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ikenbar · 3 years ago

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Mr. Love: Ike’s Choice CH5 PT2

Warnings: Some swearing but like Ike is having a hard day so give her a break, talk of strippers and bikinis but it is literally just talk, some angst, the tiniest pinch of fluff, anger, hate, disputes between sisters, near death experiences and cLiFfHaNgErS!!!! :D

Also! This part is dedicated to one of my favorite teachers ever. Hats off to you Senior Olson... you got featured in a fanfiction... I know this must be the most riveting part of your entire teaching career...

(Chapter Five (Kiro and Youran) Prologue and part one can be found here~)

((Please read the author’s note (and the beginning of the story) on chapter one part one if you’re new here :D))

Chapter Five:

Part two:

I ran up the steps to the school in aggravation. My driver and I had been sitting in traffic for twenty minutes, killing all my time and patience slowly and painfully. I threw open the doors to the school and immediately locked eyes with Adri, who was slouching in one of the chairs just outside of Mr. Olson’s office. She sat up quickly in her chair.

“Oh thank goodness they called you!” She smiled, “I was afraid they’d call-”

“Zip it!” I snapped, taking Adri aback, “Need I remind you that you’ve been suspended?! Just because Bart or Maria didn’t pick you up, doesn't mean you have gotten off scot-free, lady.” Adri’s once excited face grew pale. Someone opened the door to the principal's office.

Out stepped a tall man in his late sixties. With his back arched and his cane in his hand, he walked with a limp that screamed intimidation. His hair was receding and graying but most of the grey was centered on the bushy beard he brandished like a Norse god. Mr. Olson was a man that showed his years, but his eyes were still lit with the same fire that his younger self held. Even if they were hidden behind his thick, oval glasses.

“I thought I heard you out here.” Mr. Olson smiled at me, “It’s good to see you again Ike.”

“Sir.” Though I spoke impatiently, I still bowed with respect, “Listen, I would love to sit and talk but I’m running late for a shoot for a show. Is there any way we can speed this up?”

“Oof.” Mr. Olson chuckled and turned to Adri, “You chose the wrong day to be suspended.” Mr. Olson looked back at me and gestured into his office, “I just need you to sign some papers for me. Then I can send you on your merry way.” I nodded and followed him into the office, grabbing Adri and pulling her by the collar to follow us. I was handed a small packet of paper by a smiling receptionist as Mr. Olson pulled Adri aside.

My phone buzzed from my pocket. Without looking at the ID, I answered.

“Speaking.”

“I have a bone to pick with you.”

It was Bart.

“What?” I moaned as I flipped through the pages of the packet.

“You know the filming studio we rented for the day?”

“Yeah?”

“Why didn’t you tell me we had changed the location?”

I froze.

“...what?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“The studio stopped me from going in and said we didn’t have the studio today! Then, when I told him who I was, he told me that we had cancelled our time there! I called the crew and they told me that they got an email that we had changed to a different location! So now, I look like a fool! Why didn’t you tell me we switched studios!?”

“Because I didn’t!” I signed the papers quickly and handed the receptionist the packet, “I have no recollection about sending an email! What studio do we have now?”

“The FASL Studio. On the other side of town. It’s a good thing I decided to come early! The donuts ended up being cold though.”

“OTHER SIDE OF TOWN?!” I roared, despite my calm surroundings, “I’m at the school! I’m going to be late!”

“The school?” Bart asked, suddenly sounding worried, “Why? What happened?!”

“Your new daughter reenacted a scene from a 80s highschool sitcom.” I huffed, holding the bridge of my nose, “Does the cast know about the change?”

“Yeah. They are already here. What do you mean by-”

“I’ll tell you when I get there. I gotta go. Bye.” I quickly hung up and grabbed Adri’s arm. “Sorry, Sir.” I said hurriedly. “I gotta go. I’ll be sure to make sure Adri is doing her work and feeling guilty about what she has done. Goodbye.” I hurried out of the principal’s office.

Mr Olson shook his head as the girls left. “Still the same Ike.” He said, turning back into his office.

I pulled Adri into the car and gave the driver the new address of the studio. “And try to find a way around that traffic.” I huffed, “I’m going to be late as it is.”

“I’m not going home?” Adri asked, stupidly.

“No.” I kept my eyes glued on my phone as I pulled up my email, “We are going to the studio. But you aren’t going to be doing anything but work. Did Mr. Olson give you a packet to work on?”

“Yeah.” Adri hesitated, showing me the large packet in her hand, “It’s just busy work. They don’t even grade me for it.”

“I don’t care.” I stretched my jaw, “You’re doing it.” Adri opened her mouth to protest but closed it as I cursed. In my sent emails was the email Bart was talking about. It talked about moving locations for the day and how I was sorry for the inconvenience it might bring.

Except I didn’t write it.

I would have called Bart to tell him. I would have even told the crew in person if I had the chance.

There was no way I had sent that email.

I scrolled down to look at the email's information.

But before I could read it, my phone screen glitched. I growled and hit it. A high pitched noise radiated from my speakers, causing me to yelp and hold the phone away from me as Adri covered her ears.

“Turn it off!!” She called.

“I don’t know how!!” I screamed, jamming the volume down button on the side of the phone. The ringing stopped and the phone’s screen turned white. A cursive black text gradually appeared on the screen.

“Brought to you by your friend, Key”

Then, the screen went black. Adri and I stared at the phone, trying to process what had just happened. I tried turning the phone back on.

Nothing.

I tried holding the power button down.

Still nothing.

“Oh come ON!” I boomed, pressing the button repeatedly, “You’ve got to be kidding me. I’ve only had this phone for a week! Victor told me it was the best they had! What the hell?!” I growled and threw my phone into my lap. I rested my elbows on my knees and threw my head in my hands. An awkward silence washed over the car.

“... would it help if I said I feel really bad for what I did?” Adri asked timidly.

>>>

I pulled Adri by the wrist as I ran into the studio. We were only a few minutes late thanks to a shortcut past the traffic but I wasn’t taking any chances. I flashed the guard my id card and pushed open the door. People were bustling around the large studio carrying various tools, set pieces, and props. I pushed through the crowd and searched the faces. I spotted Bart speaking to someone by the snack table. He was a young man with beautiful blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and a stunning smile.

“Ho thank goodness.” I breathed deeply, “Kiro made it.”

“WHAT!?!” Adri exclaimed from next to me, “KIRO’S-” I tugged at her wrist, quieting her.

“No.” I hissed, “Not for children who don’t respect the few who don’t get paid nearly enough to deal with their bull.” I flagged down a crew member, “Excuse me. Where are the dressing rooms?” The employee gestured to a wall with multiple doors on it. I thanked him and pulled Adri with me as I walked to them. I opened one and pushed her inside. “Now you’re going to sit in here and work on your packet.” I pointed angrily to her.

“What?!” Adri scoffed, “I am literally within spitting distance with my idol, and you won’t even let me see him?!”

“No.”

“Why?!”

“You know why!!” I barked, “You started a riot in the middle of class!! I had to be pulled away from an important breakfast to pick you up!”

“What, with the friend you met a week ago?” Adri snapped, “The little producer that is so small even I can-”

“Shut your mouth.” I spoke menacingly through my teeth. The air in the room became tense and strangely cold. Adri stopped talking, “You say anything insulting or degrading about that woman and I swear you'll regret the very second you met me, do I make myself clear?” Adri seemed at the verge of saying something but, in fear of her life, she kept her smart mouth shut. “Now I’m going to go do my work and you’re going to do yours. And you'll do it in this room and silently. End of discussion.” I turned and headed out the door.

“Worst sister ever.” Adri said under her breath.

“Deal with it, princess. This is what happens when you break the rules.” I slammed the door shut with those last words. The entire studio went silent as the bang of the door echoed through the hall. I took a moment to catch my breath. Never had I ever lost my temper like that. Sure, it has been a stressful day but… the moment she brought up Youran… Something in me snapped. Like it was my job to- I shook my head, Now was not the time to be thinking about this kind of thing. I've got shit to do.

I cleared my throat and looked around. My eyes landed on a security guard nearby. “You!” I called, pointing at him. He jumped and came to attention. I pointed to the ground next to me. He quickly walked over to me.

“Yes, mam?” He asked.

“I want you to stand at this door and not let anyone in or out without letting me know first. Do you understand?”

“Yes, mam.” The guard assumed his position at the door. I looked around the still silent studio. “Young!” I walked briskly over to the director, “Fill me in. And make it quick.”

“Oh no.” Bart hissed as Young took Ikamara around the studio, “Ike’s in a bad mood.”

“Ike?” Kiro asked, watching them as well, “Is that the Ike you were talking about? Your other producer?”

“Yup.” Bart sighed, “I was hoping you would catch her on a better day. She is a very kind person, really, but she can sometime be-”

“Why is this not done?!” Ike’s harsh voice carried over the quiet studio, “I’m late once and you guys think it’s time to slack off?!”

Bart leaned close to Kiro and whispered softly to him, “... I know you asked for her specifically, but I would be more than happy to spend the day showing you around if you’d prefer it.”

“Don’t worry.” Kiro smiled sweetly, “I think I can handle it.”

I shoved the clipboard back into Young’s arms, “Too much needs to get done in too little time.” I growled, “Quit lollygagging and do your job. I don’t pay you to sit back and do nothing!” Young skulked off, clearly embarrassed.

“Man!” A familiar voice spoke from next to me, “You really tore into him!” I turned and saw Minor walking to me. He wore a pleasant smile but that vanished when he saw my face. “Something wrong boss?”

“'Something wrong?'” My tone dripped with anger, “You’re twenty minutes late, Minor! I’ve fired for less!”

“S-sorry, boss!” Minor’s tone quickly changed, “I-I went to the wrong location! I didn’t know we had changed studios! Th-then I couldn’t get a hold of you and got stuck in traffic... I promise it won’t happen again!” I glared at Minor. He gulped and bowed deeply. After a moment, I loosened my jaw.

“Don’t worry about it.” I grumbled, rubbing the bridge of my nose to steam my growing headache, “I was late for the same reason. Sorry for snapping. It’s�� been a long day.” Minor relaxed and stood up straight again.

“No problem.” He smiled kindly, “It happens! Maybe it’s just in the air. I was told an email went out about the location change? But I didn’t get one. Maybe we were both meant to have a bad day.”

“Right.” I said slowly, “... you have a thing for conspiracies, right, Minor?”

“Yeah.” Minor chuckled, "You can say that."

“What about hackers? You know anything about them?”

“Of course!”

“What can you tell me about a hacker named, Key?”

“Key??” Minor asked excitedly, “Man, what don’t I know about them?? Let’s see, well, to start off, they are a white hat hacker. Meaning that what they do what they do ethically.” I huffed and folded my arms. Ethically?? What is so ethical about sending my company on a wild goose chase and killing my phone?!

Someone tapped my shoulder. I whipped my head around with a glare, only to drop it as my eyes met a familiar ocean of blue.

“Hi!” Kiro smiled kindly, “I’m Kiro. I think you’re the person that’s assigned to help me around the studio today.” I froze and examined his face up close for the first time in weeks.

“... You’re supposed to be in makeup.” I growled, “Where is Gina? Gina!”

“I’ll let you be.” Minor chuckled nervously, backing away from my once again rising, wrothful mood.

I dragged Kiro around the studio, preparing him with makeup and costumes and scripts, giving neither of us a break from the hustle. “Young.” I stopped the stage director and pointed to Kiro, “Get him ready for the first scene.” Young nodded and gestured for Kiro to follow him. I turned and began to walk away

“Give me a second.” Kiro grabbed my arm and held a finger up to the director. He pulled me aside, “Can I ask you a quick question?”

“Is it about the shoot?” I asked seriously.

“...No?” Kiro answered slowly. I opened my mouth to protest, “It’ll be super fast!” Kiro begged, clapping his hands together, “I promise!” I looked at him with an arched eyebrow. He clutched his hands together and brought them up to his mouth, smiling sweetly. I sighed.

“Fine.” I placed the clipboard down and gave him my full attention, “What is it?”

“It’s about the girl that gave you my information.” Kiro asked excitedly, “When will she get here? She said we would be working together today.”

I froze, my heart sinking to my feet.

Didn’t he recognize my voice? We’ve talked a fair few times. Maybe he forgot what I sounded like… or maybe I had scared him that day with how awful I was treating everyone. Maybe he thought Super Stranger wouldn’t be so hard on her employees. Maybe he didn’t want it to be someone like me… maybe he didn’t want it to be me.

I cleared my throat, “She called and canceled. Something about having something important come up... Sorry.” Kiro’s face fell slightly.

“Oh.” He nodded, still holding a soft smile, “Ok. Thanks!” Kiro forced a larger smile on his face as he walked away from me. I sighed, fighting the lump in my throat. This is why you never meet your idols.

>>>

Kiro stood on stage for his first scene. I stood next to the camera man, correcting his poor angle. “Ike?” I looked over my shoulder and spotted the costume designer walking over to me with one of the extras dressed as a motorcyclist. “The clasp is stuck on his helmet. I think It’s jammed. Bart said I should go to you?” I took off my blazer and motioned for the extra to come closer to me as the lights in the room dimmed.

