#it all comes down to white writers creating these exclusive spaces and then moving the goalposts of inclusivity

[punemy-spotted]

So, like. Here's the deal.

I'm going to be the first person in line to tell you to write your story, write your catharsis, write your narrative. You deserve to be seen, deserve to show yourself off to the world if that is what you want.

The first person who will read your stories is going to be you, and everyone else is honored and privileged to walk through the world you create and see through your eyes. But that's the fucking point.

POC writers are not writing to exclude — we are writing to include. We are practically begging y'all to see us as people.

Every argument I've seen about why people don't write BIPOC Readers has boiled down to, "well I just don't have the experience" and here's the question I have to ask you: Are you reading the same stories I am?

You want the experience? FUCKING READ IT. Y'all will recommend reading smut to learn to write better smut, so read the stories BIPOC writers are writing to learn how to write inclusively.

All of this pearl-clutching about not wanting to engage in stereotype, not wanting to put forth a false narrative — READ AND REBLOG AND UPLIFT BIPOC VOICES THEN.

The stories are there!!! They are waiting!!! We have always been here. We are in every single fandom you are in.

We aren't even hard to find!!! Y'all are in the inboxes of BIPOC writers way too often to act like we're some sort of ✨rare bird✨ only seen when the astrological conditions are right. All the time y'all spent justifying your lack of inclusivity could have easily been spent reading the fics written by the people whose inboxes you've been filling.

[aion-rsa]

Did The Dark Knight Really Influence the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

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In 2008, there were two seismic events in the superhero movie genre so close together that you’d be forgiven for thinking they signaled the same thing. Over the span of a few months, Marvel Studios launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) via Iron Man, and director Christopher Nolan changed the perception of how seriously to take these movies with The Dark Knight. Both are credited as watershed moments for how audiences and (more importantly) the industry approached such stories; and The Dark Knight is specifically singled out as the gold standard by which all other masked crimefighter films are measured.

However, was Nolan’s haunting vision—one in which a lone avenger is the last, best hope for a major American city on the verge of collapse—really that influential on its genre? The Dark Knight certainly had a monumental impact on the culture, then and now. You saw it when Heath Ledger’s searing interpretation of the Joker made him only the second actor to win a posthumous Oscar, as well as when the film’s exclusion from the Best Picture race changed the way the Academy Awards handled its top prize. And just last year, The Dark Knight became only the second superhero movie inducted into the National Film Registry.

Yet when a friend watching last week’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiere told me Marvel was returning to the “realistic” approach of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and by extension The Dark Knight, I couldn’t help but disagree. The new Disney+ series may have a slightly more grounded aesthetic than the last time we saw these characters (back when they were fighting space aliens over magic stones in Avengers: Endgame), but the medium-blending existence of the series belies the idea that Marvel took anything significant from the insular and self-contained Dark Knight Trilogy.

The Dark Knight vs. Iron Man

It’s interesting to look back at just those 2008 films since at face value they bore minor similarities. They both were focused on fantastically wealthy billionaires using their fortunes to fight wrongdoing on a potentially global scale; each movie was directed by filmmakers with indie cred thanks to Nolan helming Memento (2000) and Jon Favreau writing and starring in Swingers (1996); and each starred unexpected casting choices with Ledger as the Joker and Robert Downey Jr. jumpstarting a career comeback as Tony Stark.

But their goals and approaches were worlds apart. The obvious thing to note, besides The Dark Knight being a sequel to Batman Begins (2005) and Iron Man being an origin movie, is that Iron Man had an slyly hilarious sensibility, and The Dark Knight fancied itself an allegory about post-9/11 America. The former’s success was engineered in large part by Downey’s gift for comedic improvisation and freestyle. Indeed, co-star Jeff Bridges said in 2009 that he, Downey, and Favreau were essentially improvising their scenes from scratch every day during primitive rehearsals. “They had no script, man,” Bridges lightly complained with his Dude diction.

By contrast, The Dark Knight appears at a glance to be an exercise in self-seriousness and lofty ambition. Every scene, written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan, appears like a chess move, and each character a pawn or knight who’s been positioned to put contemporary audiences in a state of pure anxiety with War on Terror imagery and dialogue. Of course this clocklike presentation is itself another Nolan illusion, as smaller players like Michael Jai White, who portrayed gangster Gambol in the movie, have been quite candid about. As with almost every film, there is still a level of fluidity and workshopping on Nolan’s set.

Ultimately, the bigger difference between the Nolan and eventual Marvel approach is what each is hoping to accomplish with the film they’re currently making. More than just offering a “realistic” vision of Batman, The Dark Knight attempted to tell a sweeping crime drama epic that would stand alone, separate from its status as a Batman Begins sequel. Rather than being “the next chapter,” The Dark Knight was meant to be a cinematic distillation of Batman and Joker’s primal appeals writ large. With this approach, the film also broke away from the superhero movie template Batman Begins followed three years earlier, and which nearly all superhero films still walk through the paces of.

In essence, The Dark Knight showed that superhero movies could be dark and mature, yes, but they can also be subversive, unexpected, and genuinely surprising. Nolan’s previous superhero movie, as good as it is, followed the beats set down by Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie nearly 30 years earlier. They’re the same beats trod by Iron Man and pretty much every other superhero origin movie, including a large bulk of Marvel Studios’ output. The Dark Knight, by contrast, reached for a cinematic vernacular separate from its specific genre. The movie’s not subtle about it either. The opening scene of Nolan’s epic wears its homages to Michael Mann’s Heat on its sleeves, and the story’s structure has more to do with Jaws than Jor-El.

The approach shook audiences in 2008 after they’d come to expect a certain type of movie from masked do-gooders. In The Dark Knight, superhero conventions could be subverted or obliterated when love interest Rachel Dawes is brutally killed off mid-sentence, or stalwart Batman is forced to claim a pyrrhic victory over the villain by entering into a criminal conspiracy and cover-up with the cops. The thrill of novelty was as breathtaking as the movie’s allegorical elements about a society on edge.

And even with The Dark Knight’s open-ended finale, it stood as a singular cinematic experience, complete with then-groundbreaking emphasis on IMAX photography. Nolan was so adamant about making this as self-contained an experience as possible that he jettisoned his co-story creator David Goyer’s idea of setting up Harvey Dent’s fall from grace for a third movie. Dent’s fate, as that of everyone else’s, would be tied strictly to the events of the movie you’re now watching.

“We Have a Hulk”

In Iron Man, and then more forcefully in Iron Man 2 (2010) and the rest of its “Phase One” era, Marvel Studios demonstrated a wholly different set of priorities. Similar to how Batman Begins paved the way for Nolan to do what he really wanted with that material, Iron Man 2 came to encapsulate Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige’s grander designs for the type of movies he was making. Where The Dark Knight was singular, unconventional, and two steps closer to our world than its comic book origins, Iron Man 2 was episodic, entirely crafted around audience expectations for a sequel, and even more like a comic book world than our own.

In other words, the first Iron Man gently submerged audiences into the fantasy by beginning with contemporary images of Tony Stark in a Middle Eastern desert; Iron Man 2 then made sweeping strides in defining what that MCU fantasy is as quickly as possible: Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) is introduced solely to establish the superspy who will be vital to The Avengers two years down the road, and the central narrative about Tony Stark fighting an old rival is put on pause to reintroduce the character Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) as a supporting, and superfluous, side character. The post-credit scene even arbitrarily introduces literal magic with a glowing hammer that has absolutely nothing to do with the story you just watched. Still, it’s a hell of a teaser for Thor which was due in theaters a year later.

With the release of Iron Man 2, Marvel Studios’ emphasis became diametrically opposed to the driving concept behind The Dark Knight Trilogy. Rather than each film being an insulated, standalone cinematic experience like the Hollywood epics of old, Marvel’s movies would be interconnected episodes in an ongoing narrative saga that spanned multiple franchises and countless sequels. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Unlike Nolan after The Dark Knight, Feige and his stable of writers always know where the next movie (or five) is going, and have a better idea of what the overall vision is than any single director working within this system. Ironically, this returns power to the studio and producer as the seeming authorial voice of each movie. Like in the Golden Age of Hollywood, directors are more often hired hands than influential auteurs.

However, this means the aspects Nolan really valued on The Dark Knight beyond a gritty “realism”—elements like spontaneity, subversion, and a distancing from superhero tropes—became antithetical to the type of movies produced by the MCU. For at least the first decade of its existence, the Marvel Cinematic Universe flourished by creating a formula and house style that is as predictable for audiences as the contents in a Big Mac.

When you go to a Marvel movie, you more or less you’ll get: an ironic, self-deprecating tone, a story that often revolves around a CG MacGuffin that must be taken from the villain, and a narrative in which disparate heroic characters come together after some amusing, disagreeable banter. In fact, more than Iron Man, it was Joss Whedon’s The Avengers (2012) which refined the Marvel formula into what it is today.

There are of course exceptions to this rule. Black Panther became the first Marvel movie since Iron Man to arguably tackle themes significant to the real world, in this case specifically the legacy of African diaspora. It also became the first superhero film nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture as a result; James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies might follow the narrative formula of most MCU movies, but they’re embedded with a cheeky and idiosyncratic personality that is distinctly Gunn’s; and in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Captain America: Civil War (2016), directors Joe and Anthony Russo, as well as screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, attempted to inject a little bit of that “realistic” aesthetic from The Dark Knight. But only to a point.

Particularly in the 2014 effort, there was a push by the Russos to rely on in-camera special effects and cultivate what they often described in the press as a “1970s spy thriller” style. Ostensibly, the hope may have been to make The Winter Soldier as much a spy thriller as The Dark Knight was a crime epic. In this vein, there were even attempts to graft onto the story very timely concerns about the overreach of a government surveillance state, which had only grown in the decade since the U.S. PATRIOT Act was passed, despite a change in White House administrations. However, all of these ambitions had an invisible ceiling hovering above them.

Despite having overtones about the danger of reactionary if well-intentioned government leaders, like the kind personified by Robert Redford’s SHIELD director in the movie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier couldn’t become too focused on the espionage elements or too far removed from the Marvel house style. The story still needed to interconnect with other Marvel films, hence Redford’s character turning out to be a secret HYDRA double agent, and it still needed to give audiences what they expected from a Marvel movie. Thus how this “1970s spy thriller” ends in a giant CGI battle with citywide destruction as Captain America inserts MacGuffins into machines that will blow up HYDRA’s latest weapon for world domination.

It’s easy to wonder if the movie was developed a little longer, and didn’t have to play by a certain set of rules and expectations, that instead of backpedaling into comic book motivations, Redford’s character would’ve been a well-intentioned patriot amassing power “to keep us safe,” and in the process destabilized the institutions he claimed to revere.

Read more

Movies

What Did Batman Do Between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises?

By David Crow

TV

WandaVision: The Unanswered Questions From the Marvel Series

By Gavin Jasper

A Universe Without End

The Marvel method breeds a heavy need for familiarity and comfortable predictability, as opposed to disorientation and discomfort. Yet both methods are valid. While Nolan achieved near universal praise for The Dark Knight, his attempt to replicate it with the even more ambitious The Dark Knight Rises—an unabashed David Lean-inspired epic that took more from A Tale of Two Cities and Doctor Zhivago than DC Comics—left fans divided. It also was a narrative dead end for the corporate/fanbase need of an ongoing franchise. Nolan instead reached a final, artistic, and emphatic period for his cinematic interpretation of Batman mythology. By comparison, Marvel Studios has created a new cinematic vernacular that only ever uses dashes, semicolons, and commas. There is always more to tell.

Nolan reflected on these changing circumstances for superhero movies in 2017 when he said, “That’s a privilege and a luxury that filmmakers aren’t afforded anymore. I think it was the last time that anyone was able to say to a studio, ‘I might do another one, but it will be four years.’ There’s too much pressure on release schedules to let people do that now, but creatively it’s a huge advantage.”

This lines up with what Jeff Bridges said about the evolution of the Marvel method way back in ’09 after the first Iron Man: “You would think with a $200 million movie you’d have the shit together, but it was just the opposite. And the reason for that is because they get ahead of themselves. They have a release date before the script [and they think], ‘Oh, we’ll have the script before that time,’ and they don’t have their shit together.”

Bridges’ unhappiness with the new process notwithstanding, Marvel was rewriting the playbook about how these types of movies were made. Nolan’s approach of one at a time and years-long development processes created three distinctly different and relatively standalone Batman movies. But Marvel has shifted the idea of not just what a franchise can be, but also what cinematic storytelling means.

Instead of three movies, their rules and structures have generated dozens of well-received and adored entertainments, that when combined can produce experiences as unique as Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019): two movies that were more like a two-part season finale on TV than individual stories. And the latter became the highest grossing film of all time.

The success of this approach is further underlined when one considers competitors that tried to emulate both Marvel and Nolan’s approaches, relying on a lone auteur to build a shared cinematic universe—while also arguably taking the wrong lessons from the “dark” in The Dark Knight title. In the case of the DC Extended Universe, that approach collapsed on itself after three movies, leaving the interconnected “shared” part of its universe in tatters, and fans and studio hands alike divided on how to proceed with the franchise.The Marvel Cinematic Universe took a narrower road than that of The Dark Knight. But it turned out to be a lot smoother and much, much longer.

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from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3lKi0hp

[clairen45]

i heard that the throne room scene in TLJ was a metaphor for sex ? Is there a meta about it ? Why does this fight conveys this idea ? Luv your blog by the way :)

There was @skysilencer’s awesome meta but unfortunately this seems to have been taken down. I think she went AWOL and her metas, this one in particular, is not anywhere I can find it. If anyone had a copy, maybe? Such a crying shame because she did an amazing job. Anyways, to enlighten you, dear anon, this is how you can sum it up, and honestly, if you haven’t seen it so far, you won’t be able to watch that scene anymore without fanning yourself…

This will certainly cover some of what @skysilencer has said, but I will put my “spin” (wink) on some of the material. @raven-maiden I think you are also the one who did something on Rey’s virginal fear at the end of the scene but I can’t find it anywhere, please, please, rec your work! Or if I am wrong, please, other meta writers, rec your own takes on this scene!

First, always keep in mind, that this scene is about

empowerment

giving the other what he/she needs

trust

release

freeing yourself/ letting yourself be free

intimacy in the midst of utter chaos

Which works on many levels, but as a sex metaphor, most absolutely.

We start with this little private conversation, which works as foreplay, in the elevator, as they reestablish their connection when physically standing next to each other, alone, for the first time since the duel on Takodana. It is important to note, that, every time, Rey is the one making a move. As established since TFA: she is the one determining the relationship and where it is going every time. Here, in the elevator, she gets into his space: his space on the Supremacy, but also his personal space as she approaches him and eyes him up and down. Even though she is manacled, she is still very much an agent. Even more so, that the girl, as has been pointed out many times, really prepped up for her big date: mascara, lipstick, new clothes and new hairstyle, with her hair let down. The manacles have many possible meanings that are mutually not exclusive:

on a symbolic level, they remind us that she threw herself at his mercy. She put all her trust into him by shipping herself to him right into the lion’s den.

on a more specifically sexual level, they also represent Rey’s own fears and limitations when it comes to her sexuality. She is still confused and upset by it, as the whole experience on Ahch-To is about (yep, it is not just about Jedi training, you guys. I did something about that on my Crait meta, see here). The manacles are an omen of what will happen at the end of the scene. Even though Rey is tempted (girl got a makeover and is clearly attracted by the dude), she is not so sure she is ready for the whole experience. Rey is not as free as she thinks she is. She still has to deal with her own limiting beliefs and fears (another one shows up on Crait via the boulder scene). So at this particular point in the story, some of the shackles are really more in her mind than anything else.

it’s the lazy good girl gets too close to bad guy transcription. Looks like more than she wanted to bargain for. Blame it on 50 shades being mainstream…

Plus, let’s not overlook the practicality that RJ had to deal with. If he had left his two space babies in the elevator utterly free to themselves, what would have happened, may I ask you, what would have happened? Rey would have been all over the guy, touching him, his hair, his face, and how could we have coped? And how would they have been able to maintain the suspense? The sexual tension? The “will they/won’t they”? Nope, Rey had to be physically restrained to avoid touching Kylo. Period. That’s my final take.

Also not so subtle close up:

There is a lot to say about the hand fest that RJ gave us in that movie. Convenient close up of their hands in front of their private parts, with Kylo holding a saber in clearview. Yes, I know that it is lazy to compare a phallic object to well, a phallus. But the way they “play” with the phallic quality in this scene merely says it all. The way he crosses his hands show that he is hiding something, but at the same time, his stance gives away an impression of calm and confidence. As we know from the novelizations, he has already made up his mind about what he is prepared to do for this girl. And when we see his face, again, calm, resolute confidence. She is stressed and anguished, as she should be given her situation. Her hands are not totally open (her thumbs are inside, kind of protecting herself), she is resisting somewhat, which also gives away the end of the scene.

Ok, so back to the very unsubltle use of our phallic symbol. I must stress out how GENTLE Kylo is and how solely invested in her he is the entire process. He doesn’t let out much about his emotions except when Rey is concerned, which is quite a feat from someone who has been portrayed as explosively explicit about his feelings since TFA. The only moments when he flinches are when Rey gets tortured by Snoke and you can tell how repulsive this is to him, and when Rey gets wounded by a Praetorian guard. Otherwise, he is again, cool and collected. So, the saber… What a hoot! Rey calls to herself Kylo’s saber and the boy doesn’t flinch. He lets it happen. Well, that sword looks mighty fine in her hands.

The same saber that was so explicitely used in TFA as, well, an “extension” of Kylo, and that totally freaked her out on Takodana:

A saber which comes with a particular design of big red vein showing up on the hilt. It doesn’t take that much of a filthy mind to make you wonder about this specific add-on and what they had in mind when they came up with it. Sometimes a saber is a saber, but, there are also times when a saber is clearly NOT JUST a saber.

It gets better… In the Junior novelization, when Rey reaches towards Kylo’s saber, the writer uses this interesting choice of words “It unfastened from his belt and sprang into her hand, its fiery blade igniting”. Unfasten belt, something springing into someone’s hands, ignite…. Boy… do I need say more. But then, the saber goes back to his owner who puts it to use in a very interesting way…

She is on her knees, with a deliberate close up which is so obvious that it should be censored. The saber boner comes up so intently towards her face, while the fingers are doing something, well, stop me from talking about the fingers. And if you think this is, well, just a coincidence, oh no. They knew. Look at this outtake from behind the scenes where Daisy Ridley can’t help but laugh at the goofiness of it all. In my mind it goes: “So, are you sure about that one RJ? I am on my knees and Adam just shoves his saber in my face??? Ok!”

What you have to appreciate is the wonderful intimacy of the moment. Because they never take their eyes off of each other one moment. And RJ just creates this moment for just the two of them as the camera doesn’t show the Praetorian guards at all and Snoke even closes his eyes on what is going on. And there is the panting, her calling his name… the anticipation… This is their moment. And then, well, the rest is epic. The thigh grabbing. The burning down of the red veil around them (much like a symbolic hymen being broken open), it is a sweaty, chaotic moment, full of grunts, pants, and cries, where they each get caught up in the fear of losing themselves. But he always looks out for the girl, ensuring that she is ok. And she finishes first, what a gentleman, finding her own release before turning towards him, calling his name, and letting him find his own release. With the ultimate puff of white at the end. Enough said. Go get a shower! We all need one.

