#i was creative productive today so obviously i couldn’t put myself together because i can’t make two things look good at once i guess

[erggggggggg]

comfy sleepy tired

[unscharf-an-den-raendern]

Interview with Ralf from 2005 (translated from German)

Read the original German version here: http://www.electroempire.com/index.php?thread/1755-ralf-h%C3%BCtter-kraftwerk-interview-2005/

They’re the most influential German band of all time, for a third of a century they advanced and shaped electronic music like no one else. During that time, they only gave about one hundred interviews worldwide, the living legends are considered to be media-shy. Now Arschmaden-rave-magazin managed to be the first German magazine since 2001 to get an exclusive interview with the Düsseldorf sound pioneers Kraftwerk. Hauke Schlichting was allowed to spend almost an hour on the phone with Ralf Hütter and found out that music gods are also completely normal people sometimes.

Hauke Schlichting: Are there many pre-order of the notebook edition of “Minimum Maximum” already?

Ralf Hütter: I think so. Kraftwerk is not just music, we also create the lyrics, the pictures and the entire visual concept. I’ve been doing that with my partner Florian Schneider since 1970. This notebook edition enables us to put a lot of ideas into effect that we had for a long time. And now that it's finished, it's a liberating moment.

Hauke Schlichting: I once saw you in the audience of a talk by Oskar Sala. I suppose that pioneers like Sala, John Cage and certainly Karlheinz Stockhausen were a source of inspiration for Kraftwerk...

Ralf Hütter: Especially in our living environment in the second half of the sixties. Our friends and we were involved in the art scene. Electronic music was not foreign to us.

Hauke Schlichting: In an old interview from 1976 you said: "The world of sounds is music.” The first thing that came to my mind was whether the members of Kraftwerk listened to and liked music by noise musicians or even industrial music? Is that a similar approach?

Ralf Hütter: I can only speak for myself now, but I definitely see a spiritual kinship there. Definitely.

Hauke Schlichting: You called your music "Industrial Folk Music" once...

Ralf Hütter: Yes, but not with an F. It was about "Industrielle Volksmusik", the English translated it. It was an idea of the electronic Volkswagen. That's a concept. We have always reported on everyday things. "Autobahn", for example, was an attempt to make everyday music.

Hauke Schlichting: Is there any electronic music from - let's say the last 20 years - that inspired you?

Ralf Hütter: Yes, especially this spiritual kinship between the two cities starting with a D.

Hauke Schlichting: Düsseldorf and Detroit!

Ralf Hütter: Right. We know the creative heads of Detroit like Derrick May, Mike Banks and Kevin Saunderson. And that's what we consider to be a real inspiration, alternating, which finds its sound in this language. The dynamic that's in there, like in here. This electric funk or whatever you want to call it, that's a spiritual kinship.

Hauke Schlichting: Were the first Cybotron records of Juan Atkins things that you already noticed back in 1981?

Ralf Hütter: We were also in New York earlier, where the record company took us to some afterhours in non-authorized clubs.

Hauke Schlichting: They already existed back then!?

Ralf Hütter: Yeah, sure, at the end of the seventies. Then we had the experience that Afrika Bambaataa played our song “Metall auf Metall”. I thought, oh, fine, and then more than a quarter of an hour went by and I started wondering, because the song is not that long. Until I realized that he combined it with several record players.

Hauke Schlichting: A live remix with turntables, so to speak...

Ralf Hütter: That must have been in '77.

Hauke Schlichting: Mr Bambaataa is definitely a pioneer as well.

Ralf Hütter: Definitely.

Hauke Schlichting: There are an infinite number of songs nowadays which obviously sampled Kraftwerk. You were once described as "the most sampled artists besides James Brown". Are you annoyed when this happens without being asked?

Ralf Hütter: In the right music it is mental communication. Creative feedback. But if they appear on any “cucumbers” (Translator’s note: Ralf means bad musicians) or purely commercial products, then our publishing house will take action.

Hauke Schlichting: Do you collect your own records? If you want to own all the Kraftwerk records, including all the different pressings, you’d have to collect several thousand.

Ralf Hütter: I think that's materialistic nonsense. It's like collecting beer coastes. That’s totally uninteresting. It's about music, not about some pieces of plastic.

Hauke Schlichting: But they say that you collect old synthesizers.

Ralf Hütter: Our studio has been changing constantly since 1970, there are always new things being wired, installed or programmed. Improved. So often some equipment is put away, first in the warehouse, because you might need them again. At some point they were standing there, nobody wanted them, then they got dusty, then reactivated in the Kling Klang Museum. Ten years later we restored and repaired them all to the latest state of the art. Now we have been asked if we could make them available for an exhibition, but at the moment we can't give them away because they are actually in use. Over the last twenty years, we have transferred all the original Kraftwerk sounds to the digital level. Together with our electrical engineers Fritz Hilpert and Henning Schmitz.

Hauke Schlichting: You used to take a lot of equipment weighing tons with you on tour.

Ralf Hütter: Yes, the Kling Klang Studio is our instrumentarium. It has been like that ever since the first concerts. At that time they were still single instruments or single racks with many cables. Then at some point we assembled them in multi-racks.

Hauke Schlichting: The live equipment was always identical to the studio equipment. Is that still the case now? The things you carry around with you now are much more compact.

Ralf Hütter: Now we play with the virtual Kling Klang Studio with laptops at concerts in real time and mobile. That's why we have been able to travel all over the world since 2002. Today we have complete access to the entire audio-visual show, which also changes a bit from concert to concert. That's what makes it interesting. We no longer have to build it up every day to reach a fixed status, we can work with it live. In the past we were on tour rather reproductively, a lot of things didn't work, that was actually a torture, these concerts back then. That's why we only did one tour, in 1975 ("Autobahn"), then for years almost nothing and in 1981 ("Computerwelt"), when we did another tour, we also used many tapes in addition to my analog sequencer, because our music was actually not playable live at that time.

Hauke Schlichting: The live DVD you’re releasing now gives the illusion that it is the complete recording of one concert. If you take a closer look, you will see that it has been put together from many concerts. Was there no concert that was great from front to back?

Ralf Hütter: We recorded and documented everything. We then selected the recordings based on quality and intensity. That was then put together. That is also our concept of electronic mobility. "Tour de France" should definitely be from Paris, "Autobahn" from Berlin, "Dentaku/calculator" from Tokyo. We had a lot more material available later, but we couldn't put that in. In Santiago de Chile, for example, the audience has the best timing in the world when clapping along. I've never experienced anything that synchronous before.

Hauke Schlichting: When Kraftwerk is in the studio, do you sometimes make music just for fun, just playing around a bit?

Ralf Hütter: We once said that the music composes itself.

Hauke Schlichting: That means constant trying out and jamming around?

Ralf Hütter: That's where we actually come from, we've been doing that since the late sixties. For more than a third of a century we've been walking on the same electronic path. We just try to be open for ideas. They come when you cycle, like “Tour de France”, they come when you drive, like “Autobahn”. Some things also arise from texts, from books, from all kinds of things. We use all mental ideas, we do not work according to one principle. The freedom lies precisely in the fact that all art forms are open to you today. It is a gift that we live in a time where you don't need a large orchestra and where you don't need a nobleman who puts gold ducats at your disposal. Now there is an autonomy that can be realized through the man-machine Kraftwerk.

Hauke Schlichting: Your studio seems a bit like a fortress against the outside world. But you have emphasized several times that you are not isolated at all, that you meet a lot of friends and actually lead a very normal life. But  we know relatively little about that. Does that mean that private life is the super important compensation for an artist's life?

Ralf Hütter: No, we see ourselves as scientists, as music workers. We do our work, we drink a cup of coffee in the morning, on weekends we ride our bikes. We go to clubs because the lively scene of electronic music is important to us. And that's where it takes place. We have been connected to club culture since the sixties.

Hauke Schlichting: Does that mean that you now travel more often or specifically to performances by live artists or DJs?

Ralf Hütter: Mostly that happens when we are on the road. If the travel plan allows it, because otherwise it can happen that you can't concentrate at concerts in the evening due to lack of sleep. Working at the screen, with the mouse, they’re very fine movements. Minimal movements with maximum effect on sound and images. Again a mental reference to this work "minimum-maximum".

Hauke Schlichting: Can you imagine working with other musicians?

Ralf Hütter: We already worked together with different musicians, especially with music engineers. For example with François K, with William Orbit, with Etienne de Crécy, with Orbital, with Underground Resistance.

Hauke Schlichting: The revision of your back catalogue is now finished...

Ralf Hütter: Yes, finally. It is also about clarity and now for the first time everything is as it was intended.

Hauke Schlichting: Can you release more albums in the future that way?

Ralf Hütter: Yes, also because the technical development has changed in our favour. We now have the right tools at our disposal, so we don't have to spend so much time on wiring and installation.

Hauke Schlichting: The teen newspaper Bravo quoted you in 1975 with the sentence: "One day they will imitate our music. Could you have imagined back then that this would really happen?

Ralf Hütter: Yes, we thought so at that time. We played the album to them in my old Volkswagen. We had a big loudspeaker in the back, we didn't have the kind of equipment we have today. And then my friend Florian and I drove on the motorway with our poet and painter friend Emil and Bravo. At the beginning of the seventies our music was mostly only played in special radio programmes, e.g. by Winfried Trenkler. Before "Autobahn", Kraftwerk only existed in this art and student scene. And then live, we come from this live music scene. That we now play electronic music all over the world again is something where the circle closes. Now it takes on the shape we imagined in our imagination at the time.

Hauke Schlichting: Thirty years ago you also said: "In twenty years, in our opinion, there will hardly be any groups with guitars and drums any more. For us these instruments belong to the past already today."

Ralf Hütter: Right.

Hauke Schlichting: But that didn't quite come true.

Ralf Hütter: There are many antiques. But that is still true. There are also still symphony orchestras. In our opinion, the thoughts or essence of the present can only be realized with adequate means.

Hauke Schlichting: You have very few concrete political statements in your music...

Ralf Hütter: Rather socio-political, from our everyday life.

Hauke Schlichting: You only find a concrete one in the new version of "Radioactivity".

Ralf Hütter: Yes, we inserted that because there were endless misunderstandings. We simply wanted to clarify these misunderstandings with one word ("Stop").

Hauke Schlichting: Because of the last album the topic of cycling was once again massively brought into the picture...

Ralf Hütter: I had written this lyrics in 1983 with my French friend Maxime Schmidt. Florian was experimenting with sounds at the same time with his first sampler. This resulted in the album concept "Tour de France". At that time we released only that one single under time pressure and then the ideas fell a bit into oblivion. However, this practically slumbered as a film script in a long version in the studio under the heading unfinished projects. And we just finished that now.

Hauke Schlichting: You have been active as cyclists for a very long time...

Ralf Hütter: Yes, since "Mensch-Maschine". The concept of "man-machine" has brought an awareness, from the pure sound field of music a dynamic physicality man-machine has conclusively emerged. We tried that out and the fascination has remained.

Hauke Schlichting: The unity of man and bicycle is still the man-machine.

Ralf Hütter: That's how it is.

Hauke Schlichting: The man-machine motif has always been a dream of mankind. It already existed with the Greeks, it played a major role with the alchemists, in E.T.A. Hoffmann's "Sandman", in the film "Metropolis" - there are countless examples.

Ralf Hütter: That had become reality for us. There was often the misunderstanding of the machine-man, but we were always concerned with man-machines. We are interactively connected with the machines, that has remained so until today, that is actually a synonym for Kraftwerk.

Hauke Schlichting: Was Kurt Schwitters' "Schmidt-Lied" from 1927 the model for the album "Radioaktivität"?

Ralf Hütter: I've never heard it.

Hauke Schlichting: May I quote from it?

Ralf Hütter: Yes, of course!

Hauke Schlichting: "Und wenn die Welten untergehn, / so bleibt die Welle doch bestehn. / Das Radio erzählt euch allen, / was immer neues vorgefallen. / Und funk ich hier ins Mikrofon, / hört man im Weltall jeden Ton. / Und bis in die Unendlichkeit, / erfährt man jede Neuigkeit. / Wir funken bis zum Untergang / ins Weltall kilometerlang." ("And if the worlds go under, / the wave will still exist. / The radio tells you all, / whatever new happened. / And if I radio here into the microphone, / you can hear every sound in space. / And to infinity, / you'll hear every news. / We'll radio until the end / to space for miles and miles."

Ralf Hütter: A spiritual bond!

Hauke Schlichting: It only remains for me to say that we all hope not to have to wait that long and we are looking forward to new material. You will be turning sixty next year, I hope that Kraftwerk will continue to produce music for a very long time and present it live. But if you've been cycling for 25 or 30 years, like you do, then you should probably be fit.

Ralf Hütter: Yes, we are.

Hauke Schlichting: Wonderful, good luck for the future and thank you very much.

[covid19stories]

I think I'm gonna try to stick more with the positives. Obviously there's a lot of stress in my life right now - I work in theatre and, as you may have guessed, theatres can't really perform or rehearse, but I have the security of living with my parents, all my canceled productions have paid out, and I have a remote part time job that brings in some as well. 

But it's the thing we all have, right? Where there's suddenly this plethora of open time that I haven't had for a while. It's week three of social distancing/quarantine mode and I'm remembering the fact that apparently, in terms of development, it's healthy for children to get bored because it forces them to get creative. It's all about finding ways to fill the time that aren't just the same ways I would fill the time on my occasional day off. 

So here are the things I'm doing that I'm enjoying:

- Reading a disgusting amount. When I found out my local library was going to close indefinitely, I went, okay, well, maybe today is the day to hit the max (75). I think I ended up with sixty something. But it means I've been reading a lot - aiming to finish a book a day, have only missed one day for the past 10??? days or so. I like to read so much and having this amount of open time to do so is kind of mindblowing. 

- I started learning Russian??? I've been off my game for a few days now but I have four language apps pulled up. Cyrillic is hard as a script, though, because it's so close to English - there's н which looks like H but sounds like "n" and р which looks like P and sounds like "r." It's trippier than learning a language with our alphabet or learning a language with an entirely different script. 

- Been cooking more. When you work nights in theatre, it's pretty easy to get used to coming home and eating cereal or toast. Even when I have time home during the day, I generally cook lazily and (spoiled though it may be) take advantage of the leftovers my parents leave. The other day my dad and I made this incredible Indian meal with masoor dahl, cauliflower and eggplant, spinach, chapatis, and rice. It was deeply wholesome. Today I finished a book and at the back there was a recipe, so I just got up and made a burnt sugar syrup cake with maple icing and it was incredible!! 

- I've ended up cleaning more than I normally would. The best bit was I reorganized my bookshelf - taking knicknacks and junk off, clearing off the top so I can use that for more books, taking out books that I don't like/don't need anymore and replacing it with books I feel like represent me or I'm excited to read in the future. I'm extremely happy every time I look across the room and see it reordered. 

- Finally set up my drums again. I learned how to play drums senior year of high school but then dropped it throughout college - even when I came back in the summer, I couldn't get myself to sit back down and relearn the skills, which then combined with the guilt that I owned these instruments and didn't play them anymore. Guilt over shit like that feels pretty stupid, but there you go. But today I put everything in its place and started playing around again and it was cool. 

- Honestly, socializing. For one, I'm getting to be around my whole family - my lil sis is home from college and, because we're home all day every day, my schedule obviously aligns with my parents'. It's another theatre thing, where if I'm working at night and my parents are working during the day, it's nearly guaranteed I'll never see them. But there's also a lot of socializing with my friends as we all try to keep each other sane. My one friend organizes a weekly playreading group and we've been faithfully doing it virtually for the last couple weeks, I did an rpg with some pals today, and a good friend of mine and i have been watching shows together and live texting. One of my other friends has been tweeting out a Zoom invitation where anyone can join him to just chill, so sometimes I hop on there while in bed and chat between reading. It's like, these virtual options are always open to us but we're not necessarily always in  a position where we feel like we need to take advantage of them. 

That was a little long and felt more like a debrief than anything else, but it's definitely an accurate record of what a normal person in this moment is finding to fill the time and avoid getting sucked into the social media news hole of despair. 

[martinacollenderplaywrightblog]

Interview I did with #FierceWomenCollective

Name: Martina Collender

Occupation: Playwright and Repeal the 8th Activist

Nationality: Irish

Country of residence: Ireland

Languages spoken: English

Contact: thefavouritegame@gmail.com

Tumblr blog: martinacollenderplaywright

Twitter: @Teenycollender

Availability: Martina is available to teach Creative Writing and Drama to all ages and also to give workshops on Play-writing. She is also available to gives talks on Repeal The 8th Campaign.

Advice to other women: "Everyone has a story in them. Write that play. Write the play you need to write. And don't ever, ever let anyone tell you you can't do it, because people will. They'll tell you, "You can't do that. You're not able to do that," and it's their own self-worries projected onto you. So don't ever let anyone tell you you can't do it."

Today I'm joined by an incredible woman who has a really long list of accomplishments up her sleeve. Involved in theatre and performing arts industries, Martina Collender is a playwright, writer and performer who is also actively involved in teaching of writing and drama to many young people. But in addition to her paid work, Martina is also a fierce campaigner for the Repeal the 8th movement in Ireland, which I will let her go into more detail about shortly. Welcome, Martina.

Thank you so much for having me.

          

Oh, it's wonderful to be able to speak with you today, and I really appreciate your time. Look, I thought we could start with talking about your theatre career. First question I had was, have you always wanted to be a playwright, and what is it about performance that captures your imagination?

Well, I joined Waterford Youth Arts, which is a youth theatre company based in Ireland. They do drama, arts, dance, creative writing and film. I joined when I was 16 and I left school quite young. I left school when I was 13 or 14, and I didn't really know what to do with my life. I quickly discovered I'm not an actor, I'm the worst actor in the world, so I was about to give it all up. I hated acting.

                                               

When I went to see a play by a local playwright called Jim Daly, To Leap From Paradise, and it might as well have been the West End, I fell in love with the lights, with the performance, with the idea you can tell a person's heart on stage through writing and performance. So I couldn't act, I couldn't do too much else, so I decided I was going to be a writer. So I got loads of plays out of the local library. I got Brian Friel, I got all the classic playwrights, and I read them all and I fell in love with it.

                                               

Ever since then, I haven't really been able to do anything else and I'm just enthralled by the idea that theatre can give a voice to the voiceless. And any good theatre, I think, if you pay your money for your ticket, you can sit down and you can see your own life on stage. That's the magic of theatre for me. I can't do anything else so I'm kind of stuck with writing.

Oh, it sounds absolutely beautiful. You left school so, so young and it's hard for an adult to imagine what they want to do, let alone a young person of that age. Was it easy to infiltrate the performing arts scene in your local area? Were you welcomed?

Well, I was really, really lucky. I was incredibly supported. I had Ollie Breslin at Waterford Youth Arts who welcomed me with open arms and gave me every opportunity I could possibly hope for. And then in Garter Lane Arts Centre, our local theatre, Jim Nolan opened doors to me, a professional director, and training me up as a stage manager. And then I went onto Ben Hennessy with Red Kettle Theatre Company, another professional theatre company, and they opened their doors for me and allowed me opportunities to learn. I think with theatre, you can't really learn from a book. I think you have to learn by doing it.

                                               

I then went onto Liam who gave me every opportunity, and Liam said a great thing once. He said, "The only thing you can ever give someone in this life is your time. Money and all of that other rubbish doesn't matter. The only thing you can give someone is time." And I was really lucky that I had all these professionals give me their time and patience and knowledge and look after me and take care of me when I messed up again and again and again. And what a wonderful thing to do. They weren't paid for that. They had no reason to do that. They just saw a young person who loved theatre and desperately wanted to learn, and they gave me everything they could. So I've been incredibly supportive. I've been very, very lucky.

Ah, that's absolutely wonderful. I must say, the idea about time being the most valuable thing you can give someone, I completely agree. It really is amazing what that can do for somebody's life. So it's wonderful to hear that other people around the world use that motto as well.

Yes. When Liam said it to me, and he said it to me two years ago and it was like a revelation, I was like, "Oh my God, you're right! That's all we can give each other. Yes!"

​

Martina's first play, written at just 17 years old.

What about the process of writing for you? How old were you when you produced your first play?

I was 17 when I had my first play put on, and that was a youth theatre play, so I work with youth arts regularly and I write for the old people. My first adult production put on in 2013 in the Theatre Royal with Red Kettle Theatre Company called Lover's Dust, which was directed by Ben Hennessey. That was a huge, huge opportunity for me and I learned a lot of lessons from it. The main thing Ben gave me was the confidence. He gave me the confidence that I was someone and that I could write.

                                               

In terms of the process of writing, it's really hard. It's really hard to write a play. It's really hard. But I picked up a lot of skills over the years on how to do it and how to sit down with it. I suppose, again, it comes back to support. The best thing you can do is get a group of actors in a room who read the play with you and say, "Oh, that doesn't work. Maybe try this," and you take a pen and you start cutting things.

Okay, so this is probably a really ignorant question, but I'm going to ask. What about the selection of people, the casting selection for the play? When you are writing something, do you have a strong idea in your mind of who you want to portray that or is that something that kind of happens organically?

                     

I wouldn't. I suppose a lot of people are writer/director. I don't have the skills to be a director, so through the audition process I just don't know. When I write my character, I don't write them for specific actors. There's obviously actors I admire desperately and I dream of having them in my play, but I kind of leave that up to the director. I'd hand over and I'd trust the director and I'd be like, "I don't know what to do now. You take that over. You do that bit."



Does that partnership always go well for people around you as well?

Yeah. Well I suppose it's the thing I love about theatre. It's one of the one art forms that's all about collaboration. You can't to theatre alone, and it literally is collaboration, so you have to work with the actors. So if an actor says, "I can't say that line," you won't get anywhere if you go, "Well I wrote it. Say it." You have to work with them.

                                               

The magic of theatre is it's collaboration down to the person who's sewing a button on someone's shirt so it looks right. It's collaboration down to the person who sweeps the stage. It's collaboration down to the light designer, the sound designer, the set designer. Nothing happens without a group of people coming together and saying, "We're coming into this room and we're going to try and create something together."

                                               

If you write a book, it's very much yours. You've got pure creative control over it. Like, you work with an editor, but that world you're creating's yours. But in theatre, when I create a character, what a costume designer might do with that character might be completely different to what I had in my head. And it's hard. It's hard sometimes. Like, you would be having fights with people, you would be killing each other, but that's all part of it and that's what I love about it. And it's why I don't write film scripts, it's why I don't write books, it's why I write theatre.

'Cause we live in an age now where we've seen so many progressions in the way we experience culture, I guess. People used to go to the theatre and then there were movies and now there's Netflix. Have you found that people are still as interested in theatre and attending a theatre performance as they always have been? Or have people increased their interest in theatre? What's your experience there?

It's a tricky one. It's a tricky one. It's difficult to get people to come to theatre. It's very difficult, and because of Netflix and because of the cinema, and it's hard to get people in the door. I suppose you're trying to sell different playwrights to people as different authors or different filmmakers, so I do think it is difficult. On the flip side of that, I will contradict myself. I have seen a lot of younger playwrights come up and therefore a lot of younger people going to the theatre. But it's hard. Publicity for theatre is one of the main things that you have to push.

                                               

I do think it has changed. I think theatre has changed. I think Friel and all the classic playwrights, I don't really see a lot of that anymore, and I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. I think we can always have respect for Friel and Shakespeare and the old school playwrights and we can also make room for the new playwrights. It's just about advertising it a way so people know if you're coming to see this place, you know what you're going to get. But in Waterford Theatre is alive and well. We're lucky with that. We're very lucky in Waterford 'cause we have Spraoi, we have a national street theatre festival, so we have a lot of arts in Waterford. Sheila Penkart has recently taken over Garter Lane Arts Centre, and she's worked in theatre since she was 11, so I'm incredibly excited to see what she'll do. But it's a constant battle to get people in the door. But I find once you have them in the door, they're hooked. We just have to get them in the door.

​Yeah, this is the thing. The thrill that you get from a live performance cannot be rivalled by anything that you see on screen, and that's not to take away from movies. Obviously we enjoy movies and they tell a story, but I know for myself, there's nothing like a live performance and connecting with a character or a theme.

Absolutely. Like you have to nail on the head ... nailing it on the head there. The cinema's great, books are great, these are all extraordinary art forms, but when you're in a theatre, if theater's done well, you're feeling what the characters are feeling, you're in the courtroom, you're going through them with it and it's happening right in front of you. If you're lucky enough to see a group of extraordinary actors, you feel like you're living the story with them. That's why I much prefer to go to the theatre than to go to the cinema because, with the cinema, there is a block of screen, and also the magic of live theatre, you don't know what will happen every night. With a film, if you mess something up you can just do another take. You don't know how the audience will react. Sometimes the audience will laugh at one thing, they won't laugh at another, so you don't know. So every time that curtain goes up, who knows what will happen? Who knows what will happen? When things go wrong, they're the stories you're going to be laughing at 20 years from now. It's really magic 'cause you're watching human beings be live on stage, and you don't know what will happen. But as with like Netflix, you can pause it. Do you know? You can press pause when you're bored. That's exactly what I'd be selling. That's exactly the reason I sell theatre to people.