“Playback!” Young called through her mega phone, “And… ACTION!” Keeping most of my attention on the extra, I glanced at the stage. Kiro was sitting in a chair by a large desk. He was leaning back, carelessly kicking his feet up onto the table. There was a knocking sound.

“Come in.” Kiro said, nonchalantly. Even though Kiro was normally so bright, the character he played wasn’t. We had written him to be someone no one would like. Though I was scared Kiro wouldn’t be able to play the character well, his acting was as amazing as ever, stifling any doubt I had. Kiro had this in the bag.

“Dexter Stackman?” The female actor asked as she entered on cue, “The Private investigator?”

“Is that what it says on the door?” Kiro asked.

“Yes?”

“Then you’ve obviously got the wrong person. Try the next room over.”

The crew stifled their laughter. I finally got the clasp undone and helped the extra take the helmet off. “I’ll keep it with me.” I assured the costume designer as she reached to take the helmet, “I think I know how to stop it from doing it again.” She nodded and backed off. I looked at the clasp as I continued to listen to the scene.

“So you're Dexter.” The actress pouted, “I need your help.”

“What help could I give? I’m just some dude sitting at the wrong desk, apparently.”

A creaking noise came from the stage. I looked up.

“Please, sir. You’re the only one who will listen!”

“Obviously not. Goodbye now!”

I searched the stage carefully with my eyes. Where was that creaking coming from? That’s going to mess with the audio!

“But this case is one you’d be interested in!”

“Does it involve strippers that have had their bikinis stolen?”

“No?”

“Then you’re wrong.”

I huffed and looked up. My breath hitched in my throat. A light swung tediously above the stage. It was rocking unnaturally, almost as if it was about to fall.

I looked straight down from the light. Right under it sat the nonchalant, quipping, boneheaded Dexter, completely unaware of the predicament he was in.

I threw on the helmet.

“But I-”

“Listen lady,” Kiro stood from his seat and pointed at the actress, “I’ve already told you, I’m not-”

There was a loud snap. Kiro looked above him in time to see the light come hurtling towards his head. I dove into the scene, leaping over the desk and ramming myself into Kiro’s chest, sending us both flying off of the stage. We hit the ground hard as a crash came from behind us. I propped myself up hurriedly to look at Kiro.

“Are you ok?” I asked quickly, inspecting Kiro for any obvious injuries. Nothing was strange except for the rising smile on his face

“Super Stranger!” He threw his arms up in triumph, “I thought you were-” Something clicked on the floor below us. Kiro and I froze. Suddenly, the ground we were laying on flipped backwards, sending Kiro and me into the hole it created. Kiro quickly grabbed onto me tightly as we were launched into darkness.

(Next)

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johnboothus · 3 years ago

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EOD Drinks With Dia Simms CEO of Lobos 1707 Tequila and Mezcal

In this episode of “End Of Day Drinks,” VinePair’s editorial team is joined by Dia Simms, CEO of Lobos 1707 Tequila & Mezcal. Simms details life before entering the spirits industry, explaining how her prior experiences working in the U.S. government and at Combs Enterprises laid the foundation for where she is today.

As president of Combs Enterprises, Simms oversaw the meteoric rise of Cîroc. Her leadership helped ease the transition into the spirits industry. Lobos 1707’s forward-thinking approach — with its focus on diversity and inclusion — caught the eye of celebrity investors such as LeBron James and Arnold Schwarzenegger as well as the tequila-drinking population as a whole. Finally, Simms lists Lobos 1707’s current lineup, which includes a Joven, Extra Añejo, Reposado, and Mezcal coming soon.

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Or Check out the conversation here

Cat Wolinski: Hello and welcome to “End of Day Drinks” with VinePair. I am Cat Wolinski, VinePair’s senior editor recording in Brooklyn, New York. I’m here with members of our editorial team. We have our tastings director and producer Keith Beavers, our assistant editor Emma Cranston, and we have Elgin Nelson, editorial assistant. We are speaking today with Dia Simms. She is the CEO of Lobos 1707 Tequila & Mezcal. It’s a brand that launched last year, and it’s just the latest in a long line of very impressive things that Dia has been involved in. She previously served as the president of Combs Enterprises, as in Sean “Diddy” Combs Enterprises. She was in that role as the company’s investment in Cîroc vodka transformed that brand into a billion-dollar ultra-premium vodka brand. She’s also been on Ebony’s Power 100 list and Billboard’s Women In Music list. And on our list, as someone we’ve really been looking forward to speaking with and having on the show. So before I give too much away, Dia, take the mic. Say hello!

Dia Simms: Ooh, la la. That’s a wonderful intro.

C: You’re a wonderful guest. I had to pull out the stops.

D: Thank you for having me. I’m so excited to be here today.

C: First of all, where are you joining us from?

D: I’m in sunny Los Angeles, and I know this is probably cliche to say out loud, but it is actually enormously, incredibly gorgeous today. It’s extra L.A. today.

C: Surprisingly, it’s actually a nice day here on the East Coast, too, but that’s pretty rare. Are you usually in L.A.?

D: I mostly grew up in Queens, N.Y., and I am between New York and Maryland most of the time. However, we have lots of exciting things going on with Lobos 1707 in L.A., Miami, and all over the country. I travel wherever I have to go to move this wonderful tequila.

C: Absolutely. And where is the company operating right now? Is it mostly in Maryland?

D: No, the company is in the Lower East Side in New York. We would love to have you by our office. We had great investors behind the brand, and we could have gotten a swanky office. No, we want to be at the heartbeat where culture is being created. The Lower East Side is so famous for everything from the height of sneakers to the coolest trends coming out for the last 100 years. In some ways, it is very much one of the last zip codes that represents the tradition of old New York. We built our office in the spirit of a wolf pack to be able to be an actual den. We have a full stage, a huge bar, and a super-long table that our founder actually built with his own hands. Once we start to move out of the pandemic, which I believe is happening, we already extended our reach to the community. They can hold community board meetings here. If you’re a young artist and you need to shoot your campaign or cover art, you can come to shoot here because it actually used to be a studio, so the lights are incredible. We wanted to build an office that serves the consumer. It is not just a one-way experience, and we want to walk it like we talk it. We love the space, and we’d love to have you guys there.

C: Wow. We would, of course, like to come by. VinePair is actually based in Manhattan. We’re all remote right now. Some of us are Brooklyn, some of us are in New Jersey, Elgin is actually in the Bahamas.

D: Oh, OK.

C: Anyway, that sounds like such a cool space. Is it part office and experiential marketing space?

D: Yeah, we can host events and dinners. We actually have a kitchen in there. We’re having dinner actually on Monday, Covid-19 safe, with an amazing chef. It’s a flex space, but it was more important to us. After last year, we are living in a transition of what an office even is, because obviously, it doesn’t matter where we are. Train, plane, or hotel, you’re at your office if you have your device with you. We thought that it doesn’t need to be so traditional. It’s really an opportunity for us to survive as a company.

C: That is so true, and I think what you’re saying speaks to your adaptability as a businesswoman. I’d love it if you could take us through your career track, what led you here, where did you start, and everything in between.

D: Oh, yeah. My career track was not at all linear. It definitely wasn’t the plan to go to school and then going into the spirits business. It was 100 percent not the case. I am a super geek, and I love to learn. The only thing that was consistent was how can I bring the utmost excellence in every single thing I do. My job title was so very different from tequila. I started off working for the Department of Defense, negotiating defense contracts, and I was very young. I was 21, and I was handed a $120 million contract to negotiate.

C: Wow!

D: Exactly. As you can imagine, the contract I was negotiating, people were thinking, “What is this whippersnapper doing in the room? You really should be getting my coffee.” It was the absolute best training ground for every single thing I did. After that, I was sent to what was called then the Defense Acquisition University, where I was trained in negotiations. I had a secret clearance. I felt that was very cool, but most importantly, I had to be in a space with people who had been in the industry, respectfully, for 50 to 60 years. I was brand new, and I understood very much on day one that frankly, extensive knowledge is going to be my only weapon. If I had to memorize the federal acquisition regulations and know them backward and forwards, if I had to fight for the taxpayer’s money like it was my own money, then I would do so. Beyond that, it was the things I learned there, negotiating for trainer jets, helicopters, and integrated logistics support for jets at a tripartite agreement with Singapore friends. That was it. I didn’t know it then, but when I had to negotiate deals for Puff Daddy, fast-forward 15 years, or when I wanted to pick the movie with my husband in the kitchen, everything I learned, the Department of Defense had everything.

C: Wow. That is just worlds away from what we think of as being in the spirits industry, but it’s transferable skills, right? I love the example about watching the movie with your husband. We’re negotiating things every day, and whatever we’re doing involves the entire globe.

D: Yes, so from defense I obviously got bored, and I had an opportunity to apply for a job in advertising, sales, and radio in Maryland. I applied, I got it, and took the job. Again, very different from the rigor of working for the U.S. federal government. This was basically sales, but it’s what you call “eat what you kill.” You get a certain amount you’re paid, but you have to sell enough in order to cover it. I always say it’s like selling crack without any addiction. It’s drama and excitement, but there’s no addiction. You really have to sell the thing. It was one year of learning a lot about advertising and marketing. Again, I got great training. I was working with Clear Channel, so they trained me on out-of-home, television, and radio ads. This is way back when we were getting trained on a fax machine. Now, what I really learned is the right marketing demographic, how the demographic focuses, how to segment your marketing approach, and how to sell. Again, it is just an invaluable thing no matter what job you’re in. And after actually doing it for a year, it occurred to me I could be doing it for myself. I got with some girlfriends, and we launched our own marketing company called Madison Marketing, which is where I really first got into spirits. I got Seagram’s as a client, and then I ran a small on- and off-premise promotions team in the D.C., Maryland, Virginia area. I’ve always been focused. If I send a promotional model to a liquor store, I want to ensure that we sell enough bottles that we pay for ourselves. I always wanted to go back to Seagram’s and say, “You may have paid us X, but we moved this many bottles.” That was intuitive as an entrepreneur. It helped build a good reputation in the beginning and give me my first entree into the service industry. Then, I was on and off in sales for a while and ended up back in New York working for Power.105 Radio, which was, at that time, a brand new hip hop station.

C: Oh, my gosh, yes.

D: It was a big deal back then because Hot97, in hip hop, it’s the first biggest hip-hop station in the world. Puff, at the time, refused to advertise on the other station Power105 out of his great loyalty to Hot97. When I started working there, I ended up inheriting all the music labels as clients and I was told Bad Boy Records will not advertise on that station so we really wanted to get them as a client. I made it a mission and eventually convinced them, the executives, to take a chance on them, and we started to get more business for Bad Boy Records. At some point, one of the marketing executives called me and said, “Look, Puff is looking to hire a chief of staff. I think you guys would get along, and you send me a lot of emails at 3 in the morning. So I think you don’t sleep, he doesn’t sleep, so you can interview for the job.” So I took the interview. It was a super-fast interview, maybe five minutes. I had no idea how it went, but they called me and said, “I would like you to come to take the job but because you haven’t managed really large teams before, would you be willing to start as an executive assistant?” I told them I didn’t care what they called me, and I’ll be there in a couple of weeks.

C: Wow, that’s amazing. OK, so did he end up advertising on Power105?

D: Oh, yeah.

C: As president of Combs, if I’m correct, you were the first person to also become president of that company ultimately?

D: Yes. I was there for 14 years and again, I started off as an executive assistant, and then I grew to become the first president in the history of the company. Puff always acted as the president himself so I am always forever honored and grateful that he gave me a chance to run the company because that’s been his real baby since he was 19. It felt like a family business to him, and I am always grateful for that chance.

C: Wow. Were you also involved with Cîroc? Could you tell us about how that happened?

D: Before I had a baby, Cîroc was my first baby. Puff, as you can imagine, was offered tons of opportunities to work in the spirits industry, but he took it really seriously. When this opportunity came about with the Diageo, we were really thinking about how the approach would be, how we’d make sure there was responsible consumption, and if minorities were going to be supportive of this brand, how do we make sure that they benefit economically? When we had the chance I went to him and said, “Look, I am actually trained in negotiations. I know I’m your chief of staff today, but I would like to be on the team to negotiate with you for this plan. Would you include me?” He said, “Sure.” It was a very small group of us. We worked with Diageo for about 10 months, and they were phenomenal partners throughout. When we finished the deal and were getting ready to launch Cîroc, we went back and said, “All of your legacies have been rooted in exceptional marketing.” At that time, the marketing team was very small. I said, “I would like to relaunch the agency you had before called Blue Flame and take lead on Cîroc, which would mean I would step away from my current role.” As chief of staff, I managed all of his estates, security, everything to do personally as well as all the businesses. It would mean stepping away from that and focusing on this one vertical. He basically said, “Sure, if you replace yourself, you can do it.” I went to get Blue Flame funded and then started hiring people and did both jobs for a year. A year later, when Cîroc was doing crazy numbers, up 1,000 percent in multiple zip codes, I knew I needed to just work on this. If you look at the efficiency of our time, this is why we have an amazing brand here that people are really responding to. He finally agreed and then we were off to the races.

