#we are an art store how do we not sell name brand fine art stuff

[oflgtfol]

watching art videos and recognizing michaels products counts as a mental illness i think

[leomitchellart]

So… about this latest Inktober controversy….

Time to begrudgingly chuck in my two penneth… (Remeber you can always press “J” to skip this post altogether)

As most of you may or may not know, Alphonso Dunn released a Youtube video wherein he publicly accused Jake Parker, and creator of the Inktober challenge, of plagiarising his book. Both of these men are public figures, artists specialising in pen & ink. In the video Dunn looks at the preview pages and flip through footage of Parker’s “Inktober All Year Round” and says they draw many similarities in the illustrations, language and layout that he used in his own book, “Pen & Ink Drawing”. Parker’s book was set to this month. Hense why Dunn only used footage and not a physical copy.

Since the video’s release, the art community has been very spilt down the middle. The book’s publisher has halted the launch of Parker’s book until the matter can be investigated. Even DeviantArt cancelled their own Inktober event thing (I’ll admit I don’t keep up with these things DA keeps doing). Parker has since released a statement in the matter. Now it’s up to the courts to decide what’s happening next. The video itself is an hour long, but it’s crucial to see it yourself. 

People are, understandably, outraged after seeing it. This seems like a shitty thing to rip-off Dunn - not to mention stupid. Since Dunn is the more popular pen & ink artist with more social media followers and name recognition. Many have called to boycott inktober and condemn Parker. I’ll admit, I was right alongside them at first, at least for feeling outraged. The similarities are there. But if YMS’s Kimba video has taught me anything, it’s that, even if an accusation of plagiarism may be obvious at a cursory glance, sometimes it’s important to take a more critical eye and do more research to learn that things aren’t as cut and dry as they first seem. If there’s a lesson I can take away from the internet as a whole, it’s that no one thinks about the consequences of mob mentality.

The most common defence of Parker is that because they’re both books about pen and ink drawing, then they’re inevitably going to be similar. I’ll admit that, when you pick-up so many art books, a lot of them will cover the same basic grounds of materials, tutorials, strokes, techniques etc. The parts about rendering textures on spheres and cubes isnt new. Look up “texture study” and you’ll see so many examples of artists rendering these kinds of things digitally. I’ve also noticed a common theme of people more formally educated in art pointing out how none of these are original. Everything down to the steps and illustrations are things they’ve learned from years ago. Since I'm a pen & ink artist, inspired by my love of comics, I have quite a few books about inking: Dunn’s included. I own both his books and still highly recommend them. I didn't even preorder Parker’s book. Ironically because I didn't think it could offer anything new that my other books hadn’t already.

While Ethan Becker took the time to cross-examine Dunn and Parker’s books with several others, there weren’t many of the ones I actually owned. So I looked to my shelves to see what I could find. Books like:

“The Art of Comic Book Inking” by Gary Martin & Steve Rude

“How Comics Work” by Dave Gibbons & Tim Pilcher

“The DC Comics guide to Inking Comics” by Klaus Janson

“Making Comics” by Scott McCloud

“Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics”

I’m sure there’s plenty more examples out there. I was planning to go through all of these and take pictures. But ultimately that’s not the core point of these post. Plus it would’ve taken WAY too long and this post itself, is long enough.

Of course, none of the them are 100% close to Dunn’s in the way they’re displayed. Not as close as Parker’s could be considered. That being said, I know Dunn is trying to claim that he invented these techniques. The nucleus of the issue is how similar they are in terms of order and how these pages are displayed. Some I can chock-up to standard practice, while others seem more coincidental.

If there’s one thing I’m adamant about, it’s that I think that Dunn should’ve messaged Parker first before making the accusation public. Some try to dispute that this would've made it easier for Dunn to be “silenced”, whatever that means; but that sounds a bit conspiratorial to me. Ideally, you confront him about it in private, if he makes any threats or blows you off, get your lawyer on the phone and then make the video. Not only is it the more civil thing to do - but it’s the smarter thing to do. This is a serious legal matter, not just internet drama. While I’m sure Dunn had no intention of tearing Parker down or getting a mob onto him, that’s unfortunately what’s happened. A backlash both from the general artisan community and several companies. Wherein it was left to Parker himself to make this an official legal matter. If Parker’s found not guilty, then this could easily leave the gate open for him to sue Dunn for damages, loss of revenue, defamation of character or whatever else, should he see fit. As could the publishers, given how this affected their sales. Companies responded to the accusation of the video alone, before an investigation could be launched. Sure, it wouldn't be “acting the bigger man” but he’d be well within his right to do it. Dunn showed that Jake has mentioned him before, shown admiration for his career and referenced him in other posts. If it comes to light in court, that Dunn is even cited as an inspiration or source in the book itself, then it’s case closed. 

Then there’s the other possibility that Parker might not have done this on his own, but that he has a team behind the book. If that’s the case, the most I can accuse Parker of is being a hack. I worry Dunn has kneecapped himself for just how badly he’s handled this situation. Made worse by him not having an actual physical copy to assess and just had footage of preview pages to go on. So far, the circumstances don’t seem on his favour. 

I don’t think ill of Dunn. I do think he believes he’s been wronged and no malice in his intentions. I just think he’s made some critical errors on how to handled this. As for Parker himself, I couldn't give a donkey’s doo-dah about him. I’m sure you could accuse me of playing devil’s advocate earlier, but to me, he was the guy who released the annual prompt list. If it really does turn out that he’s a plagiarist and had malicious intent, then fuck ‘im. I never regarded him as an inspiration of mine or paid much attention to him outside of that. It was the community that made Inktober what it is. I’ve never met Parker. Maybe he’s a cool guy? Maybe he’s a bellend? I don’t know.

Granted this isn't the first time Parker has proved himself to be a controversial figure: - Last year people were upset about him trademarking (not copywriting, as many have erroneously claimed) the word “Inktober” and some artists were stopped from selling their related work or zines. Parker would issue a statement: claiming the takedowns were a mistake of “overzealous lawyers” and it’s just a matter of the logo being trademarked. People can sell their Inktober works and even mention they are Inktober-related. Just not use the official logo. On the one hand, from a business standpoint, I get it. It’s the bare minimum you need to do to protect your IP, especially when you have a store. BUT, like most people, I don’t like how, what’s intended as a community challenge, has slowly become more of a brand associated with one man. Hardly a surprise it left a bad taste in so many people’s mouths. But, since it doesn't actually effect anyone’s ability to take part in the challenge, outside of personal principle, I went ahead with it the previous year. 

 - The year before, when asked if one can do Inktober digitally, Parker said the following:

I know some are still bitter about that, but speaking as someone who inks traditionally and digitally, this came across as needless whinging and blowing things out of proportion. Claiming that Jake had derided digital artists and said they were invalid etc etc. Take it from me, challenging yourself to try out different methods to ink traditionally can greatly improve the work you do digitally. It’s like how learning traditional fundamentals of art can still be applied to digital. Plus he never said “No.” he just gave valid reasons about how it makes it a different experience. That said, if you’re someone who can’t afford any kind of inking equipment or pens and only have a selected application to draw on - then none of this applies to you. Just the aforementioned few who took it upon themselves to get angry over nothing. Recently I’ve heard from subscribers of his newsletter that he’s now embraced the idea of people doing inktober digitally, to the point of selling digital brushes for inktober. I’m sure some will call this “backsliding” or “money grubbing” because people aren’t allowed to change their minds or update their statements.

For weeks I’ve been torn on what to do, not being able to solidify one stance over another. One minute I thought #JusticeForAlphonsoDunn then I wonder “Wait maybe I should look again?” to “But wait, those are way too similar!” Having splinters in my arse from sitting on the fence for so long. The longer this went on, however, I began to realise that I can’t take one stance over another. This case is far too muddy and complicated. I don’t have enough sufficient knowledge or evidence. Nor do any of you. We literally only have Dunn’s video to go on. While it’s a good start, it’s not enough to be taken 100% as gospel when it’s the only thing to hand. 

As previously mentioned, a lot of artists have decided to not take part in Inktober at all, or follow different prompt lists. That’s completely fine. A lot of them are based around a specific theme: halloween, kinky stuff, bears, transformers, OCs, Disney or whatever. That has massive appeal. I just can’d do it myself. I prefer the focus on random words, rather than all centred on a single subject; allowing me to be creative with my ideas and execution. I actually did try to make a list of my own random words. Problem is, I worried that because I was choosing my own, I might be subconsciously bias towards certain prompts and not truly challenging myself. Even narrowing down my options was taking too long. In the end…. I’ve decided to just do the official prompts again this year.

For me, that’s what it ultimately came down to. TIME. It’s the middle of September. I can’t afford to wait for the court case to be settled. No other prominent artists I respect have released their own prompt lists. I know there’s been some shitty people who are condemning this choice. Attacking others, accusing them of supporting plagiarism, looking to block anyone who does the official prompts. Even trying to make this a racial issue. Just…. no. 

If someone doesn’t want to take part in Inktober, that’s fine. If someone wants to do the official prompts, that’s fine. If someone wants to do their own prompts, that’s fine.

Don’t go around aggressively making snap judgements or accusing people of taking a side. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable. This has been a shit year, let people enjoy something.

If you look at this situation and it makes you feel angry, and you don’t feel comfortable in taking part in a challenge because of it’s creator. I get that, I literally get that. It’s why I haven't done Mermay. And please don’t mention Pinktober, I’m aware of it, but given his insta video on the subject and the things he said, I quickly came to the conclusion that I can’t take this person seriously. I’m sure this might make me seem hypocritical, but how this differs, if only for me, is the sheer amount Inktober means to me. It’s more than a simple challenge. Inktober's the one thing I’ve been most excited about all year. As it was ruined for me in 2019, when I lost my home and I didn't get to complete every prompt. (Long story, I’m okay now). As we all know, 2020, has been an AWFUL year. We’ve got to take whatever joy we can. As I’ve looked longer at the official prompts, I found ideas I’m really excited for. 

Once I started to really dedicate myself to it, it became a massive event. I hype myself up as I prepare for the busy month. Buy in supplies, clean the house and workspace, cook and freeze meals in bulk to save time, printing off a sheet that allows me to jot down ideas as I plan ahead.  Then once it’s done, after so much work, it makes the reward all the sweeter: Ordering a takeaway, celebrating a great halloween night and still rocking those vibes throughout November. Feeling proud of myself for doing it and seeing myself improve my technique, discipline and earning a few lie-ins to make up for the sleep I lost working. I’m like a kid waiting for Christmas. That said, don’t think that there’s something wrong with you when you understandably can’t dedicate that amount time for a simple art challenge. If anything that’s plenty of reason to why you’re smarter than me. You have a life and don’t push yourself too much.

Now, I need to crack on with the preparations. If you want to boycott Jake Parker, just not buying any of his products should be enough. Doing the inktober challenge doesn't bring attention to him, as I doubt most people even know him as the creator, nor does it even line his pockets. I just hate how cancel culture can do such serious damage like this and then try and put pressure on others to act accordingly without even doing any research themselves. 

As long as you’re not harassing anybody. Just do what YOU want to do. That’s fine. 

[markwatkinsconsumerguide]

Consumer Guide / No.111 / American musician, Barbara Markay, with Mark Watkins.

MW : Why decide (initially) to switch from making classical music to pop?  

BM : It happened during my first year at Juilliard College toward the end of the school year. It was in their new building at Lincoln Center, and I was practicing the piano in one of their practice rooms on the 5th floor, which had windows and a beautiful view of the streets below and the whole Lincoln Center area. I was taking a little break, and was looking out the window and thought to myself that I should be down there experiencing life and meeting interesting people, instead of practicing piano all day long! I had gotten into the Juilliard prep department / pre-college division when I was 10 years old, and had been a classical pianist for a long time. Maybe it was time for a change!  

After that day in the practice room, I started to think about this more and more, especially every time I got a practice room with a “window on the world” so to speak. I started to think about all those people walking around on the streets, and who among them was actually going to be interested in listening to classical music. I thought that I might be wasting my musical talent on my present studies as a pianist and composer, and that I was much more interested in talking to people and finding out what they were thinking and why they said and did the things they did.

I became more and more interested in writing lyrics, which turned into my first pop songs. I realized that I could communicate the music I had inside me via pop music better than just performing classical music, because I could write about the whole new exciting culture of the times with no narrow, preordained musical style restrictions, or older musical rules. I could write and say whatever I wanted to! It was a brand new world for me! And so much fun! I still appreciated and loved classical music, and graduated from Juilliard college at the end of the four years, but I was now writing these funny, risqué, pop songs, just piano and voice, and everyone I played them for loved it!    

We had academic studies as well as music classes as part of our program, and one of these classes was English literature, which I suddenly was great at. I don’t know where this understanding of human beings came from, or my love for reading English literature, but one day my English teacher, Beatrice Taub (who also taught at Columbia University), asked me after class if I really really was sure, that being a classical pianist and composer was really what I wanted to do with my life, because I was exceptionally good at literature. She suggested that I might take some extension classes at Columbia University to explore it further, maybe transferring to Columbia eventually.    

It was then that I realized that these songs I was writing were going to be a better career path for me because they involved both writing and music, and I got that encouragement to continue with pop music. There was also another class I took that the music students would take together with the actors, that also was encouraging me to continue to write pop music.

Some of the people in my class were destined to be really famous actors, and one of them was Robin Williams. I felt more at ease in this class because they were mostly all actors, and had broader interests than the music students, I felt. Robin asked me one day to play some more of my songs for him, because he wanted to do a show out of them. He said he just loved the humor and the music I had put to the songs. He said he wanted to do some kind of a musical review with it.  He was very funny even then. Just a natural comic, but also a great actor. Nothing came of it at that time, but my songs were eventually made into many musical reviews years later.

That was the beginning of my pop musical career.    

Christopher Reeve, Kevin Spacey, Christine Baranski (1974), Kelsey Grammer, Kevin Kline, Patty LuPone, William Hurt, and more, were all actors who were part of the new acting department at the new Juilliard building at Lincoln Center. Eventually, years later, they would put in a classical guitar department, and a jazz department, which would have been unheard of before the new building came into being. Before these new times, Juilliard considered classical guitar to be “folk” music, and jazz wasn’t even on their radar. I guess someone was thinking like me, and these other forms of music needed to be heard and expressed as well as traditional classical music. So I think it was in the 1980s they got Sharon Isbin (fabulous classical guitarist) to head up the new guitar department, and Wynton Marsalis to head up the new jazz department to get these new genres started at the new Juilliard.  

So much for my very formative Juilliard years!  

These early songs were part of my piano & voice comedy act that was very popular at the time. A lot of people compared me to being a musical Joan Rivers. ‘It’s All Rite’ was part of this set of songs. I went to the UK on vacation soon after graduating college, and met Lee Allen, a music promoter with Carousel Artists (I think that was the name of his company) who booked me on a college tour of England and Ireland. Eventually, I put a small group together and performed everywhere. I played at the New University of Ulster, Belfast, and I opened for 10CC at, I believe, Kings College in London, and played many other colleges as well. What a great time I had, and everyone really liked the songs, including the risqué ones! And I just loved England! But then it became time to return to the states.    

MW : Where does your music fit in terms of categorisation / the music scene?

BM : It wasn’t until the mid-1980s that I started writing more serious pop songs, not the early comedy stuff anymore. That was just after I had put out ‘It's All Rite’, the 12” dance, salsa single version of the song, and it was such a huge international hit. After that, I got interested in metaphysics - the invisible world so to speak - and more philosophical and spiritual matters. I found my first and very great meditation teacher, Anne Elizabeth Cooper, in New York City, and studied metaphysics with her for two years. It absolutely changed my life! I developed a totally different point of view of everything! I started writing songs more along these lines, and also songs about how people relate to each other on deeper levels. I needed to grow as a writer and artist, so this new path I took expanded my views of life and consciousness level.  

Some of my early pop albums like Change To Come and Heart Like A Song contain some of my favorite and most prized songs, like ‘Still Need You’, ‘Change To Come’, ‘I Am The River’ and ‘Fallen Angel’ from the Change To Come album.  And from the Heart Like A Song album, my favorites are, ‘In The Silence’, ‘You Are What You Believe’, ‘Hands Of The Artist’ and ‘All That I Am’. You can tell by just the titles how I had shifted focus and had finally grounded myself in more meaningful songs that brought in a brand new audience.

After those two albums. I continued expanding to world beat grooves with the Shambhala Dance album, which won best dance/dub/club album of the year (New Age Reporter finalist 2005 Lifestyle music award!). ‘Atlantis’, the first cut on the album, got great reviews and lots of airplay, even today it’s still being played. It’s been called “a meditation through movement”, and, “an exotic voyage of mysterious flamenco, Asian and middle eastern melodies, full of powerful world beat grooves beautifully blended together to create an atmosphere of intense, vital emotions both sensual and meditative at the same time” (Wind and Wire magazine, April 2005, Bill Binkelman).

I continued exploring different styles with a meditation album, Heaven And Earth, which is a continuous 50 minute meditation. I got and still get a lot of plays in the yoga studios and meditation classes with this one and the Shambhala Dance album. But you can see how my shift to more metaphysical and spiritual music has carried me into these different, but related styles. I even composed a musical rendition of the ancient, venerated prayer, ‘The Great Invocation’, given to humanity by ascended Tibetan master Djwhal Khul. I have shifted styles as I matured and explored a more expanded and deeper understanding of what I wanted to express musically.  

MW : How are you using social media to stream / promote your music on platforms such as Spotify, iTunes etc?.  

BM : It’s great! You can see all of the albums and singles I’ve done on Spotify, iTunes, and the other streaming services right away. So can all the other artists who put content out there. Everyone had to switch to streaming for the great international exposure. There’s nothing like it!  

MW : Two of your early records were banned. Did you set out to challenge the mainstream with titles  ‘It’s All Rite To F*ck All Nite…’ and  ‘Give Your Dick To Me’?  

BM : I was never really “banned”. What happened is that I produced the first 12” dance single version of  ‘It’s All Rite’, and took it to all the record labels, which were mostly all in New York at the time. Everyone absolutely loved the record! Everyone absolutely wanted a few copies for themselves and their friends. But nobody had the balls to put it out into the market!!!! They were all afraid of repercussions, censorship, and their reputations! So I decided that I would put it out myself, something nobody had done at the time! I thought the record needed to be heard. I found a pressing plant in New Jersey, who were fine with pressing it up, then I went to an art store and got some “press type” and designed my own album cover. I got a friend of mine to take a picture of me, and voila! I had an album ready to go. I had no monies to promote the record, only just enough to record it and press it up. I figured that if I could get it heard by some people, maybe I could get some interest in it and maybe sell a few copies.

At that time, in New York and across the whole country, there were record pools, which were organizations of DJ’s who played the music in the dance clubs. I sent a 12” record (CD’s hadn’t been invented yet) to a list of record pools around the country, and to my surprise, I got a great response. Everyone wanted a copy to play. It was a salsa dance groove, something kinda new for mainstream clubs at the time, but the song was funny and danceable so everyone liked it and wanted to hear it. This was a time when you couldn’t get any airplay without a record label behind you. It was payola all the way. But what I could get was club play, and these DJ’s kept asking me for more and more records. And now people were asking the DJ’s where they could buy the record. So I had to get a distributor to put the records into record stores.

By this time, the record was being played in most all the clubs in the United States, but with no place to buy it.  My first thought was to go to Sam Goody, one of the biggest record stores in New York at the time, and see if they would sell the record. They said yes, showing me a copy of some dance/club charts they had in the store that said that the record was #1 on the charts!!!!! I had no idea about these separate dance/club listings and was really excited that it was already charting. But there were about five dance charts around at this time, and ‘It’s All Rite’ was #1 on all of them! It stayed #1 for about five or six months in a row! It was a sensation! This started in about May of 1978, or 1979, I think, and ran thru September. Sam Goody gave me the very hard to get whole window display of my record, so did Colony records, another big record store in New York City at the time, and the rest is history! Other record stores followed.  

Soon I realized that I needed a bigger distributor, so I contacted several in all the sections of the US, like the South, the Midwest, North Central, East Coast, West Coast, etc. They kept asking me for more and more records. I couldn’t figure out where the records were going. So one day I called my local one stop guy in Long Island City, and he said they were all going overseas. I asked where overseas, and he said, “Everywhere! Especially Holland.” Apparently, 12 miles off the coast of Holland was a ship that had a radio station broadcasting from it, and they could play anything that they wanted. My record was the number one request! Nobody could do anything about it to stop them, because they were in international waters. 12 miles out!!!

Since this was my first big hit, I was inexperienced as to what I needed to do next. It wasn’t too much later, about December of that year, I got a call from WEA International in Holland (Warner Brothers, Electra & Atlantic records all together) who said they wanted to license my record. It sounded great to me, so I took the deal. They published it in Europe, South America, England, Japan, Asia, etc. and promoted it in all the clubs. And I finally got legitimate airplay on it, because on the “B” side I had recorded the “clean” version, called ‘It’s All Rite To Truck All Nite’. Lots and lots of airplay everywhere! Finally!  

It became #16 on the Billboard pop charts in the Benelux countries, and #2 on the charts in Paris, Michael Jackson being #1 at the time. WEA asked me for another single to put out, and I gave them, ‘Give Your Dick To Me’, and that was also very successful. I did the same thing with the “clean” “B” side, ‘Give Your Flesh To Me’.    

So the bottom line is that if you have a record that everyone wants to hear, nothing will stop it from being heard. The people decided they wanted to hear ‘It’s All Rite’, and it squeezed itself through the cracks to be a big hit.  Also, it started a new trend in music of what could be heard and played. Several DJ’s told me that I had really done something BIG with that song. They said it changed the music business forever! It opened the door for new things to come into the market, and then the people could judge for themselves whether they liked it.    

Now getting back to your original question about being censored/banned, I really didn’t have any criticism for doing the record. People just wanted to get a copy of it and enjoy it. And I didn’t set out to “challenge” the system. I was simply expressing my views on what people were really thinking, and I did it via a danceable, funny, comedy record. I was just having fun!

Now, a lot of people took it seriously, literally, and that’s ok. Everyone has their own interpretation of things. That is what Art is for. To make people think. And that is what, ‘It’s All Rite’, did. It made people think, laugh, dance, party, and feel good! Remember, this was a time when Lenny Bruce had set a new standard, Joan Rivers was on the scene, along with Richard Pryor, George Carlin, etc. By the time I came along I took it all for granted that I would be able to put this record out. I wrote it when I was 19 years old and still in college, so that’s what you write when you’re that age. I didn’t care at all what people would think about me or this song!    

Nobody I was aware of wrote anything negative about this “outrageous” song.  One of the many reviews I got for my act (when I was performing all my funny songs with piano & voice around town in the late 1970s) was from Michael’s Thing, an LGBT magazine, New York City’s #1 weekly entertainment magazine and “going out guide” with reviews, comics, of all the performances, Art in the city, new and noteworthy etc. which said about my act, “…...she (Barbara) makes you laugh while she stabs you in the back!”  I got nothing but praise for putting this song out! The LGBT community loved what I had done and fully supported me, along with great reviews from the Village Voice, and a nice write up from Billboard magazine by Roman Kozak. I also played at Huey’s Bar, a gay men’s bar, on Hudson street (west side of New York city near the Hudson river) for several months, through that whole summer, just piano and voice. It was a big hit!  

MW : Tell me about your involvement with Carly Simon’s Coming Around Again album?  

BM : I was doing synthesizer programming for a few of the songs on the album. The arranger I was working with was doing some arrangements for her new album, and I got to do some of the synth programming. It was lots of fun to be involved and to go to the recording sessions.    

MW :  …and the Michael Jackson (BAD) video…. also include any thoughts on Jackson’s charisma, ability (song & dance)….  

BM : I never got to meet Michael Jackson, but I did get to meet Martin Scorsese who was really really interesting! He was asked to produce the video for the song. He came up to the office one day to discuss what kind of extra scored music was needed for the BAD video, music before the song started, and after the song was through. He was very intense, a real thinking kind of guy, and someone who knew what he wanted. He also has a great sense of humor! He impressed me as someone who really knows people. Meeting Scorcese was actually more exciting for me than meeting Jackson as he’s a real character!!! A mature adult!  

