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jolteonjordansh · 8 years ago

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Thoughts on Digimon Adventure tri.: “Coexistence”

Alright, I kept telling myself I was going to give a day to let my thoughts on “Symbiosis”/”Coexistence” (I'll go with Coexistence generally just to clarify) sink in, but I cannot get my mind to shift on anything else so let's just get to it. If I miss anything, I’ll make an additional thoughts post or something, but I feel like I’ve covered everything here for the most part. So, how did this go as we’re nearing the end of Digimon Adventure tri?

Oh boy, where do I even begin?

Let me lay this down straight: “Coexistence” isn't absolute garbage and is not the worst thing I've ever seen. I still think other series like Digimon Frontier are far worse than tri as a whole so far, but... “Coexistence” pretty much puts a lot of tri's flaws all in one big package.

The "padding" of this movie wasn't so unbearable that I wanted to shut the thing off, but I can certainly say that for 3/4ths of the movie, I was so bored. Not ready to die bored, but questioning "When the hell does all of the material this movie kept pressing so hard before release supposed to show up? Where's Kari's development? Where's Ophanimon Falldown Mode? Any answers to all of the plot threads you've left open? Are the Digimon going to regain their memories? The 02 cast? Anything?" There were cute moments here and there, but I felt that the payoff wasn't good enough to sit through so much of this. This isn't to say that the payoff wasn't good at all--I'll get to that towards the end. Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first. Other than the music anyway; that was as good as always.

The animation, while mostly okay, had some weird moments. I know it's happened throughout tri, but the size inconsistencies of the Digimon were especially obvious in “Coexistence”. Maybe I just never noticed it until now, but there were so many moments where I was thinking things like "Agumon isn't that small," or "Why did Patamon suddenly shrink from one frame to the next?" Also, there were a good number of stills used here for some reason. Why? I have no idea, but it looked bad. There was also this one shot of Piyomon flying that was really choppy, yet Patamon's flying animations looked as fluid as usual just a few seconds later. Are they trying to save all their budget for the last movie? Come on guys, this isn't “The Scuffle of Legends” for crying out loud. The animation was at least good where it was supposed to be, especially towards the end (the scene where the ground was falling apart were super quick and fluid? I'm not sure if it was just me, but it stuck out to me as looking really well-animated and flowing compared to the rest of the film).

There's sadly not much fighting to talk about animation-wise either. It looks good when it happens--I personally thought watching Alphamon and Jesmon duke it out was awesome. The Digimon from the DigiDestined, other than Tai and Matt who manage to bring together Omegamon, sadly don't get to do much. But hey, the animators learned to put all of the Digivolution animations together in one shot instead of making us watch ten minutes of Digivolution animations! I mean, I love watching them and all, but sometimes you have to cut to the chase, and this was one of those cases. I just found it funny that the one Ultimate Digivolution we hadn't seen, WereGarurumon, gets boxed. But I was sad to see MetalGarurumon's boxed. I mean, his pose and everything looked awesome so I would have really liked to see it in full! Hopefully, we'll get to see it in full in the next film. I mean, come on! I demand to see my metal puppy with some shiny awesome Digivolution animation! Omegamon also got a... sort of Digivolution animation, but it still looked neat! I just wish it was even flashier since, you know, this is a Mega/Ultra level Jogress Digivolution. It deserves to be insanely flashy!

I know I've been saying "towards the end" a lot in these thoughts so far, but... that’s because, sadly, you don’t really need to watch the first three episodes except for like, some exposition about Meicoomon. You know what the rest is? Meiko wondering and whining and mulling over what to do with Meicoomon. Over. And over. And over. If you weren't tired of it the last couple of movies, you will be absolutely sick of it by the end of “Coexistence”. I cannot stress how I tried so hard to give Meiko a chance. I tried to look at things from a sympathetic viewpoint. So many times, I was ready to just give up on her character, but I came into this movie thinking, "Okay, I'm going to try one more time. This might be where Meiko gets interesting. Maybe after all of this 'development', it will actually pay off into something really great."

That didn't happen. We got the same kind of thing with Meiko as we did with the rest of tri. The self-doubt, the crying, the blush stickers, the "Why was I chosen!?" subplot which was already done so much better with Joe, the pity party, attempting to take responsibility for things only to rinse and repeat everything I just mentioned--anything you have seen of Meiko in the last four movies of tri, you will see here (except maybe blatant fanservice) but it is done for three full episodes. It was tiring, it was frustrating, and I just wanted to see the movie focus on something besides Meiko for five minutes. I mean, we get some nice bits with the DigiDestined like them reaching out to their parents as they're unable to go home--but of course, most of these are silent and the one that gets the most attention is Meiko's.

