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blackjack-15 · 4 years

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The Puzzle is Just the Italian Language — Thoughts on: The Phantom of Venice (VEN)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD, MHM, TRT, FIN, SSH, DOG, CAR, DDI, SHA, CUR, CLK, TRN, DAN, CRE, ICE, CRY

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it. Like with all of the Odd Games, there will be a section between The Intro and The Title called The Weird Stuff, where I go into what makes this game stand out as a little strange.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with links to previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: VEN, RAN.

The Intro:

From the French-inspired streets of New Orleans, Nancy jumps on a plane to Venice and is caught up in international espionage, theft, a mafia ring, and a cast of hostile suspects living in the same house as her.

Sounds a bit like my first semester of college, honestly. Minus the whole “Venice” and “international espionage” parts.

Coming directly after CRY, VEN isn’t quite as thick with atmosphere, doesn’t have any of its philosophy or thematic elements, and is really only famous for being set in Italy and for the fact that they hired four voice actors for our main cast sans regular characters (Colin, voiced by our good ol’ boy Jonah Von Spreecken, counts as a returning VA), but hired 6 distinct VAs for the singing gondoliers, most of whom the average player will never hear.

Yeah, VEN is kind of that type of game.

There’s a lot that makes VEN the trippy experience that it is – more on that immediately below – but nearly none of that makes VEN as confused as it is. Nancy’s hired by a foreign government – sort of – but there’s also a love line – sort of – a roommate story – sort of – and some touristy stuff like overpaying for flowers and gelato.

Taking place overseas, VEN might have been mistaken for a Jetsetting game if it weren’t for the fact that every bit of the game is permeated with the sense that nothing was quite thought out, nothing quite flows together, and there’s no emotional response in anyone – including the player.

That’s not to say that there’s nothing enjoyable about VEN; it’s one of the most highly memed games, in fact, with a catsuit, horrific fashion choices, and little laser roombas all making up the most memorable meme material (and that’s not even touching discount Justin Timberlake and his slides of seduction). It has strongly-painted characters (even if there’s a touch of the caricature about them), the return of recurring characters, the first appearance of a semi-recurring character, poisoned chocolates…it’s almost like someone tried to do STFD, but with a sprinkling of spies and Italy thrown in for good measure.

VEN can be a lot of fun, but it’s also a grind a lot of the time; the required puzzles can be ridiculous, for example, and, in a twist for Nancy Drew games, there’s a puzzle for everyone to hate, no matter if you dislike stealth games, card games, speed-reaction games, or even language puzzles.

Which brings us to the biggest problem with The Phantom of Venice: the common puzzle thread, the thing that keeps recurring, the ‘mission statement puzzle’…it’s just the Italian language. The game hinges on the idea that the player won’t know any Italian (or any Romance language, honestly), and that’s where the majority of the difficulty in the game (barring bad hand-eye coordination) comes from. It’s not a good thing at all, and it brings the entire game down with it.

Well, it has a little help. Let’s talk about the Roomba in the museum, shall we?

The Weird Stuff:

There’s a lot of things that are weird about VEN, no getting around it. But there’s one solid thing that makes it…well, Odd in the way that the other Odd games are qualified, and that’s this one simple fact:

This is a Hardy Boys mystery, with Nancy clumsily inserted in instead of Frank and Joe.

Think about it; called in by a foreign government, espionage, nearly drowning, contacts in the government and police force, an Italian crime ring…these are all things straight out of a Hardy Boys novel, not a Nancy Drew novel. There is a Nancy Drew book titled The Phantom of Venice, true enough, but this game doesn’t bear any resemblance to it besides, well, Venice itself. You could swap out Nancy with the boys and the whole game could go on, minus the whole ‘keepsake necklace from Ned’ thing, and depending on what you ship, even that might fly under the radar.

And no, I didn’t forget the dancing in a catsuit thing. Pure comedy right there.

Nancy’s a homegrown detective; most of her cases are ‘small thing spirals into bigger thing’. It’s not that she doesn’t deal in espionage, at times in foreign places, or stumble upon a crime ring. It’s just that that’s not the type of thing Nancy’s called in for, it’s the type of thing she trips over halfway into a lower-stakes mystery.

The Hardy Boys, however, because of their father’s contacts (in the novels) and their position in ATAC (in the games) are exactly the kind of people that work with police chiefs and security experts and foreign spies and the like. It’s very nearly their bread and butter. Which is why I have a wild but not out-of-the-way wacky sorta-serious theory. Bear with me:

This game was designed as a Hardy Boys game, and Nancy really was clumsily inserted in with a few weeks to spare.

At this point in history – the far-behind time of July 2008, as the Great Recession was descending, the fury of an election year was coming to a head, and you couldn’t go to a supermarket or clothes store in America without hearing OneRepublic tell you that it was just a little too late to apologize – HER wasn’t doing badly, per se, but they certainly weren’t doing as well as they could have been. They weren’t that far from having had to majorly upgrade their engine for a rapidly changing technological world, and there seemed to be no end in sight. HER had plenty of staff change-ups coming because of new sponsors, but weren’t making enough simply with what they had.

Put simply, they needed a carrot. And what better carrot than the fan-favorite Hardy Boys?

There are two Hardy Boys games put out around this time: The Perfect Crime and The Hidden Theft. While neither one was done by Her Interactive, there was a HER Hardy Boys game in the works: the DS masterpiece Treasure on the Tracks. The audience for a Hardy Boys game was meant to be young boys/teenaged boys, but the side audience expected was fans of the Nancy Drew books and games.

So while I know logically that Phantom of Venice was just the latest in a line of ‘adulted-up’ Nancy Drew books (and games), in my head it makes much more sense to say that it was supposed to be a Hardy Boys game meant to promote Treasure on the Tracks and HER got nervous and pulled the plug, stuffing their erstwhile teen detective in instead.

The Title:

As far as a title goes, The Phantom of Venice isn’t a bad one; you can tell it comes from the ‘hotter and sexier’ Nancy Drew books, and as a collection of words, it works rather well. It’s an evocative title, giving us our location, our crime (‘phantom thieves’ are common as a type of thief), and doesn’t say too much else, so as to not spoil the mystery.

As a title for this game, however…well, so little of the actual game deals with the Phantom that it’s rather non-indicative as a title. By the time you’re 16 Scopa games deep and are wearing a sparkly red dress with a cat mask and sneakers around Italy, you’ve pretty much forgotten about the Phantom and are more worried about exactly what happened to the pigeon you used as a messenger and why exactly flowers and gelato cost so much for 2008.

The Phantom of Venice just…deserved a better, more cohesive, more…well, phantom-y game than it got. That’s all.

Now, onto the mystery!

The Mystery:

Nancy’s been called in by the Secret Italian Police because a thief has been stealing art.

No, really, I’m being serious.

Sure, Prudence Rutherford has a hand in getting her called in, but basically Nancy goes from small-time cases, sometimes getting her name in the papers, to called in by the Italian Secret Police.

Caught up at a house where no one likes her (understandable, given that she just Appears one day, forced on the Ca’s owner, Margherita Fauborg, and her residents at the Ca’), Nancy soon becomes embroiled in a mystery most foul when she discovers ties to the art thief – or thieves – right around the Ca’, poisoned sausages and message-laden chocolate boxes, and shades and shades and shades of tiles offered by the Ca’s resident nerd.

Soon, Nancy is juggling police contacts, heists, Scopa games, and the impersonation of a world-class spy just to give the Italian police a hint as to who might be stealing Venice’s greatest artworks. It gets personal, however, when the Phantom Thief himself shows up, stealing Nancy’s locket which she’s just been given by Ned.

Oh, and did I mention that the whole thing is told in media res? Yeah, very, very weird choice right there.

Honestly speaking, the mystery isn’t…bad, per se. It’s got solid bones – art theft, mysterious thieves, romantic location, interesting-seeming suspects, some spy shenanigans. The problem with VEN’s mystery, largely, is that there just isn’t any cartilage to connect those good bones. Without something to hold it all together, it just kind of falls apart – exactly like a skeleton without cartilage.

Simply put, there’s a lot of mystery, but no plot to carry the mystery along.

The Suspects:

Beginning with Margherita Fauborg, the tanning-obsessed matriarch of the Ca’ Nacosta, seems like a good place to start. Dismissive of Nancy, tourists, and Nancy being a ‘tourist’, Margherita prefers to stay on top of her house tanning the day away rather than take part in any shenanigans.

Having Margherita not be a member of the ring was almost as inspired as having Helena lead it; she’s not nice, does suspicious things, is entirely self-centered – but she’s not a villain, nor does the game really pretend that she is for more than a second. I really like characters like this in the Nancy Drew games, who are honestly just People not enamored with the teen detective, but aren’t villains just because of that.

Also, the story of her husband’s death is just incredibly hilarious.

Her half-ward, half-employee Colin Baxter, on the other hand, is anything but dismissive of Nancy. He’s part of the ‘kinda crushing on Nancy’ club, but is Far less beloved than any other member of that club. It comes from his inherent creepiness, criminal record, and love for tile slides, I think.

Colin, as a suspect…well, he’s just there to make the numbers add up. It’s a shame that his largest utility is to show Margherita’s slightly unscrupulous nature, but he should have been kept as perhaps a figure that Nancy could call to get the story, rather than an in-person suspect.

The other person staying at the Ca’ is Helena Berg, fulfilling the HER mandate for having a German villain in their European games. Having Helena be the mastermind of the ring is a pretty good plot point, honestly, as I expected the first time for her to just be part of it, and to have that be the Big Surprise.

She’s also one of the few villains who promises revenge on Nancy and/or is still out there. I know it would have been Way too soon to have Helena be the returning culprit in RAN rather than Dwayne, but honestly she was a better candidate for it. While any hope of a good ND game (and mostly any game, honestly) is pretty far from me, I always hoped one day Helena would return in all her platinum blonde glory.

Enrico Tazza is our most encountered (kind of) and outwardly suspicious suspect, but he’s not exactly…well, scary. He makes Nancy-as-Samantha play a card game with him, then disappears, despite being the Preeminent Villain Face for the first half of the game.

I do love Tazza, however, just for his presence in the game. He’s cartoony, fun, well-acted…he’s just great. And as a potential villain, he’s great too! You’re never meant to doubt that he’s a ‘baddie’, you’re just meant to go along for the ride. Excellent.

