#our creativity caters to ourselves without question for why

[starredforlife]

i hate shipping i hate fandom i hate modern-day escapism as an excuse to disengage with your responsibility to what's happening in real life i hate vague doomerism without any action to combat it or educate ourselves i hate this automatic self-deemed forgiveness for reckless overconsumption of media, and trinkets, and conveniences, and commodities, i hate how those things now form our personalities, i hate the american propensity for apathy, for telling ourselves it's not anything we can fix or there's not anything we can do about it when we are the reason it's happening and everyone suffers. yes you suffer but your entire cushioned existence relies on the suffering of others and you create a den where you suffer alone, full of these novelties and fake worlds and identities centered around how you appear to others and how fuckable you are how advertised you are how consumable you are enough Enough ENOUGH. STOP it. look OUTISDE of yourself ! please !

[dealsstore4]

The Best Deals on Musical Instruments & Gear at Deals Store

For musicians, whether professionals or hobbyists, finding the perfect musical instruments and gear can be a transformative experience. The right instrument not only enhances performance but also inspires creativity and passion. At Deals Store, we understand the importance of offering high-quality musical products, and we strive to provide a diverse selection of Musical instruments & Gear that meet the needs of every type of musician.

A Wide Selection for Every Musician

At Deals Store, we pride ourselves on offering a comprehensive range of musical instruments and gear to suit all tastes and preferences. Whether you are an aspiring guitarist, a seasoned drummer, or a classically trained pianist, our collection is designed to meet your needs. From stringed instruments like guitars, violins, and ukuleles to wind instruments like flutes, saxophones, and trumpets, we have it all. Additionally, we offer a selection of electronic instruments, such as keyboards and synthesizers, to cater to modern musicians looking to experiment with new sounds.

Our selection of gear doesn’t stop at instruments. We also provide an extensive range of accessories that are essential for maintaining and improving your playing experience. Guitar picks, strings, drumsticks, stands, and tuners are just a few of the many items we offer to help you perform at your best.

Quality You Can Trust

One of the key pillars of Deals Store is our commitment to product quality. We understand that musicians depend on their instruments and gear for performance, practice, and recording, which is why we only source our products from trusted and reputable brands. Each product undergoes strict quality control to ensure that it meets the highest standards of durability, sound quality, and craftsmanship. Whether you are purchasing a beginner instrument or a high-end professional-grade instrument, you can trust that it will deliver the performance you expect.

Affordable Prices for Premium Products

At Deals Store, we believe that everyone should have access to high-quality musical instruments and gear, regardless of their budget. That’s why we are committed to offering competitive prices on all of our products. We regularly update our deals and discounts to ensure that our customers can find the best possible value for their purchases. From affordable beginner instruments to premium gear for professionals, our wide range of prices ensures that you can find exactly what you need without breaking the bank.

Exceptional Customer Service

Your satisfaction is our top priority, and our dedicated customer support team is always available to assist you in finding the perfect instrument or gear for your needs. Whether you have questions about product specifications, need help choosing between different models, or require assistance with an order, we are here to help. At Deals Store, we believe in building lasting relationships with our customers, and we strive to provide a shopping experience that leaves you confident and satisfied with your purchase.

Secure and Convenient Shopping

Shopping for musical instruments and gear has never been easier or more secure than at Deals Store. Our user-friendly website allows you to browse through our wide selection of products with ease, and our secure payment process ensures that your personal information is protected at all times. We also offer fast and reliable shipping, so you can start enjoying your new instrument or gear as soon as possible.

Find Your Perfect Sound at Deals Store

Whether you’re just starting your musical journey or are looking to upgrade your current gear, Deals Store is your go-to destination for all things music. With our commitment to quality, affordability, and customer satisfaction, you can trust that you’ll find the perfect instruments and gear to help you create and perform at your best. Visit our website today and explore our collection of musical instruments and gear to find the perfect fit for your musical needs.

[curtainsdubai21612]

Vinyl Flooring Supplier: Your Go-To Source for Quality Flooring Solutions

Vinyl flooring has become an increasingly popular choice for homeowners and businesses alike, thanks to its durability, affordability, and aesthetic appeal. As a leading Vinyl Flooring Supplier, we are committed to providing top-notch products and services that meet your flooring needs. In this SEO-optimized article, we’ll explore the benefits of vinyl flooring, common queries, and why you should choose us as your trusted supplier.

Why Choose Vinyl Flooring?

Durability and Longevity One of the standout features of vinyl flooring is its durability. Resistant to scratches, dents, and stains, vinyl can withstand heavy foot traffic, making it ideal for both residential and commercial spaces. With proper care, vinyl flooring can last for decades, providing excellent value for your investment.

Easy Maintenance Vinyl flooring is incredibly easy to clean and maintain. A simple sweep and occasional mopping are usually enough to keep it looking new. Its water-resistant properties also make it suitable for moisture-prone areas like kitchens and bathrooms, where traditional flooring may not perform as well.

Versatile Design Options Modern vinyl flooring comes in a vast array of styles, colors, and textures. Whether you prefer the look of hardwood, stone, or tiles, there’s a vinyl option that can replicate those appearances at a fraction of the cost. This versatility allows you to achieve your desired aesthetic without compromising on functionality.

Comfort and Warmth Vinyl flooring offers a comfortable underfoot experience, making it a great choice for areas where you spend a lot of time standing, such as kitchens and playrooms. It also provides thermal insulation, helping to keep your space warm in cooler months.

Common Questions About Vinyl Flooring

1. What types of vinyl flooring are available?

There are two main types of vinyl flooring: sheet vinyl and vinyl tiles (or planks). Sheet vinyl comes in large rolls, providing a seamless look, while vinyl tiles and planks are available in various shapes and sizes, allowing for creative layouts.

2. Is vinyl flooring waterproof?

Most vinyl flooring is water-resistant, but it’s essential to check the product specifications. Some high-quality vinyl options are fully waterproof, making them ideal for bathrooms, kitchens, and basements.

3. Can I install vinyl flooring myself?

Yes! Many vinyl flooring products come with DIY installation options. However, for a seamless finish, especially with sheet vinyl, hiring a professional installer is recommended.

4. How do I maintain my vinyl flooring?

To keep your vinyl flooring in top condition, regularly sweep or vacuum to remove dirt and debris. Use a damp mop with a gentle cleaner designed for vinyl floors to maintain their shine without damaging the surface.

5. How does vinyl flooring compare to other flooring types?

Vinyl flooring is often more affordable than hardwood, tile, or carpet. It offers comparable durability and design options while being easier to maintain, making it a practical choice for many homeowners.

Why Choose Us as Your Vinyl Flooring Supplier?

As a leading vinyl flooring supplier, we pride ourselves on providing high-quality products that cater to a variety of styles and budgets. Our extensive inventory includes the latest trends in vinyl flooring, ensuring you have access to the best options on the market.

Expert Guidance: Our knowledgeable team is here to help you choose the perfect flooring solution for your space. We offer personalized consultations to ensure you make an informed decision.

Quality Assurance: We source our vinyl flooring from reputable manufacturers, guaranteeing that you receive products that meet the highest standards of quality and durability.

Competitive Pricing: Our pricing is designed to be affordable without compromising on quality. We believe everyone deserves beautiful flooring that fits their budget.

Exceptional Customer Service: We value our customers and strive to provide an exceptional experience from selection to installation. Your satisfaction is our top priority.

Conclusion

Investing in vinyl flooring is a smart choice for those seeking durability, style, and affordability. As your trusted vinyl flooring supplier, we are committed to helping you find the perfect solution for your home or business. Explore our extensive selection today and transform your space with beautiful, long-lasting vinyl flooring!

[zyppee]

Your Ultimate Choice for the Best Manufacturing Bag Company in India

Welcome to Zyppee, where quality craftsmanship meets innovative design. If you’re searching for the best manufacturing bag company in India, look no further. At Zyppee, we are dedicated to setting the standard for excellence in bag manufacturing, delivering products that combine functionality, durability, and style.

Why Choose Zyppee for Your Bag Manufacturing Needs?

When it comes to finding the best manufacturing bag company in India, several factors set Zyppee apart from the competition. Here’s why partnering with us ensures you receive top-notch products and services:

Key Advantages of Choosing Zyppee:

Unmatched Quality: Our commitment to quality is at the core of everything we do. We use premium materials and adhere to rigorous manufacturing standards to ensure that every bag we produce meets the highest quality benchmarks.

Innovative Design: At Zyppee, we blend creativity with functionality. Our design team works tirelessly to create bags that are not only stylish but also practical, catering to diverse needs and preferences.

State-of-the-Art Manufacturing Facilities: We leverage advanced technology and machinery in our manufacturing processes. This allows us to maintain precision and efficiency, ensuring that our bags are produced to the exact specifications of our clients.

Sustainability Commitment: We understand the importance of environmental responsibility. Our manufacturing practices include sustainable methods and materials, reflecting our commitment to reducing our environmental footprint.

Customized Solutions: As the best manufacturing bag company in India, we offer a range of customization options to meet your specific needs. Whether you require bespoke designs, unique branding, or tailored functionalities, we have the expertise to deliver.

Timely Delivery: We pride ourselves on our ability to meet deadlines without compromising on quality. Our efficient production processes and logistics ensure that your orders are delivered on time, every time.

Our Range of Bags

At Zyppee, we offer a diverse range of bag types to cater to various industries and applications. From stylish fashion bags to durable travel gear and functional work bags, our collection is designed to meet the highest standards of quality and innovation.

Fashion Bags: Trendy designs and high-quality materials for a fashionable statement.

Travel Bags: Durable and practical options for travelers seeking both style and functionality.

Work Bags: Professional and organized bags that cater to business needs.

Custom Solutions: Tailored designs and branding options to match your unique requirements.

Why Our Clients Love Us

Choosing Zyppee means partnering with a company that values your satisfaction. Here’s what some of our clients have to say about working with the best manufacturing bag company in India:

Exceptional Quality: “Zyppee’s attention to detail and commitment to quality is unmatched. Our bags always exceed expectations.” – Satisfied Client

Innovative Designs: “The design team at Zyppee is incredibly creative. They turned our vision into a reality with style and functionality.” – Happy Customer

Reliable Service: “Timely delivery and excellent customer service make Zyppee our go-to manufacturer for all our bag needs.” – Loyal Partner

Get in Touch with Us

Ready to experience the excellence of the best manufacturing bag company in India? Contact Zyppee today to discuss your bag manufacturing needs. Our team is here to provide expert guidance, answer your questions, and help you create the perfect bags for your brand or personal use.

Visit our website or reach out to us directly to learn more about our services and explore our range of products. At Zyppee, we are committed to delivering exceptional quality and design, ensuring that you receive the best in bag manufacturing.

Choose Zyppee for your bag manufacturing needs and experience the difference that comes with working with the best.

[art-future]

Discover the Vibrant World of Pop Art Shopping with PrintNZ

Pop art, with its bold colors, playful themes, and nods to popular culture, has captivated art enthusiasts and collectors for decades. At PrintNZ, we celebrate this dynamic art form by offering a wide range of high-quality pop art prints that bring a burst of creativity and energy into any space. Whether you're an avid art collector or simply looking to brighten up your home, our pop art collection is sure to inspire and delight. 🎨✨

The Allure of Pop Art

Pop art emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, characterized by its use of imagery from popular culture, such as advertising, comic books, and everyday objects. Artists like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Keith Haring became iconic figures in the movement, pushing the boundaries of traditional art and making it more accessible to the masses. Here’s why pop art continues to enchant art lovers around the world:

Bold and Bright Colors 🌈

One of the most striking features of pop art is its use of vivid, eye-catching colors. These bold palettes instantly draw attention and create a lively atmosphere. Incorporating pop art prints into your home or office decor can add a splash of color and a sense of fun to any room.

