Category Archives: Hedonism

2021 WAS supposed to usher happiness, even hedonism, back into our lives and, while it didnt quite deliver, things are definitely looking up. This December, unlike last, many Americans are able to reunite with family and friends. And after months spent in schlubby sweats, why not give your favorite people the gift of style? In creating this gift guide, our fashion editors focused on joyful clothes, accessories and beauty indulgences that promise to dispel some of the uneasiness and worry weve all lived throughfrom a sturdy patchwork shirt with personality to a shimmering sequin handbag that will light the path to the new year. Theyre all designed to help your loved ones reconnect with that endangered idea: fun.

Equip that ambitiously stylish guy you know with more than a bland button-up. We submit instead this handsome (and hard-wearing) patchworked shirt from New York label 3sixteen. Made in India from a hand-loomed cotton khadi fabric, its design combines panels in four different earth tones that conjure an arid Dune-like landscape. Should your recipient snag a seam (or just crave extra idiosyncrasy), he can always add his own patches atop this crafty hodgepodge. Patchwork BD Shirt, $240, 3sixteen.com

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14 Luxury Holiday Gift Ideas for the Fashion Lovers in Your Life - The Wall Street Journal

Such a big part of my creativity involves going to gigs to feel the raw energy, the sweat, says Brit-nominated singer-songwriter Rina Sawayama. Even how people move to certain beats can be inspiring in terms of writing ... I go crazy when I go to gigs. It really removes you from being in your own head.

Given the pandemic and all it has entailed, gigs have taken something of a back seat in the 31-year-olds life. That hasnt stopped her enjoying a huge 18 months, career-wise. She released her debut studio album, Sawayama, to critical fanfare in April 2020, gave a riotous performance in the US on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, walked the Balmain runway during Paris fashion week and also, unexpectedly, became friends with Elton John, who hopped on a remix of her song Chosen Family. Rather poetically, the first gig Sawayama was at after a rollercoaster yet reclusive couple of years was her own.

We connect to discuss the formative memories that shaped her into the artist she is today, as she marks her collaboration with Grey Goose Vodka, a musical and culinary duet with Michelin star chef Luke Selby where guests at an exclusive dining event enjoy a twist on the dirty martini cocktail, Sawayamas favourite. Im inspired by what happens at the intersection of different influences and perspectives, she says. From travel to food to music, collaborating with Elton, Luke or Grey Goose, Im always amazed what happens when great things come together. Plus, Lukes food is incredible, you can barely ever get a table at his restaurant.

Naturally, the conversation drifts to the brands prevalence in her clubbing memories; nightlife has played a key role in her artistry. Her 2020 dancefloor-ready banger Commes Des Garcons is inspired by the 00s music that made her feel as if she owned the dance floor, calling on influences from Kylie Minogue, and Madonnas Confessions on a Dancefloor era. Guitar-led songs such as XS reflect years where she was watching gigs in Camden by night and attending a Church of England school by day. I used to follow the Bravery around, and I was obsessed with the Strokes, she adds. Music was a means of escape from personal angst she took her parents separation quite hard.

It was around this time she developed her first signature look: very white and very skinny jeans, white Converse and, to her regret, waistcoats. To keep this look pristine on the dancefloor she only drank vodka and soda. Its still my drink of choice before I go on stage, but the vodka has to be good quality. So Grey Goose has always been on my radar.

For the most part, her formative years in the 00s mirror those of her agemates: spending hours searching for new acts on Myspace and in the pages of NME (where she once posted an ad for members to join her band), hearing new tunes at house parties and later downloading them on LimeWire and burning them on to CDs to use in DJ practice with her friends. She eventually curated stacks of pirated sounds, from Womack & Womack and Justice to Britney Spears and Limp Bizkit. I think I grew up in an era where pop was really very varied. Evanescence and tATu were on the charts alongside the Neptunes. There was a lot of experimentation, she says. And I was obsessed with music.

As well as being a means of escape and hedonism, music has helped Sawayama find community. At times, shed found it hard to fit in as a queer woman of colour, such as when at Cambridge University, a far cry from her previously diverse schooling. Id never seen so many chinos, I just didnt understand what was going on, she says. Her discovery of a gay night led her to a dancefloor awash with the sounds of Lady Gaga and 00s girl bands, and gifted her the queer, creative chosen family she would later sing about with Elton John.

It took a while to get to where she is now artistically. After university, she worked allocating government startup funds to creative companies, dabbled with modelling, served soft scoops at an ice-cream shop and worked in retail on Regent Street all while fine-tuning her sound. My creativity wasnt touched by financial need, I could do whatever I wanted which was really great.

Finding the confidence to commit to music full time wasnt easy though, and she admits to often having a crisis of confidence about her own songs, which she still worries are not good enough. But, during a Saturday shift as a nail technician in 2017, a customer asked, as Sawayama painted their toes: Werent you on the Dazed 100 [an annual round up of people shaping global youth culture]? This was the moment she thought it might be best to pursue her passion as her day job.

For the past few months its been all systems go as Sawayama juggles studio recording and prep for her stellar live tour. Its overwhelming doing both like its completely different parts of my brain, she laughs. But with a clutch of genres in her wheelhouse and an eclectic journey to the top, shell no doubt re-emerge as a completely different artist.

The first martini Sawayama ever enjoyed was a dirty martini, typically a dry martini with a splash of olive brine. Weve elevated this classic with herbaceous thyme notes and a more complex olive flavour with infused sherry.

40ml Grey Goose Vodka15ml Thyme infused Martini Bianco (200ml bianco with 10 sprigs of thyme leave to infuse overnight)15ml Kalamata olive fino sherry (150ml Tio Pepe with two drops kalamata flavour note or muddle an olive instead)

Fill a mixing glass full of ice, then add all the ingredients and stir vigorously to chill. Strain and pour the drink into a martini glass. Garnish with a kalamata olive. You can serve the cocktail up in a martini glass or on ice in a rocks glass.

