prosecution. He allegedly helped move at least 400 tons of cocaine to the United States. During his presidency, the U.S. government portrayed him as an ally. In 2015, then-vice president Joe Biden hosted him at the White House. In December 2019, then-president Donald Trump praised him for his cooperation, saying the countries were “stopping drugs at a level that has never happened.”

Argentina’s reforms (CSM) Nearly seven months after taking office, Argentine President Javier Milei has begun to tame one of the worst economic crises in Latin America. His spending cuts and currency reforms have drastically cut high inflation. The government has seen its first budget surplus in 16 years. And with a strong mandate from voters, he has made some progress in Congress to pass reforms—despite his party being in the minority. Much still needs to be done, such as reducing nearly $400 billion in foreign debt and privatizing state-owned enterprises. Yet, concludes a paper by the United Kingdom-based Economics Observatory, the changes so far mark “the first time since the turn of the century that Argentina is purposefully addressing the deep-rooted cause of all its economic struggles.” In March, Mr. Milei asked ordinary citizens for their “patience and trust.” The reforms enacted so far have exacerbated hardships. The percentage of people living in poverty has reached the highest it’s been in 20 years (57.4% nationally). Yet two polls this month found that as many as 63% of citizens are willing to stay the course. Their confidence may rest on a willingness of Argentina’s political leaders to work together with transparency. “It was crucial that he showed that he can work with the opposition to get something approved,” Eugenia Mitchelstein, a political analyst at the University of San Andrés in Buenos Aires, told The Wall Street Journal. “If everything is a conflict, and no negotiation, he won’t get anything done.”

Thousands of doctors go on strike in England a week before the UK general election (AP) Thousands of doctors in England are staging their 11th walkout on Thursday in a long-running dispute with the government over pay and working conditions, disrupting hospital services just days before the U.K. general election. The five-day strike by junior doctors—those in the early years of their careers—shines a spotlight on the troubles besetting the chronically underfunded National Health Service, Britain’s state-funded public health system, a topic that is a a top concern for voters going to the polls on July 4. Junior doctors, who form the backbone of hospital and clinic care, have been locked in the pay dispute with the government since late 2022. They went on strike for six days in January—the longest in NHS history—and hospitals had to cancel tens of thousands of appointments and operations.

Flatulent cows and pigs will face a carbon tax in Denmark, a world first (AP) Denmark will tax livestock farmers for the greenhouse gases emitted by their cows, sheep and pigs from 2030, the first country in the world to do so as it targets a major source of methane emissions, one of the most potent gases contributing to global warming. As of 2030, Danish livestock farmers will be taxed 300 kroner ($43) per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2030. The tax will increase to 750 kroner ($108) by 2035. However, because of an income tax deduction of 60%, the actual cost per ton will start at 120 kroner ($17.3) and increase to 300 kroner by 2035. Livestock account for about 32% of human-caused methane emissions, says the U.N. Environment Program. Denmark’s move comes after months of protests by farmers across Europe against climate change mitigation measures and regulations that they say are driving them to bankruptcy.

Mongolia holds an election Friday (AP) A parliamentary election will be held in Mongolia on Friday for the first time since the body was expanded to 126 seats, adding some uncertainty to a vote that has been monopolized by two political parties and plagued by corruption. The election in a relatively new democracy—the country was a single-party communist state until 1990—comes at a time when many Mongolians have soured on the government, which they see as benefiting business interests and the wealthy. “We have democracy only in appearance,” said Gantamur Dash, who earns money taking photos of tourists at the central square in Ulaanbaatar, the capital. “Only a few are living luxurious lives and the rest of the population is poor.” Mongolia is a sparsely populated country of 3.4 million people in East Asia squeezed between China and Russia. The government has sought to maintain ties with its much larger neighbors while also building new ones with the United States and its democratic allies—a delicate task since the two sides are increasingly at odds.

As Iran’s presidential vote looms, tensions boil over renewed headscarf crackdown (AP) Seemingly every afternoon in Iran’s capital, police vans rush to major Tehran squares and intersections to search for women with loose headscarves and those who dare not to wear them at all. The renewed crackdown comes not quite two years since mass protests over the death Mahsa Amini after she was detained for not wearing a scarf to the authorities’ liking. A United Nations panel has found that the 22-year-old died as a result of “physical violence” wrought upon her by the state. Amini’s death set off months of unrest that ended in a bloody crackdown, and for a time morality police disappeared from the streets. But now videos are emerging of women being physically forced into vans by police as lawmakers continue to push for harsher penalties. Meanwhile, authorities have seized thousands of cars over women having their hair uncovered while also targeting businesses that serve them. But still, many women continue to wear their hijabs loosely or leave them draped around their shoulders while walking in Tehran.

In the searing heat of the Gaza summer, Palestinians are surrounded by sewage and garbage (AP) Children in sandals trudge through water contaminated with sewage and scale growing mounds of garbage in Gaza’s crowded tent camps for displaced families. People relieve themselves in burlap-covered pits, with nowhere nearby to wash their hands. In the stifling summer heat, Palestinians say the odor and filth surrounding them is just another inescapable reality of war—like pangs of hunger or sounds of bombing. The territory’s ability to dispose of garbage, treat sewage and deliver clean water has been virtually decimated by eight brutal months of war between Israel and Hamas. This has made grim living conditions worse and raised health risks for hundreds of thousands of people deprived of adequate shelter, food and medicine, aid groups say. Hepatitis A cases are on the rise, and doctors fear that as warmer weather arrives, an outbreak of cholera is increasingly likely without dramatic changes to living conditions. The U.N., aid groups and local officials are scrambling to build latrines, repair water lines and bring desalination plants back online.

Israel’s War On Gaza Is The Deadliest Conflict On Record For Journalists (The Intercept) Salman Bashir had been covering Israel’s war in Gaza on the ground for a month when his fellow journalist, Mohammed Abu Hatab, was killed. He threw his vest emblazoned with “PRESS” down on the ground in anguish during a live broadcast. “We are victims on live TV,” Bashir said. Abu Hatab, who worked for Palestine TV, was killed in November in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis in an Israeli strike that destroyed his home and killed 11 of his family members. He is among the more than 100 journalists who have been killed in the nine months of the war, marking it as the deadliest conflict on record for reporters—even more than World War II, which lasted six years. The vast majority of journalists—89—were killed in airstrikes. At least 16 were killed while working. At least 56 were killed at home, and most of the time family members were killed with them. The Israeli military said it “only targets military targets” and claimed Al-Aqsa often employs “terrorists” posing as journalists, but did not provide evidence.

‘The People Have Spoken’ (Reuters) Kenyan President William Ruto yielded to protesters’ demands on Wednesday by agreeing not to sign Nairobi’s contentious finance bill. “I run a government, but I also lead people, and the people have spoken,” Ruto said. The concession comes in stark contrast to Ruto’s comments the day before, when he lambasted the widespread protests as “treasonous events.” Nairobi’s proposed finance bill aims to raise $2.7 billion in taxes to alleviate Kenya’s extensive debt crisis. Demonstrators, primarily young people, mobilized in the capital on Tuesday to condemn the legislation, having nicknamed the president “Zakayo” after the biblical tax collector Zacchaeus. Protesters stormed and set fire to part of Kenya’s parliamentary building. Ruto, in turn, deployed the military to assist police in quelling the violence. At least five people were killed, around 200 others injured, and more than 50 protesters arrested. Kenya has the fastest-growing economy in Africa but faces imminent debt default. In total, Kenya owes $80 billion in domestic and foreign public debt, accounting for almost 75 percent of the nation’s entire economic output.

The Vanishing Islands That Failed to Vanish (NYT) On a wisp of land in the Indian Ocean, two hops by plane and one bumpy speedboat ride from the nearest continent, the sublime blue waves lapping at the bone-white sand are just about all that breaks the stillness of a hot, windless afternoon. The very existence of low-slung tropical islands seems improbable, a glitch. These islands, which form atop coral reefs in clusters called atolls, were quickly identified as some of the first places climate change might ravage in their entirety. As the ice caps melted and the seas crept higher, these accidents of geologic history were bound to be corrected and the tiny islands returned to watery oblivion, probably in this century. Then, not very long ago, researchers began sifting through aerial images and found something startling. They looked at a couple dozen islands first, then several hundred, and by now close to 1,000. They found that over the past few decades, the islands’ edges had wobbled this way and that, eroding here, building there. By and large, though, their area hadn’t shrunk. In some cases, it was the opposite: They grew. The seas rose, and the islands expanded with them.

[camnotes]

BEFORE LONDON

4 years ago, 2010

Thu's first scholarship application to the university in London failed because she wrote more or less 2000 words for a 400-word essay. It was not the first time she did not care about the word limit and fail a competition. In secondary school, Thu went to extra-classes for Literature taught by the best Literature teacher of the school. Thu and others were encouraged to write as long as they can, at least four full pages of writing for a 45 minute Literature written test. This year, in addition to submitting the carefully counted 398 word essay, Thu had the chance to meet up with the scholarship director during the UK education fair in Hanoi. He ordered the second coffee with smiley eyes and mouth when Thu asked him about his degree in Archaeology before. Martha, her American friend, told Thu before that she knows how do 'disarm' people when they did a mock interview. Thu actually learned this from a friend who earned a full scholarship at a top university in Canada - 'google' your interviewer's name then talk about their past or interests.

Thu checked her email after tutoring English in exchange of drawing lesson by a friend of her who came back from Art University in Beijing and her cousin. It was the 23rd of July, 2010. Thu screamed, smiled in bursting tears 'I got the full scholarship'. Vinh, her friend, smiles and warn calmly 'You will cry more during the three years'. Thu insisted 'No, I have been through a lot already. I would be fine'.

Thu called her mum, mum calmly said with probably a big smile 'The fairy tale has come true' Thu texted all friends, they all replied with joy and lots of exclamations and happiness for her. They all knew Thu had suffered so much from her parents' conflicts and struggled so much to apply to study in the U.S. and then the U.K. in the last two years. More than a month before the flight, together with her mum and friends, Thu bought all she thinks she would need for three years in London, mainly clothes because she thought they would be very expensive in London. She would need a long leather jacket that covers till the knees and two other big leather jackets. London is known as a foggy city and England must be a cold country. She bought clothes from the Made in Vietnam shops where they sell clothes that were made for western brands with small minors so they stay in Vietnam, supposedly sold with cheaper prices. The visa result only comes two days before the flight and that is when Thu went to buy two suitcases - they were more expensive than everything else but Thu can use them for life, she would not want the wheels to break in the middle of the trip. They run out of black ones so she got a yellow pair - one small, one big - in the end, it is her favourite colour. Thu packs everything the night before the flight, white night. Her mum fell asleep throughout the night, of course she already hid away the clothes she would rather Thu not wear, either 'quirky' or start to be old.

7am, a friend came over with her motorbike to give Thu a ride to go print the flight ticket in Bach Khoa University area. 8am, the taxi arrived. Mum often said she would have the taxi stop right at where she has her food stall the day Thu flies away but it was actually further back, right in fornt of her house. Thu saw her dad's mum sitting in front of the neighbor's house with the old woman who sells babyduck eggs as breakfast snacks. This grandmother properly overheard that Thu's leaving. Was her dad sleeping or looking through the window curtain from the second floor, she didn't have time to think about that. Thu decided not to tell her dad about her flight because she was afraid he might make a scene and cause some problem to her departure…He might not. But you never know…Thu and mum caught some sleep in the taxi. 9am, Thu, her two aunts and her mum arrive at the airport with her uncle and his wife waiting there already - he'd rather drove his boss's car now that he has a driving license rather than joining the rest in a taxi. One of her aunts knows a guy at the airport so Thu can have 10 kilos more of luggage and Thu was rushed to check in first, despite the long queue of people - they must have looked at Thu with disguised eyes. Her other aunt tried to put more underwears - gift from the other aunt, in Thu's hand luggage that was already too full. Aunt's cheeks were getting red. It probably was her first time at such a big airport in such an occasion.

10am. It's time Thu check in and said the final goodbye to everyone. Mum was too sleepy and tired. They did not hug. It was probably still too western a thing for them all.

Thu arrived at London airport late in the evening. The Belgian guy who said would come to pick her up is not there. Thu paid some pound money to use the internet at the airport, he writes in the message on Facebook that his girlfriend stays in Belgium so he will not study in London anymore. Dragging two big suitcases with the hand luggage on top of the big one, Thu took a taxi, asking him how much is it to the address she has - he said around 50 pounds. The university website says it's around 35 pounds but it's late now so she thought that's ok. The taxi went slowly, Thu could see things on the sides, he stops at many traffic lights. Thu thought that was nice, normally they would drive fast to save the time. Arriving at the university on Marylebone Road, the taxi driver asked for 70 pounds - Thu questioned in surprise, he said there were many traffic lights and it's counted according to the time. It was the most money Thu spent ever in London. Thu went to the corner of the street and saw a McDonald store, never had it before, she bought a meal deal - compared to Vietnamese street food, it was bad.

The first week in London, Thu stayed in a single room on the 16th floor of the university's student hall. Thu took hundreds of photos of the blue sky, white clouds. The first morning, wearing black tight, black skirt, with a colourful hoody, Thu turned left on Marylebone Road, then turn left again on Baker Street. 'Oh, people are not too tall here', Thu thought to herself when realising she has the average height compared to people walking next to her here. People walk fast. Thu realised then slowed down to her normal speed. Thu stopped at E.A.T and have some food that is not good enough to be remembered. In the afternoon, Thu turned right after getting out of the student hall, walking along Marylebone Road and decided to turn right on the small road that attracted her attention. Thu stopped at the first cafe for lunch, it was a Spanish or Mexican restaurant, Thu ordered some omelette - it was a huge portion, Thu couldn't finish, asked for a box to bring the rest home. From there looking to the opposite site is a clean glass store with nice installation and decoration inside, people walking pass by white, clean, well-dressed - everything was like a two open page from a Western European magazine. The sign says 'Marylebone High Street'.

The second day in London, mum called, crying like a child in the phone 'I have cleaned all your things in the room, either putting in boxes or giving away. Even though we fought a lot sometimes, I miss you a lot'. It is probably the first time mum said such cheesy words to Thu. They don't do that in Vietnamese culture.Thu still remembers it took her half of the night after a big fight with mum to say 'I'm sorry'. It was during the hard time when Thu's parents got separated the second time - this time her dad didn't leave the house like when they got divorce nine years ago but stayed in the same house and start fights often, going with some other women as usual and that drove Thu's mum a little bit nuts.

