#and i will always remember your global saturation

[teecupangel]

I've been seeing Wesker fanart on my dash lately (Resident Evil) and, I don't have any direction I intend for this to go but, what if Wesker was Clay's older cousin? Who has always come off a little weird and creepy to Clay, but feeds into his need for *someone* to acknowledge how smart and capable he is. And then one day Wesker goes to check on the boy--bright, worthless father, keep an eye on for future potential--and he's just, vanished. Eye witnesses say an older gentleman began visiting him at his work site, and then he just disappeared, never to be seen again.

Well. Wesker can't very well let that stand, now can he.

It is time for me to dust off my knowledge of Resident Evil lore!

So…

The thing about Wesker is that he’s actually part of a project to genetically modify children into becoming ‘superhumans’, the next step to human evolution. Children were adopted (more or less) and given the surname Wesker and then they were experimented on.

Albert Wesker is simply one of the ‘successful’ ones.

And, and, and…

If we take in consideration that Albert Wesker’s birthdate is around 1960s, Clay being born in 1982 means, for this to work, Wesker isn’t Clay’s older cousin.

He’s Clay’s uncle.

And there’s really no information about Wesker’s life before he became a ‘Wesker’ so we can play around with it.

Let’s say he was Clay’s father’s younger brother, the brighter of the two, the apple of their parents’ eyes. He was taken from his family because he showed potential, told the parents that they would take care of him, make him live up to his potential, the whole propaganda.

So Clay’s father had to live in his younger brother’s shadow the entire time. Perhaps his family fell apart after Wesker’s ‘adoption’, maybe the cycle of abuse started when Clay’s father couldn’t be the child Wesker had been. It does not excuse what his father did to him. It does not excuse the pain that Clay had gone thru.

But it’s what drove Wesker to check up on him.

Call it lingering sentiment.

Call it a weakness.

Call it the possibility of another ‘child’ that Wesker wanted to check before he begins the final stage of Uroboros.

Either way, he introduces himself as Albert Kaczmarek and they start to talk. Clay thinks he wants to build bridges with his father but Albert had long thought of his older brother as a lost cause.

But Clay?

Clay had potential.

And Wesker always liked to have all the cards.

So when Clay disappeared?

Well…

The other projects Wesker had in hand could be pushed for now until he finds his dear… nephew.

Unorganized Notes:

RE and AC lore needs to be played around. The most ‘pressing one’ would be the timeline of events as Uroboros is meant to be finished in 2009 and Clay was approached by Bill in 2010. That’s easy to do. Just make Uroboros have a few more setbacks and delays because Wesker got ‘distracted’.

As usual, all the viruses are derived from failed Isu experiments.

Considering ‘superhuman’ is more or less connected to the Isus in AC lore, this means Spencer was trying to recreate Isus using children.

This also means that Wesker has higher than normal Isu genes (those glowing eyes? Yeah, definitely him having some form of Eagle Vision)

It would be so, so easy to make Umbrella = Abstergo but to change things up, let’s make Umbrella and Abstergo rivals, the two big pharmaceutical companies (it really says a lot about humanity that pharmaceutical companies are easy targets of “yeah, those guys! Definitely evil corps!”)

Umbrella knows about the Templars and the Assassins but they’re in the whole “I stay in my lane, you stay out of mine”.

This does mean that the world of AC would know about bioweapons and all of Umbrella’s dirty secrets but that’s fine. I mean, Wesker is more or less doing shit on his own anyway.

Ngl, I like the idea of Clay meeting Jake just for the sheer exhaustion and sass Clay would do as he becomes Jake’s minder I mean cousin.

Oh. This means Wesker is Ezio’s descendant………

#ngl #considering how shitty clay’s life would be #it’s possible he’d willingly help wesker #until he realizes just how fucked up wesker’s plan is #ask and answer #i would just like to say #dc douglas… you will always be my albert wesker #and i will always remember your global saturation #assassin's creed #teecup writes/has a plot #fic idea: assassin's creed #fic idea: resident evil #fic idea: crossover #resident evil #albert wesker #clay kaczmarek

[silvergarnet12]

Splatoon was the first Nintendo game to push me out of my comfort zone of single player games, and with the closure of it's servers I wanted to draw a tribute to a game that really means a lot to me.

Some long rambles about the game under the cut.

When I first played the Global Testfire I was 15, and the only mutliplayer games I played were with friends in the same room.

Splatoon was also the first shooter I ever picked up, as I always liked bright colours over more realistic graphics in my games, and back then the only shooters I knew about were Halo(and that was only really a name to me!) and the CoD games.

Any worries I had about being bad quickly vanished as the sheer vibe of chaotic fun the game had, particularly when no one had played it before, got rid of any worries, and all I remember is having fun. And choosing to play as the guy instead of the girl for the first time, solely becuase I wanted a ponytail like in real life(I would continue to use the guy through the series as a tradition, a contrast to what I saw most people online doing).

When the game came out I binged the single player, and vividly remember the first time I fought DJ Octavio, and the first time I heard Calamari Inkantation. If ever a game was to convince me that a song could irreversibly change your life, it was Splatoon. Because to teenage me, in that moment, with Calamari Inkantation playing in the background while I fought an octupus DJ, it did.

It gave me terminal brainworms for this series. And here I am, 8 yrs later. Older and more tired, been through some shit, had some good times, tried, succeeded and failed in things throughout the years.

I've always been grateful that they made the decision for the player character from 1 to return, everytime they've shown up it's felt a bit like seeing an old friend, especially since as the games time skips have always had them close to my age(which probably helped my attachement back in the first game). So hi Three, can't believe we both probably pay taxes now.

I have the original two Inkling Amiibos, in a collection that is slowly building, I'm still attached to Marie, and yes I was on her team for the Final Splatfest.

I cried when it was over, just like I did in 2's Final Fest(I was team chaos, two for two baby!) and will probably do so for 3's as well. Something about this series just makes me super attached to it's world and characters.

So booyah Splatoon, my final online game of yours was well and truly years ago, but I replayed story mode to share you with a friend recently, and I think I'll refight Octavio tonight in honour of the good times.

You encouraged me to try out games I wouldn't have otherwise(hello Overwatch and Deep Rock Galactic), and outlasted one of the other major games of my teenage years(...Overwatch 1 I miss you). So thank you for that.

I'll miss Squid Jump, Inkstrike, the og kit for the NZap 89(why does it's new one not vibe with me ;-;), the Squid Sister's broadcasts and the more saturated colours. At least I can always return to the Plaza in 3, and that Spyke isn't dead like I was concerned he was when 3 released, and see the Squid Sisters perform during Splatfests again.

I have so much more to say in my heart about you but no more ways to word it.

You've been a fantastic game, and will always be a treasured experience that I am grateful to have been a apart of from the very beginning.

Now bring back Moray Towers in 3 damn it! It's in 2 but I DON'T WANT TO LOSE MY FAVOURITE STAGE IF IT"S NOT IN 4.

#splatoon #splatoon shutdown #my art #wii u #nintendo

[thefloatingstone]

Since you mentioned being a millennial what was the 90s like?

Time periods are weird things in that you can only really pinpoint what the overall vibe was in retrospect. So while you're living it, you're not always as aware of what the iconic aesthetics, sounds and attitudes of the decade is.

I was a kid for the entire 90s, turning 13 in 2000, so my perspective of the 90s is very much that of a child and not connected to any larger events globally. More so I remember the pop culture.

I've always felt the START of the 90s and the END of the 90s might as well have been completely different decades.

The start of the 90s up until around 1994 were basically 80s+. Things were all super saturated highlighter colours, and everything people liked of the 80s were taken and turned up to 11.

The mid 90s were a little awkward because the 80s were SUCH a strong decade in terms of pop culture, the 90s didn't really know how to identify itself. There was a strong grunge influence and what I always think of as the "sunflower on a denim hat" era in the middle there for a while.

Then, around 1997, Pokemon happened and The Spice Girls, and as the "New Millennium" was approaching, the internet started becoming more accessible and EVERY household now had at least one dedicated computer, the 90s idea of technology and futurism were starting to become a topic. Serial Experiments Lain couldn't be more a product of the late 90s if it TRIED. As well as several Japanese horror movies, often focusing on technology and isolation, started becoming popular in the west as well. And then in 1999, The matrix happened.

The 90s was described even at the time as "The Attitude Era". Everything was BIG. "Kidz Rule" was a massive trend, painting children ages 8 and up as rebellious and powerful in their own right (this is why movies like Matilda were so popular). "Girl power" was a big thing due to the Spice Girls. Everything was VERY loud, VERY in your face, unapologetic, oversaturated with colour due to shooting on film was still the norm and "digital colour adjustment" was not a thing yet in either movies or music videos.

Although there were concerns and scares and things, similar to today, I was a child and unaware of them. But overall, I would call the 90s as, overall, positive and confident.

Honestly, I found this a while back and it genuinely captures the decade the way I remember it the best;

Then 9/11 happened and everything changed.

#C-Puff answers

[sapphire-weapon]

I don’t have a problem with the new Wesker but I definitely think he is missing that snarl tone in his voice that all the other Wesker actors have had. He’s just a bit boring to me, I like how the previous actors made him sound distinct and memorable. (same applies fo Ada, who also has some of the worst voice acting her character has ever had).

Waugh and Douglas both defined how Wesker should sound, but this new incarnation sounds completely out of character. Wesker had been played to have a very refined manner of speaking. Admittedly though, it was a bit too heavy handed in Umbrella Chronicles, but in RE5 his voice matched his character perfectly.

but it is a bit early to judge. and i will reserve judgment until “CHRIIISSSSS” “7 minutes” and “complete…global saturation”

big disagree

the second i heard wesker speak in RE4make i was hit hard with

HOLY SHIT THAT'S WESKER

THAT'S THE MOST WESKER THAT WESKER HAS EVER BEEN

and i also disagree that the other actors made him distinct and memorable bc, like i said last night, he was a bond villain pre-RE4make and that's not distinct at all

in fact

i can't even remember what he sounded like in RE5. i forgot richard waugh was a thing prior to this ask and i'm not joking.

and that's not even me having covid brain, that's like. legit straight up.

i like craig burnatowski so much because instead of a snarl, his voice has tension to it. it's less haughty and/or animalistic and more plotting and/or menacing -- which, again, is how i've always viewed wesker's character on paper just looking at his backstory and dialogue divorced from any voice acting.

craig sounds like he's two seconds away from snapping in every scene he's in, and he does it in a way where he could go one of two ways depending on the context.