MW : You’ve worked with Bruce Willis as a backing singer. Tell me about those times … also include your views on his abilities as an actor turned singer…  

BM : Bruce Willis is a really great actor, and can play almost any part. That includes as a blues singer. The show we did was as his backup singers (along with two friends of mine) for the opening of the new Hard Rock Café in Austin, Texas. It was a very long day, full of rehearsals on stage with the band, and waiting for Bruce to arrive. As we tested mikes and stage positions, we could see a huge crowd starting to form in order to get a good view of the coming show. The press was there, and reported close to 100,000 people waiting to see this opening.

Bruce eventually got there, extremely exhausted. By the time the show started it was dark out, and everyone was excited. Then came the big moment when Bruce Willis came on stage, and everyone went wild! The band started to play and he started to sing. I was shocked by how well he could sing, and put over a song. It was a real “performance”.

He may not have all the technique of a “professional” singer, but what he has is better. He can make you get into the song, feel the song, …it’s not really the voice but the performance that’s spectacular. So close up to me. I could really see why he’s considered one of the great actors of our time. Acting, singing and performing are all connected. And he puts it all together beautifully.    

MW : Describe a typical weekend….before lockdown and during…

BM : Well, I used to love to go to the ocean and watch the sunset a lot, then meet my friends for dinner in one of the great restaurants by the beach or in town. Before lockdown there were great movies to see, not just at home (these days) but at the real movie houses. Plenty of them around in the “old” days. During lockdown everyone has to stream movies at home. At least streaming is safe!  

I also used to like to work out at the gym, but you can’t do that yet, so I’m hoping that sometime in the near future that will become viable again. Sometimes it’s fun just to take a ride up pacific coast highway and breathe in the sea air and see the beautiful scenery. You can still always do that.

There are lots of farmers markets around town, so I always go on the weekends to shop for fresh, whole, organic fruits and veggies! That’s always fun, and sometimes I go with my friends too.

Eating good, fresh, organic foods is my entire “Health Plan”!  You are what you eat! So far, so good!  And I can do this all year long. And during this lockdown, we just all wear masks. It’s fun being at the farmers markets and seeing all the chefs from all the great restaurants in town shopping for their weekly recipes with those big shopping carts they push thru the market. They buy whole boxes of produce and everything else sold there.  

MW : What is your favourite…Carly Simon single?

BM : I think that would be  ‘Mockingbird’, especially the 2015 remaster. James Taylor sounds great on this, and the two of them together just fit together perfectly. This remaster is from Songs From The Trees (a musical memoir collection). I’m glad they did this, because this is a classic! You can hear all the instruments clearly, the voices are very present, and the whole thing is a pleasure to listen to. Musical tastes change, but the classics will remain with us from “gentler” times.  

MW : AND your favourite… Bruce Willis film?

BM :  (I can’t choose just one!)

The Whole Nine Yards : hysterically funny!!! I laugh every time. The Fifth Element is a real classic! I see it again every time it’s on TV. Bruce Willis is fantastic in that “deadpan” character he plays. And the score by French composer Eric Serra is superb. Hip, powerful, rhythmic, smooth, jagged, everything needed to match the screen scene.

But the music stands alone if you just listen to the score by itself without the movie. I think they sold a lot of the music score. The Sixth Sense -  so powerful, and metaphysical! It’s right up my alley! And Bruce Willis has a knack for finding well written screenplays! That’s a big key to the success of the movies he’s in.

And since they’re so well written, he has an opportunity to really show off his talent and get into those great parts.    

MW : AND your favourite… Michael Jackson album?

BM : I think I like the Thriller album the best. I love the songs, especially, ‘Beat It’, ‘Thriller’, and ‘Human Nature’. And it was so well produced by Quincy Jones, with pounding gritty grooves, and great songs.

MW : List, in order of preference, your Top 10 singles & albums of all-time…

BM : (I have the original CD’s of this music, and still call them CD’s, but I’m sure this music is all streaming/downloads by now!)

1. Famous Blue Raincoat: songs by Leonard Cohen, studio album by singer Jennifer Warnes: exquisite, perfect singing of songs with her crystal clear voice! What a superb collaboration this was! I wish they had made more albums together like this one! A true classic! When I first heard it I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! Songs so well written, songs with a real message, and so well sung and produced.    

2. I also love Leonard Cohen’s, ‘Hallelujah’, sung by anyone! It gives me chills every time! Powerful and hauntingly beautiful! The best cover of it that I love is K.D. Lang’s version. (I think it was on her album, Hymns Of The 49th Parallel, 2004).  

3. Bach: Sonatas & Partitas: violinist: Itzhak Perlman: The sub-title of this 2 CD set put out by EMI classics says it all: “Great Recordings of the Century”, which is aptly titled!!! I can listen to this album at any time, and it will put me into a deep trance. I can’t stop listening.

Itzhak Perlman is an absolute master of the violin, and these solo compositions are not only some of Bach’s finest works, but Perlman’s rendition of them is flawless. He understands what the composer was trying to accomplish, and every time I listen to this it feels like he is showing us the true soul of humanity! The longing, the passion, the “reaching to the Light”! The thing about this kind of classical music is its very high vibration! I think it does make you smarter!

4. Then we have Jorge Aragao and his live album entitled Ao Vivo (which means “live”). Another album I have listened to for years. He’s a Brazilian singer/songwriter, and the songs are all sung in Brazilian Portuguese. But don’t let that stop you from listening. It’s exciting, passionate and very well recorded. It has the whole flavor of Brazil in it! Recorded in 1999.

The last song is a great rendition of ‘Ave Maria’. A true classic! (I took a great vacation to Brazil for a month once in the mid-2000s and this album is the real deal! The Brazilians absolutely Love him!)  

5. Edith Piaf: 30e Anniversaire 2 cd set (probably on all the streaming services by now). All the songs are beautifully recorded, written, produced and her voice is extraordinary and present. It gives you the whole culture and passion of the French. It always puts me at a French café with friends and great great food! If you’ve never heard Edith Piaf, it’s well worth a listen.

There was a wonderful movie on her life called La Vie en Rose which I also recommend to get the whole feeling of this music. And I listen to this music often, especially when I’m feeling like there’s no culture west of New York City! She saves the day every time!    

6. John Lennon: Imagine: I think everyone knows this is a classic! It’s a positive message!  

7. The Eagles: Hotel California the whole album, but especially the title song, ‘Hotel California’: It never gets old!    

8. Bach: English Suites performed by pianist Andras Schiff: he’s a Bach specialist, and has a great insight into what Bach intended with this great recording: Part of my regular listening.    

9. Buena Vista Social Club: it really gives you the heart and soul of Cuba. I think the reason this album was such a hit when it was first put out is the huge amount of heart, passion, and honesty it evokes. You can feel it’s the real deal. Nothing fake here!  

10. And last but not least, two albums that were put out by Putumayo a while back, called Brasileiro and Samba Bossa Nova. They are compilations of several Brazilian artists and styles, including bossa nova, folk, light samba, and I think some other styles too, beautifully put together. They are calming, gentle, rhythmic and haunting, and a great way to wake up in the morning. So many positive vibes! So musical and unpretentious!

MW : Where / what was the best meal you’ve ever enjoyed and what was the company like?

BM : Well, all I can remember is that it was in a Paris restaurant, and I was taken there by a record company executive to discuss publishing my music through a Paris company. I remember she told me that the closer you get to Paris from anywhere in the world, the better the food gets!!!

And I wasn’t disappointed!

The meal was some kind of spectacular steak, mousse au chocolate for desert, and fine red wine throughout the meal. Cheeses for dessert! (that was more dessert after the dessert!) And it was the atmosphere and vibe, not just of the restaurant, but of Paris, and the French people and their culture that I found so fabulous! I love the French and they loved me back!!!!  

MW : What can we anticipate coming from you later on in 2021?

BM : I’m currently thinking about something along the lines of my previous Shambhala Dance and Heaven And Earth albums. Worldbeat and with a sleek groove.

It takes time to compose something like that.

It will be announced on my website when it’s done. www.barbaramarkay.com  and I will put it out on the streaming services / downloads as usual.    

(c) Mark Watkins / May 2021

[kichimiangra]

For poor artists...

Okay so weeks ago I came across a post (That I can’t seem to find now...) that roughly went like this: “All you tumblrites with depression need some hobbies to help with depression because hobbies help.”

“Not everyone has the privilege of being able to afford hobbies!  Hobbies cost money!”

“You don’t need expensive stuff to draw!!!  Draw on scrap paper!  Napkins!  Go to the dollar store!”

Now for weeks since seeing that post it keeps coming back to me... almost hauntingly.  It’s not that I can’t comprehend that people can’t afford expensive art supplies, on the contrary I very much remember being like that!  But today you poor artists have access to something wonderful that I didn’t growing up:

Under the cut let me tell you a tale about a wonderful place that could have granted my wish for art supplies growing up!

And that place is called Wish.com!

(Disclaimer #1: Almost everything I’m talking about here are supplies that I myself have personally purchased and tried using AND STILL DO!)

(Disclaimer #2:  I don’t believe that good supplies make a good artist, but good supplies can help make a good artist better/ make their life easier!)

Now growing up I did not come from a wealthy family.  I had 3 siblings, all of us close in age so we were kids/ teens together.  My father worked in a warehouse and my mother was a stay at home mom because it was impossible to find an affordable babysitter considering that My older sister had trouble in school with bullies and a reading disorder, I was an un-diagnosed autistic devil-child, my younger sister had severe asthma and was always sick, and my younger brother was deaf.  We all kinda needed special attention.  As you can imagine we didn’t have a lot of money, and as I got older and more Artish meant I had to make due with what I could get.  That didn’t mean I went without, just often had to save and wait for what I could use, which followed me to adulthood.  Had Wish.com been around in my teens it would have been a godsend and I’m patient enough to wait a few weeks to get my order!

God I love these things!  These ball point pens with 10 colors are what I use for story boarding comics and note taking!  I used something like these when I was in college because notes were much easier to organize and read when color coded!

“But KC!  I like to sketch with blue/red pencil first!” Lookie here!  Colored pencil lead refills in all sorts of colors!  Cyan works great and so does the red!

Now I didn’t know they came this small until recently but I LOVE this 0.3mm Mechanical pencil!!!  The lines are so thin and small!!!  I have literally never seen anything smaller than a 0.5mm in a store!

Now I like mechanical pencils for their consistent lead size as you draw! They’re just a click away from being back to sharpness!  But you may want a 0.5mm and a 0.7mm and this 3pc set is soo sleek looking!  It’s good to have a 0.9mm too! I used to have a spongebob .16mm pencil I stole from my brother but it went missing!  I have never found another one that HUGE again! T_T

Speaking of pencils this nice little set comes with a mechanical pencil+lead+a white plastic eraser.  They work great though the eraser is not my personal fav...

THESE are my favorite erasers to use!!!  Not only are they cute colors but they’re a good consistency!  They’re softer than a plastic eraser but a bit harder than a gum eraser so they feel really good to erase with and do a good job!!!

If you really like working with Pencil you can prolly just get a cheap #2 pencil at a dollar store or a box of them at Walmart, but I Really like the feel of a 2B pencil!  This lead holder comes with some replacement lead too so you don’t have to worry about sharpening it to nothing!!

This set of Graphite sticks are a little messy but it comes with all kinds of lead hardness and you can use an x-acto blade to sharpen them to different size points!!!

This is a pretty basic but nice sketch set and has a lot of size options to pick and buy from!!  I’ve used the small 32 set and it has everything you need if you love pencil art!

FINE LINERS!!!  I have a story about Fine liners! Internet shopping hadn’t quite taken off yet for my family and the only store I knew that sold Microns/Fabercastelle fine liners was a local store.  They didn’t sell them in singles so the cheapest set you could buy was a $15 Faber Castelle set with 5 pens (Sm/Med/Lrg/Brush/Chisel).  Now $15 doesn’t sound too bad until you remember my family was poor.  How poor?  Poor enough where my sister and I would each get one of these sets for Christmas and store one away while sharing the other set in hopes of getting them both to last until June where I could get another for my birthday that will hopefully last BOTH of us until next Christmas.  I noticed when you buy Microns off of Wish.com you have a 50/50 chance of getting a knock off brand but these ones here worked pretty good for their price!

“But KC!  Not only am I a poor artist... I’m a poor HIPSTER artist! I wanna kick it OLD SCHOOL!” WELL This is a nice cheap little set of dip pen nib holders and nibs!  The pink one is cute but I have the black one.  I personally love my Cork nib holder more but for plastic this one is decently comfortable to hold and a good price!  I find Nibs are a bit of “You get what you pay for” but if I was displaced into an apartment somewhere without any of my stuff and I wanted some dip pens this set would do just fine!  Dip pens take some skill to get used to so even if you want to just cheaply try some this is a good set to start with!  And if you want better nibs later on they fit right in these holders!

I also have a very decorative (but functional) glass dip pen!  Unlike the metal nib dip pens above the glass one doesn’t really allow for a lot of variation in line weight, but if you want the line work to stay a consistent size then this one is pretty good for that, though depending on your paper it can bleed a bit... once again takes some practice to get used to it.

Now you’re gonna need some ink for those dip pens!  I haven’t really gotten to try any black ink from Wish.com because I have a few bottles of black ink that I keep getting for birthdays and Christmas and such, so I haven’t run out and gotten to try a new brand.  COLOR ink on the other hand...  These little 5oz bottles have gold sparkles in it!! And they look nice to boot!  They can get a little expensive because on THIS particular order you can only order them one at a time (And pay shipping for each bottle) but you really don’t need all 24 bottles as a lot of the colors look similar to each other.

Here’s a sketch of Keira Hagai from Jak and Daxter along with the supplies used to draw it (Notice the ink, glass and black nib pens and the 0.3mm pencil.  The only thing used not from Wish.com is the feather sweeper I made from sculpey and chicken feathers.)

The ink doesn’t work great as paint though but you know what does?

PAINTS!  I didn’t buy this one but it’s a nice little affordable starter set with pallet and brushes!

Now I’m a bit snooty, I prefer to buy watercolor paints in tubes and an empty paint pallet.  The paint pallet I have isn’t THIS one specifically but this one is a bit nicer than the one I DO have and a bit cheaper as well!  (Mine doesn’t have a lid the folds out into a paint mixing area)(Now I wish I had this one!)(Maybe when my current pallet runs out of paint...)

If you use watercolor paints you’re gonna need some brushes!  This is a pretty good deal!  You get 12 brushes and get to pick either flat or round tip brushes!  They’re also not too shabby!

I use a set like this though!  They has a water reservoir in the handle so you squeeze the water out and onto the paint!  The reason I prefer these is I have a lot of pets and they like to get into mischief, so having a pallet that can be closed if I get up for a bathroom break or water that can’t be knocked over is a must for me!!

“But KC I like more... dry mediums...” Lucky for you colored pencils are all over the place on Wish.com!  You can get all kinds of different sets and sizes and some even have nice carrying cases too!  I haven’t bought any because I own a LOT of colored pencil sets already and don’t use them frequently...  I’ve also tried some chalk pastels from Wish that worked well enough on their own but the way I use them is grinding them into a fine powder and brushing them onto paper and that didn’t grind well...

And What’s art without PAPER!?!?  Wish.com is tripping paper!  Whatever is in your price range look around!  I can promise you you’ll find a sketch book or two within your budget!  Some even name brand sketch pads!

And now some miscellaneous stuff:

I LOVE binder clips!  Great way to keep all my paper together and in some places hang stuff up so I can stare at it a bit before continuing working on it!

I like art markers and not many truly can fill in the shoes left by Copic brand markers.  I have tried a handful of copic alternatives (And watched even MORE comparison videos by other people who own said markers.)  I feel like there is no such thing as a GOOD CHEAP QUALITY art marker.  There are lots of sets on Wish.com that (For their prices) are what I consider “Cheap enough to tinker with”  When I was in highschool back in 2007-9 I really really really wanted Copics and was resentful that I was poor and couldn’t get any.  I would get so angry when I saw 14 year olds on deviantart who drew like ‘14 year olds on devintart’ but had no less that two 72 sets of copics. I know, it was rather petty of me to be resentful of younger more fortunate artists... The trade off with my parents was that I would settle for Prismacolor markers, bought 1 per week with a 40% off coupon provided I did all my chores and kept my grades above failing.  That was the closest I ever had to an allowance.  Throughout the years I’ve settled with ‘Tinker Markers’ (Cheapish alternative markers) and Ohuhu, Prismacolor, and Touch New seem to be the better alternatives.  Just don’t go looking for a brush nib >.<!

MASKING TAPE!  Always good for taping things to other things!!  Unfortunately I feel like Walmart gives you bigger rolls for better deals so if it’s going cheap I’d say you don’t need tape from Wish...

Aaaah!  A light board!  And another long trip down memory lane!  Last October going into Inktober I noticed there were people throwing little fits about Inktober itself and if it’s okay to do it with a digital medium.  One persons comment stuck out (And echo’d in my brain) where they said (And I’m paraphrasing): “How am I supposed to focus on my ‘self improvement’ with traditional art if I just can’t draw from the anxiety of knowing that every pen stroke is permanent and I could completely ruin my drawing at any second without the CTRL+Z and layers!?!?!?!” To which my first knee-jerk reaction was: “Wow kid... I think you have waaaay more problems than inktober if your anxiety levels are THAT high that you can’t just accept an oopsie doodle and try again...” But then I do remember a time when I was like that.  In college I scheduled a really bad semester with too many classes, mostly art classes.  One was a classic Pen and Ink class which I did fear screwing up, not because of anxiety of failure but because I would have to start over on my homework, and that would take time from all my other homework.  Time I didn’t have.  I found a large sum of money on the ground ($100.00) one day, waited a month (Nobody claimed it), donated half to my local animal shelter (As is a karma thing in my family with ‘found money’) and used the other half to buy a light board (With a 40% off coupon.)  It was the size of a shoe box, thick and clunky, and didn’t get very bright, but it did what I needed it to.  If I screwed up on ink homework I’d throw a new paper over it and start again.  You can be cheap and use a window on a sunny day, but light boxes (or light boards now) are so affordable and sleek and thin and wish has a lot of them!  I have a cheapish but large A-Line tracing board that sits on my drawing table and fits well and honestly saves 40% of what anxiety I would have putting pen to paper (If I hadn’t been drawing freehand so long that I just don’t get that kind of anxiety over it)

If Wish.com was around when I was a teenager art supplies would have never been THAT big of a deal and I wouldn’t have had to ‘Carpool’ 3 fine liner sets per year with my sister!

Really, I know there will still be people out there who still can’t afford some of the things listed above, but if you have an inclination to try art whether it’s with pencils, paints, markers, pastels, ink, dip pens, fine liners, whatever you lean towards, Wish.com has a cheap affordable version that may not be the best quality out there on the market, but thinking back 15 years ago little KC would have loved to save up some money, order some new supplies, and wait a month for them to arrive so she could use them.

Once again most of the supplies listed above have been bought and used by myself.  There are some great materials at mostly affordable prices on Wish.com so if you are poor like Little KC was you probably know the patience of putting aside a dollar here and there and having to wait, or if you are well off but don’t want to spend too much on a hobby you haven’t tried yet and don’t know if you’d like Wish.com has you covered!

And if you’d like to, Reblog this for other poor artists so they know they don’t have to share their fine liners!

[antagonistchan]

i started playing Mass Effect: Andromeda yesterday.

i got a download code for it for christmas like two years ago and just finally redeemed it.

now, for years, i’ve been saying this: “i know that people don’t like Andromeda- it’s very hard to avoid that- but i’ve done my best to avoid looking further into why people don’t like Andromeda because i want to form an opinion for myself. lots of people don’t like Mass Effect 3 either and i fucking adore that game. based on the fact that most people don’t like Andromeda and consider it a total joke but i do see that it has its fans in the Mass Effect tag, i expect that it’s gonna be bad, but i’m gonna like it anyways, though not as much as i like the trilogy.”

and i was absolutely right. so far at least.

it’s definitely not the worst. i mean, unless the question is “the worst Mass Effect game”, in which case, yeah, it is the worst. but that’s not saying much considering the other three are collectively my favorite game of all time.

so, Mass Effect: Andromeda is an extremely flawed game. but it’s not completely worthless like some people say (though i can totally understand why someone would dismiss it as worthless).

it’s pretty ugly (it’s got good lighting, but the animations and textures and human models all look really.... off. and the original version of ME1 was also pretty ugly, but in a charmingly primitive 2007 kinda way; Andromeda’s ugliness lacks that charm, especially since the aforementioned good lighting makes it fail to feel particularly primitive). speaking of the animations, aside from them looking off, a lot of them are extremely stiff and borderline unfinished.

the Angarans as a species are also pretty ugly imo, but 1: that’s extremely subjective, i’ve definitely seen people who are thirsty for Angarans, and 2: that’s also not necessarily a complaint. Angarans just Look Like That. who says these aliens need to conform to our ideals of prettiness. and they’ve got cool stuff going on. Jaal’s neat.

i do like the Remnant. they kinda give off that same precursor vibe as Prothean/Reaper tech without feeling like exactly the same thing again, and it’s pretty interesting that they only disappeared within the last few hundred years rather than 50,000 years ago. and there’s a lot more left of them. they’re somewhat derivative of the Forerunners from Halo, but not too extremely.

now, the aliens i do have an issue with are the Kett. they are so extremely derivative. not only are they derivative of things outside of Mass Effect (i know next to nothing about Warframe and even i can tell that they’re visually a total ripoff of Warframe, and also to an extent Halo), but they’re derivative of things Mass Effect already had, too (gee, an evil race that creates its soldiers by corrupting members of other races? no, that’s not like the Reapers at all).

the game’s writing is mostly fine. nothing’s struck me nearly as hard as anything in the trilogy had this far in (for any of the three games), but the story hasn’t offended me too badly and there’s been stuff i’ve liked. Alec Ryder’s a cool dead mentor character and i did emotionally resonate with him sacrificing himself to save my character’s life, Andromeda manages to bring back a lot of the hard sci-fi elements that ME2 and ME3 both scaled back on from ME1, and i really like the whole disaster scenario that Andromeda inherently presents, and how it makes space feel really big and dangerous in ways the trilogy liked to hint at but never fully explore.

not sure how i feel about the combat yet. largely because of the game’s pacing, and there’s a complaint. the trilogy was pretty good at keeping you on your toes, balancing the combat/exploration gameplay with the downtime gameplay. Andromeda... doesn’t really. it’ll spend way too long on the combat/exploration stuff so i’ll easily start getting bored with it, and then it’ll spend way too long on the downtime stuff so i’ll easily start begging to actually try out the new combat/exploration stuff i’m getting during the downtime, and on top of this, it also means i’m having a really hard time adjusting to the combat. i’m not really having that much fun with the combat yet, but i feel like there’s a very good chance it’s because i just haven’t gotten the hang of it yet (especially coming right off the tail of another playthrough of the original trilogy, a series of games i replay literally every year and have since 2013 so i know them like the back of my hand). the idea of Profiles is interesting, at least.

the Tempest is a cool ship. i had it introduced to me as “a shitty version of the Normandy” and that’s not really fair. yeah, the Normandy’s cooler, but the Tempest is cool too. honestly, i found myself comparing it more to the Normandy SR-1 than the SR-2. It has a much more similar vibe (i mean, hell, you don’t need to go through any loading screens to see the entire ship, and it’s not all centralized around a single elevator). the windows are really really silly from an in-universe perspective but i can forgive that, especially since it’s finally fulfilling the promise that i mistakenly thought some vague blurry ME1 art made years ago- a central ops chamber with a full window view of the top part of the ship. and it’s pretty. Ryder’s bedroom is a lot nicer than Shepard’s, it’s a bedroom that’s much more my speed. i also think it’s funny that they had to rename the Tempest gun so the names didn’t conflict.

and then there’s the characters, and.... i mostly like them.

i’m a little mixed on Cora. she seems a little passive-aggressive. Drack is just store brand Wrex, but that’s not really a bad thing. i mean, could you live up to Urdnot Wrex? no, you couldn’t. so Drack doesn’t offend me, i like him. Tann absolutely sucks but he’s clearly supposed to suck.

but then you’ve got the characters who are on two opposite ends of the spectrum of likability: Vetra and Peebee.

holy shit Peebee sucks and i don’t want anything to do with her. she was one of those things i wasn’t able to avoid hearing about and yeah she sucks just as much as everyone said she does.