Thu was not sad as mum of course, finally her dream has come true - studying abroad, with a full scholarship - her new life starts from here and now!

[aussizzgroup]

Essential Australian Slang Terms for Aspiring Students

Embarking on an educational journey in Australia? It's time to familiarize yourself with some quintessential Aussie slang! Australians are renowned for their relaxed and informal way of speaking, which is considered a core part of their cultural identity.

Historically, Australian slang has deep roots, tracing back to the early English settlements in the nation, as highlighted by linguists from Monash University.

Before you pack your bags for Australia, here are 12 commonly used Australian slang terms to get you started:

Arvo: This term means afternoon. First noted in 1920, Australians often add "-o" to shortened words. For example, "ambo" for an ambulance driver and "rello" for a relative.

Usage Example 1: Let's catch up on Sunday arvo.

Usage Example 2: "Can we meet up later this arvo? I'm free after 3 PM."

Usage Example 3: "I have a dentist appointment this arvo, so I can't join the lunch

Barbie: Short for barbecue. Australians frequently add "-ie" to abbreviations. The term "selfie," originated in Australia in 2002, is another example.

Usage Example 1: Join us for a barbie this weekend!

Usage Example 2: "It's such beautiful weather today. Let's have a barbie in the backyard!"

Usage Example 3: "I'm bringing sausages and steaks for the barbie at Dave's place tonight."

Chucking a Sickie: This phrase means taking a day off from work, pretending to be sick. A 2018 study revealed that nearly half of Australians have done this.

Usage Example 1: I might chuck a sickie next Monday for some family time.

Usage Example 2: "John isn't really ill; he's just chucking a sickie to extend his weekend."

Usage Example 3: "I'm so burnt out. I'm thinking of chucking a sickie tomorrow."

Give Someone a Bell: Simply means to call someone. This phrase is also common in the U.K.

Usage Example 1: I'll give you a bell after my lecture.

Usage Example 2: "I haven't heard from Laura in ages. I should give her a bell tonight."

Usage Example 3: "If you get lost on the way, just give me a bell, and I'll guide you."

Hard Yakka: Means hard work. "Yakka" comes from the Yagara Indigenous language, meaning work.

Usage Example 1: Preparing for my final exams was hard yakka.

Usage Example 2: "Landscaping the garden was hard yakka, but the results are worth it."

Usage Example 3: "Studying for law exams is hard yakka, but I'm hoping it'll pay off."

Macca’s: The Australian nickname for McDonald's. The term is so popular that McDonald's stores in Australia were renamed Macca’s in 2013 for Australia Day.

Usage Example 1: I'm craving a burger from Macca’s.

Usage Example 2: "I'm starving. Let's grab a quick bite at Macca’s."

Usage Example 3: "The kids always want Happy Meals from Macca’s on weekends."

Mate: A widely used term for a friend. It's a versatile word, often used in different contexts.

Usage Example 1: Hey mate, how's it going?

Usage Example 2: "G’day mate, fancy a game of cricket this afternoon?"

Usage Example 3: "I ran into an old mate from school at the supermarket today."

No Worries: A phrase to indicate that something is not a problem or to say "you're welcome."

Usage Example 1: "Thanks for covering my shift!" – "No worries, happy to help."

Usage Example 2: "You accidentally spilled your drink? No worries, I'll clean it up."

Usage Example 3: "Thanks for returning the book. No worries, I wasn't in a hurry."

She’ll be Right: An expression of optimism, meaning everything will work out fine.

Usage Example 1: Concerned about your university application? Just work hard, she’ll be right.

Usage Example 2: "I'm not sure if I packed everything for the trip, but she’ll be right."

Usage Example 3: "The car's making a strange noise, but she’ll be right until we get to the mechanic."

Uey: Pronounced "You E," it refers to a U-turn.

Usage Example 1: We need to go back, chuck a uey up ahead

Usage Example 2: "We missed our turn; we'll have to chuck a uey here."

Usage Example 3: "Just up ahead, chuck a uey at the traffic lights."

Uni: Short for university, commonly used in Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K.

Usage Example 1: My uni friend just had a baby!

Usage Example 2: "I've got a couple of lectures at uni this afternoon."

Usage Example 3: "She's studying biology at uni and really enjoying it."

Veggo: Refers to a vegetarian. With a growing number of vegetarians in Australia, finding vegetarian options is easy.

Usage Example 1: My brother, a veggo, makes great veggie burgers.

Usage Example 2: "My sister's a veggo, so we need some vegetarian options for the party."

Usage Example 3: "I've been a veggo for five years now and feel healthier than ever."

Understanding these slang terms not only eases your cultural transition but also enriches your Australian educational experience. So, start practicing these phrases, and you'll blend in like a local in no time!

Aussizz Group streamlines the visa acquisition process for study, work, and more, offering expert guidance and tailored solutions to ensure a smooth and successful application journey.

Aussizz Group expertly facilitates your journey to study in Australia, ensuring a seamless and successful educational experience.

[tabloidtoc]

National Examiner, March 29

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: The Jayne Mansfield only her daughter Mariska Hargitay knew

Page 2: They're Aging Like Fine Wine -- celebs reflect on the wonders of getting older -- Candice Bergen, Anthony Hopkins, Halle Berry, Diane Keaton, Jennifer Lopez, Sandra Bullock, Bette Davis, Reese Witherspoon, Sally Field

Page 3: Helen Mirren, Jamie Lee Curtis, Madonna, Sigourney Weaver, Michael Caine, Jennifer Aniston, Goldie Hawn, Diane Lane

Page 4: Warren Beatty's roles and costumes

Page 6: Since her 2016 split from Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie has had to keep calm and carry on with six growing kids to think about and she admits the past few years have been pretty hard and she's been focusing on healing her family -- the six kids she shares with Brad, who range in age from 12 to 19, have been looking out for her too -- the 45-year-old is looking forward to her 50s and she feels that she's going to hit her stride in her 50s

Page 7: Canine Cuisine -- simple home-cooked fare for Fido

Page 9: Reach for at-home antibiotics

Page 10: When a Texas grocery store lost power during the devastating recent storm, they did something unimaginably generous -- they allowed all the customers to leave with whatever was in the shopping carts without paying for anything -- the shoppers at an H-E-B supermarket in Leander didn't even have to cough up a dime as they proceeded through the checkout lanes, even if they had hundreds of dollars' worth of food and supplies weighing down their wagons

Page 11: Your Health -- crying is healthy

* If you suffer from insomnia, try wearing socks to bed

Page 12: Hollywood Cemetery Shockers -- Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Whitney Houston, John Wayne

Page 13: James Brown, Michael Todd, Princess Diana, Sammy Davis Jr., Judy Garland, Steve Irwin

Page 14: Dear Tony, America's Top Psychic Healer -- the secret of life is so simple and attainable -- Tony predicts movie and TV star Robin Wright's move to being a director will be very successful and there will be many more films to come

Page 15: A Florida man just received the biggest surprise of his long life at the party to celebrate his 100th birthday -- someone had found and returned his wedding ring that he lost five years earlier while shopping at an Aldi's in Minnesota

Page 16: Kathie Lee Gifford: It's never too late to go after your dreams

Page 18: Happy Days mom Marion Ross is 92 now, but she still holds a memory about the legendary Cary Grant close to her heart -- back in 1959, when she was married to Freeman Meskimen, the actress was working on a film with the handsome star when she discovered she might be pregnant but she wasn't absolutely sure and so she didn't share her suspicions with anyone until one day, when a scene called for her to do something she wasn't sure a possibly pregnant woman should be doing, she revealed her secret to Cary Grant -- he sat down next to her, put his arm around her and said sweetly You're pregnant! and when she looked up at him, he had tears in his eyes; he was so excited for her and they had this marvelous moment together -- Marion said her husband was less than thrilled when her pregnancy was confirmed and they divorced a few years later

Page 19: An Indiana middle-school principal made the cut when he helped a kid out of a hairy situation -- when an eighth-grader at Stonybrook in Warren Township confided in Jason Smith he couldn't take his hat off because he was embarrassed about his uneven haircut, Jason offered to really straighten things out if he promised to return to class -- Jason has been cutting hair most of his life and he played college basketball and cut his teammates' hair before games, and he's been cutting his son's hair for 17 years and he had professional clippers and edgers at home, so he said if he went home and got his clippers and lined the student up, would he go back to class? and the student said yes, so Jason gave the kid a buzz and the happy student went back to class -- Jason says he knows a bad haircut may sound like a small thing, but to a boy that age, grappling with peer pressure, a bad 'do is a real don't

Page 20: Cover Story -- My mom Jayne Mansfield -- Mariska Hargitay reveals bombshell truths about the beloved sex symbol

Page 22: Use your noodle -- pool toy swims to the rescue

Page 24: Back when Calvin Tyler was in college in the early 1960s, he had such a hard time scraping together tuition money that he had to drop out before finishing his senior year and take a job as a UPS driver -- fast-forward a few decades: Calvin has just donated $20 million to Morgan State University in Baltimore, his alma mater

Page 25: A wounded veteran in Temecula, California, got the surprise of his life when he received a mortgage-free home courtesy of the Gary Sinise Foundation -- Josue Barron, who had joined the Marines at age 17, lost both his left leg and his left eye while serving in Afghanistan in 2010

Page 26: Dreamy hunk Patrick Swayze fell for one of his co-stars while filming the romantic movie Ghost, but the object of his affection wasn't on-screen love Demi Moore; it was Whoopi Goldberg

Page 28: 20 things you didn't know about James Bond actor Daniel Craig

Page 30: Spunky Hayley Arceneaux won a battle with bone cancer when she was 10 years old, and grew up to become a physician assistant in child oncology at St. Jude's Children's Hospital, where she was treated and if that wasn't enough, Hayley is going to blast off on a space flight -- the super survivor, who's now 29, was selected by the St. Jude's staff from hundreds of other employees to represent the famous hospital on the first-ever civilian spaceflight, arranged by the company SpaceX, to take place at the closing of 2021

Page 40: It's crystal clear -- the healing starts here -- crystals are very effective when it comes to healing, especially with one's emotion and they have special energies in different ways

Page 42: How to lower your COVID risk -- with new variants of the virus documented in the U.S., it's important to stay vigilant

Page 44: Eyes on the Stars -- Rebecca Holden of Knight Rider (picture), Lou Diamond Phillips of Prodigal Son in NYC (picture), Katharine McPhee admitted she was concerned with what people would think early on during her romance with 71-year-old David Foster, the daughter of John Travolta and Kelly Preston named Ella Blue Travolta is following in the footsteps of her actor parents by starring in Get Lost which is a modern-day retelling of Alice in Wonderland, Sarah Silverman recently apologized for mocking Paris Hilton at the 2007 MTV Awards, Nicolas Cage has tied the knot for the fifth time to Riko Shibata, Metallica have donated $75,000 to Feeding America via their All Within My Hands nonprofit and the funds are earmarked to aid folks in Texas who were affected by deadly winter storms

Page 45: Orlando Bloom running on the beach while vacationing in Hawaii (picture), Antonio Banderas (picture), Tom Jones takes the stage in the U.K. (picture), Robin Roberts near ABC's NYC studio (picture), Aaron Carter and fiancee Melanie Martin say they have a baby on the way nearly 10 months after she'd suffered a miscarriage, Dustin Diamond was never married to his galpal Jennifer Misner according to his death certificate, Liam Neeson attended a NYC screening of his new movie to thank viewers for coming to the theater on the first day Big Apple cinemas reopened after being shuttered by COVID-19 last year

Page 46: A single mom of three was struggling to do everything on her own, but there was one problem she lacked the skills and money to handle -- her house in Sudbury, Massachusetts was falling apart and that's when some kindly Good Samaritans stepped in with their toolbelts and performed the extensive home repairs she need at no charge

Page 47: Parenting Advice From the Stars -- Reese Witherspoon, Busy Philipps, Mark Consuelos and Kelly Ripa, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jennifer Garner

[millennial-review]

Join us on Patreon, Support the Podcast (and Everything Else) And Unlock 15 Extra Hours

1. Martin Luther’s Dream 2. Why Does the Left Suck So Much When it Comes to Foreign Policy? 3. The First Audience Q&A 4. The Candidates: A Closer Look at Cory Booker 5. UNLOCKED: How Fascism Works 6. The Candidates: Waging the Class War With Elizabeth Warren 7. PATRON ONLY: The Bernie Sanders Saga Pt. 1: From Brooklyn to Burlington 8. The Down With Pod Save America and Dianne Feinstein Edition 9. The Candidates: Kamala the Cop or Kamala the Progressive Prosecutor 10. Cohen, Reparations, #StandWithOmar, and Faux News,  11. The Candidates: Please, Whatever You Do, Don’t Vote For Joe Biden 12. UNLOCKED: The Problematic Memeification of Joe Biden 13. The Candidates: Getting That Universal Basic Income With Andrew Yang and the #YangGang 14. UNLOCKED: What is Neoliberalism?  15. The Candidates: Beto O’Rourke, a Pretty Face Empty Vessel or the Next Obama? 16. Mini-Review: Bernie Picks His A-Team 17. PATRON ONLY: Ho Chi Minh Silent Revolutionary 18. Mini-Review: Individual Contributors, Unique Contributions, PACS and Super PACS, Oh My!  19. Trump is a White Supremacist and Edgy Meme Fascism is Still Fascism 20. The Candidates: Kirsten Gilibrand is Actually Pretty Bad and Mayor Pete Buttigieg is Actually Pretty Good 21. The World Sucks Right Now, Don’t Forget to Blame Bill Clinton 22. The Candidates: Getting Senator Mike Gravel to the Debate Stage With the #GravelGang 23. UNLOCKED: Donald Trump’s Path to Dictatorship 24. Free Lula Da Silva, Destroy Neofascism, and Cancel Joe Biden 25. The World Sucks Right Now, Keep Blaming George W. Bush 26. PATRON ONLY: The Great Transformation, Creating Capitalist Society 27. Republicans Are Going to Get Ilhan Omar Killed 28. PATRON ONLY: Eugene V. Debs and American Socialism 29. Alright Fine, I’ll Read the Mueller Report pt 1: Russian Twitter Trolls Didn’t Steal the Election 30. Nate Silver is Full of Shit 31. Is It Possible to Stop Capitalism From Destroying the Planet? 32. Trump’s Coup Fails, AOC Sells Out, and Nazis Get Banned 33. PATRON ONLY: Free Palestine 34. A Closer Look at the Millennial Review’s Socialist Utopia 35. Collectivism vs. Individualism and Why We Have to Eat the Rich 36. PATRON ONLY: More Capitalism isn’t the Solution to Capitalism, Sorry Richard Posner 37. Radical Reading: Class, Identity, and Activism in the Age of Social Media 38. UNLOCKED: Thomas Paine American Radical 39. Ben Shapiro SAVAGELY OWNED by BBC, Republicans Ban Abortion and Trump’s Impending War in Iran 40. Let’s Bring Socialism to the U.K., Destroy Transphobia, and Replace Nancy Pelosi 41. PATRON ONLY: Radical Reading: Solidarity Knows No Borders 42. The Big Money Conservatives Who Hijacked America’s Courts 43. PATRON ONLY: Russian Revolution pt. 1 44. The Candidates: Jay Inslee and the Climate Crusade 45. Trump Expands American Empire and Elizabeth Warren Won’t Support Medicare for All 46. PATRON ONLY: American’s Said Trans Rights, Donald Trump Said No Way 47. UNLOCKED: Fidel Castro pts. 1&2

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[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the day the movie formally drops in the U.K, so if you haven’t yet seen the movie don’t read on.

