Category Archives: Hedonism

The NFL is all about money and the Oakland Raiders are making a financial decision by moving to Las Vegas. However, their decision could end up being a big mistake that may hurt the franchise forever.

After moving to Las Vegas, it will mark the second time that the Raiders have moved out of Oakland with the first being to Los Angeles. Of course, the Raiders later decided to move back to Oakland after their stint in Los Angeles. If the Raiders are smart, they will decide to follow suit after relocating to Las Vegas and get back to Oakland as soon as possible.

The biggest issue for the Raiders is they are leaving behind their most loyal fans. The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum isnt a great NFL stadium, but that was part of the lure of the team. Going into the black hole was something no team wanted to do, and they had one of the best home-field advantages in all of football. Dieter Kurtenbach of The Mercury News put the issues with moving to Las Vegas best.

Raiders fans comprise the only fanbase in sports that can rightly call itself a nation. Such is their nomadic history, their decentralization, and devotion to the squad. Raiders fans will travel from the Bay, from Los Angeles (where there are still millions of fans), and everywhere else the first few years in the desert.

But I dont think that will last long.

Theyll go. Theyll see it. And after that, theyll stay home. Televisions are pretty great these days.

And why go back? There will be no tailgating scene in Las Vegas; they didnt build enough parking lots. No Black Hole in the stadium, either; that might scare off tourists.

This new stadium couldnt be a starker departure from the Coliseum. The Coliseum was a den of hedonism for the common man. It was featureless and amenity-free, a place youd go only if you were so into football and drinking that youd forget the home team played only one playoff game in the last 17 years.

Raiders fans supported their team no matter if the team had 12 wins or two wins. In Las Vegas, its going to be hard to find that same type of loyalty and fans will quickly turn. Its worth noting, Las Vegas is also a great travel city so there will be plenty of fans from other cities flying in to see their favorite team.

After the first couple of seasons, dont be shocked if Raiders home games resemble how some of the Los Angeles Chargers home games have appeared the last couple of seasons with many fans of the away team in attendance.

Excerpt from:

The Raiders franchise will never be the same after their move from Oakland - ClutchPoints

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OAKLAND We are long past the point of fighting the inevitable, of forlorn thoughts of what could have no, what should have been.

The Raiders are gone.

They havent packed up yet the team facility in Alameda will be operational for a few more weeks but Sundays game, a 20-16 last-minute loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, marked the final moment that the Raiders belonged to Oakland, the symbolic end of an era.

They soon will soon fill up some boxes, put them in trucks, and head to Las Vegas to a new stadium, a new team facility, and what they think will be a brighter, more lucrative future.

But in that 560-mile move, the Raiders will be leaving their soul behind.

Things in Nevada will never be as good as they were in Oakland. At best, it will be a novelty in a city that has endless entertainment options.

And Ill bet dollars to cents that in a few years the Raiders will be the ones pushing forlorn thoughts what could have no, what should have been.

The Raiders have been fixing to leave Oakland for so long that no one not even those who booed them off the field Sunday and showered them with bottles can blame the team for finally exiting. The citys pension crisis and performative politics combined with Mark Davis leadership of the franchise created impossible barriers to an East Bay future for the Raiders, and when the state of Nevada likely duped offered nearly a billion dollars and the NFL agreed to back the move in a more-than-emotional capacity, the relocation to the desert became a no-brainer.

The NFL is big business after all, and in Las Vegas, the Raiders who reportedly ranked last in the league in revenue this past season will no longer be the leagues pauper.

Davis, who will be able to keep the family business in the family, is thrilled, though tact required him to push mixed feelings in public for the next few weeks. The NFL is thrilled, too. The cartels little-brother franchise will soon be able to live on its own, and the league will have access to Las Vegas for big events. All Roger Goodell had to do was co-sign a loan. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

The Raiders new Las Vegas stadium is being pushed as a place to see and to be seen.

Raiders fans comprise the only fanbase in sports that can rightly call itself a nation. Such is their nomadic history, their decentralization, and devotion to the squad. Raiders fans will travel from the Bay, from Los Angeles (where there are still millions of fans), and everywhere else the first few years in the desert.

But I dont think that will last long.

Theyll go. Theyll see it. And after that, theyll stay home. Televisions are pretty great these days.

And why go back? There will be no tailgating scene in Las Vegas; they didnt build enough parking lots. No Black Hole in the stadium, either; that might scare off tourists.

This new stadium couldnt be a starker departure from the Coliseum. The Coliseum was a den of hedonism for the common man. It was featureless and amenity-free, a place youd go only if you were so into football and drinking that youd forget the home team played only one playoff game in the last 17 years.

No, this new stadium will be a den of hedonism for a different clientele the whales of Las Vegas. The new digs will be full of the club levels, VIP seats, and luxury experiences that have left the 50-yard-line seats at Levis Stadium empty and a good chunk of fans in bunkers (away from the poors) at Chase Center. The Raiders dont want blue-collar in Las Vegas, they want the fans in the upper deck to be blue with envy.

Anecdotally, it seems as if the die-hard Raiders fans who would come to all eight (thats the one preseason and seven regular-season) home games at the Coliseum are going to make the trip to Vegas once, maybe twice a year.

Eventually, people will stop making trips even that infrequently.

The money that was usually spent on gas, meat for the grill, and beer (and a bottle of something hard to pass around the tailgate) will be spent at the casino. How many Saturday night crap-outs will have to happen before those field trips to Vegas become more and more infrequent?

Meanwhile, the new local market is smaller than Sacramento. But Im sure it will make up the difference, though (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)

The Raiders move to Las Vegas has all the makings of a second Chargers debacle. The Bolts have played 16 road games a year since moving to Los Angeles, and the Rams arent doing much better. But the NFL is scrambling to figure out how to solve that problem now theyre inviting a second problem to form.

The Coliseum wasnt even filled for Sundays final game and that was with the tarp still on Mt. Davis.

Once the novelty of the new Vegas digs wears off once whats left of the fanbase visits the desert I expect that there will be plentyof Broncos orange, Chiefs red, and whatever-the-visiting-fanbases color is in Las Vegas. Itll be a blast of a field trip for them.

The success of the NHLs Vegas Golden Knights, who sell out the 17,000-plus seats at T-Mobile Arena 41 nights (but mostly weeknights) a season, is often cited as a reason why the Raiders will be successful in Nevada. But I dont think that analysis is taking into account that the Knights were first to market (a huge advantage in any business), were wildly successful the first year in town (making the Stanley Cup Final), and that new Raiders stadium holds nearly four times the people and will be used mostly on Sunday afternoons.

Have you ever been in Las Vegas on a Sunday afternoon? Its a somber scene with people heading to the airport and a few trying to win back what was lost. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

The kind of fans who would show up to this East Bay dump might have dwindled in number over the years, but you cant say that those who stuck around didnt care. They cared more than any of us could know.

It was the kind of passion, the kind of devotion, you cant buy.

But now the team is gone and the traditions and rituals that came with watching them here the things that made a Raiders game the last bastion of old-school football culture will have nowhere to be channeled. The Raiders just wont be The Raiders anymore.

Try as they might, theyll never be able to recreate what they had here.

More:

Kurtenbach: The Raiders are leaving behind a fanbase with a passion you cannot buy - East Bay Times

By Charles OddleifsonLast fall, I moved back to Maine from Texas, exhausted by the heat and hedonism of that sunny land. The day after I arrived, I took a walk at Thorne Head Preserve in Bath and felt my soul returning to me by way of the hard granite, the dripping pine trees, and the light rain falling across the Kennebec: my spiritual geography welcomed me home. But I also needed coins in my pocket, so I decided to apply for seasonal work at L.L.Bean.

The Freeport-based retailer experiences a surge of business in the month or two leading up to Christmas, hiring a small army of temporary workers to keep backlogs down and customers happy. Jobs were available in three areas: retail, phones, and warehouse. The first two involved dealing directly with customers. The last did not, and so I opted for the last.

