#all the robins are different and unique and each one’s story is so heavily influenced by their predecessors | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cristydemeterio · 3 years

Text

20 HEALTH & FITNESS

1. MyFitnessPal

Run by one of the biggest global fitness brands, Under Armour Connected Fitness, it should come as no surprise that it features an abundance of health and fitness resources. Here, you’ll find everything from recipe ideas to the newest workout trends to fitness product reviews, so make sure to add this blog to your bookmarks.

2. ACE

Looking for expert-level advice? Look no further. American Council of Exercise relies heavily on scientific data to support their claims on training programs and design, nutrition, and overall health and wellbeing. All the information featured is produced by renowned professionals in the industry, you never have to worry about whether you can trust the content.

3. Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle is the fitness industry’s top source for credible information on exercise, fitness, health and nutrition. Comprised of a team of experienced and passionate professionals, you can be reassured that the content you find is not only accurate, but is a comprehensive guide to get you to your health and fitness goals.

4. Jessi Kneeland

Body image struggles tend to come hand-in-hand with health and fitness goals, but Jessi Kneeland is devoted to helping individuals challenge negative mental habits and build self confidence while improving their physical fitness. This blog is dedicated to improving both mental and physical health, so you'll find a diverse assortment of empowering diet, fitness, and mental health pieces with a body-positive influence.

5. Blogilates

Looking for personable and relatable stories, combined with simple fitness tips and tricks? Meet Cassy Ho, award-winning fitness instructor and creator of POP Pilates. Cassey’s blog consists of lighthearted and down to earth posts about her fitness journey, and tips you can implement to help you with yours.

6. mindbodygreen

When we're focused on a specific goal or aspect of our health and fitness journey, we often find ourselves with a case of tunnel vision and let other components of our health fall to the wayside. This blog is just the cure for our one-track minds: mindbodygreen is a genuinely comprehensive resource that advocates holistic wellness, including emotional and spiritual health along with physical health.

7. Fitting It All In

Clare, the author behind Fitting It All In, started her blog amid feelings of isolation and confusion shortly after recovering from an eating disorder. Through the blog, she was able to share her story and provide support to others struggling with mental and physical health issues. Years later, she's a fourth-year medical student with minimal free time— her blog is packed with tips and advice for squeezing health and fitness into our whirlwind lifestyles while staying healthy mentally, too.

8. Fit Men Cook

Everyone has their “ah-ha” moment, that one point in time when you suddenly realize you need to take control of your health.. Now. For Kevin Curry that moment happened when he saw a photo of himself on a friend’s FaceBook page. With Kevin, healthy eating doesn’t need to be boring or bland. On this blog you’ll find delicious, healthy, and cost effective meals, and training tips, to help you on your lifelong fitness journey.

9. Bad Yogi

Ready to redefine “yogi”? Erin started the blog after jokingly referring to themselves as “bad yogi’s” because they didn't fit in with the stereotypical yoga-goer. Erin wanted to create an anti-clique, judgement free yoga community. Her transparent and relatable writing style allows you to get to know the real Erin, while educating you on mental health, nutrition and of course, yoga.

10. Mentality WOD

Learning how to deal with stress and pressure are integral to progressing toward a healthier overall self. Mentality WOD is dedicated to helping you improve not only your CrossFit performance but also your success in your daily life outside of the gym. If you feel like you've hit a plateau in your fitness progress, mental training may be the piece you need to reach that next level.

11. Love, Sweat, and Fitness

Sometimes the prospect of learning and making changes to our lifestyle can seem like a monumental task. Just like it was for blogger Katie Dunlop. Her journey started after college when she found herself 45 pounds overweight, tired of the ups and downs, and not sure where to turn next. She took her life in her own hands and found her passion helping other women do the same. Now a certified trainer and group fitness instructor, Katie’s blog is loaded with motivation articles, fitness and nutrition tips.

12. Carrots N Cake

Looking for your one-stop-shop for all things fitness related? Look no further. Tina started Carrots N Cake back in 2008 when she made the decision to ‘shape-up’ for her wedding day, knowing it would mean a true lifestyle change to keep the weight off. Over time, her blog has developed into a place for fitness enthusiasts alike to use as a resource for recipes, workouts, beauty and fashion, momlife and living with a chronic illness.

13. Fitness In The City

Healthy living in an urban environment comes with its own set of unique challenges. Fitness In The City is targeted at working professionals in urban settings seeking an escape through their diet and fitness pursuits. The recipe and fitness resources are fantastic, but the gorgeous food photography alone will have you hooked!

14. Runtastic

Whether you’re just starting to implement running into your exercise regime, or have a few marathons under your belt, Adidas blog Runtastic has everything you need to know about running. The blog includes articles like how to make running a daily habit, nutritional advice to support running, and testimonials of how running has changed people’s lives.

15. MindSpa

If you like data and research, this blog is for you. MindSpa uses neuro-technology to help individuals get better sleep. But their blog goes beyond sleep, and is filled with scientific research articles broken down into several different categories like circadian rhythms, female wellness, adolescent research, meditation, exercise and athletic performance, and more.

16. Life

Life by Daily Burn is dedicated to helping you live a healthier, happier and more active lifestyle. The blog goes the extra mile to empower you to take control over physical, mental, and emotional lives. If your goal is to lose weight, gain strength, reduce stress, or make healthier food choices, Life provides reliable and insightful articles to help you achieve your personal goals.

17. The Balanced Life

Robin Long is a mother to four children and a fitness instructor, so she is intimately familiar with the struggles women face trying to find the time to work out somewhere in their hectic schedules. Her blog is full of free barre and Pilates workouts, lifestyle tips, and nourishing recipes striving to make health and fitness goals more attainable for busy women.

18. Eating Bird Food

Making changes to your eating habits can be challenging. That’s exactly why Brittany started her blog Eating Bird Food. Her passion is to help others live happier and healthier lives providing simple ways to implement diet changes to allow you to become your best self. The blog consists of diet specific recipes, including gluten free, diary free, vegan, paleo, and low carb, tips on how to change eating habits, and her own personal health stories.

19. Well+Good

The health and fitness industry is continually evolving, and if you love to stay on top of the latest fitness trends and healthy living tips, Well+Good is the blog for you. Articles feature the newest developments in all facets of wellness, ranging from sustainable travel tips to natural energy supplements.

20. Mellowed

Life can be difficult, confusing and well, stressful. Now try to make lifestyle changes and it becomes even more complicated. That’s where Mellow comes in. The blog is designed to help you cope with the stress that life throws at you each day, and live a healthier, more mellow life. Mellow focuses on mental health, stress management, anxiety, wellness and everything in between that plays a role in helping you enjoy life, not stress over it.

3 notes · View notes

danwhobrowses · 4 years

Text

Valentines 2020: A Celebration of My Ships

So it’s valentine’s day again, and...yeah it’s not too great when you’re single is it? Considering that I’ve already gone through a tub of ice cream...

But, it doesn’t mean I’m a cynic, quite the opposite. Most of my fandoms involves a ship in some shape or form, hell I shipped before I even knew what shipping was, so I’m gonna talk about some of them...the ones that still make me happy and didn’t crash and burn in heartbreaking and frankly insulting fashion (looking at you Homestuck ¬_¬), gotta mention that these are not all the ships I ship, they’re just some of the ones I’m quite consistently high on

New Entries So with new fandoms come new ships...as is the usual formula anyway, though my pattern of watching things is usually with some delay, I only watched Rurouni Kenshin and started My Hero Academia in 2019, I still hold off on Attack on Titan and My Hero Season 4 because if I get in, I get IN. So these fandoms may not be new, but they are new to me Steven Universe is very new to me, I’ve been aware of how good it is and their concepts like Fusion. I like it, particularly Lapis Lazuli I really relate to her, but ship wise the two I really like are the obvious ones; Steven x Connie and Ruby x Sapphire (Garnet)

Garnet is badass and chill at the same time, but when she unfuses we see the stuff that makes me smile, the pda between Ruby and Sapphire is adorable, the little pecks and whatnot softens me up like no man’s business. Steven and Connie also have the mushy dynamic with both of them deeply into each other but still being strong individuals. The love for each other is equally platonic as it is romantic as they gel together, both being strong willed in different ways. The laughter probably gets me the most with both of them, the genuine laughter is so sweet and so realistic it’s hard not to love. My Hero Academia seems to be our next wave of shonen anime and for good reason, it does high notes so well and the cast of characters are vibrant and exciting. I haven’t hit Season 4 yet since I’m waiting till it’s all done to binge so I may be a little behind on some stuff (sadly it’s hard to avoid spoilers, I know about Infinity and Unbreakable). While I do like Deku x Uraraka, Tetsutetsu x Kendo and Eraserjoke but the two that I find most enjoyable are Todomomo and Kamijirou