C: That’s obviously its own job completely. I can’t believe you’re doing both for a year.

D: Yeah, it was intense. It’s funny because I started in 2005. It was the same year I got married too, so that was a crazy year of my life.

C: Oh my gosh, you had time for a wedding? That’s amazing.

Emma Cranston: Hey, Dia, this is Emma just chiming in. Fast-forwarding to Lobos, what has it been like to move from vodka to tequila? What do you think you’ve been able to really do with Lobos that you couldn’t do with Cîroc? Is there anything, possibly in terms of the mission statement, that you feel are really proud of Lobos?

D: Well, I’m incredibly proud of Lobos 1707 as the brand and for the team. I previously worked in that space. I worked with Sean on another tequila at one point. I’m super familiar with the category and was excited to have this chance to launch a brand at this time. I think the biggest difference is less about the specific brands and a little bit more about the timing. We’re living in such unprecedented times. It was really important to the founder, and we launched 1707 to be really respectful of that. I mentioned earlier about the way we built the office, we wanted inclusion to be built into the core of what we do. It is not an afterthought where it is something you do on Tuesday night and one person does during left-handed purple hair day, it needs to be part of the footprint and the heartbeat of the way we build the company. I’m really proud to say now, coming up a year later, we’re intentionally 50 percent women-led and we’re over 60 percent diverse. I think the foundation of who we are being set before we spent the time on what we are, I think makes a difference all the way down to the liquid.

EC: Yeah, that’s awesome. Specifically, I’d read so much about Lobos’ mission to build a bigger table and everything you were talking about with your offices, it sounds like you have a super-dynamic, inclusive space. How has the Lobos team reflected that, and what does that look like in action?

D: Absolutely, so a couple of things. Here’s a simple thing that I think is a good example, though. When we did our launch creative, and fortunately I built a lot of brands where you come up with some cool idea, shoot it, and it’s all about the cinematography. We really said, “Look, the easy thing to do is tell the truth.” Our creative featured the actual jimadors who worked on this brand. The actual owners of the brand and everybody in our launch creative commercial are a real part of the Lobos family, which is different from a lot of other brands. Even in tequila space, you’ll see the jimadors blurred out, obviously a lot of times in the background. They really are the rock stars of the brand when you think about it. Even though we’re so fortunate to have huge luminaries like Arnold Schwarzenegger and LeBron James behind the brand for us, the liquid, the people, and the humanity in the way our brand operates? That’s the real superstar.

Elgin Nelson: That is a perfect segue to my question. Last year, VinePair published an article on why celebrities want to create a tequila brand. That’s the thing now, everyone wants to make a tequila brand, and celebrities are backing that. Given your investment from LeBron James, how has Lobos benefited from that? Also, what is your position regarding celebrity tequila, because it is a big thing right now?

D: It is. I don’t believe in celebrity brands for the sake of celebrity brands and the consumer is too smart. They can read very quickly through inauthentic pairing, right? With LeBron, that’s really natural. I can spend a little time on this to help give a heartbeat to this. Lobos means wolves in Spanish. Our overarching cry is this famous Kipling quote, which is very familiar with us: “For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and for the strength of the wolf is the pack.” LeBron — besides falling in love with the actual liquid, the heritage, and the true story of the fact that our founders’ family have been in the industry for 400 years and that we use barrels from his bodega in Spain — all of that truth was really attractive to LeBron. Beyond that, he’s such a big believer in the need for respecting every member of your team, and the fact that each one of you being strong together makes all of us strong as a collective. His presence is quite natural to the brand. I think the other key piece is that all the people who are behind our brand wrote checks as investors. It is not an endorsement deal, this is not somebody who doesn’t really drink the brand and is doing it because they’re getting a check every couple of weeks. They believe in it as businessmen, they believe in the proposition, and they believe in the product. I think you can very much sense the difference when something is authentic and when it’s forced.

EN: As a team, when you say wolf pack and LeBron bringing that mentality to the Lobos team, what other investors helped bring the brand along that weren’t necessarily part of the wolf pack? That is central in launching a global brand, and you see that a lot with these celebrity tequila brands as well.

D: Well, a lot of times the people, frankly, are not necessarily the names everybody knows. People that we’ve hired, I’ve worked with for years on other brands, and they are the difference makers. The real experience makes it different. This is not the sexy answer, but I think the reason why our brand is five times our original forecast is that we have experienced people who understand how to build a brand and industry. Especially on this podcast, you guys get it more than most. It’s not as easy as having a cool idea, adding a celebrity, and then you can go sell it. You need to really understand and respect every liquor store owner who is busting their butt and feeding their family on this. I think our team, when I look at who really makes a difference, it’s the woman who used to be my assistant, my chief of staff, and now she’s running business development. She goes into this as her family business. That is a difference-maker. LeBron and Arnold Schwarzenegger would say that as well: “You guys have built an incredible team that I’m proud to work alongside everyday.”

E: I think that’s really exciting. You mentioned earlier, too, about your team and how it’s 50 percent women-led and 60 percent diverse. I’m just curious, where do you see the future of women and people of color in general entering the world of spirits? It’s something we talk about a lot on this podcast. How do you see other spirits brands creating those entryways? And how has that become such a priority for Lobos? Do you think other brands should be adopting this approach?

D: The good news is we’re at an inflection point where we can now speak unabashedly around why diversity is just very simply good for business. The first thing that has to change is the idea that adding diversity to a business is some type of charitable endeavor. Every bit of research shows that when you have diversity of thought, you have higher profits, are better for business, are better for retention, and you drive more sales. I think you have to change the approach. The second piece is we look at at a broader level, not just spirits, but as a country. There’s a lot of outstanding conversation and great passion around civil rights but I actually feel the thing that we don’t talk enough about is entrepreneurship, real equity, real ownership. I’ll give you just an example that I spent a lot of time on, but I think this likely reverberates to many diverse populations. In America, the average white American is worth 13 times than the average Black American is worth. When you get down to just business owners, that drops to just three times, which is very exciting news. If you believe there’s been 400 years of civil inequity in this country, and it’s already just a three-times difference, we have to focus on entrepreneurship and ownership as a path forward. We look at the spirits industry and the number of founders who have built a company successfully. We look at the Aviation stories, the Casamigos stories. Less than 1 percent of them, in a meaningful way, have Black and Brown constituents. Women are a little bit better, but it’s still in the single digits. That doesn’t make any sense. Women are 50 percent of the population. The spirits industry has a lot of work to do at every level, from every tier, but the great news is every conversation I’m having, everybody’s ready to do the work. The more we have these conversations, I feel like we’re progressing forward. It just needs to be a math-based, metric-based approach, not just theory.

C: Absolutely. I couldn’t have said it better myself. This is actually a perfect way to conclude our conversation. I know you’re a very busy woman, probably on the way to somewhere.

D: I’m so grateful, guys, for the time and the chance to talk about this. We’re really thrilled. Lobos 1707, we have our Joven out now, our Reposado, our Extra Añejo, and our Mezcal coming soon. If you guys haven’t personally tried and you guys indulge, please do try and let me know what you think about it. I’m really proud of it.

C: The Extra Añejo sounds amazing to me.

D: Incredible.

EN: Dia, can you also shout out your socials? Anywhere we can follow you?

D: I’m on all social media accounts Instagram, Twitter @diasimms.

C: Thank you so much, Dia, it’s been a pleasure.

D: Thank you so much. Have a great one.

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of “EOD Drinks.” If you’ve enjoyed this program, please leave us a rating or a review wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps other people discover the show. And tell your friends. We want as many people as possible listening to this amazing program.

And now for the credits. “End of Day Drinks” is recorded live in New York City at VinePair’s headquarters. And it is produced, edited, and engineered by VinePair tastings director — yes, he wears a lot of hats — Keith Beavers. I also want to give a special thanks to VinePair’s co-founder, Josh Malin, to the executive editor Joanna Sciarrino, to our senior editor, Cat Wolinski, senior staff writer Tim McKirdy, and our associate editor Katie Brown. And a special shout-out to Danielle Grinberg, VinePair’s art director who designed the sick logo for this program. The music for “End of Day Drinks” was produced, written and recorded by Darby Cicci. I’m VinePair co-founder Adam Teeter, and we’ll see you next week. Thanks a lot.

Ed note: This episode has been edited for length and clarity.

The article EOD Drinks With Dia Simms, CEO of Lobos 1707 Tequila and Mezcal appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/eod-drinks-dia-simms/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/eod-drinks-with-dia-simms-ceo-of-lobos-1707-tequila-and-mezcal

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wineanddinosaur · 3 years ago

Text

EOD Drinks With Dia Simms, CEO of Lobos 1707 Tequila and Mezcal

Listen online

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

Or Check out the conversation here

Dia Simms: Ooh, la la. That’s a wonderful intro.

C: You’re a wonderful guest. I had to pull out the stops.

D: Thank you for having me. I’m so excited to be here today.

C: First of all, where are you joining us from?

D: I’m in sunny Los Angeles, and I know this is probably cliche to say out loud, but it is actually enormously, incredibly gorgeous today. It’s extra L.A. today.

C: Surprisingly, it’s actually a nice day here on the East Coast, too, but that’s pretty rare. Are you usually in L.A.?

C: Absolutely. And where is the company operating right now? Is it mostly in Maryland?

D: Oh, OK.

C: Anyway, that sounds like such a cool space. Is it part office and experiential marketing space?

C: Wow!

C: Oh, my gosh, yes.

C: Wow, that’s amazing. OK, so did he end up advertising on Power105?

D: Oh, yeah.

C: As president of Combs, if I’m correct, you were the first person to also become president of that company ultimately?

C: Wow. Were you also involved with Cîroc? Could you tell us about how that happened?

C: That’s obviously its own job completely. I can’t believe you’re doing both for a year.

D: Yeah, it was intense. It’s funny because I started in 2005. It was the same year I got married too, so that was a crazy year of my life.

C: Oh my gosh, you had time for a wedding? That’s amazing.

C: Absolutely. I couldn’t have said it better myself. This is actually a perfect way to conclude our conversation. I know you’re a very busy woman, probably on the way to somewhere.

C: The Extra Añejo sounds amazing to me.

D: Incredible.

EN: Dia, can you also shout out your socials? Anywhere we can follow you?

D: I’m on all social media accounts Instagram, Twitter @diasimms.

C: Thank you so much, Dia, it’s been a pleasure.

D: Thank you so much. Have a great one.

Ed note: This episode has been edited for length and clarity.

The article EOD Drinks With Dia Simms, CEO of Lobos 1707 Tequila and Mezcal appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/eod-drinks-dia-simms/

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vaultt-tec · 7 years ago

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How did Fallout 1 ever get made?

PCGameN sat down with the Fallout 1 team and discussed its making.

This is in a read more because it is SUPER long. I added it all here but click the link and read it on their site, there are more pictures!

Tim Caine was at PAX when he first saw Vault Boy as a living, breathing entity - it was a cosplayer of 16 or 17 years old, hair gelled to replicate that distinctive swirl. ‘This is weird’, he thought.

Feargus Urquhart remembers walking into Target and seeing that same gelled haircut and toothy smile, not on a fan this time, but emblazoned across half a metre of cotton. ‘How is it that a game that we all worked on somehow created something iconic?’, he wondered. ‘How did it show up on a t-shirt in a department store?’

Related: the best RPGs on PC.

In the years since, Bethesda have taken Fallout into both first-person and the pop culture mainstream. Vault Boy has become as recognisable as Mickey Mouse. The series’ sardonic, faux-’50s imagery now feels indelible, as if it has always been here. But it hasn’t.

It took the nascent Black Isle Studios to nurse the Fallout universe into being, as an unlikely, half-forgotten project in the wings of Interplay, where Caine and Urquhart were both working in the ‘90s. The pair helped create one of the all-time great RPGs in the process.

“The one thing I would say about Interplay in those days, and this isn’t trying to pull the veil back or anything like that - there was just shit going on,” Urquhart tells us. “It was barely controlled chaos. I’m not saying that Brian [Fargo] didn’t have some plan, but there was just… stuff.”

One day, Fargo sent out a company-wide email to canvass opinion. He wanted Interplay to work on a licensed game, and had three tabletop properties in mind. One was Vampire: The Masquerade. Another was Earthdawn, a fantasy game set in the same universe as Shadowrun. And the third was GURPS, designed by Games Workshop’s Steve Jackson.

The team picked the latter, overwhelmingly, because that was what they played in their own sessions. But GURPS wasn’t a setting - it was a Generic Universal RolePlaying System. And so Interplay’s team had to come up with a world of their own.

“I would send out an email saying, ‘I’m in Conference Room Two with a pizza’,” Caine says. “And if people wanted to come, on their own time, they could do it. Chris [Taylor, lead designer], Leonard [Boyarksy, art director], and Jason [Anderson, lead artist] showed up.”

Interplay at the time was almost like a high school, as map layout designer Scott Evans remembers it: incredibly noisy and divided into cliques. Caine was building a clique of his own.