Bring a taste of Rina Sawayama and Luke Selbys duet collaboration home, with a limited edition Grey Goose Duet martini cocktail kit, available from TheDrinksDrop.com for 80

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'I go crazy when I go to gigs': Rina Sawayama on her proud foundations and duetting with Elton John - The Guardian

They say sex sells, and when it comes to travel, that's especially true. Sex travel (or "libertine tourism," as it's sometimes called), is a growing industry targeted at people who love to take their clothes off and get buckwild. (To be clear, it's not the same thing as sex tourism, a term most people use to describe traveling to have sex with prostitutes; sex travel is totally consensual and totally legal.) These people love going to resorts, chalets, and beaches all over the world, taking their clothes off, and having sex with each other so I decided to join them at Hedonism II to see what it was like.

Located in Negril, Jamaica, Hedonism II (or simply Hedo to those in the know) is a nudist resort that also touts itself as an "adult playground." Basically, it's an all-inclusive resort for adults who want to live out their sexual fantasies in a safe and consensual environment.

It's important to note that generally speaking, most people who self-identify as nudists are not swingers, and most swingers are not nudists. In fact, many people who are nudists claim there's absolutely nothing inherently sexual about the nudist lifestyle, and reject any suggestion otherwise. (At some nudist resorts, overt sexual behavior is explicitly prohibited.) That said, the two groups do occasionally intersect, and at Hedonism II, both sex and public nudity are not only accepted, but downright encouraged.

A few weeks ago, I hopped on a plane from JFK in New York City to Montego Bay. While the plane ride was fraught with nervous anticipation, Hedonism II ended up being both exactly and absolutely nothing like what I had cooked up in the twisted recesses of my mind. So if youve ever entertained the notion of stripping down on the sugary shores of Hedo, here are 13 things you need to know.

Related: I Went to a Members-Only Sex Party. Here's What Happened

This might not need to be mentioned, but lets mention it anyway, shall we? Compared to clothing-optional resorts or topless resorts, where you might occasionally see a nip slip or the occasional flaccid member, Hedonism is the spot to literally bare all. The resort is divided into two sides: Prude and Nude. (Before you ask, the lobby, gym and main restaurant/bar are clothing-mandatory. This greatly eased my anxiety come dinner time, when I was panicking over whether or not to bring a napkin for my chair.) The Prude side is clothing optional, but the nude side has its own set of rules. In fact, entry is only permitted if you check all at the door.

MH SEX: Woman On Top:

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is especially true if youre a 20-something woman traveling alone. That's because Hedo is not just a couples resort: single men are allowed to attend as well. (That's not usually the case at most sex parties, where men need to have a female guest to gain entry.) Because everyone is presumably there for the same reason, single men have a fair amount of license to approach women. I learned this firsthand one evening, when I was sitting poolside and a man approached me offering to buy me a drink. (At an all-inclusive resort, this is apparently considered a real knee-slapper.) Aside from that, a few couples approached me asking if I'd be visiting the Playroom, where guests are permitted to explore each other "in a safe and non-judgmental environment."

That said, at no point did I feel any pressure to fool around with anyone. At a resort like Hedo, the implication is that youre there to try new things and explore your boundaries, so while other guests may try to gauge your level of interest in them, a simple no, thank you is all that's needed to rebuff them. The resort has zero tolerance for consent violations or creepy behavior of any kind.

Related: This Exclusive Party Is Offering You a Lifetime of Wild Sex For $1 Million

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Regardless of whether or not youre the one actually doing it, you will see sex a lot of it. Daytime at Hedo is relatively tame, because most guests are recovering from their adventures the night before. But come sundown and well into the wee hours, its not uncommon to watch your breakfast dining companions go at it on the pool bar. Once, I witnessed a man in his late 40s lay his female companion down on the pool bar, open her legs, and go down on her in full view of the other guests. Happy Hour buffet, indeed.

It should be noted that while Seven Mile Beach in Negril is a public beach, there are security guards at the entrance to Hedos private beach, who are there to check room keys and make sure that you're actually a guest. It adds a level of privacy and discretion for the guests who will likely be copulating in public.

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When most people think of a nudist or swingers resort, they automatically think that the guests are people they would never want to see naked, and/or mustachioed gentlemen with pinky rings. But this is not the case at Hedo. The majority of guests are fit couples in their early 40s through late 50s, most of whom seemed to be empty nesters. They are healthy, they have money, and for the most part, they are very good-looking.

Related: A Giant Kinky Sex Party Took Place In the Woods, and People Are Furious About It

At first, it's a little hard to get used to the fact that the staff at Hedo is not naked (presumably because it's a little hard to be a mechanic and, say, fix a hot tub while your junk is hanging out). But because you're naked all the time, its not uncommon to be sitting in the buff on your patio, sipping a glass of rum, chatting casually with the fully clothed handyman. And absolutely no one thinks its weird. (And yes, he didn't stare at my junk the whole time he's a professional, after all.)

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A foam party is basically what is sounds like: a pool party where the pool is filled with foam and you dance in it naked. Yes, they're messy, but they're also super fun.

Related: Would You Pay $1875 to Get Into This Exclusive Sex Party?

Wednesday is Fetish Night at Hedo, where the scene is set with leather and lingerie. Although a week on a Caribbean beach surrounded by naked people might seem like you've maxed out on the fantasy card, Fetish Night is ostensibly when guests are encouraged to indulge in their wildest fantasies. The entertainment at Fetish Night features Cirque du Soleil-level acrobatics, with half-naked people dangling from ropes and cables, seductively stretching and bending and folding for the audience. Even if you have absolutely no interest in riding crops and ball gags, it is awesome.

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No, but seriously, nudists are some of the best people you will ever meet. They are completely comfortable with who they are and they have nothing to hide (both literally and figuratively). Take, for example, my dining companion, who on Fetish Night showed up to dinner in full leather regalia, a leash and collar fastened around his neck. As we sat there dining on steak, he began to tell me a story, then apologized for speaking to me with his mouth full.

Youre in a dog collar, I reminded him. I dont think you have anything to worry about.

Related: Weird News: Swiss Tourists Arrested While Having an Orgy

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...and then most likely say hello to them the next morning as theyre having coffee on their patio. And guess what? It doesn't feel awkward at all.

Most guests at Hedo are there for one reason: to take off their clothes and do what comes naturally, without fear of judgment. Hedo celebrates sexuality, and your neighbors are going to take advantage of that. In fact, they may even invite you to come along. If you're not interested, youll have a dandy time just sipping a daiquiri, your junk blowing in the wind.