1. he'll explode and start shouting and it will be terrifying and probably triggering to ppl who have had abusive men in their lives

OR

2. wesker's dick is in his hand rtfn he is actively jerking off

like

wesker constantly calling leon a dog = he's two or three more lines of dialogue away from pulling out his dick and jerking off while on radio with ada

wesker telling ada that he does not pay her to ask questions = oh my god please don't fucking raise your voice at me i will cower

and when he doesn't sound like he's either of those two things, he sounds mostly disinterested -- like the "find luis and fetch me the amber" he sounds like he's distracted the way that a fuckin scientist would be trying to tell someone to do a really simple fucking thing while he's trying to actually do the brainwork

and like im sry but that's just objectively a better take on wesker, to me

u r not going to change my mind on this no one will

[khloeblair]

Dear existence:

I want to make this crystal clear before I start.

I would have been completely lost if I had not encountered Abraham.

I would never have learned so much about loa.

They introduced me to the logical concept of the receptive mode, and sparked big research hours on my part.

No matter what, I want them to perpetuate their intimacy with humans.

Having said that, I have refined my clarity of self enough to perceive them as enablers of human competition for physical resources.

This is valid, and they are a wildly appropriate school of thought for the financially wealthy.

Despite—or perhaps because of—my immediate reactionary impulses to project thought, I am very likely to recommend the receptive mode above the projective mode.

I can understand why a life here might feel like some variety of a sentence.

I get that.

When I do react to threats, my go-to receptive variety typically involves anime, kpop, or female rap, depending on the situation.

I can see where people might think that’s a limited demographic. In some ways, it is.

But those are the most strongly focused entities our society has to offer us.

If you think about it, people who fight their way to the top are our strongest vibrational gladiators.

It is natural, then, that our social media would be most heavily saturated with their content.

They are in the business of being the center of attention, which is a fabulous desire.

But when we’re internally globally focused, then people start looking at those types like they are somehow better off.

They’re not.

They’re more focused on attaining immediate physical results.

And while that’s not directly the purpose of life, it is a magnificent way to navigate life.

The rest of you who take their visuals so serioualy, you’re forgetting that the vast majority of wealth you have that they do not is invisible to the eye.

A camera cannot adequately snapshot love, and love is so humble and receptive an emotion that it need not parade itself in society or online.

Romantic, platonic, or otherwise, love is intimate.

Intimacy is the trade-off for the lavish goods.

And so, perhaps this might not lend to instant gratification, but it is far more pleasant a life to stay more frequently receptive.

Let the pushy ones circulate physical resources as they will, and know that your truest intention was to gather information about what you like.

This is high school.

Your entire life is high school.

It’s a campus with assignments, deadlines, and parties.

People always survive regardless of their level of performance and social standing.

I am not knocking what the wealthy do or who they are.

I am saying you should be equally proud of your own existence, whatever type of creature you might be.

And if you see some sort of flashy hair or body someone else suffered tremendously to attain, just remember that what you like goes on your permanent record, and you get complete admin access to that data once this is over.

And once you have graduated, you will always look back fondly.

This life is not your legacy.

It is your origin.

[journaling-a-process]

Analysis

I worry that I get too obsessive with the concept of adaptive/resilient design solutions for a unpredictable (but imaginable!) future. It is so broad and even something the architecture industry doesn't dive too deeply into. I am so inspired by natural systems and I love drawing parallels between them and the ways we can live. I believe evolution has done a lot of the heavy lifting for us, and now we can use AI to build off it and learn and actually apply those lessons. It is the very rejection of those processes that brought us to the point of global warming and there is nothing stopping it - I am not interested in "sustainability" because we are far past that point, you can pay to offset your carbon footprint all you want, it's not changing anything. I remember when the reports came out about being on the fast track to 2 deg C - I was in a somber sustainability meeting. In that meeting I had a coworker wondering if the costs of wood siding is worth it from a carbon standpoint, instead of the cheaper metal option. My other coworker, the director of sustainability in the AIA and author of one of the best sustainability standards for buildings, laughed and said go with metal - because it's going to last longer and be a more valuable resource for when someone rips it off to reuse it in the future. The conversation should now be about resilience.

I've gathered data from previous projects, studies, and readings on architecture and resilient designs as that's always been an interest for me. I have also combed through other slack groups I'm a part of to track new industry trends and companies in the scene. I've looked into subjects and ideas my groups has brought up from our brainstorming sessions. But I think it's been conceptually difficult for us because there is no clear blueprint - turns out the ideas we've had and understood clearly exist - maybe not in its final form but it's already become saturated. The ideas we are dancing around are hard to imagine since it doesn't exist, or exists is parts and pieces scattered across subjects with no clear connections already made. I find it exciting - to imagine what's not there, but am not the greatest communicator with my conceptual visions.

My team has dumped lots of ideas and subjects pertaining to our project together and individually. We've started to compile the research - even if its adjacent and not directly connected. Off to the sides of our documents or within our notes I've highlighted attributes and patterns so we can clearly track. Overall, we know generative design is about to explode the AEC field - while some architects express fear over getting runover by AI, they seem to miss the point that generative design still requires input and that it can be used as a tool. It's mostly used for developers and building owners to max profits. We are also see numerous trends for homebuilders and buyers for custom floor plans, as well as offer the 3D files for potential AR use in marketing. We even found a company using AR how we imagined, but for construction workers and engineers - to see on site how everything should go together. But again, there is a hole in the market to target individuals, to give them how things go together, and overall a lack of using generative design to create more resilience buildings using biomimicry.

[bellasfashion]

Valentino Bag future

The relaunch issue is also a collector's item and time-capsule of sorts, meant to take stock of the current moment and look to the future. When I bought the boots, I remember the saleswoman telling me, These are fabulous. They stomp across the street in work boots and giant nubby sweaters, worn as minidresses with nothing underneath. Do you ever have those days where doing mundane tasks like brushing your teeth, doing laundry, and even getting dressed feel like a chore I can relate. Oh, and if your New Year's resolution is to adopt a new signature color, you better make it purple - it's the 2022 hue in all tints, from Valentino Handbags Outlet Pantone's Very Peri color of the year to saturated violet and lavender shades.

For her pre-spring 2022 collection, designer Elza Wandler took notes from the iconic artist, architect, and tastemaker Lina Bo Bardi. All of the looks oozed surrealism, an artistic movement born in response to a time of war and economic upheaval in the 1920s. Magritte's surrealist and poetic Le Faux Miroir is reborn on the Boston clog with an emphasis on the eye, bringing into question who is the viewer and who is being viewed. The candles come in three delectable fragrances inspired by Loro Piana's rich textile tradition, taking you on an olfactory journey around the globe. In the series' early years, Banks sported bold-printed sets and baggy, colorful outfits that reflected her cheerful personality and interest in hip-hop.

I was always focused on something else. At the pop-up, you'll also find live screen-printing, on-site repairs, and customizations, all of which set in motion a circular Valentino Bag future in response to the mounting clothing waste problem that our planet is currently facing. This is why now, at 27, she's embracing the Y2K fashion comeback. At 400 bucks a pop, the footwear and best-selling book-turned-hit series are two extremely chic peas in a pod, thanks to author and creator Candace Bushnell, the real-life Carrie Bradshaw, and a self-professed shoe lover just like her curly-haired protagonist. For starters, relieve yourself from sartorial stress with our guide to winter date night outfits.

For those like Rouhani - who were too young or deemed too young by their parents to sport the hyper-sexualized styles of the era, like cropped baby tees that revealed too much skin and the infamous whale tails that literally exposed one's underwear - though, the Y2K comeback presents an opportunity to finally wear the styles on their own terms. I love how cartoonish this is. 11 and Dec. Lucky Valentino Handbags for us, Haim also sources autumnal inspiration for new music. The obvious parallel between Takada and Nigo is their shared heritage-they both grew up in Japan, attended Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo, and took a global view of fashion-but the real similarity is more nuanced.

#Valentino

[joseamooney]

20 Health Tips for 2020

The start of a new decade brings with it new resolutions to improve one’s life, including a healthier lifestyle. Here are 20 practical health tips to help you start off towards healthy living in 2020.

1. Eat a healthy diet Photo: FAO/J. Grey Eat a combination of different foods, including fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains. Adults should eat at least five portions (400g) of fruit and vegetables per day. You can improve your intake of fruits and vegetables by always including veggies in your meal; eating fresh fruit and vegetables as snacks; eating a variety of fruits and vegetables; and eating them in season. By eating healthy, you will reduce your risk of malnutrition and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.

2. Consume less salt and sugar Photo: WHO/C. Black Filipinos consume twice the recommended amount of sodium, putting them at risk of high blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. Most people get their sodium through salt. Reduce your salt intake to 5g per day, equivalent to about one teaspoon. It’s easier to do this by limiting the amount of salt, soy sauce, fish sauce and other high-sodium condiments when preparing meals; removing salt, seasonings and condiments from your meal table; avoiding salty snacks; and choosing low-sodium products. On the other hand, consuming excessive amounts of sugars increases the risk of tooth decay and unhealthy weight gain. In both adults and children, the intake of free sugars should be reduced to less than 10% of total energy intake. This is equivalent to 50g or about 12 teaspoons for an adult. WHO recommends consuming less than 5% of total energy intake for additional health benefits. You can reduce your sugar intake by limiting the consumption of sugary snacks, candies and sugar-sweetened beverages.

3. Reduce intake of harmful fats

📷 Photo: WHO/S. Volkov Fats consumed should be less than 30% of your total energy intake. This will help prevent unhealthy weight gain and NCDs. There are different types of fats, but unsaturated fats are preferable over saturated fats and trans-fats. WHO recommends reducing saturated fats to less than 10% of total energy intake; reducing trans-fats to less than 1% of total energy intake; and replacing both saturated fats and trans-fats to unsaturated fats. The preferable unsaturated fats are found in fish, avocado and nuts, and in sunflower, soybean, canola and olive oils; saturated fats are found in fatty meat, butter, palm and coconut oil, cream, cheese, ghee and lard; and trans-fats are found in baked and fried foods, and pre-packaged snacks and foods, such as frozen pizza, cookies, biscuits, and cooking oils and spreads.