Vetra, meanwhile? i adore Vetra so much. i love her. the moment i met her, i just HAD to look her up on the wiki to see if i could romance her, and i was so elated when i saw she was an available bi romance.

and for that matter, i was soon pretty happy to discover the game’s selection of romances: three exclusively straight romances (Cora, Liam, Avela), two exclusively gay romances (Gil and Suvi), and five bi romances (Jaal, Vetra, the witch, Keri, and someone i haven’t met yet named Reyes). that’s a pretty solid mix! especially when the two straight romances are two humans and an Angaran, the two gay romances are both human, and the bi romances are two Asari, a female Turian, a human, and another Angaran. i think i’d adjust it slightly by making one of the straight romances bi, but aside from that, that’s... kinda perfect! this feels really well thought-out, like they tried to make the mix perfect (hell, making one of the Angarans exclusively straight but another one bi feels like they were trying to provide a serious cultural clue for them- namely, that sexual identity is a concept they have)! it’d also be perfect if everyone was bi, but perfect in a different way (pro: you don’t have to worry about sexuality at all, con: it’s kinda boring).

anyways, back to Vetra. it’s a little early to say, since i’ve barely even explored her romance, but........ while probably not my favorite romance (it’d take a lot to dethrone that current champion, Traynor, let alone the other high scorers Garrus and Tali), she’s probably pretty high up there. sassy Turian lady who plays dirty to get things done? hell, i love the Garrus romance so much despite being a lesbian, so i’m absolutely all for my character romancing a Turian with a dark side, and now we get someone other than Garrus to fill that role, and a lady at that! ME1 and ME2 didn’t have any female Turians and ME3 didn’t have nearly enough, and then ME:A just has so many. the same goes for female Salarians, too, actually, but it’s more understandable in-universe for Salarians considering how Salarian gender works. anyways, there’s more that i love about Vetra besides “she’s Garrus 2 but a girl now”, a lot more actually, but that core idea is really enough to get you on board with her, really.

(speaking of Garrus though, he was also the focal point of one of the game’s stupidest moments: at some point Ryder says “An impatient rookie, frustrated with procedure? That's overdone.” which like..... that’s clearly supposed to be making fun of Garrus?? who’s like, the literal most popular character in the franchise???? i’m sorry??? what??? it’s like they’re trying to piss the fandom off intentionally, and “creators intentionally trying to piss their fandom off” generally don’t earn much respect from me unless they’re indie, and even then it’s a tough sell)

but that Garrus thing is cancelled out by another cool thing: the Nexus. the core idea of the Nexus seems to be “the Andromeda Initiative decided to build their own Citadel”, and that’s really fucking cool. it’s interesting to see the challenges of getting something like the Citadel actually up and running, and the Nexus itself is pretty interesting, especially in comparing and contrasting between it and the Citadel. also it has a room dedicated to teaching any local species about the various Milky Way races, and it’s all technically accurate but also a little overly generous in how positive some things are (“Turian culture is proof that peace will always win out!” “Humans may be diverse, but we choose to celebrate that diversity rather than let it divide us!”). and also i love that they actually let you listen to the info about humans as if you weren’t a human yourself because one of my favorite things about ME worldbuilding is how much it feels like humanity is just another one of the races that exists in this world, and humanity are really only the “protagonists” of the story because Shepard/Ryder is human.

[michael3434g]

Tom and the awful Detective Henry

Tom and the Despicable Detective Henry

Written by Michael D. Gutierrez

Chapter 1. Rules and Lies Forty years ago in the town of Eagle Rock, there was a golden age of great detectives. Those detectives ran out all of the mafias and exposed corrupt political figures Everyday reading the Eagle Rock Post seemed like reading an old pulp detective novel. The story’s with all the fighting and the good guy getting the girl in the end. The bomb being stopped when there’s just one second left on the counter.

Good for me, that golden age stuff is long gone over. Most of the detectives sold out and started to work for private companies and secret government branches, instead of helping the locals. Other detectives that wanted to play hero, were hunted down by private mob detectives, then they were killed. The last honest detective out there. He's somewhat of a folk hero in the streets. His name is Harrison Grant. He's still at work trying to put guys like me in prison. I thought he died a long time ago, but our leads say otherwise. He works incognito.

He's hard for any mob's private detective to track because very few people know what Harrison looks like.

He is considered one of the best. I don't feel he would be difficult to capture because he must be old as heck. Harrison must be like in his late 70's pushing 80's.

I doubt he still working. I assume someone’s just pretending to be him. Probably just using Harrison brand makes sense. I doubt he still working himself.

My name is Tom Dime, I run with the Grump Street gang. I am one of the three people apart from this small task force to capture this sun of a gun. The other Twitter men with are, my right-hand man, Daniel Kan and some private investigator name Henry Shiz.

Detective Henry Shiz is kinda primadonna.

Two hours ago we got a tip-off that detective Harrison was in the neighborhood.

Henry: I hope you boys are armed because this could be dangerous. We are capturing him not hunting him. Harrison is not a man that will not be captured easily. Harrison was an A-rank threat before he went off the radar. Daniel: He's just a wash up old man that can't let go of his the glory days. This should be a cakewalk. Henry: That's not true Daniel, Harrison has busted a lot of our top leaders in the past. This old man is not a pushover, he's a problem. I'm just really surprised it's just the three of us on this mission. Tom: Detective Henry, do you have a history with detective Harrison? Henry: Yes, Harrison showed me most of his old tricks, when I was a young up and coming detective. Around your age, early twenties. We work together in a couple of major big cases back in the day. Daniel: How can me and my buddy Tom, know you won't betray us when we start killing your old friend boy, Harrison? Henry: That won't be the most dreadful thing I have ever done, ok. Trust me I can deal with it. First, I like being on the Grump street payroll. Second, the FBI does not want me anymore, in reason, I won't get into. Lastly, my daughter is going to a scam ridden art college, so I need as much money as I can get my hands on. Tom: I know liars Daniel, and he is not one. Don't get me wrong, he is a cockroach, but he is our cockroach. Daniel: Great because nothing is going to stop me in blowing Harrison's brains out. It is his fault my father went to the slammer. My dad was just selling fake social security account. We got a tip from a store owner that the gang has a connection with. He said he saw detective Harrison leaving and entering the rundown Dude Gum factory for a couple of days. Around 3:30am. All three of us enter through a broken window to get into the factory. Henry: Alright boys listen up. Let's stick together, ok. Daniel: No I can't, Henry. I need to get revenge now. Daniel ran down the hall, with his gun out. Daniel has all focus on finding detective Harrison. Henry: Dumb kid, he does not know who he is dealing with. Your friend is a moron, Tom. We get more money if catch the guy alive. Tom: Sorry, Henry, Daniel has never been the type of guy that takes orders.What is your plan, man? More money if catch the guy alive. Henry: Stealth. It' Stealth. Taking advantage of Harrison age is the best way to get the drop on him. His hearing must not be that great anymore. He probably can’t put up a fist as fight like he uses to.

I and Henry slowly walk upstairs to oversee the factory so we could find detective Harrison. As we walk around the hall I see Henry planting nano cameras on the walls. Tom: I still don't understand why would you want to betray your own friend? Henry: Friend? I have a very small history with detective Harrison. That's why I would not call him a friend. It would be great for me, if he disappeared. I have done some bad things, so maybe someday he may come after me. One less worry on my mind.

Tom: Oh, I see... You want insurance so Harrison won't come after you. Henry: It would make me sleep easier knowing he's swimming with the fishes. A fire alarm goes off all around the Dude Gum factory. Henry and me grabbed our guns out immediately. I would be lying if I said i wasn't nervous. Tom: I really hope that was just, Daniel fucking around with the alarm. Let's run back downstairs. I think I thought I saw a fire alarm there. A voiceover from an intercom shouted saying "I'm not there Henry, I'm in the cafeteria". Henry: Dammit, it is Harrison, Tom!

Tom: That alarm scared the shit out of me. Do you think someone ratted us out and alerted, Harrison? Henry: That's possible, Tom. I think it was most likely Daniel's recklessness that got Harrison's attention. That high school dropout fool. I and Henry entered in the large lunch room and see an old man with a wearing trench coat. Could it be Harrison? He looked a lot older than I imagine. Henry's face looks like he saw a ghost, he is speechless. Tom: You're Harrison, right? The detective? You got the whole trench coat thing.

Harrison: Yes stranger, I am Harrison. Now the young man I have a question back to you. Are you three here to murder me. Tom: No, we... Henry: Shut the heck up Tom, don't tell him anything, not even a lie. Don't give him a bit of info. Harrison: Henry, it's really nice to see you again. It's funny to see you as an old man. Of course not as old as me. I remember the good old days when you were a young man ready to solve every case that popped up. It saddens me to see my pupil working with the wrong crowd.

Henry: The old days were great. I'm glad to see you again in a strange way. It's nostalgic to see you still wear your old gray trench coat. Most elite detective’s stop that fashion trend several decades ago.

Harrison: This trench coat cost me a couple grand. I plan to wear it until I die.

The fire alarm is still ringing over and over, it's driving me insane. Tom: Yo, could you guys stop talking about dress up? Harrison, you turn off the freaking alarm! The ringing is killing my mind. Harrison: Calm down, the alarm will go off by itself in a minute or less. Henry: Harrison, why have you been hanging out in the Dude Gum factory? Harrison: For a couple weeks I've been investigating the link between Dude Gum and blindness. A lot of Dude Gum consumers and factory workers have been getting blindness. Lucky most cases of blindness are temporary.

Tom: Crap. I guess I won't steal a crate of Dude Gum on my way out. Harrison: Since I was honest and answered your question, could you answer mine? Are you boys here to murder me? Because I need to know before I make my next move.

The fire alarm stop ringing, now in the room is a moment of silence. Henry: Sorry, I'm on my client's payroll, Harrison. I could not back out now, they would kill me, my daughter. I really hoped this day would never happen. Harrison: I wished you had the guts to just say the truth. Shame on you, Henry. I trained you to use your detective skills for the greater good, not for selfish reasons. Henry: I had no choice, Harrison. This isn't a black and white issue. Harrison: Don't act like you're the victim, Henry. What happened to you? I remembered when you liked to help the common man. I remember you said something like that once to me. I am aware of all the peoples lives you destroyed, by fooling around with the stock market. You have grown up to be a crook. That’s the legacy I see.

Henry: You know what fine, you're right, Harrison. I don't like to be paid $60 and one cup of sugar a day looking for a damn lost kid. Working for the elite keeps me off the street, ok. You knew, I always hated being poor. I saw a way out, so took it.

Harrison: Just like everyone else, you grew up to be a big disgrace. I feel ashamed of being your mentor. It kills me a little bit every time I find out one of my ex-students are abusing their skills for selfish reasons. Tom: Harrison, you should stop talking to us, like if you had the upper hand. With one small phone call, I could get a small army of gangbangers over here right now. The capital of the Grump street gang is literally down the block. Henry: Tom, I told you already to shut it! Let the detectives talk. You're just simply the help.

Daniel finally entered the same room as me, Henry, and detective Harrison. Daniel has a big bag of stolen Dude Gum. Daniel paused and said.

Daniel: Oh shit is that the detective, Harrison guy?

Harrison: Hi. I just warned your friends about Dude Gum. You should stay away from the stuff.

Daniel: What the heck, it's fucking, detective Harrison. What are you guys waiting for? When are we going to shoot him? You got a gun, right? Tom: We are here to capture him, Daniel. Remember? Daniel: This guy is a folk hero, kill him now and you will be a legend for life. That would be crazy Rad. Tom: If we kill him we won't get paid, Daniel. I only want the paper. Glory doesn't pay the bills dude. Harrison: You guys should kidnap me already, before the cops and the fire department shows up. Remember I pulled the fire alarm three minutes ago? Unless you want to talk to me to death. Henry: Let's go outside gentlemen! An escort van should be on its way by now. Handcuff Harrison and let's head outside.

Ok, great it seems like he won't give up a fight. We just get him to the gang warehouse and then we all get paid.

I could see Henry feels shaken seeing Harrison. I can’t tell if he sad, mad, or happy.

This was way too overhyped. None of us thought this would be such a cakewalk.

Daniel: Harrison, I am surprised you're not crying like a little bitch. You do know you're walking the death march? My boss up the street is going to go nuts when he sees you. Harrison: Only God says when I die, young man. I don't blame you because of your a product of this strange world.

Daniel: You don't know anything about me, man. I am the one who is going to end you.

Harrison: You don’t look like a murder. There is still time for you to turn back. Think to yourself is this the type of world I want to live in. It is not too late for you unlike your friend Henry.

Daniel: Henry, Harrison is talking trash about you.

Tom: Ouch.

Henry: Can everyone shut up the heck up for a second!? Our transportation is here.

A white van showed up across the street. All four of us ran in the back of the van. Daniel put duct tape over detective Harrison mouth. Daniel: I can't wait to see you beg for your life when we bring you to our boss. Henry: I'm surprised the van shown up on time. Also, the driver does not look drunk or stoned. The gangs hiring management department must be getting better. Hey, driver what’s your name? The driver was a young girl That could not be more than 19 years old. She was wearing a green jumpsuit with a name tag saying, Freddy. I saw Daniel's, eyes brighten up with her cuteness. Freddy: Oh, hey, my name is Freddy. I will be your driver for today. It's nice to finally meet you, detective Henry. I’ve heard interesting about you. You found out who burn down the Grump warehouse near Echo Park. Henry: That was my first case with Grump, Freddy. Freddy is normally not a female name. I like it, Freddy. I find it to be bold. Freddy: Thank you. My father picks it out my name. Name after some baseball player. By the way, I'm shocked you guys captured, Harrison. I didn't even think he was still alive. Daniel: Girl, I like your jumpsuit. It's cool you're jumpsuit as Grump Street green. How long have you been in the Grump organization? I've never seen you before in any kickbacks. Henry: Daniel, you moron! Detective Harrison is in the van. Now he knows we're Grump street members. I hope you plugged his fricken ear. Daniel: I didn't but Who gives a shit? He's going to die in an hour or two anyway. It doesn't really matter, man. Henry: Tom and Daniel throw Harrison back in the van and shut up! I hope I won't be paired up with you two numbskulls again. You guys mess up my style. Anyways get Harrison tied up good. I am going to make some calls.

I tide Harrison's feet together and Daniel stuffed one of us dirty gym socks down his face throat. After that, we all went to the van and driven off. Freddy: You guys ready to jam out? Tom: Freddy, where are you driving us? Freddy: We're going to the abandon, Fish Tung factory. Members are starting to show up to see if you captured, Harrison. Henry: That’s strange. I thought we would be going to the Grump compound. Do know if there any reason why we’re not going there.

Henry: Fish Tung factory is out of business? Wow, that is insane, my grandfather works there when, Fish Tung first open, 60 years ago. What a shame, this country is really falling apart. Daniel: Fish Tung, closed down six years ago, Henry. All the jobs got moved overseas. Henry: Another rival fish company must have hired a detective to run out, Fish Tung and other competitors out of town. It a common thing to in business nowadays. Or most likely greedy corrupt unions. Either way very tragic. Tom: How do detectives ruin a business. Henry: Lots of times for small business we would dress up as IRS agents and make up fake tax fines. It gets funny when a stupid owner would pay us, off on the spot. Then we would show up once a week until the business is bankrupt. You got to turn a little soulless to enjoy that type of job. It’s mafioso type stuff. Daniel: Man, Henry, you're ruining America more than lawyers. Henry: Don't get me started on how us detectives use unions on major companies. That's a 30-minute lecture, pretty much, Daniel. I doubt you could comprehend it so I won't waste my breath Daniel: F off, Henry. Tom: Henry, are you going to stick around and watch what happens your old pal? Henry: No, thanks. I don't want to watch, what unholy things Grump has planned for detective Harrison. I just had lunch not that long ago. Tom: I hope it's not dog related. Once a dog tastes human flesh, it's hard for it to respect it's master again. So I have heard.

As I said that I notice, Freddy looked a little nervous. I'm guessing she has not been in Grump for that long. It has taken me a long time for my fear to fall off my back. One day I just accepted that no one cared for me except the gang. That gave me the strength to not fear death. Knowing the biggest gang in the United States of America got my back. Daniel: So Freddy, what are you doing later? I'm just asking if you want to see a movie with me. The fellow that captured the world famous detective Harrison. As long as I know Daniel, he's always been awful in picking up chicks. He also sucks at being a nice guy.

Freddy: Sorry Daniel, I'm going to be a little busy this month. I got to ship a bunch of drugs down Highland Park. Thanks though. Daniel: Ha, that's ok. Hey anyways do you want some Dude Gums, Freddy? I stoled a bunch at the Dude Gum factory. I wish I stole a crate full of the stuff. Freddy: I'm flattered, but I heard Dude Gums are not very good for you. Especially for your eyes. Henry: She rejected you and won't even take your Gum. Just give up already,  Daniel, she's not going to bite. Daniel: Shut up, old man or I'll pimp slap your ass. Henry: What!? Did you even hear what you said? By the way, I am not even that old.

Henry: I hope you two morons won't act like this when we get to the Fish Tung factory. You do know the main boss of Grump will be there as well, right? It will be the first time I’ll probably ever see. I don’t even know anyone that knows his name.

Daniel: Wow What really? The founder of the whole gang will be there. Harrison must really have made life hell for Grump gang. 

Tom: Henry, you should give us a little bit of respected. I and Daniel just help you catch one the greatest detective on the face of this planet. You should recommend us for some type promotion. Henry: Why would respect I low rank gang bangers that couldn't even pass high school? You both failed upwards. Daniel: What the hell man, that's not even our fault the school district went bankrupt three years ago. Henry: You both almost ruined the mission. Freddy, you should have been there and seen it. Detective Harrison thought Tom and stupid Daniel were the biggest clowns. Harrison could tell both of you were all bark and no bite. It was sad. Freddy: Ha. I am glad to see all three of you guys are alright. The Van finally made it to the Tung Fish factory. They parked next to the main dock harbor. It smelled bad.

Henry: Alright boys get Harrison out of the goddamn van. Daniel immediately throws Harrison down on the concrete floor. Harrison left trench coat pocket ripped on the way down. Two of his button ripped off as well.

Tom: Where is everyone? I thought there would be a bunch gangster here already. Henry: I was told if detective Harrison was ever captured the founder would kill him personally. I guess he wants the world to know he captured detective Harrison. Instead of him mysteriously disappearing in history as a hero.

Tom: I assume the founder thinks Harrison, vanishing as a legend is too good of a death for him. He probably wants the world to know Grump organization is not to be messed with. Henry: That is true, Tom. The Grump founder must be on his helicopter flying over here right about now. I sent the founder our GPS location just know. The founder does not live close by, so we’ll all have to be here for a couple of hours. Daniel: It is super wack none of us is going to get any credit for nabbing detective old fart. Money cool in all, but bragging rights would have been great.

Daniel begins going through the van pulling out beers from one of Freddy’s storage containers.

Daniel: I found our consolation prize.

Tom: Daniel, that is Grump street property. That is not a good idea bro. Daniel: Yeah we’re Grump street, So let’s all celebrate. Haha. Freddy: Oh ahh... Henry: Freddy, I apologize on behalf of my goons miss behaviors. Daniel put those beers back right now! If those go missing Freddy can get in massive trouble from the higher-ups. Freddy: Those beers are my own stash. Sometimes I get paid for products instead of cash so you guys could drink up. I was to about to offer them anyways. Tom: Freddy, you're the best. I will try not to look drunk when the founder gets here. Henry: Please don't. It’s the first time I'll get to meet the man who signs my paychecks face to face. I and Daniel began started drinking. It's a perfect time to drink a beer. The alcohol smell covers the rotten fish gut stench surrounding us.

Freddy notice Henry was not drinking. Freddy: Henry, you deserve a drink just much as the other guys. Henry, why are you not drinking?

Daniel: Because he’s a fruit. Freddy laughs at Daniels joke. Freddy: Henry, you deserve a drink just much as the other guys. Capturing the world famous detective deserves a drink.  Henry looks really surprised and happy. So was I. I really didn’t think this underdog operation would work. We capture one of the greatest detectives of the world. He might be been an old geezer now, but he still a legend.

Tom: Henry you sure you don’t want? The beer will make you twice as happy.

Henry: No thanks. I don’t drink liquor at all. It reminds about family.

Tom: Me too man. Before my mom kick out my pope. I and my pope would drink every weekend. We would try to crash every local party we can. He was so funny back in the day.

Henry: Once again no thank you. I can’t even stand the smell of alcohol. So please step three steps back.

Tom: Hey Henry, what about your boy Harrison a beer? He should at least have a last drink. Henry: Harrison,  doesn’t drink.

[agentlereckoning]

What I think about Alison Roman

Any Gen-Z’er with a Twitter account has probably seen the latest Gen-Z Icon Controversy, i.e. the one involving Alison Roman. In case you’re not caught up on its details,  the tl;dr is that The New Consumer (which appears to be a one-white-man show of an online publication steered by a former Vox and Business Insider employee named Dan Frommer) published an interview with Alison last Thursday — an interview where Alison, when asked about the difference between “consumption and pollution” (as if there even is a material difference), said:

“I think that’s why I really enjoy what I do. Because you’re making something, but it goes away.

Like the idea that when Marie Kondo decided to capitalize on her fame and make stuff that you can buy, that is completely antithetical to everything she’s ever taught you… I’m like, damn, bitch, you fucking just sold out immediately! Someone’s like ‘you should make stuff,’ and she’s like, ‘okay, slap my name on it, I don’t give a shit!’

....

Like, what Chrissy Teigen has done is so crazy to me. She had a successful cookbook. And then it was like: Boom, line at Target. Boom, now she has an Instagram page that has over a million followers where it’s just, like, people running a content farm for her. That horrifies me and it’s not something that I ever want to do. I don’t aspire to that. But like, who’s laughing now? Because she’s making a ton of fucking money.”

This is the quote that most people who’ve followed this drama have latched onto, and I’ll come back to discussing it in a moment. I’m really not sure why the interview was published at all, other than for a publicity or financial boost during these times, because I don’t think anything worth hearing was uttered by either the interviewer or interviewee. Moments in the interview seemed either tone-deaf or trivial to the point where I wondered why they were included at all. Early on, for example, Alison laments that she hasn’t been making enough money during this pandemic. (She does not live in want of money.) Later she half-jokingly complains that her public persona has been reduced to “anchovy girl”, ostensibly because she often uses them in her cooking. (She does, and often proudly owns that fact, which makes this complaint pretty uninteresting.) But the point of this interview was meant to be, I think, a rumination on how Alison would turn her belief that she “isn’t like the other girls” into practice.

It’s a common thing to desire, I think — this ingenuity balanced with relatability, and I think seeking this balance is what propels so many people my age. Few things are more embarrassing to us than unoriginality, than being a carbon copy of someone else, yet few things are scarier than social rejection. We don’t want to like the same things as everybody else, but we want at least some people to like the things that we like. I think it’s what drives certain subcultures to exist in the first place, the way that subsections of people can congregate around something or someone, reveling in each other’s presence but also in knowing that they are, in fact, just a subsection of the greater population. 

This mentality is, admittedly, sort of what drove me to like Alison Roman in the first place. For background: the first time I cooked a recipe of hers happened unwittingly; in December 2018, I saw the recipe for the salted chocolate chip shortbread cookies that became known as #TheCookies (Alison’s virality can be encapsulated by the fact that all of her most famous recipes have been hashtagged, e.g., #TheStew, #TheStew2, #ShallotPasta or #ThePasta), but I made them without knowing that Alison was the person behind the recipe. The cookies were good (though I think any recipe with over two sticks of butter and a pound of dark chocolate is bound to be good.) At some point about a year later, I watched a YouTube video published by NYT Cooking where she made her white bean-harissa-kale stew, and I thought she was funny and really pretty and, like me (I think), had a fastidious yet chaotic energy that I always thought made me awkward but made her seem endearing. Alison’s recipes taste good, they come together really easily, and you don’t need special equipment or a lot of kitchen space to execute them. It’s why I’ve committed at least three of them to memory, just by virtue of making them so often. I liked her recipes so much that, for over three months, one of my Instagram handles was inspired by one. But I also liked her, or wanted to be like her, or some combination fo both. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to be her friend, or that I didn’t aspire to her lifestyle of Rachel Comey clothes, glistening brass hoop earrings that cost 1/4 of my rent, regular trips to downtown Brooklyn or Park Slope farmers’ markets or small butcher shops where the purveyors all knew her name, an always-perfect red gel manicure, the capacity to eat and drink luxuriously and seemingly endlessly and to have the money for a yoga studio membership to help her stay slim anyways. 

