#plant genetics. so he works in labs. but he’s a music producer | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

inaure-forhalla · 3 years

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because at this rate i will simply never have proper full written out bios for my muses, below the cut find some more detailed information about my muses that give you more info than just the vibey little blurbs i shat out at some ungodly hour of the day:

akllasqa mamani:

aklla is the daughter of a scientist that had all her titles stripped of her, and prohibited from working in the field after unethical experiments came to light. this doesn’t stop her from laying low and forming a personal lab, although under a watchful eye. she proceeds to learn and absorb all she can about genetic editing, and with the use of the CRISPR method and friends manning labs, she produces her own genetically edited egg. this is where aklla comes from, she’s planted in her mother’s womb and grows to be a girl who continues her life under a microscope. her mother is constantly poking and prodding at her, in a desperate attempt to note every deviation from regular behaviour from a girl who was tailored. aklla is diagnosed with anti social personality disorder in the future, and as a child is known to have conduct disorder. she’s been called a sociopath more times than she can count and is prone to sudden, and violent outbursts. all in all, a difficult teenager trying to maneuver through a society that works against anyone with any mental diagnosis.

jolene walsh:

honestly jolene’s the only one i have a full bio for, so because i’m lazy catch that here.

vivian han:

vivian grows up in a house that values tradition, and in particular the image of a good family. her parents are not overtly religious, but they’re devout christian’s. they got married young, and without much thought and this leads to strife in their household. they start to fall out of love right in front of her eyes, but old time tradition and religious beliefs compel them to stay together despite divorce being the healthiest option for them both. being the oldest daughter in the house, vivian often has to play peacekeeper between her parents fights. she grows weary of it, but knows her options are limited. the older she gets, the more time she spends outside of the house. parties where the music is so loud she can’t hear her thoughts, she drinks away whatever she’ll have to face when she gets home. vivian is the fun girl, and the smart girl, and the party girl, and she does whatever she can to keep up every front she has. straight a student, but beloved by her peers. and only because she tries so hard. sometimes that comes with a small mean streak to be accepted by her peers, but she grows out of that quickly. guilt wears on her conscience heavily. an unhealthy relationship is all she knows as she grows up and so it leads her into her own. she dates a boy who becomes her ruin, but she tolerates it because that’s all she knows. she tolerates it even when he pushes her against a wall and she’s worried she has a concussion. he never hits her, and that’s his excuse. she files a restraining order after much thought and push from her friends. but it only makes her wild nights even worse, she has more pain to drink away now.

gabriel and ronan:

two boys that were once part of the same band, now leading two completely different lives. gabriel has always had his head in the clouds, always dreamt of life as a musician. his parents could do little to stop what his heart wanted. as a kid he’d play in shows any chance he got at school, and even kick started his own garage band with his friends. he never wanted to be the star of the show, gabriel was more than happy in the background. and that’s how he becomes the bass player of Golden Ours. he grew up in a bustling house that knew nothing about love, and it’s what he puts out into the world. his energy comes from genuine joy, and the desire to spread kindness. he’s a humble star from humble beginnings, and does his best to not let fame get to his head. naturally, there are slip ups, ones he does his best to hide. but all in all, he makes for pleasant company. not much tragedy in this one, rather typical if you ask me.

ronan on the other hand grows up in completely different circumstances. the accident child of an alcoholic and a junkie, he never really knows stability in his life. his parents never have a good means to finances, and he picks up odd jobs as a kid to support himself if not his parents. he holds his father’s anger and defends himself after each bark and bite from his parents. he doesn’t grow up in a good house, and he doesn’t know if he likes them more when they’re sober or completely out of their minds. he swings a fist at this father at eighteen and is met with his ass on the curb. with little to nothing to his name, he sofa surfs as long as he can, gets himself jobs here and there, nothing that lasts too long. he comes across gabriel before the band hits the charts and it begins as roommates soon turned bandmates. he joins as lead guitarist. ronan’s one to butt heads with the band often, but at the end of the day, they’re family and family was meant to fight. but the disputes only heighten when ronan pushes them to take deals that come their way. change their look, change their sound, change change change for the mainstream media. they won’t take it, and so ronan does. leaves the band behind and embraces life as someone he doesn’t recognize in the mirror. he goes from alt indie rock to more mainstream pop rock. his manager decides what he wears, what he sings, what he signs up for. the money’s good, but he hates himself. but the money’s good.

mira deol:

mira lives a quiet life for the most part. second oldest daughter of five, their family is never without festivities. she’s a good student, not the top of her class, but trying. she sits in the middle of everything, never too loud, never too quiet. mira seems to breeze by life in the background and a part of her itches to be at the front of the show. she knows she’s not built for it, so instead she’ll smile and nod through it all. her life flips upside down, she becomes part of headlines when her family is killed at sixteen. in the middle of the night, the confront what they think to be a robber. her father and his broken english yelling downstairs, threatening to call the cops when a gun’s pulled out on them. mira, silent, watches from the top of the stairs while her entire family is sat down on the rug. one by one, they’re lined up and taken out with a single shot to the head. execution style. she scampers into a closet, and her hands search the dark floors for the gun she knows her dad has. and she sits there, as quiet as ever, hands shaking as she holds the gun in front of her. she thinks he’s left until she hears the creaks up the stairs and the closet door swings open. she closes her eyes and empties the bullets into her assailant without a second thought. mira’s found with blood, both her own and his, on her body. she hasn’t left the closet when they find her, a neighbour calls when they hear the last round of gunshots. her face takes the newspapers by storm and she’s a charity case. without any other family overseas, she moves in with her next door neighbours. a girl she knows from school. she suffers from traumatic mutism for a year. rehab and therapy get her to open up, and she cries anytime she speaks for another year. her life is spent in and out of therapy, and when she finally moves out and manages to get into university, she lives alone. everything about her life screams at her to live with company, but fear of what happens to company around her forces her into living alone. currently, mira is still healing. it’s been five years since her family’s death and she’s pushing herself back into society slowly. her emotions are hard to handle, and she’s incredibly clingy when she gets attached.

buster jones:

buster lives a comfortable life. his parents work good jobs and they don’t expect much from him. as the youngest of a trio of boys, he’s the family’s baby for most of his life and he milks it for all it’s worth. he spends most of his time gaming, eating, or hanging out with friends. never the best student, but he manages to pull through with the tutors his parents throw at him a countless number of times. he doesn’t tell them that he’s paid kids to do his homework and essays, they don’t need to know that. but when both brothers leave the house, grow old enough to make it out on their own, the attention turns back to buster. buster who does nothing for the family but eat half the contents of their fridge, which can no longer be excuse as the appetite of a growing boy. so his parents make him take up a job, any job, they tell him, and so he goes to work at a mcdonald’s. he reckons it’ll be the least amount of effort he’ll have to put in, and impossible to get fired from. plus, free fries anytime he so pleased. he’s working through his last year of highschool, projected to have to take a fifth year if summer courses fail him. when he makes it to college he takes up criminal justice. not with the dreams of being a lawyer like his mother so hopes, but with the dream of getting into the fbi. only because it looks cool on television and he swears they know everything about area 51, and the gps’ that babies are injected with. an avid reader of conspiracies that he spouts like his life depends on it, what he doesn’t have in book smart, he also doesn’t have much in street smart. how buster makes it through the day, everyone wonders. but somehow he does.

elena castillo:

she grows up doted on. an only child, given the world at her every whim. her father loves her, her mother loves her, but doesn’t have to love as much since her father takes care of that part. her father dies when she’s eight, and her mother doesn’t take it well. elena had shown various talents at a young age, and the one her mother hones in on is her ability to skate. never having taken professional figure skating, her mother says it’s time for her to try. she doesn’t protest much, knows just how pushy her mother can be. she’s a good child for the most part, prone to temper tantrums, but mother knows best. elena’s mother focuses all her energy on her daughter, and it becomes obsessive. like a pageant mom, she signs her up for every competition under the stars. elena is bound to win most of them, and that’s because her mother doesn’t let her rest until she gets her routine down pat. elena’s perfectionism is taught and forced down her throat, it doesn’t come naturally. it doesn’t take long for the girl to embrace that figure skating has become her life. pulled out of classes on a whim just to participate in competitions, she learns how to catch up with classwork quickly without disappointing her mother. she never admits it, but she seeks validation from the one parent she still has. thinks maybe she’ll gain the same love she got from her father if she does it right. elena is quick to snap as she grows older. becomes her biggest critique, and with it comes a sharp attitude that she’s quick to lash out onto others. she projects her own insecurities, and drags people down to bring herself up. she’s now a professional figure skater, one of the best of her age at twenty. but it didn’t come easy, and she’s not willing to give it up easy. in front of the cameras and the crews she waves and smiles. once the lights drop, so does the facade and she doesn’t bother to lift a finger for anyone she deems not worth her time. she becomes more like mother, and over the years, they become more like partners than mother and daughter. their relationship is never healthy.

luciana pereira: prev lucarus

has the sexiest bio it deserves a read here

imogen, willa, devna mini bios coming soon !

#( 𝚘𝚘𝚌 . ) happy shitposting day .#truly the closest thing to a bio we'll get for a while omg

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melissart · 4 years

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Date Night

Terry x Korvo Solar Opposites fanfiction!

Rating: M

Warnings: Alien sex stuff, Korvo cries during sex a lot, NSF*W

Genre: romance, comedy, hurt/comfort

Words: 3,852

Summary: “Couples go to scheduled fancy dinners to help keep their relationship alive.“

Korvo paced around the backyard with his Element Detector.

Beep… beep… beep…

Nothing.

There were no useful elements on Earth! Of all the 118 elements that Earth discovered, everything just had to be carbon-based. Korvo had enough carbon to last the destruction of five planets. What he needed was the isotope Megeon-166--or as it’s called on Earth, Erbium. He needed at least 15 moles to repair the ship and, of course, nobody was helping him. What was the point in being mad, anymore? He knew nobody would help him but it never got any less frustrating.

Terry slid open the back door while cradling a tray of Starbucks™ frappuccinos in one arm. “Korvo!” he called out. “Got your favorite--matcha frappuccino!”

No, that’s not right--Terry did help. Just in a different way. Only Terry knew how to get everyone’s Starbucks™ drinks right.