[lamentsof-bee]

you can take scissors to pure canon IF YOU’RE NOT A COWARD

listen, this is how little women truly should have ended. and i’m not saying i ship it (but i am clearly saying i ship it). 

y'all. i am 100% for the feminist notion of jo not needing anyone, esp not a man in her life and that she loves her books and her liberty more than anything. believe me, i am. but saorise ronan and timothy chala-whatevs played it too well. i got too invested. and no one can tell me jo wasn't destined to meet her teddy and find out that liberty and love do not need to be mutually exclusive.

this is shameless self indulgence, but you can read it if you want lmao

Summary: She shouldn't have left. She shouldn't have turned him down. But she did. 

Jo March turned down her Teddy and then it all happened so quickly. She lost her love, her Beth and her drive all in one.

But what if she didn't? What if Laurie and Amy made a mistake and Jo hadn't thrown out her letter?

What if two souls truly are too entwined to ever find peace with anyone but each other?

The day of the funeral an eery silence is found in the March house. The house that was always filled with shouts, jubilee and cheer now stood quiet and sombre against a backdrop of white. The piano music that had once drifted along the rooms is quiet, not to be heard for a long, long time.

Jo stood at Beth’s grave. Her dear Beth, her loveliest sister, her other half. And the sorrow was incomprehensive. It crashed in waves so strong Jo did not feel as Mr Brooke pulled Meg away, sheltering her sister. She did not feel Marmee and Father too move to the side. All she could do was stare straight out, above the gravestone and beg that Beth should arise again.

‘Please,’ she muttered under her breath. ‘Please!’

She called upon the Lord’s name, maybe she took it in vain, but she begged for her sister’s return. She begged any almighty above to grant her this one wish and in return she would give herself. Sacrifice was nothing to her, if her Beth could live on.

‘Please…’ her cries grew quieter and she sank to her knees. Tears stained her cheeks and for the second time in her life, Jo March asked herself if this is how broken she is.

Is she really so broken that she should ask an almighty presence, one she doesn’t even believe in mind you, to turn back the clock.

The answer is yes.

She would have given everything she had, everything she knew and everything she felt if it meant she could change this cold winter day.

She had asked Beth to fight, to be loud, but she didn’t feel much like fighting herself anymore.

It’s unclear how long she stands there. Waiting for something to change. Maybe waiting for God to take her too.

But eventually she finds her way back to the attic. Beth’s sheets of music lay gently in her hands, the dolls that once were hers already packed into a box, letters from Mr Laurence stacked neatly on the side.

They remind Jo of the letters she wrote to Teddy. The fact that they are still unanswered stings.

Her thoughts are tumultuous and suddenly, where there was only empty space and the loss of a love, suddenly there is a whirlwind of thought.

Marmee asked her if she loved Laurie and her answer… it had been true…

Her desire to be loved, to be cared for. It was all she ever wanted. To find someone who could look at her, truly look and her and see her, and not look away in disgust. She knew she was not beautiful like Meg, regal like Amy or kind like Beth. She knew she did not fit into the society she was accustomed to. And although she often made a mockery of the rigid structures of their Victorian life, she too longed to be seen. And heard … and loved.

She meant it. ‘Women have minds and souls,’ it had burst out of her ‘as well as hearts. Ambition and talent as well as beauty.’ Her sisters came to mind. ‘And I’m sick of being told that love is all a woman is fit for… But I’m…’ she faltered. Her hands trembled as well as her voice but Marmee looked at her with gentle understanding. As if coaxing a cub into the sunlight. ‘But I’m so lonely.’

In that moment, the façade Jo March had created shattered. The candle with dreams, desires and endless amounts of passion had burned out.

Marmee stared at her for a long moment, her hands wrung in her lap before she finally said ‘You can be lonely and still love him.’

‘I don’t think I know what love is.’

‘Of course you do.’ Ever present was her patience. ‘Look at you, you are suffering because of a love well lost. We all are.’

Losing her Beth, it should have rendered everything else unimportant but it had done the exact opposite. It had made Teddy’s absence feel stronger. As if her hand had been cut off and she knew not how to act without it. No, she knew not how to write without it.

Marmee left her with a soft shoulder squeeze and the look of a mother in mourning but she still pressed her lips together in a comforting smile that seemed to say You will find your way child.

                                                          -

The attic had always been Jo’s but with Beth’s absence, Jo hardly allowed herself to move from it. After a long night of staring at the ceiling behind a shimmer of tears, losing count of the days she had spent curled up, she finally took pen to paper.

My dear Teddy,

I miss you more than I can express.

I used to think the worst fate was to be a wife. I was young and stupid. Now I have changed. The worst fate is to live my life without you in it. I was wrong to turn you down and to run away to New York when in actuality I should have run away with you. To New York, to a pirate ship, to anywhere.

If all were lost in the world… and it truly does seem that way these days, I only hope I could be reunited with you one last time. To see the smile I have sorely missed and the heart I feel akin to.

I’m still not kind like Beth. But maybe you’ll still have me anyway.

Forever yours,

Jo March

She walked to the letterbox in the forest. It was a slow walk, one of trepidation. She had written the letter already, there was no going back now. So she placed it in the small wooden box, locked it with the golden key and turned. Surely, he would check it, wouldn’t he? He was still Teddy after all.

                                                          -

Amy’s return from Paris brought with it sick Aunt March and a feeling of doubt in the pit of Jo’s stomach. She wished she had missed her sister’s arrival. She could have dozed off in the attic, sleep always seemed to come more easily while the sun was up these days. She wasn’t though, she was in the kitchen with Marmee. Waxing over what to have for dinner as if any of it mattered anymore. All her food tasted like uncertainty.

Amy entered garbed in black. She opened the door with her arms slightly wide as if she expected something to happen. But the house was still. There was no music, no laughter. Tears filled her eyes as she made her way to the kitchen. She hugged Marmee tightly whispering apologies I should have been there, it was horrid of me. I should have known something was wrong. Marmee, who had amazingly found her inner strength again so soon after such a terrible loss, looked bravely at her now youngest daughter and shook her head. ‘It was not what she wanted.’

Jo watched her mother with revered curiosity. Perhaps Marmee’s steel strong disposition had been awakened again with her daughter’s cry. One day, Jo thought to herself, I shall be like Marmee. Patient, yet unyielding to the world.

Amy sat at their tiny kitchen table, her black gown entirely too big and fancy for their dreary common house. Her lips began to move and she told them of Rome and then Paris. The stories seemed to spill out of her, unstoppable. Aunt March had fallen sick several weeks ago and her recovery, although promising at the time, had been halted by her immediate desire to return to home soil. The doctors had warned her against traveling so soon while the sickness was still taking its course but ever stubborn, Aunt March refused. Now being nursed by her staff in her manor, Aunt March is bedridden and traveling had taken a toll on even her angry spirit.

As Amy mentioned Laurie’s name, the breath hitched in Jo’s chest. She willed herself to breathe normally and slowly started counting her inhalations. She felt she was in something of a trance. Amy waxed on about fights with Laurie, about not wanting to be second best to Jo (at which Jo could only look into an empty corner) but still loving him because it’s Laurie.

Jo’s heart rate quickened when Amy spoke of a kiss and she knew she wouldn’t last much longer. How was anyone ever meant to navigate this foggy world of feelings if others were constantly adding to the fog with their words? She smiled humourlessly to herself and thought Such is usually the occupation of a writer. The conversation continues and Jo seems to be the only one missing the subtext and sadness in her sister’s eyes.

‘I thought perhaps someday I would be able to call him My Lord – .’

Amy’s sentence fades out. There is a beat, no one says anything. There is a pang, one that strikes Jo directly in her heart.

Amy looks at Jo with worry, knowing her wish will never come true. Without being fully aware of what she is doing, Jo rises, wiping her hands on her dress. ‘I should call on Aunt March.’ She wills herself to make a joke to cut through the tension. She almost does. Someone has got to make sure she hasn’t beat the bush. It’s on the tip of her tongue. Yet, she holds it. It’s still too soon. Too soon after Beth’s passing. Death doesn’t seem like a joke to her anymore. It seems like a thief. And thieves are not to be joked about.

                                                         -

Seeing Aunt March in bed, her duvet perfectly folded and a duck feather pillow behind her head, leaves Jo with a feeling of melancholy. As if she suddenly realized that even the strongest, most resilient women must give way to the tides of time.

‘I have come to read to you, Aunt March.’ Jo says quietly from the door, a faint smile on her lips.

Aunt March only gives a short nod in return after which her eyes wander back to the big window looking out onto the grounds. Jo reads to Aunt March for a while but it becomes clear that her aunt is not listening. Her glassy eyes stare out at the garden with unmistakeable sadness.

‘Your Amy did a fine job in Europe,’ she mutters in a croaking voice.

Jo halts her reading and looks up, suddenly feeling chastised. ‘I knew she would.’

She looks down to continue her passage but Aunt March interrupts her.

‘She was made for high society.’ The old lady’s eyes stop on Jo judgementally. ‘Unlike some I know.’

‘I do not wish to become decoration to a place already filled with frills and flowers.’ Jo answered simply.

‘No, you do not.’ An honest statement. ‘Just like your father.’ Another. ‘Penniless and useless.’ Aunt March huffs, her eyes linger on the door. As if she were hoping someone else would walk through it. As if she were craving more company.

‘I do wish to read to you, Aunt March.’ Jo says, only then understanding the old woman’s loneliness.

‘It would have been better if that ghastly Laurence boy hadn’t given her false hope.’ The pain in Jo’s chest awakens again. Not knowing where to look Jo faces her passage again, waiting for her aunt to continue speaking. She does not.

Quietly, instead, Jo continues to read until Aunt March falls asleep, her breathing shallow but constant.

Darkness was already falling when she left the big manor. The rooms felt hollow and empty. Aunt March’s rigor and strength seemed to have been leeched from the walls. Tonight the skies are clear. Jo trudges through the town with familiarity. Here is the town she grew up in, a place she knew she wanted to escape but always felt too attached to withdraw completely. After all, here was her family. What remained of it. Yet now, with Beth gone and Teddy unresponsive, her little home felt more like a prison. A gilded cage full of forget-me-nots and memories too precious to forget but too precarious to dream about.

Out of habit she passes the Laurence estate looking to her right, swallowing the hard knot in her throat. She walks through the woods between their homes and only stops briefly to mourn the words she poured into her letter, the honesty and vulnerability she would have to reclaim. She couldn’t let him find the letter. Not if he intended to make a wife out of Amy.

Jo’s steely determination had her walking towards the little post box. She had always put her sisters’ lives before her own. She would not stop now simply because of her infatuation for a boy. Even if that boy was Teddy.

But there was a figure already standing by the tree. Tall and lanky, Jo would recognize him even in the darkest of nights. She hadn’t the courage to speak up, so she simply stopped in her tracks and watched. If all that she had created in her head, the life they could live and happiness they could have, was to fall apart, then she should be allowed at least one moment of heart fluttering before it happens. He sinks to the ground, his hand covering his mouth. She is unsure how he would even be able to read in this dusk but she is certain he has managed.

His shoulder falls against the tree trunk heavily and for a moment she thinks his eyes are filled with tears.

She dares not to speak. She thinks she may not be able to find words anyway. Instead, she hangs back and watches as he rubs his face and gives a sigh as if he were the loneliest man in the world.

They hover in silence for what feels like eternity. Jo isn’t even sure that he knows she is there and then, a sudden panic rushes over her. She can no longer watch him. A short but loud gasp for air has him looking in her direction and clambering to his feet quickly but Jo is already on her way. Her brain feels fuzzy as if her senses had reached out too far and tried to take in too much. She begins to run, though where she is not quite sure.

Unaware that the person she tried to leave behind is following her, she stops short when she is breathless and a little ways away from the grave. Of course, she thinks. I always find my way back to my compass.

‘Jo.’ His voice is quiet and husky as if he hadn’t spoken in a long time.

This time the tears well in her eyes.

She allows herself one inhale to steady her breaking heart (again, it’s breaking again) and turns with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. ‘Welcome home, my boy.’ She says.

For a long moment they stand and merely look at each other.

‘I –‘ but she beats him to it.

‘I hear of your impending nuptials. Congratulations.’

‘No, you misunderstand.’

Unclear if she had heard him or not, she continues. ‘Amy was full of vigour when she spoke of Paris. It seems you left quite an impression on her young heart.’ She’s speaking to the ground now, unable to meet his eyes. ‘Though you have always had your ways with young, impressionable maids.’

‘I only ever cared for one.’

‘Amy will be happy to hear th - .’

‘I’m not marrying Amy!’ His voice is booming, her eyes look up with uncertainty.

‘Just for once, could you stop thinking you know everything and just listen?’ He begs.

‘Amy and I made a mistake. We were both wrought with grief and you weren’t there.’

She thinks he will begin a monologue but after a short silence instead he asks her a question. He takes a shaky breath.

‘Why didn’t you write to me about Beth?’

The knot is back. The one that sits in her throat and hinders her breathing.

Still, she can’t look him in the eyes. Her embarrassment is too great.

‘You hadn’t responded to any of my letters thus far. Writing to you about Beth seemed folly, like bait. I knew you would respond if I did but only out of loyalty to Beth, not out of loyalty…’ her voice breaks. ‘To me.’

‘I deserved to know.’

‘You found out through Amy - .’

‘I deserved to know from you.’  

Her eyes flash and she feels a lick of hot anger in her stomach.

‘Deserve? Now you suddenly deserve to know? As if all my unanswered letters filled with woes and apologies weren’t suffering enough?’ Her voice grows hard. ‘What good does knowing of my suffering bring you? She was not your sister!’

It was mean. The one habit she hadn’t yet outgrown – lashing out when she felt attacked. It came too easily. She sees on his face that he feels no joy in her sorrow. He feels broken and beaten by this loss as much as she does. He too had loved Beth.

His words are so quiet, she almost doesn’t hear them. The way his voice shakes undoes her.

‘I miss her.’

Tears run down her face.

‘I miss us.’ She answers, the presence of the gravestone heavy at her back. ‘All of us. When we were younger and didn’t have a care in the world.’

She takes a breath. ‘Beth was the best of us.’

‘She was.’ He agreed quietly.

‘We need to be better for her.’ She feels tired as she looks at him, as if this conversation had taken everything out of her. Suddenly, he realizes she is missing her fight. His Jo is lost in the sea of her mind and sorrow.

‘Do you regret turning me down?’

It had to come to this. She knew it had to come to this. But speaking of it was too soon. Her heart still ached and she felt so young and stupid and at the same time so marred by the world. She tried to answer in a way that Beth would.

‘No,’ she says finally. ‘Because I could not have loved you then. All I could do was crave love.’ She takes in his face and pity overtakes hers. She wasn’t explaining this right. ‘Please understand that I have always felt suffocated by the rigid structures of the world we were born into. And yet, I longed for affection and love because I just felt… I feel…’ she falters, the tears threaten to spill again. ‘I am so lonely. Teddy, I am still so lonely.’

She sees him wrestle with himself. He takes a half a step towards her on pure instinct alone but stops mid-stride unsure if he is doing the appropriate thing. She continues.

‘Women have hearts and souls and dreams, just like men do. I have a heart and soul and a dream. And I don’t want to give any of that up simply because society tells me it is not right. I don’t want to marry out of loyalty to my Bourgeois generation or because every other woman is inclined to do so.’

He is shaking his head and this time the pity is in his eyes. For he knows how she suffers under the threat of society and he knows she could be free with him. One tiny conformity could grant her all the freedom she desires.

The words continue to pour out of her.

‘I realize now that … that women … that people have all kinds of different dreams. Meg wished nothing more than to be married to poor Mr Brookes and that has made her truly happy. But I don’t think she found happiness in an impoverished home but in the comfort of someone who truly sees her.’

‘I see you.’ He quietly interrupts.

A beat.

‘I know.’ She says back in a tiny voice.

They are looking at each other.

‘If you could not love me then, could you love me now?’

She is unsure. She still does not know if she is fit for loving and deserves the same in kind but Beth would say that there is no person in this world undeserving of kindness.

‘I will never be a good wife to you.’ He needed to know. ‘I will always be awkward and strange and vicious.’

He is nodding because he knows it is true.

‘And I may never want children. I have too much to give to this world to burden myself with raising a child.’

Then I will raise it. Teddy thinks to himself. It’s as simple as that.

It has always been as simple as that.

‘My fingers will always be ink stained and I will never slow down for you and … and …’ She looks at him, trying to come up with more excuses for her heart to not take this leap again.

‘And I will love you anyway.’ He concludes. ‘I will watch you love your writing, and your sisters and your liberty and I will only hope that you spare me a little of that affection too.’

They don’t move. They stand opposite each other, staring.

‘I told you it was your way – to care for somebody and love them until you die. Could you not let it be me? For my the worst fate of my life is also if I should live it without you.’

There is a hope in his pleading eyes that was not there before.

She gathers all her courage and in a tiny voice she says:

‘I think I should like to try my best.’

A quietness entered her soul. A tranquility.

Some souls are too entwined that they may never find peace.

But thankfully, these two have.

[buzzdixonwriter]

Chillin’ With Netflix (2018 edition)

LOST IN SPACE

Really well done, family friendly space opera.  Top notch production values, good / smart writing, superlative cast.

And despite all this, it couldn’t keep my attention past episode 4.

I put the blame on me, not this new series by writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless.  

As a preteen, I was in the prime target audience for the original Lost In Space back in the mid-1960s, and that series -- despite its wildly varying tone -- created an iconic show that, try as they might, every subsequent re-make struggles to overcome.

Seriously, it’s like trying to remake I Love Lucy only without Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley.

Yeah, it can be done, but why bother?  Use that talent and energy to do something in the same vein but different.

That being said, I deny no one their pleasure.  If you haven’t seen / loved the original, try this version; you might very well like it.

. . .

THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE

Excellent production / writing / cast / performances.

I started out really liking it.

That enthusiasm faded.

I ended up enjoying this new retelling of The Haunting Of Hill House but came away feeling it fell short of 1963’s The Haunting, the first and still best adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s classic ghost story.

First off, a definition of terms (which will explain my enthusiasm fade):  In order to work, a ghost story must take place in the audience’s head.

That is to say, the reader / viewer must be left with two equally possibly yet mutually exclusive possibilities:  There are such things as ghost, or the haunting is purely psychological in the mind/s of the character/s.

Even in stories such as the original novel or the 1963 film where the possibility is presented that at least one of the characters is mentally unstable and is either imagining / causing the manifestations, the book / movie / series must never come down concretely in either camp.

To make it purely psychological turns it into a drama about mental illness, the make it supernatural moves it from the realm of “ghost story” into “monster movie” where the monster happens to be a ghost.

A ghost story doesn’t have to be scary, simply…haunting.  Portrait Of Jenny is a bitter-sweet romance that despite a lack of spookiness remains a bona fide ghost story.