General Reaction:

This is singularly and categorically the most frustrating movie I have ever seen and I genuinely mean that!

I have walked away from this, I believe, two and a half hour movie and have had maybe 3 hours to digest what I have just seen and I still do not know whether or not I enjoyed what I saw or found it completely frustrating.

I know I've talked about my history with Star Wars with the last 4 movies that Disney has released, but I for these two reviews it is imperative to cement my relationship with this universe going in because it should help make my case for my opening statement.

To clarify, when it comes to the Star Wars universe, I only know the movies. I am not old enough to have grown up with the original saga before seeing The Phantom Menace but I did complete the original trilogy before seeing Revenge of the Sith and have watched those first six movies in chronological order numerous times because I am that sad.

When it comes to the Disney-era movies, as I mentioned I have seen all four that have come before Episode IX and again enjoyed all of them to different degrees.

I have not however seen any TV series, as in the animated Clone Wars and Rebels series nor The Mandalorian. I don't really have time to commit to TV shows, particularly the length of animated shows, and with regards to the recent Mandalorian I've had university work to keep me occupied.

I have also not read any Star Wars novel or comic, the main reason for both of these, aside from the time constraints, is because I don't enjoy homework and that's what both the TV and book series feel like.

I get the point of movies these days is to franchise with an expansive universe and, to it's credit, Star Wars was the first franchise to start this despite the MCU simply doing it better.

However, I am not as die hard a Star Wars fan that I want to find the time to fit all of this expansive universe viewing and reading in to get the most out of my enjoyment of the movies, let alone can. I enjoy the movies just fine, and have not yet found a situation in the movies to dig a little deeper into the Star Wars mythology...save for one particular scene in Solo: A Star Wars Movie which I’ll get into during my spoiler review.

The reason I won’t go into why I felt a small urge in Solo of all Star Wars movies is because the element in question from that movie I would have used during this movie but they don’t. In fact, The Rise of Skywalker should really be called The Fandom Menace because, despite the fact this movie promises a lot and delivers some good stuff, it does not deliver on what the Star Wars fandom has either theorised or to a degree been promised, again save for two aspects of fan service that go absolutely nowhere.

In fact “The Rise of Skywalker” as a title is the biggest tease and letdown of the movie. It’s the movie’s biggest promise and equally its greatest obstacle particularly after you’ve seen it once and discover why it is such a letdown.

I will also say, because of how shaky this “sequel trilogy” has been in the development of the characters, they seem to be wanting to wrap everything up, promising this as the “End of the Skywalker saga” which seems to also be a false promise when your title is “The Rise of Skywalker” which in itself is a complete and utter cheat and I will definitely talk about that in the spoiler review, but what the to-do list is really is to both wrap up the original trilogy because they included the original characters and borrowed from the actual original movies HEAVILY, but also wrapping up this new trilogy because I do believe that Disney have heard the backlash this trilogy have been getting and so are trying to not have us go back to this trilogy in future as was the biggest mistake for this trilogy.

But what actually happens is not only do the “wrap ups” seem either rushed, forced and/or sloppy as hell, but then you have new things cropping up or still unanswered questions which either prod or demand exploration in a sequel. I know Star Wars is getting the Disney+ spin-off series treatment but I don’t think LucasFilm are as bold as Kevin Feige, or as successful, and therefore won’t bombard the Disney+ schedule with shows.

It is a shame this trilogy has somewhat fizzled out the way it has because there are new characters and concepts introduced during the trilogy that I would enjoy seeing continue, because I’ve either liked them from the start or have been rooting for them and they finally had their pay-off moment here.

But if Star Wars ever wants to stand a chance at reclaiming its former glory not only as one of the most beloved universes in film but also, even with the prequel trilogy, one of the most successful cinematic universes, then I believe this extended hiatus is a blessing since Benioff & Weiss dropped out of a future trilogy for everyone in-house from Bob Iger and Kathleen Kennedy to even the actors involved such as the newer main cast to revise what the last four years have amounted to for the franchise and what the takeaways can be from it.

Cast:

All this being said, there are still good and impressive points to this movie, largely in the cast of the movie. It is just a shame that for the large part they will be affiliated with such a shambles of a movie.

The sequel trilogy’s new trinity of characters finally all come into their own in this movie with not only the three of them actually sharing a reasonable amount of screen time together but also the three of them falling into their respective roles that particularly made the likes of Han, Leia and Luke so loved.

However, while Daisy Ridley finally comes into her own as a Jedi and the bromance between Poe and Finn is reignited, the writing and pacing of the movie does very much fall back into that rushed wrapping up I touched on earlier because they haven’t really been that way for the entirety of The Last Jedi.

I really don’t understand the fascination with either Kylo Ren or Adam Driver personally. While I do think they’ve played on the two sides of the same coin angle not just with Rey and Kylo but also Kyle and Ben rather well and Driver does play both quite well, Kylo Ren is no Darth Vader yet that’s the road they’ve been trying to take the character down.

It’s also a very sad and somewhat distracting aspect for this to be Carrie Fisher’s final outing as Leia, Distracting because of course Carrie Fisher’s tragic passing almost three years ago to the day casts a looming shadow over this movie, but sad because as great as digital reconstruction can be, and Star Wars can definitely say they are early pioneers of it, doesn’t change the fact that there Leia’s scenes are being scrutinised to see which lines are archive footage, where there’s a body double and ultimately how the character and actress will be honoured in their final scenes...unfortunately as a whole they do not pay off.

But speaking of old favourites, three aspects of this franchise that will never get old for me are the Droids, Chewie and Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian. As much as Donald Glover tried during Solo, no one does Lando like Billy Dee.

Chewie I became surprisingly emotionally invested in during this movie.

Meanwhile, R2-D2, BB-8, C-3PO and even new droid D-O are essentially the house fixtures, you could not imagine a Star Wars movie without them.

The rest of the cast are serviceable, despite their roles either being minimal or laughable. Not only do the returning minor characters continue to either be minor or practically invisible, but the new characters they introduce simply take away extra screen time to further develop our main cast.

Recommendation:

I can’t not advise people to see this movie, particularly if you have followed the Skywalker saga (all nine-movies or even just this trilogy). I do not believe a virgin to this universe seeing this movie would get any enjoyment out of it aside from the occasional laugh either with it or at it.

It’s definitely not a great movie, I can’t even say it’s commercially a good movie but I think it’s a movie that needs to be seen for the pure and simple reason of closure for the trilogy. I for one as an Aspergic OCD individual cannot leave things unfinished. If I start something I have to finish it and I do believe for the foreseeable this is finished.

What I will say in the movie’s defence is if you do find something in this movie you like, defend and support the movie for it because I feel it is going to need all the help it can get.

So that’s my non-spoiler review of Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews as well as other reviews and posts.

[herringbookshelf]

Grateful to have gotten my degree in economics at Bard College where this was standard training among the institutionalist economists I studied under including Pavlina Tcherneva, mentioned here.

Modern Monetary Theory says the world still hasn’t come to terms with the death of the gold standard in 1971, when President Richard Nixon declared that the dollar was no longer convertible into gold. In the modern era of “fiat” currency, MMT says, the U.S. and other big economies no longer need to worry about having enough gold to back their paper money, so they’re free to print however much they need.

MMT claims to be the legitimate heir to the theories of Britain’s John Maynard Keynes, who created the field of macroeconomics during the Great Depression. Keynes coined the term “paradox of thrift.” His insight was that while any single household can dig itself out of a hole by cutting spending when its income falls, the economy as a whole cannot. One household’s spending is another’s income, so if everybody cuts back, no one gets paid. What you get then is a depression—a situation only government can fix because, unlike the private sector, it can afford to spend freely, putting money in people’s pockets and thus getting the economy back on track.

In MMT’s reckoning, Keynesianism was gutted in the following decades by successors such as Paul Samuelson, who unrealistically tried to make economics like physics, playing down the role of fundamental uncertainty. MMTers haven’t endeared themselves to the mainstream by referring to that school of thought as “bastard Keynesianism,” a coinage of the late British economist Joan Robinson.

MMT also draws on the “functional finance” work of the Russian-born British economist Abba Lerner, who wrote in the 1940s that government should spend what’s required to achieve its goals, deficits be damned. Later, Britain’s Wynne Godley developed the concept of sectoral balances, which focuses on the accounting truth that when the government runs a deficit, the nongovernment sector must run a surplus, and vice versa.

MMT rejects the modern consensus that economies should be steered primarily by the raising and lowering of interest rates. MMTers believe that the natural rate of interest in a world of fiat money is zero and that pegging it higher is a giveaway to the investor class. They say tweaking interest rates is ineffectual because businesses make investment decisions based on prospects for growth, not the cost of money.

MMTers argue that economies should be guided by fiscal policy—government spending and taxation. They want a nation’s central bank to do the bidding of its treasury. So when the treasury needs money, the central bank accommodates it with a keystroke—creating base money from thin air by crediting the treasury’s checking account. The new textbook says that today, governments “tend to run unduly restrictive fiscal policy stances so as not to contradict the monetary policy stance.”

MMT says that, contrary to appearances, banks don’t make loans out of deposits. Rather, they make loans based on the demand for borrowing, then the borrowers stash the proceeds in the bank. Anyone they write a check to simply makes a deposit in another bank. The bottom line is that loans create deposits rather than deposits creating loans. This is one aspect of MMT that even some conservative central bankers—including those at Germany’s Bundesbank—agree with.

To stabilize employment, MMT would add a federally funded, locally administered job guarantee. Government would employ more people in slumps than in booms. Pavlina Tcherneva of Bard College’s Levy Economics Institute is refining the plan. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic Socialist from the Bronx who’s in her first term in Congress, supports the job guarantee and says MMT should be “a larger part of our conversation.”MMT challenges a core principle of conventional economics, which is that an increase in budget deficits will tend to raise interest rates, all else equal. Just the opposite, it says, sounding a bit like the White Queen from Alice in Wonderland. When the government spends more, the private sector gets the money and puts it in the banking system. With more money in the system and no increase in demand for it, interest rates will tend to fall, not rise, MMT says. That is, unless the government chooses to soak up reserves by selling bonds, which it doesn’t have to do.

The reason the government doesn’t need to sell treasury securities, or levy taxes, to spend money is that the central bank, under the control of the treasury, can pay for everything by conjuring up electronic money. In MMT’s ideal world there would still be taxes, but their main purpose, aside from lessening inequality, would be as “offsets” to keep inflation under control. Taxes would drain just enough money from consumers and businesses so total spending in the economy won’t be excessive.

The Critics and Practicing MMT

With that formula, it’s no wonder that MMT has loud critics on Wall Street, where it’s sometimes derided as Magic Money Tree. What’s more surprising is how much flak the school of thought is taking from liberal economists who’d appear to be natural allies, such as Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary and former Harvard president. Summers has been making the case that wealthy nations are suffering from “secular stagnation” and require permanently high levels of stimulative deficit spending by governments to keep them out of recession, which is similar to what MMT argues. Yet in a recent Washington Post op-ed, Summers called MMT “fallacious at multiple levels.”

Summers and others may be worried that MMT will give a bad name to their more conventionally dovish views on deficits. “As long as they’re out there claiming that standard macroeconomics is all wrong, I guess we need to respond,” Paul Krugman, the Nobel laureate who is a professor at City University of New York Graduate Center, wrote on his New York Times blog.

MMT’s critics argue that trying to use fiscal policy to steer the economy is a proven failure because Congress and the president rarely act quickly enough to respond to a downturn. And they say politicians can’t be relied upon to impose pain on the public through higher taxes or lower spending to squelch rising inflation. MMTers respond that they also oppose fine-tuning and instead want to use automatic stabilizers—including the jobs guarantee—to keep the economy on track.

MMT’s detractors are skeptical of the idea that the treasury and central bank should work in concert. The Federal Reserve did the Treasury Department’s bidding during World War II, but that “overdraft” privilege was used spottily thereafter and permanently ended in 1981—precisely because economists warned that a subservient central bank would allow inflation to race out of control. They’re also dubious of the jobs guarantee, arguing that if the government’s wage for guaranteed jobs is too low it won’t do much to help unemployed workers or the economy, while if it’s too high it will undermine private employment. Tcherneva’s plan calls for $15 an hour. MMT envisions that government-employed workers would move back into the private sector when the economy strengthened, but that means some government functions would no longer be performed. In an email, Wray said the cyclical fluctuations in government employment are manageable.

Critics of MMT reject its reassurance that a country with its own currency doesn’t need to worry about deficits. After all, it’s been proven that a nation that loses the confidence of the world’s investors will see its currency plummet. As recently as 1976, the U.K. was forced to appeal to the International Monetary Fund to stabilize the value of sterling. Wray said the U.K.’s mistake was trying to peg its currency to the dollar and the crisis eased when it allowed the pound to float.

