#aND ITS A SMALL PRINT SHOP AND THE COMPANY WERE VERY TRANSPARENT WITH ME!!!

[seth-suffers]

I DID GOOD ON THE INTERVIEW

[asphalt-cocktail]

Lead Us To Temptation- Chapter 3

Chapter 3- Hell Hath No Fury

Summary: In the small town of Eden Ridge, you knew several things to be true: church happened every Sunday, the saloon served free lunch with the purchase of a drink on Thursdays, coal miners left work at 7PM sharp, and Bucky Barnes was a man sent from the depths of hell dangling the threat of temptation and sin right in front of your face. All you need to do is reach out and grab it.

Pairing: Outlaw!Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Fluff, Talks of crime, robbery, crime for hire, talks of violence and guns, kidnapping, talks of past smut, less religion than the previous chapters but its still there. Bucky is a criminal in this so idk what to tell you if you are shocked by the crime. There isn't any gore and nothing is described in graphic detail. Don't worry reader is a badass this is a love story with a happy ending.

Word Count: 2.9k

A/N: I just want to pop in and say how grateful I am for all of the lovely comments, reblogs, tags, and likes I have been getting over the last few weeks! You guys are the ones who keep me writing. I am not doing a tag list, but you can feel free to turn my notifications to get one every time I post a new chapter <3

Masterlist

Read me on AO3

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

Staying in Eden Ridge was probably the longest Bucky had managed to stay in a town and not do something to get run out or have another wanted poster with his face printed on it and slapped on every shop bulletin. 

It was making the boys antsy. They could only hold up so many stagecoaches carrying rich assholes on the outside of town before they got too bored. 

“When are we going to hit the bank Buck? We’ve been here so long the damn seasons have changed.” John’s voice had the uncanny ability of springing a sudden and painful migraine behind Bucky’s eyes anytime he spoke. 

Bucky pinched the bridge of his nose. John pissed him off. “We need to wait a bit before we hit the bank. The ticket seller at the train station mentioned something about a train coming in to transport coal from the mines and take it back east. I guess the coal company is sending some bonds with it because the owner made a deal with Union Pacific.” 

“So what, they’re taking the bonds to the train yard?” 

“I’m glad to see you’re using the brain in that big fucking head of yours John.” To be completely transparent, Bucky harbored a strong dislike for John. 

Their association was almost solely due to John being Steve’s cousin, and Steve’s endorsement was something Bucky didn’t have the heart to dispute. Steve saved his life on more than one occasion. They’d gone through the Civil War together, they experienced the death of both of their parents together. You couldn’t get much closer to a man than that.  

The other reason being was John’s uncanny knack for survival. Despite the dangers of their lifestyle, John seemed to evade death, Bucky reckoned it was because God sure as hell didn’t want him and well, the Devil probably didn’t either so they just left him to do his business in the land of the living until they decided what to do with him.

Bucky was aware that his disdain for John might be uncalled for considering John’s role as the enforcer in their party. John was the one they sent out to take care of the more unsavory business transactions. However, these factors didn’t compensate for the fact that he was just plain weird and unpleasant to be around.

But Bucky was having such a lovely time playing house with you so, naturally he kept his plan to rob your father's train car transporting bonds to the Union Pacific rail yard. Management needed to cash them in and finalize the deal stating they were to use the Eden Coal & Iron as their main supply source. It was a deal that would make your father a very, very rich man. 

Robbing trains was as easy as stealing candy from a baby. An old, half balding, rich, man baby. Bucky could do it in his sleep. He didn’t feel bad about robbing your father. In fact he felt kind of good stealing from that rotten son of a bitch. 

Stealing these bonds would only be scraping the surface of the vast wealth your father accumulated by exploiting the hard working people of Eden Ridge. He was as crooked as crooked could be and there was no amount of praying or church going that would save his soul from the depths of hell once he died, god willing. 

If only you knew how your father treated the hard working miners who toiled in the depths of hell for him. He squeezed 15 grueling hours of labor from them 6 days a week, their backs bowed under the weight of his insatiable greed, all while their families languished in hunger. 

He wasn't the benevolent savior of Eden Ridge, rather, he resembled a vampire, voraciously draining the life force from the Earth and the good hearted denizens of the town you called home. Once he exhausted every able bodied man here, he’d slither away to prey upon the next unsuspecting community. 

Bucky’s plan was simple: wait a day or two several towns away to intercept the train and get to work. But he had to be careful If he got too reckless with his crimes, he’d have to leave. The question loomed in the back of his mind, when he had to leave would you come with? 

When he told you he was leaving to work a job you felt sick, “What do you mean leaving?” 

He cleared his throat and licked his lips, “I need to take the boys to deal with something for a few days. I promise I’ll be back by the end of the week. Two weeks tops.” He said hugging you tight, it pained him to see you worrying so much.

“But what if you don’t come back?” The question punched him in the chest and stole his breath. 

“Now don’t go talking like that.” He scolded you, “I’ll be back I promise.” You swallowed his words like a brick of lead. 

So for seven days you did the only thing you could do and waited. You sought comfort in Sam’s sister Sarah and her friend Natasha, spending most of your free time practicing needle work, reading, and chatting with the women. Sarah was a familiar and friendly face from the local church. Tragically widowed two winters prior, she was left with the responsibility of raising two boys on her own. To your knowledge, she had embraced her brother’s motley crew of friends, offering them sanctuary with open arms.

After your second meeting with Sarah she introduced you to Natasha, the local Madame. It took everything in your power to not turn your nose up at the idea of a woman engaging in sex for money. Your pious thoughts took a back seat when you remembered you were also engaging in sinful premarital acts with a man. 

Not sex though. No. 

Every time you thought today was the day Bucky shut it down. As much of a filthy bandit he was, he was still extremely respectful towards you. He always said he wanted to wait, the moment never felt right.

——

The moon hung low in the inky black sky as Bucky and his crew of bandits moved like vultures closing in on their prey. They moved silently, night as their accomplice- the thick fog veiling their actions, the rhythmic clatter of wheels masking the sounds of struggle. No witnesses meant no loose ends, and Bucky knew it well. 

It was quick. Efficient. 

Kill everyone on the train and then set it back on course so some poor sad sack could clean up the mess left behind. 

When Bucky’s eyes laid upon the bonds, your father’s exceptionally neat handwriting looping on the paper, he grinned like a snake. Peter could easily get a few hundred for the bonds. Having such a young boyish face always made him seem more trustworthy than the other members of the gang. 

To make up for leaving you worried half to death Bucky bought you a lovely hair pin. It was copper with a small decorative flower on the end of it. “If you think all it’s going to take is a pretty hair pin to forgive you, you’re wrong.” You lied through your teeth snatching it from his dirty hands and pinning it into your prayer veil, because of course Bucky returned just in time to take you to Sunday mass and have lunch with your family afterwards. 

Since midweek, your father had been in a downright rotten mood. He’d spent the last few days late at work and when you showed up to the office to bring him dinner he was yelling at his assistant every time without fail. 

“Tell them to double the guards! Put a damn Gatling on the top of the roof! Send the Pinkertons! I don’t care what you have to do, get that money to the train yard.” 

“But sir-“

“I said figure it out god damn it!” The way he slammed his hands on his desk made you jump. 

It wasn’t often your father lost his temper, but when he did it was frightening. 

At lunch your father glared daggers at Bucky while your mother preened over him. It was nice to see things hadn’t changed during his week away committing crime. 

“James, dear, you should work for the mining company!” Your mother kindly suggested, “My husband is always looking for strong young men such as yourself.” 

It took every fiber of his being to not scoff at the thought of selling his soul to the company, “I rather like the ranch work I’ve been doing for Miss Wilson, but thank you ma’am. If I have a change of heart you’ll be the first to know.” 

On the record Bucky was a ranch hand for Sam’s sister, sure he helped out here and there for the woman but he wasn't getting paid for it, your family didn’t need to know that. 

“We have some friends that are ranchers down in Texas, let us know if you ever venture down there and I’ll send a telegram to them for you.” Your mother was a bonafide socialite. She knew people of all walks of life and thrived on making connections for people, “Your horse is trained so well, they could use someone with your talent.” 

“Alpine?” Bucky grinned thinking of his beautiful white mare, she was almost as stubborn as you are, “I have to say she’s probably my second favorite girl.” 

Your father hated seeing Bucky around the house. He hated how Bucky was always a perfect gentleman whenever he came around. It didn’t matter, no daughter of his was going to marry some rough neck, dirty ranch hand if he had any say in it. 

There was something just plain not right with James Barnes and your father was going to get to the bottom of it. 

As it turns out, it took very little effort to find out the history of a career criminal. This was worse than if Bucky was actually a ranch hand, not only was he a criminal, but he robbed the damn train your father used to transport the bonds not once, but twice in the span of two weeks. 

He couldn’t believe he let a man who stole from him into the safety of their home. He couldn’t believe he let a criminal court his daughter (not that he even approved of the courtship). Bucky was probably sitting in his room at the inn laughing and counting the dollar bills that belonged to in his pocket. 

And the image of that pissed him off to no end. 

It pissed him off so much that he paid off a group of bounty hunters to finally deal rid him of the man once and for all. Bucky wasn’t going to come gracefully, but lucky for your father, Bounty hunters had loose morals and business practices much like he did. When he told Brock Rumlow "I don't care how you do it, just get rid of him!" your father didn't know he opened up a new, lawless realm of possibilities.

----

The late summer sun hung low in the sky as you quickened your pace home, the two men behind you following relentlessly, footsteps crunching on the dusty streets. You couldn’t make out their faces as they stayed just out of your line of sight but the feeling in your gut only harbored malevolence and fear. 

Your path meandered through town, twisting and turning to ensure they truly were following you.

Two turns left. Three turns right. Then a detour past the butcher.

Dread settled inside you and you quickened your pace, ragged breaths gasping as you neared the outskirts of town and broke into a full sprint as best you could, bunching your skirts in your arms so as to not trip. The buildings thinned, and the darkness deepened as you drew further and further from the bustling center of Eden. 

Further away from anyone who would hear you scream.

Rough hands grabbed you, forcing a bag over your head as you fought, kicking and screaming. Hissing and spitting like a feral cat. Their powerful builds quickly overpowered you, sitting on your legs as you thrashed trying to squirm away, clawing at the dirt and wedging it under your fingernails and covering your fine dress. Then they tied you, bound your arms and legs and threw you on the back of a horse like a sack of grain.

When the horse finally halted you were dragged off, stumbling and disoriented. The hood was yanked off and you were roughly pushed into a small, dark room. You turned finally able to make out the face of your captors who reeked of sweat and malice. He was tall and broad, skin tanned by the sun, with dark hair and eyes. He would have been handsome if this were any other circumstance.  

Your nostrils flared like an angry bull as you exhaled and spat at him in defiance while he manhandled your still fighting body, “Let go of me!” You shrieked, anger overpowering your feelings of fear. 

How dare they! How dare these filthy men put their hands on you and soil a perfectly good dress. How dare they throw you on a horse with a bag over your head and force you into this filthy damp room. Your rage bubbled over, you’d never felt this level of anger before. But the sheer callous disrespect of a lady pushed you over the edge. 

You should have been afraid, fearing for your life even. But the type of men who did this? Well they were cowards. Lower than the lowest cretin to walk the Earth. 

“Well look at you, now I know why Barnes has taken such an interest in you Missy.” The man in front of you grinned like a snake. His hand trailing your jaw, fingers lingering against your skin, “you’re a little firecracker ain’t you?” 

You turned your head to bite him, teeth snapping together as you snarled.  Ordinarily, you epitomized the quintessence of a respectable lady—devout and pious, a paragon of Catholic virtue. Yet, confronted with this dehumanizing treatment, a primal instinct awakened within. If they insisted on regarding you as a beast, then, in the eyes of the Almighty, you would unleash the ferocity of one. “Let me go.” You hissed, “You… you cretin!”    

The man shoved you roughly away, narrowly dodging your bite, “Easy there ma’am, we ain’t gonna hurt you.” For some reason you had a hard time believing him with the kidnapping, the pushing, the bag over your head, “We just need you to bring us out cash cow.” He said and slid over a wanted poster with an uncanny portrait of Bucky on it.

Oh

Now it all made sense. 

You took the poster and read the script:

WANTED CAPTURED DEAD OR ALIVE James “Bucky” Barnes  For multiple accounts of murder, theft, and fraudulent activities. Known leader of the Barnes Gang, responsible for numerous bank and train robberies across the Midwestern and Western United States. This is a dangerous individual who will not hesitate to murder.  Mid thirties, brown hair, scar on left arm. Last scene heading west towards the Eden Mountain range.  If spotted DO NOT APPROACH; contact local authorities.  Bounty of $5,000

Of course they’d take you as bait to lure a man with a $5,000 bounty and his gang of merry bandits out from hiding. Something told you that these men thought taking down Bucky would be easy. But you knew this would probably be the hardest $10k they were going to make. They’d probably die doing it! And silently you hoped they would.

A man’s head isn’t worth $5,000 because it’s easy work taking him down. It’s worth that much because he won’t hesitate to fucking kill you in the worst way possible. You didn’t know exactly what Bucky was capable of doing, but you couldn’t help the shiver that crept up your spine when your eyes landed on the big, bold DO NOT APPROACH, “I think for your sake, you should let me go.” 

Perhaps there was a touch of madness in relishing the thrill that such a perilous man inspired within you. Yet, it was the very specter of danger that ignited a fervent blaze deep in your core. To you, Bucky was a flame dancing provocatively over a pool of oil—intensely captivating and inherently volatile.

The dark haired man scoffed, “Your beau ain’t the big bad man everyone seems to think he is. Not when he’s got such an easy weakness to exploit.” 

It was true, Bucky was having the time of his life in Eden Ridge playing house with you. He was living in utter domestic bliss.   “If it’s money you want, my daddy will pay you.” You offered. You had to exhaust all your options and if these men were money hungry then your father would be more than happy to give them the $10k for your life. You didn’t know how much money he had exactly, but you knew it was a pretty penny. 

“Sweetheart, your daddy already paid us.” He mocked you. 

You blinked, brain barely able to comprehend the words he said to you. What a weird thing to say. 

Unbelievable even. 

You were going to have to dissect that at a later date when you were in a better position. 

[horribletestsubject]

Fic I just wrote based on These Two art pieces that I’ve drawn and THIS POST by @body-utensil-travels-terrain

———

You’ve spent your life being told you couldn’t. Now there’s a voice telling you that you can.

You remember it distinctly. You were fourteen at the time, just really starting to figure out what you wanted to do with your life (it certainly isn’t what society expected from you— but then, society doesn’t expect someone like you anyway, does it?) when you first heard her voice over the radio in your living room. The words she said resonated with you, the promise and ambition that she spoke with. It was almost like she was talking directly to you.

You do your research. You study hard. You tinker away at things in your garage, supplementing your studies in your own way. And five years later, after you’ve graduated, you put in your application.

A letter arrives a few weeks later, emblazoned with the circular symbol you’ve kept in your mind’s eye all this time, and bold lettering on the front— Aperture Science Innovators. It’s addressed to you. You open it, and your fingers tighten around the smooth paper— “congratulations” it says. You’ve been accepted. At the bottom is Her signature. You trace over it with your fingers. Delicately, as gently as you’d handle an irreplaceable machine part.

Two weeks later your bags are packed and you’re boarding a flight to Detroit. The attendant greets you. You hold up your boarding pass and get on. You land a few hours later. Getting a cab would be too complicated— people don’t like to take the time to read, and most can’t speak the way you do. So you walk to the train station, it’s not too far. Just an hour or two. You’ve walked further before.

Flat fields flow by endlessly as the train rattles down its tracks. You lean your head against the window, watching the hues of gold rush by, blurring on into infinity.

The sun is gone when you pull up outside a strange little town, surrounded by chain link fence. You fish through your bag for the packet you’d been sent— and pull out the temporary ID you’d been given. You show it to the gate guard. He lets you in. A man is waiting to show you your dormitory. You shake your head at his offer of a tour— you’ll explore the place yourself tomorrow. There are a few days before you’re actually needed for orientation.

The room is small and plain. A bed, desk, and dresser, and a small closet. That’s alright. You don’t need much. You hang up your few articles of clothing and tuck your shoes next to the door. The bed isn’t soft, but it isn’t hard. You fall asleep quickly, exhausted from your travels.

