#like if the reason is 'creative differences' the headlines would reflect that

[humanhost]

Human Host In Public : The First Two Decades Part 1 - The First “Pre-Recorded” Show, April or May 2003, St. Thomas Church in Towson, Md.

In the spring of 2003 the grindcore/speed punk band Squints, screamo heavies Beyond The Grunt Call, and ultra slop garage punks The Castrates shared a bill with Human Host at St. Thomas Church in Towson, Md. If memory serves correctly, Squints were the headliner and the Host played second to last, right before Squints. By that point we had played no more than 2 or 3 other shows and those earlier gigs featured a line up that was mainly doing a kind of psychedelic punk which was almost totally different than the electronic/beat-driven music that would soon become our signature sound. So the kid who booked us at this gig was familiar with us as a 4 or 5 piece band that had a live drummer, guitars, and all the other average instrumental accoutrements of late 20th century rock. In short, everyone assumed we were just another guitar band filling out a bill with a buncha other guitar bands.

This assumption could not have been further from the truth.

The spring '03 show at St. Thomas was the first Human Host show to feature a set of completely electronic music mixed with performance art. The only live music element was vocals; the instrumental music was pre-recorded, just backing tracks played through the p.a. - no amps, no instruments, no problem. 

This type of performance was a knod to the dynamic/dance driven shows created by some of our fave early aughts pop acts - boy bands like N-Sync and Backstreet Boys; rap acts like Three Six Mafia, Cash Money Millionaires, and Nappy Roots; the big flashy choreography of live gigs from Destiny's Child, Blaque, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Mandy Moore, and other bubblegum divas. Of course, our dance moves were never as rehearsed as any of the pop artists we loved. Our intentionally spazzed out steps resembled avant garde performance art a ' la The Living Theatre and Andy Kaufman, or the physically demanding 1920's slapstick comedy of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy, and other surrealistic vaudevillians.

To say the least the audience of young suburban punks, Carver Center students, and metal heads really had no idea what to do other than simply to stare at us with their mouths agape. We had no records out at the time but we had plenty of lyric sheets to give out that night, an element that freaked the kids out even more. The lyric sheets highlighted the occult poetry of our interdimensional message; the artwork/design on these lyric sheets reflected an interest in the paranormal, paganism, comic book art, folklore, and other arcane visual/literary elements. In addition to the occult message, the crazy moves, and raw band-less/amp-less minimalism of 4 or 5 people running around with nothing but microphones and a billion pounds of nervous energy, we performed by the stark light of the fluorescent fixtures that hung throughout the venue. All the other acts played by dim floor lights that were confined to the stage. Our choice to have the regular lights on ( blasting us and the audience with brutal clarity) only accentuated the insane affront to rock'n'roll that we brought that evening. 

Dominic Angelella performs music today with internationally known indie acts DRGN KING and Lucy Dacus. But back in the early 2000′s Dominic was one of the Towson area’s major DIY music promoters. He was the one who booked the spring 2003 gig where Human Host debuted its electronic music mayhem. Appropriately enough, as Dominic remembers it this show was groundbreaking and controversial for reasons that transcended music, a true “ground zero” moment for the explosion of genre shattering creativity that’d soon become Maryland’s most important contribution to global arts and culture:

Dominic Angelella: “This show was a wild one for me on so many levels. I had settled in to a show-booking position I felt good about at St. Toms [aka St. Thomas Church] and this is the first time something felt off to me. Not that (Human Host) had anything to do with it; The Castrates made fliers where they did a collage of various vintage nun porn images and posted them around the city. I remember various people coming to me telling me there was a protest planned for the show, not from the religious right but from punks who found the flier sexist. Calls were made for me to cancel the gig I think?

I’m not really sure why I chose not to cancel the show, (maybe I even talked to [the artists] about this?) but regardless this gig really sticks in my mind as one of the times that cool city bands came up to Towson to play. HH really flipped my wig at the show, mainly because I didn’t expect it. I was at the first HH show at The Talking Head (in winter 2003), and thought I knew what the deal was going to be. Looking back, in many ways Human Host’s set predicted the soon to come Wham City onslaught that would siege the city, forcing musicians to choose between CCAS/Barclay and the new MICA-centric Baltimore music world.” 

Despite the fact that Human Host had done a handful of gigs prior to this, in many ways our spring 2003 set at the fellowship hall at St. Thomas Church was *spiritually the first* Human Host show simply because it was the first gig to feature our own homemade *symbiosis* of electronic music and visuals. Our sample-based collage of dancey toy synth melodies, Miami bass/Timbaland-influenced drum machine patterns, and tonal modern classical motifs never overshadowed the hyperactive performance art and vice versa. This was our way of proudly defying predictable early aughts genre conventions by melding hedonistic pop spectacles with faith-based anti-worship and art music. It was the spark that set off the many ultra weird live show explosions to come. From here on out everything Human Host did only got joyously and progressively weirder.    

[autumnsup]

Part Two of reflections on my personal fic journey:

There are some fic that are easier to re-read than others, and in comparison to Blame It On The Boys, Sweetly Burns the Evergreen was a tough one for me. In general, I don't tend to revisit fic, unless it's for revision, beta-reading, or inspiration, but in glancing through, I was struck by a few things.

As my longest fic to date (173k), I feel like I learned quite a lot about my creative process. My favorite - and easiest - parts were when I wrote different characters and perspectives than I did in the prequel fic. Lily was a delight, as were toddler Harry and Draco, and Lyall and Peter weren't as challenging as I thought they would be (although Snape was). Writing Sirius as a former rock musician turned wandering dharma bum was fun too, even/especially when he engaged in questionable behavior. As you may have noticed from the mood board above, he took on the appearance of Adam Ant in my mind for some reason; maybe it was the cheekbones that did it. :D

On the flip side, I may have relied too heavily on flashbacks and memories to fill in backstory, and I could have put more effort into OCs and certain aspects of the plot. I worked an ungodly amount of music and history references into it, including but not limited to punk rock, New Wave, and John Lennon's death. I don't particularly mind this as a writing device, but it can feel a bit self-indulgent after a while. The songs I chose for chapter headings also felt haphazard at times, an area in which I believe I've improved since.

Regardless of its faults, I've decided to include a short, mildly NSFW excerpt below the cut, from an earlier chapter. If longer fics are not for you, fear not, there are plenty of shorter ones to choose from, with and without smut. :)

“Listen to you, being the reasonable one.” Sirius’s mouth is half-quirked, so close, and Remus suddenly can’t think of anything else but the feeling of Sirius’s hand, warm upon his upper arm. It’s dizzying, and he shuts his eyes for a brief moment, only to open them upon the sight of Sirius leaning in toward him, his intent clear in his darkened eyes.

The meeting of their lips feels like the cheer of an audience left waiting too long for the headliners to appear, just like the pressure of Sirius’s mouth opening to his, accompanied by the softest of sighs, feels like an opening salvo of chords.

“Ohhh.” His voice is a whisper on the way to becoming a moan, and his hand climbs to the back of Remus’s neck, stroking along the short, velvety hairs there until Remus is left shivering. “I have missed this so, so much.”

His body is in fervent agreement, and truthfully, in that moment his heart agrees too, but then his mind pipes up with a warning about Jake, and how it’s less than a week before he’ll be returning from Majorca with Leo, and the thought of disappointing them brings Remus back to earth with a bump. 

“Padfoot, wait.” He wrenches himself away from the kiss, every part of him screaming in protest, and scrambles to his feet. “I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves.”

“Moony?” Sirius comes to his feet in turn, hands brushing automatically at dusty trousers. “Did I do something wrong?”

[jpsportsinternship]

Entry 8

Overall Reflections on the Course and Internship

Sports Media at Holmesglen is the course I should have done straight out of highschool. If I had known about it during my VCE, I would have applied for it at the conclusion of Year 12. Anyway I’m super glad that I eventually stumbled across such a wonderful course, with wonderful lecturers. What’s fascinating about Sports Media is that it is so specific, yet simultaneously so broad. There are plenty of straight ‘Journalism’ or communications courses, however it’s rare to combine the two plus more.

My writing skills were reasonable but my passion for sport and the media was large. Working in a class of 15-25 people made it feel like school, which was good because the lecturer could tend to our needs and spend more time explaining things or assisting than compared to a lecture with 300 students that one may find at a Monash Uni mathematics lecture.

Having four very different streams, if you will, was helpful because the units weren’t confusable and we are enabled to focus on each on separately. The fact that the subjects taken in a given semester were not alike was also a positive in the way that it made things quite interesting; the fact that we were developing skills in multiple different areas at once.

After four weeks, we had to shift online due to the pandemic, which wasn’t ideal social or studying wise. It was hard to not socialise with new-found mates and it was also difficult to find motivation to study with a distracting setup at home.

As students we had to adapt and I did. The first semester results came out and I had received a Distinction in all four units, much to my delight. I knew this would be hard to maintain, but was thrilled to work through the challenges and still get promising results.

The next semester went by quickly and so did the first semester of second year. Second year introduced us students to more hands-on learning, particularly with filming videos and editing. This was quite fun but also tedious at times. The VAFA projects were a good experience as we got to teamup with a football club and complete various assignments relating to them. This was headline by a social media strategy and a sponsorship proposal. The whole VAFA experience was long and tiring one but it helped us develop our editing skills, thinking outside the box and creativity.

The last year at Holmesglen went fast to start with and the main focus was about applying for internships and sharpening up on most of what we learnt throughout the course.

My internship was with Outer East Football Netball, who have their headquarters in Kilsyth, conveniently around the corner from where I live.

My internship was heavily revolved around writing; reviews, previews and more reviews. The researching of games and stats of players I’ve never heard of was fun, as was attending three Saturdays worth of Grand Finals (both football and netball). After writing the reviews of these Grand Finals, I was tasked with writing reviews of each clubs season. This was a slightly daunting, yet exciting task. Calling up coaches was a new experience for me but it ended up becoming second nature. The internship was exceeded my expectations as I was able to have my say on every club and Grand Final. My dream job would be involve a similar role to the one I played at OEFN.

The internship was a massive hook for me to join the course and the juice was certainly worth the squeeze.

[zrtranscripts]

Radio Abel, Season Eight

Part 5 of 5

~

PHIL CHEESEMAN: I don't know if it's just because New Canton's at the center of the government in the UK -

ZOE CRICK: I'm still getting used to that.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: - but now that I think about it, people do seem to be putting more effort into the way they dress these days.

ZOE CRICK: I've noticed that. For a while, I thought it was because people wanted to spruce themselves up for the royal visits, but King Jamie hasn't been visiting as much since Amelia left for... for whatever it is she's doing, and people are still looking rather flamboyant.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: One of the cooks makes his own hats out of food wrappers.

ZOE CRICK: Exactly. People are having fun, and they're less worried about looking cool than they were before the apocalypse.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: I think those hats are cool!

ZOE CRICK: That's the point. Taste is much more subjective now. [laughs] We don't have TV or newspapers, and it still takes half an hour to send a picture over ROFFLEnet, so it's harder to follow trends. People are using their imaginations instead.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Speaking of imagination, here's a track by someone with lots of it.

~

ZOE CRICK: Maybe Z-Day’s made self-expression more important, not less. We can't control the V-types, and we might be confined to our settlements most of the time, but we can decide how we look, so people go to great lengths to execute their vision. It's like how women in pre-apocalyptic prisons used to improvise cosmetics out of Smarties and shoe polish.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: How do you know what women used to do in prison?

ZOE CRICK: Oh, I was talking to Maxine about it.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Dr. Maxine has been to prison?!

ZOE CRICK: No, she... [sighs] That's not the point. I'm saying that for a lot of people, clothes, hair, and makeup are important creative outlets now that we're restricted in other ways. They also help people feel normal, now that -

PHIL CHEESEMAN: - now that V-types are roaming across the UK.

ZOE CRICK: Exactly.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: [sighs] Here's a song to make us all feel a bit more normal.

~

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Imagine if Vogue was still in print. Do you think they'd employ zombie models?

ZOE CRICK: Yeah, with headlines like, “Gray is the New Black.” [laughs] They might struggle to find advertisers.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Okay, business side might be a bit tricky to sort out. What about the editorial?

ZOE CRICK: They'd have post-apocalyptic fashion tips.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: “The Best Looks to Scavenge this Season.”

ZOE CRICK: “Make Your Own Makeup.”

PHIL CHEESEMAN: “10 Ways to Wear a Sports Bra.”

ZOE CRICK: Not sure about that one, Phil.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Okay, yeah, there’s probably just one way to wear a sports bra.

ZOE CRICK: As far as I know.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: The other ideas were good, though. Well, maybe we should think of other style tips for our listeners.

ZOE CRICK: Why not? [laughs] Here's a song to get our creative juices flowing.

~

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Listeners, Zoe and I tried to come up with fashion tips, but this isn't our area of expertise.

ZOE CRICK: Speak for yourself.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: All your ideas involve drawing cats on things.

ZOE CRICK: That's not true. I also suggested embroidering cats on things.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: My point, listeners, is that maybe Zoe and I could use your help. Send us your post-apocalyptic fashion tips.

ZOE CRICK: We'll be sharing them right after this.

~

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Welcome back to Radio New Hope, where we're sharing tips on how to stay stylish in the zombie apocalypse.

ZOE CRICK: A lot of the suggestions we've had so far come from runners who need to be able to move quickly, evade zoms, and stay comfortable on long runs.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: You might think, as I did only a few minutes ago, that running is not compatible with expressing yourself through fashion, but you'd be wrong.

ZOE CRICK: Indeed, there are lots of ways to have fun with your running gear that don't affect speed or safety. Even if you're out by yourself and no one else can see you, a little bit of flare can lift your mood and make you feel more like yourself.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Running On Sunshine suggests, “Novelty shoe laces are a fun way of adding color to your running outfit. You can often loot them from the children's section of sports or shoe shops, but they're also easy to make from a sturdy ribbon. Use a bit of tape or wax for the aglet.”

ZOE CRICK: Just be sure to tuck your new laces into your shoes the next time you visit the kitten pen.

~

ZOE CRICK: Today on Radio New Hope, we're taking suggestions on how to jazz up your running gear.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: This next step is one for more creative runners, and it comes from Art Rate.

ZOE CRICK: Art Rate?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Yeah, like heart rate, because they're a runner, but also an artist.

ZOE CRICK: [sighs] I don't know if we should be reading out people's usernames. We're just encouraging bad puns.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: This episode is about self-expression, Zoe, whatever form it takes, even terrible puns.

ZOE CRICK: Hmm. What does Art Rate have to say for themselves?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: “Decorate your running outfit with permanent marker, embroidery, and whatever embellishments you can get your hands on. As long as your number is still clearly visible to your comms operator, there's no limit to what you can do. Wearing something that truly reflects your personality can give you motivation on the most difficult runs.”

ZOE CRICK: That's a nice idea. I'll forgive the pun.

~

ZOE CRICK: Progressive Runner writes, “Hi Phil, where did you get a Dream Theater T-shirt? I'm also a fan of prog metal and have been on several runs to find old gig venues to see if there are any T-shirts left. Unfortunately, all I've found are hordes of zombified metal heads. I used to love a good mosh pit before the apocalypse, but it's just not the same when everyone's trying to bite you.”

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Uh, first off Progressive Runner, please stop putting your life at risk in pursuit of merch. It's not worth it, and that's not what the bands would have wanted.

ZOE CRICK: Especially since they no longer make money from T-shirt sales.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Exactly, which is why I don't mind letting you know that my T-shirt is a fake. Before the apocalypse, touring musicians relied on the merch stand to support themselves, but now that most of them are dead, it's no longer unethical to make knock-offs.

ZOE CRICK: Did you make your T-shirt, Phil?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: One of Amelia's stylists did. She's very handy with the fabric paints.

ZOE CRICK: Oh? What did you give her in exchange?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: I had to promise to play this next song.

~

ZOE CRICK: What's our next fashion tip, Phil?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Uh, it's more of a PSA. “Hi Phil and Zoe, I run Support Network, a sports bra exchange service. We travel between settlements to provide runners with the best fitting sports bras. Simply visit our message board on ROFFLEnet, tell us which sizes your settlement has and which they need. It might take us a while to get to you, but we have a huge selection of style and color in every size. For some reason, post-apocalyptic Britain has no shortage of sports bras.” That's a great initiative, don't you think, Zoe? [keyboard clicks] Zoe?