Playful and Whimsical Themes 🎭

Pop art often features playful and whimsical themes, from comic strip characters to everyday consumer goods. This lighthearted approach to art makes it enjoyable and relatable, appealing to people of all ages. Whether you’re a fan of nostalgic cartoons or modern interpretations, there’s a pop art piece that will resonate with you.

Cultural Commentary 🗣️

Beyond its visual appeal, pop art offers insightful commentary on consumerism, mass media, and modern life. Artists use familiar images and symbols to critique societal norms and question the status quo. Owning a piece of pop art is not just about aesthetics; it’s about engaging with thought-provoking ideas and cultural dialogues.

Why Shop for Pop Art at PrintNZ?

At PrintNZ, we pride ourselves on offering a curated selection of pop art prints that cater to diverse tastes and preferences. Here’s what sets us apart:

High-Quality Prints 🖼️

We believe that art should be accessible to everyone without compromising on quality. Our prints are produced using premium materials and advanced printing techniques to ensure vibrant colors, sharp details, and long-lasting durability. Each piece is carefully crafted to capture the essence of the original artwork.

Diverse Collection 🌍

Our collection features works from renowned pop artists as well as emerging talents. From classic pieces by Warhol and Lichtenstein to contemporary interpretations, we have something for every pop art enthusiast. Whether you prefer bold abstracts or detailed illustrations, you’ll find a print that speaks to your unique style.

Customization Options ✨

We understand that every space is different, and personalization is key. That’s why we offer a range of customization options, including various sizes, framing choices, and print finishes. Our goal is to provide you with a pop art piece that perfectly fits your space and vision.

Affordable Prices 💰

Art should be enjoyed by all, regardless of budget. At PrintNZ, we offer competitive pricing to make high-quality pop art prints accessible to everyone. Our affordable options mean you can build an impressive art collection without breaking the bank.

Easy Shopping Experience 🛒

We’ve designed our online store to provide a seamless and enjoyable shopping experience. Browse our extensive collection, view detailed product descriptions, and make secure purchases with just a few clicks. Our user-friendly website ensures you can find and buy your favorite pop art prints with ease.

How to Incorporate Pop Art into Your Space

Pop art prints are versatile and can enhance any room in your home or office. Here are a few tips on how to incorporate them into your decor:

Living Room 🌟

Make a bold statement in your living room with a large pop art print as a focal point. Choose a piece with vibrant colors and engaging themes to create a lively and inviting atmosphere. Pair it with modern furniture and minimalistic decor to let the artwork shine.

Bedroom 🌙

Add a touch of whimsy to your bedroom with pop art prints featuring playful themes. Opt for pieces with calming colors or humorous subjects to create a relaxing yet fun environment. Smaller prints arranged in a gallery wall can add personality to your space.

Office 🖥️

Inspire creativity and productivity in your office with pop art prints that reflect your interests and passions. Choose artwork with motivational themes or iconic imagery to keep you energized throughout the day. Pop art can transform a dull workspace into an inspiring haven.

Kitchen 🍳

Yes, even your kitchen can benefit from a splash of pop art! Choose prints with food-related themes or vibrant abstracts to add color and cheer to your cooking space. Pop art in the kitchen can make meal preparation more enjoyable and visually stimulating.

Contact Us Today! 📞

Ready to explore the exciting world of pop art? Visit PrintNZ to discover our extensive collection of high-quality pop art prints. Our team is here to assist you in finding the perfect piece to enhance your space and express your style.

📞 Phone: +64 211922833 

📧 Email: artfuture@hotmail.com

🌐 Website: PrintNZ

Embrace the vibrant and dynamic world of pop art with PrintNZ. Let your walls tell a story and your space come alive with the creativity and energy of this iconic art movement. 🌟

[picart011]

Enhance Your Visual Content with Top-Quality Professional Images"

Diverse Collection of Stunning Images

In the digital world, a picture is worth more than a thousand words. High-quality images can capture attention, convey emotions, and enhance the overall impact of any project. Our professional imagery provider offers an extensive and diverse collection of stunning images, ensuring that you find the perfect visual for every need. From breathtaking landscapes to dynamic cityscapes, vibrant portraits to intricate details, our library covers a wide range of subjects and styles.

Easy-to-Use Interface

One of the standout features of our service is the user-friendly interface. Navigating through our vast collection of images is simple and intuitive. With easy-to-use search filters and categories, finding the right image is quick and hassle-free. Whether you need images for a website, social media post, marketing campaign, or presentation, our platform makes it easy to locate and download high-resolution images in just a few clicks.

Affordable Pricing Plans

We understand that budgets vary, which is why we offer a range of flexible and affordable pricing plans. Whether you're an individual looking for occasional images or a business needing a steady supply of high-quality visuals, our pricing options cater to different needs. Our plans are designed to provide access to premium images without straining your budget, making professional imagery accessible to everyone.

Clear Licensing and Usage Rights

Understanding image licensing and usage rights can be confusing, but we simplify the process with clear and comprehensive information. Our platform provides detailed licensing terms for each image, ensuring that you can use the visuals legally and ethically for both personal and commercial purposes. We offer both royalty-free and rights-managed images, allowing you to choose the best option for your specific project requirements.

Regularly Updated Image Library

The world of imagery is constantly evolving, and so is our library. We regularly update our collection with fresh and contemporary images to keep up with the latest trends and preferences. This commitment to staying current ensures that you always have access to the newest and most relevant visuals for your projects, helping you stay ahead in a competitive digital landscape.

Curated Collections by Experts

Quality is at the heart of what we do. Our curated collections are carefully selected by a team of professional photographers and editors, ensuring that every image meets the highest standards. These expertly curated collections provide inspiration and make it easier to find images that resonate with your vision and goals. Whether you're looking for creative inspiration or specific themes, our curated selections offer a wealth of options.

Exceptional Customer Support

Customer satisfaction is our top priority, and we pride ourselves on offering exceptional customer support. Our dedicated support team is always ready to assist with any questions or issues you may encounter. Whether you need help understanding licensing terms, navigating the website, or downloading images, our customer support is available to provide prompt and effective assistance, ensuring a smooth and satisfying experience.

Ideal for Various Applications

Our professional imagery service is versatile and suitable for a wide range of applications. Whether you're a business owner looking to enhance your brand's visual identity, a content creator seeking eye-catching images for your blog or social media, or a designer in need of high-quality visuals for your projects, our platform has something for everyone. The diverse and high-quality images in our library can elevate any project, making it stand out and leave a lasting impression.

Join Our Community of Creatives

When you choose our professional imagery provider, you're not just getting access to a vast library of images; you're also joining a vibrant community of creatives. Our platform is a space where photographers, designers, marketers, and content creators come together to share ideas, inspire each other, and elevate their work. Join us today and discover how our professional images can transform your projects and bring your creative vision to life.

In conclusion, our professional imagery provider offers a diverse collection of high-quality images, an easy-to-use interface, affordable pricing plans, clear licensing and usage rights, a regularly updated library, expertly curated collections, exceptional customer support, and versatility for various applications. Whether you're a professional or just starting out, our service provides the perfect solution for all your visual content needs.

[aarondoyle007]

Welcome to URGE Cannabis Dispensary in Elizabeth, NJ

Welcome to URGE Cannabis Dispensary in Elizabeth, NJ! Discover our exceptional selection of cannabis products designed to meet your needs. With a convenient online ordering system, you can easily place your order and pick it up in-store. Let's dive into the details of what makes our dispensary your go-to destination for quality cannabis.

A Premier Cannabis Dispensary Near Me

Finding a reliable cannabis dispensary near me can be challenging, but URGE Cannabis Dispensary in Elizabeth, NJ, stands out as a beacon of quality and convenience. Our commitment to providing top-notch cannabis products and exceptional customer service sets us apart in the industry.

Extensive Selection of Cannabis Products

At URGE Cannabis Dispensary, we pride ourselves on offering a wide variety of cannabis products to cater to every preference and need. Whether you're looking for flowers, edibles, concentrates, or topicals, our dispensary has it all. Each product is carefully selected to ensure it meets our high standards of quality and potency.

Premium Flowers

Our selection of premium cannabis flowers is second to none. We carry a diverse range of strains, including Indica, Sativa, and hybrid varieties. Each strain is cultivated with care to deliver the best possible experience. Whether you’re seeking relaxation, pain relief, or a burst of creativity, we have the perfect flower for you.

Delicious Edibles

If you prefer a more discreet and tasty way to consume cannabis, our edibles are a fantastic choice. From gummies and chocolates to baked goods and beverages, our edibles are crafted to provide consistent dosages and delightful flavors. Enjoy the benefits of cannabis without the need to smoke or vape.

Potent Concentrates

For those who desire a more concentrated form of cannabis, our selection of concentrates is ideal. We offer a variety of options, including shatter, wax, and oils, each with its unique characteristics and benefits. Concentrates are perfect for experienced users looking for a more potent experience.

Soothing Topicals

Our topicals are designed to deliver the therapeutic benefits of cannabis directly to the skin. These products are perfect for targeting localized pain, inflammation, and skin conditions. Explore our range of balms, creams, and lotions to find the perfect topical for your needs.

Convenience of a Cannabis Store Near Me

When searching for a cannabis store near me, convenience is a top priority. URGE Cannabis Dispensary in Elizabeth, NJ, offers an easy and efficient shopping experience both online and in-store. Our user-friendly website allows you to browse our extensive product selection, place your order, and choose a convenient pick-up time.

Seamless Online Ordering

We understand that your time is valuable, which is why we’ve streamlined our online ordering process. Simply visit our website, explore our products, and add your desired items to your cart. Once you’ve made your selections, check out and choose a pick-up time that fits your schedule. It’s that easy!

Convenient In-Store Pick-Up

Our in-store pick-up service ensures that your cannabis products are ready and waiting for you when you arrive. No need to wait in long lines or deal with unnecessary delays. Just head to our dispensary at the appointed time, and our friendly staff will have your order prepared and ready to go.

Knowledgeable and Friendly Staff

At URGE Cannabis Dispensary, we believe that exceptional customer service is key to a great shopping experience. Our knowledgeable and friendly staff are always available to answer your questions, provide product recommendations, and ensure you leave with exactly what you need. We are committed to making your visit to our dispensary as pleasant and informative as possible.

Why Choose URGE Cannabis Dispensary?

Choosing the right cannabis dispensary is crucial for ensuring a positive experience. Here are some reasons why URGE Cannabis Dispensary in Elizabeth, NJ, should be your top choice:

Quality Assurance

We take quality seriously. All our cannabis products undergo rigorous testing to ensure they meet the highest standards of purity and potency. You can trust that every item you purchase from URGE is safe and effective.

Wide Range of Products

Our extensive product selection means you’ll always find something that suits your needs and preferences. From beginners to seasoned cannabis enthusiasts, we have something for everyone.

Convenient Location

Located in the heart of Elizabeth, NJ, our dispensary is easily accessible. Whether you’re a local resident or just passing through, finding a cannabis dispensary near me has never been easier.

Educational Resources

We believe in empowering our customers with knowledge. Our dispensary offers a wealth of educational resources, including product information, usage guides, and the latest cannabis research. We’re here to help you make informed decisions about your cannabis consumption.

Conclusion

URGE Cannabis Dispensary in Elizabeth, NJ, is your premier destination for high-quality cannabis products. With a wide selection of flowers, edibles, concentrates, and topicals, we have something to suit every preference. Our convenient online ordering system and in-store pick-up service make shopping with us easy and hassle-free. Plus, our knowledgeable staff is always ready to assist you with any questions or recommendations.

[cannabis-edibleca]

Exploring the World of Cannabis Edibles with Purple Lotus

The use of cannabis edibles has surged in popularity as more consumers seek alternative and enjoyable methods to enjoy the benefits of cannabis. At Purple Lotus, we pride ourselves on offering a diverse range of top-quality cannabis edibles that cater to both medicinal and recreational users. Whether you're a seasoned consumer or new to the world of cannabis, this guide will help you understand the ins and outs of cannabis edibles and what makes Purple Lotus a premier choice.