I hate to go on and on and on about Meiko as much as I am, as I understand some people like her. However, I wouldn't be going on as much about Meiko as I am if tri wasn't focusing on her so much in the first place. My biggest issue with all of this focus on Meiko is that these attempts to "develop" her and make her more likable are far too little, too late. These are things that we should have been seeing in “Determination” and “Confession” for us to understand and connect with Meiko as a character. Instead, they wasted time with her being unrealistically socially awkward and fanservice-y, and then being outright whiny and insufferable in “Confession”. And the writers expect us, more than half-way into this series, to truly invest in her and care. This might have been doable at this point if it was in small increments with balance with the rest of the DigiDestined rather than focusing so hard on her because the writers realized they were running out of time, but that's not what they did.

There were things they could have done to make her more likable and human throughout this series. There was the potential of her father being an abusive asshole father to at least explain how shy and scared and shut-in she was, except he... wasn't really that terrible. He was just a workaholic who asked Meiko to let Meicoomon be experimented on, and... that was about it. Suddenly he started caring about her in this film like he woke up one morning and said "Oh shit, I'm a bad father." It was more like a parody of the asshole dad than an actual use of the trope, with little execution applied. There's also this tick Meiko has of having a Tottori accent, which was only used a record time of once in “Determination” to show she had this quirk and for the cast to giggle about. Suddenly, after a phone call with her father and crying about Meicoomon again, Meiko starts speaking with this accent, likely forgetting her habit of speaking so formally around everyone. This is honestly a minor thing, but it did give more flavor to her character and had she grown more comfortable to use it more often around the DigiDestined cast, I would find her character to be more believable. She just shifts around from being uptight and formal to suddenly open and willing to cry her whole heart out to them. There's no gradual development. What was also weird to me is that, with all of flashbacks Meiko had, we don't really hear her using this accent she supposedly has in her childhood (at least as far as I could tell?), so yeah... we also have inconsistency issues! Yay!

I also simply cannot bring myself to like Meicoomon either. I get it, I'm supposed to sympathize for this poor Digimon who was basically born as an outcast and technically did nothing wrong. But... She barely has a personality other than "Mei! Mei! Mei!" and how am I supposed to care about a Digimon who serves as nothing more than a plot device and flipflops from being a cutesy kitty to a devastating killing machine? This was something Digital Monster X-Evolution did infinitely better with Dorumon. Now, we do at least finally get an explanation as to why Meicoomon freaks out so much without Meiko and why she's so uncontrollable in the first place. And... it's one of the dumbest asspulls this series has had.

Meicoomon was basically born from a fragment of Apocalymon's data. I've seen some people point out some things foreshadowing this, but they're super filmsy to me and nowhere near convincing enough for me to really follow as something the writers really thought through. It feels like some lazy excuse the writers came up with to try to connect Meiko and Meicoomon back to the original Adventure series in some way, when really it just makes their whole existence feel all the more hamfisted. I've tried to avoid the "blatant self-insert Mary Sue OC" label with Meiko as much as I could with how overused it's been applied to her by so many people who watch tri, but if anything made her fall under this label, it would be this. She has a Digimon formed from a fragment of the original Big Bad's data? Seriously? Let that sink in. Did that really sound like a good idea on paper to someone? If that's not enough, this is literally recycling the plot of Ryo and Monodramon from the Tamer games on the Wonderswan, where Monodramon Jogress Digivolved with the Big Bad Millenniummon and ultimately became his partner after being reborn, which led to the Ryo we know with his berserk Cyberdramon from Digimon Tamers. Hell, Battle of Adventurers did the whole "leftover fragment of Apocalymon" thing a lot better. It's just shameful how lazy this whole thing is put together when the writers have been building up the plot for, what, five movies over the course of three years? I guess this also explains how Meicoomon was the special snowflake who wasn't affected by the Reboot at all, but... whatever. I barely even care at this point. Meicoomon and Meiko are special snowflakes and that's just how the writers are going to treat them.