Finally, Antonio Fango is the most prominent suspect that you’ll ever completely forget the name of, due to his lack of screen time despite being the Italian Police’s favorite suspect. He has a whole convoluted backstory involving multiple colleges and degrees, but really he’s just the communication go-fer for Helena’s theft ring.

As a villain…well, Fango does his part, but due to being a nigh-unseen suspect, he’s really just not very memorable. He’s like most of the ring – necessary to establish the numbers, but other than that, a non-entity.

The Favorite:

Despite the plot holes wide enough to steer a gondola through, there are a few things that really make VEN stand out.

The first is Samantha Quick; originally a stage name suggestion from Simone in FIN, she shows up as an actual character in VEN, albeit only by phone and shadow. Her pissed-off phone call to Nancy is a highlight of the game, especially as she ends with the vaguely threatening line “say hi to Ned for me”. Her shadow at the end in Colin’s window is the final clinch to make SQ a personal favorite of mine, and her presence (and the feeling of her presence, which is sort of different) is a high point in the game.

The location of the game is another plus; not so much Venice, but the Ca’ Nacosta itself. It’s a wonderful ‘home base’ location for any Nancy Drew game, filled with light, staircases, and pretty impressive stonework given that just a few short games ago, everything looked like it was animated out of melted gummy bears.

My favorite puzzle(s) are the chess puzzles, honestly. I just kind of like chess puzzles to begin with, and it’s a nice respite from forcing pigeons to do your bidding and avoiding various foods.

My favorite moment in the game is honestly the Samantha Quick shadow, but if I had to pick another moment, it’s where Nancy implies that she’s stripping for money, and Ned just replies that he’ll be really glad when she’s back home safe in the States. It’s such a random, hilarious thing to happen, and Ned’s complete underreaction to the idea of Nancy earning money in such a way (as she makes it sound way worse than it actually is) is what really sells it.

The Un-Favorite:

There are some un-favorites as well, however, that drag down the game to the place it currently resides.

The first is…well, the location and the means used to get Nancy there. As much as I have no problem with Venice, this attempt to open up the world makes little sense when you consider that there’s no way the Italian Secret Police would hinge their hopes on a small-time 18 year old American detective, no matter how highly Prudence spoke of her.

The jumbled plot (when there is a plot, at least) is another point against VEN; the writers just didn’t know what to do with Nancy being in Venice, and so just…didn’t do anything with it.

I also dislike that this game happens in media res. There’s no real reason to do it – and it makes any actions that the player takes that’s slightly apart from the ‘main plot’ – gondola rides, ice cream, looking at slide after slide after slide – seem incredibly out of place and borderline inappropriate. At the very least, if the Hardy Boys were part of the game, they could be yelling her name as she began to drown, which would give a sense of urgency that’s missing from the confused opening.

My least favorite puzzle…well, that brings me to a huge problem: every puzzle in this game is based around the fact that it’s in Italian, and they expect no one playing this to even have an idea of Italian (or any romance language). It boils down to this: the puzzle is just the Italian language, and they have nothing else up their sleeves. I don’t have a least favorite puzzle, because apart from a select few, they’re all the same puzzle, wrapped in slightly different clothing.

The Fix:

So how would I fix The Phantom of Venice?

Coming off of CRY, we’ve now had two games with two (or three) player characters, so that’s what I’d start with doing. Include the Hardy Boys, who have been called on by the Italian Secret Police because of their work with ATAC. They’re helping the mystified police track down this ring of thieves when Nancy mentions offhand that Prudence Rutherford is recommending a stay at a Ca’ in Venice whose owner owes her a favor (as a treat/vacation). Upon hearing this, the Hardy Boys ring her up and ask her help, as they’ve stalled out. They’re not allowed to come into physical contact with Nancy (to save money on animating them/Nancy), but they want her to investigate from her end, as she won’t be suspected at all.

The real reason the Italian Police let the Hardy Boys get her involved, of course, is that they need someone to impersonate Samantha Quick, and they’re having a rough time with their Joe-in-a-wig tests. They need an American who can convincingly pull off the act, and the brothers mention Nancy’s stints undercover. Desperate enough to grasp at anything, Nancy’s officially in.

That along would help beef up the plot, as suddenly we have an actual police plotline with the Hardy Boys (playing as one or the other, it doesn’t matter, or maybe both with different ‘jobs’ to do as one or the other). Diving the suspects is a good idea too; Nancy would take Helena and Tazza as her primary suspects (of course, only Tazza would be the ‘primary’ at the beginning), while the Hardy Boys handled Fango and his side of the ring.

The final puzzle (with the flashlights and such), especially, makes more sense as a Hardy Boys sort of thing. Nancy can snoop around the market and the Ca’, discovering clues as to Helena’s guilt and such. The Hardy Boys take down the ring, but Nancy takes down Helena.

I would also give Nancy a better reason to be undercover at the dance club. It’s a weird little minigame to be sure, but if it’s gonna exist in the game, there should be a better reason. Even better, take it out and have her solve puzzles – something other than the Italian Language, mind you – in order to get money from the police or something.

(Even better, take out the money thing, as someone helping the Police and pretending to be a spy should not be or appear to be short on funds.)

The last big change I’d do is to take Ned out (sorry, Ned, but there’s really no reason for you to be in this game) and swap him for Carson. Carson really should be in a few more games than he is as it stands, and this is a great way to bring in the fact that…well, Carson can’t be entirely Comfortable with the direction that Nancy’s life is going, even if he is proud of her.

Most of the time, Nancy’s family and friends are just used to say “and she’s ‘normal’ and loved and supported even though she’s never home”, and I think using them to establish her character and the stakes is a far better use of these pre-existing characters.

#nancy drew #clue crew #nancy drew games #VEN #phantom of venice #video games #nancy drew meta #long post #my meta

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mrsreinhart · 5 years

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The Women of “Hustlers” on Making “A Female ‘Goodfellas’”

Constance Wu, Keke Palmer and Lili Reinhart discuss playing exotic dancers and getting rid of the “chick flick” label

Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers fictionalizes the true story of a group of exotic dancers who lured wealthy Wall Street men into unknowingly spending hundreds of thousands of dollars at their strip club. The film, based on journalist Jessica Pressler’s 2015 investigative New York magazine piece, “The Hustlers at Scores,” stars Constance Wu as Destiny, a new dancer struggling to pay rent for the apartment where she cares for her grandmother—until she meets Ramona, played by Jennifer Lopez. Ramona is a single mom and the most successful dancer at the club—but this changes with the market crash of 2008. When the recession hits, Ramona enlists fellow down-and-out dancers Destiny, Mercedes (Keke Palmer) and Annabelle (Lili Reinhart) to help her swindle men into spending big on a night out, with the men forgetting most of the previous night’s transactions come morning because their drinks were laced with ketamine and MDMA. The film’s cast is rounded out by Cardi B, Lizzo and Julia Stiles, who plays a reporter modeled after Pressler.

While some opening weekend attendees might be in it for the salaciousness that a “stripper movie” promises (it certainly does deliver on that front), the heart of Hustlers isn’t so different from any other gang film. The women at the center of the film are bound together by the need for something greater than what they had to begin with, and the wish to make their dreams for themselves and their families a reality by any means necessary. WSJ. spoke with Wu, Palmer and Reinhart at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills to talk about working on their own version of Goodfellas, and what men really want from movies.

Hollywood depictions of sex workers don’t generally give women much agency. Was it important to you that Hustlers empowered them?

Keke Palmer: I liked that it was balanced because it either goes one of two ways. Either it’s like super, super sad, sad, sad or overly glamorized. When I read this, I felt like it was a balance of both. You had those moments where you thought it might be glamorous and you had those moments like, “Damn, this sh*t is tough.” And so whenever I’m looking at a character or a movie—no matter what the job, no matter who these people are—I want to see balance. This movie gave me that.

Constance Wu: Usually we see one archetype of a woman who is a sex worker or a stripper. And yes, we have racial diversity, but we had diversity in so many other ways—the way you look, the backgrounds of these women and also the different ways that they decided to pursue this job, to make their ends meet.

Lili Reinhart: We all came from such different backgrounds and we all ended up in the same job. So it’s not just this archetype —“Oh, trashy girl from a broken home ends up being a stripper.” That’s such a stereotype. That’s not the case. Women are supporting their children, or supporting themselves or their families, or their families kicked them out. I think strippers will hopefully enjoy our film.

CW: I hope so. Because we tried to humanize them as people. Other movies don’t—they try to portray them as objects or people to move the plot along for the story. We treated all of our characters like humans who have a similar job. That’s only one part of you, your job.

How did the all-female ensemble cast change the vibe on set?

CW: I think it was really freeing. Because it’s different if there’s only one spot for a woman. And then you think, “Oh no—what if I get kicked off?” But when it’s all women, I didn’t have to try to be sexy for guys. I didn’t have to try to pretend like, “Oh I’m one of the guys, I’m cool.” I just got to be myself. And [Jennifer Lopez] set the tone for that pretty well, too, because she’s just so cool.

LR: I’m so happy that this is a movie about women told by a woman, because nothing disturbs me more than a woman’s story told by a man, because it’s through the filter of a man. And so the fact that this was a women’s story told, written and seen through the lens of a woman was powerful.

KP: One of the first things that [Constance] said was, “It’s like a female Goodfellas,” and I’m like “damn right!” Lorene was really serious with the DP on getting those specific shots, those specific angles that you only see men have. It was just like, “Man, girl, thank you for those details. Not only does the script have heart and soul, but visually you’re going for this, you’re giving us a cinematic look. You’re making these women look cool!” That was all specific to show us in powerful positions.

LR: Not even sexy, but powerful. It’s not a slow-motion strut starting from the heels going up, showing the body. It’s the women themselves.

KP: It’s how they would usually do the Wall Street guys. It’s power.

CW: Like sometimes people say “Oh, it’s a woman’s film,” they’ll think that it’s less-than. But I think Lorene did a really good job of choosing a crew who treated the film with the respect of something they were really passionate about, not as like—

KP: “Girl movie.”

CW: Yeah, I mean there’s that term that people like to say: “Chick flick.” And I’m like, “Oh, does that mean every other movie in the world is a d*ck flick?” But that’s just a word used—chick flick—to demean a movie that is about women, and then d*ck flicks are just “flicks.”

LR: Just movies in general.

How is a story where you’re playing out, essentially, a love story with another woman different from one with a man?

KP: It hurt my feelings more when all that stuff went down with Constance’s character and Jennifer’s character.