ZOE CRICK: Sorry. I was just posting a request to their message board. Fellow sports bra wearers of New Canton, I suggest you do the same.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: And while you do that, here's a song about sharing.

~

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Our next post-apocalyptic style tip comes from In Stitches, who says, “Here are just a few reasons why knitting is one of the most valuable skills you can learn in the post apocalypse.”

ZOE CRICK: “One, you don't necessarily need to send runners off in search of equipment. Knitting needles can be whittled from sticks, and if your settlement has sheep, wool is a renewable resource.”

PHIL CHEESEMAN: “Two, the act of knitting has many cognitive, therapeutic, and - if you join a knitting circle - social benefits.”

ZOE CRICK: “Three, designing knitting patterns can be a great creative outlet, and since they can be conveyed using just symbols, they can be quickly shared over ROFFLEnet.”

PHIL CHEESEMAN: “Four, larger needles can double as anti-zom weapons, as long as you aim for the eyes and remember to clean the blood off them before you get back to your knitting. The last thing you want is to make an infectious jumper by mistake.”

ZOE CRICK: That's, uh, resourceful. We'll be back with more fashion right after this.

~

PHIL CHEESEMAN: If knitting's not your thing, our next correspondent has a great idea for making some stylish winter clothes. “Next time you're out on a supply run, make a detour to a toy shop and pick up some plushies. A little reverse taxidermy - "

ZOE CRICK: Oh no!

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Plushies aren't real animals, Zoe.

ZOE CRICK: I know, but I couldn't look one in the eye and take out its stuffing.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Uh... our less sensitive listeners can use this method to generate bundles of fake fur, a versatile fabric that'll help you stay warm and, thanks to the pre-apocalyptic trend for cuddly unicorns, colorful.

ZOE CRICK: I think I'll stick with the knitting.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: If it makes you feel any better, no plushies were harmed in the making of this next song.

~

ZOE CRICK: Polished in the Apocalypse says that a manicure adds a splash of color to your running look without impeding your movement.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: I'm surprised we didn't think of that one ourselves. One of Amelia's first acts as prime minister was to open a nail bar at New Canton.

ZOE CRICK: She was accused of extravagance at first, but it's actually become a community hub. People go there to relax and come away feeling a little more, well, polished.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: I've only just noticed, Zoe, each one of your nails is a different color.

ZOE CRICK: I couldn't choose. Amelia reserves all the Chanel nail polish for herself, but there are still plenty of other varieties for the rest of us.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Well, the rest of us in New Canton, maybe. What about everyone else?

ZOE CRICK: Until Amelia makes nail bars mandatory for all settlements, why not grab a few bottles of nail polish the next time you're on a low stakes meds run to a chemist? Just be sure to apply it in a well-ventilated area.

~

PHIL CHEESEMAN: A word of caution now from Nine Fingers, who says, “Jewelry adds sparkle to any outfit and can be a great way of expressing your individuality, especially if you make your own. However, think twice before wearing it on a run. Necklaces are easy for zoms to grab, earrings can be torn out, and rings are a risk if you're using weapons. Trust me.”

ZOE CRICK: Oh dear.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Listeners, if you're fond of jewelry, maybe keep it for when you're safe in your settlement.

ZOE CRICK: That’s sound advice. Also - naming no names, Runner Thirty-Seven - don't scavenge jewelry off dead zombies, no matter how on fleek it is. You're asking to get infected. And on that note...

~

ZOE CRICK: It's not just jewelry that you can enjoy when you're not at risk of zombie attacks.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Loads of our listeners have written in to suggest items you can use if you'd like a more flamboyant settlement look.

ZOE CRICK: Silk flowers.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Craft supplies.

ZOE CRICK: Stickers.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Fridge magnets.

ZOE CRICK: Christmas decorations.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Basically, listeners, as long as you're not using something that might be better deployed for a more practical purpose, there's no limit to the fun you can have with your personal style.

ZOE CRICK: Speaking of fun, here's a song that always puts a smile on my face.

~

ZOE CRICK: Our last suggestion comes from Fairy Zom Mother, who writes, “No one has space for a large wardrobe anymore. That doesn't mean you can't wear something special if the occasion demands. It's nice to dress up once in a while, so why not implement a share and swap system at your settlement so people can borrow clothes, shoes, and accessories?”

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Wonder how long it would take to get that set up in New Canton. I've actually got a special evening planned soon.

ZOE CRICK: Ooh, is it a date?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Maybe? I'll tell you all about it during this next song.

~

ZOE CRICK: Um, I think the orange ones might be a bit much.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Oh, and we're live.

ZOE CRICK: Sorry about that, listeners. Recently we've learned that there's a way for everyone to express themselves through fashion, even in the post-apocalypse, but we'd like to add that not everyone has to.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: That's right. Some people don't even bother to brush the cat hair off their jumper before they come to work, and that's just fine.

ZOE CRICK: The cat hair is a deliberate part of my aesthetic, Phil. Our point is that everyone's priorities have changed. Most dress codes died with the apocalypse and few of us mourn them. You're no longer likely to be turned down for a job because you couldn't get your hands on an expensive suit for the interview. Nowadays, people are valued for doing what they do best.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: And on that note, let Zoe and I do what we do best and play you a song.

ZOE CRICK: Until next time, listeners.

~

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Hello again, citizens.

ZOE CRICK: Phil, before you say anything else, there's something important we need to discuss.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Is this about getting a pet for the show again? Because I thought we settled that.

ZOE CRICK: We haven't, but no, this is about something very upsetting I found on ROFFLEnet today.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Oh, the Radio New Hope fanfic? Hmm. There's one of you and me being turned into zoms on air that is both deeply disturbing and shockingly well-written.

ZOE CRICK: Again, no. What I found is a thread on ROFFLEnet called “Radio New Hope Has Changed” full of people - well, full of two people - who think we've lost our touch. Look, Just_Saying_108 says, “It breaks my heart. Zoe and Phil aren't what they used to be.” And then Radio_No_Hope says, “It all started when they got into bed with Amelia.”

PHIL CHEESEMAN: I'm assuming in my case they mean metaphorically.

ZOE CRICK: Phil, we need to take this seriously. If our listeners aren't happy, we're not happy.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: It's only two people, Zoe.

ZOE CRICK: That's two too many.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Actually, I've got an idea.

ZOE CRICK: Wonderful, I knew you'd think of something. Tell me right after this.

~

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Listeners, some of you think we've changed, and while change can be good, we want to make sure we're still giving you the content you deserve.

ZOE CRICK: That sounds vaguely threatening.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: That's why we're going to crowdsource our content again. I have reopened our inbox for suggestions on what Radio New Hope should do next. We're open to anything. Except turning zom on air.

ZOE CRICK: Phil, nobody's going to ask for that.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: You haven't seen the comments on that Radio New Hope fanfic. Anyway, listeners, please send in your thoughts. Who knows? Your idea might become our next segment.

ZOE CRICK: We did get some great suggestions last time. It'll be good to round up some new ones.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Exactly! Now everyone put your thinking caps on, and here's a song to get you in a creative mood.

~

PHIL CHEESEMAN: All right, listeners, it's time to open the suggestion box and find out what you'd like to hear on Radio New Hope... Huh.

ZOE CRICK: Is that it? I thought we'd get a few more suggestions.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Well, maybe it's a sign we're not so bad after all.

ZOE CRICK: No, we can't get complacent. Some listeners aren't happy with us.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Two listeners.

ZOE CRICK: It's just that with all that ROFFLEnet talk of us having changed, I thought we'd get a bit more feedback. Still, we'll go with what we've got.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: We need to drumroll first.

ZOE CRICK: Seriously?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: There are few things in life that can’t be improved with a drumroll. Scientific fact.

ZOE CRICK: Fine. Drumroll, please.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: [mutters rapidly] Drumroll drumroll drumroll drum drum drum drum drum cymbal!

ZOE CRICK: [laughs] Zom_Truther writes, “What if you ate some of that red fungus live on air? We know the prime minister is lying about the danger and hoarding it for herself.”

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Well, that's a bad idea. What did I say about us not turning zom on air?

ZOE CRICK: Yeah, Truther, we're not going to eat red fungus. Amelia isn't lying... about that, at least.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: That's right. And uh, please don't test your theory out for yourself.

ZOE CRICK: We'll be back with more of your hopefully less reckless suggestions after this song.

~

ZOE CRICK: Time for another look at our surprisingly meager suggestion box. Come on now, we know you have great ideas, so send them in. This one from Zombologist. “I love that doctor advice show - ”

PHIL CHEESEMAN: The Drs. Maxine and Paula one? Us, too. Listeners, if you're not tuning in to that show as well as ours, you're missing out.

ZOE CRICK: Definitely. Anyway, the letter says, “I love that doctor advice show, but they only focus on the bodies and minds of the living. What about the study of zombies? I think you should bring a zombie into the studio and do some tests. I have a few experiments in mind. See attached for details.”

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Oh... Oh, that's... Was that diagram the right way up? How would that even work?

ZOE CRICK: I'm not sure, but I think those are electrodes, or possibly poisonous snakes? Either way, Zombologist, we have a pretty strict no zoms in the studio policy.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: What can we do? Hands tied.

ZOE CRICK: Much like the zom in that illustration, I think.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Yeah, that's about as close as I want to come to that scenario. Let's clear it from our minds with this song.

~

ZOE CRICK: Well listeners, a few more suggestions trickled in during that last song.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: We are seriously considering some of the less extreme ones, such as an interview with King Jamie or a Z-Day retrospective.

ZOE CRICK: This one is from Inquiring_Mindz - with a Z, naturally. “What about a show that gives a look at the human side of politics?”

PHIL CHEESEMAN: So far, so good. At least there are no zombies involved.

ZOE CRICK: “I'd love for us to get a closer look at Prime Minister Spens’ flat. It must be lovely. She has marvelous taste, after all.”

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Let me see that. [paper rustles] “You could describe the art, the architecture, any documents that are lying around, the paint, the paint colors, any plans you might find in the drawers...”

ZOE CRICK: Come on now, Inquiring, you're asking us to spy on Amelia. Even if I did do that - which, of course, I wouldn't - there's no way I'd out myself by sharing it on air.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: How restrained of you.

ZOE CRICK: What can I say? I prefer not to incur the wrath of the most powerful woman in the country. Nice try, Inquiring, but we're broadcasters, not espionage agents. And that's all of them, right?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Right. Right, thanks to everyone for your suggestions. Uh, even the more... creative ones. Let's celebrate your ingenuity with this next number.

~

ZOE CRICK: You'll never guess what.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: I'm sure I won't.

ZOE CRICK: You weren't a very funny child, were you? I went back on ROFFLEnet to see if that thread had more positive things to say about us now that we've been through the suggestion box. However, turns out I misinterpreted the whole thing.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: So people don't think Radio New Hope has changed for the worse?

ZOE CRICK: They do, but it's not the broadcasts they think have changed, it's us. They think we're doppelgängers.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Like Zoe and Phil's evil twins?

ZOE CRICK: Exactly. It's not clear if they think we've been brainwashed into thinking we're real Zoe and Phil or if we're in on it, but Radio_No_Hope says, “There's no way Amelia would allow a free press unless she could control it, and that means controlling Phil and Zoe.”

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Well, they do have a point, but ci-ti-zens, do not fear, we have not been replaced by ourselves.

ZOE CRICK: How do you know?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: What do you mean, how do I know? I know who I am.

ZOE CRICK: Or do you? What if you just think you do? Listeners, we'll get to the bottom of it right after this next song.

~

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Let me get this straight. You think I could have been replaced by a double without you noticing? You noticed when I changed my hair parting last month.

ZOE CRICK: Now that I think about it, that could have been a sign you were Phil 2.0.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Hmm. If that's the case, anything could be a sign. How do I know you're not Evil Zoe?

ZOE CRICK: My name's still spelled with a Z. Evil Zoe would definitely swap out the Z for an X... I think.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: You're not sure?

ZOE CRICK: Radio No Hope said it. There could be brainwashing involved.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: So let me get this straight. You think Amelia found doppelgängers of us?

ZOE CRICK: Or cloned us. Always a possibility.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Of course, and then she brainwashed said doppel-clones because - ?

ZOE CRICK: Because she wants to control the press. Although there might be an even more devious reason. We are talking about Amelia, after all. I'll think it over during this next song.

~

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Have you figured out why Amelia might possibly want to replace us with brainwashed clones?

ZOE CRICK: No. I mean, yes, but one of the reasons only works if we meet the clones, and the other one requires mint and a trampoline. I wonder if the fact that I can't figure it out is a symptom of the brainwashing.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: That's convenient.

ZOE CRICK: And I wonder when it began. Do you think it all started when Amelia gave us this hideous red furniture?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Green.

ZOE CRICK: What?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Hideous green furniture.

ZOE CRICK: I don't know what you're talking about. The furniture is red. Maybe new Phil is colorblind?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: You're kidding, right? It’s green.

ZOE CRICK: Am I kidding, or are you different now?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: You know what? There's an easy way to settle this. I'm going to ask someone who has been in here what color the furniture is. Don't you move. Just, uh, play a song and I'll be right back.

[door opens]

ZOE CRICK: [giggles] Now that he's gone, listeners, between you and me, the couches are definitely green. I know that was a tiny bit rotten of me, but I couldn't resist. While we wait for Phil's triumphant return, here's a song that any version of me would love.

~

[door opens]

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Oh my God, you're right.

ZOE CRICK: Right about what?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: About the doppelgängers. Everyone confirmed it. The furniture in here's red, but I see green, so I must be colorblind now. Maybe all clones are.

ZOE CRICK: Wait, who did you ask?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Uh, Nadia, Runner Thirty-Seven. They said it's red. Now that I'm a clone, I wonder if I still like the same foods. Remind me, how do I feel about jam?

ZOE CRICK: You're... you're joking, right? Because the couches are green. I was just pulling your leg.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Wait, so you see them as green, too? Maybe we're both clones.

ZOE CRICK: I guess. I -

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Or maybe we're from an alternate reality, one where people don't play pranks on their lovely radio cohosts because they might get paid back in spades!

ZOE CRICK: [laughs] You - you almost had me going there! [sighs] Well, I guess I might have deserved it. A little.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: A little?

ZOE CRICK: Oh, no comment. All I can say is that I'm happy in this universe with the best cohost ever. This next song is for you, Phil, because you're one of a kind.

~

ZOE CRICK: That whole business with the doppelgängers has got me thinking, Phil.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Not again.

ZOE CRICK: No, not that we're clones or anything like that. I've been thinking about conspiracy theories. Do you think there are more of them now after Z-Day?

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Probably. Look at all the things we've gone through. Uh, Sigrid, Moonchild, the Curly Wurly shortage. That's enough to make anyone a little paranoid.

ZOE CRICK: I don't know. I think maybe it's the opposite. All of the conspiracies since Z-Day were eventually exposed. Even if we were replaced by clones, someone would find out and tell people about it.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: You have a point. Kind of reassuring in a way.

ZOE CRICK: I hope so. For the concerned ROFFLEnet folks, don't worry. If Phil and I are ever replaced by clones, you'll find out about it soon enough, probably from someone at Abel.

PHIL CHEESEMAN: Very true. We're counting on you, Runner Five.

ZOE CRICK: And if the worst should occur, avenge us!

PHIL CHEESEMAN: But in the meantime, we hope all of you carry on enjoying Radio New Hope with the real Phil and Zoe. This one's for everyone who's dedicated to staying true to themselves.

~

[musicollage]

Fred Frith + Darren Johnston. Everybody /s Somebody /s Nobody, 2016. Clean Feed.    ~ [ Album Review |   1) The Free Jazz Collective  +  2) All About Jazz  +   3) Bird is the Worm ]

1) This is an album of duets by Fred Frith (guitar) and Darren Johnston (trumpet).  To state it quite matter of factly, like that, seems to do the music a disservice as the creativity of the way the instruments are handled to create different tones and sounds often makes it appear like there is much more happening than a series of duets.

Between the two players we are treated to percussive and prepared guitar sonorities, which at times conjure-up references (in their quality of sound and not necessarily their musical language) anywhere from Gagaku (traditional Japanese court music) to North African percussion, stopping off at mechanistic and sounds of industry on the way, with Johnston’s pining trumpet tone being extended with rasps, percussive tongue slaps and breath sounds.