Other disagreements are harder for laypeople to parse. There are complicated arguments over how interest rates are determined and whether the government and private sectors compete for savings, for example. Mainstream economists argue that the correct parts of MMT aren’t new and the new parts aren’t correct. But MMTers point out that the establishment hasn’t covered itself in glory in recent years—largely failing to foresee the global financial crisis a decade ago, for instance. Paul McCulley, the former chief economist of bond giant Pacific Investment Management Co., says that though he’s “not a card-carrying MMTer,” he believes it offers a “robust architecture for a fiat currency world.”

In any case, the new textbook gives MMT a good slingshot. Samuelson, in the preface to the 1990 edition of his best-selling principles book, wrote, “I don’t care who writes a nation’s laws—or crafts its advanced treaties—if I can write its economics textbooks.” Stephanie Kelton, an MMTer who was the economic adviser on Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign in 2016 and is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, sees the tide turning. In presentations, the Stony Brook University economist likes to flash up a quote that says, essentially: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you. Then you win.

[earthly--truth]

Ah so you’re one of those “because a country has questionable euthanasia laws that’s means they’re purposefully killing people to take the tax revenue for themselves.” I don’t even know what I could say to convince you that that’s  not true because most people who say this type of stuff are easily deluded. But I will try

If you want an anecdote. When my 90 year old grandmother went to the hospital (in Canada) and it looked like she was going to die, and she was in a lot of pain, they asked her “do you want us to do everything in our power to save your life, even if it hurts and is very uncomfortable.” She said yes, they did the procedure, and then she was fine. She didn’t pay a cent out of pocket.

If anecdotes aren’t sufficient, you can easily look into how many unnecessary deaths or emergencies happen in the U.S because people let ailments get worse because of how much it would cost them. This is not nearly the same issue in Canada and the U.K (oh and btw, conservative leaders are purposefully under funding healthcare in the areas they have majorities just so they can start privatizing parts of it, which is making it worse).

I absolutely think that other countries should be able to defend themselves and increase their spending budgets. But America doesn’t spend nearly a trillion dollars each year so that NATO is strong. They do it so that they are the world’s military superpower, so they can exude their force where they see fit. It’s not like Europeans were particularly interested in the war’s in Iraq and Afghanistan which cost trillions. They also do it because those military contracts line people’s pockets. The Europeans may rely too heavily on the U.S but the U.S wouldn’t decrease their budget if Europe started investing more in their defence.

Politicians are in bed with transnational corporate interests. But if you get rid of the transnational corporations, or restrict them heavily, then it will restrict politicians ability to be in bed with them. For example, if “corporation A” can’t make an excess of a billion dollars by paying dirt wages and using cheap minerals extracted in slave conditions from third world countries, then they can’t lobby politicians in the millions of dollars to grant them the ability to to pay dirt wages or extract minerals in slave conditions, nor can they only distribute the rest of that money to their top shareholders.

But you guys cannot reason with the fact that ‘Europe’ (not all of europe is a monolith) is a lot better than the U.S simply because they actually take measures to ensure people’s needs are met and that they have good things in their life. Even in the conservative countries they recognize that things like healthcare is a right. Europe is far from perfect. They still are affected by corporate interests. They still utilize the same slave labour in developing countries. But at the very least they do a way better job with their social systems.

I honestly don’t know how you guys can look at higher wages, for paid vacation days/parental leave, better protections for the homeless/the poorest, universalized medicine and education, far lower repeat criminal offenders per capita, etc etc, and say “nah not for my countries citizens” other than your need to hold onto your dogmatic beliefs.

[bestreasonstowriterecordreviews]

✰ BEST REASONS TO WRITE FUCKIN’ RECORD REVIEWS IN 2018 ✰

✰✰✰✰✰ 6th ANNIVERSARY  ✰✰✰✰✰

Neil Morris, speaking to Alan Lomax in 1959:

“Well, when I was just a small boy, Old Uncle Milt Oldfield…Billy Oldfield, the Congressman from Arkansas for so long, it is his father. He and my father are awfully close friends. And they were discussing music. They were music teachers both of them. 

“And uh, and they said, dad did and Uncle Milt sanctioned what he said, that MUSIC HAD NO END. That you could learn all the other guy [or girl] learned, and after you got that done they would then, something else would crop up. That uh, that you, that was the reason why that uh, music advanced. That’s why that you would get a better music in one generation maybe that is, uh, IT WOULD FIT THE TIMES IN WHICH THEY LIVED.” 

[Lomax: “What about music on the grapevine?”] 

“Welllll, they said that MUSIC GREW LIKE THE GRAPEVINE THAT IS NEVER PRUNED. That each year it’d…it’d put on a little bit more. That was what they said, now, about it. Any further questions?”’

It’s time to feast from 2018′s Grapevine That Is Never Pruned with 123 (+ 162 more) of the BEST REASONS TO WRITE FUCKIN’ RECORD REVIEWS IN 2018!

A prefatory note: The Best Reasons campaigns of our first five years endured critiques from far and wide about too many damn records listed.  Well...we can no longer countenance such reproach.  Every single one of these nuggets is an essential thread in the tapestry of 2018′s combustible sonic arts!  We here at FRR stand for ecumenicism and as such, consider the breadth of our listening parameters: Feeding Tube Records issued 74 items in 2018 (!), Clean Feed released about 80, and Astral Spirits about 30...that’s a lot potential gold in those three labels alone. Sure, it’s too much for any one person to absorb, but still... 

We all know that some combination of easy access to home studio tools, world wide web streaming, social media delirium, legacy record industry collapse, and artistic resistance to creeping authoritarianism has (somewhat paradoxically) unleashed a tidal wave of idiosyncratically great music during the past decade, so it should come as no surprise that such a list as this would contain nearly 300 essential items. Yea, it seems nearly everything gets recorded and released these days (especially the zonked improv/collagist /noise/outer limits realm), but whether or not we listen to such items as frequently as we consumed Exile On Main Street or Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy back in the day is irrelevant...the time is now, and as far as wild sounds from the outer dimensions goes, now has unprecedented bounty...listen heartily, for tomorrow, who knows?

(...all long playing records unless otherwise noted...also, the list was made complete with links, but grrr they don’t show up, so point your browser as they used to say and happy hunting!)

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✰ ROSALI  Trouble Anyway (Scissor Tail) ✰

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✰ BRIDGET HAYDEN  Pure Touch Only From Now On, They Said So (Early Music, Sweden) ✰

✰ YUZO IWATA Daylight Moon (Siltbreeze) ✰

✰ L$D FUNDRAISER  Witness Disco (CocoMuse, New Zealand) ✰

✰ MAXINE FUNKE  Silk (Feeding Tube) + Eternity 7” (I Dischi Del Barone, Sweden) ✰

✰ LONG HOTS  Monday Night Raw cassette (self-released) ✰

✰ BASIC HUMAN  Cassette (Meatspin, Australia) ✰

✰ LOOSE-Y CRUNCHÉ Unruly Top  cassette (Altered States, Australia) ✰

✰ ETHERS  Ethers (Trouble In Mind) ✰ 

✰ UNHOLY TWO  The Pleasure To End All Pleasures (12XU)

✰ ZAÏMPH  Rhizomatic Gaze 2LP (Drawing Room) ✰

✰ ALLISON COTTON  All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre (Feeding Tube) ✰

✰ CONSTANT MONGREL  Living In Excellence (Anti Fade, Australia / LVEUM, U.K.) ✰ 

✰ OTHERWORLD  (aka Kay Logan) Mad Wee Light  cassette (Kit, UK) ✰

✰ DUSK  Dusk (Don Giovanni)  & “The Pain Of Loneliness (Goes On And On)” 7″ (Dirtnap) ✰

✰ WENDY EISENBERG  Its Shape Is Your Touch (VDSQ) ✰

✰ THALIA ZEDEK BAND Fighting Season (Thrill Jockey) ✰

✰ EN ATTENDANT ANA  Lost And Found (Trouble In Mind) ✰

✰ MARK MORGAN  Department of Heraldry (Open Mouth) ✰

✰ MORE KLEMENTINES More Klementines (Twin Lakes/Feeding Tube)✰

✰ PATOIS COUNSELORS Proper Release (ever/never) ✰

✰ ANNE GUTHRIE Brass Orchids (Students Of Decay)

✰ STEFAN CHRISTENSEN  City Code (Knotwilg, Belgium) & Two Live cassette (The Loki Label)

✰ BB & The BLIPS  Shame Job (Thrilling Living)

✰ SAMARA LUBELSKI / BILL NACE Samara Lubelski/Bill Nice (Relative Pitch)

✰ The SEDIMENT CLUB  Stucco Thieves (Wharf Cat)

✰ BEAT DETECTIVES  Rhythms & Edits Volume 1 cassette (Altered States, Australia)

✰ The COWBOYS Live At Tony’s Garage  7″ ep (Feel It) & The Cowboys [3rd Album] (HoZac - 2017)

✰ SUSANA SANTOS SILVA  All the Rivers – Live at Panteão Nacional  cd (Clean Feed, Portugal)

 ✰ DIRE WOLVES Paradisiacal Mind  (Feeding Tube/Cardinal Fuzz, U.K.)

✰ SPECIAL INTEREST/S Spiraling  (Raw Sugar)

✰ JANUSZEWSKI & SZLAZAK Split cassette (Czaszka, U.K.)

✰ NYLEX  Nylex cassette (Tenth Court, Australia)

✰ CHARALAMBIDES  Tom And Christina Carter 2 LP (Drawing Room)

✰ CHRISTINA KUBISCH/ANNEA LOCKWOOD The Secret Life Of The Inaudible 2 cd (Gruenrekorder, Germany)

✰  HEAVY METAL Heavy Metal ep 7″ (Total Punk)

✰  LUJIACHI  Invisible Hands cassette (Altered States, Australia)

✰  OBNOX Templo del Sonido (Astral Spirits/Monofonus Press)

✰  PINEAPPLE RNR  Pineapple Rik N Roll 7″ (Lumpy)

✰  WILLIAM PARKER Voices Fall From The Sky 3 cd (AUM Fidelity)

✰  RON JONS SURF SHOP  Ron Jons Surf Shop Sampler cassette (Ron Jons Surf Shop)

✰ LUCY MILLER Lion's Heart : Demos & Early Recordings cd-r (Soleils Bleus, France)

✰ BLUE CHEMISE  Daughters Of Time (Students Of Decay) 

✰ EKIN FIL Maps (Helen Scarsdale) & “Windblow”  download (Longform Editions, Australia)

✰ COUNTER INTUITS Vietnamese Lighter 7″ (Total Punk)

✰ CHRONOPHAGE  (Minneapolis) Prolog For Tomorrow (Cleta Petra)

✰ HOBBS-WHITE DUO Hobbs-White Duo at Whitechapel Gallery, 10 June 1973H download (EMC, UK)

✰ CHRONOPHAGE (Austin) Give Chance A Peace download (self-released)

✰ CIA DEBUTANTE  Waves (Czaszka, U.K.)

✰ WEEPING BONG BAND  Weeping Bong Band (Feeding Tube)

✰  COOLIES/The FUTURIANS Coolies/The Futurians split cassette (Uniform, New Zealand)

✰ QUIETUS Volume Four (ever/never)

✰ New Centre Of The Universe (Anti Fade, Australia)

✰ LISA CAMERON/SANDY EWEN  See Creatures cassette (Astral Spirits)

✰ BRUTAL BIRTHDAY “Commotion” + 2 7” (Total Punk)

✰ DE PONTI/MORETTI Before We Were Foam We Were Unbridled Waves cassette (Dinzu Artefacts)

✰ DAVID NANCE GROUP  Peaced And Slightly Pulverized (Trouble In Mind)

✰ CRAMMM  Crammm cassette (Brainplan) &  Live 2018 (Brainplan)

✰ NERVE BEATS Nerve Beats (Fine Concepts)

✰ WILLIE LANE  Known Quantity reissue (Feeding Tube)

✰ The WAY AHEAD Bells, Ghosts And Other Saints cd (Clean Feed, Portugal)

✰ BADSKIN  Where Was I  (Brierfield Flood Press, Australia)

✰ The ANCIENTS Frozen Aisle (Tenth Court, Australia)

✰ METTE RASMUSSIN & CHRIS CORSANO A View Of The Moon (From The Sun) cd (Clean Feed, Portugal)

✰ SYLVIE COURVOISIER TRIO  D’Agala cd (Intakt, Switzerland)

✰ MOSQUITOES Drip Water Hollow Out Stone (ever/never)

✰ CHARLOTTE HUG Son-Icon Music: Orchestra And Choral Works cd (Fundacja Słuchaj, Poland)

✰ RUSS WATERHOUSE  Amaro cassette (Gertrude Tapes)

✰ RICHARD PAPIERCUTS  Twisting The Night 12″ (ever/never)

✰ The COOL GREENHOUSE  “London”/“The End Of The World” 7” (Market Square Recordings, Spain)

✰ SANDY EWEN & CHASE GARDNER Transfusion cd (Marginal Frequency)

✰ AMEEL BRECHT  Polygraph Heartbeat (Kraak, Belgium)

✰ SUCCHIAMO Mani In Fuoco (Antinote, France)

✰ PORTRON PORTRON LOPEZ De Colère Et D'Envie (PoiL, France)

✰ TOM SMITH & MARK MORGAN Bones Sound Shipwreck cd (KSV, Germany)

✰ CIVIC New Vietnam 12″ (Anti Fade, Australia) & Those Who Know 7″ (Famous Class)

✰ CARLO GIUSTINO Non Uscire cassette (No Rent)

✰ DONALD MCPHERSON & TETUZI AKIYAMA The Kitchen Tapes, Volume 1 cassette (God In The Music, New Zealand)

✰ HORNE & HOLT Wires (Self-Sabotage)

✰ WOLKOROTS Don Treppenwitz cassette (Dinzu Artefacts)

 ✰SAVAK  Beg Your Pardon (Ernest Jenning Record Co.) 