I'm sorry, I have to ask: obviously you're working with professionals and you have strategies with dealing with that, but what does happen when things go wrong? Is it just a matter of ploughing ahead or have you seen any real disasters?

I've worked with nine year olds, I've worked with amateurs, I've worked with professionals, and everything has gone wrong. Whether you're a professional or you're a nine-year-old child acting for the first time, what we say is keep going. You just keep going. You keep going. I've heard ... there's a hilarious story about this. There was a play, and there was a coffin on stage, and they had a mannequin in the coffin to play the body. The actor was giving a really big emotional speech and the head of the mannequin fell off and rolled across the front of the stage, and all he did was he walked down, picked up the mannequin and he said, "Right, well that's it then." You have to keep going and you have to have a sense of humour about it. Now, for the actors, it's the worst thing in the world to happen, but if you keep going, I guarantee you it'll be the best story to tell. It's the best story to tell.

I just love that so much. I mean, it's good. I think you do have to keep a light heart about that kind of thing, and you're making memories at the very least.

Yes, yes. Looking for the positive, always.



You just mentioned it there about you work with a lot of young people. In what ways do you think drama and creative writing are benefiting young people nowadays?

Well, one thing I think that theatre does for young people, it's very little to do with the play. I'd actually say the play, the end product, is the last on the list. I think what theatre does for people in general is give them confidence. It gives them confidence. So when we do drama classes, for me it gave me confidence, it saved me. I work with Shine Discovery, which is for people who are recovering from mental illness, and I work with young people. So what if none of them pursue a career in theatre? That has nothing to do with it. But the confidence they get, and they get a group of friends and they get a summer of memories and they get to laugh and they get to know it's okay to laugh at yourself. Like, they do. Do you know, it's like, "We're going to make a show of ourself here. If something goes wrong, doesn't matter at all. Doesn't matter. Laugh it off," and so their confidence soars. And whether it be with speech, or finding out who they are ...'Cause being young is really hard. I don't think young people get enough credit. You're 13, you're in a new school, you're trying to find yourself, you're trying to keep up with study, you're trying to keep your parents happy, you're trying to find friends, you're discovering the first pain of friends not lasting forever, you're trying to find out who you like, you're discovering alcohol, you're discovering drugs, and all this time you're expected to smile and be perfect. So if they can come into a room, and we run around and play games and we get to find out about each other and we get to discover empathy and, more importantly, they're told they have a voice and they matter. Even if that voice is saying, "I'm really angry at the world," that's incredibly important. A lot of them leave and go off to do other careers, but they carry the confidence with them that they got in drama. So that's actually what theatre does for people. It has very little to do with what the audience sees. It's teamwork, it's importance, it's responsibility, it's valuing you as a human, and it's telling the world that we care about you and if you're not here, this play isn't going to happen. That's how important you are. So that's what I think's the real magic of working with kids in theatre.

It sounds absolutely beautiful. As you know, this project is about developing confidence in people, and it's wonderful to hear that there's a medium out there, particularly in young people, help them during, as you said, what is quite a vulnerable time in their lives. Is it easy to recruit young people to come along and learn about drama and partake in your activities?

We have a huge membership at Waterford Youth Arts, but I suppose the barrier I feel when I say to young people, "Come and do drama," they think we all sit around wearing black, talking about Shakespeare sat down and I'm like, "We don't do that! Come along." So that's the barrier, I find. But I do believe, and I understand how difficult it is to walk into that room. It's very difficult to walk into a room for the first time, but if you can just make that first step, once you come in, you'll stay.

And what about the teaching side of things when it comes to writing and drama? Obviously, as you've just said, it's not just about coming out with a finished product, it's about developing all these special skills and individual skills as well. But is it easy to teach someone to think creatively and be involved in drama, or do you think that it really comes from the person themselves?

I think it definitely comes from the person itself. Well, I fully believe, hand on heart, there's not a single person who walks on this earth who is not creative. I fully believe that. So my role, as a tutor, is getting them to find their voice, getting them to find what they want to say, getting them to find their confidence in making their art. I can give them tips and tricks and formulas that they might find useful when they're trying to figure out what they want to create, but at the end of the day my main goal is to help them find their voice.

                                               

Like, when it comes to teach creative writing, I'm dyslexic. I left school quite early. I have no time whatsoever for marking someone's work or spelling or grammar. I tell you, when I teach creative writing, forget about spelling or grammar. Let's just get out what's in your head. I give them writing prompts. For example, with the 15 to 19s I'm working with, the most recent prompt I asked them to do was secrets. We all have a secret, so they all wrote down their secrets and swapped them with someone else, and that was a writing prompt. Or with my nine to 11 group, I asked them to bring in their favourite teddy bears, 'cause our teddies know everything about us, they know everything about us, and we wrote the adventures of our teddy bears, and that was extraordinarily beautiful. We had one teddy called Froggy who is afraid of water and hasn't been washed in all of his life.

                                               

What I find as well, with young people, if you give them that skill of their teddies, if they're feeling scared or they're worried, they find it easier to talk to the teddy. So they're able to say, "Well, Froggy's a bit scared of this," and then it's "That's okay." So it's able for them to talk through their problems without having to say it's me. So when I teach performers, when I teach drama, I just teach them the basics. I teach them blocking and focalization, I teach them that. But mainly I teach them the self-belief and confidence to walk out on stage.



It sounds like the impact you're having transcends the drama itself, which is just so wonderful. What about in terms of young people that you work with that do want to pursue a career in the arts? I know for myself and people around me growing up, pursuing a career in the arts could be dissuaded because it's perceived as an unstable career path. I was wondering, for yourself, have you experienced any negativity pertaining to wanting to be a playwright, or do you feel that the children that you work with have those fears as well?

Well, I've been quite lucky. I've been incredibly supported from my family and from my community and from my friends. But at the same time, I do acknowledge that it's a tough career. Like, financially, I'm quite lucky. I don't have a mortgage, I don't have a family, I don't have kids, so I just have to look after myself, and I know a lot of people who are professionals in this career and are still not financially rewarded. What I always say to people when they say, "I want to study creative writing," I always say you do what you need to do. If you need to study theatre or creative writing, don't get to 90 years old and regret it. You have time. You can study creative writing and drama, and if it doesn't work out you can go back to college as a mature student. What I always say to someone who's unsure, I say you never have to give it up. You can be a nurse, you can be a guard, you can be any other career in this world and you can still write, you can still perform. This is not something that will ever be taken away from you. It's not a direct choice. And obviously the people will say, "I don't want to study it." I'm like, "Cool, best of luck but please come back and visit."

                                               

But it's tough, and I'm not a parent but I can imagine the anxiety that parents have when their child wants to do it, because it's a tough business when you go to your fifth audition and you don't get the part, or you get your age rejection letter, and you need the support of someone sitting there and telling you it's okay. It is a tough business to get into, but it just comes back to it's you don't want to regret that you didn't give it a shot. Like, there is time. You can try it. And if it doesn't work out, so what? You'll get memories, you'll have learned a lesson, you can keep it up, you can go on to teach creative writing, you can go on to teach drama, you can do an amateur production of a play. It doesn't end. But if you're 18, you have nothing to lose, you have no one else to look after in this world, apart from yourself, go for it. Go for it. What's the worst that could happen?

                                               

On the flip side of that, if you're 50 and you've had your job and you're kids are reared and you think maybe now I could write a play, do it. Do it. Do it. Absolutely, do it. If the thoughts in your head, do it. What's the worst that could happen? Someone will say they don't like it and you tell them to go away. That's just one person's opinion. Do you know?

That's exactly right. So what? I do feel that sometimes we're so caught up in other people's opinions that we forget that it's okay to live and just do what we want to do. If we're not hurting other people, why not give it a go?

Absolutely. And look, I'm not saying I don't get hurt from people saying I didn't like the play, but it's part of it. You have to go, "Yeah," and do you know what? It's better to have the audience halved and one half saying I liked it and one half saying the other liked it. The worst thing in the world is a group of people to come out and say, "It was nice." Nice! Steak is nice. I'd much prefer for someone to be so angry by hating the play and have an emotional reaction rather than going, "It's grand, yeah."

Actually, I've never thought of that before, but that must be so true. I think, yeah, I'd rather polarise reactions than the word nice, for sure.

Yeah.

And so we've covered it a little bit. You say you've experienced negativity and you move on. What about performance itself, or even the idea of presenting your work to other people? Do you ever feel nervous about doing that and, if so, how do you tackle those nerves?

Yeah, I'm terrified constantly. I'm terrified on a daily basis. If I send an email to someone, I am terrified, and when it gets to opening night of one of my plays, I freak out. I completely freak out. It's agony. Do you know? It's tough. It's very, very, very tough. I don't have a solution. I don't have a magic solution. All I know is that it's worth it when the audience say or the actors say or someone says it had an impact on them. I think self-doubt. In any creative business you're always battling with self-doubt, you're always going, "I'm rubbish. This is rubbish. Who do I think I am to be a writer? Everyone's going to hate it." And it's part and parcel of it. It's part and parcel of it. You have to find ways to cope.

                                               

I walk a lot. I find exercise genuinely saves my mental health. I talk to my friends, my very close friends about it, and I cry a lot. I cry a lot. I cry so much. But I think it's important to release it out of your body in some way, because if you keep it inside you, you're just going to end up being unwell, so if you can find a way to get it out of your body, I think is the only advice I can offer. And do you know what? If you feel that nervous about it, then it means you care about it 'cause you're having to put a lot of your heart into it, so it's a good thing to be nervous.



And what about your experience as a woman in the performing arts industry? Obviously it sounds like you've had a very supported career and that you're surrounded by supportive people. Would you say that women are well represented in your field?

Yes and no. We had to....in the feminist campaign that hit the Abbey Theatre, which is the national theatre of Ireland, two years ago, and it was making the point that it was a lot of male writers that had been chosen by the Abbey in the recent years, and it was making a point of women being underrepresented and represented in the arts.

                                               

To be honest, it's a tricky one and I struggle with it. I wouldn't want to see a situation where five females and five males have been chosen because we need five females. I think it should always come down to talent. I think in every show I've worked with there's been equal men and women been involved, but I do think it's a campaign worth noting because I don't think it was always that way and I do think there is still battles with women being asked to take lower wages and having to fight your way to top, and there are horrible people you meet who make sexist comments and I don't think that's representative of the industry, I think it's representative of horrible men, but they are in the industry and I'd like to see that broken down that there's a way where you don't have to engage with them. You can get around it. But, in my opinion, like, both of our theatres in Waterford are being run by Mary Boland and Sheila Penkart. They're the strongest women in Waterford Theatre, so I'm quite lucky living in Waterford. I'm surrounded by strong female role models and there's even more coming up. But I do think it's a question we should be asking ourselves as society.

There's been a lot more information about this kind of thing recently, so I know there have been in studies, in academia, showing that if a person's name is put on a list and the gender is revealed or the gender is inferred by their name, that men will often be put to the top of the pile or selected over a woman. In the theatre industry, are there ways to combat that? In a selection of plays, is it possible to remove people's names so that it is based on the play itself and not the person associated with it?

Yes, that is possible, and my name is Martina. I've often thought about, when I submit plays, would I change it to Martin? And I didn't out of principle. I refused to. I think the danger of removing the playwright's name for the posters is you're taking away the credit to the playwright. But that is a solution, do you know, and I think it's very important we're having the conversation. Let's find solutions, and even if 50 of those solutions are wrong or don't work, we're having the conversation.

                                               

Now, that would just be my opinion. A lot of people would say the playwright has nothing to do with it because it's on stage at this point, so it should be regardless whether the playwright's name is mentioned. But I would just argue back for the playwrights it's important to have the acknowledgement of the name on the poster.

Yeah, and I can absolutely see, of course you put all that work in, and it also has implications for future work for you as well obviously if you're names on a poster or whether it's not. It's a very complicated issue. How do you get to the root of that problem and that bias that's still in there?

Absolutely. I'm intrigued by the fact it's so complicated. I'm like, well, let's keep talking about it, 'cause anything worth doing never had an easy answer, and if it has an easy answer I think it would've been done years ago. But I think it's so important this dialogue is opened and it's talked about with people within the industry, people outside the industry, how do they perceive it? Male, female, transgender, everyone needs to be involved in this conversation until we find a solution for it. Because we can't bury our heads in the sand and say, "Oh, that's too difficult." I think as society, as the world, we need to address yeah, there's been a problem, women been oppressed for years. Just because we're not oppressed anymore, just because we're fighting and we've risen doesn't mean that we're not still holding onto old habits that need to be erased from the way we speak about women, the way that we address and acknowledge women, and it's just keep conversation open.



​What are your thoughts then, as a woman in the performing arts industry, on the recent MeToo campaign? Obviously this is a huge ... there are many campaigns around the world, there've been people for many years discussing these issues, but obviously this has blown up and it's very topical at the moment. Do you have any thoughts and opinions about that campaign or things pertaining to it?

Yes, absolutely. I suppose I might get in trouble for saying this. I'm a bit controversial on the MeToo campaign to be brutally honest. My problem with the MeToo campaign is this is brilliant, we're finally breaking silence. Absolutely. I am 100% behind it. I can't imagine the pain of women who have suffered this. But my problem with it is it's blown up, it's everywhere, it's on Twitter, you can't escape it even if you want to, and I'd be very concerned the counselling services been put in place for women who have suffered this abuse.

                                               

In Ireland, counselling for survivors of sexual abuse is very limited, and recently the MeToo campaign broke in Ireland. I'd be very concerned about women who are very distraught, very upset, open wounds have happened, and they're on Twitter asking for someone to help them. So that's one of my concerns with the MeToo campaign.

                                               

My other concern with the MeToo campaign, we have a court of law. Whether we like it or not, that's our court of law and we have to abide by it, because if we start taking the law into our own hands we're going to end up destroying each other. Literally destroying each other. And what I'd say to the MeToo campaign, I'd like to see the MeToo campaign as tackling the court of law.

                                               

In Ireland, there's one per cent, one per cent of conviction of rape cases, and the way a woman is treated in rape or sexual assaults in Ireland is disgusting. It's the only crime, it is the only crime where the victim is a liar until proven innocent and you're underwear is shown to you in court and you go through eight days of cross-examination, and if you had any alcohol in you you're just not believed. So I would like to see this campaign move forward fighting for counselling and also fighting for conviction of rapists.

                                               

I heard a brilliant quote. Someone said, "My experiences deserve more than a MeToo hashtag on Twitter." Twitter is 160 characters. How can you put what happened to you into 160 characters? I think it's brilliant that we're vocalising it, but I think we need to follow up the vocalisation with action, and I think the law needs to stand up and admit that they've been treating women horrifically and they need to change the law. Because, at the minute, I can't actually imagine why anyone would go to the police if they'd been raped because you're treated horribly. You're treated like you're the one who committed the crime. In Ireland, for example, if you go to a sexual assault and rape clinic, you're asked is there mental illness or alcoholism in your family? If you're stabbed you're not asked that. What does that have to do with the fact that you've just been raped?

                                               

I'm delighted, I'm really, perversely I'm using the word delighted, that it's been acknowledged, because for years women, and men who've been raped as well, have just had to get over it themselves and know there is no justice for it and that's it. And particularly with Facebook and camera phones now, that's an issue that needs to be addressed. People are having pictures taken of them and put up without their consent. So it's great, but I'd like to see us moving forward with it and putting in practical solutions and help for women that just has not been there.

You have articulated your thoughts on that absolutely beautifully, and I must say that I mirror a lot of those sentiments. I find it very concerning the idea of a trial by social media, and I also feel that in today's day and age it's very easy to become complacent, that we feel that if we comment online and don't actually do any action in the real world that that is participating and actually helping to change things, and I think that's only very true on a very limited scale. It's very good, as you said, to talk about things and get the knowledge out there, but at the end of the day action is what is going to change things, and I think that's a beautiful perspective. Thank you so much for sharing that.

Thank you very much. Thanks a million.

Moving on, I think it's a really good time actually to introduce talking about the Repeal the 8th campaign that you have been a fierce campaigner for yourself. You obviously have very strong opinions and are very passionate about topics pertaining to women and women's rights. For those overseas who aren't aware of the Repeal the 8th campaign, are you able to tell us what the campaign is about and why you support it so strongly?

Yes. I've spoken to a lot of my friends who are overseas, and they found it incredibly shocking when I told them what Repeal the 8th is. So, the 8th Amendment, basically if you're pregnant in Ireland, under no circumstances can you have access to an abortion. That includes rape, that includes if your life is in danger, that includes if you're told your child won't live, you still have to carry that child. That includes if you have had an accident and you're on life support. If the foetus has a beating heart, you will be kept on life support.

Wow.

It's very, very, very restrictive. Under no circumstances, under no circumstances are you able to access an abortion in Ireland. Abortion pills are illegal. If you're caught taking an abortion pill you can face up to seven years in prison, I think. So our option at the minute for thousands of Irish women is to travel to England for an abortion, and that costs a lot of money. It's averaging a thousand Euro to get over there, including flights and including the money for the procedure once you get over there. We have heard horrific cases, we have heard horrendous cases.

                                               

​In 1991, there was case X. She was a 14-year-old girl who was raped by a man known to the family, and became pregnant. She decided she wanted to have an abortion and her mother was going to go with her, and the family told the Guards that they were going over there because they just wanted them to know, and they also were hoping would there be any evidence that they could get to try and identify the man and get him convicted. They were stopped from going and that girl was forced to remain pregnant. At 14, raped, she was forced to remain pregnant. They eventually went to court, and she eventually ended up having a miscarriage. But if she hadn't miscarried, that 14-year-old child would've been forced to remain pregnant. Most recently, last year, a teenager requested an abortion, and she was put into a psychiatric ward and was forced to remain pregnant.

                                               

Now, they're the extreme cases on the most basic level. No woman in Ireland has the rights to her own body. No woman. We have to be forced to remain pregnant against our will, so if we're suffering mental illness, if we just don't want to have that pregnancy for whatever reason, whether it be cases of rape, whether it be an abusive situation, whether it be financial strain, whether it be that they're in college and they want to live their own life, whether they feel they have three children and they can't afford to feed them, whether it be their last child was a stillborn and they can't go through with another pregnancy, it doesn't matter. You have to leave your own country to access basic healthcare.

Look, I must say it blows my mind, and I am actually at a loss for words. I mean, this is 2018, and I firmly believe that my body is my body and what I do with it is my right, and so I would love to believe that there's enough support in the community to repeal the 8th. But the fact that it's still there is concerning, from what you've said. So what is the feeling like in your community at the moment? Are you confident that the 8th will be repealed, or is there still strong resistance to keeping it there?

I'm terrified. We're going to have a vote in May and we're campaigning, we're canvassing, we're going door to door, we're doing stalls, but I'm genuinely worried. I'm really worried whether it's going to come true or not because the Pro Life are against the 8th Amendment being repealed. They've got a huge amount of money and also they're quite aggressive with their lies. They tend to tell lies, and they tend to also pull on the heartstrings. Like, they're going around saying, "Oh, if abortion is allowed in Ireland a woman can have abortion at nine months." That's absolute lies and its ridiculous. But they are pulling on the heartstrings and they're very emotionally abusive, I think. So I'm genuinely worried.

                                               

In the past five years, there's been a huge uprising, a huge uprising for Repeal the 8th. There's a woman I work with, Sue Larkin, she's been fighting for this for 35 years. That's a very long time, and she said when she used to go out 30 years ago, people would throw bottles at them, they'd release dogs on them, they'd call them murderers. You might get three people to go to an event because people were so afraid to say that they were pro-choice, but it was happening. It was happening. Thousands of people were going to England. So in the last five years there's been a huge, huge uprise, and there've been T-shirts and jumpers done, and it's starting to feel like there's a community behind it. Anyone who's going to vote no on this is crazy and is ridiculous because they're trying to control a woman's body. But I don't know, I think it'd be very dangerous at this stage to say we have it in the bag. I think the whole world is looking at Ireland to see what you're going to do, and I hope that pressure will put it forward, but I'm going to keep canvassing and hopefully we will make a difference.

And what about the idea of the referendum itself? This is something that I'm not sure of what my opinion is on it, but the idea of a referendum sounds wonderful, it's very democratic, but we're talking about a decision pertaining to someone's body, and you're allowing the masses to make that decision when you would hope that the people that you have elected to parliament have the good sense and the education and understanding to be able to pass these things in parliament without referring to the people.

As we've seen in recent years, I mean, just because there's a referendum, doesn't mean that sensible choices will be made, and I don't need to go into anymore detail about that. Are you happy with the path of a referendum? Do you think this is the only way to change it in Ireland at the moment?

No, I'm not really ... What happened in Ireland before Christmas, they had a thing called the Eighth Committee, so they had people who've been directly affected from both sides give their say on it. So they had a wonderful woman speaking about foetal fatal abnormality, and they had people from the Pro Life side, and this went on for weeks. I followed it and I genuinely thought that was enough. I thought that was enough because they had hundreds of women saying this has affected me directly, and the cruelty of the journey of travelling. But it's our legal system and I have to abide by it. Whether I agree with it or not I have to abide by it.

                                               

I do hope the people of Ireland will make the right decision because what's bizarre at the minute is there's no aftercare for women when they come home, and we're all pretending like this isn't happening. It's 12 women a day are making an horrific journey. It was admitted that at least one woman bled out flying home. When you go over there, you're told, once you've gotten the procedure, to go to a cinema because it's warm, and if you collapse there'll be people around you to help you. When you return home, you're expected to go to work on Monday morning.

                                               

It's very difficult to find counselling that isn't from the Pro Life side. Just physical aftercare, it's not there. You're given Panadol and you're expected to be silent about this. Even if you are 100% sure you're making the right decision, this is one of the hardest things you're going to have to do in your life, and you have to carry it around by yourself, so if Ireland is saying abortion is illegal, they're completely ignoring 12 women a day who are travelling.

                                               

I heard a great thing. A couple moved to Ireland from America because they thought that Ireland didn't allow abortion that we had great care for people with disabilities. And we don't. But they presumed because abortion is illegal we've got all these supports. We don't at all. We don't at all. And there's a group, People with Disabilities for Choice, and they're making the point, well, what if I have a disability and I want to have an abortion? So there is a huge, huge uprise, but it is shocking. Ireland is very, very shocking with the way we treat women.





I always find that very interesting that you on one hand don't provide the support to women to enable them to have control of their bodies and have an abortion, and then on the flip side of that also don't provide support. It's almost like an extension of punishment to women: yes we're not going to allow you rights to your body and if you do take that path, we're not going to support you and give you the help that you need afterwards to make you a happy and healthy person in society. It just blows my mind, in short.

Absolutely. For a single mother, there isn't a lot of financial support and it's very difficult to get that support. You're treated horribly by the system. We have a housing crisis at the minute. Do you know, a lot of families are homeless at the minute. A lot of families are homeless at the minute. If you do choose to have the baby, it's impossible to get counselling after a pregnancy. There's no support. There's no support for any kind of pregnancy. And contraceptive isn't free. Contraceptive is not free in Ireland. You have to get the contraceptive pill on prescription from your doctor. Condoms aren't free. Our sex education is horrendous. There's no sex education for gay or transgender people. So what I'd say to the government, how about you put a lot of money into fixing the housing crisis, how about we allow free non-catholic, non-religion-based sex education that actually answers people's questions, and free contraceptive. And then when they've done all that, they can say, "We don't want abortion here."

That's a very, very valid point. And the idea that church and state are still so intertwined is very, very concerning. What about the topic of abortion itself? Obviously it's a very serious one. There are probably women who are listening to this who are Pro Life and don't agree with it, but in particular if you do support abortion, it tends to leave women open for attack in a variety of horrendous ways. I was wondering, have you personally experienced any negativity about your beliefs and, if so, how do you cope with those attacks?

I do. I do. I experience a lot of negativity. I have no problem talking to someone who's Pro Life and we can debate it calmly, and more often than not we have to shake hands 'cause I'm trying to change their mind and they're trying to change my mind and it's not going to happen, so we just have to part ways and leave it go. But there is the extremists who will call you a murderer, who will scream at you. And the way I cope with it is because I know right now, on a plane, there is 12 women going through the worst day of their life, and they are hoping someone is going to do something about it. So if I wear a jumper, if I have a protest, if I buy a badge, if I have a conversation, it's me helping those women in a tiny, tiny way. And you know what? Abortion is very upsetting. No one wants to have an abortion. There is not a single person in this world who wants to have an abortion. It's a crisis pregnancy. Crisis. And they deserve our support as well. And often people who have an abortion, they are thinking about the child. They don't want to bring the child into their circumstances or this world for a reason, and they should be given support in making that choice. In terms of negativity, it's getting very hot here in Ireland, it's getting very heated, and I think it's going to get worse in the next couple of weeks. I just have to practise self-care. I need to be warm a lot. I find being warm helps me, or exercise. And not engaging with it. Do you know, if someone is becoming abusive, I would never become abusive to someone who is Pro Life. I respect your opinion, I respect that you would never make the choice to have an abortion, but how can you take that choice away from someone else?