4. Avoid harmful use of alcohol

📷 Photo: WHO/S. Volkov There is no safe level for drinking alcohol. Consuming alcohol can lead to health problems such as mental and behavioural disorders, including alcohol dependence, major NCDs such as liver cirrhosis, some cancers and heart diseases, as well as injuries resulting from violence and road clashes and collisions.

5. Don’t smoke

📷 Photo: WHO/Y. Shimizu Smoking tobacco causes NCDs such as lung disease, heart disease and stroke. Tobacco kills not only the direct smokers but even non-smokers through second-hand exposure. Currently, there are around 15.9 million Filipino adults who smoke tobacco but 7 in 10 smokers are interested or plan to quit. If you are currently a smoker, it’s not too late to quit. Once you do, you will experience immediate and long-term health benefits. If you are not a smoker, that’s great! Do not start smoking and fight for your right to breathe tobacco-smoke-free air.

6. Be active

📷 Photo: WHO/Y. Shimizu Physical activity is defined as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure. This includes exercise and activities undertaken while working, playing, carrying out household chores, travelling, and engaging in recreational pursuits. The amount of physical activity you need depends on your age group but adults aged 18-64 years should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity throughout the week. Increase moderate-intensity physical activity to 300 minutes per week for additional health benefits.

7. Check your blood pressure regularly

📷 Photo: WHO/F. Tanggol Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is called a “silent killer”. This is because many people who have hypertension may not be aware of the problem as it may not have any symptoms. If left uncontrolled, hypertension can lead to heart, brain, kidney and other diseases. Have your blood pressure checked regularly by a health worker so you know your numbers. If your blood pressure is high, get the advice of a health worker. This is vital in the prevention and control of hypertension.

8. Get tested

📷 Photo: WHO/F. Tanggol Getting yourself tested is an important step in knowing your health status, especially when it comes to HIV, hepatitis B, sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) and tuberculosis (TB). Left untreated, these diseases can lead to serious complications and even death. Knowing your status means you will know how to either continue preventing these diseases or, if you find out that you’re positive, get the care and treatment that you need. Go to a public or private health facility, wherever you are comfortable, to have yourself tested.

9. Get vaccinated

📷 Photo: WHO/F. Tanggol Vaccination is one of the most effective ways to prevent diseases. Vaccines work with your body’s natural defences to build protection against diseases like cervical cancer, cholera, diphtheria, hepatitis B, influenza, measles, mumps, pneumonia, polio, rabies, rubella, tetanus, typhoid, and yellow fever. In the Philippines, free vaccines are provided to children 1 year old and below as part of the Department of Health’s routine immunization programme. If you are an adolescent or adult, you may ask your physician if to check your immunization status or if you want to have yourself vaccinated.

10. Practice safe sex

📷 Photo: WHO/F. Tanggol Looking after your sexual health is important for your overall health and well-being. Practice safe sex to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections like gonorrhoea and syphilis. There are available prevention measures such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) that will protect you from HIV and condoms that will protect you from HIV and other STIs.

11. Cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing

📷 Photo: WHO/I. Brown Diseases such as influenza, pneumonia and tuberculosis are transmitted through the air. When an infected person coughs or sneezes, infectious agents may be passed on to others through airborne droplets. When you feel a cough or sneeze coming on, make sure you have covered your mouth with a face mask or use a tissue then dispose it carefully. If you do not have a tissue close by when you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth as much as possible with the crook (or the inside) of your elbow.

12. Prevent mosquito bites

📷 Photo: WHO/Y. Shimizu Mosquitoes are one of the deadliest animals in the world. Diseases like dengue, chikungunya, malaria and lymphatic filariasis are transmitted by mosquitoes and continue to affect Filipinos. You can take simple measures to protect yourself and your loved ones against mosquito-borne diseases. If you’re traveling to an area with known mosquito-borne diseases, consult a physician for a vaccine to prevent diseases such as Japanese encephalitis and yellow fever or if you need to take antimalarial medicines. Wear light-coloured, long-sleeved shirts and pants and use insect repellent. At home, use window and door screens, use bed nets and clean your surroundings weekly to destroy mosquito breeding sites.

13. Follow traffic laws

📷 Photo: WHO/D. Rodriguez Road crashes claim over one million lives around the world and millions more are injured. Road traffic injuries are preventable through a variety of measures implemented by the government such as strong legislation and enforcement, safer infrastructure and vehicle standards, and improved post-crash care. You yourself can also prevent road crashes by ensuring that you follow traffic laws such as using the seatbelt for adults and child restraint for your kids, wearing a helmet when riding a motorcycle or bicycle, not drinking and driving, and not using your mobile phone while driving.

14. Drink only safe water

📷 Photo: WHO/F. Guerrero Drinking unsafe water can lead to water-borne diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio. Globally, at least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with faeces. Check with your water concessionaire and water refilling station to ensure that the water you’re drinking is safe. In a setting where you are unsure of your water source, boil your water for at least one minute. This will destroy harmful organisms in the water. Let it cool naturally before drinking.

15. Breastfeed babies from 0 to 2 years and beyond

📷 Photo: WHO/T. David Breastfeeding is the best way to provide the ideal food for newborns and infants. WHO recommends that mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth. Breastfeeding for the first six months is crucial for the baby to grow up healthy. It is recommended that breastfeeding is continued for up to two years and beyond. Aside from being beneficial to babies, breastfeeding is also good for the mother as it reduces the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, type II diabetes, and postpartum depression.

16. Talk to someone you trust if you're feeling down

📷 Photo: WHO/F. Guerrero Depression is a common illness worldwide with over 260 million people affected. Depression can manifest in different ways, but it might make you feel hopeless or worthless, or you might think about negative and disturbing thoughts a lot or have an overwhelming sense of pain. If you’re going through this, remember that you are not alone. Talk to someone you trust such as a family member, friend, colleague or mental health professional about how you feel. If you feel that you are in danger of harming yourself, contact the National Center for Mental Health hotline at 0917-899-USAP (8727).

17. Take antibiotics only as prescribed

📷 Photo: WHO/F. Tanggol Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest public health threats in our generation. When antibiotics lose their power, bacterial infections become harder to treat, leading to higher medical costs, prolonged hospital stays, and increased mortality. Antibiotics are losing their power because of misuse and overuse in humans and animals. Make sure you only take antibiotics if prescribed by a qualified health professional. And once prescribed, complete the treatment days as instructed. Never share antibiotics.

18. Clean your hands properly

📷 Photo: WHO/F. Tanggol Hand hygiene is critical not only for health workers but for everyone. Clean hands can prevent the spread of infectious illnesses. You should handwash using soap and water when your hands are visibly soiled or handrub using an alcohol-based product.

19. Prepare your food correctly

📷 Photo: WHO/A. Esquillon Unsafe food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances, causes more than 200 diseases – ranging from diarrhoea to cancers. When buying food at the market or store, check the labels or the actual produce to ensure it is safe to eat. If you are preparing food, make sure you follow the Five Keys to Safer Food: (1) keep clean; (2) separate raw and cooked; (3) cook thoroughly; (4) keep food at safe temperatures; and (5) use safe water and raw materials.

20. Have regular check-ups

📷 Photo: WHO/Y. Shimizu Regular check-ups can help find health problems before they start. Health professionals can help find and diagnose health issues early, when your chances for treatment and cure are better. Go to your nearest health facility to check out the the health services, screenings and treatment that are accessible to you.

[vivfm]

            taps  toes   ...   well  hello  i’m  tam  and  i’m  shakin’  in  my  boots  here  ngl  but nonetheless  very  excited  to  be  joinin’  u  guys  here  today  with  elle  woods’  reincarnate,  𝖛𝖎𝖛𝖎𝖆𝖓  “  𝖛𝖎𝖛  ”  𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗𝖘  .  this  broad  radiates  dumb  bitch  energy  but  i  stg  she  has  a  big  brain,  and  can  hold  her  own  so  underestimate her   ...   i  dare  u   ...   moving  on   !   i  am  from  the  est  area  but  am  currently  orbiting  on  a  schedule  of  1pm   -   3am  and  i  spend  my  days  dissecting  texts  from  the  stupidest  boys  on  the  planet  so  if  u’d  like  to  plot  and  show  either  me  or  this  poor  lil  rich  girl  some  attention  feel  free  to  HMU  or  LIKE  this  and  i’ll  come  to  u   !