Of course all of those things are signifiers of social class more than anything else. But in oligarchical, consumerist societies, what is expensive and what is good become two overlapped Venn diagram circles, and I have not yet reached a level of enlightenment to be able to fully tease the two apart. And while I would never drop $425 on a jumpsuit, no matter how pretty I think it is, I could crisp up some chickpeas, stir in vegetable stock and coconut milk, and wilt in some greens, and act like my shit was together. I liked Alison because when I first started liking her, she hadn’t yet risen to the astronomical level of digital fame that she enjoys now, and by making her recipes, some part of me believed that I would be inducted into a small group of her fans who, by serving up her dishes, telegraphed good taste.

This idea of “good taste” is a complicated and racially charged one. Alison is white; she lives in one of the whitest neighborhoods in Brooklyn (maybe even all of New York City); her recipes cater to a decidedly young, white audience. I think another reason why her dishes hold so much Gen-Z appeal, beyond their simplicity and deliciousness, is because they sit at the perfect intersection of healthy-but-not-too-healthy and international-but-not-too-international. Her chickpea stew, for example, borrows from South and Southeast Asian cooking flavors, but you wouldn’t need to step foot into an ethnic grocery store or, god forbid, leave Trader Joe’s, to get the ingredients for it. The shallot pasta recipe calls for an entire tin of anchovies, and you get to feel cool and edgy putting a somewhat polarizing food into a sauce that white people will still, ultimately, visually register as “tomato sauce and pasta” and digest easily. All of the recipes in her cookbook, Nothing Fancy (which I received as a gift!), are like this. She doesn’t push the envelope into more foreign territory, probably because she doesn’t have the culinary experience for it (which is totally fine — I never expected her to be an expert in anything except white people food), and probably also because if she did push the envelope any further, her book, with its tie-dyed pages and saturated, pop-art aerial shots, wouldn’t have been as marketable. 

That’s what’s unfortunate — that white people and white-domineered food publications have been the arbiters of culinary taste in the U.S. for centuries. I’m thinking about Julia Child, about bananas foster being flambéed tableside and served under a silver domed dish cover, about the omnipresent red-and-white-checked Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, about Guy Fieri and Eric Ripert and Ina Garten and the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen. I’m thinking about how white women have long been the societally accepted public face of domestic labor when it was often Black women who actually did that labor. It’s Mother’s Day today, and I’m thinking about how, in middle school, I’d sometimes conceal my packed lunch of my favorite dishes my mom made — glass noodles stir-fried with bok choy, cloud ear mushrooms, carrots, and thinly sliced and marinated pork; fish braised in a chili-spiced broth — so that my white friends wouldn’t be grossed out, and so that I wouldn’t have to do the labor of explaining what my food was. 

And I’m thinking of that now-notorious Alison Roman quote. To be fair, Marie Kondo and Chrissy Teigen do have large consumer and media empires, which have become profitable and which require huge teams of people to sustain. Both of them probably do have large amounts of money at their disposals. What’s weird to me is that Alison accuses both Marie and Chrissy of “selling out” because they each branded their own lines of purchasable home goods, yet Alison herself said in that very same interview that she had also done that very thing. It’s just that Chrissy’s line is sold at Target, while Alison’s, according to her, is a “capsule collection. It’s limited edition, a few tools that I designed that are based on tools that I use that aren’t in production anywhere — vintage spoons and very specific things that are one-offs that I found at antique markets that they have made for me.” I suppose it’s not “selling out” if it caters to the pétite bourgeoisie. I don’t know if Alison is explicitly racist, since I don’t know if she called out two women of color simply because they are women of color, or if she genuinely just so happened to select two of them. But that she feels like she has the license to define things as “selling out” based on who the “selling-out” behavior caters to reeks of white entitlement. 

There’s also an air of superiority with which she describes how she would market her product line:

That would have to be done in such a specific way under very intense standards. And I would not ever want to put anything out into the world that I wouldn’t be so excited to use myself.

She says this right before talking about Marie Kondo and Chrissy Teigen, accusing them of being lackadaisical and unthoughtful (”okay, slap my name on it! I don’t give a shit!”; “people running a content farm for her”) when she likely has no idea what the inner workings of either of their business models are. To be sure, it could very well be true that Marie and Chrissy have handed off these aspects of their brands to other people. But for Alison to assume that they have, and that her own business management style would, by default, be better because she would retain control, is egotistical. 

Alison ends the interview by proclaiming that her ultimate goal is to be different from her contemporaries. She says, 

To me, the only way that I can continue to differentiate myself from the pod of people that write recipes, or cookbooks or whatever, is by doing a different thing. And so I have to figure out what that is. And I think that I haven’t ultimately nailed that. And I’m in the process of figuring it out right now.

I expect that her path to “differentiation” will contain riffs on the same iterations of preserved lemons, anchovies, canned beans, and fresh herbs that she’s always relied on. I expect people will still think she’s cool, because that’s easy to achieve when her recipes and aesthetic are a series of easy-to-swallow-pills,  when she tells the cameraman not to cut the footage of her accidentally over-baking her galette, and when being a white creative and working among mostly white colleagues means that she’ll get a lot of latitude. I expect she’ll continue to sell out, which is completely fine, so long as she’ll be candid with herself and actually call it selling out. 

And I want to learn recipes from a chef who looks like me, and I want that chef to be “marketable” enough to achieve Alison’s level of fame. I want people of color to get to decide what recipes deserve their own hashtag. I want Alison Roman to be emotionally okay, because Twitter backlash can be vicious. And I kinda want to buy Marie Kondo’s drawer organizers now. 

[littlesmoosh90]

Get to know me ☺️

1. When was the last time you swam in a pool? - about a month ago although it was more going down slides. 2. Do you like to party? - I like to go to the pub and drink some wine and chat, I dunno if that constitutes partying. 3. If your ex suddenly kissed you right now, what would you do? - break his jaw 😇 4. Are you a virgin? - I have a five year old child that I baked and birthed so... 5. What are your parents views on sex? - I don't have a mum and I can't say it's something me and my dad speak about. He just always told me to be safe as a teenager. 6. If you ran into your current boyfriend/crush in 10 years would you marry them? - I'm not big on marriage but I really hope I'm still with Thomas in 10 years. 7. Is your best friend dating anyone? - my best friend is very happily married to her high school sweetheart. 8. Describe the shirt you’re wearing. - it's my boyfriends, it's big and stripey. 9. Do people who wear Hollister and Abrerbrombie every day bother you? - I don't even know what they are, is that bad? 10. Could you go out in public without wearing make-up? - yeah, I do it often. 11. What is one feature about yourself that you don’t like? - physically, my stomach. Mentally, my overthinking obsessiveness and ability to ruin what should be happy moments because of it. 12. Would people describe you as happy? - in general yes, but as I just mentioned above... 13. Are you single? - no 14. Does it bother you that pretty much every survey you take asks if you’re single? - I don't do many surveys! 15. Do you have Tumblr? - this is tumblr 16. What about Xanga? - don't know what this is so no 17. Have you ever babysat before? - yeah 18. Is there a teacher who you absolutely hate? - I'm long out of school but there was. Any teacher that has no patience or encouragement is in the wrong job. 19. Ever shopped at Sephora? - no 20. If your current boyfriend/crush suddenly moved away what would you do? - I'd be heartbroken 21. Do you have any university plans? - I used to go to uni, I never got my degree because life got in the way, one day I hope to go back. 22. If your best friend revealed she was a homosexual, what would you do? - support her 100% 23. What are your views on sex? - I think it's a personal thing and what works for one person might not work for another and that's okay. People can do what pleases them as long as its consensual. 24. Do sexual questions bother you? - not at all. My friends often joke I should be a sex therapist because I enjoy talking about it. 25. Would you rather have sex with your boyfriend or break up? - if you seen my boyfriend you'd know the answer. He's gorgeous 😈 26. Have you ever dreamed about your wedding? - can't say I have 27. Does it bother you when people TYpe 1yk dis’? Nd stuff? - I honestly am not down with this slang, no idea what it is.. I feel old! 28. Do you delete pictures of you and your exes off of Facebook? - I made a whole new Facebook because I couldn't delete the pictures as they have my son in them and that wouldn't be fair to his dad. So I kept the log in to the old Facebook so I still have the pics for my son when he grows but I made a fresh one mainly for myself. 29. Would you ever date a friends Ex? - no. 30. What’s the last book you read? - twilight for the billionth time and I have zero shame about it! 31. Ready for 10 simple questions? - yeah 32. What is your last name? - Adams 33. What grade are you in? - I'm not, although I do work in a school. 34. What school do you go to? - I don't 35. Summer, Fall, Winter or Spring? - summer. I don't like to feel cold. But Autumn is pretty. 36. Favorite Color? - green and purple 37. Are your parents together? - no 38. Any siblings? - a brother and two half brothers. 39. Favorite subject? - art 40. Least favorite subject? - maths 41. Favorite song? - you're not sorry - Taylor Swift 42. Okay. Simple questions are over. Happy? - sure 43. How many friends do you have on Facebook? - about 300 I would guess 44. Ever been requested by some old guy from another country? - haha yes 45. Have you ever googled yourself? - yes 46. Have a Formspring? - dunno what this is 47. You’re offered free tickets to a Justin Bieber concert. What do you do? - I'd sell them 48. Would you rather spend the day at an amusement park or a water park? - amusement but I do love water parks too 49. Been to Disney world? - been to the Paris one 50. If someone posts their status “9 Inches :(” do you know what they mean? - no? 51. Ever had a boyfriend? - a few 52. Ever had a huge crush on someone who still doesn’t know? - no, I think I've always confronted them to be honest 53. Have you done something in the last week that you regret? - ate faaaaar too much 54. Ever drank alcohol? - yeah, I'm 27 it's perfectly fine. 55. Know anyone who’s currently doing drugs? - unfortunately yes. And unfortunately when you get older you realise that basically every second person you know takes stuff. 56. Ever watched The Hills? - yeah 57. What about Jersey Shore? - you've no idea how much I love Snooki 58. Ever called someone a slut? - I'd be lying if I said no and lying is my biggest pet peeve. 59. What do you think of short shorts? - go for it! 60. Does it bother you if people swear around you? - no, I'm a big potty mouth 61. Have you ever gotten an A in a subject? - yeah 62. What about a B? - yeah 63. And a C? - yeah 64. How about a D? - yeah 65. Ever plagiarised? - does it count if you change the words around? Lol 66. Would you consider yourself popular and outcast or somewhere in the middle? - closer down the scale to outcast but not fully there. 67. Are most of your friends older or younger than you? - half and half. Work friends are older. Friends I've met through my boyfriend are a year younger. 68. Ever been stabbed In the back by a close friend? - probably in high school, not for years. 69. Do you think it’s immature when people laugh at the number 69? - yeah but we all do it right? 70. Ever watched Porn? - yeah 71. How many laws do you think you’ve broken in the past month? - none. Unless there's some law I'm unaware of but it would be a silly one. 72. Do you wake up with an alarm clock? - I set one but Dex usually wakes me first. 73. Do you prefer Wednesdays or Thursdays? - Thursdays 74. If your school had a Glee Club would you join? - probably not, I'm not a very good singer 75. Ever performed in a talent show? - yeah, we played minority by green day and I sang and we won but I think that's cause the band were good! 76. Have you ever cried in public? - too many times 77. Do you have a favorite between your Mom and your Dad? - I don't have a mum, so my dad. 78. Would you audition for a reality talent competition? - no 79. How many celebrity crushes have you had? - a few in my time 80. How many non-celebrity crushes have you had? - probably a good 20 lol 81. Name 5 male celebrities who you think are attractive. - Ashton kutcher, Harry styles, Justin bobby, villa valo in his old days and Robert pattinson 82. Name 5 female celebrities who you think are attractive. - Taylor Swift, jo jo from the bachelor, Selena Gomez, emelia clarke and Kristen Stewart 83. Ever been compared to a celebrity? - someone once told me I look like Sandra bullock and another person once said Cheryl cole, I was hugely complimented both times! 84. Have any embarrassing pictures on Facebook? - I don't get embarrassed easily. 85. Do you think spending 20$ on Lip Gloss is a waste of money? - solid yes 86. Ever used Opinionated? - no? 87. Do you have a favorite store? - I like primary, cheap and cheerful. 88. Would you ever wear Flare Jeans? - no. 89. Do you own jeans that aren’t skinny? - no 90. Have you ever worn the same outfit twice in one week? - like a billion times 91. What’s the longest period of time you’ve been away from school? - probably about two weeks when I was younger 92. Do you google abbreviations you don’t understand? - have done 93. Does it bother you when people have cats as their profile picture? - no if I had a cat she'd be everywhere 94. Own a pair of converse? - yes 95. Is there a teacher at your school who has obvious favorites? - I'm not at school but I was and yes there was. Although I hate to say this, but speaking as someone who works in a school it's hard not to have favourites. But I'd hope I never showed it. 96. If yes, are you one of them? - I think I was favourite for a few yes. 97. Do you text in class? - I didn't have a mobile phone when I was at school lol 98. What brand of jeans do you wear the most? - no idea. Probably new look. 99. At what point do you think sizes are “Plus Sized?” Most magazines say 10. Do you agree? - I don't know if that's a 10 in U.K. Or America. However either way I don't think it's tasteful to label body shapes/sizes in any case. 100. Do you want to lose weight? - yes, says her who doesn't like labelling. But I think if you're doing it for yourself then it's fine. 101. Ever seen a therapist? - no. 102. Ever watched porn?- how many times you gunna ask that? 103. Ever purposely ignored a text? - several. 104. A facebook message? - yes. 105. A poke? - lol, yeah 106. A friend request?- yeah 107. Would you say you read into things too much? - definitely, I've already said it's my biggest flaw. 108. Is your best friend more likely to be the one suggesting something stupid or refusing to do something stupid? - refusing. She's a wise owl. 109. Do you have a “fun friend?” (A friend who you have tons of fun with but you never really have deep conversations?) - a few 110. Ever been called a bully? - by my son when I don't let him get what he wants all the time lol 111. Ever purposely hurt yourself? - unfortunately, yes. 112. Ever gone to church? - not willingly. 113. Would you call either or your parents screw ups? - my mum committed suicide and I've struggled with it. Half of me knows she was mentally ill and I shouldn't hold a grudge and the other half of me just feels it's the most selfish act a person can commit, especially when they are leaving their children behind to deal with it. 114. If you turned out exactly like your Dad would you be pleased? - I'm a lot like him, I'm glad to have a lot of his better trates. 115. What about your Mom? - I didn't know her well enough to comment. 116. Let me guess… You have brown hair? - yes 117. Already know what you’re being for Halloween? - not really 118. Do you still go Trick or Treating? - yes with my kid 119. Ever liked someone WAY older than you? - no 120. Does it bother you when people have really loud conversations on the bus? - no, it's free entertainment lol 121. When you have sunglasses on, do you stare at people? - never really thought about it 122. Ever had a credit card denied? - no 123. What’s the last movie you watched? - Jurassic world 124. Last TV Show? - greys anatomy 125. You see your Ex making out with one of your friends. What do you do? - wish my friend wasn't so silly, for their own sake. But I wouldn't be upset, just worried. 126. Ever been called a whore? - yeah 127. Ever sang the national anthem? - jokingly 128. Ever made yourself throw up? - when I've been way too hungover yes. 129. Have you ever kissed someone who wasn’t your boyfriend. - yeah, not while with my boyfriend though 130. Are you Cute or Gross? - a nice mixture of both I guess 131. Does it bother you when people say “LOOK HOW MUCH YOU’VE GROWN!” - I haven't grown height wise in years so yeah it would lol 132. Can you say intelligent things around the guy you like? - I hope I do often. 133. Ever had the lead in a play? - no 134. What about a solo in a concert? - no 135. What kind of a student are you? - I'm not one 136. Worst grade you’ve ever gotten with a Letter? - D 137. Worst grade you’ve ever gotten with a number? - none 138. Ever had a crush on a teacher? - yeah 139. Would it bother you if you found out that your mother was pregnant? - I don't have one 140. How late do you sleep in? - as late as I possible can 141. Do you edit your profile pictures before posting them? - no 142. Be 100% honest. Do you have any friends who are uglier than you? - I have friends who others might think aren't as pretty or whatever but all of my friends are beautiful people and that's why they are my friends 143. Do you believe in all that inner beauty crap? - I believe it isn't crap. 144. Would you consider yourself a good student? - I think I would be nowadays 145. Does it bother you when Surveys ask “Did you like this survey?” - a bit 146. Salty, Sweet, Sour or Spicy? - sweet 147. Are you going into High School this year? - no 148. What about Junior High? - no 149. What is one thing someone could say to you right now that would make you cry? - tell me something bad about someone I loved. 150. Where did you find this note? - google 151. Last question. How many unread messages are in your phone? - none, I can't deal with notifications.

[arplis]

Arplis - News: The year was 1995, and I was watching television

Frasier, to be specific, whose placement in the NBC “Must See TV Tuesday” lineup my family took literally. This was event viewing in the Michelman household, and my tweenage brain soaked it up like a sponge: the fashion, the erudition, the many glasses of sherry. One moment stands out above all else, wherein the audience is given a brief glimpse inside the Crane family refrigerator, which is revealed to be stocked to the brim with glowing blue glass bottles of mineral water imported from the United Kingdom. In the context of the show, this was just another item—like the Macclesfield ties, Joan & David loafers and Frasier’s apartment itself—meant to symbolize wealth and class. I discussed the topic with my mother; she told me that the water on Frasier was very expensive, and that in this family we drank water from the spigot on the fridge door. “Imagine paying money for water,” I remember thinking. Today, I wish we’d bought stock in La Croix. Bottled water of a clear, identifiable origin has long been popular in Europe, where the history of drinking site-specific mineralized water dates back thousands of years. But here in America, mineral water has baggage. I believe I speak for many readers when I describe first encountering mineral water as a totem of yuppie excess vis-à-vis late 20th-century movies and television, obsessed over by the likes of Patrick Bateman (he drinks Ramlösa and Apollinaris) and the aforementioned Frasier Crane (those iconic blue teardrop bottles of Tŷ Nant, from Wales). This identity wholly disconnects mineral water in the U.S. from its curative, egalitarian image abroad. It’s a status symbol, something rich people drink as a class flex: the little bottle of San Pellegrino, same as what they sell at the grocery store across the street, marked up to $12 at a restaurant catering to assholes. Frasier may be relegated to the great rerun loop of history, but today’s outlook for mineral water in America is evolving quickly, and there are merchants for the cause. One of them is a guy out of Fort Lauderdale named Brett Spitalny. With his company, Aqua Maestro, Spitalny has, since 2002, overseen a portfolio of imported bottled water. And that’s all he sells, offering about 30 different fine waters from around the world (including Borsec from Romania, Fiuggi from Italy, and yes, Frasier’s beloved Tŷ Nant), selling to a collection of retail and wholesale clients around the country and providing water education along the way to high-end hotels and restaurants. “What’s coming from the source is what you find in the bottle,” he says. “It’s not adulterated, and it hasn’t been purified or filtered or messed with.” The sentiment might be familiar to anyone who’s set foot in a natural wine bar. Aqua Maestro’s portfolio includes some recognizable brands, including Fiji and Voss, as well as deeply obscure bottles like Iskilde, a highly oxygenated still water from Denmark that “comes out of the ground looking like milk.” “Imagine paying money for water,” I remember thinking. Today, I wish we’d bought stock in La Croix. Ashley Epperson of Salacious Drinks, a Washington D.C.–based distributor and direct seller of mineral waters, looks at the seltzer boom as a pump primer for the U.S. market. “As far as Americans are concerned, we are way behind the times,” she tells me. “If you go to Japan, Europe, Australia, even Canada, they have huge water markets. But we are so used to the idea of free water, or buying purified tap water in a bottle. Most people don’t know what fine water tastes like.” In this way, a brand like Salacious Drinks caters to people who have had their interest piqued by seltzer, and are ready to learn more about the world of fine water. “We love someone saying, ‘Oh, I like La Croix’ because that means when we sit down and do a fine water tasting, they are going to say ‘Ohhhh…’” If mineral water is a beverage primed for growth in the American market, its punky cousin seltzer is surely to thank. The year 2019 was the year seltzer peaked: The stuff is everywhere, filling entire aisles at your local Target and spanning the spectrum of popular culture, from New York Times think pieces to Coachella activations to junk science finger wagging. La Croix in particular has been embraced by the extremely online millennial work force (especially in media), showing up in desk office candids and work fridge tableaus. There’s even a secret Facebook group for devotees of seltzer, profiled by everyone from The Spoon to The Guardian. (I’m a longtime member.) My own avid consumption of La Croix, which is just filtered tap water that’s been force-carbonated and flavored, had become reflexive, habitual, desultory—a drink to drink when I didn’t feel like using my brain, the water equivalent of ordering a Starbucks coffee. By contrast, Borjomi, a Georgian water I credit for thrusting me down this rabbit hole, tastes as if it were beamed in from another consciousness entirely. It is creamy, lush, with just a touch of finessed funk, like a beautiful raw milk cheese, or a piece of foie gras, or a glass of farmhouse saison (minus the hops and malt). I found myself (quelle horreur) skipping past the wine section and forgoing the beer at World Foods—the excellent specialty food and beverage market near where I live in Portland, Oregon—in favor of more Borjomi, and eventually, other delicious waters from around the world: Antipodes of New Zealand, Jermuk of Armenia, Llanllyr Source of Wales, and Essentuki of southern Russia, not far from the border with Georgia. The seltzer boom (and likely impending bust) has opened a door for us to reconsider what mineral water is, and who it should be for. If brands like Polar and La Croix (and yes, even White Claw) have helped unmoor fizzy water from its wealth-and-privilege trappings in America, then I say bully; after all, La Croix is owned by the same company that makes Faygo, the beloved soda of the ’90s horror-rap crew Insane Clown Posse. How bourgeois could it really be? In the pantheon of affordable luxuries, mineral water has few peers—a .75 liter bottle of Borjomi, the utterly delicious, naturally sparkling mineral water of the nation of Georgia, costs somewhere between $1.99 and $3.99, depending on where you’re purchasing. Turns out this was just scratching the surface. The well for water appreciation runs deep, and all aqueducts lead to the work of the world’s leading authorities on mineral water: Martin Riese and Michael Mascha, who together run Los Angeles’ Fine Water Academy, bestowers of the official Water Sommelier Certification. Germany native Riese first gained fame in this country for his work with the Patina Restaurant Group, whose properties across the United States include multiple operations at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and in New York’s Lincoln Center, Rockefeller Center and Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Riese’s water menu for Patina is the stuff of legend, helping land him everywhere from The New York Times to Conan. “People started to come to [LACMA] just for the water menu and try the different waters and taste the differences between them,” Riese tells me. “I was a little surprised and almost scared.” Mascha, meanwhile, runs FineWaters.com, an international clearinghouse for water information and advocacy, and a compendium of bottled water brands large and small. A former professor at USC, Mascha came to water as an alternative to alcohol following a serious health diagnosis. “My cardiologist told me I could live, or drink alcohol, but not both,” he says. “Naturally, I made the decision to stop drinking, but by removing one bottle from the table I began to focus on another.” If mineral water is a beverage primed for growth in the American market, its punky cousin seltzer is surely to thank. Key to the duo’s methodology is understanding the differences among individual water sites. Not unlike wine, tea or coffee, water is a product of its place of harvest—in this case, different sites around the world through which rainwater is naturally filtered. Each mountain range and hillside has its own geological calling card, with a noticeable impact on a given water’s flavor and mouthfeel. Different waters vary in chemical composition, which is why the water bottled as Lurisia (from the Italian Alps) tastes vastly different from the water bottled as Borsec (from the Carpathian Mountains of Romania). Riese and Mascha discuss this in terms of total dissolved solids, or TDS, a phrase well-known by espresso geeks—low-TDS waters have an almost drying effect, while high-TDS waters taste rich and smooth, even sometimes a touch swampy (in a good way). On his website FineWaters, Mascha categorizes a range of mineral waters from “super low” (0-50 mg/L) to “very high” (1500+ mg/L). By this categorization, the 2,210 milligramsTDS on my beloved Borjomi is incredibly high—more than four times higher than Perrier, for example. It makes sense that this would be the water that hooked me. In specialty coffee, a topic I’ve written about extensively, it’s common for new acolytes to have a “light switch moment” with coffees that explore wild expanses of the flavor spectrum: Think wild-fermented and genetically diverse “natural-processed” coffees from Ethiopia, or highly prized and rightly expensive Gesha variety coffees from Panama. Same thing in wine, where young drinkers have gravitated in droves to the electric Technicolor “natural” wines of boundary-pushing makers like Anders Frederik Steen, Furlani and Cornelissen. These experiences fall on the extreme end of the product spectrum, and that’s why they hook new drinkers: The journey to “aha!” upends the preconceived notion of what coffee or wine should be, redrawing its culinary and cultural application. Same with Borjomi, an extremely mineralized water that led me to explore a world of flavor experiences—some more subtle, some even more extreme (say hey, Essentuki #4). “We’re seeing a wave of adoption where people realize that water is not just water,” says Mascha. “They get hooked for whatever reason, and then they realize that water has terroir, it comes from a place, it has flavor, and it can be integrated into epicurean ways like wine.” Ladies and gentlemen, it me. I was first suckered in by flavored filtered tap (La Croix), then had my mind blown by the outer edges of the mineral spectrum (Borjomi). It’s roughly the trajectory a wine drinker undertakes, from nipped high school Boone’s Farm to Jura savagnin sous voile, with a land of exploration and subtlety to discover in between. (Burgundy, if you’re paying.) Riese and Mascha advocate seeking out different styles and weights of water for different meal pairings and experiences: Cantonese suckling pork with Cana Royal water from Slovenia, or smoked fish roe with a low-TDS Swedish glacier water, which Mascha describes as tasting “like you’re in the middle of nature, and it’s raining and you open your mouth.” And in our conversations, each encouraged me to explore offerings across the minerality scale, like the soft, low-TDS waters of Svalbardi, Lofoten and Lurisia, or the complex, naturally sparkling waters of Vichy Catalan, Pedras and Ecuador’s Guitig. Unlike so much of today’s zen koan cacophony of wellness trend buzz, mineral water is certifiably good for you, something czars and soldiers and doctors in Europe have known for centuries (to say nothing of the older regulars at the 127-year-old Russian & Turkish Baths in New York’s East Village, swigging huge plastic bottles of Narzan). Mineral water is culinary, yes, but it’s also elemental in a profoundly satisfying way—an organism consuming the most delicious and interesting version of something it needs to live. “Like with wine, like with coffee, it’s not about finding what’s best,” says Mascha. These days he’s expanding the role of water to its place beyond the glass, working with cocktail bars to develop custom ice and chocolatiers seeking the perfect water to blend into chocolate bars. This feels like a natural expansion of the implied conclusion, which is that by re-evaluating the identity and flavor and history of the water we drink, we can then extend this new consideration into water’s role in the wild beer we drink, the cocktail ice we stir and shake with, the sip of water we take to realign our palates between the bites and bottles of everything else we love. “These waters come from a real place, from a real source with a cultural identity attached,” says Mascha. “They mean something.” The post Seltzer Is Over. Mineral Water Is Forever. appeared first on PUNCH. #LaCroix #MineralWater