That's exactly right. And what would your advice be to Irish women out there who may be pregnant or lack access to contraception and feel they have no options? I mean, you're obviously very aware of the campaign, you know the ins and outs of the law, are there support services you can recommend that they may be able to access?

Women on the Web is a fantastic service, and they can offer you advice. My main thing to women is when you're googling, be careful of the sites you look up, because sometimes sites you're looking up is Pro Life and they're trying to change your mind. And now it can be easily solved by just clicking on whatever site you look up and making sure that they're not trying to lead you in one way. And also to contact clinics in England. BPAS, B-P-A-S, is fantastic. They're a brilliant clinic. They can offer you counselling, they can offer you options, they're going to explain exactly what's going to happen to you. They look after you and they'll take care of you. Unfortunately, they're looking after Irish women, 'cause we won't look after them at home. But they are a fantastic service and they will look after you.

Wonderful. Thank you so much. I can't imagine the fear that a woman must feel not being able to access services that she so desperately needs. I'm sure that even if one woman knows that there is now a site that they can at least go to or some way that they can maybe get out of their situation, I'm sure that is a huge help. Concerning the campaign itself, what if there are women who want to support the campaign but don't really know what to do or how to go about it, do you have any advice for them?

Yes, absolutely. Well, if you're in Waterford you can contact Pro Choice Waterford. We're on Facebook, Twitter, and our email is prochoicewaterford@gmail.com. What we are saying to people is, 'cause a lot of people want to get involved in the campaign but they're saying we don't have time or we don't really feel comfortable standing on streets, so we offer a wide range of things you can do to help.

                                               

If you've got half an hour spare and you can drop some leaflets in your area, that would be a fantastic help 'cause we can't get to everywhere. We're based in the city centre. If you would like to sell some badges or T-shirts, that would be brilliant for us if you want to take five away. If you'd like to help us set up a table quiz, because it is quite negative, so if we have a night out and we're all supportive of each other, that would be fantastic. If you want to share us on Facebook, that would be great. If you could give us a like, even to build up a community. If you'd like to write a letter, this'd be very important. Writing a letter to your local newspaper — letters to the editor have to be printed — just on why you're supporting Repeal the 8th. If you're national in Ireland, you can get involved in the Abortion Rights Campaign, if you're across the seas and you want to help, you can order merchandise from the Abortion Rights Campaign. All money goes back into the campaign and it would greatly help us. So if you just check out the Abortion Rights Campaign, Pro Choice Waterford, we've loads of events coming up, and even literally, it sounds stupid, but if you can buy a mug for a fiver it would be a huge help for all that money to go back into this campaign.

Fantastic. And what I love about that, as you said, there are so many ways that you can hep that can fit in with your lifestyle and your ability and your ability to speak out, because I understand there may even be women who are really in support of this but can't speak out because of their certain situation at home or whatever it may be, so that's wonderful that you have so many avenues that women can access.

Yes, absolutely.

You said you're on Facebook as well, and I have to draw attention to that because a lot of people do use Facebook nowadays, and so sorry, is it Repeal the 8th at Facebook? Is that what you're campaign is?

Yes. We're on Pro Choice Waterford. If you type in Repeal the 8th at Facebook, you'll find all the Repeal the 8th pages, and you can find the national one and the local one just so you can find out more information. If you want more information on what the 8th Amendment is in Ireland, you can find it all there.

Moving a little bit to a little bit more about you. Obviously you are an amazing woman, you're achieving great things professionally, you're a writer,  you've achieved your dream of working as a playwright, you're also helping young people, you're also very educated and supportive of women rights generally with your involvement with the Repeal the 8th campaign. We've already spoken a little bit about confidence, but everything that you do really requires confidence, and you, yourself, have acknowledged how important confidence is. So, how do you foster confidence in yourself? Is it something that you actively have to think about, or do you think it's something that is innate within you?



Well, I was never very, very confident, and I still would freak out and get very anxious about even sending an email. I suppose someone said to me once, and it was a brilliant thing, "No one is confident, but we all pretend we are." So if you are scared and if you are nervous, pretend you're confident. And I do that daily. I'll meet someone for coffee, I'll give a talk, I'll write, I'll go to the open night of my play and I'll come home and I'll collapse in exhaustion, and I'll allow myself then to be scared.

                                               

When it comes to learning to be confident, it's very difficult for anyone in this life to be confident, but if you smile and if you can pretend you're confident and if you can get passionate about something, if you're really passionate about something, I think confidence comes hand in hand, 'cause if you really care and if you really want to make a difference, you will find confidence to shout.

                                               

When I was younger, I was very scared of everything, and I still remain to be scared, but I'm so passionate about Repeal the 8th and I'm so passionate about young people being given a chance, I find myself standing up then and going, "No, we need to fight for this. We need to fight for this," 'cause we only have one life and if you do anything in your life, be kind to each other or help someone. But it's a daily battle and I think a lot of people listening to this will recognise that. It's a daily, daily battle.

                                               

For some women, makeup. I find when I wear makeup, when I'm particularly nervous, gives me a confidence boost. I don't know why. I think mainly, if I'm wearing foundation, no one can see me when I go red. When I get embarrassed, no one ... And such a simple thing. It's such a simple thing, but it helps me so much. When I wear high heels I feel confident, because I'm quite short, so I feel confident when I'm wearing high heels. Like, little tricks. Tricks. That's all they are is tricks. Water. Whenever I go anywhere I need to have water with me 'cause my mouth gets very dry. When my mouth gets dry I start panicking, I start gasping. So, little tricks. You only know it about yourself, you know? Some people say it gets easier when you get older, but any person I know who's older says it doesn't, it gets worse. You just get better at pretending. You get better at pretending. And it's hard. It's hard. Life is hard. Do you know, life is like one really bad awkward day that doesn't end, and we have to keep going. And laugh at yourself. Oh God, when it comes to confidence, laugh at yourself. I get so embarrassed and worked up over little things, and this is something I'm still learning to do. I get so upset over nothing and so I'm trying to learn to laugh at myself and going, "It doesn't matter and it'll be fine," and most of the time things end up being fine.

I'll tell you what, everything you've said resonates so much with me. I must say, it's so true about finding what works for you. I mean, what helps with someone else's confidence may not work with yours, and I think that holding that with you ... If wearing makeup is enough to get you through the day or through an interview or whatever it is that you're going through, if that works for you, go for it. There's no harm, is there, in doing what works for you.

Not at all. Absolutely not. And it comes back to caring what people think. I heard a great quote: "When we're younger we worry about what people think of us. When we're older we don't care what they think of us. When we're old enough, we realise they weren't thinking about us at all."

                                               

Do what's best for you. Wear high heels. If you need anti-anxieties, if you need medication, use it. If you need water, if you need makeup. And if anyone says you're stupid for them, they've just got their own insecurities that they're trying to put onto you. So it's very important to recognise that they have stuff they're working through. It's nothing to do with you. Do what works for you because it's your life. It's your life. And it's hard. Do whatever makes it easy on you.

On yourself. That's right. And you only get one life so try and enjoy it as much as you can.

Exactly, yes…you're like. I mean, when it comes to it, we all know we're all going to the grave. The last person to latch down is the undertaker. You don't want to be going down with worry, and life's too short to be worrying. Look, I'm saying that and I spent all day yesterday worrying. I'm not saying I have it down to a tee, I'm just saying I'm trying to laugh as much as possible.

As well as encouraging confidence in women. We want women to stand up and be proud of what they do, and so I wanted to know what it is today that you're most proud of. When I say that, it can be with your writing, it can be with the Repeal the 8th, it might be something completely different, but you're very accomplished. What is it something that deep down you are really proud of that you've achieved?

That's a really tough question. It's a really difficult question. It's a really tough one. I suppose one of my proudest moments, and there's different levels of pride in your life. One of my proudest moments was when I got my first paycheck and I cashed it. I went home and I was able to give very small money to my mam and my dad and my sister, 'cause they supported me, they gave me money, they gave me dinner, they gave me love when I didn't deserve it, they gave me everything. And that was just a wonderful moment of all the years they spent collecting me, having dinners ready for me, giving me money when they had nothing, giving me everything, showing up to plays. It was a wonderful moment walking in the door at home. And it wasn't money, it was able to say thank you. It was able to say thank you. And I'll never be able to thank them. You can't thank them for everything they've done for me. But what an extraordinary moment to go, "You've supported me all this way and I got paid for it. People applauded and you were in the audience and thanks." And, you know, we got chips out of it and we had a great night and it was just a lovely, lovely moment. It was a lovely moment.

                                               

And just on that, I know you only asked me to say one, but when we did a Repeal the 8th protest and I was standing on Ballybricken and it was freezing cold and we genuinely thought no one was going to show up, I looked down and there was about nine or 10 of my friends. I knew they were going to walk down that quay with me if it was only the 10 of us. It was only the 10 of us and that was such a proud moment because I know if I've done nothing else in my life, I've gathered these wonderful humans and they love me enough that they will walk with me anywhere, and they're all wonderful. How lucky am I to have them as friends, and how lucky am I to have them as friends who go, "All right. Grand, girl. You want to do a march. Okay, we're with you. Okay, this is a bit crazy but yeah, we'll go with you."  So those are the moments that stand out.

I just love that response so much. For me, it's the fact that, as you said, you can have pride in so many levels in your life and those are very different places to have pride, but they also revolve around the people in your life and how they've helped you too, which I think speaks bountifully about the kind of person that you are, so congratulations on those achievements. I was just sitting there thinking about that feeling you would've had, being able to go home and do that for your family. That would've been amazing.

Thank you so much. Thank you so so so much.

[justgotham]

If you’ve ever watched an episode of FOX’s show “Gotham,” then you’re familiar with the eponymous city. It’s dark and brooding, ever on the cusp of a storm; it’s at once foreign and familiar, sometimes tricking you into thinking you’ve been on of its blocks before; and it’s the award-winning achievement of VFX Supervisor Tom Mahoney and his talented team, one that earned another Emmy nomination for Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Supporting Role last month.

Tom, who has three Emmy nominations to his name and one win in this same category last year, explains that the visual effects team plays an important part of the storytelling that happens in “Gotham”: “We serve the story. The writers write, and we try to figure out a way to make it happen. It’s all about making other people’s visions a reality.”

I recently spoke with Tom about his latest nomination and his work on “Gotham.” During our conversation, he talked about how the city of Gotham was realized, his favorite parts of the nominated episode, when he thinks visual effects are appropriate and more.

To start, can you walk us through a brief history of your career – from your start in the world of VFX, to being a partner at CoSA VFX, to being VFX Supervisor for “Gotham” and highlights in between?

I got my introduction to visual effects back in 1990 or 1991 when I interned on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” with the post-production department. From there, I was an assistant editor for a little while and found my way back into visual effects working with one of my CoSA partners, Jon Tanimoto. We often found ourselves working for units that were put together specifically for film, and at a certain point we looked at each other and said, “Well, they keep throwing these units together and they sort of ran like small companies – we may as well see if we can give it a go as a company.” So Jon and I got together. Initially we were working on features, and shortly after that, [CoSA partners] David Beedon and Chris Lance joined us. The features market for visual effects in LA kind of dried up with a lot of films taking rebates and having the luxury of longer turnarounds, but TV still needed fast turnarounds. Most shows were still posted in LA, so it was more convenient for TV to use LA-based visual effects facilities. So we made a shift to be more TV-centric. A year or two after we got things going, we were lucky enough to be considered for “Gotham.” Just by luck of the draw, I ended up being the one of the four partners to come to New York to supervise the pilot, and I’ve stuck with it ever since.

How would you explain to a layman like myself the role VFX plays in the show?

Everything is about telling a story. That’s what TV shows and movies are about, and we are there to tell the story of “Gotham.” Now, since the show is based in Gotham City, we are fortunate to play a large part in that since we help provide the city. Early on, the creators of the show – Danny Cannon, Bruno Heller and John Stephens – said that Gotham should always feel like there’s a storm coming. So that was always the directive we lived under for creating the wide shots of Gotham, to make it feel dark and moody. The architecture is very much based on a gothic, Art Deco style to make it feel like a unique place that feels familiar but isn’t quite reality.

How long did it take to get Gotham City right? Has it changed throughout the seasons? I think we’ve gotten a little bit better at doing it as the seasons have progressed. Early on, we did a lot of tests to make sure that the show creatives were happy with the direction we were going in for the general look – a city that was mainly built in the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s, but with a gothic flair. It took us a little while to mix some architectural elements; we did a few test shots and when we had it right, they gave us the thumbs-up.

[Spoiler alert] This year, you and your team are nominated for the Season 4 episode “That’s Entertainment.” From a sinister ice bomb, to a blimp, to gas-induced hallucinations and more, I think my uneducated eye can spot some of your fingerprints on that particular story. Are there certain scenes in that episode that were particularly challenging or memorable for you? I enjoy the shots of the blimp because I feel like it’s really there, even though I know it’s a CG blimp. The most fun shot of the episode is the final pullout when we’re tight on Penguin when he’s in the blimp gondola, and then we keep pulling out until we see the bridge and Gotham City in the foreground and then in the distant background. It’s just a very small, self-contained camera move, and then we make it feel big and grand by adding everything into it. I also like the scene of Jerome when he’s hanging and falling to his death – that’s all shot on green screen, and we create a 3-D version of the alleyway that he falls into so we could show that he’s much higher than he really was. The fear gas is always fun to do. A lot of the artists get to have a little bit of fun when we’re creating the hallucination look because that’s when you get to let somebody loose and say, “All right, make something that looks cool.”

Can you describe the collaboration between your team and others on the show? The writers write an episode and a director happens to get that episode to direct. There’s a great deal of back and forth in pre-production about what we can do with visual effects, what we can afford to do with visual effects, what can be done practically via special effects or if there are stunts that can be done so we don’t have to do visual effects. I’m always a big fan of doing things practically whenever we can.

Can you explain a little more about when you think visual effects are appropriate? I’d say my two criteria for things that should be visual effects are when we want to add scope and spectacle, and when it’s something that can’t be done safely. Obviously safety is paramount, and all the show creators and directors and everyone feel the same way. So if something’s unsafe but we still need to do it, then visual effects can step in. People’s lives are more important than any television show.

Do you have much time to track what your counterparts are doing on other shows? If so, do you notice any trends for VFX in television lately? TV visual effects have come so far in the past 15 years. I would challenge people to say the visual effects on some shows today aren’t as good as most features out there. A lot of the visual effects on “Gotham” are as good as features’ visual effects. I think the disparity that used to exist between feature-film visual effects and television visual effects has become a blurred line. And people aren’t afraid of visual effects like they used to be. You used to go on a show and hear the director say, “I hate green screen. I hate visual effects.” You don’t hear that as much. More people embrace it now as a solution to a problem instead of rejecting it as a problem unto itself.

Is the greater acceptance of VFX a result of the higher quality in general? Or do you think there are other factors at play? The resolution between film and video is almost the same with shows now mainly delivered in 4K, which is the same resolution we deliver feature films in. So there’s much more attention to detail in television visual effects than there used to be because you couldn’t see the details before. The technology has certainly evolved, so we’re able to do it faster. And the artistry has just gotten better. As software and tools have become more available and artists have gotten more familiar with them, they can do more interesting things that no one thought they could do before. Then there’s also the fact that as time has passed, things have gotten cheaper to do. So effects that we thought were only for features in 1990 are now commonplace in TV; they’re nothing you would even bat an eye at.

If you could tell a “Gotham” viewer what to look for or appreciate from a VFX viewpoint, what would you tell them? Without a doubt, my favorite thing in “Gotham” is when we do the aerial shots of Gotham. We do a lot of special, cool stuff, but I think whenever we feature the city of Gotham, those are the shots that I love the most. The mark I’ve always set is if someone who lives in New York watches “Gotham” and isn’t sure if it’s New York or not, then I think we’ve done a good job.

[pinkchannies]

cheesier than cheesecake

i got inspired to write this on my 5 hours flight to hong kong bcz i ate cake on my way to the airport and miraculously wrote this on my flight in one go

also heading to hong kong eh wink wink nudge nudge @ agust d //slapped

well here's a jin oneshot because kim seokjin is my number one man and bias in bts and we need some shoulder man love in our lives amirite

laksndowxjoe i couldn't post this earlier bECAUSE WIFI AND MY COM WASN'T COOPERATING :(( sob well ok here i am posting it now LMAO bless wifi pls live

genre:  fluff , is this considered comedy, crack has slipped into this fic again

requested:  no 

pairing:  seokjin x reader

author notes: reader is a baking/walking disaster bcz mood, jin screaming and being a mama hen, idk how i wrote this in just one flight, chiru probably needs creative writing classes at this point, how do you come up with good titles

----------

the clock read, 2.09am. i groaned. it was one of those days again. or rather, one of those nights. of grueling hunger and cravings. and there was one way to solve it(or make it worse) without actually eating. though it may not be the best way. do u kno da wae-chiru get out i snatched my phone from my bedside table and loaded instagram, heading straight to the buzzfeedtasty instagram account. yes, tasty. the number one guilty pleasure where their food looks so good even with the simplest ingrediants, and when you recreate it it somehow looks like shit. or maybe i'm just a shitty cook. or maybe plating food to make it look aesthetically pleasing is just that difficult. or maybe both. to "satisfy" this sudden craving for sweets, i started watching videos of their deserts. god help me they look so good. the way the cream cheese blends with sugar and turns into a smooth white paste under the electric mixer, with heavy cream added to that mix and that generous teaspoon of vanilla essence that you can literally smell (jin: mMMMm sMELL) through your phone, those cheesecakes and oreos and cream and just all that fattening goodness- y'all this whole instagram account is straight up porn. i already feel fat just by watching these videos. but i'm still hungry af. the struggle is hella real who else can relate "ughhhhhh i wanna bake these godlike creations but i'm scared that i'll accidentally blow up my kitchen..." i groaned into my pillow. yeah, i’m a bit of a walking disaster, luckily i haven't reached namjoon's level. i think. one time my cookies almost turned out spicy because i was cooking spicy noodles at the same time. please don't ask. someone please just buy me a huge cheesecake to binge eat whilst i cry over my bad life decisions, one of which would be eating a whole 1542 calorie cheesecake at the asscrack of dawn. an imaginary or rather, imajinary-chiru stob light bulb went off from my head. there was one man made for this situation. one shoulder man, to be exact. i clicked on the contact "worldwide shoulders" and started typing.

(y/n) 2.30am

shoulder man take me by the hand lead me to the land that u understand

worldwide shoulders 2.35am

ya, its like 2.30am, shouldn't you be asleep? don't make me confiscate your phone

(y/n) 2.35am

sorry mom

worldwide shoulders 2.36am

yA tHIs chILd what's up, u usually don't text this late

(y/n) 2.37am

r u free tmr i wanna bake cheesecake pretty please

worldwide shoulders 2.38am

what a *cheesy* date if i do say so myself

(y/n) 2.38am

jIN its too early for puns :(

worldwide shoulders 2.39am

excuse you my puns are jinius

(y/n) 2.39am

SO cAN U BAKE WITH ME TMR :((( well actually it’ll be later today pls i owe u one

worldwide shoulders 2.40am

fine make sure u have the stuff ready, i'll come over at 10 go sleep its late

(y/n) 2.41am

yAY THANKS JINNIE

worldwide shoulders 2.41am

EXCUSE ME I AM OLDER THAN U (y/n) 2.42am :p see u tmr!! gnite shoulder man *finger heartu* worldwide shoulders 2.43am the disrespect i swear ----- "jin this is too tiring..." i groaned, my arms aching. "just a little bit more... just beat it harder." "look, must i really use my hands for this?" i whined. jin deadpanned. "(y/n) it's becoming white already, just continue. you wanted me to teach you right?" "why the hell can't i just use the electric mixer for the egg whites? its much faster than hand beating it..." i grumbled. "this is as good as doing 240 push-ups like jungkook," i whined. "my child there will be no shortcuts in this house when it comes to baking or cooking," i snorted at that. says the one who uses seasoning in his food. i mean, who doesn't? "i guess we can say that the cake will be eggcellent." he let out a windshield-wiper laugh at his own joke while i groaned at the terrible pun. "jin pls." ----- "DON'T CHOP THE BUTTER LIKE THAT OHMY GOD (Y/N) YOU'RE GOING TO CHOP YOUR HAND OFF LIKE THAT NO YOU'RE WORSE THAN NAMJOON SLICING ONIONS." jin shrieked at my horrible attempt to slice the frozen solid butter. i had forgotten to take the butter out to thaw, so now i had to face the consequences. of slicing, no, chopping, through rock solid butter that is stubborn about becoming smaller pieces. go me

he sighed and went behind me, his larger frame engulfing mine as he positioned my hand to hold the knife properly. "rest your index on top of the blade and your thumb and middle on its sides. this way, you'll have a better grip on the knife. and it reduces the chances of the knife slipping and chopping your finger off." he guides my fingers to hold the knife, while rambling on the precautions to take-which entered one ear and left the other. how am i supposed to concentrate when i've never been in this close proximity with the man until this moment? gosh he was warm and it feels real cozy, his chin gently resting on my shoulder to oversee the process, his larger hand on my smaller one guiding me to chop the butter. how domestic, i chuckled at the thought. i wonder how his hand would look like with his fingers entwined with mine- -which is what i did with the hand unoccupied by the knife. without me even registering it, i grabbed his free hand. our hands were clasped together and our fingers were tangled with each other. “omg (y/n) what are you doing” i screamed in my brain. do y’all ever just get intrusive thoughts like this and regret everything leading up to this moment. jin gave me a quizzical look that screamed "what are you doing." ok but same jin, same. well this turned awkward. in my panic, i let go of his hand. and the knife. good job, (y/n). "OH MY GOD LOOK OUT" jin yelled for what must be the 182297318th time today at my screw up and pulled me away from the knife which fell to the floor with a clang. i was pressed flushed against his chest as he pulled my body closer to his, almost as if we were snuggling. except that now is not really the time to snuggle with the situation at hand. thankfully the knife didn’t hurt any of us, but i knew, i was in deep shit with jin. i mentally braced myself for the lecture i was going to get. oh boy this is going to be ugly. "look (y/n), i dont care if you cant cook for shit." his face was starting to turn red from the incoming rant, and i had to stifle a giggle at that. there was always something amusing about jin scolding-maybe it comes from the fact that even if the mood is serious, he still wants to make everyone laugh and doesn’t want an atmosphere too damp. so his scolding just somehow turns comical. i bit down on my bottom lip harshly to stop the giggles, lest the lecture becomes longer. "but you are handling something sharp, please be careful." "i understand." i sighed. "look if i'm not here, you could have been seriously injured, you can't just play while handling knives. luckily i was around and could pull you away before it landed on your feet and cause you to internally bleed in your toe. do you even know how nasty it looks to have that black blood clot under your nail?" i nodded sheepishly. "loOK, WHAT IF YOU WERE ALONE? YOU COULD HAVE BLED TO DEATH AND THEN I WOULD NEED TO HAUL YOUR ASS TO THE HOSPITAL WHICH WOULD NOT END WELL MAJOR BLOOD LOSS IS NOT A FUN THING OK YOU NEED BLOOD TRANSFUSION SO PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH THE KNIFE DONT BE A SECOND NAMJOON." "yes mom." "excuse you i am not your mother." "alright you're excused mr worldwide handsome... mom." "YA THIS BRAT." ----- thankfully, that was the only major incident-or as the drama queen puts it, life threatening incident-that happened while baking the cheesecake. after 2 hours of screaming together and jin telling me how to carry out baking procedures properly, we finally put the cake together. "jin, she's beautiful." i shed a fake tear at our finished product. fake tear-fake love tear-chiru why are you so lame "yeah, but im more beautiful amirite." ".....you're inedible so obviously the cheesecake is prettier than you." he looked at me with a mock look of offense and i giggled at that. "well at least my face doesn't need to be caked with makeup to look good." "jin, why are you so lame." just like me "hey at least i'm still walking." "oh my god." "i mean that's not my name, but god's also a good name for someone as handsome as me." "........i give up." there was a tense moment of pregnant silence that settled between us. suddenly, we both burst out laughing at our ridiculous banter filled with bad puns, courtesy of jin. "let's eat the cheesecake, shall we?"