That said, if you are interested in having sex, you could very well end up in the playroom at midnight. The Playroom" at Hedo is a plush, seductive area with beds draped in white linens, with electric-purple walls and a very open-to-the-public shower. In The Playroom, anything goes, so long as youre polite and ask first. And remember: no means no.

Related: 5 Scary Things That Happen to Your Penis When You Age

While food quality isnt your first thought when you think about a swingers resort, at the end of the day, youre still going on vacation and you want to make sure its a good one. Hedo has food that you actually will want to eat and enjoy, with sushi, steak, Jamaican barbecue, and a decidedly lavish breakfast buffet are among the highlights.

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After people have had their fun in The Playroom, they typically want to keep the party going, so they migrate over to the Nude Pool for the post-party, while drunk onlookers munch on hot pizza from the late-night grill menu.

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The bottom line is, Hedo is a place for people who love fun and love to take risks. Even if you dont partake in The Lifestyle, as I did not, youll find yourself meeting some open-minded and accepting people. . So Im no stranger to being naked with other strangers. That said, if youve never been naked in public before, youll definitely want to try it out at a place like Hedo because, frankly, youll be the only one not naked. And that will feel weird to you. If youre not there for sex, no one cares. They just want you to let loose, whatever that means for you, and to not judge them.

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Hedonism II Nudist Sex Resort | Mens Health

Sanguine

Sanguine (in Daedric script, ) also known as the Lord of Revelry,[1] Blood-Made-Pleasure,[2] Prince of Hedonism,[UL 1] Lord of Hard-Partying,[3] and he who tastes the Shaven Fruit,[4] is the Daedric Prince of revelry and debauchery. He also has domain over the darker natures of man, such as lust, sin, sloth, gluttony, and greed. He is the patron deity of sinners and is often seen with a bottle of wine or beer (ale) in his hand. Sanguine enjoys playing pranks on others, one such example being a spell that removes the clothing of everyone within the spell's radius. Although a joker, Sanguine prefers to drag mortals down to sinful lifestyles by means of temptation and humiliation. In Khajiiti religion he is known as Sangiin, the Blood Cat, who is known to test the Khajiit with promises of immortality and debaucheries of the flesh.[5][6][7]

He has over a thousand personal realms known as Myriad Realms of Revelry.[8]

Sanguine was once asked by Mephala for twenty-seven tokens to give to her devoted followers. The Dark Brotherhood stole these tokens from the Morag Tong. According to Morag Tong members, Mephala eventually arranged for them to return to the guild. The Nerevarine systematically killed the members of the Dark Brotherhood one-by-one and retrieved the tokens from them.

Shrine to Sanguine in Oblivion.

Sanguine can be called upon at the Shrine of Sanguine, whose name does not fit the common pattern of "(Daedra Prince)'s Shrine." The summoning date of Sanguine is 16th of Sun's Dawn. Sanguine can also be summoned in his shrine, if the summoner offered Cyrodilic Brandy.

There is a shrine in Cyrodiil which bears the appearance of Sanguine. Upon completing the related quest, Sanguine will give the Sanguine Rose, a strange staff shaped like a twisted and thorny black rose. When the energy within the Sanguine Rose is cast at a target, one random Daedric servant of Sanguine is summoned to do battle. This staff has very little charge, between 1030 uses, depending on Conjuration skill level, and must be recharged often.

The Sanguine Rose.

When the Hero of Kvatch visited the Shrine of Sanguine and summoned him, sometime during the Oblivion Crisis, Sanguine tasked the Hero of Kvatch to join the royal dinner party of the Countess of Leyawiin, Alessia Caro. Sanguine believed that the Countess of Leyawiin was too stuffy, and wanted the hero to do something about it. The hero should sneak into the castle undetected and cast the spell of Stark Reality on her and her guests. When the hero cast the spell all the guests and the Countess herself were stripped, it brought chaos to the party, but Sanguine was pleased. When the hero returned to the shrine, Sanguine rewarded his Sanguine Rose to the hero of Kvatch, a staff that has the capability to summon a lesser Daedra to "supposedly" fight for the wielder of the staff. The same artifact was also rewarded some decades before to the Hero of Daggerfall, and also to Martin, the last of the Septims. Martin in his youth was one of the followers of a Daedric Cult, and he somehow retrieved Sanguine's Rose - probably after some odd task.

Sanguine appears in Skyrim disguised as Sam Guevenne, who offers a friendly drinking competition with his "special" brew for his staff with the Dragonborn. If the Dragonborn accepts, the quest "A Night to Remember" will start. After the Dragonborn accepts and drinks three mugs, Sam, impressed, will give the staff and offers to show the Dragonborn a place "where the wine flows like water." After that, they go out to commit drunken pranks in Skyrim, and eventually the Dragonborn awakes at the temple of Dibella and sets out to correct the pranks pulled while drunk. The Dragonborn then heads to Morvunskar where a portal to Sam's location is found. Going through the portal reveals Sam in the Misty Grove, where he reveals his true identity as Sanguine, commenting that he hadn't had that much fun in a hundred years and rewards the Dragonborn with his staff.

It is possible to turn Sanguine hostile by commanding a follower to attack him. However, arrows, melee weapons, and spells will still continue to pass through him and he cannot be damaged. Sanguine will simply attack repeatedly for very meager damage with what appears to be a dagger of some sort. This will at least yield a few more lines of dialogue while he attacks.

Sanguine does not appear directly in The Elder Scrolls Online. However, he seems to exert influence by trapping partygoers within his temple in Shadowfen. His servant Seducer Trilvath tasks the Vestige with entrapping some Aldmeri Dominion spies by making them drink from Sanguine's goblet.

He has several followers called Sanguine's Revelers. They can be found in Sanguine's Demesne in Shadowfen, as well as at a camp in White Fall Valley in Cyrodiil, and occasionally in Trader's Cove.

A Khajiiti vampire clan in Northern Elsweyr called the Hollowfang Clan worshipped Sangiin, and attempted to drink the blood of a trapped dragon to gain great powers.

Sanguine in The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall.