The next few days are spent wandering. Visiting the little shops, the stations. Peering into labs where you can. Climbing over fences (they could never keep you out) before quickly retreating as a security guard passed. You don’t want to get in trouble before your internship even begins. You wonder if you’ll see her. But you only hear her voice in announcements as you trigger motion sensors throughout the complex.

When work actually starts, it’s tedious. Getting coffee. Taking documents to the shredder and the incinerator. You don’t usually see the labs. Or, well, much of anything. It’s just a lot of running here and there, back and forth at your superiors’ beck and call. It’s tiring. But you do it— after all, you want to be here, you want to do this— and you never give up.

It’s a few months before you see her— before your internship takes you to the main complex. Now you’re checking inventory, sorting mail, sorting records (and chucking the casualty lists into the incinerator as instructed). Occasionally they’ll call you in to fix the coffee maker or the refrigerator.

You hear her voice once, muffled— she’s talking to someone, to a group it seems, just outside the room you’re in. You look over your shoulder and catch a glimpse. Rosy cheeks and bright-red lips, wavy dark hair flowing around her shoulder, a smile on her face (manufactured, you can tell with just this glance that she’s concealing so very much), a bright red scarf tied around her neck.

Your eyes lock for just a second, and the corner of her mouth creases, dimpling her cheeks. Your heart races— that, that was a hint of a true smile. Warmth flushes your own cheeks and you tear your gaze away. Suddenly shy— much shyer than you’ve ever been before.

It doesn’t make sense to you. Not yet. Not until you start seeing her more. Not until her smiles become more frequent and pointed. Not until her gaze lingers on you a little longer than before each time. The fluttery feeling doesn’t go away— and you’re determined more than ever to reach her.

Of course, it happens sooner and easier than you think. She starts requesting you specifically to bring her her coffee. You take a red pen and draw a little smiley face next to her name before giving it to her. When you come up to her office, there’s a sticky note left on the monitor, in that oh-so-hard to read yet absolutely beautiful cursive of hers. At the end of it is a smiley face, so much more elegant and less childish than yours. You keep the note. On her next cup, you add a heart to the dot of the ‘i’ in her name. You start responding to her notes with little notes of your own, your rounded, sometimes scratchy handwriting a stark contrast.

The notes are never there when you get back. You like to think she kept them. You’re pretty sure she did.

A year after you arrive, your internship is over, and you’re up for a promotion— junior mechanic. Probably still more of the same, but you’ll be getting a salary now (not that you really have any use for it since Aperture provides your housing) and you’ll have a permanent place. But you’ll see her less. You’ll miss that, of course— but you’re finally moving beyond your station, moving up in the company.

The day before your internship ends, you get another note. “Wanna get coffee together tomorrow?” Your heart leaps. You scribble out your answer just beneath her writing.

You’re sitting across from her at the cafe table. The cafe serves the same stuff as the cafeteria, but it’s decorated more quaintly, and always costs more for some reason. Maybe because there’s sunlight coming through the windows.

“So, headed up the ladder,” she begins after the two of you sip your drinks (well, she sips her drink, you’re too caught up in the crimson of her lips). “I guess I won’t be seeing as much of you now.”

There’s something behind her cheery voice, a sadness that you’ve caught glimpses of before, a wistfulness deeper than her words. You look up, catching her gaze for a moment and nod in response.

“Well, this is nice. Maybe we should do this more often. Once a week, at least? Or you could come over to my place. We could spend time together. As friends, or something.” With that, she gives you a wink. Your cheeks flush bright red.

You catch the implication right away. Your hero, your inspiration— and now here you are sitting across from her at a cafe while she all but outright asks you out.

You thought you’d be excited for things to grow beyond the notes and the gestures. But you feel different than that. After the initial jolt, the initial flutter, you look back over at her and you see the chasm yawning out between the two of you. The mountain she’s perched on, the valley you’re standing in. Your scratchy print against her elegant cursive, your short, bitten nails against her sharp manicure, your messy ponytail against her shiny waves. You look down at your simple intern’s badge, then over at her emblazoned one. She doesn’t even have a title listed— everyone knows who she is.

You’re miles apart, even if you might have seemed to be closer.

You stand up, your throat knotting up as you shake your head. You can’t look at her now, but you can practically feel the disappointment in her face as she murmurs “oh.” You want to explain but you can’t, your thoughts racing a mile a minute. The last thing you want is to turn Her, your idol, the one who makes your heart flutter, the reason you came here in the first place, down.

But you can’t do this now. Not yet. Not until you’ve reached the top of the mountain. Not until you’re close enough for her to reach out her hand and pull you the rest of the way up.

“Let me know if you change your mind,” she says.

You pause, halfway to the door. You turn back just enough so that you can glimpse her, and give a tiny nod.

After that you throw yourself into your work. Up to senior mechanic, then technician, then engineer— you’re working on Aperture’s new technology now, its most important projects. But you’re still not close enough. Into the test chambers you go at the CEO’s behest, defying death and physics at breakneck speeds, trusting in the tech you’ve helped create to ensure your survival.

Sometimes you look up and see her watching from the observation room, the tell-tale flash of red. You don’t look too long.

The CEO falls ill. He leaves a disturbing message. You try not to think too much of it— you’re almost there.

Your superior fails a test. You’re not surprised. Not hurt, not sad. It just happens and now you’re in the upper echelon. Now you’re at the top— now, you can reach out to her again. Tell her you’ve changed your mind. You can be equals now.

You go to her office. She isn’t there to answer the door. “Don’t you remember Mr. Johnson’s last request?” They say to you. You tried to block it out, but you remember.

You use your pass on a high security door. It opens. Your name is emblazoned too now. Just like hers was.

Before you is a massive operating system. On the screen reads a message: “transfer complete. transfer successful. writing data : do not disconnect subject.”

She’s lying inside a tube-like compartment. A transparent coffin. Wires hooked up to her. Eyes closed. Lips still ruby red.

You reach out and touch the glass. There’s no response. There won’t be a response.

This technology is untested. This is the first human-AI interfacing project Aperture has conducted. There’s only a fifty percent chance it will work, and even if it does, it doesn’t change the fact that she’s gone. You’ll never clasp her small hands inside your own calloused ones, tuck your head against her shoulder, press your lips against hers.

You’ve finally reached the top of the mountain. Finally reached her. But it was too late. When you crested the summit, she was already gone, and there was only a spatter of crimson left behind to show that she was ever there at all.

[phroyd]

On the 12th December, The Guardian published an article entitled ‘If you want to understand the Gilets Jaunes you have to leave Paris’. The article had little by way of analysis, devoting itself to a standard ‘look at me I live in France’ one up man-ship. The ostensible topic, the Gilets Jaunes and questions concerning why now, who and where – surely the key questions – were largely ignored or under-developed.

I too live in France, about 800 kilometres from Paris: in South West France. My department is one of the poorest in the country. Moreover, even within this department, the area where I reside is backward in a developmental and progressivist sense: there are no motorways, the towns are little more than villages, there is little by the way of hospitals, work or facilities and, despite its fantastic natural beauty in the shade of the Pyrenees, the towns display an obvious air of poverty, unemployment and civic decay.

Support for the Gilets Jaunes is everywhere. One in two cars displays some sort of yellow vest on their dash. In the conversations at local bars, in the anger and ferocity filling the language of placid individuals, in the complaints of small shop-keepers and finally, in the Christmas newsletter from the mayor of my village.

It’s an anger that’s has been building for a long time. The two-lane main road from Auch to Toulouse has been blocked by strikers, farmers or truckers, on a dozen occasions in the last two years. Two months before the initial protests in Paris, a worker at the local hardware store spent 10 minutes listing to me all the complaints which subsequently informed the protests.

But more evidence of the long-standing anger now exploding is contained in the prolonged, spontaneous, entirely local and informal guerrilla campaign targeting French radar speed cameras.

A campaign which means that, currently, it is estimated that nearly three-quarters of the radars across France are out of service.

In my department, only one out of twenty-seven is still intact and that remaining one has been wrapped in state plastic bags to avoid ‘citizen decommissioning’.

The figures are staggering nationwide: 18 radars are out of service in the Alpes-Maritimes, 18 in the Var (out of 21), 60% in the two departments of Eure and Seine-Maritime, 25 out of 34 in Tarn-et- Garonne, 14 out of 15 in Cantal, 20 out of 30 in Allier, half in Indre, Morbihan and Nièvre, 19 out of 34 in Eure-et-Loire, 25 out of 27 in Côtes-d’Armor , 10 out of 16 in the Cher, 16 out of 33 in the Yonne and 40 out of 57 in the Gard.

In Nord-pas-de-Calais, the Voix du Nord counted at the beginning of December 5 intact radar out of 70, in the Puy-de-Dôme only one remains from 22, in Dordogne 3 out of 24. In the Alpes de Haute-Provence they are all out of order, 18 out of 28 are in Haute-Loire, 14 out of 27 in the Landes, 19 out of 23 in Dordogne, 10 out of 21 in Mayenne, 33 out of 44 in Oise, 22 out of 24 in the Channel, 10 out of 27 in Haute-Saône – one of the least affected departments with Corrèze (5 out of 21). Most of these have been destroyed with a combination of metal grinders and tyres filled with petrol.

The Gilets Jaunes’ demands are based in part around driving. In a lot of ways their struggle is a struggle for movement, basic movement, entry level requirement movement like getting to work; the movement required to live in the most immediate sense. This is the social world of practices and everyday actions. It is not the world of globalist abstractions.

These demands for movement concern police speed practices lowering the speed limit for revenue raising, and of course the price of diesel. The war against the speed cameras informal, spontaneous, uncoordinated, is the fight of the social world against the state noose, a desperate desire to breathe. Yet the demands of my very local group (composed of the small local town and surrounding villages) include the following as well: ‘No to the carbon tax for individuals, yes for polluters. Really force manufacturers to provide us with products that are not overwrapped, more ecological, more intelligent. Coherent and efficient public transport in our countryside’.

Yet they are also demanding reversion to 75% minimum inflation indexation of wages allowance for disability pensioners; revision of retirement and taxation brackets. True increase in purchasing power without help from the SS. Political will to cancel tax evasion. Suppression of privileges for the elected and their home. Tax transparency. Possibility of visibility of expenditures of all state agencies by taxpayers.

In other words, these are the demands of an impoverished populace in rural locations, currently reliant on cars and with little income. As the local mayor put it in his strongly worded Christmas newsletter, an abandonment of rural areas in the service of the profit from excessive re-centralization and the ideologically led development of metropolitan centres.

Now the Gilet Jaune have emerged into public view via Television and the abstract world of global news; now, for the last ten weeks, there have gathered on a unprepossessing roundabout down the road, a tiny group of somewhere between 10 and 16 people waving Gilets Jaune banners and wearing yellow vests.

The two local gendarmes stand quietly watching these people hand out flyers, barbecue their lunch on an overturned oil drum and encourage motorists honking their support. It’s freezing cold across the bare landscape of clay fields. For the most part the Gilets Jaunes on this roundabout are middle aged men, though there is a regular stream of both women and some younger men. All of them are dressed in multiple layers of cheap clothing and every time a car passes, (this is not a heavily trafficked road), they leap and run to them calling and yelling for support, not in an aggressive manner but with enthusiasm and energy. And this is the same throughout the region.

On a recent trip of forty five minutes I encountered 7 of these roundabout protests. All were bigger, some have set up tents, many decorated with the French tricolor; all of them have BBq’s blazing, all of them exhibit a friendly fervour as if they have suddenly discovered they are not alone. They offer passing motorists demands clearly printed locally, some of which mirror wider demands, some which are particular to the area. Many of these roundabout groups have strong female contingents and youth presence. Evidence for this wider support is everywhere: the local farmer who lent them his field adjacent to a roundabout so the Gilets could erect a cabin for cups of tea. Trucks honk continually, cars too, three quarters of the cars have yellow vests on their dashboard or trailing behind. In every village houses are decked with yellow vests dangling from windows or nailed to doors and this is repeated all over France as even a cursory glance at Gilets Jaunes Facebook sites confirms. Motorways are being blocked, not continually but steadily, all over the country, either by groups of protestors or truck drivers or farmers.

Nor is this support simply confined to what could be loosely termed working class people. Support, at least in my area, covers everyone, working and middle class people alike. It includes for instance the woman PA for a managing director of quite a big company; a woman who, despite having worked at the company for 16 years, is still being paid what is colloquially referred to as the ‘smic’, the minimum wage.

Indeed almost all the people around here are paid the bare ‘smic’ no matter what their qualifications, something true of 80% of provincial France. Another woman described as basically running a large storage facility, performing all admin, doing the accounts is, despite her university degree, similarly only earning ‘smic’. For this middle class social capital she travels almost two hours a day.

All complain constantly about taxes; uniformly they claim to have nothing left at month’s end. These are all real examples and along with that there exist other more pernicious impositions draining their income. The common practice concerning Public holidays for instance; many of which in France fall on Tuesdays or Thursdays. In such circumstances, companies will commonly announce a compulsory closure on the intervening Monday or Friday; in the process making what is termed in France a ‘jour de pont’: a week end bridge. Of course, workers don’t get paid for this compulsory bridge. If they want to be paid they take it as part of their annual leave.

In this area, the Gilets Jaunes ARE the social world, all the people and all the world. And because they are so diverse their protests didn’t begin with the certainty of ideology, or a traditional political affiliation or indeed any wild ideas concerning ‘the correct organisation of the working class’ or the purity of the race. Things are far too serious for that.

The people protesting at the local roundabout are, in effect protesting on behalf of the being-ness of their entire social world. Further, as proved by the endless YouTube/Facebook posts, the spontaneous actions of these people are simultaneously mirroring actions, ideas and perspectives appearing all over the entire rural world of France, everywhere outside Paris.

The Gilets Jaunes is the revolt of France Profonde – the social world of Deep France, defined as:

an expression used originally by Parisians to designate the provinces in opposition to Paris. More generally, it refers to the most remote regions of France, without urbanization and rooted in tradition. It can have a pejorative connotation depending on the context.’

The hint of class prejudice in the final line is crucial. Paris, even before it was the nominated as the single globalist city for France, for long before that, Paris has sneered at and despised Deep France.

Simply by its existing, Deep France is in revolt against globalization and therefore against Paris and the French state. But it is something else that really terrifies and disgusts Parisians of all political persuasions, left and right, concerning France Profonde. France Profonde is also a revolt in the name of something positive, a vision of France as a place of equality, a place of valued parts, not one single globalized whole no matter how pure.

What’s more, Paris knows that, whether it be the industrialized North or the rurality of the south, it is this ragged positive vision, shared at the level of personal and communal being-ness which unites the Gilets against the state.

Deep France is more a feeling and a meaning in common than an ideology. Which is why it is ragged and uneven and hybrid and diverse. As it should be.

This is the vision contained in the dirty flags that strew the country roundabouts or the dirty scraps of yellow vest, poking from an upstairs window.

And if this positive vision were encapsulated in abstraction, then it is through their vision of equality, fraternity, equality and liberty, the three words that best reflect the contradictions and truths within their own lives. A slogan which encapsulates for them what they are, what their world is and why it needs to be protected. It is a demand both from them and in the protection of their lived experience. And this is why it is not xenophobic nationalism, indeed not nationalism at all. It is far too particular, far too local far too concrete.

This is why the term ‘those left behind’ is yet another silly liberal metropolitan designation. If the Gilet on my roundabout wanted to be in Paris they’d have been there a long time ago. Lots of people they know already are. What these people are doing instead is standing up for their culture, their own place and their own understanding both of what it means, and of their place in it. They are here because they want to be…who they are.

Read On

Phroyd

[dreamilyinstantlove-blog]

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[led123123]

https://youtu.be/LJOKAHGZLs0?t=414

damn.. I gotta sell my old cpu too..

I should sell it

I’m gonna.. stick the sticker.. with transparent tape.. and.. like.. I need pendrive for printer..

wait.. I have wifi in laptop.. so I can try printing with wifi..