[rkjisoo]

star bright 2017 casting;          ⎯⎯ interview ! 

idol training never held much appeal to her.

living with lisa and rose for the past year has made it perfectly clear to her that the rigorous schedule and the never ending strive for improvement in areas she couldn’t care about are aspects of being an idol that she does not want to meddle with. although despite these facts, here she is -- dressed in the plainest clothes that took her thirty minutes to conjure from her wardrobe, hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail despite the cold weather biting her skin, and sitting somewhere inside the park hyatt hotel waiting for her name to be called.

it’s not as though she would bullshit her way through this audition. kim jisoo is a woman of honesty and she would let them know right then and there that she’s not here to be an idol. that she never dreamed of becoming an idol. it’s more or less just one step closer to signing with a company that can lead her back to acting on television. of landing dramas that will help her achieve her ultimate goal.

as they say; when an opportunity presents itself, why not take it? she’s got nothing to lose.

as her name is called, she enters the room. the feeling is much like how it was when she went in for the samsung photoshoot. modelling and being an idol are two few things that are both inherently different from what she wants to be but she’s here anyway. she likes to believe that there’s only a fine line that separates all three aspects of the entertainment world and she’s here to walk it. in heels.

“good afternoon, everyone. i’m kim jisoo and i’m twenty-one years old. born in seoul, south korea but raised in chicago, illinois.” interviews are a no-brainer to her and there’s a charming smile on her face that wouldn’t have existed otherwise. “i am currently a third year acting major at korea national university of arts, an avid church choir singer, and an overall actress. i also won the samsung c and t modelling competition a few months back.” was her overall introduction.

now for the questions.

why do you want to be an idol?

“in all honesty, i don’t want to be an idol.” she starts with a dignified tone and posture. this is an important part of her interview, the one that will lay out the rest of the questions for her. “i personally believe that i am not cut out for the dancing practices and everything that is supposed to come with being an idol. i’m focused on my acting and exploring all creative outlets that will let me get better at what i do is the most important abstract thing in my life right now. i know that ultimately, you’re all looking for idols here and i’m playing the game of chance that i’ll be spared a second glance after this interview. this is the closest thing that will get me to achieving my goal of getting back on television acting but i’m willing to play all the cards that i have. at the end of the day, i believe that not every company offers something that is limited to honing idols. i’m positive that there’s a spot out there somewhere for me”

which skill are you best at? what do you think you still need to improve on?

“i’m best with my acting skills. i’m fairly sure no one remembers anymore but i was once a child actress in the country until our family left for the united states when i was seven years old. after that, i’ve participated in countless school productions starting when i was in middle school up until now in university. despite this, i still want to improve. i love acting, therefore there’s this constant need to develop and to grow in this area even if i already have a whole life of experience under my back. other than this, i believe that i need to improve with my singing. i enjoy singing especially since i love doing musicals but i need to have a stronger voice for it. i’m sure that this is where training with an idol company would come in.”

who are your biggest influences?

there’s a smile on her features as she answers this. the talk on influences is obviously something that she enjoys. “my biggest influences are of course various actresses spanning different generations. i’m a massive audrey hepburn fan -- i love her elegance and her advocacies and i wished that i was able to see more of her. my acting is high influenced by veterans like meryl streep because her versatility is something that i greatly admire and something that i strive to possess. i’m also inspired by the fact that she’s been nominated for the most number of oscars more than any other actor and to achieve that is one of my greatest dreams in life. it is certainly a dream that keeps me well on my toes and propels me to do better everyday. in terms of musical acting, i’m influenced by icons such as julie andrews, audra mcdonald, and lea salonga. their contribution to this community is unparalleled, especially for people of color like audra and lea. it makes me believe that as a person of color myself, i can achieve great heights in the broadway community like them. they are the people who made me believe that i can do it too if i make my talent work along with great effort.”

“in terms of korean influences on the other hand, i’m influenced by fin.k.l and yoon mi rae. i think that their music is the sort that will live on forever and if it happens that i’ll go down this path, i’d love to be as iconic as they are. they are definitely one of a kind.”

what’s your family like?

“my family is small and intimate. i’m an only child and despite their busy work schedules, my parents and i have formed a very close relationship. my father is a no-nonsense man. he’s a criminal lawyer and this has given him the ability to see through things easily. he’s serious most of the time but when it comes to me and my mother, he’s compliant and attentive. my mother on the other hand is very extroverted. she loves talking, gossiping, and getting to know people in terms of what they do and how they are in life. i love her dearly but we tend to bicker with each other a lot. i’d call it conflict of interest. she likes to remind me everyday that i’ll never get a husband because of my career mindedness which is just well and fine by me, if you ask.” she laughs a little.

if you weren’t trying to be an actress, what would you be doing right now?

“i would be where i currently am -- in university. i give a lot of importance with my education and i enjoy learning and going to school. if i was not trying to break into the entertainment world, i’d pursue another degree after my acting one. i’d most likely go into philosophy because that’s a world i would love to discover. perhaps i’d also go into law school after it. to simply put, i would not limit myself when it comes to my education if i wasn’t trying to be an actress at the same time.”

with a final nod of their head, the person behind the camera asking her questions gestured for the device to be turned off. facing her, they smiled. “that is all the questions we have prepared, thank you for your time.” then came the details of what to expect after it. jisoo valiantly nods her head through all of it, taking in all the information that she has to. once she steps out of the room, she immediately walks towards jennie -- who she’s so incredibly proud of for coming out here today. being with her made the process of it all a lot more easier and she can’t help but think fondly on all the life-changing memories they’ve embarked on together. they both know what they’re coming out here for and she’s looking forward to what is about to come. although with their determination and grit, she likes to believe that a good one is about to come off of this.

[theparaminds]

If you asked Claud a year ago where their life would lead, their uncertainty would be as strong as the talent they were just beginning to tap into. Yet now, they stand in a position of newfound confidence and self-certainty. It wasn’t an easy task, requiring the output of a thoughtful EP, constant personal reflection and the difficulty of acclimating to newfound environments and individuals. But as hard as it all was, the results have been, simply, magical. 

Claud revealed to themseelf, bit by bit, the unique individuality that was waiting for its moment to shine. They no longer felt compelled to travel in any artistic direction, instead, traveling in one completely their own. By bringing together both bright musicianship and hopeful lyricism, as they’ve always envisioned, they have truly articulated themself musically.

Ultimately, Claud has solved much of their past confusions. Little can take them off course, little can extinguish the creative fire burning brighter than ever. Certain doors are open for the first time, ideas seem endlessly inspiring and passion seems undying with every sunset. The puzzle to their life and art has finally come together, now all that’s left to do is share it with the anxiously excited world. 

Our first question as always is just how’s your day going and how have you been?

My day is good, I had a late start because of a show last night, but honestly, other than that it's good.

A great place to start is the last whirlwind of a year you’ve had which set up and built the foundation for a lot of what’s going on for you now. You’ve talked about a big part of that being moving to New York and going to college for the first time, how did you find the change to influence your artistry and you as an individual?

I went to college as a freshman at Syracuse, and in moving there I was coming from an art school, and before was in Chicago. It felt like a big change and it really did end up being a massive city for me. I got lucky with meeting great friends right away on the first day, ones who I stayed close with me all year. As a place, It was good for the time being.

But also you were recently in LA for a bit, taking in the area and all it encompasses. Within that trip, what was that time like for you and what was the impression it left upon you?

After Syracuse I lived in NY for a bit, then once my friends left for the summer I moved to LA. It was meant to be only temporary and I just wanted to check it out as I have family there, a lot of great friends too. Ultimately, I found a great community here in NY so I decided to move back, I like moving around a lot and didn’t want to settle in one place, yet.

Another large moment that year was dropping your EP, which was the biggest thing in getting the ball rolling. How do you reflect on the project and the experience as a whole? Do you remember the reception you expected and the feeling when it kept growing in audience and acclaim?

That EP is just so special to me. I made it made with my best friend as a friendship project. We started with the song Onetwothree, just about a year ago, it was just a first single and watching people enjoy it was an amazing feeling because we loved it even more so. I put out music before, but nothing I loved as much as the EP’s songs. I guess I believe that if you put a lot of love into something, you’ll get love out of it.

Going from putting those songs you didn't like on SoundCloud at first, then turning to this project which you found peace within, what changed for you and what did you have to find within yourself?

It took a lot of personal changes. Just coming to terms with myself and going by Claud again. My sound as an artist was coming together at the same time, it was a very natural growth. I feel like I’m still growing a lot, but the EP marks a really specific moment in my life.

Looking forward, what are in your mind, the largest and most important milestones you hope to hit and achieve?

I really want to tour a lot and meet a lot of people. And, my biggest goal is to make sure I have people want to hear me play as much as I want to play for them.

If money were no object, where would be your dream location to play a live show?

I really want to go to Asia and Japan specifically. They fell so far away and going for a reason, not just for fun, would be amazing.

As well, what developments do you hope to make artistically and what skills are you looking to hone in your craft?

I want to focus more on my songwriting. I've been with a lot of producers and I want to experiment and play with new concepts. If I want a pop song, I need a pop song with my own voice. It's fun to try more and more ideas and subgenres.

Through this time of personal growth and creation, what artists have you found yourself most inspired by and pulling from?

A lot of the Terrible Records artists I work with. I also love Blood orange and every song on his new album. Super into Super Organisms, gosh so much. I actually just made a Spotify playlist that was only supposed to have 30 songs, but I couldn’t stop adding more and more.

Taking it back to your first time getting into music, how do you compare your current influences to early ones and do you believe it shows part of the growth you’ve been through and are experiencing?

I definitely think the music I listen to has been a big part of my own development, I was weirdly into singer-songwriter music more than anything. Part of it probably came from when I went to an arts boarding school in Northern Michigan in the middle of nowhere. When you’re in a space like that you end up following that style. Because I listened to a lot of singer-songwriter music, I was shaped as a person, but not as an artist. But in college I started listening with a different ear, really expanding what I heard.

Through that beginning time, what were the biggest challenges you had to overcome to get those first songs out and to keep going?

I grew up in a very mainstream area that was difficult to be an individual within. Hive mind type environment in terms of entertainment and creativity. It made sense as to why I didn’t branch out with my early music. I'm just grateful for the friends I met who showed me what I could be.

Beyond music, which is obviously a place of inspiration for artists such as yourself, do you find yourself enjoying or drawing from other artistic mediums?

Honestly, I’m very into movements. It's an art form I love beyond others. It keeps me motivated. I don't love going to the gym, but I’m learning to skateboard and I did gymnastics when younger. I love seeing the body become an art form. I always loved dancing even though I’m shit at it.

Are there motions you find your music to be tailored to or ones you are trying to speak towards?

I really like the way people say that they enjoy my music on long walks and drives. Those everyday movements that I can choreograph with my sound is really beautiful. The production style I like is very rhythmic in a subtle everyday kind of way. It won't catch you off guard but will just fit your movement.

Would you say that’s part of your overall larger goal? To create a soundtrack to people’s ups and downs? Or is there something beyond that?

It changes a lot. Right now, just being present is the most important thing to me, standing my ground. There’s a lot of musicians, but I truly see the value and necessity in myself. And I guess there's not one specific message other than that I'm ‘here’.

Going forward in time to the present day, another thing you did through this last year was touring, as you said. And even currently you’re doing so. In your eyes, how do you compare the live experience to recording and a file, what do you feel towards it?

I love playing live shows. If I can't see my songs translate live then there’s not always worth in putting it out. I don't really get excited about a song until I can see myself perform it live.

Why is that though? Why do you see an importance in creating music that exists in both spaces?

It’s the best way to communicate with people… [Pause]... Oh my God… There’s such a big spider on my wall…

Oh my, are you okay?

Yeah yeah, I’ll be fine. But it’s just about connecting with people and sharing the new form of expression that does not exist in the record.

Through your life and time touring and just as a music fan, what’s been the best shows you’ve been able to see and be a part of?

At my first tour, with Triathalon and The Marias, I only saw 6 shows but every single time they both performed very different, yet inspiring. They just have ‘it’, they know exactly who they are and what they want to express. The confidence motivated me to be the same and to up my game.

You talked early of being inspired by songwriters, which makes sense considering your strong ability with complex lyrics and themes. Where from your life and art, in general, do you draw for your lyrics and ideas?

I just keep a running note in my phone of phrases I hear or think of, so when I sit to write I will begin or find inspiration within them. I recently started looking at my notes from when I was 15, finding out what was 15 year old Claud thinking on February 3rd, or seeing times I was in a relationship and reliving my feelings and thoughts from back then. All those past experiences shape what I say today.

You’re very brave for looking at stuff you did at 15, I could never do that, It’s honestly so terrifying.

[Laughs] I found one recently that said: “Write a song about feeling bubbly and pitch it to the Soda Company”. Like, what soda company was I even thinking about? It just said The Soda Company. Was I planning to call Mr. Coca Cola himself?

Did you find you've changed a lot and always shifted since you were young back then, or do you feel you kept your essence as an individual?

I feel like it depends on who you ask. If you ask my family they'll say I'm the same as always, the same eccentric human who somehow ended up in our family. They often say they bought me in a grocery store [laughs. I think my essence is still there, but I feel but it will keep developing.

What's, ultimately, the biggest mark and legacy with the music you're making that you desire to build and be satisfied in creating?

I don't know, I'm only just at the beginning. But to me, I would say I want to teach people to value their individuality, It was something I felt I wasn't always doing, but now that I am, I want to share the feeling with others, as it’s really amazing. I'm still learning, it's a process, but it's great just to be finally working towards it.

Follow Claud on Instagram and Twitter

Listen on Spotify and Soundcloud

[lynchgirl90]

How #TwinPeaks inspired #Lost and #TheLeftovers

Damon Lindelof tells EW why ‘The Leftovers’ would not be possible without David Lynch’s classic series

JEFF JENSEN@EWDOCJENSEN

Let us be first to remind you for the millionth time that Twin Peaks, the short-lived sensation created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, inspired much of the television that has obsessed us over the past 20 years. To name just a few that hold the cult classic’s peculiar dark spark: Chris Carter’s The X-Files, David Chase’s The Sopranos, Matthew Weiner’s Mad Men, Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad, Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal, Damon Lindelof’s The Leftovers, Sam Esmail’s Mr. Robot, and Donald Glover’s Atlanta. Since Twin Peaks also shaped modern TV tastes and watching — capturing the imagination for serialized mystery, supernatural fantasy, and cool irony; setting an early standard for internet-based conversation and theorizing — we can say Twin Peaks even influenced you. Especially if you’re a person of a certain age.

Of course, Twin Peaks doesn’t completely explain the vibrant state of TV. The radical transformation of the media business — the emergence of demo-driven networks that turned cult TV into a business plan — deserves more credit. There’s probably no X-Files without a network like Fox. There’s certainly no Buffy The Vampire Slayer without The WB. In his essential book The Revolution Was Televised, critic Alan Sepinwall identifies a critical turning point when TV went next level: 1997, when HBO, seeking to ramp up original programming, empowered the likes of Tom Fontana and David Chase — veteran scribes frustrated by the limits of broadcast TV — to pursue bolder vision with decidedly adult storytelling. The buzzy nerve of Oz and even more so The Sopranos spurred broadcast competitors to take more chances and basic cable to get into the game, and now, here we are, with “television” streaming out of every media orifice possible. That, kids, is from where TV babies come, in a terribly reductive nutshell.

Twin Peaks contains a version of this creation myth in its DNA, too. In 1989, ABC, looking for new hits, took a chance on a risky marriage with an avant-garde filmmaker (Lynch) and an accomplished TV writer (Frost) who wanted to make a splash by reinventing the prime-time soap with sophisticated edge and ostentatious quirkiness. Think of Twin Peaks as a kinky bridal dress: something old, something new, something borrowed, something Blue Velvet. The relationship didn’t last long. ABC ditched Twin Peaks after a year, the fast fade partly due to a broadcast network in flux that really had no clue how to manage Team Lynch or the wild, weird, FrankenGenre creature they had made. Yet can’t you see Twin Peaks thriving in today’s mediaverse? Maybe, say, on Showtime?

Mark Frost certainly could. In 2012, the Twin Peaks co-creator beheld the exciting things happening in TV and thought, I want to do that, too. He had the perfect creative vehicle for it, too, one with something TV networks love: a recognizable and marketable brand name. But he couldn’t do it alone. Wouldn’t dream of it, either. So Frost called Lynch and put forth a proposal: How about making more Twin Peaks?

Lynch had convinced himself over the years that there was no interest in Twin Peaks. “I felt that the thing had drifted away,” says Lynch, “so part of me kind of shut down about the possibility of going back.” He was wrong. Twin Peaks actually lingered like a ghost, and it was slowly gaining power. Twin Peaks was steeped in the creative fabric of television, as evidenced by many series. There were people who identified as Twin Peaks fans — cultists who could read about Twin Peaks forever and ever in books, websites, and fanzines like the legendary Wrapped In Plastic, plus many more who considered the show a generational marker. Twin Peaks was also starting to make new fans via DVD (the complete series wasn’t available on disc until 2007) and streaming services like Netflix.

Frost presented Lynch with several arguments for reviving Twin Peaks right here, right now. They had a story to tell — Twin Peaks ended with several unresolved cliffhangers — and their infamously bonkers series finale included a curious, memorable line that offered an irresistible hook. “I’ll see you again in 25 years,” the specter of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) tells FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan). “Meanwhile…” And then she struck a pose and froze, as if a statue, or suddenly frozen in time. Frost — confident, ambitious, and maybe a little competitive — also argued that they had a chance to make some bold art, without compromise, in a new TV universe that allowed for greater creative freedom than existed 22 years earlier.

“What I saw was that the TV landscape had shifted dramatically and people were obviously hungry for storytelling that has broken out of the box over the last 10 years,” says Frost. “I felt it was time to take a kind of evolutionary leap forward and that we should be a part of that. David readily agreed. But we went in knowing we couldn’t just do what we did in the past — we’ve got to raise the bar. So that was our admonition to ourselves. This is a chance to keep pace with that evolving landscape, to contribute something new, to move the ball forward even more. And we had some unfinished business.”

And so it goes that the return of the show that inspired today’s TV was inspired by the products of its own legacy. Fun Fact! Lynch doesn’t watch much TV, but he cites Mad Men and Breaking Bad as two shows of recent times that he loved. Their hotly anticipated contribution to our Peak TV moment — an 18-hour limited series described by Lynch as an 18-part feature film — premieres on Showtime on May 21.

We recently asked several leading TV producers to share how Twin Peaks influenced them. Over the next couple weeks, we’ll be sharing with you EW’s conversations with them. We begin with Damon Lindelof, who co-created Lost with J.J. Abrams and The Leftovers with Tom Perrotta, now airing its final season on HBO.

Lindelof’s tale of Twin Peaks fandom takes us back to a time when TV watching was a family time activity, not a solitary, everyone-on-their-own-screen free-for-all. His very personal testimonial also shows how Twin Peaks was part of larger moment in which David Lynch was virtually atmospheric — beginning with his neo-noir masterpiece Blue Velvet in 1986 and including the hyper-pop nihilism of Wild at Heart, released at the apex of the Twin Peaks phenomenon — and saturated the public imagination. Here, Lindelof reveals how Twin Peaks influenced Lost, how Twin Peaks informed his approach to surrealism in The Leftovers, and how the legacy of Twin Peaks nearly cost Lost its legendary monster.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: When did you first watch Twin Peaks? DAMON LINDELOF: When it first aired. I watched it at my dad’s place. It was on his radar; he was very excited about Twin Peaks because of David Lynch. We had seen Eraserhead together, and I had loved it, and I remember him saying, “The guy who made Eraserhead has a new TV show and I think it’s going to be very good.” So we watched the pilot together, and once it was over, we watched it again, because he had recorded it.

This evolved into a ritual. Because I was with my dad every other week, there were some weeks I would watch it by myself, but the weeks I was with him, we would watch two episodes: that week’s new episode and the previous week’s episode again on VHS. He would do live commentary and we began to formulate theories. This was my first experience, in the pre-internet era, of theorizing about TV.

So you liked Twin Peaks. I loved Twin Peaks.

What did you love about it? The mystery. The music. The pacing. It was also my first exposure to soap operas. There was just this complex web of affairs that was delicious. Within the first couple of episodes of Twin Peaks, you understood that James and Laura had been together, but James and Donna were actually sort of secretly in love with each other. Laura was also dating Bobby, but he was also seeing Shelly, but Shelly was two-timing her abusive husband, Leo, who also had something going on with Laura and was dealing drugs to Bobby. Meanwhile, Josie Packard is having a secret affair with Sheriff Truman, except she’s also involved with Benjamin Horne, who was married, but also having an affair with Pete’s wife and Josie’s rival, Catherine, and also apparently messed around with Laura. The sexual intrigue was bonkers! And for me, a kid, it was new and exciting, particularly as it related to Laura, this teenage girl who was mixed up in some really bad, traumatic, dark stuff. That was really interesting and felt very fresh at the time.

And then there Agent Cooper. What an amazing character. His entrance in that pilot is a classic TV moment. I loved his quirkiness. He had these obsessions with coffee and pastry. The fact that he seemed to really be enjoying having just a grand old time investigating Laura’s rather horrific murder was provocative and entertaining.

The show had this very distinctive sense of humor. Deadpan and odd. The Log Lady! People remember her as weird, but I just thought she was really funny. And Ben and Jerry Horne, the brothers, their names are funny because of the ice cream, of course, but that scene where those two guys are eating these huge sandwiches and relishing the sensual experience of eating those huge sandwiches — just the fundamental bizarreness of it was hilarious.

One other thing that I loved about Twin Peaks was that it was scary. Cooper’s dream at the end of the third episode, when he’s in the old age makeup and we see Laura and The Man From The Other Place talking backwards — that creeped me out. I slept with the lights on after that episode.

I go on and on like this, because one of the ways that Twin Peaks impacted me was that it showed me that a TV show can be so many things at once — funny, scary, strange, sexy, melodramatic. It was the definition of unique. I had never seen anything like it, before or since. And then — when did Wild at Heart come out?

August of 1990, between the first and second seasons of Twin Peaks. I loved Wild at Heart. It was just so gonzo. Looking back on it, I can’t say I became a fan of David Lynch because of Twin Peaks. I was just a fan of Twin Peaks. But after Wild at Heart, I was just all the way in on Lynch. By the way, this is not to take anything away from Mark Frost, who is a big part of Twin Peaks. But again, my dad turned me on to the show particularly because of Lynch, and then with everything that followed, including Wild at Heart, it became about Lynch, and everything that came with him. The music! That Angelo Badalamenti score! I played the Twin Peaks soundtrack all the time when I was a junior in high school. I didn’t own many CDs — I had to buy them with my own money, and they were expensive — but I owned that one.

What did you make of the supernatural aspect? It became more important to the storytelling as the series progressed. We came to find out that Twin Peaks was a hotspot of uncanny and spectral activity because it was located near a portal into a mystical realm, not unlike the Hellmouth in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or, of course, The Island on Lost. Did you enjoy that part of the show? That was interesting to watch unfold. From the start, you had Cooper’s dreams and you had his fascination with Tibet and a kind of mysticism that he associated with Tibet. That scene in the third episode of season 1, where he’s winnowing down a list of suspects through an intuitive process that involves throwing rocks at a bottle — that was funny and quirky, but it also suggested the supernatural, and obviously, the show became more and more supernatural as it went on.

But I didn’t see it coming. As my father and I were theorizing about Laura Palmer’s murderer, a supernatural possibility was not part of our speculations! But then we move into season 2, and you get the introduction of The Giant, and you have Major Briggs revealing that he’s been monitoring extraterrestrial communications in episode 2. Here, the show is openly declaring that everything is up for grabs. And I do remember loving that and being very excited by that stuff. But I experienced it as an escalation. The show didn’t start supernatural. It became progressively so.

When the show declared this supernatural aspect in season 2, a lot of people I knew who loved the show bailed. They wanted a naturalistic explanation. It reminds me that 25 years ago, TV was rather cool toward sci-fi/fantasy, although it was about to warm up to it. That want for a naturalistic explanation might have had something to do with the fact that Twin Peaks intersected with another trend of the time, serial killer pop. I don’t know exactly when The Silence of the Lambs came out, but my memory of it is that it came out before or during Twin Peaks. [The film version of The Silence of the Lambs starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins was released Feb. 14, 1991, during the middle of the second season of Twin Peaks. The novel by Thomas Harris was published in 1988.] When you watch the pilot of Twin Peaks, you immediately think it’s a serial killer story because of the clues and how they’re found, like when Agent Cooper knows how to examine Laura Palmer’s fingernails and look for these pieces of paper the killer has been leaving behind with his victims. So I can understand why an audience expected a naturalist resolution, because serial killer stories resolve naturalistically.