Traditional fantasy was the first idea to be dismissed. The team actually considered making Fallout first-person, a decade early - but decided the sprites of the period didn’t offer the level of detail they wanted. Concepts were floated for time travel, and for a generation ship story - but one after the other, they were all pushed aside and the post-apocalypse was left.

“One thing I didn’t like was games where the character you’re playing should know stuff that you, the player, don’t,” Caine says. “And I think the vault helped us capture that, because both you the player and you the character had no idea what the world was like. The doors opened and you were pushed out. And I really liked that, because it meant we didn’t have to do anything fake like, ‘Well you were hit on your head and have amnesia’.”

There was plenty about the Fallout setting that wasn’t as intuitive, however. Players would have to wrap their heads around a far-future Earth and a peculiar retro aesthetic, even before the bombs started dropping. The question of how Fallout ever survived pitching is answered with a Caine quip: “What do you mean, pitch?”

For a short while, Interplay had planned to make several games in the GURPS system. But soon afterwards they had won the D&D license, a far bigger property that would go on to spawn Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale. As a consequence, Caine’s team were left largely to their own devices.

As for budget - Fallout’s was small enough to pass under the radar. Although Interplay are best remembered for the RPGs of Black Isle and oddball action games like Shiny’s Earthworm Jim, they had mainstream ambitions not so different to those of the bigger publishers today. During Fallout’s development they were primarily interested in sports, and an online game division called Engage.

“It was almost like a smokescreen,” Urquhart explains. “So much money was being pumped into these things that you could go play with your toys and no-one would know.”

Which is exactly what the Fallout team did, pulling out every idea they’d ever intended for a videogame.

“Being just so happy and fired up that we were making this thing basically from scratch and doing virtually whatever we wanted, we had this weird arrogance about the whole thing,” Boyarsky recalls. “‘People are gonna love it, and if they don’t love it they don’t get it.’

“Part of it was a punk rock ethos of, every time we came up with an idea and thought, ‘Wow, no-one would ever do that’, we always wanted to push it further. We chased that stuff and got all excited, like we were doing things we weren’t supposed to be doing.”

The team laugh at the idea that Fallout might have carried some kind of message (“Violence solves problems,” Caine suggests). To these kids of the ‘80s, nuclear holocaust felt like immediate and obvious thematic material. The game’s development was guided by a mantra, however.

“It was the consequence of action,” Caine puts it. “Do what you want, so long as you can accept the consequences.”

Fallout lets you shoot up all you want. But if you get addicted, that will become a problem for you, one you’ll have to cope with. The team were keen not to force their own views onto players, and decided the best way to avoid that was with an overriding moral greyness. The Brotherhood of Steel - in Fallout 3, a somewhat heroic group policing the wasteland - were here in the first game simply as preservationists or, more uncharitably, hoarders. Even The Master, the closest thing Fallout had to a villain, was driven by a well-intentioned desire to bring unity to the wasteland. His name, pre-mutation, was ‘Richard Grey’.

“Everyone needed to have flaws and positive points,” Taylor says. “That way the player could have better, stronger interactions whichever way they went.”

Although the GURPS ruleset eventually fell by the wayside, the Fallout team were determined to replicate the tabletop experience they loved - in which players don’t always do what their Game Master would like. They filled their maps with multiple quest solutions and stuffed the game with thousands of words of alternative dialogue. “The hard part was making sure there was no character that couldn’t finish the game,” Caine says.

Fallout’s dedication to its sandbox is still striking, and only lately matched by the likes of Divinity: Original Sin 2. It was a simulation that enabled unforeseen possibilities.

“I am shocked that people got Dogmeat to live till the end of the game,” Taylor says. “Dogmeat was never supposed to survive. You had to do some really strange things and go way out of your way to do so, but people did.”

During development, a QA tester came to the team with a problem: you could put dynamite on children.

“Where you see a problem…,” Urquhart says. He is joking, of course, yet the ability to plant dynamite - achieved by setting a timer on the explosive and reverse pickpocketing an NPC - became a supported part of the game and the foundation of a quest. This was a new kind of player freedom, matched only by the freedom the team felt themselves.

“We were really, really fortunate,” Boyarsky says. “No-one gets the opportunity we had to go off in a corner with a budget and a team of great, talented people and make whatever we wanted. That kind of freedom just doesn’t exist.

“We were almost 30, so we were old enough to realise what we had going on. A lot of people say, ‘I didn’t realise how good it was until it was over’. Every day when I was making Fallout I was thinking, ‘I can’t believe we’re doing this’. And I even knew in the back of my head that it was never going to be that great again.”

Once Fallout came out, it was no longer the strange project worked on in the shadows with little to no oversight. It was a franchise with established lore that was getting a sequel. It wasn’t long before Boyarsky, Caine, and Anderson left to form their own RPG studio, Troika.

“We knew Fallout 1 was the pinnacle,” Boyarsky says. “We felt like to continue on with it under changed circumstances would possibly leave a bad taste in our mouths. We were so happy and so proud of what we’d done that we didn’t want to go there.”

Fallout is larger than this clique now. Literally, in fact: the vault doors Boyarsky once drew in isometric intricacy are now rendered in imposing 3D in Bethesda’s sequels. And yet Boyarksy, Taylor, and Caine now work under the auspices of Obsidian, a studio that has its own, more recent, history with the Fallout series. Should the opportunity arise again, would they take it?

“I’m not sure, to be very honest,” Taylor says. “I loved working on Fallout. It was the best team of people I ever worked with. I think it’s grown so much bigger than myself that I would feel very hesitant to work on it nowadays. I would love to work on a Fallout property, like a board game, but working on another computer game might be too much.”

Boyarsky shares his reservations: that with the best intentions, these old friends could get started on something and tarnish their experience of Fallout.

“It would be very hard for us to swallow working on a Fallout game where somebody else was telling you what you could and couldn’t do,” he expands. “I would have a really hard time with someone telling me what Fallout was supposed to be. I’m sure that it would never happen because of the fact that I would have that issue.”

Urquhart - now Obsidian’s CEO - is at pains to point out that Bethesda were nothing but supportive partners throughout the making of Fallout: New Vegas, requesting only a handful of tiny tweaks to Obsidian’s interpretation of its world. “I’ve got to be explicit in saying we are not working on a new Fallout,” he says. “But I absolutely would.”

Caine has mainly built his career by working on original games rather than sequels: Fallout, Arcanum, Wildstar, and Pillars of Eternity. But he would be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about working on another Fallout.

“I’ve had a Fallout game in my head since finishing Fallout 1 that I’ve never told anyone about,” he admits. “But it’s completely designed, start to finish. I know the story, I know the setting, I know the time period, I know what kind of characters are in it. It just sits in the back of my head, and it’s sat there for 20 years. I don’t think I ever will make it, because by now anything I make would not possibly compare to what’s in my head. But it’s up there.”

#fallout #fallout 1 #fallouts 20th birthday #happy birthday gamedude #fallout nv #obsidian #news

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laberintos-espinas · 5 years ago

Text

World Class Free Film School - Lesson 2 - Action!

Exercise 2 - Action!

Hello there young men 'n young ladies! This here is the second portion of free film school. Right now, going to manage what is presumably the absolute most significant thing to making you an effective producer; really getting off of your duff, getting a camera and simply doing it! film streaming ita Matter of certainty, on the off chance that you as of now have a camera or some likeness thereof, why not enjoy a little reprieve and go out and shoot something. Proceed! I'll despite everything be here when you get back. At that point we can talk story some more, however at this moment, go shoot!

Alright, you're back. Wasn't that good times? That is the best explanation behind busy, you know? Having a great time. Matter of truth, that is the mystery equation; Fun equivalents Success!....but, there I proceed once more.

You know there are such a significant number of destroyed old statements about inspiration, however some of them are in reality obvious. Woody Allen stated: "80% of achievement is simply appearing". There are such huge numbers of wannabe producers who consider it, talk about it, read about it, long for it, expound on it... be that as it may, they never really do it! They never appear for that first shoot.

The longest excursion starts with a solitary advance, and the best movie producer must start with shooting his first film or video. Today with top notch cameras even in advanced mobile phones, there's actually no motivation behind why any individual who needs to do it, can't make a motion picture. Everything comes down to; do you ridiculously, truly need be a movie producer? Indeed, you do? Alright, Why? What is your inspiration? I'll give you an indication for the best explanation there is; begins with a "F"... what's more, closes with a "N"... the main thing missing is U! Cheesy, huh? I know. Indeed, this film school is free, yet you should address the cost of enduring my faltering comical inclination and godawful jokes. Still modest.

So today, I need to relate the motivation behind why I started making films. I figure on the off chance that I disclose to you how a person who never at any point got a camcorder in his entire life abruptly chose to make a film that proceeded to sufficiently offer to, recoup creation costs, however to produce a consistent salary stream and keep selling everywhere throughout the world, perhaps that will rouse you to do likewise. I nearly entitled this portion of free film school "How I Did It". I'm explicitly considering that scene in Young Frankenstein where Gene Wilder finds a book in his granddad's library. I love me some Mel Brooks motion pictures! I figure "Activity!" is increasingly suitable for film school to urge people to just venture out... in this way, ACTION!

I began in computerized video generation in an unusual way. Not so much since I needed to, I was requested to. I was dealing with a couple of eateries in Waikiki as Director of Operations. At some point,. the proprietor of the eateries, my chief, instructed me to make a TV ad. He needed me to hang an enormous level screen TV at the front passageway of the eatery and run a business on it, 24 hours every day, 7 days per week. He likewise instructed me to complete it as quick as I could and, goodness better believe it, don't go through an excess of cash!

All things considered, I had never made a business, however I knew somebody who created a narrative on the Waikiki Beach young men and I realized he could film and alter. In this way, I called Eric Jordan, the skilled maker, cameraman, and supervisor of "Waikiki; Riding the Waves of Change" and of the destined to be discharged narrative, "Clearing the Wave" Eric is likewise one hell of a pleasant person. Eric lives in Yuba City, California, yet he coincidentally was approaching Hawaii in two or three weeks.

Eric tuned in to me and consented to film and to alter the business at a sensible cost. I was glad. My tyrannical manager would be off my back. I could unwind. At that point Eric said those pivotal words "however you need to compose the content and direct it. You can send me the content by email".

Okay......

All things considered, I had never composed a content, yet I felt free to begin thinking of one. I just composed what I figured the camera should see, bit by bit. I attempted to give explicit headings on paper for how the camera should move in or move out, blur in or grow dim, and sent it to Eric by email. Presently, obviously, I hadn't the faintest idea about conventional content arrangement, or that I ought to utilize dispatch text style, or extremely, any sort of piece of information whatsoever. I just recognized what I needed the business to resemble and I put it down in writing. In some cases obliviousness can be an or more. You don't have the foggiest idea how you're "assumed" to accomplish something, so you simply feel free to do it!

Eric read the content and he loved it, so we set up the shoot. The day preceding the shoot, the proprietor gave me his information "I need you to show a nearby shot of the lobster tank and have a server plunging live lobsters out of the tank!"

All things considered, that would have been all okay, aside from the modest charlatan I worked for had a grungy looking lobster tank 20 years of age. It was taken care of the edge of a diminish and dirty server station, all developed with crusted salt. The damn thing didn't see all engaging, all things considered. It certainly would not look great as a nearby on an extra large flat screen television!

I disclosed to Eric what the proprietor needed and I said "Eric, we can't do this, that firkin' thing is dreadful, however I have a thought for something that will show we have live lobsters, and it will give the video a feeling of spot for all the visitors!" The day of the shoot, we took a major pail of salt water and put two colossal lobsters in it. We strolled down to the sea shore and offered them to Fritz, an attractive Waikiki surf educator. "Fritz", I said "in the event that you help me out, you can keep them both and treat your better half to a lobster supper today when you get off work."

Fritz put on my veil and snorkel, swam out from the sea shore, dunked under the water and we taped him a few times, coming up out of the sea with two live and kicking Maine lobsters in his grasp, enormous grin all over. During the shoot we had a few outtakes of Fritz cutting loose around like a school kid with those poor scavangers. He was waving them around, and ridiculing his colleagues. He yelled "This is my companion, Lumpy and this is my companion Bruce!" The way that we we're all snickering and messing about caused the entire thing to, dislike work, yet simply like having a ton of fun at the sea shore.

Eric and I shot some increasingly average Hawaii shots of palm trees and kayaks (Eric alluded to these as "B-Roll Shots"), at that point we returned to the café and shot the culinary specialist hacking veggies, flipping nourishment around in a skillet with flares, and a few shots of upbeat clients at a table. Everybody played around with this shoot as well. I held two shop lights for Eric and watched him with his camera work while we were in the kitchen. Eric said the incandesent bulbs would include more warmth than simply the flourescents in the kitchen roof. He was correct. Toward the finish of the shoot I was unable to accept how unfathomably glad I was. It was extremely a good time for me to accomplish an option that is other than server plans, stock, mingling with clients, regulating cooks, and schlepping grub.