This section contains bugs related to Sanguine. Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following:

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Sanguine | Elder Scrolls | Fandom

Located in the heart of Miamis Wynwood neighbourhood, the district renowned for its colourful murals and outdoor museum showcasing some of the worlds best-known street artists, Mayami Mexicantina is transporting its diners to ancient Maya civilisation through Mayan Revival architecture, Mexican cuisine, Tulum party vibes, crafted cocktails and insect-infused Mezcal shots.

Covering over 10,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, Mayami (a combination of Maya and Miami) blends Mayan culture with Miamis metropolitan spirit; the venue that features a 200 seat indoor-outdoor restaurant and lounge being the perfect place for guests to lose themselves for an evening.

Upon entering, guests will find a sweeping amphitheatre-like room inspired by the Mayan Revivalism of the Art Deco period. This space is lined with stone sculptures, wood carvings, traditional mural paintings, and a ziggurat-shaped ceiling replicating the inside of a Mayan Pyramid. For those in search of a more refined nightlife experience, Mayami Wynwood boasts a sizeable pyramid-shaped bar and a DJ booth resting above the multi-level terraces, surrounded by lush trees, stages and VIP booths.

Executive chef, Juan Carlos Flores, has created a menu brimming with authentic regional Mexican dishes. Think Guacalote, Fundidos de Queso, Carnitas de Salmon Tacos, and Filete Negro, filet mignon, black lime, pomme puree, and chapulines. Meanwhile. a mixology program designed by Beto Perez and Esteban Molano will feature craft cocktails and insect-infused Mezcal shots such as the Escorpion Real, made with scorpions and spices, and Mago Maguey, made with worms and herbs.

Brought to life by owner, Philippe Kalifa, Wynwoods Mayami Mexicantina is another bolt of inspired hedonism for The Magic City.

@mayamiwynwood

Mayami Wynwood Photography, courtesy Mayami Mexicantina Miami.

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Mayami Wynwood, Mayami Mexicantina Miami by White Feather MGT - We Heart

This season, as always, we are grateful to Bay Area authors for giving us smart and inspiring reads.

From a memoir about the '90's East Bay rave scene to a portrait of a famed America painter to the latest cookbook from Tartine's expert bread bakers, there are plenty of riveting pages to kick back with over the holidays.

Happy reading.

Light on Fire: The Art and Life of Sam Francis / Gabrielle Selz

Drawing on exclusive interviews and private correspondence, Gabrielle Selz offers a revelatory biography of Sam Francis, one of the 20th century's most celebrated artists, and the American painter who brought the vocabulary of abstract expressionism to Paris. She traces the extraordinary life of this complex and charismatic artist who first learned to paint as a former air corps pilot encased for three years in a full-body cast. While still a young man, Francis saw his color-saturated paintings fetch the highest prices of any living artist. His restless desire resulted in five marriages and homes on three continents. His entrepreneurial spirit led to founding a museum, a publishing company, a reforestation program, and several nonprofits.

With settings from World War II San Francisco to post-war Paris, New York, Tokyo and Los Angeles, Selz writes an intimate portrait of a man who sought to resolve in art the contradictions he couldn't resolve in life. Ed Ruscha says, "I think of Sam as a modern-day Nijinsky with a big loaded brush. He would get onto a canvas and really clean house. Gabrielle Selz's book really captures his spirit."

// $35, gabrielleselz.com/books/light-on-fire

Raver Girl: Coming of Age in the 90s / Samantha Durbin

A '90s time capsule buried inside a coming-of-age memoir set against the neon backdrop of the SF Bay Area's rave scene, Raver Girl chronicles Durbin's double life as she teeters between hedonism and sobriety, chaos and calm, all while sneaking under the radar of her father. Through euphoric highs and dangerous lows, Samantha discovers she's someone who lives life to the fullest and learns best through alternative experience rather than mainstream ideals. She's a creative whose mind is limitless, whose quirks are charms, whose passion is inspirational. She's an independent woman whose inner strength is rooted in unwavering family ties. And if she can survive high school, she just might be okay. Pop Sugar says "Can you get high from reading a book? You'll swear Raver Girl is laced with something."

// $17, ravergirlthebook.com

Menergy: San Francisco's Gay Disco Sound / Louis Niebur

After a backlash against disco music in 1979, enterprising gay DJs, record producers, and musicians in the Castro District started their own small dance music record labels to make up for the lack of new, danceable music. Almost immediately this music reached far beyond the Bay, with Megatone Records, Moby Dick Records, and other labels achieving worldwide success, creating the world's first gay-owned, gay-produced music for a dancing audience. This music reflected a new way of life, a world apart and a culture of sexual liberation for gay men especially.

With Menergy, author Louis Niebur offers a project of reconstruction in order to restore these lost figures to their rightful place in the legacy of 20th century popular music. Menergy is the product of years of research, with dozens of personal interviews, archival research drawing upon hundreds of contemporary journals, photographs, bar rags, diaries, nightclub ephemera, and, most importantly, the recordings of the San Francisco artists themselves.

// $35, due out February 1, 2022; global.oup.com

Circle Way: A Daughter's Memoir, a Writer's Journey Home / Mary Ann Hogan

Circle Way is a bittersweet memoir of a father, daughter, and a prominent California family. Hogans father Bill was the well-known literary editor at the San Francisco Chronicle for 27 years. Sifting through her father's notebooks after his death, she discovers a man whose unrealized dreams echo her own.

Eager to learn more about her family even as she wrestles with terminal illness, Hogan explores the fascinating cast of characters who were her forebears. Including the author's great grandfather, an Oakland lumber baron who lost his fortune in the crash of '29 and a great uncle who was sent to San Quentin for two deaths some say he may not have caused.

The late Mary Ann Hogan was an award-winning journalist and teacher whose credits included The New York Times, The Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Oakland Tribune, and Mother Jones magazine. She also taught writing at San Francisco State University.

// $29, drops February 15, 2022; amazon.com

Please Scream Inside Your Heart: Breaking News and Nervous Breakdowns in the Year that Wouldn't End / Dave Pell

Please Scream Inside Your Heart is a real-time ride through the maddening hell that was the 2020 news cyclewhen historic turmoil and media mania stretched American sanity, democracy, and toilet paper. Who better to examine this unhinged period in all of its twists and turns than news addict Dave Pell? Fueled by the wisdom and advice of his two Holocaust-surviving parents, for whom parts of this story were all too familiar, Pell puts the key stories of 2020 into context with pith and punchhighlighting turning points that widened America's divisions, deepened our obsession with a media-driven civil war, and nearly knocked the country off its tracks.