On my first day, I arrived in the darkness at 6 a.m. and was escorted to a classroom on the first floor of the warehouse, where 17 other students and I were to be trained as returns processors. In this role, I would open packages sent back to L.L.Bean from far and wide: Dunkirk, Indiana; Wahoo, Nebraska; Belchertown, Massachusetts. My job was to find out who the customer was, what they were returning, what they wanted, and how to dispose of returned items appropriately. During training, our instructor wheeled out racks of garments and shoes, each of which we meticulously examined for flaws. Later, we learned how to distinguish shades of blue denim. One day, we looked at various postmarks and discussed how to categorize them. Another day, we learned how to fold clothes properly. Jeans were easy, bathrobes we dreaded.

Despite the thorough instruction, my college-educated ego was quickly humbled. What to do with a package that is all at once a split order, a fulfillment error, and a questionable return? Other complexities were interpretive: A customer writes, Needed a size 7. Does that suggest the customer no longer needs a size 7? Or, because ignoring a customers request is more egregious than fulfilling a nonexistent one, should I go ahead and ship a size 7 as a replacement?

Despite the thorough instruction, my college-educated ego was quickly humbled.

In all things, our bible was the L.L.Bean site index, an online encyclopedia of procedures to deal with any contingency. What to do if a customer sends an outline of her foot in lieu of a size request? Consult the site index. What to do if you find a stink bug inside the package? Look up insects in the site index and you will be instructed to stay calm, squash the insect, dispose in the trash, and continue to process as a regular return. Such detail was reassuring.

During my two weeks of training, I got to know my peers, whom I mentally divided into two groups. The first were the lost youth, people in their 20s or early 30s who didnt quite know what they were doing with their lives. That was my camp. The second group consisted of retirees who were working at L.L.Bean more or less because their spouses wanted them out of the house.

From the first group, I befriended a bright University of Maine engineering grad, an accountant fleeing Connecticut, and a former Marine from Hawaii who had recently moved to Maine to be near his wifes family. From the second group, I befriended a woman who ran her own pickle and jam business and whose products were in high demand, grossing her $20,000 in the previous year.

When my fellow Beanie babies and I finally moved up to the cavernous main floor of the warehouse, filled with hubbub and cranking conveyor belts, I felt like a puppy let outside for the first time, blinking in the bright new world. For us, this new world consisted of desks equipped with a small arsenal of brushes, lint rollers, tape dispensers, boxes, and bags, past which three stacked conveyor belts ceaselessly brought us packages and took away cardboard and spruced-up returned items. Whenever we finished with a package, a new one would inevitably be trundling past, ready for our attention. The overall effect was, to quote the poet Seamus Heaney, a hurry through which known and strange things pass.

She showed me her employee number, assigned sequentially to new hires: 2,572. Mine was 145,650.

Inside the packages we found misplaced scissors, rolls of tape, corkscrews, headphones, slips of paper inscribed with mysterious numbers, rogue Lands End apparel, and once, an entire landline telephone, all of which we dutifully bagged up and returned to the customers who had accidentally sent them. The best were letters from customers, sometimes addressed Dear Bean, five-paragraph persuasive essays, beautifully composed, explaining why the L.L.Bean size medium is not a true medium or why their husband cannot wear such pants. A certain Clinton Leopold Goldstone informed me that the zipper of his new jacket opens without provocation. Most sensational was a winter jacket that had been sliced cleanly down the back, as if by a razor blade. A note from the customer explained that her son had been wearing the jacket when he had fallen on the ice and been knocked unconscious. When he was found, he was near death from hypothermia, but the L.L.Bean jacket had kept him warm enough to save his life. The slice had been made by paramedics cutting off his clothes.

As we neared Christmas, snow fell and I enjoyed retiring at break time to the glass-enclosed cafeteria to sip coffee and look out at the white-cloaked hemlock trees. But the gears of war churned on. In early December, we had a facility-wide meeting. The Black Friday stats were in: huge numbers, making November the most profitable month for the company in decades. More sales, however, meant more returns, and we braced ourselves for the coming deluge. In December, we were already seeing the kind of backlogs that usually happen only in January: more than 100,000 packages in the building, waiting to be processed. Every day, nine UPS tractor-trailers backed up to our building. We had biweekly meetings intended to whip us into frenzies of productivity, and hourly reports over loudspeakers announced our progress in meeting daily goals. Workdays became nine hours long (twelve, if you wanted more overtime), and we often worked through weekends. No longer Beanie babies, my comrades and I were now each processing upwards of 30 packages per hour.

The best were letters from customers, sometimes addressed Dear Bean, five-paragraph persuasive essays, beautifully composed, explaining why the L.L.Bean size medium is not a true medium or why their husband cannot wear such pants.

It helped that we were surrounded by full-timers, veterans of this peak season. A woman across the aisle from me had worked at Beans on and off for 42 years. Her first job, at 16, was operating a crank-powered photocopier shed had to wear a smock to prevent ink from splashing onto her clothes. She showed me her employee number, assigned sequentially to new hires: 2,572. Mine was 145,650. We got talking about how her husband loves baking. The next morning, I found a delicious brownie on my desk. Other full-timers were just as kind and helpful. If theyre reading this, they know who they are.

By late January, the worst had passed, and we were back to eight-hour days. With my last day approaching, I was preparing to leave Maine again, this time to see family in distant Tasmania. In some ways, I was glad to be leaving Beans. The work had grown monotonous, and it had so permeated my subconscious that I reflexively named the types of plaid worn by those around me: Black Watch, Grey Stewart, Royal Stewart Tartan, Dress Gordon. When I opened a package of new pants at home, my first instinct was to check the pockets for tissues left by previous customers.

But I was grateful to Beans for the three months Id spent there for reminding me what it feels like to be part of a team and for introducing me to Mainers, old and new, who welcomed me back to my home.

When I left the warehouse on my last day, the air was mild and the sun bright, so I returned to Thorne Head, this time wearing the L.L.Bean jacket and boots I had bought with my employee discount. Instead of rain on the Kennebec, I watched the ice, moving in massive floes down from Merrymeeting Bay like packages on a conveyor.

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Three Months in the Holiday Trenches at LLBean - Down East

At the beginning of Mowalola Ogunlesis first runway show, staged back in January as part of Londons Fashion East incubator program, a tannoy call repeated Mowalola over a throbbing electro beat and pulsing, strobe-like lights. It was a bold statement of intent: establishing from the get-go the culture clash that fostered her creative outlook, and her place at the center of it. The eye-popping colors, treated leathers, and spray-painted patterns harkened back to her childhood in Lagos, Nigeria, while the boys with exposed chests in hip-skimming bumsters and girls in dangerously low-cut tops placed it smack bang in todays London. The flamboyant, sexed-up outfits arent just about provocation, either: they reflect the pageantry of the British capitals burgeoning club nights for queer people of color that Ogunlesi found herself immersed in after moving to the city from a boarding school in the Surrey countryside at 18.

And while this story of cultural cross-pollination is very much Ogunlesis to tell, with her first exhibition, titled Silent Madness, shes opening up the infectious energy of this nocturnal hedonism to a wider audience. I was an artist before I was a designer, and Ive always wanted to make something bigger than just a runway show, says Ogunlesi of the exhibition, which opened on Friday at NOW Gallery in Greenwich, London. When I had this opportunity, I knew I wanted to make my own version of a Renaissance painting, but in real life. For the installations premise, I started with the three things that inspire me most: music, film, and people. And then I just created the idea of Silent Madness, this sense that somethings happening around you, but you dont know what it is, its just chaotic.

While her past collections have involved plenty of teamworknotably with South African photographer Lea Colombo, whose erotic images were screen printed onto the backs of leather jackets, and stylist Ib KamaraSilent Madnesss riotous, multimedia spectacle features more ambitious collaborations. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a punk band of mannequins with nails studded into their skulls, wearing bodysuits covered in the signature Mowalola print of stenciled spray paint, and their instruments covered in sludgy black tar. (Produced with set designer Thomas Petherick, the psychedelic patterns speak to her time at Central Saint Martins, where Ogunlesi specialized in textile design.)