Overall the album contains a cinematic quality to it, á la Mark Isham’s atmospheric soundtracks.  It’s not surprising that the genesis of this collaboration was to produce some music for a short dance film.  However, these pieces are no soundscapes, or sound effect titbits as they contain strong musical ideas and sounds with real grit and texture, the album taking on a life of it’s own beyond the initial source of inspiration.  The overall feel of the music is full in texture, sometimes with different layers being created and then overlapped.  There is also a lonesome feel to the music at times, an isolation that is reflected in the title of the album.

Just to pull out a few tracks, the album starts with ‘Barn Dance’ with it’s atmospheric vibe, continues with ‘Scribble’ a piece of free improv with it’s partner piece ‘Scratch’ coming later in the album (also coincidentally sharing similar sounds and the title of a John Stevens text piece), and ‘Luminescence’, a title not lightly chosen it would seem as ‘cool’ muted Miles Davies-esque trumpet tones play fragmented melodies over Frith’s subtle looped guitar creating a full and warm glowing piece.

Consisting of eleven tracks made up of nine duets and two solos, the two musicians bring their own vocabulary of sounds and techniques to the table creating a music which is highly stylistic, experimental but accessible, giving it an immediacy, an authenticity and a creative honesty.

2) Here's a West Coast entrant to the slim body of guitar/trumpet duets from iconoclastic strummer Fred Frith and trumpeter Darren Johnston. It collects 11 short cuts from two studio sessions into a three-quarter hour program. They're not averse to co-opting rhythms (Frith) or melodic figures (Johnston), meaning that what we have here can be termed the accessible avant-garde. Each jointly crafted extravaganza explores a different mood. They ring the changes both between numbers but also within them, especially in some of the longer pieces.

Both men succeed in keeping things interesting through unexpected decays and twists, well exemplified on the guitarist's unaccompanied "Rising Time." Frith deploys a multiplicity of textures and electronic effects, such that he blends chameleon-like with whatever the prevailing character dictates. Johnston matches the guitarist with a range of attacks. But the difference is that even in the most out there moments, lyric invention is never too far below the surface.

Improv meets ambient might be the headline, particularly in those tracks where Frith sets up a backdrop over which Johnston extemporizes. Prominent in this category are the folky "Barn Dance" where Johnston's slow refrain combines with Frith's bagpipe like drone to fashion a beautiful introduction to the disc, and the brief but animated "Scratch" where Johnston's forthright splutters float over Frith's lumbering percussive fretwork. The selection which gives the album its title constitutes another example. Frith sets up a ponderous lurch, like something from a Tom Waits' performance, while Johnston responds muted yet garrulous, producing a free funk creation.

But at times they indulge in more experimental and unfettered exchange. "Morning and The Shadow" is a case in point, where the trumpeter's swirling series of rising and falling arpeggios foreshadows a panoply of odd noises from Frith comprising rattles, growls, scrapes and tinkles, before they revisit the opening gambit. On the final "Standard Candles" a series of sustained tones shimmer and bloom, rounding out a thoroughly enjoyable meeting of open minds for those with open ears.

3) A very cool duo collaboration between guitarist Frith and trumpeter Johnston.  Switching between moments of sharp dissonance and those of sublime beauty, the duo sculpts misshapen curiosities and endows them with some seriously arresting features.  Frith’s guitar, one moment, could be kicking out streaks of flame and then without warning suddenly adopt the most personable twang.  Johnston, for his part, shows no inhibition to similar transitions in tone and temperament, and just because he’s contemplative and serene one moment, don’t be surprised when suddenly his trumpet takes on a playful bounce or a furious shout.  Look, this is avant-garde, free improv, and I’m not gonna pretend that this kind of thing is up most of your alleys… but Everybody’s Somebody’s Nobody is one of those instances where you want to invest some time in exploring this area of the jazz landscape.  Frith and Johnston achieve a seamless line of communication to marvel at, and it reaches a plateau where you don’t necessarily have to understand the language they’re speaking to allow yourself to become happily immersed in it.  Yes, a track like “Scribble” is a series of acerbic passages… aggressive, not pretty.  But this same method of communication also yields a Miles Davis In a Silent Way tranquility on the track “Standard Candles.”  So, spend some time with this one, because there’s a reason it’s been named Album of the Week and it might very well be one of those exceptions to your rule.

[acoolchickouthere13]

July 10, 2019- Amazon prime day concert

July 23, 2019- shares likes with Joe on Instagram, shoots the lover music video, releases the Archer single in the livestream, and gets VMA nominations, does an interview with CBS Sunday morning

First secret session in London Friday August 2nd, 2019

Karlie Kloss turns 27 August 3, 2019

I still believe this was taken during the Australia winter 2016 trip, when Taylor was “26”

August 4th, 2019

Second secret session in Nashville Sunday August 4th, 2019(Over 100 fans were in attendance, apparently, as the event was said to include guests from a Nashville session AND an alleged Rhode Island session. (There are rumors the original Rhode Island session was canceled because the date got leaked))

August 5th, 2019 Nashville

“When we talked seven years ago, everything was going so well for you, and you were very worried that something would go wrong.

Yeah, I kind of knew it would. I felt like I was walking along the sidewalk, knowing eventually the pavement was going to crumble and I was gonna fall through. You can’t keep winning and have people like it. People love “new” so much — they raise you up the flagpole, and you’re waving at the top of the flagpole for a while. And then they’re like, “Wait, this new flag is what we actually love.” They decide something you’re doing is incorrect, that you’re not standing for what you should stand for. You’re a bad example. Then if you keep making music and you survive, and you keep connecting with people, eventually they raise you a little bit up the flagpole again, and then they take you back down, and back up again. And it happens to women more than it happens to men in music.

But you also had good things happen in your life at the same time — that’s part of Reputation.

The moments of my true story on that album are songs like “Delicate,” “New Year’s Day,” “Call It What You Want,” “Dress.” The one-two punch, bait-and-switch of Reputation is that it was actually a love story. It was a love story in amongst chaos. All the weaponized sort of metallic battle anthems were what was going on outside. That was the battle raging on that I could see from the windows, and then there was what was happening inside my world — my newly quiet, cozy world that was happening on my own terms for the first time. . . . It’s weird, because in some of the worst times of my career, and reputation, dare I say, I had some of the most beautiful times — in my quiet life that I chose to have. And I had some of the most incredible memories with the friends I now knew cared about me, even if everyone hated me. The bad stuff was really significant and damaging. But the good stuff will endure. The good lessons — you realize that you can’t just show your life to people….words are my only way of making sense of the world and expressing myself — and now any words I say or write are being twisted against me. People love a hate frenzy. It’s like piranhas. People had so much fun hating me, and they didn’t really need very many reasons to do it. I felt like the situation was pretty hopeless. I wrote a lot of really aggressively bitter poems constantly. I wrote a lot of think pieces that I knew I’d never publish, about what it’s like to feel like you’re in a shame spiral. And I couldn’t figure out how to learn from it. Because I wasn’t sure exactly what I did that was so wrong. That was really hard for me, because I cannot stand it when people can’t take criticism. So I try to self-examine, and even though that’s really hard and hurts a lot sometimes, I really try to understand where people are coming from when they don’t like me. And I completely get why people wouldn’t like me. Because, you know, I’ve had my insecurities say those things — and things 1,000 times worse….But I can’t really respond to someone saying, “You, as a human being, are fake.” And if they say you’re playing the victim, that completely undermines your ability to ever verbalize how you feel unless it’s positive. So, OK, should I just smile all the time and never say anything hurts me? Because that’s really fake. Or should I be real about how I’m feeling and have valid, legitimate responses to things that happened to me in my life? But wait, would that be playing the victim? ...I needed to grow up in many ways. I needed to make boundaries, to figure out what was mine and what was the public’s. That old version of me that shares unfailingly and unblinkingly with a world that is probably not fit to be shared with? I think that’s gone. But it was definitely just, like, a fun moment in the studio with me and Jack [Antonoff] where I wanted to play on the idea of a phone call — because that’s how all of this started, a stupid phone call I shouldn’t have picked up….I don’t think I’ve ever leaned into the old version of myself more creatively than I have on this album, where it’s very, very autobiographical. But also moments of extreme catchiness and moments of extreme personal confession….

But is the idea that as your own life becomes less dramatic, you’ll need to pull ideas from other places?

I don’t feel like that yet. I think I might feel like that possibly when I have a family. If I have a family. [Pauses] I don’t know why I said that! But that’s what I’ve heard from other artists, that they were very protective of their personal life, so they had to draw inspiration from other things. But again, I don’t know why I said that. Because I don’t know how my life is going to go or what I’m going to do. But right now, I feel like it’s easier for me to write than it ever was.

...I’m not scared anymore to say that other things in my career, like how to market an album, are strictly strategic. And I’m sick of women not being able to say that they have strategic business minds — because male artists are allowed to. And so I’m sick and tired of having to pretend like I don’t mastermind my own business. But, it’s a different part of my brain than I use to write. [THIS IS AFTER SHE SAID DBATC WAS INSPIRED BY “SOMEONE GREAT” ON ELLEN]

You’ve been masterminding your business since you were a teenager.

Yeah, but I’ve also tried very hard — and this is one thing I regret — to convince people that I wasn’t the one holding the puppet strings of my marketing existence, or the fact that I sit in a conference room several times a week and come up with these ideas. I felt for a very long time that people don’t want to think of a woman in music who isn’t just a happy, talented accident. We’re all forced to kind of be like, “Aw, shucks, this happened again! We’re still doing well! Aw, that’s so great.” Alex Morgan celebrating scoring a goal at the World Cup and getting shit for it is a perfect example of why we’re not allowed to flaunt or celebrate, or reveal that, like, “Oh, yeah, it was me. I came up with this stuff.” I think it’s really unfair. People love new female artists so much because they’re able to explain that woman’s success. There’s an easy trajectory. Look at the Game of Thrones finale. I specifically really related to Daenerys’ storyline because for me it portrayed that it is a lot easier for a woman to attain power than to maintain it….for me, the times when I felt like I was going insane was when I was trying to maintain my career in the same way that I ascended. It’s easier to get power than to keep it. It’s easier to get acclaim than to keep it. It’s easier to get attention than to keep it….maybe this is a reflection on how we treat women in power, how we are totally going to conspire against them and tear at them until they feel this — this insane shift, where you wonder, like, “What changed?” And I’ve had that happen, like, 60 times in my career where I’m like, “OK, you liked me last year, what changed? I guess I’ll change so I can keep entertaining you guys….the question posed to me is, if you kept trying to do good things, but everyone saw those things in a cynical way and assumed them to be done with bad motivation and bad intent, would you still do good things, even though nothing that you did was looked at as good? And the answer is, yes. Criticism that’s constructive is helpful to my character growth. Baseless criticism is stuff I’ve got to toss out now….I’ve never been to therapy. I talk to my mom a lot, because my mom is the one who’s seen everything. God, it takes so long to download somebody on the last 29 years of my life, and my mom has seen it all. She knows exactly where I’m coming from. And we talk endlessly. There were times when I used to have really, really, really bad days where we would just be on the phone for hours and hours and hours. I’d write something that I wanted to say, and instead of posting it, I’d just read it to her.

the lyric in “Daylight,” the idea of “so many lines that I’ve crossed unforgiven” — it’s a different kind of confession.

I am really glad you liked that line, because that’s something that does bother me, looking back at life and realizing that no matter what, you screw things up. Sometimes there are people that were in your life and they’re not anymore — and there’s nothing you can do about it. You can’t fix it, you can’t change it. I told the fans last night that sometimes on my bad days, I feel like my life is a pile of crap accumulated of only the bad headlines or the bad things that have happened, or the mistakes I’ve made or clichés or rumors or things that people think about me or have thought for the last 15 years. And that was part of the “Look What You Made Me Do” music video, where I had a pile of literal old selves fighting each other. But, yeah, that line is indicative of my anxiety about how in life you can’t get everything right. A lot of times you make the wrong call, make the wrong decision. Say the wrong thing. Hurt people, even if you didn’t mean to. You don’t really know how to fix all of that. When it’s, like, 29 years’ worth. No one gets through it unscathed. No one gets through in one piece. I think that’s a hard thing for a lot of people to grasp. I know it was hard for me, because I kind of grew up thinking, “If I’m nice, and if I try to do the right thing, you know, maybe I can just, like, ace this whole thing.” And it turns out I can’t.

It’s interesting to look at “I Did Something Bad” in this context.

You pointing that out is really interesting because it’s something I’ve had to reconcile within myself in the last couple of years — that sort of “good” complex. Because from the time I was a kid I’d try to be kind, be a good person. Try really hard. But you get walked all over sometimes. And how do you respond to being walked all over? You can’t just sit there and eat your salad and let it happen. “I Did Something Bad” was about doing something that was so against what I would usually do. ...a couple of years ago I started working on actually just responding to my emotions in a quicker fashion. And it’s really helped with stuff. It’s helped so much because sometimes you get in arguments. But conflict in the moment is so much better than combat after the fact.”(x)

Third secret session in LA Tuesday August 6th, 2019

Also does a livestream announcement

August 10 LA Party with YNTCD and ME! Costars #drunktaylor -purple nails

[iresecho]

FRACTURED

hey! here’s a draft of a story i wrote recently. feel free to give it a read (it’s only a mere 1500 words) and let me know what you think! 

oh, and about that word count? this short was for my class, so please bear with it. i understand it is very minimal for the amount of substance it contains. i hope you enjoy it regardless though! i’ll upload a finished version once i’ve completed it. any and all suggestions/critiques are welcome! pls be nice :)

Genre: Creative Fiction

Word Count: 1520

!TW: MULTIPLE DEATHS, BLOOD!

I sigh as I tap my pencil repeatedly on the table, the rubber nub of what’s left of the eraser pinging the oak beneath it. What’s it missing? There’s gotta be something missing I ponder to myself. I’ve been working on this poem for ages, but I still feel like it isn’t ready for this contest. I switch back to the website and read the headline ‘Do you want to become a new up and coming writer? Enter this contest to win!’ It’s the New York Times contest for a new up-coming author, and the grand prize would be enough to pay off my entire debt, and then some. I’ve had this poem written for awhile now, yet I still don’t think that it’s ready. I’ve read it over a million times, and I can’t seem to find what it’s missing. My mother was never too fond of my writing, but my father always loved it. He loved everything I did. My father’s always been proud of what I’ve done, and what I do. He’s never once shamed me for choosing what I believe in, and what I’m passionate about. I glance down at the gold-crested penguin pendant around my neck, lifting my hand up to grasp the cool metal. I smile as the memory it holds replays through my head. It was a gift from my father for my tenth birthday. He bought our family tickets to Disney World to celebrate, and purchased this necklace for me after I had mentioned several times in the gift shop how much I wanted it. Ever since it’s been my favourite animal. I hold it in my palm tightly, fingers grazing over the smooth, yet rigid surface of the pendant as I reach for my cell phone beside my open laptop. I begin to scroll through the messages between me and my father, a fond smile appearing on my lips as I read through the texts:

--

YESTERDAY

Dad: Hey, honey! How’s the poem coming along for the contest?

Me: it’s okay… I still feel like there’s something that it needs. I just can’t               figure it out

Dad: When is the deadline to submit?

Me: tonight at 6

Dad: I’m sure you will figure it out sweetheart. You’re a great writer. Love                 you kiddo Xoxo.

Me: thanks dad, love you too

--

I smile again as I set down my phone, peering back to the computer screen before me. What seems like minutes go by and I get lost in the words in front of me. I jump as my phone begins to vibrate loudly on the table. I can’t help but shut my eyes for a second to brace myself:

“Hello?” I answer. 

“Hello, what are you doing right now?”

 It’s my mother. Great. She’s probably at work.

“Working on my poem for the contest, why?”

 “....” There’s silence on the other end of the line. I wait a few moments, then,

“Mom?” 

“...Huh? Oh, sorry. What did you say?” 

“Forget it.” 

“....”  More silence. She does this every time. Doesn’t it bother you?

“Are you still at the hospital?” 

“....” I’ve had it. 

“MOM!!” I yell. 

“What? Oh sorry honey, what were you saying?” 

“Why do you do this to me every time? You never listen to me! You’re always on a call or too busy for me anyway!” 

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? It’s just hard for me when I’m at work sometimes honey but I promise I want to hear it.” 

