Category Archives: Hedonism

Lt. Col. Maginnis: There's 'a Lot of Witchcraft' in Washington, DC CNSNews.com (blog) Long-time national security expert Lt. Col. Robert "Bob" Maginnis (ret.), a senior fellow with the Family Research Council (FRC), said there is "a lot of witchcraft" and "hedonism" in Washington, D.C., and added that when he thinks of Sodom and ...

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Lt. Col. Maginnis: There's 'a Lot of Witchcraft' in Washington, DC - CNSNews.com (blog)

(CONTRIBUTED/ Adult Swim)

Madina Seytmuradova

Staff Writer

Troy Philosophy Society and Students for Liberty got together to discuss the philosophical implications of a popular TV show on Wednesday, April 19.

Rick and Morty is an adult sci-fi animation that covers various ethical and philosophical ideas around science and human nature, according to Jeremiah Baky, a senior political science major from Dauphin Island and the president of the Students for Liberty.

Baky led the discussion on the second episode that was screened during the event, The Ricks must be crazy on Kantian ethics.

Particularly, the first or second part of the categorical imperative is stating that you should not use people as mere means, Baky said.

In the episode, Rick, the crazy scientist, creates a mini-verse which serves a single goal of generating energy for Ricks car. His grandson, the everyman of the show, Morty, observes that the universe is slavery with extra steps, which goes against the non-aggression principle.

The first episode screened is titled Mortynight Run, which showed several reactions to the idea of cosmism, or an uncaring universe, an idea developed by American author H.P. Lovecraft.

Theres this thing in horror literature, where humans place themselves in the center of the universe, and the universe doesnt really give a s*** about humans, said Cade Ashley, a sophomore economics major from Jemison, who led discussion from the side of the Philosophy Society. We try to establish these laws, these moralities, these different philosophies for approaching life, but then monsters come out and then destroy everything, or it turns out that our code of ethics doesnt have anything to do with our reality function.

In the episode, Rick sells a gun to a mercenary to spend a day in the arcade, and Morty tries to prevent the mercenary from using the gun to kill a gas cloud organism. Morty goes to great lengths to save the gas cloud, kills many others in the process, and finds himself killing the gas cloud itself in the end as it was going to destroy the entire human population after it joined its species.

Nothing that we try to do has any meaning whatsoever, and theres a lot of reaction to that within the show, Ashley said. At least, Rick, the grandpahes just partying and swearing a lot. His approach is nihilistic hedonism, so hes just trying to have a good time because he realizes theres no real purpose to anything and hell sell weapons to murderers to have a day at the arcade, but then some things he does ends up being for the best.

Hedonism is defined as the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the highest good, according to Dictionary.com.

When the adventure is over, the two heroes find out that in another reality where Morty didnt leave the arcade to save the gas cloud, no one died, except the gas cloud.

The discussion also touched on religion, comparing the gas cloud, who is explicitly said to be a higher being and who infuses Morty with a sense of being as one with the universe, to God.

Brent Wilton, a junior risk insurance management major from Auburn, said he liked the event but wished it was on a different episode.

I have watched all of the seasons, all of the episodes, he said. (The show) talks about the kinds of things that we overlook in our daily life. Theres an episode that talks about the subjugation of the dog species.

You would never think about that, but then when you sit down and watch the episode youre like, you know we really did do some really not good things to our animals, our pets . . . kinda treat them as objects.

Jay Valentine, assistant professor of philosophy, said the event was initiated and planned by students themselves and the name, The Philosophy of Rick and Morty: A Duel Armchair, suggests the main purpose of the event.

Thats playing on the fact that the two groups are coming together, Valentine said.

Events of both Student for Liberty and the Philosophy Society are open to any Troy students, faculty members, and staff.