What Are Cannabis Edibles? Cannabis edibles are food products infused with cannabinoids, the active compounds found in the cannabis plant. These edibles can range from baked goods like brownies and cookies to candies, gummies, and even beverages. Unlike smoking or vaping, consuming cannabis through edibles introduces cannabinoids through the digestive system, resulting in a different type of effect and experience.

The primary active ingredient in most cannabis edibles is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the compound known for its psychoactive effects. However, many edibles also contain cannabidiol (CBD), which offers therapeutic benefits without the high associated with THC. At Purple Lotus, our product line includes both THC-dominant and CBD-dominant edibles, ensuring that we meet the diverse needs and preferences of our customers.

Benefits of Cannabis Edibles One of the significant advantages of cannabis ediles is the ability to receive the benefits of cannabis without the need for inhalation. This makes edibles an excellent choice for those who prefer not to smoke or have respiratory issues. Additionally, edibles provide longer-lasting effects compared to other consumption methods, making them highly effective for managing chronic conditions such as pain, anxiety, and insomnia.

At Purple Lotus, we focus on creating edibles that are not only effective but also delicious and consistent in dosage. Our precision in crafting each product ensures that our customers have a safe and enjoyable experience, every time.

Choosing the Right Edibles at Purple Lotus Navigating the world of cannabis edibles can be overwhelming with so many options available. Here are some tips to help you choose the right product at Purple Lotus:

Determine Your Desired Effects: Whether you're looking for relaxation, pain relief, or a boost in creativity, the staff at Purple Lotus can help you find the perfect edible to match your needs.

Consider Dosage: It’s important to consider the potency of the edible. Beginners should start with a low dose, typically between 2.5 to 5 milligrams of THC. Our knowledgeable staff can guide you based on your tolerance and previous experiences.

Understand the Onset Time: Edibles take longer to kick in, usually between 30 minutes to 2 hours. It’s important to wait and see how you feel before consuming more.

Check for Lab Testing: All our edibles at Purple Lotus are lab-tested for purity and potency, ensuring that you consume a safe and reliable product.

Our Top Picks To give you a glimpse into our selection, here are some of the top picks from our range of cannabis edibles:

Gourmet Chocolate Bars: Infused with premium THC, these chocolate bars offer a rich, creamy taste along with the calming effects of cannabis.

CBD Gummies: Perfect for those seeking relief without the high, our CBD gummies provide a convenient and tasty way to consume your daily dose of CBD.

Artisan Cookies: Our handcrafted cookies are a favorite for their delightful flavor combinations and precise dosing.

Why Choose Purple Lotus? At Purple Lotus, we are dedicated to providing our customers with the highest quality cannabis products in a welcoming and professional environment. Our commitment to excellence extends beyond our products, as we strive to educate and support our community in all aspects of cannabis use.

Our experienced staff are always ready to guide you through our extensive selection and answer any questions you might have about our products or the effects of cannabis. We believe in building a trusting relationship with our customers, ensuring that each visit is both informative and enjoyable.

Final Word: Exploring cannabis edibles can be a delightful and enriching experience, especially with a trusted provider like Purple Lotus. Whether you are seeking to enhance your well-being or simply explore new ways to enjoy cannabis, our wide range of edibles offers something for everyone. Visit us today to discover how our carefully crafted edibles can add to your cannabis journey, ensuring quality, safety, and satisfaction with every bite.

[pegahub]

Best Pega Online Training in Ameerpet

Best Pega Online Training in Ameerpet: Elevate Your Skills

Best Pega Online Training in Ameerpet

Best Pega Online Training in Ameerpet: Elevate Your Skills

Introduction

At Our Training Hub, we pride ourselves on offering the best Pega online training in Ameerpet. With a focus on excellence and professionalism, we are committed to helping individuals like you master the intricacies of Pega and unlock your true potential.

Why Choose Us?

Comprehensive Curriculum

Our comprehensive curriculum covers everything from the fundamentals of Pega to the most advanced concepts. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced professional, our courses are designed to cater to all skill levels.

Experienced Instructors

Our team of experienced instructors brings a wealth of industry knowledge and practical expertise to the table. With years of experience in the field, they are dedicated to providing you with the guidance and support you need to succeed.

Flexible Learning Options

We understand that everyone's schedule is different. That's why we offer flexible learning options to suit your needs. Whether you prefer self-paced learning or live sessions, we have a solution that works for you.

Hands-on Practical Experience

Learning Pega is not just about theory; it's about hands-on experience. That's why our courses include plenty of practical exercises and real-world projects to ensure you're fully prepared for the challenges of the job market.

Getting Started

Understanding the Fundamentals

Before diving into the complexities of Pega, it's important to lay a solid foundation. Our courses start by covering the basic concepts and terminology of Pega, ensuring you have a clear understanding from the outset.

Exploring Advanced Concepts

Once you've mastered the fundamentals, it's time to dive deeper into the world of Pega. Our advanced courses cover topics such as case management, decision strategies, and application design, giving you the skills you need to excel in your career.

Practical Application in Real-world Scenarios

Learning Pega is not just about acquiring knowledge; it's about applying that knowledge in real-world scenarios. That's why our courses include plenty of practical exercises and hands-on projects to ensure you're fully prepared for the challenges of the job market.

Certification Preparation

Earning Pega certification is a valuable asset in today's job market. Our courses are designed to prepare you for certification exams, ensuring you have the skills and knowledge needed to succeed.

Advantages of Online Training

Convenience and Flexibility

With online training, you have the freedom to learn at your own pace and on your own schedule. Whether you're a working professional or a busy student, our flexible options make it easy to fit learning into your busy lifestyle.

Access to Expert Instructors

With online training, you have direct access to expert instructors from anywhere in the world. Our instructors are available to answer questions, provide feedback, and offer guidance whenever you need it.

Interactive Learning Environment

Our online platform provides an interactive learning environment where you can engage with fellow students and collaborate on projects. This collaborative approach fosters creativity, innovation, and peer learning.

Cost-effectiveness

Online training is often more affordable than traditional classroom-based courses. With no travel expenses or accommodation costs to worry about, you can save money while still receiving high-quality instruction.

Conclusion

At Our Training Hub, we are committed to providing you with the best Pega online training in Ameerpet. With our comprehensive curriculum, experienced instructors, and flexible learning options, you'll be well on your way to mastering the skills you need to succeed in the world of Pega.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Can I enroll in Pega training without any prior experience?

How long does it take to complete the Pega training course?

Will I receive a certificate upon completion of the course?

Is there any ongoing support available after completing the training?

What career opportunities are available after completing Pega training?

For more information, visit our website. Feel free to call us.

Website: http://pegatraininghub.com/index.html

Contact us: +91 8019137366

G-mail: harikrishna2466@gmail.com

Address: Balaji Towers, Plot no 2, Ameerpet, Hyderabad, Telangana 500038

[jveventz]

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[armageddon-generation]

Articulating Why His Dark Materials is Badly Written

A long essay-thing with lots of specific examples and explanations of why I feel this way. Hopefully I’ve kept fanboy bitching to a minimum.

This isn’t an attack on fans of the show, nor a personal attack on Jack Thorne. I’m not looking to ruin anyone’s enjoyment of the show, I just needed to properly articulate, with examples, why I struggle with it. I read and love the books and that colours my view, but I believe that HDM isn’t just a clumsy, at-best-functional, sometimes incompetent adaptation, it’s a bad TV show separate from its source material. The show is the blandest, least interesting and least engaging version of itself it could be.

His Dark Materials has gorgeous production design and phenomenal visual effects. It's well-acted. The score is great. But my god is it badly written. Jack Thorne writing the entire first season damned the show. There was no-one to balance out his flaws and biases. Thorne is checking off a list of plot-points, so concerned with manoeuvring the audience through the story he forgets to invest us in it. The scripts are mechanical, empty, flat.

Watching HDM feels like an impassioned fan earnestly lecturing you on why the books are so good- (Look! It's got other worlds and religious allegory and this character Lyra is really, really important I swear. Isn't Mrs Coulter crazy? The Gyptians are my favourites.) rather than someone telling the story naturally.

My problems fall into 5 main categories:

Exposition- An unwillingness to meaningfully expand the source material for a visual medium means Thorne tells and doesn't show crucial plot-points. He then repeats the same thing multiple times because he doesn't trust his audience

Pacing- By stretching out the books and not trusting his audience Thorne dedicates entire scenes to one piece of information and repeats himself constantly (see: the Witches' repetition of the prophecy in S2).

Narrative priorities- Thorne prioritises human drama over fantasy. This makes sense budgetarily, but leads to barely-present Daemons, the Gyptians taking up too much screentime, rushed/badly written Witches (superpowers, exposition) and Bears (armourless bear fight), and a Lyra more focused on familial angst than the joy of discovery

Tension and Mystery- because HDM is in such a hurry to set up its endgame it gives you the answers to S1's biggest mysteries immediately- other worlds, Lyra's parents, what happens to the kids etc. This makes the show less engaging and feel like it's playing catch-up to the audience, not the other way around.

Tonal Inconsistency- HDM tries to be a slow-paced, grounded, adult drama, but its blunt, simplistic dialogue and storytelling methods treat the audience like children that need to be lectured.

MYSTERY, SUSPENSE AND INTRIGUE

The show undercuts all the books’ biggest mysteries. Mrs Coulter is set up as a villain before we meet her, other worlds are revealed in 1x2, Lyra's parents by 1x3, what the Magesterium do to kids is spelled out long before Lyra finds Billy (1x2). I understand not wanting to lose new viewers, but neutering every mystery kills momentum and makes the show much less engaging.

This extends to worldbuilding. The text before 1x1 explains both Daemons and Lyra's destiny before we meet her. Instead of encouraging us to engage with the world and ask questions, we're given all the answers up front and told to sit back and let ourselves be spoon-fed. The viewer is never an active participant, never encouraged to theorise or wonder

 Intrigue motivated you to engage with Pullman's philosophical themes and concepts. Without it, HDM feels like a lecture, a theme park ride and not a journey.

The only one of S1's mysteries left undiminished is 'what is Dust?', which won't be properly answered until S3, and that answer is super conceptual and therefore hard to make dramatically satisfying

TONAL INCONSISTENCY

HDM billed itself as a HBO-level drama, and was advertised as a GoT inheritor. It takes itself very seriously- the few attempts at humour are stilted and out of place

The production design is deliberately subdued, most notably choosing a mid-twentieth century aesthetic for Lyra’s world over the late-Victorian of the books or steampunk of the movie. The colour grading would be appropriate for a serious adult drama. 

Reviewers have said this stops the show feeling as fantastical as it should. It also makes Lyra’s world less distinct from our own. 

Most importantly, minimising the wondrous fantasy of S1 neuters its contrast with the escalating thematic darkness of the finale (from 1x5 onwards), and the impact of Roger’s death. Pullman's books are an adult story told through the eyes of a child. Lyra’s innocence and naivety in the first book is the most important journey of the trilogy. Instead, the show starts serious and thematically heavy (we’re told Lyra has world-saving importance before we even meet her) and stays that way.

Contrasting the serious tone, grounded design and poe-faced characters, the dialogue is written to cater to children. It’s horrendously blunt and pulls you out of scenes. Subtext is obliterated at every opportunity. Even in the most recent episode, 2x7, Pan asks Lyra ‘do you think you’re changing because of Will?’

I cannot understate how on the nose this line is, and how much it undercuts the themes of the final book. Instead of even a meaningful shot of Lyra looking at Will, the show treats the audience like complete idiots. 

