Category Archives: Hedonism

At 1am last night, Xbox began the most critical step on the path to launching a new console they started talking about the games. The latest episode of Inside Xbox was the first stop on the Xbox 20/20 video tour and was all about the kind of third-party developer support fans can expect on the Xbox Series X. Based on what we saw last night, Xbox have a broad range of talent and ideas to pull from.

This Crysis looking shooter features guns, superpowers and what looks a little bit likeSouls combat. Its being developed by FYQD-Studio, which is not actually a huge team of AAA developers as you might have expected from a trailer that looks like the one above. No, FYQD is one man Chinese developer Zeng Xiancheng. Bright Memory has done well in its native China, telling an episodic story across numerous installments. It originally released on Steam in early access in January 2019, but is now being spun into a full AAA release for next-gen hardware.

It wouldnt be a console launch without a racing game in the mix, and in lieu of a new Forza title, DIRT 5 is happy to step in. Particle effects, lighting, weather, vehicle damage and track detail have all been dialed up to 11 to provide the requisite visual feast of a launch window racer. DIRT is always a ton of fun and we look forward to spending more time with this new entry in the series.

We dont even know. H.R. Giger meets our nightmares? Maybe dont eat anything before you watch this one.

Space ships and sci fi badasses whats not to love? Chorvs is a new space flight combat shooter title from developer Fishlabs. The trailer combines the aesthetic of games like Control with the frenetic pace of a Shmup. We are intrigued.

In the same way that it wouldnt be a console launch without a racing game, Xbox 20/20 wouldnt be a video game showcase without a sports title. Madden NFL 21 comes to the Xbox One X looking as crisp and lifelike as ever. We will have to see how it compares to the Xbox One X version later this year.

Trailer courtesy of IGN.

An unsettling trailer, yes, but also one of the most fun trailers of the entire broadcast. The day-to-day experience of being a vampire can easily fall to constant hedonism, and thats exactly whats going on here. This trailer also provides one of our clearest looks at gameplay yet. We are extremely keen to get our hands on this sequel to the 2004 cult classic.

What do you get when you cross Sea of Thieves with Firewatch? Apparently you get Call of the Sea, a narrative adventure title about a woman from the 1930s who is trapped on a deserted island in the south pacific. We are very interested to hear more.

The Ascent

The twin-stick ARPG shooter is alive and well in the next hardware generation. The Ascent is a solo or co-op Action RPG set in a dystopian cyberpunk world. This one looks like its going to be great fun with mates and were excited to start grinding that loot out.

One for the Silent Hill fans. The Medium is a psychological horror adventure game about a split in reality. It looks hella spooky and, if you needed further proof of its horror credentials, it features a dual soundtrack by Arkadiusz Reikowski and Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka.

Xbox @ Japan: PLEASE NOTICE US, VIDEO GAME SENPAI. Xbox has never been able to crack the Japanese video game market. As its fourth major console looks to embrace the kind of JRPG titles that make its competition beloved in Japan, will Xbox finally break through?

This game looks like the kind of deeply dumb sci-fi story a fourteen-year-old boy might write. If youve ever wanted to mow down dinosaurs with a huge machine gun and three of your friends, boy do we have the game for you. We dont want to be mean, but for us, this was easily the least interesting game of the entire Xbox 20/20 broadcast.

If you didnt already know that Yakuza: Like a Dragon was a turn-based JRPG, you would never know from watching this trailer. This is technically Yakuza 7, but has recieved a bit of a title change for its release in the West. It features a brand new leading man and drops the series long-running reliance on arcade beat-em-up fights for more traditional JRPG combat. Another strong attempt from Xbox to finally crack the Japanese market that has eluded them for so long.

This is a terribly short trailer, and oddly packed with in-game cinematics. As first looks go, thisAssassins Creed Valhallatrailer is pretty disappointing doubly so when you consider that Xbox reminded viewers every few minutes of its impending premiere during the broadcast. Were sure well be seeing a lot more of it as we move closer to launch but, for now, we were hoping to see just a little more.

Which brings us to the end! You can watch the entire Xbox 20/20 stream in handy embed below!

Which was your favourite? Which are you looking forward to playing the most? Are you hype for the Xbox Series X? Give us your thoughts on Facebook and Twitter!

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Every trailer from last night's Xbox 20/20 broadcast - the AU review

Our First Gay President? Joe Exotic, aka Tiger King, and one of his many pet tigers.

Youre not reading this unless youve been outside to get your magazine at Barnabysor some other equally cool place. Or maybe youre just spending way too much time on the Internet machine.

I hope you are well and dont feel as though youve yeed your last haw, because this will all be over one day. (After all, if Rudy Giuliani is still standing, you can too.)

I know its tough to be locked up in isolation when were stuck with a president who is meandering to a different drummer and is so wired that he can pick up AM radio signals through his makeup. He wants to steal an hour of your day by talking on the teevee in some damn language nobody understands. It sounds a little like English, but . . . no, not English. Definitely not English. Its more like a hurricane blowing through a dictionary.

Then he decided to trademark the name Capn Donald and the Treasury Raiders, and the motto Built on a lifetime supply of tainted corporate ethics.

Now that weve discovered that Republican government is all lime and salt but no tequila, theres nothing left to do but retreat to the solitude of our own homes as it slowly becomes obvious that blind-screaming hedonism has won out.

Things You Do Not Want to Know during a Coronavirus Lockdown

Mike Pence is in charge. Of anything.

Regrettably, it turns out that we can do better than wed like to admit without toilet paper.