How did you feel about the way Twin Peaks ended? During the second season, I remember feeling at times, “This is not the show I fell in love with.” And then something would happen that would make me fall in love with it all over again. There was a storyline where Donna resumes Laura’s Meals on Wheels job and she comes into contact with this weirdo who grows orchids and is in possession of Laura’s secret diary. And I remember not liking that. But then Lynch would show up playing [FBI regional director] Gordon Cole, and I’d love that, or David Duchovny would show up playing DEA agent Denise Bryson, and I’d be like, “This is the greatest thing ever!”

Still, I was alternately in and out. The turning point came after all the big reveals with Laura’s murder, that it was Leland who was responsible for killing Laura, that he was inhabited by this evil spirit named BOB. Now, what is the show? Now, what’s the mystery we’re supposed to solve? It never quite locked into anything new that was as compelling as Laura Palmer.

By the time the show ended, my father and I were no longer watching it together, and it didn’t feel like it was appointment TV. I was still watching, but I wasn’t loving it… and then we got the series 2 finale. Wow. The sequence in The Red Room. Cooper getting possessed by BOB. Ending on him looking in the mirror and ramming his face into it. I remember thinking, ‘This is going to be cool! I’m back in!’ And then the show was canceled.

Did you see the prequel movie? Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me? Yeah. That was a year later, right?

Right, summer of 1992. I remember kinda liking the movie and still considering myself a Twin Peaks fan, but also sort of resigning myself to the fact that there wasn’t going to be any more Twin Peaks that resolved those cliffhangers and being kind of bummed about that. Still, I only had positive feelings about Twin Peaks. Even in college, in the mid-’90s, when my friends and I would talk about our favorite TV shows, Twin Peaks was always on our lists, even though it was only on for a brief time and even though it disappointed.

Why is that? Because it was a cultural moment for people, and especially for kids of that era. We were the age of Bobby and James, Laura and Donna and Maddy. Even though they were all clearly played by actors in their 20s, there was an identification with them. The perception was, even if the show strayed from the path and went off the rails a little bit, Twin Peaks was cool, and it was a shared, zeitgeisty thing. But more importantly, in our pretentious NYU film school heads, Twin Peaks was important because it was “cinema.” It was an auteur-driven story in a way a lot of TV wasn’t, but was about to be. And, of course, it felt like cinema because it was Lynch, and we were all obsessed with Lynch in film school.

Did Twin Peaks influence your storytelling? I’m thinking specifically of the phenomenal “International Assassin” episode of The Leftovers, in which Kevin enters a surreal realm that might be pure imagination, might be some kind afterlife, or might be something else altogether. There is no Leftovers without Twin Peaks, full stop. That said, when we tried to “do” Lynch — for example, Kevin’s dreams in season 1, where dogs are growling in mailboxes — we fell way short of the mark. It wasn’t until we embraced the absurd — like Patti pooping in a paper bag and labeling it “Neil,” or Nora simulating sex with a life-sized replica of a salesman while he watched, both aroused and disturbed — that we realized we were finally scraping the essence of Twin Peaks: weird and disturbing and spiritual all rolled into one. And yes, of course, the episode “International Assassin.” No way does that happen in a world where Twin Peaks never aired.

And Lost would never have happened if Twin Peaks hadn’t occurred, either. First off, the idea of mystery as the central premise of a television show came from Twin Peaks. Up until Twin Peaks, at least through my lens, a mystery show was, like, Murder, She Wrote. A procedural. Every episode, there’s a mystery, it gets solved. But the idea of a serialized mystery show, taking place over many, many episodes, was completely and totally revolutionary.

Now, there are downsides with mystery. You’re playing with fire. The minute you resolve the mystery, the show is over. Twin Peaks became a cautionary tale for that. Whether it’s true or not, fair or not, the perception is that once they revealed who killed Laura Palmer, there was no reason to watch the show anymore. I don’t agree with that premise, but I do think if you’re going to do a long-form mystery show, you have to have a plan for what to do once you resolve the central mystery. And the answer has to be, there just has to be multiple, multiple, multiple mysteries, so every time you knock one off, there’s still two unresolved ones in its wake, and you see how long you can play that game. This can become even more complex when the mysteries of your show are supernatural in nature or just plain weird. Which brings me to a story about Lost.

My memory might be faulty. I’m sure about some things in this story and less sure about others. But what I’m sure about is that, after J.J. and I wrote the treatment, ABC really only had two areas of concern. No. 1, which we have talked about ad nauseam before, was the idea that Jack, who would present as the main character, would die at the end of the pilot.

But the main area of concern was the idea that there was this monster on the island. In that meeting, present were Lloyd Braun and Susan Lyne, who were the co-presidents of ABC. Before I go on, let me just say, if Lloyd hadn’t been the president of ABC, there’d be no Lost, because he believed in this thing from the word go. It was his idea to do a plane crash on an island show, et cetera.

But I don’t think he wanted the monster. So in this meeting, he says, “I think this outline is dynamite, but I don’t think that there should be a monster in the pilot. If you guys want to work your way up to some of that weird stuff, it’s a conversation for another day. But definitely not in the pilot. It’s too weird. We don’t want to do a Twin Peaks.” I remember Lloyd very specifically saying, “I don’t want to do a Twin Peaks.”

This wasn’t good. All the things that J.J. and I were starting to get super-excited about were the weird things on the island. The monster is representative of the idea that if they’re just on a normal island, the show isn’t going to be very interesting. But if the island’s weird and supernatural and, more importantly, has a long history and mythology behind it — well, that was the stuff that was turning us on. If we had to take the monster out of the pilot, that would have meant that we’d have to take all the weird things that we had already been sort of talking about. So I was having this bad feeling in the meeting: “Oh, no, what’s going to happen now?”

And then J.J. jumped in and said some version of this: “It’s 2004. Twin Peaks has been off the air for 13 years and you’re still using it as a cautionary tale. But even if it is a cautionary tale, we should be so lucky if this show gets to be like Twin Peaks, because how many television shows get remembered the way Twin Peaks is remembered? Twin Peaks was amazing and maybe it didn’t end well, but we can learn from its mistakes. We should be so lucky to be compared to Twin Peaks! We should aspire to Twin Peaks!”

And Lloyd said, “Okay, do your monster.”

At this point in your working relationship with J.J., you had only known him —

A week!

Did you guys discuss Twin Peaks in your brainstorming? I don’t think so. We talked a lot about The Twilight Zone. We talked a lot about Dickens, in terms of how we would do coincidence and how that would be a big part of the show. But Twin Peaks influenced a lot of Lost. Easter eggs. Characters having secret motivations. A massive ensemble. These were not revolutionary ideas. Certainly not for soap opera. But when Lost came along, there weren’t really any shows on the air that were doing 14 series regulars. I think that the last time ABC had an hour-long drama with 14 series regulars was probably Twin Peaks.

I remember very specifically — although I don’t remember which season it was in — that we contemplated putting some Twin Peaks Easter eggs into Lost and then decided against it.

Why? I don’t know if you know this, Jeff, but back in the days of Lost, there were these people on the internet who were fervently theorizing about Lost to such an extent that, if you made, say, a, reference to The Black Lodge from Twin Peaks, just as a joke, the people who were analyzing the show beat by beat, would be like, “Is the Black Lodge on the island? Is it possible that Agent Cooper exists in the world of Lost?”

That would have been my greatest favorite thing ever. It would have.

What was thinking behind the idea? Why even make that joke? It could have been something like Sawyer making a pop culture wisecrack. Shannon would be walking out of the woods with some firewood and he’d say, “Hey there, Log Lady!” … My knee-jerk impulse memory is that it related to our awareness that the audience was trying to solve mysteries and that there would be some kind of wink-wink at that. Along the lines of, say, a character saying that trying to figure out where the polar bears come from is like trying to figure out who killed Laura Palmer. It was for the best we abandoned the idea. Lost making a reference to Twin Peaks as it related to the frustration of supernatural mystery? That’s radioactive. We couldn’t be that self-aware without eating a tremendous amount of s—. … But in all seriousness, you are literally playing with fire if you invoke Twin Peaks on a show like Lost. The shows shared similar issues, and in some ways now, similar legacies. Echoing what J.J. said in that first meeting with Lloyd, to be compared to Twin Peaks makes me very, very happy, whether the comparison is positive or negative.

I’ll tell you this much, though. We had three years to build up to our ending, and we got to do the ending that we wanted. Frost and Lynch did not get to do that. Now, they are. And that’s the other reason I’m super psyched for Twin Peaks coming back. I don’t know whether this is a season of Twin Peaks that will lead to more seasons of Twin Peaks, or whether it is the final chapter of Twin Peaks. Either way, I feel like it was a story that ended in media res, and now, the very same people who told the first chapters of that story are coming back to tell a new chapter. That’s exciting.

link (TP)

[noisylibrary]

KANYE WEST ALBUMS RANKED WORST TO BEST (according to me) 

It's no secret: he's one of the best to ever do it, and today he turns 40. Considering a few notable publications have put in their two sense and have made lists ranking his albums from worst to best, I thought I would do the same. So without further ado, Happy 40th Birthday Kanye West and here is my list of Kanye's albums ranked worst to best (excluding Cruel Summer. Sorry.) (Keep in mind, this is my personal opinion, obviously.) 

Life of Pablo 

Yeezus 

Watch The Throne 

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

808's and Heartbreak 

Graduation 

Late Registration 

College Dropout 

8. Watch The Throne - Obviously, I couldn't go without mentioning this album, but to be honest, after revisiting it, a lot of songs on here did not age all that well. It has a few great songs ("Gotta Have It", "Otis", Murder to Excellence") It has some pretty interesting ideas ("No Church in the Wild") but painfully corny tracks like "Who Gon' Stop Me?" and "Why I Love You" take this album's quality down multiple notches. And "That's My Bitch"? Really? BEST SONGS: Gotta Have It, Otis, Murder to Excellence (sorry, N****s in Paris is so overplayed that I don't enjoy it that much anymore, and I wasn't even a huge fan of it, to begin with). 

7. Life of Pablo - As far as I'm concerned, this is Kanye's worst solo album. But, even on the album that I think is his weakest, there are shining moments. Songs like "No More Parties in L.A." and "Feedback" proved that Kanye was still versatile and could hop on a plethora of different beats. And of course, "Ultra Light Beam" will probably go down as one of the best Kanye songs, period. However, "Father Stretch My Hands", "Wolves", "Fade" and "Facts" kind of kill the consistency, in my opinion. BEST SONGS: Ultra Light Beam, Highlights, Famous, Feedback 

6. Graduation - Graduation will always have a soft spot in my heart, as it was really my first true exposure to Kanye (I was 10 at the time of it's release). And even though I can acknowledge that this album has all too many traces of the 2000s, I will continue to love songs like "Good Life" and "Homecoming" for a long time to come. However, it just doesn't hold up as well compared to it's predecessors, and songs like "Drunk and Hot Girls" and "Everything I Am" are forgettable, to say the least. BEST SONGS: Good Morning, Champion, Stronger, Can't Tell Me Nothing, Homecoming 

5. Yeezus - This album is SOOOO overrated, I'm sorry. Which is kind of sad, because ignoring all the over-the-top praise this album receives from fans, it's a really solid album. The stellar single "New Slaves" is aggressive and undeniably eerie, as is "Blood on the Leaves". Then there are more intimate tracks, like the personal favourite of mine "Hold My Liquor", brings together the unlikely pairing of Chief Keef and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon for a really dynamic, well-written song. Still though, "On Sight" and "I Am a God" are pretty disappointing as far as industrial hip/hop goes, and "Guilt Trip" and "Send it Up" are just painfully boring songs. Thankfully, "Bound 2" closes everything out smoothly, and I can't help but continue to return to the best songs here, even if I find myself skipping over a few of them. BEST SONGS: New Slaves, Hold My Liquor, I'm In It, Blood on the Leaves, Bound 2 

4. 808's and Heartbreak - This was the album I was most excited to return to, mainly because the sound that Kanye was experimenting with on this album ended up becoming ridiculously influential just a few years later. It made sense at the time why this album was so polarizing, but Kanye took a crazy amount of risk on this album, and for the most part, they pay off. This album is sad, it's mellow, and it's very well produced (of course). I can understand why people who are fans of Kanye's rapping and his knack for sampling b=might be put off by this album's synthetic properties, but I think it's a solid listen from front to back. 

3. College Dropout - Where it all began; Kanye's debut still stands of one of the best debut's in rap. Conceptual, loaded with personal, yet hilarious and likeable lyrics, and phenomenal production all packed into over an hour of material across 21 tracks. The ambition that Kanye displayed with this album was so fresh and commendable, as he was able to justify its length with catchy, well-written songs. The poignant, often funny song topics are just so much fun, from "New Workout Plan" to "School Spirit" to the still creative and mind-blowing "Through the Wire". While it isn't my favourite of his, there isn't really much I would change about this album (honestly "Breathe In Breathe Out" is probably my least favourite song, just because Ludacris sounds just that on this song, but still. Decent track). BEST SONGS: We Don't Care, All Falls Down, Spaceship, Jesus Walks, The New Workout Plan, School Spirit, Two Words, Through the Wire, Last Call 

2. Late Registration - Honestly, the toughest decision for me while making this list was putting this 2nd, because it is easily one of the grandest statements in hip/hop. Only onto his second album, Kanye took the themes of his debut and elevated them to a cinematic level. The instrumentals are grander, the concept more refined and direct, and the Kanye is on point track after track, constantly outshining the numerous guest features without making them feel too inferior. "Roses" is a heartbreaking story about his grandmother, "Gold Digger" tells about a lady who's only sleeping with him for his cash, and "Hey Mama" is one of the best tribute songs I have ever heard. "Gone" has two of the best features on the album, with Cam'ron and Consequence joining Ye, the latter of which brings some clever wordplay to tell a heartbreaking tale. Also, can't forget closing song "Late" which is a personal favourite of mine from any Kanye album, and one of the best closing songs on any rap album. That's just 5 of 22 songs on this album; to this day, the album has not lost any of its grandiosity, and it will continue to be incredibly influential for years to come. 

1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - I know I said the decision was tough to put this ahead of Late Registration, but at the same time, I was pretty sure this would be my number one spot when I started this list. After a very polarizing album and some not-so-classy public outbursts, Kanye came back in 2010 to prove once and for all why he would go down as one of the best to ever do it. This is Kanye's Citizen Kane; a young, trouble-making artist dropping a masterpiece seemingly out of thin air. Kanye has gone on record to say that he spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours on each song from this project, and it shows in its sound. These songs are towering, in their sound and their lyrical content. It's easily one of the biggest statements ever made in the genre. Nicki Minaj of all people kicks off "Dark Fantasy" as if we are about to partake in some kind of fairy-tale and the title of the album immediately becomes clear. This song also contains some excellent wordplay and is oh-so dreamy in it's instrumental. "Power" remains one of the most monstrous hip/hop songs of the decade, and uses an incredible King Crimson sample. "Runaway"'s hauntingly simple piano and the personal, self-deprecating lyrics are a major highlight. The album ends with a slow, modest applause as if the whole record was some elaborate stage-play, but few people are heard, perhaps because the rest of the audience is just staring in awe. Bottom line, this album is incredible, though I'm sure most of you know that already. BEST SONGS: Dark Fantasy, Gorgeous, Power, Power, All of the Lights, Monster, Devil in a New Dress, Runaway, Lost in the World, Who Will Survive in America

[lilithhuntervitz]

Girl Time with Lilith and Anwen (part 1)

After the gladiator fight's conclusion, everyone was getting more excited for the coronation ball that evening. Karla gave Anwen a quick kiss before taking off to get ready for the evening, which reminded Anwen about what had happened just before Nammith had entered the ring. A big grin spreads over her face and she can barely contain her excitement. "Lilith! Let's go get our hair and nails done!" she shouts over the crowd, grabs Lilith's hand and before she can answer, begins dragging her away. "We'll be back later guys!" she waves vaguely over her shoulder at Jimmy and Nammith. "why would we go to a place to do our hair? Can't we just do it in our room like we normally do? Why are you making that face? I don't I have ever seen you smile to big", Lilith's face changed from utter confusion to worry and then slightly fearful. "It's a special occasion, Lilith! We can't just do our own hair! Besides I'm not very good at making it look fancy...Come on. It will be fun. You can wear your flower! And the other things we got earlier. You're gonna be so pretty!" she practically sings as she drags Lilith to the nearest beauty salon. "I trust none of this. Anything that makes you this happy means death involved" "You're being dramatic. You know that's not true," she pulls her into the salon and approaches the clerk, "Can you squeeze us in? Two for a hair style and manicure, please." "There's a few ladies ahead of you, but I'm sure we can fit you in. There's chairs over there if you'd like to take a seat and wait." "Thank-you!" Anwen says brightly and takes a seat, beaming at Lilith. "Sooooo...you wanna tell me about what happened today?" she says in a sing-song voice. "Sure...Ummm. We went shopping for Karla. That was fun. We got your dress, yay. I wore my kimono today. Then Nammith lost his fight. And now we are here. The end!" Anwen smirks, "I think you're forgetting a very important part." She glances at the prayer beads on Lilith's wrist before looking her right in the eye. "Ummm...So I gave Nammith a gift. He ummm liked it....A lot I hope" "Oh I'm sure he did," Anwen giggles, and gives her a wink. "Why are you winking? Are you flirting with me?" "Of course not! Stop trying to change the subject." "I have no idea what your asking me Anwen. What are you asking me?", Lilith looks at her friend with a pleading look Unable to contain herself any longer Anwen loudly blurts out, "You kissed Nammith!" The lady at the front desk looks over at them, grins and stifles a laugh before returning to her work. Lilith turns a deep shade of burgundy and quickly hides her face. "I umm you saw that? How much did you see?" She spreads her fingers out a little and peaks through the gaps "Oh hohoho...yesss I did," she grins even wider, "I'm so happy for you both." She pulls Lilith into a big hug and gives her a squeeze. The two ladies that were ahead of them walk past, their hair done up in fine curls, pinned  up and beautifully framing their painted faces. The clerk at the desk checks them out and another girl with an apron, shoulder length, but styled brown hair smiles down at them. “I can take you ladies back now.” She leads them to a pair of chairs facing a pair of mirrors and surrounded by various neatly displayed hair styling products and tools. "My name is Lydia, what are yours?” "I'm Anwen, and this is Lilith. This is our first time doing this and we don't have much hair to work with obviously, but we'd like something a bit fancier than our usual straight hair look." The girl looks the two of them over, " I think I can work with this." She smiles with a gleam in her eye, "and since you don't know exactly what you want...I can be a bit creative..." "Uhhhh sure. The last two ladies looked quite lovely. I trust you. Lilith, show her your flower so she can work it into your hair." Lilith reaches into her robe pocket and hands over her precious flower. In a small voice she whispered, "Please take care of it. It's the only one I have." She hesitates before handing over her lily to the Clerk. She sighs and looks over at Anwen. "I'm not sure what I'm doing?" The girl nods, "It's so lovely. I know exactly what do with this! Hang onto it until I ask for it, alright?" she hands it back to Lilith and begins setting up behind Anwen. "Just relax. She's a professional." "I've been doing this for years, you've got nothing to worry about, sweetie!" Lydia says proudly as she begins curling pieces of Anwen's hair. Lilith stares down at the  flower Nammith gave her almost a year ago. It's one of the first non-weapon gifts she had ever received. It's the most valuable item she owns. She smiled at that. She owns something. She steadies herself a bit and raises her head proudly. "I want to kiss him again." Anwen smiles at Lilith, looking at her through the mirror, "You should. I'm sure he'd like that." A look of panic crosses her face as she catches a glimpse of what Lydia is doing to her hair, "Ahhh you're curling it!? oookayyyy..." she looks uncomfortable and thinks this may not have been a good idea afterall. "Relax, darling, I'm curling it to give it volume and then we're gonna put half of it up in some small, relaxed braids sweeping it into the back, add some pretty pins in. It will be lovely. Trust me." Anwen breathes a sigh of relief, "Okay, continue. Sorry. I'm new at this." She meets Lilith’s eyes in the mirror, "He really likes you." "You think? I mean...I hope so.", She looks down shyly. "I'm not used to this. I mean this kind of attention. I mean...He is a man. What do I even do with that? What's the protocol?" "What do you mean, protocol? I think it works the same way kind of? I mean you two already spend a lot of time together. Just keep doing that and I am sure you guys will figure things out." "Hmmm, I'm not used to not knowing what to do in situations like this. I mean I kissed him...", She touches her lip gently, "He kissed me back. That means something right?" "What was it like? What was going through your mind? Were you nervous?" "I have never been more scared in my life. I had been pacing the ceiling all morning trying to figure out if I was going to kiss him or just hand him the gift and shake his hand." The hair dresser finishes the braids, adds a few more pins as dainty accents throughout Anwen's hair. She hands Anwen a mirror and twirls her around in the chair to allow her to see her handiwork. "What do you think dear?" Anwen smiles and touches one of the braids, "I love it. Thank-you." She sits with the mirror admiring it from every angle. Lydia smiles proudly, walks over to Lilith's chair and  begins combing out her hair, "you can walk on the ceiling? Haha. Never heard that one before..." "Ouch...Yes...Ouch...It's apart of the whole monk package." Lilith relieved from the change in conversation slowly relaxes all the muscle in her back and arms. She hadn't realized she had tensed up. "You must really like him...But why were you afraid?" Anwen interrupts turning to face Lilith in her chair. Lilith's face reveals a hidden sadness she hadn’t spoke about before. Something she has been wrestling with for weeks. "That he will be killed because of me." She goes very quiet after that without making eye contact with Anwen. She feared she might break down and cry like the day she spent on the roof. She couldn't bear to lose him. He was her Nammith now. Noticing how uncomfortable Lilith was, and the sudden seriousness in her voice, Anwen panics internally. This was not the kind of conversation you have in public. She knew this was a touchy subject for Lilith. Why had she asked that? She knew better...She really wanted to talk to Lilith about this, but not here. Besides it was a special day, they were supposed to enjoy it and have fun. Lydia apparently sensed the shift in the mood and much to Anwen's relief changed the subject, "Your hair is such a unique color, I just adore it. Do you dye it?" Lilith beams in the mirror. "No, I was born like this. I'm not sure if it's a massive birthmark or genetics, it's always been lily white. I used to hate it as a child but I have grown to love it. It makes me unique and special." Lilith makes eye contact with the hairdresser and mouths a simple "thank you". Lydia smiles and gives her a wink. “Lily huh? Like your hair pin?" She drapes a few more pieces of hair on her finger and sweeps them to the side holding them in place just behind Lilith's ear, and holds our her other hand, "I'm actually ready for it now." Lilith gently hands her the flower. "Yes, like my hair pin. He calls me Lily too. I used to hate that name growing up. Still do the more I think about it. But I don't know. There is something special in the way he says it. It's like he accepts parts of myself I'm afraid to show. Nammith is good like that, you know. Finding the best in everyone." "That is so sweet. He sounds like quite a catch," she says as she carefully puts the pin in place. "There! Oh it looks stunning!" she spins the chair and hands Lilith the mirror. Anwen looks like she's about to cry except that she has a huge smile on her face as she gazes over at Lilith. "Whoa, I look. Anwen do you see this!? My hair...I look.", Lilith gazes at her hair in shock. It was so beautiful. There was almost a lilac shine to it as she turned from side to side. "Anwen look. I'm beautiful!" "Yeah you are!" Anwen exclaims and hugs her. "You are so beautiful! I can't wait til he sees you like this! I think I'm gonna cry." She pulls back wiping the corners of her eyes with her sleeve. Lilith stares at her reflection a little longer. Tilting her head from side to side. "I look normal. Like a common person. I'm just like everyone else." She jumped up from her chair. "OK, what's next?"

[purplesurveys]

1203

survey by vyvyan86

Section 1 – Who were you?

Think back as far as you can. What is the first memory you have? This gets asked a loooooot in surveys and I’ve answered this many times, but my earliest memory is of me waking up in a Winnie the Pooh tent with my sister when I was 3 and she was 1. Our parents took us ‘camping’ which was really nothing more than a tent set up in their room.

What is something you remember enjoying very much as a small child? Reading took up pretty much my entire personality. I was always found with one no matter where I was and it was all I received as presents since my relatives and my parents’ friends knew how much I liked to read at a young age. Shame that hobby’s gone now.

How old were you, when you made your very first friend? I was in kindergarten and I was 4.

Are you still friends with this person today? No, she transferred schools in the first grade and I’ve never kept contact with her since.

Was there a story somebody read or told you that has stuck with you? I loved the book Tikki Tikki Tembo and reread it so many times. The main character’s long name is definitely filed in my head under, ‘things I unnecessarily memorize by heart.’

What is something you get an immense feeling of nostalgia from? Shows or movies from my childhood, like Lizzie McGuire and High School Musical.

As a child, were you a sore loser or a sore winner? I was a sore loser and have still retained elements of it to this day.