LR: It’s more devastating.

KP: Way more devastating. I feel like people aren’t going to be pleasantly surprised to see the depth and dynamic of these characters and [that] this story is not just something eye-catching for you like, “Stripping! Fun!” It’s like, “Oh wow, these characters, I care about them. I care about this story.”

CW: It almost hurts more than a romantic thing because it almost feels more pure of a love, because there’s not the transaction of sex. The feeling of being forgiven—it’s a good feeling because it’s accepting that we all mess up, and that we’re still people who are worthy of love. And Jen—I couldn’t have done any of this without [her]. That was really just a two-way street; just the fact that she was so open and caring.

Was there anything challenging for you to do in the film?

KP: I think every girl secretly in their mind is ready to get on stage and see if they’ve got what it takes. I think most people would expect [dancing] to be the most challenging. But I think even the shyest person, if they had the opportunity to play a role like this or be in a situation like this—it’s like “Hell, if I’m going to do it somewhere, I might as well do it in a huge film.” I think those parts were exciting. It could be seen as challenging, but what I was excited about was to sit in this sexy place that I’ve never really sat in before. I don’t really think of myself as a sexy type of chick. And so it was cool to play with what that would look like for the camera.

LR: I feel like deep inside, every woman feels the need to get on a pole at least once. I think you grow up and you’re like “Oh, that’s what sexy is.” And you just want to try it. And truly, [to Constance] I’m sure you took probably more pole dancing lessons than I did, but it was just fun. And you’re like, “Damn, I look good!”

CW: I was just thinking when you said like every woman wants to get on the pole—at first I was like, “No, I don’t think so.” But then I was like thinking about it, and why that might be true. And if you think about it, these women are owning their sexuality, which is something we are shamed for, starting at puberty, we’re supposed to make ourselves—you either have to be the Madonna or the whore, and you can’t win either way. You’re not sexy enough; you’re too sexy. And I think when you’re on a stage and you’re dancing and you’re just owning your sexiness in the way that you want to do it, I think that is a thing that inside probably every woman—person—wants to do.

Do you think anyone who goes to see the film solely for the “stripper movie!” factor will be disappointed?

KP: Look, Jennifer gave you the show that you’re looking for right in the beginning. She gives you what we never thought we’d see. She gave us the most spectacular performance that I have ever seen a stripper do. I’ve gone to a lot of strip clubs.

CW: Me too. And I’m going to say something real cheesy right now, but I do believe it’s true: People might say they’re looking for t*ts, but I think they’re looking for heart. And they’re just saying tits because it’s a less vulnerable thing to need, to say. It’s cooler and more macho to objectify women. But at the end of the day, all humans want—

LR: They relate to stories about love.

CW: —is connection.

KP: Without a doubt. Every guy that I’ve watched The Notebook with has loved it.

#lili reinhart #keke palmer #constance wu #hustlers #hustlers movie #wall streeet journal

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yousayparty · 4 years

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The right place, the right time, and the right amount of exclamation marks

The history of Vancouver via Abbotsford British Columbia’s You Say Party is a storied one. Imagine this: trapped in a never ending nightmare of suburban dystopian hell, you form a band. With the simple adjective of having fun, spreading a message, making people dance - you leave the confines of a religiously stifling community. Within a few years you’re playing the world’s top festivals, winning awards, and wooing critics.

But now I find myself piecing foggy bits of memory fragments together with duct tape and hairspray. Like stickers on a dive bar bathroom stall, I know I was there. But why and for how long? I feel like I’m sifting through a shoebox of handbills and press clippings like some True Crime podcaster placing myself at the scene.

I’m not sure where I first heard the name You Say Party! We Say Die! but it caught my eye. It was an era of exuberant band names. !!!, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Shout Out Out Out Out, Hot Hot Heat, Fake Shark- Real Zombie! And my own band GoGoStop! It was also a time when bands out Vancouver’s sleepy conservative suburbs were starting to break out: Witness Protection Program, The Hand, Fun100.

It was exciting. There was a sense of community. Of people just wanting to have fun. Perhaps we were shaking off the anxieties of a post 9/11 world, or shrugging off the self seriousness that was emo and hardcore. We still made mix tapes and zines- scoured Terminal City and The Straight for new bands. There was this new social networking craze called MySpace that had yet to be a ubiquitous omnipresent corporate behemoth that dominated every corner of our lives. We were called Scenesters not Hipsters. Everyone was in an art collective.

Adorned with white belts and one-inch pins; asymmetrical hair cuts and red velvet blazers we set out to prove Vancouver wasn’t No Fun City at now long shuttered venues like the Marine Club, the Pic Pub, and Mesa Luna. I didn’t drink at the time so dancing, and by extension dance punk, had become my saviour- bands like The Rapture, Les Say Fav, Pretty Girls Make Graves to name a few. When Mp3 blogs became a thing, I immediately downloaded The Gap from their 2005 debut Hit The Floor! and loaded it on my 100 song iPod shuffle. I like so many others, became an instant fan.

I moved into what could only be described as a punk rock compound- 3 houses that were owned by a former Christian sect that we dubbed Triple Threat. Members of Bend Sinister, No Dice, Witness Protection Program, and Devon Clifford from You Say Party and Cadeaux (and Whiteloaf) all lived there. He drove an orange 1981 Camaro Berlinetta to match his bright red hair and big personality. We would walk to the greasy spoon Bon’s Off Broadway to get terrible but cheap breakfast and to watch The coffee Sheriff pour undrinkable refills of sludge. It was like living in the movie Withnail and I, but funner. We all wore pins that said Do You Party? on them.

It felt like Vancouver was blowing up and You Say Party was the hand-clapping drum majorette leading the pack. Ladyhawk, Black Mountain, Radio Berlin, New Pornographers, Destroyer, S.T.R.E.E.T.S., The Doers, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? And The Organ highlighted just how tight-knit and diverse our scene was. Relentless touring and glowing reviews for You Say Party’s sophomore Lose All Time ensured they were head of the class, despite being unable to tour the US due to a previous border snafu.

Lose All Time sat on top of the Earshot charts for what seemed like forever. Famous for their frenetic live shows, and aided by stunning videos, their sophomore effort was a clear progression from Hit The Floor! It still harnessed the visceral rawness of their origins, but hinted at a confidence and maturity that was to come. The title of Lose All Time was a reference to the discombobulation of constant touring and it too was a hint of what was to come.

The touring would take its toll. Fuelled by Chinese Red Bull; a well document public dustup between band members at a bar in Germany would throw everything into uncertainty. But it was that turbulence that would set the stage for XXXX and after a restorative tour to China, the stage was set for the penultimate You Say Party record.

Flash forward to 2009 and the city was on edge. Everything was about to change. Vancouver was preparing to host the world amidst the unfolding Great Recession. Anti-Olympic protests ramped up. A gang war raged in the streets and made international headlines, tucked behind Swine Flu hysteria and the ongoing imperialist war on Iraq.

It seemed like all the venues started closing and all our friends were moving to Berlin or Montreal. We starting looking in. Is this the city we want? Was it just growing pains? This kind of introspection is clearly reflected in XXXX. If Lose All Time was a record the band wanted to make, XXXX was a record for the people; a record for the city of Vancouver; a record for 2009.

"I finally feel like a singer, rather than a dancer who loves being in a band" said Becky Ninkovic at the time. It’s a perfect quote. One that succinctly captures the maturity and focus of the record. After a breakdown for Ninkovic, a year of rest and vocal lessons, Exclaim! announced XXXX to be a career resuscitation.

And it was. Going back now and rediscovering the record is such a magical thing. Opening for You Say Party with my band Taxes in 2008, I was impressed with the new material even if was a little jaded (I mean I was almost 30). But now with time and space I can see the songs they were working on were truly timeless. Laura Palmer’s Prom could so easily slot in with the latest 80s synthwave revival along alongside bands like Lust for Youth, Lower Dens, and Chromatics.

Overall, XXXX sounds like an exhale. A moment of stillness when you know you’ve made something extraordinary. When you know all those moments combined; moments of sheer terror, adrenalin, elation, boredom, and longing- culminate in a piece of art that once you let go of it- you just know in your gut that it’s right. It draws you in, wrestles with a brooding tension, then sends you into a churning whirlwind of tight drums and buzzing synths. It’s a remarkable achievement.

There’s plenty of vintage YSP sass throughout. “She’s Spoken For”, “Make XXXX”, and “Cosmic Wanship Avengers” are all classic synth punk gems, but the it’s in the subdued that the album really grips. “Dark Days”, “There is XXXX (Within My Heart)” and the sprawling Kate Bush like ballad “Heart of Gold” are the hallmark of a band that is comfortable exploring the limits of their genre. While lyrically quite positive, the melodies are daunting. Indeed, as Pitchfork put it, “the slower pace and more sentimental outlook of XXXX gives listeners the necessary space and encouragement to surrender to the band's emotional message”.

And it was a message they would finally return to the US with in 2009. The band was poised for mainstream breakout success. They were long listed for the Polaris and they won a Western Canadian Music Award for Best Rock Album of the year. Much has been written about what would happen next. I don’t want this article to be about the tragic onstage death of drummer and friend Devon Clifford, but it’s inexorably linked to the band’s story.

And I can only really tell it from my point of view. I wasn’t sure I would go to the funeral but a mutual friend told me that Devon would want me to go. Portland Hotel Society, a local housing provider which Devon had thrown the weight of his passion behind, rented a bus to drive out to Abbotsford. I held up pretty well until my friend Al Boyle got up to play. Then some yelled “Spagett”. Then Krista and Becky sang “Cloudbusting” and I lost it.

The band would try to carry on. Krista would leave the band and Bobby Siadat and Robert Andow of the band Gang Violence would fill in for touring. When that didn’t go as planned Al Boyle who had been in the punk band Hard Feelings with Devon would replace Bobby. They officially went on hiatus in 2011 only to reunite a year later with Krista back on keys and a drum machine in place of Devon.

And while the band’s self titled 2016 release would be their moment of closure, the reissue of XXXX is one of celebration. Celebration of what they made with Devon. Celebration of a near perfect moment in time. A capsule of a entire city at it’s peak. The band has changed. The scene has changed. And I’ve changed. But there will always be XXXX within in our hearts.