           *  𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐠𝐨𝐬  here  and  do  i  have  the  tea  for  you  .  vivian  is  back  in  bridgehampton  for  the  summer  ,  living  off  the anders'  family  $678  million  net  worth  .  must  be  nice  to  come  back  home  to  the  hamptons  ,  i  wonder  what  her fellow  class  of  2017  grads  think  of  her  return  .  you  know  ,  she was  known  around  town  as  the  pristine  and  for  bhs  senior  superlatives  she  was  crowned  as  most  likely  to  win  an  argument  .  i  wonder  if  that  still  holds  true  today  ,  a  lot  can  change  when  you  go  off  to  yale  and  study  global  affairs  .  either  way  ,  i  bet  she  is  still  very  effulgent  ,  placid  ,  dogmatic  and  reticent  .  hopefully  this  time  next  year  the  plans  to  begin  her  law  degree  at  harvard  come  true  .  in  the  meantime  ,  i  look  forward  to  seeing  pronouns  someone  tell  the  boys  -  samia  at  every  hamptons  function  .  it’s  going  to  be  a  wild  summer  home  ,  welcome  back  .

name   -   vivian  cordelia  anders

birthday   -   july  10th   (   cancer   )

gender  /  pronouns   -   cisfemale,  she/her

family   -   peter  anders   (   father   ),   celeste  anders   (   mother   )

similar  characters   -   elle woods   (   legally  blonde   ),  cordelia  chase   (   buffy  the  vampire  slayer   ),  jackie  burkhart   (   that  70′s  show   ),  charlotte  york   (   sex  and  the  city   ),  rachel  zane   (   suits   ),  noora   (   skam   ),  megara   (   hercules   ),  aimee  gibbs   (   sex  education   )

moral  alignment   -   lawful good

myers  briggs  type   -   esfj-a

aesthetics   -   the  feeling  of  silk  on  fingertips,  gentle  rain  on  with  the  sun  still  shining,  a  phone  call  going  on  to  its  third  hour,  the  smell  of  fresh  baked  bread,  bare  feet  on  fresh  mowed  grass,  a  sigh  of  relief  after  receiving  a  good  grade,  fingernails  buried  into  palms  to  dissuade  feelings  of  anger,  chandelier  earrings,  soft  forehead  kisses

history   -

vivian  anders  was  born  to  peter  and  celeste  anders  in  a  year  where  their  business  had  just  taken  off,  and  the  revenue  grew  as she  did.  the  first  few  years  of  her  life  were  cautious,  not  that  she could  remember  them  anyway,  her parents  refused  to  be  frivolous.  however,  as  their  influence  grew and  their  finances  flourished  they found  themselves  more  grounded  in  the  life  they  had  always  wanted.  this  was  particularly  true  of  celeste,  who  saw  her  growing  baby  girl  as  the  opportunity  to  live  out  the  dreams  she  couldn’t  in  her  youth.

so  as  they  settled  into  their  new  roles,  vivian  became  the  embodiment  of  her  mother’s  expectation.  she  was  polite,  she  kept  her  grades  up,  she  clung  to  popularity,  and  she  let  her  mother  exist  through  her.  she  was  to  be  the  daughter  every  mother  wish  she  had,  no  matter  how  hard  the  ideals  seemed  to  impress  upon  her  own  interests  and  desires.  

being  such  a  paper  doll  proved  to  work  in  her  favor  on  several  occasions  as  well.  she  was  underestimated  at  every  turn,  people  had  trouble  believing  the  girl  with  such  dulcet  tones,  walking  in  tandem  to  her  mother  could  carry  an  intelligent  conversation,  let  alone  working  her  way  into  one  of  the  top  ivy  league  universities.  she  worked  hard  to  make  this  surprising  as  well,  the  only  evidence  found  in  her  name  embossed  on  the  honor  roll  year  after  year,  and  her  top  position  on  the  school’s  debate  team.

so  focused  on  maintaining  her  reputation,  viv  was  often  labeled  as  the  good  girl.  she  always  knew  when  to  stop  drinking  at  parties,  she  was  the  type  to  stay  back  and  help  you  fix  your  mess,  and  she  was  outwardly  a  follower  in  high school

things  took  a  major  shift  in  her  freshman  year  of  university.  without  her  mother  monitoring  her  every  move  she  was  able  to  become  her  own  person,  more  well rounded,  more  outspoken.  it’s  also  brought  about  a  shift  from  leader  to  follower  energy,  she  no  longer  has  interest  in  being  anyone’s  pawn

personality   -

   “   what  like  it’s  hard   ?   ”  personified,  viv  is  modern  day  elle  woods.  she  lights  up  a  room,  is  saturated  in  kindness,  and  uses  logic  and  prose  to  work  through  her  anger  due  to  her  lowkey  (  lowkey  )  mommy  issues,  also  practically  gets  off  on  people  underestimating  her

tries  her  best  to  be  easygoing,  but  definitely  has  control  issues,  likes   to  plan  everything  and  is  extremely  detail  oriented.  doesn’t  love  arguing  but  she’s  good  at  it  and  she  loves  being  right  so   ...   fight  at  ur  own  risk

little  bit  of  a  mom  friend,  can’t  help  it  she  just  feels  as  though  she  has  a  responsibility  to  be  like  that  and  she  also  worries  she  has  nothing  else  to  bring  to  the  picture  so

doesn’t  just  try  her  best,  she  succeeds  baby   !

very  soft,  ngl  she  likes  to  spend  her  money,  sweet  baby  doll  esque  with  a  real  bite  to  her  if  need  be

#not even gna lie to u my brain is goin like weeoo weeoo rn so this is all i got #entitled:intro #ooc . #anyway ... kiss kiss luv u

[lisalowefanclub]

Multiplicity and what identification and representation means to Us

Madeline: I don’t remember there being many cool, attractive, and overall desirable but not fetishized (bye yellow fever) representations of Asian people in mainstream media while I was growing up in the early 2000s. The Asian media I did consume was introduced to me by my dad, so you can imagine the kind of outdated and endearingly weird characters I was exposed to as a kid. Think blind Japanese swordsman Zatoichi or humanoid child robot Astro Boy, both of which originated in Japan around the 60s. As for celebrities, I occasionally heard people talking about Lucy Liu or Jackie Chan, but only as defined by their stereotypical Asian-ness. My point is that this kind of cultural consumption fell into one of two categories: that of obscurity, which suggests that cultural objects are created by Asians for Asians (bringing to mind labels like “Weeb” for Western people who love anime), or that of hypervisibility grounded in stereotypical exoticism. You’d be hard pressed to find a film that passes the Asian Bechdel test.I didn’t discover K-pop until coming to college when I became curious about who my white friends were fawning over all the time. Since then, it’s been really neat to see how K-pop has become popularized as one of the many facets of America’s mainstream music and celebrity culture, especially when artists write and perform songs in Korean despite the majority of their audience lacking Korean language fluency. This suggests that something about the music is able to transcend language barriers and connect people despite their differences. Today it’s not uncommon to see Korean artists topping Billboard’s hot 100 hits, being interviewed on SNL, winning American music awards, gracing the cover of Teen Vogue, or being selected as the next brand ambassador for Western makeup brands like M.A.C. If you were to ask your average high school or college student if they know Blackpink, BTS, or EXO, they would probably be familiar with one of the groups whether or not they identify as Asian.What does this mean, then, for young Asian-Americans to grow up during a time when Asian celebrities are thought to be just as desirable as people like Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, or Michael B. Jordan? What does it mean to see an Asian person named “Sexiest International Man Alive”, beating out long-time favorite European celebs? What does it mean for popularity to exist outside of the realm of the racialized minority and for it to build connections across minority cultures? Of course, fame can be toxic and horrible-- it is, at times superficial, materialistic, gendered, fetishized, and absolutely hyper-sexualized-- but I for one think it’s pretty damn cool to see people who look like me featured in mainstream American culture.I’ve found that throughout the semester, my understanding of Asian presence in America (American citizen or otherwise) has been deeply shaped by our discussions of identity politics and marginalization, another class I’m taking on intergenerational trauma, and my own identity as a Laotian-American woman. Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the similarities between American proxy wars in Korea (The Forgotten War) and Laos (The Secret War), both of which involved US bombing of citizens in the name of halting communism. Taking this class has challenged me to reconceptualize how we make sense of mass atrocity in relation to a pan-Asian identity, especially when contending with how trauma and violence can act as a mechanism for cultural production, and I look forward to exploring this more in my thesis. 

Cyndi:  K-pop is always just the beginning. Enough in and of itself, any interest in the genre at all reinvigorates the consumer to become more engaged with the world in which it exists. Two years ago, I got into a big, but in hindsight pretty silly, argument with my mom when I started going to a Korean hair salon (because of my K-pop delulus / Jennie prints) instead of seeing Maggie, our Vietnamese hairdresser who I can usually only see twice a year on our bi-annual visits to California to visit extended family. My mom told me the Koreans don’t need our money, they are already richer than we will ever be. Who are ‘the Koreans’? Who is ‘we’?? Is every person of Korean descent doing better than every person of Vietnamese descent in America? And #why is my mom being A Hater? Surely, sharing our identity as ‘perpetual guests’ in America should create some sort of solidarity, or at least, allow for transitory economic collaboration??? I give my money to white people all the time: to McDonald’s (Cookie Totes), to Target, to Swarthmore College. 

K-pop cannot be the end. As much as I enjoy the music, the show, and the celebrities, I also know in my heart that the current international interest in K-pop will not last. As an almost perfect and perplexing exemplification of modern global capitalism, the industry will over-expand and thus wear itself out. I always see the subtle disappointment on my language teachers’ faces when they ask me how I came to take interest in Korean, and I have to answer ‘K-pop’, because that is the truth; that is not where I am at now, but it will always be how I began. It has become clear to me that this disappointment is not just a generational difference. Maybe these old people are jealous of pop stars like how I also have to question whether I am secure in myself when I see a 14 year old accomplishing things I as a 21 year old could never accomplish in my long life. I am coming to understand that part of their reaction comes from the fact that there is a fine line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation, that pop culture is ephemeral, but they have lived their lives as entirely theirs. Casual or even consuming interest for the parts of culture that are bright, and clean, and easy cannot ever stand in for true racial empathy, though it is where many of us start. Identity in K-pop is merely another marketing technique, but to the community of fans and lovers, it is something that is real, lived, and embodied. I find that looking at K-pop always brings forth my most salient identities in terms of gender, race, and sexuality. As much as female group members express affection and jokingly portray romantic interest toward one another, would it ever be accepted if these jokes were no longer jokes, but lived realities? Even if the K-pop industry itself did not seek to produce fan communities of this magnitude, these communities that have been founded in response to it are here to stay.  Lowe argues that “to the extent that Asian American culture dynamically expands to include both internal critical dialogues about difference and the interrogation of dominant interpellations” it can “be a site in which horizontal affiliations with other groups can be imagined and realized” (71). A recent striking example is Thai fans’ demand to hear from Lisa on the protests -- a primarily youth-led movement against the government monarchy--going on in Thailand. Although she is, of course, censored and silenced on this topic, the expectation is still there; fans are holding their idols to a standard of political responsibility. 