(Ghost comedies such as Topper, Blythe Spirit, Ghost Busters, etc. are a different genre entirely akin to leprechaun / alien comedies where a fantastic being disrupts the lives of the human protagonists.)

This version works well, even though it doesn’t maintain the high level it starts with.  The family dynamics are well done, the performances excellent.

For the first couple of episodes the series tries to walk the line, raising the possibility and eventually confirming that mental illness runs through the family that moved into Hill House, but the moment the ghosts begin manifesting themselves, it paradoxically stops being a ghost story and becomes a booga-booga story).  Virtuosity for the sake of virtuosity also works against the production, occasionally dragging audiences out of the story to admire how clever the film makers are.

It also gets a little too convoluted and overly melodramatic towards the end, however (ghost stories work best at their simplicity.

And it is not an upbeat ending but a really horrific one as the family in question literally consumes itself.  

This version inhabits a godless universe, and the apparent “good” ending is really a terrible one of eternal damnation (albeit not in the Christian sense).

I recognize and appreciate the level of craftsmanship that went into this, and recommend it to people who like scary stories.

But it ain’t what I’d call a ghost story, and it sure ain’t what Jackson would call one, either.

. . .

SHE-RA AND THE PRINCESSES OF POWER

I'm not the target audience for She-Ra in either incarnation.

That being said, I watched episodes 1-3 and 12-13.

It looks good to me.  The story was familiar, but like old B-Westerns it's the kind of genre where familiarity breeds affection, so no complaints there.

Pacing seemed slow, but the design and animation was good, voices top notch. Clearly a heavy anime influence.

Really liked the wide range of physical types and acknowledgement of LGBT characters. Lots of fun with the various interpersonal relationships and characterizations, especially Swift Wind, the smartass flying unicorn.

They did a really good job with this show and the characters seemed more like real teens than the previous incarnation.

. . .

THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS

Well, this one I can recommend whole heartedly and without reservation.  

Joel and Ethan Coen have shown a remarkable penchant for period films and a strong affinity for Westerns in the past, and this anthology film offers a dazzling grab bag of good / off beat stories that range from the ridiculous to the realistic, though a couple of them are Westerns by location only as they don’t really rely on any of the themes that define the Western genre. 

The stories are:

“The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs” -- a hilarious send up of old Hollywood Western clichés starting with the quintessential sing cowboy trope and spiraling into full bore craziness from there.

“Near Algodones” -- a would-be bank robber has a really bad day.  Despite its dazzling editorial style, one of the more conventional stories -- and yet it manages to evoke both classic Buddhism, the crucifixion, and the ultimate sardonic joke all in the last 30 seconds.

“Meal Ticket” -- a Twilight Zone-ish story about a backwoods impresario and his limbless performer, told almost entirely silently except for quotes from poems and dramatic works and the occasional song.  While it makes good use of its Western locale, there’s really nothing in the story to tie it to the West; it could just as easily occur on a Mississippi riverboat, the back alleys of White Chapel, or the slums of Mumbai.

“All Gold Canyon” -- based on a story by Jack London, it’s a look at how hard and demanding a prospector’s life could be (with a virtually unrecognizable Tom Waits as the grizzled old prospector).  The Coen Brothers use their location to the fullest advantage, recreating the feel of what such land must have felt like before the first settlers moved in.

“The Gal Who Got Rattled” -- the longest, most realistic, and most bitter-sweet of the stories, set on a wagon train heading to Oregon, and focusing on a young woman who is definitely not the sort who should be making such a trip.  While we can look back from our safe vantage point in the 21stcentury and recognize the Indian Wars were the direct result of rapacious land grabbing by Western settlers, this story does an excellent job of showing just how terrifying it would be to sit on the receiving end of a tribal attack.  The ending is a morally complex one, well worth pondering, and especially ambiguous given the nature of the story’s framing element.

“The Mortal Remains” -- weakest of the stories, but salvaged by strong performances.  Another Twilight Zone style story, and if you didn’t guess the ending by the one minute mark I’ve got a bridge in Florida made of solid gold bricks I’d like to sell you.

. . .

AMERICAN VANDAL

Yowza!  This is one of the best series I’ve ever seen, and it’s perfect in damn near every way.

On the surface it’s a parody of various true crime documentary series, especially Netflix’ own Making A Murderer.  It’s told from the point of view of two students in their high school’s audio-visual club who make a documentary about an act of vandalism directed at the school’s teachers and the student who is blamed for it.

Of course, as they investigate, they turn up evidence that the accused student did not commit the vandalism, and in their pursuit of the truth uncover several more secrets on their way to the big reveal.

At first blush, the makings of a solid show.

But what co-creators Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault manage to pull off with this is nothing short of astounding, a fun parody of a genre that raises interesting questions about both the genre they’re parodying and the issue of truth and guilt, while on top of that adding an incredibly complex yet easy to follow overlay of conflicting characters and emotions.

They get every single detail right, and even seemingly throw away lines / scenes / characters get fleshed out in amazing and unexpected ways (for example, one extremely minor character, with no significant dialog, who appears only briefly on camera as comic relief in one or two early episodes is later revealed to be severely alcoholic, and in recalling his earlier appearances, one realizes the character must be suffering through a genuinely hellish existence).

Dylan, the accused student, starts out as a character of fun and amusement, a high school goofball of Spicoli proportions, only to come to a sad and ultimately terrifying end as he realizes just how dumb and dead-end his life is.

I cannot praise thise series enough.  Very rarely will I look at someone else’s work and say “I wish I had done that.” American Vandal is one of the rare exceptions.

The series has two seasons, the first involving Dylan and the vandalism of the teachers’ cars, the second involving a food poisoning incident at a private school the original two students are invited to investigate.  Season two is very strong but lacks “the shock of the new” that season one provided; it’s high quality and entertaining, but not as compelling as the original.

. . .

© Buzz Dixon

[yasbxxgie]

In the wake of Kavanaugh’s confirmation, the consequences of the 2016 election are settling in at a whole new level for white women. As a result, many are revisiting the post-election statistic that showed 53 percent of white women voted for the candidate who spewed racial vitriol and actively emboldened violence against people of color, tolerating his vile misogyny in the process.

We know Trump’s election only exposed more brazenly what’s always been true: White women have always sided with white supremacy.

Now we’re reckoning with another devastating truth, and this one pertains to all white women—including that other 47 percent of us. If we had ever collectively worked to create sustained solidarity with women of color, instead of consistently aligning with white men, we wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with. Why? Deep, robust multiracial women coalitions would be an unstoppable force.

Another report knocked the wind out of some us. Though swarms of white women rose up publicly enraged, it was only among women of color that a clear and strong majority believed Christine Blasey Ford. A Quinnipiac poll showed that white women only broke 46 percent for Ford (and 43 percent in favor of Kavanaugh, a statistically insignificant difference). On the question of whether Kavanaugh should be confirmed anyway, 45 percent of white women said “yes.” Wow.

Here we sit, with ever more evidence that massive racial failure on the part of white women is at the center of this political crisis. At the root of it all is our collective choice to not learn, prioritize, or consistently live in public antiracist solidarity with communities of color, and especially with women of color.

In short, we’ve never bothered to learn calculus.

(For clarity’s sake, please know I’m purposely not talking about white men — yes, the ultimate perpetrators — here. I am not blaming white women for white male violence. I am also not disparaging the incredible courage of all survivors, including Blasey Ford. I am simply focusing on what white women collectively do and do not do, have and have not done, when it comes to race, racism, and antiracism.)

This is where (one) peril sets in. The longstanding failure to choose calculus that allowed this crisis leaves us wholly unprepared for a political moment where nothing less than brilliant mathematical abilities are required.

For women of color, that cuts deeply.

As we reel, more white women seem to say, “Oh shit! I really do need to learn calculus.” But women of color don’t have the time, energy, or patience to teach us. They certainly can’t trust us. And while women of color have distinctly individual perspectives on and responses to white women in this current moment, it’s safe to say that collectively they’re beyond outraged and all but done with us. Why? Because they’ve been demonstrating the life-or-death urgency of white women learning calculus for decades now.

And yet here we are.

Ongoing apathy toward making the work of antiracism a central priority of our lives as white women has allowed the school building to burn.

My fellow white women, there is nothing not bad about this moment.

Calculus is hard to learn in a regular and relatively calm school situation. Now we need to learn calculus in a school building that’s on fire.

Even for the most willing and earnest student, there’s no way around it: It takes a long time to learn calculus. And, yes, so many of us are deeply hurting, furious, raw, triggered, and afraid. But the building’s still on fire.

Students, sometimes have to actually screw up math problems to actually learn calculus. Screw ups are part of any learning process. But, again, the building’s on fire. And every white woman’s mistake pours more gasoline on a blaze that’s consuming us all very quickly.

The task here is as essential as it is herculean. We need to stop pouring more gasoline on this fire at the same time that we get belatedly serious about the long, slow, mistake-laden work of learning calculus—and we have to do it at lightning speed.

From one white woman to another, here are 10 concrete steps to take right now if we hope to ever do math with women of color—which is not optional if there is any hope of calling into existence the deep, robust, multiracial coalitions all our lives depend on.

No particular order here. Some of these steps fall in the category of “for the love of god, stop pouring gasoline!” Some fall in the category of our long, slow work. None are adequate. All are critical.

1. Stop saying ‘women’ anything.

When the phrase “women must…” or “women are…” is about to come out of your mouth: Stop. Commit to the discipline of being racially specific in your speech. “White women must…,” “white women are…,” or “women of color and white women seem to be…”—at which moment you may notice, “Oh, wait. I really can’t say anything about women of color because I don’t know.”

You may not understand why this discipline is important. Do it anyway. It’s important because there is no non-racialized woman. Committing to this practice will make you more likely to notice gaps in your awareness. You’ll be more likely to notice the racial assumptions embedded in your own claims. This will help you gain clarity about where you need to focus as you do your homework. It will also necessarily rein in your claims about “generic” women, which is one small but critical way to stop pouring gasoline on this fire.

2. Do not participate in any public action called by white women with a reflexive ’yes.’

Stop, seek out, and then listen seriously to what women of color say about it first.

That “women’s blackout” action? Serious douse of gasoline. Yes, a very small number of women of color in my life sent me the invitation, too. (Remember. People of color don’t speak in one voice on anything.) If more white women had slowed down and listened to what women of color had to say publicly about all the problems with that “black out,” well — I don’t need say more about its problems. Go read what feminists of color themselves said about it. They were clear.

3. If you didn’t take a knee during the anthem in support of Black lives for the last two years, don’t share the meme suggesting all women and girls should now take a knee (see item number 2).

Even better, invite other white women sharing this meme into public conversation about why this is a problem. Don’t yell at them. Ask them to talk it through.

But make sure some version of what’s wrong with this does get explained: If we haven’t been taking a knee for Black people already, then kneeling now exposes whose humanity we actually care about. Not to mention white people co-opting a Black people-led movement is a problem, along the lines of what happened to Tarana Burke. Gasoline.

4. Transfer the vast majority of the time you spend reading and engaging in media to reading and engaging with feminists of color.

Literally and almost exclusively read feminists of color (feminist men and other genders of color too) every single day as you try to figure out what the hell is going on in our country right now. Don’t worry, you’ll still get the news. But, you’ll get it through the analysis you’ll need if you want to move beyond basic addition. Do an audit of who is in your feed; choose to follow the many diverse and brilliant people of color who are public thinkers, writers, and activists. Engage their knowledge and wisdom (and their disagreements with each other). When you don’t understand what they’re saying or why they’re saying it—keep reading. Know that it’s going to take a while before the basic vocabulary of calculus makes sense to you. But it will come, if you stick with it.

5. When women of color write about white women, do not privately message them with questions or rebuttal…

…Unless they explicitly tell you they are cool with that.

If they invite public response and you decide to say or ask something, cool. But be ready then to just sit and listen deeply to the response, whatever it is. If the response makes you uncomfortable or isn’t in the tone you were hoping for, don’t proceed to tell them how it made you feel (more gasoline). Sit with those feelings and then keep reading, thinking, and engaging. If you need to talk about those feelings, cool. Find another white person who’s also trying to learn calculus—maybe someone who’s been at it for longer than you have—and talk it through with them. Then keep reading and listening and sitting with your feelings some more.

6. Don’t just sit there with your feelings. Take your actual physical self to an organization led by people of color who are working for justice—and show up in person.

(Assuming that organization welcomes white participation, of course; most do.)

Don’t say you’re too busy. If you volunteer at your kids’ school, do stuff for your church, are part of a book club, spend time on Facebook, whatever else—this is the moment to transfer hours in your given week from white people (even time spent at your own kids’ school; your kids are going to be fine) to people of color.

The obvious reason for this is to put more labor toward the disproportionate heavy-lifting people of color are already doing for justice. The added benefit is that you’ll start to learn calculus in a way that reading alone doesn’t make possible. Show up. Do what is asked of you. Listen carefully. Don’t overspeak. If you’re uncomfortable being one of the few white people in that space, good. Do it anyway. Don’t flake out.

(Join the NAACP—they’re doing voter mobilization all over right now. Put in volunteer hours to people of color groups working to decrease the presence of police in schools. Get active in a sanctuary network for which Latinx activists are calling the shots; white people with citizenship are needed desperately for all kinds of work. Show up. Wherever people of color live, they are organized and acting. Figure out where and go.)

7. Read ‘So You Want to Talk About Race’ by Ijeoma Oluo.

Seriously, do this right now. If you have the means, buy a copy for another white woman in your life; for all the white women you know. Read it alone. Read it together. Talk about it. This book is a crash course in calculus. It’s brilliant, truthful, funny, loving, difficult, nuanced, and more. Read it with your teenager. Ask your teenager what they think about it (start inviting them to learn calculus, too). See if your co-workers will talk about it with you over lunch.

8. Make a concrete commitment to reallocate resources to women of color organizations. Donate to women of color running for elected office.

Now I am talking about money. This part isn’t so much about you and calculus. It’s just the right thing to do. It also may be the best hope we have to save this “democracy.” I don’t mean that in a “women of color are going to save us” kind of way. But, seriously, we don’t get to just run around giving Facebook shoutouts to Black women voters in Alabama for saving us from predators like Roy Moore, and then not go all in for them. We owe women of color something, and this includes being all-in in terms of having their backs as they step up and out into leadership (taking huge risks as they do so). We owe actual time, energy, and resources. Get your white women friends (and the men) to give money too. Do it.

9. Some white women, white queer folks, and a handful of white feminist men have been working for a long time to learn calculus. Find and follow them, too.

They are imperfect and make mistakes. But being white and trying to learn calculus is different from being a person of color and learning calculus. There are unique challenges. Your learning will speed up if you engage some of the white people who have been on this learning journey for a while.

Be careful who you listen to. Vet those white people to be sure their calculus-learning is legitimate and on the right track. See who they’re in dialogue with. Notice what feminists of color say to and about them. (Hint: If mostly only other white people like their work, don’t learn to do math the way they’re doing it.) Find the white folks who are obviously in relationships of accountability with people of color—these people do exist. Get with them.

10. Take an inventory: Where do you shop? Who cuts your hair? Where do you take your kids to the dentist? Where do you eat out?

Find ways to move your personal participation in the economy over to Black, Latinx, and other businesses owned and operated by people of color. This includes medical offices, stores—as many establishments as you can. Urge others in your life to do so, too. This not only actively reallocates resources you are already expending to communities of color and their economies, it also brings you into more frequent contact with people who our deep and wide white-segregated enclaves typically prevent us from being in contact with.

That’s no quick math formula. But it is critical pre-context for calculus-learning.

***

Here we are.

When you’re in a burning building, every step you take must be purposeful. We’re not going to be collectively calculus-fluent anytime soon. We’re also going to have to live with the consequences of our collective behavior. Namely, we’re going to be divided from women of color for a very, very, very long time. And there are no guarantees here. When I said there is nothing not bad about this moment, I meant it.

But I also know this. Standing still in a burning school building isn’t an option. And I know there are lots of white women and white queer folks (and a few white feminist men) right now who want to take purposeful steps. As much as we don’t quite know what to do, don’t totally get it, are ourselves hurting, fear making mistakes that pour gasoline—there are many of us ready to roll up our sleeves and learn the math. Let’s get purposeful. Together.

If this is you (and I commit to you, it is also me), know you are not alone. I offer this essay in a spirit of love, anger, urgency, and partnership. Let’s pull out our pencil and paper now—and a shitload of erasers. And let’s get to work. [x]

[theprocrastinatingalien]

Star Trek: Discovery - My thoughts BEFORE the series starts.

In less than two months we'll finally have a new Trek on our TV screens.  STAR TREK: DISCOVERY starts in September, and thanks to San Diego Comic Con we've recently been treated to images and a new trailer to get us excited for the big event.

Every Trek fan has their expectations and opinions on the upcoming sixth series to carry the banner, and I thought I'd give some of mine.  So let's delve in, shall we?

Well, let me start by stating the obvious - I'm incredibly excited for it.  It's been a long time since we had a STAR TREK series on the small screen, the last being STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE, which ended on it's fourth season back in 2005. We've had movies, but I believe Trek is at it's best on television.

That's something I feel I should note.  A lot of 'Trekkies' don't like the latest film franchise.  Personally, I love them.   STAR TREK (09) is easily my favourite film of all the thirteen entries.  It's the most fun, and I think director JJ Abrams brought us something that Trek fans could enjoy (if they allowed themselves to) and something that would attract new fans.  Which he definitely did.

The reason why I bring these new films up... because DISCOVERY needs to do the same thing, if Trek is to survive. It needs to cater to both, which is not an easy task. I'll address this later though.   The thing that will really count is how well it's written. It's all in the story.

STORY ARC v EPISODIC

STAR TREK isn't know for long running arcs. The original series, back in the sixties, was made up almost exclusively with one of stories.  I think there was one two-parter in the entire three season run.   THE NEXT GENERATION had more. returns to stories and themes popping up, but really, it was mostly episodic stories.   The series that followed mixed things up a bit.  Whilst there were stand alone stories, arcs were brought in, to different degrees of success.    Most notably, DEEP SPACE NINE, being set on a station, with a large amount of supporting characters, meant arcs could be achieved easily - and we were given the season-spanning 'Dominion War'.

On it's initial run, I'd say DS9 was my favourite Trek.  However, since then, I've found it harder to 'dip in', where was you can easily pick a TNG episode to fill an hour.

This will be something that DISCOVERY will have to contend with.  At 15 episodes, it's the shortest run of a Trek series (that mostly enjoyed a full 26 episodes) and - most importantly - it will feature a season arc, in a way that's not been done in Trek.  That in itself is a double-edged sword.  If it's a good story, great.  If it's not... we'll, we're stuck with it for 15 episodes.  That could spell the end for the series before it even gets going.   That said, we've been told the series is going to take a cue from GAME OF THRONES and not be afraid to kill off it's characters.    Again this is new for Trek.  Very rarely do the main cast get killed off, so we should get a sense of real jeopardy.  It works so well for 24 and THE WALKING DEAD, and should help breath new life into the Trek franchise.  I approve.