This is always her excuse. It’s always just too ‘hard’ for her to actually have a conversation with her only daughter. It’s always about work for her.

“You know what. Forget it. Call me when you have time for your daughter.” I hang up the phone.

Ugh she makes me so mad! Why does she never listen to me? First it was denying my talent for writing and trying to force me to go down some boring nine-to-five career hole I’d never get out of, now this?

I peer around my dingy, one bedroom apartment. Maybe she’s right. You’ve been living off chickpeas out of a can and barely surviving. I mean, look at you? You have barely any food in your fridge, and your ‘apartment’ is broken down and disgusting! What did you think your BA in English would get you anyway? You’ve been searching for a job in your field for a while, and still no opportunity has come up. Maybe your mother was right. Maybe you should have studied law. Maybe she would have listened to you then. Maybe you should have listened to her—

--

Me: hey dad, can I talk to you?

Dad: Sure honey, is something wrong?

Me: it’s mom, she’s always too busy to listen to what I have to say. it’s like           talking to a brick wall

Dad: I’m sorry honey, but your mom is pretty busy at work. Maybe on her          break?

Me: i’ve tried. she even calls me and then doesn’t listen! I feel like she hates         me...

Dad: No she doesn't sweetheart, she loves you. And so do I. Xoxo.

Me: I love you too, dad        where are you now?        dad?        helloooooo?

--

Ugh, now my own father is too busy for me too? I guess no one has time for me. Or maybe, I’m just not enough for them. Maybe I’m just some big disappointment, maybe—just take a nap, you’re probably stressed from being tired.

I’m abruptly awoken out of my slumber when my phone goes off loudly. I scramble to find it on my bedside table, slamming my hand down repeatedly to try and locate the device. I manage to pinpoint the phone, and hold it up before me. I squint at the screen, scowling at the newfound brightness and see the word “MOM” in bright bold text. I press accept and hold the phone up to my ear: 

“Hello?” 

I can hear her sobbing on the other end of the line. I sit up straight in bed, eyes wide with worry as I stare at the dark matter in front of me. 

“What’s wrong? Are you crying?” 

“Honey, your dad’s been in an accident.” 

“What? What do you mean?” 

I start to shake, eyes brimming with panic, heart banging against my chest as I wait for her response after an ill-conceived sob:

“He was driving on the highway, and um—I found his phone and he was texting you while driving and he swerved into the other lane and he—” 

“What, he what?!” 

“He’s dead.”

I drop the phone to my side as my life starts caving from the exterior in. I lose my breath as the realization sets in. How did you let this happen? How could you? 

“No.” 

A single tear streams from my face.

“NO!” 

I sob as I wail into the darkness of my room, hands covering my flooding sockets as I scream. A steady river forms blurring my vision for what seems like eternity. I stay like this for a while. You did this. You killed him. 

“I’m so sorry”.

I pace back and forth, raking fingers through my hair, tears streaming down my face as I try and accept the truth. How could I have let this happen? I’m the reason he’s gone, if I just would’ve called him instead, maybe things would have been different. I press my spine against the cool tile of the bathroom wall as I stare at my dishevelled reflection. You’re disgusting. I slam my fist against the mirror, shattering the glass littering shards throughout the room. My eyes begin to pour, as does my bleeding hand from the impact. I look below me at my feet, peering at my skewed reflection through the broken, bloody pieces. I’m sorry dad, this is all my fault. I’m so sorry.

--

“Thank you all for coming”. 

I watch my mother from the church pew seven rows back, wiping her tears as she stabilizes herself on the podium. The room is dimly lit, filled with a few dozen family members I haven’t seen since infanthood. The white, flowered casket sits perpendicular to my mother on the stage behind her. 

“She was always so driven” I hear her say. “She was stubborn,” she laughs, “but we all loved her the same.”

She takes a few new tissues from the funeral-gifted box, looking at my graduation picture surrounded with white roses, taking a breath before starting again with a shaky voice:

“It hasn’t been easy, with my husband passing and now my daughter. But um, I’d like us to celebrate her death. She was a brilliant writer, and it certainly showed when she won the contest for the New York Times Best Up-and-Coming Writer. I’m really proud of her, we all are.” 

My eyes well up with tears as her words hit my chest like bombs. She’s proud of me? She thinks I’m a good writer? I smile to myself, 

“I finally did it, dad. I made it.” 

“I know sweetheart, I’m so proud of you.” He smiles as he wraps his arm around my shoulder. 

“C’mon, let’s go home.” 

-- 

Winter eventually fades

Revealing the unknown golden flowers

Blooming just below

[hatari-translations]

hello I was wondering if you could translate a Matthías' discussion with Lýsa – Rokkhátíð samtalsins on the video shown on Facebook? It won't let me post the link in this ask but it was on their facebook page 06/09/19 and it's 32 minutes long. Takk fyrir :)

Wow, I managed to find one video and do that one only to then realize that one was only 27 minutes and the 32-minute one you were actually pointing to was a continuation of the same panel. Well, otherwise I might have blanched at the idea of watching an entire hour-long panel discussion, but apparently I did.

I’m not translating the whole panel because I would die, but I’ll do all of Matthías’s bits plus any relevant context. This is a panel discussion titled “Couch talk: Does art reflect society?”; as that implies, mostly they’re discussing the nature of art, but Hatari also comes up.

(Incidentally, this panel is where that video from Twitter I made a best effort to translate the other day was from! So if you wanted to know the actual context there, it’s here.)

The speakers on the panel, as introduced at the start, are:

- Matthías Tryggvi Haraldsson, “musician, multimedia artist, author, journalist, but mainly I think he’s a playwright”- Jón Gnarr, “author and comedian, actually also a playwright” (also known as the singer of the Spillingadans sketch)- Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir, “comic artist and musician”- Harpa Þórsdóttir, “museum director of the National Gallery of Iceland”

The first of the two videos is here.

The first question is just what comes to mind when you contemplate the question of whether art reflects society. On this, Matthías says:

Einmitt. Ég held að það séu ekkert nema þversagnir sem komi upp úr því að kryfja þessa spurningu, út af því að ég er sjálfur svo oft í mótsögn við sjálfan mig, þegar ég fer að velta þessu fyrir mér. Ég held að óhjákvæmilega þá erum við í samtali og einhverskonar sambandi við samtímann, en ég myndi samt aldrei gera þá kröfu til listarinnar að hún þurfi að réttlæta sig með pólitík eða samtali eða því að vera að ávarpa nútímann. Ég held það sé algengur misskilningur í garð listarinnar að hún innihaldi upplýsingar eða skoðanir, eða sé með einhverjum hætti bókstafleg, og ég held hún geri það… hún getur gert það, vissulega, hún getur gert svo margt, en þarf alls ekki að gera það, og gerir það sjaldnar en maður kannski heldur. Hún inniheldur ekki endilega upplýsingar eða merkingu, hún inniber eitthvað… annan skilning eða skynjun líka. Þannig að ég bara, ég veit það ekki, sko. Ég er alveg gáttaður gagnvart þessari spurningu.

Translation:

Right. I think all you’ll get from dissecting this question is paradoxes, because I myself so often just start to contradict myself when I start to think about this. I think inevitably we are in a dialogue with, and some kind of relationship to, modern society, but I’d still never demand art justify itself with politics or a dialogue or addressing the modern day. I think there’s a common misunderstanding of art that it contains information or opinions, or is somehow literal, and I think it… it can do that, of course, it can do so many things, but it doesn’t have to, and it does that less often than you might think. It’s not necessarily informational or meaningful, it can incorporate some… some other understanding or perception. So I just, I don’t know. I’m speechless before this question.

Jón Gnarr says he dabbled in surrealism, and that he’s since then been accused of doing surrealistic comedy. Matthías cuts in with “Accused of.”

The host mentions that the three of them on the sofa, the artists, all use multiple very different tools in their art and are working in different media. Matthías says “Classic Iceland.” She adds, “You’re multitalented artists.” She asks what’s the best tool for doing this sort of social commentary in art, and starts with Matthías because Hatari’s Eurovision act is still very fresh in all of our memories (Matthías does an awkward little fist pump). She asks if we are to conclude music or performance art is the best medium for political commentary. Matthías responds:

Skilvirk tól til að ávarpa samtímann eru kannski tól sem ná til margra, og það var mikill munur til dæmis á Eurovision og fleiri sýningum sem ég hef staðið að, að allt í einu er áhorfendafjöldinn talinn í einhverjum milljónum sjónvarpsskjám Evrópu en ekki þessum tugum eða kannski hundruðum sem manni tekst að selja leikhúsmiða. Þannig að ef maður er bara að tala um að ná til, þá vissulega var það nýjung, og kannski tónlistin geti náð þeim - ég veit ekki hvort það sé hæðum eða þeirri útbreiðslu á, er rosa “mainstream” - getur verið það. Sem er rosa - það er rosa mikið vald í því, rosa mikill kraftur, og þar af leiðandi rosa mikil ábyrgð líka. En listrænt séð, valdamesta tólið er alltaf bara það sem ljá sköpuninni farveg, og það er bara ólíkt milli allra sem spreyta sig, held ég. Þannig að mér finnst leikritun og Eurovision bara jafnkraftmikil þannig, það fer bara eftir hugmyndinni og hvert hún fer. Og mér fannst svo sem gott að nefna þennan vinkil, eða hvað það var, samtímann, pólitík, listamenn - maður veit ekki hvar maður flækist í þetta, en maður er það óhjákvæmilega, og við höfðum ekki hugmynd um að umsókn okkar í Eurovision myndi spírala á þann hátt sem hún gerði. Þannig að mér finnst mjög gott að nefna þetta samtal við samtímann hringiðu, og maður veit ekki alltaf hvert hún fer.

Translation:

Efficient tools for speaking to the modern day are perhaps tools that can reach a lot of people. There was a big difference between for example Eurovision and other shows that I’ve organized, how suddenly the audience numbers in the millions of TV screens in Europe instead of the dozens or maybe hundreds that you can sell a theater ticket to. So if you’re just talking about reach, of course that was a novelty, and perhaps music can reach the - I don’t know if it’s heights, or the reach, it’s very “mainstream” - it can be. Which is very - there’s a lot of power in that, a lot of force, and therefore a lot of responsibility as well. But artistically, the most powerful tool is always just what sparks your creativity, and that’s different for everyone who’s trying it out, I think. So I think playwriting and Eurovision are equally powerful, in that way, it just depends on the idea and where it leads. And I thought it was good to mention this angle, or whatever it was, modern society, politics, artists - you don’t know where you get entangled in all this, but you inevitably are, and we had no idea that our application for Eurovision would spiral the way it did. So I think it’s appropriate to call this dialogue with modernity a vortex, and you don’t always know where it’s going.

Lóa says, “I was going to say, about plays and Eurovision, that in my mind I think the play lives longer, because the other is so tied to the spring where it’s performed, and then maybe a bit from there, whereas the play somehow… oh, I don’t know.” Matthías suggests, “It gets republished when I die and so on.”

Later, after the host asks how Lóa channels it when she feels righteous anger about something, Lóa talks about how really she’d be most inclined to just write a Facebook post; she talks about how she’s tried to get off Facebook because she didn’t like becoming obsessed with likes and shares all just preaching to the choir. Then she mentions how Eurovision is a platform that’ll reach a lot of people who don’t already agree with you. Matthías adds:

Má ég koma með innskot í þetta? Út af því að þú varst að tala um einhverja réttláta reiði, og hvaða miðil maður myndi setja hana í - það verður bara oft svo banal þegar maður sér svo skýrt ásetninginn í listaverkinu, og þess vegna þegar þú fórst að tala um þessa réttlátu reiði og hvar maður myndi miðla henni, þá finnst mér mjög rökrétt einmitt að bregðast við með einhverjum pistli, þar sem þú ert bara bókstaflega að segja skoðanir. En þegar maður sér það yfirfært yfir á listamenn, þá verður það oft hvorki skoðuninni né listaverkinu til framdráttar, út af því að það er svo tvívítt.

Translation:

Can I add something to this? Because you were talking about some righteous anger, and what medium you’d channel it into - it just tends to become so banal when you can see so transparently the agenda behind the art, and that’s why when you started talking about that righteous anger and where you’d channel it, I think it’s very reasonable to react with some kind of article, where you’re literally just voicing your opinion. But when you see that projected onto artists, it often diminishes both the opinion and the art, because it’s so two-dimensional.

Harpa mentions in relation to Eurovision that visual artists kind of envy not getting to have the kind of megaphone that a musician has. Matthías says: “Maybe what we need is a Euro- really Eurovision should be called Euro-hearing, and Euro-vision should be visual arts competition.”

The second video is here; it does not seem to pick up immediately after the end of the other video, but since a panel like this being an hour sounds about right, I imagine we’re not losing too much in between.

It starts with Lóa saying something about “after losing those art awards”; she’s giggling a bit too much for me to understand entirely what she’s saying without knowing what preceded it. At this, Matthías says “I don’t know, it might put it in context.”

Jón Gnarr mentions how we are all slaves to capitalism, Matthías nods deeply.

Jón Gnarr talks also about the distinction he’s always felt there is between comedy and entertainment. He thinks in a way entertainment value is why Donald Trump is president of the US, producing headlines and bizarre events like a reality TV show, and we march along with it because we’re all within this system of capitalism. Matthías nods emphatically again. Jón Gnarr for next Hatari member 2k20.

Next, the host asks: as consumers of art, what medium or presentation or particular artists tend to move you the most and get you to think? Lóa talks about the emotions she felt seeing an exhibition by a relatively unknown woman whose work inspired later, better-known artists, and how she’d been kind of resistant to visual art for a while because she feels like she knows too much to be able to enjoy herself properly looking at visual art, but still knows too little to be a good artist. In response to this, Matthías says:

Mér finnst þessi - hvað sagðirðu, þessi mótþrói, svolítið góður punktur, út af því að um leið og þú myndar náin tengsl eða sekkur þér í eitthvað, ég held það eigi bara við um öll fög, ekki bara miðla í listum, en ef ég tala bara um leikhúsið, þá er ég núna búinn að flækja mig inn í það, og þá fer maður fyrir vikið að taka rosa nærri sér, bæði gott og lélegt, og leikhúsfólk getur verið rosa sárt ef það kemur af lélegri sýningu, eða eitthvað rosa upprifið yfir góðri, og mér finnst það svo fallegt að taka því bara nærri sér sama hvað manni finnst. Ég held ef maður myndi fara í Listasafn Íslands og hneykslast bara rækilega þá væri það held ég bara sigur, eða vera rosa ánægður. Því dýpra sem maður grefur sig ofan í eitthvað, því meira verður þetta svona mótþróa haltu mér-slepptu mér samband við það.

Translation:

I think this - what did you call it, this resistance, is a pretty good point, because as soon as you form a close connection or really sink yourself into something, I think this applies to anything and not just art mediums, but if I just talk abut theater, I’ve now gotten myself entangled in that, and then as a result you start to take it really personally, both the good and the bad. Theater people can be really upset exiting a bad show, or just ecstatic over a good one, and I think it’s so beautiful to just be able to feel it so strongly, regardless of what it is that you think. I think if you visited the National Gallery of Iceland and just really bristled at something, that’s a victory, or if you’re incredibly happy. The deeper you get into something, the more you get this resistance-based hold-me release-me relationship to it.

Jón Gnarr describes how he just can’t deal with music - he has written music, but if he’s in a place that’s playing music for more than ten minutes, he just has to leave or ask them to turn it off. Matthías seems very amused. He has similar difficulties with theater, and Matthías says “As a playwright.” Jón Gnarr talks a bit more about this and how TV is the art form closest to his heart. Matthías asks, “Do you feel offended by bad shows? If there’s something you’ve been told to watch, and you take the time, and you just think it sucks - does it upset you?” He says yes, that he’ll actually get kind of mad about it.

The host asks about the time that passes between something happening and being relevant and when artists can produce art in response to it (this is the bit that was in that Twitter clip):

Matthías: Eins og þú málar þetta upp núna þá er eins og það komi eitthvað í fréttirnar og [snaps fingers] og ég fari beint heim og semji lag, bara [holds the microphone like he’s performing a Hatari song], og það sé bara svona “buzzer”, tveim mánuðum seinna kemur viðbragð Hatara við, hérna, því að það sé kominn nýr dómsmálaráðherra, eða eitthvað svona. Ég held það sé ekki alveg…

Jón Gnarr: Þá er hann kannski búinn að segja af sér.