Jimmy: I haven’t really paid much attention to K-pop until working on this project. Sure, my cousins would do anything to go see BTS perform in person, but I didn’t care so much. Or maybe, I was just not saturated with the cultural zeitgeist. Whereas they live in the center of a cosmopolitan city which imports and exports, my hometown hums white noise. Increasingly, though, K-pop has entered into my life and the wider American cultural space. Now, K-pop tops the charts and is featured on late-night talk shows. Whether or not you are a devout follower, you have probably encountered K-pop in some form. It was not until I went to Swarthmore that I have “become” Asian American. Back home, my friends are primarily either white or Vietnamese-American. And even though I did recognize that I had an “Asian” racial identity mapped onto me, I did not consider it to be based on any politics. After engaging with and working within  Organizing to Redefine “Asian” Activism (ORAA) on campus, as well as taking this course, I have a better grasp of what it means to rally around an Asian American identity. It is a way to organize and resist. Reflecting on my political evolution, I feel comforted and alienated by the cultural weight of K-pop in America. It is amazing to see the gravity of cultural production shift away from the West. And to have global celebrities from Asia is great. Yet, K-pop is limited as a platform for Asian Americans to create identity. What are the consequences when mainstream ideas about contemporary “Asian” culture are still perpetually foreign from America? Is Asian American community just built around transnational cultural objects like K-pop and bubble tea? Does the economic and cultural capital of K-pop held by its idols obscure or erase the heterogeneity and multiplicity of Asian Americans? 

Jason: The first time I heard K-Pop was when Gangnam Style came on during a middle school social event when everyone is standing in their social circles doing their best not to be awkward when teacher chaperones are constantly staring at the back of your head seeing if any wrongdoing would occur. At that time, I could never imagine the K-Pop revolution that would occur within the American music industry.  Anytime I turn on the radio it is only a matter of time until a BTS song will start being blasted from the speakers. It is crazy to think that K-Pop has become so widespread within American popular culture that mainstream radio stations in Massachusetts are so willing to play K-Pop, even the billboards of 104.1 “Boston’s Best Variety” are plastered with BTS, because they know that is what their audience wants. Eight years ago, during that middle school social Gangnam Style was more about being able to do the dance that accompanied the song rather than the song itself. This has completely changed as more and more people are finding themselves becoming devout supporters of K-Pop. This class and project have continuously been pushing me out of my comfort zone by engaging in literature that I would never have read and discussions that I would never have imagined participating in. I have even listened to more K-Pop over the past couple of weeks than I had ever before in my life. I was impressed by myself when a song by BLACKPINK came on and the radio host said here’s some new music that I knew that the song was from their first album that came out around a month ago. I am grateful that I have been pushed out of my comfort zone and “forced (by having to actually do the homework)” to engage in the material of the class. Who knows how long this K-Pop fascination will last in American popular culture, but I am glad that I could be a part of it rather than letting it pass me by and staying within my comfortable music sphere of country, pop, and British rap.  

#multiplicity #cyndi #jason #jimmy #madeline

[fairycastlesintheair]

Pluie/Noir Studiocast 01 "Erik Sature"

Sound Mixed and Performed by Vadim Svoboda Visual Interpretation by Max Binski

Soundcloud Link: soon

Pluie/Noir teams up with Make Sense's Vadim Svoboda for a new series featuring artists exploring their favourite musical gear through improvisation.

Vadim's session is particularly educational. As a true connoisseur of Elektron's Machinedrum and a lover of classical music, Vadim decided to focus on the ROM feature of Elektron's infamous first drum machine and deconstruct Erik Satie's music on the fly. 

Used in the video: 

Elektron Machinedrum SPS1UW+ mkII 

Strymon Deco 

Zoom H6 

YouTube (sampling source)

Cleymoore interviews Vadim Svoboda:

Hi Vadim, such a pleasure to have you at P/N finally, especially having you bring a new format to the series. How are you, all things considered, amidst this global chaos?

Hello Bruno! Thank you, the pleasure is mutual! Been a long time we met each other and I’m glad to participate in Pluie/Noir's very subtly sharp universe. Regarding my physical being, I’m safe and sound. Thankfully, isolated in the countryside of France with people I love, so I feel lucky! I guess music producers are somehow trained for social distancing, but this is a serious threat to humanity, so it has to be taken very seriously. I wish we will learn lessons from it.

We’ve met a while ago, back when I was living in Paris. Makesense was on its 3rd release and you were still resident at the Sundae parties in Paris. How did the scene change after all these years?

I guess Paris became a bigger target for booking agents and famous DJs, but those « headliner » performances in big events didn’t necessarily help build our scene further. On the other hand, the reaction it provoked was good, and I see more and more promoters having the guts to do something special, and focusing more on the local talent, with 100% original music. This is, in my opinion, the best way to build a strong french scene. Booking one big name from the ’90s won’t really push our scene further, whereas booking 100 locals actually might.

After a long hiatus period, Makesense returned in 2018 with your own album 'Hasard Ordinaire'. A total shift in style for the label, it presented a side of you a lot of people didn’t know: bold, experimental and tremendously deep. Is this the direction you want to explore?

Yes, I’ve planned to explore different musical styles with Makesense from the start. Makesense has always placed a focus on emerging talents and promoting forward-thinking music. That’s what we pride on, and that’s what drives us. This year will feature at least two new releases. The first one from a very close friend of mine, someone I consider to be one of the most innovative french producers around, and the second one will be the first release of a Japanese Machinedrum master; glitchy, breaky and yet, so romantic. I have goosebumps while typing this, and I can't wait to show it all to you. We are back and for good. 

There’s a lot of sound manipulation of Pianos in Hasard Ordinaire. Is Piano is a big part of your creative life? 

I’ve been playing the piano since a very young age, so it plays an enormous part in my creative life. Throughout my life, I've used it mainly for advertisements and soundtracks. When I was about 18yo I’ve fallen in love with step sequencers, which lead me to the discovery of Elektron's Machinedrum. Because it's so simple to play, sequence and perform, almost like a piano, I've decided to perform live with it. I’m now trying to mix both of these worlds, and both creation processes: acoustic, grid-free, and synthetic pattern sequences. 'Hasard Ordinaire' is a gathering of several tracks I composed between 2009 and 2018: a compilation of musical drafts, or test tracks, that for some reason I’ve always hesitated to share.

When we met, you already had a deep love for the Elektron machines. I remember seeing you perform live with 2 Machinedrum, and carefully observing you flow with them in a very peculiar way. Is the Machinedrum currently your drum machine of choice? 

Yes, even though I've tried to take my distance from it many times. But it became an expansion of my soul, and most certainly a big part of my trademark sound. After 3 years of abstinence, I’m very excited to be back to this machine. I’m now separating outputs, applying external audio processing, reverbs, and compression, in order to improve it's sound while facing new challenges at the same time.

Do you record your samples always through the same mediums? 

The samples I use in my regular productions are always transferred to the ROM machine of the Machinedrum, and those can come from anywhere, including internet samples banks, vinyl records, youtube, iPhone recordings, etc. Those sources are converted by the Machinedrum into a 12-bit lo-fi sound that I like and are never left untouched. I like to create the groove from A to Z, so I use the timber of the sample to create texture, and sequence it upside down. I like to put a sample in the centre of special projects, like in "Erik Sature".

This session seems like an educational experiment. What did you intend to reach? 

Every couple of days someone asks me something about this machine. I love it. I’ve never met anyone at Elektron but I feel like I'm probably one of their earliest Machinedrum owners. I bought my first SPS1-UW in 2005, and I've spent a minimum of 4 hours per day, every day, for more than a decade, on this machine. It just took me a long time to find the best way I could share my knowledge. I wanted it to be fun to do (hence the improvisation), fun to listen to (like a normal live performance/mix) and yet, still educative (like a tutorial). I’m ultra-passionate about the Machinedrum, and I feel a special connection with the people that feel the same about it.

Why Erik Satie? 

In my opinion, the best sample is the one you can't recognize. Satie brings a lot of emotion with very few notes, so it’s somehow easy to grab the texture of a certain piece, or its central mood while transforming it and creating a whole new melody on the fly, with very little effort. I think minimalist piano players are fun and easy to sample. You can quickly appropriate yourself of their sound. Chopin or Rachmaninov, on the other hand, would need more slicing precision, and I guess the podcast wouldn’t have this « easy-listening » touch. I wanted the first one to be simple, and clear. 

What can we expect from you in the near (or not so near) future?

I almost finished a piano album that took me 2 years of practice and re-organising of my entire studio. I hope to be able to perform this album in small intimate venues (if we survive this virus!). Playing keys in a concert has nothing to do with playing keys in a recording studio. Then I'll get back to clubs, which I’ve missed very much.

Links:

http://www.makesenserecords.com http://vadimsvoboda.bandcamp.com http://www.maxbinski.com http://pluienoir.tumblr.com https://www.elektron.se/legacy-products/

Web: http://www.ringsofneptune.com / info (at) pluienoir (dot) com

#vadim svoboda #elektron #machinedrum #erik satie #pluie/noir #podcast #studiocast #maxbinski

[makeupaddict2012]

A New Wave of Beauty Influencers!

Welcome to article number 1 of my new series where my goal is to cast some light on new and upcoming beauty influencers. We all know that there are the same few LARGE beauty influencers that seemingly have taken over the beauty space. What if I told you that new and much better wave of influencers are on the rise?? Well, today in my first blog post, we are talking about Cody Jay! Cody Jay is an Ohio based professional makeup artist with such an incredible vibe. I had the opportunity to speak with him on a few topics and also got some input from him on the beauty community as a whole. When I say this man is a breath of fresh air, I mean it!! For starters, his approach of being a beacon of light, encouragement, love, and support is on another level. Through my own personal interactions and observations, I have seen Cody Jay constantly sharing other artists work, incorporating them into his youtube videos to help them get exposure, give up PR spots so others would have a chance to finally be on one, make videos exclusively to uplift other creators and artists, and most importantly I have have seen him use his platform for good. It’s rare to see someone with such a good head on their shoulders. Now if we are talking about work ethic.....man does he ever sleep?? Cody uses Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, and Facebook to upload his content, engage with his audience, and create friendships and connections, Cody literally engages with EVERYONE, unlike most who ignore their fans. He has dubbed his supporters as Jaybabies because he says

 “I never want my followers or supporters to think they are just a number. I call them Jaybabies so that they know they are special and mean the world to me. I wouldn't be where I am already without every single one of them.” 