THE TIME PERIOD

This is the first issue for me. I'm happy for the writers to take me on their journey, wherever - or whenever - that may be.  However, like most fans, I really wanted the new series to be set after the events of VOYAGER. I was hoping it'd be the most advanced series and the creative team would be able to build upon new adventures with the entire of history of the franchise to mine gold from.

DISCOVERY will be set 10 years before Kirk commanded the Enterprise.    That means it sets itself between STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE and the original series. That means it needs to carefully walk a line - giving us brand new stories, whilst adhering to canon.  Continuity is a must. The big problem here is, the originals series was made in the sixties with next to no budget.  DISCOVERY clearly does have a budget.  The looks of the times don't match up.  The USS Discovery shouldn't sleeker and more technologically advanced that the USS Enterprise... but it does.  Of course it does. Certain fans won't be happy, but this change just makes sense really.     I'm not really sure  I'd want the brand new series to purposely look like the lesser sixties look. 

I do wish the series was set much later though. 

KLINGONS

Yikes.  This was one of the big shocks... the new look Klingons.  Let's be honest, the Klingons have changed looks, but it's been explain in canon.  This new look for the warrior race doesn't really fit.  Or does it?

There's a reference that these Klingons are actually 'Ancient' Klingons.  They could just be an ancestor, a precursor to the Klingon's that we know and love. That would be fine.  However, if it turns out that these are supposed to be the same Klingons from all the series, it's a major step away from canon and continuity that will be difficult to digest for most fans.  Sadly, that includes me.  So I have my fingers crossed they are 'ancient' and we'll get a glimpse of our familiar Klingons in there at some point.

MICHAEL BURNHAM

Sonequa Martin-Green plays our lead character.  The first female African-American lead in franchise.  In fact, scanning over the franchise as a whole, Michael's only the second female African-American to be included in the main cast at all (the other being Uhura - originally played by Nichelle Nichols, and currently by Zoe Saldana). 

Any viewer of THE WALKING DEAD will tell you than Sonequa is a fine actress, and will make for a great lead in the new series.  I do happen to be a fan of TWD, and am excited to see what SMG brings to the table.

The name 'Michael' seems an odd choice, not that there aren't females with the name, but it is prominently a male name.  Was this done for a reason?  It's obviously not going to affect the plot, it just seems a little jarring.   It almost feels like they were looking for ANYONE to play the lead.  (We know this isn't the case at all, the lead was always going to be female, and was never going to be white).

Anyway, more importantly, Michael is our first lead not to be the Commanding Officer of the ship. This will, apparently, give us a different approach, seeing the ship from another level. Ultimately I'm not sure this will be as different a view point as the writers suggest.  Michael is still the first officer.  It's not like she's a lowly engineer.  But I like the intention.  I wonder if her position will change?  How long before she ends up the Captain of the ship? 

The other major plot point to note about the character, she's been revealed that she's been raised as a step-sister to Spock.  I know a lot of fans don't buy this particular plot point, whilst the ones that do think it might be a cheap shot at bringing in links to the original series, that aren't really necessary.

I'm going to sit on the fence here.  It'll come down to how this particular bit of information affects the series.  We know Sarek, Spocks' dad plays an important part in the series - possible a series regular even.   The story - as I see it - is that Michael's parents were killed, and Sarek took the girl in, and raised (as a human) on Vulcan.  James Frain now plays Spock's dad.  It does beg the question on whether we'll be meeting Spock himself at some point.   It's a talking point for fans, which is obviously something the producers are hoping for.

I'm okay with the connection.  We didn't know about Sybok - Spock's half brother - until he was created for STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER, so Michael's connection isn't as far fetched as fans want to make out.  I'm happy to see how the storyline rides, then I'll decide if it was a silly idea.

SARU

Our resident alien.  Saru is a Kelpian, a new species to Trek.  This is another one of those problems tied to the fact the series is set before all the others... how are we only just meeting a Kelpian?  Do they all get killed off?  Maybe they're already an endangered species?   We know from actor Doug Jones, that the Kelpian's "sense death" coming due to be the prey on their own world.  Maybe Saru will be the first and last Kelpian to join Starfleet?  

I'm looking forward getting to know this character.  As an alien, he looks very different, straying from the standard 'forehead' alien Trek is known for.  The character even has hooves!  That's new.   As the science officer, Saru will definitely fill that void taken by Spock,, Data and Seven etc... I expect him to be a fan favourite.

CAPTAINS LORCA and GEORGIOU

How much will these two captain's play in the series?  We know that Philippa Georgiou is the commanding officer on the USS Shenzou, whilst Gabriel Lorca commands the USS Discovery.    We also know the story begins on the former and moves to the latter. Does this mean Michelle Yeoh's character will be one of the first big deaths?  It's possible.  I don't believe she's a regular, only recurring.  Jason Isaacs (well known to the HARRY POTTER fans) is a regular.   He'll have the unique situation of be the first series commanding officer, not to be the series lead.   He's been described as 'edgy'.  I wonder if the writers will taker bigger risks with him, give him shades of great because he doesn't need to act as our moral compass.

THE UNIFORMS

I really like them, they might even end up one of my favourites.  The problem is... they don't quite fit with what came before, and what comes later in the timeline. Star Trek is known for the division colours, prime colours red, blue and yellow. The meanings have changed over time - with red and yellow switching command and operations, whilst the blue has always signified the sciences. DISCOVERY has thrown out those colours in favour of a shiny gold, silver and bronze. 

Once again, if the series was set further into the future than all the other series, it wouldn't matter so much. Where it's placed though, means it's an odd choice, and once they didn't need to make.

I predict the costume will be changed should DISCOVERY receive a second season.   It's not easy enough to tell the differences between the gold and bronze, and I think the change back to the classic trio of colours will be in order.  If you imagine the uniform as black, with the red, yellow or blue, then I doubt many fans could argue.

That said, if the show changes uniforms it might be to step closer to the ones from the original series.

I think I've chatted on enough, for those of you still reading, I'd like to know if you share my thoughts and views. 

As I said earlier, the show is going to have to try and please old and new fans alike.  The best way to do it is to make the best possible series.  Fans want continuity, and for everything to fit into canon.  On the whole, that is possible.  Those same fans will have to allow some concessions though.  Not everything will look just how they want it.  Certain liberties will be made, just like every series before has done when it's needed. 

There is a nasty habit in the fandoms - Trek, Star Wars and Doctor Who - where those 'die hard' fans really don't like anything new.  Nothing should be changed and they threaten to boycott the new incarnations.   I am not one of those.  I do consider myself a die hard Trekkie.  I've been a fan for 29 years.  But I embrace it all.  Not all of it is that great, and I as part of the community we all prefer different bits.   Some fans will prefer the original series and STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN. Others will like STAR TREK: VOYAGER and STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT the best.

For what it's worth, my favourite series in STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, and I rate STAR TREK (09) the best film.   That's my opinion, and I'm entitled to it.

The new series hasn't aired yet, it's too soon to judge it harshly.  Watch it and then judge it.  It will be interested, once it has aired, to revisit this entry and see if my current thoughts are still relevant. 

September isn't too far way, which means neither is Trek back on our screens.  Surely that's a good thing.  Right?

[bapakharyoso]

Photo: Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Port Authority made history last night as the first film starring a trans woman of color to premiere at Cannes . The film, from writer-director Danielle Lessovitz, stars model, voguer, and actress Leyna Bloom as Wye, a young trans woman entrenched in Harlem’s kiki ballroom scene who falls in love with a cis white male drifter named Paul (Fionn Whitehead). It’s a career-making turn for newcomer Bloom, who’s magnetic in the role — with the dazzling screen presence of a Golden-Age legend — but the supporting cast surrounding her are just as

Photo: Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Port Authority made history last night as the first film starring a trans woman of color to premiere at Cannes. The film, from writer-director Danielle Lessovitz, stars model, voguer, and actress Leyna Bloom as Wye, a young trans woman entrenched in Harlem’s kiki ballroom scene who falls in love with a cis white male drifter named Paul (Fionn Whitehead). It’s a career-making turn for newcomer Bloom, who’s magnetic in the role — with the dazzling screen presence of a Golden-Age legend — but the supporting cast surrounding her are just as brilliant. As Wye’s fellow dancers and chosen family, the members of the McQueen House fill the film with light and energy, dancing on the steps of New York’s Port Authority, performing at vibrant late-night ballroom competitions, and consoling her when Paul acts like a dick, which is quite often. [1][2][3]

The members of McQueen House are played almost exclusively by young, queer people of color; in real life, many of them are also firmly rooted in New York’s ballroom scene. On last night’s red carpet, Bloom and her onscreen family went instantaneously viral, strutting and voguing up the Palais stairs in bright, flowing garments. As Wye puts it in the film, the kiki ballroom scene is about “taking back all the space that the world doesn’t give me”; last night, she and the cast did just that.

But the “boys,” as Port Authority’s supporting cast is affectionately called within the film’s circle, almost didn’t make it to Cannes. Back in April, faced with the impossible financial realities of flying across the country on an indie movie budget, they decided to start a GoFundMe called “Kiki Road to Cannes[4].” “The inventive dancing styles and costumes these kiki members create have been copied many times over by famous artists and singers, but deserved attribution is rarely ascribed for their efforts. Now we have a chance to honor their contributions on an international stage at Cannes,” reads the fundraising page. “Many of our actors come from underprivileged backgrounds and have been homeless at various points in their lives, often as a result of being ostracized by their families for being queer. The kiki scene is where they find family and acceptance. These young people have breathed such life into the film, and we want to make sure they are able to come to France to celebrate their achievement at the Cannes Festival.”

In just four weeks, the GoFundMe raised $6,000 of the boys’ $10,000 goal. It was enough to send all of them to the festival, where I had the chance to catch up with them the morning after their viral red-carpet moment. When I sat down with Christopher Quarles (aka Afrika Juicy Milan), Eddie Plaza (aka Miggy Mulan), Devon Carpenter, Taliek Jeqon, Paris Warren, and producer Jari Jones, their positive energy was palpable and contagious. By the end of our conversation, we were all hugging and promising to meet up back in New York. Below, they tell me what it’s like to be “discovered,” make a groundbreaking film, and end up in the South of France, voguing down the Croisette.

Eddie Plaza: They let us vogue on the red carpet. Did you see it? Look [shows me the photos in the Cannes Festival magazine]. Jesus Christ, that’s amazing.

Yes, you guys all look fucking amazing. Tell me how you all got cast in Port Authority. Christopher Quarles: I was just walking a random ball and people came up to me out of nowhere — after I won, of course. They were like, “I love your personality, we saw you moving around the room. We want to invite you to this casting.” I was like, “Okay … ” I thought it was a scam — another one. But then it was like, step after step after step, and look where I’m at!

Devon Carpenter: We were at the same ball, and I was walking, and the [casting directors] came up to me and were saying they loved my performance, my personality. I also thought it was a scam. But I decided to have faith. It became an amazing experience.

Taliek Jeqon: And I was at the same ball! [Laughs] I didn’t win. They actually missed my category. I walk a category called Bazaar, and my category is really big, out there, glitter, colors — I had to get ready. They were like, “I didn’t see you walk! We need to see you again.”

Eddie:They cast me literally in the street. I was at a festival outside and they came up to me, and asked me, “What’s your height? How much you weigh?” I was like, “Mister! I don’t know who you are! I’m not telling you anything.” But I searched him on Google, and as soon as I saw they were legit, I was like, “I have to do this.”

Did you guys all know each other beforehand? Eddie: Yes. But we weren’t close. But we built a crazy bond over filming. It was so dope to know the people, then learn who they are inside.

Christopher: This is my nephew. This is my brother. This is my best friend. The only person I didn’t know was Eddie. But in this community, we don’t have to know each other to know each other. We’re like, “What’s up, girl? What’s up, sis?” You’re a family. It’s automatic.

Do you hang out all the time now? All:Of course. Of course.

Eddie: It’s family vibes. If you’re not cool with your real biological family, you can go out and find yourself a chosen family.

Christopher: Join the Marines.

Eddie: Join the McQueens! [Laughs.]

Do you guys refer to yourself as the McQueens now? Christopher: We are McQueens. We hold onto that legacy. It’s been a part of the kiki scene for 13 years now. Forever. We’re all individually in different houses — some of us lead their houses. [All go around and name their houses, overlapping with each other.]

You see? There’s so much. People look up to us and we don’t even know half the time. I’m openly HIV-positive, so I deal with a community that’s very different. We deal with a lot of trauma, emotions, stigma. So for me, it’s deeper. I’m able to be an openly HIV-positive person. You have so many people who look at us like, “He’ll be gone in a few years.” I’ve had people say that to me. My mom had the nerve to take out an extra life insurance policy on me. That broke me. For me, it’s deeper. There’s no life expectancy for me. I’m here.

Jari Jones: Preach.

Paris Warren: Moments like this are reassuring for me as well. I’m HIV-positive as well. Meeting all of them, connecting with them in this way, inspired me as a person. I love them. This is my brother. This is my best friend. This is my good Judy. I’m so happy. It’s bigger than me. It’s bigger than all of us. Even though people in America are talking about it, they don’t even know what’s going on. Just the surface.

Eddie: The tip of the ice cube!

Tell me about how the fundraiser started. Jari: When the campaign started, it was very important for me to make sure they got here. To have black and brown bodies on that red carpet — it’s a game-changer. Black men, queer black men. They don’t make it [to Cannes], not like that. It’s not something that’s common. For them, these individuals, to be that symbol — for them to do that — it meant the world. We did everything we could to get here.

Taliek: It feels really good and reassuring to be able to communicate [our story]. The art of vogue is a place to express yourself. It’s good for your mental health. It’s reassuring to our community to see us here. We wanted to uplift our community, and our community uplifted us.

We wanted to show people what our family was like. We wanted to tell our stories, and we needed the support, and we were humble enough to ask. It’s our community and we’re trying to get ourselves together. It takes a village. It feels good to know you have people supporting you. Everybody wants to feel accepted. And we have it amongst each other, too — [Devon’s] mom is here with us. I’d never met her, but it was instantly like, “Oh, can I have a bowl of cereal?”

Christopher: Even though I’m the head honcho. [Laughs] She, like, was my mother.

How did you react when you learned you’d be here? Christopher: I went and got my passport. That Sunday. They made me the ringleader for passports. Eddie was like, “What do I need to do?” I was like, “Listen, girl, you gotta get in line.” She didn’t wanna wait. She wanted to get online. It didn’t hit me until the day before. I’ve been let down so much. As a black man, I’ve been let down a lot in my lifetime. I don’t ever get my hopes up, because shit always happens. I was like, “I’m not gonna brag, I’m not gonna talk about it.” I held this to myself for so long. I told a few people, but I held it in because I was afraid.

People told me all the time I had potential to do great things. But I would doubt myself. Everytime something good came along, something would happen.

Paris: You gotta get so many no’s to get a yes.

Christopher: You have to build your strength. At this point in my life, there’s nothing nobody can tell me.

Taliek: A goddamn thing!

Eddie: That’s why it was so amazing. We’d gone through all that just to get here. Watching people support us, watching that number go up, I was so ecstatic.

Devon: It felt so good.

Eddie: They believed in us. They believed in the dream we had. They wanted us to create history. And that’s what we did.

Christopher: Indya Moore from Pose[5]used to be one of my gay daughters. She told me her dream. She was like, “This is what I’m doing. Nobody’s gonna stop me.” We lost connection because I’m doing this and she’s doing this, but that happens in life. I tagged her in [the campaign], and she’s always been that person that wants to give back. Once I did that, she posted it back, and $500 was in the account. That’s community support.

Paris: It’s about time. It’s about time. To see that momentum will just continue to make these moments come for people, not just us.

Jari: That’s how we survive being black, being queer. You don’t have something? Ask your brother. Ask your sister. Borrowing a cup of sugar? That’s so real. We know how to come together to make something grand. So we came together and did it. It’s our chosen family.

Paris: Chosen family — it’s the family you have [versus] the family you choose to have. This is my family. I love them. They mean the world to me.

Devon: I’m so thankful to share this with my family.

Did you plan the voguing on the carpet, or was it spontaneous? Christopher: It was a mix of both, because it was kind of last minute.

Eddie: We wanted to! But we got the confirmation literally three hours beforehand. So we were pretty much like, “This is what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna take [Taliek’s] dress off, and that’s what gonna happen.” He wouldn’t be Taliek if he wasn’t extra and had those two outfit changes.

Taliek: I wanted to be Lady Gaga. [6]Not to discredit anyone, but when I was speaking to my biological mother about my red-carpet look, I showed her my dress. She was like, “Why are you wearing a dress to the red carpet?” I was like, “Because I’m representing my community. If I was going to a ball, that’s what I’d be wearing.” But I was like, “I love you down mom, and you helped me get here too. So to respect you, I’m gonna wear a suit, too. But I want to have my moment as well.” The pictures are on Page Six! I vogued down. I think she was surprised — she didn’t realize how big this was. But she texted me, “Oh my god.”

Jari: We’re holding so much weight. To let it out was amazing. To be the first: The first to vogue on the carpet. The first to not wear suits on the carpet. Leyna is the first trans leading black woman. I’m the first black trans woman to produce a film here. If we don’t go big, why are we even here? We have to work twice as hard to make a statement.

Paris: Three times harder!

Christopher: You know Paris Is Burning premiered here years back. None of the [cast] made it here. Now look at us, generations later. We’ve imprinted on that carpet.

Eddie: This is how Paris is Burning was supposed to be.

Paris: It’s about creating an opportunity.

Devon: For that little boy in Minnesota, in Indiana, who think they can’t do this. They can see us on that red carpet.

Paris: It’s all about support. Especially in our community, it’s about creating a narrative and building on it.

Jari: We have to do it all ourselves. Nobody else is going to do it.

Eddie: Especially coming from the background we come from. We were given scraps, and we made —

All in unison: Gold.

References

^Port Authority (www.vulture.com)

^Cannes (www.vulture.com)

^which is quite often. (www.vulture.com)

^“Kiki Road to Cannes (www.gofundme.com)

^Indya Moore from Pose (www.vulture.com)

^be Lady Gaga. (www.vulture.com)

PAGE 2

[theattainer]

HOW TO BECOME A MILLIONAIRE

https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-8116c68c123fb90152fb7261be60ad4f

http://theattainer.com/how-to-become-a-millionaire/

HOW TO BECOME A MILLIONAIRE

I was a poor high school student with mediocre grades. I didn’t play any sports. I had few friends.

I’d go home and read and watch TV all day and night. I love TV.

I was a mediocre college student. But I didn’t want to get into too much debt. I took lots of extra college courses so I could skip a year.

But my grades were so bad that the week before I graduated I had to beg a professor to give me a D+ instead of a D- so I would have high enough GPA so they would give me a degree.

I was a mediocre employee. I got fired from my first two jobs. My third job was very easy but still they would yell at me if I ever disappeared from my desk for too long.

I was unhappy. But I wanted to break out of prison. To escape. To be free.

I used to play chess all day and night online. One time my boss knocked on my locked door because my software was broken and he couldn’t get work done.