✰ The BALKANYS The Balkanys  (Toddi Records/Another Records, France)

✰ ANTELOPER Kudu cassette (International Anthem Recording Company)

✰ CLAIRE POTTER & BRIDGET HAYDEN’S I Am Come From A Place) cassette (Fort Evil Fruit, Ireland)

✰ LAURA LUNA CASTILLO Laminaires (Genot, Czech Republic)

✰ RST  Spectra  (\\NULL|ZØNE//)

✰ TORI KUDO ガラ刑GALAKEI  2 LP (bruit direct disques, France) 

✰ SIGNE DAHLGREEN  Kunki Snuk cassette (Astral Spirits)

✰ PIOUS FAULTS  Old Thread  (Feel It)

✰ MELFI  Four Concerns  cassette (Czaszka, U.K.)

✰ The EX  27 Passports (Ex Records, Netherlands)

✰ J.H. GURAJ Steadfast On Our Sand (Boring Machines, Italy)

✰ KUZU Hiljaisuus (Astral Spirits)

✰ WUSSY  What Heaven Is Like (Shake It)

✰ BORZOI  A Prayer For War (12XU)

✰ RAYS  You Can Get There From Here (Trouble In Mind)

✰ DELPHINE DORA  Eudaimon (three:four, Switzerland)

✰ LAKE MARY & M. SAGE  Lupine Deluxe cassette (Patient Sounds (Intl))

✰ ART GRAY NOIZZ QUINTET  “A Call To You”/”Won’t you Say It To My Face” 7″ (Robelion Music)

✰ VANILLA POPPERS I Like Your Band 7″ ep (Feel It)

✰ SOURDURE L’Espròva (Les Disques du Festival Permanent/Pagans, France)

✰ LOGARDECAY (Leslie García and Paloma López) FRGL cassette (Umor Rex, Mexico) 

✰ DE KLUMB  Con Pimiento cassette (U-Bac, Germany)

✰ MIDWIFE  Prayer Hands cassette (Antiquated Future)

✰ SALAD BOYS  This Is Glue (Trouble In Mind)

✰ RAMBLE TAMBLE Outlaw Overtones cassette (Eiderdown)

✰ ABBY LEE TEE  Imaginary Friends I cassette (Czaszka, U.K.)

✰ INGRID LAUBROCK Contemporary Chaos Practices / Two Works For Orchestra With Soloists cd (Intakt, Switzerland)

✰ PATRICK SHIROISHI  Sparrow's Tongue cassette (Fort Evil Fruit, Ireland)

✰ FIA FIELL  All In The Same Room cassette (Nice Music, Australia)

✰ PREENING  Nice Dice 7″ ep (Fine Concepts) & Greasetrap Frisbee 7″ (ever/never)

✰ SABASABA  SabaSaba (Maple Death, U.K)

✰ HEADROOM/DIRE WOLVES Split (Pome Pome Tones/Centripetal Force)

✰ APOLOGIST  Houston  cassette (No Rent)

✰ The SITUATIONS  The Day After The Night Before cassette (Melted Ice Cream, NZ)

✰ WONDERFULS  Voices Like Rain cassette (Round Bale Recordings)

✰ TASHI DORJI & TYLER DAMON  Leave No Trace: Live In St. Louis (Family Vineyard) & Soft Berm cassette (Magnetic South)

NAUJAWANAN BAIDAR  Volume 1 cassette (Radio KHIYABAN, Netherlands)

LOUIS MINUS II  Je Voudrais Juste Dormir Pour Toujours cassette (Econore, Germany)

The OPAWA 45s Silver Screen Guitar cassette (Melted Ice Cream, New Zealand)

MT ACCORD Postcards From A Dream cassette (Czaszka, U.K.)

JONÁŠ GRUSKA Žaburina (LOM, Slovakia)

CHICALOYOH  Jaune Colère (213 Records, France)

MAMITRI YULITH EXPRESS YONAGUNISAN  Yulith  2 LP (bruit direct disques, France)

AONGHIS MCENVOY & TRISTAN CLUTTERBUCK  Duos cassette  (Fractal Meat Cuts, UK) 

IE Pone cassette (Moon Glyph)

MARILYN CRISPELL/TANYA KALMANOVITC/RICHARD TEITELBAUM  Dream Libretto (Leo, U.K.)

E  Negative World (Thrill Jockey) 

Wound 2 lp (Carbon Records)

DOMINIQUE VACCARO Close Distances cassette (Dinzu Artefacts)

RIÑA  Aqui No Eres Nadie 7″ ep (Thrilling Living)

GÜNTER BABY SOMMER & TILL BRÖNNER  Baby’s Party cd (Intakt, Switzerland) 

TRISTAN MAGNETIC  Tristan Magnetique  triple cassette box (Otomatik Muziek, Germany)

FAMOUS LOGS IN HISTORY Famous Logs In History cassette (Fuzzy Warbles) 

LUKE STEWART’s Works For Upright Bass And Amplifier  cassette (Astral Spirits)

RADIANT FUTUR  Overdriven Youth download (Get Busy!, Russia)

LÄRMSCHUTZ TAFELMUSIK SEPTET  Vierte Tafelmusik  cassette (Katuktu Collective)

TERRESTIALS  Terrestials 12″ (Heel Turn)

ALEX CRISPIN Open Submission cassette (Constellation Tatsu)

MAAVIN Sunday Drive EP download (Get Busy!, Russia)

CHARLOTTE HUG & LUCAS NIGGLI  Fulguratio cd (Fundacja Słuchaj, Poland)

NAMELESS FRAMES Already Inside + 3 10″ (Super Secret Records)

GÜNTER SCHLIENZ  Liederbuch cassette (Muzan Editions, Japan)

SCRAP BRAIN Scrap Brain (Thrilling Living)

WURLD SERIES Stately and Befrothed cassette (Melted Ice Cream, NZ)

ENDURANCE Celestial Governors cassette (Tymbal Tapes)

BRABRABRA  Lagooona 7″ ep (Kitchen Leg, Germany)

DAN MELCHIOR  ‘The Folksinger’ (Swashbuckling Hobo, Australia)

JEN KUTLER  Worth cassette (Never Anything)

Field Recordings from the Sahel cassette (Sahel Sounds)

MONNONE ALONE Cut Knuckle 7” (Lost And Lonesome Recording Co., Australia)

ANDREW BARKER & DANIEL CARTER Polyhedron cassette (Astral Spirits)

YVES MALONE  Aced (2014) cassette (Baked Tapes)

JOHN HOEGBERG  Motion Detecting Songs cassette (Ehse)

CHAOSOPHY  Who Are These People And What Do They Believe In cd (Discordian/Liquen Record, Spain)

ARIAN SHAFIEE A Scarlet Fail  (VDSQ) & Beauty Tuning (Hausu Mountain) 

AKIRA SAKATA & CHIKAMORACHI with MASAHIKO SATOH Proton Pump cd (Family Vineyard) 

LEA BERTUCCI  Metal Aether (NNA)

BIG SUPERMARKET 1800 (Hobbies Galore, Australia)

GARCIA PEOPLES  Cosmic Cash (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond)

R.M.F.C. Hive cassette (Slime Street, Australia)  

BIKINI COPS Three 7” (Drunken Sailor, U.K.)

MUYASSAR KURDI & NICHOLAS JOZWIAK Intersections & Variations cassette (Astral Spirts)

P WITS Blonde On Blonde  double cassette (chemical imbalance., Australia)

FOLD Aegean Sea 12” (AUS, UK)

TASHI DORJI & DAVID GRUBBA  Fixed Entrance Derivatives cassette (Sky Lantern)

WET PISS Wet Piss cassette (Dumpster Tapes)

TIM & THE BOYS Growing (Meatspin, Australia)

DINO SPILUTTINI  Forever cassette (No Rent)

NEGATIVE NANCIES You Do You download (CocMuse, New Zealand)

MISSING PAGES  “Long Way Down” 7″ (12XU) 

SUNWATCHERS II & Illegal Moves 12” (both Trouble In Mind)

EYES NINETY Glaucoma Chameleon (Swashbuckling Hobo, Australia) 

PATRICIA KOKETT  Diabel 12” (Knekelhuis, Netherlands)

GEE TEE  Gee Tee cassette (Slime Street, Australia) 

C. WORTH  A Farther Sea cassette (Gertrude Tapes)

OREN AMBARCHI/KONRAD SPRENGER/PHILLIP SOLLMANN  Panama/Suez 12” (Ostgut Ton, Germany)

REX WONDERFUL & THE SILK SHEETS  Ego Death cassette (Tenth Court, Australia)

SARAH DAVACHI Gave In Rest  (Ba Da Bing) & Let Night Come On Bells End The Day (Recital)

PELVI$$  Pelvi$$ cassette (Fuzzy Warbles)

JEFF TOBIAS  Completely Phantom cassette (Baked Tapes)

BILL ORCUTT & CHRIS CORSANO  Brace Up! (Palilalia)

DONKEY BUGS  Ancient Chinese Secrets (Lumpy)

MOUNTAIN MOVERS  Pink Sky (Trouble In Mind) &  New Jam 12″ (C/Site)

MAbH  cinjusti cassette (Tymbal Tapes)

Bad Taste Vol. II - Another Collection Of Sounds From The NZ Underground cassette (chemical imbalance., Australia)  

TERRY I’m Terry  (Upset! The Rhythm, UK)

NYZ  RLD GLD ET AL cassette (Fractal Meat Cuts, UK)

THEE OPEN SEX White Horses (Sophomore Lounge)

DRUNK MUMS  Denim & Leather, Together Forever cassette (Slime Street, Australia)

JONES JONES [OCHS/DRESSER/TARASOV] A Jones In Time Saves Nine download (self-released)

IVAN THE TOLERABLE & FRIENDS Autodidact 10″ (Ack! Ack! Ack!, U.K.) 

DANIEL CARTER / WILLIAM PARKER / MATTHEW SHIPP Seraphic Light cd (AUM Fidelity)

PURPUR SPYTT Nitpick 7″ ep (POUeT! Schallplatten, France)

BLOWDRYER  Blowdryer cassette (self-released)

CHARNEL GROUND  Charnel Ground (12XU)

KAJA DRAKSER / PETTER ELDH / CHRISTIAN LILLINGER  Punkt​.​Vrt​.​Plastik cd (Intakt, Switzerland)

DRY CLEANING Sweet Princess cassette (self-released, U.K.) 

ELKHORN Lion Fish cassette (Eiderdown)

ROMAIN BAUDOIN  Bestiari (Pagans/In Situ, France)

SUNWATCHERS AND EUGENE CHADBOURNE 3 Characters 2 LP (Amish) 

FRANCIS PLAGNE Moss Trumpet (Penultimate Press, U.K. )  

SHITTY LIFE  Switch Off Your Head (self-released, Italy)

SICK LLAMA Stage Poison double cassette (unifactor)

ROCKET 808 “Digital Billboards”/“Mystery Train” 7” (12XU)

JON COLLIN What Is Thunder cassette (Fort Evil Fruit, Ireland)

CONCRETE LAWN Demo cassette (Urge, Australia)

BLANK REALM  Last Seen (Hobbies Galore, Australia)

DJ OVERDOSE  DJ Overdose 12” (L.I.E.S.)

LUDWIG BERGER & VERONIKA EHRENSPERGER  The Capacity Of Things To Act cassette (Dinzu Artefacts)

BRANDY Laugh Track (Monofonus Press)

PETER EVANS/ AGUSTÍ FERNÁNDEZ/BARRY GUY  Free Radicals cd (Fundacja Słuchaj, Poland)

LES HALLES  Zonda cassette (Not Not Fun)

SAMARA LUBELSKI  Flickers At The Station (Drawing Room) 

PRANA CRAFTER  Bodhi Cheetah's Choice  (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond)

YLAYALI  Pumpkin Patch cassette (self-released)

DEAF WISH  Lithium Zion (Sub Pop)

ROSE THOMAS BANNISTER  Ambition cd (self-released)

MIDDEX No Home (Polytechnic Youth, UK) 

SEI A  Phase EP (Aus Music, U.K.) 

KALI MALONE Cast Of Mind (Hollow Ground, Switzerland) & Organ Dirges 2016-2017 cassette (Ascetic House) 

GERRIT HATCHER Parables For The Tenor cassette (Astral Spirits)

The 1902 Syntropic Seasonal 5 cd-r comp (Wist Rec, Ireland)

The LENTILS  My Pillow Lava (Complete Trilogy)  double cassette (unread)

SCY2E*GLOCHIDS*NURSE BETTY  Weird Ear's Fantastic Voyage (Autumn East Coast Tour) comp (Weird Ear)

the SHIFTERS  Have A Cunning Plan (Trouble In Mind)

CÉCILE CAPOZZO TRIO Sub Rosa cd (Ayler Records, France)

PROJET DE VIE  Vol. #1 EP cassette  ([Equilibre Fragile], France)

JAX DELUCA  Organs In The Wind cassette (ACR, U.K.)

LUCY CLICHÉ Cliché’s Principle (Fleisch, Germany)

JANO DOE( aka KATARÍNA GATIALOVÁ)  Duranzie cassette Genot Centre, Czech Republic)

KOMARE Komare cassette (Round Bale Recordings) 

COLLATE Liminal Concerns (self-released)

AREK GULBENKOGLU  A gift like a hollow vessel (Penultinate Press, UK)

BASIC HOUSE & WANDA GROUP  No Sympathy  (Opal Tapes, U.K.)

MANUEL TROLLER Vanishing Point (three: four, Switzerland)

STEPH RICHARDS/VINNY GOLIA/BERT TURETZKY Trio Music  cd (pfmentum) 

HEART OF SNAKE  Heart Of Snake cassette (Maple Death, U.K.)

SCHWEBEN Sketches Of Plains cassette (Otomatik Muziek, Germany)

GENEVA SKEEN  A Parallel Array Of Horses download (Room40, Australia)

IKUI DOKI  Ikui Doki  (Ayler, France)

CHARLES BARABÉ  De La Fragilité cassette (Astral Spirits)

MIDNIGHT MINES  Invisible Insurrection Of A Million Minds (The Loki Label) & Stations 7″ (I Dischi Del Barone, Sweden) 

DELACAVE  Window Has No Glass (POUeT! Schallplatten, France)

MARY LATTIMORE & MEG BAIRD  Ghost Forests cd (Three Lobed Recordings)

M/M  I Know You Are Thinking I've Said This All Before cassette (Czaska, U.K.)