'Cause every time it rains

You're here in my head

Like the sun coming out

Ooh, I just know that something good is going to happen

And I don't know when

But just saying it could even make it happen

Sean Orr Vancouver, BC January 2020

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We are so excited to reissue a limited run of XXXX on clear vinyl through Paper Bag Records Vintage for Record Store Day on August 29th! Support your local stores & grab this album on vinyl for the first time in 10 years! https://recordstoredaycanada.ca #yousayparty #YSPWSD

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About Sean Orr Sean Orr is a writer, musician, artist, activist, and dishwasher living and working in the unceded Coast Salish territories of Vancouver, B.C. Besides his twice weekly news column in Scout Magazine he writes for Beatroute and has written for Vice Magazine and Montecristo among others in the past. He’s the frontman in the punk band Needs and also has a pickle company called Brine Adams. Twitter | NEEDS | Tea & Two Slices | Flickr

#yousayparty #xxxx #vinyl #reissue #paperbagrecords #yousaypartywesaydie #dancepunk #seanorr

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flarbjarb-blog · 5 years

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But some women

But some women are not free to make the choices Lana has. Oana, 28, counts herself as an escapee from the sex industry. At 16 - a minor - she fell in love with a boyfriend who persuaded her to do video chat.Do you find people make assumptions about you because of your line of work?Model, producer and co-creator of YouTube channel ComeCurious, Reed is essentially the physical embodiment of sex positivity, which she defines as trying to make people feel like what theyre doing and what theyre into isnt wrong, its normal and its absolutely fine. Shes a huge advocate for removing stigma and taboos around sex, and we caught up with her to learn more about webcamming, a line of sex work that is seldom talked about. One thing that I admittedly dont have control over, proven by the phone conversation that spurred me to write this piece, is the judgment that others will cast on my when they know that I do for money. Even those who know that as well as dancing, I am a student and hold a day job in retail. Its a shame that women are continuously told not to express themselves for fear of judgment and labeling. Why are we told that there are good girls and there are whores? In my life, I want to embrace every aspect that comes with being a woman. I want to be sexy and intelligent. I want to be passionate and headstrong but I want others to know that I feel too.

I made $20AUD in ‘tokens’ (how payments were recorded via the site) my first night. 20 bucks for six hours of sitting around in my underwear, netflirting with dudes. It wasn’t much, but it was more than I’d make scrolling through Tinder looking for someone I actually wanted to bone IRL. I knew the way to make real money was either by going private (opening a private show chatroom that costs the user a certain amount per minute) or by spending many months on the site building up a following, just like any other chaser of internet work/fame!"Mostly it's conversation. I do role-play sometimes, and a small part of it is nudity and masturbation," she says.Studio 20 is the largest studio webcam franchise in the world. It has nine branches in Romania, including one employing "cam-boys" who service the gay market. Its other branches are in the Colombian city of Cali, Budapest and Los Angeles. Eventually I got a bit more adventurous. I hula-hooped in my underwear while listening to the Arctic Monkeys. I also did yoga, livepainting with my back to the webcam in only a thong. I racked up a couple hundred bucks over a few days and cashed the cheque sent the next month. By this time I’d masturbated on camera for a few guys, but I was starting to get a little bit paranoid about my face appearing in an advert on another website somewhere and someone I knew seeing it. I have nothing against sex work, having worked in the industry three times now, but I don’t like the idea of say my boyfriend's brother or housemate or one of my own family members opening a webpage to a moving image of my face mid-orgasm purely because well, I don’t think my family would support that decision.

So as I sat there, in front of my laptop, I thought to myself, Why didnt I just respond the way that I normally do when somebody proclaims something which I dont agree with? Why didnt I just say, firmly but reasonably, you are wrong and these are the reasons why… Perhaps it was because it was so personal, that I felt like for once, I wasnt defending femininity as a whole, but just myself. Which on the surface would seem like a less daunting task, but for me it left me stumped. I knew that I was a feminist and it wasnt often that I had to justify myself to anybody. I was used to breaking down all the reasons that men used to justify their behavior.Are there any really common requests that you get?Lana is a graduate who worked in real estate until the global economic crash of 2008 plunged Romania into recession. That is when she first took up video-chat. Her first day in front of the camera has stayed with her.Yes, its very much like the girlfriend experience. But that also depends on what the webcam model is like and also what the person paying is like because everyone wants something different.

CONTINUED BELOW...

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dippedanddripped · 4 years

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At last year’s American Music Awards in November 2019, Billie Eilish caused a media stir with her performance of “all the good girls go to hell,” backed by a hellscape of pyrotechnics and wearing a bedazzled shirt stating, “No Music on a Dead Planet.” It was only one of many iconic looks that Los Angeles-based brand Freak City has had a hand in creating. Riffing off the bootlegging practices of underground hustlers in the San Fernando Valley, the studio’s custom-embroidered and hand-painted fits have been the go-to red carpet choice of pop stars like Lil Nas X, Diplo, Rosalía, and reggaeton queens Bad Gyal and Tomasa del Real. Freak City is so quintessentially Californian that even Kim Kardashian is a fan. As such, it’s no surprise that they’d catch the attention of LA native Eilish, who tapped them to collaborate on her own capsule collection.

Though they now count A-listers among their clientele, Freak City, as founders Valerie “Vally Girl” Campbell and Justin “Time” Romero describe it, is “an all-encompassing underworld of outcasts, non-conformists, abnormal, abstract, punk rock, hip hop, trashy, beautiful weirdos, submerged in the realms of fashion, art, and music.”

At its core, Freak City is a lifestyle brand and creative studio tied to a commercial space in Los Angeles. Entering the space—through its inconspicuous doors nestled between a medical marijuana dispensary and a tourist company—is like tapping into an alternative universe, where the traditional rules for retail spaces are broken and creativity runs wild. After spending time in their shop, design studio, and music studio, visitors are encouraged to leave their mark, whether by tagging the walls or laying down a beat in the studio.

Like many great American success stories, Freak City’s can be traced back to being “at the right place at the right time.” Campbell and Romero’s origins trace back to the “MYSPACE days” of the late aughts, when the two were performing as a duo under the alias The Keyishe. “We were playing shows, making clothes, and started throwing parties for our friends and ourselves, as there was no scene for the type of music we were making at the time,” they say. In the throes of the financial crisis of 2008, they stumbled upon an industrial space off Melrose Avenue in East Hollywood, and due to the recession, they were able to qualify for a commercial lease without a credit check.

Freak City’s humble beginnings, they explain, involved a lot of trial and error. Taking cues from Warehouse culture, it was initially a free-form space that showcased underground music by night and acted as a makeshift shop and gallery by day, where fashion and art was sold exclusively to their friends. “Word of our mini-movement started spreading, and our parties turned into events, attracting bigger artists and musicians,” like Kreayshawn (of “Gucci Gucci” fame), who notoriously celebrated her twenty-second birthday at Freak City in 2011. Eventually, Freak City moved to its second location on Sunset Boulevard in the heart of Hollywood. After that, they claim, “things only got weirder.”

Freak City became a destination for spontaneous sets by nonconformists like Peaches, M.I.A., and Mykki Blanco, and Vally Girl was approached to style Nicki Minaj when she was supporting Britney Spears on her Femme Fatale tour in 2011.

In 2017, Freak City appeared at Mexico City fashion week, showcasing a collection of raunchy club kid-like fits drawing from pole-dancing culture, construction and safety hazard signs, as well as their signature bootlegging-style hoodies and long-sleeves with custom logos and baseball tees.

Freak City launched its own independent record label with a compilation titled Sounds of Freak City, a mix of old-school electro, funk, and trash pop, with Justin Time’s graffiti artwork gracing its cover. Several years later, the compilation would be a visual foreshadowing of their most celebrated collaboration to date–Billie Eilish. After making what they call a “love connection” through Eilish’s stylist Samantha Burkhart, Freak City launched the pop star’s official capsule collection in July 2019. Offering Eilish’s signature looks, like oversized tees and loose baseball shorts, Freak City’s explosive graffiti styles graced the collection of ten coveted (and quickly sold-out) pieces.

To celebrate the collection’s one-year anniversary and recent limited re-stock, we caught up with the founders of Freak City for Sound and Style, Electronic Beats’ vertical centered on the music world’s unique aesthetics. Vally Girl and Justin Time explain how they contrast the concept of “keeping it real” with counterfeit aesthetics, how they approach the fetishization of status symbols like brand logos, and how independent labels ensure their creative autonomy is kept alive.

Where do you draw inspiration?

We’re inspired by our home, the city of Los Angeles—from the streets in Boyle Heights to Beverly Hills, from skid row to Soho House.

What kind of music could we expect to hear at Freak City–do you have any particular favorite tracks?

At the moment, we mostly listen to meditative soundscapes, healing frequencies, and trap. Our musical taste is far and wide. We’re just as into instrumental music as we are into turn up music. Some of our favorites right now are Khruangbin, SiR, Phem, N8noface, Chicano Batman, Young Dolph, and, of course, Gucci Mane [whose music video for “Nothin On Ya” was filmed at Freak City]. That’s our typical playlist with mixed in experimental instrumentals.

There’s this image of fakeness associated with LA. Is Freak City and its counterfeit aesthetic an interpretation of that? How does Freak City keep it real in a city so associated with fakeness? Real recognize real. Especially in a place like Los Angeles, where people come here to try to be something that they’re not. Being born and raised in LA, it’s a lot easier to see through the bullshit. Part of why we left Hollywood was to get away from the fakeness and return to realness. At one point, we were inspired by counterfeit culture as an art medium, posing the question, “What’s real and what’s fake, and does it even matter?” We see a lot of fakeness succeed and realness fail, so it’s interesting on many levels beyond fashion. Through the years, our team has gotten smaller and our success has grown bigger because we’ve been able to focus with fewer distractions and have gone deeper underground. The saying, “Fake it ’til you make it” has never resonated with us. We’d rather make it so you never have to fake it.

You recently called out fast-fashion retailer SHEIN for stealing your designs from the Billie Eilish collection. How do you fight back against copycat practices in the fashion industry?

Communication is the key. Behind every company is a human being, and it’s important to start constructive conversations on how to work together instead of against each other. SHEIN has remained positive in sorting out the situation, and you never know, this might lead to bridging the gap between independent design and large-scale industries. We have to remember we are in the Instagram era of copy and paste, and most big brands don’t even know who they’re copying at the end of the day. The problem is hard to escape, but problem-solving is key.

OUR WORK DESCRIBES THE IDEA OF DESIRE, LOVE, LUST, PLEASURE, AND PAIN.