(artist nonoko135 btw, bit tough to find a single image with both ships) Fairly popular ships in their own right, Todomomo doesn’t get many hints but they are sweet, naive rich kids with their own confidence issues, it also feels like they look out for each other especially after the final exam they did together. With Kamijirou though it’s probably one I favour if I had to choose between the two, simply because it’s a dynamic I really like; she busts on him so hard to mask her enjoyment of his company and he takes it because he feels at ease around her, the best part is when Kaminari goes 0 volts, he makes her laugh and that’s kinda big for Jirou given how self-conscious and stoic she can be. Rurouni Kenshin was always on my list, I have often heard about the Swordsman with a blade that cuts no-one. The anime is a bit up and down, after Shishio it’s just filler, but as documented in my Redemption Arc post it is at its core a great story of redemption for the main character, and the driving force for Kenshin’s redemption is his love for Kaoru

While Sano and Megumi have a unique dynamic hinted to be romantic at times, nothing can really beat Kenshin and Kaoru, she literally became Kenshin’s conscience, a representation of his hope to be a good man away from the shadow of Battousai the Manslayer. It may be your traditional romance of the two wanting to be by each other’s side in danger but it works so well given the kind of danger Kenshin is often in. Kaoru still strives to protect herself and aid Kenshin in a way that doesn’t make her continuously wonder about being a burden and Kenshin does everything in his power to keep Kaoru from pain, physical and emotional, even if it meant leaving to keep her safe. The main part of what makes this lovely is the fact that not only did Kaoru’s influence make Kenshin value his own life once more but after continual torment in his past she still saw him as the person he wanted to be, and welcomed in a new home, a new family he was able to live a life he never imagined he could deserve. The Regulars Our Regulars are the ships I still consistently ship, they’re not very old but they’re still pretty great and they still stand the test of time. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has quite a few ships over its 6 (coming up 7) season lifespan, being the longest surviving MCU tv series and one of the most consistently great shows MCU offered - especially Season 4, some of the best TV was on Season 4. But while Philinda is close, Mack and Yoyo or even Piper and Davis (don’t, I don’t care if you believe she’s a lesbian with the hots for May these are my ships) there is one one ship in Shield you can all rally behind, Fitzsimmons

Even when canon it is a consistent emotional rollercoaster. One of those ships where the writers know you love it and decide to put you through as much pain and emotional torment as humanely possible. But you endure it, because these two smart kids are worth it. They have sweet moments, badass moments, emotional moments and even though they get brought apart time and time again, they still find each other, the universe cannot stop them - and it better end happily for them come next season. Overwatch was a phenomenon when it came out a few years ago, Blizzard may have caused it to have some heavily bad rep but I still look forward to its sequel coming out. Given its large roster and most of the characters’ sexuality and relationship status up in the air, it leaves a lot of room for shipping. I do still love Anahardt, Mercy76 kinda falling due to 76 being gay but I like Gency too, my rarepairs include McPharah and Symmzo but my favourite is actually Meihem.

Now I know, Mei’s only voice lines towards Junkrat are cold, they have differing views in terms of omnics and...due process of the law. But there’s a lot they do have in common; both are quite intelligent engineers having made their weapons by hand, both endured trauma and both love their puns. But even the stuff that make them different can compliment one another. You don’t have to like it, but I do, I enjoy the dynamic of Jamison being so head over heels that he embarrasses himself to try and get Mei’s attention, while Mei softens to the fact that his very nature is warped by his lawless upbringing and that deep down he is an exciting and in his own way sweet guy. Back to anime, because what else do I do with my day, getting into One Piece was always going to be a long effort, keeping tabs on the Manga does make it easier and I’ve been able to catch up quickly. Ships are shaky territory with One Piece because Oda does make a point of not having romance happen a lot, not to existing living characters at least. But I still have the ones I like; Shanks x Makino, Sabo x Koala, Franky x Robin, Sanji x Pudding, Rebecca x Koby, the list goes on, but my favourite has to be Zoro x Tashigi

May not be up there with the ‘big ships’ of One Piece but I do enjoy them the most. Individually the two are characters I have deep interest in; Zoro is well Roronoa Fucking Zoro, santoryu swordsman extraordinaire, master of nothing happening and will cut you 8 ways to Sunday, but Tashigi is a character I like because she also tries, unlike Zoro she isn’t blessed with 2 years training with Mihawk and she’s at constant arms with this self doubt that as a Woman she won’t be as strong (and probably whoever of influence to her made her believe such a thing), people may get on her back for never winning a fight but she fights strong people without a second thought. But back to the pairing, they have an interesting dynamic; two very similar people on different sides of the law, I don’t think Tashigi continues to chase him simply because he refused to cut her in their fight and I don’t think it’s just her former resemblance to Kuina that gets Zoro so riled up about her, I mean Zoro is usually so chill to side characters to the point where he’s ready to throw down but with Tashigi, it’s different, they bicker but he also came to her aid. I still continue to hope that Tashigi shows in Wano for more Zoro interaction, and to prove herself to fans and to Zoro that she is strong and capable. One of my favourite anime of all time is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, a combination of laughter, tears and deep philosophical character journeys in a 20th century world with the alchemy fantasy element drawn from actual legit alchemical sources. It just hits all the right notes for me, and ships hit right too; I love most of the ships from EdWin, AlMay and LingFan, but like Fitzsimmons there is one ship that stands above even the main characters, Royai.

Mustang and Hawkeye right from the bat have that connection that needs no dancing around, they care for each other but they work together. Like the rest of the ships they banter, argue but always have each other’s backs, to the point that they go into an insane rage at even the threat of the other being hurt. I don’t think anyone can not ship these two, that’s how strong their chemistry is, even if they can’t officially label it as a relationship because of their jobs it’s that line in the sand that everyone knows it, because it’s impossible to ignore. The Old Guard So we get to the oldest ships in my catalogue, the fact that they could stand the test of time is for a long time what shaped me as a shipper. I still ship these to this day so I ship them pretty hardcore Comics is probably the hardest place to ship something, because different writers will try different pairings at the drop of a hat. Even consistent pairings like Spiderman and Mary Jane, Batman and Catwoman, Beat Boy and Raven, Superman and Lois and more can end up being split in favour of Cindy Moon (I do love Silk), Wonder Woman and others. But I can’t ignore the fact that I’ve always loved Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon

I may’ve liked Teen Titans, but I was never on Team Starfire, it’s fine if you are but to me I have always been in with Dick and Babs. Not only do they have excellent banter but they gel well on and off of crime fighting, no matter how many times DC break them apart (like seriously, how many times do you have to try Bruce and Barbara until you realise that it creeps people out?) they always find each other again someway down the line, they are one of DC’s best couples and while they may never get a definitive ending because of the nature of comics, I still love that there’s a relationship of two strong individuals who can stand as equals and continue to keep their charm and wit after years of being together. When I was young, decades ago as it pains me to type, Digimon was the prime competitor against Pokémon’s tidal wave. Its anime had an awesome opening, more characters with some deeper themes and a quicker pacing. While many could quickly connect to Tai or Matt for their leaderlike attitude or Joe and Izzy for their intelligence or Mimi and Sora for their determination, I gravitated towards TK, a child who had room to grow and the greatest of potential, so when the Dark Masters came in we saw one of my oldest ships take form, Takari

TK and Kari’s pairing was popular that it managed to carry on into Adventure 02 and we got plenty of lovely moments in TRI (though they shorthanded both by having Ophanimon quickly fused and Seraphimon - one of the strongest Digimon - digivolve as backup in a Sora episode). 02′s epilogue is of course a sore spot we can hope Kizuna retcons because these two have been through thick and thin and their bond is clear. Even as they reach their late teens and TK has become master of hats and joined Matt’s band, they still hang out, banter and tease but they still are comfortable to hold each other’s hand and be vulnerable with one another too. Digimon may’ve been a contender, but Pokémon was still the clear winner, even to this day it is one of the most popular franchises in the world. The anime may be an up and down slope (current series seems a tad boring, 10 episodes before Ash caught a Pokémon, plus I don’t like that Ash won in Alola and now thinks he doesn’t have to try) but you can never take away the nostalgia, or the ships. I’ve shipped many in Pokémon in various media; Mallow x Lillie and Jessie x James in the anime, Ruby x Sapphire in the Manga, Looker x Anabel in the games (with Emma being their adoptive daughter dammit Looker you could’ve taken her with) among others and from Pokémon comes the oldest ship I’ve ever shipped, Pokéshipping