I never used this printer

I can do that over wifi with laptop. 

but I guess the printer needs to be turned on.. because I can’t see it on my laptop

I guess it’s turned off

I need to test the printer

https://youtu.be/jz5UbEjR9Ys?t=74

I told you.. I was thinking about.. “investing”.. in amd.. jesus..

their.. share value is probably rising a lot now again..

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AMD/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALqlly1c3x_R_JaV2YA7U_SBDEumtiABVa3vZhprk0izxN4yMZGCIxeTsa_Q5yecnhyuC3lNlo41sYc84EpDPmDx3l7HcVG1XmPWUacDE9Hb-tUq7HPHHe0hQEBeSsIm7v7kK9bpkdic0XL7vmygC6lzpjzM0YTbS-ZcV4QNtvVH

lol.. they knew about this 3 months ago already?? last time it was 50 now it’s 80

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC60YCQKHFyySHLRt0vPKdjg/videos

she lost like.. a lot of money on bitcoin.. xD

so like. my.. guess was right.. to invest in amd.. 

I mean.. relatively a lot.. because she said that she lost her job and has money for like.. 6 months or something

so it sounded bad

https://youtu.be/QWQxTK52uOU?t=115

https://youtu.be/QWQxTK52uOU?t=101

https://youtu.be/QWQxTK52uOU?t=128

she must have bought it late

https://youtu.be/QWQxTK52uOU?t=209

I don’t have any experience.. but.. to me.. like.. charts like.. I think that they don’t say much about company. it’s more important if the company has good products and how well it’s doing against competition

supermarket chain built a 2nd supermarket in my town.. and.. like.. they have a another supermarket near.. so they’re competing with them.. and.. like.. all the smaller shops.. won’t have as much profit I guess.. I woke up yesterday.. and their car.. was playing music at 9 am and announcing their 20% discount day.. it was so annoying

I don’t mind this as much when it’s not as early.. jesus.. 

https://youtu.be/jwzn3-8zfq8?t=83

so like.. my amd call was good

https://youtu.be/vHwZQp166UM?t=35

kayley was a “freelancer”

https://youtu.be/vHwZQp166UM?t=59

https://youtu.be/vHwZQp166UM?t=66

https://youtu.be/vHwZQp166UM?t=261

cryptocurrency..

she didn’t buy low..

https://youtu.be/Th6AfCWdK34

https://youtu.be/Th6AfCWdK34?t=71

I dont know how people can made decissions based primarily on charts.. I think that everyone is just buying based on charts..

https://youtu.be/Th6AfCWdK34?t=233

https://youtu.be/EbhgjbjY3IY?t=40

https://youtu.be/EbhgjbjY3IY?t=224

https://youtu.be/EbhgjbjY3IY?t=320

https://youtu.be/EbhgjbjY3IY?t=516

she’s casting spells to keep the evil stock goblins away

one like a day keep the evil stock goblins away

omg.. that’s a new update.. 

it’s taking a lot of time

50 minutes..

https://youtu.be/q4FwKFk658c

https://youtu.be/Cq_tZbkr3N4

https://youtu.be/Cq_tZbkr3N4?t=67

https://youtu.be/Cq_tZbkr3N4?t=78

https://youtu.be/52hFeYzoeXU?t=17

https://youtu.be/xG2JDB34rzE?t=65

https://youtu.be/Ygw7xlgeJr8?t=1365

https://youtu.be/Ygw7xlgeJr8?t=2016

what the heck.. this is the mode where you can have same heroes on both teams

no that’s an illusion

https://youtu.be/Ygw7xlgeJr8?t=2059

https://youtu.be/Ygw7xlgeJr8?t=359

https://youtu.be/Ygw7xlgeJr8?t=475

australia, bulgaria

I had time to clean dishes and cook pasta..

now I’m back and there’s 1 minute and 30 seconds left

I was hungry so I grabbed red prince.. it feels.. like.. the taste I mean.. feels.. like it’s still not ready to eat.. it feels green..

I should wait like.. more time.. like few more weeks

why are they selling them.. why wants to buy these apples..

it feels like this one still needs like.. 3 weeks

it’s green under the skin.. and has like.. green color.. like.. it shouldn’t have that much green color.. that just means that it’s not ready

this one was too green.. maybe the next would be better..

the next one.. also is a bit green under the skin. but.. not as much.. and the center.. looks like it’s more ready to eating

it’s not as green inside as the previous one

I would say.. that they need like.. 3 more weeks.. 

that’s like.. I don’t know if picking up apples early makes any sense.. like.. they won’t get attacked by bugs.. but.. they’re not gonna.. like.. grow.. 

so like the apples has.. like.. this thing that is attached to the tree.. and it’s like.. kinda dry and thin.. and it gets all the substances it needs though that??

https://images.app.goo.gl/nciP64Pu11KiryEN9

https://images.app.goo.gl/eactHx1vqBKv8Srb9

stem

https://youtu.be/HDE2O7PVaWY?t=29

I don’t think I would ever eat a green apple.. never tried.. like.. 

they become yellow later right?? 

I used to eat yellow apples. 

who would eat a green apple..

https://youtu.be/HDE2O7PVaWY?t=73

doesn’t look that bad

this one

https://youtu.be/XAu-fobaL7g

apple parts

https://youtu.be/XAu-fobaL7g?t=133

https://youtu.be/w9kI1_i6cpE?t=60

ok lets watch this trash

https://youtu.be/-VFED66ljVs?t=128

https://images.app.goo.gl/tJ9W7VomdtbdxYJN8

I didn’t see the loba voice actress before

https://youtu.be/hwNjJLxIHMA?t=362

jumpu

more voice actors for other languages

https://youtu.be/-q1MCeWH0Lo?t=67

https://youtu.be/-q1MCeWH0Lo?t=104

it looks like he either has anti aliasing maxed out.. or he’s playing on 1440p or something I don’t know

https://youtu.be/-q1MCeWH0Lo?t=181

that’s her real accent?? she’s from scotland?? 

https://youtu.be/-q1MCeWH0Lo?t=36

she’s is

https://www.youtube.com/c/RagTagg/videos

he is from scottland too

https://youtu.be/JAKSn5nD-EY?t=473

https://youtu.be/JAKSn5nD-EY?t=519

this doesn’t look like.. I don’t know.. like.. anti aliasing looks kinda.. I think

https://youtu.be/JAKSn5nD-EY?t=552

I mean.. the other video looks smoother.. maybe because scaling from 1440p

https://youtu.be/-q1MCeWH0Lo?t=89

looks a lot smoother

I could like.. up the settings.. maybe.. maybe I need to set higher settings..

https://youtu.be/8JJ65HQ_rT8?t=867

it looks the same

is it better to play on 1440p scaled to 1080p??

https://youtu.be/ltnlX3xMTOs?t=44

baka.. = ...

https://www.rd.com/article/supermarket-apples-10-months-old/

https://youtu.be/-q1MCeWH0Lo?t=249

I’m actually.. replacing phoenix kits for battery cells.. because I don’t really get to use the kit.. and I need cells to keep my shield full.. I’m not gonna keep trading with less than 150 hp..

because that makes me vulnerable for a very long time because of low hp.. and if I get third partied then I have no time to heal up..

if I get third partied.. it leaves me like.. caught with my pants down.. if I keep poking with like.. 115 hp.. and I get shot once.. for 47 hp lets say.. then I’m left with.. eee.... like.. 70 hp.. and I hear other squad being right next to us.. I don’t even have 1 second to pop a phoenix kit..

https://youtu.be/pa8ybvIvebM?t=19

another old video??...

https://youtu.be/GKFPSS4yc2s?t=87

r99 is back??

https://youtu.be/GKFPSS4yc2s?t=96

wtf

I still didn’t get banned.. I’m gonna get banned next time they check my text chat logs.. do they only save the logs from the game that I get reported??

why can’t they just.. like.. mute the.. censored words.. f*cking idiots..

instead of banning me

https://youtu.be/GKFPSS4yc2s?t=429

what’s its hitbox..

https://youtu.be/GKFPSS4yc2s?t=456

she’s not very short

almost like pathfinder. so like.. big hitbox

https://youtu.be/GKFPSS4yc2s?t=616

this map looks trash af

a car.. the map isn’t even big.. this car was the worst idea

r99 is back.. they already had.. new smg.. hemlok out.. 2 smgs.. now.. but it’s easier to find light ammo.. but it shoots faster.. so uses more ammo so takes more space in inventory..

but ammo is a lot easier to find

https://youtu.be/-VFED66ljVs?t=130

https://youtu.be/5EqSQetCTug?t=136

https://youtu.be/CfZSf3mUu3M

https://youtu.be/CfZSf3mUu3M?t=28

map looks the worst

https://youtu.be/CfZSf3mUu3M?t=98

damn

https://youtu.be/7wAxp6aqa9o?t=20

they’re trying to make the characters too realistic.. 

https://youtu.be/7wAxp6aqa9o?t=27

she looks weird in this suit.. 

https://youtu.be/7wAxp6aqa9o?t=78

that’s a big deal

https://youtu.be/7wAxp6aqa9o?t=162

https://youtu.be/7wAxp6aqa9o?t=225

https://youtu.be/7wAxp6aqa9o?t=488

https://youtu.be/7wAxp6aqa9o?t=634

hemlok was supposed to be removed

https://youtu.be/7wAxp6aqa9o?t=1015

that one dude.. headshot me with whole burst one time..

https://youtu.be/7wAxp6aqa9o?t=1116

it’s not good map for a car.. it’s too small and there’s too many obstacles..

https://youtu.be/7wAxp6aqa9o?t=1169

it wasn’t bad.. I mean.. yes.. tbh.. in early game.. people have like.. usually like blue shields.. 75 hp.. so.. yes.. in lategame sentinel is not a good weapon to have.. 

https://youtu.be/7wAxp6aqa9o?t=1253

wingman hop up is useless

https://youtu.be/7wAxp6aqa9o?t=1272

https://youtu.be/7wAxp6aqa9o?t=1309

omg thank god.. 

https://youtu.be/7wAxp6aqa9o?t=1320

omg. they finally made this game playable

https://youtu.be/7wAxp6aqa9o?t=1322

omfg

https://youtu.be/7wAxp6aqa9o?t=1328

omg.. 

why are they set that high damage per tick before..

https://youtu.be/4b8_q9eMcJ0?t=27

it looks disgusting..

I’m getting back to different game

that’s a lot of damage for evo 4 shield

https://youtu.be/4b8_q9eMcJ0?t=329

maybe I increase mouse sensitivity.. it looks like he has really high sensitivity

maybe I just.. increase.. I mean.. I could try.. increasing sensitivity and reducing ads sensitivity

https://youtu.be/4b8_q9eMcJ0?t=498

lvl 3 ring.. only 5% damage

https://youtu.be/4b8_q9eMcJ0?t=584

his sensitivity seems pretty high

https://images.app.goo.gl/hMwm3pC9janz3uJC8

https://youtu.be/r3QjNv9K36k?t=165

https://youtu.be/lyeyG8VXxOs

https://youtu.be/lyeyG8VXxOs?t=68

lol

https://youtu.be/lyeyG8VXxOs?t=175

not reloaded

https://youtu.be/lyeyG8VXxOs?t=230

these last 3 shots were good

https://youtu.be/lyeyG8VXxOs?t=277

https://youtu.be/lyeyG8VXxOs?t=176

no reloaded.. xD

https://youtu.be/FkXf-kd2aos

https://youtu.be/V84YY9VVCiE?t=101

I still have no idea where he is.. lol..

https://youtu.be/lyeyG8VXxOs?t=237

https://youtu.be/PgedopvFPwI?t=114

https://youtu.be/PgedopvFPwI?t=128

https://youtu.be/PgedopvFPwI?t=666

https://youtu.be/PgedopvFPwI?t=681

his edges also look really smooth.. 

is this because he’s playing on 1440p or.. because of high anti aliasing settings

no.. my image quality doesn’t look that bad.. it looks worse when I’m moving.. lol.. when I’m not moving then it looks good

that must be the settings

“radeon boost - reduces resolution during motion.. to increase performance”

but I don’t have this option on..

omg I really had my sensitivity so low?? I increased it a lot higher now.. and it feels normal

previous was slow

this one feels a lot more of what is should be

I had lower resolution before.. so like.. when I switched to higher.. it needs to be adjusted again..

I increased again because it didn’t feel that fast

https://youtu.be/FkXf-kd2aos

this was on lower resolution

chrome crashed on me.. too much ram used

lol stray.. lol.. he also.. was like.. “it’s lagging..” people were saying that he had too many tabs on chrome opened.. 

his computer was lagging..

I had too many tabs opened..

but it was working fine.. I just opened too many tabs.. it was working fine with hard drive page file so page file on hard drive works normal

my mouse sensitivity was really slow.. I increased it like.. 3 or more times.. I don’t remember exactly.. before it was really slow..

https://youtu.be/XcmojY2vxJM?t=13

https://youtu.be/-dtS76NxmPg?t=103

never seen like.. people say that

https://youtu.be/-dtS76NxmPg?t=204

she has nice skin color and.. I like how her skin color and her hair look together

that was like.. good lighting.. it’s usually the lighting playing a big role how everything looks

https://youtu.be/-dtS76NxmPg?t=234

lighting changed

https://youtu.be/hwNjJLxIHMA?t=34

I can flick faster with faster sensitivity. it feels a lot better for controlling.. aim

it’s not like.. slow so I don’t need to drag mouse across entire mousepad.. and faster

I used to have high sensitivity on low resolution too.. but.. I changed resolution.. and.. I didn’t know what sensitivity to set.. what value

https://youtu.be/hwNjJLxIHMA?t=77

he has good sensitivity. I increased mine.. like.. 3 or more times.. and now I realize that it was really slow

https://youtu.be/hwNjJLxIHMA?t=86

his sensitivity is pretty fast

I don’t know how I could play on a lot lower sensitivty..

I need to sell this cpu.. it was a mistake.. I didn’t realize that I need more threads..

https://youtu.be/hwNjJLxIHMA?t=290

these maps looked really good.. the new one.. it’s just.. 

it looks like this.. other map.. from different game.. something.. like.. 

hyper scape

https://youtu.be/94RCi3bKggQ?t=210

catapulting is stupid

paladins is better

https://youtu.be/94RCi3bKggQ?t=245

super tall buildings are stupid.. pubg maps are really good

https://youtu.be/hwNjJLxIHMA?t=422

this is kinda.. the sensitivity that.. I had before changing resolution

but mine was like.. actually higher.. I guess.. but it was too high

or I had mouse acceleration on I don’t know

because idk how old that that clip

https://youtu.be/litHbKaFMN4

https://youtu.be/litHbKaFMN4?t=13

this one was actually not bad sensitivity.. but ads sensitivity feels.. maybe a bit too.. high.. I think I had like.. I set higher ads sensitivity.. then I think

instead of 1 I had like.. 1.2 or 1.3 maybe even

https://youtu.be/litHbKaFMN4?t=14

but this one looks quite fast

it looks quite correct speed

https://youtu.be/litHbKaFMN4?t=41

ads maybe was too fast.. maybe I set ads too fast.. I don’t know

I think that they were changing these options few times

https://youtu.be/q4FwKFk658c?t=75

https://youtu.be/t3xrS3ojTDs

https://youtu.be/t3xrS3ojTDs?t=39

this mouse sensitivity also seems good

https://youtu.be/t3xrS3ojTDs?t=51

this one feels really natural

like. correct speed value

and ads is not as fast as before

https://youtu.be/t3xrS3ojTDs?t=114

https://youtu.be/t3xrS3ojTDs?t=178

it’s fast but not impossible to control ( the ads speed)

https://youtu.be/BN5me-2CZWw

https://youtu.be/Ob3-aNX5pUQ?t=221

https://youtu.be/Ob3-aNX5pUQ?t=283

https://youtu.be/TfzPzMi2M6g?t=31

https://youtu.be/o-OrWu4KFrw

https://youtu.be/o-OrWu4KFrw?t=52

https://youtu.be/o-OrWu4KFrw?t=182

https://youtu.be/zoJ4kDanGCY?t=1170

wr also died.

https://youtu.be/t3xrS3ojTDs?t=46

this sensitivity is good.. I still don’t know if I need to set is higher or is this one enough

https://youtu.be/t3xrS3ojTDs?t=148

lol

https://youtu.be/YM7nJvnNnzQ

that’s also.. hebrew right??

https://youtu.be/wJVPLGNSSJ0

I’m alone.. 

https://youtu.be/8FQkEm_XTy8

https://youtu.be/i5PJ6Cwy7mQ

omg what a crazy game..

this sensitivity is so easy 

but I was playing music so I can’t upload..

r-99.. loba.. infinite ammo

omg. this program broke again.. 

what the hell

omg it’s so much fun playing 

f*ck my game didn’t record again.. why.. is this garbage not working normal

why the f*ck is it not recording..

what a f*cking trash..