What makes this special treatment of Meiko all the more frustrating is when you look at the DigiDestined constantly comforting her and acting like she's been with them for years, saying things like "We're with you because we're all DigiDestined!" and were even willing to depart from their own moral compasses (referring to Tai's willingness to kill Meicoomon as Meiko wishes when he just said in the previous episode that he didn't want to kill a friend) when... they're completely ignoring the Adventure 02 cast. I get it, some people are tired about people questioning where they are, but when the writers have been waving teases at the audience like showing them being "killed off" in the beginning, Gennai taking on the Digimon Kaiser disguise, Kari and T.K. being concerned for their whereabouts a record one time and bringing back the freaking Dark Ocean (because, you know, that went so well in Adventure 02!), you have to question the cast's lack of concern. Adventure 02 has not been de-canonized, or these little things wouldn't exist. So I hate how the Adventure cast is constantly catering towards Meiko's needs when they've maybe known her for a couple of months at best, but don't even show a wink of concern for the Adventure 02 cast who they have probably known for years (I imagine they kept some contact over time) and both T.K. and Kari went through a whole series of adventures with them. It really does make it feel like the cast are written in a sort of bad self-insert fanfic whenever Meiko has any sort of presence as if the world revolves around her.

Once again, I get that a lot of my problems surround Meiko and Meicoomon, but the problem with this movie is how freaking heavily it focuses on them. A lot of this movie before the last episode is simple padding like the cast trying to get back to the real world, telling ghost stories and having other cutesy moments. I didn't hate all of these, but when we're getting so close to the end... I want this time being spent on the writers finally tying up loose ends. There's one movie left, and yet here they are continuing to add even more questions to the plot and not enough answers and then otherwise wasting time with things that do not answer these issues. I am not against filler--I was fine with most of “Determination”'s because it was the beginning of the series, things were still rolling in, and there were still increments of development happening here and there (Mimi's narcissism and Joe's questioning of his identity as a DigiDestined). But this late in the series, it's time to cut that down and focus on ending the story. Instead, “Coexistence” does a whole lot of nothing with terrible pacing issues, retreading on things we already know/are tired of hearing about, and just adding more instead of answering more. The writers have dug themselves in a big hole and bit off more than they could chew, and it is the most apparent in this movie.

So I must hate this movie then, right? Actually, no. Even though I think three of the four episodes are tough to sit through, with only cute moments to salvage them, the fourth episode was good and finally gave me what I was hoping for in this movie.

Because it's a minor thing, yes, Himekawa had some of her insanity breakdown. Not as much as I wanted, but I still ate up the nonsense she was saying and... she got a gun out of nowhere? What? When? How? I don't know, but it's hilarious. I swear, she's ready to kill someone who speaks a word to her. What's even weirder is that the guns she has changes between scenes. One moment, she as a BFG or some sort of grenade launcher, the next she had a handgun. What, did she find some Weapon Shop in a village somewhere? I have no idea where she's going or what she's going to do since she ended up in the Dark Ocean, but I hope if she shows up, she's just off the walls laughing like a maniac bonkers when we see her next. Insane Himekawa is the best Himekawa.

We also get a little bit of the OG!DigiDestined, like a shot with Nishijima's partner Bearmon. Dawwwwww!

But the best parts are when this movie finally decides to get to the focus I was personally waiting for in this movie--Kari Kamiya. While unfortunately it got nowhere near as much focus as I wanted (because apparently a certain other character really needed it more for some reason...), what we got was damn good. I love that Kari, with all of the times she's been possessed by Homeostasis, finally stood up to a fucking deity of worlds. She wasn't taking any of that shit, and she stood up for it. And I love that if tri has done anything, it's given Kari far more character than Adventure or Adventure 02 ever did. While she isn't forceful or rude, she does not take shit when people spew things she can't possibly bring herself to agree with. She has a firm ground, and she's willing to stand on it. Much like the scene where she talked some sense into Joe in "Determination", it was damn good to see.

And then there was her breakdown. Man, what a breakdown. While we all know Tai isn't really dead (if the Adventure 02 epilogue doesn't count to you, he's on the freaking poster of the next tri movie--he's not dead guys), there was no better way to break her. We've seen that Tai and Kari are close like in some bits of the Dark Masters arc in the original Digimon Adventure, so what else could they take from her but what's most important to her? And the way she just breaks is incredible to watch. Dead silence. Disbelief. Broken sentences. She is in such despair of Tai being gone that she just wants the rest of the world gone. While I wish Gatomon had been a little more involved, with the Dark Digivolution just sort of... happening, it was still a damn good lead-up. But man, is it a terrifying one.