Before I even knew what Shipping was I shipped this, Misty may also be mostly the reason for my attraction to redheads but that’s neither here nor there. People may not like it, may prefer some of the softer spoken female (or male) companions Ash has had or feel they’ve grown out of it, but not me. I loved Misty’s feistiness and determination but also the fact that she could reign Ash in (sometimes) to make him think things through, as much as Misty was a companion to Ash she was a rival, a teacher and a supporter of his goal, but she also had her own goals which she fought for as well. They may bicker but they have also had tender moments as well and even with Misty’s return in the excellent Sun and Moon episodes they had their chemistry is palpable. To me, Ash and Misty were kindred spirits and the feeling has never changed since. So with another year of Valentine’s Day going the way it usually does, I’d like a moment to thank these ships, and all my other ships I didn’t have the space to mention, for being something that brings out happiness and a soft joy deep within my being, and for all the fanartists and fanfic writers that bring that love to life Happy Valentine’s Day

21 notes · View notes

m00nslippers · 5 years

Note

Would you go more into how creators could make Tim more interesting and sympathetic? I neither like nor dislike like him; but i like intereting thoughts and ideas. I’ve always heard he’s the most like Batman, a detective. I’ve seen a lot of contrast between him and Jay not only as rich boy/poor boy, but since Jay’s his predecessor. Other than that I don’t know much.

Do you mean like fan-creators or how I think the comic writers should make Tim more interesting/sympathetic? I don’t know what you’re asking, but I’m just going to speak generally.

I think Tim is very sympathetic as it is, his problem isn’t that he isn’t sympathetic. I have some ideas about what the issue with Tim’s character is but the issue actually changes based on what Tim we are really talking about. There seems to be three very different versions of Tim IMO, and each have different problems.

Tim 1.0 (OG Tim) is an enthusiastic, very empathetic kid who was stoked to be a superhero who tried his best and accomplished a lot despite being of only slightly above average talent and was otherwise extremely normal and ‘relatable’ despite a neglectful/abusive homelife.

Tim 2.0 (Red Robin/some N52 Tim) is an anxiety-ridden mess who worries constantly and has fears of inadequacy but is also overconfident in his deductions and judgements of other people. He’s experienced a lot of hardship and to cope he relies heavily on his friends for comfort and goes a bit crazy when their support is taken from him.

Tim 3.0 (Rebirth Tim) is a know-it-all tech genius and master combatant who is a bit sarcastic and full of himself and feels the need to micromanage those around him because he feels personally responsible for everything within his field of influence.

Okay first of all the problem is that there are like…three different versions of the character and some of the traits are mutually exclusive. Writers writing Tim need to settle on one version.

The problem with Tim 1.0 is that large parts of that identity are not sustainable, they are reliant on the character being young and shiny. Once you’ve been a superhero for five years and gone through all the hardships and downs involved, can you really still be so eager and ‘normal’? Is that realistic? Certain aspects of this character have a time limit which requires this him to change or evolve and take on different traits. The writers realized this and started trying to change him over time by including more anxiety that dampened his enthusiasm, made him more subdied and experienced.

The problem with Tim 2.0 is that he has a well-crafted personality and backstory and is a great evolution of Tim 1.0 as a person, but his superhero identity falls to the wayside. He’s no longer Robin anymore and suddenly it’s hard to say why he’s a hero, why he’s necessary, why he’s there apart from that he’s just always has been and it’s inertia at this point. That’s the huge problem with ‘Red Robin’. Who is Red Robin? What makes him unique? What does he do that no other character really does? The writers made a more mature character, but then started taking away everything he had that was his own (mostly, his friends). I think Lobdell actually tried to help with this by giving Tim some tech and his team back in N52 Teen Titans, but his personality suddenly didn’t make sense because a lot of what made him like that way was retconned out of existence, which brings us to…

The problem with Tim 3.0, which is that he’s an empty shell, he’s the opposite of 2.0, he has superhero traits but he lacks personality and backstory. He’s barely a person and the personality he has is radically different from the other version so you can’t really cut and paste to flesh him out. Know-it-all control freaks are not bad characters, they can be really fun, but the existing framework for Tim’s story does not support the personality that was given to him. You have to go back and change a lot of who he was at the beginning for it to work. This character really needs to be reworked from the ground up.

Now the problem I think a lot of fanwork-Tims have is that they can’t decide which Tim they want to do. Because they really are different. Basically, just pick one. And probably don’t pick 3 because it’s trash, honestly. Don’t try to mix and match too much and do them all because it’s not going to work very well, for the most part. Just make a decision and go from there. I think a lot of people try to put all the skills and control-freak aspects of 3.0 onto version 1 or 2 to make him ‘cooler’ and it actually makes the character less likeable and make less sense.

The other problem I see in fanworks is just plain favoritism-based reality warping (sometimes also called Mary-Su/Gary-Stu-ness). What I mean by that is that the writer constantly manipulates the plot and the other characters in the story so as to put their favorite in the most sympathetic light and praise their accomplishments above all others. This is especially bad if it causes other characters to act out of character in order to feed the narrative that Tim is to be loved above all others. Characters are suddenly unrealistically unfair to Tim because the reader must sympathize with him the most. Everyone disagrees with Tim about the plan and then later they are proved wrong and have to apologize to Tim. That kind of thing. I think in this fandom it’s used very subtly, but it’s still there. When Tim is constantly the one who is rescuing grown ass-vigilantes with more experience than him, and he never needs rescued himself, that’s a problem. When he’s always a step ahead of everyone else, even those who as intelligent and as smart as him, and he is never confused or at a loss, that’s no good.

Considering all the people around Tim, realistically he should not be the most capable/knowledgeable person in the room at any given time (especially for versions 1 and 2), because everyone else in the batfam is equal or superior to him in most skills. I think a lot of what makes earlier Tim likeable, and one of the few things that makes him different from the other Robins, is that he’s an underdog. He’s not the most whatever in the room but he tries hard and you want to see him overcome his obstacles. Making him more capable than he’s supposed to be actually makes him less interesting, IMO. So don’t be afraid to let him fail, to let him need help, to let him mess up. Those are good things. They don’t make him weak or dumb, they just make him human. Otherwise he’s just a caricature.

#Tim Drake #Timothy Drake #Red Robin #Robin #Drake #meta #fandom #creators #comics #critique #fanwork #fanfic #writing

51 notes · View notes

charmingturkeysandwich · 5 years

Text

On Series Finales

(I need to get this out of my head)

(I have so much to say about narrative structure vs. audience opinion)

People always have very strong opinions on series finales. Obviously. It’s the culmination of years of investment in something. Because of this you’re never going to make 100% of people happy. Each of us is invested for different reasons; we connect with different characters. What we “like” is always going to differ.

That doesn’t mean that calling something a “bad” finale is all about taste or who you ship or stan or what have you. Sometimes the episode simply fails the narrative it built. Being disappointed in something because of a narrative failure can’t be written off as “you just wanted a happy ending and that was never going to happen.” Especially with modern dramas, bittersweet is the happiest we can really hope for. Even comedies usually have some painful episodes leading to the end. I don’t think anyone is expecting TV shows these days to end like Disney movies. Hell, Disney movies sometimes don’t end like Disney movies anymore.

Anyway, enough babbling. Here’s the thing: in fiction - as in life - expectations are everything. Many writing choices the writers, directors, and producers make will set up these expectations. When they’re not met, people are cranky. And for valid reasons.

1. Where you start a story is important.

An often ridiculed series finale is How I Met Your Mother. The pilot focuses on Ted falling immediately in love with Robin. And the “twist” is all “oh, that’s not your mom; that’s Aunt Robin!” But there’s a reason it started there. Yes, technically, you can argue the reason is because Ted ran into the mother at Robin’s wedding, so meeting Robin was important. But they chose to continue to focus on Robin/Ted the whole fucking series. So technically it made sense narratively for him to come back to her in the end. Somewhere along the way I tweeted the show and said it should be called How I Met Your Aunt Robin, because it truly was more about her than the mother. So, yes, people were pissed when she died and it was “all for nothing.” But despite the title... it was never really her story. So in this way, I defend the ending. It fit the story that they told. They began with Robin. They continued to focus on Robin. Why wouldn’t he “end up with” Robin?