Scientists discover that too much soap leads to impotence.

Instead of a face mask, you accidentally ordered a Lone Ranger mask.

You clearly hear a voice say, I have decided on celibacy. And you live alone.

Some gun-toting redneck guy in Oklahomawith two husbands, a meth addiction, and 223 pet tigers is probably going to be the next superstar president.

Cyndi Lauper was named Secretary of Agriculture, and you werent even surprised.

All cruise ships are being rerouted to Buffalo Bayou for the duration.

Charmin Ultra Soft replaces the dollar as the official U.S. currency.

Not only is the Post Office requiring masks tostand in line, but they require you to still wearpants to step out and check your mailbox.

* * * * * *

Does Andrew Cuomo have a nipple ring? Huh? Whoa, wait, stop. Whats this about Andrew Cuomo and nipple rings?

Top Ten Things Andrew Cuomo Has under His Shirt That Are Definitely Not a Nipple Ring, Nope, Definitely Not, No Nipple Ring

10. Dont worry, thats just the top of his corsethell be performing Lucky ChengsDrag Show at 11 p.m.

9. He and Chris Cuomo have tiny transmitters taped to their chests. (Yes, you andyour brother will never be that close.)

8. His 5G tumor.

7. The flash drive with Jareds spunky personality stored on it.

6. Pandemic Sweat Balls.

5. If ya wanna see it in the White House, youshouldve put a ring on it.

4. Allowable quarantine weight gain.

3. His other 5G tumor.

2. Two words: California Exotics.

1. He aint foolin nobodythats a damn nipple ring!

Until next month, when I hope we all can come out for Pride month, stay strong, stay safe, stay semi-sober. Ive started working on my Pride outfit. Bless Michaels for their curbside pickup, because, Honey, the things I can do with feathers, sequins, rhinestones, a glue gun, and a little sassy leather would tease your grannys bitties.

Hugs!

This article appears in the May 2020 edition of OutSmart magazine.

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This and That - outsmartmagazine.com

TFW No GFAlex Lee Moyers new documentary, TFW No GF, finds the sadness and alienation behind the posturing of the Internets right fringe.

NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLEDuring the 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton delivered a speech raising alarm about Donald Trumps association with the alt-right. In Clintons telling, conspiracy theories and rank bigotry from the dark, far reaches of the Internet fueled Trumps rise. But if Clinton correctly identified a new political movement growing on the fringes of the Web, she misidentified Breitbart and Alex Jones as its ringleaders. In the strange world of 4chan and weird Twitter, the anonymous posters who took credit for memeing Trump to the presidency call the shots.

Since 2016, academics and journalists have offered alternatives to Clintons simplistic characterization of these online communities. Its no easy task: Cloaked in layers of irony and self-reference, they elude conventional analysis. The operating principle in the hodgepodge of gamers, anime fans, and reactionary ideologues that makes up the online far right is a love of chaos, as Angela Nagle points out in her book Kill All Normies. Some espouse explicitly racist and misogynistic views, others want to lash out at political correctness and identity politics, and others still do it just to get a rise out of people.

Alex Lee Moyers documentary TFW No GF is the latest attempt to explore the dark, far reaches of the internet. The film, featured in the 2020 SXSW lineup and released on Amazon Prime Video in late April, follows five members of the nebulous, overlapping subcultures labeled at various times incels (involuntary celibates), NEETs (not in employment, education or training), edgelords, Pepes, and the alt-right. Moyer borrows the lo-fi aesthetics of her subjects: The movie is a pastiche of memes, archival material, and heavily edited footage set to the music of John Maus and Ariel Pink. But while Moyers visual sensibilities evince an appreciation for her subjects, her film raises questions as to whether the online world these men inhabit offers them anything constructive or whether it simply reproduces the dynamics that drove them to seek virtual refuge in the first place.

The confessional narratives of TFW No GF translated from Internet slang, it means that feeling when [you have] no girlfriend contrast with the brash and irreverent online personas of its subjects. Against a backdrop of bleak, postindustrial locales its almost like nobodys here, says one subject of his Washington exurb the protagonists discuss their alienation, social maladjustment, and inability to attract women. They grew up in broken homes and see no entry point into conventional life. Instead of the white picket fence, theyve exiled themselves to their childhood bedrooms.

Critics have called TFW No GF a film about incels, but its more a collage of various online subcultures. Sex, the be-all and end-all of the online manosphere, is an afterthought to the films protagonists. These characters seem to harbor little of the incel rage that has fueled mass shootings and online harassment campaigns. Theyre mostly just depressed, and turn to the Internet as a substitute for community.

But there have always been lonely men. If TFW No GF simply documented depression, it wouldnt be especially interesting. Gogol and Dostoevsky explored male disaffection before Moyers, and offered conclusions more incisive than these guys are not happy besides. The film momentarily moves beyond misery-wallowing 30 minutes in, when a man known on Twitter as Kantbot appears on the screen. Contrasting with the industrial debris and cluttered bedrooms that form most of the films backdrop, Kantbots world Riverside Park, a Manhattan rooftop, and a Columbia Universityadjacent bookstore is sophisticated. He intermittently exhales cigarette smoke while expounding on German idealist philosophy. His urbanity and erudition, if an obvious put-on, set him apart from his fellow travelers: One of these edgelords is not like the others.

