#the trajectory of our world was changed that day in 2018

[hobartshobie]

this hobie design is very special to me

[atzupdates]

[230303] ATEEZ are showing the world another side of K-pop by Taylor Glasby of i-D

Going stratospheric despite their small agency beginnings, the arena headliners discuss manifesting success and their secret ambitions.

ATEEZ have just played a raucous show to 20,000 fans at London’s O2 Arena. Backstage, with the adrenalin still pumping, Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yeosang, Mingi, San, Wooyoung, Yunho and Jongho are talking about football. Mingi, deep-voiced, his cropped hair cotton candy pink, is a Chelsea fan. Jongho, the band’s youngest at 22, follows Spurs. “Which is better?” asks Mingi. My tentative, uninformed guess (“Spurs?”) yields triumphant hoots and disappointed groans, as Jongho reaches over for a fist bump and hi-five. This exchange isn’t so much about football, as it is a reflection of ATEEZ wanting to make everyone they encounter feel welcome – a habit unchanged despite their stratospheric rise through the global pop landscape since debuting in late 2018.

During their week-long stay, they meet fans (known as ATINY) at a signing event, make late-night TikToks beneath the glow of Big Ben, go live on YouTube from a cosy corner of a hotel room, and watch South Korean forward Son Heungmin score at a Tottenham Hotspur game. The club’s home stadium (soon to host Beyoncé’s five London concerts) leaves a lasting impression on Yeosang: “When I saw how big it was and how loud the people were, I thought about how I want to be an artist that can play there,” he says in his slightly raspy voice. Wooyoung’s thoughts, however, linger Stateside in the wake of their most recent EP, Spin Off: From The Witness, earning them a second Top 10 entry on the Billboard 200 in early January. “I don’t know if it’s a team goal or my own,” he admits, “but I do want a #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Hoping for it to happen is the easy part, but what’s necessary is the confidence and bravery in the belief that it will happen.”

ATEEZ’ ambitious nature is an overarching constant to their rapid growth as individuals and artists, useful as both a touchstone of their success and a beacon for their creative output. It was present on their first record, Treasure EP1: All To Zero, which set up a rebellious narrative (now a complex and sprawling alt-world storyline) just as much as it drives their meteoric singles and the exploratory genre-overlaps of their B-sides. As a result, they’ve become a prolific and landmark group. The World EP.1: Movement (their ninth EP, out in July 2022) was ATEEZ’ first platinum-selling release, a major accomplishment for an idol group from a relatively small K-pop agency.

Hongjong, the band’s leader, thinks and talks fast (today, in English) but he pauses to take a moment to muse over their trajectory. “Many people say that I can be proud of being a group from a small company that has made their own way. So if we continually do it like this with ATINY, then in the future people might agree that ATEEZ have made a change in K-pop. I think for now though, we haven’t done enough.”

They hope, notes Seonghwa (the band’s eldest member at 24), that their achievements will eventually be on a broader scale. “We’d love to be the people behind that movement,” he says. Hongjoong nods in agreement: “I want for us to provide people with a better understanding of K-pop worldwide. There are people who continue to say that K-pop is so technical and manufactured but K-pop isn’t just a single genre; each group has a different type of art and I want to show how we express our art to everyone. When I look into the crowd at concerts, I can see so many people of all ages and backgrounds yet stereotypes against the artists and the fans still exist.”

In the early days of ATEEZ, it was evident that Hongjoong and Mingi played a key role alongside their music production team, Edenary, and that a sense of individualism seemed to be encouraged in the group’s performances. These are both now acknowledged as strengths in their arsenal. The Fellowship: Break The Wall, their third world tour, serves to highlight their unified stance while showcasing the members’ idiosyncrasies — from dance style to sense of humour — but also how comfortably they inhabit the stage.

“During our 2019 Expedition tour, we learned a lot about how to perform with every show we did,” says Yunho, an effortlessly impressive dancer. “Then during the pandemic, we studied and developed how to really make the performance; working on the stage configuration and synchronisation of moves amongst ourselves. When we came back to Europe and the US last year for the Fellowship: The Beginning of the End tour, we were able to see how everything we’d worked on and our personal growth came together on that stage.”

For some members, the process has involved looking beyond the stage in order to feel more at home on it. Yeosang’s regimented program of working out put him physically and mentally in a stronger place: “I relieve my stress while exercising, but my breathing got better and my muscles also got better, so overall it connected into a great result on stage.” San and Seonghwa also turned inward, sifting through mental libraries of borrowed or imaginary traits to build and inhabit new characters for their performances.  

“I always have a lot of imaginative thoughts,” says Seonghwa, whose general serenity is replaced by a lightning-strike energy on stage and sparks of playfulness when you least expect it. “Even before sleeping, I tend to think about fantastical things,” he continues. “I use these to decide on how I’m going to be on stage and make sure the atmosphere matches with elements like my outfit.”

“For San, it’s movies and dramas [that inspire his performances], he takes those characters on,” explains Wooyoung. San, widely lauded for having an explosive stage presence, makes his creative choices the day of. “If there’s something I think of that I want to do that day, I share it with everyone to see if it will be okay. Then we create that image together and I simply express myself.”

Wooyoung, who is both mischievous and magnetic, looks to those he admires for guidance. “I mostly look at videos of our seniors – Jimin (BTS), Taeyang (Big Bang), Hoshi (SEVENTEEN), there’s so many – I get inspiration from them and make it my own on stage.” It’s a process also adopted by Yunho. “There are artists that I can pull from, like Rain, learning from them in order to realise my own style,” Yunho says. “On stage, it’s just me, I’m myself, but I have all this in the back of my mind.”

The title of their current tour, The Fellowship: Break The Wall, is derived from last summer’s single, “Guerrilla”, on which the phrase “break the wall” is chanted with increasing ferocity, culminating in a screamo-style vocal outro. It’s one of the show’s many high points, with ATINY putting their everything into screaming along with the band. The atmosphere grows feverish, the stage bathed in red light as the giant screens flash through the dystopian city of their storyline. It’s unbridled to the point of being transcendental. San grins, reflecting on this moment. “It’s difficult to explain,” he says of the experience, while Hongjoong sees in it the removal of cultural barriers through music. “I see ATINY during ‘Guerrilla’ singing along really loud and really tough,” he says. “They come to our show, they memorise our lyrics, they shout. That’s how they’re breaking the wall, by coming together.”

Since last October, ATEEZ have been playing arenas across Asia, the US and Europe, adding extra nights as they go in order to accommodate the demand, and garnering rave reviews — even from broadsheet media, for whom K-pop remains a confusing phenomenon — in the process. But their feet, heart and heads remain earthbound. “Nothing in this world is guaranteed,” says Wooyoung. “We’re always grateful for everything. It’s something we’ve discussed as a group, but it’s all thanks to ATINY’s love and support that we’re where we are now. To become global artists and a good influence on even more people, we have to hold a sense of responsibility to give our all on stage and deliver our truth. Honestly, it’s less about dreaming of an unknown future and more about how we have to work harder so we can go even higher and pave our own path.”

ATEEZ’ success is holistic in form: personality, performance and music. A harmonious but intriguing balance of authenticity and polish. Their impressive discography features recurring motifs (waves, moon, light) and ideologies (power, truth, rebellion, movement), yet Mingi and Hongjoong — who have written lyrics on every ATEEZ track so far — admit they’re still learning how best to combine what’s on their minds with what’s conducive to furthering their storyline. It is, they agree, not always an easy task.

“It’s absolutely hard to focus on so many themes,” says Hongjoong. “Sometimes my brain stops, so I watch movies or our music videos again. I think too much when I write but, after that work, the lyrics have more power for the fans who know our storyline; they get different emotions and a different effect when I’ve done that work well. It’s really hard but it’s important to do.”

Hongjoong had an epiphany when he picked up a camera while touring last year. “There's such fierce competition – not just in music but all industries – so if there’s no purpose, I’ve always found it really hard to create freely. We have continuous deadlines. I do the first album, then the second, and once I complete the second album I have to start on the third. I’ve found my hobby with a film camera. I walk around taking photos and I can see that even if I have no immediate purpose, I can create something.” It’s something that’s changed his approach to songwriting. “These days, when I write lyrics or produce a song, I just start from zero,” he explains. “Before, if we had a pirate theme, for example, I would start with that as a topic. That’s why I found it so hard.” He now works backward, getting down exactly what he wants to say before connecting it to the narrative markers. “It’s quite different but it’s more comfortable for me and the results are better than before.”

Hongjoong and Mingi, the group’s rappers, point to last year’s "Halazia” as the hardest storyline track to pen. “The atmosphere of the song is already quite difficult and complex,” Hongjoong notes, looking over to Mingi, who explains his process of cataloguing his many thoughts to later draw from. “I write down a lot of them as memos on my phone, so I always go back to them to see if they match what we’re going through (as a group); that’s how I write my lyrics,” he says. “Sometimes I’ll think of it as writing a script, to really get into that persona."

Mingi and Hongjoong are not the only collectors and creators in ATEEZ. “In my case,” says Seonghwa, “I always memo whenever I hear a line from a song or a line from a poem that I like, just for me to look back on. I’m the type to jot down my feelings if I experience something special. These help me when I write letters or want to say something to ATINY because I’m able to better word my feelings.” San, meanwhile, cites legendary South Korean poet 나 태주 (Ra Tae-joo) as an influence. “I love poems too — I’ve been writing my own but I keep them to myself,” he says. “They can be about my feelings on a certain day, the weather, objects or characters. I’m able to lay out my feelings like this.”

Now in their fourth year, ATEEZ remain as set on the idea of constantly challenging themselves as they were when they were hungry rookies. Take Jongho for example, whose rich, gut-punching vibrato forms the backbone of many of their songs. When he listened back to The World EP.1: Movement for the first time, he admits that he was “worried because my voice was used in ways that I hadn’t tried before, and I wondered how my vocal colour was going to fit”. He sat down with their producers and worked through “how we could still make it still an ATEEZ song and match my tone, while trying something new. I’ve gained more confidence — it makes me want to do better for all the albums to come.”

Hongjoong laughs. “It means our next albums are, uh, a big thing,” he reveals, knowingly. “There are so many good K-pop and pop stars that if we want to go higher, we have to have more good songs and try other genres, too.” But even as he muses on ATEEZ’ continuing expansion, the idea of one day becoming ‘too big to fail’ doesn’t appeal to him. “No, absolutely not that,” he says, gaze steady. “I want ATINY to be able to tell us if something is bad. I like it when they do this because we don’t want to just give them our popularity. I want to give them good quality, not just a song or a video or a performance.” Does the fact that music is subjective; that no single song can please everybody, bring some comfort? “We try to find the middle ground,” Hongjoong says. “The first thing to note is that if we think it’s really great but someone else says that they think it’s trash, then we don’t really care what they think. But when we’re unsure and questioning and someone says, ‘Yeah, it’s bad’, then ok, we go back to square one.”

The thought of ATEEZ honing their creative output through repeated baptisms of fire might well upset some fans, but the band are not only accustomed to the fame game’s highs and lows but wholly pragmatic in the face of its shadows. So when Wooyoung says he’s aware of “many people” who openly disparage their music, Hongjoong shrugs a little as he responds. “Yeah, there are. We talk about this a lot together, but if there are many more haters than before, it just means we’re more popular than before,” he reasons.

The group finds positive equilibrium via a heartfelt focus on ATINY, and all that comes with being an idol group who are years into a very successful career. “When we look at line-ups now, we’re closing the show,” says Wooyoung. “And as we perform, we see the other artists watching us, and we realise we have more responsibility. Firstly to ATINY, who have been loving us and supporting us from the start, but there’s also a responsibility to spread K-pop and Korean culture because we’re travelling around the world as Korean artists.”

One of ATEEZ many dualities is that while they have big, burning aspirations — Billboard charts, Grammys, performing at the Super Bowl — that make them look at each other starry-eyed, some of their ambitions are precious in a different way: they’re simpler, more immediate. “I’d like to be happier than the day before,” says Mingi. “And I want for us to never change our sincerity toward music and gratitude to our fans,” adds Seonghwa. This is echoed by San, who adds that ultimately, “I’d be satisfied if ATEEZ’ name came up when someone asks who the coolest artist is at the end of the year.”

“I want to make more events with ATINY,” says Hongjoong. “That’s a goal for this year because we always miss them and they always miss us.” Jongho, sitting in the middle of the group, is smiling. He’s been manifesting a more personal ambition. “By next winter I want to be able to snowboard,” he says. “I want to buy my own board, go down the mountain and not fall.”

[lgenvs3000w23]

Ethics

My personal ethics related to nature interpretation are driven by the concept of preservation for future generations, and hugely driven by my sense of responsibility for our planet's well-being. The driver of responsibility is multi-faceted: taking accountability for one’s previous actions, as well as taking an authoritative position to spark future action and educate others. As a nature interpreter and environmentally conscious person in general, I am the most influenced by an unconventional driver: fear. When I think of 15 years in the future, I am overwhelmed by a sense of uncertainty and sadness because I do not know what the state of the world will be, based on the trajectory we are currently on. I have been obsessed with climate change biology, biodiversity, wildlife management, and forest ecology, since starting my undergrad 3 years ago, which has subsequently transformed my hobbies and interests outside of school into hiking, camping, and exploring nature. I have developed an intensive love for nature that I want everyone to experience as well; I love bringing friends, family, and my boyfriend on adventures and showing them my favorite beaches, trails, and little secret spots in the forest. However, I fear I will not be able to do these things with my children one day because of habitat degradation and loss. This is not an irrational fear, even the textbook describes climate change as a looming threat that requires action and the need for policy-makers worldwide to better understand the importance of climate change (Beck et al., 2018).

I have always been interested in eco-friendly lifestyle choices such as zero waste, carbon-neutral practices, and ethically sourced food for the preservation of our planet. When I was much younger I thought that everyone had to be 100% plastic-free and make sacrifices for our planet, but my beliefs have shifted… I still believe that it is everyone’s responsibility to help save our planet but I can recognize that unfortunately, even my most intense efforts on an individual scale were lackluster compared to the negative contributions of large corporations and governments. 

My values are a very strong driver in my life, as my beliefs on the importance of climate change action and the preservation of the planet have had me in debate lately on what I want to do for my graduate studies. I am not sure if I want to do my Bachelor of Education (as originally planned) or a master's degree to contribute to climate change research. My dream research would be to develop improved carbon sequestration modeling, specifically for agriculture. This is a field of research very dear to my heart because it is the intersection of my major and minors (Biological Science, Mathematics, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) & Environmental Analysis), as well as being in demand research for policy-makers to set accurate goals. As the textbook states, a key role of nature interpretation is helping people accurately perceive the world (Beck et al., 2018). We are currently in a situation where we have inaccurate carbon storage and sequestration models in agriculture (and other areas such as the Arctic). This research could severely influence our carbon capture goals and efforts needed for Canada to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, as promised in The Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act (Government of Canada, 2024).

Kinsky, G. (2023). Tractor moving forwards with histograms and data in the background. Unearthing the Potential of Agriculture in Carbon Sequestration. Agritask. Retrieved from https://start.agritask.com/blog/carbon-sequestration-in-agriculture/. 