Matthías: Já, þá er hann kannski búinn að segja af sér. Fullt af lögum sem við höfum ekkert birt, bara út af því að það er… Nei, það er ekkert að því.

Translation:

Matthías: The way you’re presenting it here, it’s like something’s in the news and [snaps fingers] I just go straight home and write a song, just [holds the microphone like he’s performing a Hatari song], and it’s just a buzzer, two months later you get Hatari’s reaction to, like, the appointing of a new justice minister, or something like that. I don’t think that’s quite…

Jón Gnarr: By then maybe they’ve already resigned.

Matthías: Yeah, by then maybe they’ve already resigned! A bunch of songs we never even published, just because… No, nothing wrong with that.

The host says something about Hatari in response to this, but I can’t make it out.

Matthías continues:

Nei, þetta er meira svona eitthvað samkurl eða hringiða eða eitthvað kosmos sem við erum öll flækt í - Hatari, dómsmálaráðherra, Eurovision, við sem listamenn - það er ekki beint listamenn sem viðbragð við einhverjum atburði, heldur eru atburðirnir og listamennirnir einhvern veginn í sama drullupollinum, og úr verður nýr dómsmálaráðherra og nýtt lag eftir Hatara, og þetta er allt viðbragð við sama drullupollinum, myndi ég halda.

Translation:

No, it’s more like some kind of mishmash or vortex or some cosmos that we’re all entangled in - Hatari, the justice minister, Eurovision, we as artists - it’s not exactly artists reacting to some event, but rather the events and the artists are somehow all part of the same sludge, and from it you get a new justice minister and a new Hatari song, and it’s all a reaction to that same sludge, I think.

Lóa says the only artist who she thinks can respond to events in real time is Hugleikur [Dagsson, comic artist]; Matthías seems to have been about to suggest the same.

An audience question brings up how often society reacts to art just as art can react to society.

Jón Gnarr talks about how when he creates characters, he feels like he’s just a medium contacting people who already exist somewhere in another dimension somehow - people ask him “How did you come up with that?” and he doesn’t really feel like he came up with anything. (As a writer, I relate to this.) The host notices Matthías wants to say something.

Nei, já, ég tengi bara við þetta, og að sjálfsögðu er góður punktur að samfélagið bregst við listinni eins og listin bregst við samfélaginu. Maður kannski fer að lesa svolítið bókstaflega í hlutina ef allt á að vera viðbragð við einhverju ákveðnu. En ég tengi líka við þetta, að ég held það sé rosa ríkjandi hugsun, eða það er svona sterkt í okkur, að hugsa um listamanninn sem einhvern svona snilling, sem fær gáfulega hugmynd, eða gáfulega skoðun, sem hann ætli aldeilis að miðla af listfengi til þess að breyta skoðunum okkar sem horfa, út af því að það sé betri skoðun, sem hann veit. Þetta er svona misskilningur, sem… oft veit maður ekki alveg… Maður er að káfa á einhverjum þversögnum eða einhverju sem maður skilur ekki alveg sjálfur, og eitt leiðir af öðru, og maður hafði einhverja hugmynd um hvert það átti að fara í byrjun, en hún fer annað, og hún verður einhver hringavitleysa, þannig að… kannski dettur maður þá inn á eitthvað sem er svona rosalega gáfulegt eða á undan sinni samtíð, en ég held það sé ekkert endilega persónunni að þakka.

Translation:

No, well, I just relate to that. And of course it’s a good point that society responds to art the same way art responds to society. You might start to read things a bit too literally if everything is supposed to be a response to something in particular. But I also relate to that. I think it’s a very common point of view, or there’s a strong impulse in us, to think of an artist as some kind of genius, who has some intellectual idea, or an intellectual opinion, that he’s totally going to communicate artistically in order to change the opinions of us viewers, because it’s a better opinion, that he knows. It’s kind of a misunderstanding, which… often you don’t really know… You’re groping at some paradoxes or something you don’t really understand yourself, and one thing leads to another, and you had some idea where it was supposed to go at the start, but then it goes somewhere else, and it becomes some circular nonsense, so that… maybe you stumble onto something that’s sounds really smart or ahead of its time, but I don’t think that’s necessarily due to the person.

Then, Jón Gnarr: Yeah, I think often we’re doing artists a disfavor by asking them stuff as if they’re…

Matthías: Smart.

And that’s about it for what Matthías says in the panel! Man, I agree pretty hard with just about everything he said there.

[stcrmys]

god !! i hate that i had to rush this but i promise i am so beyond excited to write with all of you ! stormy , thanks kylie jenner for the name idea hehe , is a brand new muse and i am so excited to explore her and see where she goes !! i love plotting, like i find it so fun and am a hoe for angst and drama and friendships ! god if i dont get a cute bff plot you will see me pouting until the end of my days !! asdfg . basically though my point was if you want to plot please just like this ?? message me ? i have to switch to mobile but ill still be here !! also i still have to figure out my tags and finish my plot so i repeat do not desktop my good sis’s blog . anyway please let me shut up !! 

*  lawless  paparazzi  flashed  photos  of  a  2019  ,  zenvo st1  pulling  into  the  sparkling  gates  of  quincy  park  ,  indicating  that  stormy  of  the  prosperous  villeneuve  lineage  has  returned  home  .  college  ended  for  the female  in  2018 ,  but  they’re  already  flourishing  in  their  field  , proclaiming  that  their  bachelor's  degree  in  music  production   is  being  put  to  prolific  use  .  the  general  public  may  be  unworldly  enough  to  believe  that  her accomplishments  were  earned  honestly  ,  but  the  people  of  new  york  city  are  painstakingly  aware  that  it's  impossible  to  snag  a  top  paying  position  as  a  music artist  right  out  of  university  .  the  family’s  been  tormented  with  a  well  -  known  rumor  that  they buy out every record company to eliminate their competition and when that goes south they have a tendency of releasing career damaging scandals to the public to ruin the company’s reputation and their talents career’s  for  years  ,  so  it  was  news  to  no  one  when  the  villeneuve’s made  local  headlines  claiming  the  only  reason  their  obstreperous  progeny’s  career  is  what  it  is  is  because  her father paid spotify, billboard, and apple million of dollars to make sure that her first album went number one and stayed number one .  tempest has  done  a  splendid  job  of  keeping  the  bloodline’s  furtive  truths  confidential  ,  but  their  reputation  of  being  effervescent  &  gaining  a  postgrad  inheritance  of  724.8m  hasn’t  been  enough  to  cease  the  counter  blast  from  new  york’s  angry  civilians  .  if  they’re  not  heedful  ,  not  even  quincy  park’s  sturdy  golden  gates  will  be  capable  of  keeping  out  the  city’s  vengeance  .  (  madison beer  ,  twenty one ,  the skookum  /   )

  ‧  *   i.   ╱   stats    .

name : stormy avania genevieve villeneuve

nickname(s) : storm , storm - storm, little villeneuve, honeybee. 

age : twenty one .

birthday : november sixteenth .

zodiac : scorpio .

gender ╱ pronouns : cisfemale , she and her.

sexual orientation : heterosexual 

romantic orientation : heteroromantic 

languages : english, french, italian.

occupation : music artist 

 voiceclaim : madison beer.

 ‧  *   i.   ╱   summary    .

hazel  hues  dipped  in  virescent ,  locks  of  chocolate  that  sits  on  honeyed  skin  .  the  tempest . boisterous .  captivating .  a  goddess  true  to  the  name  that  carved  itself  into  her  flesh ,  stormy .  her  arrival  itself  being  chaotic  winds  and  whispers  of  a  mistress  who  had  set  themselves  out  to  tear  apart  a  home .   a  concept  twisted  and  concealed  by  the  hands  of  the  villeneuve’s . sob  stories  and  apologizes  along  with  the  preaching  of  “ i’m becoming a better man everyday, “ clinging  to  the  ears  of  the  media  , and soon  the  world . expected . andres   villeneuve  could  do  not  wrong . a  powerful  man  within  the  world  of  music . respected  and  adored . someone  whom  inherited  the   ability  to  make  the  world  drop  to  their  knees  and  worship  mediocre  musicians .  why  would  they  stone  him  for  one  single  mistake  ?  or  at  least  , why  would  they  stone  him  for  one  single  mistake  for  the  rest  of  his  life .  they  forgive  him  in  the  name  of  everyone . and  soon ,  the  villeneuve  became  a  family  of  seven .  

she  was  privileged  . her  tiny  feet  walked  on  thousand  dollar  carpets  ,  the  fabric  that  clung  to  her  body  should  have  been  carved  from  the  hands  of  an  angel  at  what  they  were  cost . private  school .  tutors  .  cheerleading  and  then  volleyball  and  then  soccer  and  then  back  to  cheerleading  . the piano  .  the  saxophone  .  the  drums  .  the guitar  .  her  childhood  consisted  of  experiencing  everything  there  was  to  experience .  sports .  music .  art .  learning  at   two  languages  by  the  time  she  reached  ten .  she  was  raised  to  be  intelligent  . athletic .  talented .  she  had  to  be  talented .  within  the  arts ,  if  she  was  not  picking  up  an instrument  or  holding  a  note  her  dad  grew  bored  and  annoyed .  something  that  the  small  brunette  learned  quick . and  so  like  most  children ,  she  impressed . she  really impressed .  she  was  polite  and  respectful  .  well  mannered . the  strictness  of  her  father  and  step  mother  weighing  on  her  shoulders  .   they  wanted  perfection  . 

being  with  her  father  and  his  wife  and  kids  was  almost  as  if  she  stepped  into  a  dream . flashing  lights ,  luxuriousness . and  while  her  mom  had  a  status  of  her  own , her  dad  was  shaped  and  formed  different  .  the  fame . the  respect .  it  was  everything  to  him . bouncing  back  and  forth , stormy  felt  like  two  different  people . with  her  father  ,  she  was  all  work  no  play . and  her  mother ?  she  was  play  and  whatever  she  wanted  to  do .  her  mom  taught  her  the  importance  in  life  was  not  the  cars  and  the  houses  and  the  clothes  ( “although they are nice.. reallly fucking nice )  but  the  character  behind  the  objects .  and  she  refused  to  let  the  vibrant  child  of  hers  be  locked  into  a  box  of  running  to  fame  like  it  was  the  only  thing  that  would  make  her  life  and  her  impact  important . her  mother ?  she  was  all laughs  and  giggles . jokes  and  shopping  days  . sky diving  in  greece  and  pretend  music  videos  in   italy . the  one  that  mostly  shaped  stormy  into  who  she  is  now . 

for  the  last  twenty  one  years  is  one  person  that  reflects  a  childhood  split  into  two  .  the  ambitious  sometimes  selfish  sometimes  ruthless “ ill  pretend  im  stone  cold  if  that  what  it   takes “ and  the  vibrant  boisterous  life  of  the  party   and  the  light  of  your  life  .  the  twenty  one  year  old  girl  who  has  heard  be  yourself  and  be  better  from  two  different  voices  and  is  still  trying  to  decide  who  she  even  is  underneath  the   all  the  expectations . 

‧  *   ii.   ╱   personality    .

she  is  an  animated  laugh  escaping  parted  lips  ,  affectionate  hands  reaching  out  to  pull  you into  her  embrace  .  she’s  the  sound  of  her  own  heart  beating    in  her  ears  as  her  foot  is  on  the  gas  or  her  hues  pear  out  at  the  sky  of  blue  she’s  about  to  jump  in .  she  is  tired  eyes  in  result  of  not  sleeping  and  instead  writing  song  after  song .  she  is  one  am  studio  sessions  and  three  am  shots .  she  is  the  small  girl  who  pears  up  at  her  daddy  and  just  wants  to  feel  like  she  is   more  then  just  another  way  to  benefit  him  . she  is  the  desire  to  be  wanted  .  to  be  loved . she’s  spontaneous  trips  to  tropical  islands  and  dramatic  scenes  .   she  is  harmless  teasing  and  a  goofy  smile . day  dreaming  about  falling  in  love .  she’s  the  whisper  in  your  ear  that  she  loves  you  but  the  coldness  in  your  bed  as  you  reach  out  and  realize  that  she’s  no  longer  there . she’s  not  thinking  about  consequences .  the  honeyed  dipped  voice  that  tells  you  to  do  it . she’s  gentle  kisses  against  your  skin .  she’s  feeling  everything  all  the  time  and  feeling  it  deeply . she’s  the  girl  you  just  cannot  take  your  eyes  off  of .  she  talks  to  you  and  suddenly  you  feel  as  though  the  world  revolves  around  you . she’s  scattered  thoughts  and  rosy  lips  that  never  stop  moving . a  broken  heart  that  never  knows  if  it  wants  to  grow  cold  or  have  someone  come  and  fix  it  . 

‧  *   iii.   ╱   headcanons ??   .

asdj she’s a mess? basically that’s all i got for her.

she’s the second youngest out of five. 

is an artist under her dad’s label, and while she loves making music she does not love him having a say in her creative process.

she’s such a light !! 

affectionate, playful, ambitious, careless, boisterous, hard to control, talkative, an adrenaline junkie! jealous and petty, vehement. 

is such a different person around her dad? basically blocks him from seeing her true personality.

truth is she still fears his rejection. 

she has a journal that she carries everywhere. 

craves feeling important to people? if she doesnt feel like her bond with you is meaningful she gets all weird and annoying!

is hot and cold in romantic relations.

but so god damn affectionate! with everyone! let her hold your hand or lay her head against your shoulder or run her fingers up and down your arm !!!

is the ultimate adventure buddy .

needs excitement twenty four seven sorry. 

will give you a nickname, she doesnt care if your name is cat. its not just c ! asdfg.

i have so much more but ill add later, im kind of rushing asdfg !! 

‧  *   iii.   ╱   connections    .

best friend, platonic soulmate, ex best friends, group of friends preferably all girls, family friends, childhood friends, other clients who are signed to her father, first love, ex lovers, toxic relationship, toxic friendship, on and off relationship, confidants, partner in crime, the mom friend who always moms her, rivals, friends who drifted apart, friends with benefits, ex friends with benefits, one sided friendship, one sided relationship, unlikely friends, cousins, hardly related cousins, love hate relationship, forbidden romance or friendship??? 

[dallaswebsite]

Web Design Trends in 2020: Are you ready to increase conversions?

Simple animations and GIFs, brutalism, microinteractions, diversity: get to know the 10 main Web Design trends for this year.

As a good Web Design professional, you should already know that it is necessary to be aware of all changes in the market to have a competitive advantage among your competitors.

A few years ago, design trends moved towards unrestrained creativity – abandoning traditional grids and photos in exchange for vibrant illustrations, bold color schemes and asymmetric layouts.

In other years, technological advances have made websites smarter (with machine learning and subtle interactions) and these changing paradigms have influenced design trends (hamburger menus, anyone?).

In 2020, web design trends will see these two sides of the coin – aesthetics and technology – come together like never before.

So if you want to know what Web Design trends are in 2020, check out our article and find out if any of them could be the key to increasing your conversions!

1. Vertical page transition

It is not new that people want information faster and faster on the internet. And one of the characteristics of the new user is that he is in a hurry, does not like to wait.

Therefore, one of the trends of Web Design in 2020 is the transition of pages smoothly, and preferably, vertically.

That’s because the feeling of clicking on a link and waiting for it to open looking at a completely white background is unpleasant and leaves the user impatient, which can increase their bounce rates.

The transition makes the action smooth and reduces the feeling that the user is waiting for something.

In addition, vertical movement (from bottom to top) generates familiarity and improves usability on both desktop and mobile devices, as this is the standard page scrolling movement.

Combining this strategy with an SEO consultancy to increase the loading speed of your website, it is possible to increase your conversions and improve the user experience.

2. Simple animations and GIFs

No user likes to access a page and find only columns and more columns of text. Therefore, it is the obligation of every Web Designer to insert images to optimize a website.

However, with the insertion of GIFs on Facebook, WhatsApp and other social networks, people are becoming more and more familiar with the animations.

Therefore, a trend in Web Design and 2020 is to use simple animations, but that guide the user to the important points of the page.

In addition to making a website more dynamic, animations inserted at the right moment of the user’s journey can be decisive in guiding the lead to take the action you want.