2. Pacing matters - and heavily influences expectations

In How I Met Your Mother, you have a day-to-day, usual kind of sitcom for 7 seasons. Then all of a sudden, a 48-hour span of time is spread out for an entire season! This was jarring and I found it to be tedious. Jack Bauer is not here; the world is not at risk. We do not need a minute by minute account of these two days. In this way, I think the whole last season is a disappointment.

It also served to adjust our expectations. OK I just watched 20 episodes of how much Barney loves Robin - this must mean something. NOPE! Divorced in one episode. An episode, mind you, where they flew through years of their lives. After drawing out two days. For a whole season. They put a couple decades in, like, a half hour. In this way, How I Met Your Mother failed narratively. The pacing sucked and it made us expect something different from the finale. In this regard, I fucking hated that show and want my time back.

Pacing is super important to Game of Thrones, AKA the reason I can’t get series finale essays from running through my head. You’re set up in a world that is medieval-esque. There are no airplanes and Ubers and the magic doesn’t seem to have evolved into teleportation or the like. Everything was slow in the beginning, for many seasons. Conversations were at the forefront. It was a social game. It was about the people, first and foremost, even though the stupid sword-y chair was important, too. That was the plot. Likewise, in the beginning, people weren’t protected by plot armor. Remember, GoT so fantastically shattered our collective expectations for a show, but in the most organic, realistic way. We were carrying the expectations of other dramas with us and projecting them on this show, assuming Ned was “safe” because he was our lens - at least, more so than anyone else. He was the protagonist! He might be tortured, but he surely wasn’t going to be beheaded. Wrong! He was. That and its fallout allowed us as viewers to fully commit to a whole new set of expectations.

But then as time went on, travel just kind of... happened. Things that should have taken a whole season happened in a scene! And with no kind of acknowledgement. Additionally, that initial slowness built us up to have HUGE payoffs. Think of all the tiny things that led to the disaster/amazing episode that included the Red Wedding. They built us up and they met that slow burn hype. In later seasons, they have ridiculous outward hype over the white walkers and Night King, over confrontations between Cercei and her potential killers (Jamie, Arya, etc.) The pacing led us to believe that these things would conclude in a deep and meaningful way that justifies the time we spend watching and theorizing on our own. When you suddenly hit fast forward through the good stuff, it’s jarring! And you lose character development.

And, oh, the plot armor thing. We were led to believe this show wasn’t like other shows. No one was safe. So someone please explain to me how exactly half (or more) of the named characters survived the battle with the undead?! Sam was basically crying in a pile of bodies. Jon was hiding behind a rock from the Ice Dragon who had just blue-flamed down a giant fucking wall. Brienne and Jamie had been on the front lines of that second wave. But their (and others’) plot armor was simply too strong. We were betrayed by the “new” expectations that I, for one, deeply respected. Gore is not my thing - I often had to look away and hum through certain scenes over the seasons - but to know that there were always consequences and that the stakes were always high and unpredictable... that’s what made this titty-fest bloodbath worth it! Take away its uniqueness from all other shows, and you’re just left with some really violent almost-porn.

3. We watch your show for characters, not shock value

OK, yes, some people enjoy the big reveals and that’s kind of why they signed up to begin with. My brother cannot get over some of the CGI scenes and battles, so I get it. But for the most part, every story is rooted in the characters. You could take the most exciting story on the planet, in the most intricate world, but if you put boring ass people in it, no one will care. We’re invested in the characters and we want them to be consistent. And if they change... well they better change slowly, the way that actual people usually do. Redemption arcs are common in fiction - more common than in real life, sadly - and they can really pay off. As can whatever you call the opposite of that. Falls from grace? I’m not sure. Either way - slow is key here. Drop hints. Build it into their character. It’s a gruesome comparison, but if a frog jumps into boiling water, he jumps back out; if he’s in cool water and you gradually heat it up he will eventually boil to death. This is how falls from grace should occur. The character doesn’t just jump into boiling water. It doesn’t hold up.

Dany is obviously the big one here. I’m not arguing that it would be possible for her to become the Mad Queen and torch King’s Landing. But I’m saying that maybe at least a time or two before her little tolling bells meltdown we should see her saying “fuck the innocent people.” We should have seen her violence spreading beyond people who deserved it. The writers should have presented us with more moments that signaled she cared more about power than actually breaking the wheel. Her character was too consistent for too long (go back to pacing and expectations and where the story began) for her to have a turn like that and for it to be satisfying and accepted.

Similarly, Jamie’s abandoned redemption arc didn’t make sense to me. Drop us some hints that he’s still hateful above all else, maybe, before you have him just up and revert at the mention of Cercei dying... a thing he clearly had to realize was coming well before that moment.

There were complaints about this same thing with Barney from HIMYM, along the lines of “seriously we sat through a season of him redeeming himself (and truly, he started before that) just to watch him go back to banging any under 30 with daddy issues an episode later?” Honestly, that one makes a little more sense. He was problematic even at his best! And they did show that he tried to not be that guy - he and Robin were married for a year or two (offscreen, of course) before the divorce. The biggest problem with HIMYM wasn’t the characters - it was the pacing! It changed our expectations and left many disappointed.

And finally, For God’s sake you don’t always need a crazy twist.

And maybe this falls to the producers and not the writers. They want viewers. They want coverage. They want listicles on Buzzfeed. And both HIMYM and GoT got them! But at what cost? The reason we didn’t get any lead up to Dany turning is because they wanted to shock us. The reason that they didn’t have some of the strongest theories come true is because they wanted to shock us. Shock has been used well in this series to this point. Masterfully, even! But this wasn’t masterful. This was the showrunners playing God instead of letting things happen organically. Some twists make sense after you look back and notice the buried hints. Some twists make sense because there were things that you as the audience didn’t know yet. But other twists are only shocking because they’re out of character, unrealistic, or just plain dumb. We didn’t get much after the twists except some speeches that honestly sounded like the showrunners themselves speaking to defend their choices. Awkward.

Another series finale that disappointed many fans with its twist was Lost. I never watched, but, I mean, if I watched a whole series just to have it never have been real, I would have been pissed. I was terrified that OUaT was going to do that - that in the finale we’d find out it had all been a dream little Emma was having at a group home or some shit. Fans are invested in long-running series - especially those with supernatural/sci-fi words - and to pull the rug out from under them like that is just... rude. And massively disappointing. You mean we speculated ourselves to death for nothing?!

What people want from a series finale is an ending of this chapter of the characters’ lives that honors the past and acknowledges the future. There’s a reason that series finales often do something to bring it “back to the beginning.” It’s satisfying! I love that the last thing that we saw the Friends do is go get coffee together. That’s how it started! But after that coffee, they were off to the next part of their lives. I love when they get a little self-aware/meta in the last episode, like when Cory says, “Boy Meets World, now I get it.” And then he and Topanga were moving to New York City. Back to the beginning/the roots... but also going somewhere new.

My point in all this is simple: usually when there’s a massive uproar over a series finale, it’s not just petty people being mad their fave didn’t get the ending they wanted. It’s usually a sign of a problem in the writing, whether it be the writing of that last episode or of the series in general.

Everyone’s opinions are valid and their feelings are real. But when the writing is bad/lazy/shoddy/too focused on a few scenes they’d clearly imagined before writing the finale/clearly leaving certain plot holes or opportunities for spinoffs even when it doesn’t necessarily make sense... people notice.

(And, oh, do they let you know it.)

#series finales #series finale meta #game of thrones #how i met your mother #lost #keisha has writing degrees #and hates when people don't recognize the problems in the writing #and instead just get pissy about whether people loved or hated something #flawed is flawed #it's ok to like bad writing #we all like what we like #but don't act like it wasn't written poorly #or that people don't have a reason to be mad #i mean #not PETITION FOR A REDO mad #that's stupid #fanfiction friends #read it write it live it

5 notes · View notes

ramajmedia · 5 years

Text

The Boys: Every Marvel & DC Character Parodied In Amazon's Series

Which DC and Marvel superheroes served as inspiration for the rip-roaring cast of The Boys? In the original comic book series by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, The Boys serves as a bloody and grossly satirical take on the superhero genre, subverting long-established tropes and toying with readers' expectations. However, the story also takes direct shots at the giants of the comic book world, Marvel and DC. Many of the biggest, most outrageous superheroes in The Boys are straight-up parodies of the comic book world's biggest names, hilariously poking fun at the giants of the industry.