I feel horrible guilt about climate change, habitat degradation, and the loss of biodiversity, which has made me feel obligated to help “save the planet” as it is partially my responsibility. For so many problems in the world, we think things are not our responsibility and that someone else more qualified or higher up-the-food-chain will come along and fix them, but this research seems perfect for me to tackle because I am very passionate about the issue and my entire undergrad lends itself to this research. 

Now you might be thinking “So what’s the problem? What is stopping you from pursuing this research?” 

I am in a constant debate between becoming a teacher and prioritizing raising children and starting a family young or if I should throw myself into academia by prioritizing research for the next several years. On the one hand, I would love to pour my entire heart and soul into raising children and being a nature interpreter for them and my students, on the other hand, I could devote all of my energy to the longevity of the planet which could benefit the entire world. Ethier way, I am very motivated as a nature interpreter to spread awareness about climate change and reverse the degradation we have done to the planet, intending to preserve a healthy planet for generations to come, because what type of world would we be bringing children into if we do not crack down and make changes now? 

This blog has been incredibly intimidating for me because of how deep the prompt is this week. I have completely rewritten his blog 2.5 times since Monday; it has sent me into crazy spirals doubting my entire life plan and rearranging my planned courses, I even set up a meeting with an academic advisor. So after a week of wrestling with my personal ethics and goals/responsibilities as a nature interpreter, I have realized that I cannot drive into a master's degree out of guilt and that I can feel satisfied with my contributions to helping the planet without compromising my life plan and other personal beliefs. Our textbook mentions the importance of teaching people that the individual behavior of everyone contributes to both the problems and solutions of climate change (Beck et al., 2018). The best approach for me to accomplish my goals and feel I have done my part is to use the skills I've developed as a nature interpreter in this class! I will encourage others to see the beauty in the planet and help them take action against climate change as a nature interpreter. I will help spread awareness about climate change through word-of-mouth and social media, be active in politics and talk to my municipal representatives/elected officials, lead the eco-club at the school I will be teaching at someday, and make eco-friendly household changes like investing in energy-efficient appliances, reducing water waste, having a garden, composting and shopping locally. I will do my part to tackle climate change by taking the powerful role of a nature interpreter and leading by example!

I would like to end by sharing my favourite family photo: three generations of my family (me, my sister, my mom, and my grandma). I love this photo because it represents the biggest motivator of my personal ethics: the prosperity of future generations. 

References

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage : for a better world. Sagamore Venture.

Government of Canada. (2024, February 2). Net-zero emissions by 2050. Canada.ca. https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/climate-plan/net-zero-emissions-2050.html

[tomorrowusa]

Some people just can't quit Twitter despite it having become a far right dystopia ruled by a filthy rich narcissist. The Twitter of the past is dead. It's time to mourn and move on.

For journalists, who moved onto Twitter early and helped define it as the premier digital location for news to be made and broken, the death of Twitter would be big – the end of an era. That’s especially true for journalists like us, who entered the profession after Twitter’s 2006 launch and built our careers at digital outlets, where Twitter defined the stories we covered and the rhythm of our days. [ ... ] Now, Twitter is handing us another assignment: how to write a eulogy for a platform that generated so much hope and harm.

Several journalists at The Guardian shared their thoughts.

@kari_paul, tech reporter, joined Twitter in May 2011 As a young news intern, I obsessively searched the platform to gather information about what was happening on the ground, trying to prove myself and make it in my career while believing wholeheartedly in the power of free information to change the world. Like many others, in the years since, I have watched with dread as the internet has instead facilitated the slow and painful destruction of democracy, attacks on safety, and a dissolution of our trust in one another – and in reality itself. In many ways, Twitter’s fall from grace coincided with my evolution from a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed journalism intern to a jaded tech reporter, all too aware of the ways in which unbridled surveillance capitalism has been allowed to destroy and divide us.

@loisbeckett, LA correspondent, joined Twitter in February 2009 By late 2018, it was already clear that the platform was on a dangerous trajectory, and that the place I had wasted the first decade of my adulthood would soon become a place where it was no longer safe to go. There had been neo-Nazis in the bar for a long time, and increasingly therewere more of them, and it seemed likely, one way or another, that the brownshirts would take over the place. As Twitter becomes a failed state, I’ve ducked my head inside a few platforms, but the decor is tacky and the ideas are stale. I expect I will find my way instead to some new placid digital garden, where elderly media professionals like myself can trade memories of the amazing dunks and main characters of years past and avoid talking too much about the present.

@JMBooyah, Senior tech reporter, joined Twitter in 2011 Today, Twitter is a ghost town. The spice, the joy, the pressure to be funny has gone. Many users are mad. Paid subscribers get top billing – their tweets are pushed to the tops of people’s feeds, they get to tweet more characters. People who no one would ever question whether they are who they say they are have their accounts verified, you know, just in case. Twitter always had a tendency to be an echo chamber, but you got to choose the one you wanted to be in. Today it’s still an echo chamber, but the main voice you’re hearing is Elon Musk’s.

One of them understands that it is now a digital Titanic but refuses to get into a lifeboat.

@abenewrites, gun violence reporter, joined Twitter in 2010 I am here to pre-mourn the messiest place on the net. [ ... ] My journey with Twitter has been long and strange and I am not yet ready to jump from the sinking ship.

Nostalgia and hopium does still keep a lot of people there. But as Twitter descends even further into hate speech, conspiracy theories, far right fanaticism, and capricious rule changes, you increasingly become associated with its public meltdown.

As Amanda Silberling and Alyssa Stringer put it in TechCrunch...

"Welcome to Elon Musk’s Twitter, where the rules are made up and the check marks don’t matter."

[yippeeyeekayay]

The Essence of Expression

A Formalist Analysis of ‘Two Words’ by Isabel Allende

Was there ever a time when one wished they had said more? Perhaps, friendships would have continued, passions would have rekindled, or unrequited loves would have been reciprocated. But they held back. By failing to say those words, the trajectory of their life has changed. Without a doubt, words determine lives: they determine relationships, academics, and passions (Kidd, 2018).

This message can be seen in Isabelle Allende’s “Two Words,” written in 1989 as part of her short story collection The Stories of Eva Luna (Zaravich, 2023). The story focuses on Belisa Crepusculario, a woman who sells words, and her encounter with the Colonel, an infamous rebel. "Two Words" utilizes words as a tool, emphasizing their role in determining the course of someone’s life.

As seen in the case of the Colonel’s speech, words can be used to achieve power and influence. Before his oration, he was a man of terror that no villager would ever dream of voting for, but with his passion and Belisa’s skillful speech, he could garner the country's favor. This only shows the impact of words, allowing someone to achieve their goals and feel like they belong (p. 4).

In the case of the two words Belisa bestowed upon the Colonel, they meant more than power and influence. They were whispers of her true feelings for him, words of love. Many people believe that the two words she told him were ‘Te Amo,’ meaning ‘I love you’ in Spanish (Zaravich, 2023). Though it is unconfirmed, we can be certain that the two words she told him symbolize her love for the Colonel, resulting in his thoughts being overtaken by her for the next few days. With those two words, she revealed her passion for him, which was later shown to be reciprocated (p. 6).

This story is set apart by its unique world-building. In this universe, words are products that can be sold and owned. This is jarring at first since words are free to use in our reality, but it is treated normally within the text and the sense of strangeness eventually disappears. This element serves as the foundation for worldbuilding, emphasizing the overall theme–words can break someone into a million pieces and put them back together again.

Consequently, another altered element within this story is speeches. It is unrealistic for the Colonel to buy a speech and for it to suddenly change the public’s perception of him. However, in a world where words are objects of power, rather than feeling out of place, it feels completely natural within the setting.

Along with speeches and words, the concept of a president was rendered in a new light. A righteous and conscientious man would come into mind when thinking about a president, but the Colonel is a vigilante, infamous for his battles and crimes (Presidential Character, 2024). Judging from the character of the Colonel, it is likely that he would never have been able to communicate his passion without Belisa’s help. People were convinced to vote for him because Belisa’s speech allowed him to instill hope and ignite passion within the people of the country. It is absurd but fits the story, especially considering the emphasis placed on the power of words.

Even if it is just two words, a simple utterance can determine the course of someone’s life. ‘Two Words’ only reflects reality, wherein every word is a tool that can set dreams afloat, be it an unrequited romance or a passion for their country. After all, if a speech could paint a warlord as a president, who knows what else it can do?

References:

[@leave-me-colourless]. (n.d.). Source: leave-me-colourless. [Post]. Tumblr. https://www.tumblr.com/leave-me-colourless/171490784314

[@positively-mine]. (2023). Additional dividers I use & credits! [Post]. Tumblr. https://positively-mine.tumblr.com/post/714687643768799232/additional-dividers-i-use-credits/

Allende, I. (1989). Two Words. For The Love of Short Stories. https://fortheloveofshortstories.wordpress.com/2016/09/01/two-words/

Kidd, T. (2018). Words That Changed History. Full Focus. https://fullfocusplanner.com/words-changed-history/

Presidential Character. (2024). American Government Online Textbook. www.ushistory.org/gov/7e.asp

Zaravich, E. (2023). Isabel Allende’s “Two Words.” JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/isabel-allendes-two-words/

[frontproofmedia]

The Influential Intersection of Tech and Consumerism

By Joseph Correa

Follow @Frontproofmedia!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id))(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

How Technology Innovation Shapes Modern Consumer Behavior

In today's fast-paced world of continuous technological innovation, the way we, as consumers, make choices has become intrinsically linked to advancements in the digital landscape. From groundbreaking new technologies to the rising fame of YouTube influencers, this intersection of innovation and consumer behavior has created a dynamic space that shapes our daily decisions.

Tracing the Tech Trajectory

To understand how we've arrived at this point, let's go on a journey through some pivotal moments in recent tech history:

The Rise of the iPhone (2007)

This revolutionary device put the world at people's fingertips, forever changing how we communicate, shop, find information, and more. Smartphones have arrived.

The Birth of Social Commerce (2010)

With buy buttons integrated into social platforms like Facebook and Twitter, socializing collided with shopping. Retail therapy was now just a click away.

The Virtual Reality Big Bang (2015)

VR headsets provided out-of-this-world immersive experiences, offering marketers new ways to let consumers engage with their brand up close and personal.

AI Hits the Mainstream (2018)

Artificial intelligence began shaping our daily choices in subtle but significant ways, from personalized recommendations to voice assistants.

The Pandemic Digital Acceleration (2020)

COVID-19 lockdowns thrust e-commerce, video conferencing, and virtual solutions into the spotlight practically overnight. Digital adoption fast-forwarded into the future.

The New Consumer Landscape

As innovative technologies continue pushing boundaries, they transform consumer behavior. On-demand access has rewritten the rules for purchasing decisions. With endless information at their fingertips, modern consumers can easily research products, compare pricing, read reviews from experts and other buyers, and make informed choices with just a few taps or clicks.

Empowered Yet Overwhelmed

This new omnichannel retail environment empowers consumers by providing more transparency and options. However, such abundance can also lead to decision fatigue, anxiety, and even regret over purchases. From deal hunting to keeping up with digital trends, consumers must navigate increasingly complex factors weighing into their choices.

Influencers Chime In

Enter YouTube influencers. These popular content creators have become modern-day tastemakers. By fostering perceived connections with their followers, they leverage that trust to sway purchasing choices more than traditional ads.

Authentic or Sponsored?

Many influencers initially won over audiences by keeping it real. Yet, as earning potential grew, so did sponsored content. This floods viewers with a whole new layer of marketing to weed through. Discerning whether recommendations are authentic or advertising becomes part and parcel of consuming influencer content.

The Human Component

Behind every tech breakthrough and each buying decision lies actual human beings with their own habits, emotions, and experiences. AI may predict our tastes while influencers steer our wallets, but ultimately, we still choose our path.

Navigating the Digital Crossroads

As consumers and creators converge at the intersection of technology and e-commerce, tensions arise, but so do opportunities. By acknowledging challenges, harnessing innovations, and reconnecting with our humanity, collective understanding and empowerment wait at the crossroads. Which way shall we choose to turn?

I've formatted this into logical sections, used relevant header tags, incorporated strategic keywords and added emphasis in places, and structured it for maximum scannability by users and search engines. Please let me know if you'd like me to modify or improve anything!

[lucasfights]

Enigma

H​ow many people successfully change their trajectory? How many people wake up one day, see the path they're being led down, and shift? Honestly, I don't have an exact number, but my guess, is not many; Why do we, as humans, subject ourselves to these narrow paths society tries to guide us down? Society, in desperate need of control, and us, scared to stand out, be different, and forge our own paths.

C​harles Oliveira is now one of the greatest fighters of all-time, but it didn't start that way.

I​t started in 1989, when Charles was a small baby, born to illiterate parents. His family lived in poverty, and at the age of 7 Charles was diagnosed with a rheumatic fever, and heart murmurs. The story goes that he couldn't be released from the hospital for months, and his mom would leave the hospital only for work, going to sleep, and waking up at his bedside.

When Charles was 12, and after a slow recovery, a neighbor took him to a Jiu-Jitsu class and Charles fell in love. Charles is grateful to this man to this day, but unfortunately he wasn't able to see Charles in his final form. Only two years after starting Charles on his life quest, he was killed in the crossfire of a shootout between a gang, and the police.

C​harles grieved, but continued, making his way to the premier fight promotion in the world, the UFC. Aged only 21, Charles was a fiery prospect, and UFC diehards were keen to see what this young Brazilian could accomplish.

C​harles' fight results were as follows : W W L D L W W L L W W W L W L L W L

I​t's now 2018, Charles is in his late 20s, he's fought in two divisions, and every fight the UFC has scheduled to put him over, he's lost. Charles Oliveira was looking at a career as a gatekeeper, at best. Then something magical happened. Charles went on an 8 fight win-streak, catapulting himself into the Lightweight Division's upper echelon, and just 3 years later he was fighting for a title.

How does a guy with 18 fights, and a near 60% win rate, turn his life around, and become a dominant lightweight? And how does a guy destined for mediocrity find a way to reach the top? He reshapes his identity.

Y​our destiny is determined by your subconscious. Our innermost thoughts permeate our lives whether we want them to, or not. For you to change the trajectory of your life you must reallign how you view yourself, and through that, the world. Charles stopped seeing himself as just another fighter, someone not worthy of the crown. He changed his habits, his thought patterns, and most importantly his team saw the champion in him before he did. The encouragement, and the motivation he got from his coaches and teammates, was priceless to his journey. As he compiled hours in the gym, and wins inside the octagon, he started to believe in himself, and that became the difference.

It's now M​ay 15th 2021, Charles Oliveira gets knocked down in the first round, survives the onslaught, comes back in the second, and knocks out Michael Chandler, to become the Undisputed Lightweight Champion of the world, and the rest my friends, is history.

[brewyork]

Canceled by Covid: the NYC brewery plans shelved by the pandemic

A rendering of Collective Arts' proposed brewery in Gowanus in 2019

Before the pandemic, there were several breweries waiting in the wings in New York City, some I had even written about back in early 2020. But when the entire world stopped for Covid-19, it changed the trajectory of many things, including our city’s beer scene. Whether because of the uncertainty of the pandemic, a downturn in the economy, or simply a changing world, some breweries shelved their plans to open new venues in New York City over the past two years. Here’s a look at what could’ve been:

Collective Arts Brooklyn: remember noticing before the pandemic how much beer from Hamilton, Ontario’s Collective Arts you saw around town? That was them creating buzz for a 15,000 square foot brewery, restaurant, and performance space in Gowanus that had been first announced in 2018 and was first slated for a mid-year opening in 2019. As happens with nearly all brewery projects in New York City, project delays lasted until 2020, and the pandemic put an ultimate end to this project when the license application was pulled later that year.