Did you go through the "naked phase"? No, I was really shy to be seen naked and even when I was still at that age where someone else had to give me a bath, I already felt conscious and would cover myself up.

Which television shows do you watch the most as a child? When I was a KID kid, I liked watching Hi-5, LazyTown, Art Attack, and Spongebob. As I got older (but still a kid), I took a liking to watching shows meant for older audiences even though I couldn’t always understand the jokes or plots, like Drake and Josh, Zoey 101, Suite Life, etc.

Did you play with siblings, neighbourhood kids or by yourself? I was able to experience all of these.

Is there something you really miss from your childhood today? It’s really just the smaller list of things to worry about. And smaller problems, overall.

Section 2 – Likes and interests

Would you ever like to try competitive pinball playing? No. I don’t even enjoy playing pinball casually, so I don’t see myself taking it up on a competitive level.

Do you knit, crochet or cross stitch? I’ve dabbled in embroidery, if that counts. It’s nice that there are kits available online that already have templates that I’ll just have to trace, since I’m not very creative myself and am not capable of making any artwork from scratch.

Have you ever, or would you like to attend a gaming or comic convention? Yessssss. I’m not a big fan of either, but those conventions have always looked like a ton of fun and I would most likely go so I can view exhibits and look at everyone’s cool cosplays.

What's your opinion on online multiplayer games? I don’t have an opinion on them; I don’t play them, but I don’t have a reason to actively dislike them, either.

Do you like to go cycling? If so, where? I am interested in cycling but I don’t even know how to ride a bike. I know of some friends who’ve been able to bike all the way to Tagaytay and it makes me sooooooooo envious.

Have you ever tried woodturning? If not, would you like to? Maybe not that particular method but I do find wood carving relaxing and would like to try it out sometime.

Do you enjoy drawing? If so, what do you usually draw? I can’t draw at all.

Have you ever attended a painting class? If so, what did you create? I haven’t attended a class but I’ve dabbled in painting, in general – again, mostly through painting kits that already have templates and that already supply me with the colors I need. I’ve never finished any of the images though.

How about a creative writing course? If so, did you get any feedback? I hate creative writing.

What is your favourite form of exercise? The rare times I do work out, I go for HIIT or Tabata exercises.

Section 3 – People

Who is the most important person in your life (besides yourself)? There isn’t one at the moment; I’m really just focusing on myself.

Do people generally approach you easily? I would say it’s 50/50. I’ve heard some people say they find me aloof, while others have no problem coming to me.

Do you get along with people well? If not, what's the problem? Yeah, I would say so. I don’t have bad blood with anyone and if I do it’s always because they’ve already something I didn’t like and I’ve made it a point to ignore them on purpose.

Do you enjoy being in crowds or do you prefer your own company? I can do with both. I treasure my alone time, but I also like being with people and would start to feel sad if I feel like I’ve been isolated for too long.

Which one of your friends have you known the longest? Angela.

Do you find it easy to make friends now? If not, what makes it difficult? I mean I’m in a very active fandom again, for one lol. I think that’s the biggest factor. It’s been SO much easier to find people who are into the same group and strike up conversations with them.

What is something about people that annoys you? I know too many people who always go the extra mile to bash on things that people are into, even though those interests never hurt anyone. It sucks. If you don’t like it just don’t talk about it? Don’t rain on people’s parade.

What is something about people that you really like? When they come together during crises.

If you live alone, what would be your criteria for a roommate? I’d appreciate someone who wasn’t too talkative. Obviously it’s ok to talk, but they don’t have to have a conversation with me every time we’re together. I feel as if I’d quickly grow annoyed with someone who was clingy or too extroverted. Some nice bonuses: If we have the same interests and/or if they know how to cook – I can balance the latter out by doing all the other needed chores.

How about criteria for a spouse, if you're single? I feel like I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel here due to my horrible previous experience...but I’d really just appreciate someone who I know is committed to the relationship and will be willing to go through the ups and downs with me.

In general, what's your attitude towards people? I like to believe everyone is kind unless they give me a reason they aren’t.

Section 4 – Habits

What is something you do every day without fail? Vape.

What is your typical breakfast? Coffee or water, whichever I have time to prepare.

Which article of clothing do you like to wear the most? I stay at home these days because of the c-word, but I mostly wear tank tops these days because the weather is unbelievable.

Is there a TV show you watch habitually? It used to be Friends but I haven’t gone back to it in a while – I haven’t even watched the reunion special yet :/  It also used to be 2 Days 1 Night but I’ve since placed that at the backseat when I started getting into BTS last month. 

Where do you usually spend most of your day? In my room since that’s where I work.

Is there a product that you do not want to run out of? Vape pods and 3-in-1 coffee sachets.

What is your preferred mode of transport? My own car.

Do you usually have something playing in the background when you're home? These days I put on a work-themed playlist to keep me company during my shift but if I have to do something that’s thinking-intensive, like writing a press release, I have to switch it off.

Where do you usually get your groceries? I don’t really purchase groceries just yet. My parents switch up the stores they buy from every time.

How often do you go to your local park? We don’t have one.

Which of your hobbies do you indulge in most often? BTS...hahahahaha

Section 5 – Favourites and dislikes

What is your favourite fruit? I don’t like fruits.

How about your favourite berry? I also don’t like berries.

Which food do you highly dislike? Fruits.

What is your favourite song, and why? I don’t have an all-time favorite song but at the moment I would say it’s Butterfly by BTS.

What is a movie you cannot stand? Me Before You was money well-wasted.

Which trait in a person do you find most appealing? Not really a trait but I’m always fascinated to know about people’s hobbies, since I believe it’s able to tell me a lot about them.

Which trait puts you instantly off? How they think about certain socio-political issues.

Who is an actor/actress who you dislike so much you can't watch them? Amber Heard.

What colour are your favourite shoes? All my favorite shoes are white.

What is a smell that disgusts you to no end? Sinigang or rotten eggs and rice.

Which door handle/door knob do you like the most in your home? ??? This is random haha? Door knobs are pretty nasty to begin with, so I’ll just take a pass for this one.

Section 6 – Culture

What is something very typical to the culture of your home country? We’re very hospitable and would do anything to make you feel at home, whether it’s feeding you until feel like throwing up or giving you Tupperware upon Tupperware of leftovers that you can take home so that you won’t have to cook for a few days.

Do you enjoy art? If so, which form of art is the most enjoyable? Yes, I like looking at art and going to museums and exhibits is one of my favorite things to do. As for forms of art, I like paintings the most.

What is something about another country's culture you don't understand? I guess the one where tipping is viewed as an insult. 

Do you ever attend the theater? If so, which play did you see last? No, not really my type of art.

How about the opera or the ballet? I love watching ballet shows, but I would quickly grow bored with an opera.

Which dance troupe do you enjoy, if any? None.

Do you attend concerts or gigs? If so, which band did you see last? Only if I really really REALLY like the artist/group. I last saw Paramore.

Are you interested in foreign food? I love them and would be open to trying absolutely anything.

If so, which country's cuisine do you enjoy the most? It’s always a three-way tie among Indian, Thai, and Malaysian.

Do you enjoy stand-up comedy? If so, who is your favourite comic? No.

Do you contribute to culture in some way? If so, how? Not as much as I would want to. I do share some culture-related things on social media to raise awareness for them, especially if I find them fascinating; but I don’t exactly craft anything myself.

Section 7 – Charity

Do you volunteer your time to anything charitable? If so, what? There’s a local organization for stray/injured dogs and cats that I donate to. I’d love to put in some volunteer hours as well but I just don’t have the time. :(

Do you donate money to any charities? If so, which ones? ^ Oh, I guess I should’ve answered that here haha.

If you have pets, are any of them rescues from shelters? Arlee was.

Do you donate your old clothes, linen etc. to charitable organizations? I think my mom sometimes does that with our old clothes but she usually gives them away as hand-me-downs to other relatives.

If someone you know is in need, is it in your nature to offer help? Yes.

Have you ever donated Christmas presents to children of poor families? Not on my own volition but we did this in school before.

Have you ever had to rely on other people's charity? Not that I remember.

How do you feel about donating to charities endorsed by celebrities? I don’t mind it but I think it ultimately depends on the charity that they endorse. For instance I’ve read a lot of problematic sentiments about Susan G. Komen so I always disapprove whenever WWE does their yearly breast cancer awareness thing with them.

Is there a charity you absolutely never ever will not trust? PETA as an annoying one, for one.

Have you ever donated to a cause that had a person going door to door? I don’t think so.

In general, what is your opinion on charity? I support it wholeheartedly if the cause is genuine and not just a money-making scheme or if they are hyper-reactive about certain things.

Section 8 – Entertainment

Which was the very first video game you remember playing? That’s a good question that I don’t actually remember the answer to. Maybe Duck Hunt? I have very vague memories of waking up at my grandma’s place in Tondo and using the Nintendo gun thingy.

Which was the very first film you remember watching? Stuart Little 2.

What is your go-to form of entertainment? These days, BTS content.

Do you have a large collection of DVDs/Blu-Rays? Hahahaha I haven’t bought a DVD in nearly a decade. We haven’t thrown any of our DVDs out so I guess in a sense we still have a collection, but we never pop them on anymore as my family and I usually consume our entertainment online now.

How about music albums? I also haven’t bought an album in the same period of time but I’m starting again because of BTS. I've placed orders for their first five albums/mini-albums and they’re supposed to arrive in the country by July or August, so I can’t wait for that.

Do you prefer to have your music on vinyls, tapes, CDs or digital? CDs or digital would do.

When and where do you like to entertain yourself usually? Either in my room or in the living room, where the big TV is.

Do you ever binge watch shows? If so, what are you binging now? I’ve started on Hwarang but it’s not super bingewatch-worthy, mostly because of how slow I find the pacing to be. Good show, though.

What kinds of books do you like to read, if any? Autobiographies/memoirs.

Is there a book series you're currently collecting? Nope.

Is entertainment something you prefer to enjoy alone or with someone else? It’s always better with somebody else, to be honest.

Section 9 – Internet

Do you always have access to the Internet, wherever you go? If not, why? If I have data on my phone, then yeah.

Which website do you frequent the most? Google Suite, if it counts.

Which search engine do you prefer and trust the most? Google.

What do you use the Internet the most for? Working, lol.

Do you judge people who have their phones out all the time? If so, why? No, I’m indifferent about it. I’m pretty attached to my phone too so I get it.

If your connection goes down, what do you do? Turn on my data and continue on with my surfing, albeit feel slightly agitated.

Is there something you wish you could do online that isn't possible yet? I actually feel like there’s always already a website or service for anything I need to do on the internet, which is super convenient. Just last week Kata shared with me a website that’s instantly able to turn any photo into a transparent PNG file, which was awesome to discover.

Do you remember the first time you used the Internet? When was it? Yeah, the first website I ever went to was Friendster in like 2007, at a neighbor’s house that doubled as a small internet cafe.

What was a website you used to frequent that doesn't exist anymore? Multiply.

Do/Did you ever have your own website? No.

Isn't it great how much knowledge and info we have at our fingertips? Sure, but honestly I’m more scared than amazed at how much info is out there, and how much we don’t know is actually out there.

Section 10 – And finally...

What is something you consider to be highly controversial? Bad takes on socio-political issues, like refusing to acknowledge someone’s preferred pronouns or continuing to use someone’s deadname.

What kinds of jokes do you like the best? Idk, it doesn’t take a lot to make me laugh.

Is there a person who makes you laugh effortlessly? These days it’s Jimin lol.

Which part of your body do you like the least? My teeth.

What's something random, out of context you remember from your past? I don’t really feel like racking through my head rn hahaha sorry.

Do you wear shoes indoors? Not in Asia you won’t.

What's the silliest thing you've worn on your body in public? A princess dress I had to wear around for like 10 minutes as ‘punishment’ at a school fair.

What's the most important thing in your life right now? My job and doing well at it.

What is the most distant point on the planet that you've been from home? South Korea. I haven’t gone too far yet.

Do you enjoy trivia games? If so, which one's your favourite? I love trivia games and I’d join pretty much any of them.

Are you more logical or emotional? Emotional before, but I believe it’s more logical now

[ladystylestores]

Voices of Fashion’s Black Creatives on the Work to Be Done, Part 3 – WWD

https://pmcwwd.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/instagram-blm-1.jpg?w=640&h=415&crop=1

In this, the third part of a series, WWD speaks with black creatives both in the U.S. and overseas about their experiences, what the fashion industry and media need to do to address racism and the challenges black people face every day — and what gives them hope in this moment of global protest.

Danielle Williams Eke, 11 Honoré design director

Danielle Williams Eke  Courtesy Photo

What unique challenges have you faced in fashion because of your race?

One challenge is being one of a few if not, the only, black person in industry settings. That ranges from meetings within a company to industry trade shows. As I’ve moved up the ladder into positions of leadership, I’ve seen less and less black people. In that, it makes it harder to have those conversations, because you are the only one.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

Obviously to support causes and organizations that are directly fighting against these policies and police brutality. That’s where we can use our voice, by contacting local officials and advocating within your area for necessary legislation to combat systemic racism.

Also, a lot of brands say, “we’re not political” — this is not a right or left issue, it’s bipartisan. We should all be talking about it because it’s a human rights issue.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?b

Implement diversity in hiring, and that spans both full-time employees as well as who you’re contracting with. Are you bringing in black caterers? Black hair and makeup? If you’ve hired a black model, have you also hired a hairstylist who is well-versed in working with the model’s hair?

Also, one of the hardest things is gaining the opportunities to really become employed. There must be scholarships and internships to help black people to break into the industry. People say, “well, you have no experience.” How can we get the experience without the opportunities?

Representation in imagery is key — specifically a range of representation. There are go-to black models, but there are also plenty of up-and-coming black models. How do brands who are really setting trends break these new models and bring them to the forefront? Especially in the plus-size area of fashion, there should be a range of shapes, sizes, skin tones and hair types.

Support black brands. This is especially important for retailers who buy wholesale. They should be intentionally including black-owned brands and thinking about how to really bring them into the assortment and into the conversation.

What role can the media play?

One of the biggest parts of changing the hearts and the minds of the world starts with allowing people to see the humanity in black people. A major part of that is being able to share the stories of black people. You shouldn’t just see black first — we are husbands, wives, mothers and fathers. I am these things, too.

We must also be able to share the roadblocks that we’ve experienced and be able to show that this path has not been easy, but here is our path forward. By sharing out stories, it also fosters compassion, trust, empathy and helps build relationships.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

The conversation has come to light in a way that can’t be ignored. This isn’t the first time, of course, but brands cannot ignore it right now. A lot of brands are being forced to address their approach internally: who they hire as executives and who their board members are, as well as imagery and how they are thinking about their customer.  Brands need to be thinking about servicing all women and making sure their assortment reflects their customer base.

Right now is the time for people to take this moment and create a plan of action and actually follow through.

Mahisha Dellinger, founder and chief executive officer of Curls

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

As a woman of color, I faced a host of challenges and hurdles. My experience in corporate started off amazing; however, by year four I was targeted for release despite my stellar record and performance by a new manager. This experience at Intel is what ultimately led me to launch Curls to own my financial destiny without fear of being targeted. I also faced discrimination in the banking system and actually I still do to this day. When I launched Curls I couldn’t get a small business loan to save my life, yet my personal credit was stellar. Today, despite having millions in a bank (that I have since stopped banking with) my line of credit was capped at $150,000!  I had millions in that bank!  I face hatred from strangers here in Texas. Just last year I was driving alongside a caucasian man (young and aggressive), rolled his window down and yelled “You n—-r!” The list goes on and on.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

One simple thing is to hold our top partners to the fire, to take a stand. I have. Target…I need more. Walmart…I need something! CVS…speak up. You all benefit from the black buying power so stand behind us now.

What role can the media play?

Continue to share the stories of the pain, the suffering, the reality…no holds barred. Ask the tough questions. Show programming that will educate the ignorant, ill-informed and hateful people that incite violence and deplorable acts.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment? 

I absolutely love the images and videos of various police departments marching with, standing together, and kneeling before the protestors. This shows me that, one, Not all police officers agree with the approach some take, and two, that there is hope for us yet. Seeing this imagery really did my heart good.

  Gabrielle Prescod, Stylist

Gabrielle Prescod  Courtesy

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

Growing up, I existed in predominantly white spaces and they way I acted and what I tolerated was out of fear of not being accepted. I knew I was one of very few (or at times the only) black person and that in and of itself made me a target. I felt the need to conform and cut myself down into easily digestible pieces to fit in. It wasn’t until I was in my mid- to late-20s that I started to unlearn what I thought was necessary behavior. I didn’t have to be a white person’s version of an “acceptable black girl.” But obviously, in trying to unlearn all of that, I still chose to work in fashion and to continue to exist in predominantly white spaces. I have been labeled “aggressive” and been told that I have an “attitude” problem, which is very racially charged language in describing black women but that language is rarely used to talk about someone white.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

I think the fashion industry needs to do the work internally before we are able to take on things like police brutality. The industry itself is inherently racist because it was built on the premise of white and European beauty standards. Although progress has been made, we still have a really long way to go towards making fashion truly inclusive. The most helpful thing I think the industry as a whole can do now is working on addressing and rectifying racism (in all its forms) in our businesses. And donating!! Put your money where your mouth is.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

If they are unsure of how to go about changing their company culture, language, or imagery, I think it would be in their best interest to hire black people to help them. It’s not enough to just ask black people what to do and expect them to give the answers. Consulting is a commodity and frankly no one can tell you how to better address a community you are neglecting than a member of that community.

Instagram posts from Essentials by Temi, The Aware Brand, and Karly Loyce. 

What role can the media play?

Media is one of the most powerful tools we have and when it is used correctly, the impact is palpable. It is disappointing to see how slow it took a lot of companies to respond to what is going on. It almost felt like people were waiting to see if it was worth covering because it might just “go away.” Or worse, they felt like they didn’t have the right people on staff to cover. I know for myself personally, I don’t watch the actual news because I know I’ll never get the real story so I rely heavily on web sites, publications, and social media to tell me the truth about what is going on. If they are silent or afraid to speak up, they are leaving a lot of people uninformed and having to rely on inaccurate reporting. I think that is irresponsible.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

I’ve been having a lot of tough conversations with friends and people I work with. A lot of things I’ve never spoken up about because I never felt comfortable enough to say, “hey this really triggering to me,” but I’ve begun to be increasingly more outspoken. Calling out things that aren’t right is coming a lot more easily to me now. For the most part, everyone has been very receptive and has been working on bettering themselves and others around them. It’s a very bizarre feeling of being exhausted and energized at the same time.

  Dumebi Iyamah, Andrea Iyamah

Dumebi Iyamah  Courtesy

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality? 

I think it’s important for all fashion brands to get involved, get acting, and get serious about racism. Fashion has always been about expression fueled and inspired by cultures for the culture. I cannot imagine a world of fashion that is separate from addressing social issues that threaten said culture. Andrea Iyamah has always championed diversity and celebrated the beauty of cultures, so we will always speak out against anything that threatens the acceptance and celebration of diversity. The more voices and attention we raise as a people and as an industry the better the chances we have to change policies that threaten the freedom and lives of black people.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

I believe the fashion industry should begin by accepting diversity across models as well as retail stores encouraging diversity in the fashion brands they carry. It is also important to encourage diversity when hiring for positions across all levels of the fashion industry, from press to fashion brands and retail stores. It all starts from recognizing the deficiency, making a decision to be a part of the change, and actually implementing actions towards celebrating diversity. At Andrea Iyamah, our designs and the content we release is a direct reflection of the diversity across the entire team. We get to learn and listen to different perspectives that are authentic and balanced in consideration when creating designs and our images. If the fashion industry is ready to properly participate, it needs to be ready to diversify, we need to start from within. If there is imbalance and unfairness when hiring, it will be evident in the content that is put out.

What role can the media play?

I appreciate that the media is recognizing and highlighting black designers/brands but they tend to do this in clusters. Each black brand/designer has an authentic message that is beautiful and unique; writers need to pay attention to each brand in its own unique way and more frequently. We also love how the media highlights black designers during Black History Month but what happens beyond? Black brands matter across seasons and need support throughout the year, as any other business does.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

More than anything there is a sense of togetherness in this fight for equality and I couldn’t be happier. There’s still more work to be done but I’m hopeful that advances in the digital world and technology will continue to illuminate the problems and simultaneously bring people together for the purpose of acceptance, love, and unity.

  Adebayo Okelawal, creative director of Orange Culture 

Adebayo Okelawal  Courtesy

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

As a Nigerian living in Nigeria and building a business in Nigeria, my battle with racial discrimination may not have been as intense as the battle my black American brothers and sisters have faced in America and face daily! But this does not take away my ability to empathize, especially considering that the fight against racial discrimination is a fight for all of us now and for the future of every black man and woman! I have had scenarios where I have been told that my brand’s production is automatically inferior because I produce in Africa and once a big designer asked me if I was making clothes for mechanics before even seeing my clothes and I was the only black designer in a room full of white designers who were not told the same thing. These are smaller fights in comparison to the fact that people are being taken out of jobs because of their race, or shut down by police immediately because they are black men driving nice cars or seeming to stand in places of success. Part of the problem truly is assuming that all black people face the exact same levels of racism.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

Listening to what black designers and fashion participants need — it is time to listen.

Hire, include and do not appropriate black culture and not speak up when it is necessary to fight for the race you have appropriated for so many years.

Instagram posts from Cipriana Quann, Write About Now Poetry, and Stella Jean. 

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

Hire black people and do not make us a temporary trend — we are not a trend for people to explore when they need to make money.

What role can the media play?

Listen to us and give black writers opportunities to tell black stories.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

We are speaking up! It is now a global fight and it is time for the world to listen.

It is time for us to unite as a race and not divide! We cannot ignore the numerous years of slavery and oppression because we live in a country where everyone is black. Our country was once colonized and to some extent is still colonized, whether it is we like it or not. It is time for us to fight for our freedom as black people and speak up for each other so that our race can be empowered and not stifled by anybody that assumes they are superior because they are of a supposed race.

  Ifeanyi Nwune, creative director, I.N Official

Ifeanyi Nwune  Courtesy

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

Lack of funding due to undefined structure and low confidence from investors with regards to the fashion industry in Africa. Lack of visibility as publications deem it a favor featuring your brand even when it deserves to be seen.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

Everyone needs to be a part of what’s going on in their direct communities and their hometowns. Raising awareness for each cause, donating when possible and while keeping the business alive. In Nigeria there is police brutality and we can only curb the situation by persuading the government to change policies, which most times, never happens.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

Brands need to stop limiting themselves for their own good. A word is enough.

What role can the media play?

The media should have a change of heart and focus on propagating the positive events of black people around the world. Less of poverty porn conversations, and more actions that help evolve the people.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

My hope comes from the same reason I started working in fashion, which is to change the perspective of the world on African culture and inspire a higher taste level in our direct community. It is an adventurous journey but the destination is in clear sight.

  Melanese Reid and Charleston Pacius, IWFY

What are the unique challenges you feel have faced in fashion due to being black?

First and foremost, being taken seriously — to both nonblack creatives/industry members and unfortunately at times other black creatives within the industry.

You work hard to create interesting, quality products but most of the time that is completely overlooked due to people’s preconceived notions of you as a group of people and your capabilities.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

What everyone with access/influence should be doing first is doing the actual work. Not just posting your “support” on Instagram. Racism of any kind is systemic, therefore you as an entity need to take steps to ensure that you are implementing equality within your business life and your personal life, or else it will just be a surface act.

I would say, don’t make this “support” of black creatives a trend. We are human beings with abilities/talents that we bring to the table. This “support” needs to be ongoing and mainly sincere.

Regarding police brutality and what the industry can do — I would say this is an interesting question as this isn’t a fashion industry problem, this is a human [rights problem]. Again, this is all systemic and as a human being working as well as not working within the industry it is your duty that whenever you see something wrong you call it out just like you would call out sexism or any other wrongdoing.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

Inclusion is key within the workforce — primarily within marketing and product development teams to eliminate the problems we’ve witnessed from brands such as Gucci, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, etc.

Having people of color in the room will eliminate these issues from even being presented and also it changes the overall culture of a company.

Instagram posts from Solange Franklin, Mélodie Monrose, and ACLU. 

What role can the media play?

The media plays one of the largest roles in this all. You have the power to represent a culture in either a positive or negative light.

The most useful role the media can take on is showcasing new perspectives from POC — as we are not a monolith.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

A newfound awareness. However, this is a newfound awareness for nonblack people as we as a community have known about injustices and inequalities for far too long.

Any additional thoughts?

It would be best for nonblack people to not be so eager to speak — but more willing to listen to the people who have been oppressed for so long.

You would find more insight if that is truly what you are seeking.