Korvo tossed the Element Detector over his shoulder and took his frappuccino. Oh, the first sip was always the best. The whipped cream was at the bottom just the way he liked it.

Terry just… stood there and watched him drink the frappuccino. He wasn’t even going to sip his own untouched pink drink. He was waiting for a specific response from Korvo. Probably one that was two words and began with a “T”.

Korvo sighed. He had to relent. “Thank y--”

“--Do you know what day it is today?” Terry quickly blurted out. He was unusually excited.

Korvo paused for a second. The effects of the Dumb Ray still hadn’t subsided completely. “Friday?” Was he forgetting something? It couldn’t possibly be their anniversary.

“That’s right! It’s the first Friday of the month! That means it’s date night!”

“That is ridiculous. Every night occurs on a date.”

Terry laughed and put his hand on Korvo’s shoulder. Everything was a joke to him. “That gets funnier every time!”

Korvo brushes Terry’s hand off of him. It seems that Korvo has forgotten what “date night” was. Ten blasts of a Dumb Ray does that to you. “Explain it to me again.”

“Couples go to scheduled fancy dinners to help keep their relationship alive.”

Evidently, Terry has explained this concept multiple times. There were no side tangents, no movie references, and no headaches. “I am satisfied with our relationship.” Korvo sunk into himself and slightly turned away. “Are… you… not satisfied?”

Terry erupted into an even louder bout of laughter and slapped his knee. “Hah! That gets funnier every time, too! It’s for fun, Korvo. I already made reservations at your favorite restaurant for 8PM.”

“But, I--”

Terry was already heading back inside to give Jesse and Yumyulack their drinks. “Make sure you wear something nice this time!”

Korvo racked his mind for any memories of going on a date night with Terry, but there was nothing. Korvo didn’t realize how harsh the effects of the Dumb Ray were. He felt like an idiot. Maybe it was like the NBC show Dateline. He had some researching to do. If Terry found out Korvo’s memory was still foggy, Korvo would surely get locked up again.

Terry was about to go on the best date night of his short, pathetic life.

---

It was 7:50 PM, Terry was already dressed in his favorite pink button-up with the top button unbuttoned and jeans, and Korvo was nowhere to be found. To make things worse, Korvo took the car so Terry couldn’t even go to the nearest Jack in the Box to drown his sorrows in a $5 munchie meal. It was uncharacteristic of Korvo to forget about date night, especially when he reminded Korvo just earlier. Perhaps, he wondered, the Dumb Ray effects had not subsided yet.

He went into the replicants’ bedroom to ask them if they knew where Korvo was, but they were gone. That’s right, they were at a party and said they wouldn’t be back home until midnight. Terry was alone at the house. Bored. Bored in the house and in the house bored--just as how that TikTok prophesied.

There were three loud knocks on the front door. Terry groaned. “Coming!” He wasn’t in the mood to entertain the neighbors.

Terry opened the door to find a bouquet of a dozen red roses being shoved into his face. It was Korvo, all dressed up in a tuxedo as if he was about to get married.

“I have arrived to date night you,” Korvo declared.

Terry happily accepted the bouquet. “Sick plants, dude! I didn’t know they came in red.”

“Red means love.”

“Cool! Should I plant them?”

“No, you put them in a vase with water.”

“Hmm…” Terry stared at the stems. “I don’t know, Korvo, don’t plants need dirt?”

“Why would I--” Korvo stopped himself and took a deep breath. He had to be charismatic. “You put them in a vase, you look at them for a couple days, and then they die.”

“Aww…” Now Terry was bummed out. He hated reminders of his planned obsolescence and inevitable death. “What’s the point of it, then?”

“Because they’re red, Terry!” Korvo’s fury was quick to resurface. “Red means love!”

“Okay, fine, but you don’t have to yell!”

Korvo hated himself. Stupid. He was already ruining their date night.

----

Jazz music played softly in the background. It would have been relaxing if it weren’t avant-garde jazz. It was times like these that made Korvo pray for the Pupa to eat everyone and terraform the planet, already. He had no idea how the cacophony he was hearing could possibly be classified as music. There was no discernible key signature, no rhythm, no melody, no dynamics--it was literally just a collection of instruments blasting away and competing with each other to see who could best resemble a dying animal.

“What the hell is this?” he grumbled.

Terry was busy looking through the menu. “‘Om’ by John Coltrane.”

Korvo was taken aback by the answer. He didn’t know Terry listened to this kind of noise. Even TV static sounded more harmonious. “What’s the point of it?” The thought of someone sitting in a recording studio and blasting terrible screeches into a microphone was enough to make someone gloober.

“Uh, to piss off people like you, duh!” Terry scoffed. “Just relax a little, okay, Korvy?” He reached across the table to put his hand over Korvo’s.

Korvo stared down at Terry’s hand and pondered for a moment. He curled his fingers over Terry’s hand. “I see… So what you’re saying is that music acts as a medium not only to organize patterns and produce a conventionally pleasing aesthetic, but also to defy those same standards and redefine the purpose of music through an ironic lens?”

“That’s jazz, baby!” For emphasis, Terry does jazz hands with his free hand.

Korvo leaned in and clasped his other hand over Terry’s. “You know a lot about music,” he comments. A loving smile curled the corners of his mouth upwards.

Terry smirked. “Well, I did major in music when we went to community college… Remember when we did that? That was fun.”

Korvo’s smile dropped. “You did?” He had no idea.

“Yeah, I majored in percussion performance. I was trying to get into a drumline, like in the movie Whiplash. Don’t you remember? I even invited you to my winter and spring recital.”

Korvo genuinely could not recall anything after Terry referencing Whiplash. This wasn’t on the Dumb Ray, this was clearly on his own negligence. “Oh.” Now that he thought about it, Terry was really good at drumming.

Terry withdrew his hand and crossed his arms. He sighed, slumped into his seat, and looked away forlornly. “It’s okay, you were probably busy working on the ship… The mission is always the highest priority.” He was already conditioned to expect disappointment when telling Korvo anything about his personal ambitions. It was Wetzel’s Pretzels all over again.

“It is...” Korvo agreed.

Terry felt his heart sink.

“... but you’re a high priority to me, too.”

Before Terry could respond, their waiter interrupted to take their orders. “Seafood platter for him, fettuccine chicken alfredo pasta for me, and your biggest bottle of wine.”

“Of course, sir.” The waiter took their menus away and left to relay the orders to the kitchen.

Fuck, Korvo loved it when Terry ordered for the both of them. It made him feel slightly lesser. He tugged at his neck collar.

“You know… I didn’t actually want to be a Pupa Specialist,” Terry quietly confessed. “I wish I could’ve been a music major on Shlorp.”

“You could’ve,” Korvo reminded him, “but you’d be dead.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know...”

Korvo watched Terry slump further into his seat. He was blowing it. Again. Discreetly, he took out his phone on his lap and pulled up a Wikihow article he had bookmarked on Safari: “How to Get Guys to Like You More when You Go on a date”. He skipped to step 3, “Be conversational.” Korvo cleared his throat. “Um… I wanted to be a biologist on Shlorp.”

“Aren’t you already a biologist?” Terry argued. “Science is like, your whole gimmick.”

“I’m an electrical engineer. I work with technology. I only got to take a few biology courses but my schedule was so loaded since I was a math/physics/engineering triple major, so I had no time to declare a minor in biology.”

Terry laughed. “You sure dodged a bullet! Pupa Specialists had to take a shitton of bio classes, and let me tell you, the only silver lining is the sex unit.”

“There’s a sex unit?”

“Yeah! Meiosis, DNA, best positions, tongue stuff… Jesse was conceived during that unit!” Terry smiled fondly, as if it were a normal sweet memory to be nostalgic of. “Ooh, ooh, how was Yumyulack conceived?”

“With my right hand and a magazine at a lab.” Korvo didn’t realize there was anything more to it than that. “Tell me more about this unit,” he demanded.

“Okay, so on the first day of class, our lab experiment for the day is to analyze genetic fluids, but wait! Our old tree professor forgot to order enough sample genetic fluids for the entire class! But, it turns out that collecting genetic fluids is the real lab experiment! Of course, I’m just sitting there with my lifemate, confused as hell, while the TA’s start to unbutton their robes…”

------

Terry and Korvo laughed as they stumbled out of the restaurant together, holding hands and swinging it between them. When Terry asked for their biggest bottle of wine, they sure did deliver. Behind them, the warm glow of the restaurant faded away as they searched for their car.

Terry wiped away tears of mirth with the back of his hand. “So I said, ‘You wouldn’t know one if you saw one!’”

Korvo dropped the car keys as he erupted in more laughter. “Hohoheehoihoiheehoihoi! You sure told him! That was something that you told him, alright!”

Korvo and Terry crouched down to reach for the car keys at the same time. They both groped around the spinning ground until their hands met. They looked up at each other with the same dazed, lovesick look in their eyes.

Within seconds, they were sloppily making out. Terry had so much to drink that he couldn’t even feel where his body started and Korvo’s ended. All he could taste was wine and seafood. He felt Korvo topple over, putting Terry on top of him, straddling Korvo’s hips between his legs. Their tongues swirled around each other as Korvo moaned and dug his fingers onto the back of Terry’s shirt. The sidewalk was cold, but their bodies were hot enough to compensate.

Terry pulled away and fumbled to unbutton his shirt.

“Woah, woah, woah--I think we should, should go home first.” Korvo slowly sat himself up.

“You can’t even drive!”

“Of course I can!” Korvo declared, unintentionally flicking specks of saliva onto Terry’s face as he spoke. “W-We’re aliens! Our bodies… they got high tolerance… Alcohol sharpens our senses!” He pushed Terry off of him and crawled over to the car keys.

Terry helped him up. “That doesn’t sound so right, but I don’t know enough to argue with that!”

Korvo waved the car key fob in the air and pressed the lock button repeatedly, struggling to hear where their car was. “Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep!” he called out, as if it were a dog that could respond and come running over. “Fuck, where’d I park?”

Terry turned Korvo around to face their car.

“Oh shiiit, found it!”

Korvo clicked the unlock button a few dozen times, then they let themselves in. Neither of them bothered to strap in their seatbelts.