So, HDM looks and advertises itself like an adult drama and is desperate to be taken seriously by wearing its big themes on its sleeve from the start instead of letting them evolve naturally out of subtext like the books, and dedicating lots of scenes to Mrs Coulter's self-abuse 

At the same time its dialogue and character writing is comparable to the Star Wars prequels, more childish than media aimed at a similar audience - Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Avatar the Last Airbender etc

DAEMONS

The show gives itself a safety net by explaining Daemons in an opening text-crawl, and so spends less time showing the mechanics of the Daemon-human bond. On the HDM subreddit, I’ve seen multiple people get to 1x5 or 6, and then come to reddit asking basic questions like ‘why do only some people have Daemons?’ or ‘Why are Daemons so important?’.

It’s not that the show didn’t answer these questions; it was in the opening text-crawl. It’s just the show thinks telling you is enough and never shows evidence to back that up. Watching a TV show you remember what you’re shown much easier than what you’re told 

The emotional core of Northern Lights is the relationship between Lyra and Pan. The emotional core of HDM S1 is the relationship between Lyra and Mrs Coulter. This wouldn't be bad- it's a fascinating dynamic Ruth plays wonderfully- if it didn't override the Daemons

Daemons are only onscreen when they serve a narrative purpose. Thorne justifies this because the books only describe Daemons when they tell us about their human. On the page your brain fills the Daemons in. This doesn't work on-screen; you cannot suspend your disbelief when their absence is staring you in the face

Thorne clarified the number of Daemons as not just budgetary, but a conscious creative choice to avoid onscreen clutter. This improved in S2 after vocal criticism.

Mrs Coulter/the Golden Monkey and Lee/Hester have well-drawn relationships in S1, but Pan and Lyra hug more in the 2-hour Golden Compass movie than they do in the 8-hour S1 of HDM. There's barely any physical contact with Daemons at all.

They even cut Pan and Lyra's hug after escaping the Cut in Bolvangar. In the book they can't let go of each other. The show skips it completely because Thorne wants to focus on Mrs Coulter and Lyra.

They cut Pan and Lyra testing how far apart they can be. They cut Lyra freeing the Cut Daemons in Bolvangar with the help of Kaisa. We spent extra time with both Roger and Billy Costa, but didn't develop their bonds with their Daemons- the perfect way to make the Cut more impactful

I don't need every single book scene in the show, but notice that all these cut scenes reinforced how important Daemons are. For how plodding the show is. you'd think they could spare time for these moments instead of inventing new conversations that tell us the information they show

Daemons are treated as separate beings and thus come across more like talking pets than part of a character

The show sets the rules of Daemons up poorly. In 1x2, Lyra is terrified by the Monkey being so far from Coulter, but the viewer has nothing to compare it to. We’re retroactively told in that this is unnatural when the show has yet to establish what ‘natural’ is.

The guillotine blueprint in 1x2 (‘Is that a human and his Daemon, Pan? It looks like it.’ / ‘A blade. To cut what?’) is idiotic. It deflates S1’s main mystery and makes the characters look stupid for not figuring out what they aren’t allowed to until they did in the source material, it also interferes with how the audience sees Daemons. In the book, Cutting isn’t revealed until two-thirds of the way in (1x5). By then we’ve spent a lot of time with Daemons, they’ve become a background part of the world, their ‘rules’ have been established, and we’re endeared to them.

By showing the Guillotine and putting Daemons under threat in the second episode, the show never lets us grow attached. This, combined with their selective presence in scenes, draws attention to Daemons as a plot gimmick and not a natural extension of characters. Like Lyra, the show tells us why Daemons are important before we understand them.

Billy Costa's fate falls flat. It's missing the dried fish/ fake Daemon Tony Markos clings to in the book. Thorne said this 'didn't work' on the day, but it worked in the film. Everyone yelling about Billy not having a Daemon is laughable when most of the background extras in the same scene don't have Daemons themselves

WITCHES

The Witches are the most common complaint about the show. Thorne changed Serafina Pekkala in clever, logical ways (her short hair, wrist-knives and cloud pine in the skin)

The problem is how Serafina is written. The Witches are purely exposition machines. We get no impression of their culture, their deep connection to nature, their understanding of the world. We are told it. It is never shown, never incorporated into the dramatic action of the show.

Thorne emphasises Serafina's warrior side, most obviously changing Kaisa from a goose into a gyrfalcon (apparently a goose didn't work on-screen)

Serafina single-handedly slaughtering the Tartars is bad in a few ways. It paints her as bloodthirsty and ruthless. Overpowering the Witches weakens the logic of the world (If they can do that, why do they let the Magesterium bomb them unchallenged in 2x2?). It strips the Witches of their subtlety and ambiguity for the sake of cinematic action.

A side-effect of Serafina not being with her clan at Bolvangar is limiting our exposure to the Witches. Serafina is the only one invested in the main plot, we only hear about them from what she tells us. This poor set-up weakens the Witch subplot in S2

Lyra doesn’t speak to Serafina until 2x6. She laid eyes on her once in S1.

The dialogue in the S2’s Witch subplot is comparable to the Courasant section of The Phantom Menace. 

Two named characters, neither with any depth (Serafina and Coram's dead son developed him far more than her). The costumes look ostentatious and hokey- the opposite of what the Witches should be. They do nothing but repeat the same exposition at each other, even in 2x7.

We feel nothing when the Witches are bombed because the show never invests us in what is being destroyed- with the amount of time wasted on long establishing shots, there’s not one when Lee Scoresby is talking to the Council.

BEARS

Like the Witches; Thorne misunderstands and rushes the fantasy elements of the story. The 2007 movie executed both Iofur's character and the Bear Fight much better than the show- bloodless jaw-swipe and all

Iofur's court was not the parody of human court in the books. He didn't have his fake-Daemon (hi, Billy)

An armourless bear fight is like not including Pan in the cutting scene. After equating Iorek's armour to a Daemon (Lee does this- we don’t even learn how important it is from Iorek himself, and the comparison meant less because of how badly the show set up Daemons) the show then cuts the plotpoint that makes the armour plot-relevant. This diminishes all of Bear society. Like Daemons, we're told Iorek's armour is important but it's never shown to be more than a cool accessory

GYPTIANS

Gyptians suffer from Hermoine syndrome. Harry Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves' favourite character was Hermione, and so Film!Hermoine lost most of Book!Hermoine's flaws and gained several of Book!Ron's best moments. The Gyptians are Jack Thorne's favourite group in HDM and so they got the extra screentime and development that the more complicated groups/concepts like Witches, Bears, and Daemons (which, unlike the Gyptians, carry over to other seasons amd are more important to the overall story) needed

At the same time, he changes them from a private people into an Isle of Misfit Toys. TV!Ma Costa promises they'll ‘make a Gyptian woman out of Lyra yet’, but in the book Ma specifically calls Lyra out for pretending to be Gyptian, and reminds her she never can be.

This small moment indicates how, while trying to make the show more grounded and 'adult', Thorne simultaneously made it more saccharine and sentimental. He neuters the tragedy of the Cut kids when Ma Costa says they’ll become Gyptians. Pullman's books feel like an adult story told through the eyes of a child. The TV show feels like a child's story masquerading as a serious drama.

LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA

Let me preface this by saying I genuinely really enjoy the performances in the show. It was shot in the foot by The Golden Compass' perfect casting.

The most contentious/'miscast' actor among readers is LMM. Thorne ditched the books' wise Texan for a budget Han Solo. LMM isn't a great dramatic actor (even in Hamilton he was the weak link performance-wise) but he makes up for it in marketability- lots of people tried the show because of him

Readers dislike that LMM's Lee is a thief and a scoundrel, when book-Lee is so moral he and Hester argue about stealing. Personally, I like the change in concept. Book!Lee's parental love for Lyra just appears. It's sweet, but not tied to a character arc. Done right, Lyra out-hustling Lee at his own game and giving him a noble cause to fight for (thus inspiring the moral compass of the books) is a more compelling arc.

DAFNE KEENE AND LYRA

I thought Dafne would be perfect casting. Her feral energy in Logan seemed a match made in heaven. Then Jack Thorne gave her little to do with it.

Compare how The Golden Compass introduced Lyra, playing Kids and Gobblers with a group of Gyptian kids, including Billy Costa. Lyra and Roger are chased to Jordan by the Gyptians and she makes up a lie about a curse to scare the Gyptians away.

In one scene the movie set up: 1) the Gobblers (the first we hear of them in the show is in retrospect, Roger worrying AFTER Billy is taken) 2) Lyra’s pre-existing relationship with the Gyptians (not in the show), 3) Friendship with Billy Costa (not in the book or show) 4) Lyra’s ability to befriend and lead groups of people, especially kids, and 5) Lyra’s ability to lie impressively

By comparison, it takes until midway through 1x2 for TV!Lyra to tell her first lie, and even then it’s a paper-thin attempt. 

The show made Roger Lyra’s only friend. This artificially heightens the impact of Roger's death, but strips Lyra of her leadership qualities and ability to befriend anyone. 

Harry Potter fans talk about how Book!Harry is funnier and smarter than Film!Harry. They cut his best lines ('There's no need to call me sir, Professor') and made him blander and more passive. The same happened to Lyra.

Most importantly, Lyra is not allowed to lie for fun. She can't do anything 'naughty' without being scolded. This colours the few times Lyra does lie (e.g. to Mrs Coulter in 1x2) negatively and thus makes Lyra out to be more of a brat than a hero.

This is a problem with telling Northern Lights from an outside, 'adult' perspective- to most adults Lyra is a brat. Because we’re introduced to her from inside her head, we think she's great. It's only when we meet her through Will's eyes in The Subtle Knife and she's filthy, rude and half-starved that we realise Lyra bluffs her way through life and is actually pretty non-functional

Thorne prioritises grounded human drama over fantasy, and so his Lyra has her love of bears and witches swapped for familial angst. (and, in S2. angst over Roger). By exposing Mrs Coulter as her mother early, Thorne distracts TV!Lyra from Book!Lyra’s love of the North. The contrast between wonder and reality made NL's ending a definitive threshold between innocence and knowledge. Thorne showed his hand too early.

Similarly, TV!Lyra doesn’t have anywhere near as strong an admiration for Lord Asriel. She calls him out in 1x8 (‘call yourself a Father’), which Book!Lyra never would because she’s proud to be his child. From her perspective, at this point Asriel is the good parent.

TV!Lyra’s critique of Asriel feels like Thorne using her as a mouthpiece to voice his own, adult perspective on the situation. Because Lyra is already disappointed in Asriel, his betrayal in the finale isn’t as effective. Pullman saves the ‘you’re a terrible Father’ call-out for the 3rd book for a reason; Lyra’s naive hero-worship of Asriel in Northern Lights makes the fall from Innocence into Knowledge that Roger’s death represents more effective.  

So, on TV Lyra is tamer, angstier, more introverted, less intelligent, less fun and more serious. We're just constantly told she's important, even before we meet her.

MRS COULTER (AND LORD ASRIEL)

Mrs Coulter is the main character of the show. Not Lyra. Mrs Coulter was cast first, and Lyra was cast based on a chemistry test with Ruth Wilson. Coulter’s character is given lots of extra development, where the show actively strips Lyra of her layers.

To be clear, I have no problem with developing Mrs Coulter. She is a great character Ruth Wilson plays phenomenally. I do have a problem with the show fixating on her at the expense of other characters.

Lyra's feral-ness is given to her parents. Wilson and McAvoy are more passionate than in the books. This is fun to watch, but strips them of subtlety- you never get Book!Coulter's hypnotic allure from Wilson, she's openly nasty, even to random strangers (in 2x3 her dismissal of the woman at the hotel desk felt like a Disney villain). 

Compare how The Golden Compass (2007) introduced Mrs Coulter through Lyra’s eyes, with light, twinkling music and a sparkling dress. By contrast, before the show introduces Coulter it tells us she’s associated with the evil Magisterium plotting Asriel’s death- “Not a word to any of our mutual friends. Including her.” Then she’s introduced striding down a corridor to imposing ‘Bad Guy’ strings.