Marin County resident Pell has been writing about news, technology, and media since 1999. He writes NextDraft, a newsletter offering a quick and entertaining look at the day's most fascinating news. He's been news-obsessed since he was a child and is known to his readers as "the Internet's Managing Editor." He is a graduate of UC Berkeley, sits on the board of 826 Valencia and is a longtime advisor to the Center for Investigative Reporting.

// $29, hachettego.com

Mumbai Modern: Vegetarian Recipes Inspired by Indian Roots and California Cuisine / Amisha Dodhia Gurbani

In Mumbai Modern, Amisha Dodhia Gurbani delivers a marriage of traditional Gujarati cuisine, Mumbai street food, and modern innovation inspired by the bountiful fresh ingredients on offer in her adopted home of California. The book offers more than 100 vegetarian recipes complete with Gurbani's stunning photographs, including breakfasts (pear and chai masala cinnamon rolls); appetizers and salads (dahi papdi chaat); mains (ultimate Mumbai-California veggie burger); bread (wild mushroom and green garlic kulcha), and more.

Library Journal says, "In this debut collection, food blogger and recipe developer Gurbani (creator of The Jam Lab) makes fun, approachable Indian cuisine with a California flair For home cooks looking to get started recreating innovative Indian and Indian-American-fusion dishes, this accessible collection will set them well on their way."

// $35, wwnorton.com

Bread Book: Ideas and Innovations from the Future of Grain, Flour, and Fermentation / Chad Robertson

Visionary baker Chad Robertson, of Tartine Bakery fame, unveils what's next in bread, drawing on a decade of innovation in grain farming, flour milling, and fermentation with all-new ground-breaking formulas and techniques for making his most nutrient-rich and sublime loaves, rolls, and moreplus recipes for nourishing meals that showcase them. In Bread Book, Robertson and Tartine's director of bread, Jennifer Latham, explain how high-quality, sustainable, locally sourced grain and flours respond to hydration and fermentation to make great bread even better. With 16 brilliant formulas for naturally leavened doughsincluding country bread (now reengineered), rustic baguettes, flatbreads, rolls, pizza, and vegan and gluten-free loaves, plus tortillas, crackers, and fermented pasta made with discarded sourdough starterBread Book is the wild-yeast baker's flight plan for a voyage into the future of exceptional bread.

// $40, drops December 2021; penguinrandomhouse.com

Maybe This Will Help: How to Feel Better When Things Stay the Same / Michelle Rial

Maybe This Will Help is one part the funny and relatable graphs that fans of Am I Overthinking This? and of Michelle Rial know and love, and one part the honest stories behind what makes those graphs so poignant. Rial brings to light her struggles with chronic pain, grief, and creative uncertainty in a way that reflects the universality of dealing with the unthinkable. This book delves into the more serious side of things, finding levity and collective experience in the invisible difficulties that so many of us face. Through humorous charts and intimate peeks into the author's life, it explores the big things that can feel unmanageable and the everyday humor that keeps us moving forward. Named by Vulture as one of nine Funniest Cartoonists and Illustrators on Instagram, Rial and her work have been featured by The New Yorker, Fast Company, USA Today, WIRED, and more.

// $15, chroniclebooks.com

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Cozy up with 8 books by Bay Area authors this winter - 7x7

21 Nov 2021 | 05:29am IST

Alexandre Moniz Barbosa

This year itself, two articles on Goa tourism one on an international website the other on a national portal had some ugly truths served rather harshly about the State as a tourism destination. These are truths that we in Goa would be happy to ignore but when confronted with it at the international level have to wake up to the reality that surrounds us. The articles described Goa as hedonistic, an adjective that is definitely not a pleasant one to be used to illustrate what we want the world to believe is a paradise and an unrivalled tourism destination.

Lets begin with the dictionary meaning of hedonistic. The Cambridge dictionary gives this meaning of the word: living and behaving in ways that mean you have as much pleasure as possible, according to the belief that the most important thing in life is to enjoy yourself. Essentially it means partying with booze and drugs and all the possible pleasures.

The first report was on the CNN website and was headlined Reinventing Goa, Indias hedonistic beach hideaway. This article, that has the editors note stating that the series often carries sponsorship, asks whether this destination once associated with untrammeled hedonism and rampant commercial tourism reverted to its old ways, with no thought to the negative economic, environmental and social impact? This was written with a post-pandemic perspective and hence the question worded in that manner. It goes on to profile a few business ventures that are making efforts to reinvent Goa by offering tourists something other than hedonism, but also drives home the point that the State has not changed its focus despite getting the opportunity bestowed by the slowdown due to the pandemic to alter the course.

The other article was on the site The Better India that profiles a couple that has started a tourism business in Goa, and states, their eco-friendly travel venture was launched in 2012 as an answer to Goas hedonistic tourism culture. Essentially, both articles, are promoting business ventures set up in Goa by persons who have recently settled in the State, and make an attempt to convince the reader that these ventures are trying to change the tourism image of the State. Who then is responsible for the term hedonism or hedonist being used to describe Goa? Or what is it that makes Goa be described as such? Is it the rave parties, the drug availability? Or is it just the lackadaisical attitude of the Tourism Department in branding Goa?

Interestingly, hedonism is not a term that has been used to describe Goa Tourism for the first time or only recently. In the 2000s, an article that appeared in the magazine section of the national daily Indian Express had described Goa stating, If there is a hedonists haven in India, it is Goa. Prettier than a postcard, Indias tiniest State remains the vacationers hottest spot. And post-millennium, Goas become a hip international destination for trance-heads and rave-cravers.

To a large section of the world, the silver sands of Goa that we Goans take pride in, is not a beachside paradise, but a place associated with hedonism and a destination for trance-heads and rave-cravers. Reading something like this, makes one wonder whether we Goans are seeing a different Goa and the rest of the world another one. Goa has for long been associated with narcotics and psychotropic drugs and rave parties take place throughout the tourist season, even as successive governments resolutely deny this. So it was but a corollary of this for the State to be described as a hedonist haven.