While my personal favorite Dark Digivolution moments still go to Takato and Guilmon and Marcus and his Agumon, Gatomon to Ophanimon Falldown Mode and then Jogress Digivolving with Raguelmon to... whatever terrifying Evangelion experiment they combined into, was just horrifying, down to the body horror. It gives the whole "Coexistence" title double meaning (along with the whole coexistence of the Real and Digital Worlds), and just... seriously, look at that thing! If that's not a destroyer of worlds, I don't know what is! And it's basically a living embodiment of Kari's will and feelings after seeing her dear brother "die" before her eyes. Even after this whole thing happens, she's just a living shell just sitting there. You can really see just how broken she is after that.

While I still want to see more of Kari breaking, like how she'll deal with this whole situation and cope with her brother's "death" until he returns, it was still just good to see her develop in some way. And I will say, yeah, the cliffhanger is pretty dirty when the whole movie felt like a set-up for the last one while still doing a lot of nothing until the end. "Confession"'s cliffhanger, while absolutely painful, still felt more genuine than "Coexistence"'s just being there for the sake of set-up. And I think part of the reason it's so frustrating is because that... again, this movie didn't do a lot, so leaving it at that just when it was starting to finally get moving is aggravating.

This is still easily the weakest entry in the Digimon Adventure tri series though. And while it was frustrating at many moments, I would still call it... okay. I think it could have been even worse. The last episode did make it worth a watch, but the rest did make me want to bash my head into a wall at times. At this point, there's no way tri will be able to possibly tie all of its loose ends in a satisfying way. Hell, we may never even get an answer for things like the Digimon's memories or the Adventure 02 cast (though I certainly hope we do). But there is some good set-up here... So if we can at least get some answers, some awesome fights, and good character development and interaction, I am going to look forward to seeing Our Future, though with some optimistic skepticism. Here's hoping, to what little tri has left and how much going against it... that it pleasantly surprises us somehow.

#Shut Up JJ #Final Thoughts #Digimon Adventure tri #Digimon Adventure tri spoilers

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nigeiadigitalmarketingcompany · 6 years ago

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Financial Times Goes Wobbly on Brexit No Deal Impact

Digital Elixir Financial Times Goes Wobbly on Brexit No Deal Impact

The Financial Times has done a lot of important reporting on Brexit, such as being early to warn of the utter lack of customs IT systems preparedness (Customs was almost certain to be getting an inadequate upgrade planned before Brexit in place late) and on the number of agreements the UK would need to renegotiate. But it would also run the occasional too-obviously-planted story, such as ones that took the City’s demands way too seriously.

Today the Financial Times published a supposedly important story (a “Big Read”) on the impact of a Brexit crashout that was stunningly uninformative. Any two posts on Richard North’s blog would be more educational.

It may be that the authors were trying to say something new and the piece didn’t come together well by deadline. But it gives the impression that the analysis, such as it is, was poorly framed so as to make the impact seem less bad and to give near-equal play to harm suffered by the EU.

Having said that, it does have an important chart near the top:

But then it breathlessly promises to tell readers where “the biggest impacts” from a crash out might be, and comes up with an apples and stinky fruit set of categories:

Data flows Financial services Customs Transport Fisheries

Huh? These aren’t commensurable.

Two, financial services and transport, are industry sectors, so for instance, transport includes airlines, Eurostar, and truckers. Fisheries is just one industry. The impact of data flows and customs cuts across many industries, and this short article does not do a great job of parsing that out. By contrast, Richard North has done many deep dives on how the imposition of a hard border between the EU and UK will affect documentation requirements, compliance, and other controls. For instance, North anticipates that a hard Brexit would wipe out the UK live animal shipment business. Herds would be slaughtered because animals once destined for export could not be sold due to the double whammy of tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers, meaning no longer being in compliance with EU regs by virtue of being outside the EU (and not having replacement mechanisms in place). On top of that, North anticipates that these farmers won’t even be able to sell in the UK after they’ve thinned their herds. The UK will almost certainly eliminate tariffs on food imports, which would make these farmers uncompetitive.

The piece reaches conclusions for each item, in order:

VERDICT: Both the UK and the EU face equal damage.