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'Rick and Morty': students analyze underlying philosophical implications - Troy Tropolitan

Carpe diem, meaningseize the day, is one of the most powerful philosophical ideals. Now its used to sell trainers, T-shirts and a carefree lifestyle (#YOLO). But Roman Krznaric wonders if were getting the message

On a summers morning in 2014, 89-year-old Bernard Jordan decided to escape. The former British naval officer was determined to go to Normandy to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings with other veterans. But there was a problem: he was trapped in a care home in Hove, without permission to travel. What could he do?

Bernard came up with a cunning plan. He got up early and put on his best suit, making sure to pin on his wartime medals, then covered his outfit with a grey raincoat and sneaked out of the home. Now free, he tottered down to the railway station nearly a mile away, and took the train to Portsmouth. Once there, he boarded the ferry to France and joined a party of war veterans who took him under their wing.

As soon as the care staff realised he was missing, a frantic police search began. But it was too late. Bernard was already across the Channel, surrounded by marching bands and dancing girls. I loved every minute of it and would do it again tomorrow it was such an exciting experience, he said on his return. I expect I will be in some trouble with the care home, but it was worth it.

The story of Bernards great escape took the British media by storm, knocking the sober anniversary speeches by world leaders off the front pages. The ferry company even offered him free travel to Normandy for the rest of his life. But Bernard was never able to take up that offer: six months later, he died.

Why did Bernards adventure capture so much public attention? It was not just nostalgia for the wartime spirit or his venerable age. People also admired his courage to seize a window of opportunity. The chance was there, and he took it. As one person commented in an online forum just after his death: RIP, am doubly glad he escaped and got to go to the anniversary carpe diem.

Carpe diem seize the day is one of the most powerful philosophical ideals to have emerged in Western history. First uttered by the Roman poet Horace over 2,000 years ago, it retains an extraordinary resonance in popular culture.

The heavy metal band Metallica have rocked audiences around the world with their song Carpe Diem Baby, while the actress Dame Judi Dench had CARPE DIEM tattooed on her wrist for her 81st birthday. Its a message found in films such as Dead Poets Society, in one of the most successful brand campaigns of the last century (Just Do It), and in social media #yolo (you only live once).

You can even get T-shirts with the slogan CARPE THAT F****NGDIEM.

The message of carpe diem matters more than ever today. We live in an age of distraction, where we are checking our phones, on average, 110 times a day, and are more interested in being spectators of life on the screen than living it for ourselves. Immersed in the second-hand pleasures offered by our electronic gadgets, we need to reconnect with the wisdom of carpe diem, a philosophy which calls on us to taste the wonders of experiential living in the short time we have before death.

The challenge, however, is that many of us are losing touch with the deep carpe diem drive that has motivated people such as Bernard Jordan. The possibilities of radical aliveness are slipping away from us. The reason? Carpe diem has been hijacked. Its the existential crime of the century and one that we have barely noticed. Who, or what, are the hijackers?

First, the spirit of seize the day has been surreptitiously hijacked by consumer culture, which has recast it as Black Friday shopping sprees and the instant hit of one-click online buying Just Do It has come to mean just buy it.

Alongside this is the growing cult of efficiency and time management that has driven us toward hyper-scheduled living, turning the spontaneity of Just Do It into a culture of just plan it.

Finally and though it might seem counter-intuitive carpe diem has been hijacked by the booming mindfulness movement. While practising mindfulness has many proven benefits, from reducing stress to helping with depression, one of its unintended consequences has been to encourage the narrow idea that seizing the day is primarily about living in the here and now. Just Do It has become just breathe. The popularity of present moment awareness which is so attractive in an age where we are busy doing rather than being is crowding out the variety of ways that human beings have discovered over the centuries to seize the day.

Confronted by these hijackers, we need to rediscover five approaches to seizing the day that have emerged since the days of Horace as an antidote to our awareness often fleeting that our time is running out.

The most popular form of seizing the day I call opportunity its about following Bernard Jordans example and taking windows of opportunity that may never be repeated, whether its the career break of a lifetime or the chance to rescue a crumblingrelationship.