Have you considered that Freak City contributes to the fetishization of wealth, or do you see your creations as a creative way to express critique at such fetishization?

[At Freak City] it’s all about the art of the struggle. The hustle. The good and the bad, the pretty and the ugly. Making something from nothing. Our work describes the idea of desire, love, lust, pleasure, and pain.

All things that humans struggle with in this life. Most of our designs have subliminal messages/meanings and evoke questions more than answers, which is open for interpretation. We try not to show bias, and you don’t get to choose who appreciates your work. You can’t hate the player, hate the game.

#freak city #la streetwear brands #billie eilish #streetwear blog #fashion blog #counterfeit culture #custom fashion

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wineanddinosaur · 4 years

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A Familiar Rhyme: What the Spanish Flu and the Roaring Twenties Tell Us About What Comes After Covid-19

In 1918, an eerily familiar pandemic clenched a deadly grip on humankind. Erroneously referred to as the “Spanish Flu,” American state governments enforced business closures and issued stay-at-home orders to slow its spread. For essential outdoor travel, doctors prescribed the use of face masks, or “flu fences.” They might as well have been tackling an avalanche with a snow shovel. By the time the virus finally fizzled out in early 1919, an estimated 50 to 100 million lives had been lost worldwide. In America alone, the death toll reached an estimated 675,000 — more than every war in the 20th century combined. And yet, for the best part of the last century, this deadly killer went all but forgotten, and things would likely have remained that way were it not for our current quarantined existence.

The reasons for our collective memory lapse are as nuanced as they are numerous. A large portion of the blame can be attributed to the subjectivity of history, and the fact there was so much else happening at the time, from the First World War to a truly unprecedented period of wealth, innovation, and change best known as the Roaring Twenties. The way the virus hit, ravaging individual communities for a few weeks and then moving on, and the fact that scientists simply didn’t understand the nature of the illness, also played a part. But whatever the reasons, the deadliest pandemic in modern history was soon swept under the carpet of time.

By forgetting that the 1918 influenza ever happened, its influence on the subsequent decade — one of the most progressive and dynamic in American history — also goes ignored. But some who have studied the era believe the pandemic played a much greater role in shaping the Roaring Twenties than history textbooks give credit for. (As a benchmark, the Roaring Twenties is defined as the period between 1920 to the Wall Street crash at the end of 1929.)

With so many parallels between that outbreak and the circumstances surrounding Covid-19, one wonders whether a wafer-thin silver lining to the dark cloud of disease is that America may soon be ripe for another cultural renaissance. So VinePair reached out to drinks historians, university professors, and acclaimed bartenders to uncover the lessons we can learn from the past, and to speculate on what they might tell us about life after the coronavirus.

Examining the Historical Parallels

“It was who-gives-a-damn-we’re-all-gonna-die nihilism coupled with Prohibition in the U.S. that created the Roaring Twenties,” says Anistatia Miller, a British-based drinks historian and cocktail specialist. Framing the sentiments of the time, she adds: “Who cares if I drink bathtub gin and dance the night away? Another war could kill us, another pandemic could wipe us out.”

Had the pandemic not occurred, Miller believes that the end of World War I would not have had such a profound impact on society. “Look at subsequent wars: The Second World War, Korean War, Vietnam conflict, they led to conservatism, not blatant debauchery,” she explains. “Looking at the Roaring Twenties, the cabaret culture of the Weimar Republic, the cafe culture of the Bright Young Ones in London and Paris, they all had their twinge of decadence generated by nihilism.”

Others who have studied the era agree, but believe there are additional factors at play. “I would love to say [the 1918 pandemic] is the reason why women cut their dresses off at the knees and cut their hair, but I think that’s too simplistic,” says Dr. Jessica Spector, a Yale University professor of alcohol history, cocktails, and ethics, and a scholar of intellectual history and drinks culture.

Spector, who focuses on the ways in which cultural values are expressed through drink, is writing two papers on this specific time period. She instead describes the flu as “the preamble” to the Roaring Twenties. “The decade from 1918 to 1928 was one of radical change in almost every area of life you can imagine: home life, civil engineering, domestic and international relations, medicine, entertainment, politics, and civil rights,” she explains.

Women’s place in society drastically changed after winning the right to vote and gaining employment in roles that required professional certifications, like nursing. The introduction of the assembly line transformed the U.S. into a manufacturing powerhouse and global leader of industry. Newly available inventions such as radios, TV, and cinema forged significant cultural shifts. “You’ve got people listening to the same music and watching the same pictures; all of a sudden people can share a culture,” Spector says.

In some respects, one could argue we’re starting to see similar things happen now. Coronavirus has brought us together, figuratively speaking, in shared moments of appreciation for health care workers and via virtual happy hours and other online gatherings. These connections make the world feel smaller — so much so that one might question if “social distancing” is the correct term, or whether “physical distancing” might be more appropriate.

Other parallels with the lead-up to the Roaring Twenties can be drawn from the grave state of the economy. According to financial analysts, we are almost certainly entangled in a deep recession. “I feel like the 2008 financial crisis was just a dry run for this,” Harvard economist Kenneth S. Rogoff told The New York Times. At first glance, that sentiment doesn’t mirror the financial prosperity enjoyed throughout most of the Roaring Twenties. But just two years before the decade began, America was gripped by a seven-month recession that was soon followed by an 18-month recession between 1920 and 1921.

Of course, any resemblances sketched between the 1920s and now must take into account the most significant event in America’s drinking history: Prohibition. But just as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution did nothing to curb the consumption of alcohol, the lack of sales restrictions on alcohol (Pennsylvania, notwithstanding) does not negate the chances of another cultural renaissance.

“One thing we have learned from the 1918 flu pandemic, its precursor the Black Death, and [are] beginning to see from today’s Covid-19 pandemic, is that when it’s over, people will see-saw from isolation into some form of mega-socialization once again,” Miller says.

But exactly where that “mega-socialization” takes place is another question. Will drinks enthusiasts return to the bars and restaurants that have slaked their thirst and proven to be reliable social venues in the past, or will it unfold in the very spaces where we spent the pandemic — inside our own homes?

A New Era of Home Entertaining?

Many have shaken their first Daiquiri or landed upon their preferred Martini proportions during this pandemic (thanks, in no small part, to bartenders themselves and social media platforms). Those folks won’t forget those skills overnight, nor the fact that they now possess them. And as for that barrel-aged Manhattan they just spent months perfecting? People will certainly want to share a taste of that, rather than just Instagram snaps.

Others, meanwhile, have passed the hours sipping batched, to-go cocktails from their favorite bars and restaurants. When the government relaxes social distancing measures, some of those establishments may conclude that the pursuit of on-premise profits is no longer viable in a changed hospitality landscape. Instead, they could turn to launching ready-to-drink cocktail brands — a category that was already gaining popularity. That would certainly strike another tick in the column marked “staying home” rather than “going out.”

In Shanghai, one bar owner is already innovating with a new business model. Daniel An just opened cocktail dispensary Ready To Drink (RTD for short) in the city’s Xintiandi neighborhood. Derek Brown, a Washington D.C., bar owner and drinks expert, describes the innovative setup as a mix between “Cinnabon and a cocktail bar,” serving up pre-packaged cocktails, like the Shanghai Mule and Coffee Negroni, and fruit juices on tap that guests can spike with a selection of spirits. Brown says it shows us the path going forward if American legislation will allow it. “Now that we’ve seen the light, how can we go back?” he says.

And there’s good reason to believe many drinkers may be less than eager to make a beeline for bars and restaurants. Dr. Michael Scherer, an assistant professor at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, and a specialist in alcohol use and misuse, believes that the lasting societal effects of the coronavirus hinge on whether or not the virus is seasonal and if it returns in the fall, as many health professionals are speculating. “Come October, November, if it re-emerges, its impact on society and the hospitality industry will be more dramatic,” he says.

Scherer explains his theory using the analogy of a faulty car: Imagine you drive a car and it breaks down, he explains. After taking it to be fixed, the mechanic tells you, “It’s perfectly safe now, you have nothing to worry about.” But then, when you take the car out, it breaks down again.

“Two things are going to happen from that,” Scherer says: “You’re going to have less trust in the people that tell you that your car is OK, and even when you do go back out — you will again, eventually — you’ll always have some concern that your car could break down again.”

So just as many of us will be itching to get out and patronize our favorite eating and drinking establishments, many may continue to limit their trips outdoors to only the strictly necessary — even after stay-at-home guidelines relax.

There will, of course, always be exceptions to such rules. We’ve already glimpsed the nihilistic disregard of the 1920s in the form of drunken students “trying to make the most” of spring break on the beaches of Miami. “If I get corona, I get corona,” a particularly red-cheeked, glossy-eyed young man told CBS. “At the end of the day I’m not going to let it stop me from partying.”

“Younger people tend to feel a little bit more invincible,” Dr. Scherer says.

A Renaissance for Drinking Establishments?

Others will feel that a healthy dose of IRL social contact will be just what the doctor ordered when this pandemic eventually ends. “The obvious result of everyone being stuck home is that everyone is being forced to become a more proficient cook and bartender,” says acclaimed bartender, journalist, and author Jim Meehan. “While one might surmise that this might lead to more home entertainment in the future, I think it will actually have the opposite effect.”

As soon as the coast is clear, he says, and as long as people have money in their pockets, “they’ll yearn to return to bars and restaurants.”

But this notion hangs on the same thread of bars and restaurants surviving enforced closures and a subsequent recession. It also assumes there will be no capacity restrictions on venues like the kind briefly imposed before the introduction of stay-at-home measures. If those make a return — temporary or otherwise — old business models will no longer be viable, and many venues will be permanently shuttered.

Such restrictions also threaten the very philosophy behind going out to eat or drink.

“As long as people have been around, we’ve gathered around the fire and the watering hole; and that’s what restaurants really are: You get a cold drink and a hot meal and you’ve got the best of both worlds,” says John Clark-Ginnetti, owner of the New Haven cocktail bar 116 Crown and Dr. Spector’s co-teacher at Yale University. “If this is going to make us stand six feet apart at the watering hole, it’ll profoundly change everything we do, and we’ll have to rethink life as we know it.”

For some, those safety measures will be regarded with the nihilistic abandon of a gleaming-toothed Jay Gatsby. Others, meanwhile, may turn their efforts to perfecting their own private speakeasies. There’s no question that we’re heading into uncharted waters, and all we can really know is this: As sure as the sun shines, a new dawn of drinking is peeking over the horizon.