That’s enough for me to support him off of that statement alone! In addition to makeup, Cody Jay also has a passion for skin care. He regularly creates skin care content that is for every type of skin. He always makes sure that his content is inclusive and can be helpful to everyone. I think what will make Cody Jay a contendor for success in this saturated space, is his true passion and love for beauty and his naturally kind and supportive demeanor. Based on his actions, it’s clear to me that he wants everyone to succeeed and he already has showm that he ususes his platform to help others succeed. 

When asked what his biggest accomplishment thus far was, this is what he had to say: 

“Honestly i have had so many dreams and goals and to be honest, I have accomplished half of them in the last year. I have been working my absolute hardest and I try to make sure everything is done the right way. I have a few really big accomplishemnts so far. I would say my biggest accomplishents are being added as an affiliate for Makeup Geek because I love everything about the brand, as well as the owner, Marlena Stell. It’s a globally recognized brand and it still shocks me to see my face on their website haha. I’d also say that being able to monetize my Youtube channel was something i never thought i could do, so that was pretty exciting for me. And lastly, I would say that just having people tell me that my videos or content has helped them learn somthing, or feel better is the biggest accomplishment out of them all”

I applauded Cody Jay for his accomplishments and I believe they dont go unnoticed. I truly believe he is a force to be reckoned with. Towards the end of our interview, I asked Cody what his goals are for the next year as far as social media, Youtube, and overall growth. He had this to say:

“I have a ton of goals for the next year. I of course want to continue growing my platforms, because thats more people I get to connect with and ultimately become friends with. I would also like to join a few more PR lists for brands that i love because being able to be supported by those brands and also be one of the first people to review new products would be very helpful. I want to meet some more of my Jaybabies this year and would also like to collaborate with a brand on some type of limited edition version of a product. I dont know what kind of product that would be yet, but i think it would be amazing. And lastly, i REALLY want to figure out how to make my Youtube channel just become a huge hit. Im working very very hard on that, so i hope to make that happen soon. 

My final question to Cody was, “ What are your thoughts on the beauty community as whole, and what changes would you like to see? His response was as followed :

“That’s actually a huge question hahah. For starters, i feel that the beauty community has lost sight of why they are there. There is so much drama and cancel culture is huge right now. It creates so much division, hate, and bad behavior. People need to get back to loving makeup, celebrating the art, and lifting up each other rather than tearing people down. Of course the problem isnt with everyone, it’s typically with larger influencers and then everyone gets super opinionated and they start going after eachother, it’s truly sad to see. I would like to see everyone learn to love eachother again, support eachother, be happy and kind, remember that the beauty community is supposed to be a BEAUTIFUL place, and i REALLY would like to see SO MANY more smaller creators be given the sptlight. It would be life changing to have these larger influencers or brands use their audience to help smaller deserving artists grow. Look at my friend Marly (LVNDRBEAUTY) for example. She was given a gift from a large influencer and she took that gift and turned it into a HUGE empire in a matter of months. Shes thriving right now with her own business and it literally changed her life. We need more of that.”

So, if you are in the beauty space and are looking for a new up and coming artist to support, i would definitely recommend checking out Cody Jay. I wish him the absolute best and cant wait to see his face in a sephora one day! You can find him on:

www.youtube.com/codyjayy

www.Instagram.com/Codyjayartistry

www.twitter.com/Codyjayartistry

Snapchat - Codyjayartistry

Tiktok - Codyjayartistry

I hope you enjoyed part 1 of my new beauty community “Who You Should Know” and if you have any artists you feel should be featured next, PLEASE let me know! Have a blessed day and remember, Stay Beautiful!

#beauty makeup skincare beautycommunity beautyinfluencer influencer

[cyberpunkcinema]

From the Air?

This is the time. 

It’s been a weird era for cyberpunk.  Not some four years ago, I remember staring at a screen in a now defunct bar, when Hilary lost.  She wasn’t perfect, but she wasn’t him.

During that election, I had hoped that some mass media Ant Farm art-terror event would eliminate the orange dude as he spouted tactical static on TV.  It’s why I watched, waiting, itching for a non-fiction fantasy:  a traveler would appear and eliminate the bad man, pulling him into a portal-- maybe even severing a small hand off as the aperture closed.  But what I remember most, in that climactic moment as the polls sunk in, was a stark detachment.  I couldn’t really process it, because I wasn’t really there.  It was just a movie.     

Years later, I would be sitting at a chinese restaurant watching live aerial views of the Grand Princess Cruise ship docking at the Port of Oakland.  There were fences and tents and sealed vehicles broadcast live on the local news.  Everyone was hazmat-ready.  I thought back to that time when the lady lost, and realized this Covid-19 moment was an extension of that detachment, the next sequence in the movie: a series of news clips and disturbing facts, mixed with Verhoeven commercials.  It was time to introduce the would-be protagonist.

Instead, an ochre authoritarian antagonizes a public with daily disinformation.  There are mobile fridges filled with the dead.  Millions have been made jobless.  EPA rules have been suspended.  Unemployment relief chokes on a demand for COBOL.  Remote learning classrooms are harassed by bigots.  Homeless shanty towns expand as streets empty.  That orange covidiot says none of this is his fault?

This was real before, but it’s in our faces now, or even on our faces: salient, frustrating and fogging up the view.  This forced pause looks no different than what we see at Cyberpunk Cinema.  Are we supposed to buy this shit?

And this is the record of the time.

Cyberpunk was once a small branch of print science fiction, informed by blossoming technology trends and crime-noir.  Oftentimes, it is distilled into pure aesthetic, to a certain gaze, a visual shorthand for a hurried imperfect future:  neon lights, hard tech, inequity, wet pavement, cigarettes, robo babes and “damn the man.”  A lot of this circulates around the ‘net as over-saturated sexy robot renderings interspersed with slice of life images like a protestor in neon-lit Hong Kong.  But this content manifests itself remotely for most users, on a screen, in an era where everything on a screen can be faked.  But for Cyberpunk fans, Covid-19 has catalyzed what once flickered on the liminal screen into an uncanny reality.  Dystopia now? 

If we look through the canon of Cyberpunk, we can see the common backdrop of dystopia, either veiled or in plane view.  The word dystopia itself means “bad utopia,” and utopia means either an “imaginary place where everything is perfect,” or “no place.”  Are we in a real world where everything is perfectly bad?  

On the flip side, Cyberpunk protagonists thrive in a moral grey area, where it’s okay to be uncertain, to play the odds and angles, to question authority.  It’s a genre without absolute good or bad, and often lacking hope.  Characters like Deckard, Major Kusanagi, Angel Velasquez or even Takeshi Kovacs rely on pragmatic action against the existential crisis.  And sometimes, a little utilitarian decision benefits the masses, even if at the hero’s own peril.

Cyberpunk spins us fiction so that we can see the truth.  As aspects of Cyberpunk become more real, where do we go?  Have we passed the peak of human human civilization as posited in the Matrix?  Or perhaps we are just entering Gibson’s Jackpot, with a series of looming global catastrophes significantly altering life on Earth.  And while the master has stated that the future is here but unevenly spread (and perhaps very, very tacky), it may be that the future just needs more people of cooperative positive action.

With each step you fall forward slightly.

A portion of people have the luck for bandwidth, digital subscriptions, delivery services and comfort at home.  Others are working the various frontlines.  Some people have it piecemeal, or even nothing at all.  It’s a poignant time to ponder what people really want.  The structures all around us, that keep this planet as we know it going, are transitory.  Some of these are artificial constructs, others are ecological realities.  These structures require a flow and exchange to operate.  But without that movement, the system goes stagnant.  Do people enjoy corrupt governments, mega zaibatsus, surveillance-states, face mask shortages, gerrymandering and that damn spray tanned puppet? 

I’m not sure what the next few months or years will be like, but as our science non-fiction dystopia movie manifests and becomes documented history, perhaps we need to reach deep and build what tomorrow ought to be?  The air seems temporarily cleaner.  Oil temporarily has no value.  Service workers are always essential.  

Maybe it’s a time to consider the options.  Doesn’t everyone have healthcare, a job, sufficient housing and a hobby in a future-imperfect?  Maybe “now” is just a crash screen, an errant data point when graphed over a long enough timeline.  Maybe, we are the protagonists in our collective cyberpunk movie.

Anyhow, our future is always serviceable.  And remember, until we get to reconvene: keep your distance space cowboys :)

10 things to watch at home, not strictly Cyberpunk: 

Until the End of the World by Wim Wenders.  This is excellent, whimsical, and fantastic for fueling fernweh!  Please watch the full 4+ hour cut.

Demolition Man.  What happens when the transfer of bodily fluids is outlawed but somehow Taco Bell employees can still prepare food?  

Soylent Green.  Because it’s about a quarantined, scarcity marketplace, cast society America.

The Cabin in the Woods.  It may be horror but it takes a lot of tech and magic to keep that bureaucracy going, until it all stops with godly giant fire monsters,

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (風の谷のナウシカ). I think this is the unofficial sequel to Cabin in the Woods on a certain timeline, after the godly giant fire monsters expire. 

12 Monkeys.  This may hit too close for home, but can someone systematically spread a plague?

Sleep Dealer.  This is for all you WFM, even I have been remotely “piloting” a device.

The Strain series.  Season one is like now, but instead of Covid, vamps.

Idiocracy.  The deterioration of society, but with funny.

The Andromeda Strain.  Can technology fight a biological weapon?

And one edit:  Please donate to the Knockout staff fund and keep the venue alive!

#cyberpunkcinema #cyberpunk

[viridiusmundi]

discoveries #2

Research requires a lot more effort than you can appreciate prior to diving in. Now i’m lost in a sea of tiny terrariums, plant-aquariums, and my new favourite indoor plant (well, one of my favourites) the Boston Fern:

a gorgeous little houseplant, that can grow up to (and over) 60cm high and wide indoors. I have made a range of little terracotta planters that would suit these babies nicely. You can start small, 6cm, and watch ‘em outgrow their tiny pots or  jump straight in, with an adolescent teenager, around 20cm, and manage them while they figure themselves out. You must never let them dry out or touch their fronds! Your human oils will likely turn the leaf brown and kill it.