Its worth knowing that the word opportunity comes from the Latin ob portum veniens, meaning coming toward a port. It originally referred to a favourable wind that would blow a ship into harbour. So the question is whether were going to hoist our sails and catch this propitious wind, or whether we are so worried about hitting the rocks that we keep the sails down.

A second strategy is hedonism, where we seize the day through sensory pleasures, from free love to gastronomic exploration. Hedonism has an admittedly bad reputation, being associated with binge drinking and Trainspotting-style heroin overdoses. But dont forget that hedonism in healthy doses has been a route to human wellbeing for millennia: when the conquistadors arrived in the Americas, they discovered the Aztecs tripping on magic mushrooms. Downing a few tequila slammers or smoking a joint under the stars can sometimes help us with our troubles just as much as a trip to a therapist.

Another form of carpe diem is presence, which is about stepping into the now. Mindfulness meditation is one way of doing this, but there are other options such as what psychologists call flow experience. This is where you engage in a challenging and often vigorous activity that completely absorbs you in the present moment, like a high-speed basketball game. Youre utterly in the zone. Entering the now through the intense rush of sports is quite different from doing so by practising breathing techniques.

Fourth is spontaneity, which involves throwing plans and routines to the wind and becoming more experimental in the way we live. We need to liberate ourselves from our electronic calendars and booking up our weekends weeks in advance, and recover a more unplanned approach to the art of living which existed before the Industrial Revolution, when we werent constantly checking the time and obsessed with being efficient and productive.

Finally, we need to rediscover political carpe diem. This is about taking the four other forms of seizing the day opportunity, hedonism, presence and spontaneity and ratcheting them up from the individual to the collective level through mass political action. Think of the carpe diem demonstrations that brought down the Berlin Wall in 1989, which were full of spontaneous and hedonistic spirit. We need more of this today to challenge the big issues of our time, from climate change to the rise of far-right extremism.

Look at your own life and you may see an abundance of these five approaches to seizing the day. But you might also notice a deficit in one or more of them. Now is the moment to look away from the screen and embrace a life inspired by those two words: carpe diem.

Roman Krznarics new book, Carpe Diem Regained: The Vanishing Art of Seizing the Day(20, Unbound)

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Carpe Diem! How the philosophy of 'seize the day' was hijacked and what the phrase should mean - iNews

Chef Jeremy Fox's inventive dish: double-chucked spring peas sprinkled with white chocolate and roasted macadamia nuts. It's served with a bit of pea broth poured on the side, "to retain the crunch." Each pea is shucked, blanched and squeezed to get the halves out. It's a labor preparation that he serves only on special occasions, like Valentine's day. Oriana Koren for NPR hide caption

Chef Jeremy Fox's inventive dish: double-chucked spring peas sprinkled with white chocolate and roasted macadamia nuts. It's served with a bit of pea broth poured on the side, "to retain the crunch." Each pea is shucked, blanched and squeezed to get the halves out. It's a labor preparation that he serves only on special occasions, like Valentine's day.

Some people call Jeremy Fox the "vegetable whisperer," the California chef who can coax remarkable flavors out of every part of his produce, even the flowers and leaves that most chefs throw away. One of his famous first-course dishes combines twice-shucked spring peas with macadamia nuts and white chocolate. He has reinvented cooking with vegetables, and in the process, reinvented himself, too.

On Wednesdays, you'll find Fox at the Santa Monica farmer's market, greeting fellow chefs and checking out the veggies at farmer Alex Weiser's stand. He marvels at the Chinese garlic right out of the field, still packed with dirt. Then he kibitzes with Weiser about some unconventional tubers: oka, yacon , and colorful Peruvian mashua.

"The mashua is almost in the Nasturtium family, so it's like really spicy, almost like horseradish wasabi," says Fox. "But when you cook it, it mellows out a lot."