Arplis - News source https://arplis.com/blogs/news/the-year-was-1995-and-i-was-watching-television

[kennethherrerablog]

20+ Best Places to Sell Stuff Online and Paid Quickly

Do you have something you want to try to sell online and get paid quickly?

One of the best ways to speed up the path to your financial success is by turning your stuff into cash. The good news, now is the best time to sell stuff online because there are so many free ways to sell right away.

I’m always amazed at the process of buying and selling stuff. The myriad of items people buy and sell online and elsewhere are endless. Buying direct from owners is a terrific way to get things you need and want at a discounted price.

And selling things you no longer need or want is a great way to de-clutter your house and bring in some serious extra cash. The list of things we’ve sold online is endless, from cars to clothes to toys to electronics.

Our Top Ways to Sell Stuff Online

With the ever-increasing popularity of smartphone apps and marketplace websites, buying and selling online is easier than ever. Here are our most popular smartphone apps and sites that can help you sell your stuff online and bring in some serious extra cash this month.

1. BuybackBoss (Top cash for old phone)

BuybackBoss guarantees the MOST money when it comes to selling your old phone.

Since everyone today has a mobile phone, you probably also have an old phone lying around somewhere, right?

Turn that old phone into quick cash by getting the highest price for your old phone – guaranteed.

They have three simple steps when it comes to selling your old phone.

First it only takes 30 seconds or less to get your quote. Then, you simply ship your used phone for free and even track your shipment as well. Once your item is shipped, you get the choice of getting paid via check or through PayPal.

Also, if you do happen to find somewhere online that offers you a better price, you can simply send them an email (explanation on their website) with a link to the higher offer. Once they see the better offer, they will update your offer to beat their competitors and notify you once it’s ready to go.

With a Trustpilot rating of 9.6 out of 10 and the best-price guarantee, BuybackBoss is a no-brainer for selling your stuff online.

2. OC Buyback

OC Buyback is perfect if you have an iPod, tablet, Smartwatch, AppleTV or GoPro that you need to get rid of. Also, if you have are selling your old phone, definitely compare the price with BuybackBoss because of Buyback’s highest price guarantee.

It’s extremely simple to get started with OC Buyback. First you just need to select the device you are selling, ship your device for free (or drop off locally for free) and the get paid!

You can get paid via a mailed check (USPS First Class Mail) or get your money sent to your PayPal instantly (or up to 24 hours).

Also, there is no limit on how much you can sell on OC Buyback. Therefore, it may not be a bad idea to take some of that “junk” your friends are throwing away and turn that into some quick cash! 

Bonus: Send your friends $5 as a thank-you!

3. Decluttr

If you have other electronics besides a cell phone, Decluttr is one of the best ways to sell your unwanted stuff online. Here’s how it works:

First, you go to the Decluttr website to get the link for the free app and get a free instant evaluation of what you’re selling.

Once you accept their offer, simply put into a box for shipping and they will send you a pre-paid shipping label.

Next drop your package off at any UPS store, with any UPS driver, or with an authorized shipping dealer (you can search by your zipcode on their site)

As soon as Decluttr receives your package, they will pay you the very next day by Direct Deposit, PayPal, by Check, or they will even make a donation to a charity of your choice on your behalf!

Decluttr is also a really safe way to sell your items because you aren’t selling to other individuals. Instead, Decluttr buys your stuff directly and then resells it on their site.

Categories you can sell on Decluttr:

CDs and DVDs

Video games

Gaming systems

Textbooks

Smartphones

Apple products such as iPods, iPads and iPhones

Kindles

Lego sets

I know. The Lego thing kind of threw you for a loop, didn’t it! It doesn’t really fit in with the other categories Decluttr sticks to, but apparently there’s a serious market for used Lego sets!

Note: Decluttr also will buy your old cell phone from you, but they won’t give you as much as BuybackBoss will .

Get the App:

Decluttr for iPhone and Android

4. OfferUp

OfferUp lets you list and sell for free. It’s more of a “you’re on your own” site like Craigslist and LetGo, but is fairly popular and is well-organized. In my area it didn’t seem to have quite as many listings as LetGo, but still could be worth your effort when selling. After all, less listings often means less competition for the things you sell.

Categories

Antiques

Appliances

Arts and crafts

Cars and trucks

Auto parts

Baby and kids

Beauty and health

CDs and DVDs

Cell phones

Clothing and shoes

Farming

Furniture

Games and toys

Household

And many others as well, including Collectibles. You could sell in just about any category on this site.

Get the App

OfferUp for Android

OfferUp for Apple

5. Amazon Seller Marketplace

Amazon has a popular program for selling your stuff online. The Amazon Seller Marketplace allows you to sell a variety of items online, including used items in many categories, as well as new items you’ve made or bought at a discount.

Categories

Amazon devices and accessories

Kindle devices and accessories

Automotive and powersports parts, tools, equipment and accessories

Baby gear (new only, excluding clothing)

Beauty (new only)

Books

Business products

Camera and photo

Cell phones

Clothing and accessories (new only)

Collectible coins

Electronics

Fine art collectibles

Grocery and gourmet food (new only)

Handmade items (new only)

Health and personal care items (new only)

Historical and advertising types of collectibles

Home and garden

Industrial and scientific (new only)

Jewelry (new only)

Luggage and travel accessories (new only)

Music

Musical instruments

Office products

And many more. Listing and selling fees apply, and the prices you’ll pay for selling stuff on Amazon vary based on how many items you plan on listing or selling in a given month and other criteria. For certain membership levels you’ll pay a monthly fee as well as individual listing and selling fees.

Given Amazon’s market share, the amount of exposure your items get could easily make up for the fees you may have to pay to sell.

Get the App:

Amazon Seller for Android

Amazon Seller for Apple

  Do you shop on Amazon? Here’s a list of companies that will pay you in the form of Amazon Gift Cards. Read the post here.

  6. Poshmark

Poshmark lets you sell fashion clothing and accessories online. You can search by who you want to shop for (i.e. women, men or kids), by brand name, or by item (i.e. shorts, dresses, handbags, etc.).

When you sell an item on Poshmark, they’ll send you a prepaid shipping label to send it out. They charge a small commission based on the dollar amount of the transaction as well.

Categories

Women’s clothing

Men’s clothing

Kids’ clothing

Makeup

Shoes

Handbags

Jewelry and accessories

Posh’s Posh Protect program, along with their customer service team, helps ensure you get authentic items when you buy, and that you get paid promptly when you sell.

Get the App:

Poshmark app for Android

Poshmark app for Apple

7. 5miles

The premise behind 5miles is that it will help you buy or sell anything within 5 miles of your location, but when I looked online I was relieved to see that they offered plenty of buying selections in a broader range, up to 40 miles or so away from where we live.

It’s free to list and sell on 5miles, just like it is on Craigslist and similar sites.

Categories

Cars

Furniture

Cell phones

Household

Women’s clothing and shoes

Electronics and computers

Baby and kids

Auto parts

Jewelry and watches

Sports and outdoors

Collectibles and art

Jobs

Housing

Services

Garage sales

You can search by category, by specific item or by city. This is an easy-to-use site that seems to be pretty popular in many large metropolitan areas.

Get the App:

5miles app for Android

5miles app for Apple

8. LetGo

LetGo uses your location to help you list stuff for sale online and find stuff you want to buy as well. It’s a free site like Craigslist and doesn’t charge any listing or selling fees.

Categories

Free stuff

Electronics

Cars

Other vehicles and parts

Baby and child

Fashion and accessories

Movies, books and music

Sports, leisure and games

Home and garden

Other

Not much more to know about LetGo. The site is super easy to use and seems to be increasing in popularity these days: I find more and more listings – at least for my somewhat major metropolitan area – as I browse on a weekly basis.

Get the App:

LetGo app for Android

LetGo app for Apple

  Need a little extra money this month? How about a list of the top 84 Side Hustles that actually work? There are 84 of them – I promise you there is at least one for you. Read top 84 side hustles here.

  9. OLX

OLX helps millions around the world buy and sell things. They share listings from dozens of countries including the United States, India, Russia, the Philippines, South Africa, Portugal and many, many more.

There’s no cost to list or sell with OLX; this is a true free classified ads site.

Categories

Personal items

Properties

Electronics and appliances

Fashion

Jobs

Pets

Books, hobbies and sports

And more. Categories may vary based on the country you are browsing. NOTE: if you are visiting OLX’s United States site you will be redirected to Letgo.

Get the App:

OLX for Android

OLX for Apple

10. Cash4Books

Cash4Books buys your used textbooks and other books. As with Decluttr, all you have to do is enter the ISBN (the number at the bottom of the barcode) of the book you’d like to sell and they’ll give you an offer price.

Once you’ve entered all of the ISBN numbers for the books you want to sell, and accepted the Cash4Books offer prices, they’ll send you a free prepaid shipping label that you can use to pack up and send your books to them.

After they’ve received the books and had a chance to assess their condition, etc., they’ll send you your earnings via PayPal. The site says that on average it takes about two weeks from the time you click “Sell my books” until the time you get your cash via PayPal.

Although the site buys all types of books, it looks as if the biggest payouts come from up-to-date used college textbooks.

If you’re a recent college graduate, know someone who is or can find newer versions of college textbooks at garage sales, this could be a great way to make some cash.

Get the App:

Cash4Books for Android

Cash4Books for Apple

11. Trove Marketplace

Trove Marketplace focuses on buying and selling vintage furniture and decor items. You can browse via keyword, or go straight to cities near you where items are for sale.

Trove Marketplace isn’t in every major metropolitan city, however you could offer for items you’re selling to be shipped if you want to appeal to buyers outside of your area. Current cities with Trove listings include:

Atlanta

Austin

Boston

Charlotte

Chicago

Dallas

Detroit

Houston

Los Angeles

Miami

New York

Philadelphia

Phoenix

San Francisco

Seattle

Washington DC

More cities may be added by the time you’re reading this.

Note: there is a selling fee for selling your items on this site. At the time of this writing the Trove Marketplace website showed it to be 10%.

Get the App:

Trove Marketplace for Android

Trove Marketplace for Apple

12. Mercari

Mercari allows you to sell your stuff online without any listing fees. However, you will pay a selling fee of 10% of the listing price, so be sure to price carefully. In other words, if you list something for $100 and a buyer bargains you down to $50, you’re still paying Mercari a $10 selling fee.

If you end up selling to a buyer who wants an item shipped to them, Mercari will help you do that by offering to print (and charge you for) a shipping label, or you can ship on your own.

Categories

Women

Men

Kids

Home

Vintage

Beauty

Tech

Sports

Handmade

Other

The “other category” can include a variety of items such as automotive (they even had cars listed in addition to auto parts), daily and travel items, musical instruments, office supplies, pet supplies and more.

As I searched the site looked like they had many items for sale in all 50 states, which indicates Mercari is a well-known and well-used site.

Get the App:

Mercari for Android

Mercari for Apple

13. Dealo

Dealo touts itself as a “faster, safer way to buy and sell anything”. The site itself has very little information about how Dealo works, who is using it and where or what the fees are. Categories are not listed either, however the site states you can register, list or buy within 30 seconds.

Get the App:

Dealo for Android

Dealo for Apple

14. Carousell

Carousell helps connect buyers and sellers by listing things people want to sell and coordinating groups based on similar interests.

You can browse the listings via the home page or the specific category you’re selling or buying in, or you can search via location. No listing or selling fees; you just meet up with your seller or chat online to arrange trade of money for your item.

Categories

For him

For her

Furniture and home

Kitchen and appliances

Beauty products

Design and craft

Baby and kids

Bicycles and bicycle parts

Outdoors and gardening

Musical instruments

Books

Textbooks

Community

Housing

Games and toys

It’s fast and easy to list on Carousell with their app.

Get the App:

Carousell for Android

Carousell for Apple

15. Depop

Depop is sort of an online flea market type of a site. Lots of fun vintage items on this site. Browsing through the listings was like taking a serious step back in time and was really fun. You use the app to buy and sell, and there are no fees or commissions paid.

There are no specific categories listed; the site just says “Find something that means something”. Most of the listings that I found on the site were clothing and accessory type items such as shirts, hats, jeans, jewelry, etc.

Most of the sellers on the site listed shipping fees to appeal to those who were buying from out of the area. The site is pretty simple and easy to use with the app, so if you have some cool, different or vintage clothing or accessories, this could be the way to go.

Get the App:

Depop for Android

Depop for Apple

16. Tradyo

Tradyo helps people buy and sell right in their local area. The site seems to be European based, however there were plenty of listings in my major metropolitan area in the U.S. Listings are free, and you can use instant chat to connect with potential buyers.

I typed in my zip code and found several items available for sale nearby. Then, just for fun I typed “90210” in the search bar (the only out-of-state zip code I know off the top of my head; yeah, I know – I’m dating myself), and there were a lot of listings for that area as well.

Categories

Art, antiques and collectibles

Autos, cars and other vehicles

Baby and kids

Bikes

Books and comics

Car accessories and parts

Clothing and fashion

Electronics, cell phones and cameras

Free stuff

Gaming consoles and games

Garage sales

Health and beauty

Home and furniture

Music

Services

Sporting goods and exercise

Tickets

Tools and equipment

Other

Lots of categories to choose from, and Tradyo is a site that is easy to use.

Get the App:

Tradyo on Android

Tradyo on Apple

17. Varage Sale

With Varage Sale you can list your items for sale and then meet up with buyers in your neighborhood. There are no categories listed for searching on this site, but there is a search bar that allows you to enter what you may be looking for, along with your location so you can find items near your home or work.

You need to sign up with Facebook or an email account so they can verify who you are – all buyers and sellers have to go through a verification process before they’re approved to buy or sell on the site.

In other words, you can browse the site’s listings, but both buyers and sellers need to sign up in order to get access to contact others within the site. This is a safety precaution that many buying and selling sites are implementing these days.

No listing or selling fees and no charge to bump your listing to the top of the site. A great alternative to the traditional garage sale.

Get the App:

Varage Sale for Android

Varage Sale for Apple

18. Chairish

Chairish is an online consignment store where you can sell used items in a number of categories. The site says it takes less than two minutes to list your item, and that you take home 80% of the sale price.

That’s a much higher percentage than what many brick-and-mortar consignment shops will offer to pay you since they have to cover space rental costs and employee pay and benefits.

You can sell items on Chairish to local people or ship the items out of state. Chairish helps you organize shipping arrangements too. This could be a good venue for you if you have lots of art deco or vintage items for the home.

Categories

Furniture

Art and mirrors

Rugs

Lighting

Decor

Outdoor

And more. Listing is free, the site has great tips on how to take the best photos to sell your item, and they have 24/7 customer service support as well.

Get the App:

Chairish for Android: No Chairish app for Android users as of yet

Chairish for Apple

19. Wallapop

Wallapop offers free local classified ads for you to sell your stuff on. Kind of like other flea market or classifieds apps, you simply use your app to write a short description and name your price.

Sellers figure out a plan for meeting up with buyers to exchange money and products, whether it’s meeting up in your local area or arranging shipping.

Get the App:

Wallapop for Android

Wallapop for Apple

20. SocialSell

SocialSell has a variety of listings in many areas in the U.S. Their website isn’t worth heading to at this writing; the apps have all the information you need for buying and selling.

Categories

Electronics

Men’s apparel

Women’s apparel

Household and yard

Entertainment

Music

Antiques

Automotive

Children and kids

Collectibles and memorabilia

Education

Living

Outdoors

Sports and fitness

And more. Like Craigslist there are no listing or selling fees. Mandatory user profiles help keep sellers and buyers safe.

Get the App:

SocialSell for Android

SocialSell for Apple

21. Vinted

With Vinted you can sell or buy used second-hand wardrobe items such as shoes, clothes, and accessories. There’s no cost to list or sell with Vinted, and like many other selling sites these days, users have to create a profile in order to enhance safety and security.

Categories

Women’s clothing, shoes and accessories

Beauty

Kids

Men’s items

You can meet up in person if you find a local buyer, or ship and get payment via PayPal.

Get the App:

Vinted for Android

Vinted for Apple

22. Shpock

Shpock helps you buy and sell things in your local area. There are no listing fees or selling fees and the app makes listing your items and communicating with potential buyers easy.

Get the App:

Shpock for Android

Shpock for Apple

23. Pxsell

Pxsell is the “easiest way” to sell your stuff, according to its app site. Just snap a picture, enter a few details and you’re done. This app focuses on selling in your local area and helping you designate a meet up with sellers.

You won’t pay listing or selling fees with Pxsell.

Categories

Electronics

Video games

Books

Music

Movies

Sports

Recreation

Cars

Clothes

Health

Beauty

Home

Baby and kids

Art

Antiques

collectibles

Pxsell requires community profiles for users in order to help ensure safety for buyers and sellers.

Get the App:

Pxsell for Android

Pxsell for Apple

Don’t Get Ripped Off (Here’s How)

Now that we’ve shared some of the more popular apps for selling stuff online, I want to take just a few minutes to talk about online selling and buying safety.

The world is full of con artists and other unsavory people, and it’s important to make sure you’re ahead of the game when it comes to online scammers in the selling and buying marketplace. Here are some tips that I’ve found helpful when it comes to avoiding selling scams.

We’ve not been the direct victim of a scam when selling stuff online, but that’s only because we’ve educated ourselves on what to look for to avoid getting ripped off.

Selling stuff online can be daunting, intimidating and sometimes frustrating. One time when we were selling a fishing boat, a guy got super angry at us because we had several potential buyers on the line and wouldn’t hold the boat for him until he got off work.

Another time we were selling some used furniture and a gal said she’d show up but never did. When I contacted her to ask why, she said “Oh, it was raining and I didn’t feel like going.” No phone call – nothing. She just didn’t show!

Just recently we listed a snow plow for sale. My husband got a weird text from a guy who offered to pay us over and above what we were asking if we’d accept a PayPal payment, and that he’d send his “agent” to pick up the several hundred pound plow. Sounds fishy, right?

Here are some things you can do to protect yourself as you sell your stuff online.

Don’t Deviate From Normal Payment Options

Most sites have you pay one of a couple of different ways: you can meet in person and accept cash or a cashier’s check, or you can accept a PayPal payment if you’re shipping an item.

When selling something and meeting a person directly we only accept cash – never a personal check or money order. We will accept a cashier’s check for big ticket items, but we always call and verify with the bank it’s issued off of first.

Have a First Come, First Served Rule

Don’t offer to hold items for people that may never show up unless you have a good and valid reason to do so. Holding items puts you at risk for losing out on selling your item.

If someone wants your item bad enough they’ll find a way to make it there quickly.

Beware of Giving Second Chances

If someone doesn’t show up or doesn’t do what they’ve promised, be wary. In our case with the lady who wanted to buy our furniture but never showed up, she asked if she could come another time. We didn’t answer.

We like to follow the “Screw me once, shame on you, screw me twice, shame on me” mantra when selling stuff online. If someone disses us once we won’t give them a chance to do it again.

Meet Up with Potential Buyers in a Public Place if Possible

We don’t follow this rule always, but many times we’ll meet buyers at a central location as long as it’s somewhere with a lot of traffic, such as across the street from the local police department or at a big box store such as Walmart.

It’s important to not put yourself in a situation where you’re in an isolated area with strangers.

Never Meet Up with Buyers Alone

Always bring somebody along if you’re meeting up with potential buyers too. I don’t recommend ever going alone, simply for safety reasons.

Always Tell Somebody When You’re Meeting Up with a Potential Buyer

When you’re meeting up with a potential buyer – whether alone or with somebody else – always, always leave information about where you’re going, who you’re meeting (leave the contact info you’ve been using to communicate with them), what you’re doing and when you expect to be back.

Tell your loved ones to call you and check in if you’re not back when you say you expect to be back. It probably wouldn’t hurt to bring pepper spray or some other item to protect yourself if need be too.

If Something Seems “Off”, Go With Your Gut

When you’re selling or buying something online and something seems off, it’s probably best to pull out of the deal. If someone is offering you way too much for an item, or is trying to finagle some weird payment arrangements other than what is typical, I’d bail on the deal.

There are many scam artists out there who offer to give you “this” if you’ll do “that” when you’re doing online selling and buying. For instance they’ll arrange for third-party payment, or send you over what you want and ask you to give them back the difference, or other similar odd types of requests.

These requests often come with a sob story that will play on your emotions in hopes that you’ll ignore the warning signs in an effort to help. Don’t fall for it. The world’s struggles are not all on your shoulders.