I didn’t answer because I was in the middle of a one minute blitz chess match.

Later that day my girlfriend showed up at my office near midnight banging on the door and saying, “I know you’re in there!”

I didn’t answer because 14 hours after my boss banged on my door I was still in the same match. Seggev from Israel. I couldn’t stand him! So we played all day.

One guy a few offices down started a company (Lycos) that was worth billions. Another guy on my floor sold his company a few years later for $40 million.

I played chess all day and avoided work and tried to write, unsuccessfully, a good novel. I also read comic books a lot: Eightball, Optic Nerve, Yummy Fur, Palookaville, were some of my favorites. Autobiographical comics in black and white about people who seemed to be losers like me.

The comic store wouldn’t hire me when I asked about a job. I would rather work for no pay around comics than program computers.

I started work at HBO. They asked me what my salary was at my old job. I said $38,000 so they offered me $40,000. But I had lied. I was making $27,600 at my old job. I was 26 years old.

I moved to NYC and I couldn’t do anything at the job. I crashed everything. They had to send me to remedial classes and considered firing me.

I lived in one room in NYC with Elias, a chess player I met at Washington Square Park. We had one room. He slept on the couch and I slept on the futon. I had a garbage bag for my clothes.

I took my suit out of the garbage bag each day and wore it to work and never washed it.

One day Elias came in at three in the morning and said, “Hurry! We have to move. I haven’t been paying the rent.”

And even though I had been paying him rent, I moved the next day to a roach-infested apartment in Queens with one piece of furniture. A foam mattress that would get permanently soaked by my sweat each night.

In Queens, I’d tip the waitresses with $2 bills and would write creepy notes on the bills like, “I’d like to take you to dinner. Here’s my number: …”

Then I became a millionaire.

—

My sister asked me, “Can you help my husband?” So I visited his office. He was in the business of making CD-roms.

I showed him this new thing, the World Wide Web. We started playing around making websites.

He’d do the design, I did the software. Adrian, his partner, figured out all the hosting.

Then a wholesale diamond dealer, Shlomo, asked us to do a website so he could sell direct to consumers.

He gave us $35,000 cash. I had $0 in my bank account and all of a sudden, I was rich! I had $17,500 in the bank. More money than ever.

I went to the Chelsea Hotel, where I always wanted to live. All my favorite artists, poets, writers, had lived there at some point.

I had a paper bag of cash. Stanley Bard, the owner, said to me, “What are you, a drug dealer?” Still, he let me live there.

(My first real home on my own)

We did another website: AmericanExpress.com. Now I had more money in the bank. Nobody knew how to make websites then, except me and a handful of other people in NYC. Our frenemies for the next five years.

Then we did HBO.com, TimeWarner.com, ConEdison.com, etc. etc. We hired people. I quit my job . We did more websites. We sold the business.

I was rich.

For a brief moment, everyone wanted to be my friend. But then a few years later I was broke, and had no friends.

—

A business is these three parts:

You have excess of X (e.g. empty car seats).

Someone else wants X (e.g. someone who can’t catch a cab on a rainy day).

The business is the platform in the middle that helps “B” meet “A”, handles the money transaction, handles disputes, etc. (e.g. Uber).

Think of this with Airbnb, Grubhub, Amazon, even a clothing store (which can only grow to the size of it’s physical space, as opposed to an online platform).

—

How to have EXCESS:

I messed this up a lot. Peter Thiel, in his book, makes the fascinating point that in capitalism, competition is bad. You don’t really want to compete with anyone. You want to be the best BY FAR.

Not 10% better. Ten TIMES better.

With that first business I had EXCESS as defined by these parts:

I was the ONLY person who could do websites as fast as I could. Maybe my competitors could be as fast, but rarely (back then).

Websites were new, nobody had them, and everyone needed them.

It was easy for them. Just pay me and I’d deliver a complete website with no hassles and even host it for them.

I was cheap. Because my competitors were building big businesses and I was just trying to get cash in the bank. We’d only hire anyone when we were all overwhelmed.

I always delivered more than I promised. Your best new clients are your old clients. If you always UNDER promise and OVER deliver, you never lose your old clients.

I’m the shyest, most introverted person in the world. But because we delivered on our “excess knowledge of the internet”, good word-of-mouth spread.

I had passion. Everyone I spoke to, I preached how the Web was going to be everywhere. Someone with sincere passion (backed with expertise), could always beat the person just trying to make money.

I’m bad with follow-up. My main problem was that I was great at selling people, and then they (JPMorgan, for instance) would burn up my phone and I’d never return their calls.

I never return calls and I always regret it.

Plus, I had a full-time job. My “side hustle” was my full time job at HBO. My full time job was my new business.

Then I sold the company. At age 30 I was a millionaire. At age 34 I was dead broke.

—

Using the ideas above, there are many ways to make a million dollars.

You don’t need to be a super genius. You don’t need to build a spaceship. Or a new way for robots to detect faces. Or a billion-user social network.

You can be mediocre. You can procrastinate. You can just do nothing some days. But you have to follow some basic points.

Here are a few ideas of the model of business described above. Don’t do these if you don’t want. This is just to get your mind thinking.

BOOKS: Find categories on Amazon with few books but high sales numbers. This means there is demand. Write five books a month (20–50 page books. Do a lot of research). In a year you’ll have written 60 books. If each book is bringing in, on average, $1,000 per month, that’s $720,000 a year. You are worth well over $1 million at that point.

(Steve Scott has around 100 books for sale on Amazon with various pseudonyms)

BUY LOW, SELL HIGH: Many websites out there sell things cheap: Alibaba, WaystoCap, diamond wholesalers. Set up an Amazon Sellers page. Mark up prices. Drop ship from the cheaper sites directly to your buyers. There’s more nuances here but passion will help you find them.

INFORMATION: What are you passionate about? List 10 things you are passionate about that you think people would want to know about. Now put up 10 ads on Facebook, “buy this information”. See where people click. This shows you demand. Now create the newsletter to meet that demand. Do one free giveaway in exchange for an email address and start selling your excess knowledge to the people who are on your email list.

EXAMPLE: You love the Bible and you love dieting. Now sell the “What Would Jesus Eat” diet newsletter. Filled with inspirational Bible quotes, diet info from that period of history, anecdotes from the Bible, and recipes.

Trust me, this will sell.

(Figure out how to make yours unique! And why YOU are the expert)

      Exclusive Content:

Watch This Stock Market Celebrity Do Amazing Street Magic… On Camera

Just a few weeks ago, we got a strange invitation.

James Altucher, the famous ex-hedge-fund manager, financial author, and frequent contributor seen on CNN, MSNBC, in Forbes and the Wall Street Journal, and Financial Times…

Asked us to come up to New York and, as he said, “bring a camera.”

We did. And what happened next was absolutely incredible — live, on camera, this famous celebrity conducted what we can only describe as “a magic income experiment.”

I’ve never seen anybody do anything quite it… click here to see what happened.

            GET INTO COLLEGE COACHING: It’s harder than ever to get into college. But there are always back doors.

EXAMPLE: Columbia University has a 6.6% acceptance rate. But Barnard College (which is basically apart of Columbia) has a 20% acceptance rate. If you get a Barnard degree you can say you have a Columbia degree.

For EVERY college there is a backdoor. Become the expert, do a few for free to get testimonials, interview 50 admissions officers, and write a book to become an “expert”, charge $1,000, and coach via Skype. This becomes a business. Sell it.

  (There’s always a backdoor)

TRENDS: Become an expert in a fast growing trend that you love. For instance, I loved the internet when nobody knew about it. I loved stocks and many people were excited about stocks, etc.

Learn everything about the trend, write down 10 ideas a day how to make money off of the trend. Offer to consult companies trying to get involved in the trend, eventually start charging for consulting, speaking, etc. or build a company of your own.

Examples of trends that are hot or becoming hot: crypto/blockchain, marijuana, e-sports, big data, AI, cyber security, social media consulting, easier, niche medical care for older people (e.g. erectile dysfunction, Alzheimer’s, longevity, etc.).

Start with a manual service (like consulting or speaking) and then figure out how to automate (I failed at this side in my first business but would not make that mistake again).

Ways that trends can be monetized: be the business (e.g. grow marijuana), be the news source for the business (many crypto websites have millions of users a month), be a consultant about the trend, gamble on the trend (for instance, use statistics to figure out what fantasy teams to bet on in e-sports), take ideas from other industries and apply them to your business (for instance, a legal exchange for marijuana products, ancillary products, etc.).

STEAL: Take an old-school brand that hasn’t been touched in 100 years. Make the same product, use social media and Amazon advertising to defeat the product. I know someone who did this to Igloo Iceboxes and overtook this 100 year old brand on Amazon in just 48 hours.

(Yeti Cooler vs. The Coleman Xtreme: which came first? Which used social media first to DOMINATE?)

                        I don’t present these as ideas you should do.

If I were parachuted, dead broke, into a country I had no connections, I’d study the ideas above to learn how to think about creating a side hustle that could make me a millionaire.

I’d try more than one idea until I found what worked for me.

And then I’d hit the gas pedal. I’d CRUSH THAT GAS PEDAL.

—

One time I was in the hedge fund business. I raised money from wealthy people, invested it, and took a share of the profits.

A friend of mine said, “I want you to meet my boss. He runs a big hedge fund. Maybe he’d invest in you.”

So I went with him to his work. His boss gave me a tour. Then we sat down and he asked what I wanted to do with him.

I said, “I think you should invest with me,” and I gave my pitch, But I wasn’t unique. I wasn’t the ONLY one who could do this (remember above about competition).

He said, “I like you. You could work here if you want. But we already have good returns. And I don’t know where you invest your money. Maybe you do things I don’t like.”

I felt my heart getting crushed.

“And the last thing we need is to see the name ‘Bernard Madoff Securities’ end up on the front page of the Wall Street Journal,” Bernie Madoff said to me.

You can’t compete against scammers because until they are caught, they seem great.

You have to go into areas where scammers are not infested. They infest quickly.

—

The most important thing: love.

A friend of mine said to me, “Can you make me $1 million?” And I said, “Yes” because I had a crush on her, plus I knew I could help her.

She said, “I will follow exactly everything you say.”

So I started to tell her what to do and she was doing it. Then she said, “But I want to help people who are trying to get rid of drug addictions.”

I said, “Those aren’t the sort of people who have enough money to make you millions.”

“Let me just try,” she said and she stopped following my advice exactly. Only partially.

She built a good career. But not millions. But still, she loves it. She has a better life than making $1 million and not doing what she loves.

Love will let you put in the extra hour each day to learn more than everyone else.

Love will give you that slightly more passionate tilt in your voice when you are selling.

Love will mean your work-life balance is not an issue. It’s all LIFE. There’s no work when you love.

And if what you love can make you millions, even better.

But if you just spend the rest of your life in love, it’s a life worth living.

What do you think?

[spotlightsaga]

Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews… Orange is the New Black (S05E05) Sing It, White Effie Airdate: June 9, 2017 @oitnb Ratings: @netflix Score: 8.75

**********SPOILERS BELOW**********

OITNB has a habit of having white folks tell black folks’ stories… Normally you can kind of sense it right away, but after watching ‘Sing It, White Effie’ I had to look up the primary writer. I’ve talked about this a few times but never on this grand of a stage. I know that this has been addressed by many in previous years including Essence Magazine (which, yes I do read). It’s true that we as human beings, of blood and guts and organs and bones, are for the most part the exact same, sans a few genetic defects that only affect a certain race… And it’s true that some of us in different parts of the world have very different experiences due to environment. For instance, for over a decade in Miami, my only friends have been ones of color… Literally 98% Latin & Black… Despite how other parts of my family live, I live very differently. Growing up a 'sexually fluid’ ginger with a mother who was a very young teenager in high school gave me a vastly different experience than most. I’ve always celebrated my fucking weirdness. In high school I was literally a walking oxymoron, wearing 90 inch GAT pants I stole from the mall or borrowed from my friend, GlowGirl (yeah in the late 90s we all had Rave Names, didn’t you know?), paired with an oversized button up I found in my step-dads closet and a vest from Structure and Brooks Brothers eyeglasses that my Grandmother bought me on a visit… Not to mention spiked up Backstreet Boy haircut (that may or may not have been blue), tousled in the front, and fucking candy and jelly bracelets from the base of my thumbs up past my elbows. What the fuck, right? You’d think I’d look back and hate it, but all I see is a RAD fn’ Rave Star with 'anti-anti’ 90’s culture embodiment… Serving up Rave-Tastic Soccer Playing Prep Freak “on a Lemonade budget”…. Thank you, Shea Coulee!

Diversity has always been a part of my life in one way or another. I love to trade perspectives. I ask questions and offer up personal experiences instead of telling people their way of thinking is wrong, because I want people to understand me and I want to understand them. I truly believe that if we all at least tried to understand each other instead of this 'This opinion is right. This opinion is wrong,’ divisive mindset so many have seem to have adopted as of late the world would be a much better place. That being said, I just wrote a few articles on the 3rd Season of '60 Days In’ and stated there were certain topics I couldn’t completely speak on, even being a diverse ginger gringo faggot or whatever anyone wants to throw my way. On the internet today I was told I have a PHD in Cock Sucking (and other things that literally just look like letters on a page to me) and on the bus just last Monday, I let Snapchat take a quick, disappearing peak at a woman attacking my partner and I on the bus with an umbrella who called us 'stretched out asshole faggot cock sucking mother fuckers that will fry in hell’, I couldn’t make this shit up even if I tried. She had gotten a glimpse at my partner helping me on the bus because I have some issues moving around on Monday’s due to some disc issues in the upper parts of my back and went in for the kill when my partner asked if she could please turn the music down that she was blasting from her phone like she wasn’t aware that one can totally sonically invade someone’s space. None of these experiences give me the proper perspective needed to make a complete series featuring an episode that looks through the lens of a woman of color’s standpoint on Culture Appropriation on an all white 'DreamGirls’ production at the 'White School of Rich Bitch Privilege’.

Don’t get me wrong, this is probably the best take on racial issues I’ve ever seen on OITNB. I was moved, accomplished NYC playwright and television writer & editor Molly Smith Metzler, whose worked on two of my favorite Streaming Only series (OITNB & Hulu’s 'Casual’) is a raw talent that streaming networks would be lucky to have work on their exclusive series… But it all still felt like it was missing something. Some might tell you that the 'diversity’ plays itself out in front of the camera, but I assure you as a writer that it takes a village. When it comes to television particularly, everything is filtered through a lens after a lens after another lens…. As the showrunner draws out a storyboard with producers and then oversees the writing of a script which is handed to an editor and then off to a director which directs the actors who have their own interpretation of that character who are then filmed and framed by a cinematographer who hands over the multiple takes to an editor, who then slices and dices and puts together the final product that the network may possibly need to approve and by now I’m out of fucking breath. And I didn’t even mention the composers, casting directors, production designers, art directors, set decorators, costumes, makeup, the fn’ art department, sound department who collaborates with special effects people, not to be confused with the visual effects crew and the dozens and dozens of others who’s lens it funnels through to make a finished product. Did I make a point yet?

'Sing It, White Effie’ is by far the best of #OITNB5 but just like the tears that filled my eyes during the final moments when a young Janae has an epiphany when she realizes what her trip to a private school that has a trio of rich white girls playing the main characters of 'DreamGirls’ truly represents…. Just like Taystee’s beautiful, enthralling speech that I’m sure we all applauded and were worked up over emotionally… It just could have been better. No matter what you know, no matter what you’ve seen, no matter how intense your empathy radar is, no matter how many shoes you have traded with other people… We can write out someone else’s story, we can do our research, we can firmly believe the things we say, we can identify pieces of a puzzle of someone else’s story through idiosyncratic experiences, but we’ll never be able to put the entire puzzle together without the missing piece.

I don’t want it to seem like I’m complaining, I’m only imagining that a fantastic show could be even bolder, even more intense, even more 'on the nose’ with it’s ironic comedy style, that’s sometimes dark so that it fades into the drama with more ease. I love OITNB, I do. I would go as far as to say that this is the most bingeable show ever created. The hardest thing I’ve had to do in the past few months (thank god) is to decide to go to sleep instead of watching and writing about another episode of this very show. Slowly but surely, the inmates of Litchfield are shown to notice little things that are waking them to the impending consequences that are sure to devastate these women in a major way.

Right now it’s the little things, like Suzanne (Uzo Aduba), the usual most 'out of touch’ resident of Litchfield, observing the fact that she’s not being fed during regular hours. Gloria (Selenis Leyva) has come to a point where she is completely overwhelmed, she can’t carry on her normal duties anymore. Her genuine concern for Daya (Dascha Polanco) as well as her inner turmoil she’s experiencing for generally losing control paired with the backfiring of attempting to steal the gun from Daya to impede the takeover is a weight she can no longer carry. Her phone call to Diaz (Elizabeth Rodriguez) was another truly successful, relatable, and dramatic moment that puts the audience inside Litchfield for an oh-so important instant. I think we can all relate to a point in time where we are completely at a loss for what to do in a situation, maybe we want to ask for help, but we don’t know how, or even where to start, or even if we could be helped at all… So you just need a familiar voice on the other end of the line. The family dynamic is so strong with this one, and as a person who lives in a Latin Dominated city, there’s a certain way that pride is carried here that I see in these characters. These actresses are truly amazing to bring their distinct perspective into a script that is not their own, essentially that is what makes this show so special in these dramatic points of reference. It is bigger than the writers, who are great, but just not as diverse as we would like.

If it’s one thing that a talented white woman would write with a pristine birds eye view, it’s satire of a what it would be like to be a rich white woman turned into a slave by white supremacists… Oh yeah, and one white nationalist. Judy King (Blair Brown) looks completely insane with her messy hair, ketchup stained face, and belt leash around her neck. I literally can’t stop laughing as I write this. The image will be forever stored in the memory banks of my brain. Taystee is PISSED. The Helicopter Press snapping a photo of Judy King tied to a cross on top of a roof by skinheads wearing hijab’s has interfered with Taystee’s intentions, which means everyone’s intentions, but most importantly… Justice for Poussey. She means to buy Judy off of the skinheads and grab 'The PR Guy’ Josh (John Palladino) to issue a statement, but the skinheads make Taystee & Friends work for it, holding a ridiculous auction, which doesn’t really work… But for the sake of moving the core narrative onward in what is as close to real-time as possible, I suppose it’s fine…. I’m just not sure where everyone else came from considering in one scene they were alone and the next minute the area is full of potential bidders. Just goes to show you even some of the best shows are fat from perfect.