Curiously, a search of the words Goa and hedonism on an internet search engine threw up many more examples of such articles. A 2015 article in The Independent titled Take it easy in Goa, a different sort of India: The Hedonist, has in its first paragraph this sentence: Tinged as it is with leftover Sixties bohemianism, flea market psychedelia and recent waves of chic, Goa remains a lush, tropical enclave where sossegade take it easy is the order of the day.

And theres more. The Guardian in a 2013 article states, Goa is Indias good-time state, the hedonistic hippy haven whose promises of sun, sand, cheap beer and drugs transformed it into a magnet for backpackers and budget tourists... The hippy era ended long ago, but it somehow never gets erased from memory.

While the State government and the tourism industry take pride in the fact that together they have taken brand Goa to different corners of the globe, the image of Goa appears to be in dire need of a complete and immediate makeover in the light of these descriptions. A forceful branding exercise should be undertaken to change the way many see Goa.

Goa has compromised with its identity in trying to be charmingly seductive to the traveller. That strategy has boomeranged horribly, as it allowed the guests to take unlimited advantage of its hospitable nature and convert Goa into their idea of what a tourist haven should be and not what the Goan believes that it should be. Brand Goa needs to be reinvented, not merely reworked, to meet the local aspirations and ideals so as to not send out the wrong messages to visitors.

For the ordinary Goan, tourism signifies travellers domestic and foreign coming to Goa and enjoying the natural beauty of the land, primarily its beaches, while also soaking up the culture with a day trip to the heritage sites, and then sampling the cuisine in the night, as Goan musicians serenade them at the dinner table.

Thats the untainted idea of a Goa most Goans have in our minds. That is also the very myopic idea of tourism that many in Goa have and view it as merely a commercial activity that keeps the economic wheels of many families turning. The underbelly of tourism, which makes up the broader picture, is not often seen and when noticed, is quickly glossed over.

Brand Goa should not and cannot be associated with hedonism. If, as the websites that termed Goa as a hedonistic destination found private players who are working to change this image, shouldnt the government agencies do the same? Are crores of rupees of the taxpayers money being spent on sending out a false image of Goa? Thats a thought to mull over, especially after earlier this year the term liberal tourism was used by the government in relation to opening up the State for travellers.

Alexandre Moniz Barbosa is Editor, Herald. He tweets at @monizbarbosa

See original here:

Herald: IS THIS WHAT LIBERAL TOURISM MEANS? - Oherald

The Matrix trilogy is famous for starting strong, then falling apart by the end. Will this happen again? Well see. After eleven years, the Matrix Resurrections comes out December 22, 2021. Now is the perfect time to look back at the original trilogy, starting with the first film, The Matrix (1999).

The Matrix series begins by following a computer hacker named Neo, who is led by a beautiful stranger into a forbidding underworld. There, he discovers the shocking truth the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence. He had been searching for the mysterious Morpheus who defends a human civilization from attack by machines. Neo is horrified to discover from him that not only is the world he knows a false reality but that the AI entities have taken over the planet and are using humans as their source of energy.

Morpheus also tells him that it is his destiny to destroy the AIs Matrix and restore humanity. He is given a choice between a red and a blue pill

The film popularized the term redpilled to mean discovery of uncomfortable facts. A bluepill is one of the vast majority of humans who comfortably doesnt realize the deception whereas a redpill is a rare one that has accepted the red pill (as opposed to the blue one), thus consenting to know the awful truth.

The idea that we are living in a false reality goes as far back as Plato and his famous Cave. The movie develops that idea as science fiction, featuring evolutionary and religious undertones.

The machines believe that they are the Next Step in Evolution. In fact, Agent Smith, the main antagonist in the story, tells Morpheus during an interrogation, Evolution, Morpheus, Evolution. He compares humans to a virus, a virus for which he is the cure.

But the core of the story is about belief. Morpheus, believing that Neo is the one who will save them all, sacrifices himself to save him. And Neo believes the words of the Oracle who tells him that he must sacrifice himself to save Morpheus. A journey convinces Neo that he is indeed the appointed one, causing him to rise from the dead in a death-and-resurrection metaphor (The Passion of Neo) that is about as subtle a religious reference as an oncoming train

But the movie is by no mean religious in a recognizable sense. There is distinct hint of hedonism: In order to be free, we must follow our impulses. As one of the crew members, Mouse, says, To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human.

Mouses idea is ridiculous when one thinks about it. Why do so many of these movies tell us that if we would just listen to what drives us in the physical world wed transcend into a new reality?

Wouldnt that merely keep us in the physical? Does it ever occur to these writers that our ability to resist our impulses is one of the things that makes us human? Who ever heard of a dog resisting its impulses without training? Mans best friend can barely manage to keep from peeing on the rug.

And this is the trap that The Matrix series falls into in the later movies as well. The themes of faith and of a world outside our own all but vanish. By the time we reach the conclusion of the story, the hedonism morphs into outright nihilism.

In the end, The Matrix (1999) asks us to see that the false reality is authority, in general. That is a departure from Platos cave analogy. His idea was that our senses do not tell us the whole story. Instead, the movie conflates individual freedom with instinct, thereby telling us that our senses are all that really exist, a theme which conflicts internally with the ideas of the need for faith and of a world beyond our own.

Heres the trailer for The Matrix: The Resurrections:

You may also wish to read: How can we be sure we are not just an ETs simulation? A number of books and films are based on this Planetarium hypothesis. Should we believe it? We make a faith-based decision that logic and evidence together are reasonable guides to what is true. Logical possibility alone does not make an idea true.

Read more from the original source:

Will The Matrix Resurrections (Drops December 22) Break the Mold? - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence

This week, were pleased to bring you a different version of Futurism, containing stories from the horizon of hedonism. Welcome toThe Science of Pleasure.In collaboration with our friends over atMEL Magazine, this week, well be bringing you stories from both publications about the pleasures of tomorrow, today.