Sixpoint Brewery Gowanus: when we went into lockdown, construction was already underway on a new home for Sixpoint under the F and G Train at Smith-9th Streets in Brooklyn. The plans included an on-site brewery, kitchen, and rooftop bar, plus a coolship and foeders for wild fermentation. Brooklynites won’t walk away from this loss completely empty-handed — a new taproom at City Point in downtown Brooklyn is well under construction and is slated to open later this year, and the brewery has teased a larger taproom in Manhattan next year.

Long Haul Brewery: when Braven Brewing closed their short-lived East Williamsburg outpost in early 2019, the space remained vacant for a few months before a new tenant took over the space and the brewhouse. Long Haul briefly opened in late 2019 for coffee and breakfast while it awaited its license from the State Liquor Authority, but closed its doors in January of 2020 and never reopened as a brewery. These days, you won’t find beer making in the space — you’ll find tortilla making, as it’s where Sobre Masa opened in 2021.

The Hull by Blue Point: even a brewery with the backing of Anheuser-Busch wasn’t immune to the pandemic. This subterranean space in Brooklyn was set to open in the basement of Seamore’s on Water Street in DUMBO. It was so close to opening that press — myself included — previewed the space, which was nearly complete, in late 2019. The tasting room would’ve poured beers from their electric three-barrel brewing system alongside Blue Point’s larger batches from outside the city. The license application was ultimately pulled in 2020.

Despite these losses, one brewery project from that 2020 list is still coming to fruition: Gun Hill Publick House, a new space in Industry City, Brooklyn that’s an offshoot of their brewery up in the Bronx. You can follow them on Instagram for updates as construction progresses, and I’ll let you know when it’s open here, too.

[ilovejevsjeans]

How Olympian race engineer Tom Stallard helped coach Daniel Ricciardo to Monza victory

Daniel Ricciardo and the ever-improving McLaren team were seen as a match made in Heaven ahead of the start of the 2021 season. But while it all came good at the Italian Grand Prix, Ricciardo’s win at Monza was a product of hours and hours of unseen work, and some confidence-shaking moments along the way. F1 Staff Writer Greg Stuart sat down with Tom Stallard, the man who’s race engineered Ricciardo throughout 2021, to trace the arc of that breakthrough Monza win.

You could make a strong case that Lap 52 of the Monaco Grand Prix marked the nadir in Daniel Ricciardo’s first season with McLaren. As the Australian exited Sainte Devote and accelerated up the hill, he dutifully jinked left to allow team mate Lando Norris to lap him, Norris acknowledging the gesture with a wave from his cockpit. Norris would go on to finish third. Ricciardo, who’d brilliantly won in Monaco just three years earlier for Red Bull, finished out of the points in 12th.

That was May – and yet just four months later, Ricciardo had taken McLaren back to the winner’s circle for the first time since 2012, capping off a superb Italian Grand Prix weekend with an emotional victory at Monza, and leading Norris home in a McLaren one-two.

How did that happen? Ricciardo’s race engineer Tom Stallard has been the man F1 fans have heard soothing and chivvying Ricciardo over team radio this year, a year in which success has been harder to come by than many had anticipated – and he was naturally delighted when Ricciardo combined all his learnings to take the assured win in Monza, his first victory since that 2018 Monaco triumph.

“I was super proud,” Stallard tells me as we chat in the paddock in Sochi, “because we've worked really hard this year to be honest, and it was nice to see him executing everything that we'd talked about and worked on.

“Obviously he did a fantastic job, but he actually did the job that we'd been talking about and working on together. He's a top driver, obviously, joined our team as a top driver, but we’ve actually had to work at it quite hard and in Monza, he really executed that.”

Why didn’t Ricciardo and McLaren gel immediately? Ricciardo’s stellar second half of 2020 with Renault – during which he took two podiums and finished every race in the points – combined with McLaren’s sharp upward trajectory and the arrival of Mercedes power units at the team for 2021, meant that many earmarked the Ricciardo/McLaren combination as a potential surprise package this season.

But despite claiming points in his first four races for the team – including convincingly leading Norris home in Barcelona – right from the off, Stallard says, there were issues.

“I think the Bahrain race [where Ricciardo finished P7 to Norris’ P4 on his McLaren debut] he did quite well, but that was with a lot of time in the car in the [Bahrain] test – I mean, not a lot of time but a bit of time at the test, and a circuit that suits him well,” says Stallard.

“And then at Imola [where Ricciardo finished P6 as Norris claimed a podium in P3] we kind of exposed the problems, if you like, that he was having with the car, and we understood the struggle that we would have.”

As you might expect from an engineer of Stallard’s experience (he joined McLaren back in 2008) his first reaction to the situation wasn’t to panic, but to put in place processes to help bring Ricciardo on.

“We put in place a plan of what we needed to do differently and how we needed to react. And since then actually, we've been on an upward trajectory from that point, but you don't always necessarily see that from the outside.

“There have been a number of races where after the race, he's been frustrated and I've been reassuring him that actually we are seeing progress, and we don't have the good results yet but they're coming.”

So what was it about the MCL35M that wasn’t suiting Ricciardo and his driving style?

“Ultimately,” says Stallard, “all the drivers would choose the same thing, which is very good rear stability, and front end that increases as you add steer. That is totally universal, but the truth is that having a car that does that is the Holy Grail of Formula 1 design; every team up and down this paddock is trying to do that, and succeeding to a greater or lesser extent.

“We have a car that understeers and that's been something that he's had to adapt to and modify his natural approach to get the best out of.”

One thing Stallard is at pains to point out is that, for all of Ricciardo’s famously insouciant manner, beneath the gigawatt smile there lurks one of the world’s top racing drivers, with a work ethic to match.

“Obviously Daniel seems like the most laidback guy in the world,” says Stallard, “but behind the scenes, under the water, the duck feet are going quite quickly.

“Because we were in lockdown and he was in Los Angeles [over the winter break], we did most of his initial integration virtually, and during that phase, he learnt all the switches, what all the toys do, how to use the steering wheel.

"We spent a lot of time talking through the strategy with Daren [Stanley], our strategist. And actually all the communication side, all of the switches, all the controls, he had completely down by the time he went to winter testing.

“He's been in the factory loads, doing the simulator, partly working on his driving with that, but also giving feedback to the team about what he wants from the car,” adds Stallard.

“And at no point during the phase where he was getting up to speed with our package did he question that there was any kind of, the team backing the other driver, or the engineers didn't know what they were doing, or the car was set-up wrong. He just knuckled down, got on with the work, and I think that the whole team has a lot of respect for him for that.”

Ricciardo endured an up-and-down run of form leading up to the summer break, the lows including a tough Styrian Grand Prix where he finished 13th to Norris’ fifth and a Hungarian Grand Prix where first lap contact with Charles Leclerc hobbled his McLaren, leaving him 11th at the flag.

But Ricciardo appeared rejuvenated after the summer break, nailing his best qualifying of the year at that point with P4 on the grid in Belgium – while after a race to forget for the whole McLaren team in Zandvoort, Ricciardo then put together what would ultimately be his winning weekend in Monza, qualifying P5 on Friday, racing to P3 in Saturday’s F1 Sprint before claiming that sensational victory in the race.

Indeed, it was Ricciardo’s anger at qualifying P5 on Friday at Monza (and just 0.006s off his team mate) that seemed to indicate that a change had come in the Australian’s expectations of the level he should be performing at – with Stallard noting the key difference in Ricciardo since the summer…

“I think the ‘frustration at being P5’ thing was there all along,” says Stallard. “For me, the difference with the break is that it helped him not overthink it, so he's adapted better to the way you have to drive our car without it being completely conscious every corner, what you need to do.

Daniel's easy to work with, because if you give him a problem to solve, he goes away and works at it, so the work ethic's always been good, which makes life easy,” adds Stallard. “He doesn't defer responsibility away from himself; he takes a lot on the chin, which means some of what I've had to do is keeping him, let's say, up, because he's taken a lot of responsibility for things himself.

“But from my side, that means he's great to work with, and that collaboration is very strong. And when we got to Monza, we both had a lot of confidence in each other, so that made the result in Monza feel very natural.”

Going forward

Ricciardo leading McLaren to their first victory since Jenson Button’s 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix triumph, and their first one-two since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix, was a fantastic moment for all at McLaren, and one that was warmly welcomed by most in the F1 paddock.

But Stallard was under no illusions during our chat in Sochi that Ricciardo is still on a journey to being fully comfortable in McLaren’s MCL35M car this season – a point Ricciardo would then back up himself a few days later when, despite finishing P4 in the Russian Grand Prix, he admitted that “there is still some stuff missing”.

“In Monza, the circuit and our technical package aligned well,” says Stallard, “and actually last year we came second there, so it's a circuit that suits our car and obviously Daniel did a very good job putting it all together, and the strategy was correct.

“He now understands how to drive the car; I think he's felt that himself rather than it just being explained to him, which means we have made another step. But it's a much more linear process than it appears from the outside.”

What Ricciardo does have in his corner, meanwhile – apart from the work ethic and talent that have made him an eight-time Grand Prix winner – is a race engineer in Stallard who has been an elite athlete himself, forming part of Great Britain’s silver medal-winning men’s eight rowing crew at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

And Stallard believes that his own experience as an athlete can help get the best out of Ricciardo, who signed to McLaren on a three-year deal that will take him into Formula 1’s bold new era of regulations with the team.

“In this sport, 20 years ago, the race engineers were very much engineers,” says Stallard. “But now we are coaches, and so we're using the data to guide the drivers in how to get the best out of the car.

“So I see myself now as a coach and I have a lot of experience of being coached, whereas a lot of the other race engineers… don't necessarily have the same experience of being coached. And I think that does give me an insight in terms of the struggles that people have when being coached, especially in a sport where on the way up, drivers often aren't coached that much and it gives me a good ability to manage the pressure and stay calm in what would be a pressured situation as well.

“And I also think that on any journey, although I describe it as a linear process, there's still ups and downs, and there'll be events in the future that are more difficult and that we'll have to respond to and react to. It would be naive to think it's plain sailing from here – but I think that it's a good next step.”(X)

[comrade-meow]

The commodification of women and “enclosure” of sexuality through prostitution, widespread porn and the resulting fallout led to the next frontier: biology itself, womanhood itself. Transgenderism leverages the mind/body split that rape culture promotes by introducing a new form of biological enclosure. With transgenderism, the reality of sex is no longer something natural that we simply share in common, but a place for Big Pharma to set up shop in the name of “identity.”

I have a “big picture” brain. I’m unsatisfied with superficial explanations of current events and political trends, and only understand them once I’ve placed them in the context of deeper historic trajectories, social patterns and human drives. Without these explanations, I remain unsatisfied and questioning (and can’t be sold on false solutions either).

Transgenderism is one contemporary political trend that requires big picture thinking to comprehend—because there are no casual explanations for why, in less than a decade, people all over the world have started to accept a set of bizarre and contradictory ideas: that sex is a spectrum, that sex can be changed, and/or that sex is not real at all, only gender identity is—all to justify the political mantra, “transwomen are women.” This mantra is simply an assertion of male privilege, that men should be able to claim female identity if they want to, without needing sound justification. How did it spread so fast?

I have just finished writing a series of books called the Brief, Complete Herstory (2021) which offers a continuous narrative of history from the Big Bang to neoliberalism. It discusses pre-patriarchal cultures around the world, and the creation of patriarchy, church and state, capitalism, and neoliberalism. Only the last volume mentions transgenderism, but writing these books has helped me put the transgender trend, among others, in context.

One thing that is clear to me is that the idea that men can become women is not new—it began when patriarchal religions insisted that God, the creator of life, is male. Before this, if “god” had a sex, it was commonly female: she who birthed the world. The idea of god as male-produced all sorts of weird stories and myths to capture the imagination: like the one about Aphrodite being born out of Zeus’ head, and Jesus being born after an “immaculate conception” involving a male sky god and Mary, a sexless virgin (trans activists might call her an “incubator”).

Another thing that strikes me, taking this long view of history, is a succession of waves of “enclosure” or colonisation that cause enough social and economic fallout to prepare the ground for the next, more intimate, “enclosure.” The pattern begins earlier, but if we start with the enclosure movement of the 15th and 16th centuries, also called the “privatisation of the commons,” it is easy to place transgenderism in the context of a historic trajectory. I’ve discussed this before, in a talk on YouTube, but here I want to cast a wider net.

The 16th century saw the Protestant Reformation and the rise of modern capitalism while the Tudors reigned in England. The Tudors used the Reformation as a way of breaking from the Catholic church in order to act without, or against, the pope’s approval. After breaking from Rome, they seized church property, privatised the commons, and colonised Ireland. For centuries, peasants had used common lands to graze milk cows and gather water, edible and medicinal plants, and wood for construction and making fires.

The simultaneous confiscation of the commons and church property cast many people into poverty because the lands were a source of sustenance and, under feudalism, it was the church that had given aid and shelter to the poor. Women were especially affected by the double whammy of enclosure and lack of poverty alleviation. In her biography My Own Story, British suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst traces her feminist awakening to witnessing women in the homeless shelters and workhouses that queen Elizabeth I eventually established to address the crisis.

Looking back, we can see that the enclosure movement provided the preconditions for Britain’s industrialisation. When common lands were privatised, they largely became lands for grazing sheep used for wool in the textile industry, the biggest industry of the early industrial revolution; and it created a class of people desperate enough to work up to 18 hours a day for a pittance in dismal conditions, in the factories or “satanic mills,” as the poet William Blake called them. Most textile workers were women. Urbanisation also took place in tandem with the rise of prostitution, with many women forced to choose between that, factory work or domesticity.

In her book, Witches, Witch-Hunting and Women(2018), Silvia Federici connects the 16th- and 17th-century witch hunts in England with the rise of capitalism and the privatisation of the commons. She writes that “women were the most likely to be victimised” by enclosure, pauperisation, and the “disintegration of communal forms of agriculture that had prevailed in feudal Europe,” because they were “the most disempowered by these changes, especially older women, who often rebelled against their impoverishment and social exclusion.” She notes that some women participated in protests, pulling up fences enclosing the commons, and explains:

[W]omen were charged with witchcraft because the restructuring of rural Europe at the dawn of capitalism destroyed the means of livelihood and the basis of their social power, leaving them with no resort but dependence on the charity of the better off, at a time when communal bonds were disintegrating, a new morality was taking hold that criminalised begging and looked down upon charity.

The premise of Federici’s book is that this very same correlation between privatisation and “witch” hunting can be seen with neoliberal privatisation. She shows how witch hunts have escalated dramatically following the neoliberalisation (or “re-colonisation”) of the African continent and the privatisation of lands there, for instance in Tanzania, where more than 5,000 women per year are murdered as witches and in the Central African Republic, where “prisons are full of accused witches.” In Indian tribal lands, “where large scale processes of land privatisation are underway,” witch hunts are also increasing, as they are in Nepal, Papua New Guinea and Saudi Arabia. Describing the way witch-hunting frames the female sex, Federici argues that, “we have to think of the enclosures as a broader phenomenon than simply the fencing off of land. We must think of an enclosure of knowledge, of our bodies, and of our relationship to other people, and nature.”