Amazon's The Boys adaptation follows suit, and perhaps even takes the satirical elements to a new level. After all, the original comic series began in 2006 and the superhero genre has evolved significantly since then, particularly with regards to their presence on the big screen. This new landscape provides The Boys with a new palette of potential targets, and the Amazon series takes full advantage, ripping on a host of big-name figures from the genre's more family-friendly output.

Related: Why Terror The Dog Isn't In The Boys Season 1

The Boys' DC comparisons are certainly more overt, particularly in the comic books, but Marvel don't escape unscathed either - there's plenty of satirical ribbing to go round. But while The Boys does raise some interesting talking points regarding the direction and commercial aspect of the superhero genre, most of the parodies are done with a wry smile and a knowing wink, rather than any outright malice. Here are all the Marvel and DC character parodies in The Boys.

America's favorite Kryptonian is undoubtedly the biggest inspiration behind Homelander. The Boys plays on the DC icon's God-like status in glorious fashion, giving the leader of the Seven all of Clark Kent's best powers and abilities including flight, heat vision and even X-ray vision - an ability The Boys naturally twists into something more sinister. However, there's also elements of Marvel's Captain America thrown into the mix. Visually, Homelander incorporates Cap's stars and stripes motif and his overt exploitation of patriotism reaches levels Superman could never achieve with his Kryptonian heritage.

One of the most direct parodies in The Boys is Chase Crawford's The Deep, who acts as a clear riff on DC's Aquaman. The Boys takes a grim look at the darker side of Aquaman's fish communication powers, and goes on to prove how aquatic anatomy could be a problem with groupies. Most notably, however, the series plays on the idea that Aquaman has always been widely derided by comic fans for his goofy look and relatively odd powers. This was in the days before Jason Momoa came along and gave Aquaman's reputation a much-needed boost. The Deep is seen attending therapy sessions to discuss his inferiority complex - something Aquaman would've no doubt also done had he been aware of his status as a figure of ridicule.

Another clear parallel can be found between Queen Maeve and the female third of DC's fabled trinity, Wonder Woman. Both characters have origins steeped in ancient mythology, with the DC character deriving from Greek lore and Maeve named after a warrior from Irish legend. Highlighting their mythical natures, both characters wear stylized metallic suits of armor with a matching sword, although Maeve's weapon wouldn't come close to matching Diana's in a fight. Like Wonder Woman, Maeve is also one of the more ethical members of the Seven, acting as a moral compass compared to the debauchery of the other members..

Starlight and Stargirl have very different superpowers, with the latter wielding a staff to manipulate energy, while also being able to fly and shoot stars. Starlight, on the other hand, generates intense rays of light from her body, similar to Northstar and Aurora from the Marvel comics. However, the design and concept of Stargirl does seem to heavily inform Starlight in The Boys. Both are presented as apple pie American role models and are the more innocent faces of their respective superhero teams. Physically, the two heroes share a close resemblance, and Stargirl is known for being somewhat relaxed about revealing her true identity - something The Boys references with Starlight on several occasions.

Related: Amazon's The Boys Has An Unexpected Supernatural Cameo

Any number of superheroes from both the DC and Marvel rosters have been able to turn invisible, but Translucent's carbon-based skin is far more unique, perhaps most commonly associated with Emma Frost from Marvel's X-Men comics. Predominantly a psychic, Frost can turn her skin into a carbon-based impenetrable exterior, much like Translucent. Charlies Xavier presumably never thought of using Frenchie's method to defeat her though. Furthermore, Translucent's comic equivalent in Ennis and Robertson's The Boys is a character called Jack From Jupiter - a not-so-subtle nod to DC's Martian Manhunter who, incidentally, could also turn invisible.

Perhaps equally as indebted to Wolverine, Popclaw's ability to grow claws through her skin to use as weapons is a trick straight from the X-Men canon. Logan was famous for drawing three prongs through his knuckles, X-23 cut that down to two, now Popclaw is reduced to one single protrusion from each limb, however the concept itself is unique enough to trace directly back to Marvel. Since Popclaw is female, she can perhaps be more readily compared to X-23 than Wolverine himself.

Just as Black Panther is introduced as the prince of Africa's fictional state of Wakanda, Nubian Prince is named as the heir to the African region of Nubia. Furthering the connection, both characters wear sleek black superhero outfits adorned with traditional African design elements. Madelyn Stillwell also cynically describes Nubian Prince as "not too militant, Caucasians love him too," which could be interpreted as a subtle commentary on the distinct lack of superhero movies starring a black lead character.

In the comic version of The Boys, A-Train and the Flash have more in common than just super speed, with A-Train's brash arrogance and exuberant personality acting as an exaggerated caricature of his DC counterpart. This influence is less apparent in the Amazon series, where A-Train is a more conflicted character, concerned about his relevance in the Seven and paranoid his drugs running side-business will be unearthed. Still, the death of Robin is a shining example of what horrors could occur if Flash was really zipping across the world in a blur of red spandex.

The Boys draws several comparisons between Vought and the modern Marvel Studios machine. A cameo from Seth Rogen reveals that the company have their own VCU - the Vought Cinematic Universe. One company executive also utters the line "everybody loves a team up," openly lampooning Marvel's crossover releases such as Avengers and Captain America: Civil War. There are even references to Vought opening theme parks outside of Paris (Disneyland Paris) and releasing the billion dollar-grossing G-Men: World War - a mashup of X-Men and Civil War.

While Vought may parody Marvel to some extent, the Seven are a complete ripoff of DC's famous Justice League. With their formal sit-down meetings, national celebrity status and individual superhero likenesses, the Seven have far more in common with DC's premier superhero team than other groups, such as the Avengers. The similarities continue in the comic books, where the Seven operate from a skybase instead of a regular skyscraper, somewhat akin to the Justice League's Watchtower space station.

More: No MCU? No Umbrella Academy Or The Boys

The Boys season 2 is currently without a release date. More news as it arrives.

source https://screenrant.com/boys-amazon-marvel-dc-hero-character-parody/

#screenrant

0 notes

saadlondon-blog · 6 years

Text

Harrods Research Project Essay

The aim of the research project was to push us to involve ourselves in aspects of London life and become experts in our chosen projects. After having explored a number of issues that I thought would be interesting, I decided that Harrods would be an institution that would teach me a lot. Not only about life in London, but also about the economy, history, royal family and the attitudes of people living and working in London; whether they be UK citizens or not. Through this project, I learned a lot about the store itself and the impact it's had on London, the United Kingdom, and even the world.

Among the most notable things that I learned is the fact that Harrods's impact goes as far as it's almost 200 years of existence. What was once a small grocery business, expanded to become the largest retail store in Europe. With such growth came many ups and downs whether they be the store burning to the ground in 1883, or winning a bet against Selfridges in 1917 on who would make the most profit. Nevertheless, the most notable parts of Harrods's story go far beyond it 6 floors, three hundred and thirty departments and thirty-two restaurants.

While learning that they once procured a baby elephant as a gift to Ronald Reagan was interesting and that they once hired a cobra to protect a pair of diamond and ruby shoes was also the type of exciting stuff that people like to talk about. An in-depth look at Harrods reveal its far-reaching impact and place as an institution of London.

To start with Harrods was fairly involved in World War 2, where the store went from selling luxury goods to completely transforming as a producer of Lancaster bombers and military uniforms. Moreover, as a British landmark in its own right, Harrods has also been the sight of two IRA bombings, one in 1983 and the other in 1993. Thus, from the very start, it was clear to me that there was much more to Harrods than its superficial reputation as a store that sells expensive things.

Not that having an average of 100,000 customers walk through your door per day or 300,000 during Christmas is some minuscule feet, but throughout my research, I found that there was much more to talk about. For example, the "Harrods Effect" which is a term conjured up in real estate to describe the changes that happened to the Knightsbridge area due to the presence of Harrods. Where the difference between the price per square foot of a building that is a 5-minute walk away from Harrods and a building that is 20 minutes away can vary by a margin of 561 pounds per square foot. Therefore, it's clear that the presence of this building alone created considerable wealth for individuals who own property in the areas surrounding Harrods.

When conducting my research, it did not surprise me that celebrities and public figures, such as soccer player David Beckham and First Lady Asma Al-Asad were seen as regular customers and visited Harrods frequently to shop and eat. However, what did surprise me was the fact that in the store's efforts to create unique and exciting departments, they became responsible for the inspiration behind a global children's character Winnie the Pooh. Apparently, the author A.A Miline was inspired to create the character after buying a teddy bear from Harrods for his son Christopher Robin.