The article A Familiar Rhyme: What the Spanish Flu and the Roaring Twenties Tell Us About What Comes After Covid-19 appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/spanish-flu-roaring-twenties-history/

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johnboothus · 4 years

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A Familiar Rhyme: What the Spanish Flu and the Roaring Twenties Tell Us About What Comes After Covid-19

Examining the Historical Parallels

A New Era of Home Entertaining?

“Younger people tend to feel a little bit more invincible,” Dr. Scherer says.

A Renaissance for Drinking Establishments?

As soon as the coast is clear, he says, and as long as people have money in their pockets, “they’ll yearn to return to bars and restaurants.”

Such restrictions also threaten the very philosophy behind going out to eat or drink.

The article A Familiar Rhyme: What the Spanish Flu and the Roaring Twenties Tell Us About What Comes After Covid-19 appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/spanish-flu-roaring-twenties-history/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/a-familiar-rhyme-what-the-spanish-flu-and-the-roaring-twenties-tell-us-about-what-comes-after-covid-19

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texasautovalue-blog · 5 years

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10 Justifiably Discontinued Cars (and 10 SUVs We’d Love to See Back)

It’s Never Nice to See a Car Go – Unless it’s Garbage, Of Course

Every year, automakers are faced with the decision as to which models will be built during the upcoming model years. A lot of things go into such decisions, but profitability and sales volume are huge determiners. If a vehicle isn’t performing well enough in its market and re-styling won’t save it, it’s bound to find itself in the company of countless discontinued cars which grows year in – year out.

It’s an annual dance that automotive manufacturers go through trying to determine what in their lineup will yield the most profit and what is dragging them down. Actually it’s not even that clear cut.

The ultimate objective is to maximize profit and the easiest part of that is to dump a dog. However there are riskier decisions that may involve discontinuing a solid performer in order to promote a newcomer with great potential or dropping an up and comer from the brand altogether to give it a chance to stand on its own. These are mega dollar decisions and the reason for so many empty Maalox bottles in the executive suites.

But, what does that mean for the average consumer? Usually, it means that the models to be discontinued will be discounted. Dealers will be having fire sales to clear their lots and make room for new inventory. The later in the calendar year, the steeper the discounts will become.

First off, we’ll start with a list of long or recently discontinued SUVs that most people would like to see back, and then we’ll move on to some relatively recently discontinued cars, trucks, and SUVs that we might see again after a while or might not see ever again depending on myriad of factors.

10 Discontinued SUVs Everyone Wants to See Back

Reuters and other sources have suggested that Ford, for instance, sees U.S. car market’s future stacked with SUVs. According to them, SUVs will amount to 40 percent of the entire market by 2020, and they see it as perfect opportunity to expand their SUV portfolio.

Of course, first thing that comes to mind when crossing Blue Oval and SUV is the good old Bronco. It really didn’t take a genius to put two and two together and figure out this was the prime time to do so. But, while the iconic nameplate is getting ready to rise and shine again, others aren’t as lucky.

Considering how SUVs seem to be the future of the car markets for foreseeable time, it’s a no-brainer to take a look at some iconic SUV nameplates that were either discontinued a long time ago or relatively recently. Some of them exhibit a serious potential for making a comeback soon (some have already been announced), while others are just wishful thinking but who knows what the future might bring.

10. Hummer

Let us start with one of the more obvious choices. H1, H2, H3 -it doesn’t really matter. All three generations of the Hummer were highly sturdy and capable, and more or less intertwined. One didn’t simply end for another to take swing. The Hummer H1 was available since 1992 and the H3 bowed down in 2010 after the global recession did its part.

This is one of the reasons the Hummer was so special. But everyone that knows about these cumbersome beasts, also knows that they used to offer much more than simply special. Plus, since global recession is more or less behind us, there are no more genuine reasons for them not to be produced.

09. Mitsubishi Pajero

The current Mitsubishi SUV lineup (or Mitsubishi lineup in general) is nowhere near that from 10 or 20 years ago. They are, however, heading in green direction at least – I’ll give them that.

Regardless, the Mitsubishi Pajero (badged as Montero in the States) is still regarded as one of the best vehicles that Japanese manufacturer has managed to assemble. Of course, the Montero had been gone from the U.S. for over a decade now (being discontinued in 2006), but we haven’t forgotten it. Have you?

The Pajero is still alive overseas where it’s still selling better than it ever did in the U.S. Incidentally, low sales (1,609 units in 2006 compared to 24,802 units in 2001) were exactly the reason for its discontinuation.

08. Land Rover Defender

It’s unrealistic to expect the Land Rover returning to their roots with the Defender, but that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t like that. It wasn’t that long they discontinued it, but let’s face it – newer models weren’t the true Defenders for years now anyway.

Their current lineup of SUVs is highly capable and correspondingly luxurious, and there’s simply no place for a bare-bone SUV of old. But, imagine if they actually made one. Of course, it would have been stacked with all the necessary tech, but it wouldn’t have to be as plush as the others. That would help lowering the cost one has to pay in order to drive a Landy. It’s a win win situation in my book.

The next-gen Defender has been announced for model year 2020 and, more importantly, will finally again be available stateside. How the old school sturdiness and new age technology fuse in it, remains to be seen. The last time Defender was available on the U.S. market, Bill Clinton was still in the office. Its short stint on the U.S. market (between 1993 and 1997) was cut due to low profitability.

07. Nissan Xterra

It’s only been a few years without the Nissan Xterra in the markets, but people looking for extreme sturdiness and reliability (at relatively affordable prices) are already missing that SUV. Most of its current or former owners will attest to its indestructibility and capability alike, and there were many who bought it between 1999 and 2015.

Xterra, however, was simply outdated in 2015 when it finally got the axe and that severely affected its sales. It’s not the only Nissan’s vehicle to suffer from the same negligence, but while the Frontier still soldiers on, the SUV is now gone. Given the fact SUV craze is still in its full swing (or yet to take the full swing), we wouldn’t be surprised to see it return. And we certainly wouldn’t mind.

06. Jeep Wagoneer

The Jeep Wagoneer rumors aren’t that scarce or strange. They have been circulating for a while now, and they make sense. Jeep still lacks the true flagship three-row SUV, and the new Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer would be the perfect choice to fill that slot.

Of course, it would probably look much different than we remember it, but the nameplate is what matters. That and exterior wooden panels. Of course, the latter has very slim chance of returning, but it’s our right to dream, isn’t it? The Wagoneer first appeared in 1963 and finally got retired in 1991, making it the longest-running domestic vehicle to be built on the same platform. Being a gas-guzzler (11 mpg combined) during the Gulf War oil shock is the main reason behind its discontinuation.

Although still not official, the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer nameplates have been confirmed for a comeback sometime beyond 2020. That’s great news indeed, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

05. Willys Jeep CJ

It’s been a while since this one was discontinued, but it’s impossible to forget an icon, and Willys Jeep certainly was one. A 42 year long stint of production between 1944 and 1986 only bolsters that statement. Jeep finally discontinued the offspring of the WWII veteran in order to make way for a more contemporary YJ Wrangler.

Of course, it’s impossible to expect the old school bare-boned SUV in a modern era where safety regulations play such an important role. Still, if Wrangler manages, why wouldn’t one slightly rougher version do the same? Moreover, there’s some empty space in Jeep’s portfolio since the Patriot has been discontinued and the Compass might not be long for this world.

04. Chevrolet Blazer

Also known as GMC Jimmy, the Chevy Blazer is one of the best known U.S.-made SUVs to date. Sadly, it hasn’t been around for quite some time. The Blazer first appeared in 1969 and finally got axed in 1995 when it was renamed Tahoe. It was simply a victim of a new corporate strategy which is an anti-climactic end for such a beloved nameplate.

Of course, we now have the Chevy Tahoe and the GMC Yukon, but the second generation Blazer which lasted for almost 20 years is still sorely missed. The Blazer simply had that X factor which its successors lack. It’s similar with Blue Oval’s Bronco and Expedition comparison.

Now, I know that Blazer has made its comeback for MY 2019, but that’s not the Blazer I was referring to above. The new model might be sporty and plushy, but aside from name, doesn’t have anything to do with its iconic predecessor.

03. Toyota FJ Cruiser

Yet again, a car which was axed not so long ago. The Toyota FJ cruiser retired in 2014 (2016 overseas), and left Wrangler as the only rugged, old school off-road SUV on the U.S. market (until the new Bronco finally arrives, that is). Slow sales which never recuperated after the global recession of 2008-09 were the main reason for its discontinuation.

The Japanese are still selling Land Cruisers, but they simply can’t be compared with the compact FJ Cruiser. The FJ had that X factor. That something that made it special. Maybe it were the circular headlamps, or the overall boxy appearance, but I sure wish it was still here.

02. GMC Typhoon

The GMC Typhoon was always different than the rest of SUVs marketed at the time. Two year long production (between 1991 and 1993) and fewer than 5,000 units produced wasn’t exactly the lifespan you’d wish to a car, but the Typhoon was actually meant to be limited. Being a special-edition vehicle, the Typhoon’s life was naturally short and there were no particular reasons for its discontinuation other than that.

It was a performer, and performance-oriented SUVs weren’t really a thing back in early nineties. They are becoming that now, and GMC has something to think about. It’s an expensive process introducing a new SUV to the market – especially a performance-oriented one – but at least they have the name standing ready.

01. Bronco

Considering all the fuss surrounding it, the Bronco is arguably the most wanted comeback vehicle out there. The Expedition is nice and tough, but the Bronco nameplate has some backbone to it that rarely any other SUV nameplate has. Whether it’s the compact models (1965 to 1977) or full-size units (1977 to 1996), the Broncos were highly appreciated among the U.S. buyers. It was a sad day when the Bronco was finally discontinued in favor of a 4-door Expedition which was Blue Oval’s answer to competition – mainly that from GM.

Ford doesn’t have to sell it in white if that’s their problem with the car, but showing some love would be appreciated by everyone – especially by buyers. Come to think of it, a white-exclusive OJ Edition wouldn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. Just saying.

Anyway, that was my state of mind a few years back and now that the Bronco is finally making a comeback, there’s a sense of nervousness permeating the air around it. What if they screw it up?! Hopefully, the new Bronco will be a different sort of SUV than the new Blazer.