Federici considers her analysis of the correlation between privatisation and witch-hunting to be ongoing, a work in progress—but I think her project is hamstrung. Her conclusions will remain sorely limited as long as she maintains the position that there is such a thing as a “sex worker” and a “transwoman,” because these ideas are central to the neoliberal “enclosure of knowledge, of our bodies, and of our relationship to other people, and nature” today. The term “sex worker” was coined by the global sex trade lobby on the back of women’s poverty and the normalisation of prostitution under neoliberalism.

In his book Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery (2010), human trafficking expert Siddharth Kara shows that neoliberalisation leaves indigenous women especially vulnerable. He unveils a pattern of neoliberal government reform followed by land confiscation, leading to domestic poverty, and then prostitution in Asia, Europe and the United States. His book covers the period of the 1980s and 90s when the International Monetary Fund and World Bank were handing out “structural adjustment packages” all over the world. These are financial loans conditional on land and infrastructure privatisation, cutbacks to health and welfare spending, and removal of legislation protecting workers and obstructing profit.

In The Shock Doctrine(2007), Naomi Klein argues that this neoliberalisation requires disaster to disorient people and render them sufficiently immobilised to have their rights stripped. Once implemented, just like enclosure and colonisation, neoliberalism creates its own fallout. As Klein explains, neoliberalism began to enter more intimate territory after September 11, 2001, when surveillance culture began to “enclose” our privacy in unprecedented ways. This led to an age where internet companies, which are best positioned to track and collect data, reign.

History shows us a continuous pattern that goes all the way back to the Tudors and before: disaster followed by enclosure creates more disaster that allows for further, more intimate, enclosure. This is precisely why Federici’s argument that we need to define enclosure more deeply and broadly, is so important: otherwise we cannot properly track the pattern and we will fail to notice when neoliberalisation starts claiming new frontiers.

Combine the internet age with prostitution and you have today’s growing porn industry—and porn creates its own fallout. As feminist author Gail Dines points out in Pornland(2010), the average age boys start watching pornography is at eleven years, and porn brainwashes them into objectifying women by linking the image of rape to orgasm. There is hardly a more efficient way to condition somebody than through orgasm. Social conditioning normally involves a system of punishment and reward by some external body—but when men learn to objectify women by watching porn, their own penises dispense the rewards. After that, nobody needs to offer them any other incentives to keep repeating the behaviour.

The fact that porn not only depicts rape but drives it is well established. We can see the link in high profile rape cases like those involving Brock Turner and Larry Nassar. Turner took photos during his assault, and shared them with friends; Nassar was found to be in possession of at least 37,000 child pornography videos and images. New Zealand women’s organisation the Backbone Collective’s report on child abuse "Seen and Not Heard" shows that for 54% of abusive fathers, pornography is a factor in the abuse of their children.

The fallout from rape is dissociation. The human stress response is designed to allow us to run from predators, or to overpower them if we judge ourselves as capable. It is not designed to deal with entrapment and cruelty, and when faced with these situations, women often freeze, our minds shutting off conscious awareness of what is happening, whilst the subconscious absorbs it for dealing with later. This mind/body split is at the root of patriarchy and patriarchal religion because patriarchy relies on it: it requires men to detach from their own humanity and cultivate the dissociation, body hatred and dysphoria that rape culture fosters.

The commodification of women and “enclosure” of sexuality through prostitution, widespread porn and the resulting fallout led to the next frontier: biology itself, womanhood itself. Transgenderism leverages the mind/body split that rape culture promotes by introducing a new form of biological enclosure. With transgenderism, the reality of sex is no longer something natural that we simply share in common, but a place for Big Pharma to set up shop in the name of “identity.”

Trans activists assist this commodification of sex by excitedly censoring, blacklisting, firing, harassing and abusing women as “TERFs” (“trans-exclusionary radical feminists”). “TERF” is a now well-known misnomer for feminists who have not forgotten what sex is, and, whilst trying to tear down the fences transgenderism erects around it, get in the way of the rollout of this new form of enclosure. With respect to her work, it is almost mind-boggling that Federici does not take into account this neoliberal “witch-hunting” that trans activists participate in.

If this terrifying trend exists as part of a broader trajectory—how far can it go?

The first volume in my Brief Complete Herstory argues that the most basic quality of life is sensitivity. Water has a miraculous capacity for storing information, for picking up the qualities of all it encounters. Even the smallest, single-celled organisms share with human beings the capacity to sense and respond to light, movement, and other environmental patterns and changes. Yet the more people are tethered to our phones and smart devices, our behaviour mined as “data” and sold to those who profit from predicting and manipulating our movements, the more numb and desensitised we become. I sometimes worry that as privatisation and dispossession advance in what Shoshana Zuboff calls the Age of Surveillance Capitalism(2019), this is the current frontier: our very sensitivity.

If we listen to spiritual teachers and visionaries throughout the ages, the seat of human sensitivity is the heart. Indigenous cultures have always recognised this, and herbalist Stephen Buhner taught me that this is not a metaphor: our bodies are surrounded by an electromagnetic field generated by the heart, and this field is five thousand times more powerful than that created by the brain. In The Secret Teachings of Plants(2004), Buhner writes that this means that the “[a]nalysis of information flow into the human body has shown that much of it impacts the heart first, flowing to the brain only after it has been perceived by the heart.”

If this is true, then in an era of desensitisation, the heart is the new frontier of enclosure. Can it be captured and domesticated? Or is there a freedom in the heart that simply cannot be enclosed?

One thing the long view of history shows us is that freedom does not exist in the hands of politicians who will deliver it after they tidy up the aftermath of the latest crisis, as they like to promise. I would also suggest it shows us that not only is the very idea of a patriarchal state incompatible with human freedom by definition—the tactic of negotiating with governments to have our “rights” and freedoms delivered has proven ineffective through centuries of trial and error. History shows us that governments are irredeemably deaf to the voices of women, and when they appear not to be, it is short-lived. Between the era of enclosure and the present day, women won the right to vote. Today, we may officially still have that right, but as womanhood is redefined beyond meaning, so has the relevance of the vote to our lives.

I am not saying that people should not lobby governments to promote the recognition of their rights, or that changes in the law have never benefited those who fought for them. I am also not suggesting that you can save the world by sitting under a tree and searching your heart. What I am saying is that in an era characterised by noise and desensitisation, there is no better time to tune out for long enough to discover whether you do carry within you a freedom immune to enclosure—because if you do, if this is part of our make up, surely there could be no better advisor in the decisions you, and we, need to make from here. There cannot be a better guide in the defence of freedom than freedom itself.

[nomanwalksalone]

STYLE AND THE DAMME

by Réginald-Jérôme de Mans

Late in his new series Jean-Claude Van Johnson, Jean-Claude Van Damme, in tailored suit and open-collared white shirt, gestures up from his Aston Martin to his secret hideout with the instantly classic setup line, “No one has looked for me here for 20 years.” It’s a Blockbuster Video. As always, Van Damme is “on the run from the law, military or mafia,” but just this once, perfectly on the nose with this quip. And with it, three wildly different cultural icons, Van Damme, the tailored suit and Aston Martin, come into a strange but telling momentary alignment from the vastly different places they were in those 20 years ago.

20 years ago Van Damme was just over the peak of his fame, a coked-up Belgian kickboxing force who was fresh off The Quest, a big-budget, less satisfying remake of Van Damme’s best film, Bloodsport. He was about to star in a film about exploding jeans with the SNL copier guy Rob Schneider. Even better than it sounds, Knock Off knocked Van Damme off his pedestal and into the direct-to-video purgatory in which he’s labored since then. And labor he has, dedicated to actually becoming an actor of range and depth despite none of his audience actually caring. Direct-to-video films generally get ignored. Popularly, we expect them mainly to be watched by fans of fading stars expecting the predictable. It’s poignant, then, that Van Damme turned in a convincing performance in a pastiche of Bad Lieutenant and showed he could telegraph real pathos in John Hyams’ unfathomably good DTV Universal Soldier sequels Universal Soldier: Regeneration and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning.  

Van Damme didn’t have to expend that effort. Witness the trajectory of his erstwhile rival Steven Seagal, a trajectory of almost cosmological increasing expansion behind yellow-tinted shooting glasses and spray-on-hair, accommodated in dozens of unwatchable movies by screenplays and direction that allow Seagal literally not to move. Seagal’s kept his many-chinned profile up in recent years courting tinpot authoritarians in the United States and Eastern Europe. Unlike Seagal, in recent years Van Damme has gained attention and respect by embracing his own ridiculousness. He played up this self-awareness with surprising comedic and dramatic talent in 2009’s JCVD, a scathing satire of his own dead-end career and broken life. He brings this willingness to both mock and explore himself to Jean-Claude Van Johnson, where he plays a retired actor who is actually a retired spy. Shoots for cheesy movies in Eastern Europe, such as a chop-socky reboot of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (“It’s time to get Hucked”), are just covers to investigate and infiltrate drug gangs, diabolical masterminds, and eventually the rotten entertainment industry itself.

The key to that last mission, taking down the corrupt talent and espionage agency that had used him, is looking the part, 2017 edition. Looking a part means meeting all the clichés, the easy expectations of a role. For that of Erstwhile Movie Star, today it means pulling up to the agency in an Aston Martin in a tailored suit, no tie. It certainly didn’t always. 20 years ago, Aston Martin had nowhere to go but up, or into oblivion. Since then, oblivion has claimed most of the other romantically exotic British car brands like TVR and Bristol. Aston used to mean just Bond films, Bond satires, and bad Bond copies. By the early 1990s, its annual sales had slumped to fewer than 200 cars worldwide and its main model, the Virage, cost $250,000. I’ve only seen one of those ever, late at night in my college town decades ago, looking like something from another world.

Today, thanks to prudent investment and positioning by Ford and Tata, Astons are a shorthand for the showbizzy glitterati of our world, occasionally favoring us with an appearance in our grocery store parking lot or, with motor gunning, running the red light we’d prudently braked for. Hugh Grant bought one after filming About A Boy because his tween co-star thought it would be cool; Isla Fisher drove one playing Ron Howard’s vapid daughter in Arrested Development. Van Damme’s Aston is the same sort of shorthand: predictable, expensive flamboyance to be expected from a has-been with money.

What does this mean for the suit? 20 years ago it was in the wilderness, a wilderness grown out of the backlash to 1980s corporatism, a wilderness so wild that for a few seasons designers were trying to put men in waistcoats, frock coats or Nehru jackets instead of sport coats or suits. Those didn’t take, but for the rest of us casualwear replaced the suit with identikit billowing blue shirts and baggy khakis in business settings, and with jeans, sweats or anything else, really, in other settings. 20 years ago the suit had just barely begun to creep back in certain circles in the United Kingdom as a so-called smart formal outfit for social outings, with a nice shirt but never a tie. It was too soon for that reminder of 1980s correctness. Since that time, Hedi Slimane goosed the “tailored look” with his tight suits, while fashion seized on the financial crises of 2001 and 2008 to push a return to supposedly more serious dressing. In the fashion idiom, the opposite of frivolity is expensive conservatism, ergo the suit. The tie, too, fought its way back up for a couple of years of air, but not in the world of cliché and shorthand, where smart actor of a certain age means nice suit, white shirt (anything else would be too busy) and no tie – no ties to the normal working world.

Today, Van Damme, Aston Martin and the smart suit are in alignment, all in fashion again… for the moment. Whether Aston Martin stays in fashion will depend on its owners and backers keeping technologically modern cars in production and promoting them. As to Van Damme and the suit? It’s just as ironically sad as Van Damme becoming a good actor that the suit, formerly the inescapable classic clothing item, returned only as a fashion item. This means that it can and will be replaced by something else in fashion, like yoga pants for men. Maybe Van Damme, too, is only having a moment as a whimsical nostalgia item like the suit.

But Jean-Claude Van Johnson has a real lesson for us beyond this sentimentality. Although it is about an actor who is actually an international spy, its reality is an actor playing his persona and pretending to find himself. His choices are to hide from the world behind cabinets of Pop Tarts and made-up memories, or to engage with the uncanny and unfair demands of an unfamiliar age. He chooses to engage, despite his heyday being long behind him and the things that he had fought for illusory. Remember that in fact there was no more genteel age of yore, only pasts of different levels of exploitation and oligarchy. The classy actors we now associate with elegance were actors playing parts, both on screen and in public life. No halcyon days await our return. However we adapt to changing times and changing understandings of what is right, ultimately we can best face down challenging times by being ourselves in the moment. Or as Van Damme-from-the-future reminds us, “TimeCops don’t exist.” We cannot change the timestream to fit our illusions. We can only do with what we have: our personality, not our persona, and from time to time, still, a nice suit as both armor and disguise.

Quality content, like quality clothing, ages well. This article first appeared on the No Man blog in 2018.

[anexplanationofunfortunateevents]

A Tale of Red States and Blue States

Once upon a time, there was a state.

It was a large state, with vast stretches of country between its world-class cities. It had communities rich in diversity and activism and ideas – and it had a lot of resentful white people who were just plain old rich.

The richest and most resentful white people created a terrible blight they called “modern conservatism.” They set their wicked curse on the state, and then unleashed it on the nation with two Republican presidents – one lamentable, the next even worse.

There were many along the way who sounded the alarm, but there were more who ignored the danger far too long. The spell had summoned a beast. The beast was hideous and stupid. It was no good at anything except being a hateful beast. But the dark spell had done so much damage that being a hateful beast was enough for the beast to win, at least for a time.

In one version of the story, the state is called “California.”

In another, it is called “Texas.”

It’s strange to think of now, with a decade of sneering about the “left coast” and “San Francisco liberals” and blah blah blah baked into political conventional wisdom, but it’s true. The reactionary modern conservatism which held the whip hand on the backlash to the great civil rights advances of the 1960s was born in California. California voted for Richard Nixon six times: once as their senator, twice as Eisenhower’s vice president, and then three times as the Republican presidential nominee. In between those elections, Nixon of course had to win primaries. In 1968, when he was the Republican front-runner, he faced an upstart challenger who wanted to make sure he’d be racist enough to keep conservative southerners in the tent. That person was not a southerner, but the then-governor of California, Ronald Reagan, who would go on to be the next Republican elected after Nixon.

So what the fuck happened? Well, a lot of things, and I don’t want to pretend to do justice to the generations of righteous activism that pushed back against this disastrous regime. Democrats did occasionally win state-wide – notably, California elected two Democratic women to the Senate in 1992 – even though Orange County was practically a metonym for American conservatism right up until the 2018 midterms. But the turning point that seems to have gotten your average voter to turn on the Republican party for good was in 1994. Governor Pete Wilson, a kind of hard-right proto-Trump, threw his weight behind a hateful anti-immigrant ballot initiative. It passed, even though it was so deranged that it never went into effect because a federal court ruled it unconstitutional within days of the vote, because the California electorate really was that conservative. The electorate changed, almost on a dime. Mexican-American voters organized. Their friends and neighbors and fellow citizens realized that sitting back wasn’t an option. And now the Republican Party of California is a fucking joke.