-----

As soon as their bedroom door was shut and locked, Korvo and Terry started hurriedly undressing each other. Terry kissed Korvo’s neck as he loosened his bowtie while Korvo yanked Terry’s shorts down and began unbuttoning his shirt.

“Fuuuck, Terry,” Korvo raspily moaned out. “I-I want you to dominate me! Dominate me, Terry! Make me your slut!”

“Yeah, you’re a little slut, huh?” Terry palmed Korvo’s mound. “My fucking whore needs to be taught a lesson?”

Korvo bucked his hips into Terry’s hand. “Yes, Terry!” he groaned. “Teach me a lesson!”

Terry swept Korvo off his feet in one motion and carried him to the bed. As soon as he dropped him, he crawled on top of Korvo and tugged Korvo’s dress pants down. Korvo’s rootstalk was eager to be exposed, wriggling out of its hole to meet Terry’s tongue. Terry gave the thick root one long, slobbering, lick up the shaft and to the tip. “Alright, Korvy, pop quiz--what’s the powerhouse of the cell?”

Korvo didn’t respond.

“Wait, Korvo, you do know what the powerhouse of the cell is, don’t you?” Terry heard a small sob. He looked up at Korvo, who was covering his blushing face, wet and shiny from fresh tears. Terry crawled away from between Korvo’s legs and to his side. “Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” he whispered gently. He coaxed Korvo’s hands away from his face.

Of course, being asked what was wrong only made Korvo cry harder and curl away. “I-I-I forgot!” he wailed. “I f-forgot what the powerhouse of the cell is! W-What is it? I have no f-f-fucking clue!”

Terry hugged him from behind. “It’s okay, baby, it doesn’t matter! It’s just the mitochondria.”

“I-I just… I just feel so dumb. I’ve been waiting weeks for my intelligence to fully recover ever since you hit me with the Dumb Ray, but… but that’s it. This is as smart as I ever was before! And I’m fucking s-s-st-stu-stupid!”

Terry squeezed him harder while he sobbed and wailed and gooblered all over the both of them. “There, there, Korvo.” He knew the drill. Korvo cried during sex all the time--something about the physical release of his genetic fluids seemed to trigger an emotional catharsis in him. This time was unusually early, though. They hadn’t even finished foreplay. “Do you want some ice cream?”

“N-No, let’s continue having sex,” Korvo insists.

“But you’re crying--”

“--Well, I’m still horny!” He tried to dry his eyes, but it was a Sisyphean task.

“Alright, fine, but talk about your feelings while I’m sucking you off.” Terry crawled back over to Korvo’s crotch and continued where he left off--licking the thick root all over, from bottom to top. He began sucking the tip of it, which wriggled slightly as it grew more.

Korvo panted heavily. “O-O-Oh my g-god…” Hot pleasure took over him. “Well, I wanted to be a biologist on Shlorp, but…” He interrupted himself with a loud moan when Terry started deep-throating his root. “Hohhhmygod! Oh, Terry! Fuck, it feels so good!” He felt his root lengthening more and wriggle down Terry’s throat. “Terry, Terry, Terry… I’m gonna--ohhh, fuck…”

Terry gave a small grunt of surprise when Korvo’s genetic fluids began squirting down his throat. He could just barely taste the sweet, floral nectar as he swallowed. There was so much to swallow down. Korvo was always so repressed--he was always too busy studying repair manuals to jerk off every now and then.

Korvo felt dizzy from the waves of pleasure still crashing over him after his release. “Terry, I love y--”

“--What happened?” Terry interrupted.

“Huh?”

“What happened to being a biologist?” Terry asked again. “I mean, you could’ve just not majored in so many majors in the first place, right?”

Korvo grabbed a spare pillow and put it over his face. “It’s not important anymore, never mind,” he said, muffled.

“Korvo, c’mon, I won’t tell you my secret sex techniques if you don’t tell me your tragic backstory.”

Korvo uncovered his face. “Tell me,” he demanded.

“You first!”

Korvo took a moment to decide if it was truly worth opening up about his deepest, darkest insecurities just for sex. It was a very short moment. “I got a B+ in Intro to Biology my first year.”

Terry waited for further explanation, but there was nothing more. “B+ isn’t a bad grade?”

“I know!” Korvo snapped. “But I-I freaked out! That was my first B in a class, ever! And now we’re stuck on Earth and the Pupa could destroy us all any second and it’ll be all my fault because I wasn’t smart enough to fix the ship! And I’m not even smart enough to understand why the Pupa is 670C because I got freaked out over a B! And now we’re all going to die!” Gooblers danced all over their bedsheets.

“Korvo, baby, relax!” He wiped away Korvo’s tears. “Even if you quadruple-majored in biology/math/physics/engineering, we’d still be on Earth because you couldn’t fix the ship. It doesn’t matter!”

Korvo buried his face into Terry’s chest and gave out a strangled scream.

Terry laughed to himself. “I mean, what’s the point of studying so much if you can’t even fix the ship?” He stroked the back of Korvo’s head lovingly. “I was able to fix a lavatic reactor in just a few minutes of reading one of your dumb manuals!” One of the gooblers popped straight into his eye. “Ow! Okay, I’m sorry! I guess the point is, uh… I’ll help you fix the ship. How does that sound?”

The gooblers finally came to a stop. “You will?”

“Anything to get you to stop crying during sex…” Terry grumbled.

Korvo began showering Terry with kisses. “Oh, Terry! Thank you! Mwah, mwah! Thank you so much! There’s so much I still have yet to diagnose in the ship--the catalytic nasprober, the psionic cholecystosanitizer, the carcino-fibrillator, the hexylgraph, the blinkers--”

The list went on and on and on and on and on. Terry didn’t realize how much was wrong with the ship until now. He started to understand why Korvo was so stressed out all the time. Korvo had spent hours every day working on the ship for over a year, and this entire time Terry assumed that Korvo was just bad at repairing.

There had to be an end to this. Terry slowly crawled back over to Korvo’s root, still wet with saliva and nectar genetic fluids, and began sucking at it again. It was only a matter of seconds until Korvo was back to being a squirming, moaning mess.

Korvo rested his hand on Terry’s head. “T-T-Terry, T-Terry! Oh, Terry!”

After Terry deemed it wet enough, he finally gave his mouth a break. “Okay, don’t freak out,” he warned Korvo.

“Why should I not freak out?” Korvo asked, freaking out already.

“I’m gonna try a special Shlorpian sex technique on you.”

Korvo has only ever had sex with Terry the traditional way--humping and twisting their roots around each other. “It won’t hurt, will it?”

“Hmm--well--um---I wouldn’t say hurt?”

“I do not like your hesitance.”

“Okay, okay, okay! So, you twist up your partner’s root into a spiral-cone-thing, tuck that into their root-hole, and fuck it like a pussy, basically.”

The image of it was vivid in Korvo’s head. It sounded so… demeaning and aggressive. “Okay.”

Terry kissed him. “I love you!” He licks Korvo’s root and tries to coat as much saliva as he can on it before twisting the root as tight as he can. This, of course, is not the part where it hurts because their roots do not have pain receptors. With his other hand, he gently pries open Korvo’s root hole.

Korvo groaned. He felt so violated in a way he had never felt before. It felt so lewd to have Terry stretch his root hole open. He bites his tongue when Terry starts fingering him. “Mmghh…!” It hurt so good.

“Damn, Korvo, you’re so tight. Tighter than Honey Boo Boo’s training bra!”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Seriously, you make Terri look like a corner street hooker! Because you’re so tight, get it?”

“Yes, Terry. I get it.”

Terry lapped at Korvo’s hole, then stuck the tip of his tongue in. Breathy moans spilled out of Korvo as he clencher himself around Terry’s tongue. Terry went back to sucking on Korvo’s root while slowly pushing his finger inside of Korvo’s hole. Korvo’s moans crescendoed with every millimeter Terry pushed in. Terry tried to wriggle his finger and stretch out Korvo’s hole as much as he could before squeezing in another one.

“Ahh… Ahh! T-Terry! Oh my god--Terry! Mmphh!” Korvo grinded his hips against Terry’s fingers. “Fuck, fuck, fuck! T-Th-That feels s-so good!” He was close to cumming all over again.

Terry took his mouth off of Korvo’s root and began twirling the root around his finger. He wasn’t one to brag, but it was known that he had the best root-twirling technique in his class. Korvo’s root was, thankfully, very flexible and easily conformed to the twirled form. Terry quickly shoved the root as deep into Korvo’s hole as possible. There was a soft squelch underneath Korvo’s grunts. Terry got on top of Korvo, pinned Korvo’s arms over his head, and kissed him as he gently pushed his root inside of Korvo.

Korvo wrapped his legs around Terry’s hips. He finally understood the human concept of “heaven” and it was Terry holding him down and jack-hammering away at his hole. Within seconds, he was already cumming. His root clenched hard around Terry’s and squirted more lubrication for Terry to penetrate even deeper and harder.

It wasn’t long until Terry cummed, too. His hot nectar filled Korvo up and leaked all over both of their groins. He slowed down, then eventually paused. This was usually around the time when Korvo started to cry again. He rested his sweaty forehead against Korvo’s. “Korvo?”

The waterworks came back. “Terry, I love you so much! I-I-I’m sorry I keep crying d-during s-s-sex!”

“It’s okay, I love you too.” He accepted more tear-stained kisses. “Do you wanna keep going?”

Korvo shook his head no.

Terry got off of Korvo and hugged Korvo and patted his back while he cried. “It’s okay, Korvy… I love you a lot, too! We have a house and replicants and a cute little Pupa--we really nailed this whole family thing, huh?”

All in all, Terry would say that it was a very successful date night.

#solar opposites #tervo #fanfiction #terry #korvo #terry x korvo #korvotron

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lubdubsworld · 7 years

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The Lake House ( Namjin)

Chapter 3

Two days later, Hoseok dropped Mickey off with them, saying that he was working on renovating his bedroom and the dust was getting into Mickey’s fur. jin had always loved the little thing and he was grateful for the company. Except that he still hadn’t seen any sign of his neighbours and the house stayed locked.