Making Mrs Coulter’s villainy so obvious so early makes Lyra look dumber for falling for it. It also wastes an interesting phase of her character arc. Coulter is rushed into being a ’conflicted evil mother’ in 2 episodes, and stays in that phase for the rest of the show so far. Character progression is minimised because she circles the same place.

It makes her one-note. It's a good note (so much of the positive online chatter is saphiccs worshiping Ruth Wilson) but the show also worships her to the point of hindrance- e.g. take a shot every time Coulter walks slow-motion down a corridor in 2x2

The problem isn’t the performances, but how prematurely they give the game away. Just like the mysteries around Bolvangar and Lyra’s parentage. Neither Coulter or Asriel have much chance to use their 'public' faces. 

This is part of a bigger pacing problem- instead of rolling plot points out gradually, Thorne will stick the solution in front of you early and then stall for time until it becomes relevant. Instead of building tension this builds frustration and makes the show feel like it's catching up to the audience. This also makes the characters less engaging. You've already shown Mrs Coulter is evil/Boreal is in our world/Asriel wants Roger. Why are you taking so long getting to the point?

PACING AND EDITING

This show takes forever to make its point badly.

Scenes in HDM tend to operate on one level- either 'Character Building,' 'Exposition,' or 'Plot Progression'.

E.g. Mary's introduction in 2x2. Book!Mary only listens to Lyra because she’s sleep and caffeine-deprived and desperate because her funding is being cut. But the show stripped that subtext out and created an extra scene of a colleague talking to Mary about funding. They removed emotional subtext to focus on exposition, and so the scene felt empty and flat.

In later episodes characters Mary’s sister and colleagues do treat her like a sleep-deprived wreck. But, just like Lyra’s lying, the show doesn’t establish these characteristics in her debut episode. It waits until later to retroactively tell us they were there. Mary’s colleague saying ‘What we’re dealing with here is the fact that you haven’t slept in weeks’ is as flimsy as Pan joking not lying to Mary will be hard for Lyra.

Rarely does a scene work on multiple levels, and if it does it's clunky- see the exposition dump about Daemon Separation in the middle of 2x2's Witch Trial.

He also splits plot progression into tiny doses, which destroys pacing. It's more satisfying to focus on one subplot advancing multiple stages than all of them shuffling forward half a step each episode.

Subplots would be more effective if all the scenes played in sequence. As it is, plotlines can’t build momentum and literal minutes are wasted using the same establishing shots every time we switch location.

The best-structured episodes of S1 are 1x4, 1x6, and 1x8. This is because they have the fewest subplots (incidentally these episodes have least Boreal in them) and so the main plot isn’t diluted by constantly cutting away to Mrs Coulter sniffing Lyra’s coat or Will watching a man in a car through his window, before cutting back again. 

The best-written episode so far is 2x5. The Scholar. Tellingly, it’s the only episode Thorne doesn’t have even a co-writing credit on. 2x5 is well-paced, its dialogue is more naturalistic, it’s more focused, it even has time for moments of whimsy (Monkey with a seatbelt, Mrs Coulter with jeans, Lyra and Will whispering) that don’t detract from the story.

Structurally, 2x5  works because A) it benches Lee’s plotline. B) The Witches and Magisterium are relegated to a scene each. And C) the Coulter/Boreal and Lyra/Will subplots move towards the same goal. Not only that, but when we check in on Mary’s subplot it’s through Mrs Coulter’s eyes and directly dovetails into the  main action of the episode.

2x5 has a lovely sense of narrative cohesion because it has the confidence to sit with one set of characters for longer than two scenes at a time.

HDM also does this thing where it will have a scene with plot A where characters do or talk about something, cut away to plot B for a scene, then cut back to plot A where the characters talk about what happened in their last scene and painstakingly explain how they feel about it and why

Example: Pan talking to Will in 2x7 while Lyra pretends to be asleep. This scene is from the 3rd book, and is left to breathe for many chapters before Lyra brings it up. In the show after the Will/Pan scene they cut away to another scene, then cut back and Lyra instantly talks about it.

There’s the same problem in 2x5: After escaping Mrs Coulter, Lyra spells out how she feels about acting like her

The show never leaves room for implication, never lets us draw our own conclusions before explaining what it meant and how the characters feel about it immediately afterwards. The audience are made passive in their engagement with the characters as well as the world    

LORD BOREAL, JOHN PARRY AND DIMINISHING RETURNS

At first, Boreal’s subplot in S1 felt bold and inspired. The twist of his identity in The Subtle Knife would've been hard to pull off onscreen anyway. As a kid I struggled to get past Will's opening chapter of TSK and I have friends who were the same. Introducing Will in S1 and developing him alongside Lyra was a great idea.

I loved developing Elaine Parry and Boreal into present, active characters. But the subplot was introduced too early and moved too slowly, bogging down the season.

In 1x2 Boreal crosses. In 1x3 we learn who he's looking for. In 1x5 we meet Will. In 1x7 the burglary. 1 episode worth of plot is chopped up and fed to us piecemeal across many. Boreal literally stalls for two episodes before the burglary- there are random 30 second shots of him sitting in a car watching John Parry on YouTube (videos we’d already seen) completely isolated from any other scenes in the episode

By the time we get to S2 we've had 2 seasons of extended material building up Boreal, so when he just dies like in the books it's anticlimactic. The show frontloads his subplot with meaning without expanding on its payoff, so the whole thing fizzles out. 

Giving Boreal, the secondary villain in literally every episode, the same death as a background character in about 5 scenes in the novels feels cheap. It doesn’t help that, after 2x5 built the tension between Coulter and Boreal so well, as soon as Thorne is passed the baton in 2x6 he does little to maintain that momentum. Again, because the subplot is crosscut with everything else the characters hang in limbo until Coulter decides to kill him.

I’ve been watching non-book readers react to the show, and several were underwhelmed by Boreal’s quick, unceremonious end. 

Similarly, the show builds up John Parry from 1x3 instead of just the second book. Book!John’s death is an anticlimax but feels narratively justified. In the show, we’ve spent so much extra time talking about him and then being with him (without developing his character beyond what’s in the novels- Pullman even outlined John’s backstory in The Subtle Knife’s appendix. How hard would it be to add a flashback or two?) that when John does nothing in the show and then dies (he doesn’t even heal Will’s fingers like in the book- only tell him to find Asriel, which the angels Baruch and Balthamos do anyway) it doesn’t feel like a clever, tragic subversion of our expectations, it feels like a waste that actively cheapens the audience’s investment.

TL;DR giving supporting characters way more screentime than they need only, to give their deaths the same weight the books did after far less build up makes huge chunks of the show feel less important than they were presented to be. 

FRUSTRATINGLY LIMITED EXPANSION AND NOVELLISTIC STORYTELLING

Thorne is unwilling to meaningfully develop or expand characters and subplots to fit a visual medium. He introduces a plot-point, invents unnecessary padding around it, circles it for an hour, then moves on.

Pullman’s books are driven by internal monologue and big, complex theological concepts like Daemons and Dust. Instead of finding engaging, dynamic ways to dramatise these concepts through the actions of characters or additions to the plot, Thorne turns Pullman’s internal monologue into dialogue and has the characters explain them to the audience

The novels’ perspective on its characters is narrow, first because Northern Lights is told only from Lyra’s POV, and second because Pullman’s writing is plot-driven, not character-driven. Characters are vessels for the plot and themes he wants to explore.

This is a fine way of writing novels. When adapting the books into a longform drama, Thorne decentralised Lyra’s perspective from the start, and HDM S1 uses the same multi-perspective structure that The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass do, following not only Lyra but the Gyptians, Mrs Coulter, Boreal, Will and Elaine etc

However, these other perspectives are limited. We never get any impression of backstory or motivation beyond the present moment. Many times I’ve seen non-book readers confused or frustrated by vague or non-existent character motivations.

For example, S1 spends a lot of time focused on Ma Costa’s grief over Billy’s disappearance, but we never see why she’s sad, because we never saw her interact with Billy.

Compare this to another show about a frantic mother and older brother looking for a missing boy. Stranger Things uses only two flashbacks to show us Will Byers’ relationships with his family: 1) When Joyce Byers looks in his Fort she remembers visiting Will there. 2) The Clash playing on the radio reminds Jonathan Byers of introducing Will to the song.

In His Dark Materials we never see the Costas as a happy family- 1x1’s Gyptian ceremony focuses on Tony and Daemon-exposition. Billy never speaks to his mum or brother in the show 

Instead we have Ma Costa’s empty grief. The audience has to do the work (the bad kind) imagining what she’s lost. Instead of seeing Billy, it’s just repeated again and again that they will get the children back.

If we’re being derivative, HDM had the chance to segway into a Billy flashback when John Faa brings one of his belongings back from a Gobbler safehouse in 1x2. This is a perfect The Clash/Fort Byers-type trigger. It doesn’t have to be long- the Clash flashback lasted 1:27, the Fort Byers one 55 seconds. Just do something.

1x3 beats into us that Mrs Coulter is nuts without explaining why. Lots of build-up for a single plot-point. Then we're told Mrs Coulter's origin, not shown. This is a TV show. Swap Boreal's scenes for flashbacks of Coulter and Asriel's affair. Then, when Ma Costa tells Lyra the truth, show the fight between Edward Coulter and Asriel.

To be clear, Thorne's additions aren’t fundamentally bad. For example, Will boxing sets up his struggle with violence. But it's wasted. The burglary/murder in 1x7 fell flat because of bad editing, but the show never uses its visual medium to show Will's 'violent side'- no change in camera angle, focus, or sound design, nothing. It’s just a thing that’s there, unsupported by the visual language of the show

The Magisterium scenes in 2x2 were interesting. We just didn't need 5 of them; their point could be made far more succinctly.

In 2x6 there is a minute-long scene of Mary reading the I Ching. Later, there is another scene of Angelica watching Mary sitting somewhere different, doing the SAME THING, and she sees an Angel. Why split these up? It’s not like either the I Ching or the Angels are being introduced here. Give the scene multiple layers.

Thorne either takes good character moments from the books (Lyra/Will in 2x1) or uses heavy-handed exposition that reiterates the same point multiple times. This hobbles the Witches (their dialogue in 2x1, 2 and 3 literally rephrases the same sentiment about protecting Lyra without doing anything). Even character development- see Lee monologuing his and Mrs Coulter's childhood trauma in specific detail in 2x3

This is another example of Thorne adding something, but instead of integrating it into the dramatic action and showing us, it’s just talked about. What’s the point of adding big plot points if you don’t dramatise them in your dramatic, visual medium? In 2x8, Lee offhandedly mentions playing Alamo Gulch as a kid.

I’m literally screaming, Jack, why the flying fuck wasn’t there a flashback of young Lee and Hester playing Alamo Gulch and being stopped by his abusive dad? It’s not like you care about pacing with the amount of dead air in these episodes, even when S2’s run 10 minutes shorter than S1’s. Lee was even asleep at the beginning of 2x3, Jack! He could’ve woken from a nightmare about his childhood! It’s a little lazy, but better than nothing.

There’s a similar missed opportunity making Dr Lanselius a Witchling. If this idea had been introduced with the character in 1x4, it would’ve opened up so many storytelling possibilities. Linking to Fader Coram’s own dead witchling son. It could’ve given us that much-needed perspective on Witch culture. Imagine Lanselius’ bittersweet meeting with his ageless mother, who gave him up when he reached manhood. Then, when the Magisterium bombs the Witches in 2x2, Lanselius’ mother dies so it means something.

Instead it’s only used to facilitate an awkward exposition dump in the middle of a trial.

The point of this fanfic-y ramble is to illustrate my frustration with the additions; If Thorne had committed and meaningfully expanded and interwoven them with the source material, they could’ve strengthened its weakest aspect (the characters). But instead he stays committed to novelistic storytelling techniques of monologue and two people standing in a room talking at each other

(Seriously, count the number of scenes that are just two people standing in a room or corridor talking to each other. No interesting staging, the characters aren’t doing anything else while talking. They. Just. Stand.) 