Bonobos are a species of primate believed to be humankinds second-closest living ancestor. Thats intriguing, because zoologists have long observed that these distant cousins of ours are driven by a syrupy mixture of empathy and hedonism, lounging in simian cuddle puddles, caressing one another, kissing with tongue, and engaging in an awe-inspiring variety of bisexual encounters, sometimes with multiple partners, and often while screaming in pleasure.

Sounds pretty fun, doesnt it? Sure, party drugs like MDMA can temporarily flood your brain with oceans of empathy and euphoria, but they can be terrible for you if you take them too much, and the hangovers can be brutal. In other words, theres no drug thats gonna give you bonobo-brain safely and long term.

Relentless progress in the science of genetic engineering raises an interesting alternative, though: what if scientists gene-hacked humans, who already share around 98 percent of their genetic material with bonobos, so that wed be more affectionate, amorous and generally happy? What if you could take a CRISPR-like brain injection that permanently altered your cognition so that you could experience bonobo-like bliss?

If such a thing is theoretically possible, geneticists told us, its far beyond todays biotech capabilities. But eventually, if research continues to barrel ahead, those types of profound alterations to the human mind may well become a reality and if so, theyre likely to raise profound questions about what it means to be human.

I like to think that everything is in the realm of scientific possibility, said Esmerelda Casas-Silva, a biomedical researcher at the National Institutes of Health who cautioned that her musings on our strange question did not reflect the views of her employer. Its really just a matter of us figuring out how to do it.

Overall, she said, she believes that the idea would be tricky yet certainly possible.

If so, what a life it would be. A greater genetic propensity for peace and promiscuity, like that of the bonobos, doesnt sound so bad.

Famed scientist Carl Sagan and his spouse, Cosmos cocreator Ann Duyan, wrote extensively about bonobos in the 1993 book Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are.

Bonobos use sexual stimulation in everyday life for many purposes besides mere satisfaction of the erotic impulse, they wrote, including in exchange for food, as a way to resolve conflicts among same sex adults, and as a generic, all-purpose approach to social bonding and community organization.

Were we humans to become more like bonobos, militarism and excess aggression could become obsolete, as less authoritarian social structures characteristic of bonobo societies came to predominate. Socioeconomically, a bonobo way of life could embody the ethic of solidarity and cooperative decision-making over competition, domination or exploitation.

The kind of pleasures that bonobos enjoy are not decadent, said Susan Block, a sex therapist and the author of the 2014 book The Bonobo Way: The Evolution of Peace Through Pleasure. They dont spend any money. Maybe a few bananas, but they share those bananas.

Whether gene hacking ourselves to be as guileless and empathic as bonobos would be ethical, of course, is a different question entirely.

For one thing, the whole hypothetical smacks of eugenics. For another, even though the goal of gene therapy to make humans more like bonobos might nominally be to encourage a more equitable society, the ironic reality is that our actual world is rife with inequality, hierarchies, and unfair institutional arrangements.

In other words, itd probably be the wealthy and powerful who would seize the treatment for themselves or, chillingly, foist it on others in order to create a more obedient workforce, sort of similar to how in the 2018 satire film Sorry to Bother You, a parody of contemporary entrepreneurs named Steve Lift tries to use gene-modifying powder to create Equisapien human-horse hybrids capable of laboring harder and longer than people already do today.

We really shouldnt be in a hurry to make designer babies right now, Casas-Silva said. We have very incomplete information, and even if we do know exactly whats going to happen, whos to say what we should decide and what characteristics are best or not?

That point is larger than just the bonobo thought experiment, of course, and its also something the world is likely going to need to confront soon. A Chinese scientist named He Jiankui sparked a global controversy in 2018 when he announced that he had altered the genetic makeup of twin girls, using CRISPR to attempt to make them immune to HIV while they were still embryos and it later emerged that he had been involved in discussions to open a designer baby clinic as well.

If those types of clinics become a reality, itll likely only be affluent parents who can afford them, deepening existing social and economic divides.

Are we going to create even more disparities in health and different populations that are suffering because they dont have access to the same technologies as, you know, other people who might have enough funds to make superhuman babies? Casas-Silva asked. And we could make very dangerous, in my opinion, very dangerous future humans.

And, on a practical level, our anxious human brains keep the power plants running and the industrial agriculture machinery feeding everybody. If we spent all day lounging around and engaging in bacchanalia, that could easily fall apart, for better or worse.

In fact, Block points out that bonobos are a good case study in why giving yourself over to pleasure entirely might not be a great survival strategy.

Block told Futurism about an incident involving bonobos and common chimpanzees our closest living ancestors, for those keeping score in a German zoo during the bombing of Dresden. The zoo wasnt bombed, but the apes could hear the detonations and possibly felt some of the impact.

All the bonobos died of heart attacks, and all the common chimps didnt care, the sexologist said, adding that the zoo kept the former separated in captivity, meaning they werent together to calm each other down.

When youre empathetic, thats a double edged sword, isnt it? she said. Empathy can feel so good, but it also means that when you hear bombs dropping, even if theyre not dropping on you, you freak out. Its like its happening to you. Or if you see someone being hurt, you freak out.

If we do go wild with CRISPR, or whatever advanced tool it takes, to turn human beings into overly peaceable and amorous creatures, Casas-Silva cautions that we could end up falling in love incessantly, with everyone or everything. It might even preclude the intense and exclusionary monogamous love thats often the social norm.

I mean, that could be pretty devastating, Casas-Silva said. Theres a reason that our bodies and our minds decrease our feelings and our memories. Thats a safety measure for anyone whos fallen in love and had it not work out. You know, its a blessing that we can diminish those feelings of hurt and anxiety and everything that comes with a breakup over time.

But, even if we refrain from hacking away at our genes in the hopes of bonoboizing ourselves, Block maintains we still have a lot to learn from our sex positive comrades, including lessons in revaluing our natural bodies and pursuing mutual pleasure without guilt.

The idea that our natural self is Satan is killing us, she said. [The belief] that we are somehow superior, that we are angels, that we are not part of nature, that we are not part of this earth, that we can fly away, like angels maybe a couple people can, you know? Captain Kirk went up there, right? Ninety years old, okay. But most of us are here, and Im looking to improve the lives of those of us that are here on this beautiful, wild sexual planet Earth.