On that weekend, Namjoon had come home early and they had a quick dinner before making out for a while on the couch. The physical exertion helped, taking some of the edge off and Jin didn’t even complain when Namjoon fucked him into the couch, staining the upholstery and accidentally ripping a curtain out of its rung.

But by eleven thirty in the night, he was wide awake, while Namjoon’s loud snores rocked the bedroom , only exacerbated by the heavy downpour that was battering the windows. Jin moved to the laptop, opening up a few recipe websites and just browsing through them when the soft night light went off, plunging the room into darkness. Seokjin blinked, suddenly aware of a cold spray of water coming in from the side window and he noticed that the window was open, the raging wind making the curtain billow out wildly, water rushing in in an icy spray.

Shivering against the sudden cold, he glanced at the bed, immensely grateful that he wasn’t alone. Namjoon was just a few feet away from him and he would hear him, if he screamed. Shaking, he moved to the window, reaching out to pull it shut when a bolt of lightning flashed through the night, lighting up the landscape in perfect clarity.

And there he was.

Min Yoongi, with a rolled up carpet , tied together with a long length of rope, hauling the body sized baggage to the back of his car. it was such an incriminating scene that jin could only stare open mouthed as the man hauled the entire thing into the boot space and slammed it shut.

“namjoon...” Jin whispered, in disbelief, fully certain that he was watching a murderer get rid of a body. Namjoon didn’t even stir and jin cursed moving to yell sharply.

“Kim Namjoon!!!”

His husband jumped up in shock, terror and concern written large on his features as he tried to focus on Jin.

“Baby... where are you.. what.. are you okay?” Namjoon was muttering and jin reached out, grabbing his hand and hauling him close.

“look... look at that....”

the rain had somehow intensified and everything was dark. Namjoon squinted out into the darkness , frowning.

“What the hell am i supposed to be seeing hyung..” The annoyance was evident and jin bit his lips.

And then, like a macabre joke the lightning flashed again .

there was nothing there.

No car. No Yoongi.

“i .. i thought....” Jin mubled.

“what the hell, hyung...”

“i thought i saw....”

“Jesus Christ hyung....”

Muttering under his breath , Namjoon went back to bed but jin stood still for a liong time, staring into the rain. He knew what he had seen. And tomorrow he would get to the bottom of this...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Except apparently, there was nothing to get to the bottom of.

Jin found himself standing at the edge of the fence, having dragged a small stool to one of the flowerbeds to peer over the fence and into the neighbour's garden and the place looked as deserted as always. But his gaze fell on something on the mushy ground and he felt his eyes widen.

From last night, he thought firmly. I didn't imagine that. He was there.

just as he tried to lever himself up a bit more, the stool slipped and he fell, forearm getting caught in some briers as he barely managed to catch himself from face planting on the damp earth. As it was the, thorny briers had scratched the smooth skin on his arm , angry red welts burning his forearm and some of them even bleeding.

Sighing, he moved to the small chair on the patio, grabbed a stray hand towel and pressed it to his forearm before moving to get into the house.

He had to find some antiseptic or something and just clean this up before-

The lock clicked.

The knob turned.

The door swung open.

And Seokjin stood still, hand still hovering over the brass knob as he stared at the now open door.

What the actual....

He felt like his entire body had been dipped in icy cold water.

A cold wind brushed the back of his neck and he tried to get his head on straight. The breeze. The breeze must have opened the door. These things happened. they lived so close to the woods and the lake and it was always pretty windy.

He stepped into the house, turning back around to lock the door securely. He turned the knob a few times, to make sure the door was locked , even reaching for the small key on the wall to lock the thing shut.

Good. No more surprises.

Crash.

Jin jumped, turning around in a panic and his heart pounded as he stared at the mirror on the far side of the wall, which showed a reflection of Namjoon’s study table. The frame of the newspaper clipping, the one Jin had put up the previous day had somehow fallen down and Jin struggled to get his breathing back on track.

He hated this house with a passion.

Muttering under his breath, he moved to the end of the hallway and into the study, carefully picking up the fallen frame and placing it back on the table. He stared at it for a second.

Dr. Kim Namjoon being awarded the prestigious Jeguk Award of Excellence for his contribution to the field of Genetics.

Namjoon.... Why wasn’t he home yet?

Biting his lips and slowly walking back into the hallway, Jin Picked the phone and dialed Namjoon’s number only to stop halfway , when his eyes fell on the door.

it was wide open.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Go ahead ... get your ball!!” Jin said brightly, tossing the ball into the shallow pool of water near the shore as he sat on the edge of the pier.

Mickey stood a few feet away, growling ominously at the water. Jin frowned.

“Mick...! Go ahead.... get your ball....” He pressed, waving at the pup , but the dog stayed put, entire body taut and high strung as it growled at the water some more.

“Mick... it’s your favorite ball... “ jin sighed, levering himself up and moving to get the small fishing rod on the side of the pier. the ball had floated a bit further out into deeper waters and he gripped a pole on the pier, leaning slowly to try and get the ball.

As he used the pole to draw the ball in, his eyes fell on something just below the surface of the water.

it looked like weeds, dull orangey- brown weeds attached to a flat white stone , but as he continued to stare at the strange plant, the image began clearing up and the weeds.... they looked thinner....finer....less like weeds and more like human hair..... and the flat stone... looked less like a stone and more like a face.

As jin stayed bent over, slightly paralyzed with fear, two black spots appeared on the face, dead eyes blinking open and staring blankly at him....

Jin screamed and fell back onto the wooden pier and mickey yelped, taking off into the grounds and back home. Jin scrambled to his feet and went running back to the house, his heart pounding as well.

He reached the patio, panting and his eyes began to sting with tears as he saw the door open, the key in his hand cold as he shivered.

“Who are you?” He whispered out loud, misery creeping into him...” why are you doing this to me?”

Shaking , he stepped into the house, trembling as he locked the door behind him. everything was still but he knew he wasn’t alone.

“What do you want ” he whispered , his body shaking. “ please don’t do this to me.... ” He whispered , unable to believe he was saying it out loud.

Loud music filled the room suddenly .

killling me softly.... The disembodied voice crooned out softly and miserably and jin felt the tears slip.

oh God.... please make it stop.. please make it stop....

The singing stopped.

Jin stayed still.

And then the radio came on, loud static filling the house and Jin felt his mind shut down in stark terror.

He had to get out of here.

Whatever was in this house could go fuck itself.

He was out of here.

He grabbed the car keys, and his jacket before moving out of the house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“We usually use , different kinds of sedatives, but this time we’re using helathane...” The intern in the lab coat gave him a passing smile before turning back to his colleague, all the while injecting something into a white rat . “ it’s a dis associative agent that immobilizes her limbs and stops all motor activity but keeps her awareness intact. She can’t move but she knows what’s going on....”

Jin stared at the rat for a second before moving past the men into the inner office. Namjoon was slumped over his desk and he looked up curiously, eyes going wide when he caught sight of jin.

“Jin.. what are you doing here?” He stood up, concerned and Jin swallowed.

“i... I heard noises....in the house..”

“Noises?”

“i got scared...”

“Oh, baby.. come here.” He pulled him close, and jin let himself be hugged by the taller man. “ Did you call the police ?”

Jin shook his head.

“No...” He said softly.

“okay.. babe... let’s go home.” Namjoon looked worried but also slightly exasperated and Jin felt sick to his stomach.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After some hot dinner and two cups of tea, Jin had calmed down sufficiently to accept that he may have psyched himself out. But Namjoon was still not sure.

“i’m going to ask the Police to check on this place when i’m not here...” namjoon said firmly.

“Oh , that would be fun. ‘ can you please check on my husband? he’s hearing voices..’ Wait till that gets around....” jin rolled his eyes.

“hyung, I’ll be away fro the conference next month and I want you to feel safe in this house...”

“i.. i do,... i just.... I’m sure it’s nothing.” He said with a sigh.

“I did some research on Yoongi by the way. guy’s a producer a successful one at that... He worked with Mino even.... looks grumpy but a nice guy. apparently he wouldn’t hurt a fly....”

“And .. jung Kook?” Jin said softly.

Namjoon shrugged.

“Jung Kook’s young . Probably graduated college just a year or so ago...”

Young. Jin stared out of the window.

He was pretty sure that the face in the lake had been young too.

#namjin #jin #namjoon #horror au

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the-master-cylinder · 4 years

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SUMMARY In a secret military laboratory operating under the guise of a pesticide manufacturer, there is an outbreak of a virulent bacteria. During routine work a sealed tube is broken, releasing the secret biological weapon. Where upon detecting the release of the agent, one of the plant’s security officers activate “Protocol One,” a procedure sealing all of the workers inside from the outside world and they are left to wait out the deadly effects. A local County Sheriff whose pregnant wife, the security officer, is trapped inside, and with the help of a past employee who is a known alcoholic, must fight through a government agency and the chemically affected workers to find his wife and put a stop to the spread of the lethal weapon. The former employee had started creating an antidote to the weapon, which the sheriff and his wife create and deploy.

DEVELOPMENT Bloom’s story is a bit more complex, Twelve years ago, while a 19-year-old student at the University of California, he happened to sign on as a production assistant on an obscure project directed by an unknown named George Lucas. It was American Graffiti. “I kept an eye on the cars, Bloom recalls with a smile. Now as sole producer, Bloom finally has some wheels of his own, and if a $7 million thriller.

“A cross between “The China Syndrome (1979)” and “Night of the Living Dead (1968)” said producer Jim Bloom of WARNING SIGN, to be released by 20th Century-Fox on August 23. Written by the filmmaking duo of Matthew Robbins and Hal Barwood, who last collaborated on DRAGONSLAYER. the story deals with the frightening implications of scientists using gene splicing techniques in an attempt to develop new forms of germ warfare.

While Bloom admits its similarity to many films, he denies that the germ warfare thriller Andromeda Strain deserves a place on that list.

“Although I am a great fan of director Robert Wise, on that project, he made the design an equal star to the actors. I found the treatment to be rather dry and emotionless, Bloom suggests. “In this movie, the laboratory is secondary to what’s happening. The primary concern is what’s happening to the people.”