VERDICT: A key part of UK economy faces significant disruption.

VERDICT: The UK is likely to be disproportionately hit by disruption.

VERDICT: Both sides will face temporary disruption.

VERDICT: EU stands to lose more than UK.

It looks like the list was constructed to create the impression that the two sides would suffer similar levels of damage, while conceding the UK will take the worse hit. But come on. The EU is not going to have to worry about food shortages. The EU is not going to have to worry about manufacturers that are party of global supply chains see their non-UK-end-market business stripped from them over time. And US and EU firms will try to take advantage of the hit to the City. Even if UK firms hold their own, the cost will still be loss of UK-based activity.

The section on data flows is so vague on what the practical impact on particular businesses would be so as to make the problem sound trumped up, particularly since Silicon Valley ignores rules and boundaries until a big regulator tries to hit key players between the eyes with a two by four….which usually turns out to be more like a ruler. No one has been willing to impose fines big enough to make the law-breakers scream “uncle”.

Maybe Clive can translate but despite the apparent illegality of post-crashout data transfers, I don’t see a mechanism by which the officialdom readily finds out about misconduct, much the less intervenes. And it appears the issue is personal data privacy. Can’t firms get waivers from customers?

Specifically:

Vast volumes of personal digital data from EU and UK citizens are transferred by businesses and public sector bodies across the English Channel every day.

Under no-deal, the legality of these data flows will be under question, having an impact on businesses including tech groups, healthcare companies or any services that deal with EU customers.

The disruption to data flows would be a significant barrier to trade and in the worst cases could force British companies to halt their European operations.

A system of contractual clauses offered by Brussels, allowing non-EU companies to carry out data transfers in compliance with European law, could offer a fallback….small and-medium sized enterprises have little awareness of what a hard Brexit means for them and the contingencies available.

In the longer term, the UK says it wants to sign an agreement on data-flows with the EU that would effectively treat Britain as if it was still a member state….but Brussels officials have warned it could take “years” for it to be concluded.

In practice, one would assume that government-related data transfers would be held up unless it suited the EU to give interim relief. Elsewhere, query how the EU would find the point of entry to intervene.

Other parts have me again scratching my head. For instance, the comparatively cheery section on transport ignore draft EU ownership rules that could give some important UK carriers real grief. From AirlineGeeks in February:

The measured proposed by EU officials in a draft law, involves European carriers requiring at least 50 pecent EU ownership and control in order to obtain or maintain full flying rights across the continent. This presents additional challenges for some of the region’s most important airline groups to maintain operations within the EU bloc and will potentially require the forced sale of UK and non-EU owned shares from some operators to meet legislative measures.

EasyJet, on one hand, has been preparing for such scenario, by increasing EU ownership on UK registered EasyJet plc, which owns EasyJet’s subsidiaries in Austria and Switzerland to meet European Union requirements on ownership and control. Up to now, 47 percent of EasyJet plc shares have already been transferred to European owners.

On the other hand, under its current ownership structure, only 25 percent of IAG’s shareholders are from within the European Union, which is causing concerns amongst EU officials.

The parent company of British Airways and Iberia, presented a contingency plan late last year in case of a non-deal Brexit; which would involve individual airlines being domestically owned through trusts and companies in order to maintain operating rights in both the UK and the EU. Yet, this move has been questioned by authorities as it would maintain IAG’s headquarters in London, with Iberia, Vueling and Level being based in Spain; raising further questions about the group’s ownership structure post-Brexit.

To allow airlines time to find a way around this, EU officials have proposed a seven-month grace period for airlines to present a plan that complies with EU ownership legislation.

Some of this may have been resolved but if so, the press has been slow on updates.

And this bit is maddening:

UK truckers — the lifeblood of goods trade with the EU — will be granted temporary haulage rights to ensure “basic connectivity” to help minimise disruption and queues at ports like Calais. The measures will stay in place until the end of 2019 but restrict UK lorries to limited deliveries in the EU.

This completely misses the point that UK truckers do round trips into the EU carrying loads both ways. “Limited deliveries” will wreck their routes and their economics. And what will fill in? Plus “to the end of 2019” is hardly any time.

You get the picture.

Is the pink paper punting on tough Brexit talk? Its comment section has a surprisingly high representation of Brexit cheerleaders given its presumably high London/finance industry readership. Or was it just having a bad day?