SEASON 2 IMPROVEMENTS

S2 improved some things- Lyra's characterisation was more book-accurate, her dynamic with Will was wonderful. Citigazze looked incredible. LMM won lots of book fans over as Lee. Mary was brilliantly cast. Now there are less Daemons, they're better characterised- Pan gets way more to do now and Hester had some lovely moments. 

I genuinely believe 2x1, 2x3, 2x4 and 2x5 are the best HDM has been. 

But new problems arose. The Subtle Knife lost the central, easy to understand drive of Northern Lights (finding the missing kids) for lots of smaller quests. As a result, everyone spends the first two episodes of S2 waiting for the plot to arrive. The big inciting incident of Lyra’s plotline is the theft of the alethiometer, which doesn’t happen until 2x3. Similarly, Lee doesn’t search for John until 2x3. Mrs Coulter doesn’t go looking for Lyra until 2x3. 

On top of missing a unifying dramatic drive, the characters now being split across 3 worlds, instead of the 1+a bit of ours in S1, means the pacing/crosscutting problems (long establishing shots, repetition of information, undercutting momentum) are even worse. The narrative feels scattered and incohesive.   

These flaws are inherent to the source  material and are not the show’s fault, but neither does it do much to counterbalance or address them, and the flaws of the show combine with the difficulties of TSK as source material and make each other worse.

A lot of this has been entitled fanboy bitching, but you can't deny the show is in a bad place ratings-wise. It’s gone from the most watched new British show in 5 years to the S2 premiere having a smaller audience than the lowest-rated episode of Doctor Who Series 12. For comparison, DW's current cast and showrunner are the most unpopular since the 80s, some are actively boycotting it, it took a year-long break between series 11 and 12, had its second-worst average ratings since 2005, and costs a fifth of what HDM does to make. And it's still being watched by more people.

Critical consensus fluctuates wildly. Most laymen call the show slow and boring. The show is simultaneously too niche and self-absorbed to attract a wide audience and gets just enough wrong to aggravate lots of fans.

I’m honestly unsure if S3 will get the same budget. I want it to, if only because of my investment in the books. Considering S2 started filming immediately after S1 aired, I think they've had a lot more time to process and apply critique for S3. On the plus side, there's so much plot in The Amber Spyglass it would be hard to have the same pacing problems. But also so many new concepts that I dread the exposition dumps.

[itsxinran]

On "Fashion and Sustainability" by the London College of Fashion

(These are my answers from the online course I'm currently taking on FutureLearn.com. I will repost my responses here to keep track of things)

"Say hello and introduce yourself."

Hey there, my name is Nicole. Nice to meet you, whoever's reading this entry.

A piece of my heart belongs to the act and art of thrifting. Once I got exposed to the world of 'buying second-hand garments', I couldn't look back. I didn't want to anyway. What began as a passion evolved into introspection. Questions are aplenty the more I submerge myself in an ocean of clothes. I established an online thrift store where I sell personally curated items from different locations. After years, I finally realized I want to do more, be more, learn more, and offer more in regards to just making this planet a better place in ways I can devote myself to, and I have to start somewhere, and that it is never too late to start. I found this course and immediately signed up for it.

A good life depends upon the person whether they are being good towards the planet they live on or not.

"Why is sustainable important to you?"

Sustainability (in fashion) is important for me because it's a way I know I can definitely contribute to helping our planet heal up without feeling any restriction or hesitation. It helps me generate creative possibilities from resourcefulness and tackle exciting challenges about recycling, creating advantageous inception for me who wants to lighten my ecological footprint. Earth and I both benefit from sustainability within a return-and-regain cycle.

“What do you value in the world?”

I value myself because I am the root of all that happens in my life and a factor of all the experiences I've gone through. I always believe that we must prioritize ourselves first so we can be our utmost best towards everything and everyone else. Our actions are reflections of our overall welfare; we project daily in an almost unconscious manner or even habit. If we think of ourselves as lowly, we produce low-quality products. I cultivate value within me so the energy I spread towards all is genuine, inspiring, and bountiful.

“Which of the four agendas (social, economic, ecological, cultural) would you like to research further? This might be based on your experience of fashion, or perhaps you find it intriguing from a personal perspective.”

To begin, I'd like to address how informative and alarming the podcast was. I've learned more about the ascending greed and descending priorities of human beings. Social Agenda and Cultural agenda played a bit of a tug-of-war; both discussed the authenticity issues and the topic of illusions within the luxury side of fashion. I'm a person who holds honesty, transparency, and accountability absolutely paramount hence the gravity towards these two agendas. However, the Social Agenda ultimately won my interest.

Inequalities within the fashion world will eternally irritate me. Many luxury brands pride themselves on selling 'handmade' products but make their human resources work like machines. Another exasperating problem not just in luxury fashion but the generality of the fashion industry is how men and white people tend to profit more than women and people of colour when the majority of the fashion workforce are women and people of colour.

Additionally, luxury items are seen as beautiful rarities catered only to affluent people and conspicuous consumers because the upper echelon deemed them the target market as they have the obvious money. Blatant social status discrimination is not just in the production part but also in the transaction part. Diving deeper into the travesties of luxury fashion helped me understand the gloat I feel whenever I see items of heavyweight labels discarded and untouched in the sale pile of a thrift store in a barely developing country.

“Why have you selected this agenda? How does it relate to your professional and personal experiences of fashion and sustainability? How does your geographic location relate to your own perspective on your chosen Agenda?

I treat thrifting as a professional and personal matter. I see so many clothes by famous fashion designers in thrift stores and most of them are inexplicable design choices. They were brought to this world because of a name. Numerous luxury brands produce the most ungodly things I'd not even want my worst enemies to wear.

However, whether luxurious or fast, the fashion industry exploits human resources from developing countries. In an article made by goodonyou.eco this 2021, it's stated that "over the decades, the fashion industry has made an intentional choice to move its labour to low-income Asian countries like Bangladesh, India, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines."

I (currently) live in the Philippines and thrift stores are abundant here. The Philippines and other Asian countries are exhausted and wrung by the people behind the fashion industry and then all discarded clothes (may they be unused, unwanted, excess, etcetera) from all over the world come back to these countries to be resold by a different group of low-income workers. These poor countries which are sought after for their cheap labour costs are also the fashion industries' trash can.

[micoco]

More More More ????

Introvert

The topic was inspired by Susan Cain’s TED talk which talks about the power of introverts. It changed my idea that being quiet and shy is  introverted. She says that the differences between extraversion and introversion are more about how people respond to stimulation, included with social stimulation. “To maximize our talents is for us all to put ourselves to the most comfortable and suitable zones.” She points out that there is some bias that exists in a lot of places about introverts such as in education and in working. And I think most people are not purely extroverted or introverted, and they have different levels with them. In today’s society, people may misunderstand with introverts and extroverts. Finding the balances between them may be a good way to recognize people better and maximize their talents.

Research Questions

- What kind of methods that help us to better define ourselves more introverted, extroverted or ambiverts? 

- After understanding ourselves, how can we find the comfortable zones of stimulation to achieve the maximum talents people have?

- Society exists to bias introverts with different ages of people, different places, and different fields like working and education. Why would they have this bias? Has this bias existed for a long time? Because of biases in society, are we also affected by the surroundings, such as being proud as an extrovert or being upset because of introversion? What kind of activities can eliminate prejudice against them? 

- As a teacher, an employer, a boss, a manager, or similar positions, How can they balance introverts and extroverts in society? 

- Compared with extroverted people, most designers and creative people like Darwin or Dr Seuss, and they are introverted. So as introverts, what kind of capabilities do they have? Do those abilities let them be more successful?(correlate with introversion) Or do those lead them to be successful? (causation with introversion)

Food

- Why is building the relationship with food important for people’s physical and mental health? How does food affect people's daily lives in different aspects? Are people influenced by different cultures, educational backgrounds, social backgrounds or others when they are building the relationship with food?  

- What kind of actions can help people to build a better / positive relationship with food? (Eating disorders are always struggling with a negative relationship with food. There are lots of reasons to have eating disorders with varying levels such as loneliness, losing weight, difficulties in life…....) The slow movement has talked about building a local garden for people to understand and grow the food as a co-producer, to evaluate the appreciation of food in a community. 

- People know that fast food is unhealthy for their bodies, why is fast food like hamburgers or pizzas still so popular around the world with different ages of people? Why do people prefer to have them instead of healthy food, related with social or cultural backgrounds? Is junk food the main cause of obesity?

- In today’s society, most people almost cannot live without social media. How does social networking affect or change the relationship with food?  

- Mukbang is becoming more and more popular on the internet now, why are people so addicted to watching those videos? Do they want to satisfy their desires or others. Do they bring more negative or positive effects to people? From the marketing or sell strategies, are those videos more beneficial to which group of people, the consumers or companies? Are these strategies successful in today’s society? 

- Do people change the way they think about food? “Photos first” is kind of a trend of food when people are going to the restaurants now. For the food restaurants or brands, is it more important to look good or to taste good? Same questions are for the consumers. Also posting the photos on facebook or instagram in someway became a symbol of wealth. How do similar behaviors like fetishizing food affect people? 

- When food is produced, there are the problems of food waste. What kind of results will happen in the future? How does it affect people’s life? 

- Which is the more serious problem, food loss or food waste? 

One size fits all

- Does Brand Melville give consumers the wrong messages, “one size fits all”? Why has the brand become an exclusive club with all skinny, good looking girls, catering for girls with the brand's ideology?

- Why the fast fashion or high end fashion brands, they use models who are all and with perfect body figures  in advertisements and campaigns?  Is there any body discrimination or in this industry?

- As a designer, which is more important: catering for the consumer’s demand in the market or pursuing their own aesthetic? How to balance this relationship or not? 

- How to think about diversity in brands? 

- Do consumers care more about the ethical practices behind the brands? 

- Younger people like the trends of BM or other styles, do people dress more to please themselves or to cater for the popular social trends? Which is more important? why do they want to cater to a particular trend, clothing is that really important? 

- One size fits all, different people can try the same sizes of cloth with different styles. However, a group of girls will worry about the correct shape created from people who are in “one specific club”.  Clothing freedom sometimes will come with judgements from others. How do they look at these biases? Why do the biases still exist now and do they change? 

- If the fast fashion brand (BM) only has one particular group of consumers (young teenagers), is that harder to survive among a lot of brands? In other words, is the popularity of this brand only temporary? How to use some methods to retain these consumers?

[dailyexo]

[NEWS] Baekhyun - 190310 Allure: “How EXO's Baekhyun Put His Identity into Privé Alliance”

"Allure's Devon Abelman sat down with the K-pop star during his first-ever solo appearance in the U.S to discuss how he defines beauty and style on his own terms.

BY DEVON ABELMAN

If I didn't know who Baekhyun was before meeting him in February, I would have thought he was just a random handsome dude I met at a nightclub while on vacation in Los Angeles.

As he politely tells a roving cater waiter offering us mini cannolis, "No thank you," I find myself believing that Baekhyun truly is that guy. I'm fully aware of his claim to fame, but he doesn't look or act the part. For starters, Baekhyun's lids aren't defined with expertly blended smoky eyes, and his lips aren't stained with a raspberry lip tint. Those tell-tale signs of a man with his job description are noticeably missing. Not a single stroke of eyeliner or fleck of glitter is in sight, either (honestly, to my dismay). A part of me hoped we'd bond over our eye makeup.

Makeup aside, Baekhyun carries himself with a quiet confidence that is so unassuming that he seems weirdly familiar and incredibly normal compared to the influencers, actors, and singers milling around us in the private VIP area. He never acts like he's better or more important than any other person there. Instead, he has the affability of the construction worker who waves to me every morning on my way to work rather than the larger-than-life bearing of a superstar from Seoul who effortlessly hits high notes while simultaneously performing powerful choreography. During our interview, I felt like I should ask him about his dog instead of his skin-care routine. If I didn't know who Baekhyun was, I would have wondered why I was interviewing him for Allure at all.