GIFs can also be very useful, especially to demonstrate simple actions in a few seconds, without the need to produce a video.

3. 3D illustrations

One of the main trends for Web Design in 2020 is to use 3D illustrations as a replacement for photos.

The idea is to exchange the common “text and image on the side” for a centralized illustration that shows the brand’s solutions in a cleaner way.

The main advantages of using illustrations are:

generate user identification;

explain the process of using your product / service clearly;

helps to humanize the brand;

ideal for businesses with more than 5 people, as it does not exclude groups of people.

In addition, you can assemble the illustrations based on the visual identity of the brand, reinforcing the company’s branding and generating more trust in the user.

4. Brutalism

Hated by some and loved by others, brutalism is a design style focused only on functionality, ignoring the appearance of a website. As a consequence, websites with brutalist design present disorderly elements, very aggressive fonts and little refinement, creating a very “raw” appearance. Many people find the style uncomfortable, but recently it has gained popularity among young audiences, especially when used with elements of the 90’s web. In addition, it is possible to set up a brutal website that is functional and does not look so aggressive, just select the elements used and, of course, test! The truth is that the style can work, but it will depend on your brand strategy, your goal and, mainly, your audience.

5. Serifs on the screen

We’ve all heard the rule that serif fonts are for printing and sans serifs are for screen / digital. But what would become of web design trends if they were not to shake that “old idea formed about everything”? While the sans family, with its clean readability, is still the preferred one to be applied in long texts – be it copy or institutional texts – more and more brands are betting on a serif font. The bold serif can have a very interesting effect on headings and headlines or headlines. There is a good reason for this: serifs are designed to be decorative, making them perfect for showing emphasis. And even though serifs are often associated with the past, they are extremely versatile and more adaptable than you might think. Take, for example, the rounded serifs that represent the joyful brand of Mailchimp.

6. Black and white palettes

Color is one of the most important elements of a website. It creates a mood, unifies a brand and guides users through an interface, creating points of visual reference. For 2020, we are seeing several sites using a black and white color scheme, to dare and give more visual prominence. Color is literally how we see the world through the particles of light being absorbed. When color is lacking, we begin to see the world differently: textures and shapes become clearer, and the world seems noticeably slower, still.

White by itself is clean and reserved, while black is strong and assertive. Combine these and you will have a completely striking appearance, with the ideal light and contrast. Ironically, the biggest effect that black and white designs can have is their combination with minimal amounts of color. Adding an accent color will not only break that monochromatic air, but will make points of interest and calls to action stand out.

7. Natural and organic forms

Although websites are typically set up for systematic grids, designers are turning to natural shapes and smooth lines. Geometric structures such as squares, rectangles and triangles with their sharp corners create a feeling of stability, but the trends of 2020 are more concerned with the feeling of accessibility and comfort. Since organic shapes are naturally imperfect and asymmetrical, they can provide depth to the page layout. The shapes are based on nature (think of the curved shapes of trees and mountains), but they can also be elements drawn freely, to give the idea of ​​spontaneity of accidents caused by man, such as paint splashes, coffee stain, or something like that. . The goal here is for the layout to be more “human” and alive through this illusion of movement.

8. Microinteractions

Microinteractions are events with a purpose: to surprise the user and create an inviting and humane event.

Every time you perform a small action on a website or application and there is a specific response to it, this is a microinteraction.

When you update a Twitter page and hear a beep, this is a micro-interaction. Or when you check Facebook, the red icon displaying your message count is also a micro-interaction.

These were the most common uses of them, but in 2020, sites will have their most interactive incarnations. The user can hover or scroll the page to activate animations and other effects.

In short, this is a way to engage your target audience on your website, convey information to users about your actions and make websites a little more intelligent and interactive.

9. Even more video content

Video content not only diversifies the page, but serves a moving audience that doesn’t have time to read a lot of text.

Be it a video explaining your service or a background video, to give more movement to the site.

However, using videos on the site is nothing new, what is new is the movement that Google has made. The search giant favored sites that use videos on its pages in search results.

10. Diversity

Often, people forget that the web has always been accompanied by two more important ones: “World Wide”. The internet connects billions of people around the world from different cultures, skills, ages, gender identities – people who want to see themselves reflected in their content.

Even small considerations from the past (like Apple’s varying skin tones for emojis) went a long way to making people from all walks of life feel more welcome in a brand’s digital space.

In 2020, web designers should take an even greater leap towards inclusion, from improved accessibility standards to socially aware and diverse images.

The world still has a long way to go in this arena, but designers today can use their art to demonstrate that the web must be plural, about real people making real connections.

In the end, trends come and go. Some last for decades, while others are simply a flash. What matters is that you remain true to the brand you are creating for.

Choose the trends that best align with the company’s values. If something is trended, it doesn’t mean you have to adopt it. You need to choose the trends that are useful to make your projects more effective and impactful.

Did you write down all the tips or are you already testing them? So leave your comment if any of them worked!

The post Web Design Trends in 2020: Are you ready to increase conversions? appeared first on Dallas Web Design Company | Best Web Designers In Dallas.

source https://dallaswebsite.design/web-design-trends/

[midnightiscoming-kasabian]

Nine Songs: Serge Pizzorno [1/2]

Kasabian’s Sergio Pizzorno talks Maddy Smith through the songs that have soundtracked his hit-filled career, and why he’s taking on an escapist solo project with The S.L.P.

“I always think that there’s a Japanese take on western culture. One where you can get a different eye looking at society. It’s a cartoonish way of looking at the world.”

A shaven leopard print fade, suede tiger print shirt and cheetah print jacket is not the typical get-up of someone who takes themselves too seriously. Kasabian’s creative force Sergio Pizzorno is just that - a character with a unique view of the world. As we sit down to chat in a London café, Pizzorno’s laid-back demeanour is somewhat at odds with his aggressively loud attire. Discussing his approach to song writing he reflects on a career that spans two decades riddled with no. 1 albums, and he stresses the importance of comedy and light-heartedness in a world that can often take itself too seriously.

“It’s all very visual and imagery is really important, I like to set little scenes in my lyrics, and humour as well. I think there has to be a little twist, or a little darkness, like in ‘Vlad the Impaler’. Calling a track that is ridiculous, so there’s a cartoonish nature to it as well. But ‘Underdog’ actually is about the love of the underdog and ‘Fire’ is about when you keep rolling sixes, when you just can’t miss. ‘Thick as Thieves’ and tracks like that are little stories. I think films and cinema are important, I feel like a lot of my ideas come from that world.”

With five no. 1 albums, a Glastonbury headline set and a wealth of worldwide tours behind him, Kasabian’s guitarist and songwriter meets me in the run up to a new challenge with the release of upcoming solo album, The S.L.P. Featuring Little Simz and Slowthai, he explains the reasons behind his solo venture. “I wanted to make an album where I can collaborate and it’s easier to do that when it’s with a different project. It was almost to create a world that you can visit every now and again. It gives you total freedom; you can be in the studio with anyone, see what happens and that’s really exciting.”

From his tongue-in-cheek dirgy, paleontological lyrics, zesty fashion sense, to the left-field tracks in his nine songs, it’s clear to see an eclectic pattern emerge; a comical twist on the everyday but also on life’s darker tangents. Catching a glimpse of the luminous socks peeking out of his shoes (which are emblazoned with a product available in Amsterdam coffee shops - you know the ones) I inwardly chuckle as I’m reminded that all too often we get caught up in cynicism, and think back to those infamous words from ‘Vlad the Impaler’ where Noel Fielding rigidly terrorises unassuming locals in ‘80’s horror movie fashion through barren fields. “Get loose, Get loose.”

“Dragonaut” by Sleep

“There’s a wicked film called Gummo, have you seen it? This song is on the soundtrack and it’s got that Sabbath thing going on, which we were looking for around our second album. The first album sort of blew up and we were quickly becoming quite big. We went in to record the second album with that in mind, we wanted to have heavy guitars for the live sound, that tone and that evilness, that heavy sort of drone in ‘Dragonaut’ - we just wanted to create some of that.

“It was a big contrast to what the first album was. It was becoming this band on this escapade, so we fell into that and life just got insane. We wanted to make a really heavy record to reflect that, the guitar was at the forefront because we played live every night, so we wanted to take that attitude and capture it in the studio.

“This track has that dirgy sound that I love, for me that will go to a lot of different areas but at the core, groove, flavour and flow is so, so important. We used to call it “The push” because if it pushes, it’s laid back behind the beat.

“It’s funny, because if you know that a musician has got it or a band has got it, it’s like you’re in that clique - ‘I know why you like that, because it’s got that flavour.’ You can listen to a hip-hop tune or a heavy metal tune and somehow get it. I think that was the appeal with making Empire, it was to retain that, ‘Okay, it’s going to be heavy and it’s going to be distorted, but we still need to retain that flavour and that push.’”

“Revenge of the Black Regent” by Add N to (X)

“I love their album Avant Hard, it’s way, way ahead of the game. It must have been the late ‘90s when I discovered it, around ‘98 or ‘99. I used to work in a clothes shop when I was about 18 or 19 and in the square where the shop was there was a record store. We got on with the guy there and he told me I’d love this record. So on the Monday, when the new records would come out, I put that on instantly and thought ‘What is going on here?’

“They were really ahead of the curve with ‘Revenge of the Black Regent’. Add N to (X) were using all these synths that I’d never heard of, that’s when I started to really research and get into the synth world and I became a complete synth nerd.

“What’s interesting is what people can hear compared to what you’re actually listening to. Say with our first album, when people said it sounded like Primal Scream or Happy Mondays and all this, we were actually listening to Add N to (X), that’s where we were getting that sound you can hear on the first record. It’s almost like they didn’t dig deep enough to realise what we were into, and where we were getting our inspiration from.

“‘Revenge of the Black Regent’ is really minimal, there’s hardly any layers and the girl’s voice is amazing; ethereal and floaty, it’s so good. The synths are amazing and the flavour’s there again that I love. There’s a horror to it as well, a darkness to it. It celebrates that feeling of discomfort or like you’re feeling a little on edge. It looks like there’s a thread to these tunes!”

“A To G” by Blackalicious

“That’s going back! For me, the lyrics from Gift of Gab - who’s part of Blackalicious - have such an amazing wittiness and humour about them. Blackalicious are so good at that, combining cleverness and wittiness with that melody and production on the track.

“My friend used to DJ in Leicester as a hip-hop DJ and he used to get me all of these albums. He played that out to me one time, it was that wordplay and the artistry in connecting words and meaning that grabbed me, and the flow on ‘A to G’ blew my mind.

“There’s humour in the song and I feel that’s also important. At the forefront I think humour plays a big part of my taste; there’s humour in all these tracks - even in ‘Revenge of the Black Regent’ and ‘Dragonaut’. I find something quite absurd about them, but I think if you’re writing something that’s a bit weird and wacky it’s really important for people to be in on the joke.

“We actually managed to work with Blackalicious and get a remix done of ‘Take Aim’ by them. We’re going to get that on YouTube at some point, which is amazing. That was great.”

“Plateau” by Meat Puppets

“I came late to the game with grunge. At the time I was a bit young, the rave scene had a massive effect on me and grunge was so far from what I was into. I think back in the day you didn’t tend to like everything, you’d say you were more into grunge, or into hip-hop, or a certain scene; it was very tribal.

"So I couldn’t really connect the dots to Nirvana and grunge, and at the time I missed the wave of grunge. But then when I got into guitar music later on - maybe in the late 90s - I found Nirvana. I heard Kurt talk about Meat Puppets, I think they covered them on MTV’s Unplugged? “Again, it’s the vocal on this track - “And an illustrated book about birds” - you can’t not smirk at that, it’s so far off. It’s the brittleness of the sound, it feels like at any point it’s going to fall to pieces - and I just love that, I like broken stuff. In the studio I play with guitars that are really old and have got one string on them, so I feel like I really connect with this ramshackle, rustic sound and I just want to be in that band. I want to be in the Meat Puppets - I feel like they operate in a whole other world.”

“Six Days” by DJ Shadow

“I’ve spoken about ‘Organ Donor’ quite a lot, but with this track I think the words are really powerful, especially with everything that’s going on at the moment. He talks about “Tomorrow never knows until it’s too late.” It’s a very powerful message and it’s where the world is right now.

“DJ Shadow has always been a massive inspiration and I cite him as the reason that I make music now, because of how big an impact that first album Endtroducing..... had on me and how it made me look at music. He combines a sort of psych/folk with a beat with more of an electronic focus.

“As long as there’s people willing to experiment with synths and electronic influence in rock music - and I like to think there is - I think it will stay popular. Those waveforms must do something to some people’s ears. It’s funny when you hear people getting synths really wrong though, because it’s very obvious. I think you should have to have a licence. There’s certain synths that I hear on records that are so bad, it’s ‘Put that away! Please stay away from pre-sets and do some research if you want to get involved in experimenting with synths. Don’t just pull out a keyboard and start to make music.’ You’ve really got to do your research.”

The Line of Best Fit | Words: Maddy Smith | 23 August 2019

[charlotteroseessex-blog]

Intertextuality: In the life of the Kardashians

Writing is one of humankind's most primal methodologies of dissemination of information and communication. Cavemen (and women) used a type of symbolic writing, known as ‘pictographs’, to display drawings of the animals they hunted as well as the ceremonies they would partake in. Despite ‘pictographs’ not entirely embodying the writing we know now, the 40-50,000 BC scripture triggered the movement towards alphabetic interaction.

Moving slightly further ahead in time, the increasing accessibility for reading and writing materials began the evolution of technology. Charles Babbage introduced the world to digitalised media in the early 1800s when he constructed a machine which would solve his problems of calculations in mathematics. The introduction to ‘machine-readable formats’ was, unbeknown to Babbage, the beginning of a globalised phenomenon relied on by millions - but not for the same numeric calculations it was once intended for...

Inventions such as the Smartphone, have broadened our abilities to consume and access information. Since Primary School, I can remember delving into the realms of digital media platforms from as early as 7 years old. Children are brought up with access to phones, iPads and laptops for entertainment, educational and distraction purposes - so nowadays when eating at your favourite restaurant in town, there is no longer an element of shock when spectating a nearby family with children all scrolling and tapping on seperate devices during their meal, due to the normality and natural occurrence of digitalisation. Our exposure to technology is so profuse that even babies are now taken on buses with iPads shoved under their noses, with the latest episode of Peppa Pig, whilst their mum sits scrolling through Facebook.

The point is, we are all so exposed to the instantaneity of devices that we are losing touch with the connectedness and sentimentality with the true mediums of word. Newspaper articles are no longer desired as a tangible purchase because now, with a few taps on a screen, we can receive the latest news updates on our phones or tablets. Subsequently, the purchasing of hardback books are in a general global decline, reporting to have decreased by 3.4% in 2018 defined by the influx of the digital alternative, the Kindle, experiencing sales between 20 to 90 million over the course of the last decade (Amazon). The concept of a technological takeover suggests that consumers are favouring the practical and transportable methods of reading over the traditional process of turning a page.

In addition’, the crave for platforms which require the least effort suggests the presence of a lazy generation. Instead of having to search through a library to find a suitably informative book, the internet has allowed for access to instantaneous facts and figures provided and suggested to you. Google is the most actively used search engine with 3.5 billion searches per day. This method of consuming information outlines a contagious dependency which we ALL rely on for immediate gratification - this is rather than reaching for a book, requiring incomparably more effort to gage the desired information. Through the accessibility to the internet, digital media has allowed for the growth of knowledge and intellect, such as the input of a read-write web. Most apps downloadable on tablets rely on the concept of expression for users to exercise its domains to suit their requirements. For example, Twitter allows for users to post and interact their thoughts and feelings within the conversational networking site, but in some cases, the app may be used by one person as a freedom of speech and for another it could be used for a less self-indulgent platform - like job searching or news articles through the connectivity of a #hashtag. 

In basic terms, we all roam the domains of the internet with different intentions and yet we can all identify with the purpose to either share, support or be inspired by our searched information. The internet is a space for consumption, growth and reflection caused by the involvement we are now provided with when being able to influence online content. The internet provides a variety of input through the ability to share and comment on sites inviting feedback. Despite this being an invitation towards intellectual and challenging conversations made more approachable through online networking and connectedness, it can also be manipulated by critics and trolls seeking to implode judgement on unsuspecting individuals. The freedom of a read-write web has been recently made into a potentially dangerous world of forced judgement and unexplainable hatred by mostly anonymous and fake accounts.