Moreover, Harrods being Europe's largest retail store has often been looked at as an example of how changes and trends in the economy will impact Britain's consumerism. Where after Brexit multiple reports showed how the weakening of the British pound has helped increase consumption from overseas, where stores like Harrods experienced an increase in sales of 23.3% and an increase in profits of 38.8%. Thus, the more I researched the more I learned about how Harrods has had a considerable influence in a number of areas.

One aspect I was very excited to look into was the store's connection to the royal family. From the very start, I could see a clear line being drawn between royalty and luxury and as such it was not surprising to me at all that Harrods has had a detailed and heavily documented history with the Royal family. Beyond the fact that it held coveted Royal Warrants and banned the Duke of Edinburgh from ever entering. The relationship between the royals was built on the actions of Harrods's owner at the time Mr. Al Fayed, whose son was in a relationship with Princess Diana and was also killed with her in the 1997 car crash still remembered to this day. Mr. Al-Fayed claims that his son and the princess were engaged and that she was pregnant with his child and that is why the royal family ordered her death. He refused to believe that the deadly car crash was an accident and as such; he had memorials created in his store to commemorate them. Among these memorials, one showing Diana's alleged engagement ring and the other a stature with the engraving innocent victims plastered along the bottom. Thus, it is clear to see that Harrods's legacy will forever be tightly intertwined with the death of the famous Princess Diana and the fact that the memorials in the store are considered to be tourist attractions on their own speaks to Harrods position in Britain.

Beyond what I learned from watching documentaries and reading articles and reports, I was able to better grasp Harrods relationship to London by going there with people from the class as well as people who I met through my community involvement and giving them walking tours. These tours were never of the entire store as that would take a really long time, but focused more on what each group wanted to see. The most popular places we would visit were the Toyland, bookstore and Memorabilia area otherwise known as the Millionaire Gallery. I loved seeing how people would react to everything from the buildings illuminated exterior that's made up of twelve thousand light bulbs to the first edition copy of books, signed albums and huge stuffed animals for sale. It was easy to see why the store is considered a tourist attraction as everyone I took had to take out their phones to take pictures of the outrageous things they would find inside the store as well as the incredible interior and exterior architecture. Moreover, the Knightsbridge subway stop itself had signs leading to Harrods which is a testament to the stores’ prevalence in itself.

My portfolio also includes interviews with Harrods employees who gave me insight that I wouldn't have been able to find online or through my readings. What I learned was that Harrods is as much of a reflection on London as London is on Harrods. Where there were British employees who had worked at the store for the last 30 years despite the changing owners. These employees helped me debunk rumors that Harrods is no longer looked at positively by the British and explained to me how the connections and friendships they made working at the store are what make them such happy employees and what make the store so successful. Moreover, the number of employees from international backgrounds was outstanding, this was something that the store is clearly proud of as each employee has a name tag accompanied by the flag of the country they're originally from. This dedication to diversity as well as the melting pot of people from different cultures working happily together in a store that continues to break records and reach new levels of success every year, is in my opinion what London truly strives to be.

I'd have to say that my entire experience in regards to this project has been very positive. I found myself enjoying the work because I was genuinely interested in learning more about my topic. While I had no specific expectations on what kind of impacts or correlations there were between Harrods and different areas of culture and commerce, I was quite pleased with how much information I was able to find as well as the different ways I was able to articulate these findings whether it be through maps, timelines, newspaper clippings, interviews or pictures.

In conclusion, through this project, I not only learned more about a business but about a British institution. I was able to gain a wealth of knowledge on British history over the last 200 years, the royal family, Knightsbridge area and the British economy to name a few. Through introducing my friends to everything I learned I found myself becoming an expert on London's many faces and by interviewing real Londoners working in this city I was able to form a clear image of what it's like to live here, not only as a tourist or a student but as a local in my own right.

0 notes

nofomoartworld · 7 years

Text

Hyperallergic: Remembrances of Betty Blayton-Taylor, Studio Museum Co-Founder and Harlem Arts Activist

Betty Blayton-Taylor (photo © Adjua Mantebea)

On Sunday, October 2, 2016, in the Bronx, Betty Blayton-Taylor, an unsung figure in the art world, quietly transitioned into the spiritual cosmos she often conjured in her abstract metaphysical work. She was 79. I first met Betty sometime in late 2012 or early 2013. As curator of AARP New York’s first-ever art exhibition, Lasting Legacy: The Journey of YOU, I was tasked with finding artists who exemplified the campaign’s themes of discovering one’s unique talents, exploring new possibilities, and creating lasting legacies. After coming across Betty’s work and meeting her at her home, I knew I wanted her in the exhibition. She embraced me with such warmth — a local legend entrusting her work to the vision of a young, novice curator.

As part of my curatorial research, I wanted to get some insight into Betty’s background. Who was this energetic woman with a home full of art? It turned that out she was, and remains, a big deal. A native of Williamsburg, Virginia, Betty relocated to New York and graduated from Syracuse University in 1959 with a degree in fine arts. After a teaching stint on the island of St. Thomas, she moved to New York City and continued to hone her skills as an artist. It was at this time that she began to merge her interests in art and activism.

Betty became a founding member of the Studio Museum in Harlem and served on its board from 1965 to 1977. Her mission in co-founding the organization was to advance the careers of artists of African descent and to utilize institutional resources and the arts to serve the broader Harlem community.

In collaboration with Victor D’Amico, (director, department of education at the Museum of Modern Art) and Harlem School of the Arts, Betty established the Children’s Art Carnival, an arts education program designed to engage disadvantaged Harlem youth in the arts. (The program was an outgrowth of annual arts workshops held at MoMA from 1942 to 1969 under the same name.) A young Jean-Michel Basquiat was one of the Carnival’s students, and both legendary playwright and director George C. Wolfe and Afro-Caribbean dance icon Marie Brooks taught workshops there. Betty served as executive director from 1969 to 1998, and she remained heavily involved for many years thereafter. In addition, she was a co-founder and board member of Harlem Textile Works, an offshoot of the Children’s Art Carnival in 1984, which offered fabric design workshops, arts education, and job opportunities. Additionally, she served on the board of the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop.

As an artist, Betty had a productive career as a painter, printmaker, illustrator, and sculptor; her work can be seen in the public and private collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, Fisk University, Spelman College, David Rockefeller, Reginald Lewis, Sidney Poitier, and more.

Despite such an illustrious career, her death went largely unnoticed by the mainstream art world, the press, and even some of the institutions and artists she helped build and elevate. Yet her impact reached across space, time, and spheres of influence. She was a groundbreaking force in helping to establish organizations that have advanced artists and communities. And she laid the foundation for much of this in the 1960s and 1970s, in an America polarized by race and gender politics.

Betty deserves to be remembered, honored, and celebrated. On November 19, a memorial service was held at SGI-USA, Culture Center and the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling in New York City. Her work will be included in the exhibition Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today, curated by Erin Dziedzic and Melissa Messina, which will open at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri, in June 2017. The Children’s Art Carnival is planning two exhibitions inspired by her work, and hopefully more commemorations are to come.

In the meantime, we called upon Lowery Stokes Sims, Marline A. Martin, Omo Misha, robin holder, and Thelma Golden to reminisce about Betty Blayton-Taylor: the artist, activist, friend, mentor, and all-around arts warrior.

Betty Blayton-Taylor, “Oversoul Protective Spirit” (2007), acrylic on canvas (courtesy of Betty Blayton-Taylor)

By Lowery Stokes Sims, independent curator and art historian:

I must have first met Betty in the early 1970s, soon after I started working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I became a fan and even served on the board of the Children’s Art Carnival from 1979 to 1982. I was committed to the organization’s dedication to bringing art to children, and in many ways my service on the board was an extension of my first job at the Metropolitan Museum in the Community Programs department. This was the vehicle through which the museum shared resources with the greater NYC arts communities and actualized verbiage about diversity and inclusion. Betty then went on to be a principle in the founding of the Harlem Textile Workshop, and we had a brief collaboration on a product for the store of the Studio Museum in Harlem that had been initiated shortly before I became director. While the product line was never launched, I still have a prototype of a scarf that is a mainstay in my wardrobe.