The ATTACHMENTS  II cassette (self-released)

TYSHAWN SOREY  Pillars 3 cd (Firehouse 12)

JOËLLE LÉANDRE  Strings Garden 3 cd (Fundacja Słuchaj, Poland)

STONE WITCHES  Machine Efficient cassette (Slime Street, Australia)

CARA STACEY & CAMILO ÁNGELES Ceder  (Kit, U.K)

DIRE WOLVES (JUST EXACTLY PERFECT SISTERS BAND) One For The Heads cassette (Baked Tapes) & Earthquake Country cassette (Sky Lantern) & Shootout At The Dildo Factory (Eiderdown) 142

(this is a pic of DIRE WOLVES with their eyes closed)

GEN POP II  7″ ep (Feel It)

ANGLES 3  Parede (Clean Feed, Portugal)

FRANK HURRICANE Holy Mountain Coffee tour cassette (self-released)

CARROM  Prehistories cassette (self-released, Canada)

PARSNIP Feeling Small 7″ (Anti Fade, Australia)

ÁINE O’DWYER / GRAHAM LAMBKIN Green Ways 2 cd (erstwhile)

Longform Editions digital series, particularly: EKIN FIL “Windblow”, MARJA AHTI “Entering A Cloud” and STEAM VENT “Swells”

CLINTON GREEN Setting For The Iliad CD-R (Frustration Jazz, Australia)  

PETER EVANS & BARRY GUY Syllogistic Moments cd (Maya Recordings, Swizterland)

ETRAN DE L’AÏR  No. 1 (Sahel Sounds)

ALIEN NOSEJOB Various Fads & Technological Achievements (Anti Fade, Australia)

J.C. SATÀN Centaur Desire  (Born Bad, France)

NAGUAL & STEFAN CHRISTENSEN Third 7″ (I Dischi Del Barone, Sweden)

EXEK  Ahead Of Two Thoughts (W.25th)  &  A Casual Assembly  12″ (W.25th)

ARUÁN ORTIZ TRIO’s Live in Zurich (Intakt, Switzerland)

MIA DYBERG TRIO Ticket! (Clean Feed, Portugal)

LA DANTA Alpeis Καράκας cassette (Fort Evil Fruit, Ireland)

WEAK SIGNAL LP1 cassette (Reality Delay)

DISTANT STARS The Way Things Work cassette (Detonic, Australia)Field Recordings from the Sahel

MUDHONEY Digital Garbage (Sub Pop)

ROB NOTES & RYAN LEE CROSBY  Modal Improvisations on 34 Strings cassette (Cabin Floor Esoterica)

...all those LOKI LABEL boots...

[passportapproved]

1.26.25

LISTEN TO THIS WEEK'S SHOW! GOOD NEIGHBOURS  – “Daisies” (Polydor/Capitol, U.K.) CIRCA WAVES  – “American Dream” (Lower Third/[PIAS], U.K.) GIANT ROOKS  – “Mind Control” (Universal Music, Germany) MYLES SMITH  – “Nice To Meet You” (RCA Records, U.K.) ACROBVT  – “A Thousand Times” (Unsigned, U.K.) TEENAGE DADS  – “Boarding Pass” (Chugg Music, Australia)  GLASS CITIES  – “Mad4U” (Unsigned, N. America) ARXX  – “Swim” (Republic of Music, U.K.) KAI BOSCH  – “Rodeo Romeo” (LAB Records, U.K.) KAI BOSCH  – “Rodeo Romeo” (LAB Records, U.K.) NOEL  – “Heart Full of Ghosts” (BLNK Music, Sweden) THE SHERLOCKS  – “Man On The Loose” (Infectious, U.K.) DAILY J  – “Sunday Stitches” (Unsigned, New Zealand) VELLA  – “All My Love” (L3V3L Music, N. America) NONĒ SUNSHINE  – “Clairvoyant” (Unsigned, N. America) FRANCES LION  – “Misbehave” (Century City Records, U.K.) RHETT REPKO  – “Every Night” (Unsigned, N. America) SUNDAY (1994) – “Blossom” (RCA, U.K.) CRYSTAL TIDES  – “Drive You Home” (Run On Records/Modern Sky, U.K.) ZIMMER90 – “Feel Like We Used To” (Unsigned, Germany)  LOLA YOUNG  – “Flicker Of Light” (Island Records, U.K.) DELIGHTS  – “Hotel Bar” (Modern Sky, U.K.) THE VICES  – “Before It Might Be Gone” (Mattan Records, Holland) FIL BO RIVA  – “I’m Fine (Alone Again)” (Vertigo/Universal Music, Germany) PALE WAVES – “Kiss Me Again” (Dirty Hit, U.K.) ONLY THE POETS  – “Already There” (EMI, U.K.)  VERONICA FUSARO  – “Slot Machine” (Deepive, Switzerland) LIME CORDIALE  – “Strangers” (Chugg Music, Australia)  KINGFISHR – “I Cried, I Wept” (Doonane Records, Ireland)  TALISCO  – “We Are” (Roy Music, France) ADELINE V. LOPEZ   – “Drink Up” (Unsigned, N. America) MASI MASI  – “Lesser Men” (P.I.M.P, U.K.) CAT SERRANO  – “When You Love Me” (Unsigned, N. America) MONOTRONIC  – “Everything Moves” (Unsigned, N. America)

[newstfionline]

Headlines

US braces for more virus deaths; Europe hopes crisis peaking (AP) The U.S. warned of many more coronavirus deaths in the days ahead as the global pandemic muted traditional observances from family grave-cleaning ceremonies in China to Palm Sunday for many Christians. Italy and Spain, the two hardest-hit European nations, expressed hope that the crisis was peaking in their countries, though Italian officials said the emergency is far from over as infections have plateaued but not started to decline. Germany remains an anomaly: With more than 92,000 people infected, the death rate is remarkably low. A chaotic scramble for desperately needed medical equipment and protective gear engulfed the United States, prompting intense squabbling between the states and federal government at a moment the nation is facing one of its gravest emergencies. The number of confirmed infections topped 1.2 million globally, and the death toll neared 65,000, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.

Surgeon general says coming week will ‘be the hardest and saddest week of most Americans’ lives’ (Washington Post) Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams said Sunday that the coming week could be a national catastrophe comparable to Pearl Harbor or the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “This is going to be the hardest and saddest week of most Americans’ lives, quite frankly,” Adams said in an appearance on Fox News. “This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it’s not going to be localized. It’s going to be happening all over the country. “ He added that the next 30 days would be critical for slowing the coronavirus’s spread, noting that some early hot spots are actually starting to contain the virus.

Pet fostering takes off as coronavirus keeps Americans home (AP) Across the country, suddenly isolated people are rushing to care for animals, easing a burden on shelters and providing homes--even if just temporarily--for homeless dogs, cats and other pets. Shelters from California to New York have put out the call for people to temporarily foster pets. Thanks to an overwhelming response from people who suddenly found themselves stuck at home, shelters say they have placed record numbers of dogs, cats and other animals. If past trends hold, many of those who agree to temporarily care for a pet will ultimately decide they want the animal to stay for good.

Puerto Rico discovers protective supply cache amid COVID-19 (AP) The suspected mismanagement of essential supplies during Hurricane Maria turned out to be a boon for Puerto Rico as it fights a rise in coronavirus cases. Health Secretary Lorenzo González said Saturday that officials discovered a cache of urgently needed personal protective equipment at a hospital in the nearby island of Vieques that remains closed since the Category 4 storm hit the U.S. territory in September 2017. He said the equipment includes face masks, gloves, gowns and face shields that were in good condition and would be distributed to health institutions.

Journalists threatened and detained as countries on multiple continents restrict coronavirus coverage (Washington Post) Coronavirus is testing the resilience of independent media around the world as governments exploit concerns over coverage of the epidemic to clamp down on press freedoms. From Latin America to Russia, governments have tried to shape coverage so it avoids criticism or information that authorities deem harmful to public order. Questioning of official accounts has drawn fines, police investigations and the expulsion of foreign correspondents. In some countries, the virus has provided a pretext for governments to pass emergency legislation that is likely to curb freedoms long after the contagion has been extinguished.

Britain will tighten coronavirus restrictions if people flout rules (Reuters) Britain will be forced to impose more restrictions on outdoor exercise if people flout lockdown rules designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the health minister said on Sunday. Daily exercise, such as walking, running or cycling, is allowed as long as people maintain social distancing. But any other activity such as sunbathing could put others at risk and prolong the lockdown, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said. Health experts said any move towards a ban on outdoor exercise was “deeply worrying”.

British prime minister admitted to hospital (Washington Post) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been admitted to the hospital because of “persistent” symptoms of the coronavirus, a spokesman confirmed Sunday. Johnson tested positive for the virus 10 days ago and has been self-isolating at his official residence.

Telemedicine Arrives in the U.K.: ‘10 Years of Change in One Week’ (NYT) In a matter of days, a revolution in telemedicine has arrived at the doorsteps of primary care doctors in Europe and the United States. Virtual visits, at first a matter of safety, are now a centerpiece of family doctors’ plans to treat the everyday illnesses and undetected problems that they warn could end up costing additional lives if people do not receive prompt care. “We’re basically witnessing 10 years of change in one week,” said Dr. Sam Wessely, a general practitioner in London. “It used to be that 95 percent of patient contact was face-to-face: You go to see your doctor, as it has been for decades, centuries. But that has changed completely.”

Ireland’s PM returns to medical practice to help in coronavirus crisis (Reuters/NYT) Ireland’s prime minister Leo Varadkar has re-registered as a medical practitioner and will work one shift a week to help out during the coronavirus crisis, his office said on Sunday. Varadkar, who studied medicine and was a practicing physician for seven years before going into politics, is expected to help conduct screening calls for those who may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus before they visit medical facilities.

Amid coronavirus outbreak, Pope Francis marks Palm Sunday with restricted Mass (Washington Post) Pope Francis marked Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday in a service surrounded by only a few aids and a handful of clergy, after the annual public ceremony in St. Peter’s Square was scrapped as Italy battles one of the world’s worst outbreaks of the coronavirus. In the solitary mass, which was live-streamed around the world, the pope urged the faithful to turn to God “in the tragedy of a pandemic, in the face of the many false securities that have now crumbled, in the face of so many hopes betrayed, in the sense of abandonment that weighs upon our hearts,” according to Reuters.

Work from home, they said. In Japan, it’s not so easy. (Washington Post) When it comes to working from home, Japan simply doesn’t get it. In the midst of a coronavirus epidemic, commuter trains in Tokyo are still pretty packed, and many companies are acting like nothing’s really changed. This is a nation where you still have to show up in person. Work culture demands constant face-to-face interaction, partly to show respect. Employees typically are judged on the hours they put in rather than they output they produce. Managers don’t trust their staff to work from home, and many companies are just not set up for telework. The uniquely rigid work culture has left this country among the least prepared in the developed world to embrace the new remote-working realities of the coronavirus age.

Singapore announces surge of 120 new cases, plans ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown (Washington Post) Singapore on Sunday recorded its highest number of new coronavirus cases in a single day, bringing the total infected in the city-state to 1,309. In a Facebook post, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said many of the new cases were linked to two dormitories for foreign workers that are now being placed under isolation. Roughly 20,000 people living in these dormitories have been confined to their rooms for the next 14 days, according to the Strait Times. Singapore, which had initially resisted lockdown orders in favor of extensive contact tracing to catch the infected before they could spread the virus, will enter a government-mandated lockdown on Tuesday. Local officials have called the measure the “circuit breaker.”

‘Complete collapse of economies’ ahead as Africa faces virus (AP) Some of Uganda’s poorest people used to work on the streets of Kampala, as fruit sellers sitting on the pavement or as peddlers of everything from handkerchiefs to roasted peanuts. Now they’re gone and no one knows when they will return, victims of a global economic crisis linked to the coronavirus that could wipe out jobs for millions across the African continent, many who live hand-to-mouth with zero savings. “We’ve been through a lot on the continent. Ebola, yes, African governments took a hit, but we have not seen anything like this before,” Ahunna Eziakonwa, the United Nations Development Program regional director for Africa, told The Associated Press. “The African labor market is driven by imports and exports and with the lockdown everywhere in the world, it means basically that the economy is frozen. And with that, of course, all the jobs are gone.”

[talhaghafoor2019-blog]

The most important LGBTQ movies, TV shows, music and books of 2018

Say it with us: Representation matters. As a wave of change rolls through the entertainment industry, it’s unveiling the thirst for different stories — and, just as important, different storytellers — to appear on our screens and pages. No longer are audiences content to hear from the same homogenous voices we’ve always heard from.

2018 has been a banner year for onscreen and on-page representation, with diversity spreading all across our favorite binge-worthy media. As we look ahead at the movies, TV shows, and books in store for the future, there are several LGBTQ-related titles worth highlighting.

June 19: The Great Believers, by Rebecca Makkai

Makkai’s ambitious third novel centers on the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and the long shadow it cast. The story begins in Boystown, Chicago, where the epidemic has hit the queer community and a group of friends gather to mourn one of their own. The story jumps back and forth in time between ’80s Chicago and present-day Paris, where the sister (and only surviving relative) of the dead man searches for her estranged daughter. The Great Believers is filled with grief, but it also embodies the heart of the community.

June 26: Confessions of the Fox, by Jordy Rosenberg

Rosenberg is one of the first trans fiction writers to be signed by a major publishing house, and his forthcoming tome is proudly queer. It’s technically about 18th-century thieves, but it reimagines myths and fantasies of the old days in a more representative way, delving into LGBTQ subcultures and defying gender norms. As Rosenberg told EW, he “wanted to make that form of intimacy open to everyone.”

June 29: The Indigo Girls, Indigo Girls Live With the University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra

As its title suggests, the legendary folk duo’s latest release was recorded with a college orchestra during a sold-out show in Boulder, Colorado, last year. It features 22 songs from their extensive catalog, such as “Galileo” and “Closer to Fine,” remixed with a little something special.

July 6: Years & Years, Palo Santo

Fronted by actor-singer Olly Alexander (of Skins fame), this U.K. band’s new album envisions a world where the minority is always the majority. Its lead single, “Sanctify,” was inspired by “I’m a Slave 4 U”-era Britney Spears. What more do you need to know?