Eric and I passed the recording to and fro by email and he altered the business as indicated by my bearing. A long time later, Eric sent me the DVD. I popped it in the DVD player for the TV that I had mounted and begun playing it at the passageway of the eatery. I was astonished at the creation quality that we had accomplished with one computerized camcorder, non-proficient ability, and common shop lights! People strolling by the café halted abruptly and viewed the entire thing. A considerable lot of them came inside to feast. It played again and again in a circle and business expanded by 30% medium-term!

My manager was so content with the outcomes, he instructed me to make another business for our other café down the road and mount an enormous level screen TV outside that passage as well. I called Eric and he revealed to me something very similar "Well, I'm really approaching Honolulu again soon. Without a doubt, I'll do it, however you need to compose a content and direct it once more. Incidentally, I truly enjoyed the manner in which the last shoot turned out so well, you're entirely acceptable at this!" I needed to concede as well, I was having a great time composing and coordinating.

I resembled Frankenstein's Monster with a major colossal grin on his green face when he finds fire: "Arrgggh, Creativity GOOD!"

The following business we made turned out looking similarly amazing. This time, I began getting Eric's input somewhat more about his camera work, about video altering, and about his encounters as movie producer. I didn't generally have any acquaintance with it, yet the film bug had quite recently chomped me. I realized I was having a fabulous time, however I didn't have the foggiest idea about that I was snared.

About this time, I started to encounter some burnout and thwarted expectation with my picked vocation as café chief. I had been working 6 days per week, working each occasion, working late evenings for more than twenty years. I was for the most part accessible if the need arises by telephone every minute of every day. I was continually utilized and mishandled by an egotist eatery proprietor who didn't appear to give a rat's derriere what number of a large number of dollars I had made him. He would call me late around evening time, awakening me from a dead rest, just to instruct me to accomplish something that had quite recently flown into his head. Something he could simply have effectively sent me an email about, or called me in the first part of the day. Issue that crosses over into intolerability? He even attempted to get me to do his child's school schoolwork report!

At some point, while hanging tight for certain menus to complete the process of printing at Kinko's, I begun perusing a book on special by the counter to kill some time. It was composed by a person named Timothy Ferris. The book was classified "The Four Hour Work Week" and it truly put things in context for me. It made me question precisely why I was busting' my protuberance for another person, when I ought to be attempting to amplify my own benefit. It caused me to understand that I had been giving up any personal satisfaction for a long while. Here I was living in Hawaii, however when did I have a break to appreciate the sea shore? At the point when I got a day away from work, or took a couple of vacation days for "get-away", I was as yet tied to the mobile phone. My general pay looked entirely great, however when I found the middle value of it out every hour, I uncovered

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chimchimvkook · 7 years ago

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Jimin 1

I’ve only written up to five chapters. I wrote all in one day so please understand haha. I will definitely write more, don’t worry. I think I just wrote everything out of me today.

CHAPTER 5

FULL-TIME

The boys were back in Korea. It had been a month since the photoshoot. I decided to stay the rest of July in San Diego with my family. Business with BTS was done and it was summer vacation so I had no work to worry about anyway. However, my month was up and I had to head back to my reality. As I arrived in Korea, I received a text from BTS’s manager. He asked if I had arrived safely and if I was free for the night.

I arrived at the building of BigHit entertainment. I texted their manager that I was there and waited for him to bring me inside. We went through the same procedure but this time instead of signing me in, he handed me an I.D.

“You’ve been working for us so here’s a temporary ID. You can use this to enter now so you wouldn’t have to call me or Su Jee.” he explains.

He brought me into one of the meeting halls and a video was showing on display. The words read “Summer Repackage 2020 in San Diego”. I was there to watch the video and they invited me in because I was a part of the whole thing. They thanked me for playing a huge role for the shoot. Some employees even joked around, calling me one of their co-workers. They played around that whole idea that I even considered officially applying. I said it as a joke but someone handed me an application form. It was a spur in the moment and I filled it out. As the night grew, I headed down to go back home and dropped off my application form in the lobby.

A few weeks have passed and I was in my office at school preparing for the new year when I received a call from a familiar number.

“Hello?”

“Hello, is this Ms. Y/F/N?”

“Yes, this is she.”

“I am calling on behalf of BigHit entertainment. I would like to congratulate you for being hired! You are now a part of our team. We sent you an email with the details and forms you would need to fill out. So please check it out as soon as possible. Congratulations!”

We end the call with me thanking the caller. I didn’t know what to do. School was about to start. So I head straight to my boss and check in with her. I told her about my current situation but I was still more than willing to teach classes if she needed me. She then sent me off and told me I was always welcomed back. The job as a coordi-noona (in this case dongseng becasue I was younger) is on a contract and would end sooner or later.

I check out my email and fill everything out at once. The directions were to print the papers out and turn them in. The next morning, I did just that. I entered the building with my temporary ID and met up with the rest of the crew. Su Jee catches me and congratulates me on being hired.

“Wow! Congrats friend. We’re co-workers now!” she cries out. She then goes back to what she was doing and Min Young brings me to the rest of the crew. BTS had a schedule tonight so we had to stay. We all gathered our tools and hung a bunch of clothes on the racks. I helped put them in the vans and we headed out. I haven’t even got the chance to see the members yet.

We arrived in KBS’s building. I was already in the dressing room setting up my little station with my brushes. I had organized the clothes as well. The boys were going to guest on a show tonight. So I had picked out clothes I thought best fit the theme of the show. As I was organizing, the boys entered the room. I was too busy to notice. Until it was time for them to get ready, Jin was the first one to say something.

“Y/N, you’re here!” he declares.

Everyone turns their heads to me and I was bombarded with smiling faces and one armed hugs.

“Yes, I’m here! And guess what? You’ll be seeing a lot of me.” I explain.

Jin then sits on my chair and asks me to start getting him ready. I was touched that he wanted me to work on him. The boys were so sweet sometimes. As I started doing his lips, his eyes kept looking around.

“Stop moving please.” I ask.

“I’m sorry but Jimin is watching us.” He tells me.

I panic and look for him. I couldn’t find him anywhere.

“I’m just kidding. Dang, you looked so fast.” Jin laughs.

I finish off his face and start thinking about San Diego and the elevator ride to my car with Jungkook and Taehyung. I smile to myself and Jin breaks my train of thought by saying, “I know, I know, I’m beautiful. It’s okay, you can think it.”

“What the heck I wasn’t even thinking about you.” I respond.

“I know, I’m just teasing. I know you were thinking about Jimin. Oh look, he’s next.” Jin says and I hit him as he stands up. This time, Jimin really was there waiting for his turn. He sits on the chair Jin was just sitting on. I was about to grab a brush when I finally look at Jimin’s face. His reflection on the mirror showed that he already had his makeup done.

“Wait, you’re already ready?”

“I know. Ji Sub noona told me to get my clothes from you.” He explains.

“Oh, okay.”

I got up to look through the rack of clothing and I could feel Jimin watching me through the mirror. I finally find an outfit and turn around to face him. Jimin stands up and I hold the clothes in front of him.

“Is it good?”

“Yeah, you look good. Go put it on.”

“I look good?” Jimin asks as he wiggles his eyebrows.

I scoff and push him to the dressing area and pull the curtains.

“Hurry up so I can adjust it.”

Jimin finally steps out of the curtain. The clothes were a perfect fit so I didn’t need to make adjustments. The director then calls the boys to head out to the recording room. The rest of the day passed and it was time to wrap up. The recording ended and we all headed home. We dropped off the boys to their dorm and went our separate ways.

After cleaning up and getting ready for bed, I receive a call. I answer it.

“Hello?”

“Y/N!” the voice on the other end answers. It was very familiar.

“Taehyung what do you want? Go to sleep.”

“I can’t sleep dude, hold on.”

My phone rings again but this time it was a facetime call. I give in and answer.

“What Tae?”

“Hey, who are you talking to--Y/N! Hi!” Jungkooks face appears on the screen.

“Hi Jungkook,” I sigh, “aren’t you guys tired? I’m so dead right now.”

“No, we can’t sleep. But Jimin hyung is sleeping right now. I was just in his room but he kicked me out.”

“Speaking of Jimin,” Tae starts.

“No, I’m going to sleep. Good night! Sleep tight my friends.” I say.

The boys start laughing as I hang up.

Buzz, buzz.

I look over and my phone lit up with a text from the same number.

“Jimin was just talking about you before he kicked us out. That’s all I wanted to share with you. Good night Y/N!”

I figured this was Taehyung’s number and I saved it. Not because I wanted his number, but so I know next time not to answer it.

this is all I have so far. Hope you enjoy! Feel free to send me some things to work on or anything you would like to add/see in the story!

chapters:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

#BTS #kpop scenarios #Jimin scenario #bts scenarios #jimin #jungkook #taehyung #v #jin #rapmon #namjoon #yoongi #suga #jhope #hoseok

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anexplanationofunfortunateevents · 8 years ago

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another one bites the dust

“The traitor James Comey.....”

[Heads-up that a lot of links here are to sites like CNN, so if you need to do something about autoplay, I’d recommend it.]

Former FBI Director James Comey is a weak-willed megalomaniac, a self-deluded misogynist* who bears as much responsibility as any single person in the world for where we are today.

Hearing he had been fired was the most frightened I have been for this country since Election Night. Maybe since 9/11.

FBI directors do not get fired. They have special ten-year terms which are supposed to insulate them from politics. In the entire history of the agency, exactly one FBI director was fired for old school cut-and-dry abuse of agency resources – and even then, only after his department got a lot of civilians killed in two high-profile failures.

Until now. Comey, as far as we know, was the only person in the federal government running an investigation into Russiagate who wasn’t a Republican elected official. And Trump fired him.

Look, if Comey was the only one who was hurt, that’d be one thing. If a legitimate Department of Justice sent him packing for his antics during the election, I’d be fucking thrilled. This isn’t about justice. It’s not about him. It’s about the rule of law.

It’s probably most helpful to walk this through by the timeline, both to untangle a lot of seemingly unrelated threads and because it really matters how fast this has been happening.

Two weeks ago: Rod Rosenstein, a career DOJ lawyer, is confirmed as the Deputy Attorney General. Because AG/live-action Dr. Seuss villain Jeff Sessions recused himself from Trump-Russia investigations after he was caught lying at his own confirmation hearing about the extent of his own contacts with Russian intelligence during his time with the Trump campaign, Rosenstein is supposed to be the final authority on this investigation.

Last Tuesday, 5/3: Comey testifies at an open Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Nutshell takeaways:

Comey gets defensive and agitated when pressed on his likely definitive last-minute intervention in the 2016 election because of EMAILS!!!!11!**

Senate Democrats ask a lot of tellingly specific hypotheticals, which Comey tacitly validates with a lot of “I can’t tell you because that would interfere with the investigation”-type answers.

Senate Republicans try to derail the hearing with concern-trolling about leaks.

Comey says he wants to find and discipline the agents who leaked information about Clinton aide Huma Abedin’s laptop to disgraced former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Also Tuesday, 5/2: Trump tweets that Comey was "the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds!” I expect it to disappear (also illegal, as long as his cheating ass is squatting in our house) so here’s a screen shot:

Sometime last week: Comey asks Rosenstein to increase the staff and budget for the Trump-Russia task force – specifically, to look into Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort’s shady foreign finances.

Also last week: Trump grows increasingly “frustrated” (scared) over the persistence of the Trump-Russia investigations. At some point, Trump tells Sessions and/or Rosenstein to find a reason to fire Comey.

Sometime this week: Federal prosecutors secretly issue subpoenas concerning the disgraced former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

Monday, 5/8: Former Acting AG Sally Yates and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testify in an open hearing in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Takeaways:

As anticipated, Yates confirms that she informed the administration that Flynn had lied about contacts with Russian Ambassador Kislyak and was potentially compromised, but they did not fire him until the story broke publicly eighteen days later.

Clapper takes away one of their favorite talking points. A while back, he had told the press that he had not seen any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, which of course they loudly proclaimed was him saying he knew there was no collusion. On Monday, he clarifies that he personally had not seen the case at that point because investigations into American citizens aren’t in his wheelhouse. (Listen to Clapper explain this reasoning in plain English here.)

Clapper confirms that foreign intelligence agencies alerted American spooks about troubling contacts between Trump and Russia, supporting an April report in The Guardian, which in turn partly validated the Steele dossier. (The pee-pee tape remains an unsupported allegation, but more and more of the serious stuff is checking out.)

Late Monday (5/8) night: News breaks that Comey lied when he was questioned about why he intervened in the election. He claimed, untruthfully, that he alerted Congress about Huma Abedin’s laptop because she habitually forwarded “hundreds and thousands” of potentially classified emails to be printed by her husband. According to The Liberal Media – wait, no, sorry, Rebecca Ballhaus from the conservative stalwart Wall Street Journal – it wasn’t “hundreds and thousands,” it was two email chains, neither of which had information that was classified at the time.

We kind of have to walk and chew gum about two really important things here:

Comey absolutely shit the bed. Most headlines say “misrepresented” or “misspoke” or “gave incorrect testimony,” but the fact of the matter is, he lied. Either he lied when he made the claim about Abedin forwarding “hundreds and thousands of emails” to her husband, or he lied when he claimed to have taken his decision to intervene in last year’s election seriously. If he took the decision seriously, he’d have been damned sure to know how much potential evidence he was talking about. He dramatically recounted a lot of details that he thought supported his decision, so he hasn’t forgotten the experience.