Due to the globalisation of the internet, such outcomes as intertextuality have evolved as a product of the progression in the lack of unique content (often receiving negative backlash). Intertextuality allows for repetition and relational material to be understood as a complimentary embodiment of an original, featuring and interpreting artworks of differentiability or historicality. With the internet now 45 years young, activated in 1969, it is unlikely that the content discoverable nowadays hasn’t been neither influenced nor inspired by anaphoric textuality. This has made public figures less admirable when their work is comparable to previous editions - intentional or not. Cases of intertextuality are common simply due to the earth being old. Bluntly, it is 4.543 billion years old so the assumption that content created nowadays is unique and never been done before, is impossible. The difference is that now - with the permanence of online sources - we can refer to previous postings to consider reconstructions as examples of either intertextuality, the remix culture or just plain copyright.

To demonstrate intertextuality, I feel it’s justifiable to use the Kardashian-Jenner family as a true modernist representation due to their constant presence in the media. The Kardashians are undoubtedly one of the most influential families in the world so therefore impact a lot of online media coverage. With the concept of intertextuality proclaiming as a hot topic in their recent years of fame, certain Kardashian members have demonstrated the extreme reactions provoked when photoshoots and campaigns merely infer historicality. Their gross level of fame make it difficult to decide whether the headlines attached to certain articles are justifiable, like does it provoke the legitimate shock factor? Or is it simply just an opportunistic platform for critics to slander the Kardashians once again for no reason whatsoever? The problems arise when intertextuality is no longer received as a complementation of inspiration, but rather proof of a lack of imagination and injustice to the original structure.

So let’s begin.

Kendall Jenner. Racist? Or just an unfortunate victim of an intertextual failure? Not many of us might recognise her campaign with Pepsi-cola, as it was pulled from tv after only 24 hours due to the outrage and dismay caused amongst the public. The advert saw Kendall abandon her fashion shoot when a protest catches her eye, so randomly decides to approach one of the more attractive police officers by handing him a bottle of Pepsi - as you do. When the advert aired, viewers complained about the uncanny resemblance between the Pepsi ‘Live For Now’ ad and both the Black Lives Matter movement and the 1960 Civil Rights Marches. 

Now, it could be suggested that there isn’t much similarity between the Pepsi campaign and the Civil Rights movement, nor does the peace offering of a Pepsi can hold much resemblance to the marches activated almost 6 decades previous to Jenners acting debut. However, when considering the bigger picture of the intertextual nature of the campaign (almost certainly inspired by the concept of the Civil Rights protests) the influence upon the storyline of the advert is undeniable. Due to the reinvention of the iconic movement which helped shape history for black Americans, it is not surprising that the reception of a supremely white female fixing a protest due to a can of Pepsi infuses an element of mockery within the intertextualisation between the two events. Black Rights campaigners such as Color of Change, an American group that campaigns to “end practices that unfairly hold Black people back,” branding online that Kendall’s actions “appropriated our pain and struggle” which was implied due to the similarity of settings.

I mean, Kendall Jenner might not be a racist and I’m not insinuating that she is but the branding of the Pepsi-cola campaign certainly raises a few eyebrows for what she actually expected to happen after mocking history.

The reception of intertextuality is determined by the viewing public and relies on their interpretations and overall power. Despite the creative process being intended as an aesthetically pleasing representation of an original artwork and rather paying tribute than mocking or redirecting it’s initial intentions, the line between a well received repetition of a construct and one that is not, often hangs in the balance of the finer details. To explore this let’s use the mishaps of another Kardashian.

Here we go again...

Kim Kardashian West. Arguably the most famous Kardashian due to her inability to stay out of the public eye for more than five minutes. She married a famous rap artist and then proceeded to have 3 beautiful children, so it was only a matter of time before she shoved one of them in front of the camera. At the age of 5, North West has already posed alongside Kim as they channelled America’s late First Lady, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, for an interview and magazine shoot. When addressing the influence of Kennedy on the Kardashian, it’s assumptive that Kims desire to imitate a stronger and more desirable individual as the images create relationships and forges likenesses between herself and the First Lady. North West’s inclusion exercises the freedom of intertextuality as the photoshoot takes inspiration from a public figure and aims to deploy an interpretation instead of copying their exact iconic images. The photoshoot of Kim Kardashian West and her daughter embody the relativity between Jackie Kennedy’s appearance but engages intertexualisation when capturing the style of Kennedy through their own style of expression.

When cross-examining the impact of a read-write web and the growing influence of intertextuality, the Kardashian/Kennedy photoshoot demonstrates how it can all go so wrong. When the shoot was published the hype it created was nothing to do with the beauty and charm of the images, but surrounding the Kardashian herself somewhat altering her appearance to match her daughters. It is no surprise when looking at the Kardashian clan, that their figures are not only arguably more curvaceous than your average white woman but also the rapid progression of their hourglass shapes developing unnaturally fast. Despite the obvious bum implants, rib-removal and liposuction of the middle Kardashian, it was her ‘black facing’ that made the internet go crazy and begin to brand the family as ‘culture vultures’. Caused by the accessibility of the public to retweet, share and publish their opinions online, it comes as no surprise that celebrities are at the full front of the darker side of the internet, especially when Tweeters and Facebookers can attach previous slip ups of the same individual to provide a stronger attack through public shaming.

Intertextuality is a factor of which the Kardashian-Jenner family rely on for most of their inspiration. It’s not unusual though. Like many other public figures or influencers, their ideas all derive from something which previously triggered them to create their next clothing line or the storyline behind the lyrics of their new song. Most intertextual pathways for celebrities are financially motivated with the intention to impact the public, whether it be a new trend copied by fans or solely for the purpose of humour. The humour derived most recently, through the use of intertextuality, is Celeste Barber, an Instagram Comedian whose account blew up when she started recreating images of top models to entertain her followers and encourage a new platform of body confidence.

[galaxyrose10]

Realization - Sweet Pea x Reader

(A/N): I’m back after a while. Sorry it’s late… Sorry that I haven’t been writing, I just needed some time to try to get my life back on track and I was too stressed out and I couldn’t write but I’m back and that’s what matters now! ❤❤❤❤❤

Requests go here!! ❤❤

Words: 1610

Warnings: Nothing, just some sadness, and fluff.

MOBILE MASTERLIST

MASTERLIST

Third Person P.O.V

Walking out of Riverdale High was one of the toughest Serpents known to the gang. Sweet Pea. After basketball practice, all the Serpent did was either hang out with his friends or go to Pops. Until one day, when someone changed all that.

It was a normal day, as usual, Sweet Pea was walking out to his motorcycle, ready to go to the Whyte Whym, but a noise distracted him from his usual routine. Something hissing, like a snake, but louder. Being the curious one, he followed the noise until he found its source. To his surprise, he found a girl of long (Y/H/C) hair with pretty light blue streaks spray painting the side of the school. He didn’t know her, yet her presence had peaked his interest. The girl wasn’t from Southside High, Sweet Pea had known everyone there and never had he’d seen her. He would’ve remembered her. How her colored hair floated upon her shoulders and how her face remained eerily calm and relaxed. He was mesmerized.

“Hey. Hey. Sweet Pea!” The sudden voice snapped him of his dream-like trance. However, it also caused the girl to run off, leaving the paint can, like Cinderella. 

“Damn it.” Sweets said, leaning his head against the brick wall.

“Did we interrupt your stalking session?” Toni asked with her eyebrows raised. 

“I wasn’t stalking. I was just… seeing what she was painting.” the boy defended himself, trying not be suspicious. 

“Okay, fine. We’ll believe you for a minute. Let’s take a look.” 

“Fangs! Toni! Guys!” Sweet Pea groaned, following the pair, even if he wouldn’t admit that he wanted to see the image as well.

The girl, (Y/N), seen the group of friends gather around her work. She was startled by the sudden noise from one of the people. She ran, dropping her paint can. (Y/N) wasn’t shy, she just wasn’t accustomed to the new students. She didn’t feel anyway towards them, she didn’t care that they were Serpents, she never knew why anyone would treat them different in the first place. However, she could sense something from one of the members of the group. Little to his knowledge, (Y/N) had seen him watching her from her peripheral vision. She wondered and wondered what was so interesting about her. Painting the school was due justice in Riverdale that was needed, at least to her anyway. Everything had been torn apart and someone or something needed to mend the once fair city.

~Time Skip~

Sweet Pea would walk out of practice only to see if the mysterious girl was still there and every time he saw the same site; (Y/N) with her cans of paint scattered across the ground. He’d always wanted to approach her but for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to it. (Y/N) was in the same situation. They were both a mystery to each other. Sweet Pea was completely infatuated with her. The way she just tagged the school without a care in the world. It was like fate had brought them together, well, technically a can of paint did. 

“Oh, sorry. It must’ve rolled away.” she spoke to him for the first time and it was magical. 

“Um… here. I… uh… also have this too.” He’d felt so nervous, while she was managing to keep her calm and collected composure. “So what are you painting?” Sweet Pea asked. 

“It’s a secret, can’t say.” 

“Okay, well, then can I help? Or can you explain this?” 

“Well, it’s hard to explain without giving it away, so let’s just talk. For starters, I’ll ask why you’ve been staring at me for weeks.” His entire face went red.

”I’m… sorry. I didn’t mean to.” 

“Hey, listen, you don’t have to be sorry. It’s fine. But you should’ve said something earlier, I was starting to think you weren’t real.” she admitted. 

“Well, I’m pretty sure I’m real… Also, how come a Northsider like you is painting your own school?” Sweet Pea had questioned, putting you on the spot. 

“Well… I figured if Mantle can, why can’t I? Besides, I can’t spray paint my house anymore.” 

“Parents?” (Y/N) just remained silent and looked down before she continued painting. 

“Oh. Sorry. Fuck, it’s like I keep saying the wrong things.” 

“You didn’t know. You couldn’t have known.” she explained quickly, drowning the insecurities. 

“Anyways, why don’t you paint in the art room? You know, I think that’s what it’s meant for.” She stifled a laugh once hearing his comments. 

“The art room doesn’t do spray paint, besides this doesn’t have any rules to it.” “You make a solid point.” Silence ruled the air. 

“Listen, I have to go. Being a ward of the state isn’t exactly easy. This was nice. Let’s do it again.” The girl started to walk away but Sweets was determined to learn her name at least. 

“My name’s (Y/N) if you were wondering.” It was like she could read his mind. 

“You can call me Sweet Pea.”

Weeks had passed as (Y/N) and Sweet Pea met up behind the school for their little rendezvous. The attraction between them had grown stronger with each passing day and they both could feel it.

One day, Sweet Pea had shown up only to find the little mystery he’d learned to… to… love? He couldn’t find himself in love, he was one of the toughest Serpent around. He just didn’t have a soft side. Nevertheless, he found himself worried when he couldn’t see her standing there in the sunlight, painting away. Wandering around, he stumbled upon a bag filled with various items. The cans spilled out and that sent Sweet Pea into a state of panic. Something had happened to you.

Walking around campus, he soon heard something hitting the pavement and muffled sobs. Rounding the corner, his eyes making his emotions evident, Sweets saw (Y/N) sitting on the front steps of the school. 

“Hey, are you okay? What happened?” He said, trying to soothe you. 

“I’m obviously not okay! This fucking school is a nightmare! I mean, have you ever worked on something that meant so much to you just to have it ripped away from you?! God, it’s freshman year all over again!” (Y/N) exclaimed, breathing heavily. “I’m sorry, it’s just… Painting behind the school made me feel like I had control back in my life, for those hours I could spend there just expressing myself through pictures.” the girl tearfully admitted and for the first time since he’d seen her, Sweet Pea had seen her cool and calm image fade away. 

“Do you want to talk about what happened freshman year?” She looked up and the light reflected off the tears that stood present in her eyes. 

“Freshman year was the year… I was left on my own. I learned to be independent and I learned that my life was out of my hands. Then this town got torn apart at the tracks, I tried to fix it. With my creativity and expression. The painting was supposed to represent how Riverdale used to be. Before the Black Hood, the Ghoulies, and the scandals rocking the headlines…” 

“What happened to your painting?” Sweets asked, worried.

“I went back there today to see the sheriff standing there talking to the principal. I walked up and they took me to the office. They made me leave my paints and when we got there they told me that I could’ve been arrested for vandalism. Anyways, since I’m a ward, they left me off with a serious warning. Then they told me that it would be removed effective immediately. They confiscated my paint cans and that was it…” Soon (Y/N) was wrapped in a hug as she broke down.

“I’m sorry, I know that this won’t fix anything. But, you do have control in your life, you just don’t see it yet and you’re not alone. You have me and I’m going to be there for you.” 

“I just… never thought… I’d have anyone else in my… life. I thought I screwed up my life…” Sweet Pea pulled back and gave her a serious look. 

“You didn’t screw up your life. Nothing that happened was your fault. Believe that you have someone because I’m right here, right now. I’m not going anywhere. Listen, I need to tell you something.” Worry filled (Y/N) from head to toe. Her breathing quickened and tears were brought to her eyes. “It’s nothing to cry over. It is just a confession. I was so skeptical about you. When I first saw you, something lit up inside me. The closer I got to you, the feeling grew stronger and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what it was. I realized that I was love and I didn’t think I was capable of feeling anything like that. You brought that out in me. I finally realized that I love you, (Y/N). I think I’ve loved you since I first saw you painting the wall.” Tears and tears mounted in your eyes as fast as gravity took hold. 

“Sweet Pea… I thought I had lost the ability for someone to love me. So, hearing you say that right now makes me believe that I do love you and that maybe this is when things will start to turn around for me.”

His hands dropped to her waist as he slowly brought her towards him. Their lips grazed each other’s right before a gentle kiss was shared in front of the high school as the sun had set and the midnight rain began to fall.

[expertdigitalmarketingthing-blog]

SEO Made Simple: A Complete Guide in 2018

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) processes are defined by Wikipedia as a group of activities that improve exposure and visibility of a website or web pages in the unpaid results of search engines. Despite SEO process definitions; there is always some amount of ambiguity in SEO techniques. The main question is--what are the elements of a website that are optimized for the SEO operations. What are the website elements Optimized for SEO All important aspects of a website are subject to optimization including design, writing, and links. Search engine optimization (SEO) is all about optimizing the online content of a site in the top unpaid search results based on keywords. Search engines have two major functions. One is crawling to build an index and second is offering search users a ranked list of websites based on relevance.

                                                                          picture credit Search engines “crawl” content via links and index billions of documents, news, videos, files and media on the worldwide web. These will answer queries by retrieving pages on the basis of relevancy. Automated robots of search engines' or crawlers or spiders keep bunching billions of interconnected documents on the web. Search engines extract the code from them and store pieces in their databases for later use. To access billions of pages in a fraction of a second, Google maintains massive data centres all across the world that store and process data in millions of machines. In the search results, results are ranked on the basis of popularity and relevance. Relevance is shaped by hundreds of factors. In determining popularity, search engines apply mathematical equations called algorithms that assess the relevance and rank them accordingly. How Does Google Work?