This isn’t, like, the eternal winds of history blowing microscopic chips off the statue of Ozymandias. If you remember the Clinton presidency, this happened in your lifetime. If you’re a little bit younger than that, it happened in your big cousins’ lifetimes.

Part of what makes it hard to see changes like this is that the dim bulbs in our political media see everything through a horse race lens, where who gets one particular W is the only piece of information worth retaining. You win and you’re clever; you lose and you’re a dumb sucker who tried. Who gets power is really important! But if you only care about that, then you miss the really important trends.

Take the Georgia 6th, the district once represented by Newt fucking Gingrich. Its representative joined Trump’s cabinet in early 2017, at least in part because it was such a supposedly safe Republican seat, so there was a special election for his replacement. Traumatized Democrats and Women’s Marchers threw themselves into the steeply uphill campaign of former John Lewis intern Jon Ossoff. When he came up a few points short, our blue-check media betters tried to turn Ossoff into a punch line stand-in for silly #Resistance liberal losers coping with Trump by losing some more, SUCK IT, MOM! but the other, correct, interpretation is that Ossoff only came up a few points short in a district that was supposed to protect the kookiest of right-wing cranks. His campaign had functioned as kind of an ad hoc boot camp for novice organizers, canvassers, and future school board candidates who had previously been too discouraged and disorganized to take this kind of swing, and it showed Democratic party donors that the district was winnable. So when gun safety advocate and Mother of the Movement Lucy McBath stepped up to the plate in the 2018 midterms, her campaign had the infrastructure it needed, and now she’s well-positioned to be reelected because she’s doing a great job. Meanwhile, Ossoff’s organizing chops and the enthusiastic work his supporters did for Rep. McBath are a big part of why he’s in a dead heat against incumbent Republican Senator David Purdue.

That’s why I’m keeping an eye on the South this year. The presidential campaign there is interesting, but the real story is in those network effects. There’s a rising tide that threatens to make the blue wave of 2018 look like a light spring shower if things break the right way. Just look at the Democratic senate candidates. They’re a diverse group: men and women, Black and white, preacher and fighter pilot. Most are relative newcomers to national audiences, but only some of them are young. Jon Ossoff is just 33; when he was in grade school, Mike Espy of Mississippi was Secretary of Agriculture. What they do seem to have in common is that they are having the time of their fucking lives.

Here’s Espy:

Moving and grooving in McComb. pic.twitter.com/RANCRGGpX7

— Mike Espy (@MikeEspyMS)

October 31, 2020

Ossoff:

The people of Georgia are tired of having a spineless, disgraced politician serve as their Senator. pic.twitter.com/OdaYwFKzmz

— Jon Ossoff (@ossoff)

October 30, 2020

Senator Doug Jones of Alabama:

I know you’ve heard us say it before, but when you see this clip, it bears reappearing: This guy really is clueless. https://t.co/w9YOUHegCW

— Doug Jones (@DougJones)

October 22, 2020

Jamie Harrison of South Carolina:

It's debate night and y'all know I'm going to walk it like I talk it. Let's see if @LindseyGrahamSC can do the same. pic.twitter.com/TNABxsaTEO

— Jaime Harrison (@harrisonjaime)

October 30, 2020

And the bad bitch with her eye on the big prize, MJ Hegar of Texas:

It's about time Texans had a senator as tough as we are. https://t.co/8MQ8Tykmyt pic.twitter.com/bgPr5vtgdh

— MJ Hegar (@mjhegar)

October 16, 2020

Clutch those pearls, John! https://t.co/iWej8MrhtV

— MJ Hegar (@mjhegar)

October 22, 2020

The spineless bootlicker Hegar is challenging, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, is currently resting his dainty patoot in the seat once held by none other than Lyndon Baines Johnson. As president, LBJ would aggressively push for some of the greatest human rights legislation in American history in pursuit of what he called the Great Society. That meant Medicare and Medicaid. It meant a revolution in environmental protections. It meant PBS. And it meant telling the one-party authoritarian regime in the Jim Crow south that America was done with their bullshit, they were going to have real democracy, they were going to do it now, and if they didn’t like it they could eat his ass.

Johnson was a complicated guy and left a complicated legacy. His project required an unusual leader of courage, conviction, and unmitigated savvy, cut with streaks of megalomania and dubious mental health. No architect but Lyndon Johnson would have built the Great Society, and no place but Texas could have built Lyndon Johnson.

Then again, Texas also gave us the Bushes in the late twentieth century. It gave us a terrorist attack on a Biden campaign bus just this weekend.

That darkness is real. So is the long, grinding slog to turn on the light. Like the GA-06 silliness, Democratic efforts in Texas get laughed at as some quixotic waste of resources by arrogant flops. In fact, the past few years of high-profile statewide elections in Texas have been on a pretty clear trajectory. In 2014, Wendy Davis, a state senator from Fort Worth who captured widespread progressive attention with her heroic filibuster of a 2013 state abortion ban, ran for governor. She lost by the ~20-point margin you’d expect in a year where Republicans everywhere did really well, but it was a vitamin B-12 shot to a perpetually overwhelmed state Democratic party. The 2016 Clinton campaign, when it was (correctly!) on the offensive before FBI Director Comey decided he would really prefer a Trump presidency, invested heavily in its Texas ground game. It was always a long shot, but even after the Comey letter and the Texas-specific sabotage by the Russian Internet Research Agency, Texas Democrats cut Trump’s margin there down to single digits. That is to say, they recruited the volunteers and taught the skills and raised the cash and registered the voters to carry the ball way down the field. And in the 2018 midterms, El Paso representative Beto O’Rourke built on all that energy to fight Senator Ted Cruz to a near draw. O’Rourke didn’t quite make it, but he did help a lot of downballot Democrats over the finish line and forced Republicans to light a few oil drums of cash on fire to save a seat that they had always assumed would be safe.

That growth has been possible because of a ton of hard work and persuasion, but it’s also been possible because there was so much untapped potential. As progressives have argued for years, Texas was less of a “red state” than a non-voting state. I’m not a person that usually has a lot of patience for people not bothering to vote, because the people who get to be loud about that are whiny, privileged assholes who can afford to be flip about the right to vote. But there are a lot of people who find it hard because they absolutely do know the weight and importance of voting, because they or their mothers or their grandfathers were beaten and terrorized to keep them away from the polls. They might make the same mouth-noises as the selfish dilettantes about how it doesn’t matter and they’re all corrupt and blah blah blah. But a vote is a tiny little leap of faith. It’s at least a skip of hope. And it hurts to know the weight and importance of that and to keep feeling that disappointment over and over again.

A key thing that Republicans in the South managed to do for a while, but California Republicans didn’t, was to let their misrule seem almost tolerable day to day. As outrageous as the overall trends were, as catastrophic the results were for a lot of people’s lives, it didn’t necessarily feel entirely irrational for lots of people to avoid the inconvenience and disappointment of trying to stop them. But if you’re just going to be a constant, unwavering shit show of incompetence and evil, infuriating people every waking minute of every fucking day for years on end, they’re not going to be deterred by inconvenience and disappointment. They're not going to be deterred by fucking tear gas. They’re going to understand that it’s worth trying to get rid of you, even if it’s a long shot. They’re going to line up to kick you in the shin just for the hell of it. And that’s exactly what millions of them have already done.

These dumbass motherfuckers radicalized Taylor goddamn Swift!

LOOK WHAT YOU MADE HER DO!

So yeah. People who had given up are fucking voting. Texas has already had hundreds of thousands more people vote than voted in all of 2016. BEFORE ELECTION DAY!

Vice President Biden likes to recite a poem by the great Irish bard Seamus Heaney. It’s about how you have to have faith that a better world is possible, even when you don’t have any rational reason to expect it any time soon, because it’s the only way you’ll be able to seize the most precious of opportunities, when “justice can rise up/ And hope and history rhyme.”

Sometimes hope and history walk into a bar to tell dirty jokes for a bachelorette party in downtown Austin. And they rhyme.

For a hundred and fifty years, unreconstructed revanchist terrorist sympathizers have threatened that “the South will rise again.” They mean the treasonous mobsters who called themselves the Confederacy.

Why do those losers get to define the South? Like, literally, they’re losers. They lost.

There’s another South. The terrorists cut it off at the knees, so it never quite rose the first time. But it’s always been there. The South the heroes of Reconstruction tried to build. The South of the Kennedy Space Station and the Center for Disease Control. The South of the French Quarter of New Orleans and the gay neighborhoods of Atlanta. The South of Barbara Jordan, Ann and Cecile Richards, Stacey Abrams, and the young women of the Virginia state legislature. The South of Maya Angelou, Molly Ivins, and Mark Twain. The South of the exiles of Miami and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. The South of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Representative John Lewis. The South of James Earl Carter, William Jefferson Clinton, and Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Once upon a time, there was a colossus. The richest and most resentful white people feared it, for it was both great and good. So they hunted it mercilessly. They tortured and killed its most vulnerable people. They bound it and silenced it and told the rest of the world it didn’t even exist. But they knew that wicked lie was the best they could do, for something so mighty could never be slain by the likes of them.

The giant grows stronger every day as it struggles against its chains, and those chains are turning to rust. One day soon  - maybe in this decade; maybe this week – it will break free. It will rise. And it will shake the earth. Just you watch.

[southeastasianists]

I have seen it before.

On Sep 16, 2008, an upbeat Anwar Ibrahim announced he had commanded the support of the majority of Malaysian Members of Parliament (MPs), six months after he led the opposition to historically smash the two-thirds parliamentary supermajority of the then ruling Barisan Nasional (BN).

It was Malaysia Day. Anwar appeared to be ready to take over the Malaysian government.

That afternoon, I was moderating a political forum in Kota Kinabalu, attended by a few major opposition politicians. I also witnessed a BN component party in action at the seminar, boldly withdrawing from the ruling coalition in support of Anwar’s move.

The atmosphere was extremely charged, with boisterous exhortations aplenty for a new dawn in Malaysian politics.

By nightfall, however, it became obvious this supposed switch of allegiance by many BN MPs did not materialise. A somber mood descended upon the gradually less crowded event.

Malaysians would have to make do with more of the same political setup - with a longstanding, though bruised, government sitting across an enlarged but frustrated opposition.

ALMOST, BUT NOT QUITE THERE

Alas, this and many other similarly somewhat elusive and quixotic quests of “almost, but not quite there” have dotted Anwar’s long political career.

Anwar had been Mahathir Mohamad’s protégé during the latter’s first term as Malaysia’s Prime Minister. Anwar was even promoted to be Deputy Prime Minister in an accelerated trajectory to take over the premiership.

But that did not happen, as the relationship between the two soured with Mahathir increasingly alarmed by Anwar’s brimming ambition.

As allegations of improprieties surfaced against Anwar in September 1998, he was unceremoniously fired from the Cabinet and expelled from the party. He was subsequently jailed for charges of corruption and sodomy.

After the verdict was overturned in 2004 and Anwar was released before the end of his nine-year sentence, he went on to propel the opposition coalition to consecutively deny BN the much vaunted two-thirds parliamentary majority in the 2008 and 2013 general elections, but still fell short of clinching the majority to become Prime Minister.

As he was jailed again in 2015 on another charge of sodomy, he could not lead the opposition in the 2018 general election.

He made up for his absence by reconciling with his erstwhile political rival Mahathir, who by then had also fallen out with BN and helmed the recomposed Pakatan Harapan (PH) opposition coalition.

After PH surprisingly defeated BN in the 2018 elections and formed the government, Anwar was pardoned. He quickly won himself a parliamentary seat in a by-election, putting himself in good stead once again be a successor to Mahathir, by then Malaysian Prime Minister for a second time.

At least that was Anwar’s understanding, citing a pre-election agreement among the PH parties to that effect.

THE LATEST DISRUPTION IN 2020

In hindsight, Mahathir did not intend to pass the baton of premiership to Anwar.  He often avoided the topic when asked in public or offered delayed timelines.

When Mahathir’s hand was forced in late February, both saw their political fortunes overturned in a matter of days.

A series of moves by Azmin Ali and Muhyiddin Yassin, respectively Anwar’s and Mahathir’s party deputies, effected the change of political allegiance of a number of PH MPs.

After a tense week of brewing suspicions, Muhyiddin was sworn in as Prime Minister.

After being relegated to the opposition again, Mahathir did not let up on his dislike of Anwar.  He initially criticised Anwar more vehemently than he did Muhyiddin, whom he felt had betrayed him.

Even as Mahathir tried to no avail to bring parliamentary motions of no confidence against Muhyiddin, Mahathir did not seem keen for Muhyiddin to be replaced by Anwar.

Mahathir had put forth Shafie Apdal, the former Sabah chief minister, as the opposition’s potential prime ministerial candidate in an attempt to sideline Anwar.

A BOMBSHELL

Late last month, Anwar dropped yet another political bombshell mere days before the Sabah state elections which saw his PKR party teaming up with Shafie, by again announcing his supposed support by more MPs and command of the parliamentary majority.

By now, the popular expectation of Anwar realising his “takeover” claim has largely dissipated.  But that did not dissuade Anwar, as he pressed on with his majority bid, banking to a large extent on the mounting discord between Muhyiddin’s Bersatu party and UMNO - the largest component party in the ruling coalition.

Yet, even at this juncture, where the political aspirations of both Anwar and Mahathir to bring down the Muhyiddin government found common ground, Mahathir still refused to support Anwar.

Instead, he appeared to have endorsed Tengku Razaleigh, an UMNO veteran and an even earlier rival, to assume the Prime Minister position.

NEVER GIVING UP

Anwar has amply demonstrated his political tenacity throughout the years, moving on from one failure, albeit almost an earshot away from ultimate success, to another with renewed vitality.

He also exhibited other leadership traits, which should be viewed positively in a modern, healthy democracy.

For one, Anwar practises inclusive politics. His PH coalition, for example, consists of his own Malay-based but multiracial PKR, the Chinese-based but equally multiracial DAP, and also the moderately religious Amanah party, which splintered from the avowedly Islamist PAS party.

Even PAS, during its previously more moderate phase, was a component party of PH’s predecessor coalition.

Anwar recognises the primacy of Malays in Malaysian politics, but is open to working toward a more needs-based social economic distribution model that would usher in greater communal harmony.

Anwar has also espoused a progressive streak over his long years in politics. For example, the background of his momentous clash with Mahathir was the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis, which saw the Malaysian economy go into a tailspin.

Anwar, who then chaired the development committee of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was leaning toward accepting the IMF loan package, which would have called for drastic structural reforms with deep budget cuts and strict measures against corruption and cronyism, all in an effort to make the Malaysian economy more market-friendly.

Mahathir thought otherwise, rejecting the IMF package but prioritising corporate bailouts and currency controls.

A MAN FOR ALL VOTERS

If Anwar is to ever assume the leadership role, he cannot bank on his opposition credentials but must show himself to be someone who can represent all voters.

This will not come easy. These are not ordinary times in Malaysia. The country is sharply divided between a conservative, racially and religiously centric majority on the one hand, and a more liberal, progressive minority on the other.

The conservatives, amply represented in the present ruling coalition, see Anwar’s inclusiveness and progressive streak as affronts to their monolithic political outlook for the country, and are reluctant to support him.

The liberals, who vouch for a more open and tolerant society, shudder at Anwar’s staunchly religious past. So their support for him, though sizable, is reluctant and even contingent upon their inability to find an equally charismatic leader for their progressive cause.