"How could I not grow that?" Weiser says.

"Plus, it's fun to say mashua," Fox adds.

Chefs and home cooks alike flock to the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers Market. This is where Jeremy Fox finds ingredients like salsify flowers and parts of vegetables often overlooked or discarded by other cooks. Oriana Koren for NPR hide caption

Chefs and home cooks alike flock to the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers Market. This is where Jeremy Fox finds ingredients like salsify flowers and parts of vegetables often overlooked or discarded by other cooks.

Weiser says Fox has inspired him to grow unusual vegetables at his farm in the Tehachapi mountains. "He appreciates flavor and uniqueness and texture," says the farmer. "I think he realizes, too, where we farm, we have snowfall and hard frost, which give our crops flavor, that terroir."

Jeremy Fox is a little like those vegetables with a hard knock life. The 40-year-old grew up in Cleveland and Atlanta eating fast food, and taking far too many prescription medicines for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. In college, he was inspired to start cooking after watching the culinary film, "Big Night." He went to culinary school in Charleston, S.C., then worked in a few restaurants in the South before heading to California. There, he eventually landed a job at the Bay Area restaurant, Manresa, where he actually started out in charge of the meat.

Portrait of chef Jeremy Fox at his Santa Monica restaurant, Rustic Canyon. Oriana Koren for NPR hide caption

Portrait of chef Jeremy Fox at his Santa Monica restaurant, Rustic Canyon.

"We were getting in whole pigs and trying to work out charcuterie," Fox recalls, "using every part of the pig, nose to tail."

That philosophy shaped Fox's approach to vegetables when he became chef de cuisine at Manresa. The restaurant had its own farm.

"He would take mushrooms, and smoke them and fry them, and so it took on... a bacon-like texture," says chef Kim Alter, who owns Nightbird restaurant in San Francisco. She worked with Fox at Manresa, and then at Ubuntu, where he became head chef.

"He would cook the vegetables like meat," says Alter. "He would truss them, baste them like meat. And it just really opened your eyes as to how you could treat a radish... like a pig. It was pretty cool. And it was all delicious."

Ubuntu was very California: a vegetarian restaurant located below a yoga studio in Napa. One evening in 2008, then-New York Times food critic Frank Bruni came for dinner. He was impressed.

"Jeremy's a superbly talented chef," Bruni says. "He was determined to make that vegetarian experience as enjoyable as a restaurant with all ingredients at its disposal."

Bruni named Ubuntu the country's second best restaurant outside of New York. Here's an excerpt of his review:

"Ubuntu is proof that you can do away with all flesh and hold on to hedonism, at least if you keep enough butter, cream, cheese and wine at hand. Ubuntu is where virtue meets naughty sensuality. It's the Angelina Jolie of restaurants."

Bruni's review changed everything.

Potatoes, ramp kimchi, radish and soft-boiled egg. The recipe can be found in Jeremy Fox's new cookbook "On Vegetables." Courtesy of Rick Poon/Phaidon hide caption

Potatoes, ramp kimchi, radish and soft-boiled egg. The recipe can be found in Jeremy Fox's new cookbook "On Vegetables."

Suddenly, the restaurant was packed, but unprepared. Health inspectors shut it down till they got better refrigeration. But the accolades for Fox kept coming. Food & Wine Magazine named him the best new chef of 2008. He was flown around the country for interviews and events.

But the pressure was too much. Fox says he wasn't sleeping or eating. He lost 40 pounds. His marriage to pastry chef Deanie Hickox fell apart. And he self-medicated with a concoction of sleeping pills and amphetamines. "I could have died from the amount I was taking," he says. "I kinda felt like I was on a plane in horrific turbulence, hanging on to the sides. That's pretty much how I felt every hour of every day, for several years, to where everything was impending disaster. Lots of anxiety, lots of paranoia, and I lost my grip on everything. "

Fox left Ubuntu, and pretty much dropped out of the scene.