Kantbot first gained online notoriety from a viral clip in which he claimed that Donald Trump will complete the system of German idealism to a crowd of anti-Trump protesters in Manhattan. Such trolling has gained him a sizable audience and made him something of an online celebrity. And with his appearance, the film begins to explore the intellectual underpinnings of the online far right. Kantbot says his project is to solve the problem of modernity: the devolution of pure reason into nihilism, hedonism, and solipsism. He sees his tweets as aphorisms in the style of the German philosopher Friedrich Schelling. Kantbots relevance to the film stems not only from his fanbase of likeminded young men but also from his ostensible aim to provide an alternative to the disappointments of contemporary life. He is the bard to the rabble of online sh**posters.

Those edgelords who have attempted to fashion an intellectual project out of their alienation seem to have the most to say about the peculiar contours of online discourse. A more thorough sociology of Internet subcultures would have spent more time exploring these contours, through Kantbot and other pseudonymous intellectuals.

But Moyers ambitions are different. Though TFW No GF flirts with a phenomenology of edgelordism, it prioritizes the personal experiences of its subjects. And while it documents the alienation and resentment that has led some self-described incels to glorify or perpetrate murderous acts, most of the characters extricate themselves from edgelordism by the end of the film. One finds a girlfriend online, another takes to weightlifting and reading philosophy. A meme reading, Were all gonna make it marks a break from the fatalism of the films early acts. Perhaps Jordan Petersons brand of self-help has more to offer young men than posting threats against women on Twitter. Or perhaps these men were never so damaged in the first place, but merely engaged in transgressive online discourse as a distraction.

Once again, Kantbot is the exception he remains extremely online, ending the film in much the same position as when it started, except with 40,000 Twitter followers and a popular podcast. Like other self-styled gurus, Kantbot subsists on the attention of his thousands of anonymous fans, who spend more time vying for a retweet than emancipating themselves.

Thus has the attempt to create an unbounded intellectual space devolved into a replica of ordinary social spheres, with different codes and values but with the same competition for attention. The success of the online Rights minor celebrities depends on a substratum of young men languishing. Vying with the ringleaders ideas might be fruitful, but fetishizing them is not. If there is a hopeful lesson from TFW No GF, its that their followers are starting to realize that.

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Inside the Internet Hate Machine - National Review

Im loving the idea of being here for a sustained period of time, says Alan Cumming, speaking over Zoom from his country pile buried deep in New Yorks Catskill mountains. It is purpose-built for isolation. I realised Ive been craving it; its a shame it took a global pandemic to make it happen.

The 55-year-old actor has been rigorous about lockdown. He is asthmatic, so he has been out past his gate only once in five weeks. Cumming spends his days with his husband, the artist Grant Shaffer, and their dogs Lala and Jerry, mostly writing. In the evenings, he has Zoom cocktails last night it was with his old Good Wife co-star Julianna Margulies.

His home is cosy: a crowded bookshelf takes up most of the wood-panelled wall behind him; a blown-up cover image of his first childrens novel, The Adventures of Honey & Leon, illustrated by Shaffer, sits on the floor. He flips the camera to reveal a small outside clearing, empty apart from his trampoline, surrounded by maple trees. A porch swing is rocking; he points to a storm on the horizon coming over the Catskills.

Cumming was in London when the world began shutting down. He was starring in Samuel Becketts Endgame at the Old Vic, alongside Daniel Radcliffe. When the theatre closed on March 15th, Endgame still had two weeks left to run. Cumming may be enjoying this period of isolation, but he is worried about what state the theatre industry will be in when the lockdowns lift. There was talk of bringing Endgame to New York, but he thinks pinning down any dates would be too ambitious.

Until theres a vaccine, I dont think people will really be comfortable sitting in a room with 1,000 people right next to you, coughing, says Cumming. I just dont imagine the theatre or cinema as we know it is going to be able to function.

Even if people are more appreciative of the arts during lockdown, it may not be enough to stave off theatre closures. The UK and US governments have always undervalued the arts, he says a rot thats set in since Margaret Thatcher (he has more than a few criticisms of Thatcher, having just watched the five-part BBC documentary Thatcher: A Very British Revolution).

Many theatres wont survive, because theres so much money going into unemployment and the health service, he says. Not only will these theatres not have produced anything or had any income, but theres going to be a whole range of cuts. Were all f***ed. It is unclear whether he is referring to thespians or, well, everyone.

One person he does include in his assessment is the US president. This could be Trumps downfall. My mother-in-law is a Trump supporter and even shes said: Oh gosh, its terrible what hes doing, using all the Covid press conferences as a rally. Its insane and embarrassing and just disgusting.

He will be supporting Joe Biden for president, but he has his reservations. Hes too old. I think Trumps too old. But we seem to still be in this culture where old white men seem to be allowed to do anything.

Cumming has one of the most eclectic CVs in Hollywood: he is prolific, versatile and prone to reinvention. As well as acting, he writes, directs and produces. He has tried his hand at photography (his latest project includes the self-portrait accompanying this article) and he is a committed activist, particularly for LGBTQ+ rights.

He co-owns a queer cabaret bar, Club Cumming, in the East Village in New York, and even has his own range of fragrances (the parodic advert for Cumming the Fragrance is essential viewing). He still has five bottles sitting on a tray in his bathroom in the Catskills. I actually spray it in the wardrobe upstairs, because were not here very often, so I always just give it a little squirt of Cumming. He describes the scent as earthy.

He has just taken over the pop star Will Youngs role as the co-host, alongside Chris Sweeney, of the Homo Sapiens podcast in which queer people talk about queer life which means he can cross off podcaster, albeit reluctantly.