Pensatucky (Taryn Manning) has yet another memorable moment, again the drama is really what is setting this season ablaze. Big Boo (Lea DeLaria) catches Pensatucky & Coates (James McMenamin) making out. Of course, this not only enrages Boo for obvious reasons, but it also has her worried for Pensatucky’s safety. A lot of people seem incredibly uncomfortable with this subplot, but Manning delivers the true Pensatucky 'thought process’ in a 'methamphetamine metaphor’ that’s just divine. 'No matter how much I wanted different, I had to respect the chemicals… Because Lye doesn’t feel anything until it touches ephedrine’, Pensatucky means this… And even if you don’t understand the white trash chemistry behind the metaphor, she delivers it in the most earnest & steady manner. There’s a beauty to it. She continues… 'Have you ever wanted somebody that you shouldn’t?’ Boo doesn’t have it, 'Of course. It’s called masturbating. Now say goodbye and walk the fuck away, son.’ Pensatucky is a character that we’ve already explored so much throughout the past 4 ½ seasons, but there are so many notes to this character and to Manning’s delivery that they could literally go on forever. This is the very opposite of Piper (Taylor Schilling) who literally seems like a new person, someone completely alien to the Piper who kicked off the show in S1. Even her interactions with Alex (Laura Prepon) feel off key. Maybe prison is changing her? Or maybe they have no idea what to do with the character. They certainly know what they want to do with Alex, as she has started a bit of an 'outdoor prison’ revolution… Grass Roots, if you will!

We should mention that Coates escapes by way of Pensatucky stealing the gun from 'The Incompetent Queens of White Trash’, Angie (Julie Lake) and Leanne (Emma Myles), who don’t even realize that their 'secret hiding place’ they stored the gun while on a massive DXM trip is actually the back of the belt that Angie had no idea she was wearing. Coates actually takes the gun with him… All of these events have me worried for Pensatucky and there is really only so much that Boo can do. Right before his grand escape, Taystee and company lead Judy out for a press conference. Taystee begins and Danielle Brooks delivers her words like a Viola Davis or Meryl Streep in the making. She hands it over to Judy but pulls back when she realizes that Judy lying about her ill treatment will only hurt their cause… And to roll back to my original point, which I rolled off on a bit of a passionate tangent… Taystee literally says the words that I positioned that first point around… Judy King cannot speak for Taystee or any of the inmates, for that matter. This isn’t exactly a Pensatucky 'Methamphetamine Metaphor’ but dammit… In the face of previous controversy the show, particularly the writers room, has been accused of, you’d think that they’d hire equally as talented women of color to write this speech, portions of these episode, entire episodes. Once again, I take nothing away from the talented Molly Smith Metzler, she did an excellent job here… I just think that this scene, as well as others, could pack so much more power and benefit from the proper frame of reference.

[tokupedia]

Kamen Rider 45th Anniversary File: Double

2010:

Protecting the Earth is an Angel’s Duty! Tensou Sentai Goseiger debuts as the 34th Super Sentai season.

HeartCatch Pretty Cure aka THE BEST CURE SERIES EVER as deemed by some of Pretty Cure’s fans debuts and joins Goseiger and Double on Sundays. The season is slightly more mature with the subject of grief over the death of loved ones as one of its story arc themes and has great action in it. It also has a connection to Sailor Moon in the fact that Cure Moonlight is voiced by Sailor Mercury! 

After years of silence with nothing new on TV or film whatsoever, Garo returns in Garo: Red Requiem, a full-length feature 3D film which introduces the awesome Makai Priestess Rekka and the lovable Makai Priest Shiguto as the allies of Kouga.

After the successful crossover with Decade in the cinemas last year, Kamen Rider Fans get even more Den-O with the Cho Den-O Trilogy.

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger vs. Go-onger: GinmakuBang!! debuts in Japanese theaters and marks the only appearance of Hyper Go-On Red. 

Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial, the sequel to the Ultra Galaxy movie, debuts in theaters.

Space Battleship Yamato gets a live action adaptation on the silver screen.

Tokusatsu actor Shunsuke Ikeda, best known as Ichiro/Kikaider 01, died from complications of his long battle with diabetes. He was 69 and fans in Hawaii and around the world mourned his passing.

During the All Kamen Rider vs. Dai Shocker film, the evil Shadow Moon was laying the smack down on Kuuga Rising Ultimate and Decade, when the rev of a motorcycle stopped the super villain in his tracks and a mysterious figure on a bike broke the two parties up by stopping in the middle of the brawl.

On opposing sides of the field, the Riders saw a Green Rider...

while Shadow Moon saw a Black Rider (No, not that one)

But then the mystery Rider spoke up after a disagreement about his color from the two sides: “I’m both actually. My name is...Kamen Rider... Double. *turns towards Shadow Moon* “Now...Count up your Sins!”

This strange hero spoke with two voices and could easily beat up Shadow Moon using USB thumb drives that contained his powers. However, things got weirder when the hero got into an argument with... himself as one half of him said he wanted to go home as the rest of the Kamen Riders could finish off the weakened Shadow Moon. The other wanted to stay and “get to the good part” (possibly his Rider Kick or weapon finisher), but reluctantly agreed and then drove off....much to the bewilderment of his seniors who witnessed his fight.

This was the start of a brand new tradition, where the old Rider would get a bit of help from his successor and pass the torch.

Planning

Toei needed to change the schedule up to stay on budget, so they made a bold move as Kamen Rider’s premiere would be moved into the Fall of the year and air throughout the majority of the following year. This also put the series in a unique position as it would run alongside 2 Sentai seasons before switching up for the next show. The merchandise sales of the single Rider Series in tandem with the 2 Sentai seasons would in theory give enough cash revenue to balance the books.

Another change is the fixture of Support Robots, while Hibiki is considered the alpha prototype of the concept, this season cemented its place in the Kamen Rider series (With Gaim being the only series thus far to opt out.)

Then the belt itself began to change, while Ryuki switched the belts away from the format of being attached to the bodies of the Riders, Double improved the belt’s combat ability even further. No longer was a Rider constrained to a single form or weapon via a singular input system, but now could diversify their abilities in various ways by using multiple input modules and transformation devices. 

Sure, this was done to make Kamen Rider even more toyetic to boost profits and cover rising production costs, but writers and staff when on their A-game made it feel like a natural evolution of the franchise and not a forced toy commercial.

When it came time to plan W....I should explain that real quick. The show and titular Rider are different in terms of label in a manner similar to Faiz. The English word “Double” sounds like the Japanese pronunciation of the letter “W”.  But since the show romanizes the hero to Kamen Rider Double on toys and on the title card, the Rider is referred to as Double and the show is W because of the Japanese text of the show’s title showing the english letter W.

Anyways, when it came time to plan W, the “Fall 10th Anniversary Project”, the staff was debating on ideas and one argument they had was that Double should be all red. Toei thought since Red was a heroic color it would test well with focus groups. PLEX disagreed with the Toei staff and saw inspiration from the Showa era, wanting a Rider who harkened back to the original Double Riders with a green and black body color. 

(Double, as drawn by Ishinomori assistant and concept designer Masato Hayase)

In fact, the designers wanted a lot of Showa elements back in the franchise, something the producers and writing staff were adamant about or outright felt was a bad idea. One of them was Yasuko Kobayashi, when the design staff proposed the return of a beloved aspect of a Rider costume that had been missing for over 25 years for the main heroes: the classic scarf. She at first saw it as unsightly for a modern audience and too “Showa-y”.  But she eventually caved into the pleas of putting it on under the condition that she chose the color: silver instead of the proposed white color.

Another proposed idea when the writers decided on a neo-noir detective theme was that the hero would wear a Sam Spade/Columbo style trench coat over the suit. But the staff nixed this as they realized it would make Seiji Takaiwa’s job more difficult as he would be wearing a heavy coat over a costume.

(*in a Peter Falk voice* “The last time I trusted a dame was in Tokyo in 1971, she said she was going out to get a bottle of sake. Two hours later, the agents of Shocker marched into Japan!”)

The love letter to the Showa Era didn’t stop at a scarf and a color scheme. Double has allusions of influence from Kikaider 01, Kamen Rider X, Black, Chojin Barom 1 and The Skull Man. The main Gaia Memory that Philip carries is called Cyclone, a reference to wind energized Riders from days of old and the original motorcycle Ichigo rode. There is even Bat and Spider monster villains during the early days of the incidents of the story and Bat and Spider gadgets the heroes use in the grand tradition of that mythology gag.

The next phase was marketing and whoo boy, did this series get the royal treatment. In addition to the new Movie Wars series and a summer film, the series had its own clothing line, several radio shows on a fictitious radio station with some connecting to the show and continued the promotion of Ganbaride with Double getting his own sets of cards. This was also the start of the Legend Rider series of toys, as Bandai made Gaia Memory toys based on each Rider.

Avex got multiple bands and artists together to create exclusive new “bands” for the show with most named after a Hurricane event such as Labor Day or Galveston 19. The music entertainment label even pulled some strings to get 2 members of the hit idol group AKB48 to be recurring supporting cast as Queen and Elizabeth. It truly was a love war..

Futo itself feels like a real city, with locations, businesses and people that you get to know. The world building was so well done that future Rider entries still touch it up every now and then. (Ex. In Drive, we learn Futo is just outside Tokyo and later see Futo Tower in the distance at an amusement park when Drive is fighting a monster!)

Now, let’s meet Futo’s resident local Superhero!

CYCLONE! JOKER!

Real Names: “Phillip” (Raito Sonozaki) and Shotaro Hidari

In 1999, a criminal element unlike any that ever had been seen before in Futo began emerging; distributing a drug-like device that enhances humans into superpowered monstrous beings known as Dopants. The only force that could stop the source of the city’s tears was someone Shotaro would later simply would refer to as “The Boss”, Sokichi Narumi, a private detective who was a real man’s man and moonlighted as a Kamen Rider with the help of his childhood friend. Despite his best efforts, the crime of the city continued.  

Later, while on a case to bust the bad guys on Christmas Eve 2008, Shotaro and Sokichi snuck into a warehouse distributing the drug-like Gaia Memories. Unfortunately, the bad guys found out they were sneaking around and a fight broke out. Due to his youth and stubbornness, Shotaro disobeyed an order to stay put from his boss and found a young eccentric man who had no memories that they dubbed “Phillip” after the famous private eye Phillip Marlowe from the Raymond Chandler novels. While trying to escape, The Boss got shot up pretty bad in a hail of gunfire. With his last breath, Sokichi told his protege to finish the case and become a man worthy of wearing his hat, giving him his prized fedora as he dies from blood loss.

Surrounded by guards, an armed helicopter and a monster later known as the Taboo Dopant, the eccentric Phillip asks his new friend a question and opens the briefcase they were carrying: Do you have the courage to ride with a Devil?

The two use a belt in the briefcase with Gaia Memories and as the guards and helicopter fire their guns....a new figure emerges from the blaze unharmed and destroys the entire floor with a gust of powerful wind (helped by the helicopter crashing into the building).

Jump ahead to late 2009 and Akiko Narumi has come to collect on her father’s detective agency as its new landlord (unaware her father has died). She gets ready to evict Shotaro until a case comes up and she finds all the weird stuff they do, like a hidden garage with a massive vehicle and Phillip scribbling on boards any data they can find on cases. But then Akiko finds out her evictee is a superhero and at first wants to evict the both of them right away, but then decides after being saved it would be better to help people and continue the Narumi Detective Agency. The trio continue investigating cases and stopping Dopants, while under the vengeful eye of the Sonozaki crime family and learning much later there is an even bigger enemy in the shadows pulling the strings.

But as their exploits grow, the citizens of Futo christen their masked savior as “Kamen Rider” and Philiip and Shotaro work hard to deserve that honor, fighting crime to wipe away the city’s tears and making villains count up their sins!

Gear:

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Double_Driver

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Gaia_Memories

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Memory_Gadgets

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/HardBoilder

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Rotation-Interchange_Base_RevolGarry

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Metal_Shaft

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Trigger_Magnum

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Transforming_Gaia_Dinosaur_Fang_Memory

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Transforming_Gaia_Bird_Xtreme_Memory

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Prism_Bicker

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Lost_Driver - Used in emergencies only or when one of the halves of Double isn’t available.

Powers and skills:

Phillip has a genius level intellect on par with a supercomputer and thanks to his connection to the Earth’s True Gaia Memory essentially has a mystical kind of Google search he can call upon. This allows him to accurately find people, places and objects if specific keywords are given that produce the results he is looking for.

Shotaro is a skilled brawler and a competent detective as he was trained by Sokichi. He is able to see small details the police sometimes overlook.

Both of them as Double are pretty diverse.

Cyclone: levitation or slowed descent via wind manipulation, wind energy blasts, capable of creating tornadoes and elemental augmentation of weapons

Joker: Enhanced strength, superior fighting skills and reflexes.

Luna: Mr. Fantastic like-Elasticity on the left side of the body, illusion generation and homing projectiles or giving the Metal Shaft rubbery lasso/whip-like capabilities.

Heat: Pyrokinesis, explosive generation and elemental augmentation of weapons.

Metal: Higher defense and strength and elemental augmentation of weapons. Summons Metal Shaft weapon

Trigger: Expert Marksmanship, enhanced firepower which can be strengthened further by elemental Gaia Memories. Summons Trigger Magnum Weapon

Fang: Feral instincts, Bladed weapon/projectile

Xtreme: Laser blasts, Twin Maximum Drive capability, instant analyzing ability to discover weak points, shield generation, swordsmanship. Capable of evolving to a higher state using wind power to give Double wings and stronger attack power.

Weaknesses:

When Phillip enters Shotaro’s body via memory transfer or vice versa in the case of the Fang memory, their bodies are at risk of being taken or destroyed, which could result in one of them..one of them....dying. *Cyclone Effect starts playing and the typer fights the urge to start crying*. If one or both of them has a status effect inflicted by a monster, that will carry over to Double in some cases unless Xtreme form is activated. Even then, there is a chance they will still be affected. Phillip has a one track mind as once he finds something that fascinates him he won’t stop until he knows everything about it, usually this could take hours or days for him to finish depending on the subject. (I like to think we on the internet have all had moments like that)

The key to Double is keeping the two users in sync with each other, if they cannot agree on something that causes them to fight intensely or in one instance where a villain used Phillip’s amnesia against him, the sync destabilizes and Double either de-transforms or gets weaker.

Speedy opponents can swipe away all of Double’s Gaia Memories save for the ones in his belt, thus putting the two-in-one hero at a major disadvantage.

Lastly, the Memories themselves have risk. A “Twin Maximum”, a move where Double uses more than one Gaia Memory in his base forms, is very dangerous as the suit will overload with energy and the Double Driver will act erratic. The energy surge will cause possible harm to both users, but Shotaro gets the worst of it as it causes physical damage to his body and could kill him. Its only perk is a more powerful attack but it is too foolish to attempt such a life threatening tactic unless it is a last resort. Twin Maximums can only be pulled off by teamwork with Accel or using Xtreme form. 

The Fang Memory causes Philip to go berserk if Shotaro does not reign in his partner, as it regresses Philip to a savage mindset if he does not impose his will into it. As explained in expanded universe material, there is a FangMetal and FangTrigger form but the Joker Memory’s compatibility combined with Shotaro’s will make it the best candidate for Fang. The use of the other memories would result in Shotaro losing control and Phillip going completely wild. The use of this memory also tires out Shotaro as he needs to use all his willpower to keep Phillip’s mind stable from its side effects.

The last one is that Gaia Memories are capable of breaking, so it is possible that the duo could lose their powers on a more permanent basis.

Signature Finishers:

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Maximum_Drive

Enemies:

Dopants

(A Masquerade Dopant, an example of Dopants and the common grunts of the Museum)

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Dopants

Dopants are superhuman beings created when an ordinary human injects a Gaia Memory directly into their bodies. Each Gaia Memory is based on an object, concept, person or animal. (Ex. Dr. Shinigami, Apple, Time and Triceratops) 

Due to the drug-like effects of the Memories being directly inserted into the body of the user, some people who use Gaia memories have mental or physical health deterioration and become unstable and even more violent. There are also side effects in some cases if the memory is destroyed, such as the Yesterday Dopant having a mind wipe occur from the powers leaving her. Some side effects are more fatal if the user has “O.D.” on the Memory as their body will break down and dissolve. Basically, this show in its own subtle way is sayin’: Don’t do drugs kids, it’ll mess ya up and you could die.

Double uses his Driver to filter out the bad stuff of a Gaia Memory to use its power safely with no ill side effects (for the most part). But so does...

The Museum and The Sonozaki Family

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Museum

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Sonozaki_Family

The Museum is an organization run by the aristocratic Sonozaki Family whose goal is to evolve humans and save life on earth in an event called the Gaia Impact. The Sonozakis have Memory Drivers that filter out the negative side effects...not that it changes who they are on the inside as they are wicked in some regards. (Though they redeem themselves in some ways) The head of this prestigious crime organization is Ryubee Sonozaki. Despite being an old man, you do not want to underestimate him as the Terror Dopant...

Also this is the first time in Rider History we have had a pet as a monster lieutenant: A cat.

(*Dr Claw Voice* Ryubee: I’ll get you next time Kamen Rider...next time. Mick: MRRREEEEEOWW!)

And lastly we have...

NEVER and Foundation X

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Category%3ANEVER

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Foundation_X

NEVERS or Necro-Overs are, to put in the simplest terms, sentient pseudo-zombies who retain the knowledge, skills and faculties of their former living selves and are designed to be a breed of super soldiers. Despite interest and development by Foundation X to use them, they were soon abandoned after Gaia Memories were developed. One of them was a Kamen Rider who proved troublesome for Double and nearly killed him, though he was once a good person who slowly went mad from his undead nature.

Foundation X makes their presence known in this season and after the failure of the Sonozakis and their own ranks to stop Double and prove the value of Gaia Memories, the organization got word of another power source even greater than that of Gaia Memories to research...

Though Double/Joker gets to have fun (Maximum) driving them outta their town every so often when they try to reclaim their former territory to set up sinister research projects.

Final thoughts

Kamen Rider W is a beloved entry of the franchise and many newcomers get it recommended to them when asking where to start. The mindset is it is much like a western superhero show with a bit of Scooby Doo/noir mixed in. There is a mystery to solve and a bad guy to catch, defeat and unmask. (Though some of the mysteries are a bit smarter than that cartoon by giving you a bait and switch on who the monster of the week is!)

Unlike most Rider shows, the bad guys for the most part get their powers taken away after the beatdown and they are handed off to the police or get help instead of killed outright (though there are exceptions). In fact, this is the first time since Agito we see a Rider cooperating with the cops and even helping them. (It also helps that Accel is a cop too.) 

I on the other hand say you need to go to Decade first as that first Movie War depends on you watching that show to see that final story chapter and understand what is going on.  But if you don’t want to watch the Movie War...you kinda have to given Kamen Rider Skull is part of it and the episodes plug the film blatantly at one point to tie into the story. 

Other than that, you will have a Hard-Half Boiled good time watching a recent perennial fan favorite!

WBX~ CRIME IN THE CITY!~

[cliftonsteen]

A Specialty Coffee Shop Tour of Melbourne

Melbourne has long been considered a global leader when it comes to specialty coffee, and its coffee shops and cafés are no different. Roasters have been improving their approach to technical aspects of sourcing, preparing, and consuming coffee, and coffee shops have updated their offerings to meet local tastes, as trends towards both adventurous and eco-conscious options. 

It’s no surprise then, that former World Barista Champion Pete Licata once said that it’s nearly impossible to find a bad cup of coffee in Melbourne.

Whilst the city is saturated with places where you can experience a great cup of coffee and satisfy your daily caffeine needs, the following five coffee shops would be a good place to start your exploration of what Melbourne’s coffee scene has to offer.