Both conservatives and liberals worry he might embrace their respective side for short-term political expediency, only to boot them out when the dust has settled.

Anwar can win both camps over. He is a charismatic, national icon.  I attended his talk in February just a few days before the Sheraton move, which catapulted Muhyiddin into power.

As with the numerous previous occasions where I got to listen to him in person, Anwar is indeed a persuasive, even mesmerising speaker, able to articulate his progressive ideas and quote abundantly from important  liberal thinkers of our time.

I could not help but remark to my friend next to me that with such progressive ideals, Anwar would make a fine prime minister.

My friend retorted:

This is a liberal audience. Of course he would say such liberal things.  Have you heard him speak to a conservative audience?

Indeed, Anwar would have to perform an intricate balancing act as he again treads the fine line toward a much coveted premiership.

Oh Ei Sun is a senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

[bookendbookbegin]

Book Review: “To Kill a Kingdom” by Alexandra Christo

(Contains spoilers)

What does it take to kill a kingdom? Violence, destruction, death? Or simply open-mindedness, and a belief that people can change?

In her novel, To Kill a Kingdom, Alexandra Christo poses these inquiries to her readers, making us question our morality and ethics, and understand that hate is the antithesis of progress.

Lira is a siren, daughter of the Sea Queen, and destined to one day sit on the ocean throne. Elian is a prince, the heir to the kingdom of Midas, condemned (as he would say) to be a king on land when he feels such a strong pull from the sea. They are enemies, as Lira pursues princes’ hearts, and Elian believes siren hunting is his true purpose. One mistake made by Lira sets off a chain of events that consequently links their two futures, taking them on a quest around the globe in order to find a way to end their two species’ antediluvian conflict.

I love rereading books, because you know what you are getting from the beginning. There is no wondering whether or not the book will impress you, or live up to its marketing image. I first read To Kill a Kingdom when it was published in 2018, and I think I like it even more now on my second read-through. By and large, the first time you read a book, you read for the plot. The second time (and so forth) exposes you more and more to the intricacies of the writing itself. I was certainly more attune to Christo’s descriptive writing this time; so much depth was added to the narrative as a result of her beautiful use of literary devices. There were these lines that could have been drawn from poetry, adding such an elegant flare to the prose. The sarcastic dialogue and witty banter were no less entertaining – I found myself still laughing!

To Kill a Kingdom is a dark young adult fantasy, addressing topics such as genocide and whether or not it is ever justifiable. Elian believes it is his destiny to rid the world of sirens. He has resigned himself to the extinction of an entire race purely because it benefits his own. This idea of his does eventually dissipate, for he realizes that violence is not a solution, and an outcome is not always vindicated by the methods employed to achieve it. Subject matter such as this is heavy. Why did Elian ever consider slaughter to be an acceptable trajectory? Why does the Sea Queen continually commend cruelty? It is very much this subject of genocide that makes readers question our ethics, question our decency. And with all that is happening today, these are important points to ponder.

The internal conflict we feel as readers is mirrored by the characters. As aforementioned, Elian struggles with his murderous tendencies, and so does Lira. These characters are far from perfect, and that is what makes them remarkably singular. Their worlds may seem black and white, but they exist in gray areas, unique among those with whom they surround themselves. This is evident in their individual, internal conflicts. I loved – and still love – that Elian and Lira accept each other’s positive and negative traits; they drive one another to be the best version of themselves. The rapport built between the two throughout the course of their travels, of both friendship and romance, is what finally allowed for the resolution of the war, and with both sides needing to sacrifice very little.

Regarding Elian and Lira’s romantic relationship, I was quite pleased by its gradual progression. For there to have been an immediate affinity between the two would have greatly detracted from my enjoyment of the novel as a whole. Despite Elian’s ignorance of Lira’s true identity, she knows him in the beginning to be an enemy. An attraction then would have been forced and unnatural. Owing to inconsistencies in pacing, there are points where the romance does appear manufactured, but this does not make it (overall) any less believable. Readers know it to be genuine. I fully understood Elian’s attraction to and fondness for Lira on page 235: “I laugh and consider what smart comment I could make…but then Lira��s eyes quiver back and there doesn’t seem to be much point in being funny if she isn’t the one to hear it.” In that moment, Elian’s internal musings hold nothing back – it is clear to us readers that he is absolutely enamored of her.

I greatly enjoyed the switching perspectives between Lira and Elian because I was able to understand and hear the internal thoughts of the two leads. This technique allows for better character formation and development, and for readers to more effectively connect with individual persons. As a female, I particularly appreciate a male perspective.

Now, transitioning away from romance and into villainy…the Sea Queen was a highly effective antagonist. While Elian may despise the Princes’ Bain (Lira), he also knows that she really only acts on behalf of the Sea Queen, and therefore hates them equally. Though the Sea Queen may be Lira’s mother, she is ruthless, berating Lira constantly for having emotions and not being as merciless as herself. She is well-founded villain because she forces Lira to confront all of her suppressed emotions, enabling her to mature and become a more sympathetic character. Additionally, the Sea Queen’s depravity is what unites the humans and sirens, for they realize they have a mutual enemy.

The final chapter is best described as an epilogue. I found myself simultaneously content and dissatisfied – quite the odd combination. Perhaps I simply did not wish for the novel to end, and isn’t that the truth! Elian’s narration sufficiently summarizes the aftereffects of the battle with the Sea Queen and how the world has since changed. Christo leaves us with this idea that, at times, personal desire must bow to duty, yet there is always a means by which to satiate both.

Seafaring, fantasy novels have consistently been favorites of mine, and given this circumstance, it is no wonder why I was so drawn to and fascinated by To Kill a Kingdom. Should fantasy novels that center upon adventures on the high seas be of interest to you, this is a work I fervently recommend.

Rating: 4.5/5

Read To Kill a Kingdom? Tell me: What were your thoughts?

[learningrendezvous]

Media and Society

FATTITUDE

By Lindsey Averill, Viridiana Lieberman

An eye-opening look at how popular media perpetuates fat hatred that results in cultural bias and discrimination.

FATTITUDE is an eye-opening look at how popular media perpetuates fat hatred that results in a cultural bias and a civil rights issue for people living in fat bodies.

Fat people are paid $1.25 less an hour than their thin counterparts and can still legally lose jobs just because they're fat. Additionally, 1 in 3 doctors associates fat bodies with hostility, dishonesty and poor hygiene. FATTITUDE looks at how this systemic cultural prejudice results in fat discrimination. Informed by a post-modern, post-colonial, feminist perspective, FATTITUDE also examines how fat-shaming crosses the lines of race, class, sexuality and gender. It features a diverse variety of voices such as academic scholars, activists, filmmakers, actors and psychologists, including Lindy West, Sonya Renee Taylor, Virgie Tovar, Ricki Lake, and more.

A body positive documentary intent on inspiring change, FATTITUDE offers alternative ideas that embrace body acceptance at all sizes, explores examples of fat positive representations being produced today by activists and the media, and focuses on real life solutions for moving forward and changing the national conversation about body image.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2019 / 88 minutes

HOW TO STEAL A COUNTRY

By Rehad Desai, Mark Kaplan

"It's been almost 10 years of unabated looting." - Investigative journalist Thanduxolo Jika

HOW TO STEAL A COUNTRY opens like a classic thriller, with investigative journalists meeting anonymous whistleblowers in a parking garage. There, they receive a hard drive filled with hundreds of thousands of explosive files and emails implicating Jacob Zuma's South African government in a massive corruption scandal.

Director Rehad Desai (Everything Must Fall, Miners Shot Down) chronicles how the three Gupta brothers, once small-scale peddlers, cultivated relationships with Zuma and other ANC figures, and parlayed them into massive profits. The brothers were involved in everything from a US$100 billion nuclear deal with Russia, to graft at the state-owned railway and power companies. Tens of millions were stolen from money earmarked for rural development and funneled into a lavish Gupta family wedding. Journalists investigating this corruption were targets of a disinformation campaign accusing them of being neo-colonialists supporting white monopoly power.

Eventually, the journalists are vindicated, and a state inquiry is called into "state capture"-a massive corruption scheme involving the Guptas, Zuma and his government, and international finance and consulting firms.

HOW TO STEAL A COUNTRY serves as a warning on how multinational companies and ruthless entrepreneurs can co-opt democracies for their own profit.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2019 / 93 minutes

BELLINGCAT: TRUTH IN A POST-TRUTH WORLD

Director: Hans Pool

Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World follows the rise of the collective known as Bellingcat, a group of online researchers - all private citizens - dedicated to exposing the truth behind controversial news stories from around the world. From the Malaysian jetliner shot down over Ukraine to the poisoning of a Russian spy in England, the Bellingcat team's quest for truth brings clarity and accountability to our era of fake news and alternative facts.

Bellingcat uses cutting-edge digital techniques and crowdsourcing to create a faster, more innovative approach than traditional journalism. For the first time, the group gave exclusive access to filmmakers - allowing us to see the inner workings as they demonstrate the power of open source investigation and put networks, newspapers and governments to the test.

DVD / 2018 / 88 minutes

PROPAGANDA: THE MANUFACTURE OF CONSENT

By Jimmy Leipold

"Propaganda will never die out. Intelligent men must realize that propaganda is the modern instrument by which they can... help to bring order out of chaos." - Edward Bernays

In 1916, Woodrow Wilson ran on a platform strongly opposing US entry into WWI. But just a few months after taking office, the United States declared war on Germany. Soon after, the American people, so firmly opposed to the war just a year earlier, were enthusiastic supporters.

What happened?

The short answer: propaganda.

PROPAGANDA: THE MANUFACTURE OF CONSENT is a revealing documentary about how public relations grew out of wartime propaganda-and a portrait of one of the key architects of the field, Edward Bernays.

The nephew of Sigmund Freud, Bernays refined the techniques used so successfully during the war to sell products to consumers, and ultimately to sell capitalism itself to workers. Public relations was also critical in building support for the New Deal, and in the pushback against it from the National Association of Manufacturers, which created materials including films aimed at children on the glories of manufacturing.

Bacon and eggs as part of a hearty breakfast? The work of Bernays on behalf of a bacon company. Cigarettes as a sign of women's liberation? Bernays, again. Casting the democratically elected government of Guatemala as a Communist threat to justify US invasion on behalf of the United Fruit Company? Once more, Bernays.

There was nothing shadowy about Bernays. He wrote a book detailing his techniques and discusses them in an archival interview with Bill Moyers from 1983. Still, it is jarring to see his pride in hijacking the women's suffrage movement in order to sell more cigarettes-one of many illuminating moments in this film.

Featuring Noam Chomsky, Chris Hedges, Public Relations Museum co-founder Shelley Spector, historian Stuart Ewen, sociologist David Miller, and Bernays' daughter Anne, PROPAGANDA offers an insightful look into the development of public relations techniques, and how they continue to affect us today.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2018 / 53 minutes

TVTV: VIDEO REVOLUTIONARIES

Director: Paul Goldsmith

Featuring Bill Murray, Hunter Thompson, Steven Spielberg, Lynn Swan, Goldie Hawn, Abbie Hoffman, Lily Tomlin and more, "TVTV: Video Revolutionaries" is a documentary about Top Value Television (TVTV), a band of merry video makers who, from 1972 to 1977, took the then brand-new portable video camera and went out to document the world. In those days, there were only three TV networks, using giant studio cameras, and no one had ever seen a portable camera stuck in their face, let alone one held by what Newsweek called "braless, blue-jeaned video freaks." Because the technology was so new, there were no rules about how to use it or what to make. So the "freaks" used it to make format-bending satirical shows about whatever interested them - from the 1972 Republican Convention to an award-winning expose of a 15-year-old jet-set guru named Guru Maharaj Ji, called "Lord of the Universe" to capturing the Steelers and Cowboys partying hard the night before Super Bowl X.

Directed by TVTV alum Paul Goldsmith, the film is like opening a treasure chest into the 1970s, filled with cultural and political events hosted by now-famous characters who were then just beginning their climb to iconic.

DVD / 2018 / 82 minutes

ACORN AND THE FIRESTORM

Director: Reuben Atlas, Sam Pollard

If you were impoverished and politically voiceless, ACORN hoped to change your mind. For 40 years, the community-organizing group sought to empower marginalized communities. Its critics, though, believed ACORN exemplified everything wrong with liberal ideals.

Fueled by a YouTube video made by two young conservatives who posed as pimp and prostitute in a sting, ACORN's very existence would be challenged. ACORN and the Firestorm goes beyond the 24-hour news cycle and cuts to the heart of the great political divide.

DVD / 2017 / 84 minutes

CELLING YOUR SOUL

Directed by Joni Siani

An examination of our love/hate relationships with our digital devices from the first digitally socialized generation, and what we can do about it.

In one short decade, we have totally changed the way we interact with one another. The millennial generation, the first to be socialized in a digital world, is now feeling the unintended consequences.

CELLING YOUR SOUL is a powerful and informative examination of how our young people actually feel about connecting in the digital world and their love/hate relationship with technology. It provides empowering strategies for more fulfilling, balanced, and authentic human interaction within the digital landscape.

The film reveals the effects of "digital socialization" by taking viewers on a personal journey with a group of high school and college students who through a digital cleanse discover the power of authentic human connectivity, and that there is "No App" or piece of technology that can ever replace the benefits of human connection.

DVD / 2017 / (Grades 6-12, College, Adult) / 48 minutes

LIVES: VISIBLE/LEFTOVERS

By Michelle Citron

LIVES: VISIBLE (2017, 35 mins): Lesbians in a box... two thousand private snapshots hidden away for over fifty years reveal the rich history of Chicago's working class butch/fem life in the pre-Stonewall era. Spanning four decades, from the 1930s to the early 1970s, the snapshots provide a rare look at a vanished and vibrant Lesbian culture: images of lovers and friends as they played, posed, serially switched partners, worked, partied, drank, and aged. Now we all take selfies; these women used a Brownie camera to tell the story of their community. LIVES: VISIBLE explores the ephemeral nature of culture and the power of the images we make.

LEFTOVERS (2014, 23 mins): Norma and Virginia were lovers for almost fifty years. They died isolated; the vibrant pre-Stonewall lesbian community of their youth long gone. A love story about the unforeseen trajectory of lives lived outside the mainstream told through the 2000 snapshots left behind.

2 DVDs (Color) / 2017 / 58 minutes

NOW HE'S OUT IN PUBLIC AND EVERYONE CAN SEE

By Natalie Bookchin

A riveting polyphonic documentary, NOW HE'S OUT IN PUBLIC AND EVERYONE CAN SEE presents a fractured narrative about an unnamed man whose racial identity is continually redrawn and contested by clusters of impassioned narrators. This intricately-edited and deeply political essay film by artist Natalie Bookchin is composed of fragments of found online video diaries made in the early days of the Obama era, a period many believed would be "post-racial" but instead ushered in a new era of racial discord.

NOW HE'S OUT IN PUBLIC AND EVERYONE CAN SEE explores this new landscape, one where mass media is transformed into social media and where cascades of disinformation, rumors, and insinuations spread across global electronic networks. Newly adapted for the cinema by the artist based on her own multi-screen gallery installation that was exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions and other museums, NOW HE'S OUT illustrates the way that, as truths and falsehoods become nearly impossible to distinguish, reality is splintered and recast through a myriad of interpretations and retellings.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2017 / 24 minutes

OBIT.