Baekhyun's wavy hair reminds me why this article exists on the Internet and not solely as a story I recount to my friends over text messages. Parted in the middle and styled to have a wet look, his auburn ends are relics of internationally beloved K-pop group EXO's most recent concept. His hair, for all intents and purposes, is the reason why we ended up sitting together in a cushy booth in the back corner of the dimly lit VIP section of a club on a Tuesday night. Trust me, neither of us frequent this fine L.A. establishment, located next to the Museum of Death. You won't even catch me in a club when I'm at home in Brooklyn. To put it bluntly, I'm only in this club talking to a nice guy because he's a member of EXO.

The EXO Connection

If this is your introduction to Baekhyun, please know that EXO is a Big Deal. Among their long list of awards and chart-topping accomplishments, the nine-member group performed at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and has racked up more than 100 million views on each of their music videos on YouTube.

By extension, Baekhyun — full name Byun Baekhyun, age 26 — is a Big Deal, too. In addition to being a talented performer with 14.5 million Instagram followers, his bright dye jobs, innovative hairstyles, and experimental eye makeup have sparked beauty trends in K-pop since EXO debuted in 2012. You can, more or less, blame him for the influx of mullets and red-streaked black hair among other idols and thank him for the proliferation of red eye shadow. No matter how controversial or dramatic the looks Baekhyun tries are, he always pulls them off with ease and joviality.

Back to Baekhyun's auburn hair, though. Like most K-pop stars, he constantly undergoes vibrant dye jobs in hues, like pink, silver, and platinum, to fit the group's concepts. For "Love Shot," EXO's latest music video, he paired his newly burgundy hair with a glimmering eye shadow of the same shade and sooty black liner. Now his look is an extremely streamlined version of this.

His current lack of makeup may be a stark contrast from the bold eye looks he typically wears onstage and in music videos, but his skin is just as dewy as ever with the help of a nearly undetectable layer of foundation. His brows are probably lightly filled in, too, but I could be reaching. If anything, Baekhyun's wearing the standard amount of makeup for celebrity men. Just enough to amplify his glow, not enough to make a statement.

Baekhyun's glow is due in part to a consistent regimen; he lists toner, lotion, and moisturizer as the official order. But how many times do you wash your face, I ask, causing a couple of people in the human bubble of managers, publicists, and security guards surrounding us to laugh. Baekhyun ignores their snickers and answers, "Two," in English. (That's right, double cleansing is no laughing matter.) "If I wash my face too many times, I get skin troubles," he adds.

Baekhyun says he hasn't changed up the steps of his skin-care routine in L.A., or ramped up the number of sheet masks he uses. With EXO constantly traveling for concerts and events, "My skin gets used to the environment," he says. "So wherever I am, I use the same skin-care routine."

The Privé Connection

In hindsight, I should have anticipated Baekhyun would present himself in this low-key manner for his first-ever solo appearance in the U.S. In Privé campaigns, he's usually seen as he is now: natural, casual, effortlessly cool. His makeup is minimal; his natural-colored hair looks like all he did was run his hand through it; his outfits are sleek. With all this in mind, I ask him if he could dye his hair any color for the next campaign, what would it be.

How did I end up interviewing Baekhyun in a club, you ask? Let's go back to May 2018. Baekhyun made it onto Vogue's home page when he was named the co-creative director of streetwear brand Privé Alliance. Alongside Danyl Geneciran, the brand's CEO, Baekhyun helps create pieces that "put highlights on the basics," Baekhyun explains to me. He later reveals that he's surprised that almost all of his ideas have been executed.

My favorite part of Privé is how its offerings have a certain fluidity to them, much like Baekhyun's onstage persona. None of Privé's shirts, jackets, and bags are confined to overtly masculine or feminine silhouettes, and the same designs are available for men and women. "It's very important to have everyone be able to wear the clothes comfortably," Baekhyun explains. "Without any official communication, we agreed that [Privé Alliance] is going to be unisex."

With the newest Privé Alliance collection launching in April, the brand invited the public to join Baekhyun for a fashion presentation. The location: the very club we are sitting in. Although he doesn't act like he is (he kept to himself for most of the event), Baekhyun is undoubtedly the center of attention. He is the reason the floor below us is with filled with people from all over the world. Everyone's here to see Baekhyun, not the latest Privé pieces.

The Identity Connection

This is the only question Baekhyun doesn't answer concisely and without hesitation. "I don't know," he says in English. After taking a couple of seconds to think about it, he adds in Korean, "I love the black," adding "simple" in English.

This single word — simple — perfectly mirrors Baekhyun's personal aesthetic. "Basics, but with many little details," he explains. "It’s like you just came out of your house, but it’s still cool." In other words, he's the epitome of "Oh, this old thing? I just threw it on." I ask if he prefers to keep his hair and makeup natural and low-key, too, and he quickly replies, "yes, yes," in Korean.

The fact that Prive's aesthetic is similar to Baekhyun's is intentional. "I put my identity and myself into this collection," he tells me, echoing a line he shared when he made a brief appearance onstage before the fashion presentation commenced. The theme of the collection was his birth year, 1992, with zip-up corduroy jackets and hoodies adorned with '92 in big text.

Another adage he repeats throughout the night is, "Be brave. Be humble." The same words are printed all over the collared white satin shirt he's wearing, layered under a similar navy blue one. After the event, I saw people saying the look recalled EXO's "Lotto" era, back in 2016 when his hair was styled in a similar way and he wore collared shirts with several of the top buttons undone and silver necklaces. Onyx shadow was blended all over his lids back then, though. Fans likened Baekhyun's look that night to a mafia boss. (Seeing those tweets made me laugh, because his charm is far from disarming.) But for Baekhyun, his outfit is more a matter of comfort. "I like how silky it feels," he says. I go on to compare it to pajamas, which makes him chuckle.

Baekhyun doesn't ignore the fact that he typically presents himself with intricate details. Performing, he points out, is his go-to form of self-expression, outside of working with Privé. And let's be real, Baekhyun's performances, which ooze confidence and allure, wouldn't be the same without his stunning hair and makeup.

To borrow a word from Baekhyun, identity — and the way we present ourselves — isn't fixed. For example, the way my best friend describes my identity could be strikingly different from the way my sisters would. The way I dress when I'm going to get a bagel on a Saturday morning (track pants and a T-shirt) is different from how I dress for work (vintage floral dresses) or an event like this (a blue-and-white plaid suit). The way I do my colorful makeup is also evolving, too.

We often see K-pop stars in narrow, controlled situations, though, so we know and define them according to what we're able to see. I'm as guilty of this as the next person, i.e., assuming Baekeyun would show up with eyeliner as bold as my own. When you take a K-pop star out of a K-pop setting, a different side of them is revealed. They no longer have to adhere to a group aesthetic, just their own. We get a glimpse of Baekhyun's at the airport and in the selfies he posts on Instagram, but Privé Alliance has given him a platform to truly show his identity on his own terms.

At that club, I felt like I was being introduced to Baekhyun all over again. Back when I watched EXO's music video for "Monster" the first time, I saw him as part of a carefully crafted package; the second time, I saw him the way he sees himself."

Photo links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Credit: Allure.

[astrology-with-charu]

Full moon in Sagittarius gives us an opportunity to culminate something in one area of our life over next two weeks, brings to forth our sense of adventure, faith, spontaneity, vigour & hunger for life of the archer. Below briefly mentions what part of your life its expansive influence is on.

‪17 Jun-2 Jul #Astrology #Horoscope ‬

Full Moon at 25°53” Sagittarius - A Flag Bearer In a Battle

Full moon in Sagittarius tonight which will give us an opportunity to culminate something in one area of our life over next two weeks, brings to forth our sense of adventure, faith, spontaneity, vigour & hunger for life of the archer .

Life is a Mission & we are the warrior with a cause. There is restlessness to experience life, to start a new adventure, to act on our impulses that our guiding us to hold ourselves & others to higher ideals. Big picture of our life comes to forefront of our consciousness as we are very idealistic & want to stand up to any limitations, any intimidation, crusading our personal understanding of truth.

Anyone or anything that comes between us & our purpose our cause our ideals will be met with retaliation cause we feel inspired to stick our neck out over beliefs even if there are no concrete proof which is the definition of faith. We have the courage of our convictions & not afraid to show that no matter the magnitude of opponent.

Jupiter Neptune are creating a fog to inspire us, create an over the top idealistic energy that questions any past limiting beliefs. Sometimes a bit of fog is important to enable us to walk on clouds without fear. Through crisis of consciousness, our past ideologies as a society are being dissolved for the new structure of our future to emerge. Crisis is mental & its pushing us to form a new way of looking at life.

Misinformation, aggression, arrogance will be galore in our surroundings for everyone thinks their truth is THE truth. The moon on galactic center & Neptune stationing makes it amply clear that only person you can trust is you. For what’s true for your soul is THE truth so why listen to hoi polloi. Neptune prompts us to walk with God’s not mortals’ lower frequency thinking cause it’s an opportunity to connect with source & know what’s the purpose of our existence. If only we shut outside noise we can hear it loud & clear.

Universe is screaming out our future if only we stop wasting this frequency in negating other persons belief & listen to our own mission. Universe is abundant as is this full moon.

Manifest your truth.

Full moon is happening with fixed star of Aculeus which is known to cause eye problems & blindness so few can experience eye problems. But most will be blinded with current reality or with rage or over the top emotions. Use this to envision beyond current circumstances to make a vision for you instead of loosing touch with reality.

Publication, travel, trade, education, spirituality, foreign relationships, causes, purpose, legalisation are highlighted as global themes under consideration.

As ruler is retrograde, we will see this manifestation continue all the way to August or even November (14th) when Jupiter revisits the point of full moon. So this has implications beyond next two weeks.

This full moon is activating key axis of United States & is next step in 7 Dec 2017 new start so if you initiated anything in December 2017 you might see fruits of that.

[Let’s get into individual signs or see video](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvSvY3h-vAPU0qnXPJM32PA) -

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

♈️ #Aries

Full moon of faith, where positive karma, sense of adventure is coming home as it’s very much required for the new phase of life we are about to embark on. Travel, high education, expansion of mind, publication, legalisation, mentor, Father, foreign trade & ideologies come to focus & culmination. We have a belief in abundance of universe & universe very much delivers the same. Whatever you believe in expands so careful what you wish for. Motivation in life is high, we are higher minded here, enthusiastic about what’s to unfold with an optimistic philosophy as our epic journey begins. Endings are unevitable cause you can’t have a new life without dissolving what’s not your reality anymore, the new normal is being ok with you being different from your past so embrace that.

♉️ #Taurus

Grand rebirth is the name of the game as you know you want more financially & in intimacy. So we bring to end any powerlessness in partnerships of personal or professional nature - but keep in mind merging your talents, resources can create expansion for you but it’s got to be on better terms. Death rebirth of sorts gives birth to new abundance. Mini crisis helps you see purpose of life. Reading, traveling to foreign lands, Father, Teachers, mentors give you guidance on what’s that purpose.

♊️ #Gemini

Closing on that partnership, contract, commitment that is so ideally suited to expansion of soul is the aim here. Or shifting existing partnerships to match this new vision you have of your life is the goal. Partners can help to give guidance on future path as well show you a bigger world. Partners can be teachers, foreigners, different from you & that’s why it fits.

♋️ #Cancer

Finishing a project or changing job, work environment & health routines seems to be the Mission. You have seen a new path & no one can stop you from getting there. Element of serving others, helping others in meaningful ways, being a mentor, teaching, guiding, uplifting those in need can convert a job to mission, career to purpose. Mind body connection comes to focus where you know a mindset is affecting your health.