Stick to the rules and make sure you’re paid as promised with no goofy back and forth stuff. Selling stuff online can be a lucrative income source, especially if you’ve got a house full of unused stuff.

Just be sure to use selling sites and apps the way they are intended and keep a leg up on potential scam artists. This way you’ll maximize your income and make big strides toward reaching all of your financial goals and dreams.

Summary

As you can, there are so many options for you to sell your stuff online. Selling apps for both iOs and Android are picking up in popularity and people are looking beyond just eBay and Craigslist to buy your stuff. Whether you are in a hurry to sell your stuff online or you simply want to get the best offer, you have great options. Try a few of these different apps out and let us know what is working best for you.

What have you used to sell stuff online?

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20+ Best Places to Sell Stuff Online and Paid Quickly published first on https://justinbetreviews.tumblr.com/

[darcyfarber]

20+ Best Places to Sell Stuff Online and Paid Quickly

Do you have something you want to try to sell online and get paid quickly?

One of the best ways to speed up the path to your financial success is by turning your stuff into cash. The good news, now is the best time to sell stuff online because there are so many free ways to sell right away.

I’m always amazed at the process of buying and selling stuff. The myriad of items people buy and sell online and elsewhere are endless. Buying direct from owners is a terrific way to get things you need and want at a discounted price.

And selling things you no longer need or want is a great way to de-clutter your house and bring in some serious extra cash. The list of things we’ve sold online is endless, from cars to clothes to toys to electronics.

Our Top Ways to Sell Stuff Online

With the ever-increasing popularity of smartphone apps and marketplace websites, buying and selling online is easier than ever. Here are our most popular smartphone apps and sites that can help you sell your stuff online and bring in some serious extra cash this month.

Table of Contents

Our Top Ways to Sell Stuff Online

1. BuybackBoss (Top cash for old phone)

2. OC Buyback

3. Decluttr

4. OfferUp

5. Amazon Seller Marketplace

6. Poshmark

7. 5miles

8. LetGo

9. OLX

10. Cash4Books

11. Trove Marketplace

12. Mercari

13. Dealo

14. Carousell

15. Depop

16. Tradyo

17. Varage Sale

18. Chairish

19. Wallapop

20. SocialSell

21. Vinted

22. Shpock

23. Pxsell

Don't Get Ripped Off (Here's How)

Don’t Deviate From Normal Payment Options

Have a First Come, First Served Rule

Beware of Giving Second Chances

Meet Up with Potential Buyers in a Public Place if Possible

Never Meet Up with Buyers Alone

Always Tell Somebody When You’re Meeting Up with a Potential Buyer

If Something Seems “Off”, Go With Your Gut

Summary

1. BuybackBoss (Top cash for old phone)

BuybackBoss guarantees the MOST money when it comes to selling your old phone.

Since everyone today has a mobile phone, you probably also have an old phone lying around somewhere, right?

Turn that old phone into quick cash by getting the highest price for your old phone – guaranteed.

They have three simple steps when it comes to selling your old phone.

First it only takes 30 seconds or less to get your quote. Then, you simply ship your used phone for free and even track your shipment as well. Once your item is shipped, you get the choice of getting paid via check or through PayPal.

Also, if you do happen to find somewhere online that offers you a better price, you can simply send them an email (explanation on their website) with a link to the higher offer. Once they see the better offer, they will update your offer to beat their competitors and notify you once it’s ready to go.

With a Trustpilot rating of 9.6 out of 10 and the best-price guarantee, BuybackBoss is a no-brainer for selling your stuff online.

2. OC Buyback

OC Buyback is perfect if you have an iPod, tablet, Smartwatch, AppleTV or GoPro that you need to get rid of. Also, if you have are selling your old phone, definitely compare the price with BuybackBoss because of Buyback’s highest price guarantee.

It’s extremely simple to get started with OC Buyback. First you just need to select the device you are selling, ship your device for free (or drop off locally for free) and the get paid!

You can get paid via a mailed check (USPS First Class Mail) or get your money sent to your PayPal instantly (or up to 24 hours).

Also, there is no limit on how much you can sell on OC Buyback. Therefore, it may not be a bad idea to take some of that “junk” your friends are throwing away and turn that into some quick cash! 

Bonus: Send your friends $5 as a thank-you!

3. Decluttr

If you have other electronics besides a cell phone, Decluttr is one of the best ways to sell your unwanted stuff online. Here’s how it works:

First, you go to the Decluttr website to get the link for the free app and get a free instant evaluation of what you’re selling.

Once you accept their offer, simply put into a box for shipping and they will send you a pre-paid shipping label.

Next drop your package off at any UPS store, with any UPS driver, or with an authorized shipping dealer (you can search by your zipcode on their site)

As soon as Decluttr receives your package, they will pay you the very next day by Direct Deposit, PayPal, by Check, or they will even make a donation to a charity of your choice on your behalf!

Decluttr is also a really safe way to sell your items because you aren’t selling to other individuals. Instead, Decluttr buys your stuff directly and then resells it on their site.

Categories you can sell on Decluttr:

CDs and DVDs

Video games

Gaming systems

Textbooks

Smartphones

Apple products such as iPods, iPads and iPhones

Kindles

Lego sets

I know. The Lego thing kind of threw you for a loop, didn’t it! It doesn’t really fit in with the other categories Decluttr sticks to, but apparently there’s a serious market for used Lego sets!

Note: Decluttr also will buy your old cell phone from you, but they won’t give you as much as BuybackBoss will .

Get the App:

Decluttr for iPhone and Android

4. OfferUp

OfferUp lets you list and sell for free. It’s more of a “you’re on your own” site like Craigslist and LetGo, but is fairly popular and is well-organized. In my area it didn’t seem to have quite as many listings as LetGo, but still could be worth your effort when selling. After all, less listings often means less competition for the things you sell.

Categories

Antiques

Appliances

Arts and crafts

Cars and trucks

Auto parts

Baby and kids

Beauty and health

CDs and DVDs

Cell phones

Clothing and shoes

Farming

Furniture

Games and toys

Household

And many others as well, including Collectibles. You could sell in just about any category on this site.

Get the App

OfferUp for Android

OfferUp for Apple

5. Amazon Seller Marketplace

Amazon has a popular program for selling your stuff online. The Amazon Seller Marketplace allows you to sell a variety of items online, including used items in many categories, as well as new items you’ve made or bought at a discount.

Categories

Amazon devices and accessories

Kindle devices and accessories

Automotive and powersports parts, tools, equipment and accessories

Baby gear (new only, excluding clothing)

Beauty (new only)

Books

Business products

Camera and photo

Cell phones

Clothing and accessories (new only)

Collectible coins

Electronics

Fine art collectibles

Grocery and gourmet food (new only)

Handmade items (new only)

Health and personal care items (new only)

Historical and advertising types of collectibles

Home and garden

Industrial and scientific (new only)

Jewelry (new only)

Luggage and travel accessories (new only)

Music

Musical instruments

Office products

And many more. Listing and selling fees apply, and the prices you’ll pay for selling stuff on Amazon vary based on how many items you plan on listing or selling in a given month and other criteria. For certain membership levels you’ll pay a monthly fee as well as individual listing and selling fees.

Given Amazon’s market share, the amount of exposure your items get could easily make up for the fees you may have to pay to sell.

Get the App:

Amazon Seller for Android

Amazon Seller for Apple

  Do you shop on Amazon? Here’s a list of companies that will pay you in the form of Amazon Gift Cards. Read the post here.

  6. Poshmark

Poshmark lets you sell fashion clothing and accessories online. You can search by who you want to shop for (i.e. women, men or kids), by brand name, or by item (i.e. shorts, dresses, handbags, etc.).

When you sell an item on Poshmark, they’ll send you a prepaid shipping label to send it out. They charge a small commission based on the dollar amount of the transaction as well.

Categories

Women’s clothing

Men’s clothing

Kids’ clothing

Makeup

Shoes

Handbags

Jewelry and accessories

Posh’s Posh Protect program, along with their customer service team, helps ensure you get authentic items when you buy, and that you get paid promptly when you sell.

Get the App:

Poshmark app for Android

Poshmark app for Apple

7. 5miles

The premise behind 5miles is that it will help you buy or sell anything within 5 miles of your location, but when I looked online I was relieved to see that they offered plenty of buying selections in a broader range, up to 40 miles or so away from where we live.

It’s free to list and sell on 5miles, just like it is on Craigslist and similar sites.

Categories

Cars

Furniture

Cell phones

Household

Women’s clothing and shoes

Electronics and computers

Baby and kids

Auto parts

Jewelry and watches

Sports and outdoors

Collectibles and art

Jobs

Housing

Services

Garage sales

You can search by category, by specific item or by city. This is an easy-to-use site that seems to be pretty popular in many large metropolitan areas.

Get the App:

5miles app for Android

5miles app for Apple

8. LetGo

LetGo uses your location to help you list stuff for sale online and find stuff you want to buy as well. It’s a free site like Craigslist and doesn’t charge any listing or selling fees.

Categories

Free stuff

Electronics

Cars

Other vehicles and parts

Baby and child

Fashion and accessories

Movies, books and music

Sports, leisure and games

Home and garden

Other

Not much more to know about LetGo. The site is super easy to use and seems to be increasing in popularity these days: I find more and more listings – at least for my somewhat major metropolitan area – as I browse on a weekly basis.

Get the App:

LetGo app for Android

LetGo app for Apple

  Need a little extra money this month? How about a list of the top 84 Side Hustles that actually work? There are 84 of them – I promise you there is at least one for you. Read top 84 side hustles here.

  9. OLX

OLX helps millions around the world buy and sell things. They share listings from dozens of countries including the United States, India, Russia, the Philippines, South Africa, Portugal and many, many more.

There’s no cost to list or sell with OLX; this is a true free classified ads site.

Categories

Personal items

Properties

Electronics and appliances

Fashion

Jobs

Pets

Books, hobbies and sports

And more. Categories may vary based on the country you are browsing. NOTE: if you are visiting OLX’s United States site you will be redirected to Letgo.

Get the App:

OLX for Android

OLX for Apple

10. Cash4Books

Cash4Books buys your used textbooks and other books. As with Decluttr, all you have to do is enter the ISBN (the number at the bottom of the barcode) of the book you’d like to sell and they’ll give you an offer price.

Once you’ve entered all of the ISBN numbers for the books you want to sell, and accepted the Cash4Books offer prices, they’ll send you a free prepaid shipping label that you can use to pack up and send your books to them.

After they’ve received the books and had a chance to assess their condition, etc., they’ll send you your earnings via PayPal. The site says that on average it takes about two weeks from the time you click “Sell my books” until the time you get your cash via PayPal.

Although the site buys all types of books, it looks as if the biggest payouts come from up-to-date used college textbooks.

If you’re a recent college graduate, know someone who is or can find newer versions of college textbooks at garage sales, this could be a great way to make some cash.

Get the App:

Cash4Books for Android

Cash4Books for Apple

11. Trove Marketplace

Trove Marketplace focuses on buying and selling vintage furniture and decor items. You can browse via keyword, or go straight to cities near you where items are for sale.

Trove Marketplace isn’t in every major metropolitan city, however you could offer for items you’re selling to be shipped if you want to appeal to buyers outside of your area. Current cities with Trove listings include:

Atlanta

Austin

Boston

Charlotte

Chicago

Dallas

Detroit

Houston

Los Angeles

Miami

New York

Philadelphia

Phoenix

San Francisco

Seattle

Washington DC

More cities may be added by the time you’re reading this.

Note: there is a selling fee for selling your items on this site. At the time of this writing the Trove Marketplace website showed it to be 10%.

Get the App:

Trove Marketplace for Android

Trove Marketplace for Apple

12. Mercari

Mercari allows you to sell your stuff online without any listing fees. However, you will pay a selling fee of 10% of the listing price, so be sure to price carefully. In other words, if you list something for $100 and a buyer bargains you down to $50, you’re still paying Mercari a $10 selling fee.

If you end up selling to a buyer who wants an item shipped to them, Mercari will help you do that by offering to print (and charge you for) a shipping label, or you can ship on your own.

Categories

Women

Men

Kids

Home

Vintage

Beauty

Tech

Sports

Handmade

Other

The “other category” can include a variety of items such as automotive (they even had cars listed in addition to auto parts), daily and travel items, musical instruments, office supplies, pet supplies and more.

As I searched the site looked like they had many items for sale in all 50 states, which indicates Mercari is a well-known and well-used site.

Get the App:

Mercari for Android

Mercari for Apple

13. Dealo

Dealo touts itself as a “faster, safer way to buy and sell anything”. The site itself has very little information about how Dealo works, who is using it and where or what the fees are. Categories are not listed either, however the site states you can register, list or buy within 30 seconds.

Get the App:

Dealo for Android

Dealo for Apple

14. Carousell

Carousell helps connect buyers and sellers by listing things people want to sell and coordinating groups based on similar interests.

You can browse the listings via the home page or the specific category you’re selling or buying in, or you can search via location. No listing or selling fees; you just meet up with your seller or chat online to arrange trade of money for your item.

Categories

For him

For her

Furniture and home

Kitchen and appliances

Beauty products

Design and craft

Baby and kids

Bicycles and bicycle parts

Outdoors and gardening

Musical instruments

Books

Textbooks

Community

Housing

Games and toys

It’s fast and easy to list on Carousell with their app.

Get the App:

Carousell for Android

Carousell for Apple

15. Depop

Depop is sort of an online flea market type of a site. Lots of fun vintage items on this site. Browsing through the listings was like taking a serious step back in time and was really fun. You use the app to buy and sell, and there are no fees or commissions paid.

There are no specific categories listed; the site just says “Find something that means something”. Most of the listings that I found on the site were clothing and accessory type items such as shirts, hats, jeans, jewelry, etc.

Most of the sellers on the site listed shipping fees to appeal to those who were buying from out of the area. The site is pretty simple and easy to use with the app, so if you have some cool, different or vintage clothing or accessories, this could be the way to go.

Get the App:

Depop for Android

Depop for Apple

16. Tradyo

Tradyo helps people buy and sell right in their local area. The site seems to be European based, however there were plenty of listings in my major metropolitan area in the U.S. Listings are free, and you can use instant chat to connect with potential buyers.

I typed in my zip code and found several items available for sale nearby. Then, just for fun I typed “90210” in the search bar (the only out-of-state zip code I know off the top of my head; yeah, I know – I’m dating myself), and there were a lot of listings for that area as well.

Categories

Art, antiques and collectibles

Autos, cars and other vehicles

Baby and kids

Bikes

Books and comics

Car accessories and parts

Clothing and fashion

Electronics, cell phones and cameras

Free stuff

Gaming consoles and games

Garage sales

Health and beauty

Home and furniture

Music

Services

Sporting goods and exercise

Tickets

Tools and equipment

Other

Lots of categories to choose from, and Tradyo is a site that is easy to use.

Get the App:

Tradyo on Android

Tradyo on Apple

17. Varage Sale

With Varage Sale you can list your items for sale and then meet up with buyers in your neighborhood. There are no categories listed for searching on this site, but there is a search bar that allows you to enter what you may be looking for, along with your location so you can find items near your home or work.

You need to sign up with Facebook or an email account so they can verify who you are – all buyers and sellers have to go through a verification process before they’re approved to buy or sell on the site.

In other words, you can browse the site’s listings, but both buyers and sellers need to sign up in order to get access to contact others within the site. This is a safety precaution that many buying and selling sites are implementing these days.

No listing or selling fees and no charge to bump your listing to the top of the site. A great alternative to the traditional garage sale.

Get the App:

Varage Sale for Android

Varage Sale for Apple

18. Chairish

Chairish is an online consignment store where you can sell used items in a number of categories. The site says it takes less than two minutes to list your item, and that you take home 80% of the sale price.

That’s a much higher percentage than what many brick-and-mortar consignment shops will offer to pay you since they have to cover space rental costs and employee pay and benefits.

You can sell items on Chairish to local people or ship the items out of state. Chairish helps you organize shipping arrangements too. This could be a good venue for you if you have lots of art deco or vintage items for the home.

Categories

Furniture

Art and mirrors

Rugs

Lighting

Decor

Outdoor

And more. Listing is free, the site has great tips on how to take the best photos to sell your item, and they have 24/7 customer service support as well.

Get the App:

Chairish for Android: No Chairish app for Android users as of yet

Chairish for Apple

19. Wallapop

Wallapop offers free local classified ads for you to sell your stuff on. Kind of like other flea market or classifieds apps, you simply use your app to write a short description and name your price.

Sellers figure out a plan for meeting up with buyers to exchange money and products, whether it’s meeting up in your local area or arranging shipping.

Get the App:

Wallapop for Android

Wallapop for Apple

20. SocialSell

SocialSell has a variety of listings in many areas in the U.S. Their website isn’t worth heading to at this writing; the apps have all the information you need for buying and selling.

Categories

Electronics

Men’s apparel

Women’s apparel

Household and yard

Entertainment

Music

Antiques

Automotive

Children and kids

Collectibles and memorabilia

Education

Living

Outdoors

Sports and fitness

And more. Like Craigslist there are no listing or selling fees. Mandatory user profiles help keep sellers and buyers safe.

Get the App:

SocialSell for Android

SocialSell for Apple

21. Vinted

With Vinted you can sell or buy used second-hand wardrobe items such as shoes, clothes, and accessories. There’s no cost to list or sell with Vinted, and like many other selling sites these days, users have to create a profile in order to enhance safety and security.

Categories

Women’s clothing, shoes and accessories

Beauty

Kids

Men’s items

You can meet up in person if you find a local buyer, or ship and get payment via PayPal.

Get the App:

Vinted for Android

Vinted for Apple

22. Shpock

Shpock helps you buy and sell things in your local area. There are no listing fees or selling fees and the app makes listing your items and communicating with potential buyers easy.

Get the App:

Shpock for Android

Shpock for Apple

23. Pxsell

Pxsell is the “easiest way” to sell your stuff, according to its app site. Just snap a picture, enter a few details and you’re done. This app focuses on selling in your local area and helping you designate a meet up with sellers.

You won’t pay listing or selling fees with Pxsell.

Categories

Electronics

Video games

Books

Music

Movies

Sports

Recreation

Cars

Clothes

Health

Beauty

Home

Baby and kids

Art

Antiques

collectibles

Pxsell requires community profiles for users in order to help ensure safety for buyers and sellers.

Get the App:

Pxsell for Android

Pxsell for Apple

Don’t Get Ripped Off (Here’s How)

Now that we’ve shared some of the more popular apps for selling stuff online, I want to take just a few minutes to talk about online selling and buying safety.

The world is full of con artists and other unsavory people, and it’s important to make sure you’re ahead of the game when it comes to online scammers in the selling and buying marketplace. Here are some tips that I’ve found helpful when it comes to avoiding selling scams.

We’ve not been the direct victim of a scam when selling stuff online, but that’s only because we’ve educated ourselves on what to look for to avoid getting ripped off.

Selling stuff online can be daunting, intimidating and sometimes frustrating. One time when we were selling a fishing boat, a guy got super angry at us because we had several potential buyers on the line and wouldn’t hold the boat for him until he got off work.

Another time we were selling some used furniture and a gal said she’d show up but never did. When I contacted her to ask why, she said “Oh, it was raining and I didn’t feel like going.” No phone call – nothing. She just didn’t show!

Just recently we listed a snow plow for sale. My husband got a weird text from a guy who offered to pay us over and above what we were asking if we’d accept a PayPal payment, and that he’d send his “agent” to pick up the several hundred pound plow. Sounds fishy, right?

Here are some things you can do to protect yourself as you sell your stuff online.

Don’t Deviate From Normal Payment Options

Most sites have you pay one of a couple of different ways: you can meet in person and accept cash or a cashier’s check, or you can accept a PayPal payment if you’re shipping an item.

When selling something and meeting a person directly we only accept cash – never a personal check or money order. We will accept a cashier’s check for big ticket items, but we always call and verify with the bank it’s issued off of first.

Have a First Come, First Served Rule

Don’t offer to hold items for people that may never show up unless you have a good and valid reason to do so. Holding items puts you at risk for losing out on selling your item.

If someone wants your item bad enough they’ll find a way to make it there quickly.

Beware of Giving Second Chances

If someone doesn’t show up or doesn’t do what they’ve promised, be wary. In our case with the lady who wanted to buy our furniture but never showed up, she asked if she could come another time. We didn’t answer.

We like to follow the “Screw me once, shame on you, screw me twice, shame on me” mantra when selling stuff online. If someone disses us once we won’t give them a chance to do it again.

Meet Up with Potential Buyers in a Public Place if Possible

We don’t follow this rule always, but many times we’ll meet buyers at a central location as long as it’s somewhere with a lot of traffic, such as across the street from the local police department or at a big box store such as Walmart.

It’s important to not put yourself in a situation where you’re in an isolated area with strangers.

Never Meet Up with Buyers Alone

Always bring somebody along if you’re meeting up with potential buyers too. I don’t recommend ever going alone, simply for safety reasons.

Always Tell Somebody When You’re Meeting Up with a Potential Buyer

When you’re meeting up with a potential buyer – whether alone or with somebody else – always, always leave information about where you’re going, who you’re meeting (leave the contact info you’ve been using to communicate with them), what you’re doing and when you expect to be back.

Tell your loved ones to call you and check in if you’re not back when you say you expect to be back. It probably wouldn’t hurt to bring pepper spray or some other item to protect yourself if need be too.

If Something Seems “Off”, Go With Your Gut

When you’re selling or buying something online and something seems off, it’s probably best to pull out of the deal. If someone is offering you way too much for an item, or is trying to finagle some weird payment arrangements other than what is typical, I’d bail on the deal.

There are many scam artists out there who offer to give you “this” if you’ll do “that” when you’re doing online selling and buying. For instance they’ll arrange for third-party payment, or send you over what you want and ask you to give them back the difference, or other similar odd types of requests.

These requests often come with a sob story that will play on your emotions in hopes that you’ll ignore the warning signs in an effort to help. Don’t fall for it. The world’s struggles are not all on your shoulders.

Stick to the rules and make sure you’re paid as promised with no goofy back and forth stuff. Selling stuff online can be a lucrative income source, especially if you’ve got a house full of unused stuff.

Just be sure to use selling sites and apps the way they are intended and keep a leg up on potential scam artists. This way you’ll maximize your income and make big strides toward reaching all of your financial goals and dreams.

Summary

As you can, there are so many options for you to sell your stuff online. Selling apps for both iOs and Android are picking up in popularity and people are looking beyond just eBay and Craigslist to buy your stuff. Whether you are in a hurry to sell your stuff online or you simply want to get the best offer, you have great options. Try a few of these different apps out and let us know what is working best for you.

What have you used to sell stuff online?

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20+ Best Places to Sell Stuff Online and Paid Quickly published first on https://mysingaporepools.weebly.com/

[dippedanddripped]

The art of customizing sneakers has changed dramatically since the early 2000s. Names like Mark Ong (SBTG) and the Shoe Surgeon (Dominic Chambrone) have been pivotal in popularizing the artform with their striking illustrations and use of luxe materials. Yet we’re witnessing the emergence of a new wave of customization, thanks to Japanese craftsman Shun Hirose and his fledgling customization label, RECOUTURE.

It’s hard to pinpoint Hirose’s aesthetic. He uses popular sneaker silhouettes and fits them with outsoles from boots, brogues and many other shoe types – just not sneakers. The result is a design that instantly elevates the everyday. At times, Hirose refits the shoes’ upper panels with nume leather – the same class of leather used in luxury giant Louis Vuitton’s leather accessories. Some notable silhouettes that have received the RECOUTURE treatment include Adidas Stan Smiths, Nike’s Air Max 95s, Air Jordan 1s, and even Birkenstock sandals.

Before RECOUTURE, Hirose was focused on shoe repair and restoration, and pivoted to leather goods and accessories with the aim of being more original in this industry. RECOUTURE owes its beginnings to a worn-in pair of Nike Cortez that were given a second life courtesy of Hirose’s skill and fine attention to quality and craftsmanship.

His efforts have not been in vain. Just this year, cult Japanese brand Children of the Discordance partnered up with RECOUTURE for a series of Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars that were turned into boots. Since then, Hirose has also become more experimental in terms of materials and design. A number of his newer creations feature Hermes scarves as footwear uppers, multiple suede Swoosh symbols, and Jordan logo metal plates.