We didn’t hear about this from a whistleblower of conscience. We heard about it because Trump wanted a reason to fire Comey and Comey gave him one. The Yates hearing was deeply publicly damaging for Trump, and Comey’s investigation was getting hotter by the day, so someone decided it was time to cut him loose.

Tuesday (5/9) late afternoon: The Senate Intelligence Committee asks the Treasury Department for information about Trump’s finances.

Tuesday (5/9) around close of business: Comey gets the boot. Comey finds out about it when the news breaks as he’s giving a speech in the FBI LA field office. His office finds out about it when Trump’s personal bodyguard shows up at HQ with a six-page pink slip.

As Alexander Hamilton said, live by the bizarre hate-tweet, die by the bizarre hate-tweet. Or maybe that was the Dalai Lama?

Anyway, it’s actually three letters, all of which are !!?!?!?!? AF:

Letter #1 is from Trump himself, who had not been seen in public for the previous five days. Probably the most bizarre thing is the ham-fisted assertion that Comey told Trump on three separate occasions that Trump himself was not being investigated.

Letter #2 is a formal recommendation that Comey should be fired from Sessions, who is supposed to have recused himself from the Russia investigation (ie, the real reason Comey was fired), as well as from the pretextual investigation detailed in Letter #3.

Letter #3, from Deputy AG Rosenstein, says that Comey is being fired because of Comey’s epic fuck-ups against Hillary Clinton. Seriously. It could’ve been pulled from one of the press statements the Clinton campaign put out last October. Half of it is shit-talk from the dozens of op-eds that former DOJ officials put out condemning his actions. It’s 100% correct on the merits. But it’s an argument for why Comey should have been fired on October 28th, November 8th, or January 21st. He’s not any more in the wrong about that today than he was six months ago when he did it.

Wednesday (5/10): Trump meets the Russian foreign minister in the Oval Office. Russian press are invited in for the photo op. American press are not.

Wednesday (5/10): The Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenas Michael Flynn.

Thursday (5/11): Comey was scheduled for another open hearing with the Senate Intelligence Committee. Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe went instead.

So that’s where we are. As of now, Comey is scheduled to speak with the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed session next week. [UPDATE, 5/12: Comey won’t be testifying next week. 'Cause, NOW he keeps his trap shut.]

Thursday (5/11): The FBI executes a search warrant at a GOP-affiliated consulting/tech strategy firm in Annapolis, Maryland. Not the Trump campaign, the Republican party. The firm says that the search is related to a 2013 governor’s race, which is, of course, possible. (I’m finishing this post as the story is breaking, so details here may change.)

This is fucking batshit. Even on the Trump scale this is a five-alarm fire.

Firing the person who’s officially investigating his campaign is a bald assertion that Trump thinks he’s above the law.

Congressional Republicans, who as the majority party are the only ones that can check him, are backing him up in that assertion. Some, though far from all, have expressed “concerns.” (Like how they send “thoughts and prayers” after mass shootings, before turning around to make guns even easier to buy.) Not only are they letting him act with impunity, they’re accepting the transparent lie that he’s doing this because he’s just so disturbed at how Comey violated Hillary’s rights. Think about what that means. They’re joining what is now a broad bipartisan consensus that their guy is in power after an election which was tainted by the FBI director doing something that’s just as far out of line as stealing from the agency. Partisan Republicans have joined partisan Democrats, political scientists, everyone but the Faith Militant Bernie-or-Busters in acknowledging that Hillary Clinton was robbed. AND. THEY. DON’T. CARE. They’re just carrying on with a government that they’ve admitted is illegitimate.

The White House, from Trump on down, were surprised at the blow-back. I wouldn’t trust any one WH staffer to be telling the truth about something subjective like this, because they lie – but the thing is, they’re really bad at getting organized enough to tell the same lie. That is how they think. “Republicans won’t object because we’ll tell them not to, and Democrats won’t object because they’re mad at Comey.” It genuinely does not occur to them that some of us (Democrats, basically) substantively care about principles, or even that anyone might prioritize rational political self-interest over a personal grudge. That vindictive id is so central to their motivations they can’t imagine other people being any other way.

The loss of Comey is a huge blow to the Trump Russia investigation. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t trust Comey’s judgment or his ethics, because he’s shown that he possesses neither. What I did trust? His ego. Comey really cares that he looks and feels like that last honest man who’s just above it all. He was strongly motivated to go down in history as the G-man who brought down a president, instead of the dirtbag who threw an election to a traitorous disaster like Trump. That was still going to be an uphill slog, but it was better than Trump getting to hand-pick the person investigating him.

Oh. And while all this was happening, a West Virginia journalist was arrested for trying to ask Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price and Chief Gaslighter Kellyanne Conway a question and the fight against gerrymandering got even harder when the head of the 2020 census bureau quit.

This is not a drill. This is a fucking code red.

What you can do:

Okay. If you’re not panicking, don’t start. But if you are panicking....you’re not just being crazy. Do what you gotta do to come down.

Call your senators and representative. If they’re on the record supporting an independent investigation, thank them; if they’re not, tell them to get with the program. Then tweet at ‘em, get on their Facebook walls, and tell everyone you know to do the same.

Follow your local Indivisible groups or other activist organizations. There were demonstrations on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after Comey was fired; I think it’s more likely than not that there will be more this weekend.

If you are going to read more, pace yourself, check your sources, &c. A bananas news cycle like this can get overwhelming. Know when you need to step back.

Also, Trump Russia is a really important thing, but it’s not the only really important thing. If focusing your attention on other issues is more rewarding for you, do that.

Recommended reading:

TBH I don’t recommend reading all of these, because the basic point is the same, but the New Yorker, Lawfare, and Sarah Kendzior have strong takes.

You’re going to be hearing a lot of references to the 1970s Watergate scandal over the next couple of weeks. If you want to be able to judge those comparisons yourself but you’re a little hazy on the historical details (and most of us are), here’s a helpful primer.

*Naturally, nobody is acknowleging this pattern. But Comey tanked Hillary Clinton while protecting Trump. He ignored Loretta Lynch, his boss, and Sally Yates, her deputy, when they told him not to do it. He lied under oath to smear Huma Abedin as a criminal. And he couldn’t even restrain himself from interrupting Senator Dianne Feinstein when she dared question him about it. IDK how much quacking people need to hear before they’ll admit it’s a damn duck.

** An under-the-radar piece of context: Comey slipped up in referring to new and theoretically plausibly incriminating evidence as “the golden emails that would change this case.” That is, he was speaking from the perspective of someone who was actively hoping to have pretext to charge Hillary Clinton with a felony for having what was apparently the only email address in DC that wasn’t successfully hacked. This isn’t the first time, either. Twenty years ago, he was one of the OG Clinton witch-hunters, who went so far as to draft a bullshit indictment against HRC because she and Bill had lost money on a real estate investment in the mid-80s. (Seriously.) He also has a Trump-like pattern of rationalizing overincarceration and other civil liberties violations with sweeping, and sometimes racist, fact-free assertions.

Again, the issue with his firing isn’t whether or not he deserved it. He definitely deserved it. He is trash. If history is unkind to Barack Obama for any reason, it will be for appointing Comey as FBI director, and that will be completely justified. The issue is that we don’t deserve to live in a country controlled by a despot who considers himself above the law. Nobody does.

#donald trump #james comey #trump russia #authoritarianism #2016 election #politics

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gloriousgwendolinechristie · 7 years ago

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Press/Video/Photos: Interview - Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie

From Star Wars to the new Top of the Lake, Gwendoline Christie has become a screen heroine for our times. Lorraine Candy meets the unconventional actress who embraces the joy of being an outsider

SUNDAY TIMES STYLE – Let’s get the tall bit out of the way first, shall we? Gwendoline Christie is a delicate 6ft 3in tall. I say delicate because, personally, I’m always struck by how dainty the Game of Thrones superhero is. She is all fine blonde curls and flawless porcelain skin. Feminine, girly, graceful are the words that come to mind when I think of the Gwendoline I have known for several years. Gosh, we have had some fun together, this elegant outsider and me. “The world is absurd, Lorraine,” she will often observe with characteristic wry humour, “and if you can’t find it absurd, then I don’t know how you’d get through.” Indeed it is — especially when you look at it from Gwendoline Christie’s perspective.

The 38-year-old actress is a composite of opposites, if such a thing exists: an introverted extrovert, a soft strength, the most conventional unconventional person I know. She’s both intellectually intense and wonderfully silly. Time spent with the ever-so-polite and well-brought-up Gwendoline is like going to a spa for your mind: it’s never ordinary, even if it is just having a cup of peppermint tea, as we are for this interview.

For most of her life, mostly because of her height, Gwendoline has been on the margins of what is considered normal. From being bullied at her local village school, to the relentless fruitless auditions she didn’t ever get through, she was continually told, as she puts it, “that your outside can’t come on the inside”. How demoralising, but also, perhaps, how wonderful, because if you can overcome those cruel obstacles, you develop a rare confidence that is unbreakable. Then, one day, you wake up and deliver to the universe the gift that is Brienne of Tarth, the one woman who is everything all women want to be.

I don’t need to tell you how fantastic Brienne is — the defiant medieval knight, protector of kings and queens, slayer of evil men. One scene, her infamous fight with the Hound, took two months of intense stunt training (she is still seeing a physiotherapist twice a week). It is epic, no other word for it, and even if you are not a Throner, you cannot be anything but grateful that a character like Brienne has been imagined, written and brought to life so spectacularly well. She is, to borrow a phrase, a giant step forward for womankind.

“I have loved doing Game of Thrones,” Gwendoline says. Season 7, the penultimate series, has just started on Sky Atlantic. “I’ll be devastated when it finishes. I’m so proud of that part and the way the audience created a connection with the character. Brienne is a different version of what we normally see. She is not just conventionally unattractive, she is unconventionally unattractive. This part was the reason for all my acting training. In a world where we have so much access to these sexy ideals all the time, this was such a subversive role.”

Amen to that. But how do you follow Brienne? Captain Phasma in Star Wars was superb, if predictable, casting, but it is the junior detective, Miranda, in Top of the Lake: China Girl, a woman who is the polar opposite of the one Gwendoline has been playing for six years, that I feel will redefine her.

Ever conscious of the need to test herself as an actress (she is rigorous in her devotion to the craft and has an accomplished theatre career), Gwendoline has created a new character who is physically and mentally fragile.

She has done it with the acclaimed writer and director Jane Campion, with whom she has wanted to work since she was very young. “I asked the universe then — no, I told the universe nicely — to make it come true,” she recalls, after explaining how many buses she had to take across the Sussex countryside after lying to her parents about her whereabouts and sneaking into the cinema to watch Campion’s groundbreaking 1993 film, The Piano.

Miranda is a broken, vulnerable, lonely and actually comic police officer who appears in the second series of Campion’s award-winning BBC2 drama Top of the Lake, on screens now. The role was written specially for Gwendoline, and she lived in Sydney for five months while filming it. I have seen the first two gripping episodes, and you are in for a treat — it’s addictive cinematic TV at its best. Elisabeth Moss reprises her role as the steely Detective Robin Griffin to investigate the death of an Asian girl washed up in a suitcase on Bondi Beach. The Oscar winner Nicole Kidman rounds out the cast.

“It feels like Jane is always subverting form,” Gwendoline says, “and that’s exciting to me. In 2008, a friend of mine offered to introduce me to her because she felt we would get on so well, but even then I couldn’t do it. When I saw she was doing Top of the Lake, I wrote her a letter — I knew I had to be in it. I can’t tell you what I said, but I kept it for 18 months before posting it. I tried to keep it short, didn’t want her to die of boredom reading it, then she emailed me back about four months after I sent it. We spoke on the phone for hours and she told me she would create a lead part for me. I asked for a challenge and Miranda is a challenge. She is constantly destabilised, she fails at everything, she is on the outside and still continues to be on the outside. This is a new story for me to tell.

“It’s great to be a hero, but the reality for many of us is that we feel like we are failing all the time. We’re all trying to find ways to deal with that.”

If you watch one box set this summer, watch Top of The Lake — it will give you goose bumps. Everyone is playing the opposite of the characters you expect them to be, so it’s constantly surprising — just like Gwendoline herself.

I was editing Elle when we first met on the fashion front row. We got on like a house on fire: she is more than a foot taller than me, though we have the same size feet; the physical comedy of us never fails to delight. Her partner is my friend the fashion designer Giles Deacon, and Gwendoline takes getting dressed as seriously as I do. “I have always been fascinated by clothes and their transformative powers,” she says. “I was about 6ft at the age of 14 — I was enjoying the process of youth, wondering what kind of human being I would grow into, what kind of size I would be, what the dimensions would be as I grew more.

“A doctor had told me I would be lucky if I stopped growing at 5ft 11in, but I thought, why stop there? I thought it was brilliant being so tall, and they were quite shocked by that response. I didn’t see what was interesting about conforming to the rule when the rule seemed nonsensical.