Across the space, video screens flicker with hellish visions of writhing bodies captured in brash, solarized color, as if filmed through an infrared lens; the footage was produced in collaboration with photographer and Comme des Garons collaborator Jordan Hemingway and art director Jamie Andrew Reid. Another film, directed by filmmaker Aidan Zamiri, sees Ogunlesi herself with claw-like fingernails scream and give the fish-eye camera the middle fingerrecalling one of the sinister sirens from a 90s Hype Williams music videobefore stomping her kitten heels over a willing male victim. Its as dangerous and subversively sexy as it sounds.

Read more from the original source:

Mowalola Launches Her Anarchic London Exhibition With the Help of Skepta and Yves Tumor - Vogue

For the first time in six years, M. Night Shyamalan's back on television. The writer/director, best known for The Sixth Sense and the Unbreakable trilogy, acts as an executive producer on the Apple TV+ series Servant, a creepy horror story that centres on a couple who are dealing with the loss of their son. The twist? Their coping mechanism is to mollycoddle a terrifying baby doll, going as far as to get a nanny to look after the "child". And, as you would expect from Shyamalan, there's something even stranger at play.

GamesRadar+sat down with Shyamalan and Servant creator Tony Basgallop to talk about their new thriller, the pair discussing twists, binge watching, and how deliberately limiting yourself can help enhance your story. Oh, and that eel scene from the premiere. If you've seen the episode, then you'll know the one. The Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.

Warning: major spoilers for the first three episodes of Servant below.

GamesRadar+: The first thing that really struck me about Servant is how claustrophobic it is; we never really leave the Turner house. Almost like a play. As a writer and a director, what were your inspirations for that?

Tony Basgallop: From my point of view, theres something interesting about storytelling when you give yourself those restrictions. You cant approach things in traditional ways. If you limit yourself, you have to find creative ways to bring story through the door. And thats challenging.

As a writer, Im always looking for that type of a challenge; something Can I think differently? Also, my training ground was on [BBC soap] EastEnders. As you know, you get the Queen Vic and three standing sets. You choose your sets up front and thats what you got for the week. So, I wanted to go back there as I felt that was a very creative period of my career to be restricted in that way to have to find solutions to something.

Thats the half-an-hour format. I dont think it quite would work in an hour. But half hour? With just a few sets? Youre right, it creates that play-like feeling where you just have to think different. That for me was the exciting bit of it.

M. Night Shyamalan: Well, I believe in the theory of incompleteness in storytelling. So, theres obviously other ways to think about storytelling: to dazzle, to [gasp], your jaw drops with what you see. My brain doesnt work that way. Mine does work with incompleteness. You make the audience finish the conversation. They picture the world outside that building, they picture what their work is like and where they came from. You keep just a window and they can only see through this window into this house and thats it.

For me I grew up with The Twilight Zone. Their minimalism and their lack of budget and everything worked greatly in their favour. If they had more money, and were more ambitious and tried all these other things we wouldnt be talking about them. They would have shown us too much, did too much. But they had to insinuate what was outside that storytelling still to this day bothers us because we became a part of that storytelling. Youre a part of the art form when you tell it like that. You finish the story. It becomes a much more visceral thing for you. Were saying its a restriction but really were limiting our palette.

M. Night, you directed the premiere. What was the most uncomfortable scene for you to direct?

MS: Its not going to be the one that youre thinking of. For me, its the two ladies in the bathtub when shes rubbing her breast to release the tension. Thats what our show can offer that nobody has ever offered, in my opinion. Youve never seen that scene before, right? Its weird, its uncomfortable, its sexual, its innocent, its beautiful. Its an aspect of being a woman that I have not even thought about as a guy. To watch these two women, for Leanne to cross the line like that it tells you something about her character as well and where its going.

When we shot it, too, the actors said Wow, that is insanely powerful. You cant even put your finger on what genre that is Im amazed Apple let us do that scene! [laughs]

TB: That was the scene that, when I was writing, I thought this is the show I want to make. It was always like Who is going to buy this? There were many, many networks that would never show that scene. It was always the challenge Im doing something thats quite risky here, are we going to find the right people here? No one ever asked me to take it out

Was there anything like that, where you had to rein yourself in?

MS: No, they left us alone. But if they say something, they might say Are you sure you need that? Yeah, we need it. But I didnt even get that question on that scene, which is amazing.

TB: Its a tender scene. Its a beautiful moment. But if you view it in the wrong way, then its not. I think thats kind of the point of the show.

MS: Its very raw. And I hope we have more of those.

Talking of sensitive or taboo subject matters, as a writer, how do you approach a topic like losing a child, in terms of research and making sure it comes to the screen in a thoughtful way?

TB: Researching this, we are dealing with characters who do the wrong thing. So, research will always tell you what the correct thing will be. This is the quick fix, the paper it over version that these characters are going to search for. They want everything, and they want everything now. The same goes for healing.

It felt like researching too deeply into this would have been a huge mistake. I wanted to know what is your gut reaction to dealing with this kind of a loss. Ive known people who have similar types of loss I think the more uncomfortable it is, the more I want to write it. The point where it becomes I dont know how Im going to do this is where it becomes a really interesting thing to write. The moment I can see it before sitting down theres no point writing it. Its written itself.

Particularly with some of the stuff we did with [Servant] and what Night was directing, it was the most uncomfortable stuff Ive written.

Thinking about uncomfortable scenes, the one that sticks out in my mind is the eel scene where its nailed to a chopping board. I was eating at the time, not the best idea! Talk us through that, from the initial idea to the execution.

TB: The idea for me: I went to catering college when I was young and I was going to be a chef. I was 17 years old and my first week in catering college they brought out a live eel and taught us how to skin and kill an eel. It stayed with me. So, when I was writing this, I was trying to draw on those experiences. Knowing I was writing a chef, what is my experience? It felt like Ive got to show someone this.

Thematically, it fits in with the story where its both dead and alive at the same time. Again, its one of those scenes where it just hits so many different marks that I was looking for. Also, to reveal Leannes you think this girl is impenetrable and you show herself that she cannot cope with. By that you see her innocence and naivety. Its that real-life experience that you sometimes throw them in because theyre so great.

MS: That particular scene is fun and visceral, but very metaphoric. Something thats passed away but still alive. Its an illusion is it still alive? All these things which is very much what the actual show is about. Its a great extension of the hedonism of the house. It seems like garish indifference to important things. That theyre living in this ghoulish way.

TB: Theyre so nonchalant. Dorothy is eating a croissant, drinking coffee and shes asking questions about Leanne: Have you eaten eel before? No, because they do it every week. Because its not unusual.

MS: As the show progresses, youll see Leanne learning about his family and seeing some not-so-great aspects about them.

One of the big debates going on at the moment, especially with other streaming services, is weekly releases vs. the all-at-once binge model. Where do you stand on that side of the argument?

MS: I feel strongly that everyone wants to binge. So, you dont do that. Especially with the mystery.

Are you not a binger?

MS: No. You should binge things that arent meant to be thought about. If its a Doritos bag, go ahead and have as many chips as you want. But if its The Sopranos, I want to wait until Sunday, I want to think about what it means and I want to yearn for it. It becomes a part of your life more.

In our particular case, ours is a mystery so at least for the first group of people that see it the first 10 weeks or whatever it is youre forced to watch it at a certain pace. Those people will tell the world we loved it, we didnt love it, or whatever. Theyll have the strongest connection to it. Some of the reporters have binged the whole thing in two days. You can do that, but did they really live with episode four and episode nine? Did you feel it? Or did you eat so much? Just like anything, if you eat a tonne of it, youre going to forget.

Im trying to think of a streaming service where you remember a particular episode. More to the point, that I can say Hey, even shows you love, do you remember Stranger Things episode five of the first season? No, you dont.