July 24: I Can’t Date Jesus, by Michael Arceneaux

This debut essay collection — a meditation on Arceneaux’s life as a gay black author — is boisterously funny, melancholic, and at times devastating. Arceneaux is a frequent Essence and Complex contributor and has built up a huge following, thanks to his wry commentary on everything from race to sexuality to popular culture. Jesus touches on topics including his own coming-out story and how artists like Janet Jackson and Lil’ Kim helped to shape his identity.

July 27: Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

Rubbing elbows with (and the nether regions of) cinema royals like Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn at his same-sex brothel made marine-turned-celebrity pimp Scotty Bowers the unlikely keeper of closeted Hollywood’s secrets. But when documentarian Matt Tyrnauer peeled back the 94-year-old’s layers, he found a complicated figure whose glamorous past conflicts with his current hoarder lifestyle — a psychological anomaly begging for screen time too.

Aug. 3: The Miseducation of Cameron Post

This film, a recent Sundance breakout, stars Chloë Grace Moretz as a teenager at a gay conversion camp. It takes place in the early ’90s, and kicks off with the titular Cameron making out with the prom queen in the back of her boyfriend’s car. Her guardians send her to a “camp” called God’s Promise, which is exactly as disturbing as it sounds.

Aug. 31: Troye Sivan, Bloom

Only a handful of performers have parlayed YouTube stardom into successful pop music careers, and 23-year-old Sivan is one of them. His anticipated second LP includes the dance-heavy hit “My My My!”

Sept. 14: Lizzie

In this bodice-ripping cinematic take on the legendary maybe-murderess Lizzie Borden (who, if you’ll recall, was famous for being the prime suspect in the killing of her father and stepmother), Chloë Sevigny and Kristen Stewart fall axe-identally in love, with all the bloody consequences one would expect.

Sept. 28: Boy Erased

Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, and Russell Crowe star in this film, based on the true story of a young gay man whose parents send him to conversion therapy. It’s based on the memoir by Garrard Conley.

Oct. 5: Studio 54

This definitive documentary recounts the rise, reign, and fall of ’70s New York’s most hedonistic hot spot.

Nov. 2: Bohemian Rhapsody

Rami Malek transforms into Queen’s Freddie Mercury in a film that charts his life in music — and his legacy as a queer icon.

Date TBD: Him or Her, HBO

Issa Rae (the mastermind behind Insecure) and former Daily Show writer Travon Free are developing this comedy, which chronicles the dating life of a bisexual black man.

Date TBD: AJ and the Queen, Netflix

Written by RuPaul and former Sex and the City showrunner Michael Patrick King, this comedy just got a 10-episode order. It stars the Drag Race host as a drag queen traveling across the country from club to club with a recently orphaned 11-year-old stowaway.

Date TBD: Thom and Carson Project, Bravo

Original Queer Eye alums Carson Kressley and Thom Filicia have reunited for this upcoming reality series in which they whip up impressive and affordable redesigns for their clients.

This content was originally published here.

[emmetohboy]

Favorites: The 2020 Conundrum

Illustration credit: Orkenoy

I’ve heard it from numerous colleagues, friends and family members. The sentiment along the lines of "...can't end soon enough." or " Worst year ever." I don't disagree. Along with virtually everyone I know, this year has meant personal loss, crippling angst and the missing of loved ones. But do I wish 2020 had not happened? Along with the uncertainty and hardship, would I wish away everything else that the years has brought? I don't know.

I'm not one to pontificate what the pandemic has taught us or accelerated or revealed. But I am interested in drawing it as a frame around the creative work that was generated in the context of it. At the close of 2016 I hoped that the lemon of the new political environment might bare the lemonade of generational creative output. That may or may not have been the case. We’ll have to wait longer to assess that from a more objective distance. But the last 10 months have been a concentrated, intensely focused, if not simply harrowing time. Has the pressure been so intense, in such a short period, that we graduated from lemonade to forging cultural carbon into diamonds at an unprecedented speed? Are these gems be so luminous, that they will one day be viewed as heirlooms? Was the pain of 2020 worth its blessings?

Listen

Released right at the onset of quarantine was my absolute favorite record of 2020. Waxahatchie's St.Cloud is a stunner first track to last. Some hook you instantly ("Can't Do Much"), and others slowly worm their way into your soul ("Witches"). Several year-end best lists included the latest from Lucinda Williams, Katie Crutchfield's musical hero. I disagree with its inclusion, finding the tracks a little flimsy and familiar.  Katie's St. Cloud, however, is as close to prime Lucinda as anyone has gotten in quite some time.

Termed "Hip-Hop's first pandemic masterpiece by Exclaim magazine, Oddisee's Odd Cure brought a lot of joy this year. A tidy mix of R&B tinged hip-hop intertwined with calls to friends and family, the record has broad appeal and a narrative that only 2020 could supply.

The Remote Tiny Desk concert Oddisee performed with his band, mostly present, is fantastic.

Every year I can count on being introduced to one or two new artist via the New Music Mix that Apple Music serves me every Friday. This year I was pulled in to the track "Safe in Sound" by Orlando Weeks. I dropped it into a growing playlist that I have for background music while working. Each time it came up on shuffle it begged to be replayed. Eventually I tapped the entire record and googled Mr. Weeks. He is not a new artist to me at all. The former frontman for the U.K. band the Maccabees had ventured into a solo career. And it is so strikingly different from the Maccabees record I love, 2007's Colour it In, that it is no surprise I didn't recognize him. Weeks’ A Quickening is transformative and almost spiritual at times. He contemplates fatherhood ("Milk Breath") and community ("St. Thomas") and an aging seafarer’s relation to the elements that surround him ("Moon Opera"), in such ways that the record works in prioritizing what is important during difficult, if not odd times. 

I came late to Natalie LaFourcade and I’m a little angry at ignorantly depriving myself of this joyful talent for so long. She is a prolific dynamo. 2020 brought Un Canto por Mexico Vol.1. And so as the tile suggest, there will be another volume on its heels. Natalia had similarly released the wonderful Musas as two volumes spread over 2017-18. These three records along with 2015's Hasta la Raiz have supplanted the Trio Los Panchos records I played for cooking  accompaniment.

One of the most creative and infectious records I heard all year was Buscabulla's Regresa. The husband and wife outfit returned from New York to their native Puerto Rico following the tragedy of hurricane Maria. The environment made for joyful and melancholic results musically.

Buscabulla’s remote performance for NPRs Tiny Desk, from the back of their car at the beach in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico makes me smile the entire 13 minutes. Here’s to the resourcefulness of creativity.

I've been a fan of White Denim for some time. They are also quite prolific, generating new records almost yearly since 2009. So who could have blamed them after releasing Side Effects in 2019 if they had taken 2020 lying down. Not James Petralli and Michael Hunter. When faced with Austin Texas' pending stay at home order, the band wrote and recorded the entire record in thirty days. World as a Waiting Room is among the band's best. 

2017 Juno award winner William Prince is a huge star in Canada and should be stateside as well. His voice is as unique and warm as any I can recall. And his songwriting is as earnest, if not as clever as fellow Canadian Ron Sexsmith. "Wasted" is an unintentional anthem for 2020.

I am hooked Frazey Ford's vocal delivery. There is a Van Morrison quality to it, so nonchalant to almost be conversational. It as if the lyrics might be different every time she sings the song. U kin B the Sun is laden with grooves and a casual coolness that  always set me down lakeside on a summer day.

Circles feels like it was released a lifetime ago. The loss of Mac Miller was devastating and his partnership with Jon Brion is was one the most visionary collaborations of all time. This record feels timeless.

Lianne LaHavas is one of the most talented musicians alive. This year’s self-titled release is as close to a Sade record as we've had in a while.

Its great to see local acts get such national acclaim. Even better when they demonstrate creative growth. DEHD's Flower of Devotion expands the bands previously bare bones approach to music making with lovely Cocteau Twins-esque shimmer.

Orkenoy in the daytime.

Speaking of things local, I have been rooting for Orkenoy since finding out the Humboldt Park brewery was in the works back in 2019. What a journey it has been for the folks behind it all. Brewing equipment, transported from a distance, tumbles off of the truck as it nears its new home. It was damaged but not irreparable. It was nothing compared to what was to come. We may have hit the tipping point on craft breweries, but can you imagine readying your passion project for the world and the world snaps back with a global pandemic. They admirably soldiered on.

Turns out they are not just another brewery. They bill themselves as a "creative enclave operating as a brewery, kitchen and synergetic haunt for local artists." Their offerings, from brews to food, are a delicious blend of the rare and traditional, Norwegian Smørrebrøds and French Farmhouse, to new and experimental. Their branding is charming and narrative. We've taken carry out of cocktails and beers. Both were fantastic. Very recently Orkenoy has added even more allure to their footprint in the Kimball Arts Center by stringing lights from their facade to the elevated Bloomingdale Trail. As the nights have grown to their longest, my morning runs begin in darkness. So when I came upon the illuminated Orkenoy early one morning last week my path became a bit merrier. I was also struck by how much the scene reminded me of Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night. 

Orkenoy at pre-dawn run.

Lulu Miller has worked as a producer for Radiolab and is a co-creator of the NPR show Invisibilia. Her book Why Fish Don't Exist was my favorite read of 2020. Told in Miller's quirky voice, the pages navigate herculean scientific achievements, our country's racial history, murder and ultimately love. While this may all  sound a frantic lot, Miller weaves it together tersely and with self-deprecating humor.

One of my favorite books of years' past is Michael Pollen's lesser known, Second Nature. It was in my initial reading of this that I learned from Pollen about Aldo Leopold's Sand County Almanac. I purchased a copy and thumbed through it when I finished Second Nature. A recent interest had me recall the work, so I set about our house to find it. It's a short book and so it took me a couple of looks to locate it behind thicker, stacked volumes on our bedroom bookshelf. I've been immersed in it ever since. I'm intentionally taking small bites, savoring every page, even highlighted passages—something I haven't done probably since reading Pollen. Leopold was an American philosopher and naturalist long associated with the University of Wisconsin. His writing is keenly observational, almost poetic. As he winds through the seasons on his Wisconsin farm, he introduces us to the behaviors of migrating geese, defensive plover and elusive trout among other inhabitants. Leopold is almost always alone with these creatures and his thoughts, save occasionally his dog. And while I wish I had a printing that contained the forward by Barbara Kingsolver, Leopold's original forward from 1948 suits me just fine. 

Aldo Leopold

"...the opportunity to see geese is more important than television., and the chance to find a pasque-flower is a right as inalienable as free speech...But wherever the truth may lie, this much is crystal-clear: our bigger-and-better society is now like a hypochondriac, so obsessed with its own economic health as to have lost the capacity to stay healthy. The whole world is so greedy for more bathtubs that it has lost the stability necessary to build them, or even turn off the tap. Nothing could be more salutary at this stage than a little healthy contempt for a plethora of material blessings."

[perfectirishgifts]

Once A Fine Dining Experience, Then A Bad Joke, Could Airline Food Be Primed For A Comeback?

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/once-a-fine-dining-experience-then-a-bad-joke-could-airline-food-be-primed-for-a-comeback/

Once A Fine Dining Experience, Then A Bad Joke, Could Airline Food Be Primed For A Comeback?

Industrial scale meal preparation like this at an airline catering facility at Charles de Gaulle … [] International Airport outside Paris may be efficient but it creates big challenges to delivering great tasting meals that travelers will love in the low pressure/low humidity environment aboard a plane at 35,000 feet. (LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP via Getty Images)

Go figure: At a time when air travel demand is down globally by about 70%, Singaporeans are booking reservations weeks in advance for the chance to pay $40 to $525 to dine inside a parked Singapore Airlines Airbus 380 super widebody.

In Pattaya, Thailand, business at Thai Airways headquarters’ café has exploded in the months since the company chopped up one of its narrow body planes and rebuilt it, with some slight modifications, inside the company’s former commissary.

And people have been flocking since 2013 to the world’s largest “aviation movie set” inside a warehouse in the blue-collar Los Angeles suburb of Pacoima. Once there, they pay $475 to $875 a person to enjoy everything from a conventional 1970s economy class inflight meal served on plastic trays to a lavish first class feast served on fine airline china and crystal. And what makes the meal, and an accompanying movie, so special is that it is served inside a giant Boeing 747 “set” by beautiful actors dressed in 1970s airline uniforms. The dinner theatre-style production is called the Pan Am Experience because it seeks to replicate what it was like to fly – and eat while doing so – in the 1970s.

In the real, Covid-19-infested world today, few airlines are serving their few passengers any food or drinks at all. And when they eventually begin doing so again, you can bet that travelers will complain loudly about the quality of the food.

Yet, to some airline and travel aficionados, the opportunity not only to eat airline food but to do it aboard a real or replica airliner has become almost a bucket list item, or else decadent pleasure they allow themselves every now and again.

Over the last 80 years airline food has evolved from a novel idea and technology to:

A high-status experience about which people bragged

The brunt of endless jokes and complaints

Almost non-existent.

But, if a Irish-British historian whose intriguing new book on the history of airline food hits the shelves today is right, airline food is likely to make a limited comeback over the next few years as passenger demand and the industry slowly recovers from near-collapse due to the pandemic.

“I don’t think we’ll ever get back to the point of there being cocktail lounges on 747s; to the Frank Sinatra Come Fly With Me marketing approach, to experiencing what it’s like to have white-gloved stewards working from silver service trolleys carving chateaubriand right at your seat and serving you fine wines,” says Bryce Evans, an associate professor of history at Liverpool Hope University in the United Kingdom.

“However, I can see – and I really think more international airlines are doing this already – carriers once again are concentrating on food service as a critical piece of their marketing, of their brand and service experience,” says Evans, author of Food and Aviation in the 20th Century. Published by Bloomsbury, it goes on the shelves in North America and the U.K. today.

“Even now, with the pandemic still going on, several top international airlines like Emirates, Thai, Singapore and Turkish really take pride in their food. That’s something that U.S. carriers used to take great pride in, too. I wish I could say that British Airways, which always used to be quite good with their food service, was still good. It has fallen off some in recent years, but it’s still pretty good and I believe that as part of such airlines’ efforts to attract travelers, especially premium class travelers back to their planes they will once again begin trying to distinguish themselves by their food service in the premium classes.”