Everyone has a podcast now! he says. Its like reality TV: I used to say I just wish everyone would go on a reality TV show, so well all have done it and we can get it out of our system and move on.

Yet the lure of exploring one of his biggest passions icons of the LGBTQ+ community was too big. Hannah Gadsby and Stephen Fry are just two of the guests on the new series; it also includes an interview with Cynthia Nixon in which she talks about parenting a trans child.

Cumming has held the title of queer icon since the late 1990s, when he was described by the New York Observer as a frolicky pansexual sex symbol for the new millennium. In November 1999, he posed naked for the cover of the USs largest LGBTQ+ publication, Out magazine. The accompanying interview was his most high-profile announcement to the world that he had sex with men and women.

I still feel everythings kind of grey, he says. Its never felt complicated, my sexuality. Ive never had shame about sex in general or homosexuality. This he attributes to his late father (who died of cancer in 2010), who had an affair with another woman. He wrote about this extensively in his 2014 memoir, Not My Fathers Son.

Growing up, I saw a man who was unable to control his desire. It made me feel like Ive got a sexual appetite and its not a bad thing. Seeing my father struggle with this and realising that he had no control over it made me feel liberated.

Cumming was born in Perthshire, Scotland. His father was the head forester on a large country estate on the Angus coast, which is where he lived with his mother, father and older brother.

His father was volatile and violent. He would mentally torment his sons by setting them ambiguous physical tasks around the estate, hitting them when they failed to match his infeasible standards.

Cumming had a breakdown in his 20s the memories of a childhood dominated by a sadistic abuser resurfacing. Together with his brother, he confronted his father. They didnt speak for 16 years, until his father caught wind of Cummings intention to appear on the TV programme Who Do You Think You Are?.

His father told Cumming (via his brother) that he was not his son; he said he was telling Cumming this to avoid him finding out on national TV. After a meticulous investigation, Cumming exposed his fathers story as untrue (he and his brother took DNA tests to confirm it).

More than five years on, he is still stunned by the feedback from readers of his memoir. Many said it helped them address their own problematic relationships. Has it allowed him to exorcise the trauma of his fathers abuse?

I thought that maybe I would put him to rest, but actually that hasnt happened, he says. Hes much more in my life than he ever was. And so he should be; hes my father. Any parent is a huge part of your life and pretending otherwise is not healthy. I feel in a much healthier place with him.

Cumming laughs dismissively when asked if his globe-trotting career has gone the way he thought it would when he was starting out as a young actor on the Scottish theatre scene in the late 80s.

I was told that things were not available to me because of my Scottishness, he says. America was never a thing. London was maybe a possibility. The idea that I would be doing what Im doing now or have the opportunities that I have now, there was no one I knew whod had that trajectory... those things didnt happen to Scottish people.

And yet his career boomed. He moved to London after a roaring Edinburgh fringe success as half of the comedy double act Victor and Barry with his friend and co-writer Forbes Masson. Their TV series, The High Life, in which they played a pair of outrageously behaved air stewards, aired on the BBC before Cumming moved to London to play Hamlet at the Donmar under Sam Mendes. He scored an Olivier award for his role as the Maniac in Accidental Death of an Anarchist, as well as a nomination for his performance as the Emcee in Cabaret; he won a Tony award when he reprised the role on Broadway in 1998.

More recently, he has found success on the small screen with his scene-stealing performance as the spin doctor Eli Gold in The Good Wife. In 2018, he landed the starring role in Instinct, the first network drama on US television to feature a gay leading character.

As something of a Hollywood veteran (his vast filmography ranges from Goldeneye and Emma to Spice World and Spy Kids), he has expressed solidarity with the victims of Harvey Weinstein. In an Instagram post, underneath an image of Cumming and Weinstein together, he said that he had posed for the photograph despite knowing about Weinsteins hotel room massage meetings, his rage and his bullying nature. Still, he says he was shocked by the scale of the abuse.

It shows you how clever those people are, he says. Theres a difference between: Oh, hes a bit of an old lech, and being a rapist. That was shocking to me.

Cumming was bullied by Weinstein, with the disgraced producer pressuring him to take roles he didnt want. I remember being at the premiere of The Hateful Eight... and Id just said no to Harvey to doing this thing. He was very persistent. I saw him coming, he was on his phone, and I hid in this doorway to avoid them, because I just didnt want to have to deal with them. He was scary and also he was just overwhelming as a personality.

Cumming has witnessed phenomenal social change since he started his career, when homophobia was institutional and potent. I think its great things should move fast, he says. The constant question I used to get was: Do you think that coming out is bad for your career in Hollywood? Its such a ridiculous question. I dont think people in Basingstoke or Idaho are not going to go and see a movie because someone in it is gay. I really dont think they care.

He doesnt miss a beat as he moves on to the latest battleground for LGBTQ+ people: gender identity. When people get all weird about people putting pronouns at the end of their emails, I think: Fuck you. These people are being kind to you and doing you a favour by telling you how they want to be defined.

As well as campaigning for LGBTQ+ equality and HIV charities, Cumming is outspoken against male circumcision.

I never thought anything about my foreskin, he says, and then I came to America and I was having sex and people would just be gasping because theyd never seen a foreskin before. I was made to feel weird and freakish because I had an intact body.

Its genital mutilation. And I think people say: Oh, thats hysterical. But we do it to girls and its called genital mutilation. As for the religious grounds for circumcision, he believes these are ridiculous: We choose to keep doing some things and we just let the weirdest things go.