I don’t know.. maybe.. it was because of this.. crash.. because I ran out of ram I really don’t know.. maybe it was because I was using too much ram.. I guess..

jesus..

with chrome 32GB is like.. 64 is minimum..

imagine having 64 on laptop..

I had to much fun playing first time.. but it didn’t record.. I’m gonna kill these idiots.. it happens all the time.. it’s because of ram.. I think

when was the last time this happened to me.. I don’t know.. 

I won.. 2nd game.. wait.. first game.. I had rambo teammates too.. but.. we didn’t win.. 

oh. nice skin of the new hero

I need to rank up again

some teams are really bad

it’s fun

good that it’s not too cold

https://youtu.be/Th6AfCWdK34?t=14

“decent red day” xD

I though red can only be bad

it can be good if you wanna buy

I’m bad at controlling r99 recoil

damn this was so much fun.. playing.. and this car.. is just.. xD such a.. it’s so funny.. especially with giblartar as driver.. this giblartar makes me laugh he’s funny.. 

https://youtu.be/Th6AfCWdK34?t=63

red day means... like.. I don’t understand.. like.. a lot of market violatility?? but if it’s red.. then... like.. you can’t make a profit.. unless you.. buy low sell high

if you buy low.. that’s an opportunity maybe that’s what she meant

https://youtu.be/Th6AfCWdK34?t=87

I don’t understand buying “stocks” based on charts.. that’s a russian roulette.. I guess.. 

how much she lost??

6k?? omg..

https://youtu.be/Th6AfCWdK34?t=234

6k. xD

she must have bought a lot of shares

I feel kinda.. “detached”.. 

from real world.. I don’t how else to call it

https://youtu.be/pDhTrvq3Oog?t=18

she sounds like a kid who is learning how to talk

https://youtu.be/pDhTrvq3Oog?t=75

invented english

https://youtu.be/pDhTrvq3Oog?t=92

https://youtu.be/pDhTrvq3Oog?t=154

if I’m alone.. and.. I play game.. then I feel detached.. and.. 

https://youtu.be/VT5n6ipGGyA?list=PLjzSBgd8kSOV5TM60Vq2jHeSeH2hbikay&t=328

princess lia?? that’s from star trek right??

why so many people subscribed to her.. like.. she doesn’t make like.. she’s not making.. like.. colaboration videos with anybody on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/c/SSSniperWolf/videos

she’s just a reactor.. she’s just over reacting

all she’s doing is making reaction videos

that’s so f*cking.. all she does is making reactions

she doesn’t make videos with.. anyone new..

and only reaction videos.. reaction after reaction after reaction chain reaction

https://youtu.be/hOC-lSVlF9s?t=5

and like.. I was watching on low resolution.. I guess.. maybe.. I don’t know.

or she just has.. like.. too much lighting.. or too blurry camera..

because her videos... look blurry.. they don’t look sharp..

https://youtu.be/BJpUSd6OBiM?t=31

blurry

https://youtu.be/BJpUSd6OBiM?t=113

she’s like.. recording in like.. 1080p or something.. and.. scaling.. so it looks blurry.. after scaling.. 

her background has too much light.. 

there’s too much light..

and my eyes are just.. like.. I’m wondering if I’m going blind when I look at how blurry her video is

https://youtu.be/BJpUSd6OBiM?t=173

too much light too white background.. and.. blurry

https://youtu.be/VT5n6ipGGyA?list=PLjzSBgd8kSOV5TM60Vq2jHeSeH2hbikay&t=898

she was talking about her anxiety in this video.. when she was playing.. I was like.. that’s like.. similar to how I was feeling.. and I’m.. still feeling like that 

https://youtu.be/QJ87793QXes

https://youtu.be/QJ87793QXes?t=46

https://youtu.be/QJ87793QXes?t=115

there’s nothing else to do 

https://youtu.be/xG2JDB34rzE?t=36

omg.. not a giblartar.. it randomed giblartar..

“club”?? xD lol

gay clubs in apex legends.. new feature

“gay club”

https://youtu.be/8FEHZDGp2Nk

fucking trash..

I’m starting to feel better. 

maybe I had to open window.. for more air..

I needed to just open window maybe..

one dude did 3k damage in my game

damn.. I died.. million times.. 

3k damage..

https://youtu.be/8FEHZDGp2Nk?t=794

I’m feeling.. not as bad.. because I opened window.. I guess

I don’t know.. I guess it’s because I opened window

it was because I had closed window.. 

[flairmagazineblog]

Seven Fortunes; Coffee Beyond Tradition

Having recently launched their newest branch in Waterway, New Cairo, Seven Fortunes is arguably among the finest coffee brands you will come across in Egypt right now. We talked to Egyptian founder, Karim Hassan, who never offers a coffee to someone without drinking it with him. With that pace, he ends up drinking about ten cups a day, which is something we wouldn’t recommend but you get the picture of the passion and heart behind this exceptional brand.

“What amazes me everyday is how coffee brings people together. It’s always a sensory experience that you can share with family and friends.”

How did your coffee brand come about at the beginning?

Surprisingly it was a big mistake. To give you a quick backstory, I grew up in the Middle East and then went to university in Toronto. At the time, I had no clue about coffee and neither did I drink it, but I was working at Second Cup for a short period inside the school library. I realized all my friends were drinking their coffee at Tim Hortons, which was just around the corner. For some reason, I got bothered that they were drinking coffee elsewhere and I just had this sense of responsibility to start thinking about ways to increase traffic at the cafe. My takeaway was that we didn’t provide their coffee of preference, and I decided to sneakily use Tim Hortons’ beans in Second Cup machines. When I secretly told them, they started coming to the cafe and enjoying the coffee. This is how I began to develop a sensory experience in knowing the different tastes provided by different types of coffee from a commercial standpoint. As I traveled around the world, I actually began drinking coffee regularly and developed a habit for it. After that, I worked at a company in Toronto called Fidelity and I was constantly complaining about how bad the coffee was at the office. One day, the facilities manager came up to me and said, “You’re the guy who’s always complaining about the coffee in his emails to upper management?” He said there’s a company that’s coming to do a tasting, so come, try their coffee and tell us which type is best suited for the building. From that moment on, I was inspired to create something of my own but I kept that idea parked.

Fast forward a few years, I returned to Dubai and continued my career in finance with another major asset management firm. For some reason, I didn’t have access to any good coffee around me, so I took the risk of starting a project on the side of my fulltime job. I fitted a small roastery in Dubai’s industrial area. I sourced a few bags of the finest green coffee beans. Slowly, I started supplying a few cafes in the neighbourhood. Business started picking up from one cafe to the next, and eventually, I decided to quit my job because it was becoming very overwhelming for me to balance both. A couple of years later, Seven Fortunes is currently supplying to hotel chains, like the Renaissance, the W, the JW Marriott and the Ritz Carlton. I found myself up against competition like Illy and Lavazza, which are huge multinational chains; we had carved a reason for boutique hotels to work with smaller companies with a strong passion to deliver quality products.

When did you decide to bring your business to Egypt?

 My parents were consistently encouraging me to expand into Egypt. At first glance, I wasn’t convinced but before jumping into any judgments, I had to study the market better. After a few months of research I must say, my love for Egyptians and its culture drove my passion to influence and educate. 

100 million people are drinking average to poor coffee! Change must happen, and this instantly became my personal mission. I decided in late 2018 that I was going to enter the coffee industry in Egypt. I’m originally Egyptian and I simply loved the idea of sharing my coffee passion here.

From where do you source your beans?

I get my beans mainly from coffee-growing regions around the world. I’ve developed very close relationships with farmers that grow the crop in agricultural countries like Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala and Costa Rica. I buy beans specifically grown for Seven Fortunes. At the beginning, you start buying the coffee from traders but once you start building relationships with individual farmers, you get the advantage of sourcing the cream of the crop.

While anyone on the street can buy good coffee, a very limited quantity of people actually get their hands on the highest quality coffee. And there’s a reason for this – no matter how many acres a farmer has, he usually puts aside the cream of the crop for roasters like Seven Fortunes, whom he knows will treat the product well and transfer his name onto the market. We like to be transparent in how we do business, for instance you will find the source of each coffee on my coffee bags, and every farmer gets his name printed on our bags. This is the kind of relationship we like to build with them, and of course, it took time – around four to five years to build.

Why call it Seven Fortunes?

 Interesting that you ask! It took me nine months to develop the name and the branding. I arrived at the name three different ways. First, I chose the number seven for being associated with a lucky connotation in our Arabian culture. It’s relatable because, for example, in Egypt we have one of the seven wonders of the world which is the Pyramids. The brand was also founded in Dubai, which is one of the seven emirates of the UAE. It’s meaningful to me, so wherever I am in the world, I can relate to the number and I feel like it’s a point of engagement with consumers. As for the word fortunes, as far back as I can remember, my aunties would tell each other their fortunes using coffee cups. The term Seven Fortunes also relates back to a mystical story in the history of coffee – the story of the Seven Seeds.

We love that you made your brand accessible for both expert coffee connoisseurs and absolute beginners. How do you balance both audiences?

Honestly, I encourage people to drink coffee the way they like to drink it. Do it your way. If you’re a person who enjoys a classic Cappuccino, then go for it and Seven Fortunes will make sure you have the best quality coffee in your Cappuccino. If you like Espresso or American-style coffee, we’ll make that for you. There’s no need for us to over-complicate it. As long as you have a great quality coffee, you can make it anyway you want and it will taste exceptional. Coffee is so rooted in our culture that we’ve been drinking it for years and Arabs kind of already know what they like. There are so many flavor profiles you can experience. Once you engage any of my team members with coffee-related questions, be prepared to take notes.

A simple sensory example we like to share is the different flavor profiles of coffee. Brazil is completely different from coffee from Ethiopia. Generally, Central American coffee tends to be nutty or chocolaty and African coffees tend to be fruity or floral. If I can educate you about the options, which is our purpose, I can guide you to find out your preference.

Our brand image is sophisticated but we’re also inviting to anyone who is interested to learn about coffee. I believe in always meeting the consumers where they’re at. I take it step-by-step – first, I provide the coffee that they know they like. Then, I introduce them to a few more flavor profiles. That’s when the experience begins.

Tell us about the barista training you offer for those who would like to venture.

I am part of an internationally-recognized group of trainers, which is quite commonly known as Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). There are actually many pillars you can study in the coffee world. There’s a diploma system that you can earn within a year. You travel to the United States, the UK or Dubai to get the training, given by people like myself. This is what I wanted to bring to Egypt. Most people who tell you they are certified are probably certified in one or two courses but rarely will you find people who earned a full diploma.

There are five categories you can dig into. One of them is just learning about all the flavor profiles in the coffee world and being able to differentiate when a coffee is nutty, fruity or what taste it resembles – whether you can detect caramels, vanilla or fruits. Another category is all about brewing and preparing coffee manually. Then, there’s the barista category where you prepare coffee using espresso machines, and there’s green coffee, which is a whole different avenue about understanding and evaluating coffee directly from the farms. The last one is roasting.

You’re definitely way more than just a roastery. Do you have any plans to expand your services even further in the future?

When I came to Egypt, I set up the business to supply cafes, restaurants and hotels – a field which brought me a lot of success in the Middle East. However, I failed very quickly. Most of the hotels and business owners expressed no interest in providing higher quality coffee at their venues. They wanted to continue using commercial quality coffee and satisfy the already existing demand instead of taking a leap of faith in educating consumers about better options; although there is a very small price difference between commercial and specialty coffee. In the past year, I shifted my strategy in order to achieve success in my wholesale coffee business.  I’ve decided to open coffee shops to encourage other businesses to see the quality that really works. I’m creating this proof of concept to encourage a shift to specialty coffee over commercial coffee in the Egyptian market. I’m here to make an influence. My vision is to create supply rather than cater to a demand. We also want to empower more consumers to make the coffee they love at home, and in general, drink better coffee.

Seven Fortunes; Coffee Beyond Tradition was originally published on FLAIR MAGAZINE

[newfitnessfranchisea]

Fit Body Boot Camp Will Be The The Best Franchise

Franchise Opportunities - Gymguyz

That's why Workout Whenever provides individually personal training to our members to help them obtain one of the most out of their visits to your fitness center, and to help them see the outcomes that will maintain them coming back. Exercise Whenever attracts attention from other gym franchise opportunities since of the advantages to our franchise-partners, the discount rates we provide, as well as the items and solutions provided by our health clubs.

Yearly Franchise Organisation Evaluation evaluation releases its top 200 franchise, and we intend to have a look at its 2019 listing. Specifically, we will certainly consider the top 10 health and fitness franchises worth purchasing for this year. Franchise Business Company Review is a leading study and also publication company in the franchise industry which focuses on franchisee performance and contentment.

The key purposes of the Franchise Business Evaluation are to enhance transparency in the franchise sector as well as help franchise business brands in attaining their performance objectives. According to these 2 goals, Franchise Business Review has functioned with widely known franchise brand names such as IHOP, Snap-on Equipment, Century 21, Wyndham Hotels, The Maids, as well as Quick Indications.

Top Small Business Franchise Opportunities In 2017 Gym Franchises

If you purchase any kind of one of these best fitness franchises, you will certainly be ensured of high returns. However, for you to succeed in the fitness franchise business market; you should exercise due diligence during spending along with handle your health club efficiently.

Fit Body Boot Camp Top Us Fitness Franchises

https://player.vimeo.com/video/341395731

Fit Body Boot Camp gym/fitness franchise opportunity

2020 Best Gym Franchise - Blitz 45

Club Pilates is a fast-growing fitness franchise business Image source: Club Pilates Tarzana Q+A with Katya Stromblad, Club Pilates Los Angeles-based Katya Stromblad best fitness franchise Fit Body Boot Camp spent ten years benefiting Avery Office Products after finishing with an MBA from USC as well as an undergraduate degree from UCLA. After having kids, she recognized that counting the variety of years that she 'd made it through corporate discharges was not just how she wanted to spend her career.

How much time have you possessed your Club Pilates locations? I had actually signed with the franchise business in August of 2016. I opened my first location, Club Pilates Tarzana , in February of 2018. Just how did you learn more about the opportunities within fitness franchising? As I was deciding whether I need to start something totally on my own or sign up with a franchise, I found a Franchise expert with Franchoice that had attached me with the franchise business sales firm St.

They supplied me with several franchising choices based on numerous standards. There's hundreds otherwise hundreds Fitness Franchises of franchise business around however only a couple of that are best for you. Some of the requirements the professional as well as I went over were the initial investment needed, the level of my individual participation on a long term basis, whether I wanted having a store front, supply service or products and also most importantly my personal interests in the business.

I was doing it in physical treatment while rehabbing my knee from a knee injury and also learned that I had not just boosted the wheelchair of my knee however enhanced and also toned my entire body. It additionally repaired some posture issues I had from years of travelling as well as examining. I significantly enjoyed the mind-body link that Pilates is understood for, as well as learning to isolate specific muscle mass and absolutely concentrating on my body from within.

Gym Franchise Archives - Updates, Gym Industry Trends, And Gym Franchises

This is the kind of solution I would certainly be able to stand behind and also boast of as well as would certainly be taking courses myself. Throughout my due diligence, exploration days, speaking with franchisees, doing competitive evaluation and investigating other choices I had chosen that Club Pilates (CP) has a sustainable service model.

Fit Body Boot Camp Fitness Center Franchises For Sale

It's impossible for Planet Fitness and Retro Fitness to also compete with Fit Body Boot Camp's simple and easy methodology and education of which new entrepreneurs adhere to to become successful.

I liked what CP meant - a comprehensive, inviting workshop with the objective of welcoming young and old, and skill degrees from efficiency professional athletes to a person that's never exercised to all really feel. What was your preliminary investment in your very first studio? The upfront financial investment was $350,0000, consisting of licensing costs, redesigning costs that vary greatly and operational expenses.