Alas, Evans says he does not expect airlines to focus a lot of attention and effort on improving what food they will be serving again to their economy class passengers. Such travelers’ overwhelming preference for low fares will preclude airlines from spending much more on coach class food than they were spending prior to the pandemic’s arrival.

Higher-quality airline food, he says, “is always something you’re going to have to pay more” to receive, whether that cost is embedded in a higher, premium class fare, charged as an extra fee, or presented as an a la carte/buy-on board offering.

Evans, an Irishman teaching at a British university, got interested in the subject of airline food via his research as a historian into how leading historical political leaders used food and sources of food to manipulate key political or historical developments. In particular, he studied how British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill tried to pressure an independent and neutral Ireland into supporting Britain’s World War II efforts through the constriction of the smaller island’s access to food supplies. And it was during that research that he happened upon the character William Maxson, a Minnesota engineer and inventor who at the end of the war essentially invented the process still used today for preparing airline meals many hours in advance and then heating them up in flight right before serving them.

“In 1946 Pan Am signed a contract with Maxson to introduce hot airline food,” Evans explained. “He had created a multi-compartment convection oven that could reheat meals made and frozen well in advance.

You read that right. Singapore Airlines has turned one of its Airbus A380s into a static restaurant … [] during the pandemic at Changi International Airport there. Customers willing pay up to $900 are flocking to experience what it’s like to eat a gourmet meal in the premium sections of the world’s largest passenger plane. (ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Maxson had teamed with Birds Eye, the American company that perfected the process for freezing vegetables for sale via modern grocery stores, to develop a way of thawing those vegetables, preparing  inflight meals using them, and then freezing those meals for service hours later on planes.

The only problem, Evans, noted, was the “Pan Am’s people realized very quickly that Maxson’s meals were quite bad tasting. Others did, too. The New Yorker wrote that they were ‘meals prepared for doomsday.’”

Pan Am, though adjusted quickly by breaking its contract with Maxson and began working with famous chefs, a practice that airlines still engage in today, to come up with more appealing recipes. That, however, is easier said than done.

Noise and motion actually have a negative impact on a person’s ability to taste and enjoy food. So in the piston-engine era airline food departments and their big-name chef advisors had to find ways to overcome those taste challenges. Salt – lots of it – helped. Then the problem got worse with the coming of jets. High altitude, low humidity, and reduced air pressure all have a deleterious effect on the sense of taste. The answer? More salt. And sauces. Lots of them. The thicker the better.

Whether it was intentional or happenstance, carriers in the ‘50s and ‘60s worked with lots of famous French chefs, or others like the American Julia Child who were expert in the French style of cooking. The emphasis on sauces and ingredients with strong flavors, such as curry, helped overcome the degraded sense of taste issue related to eating at altitude. Carriers also switched away from “finer” wines to more full-bodied, fruity – and, lucky for them – usually less expensive wines. Their stronger taste could be more readily sensed by passengers, many of whom actually had been complaining that the very fine wines previously served by airlines didn’t seem to have much taste to them at all.

“Airline food in the ‘50s and ‘60s was actually quite good,” Evans says. “They actually changed Americans’ palettes in those days by popularizing French style cooking before the era of chefs having their own cooking shows on TV.”

The industry gets credit for actually inventing a what is – or at least used to be – a popular lunch menu item at upscale restaurants; the open-face steak sandwich. Airlines regularly engaged in “top this” competitions with their in-flight menus. At one point arguments about over-the-top offerings focused on several carriers that had begun serving steak for lunch on its planes. To calm things down, the International Air Transport Association, the industry’s global lobby organization, established a rule that airlines could not serve steak at lunch. But to get around the rule someone came up with the idea of placing a small steak on piece of toasted bread, with another piece of toast laying next to it. Walla; the open face steak sandwich.

 It wasn’t until the early ‘70s, as the widebodies like the 747 had begun entering service and airline costs began rising very high that airline food began to get a reputation for not being very good.”

The famous story of American Airlines President Robert Crandall in the late ‘1970s ordering the removal of the single olive in the carrier’s in-flight dinner salads is the perfect example of why airline food service began to fall in quality. Crandall’s seemingly nit-picky olive order saved his airline an amazing $40,000 annually on the purchase of food at a time when it was in deep financial trouble and looking under the coach cushion for change to stay in business.

Evans said Crandall was right in that consumers didn’t notice or complain about the lack of an olive in their salads. But the lesson learned by the industry was that carriers could save lots of money by cutting back on lots of small items, including various aspects of food delivery and preparation. So, gradually, the quality of food – like the quality of other service features – declined as carriers cut further and further at a time when deregulation was forcing formerly regulated carriers to dramatically cut costs so they could, for the first time ever, compete for the first time on the basis of low fares and low costs.

Now, though, Evans expects at least some carriers, especially those heavily dependent on long-haul international flying, to make the quality of their food a more prominent aspect of their brand identities and they try to coax business travelers and the wealthy to buy more premium class fares.

“With Pan Am back in the day it was about the quality of the food, but also about making a statement about the entire cultural experience of the carrier and its home country, with food being the feature attraction,” Evans said. “Of course, back in those days food became a distraction from the fact that there wasn’t much to do but sit in a seat and read or sleep. There weren’t any movies to watch, at least not early on. The dining experience actually served as a form of entertainment and distraction. Now travelers have seat back videos, their phones and other devices and so much else to occupy their time in flight that maybe food isn’t quite as important.”

Additionally, after adjusting in the ‘90s, ‘00s and ‘10s to meet new market trends related to eating healthier – which included more emphasis on cold pastas, salads and generally less tasty (and cheaper) foods – Evans says that even before the pandemic began, a new trend was emerging to include some more flavorful menu items.

“I don’t think we’ll be going back to lots of heavily salted and sauced foods,” he added. “But I think we’ll be seeing more strongly flavored meats like beef and exotic poultry rather than rather blander meats like chicken being featured in airline meals. People’s tastes and attitudes change over time and that seems to be happening now, at least in the international [air travel] market.

“But in domestic markets, especially very large domestic markets like America’s, there may be a small comeback and improvement in airline meals,” Evans said. “But with the continued emphasis on low fares I’m afraid we won’t be seeing a lot change or improvement in airline food there.”

From Aerospace & Defense in Perfectirishgifts

[org3l]

11장: 더는 ��기지 말아줘

You were at the place where you first ate with Kibum. 

He called for you since it was his also his lunchtime. He even insisted that you should hang out after work, and even drink with him at home. It’s not that you’re wondering about why is he demanding your time but it’s really bothersome why only you. 

He could ask Dr. Lee about himself. 

He could ask someone else from his faculty members that he always talks with, or even Minho. Yet in your thoughts you hesitated on that, because he sounded so eager when he saw you in your place.

“_____________!” He sits down and drinks his latte.

“Alright, why are you asking for my time for the whole ass day.”

“It’s complicated. But can we eat first? I am starving.”

Then you ate, and talked about work like usual.

“My cofaculty members are just so annoying.”

“Why say that when you’re just here for a couple months.”

“I don’t know why they are reacting that way whenever I’m with Dr. Lee.”

“Haha… what did he do now?” With that sneaky smile again painted on his face. But his eyes were saying otherwise.

“He offered me tea. And they said it was the first time that he offered someone with that horrible tea. It wasn’t horrible.”

“Don’t sugarcoat anything he does. He just almost kissed you!” you recall, remember, reminsce the touch of his hands and his breathing as close as that space. It is tempting.

“You’re the reason why it was just almost.”

“I will not be surprised when you start initiating things more with him.”

“Then I’ll defy that chance.”

“Hahaha, bite me.”

“Anyway, what about you?”

“Me? I was called for a meeting in the Royal Society which means I have to fly to U.K by next week. It’s not even ideal especially that winter is about to come, or it’s just really not ideal because I don’t want to go.”

“You fly yourself to England just for that?”

“Well.. I studied there so my affiliations are clearly there too. What do you expect?”

You eye rolled but amused by how he didn’t mention this to you before. “That’s pretty legit.”

“No one says that word anymore, keep up with the trends!”

“And I see you postering around like there is an event everyday.”

“Why are you being vague? You always have to present yourself as much as possible to your students and to your officemates. My supervisor even thinks that I’m showing a good image towards my coworkers and to everyone that whenever it’s a Monday, everyone looks like a magazine model.”

“Maybe we’re just… really not concerned about that.”

“Try it. I challenge you of course. And look good in front of your supervisor.”

“He’s my boss.”

“Make sense. I just said the same time, why are you trying to change my words?”

“Why do you keep directing our conversation to him!”

“Because!”

Laughing out loud never felt so good that the students noticed and you commented that you were just talking about the new poster showed everywhere. It included Minho, and when you brought up that topic, Kibum disregarded it like: “He’s a coach. It’s just unfair that he’s the only faculty there. Can you believe that?”

As he decided to drink wine at his home instead rather than stay at the bar to talk, it was a great decision since you’re itching to know when someone offers their home as their place to hang out. People are different whenever they are at home, and their bare reactions to simple life problems like utilities and needs. Fun fact, he owns the flat, and living with two dogs named Commes De and Garcon.

“I’m sorry if the place is a mess.”

Mess? Probably, but it’s livable compared to where you are living.

“It’s okay.” Removing your shoes and placing them to the shoe rack. The dogs approached and greeted him with their tails wiggling.

“Commes De, Garcon, meet __________, my new friend. ___’s going to be here for the meantime, probably-” as he stands up and they follow, he goes to the counter and turns to the refrigerator to grab something “-for some several times so, be kind to ________, okay?” Looking at his dogs and looking back at you to smile.

“You’re talking with your dogs.”

“Helps me fill up the space. Living alone sometimes can be exhausting so I ask friends over sometimes. Hungry?”

Grabbing ingredients from the shelves and back to back to and from the fridge. You rolled up your sleeves to see him wearing an apron and walking back with a pan and casserole.

“Want me to help you?”

“If you want and know the recipe, sure.”

You were cooking a dish from the country he’s going by the next week, and it wasn’t hard to make But this also engaged to start drinking wine while doing so, and smelled your drink, mixed it before drinking.

“Ah… the way the movies do.”

“They always say that you have to savour your wine before drinking it.”

“It’s just a preference. I’d drink it and I feel good about it.”

“Jeez. you have your way of things.”

“I do. Shut up.”

Placing the plates of your food to the table in front of the couch, he turned on the television for a show he puts in play that you would find entertaining. It was something to just pay attention for a short time while talking.

“So…”

“Please present your case.”

“What case are you talking about?”

“Why did you want to drink with me?”

“I want to fucking drink!”

“Calm down, shit.”

He cackled and threw his pillow to you, that almost spilled the wine.

“Don’t spill that expensive wine on my couch!”

“Jeez! You just threw a pillow over my face. Please, just calm down. Are you already drunk?”

“Who says that I am?”

He laughed again and you observed how he fumbles over the table to grab the remote control to change the show. “Show’s really boring.”

“Why—I’m enjoying the material!”

“Are you serious? It’s the most boring show ever. Try this.”

“No. We have to talk.”

“What are we going to talk about?”

There was a moment of silence where you were both holding your glass with wine, folded legs on the couch and in sync of squinting your eyes before he shook his head.

“What do you want to know?”

“Uh… why are you not talking about Minho?” with a dissastisfied face, and he scowled.

“Why do we have to talk about him?”

“Exactly. Why?” Challenging to reveal himself.

“Why are you trying to twist my words?”

“I’m not!”

He groaned and placed his glass to the table before supporting his head with his folded elbows.

“Fine. We… met.”

“Okay…?”

He pulled two tissues from the box and started tearing up. “And he is just the most beautiful human being ever.”

“Jeez. What is wrong with you? I think I already know that.”

“He… is so beautiful that I could cry.” He sniffed and hugged a throw pillow where he hid his face and when he pulled it out he was smiling so hard that you threw a throw pillow at him. “Careful! You might break a vase!”

“Vase? Whatever that is. Stop fooling around and confess.”

“Are you a priest?”

“You’re a liar. I could smell the deception you are trying to attract me into so I won’t ask.”

“Fine.” He drinks from the glass and finished it. He placed it with a loud thump to the table and said. “He just asked me out.”

“WHAT!”

“Before he did, and now he is asking me again.”

“Oh… why is that? What happened before?”

“Being tipsy helps with the conversation therefore please sit back and relax.” He gulped and ate a snack before speaking up. You curled your legs again the other way around, directed to him and more relaxed to finally listen to his story.

“He asked me out… before when we were still new instructors in the university we came from. And… when that happened, we went to a cafe and liked one another so much that we stayed there until closing time just  talking about work and life.”

“Too formal.”

“Made out whenever someone stares at us.”

“ALRIGHT, I’M LISTENING.”

“But I had to go to U.K for my masters, and eventually got my fellowship which was a plus on getting in to where we work now.”

“That means you… guys…”

“I told him it’s better off without us because I think career wise and long distance relationships are pretty hard to maintain. I gotta fix my shit first before I put up with others.”

Thus, he has a point especially now to see the results must’ve felt fulfilling, but in terms of romance? Wonk, wonk.

“So… you guys met here again?”

“Yeah. He was already staying here and doing his masters at the same time when I arrived. It was surreal, to see him brush his hair whenever he trains with his team for the season’s game I just… get swooned over by it.”

“Hahaha, you are too adorable describing every single detail of this relationship.”

“Well… I think he has fulfilled his promise to me.”

“What is it?” You drank wine, and poured yourself some more from the second bottle that was recently opened.

“That he’ll wait for me. So I think… it’s worth to try now.”

“Did you even answer him yet?”

“Not yet… that’s why I’m trying to dodge the question because I need your opinion.”

“Should you give it a try or say no is your inquiry?”

“Yeah. Cause I don’t want to get into it too fast but also want to enjoy everything we can do.”

“You’re adults. You can do whatever you want.”

“I told him he couldn’t do it. But he did it.”

“He seems to be a solid guy.”

“Solid?”

“He just fulfilled his promise to you by doing his best to be with you. And surprise, you work in the same place now without both of you knowing, which means if you meet the second time, it’s destiny.”

“How can people not think like you?”

“It’s really hard to construct it. But given the chance of the life, might as well not miss it.”