“I read a lot of fashion magazines as a child. I was fascinated by who the stylists and photographers were. The images were captivating for me. I used to scour second-hand shops for vintage clothes, and I delighted in the different proportions of my size. It doesn’t make sense to me not to embrace being outside the norm. I don’t want to feel inhibited by anything.

“I like to experiment with scale. I used to dress up a lot. My male friends would wear women’s jackets, and I would wear massively oversized things I’d found in vintage places. I really enjoy wearing men’s clothes, and often still do. I also liked the way Courtney Love dressed at the time, all those 1990s dresses, but worn with a femininity that had a violence to it. It seemed inappropriate at my height to wear such floaty dresses, so I enjoyed wearing them. I am all for drawing attention to the differences between us and not hiding from them — it is good to be spectacularly different.”

When we meet, she is wearing a black Chloé dress, carrying a brown Margiela handbag. She buys mostly designer: Giles, Henry Holland, Roksanda, bits of Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu and more recently Isa Arfen.

Gwendoline is a very private person, and I can see interviews are a form of torture for her. She wants to be known for her work and questions about her home life are playfully batted away with humour. It’s understandable given the level of fandom surrounding her, thanks to Game of Thrones and, of course, Star Wars. Plus, she can never hide, never be anonymous in the street; she is someone you stare at, famous or not.

Last year when I interviewed Giles for a book about London designers, I asked him what kind of women he designed clothes for. Someone smart, confident in who she is, different from everyone else and happy with that, spirited, unpredictable, a woman who is fun “and looks like she would be a bit of trouble on a night out”, he told me. I think he has described Gwendoline perfectly. And, if I had my way, she wouldn’t be the outsider — we all would.

Top of the Lake: China Girl, Thursdays at 9pm on BBC2

Styling: Katie Felstead. Hair: John D at Forward Artists for Tresemmé. Make-up: Stoj at Streeters using Charlotte Tilbury. Nails: Marisa Carmichael

I’ve loaded the beautiful photo shoot in the gallery. Check it out! I should be adding the scans to the gallery later today.

Gallery Link:

Photoshoots > Photoshoots in 2017 > Photoshoot 011

Press/Video/Photos: Interview – Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie was originally published on Glorious Gwendoline

#gwendoline christie #game of thrones #got cast #Brienne of Tarth #star wars #Captain Phasma #The Force Awakens #Mockingjay 2 #Commander Lyme #THG #The Hunger Game

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blschaos3000-blog · 5 years ago

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Its 12:09 pm hazy/chilly/the robins are back

Welcome to “8 Questions with…..”

Today is a little bittersweet for me. With this interview of the very talented Christina Johnson,my series of “Women In Horror Month” ends. I got to chat with six amazing actresses who really impressed us with their love of horror and being fearless in doing some seriously fun and creepy things just to scare the fur off of your head!! Now how can you go wrong with such nice people willing to go the extra mile just for that one scare?? Take our next guest,the lovely Christina Johnson. Christina hasn’t made a couple of horror films,she is a bonafide horror veteran with 11 movies under her belt. That is true dedication to a most worthy genre,am I right? Christina is one of the most interesting people I have talked with as of late and she wasn’t shy about talking about her craft,her family and her love for all things Disney. She also loves to cosplay and while I was kicking myself about not asking Christina about that,it also occured to me that its something I can ask her when we chat again. (Pretty smooth how I did that,right?) But for now let me step aside and let Christina have her say as she answers her 8 Questions…..

Please introduce yourself and tell us about your current project.

I’m Christina and I’m an actress. I’m from a small town in Northern California and I’ve been living in LA for about 7 years now. I’ve been acting for over a decade and really excited about this year and what’s to come. Currently I just booked a supporting role in a horror film. This will be my 11th horror film and very different from ones I’ve done in the past. It’s the same production company, Poche Pictures, that I’ve been working with on and off for a decade. They have become great friends and the most amazing supporters. I’m very excited to collaborate with them once more. I also just booked a role in the Renaissance Faire. I’m apart of their Pub Crawl Cast and very excited. I’ve always wanted to be apart of this faire and now I get to!

What was life in your house like growing up? What are three of your favorite memories growing up?

My childhood was amazing. My family are the greatest people on Earth and I wouldn’t be where I am without their love and support. I have great parents that have been together for over 35 years, and wonderful younger siblings that never made my childhood dull. There are so many great memories to choose from but if I have to be limited to just three then my first one is when we picked out our first family dog. I was the one who found the “puppies for sale” in the newspaper (yes the newspaper. We didn’t have internet at the house just yet) and it was love at first sight. He was a beautiful beagle that become family in an instant. He has since passed away but he started the trend to always having dogs in the house. There are now 2 small mutts that live with my parents today and I love them to death.

My second memory would be our Bucket List Trip to Hawaii. I was blessed with many family vacations and trips and it’s hard to just pick one but this trip was amazing. We got to experience things that we never could dream of. I went zip lining for the first time, we rode mules to the Kalaupapa Leper Colony on Molokai and lots more. That’s the last big family trip we’ve taken and it was over 5 years, which is crazy to think about. I miss those family trips.

My last memory is opening night of my high school play that I was in when I was a senior. I got the lead role and this would be the first time that my family had ever seen me act. The feeling of having everyone there that I loved so dearly see me act was unimaginable. That was when I knew that this is what I wanted to do and my family has supported me 100% ever since.

How did you end up at UC Irvine? What was your experience like there?

For one, I didn’t have to audition to get into the drama program. I don’t know if they’ve changed that, but 10 years ago you didn’t need to audition. You just got in. Secondly, it was 15 minutes away from Disneyland and I’m a Disney freak. I’ve been going to the parks since I was one years old and I really wanted to work there as a face character. Unfortunately, my school work and part-time job didn’t give me the time to even audition.

My experience was pretty positive. I did transfer as a Junior from my local Junior College so many people had a leg up on me. Many of my teachers were fabulous and I made friendships that have lasted 10 years. I will say that their Graduate Student Program is more immersive and would highly recommend it. When you go see one of their plays or musicals, most of the time, the same graduate students will be cast as the leads again and again. It’s a little hard for a transfer to be cast in their shows but the shows are pretty amazing. I was the light technician for their production of The Book of Tink. It’s a crazy and different version of Peter Pan that I will never forget and hopefully get to be in one day.

What led you to becoming a actress? What was the reaction of your friends and family?

I have always loved creating stories and being characters. I would create story upon story with my Barbie dolls when I was a kid, and whenever I went to the movies I would take on my favorite character when I got home. I love being different people and telling their stories to others. As I started to grow up, I actually wanted to become a Veterinarian because I loved animals. However, the thought of putting a dog down or losing one on the operating table along with having to do science classes for years, I decided not to be a Vet my sophomore year of High School. One of my friends, convinced me to take the acting class and after the first day I was hooked. I knew that this is what I wanted to do.

My family were a little shocked when I told them because I was a very shy teen. I think they were also afraid that I wanted to enter an industry that will eat you up and spit you out and has no real sense of security. However, after they saw me get the lead role in my first play ever they thought a wee bit differently. They helped me get my B.A. in Drama from UC Irvine and have been my biggest supporters.

Have you encountered any scammers while Hollywood? Promises of big things but they never become reality? How can a young artist protect themselves?

I have encountered quite a bit of scammers in Hollywood. It’s worse, I believe, for young actresses trying to make it because the men will promise you a lot in exchange for sexual favors. About 5 years ago, I was a cast member in LA’s Haunted Hayride and there was an older male cast member that become infatuated with me. I wasn’t interested in him romantically at all, I only wanted his friendship. He insisted that he could get me this role and that role and the lead in a TV series if only I would be his girlfriend. Long story short, I said no and haven’t spoken to him or seen him in years.

I think young artists, especially females, have to be careful. You really have to trust your gut and if someone doesn’t seem trustworthy or they only want something sexual from you, then say no and move on. I know it’s hard when all we want is a chance and this person comes along and you think all your dreams will come true. I’ve been there a few times and each time ended with me walking away. Just trust your gut and if something seems off, then it usually is. Also ask around about people. Word of mouth is gold in this town and usually someone will have worked with whomever you have doubts about.

How important is a good manager to a actor? How did you meet yours and how has it benefitted you?

A good manager is someone you believes in you, supports you and wants you to succeed and is very important to an actor. Too many managers and agents will convince you to sign with them and then won’t do anything for you or your career. It’s hard to judge sometimes and just having an agent or manager on your resume sounds amazing, but you can’t just sign with anybody. They are working for you and you have to choose someone that will have your best interests at heart and someone who will work with you. I love my manager. I’ve only been with her since November but we have a great relationship and she got me my first big pilot audition in January. She also is helping me expand myself and my brand in order to advance my career. I was blessed enough that my acting teacher recommended me to her. I just sent her an email saying so-an-so recommended me to you, here is my packet and then we had a meeting and I was signed. Amazingly that’s how it usually happens.

Tell us about your award winning film “The Sandman”. How did you get involved and what was your experience like in shooting it?

The Sandman was an amazing project to be apart of. I have known the director for a decade and he brought me onto the project. It’s the same production company of the horror film I just booked, Poche Pictures. I love working with this company and feel blessed to still be apart of their projects. The Sandman was a different kind of role for me because I’ve never played a nun before especially one that harbors a dark side within her. I’m not going to spoil the twist, so you’ll just have to go watch it. As for the award, I didn’t even know that Richard Poche submitted the film for the American Golden Picture International Film Festival. I randomly saw that I won Best Supporting Actress when he posted it on Facebook. I was shocked to say the least but was extremely grateful. The only other award that I’ve gotten for acting was from my High School which was pretty cool. I didn’t know I was submitted for that either! It’s funny how the world works. All in all, I had a fabulous time on set and look forward to future projects with Poche Pictures, and hopefully another award.

What three things about horror films appeals to you?

One thing is all the supernatural elements that can happen. I’ve dealt with ghosts, zombies, more zombies and vampires and it’s fun to battle these creatures. When I started doing horror films, I was a victim most of the time. I rarely survived which made dying become an art form for me. I’ve died by ghost possession, eaten by a zombie, bitten by a vampire and risen as one and then shot with silver bullets, and much more. I can say that I play dead easily because I’ve done it so often. Another thing is lately I’ve played the villain which I have a blast with. I love having that power and control in a character. It’s nice to play the bad guy after playing the victim for so long.

What scares you?

I think the big thing is failure. Being apart of this business, you get rejected a lot and you have to come to terms with that. I’m afraid that I won’t make it in this career and have to settle for something that drains my soul. I know that sounds dark, but so many of us can’t fathom doing anything but act or sing or dance or write. I’ve had to take 9-to-5 jobs because of finances and, though I make money and I’m good at it, it’s not what I want to do. This, acting, is my dream and the thought that I might not make it breaks my heart. That’s what scares me the most.

How did you get your SAG-AFTRA card?

I got my SAG-AFTRA card pretty easily. I was taft hartleyed into a AFTRA industrial about 9 years ago and I joined AFTRA shortly after. All you had to do to join AFTRA was pay the fee to join and then quarterly membership fees. You didn’t have to get 3 vouchers for AFTRA. This was a year before the companies merged. When they did, everyone who was AFTRA just become SAG. We thankfully didn’t have to pay an extra joining fee or get vouchers, we just were merged with SAG. I feel very blessed to not have had to go through the stress of getting vouchers and paying the $3,000 fee to join.

Do you feel now that Harvey Weinstein has been convicted of sex crimes,will Hollywood become a safer place to work or will it become business as usual?

I think Hollywood is changing because of the Me Too movement and Harvey Weinstein. It’s been long over due and I’m glad that these crimes are coming to light finally. I do think that some people are using it to just destroy reputations and make money, and unfortunately that takes away the power of the true victims and what they’ve gone through. I am glad though that woman and diversity are coming into play but it still is taking too long to truly change the system. It’s coming along just not at the pace I think we all want.

What do you like to do for fun when you’re not on location?

I love being with family and taking the time to recharge and relax. I love to read, watch films (I go to the movies a lot), play with my 2 beautiful fur babies, explore LA, hang out with friends, go hiking, collaborate with fellow actors and filmmakers to create projects that are close to our hearts, and just do the things I want to do. I’m a homebody and a bit of an introvert so staying at home is wonderful to me. One of my favorite past times it tarot card reading. I’ve always had a fascination with Wicca and witchcraft and find enjoyment doing tarot cards. I actually have an Etsy store, Magick Vale, where I sell readings and help people to the best of my abilities.

Old Zoo Picnic Area in Griffith Park

The cheetah and I are flying over to watch your latest film but we are a day early and now you are playing tour guide,what are we doing?

Since we are in the City of Angels, there are plenty of things to do. Universal Studios and Disneyland are my go to amusement parks, especially Disneyland. I used to have annual passes for both which I miss greatly. If we wanted to see nature, Griffith Park is a great place to hike and going to the Old Zoo is always creepy and fascinating. I live in the Valley and there are some great places to eat like Craving Board, Ike’s Sandwiches, Gus’s Fried Chicken, Tipsy Cow, The Woodman, The One-up and Dojo Sushi. There are so many things to do in LA that it’s kinda hard to condense into one paragraph. Needless to say we wouldn’t have a boring day and I would show you have awesome the Valley truly is.