Like The China Syndrome, Bloom admits in a less lighthearted vein, the possibilities of life mirroring art with extremely hazardous results also exists. That’s one reason he and Barwood seek to label the film as a “high-tech thriller” rather than science fiction. Though Barwood does have a strong background in the sciences, the filmmakers stress that the microbes are not the message.

“Our purpose is not to educate the community about genetic engineering,” Bloom contends. “Our purpose is to make an entertaining movie.

“At the same time, we want to present intelligent subject matter. One of the complaints I have with many horror movies is that you are dealing with rather dull, boring subject matter which makes use of cheap psychological thrills to entertain you.

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PRE-PRODUCTION To keep costs within the budget, interior filming was done at a vacant Junior High School in La Crescenta, California. “We saved quite a bit, because rather than building a lot of sets, we could go in and use existing rooms, walls and staircases, “revealed Bloom. “We built the main Bio Tek containment lab in the school’s gym. It all worked out very well.” Money was also saved by casting the film without expensive star names. Instead, actors with solid dramatic backgrounds were chosen. “We didn’t want star names for this picture,” said Bloom. “It’s supposed to be real, a story that could happen to anyone, and very often a star can detract from that.”

Set decorator Mickey Michaels. “Every piece is real. Even the government was drooling over this equipment.” Michaels was brought onto the project by production designer Heary Bumstead primarily due to Michaels’ connections with private sector laboratories dealing in this exclusive brand of research. “I told the companies, ‘I can’t promise about the acting or story, but all the equipment will work.” Michaels quips. “You have to make it real to make the unreal work.

Major (Yaphet Kotto) Connolly is not a bad guy.” Bloom says. “He’s sacrificing a few to save many, the same way firemen contain a fire burning out of control.” – Jim Bloom

BEHIND THE SCENES Bumstead, with 47 years of motion pictures behind him, has worked on four Alfred Hitchcock films (gamering an Oscar nomination for Vertigo) and with George Roy Hill on Slaughterhouse Five. Of this latest venture, he says, “I don’t think Mickey Michaels will ever forgive me for what I’ve put him through on this film, but his connections have made a real difference.”

One reason that Bumstead and Michaels could design the film from today’s company stockrooms and drawing boards, Bloom notes, is that Barwood and Robbins extracted the story from today’s headlines.

“This is really not a science-fiction movie, Bloom says. “It’s really a fiction piece, based on things which are very real right now. The element of science fiction is that we’re dealing in a high-tech field about which the public knows very little.

“Hal Barwood and I are both true fans of genetic engineering. I believe that the 20th century will be remembered for gene splicing-nor computers or nuclear energy.

“In fact, we are dealing with something that, in some ways, is far more terrifying than atomic weaponry-cloning toxins, which are essentially proteins, into easily catchable bacteria like E. coli. Once you start this process, it’s very difficult to create an anti-toxin. That’s what makes it so dangerous: you can not just push a button.”

Nevertheless, Bloom maintains, “We are not looking to present genetic engineering in a bad light. A hundred years from now, when people look back on this period, they’ll see it as the seed point of the genetic revolution.”

The seed point for the film, however, came when Barwood and Robbins, while researching the subject matter, discovered some data-circa World War I-on the Borna virus. “It happened in Germany, Bloom explains. “The Borna virus was very rare, and specific to horses and animals. The horses that became infected all went mad and began attacking each other the virus affects the brain’s rage center.

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“That idea, coupled with the concept of developing a particular toxin for germ warfare, was the seed for this project.”

Germ Chills In the film, those within BioTek begin to go mad once they have contracted the virus, menacing cach other and the strangely immune Quinlan. A one-time history classroom displays a remnant of their handiwork, with one door chopped to pieces by an axe and the fake glass in the other shattered.

SPECIAL EFFECTS “It’s quite nice,” observes special effects supervisor Kevin Pike, who oversaw the physical effects on Starfighter thankless job since Digital Productions’ computer graphics got all the ink. “At least there’s no Digital to come in and overshadow all of our stuff,” he smiles. “There are no real major effects on this movie, but many little things.”

“I have less budget on this film than I’ve had in many, many years, production designer Bumstead acknowledges. It’s a challenge. When I heard the budget, I said, “We must find a school,’ so here we are.”

Zomble Thrills The idea of germ warfare recalls a number of films, as does the concept of dangerously enraged virus-afflicted, zombie-like humans. Harmless ultra-violet lights have been developed that, when shone into the eyes of actors wearing special contact lenses, will create an eerie purple glow. The grotesque sores will also glow, set decorator Michaels reveals.

The film has had two previews, and according to Bloom, the reaction has been good. “It’s a very esoteric film in some ways,” admitted the producer. “Some people will hear about a movie where people are getting sick inside of a gene-splicing laboratory, and won’t go near it, so it doesn’t have a broad general appeal.” That fact, combined with the change in management at Fox since the film was made. could mean an uphill struggle to get the film to its intended audience. – Jim Bloom

Warning Sign (1985) Main Theme: Biotek Craig Safan

youtube

CAST/CREW Directed Hal Barwood Produced Hal Barwood Jim Bloom Written by Hal Barwood Matthew Robbins

Music Craig Safan Cinematography Dean Cundey

Sam Waterston as Cal Morse Kathleen Quinlan as Joanie Morse Yaphet Kotto as Major Connolly Jeffrey DeMunn as Dr. Dan Fairchild Richard Dysart as Dr. Nielsen W. Bailey as Tom Schmidt Jerry Hardin as Vic Flint Rick Rossovich as Bob

CREDITS/REFERENCES/SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY Starlog#098 Starlog#101 Cinefantastique v15n04

Warning Sign (1985)Retrospective SUMMARY In a secret military laboratory operating under the guise of a pesticide manufacturer, there is an outbreak of a virulent bacteria.

#80sFilms

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nyloncoffee · 7 years

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News from the source: Colombia 2017

Sourcing for coffees in this vast country is always an enjoyable experience despite the long and arduous flights that amount to 3 days stuck in planes and airports. This year, we did a pit stop in Frankfurt en route to Bogota. During the layover, we managed to do a quick cafe hop in this German capital to check out some local roasters. Similar to other European cities, specialty coffee is growing here in Germany. We managed to grab some caffeine fix at The Brewing Society, Hoppenworth & Ploch, as well as Bruhmrkt. As roasters, we are always curious to try out other international roasters, especially at times when we happen to have roasted the same coffee. It gives us an insight to the different approaches each roaster would have on a particular green coffee. The caffeine fueled us up for the next 12 hour leg to Bogota. (*Note: This is a long post, so fuel up!)

Having visited Colombia the past 4 years, Bogota has always been a transit stop where we hop on to a connecting flight to Popayan. We had never stepped out of the airport until this year, when we intentionally planned a day trip into the city. The specialty coffee scene seems to growing rapidly in this bustling capital of the 3rd largest coffee producer in the world. Usually when we travel to coffee origins, it is hard to find a decent cup of coffee, which is ironical as these countries produce amazing coffees which are exported around the world. We did our homework and visited these cafes which roast their own beans. The cafe scene is vibrant and we tasted some delicious brews at Cafe 18. While many locals still frequent the big chains, like Juan Valdez, there is a trend of more specialty-focused cafes as the demand for better coffee increases.

This year, our trip was highlighted by a special event, which was the wedding of our good friends, Jairo and Juliana. Jairo Ruiz, one of the co-founders of Banexport has been a dear friend since we started sourcing from Colombia. We are extremely honoured to have been part of their special day. We had no idea what to expect in a Colombian wedding, except there will be plenty of booze and salsa. It was one wedding to remember, never had we attended a matrimonial ceremony with so much music, dancing, karaoke, aguardiente (anise-flavoured liquor) and fireworks on the dance floor!

After a heavy night of boogie that lasted into the wee hours, we took the following day off to give ourselves and everybody some well-needed rest. The following day, we started with 2 rounds of cupping at Banexport's office to have a preview of the new harvest from Cauca before heading out to visit some producers in the surrounding towns within Cauca. Over the years, Banexport has worked with countless small producers, helping many to improve the coffee quality. They spend valuable resources, both financial and time, to form a community of like-minded small producers, who want to make a sustainable living out of growing better coffee. The goal is simple, better coffee = better prices = better livelihood and eventually a brighter future for the producers.

One of them is Hugo Trujillo. His farm, named Finca Las Orquideas, is situated in Caldono. The farm is about 3 hectares located about 1500 metres in altitude where Hugo is growing Castillo, Colombian varietal and Yellow Colombian varietal. Hugo is currently selling his coffees to cooperatives and some to Banexport. It is unusual to meet a producer less than 30 years old. While he is young, Hugo has grand ambitions. He has been working with Banexport to improve on his coffee quality. With some technical advice from Banexport, Hugo experimented with the way he processes his coffee after picking. He has been doing double fermentation in his wet mill for some of the micro-lots, meaning fermentation in a "hopper" (tolva), then in a tank. This processing method is currently being implemented by some small producers at lower altitudes. According to Banexport, the cupping scores have been generally 1-2 points higher compared with the traditional fermentation method.

The second producer we visited was Señora Cenaida Flor, whose farm is called La Esperanza, located in the town of Santa Barbara in Cauca. Cenaida is new to specialty coffee, but we can see there is much potential. The coffee trees are spaciously planted in neat rows. She grows Castillo and Colombian, and has recently acquired some seeds of Maragogype from a friend. She will experiment growing this "elephant bean" varietal which can potentially increase her income in future years if this project becomes successful. From the conversation, we understand that Cenaida is keen to pursue growing more specialty coffee (micro-lots) in her farm, but she will need the support from Banexport in providing technical advice. It is encouraging to see her determination in improving the quality of her coffees and we hope she will persevere to make it happen.

The last producer that we visited is El Naranjal, a farm that came in #10 in the Best Cup Cauca 2016. It was also the lot that we successfully bid and won, allowing us to share the fruits of Martha and her husband, Luis Alberto. After a quick tour around the farm and understanding the processing of the harvests, we presented the couple with a bag of their coffee which we roasted to share with them. The coffee has finally come one complete circle after they were grown, picked, processed in the farm and shipped out to us in Singapore, we were able to roast this awesome coffee and share them with our customers around the region, and they can also get to taste the fruits of their labour. It was quite a heartwarming moment..