Relatively Recently Discontinued Cars We Might or Might Not See Again

Let’s now focus on some recently discontinued models that we probably won’t be seeing ever again. Some of them, however, have already had a similar stint so not all is lost in their cases. So, say your goodbyes to the ones that are gone and say your prayers for the ones that still might appear.

Volkswagen Touareg

The Volkswagen Touareg was introduced for the 2004 model year. It arrived on an early wave of the craze for upscale crossovers. The Touareg is sportier and more luxurious than most mainstream SUVs, but doesn’t really standout from the other upscale models.

Unfortunately for the Touareg’s future, the added luxury priced it out of many buyers’ range. VW is not going to abandon the segment altogether, though. The company is introducing the Atlas for 2018. The Atlas is being manufactured in North America and is more affordably priced than the Touareg.

While we probably won’t be seeing Touareg in the U.S. any more, it needs to be noted that the nameplate is still very much alive in the rest of the World.

Buick Verano

The life of the Buick Verano has been short (less than 5 years). The first Veranos hit dealerships for the 2012 model year. True to the basic nature of Buick, the Verano was a very comfortable entry-level luxury sedan.

The Verano, unfortunately, is but one victim of the ever-changing tastes of car buyers. Small car sales are down across the North American market. Instead of offering another sedan, Buick plans to fill the niche with the Encore compact crossover SUV, a model that is already popular among buyers and made its debut alongside the now-discontinued sedan back in 2012.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Verano name is still very much active in China.

Chevrolet SS

The Chevy SS is another car with a short life span. Introduced in 2014, the full-size SS crossed the ocean from Australia. GM subsidiary Holden designed the SS as a sporty rear-wheel-drive alternative to the Impala.

The SS offered 415 hp and 415 lb-ft of torque and was fun drive in spite of its size. Sadly, it wasn’t marketed particularly well. Very few people even knew of its existence, let alone wanted to pay the $50,000 sticker price.

Around 13,000 units have been sold over almost five years of sleeper’s tenure on the market. Still, if there was any car that deserved to remain being offered as a niche vehicle, this would be the one. In Australia, the Holden Commodore SS was downsized and is still being offered (continually since 1978).

Volkswagen CC

Introduced in 2009, the Volkswagen CC was a stylish and well-equipped entry-level luxury sedan. Despite its wide array of equipment and solid dependability, the four-door CC was also VW’s lowest-volume car.

Sales started declining rapidly after 2011 and never showed any signs of recuperating, hence the upscale sedan was axed in 2017. They were actually so bad that, at one point, VW sold 40 Jettas for every CC that left a dealer’s lot. VW remains hopeful that it can gain a foothold in the near-luxury four-door market, however.

The Germans will be replacing the CC with the Arteon, but even that business didn’t go down without complications as the new car missed its intended U.S. market train due to complications with emissions testings.

Chrysler 200

All that can be said about the demise of the Chrysler 200 is: “it was about time!” This lackluster replacement for the equally lackluster Chrysler Sebring has needed to be axed since its inception in 2011. This finally happened in 2017.

Sales were decent, but many owners and potential buyers felt the cheap feeling interior and boring styling were disappointing. The sedan segment was just too crowded for poor styling and cheap interiors. Fiat Chrysler had the common sense to put this donkey to bed and add production capability to meet demands for its truck and SUV lines.

However, this move has left the Chrysler lineup seriously shallow with only the Pacifica minivan and the 300 sedan still on the books.

Smart Fortwo

Mercedes-Benz dabbled in the small economy car niche with the Smart Fortwo. These strange-looking cars hit the roads in 2008 and immediately began disappointing buyers. Tiny, unstable-looking, and short on fuel economy, the Smart Fortwo proved to be short on smart and barely able to fit two.

Mercedes-Benz has decided to drop the gasoline versions after the 2017 model year, but will keep the Electric Drive version. Maybe as an all-electric, this urban crawler will finally find its niche. On the other hand, it’ll require some serious progression in terms of its own electric technology if it’s to avoid the gasoline model’s fate.

Infiniti QX70

When the Infiniti QX70 hit the market in 2003 as the Infiniti FX, sales went wild. The QX70 was a radically curvaceous temptress when everything around her was boxy and staid. Unfortunately, sales have been sagging since the 2005 model year and the mid-size luxury SUV was finally dropped in 2018.

To be fair, there was a bit of an economic downturn between 2008 and 2012 to contend with, but sales have never hit an uptick. Infiniti is replacing the QX70 with a totally restyled QX50. With the crossover and SUV fever that has been sweeping the globe for several years, we may be seeing a retooled version of the QX70 in the not-too-distant future.

Dodge Viper

The loss of the Dodge Viper is the saddest thing we have ever had to type. Chrysler introduced the Dodge Viper in 1992 when its lineup contained more junk than a scrap yard. The only thing Chrysler was selling in 1992 were minivans and a few boxy, underwhelming cars. Then, all of a sudden and completely out of nowhere, the V10 Viper hit the pavement.

Buyers started to get excited about a Chrysler product for the first time in decades. Unfortunately, profits per unit have always been minimal. Fiat Chrysler is in need of every dollar of profit possible, so the Viper is being axed.

Even worse, there are no plans to replace it with another car of note and it’s already been a while since the FCA discontinued the Viper in 2017. So with that, we say goodbye to one of the most iconic American sports cars to date. Of all the cars to be discontinued in recent years, this one definitely breaks our hearts the most.

Jeep Patriot

The Jeep Patriot and the Jeep Compass debuted side-by-side as part of the 2007 model year lineup. The Patriot has stuck around for a decade with very few changes or upgrades. Tired and dated are about the only things that can be said about it. It was finally dropped in 2017 in order to make way fro the new Renegade.

When it debuted, the Patriot was the only compact crossover that sported bona fide off-road skills when equipped with the “Trail Rated” 4×4 system. Jeep has made a terrible waste of a potential sales monster by allowing it to lament in near stagnation. Oh, about the Jeep Compass…it gets a major redesign and a fresh marketing campaign to ensure its continued success.

Cadillac ELR

Just because your badge is upscale does not mean you can take a low end vehicle, dress it up, slap a badge on it and make it an upscale vehicle that people will buy. Unfortunately that’s what Cadillac did with its version of the Chevy Volt (remember Cimarron?).

Not only was the all-electric poorly conceived, it was also launched when Tesla introduced its spectacularly successful Model S. The $75,000 price tag for the ELR put a real blanket on potential sales. On the plus side, so few were manufactured that they may become a collectible based on rarity.

The ELR was only available between 2014 and 2016 and the company managed to sell close to 3,000 units during that time.

FCA Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country

Soccer Moms and car pool drivers are going to have to find another mode of transport when their existing Caravans and Town & Country vans need to be replaced. These seven passenger minivans with not so great fuel efficiency are the victims of a general reduction in demand and FCA’s shrinking share of the market that is there.

The hope was that the redesigned Chrysler Pacifica will fill the minivan needs of both Dodge and Chrysler customers and so far the Pacifica has delivered.

Dodge versions, as you remember, debuted back in late 1983 and are still being sold for the time being, while the Chrysler Town & Country arrived in late 1989 and disappeared in 2016.

And so ends our list of inglorious discontinued cars from recent years. We bid a fond adieu to a couple and wonder why a few others aren’t listed as well? Oh well, something to look forward to in coming years! Speaking of which, this list will be constantly updated with new discontinued models so don’t forget to check back and reminisce about them.

#TexasAutoValue #BestSuv #BestoFTheDay #@TexasAutoValue

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grandemasterpyrokitsune · 7 years

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Happy 10th!

The time has finally come to talk about why PaF is so important. Really, anyone could do this anytime, but this date alone has a significance to it. To any of my followers who don’t know(and will sit through this brick wall of text to find out), today is the 10th anniversary of the sneak peek premiere of Phineas and Ferb; technically, February 2008 is when it officially premiered around the world, but I’m sure that everyone else in the fandom is eager to kick off the celebration today. I’m sure this will turn out to be a multi paged thesis, so I’ll try to split this up into parts.

-----------------------------------

PART 1: Best Day Ever

Anyway, ten years ago today marks the 10th anniversary of Phineas and Ferb. This show is considered an old soul of sorts, enjoying a long lifespan of 8 years, tons of merchandising and entertainment opportunities, the admiration and respect of many celebrities, and a very long summer. As formulaic as it appears, this show has more history to it than it appears to have.

PART 2:Busted

(This part details history of Disney’s TV animation ventures and basically life before PaF. Feel free to skip if you’re clued in to its history.)

The 2000s were considered a lousy time for TV animation . While many say it's the "worst" decade for it(whether worldwide or just in North America), I'd call it a transitional period. The 90s was an exciting a refreshing time for TV animation where the stories were driven by the creators, not toy designers. I would generally consider it more of the same from the Golden Age of Animation but more modern. The 2000s had newer technologies to work with and perfect while the ‘90s mainly just worked w/ cel animation and did it so well. Flash and CG were in their infancy, so I assume the software got a bit more attention than the stories. Primarily, companies were just looking to work with more cost effective options to make their shows with. It was a rough period,but far from the worst. Anyway, this kind of TV animation is still a relatively new type of animation. Disney were the first ones to spearhead this movement and they made three or four blocks of new cartoon for different generations of kids.

The first block(formally known as Disney Afternoon)was ushered in with three pilots; Fluppy Dogs, Wuzzles and Ducktales. While the former two merely tested the waters and the latter was the only one successful, all three were made with stellar animation and complex storytelling for what everyone knew as entertainment for kids. After the success of Ducktales, Disney was brimming with pride and made seven years worth of cartoons for this block. Even if some cartoons didn't strike people the right way, they were still wildly memorable. While their D.C. original programming generally doesn't get more than short compilation discs, the DA 'toons get full series releases digitally and through DVD. This prompted to launch One Saturday Morning on ABC.

With the acquisition of Nicktoon Doug, Disney paired it up with Recess and Pepper Ann, chasing after the success they had a few years before. The aforementioned series were the highest rated on the block while other series are more obscure and buried by Disney. They are acknowledged as good but were overshadowed by 24/7 network like Nick and Cartoon Network bringing a lot more cartoons to a lot more times of the day.

Disney started to notice how much of an animated surplus they had and that they air their cartoons for weeks on end. Thus, Toon Disney was founded,which became a more visible hub for the cartoon blocks of the 90s and all other ages of Disney. At one point,they started airing Sonic the Hedgehog and making their own co-productions under their most popular TV cartoon brand, Jetix. As extensive as these programs got, they were being seen by fewer and fewer people.