The coffee counter at The Hardware Société. Credit: Charlotte Avent

Why These Five?

With over 1600 cafés and restaurants in the city of Melbourne alone, it would take you several months to visit every coffee shop in the area – let alone select the ones offering a noteworthy specialty coffee offering. Choosing just five of them was no easy feat, and 2020 will do doubt introduce plenty more noteworthy coffee shops to Melbourne, and Australia in general.

The following five have been selected based on my personal experiences, as I’ve found them to offer an inclusive experience where you can immerse yourself in your surroundings, while appreciating the passion that goes into creating a cup of coffee.

Alex Zielke serves customers at Bonnie Coffee’s Collins Street branch. Credit: Charlotte Avent

1. Bonnie Coffee

Bonnie Coffee was founded by Melburnians Alex Zielke and Lloyd Smith, and has locations in both Melbourne and Sydney. Their philosophy is to “do one thing, and do it well”, and you can witness this in action by visiting their Collins Street branch. Located in a heritage-listed building, they offer business people and passersby a pit stop, where they can experience five minutes of calm, and a friendly greeting from staff members.

Take time to catch up on the latest news while you wait for your order, as each day’s newspaper will be pinned against the wall. Alternatively, feel free to ask staff members questions, as they’re always open to teaching you a thing or two about how your coffee, and where it comes from.

While they currently source their coffee from producers around the world and roast it themselves, Bonnie Coffee has bigger plans for this year. They’re going to be introducing guest roasters on a quarterly basis, and finding ways to create a more inclusive coffee experience.

Where 495 Collins Street, Melbourne CBD Atmosphere Relaxed and calm Espresso Machine La Marzocco Linea Classic  Grinder Mazzer Manual Grinders Coffee Offerings A four bean Bonnie Blend and single origins that rotate depending on the season. Currently, they’re from Ethiopia and El Salvador Must-Try Drink Try a Cold Drip or Iced Latte in the Summer. Alex’s personal favourite is the espresso Retail Offerings Purchase your own coffee, which they’ll grind for use on stove top, filter, cold drip, Aeropress, and more. They also sell a small selection of teas Food & Other Drinks Cookies, cakes, and pastries Nearby Sights Visit Federation Square for some people watching, or take a stroll down the Southbank and alongside the Yarra River.

  Brunch options at the Hardware Société, paired with matcha and iced lattes. Credit: Charlotte Avent

2. The Hardware Société

Boasting a French and Spanish food menu that changes seasonally, the Hardware Société first opened with the primary objective of serving food. Around eight years ago, it extended its offering by teaming up with speciality coffee roasters Padre in East Brunswick to have coffee roasted and supplied to their Melbourne and Paris branches.

They recently moved into new and more spacious premises, with a kitchen four times larger than their previous one, and seating for 110. Head there on a Friday evening to experience a taste of Paris in the heart of Melbourne, where you can enjoy French music, wine on tap and a selection of European-inspired dishes.

Where 10 Katherine Place, Melbourne Atmosphere Bustling and buzzing Espresso Machine Slayer Steam Grinder Mazzer and Ditting Grinders Coffee Offerings In addition to offering Columbian and seasonal blends, you can try the Hey Buddy Blend from Padre Coffee Roasters Must-Try Drink Try their Signature Mocha, which contains 56% chocolate Retail Offerings You can purchase No Eggs on Toast, which is a cookbook of their favourite brunch recipes. They also sell jam, nougat, ceramics, and more Food & Other Drinks Bestsellers include their confit duck pork belly, baked eggs with chorizo sausage, and lobster benedict. They also offer cocktails and boozy tea Nearby Sights Explore Batman Park, or jump on a boat down the Yarra River. You can also visit the nearby South Melbourne Market.

  A standard day at the beautiful Brunswick roastery. Credit: Wide Open Road

3. Wide Open Road

Situated in Brunswick, Wide Open Road is an industrial-style specialty coffee roastery and café. Its light, airy and spacious interior features the building’s original brickwork and symmetrical tiling. 

Visit the café and you can enjoy a single origin that rotates daily or two espresso blends, batch brew, pour-over options, and cold and iced drinks. You can also choose to sit at a communal table to participate in conversation, or a cosy booth for privacy or quiet time. 

Wide Open Road sources, roasts, and blends their own coffee – a range of which can be purchased from their website.

Where 274 Barkly Street, Brunswick Atmosphere Laidback and inviting Espresso Machine La Marzocco PB, Fetco Grinder Mazzer Robur and Mahlkönig EK43 Grinders Coffee Offerings Try their Nitro Cold Brew, which comes in a can Must-Try Drink Espresso, filter, with milk or black – take your pick! Retail Offerings You can purchase coffee, brewing equipment, and merchandise designed by in-house designer Adam Parata. You can also get coffee delivered to your door every two weeks with a subscription Food & Other Drinks There are vegan and omnivore options, as well as beers and mimosas Nearby Sights Visit the nearby Princess Park to sit in the sun and people watch

  A barista brews coffee, while customers observe. Credit: Aunty Pegs

4. Aunty Pegs

Covering two stories, Aunty Pegs is a coffee bar that also doubles as a roasting house, events space, retail shop, and barista training centre. On any given day, you can find three single origin coffees being showcased, according to a theme that changes every month. 

With free weekly community cupping events taking place on Saturdays, visitors can try out a new micro-lots, seasonal blend, or staff favourites. As for the coffee, each one available can be consumed as espresso, filter, or cold drip. 

If you want to give home brewing a try, you can also try out a variety of brewing devices such as V60 and AeroPress in store before you purchase them. 

Where 200 Wellington Street, Collingwood Atmosphere Warm and inclusive  Espresso Machine Three custom-built Single Group Synessos Grinder Four Mahlkönig EK43 grinders  Coffee Offerings Three varieties from Honduran producer Nahun Fernande are currently being showcased, with upcoming offerings to come from Panama Must-Try Drink Try the SnapChill, a method for producing cleaner cold coffee with nitro, conceptualised by Director Nolan Hirte Retail Offerings A variety of manual brewing devices are available for purchase Food & Other Drinks A variety of cakes and cookies are available Nearby Sights Explore the neighbourhood of Collingwood, which has many roasteries, bars, restaurants, and galleries to explore

  Sparkling Cold Brew being poured from the beer taps. Credit: Plug Nickel

5. Plug Nickel

Plug Nickel first set up base in 2016, and they’re open from Wednesday until Sunday, into the evenings, to serve customers. Their coffee comes from Canberra-based roaster ONA, and they also offer beverages on the go via a takeaway window for speedy delivery.

If you do decide to enter the premises, you can take a seat and try out Owner and Chef Tyler Preston’s small but curated menu created for you to eat exclusively by hand. Alternatively, you can spend an evening sipping a nitro-charged espresso martini, cold beer, or natural wine from their extensive collection.

Where 7 Peel Street, Collingwood Atmosphere Cool and comfortable Espresso Machine Two Anfim Scodys Grinder Mahlkönig EK43 Grinder Coffee Offerings ONA coffee is served, as well as an Ethiopian blend comprising of three different origins: Ethiopia Red (Natural), Ethiopia White (Washed), and Ethiopia Indigo (Carbonic Maceration) Must-Try Drink Try the Sparkling Cold Brew Retail Offerings 250g bag of coffee beans, homemade chilli jam, and hot sauces are on offer Food & Other Drinks Try the sparkling Cascara on tap, or a hot toddy, hot chocolate, or chai  Nearby Sights Spend some time exploring Collingwood, which has a rich arts and culture scene

  Luna Park in Melbourne.

Coffee culture in Melbourne is laid-back and relaxed, with each coffee shop offering you a chance to start a conversation or take five minutes to watch the world go by. Here, you’ll find people who are passionate about educating customers about how their coffee has arrived in their cup, and what it’s all about.

With creativity, expertise, and precision behind the seed to cup process a common feature in most places you step foot in – wherever you go, you won’t be disappointed. 

Article written by Charlotte Avent. Feature photo: A barista prepares a coffee at Wide Open Road. Feature photo credit: Wide Open Road

All views within this opinion piece belong to the guest writer, who is a local of Melbourne, and do not reflect Perfect Daily Grind’s stance.

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The post A Specialty Coffee Shop Tour of Melbourne appeared first on Perfect Daily Grind.

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[mastcomm]

How to Build a Media Company

Years ago, Jasmine Brand wanted to stand out at red carpet events, so she settled on a tactic used by Hollywood stars: She transformed her hair. She dyed it a blazing hot pink to catch the attention of the people she wanted to interview for her recently created entertainment news blog.

The Jasmine Brand started in 2010, during a boom in black celebrity blogs. Outlets like Crunk & Disorderly, The YBF, Necole Bitchie, Concrete Loop, Media Take Out, Straight From the A and Sandra Rose pioneered digital spaces that prioritized news and gossip about well-known black celebrities — Beyoncé, Will Smith, Tiger Woods — as well as “blackfamous” stars either unknown to or disregarded by their print predecessors and white peers.

“I always knew I wanted to shed more light on black celebrities because they didn’t get the same kind of exposure,” Ms. Brand, 35, said. “I also figured I could be objective and neutral and give a newsy point of view, but still talk about celebs that my audience cares about.”

Now, a decade later, The Jasmine Brand has outlived most of those same websites that inspired her own, having grown from a one-woman passion project into an operation that, according to Ms. Brand, garners up to 195,000 page views daily and 2.1 million unique visitors monthly.

The Jasmine Brand has freelance writers and contributors who find scoops and write stories. Although some stories are sourced from social media posts or aggregated, it’s the website’s reporting on everything from “Love and Hip Hop” casting to messy divorces that has bolstered the brand’s reputation, making it a source for outlets like “The Wendy Williams Show,” Page Six and the nationally syndicated radio show “The Breakfast Club.”

“I usually source them because they seem to be pretty accurate with a lot of the things that they post,” said Charlamagne tha God, a host of “The Breakfast Club.”

“Her stories are different,” said Angela Yee, another host of “The Breakfast Club.” Ms. Yee has developed a close friendship with Ms. Brand over the years and said she checks The Jasmine Brand every day. “I tend to find things that aren’t as widely distributed on all the other websites.” She also appreciates how the the Jasmine Brand’s editorial voice tends to be either “unbiased” or have more of a “positive slant.”

How a Brand Becomes a Brand

Dissatisfied with a well-paid corporate marketing director job in Washington, D.C., Ms. Brand, then 25, wanted a hobby that allowed her to write. She had a degree in mass communication and was an avid reader of celebrity news sites. Ms. Brand was also the go-to source for the latest celebrity stories among her friends.

Her daily schedule consisted of blogging before and after work, during lunch hours at a nearby Starbucks and on the weekends, writing up to six to eight stories a day. This lasted until someone at her company discovered a blog post that Ms. Brand had published about Kim Kardashian West. She was informed that the blog was a potential conflict of interest to clients — so she quit and decided to pursue The Jasmine Brand full-time.

Over the next two years, she sourced, reported on and published most of the daily content herself, earning only a few hundred dollars a month through advertising revenue based on rates Ms. Brand determined by combining her upcoming bills.

Being a self-funded entrepreneur with no business background soon caught up to her, and Ms. Brand was forced to drain her 401(k) and savings to cover her living expenses. Her luxury car was repossessed, and she was evicted from her apartment; she decided to move in with her mother.

In 2013, Mahir Fadle, an investor with a background in finance and computer science, offered investment and continued future funding. The two had been in touch for years, with Mr. Fadle acting as an informal adviser to the website.

“She used to tell me about how she’d get up super early and work before going to work and at lunch and then after work,” Mr. Fadle, 42, said. “And I’m an early riser, so I was like, ‘Is she really doing this? Let me go ahead and randomly text her at four in the morning.’” Ms. Brand would always text him back a few minutes later. “I was like, ‘Oh, she’s serious,’” he said.

The two ultimately agreed on a 50/50 financial partnership. Mr. Fadle, 42, would not specify how much he has invested, but said it was enough to cover expanding into the Los Angeles market (The Jasmine Brand also has offices in Atlanta and New York), as well as hiring freelance writers, editors, correspondents and videographers; increasing the advertising budget; and obtaining office space and equipment.

The business model is advertising — display ads, video ads and social media ads coming through both agencies and direct brand buys. “The more traffic we have, the more ads we can display, the more profitable we become,” Mr. Fadle said.

They have applied cost-efficient alternatives to traditional media practices — sometimes sidestepping photo agencies by working directly with freelance photographers to license images. Mr. Fadle said the website saw a significant profit increase in less than a year.

“A lot of people think that if you have this huge office, a big staff and all these accessories, it looks sexy and you’re successful,” he said. “It just comes down to how you look at your books and how you budget.”

Having a popular newsletter also helps. Ms. Brand started the daily “e-bulletin” shortly after creating the website, abandoned it once her workload grew as a solo entrepreneur, then restarted it in 2013 on Mr. Fadle’s recommendation. It now has more than 263,000 subscribers.

The website’s traffic eclipses the newsletter’s, yet the emails, which simply list the day’s top 25 stories, have proven to be a “game changer,” Ms. Brand said. She said that these emails “land” in the inboxes of high-profile celebrities, agents, editors and other industry powerhouses and foster valuable brand recognition. (Some editors, including several at The New York Times, find The Jasmine Brand in their inbox without having ever signed up.)

“Everyone knows the newsletter before they know the site,” Mr. Fadle said.

What’s Next?

“It is different now,” Ms. Brand said, about the current black celebrity news landscape. “I think we are one of the few sites that are still around from that era. But I understand when it’s time to move on, try something else and go to your next chapter.”

She said her daily look at Hollywood’s behind-the-scenes “ugliness” has jaded her outlook on celebrities, but she preserves her passion for movies with weekly trips to local cinemas, preferring sweatpants and matinee showings over red carpet attire and premieres.

“We’ve seen a lot of sites come and go during this time. And we’ve seen sites get really hot and then fall off,” Ms. Yee said, when asked about Ms. Brand’s decade-long run. “Longevity is a big deal. That’s definitely a testament to Jasmine’s professionalism.”

Today, mindful of their audience’s maturation and evolving interests, The Jasmine Brand team plans on debuting at least two spinoff sites, one focusing on health and the other on lifestyle; there are also plans for a makeup line in the coming year.

Ultimately, Ms. Brand wants to land exclusive casting announcements, publishing trailers and on-set images. That’s a path to becoming a trade publication along the lines of Deadline and Variety, albeit more cognizant of celebrities that her current audience cares about.

About that: She and her team reject labels like “urban” and “gossip site” that Ms. Brand said often relegates sites like The Jasmine Brand to “second-class” status. Instead she says the site’s defining characteristics are two rather unglamorous assets that have carried the brand this far: perseverance and consistency.

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/how-to-build-a-media-company/

[elizabethcariasa]

Tax law changes, from extenders to disaster relief to retirement and more, now official

Congress played Santa this week, averting a government shutdown and approving a wide variety of anticipated tax breaks.

Merry Christmas U.S. taxpayers. H.R. 1865, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, is now law.

In a surprise move earlier this month, House and Senate negotiators cobbled together a massive bill that not only, as the name indicates, assures that the federal government stays open, but which also included some long-awaited (at least by those who will benefit) expired tax provisions.

In addition, lawmakers corrected — and by corrected, I mean repealed — some obvious — and by obvious, I mean universally disliked — tax provisions created by both the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka Obamacare.

The appropriations and tax measure, which was signed into law on Friday, Dec. 20, just before temporary government funding ran out (yay, no shutdown!), is huge, like 715 pages big. I previewed many of the changes in the massive bill just last week.

For both those reasons, I won't belabor its many provisions here.

But since the measure is now official, I did want to go over some of the tax highlights. Pardon any repetition.

A tiny bit of tax certainty: I also want to note that some popular tax extenders are now back in the Internal Revenue Code for not just the 2019 tax year, but also 2020.

That means we, both taxpayers and tax professionals, have at least one upcoming year of tax certainty about these provisions. There won't be any holding our breath, and tax returns, next filing season awaiting Congressional action.

The decision to dispense with these tax matters for 2020 is not that surprising.

Next year is an election year for all U.S. Representatives and around a third of Senators, not to mention those folks in Congress now, but who want shift their workplace to the White House.

Dealing with tax extenders through 2020 removes at least one bit of legislation from the Congressional agenda. And that gives lawmakers who want to return to Capitol Hill more time to campaign.

Those tax policy and political reasons also are why 2020 is this week's By the Numbers figure.

Now to the new appropriations-plus-tax law highlights.

Popular individual tax breaks back: Many extenders were made permanent with the PATH Act back in 2015, but a handful remained on the perpetually expiring list.

They include tax write-offs that require itemizing, one that's available to all eligible filers as an above-the-line deduction and a way for some folks to avoid additional taxable income.

They are:

Qualified principal residence indebtedness exclusion is back. Usually when a person has some or all debt forgiven by a lender, that amount is considered taxable income. When it comes to home loans, that can be big bucks. During the housing bubble sparked recession, this was a problem for homeowners trying to restructure their mortgages so they could keep their homes. So Congress and the White House agreed back then that forgiven debt on your main home wouldn't count as income. That's now again the tax situation for the 2019 and 2020 tax years.

Qualified mortgage insurance premiums will still be deductible. Also in connection with the housing meltdown, Congress allowed home buyers who had to purchase private mortgage insurance (PMI) in order to secure a mortgage the option to deduct those premiums as mortgage interest if they itemize. That deduction is back through 2020.

Lower itemized medical expenses threshold stays. The ability to claim qualifying medical and dental expenses on Schedule A always has faced an adjusted gross income (AGI) hurdle. For many years, it was 7.5 percent of a filer's AGI. But in order to raise money for ACA changes, the health care law included a bump up to 10 percent of AGI for most filers. The TCJA decided to leave the 7.5 percent level for the 2017 and 2018 tax years. Now that 7.5 percent of AGI will stay through 2020, meaning more folks can claim bigger itemized deductions.

Tuition and fees for qualified educational costs return as a potential deduction for all. This above-the-line deduction can be claimed by eligible taxpayers regardless of whether they itemize or take the standard deduction. Technically, it's an adjustment to income of up to $4,000 that could reduce your gross taxable earnings to a lower adjusted gross income amount. That in turn then could reduce your eventual tax bill and also could help with other tax provisions that rely on AGI. Like the other three tax breaks here, the tuition and fees deduction is available through the 2020 tax year.

If you can use any or all of these, good for you and your 2019 and 2020 personal tax filings.

Many business tax extenders also were OK'ed, including reduced federal alcohol excise taxes for a range of adult beverage producers (to paraphrase Pink, raise a less-expensive glass!), more favorable depreciation for racehorse and motorsports venue owners and continuation of the biodiesel tax credit and

In a win-win for workers and employees, the employer credit for paid family and medical leave and the work opportunity credit also stay in effect through 2020.

Unpopular previous tax provisions axed: Every tax bill contains trade-offs. One group of taxpayers typically ends up paying more so that another group of taxpayers pay less.

It's not necessarily fair, especially if you're in the paying group.