Cumming is confident that this period of isolation will result in a positive social change. Im an optimist at my very core, he says. Any time when youve got to be away from everybody, to contemplate, meditate and be made to understand how your behaviour affects other people, I just cant help but think that must be a huge positive.

And what about in the immediate aftermath? I think there will probably be a period of rabid shagging, he says. Im sure therell be some sort of swing towards hedonism, where its just crazy. Itll be like New Years Eve. Guardian

The new series of Homo Sapiens is available on all podcasting platforms

Excerpt from:

Alan Cumming: I never thought about my foreskin until I came to America - The Irish Times

Lana set the stage for these singles by telling them about the rules and prize money. Soon, their personality traits became much more pronounced.

Each of the cast members underwent very specific changes after the no-sex rule andmoney were introduced on Too Hot to Handle. The singles'initial meeting in paradise was filled with flirty and dirty declarations of fun to come. But onceLana set the stage for them, each of their personality traits became much more pronounced. First of all, the news elicited severalgrimaces and a few audible groans. What happened next was utterlysurprising.

Vixen Francesca did not take the news so well. Viewers were stunned when the brunette bombshell actually burst into tears over the plot twist. Memes were erected (pardon the pun), quoting her disappointment over having to endure celibacy while on the show. "It's like I lost my mom, like, I'm so sad," Francesca said. Even British model Chloe confirmed that Francesca was shaken up about the rules. Chloeadmitted her own dismay, but ultimately, the rules of the show changed herfor the better.

Related: Too Hot To Handle's Celebrity Look-A-Likes: From Khlo Kardashian To Kevin Hart

Chloetold theDaily Mail, "For some of the guys, sex was like a daily exercise for them. It opened my eyes guys actually love sex. I realised, 'This is why they don't text me back.' Once I've kissed someone, they don't want to know.'"Another participant whose true colors came shining through when learning he'd have to remain chaste to pocket a huge prize was Kelz. Prior to joining theshow, Kelzdescribed himself as an "alpha-male who is used to getting what he wants." It became quite evident throughout production that Kelz wanted that money. He carefully and diligently avoided physical contact with Francesca and even Rhonda, whom he's since been linked to after production wrapped.

Sharron amusedviewers during his confessional when he spoke of being apromiscuous churchgoing feminist with a huge package. Too bad none of the ladies got to experience him in all his glory during production. Sharron formeda physicalconnection with single mom Rhonda early into the cast introductions. However, being told they couldn't act on their urges for one another only made this couple lust even harder. As the season progressed, they workedthrough their arousal and various temptations and began building a relationship that eventually led to Rhonda introducing Sharron to her son.

Too Hot to Handle is a raucousglimpse the socioeconomic ramifications of sexand vanitycommingling in a modern society. What makes the show so great is that we see the hedonism of youth culture and all its social media trappings at work. In everydaylife, these singles would give into their baser instincts and hook up with each other before the introductions could even be completed. Adding money and conditional elements into the mix heightens the fun for the THTH viewer. Face it: It seemed to make things even spicier for the singles, too. The rulesmade Sharron and Rhonda convince themselves they were in love, or something close to it. Abstinence even made Francesca and Harry- seemingly two of the most vapid individuals to breathe air - realize that they, too, could be loving and committed. Overall, the change seems to have graduatedmost of the participantsfrom the swinging singles the show promoted, to casting them in amore conscientious light.

Next: Too Hot To Handle: Cast Members Wildest Instagram & Social Media Posts

Source: Bustle, Daily Mail UK

RHOC's Vicki Gunvalson Insults 'Big Eyes' Ramona Singer & 'Vanilla' Kyle Richards

Ebony March is a contributing writer at Screen Rant. Her career in entertainment journalism began in 2007 as a film and music reviewer. Before joining Screen Rant's Reality TV beat in 2019, Ebony was a contributor at Guitar World and Intent (now Intent Blog). She freelanced as a digital news producer at KABC-TV in Los Angeles and was a freelance producer at the Los Angeles Times.Ebony's interest in social activism, music, and pop culture led to appearances on 60 Minutes, MTV's Subterranean and 12 Angry Viewers, as well as Comedy Central's Beat the Geeks.In her spare time, you'll find Ebony poring over interior design feeds on Pinterest, or obsessively binge-watching episodes of Saturday Night Live. She's also an avid cook and player of classic 8-bit video games like Galaga and Ms. Pacman. Follow Ebony on Twitter.

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Too Hot To Handle: How Cast Members Changed After No-Sex Rule and Money Introduced - Screen Rant

In an alternate version of 2020, hip-hop artist Travis Scott would have finished his second performance atop the bill at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this past weekend. Yet in a sign of our stay-at-home times, the Houston artist instead essentially just headlined Fortnite, the competitive video game-turned-brand platform that is as much a social network as it is a way to get shot with virtual bullets by strangers.

The battle royale game has never been this psychedelic. Moments before the event began Thursday at 4 p.m. PST our digital guns disappeared. Instead, players could suddenly wield a flaming microphone stand and hoist it above our heads as we danced.

Welcome to the coronavirus era of live music events.

Scotts invasion of Fortnite was essentially an interactive music video, one the artist used to premiere The Scotts, a new song with Kid Cudi. While Scotts concerts can be over-the-top spectacles involving amusement park rides, in Fortnite, the artist and Epic Games focused on the trippier side of his work.

Throughout the roughly 10-minute experience, players were constantly disorientated, teleported around the Fortnite map while an extremely buff holographic version of Scott (at least until he took on more of a cyborg form) stomped throughout an interactive universe.