How much time did it take you to come to be successful? We were rewarding within the initial few months What are several of the difficulties that you did not anticipate? For a reasonably simple model there's an amazing amount of operate in particular regarding searching for, brushing as well as keeping staff. What are several of your successes that you did not prepare for? The satisfaction of possessing something that's ours! The ability to feel component of a neighborhood and make a distinction to individuals within that community.

Community-Centric, Functional HIIT Fitness Classes Drive the Fitness Franchises

On a regular basis I face clients in the shop or on the road and also it's fantastic to recognize people around me in this electronic, separated globe. Actually, among the factors that I associate our success is that our members really feel much more attached to the area too. How did you obtain the word out when you initially opened up? Digital marketing, supporting neighborhood events What advice would you offer to brand-new franchisees? If you have the opportunity to work or offer Best fitness franchise 2019 at an additional franchisee's location to discover the ropes from within, do it.

Gold's Gym Franchise For Sale

Crunch Franchise - Perspire To Greatness - Crunch Fitness

A lot of our hands-on franchisees likewise obtain licensed as teachers so they're able to leap in as well as instruct when there's a staffing problem. If you can be the individual that can substitute any kind of kind of function in the organisation it will certainly make you a lot more self-dependent in a time of staffing emergencies.

Finally - be familiar with fellow franchisees! They're finest equipped to lend an aiding hand or a pleasant ear. To find out more on Club Pilates, or to attempt a free of charge 30 min initial course at Club Pilates Tarzana in Los Angeles, see www.clubpilates.com .

Our society is defined by Individuals, Function, Profits, Play ®. We seek difficult working people with an objective, that desire financial success and also discover the fun in everything they do.

An increasing number of individuals wish to stay healthy as well as fit. Offered that more than two-thirds of American adults are fighting with obesity and also weight concerns, this fad is long overdue. What's more, this offers a massive franchising possibility for entrepreneurs who are wanting to

Fit Body Boot Camp: Gym Franchise Opportunities

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Unparalleled Franchise business Assistance Naturally, what is the point of acquiring a fitness franchise if you do not have the best assistance. Blitz 45 proprietors have greater than 30+ years experience establishing fitness franchise and have created multiple brands several of which are still energetic as well as running. They know that in order to succeed a franchisee has to be offered the specific plan for success to assist Best gym franchise throughout every single aspect.

8 Reasons Why Gyms Can Make Great Franchise Investments Gym Franchises

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[easyfoodnetwork]

The Enduring Appeal of the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Processed Snack

Courtesy of Planters

The ingredients and production of Cheez Balls and Dunkaroos are murky, but these snacks retain a nostalgic pull for anyone who ate junk food in the ’90s

“It’s one part nostalgia, one part pure love for cheddar-dusted corn snacks,” says Lindsay DiMarcello, a 29-year-old freelance editor and proofreader, of Planters Cheez Balls, the gumball-sized puffed corn snack in a blue canister. “I remember being very small and sitting under a coffee table in my living room that was right next to a heater vent, and eating a whole can.”

In 2006, Planters discontinued the snack, and in 2014, DiMarcello published a petition on Change.org called “Bring back Planters Cheez Balls and P.B. Crisps!” It received 818 signatures, a reasonably small response. One day, during the summer of 2018, she opened the front door of her home in Oaks, Pennsylvania, to a camera crew recording her.

She had nearly forgotten about the petition by then, but when she saw a peanut-shaped trailer parked in her driveway and someone in a full-body Mr. Peanut costume, she figured it out: Planters, the nut brand owned by the Kraft Heinz food conglomerate, was bringing back the snack. The Planters marketing team had gotten in touch with her boyfriend, who helped plan the surprise visit to coincide with the relaunch.

“I still desperately miss P.B. Crisps. It sucks that didn’t happen,” says DiMarcello.

“There is a bit of a nostalgic halo to the brand,” says Samantha Hess, brand manager at Kraft Heinz; compared to other bright orange cheese powder-dusted corn puffs on the market, she believes Cheez Balls excels. Around since the late 1970s, the product was most popular in the ’80s and ’90s, she explains, and that’s why Kraft Heinz marketed the relaunch as a throwback to the ’90s. It was shelved in the mid-2000s as part of an effort by the company to refocus on its core products: nuts. The look and taste of the snack have been carefully preserved to assure customers that it’s the same product they remember. The only noticeable difference is a burst on the canister that reads: “It’s Back.”

“You’re seeing products that pretend to be healthy and others that have no pretense at all — it’s just pure junk food.”

Cheez Balls are not the only ’90s snack food to reappear. The Coca-Cola Company reintroduced its discontinued soda Surge in 2014, also employing a ’90s nostalgia marketing strategy. General Mills recently announced Dunkaroos will return this year, writing on its blog, “’90s kids now have a new reason to rejoice.” The kangaroo-shaped cookies in a plastic tray with a pool of frosting for dipping, which were available in the U.S. from 1990 to 2012, had received shout-outs from Kim Kardashian West, Chrissy Teigen, and Lilly Singh.

With today’s ’90s kids in their late 20s and 30s, big food makers are tapping into deep reserves of childhood brand recognition for their “new” items. “It costs a lot of money to introduce and market new products, so you see a lot of repackaging and re-introductions of old stuff that was successful,” says Michael Moss, author of Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, which explores the ways that big food companies have engineered snack foods to be addictive.

But, like Bill and Ted thrust into another era, many totally, righteously ’90s snacks are an odd fit for a consumer base that increasingly demands more healthful and wholesome foods. Moss describes a divergence in thinking among the biggest food companies that took place around 2017. Confronted with declining sales, as more people became concerned with what they were eating, some packaged food companies resolved to sell more good-for-you products, or at least the illusion of that.

“But then you saw another part of the industry that was like, screw that, there’s always going to be a few million people who are just in it for the craving and the fix,” says Moss. These companies chose to double down on junk food. “That’s why you’re seeing products that pretend to be healthy and others that have no pretense at all — it’s just pure junk food.”

Today, though, these cheap-calorie snacks sit beside plenty of alternatives that tout their healthful virtues. Could nostalgia give them an edge? Troubled since almost the day the two food giants merged in 2015, Kraft Heinz appears to be gambling on that approach with its Cheez Balls comeback campaign. And General Mills, a conglomerate whose biggest business, breakfast cereals, is in the midst of a long and well-publicized sales decline, might be testing a parachute with its Dunkaroos revival. Forget the healthful hyperbole. Forget the barnyard imagery and “Harvest Cheddar” flavor names, even. This time, going back in time to a simpler place means forgetting everything you ever learned about high-fructose corn syrup.

“One of the addictive properties of a cheese puff is when you put it in your mouth and press your tongue onto the roof of your mouth, the puff dissolves because it gets half of its calories from fat,” says Moss.

In food manufacturing, this phenomenon is called “vanishing caloric density”: the notion that when a food is so light that it requires little chewing, the brain doesn’t signal that you are overeating.

Then there’s “dynamic contrast” — essentially, exciting variations in textures and colors, as with Oreo cookies or Dunkaroos. This, says Moss, is just how humans are wired: “The brain loves information for information’s sake, so the more ways you can excite the brain, the better.” According to some studies, Moss says, people — like animals — are attracted to bright colors when shopping for food; this is something that the food industry discovered way back in the 1950s and ’60s. “Which is why the grocery store, when you walk in, you’re just faced with neon colors,” he says.

“If you look at the space these products take up in a supermarket, it’s evident they’ve got a hold on our brains,” says Mark Schatzker, author of The Dorito Effect.

Much of the appeal of junk food items comes from the natural and artificial flavorings added to them. In the flavor labs Schatzker has visited, scientists work to reproduce the chemical compounds in certain real foods to add to food products. The problem with engineering brilliant flavors, he says, is creating an addictive snack out of a morsel that you wouldn’t otherwise want or need to eat much of. Like extruded cornmeal.

“They all kind of run on the same formula, which is a processed carb with flavor powder on it,” says Schatzker of cheese-coated corn-based snacks. “It’s hard to stop eating them because they’re engineered to be continued to be eaten.”

Despite the scientific precision of the nutritional information printed on food packaging, it can be almost impossible to understand what, exactly, many food products are. Or to visualize how they’re made. And few foods are less transparent than Cheez Balls and Dunkaroos; unlike potato chips, a cheese ball represents nothing organic, and with their uniform, molded shapes and plentiful packaging, Dunkaroos are emphatically not just-like-homemade. They’re a throwback to a time before artisanal, small-batch, and all-natural messaging would dominate labels, and meet-the-maker videos flourished.

Kraft Heinz declined to describe how Cheez Balls are made, and few people seem to wonder about their production. But it turns out that cheese curls, puffs, balls, and doodles were invented around 1939 by an animal feed manufacturer in Wisconsin, as Ernie Smith explored for Atlas Obscura. When a grinder jammed, an employee ran some wet corn through the machinery and discovered that it puffed up while exiting the grinder. He seasoned the corn, and the resulting snack was eventually called Korn Kurls. According to the University of Wisconsin, employees of the animal feed company continued to experiment with frying techniques and flavorings, like cheese powder.

“It’s hard to stop eating them because they’re engineered to be continued to be eaten.”

Extruded cornmeal-based snacks are everywhere now. And they’re not just snacks; biodegradable packing peanuts, made from cornstarch or other edible, food-based starches, are created using the same kind of process with high-heat extruders. A representative for Puffy Stuff, a biodegradable packing peanut company, told me on the phone that they’re entirely edible. “We joke around and we eat them,” she said. I’ll admit to letting one or two of these things dissolve in my mouth, too. And if you break apart a cornstarch-based packing peanut and smell the inside, it will remind you of a cheese curl.

“In the ’80s and ’90s there was an explosion of processed food,” says Kristin Lawless, a nutritionist and author of Formerly Known as Food: How the Industrial Food System Is Changing Our Minds, Bodies, and Culture. Behind the shift in supermarket shelves was a significant change in industrial farming. Around this time, Monsanto, founded as a chemical company, began stepping up its efforts in biotechnology, producing corn and soy along with pesticides to control them. Corn and soy, Lawless explains, “are the backbone ingredients of all processed foods.”

Just as this year’s relaunch of Planters Cheez Balls required elaborate marketing efforts, these products were heavily advertised to their target audience. As processed corn- and soy-based products proliferated in the ’90s, Saturday morning cartoons were bookended by commercials for a wacky range of foods marketed to children — like bouncing cartoon kangaroo-shaped cookies. And the boom in processed food followed an increase in advertising focused on African-American consumers during the ’70s.

“With the rise of more ethnic market research firms and advertising agencies, the big companies, like Quaker Oats and General Mills, really concentrated on promoting the use of convenience foods for traditional, black cuisine and encouraging the consumption of packaged foods,” says Marcia Chatelain, author of Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America. Because African Americans tend to have less access to health care and fewer choices in the marketplace for quality groceries, on top of the stresses caused by racism, says Chatelain, they’ve been particularly impacted by this kind of eating.

Before the 2000s, most people had never heard of GMOs. Americans had no way of knowing whether they were eating trans fats, let alone that they were bad for you and would eventually be banned. Eric Schlosser hadn’t written Fast Food Nation and Michael Pollan hadn’t imbued omnivores with a best-selling dilemma. Millennials are definitely not the first generation with highly processed comfort foods — boomers have that unique honor. But during the ’90s, the processed food industry was on a serious modified food starch high.

“I’m tasting the Dunkaroo in my mind and it is so sweet and texturally very satisfying, and it just brings me back to the playground,” says Eve Turow Paul, a consultant and author of the upcoming book Hungry: Avocado Toast, Instagram Influencers, and Our Search for Connection and Meaning.

She sees the reboots of Dunkaroos and Cheez Balls as a way of tapping into a shared memory or identity, and finding community around that. Given the performative aspect of tweeting about Dunkaroos or “liking” a Facebook group calling for the return of a discontinued snack, a nostalgic food can take on an almost meme-like quality. It’s less about making informed food choices than indulging in an escapist pleasure. “You are essentially excusing yourself from your general adult worries in life,” she says. But memes aren’t necessarily appetizing.

“To be honest, if I saw those in a store, I would probably point them out to my husband and be like, ‘Oh my god, remember Dunkaroos?’” Turow Paul says. “But I probably wouldn’t buy them.”

Nostalgia is a formidable, and some might say toxic, force that defines a large chunk of the U.S. restaurant industry, so it’s no surprise that packaged goods manufacturers are using this theme to sell their products, too. Perhaps the most famous food associated with nostalgia is the madeleine recalled in Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. This singular, shell-shaped tea biscuit spurs a flurry of memories for the narrator. If, as the novel implies, everyone has their own madeleine memories — locked deep in the subconscious and accessible only with a certain key — perhaps we all have one food that succeeds above all others in triggering our memories. And maybe we should indulge in it from time to time, Red 40 and all.

Lindsay DiMarcello, who started the Cheez Balls petition, still loves dipping them in chocolate milkshakes, a habit she picked up as a kid. A dynamic contrast if there ever was, she says, the salty cheddar dust paired with sweet, cold chocolate ice cream is deliciously balanced.

But, she adds, “This also works great with Herr’s Cheese Curls.”

Cathy Erway is the author of The Food of Taiwan: Recipes From the Beautiful Island and The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/3cZGiP0 https://ift.tt/3cUa5bF

Courtesy of Planters

The ingredients and production of Cheez Balls and Dunkaroos are murky, but these snacks retain a nostalgic pull for anyone who ate junk food in the ’90s

“It’s one part nostalgia, one part pure love for cheddar-dusted corn snacks,” says Lindsay DiMarcello, a 29-year-old freelance editor and proofreader, of Planters Cheez Balls, the gumball-sized puffed corn snack in a blue canister. “I remember being very small and sitting under a coffee table in my living room that was right next to a heater vent, and eating a whole can.”

In 2006, Planters discontinued the snack, and in 2014, DiMarcello published a petition on Change.org called “Bring back Planters Cheez Balls and P.B. Crisps!” It received 818 signatures, a reasonably small response. One day, during the summer of 2018, she opened the front door of her home in Oaks, Pennsylvania, to a camera crew recording her.

She had nearly forgotten about the petition by then, but when she saw a peanut-shaped trailer parked in her driveway and someone in a full-body Mr. Peanut costume, she figured it out: Planters, the nut brand owned by the Kraft Heinz food conglomerate, was bringing back the snack. The Planters marketing team had gotten in touch with her boyfriend, who helped plan the surprise visit to coincide with the relaunch.

“I still desperately miss P.B. Crisps. It sucks that didn’t happen,” says DiMarcello.

“There is a bit of a nostalgic halo to the brand,” says Samantha Hess, brand manager at Kraft Heinz; compared to other bright orange cheese powder-dusted corn puffs on the market, she believes Cheez Balls excels. Around since the late 1970s, the product was most popular in the ’80s and ’90s, she explains, and that’s why Kraft Heinz marketed the relaunch as a throwback to the ’90s. It was shelved in the mid-2000s as part of an effort by the company to refocus on its core products: nuts. The look and taste of the snack have been carefully preserved to assure customers that it’s the same product they remember. The only noticeable difference is a burst on the canister that reads: “It’s Back.”

“You’re seeing products that pretend to be healthy and others that have no pretense at all — it’s just pure junk food.”

Cheez Balls are not the only ’90s snack food to reappear. The Coca-Cola Company reintroduced its discontinued soda Surge in 2014, also employing a ’90s nostalgia marketing strategy. General Mills recently announced Dunkaroos will return this year, writing on its blog, “’90s kids now have a new reason to rejoice.” The kangaroo-shaped cookies in a plastic tray with a pool of frosting for dipping, which were available in the U.S. from 1990 to 2012, had received shout-outs from Kim Kardashian West, Chrissy Teigen, and Lilly Singh.

With today’s ’90s kids in their late 20s and 30s, big food makers are tapping into deep reserves of childhood brand recognition for their “new” items. “It costs a lot of money to introduce and market new products, so you see a lot of repackaging and re-introductions of old stuff that was successful,” says Michael Moss, author of Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, which explores the ways that big food companies have engineered snack foods to be addictive.