"Everything got so negative," he recalls. "I'd been told to take a break or get some help. Eventually, it was like, well, let's just end this."

Fox spent a few years in therapy, cleaned up his act, and moved to Los Angeles. He is now head chef at Rustic Canyon restaurant in Santa Monica. He has a new wife, gourmet buyer Rachael Sheridan, and a 16-month-old daughter named Birdie.

Old friends are happy for him. "Now I think he's got this really amazing balance," says Alter. "He's happy, he's doing great food in an environment he loves and that supports him, with a great, beautiful woman and a child."

And Fox has finally finished the cookbook he started when he was at Ubuntu.

Fox at the Santa Monica restaurant, Rustic Canyon, where he's now head chef. Born in Cleveland, he proudly wears his 'Ohio Against the World' hat. And beneath his apron, the proud father of 16 month-old-daughter Birdie wears his "pop" sweatshirt. Oriana Koren for NPR hide caption

Fox at the Santa Monica restaurant, Rustic Canyon, where he's now head chef. Born in Cleveland, he proudly wears his 'Ohio Against the World' hat. And beneath his apron, the proud father of 16 month-old-daughter Birdie wears his "pop" sweatshirt.

"Finding out I was gonna be a dad was a huge motivator," he says, "to create something that this little kid could be proud of."

With his newly published book "On Vegetables" and a fourth nomination for a James Beard Award, chef Jeremy Fox is back.

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'Vegetable Whisperer' Chef Plants The Seeds Of His Own Reinvention - NPR

Tim Minchin doesnt follow the rules. The comedic songwriter first shook things up on Broadway with his score for Matilda The Musical, a darker take on the Roald Dahl childrens book than many had expected. His daring paid off with a 2013 Tony Award nomination.

He returns to Broadway this spring with Groundhog Day, currently onstage at the August Wilson Theatre. It was that same potential for darkness that tempted him to musicalize the movie about TV weatherman Phil Connors (Andy Karl) stuck reliving the title holiday in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, over and over again. Fans of the film, which stars Bill Murray as Connors, neednt worry. The movie is so successful because of the balance between romantic comedy and existential crisis, says Minchin, and we didnt want to fk that up. Before he could preserve that balance, though, he needed to find his way in musically; it was through his Act 2 opener that Minchin found it.

Playing Nancy is a mournful ballad sung by a secondary character as she contemplates her lot in life as a brief diversion, just the detour on the journey of some man. In that lyric, Minchin subtly declares his concept for the show.

[Phil] goes through these musical phases as if hes going through maturation as a human being, Minchin says. The styles of music are meant to parallel his stages [of life] from solipsism through hedonism into self-loathing, and he learns all these lessons and eventually finds what we now call mindfulness.

In fact, Minchins score is a jigsaw puzzle of musical genres. In addition to the phases and changing sounds of Phil, the ensemble sings in styles of polka, samba, jazztheres even a brassy tap number and a funk mix. Despite the different styles, Minchin unifies the score on a sonic level, restricting himself to specific chords and harmonic structures.

If his melodic approach sounds complex, its only due to the fact that, for Minchin, sound is inextricably linked to lyricsand Minchin is a wordsmith. Im incredibly didactic and lyric heavy, he says. It sounds so pretentious, but once youve really got into Shakespeare, you really dont ever want to treat words like, Oh thatll do.

My job is to go, No, no, youve got to listen to every word, and once you make that contract with [the audience], you better uphold your end of the bargain. You better always be doing something.

LOVE BROADWAY? CHECK OUT THE NEW ARRIVALS AT THE PLAYBILL STORE!

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I Refuse to Try and Reverse Engineer A Hit: Tim Minchin on His ... - Playbill.com

1) Shell out for an Alice in Wonderland-themed Mad Hatters Easter Afternoon Tea at the Sanderson Hotel. (Fri-Mon, morganshotelgroup.com)

2) Paint the town or yourself neon at the Neon Naked Creative Life Drawing Class, at the Duke of Wellington in Dalson on Monday. (thedukeofwellington.london)

3) Switch off your phone and go off grid: proper playtime means no distractions.