I want to be part of the conversation as long as possible. Because its a mystery, you want people to be at the watercooler going I think its this. Or shes crazy. Or its not true. Or the devil did it. Let them do that or talk about the eel before I show you the next eel.

The theory of how we landed on, we said give them three episodes over the holidays to really get the meat of it then force them to watch once a week. But we did talk about doing one episode a week, that kind of thing.

I want to talk about twists. Episode one has the end twist with Jericho coming back to life and replacing the doll what makes a good twist?

MS: I never think of it like that the word twist. Because it sounds so much like our intention, our endgame. In the end, I guess its like its more of a realisation, when youre inherently in the genre of thriller, which is essentially like a mystery theres going to be an answer to the mystery. Theres going to be more clues. Its a drop of information essentially. So, the character is learning a certain amount of information that they didnt expect. Thats the genre were in.

A twist is almost like, gotcha! and it was intended in a way that feels very calculated. Especially when youre doing point-of-view-driven storytelling. That makes it so youre very limited about whats going on outside this room, why we brought you here, that kind of thing. The audience is already on the edge. Why they are on the edge is because they dont have enough information.

TB: Personally, when I see twists, when they work you realise the story works on two levels. The way you watched it initially is fantastic, then you reveal something and you could have seen it another way. This is very much with the show. For me, theres always been two clear ways you can view the show. You can lean towards the miracle or you can lean towards the crime. Youre asking the audience to bring a part of themselves to that story. Do you want to see the good or do you want to see the bad here? It will work on both levels. Thats what weve worked very hard on. Its never one thing. That doesnt make it a twist. It just means its up to your interpretation.

Servant has already been picked up for a second season. While you cant talk specifics, youve said you have 60 episodes already planned out what can we expect? Will it be a continuation or an anthology?

MS: Its not an anthology. That was originally something we were noodling way in its early stages, but we decided to do it as one story.

When we pick 60 [episodes] were just picking an arbitrary neighbourhood in terms of form In the world of where were aiming, were just aiming in that ballpark structurally. So, if we pretend its six seasons, you know at the end of the second season its the end of that first act. So, the form of the show can shift.

Its fun to see [the] landmarks to aim for. When you see shows where you know they dont have their landmarks, you can feel it. You think youre getting freedom by doing that but youre unconsciously screwing yourself because youre going to add this, and add that. You have to think of an answer after the fact, after all these things have been done and added.

TB: I dont look at it in terms of how far can we push the story, I look at it in terms of how far can the characters grow. I can look at it through Leannes eyes: we meet an 18 year-old-girl moving into the big city. I want to take that character to the point where she makes all the mistakes that she needs to make, she grows to the point where she needs to grow.

A new episode of Servant releases every Friday on Apple TV+

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M. Night Shyamalan and Servant creator Tony Basgallop talk twists, binge watching and the scene many networks "would never show" -...

How do you take stock of a decade? In its peaks and valleys, or the grey areas in between? In the 2010s, music became a benchmark for culture: it reflected the seismic shifts, the unease surrounding our increasing reliance on technology, the political unrest and the shrinking of the worlds borders. Just as some people wondered if music still had relevance, the creative spirit found a way to bounce back. The best albums of the 2010s, then, not only define the decade, they chart an artistic rebirth.

The 2010s were a time of great transition and breaking down of conventions. Hip-hop became pop music, while R&B resurfaced with fresh voices. Pop got personal and rock was no longer a monolithic genre, splintering into tiny factions to suit every taste. EDM rose and fell, new icons emerged and old ones re-established themselves.

This list of the 30 best albums of the 2010s could easily be 200 entries long, but weve focused on those records that have truly defined the decade: works by the trailblazers, the disruptors and the torchbearers in popular culture.

Think weve missed some of your best albums of the 2010s? Let us know in the comments section, below.

Listen to the best 2010s music on Spotify, and scroll down for our 30 best albums of the 2010s.

Ask anyone to name the most exciting new voice in hip-hop right now and theyll all give you the same answer: Tierra Whack. While the 2010s saw the return of the female MC (Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj), Whack operates outside of the hypersexualised scene, preferring to sit in the margins, creating an experimental collection of vignettes on her debut album. This 15-song set of minute-long songs is either very punk or just economical. You be the judge.Check out: Whack World

Theres a kind of blinding optimism on Teenage Dream makes you wonder: when did we all stop being this happy? Katy Perrys sophomore release cemented her status as a global pop star, and managed to capture the youthful feeling of invisibility on heartfelt anthems like Firework, Teenage Dream and Last Friday Night (TGIF). An instant classic if there ever was one.Check out: Firework

Technology has not only globalised pop music but has connected todays generation with folk music traditions. Taking 200 years worth of flamenco history and fusing it with trap-R&B is truly a 21st-century invention, and Rosalas sophomore effort, El Mal Querer, is one of the most gorgeous and experimental albums of the 2010s.Check out: Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)

Anyone following in music in the 2010s is sure to have a Pavlovian response to the opening synth lines to Grimes Oblivion. Both the song and its parent album, Visions, were the perfect distillation of the kind of bedroom experimentation embarked on by a generation with endless influences just a keystroke away and enough speedball energy drinks to fuel them. IDM meets pop meets industrial on Claire Bouchers breakthrough album, which found her inviting us into her manic pixie dreamworld full of endless loops and layers.Check out: Oblivion

Most musical trends dont fit into tidy units of measured decades they ebb and flow, spilling into the next era. Billie Eilish may be the last new pop star of the decade, but her debut album is firmly pointed towards the future. A product of SoundCloud trap and earnest bedroom-pop, Eilish is the latest artist to carry the torch of youth culture, but, unlike her predecessors, she only answers to herself.Check out: bad guy

When The Weeknd made his mysterious entrance in 2011, with his debut mixtape, House Of Balloons, it felt like contraband. Before the Drake co-sign, before people even knew his name, the man born Abel Makkonen Tesfaye was just a spectre who fused Siouxsie And The Banshees samples with tales of drugs, debauchery and a haunting falsetto. His brand of otherworldly R&B and narcoticised production would become the blueprint for R&B well into the decade.Check out: What You Need

If the early 00s were about a rock renaissance, the 2010s were about peak poptimism. While critics started to take the genre more seriously, artists stepped up to the plate to deliver pop with purpose. Case in point: Lady Gagas Born This Way. The album is both retro-inspired and future-minded a metaphor for the decade as a whole. Gagas unabashed excess and anthems of inclusiveness marked a pivotal moment in pop music.Check out: Born This Way

As one decade opened, the bastions of the previous decade closed-up shop. Electro-dance-punk outfit LCD Soundsystem bade their fans and New Yorks once-thriving indie scene goodbye with their final album, capped by a historic run at Madison Square Garden. This Is Happening was full of send-offs (Home), wistful dance-pop numbers (Dance Yrself Clean) and nostalgia for the present (I Can Change).Check out: Dance Yrself Clean

If anyones responsible for the kind of genre-subversion that pervaded the 2010s, it was James Blake. With his tender torch songs and synth soundscapes, the dubstep DJ turned singer-songwriter wrote the kind of melancholic pop that comforted club kids and introverts alike. After a string of buzzworthy EPs, Blake emerged with his 2011 self-titled debut, putting his transcendent voice on display and carving out his own genre: electronica-soul.Check out: Limit To Your Love

Picking up the mantle of jilted torch singer after Amy Winehouse died, Adeles blue-eyed soul was just as essential to the 2010s as anything by the pop stars who were experimenting with form. Her traditionalist pop followed in the footsteps of other great UK songstresses like Dusty Springfield and Petula Clark, but communal heartbreak cuts across generations, and 21 has become the biggest-selling album of the 21st Century to date.Check out: Someone Like You

A post-recession record if there ever was one, The Suburbs may have acutely captured the kind of unease that lingered in the air following the 2008 financial crisis, but Arcade Fire also prophesied the anxiety-ridden 2010s. Many returned to their family homes following the crash, but the suburbs were always an empty promise. This time, the band turned their collective focus away from mortality and looked inward, towards suburban ennui: By the time the first bombs fell, we were already bored. Man were they right.Check out: The Suburbs