But, like Bill and Ted thrust into another era, many totally, righteously ’90s snacks are an odd fit for a consumer base that increasingly demands more healthful and wholesome foods. Moss describes a divergence in thinking among the biggest food companies that took place around 2017. Confronted with declining sales, as more people became concerned with what they were eating, some packaged food companies resolved to sell more good-for-you products, or at least the illusion of that.

“But then you saw another part of the industry that was like, screw that, there’s always going to be a few million people who are just in it for the craving and the fix,” says Moss. These companies chose to double down on junk food. “That’s why you’re seeing products that pretend to be healthy and others that have no pretense at all — it’s just pure junk food.”

Today, though, these cheap-calorie snacks sit beside plenty of alternatives that tout their healthful virtues. Could nostalgia give them an edge? Troubled since almost the day the two food giants merged in 2015, Kraft Heinz appears to be gambling on that approach with its Cheez Balls comeback campaign. And General Mills, a conglomerate whose biggest business, breakfast cereals, is in the midst of a long and well-publicized sales decline, might be testing a parachute with its Dunkaroos revival. Forget the healthful hyperbole. Forget the barnyard imagery and “Harvest Cheddar” flavor names, even. This time, going back in time to a simpler place means forgetting everything you ever learned about high-fructose corn syrup.

“One of the addictive properties of a cheese puff is when you put it in your mouth and press your tongue onto the roof of your mouth, the puff dissolves because it gets half of its calories from fat,” says Moss.

In food manufacturing, this phenomenon is called “vanishing caloric density”: the notion that when a food is so light that it requires little chewing, the brain doesn’t signal that you are overeating.

Then there’s “dynamic contrast” — essentially, exciting variations in textures and colors, as with Oreo cookies or Dunkaroos. This, says Moss, is just how humans are wired: “The brain loves information for information’s sake, so the more ways you can excite the brain, the better.” According to some studies, Moss says, people — like animals — are attracted to bright colors when shopping for food; this is something that the food industry discovered way back in the 1950s and ’60s. “Which is why the grocery store, when you walk in, you’re just faced with neon colors,” he says.

“If you look at the space these products take up in a supermarket, it’s evident they’ve got a hold on our brains,” says Mark Schatzker, author of The Dorito Effect.

Much of the appeal of junk food items comes from the natural and artificial flavorings added to them. In the flavor labs Schatzker has visited, scientists work to reproduce the chemical compounds in certain real foods to add to food products. The problem with engineering brilliant flavors, he says, is creating an addictive snack out of a morsel that you wouldn’t otherwise want or need to eat much of. Like extruded cornmeal.

“They all kind of run on the same formula, which is a processed carb with flavor powder on it,” says Schatzker of cheese-coated corn-based snacks. “It’s hard to stop eating them because they’re engineered to be continued to be eaten.”

Despite the scientific precision of the nutritional information printed on food packaging, it can be almost impossible to understand what, exactly, many food products are. Or to visualize how they’re made. And few foods are less transparent than Cheez Balls and Dunkaroos; unlike potato chips, a cheese ball represents nothing organic, and with their uniform, molded shapes and plentiful packaging, Dunkaroos are emphatically not just-like-homemade. They’re a throwback to a time before artisanal, small-batch, and all-natural messaging would dominate labels, and meet-the-maker videos flourished.

Kraft Heinz declined to describe how Cheez Balls are made, and few people seem to wonder about their production. But it turns out that cheese curls, puffs, balls, and doodles were invented around 1939 by an animal feed manufacturer in Wisconsin, as Ernie Smith explored for Atlas Obscura. When a grinder jammed, an employee ran some wet corn through the machinery and discovered that it puffed up while exiting the grinder. He seasoned the corn, and the resulting snack was eventually called Korn Kurls. According to the University of Wisconsin, employees of the animal feed company continued to experiment with frying techniques and flavorings, like cheese powder.

“It’s hard to stop eating them because they’re engineered to be continued to be eaten.”

Extruded cornmeal-based snacks are everywhere now. And they’re not just snacks; biodegradable packing peanuts, made from cornstarch or other edible, food-based starches, are created using the same kind of process with high-heat extruders. A representative for Puffy Stuff, a biodegradable packing peanut company, told me on the phone that they’re entirely edible. “We joke around and we eat them,” she said. I’ll admit to letting one or two of these things dissolve in my mouth, too. And if you break apart a cornstarch-based packing peanut and smell the inside, it will remind you of a cheese curl.

“In the ’80s and ’90s there was an explosion of processed food,” says Kristin Lawless, a nutritionist and author of Formerly Known as Food: How the Industrial Food System Is Changing Our Minds, Bodies, and Culture. Behind the shift in supermarket shelves was a significant change in industrial farming. Around this time, Monsanto, founded as a chemical company, began stepping up its efforts in biotechnology, producing corn and soy along with pesticides to control them. Corn and soy, Lawless explains, “are the backbone ingredients of all processed foods.”

Just as this year’s relaunch of Planters Cheez Balls required elaborate marketing efforts, these products were heavily advertised to their target audience. As processed corn- and soy-based products proliferated in the ’90s, Saturday morning cartoons were bookended by commercials for a wacky range of foods marketed to children — like bouncing cartoon kangaroo-shaped cookies. And the boom in processed food followed an increase in advertising focused on African-American consumers during the ’70s.

“With the rise of more ethnic market research firms and advertising agencies, the big companies, like Quaker Oats and General Mills, really concentrated on promoting the use of convenience foods for traditional, black cuisine and encouraging the consumption of packaged foods,” says Marcia Chatelain, author of Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America. Because African Americans tend to have less access to health care and fewer choices in the marketplace for quality groceries, on top of the stresses caused by racism, says Chatelain, they’ve been particularly impacted by this kind of eating.

Before the 2000s, most people had never heard of GMOs. Americans had no way of knowing whether they were eating trans fats, let alone that they were bad for you and would eventually be banned. Eric Schlosser hadn’t written Fast Food Nation and Michael Pollan hadn’t imbued omnivores with a best-selling dilemma. Millennials are definitely not the first generation with highly processed comfort foods — boomers have that unique honor. But during the ’90s, the processed food industry was on a serious modified food starch high.

“I’m tasting the Dunkaroo in my mind and it is so sweet and texturally very satisfying, and it just brings me back to the playground,” says Eve Turow Paul, a consultant and author of the upcoming book Hungry: Avocado Toast, Instagram Influencers, and Our Search for Connection and Meaning.

She sees the reboots of Dunkaroos and Cheez Balls as a way of tapping into a shared memory or identity, and finding community around that. Given the performative aspect of tweeting about Dunkaroos or “liking” a Facebook group calling for the return of a discontinued snack, a nostalgic food can take on an almost meme-like quality. It’s less about making informed food choices than indulging in an escapist pleasure. “You are essentially excusing yourself from your general adult worries in life,” she says. But memes aren’t necessarily appetizing.

“To be honest, if I saw those in a store, I would probably point them out to my husband and be like, ‘Oh my god, remember Dunkaroos?’” Turow Paul says. “But I probably wouldn’t buy them.”

Nostalgia is a formidable, and some might say toxic, force that defines a large chunk of the U.S. restaurant industry, so it’s no surprise that packaged goods manufacturers are using this theme to sell their products, too. Perhaps the most famous food associated with nostalgia is the madeleine recalled in Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. This singular, shell-shaped tea biscuit spurs a flurry of memories for the narrator. If, as the novel implies, everyone has their own madeleine memories — locked deep in the subconscious and accessible only with a certain key — perhaps we all have one food that succeeds above all others in triggering our memories. And maybe we should indulge in it from time to time, Red 40 and all.

Lindsay DiMarcello, who started the Cheez Balls petition, still loves dipping them in chocolate milkshakes, a habit she picked up as a kid. A dynamic contrast if there ever was, she says, the salty cheddar dust paired with sweet, cold chocolate ice cream is deliciously balanced.

But, she adds, “This also works great with Herr’s Cheese Curls.”

Cathy Erway is the author of The Food of Taiwan: Recipes From the Beautiful Island and The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/3cZGiP0 via Blogger https://ift.tt/2KEzgmz

[kaimariephoto]

Business Cards: Printed Forms of Promotion

Initial Thoughts

Business cards are something that I have always been told I needed but I don’t think I have ever heard of a photographer just handing one to someone in the street. The only place I have ever seen them is in small independent shops or tattoo places. There are other forms of printed promotions I am sure but I don’t know what they are and this will obviously require some research. I want to ensure if I am going to be spending money on something like this it is going to be the best choice for my brand and lead to new clients. 

Alternatives to Business Cards

Searching for alternatives to business cards has taught me one thing. People have a lot more disposable income than I do, although that isn’t hard because as a student I don’t have any. A business card is a way to get people to remember you and your brand so people have gotten really creative. From a quick google I have found edible business cards (not for me personally but I wouldn’t mind taste sampling some), transparent ones, bottle opening business cards which is certainly an interesting choice and so many more. It is amazing how much you can customise to suit your company! However they don’t really suit photographers. 

Everything aimed at photographers is always some cliche looking camera cutout or lens parody that says hobbyist rather than well seasoned professional. Not dissing anyone who uses business cards like that but it just doesn’t scream modern. I also take issue with the fact they are always dark toned and not the most flattering for images. They are more of a novelty and I’m not sure they are something I would want to be using to promote my brand.

What Have we Learned

I spent hours searching through google to try and find some alternatives to business cards that aren’t the obvious like flyers or brochures (which I don’t think suit photography for its intended purpose). The only options that I could find that weren’t standard paper business cards were business cards made out of other, more expensive materials. In any other situation I would consider paying more for metal business cards that can double as a bottle opener or screw driver or a translucent business card that offers a very unique aesthetic. However I don’t currently have the funds to create a business card that suits the brand image I am trying to create. I guess I just have expensive taste...

[winter20intensive]

week 1 // day 2

Today, I spent the day looking at the fashion-related part of my intensive and decided that it would be interesting to take a look at what strategies brands use to become popular with a young demographic.

First, I stopped into a store called Reformation which is known for its sustainability. One their website, they have a feature that will show you how much carbon dioxide, water, and waste is being saved by the purchase of their items vs. standard items. All of their clothes are made in Los Angeles and they have a virtual tour of the factory on their website in order to be transparent about the production of their clothes. Along with purchasing fashion, you can also purchase “climate credits” which will offset the carbon emissions of various things: weddings, international flights, the lifestyle of a family of four for 6 months, etc. Climate credit purchases go directly to support Gold Standard verified projects through NativeEnergy. Basically, you are investing in clean energy and carbon-reducing projects around the globe. It’s a great way to show their customers their dedication to sustainability and allow customers an easy way to contribute to the climate change cause. 

Reformation actually has two brick and mortar stores in Los Angeles. One sells their merchandise and the other is a mix of their clothes and curated vintage for relatively reasonable prices. I only visited their Reformation Vintage store as I, like other teenage consumers these days, am interested in vintage clothing because of the sustainability and uniqueness of the clothes and because shopping for vintage clothing has become very “trendy” in the past couple of years. As I walked in, the store was open and very bright, naturally lit. The clothes were color coordinated and the store included a “denim bar” where the store workers would help you find what everyone is constantly searching for––the perfect pair of jeans. 

What I learned from the experience shopping at Reformation is that brands using sustainability and vintage as their main draw and branding are very successful in this modern fashion industry.

I also visited the Glossier store which has exploded into the beauty industry that was previously dominated by huge brands such as Maybelline and Covergirl. Although those brands still have major hold in the industry, Glossier has become more popular recently because of their genius branding. They have made their products accessible with prices comparable to higher-end drugstore hover in the 10-20 dollar range and a brand ethos of inclusivity when it comes to gender, race, and even age. The other thing that boosts their brand is their in-store experience. They made all of their brick and mortar locations themed around the city that they’re in. In Seattle, the store is centered around the beautiful nature that surrounds the city:

In London, the store is centered around the theme of tea shops, Mary Poppins, and vintage floral prints that are symbolic of the city’s culture:

In Los Angeles, the store that I went into was themed around the feeling of escaping the city and driving through the desert while maintaining a distinct California feeling. 

The other thing that draws customers to the store is their “canyon experience” which gives the feeling of an art exhibit. They created a small room that plays the natural sounds that occur in nature and in canyons and they change the lighting to mimic the sunset. The canyon experience includes a large mirror where customers are encouraged to take pictures and share them on social media in order to advertise the brand which is a genius marketing strategy. Here is a picture of Glossier’s CEO inside the canyon and my recreation of it:

The other thing that made Glossier stand out from traditional shopping experiences was their approach to checking out. Every customer could pick up a “menu” of the products:

Then, customers are encouraged to look, play around, experiment, etc. When they’re ready to check out, there are no lines to wait in for hours, but rather you can approach any of the workers in cute pink jumpsuits and they will check you out on their iPad minis. Then you are asked to wait wherever and keep exploring until another worker comes from the backroom, calls out your name, and hands out a tote bag of your products. Meaning every purchase comes with a tote bag that customers wear around, advertising their brand, again pretty smart. Inside the tote are iconic pink bubble wrap pouches that contain your products which you can reuse (I even saw Ms. Schlageter with a pink Glossier pouch and struck up a conversation about it with her!) 

Glossier brands themselves with iconic in-store experiences, easy shopping experiences, pink pouches, and tote bags that are extremely Instagrammable in order to use their audience as a marketing tool. 

The third store that I visited and would like to talk about is Outdoor Voices. Their brand has brought ease and comfort to workout clothes. The owner, Ty Haney, recognized that all workout gear was marketed for ultimate speed, endurance, etc, but she wanted to make clothes that were more approachable for a mass audience.  Their tag line “doing things” embodies the vibe of the brand, they’re all about using health as a reason to go outside and simply do things: yoga, walk, bike, run, swim, etc. It doesn’t matter how fast you run or how good your yoga form is as long as you’re simply moving your body. Oftentimes the message of a brand is more important to a modern customer than what they’re even selling. Like Reformation and Glossier, the store was bright, color-coordinated, and very aesthetically pleasing. 

Inspired by the employee’s outfit (and a very good sale!), I bought a quarter zip for hiking, skiing, and outdoor track ;). Like Glossier, the jacket came in a tote bag so that I could use it and show off my support for the brand while advertising it. But, I also received a magazine called “The Recreasionalist” created by the CEO, Ty Haney. It preaches the idea that recreation (Merriam Webster definition: refreshment of strength and spirits after work) is vital to one’s mental and physical health and includes interviews of people of all ages and backgrounds about their recreation routine rather than their fitness routine. As another way to share their brand message, the magazine is something that allows the customer to continue to be inspired and learn after their in-store experience with the brand.

Here is the link to a podcast called “How I Built This with Guy Raz”––which brings in creators of successful companies to interview them about how they came to be–– with Ty Haney, the creator of Outdoor Voices... it was very interesting and I hope you check some of it out! https://www.npr.org/2019/11/22/782050874/outdoor-voices-tyler-haney 

This experience analyzing stores on one of the most popular shopping streets, Melrose Ave., allowed me to take a deeper look at brands and what qualities make them so successful and popular with my demographic.

Until tomorrow!