4) The four-day Homerton International Festival of Beer & Bar Snacks swings into town this bank holiday. (theadamandevew1.co.uk)

5) Get your five-a-day, every day, from Hackney Downs Vegan Market on Saturday at Hackney Downs Studios. (fatgayvegan.com)

6) Join an eggs-rated scavenger hunt on Saturday hosted by the London sex shop Sh!. (sh-womensstore.com)

7) Everyone else is out of the capital: hit Skyscanner and book a danger trip. (skyscanner.net)

8) Take a dip in a lido (you might need a wetsuit).

9) DJ Yoda brings his mixtape of the Stranger Things soundtrack to the Prince of Wales in Brixton on Saturday. (pow-london.com)

10) Legendary LGBT pub The Joiners Arms rises again this Easter, at Hoxton Square on Friday. (zigridvonunderbelly.com)

11) All Star Lanes is serving up chicken mousse Scotch eggsto supplement your skittling all weekend. (allstarlanes.co.uk)

12) Talli Joewill be showcasing regional Indian egg dishes on small, sharing plates for two weeks starting on Easter Sunday. (tallijoe.com)

13) Resurrection specialist Doctor Who returns to BBC on Saturday.

14) Celebrate Beatrix Potter with a visit to the Beatrix Potter exhibition at the V&A. (vam.ac.uk)

15) Feast your eyes on this Sophie Anderson Camille leather-trimmed wicker tote. (195, net-a-porter.com)

16) Caf Murano is serving an Easter feast from Good Friday until Monday. (cafemurano.co.uk)

17) Queer British Art is a must-see at Tate Britain. (tate.org.uk)

18) Take your Easter egg hunt to the new vintage and antiques market, the Vintage Vauxhall Antiques Market. (vintageand antiques.co.uk)

19) Visit the pop-up Japanese garden in Broadgate Plaza. (broadgate.co.uk)

20) Get high on chocolate, with a Hotel Chocolat tasting experience on the London Eye. (londoneye.com)

21) Newly opened eatery Llewelyns in Herne Hill is a must-visit.(llewelyns-restaurant.co.uk)

22) Snuggle up in St Marys, where Backyard Cinema will host a candle-lit screening of Romeo + Juliet. (backyardcinema.co.uk)

23) Sink the Pink hosts its annual sweaty drag rave. (sinkthepink.co.uk)

24) Bubbledogs is hiding champagne bottles in Soho and Fitzrovia this weekend. Find one and you can swap it for a free hotdog. (bubbledogs.co.uk)

25) Blanchette is celebrating with sharing plates of roast lamb rump with minted Jersey Royals. (blanchettelondon.co.uk)

26) Drop by Merchants Tavern and get a half-price breakfast then off to the caviar trolley at 45 Jermyn Street with the money youve saved. (merchants tavern.co.uk; 45jermynst.co.uk)

27) Bread Aheads limited-edition Easter special is Hot Cross Bun Doughnuts. (breadahead.com)

28) With everyone out of town, beat the queues at Padella (open all weekend. (padella.co)

29) Enjoy a spritzer in the sunshine on the Grain Store terrace and one of their new ice-cream sundaes. (grainstore.com)

30) Time on your hands? Squeeze in a marathon session at the National Theatre to see Angels in America. (nationaltheatre.org.uk)

31) Begin celebrating your Easter holiday with a seven-hour marathon set from legendary DJ Joey Negro. (ovalspace.co.uk)

32) Pop and lock it at the Lock Tavern Festival, the Camden Town music spots annual four-day festival.(lock-tavern.com)

33) Mellow out with an evening of intimate live performances echoing around many of Londons churches, each day between 3pm and 6.45pm.