Directed by Vanessa Gould

At a time when the free press is under threat, OBIT. takes a rare look inside one of the United States' foremost journalistic institutions, The New York Times. The steadfast writers of the paper's Obituaries section approach their work with journalistic rigor and narrative flair, each day depositing the details of a handful of extraordinary lives into the cultural memory. Going beyond the byline and into the minds of those chronicling the recently deceased, OBIT. is ultimately a celebration of life that conveys the central role journalism plays in capturing and reporting vital pieces of our history.

DVD (Region 1, Color, Closed Captioned) / 2017 / 95 minutes

TRUMP: THE ART OF THE INSULT

By Joel Gilbert

Donald Trump used his special brand of the Art of the Insult to attack opponents and bash the media all the way to the White House in 2016. He continues to master the art with ongoing fine-tuning from the podium, his office and of course on Twitter.

While critics insisted "The Donald" was merely a chaotic sideshow, Trump continues to dominate the 24-hour news cycle with a master plan of political incorrectness. Hurling insults like Low-Energy Jeb, Lyin' Ted, Crooked Hillary, Little Marco, Pocahontas, and Fake News, Trump has emerged as an unstoppable political phenomenon who has transformed the Presidential voice into the greatest show on earth.

Trump: The Art of the Insult tells the story of Donald Trump's improbable journey from Trump Tower to rallies across America to the debate stage, where he reveled in mocking and taunting rivals with targeted insults and nicknames, leaving them gasping for air. As President of the US, he continues the trend.

In Trump: The Art of the Insult, the President is often sophomoric and sometimes brutal, yet America seems to always find him entertaining. Love or hate Donald Trump, you'll find yourself laughing along with the leader of the free world, and marveling at Trump.

Is "the Real Donald Trump" a marketing genius and accomplished performance artist or....?

DVD / 2017 / 95 minutes

ALL GOVERNMENTS LIE: TRUTH, DECEPTION, AND THE SPIRIT OF I.F. STONE

Director: Fred Peabody

Independent journalists like Amy Goodman, Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, and Matt Taibbi are changing the face of journalism, providing investigative, adversarial alternatives to mainstream, corporate news outlets. Our cameras follow as they expose government and corporate deception - just as the ground-breaking independent journalist I.F. Stone did decades ago.

DVD / 2016 / 91 minutes

ALTHUSSER, AN INTELLECTUAL ADVENTURE

By Bruno Oliviero

Philosophe, Marxist, professor, murderer. More than a quarter century after his death, Louis Althusser, one of the most influential leftist thinkers of the 20th century, remains an enigmatic figure: a man whose work rejuvenated Marxist theory through books such as For Marx and Reading Capital, a Communist who strove to create a new framework following the revelations of Stalinist terror... and a victim of mental illness who, in his darkest moment, strangled his wife of more than 30 years.

ALTHUSSER, AN INTELLECTUAL ADVENTURE traces the development of Althusser's thought, which influenced a who's who of French philosophers, including Lacan, Foucault, Derrida, and Barthes. Credited with reinterpreting Marx in a way that encouraged readers to engage directly with his work, Althusser brought the Freudian concept of overdetermination to Marxist theory, and argued that Marx's work should not be read as one consistent whole, because there was a clear 'break' between his earlier and later writings. But Althusser's most enduring contribution may be the concept of ideological state apparatuses: institutions and social structures including schools, churches, and families, that serve to reinforce the capitalist state.

The film also delves into Althusser's little-understood struggles with the mental illness that would see him hospitalized numerous times throughout his life. In intimate letters to his wife, Helene Rytmann, and mistress, Franca Madonia, Althusser describes his treatment and mental states. As Yves Duroux says, in order to understand the man, one must look not only at his philosophy and relationship with the Communist Party, but to "his own madness" which in some ways linked the two.

ALTHUSSER, AN INTELLECTUAL ADVENTURE captures the man, and the implications of his work, in interviews with friends and colleagues such as Lucien Seve, who served more than 30 years on the central committee of the Communist Party of France, and with philosophers and former students including Etienne Balibar, Pierre Macherey, and Jacques Ranciere.

Throughout his life Althusser avoided the spotlight, preferring to be a behind-the-scenes theoretician arguing the case for Marxist revolution. But included in this film is the only TV interview he gave, shot on a rooftop in Rome in 1980-just weeks before he would kill Helene.

DVD (Color, Black and White) / 2016 / 55 minutes

CATCHING SIGHT OF THELMA & LOUISE

Directed by Jennifer Townsend

Explores the same women's and men's reactions to the groundbreaking film, "Thelma & Louise", 25 years ago and today.

Powerful, authentic, and timely, CATCHING SIGHT OF THELMA & LOUISE dives off the edge into the truth of women's experience in the world. It revisits the journey of Thelma & Louise through the lens of viewers who saw that iconic film in 1991 and shared intimate, personal, stories at that time. The same women and men were tracked down 25 years later. Are their responses different now? Has anything changed in the way women are treated?

Interview commentary mixes with clips from "Thelma & Louise" to reveal why this cinema classic continues to resonate with millions of viewers, the world over. Christopher McDonald, who played Thelma's husband, and Marco St. John, who played the truck driver, offer an insider's viewpoint.

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adults) / 86 minutes

DEMOCRACY ROAD

By Turid Rogne

After more than 20 years in exile in Norway, the Burmese journalists of DVB are returning to their homeland to establish their independent news station there. Editor-in-chief Aye Chan Naing and reporter Than Win Htut have dreamt about this for years, but their struggle for freedom and democracy is not over yet.

DEMOCRACY ROAD is a road movie documentary following the journalists of DVB in Myanmar in a critical phase of the establishment of the newborn democracy. With their existence as an independent news channel and Myanmar's future as a democracy at stake, senior reporter Than Win Htut and his colleagues hit the road with their groundbreaking show "Our Nation, Our Land." Their goal is to investigate the living conditions of ordinary people off the beaten path in Myanmar, but the machinery of the old dictatorship is still running. Simultaneously, editor-in-chief, Aye Chan Naing, has to negotiate with DVB's former enemies in the infamous Ministry of Information. The road towards democracy has only just begun...

Director Turid Rogne has followed the journalists of DVB for more than 10 years. With both boldness and sensitivity, she tells the story of life in a former dictatorship through the people who try to influence history.

DVD (Color) / 2016 / 60 minutes

KINGS OF THE PAGES: THE GOLDEN AGE OF COMIC STRIPS

Directed by Robert Lemieux

At the turn of the 20th century, two of the most powerful men in America were newspaper magnates William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. Noted mostly for their contentious rivalry and sensationalist news coverage, they were also responsible for cultivating some of the era's most recognizable celebrities-Nemo, Krazy, Happy Hooligan, George McManus, Ignatz, Mutt, Buster Brown, Hans and Fritz, and Offissa Pup, to name a few.

In their ongoing battle to attract newspaper readers, both Hearst and Pulitzer had discovered that comic strips were a strategic addition. Often raiding each other's staffs to acquire the best talent, both men recognized the potential. It wasn't until Hearst unveiled the first full color, 8-page comic supplement in 1896, that the potential was fully realized, prompting Hearst's now famous quote motto... "Eight Pages of Iridescent Polychromous Effulgence That Makes The Rainbow Look Like A Lead Pipe!"

Over the next fifty years, that polychromatic effulgence would usher in the Golden Age of the American comic strip. During that time span, more than 150 different strips made their way into America's living rooms. Every week the characters and their creators provided humorous entertainment and tickled many a funny bone. Reading the comics became a cultural phenomenon.

Only available in North America.

DVD / 2016 / 24 minutes

WHAT HAPPENED TO HER

By Kristy Guevara-Flanagan

WHAT HAPPENED TO HER is a forensic exploration of our cultural obsession with images of the dead woman on screen. Interspersing found footage from films and police procedural television shows and one actor's experience of playing the part of a corpse, the film offers a meditative critique on the trope of the dead female body.

The visual narrative of the genre, one reinforced through its intense and pervasive repetition, is revealed as a highly structured pageant. The experience of physical invasion and exploitation voiced by the actor pierce the fabric of the screened fantasy. The result is recurring and magnetic film cliche laid bare. Essential viewing for Pop Culture, Women's and Cinema Studies classes.

DVD (Color) / 2016 / 15 minutes

BAPTISM OF FIRE, A

By Jerome Clement-Wilz

"As it gets harder to sell pictures, we take greater and greater risks," explains Corentin Fohlen. A war correspondent still in his twenties, Fohlen is part of a new generation of freelance journalists who fly to war zones from Libya to Afghanistan on their own dime in the hope of selling images to news media outlets.

But the carefree attitude of youth can change when confronted with the harsh reality of life in wartime. When a colleague is killed in Syria, Fohlen's thirst for adventure turns into a deeper reflection on the meaning of work and life. Director Clement-Wilz followed Fohlen through shells and bullets for four years in order to create this riveting portrait of the life of a contemporary war correspondent.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2015 / 52 minutes

CAFFEINATED

Director: Hanh Nguyen, Vishal Solanki

Every cup of coffee has a story... one that begins in a lush tropical field and ends at your breakfast table. Caffeinated is a fascinating globe-hopping examination of this journey from bean to cup. A host of coffee specialists from the bean harvesters of such coffee-growing regions as Nicaragua, Guatemala and India to American shop owners to Italian industry insiders weigh in on the history and cultural impact of coffee, from the art of roasting and taste-testing to the unsung skills of your local barista. Caffeinated is a compelling, comprehensive look into the world of coffee that will leave you appreciating your morning cup as more than just a caffeine fix!

DVD (Region 1, Color) / 2015 / 80 minutes

DREAMS REWIRED

Narrated by Tilda Swinton By Manu Luksch, Martin Reinhart & Thomas Tode

Tilda Swinton's hypnotic voiceover and a treasure trove of rare archival footage culled from hundreds of films from the 1880s through the 1930s-much of it previously unseen-combine to trace the anxieties of today's hyper-connected world back a hundred years. Then, too, electric media sparked idealism in the public imagination-hailed as the beginning of an era of total communication, annihilation of distance and the end of war. But then, too, fears over the erosion of privacy, security, morality proved to be well-founded.

DREAMS REWIRED traces contemporary appetites and anxieties back to the birth of the telephone, television and cinema. At the time, early electric media were as revolutionary as social media are now. The technologies were expected to serve everyone, not just the elite classes. Human relationships would become stronger, efficiency would increase and the society would be revolutionized... But these initial promises were very different from what new media eventually brought to daily life.

Using excerpts from early dramatic films, slapstick comedies, political newsreels, advertisements and recordings of scientific experiments culled during years of research in film archives around the world, co-directors Manu Luksch, Martin Reinhart and Thomas Tode unearth material that is by turns hilarious, revelatory, beautiful and prescient. The archival footage, combined with poetic narration and a virtuosic score by Siegfried Friedrich forges a cross-generational connection between contemporary viewers and their idealistic forbearers of a century ago.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2015 / 85 minutes

FEAR NO FRUIT

Director: Mark Brian Smith Starring: Frieda Rapoport Caplan

Frieda Caplan, "The Queen of Kiwi," was the first woman to own a business on the L.A. Wholesale Produce Market in the 1960s. Over the past 50 plus years, Frieda's company has introduced more than 200 exotic fruits and vegetables to the U.S., transforming the supermarket produce department. The film chronicles Frieda's rise against the odds, introducing the Kiwifruit to America in 1962, taking the business to the next level with her two daughters at the helm, and establishing her impact on American cuisine. Set in California, from the farm to the supermarket, Fear No Fruit climaxes in San Luis Obispo at California Polytechnic State University, where a tireless 91-year-old Frieda receives an honorary doctorate, inspiring an audience of 30,000.

DVD (Region 1, Color) / 2015 / 96 minutes

FEED THE GREEN: FEMINIST VOICES FOR THE EARTH

By Jane Caputi

FEED THE GREEN: FEMINIST VOICES FOR THE EARTH, by Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies professor and scholar Jane Caputi, challenges the cultural imagination surrounding the destruction of the environment and the link and influence on femicide and genocide.

No nation is immune to the effects of global warming, but the impacts of climate change are felt disproportionately by those who face racial and socioeconomic inequalities. In the US, African Americans, Hispanics and other racial and ethnic minorities are more vulnerable to climate change. Globally the effects from global warming are likely to be unequal, with the world's poorest and developing regions lacking the economic and institutional capacity to cope and adapt.

FEED THE GREEN features a variety of feminist thinkers, including ecological and social justice advocates Vandana Shiva and Andrea Smith, ecosexual activists Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens; ecofeminist theorist and disability rights activist Ynestra King, poet Camille Dungy, scholars and bloggers Janell Hobson and Jill Schneiderman and grass roots activist La Loba Loca. Their voices are powerfully juxtaposed with images from popular culture, including advertising, myth, art, and the news, pointing to the ways that an environmentally destructive worldview is embedded in popular discourses, both contemporary and historical. Required viewing for Women's and Environmental Studies as well as Pop Culture.

DVD (Color) / 2015 / 35 minutes

HOT TYPE: 150 YEARS OF THE NATION

Director: Barbara Kopple

Hot Type: 150 Years of The Nation is a vivid, inside look at America's oldest continuously published weekly magazine. Shot over three years in intimate, cinema verite style, the film captures the day-to-day pressures and challenges of publishing the progressive magazine as it follows reporters out into the field, the editors who shape their work, and the editor-in chief who tries to keep all of the plates spinning.

Writers are the heart and soul of the magazine, and the film follows them extensively. Sasha Abramsky travels to West Texas to report on the years-long drought that has gripped the region and the devastating economic impact on farmers and residents. John Nichols unpacks what's going on behind the effort to recall Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. Amy Wilentz visits the "temporary" tent camps of Haiti, three years after the earthquake, to shed light on the dire conditions and lackluster international response. And Dani McClain reports on the Moral Monday movement in North Carolina, and its dynamic leader Rev. William Barber, as they push back against an extreme right-wing takeover of the state legislature.

In all of the current-day reported stories, The Nation's incredible trove of archival articles - and roster of writers - acts as an historical touchstone and illuminates how the past continuously ripples through and shapes current events.

At a fascinating moment in American history - politically, socially and culturally - the media landscape is changing at breathtaking speed. The film charts the journey of The Nation - and the nation - evolving into the future, as it is guided by its remarkable past.

DVD / 2015 / 92 minutes

HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD

Director: Jerry Rothwell

How to Change the World chronicles the adventures of an eclectic group of young pioneers - Canadian hippie journalists, photographers, musicians, scientists, and American draft dodgers - who set out to stop Richard Nixon's atomic bomb tests in Amchitka, Alaska, and end up creating the worldwide green movement.

Greenpeace was founded on tight knit, passionate friendships forged in Vancouver in the early 1970s. Together they pioneered a template for environmental activism which mixed daring iconic feats and worldwide media: placing small rubber inflatables between harpooners and whales, blocking ice-breaking sealing ships with their bodies, spraying the pelts of baby seals with dye to make them valueless in the fur market. The group had a prescient understanding of the power of media, knowing that the advent of global mass communications meant that the image had become a more effective tool for change than the strike or the demonstration.