Then we have this beauty:

Columnea Nemn!atanthus, the ‘Gold fish plant’

Fast becoming a global favourite, this hardy little plant’s beauty lies in your ability not to kill it. The internet is strewn with sad tales of neglected columneas. Always research the plants that you own.

Also remember that some modern plants are, in fact, hybrids - modified and selected. This may alter their needs. If you’re a busy beaver you should stick to plants that can cope with mild neglect, or missing a few days water. One such plant is the absolutely stunning Hindu Rope plant,  hoya carnosa compacta:

A “fat plant” so to speak. A succulent. Can tolerate dry soil and can survive without water, but they will always look better watered. You must water them and feed them every 3-5 weeks during the summer, saturating the soil. Let them dry in the top one-third of the pot, before topping up. As with all our plants we only ever feed them baby bio (£2/$3 from amazon!). It seems to be the most consistently trusted plant food in the world, and we at Kapareli agree. Get yourself some and you’ll see.

Anywho, must dash, there are pots to paints, plants to water, the usual!

Will be back with new discoveries very soon! x

#plants #ceramics #pots and plants #indoor plant #kapareli #handmade #london #kapareli apothecary

[dcnativegal]

Day 55 of Pandemic, & I’m sick

Monday, May 4, 2020. Day 55 of the global pandemic (declared by World Health Organization on March 11th.) We as a planet hit 3,500,000 cases today, and 250,000 deaths. There are many more than that, but the planet doesn’t have enough tests.  But then, there was this announcement:

So obviously we’re in good hands. [Sarcasm alert.]

 The entire planet has slowed down, such that seismologists can detect the quieting of the earth: less shuddering of industry, cars, construction. Check out the drop in electricity usage:

Here’s a bit of perspective from Instagram:

The Lesbians of Paisley have been fertile ground for viruses. Valerie is nearly recovered from the viral pneumonia she was diagnosed with on March 26 at the emergency room at Lake District Hospital. She’d begun to feel feverish and achy, with violent coughing on March 15th, 2 days after what turned into my last day in my office at the hospital’s primary care clinic, and a day and a half after we’d dined with our friends Toni, Al, Bonnie and Bruce in person, sans masks. We began 100% isolation from the outside world the minute she felt sick. She recounted the ER adventure to a friend thusly: We drove in and they have organized a system that resembles getting on a [military] base after 9-11. We sat in the pickup at the checkpoint until a somebody in protective attire had taken my temp and saturation levels and asked a bunch of questions. Then they slapped a red sticker on the dash, told us to park in the ER lot and "don't get out of the pickup." Five hours later I had donated blood and been CAT scanned. I had two pneumonia shots that were current and two flu shots, also current. They checked the blood against 14 different virus strains and came up blank. The chest showed white lungs and my saturation levels were iffy. So they used one of the tests they had been sent, gave me antibiotics (just in case) and sent me home. Took me three days to sleep off all that fun.”

Me and Griffey the poodle waited in the pickup for her. At every sound, he got up from the passenger’s seat and looked at the ER entrance where she’d disappeared. No Valerie? Back to sleep. I walked him 3 times.      Hope, her RN daughter, told us that her flow through the ER was great practice in maintaining distance and perfect hygienic process through the CT scan, taking blood, even pushing her food on a tray to her. Lake Health District Hospital is prepared, and still, technically speaking, zero cases in the county.

I was so anxious about her health, her ability to breathe, that I gave up all thought of working from home. I listened to her breathing and coughing, brought her tea, and finally, asked her to write out her last will and testament. She did, and put it away. I figured, her kids are wonderful and won’t fight about stuff but, better for her to express her wishes, even if the paper wouldn’t be legally binding.

Apparently, I get the FrankenDodge (the pickup which has hit one too many deer and who’s grill is sewn together by wire). I’ll take it but I’d much rather have her.

We waited 10 days for the nasal swab results. While we waited, she got better. Never had that cytokine storm, nor that respiratory crash. Storms and crashes; pretty apt words for the medical horror of end stage COVID-19. Once her test came back negative, despite the warning of her PCP who says that nasal swabs miss between 30 and 47% of positive cases, I was able to go to town on the 10th of April, get some software downloaded onto the computer so I could work from home, and hit Safeway while wearing a mask. I also dropped off one of Valerie’s homemade masks to a friend, along with some toilet paper illustrated with Trump’s kissy face. The moment of levity was greatly appreciated.

I started feeling lousy six days after my jaunt to Lakeview (April 16th). Cough and release of gook high up in my chest. Headache. No fever. Who knows if I have COVID-19. We listen to a British gentleman, Dr. Campbell, daily, as he reviews what’s going on globally, and he interviewed a woman who had exactly my illness course, before she moved on to fever and gastrointestinal symptoms. She never got tested. Too much hassle. Which is so ridiculous, criminal really, and in the USA, a direct result of American hubris and incompetence. Fine. Anyone with any symptoms of any illness is isolated until we have a vaccine and treatment, is my prediction. I’m still feeling shitty, though better. Started taking antibiotics just in case and in the hopes of recovering SOMEDAY.

 My son Jonah and his girlfriend June escaped just in time the terrible plight of New York’s COVID19 deluge of infections and hospitalizations. They’ve been in Baltimore at June’s mother’s beautiful home. He spent his 26th birthday in the basement because they were still in quarantine. See adorable picture, below. Now they’re allowed upstairs, enjoying the quiet. Apparently, writing and directing music videos is not an essential service during a pandemic, but he’s writing pitches and living off the most recent lucrative gig with Kesha, thank goodness.

One of the most moving things that is happening in the USA during this time is the 7pm clapping ritual for medical workers and first responders in New York City, in all the boroughs:

There’s a firefighter in DC who’s going to hospitals and nursing homes to play the bagpipe.

That’s where my daughter Clara lives, in DC, but right now she’s staying with a friend in Laurel, MD, since her group house dynamics are stressful and had a symptomatic guest at last report. She’s working from home to make sure the Latinx school children are getting the tutoring they need now more than ever. We worry about her husband Jose and his country, Guatemala, since there are COVID-19 cases down there, and refugees seeking asylum are being dumped there, with and without the virus. Over 700 cases in Guatemala as of today. We hope he will get to the USA this year. However, Trump referred to it as a shithole country, which doesn’t bode well.

My sister and her husband are well, thankfully. They work fulltime from home in the company of Pepper the cat and Darcy the chocolate lab. Yuuki, 25, stays there, too, mostly in their room; they are out of work and applying for unemployment. Kohji, age 28, works from home in DC and makes more money as a web designer than I ever will after 34 years as a social worker, but who’s counting. (I remember well the admonition of a field instructor back in 1987: don’t go into social work for Power, Pay or Prestige.) His girlfriend is probably out of work; she works for a nonprofit that plants trees in DC. Probably not essential work right this very minute. Makoto, 23, is out of quarantine and looking for something to do; he’ll be a senior at the University of Delaware this fall. As far as I hear on Facebook and email, the rest of the folks with whom I share DNA are well. So that’s good. I worry about my Aunt Mary Lee who is 87. But she says not to:  she’s fine and her ritzy retirement community in McLean, VA is on “lockdown.”

Psychologically, in the experience of quarantine and ‘social distancing’, there’s me, and then there are my clients.

My moods go up and down, but a little further down than usual. The terror that Valerie might die of COVID-19 has passed, but I figure I will always need therapy.  I have “Facebook messenger” video chats with my therapist, Darcy of Bend, every other week now, which helps. Having ‘Generalized Anxiety Disorder’ and a tendency toward major depression, I find therapy to be a corrective. A bimonthly tune up. Without it, I naturally veer toward negativity and neurosis, and a hypervigilance that served me well when I was a child, but is exhausting, overwrought and over-thought as an adult.

Psychologically, Valerie is always fine. Seriously. She was once told as a young woman by a therapist who’d tested her with the MMPI (the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) that she was outrageously and puzzlingly normal. Now that she’s feeling mostly well again from the pneumonia, she’s been tearing up the joint, fixing the sump pump that apparently keeps this little house from drifting down main street on the wetlands it’s built on. Digging out the leaves from our irrigation ditch, chopping and clearing the wood from our front yard.

The BEFORE picture:

The AFTER Picture.

 And this happened one morning in March. Just a cattle drive past our front door.

Valerie’s planning a garden at her daughter’s place, which has a deer-proof fence and lots of sun up on the hill above us. A delivery of horse manure is scheduled, and the garden bed has been rototilled. Val’s granddaughter Jessica and her husband Alan are living up there now, working from home for their Portland-based gigs. They’re almost finished the 14-day quarantine since they moved down here. The new normal: anytime anyone leaves one locale for another, they disappear into strictest quarantine, not to leave their abode. Groceries are delivered to the doorstep. A recent day turned out to be Jess’ 25th birthday: I’d bought a canvas bag with a picture of a pug on it, like her dog Archie, and Valerie found something gluten free flour mix with fresh jam to give her. Birthday gatherings are suspect at the moment.

Here’s a lovely idea for quarantined birthday celebrations:

What a kind and generous offer.

Even in isolation, Val and I do socialize, on zoom. The one pictured below is church.

We ‘visit’ with our fellow parishioners from St. Luke’s on Sunday evenings. Then we say Compline together, from the Book of Common Prayer. My favorite prayer of all time is this one from that service.

Yes, shield the joyous. Because joy is fleeting.

Our writers’ group, Easy Writers, ‘meets’ on zoom every Monday now. I wrote this bit about my yarn for the prompt, ‘write something in your home that means a lot to you.’

I am doing a great deal of crochet and a little knitting.

Yarn is my comfort and my joy. It is the raw material I create blankets and scarves and hats with. My tools are hooks and needles made from wood and plastic and metal. My fingers are also my tools.

Some of the yarn is like cotton candy: spun mohair from a goat is said to have a ‘halo’ or ‘aura’ because of the gentle cloud of color you can see an inch or two away from the spun thread. Some yarn is like twine: you can see every string of ply. My favorite is merino wool and single ply. A unity of color that will not split. All for one and one for all, the fuzzy stuff is twisted and bound into a single string of strength…

My clients are stressed out. The pandemic adds a layer to the stress they were already experiencing. I listen and knit, from within the cocoon of the yarn room which my folks can see behind me.  One of my clients wanders about with her phone in her hand while I get slightly dizzy. I like this kind of counseling since I get a glimpse of my clients’ homes. Reminds me a little bit of being a geriatric care manager. You can tell a lot about a person from their home. From my home you can tell that I have a lot of yarn, and I work multiple projects at a time because there are piles of them alongside my recliner.  