When Beach House first staked their claim on pop culture, the 00s was a breeding ground for lo-fi, chillwave rock, but 2010s Teen Dream remains their defining moment. With their lush arrangements and Victoria Legrands layered vocals, Beach House moved out of the bedroom pop scene and onto the stage.Check out: Zebra

After the Knowles sisters unleashed their personal manifestos in 2016, it was only a matter of time before Jay Z would reveal his own innermost feelings. As the elder statesman of hip-hop and one of the successful business moguls to date, many had written him out of the game. With 4:44, however, Jay Z eschewed the posturing and braggadocio of his heyday, recording an intensely personal record of love, regret and repentance.Check out: 4:44

Following a long line of female country artists who broke into the pop mainstream, Kacey Musgraves became the kind of upstart the genre needed, with her mould-breaking, Grammy-winning album Golden Hour. As one of Nashvilles finest singer-songwriters, Mugraves applies a knack for lyrical detail to a sweeping country album that spans pop, rock and disco.Check out: Rainbow

When Lana Del Rey first landed, in 2012, she was an enigmatic figure with pin-up looks and narcotised torch songs, and Born To Diewas the album that launched a thousand think pieces. Rigorous online discourse about authenticity, personas and personal appearance surrounded her debut album, yet Lana Del Rey foresaw the future of pop music. Her bold pastiche of Americana, filtered through nostalgia and her beguiling voice, launched the sad girl pop subgenre, and while her latest effort, Norman F__king Rockwell, may be her strongest yet, Born To Die and standout song Video Games is what set everything in motion.Check out: Video Games

As the 2010s marched forward, technology, which seemed to be bringing people together, began to create gulfs between them. No one understood this better than Kevin Parker (Tame Impala). Moving away from his guitar-driven earlier work, the studio wizard used psychedelic synths, samples and ambient sounds as his new sonic palette, creating introspective anthems that spoke to a generation on his album Lonerism.Check out: Feels Like We Only Go Backwards

It had been nearly 15 years since DAngelo blessed the world with his neo-soul masterpiece Voodoo, but on his 2014 follow-up, Black Messiah, he proved it was well worth the wait. While Voodoo was sensual and loose, Black Messiah kept things tight: a lesson in groove and R&B fusion, thanks to his Vanguard band. Arriving in the thick of the Black Lives Matter movement, Black Messiah tapped into the eras cultural zeitgeist, delivering the salvation we needed.Check out: Sugah Daddy

Rihanna has always been one of pops biggest risk-takers, but on her eighth studio album, ANTi, she truly broke away from the pop industrial complex. Sure, there were dancehall jams (Work), but she also dabbled in doo-wop (Love On The Brain) and 80s sleazy synth-rock (Kiss It Better). I got to do things my own way, darling, she declared on Consideration and it paid off. Anti became the first album from black female artist to spend 200 weeks on the Billboard 200.Check out: Love On The Brain

Just as critics decried the death of rock following its early 00s revival, St Vincent led the charge of female rock heroes, demonstrating her axe playing and songwriting prowess on Strange Mercy. Her enigmatic vocals and creative arrangements had been evident on her previous releases, but it wasnt until her third album that she fully unleashed her powers.Check out: Cruel

Rocks original chameleon left us with one of his most daring collections of music, shaking up the status quo as if were 1976 all over again. Arriving just two days before his passing, saw David Bowie remain adventurous to the end, eschewing his rock roots and delivering an exploratory jazz-fusion record that became the perfect farewell to five decades worth of history-making music.Check out: Lazurus

Long before he became Blood Orange, Dev Hynes sonic fingerprints were all over the emerging pop scene of the 2010s. Writing and producing for artists like Solange and Sky Ferreira, Hynes was the go-to man for late-night vibey records and slinky jams a sound that would reach its logical conclusion on Cupid Deluxe. As an homage to the people, places and sounds of the queer dance scene of 80s New York, Cupid Deluxe takes the kitchen-sink approach, melding a bit of disco, soul and R&B to create the new hybrid pop sound that would dominate the decade.Check out: Time Will Tell

With her bubblegum-pop teen icon days behind her, Robyn reinvented herself in 2010 with Body Talk. Developing from a mini-album trilogy, Body Talk proved dance music was anything but disposable; finding humanity on the dancefloor, it tapped into feelings of loneliness and escapism. With a knack for melody, Robyn delivered an electro-pop album so good it would take eight years for her to release a follow-up.Check out: Dancing On My Own

To be honest, most of Taylor Swifts discography would rightly belong on this list. Since her crossover pop hit Red, in 2012, she delivered a string of classic pop albums through the 2010s, with a lyrical wit that few possess. But out of all of Swifts post-country albums, 1989remains her most fully realised: the moment when she fully clinched the pop throne.Check out: Blank Space

No longer beholden to the benchmarks of the past, the 2010s saw more pop stars getting personal and taking risks, all thanks to Beyonc. Following the albums release, the term lemonade has become shorthand for pop artists releasing their personal concept records their own lemonades. Following her culture-shifting visual album Beyonc, Lemonade was more than a break-up album, it was a declaration of war that played out on an accompanying 65-minute film that only Beyonc could pull off.Check out: Formation

In many ways, the 2010s was the decade that Drake built: a ten-year victory lap that started with Thank Me Later(2010) and ended with Scorpion (2018), but it was with Take Carethat Drake showed his true colours, creating the template for the vulnerable hip-hop star. Drake wasnt the first rapper to sing on record, but he was the first rap-pop star, absorbing every genre that lay before him.Check out: Marvins Room

Before Billie Eilish came along, Lorde was the most famous teenager in the world, thanks to her all-conquering debut album, Pure Heroine, released when she was just 16. In the years that followed, the Kiwi star spawned many emulators, but she would eclipse them all with her sophomore effort, Melodrama, a coming-of-age record that captures in vivid detail all the joys and heartaches of navigating adulthood.Check out: Green Light

The 2010s was a tumultuous decade, to say the least, and only a handful of artists successfully managed to channel the eras political unrest while creating a sense of hope at the same time. Solanges A Seat At The Table didnt just shift the culture, it ignited a movement. With her celebration of black womanhood and black empowerment, Solange earned a seat at the table of power while inspiring countless others to demand theirs. Even as the album bore the weight of a nation on its shoulders, it still sounded impossibly light.Check out: Cranes In The Sky

Kanyes ego has been both his biggest strength and his biggest weakness, but it serves him well on his ambitious opus, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Following a self-imposed mini-hiatus, West doubled down on his vices and created an ode to excess and hedonism. Casting a critical eye on both America and himself, he offered a a toast for the a__holes while bringing some friends along for the ride. Stacked with A-list appearances by Nicki Minaj (on her scene-stealing Monster verse), Pusha T (Runaway), Kid Cudi and Raekwon (Gorgeous), MBDTF set the scene for a flood of classic hip-hop albums in the 2010s.Check out: Runaway

After proving himself a master storyteller on his major label debut album, Good Kid, mAAd City, Kendrick Lamar delivered another musical deep-dive into the black experience with To Pimp A Butterfly. A stunning assimilation of jazz, funk, hip-hop and African music, Butterfly offered the kind of boundless vision the decade was waiting for.Check out: Alright

R&B experienced some of its biggest-ever shifts during the 2010s, as radio started to dwindle and the genres tight constrictions gave way to what would be coined alt-R&B. Frank Ocean was one of the key architects of this sea change, both in sound and lyrical context: though he avoided the genres traditional vocal, Oceans sentiments were no less impassioned. channel ORANGE is a slow-burn, but its full of rich details. Ocean brought a sense of fluidity to the genre, occupying a variety of characters points of view and, in turn, delivering a fresh perspective: his own. As one of the first openly gay artists in hip-hop and R&B, Ocean ignited a self-reckoning in modern pop music.Check out: Thinkin Bout You

Looking for more? Discover the full story behind a transformative decade in music.