There’s a subtlety to RECOUTURE that makes a refreshing change from the flamboyant makeovers we see from many custom designers. Hirose creates a very distinct aesthetic, with a meticulous focus on detail reminiscent of the most revered Japanese brands of today, such as visvim, Engineered Garments, and Hender Scheme. We speak to Hirose about his humble beginnings as a cobbler, the art of customization, and his unique sneaker-boot hybrid.

What kind of store is RECOUTURE?

“RECOUTURE” is a neologistic term that combines the prefix “RE”, and “COUTURE” from the word haute couture. The term means to “disassemble, repair and rebuild”. My main line of business for the past decade was shoe repair, but because of our recent exposure on Instagram, we’ve shifted to customizing sneakers. Sneakers are expendable items by nature, and old, worn-out pairs often have a lot of damage on the soles. That’s why we first detach the soles to minimize any damage to the upper portion of the sneakers and seamlessly stitch on functionally superior Vibram soles. This way, our customization still maintains the great qualities of the original.

Tell us about your career before RECOUTURE.

My mother ran a clothing restoration business, so restoration was kind of second nature to me. After dropping out of university when I was 19, I started working part time at a shoe repair shop, and that got me started in this industry. There was a time where I left the shoe repair industry, but the owner of a repair shop that was supposed to close in three months asked me to work for them and that’s how I got back into the business. The store actually regained its sales afterwards and ended up not closing down. After that, I was offered a position as an owner of a store for a nationwide shoe restoration franchise called “Riat!”

But running a franchise has a lot of restrictions, so I decided to go independent. In April 2014, I opened Kokubunji Shoes. It was a pretty typical repair shop. I did a wide range of work from heels and boots to high-end leather shoes like John Lobbs. We focused on restoring the shoes to as true to their original form as possible. On the other hand, I started to want to experiment with doing more original work, so I began making small leather goods like bags in my downtime. As an extension, I started reinstalling soles for worn-out Cortez sneakers. I guess you can say this is how RECOUTURE got its start.

Of course, the background to my current line of work comes mostly from shoe restoration, but knowing how to work with leather to make things like bags and wallets definitely helps. Specifically, knowing how to work with “nume leather,” like making specific shapes, and working with how the leather softens with use. It’s crucial to understand the characteristics of nume leather to create high-quality products. Nowadays, others perform similar types of customization, but nume leather customization is more than just swapping the Nike swoosh to a new material, and it’s pretty difficult to execute.

When did you first realize that RECOUTURE “made it,” so to say?

It was a big decision for me to relocate to Shibuya, and, to be honest, I don’t know how long this type of customization will continue to be as in-demand as it is now. So we try to keep things fresh and keep challenging ourselves. We don’t see our relocation to Shibuya as some sort of milestone – we actually see it as the beginning. Right now we’re not restricting ourselves to customizing soles, but challenging ourselves to new types of customization and brainstorming projects for next year and onwards.

Why did you decide to do repair work on midsoles and outsoles?

I wanted to bring out the originality in restoration work, and do something that’s different from the typical kinds of customization that you see today. People often have to repair their shoes due to the soles undergoing hydrolysis, or wear-and-tear. We want our customers to cherish their shoes and be able to wear them for many years to come. This all loops back to the idea behind our store name “RECOUTURE”.

Tell us about the first pair of shoes you ever customized.

At the time, I was busy repairing boots, and I saw my old pair of Nike Cortez with the soles peeled off. Back then, I was really into boots from Red Wing and didn’t like the volume on the Cortez soles. So, to add volume to the edge and soles, I installed boot-type soles. Then I uploaded the result to Instagram, and they turned out to be a hit. From then on, we had a lot of requests come in for more, even from outside the country. If I remember correctly, the first custom I ever did for a client was a N. Hoolywood x Converse Weapon.

Can you tell us why there’s such a unique appeal to RECOUTURE?

We have a background in shoe restoration, so we do have a bit of a finer finish compared to conventional customizers. For example, our soles should be more flexible when compared to other customized pairs.

We also often cater to customer demand, and they seem to like that a lot. Customizers such as the Shoe Surgeon have a business model where they sell what they customized, whereas I start on a made-to-order basis.

Tell us about the leathers and soles you use for customization.

The leathers I use include one of Japan’s finest, tochigi leather, to the nume leather used by Louis Vuitton and Hermès. Leather is a crucial material for us and we don’t compromise on that.

Can you tell us about your customization process?

First, I peel off the soles. Then I attach the leather that best fits the sneaker’s shape to its upper, then stitch it on. From there, I sew the leather and the midsole together, then I attach the outsole. These are the basics.

It takes about four hours per shoe. Working alone, we make a maximum of two pairs a day. The most nerve-wracking part is when I’m getting the mold and cutting the outline. If I don’t do this carefully, the final product will be ruined. The sole also has to be carved to follow the silhouette with perfectly smooth lines and that needs to be done very, very carefully.

Where do you see the brand 5 to 10 years from now?

I’ll still be working on sneakers! But I’d like to try customizing clothes since I know how to restore clothing from before. Maybe not at this store, but in the near future, I have plans to open a shop to take custom orders for apparel.

We want to turn RECOUTURE into an original, stand-alone brand. I don’t think many people have disassembled the variety of shoes and worked with them in the detail that we have. I think we can come up with some interesting stuff.

Favorite shoes?

My favorites are Nike Air Force Ones and Converse Chuck Taylors. I also like Adidas Superstars. They’re the roots of their labels, iconic.

Besides sneakers, I was also really into leather shoes, so the Irish Setter from Red Wing is also one of my favorites. The quality at that price point, along with the amazing balance – I have to say that’s one-in-a-million.

What are your thoughts on our obsession with sneakers today?

Right now, the chunky soles with lots of volume are popular, but I think it’ll die down and sneakers that are more streamlined will make a comeback. I think it’s great, if you ask me. However, with the freedom that brands, manufacturers and customizers have nowadays, the change of trends, what’s “in” and what’s not, is getting harder to distinguish, for better or worse. DIY is so common now. Because of this, I feel like customizers like us are more accepted. So I think we never know what new trends are coming next.

I personally like boots too, so I’m hoping leather brands such as Red Wing will start making sneaker-type shoes, kind of like visvim or Cole Haan. In fact, my customization work is kind of a blend between sneakers and boots.

[scondren-blog1]

Doing up home together as a “Just Married” couple could be a lot of fun. After all, that’s how you start your life together. And while decorating your first house together is always special, it isn’t as easy as it may sound. You must know exactly what all home decor items will charm up your new home and in between those tiresome wedding planning and wedding rituals, we know you won’t have time for all of this.

So, here we are introducing some of the upcoming home decor brands which will help you set that “romantic mood” just right!

1. The Maeva Store

Scent and fragrance are the most powerful triggers for a dreamy and exotic night! And, The Maeva Store’s range of luxury home fragrance products is all you need to spark up that chemistry with your partner. The brand is also known for its thoughtful and personal home decor items like photo frames, table decor and succulents etc. Moreover, their products make for perfect wedding favors which your guests will love for sure!

ShaadiWish Favourites:

 Wedding Cloche Jar Candle

A scented candle with a love jar sounds exciting, no?!  Buying this amazing product will create an enticing scent throughout your bedroom which will be hard to resist and bring in those romantic vibes in no time. A fragrance this enigmatic and beguiling, hand-poured in enticing sleek cloche jar is a perfect ode to love!

Pink Elegant Bouquet

This pink and green-hued bouquet with hearts will accentuate your dining table or living space in no time. You can even deck up your bedroom by showcasing it in every corner. The best part of this home decor product is that unlike fresh flowers you can keep your room decorated with it, for as long as you want!

Check out their products here.

Address:  Ramesh Flowers Private Limited,

HM Geneva House, 501,5th Floor,

Cunningham Road, Vasanth Nagar,

Bengaluru, Karnataka 560052.

Contact Number: +91-739 770 4430

2. The White Bird

If you and your partner have a thing for quirky and boho chic stuff then this is the place to shop for home decor items for your new home. The White bird is a brainchild of 3 well-known designers namely Gazal Gupta, Liz Paul and Shweta Prasad. Their handcrafted range of products are largely inspired by the Indonesian culture and are specially imported from Indonesia.

ShaadiWish Favourites:

A Giant Traditional Wooden Frame Mirror

Give your bedroom a boho-chic makeover by adding this giant wooden frame mirror. Apart from giving that much-needed makeover to your room, this huge mirror is all you need for those perfect mirror selfies with your partner post your wedding!

Rope Wall Hangings

Another super cool wall decor item is this rope wall hanging, which is not only physically appealing but is multi-purpose. If you and your partner love little succulents or greenery, then quirky home decor item is just apt. Also, you can prepare your room for a romantic night by lighting up candles in those hanging glass jars. Cool, isn’t it?!

Check out their products here.

Address: 253-A, Shahpur Jat, Siri Fort, New Delhi

Contact Number: +917428156004

3. Modern Quests

While you can buy some usual home decor accessories almost anywhere and everywhere, this brand boasts of its unique and creative creations. Modern Quests, just like its name, sells some of the most useful products in the most unusual way. Trust us, you won’t regret decorating your home with some of their hot selling gems!

ShaadiWish Favourites:

Tesora Jewellery Stand

This is one of the most important items in every newlywed couple’s room. A newlywed bride does require adorning a lot of jewellery as it is one of her “Solah Shringar”. While jewellery requires high maintenance, this is an ideal product to buy as it is not only eye-catching but is useful at the same time. This product comes with three tiers that can be used to hang necklaces of different lengths. Also, it is great for organizing rings, earrings and bracelets.

Prisma Photo Frame

It’s not a “just married” couple home if you can’t see the walls and tables all decked up with the couple’s wedding and pre-wedding shoot pictures. Pictures speak louder than words and so should your home about your new unique love story. This sleek and classy frame can alternately sit on the desk or be hung on the wall.

Check out their products here.

Contact Number: 8826489720

4. Casa Decor

Casa Decor is your destination for characteristic furniture, moody hardware and eccentric accessories for the home. Their unique vision that every home article should have a design of its own is very well inherited in their products. They have a tasteful portfolio for home decor to browse through. Each and every product comes in fine quality with rich craftsmanship which will lend an all stylish and modish look to your living space. From home accessories, kitchen and bar, lamps and lights to wall decoratives and furniture, this brand has it all.

ShaadiWish Favourites:

Golden Vase

Make a statement at your home with this bold and brilliant decorative vase, to arrange fresh flowers and introduce spring and freshness inside your living space. This vase evokes luxurious vibes in the striking golden metallic finish and ingenious details. The meticulous hand craftsmanship lends it a unique touch and makes it perfect as table decor.

Bookend

Stack up your favourite books just in the right corner with this modern art form in metal. This bookend will make a great display piece on your dresser, bookshelves or sideboard. A pair of metal bookends professionally handcrafted with an eye-catching design is a must-have home decor item for every newly married couple.

Check out their products here.

Address: Shop No. 215, 2nd Floor

The Great India Place Mall

Noida, Uttar Pradesh India

Contact Number: +919210000349

5. PIECES

PIECES is a string art and home decor company which is happy to customize wall art pieces for your special occasion and spaces. String Art is a complete hand done art form where these bright colourful pieces are made using nails and threads. So, if you are an art lover, this is a place to buy some customized art boards for your home.

ShaadiWish Favourites:

Personalized Couple Portraits

How about recreating your old pictures together in the form of cute personalized art portraits where you can get everything customized including colours, text, designs, size, etc. Just let your imagination out and they will create it for you!

The Customized Home Plate

Your door forms the face of your home and is the first thing noticed by visitors. This beautiful personalized home plate will not only enhance the aesthetics of your door but will also help you grab compliments for your artistic taste and love for personalized art!

Check out their products here.

Contact Number: 9810384006/ 9810384606

6. Neter

Whether it is curated gifts for your special Shaadi crew or one of a kind statement pieces for your brand new home, Neter offers a soulful collection of home goods that are handcrafted in reinvented tradition. Perfect for the global eclectic home, their products are co-designed and handcrafted making them exclusive objects of art for your living space. There’s more – they also customize homeware, furnishings and decor that you need to make your new living space truly personalized.

ShaadiWish Favourites:

Their latest haveli collection offers a refreshing, modern take on traditional Indian luxury – with a focus on hand-carved marble and works of art in handmade glass inlay. Spruce up your home with these home decor items and get ready to earn compliments from your guests for your luxurious taste!

Buy their products here.

Contact Number: 9619512870

7. 7WD

Are you getting married soon and looking for ideas to decorate your bedroom? Well, look further than 7WD. They are the perfect interior designers for newlyweds. They not only do offer customized interior designing services for your whole home but also suggest what furniture and home decor items you may need in the future in your space. Their complete range of services ranges from architectural modification to Interior Designing, Vastu and Chromotherapy (which increase harmony in newlywed couples). They also have their own Luxury Designer Furniture Factory so you can make your own style of furniture.

Whether you’re looking for a complete redo of your entire home or just feel like changing the interiors a bit, their creative team will take care of it all depending on your budget!

Here Are Some of The ShaadiWish’s Favourite Home Looks

Check out their services here.

Contact Number: 8851767327

8. The Pink Lemonade

The Pink Lemonade is a creative brand offering home decor products in the form of customized gift hampers and gift boxes. Not only you can include their customized products to style up your home, but you can also buy some amazing gift hampers for your wedding guests. From bridesmaid favors to groomsmen gifts, The Pink Lemonade is your place to be all for your home decor gifting needs.

ShaadiWish Favourites:

Scented Candles

Scented candles are mood lifters and are always helpful to ignite that lost spark in a relationship. Though, yours will be all new, make sure to surprise your partner every night by decorating your bedroom with lots and lots of candles.

Customized Mugs

Make your coffee or tea mornings perfect with these cute customized cups by the Pink Lemonade!

Buy their products here.

Contact Number: 7976387538

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[sebastiankurz]

Check out some of the best interior design trends of the USA

The land of the free and the home of the brave is a paramount source of inspiration for design trends and leading ideas that influence the rest of the world’s trends. It’s impossible not to list New York (and the entire USA for that matter) in any list of the most relevant, ready-to-follow trends. From Jonathan Adler to Ryan Korban, or Ralph Lauren to Wendell Castle there is a lot to take out of design inspiration made in America.

Jonathan Adler

Jonathan Adler is a New York-based interior designer that first launched his brand after leaving his day job to pursue his biggest love – pottery. Jonathan’s biggest aim was to design pieces that help anyone building a flawlessly chic home. This led to more and more, and today you can find a huge variety of beautiful design trends (that still shape the industry) all created by him.

A great example is the Now House designed by Adler which features a stylish array of furniture, rugs, bedding, artwork, and decor pieces that are complete sell outs on Amazon!

No matter the collection, Jonathan Adler, always brings his signature style – pieces featuring bold graphics, pops of color, textural patterns, and eye-catching details. Adler covers everything necessary – from the large furniture pieces to the smallest of accents – or even a complete revamp of a boring room.

He is also a great designer to pick when you need a decoration plan is needed from scratch. Empty rooms and white walls are like a blank canvas that he can transform into a masterpiece. So, yes, if you’re looking to spruce up your living room, bedroom, dining room; Jonathan Adler can lead the way!

Lindsey Adelman

Lindsey Adelman specialized in lighting design in 1996 and founded her studio in 2006. She lives and works in her hometown, New York City, and is driven by developing industrial modular systems to capture the ephemeral, fleeting beauty of nature.

The way Adelman first discovered Industrial Design is quite an interesting one. – As the story goes, she coincidently met a woman carving foam French Fries for an exhibition at her editorial job at the Smithsonian and went straight to study ID at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Today she has a studio that counts with a team of forty, and with a recent location opening in Los Angeles. In her work, she is drawn by the immaterial substance of light and is obsessed with creating forms that maximize light’s sensual effect and highlight emptiness.

  Her approach to light is so unique that work has been exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Design Miami, Nilufar Gallery, and BDDW, among others – proving that – setting design trends comes from a place of originality, strong sense of identity and an incredible vision.

Lindsey Adelman’s studio also supports the Robin Hood Foundation to fight poverty in New York City, and Adelman credits much of her current success to this desire of wanting to make an impact that goes behind design world.

Knoll

Knoll’s original showrooms were first designed in the 1950s and conceived as an “experimental laboratories” space. It was there that clients could experience modern ideas and materials in situ.

Today, their showrooms still keeping an innovative approach, which has definitely help them leading the way in terms of design trends.

Knoll motto is to connect modern design and people, to their work, their lives, and ultimately, their world. This work dynamic started back in 1938 and has been recognized internationally has effective in creating workplaces and residential furnishings that inspire, evolve, and endure. A philosophy that still helps to define design trends.

Peter Marino

Peter Marino is one of the top New York-based interior designers and architects famous for his irreverent and sophisticated approach to his projects. He founded his architecture company in 1978 and is widely acclaimed for having redefined modern luxury through a harmonious symbiosis between architecture and interior design. So much so, that his work includes award-winning residential, retail, cultural, and hospitality projects worldwide.

He has collaborated with the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in Sardina and Four Seasons Resort in Santa Barbara. Not only that, but his ability to conjure a luxury design without excess has made him the architect of choice for developers and luxury brands, including Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Fendi.

Marino has always been a pioneer when it comes to design trends; in 1985, the Pressman family – who owned Barneys New York at the time – hired him to design their women’s retail concept. Even though this was his first retail project, the outcome was so satisfactory that he went on to designing 17 freestanding Barneys department stores in the U.S. and Japan between 1986 and 1993.

One thing led to another and his work for Barneys put him in contact with other fashion designers for whom he went on to design boutiques such as – Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Giorgio Armani, Ermenegildo Zegna, and Fendi, and eventually Chanel, Dio, and Louis Vuitton.

Ryan Korban

 When we speak about design trends we also need to speak about Ryan Korban. Why? Very simple, he has redefined luxury for a new generation. His interior design style infuses a timeless sensibility with a sense of lost romance, sex, fantasy, and strong fashion influence.

Korban’s interior design practice has carved a niche within the design sphere for an old-world approach to luxury retail and residential spaces. Amongst his A-list clientele is; Balenciaga, Alexander Wang, and Aquazzura, to name only a few.

His beautiful book ‘Ryan Korban: Interiors’ is filled with more than one hundred full-color photographs and is a great way to spot his incredible approach to design trends. – In the book, you will also learn how to achieve a sense of luxury in your home that is glamorous, yet, highly personal. Must-buy? We say yes!

Marmol Radziner

You can also check out: These colorful products are best selling luxury furniture pieces

Are you a ‘modern architectural restoration’ lover? Then, Marmol Radziner has the best design trends for you.

Where should you be looking at? The company got recognition for its award-winning historic restoration of Richard Neutra’s 1946 Kaufmann House in Palm Springs. Additional among their works are restorations of works by Cliff May, Rudolph Schindler, and John Lautner.

Marmol Radziner currently counts with over 170 employees throughout their offices and shops. At the moment they create projects that connect them with the surrounding environments, and that takes a warm, textured approach to modernism that is elegant but also timeless.

Unique compositions of light, materials, and space, as well as rigorous attention to detail, have guided projects for clients in the art and creative industries, such as artist James Turrell, art collector Eugenio Lopez, and fashion designer Tom Ford.

Michael Smith

Michael Smith is Californian, and studied interior design at the  Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. He opened his firm in 1990, and ever since then has expanded his projects from private clients work to his Jasper line of fine furniture and fabrics.

Smith’s is great setting design trends and you could say that his style is a seamless blend of European classicism and American modernism. The most import thing to Michael when he starts a project is the history of the house and the personality of the people living there also. He really aims to create a place that isn’t just a house, but an actual extension, of the place, its heritage as well as the people who live there.

For him, it is very important to evolve and to continuously perfect his craft. For him, living happily at home is living in an environment that is the meeting point of everything you love. – In his own words: “I have a lot of different stuff that I love, much of it modern but some of it not, and I put it in my house in a way that had it all co-exist and live really comfortably.”

Nate Berkus

 Interior designer, author, TV host, and television personality – this is all that defines Nate Berkus. This renowned American interior designer manages his Chicago interior design company ‘Nate Berkus Associates’; has released numerous lines of products, authored several books, and helped lots of avid decor lovers into the do’s and don’t’s of interior design trends.

His timeless style is one of the most distinctive trademarks in his work, not only that, but every project he embraces is one where he really tries to not just “decorate”, but to actually tell a story. Why? Every space or product needs to tell a story in order for us to be able to connect with it.

His bathrooms are particularly beautiful and his secret to creating what he creates with them is quite simple – “the best bathrooms are the ones that are decorated like any other space in your home”. – With heart and soul, a little bit of design trends knowledge!

Ralph Lauren

Speaking of New York you may also like: Matteo Nunziati has designed a new Luxury Penthouse In New York City

Ralph Lauren Home made its debut in 1983 and was the first American clothing designer to have its first complete home collection. Very much like it’s a clothing line, Ralph Lauren Home, is an epicenter of beautiful interior design trends, and therefore, an endless source of inspiration for anyone who loves ‘decor’.

Ralph Lauren Home includes – furniture; bed and bath linens; china; crystal; silver; decorative accessories and gifts; as well as lighting; fabric; wallcovering; and floorcovering. Not only that, but Ralph Lauren also launched Paint in 1995, which now counts with over 400 palettes, and its the perfect complement to Ralph Lauren Home.

When it comes to the design trends, Ralph Lauren Home stays true to their identity. – Their world is one of redefined American style, time-honored craftsmanship, and exceptional quality. A world, we should say, anyone would want to peek in!

Ralph Pucci

What began as a family business in the 1950s fabricating mannequins has grown to a gallery and showroom regarded as one of the best in the world. Ralph Pucci is now spread all over Miami and Los Angeles where his galleries can be visited.

In the world of contemporary interior design, Ralph Pucci is the one who can undoubtedly create design trends rather than just following them. His showroom is always irreverent and filled with unique originality that helps to shape contemporary interior design styles as well as design trends. How does this happen? It is through is showroom that he showcases new furniture designers, putting them on the map through the years.

His mannequins include innovative and avant-garde collaborations with fashion designers, illustrators and supermodels including likes of – Ruben Toledo, Anna Sui, Christy Turlington, Maira Kalman, and Rebecca Moses. The mannequins are also frequently showcased in high-end department stores and boutiques all over the world, including; Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Nordstrom.

Finally, you know you should be picking up on the design trends of a certain brand when have been awarded several prizes. In 2009, Ralph Pucci was the recipient of DDI’s Markopoulos Award (the highest distinction in the visual merchandising industry); he also got the Creative Innovation Award from Inner-City Arts in Los Angeles in 2013, and in 2014, honored by the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club. Other recognitions include – “The Best in Furniture and Furnishings,” by Robb Report; “The Best Showroom” by Wallpaper; and “Best of the Year in Interiors, Architecture, Fashion and Design” according to Interior Design.

If you would like to learn more about Ralph Pucci and all the design trends he has helped set, there are two books about the history of Pucci and the variety of exhibitions staged over the years: Show and Wall.

Wendell Castle

Wendell Castle was an American furniture artist, designer, sculptor, and a leading figure in American craftsmanship. He is often credited with being the father of the art furniture movement.

He was also considered a significant figure in the American Studio Furniture group, and an absolute master of important design trends that still influence the industry today, as his elegant, and whimsical works remain sought-after examples of the movement.

Their pieces are usually easily identifiable by their bold color and integration of a variety of different materials, including wood, fiberglass, and plastic. studied at the University of Kansas, earning his BFA in industrial design in 1958 and his MFA in sculpture in 1961. That same year, he moved to Rochester, NY, where he began teaching at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of American Craftsmen.

His pieces are characterized by their bold color and integration of a variety of different materials, including wood, fiberglass, and plastic. He has also been garnered a number of awards, including a 1994 ‘Visionaries of the American Craft Movement’ award sponsored by the American Craft Museum, a 1997 Gold Medal from the American Craft Council and a 1998 Artist of the Year Award from the Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester.[3] He has also received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Comfort Tiffany Foundation. In 2001 he received the Award of Distinction from The Furniture Society.