Financial Times Goes Wobbly on Brexit No Deal Impact

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hannahallcrofthicks · 4 years ago

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FAS3001 resubmission blog only:

Beginning this module I was tasked with creating a look book, this is very important as even though I want to become a fashion designer, I should understand and have experience with trend forecasting and presentation.

What is a trend and what jobs are related?

A trend is a subject that is changing and developing into a direction (forward).

The role of a trend forecaster: Identifying and predicting trends and how they can change a certain industry along with analysing and collection of consumer data (purchases, searches and reviews). They use this for marketing purposes along with recommendations within the industry.

I have used the trend forecasting platform WGSN to pick a trend for my look book, my choice was Connected -Peak Performance-S/S 2022 womenswear. -Joining future technologies and past insights to create a united and more intelligent world.-

I decided to choose this concept as the pandemic is still a massive problem and the fact that people are fearing for their lives because of this, we are all effected and all have the same fear and responsibility to protect yourself and those around you. I want to look into the design and function of fashion to see if there is anything I can create or share that can help the prevention/protection from the virus.

Peak performance is the trend I will be focusing on, the concept is centred around the aftermath of the pandemic and the need for performance and protection. This would mean that lightweight silhouettes would be ideal with detachable accessories and full body protection will be integrated. Antimicrobial and thermoregulating fashion along with sustainability is also to be considered when thinking about protection. These are essential as we are in the middle of a pandemic, a deadly one. We need this protection, you need this protection.

My choice of colours that I will be mainly representing in this look book will be: Fiery orange, pink amethyst, black, turquoise tonic and rabbits paw brown. My reasons for choosing these colours is to represent the danger of this pandemic. The turquoise is to hint towards the hospitals that people have to check into because of the virus, the orange is to enhance the sense of danger that lingers in the air and the brown and black represents the death that has been spreading across the world. But the pink is there as a buffer to create a soothing and relaxing elemeent.

My choice of fabrics: PCM (phase-change material) would be really good to use as it allows the fabric to become thermo-regulating creating thermal energy storage and allowing the wearer to be comfortable in different environments. Dyeing fabrics can be done with bacteria, Faber Futures are developing a way in which bacteria (like streptomyces coelicolor) can be directly applied to the fabric reducing the amount of water needed (proven to reduce water use by 500x than with normal dyeing processes) and no chemicals are used. Mycelium textiles are also very good to be looking into, Aniela Haitink (founder of NEFFA) has developed a fabric that is grown from mycelia (roots of mushrooms). This not only skips the need for spinning yarn, weaving and cutting patterns which reduces waste, but, reduces waste of resources like water, land and transport. These fabrics don’t need to be thrown out either, all you need to do is just bury it and it decomposes. There is also insulation properties to this fabric along with being fire resistant and naturally anti-microbial and it’s even lightweight!

Juun j -fall /winter 2020. The use of leather and full body protection definitely influenced me with my designs and how I wanted integrated accessories like a face mask or gloves. The models almost look like martial arts masters and it made my mind think of protection and defensive qualities of clothes and how the body moves, making me consider 4-way stretch fabrics.

SWOTO- Mercedes-Benz fashion week. Protection and camouflage plays a big role in the designs within this show, motorcycle suits and jumpsuits look like that have been combined and it was an interesting concept to me. I also love the ‘stormtrooper’ type look that has been presented and I felt that it could be a very good way to incorporate lightweight frame with heavy duty protection.

Christopher raeburn - turning waste into fashion Raeburn produced a line of protective style clothing made from recycled materials and using that to help the advertisement of the products. Not only does the concept overlap with mine but the colours pallet also does, the collaborations with Timberland also made an impression on me. I thought the craftsmanship and aesthetic of this designers products are breathtaking and I was very influenced by him. However, I wanted a more feminine look so with my designs and look book I wanted a skintight yet defensive sort of vibe.

Sustainability: steps taken to try and avoid the depletion of natural resources and to maintain environmental balance for not only our generations but for the future as-well so they have the same opportunities and resources that we have. The three principles of sustainability are the economy (profit), society (people) and the environment (planet). However, interest in sustainable fashion is not as high as it needs to be. People opt for fast fashion and don’t really consider the lifespan or the environmental impact of these products. Manufacturers need to be ensuring that all parts of the production chain are in acceptable and fair working conditions, efforts need to be made to put a stop to sweatshops and unfair treatment of the workers. But this raises prices, and people aren’t quite ready to swap the cheap fast fashion with the more expensive sustainable fashion, even if the lifespan of the products last far longer. Social advertising could also be a way of improving sustainability by not using billboard advertisements or newspaper/magazine advertising. Recycled packaging should also be used as it can be recycled again and again eliminating the need for more unnecessary pollution.