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I like to thank Christina for taking the time to chat with me. I’m looking forward to watching her films in the near future. She is a another example of what hard work and a good get it done set of ethics can do. I believe Christina and all the actresses who did our “Women In Horror” series bring a lot to a project and we’ll be seeing their faces more and more.

But if you can’t wait and want to see what Christina is up too,you can follow her through her personal website. Inside her site you’ll find links to her other social media pages as well as her IMDb page.

I had a real blast interviewing the actresses in my “Women In Horror Month” series and am looking forward to doing it again next year. What I’m really happy about is I was able to interview everyone who responded (and had films released). Thank you all so much for supporting Christina and her peers by reading these interviews.

If you’re new to the blog and the “8 Questions with…..”series,you can catch up by clicking here. Feel free to drop a question or a comment below.

8 Questions with……….actress Christina Johnson Its 12:09 pm hazy/chilly/the robins are back Welcome to "8 Questions with....." Today is a little bittersweet for me.

#8 Questions With #actress #Cosplayer #Disneyland #Hard work #indie film makers #indie films #indie horror #interview #Me Too Movement #Music #Poche Pictures #SAG-AFTRA #UC Irvine #Women In Horror

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mastcomm · 5 years ago

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The Work Diary of Jessica Walsh, Designing (and Wining) Woman

Jessica Walsh is in the 0.1 percent. That’s how few founders of ad agencies with national or international accounts are female, according to Ad Age.

Ms. Walsh, 33, a graphic designer and art director who started the firm &Walsh last year, is determined to increase this astoundingly low-sounding figure. And so she also started Ladies, Wine and Design: a nonprofit that runs free events, talks and portfolio reviews for women and nonbinary people.

“It was just always a dream of mine to have an agency that was entirely my own,” Ms. Walsh said. “There are so few women-founded creative agencies out there. I want to see more of them.”

A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Ms. Walsh evolved her lush, tactile style partnering with the graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister when she was in her mid-20s. She also worked on a number of personal passion projects, including 40 Days of Dating, a popular blog written with Timothy Goodman, an artist, that they turned into a book.

And she’s hired around 30 people at & Walsh to strategize branding, advertising and social media campaigns for clients from tech giants like Apple and Snapchat to small start-ups such as the Riveter and Pet Plate.

Ms. Walsh keeps long hours, extended by social media. “Work is my passion and I love that work and life is intertwined,” she said. “I work with a lot of my family. I work with a lot of my close friends on projects together. To me, it doesn’t feel like a burden. However, I don’t ask that of our employees! I’m really proud that we’re not a sweatshop like many other agencies are.”

Saturday

7:30 a.m. Last night we drove upstate from New York City. My husband, Zak Mulligan, and I just bought an old barn in the Hudson Valley that we plan to eventually renovate and rent out when we’re not using it. It will be nice to have a different type of creative project to work on together. (Zak is a cinematographer.) I spent the morning drinking coffee outside with our dogs.

8:30 a.m. &Walsh is working on the branding, brand strategy and target audience work for a bank in Vienna, Austria. I started writing a creative brief for our designers. I hunted down vintage typography references that could be interesting to update with a modern twist for a custom typeface for the bank.

10:30 a.m. While skiing, Zak and I chatted about upcoming TV commercial shoots in India that our agency is working on for the brands for Frooti and Appy Fizz. I’ll be creative-directing the campaign and Zak is a director of photography and will be filming. We’ll be working with five different Bollywood stars, which should be interesting!

2 p.m. After skiing, I spend time writing posts for my @jessicavwalsh and @andwalsh Instagram accounts.

7 p.m. Went to dinner in Hudson with some friends, and then came home to watch a movie. Zak is an Academy member so we get access to all the potential Oscar-nominated movies so he can vote. We watched “Marriage Story” — it was good and emotional, I cried!

Sunday

8 a.m. Did some research for an upcoming digital campaign for one of our clients. Looked at potential influencers to partner with to launch the campaigns.

10 a.m. Called my friend Tim Goodman to chat about our book and blog, “40 Days of Dating.” It went viral six years ago and we got a movie deal with Warner Bros., but after many years of script revisions they let the rights option go. We’ve had new interest recently from different production companies and celebrities who are interested in starring in or producing a new project based on the book. This would require starting from scratch as a new project, getting new writers on board and producing an entirely new script.

12 p.m. Working, reading and research. Somewhere in between I FaceTimed with my sister, Lauren Walsh, who helps run operations and new business with me at & Walsh. We were chatting about potential new business inquiries we’ve received, discussing which would be a good fit for our studio. We also chatted about progress updates on a website we are designing.

4 p.m. My sister and I and our husbands got my parents a big gift for Christmas: a dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, N.Y. We arrived two hours early as we got the time wrong in our calendar. I found a place by the fire to get some emails done and sort my inbox, which I was a bit anxious about anyway.

6 p.m. I knew Blue Hill was supposed to be an excellent farm-to-table restaurant, but I didn’t get the memo that there was a suggested dress code. I don’t go out to fancy dinners very often! Everyone was in suits or dresses. I arrived in a casual oversized sweatshirt and giant winter fur boots. I got a lot of strange looks, but the food was great!

11 p.m. We arrived back in the city and watched “Knives Out” before bed.

Monday

8 a.m. Met with Lauren to go over high-level details of a new digital campaign and influencer plan we’re working on for a new client that I can’t name (strict NDA!).

10 a.m. Worked on big-picture ideas for 2020 for Ladies, Wine & Design. Only a very small percentage of women make it to leadership roles in the creative industry and we’re trying to do our small part in changing those numbers. We are starting outreach to try and find a sponsor for our 2020 events and initiatives.

3 p.m. We are designing interior wallpaper and design elements for a popular restaurant in downtown Manhattan. Part of the design is intended to reduce the noise in the restaurant. I visited the space with Gosbinda and Sarah from our team to look at placement and discuss the overall strategy.

4 p.m. Wrote client emails, finalized a creative brief and sent creative direction feedback for our design team on an advertising campaign we’re working on. Ate dinner while working.

10 p.m. Watched “Booksmart” with Zak, who passed out after the movie. I couldn’t sleep. Around 2 a.m., I went into the kitchen and realized the tea I had been drinking all day (I must have had 10 cups) was not caffeine-free like I thought. I also had 4 cups of coffee in the morning. Uh-oh. I used to get stressed about insomnia, but now I just roll with it. I spent the night looking at real estate listings for our new studio space and reading on Instagram. I use Instagram to stay up-to-date on news, activists and artists I follow, and also to find new talent to hire for our agency.

Tuesday

7:30 a.m. Even when I don’t sleep well, I always wake up early, no alarm clock needed. Early mornings, evenings and weekends are my favorite time to work as email and Slack is quiet.

11 a.m. We’ve started taking on more photo and content creation for brands for Instagram, so we need more space for a larger photo studio and a dedicated prop library. I went to see a potential space in downtown Manhattan.

12:30 p.m. I reviewed a presentation for a rebranding project we’re working on for a direct-to-consumer clothing company.

3:30 p.m. I had a call with the director for the upcoming commercial shoot to go over wardrobe, music and choreography choices.

4 p.m. Went to the vet. My dog Oscar has spinal cancer and had surgery and radiation last year, but they couldn’t remove all of the cancer because of its proximity to his spine. They believe it has metastasized to his liver, which means he might only live another three to six months. It’s very sad.

5 p.m. Creative ideation, et cetera. Ate a quick delivery dinner with Zak somewhere.

11:30 p.m. Talked with Nadia Chauhan, the chief marketing officer of Parle Agro, an Indian beverage company, about some of the creative choices for the upcoming print campaign and TV commercial shoots. She lives in another time zone, so I’ll often catch her late nights or early morning to chat via WhatsApp or calls.

Wednesday

7 a.m. Emails and calls with the production company, client and director for next week’s shoot. I typically eat breakfast and lunch while working on my computer. This morning, I had juice, nuts and overnight oats. I’m trying to eat better because of my migraines, though what I really want is a greasy egg and cheese sandwich.

10 a.m. Went to our photo studio for a small shoot. While I was in the studio, I connected with the team about our 2020 photo studio and prop library, and ideas for the new space.

1 p.m. Answered questions for a magazine press interview, worked on a presentation for an indoor vertical farm company we’re doing branding for and chatted with our producers about operations logistics.

7 p.m. Had a quick dinner with a friend, followed by a massage in Tribeca with my mom and my sister Lauren at Shibui Spa. The spa trip was my birthday present from last year from Lauren.

11:30 p.m. Watched “Fleabag” before bed.

Thursday

8 a.m. We are working on digital video ads for a popular skin care company in Korea. These will run as paid media on social. I reviewed the latest video edits and the client’s feedback notes. My team is amazing and have done a fantastic job with this project; I’m happy with how all the videos have turned out.

9 a.m. Last year, we worked on the branding for a women-founded and -focused brand. I reviewed progress on the portfolio page which will showcase this work on our website and Instagram, and wrote some feedback.

2 p.m. As a creative director, I’m behind the camera most of the time. But occasionally I go in front of the camera, when other brands hire me as an influencer or to appear in videos because of my social media following. Today I had a video interview for a digital brand I quite like.

8 p.m. Researched migraines, which my sister and I have been suffering from for a few years. We started a pain diary to track what we ate and drank, humidity/barometric pressure and stress levels to see correlations between various factors and the pain.

Friday

7:30 a.m. Calls, emails, Slack messages for various projects. Met with Lauren to go over a proposal we’re working on for a nonprofit.

12:30 p.m. Call with the C.A.A. (Creative Artists Agency) and one of the potential producers for the “40 Days of Dating” project. We discussed potential writing partners.

1 p.m. My mom is a certified holistic health and wellness coach, and launched an Instagram account without asking for my design help last year. The content is great but the Instagram design and fonts are not up to my standards, ha! I chatted with the team about some social media templates we’re making for her.

2:30 p.m. Calls, emails, Slacks. Reviewed various 3-D renderings and Photoshop mock-ups that our team has been working on for an upcoming advertising campaign.

5 p.m. Took a taxi to the airport with Zak. We are heading to India for the commercial shoots.

Interviews are conducted by email, text and phone, then condensed and edited.

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/the-work-diary-of-jessica-walsh-designing-and-wining-woman/

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mastcomm · 5 years ago

Text

The Work Diary of Jessica Walsh, Designing (and Wining) Woman

Jessica Walsh is in the 0.1 percent. That’s how few founders of ad agencies with national or international accounts are female, according to Ad Age.

“It was just always a dream of mine to have an agency that was entirely my own,” Ms. Walsh said. “There are so few women-founded creative agencies out there. I want to see more of them.”

Saturday

2 p.m. After skiing, I spend time writing posts for my @jessicavwalsh and @andwalsh Instagram accounts.

Sunday

8 a.m. Did some research for an upcoming digital campaign for one of our clients. Looked at potential influencers to partner with to launch the campaigns.

11 p.m. We arrived back in the city and watched “Knives Out” before bed.

Monday

8 a.m. Met with Lauren to go over high-level details of a new digital campaign and influencer plan we’re working on for a new client that I can’t name (strict NDA!).

4 p.m. Wrote client emails, finalized a creative brief and sent creative direction feedback for our design team on an advertising campaign we’re working on. Ate dinner while working.

Tuesday

7:30 a.m. Even when I don’t sleep well, I always wake up early, no alarm clock needed. Early mornings, evenings and weekends are my favorite time to work as email and Slack is quiet.

12:30 p.m. I reviewed a presentation for a rebranding project we’re working on for a direct-to-consumer clothing company.

3:30 p.m. I had a call with the director for the upcoming commercial shoot to go over wardrobe, music and choreography choices.

5 p.m. Creative ideation, et cetera. Ate a quick delivery dinner with Zak somewhere.

Wednesday

10 a.m. Went to our photo studio for a small shoot. While I was in the studio, I connected with the team about our 2020 photo studio and prop library, and ideas for the new space.

7 p.m. Had a quick dinner with a friend, followed by a massage in Tribeca with my mom and my sister Lauren at Shibui Spa. The spa trip was my birthday present from last year from Lauren.

11:30 p.m. Watched “Fleabag” before bed.

Thursday

Friday

7:30 a.m. Calls, emails, Slack messages for various projects. Met with Lauren to go over a proposal we’re working on for a nonprofit.

12:30 p.m. Call with the C.A.A. (Creative Artists Agency) and one of the potential producers for the “40 Days of Dating” project. We discussed potential writing partners.

2:30 p.m. Calls, emails, Slacks. Reviewed various 3-D renderings and Photoshop mock-ups that our team has been working on for an upcoming advertising campaign.

5 p.m. Took a taxi to the airport with Zak. We are heading to India for the commercial shoots.

Interviews are conducted by email, text and phone, then condensed and edited.

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/the-work-diary-of-jessica-walsh-designing-and-wining-woman/

#Business

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