One of the sad weights of being present for my clients is their level of estrangement for most if not all social connections, especially people with whom they share DNA. And every single one has what is called in the mental health world “complex PTSD” from multiple traumatic experiences.  I sit with them, on the phone or via video. I hope to model for them what Carl Rogers called ‘unconditional positive regard.’ I breathe deeply to release my own distress at their sadness. We explore one tiny step toward reducing their isolation, the sense of trust. All during a pandemic where other people could be carrying a potentially deadly virus.

It’s no wonder I’m pawing mohair out of screen for my own comfort.

Sometimes I email clients links or articles on how to keep their spirits up, or about good things that are happening instead of the dire predictions they’re listening to or watching. There is much to share that is hopeful.  I sent one to a client on creative ways to care for everyone and she shot back:

“I believe this is Liberal rhetoric. 

Esp the paragraph below:

 This current emergency provides the possibility for a new emergence—the birthing of a truly civil civilization dedicated to the well-being of all people and the living Earth. “

Oh well. We can’t have a truly civil civilization dedicated to the well-being of all people, now can we?

Sigh.

 Brilliant writing is being penned right now, since the entire planet’s human inhabitants are barely one degree of separation away from this virus, which is apparently ‘barely alive’ and therefore hard to kill, as it spreads onward to make millions miserable and hundreds of thousands die.

I’m saving articles from The Atlantic, The NY Times, and the Washington Post, and following a historian named Heather Cox Richardson who writes a daily blog called Letters from an American. In a recent post she writes:

“The big news … has been the ‘protests’ of state governors’ stay-at-home orders and mandatory business closings to try to contain the novel coronavirus …These protests are a classic example of trying to control politics by controlling the national narrative. The protests are backed by the same conservative groups that are working for Trump’s reelection. …These are not spontaneous, grassroots protests. They are political operations designed to divert attention from the Trump administration’s poor response to the pandemic. Even more, though, they are designed to keep the American public divided so that we do not protest the extraordinary economic inequality the pandemic has highlighted.

These protests have diverted the national conversation by turning a national crisis into partisan division along the lines the Republican Party has developed since the 1980s... The change of subject protects not just Trump but also the ideology at the heart of his Republican Party. Since 1981, Republicans have argued that the economy depends on wealthy businessmen who know best how to arrange the economy—the makers-- and that it is vital to protect their interests. Under their policies, wealth in America has moved upward. The pandemic has highlighted how these policies have removed economic security for ordinary people. They cannot pay their bills, and they might well turn against an ideology that uses our tax dollars to bail out corporations while they must risk their lives to pay their rent.”  [Emphasis mine]

I am so glad someone smarter than me can reveal the interconnections of what’s going on politically.

There is food for thought on Facebook and Instagram: in the guise of a rewrite of Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese, this poem.

Mary Oliver for Corona Times (after Wild Geese)

by Adrie Kusserow

You do not have to become totally zen, You do not have to use this isolation to make your marriage better, your body slimmer, your children more creative. You do not have to “maximize its benefits” By using this time to work even more, write the bestselling Corona Diaries, Or preach the gospel of ZOOM. You only have to let the soft animal of your body unlearn everything capitalism has taught you, (That you are nothing if not productive, That consumption equals happiness, That the most important unit is the single self. That you are at your best when you resemble an efficient machine). Tell me about your fictions, the ones you’ve been sold, the ones you sheepishly sell others, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world as we know it is crumbling. Meanwhile the virus is moving over the hills, suburbs, cities, farms and trailer parks. Meanwhile The News barks at you, harsh and addicting, Until the push of the remote leaves a dead quiet behind, a loneliness that hums as the heart anchors. Meanwhile a new paradigm is composing itself in our minds, Could birth at any moment if we clear some space From the same tired hegemonies. Remember, you are allowed to be still as the white birch, Stunned by what you see, Uselessly shedding your coils of paper skins Because it gives you something to do. Meanwhile, on top of everything else you are facing, Do not let capitalism coopt this moment, laying its whistles and train tracks across your weary heart. Even if your life looks nothing like the Sabbath, Your stress boa-constricting your chest. Know that your antsy kids, your terror, your shifting moods, are no less sacred than a yoga class. Whoever you are, no matter how broken, the world still has a place for you, calls to you over and over announcing your place as legit, as forgiven, even if you fail and fail and fail again. remind yourself over and over, all the swells and storms that run through your long tired body all have their place here, now in this world. It is your birthright you be held deeply, warmly, in the family of things, not one cell left in the cold.

-Adrie Kusserow

 Not one cell left out in the cold. Yes.

There is so much to be grateful for. I have a place to live, and even while paying off my bankruptcy debt, I have plenty. Enough that I can make small donations here and there. Here’s one cause I found: supporting foster children who were in college and now have no place to go. (Terrible visuals for the logo: it’s “Together We Rise.”)

Soon, the nights of below freezing temperatures will pass, and both Lesbians of Paisley will be healthy at the same time.  Perhaps I’ll get my Tricycle-for-Grownups serviced and toodle around for exercise. Perhaps the Stitch & Bitch knitting/crochet gatherings will resume, maybe in a park for physical distance and social connection.

And maybe I’ve already had Covid-19, and so has Valerie. Looks like 50-70% of all the people on the planet, not quite 8 billion humans so maybe 4 to 6 billion people, need to catch this thing in order to give our species herd immunity. Or WILL catch it because we have no way to stop it, only to slow the infections so that health care is not overwhelmed. We live and Love in the Time of Coronavirus, to paraphrase Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I maybe a libtard, a snowflake, a lily-livered liberal, who’s heart bleeds. But I agree with this sentiment, found on Facebook, our American ‘commons’:

Love absurdly and abundantly, my people. And wash your hands. 

#covidー19

[smokeybrandreviews]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Wise Choices

After being bored by Raiders of the Lost Ark, absolutely loathing The Temple of Doom, i finally found my way to the last of the original trilogy; Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. This one i actually remember seeing. I don't remember much, but i do remember the end. I always though it was hilarious. But, again, it's probably been two decades since I've actually seen this film. Since i was already on a roll, why not partake in the book end of the original Indiana Jones trilogy?

The Great

Sean Connery was perfectly cast in the role of Indiana’s father, Henry Walton Jones, Sr. Connery, as ridiculous and problematic of a man in real life, has always been an obscenely excellent actor. He has this presence and charisma that saturated, often overpowering, every role he takes. That smoldering prestige is on full display in Crusade, threatening to overtake even Ford. Fortunately, Harrison is up to the challenge and their scenes together make for absolutely brilliant cinema.

Speaking of Ford, this third outing as Indiana sees him having perfected the role. A lot of who we believe Indy to be, first coalesced here, in Crusade. I love his chaotic, almost slapstick, energy as he punches Nazis and solved centuries old riddles. This character is always at his best when there is a strong second to play off and having hi pops around give Indy fertile ground to work.

I though the chemistry between Ford and Connery was fantastic. Connery was, by this time, a seasoned veteran, often improvising lines. Ford, no slouch himself, was able to key in on that energy and turn in some of the best inter-character banter i have ever seen. I actually believe that these two people could be father and son, that’s how organic their performances are in this flick.

The Good

Once again, John Williams shows up with the heat. This score isn’t as grand as the one in Raiders, but it didn’t need to be. Don’t misunderstand, it’s excellent and fits the film perfectly, but it definitely takes a backseat to the acting this time. Connery and Jones are on full display and Williams just accentuates that skill.

The tone of this film feels like a proper Indiana Jones adventure. Coming of Temple, i was afraid Spielberg and Lucas lost sight of what made the character special but Crusade proved my worries were unnecessary. Third times a charm and what charm this film film has.

While on the subject of Spielberg, he turns in another great directorial effort.  I imagine having such pros on deck as Ford and Connery made his job a lot easier, most Connery. Dude brings out the best of any production. Still, great effort behind the camera here.

The story this time around is fantastic. It feels something worthy of the character, rather than whatever the f*ck Temple was supposed to be. Crusade is exactly that; A grand crusade of global scale. I missed this Indiana. Even though i don;t care for the franchise, i always respected the sheer scale of the narratives and this is one of the best. Lucas really turned out something special.

The supporting cast is pretty okay, There isn’t much to mention about those particular performances, though. I mean, i loved seeing Rhys-Davies as Sallah once again and River Phoenix as Young Indy was a surprise but i found myself rather enamored with the Fraulein Elsa Schneider. Coming off Willie, any chick with any semblance of agency would have been a godsend but Alison Doody actually does a great job with her part. The supporting performances were all great, i must say. Casting was nailed perfectly this time around.

Once again, the cinematography is on point. It was in Temple but i was too distracted by the terrible f*cking character writing to notice. Not here. This flick is stunning. I mean, a lot of it takes place in the middle of a f*cking desert, again, but we get to see such a different face of it all. This film was my first introduction to the city of Petra. I remember being awestruck by it’s majesty. That is the feeling an Indian Jones film should illicit.

The action is very good this time out as well. It doesn’t feel like one long ass chase scene, and it doesn’t feel forced or methodical. They found a good pace for the film this time and it really makes for a decent watch. I was never really on the edge of my seat but i was never bored either.

The Verdict

I actually really like this movie. Color me surprised. For me, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is the best film out of the series. It’s not my favorite, Crystal Skull is, but it’s the best version we’ve ever gotten of these characters. It’s not a classing on the same scale as the first Indy outing, but it’s a nice cap to the trilogy and easily redeems it’s preceding affront. The pacing is brisk, the story refined, and it’s shot beautifully. The two leads performances are incredibly strong but it’s the palpable chemistry between Connery and Ford which gives this movie it’s edge. If you’re a fan of movies, definitely check this one out It’s well worth your time.

#Indiana Jones #Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade #The Last Crusade