♌️ #Leo

It’s risk on for our heart is on fire to get what we deserve, passion, fun, romance, children, creativity is on agenda as we meant to dissolve the blues to giveaway to light. We are drawn to romance from afar, multiple opportunities of passionate outlets, Long distance travel or mind travels for fun. This is you in all your glory, being you against all odds. This is lucky karma, passion, child like joy finding you & regenerating your heart chakra for the forward journey. Receive💕 & never forget this Bold self expression is who you are

♍️ #Virgo

Closing on a real estate, home, family, security matter or shifts in family set up, personal life to make the new start in career work for you is in order. Remember where you came from & how far you have come - you deserve comforts, security & love. Your inspiration, expansion, hope, meaning is in good family & personal/inner life and it needs balancing with career focus - that’s highlighted in this full moon & you rage a war to make sure you & yours are taken care of in the best way as you normally do. All heart as always 💕

♎️ #Libra

Lot of important news, messages, talks about purpose, path in life, mentors, travel & future that’s about to unveil in front of you as you future is shifting in terms of career path or important restructuring at work might be about to come. Gossips will be galore as well as distractions - filter the busy overload of information to what can be practically used to self promote or in forward progression. You have a compassionate philosopher mind which is admired & loved by many so don’t miss out on social high of this full moon. Collaborate, learn, travel, add to your skills through day to day interactions while standing guard to gossip.

♏️ #Scorpio

Values, our abundance, big growth plans & material wealth is focus but we are on a Mission which is bigger than money, it’s purpose of life, higher thinking, travel, publication, foreign ideologies, international exposure, being a citizen of the world - which will get us there. Abundance is a by product, we are going after a creative high of our talents & mind. You are the final product, the skill set which will reap material fruits all life which is in making here & you see results of your investment in you.

♐️ #Sagittarius

This is all about you, who you want to be & show up as to the world, your physical body, your soul - ask & it’s given, so why not ask for more. Show up as you truly are - you are grand, you are fire, you are hunger for adventure, you are the blaze that everyone follows, you are the archer who aims higher and further than anyone - for most can’t see what you see. It’s going to be emotional as old phase might be coming to an end - completion of what we started 6 months back or in ‪Dec’17‬ but it’s required to allow you to be you. The adventurer with a new quest, new Mission - ready to start new life 💫

♑️ #Capricorn

Private life, bed pleasure, faith, spirituality, self care - all the things you normally sacrifice to deliver all of you to the world are brought to focus. For we have gotto take care of you, close a few loops before we get into your eclipses. You are already working on starting your new chapter of life which eclipses bring. But whats brought to focus now is our fears, our unconscious beliefs which we need to remove, throw light on & handle for once as they cannot continue in new phase in life. Inspire yourself by catering to your soul, connecting with yourself even if briefly through travel, religion, faith, charity, compassion which brings to forth your hidden strengths & we need it all for your new start.

♒️ #Aquarius

Networking, joining people, teaching big groups, socialising, uplifting large set of people with your vision is your aspiration, your expansion, your abundance, your belief which fills you up. That’s highlighted through travel, teaching, interaction with your network / fan base at this time. This is joy, you find meaning with your friends, your large network, you receive higher perspective through your friends. You have big goals for yourself & this full moon shows you rewards for some of them as well as gives you forward looking inputs on how to create big wealth or apt returns for your investments.

♓️ #Pisces

Your career, social status & authority is brought to focus as you are given centrestage as a leader. Results of past work done, recognition for it comes through as well. At the same time vision is seen on how to expand your social status further which could require new philosophy, teaching, education, travel, foreign influence which you welcome & embrace. Always stay on high rise as you normally do as your morality will also be in focus.

Love & light 💫

[dprdabin]

DPR: ‘We Did this Ourselves From the Ground Up’

From a hit debut album to an upcoming world tour, producer DPR REM and artist DPR LIVE talk about their hip-hop crew’s ambitions and expansion plans

Talking to the members of DPR is almost always like a productive frisson that leaves you breathless and excited for the things to come. On the day we chat, the voices of producer Scott Kim—better known as DPR REM—and Hong Dabin, aka DPR LIVE, crackle through the phone on a fine Seoul evening, merging together in waves of introspection and quiet, focused ambition. They’re gearing up for their first world tour, but also trying to wrap their heads around the fact that it’s finally happening.

“Everything is just still so surreal for us. It’s not like we’ve done this in a past life or we had experiences in other entertainment companies. This is all ‘Do It Yourself’, like DIY,” says DPR REM. “Every day is a new experience and a new journey, and I think this world tour is one of the biggest steps we’ve taken in that direction.”

On the off chance that you’re a stranger to DPR, short for Dream Perfect Regime, it’s worth noting that ‘Do It Yourself’ is the cornerstone of the septet’s philosophy. The crew, which has morphed into one of the most prominent and creative voices to emerge from the Korean hip-hop scene, is a completely organic and independent effort–a rare feat in South Korea’s label-saturated music industry. They first gained prominence through their captivating and cinematic visual output which included music videos for K-pop acts such as Big Bang and MOBB, courtesy of in-house director and free-spirit extraordinaire, Christian Yu (known as IAN within the collective.)

Rapper DPR LIVE, essentially the face of the collective, is both a founding member and their first formal artist. LIVE started out by uploading his music on YouTube and eventually commanded people’s attention through his tightly packed, spitfire rap on the viral collaborative 2016 hit “Eung Freestyle.” Then in 2017 came Coming To You Live, his debut EP featuring an impressive roster of collaborations and an even bolder declaration—DPR had arrived in full swing. This, however, was followed by the comparatively mellowed out HER the same year. While Coming To You Live was a grand display of confidence, HER was more focused and convergent in its themes, essentially a one-man act that took DPR LIVE to No. 8 on the Billboard World Albums Chart. “I think going off of CTYL, it was hard to just really stick with one theme because there was just so many people involved. We wanted to keep it open-ended for the artists to translate and interpret the way they wanted to,” says DPR REM, who’s produced both albums. “On the cover album for CTYL, we have a change of seasons going on in the background.” DPR used that as a metaphor of how they wanted to offer different varieties of songs and themes, so it not only introduces DPR LIVE as a rookie artist but also incorporates a lot of the other artists that featured on this project to display their thematic lyricism.

However, REM goes on to explain that when it comes to HER, it became a very solo project for LIVE. “It was solo for being not only for his own experimental purposes, but also in that he really wanted to zone in on his artistry and portray his story, and really give the fans like, ‘Okay, this is me, really like raw, without anybody around. This is the music I want to do right now, the vibes I want to put out.’ I think that’s the distinction.”

At just 26, LIVE is succinct but assertive, prefers to channel his words through music and is always aware of his values and goals thanks to his time in the army, which he says brought focus to his music. “I went to school in Guam. I knew how to speak Korean, because that was the only language my mom and my dad can speak, but I definitely wasn’t good at it.” When his family came to Korea, he had to enlist in the army within a year of arriving. “You have to stay in this military camp for two years, being told what to do, when to eat, when to sleep, and stuff like that. I actually really just honed in on myself, my goals, what I wanted in life, my values, and I learned patience and focus there. I think it was a very good thing to do though, because I don’t think I would have learned another way,” he says.

With millions of online views on their videos and the label of an underground collective left in the past, the members of DPR are gearing up to perform at sold out shows in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Here are excerpts from our conversation with REM and LIVE, where they discuss their success, music, and plans for expanding in the future.

On their collaborations with other artists and Coming To You Live:

LIVE: I think for collaborations, it’s always important to meet the person you’re working with, to get a vibe of their energy, their lifestyle, their beliefs. Just getting to know someone as a human is so helpful in understanding them as an artist. Through various talks and meet-ups, I think that’s where the music just naturally comes about. At least in my experience, that’s how you can be versatile. Meeting with various individuals and just communicating – it really opens you up to new thoughts and experiences.

REM: We were actually very lucky with that, because it just all timed perfectly. Usually, you hear a lot of stories where schedules don’t match up or you’re waiting for some other person and they get back to you, which is very often in the entertainment industry, but just—I don’t know what it is. I like to think it’s a lot of luck, to be honest, there’s a lot of great timing and luck that happened.

On music videos and DPR’s visual output:

LIVE: Not just my input, but everyone’s input goes into our visuals. It’s a collective effort, and that’s exactly the reason as to why I think we are able to deliver top notch quality works. We each present a different piece to the puzzle.

REM: I dedicate a lot of that to Christian. He’s a genius when it comes to that. I really think he’s just a crazy gifted kid that you just can’t put into words at times. It just happens for him.

“I don’t want our tour to just be your typical ‘show’ or ‘performance.’ I want fans to gear up for an actual party–a family reunion,” says DPR LIVE. Photo: Courtesy of Dream Perfect Regime

On being independent artists in South Korea:

LIVE: We really did this ourselves from the ground up. Countless mistakes were made, but through just pure diligence, we were able to get to a point where now we can constantly create and make what we want to. That freedom is priceless.

On their Billboard charting and online success:

LIVE: Although I’m super grateful and humbled, I try my best not to focus on stuff like that. The more you start thinking about certain stats and whatnot, I just believe it tends to really limit and almost negatively impact your career. Constantly being burdened and stressed with thoughts like that seem to do way more bad than good. I think these days I’ve just been working on trying to create constantly and explore myself as an artist more and more.

REM: We’re still young kids if you really think about it. Beyond the fame, beyond the success, it’s the fact that we have influence, and that’s what drives us, right? I think we’ve gone various letters in the email and handwritten letters from our fans all across the world, saying ‘Your music has shifted me in this direction and it’s for the better’ and ‘Your music has really inspired to go and pursue my dream, my passions.’ When we get things like this, it’s a very surreal experience. I’m sure a lot of artists feel the same way, but for us, really coming from the ground up, really not knowing anything that we were doing, going through countless mistakes, countless failures, it’s a really rewarding experience, more than anything.

On getting more people to hop on board:

REM: The short answer is: of course, we’d love to build this movement. I think the betterment of the team is just getting more people on board. The bigger your movement becomes, the bigger impact you get. The long answer to that, now, is that because we’re so family oriented, it does get a bit tricky. You have seven kids that grew up together making this DPR dream a reality. At this point, and we’ve said it before, we know each other so well. If we had disagreements and communication problems, it’s exactly how a family would handle it. This is not a company vibe at all, and I feel like, going off of that, we want to conserve that culture as much as can. That’s where it gets difficult, because you have somebody from the outside coming in, and it’s just like… can they really adapt to this environment? Can they adapt to this culture that we’ve set up before it already? I think that’s the hard question for us.

On the upcoming tour and possible new locations:

LIVE: Besides the fact that I’ll be able to finally see my fans face to face, I’m most looking forward to just being in a space filled with people who really support our movement and resonate with us. I don’t want our tour to just be your typical ‘show’ or ‘performance.’ I want fans to gear up for an actual party–a family reunion. Anybody that supports DPR knows up front that our culture goes hand in hand with family. So for us, this tour is similar to like seeing your long lost relatives, or getting together with family members you haven’t seen in years. That’s the level of excitement the team and I have.

REM: We really tried to include as many cities as we could in this tour. It is a world tour and we wanted to hit as many cities as we could, even despite our physical health or whatever. We really wanted to make the time and effort to get to any place that really knows of us or wants us. Even other Spanish-speaking countries or places like India or South Africa… we have tons of fans hitting us up saying we have fans here and there, and we want to cater to those markets much as we can, but at the same time just thinking about the whole bigger picture of the scheduling and the logistics it just couldn’t work out.

That’s what we told our fans, that ‘Hey, just because we’re doing this first world tour doesn’t mean it’s the last world tour. We’re just getting started here, right?’ This is just the beginning, so it builds momentum for the next few cities that we have yet to hit. We’re like, ‘Hey, we see you guys. We know you’re there. Just wait for us.’

© Lavanya Singh @ Rolling Stone India