And sometimes the tax inequities show up unintentionally, especially when tax bills are crafted hurriedly, without Congressional hearings to hash out the potential pros and cons. Yes, I am looking at you Republican-only TCJA writers.

The just-signed appropriations bill deals with several of these generally disliked provisions.

Two problematic TCJA provisions have been reversed. They are:

The kiddie tax changes in the TCJA are gone. Writers of the latest tax reform bill fiddled with the kiddie tax, which generally covers the amount of investment income received by minors. They decided instead of having some the youngsters' money taxed at their parents' rate, it would be subject to the higher trusts and estates tax rates, which top out at 37 percent. The change, however, inadvertently hurt Gold Star families receiving military survivor benefits, as well as some students who were awarded scholarships. Congress heard the complaints. Now the TCJA kiddie tax language is gone and the previous kiddie tax rules return.

The 21 percent excise tax on some fringe benefits offered by churches and other nonprofits also is now history. This 21 percent unrelated business income tax (UBIT) applied to such perks as parking and was universally panned. As a native Texan who grew up in the western part of the state where long distances mean we love our vehicles, I totally get the value of a good and tax-free workplace space for an auto.

Then there are the ACA taxes that for years had been targeted by both Democrats and Republicans alike. Now gone permanently are the:

Cadillac tax, a levy on expensive employer-provided workplace health care pans. Although it was an original Obamacare provision, this 40 percent excise tax was never implemented.

Medical devices tax, a 2.3 percent tax on manufacture of such things as pacemakers and hip implants. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who represented makers of these medical products had opposed the tax since the beginning.

Health Insurance Tax (HIT), an excise tax paid by health insurance companies. Opponents argued that while the tax was on the companies, it would lead to increased health coverage costs for individuals, small businesses and states.

Yes, the ACA tax repeals do favor the health care industry. Yes, loss of this revenue is going to pose some federal fiscal issues going forward.

And yes, tax inequities are a continuing way of life on Capitol Hill, even when lawmakers are looking to correct earlier mistakes.

New tax-related retirement options: The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019, or SECURE Act, is a major part of this bill.

It was passed overwhelmingly by the House last spring, but got no look by the Senate until this past week.

Now its provisions are law, including:

Part-time workers can participate in 401(k) plans.

Required minimum distributions (RMDs) no longer kick in at age 70½. You don't have to take money out of a tax-deferred retirement account until you turn 72.

Contributions could be made to traditional IRA contributions by those older than 70½.

New parents, including adoptive moms and dads, could make penalty-free retirement plan withdrawals from qualified retirement plans.

Some home health care workers can contribute to a defined contribution plan or IRA.

Inherited IRAs, instead of being stretched out tax-deferred over beneficiaries' lifetimes, now must be drawn down completely within 10 years.

Small employers can apply for a new tax credit of up to $500 per year to help defray startup costs for new 401(k) and SIMPLE IRA plans that include automatic employee enrollment.

The National Association of Plan Advisors has a handy and comprehensive table with more on all the SECURE Act provisions.

Disaster tax relief, too: Again, these tax changes are just part of a big bill. It's got lots more, including additional tax and other provisions.

That means that means I could go on even more about the myriad other tax provisions in the bill.

Wait! Don't go. I'm not going to do that.

I'm right there with you with plenty of last-minute holiday tasks to attend to, so I'll close with mention of some changes that apply to one of my personal areas of obsession: tax relief for those who sustain damages from natural disasters.

No, the TCJA restriction of disaster loss claims to major, presidentially declared disasters remains in place. Sorry for all y'all who sustained losses due to casualties such as house fires or burglaries or auto accidents.

However, some other tax help for folks who are forced to deal with an angry Mother Nature now will be a bit easier to get.

The new law says that some are dealing with a major disaster's impacts can take withdrawals (up to $100,000) from tax-favored retirement plans to help pay for their recovery costs and not face the 10 percent early withdrawal penalty. This has been an option under several recent disasters, allowed by the IRS on a case-by-case basis.

In general, the new relief applies to individuals who suffered losses in a qualified disaster area beginning after 2017 and ending 60 days after the date of the bill's enactment, which would be Feb. 20, 2020.

As for tax help in future major disasters, there's no more waiting around for the IRS to issue its relief rules. The new law provides for an automatic 60-day filing extension in these cases.

Again, thanks for interrupting your holiday preparation to read about tax-law changes. Sorry (again) for any repetition.

Now get back to your shopping. Good luck finding that crucial last-minute gift (be careful if you're shopping online for next/same-day delivery).

And tuck this post in your back pocket for your family get-together. It could be (a) a great way to show off your tax knowledge and/or (b) a way to clear the room if conversation veers into contentious political talk.

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[gyrlversion]

10 Pictures That Will Redefine Your Expectations Of Gender

Soraya Zaman

“Caden is a beautiful and spiritual soul. He has an amazing calm way about him that shouldn’t be mistaken for shyness.”

Soraya Zaman is an Australian-born photographer whose work often highlights concepts surrounding gender and sexuality. As a queer nonbinary person who identifies with the pronouns they/them, Zaman’s work carries an added vitality and a deeply personal connection to their subjects and their subject’s stories.

Zaman’s new book, American Boys, is a collection of portraits capturing a state of flux — not just in terms of gender, but in lifestyle, location, and mentality. Zaman spoke with BuzzFeed News about their journey to produce this book and the importance of visibility among the gender nonbinary community today.

Soraya Zaman

“Aodhán identifies as a trans man and also as ‘Two Spirit’ within the Native American culture and comes from the Cherokee. He taught me that before colonization, there were no labels for gender-nonconforming indigenous people.”

How would you describe your book American Boys?

American Boys is a portrait series of 29 transmasculine individuals from big cities to small towns across the USA captured at distinct stages of their transition. Each series is accompanied by first-person accounts from conversations we had together.

These images show a glimpse into everyone’s life at a specific moment in time. Capturing their personality, their honesty, beauty, vulnerability, strength, and so on. They are affirmative images of everyone, and it is work that informs and expands upon understandings of gender identity outside of the binary and is real and validating.

American Boys looks to challenge people’s own perceptions of traditional binary gender roles.

Where did the portrait series begin for you, and when did you feel it was complete?

This project began back in the summer of 2016. At the time, I was looking to explore expressions of transmasculinity, as it was something personal to me and my own feelings and journey of gender identity. It didn’t take me long to realize that honoring and sharing stories, and validating and centering everyone I met and photographed in an affirmative way, was really important, especially in the now-changing political climate. There isn’t a lot of transmasculine representation in the media, and I wanted to create something that took these important narratives out of online spaces and put them into something more permanent.

Honestly, I don’t think this series is complete! The transmasculine community is rich, diverse, and deep — 29 people cannot adequately represent any community. There is definitely more to say and share, and I’m looking to do a second book.

Soraya Zaman

“Chella is an artist, writer, storyteller, and role model to many in the trans, nonbinary, and queer community. He’s also deaf, but in no way does this slow Chella down.”

How did you meet your subjects?

I discovered everyone in this project through Instagram. I mostly sorted out people who were using their online platform to express what was happening in their lives in an interesting way. To me, they were natural storytellers with a willingness to share for good or bad. That resonated with me.

I reached out over DM to see if they were interested. It was also important for me to feature transmasculine lives all over the country and to not just represent people who live in New York and LA and other places typically thought of as queer hubs. There is an extra level of bravery required to live and exist as a trans person in smaller towns where community and safety can be harder to find.

How important do you believe nonbinary representation is in the media?

For so long, we’ve all just been fed the same cisgender, heteronormative view of the world. When I was a kid, there was nothing in the media that reflected back to me how I see myself. The binary gender roles that have been constructed by the Western world confine us in a way that doesn’t leave any room for nuance or complexity. These rigid binary ideologies of what is expected are dangerous, oppressive, and toxic to trans and nonbinary people.

Soraya Zaman

“Lazarus laughed with me about having basically been every letter in ‘LGBTQ’ and now just wants to be identified as a unicorn.”

We are asked to fit into a box that ultimately can never contain our multitudes. It’s really only recently that we have begun to see queer, trans, and nonbinary people represented in a way that doesn’t feel tokenistic. So this work is personal to me because it forms part of the current conversation on expanding gender expectations and is contributing in a positive way. It allows people to be seen and feel proud of who they are, something that was missing for me in my youth.

What do you hope people will take away from these images?

The project is an intentional call to the nostalgic, internalized idea of American boyhood and the notion that masculinity belongs exclusively to cis men.

I hope that it helps people unpack the belief that gender identity must align with one’s sex assigned at birth and move away from these restrictive categories of gender. It’s also about an affirmative centering of transmasculine identity. I hope that people take the time to not only look at the images but also read the personal accounts. If people can’t “see” themselves in any of the images, then perhaps they can find a shared experience in some of the stories.

I want people to know that they are not alone in their journey. We are all in this together forging unique identities and the best possible lives for ourselves all across the country and globe, and there is power in that. Hopefully it helps move us all closer to a culture that welcomes, validates, and provides safety for all identities.

Soraya Zaman

“Russel is kind and sweet. He has a gentle way about him, although he told me that he hasn’t always been this way. Feeling dysphoria used to make him an emotional wreck, angry at the world, and he would get triggered by small things and lash out. There was a point though where he just kind of found more peace and got focused on bringing in positive things and how far he’s come, rather than thinking about how he maybe wasn’t where he wanted to be yet.”

Soraya Zaman

“Rufio! What an amazing bundle of body-building-bear–like brilliance! Rufio is so full of life and spirit. He’s also a staunch feminist, especially with his experience of white male privilege that came with passing.”

Soraya Zaman

“Elijah is a kind and compassionate quiet achiever. He grew up in South Texas in a Christian Baptist family. When he finally came out to his mother, she knew that their family might attack him with scripture claiming that being transgender is against God’s will. So they both studied the Bible and found verses to debunk what they might throw at him.”

Soraya Zaman

“When I met Justin, he was at a number of beginnings. He was beginning his life after top surgery, which he had one week earlier, and was about to start college. Justin was excited to leave his school days behind where he lived under the radar, quiet, and kept to himself, which really isn’t Justin at all. He’s actually very funny and well-spoken, self-confident, and embracing leadership roles both as a member of the Quaker community and at the LGBTQ center in Richmond, where he established a trans people of color group.”

Soraya Zaman

“Emmett is a transgender Mormon and a self-proclaimed rebel in his own way. Emmett has had to reconcile his faith in the Lord with his gender identity, and the road has not been easy.”

Soraya Zaman

“When I hung out with Jaimie, who btw is an incredible musician, he spoke to me about his experience with back-handed compliments. People saying to him, ‘Wow, you’re so hot…for a trans guy! Even I’d have sex with you!’ — like he should be especially honored these people find him attractive.”

To pick up your copy of American Boys, visit daylightbooks.org.

Click here for more photo stories from BuzzFeed News.

The post 10 Pictures That Will Redefine Your Expectations Of Gender appeared first on Gyrlversion.

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[petsupplyandmore]

How To Get Cat Urine Odor Out

You discover it nearly instantly.

Fewer issues are extra putrid than the scent of cat urine the place it’s not imagined to be.

You’ve cleaned a bunch of different messes, and your cleansing merchandise have by no means failed you, so why is it that cat urine is so exhausting to get out?

Though 35 % of American households personal at the very least one cat, totaling as much as practically 37 million, there’s one factor all of us cat proprietor can agree on—the scent is god-awful.

The tough job of eliminating the odor and stain of their urine from anyplace however their litter field is among the only a few downsides of proudly owning a cat.

In case your cleansing merchandise have failed you, you then’re in luck as a result of at PetHairPatrol we have now discovered some nice strategies on getting cat urine out.

  Why Is The Odor So Sturdy?

There’s nothing fairly like when the scent of cat pee hits you within the face upon coming into a room. For those who’re something like me, you then’ve positively puzzled why cleansing cat urine is by some means 100 occasions tougher than every other mess.

There are a few causes.

Firstly, your cleaner is most certainly not particularly designed to tackle this distinctive sort of a multitude. Secondly, it’s as a result of cat urine is exclusive and cussed.

Cat urine is exclusive as a result of cats have much less water of their our bodies (and so in flip, their urine). This will all be traced again to earlier than cats have been domesticated after they lived in dry environments. Since water is uncommon, cats trusted getting water from their meals and have become somewhat environment friendly at saving each final drop of water.

Principally, because of this with much less water, there’s extra room for the odor-causing compounds. You understand how water dilutes most substances, like a cleaner or a cocktail? It’s the identical case with our bodily fluids.

So, when a cat urinates anyplace however the litter field, you’ve most likely skilled the hardship with getting the odor utterly out.

Right here’s why: When cat pee settles right into a floor like a carpet, just a few issues begin to occur.

First, there are already-present micro organism which launch ammonia. Then, it releases one thing referred to as mercaptans, which is similar stuff that offers skunks their horrid spray and has been described to match the scent of sulfur gasoline.

The feline pheromone current in cat’s urine is the primary wrongdoer, although. Naturally odorless to people, it turns into a pungent drawback when settling in your carpet. Often, micro organism and home cleaners can remedy the urine scent, however due to this pheromone, your job simply received much more tough.

When cleansing cat urine, it’s vital to purchase a cleaner that’s particular to cat urine. These cleaners are made to interrupt down the crystals (feline pheromone) first which makes spot-cleaning simpler and efficiently odor-free.

Why Is Kitty Going Exterior The Field?

You need to do away with the cat urine scent for apparent causes.

For those who resort to discovering an affordable approach to cowl it up, your cat will nonetheless scent it and discuss with that very same spot as its rest room—resulting in a lot worse future issues and a nasty behavior.

You’ll want to utterly do away with the compounds and crystals with the correct cleaner, so Kitty doesn’t return.

In contrast to canine, cats don’t simply have potty “accidents” except there’s one thing critically improper. Cats are naturally drawn to litter and utilizing a non-public house to go, so in case your cat is persistently going the place she shouldn’t, there could also be an underlying well being subject.

“Something that adjustments a cat’s feeling of wellbeing can create a change in habits, and in cats, which means litter field behavior adjustments,” says Dr. Cathy Lund of Kitty Metropolis, a feline-only veterinarian.

Listed below are some explanation why Kitty could be going outdoors of her field.

Well being Points: Sadly, our feline companions can turn out to be plagued with quite a few well being points like bladder stones, a urinary blockage, or cystitis.

In some instances, your vet will be capable to prescribe Fluffy a particular urinary meals that ought to assist clear up any blockage points.

Typically this isn’t all the time the case; these will be life-threatening sicknesses that require fast emergency medical consideration.

Massive Adjustments: Life strikes quick, and we are able to’t hit the pause button only for our furry pals. Sadly, cats don’t like change.

Whether or not you’ve just lately moved, adopted a brand new pet, or welcomed a brand new member of the family, she might present some displeasure by doing her enterprise outdoors of the litter field.

It’s vital to offer your cat a while and house so she will get used to the brand new environment. You may need to take into account selecting up some calming treats or catnip so she will calm down naturally. Additionally make sure that Kitty nonetheless has a chosen “cat” spot, like her condominium.

Choosy In regards to the Field: If the field is just not clear sufficient, sufficiently big, simply accessible, or doesn’t have the “proper” sort of litter, Kitty will let you already know.

Wouldn’t you too desire a pleasant, clear rest room as a substitute of a uncared for public restroom?

It’s attainable that the litter is just not comfy on Kitty’s ft, so she is displaying disdain for it. Altering the cat litter sort you might be utilizing may do the trick. These are among the finest manufacturers of non-tracking cat litter that cats – and house owners – love.

The issue may be a litter field that your cat finds uncomfortable. Attempt to swap to a bigger or extra open field, so she has loads of house to get in, transfer round, and get out. You may also need to take into account a self-cleaning litter field that helps you retain these odors at bay.

It’s additionally attainable that she dislikes the situation of the field. Attempt to hold it in a non-public and quiet space with out an excessive amount of foot visitors. Cats and people will not be too completely different on this method!

At-Dwelling Cleaners

Surprisingly, it’s easy to make your individual cat urine remover. First, attempt to blot up as a lot of the urine you possibly can, particularly if it’s in a porous floor.

White vinegar is present in nearly all people’s pantry and acts as an incredible cleansing agent for family messes. Vinegar naturally deodorizes and lifts micro organism current in cat urine from the floor.

Right here’s a well-liked white vinegar concoction that’s nice for carpets and fabric:

¼ cup of white vinegar 1 quart of water

Make sure to not use vinegar on hardwood flooring or marble. It can etch the end and harm the fabric.

For those who really feel like mixing it up or should clear up a unique sort of floor, right here is one other reliable recipe:

2 teaspoons of baking soda 2 drops of dishwashing cleaning soap 2 cups of hydrogen peroxide

Combine these substances in a bowl collectively, and comply with these instructions:

Gently stir till the baking soda is blended in easily Blot any extra cat urine if attainable Pour the combination onto the spot and try to cowl utterly This half is vital: permit the combination to soak utterly into the mess. You don’t have to blot or scrub. Go away the substance alone for a full 24 hours Take a fabric, towel, or paper towel to frivolously blot the realm Enable the realm to air dry. If it’s a carpeted space, then you possibly can vacuum to suck up any extra liquid.

Enzyme Cleaners

When shopping for a cat urine cleaner, keep away from merchandise with ammonia. Like talked about earlier than, ammonia is already current in cat urine, so this scent is mainly asking your feline good friend to return again and mark the spot once more.

What you do need is a product with an enzymatic formulation. An enzyme cleaner is completely different than every other cleaner as a result of it doesn’t raise dust like detergents, abrasives, or degreasers.

Enzyme cleaners mainly digest the stain and odor, so to talk—the longer it sits on the spot, the higher likelihood you could have of being stain and odor-free.

Enzyme cleaners are additionally nice for grease, grime, and different unsatisfying stains and odors. So in case your common cleaners will not be fixing your issues, discover an enzyme-based formulation that you just like and keep it up!

To make use of enzyme cleaners comply with these steps:

Evenly blot the dirty floor with a paper towel or hand-cloth Generously spray the enzymatic formulation, utterly protecting and soaking the dirty space Wait between 10 minutes to in a single day if the stain is particularly harsh. Go do some chores or go see a film! Blot, wipe or scrub away

When Accidents Occur…

We love our feline companions, however we don’t love their urine.

You’ll want to take into account all the opposite causes that Fluffy won’t be utilizing her litter field and take her to the vet if it’s a steady drawback. Attempt a brand new litter field, litter, or perhaps a contemporary spot for her to go.

When an accident happens, these are sure-fire methods to assist maintain any odors or stains which will include Fluffy. Simply use these methods to ensure your house smells contemporary and welcoming.

Writer Bio:

Matt Clayton

“Matt is the founding father of PetHairPatrol.com. He lives in New York along with his two golden retrievers: Ben and Jerry. As soon as he opened a carton of yogurt, and instantly there was a canine hair inside. That’s when he determined to seek out the very best methods to do away with pet hair and begin a web site to share his information. He has researched and reviewed tons of of merchandise that make it easier to hold your house clear – even when you could have furry roomies. He loves operating and Italian pizza. He hates pigeons. And clearly, pet hair!”

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