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Best Albums Of The 2010s: 30 Classics That Defined The Decade - uDiscover Music

As usual, my favorite metal albums of 2019 represent a mix of longtime favorite artists and acts that I'd previously never heard of (but who absolutely deserve the spotlight). Anyone who's read my writing before will not be surprised by my top choicesespecially my #1 pick, as much of a fanboy as it may make me seemwhile the later selections came out of nowhere and blew me away (including one band whose latest colors turned me into a fan despite none of their earlier collections leaving any impression).

As always, I'm curious to knowyour favorites of 2019, so please share them in the comments below!

Californian progressive metal septet Artificial Language introduced themselves masterfully with their unforgettable first venture, 2017's The Observer. Thankfully, its follow-up, Now We Sleep, finds them doing an even better job of evoking titans like Karnivool, Native Construct, Between the Buried and Me, and especially Leprous while also upholding their own identity. Right away, the effort defies the dreaded "sophomore slump" by making "The Back of My Mind" a towering display of unfaltering determination that veers away from its initially tranquil and organic impetus to offer a stampede of lustrously uncontrollable melodies and music. While much of the remaining set maintains that persona, other tracksnamely, "Pulses" "The Wild Haunt," and "Trail of Lights"achieve for a more meditative and atmospheric environment. Also, the title track finishes the disc with support from guest singer Michael Lessard (The Contortionist), whose softer tone complements the lower and richer register of lead vocalist Shay Lewis exceedingly well. Although they're only two records in, Artificial Language are already climbing to the top of today's most indispensable progressive metal bands, and Now We Sleep is a must-hear for fans of the style.

As impressive as their first two collections were,An Embarrassmentof Riches is surely The Night Watch's greatest trek thus far. After all, the Canadian instrumental progressive metal quartet (violinist Evan Runge, bassist Matthew Cowan, guitarist Nathanael Larochette, and percussionist/pianist Daniel Mollema) push themselves further than ever to craft emotional and cinematic narratives through expansive journeys of dynamic sound." In particular, its combustible influx of acoustic guitar decorations, symphonic heft, and general playfulness means that it's always unpredictable yet welcoming. Starter "Land Ho!" conveys the mounting tension of the album's conceptan explorer who's forced to face an overwhelmingly perilous situation without being crushed by the weight of their own doubt and lonelinesswhile also incorporating Pirate-esque cheers and sea shanty antics. Later, "Mendoza" is more introspective, delicate, and patient, whereas the two-part "The Summit" alone packs a plethora of variety, technicality, and allure. There's also Dance of the Mountain People, a danceable and jazzy number with appealing interlocking vocal harmonies and a clear nod (intentional or not) to the theme of The Addams Family. Clearly, An Embarrassment of Richesis charmingly self-aware and captivatingly daring and demanding at the same time.

Boston's Wilderun have a stupendous formula that commonly fuses classical, folk, metal, and rock into staggeringly dramatic and vibrant concoctions. Thankfully, Veil of Imagination totally capitalizes on those idiosyncratic elements. It even works as a continuous seventy-minute piece, never letting up from its relentlessly colorful clusters of genre-melding fineness. By its nature, Veil of Imagination is difficult to highlight in segments. That said, its glorious trajectory contains some very remarkable features. For one thing, it starts and finishes with spoken narration, automatically gives it weighty continuity and purpose. Likewise, the gentle evolution of "The Unimaginable Zero Summer"from an acoustic ballad with bucolic strings into absolute progressive death metal theatrics and back againis exceptional. Afterward, "Sleeping Ambassadors of the Sun" makes great use of piano and operatic chants within its tidal wave of minimalist monologues and roomy complex hedonism. Then, lavish instrumental "Scentless Core (Budding)" uses a larger scope of classical timbres prior to the turbulently hectic yet accessible "The Tyranny of Imagination". All in all, Veil of Imagination validates the fact that some of the most notable progressive music comes from relative newcomers.

If Im being honest, I could never get into Baronessthat is, until Gold & Grey. For some reason, this one instantly and continuously struck a chord with me. The addition of guitarist/backing vocalist Gina Gleason is certainly a major factor, as she adds plenty of engaging nuances to flesh out the formula. Likewise, the forceful drive, subtly intricate musicianship, and sheer hookiness of songs like opener Front Toward Enemy, Throw Me an Anchor, Borderlines, and Seasons make them instantly unforgettable. Naturally, lighter and/or more emotional and ornamented inclusions"Im Already Gone, Tourniquet, and Id Do Anythingwonderfully reveal Baroness wider range. What elevates Gold & Grey even further, though, are the interludes and transitions that help foreshadow and/or connect pieces, suggesting a more seamless sequence. For instance, the brief Sevens is basically an unassuming hypnotic loop of wavering piano notes, whereas Anchors Lament cleverly sets up its successor with a mix of bellowing chants, modest strings, and a descending piano progression that wouldnt feel out of place on a Pineapple Thief record. Far more than just a raucous rocker, Gold & Grey is a work of art.

Touted as "the biggest production and musical departure we've done" by Leprous frontman Einar Solberg, Pitfalls moves significantly away from their heavier roots and toward sweeping synths and faint moodiness. That's not to say that it's a lesser effort compared to its precursors; rather, it's a winning concession between the qualities fans love and a crucial need to innovate. Primarily, it finds Solberg openly dealing with his battle with anxiety and depression. Therefore, tracks like the intensely fragile "Below" and the irksome heavenly "Alleviate" give listeners a front-row seat to his stunningly pure pain. There's a more robotic but danceable charm to "I Lose Hope" and "Be My Throne"; conversely, "Observe the Train" is pacifyingly quiet, "At the Bottom" swells with morose strings and bursts of angelic annoyance, and "Foreigner" rests upon striking guitar work. As a result, Pitfalls may just be the thematically darkest and most worthwhile record Leprous has done.

Norwegian progressive/black/folk metal outfit Borknagar deserves to be a household name. For nearly twenty-five years, they've resourcefully combined hellish and angelic passages within abundantly precise instrumental twists and turns. While 2016's Winter Thrice remains immensely popular among fans, its frostier and more focused successor, True North, likely tops it. Bassist Simen "I.C.S. Vortex" Hestns takes up vocal duties once again, aiding the dynamo of icily emotive splendor. "Thunderous" establishes the record's vibe with hysterical rhythms, guttural outcries, cascading clean verses, and piercing guitar lines. It does a great job of showcasing Borknagar's fluid and compressed approach to majestic temperamental shifts, a trademark that's also present on later standouts like the more keyboard-driven "Up North", "Mount Rapture", and "The Fire that Burns." Along the way, the sparser "Lights" requires you to sing along, "Wild Father's Heart" soothes with sophisticated rustic tapestries and remorseful songwriting, "Into the White" impresses due to its mesmeric stacked singing, and the tribal "Voices" is a calming and succulent way to finish. Really, True Northis a perfect introduction to Borknagar.

American quintet Periphery's knack for mixing djent, symphonic atmospheres, climbing melodies, self-reflective bridges, and weird textural coverings makes them an essential part of modern progressive metal. While Periphery IV: Hail Stan doesn't outright surpass its closest predecessorsthe two-partJuggernautandPeriphery III: Select Difficultyit's still a gratifying demonstration of Periphery fortes that any fan of the style will adore. At nearly seventeen-minutes in length, opener "Reptile" is an epic onto itself, with the band's textbook harshness and transcendental beauty ruthlessly intertwined. Its chorus is also very strong, and the same can be said for the outright demonic"Chvrch Bvrner" and the purifying "Sentient Glow." In-between, "Garden in the Bones" is dynamically decorated with wonderfully engaging timbres, "Crush" paints a modestly straightforward metal method in sleek electronic beats before suddenly morphing into a cinematic symphony, and "It's Only Smiles" is complex yet almost radio-friendly. From start to finish, then, Periphery IV: Hail Stanstillrepresents the peak of Periphery's prowess.