Colette

[jackfallows]

This is a post I wanted to make in response to a twitter discussion I was following yesterday about a zine some friends of mine make, and how they don’t pay their contributors. But before I talk about any of that, there are some things it only seems fair to establish; firstly, these people are my friends and as such I’m naturally going to feel defensive of them. That being said, a good friend will say if they think you’re in the wrong and I’m a grown up who is ready to navigate that tricky conversation if I feel like I need to. I’ve certainly had to a few times in recent memory but this isn’t one of those situations. Secondly, I’ve been self-publishing comics and zines for fifteen years, since I was thirteen years old. I started out photocopying my black and white originals in the library and folding and stapling them by hand. Then I moved on to scanning, a pirate copy of Photoshop, colour covers, printing shops and now buying batches in the hundreds online to keep up with demand. I come from a working class background and that means two crucial things were always at play while I was developing: I needed to make something out of nothing and I needed to be prepared to take a chance and make a loss. This meant whenever I did manage to break even or turn a profit, I was elated – but it rarely happened straight away. Lastly, I grew up in the small press comics and zines community, and this is where I still feel at home despite making the majority of my income from freelance illustration and workshop work now. I learned about collaboration and promotion here, I set up a comics collective that has lasted 10 years and produced 15 not-for-profit anthologies on a tiny start up pot made by having a £5 whip around at one of our meetings. I’ve ran comics workshops for people of all ages, curated exhibitions of comics work, established a small press service at the comic shop where I still work two days a week and been to dozens and dozens of fairs and conventions where I’ve made life long friends and collaborators. As a working class person, you grow up being told that ‘artist’ isn’t a real job and without these people, these publications and these events, who knows how quickly my dreams would have withered on the vine. For that reason, I also get defensive about the community and its history and what it represents, as well as how meaningful it is to so many people whose voices might not otherwise be heard. However, I have spent the last week pulling my hair out because a big commission client still hasn’t paid me despite frequent reminders; I still fly off the handle when someone offers artists work as an opportunity for ‘exposure’; I throw a fit when I see artist’s work being plagiarised by big clothing companies. In general, I think artists are underpaid for their work, taken for granted and exploited by people on a regular basis and it’s a reality I confront every month when I’m doing my taxes, and whenever I’m paying out to indie comics creators and zinesters from the small press section. It is important that people are paid for their time and that creatives are given the respect they are due but the argument is often far more nuanced than that. With the particular zine in question, there are a number of things that need to be taken into account; the editors are also both working class people with day jobs who are making the zine for the same reason they’ve made all of their zines over the last decade or so – for the love of it. They fund the printing out of their own pocket, aim to recover costs and possibly, eventually, make a little money on top to either fund their next project or pay for the time it takes them to co-ordinate, edit, layout, distribute and promote it. This is far from unusual in the zine world – I’ve submitted to lots of zines without expecting to be paid for it, even despite how obviously I understand the value of my time and work. Why? Because I believed in the project and I didn’t expect the person/people leading it to be making any money either. This zine, much like the comics anthologies I put out with the comics collective, were designed as a vehicle to demonstrate how important, exciting and simple self-publishing is to people who might not otherwise have considered it (in my case, people who liked comics but had never tried making one before, and in the case of this zine, working class people who may not have recognised the value of their voice in the community). It’s a stepping-stone – many of the contributors to both of these projects have gone on to create exceptional work of their own as a result of being involved and that is the fundamental aim - not making a profit. It is also made very transparent to contributors that the gig is not paid and why. These are two people doing a passion project for pennies, they aren’t sitting in an ivory tower rolling around in their piles of cash profits laughing at all the contributors they’ve exploited. They’re doing things the way the community enjoys and embraces – criticising this means criticising a whole subculture of people who don’t need schooling on business models and don’t enjoy unsolicited advice about how things should be changed after decades of experience in doing what they do. Don’t get me wrong – it’s great that things like Kickstarter have facilitated projects, it’s great when a funding bid comes through or a friend/relative/bank is willing to front you some cash to get a project off the ground. If this is an avenue that is open to you, then of course you should take it and pay your contributors. But if you think it’s that simple for everyone then I’m sorry, but your privilege is showing. Kickstarter requires an already-existing fan base of people big enough to finance printing, page rates, distribution and to cover contributor/backer copies. Most zines and most people making them do not have this kind of fan base, let alone a fan base with the money to contribute that amount. This is especially true of a zine for working class people, by working class people. Most zines become their own currency and are swapped rather than bought because it’s fair to assume that an author’s disposable income for the month has gone on printing the thing and there’s nothing left over. Funding is excellent but unless you know someone who understands the right buzz words to use on the form, and unless you have an already-existing portfolio of work, and unless you’re an educated person, and unless you live in an area that hasn’t had its arts funding burned to the ground by the Tories, you don’t stand much of a chance. And if you’re poor to begin with, the chances of having a rich and generous relative or a bank ready to pay out are also pretty slim. When you attack someone for not matching the same business model you operate, it’s important to consider everything at play in what they’re doing; the place they’re coming from, their motivations and their limitations. If that business model is not something available to them, all you’re really doing is discouraging someone from following the same creative path as you just because they’re starting from a point of lower privilege. Everyone’s voices deserve to be heard and I have nothing but respect for people striving to do this in a landscape where even fellow creatives are trying to silence and discourage them.

[mastcomm]

Let’s Take This Conversation Offline

It’s getting to the point where when I walk past all the abandoned storefronts strafing New York City, I begin to imagine all the other things they could be used for. Impromptu raves or hardcore shows. Floor-to-ceiling floral displays. Short-run theaters for one or two-person plays. Housing for the unhoused.

The idea that they might someday again be stores is beginning to feel fanciful. There is perpetual tension between, on the one side, soaring rents and the increasingly clichéd and untrue notion of New York as a moneyed town and, on the other, the cold realities that living here, creating here and shopping here are less tenable than ever.

Forgive the mangled Jane Jacobs, but storefront shopping thrives when there is an active sense of civic engagement, and it is a crucial feeder of that energy. Without stores, you’ll just stay home, scroll through memes, buy a toothbrush off Instagram, and lie about how happy you are that you don’t get enough sunshine.

In this climate, any seedling attempting to break through the ashes of New York’s retail apocalypse is welcome, especially in men’s clothing, which is historically underserved even at its peak. And which, thanks to Supreme and its many direct and indirect imitators, has essentially been reframed as an online game in which winners win garments and also the right to profit off those garments by selling them to those who are bad at the game.

Still, it is now essentially imperative to figure out your value proposition online before attempting to express it in a physical space. Such is the case with 18 East and Adsum, newish men’s wear brands making artful post-street-wear, which both have opened storefronts in recent months. Adsum is in a basement space in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, just across from the three-story titan that used to be the overextended emporium Gentry and now sits empty, a testament to the burst men’s wear bubble; 18 East is in a former massage parlor in NoLIta.

Both brands frame their release cycles in terms of drops, after the Supreme model of frequent (or in these cases, semi-frequent) releases. Both emphasize sustainability and transparency. And both brands take structurally similar but aesthetically distinct approaches to infusing elegance into active clothing.

At Adsum, where the placard outside the store reads “For athletes and aesthetes,” the clothes are mannered and concise, a range of well-executed basics with appealing twists. The striking work shirts, in colors that include bright magenta and chalky periwinkle, are made of Italian moleskin (and manufactured in India) and have contrasting hidden-snap chest pockets ($175). The cotton on the long-sleeve pocket T-shirts has the proper heft ($75).

Perhaps the best offering is the barn jacket, a sleeker version of what you may find at L.L. Bean or Eddie Bauer, and with less drape, but with a collar that retains its firmness ($112, down from $225). On the whole, the clothes are quiet problem solvers, designed to be unremarkable even when they’re, sometimes, remarkable.

Of the two, 18 East has grander and more vivid ambitions. The brainchild of Antonio Ciongoli, who worked at Polo before heading up the Neapolitan casual line Eidos (a sub-brand of Isaia), 18 East takes function-oriented basics — with nods to skateboarding and hip-hop — and refracts them through global artisanal processes: block printing from India, Cham weaving from Vietnam and so on. The results both rethink what constitutes American heritage wear, and also find a common ground between slow production techniques and streamlined release cycles.

The richness of the fabrics here is consistently striking. About a year ago, I bought a fleece vest with a crimson-colored floral chest pocket from one of the company’s early drops, so there was no need to double down.

But there were plenty of other appealing options: a meaty black roll-neck Irish fisherman sweater with yellow embroidered embellishment made with Inis Meaín ($545); a filmy purple corduroy work shirt block-printed by hand in Bagru, in Rajasthan, with a leaf motif ($95); even the Donegal on a bucket hat made with Molloy & Sons ($135) that collapses in just the right mid-1990s way.

Though they’re working similar ideological territory, the stores differ widely in their tack; 18 East is a more particular proposition than Adsum. Also, the silhouettes at 18 East are a little wider, and sometimes lumpier, and vary from item to item, while Adsum is consistently slim. The 18 East clothes feel lived in before they ever leave the rack.

Nevertheless, the sensations of visiting these stores is strikingly similar. I went to both twice, a couple of weeks apart. In each store, it was the same person who greeted me both times, a laid-back guy who appeared to be enjoying the hanging out and soft-sell casual conversation that you can’t replicate online.

For these companies, physical retailing is just a small part of the broader business, and accordingly, there is something tentative about these ventures — the spaces are modestly sized, the sell is very informal. (The 18 East office is in the rear of the store — you can peek into it.)

It wasn’t that long ago that we were thinking about newish stores in the city as locales for community, places for people to gather. But the realities of running a store have all but decimated that model. Now, just getting the chance to breathe is a victory.

18 East

146 Elizabeth Street, 646-866-4238; 18east.co

Adsum

97 North Seventh Street, Brooklyn, 917-909-1455; adsumnyc.com

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/lets-take-this-conversation-offline/

[ellielauderresearches]

Costello Albums: Refining Research (Better Quotes!)

Intro (500 wds)

What  is  Post-Punk?  

Reynolds (2005): a merging of “working-class kids and arty, middle-class bohemians” – no longer a divide. Brought about after Punk was absorbed into mainstream culture (“became a parody of itself”)

Sommer (2016): “The Post-Punk era was a time when a new generation of bands informed by punk actually lived up to the potential for creativity and artistic intimacy “promised” by punk.”

What classes something as “Punk”? (critics opinions) 

Rombes (2009): a feeling of disconnection from wider society. (A desire to “shake things up”?)

Sabin (1999): “’punk’ is a notoriously amorphous concept…a subculture best characterised as being part youth rebellion part artistic statement… It had its primary manifestation in music… Philosophically, it has no ‘set agenda’ like the hippy movement that preceded it, but nevertheless stood for identifiable attitudes, among them: an emphasis on negationism (rather that nihilism); a consciousness of class-based politics (with a stress on ‘working class credibility’); and a belief in spontaneity and ‘doing it yourself’.”

Does Costello fit this description? (arguments for/against) 

Gorman (2008): Stiff Records – formed “at the heart of punk and new wave scene” (Mahamdallie, 2016) – wanted to portray Costello as a “twisted outsider” to reflect the angry nature of his music. (Riviera: “Buddy Holly on acid.”)

Mahamdallie (2016): Lowe: “as hardcore as the punks, but in different ways”.

LeMay (2002): Costello could write “political” and “personal” songs with “wit and talent”.

Borack (2014): “Elvis Costello has made a career out of refusing to be pigeonholed and also constantly reinventing himself. From angry, young, new waver to country crooner, R&B shouter to sophisticated singer-songwriter – to name just a few stops on his musical journey – Costello’s body of work is nothing, if not diverse.”

Smith (2007): “For an era obsessed with authenticity, Elvis Costello was about as fabricated as they came. A made-up name…and those Clark Kent glasses, he always looked like a ringer in rock’s perpetual race to find the real deal.”

McCombe (2009): “Although Costello is often mistakenly discussed in the context of the punk movement, he had very few affinities with it, outside of a sensibility shaped by Britain’s dire economic fortunes in the 1970s.”

Bresnick (2001): “Like his fellow Englishmen the Sex Pistols and the Damned, Elvis Costello was very good at the bravado gesture early in his career. Yet underneath his punky pose lurked a staggeringly gifted songwriter who had made it his business to devour the history of American popular music, from Hoagy Carmichael to Burt Bacharach, from Hank Williams to Gram Parsons, from Louis Jordan to Smokey Robinson.”   

Brief Costello background 

This essay will discuss the impact of Punk on Costello’s first 2 albums, both the artwork and music  

My Aim Is True (graphics) (750 wds)

Brief  bg  (artist, date released) 

Inspiration – a reflection of Punk graphics? (critics’ opinions) 

Gorman (2008): Bubbles loved Elvis Presley – inspired Costello’s pose. In response to Stiff’s desire to show Costello as a “twisted outsider”, created a “visually confusing” (Lynam, 2015) cover. This also done because: Riviera: “We wanted to appeal to the hip people, the pacemakers, those who wanted something different. Our credo was that people are more intelligent than politicians or big business gives them credit for.”

Gorman (2008): Riviera: “The brief to Barney was that we conveyed the minimum of information. No credits, just the song titles. We wanted to intrigue people, get them asking, “Where’s this guy from?””

Message conveyed through text/image – a reflection of Punk ideology/style? (critics’ opinions) 

Willman (2007): “Yet Elvis Costello’s dweeby My Aim Is True stance portended menace, too, as if the 22-year-old dead ringer for Buddy Holly might just bite your head off while he’s buckling.”

O’Grady (2001): “Geek rock has always been a money-spinner. Ever since Elvis Costello appeared on the cover of My Aim Is True wearing the largest pair of horn-rimmed glasses the world had ever witnessed, the punk nerds of the world have taken on a demographic identity of their own.”

Walters (2008): “stylistically quite different”

The Stiff Records Story (2016): “A picture of awkwardness…Costello was a geek years before it was chic. A vibrant yellow screen was placed over him for the initial run of 10, 000, ensuring it would stand out in the racks and window displays of record shops. Then, when the album begun to catch fire, Stiff made a discovery that would result in a collector’s dream. Riviera had gone with Bubbles to oversee the first run and found out that using different coloured inks wouldn’t cost more. He then demanded that every run of 5, 000 copies be printed in a different colour.”

Not cool: “Costello has his Fender Jazzmaster…strapped way too high on his chest, a thrift-store jacket two sizes too small, oversized Buddy Holly specs, and a contortion of his legs that interviewer Terry Gross describes as a “knock-kneed duck-walk”. In a 1989 interview…Costello admits that the album artwork was connected to his overall project of a new masculine idiom.” 

Analysis – Punk or not?��

My Aim Is True (music) (750 wds)

Is a Punk attitude visible – lyrics, topics discussed, musical inspiration? (critics’ opinions) 

LeMay (2002): “Perpetually wronged and rarely laid men were capable of being intelligent about their bitterness, focusing their anger not on the whole of womankind, but on particular woman…and attacking these women with a potent blend of wit and bile. Rather than self-aggrandisement, self-deprecation reigned supreme. More importantly, subtlety won out over blatant self-pity or obnoxiousness. Yeah, the gentlemen were angry, but they were smart enough to know what they were angry at – and geeky enough to include themselves in that category.”

“Costello exploded onto the punk/new-wave scene like a mutant hybrid of Buddy Holly and Johnny Rotten. He had the seething contempt of a punk, but a transparent intelligence, sensitivity, and melodic sense that made him much more interesting than many of his contemporaries. Punks didn’t give a fuck; Elvis was sensitive enough to not only give a fuck, but smart enough to be pissed off and disturbed by that fuck.”

McCombe (2009): Costello: “The only two things that matter to me, the only motivation points for me writing these songs…are revenge and guilt. Those are the only emotions I know about, that I know I can feel. Love? I dunno what it means, really, and it doesn’t exist in my songs. (qtd. In Kent, “Horn-Rims” 190, 1977)

“Rejecting the dominant pose of “cock-rock”, as well as that od=f the “soft male” (articulated in the more psychedelic stylings of bands such as Pink Floyd), Costello offered a new image of masculinity that has been much misunderstood since he first emerged in the wave of Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee and punk (1976-1977).” *

*also rejected “the aggressive and assertive “warrior” male found in many hard rock and punk songs, with its “violence aimed at a suffocating (s)mothering culture” (Reynolds and Press 40).”

“Ever since Costello was labelled an “avenging dork” by Frank Rose in a 1979 Village Voice article, critics have been quick to view Costello’s representation of masculinity in the terms he himself outlined: his songs espouse some guilt, but far more revenge as a result of his “betrayal” at the hands of various femme fatales.”

“Costello identifies an aesthetic that is truly “punk” in spirit, if not in its musical presentation” in “I’m Not Angry” and “Miracle Man” – C: “admitting absolute defeat – taking all this sexual abuse, say” “without” the need for “self-pity” or “coming on all macho with the whole revenge bit”.  

Whole album: “there is no mask to conceal pain”.  

Marcus: Not a misogynist? - “as much his own target as anyone else was.”

“As Reynolds and Press suggest very early in The Sex Revolts, “Rock’s great paradox is that it has successfully revolted against established notions of manliness while remaining misogynistic” (18). Such a criticism has been levelled at many iconic artists of the punk movement (The Clash, The Sex Pistols, etc.), and Elvis Costello is no exception. But is such a simple description deserved in Costello’s case?”

Analysis – Punk or not?  