Fortnite brought out the trippier side of Travis Scotts music.

(Epic Games)

While some of Fortnites other high-profile pop culture events the premiere of a clip from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker or concert from electronic artist Marshmello felt relatively loose and free-form, Scott and the North Carolina-based Epic Games concocted a communal event that had ambitions to transcend its promotional nature.

While quickly touching on hits such as Sicko Mode and Goosebumps, players were constantly thrown around the world. Every few seconds the screen would flash as we were tossed from Fortnites beachside towns to outer space, and at one point we were completely submerged under water, attempting to float toward an astronaut.

While players swirled around and away from Scott, the event, dubbed Astronomical, constantly aimed to toy with our perceptions. If theres a party-amid-the-flames aspect to Scotts increasingly languid soundscapes, Astronomical was hedonism at its most disorienting, largely giving a makeover to Fortnites exaggerated and simplistic design.

When shot to an area filled with palm trees, with Scott the Giant and a neon light shower towering above us, Astronomical had something of an 80s-inspired, Miami Vice aesthetic. But that was short lived; soon star fields glistened and the ground below our avatars morphed into neon-green dance floors.

While much of the iconography was pulled from art stemming from Scotts 2018 album Astroworld, including the cover that turns Scotts head into a golden entryway into an amusement park, there were surprises, such as the mechanical planet-like structure filled with carnival rides that gradually fell apart as we hovered closer. It came to an end as we flew through a space into a flashing butterfly light, a callback to an earlier Fortnite event.

The Travis Scott Fortnite event only lasted 10 minutes, but it had plenty of eye candy.

(Epic Games)

The event built to the premiere of the new song Fortnite centered on moments from The Scotts that appeared to feature slower, melancholic synths and then ended abruptly. A flash of light, and suddenly we were no longer in what seemed to be the video game of Scotts dreams and back to Fortnite, where the digital bullets could then inflict harm on our virtual characters.

If theres a shortcoming to Fortnite becoming a rival to, say, Facebook or YouTube, its that it comes with its own language, requiring users to essentially puppeteer avatars around the world to experience content.

But while Fortnite can be intimidating to the uninitiated this world isnt as friendly as that of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, of course it is versatile. It can house the Avengers, and also construct its own pop-up amusement park outside of arenas. As it evolves, at times Fortnite feels less like a game and more an experiment to test the waters on where interactive entertainment can go.

And its one with power. Fortnites Marshmello concert reportedly attracted more than 10 million people, so artists and brands will no doubt continue to turn to games to explore the potential benefits of their outlandish virtual stages. Lest there was any confusion as to why Scott was appearing in Fortnite, moments later his record label, Cactus Jack/Epic/Wicked Awesome, sent a press release detailing that the new single, as well as Fortnite"-branded Scott action figure and NERF gun, would be available this evening.

Astronomical will repeat four more times through Saturday, with staggered times aimed at various time zones around the globe. Arrive about 30 minutes early to get a lay of the games map and to navigate to the show. Youll want time to play with that flaming microphone stand.

Read the original here:

Travis Scott, 'Fortnite' and live music in coronavirus time - Los Angeles Times

The past few years in fashion have given us a lust, bordering on obsession, for all things maximalist.

Be it at Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Moschino or Philipp Plein, decadent layering, opulent finishes and an abundance of bling have dominated the runway, fuelling our insatiable need for "more".

But that was before the arrival of the coronavirus. With industries laid waste, countries shuttered and hundreds of thousands of lives lost, the world we all knew has dramatically altered and as we begin cautiously to re-emerge after self-imposed isolation, we are all seeking markers of reassurance, comfort and stability.

Moving forward, will we crave a return to the decadent hedonism of maximalism? It may be gaudy, indulgent and over the top, but it is ultimately about celebration, about joy and embracing the sheer expressiveness of fashion.

It can be expressed in many ways. Who hasnt felt the thrill of pulling on a new dress, or unearthing a gilded find at a thrift shop? Who hasnt longed for something from our grandmother's wardrobe or looked forward to the day we can borrow our mother's vintage boots? And such giddy longing does not make one greedy. Far from it. The thrill of the chase, taking joy and enjoying a moment, are all vital parts of the human condition.

Singers Lady Gaga and Harry Styles, actor Jared Leto and Madonna have all dedicated themselves to being modern-day Lounge Lizards, in preposterous make-up, high-waisted flares and velvet capes, embracing the sheer joy of being alive.

But even before Covid-19, the ever-faster fashion merry-go-round was drawing complaints that it moved too quickly, burning too fast through designers and precious resources.

In a recent interview with Vogue, Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele said: I hope we will never go back to that 'normal'. Because the life we lived before has been fearfully unsustainable. So, yes, we will go back to life. But, I hope, to a different life.

When we finally emerge from our cocoons, will we yearn for the spartan purity of pared-back designers such as Jil Sander and Helmut Lang, whose severity of line better fits the present mood? Or will we want to celebrate, indulge, and announce that we are one of the lucky survivors?

The autumn / winter 2020 collections, which were unveiled just as Covid-19 was starting to spread its full, destructive power, were filled with clothes that spoke of practicality, of utility, of "hunkering down" instead of excess and exhibitionism.

Balenciaga, for example, gave us clothes for an apocalypse, shown on a flooded runway and under an end-of-days sky, while Marine Serre continued what she had begun so joltingly for spring / summer 2020 (that took place in September 2019) with face masks in what now feels like chilling foresight.