To overlap slightly with the end of OSM, Disney started making more cartoons for the Channel’s demographic. Shows like Kim Possible, Lilo and Stitch, and American Dragon:Jake Long began airing and netting extraordinary ratings. In fact, Disney Channel was probably most successful in the early 2000s. It found its new groove if you will with its signature style of tween/teen sitcom and animated series. The former seem to have more clout on the network after the premiere of Lizzie McGuire,solidifying the formula. Similar to OSM, many cartoons were more or less not acknowledged the way they were 10 years before. Since sitcoms dominated because they were faster and cheaper to make, it seemed that the outcome was better. Over the course of the period (c. 2002-2008) they released the smallest selection of DC cartoons ever while the sitcoms got more and more press. It’s unclear what Disney was going to do next, but soon summer of 2007 came along...

PART 3: Gotta Make Summer Last

Disney Channel aired the premiere of High School Musical 2 and decided to air the first episode of PaF afterwards. As a result HSM 2 netted 17.6 million views and PaF 10.8 million views. We could easily deduce that eager HSM fans made up the clout of viewers, but that’s not to say the show couldn’t prove interesting to viewers anyway. In fact, Disney delayed its original 2007 release in the US to release it in February in multiple countries. Places such as Latin America, Brazil, Japan, France and Portugal got to experience the show right along with us. International promotion was rolled out which only netted PaF even more press. It became one of Japan’s most popular Western cartoons, it got wild promotion in Latin America and most of Europe(all around) made excellent dubs and gave it the lion’s share of time slots. This was a pretty good outcome all things considered.

Thus the cycle began. First came DVDs and games, then came interviews and guest spots, than movies, Disney park attractions, live events and then omnipresence.... scratch that last one, but you get the idea. The TV Movie itself was more or less the peak of the show. It remains the 10th most watched DCOM premiere of all time and the show remains one of the longest running animated series of the main Disney networks(DC, XD, and Junior). I think the last time Disney mass merchandised a TV cartoon this much was Lilo and Stitch(last one not already a franchise was Doug or Recess). The show is even part of the Marvel and Star Wars universes(non canonically of course)Even then, Disney elevated the show to new heights. It had everything Disney wanted; likeable protagonists, innocent motifs, enough songs to last for days, episodic adventures, and tons of mass marketing appeal. This simple show connected people across the world(if the Tumblr/DA fandoms for PaF were any indicator)through its mult-faceted music and rudimentary themes. While this show raised the bar, it also left the bar to be raised another notch by...

PART 4: Meet the Man of Mystery

In 2012, Gravity Falls premiered as a sneak peek behind DCOM Let it Shine. While not an instant ratings hit, it quickly became one of the most critically acclaimed Disney TV cartoons of all time. The spotlight quickly began to fade on the smartest stepbrothers around as new episodes were coming infrequently. While the numbers were still big enough to make Teen Titans Go mutter in awed jealousy, it still was becoming less of a force on the main network. However on Disney XD, it was still Adored by the Network. I remember how I felt watching day long marathons several times a month, sometimes without reason. Despite its mass appeal, Phineas and Ferb could be classified easily as a boy targeted program due to the protagonists and the subject matter. Until XD found its groove, they would continue to spam PaF for what felt like eons. To this day, they still occasionally air it in primetime slots.

The way I wrote this last part may sound cynical,jaded, and/or pessimistic. However, it’s written that way to emphasize another point. After the success of this series, Disney went from relying on a few filler shows to releasing a new show basically every year and truly giving them all the promotion they could. While not all series got the treatment we all wanted them to have, a lot more of them have come and gone to try to re-innovate and reinvigorate the brand. Phineas and Ferb (more or less) singlehandedly convinced Disney TV to put more stock in their animation division. Don’t know how many Fallers know this but Disney actually asked Alex Hirsch to make his pilot for them after seeing his work. They were actively seeking out new talent and new stories. Honestly, while Kick Buttowski and Pickle and Peanut got a lot of flac in the day, they were(to an extent) a sign that the House of mouse was trying to experiment and make something they liked to see. The latter especially seemed like a personal pet project of XD’s off sense of humor.

I’m sure the networks would have reinvented their cartoons eventually, but PAF brought it out in the best way. In a way the boys were kind of dc celebrities in their heyday. When you can summon a bunch of popular characters from the live action sitcoms to dance for possibly hours for a two minute music video in the name of a teal platypus made out of digital ink and pixels, that’s pretty special indeed.

CONCLUSION

Phineas and Ferb is my favorite animated series,explaining why I can info dump mostly from memory as I have in this post. While many have told me that it’s nothing special, to me it stands out as the brightest diamond in the rough and a shining testament to the duality of animation in general. Ten years from now, I hope that I can write better when I must wax sentimentality about my favorite cartoon show. Thanks to the cast, crew, creators, and fans for making summer last. See you at the 20th!

#Phineas and Ferb #phineas flynn #ferb fletcher #Disney Channel #disney xd #disney #analysis #personal essay #infodump #reblog with tag tldr for short version

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isaiahrippinus · 4 years

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A Familiar Rhyme: What the Spanish Flu and the Roaring Twenties Tell Us About What Comes After Covid-19

Examining the Historical Parallels

A New Era of Home Entertaining?

“Younger people tend to feel a little bit more invincible,” Dr. Scherer says.

A Renaissance for Drinking Establishments?

As soon as the coast is clear, he says, and as long as people have money in their pockets, “they’ll yearn to return to bars and restaurants.”

Such restrictions also threaten the very philosophy behind going out to eat or drink.

The article A Familiar Rhyme: What the Spanish Flu and the Roaring Twenties Tell Us About What Comes After Covid-19 appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/spanish-flu-roaring-twenties-history/ source https://vinology1.tumblr.com/post/614933174880993280

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thecoroutfitters · 5 years

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King, John. A Cambridge Associate in order to Current Latin American Customs. Cambridge: Cambridge College or university Push, ’04;

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Bibliography in addition cites a couple added places. These factors impact nearly all industry within the underdeveloped international locations right now, however the focus in the following cardstock is only on their own effects to the over-all retaiwl sector in the states. A mentioned picture with this excellent exotic land of effective financial likely, prevalent lower income in addition to driven coverage choices. as well as quality of life relished by means of their particular persons. The aboriginal populaces with the Latin America would be the pre Columbian citizens, its young, as well as tribal factions who rank having those people doing the job group. Chile Per Your ex History Monetary Growth: The 9 site paper this talks about the historical past, economic foundation as well as current financial tendencies inside Chile.

Explore family members shape regarding Latina American’s. So how does this particular stand out from additional societal groups? Can easily coaching be mastered plus utilized?

Explore the history of South america. Are the neckties using The nation plus People from france continue to sturdy, and also conduct Latina People in the usa have got a “new” a sense individuality? Conduct their particular beginnings definitely subject to your majority of it has the individuals?

Is democracy negatively affecting or even serving Latin America to be a producing country.

An information towards showdown fought against concerning North america as well as The philipines within 1846

Should immigrant workers from Latin America get a lot more legalised security? Internet site a task to relax and play?

Issues in relation to human legal rights.

Do girls within Latin America have reasonable possibilities?

By means of their work, such artists since Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente, and also Brian Alfaro Siqueiros turned energetic participants in surrounding the social and political exercises of that time period. Puetomi2.wps This specific document points to the management of females and females protection under the law with Colombia, Peru, The philipines, Brazil plus Argentina. Bibliography directories 5 sources. How to improve the tax profits throughout building international locations? By way of lengthening this levy platform the particular budgetary pressure would be better allocated, must massive laid-back economic climate which is and so present in most of these locations. Bibliography provides 4 solutions.

What to search for in the Good Article Matter in addition to Case Ideas

Consider the vast commonalities plus differences in the governmental, fiscal, plus societal structure and interactions with one another current Real spanish point out. The actual rights on the terrible inside South america and theology’s campaigns to give them with the same human being protection under the law while everybody else– will be discussed in sizeable depth. Learners needs to keep them selves well informed connected with changes and also addendums to this Schedule. It?s history and advancement, the “creolization,In along with its very own efforts towards flexibility have created an exceptional and infrequently over-looked tradition within the Carribbean. Make-up exams for young students who definitely have excused absences might be slated each time and set to be driven around session while using instructor. Spiel: Conquests connected with Mexico and also Peru

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Latino Response Within Florida Colleges : A 10 webpage newspaper talking over the unique situation between Latinos along with their placement in the association of higher schooling with Ca. Bibliography provides Of sixteen places. Urrea’s “Across The actual Wire” Versus Lifestyle On the Mexican ( blank ) U . (n) Exactly how seemed to be overseas trade arranged with East Latin America? Just what results did a inefficient business with long-distance industry placed on the growth of East Latin America? Puerto Ricans on the Mainland : A 10 website papers emphasizing that theme. citizens. This short overview of the original source with carnivals is roofed in addition.

1 – 3 delaware.t. Readings: This product is going to be based over a collection of among the most imaginative secondary works made in rogues portion of the last century plus a consultant volume of primary records. South america Area, Lima, Quito, Bogota, Caracas, in addition to Buenos Aires progressed directly into literary focuses on par together with Western beauty parlors. Ricardo Arjona is probably the most renowned Latin Usa singers. Be sure you take into account such complications because beginnings, state guiidelines, technological know-how, labor systems, fund, in addition to secondary financial side effects.

Chile?s Motivation regarding Entire world Trade: A Six web page analysis papers in Chile?s culture, overall economy and recent government heritage, that they transferred through parliamentary govt, to socialism, to army command, so that you can democracy, and all inside a amount a lot less than 2 decades. Eduardo Galeano is really a passionate surgeon and also article author, someone that’s placed that interest directly into authoring your displaced or even generally overlooked track records associated with Latina and also South The nation’s. Which include are methods with evaluate, quiz models, deliverance & instruction, varieties of governance plus more. Bibliography listings A pair of places. The Spanish Peso Disaster as well as Clinton’s Bailout Plan : Some sort of Some website look at the Asian Peso disaster on the 1990s and some in the things with regards to President Payment Clinton’s decision to bond The philipines outside. Bibliography databases 5 various solutions. The term Latino will involve various cultures for instance Cuban, Puerto Rican, Mexican-American, Central/South Usa, while others.

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