We got to know a new friend during this trip, Aldemar Sarasti. Aldemar has been working with Banexport for 1 year and his role is to provide technical advice to the small producers. He is extremely knowledgeable as we hear him dispense information about the type of fertilizers, the type or nutrients the plants would need, and what trees/alternative crops the producers can grow to help maintain the farm. He had been most patient in driving us around, acting as our local guide. We departed Popayan and headed towards another coffee department of Huila. Driving across the Purace National Park, we were occasionally hypnotised by the landscape in this vast country. It was almost a 6 hour journey before we reached Pitalito, located in the south of the Huila department.

This visit to Huila was much anticipated because we had planned to meet Elkin Guzman from Finca El Mirador. We have been corresponding with Elkin via email and Whatsapp when we wanted to understand more about the techniques involved in the way he manages his family farm. Elkin is a young producer, who studied agricultural engineering in Popayan at the university of Cauca. He has been instrumental in the development work within the farm. 6 years ago, he started to collaborate with Banexport in developing new processing methods to improve the cup quality. With Banexport's support Elkin uses Finca El Mirador as a test bed to try out different approaches to cultivation, harvesting and processing. He had also joined the Banexport team as an agricultural engineer so that he can help other producers in the region with his experience.

After a quick cupping at the Banexport's office/coffee lab, we set off to Finca El Mirador. Last year, we won a small lot in a silent auction from this farm and we were naturally very excited to finally visit. At the farm, we met Elkin's mother, Señora Fanny Vargas. While Elkin manages most of the cultivation, harvesting and processing work at the farm, Fanny oversees the quality control within the wet mill (beneficio) and the drying of the coffees. Elkin gave us a brief overview of the farm. Currently, he grows Caturra, Castillo, Colombian, Catiope, Mokka, Tabi, Bourbon and Typica with some orange Bourbon in the pipeline. Most of the coffees are processed as honey or natural, with a small portion of washed processed. Cherries are harvested when the Brix level is at least 20 degrees. Understanding the genetics of the differental varietals have helped Elkin to decide on which fermentation methods to use for each varietal. For example, the fermentation process for Caturra and Bourbon is different compared to the Castillo, Colombian, Tabi. For the former, he does dry fermentation with Day 1's picking of the coffee cherries, then he adds Day 2's picking, so this is one form of "double fermentation". Elkin explains that the micro-organism is more active on the 2nd day, so less time is required to ferment Day 2's pickings. The pH level and Brix of the dry fermented coffee is measured to decide when to send the coffees for washing. For some other varietals like Castillo, Colombian and Tabi, there is another form of double fermentation which involves 2 stages: 1st stage in a tolva ("hopper") and 2nd stage in fermentation tanks (similar to what we saw in Cauca at Finca Las Orquideas). Elkin explained that such varietals have lower sugar content genetically, so fermenting in a funnel-shape tolva helps to increase fermentation and hence higher sweetness. The length of the fermentation depends on the environment and temperature. There was also some insights to how he is experimenting with carbonic maseration and freezer method of fermentation. Such methods are at the request of some of his clients who are looking to achieve a certain cup profile with these experimental methods.

After explaining in-depth the different fermentation techniques, Elkin then led us to where he dries the parchment. There are 5 types of drying methods used in Fincal El Mirador:

Traditional: plastic, transparent roof, with 2 layers of drying beds; minimal ventilation resulting in high humidity and temperature,

Open ventilated beds without plastic roof; lower temperature,

Similar to 1) but with blue coloured roofs and 2 layers drying beds; cooler temperature than (1),

African raised beds in shade and

Traditional plastic cover with some ventilation, single layer drying bed (biggest area for bigger quantity coffee); parchment are moved every hour.

Elkin has one of the cleanest drying beds we have seen as we were pleasantly impressed by how his workers change to clean slippers before stepping onto the drying beds to rake the parchment.

For natural processed coffees, the coffees are spread out in a thin layer first, then when it drops to a certain moisture level, the coffees are moved closer together to form a small heap. This is to reduce the rate of loss of moisture which protects the cell structure when drying. Natural coffees usually takes about 25-35 days to dry fully. As they are more difficult to mill, so Elkin is trying a modified way of drying, which involves 2 stages: drying the naturals as usual naturals to a certain moisture level, afterwhich the beans are soaked in water for it to expand a little. The coffee cherries are then depulped and dried again. This method leads to a cup that taste like a natural processed, but benefits from easier milling.

We learnt so much from Elkin as he walked us through his farm and his beneficio. As the whole session was explained in Spanish, we probably only absorbed half of the knowledge he was sharing, but nonetheless, it was extremely educational and valuable. Our visit ended with a simple home-cooked lunch together with Fanny. This is true Colombian hospitality! We chatted more over lunch, sharing some history and background about Singapore and Nylon. While Finca El Mirador receives many international visitors, we're pretty sure we are the 1st Singaporeans here....

We concluded the visit by expressing our gratitude to Fanny and Elkin with a bag of Finca El Mirador coffee roasted by us. It was about 1 year ago when we first got to taste coffee from this farm and we are glad we finally met the wonderful people behind this beautiful coffee.

We returned to Pitalito and did another few rounds of cupping. The harvest period in Huila is different from Cauca, with the main harvest starting in October and ending in December. There are parts of Huila with mitacas (small harvest), and we had a preview of those available. Coffees from Huila seem to be more diverse in varietals compared to Cauca. We were excited to try some varietals which are new to us, such as Tabi and Ombligon. Tabi is a hybrid variety obtained by crossing Typica, Bourbon and Timor Hybrid. It was developed by Colombia’s Coffee Research Institute (CENICAFE). Ombligon, according to Elkin, is a mutation of the Colombian varietal. The trees grow well at high altitudes and is quite productive. The cherries are bigger in size compared to Colombians, with pointed ends. We also cupped samples from Finca El Mirador which included some naturals and honey-processed coffees. After shortlisting some potential lots, it was time to head back to Popayan.

During the journey back, we chatted with Aldemar about his work at Banexport and his aspiration of owning a farm like Finca El Mirador in future. Coffee farming is a long term commitment and with threats of climate change, there would be challenges and uncertainties for future coffee growers. We hope that there will be a pool of the younger generation of coffee producers to continue with cultivating specialty coffee within the country. In order to encourage them to carry on with coffee farming, the industry has to provide the right financial incentives and technical support as well as know-how to drive it forward.

Arriving back in Popayan, we did a final day of cupping at Banexport for coffees from Cauca. Slurping through all the samples, we picked out a few that caught our attention. Besides finding the coffees we like, we also spend time catching up with our friends at Banexport about updates on recent development and what is in their pipeline. For us, this form of in-person communication is the most effective way to maintain and strengthen relationships with partners. It is the reason why we continue to make time to travel the distance. It's not only for coffee, it is the connection with these incredible individuals that builds the foundation of what we do.

It was another amazing trip to Colombia. Lovely coffees, great food, incredible people. We will be looking forward to the fresh crops of Colombians end of the year.

Viva Colombia!

#nylontravels

#origin #sourcing #colombia

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presssorg · 5 years

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Growing Pains: Inside Canopy Growth Corp.’s bid to scale up at Aldergrove

Growing Pains: Inside Canopy Growth Corp.’s bid to scale up at Aldergrove It’s 11 a.m. on a rainy Thursday morning and hundreds of Canopy Growth Corp. employees are shuffling into work at the company’s facility in Aldergrove, B.C. After first donning Health Canada-mandated scrubs, lab jackets, hairnets and booties, they enter one of the facility’s massive greenhouses, where they’ll spend the next eight hours tending to thousands of cannabis plants. The atmosphere inside is upbeat. Workers laugh and chat, mostly in Spanish or Punjabi, and the energetic beat of Bhangra music blasts from a bluetooth speaker, reverberating across the expansive greenhouse. At 400,000 square feet apiece, the three greenhouses in Aldergrove are so large you can barely see to the end of them. Together they account for one-third of Canopy’s licensed growing space, making Aldergrove one of the centrepieces of the company’s ambitious growth strategy, which has seen it acquire giant greenhouses at a frenetic pace over the past five years. The promise of producing legal cannabis on a mass scale has helped catapult Canopy to the top of the rapidly expanding industry: With a market value of almost $20 billion, it is the largest cannabis company in the world. But if Aldergrove is emblematic of Canopy’s ambitions, it has also become a source of concerns over just how well the company is progressing toward the lofty goals it has set for itself and promised investors. Mark Yuen/Postmedia News For months, whispers have circulated throughout the cannabis world about a brief video, purported to have been shot at the facility,that showed thousands of dead cannabis plants. At least three people deeply involved in the cannabis industry — two of whom said they had visited the Aldergrove facility — told the Financial Post, on condition of anonymity, that the ramp-up at Aldergrove has been bumpy. “It has not been a smooth transition from back when it was growing vegetables, to growing cannabis,” one person, who had visited the facility, said. When the Financial Post visited Aldergrove in early March, one out of three greenhouses appeared to be in full use, housing thousands of plants, about five to six weeks old. A second, known as Phase 2, was empty: Adam Greenblatt, the company’s vice-president of business development, said it was between harvests, a process that typically takes up to three weeks. The third greenhouse was still being retrofitted to accommodate cannabis cultivation. The questions about Aldergrove come as Canada faces a severe cannabis supply shortage more than six months after recreational legalization, and four years after Canopy first started cultivating marijuana. Canopy has publicly acknowledged hiccups at the facility, saying last fall that a number of plants had to be destroyed due to delays related to “infrastructure” and “regulatory approvals,” but it has insisted the plant deaths were not related to growing issues. For a company whose chief executive, Bruce Linton, has said the goal all along has been to be No. 1, the stakes at Aldergrove are high: Getting the facility fully up to speed would go a long way toward silencing the company’s doubters. But it remains a work in progress.

By square footage owned — and most other measures — Canopy is a behemoth in the cannabis world. The company has 4.4 million square feet of licensed cultivation space to its name, stretching across seven provinces. British Columbia, infamous as a bastion of cannabis culture and long renowned as a source of black market supply, is central to this equation. The 1.3 million square foot Aldergrove facility and another 1.6 million square feet of space in Delta make up two-thirds of Canopy’s total licensed operations. Both B.C. facilities, which operate under the BC Tweed banner, were acquired in early 2018 from the Krahn family, longtime greenhouse operators who have been growing vegetables in the province for decades. It was a $400 million investment that the company touted as its ticket to “cementing shareholder value through scale production,” according to a May 2018 press release. “The BC Tweed greenhouses represent a meaningful share of the entire Canadian production landscape,” Canopy said at the time. Aldergrove received its cultivation licence in February of that year, and Delta was given the green light to start growing just two months later.