34) Dalston Superstores Sunday Disco Brunch is the perfect antidote to a late night. (dalstonsuperstore.com)

35) Give your bank holiday some flower power with Bloom & Wilds Easter Posies. (bloomandwild.com)

36) Rosencrantz & Guildernstern are Dead. Or are they? Daniel Radcliffe stars in Tom Stoppards play. (oldvictheatre.com)

37) Slip on your dancing sneakers and head east for Sidexside, a line-up of DJs playing side-by-side at Tobacco Dock. (residentadviser.net)

38) Knickerbockers drag-packed night in Hackney Wick promises alt-pop earlier on with darker cuts later. (theyardtheatre.co.uk)

39) Party animals can rejuvenate with a menu of food, fizz and fun at the The Cocktail Trading Companys saucy Come Down With Me. (thecocktailtradingco.co.uk)

40) For Nineties nuts, Primark launches a My Little Pony range complete with its own Snapchat filter. (primark.com)

41) Track down the work of Dom Pattinson, who has hidden 42,000 worth of paintings across the city. (zebraonegallery.com)

42) Visit the Barbicans Japanese House, a full-size re-creation of the Moriyama House. (barbican.org.uk)

43) Westfield invites shoppers to the Revamp Camp, where you can upcycle your wardrobe. (uk.westfield.com)

44) The Moth Club hosts When Doves Cry, a night dedicated to the music of Prince. (mothclub.co.uk)

45) Unleash your inner Indiana Jones at the British Museum for a treasure hunt. (britishmuseum.org)

46) Damian Lewis stars in The Goat, Or Who is Sylvia?(trh.co.uk)

47) Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan hone their Michael Caine impressions in The Trip to Spain. (sky.com)

48) Enter the world of the jellyfish at the London Aquariums Ocean Invaders exhibition. (visitsealife.com)

50) Head down the rabbit hole as Alices Adventures Underground returns to Waterloos the Vaults. (thevaults.london)

51) On Saturday, Phonox is kick-starting resident DJ Haais new party series, Coconut Beats. (phonox.co.uk)

53) Sink your teeth into Easter bread from bakery Paul: the signature Pain Carrottes Noisettes is perfect for brunch. (paul-uk.com)

54) Reggae legends The Pioneers head up the London International Ska Festival. (Thursday to Monday, londinternationalskafestival.co.uk)

55) The Duke of York Square Fine Food Market is transforming into an Easter Sunday Chocolate Market. (dukeofyorksquare.com)

56) Performance troupe The Crazy Coqs are performing at Brasserie Zdel, from Friday to Monday. (brasseriezedel.com)

57) Berber & Q is serving up a Mangal breakfast to share on Good Friday top things off with fiery biber salcasi ketchup. (berberandq.com)

58) You Me at Six is bringing it back for the fans at Alexandra Palace on Saturday. (alexandrapalace.com)

59) Smoking Goats Easter feast is available all weekend: on the menu its spider crab, fresh coconut curry and Laab spiced point-end brisket. (smokinggoatsoho.com)

60) Tapas joint Brindisa is hiding20 red envelopes around Borough Market winners scoop a gin and tonic, cava or charcuterie. (brindisakitchens.com)

61) Jacks back: the Prince Charles Cinema is screening tear-jerker Titanic on Sunday. (princecharlescinema.com)

62) Its World Malbec Day on Monday! Any excuse...

63) Bust into the bank holiday at the Bussey Building in Peckham: Horse Meat Disco is playing on Friday. (clfartcafe.org)

64) Its a Spice World themed club night at Infernos on Sunday: costumes encouraged. (infernos.co.uk)

65) On Sunday, Chelsea Physic Garden is putting on an Easter Egg trail. (chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk)

66) A must (or mast) see Greenwichs Tall Ships Festival returns Fri-Mon. Rivington Greenwich and Plymouth Gin have created cocktails to toast the event. (royalgreenwich.org.uk)

67) Have a lie-in. Youve earned one.