Castle died on January 20, 2018 in Scottsville, NY. Today, his works can be found in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Yabu Pushelberg

Yabu Pushelberg is a 37-year-old firm, owned by designer duo George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg- Yabu Pushelberg. They are based in SoHo (New York) and also in Toronto.

They are a leading entity in the market, and the firm’s multidisciplinary approach has evolved to encompass all aspects of design and project management personnel who is specialized in interior, furniture and product design for the hospitality and retail industries.

A great example of their design trends to follow can be seen in the astonishing work at the Moxy Chelsea Hotel. – Yabu Pushelbergwere was in charge of designing the guestrooms. The result is as beautiful as you could expect – they incorporated plenty of whimsical details while also paying close attention to the available space as well as the functionality of everything.

In order to give a sense of warmth and openness, the designers opted for a muted color palette in things like the wood-like floors, the army-green mosaic tile or even the striped drapes. Reigned by efficiency and premium comfort, each bedroom is appointed with custom-designed and multipurpose furniture designs. – All design trends to follow? We think so!

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from Sebastian Kurz Blog https://www.designbuildideas.eu/check-best-interior-design-trends-usa/

[efosa123]

Start a T-shirt business in 20 Mins : Printify And Shopify Tutorial one another way to start a t-shirt business with no inventory no t-shirt blanks to buy no screen printing no DTG machine no vinyl cutter to buy and everything gets shipped out for you and you don't have to do a thing well the answers coming right up in this video right now what's up guys Gary a janae and I know I said a mouthful in that intro but this is the real deal here this is print on demand like you've never seen it before a new take on print on demand I want to introduce to you Prince a Phi okay alright printer fine now I mentioned it once before but this one is a formal introduction okay print a Phi is a print on demand service but it's a little bit different in that it's not just one service in one place that you buy and they ship everything out actually gives you a choice of different print providers so you can choose which one is best for your business you can choose based on blank you can choose based on pricing you can choose based on production time some of them have a short production time some of them have a time that's a little bit longer they're all short production times but some is just a little bit longer and they're all in different locations so if you're in a certain part of the US and you want to choose a provider that's close to you you can do that also if you're in the UK there's a provider in Great Britain okay so if you want to do stuff in Europe you have that choice and not only do you get the choice of different t-shirts they have so many of the awesome products to choose from let's take a look all right guys you can see right here their clothings you have t-shirts men's t-shirts from all different types of vendors you have women's clothing women's t-shirts okay from all different type of vendors and in both of these you don't just have tea you have hoodies and all that good stuff you even have sublimation you can do all over printing I mean it's crazy you also have bags and accessories little tote bags carry bags knapsacks I mean and you can do printing everything that I'm showing you you can do printing even accessories okay jewelry I mean it's crazy and not only that you can also do art and wall decor all these you can hang on your walls you can do posters pictures you can do clocks so many different things including shower curtains bath mats I mean a microfiber duvets I mean mugs and there's one thing right here you can also do which is yoga mats where are those yoga mats right here in accessories your yoga mat is crazy and this is just a few of the things you can do at prenta fie alright guys that was awesome another great thing about prenta is your ability to integrate with the biggest e-commerce platforms on the planet that's right Shopify Etsy and WooCommerce which is WordPress which is the biggest website creation platform on the planet okay all that sounds good but let's take a look under the hood all right this is printf I this is what you're gonna see when you first get here and let me go ahead and login alright now once you get in you can see that you can go right over here to the left and you can choose what you want to print on the print providers the brand's your favorites new arrivals and you can see all the good stuff that well this is just means that you can print on it's really really simple also you can print on canvas sneakers oh man I didn't show that and flip-flop I mean this place is awesome it just goes on and on and on and that's pretty much it it's so simple alright so now we're gonna sign up for an account I mean it's just like any online so let's show you how it's done just go right up here to the top and hit sign up or if you already limbo hit login but we're gonna hit sign up right you want to enter your email continue you gonna make a password for this bad boy I am NOT a robot I am a man okay create an account and that's some of the policies of course I accept damn nope now what is your store name okay so we're just gonna call uh store the UH call it see sure help disk store why the hell not alright so now you're gonna add in your address okay let's go saved successfully that's how easy it is now boom let's start easy was that so let's go in and let's create a product let's make a t-shirt alright so we're in the back end of prenta file and this is the catalog page alright and what we're gonna do is we're gonna make a t-shirt but I just want to go through a couple of things to give you an overview first alright we're gonna take a t-shirt and we're gonna put it here on my Shopify store this is a Shopify theme available a t-shirt hope this calm awesome thing these are our t-shirts here and I'm gonna add a t-shirt it's gonna come right here okay so this thing was available at t-shirt helpdesk calm awesome Shopify theme and this is the Shopify platform now I'm showing you all these things because there's a few tricky little things that you have to keep in mind when doing this okay so let's get back and let's make our product so I'm actually gonna make a women's product so I'm gonna go down here to women's clothing and of course I'm gonna choose the Bella canvas so right now we have a woman's favorite tea and you can go down here you can choose this is a great thing you can choose which provider you're gonna go with they have one in Florida Michigan and one here in the UK and told you about that before so you can go by production time you can go by geographic location okay they have one here in the UK because whatever you want to do right now I'm just gonna go with Florida all right there we go and you have your color and you have your artwork the first thing that I'm gonna do is I'm gonna post our artwork so we're gonna go right here add your design that's him off work already here but we're gonna do a new upload choose file and you go in and you add your artwork alright so I added the love peace and hair grease so I'm gonna select that and bam look at that and a great thing about this you can go right here you can go up and down and choose how big you want your artwork I'm just gonna move this one up I want it a little bit higher okay now we're gonna go in we're gonna go up right here we're gonna add our colors there's a lot of colors in that so I'm only gonna do black and white alright so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go right here and click and get rid of everything okay and now I'm gonna go and I'm gonna choose I'm gonna click on white and I'm gonna click on black because that's all I want I don't want any of the other stuff okay and it comes in these colors but if I didn't want one of these sizes I can click and say you know I don't want to X or I don't want small but all these are fine safe and like that we're gonna save and continue look at that we have our shirt all right looking beautiful and I'm going to continue again and we're just gonna call this one love peace and hair grease tea and right here is your description it's already done for you but if you wanted to go in and change and add some stuff you can go right ahead so we're just gonna leave that and press continue and right here is where the money is made okay so you can go right in here and you can add the price now you're gonna see right here that this is your costs that you're gonna pay and this right here is the cost that you're gonna charge and any difference is your profit so if we go right here we're gonna put $24.99 o99 okay and you see a profit right there ten bucks alright so I'm just going to copy that put that in for all the sizes and there you go continue okay we just did the pricing before we connect the store let's get into how you actually collect money all right now after all of that is done you need a way to collect your money so let me show you how to set up the payment system all right so you simply go up to the green round little button up here it's gonna be whatever initials you put in and then you're gonna click on that and it's gonna give you a drop-down and you simply want to go to payment all right and right here is you can do a couple of ways you can use a credit card just go in add your credit card information and you're all set or you can uh your PayPal and you go right here and you enter an amount one hundred two hundred three hundred and you transfer that money in so that any time you make a sale it'll take from that balance so how it works is this whenever you make a sale they take it out of your balance from PayPal or they charge your credit card $10 $12 whatever it is it costs you sell it on your platform Shopify at sea will commerce right when you make the sale print if I gets paid and then you get paid your profit it's as simple as that alright now back to where we were or I just wanted to show you guys the money part so back to where we were we created our products that up here in the store that's where all your products are stored and now we are going to connect our store to Shopify okay alright guys we are about to connect this store all right I want you to pay very close attention and watch the steps okay just pay close attention because this could be a little confusing because there's different stores being made but if you just do it right you're gonna go straight to your store and everything's gonna be good so let's get into it so we're gonna click on connect store and of course we're gonna click Shopify all right we're gonna go right here and this is my store right here and I'm gonna copy the whole URL but I'm gonna paste it but you don't need all of this right here all you need is this ok so that first part the HTTPS and the semi colon backslash you don't need that so we're gonna click continue now you can see at the top it says you are about to install the printer fire app and you can see right here that the store is called t-shir help this store which is the name of the Shopify store but the print if I store is just T sure helpdesk but you're gonna see everything isn't gonna correct itself so let's get this app installed ok so now you can see that once you go through your store is here ok and if you go right here and you're in Shopify and you go ahead in my store you can see that this product is here alright so now what you want to go to do is you want to hit publish all right so now that love peace and hair grease that is has been created so let's go over here to our products so let's click on products and you can see the love peace and hair grease that's actually right here ok but with the with the but the difference is it doesn't have a let's click on it both of these are here but it doesn't have a thumbnail so we're just gonna add a thumbnail real quick so we're gonna click on add images we have old girl right here it's a great little thumbnail gonna choose and there she is but what we're gonna do is right now this is the main thumbnail we're gonna take her we're going to move right over here nice okay there's one more thing you need to do is that and if you know anything about Shopify is you want to add this to the collection so the collection is going to be on home page so that means that now you're gonna see these you're gonna see this one on the home page so save now let's click on online store now let's click customize don't go down and you can see that she is there she's right there where she ought to be okay we've and just like that you have added a style that you're selling right here on Shopify so let's go to that front page and you see it's not there and there she goes you you are now selling a t-shirt and it is as simple as that and there you have it prettify and Shopify counting the lobbies together now you know you in trouble anyway my overall take on it is that it's a really great service I mean the fact that this print-on-demand thing is catching on and these guys have really I think they have taken it to a whole nother level the fact that they have the different providers in different parts of the United States and in the UK just takes it to a whole nother level it's like the uber of the print-on-demand industry alright you know you're not dealing with a place that stuck in one spot you understand what I'm saying so I think that's great I will say the only drawback or con would be the integration if you just go straight through Shopify it's really smooth but if you already have an account and let's just say your own WooCommerce Etsy and now you want to switch over to Shopify it can be a little tricky and also I think that they need to have it so that when you start a when you're in Shopify and you add the printer fire app it automatically makes an account for you using your Shopify information I think that that's great if they're coming from scratch but if they are having an account it could cause some confusion so I think it just should be an option just like anything log in or sign up that would just alleviate any of the problems also and I know that this is going to come with time is that when they do start to expand it would be great if they had some providers on the East Coast and the south and the Midwest and some more parts of Europe New Zealand South Africa Australia but I know all of that's coming in time I know I'm being a little bit greedy right now but it's a great service I strongly suggest that you go down to the link in the description box and check them out and also go up to the card and subscribe to the printer 5 channel they have a channel right here on YouTube and if you think this video was something they just give so much really phenomenal information about the company you guys who are getting into the t-shirt industry oh I don't know I don't know this is the perfect place to start because it really costs you virtually nothing and you can get so much knowledge is so much know-how of the t-shirt industry what a very very low if not I mean no startup costs alright so get into the t-shirt industry right now all right printer fly ok and it's always guys do something good with somebody if you don't have anyone to do something good for do something good for yourself know what I'm going to do right I'm gonna put some butter on these shoes and slide on out the dough until next time peace and God bless and of course cheers to your t-shirts I'm a holla peace 33 more words

[jafreitag]

The Death of the Auteur

Amanda Petrusich is a rockstar. Figuratively. She’s not a musician. She’s a writer.

Her wiki says that she’s “an American music journalist and the author of three books” – 2007’s Pink Moon (a 33 1/3 series dissection of Nick Drake’s ’72 classic), 2008’s It Still Moves: Lost Songs, Lost Highways, and the Search for the Next American Music (a sorta travelogue in search of what matters about roots-y bands), and 2014’s Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78rpm Records (descriptive title). She’s a Guggenheim Fellow, a former staffer at Pitchfork, and a current staffer at The New Yorker. She’s a member of a rock scribes guild that includes Robert Christgau, Michael Azerrad, Anthony DeCurtis, Greg Kot, Jim DeRogatis, and the ghost of Lester Bangs. (All dudes.) Along with her contemporaries and cohorts Jesse Jarnow, Sasha Frere-Jones, Hua Hsu, and a very few others in that field, she’s good at her job. Fwiw, she’s the best.

What makes her the best? She understands that, pace comedian Martin Mull, “writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” So she straps on her tap shoes and just goes. Her stuff is always well-phrased, sure, but also well-structured. Her pieces typically feature something professional, and big – historical perspective, like she’s researched and listened. They also typically feature something personal, and small – individual perspective, like she’s lived and breathed a life informed and enriched by music. A jab here, a digression there, and then a deeper digression here and there. Grace, above all, everywhere. She makes me want to write – to write better, smarter, tauter and looser at the same time. She probably had/has good editors, but the craft and art is hers.

This post isn’t entirely about Amanda Petrusich. It’s also about Roland Barthes. I’ll get there, promise. (I’m assuming the tl;dr crowd checked out way before now. If you’re still with me, cinch up and hunker down.)

Last week, LN banned Ryan Adams for his indefensible treatment of women. I liked alot of Adams’ songs (tbh, who didn’t dig “New York, New York” post-9/11?), as well as his prolific output (another new album, I guess I’ll check that out). The things that kept me from loving him were his work-like approach to songwriting, and his generally douche-y look and demeanor.

The Pitchfork review of his 2008 record (with his occasional band, The Cardinals), Cardinology called it “melodically sound, remarkably insular and largely unaffecting.” That gets to my former point re: songwriting. I feel like there’s another review of another album on Pitchfork that riffs on how Adams’ music is simply finger exercises in mopey, alt-country. There’s nothing of him in his songs, just distant musings on relationship tropes that use rural, everyperson scenery, as well as vaguely twangy delivery and dated Nashville/Muscle Shoals instrumentation/arrangements, to provide cred. I scoured P4k (wow, they hate and love him in almost equal measure), but couldn’t find what I remembered. Trust me that that review exists. Or don’t, and just buy what I’m trying to say. Dude is “good” at his job. And it’s just a job. To borrow from P4k again – its take on 2005’s Jacksonville City Nights: “Nearly a dozen albums in, counting Whiskeytown, Ryan Adams’ shtick is that it’s all shtick.”

And then it wasn’t. He married and divorced Mandy Moore, decided to devote an entire album to the demise of that relationship – 2017’s Prisoner. Here’s his comment about it to the Japan Times:

“I started writing this record while I was going through a very public divorce, which is a humiliating and just a f—-ing horrible thing to go through no matter who you are. To be me and to go through that the way that I did was destructive on a level that I can’t explain. So a lot of extra work went into keeping my chin up and remembering what I did and what I loved about who I was.”

That hints at my latter point, and feeds the former. “To be me” is the weird part. Like he needs the interviewer knows that he’s a sensitive, press-shy guy, so any details of what that process entailed – the pains, the doubts, the regrets, the gotdam details of who gets the kids/pets and when (full disclo, I’m divorced, too) – was off-limits because of, well, him. But it was all good because of, well, him. He told the JT that he wrote “quite literally 80 songs, probably more” (OMF, that’s such a Trump quote) for Prisoner, discovering that he could “write out the bulls—- so I could get back to myself and say, ‘Cool. This is what is real.’ ”

That record is ok, but there’s nothing real about it. Again, P4k, from it’s review (after quoting some lyrics):

“[L]ines that feel like placeholders for universal truths or even personalized expressions of pain that rarely emerge. While it’s impossible to evaluate the album’s sincerity, inspiration is a more tangible quality, and Adams comes off like an A student uncharacteristically frozen by an essay prompt, filling the margins with the hopes that his reputation can get him out of this jam, this one time.”

Reputation, ok. That definitely goes to the latter point. Adams has a difficult one. The Ringer says, “Adams’s reputation has long preceded him, by design, like a human shield.” Basically, he’s difficult, and revels being so because he thinks he’s some sort of rock genius auteur – the attitude, like the disheveled hair and the frumpy clothes, serves the grander brand. Per Spin, he has used his influence to get websites to remove negative content about him – namely, a 2017 Consequence of Sound profile about Phoebe Bridgers, a singer-songwriter, a member of boy genius (whose s/t ep was my fave record of last year), a co-founder of Better Oblivion Community Center (with Conor Oberst), and, least of all, a former parter of Adams. What was so bad? In the profile, Bridgers observed that Adams “wigs out at people on Twitter all the time,” but added, “Do I ever text him and say, ‘Stop?’ Never. I think I’d wind up on the wrong end of a Twitter rant.” Wow.

Adams has also flexed on critics who have given his music less than glowing reviews. That includes Amanda Petrusich. She has previous with him. For P4k, she savaged his 2003 album, Rock N Roll, which then prompted him to summon her (via people) for an interview. It starts with AP saying that he talks fast, and then Adams hearsaying his “writer” friend informing that the website is “not very cool at all.” Ugh. He tells her that P4k is a “good resource,” which has a nice vibe because it supports indie material. To relate, I guess, he adds, “Today I got the first Pussy Galore record for $50,” (I doubt that), which he had been “looking for for so fucking long”  because he gets “cool records.” But. if I wasn’t him, he’d pass on Jon Spencer and Neil Hagerty, and “be like, ‘Dude, you have to check out this record, Gold, it kicks ass.’ ” (Aside: In the history of the world, there has never been a human being who has gone into a record store to buy Dial M for Motherfucker and settled for Gold, not even Mad Ego’s Ryan Fucking Adams.)

And then AP prods him, and mentions his comment that rock journalism is just exhibitionism. She says that she’s not cool and listens to the Grateful Dead (so do we at LN!!). His response:

“I fucking love the Dead! Jesse Malin got me a coupon for a Steal Your Face tattoo for my birthday. ‘Cause, you know, I want to be badass. [Laughs] There are a lot of things expected and not expected. I mean, back in the day, Jim Morrison fucking going crazy in Florida and maybe or maybe not pulling his penis out, or attacking a police officer– all this unbelievably decadent shit. That was news. Now it’s ‘singer/songwriter can be slightly hotheaded.’ I’m not trying to hurt anybody.”

Or maybe he was. Last week’s ban post linked the New York Times article about Adams’ abuse of women. I don’t need to revisit that, but here’s his preemptive tweet (since deleted, typos are his) before the article was out:

“Happy Vanentines day @nytimes. I know you got lawyers. But do you have the truth on your side. No. I do. And you have run out of friends. My folks are NOT your friends. Run your smear piece. But the legal eagles see you. Rats. I’m f—ing taking you down. Let’s learn I bait.”

Last week, The New Yorker published Amanda Petrusich’s “Ryan Adams and the Perils of the Rock-Genius Myth.” There, she mentions that Adams is now under investigation by the F.B.I. for communications with a then-14 year-old fan, which may have crossed legal lines. (Adams’ attorney denies any wrongdoing by his client. And, as I said in the ban post, the presumption of innocence is constitutionally important.) AP also mentions comments by Bridgers on social media, where she described Adams as stifling, domineering, and frightening. Bridgers thanked her friends, band, and mom for support, then called out Adams’ “network,” none of which, she says, “held him accountable,” but rather “told him, by what they said or what they didn’t, that what he was doing was okay.” AP says:

“What Bridgers is emphasizing—that most people who have been subject to this sort of behavior can just as clearly recall the dude in the room who refused to meet their gaze, who was visibly uncomfortable but nonetheless remained silent—feels more important than ever to remember. It’s not simply the alpha abusers at fault for poisoning the music industry but also the whole odious web of enablers that surrounds them.”

AP continues (and this is a long quote, but it’s so finely rendered, and provides such great insight into her experience as a serious journalist who happens to be female, that you should read the whole damn thing):

“It almost feels silly, in our present era, to point out that sexism is pervasive in the music business, from the major labels on down—it’s now so ingrained in the system as to simply be presumed. Nearly every woman I know who works in music has a bottomless grab bag of stomach-turning stories about being harassed at shows, demeaned during interviews, inappropriately and aggressively propositioned, objectified, insulted, or treated as a joke. For most of us, it goes on until these sorts of incidents become normalized—a job hazard that you don’t think about because you’ve never known another way of working. ‘The concept of male genius insulates against all manner of sin,’ the critic Laura Snapes recently wrote in the Guardian. For men, childish or cruel behavior is often not just excused, but lauded—held as evidence of passion, vision, verve. A man behaving hysterically can be reconfigured as brilliant, whereas a woman doing the same thing will, in all likelihood, be dismissed as a maniac. I think often about a conversation I had with the musician Chan Marshall, who records as Cat Power, in Miami, in 2014. Marshall has been subject to several decades of name-calling for her occasionally erratic behavior, which has included walking offstage mid-show—something dozens of male rock stars have done before her. ‘I’m not crazy,’ I recall her telling me.

When I first started working as a music critic, in my early twenties, the industry was still almost exclusively male. My first real writing job was for the music-reviews site Pitchfork, where at times I was one of just two, maybe three, women on staff. My early editors and colleagues were supportive and encouraging—I was fortunate—but music criticism itself has problematic roots. The practice was largely founded and developed by male writers, who understood hedonism as a display of authenticity (maybe as the only display of authenticity), and its language still hinges around vaguely mystical ideas about art-making as a kind of bloodletting. For decades, that language has been used to protect and enshroud troubled men, and to dismiss and humiliate women working in the same register. I learned the vocabulary of the trade as a young critic, and the process of un-learning it has been slow, deliberate, and difficult.

Part of the problem is that music thrills and bewilders us in a way that can feel at odds with natural laws, so we instinctively codify and exalt its creation. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and writing about what happens to a person when they hear a song that they love, and what sense, if any, can be made of that strange, glorious melting. When I look at my own record collection, I see a desperate monument to my desire for that feeling—for some fleeting brush with the sublime. There are neurobiological processes to point to, and loads of social and cultural cues that help explain and unpack fandom, but the experience itself is such a hard thing to hold on the page. Never being able to fully explain it in a concise or useful way is a big part of why I first began writing about music, and why the work remains interesting to me. There’s a little bit of God in it.

But mystifying the creative process also allows for the genius myth to expand and endure. When nobody can say for sure why a certain melody is so satisfying, or so evocative, or so pleasurable—and this is criticism’s grandest prerogative, to somehow get close—we inevitably begin to imbue its creator with supernatural strengths. Ergo, people get away with things, for horrifyingly long stretches of time. It seems essential that critics remain vigilant about who is being granted leniency, and for what. But I also wonder if there’s a way for critical discourse to make more room for the receiver—to give more credit to our own consciousness, and the magic it makes of sound. That communion, after all—between player and listener, in which both parties create something extraordinary together—is just as sacred. Perhaps we can start to look for the genius in there instead.”

Yeah. There is a way, and it harkens back to the heady days of late-60s French deconstructionism. In 1967, Roland Barthes published an essay called “The Death of the Author.” I’ve referenced it a bunch through various iterations of this blog. (OM is fake sick of it, but he’s a pomo fiction geek, and a student of lit-crit, so whatever.) The wiki is actually p fly, but I’ll dig into the original text for pith.

Barthes writes that

“the image of literature to be found in contemporary culture is tyrannically centered on the author, his person, his history, his tastes, his passions; … the explanation of the work is always sought in the man who has produced it, as if, through the more or less transparent allegory of fiction, it was always finally the voice of one and the same person, the author, which delivered his ‘confidence.’ “

Man, not woman. Hmph.

Barthes’ essay is about literature, so it’s tricky to extrapolate it for a more performative (less interpretative) art form, like music. It’s also baseline difficult to decipher, and I’m not as smart as I used to be. (As I reread it, I tried to remember why I underlined certain passages when I was a grad student twenty-five years ago, and oof.) Essentially, Barthes wants to kill the Author by ending authority, by establishing that “utterance in its entirety is a void process, which functions perfectly without requiring to be filled by the person of the interlocutors: linguistically, the author is never anything more than the man who writes, just as I is no more than the man who says I: language knows a ‘subject,’ not a ‘person.’ ”

There’s a passage in the essay that suggests a de-personed hand (“his hand, detached from any voice, borne by pure gesture of inscription (and not of expression), traces a field without origin”) that goes a bit too far for me, but the idea is incontrovertible: “[T]he true locus of writing is reading.” And the true locus of songwriting is listening. I could riff on this, but I’ll get back to AP and her query.

The meaning/significance of any song or album belongs to us, not to the person who hummed it, demoed it, recorded it, and released it. If there’s wonder, it’s built into what we already do. And we can choose to direct that – that communion, that magic – toward artists who deserve it. The Auteur is dead. Long live rock.

More soon.

JF

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