According to Greenblatt, Canopy also hired a large number of workers — primarily from Guatemala — through the federal government’s Temporary Foreign Workers program. The idea behind getting labour and licensing in order was to have a six-month head-start on cultivation in the two massive sites in order to be primed with thousands of kilograms of fresh bud in time for recreational legalization in October of last year. But in late September 2018, Canopy put out what appeared to be a rather benign press release addressing Ontario’s retail rollout plan, which had just been announced. Buried six paragraphs deep in the release was an acknowledgement that the company had destroyed a number of plants at its B.C. facilities (it did not specify which one) due to “licensing delays.” “Processing licences were delayed by infrastructure and regulatory approvals, which led to a number of plants needing to be destroyed. Management does not consider this event to represent a material impact on the company’s balance sheet,” the Sept. 27, 2018 statement read. Less than two hours later, a video showing a large greenhouse full of dead cannabis plants started circulating on Twitter and Reddit. On social media, many commenters, including some claiming to be investors in the cannabis space, speculated that it showed a crop failure at a greenhouse at Canopy’s Aldergrove facility — and not a deliberate crop cull. Although Canopy has never divulged what prompted it to release details of destroyed plants just a few weeks before legalization, an internal email sent by Canopy’s president and co-CEO Mark Zekulin to employees on Sept. 28, 2019 made reference to the video. “From U.S. border crossings to successful $5 billion AGM shareholder votes, we always have something going on to talk about. Most of the time ours is a good news story. Today the story was somebody who thought they should take a video in allegedly one of our greenhouses, and create a misleading perception of our company out there, undermining the good work all of us are doing around the globe to build a world-class company,” the email, obtained by the Financial Post, read.

An extraction facility is being constructed next to the Aldergrove greenhouses. Once ready, it will be used to extract oils from the cannabis plant on site. Mark Yuen/Postmedia “In the case of BC, our regulator provided a licence to grow, but the licence to process did not show up when we wanted to start the harvest. We can’t put it all on Health Canada, as we had our own delays and challenges getting these incredibly massive facilities up and running, but it sure didn’t help. As a result, we have sadly had to kill tens of thousands of plants that we could not harvest,” the email continued. In a phone interview with the Post, Jordan Sinclair, Canopy’s vice-president of communications, addressed the video publicly for the first time. When asked if it depicted a greenhouse in the Aldergrove facility, Sinclair said, “That is an excellent question.” “Clearly people have seen the video, we have gone through video records to try and verify where that footage came from,” Sinclair said. “I would say I think it lines up with timelines, but even internally, I would not say that I can confirm that is our site.” When asked specifically if Canopy ever faced crop loss in Aldergrove, Sinclair was adamant that they had not. “We have not experienced crop failure at Aldergrove. The problem at Aldergrove is that we didn’t have the licenses in hand to be able to harvest the crop.” Linton, too, reiterated to the Post via text that there had been no crop failure at the site.

Thousands of young cannabis plants, 5 to 6 weeks old, in a greenhouse at Canopy’s Aldergrove facility. A typical harvest cycle, from seed to flower, takes 12 to 14 weeks. Mark Yuen/Postmedia Cultivating cannabis in massive greenhouses, at such scale, has never been done before and is bound to come with its fair share of challenges. This may be why Canopy, like many other cannabis companies, does not publicly specify the quantity of cannabis produced at each of its operations across the country. The way the company tends to measure its operational scale is by square footage — although the company owns 4.4 million square feet of licensed production space, it is not clear how much cannabis flower and oil that actually yields. According to Greenblatt, each 400,000-square-foot greenhouse in Aldergrove can produce 5,000 kilograms of cannabis in one harvest cycle — the growers anticipate that in a given year, there will be three-and-a-half cycles, meaning that at full capacity, the facility could produce up to 52,000 kg of cannabis. But Greenblatt also confirmed that the most recent harvest out of Aldergrove in February (from a single greenhouse) yielded just 1,200 kg of cannabis. When asked about the shortfall, he said that much of that specific greenhouse was used as a nursery to house mother plants and test out different kinds of genetics. “Greenhouses across North America have had a difficult time adjusting to growing cannabis at scale,” said Jason Zandberg, a special situations analyst at PI Financial who has observed and documented the cannabis industry for almost four years. “The appeal of greenhouses is their low cost of production. But they are much more difficult to get right. I’ve seen greenhouses that used to grow chrysanthemum flowers and bell peppers having problems because cannabis is a much trickier crop,” he explained. One anonymous source told the Financial Post that the Aldergrove site has faced “lots of problems” and is struggling to grow at capacity even though large parts of it have been in operation for more than a year. He also said he had seen a “sea of brown plants” in one of the greenhouses during a visit in the latter half of last year.

Adam Greenblatt, VP, Business Development, Canopy Growth Corporation photographed in the vault at their facility in Aldergrove, B.C. Mark Yuen/Postmedia Another source, who said he visited Aldergrove last year, said a Canopy employee told him that one greenhouse had been battling a “root rot problem,” a fungal infection that afflicts cannabis roots that are weaker or stressed. According to Sinclair, the characterization of Aldergrove having a “sea of brown plants” at one point, was “not accurate.” “I would say that even at the point where we had to make that very difficult decision to destroy some of the plants due to the licensing and infrastructure delays that we disclosed, the vast majority of that site was in great health and has formed the backbone of the sales that we have put into the recreational market,” he added. Sinclair also denied that the facility, or any of Canopy’s cultivation sites had experienced “root rot,” but acknowledged that the company has had plants with “poor health” in the past. “I don’t think it is fair to say there have been lots of problems at Aldergrove. I think it is fair to say that it is a difficult task to bring 1.3 million square feet of cannabis production online in a short period of time. So it has not been a flawless process,” he said. Then there is the question of Canopy’s licensing with Health Canada. In both Aldergrove and Delta, Canopy only has a cultivation licence from the government, meaning that once harvested, cannabis cannot be processed or packaged at BC Tweed. Cannabis facilities typically apply for cultivation, processing and sales licences, in order to grow, package and sell their product. But in order to obtain a sales licence, LPs first have to apply for a processing licence, and then go through a thorough multi-day inspection of their processed products. “Typically, the inspectors want to see that you’ve gone through the whole processing, testing, labelling and packaging process with at least two distinct lots of cannabis,” said Trina Fraser, a cannabis lawyer with Brazeau Seller LLP.

It is still not clear whether Canopy had applied for a processing or sales licence in the past for its BC Tweed facilities under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regime or under the Cannabis Act. In separate conversations, neither Sinclair nor company spokesperson Caitlin O’Hara directly responded to those questions. But both Canopy in its Sept. 2018 press release and Zekulin in the internal email attributed the destroyed plants to a delay in obtaining what they termed a “processing” licence. According to publicly available information on Health Canada’s website, Canopy’s Aldergrove facility still does not have a processing or sales licence. Most major LPs, including Tilray Inc., Aphria Inc., and Aurora Cannabis Inc. have cultivation, processing and sales licences at least in their biggest facilities. But Canopy is currently shipping unfinished product to its headquarters in Smiths Falls, Ont., in order to be processed and packaged, an unusual strategy that the company says is deliberate. “What we were waiting for at that time when the plants were destroyed, was permission to harvest the plant. I guess what I should say now, is that all of the licences are complete. The model at BC Tweed is that a cultivation licence is all we need to conduct business,” Sinclair said. According to Zandberg, under the Cannabis Act, Health Canada does allow licensed producers to move product between their facilities — that was not the case under the previous Access to Cannabis For Medical Cannabis Regime (ACMPR). “It’s definitely not conventional, but it’s allowed,” Zandberg said.

Until recently, Canada’s biggest licensed producers have watched their valuations sky-rocket well into the billions of dollars, driven not by actual sales of cannabis, but mostly by investor euphoria, hypothetical forecasts of demand and the domino effect of major sector-wide deals. Canopy has dominated coverage of the sector, often making the first and biggest splashes when it comes to new trends and developments. Analysts covering Canopy, too, have for the most part maintained an optimistic outlook on the company. But that appears to be slowly changing, as the market looks to Canopy, along with most other licensed producers, to start delivering on their mammoth investments. After its most recent quarterly earnings were released, reflecting the first three full months of adult-use sales, a number of analysts expressed concerns about Canopy’s product stockpile and low margins. “We are concerned by the company’s low inventory levels and believe that it could impair its ability to sustain near-term growth. In our view, Canopy’s competitors could catch up with better inventory availability and significant capacity expansion plans,” wrote Martin Landry, an analyst at GMP Securities Ltd. Matt Bottomley, a long-time analyst covering the sector at Canaccord Genuity Corp. observed that his team was “discouraged” to see Canopy “take a further step back from reaching profitability” due to low inventory and high production costs.

A worker at Canopy Growth Corporation, in Aldergrove, B.C. Mark Yuen/Postmedia “Canopy is still a position we hold, although it is not as big as it used to be,” said Greg Taylor, who is chief investment officer at Purpose Investments and also manages the firm’s marijuana fund. “My issue with Canopy is two-fold. First, they are not scaling up as quickly as I thought they would, and from an economics point of view, they have pretty much sold control to Constellation Brands. Hard to make them our top pick,” Taylor said, referencing the $5-billion investment in November by U.S. alcohol giant Constellation, which gave it the option eventually push its stake in Canopy to 50 per cent. But at least in Canada, Canopy is still the cannabis company raking in the most revenue. In its most recent financial quarter, Canopy brought in $83 million, which mostly came from the sale of over 10,102 kg of cannabis. Although its harvest rates have fluctuated between quarters, they have generally been on a sharp upward trajectory — in 2018, Canopy harvested as much as 40,000 kg of cannabis, according to corporate filings. By contrast, the company’s closest competitor, Aurora, which says it is operating at an annualized production rate of 120,000 kilograms, produced just over 16,000 kg in 2018. In terms of sales, the Edmonton-based producer sold 7,000 kg of cannabis, bringing in revenue of $62 million in their most recent quarter. “Look, I think the bottom line here, when you look at all of these companies, is that it is much harder to mass produce cannabis than everyone expected,” Taylor said. “That, to me is a risk for the whole sector. They came out with these monster growth numbers, but not a single big licensed producer has been able to deliver on them yet.” Financial Post • Email: [email protected] | Twitter: VanmalaS Published at Thu, 04 Apr 2019 19:26:00 +0000 Read the full article

#aldergrove #cannabis #canopy #dispensary #greenhouses #legalize #licence #marijuana #medical #prohibition #recreational

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corixus · 6 years

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Transformation in art

The theme

An exhibition entitled “Transformation”was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo from Oct 29th, 2010 through Jan 30th, 201l.