  Tajh Crutch and Archie Clay 3rd, Wear Brims

Tajh Crutch and Archie Clay 3rd  Courtesy

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

Black people face challenges from the time we are born in that we are fighting to be accepted as equals in this world. A unique challenge we have faced due to race is having to prove to others every day that we can build a luxury brand from scratch and be successful. With anything you do, you are going to have doubters, especially when you are two black males starting our own fedora brand. We are not always given the same opportunity or resources as other races, so we have to work 10 times harder. It’s a challenge alone to live in America and simply be black. We are blessed to still be able to provide amazing brims to our supporters and put a smile on their faces when they receive their crowns during these trying times.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

The fashion industry has the ability to have a powerful voice and influence in this climax. There is a lot that the fashion industry can do, for start companies can use proceeds they receive from their campaigns to give back to help fight the cause. They should use all of their platforms, web, social media, etc. to shed light on the injustice that has been taking place in the world toward black people. We think the major fashion houses should hire more people of color, especially black people, to major key positions within the company, rather than just hiring them to gain off of their ideas, and many times stealing these ideas.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

Companies will have to initially address the issue in order to enact change and promote inclusion. This may include having those tough, transparent conversations with black employees, getting honest feedback, and then creating a strategy to create a more healthy, inclusive work culture.

What role can the media play?

The media can play a huge role because they control a narrative that will be seen by millions. Media outlets should use their platform to shed light on more positivity in black communities. More often than not, negative stories will be shared. Many news outlets are currently showing looters, but refuse to post or report on the peaceful protests and the real mission of these protests.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

God! The most important thing is to keep faith in him. Our families, friends, and supporters also keep us hopeful during these times. Seeing all of our Kings and Queens come together to stand up for what is right helps keep us going. We want people to always remember to “own your crown” and always walk with your head held high.

Chantel Davis, Castamira Swim

Chantel Davis  Courtesy

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

The projection of the stigma seeded into those looking at us minorities.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

Strive for equality. We are taught to be racist. Fear based against insurrection from these so-called minorities are ingrained in the fabric of our lives. Fashion is one. The industry should educate and bring back a balance to let others who are culturally different share their skills.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

One word: Diversity! The beauty of the many faces itself is like art. Kaleidoscopic.

Instagram posts from Art Comes First, Omni Woods, and Fanny Bourdette-Donon. 

What role can the media play?

Change their frame. And thus it will slowly change the perception of those whose minds are framed by this imbalance over racial disparity.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

The people — blacks, whites, browns — all coming together. They are fighting for justice, they are fighting for their ancestors. And they are fighting for love. There’s so much hope in my heart for changing in the tide for peace amongst the melting pot that is America.

  Christopher Lowman

Christopher Lowman  Courtesy

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

Speaking for me and many other black men and women who feel the challenges begin the moment you walk out your front door, the moment you walk in any department store and the moment you come in contact with police. That’s the narrative and pre-judgment we are fighting to change.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

The fashion industry can contribute by encouraging others to speak up about racist issues or if people are being treated unfairly in the workplace. Implementing strict disciplinary actions. We talk about diversity constantly with campaigns and projects yet the team is nowhere diversified. Create a foundation event geared towards black creatives in the fashion industry to continue to empower this yearly. This is not going to be a one- to two-year thing; we want to continue to spread the message indefinitely.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?  

Brands should be more diverse in their staff not just their interns. Being a young black man in my late 20s I come across many black women and men who are extremely talented and skilled with a top notch work ethic but not afforded the opportunities.

What role can the media play? 

The media can play the role of a student by educating themselves on these issues that surround the police and the black community, Ask questions, sit down with fellow black coworkers/friends and ask about their upbringing, ask about the neighborhoods they grew up in, seeking the information is the only way we’ll see positive results.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment? 

At this point my hope is within those who are contributing into making the change within their personal life, their communities and workplace. Learn about your black coworkers/friends then take that information back home to teach the children, brothers or sisters. The foundation has to start at home first.

  Veronica Webb, model

Veronica Webb  Nina Westervelt/ Shutterstock

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

Being categorically rejected because of being black. That means, to be be abundantly clear, that even if I qualify in every other way for a modeling job, no matter what I can not change the color of my skin. Why does this happen? I have been told to my face numerous times by clients, photographers and agents in these exact words and sometimes a variation thereof. “The brand does not want to be seen as an aspirational symbol that’s acquired by people of color.”

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

For those in front of and behind the camera, please — and I implore you fashion industry — make sure to hire people who are competent and experienced in makeup, hair, lighting, photographing and are capable of creating images both appropriate and equal to those of theIr counterparts of European descent.

For those behind the money that hire the people on set, ask yourself, “How diverse are your c-suite executives? How many black-owned businesses do you interface with in your supply chain? How many interns of color are currently on your roster? Do you promote minorities from within? Finally, are you supporting the communities with your dollar that support you?”

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?  

Hire the best and the brightest at every level — and not just for content and products specifically aimed at people of color. I went on a job last year and this is a typical experience for me — there were 52 people in the studio. Me and the security guard were the only two people of color on the set. My dear friend, mentor, former WSJ senior staff writer and author of “The End of Fashion” and “Highjacking the Runway” Teri Agins brought to my attention efforts at Gucci and LVMH [that] “are among those working to diversify by hiring black people at every level — including in decision-making executive roles.” I am still baffled by how in 2020, companies need full-time consultants. We still have so little exposure between people of European descent and nonwhites that full-time consultants are required to identify racially offensive merchandise? Education starts at home and continues at school. That’s somewhere we can all start.

Instagram posts from Mobolaji Dawodu, KLUR, and I WEIGH. 

What role can the media play? 

End tokenism. Begin by starting to build an extensive database of people of color — makeup artists, retailers, designers, models, photographers, fashionista consumers, influencers, socialites and celebrities to feature as sources and experts to quote in every story — not just on designated stories about black experience. Familiarity breeds a comfort level.

Media outlets — mainstream fashion magazines, TV and newspapers — should hire more black people and Latinos to work as reporters, editors, photographers, videographers, and also on the publishing side, editors, in particular, to help shape coverage and selection of stories that are published. Hollywood, please give us more movies that reflect the richness, the triumphs and many of the true horrors of the African American experience. The complexity of our contribution to this nation and the world has yet to truly be told understood by the world. Feature more black intellectual discourse on the right and the left.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment? 

Technology is the foe of injustice. The protests never would have happened without video evidence of the lynchings of Ahmed Aubrey and George Floyd. The world is waking up to our responsibilities as citizens now more than ever. I’m thankful for people of all races and nationalities who care about and are invested in justice, human rights and preserving our planet.

  Pierre Ellis, development | management women’s agent at Wilhelmina

Pierre Ellis  Courtesy

What unique challenges have you faced in fashion because of your race?

Being a young black male in this industry presents many challenges. There was a lot of back-end commentary I had to endure from past employers, receiving casting breakdowns that are specifying no dark skin models, talking to young black models and explaining why they don’t have the same opportunities as Caucasian models! I keep saying this, but these uncomfortable conversations need to start happening and action needs to take place!

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

The fashion industry should be donating to the cause. Should be learning and having uncomfortable conversations amongst themselves to bring change!

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products? 

Hire more black creatives, support more diversity in the workforce. Agents should make sure their black models are being heard, valued and loved. This is not a trend we are black 365 days out of the year!

What role can the media play?

The media keep calling the racist BS out! It’s helping!!

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

I have some of the best nonblack friends! What makes me hopeful is that they are out fighting for our existence and supporting the cause. This revolution needs to happen so we can better ourselves, learn and continue loving and supporting one another! We are tired! Black lives matter.

  Debra Shaw, model, Red Models

Debra Shaw  Courtesy

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race? 

These are the three challenges I have faced often: to be accepted as a woman, a woman whose skin is black, a black woman born in America, living in Europe.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

The fashion industry must support talent based on merit. This has not happened. There is an absolute problem with supporting black and brown people on the outside and the inside of this industry. We are stripped and appropriated, but the opportunity in large part does not come to us. We have to create it on our own, which is also empowering.

What should brands/model agencies/casting directors be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

The ratio in fashion is extremely unbalanced. It would be brilliant if more black and brown women, non-binary, transgender and men are hired everywhere in fashion (the corporate side, production, design, styling, management and photography.) Actually, all the different positions in fashion.

What role can the media play?

The brands, agencies, etc., must now be conscious of the problem and change the script. Black people can no longer be asked to do this; we have been subject to discrimination at all levels and the problem must be solved so we can move forward as human beings.

Instagram posts from Norwegian Rain, Hanifa Official, and Indya Moore. 

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment? 

These radical challenges we are experiencing is shaking things up and bringing more awareness, When one is aware a shift starts to happen and then change. Hopefully it will be a colorful change, diversified!

  Zerina Akers, stylist

Zerina Akers, Stylist  Courtesy

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

Plenty. At times my opinion was second guessed. My voice needed validation. I have had to work three times harder and longer, coupled with the typical getting followed unnecessarily in department stores and boutiques. Purses even clutched at times.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

Speaking out as an entity to local legislation is the first step against fighting police brutality.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

I think it’s important for these larger companies to make sure their teams are diverse. The larger brands need to start by assessing their own policies and practices internally. A conference room filled with nonblack people cannot begin to make decisions on how to contribute to the cause and how to address racial issues of injustice. It is also too much pressure to only have one (or even three) and burden them with consulting on how to appease the black community and complete their daily tasks — trust me, they don’t get paid enough.

The fact that I have to make this next statement saddens me: Diverse representation is important. Inclusive ad campaigns are vital. These kinds of visuals not only empower us as a people but softens the mind’s eye of those that may have a distorted vision of the world around them. At the end of the day no matter what your “target market” may be, money is green and is not turned away at the register. (Unless you’re at Hermès.)

Additionally, there has to be space made overall for more black creators. This is arguably the most inclusive era of fashion and yet we still have so far to go. There are many brands that can be called out. Financially supporting organizations dedicated to fighting for racial justice and equality as well as supporting up-and-coming talent is the best way to uplift the people.

What role can the media play?

The media is a double-edged sword. This is why we need the sound voices to be as loud as possible. The media can be helpful but we’re used to it being harmful. Social media, on the other hand, has really allowed many to be heard.

Instagram posts from Phlemuns and Essentials by Temi. 

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

There is an uprising of voices supporting and sharing black businesses and it is wonderful to see. I created a new Instagram page just to keep up with it all — @Black.Owned.Everything. Here I’ve decided to shine some light on black-owned beauty, fashion, food, health and home businesses that people can constantly support.

  Stephen Burrows

Stephen Burrows  Clint Spaulding/WWD

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

Being termed as African American, when I am an American was a big hurdle to me, when I started out in the Sixties. I decided to trust in God that he would make it right for me and he did in 1973 when the “[Battle of] Versailles” fashion event termed the U.S. team as just the Americans.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

The fashion industry should fight racism and police misconduct with a change of mind-set to treat all as equals. As we are all in this reality together, no one should be put in the “I can’t breathe” state we are in.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

We also need minority-owned manufacturing businesses to balance out this sharing ideology to even the global playing field.

What role can the media play?

Be truthful and open to all. They, as a whole, were more embracing of new talent in the Sixties and Seventies, when diversity was abundantly embraced by the media than they are today. [Now] the biggest share of content lies with big brands and those who can advertise the most. [They are] taking over almost all the content.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

The end of the Trump era would be most inspiring.

  Shannon Stokes, stylist

Shannon Stokes, Stylist  Courtesy

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

As a creative that has worked on both sides of the business as both a designer and a stylist I have seen how race plays into how your work is received. During my time as a designer of a fashion collection my work was reviewed by high level white fashion editors in the business, but it was still repeatedly recommended that instead I reach out to other black fashion editors for ongoing support. That made making inroads into the business at that time prove to be nearly impossible as there were very few black fashion editors existing, if at all.

In my work as a stylist you are often not even in the conversation to be considered for work on models, film actors, and music artists who are not black. There’s also ignorance from fashion brands about new, up-and-coming black actors and musicians, which results in resistance when it comes to lending to them. They will wait until they become household names to support them, yet their white counterparts will receive support [after] one single or film role into their careers.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

The Industry should be simply trying to enable and reflect the changes they want to see in the world at large. Enabling by funding organizations who are truly doing the work to bring about changes at policy as well as community levels. Reflecting change by spearheading true diversity in positions of leadership across the industry and holding chronic abusers of their positions in the fashion business accountable once complaints are received and patterns of behavior are observed.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

The only way to enact change from within is to select directors who have that as their goal. There is no shortage of brilliance amongst black creatives so they should be seeking more diverse hires and collaborators to work within their companies and to partner with on imagery and design. This always results in better fashion all around.

What role can the media play? 

Fashion media is constantly fixated on reporting on the same artists, actors, and creatives, the “notable names” in the business, which results in stagnancy in their coverage. While they may even feel that they are promoting diversity by covering them, those reporting in the media need to dig deeper to find more undiscovered gems and highlight them.

Instagram posts from Botter Paris and The Hinton Group. 

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

Fashion throughout the ages has served as a reflection of the times. My hope is that while we are seeing a great deal of upheaval and change for black people in society at large, perhaps those within fashion will have a desire to look inward and embrace the same types of change in order to right some of the wrongs it has committed in the past.

Pat Cleveland  PHOTO COURTESY

Pat Cleveland

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

I’m a little bit of everything but I’m considered African American. Because one drop is the spice in the soup, you know? So I am an African American and Swedish combination. I have been on the border of all kinds of racial discrimination situations. I feel I have been very lucky because I have a very good attitude about humanity in general. When I see people have not been educated, traveled and have not partaken in the cultures, I am very forgiving by nature. I say, “Well, they just don’t know. And people have fear.” We’re not poison, we’re just human. We’re not going to hurt you. In other words, just open your arms and let you hear our heart beat. I’ve always felt that people can hear my soul and know that I am a good person.

But I have incidents in New Jersey where the police have come after me for nothing. One night I was driving home not far from Cherry Hill after doing a job in New York. At that time, the police were doing horrid things to young women in cars. I was driving along slowly, my daughter was with me. I’m considered black and then they followed us without putting their lights on or pulling us over. It got really scary…at some point, they put the lights on to stop. Before I knew it, I was arrested. Five police cars surrounded my car at gunpoint. I said to my daughter, “Keep your phone on. Call Daddy. I’m putting my hands up. Show your white face so they don’t kill us.” Then they slammed me face down onto the hood of the car, arrested me and had me at gunpoint. That was about 2006. They just slammed me into the jail, I was handcuffed to a wall in a cell for hours and hours before anyone could get me out of there. You know what that was for? It was the rookie police and they just stopped me to find out who I was. It was very frightening. They released me some hours later. It’s a good thing I know how to meditate. I just took it as a meditation moment. I was harassed really badly. When we first came to America around 2004, my daughter’s friend’s boyfriend was shot in the back by police. He was a football player, he was African American. He had dreadlocks and he was going through a moment of epiphany so he ran to the church to cut his dreadlocks off. Someone called the police. They Tasered him. They beat him up. He was running for his life and they shot and killed him. He was only 17 years old. That’s how I came into America after living in Europe.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

The thing about the fashion world is they are all lovers, dreamers and creative people. They are not bad people. They don’t really have anything to do with all this horrid stuff that is going on. What they can do is just stand up and say something like, “We don’t like this. We’re going to keep creating and using people of all colors because that’s who we are. We are the palette of humanity. We don’t appreciate hatred towards people, animals or anything.” We just have to be conscious of what we put out for the future. What they need to do is inspire other people to realize, “Hey, we don’t stand for this. We’re the fashion world and we don’t take this. Our vision for the future is love and fun and being gorgeous. We’re here to create beauty.” Where does beauty start? It starts in the seed of compassion.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

Brands should have mini divisions within the companies. You should delegate, as we do any way in fashion. We have different sections of lifestyle, for instance. Lifestyle and branding seem to be very important right now. That’s been going on for a while. There needs to be opportunities for all kinds of people. There is not only one lifestyle. Everything blends in together. They should try to blend the lifestyles. The story of the future is right now, you can see that everybody wants to hold hands and unite. There are so many talented people out there that need to be given a chance. Sometimes a company like Target brings in one designer. More of that is needed. People have to have their own responsibility. Everybody has to be strong. We are kind of on our own…hopefully, people will start to have a smile in the morning and will be able to socialize again. Fashion is built on socializing. All of these artists are so inspired by international flavors and cultures. We are just a big bowl of crazy fruit salad now, with some nuts thrown in. We just have to take the sweetness of it and try to illuminate that part of joy in our production. The generosity of the big companies is so important. We need to dress people who can’t afford it. Fashion is all about dignifying yourself and appreciating yourself and dressing to be protected. We need to create good things that don’t hurt people’s bodies, like fabrics that don’t take away your energy.

What role can the media play? 

Media is fabulous. I love the media. The thing is we’re not building walls against each other. We’re opening spaces. Everything is so fluid and present and now. We have the ability to know the truth. What we do in journalism and in any kind of expression is [look for] how divine can we be and find the best part of the story even though there is this dark dirty energy going around. It’s not even nourishing dirt. How do we get to the good nourishing soil of who we are? We are writers and photographers. Where’s the beauty in this ugly moment? We’re waking up to this not being a good situation. We need to have a beautiful life from the heart. Everybody knows something is wrong. And we’re conscious because media is telling the truth. The truth is we’re all born with this beautiful human nature and this is what we need to focus on. Our human nature is divine, not the kind that hurts other people.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

Every time I take a breath I just hope. Hope is so expanding. When I get up in the morning, I light a candle for the whole world. Every time I chant, I meditate or do anything, I think that I’m embracing every energy that is possible to send it out so that others know they have it too. People in fashion are very generous with their energy and their concern. Some people have more than others but whatever little bit they have, they try to make the world a better place.

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from World Wide News https://ift.tt/3h7gP95

[chrisdiamantopoulos]