New Jersey septet Thank You Scientist's first two records2012's Maps of Non-Existent Placesand 2016'sStranger Heads Prevailsold them as masters implementing silly antics and high-pitched hooks into frenetically fun orchestral prog rock/metal and jazz fusion. Undoubtedly, however, their third venture, Terraformer, tops them in every way. For nearly ninety minutes, Terraformer astounds and intimidates, with instrumental starter "Wrinkle" offering a youthful explosion of intersecting horns, percussion, guitars, and more to welcome you in. Next, "FXMLDR" acts as a bipolar assault that sees catchy melodies and tasteful lulls permeating Mars Volta-esque structural madness. Beyond them, "Everyday Ghosts" embodies their treasurably irreverent songwriting, "Birdwatching" is a majorly luscious break from the chaos, and the concluding title track is amazing for its percussive tricks alone. Inarguably, Terraformeris the best example yet of why Thank You Scientist are the best at what they do.

Opeth's move away from progressive death metaland toward a retro '70s prog rock/jazz fusion aestheticduring the 2010s has left many longtime listeners unhappy. Despite In Cauda Venenum (their first to be recorded in both English and Swedish) feeling very much connected to its three nearest predecessors, its apparitional essence and gothic fury also make it seem like a throwback to the heights of their 2000s output. Thus, it should please diehard fans in ways that Heritage, Pale Communion, and Sorceress didn't. Its ghostly core is immediately apparent, with prelude "Garden of Earthly Delights" offering a chilling collage of choral chants, rising organ tones, programmed beats, church bells, whistles, and children's banter. Afterward, "Charlatan," "Dignity", and "Heart in Hand" encompass the compositional twists and melodic punches you'd expect from Opeth this decade. In contrast, "Lovelorn Crime" and "Continuum" are two of mastermind Mikael kerfeldt's most beautiful ballads ever, whereas "Universal Truth" is a sublimely orchestrated acoustic reflection with bizarre rhythmic changes and "The Garroter" presents pleasantly nightmarish jazziness. If not for 2014's Pale Communion, In Cauda Venenum would undoubtedly be Opeth's greatest album in a decade.

Few artists are more colorfully wide-ranging, bold, and consistent than Canadian virtuoso Devin Townsend, and in many ways, Empath is the full realization of his genius: a wildly multifaceted and all-encompassing look back on his career thus far. From beginning to end, it serves as an essential existential examination within a terrifically wild blend of styles. Specifically, the countrified grit of "Borderlands" evokes Casualties of Cool, "Hear Me" captures the comical viciousness of Deconstruction, "Evermore" houses the dense pop-rock glory of Addicted and Epicloud, and "Genesis" is itself a celebration of genre-shifts. Sure, his sardonic playfulness is definitely here, but it's his emotionally resonant introspection that reigns supreme. Tracks like "Spirits Will Collide", "Why?", and the ingeniously multifaceted epic closer, "Singularity", find him beautifully surveying self-doubt, hope, love, and other relatable issues. Thus, Empath is equally rewarding for its madcap musical cohesion as it is for its catharses about mental struggles.

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Jordan Blum's Top 10 Albums of 2019 - Metal Injection.net

Amsterdam has a golden opportunity to emerge from the tumult of Brexit as the pre-eminent creative scene in Europe.

Counting Nike, Diageo and Panasonic as well as agency shops like Wieden+Kennedy and 72andSunny among its residents, the vibrant and internationally minded city has become a coveted base for creatives. But can Amsterdam handle this surge of creative talent; can it maintain its healthy prioritisation of culture despite the flux of foreign individuals, or is it likely to buckle under the pressures and expectations of international clients?

While hubs like Hong Kong, London, and New York have adjusted their pace to meet the increased demands of international marketing, Amsterdam has refused to conform, with creatives continuing to regularly clock off at 5pm.

The Anglo-Saxon working culture is not as productive, says FutureFactors CEO and creative partner, Nick Bailey. Although people are working longer, they're working less efficiently.

Dutch businesses trust their employees to manage their own time, work autonomously, and complete the job as necessary. The Brave New Nows CEO and co-founder, Hazel Livingstone, explains: In the Netherlands, they treat employees like adults in terms of work-life balance.

Bert Hagendoorm, chairman of Dutch Digital Design, agrees: The city offers better healthcare, social security, more affordable cost of living, great working hours and a better work-life balance than other cities. But in the end, theres quite a difference in salary when compared with New York or London.

Dam drawbacks

Yet despite Amsterdams admirable work-life balance, marketers admitted that sometimes it can be difficult to get employees to go the extra mile for the creative work.

Its tough to get the best out of your team, says Bailey. In a market like London, people take a lot of personal pride in their work, whereas here people do what's asked of them and, as far as they're concerned, it's done. That can be challenging to change.

This culture may be problematic for Amsterdam-based agencies looking to secure international clients, who expect them to be available at all hours. Anthem Beneluxs head of growth Kirsty Cole says those expectations put pressure on agency teams: I expect people to take accountability of their work and their client relationships.

Wilderness managing director, Meredith Mogensen agrees: When you're working with the rest of the world, you have to behave like the rest of the world.

Those expectations may find it hard to take root. Overseas, harnessing a strong in-house culture is almost essential to offset the amount of work expected of the agencys creatives. Yet in Amsterdam, promises of ping pong tables and bar tabs fall flat as younger employees prioritise other benefits.

Chris Adams, CEO of social creative agency The Honey Partnership, says that leads to a situation in which agencies struggle to employ Gen-Zers long-term, as although theyre digital natives and more prepared to work at all hours, theyre also more likely to know the worth of their expertise: When a client walks into a room, they look for a 22-year-old to tell them how to outperform on Snapchat, he said. But often it means Gen Z are missing out on our agency's competitiveness.

Way To Blues EMEA business director, Poppy Mason-Watts, wonders whether Amsterdam could start losing agency people to brands. They might see the city as a gateway to the big brands; with creatives planning for an agency job only to seek out later opportunities at Adidas, Nike, Diageo or Panasonic, she said. That could be a threat.

That threat isnt necessarily just from traditional brands, either: As Karen Monnich, partner and client service director from Big Amsterdam puts it: Amsterdam is the Silicon Valley of the Netherlands. We have big companies that started out here, like Instagram, and we have a strong tech reputation We're getting there.

The new competition

Culturally, the Dutch are very shy and modest about the work that theyre creating. While this may be refreshing in a brash industry, it also means that a lot of Dutch work goes unnoticed, with some local clients not even knowing which agency was behind a campaign.

Entering work into international awards helps If you want to be a global agency with a global reputation, youve got to be part of that conversation; you've got to be proud of the work you produce, said Cole.

Amsterdam operates on a very level playing field, especially compared with other creative capital cities around the world. Competing agencies even cross-collaborate with The Humblebrags founder Lucy von Sturmer believing that by doing so everyone becomes aware of what their strengths are and how they can combine those trends to create something better.

But as Amsterdams creative scene continues its unconventional rose to the top table of marketing hubs, that international focus and pressure to conform to compete risks the unique aspects that made it so appealing to so many creatives.

Despite that, the citys rise seems inexorable. As Irne Winterkorn, FutureFactors connections director, says: Its very easy to see Amsterdam as a hub for Europe that's how people are starting to see us.

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Roundtable: hedonism and humility in Amsterdam - The Drum

Saying goodbye to the gangster.

I miss classic gangster movies.

The Godfather, Scarface, Goodfellas and Casino, along with all the other odes to violent men and their adrenaline-fueled hedonism, first sparked my passion for cinema.

Italian gangsters give off a peculiar warmth, or at least, they do on screen. Sure, Im saying this as another guy with a vague claim of Italian identity and a Goodfellas poster on the wall, but other ethnically defined criminal organizations are always depicted as colder, more intense, less lovable than the Italian mob; the sight of hardened criminals carefully preparing pasta in prison is ridiculously charming, their every action imbued with comedic exaggeration, whether theyre playfully slapping a friend on the cheek or kicking a victim into concussion.