Or how about Prada, with its belted practicality? Simple garb almost nun like in its simplicity in stoic grey and tightly held with thick leather belts. Or Alexander McQueen who looked to the folklore of ancient Wales to create clothes for modern warrior women.

Even Louis Vuitton looked back in time, to deliver a collection of space-age history, mixing ruffles of old with technical fabrics.

At Gucci, it, too, was about less. More fancy ruffles were heaped into skirts, but then added to sparse tops, and Puritan hats, that gave it all an air of restraint.

Hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and it is fascinating to reflect on collections unveiled so recently with new perspective, and see that the signs were already there.

We were already beginning to turn away from the glory days of the maximum, shift away from the endless "new", and instead, turn towards a sense of "make do" and re-wear. It was already happening. It just took a pandemic for us to see it.

Updated: April 26, 2020 07:38 PM

Link:

Fashion post-Covid-19: is this the end of maximalism? - The National

NewsOpinionColumnistsFollowing the global Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918/19, the Roaring Twenties saw people embrace hedonism so people will need pubs and restaurants after coronavirus outbreak subsides, writes Stephen Jardine

Friday, 24th April 2020, 4:45 pm

Ive given up watching the TV news every night. Its just too depressing. However some of the programmes on Netflix are even worse. Shows like Chefs Table provide a disturbing insight into another world, one where people used to pay to sit in restaurants and eat food.

I had my last meal out in an Edinburgh restaurant on the day of the lockdown. I went for a lunch with a friend and we felt like the last table in the Titanic dining room. With more staff than customers, catastrophe was in the air.

The lyrics to Big yellow Taxi sum up the feeling since. Dont it always seem to go, that you dont know what youve got til its gone. Joni Mitchell wasnt singing about restaurants but she might as well have been.

For most people, the experience is about more than just food. From a great sandwich at lunchtime to a delicious pizza or a juicy steak at night, restaurants are simply one of lifes great joys. So when will we visit them again?

The UKs 25,000 restaurants have been one of the worst affected parts of the economy and it looks like being one of the last areas to emerge from lockdown.

Its not hard to see why. An academic paper published in the New York Times this week showed how one customer with coronavirus at a restaurant in China in January went on to infect nine other customers, with air-conditioning apparently helping spread the virus around the room. Three months on, when restaurants started to reopen in Shenhzhen, they had to follow stringent procedures including reducing capacity by 50 per cent and checking customer temperatures. Diners were required to enter wearing a mask, taking it off only to eat and drink.

Here restaurants have already started thinking about what life will be like after lockdown. Cutting the number of covers to allow more space is inevitable but other ideas include disposable menus, hand sanitiser on each table and masks for waiting staff to offer visible reassurance. In time, the measures will ease but the industry needs to reopen if it is to survive.

With one in 13 jobs linked to hospitality and the sector contributing 46 billion to the UK economy, a lot is at risk. Already, TexMex chain Chiquitos has said 61 of their 84 UK branches will not reopen with the loss of 1,500 jobs. Many more will also never again open their doors.

Recovery, when it comes, will be slow and stuttering but we need it to happen. The jobs and livelihoods are important but restaurants are so much more than just balance sheets and bank accounts. They are the backdrop for romantic dates and birthdays and anniversaries and staff Christmas parties. They are where we celebrate new jobs and toast loved ones now departed. From the first Pizza Express trip as a kid to the special pensioners high tea at the local hotel, they are the life and soul of the land.

If all looks gloomy now, remember the Roaring Twenties. In 1918 the Spanish Flu Pandemic infected a third of the worlds population and killed at least 20 million. Yet just two years later came a bounce-back decade of decadence, enjoyment and hedonism. That should give a ray of hope to every chef and restaurant owner in the land.

Link:

After Covid threat passes, we will party like the Roaring Twenties Stephen Jardine - The Scotsman

As anyone who has been there knows, Cambodia is a bubbling mass of contradictions. Natural beauty and friendliness collide with grinding poverty and corruption, for a start. In Phnom Penh, piles of rubbish languish in the gutter next to skyscraper hotels with glossy cocktail bars. It attracts people for many reasons.

Expats call Phnom Penh the playpen, Maeve Galvin, who has worked in the country as a humanitarian, smiles. Its a very particular setting for people with any kind of compulsion towards addiction or hedonism, it might not be a great place, especially if you have unlimited [financial] resources.

There are, famously, the sexpats who frequent Street 51; the backpackers and tourists, and then those who arrive into the country for humanitarian work. And even in the latter faction, there are divides.

In full: https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/book-reviews/people-can-get-a-compulsion-to-fix-the-place-cambodia-can-be-seductive-like-that-39152988.html

2020, All rights reserved.

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'People can get a compulsion to fix the place. Cambodia can be seductive like that' - The Cambodia Daily

There are 773,000 entries under #naturalwine on Instagram, many thousands of which have been taken during the last month of global lockdown. There are photos of orange pt-nats posted from Spitalfields, organic pinot noir on a table in Seoul, Sancerre in Singapore. A Georgian wine called Pheasant Tears, being drunk in Brooklyn, and another bottle of pt-nat, this time located in Calgary, Alberta. Its caption claims that it will explode on opening. Hopefully thats just a figure of speech.

With bars, wine shops, restaurants and pubs across the world shuttered for who knows how long, a curious thing has happened to the world of trendy wine culture: it has gone online. Zoom tastings, Instagram Live walkthroughs and specially curated 'natty' wine packages have popped up around the globe, in a matter of weeks, as the wine world scrabbles to adjust to our new and strange corona economy.