                                                                               picture credit Google crawls web addresses by reading sitemaps and links to grab the pages. What all sites are good for crawling is decided by computer programs including frequency and number of pages for different sites. Google’s webmaster tools decide how Google must crawl the sites by taking instructions on how to process pages on sites including requests for recrawling or not crawling at all using a file called “robots.txt.” Top Benefits of SEO               

                                                                              picture credit In the digital marketing industry SEO has emerged as a saviour for small businesses who do not have big funds to spend on TV or Newspaper Ads. In SEO, the cheapest and effective online marketing method, there is the prospect of attracting good traffic and increasing business profit. Brand Awareness: Thanks to SEO, a business can make great visibility in major search engines. SEO helps business to be found on Google and other search engines. Sustained low-cost promotion through SEO helps in making businesses popular.  Once brand equity is established it is easy to reach a wider audience to expand brand awareness. Effective SEO services are a shortcut to create brand awareness without spending too much. Businesses can take the support of SEO companies offering cost effective SEO solutions. Websites become User-Friendly: When SEO is performed on a website there will be a total makeover in terms of looks, links, and keywords. It will eventually make a website more appealing and user-friendly. This improves customer involvement and attains more authenticity. High Rankings in SERP: When right keywords, enough links, and unique content combine high rankings for the website will automatically come over and individuals searching products and services will connect to the website. Higher Conversion: A responsive website architecture backed by SEO can make a site viewable on mobiles, tablets, and other gadgets. This will make conversions faster and more paying customers are natural results of user-friendly websites. Scope of SEO                           

                                                                               picture credit Despite the surge of SEM, there is no stopping of SEO as it is the long-term investment for growth with results staying for so many years. Most of the brand advertisers are supplementing their gains with the power of SEO. This is because organic SEO listings on Google search results are more reliable than paid Ads. The growth of digital marketing and SEO has spawned huge SEO career opportunities for tech professionals. SEO is both an art and science. It is a science because SEO deals with technology and technicalities like code, content architecture and user experience. The arty side of SEO is the ability in influencing the behaviour of business and customer and the skill in adding value to products, service or solution in hiking their visibility for bringing leads, sales or branding. Importance of White Hat SEO  Now let us narrow down to blackhat and white hat SEO techniques. As Google algorithm updates such as Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird tightened penalties on mala fide site boosting methods, white hat SEO or ethical SEO has become the only legitimate SEO model to improve site ranking in search results. White hat SEO techniques increase the attraction of websites toward search giants to find a slot in the SERPs. In simple terms, white hat and black hat SEO in 2018 title will reflect a bunch of techniques which commonly aim at a site’s optimized performance for higher ranks in the SERPs. Mala Fide tactics or black hat SEO mainly involves spamming and keyword stuffing. In White Hat SEO, a site’s better performance in search results is the main aim. In White Hat SEO, many factors have to be taken into consideration. Written content Images and video Meta information Site architecture Site performance Selection of Keywords Brazen use of keywords in content that hurts the user experience must be avoided. Using similar words across a piece of writing will be giving better results. Use key phrases in titles, sub-heading and the text will lead to effective results. For example, take “SEO software” as a model keyword In white hat SEO, this keyword can be used several times in text, headline, and subheading. In the content, there is scope for using related words and phrases such as SEO tools SEO analysis software Search engine optimization Search tools Content – Not a King but an Emperor “Content is King” is the most heard cliché in relation to SEO and web content as a precondition for making content strong in attracting visitors who will eventually convert into customers. In fact, content has grown beyond that stage and has become more powerful. It is the new emperor and can dictate the fate of a website. The content must be appropriate and well written. If there are images and videos they should have titles, ALT tag, and descriptions. Due credit must be given to the original artist if images from creative commons licensed are used. How to Use Social Media to Promote Brands        

                                                                           picture credit Use social media in making a brand visible on all platforms by sharing the content. social media tools like Facebook likes and Retweets indicate content is useful can indicate reading and watching. Use Guest Blogging Guest blogging is a White Hat technique and can draw good visitors. But care needs to be taken about the posting sites so they are of the same Domain Authority, otherwise, a rapid surge of high-quality links will elicit the suspicion of Google that links are being purchased. This will invite Google’s penalties. The soul of White hat SEO is good content that can drive traffic to a site. Threats of Black Hat SEO Blackhat SEO techniques stand in sharp contrast to White hat SEO. They use many manipulative methods in hiking the relevance of a web page by violating the guidelines of search engines. Some of the black hat techniques are the use of hidden text, cloaking, and blog comment spam. Blackhat SEO has a negative reputation thanks to shady practices that ignore user experience in the quest for quick money. In keeping businesses legitimate, businesses are advised against using black hat SEO techniques else they will be erased from search engines. Some of the abominable black hat SEO tactics are discussed below. Use of Unrelated Keywords: Never add irrelevant keywords to a copy just garnering a few extra hits. Eg:  Martha would use our Dyson vacuum cleaners if she owned cats. The content must be focused on a topic so that users are getting the answers they are searching for. In the above example, the right usage of keywords is: “Our Dyson vacuum cleaners effectively suck up dust, dirt, and pet hair.” Keyword Stuffing The unnecessary repeating of keywords in such a way that there is a gibberish effect in sentences or image alt text must be avoided. Eg: Picture frames picture frames pictures pictures pictures. Always write sentences that make sense with reasonable keyword density and semantically related words than endlessly repeating keywords. Eg: “Our photo framing services can accommodate large formats to ensure everyone gets the big picture.” Cheating with Hidden Text, and Hidden Links On legible text be placed at the bottom a page and never format text or images with visually undetectable links. Content that is written is meant to be read and should be in contrast to the text with the background, colour, and the links should be obvious. Cloaking Never present search engines with one set of content and take site visitors to another piece of content. Fooling visitors with a page of totally different content is cheating and invite penalty. Eg: A visitor searches for octopus and clicks a search result and he is taken to a pornographic site. Web pages should be created in accordance with the expectations of the visitors based on the SERP description. Eg: A user is searching for "Hello Kitty" and he clicks the website of the franchise given in the SERP. On Page SEO Techniques 2018      

                                                                              picture credit On-page SEO is optimizing individual web pages to get a higher ranking and will attract big traffic in search engines. In answering the query what is on page SEO and off page SEO 2018 title remember that on-page SEO implies content and HTML source code of a page is ready to be optimized, unlike off-page SEO that deals with links and external signals. There had been profound changes in on-page SEO over the years keeping up with the latest practices is very important. Prominent on-page factors affecting search engine rankings are: The content of Page: Content of a page is the sole factor that makes it eligible for a position in the SERP. That calls for good content. From an SEO perspective, all good content will be high in two attributes. It can supply a demand for information and can be linked. One example of unlinkable content is AJAX-powered image slide shows that are not reproducible or sharable. It neither fills the demand for information nor allows to be linked and they are bad in the eyes of the search engines. Title Tags: Title tags matter a lot on-page factor for SEO after content. URL: URL is very important for convincing search engines on the relevancy of a given page for indexing. In SEO category hierarchy of a given website must reflect in URLs. Off-Page SEO Tactics      

                                                                               picture credit Unlike on-page SEO, off-page SEO actions happen outside the boundaries of a website and include Link Building Social Media Marketing Social bookmarking Off page SEO offers good indicators on how the World (other websites and users) look upon a particular website. If a website is high in quality and utility it will have references (links) from other websites and social media such as Facebook likes, tweets, Pins, will bookmark it and shared among communities of users. A successful off-site SEO strategy will bring about high rankings in the SERPs and more traffic. Higher Page rank means where a website takes it ranks on a scale of 0 to 10 indicating the importance Google attaches to that site. Mobile SEO Trend in 2018            

                                                                picture credit Mobile SEO audit will mean examining how far search engine optimization has been done for websites with a goal of allowing flawless viewing of the site on mobile devices including smartphones and tablets. After the boom of portable devices, webmasters are more attentive to mobile SEO plan. Now 50 percent or more of Internet users are surfing websites through mobile devices and Google has laid down a policy that explicitly favours mobile-friendly sites with a higher UX. Generally, mobile SEO techniques involve dealing with three different configurations: Responsive Web Design Dynamic Serving Separate URLs Responsive Web Design: In responsive web design, the mobile site will have the same HTML code and content for a URL regardless of the user's device. Responsive web design is popular and recommended by Google itself. It is easy for sharing content from a single URL. Google can easily index single URL for higher search engine rankings. SEO Copy Writing  Irrespective of the changes in search engine algorithms the goals of an SEO copywriter are unlikely to change. The mandate is permanent and about creating compelling content that people can read. SEO copywriting should have a natural flow. There are many practical copywriting tips that can increase search engine ranking without making a business appear overly mechanical. Write punch headline: The headline must attract visitors to read your content and help to kick start the topic’s tone. No Beating around Bush: The text should move straight into the list and hit the topic. Always include the keyword in the title as it is important for search engine rankings and guide readers to click through. Use numbers in titles, particularly odd numbers. Lists are loved by people as it additionally promises something specific and helps in easy scanning. Offer Good Readability: Subheadings guide readers through the content and expresses the content gist to the search engine instantly. Bullet--numbered lists and short paragraphs of 2-3 sentences will expand digestibility of the content and make people read the entire stuff. Use Power words and active voice: Use of power words are a great way to get others excited to influence readers and use active voice makes the content energetic, persuasive and to the point. Write better Meta descriptions: They are the first thing a reader sees underneath the title when a page pops up from results of a search engine like Google. Include external links: To make content valuable in the “eyes” of the search engine to link to external blogs and websites. That will further support the information and validate external sources while making the content crisp and factual. Watch Out for Main SEO Trends 2018 In the highly crowded online space, half of the tough competition can be beaten by being updated about top SEO trends and adapting them fast. Managing Pay Per Click on Digital Strategy The space on the first page of search results is gradually decreasing as Google is giving more space to advertisers. To overcome this trend, two options have to be exercised in SEO. Just rework your keyword ranking strategy or incorporate pay-per-click in the overall digital marketing plan. Voice Search: Voice search facilitated by iPhones and Android smartphones will become 50 percent of all searches by 2020. The new SEO strategy must factor in preparations for handling voice search and pay careful attention to the keywords. Long form keywords will be of more use. That means new alternative to Google’s Keyword Planner must be developed. Content Supreme: Strong content that appeals to the audience is the right way to stand out from competitors. There must be comprehensive SEO optimization in all areas including headers, meta descriptions, title tags, and image titles. Improve User Experience Along with strong content, the overall user experience of a website is crucial for SEO in 2018. Demands on user experience are up. Websites lagging in creativity must ask developers to enhance the user experience in desktop and mobile usage. No Link Spamming Given that Google’s algorithm is more sensitive to link building techniques employed in SEO strategy reduce spammy content as Google will downgrade websites that twist and abuse keywords in content and copy. Do not overdo guest blogging to stray off limits with an eye on amassing links and never end up in black hat SEO methods.

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[herselfportrait]

INTERVIEW: BONES

(This interview originally featured in Soundsphere Magazine)

If you haven’t heard of Bones, where have you been? This London-hailing duo are at the epicentre of a new surge of all-female music they like to call ‘Future Rock’, their music a livewire of confidence and irresistible mettle. Bones certainly have something to say, and they aren’t afraid to say it.

Having already taken their sound across the Atlantic, sweeping from state to state in the US and generating a fanbase that are besotted with their particular brand of magic, what is their attitude to success? “I don’t think we are by any means successful yet. All we are doing is what we love and when people start to respond to it, it’s frickin’ incredible to us. But honestly, I know this sounds so lame, it’s about being happy and enjoying what you do. I think we make our own measurement of success; as long as you’re reaching your own measurement of what success is and you’re happy then that’s all that matters.”

A question we often like to ask here at Soundsphere magazine is whether success is strictly location-centric. In the UK, there is a preconception embedded into our psyche that in order to be successful you have to go to London; as a result, the north’s strong musical identity is neglected as a destination and is only seen as a platform for reaching greater things. “Success is such a subjective thing. If all that you ever wanted was to play in a packed room every night and for people to hear your music, it doesn’t matter where you are because, you know, you could be playing in Cornwall every night in a fisherman’s pub and every night it could be rammed and you could get the energy you need from that. I think for myself being from London and Carmen being from all over the place, in some ways it’s harder coming from a big city where there’s so many people and so many bands and everyone’s successful, the measuring stick is a lot higher. You know, if you’re not selling out the big venues, I think these days you’ve got to take whatever joy you can because the music industry is so strange and so different to what it was. I think you can be anywhere to have success, it just depends on what you’re looking for. I think obviously in LA, there’s loads of opportunities and it’s full of unique, ridiculous people and if that’s what you’re looking for, that’s the version of success you’re going for, then definitely in places in LA you’re going to get that kind of more starry street vibe. Gone are the days when you’d “shoot for the stars” and want to become a huge superstar – a lot of the time that doesn’t make people very happy. You can get so much joy out of so many different versions of “doing well”. Sometimes going for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is a bit dangerous. Finding the joys in day to day is more important. We did a tour and some of the rooms were full and some of the rooms weren’t full, and for any of those people in the less full rooms, that success stands the same because those people bought our tickets and came to see us. It doesn’t matter how full it was. That made us feel successful: that anyone would want to pay to see us play.”

Soundsphere Magazine often works with young people from less fortunate backgrounds to help them to carve a path in the music industry. Bones told us about how your income doesn’t have to dictate your outcome when it comes to being creative: “You can do anything yourself. Whether it’s videos, whether it’s artwork, or what you wear on stage. Number one: you have to do it because you love it, because it’s tough and not simple anymore to be successful. You’ve got to really fucking love it. Number two: you don’t need money to make music videos, you don’t need money to make artwork. All of the programmes you can get yourself. You don’t necessarily even need to go into a studio. Don’t let things like money get in the way of creating. The best work comes from a struggle. Another thing: it’s easy to say but don’t focus on the end game. Make monthly plans, enjoy every moment: “Where do I want to be the next month? Where do I want to be the month after that?” and focus on the short-term goals rather than the long-term ones. Since the music industry is now so volatile, long-term goals can just set you up for disappointment. If it works out, great - but focus on things from day to day that make you really happy and make you enjoy being a musician.”

A question put forward to us from a member of Hull’s Make Noise group, a collective of women and non-binary people working to improve their visibility and safety on the music scene, was how important to Bones consider the visual aspect of their work? Undeniably, Bones have a rough-around-the-edges beauty that is as unapologetic as it is confident – but much more than that, they’re clever: everything is planned to the last detail for effect. Rosie said, “It matters hugely for us. I do all the artwork and work out what we wear and the two come hand in hand. The kind of music we were making gave birth to the visuals. I think for all artists - not just us - it’s important to support the music you’re making with visuals. In a world where people are mostly watching things on Youtube and if your music videos or artwork aren’t reflective of the music you’re producing you’re missing a trick. Everything has to fit into the world you’re creating, otherwise how do you expect other people to join it? Most of it is just a result of enjoying what we do, so it comes quite naturally.”

You’ll recall that the genre Bones like to adhere to self-described Future Rock. This is a heady concoction of classic rock instrumentals and voltaic electrics that between the two of them, would be a tall order to translate from studio to stage. We asked them if that was the case: “Taking our sound on tour was tricky at first. We always were a rock band and that’s the aesthetic we wanted to put across. We work with a producer called Filippo Cimatti and he does all the drums in the studio, so translating that live was the first challenge. We said we’re a rock and roll band from the future. Filippo is incredible at working out how our music will sound live and making sure all the bass is coming through. I can’t say that there are that many challenges aside from that because we’re self-contained. Until we’ve got a huge touring budget where we’re headlining and have two hours to set up our stuff, we’ve got to get there, plug in, and go. When we play live it’s all about making it as simple as possible. No matter how difficult you think it might be to translate your sound to a stage, there’s always a solution. And again, you don’t need money. The less money you have the more creatively you have to think.”

It goes without saying that any kind of team work in any field can be testing – even more so when the work is creative. How do Bones manage to maintain a good work ethic and stay on track? “We’ve set up an infrastructure that allows us to adapt for when things get difficult. We’re pretty chill. We work hard. There are things that we used to find challenging, but we’ve done it all. We’ve played to one person and we’ve played in places full of them; we’ve had no money and we’ve had a bit of money. We’re quite unfazed now. As long as you’ve got your goals in mind, many things can be overcome. Don’t get overwhelmed.” Leading on from that, we were interested in the personal dynamic between Rosie and Carmen themselves and what qualities they find appealing in each other that keeps that infrastructure solid. Rosie said: “I’m more creative in terms of visuals, whereas Carmen is better at actually making them happen. She’s like the man on the ground. Carmen is very technical as well as creative with song writing, knowing all the chords and how to put stuff in a different key. I know nothing about that. We’re a really good team; we have a lot of respect because both us can’t really do what the other does. We all kind of fill a different role.”

Bones are going places, there’s no doubt about it. What legacy do they hope to leave? “Our answer would first and foremost be to empower people. Kicking ass is a by-product of that. For us, it’s all about the little girls and boys coming up to us and saying they’re learning how to play guitar, and even grown men coming up to us and telling us they feel empowered. Music is such a brilliant thing, and if ours can give people a voice and make them feel like they’re not alone, I think that’s what we want to do. The reason why we want to get big (because we will do) is so that we can do that on a greater scale. We just want to make our shows as exciting as possible, not just in a shouty riot grrrl way, but so that we can be as good as we can be in our own right, regardless of typecasts. That, for us, would be success; that would be enough.”