It is a truism that Betty was a strong artist for whom, like many of her peers — especially the women — her art took a backseat to her decision to work on behalf of the larger art community. She received a B.A. from Syracuse University, where she studied painting and illustration, the latter major an accommodation of parental concerns about her financial future. I also like the fact that due to a peculiarity of Jim Crow Laws, her native state of Virginia paid for her to attend Syracuse University rather than having her attend an in-state school. According to her profile on Wikipedia, Betty had to contend with professors who all wanted her to work like them, and she decided to find her own way of working. In the end, her work may be said to demonstrate a personal synthesis of abstract expressionism and color-field tendencies, demonstrating how her independence posed a potent resistance and personal triumph over racism and sexism in terms of expectations and assumptions about women of her generation with regard to their careers.

I remember Betty’s contagious sense of humor, her endless smile, and her generous laugh. She was always a joy to be around, even as she was maneuvering you to perform some needed task or provide a needed resource for one of the organizations she founded and loved.

Youth at the Children’s Art Carnival in front of a mural they created (image courtesy of Marline A. Martin)

By Marline A. Martin, Executive Director and Curator, Arts Horizons LeRoy Neiman Art Center; Executive Director, Children’s Art Carnival:

As told to Souleo

I first met Betty in 1997 as they were doing a search for the new executive director for the Children’s Art Carnival. I was one of the candidates and subsequently was appointed to the position. I served there from 1997 to 2010.

My first impression of Betty was that she was a hardworking woman. I remember when I received the appointment, saying, “I have big shoes to fill.” Betty’s scope was really wide. She had done a lot of work for the Carnival, brining it into Harlem where it served 5,000 to 10,000 youth per year. She was a champion of the arts.

Jean-Michel Basquiat was one of the Carnival students for a couple of years. He took some classes and was part of a group of young people who were experimenting with their artistry. One of the things I think he really received from the Carnival that made his art appealing was the joy of creativity that is ingrained within children. Instead of going the fine-art route of painting and drawing technique, he found a more expressive way of letting his childhood vision come through his art. I think an amazing thing about the Children’s Art Carnival was the philosophy that existed in terms of art education. For Betty it wasn’t just about technique. It was more about your spirit and how you add that into your work.

I remember stories she would tell me about some of the artists who came from different parts of the world to the Carnival. People would say anyone looking for work as an artist should go see Betty, because the Carnival became an incubator for emerging people like George C. Wolfe. When George first came to New York, he taught theater at the Carnival. Betty gave him one of his first art teaching jobs. Marie Brooks also taught dance at the Carnival. Whatever your art form was, Betty made it into a workshop. I don’t know if there’s an artist around who has been successful in their career and not touched or impacted by Betty Blayton-Taylor.

She will be truly missed, and she was truly loved.

Youth during an Open Studio Workshop at the Children’s Art Carnival (courtesy of Marline A. Martin)

By Omo Misha, Director, Children’s Art Carnival, Curator, and Artist

As told to Souleo

I started working at the Children’s Art Carnival in 2002 as a visual arts instructor, then I became the program manager, left for a few years, and I have since returned as director to help rebuild and rebrand the organization.

Although I worked for the Carnival, my real relationship with Betty began after I had left the Carnival administratively and begun to do more curatorial work. That’s when we got to know each other and when I got a perspective on Betty as an artist. I didn’t know her art before then. So for me as an artist, she has been a great inspiration.

When I think about Betty building and directing the Carnival while simultaneously forging a career as an artist, I realize that people in one sector might not have been as in tune with what she was doing in the other. For me, as someone who wears different hats, I find that really remarkable. I think that is something people should learn from and strive to emulate as an artist. I meet young artists who feel like if they do something else it will take away from their art. But I think all of these things add to your artistic value. I think Betty was an example of that.

At the core of her work as an artist, she was a very spiritual person. That was reflected in her art and the way she taught at the Carnival. She sought, through her own art, to create avenues for people to be more in touch with themselves spiritually. I think that’s why the artwork that came out of the Carnival was so dynamic. Even to this day, I see very few arts institutions that put out the caliber of work I saw coming out of the Carnival. And that is a result of Betty’s vision and her activism.

After I stepped away from the Carnival, I received a greater perspective on the organization. I realized how important this work was that she had done. I never got the sense that Betty thought what she was doing was radical and groundbreaking. She just did what came naturally to her. She came to New York as an artist seeking an artistic community, she found an opportunity to teach for the Museum of Modern Art, she discovered something in it that was inspirational, and she continued to build on that by bringing the Carnival to Harlem. I think she was just being Betty. She was strong and outspoken, sometimes to a fault. But it was that boisterous and lively creative spirit that allowed her to open doors.

Betty Blayton-Taylor, “Ancestors Bearing Light” (2007), acrylic on canvas, 30 inches round (courtesy of BettyBlayton.com)

By robin holder, visual artist:

As told to Souleo

I met Betty in 1978 when I was 26. I was working with the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop as the coordinator and then the assistant director for the workshop. Bob never had enough money to pay anybody, so anytime he was short on funds he would send some of us up to the Carnival for Betty to give us part-time gigs. Betty was also a board member for the Workshop and did her prints there when she had the time.

After I went up to the Carnival one day, I began working there on and off as a teaching artist. I recall that she was always in dire straits financially with the organization because she was very idealistic and overextended herself. She would do things first and then see how she would finance it. Betty was always diligently writing grants and reports and projects. One day I went up to her little office on the third floor of the brownstone. She was really happy and said, “I got rid of our deficit.” I said, “That’s fantastic. How did you do it?” She picked up a pencil and said, “I just erased it.” I thought that was hysterical. She had such a good sense of humor.

I connected with Betty right away. We became friends largely because of a real commitment to and interest in the spiritual nature of life and how that can be reflected in artwork. At the same time, she had some serious personal problems, but regardless of that fact, she was able to stay focused. That’s what was so remarkable about Betty. There was always a real dynamic energy she was giving to the Carnival, one that, at times, you sensed she would have liked to direct to her own work as an artist.

A difficult thing that has to do with elitism in the art world is that community art is often regarded as “lesser than” the arts. Betty was the founder and director of a community-based African-American organization, and because of that I hope she is not sidelined in importance, [because she was] a genuinely gifted and hardworking abstract painter. Sometimes I wonder whether, if Betty had spent more of her life developing her work, and if there was more of a receptive art world to female African-American artists, she might have been more high profile.

The experimentation she did with transparent layering of shapes and color and circular canvases was quite important. She had this high skill level of being a painter with a very exploratory approach to the imagery that she developed. When I look at her work, I know it’s her work. She was able to create her own visual language, which is the work of somebody who has something to say and is an original.

Founding members and staff of the Studio Museum in Harlem, including Betty Blayton-Taylor, second from the right (courtesy of the Studio Museum in Harlem)

By Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator, the Studio Museum in Harlem:

Betty Blayton-Taylor was a singular artist, educator, activist, and advocate. The Studio Museum in Harlem is incredibly proud of her important role as a founder and longtime champion of our institution. Without question, her commitment to artists of African descent continues to animate nearly every aspect of our work, and it inspires my work as director every day.

As a founding board member of the Studio Museum in Harlem, Betty championed the museum before it even existed. She had a clear vision of the power and possibility of art and artists to impact a life, a neighborhood, a world. She served on the Studio Museum’s board from 1965 to 1977, during which — in addition to her membership on the executive committee as secretary — she advocated for both the ideals of the museum and the very real challenges of sustaining a fledgling nonprofit, work she knew well from co-founding and leading the Children’s Art Carnival.

When Betty articulated her initial vision — to create the kind of museum that could meaningfully serve her Harlem students in their own neighborhood — there was no precedent for an institution of this kind. As an educator, she was deeply committed to creating access for young people frequently discouraged from entering museums and visual arts institutions in New York City. And as an artist, she created works that have engaged and inspired audiences around the world, including here at the Studio Museum.

Betty not only opened doors, she built new doors — doors that, nearly 50 years later, remain permanently open in her students’ own backyard. She is sincerely missed, but her legacy will continue to guide our planning and preparation for the Studio Museum’s next half-century, and beyond.

The post Remembrances of Betty Blayton-Taylor, Studio Museum Co-Founder and Harlem Arts Activist appeared first on Hyperallergic.

from Hyperallergic http://ift.tt/2iVQtfM via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Hyperallergic

0 notes

meganambers · 5 years

Text

Creating a streetwear line can be both taxing and rewarding, especially when it is a family business. However, the Iphi brothers, make running a company as a family appear easy by giving each other the space to be their own creative selves. Hailing from Toronto, Canada, Ariel and Isac created ‘Cold Attitude‘, a brand that gives the customers a taste of the fashion and culture behind the capital of Ontario.