More on CRISPR:WHO Says Gene-Hacking Superhumans Should Be Illegal

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Original post:

Could We Gene Hack Ourselves to Be Blissed Out Sex Maniacs, Like Our Distant Cousins the Bonobos? - Futurism

The Wheel of Time

Shadows Waiting

Season 1 Episode 2

Editors Rating 3 stars ***

Photo: Jan Thijs/Amazon Prime Video

Its not always the case no piece of Hollywood visual shorthand is truly universal but in general, a close-up on a characters mouth as they eat with gusto is shorthand for evil. Its a way to communicate a characters acquisitiveness or hedonism. (Sometimes its just plain old fatphobia.) In the case of Eamon Valda (Abdul Solis), the Whitecloak questioner who gives this episode of The Wheel of Time its cold open, its intended to show his indifference to human suffering.

As he tucks into what is, for all intents and purposes, the Billions/Succession/Hannibal forbidden delicacy ortolan, a woman dies in front of him. Her hand has been chopped off, and shes being slowly burned at the stake. Her crime? Membership in the Aes Sedai, the powerful order of magic-wielding women whose representative Moiraine is leading our heroes off into the unknown. Clearly, theyve got some dangerous rivals in the do-gooding department; the collection of stolen Aes Sedai rings Eamon wears on his belt indicates that hes been down this bloody road many times before.

Soliss chillingly cheery portrayal of this Captain of the Whitecloaks appropriately introduces Wheels second episode. Much more so than its predecessor, its concerned with the question of what it really means to be one of the good guys. In the war against the dark that both the Aes Sedai and the Whitecloaks consider themselves waging, are good guys even a thing?

Egwene, Rand, Mat, and Perrin, our runaway foursome from the Two Rivers village, are given plenty of reason to ask this exact question. Just steps ahead of a small army of Trollocs and its lamprey-mouthed fade captain, they enlist a ferryman to help them cross a river since Trollocs cant swim and fear the water. But while she bribes him and promises more cash when theyre safely across, Moiraine neglects to mention the evil at their heels until the ferryman has already realized his family is stranded at the Trollocs mercy. Once they reach the opposite riverbank, Moiraine sinks the ferry in a whirlpool; the ferryman leaps into the water in a desperate attempt to rescue his son and succumbs to the whirlpool himself.

Once the danger has passed, Moiraine is quick to point out to Egwene that the oaths sworn by the Aes Sedai theyre kind of like Asimovs laws of robotics prevent her from killing anyone except in immediate defense of herself, her warder Lan, or another Aes Sedai. If the ferryman died in the whirlpool she created, that means he put himself in danger and paid the price, not that she killed him. Some further tutelage in the ways of the Aes Sedai seems to put Egwene at ease, but to the rest of us, this looks a lot like Moiraine weaseling her way out of culpability for the death of the ferryman, not to mention his family.

Things only get worse from there. Rand is deeply resentful of Egwenes decision to become a celibate Wisdom; even though that avenue appears to be closed to her now, her willingness to listen to Moiraine is a bridge too far to him. She repeatedly blows his erstwhile girlfriend off.

His reward? A dream in which he vomits up a dead bat, a dream apparently shared by the rest of the group, who all wake up to a campsite littered with the corpses of flying rodents. Also present in the dreams, a dark man with flaming embers for eyes. Probably nothing to worry about!

Moiraine and the crew manage to safely bullshit their way past Eamon Valda and a squad of Whitecloaks by sticking as close to the truth as they can without revealing their true identities and purpose. But we discover that both Moiraine and Perrin are hiding wounds from the battle with the Trollocs. In Moiraines case, coupled with her repeated use of the One Power, the wound is quite severe. We learn shes incapable of healing herself, too. As for Perrin, he communes with a pack of wolves, one of whom licks his open wound before trotting off. Its not clear if this is helpful or not.

After a little Aes Sedai story time, in which Moiraine explains that their village was once part of a great kingdom that stood alone against the forces of darkness during the Trolloc Wars, the group winds up fleeing through a crack in an enormous shield wall into a city where even the Trollocs and Fades fear to tread: Shadar Logoth, which translates to Shadows Waiting.

Indeed it is. It turns out Shadar Logoth is the city that refused to come to the Mountain Homes aid in the story Moiraine told; as punishment, the place was consumed from within by evil, leaving no living thing behind. Fortunately, the extremely cool-looking ruins were left alone.

For a while, the group minds its own business: Lan tends to Moiraine, sicker than ever, while Mat gives Perrin a knife made for him by Perrins late wife, Laila. Mat then goes off on his own and finds a jeweled dagger hidden in some debris. Probably nothing to worry about!

Then the shit, or the shadow, hits the fan. Darkness itself rises up and devours one of their horses, sending the group in three separate directions. Rand (who has effected a rapprochement between himself and Egwene) and Mat flee the darkness-swallowed city by slipping through the wall. Perrin and Egwene climb one of its shield walls and jump into the water beyond. Lan and Moiraine escape on horseback and are quickly waylaid by Nynaeve, the Two Rivers village Wisdom, reports of whose death have been greatly exaggerated. Roll credits.

As a work of dark(ish) fantasy, this episode has a lot to recommend it. Eamon and the Whitecloaks are instantly memorable enemies, diametrically opposed to the Fade and his Trollocs but worse to contemplate because of their very humanity. Shadar Logoth, like the rest of the computerized ruins the group passes on their journey, is duly impressive, evoking the untold centuries over which the story of light and dark has so far unfolded.

Meanwhile, its easy to see both why Rand (angrily) and Mat (sarcastically) reject Moiraine and Lan as guides and why Egwene would cling to anything that gives the chaos of her current life some kind of meaning and direction. And its actually pretty impressive for the show to chronicle Moiraines behavior toward the ferryman in such a way that you might think, Hey, these witch-burners have a point. The entire narrative hinges on whether the foursome should trust their guide; giving us reasons not to do so is a gutsy play this early on.

It all leaves you wondering: Is the Dragon Reborn a person youd actually want to find? Or does their legacy of world destruction threaten to carry over to the present, potentially drowning the world just as Moiraines Aes Sedai powers accidentally but not quite drowned that poor ferryman and doomed his family to death at the Trollocs hands? In this war, whos expendable?

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The Wheel of Time Recap: On the Run - Vulture