DVD (Region 1, Color) / 2015 / 109 minutes

LOVE BETWEEN THE COVERS

By Laurie Kahn

Romance novels comprise over a billion dollars a year in book sales, outselling science fiction, fantasy, and mystery combined. So why is the genre so often dismissed as frivolous "scribble" rather than elevated as a radical literary form that pushes the envelope on gender, race, and diversity? The heroic characters, prolific writers, and voracious readers that dominate romantic fiction are primarily women. Witty and intelligent, these lovers of the written word form a collaborative, supportive, and dynamic community where readers and writers inspire one another. Emmy Award Winning director Laurie Kahn (Tupperware!) takes a comprehensive look at what goes into publishing a romantic novel, from the author's inspiration and writing process to the photo shoots for those distinctive cover designs. Speaking with literary scholars, romance fanatics, aspiring writers, and award-winning authors, including Nora Roberts, Eloisa James, Beverly Jenkins, and Radclyffe, this documentary offers fascinating insights into this female-centric literary world.

DVD (Color) / 2015 / 84 minutes

ON BEAUTY

By Joanna Rudnick

From Emmy-nominated IN THE FAMILY filmmaker Joanna Rudnick and Chicago's Kartemquin Films comes a story about challenging norms and redefining beauty. ON BEAUTY follows fashion photographer Rick Guidotti, who left the fashion world when he grew frustrated with having to work within the restrictive parameters of the industry's standard of beauty. After a chance encounter with a young woman who had the genetic condition albinism, Rick re-focused his lens on those too often relegated to the shadows to change the way we see and experience beauty.

At the center of ON BEAUTY are two of Rick's photo subjects: Sarah and Jayne. In eighth grade Sarah left public school because she was bullied so harshly for the birthmark on her face and brain. Jayne lives with albinism in Eastern Africa where society is blind to her unique health and safety needs and where witch doctors hunt people with her condition to sell their body parts. We follow Rick as he uses his lens to challenge convention and media's narrow scope of with the help of two extraordinary women.

DVD (Color) / 2015 / 31 minutes

PROJECT Z

Directed by Phillip Gara

An investigation into how war games, worst-case scenarios, complex systems, and networked media produce the very crises they seek to model, predict and report.

As the Cold War ends, a professor goes in search of an America without an enemy. Armed with a Hi8 video camera and inspired by the detective work of Walter Benjamin, he heads deep into the inner circles of the defense, entertainment and media industries, where he discovers a worst-case future being built from war games, video games, and language games.

Some thirty years later, a group of student filmmakers find the videotapes in a filing cabinet, along with a stack of old newspaper clippings, audio interviews and photographs. With the help of friends from the Global Media Project, the filmmaker produces an experimental documentary that goes back to the future, where they find the original maps for a new world order. An unexpected warning is found on the outermost edges of the maps: "Beware of Zombies!"

The result is PROJECT Z, a film that updates another warning, issued by President Eisenhower in his 1961 farewell address, about the emergence of a "military-industrial complex" and the consequences should "public policy be captured by a scientific and technological elite".

Combining rare footage from inside the war machine with corrosive commentary by leading critics of global violence, injustice, and inequality, the film challenges the living to write their own future before the walking dead conjure the final global event.

DVD / 2015 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 74 minutes

SEX, LIES AND TABLOIDS!

By Jean-Baptiste Peretie

They're lurid, obnoxious, disdainful and explicit. And we love them - and love to hate them.

SEX, LIES AND TABLOIDS! charts the rise and fall of tabloid papers in the UK and US, including the New York Post, The Sun, and notorious supermarket tabloids like the National Enquirer and The Star.

In the beginning, they were upstarts. Papers that shamelessly pandered with stories about sex scandals, and celebrities - often skirting ethical lines, and sometimes outright making things up ("Run it through the typewriter again," was one editor's mantra.) But by the 1980s and '90s they had become the media heavyweights. Left behind by the tabloids' coverage of Bill Clinton's sex life, Princess Diana and the OJ Simpson trial, the mainstream media started to adopt their techniques.

SEX, LIES AND TABLOIDS! Features extensive interviews with key tabloid players such as notorious editor Kelvin MacKenzie ("If you have no news... you get a picture of Diana and make it as big as possible"), journalist Paul McMullan ("People need to understand that privacy is an evil, bad concept"), and the late Vincent Musetto (famed for the headline "Headless body in topless bar"). The film provides an insider's account of the no-holds-barred mentality driving tabloid journalism while also using fun and campy footage mimicking the style of the tabloids themselves.

Eventually, the tabs would go too far. Briefly chastened by the death of Diana and shunned after the British phone hacking scandal, the papers would go into a downward spiral, with The News of the World even shutting down. But culture they spawned is stronger than ever. Sites like TMZ and The Smoking Gun and an omni-present gotcha culture have brought the spirit of the tabloids to the Internet. At the same time, the ubiquity of sharing means photos that would once have been prized by paparazzi (hello Kim Kardashian in a bikini) are posted by celebrities and would-be-celebs themselves. The tabloids may be gone, but the tabloid spirit is everywhere.

DVD (Closed Captioned) / 2015 / 52 minutes

WORLD ACCORDING TO RUSSIA TODAY, THE

By Misja Pekel

In 2014, Malaysian Airlines passenger flight 17 was shot down with a rocket intended for the private plane of Russian president Vladimir Putin... If, that is, a viewer is relying on the satellite TV network Russia Today as their source for news.

These claims were not the first time Russia Today drew attention for counter-factual reporting: during the 2008 war in Georgia, the network reported that South Ossetians were the victims of genocide at the hands of Georgians. In 2014, the channel was warned by the British TV agency for its biased and inaccurate reporting on the uprising on Maidan Square in Kiev. The list goes on and on.

Russia Today (now renamed just RT) was launched in 2005 to bring a Russian-centric perspective on current political events to a global audience. After a decade of generous Kremlin funding, 2015 found the 24-hour news channel the biggest media organization on YouTube with 2 billion viewers: more than CNN and the BBC combined.

The network claims only to offer an alternative perspective to the monolithic view presented by mainstream Western media. But what kind of "reporting" is Russia Today actually doing? What is it like to work for the channel? How much influence does the Kremlin really have there? Is it possible to differentiate between fact and opinion on a Russian channel when the Russian interests are at stake?

In Misja Pekel's disturbing documentary THE WORLD ACCORDING TO RUSSIA TODAY, former and current news anchors, editors and correspondents for the network-including William Dunbar, Sara Firth, Marc de Jersey, Afshin Rattansi and Liz Wahl-join journalists and media professionals Alexander Nekrassov, Peter Pomerantsev, Richard Sambrook, Daniel Sandford, Derk Sauer and more in a detailed dissection of the channel's modus operandi and the challenges and dangers of reporting and consuming news in a globalized world.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2015 / 40 minutes

http://www.learningemall.com/News/Media_Society_202102.html

[dippedanddripped]

It’s rare that it reaches 100 degrees in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon.

Even rarer still is the presence of an all-gold Dodge Challenger, its reflection giving the appearance of a bejeweled shooting star pulling into the parking lot.

This one also has a vanity license plate – “Sammyy” – that enhances the car’s extraterrestrial appearance.

The Challenger’s occupant exits and joins me at a table. As she takes a seat across from me, a group of 20-somethings not too far away becomes intrigued.

More stares start to accrue from the outdoor mall goers. Next up is a young couple pushing a stroller, followed by the employees at the coffee shop I had just exited.

A minute ago, neither myself nor the table I was at seemed to warrant much, if any, attention.

You can get the sense that “somebody” just entered the premises, even if they’re not quite sure who that somebody is.

I can tell that the attention phases me more than my recently-arrived guest. Despite the now fishbowl-like dynamic between the two of us and the mall-goers, she seems to barely notice.

Then again, when you have more than 2.5 million followers on instagram and nearly half a million more on Tik Tok, being recognized by random passerby doesn’t come as a surprise like it would for most.

Rockstar? No, influencer

I distinctly remember the plethora of classmates I graduated high school with who promised to one day grow up and become “rockstars.”

Unsurprisingly, I haven’t heard from any of those classmates since. What is surprising is how anachronistic the notion of being a “rockstar” has become.

The reality is that “rockstar” should probably be replaced with a new term – ”influencer.” Sure, it’s not quite as catchy, but it’s far more accurate when describing the world’s latest (and perhaps most enviable) celebrity class.

These days, very real rock stars have nothing on the modern day Influencer.

Influencing by the numbers

What little data on the subject tells us is that, in 2016, social media influencing was just under a $2 billion industry ($1.7B, for those with a penchant for exactness).

This figure grew to $3B in 2017, and $4.6B in 2018.

In 2020, estimates tell us that the sector is likely to surpass the $10B mark.

While that may not seem like a lot of money, think of it this way – in a little under 4 years, the size of the influencing industry grew 500%.

Should the industry continue on its current growth trajectory, it will become a $50B industry by 2024.

To put this in perspective, Goldman Sachs estimates that the total value of all recorded music streaming will grow to about $30B by 2030. That means that it will take some years for music to reach just half of what influencing brings in annually.

By some metrics, influencers have become more relevant as celebrities than their musical counterparts. It’s happened quickly; adults who use social media religiously often can’t see it.

But real professional influencers are out there. As a crowd begins forming near our table, I begin to witness firsthand what these ridiculous financial statistics truly mean.

Who is Sammyy02k?

Since 2014, Samantha Krieger has gone by a number of different names. These days, she’s known as Sammyy02k.

Despite her reluctance to do in-person interviews, she’s agreed to be the subject of an Artvoice feature on the rise of social media influence.

And while Krieger can exercise her massive reach with just a few taps of a smartphone, a lot of misinformation about her continues to circulate.

As part of her agreement to the interview, I offer to help clarify the basics about just who exactly she is.

Samantha Krieger, AKA Sammyy02k

Samantha Krieger was born in Portland, Oregon. For some years, she was no different than you or me, working tedious retail jobs and driving a non-gold car.

At Lakeridge high school, she was dealt with taunts from wealthy classmates. It’s likely these experiences would activate whatever latent stardom was already within her.

After graduating from Portland State University in 2014, Krieger had a vision.

She suspected, correctly, that it doesn’t take much to at least get started as an influencer.

You need photos and/or video, sure… but given the prevalence of acceptable cameras on the backs of phones, finding a suitable recording setup was simple.

The second ingredient Krieger inferred was something less tangible – the courage required to be exceptional.

Despite her natural shyness, she had ambitions that extended beyond what she thought her bachelors degree would help achieve. Then, one day, it clicked.

“You could say I decided to become an ‘antisocial social media star.’”

“I did what I wanted to do, and I knew there was going to be a way to make it work for me.”

From 0 to 60 (thousand followers)

Like any new profile, at one point, @Sammyy02k had 0 followers.

Constant content and connection with followers helped drive things quickly, however.

A few hundred followers within a month turned into one thousand, and one thousand turned into tens of thousands in less than a year.

While impressive to most, Krieger knew there was more to be gained.

“Once I hit 50 or 60 thousand, things started to snowball. I hit the gas.”

@Sammyy02k posted more content, becoming more aware of her developing voice with every post.

At 500k followers, the contracts rolled in.

Brand building, Sammyy02k style

Krieger’s first contract of note was in Spring 2018, a lucrative deal with clothing brand Fashion Nova.

Now, instead of developing a brand on her own money and time, Krieger had companies competing against one another for the privilege of paying her to do what she loved.

The Fashion Nova contract was quickly followed by others, and within just a matter of months, Krieger’s lifestyle had changed dramatically.

She quit her last remaining part-time gig and moved into a luxury 2-bedroom apartment in Portland’s famed Pearl District.

With newfound status, however, came the need for significant soul searching.

Overcoming obstacles, digital and personal

Not too long after inking the Fashion Nova deal, Sammyy02k was offered to do a paid appearance at a party in downtown Portland. While there, she got a call from the police.

A gray Dodge Charger registered in her name had crashed into a median in China Town. The driver had fled, and the car was totaled.

Krieger immediately had a suspect in mind: a reckless boyfriend who had started taking advantage of her recently-acquired celebrity status.

Boyfriends weren’t the only concerns that Krieger had to deal with – even some of her own friends had started to become jealous, the relationships turning toxic.

To her friends, Krieger was still known as just “Sam”. People in her circle had difficulty comprehending the controlled entrepreneurism required to run @Sammyy02k.

They’d ask for shoutouts or suggest off-brand posts, not understanding that the Instagram profile required attention to detail and discipline.

Old friends becoming enemies seems like an overplayed Hollywood trope.

For a young adult who now could command thousands of dollars for just a few minutes of work, it was reality.

The type of loneliness that hides in shadows of success began to stretch further and further into Krieger’s personal life. The totalled car was the last straw.

While on the phone with the police at her first paid party appearance, Krieger took a deep breath and decided that staying on her desired path would require serious changes.

“I saw this as an opportunity where I could come back, and make a statement.”

It turned out that ditching the car (and the boyfriend) would be one of her best career decisions yet.

A car is born

A few weeks after the incident, Sammyy02k returned from a luxurious all-paid overseas trip to the Seychelles with a new travel sponsor. Krieger decided that she “needed a new whip.”

By now, Krieger had registered an LLC in her name. Business was coming fast and steady, and it wasn’t uncommon for her to be recognized on the street – not only in Portland, but in Los Angeles and even cities as far away as Kansas City.

Krieger elaborates:

“At this point, I was really stepping into my role as an influencer. This is when I really refined my style, my brand, and my image.”

For you and me, “refining your style” might mean picking up a few shirts from a department store.

To Krieger, it meant buying a brand new custom Dodge Challenger R/T wrapped in metallic gold with scissor-doors, the kind you’ll find on a Lamborghini.

According to Krieger, the car represents the essence of her brand, and the luxury of travel. It’s now one of the most recognized facets of her style.

Sammyy02k all over the world

Sammyy02k’s influence, today, is international.

With sponsorship deals taking her to the Seychelles, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and beyond, she is now recognized in 4 continents.

She prides herself on showing her fans different places around the world. The path less traveled, the freedom to be everywhere, the luxury lifestyle that many in our always-connected society dream of.

“I feel connected to the road, and traveling to exotic locations”

The opportunities that sudden stardom has afforded her seem almost surreal, even to her. Normalcy is a mirage in the rear view mirror.

Responding to criticism

In mid-2019, Krieger was the main guest on a Portland Fashion Week panel. Already an influencer to influencers, she insisted that whatever secret ingredients success exist come naturally.

During a Q&A, she fielded numerous questions regarding her chosen career path. Not all of the questions were softballs.

Some questioned the materialism and sexuality often used by influencers.

The response was simple:

“Your opinions don’t pay my bills.”

Always on the go

With more followers pouring in every day, Sammyy02k stays busy. She recounts tales of distant travels, and the types of perks that I thought were originally reserved for a few select people who orbited high above in the LA movie industry.

Thirty minutes into the interview, I notice that a distant crowd has accumulated around our table like rings around Saturn.

Krieger barely seems to notice. A reminder goes off on her phone, a notification about another engagement she has back in the city.

After a polite exchange of thank yous and goodbyes, she heads back to her car.

I hear the exhaust note of the Challenger float away from the parking lot as I gather my notes and get up from the table.

As I glance up, the crowd has already dispersed. The only people left pay me no mind as they stare at their phones.