On film, Italian gangsters are cool. The protagonists always slide into despair and isolation, eventually, but not before enjoying a wild, gloriously tacky life of debauchery and danger.

But great gangster stories are dead, and The Irishman officially draws the curtain. Here, Martin Scorsese completes his saga, getting the old gang back together for a poignant farewell to the dark, seductive fantasy of the criminal underworld.

Its nothing short of a masterpiece, a reunion for the Holy Trinity of Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, the three delivering powerful, nuanced performances, of men bound by their terrible choices, aging faster than they anticipated.

Pacino and De Niro have starred in a cluster of increasingly crappy movies over the last few years, while Pesci has been enjoying retirement, so its a treat not just to see the three reunited on screen, but to see them at the very top of their game, in a beautifully crafted, perfectly paced film. Pescis subtle performance is particularly impressive, and in sharp contrast to his unhinged, wildly insecure characters that drenched Casino and Goodfellas in anxiety.

The world of organized crime has never felt less appealing, more hollow. Fulfilling the role of financial provider, offering violent solutions to minor problems, De Niros character assumes that he is taking good care of his family, unable to understand the value of emotional intelligence, that hes separating himself from their love with every house he paints.

He and his companions live under the shadow of death, the film constantly reminding us that the vast majority of these men will die violently, at the hands of their closest friends. The outrageous wealth, power and influence that they wield will fade fast, and theyll succumb to the ravages of time just like everyone else; nobody wants to spend their twilight years behind bars.

I found the de-aging technology surprisingly convincing for the majority of the film, the slow, creaky movements of the actors being the main giveaway that they are no longer in their prime. But this is a story of squandered years, and it felt strangely appropriate that the three never emit youthful energy; theyve grown old before their time.

The final hour is incredibly compelling and emotionally intense, the poignant final shot dissolving any notion of gangster glamor; this is a sad, pathetic way to live, and none of the classic crime movies have ever managed to communicate that despair so effectively.

The golden age of gangster movies has been over for quite some time, and in the years that followed, theres been a revaluation of the meaning of masculinity, of the values that society installs in their men. The flawed notion that a mans role is to fiercely protect his family like a rabid dog, that feelings are flaws and that wealth is the mark of a successful man, is close to crumbling, and the waning relevance of the gangster seems to reflect that.

The Irishman feels like the culmination of years of reflection, a look back at a testosterone-fuelled time of twisted priorities, the last gasp of the gangster before he fades from the centre of the collective unconscious, and into the realm of nostalgia.

Link:

Martin Scorseses The Irishman Marks The End Of An Era - Forbes

Even in San Francisco, where Burning Man was born, the event has diehard haters people who deride its perceived elitism, faux utopianism, and out-of-reachism. Never mind that these haters may have never been to Burning Man or met anyone who has. Like people who despise movies theyve never seen or countries theyve never visited, the Burning Man naysayers are resolute about their resoluteness.

Now is their chance to consider changing. No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man, which runs through Feb. 16 at the Oakland Museum of California, demystifies the Burning Man experience including its art component, which is an essential part of the annual Nevada event. So in Oakland, you get to enter (for free!) an ornate wooden temple thats similar to temples built for Burning Man. In fact, artist David Best,one of Burning Mans biggest names whos designed and coordinated the construction of around half the events temples created the Oakland structure, which hes labeled a place for visitors to mourn the loss of family from violence, deportation, immigration, incarceration, suicide, or alienation. Burning Man has a deserved reputation for hedonism, but organizers also provide venues for introspection and self-reflection where Burners can go to cry, close their eyes, and mourn for things that are painful to consider.

Inside Oaklands ticketed exhibit is the opposite of mournful: Burning Man art thats instantly joyful, wondrous, silly, and playful, like Richard Wilks Evotrope a giant, bike-like zoetrope with spinning, eye-festooned wheel that seems straight from Alice in Wonderland. Then theres Capitol Theater, by a group called Five Ton Crane, thats an open-air, art deco movie theater on wheels complete with screening film and 1950s-era neon. And next to that is Shrumen Lumen two 7-foot-tall origami mushrooms, by the collective FoldHaus, that expand and contract and make the kind of noise youd expect from a creaking house. Neat!

No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man is no substitute forBurning Man. Inside Oaklands museum, people arent collaborating with strangers on arrangements for food and sleeping. Theres no collective gathering around burning objects or high-minded ideals like radical inclusion and communal effort. Instead, its a lot of gazing at art objects, sartorial wonders, and exhibit displays a continuous traipse of eye candy.

David Bests outdoor Temple of Reunion is the exception. Oakland visitors have written on the temples wooden walls, and theyve tucked small wooden notes into crevices just like Burners do at Burning Man, and just like people have done at theSmithsonian American Art Museums Renwick Galleryin Washington, D.C., which has situated a David Best temple inside a second-floor indoor gallery. With high ceilings, expansive carpet, and perfect mood lighting, the Renwick temple really feels like a bona fide place for contemplation. SF Weekly recently visited Renwick Gallery, which organized the traveling No Spectators exhibit thats now in Oakland, and witnessed people there who were in deep thought and practically praying. On the exterior of Oaklands temple, people have written notes likeRIP dad, andRest. Robbie. You went too soon, and Goodbye to who I used to be.

No Spectators: The Art of Burning Manwont answer the question, Is Burning Man worth attending? That question is unanswerable until you go to the Playa yourself. And the exhibits Oakland iteration all but says that Burning Man is as much a mental state as a physical one.Whether its the middle of the night in Nevada or the middle of the day in Oakland, Burning Mans art is supposed to smooth the way to entering that state of mind. You cant blame the art if you dont reach that state. Maybe youre not in the mood, and even Burners would say thats okay.

Street art

BiP, which is short for Believe in People, has become one of the worlds most important street artists. SF Weekly has profiled his work over the past five years, and did an exclusive interview with him in 2017 about his giant San Francisco mural called Figurine. In August, when BiP began to do another in his series of large-scale works here this one located near the corner of Franklin and Oak called Baby with a Handgun he said it on Instagram with great triumph and celebration: There was BiP on the roof of the location, wearing his white, hoodied painting suit and sunglasses, stretching and bobbing like a champion boxer about to enter the ring. A drone video recorded BiPs embarkation toward a work that promised to be provocative and a visual triumph. But three months later, its all gone to hell. Baby with a Handgun is finished but so is BiP, he says, after the San Francisco Chronicle revealed the location of his studio inside the building.

The reveal happened in the papers November profile of BiP and his work thats critical of police brutality. The artist had the Chronicle remove the floor number from the article, which now has an editors note to that effect. BiP said on Instagram that the information led the police to his studio and that there was a security incident.

I stayed up all night thinking and Ive decided Im just walking away from BiP, the artist says in the Instagram post. I just want to be a normal guy in SF and work behind the scenes.

So for now, thats it. No more BiP. His last Instagram posting, which announced his de facto retirement from upfront, public artmaking, featured a single, black screen as if it were a funeral wrap that covered a coffin. For everyone that was with me all these years thank you so much, he wrote. I tried really hard and I can let that be enough now. I will never give up on what I feel is the greatest city in the world. Long live SF and the people that make this a great city.

On Instagram, BiPs fans are hoping his hiatus is just temporary. In addition to denigrating the Chronicles reporter, theyve correctly noted that, Your art will never die. Which is true. Baby with a Handgun is still at the corner of Franklin and Oak. Still inspiring pedestrians to stop and look. Still prompting them to take photos. Still causing people to wonder what exactly the giant artwork is saying. The baby has a skeptical look on its face. Its finger isnt on the trigger, so were seeing a moment of intense decision-making. To shoot or not to shoot? Its ridiculous, of course, that an infant is even in that position. But that ridiculousness is a big theme in what might be BiPs last San Francisco work.

No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man through Feb. 16 at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak, Oakland. $12-$21; 510-318-8400 or museumca.org.

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Get a Taste of Burning Man Without the Burning Man - SF Weekly