Circular design is also a good way to help ensure that designs are as sustainable as they can be. There are four processes that go into circular design, Understanding: we must understand not only the consumer and their needs and wants but also the needs of the environment. Define: we need to define our wants and needs. What the designer wants and needs for the design, what the consumer wants and needs and the economical and environmental needs, we need to see what we can trade in and out in wants and needs to create the most sustainable product. Make: Ideas, designs and prototypes will be created in this section so that the designer can alter and change the product. And finally release: the product is released and this is where customer and business relationships can be built.

Evaluation: my look book is not the best, I wasn’t able to use InDesign which is a shame but I left it too late and realised that I couldn’t actually use it as the device I was supposed to use didn’t have a creative cloud downloaded and no room to download anything else anyway, however, this is now irrelevant. I messed up and left it too late but that’s what mental health can do. I try to push at the best work as I possibly can but I feel like my downfall is my mind, and this pandemic certainly doesn’t help. I chose to go the direction I did because I want us to be free, I want us to be able to use the amazing technologies and discoveries with one of the first things you see when you wake up, fashion. I want you all to know I tried, really hard with this project. I combined my own designs with other designers work that compliments mine. I wanted the pages of my look book to be what you’d imagine a post apocalyptic world to look like. The way that the women are posed and even what they’re wearing, however, I feel like I should have limited the amount of colours I used as I feel like there may be one too many colours being used and the continuity is muddied a little. I also neglected to add emotive text!There may not be many pages but I hope that the quality can outweigh the quantity.

I felt like my idea of a post-pandemic apocalypse would be a fun way of showing how people created mass panic thinking the world was going to end, ever since the year 2000 there has been groups of people saying the world would end in various ways.

The ‘Y2K bug’ caused mass panic when people thought that computers from around the globe would malfunction and fail and cause the end for the population. 2001 had been predicted to end because of The war in Armageddon, a huge battle in Israel. 2003 was thought to be the end when Earth would supposedly crash into Planet X! 2006 held a fear of nuclear war that would end us all. 2008 there were concerns over the Large Hadron Collider would create a black hole which would destroy the world. 2014 was predicted to be the start of World War III, 2015 was said to host a particularly bad solar flare that would melt through our ozone and leave us with horrible consequences. 2020 caused mass panic when the corona virus was thought to mutate people into zombie like creatures along with a second prediction of World War III being instigated by Donald Trump. I wanted to showcase what it would have looked like had the 2020 doomsday prediction come true.

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twosecondstreet · 7 years ago

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Marriott has a newish hotel brand called Moxy. It’s essentially a budget chain aimed at millennials, boasts fantastic internet connections, a bar with craft cocktails, and so many random decorations all over the place you’d think an Instagram feed exploded in the lobby. I’ve been lucky enough to visit the only two Japanese locations, in Honmachi in Osaka and in Kinshicho, Tokyo.

Moxy Osaka

I spent a good week here, seeing Osaka and Kyoto during my visit.

The location is decent: It’s in a business district but it’s very centrally located in Osaka. You can walk to a variety of great restaurants and craft beer bars, and the large Osaka station is only a 5-minute train ride from the local station.

The lobby is incredible: The second floor is open and it makes the space feel massive. You can see all sorts of kooky decorations and areas that were meant to be photographed and shared on Instagram or Snapchat with your friends. It has this quirky personality going for it and that carries into the rooms. You see framed photos of local destinations in black and white, hooks galore that hang an extra chair and table, bright pink soap dispensers and blow drier, subway tiling in the bathroom, and a rollicking video of hotel staff showing off the hotel on the TV.

Typical room door.

The beds are cozy enough, but like most hotels in Japan, the comforter is super heavy, so if it’s a hotter time of year, it can be a bit frustrating to deal with. A double-edged sword addition is the motion-sensitive light at the foot of the bed. If you get up in the middle of the night, a light under the foot of the bed lights up and help guides your way. It’s a cool idea, but sometimes, I found myself blinded as my wife got up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. Even the dimmest of lights can seem overwhelming when it’s pitch-black.