In September 2012, the National Gallery presented the exhibition ‘Metamorphosis: Titian, 2012’.

In October 2012, All Visual Arts mounted their Autumn show, ‘Metamorphosis: the Transformation of Being’ at The Crypt. One Marylebone Road London.

Metamorphosis is an elusive and multi-layered term. In biology, it relates to a complete material change of form through successive transformative stages in the lifespan of an organism, such as caterpillar to butterfly. In art metamorphosis describes the process by which an object or scene is turned into a work of art. Certain elements are emphasised exaggerated or distorted to communicate the artist’s inner feelings about what he/she feels about what they see.

Metamorphosis also has magical connotations that relate to the inner psychological transformations of being and identity. This is the essence of Ovid’s epic poem in which the interconnectivity of humanity and the natural world is described through mythological and psychological shape-shifting. Ovid was writing in Latin about 8 CE. His ‘Metamorphosis’ is a collection of mythological and legendary stories, many taken from Greek sources, in which transformation (metamorphosis) plays a role. The stories, which are unrelated, are told in chronological order from the creation of the world (the first metamorphosis, of chaos into order) to the death and deification of Julius Caesar (the culminating metamorphosis). It collects together a large number of self-contained stories, including the tales of Daphne and Apollo, Diana and Actaeon, Daedalus and Icarus, Orpheus and Euridice, Achilles, Midas and many more. Through the ages the myth of Daphne and Apollo has had a special appeal to artists. Apollo had made one too many jokes at Eros' expense. To punish him, Eros shot Apollo with one of his golden arrows, which made Apollo fall madly in love with the nymph Daphne. Unfortunately for Apollo, Eros had shot Daphne with a lead arrow, which made her reject the god.

Apollo pursued Daphne and she tried to run away to escape him. Daphne called out to her father, the river god, for help. He changed her into a tree just as Apollo was about to catch her (Fig 1).

Fig 1

The metamorphic exhibitions

The Tokyo museum quoted its exhibition as;

“To live is to change. We change daily as our cells regenerate and we learn new things, as times change and we encounter new environments, and as we give play to our imagination.

Under the theme “transformation,” this exhibition explores the boundary between humans and non-humans. In all ages and countries, countless images and artworks have been created on the theme of transformation. Japan, in particular, is brimming with rich images on this theme, from the legends of old to the manga and anime characters of today. So, why “transformation” now? With to the spread of the Internet, the development of the global economy, advances in technology, and so on, the traditional forms “humans” take have started to become blurred, and a diversity greater than anything seen before has begun to emerge. At this exhibition, a variety of images of things that traverse the human and non-human – including animals, machines, imaginary creatures and bodies with different genetic compositions – will be unveiled through paintings, sculptures, video, archives and symposiums. Together, the “transforming” forms presented express as a single omen our hopes, dreams and fears” (Fig 2).

Fig 2

http://azito-art.com/topics/transformation-at-museum-of-contemporary-art-tokyo/

TheTransformation of Being, mounted by All Visual Arts, combined Old & Modern Masters, spanning from Albrecht Dürer to Francis Picabia, juxtaposed with the paintings, drawings and sculptures of an extraordinary collection of international contemporary artists. A selection of the works can be seen at:

http://www.allvisualarts.org/exhibitions/MetamorphosisTheTransformationofBeing/Images.aspx

The theme of the exhibition may be summarised pictorially in the following work (Fig 3). A mystery of metamorphosis is assembled in this picture. Is it the end point of a transformation, a stage in a process by which the woman emerges into the foreground or is it a snapshot of her being converted into the amorphous dark biomorphic substance looming behind her?

Fig 3

The exhibition in the National Gallery was created in collaboration with the Royal Opera House. It refers to three paintings by Titian depicting stories from Ovid’s poem. Diana and Callisto shows Diana casting out the pregnant nymph Callisto from her company. Diana and Actaeon depicts the young Actaeon out hunting and stumbling into a sacred grotto where Diana and her nymphs are bathing; and in The Death of Actaeon, we see the goddess exacting vengeance on the intruder by turning him into a stag to be torn to pieces by his own hounds.These works were the catalyst for an ambitious project involving the production of three new ballets inspired by the paintings. The costumes and sets were designed by contemporary artists – Mark Wallinger, Conrad Shawcross and Chris Ofili – who showed their designs alongside other work produced in response to Titian’s masterpieces.

Ofili chose to go to the source for inspiration. In Ovid’s epic poem, he discovered a magical realm full of passion and desire, which he conjures with psychedelic rivers of vivid colour and peopled with mythic beings such as nymphs and goddesses, stags and soothsayers. The compositional echoes are not of Titian so much as Gauguin, Picasso and Matisse, and of Japanese prints and Aubrey Beardsley’s erotica. Ofili uses these borrowings to make a unique magical brew which reveal their secrets to the viewer slowly because you sense the artist is exploring new ideas and developing new ways of working.

One of Ofili’s paintings, Ovid-Desire (Fig 4), depicts a process of multiple transformation involving a couple dancing; he wears a spangled suit, she is half naked in a dress layered with flesh pink flounces dusted with a sheen of silver. The floor, is a shifting stage patterned with emphatic diamonds, leading up to a turquoise wall and a window looking onto an Edenic landscape where naked women (Diana and her nymphs, perhaps) cavort beneath a crescent moon.

Fig 4

https://www.theartsdesk.com/visual-arts/metamorphosis-titian-2012-national-gallery

This painting highlights the aim of transformation in works of art which is to blend several pictures reaĺ or in the mind into one.

Surrealist abstraction

The procedure whereby two or more pictures are combined into one has been called surrealist abstraction. This process of fusion is illustrated in Figs 4-6. It involves ‘photoshopping’ two pictures (Figs 5 & 6), transforming them, with the help of Topaz Labs filters, into a third (Fig 7).

Fig 5

Fig 6

Fig 7

The third picture is semiabstract and has a life and meaning of its own within the viewer’s innerness. It embeds Adam and Eve’s expulsion from The Garden of Eden into our present society where the purpose of a supermarket economy is to maximize consumption. It references the Christian Bible, Genesis 2:15, which explains God’s purpose for how humankind should use Earth’s resources in ways that preserve them. The biblical reasons for stewardship are reinforced and continued from there in many ways throughout the scriptures. They imply good stewardship that avoids the devastation and loss of soil fertility that occurs in much agriculture today. However, there is no doubt that persuasive and influential misinterpretation of Christian doctrine has led to environmental destruction and lack of respect for nature.

In this transformation the representations of two material features of ‘outerness’ are metamorphosed into one representation of ‘innerness’.

Innerness and outerness

According to Ralph Rowbottam, outerness is what can be objectively observed, inspected, weighed, measured, cut into. Thus, the stone carving of The Expulsion and the display of a variety of edible plant products, express outerness. As regards ourselves , outerness includes our skin, bones, hearts, brains and so forth. Innerness is our subjectivity, whatever we feel, think, imagine: our experience, our consciousness, our inner landscape. Every human being has these two sides. So presumably do animals. Rowbottam says that perhaps even plants or stones have some sort of innerness, though infinitesimal in development compared to our own.

The transformation has produced a semi abstract image that is far richer in content and open to many avenues of interpretation.

Abstraction through transformation departs from the evaluation of a picture through its outer objectivity. This departure from accurate representation can be only slight, or it can be partial, or it can be complete. Abstraction exists along a continuum but always evokes an inner subjective response. In this context, transformation does not attempt to represent an accurate depiction of a visual reality but instead relies on shapes, colours, forms and gestural marks to achieve its effect.

Music is an abstract creation. Beethoven described his innerness when creating a new work. “....In my head, I begin to elaborate the work in its breadth, its narrowness, its height, and its depth, and as I am aware of what I want to do, the underlying idea never deserts me. It rides, it grows up. I hear and see the image in front of me from every angle, as if it had been cast…”

How does a listener or a viewer come to an understanding of an abstract work of art? As was said by a person viewing a Rembrandt, “although the image clearly makes sense as a whole, what sense it makes cannot be easily decided”. Maybe the mental process involved in trying to make sense of an abstract painting follows a kind of reverse of Beethoven’s creative pathway by first discerning significant shapes and forms in the mind which are then retrofitted to create an underlying personal idea that enhances a person’s innerness..

Both the gallery and the artwork function as interfaces to the larger systems of meanings, values, and social relations that make pictorial systems possible and interpretable. Members of communities and cultures that visit an art exhibit without prior knowledge of the style or period can be left without information that will lead to connecting the dots of interpretation. In this context the story attached to Fig 6 is only readable because the viewer is given access to the two images that were fused to make it. With no information about the elements of outerness that were fused to produce Fig 8 the viewer has to fully accept the fact that they are working outside the realm of answers and explanations. What is actually seen is in the mind of the beholder. Evaluation comes down to answering the question : would you like to see it in your house everyday?

As always, Picasso has the last word.

“Everyone wants to understand abstract art. Why not try to understand the song of a bird? …people who try to explain pictures are usually barking up the wrong tree.”

Fig 8

Go to Zygeena’s Pinterest Board to see a growing gallery of digital transformations.

https://pin.it/wze23swivsibns

Go to a Google Doc version of this blog

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u8se74Rx2-PU7dlp9h6t0i_77XAwChGKHp0vfDDxHkg/edit?usp=sharing

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