>[EVIL LAUGHING.] So bad. [LOUD POOF.] I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the pebble in the penny loafer of depravity! I am Darkwing Duck? Ah, so you've heard of me. Let's get dangerous. Ow! [GRUNTS.] Dangerous? Aah! [GRUNTS.] Dangerous [BOTH GRUNT.] Oh, my goodness. Okay! You think a few very painful explosions can stop me? Now, let's see who you really are [GASPS.] Me?! Whoa, what a twist! What?! I never saw that coming! Wait, haven't you seen this episode? Seventy-five times! But never in a parking lot. Sadly, beloved TV show Darkwing Duck, starring me, Jim Starling, was canceled before we could end this story. But there's no end to the savings at Siesta Rick's Sofa Fiesta! [MICROPHONE FEEDBACK.] [SIGHS.] Let's get comfortable! Ha-ha! I'll be signing autographs for one and all! - [CROWD GRUMBLING.] - If one and all want one! - No! - Oh, my gosh, no. Buncha ingrates. - You good? - Yep. Totally cool. Thanks for being here. [CLEARS THROAT.] Okay, keep it together! "I am your biggest fan!" No. "I have modeled my entire life after yours. " "I wanna keep you in a big jar in my closet!" [LAUGHS.] Calm down, buddy. Jim Starling's just a regular guy. I've been to plenty of these signings, and one day, I'm actually gonna meet him. Wait. If you've seen him so many times, how come you've never talked to him? [JIM STARLING.] Next! - Uhh - [DRAKE GRUNTS.] This is why. [THEME MUSIC PLAYING.] Ducktales Whoo-ooh Look, I'm the one and only Darkwing Duck. I need a real gig. I'm bigger than sofa store openings. Eh I don't care that they sell recliners, too! [CLEARING THROAT.] [GROANS.] Mr. Starling, you have meant so much to me. I I actually have a very important question for you. Y-Y Great. Who do I make this out to? Oh! Um, uh, I am the terror that flaps in the night! [CHUCKLES.] I am the president of your fan club. I am [JIM STARLING.] Yeah, yeah. That'll be 15 bucks. Stay dangerous. Waaaiiit! Uh, yes? A fresh-faced new fan! I knew the kids still loved me. [LAUGHS.] Who do I make this out to? [GRUNTS.] Oh, the fainter's back. He'd really appreciate it if you could sign his poster? [DEWEY.] "#DarkwingDuck" Whoa! That's weird. "Darkwing Duck" is trending number one worldwide. What?! Gimme! It says here they're making a movie of Darkwing Duck! They are? We am?! Darkwing Duck is back, baby! He is?! - [EXCLAIMS.] - [BOTH GRUNT.] It's him! Uhh [ALL GRUNT.] [LAUNCHPAD GRUNTING.] Launchpad! Stop looking in the rearview mirror. Yup! Totally profesh. No problem-ohh - [BRAKES SQUEAL.] - Hey! Fragile cargo, huh! [CHUCKLES.] Back on top. Arriving on set for a big-shot movie in style. Thanks for the ride, fans. Wow. I am going to a real movie studio! Where larger-than-life big-screen legends are born! And you get to ride there with a real-life movie star! [SNIFFING.] Musky. Are we sure about this guy? Why wouldn't the studio send a car for him? Or, you know, tell him the movie exists? They couldn't make a movie without him. Jim Starling is Darkwing Duck! Ya dang right he is, buddy! Heh. [GASPS.] I'm his buddy! Uhh Oh, man. I hope whoever owns the studio isn't mad at Wait, what the ?! Sorry, you need more money for ? The grand finale of my film. A psychological examination of man's inhumanity to man! Alistair, I haven't seen a movie since 1938. This studio was built to make cheap Office Safety Videos for my company. You convinced me a "fun little action movie" would double my profits, but you're already over budget. If you want one penny more, I have to be consulted on all decisions. How dare you, sir? An artist's integrity Splendid. The movie should be in color. Color's all the rage these days. Oh! And the villain is going to need a mustache to twirl whenever he does something evil. Heh You have a movie studio that could fulfill a starry-eyed boy's cinematic dreams. Why didn't you tell me?! To avoid this exact conversation. Okay, yeah, no, I can see that. I am the terror that flaps in the night. - I am the comeback the audience demands! - [ALL GASP.] I am a huge fan, Alistair Borswan! I mean, I've never actually seen your work, but you're British, so I'm sure that it's very classy, and yeah Uh, yes. And you are? [LAUGHING.] British and funny? Whoa! This feels like the beginning of a great creative partnership! Aw, cool! A big-budget reboot of a thing I loved as a kid! Those are always great! Is Darkwing's motorcycle in it? Is he still a noble hero who gets back up and fights for right, no matter what evil throws at him? You're keeping the theme song, right? Would you like to see the trailer? Ooh! Aah! [GIGGLING.] [THUNDER CRACKING.] [NARRATOR.] Within every man, there is a war. - Not of action, but of ideas. - [DEWEY.] Ugh! - [NARRATOR.] There is no right or wrong. - [MAN SCREAMING.] No heroes or villains. Only darkness. - [PEOPLE SCREAMING.] - There is one man who can fight the darkness. [LAUNCHPAD.] Yeah! Here we go, baby! [THUNDER CRASHES.] - [NARRATOR.] With more darkness. - [LAUNCHPAD.] What's this, now? - [SCREAMING.] - It's the Dark-wing! Run! You can't just flap around in the night! You'll terrify people! It's too dangerous! [Narrator.] Darkwing: First Darkness. This film not suitable for children. That is not Darkwing Duck! DW'd never hurt innocent people or set the city on fire. Not on purpose. But are we all not both the heroes and the villains of our own story? What? I don't What?! Well, I kinda like it! Grim, gritty. Shows off my dark, smoldering side. Ooh! Ahh! - I kinda hated it. - What?! I didn't understand what was happening or what the bad guy was doing or even who the bad guy was. I knew he needed a moustache! It needs aliens! Oh! Or ninjas! Or the streetwise sidekick who skateboards everywhere and talks in catchphrases, like ya Dewey! This is your main audience. If this fiasco is gonna make money, it has to appeal to the most childish child I know. Dewey's in charge. - What?! No! - Yes! Let's talk musical numbers! How many is not enough? Don't listen to these yahoos. We're making art! When do we start? Uh, we're almost finished, actually. Ah. So we're shooting the Darkwing scenes last. No. Of course! I'll be be put in with CGI! [CHUCKLES.] [SIGHS.] You are not playing Darkwing Duck. He is. [COOL GUITAR RIFF PLAYING.] - Huh? - You?! Mr. Starling! Uh, we met at the signing. You fell on me, remember? It was a huge honor. Uh, do you have any words of wisdom for the man stepping into your cape? [BOTH EXCLAIMING.] [GRUNTING.] [BONES CRACKING.] That is not the Darkwing Duck I know and love! Yeah! It's not me! I wish there was some way we could show them - how great the old - Original. uh, original Darkwing is. Hey, maybe there is. Are you with me, sidekick? Okay. What's the plan? I break onto the set, you find this new hack actor's trailer, lock him up. I replace him in the finale, they see I'm obviously better, I'm back on top! Any questions? - Seven. - Pick the most important one. "Breaking in," "locking up. " Doesn't that sound not heroic? When the chips are down and everyone's against him, what does Darkwing Duck do? Get back up and fight for right. And I'm Darkwing Duck, right? Of course! I'll have to disguise myself to get past the guard. Luckily, I can disappear into any role. I am the courier who delivers the [SPUTTERING, COUGHING.] Whoo! [COUGHS.] [GRUNTS.] What production you delivering to? [COUGHING.] Darkwing Duck. [COUGHS.] Huh? Never heard of it. What?! Remake of the popular TV show. A superhero for the ages? [GUARD.] Oh! Like Gizmoduck. [JIM STARLING.] No! Not like Gizmoduck! [GRUMBLING.] Like Gizmod - Darkwing Duck! - [GROANS.] [JIM STARLING.] "Let's get dangerous. " Badaba! None of this rings a bell, seriously? Uh, we got a situation. Requesting backup. [GRUNTS.] [GUARD RADIO CHATTER.] [GRUNTS.] [STRUGGLING.] [GRUNTING.] Mmm Aah! Unh! Perfect. Now, I wait for that phony actor, lock the door, and us, the good guys, win. Totally heroic. Mm. [GRUNTING.] It's already locked. The plan is falling apart. Help! I'm trapped in a prison of guilt! [GRUNTING.] Fear not, helpless Oh, hey, it's you. I I heard your cries, and I freed you from my trailer? What what what are you doing in my trailer? Definitely not locking you in here to sabotage your movie buddy? Ahh [EXCLAIMS.] - [EXCLAIMS.] - [CRASHES INTO TOILET.] Aw, man. I'm sorry. You will be, villain! [BOTH EXCLAIMING.] I've just gotta fix the movie to make Darkwing look like a hero! Oh, so what, you're gonna hold me hostage? Yeah. Real heroic. Sorry! Sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! [LAUNCHPAD GRUNTS.] Wait, don't touch that! Whoa! A vintage Darkwing Duck Grim Avenger Grape Shampoo bottle?! [GRUNTING.] - [HEAVY GRUNT.] - Oh! My Darkwing Adventures comics! It's a complete run! Huh? [GASPS.] Is that ? [BOTH.] A hyper-rare Battle-Hat Darkwing Duck Action Figure! I thought these were banned because they posed a blinding hazard for kids! May I? Ah, a keen eye. I insist. Ow! Cool! [JIM STARLING SCREAMING.] Gentlemen, thank you for coming to today's presentation. What is this? Oh, you're in the "Splash Zone. " Sir, you cannot expect me to hand over the finale of my grim, complex masterpiece to this child. Filmmaking is a team effort! You've got to be open to new ideas. The time: dusk. Neon! Drama! Those big lightning tower things! An epic showdown between Darkwing Duck and the villainous villain Megavolt! - Question. - Who has a moustache. Question rescinded. Your pyro-pandemonium is passé, Hot Couture! Au contraire, Darkwing. I'm setting the fashion world on fire! [WHOOSHING SOUNDS.] Oh, no! Aah! Work through the pain. You got this. Oops. My bad. Hey, I had that same lunchbox as a kid. Not like this one. Now, shocking as it may sound, I was not the coolest kid growing up. What? No. I know, right? But one day, I saw this show about this hero. He was unstoppable. No matter how many times he was beat up or blown up or electrocuted [LAUNCHPAD.] No matter how many planes he crashed or or how much property damage he caused [DRAKE.] He always got back up and fought for what's right. [LAUNCHPAD.] So you got that lunchbox, everyone saw how cool you are, and they stopped beating you up! [DRAKE.] Oh, no. They they beat me up much harder. But I kept getting up. Look, I know this movie's not perfect. But I really want to make it better. Then, maybe I can be on the lunchbox that inspires some other kid like me. And a cut of the toy sales would be nice. You are a true fan. We can save this movie! We gotta tell Mr. Starling. Yeah, I I don't know. He kind of wants to make me not alive anymore. Get your cape. We're gonna save Darkwing Duck. [PANTING.] [GASPS.] How hard can it be to find an idiot in a purple cape? Follow me, Darkwing Dance Crew. To stardom! [DANCERS.] One, two, three, and four. Up and down and left and right. Left and right and up and down. Up and down and left and right. It's so easy, it's so right. Up and down and left and right. - Up and down and left and right. - [YELPS.] - Left and right and up and down. - [GRUNTS.] Up and down and left and right. Dewey, the actor playing Darkwing is a big fan, so Jim can give him pointers and help make him more heroic, and together, we're going to convince Borswan to fix the movie. Have you seen Jim? He might be on my set! They're letting me do whatever I want, and it's crazy and huge, and I don't even know if it's any good. Follow me! [BOTH.] Making movies is fun! [STRUGGLING.] Mr. Starling! There you are. - Mm! - I am so sorry about everything. You helped me through a really rough time. Your heart is in my lunchbox. Come work on the movie with me. Together, we can inspire a new generation and make the best Darkwing Duck ever! Yes. I will. [GRUNTING.] Ow! Oh! Why? We! Fix movie. Together. Why? Stupid. Movie star. Face. Get. In! - [BIRDS CHIRPING.] - [PANTING.] Showtime! [EVIL LAUGHING.] [MUSIC PLAYING.] What?! No, no, no, no, no, no! Easy, Matthew. Don't want that baby out of tune for the big musical number. What did you do to my psychological masterpiece? I added chainsaw jugglers. You're welcome. [SAWING.] - I don't know about this. - Thank you! The villain's moustache has to be at least twice as twirly. [SIGHS.] - [SIGHS, EXCLAIMS.] - Listen Ignore all these distractions. Stick to our script. Darkwing confronts Megavolt, surrenders, then takes a knee. [SCOFFS.] Excuse me! I didn't work this hard to make a comeback just to lose a fight to that joker. Oh! There you are! Did you find ? Uh, that actor kid? Yeah. Said I could film the finale. - He did? - Oh, yeah. Stubbed his toe really badly and just quit. Movie stars. One little boo-boo and they fall apart. That doesn't sound like him. And why are you saying things all mean? And action! You can't defeat me! I'm awesome! Surrender, and do it now! I've lost the ability to surrender to a two-bit, ten-watt dim bulb like you! Wait. Who is that? Why isn't his robot face coming off? [JIM STARLING.] Feast on this! [GRUNTS.] [CREW PANICKING.] Quick! Cut! No cuts! - Jim Starling never cuts! - Huh? [JIM STARLING.] I'll film this finale if it kills me. And everyone on this roof! [DRAKE.] I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the overstuffed burrito that spills onto the lap of crime. I am Darkwing Duck! No, I am! [GRUNTING.] [WHIMPERING.] What is that idiot doing? Drawing fire. Get everyone out! Ugh! [GRUNTING.] We've gotta stop the flames! I'll keep him distracted. You turn on the rain machine. [BOTH.] Let's. Get. Dangerous. - This is so cool! - [GASPS.] I know! It feels so right! [BOTH EXHALE.] [GROWLS.] Ha-ha! What?! I knocked you out cold. Like, a lot! I don't want to brag, but I'm incredibly strong and resilient. Oh, really? - Darkwing! - No! [EVIL LAUGHTER.] Uh, what? Get back up. Darkwing! No! [GROANING.] [PIANO KEYS PLAY.] [EXCLAIMS.] Why won't you stay down? [EXCLAIMING.] [MACHINE WHIRRING.] Keep getting up [GROWLS.] [GASPS, GRUNTS.] [BOTH GRUNTING, EXCLAIMING.] Uncle Scrooge, stop the bad guy! Which is the bad guy?! If only one had a blasted moustache! [BOTH GRUNTING, EXCLAIMING.] Oh! [GROANS.] [STRAINING.] Aah! Show's over, Dead Meat Duck. [GRUNTS.] Stop! You're not a villain. You're a hero. Our hero. No matter how hopeless things got, Darkwing Duck got back up and did what was right. For Darkwing Duck is bigger than one man. He is the hope that flaps in the night. This may be the most eloquent Launchpad has ever been. He knows a lot about this one thing. But he is light. Just. And the most tenacious part of all good men. Um, Launchpad? Inspiring the citizenry to rise to a new Promethean Hey, dummy, it's about to blow! You really can't stop him once he gets started. Well, yeah. He's your biggest fan. [LAUNCHPAD.] one who subjugates his will. To the will of the common good. A caring duck of mystery. A champion of right. Who is the cunning mind behind that shadowy disguise? - I got ya! - No, I got him! about ourselv unh! [BOTH GRUNT.] [SCREAMS.] [BOTH GASP.] [STRUGGLING.] That was the perfect end! A hero grappling with his dark id. In a cleansing rain! Here's the footage. [GASPS.] [MUSIC PLAYING.] No! Over the entire fight? It's my masterpiece. Well, this was a disaster. I'm shutting this down. There will never be a Darkwing Duck movie. Well, there's still no sign of Starling. The movie's ruined, I lost my big break, my hero tried to kill me, and, oh! I blew him up. Oh, what am I gonna do now? What Darkwing Duck always does: Get back up. You know, you could do this for real. What? Be a superhero? I mean sure, I'm scrappy, I'm brave, I look great in the cape. Gizmoduck does it. I am better than Gizmoduck. It's one thing to play a hero. And it's another thing to actually be a hero. Do it for Jim. I don't know, I This whole thing sounds like it could get Dangerous? You already got one fan. "Drake Mallard. " Never heard of ya. [JIM STARLING.] It was all a setup. That hack put my fan in danger to steal the glory and humiliate me. They want grim and gritty, huh? Happy to play the part. [EVIL LAUGHTER.]

[consulting-celiac-in-the-tardis]

11+ Kids and Teens with Celiac Disease Already Doing Seriously Amazing Things

New blog post! If you read this blog regularly, you know that I love applying a positive perspective to life with celiac disease. At times, though, having a chronic illness or needing to follow a gluten free can feel pretty dang hard.

That’s why today’s post is highlighting 11+ kids and teens who are totally kicking booty at life, even with celiac disease! Whether you have a child with celiac you want to feel less alone or just want to read about some amazing members of the younger generations, keep scrolling to discover some pretty inspiring girls and guys.

1. A (Literal) Master Chef

If you’re a fan of the cooking show, Master Chef Junior, you probably already know all about Che Spiotta. Spoiler alert: he’s the winner of the latest season of Master Chef Junior.

According to this interview, the now-thirteen-year-old has still not mastered the art of baking gluten free bread, but he certainly doesn’t let his diet get in the way of enjoying himself in the kitchen. As Che puts it: “I probably started on the stove when I was 3 or 4. I think that’s because I’m gluten free, and at first I didn’t know what I had; there were just lots of foods I couldn’t eat...When I realized I was gluten free, I just kept on cooking. I realized how much fun it is. I love the creativity about it. “

2. 10 and 11-Year-Old Authors

The most impressive part of these stories isn’t that Lillian Bordoni and Kristen Adam respectively published books about celiac disease at ten and eleven years old. What really gets me are motivations behind these girls’ separate projects. Kristen, author of Dear Celiac (available on Amazon), wanted to keep kids with celiac disease from feeling lonely when they were first diagnosed, like Kristen felt. Meanwhile, Lillian reportedly had one of the most extreme forms of celiac disease seen by Children’s Hospital Colorado. So she wrote and illustrated Cecilia the Celiac Superhero (available on Story Jumper) to tell show readers that anyone can thrive with celiac disease as long as “they just all put their family together and try super duper hard.”

3. Hockey Superstar 

If you’re a big fan of hockey, you probably already know about Kaapo Kakko, a Finnish hockey player who was the second draft pick for the 2019 NHL. But besides being an amazing hockey player who won three gold medals in the Finnish hockey world, Kakko also has diabetes and celiac disease. And Kakko won’t let either of those conditions get in the way of him dominating the ice.

In fact, when asked about his health struggles, the eighteen-year-old replied, “It’s nothing for me. I got (diagnosed) five years ago. It’s a normal thing for me.”

4. Members of the Celiac Youth Leadership Council in Seattle

Seattle Children's Hospital is doing more than just diagnosing kids with celiac disease; it's also empowering celiac kids and teens to take part in a mostly kid-run outreach and mentor program for people with celiac disease. Besides raising celiac awareness in their community, celiac teens like Elle Penarczyk are running a gluten free food drive for a local food bank and "testing gluten-free products sold in regular bakeries and pizzerias to see if they’re affected by flour in the air." Talk about a hospital - and a group of young celiacs - who are seriously going above and beyond.

5. Twin Authors Heading to College

As the self-named Casey the College Celiac, I obviously love hearing about the new generations of celiacs heading off to college. In particular, I love hearing about new advocates educating others along the way...and Rayna and Hallie Katzman definitely fit both bills.

Via the twins' Facebook page

Before they went off to college, the girls worked with their mother to write and publish a book based on their celiac diagnosis at age 13 called Everybody’s Got Something: My First Year with Celiac Disease (also available on Amazon). According to this interview, the girls wanted to create a book that filled the gap between books about celiac disease for younger kids and for adults, and gave them the information they wish they had at 13.

6. Miss Pinal County 

Josephine Taylor didn't let celiac disease or Hashimoto's keep her from winning Miss Pinal County - and she's using her platform to raise some major celiac awareness. In particular, she's been working on making sure that all Arizona high schools have a safe, cross-contamination-free microwave that students with dietary restrictions can use. That way, students with celiac disease or food allergies can still eat in the cafeteria along with everyone else. At least as of this report, Taylor's efforts have paid off in one school district. But I'm sure Taylor's mission is far from over.

7. Taylor Miller from Hale Life

I've been fortunate enough to meet this teen in real life (at the first Gluten Free Teen Summit), and Taylor Miller is as kind in person as he is online. Taylor is the guy behind the super popular gluten free website, Hale Life (formally Gluten Away). Besides being a huge celiac and chronic illness advocate that speaks at tons of different events around America, Taylor also works with gluten free brands on social media marketing, owns a gluten free bakery in Tampa, Florida with his mom, and has started taking college classes. Suffice to say, he's a pretty cool guy!

8. Miss Nebraska Hopeful

Lianna Prill started competing in pageants as a junior in high school and qualified to compete for the spot of Miss Nebraska in 2014. It wasn't until Prill's dad was diagnosed with celiac disease that Prill eventually realized her constant migraines and flu-like symptoms could be symptoms of the same disease. Since going gluten and dairy free, Prill says, “Now I’m a new woman. All that stuff with being sick that I just wanted to forget about was actually part of a plan. I can’t wait to share that story and hopefully save some lives.”

At least as of this Facebook post in 2017, it seems like Prill is still fighting for her crown - but she did come in third place!

9. Celiac Strong Camp Founder

I've loved seeing that, nowadays, there are several celiac camps that occur all over the country. One of these camps, though, actually started out as Sabrina DeVos's Girl Scout project when she was just 16 years old. Nowadays, Sabrina is 21, but her Celiac Strong Camp is still (pun intended) going strong. Her main goal? In Sabrina's words: "I want other kids to experience the joy of having a few of worry free days and create a place where they can just be kids."

10. A Creative Cooking Champion

If you need some inspiration for getting creative in the kitchen, here's another inspirational teen for you to check out! Her name is Maizy Boosin and she beat three other young chefs to become a Chopped Junior Champion. Besides raising celiac awareness in the actual episode by talking about her condition, Boosin also shared plans to donate some of her $10,000 winnings to celiac disease research and education.

11. All of the gluten free and celiac kids you know in your own life! 

Of course, we can't forget to celebrate every kid, preteen and teenager who's navigating the usual hurdles of life along with eating gluten free and thriving with a chronic illness. And if you or the inspirational little celiac in your life needs even more young role models to look up to, you can check out Gluten Free Living's list of epic gluten free ambassadors, who range from a young cookbook author donating all her proceeds to celiac research to kids just spreading celiac awareness in their own community.

What I Hope Everyone Knows about Living with Celiac Disease as a Teen

Honestly, this post really hits home for me because I was diagnosed with celiac disease at age 16. In fact, I was diagnosed only a few weeks before my senior year...and less than a month before I was asked out on my first date. So before I even really knew how to take care of and feed myself safely with celiac disease, I already had to navigate the awkward reality of living with celiac disease at an age where 99% of social events revolve around food. And I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. It. Was. (And still is, in grad school). Hard. It was hard to not know what to order while visiting an ice cream shop on my first date, or to constantly turn down food at pizza parties, graduation events, freshman orientation and all throughout college. But I did it. Heck, even though I was hospitalized for celiac complications as a freshman in college, I can still say that I created some amazing (gluten free) memories during those four years.

At the end of the day, I think these kids are sending the same message I try to always convey: that celiac disease can be tricky at any age but that you can still kick butt through it. And you might even change the world along the way! No questions - just tell me your thoughts! <3 via Blogger https://ift.tt/2MptcRC

[skincare-us-blog]

Dee Poku, Women's Advocate + Entrepreneur

New Post has been published on http://skincareee.com/dee-poku-womens-advocate-entrepreneur/

Dee Poku, Women's Advocate + Entrepreneur

“I grew up in London, but lived in Ghana for a few years, which was a very formative experience for me. My parents missed home and wanted their children to have the same experience that they had. I think particularly as a woman of color, it was very grounding for me to be in that environment where everybody looked like me. I was able to aspire to be anything I wanted to be, without worrying about any sort of impediment to my success. In Ghana, education is everything so I really thought about my studies in a very serious way.

I was a young teenager when I went back to London, which is a very insecure time in anyone’s life, particularly for young girls. I was different, I had picked up a bit of an accent, and was a bit of a nerd. As far from being in a cool crowd as you can get. [Laughs] Going to university was a revelation for me. It was very freeing. I initially wanted to study chemical engineering, but I ended up switching to math. It’s so interesting that now there’s this push to girls into tech…at the time I remember thinking, what am I doing here? Out of my class of 150 people there were only 2, 3 girls. It didn’t feel like a very comfortable place for me to be in.

CAREER My initial plan was to go into finance—which would have made my parents very happy—but I just had a change of heart and I decided to take a year off. I think I’ve always tried to be creative and I was boxed into a science box. I interned at this fashion PR company, called Lynne Franks, and then they offered me a job. Its claim to fame is the founder Lynne was the inspiration for one of the main characters in Absolutely Fabulous… Do you know that TV show? It’s actually really funny. Then I moved out of fashion and into film marketing, which is where I spent most of my career for 15 years. Before I had any commitments in my life, I would just sit in movie theaters all weekend long and just watch movies. I found my calling in them. I was very lucky in respect that I got to work with such incredible filmmakers. I’ve worked on so many good movies—Lost in Translation, Brokeback Mountain, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind…

For a while, I was using my marketing background to consult for various non-profit companies—quite a few in the women’s space. That ended up segueing into the global branded company I founded, WIE, Women in Inspiration and Enterprise. It kind of happened by accident. I was at The Important Dinner for Women in 2010, which brought together all these powerful, impressive women—Queen Rania, Wendi Murdoch, Christy Turlington, Hillary, Oprah, you name it. We were all asked to make a pledge, to go off and do something with it. I was just so in awe of the success, intelligence and experience I was surrounded by and thought how incredible that women like me and behind me can have this sort of access in such a rarified environment. We started out with just one conference, and it has since grown into a network of women with a variety of different events designed to create those connections and learn from one another. I didn’t know I had a voice in making a difference in that space, and then the more I got to learn about other people, the more it inspired me to do that, too. Ultimately I just want to see parity in the workplace, more women in leadership positions, founding and growing major companies.

SKINCARE My philosophy is that beauty absolutely comes from within. I always look my best when I am looking after myself. For me it starts more with little rituals—diet, lemon water in the morning, pure cranberry juice—things that are constantly cleansing. I don’t drink coffee at all, I like to drink green tea. My skin is really in-between and when I am not looking out after myself, I can breakout. I just got a breakout today. This week I had a gazillion things going on, and I didn’t sleep much or eat well—it’s just that simple. I was like, ‘Great, I have a photoshoot and a zit.’ [Laughs]

I started using Ole Henriksen years ago because their headquarters was right by my apartment in LA. I used to go there for facials. In the morning, I use the On The Go Cleanser [ed note: discontinued] with a mitt and then once a week, I use the Clarisonic brush. I also use the Aesop Fabulous Face Cleanser because it smells really nice, and it’s not too harsh. I think I’m always looking for things that are not too drying or stripping for my skin. I gravitate towards clean beauty and I love Gwyneth and Goop. [Laughs] I love the philosophy, so that’s what I started to use and that worked well for me. I really like the Replenishing Night Cream, but I have run out. I also like using the Skinceuticals CE Ferulic Serum, which a facialist told me about. Sometimes at night I will use micellar water and wipe that off, because I can’t be bothered washing my face. I also like to use the No7 Total Renewal Micro-Dermabrasion Exfoliator once a week. That’s from my English days, its super grainy. I also like the Boots Botanicals Ionic Clay Mask which I use once a month.

MAKEUP In my fashion PR days, I experimented with makeup more, although I don’t know that I did it very well. [Laughs] Now, it’s about finding that confidence in yourself and knowing what you look like. It comes with age, it’s like when you know what suits you when you go to the store and pull out what’s best for you.

If I wear foundation, it’s always so hard to get the right shade so I mix two. I like the Make Up For Ever HD Foundation in #178 and the Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Tinted Moisturizer in R5. A makeup artist first suggested that I mixed them and I was thrilled. I used to have a fear of photoshoots because makeup artists just never get it right on my skin. I mean unless you’ve got Pat McGrath, it’s not the right shade and you just have to kind of take your own.

My lashes aren’t very long, so I am always looking for anything that enhances my eyelashes and eyes. I find that Maybelline brands are just really good. I use the Maybelline Falsies Push Up Angel Mascara. It’s not a brush, it’s a thin comb but it really coats the top and bottom lashes. I’ve run out but I really like the Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner that comes in a pot with a brush. I do the whole of the top and half of the bottom. And I love it. People are always talking about Ruby Woo, but it’s really the best lipstick ever invented. It’s not too bright, not too pink, it’s a deep, rich red. Sometimes I don’t wear any makeup during the day and then if I have a meeting or if I go out, I put mascara and lipstick on and that does me fine.

HAIR I cut my hair last year and it’s the best. Just so freeing. I was definitely someone who liked to hide behind their hair. I just felt I couldn’t pull off short hair, and my husband really thought that I could. He has fancier hairdresser than I do—so does my son—they both use Mika at Salon AKS. They were having their hair cut and my son was just like, ‘Mommy get your hair cut, too,’ and suddenly that was that. There’s still such a gap in the market and there really aren’t any great salons for black hair. I find the women from the Caribbean and Islands just get it, so I go to Harlem for a great, cheap blowdry or braids. I really like the Aveda Be Curly Shampoo and their Brilliant Conditioner. I also use the Organic Root Stimulator Hair Mayonnaise as a really good home treatment, it’s very enriching and puts moisture back in your hair. The Redken Glass Look Smoothing Complex is great when I am using a straightening iron and then I would use the Living Proof Frizz Nourishing Oil to protect it.

BODY Having moved to Brooklyn three months ago, my routine has definitely changed. I have a 5 year old who’s very active—he wants to ride his bike, scooter, play basketball and run around obviously here he can do those things. The thing about LA or London is that you have a garden, and parks on every corner, it’s just different. But I love it here, I’m definitely a city girl. I’ve lived in cities my whole life, I crave that hustle and bustle.

Right now we’re very into oils. When my son was born in 2012, I did so much research into products for him that I could use as well. We use these cocoa butters from Everyday Shea, they’re very simple and great. There’s this brand called Daughter of the Land, and it’s an organic, fair trade oil that is great to use all over the face and body. They have three different ones with different grades of heaviness and I combine them all. I do like fragrances though. Over the years I’ve gone through four bottles of the Bvlgari. It’s really great and clean. I also love the Cartier So Pretty. I used to wear it all the time although I think it was discontinued, and I certainly haven’t seen it in America.

Once in awhile and I’ve been meaning to go back, I get facials with Mamie, she’s kind of the one. She’s great with black skin and there are a lot of people that go to her, she has very fancy clients. I try to go to her every few months for a deep clean facial, and I feel like it lasts a long time. I love, love saunas, Hammam, anything with steam. I used to go to a spa on Greenwich street in Tribeca—Aire Ancient Baths. I also used to be obsessed with Russian Turkish Baths. It wasn’t the most glamorous place, but I loved it.

I think that in general, the more I can incorporate my beauty and health routine into my day to day, the better it works for me. I don’t exercise that much, I’m very simple. I used to run and do yoga, but that had fallen by the wayside a little bit. I would rather not take a car or subway than go to gym, so I just walk everywhere and take the stairs. It’s cheaper, and you can multitask. I am about to try—just because I’ve been hearing so much about her and following her on Instagram—Taryn Toomey’s The Class. It looks amazing. I’m about to give that a go, maybe I’ll do it by the time this comes out. [Laughs]”

—as told to ITG

Dee Poku photographed by Tom Newton in New York on June 2, 2017.