The bar had a nice mix of drinks for you: sochu, beer, wine, and cocktails. If you’re a Silver member in the Marriott Rewards system, you get a free drink for each guest, which is super nice. They also have a super good deal for happy hour: Two for one drinks, which I have not heard of at any bar here in Japan. We each tried a few, and for the most part, they pack a nice punch. Be wary of the Silent Killer. If lime, Pepsi, and Kahlua sounds like an unpleasant combination, that’s because it is. I had to sit through two of them as well, much to my displeasure. All the other drinks are great, though! Sit on the 1.5 floor counter and watch the intrigued citizens of Osaka walk by and peek at the menu posted outside. Even if you don’t stay here, I recommend heading over for the happy hour!

The internet here was just as amazing as they said it would be. I never had a connection problem and it seemed like I got full strength no matter where I was. We didn’t try any of the hotel’s food while there as we opted for super cheap eats most of our meals there. They do have a ramen bar where you can get your noodles and pick your toppings. The lunch specials are also a great bargain: from 600-900 yen for a set. Their signature flatbreads looked delicious as well!

Overall, I really enjoyed staying here. It was quiet, comfortable, and a good price (if you book in advance).

Moxy Tokyo

So, I only got to stay here one night, full disclosure. It wasn’t a full week of exploration and investigation like I was able to do at the Osaka branch. This will change my experience and my perceptions of the hotel. I’m only human.

A few things you should know immediately.

Kinshicho, the neighborhood hosting Moxy Tokyo, has a bad reputation among the Japanese. Why? Foreigners. The area has a very noticeable amount of European hostess clubs, as well as businesses with aggressive barkers who are very not Japanese in appearance or demeanor. There seems to be a lot of sex-based businesses going on here, which doesn’t project the most positive of images in most cultures. The Moxy is right across the street from two such clubs and just up the street from a very flamboyant love hotel (Hotel Sara, for the curious). If this bothers you, you might want to stay elsewhere.

That being said, Kinshicho is a really fantastic location in Tokyo. You’re minutes away from Akihabara, Asakusa, and Tokyo Skytree. In addition, because of the strong foreign influence, you get a lot of good international food. The last remaining Romanian restaurant in the country is here, along with Indian and Russian cuisine. I can’t emphasize enough about the Romanian restaurant; the owner seems pessimistic about the future, but his food is amazing! Try and get it if you can while he’s open.

Smiling right now. Thanks for the reminder, pillow!

You have to step up in the Tokyo showers!

As for the hotel itself, it’s much smaller. So much smaller. The lobby is small, but they do a good job with the space to make it feel more open. The rooms themselves are also smaller but I chalk that up to the insane price per square meter Tokyo wrings out of its land. Can’t blame them too much for wanting to be economical. The window in our room was better here, but everything else was pretty much the same. I had a lot of problems connecting to the internet at this location as well. So much for that blazing-fast internet.

The bar was unchanged. Still didn’t try any of the food, sadly.

They also employed more foreign staff at this location, which was nice to see. The English ability was much better, overall, if that’s something you need. The decor was a bit whackier at this location. I got a chuckle from the lobby bathroom signs, but the stuffed animal wall and a few other details didn’t do it for me. I did really like the old CRTVs with the classic Famicoms set up on them. Does that make this lobby bar technically a video game bar? They did have a reasonable selection of classic games to play.

The hotel did have a nice feel, but I think I had such a nice and relaxing time at the Osaka branch that the experiences don’t line up. The Tokyo branch is fine, but I feel the objectively nicer of the two is in Osaka. It’s bigger, the rooms are more spacious, the lobby is better decorated, and the location feels a bit nicer.

And there you have it! Feel like visiting a Moxy? Have you been to one before? Let me know which one and what you thought of it in the comments below. I’d love to hear your impressions of the new chain.

Moxy Hotels: Osaka and Tokyo Marriott has a newish hotel brand called Moxy. It's essentially a budget chain aimed at millennials, boasts fantastic internet connections, a bar with craft cocktails, and so many random decorations all over the place you'd think an Instagram feed exploded in the lobby.

#atthemoxy #Honmachi Osaka #hotel review #Japan travel #Kinshicho #Kinshicho Tokyo #Marriott #Moxy #Moxy hotel #Osaka #Tokyo #Tokyo travel #Travel #travel writing #Two Second Street

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