It [the coronavirus] is not a great thing for the wine industry, says Brodie Meah, owner of Shop Cuve, a restaurant, bottle shop, online grocery store and natural wine bar in north London, which has a loyal clientele and a growing Instagram following. I think, particularly for some small growers, it could be catastrophic financially. But as they say, necessity is the mother of invention, so we're certainly trying to turn the whole thing into a positive for our customers. I think people are happy for guidance on what to drink and discover new things.

New bottles are announced on its Instagram page in a vernacular more akin to a trainer drop than a fresh delivery of Domain Durrmann: New heat in the shop! The captions are fun and informative with plenty of crystal ball, fire and drooling emojis, while photos of customer hauls are reposted on its stories. The labels are, invariably, illustrated, a bit wonky, bright and visually appealing with names like 3 Colours, Chin Chin and No Control. Like all good social media content it feels light-hearted, cool and desirable. Like you want to join the club, even if youre not entirely sure what that means, or what the dress code is.

In our new retail setup, branding and labels play a much bigger part in people's decision," says Meah. "I've always been of the opinion that branding has an effect on people's perception of flavour. I always put myself in the customer's shoes when making a decision and making assumptions on how a product is presented is part of that.

At Newcomer Wines, a Dalston wine bar and merchants that specialises in varieties from Swiss and Austrian vineyards, they are experimenting with virtual talks and tours featuring experts and winemakers. We wanted to help keep our growers and customers connected and learning during these times when face to face tastings and travel is not possible, says Bryan Jackson, one of Newcomers founders. Every Wednesday in April, at 3pm, we host three winemakers and discuss a different topic each time from preserving heritage grape varieties, through to what we can learn from slow winemaking and returning to a simpler way of life.

Wine has always been a little slow to catch-up with the digital world, but the pandemic is changing this up a bit," he adds. I think that everyone and every business is adjusting the best they can. Wine will always be social, whether you are drinking with someone in a bar sometime soon, we hope or having a glass of wine with a friend over Zoom.

I think the wine world is really playing its best role here, offering relaxation and comfort to people who are cooped up in their homes, says Rachel Signer, founder of Pipette, a beautiful and trendy quarterly magazine about natural wine. A glass of nice wine takes the edge off whatever news article you're reading.

I know some people have been doing Zoom happy hours. I did one with some friends who I traveled with around Slovenia last year. We had a trip planned for Italy, this year, and of course it's cancelled. So we drank on Zoom. The other day, I did an Instagram Live 'apro' on the Pipette Magazine Instagram account, which was really fun. A few hundred people joined and I opened up four bottles of natural wine and chatted about them, and about making the magazine. I may do it again.

Hedonism, a Mayfair merchant of some repute, is even offering Zoom tastings with a professional sommelier at a cost of 100 per hour (excluding wine costs). "They have been extremely popular," says Matthias Simonet, Hedonism's shop and events manager. "We have a nice mix of new and former clients. It has allowed us to offer tasting experience to people living outside of London, who are usually not able to make the journey to the shop for a 'normal' tasting."

Despite the global wine industry being valued at more than $29 billion annually (natural wine makes up around $4 billion of that figure) the vast majority of winemakers function on razor thin margins, working with and against ever-fragile factors such as weather, rot, plague and changing tastes. An unseasonably wet summer or a particularly frostbitten winter can be catastrophic for an independent wine business. Now add in a pandemic that doesn't appear to want to adhere to any kind of human timeframe (stop... now?) and things have gotten tricky. "We are trying to stay sane over here but I can't wait for lockdown to be over to take the surfboards out again," says Jurgen Gouws, the young owner of Intellego Wines, a "minimal intervention" producer in the Swartland region of South Africa, north of Cape Town. His wines are sold at natural wine bars and stores around the world. The labels are, of course, very appealing, with lots of primary colours, clean space and abstract lines. If Intellego sold prints, you'd want to buy one.

"Branding definitely plays a bigger part than before as people, and especially the younger generation, like to explore and try new things," says Gouws, who reveals that online and social media interaction has been way up during quarantine. "There is still a generation that has their favourites and sticks with them, so its 50/50. I do think that we are moving into a time where people will have to 'taste' more with their eyes and a big part of selections made are based on that.

"Design is one thing that cant be rushed and with some of the labels it took me months before I came up with the imagery and story. Selling wine is also very much about selling the story and thats why one has to make sure imagery and the story complement each other."

Shop Cuve

A bottle of red wine arrives at my house from Shop Cuve (they even include two stickers, how kind). It's called Bock Les Grelots, a blend of Syrah, Merlot and Grenache. It's made by Sylvian Bock out of a low intervention vineyard in the tiny French town of Alba-la-Romaine in the Ardche. The label is ecru with an irreverent, bulbous font in a wispy grey pencil-effect. It looks lovely in contrast to the dark green of the bottle.

I wait for the late afternoon spring light to cut through my kitchen window and take a photo of the bottle held up to a wall, dappled in 5pm sunlight, posting it to my Instagram stories. Shop Cuve reposts it. I feel good, like I'm part of the club now. I feel like a man of means and good taste. Aspiration in isolation. A wine guy. I pour a glass later that evening, which quickly turns to three. It tastes good, too. Am I being influenced by the minimalist label? Probably. Who cares. I'm a wine guy now.

I finish the bottle and admire the label again.

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The Very Instagrammable World Of Isolation Wine - esquire.com