I recently caught up with the team of brothers and we discussed the making of ‘Cold Attitude‘, how they gained their experience of music by running events and parties to creating their now successful brand and who they hope to work with, in the near future.

Megan Ambers: Who are the designers behind ‘Cold Attitude’?

Cold Attitude: We are brothers, founders, and designers of the brand. I myself, Ariel Iphi (age 23), run the operational side of things along with finding the inspiration to curate a lot of our designs. My brother, Isac Iphi (age 21), handles marketing and public relations. There’s a lot that goes into what we do, but in hindsight, we’re a jack of all trades here. Together we use both of our individual tastes and unique fashion senses to create our clothing. We influence each other heavily. It gets tough at times, and disagreements do arise, but that’s probably due to our focus to deliver the best product we can.

MA: How did growing up in Toronto inspire the message behind “Cold Attitude”?

Cold Attitude: When you think of one of the greatest cities in the world, you almost immediately think of New York. We had the benefit of having so much family there, that we visit a couple times here and there per year. We always get the same questions, “What do you do up there?”, “How cold is it?”, I’ll be like, the same weather as here to be honest. New York showed us a lot, it showed us a lot of potentials that Toronto has. New York birthed Biggie Smalls, Jay Z, and Diddy, but Toronto brought Drake, The Weeknd and Tory Lanez to the world. We have a culture and it’s time for the world to see it. Toronto is everything to us, and we wanna show everyone why. We felt that our voice hasn’t been heard and that we may as well give it a shot. The idea of Cold Attitude essentially holds a double entendre. The phrase derives from the idea of aggressive and hungry behavior. Being Cold blooded, or having a Cold Attitude. It also breaks through the idea that Toronto, Canada is more than just being the “Cold” city of all the great cities in the world. And we as Torontonians have an Attitude to show what we got. We’re more than just the cold city above the border.

MA: On your “About” page of your website, you said that your clothing line “has emerged from an entertainment collective.” Can you further explain what do you mean by entertainment collective and how did you incorporate that to your line?

Cold Attitude: My Brother and I, at a young age, ran events and concerts. Isac was 17 at the time and I was 19. It was hard to have an underage DJ perform at venues. So we bought out a club for a night, sold tickets, and even brought out Robin Banks, a Toronto rapper. We did so well that the owner of the club offered a residency position. That’s how we started. We later did it again and brought out Ramriddlz, and at this point, we’ve been in the presence of many artists, one of them being A Boogie Wit A Hoodie. In earlier days, we understood that we needed to make an entertainment group. We were shooting music videos with the help of @avi.vsl, we were booking shows, club appearances and even getting involved in studio time. We thought the perfect thing to top it off was to have some hats to represent us and it essentially took off from there.

MA: How does “Cold Attitude” separates itself from other streetwear lines in Toronto?

Cold Attitude: Our goal is for the brand to be the push of peoples comfort and confidence. It stands for people that have something to prove. All styles, all cultures, and anyone that feels some resonance with the product. It may be hard to see all of that now, but as time goes and we develop, we will have the power and ability to artistically broadcast what we mean. Through pop-ups, collaborations and networking to whom we feel would appreciate the product once they see it on hand. We create fashion but we do not compromise on the quality of the products. We want people to love wearing it and how they feel in it. We want people to be impressed by the quality being better than expected, so much that the price is justifiable.

MA: You mentioned before that it was your cousins (from Brooklyn) that played a role in the notoriety of your brand, particularly by word of mouth. How important is it for a designer or a creative in general to use word of mouth as a technique to gain more customers?

Cold Attitude: Word of mouth is everything of course. It’s like being the drug dealer on the block. You get success when everyone knows who has the good shit. We try to be as close to the customers as possible. My brother and I handle all the emails, DMs, complaints, and positive feedback. Social Media is the new high school cafeteria. A lot of customers, sales, and inquiries come from our DMs. It’s interesting to see how the word of mouth moves around. When we receive purchase orders, at the end of the month we like to take the time to try to spot out our customers. Who they are, their demographic and what they’re into. We’ll almost always see some mutual relations. We learned this method from our cousins out in Brooklyn, I can’t really speak on what the products were, but we’ll leave it at that I guess.

MA: Define what fashion means to you?

Cold Attitude: Fashion means wearing your personality. They say the eyes are the windows to your soul. I feel like fashion is the book cover of your character. In many ways we find that fashion correlates with music. We often listen to artists that resonate a story within us. We buy albums and listen to singles that express how we feel. Clothing has the same effect on us. We buy things based on how we feel towards the product. What’s the story behind the brand name, what’s the process on how it’s made, to what organizations do they contribute and get involved in. Fashion hits uniquely to peoples tastes and cultures. That’s the fun of it to me. I love learning and exploring different personalities, cultures, and emotions and think of how we can create something to offer them.

MA: What skills do you feel are a necessity in order to be a successful designer?

Cold Attitude: Not being afraid to challenge comfort zones. It’s probably one of the toughest parts of the fashion industry. Nobody cares about your product if it follows a trend 2 years later. Often times a product can take up to 6 months to create from conception to retail. The pressure of timing, and actually knowing whether or not you have the next trend on your hands is often challenging. One of the first products we had mocked up was an all black corduroy crewneck. There weren’t much corduroy products available in the market. And so we were extremely nervous to launch the product. About a year later, corduroy was the trend. We would’ve been very successful with the product had we stepped out of our comfort zone. And so, for every design we mock up, we try our best to challenge ourselves and our comfort.

MA: How do you stay in touch with the current trends regarding fashion?

Cold Attitude: A lot of our inspiration comes from what creatives of underground artists are into. We see what people are wearing to the club, and what catches peoples interests. Working in the clubbing and events industry makes it really helpful of course. Our eyes are open. We see everything from the streets to the internet. Instagram is a huge platform where people display their favorite fits. We always keep ourselves updated, however, we don’t really care to align our brand with those trends. We also like to experiment with new fabrics, some that aren’t as traditional as many brands might explore for retail outlets. That really helps us to create unique pieces and integrate higher-end fashion goods with artistic designs for better pricing and delivery.

MA: Isac, as a DJ, you know and understand how to follow trends when it comes down to what songs are and aren’t popular in the clubs. How did you and your brother Ariel incorporate that into your line?

Cold Attitude: We see the potential in something that may not be hyped at the moment but has the potential to be in the future. Bringing back old tracks like Yeah! By Usher, or If I Can’t by 50 Cent. Those songs still bump, and the club loves it. I like offering nostalgia mixed with some “SoundCloud” songs that are on a current wave. My favorite is when I see people shazaming a track. My brother and I really see the same protocol follow suit in clothing. Sometimes bringing back the old becomes the new. Added with a twist to which has not been mainstream yet.

MA: Are there any brands or celebrities you see yourself collaborating with?

Cold Attitude: Yes. We had the pleasure of working with Jake Paul. The relationship was helped through a friend, Jaay Da Barber. Jake saw the product, loved the quality and asked if he can have a set. We were excited because it assured us that we’re on the right path. It was an organic reach. We didn’t reach out or pay for an endorsement. There was an appreciation for the product. Our segmented target is however revolved around music. We want to inspire sound to have some physical aesthetics. Not specific to Hip Hop music, but if there was one artist that I could pick to wear our brand it would be either Lil Uzi or Jay Z.

MA: where do you see yourself in the ten years?

Cold Attitude: Our only goal coming up is to open a retail store in Toronto. We have dreams and ambitions to open up shop in New York, LA, London, etc… But we don’t really focus so far ahead. We try to focus on what’s next in the near future and things that can gradually take us to the next step. Wherever that may be.

MA: What advice do you have for designers that want to step into the designer aspect of streetwear?

Cold Attitude: To understand within yourself what is your inspiration and create a story. But really, The best advice is to probably tell you that you don’t need any advice. Creativity comes uniquely from within each person. No one can tell you how you feel, you just gotta work on what you would love. I’ve done sales all my life since a young age. One thing I can tell you is that it’s near impossible to sell a product you wouldn’t buy yourself. So do whatever you feel is best for you, someone out there will resonate with it.

IAmMeganAmbers Exclusive: Founders of Streetwear, Cold Attitude Talks Working With Jake Paul, Being from Toronto, and Splitting Responsibilities as Brothers Creating a streetwear line can be both taxing and rewarding, especially when it is a family business.

0 notes