Conclusion of entire album 

This Year’s Model (graphics) (750 wds)

Brief bg (artist, date released)

Inspiration – a reflection of Punk graphics? (critics’ opinions)

Gorman (2008): Abstract? The back cover, of which there are several alternatives (Jsayers, 2015), and also shot by Gabrin, have the band reacting to an “ectoplasmic incident” in a nicely-kept living room.  

Commercially-themed, up-to-date (a reflection of the title)? The inner sleeves show two “abstract interpretations” of the title: one features a mechanical hand holding an up-to-date “micro-TV”; the other shows four clothing shop chests wearing garments in different colours.

Desire to confound the audience? In terms of shock and confusion, This Year’s Model has a very defiant “Punk” attitude – as with My Aim Is True, this is visible in the advertising campaign and cover design. According to Riviera, he refused to let Radar’s supplier Warner Music change any aspect of the record’s design; he wanted:

“to make them wary of us. We didn’t want them dictating whether we couldn’t use metallic inks or what-have-you, so we were out to show them we meant business”

In response, Bubbles came up with “one of his finest commercial interventions”, which also highlights the manufacturing procedure – the front cover deliberately crops the album title and reveals the CMYK colour bar. Confoundment was certainly created overseas – the American record company who stocked the album believed the printing “error” was real, and corrected it (Morgan and Wardle, 2010).

Snap Galleries (2019): To fit with the title, Bubbles said Costello “should be behind the camera rather than in front”. Gabrin has remarked that Costello wanted to look angry in the photograph – to achieve this, he listened to “Hotel California” by The Eagles, a song he allegedly hated. He also mimicked Gabrin’s actions throughout the shoot.

Message conveyed through text/image – a reflection of Punk ideology/style? (critics’ opinions)

McCombe (2009): Costello relates to the opposite sex? Feels objectified by mainstream culture/the music industry? “Costello is the woman objectified – he is “this year’s girl”. Of course, “This Year’s Girl” would be an awkward title for a record that bears Costello’s own image on the cover, so “girl” becomes “model”, but the album artwork nevertheless confirms the connection between the singer and the model before the camera.”

“In the words of Graeme Thomson, Costello is “both observed and observing” - both gazing behind the camera and the subject of the camera’s gaze (92).”

“Perhaps it occurred to Costello as he was writing songs for Model that his “anti-style” adopted on the album jacket of My Aim is True was nevertheless its own distinct style. It may be true that his polka-dot shirt on the cover of Model is a bit more “rock star” than what we see in the images on his debut...but we also clearly see a wedding band on his left hand, and there is still the matter of the “computer geek” prescription eyewear (Thomson 73). Although the glasses provided many a commentator with the opportunity to connect Costello to a certain memmber of the rock ‘n’ roll royalty...as Franklin Bruno writes, the specs “were more socialized medicine than Buddy Holly to English audiences” (13).”

“By choosing This Year’s Model as his title, Costello reinforced the record’s overwhelming fascination with beauty, image, and objectification.”

Analysis – Punk or not? 

Morgan and Wardle (2010): “Punk-era designer Barney Bubbles...was an ex-hippy, very much like the era’s other big stylist, Jamie Reid. Yet his designs are very much contrary to the brash, bold aesthetic of the day – he was into subtlety and wit.”

N.A. (2009): “(Barney Bubbles’) fans consider his design work to be Pop Art anyway: “Taking from contemporary visual culture – he did that all the time. It wasn’t stealing, he was moving things forward,” says Garrett.”

This Year’s Model (music) (750 wds)

Is a Punk attitude visible – lyrics, topics discussed, musical inspiration? (critics’ opinions)

Gordinier (2002): Rap? “You don’t tend to think of Elvis Costello as a rap pioneer (especially where he’s schmoozing with string quartets and Burt Bacharach), but listen to the wordplay on the reissue of this 1978 classic. With all those corkscrew rhymes and spitfire verbal grenades, he could be Eminem’s long-lost uncle.”  

Sheffield (2008): “The pain in these songs is as clearly visible as the wedding ring Costello wears on the album cover...these are are the plaints of a kid who fell too hard too fast, who took romantic promises way too seriously and believed more fiercely as he kept getting burned. The music is surprisingly lush and pretty... Yet it’s all punk rage, thanks to Pete Thomas’ drums and Steve Nieve’s cranky organ.”

McCombe (2009): Mankind “disappearing under late capitalism”? - “Lipstick Vogue”.

“the speakers in Costello’s songs are obsessed with betrayl and infidelity in personal relationships and how, in Thurschwell’s words, “our personal relationships are invaded by, indeed inextricable from, institutions of power” (290).”

Costello relates to the opposite sex? Feels objectified by mainstream culture/the music industry? “When Thurschwell contends that Costello desires “to objectify women before they objectify [him],” she misses the crucial ways in which Costello’s speakers also identify with these beautiful and treacherous women, in the sense that he has already been objectified as the music’s “next big thing”.”

Rejection of the music industry? Costello (NME, Kent, 1978): “People in this fuckin’ business just don’t understand that I don’t want to join their little club... From the very beginning there was never any air-brush stuff.”

A “possession” of the music industry/the audience? - “You Belong to Me”.

Analysis – Punk or not?  

Bray (2018): “While it’s difficult to call the record “punk” in the classic sense, it’s undeniably informed by the genre’s angry, rebellious spirit.”

Conclusion of entire album 

Conc (500 wds) 

Does Costello fulfil the role of a Post-Punk artist?

Does artwork for Costello’s albums reflect Punk graphics?

Does Costello’s music reflect Punk ideology?

Effective summing-up sentence 

[natasjakjpriscilliamo78insu-blog]

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Courtesy of Planters The ingredients and production of Cheez Balls and Dunkaroos are murky, but these snacks retain a nostalgic pull for anyone who ate junk food in the ’90s “It’s one part nostalgia, one part pure love for cheddar-dusted corn snacks,” says Lindsay DiMarcello, a 29-year-old freelance editor and proofreader, of Planters Cheez Balls, the gumball-sized puffed corn snack in a blue canister. “I remember being very small and sitting under a coffee table in my living room that was right next to a heater vent, and eating a whole can.” In 2006, Planters discontinued the snack, and in 2014, DiMarcello published a petition on Change.org called “Bring back Planters Cheez Balls and P.B. Crisps!” It received 818 signatures, a reasonably small response. One day, during the summer of 2018, she opened the front door of her home in Oaks, Pennsylvania, to a camera crew recording her. She had nearly forgotten about the petition by then, but when she saw a peanut-shaped trailer parked in her driveway and someone in a full-body Mr. Peanut costume, she figured it out: Planters, the nut brand owned by the Kraft Heinz food conglomerate, was bringing back the snack. The Planters marketing team had gotten in touch with her boyfriend, who helped plan the surprise visit to coincide with the relaunch. “I still desperately miss P.B. Crisps. It sucks that didn’t happen,” says DiMarcello. “There is a bit of a nostalgic halo to the brand,” says Samantha Hess, brand manager at Kraft Heinz; compared to other bright orange cheese powder-dusted corn puffs on the market, she believes Cheez Balls excels. Around since the late 1970s, the product was most popular in the ’80s and ’90s, she explains, and that’s why Kraft Heinz marketed the relaunch as a throwback to the ’90s. It was shelved in the mid-2000s as part of an effort by the company to refocus on its core products: nuts. The look and taste of the snack have been carefully preserved to assure customers that it’s the same product they remember. The only noticeable difference is a burst on the canister that reads: “It’s Back.” “You’re seeing products that pretend to be healthy and others that have no pretense at all — it’s just pure junk food.” Cheez Balls are not the only ’90s snack food to reappear. The Coca-Cola Company reintroduced its discontinued soda Surge in 2014, also employing a ’90s nostalgia marketing strategy. General Mills recently announced Dunkaroos will return this year, writing on its blog, “’90s kids now have a new reason to rejoice.” The kangaroo-shaped cookies in a plastic tray with a pool of frosting for dipping, which were available in the U.S. from 1990 to 2012, had received shout-outs from Kim Kardashian West, Chrissy Teigen, and Lilly Singh. With today’s ’90s kids in their late 20s and 30s, big food makers are tapping into deep reserves of childhood brand recognition for their “new” items. “It costs a lot of money to introduce and market new products, so you see a lot of repackaging and re-introductions of old stuff that was successful,” says Michael Moss, author of Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, which explores the ways that big food companies have engineered snack foods to be addictive. But, like Bill and Ted thrust into another era, many totally, righteously ’90s snacks are an odd fit for a consumer base that increasingly demands more healthful and wholesome foods. Moss describes a divergence in thinking among the biggest food companies that took place around 2017. Confronted with declining sales, as more people became concerned with what they were eating, some packaged food companies resolved to sell more good-for-you products, or at least the illusion of that. “But then you saw another part of the industry that was like, screw that, there’s always going to be a few million people who are just in it for the craving and the fix,” says Moss. These companies chose to double down on junk food. “That’s why you’re seeing products that pretend to be healthy and others that have no pretense at all — it’s just pure junk food.” Today, though, these cheap-calorie snacks sit beside plenty of alternatives that tout their healthful virtues. Could nostalgia give them an edge? Troubled since almost the day the two food giants merged in 2015, Kraft Heinz appears to be gambling on that approach with its Cheez Balls comeback campaign. And General Mills, a conglomerate whose biggest business, breakfast cereals, is in the midst of a long and well-publicized sales decline, might be testing a parachute with its Dunkaroos revival. Forget the healthful hyperbole. Forget the barnyard imagery and “Harvest Cheddar” flavor names, even. This time, going back in time to a simpler place means forgetting everything you ever learned about high-fructose corn syrup. “One of the addictive properties of a cheese puff is when you put it in your mouth and press your tongue onto the roof of your mouth, the puff dissolves because it gets half of its calories from fat,” says Moss. In food manufacturing, this phenomenon is called “vanishing caloric density”: the notion that when a food is so light that it requires little chewing, the brain doesn’t signal that you are overeating. Then there’s “dynamic contrast” — essentially, exciting variations in textures and colors, as with Oreo cookies or Dunkaroos. This, says Moss, is just how humans are wired: “The brain loves information for information’s sake, so the more ways you can excite the brain, the better.” According to some studies, Moss says, people — like animals — are attracted to bright colors when shopping for food; this is something that the food industry discovered way back in the 1950s and ’60s. “Which is why the grocery store, when you walk in, you’re just faced with neon colors,” he says. “If you look at the space these products take up in a supermarket, it’s evident they’ve got a hold on our brains,” says Mark Schatzker, author of The Dorito Effect. Much of the appeal of junk food items comes from the natural and artificial flavorings added to them. In the flavor labs Schatzker has visited, scientists work to reproduce the chemical compounds in certain real foods to add to food products. The problem with engineering brilliant flavors, he says, is creating an addictive snack out of a morsel that you wouldn’t otherwise want or need to eat much of. Like extruded cornmeal. “They all kind of run on the same formula, which is a processed carb with flavor powder on it,” says Schatzker of cheese-coated corn-based snacks. “It’s hard to stop eating them because they’re engineered to be continued to be eaten.” Despite the scientific precision of the nutritional information printed on food packaging, it can be almost impossible to understand what, exactly, many food products are. Or to visualize how they’re made. And few foods are less transparent than Cheez Balls and Dunkaroos; unlike potato chips, a cheese ball represents nothing organic, and with their uniform, molded shapes and plentiful packaging, Dunkaroos are emphatically not just-like-homemade. They’re a throwback to a time before artisanal, small-batch, and all-natural messaging would dominate labels, and meet-the-maker videos flourished. Kraft Heinz declined to describe how Cheez Balls are made, and few people seem to wonder about their production. But it turns out that cheese curls, puffs, balls, and doodles were invented around 1939 by an animal feed manufacturer in Wisconsin, as Ernie Smith explored for Atlas Obscura. When a grinder jammed, an employee ran some wet corn through the machinery and discovered that it puffed up while exiting the grinder. He seasoned the corn, and the resulting snack was eventually called Korn Kurls. According to the University of Wisconsin, employees of the animal feed company continued to experiment with frying techniques and flavorings, like cheese powder. “It’s hard to stop eating them because they’re engineered to be continued to be eaten.” Extruded cornmeal-based snacks are everywhere now. And they’re not just snacks; biodegradable packing peanuts, made from cornstarch or other edible, food-based starches, are created using the same kind of process with high-heat extruders. A representative for Puffy Stuff, a biodegradable packing peanut company, told me on the phone that they’re entirely edible. “We joke around and we eat them,” she said. I’ll admit to letting one or two of these things dissolve in my mouth, too. And if you break apart a cornstarch-based packing peanut and smell the inside, it will remind you of a cheese curl. “In the ’80s and ’90s there was an explosion of processed food,” says Kristin Lawless, a nutritionist and author of Formerly Known as Food: How the Industrial Food System Is Changing Our Minds, Bodies, and Culture. Behind the shift in supermarket shelves was a significant change in industrial farming. Around this time, Monsanto, founded as a chemical company, began stepping up its efforts in biotechnology, producing corn and soy along with pesticides to control them. Corn and soy, Lawless explains, “are the backbone ingredients of all processed foods.” Just as this year’s relaunch of Planters Cheez Balls required elaborate marketing efforts, these products were heavily advertised to their target audience. As processed corn- and soy-based products proliferated in the ’90s, Saturday morning cartoons were bookended by commercials for a wacky range of foods marketed to children — like bouncing cartoon kangaroo-shaped cookies. And the boom in processed food followed an increase in advertising focused on African-American consumers during the ’70s. “With the rise of more ethnic market research firms and advertising agencies, the big companies, like Quaker Oats and General Mills, really concentrated on promoting the use of convenience foods for traditional, black cuisine and encouraging the consumption of packaged foods,” says Marcia Chatelain, author of Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America. Because African Americans tend to have less access to health care and fewer choices in the marketplace for quality groceries, on top of the stresses caused by racism, says Chatelain, they’ve been particularly impacted by this kind of eating. Before the 2000s, most people had never heard of GMOs. Americans had no way of knowing whether they were eating trans fats, let alone that they were bad for you and would eventually be banned. Eric Schlosser hadn’t written Fast Food Nation and Michael Pollan hadn’t imbued omnivores with a best-selling dilemma. Millennials are definitely not the first generation with highly processed comfort foods — boomers have that unique honor. But during the ’90s, the processed food industry was on a serious modified food starch high. “I’m tasting the Dunkaroo in my mind and it is so sweet and texturally very satisfying, and it just brings me back to the playground,” says Eve Turow Paul, a consultant and author of the upcoming book Hungry: Avocado Toast, Instagram Influencers, and Our Search for Connection and Meaning. She sees the reboots of Dunkaroos and Cheez Balls as a way of tapping into a shared memory or identity, and finding community around that. Given the performative aspect of tweeting about Dunkaroos or “liking” a Facebook group calling for the return of a discontinued snack, a nostalgic food can take on an almost meme-like quality. It’s less about making informed food choices than indulging in an escapist pleasure. “You are essentially excusing yourself from your general adult worries in life,” she says. But memes aren’t necessarily appetizing. “To be honest, if I saw those in a store, I would probably point them out to my husband and be like, ‘Oh my god, remember Dunkaroos?’” Turow Paul says. “But I probably wouldn’t buy them.” Nostalgia is a formidable, and some might say toxic, force that defines a large chunk of the U.S. restaurant industry, so it’s no surprise that packaged goods manufacturers are using this theme to sell their products, too. Perhaps the most famous food associated with nostalgia is the madeleine recalled in Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. This singular, shell-shaped tea biscuit spurs a flurry of memories for the narrator. If, as the novel implies, everyone has their own madeleine memories — locked deep in the subconscious and accessible only with a certain key — perhaps we all have one food that succeeds above all others in triggering our memories. And maybe we should indulge in it from time to time, Red 40 and all. Lindsay DiMarcello, who started the Cheez Balls petition, still loves dipping them in chocolate milkshakes, a habit she picked up as a kid. A dynamic contrast if there ever was, she says, the salty cheddar dust paired with sweet, cold chocolate ice cream is deliciously balanced. But, she adds, “This also works great with Herr’s Cheese Curls.” Cathy Erway is the author of The Food of Taiwan: Recipes From the Beautiful Island and The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove. from Eater - All https://ift.tt/3cZGiP0

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