68) Sink bottomless jugs of sangria made with house-made lemonade and a blend of spices and fresh fruit at Balls & Companys Sangria Saturday. (ballsandcompany.london)

69) The Magic Roundabout has opened above Old Street station, and DJs, dancers and sketch artists are making it their home for the weekend. (magicroundabout.co)

70) On Saturday, Rich Mix Cinema is hosting its regular short-film evening, on the theme of new beginnings. (richmix.org.uk)

71) Keep things short: Review Bookshop in Peckham is holding a book launch for Gordon Gordons Modern Haiku Collection. (reviewbookshop.org.uk)

72) The 40-piece Street Orchestra of London is collaborating with DJs at the Hackney Showroom on Saturday. (hackneyshowroom.com)

73) Rotherhithe is the hub of Londons Nordic community,so celebrate Easter Sunday Norwegian-style with a guidedtour and an authenticNorwegian buffet lunch. (scandimarket.co.uk)

74) Catch the Royal Academys Revolution: Russian Art before it closes. (royalacademy.org.uk)

75) Composer Emma Jean-Thackray joins the groove-based collective at Amersham Armss Rain Today on Friday. (theamershamarms.co.uk)

76) Salute George Michael at the Old Queens Head Club Tropicana. (oldqueenshead.com)

77) Chocolate is waiting for you at the finishing line of the London Easter 10K in Regents Park on Monday. (nice-work.org.uk)

78) Gilles Peterson protg Aaron L joins the line-up at Turfs 5th birthday at Kamio in Shoreditch on Saturday celebrate the 6am late licence. (iamkam.io)

79) Planet Funk unleashes a Bruno Mars themed night at The Grand on Saturday: theres an award for the best tribute act. (claphamgrand.com)

80) Enjoy a spangly cocktail at new Dalston venture Untitled, including the egg-cellent Prairie Oyster: clarified tomato juice andbottle-aged Negroni. (twitter.com/untitled_bar)

81) Binge on Locked Up on Walter Presents, a Spanish prison drama that will take the UK by storm...

82) ... or plump for the return of Better Call Saul, which is back for a third season. (netflix.com)

83) Take yourself on your own Easter Pub Crawl. Hunt pints, not eggs, and drink twice if anyone says bunny.

84) Single and looking to mingle? Kensington Roof Gardens is throwing a lonelyhearts egg hunt on Friday. Come for the chocolate, leave with The One. (virginlimitededition.com)

85) Buy a be woke sweatshirt from H&Ms Scandi offshoot Monki to ring in the new season of activism. (monki.com)

86) Heeeeeeres Jack Nicholson: Hackney Picture House kicks off a season dedicated to the Hollywood icon with Easy Rider on Sunday. (picturehouses.com)

87) In Men & Girls dance company Fevered Place celebrates the relationship between adults and children, Thurs to Sat. (feveredsleep.co.uk)

88) On Saturday at the Southbank Centre the Hong Kong Dance Company will retell the Legend of Mulan. (southbankcentre.co.uk)

89) In the mood for street food? Head to Hawker House or Dinerama and fill your plate. (streetfeast.com)

90) Peckhams arcade den Four Quarters celebrates the weekend with its Wax On Wax Off Easter Spesh this evening. (facebook.com/fourquartersbar)

91) Tuck into a 400 Rabbits pizza because theyre delicious, its Easter and no actual bunnies were harmed in the process. (400rabbits.co.uk)

92) Charcoal kebab kitchen BaBa Boom in Battersea does a power hour on weekends: you, one alarm clock and as much as you can drink. (bababoom.london)

93) Crystal Maze London has hidden five crystal Easter eggs around iconic landmarks in Angel, Islington. (the-crystal-maze.com)

94) Easter wouldnt be Easter without, er, a chocolate body wrapat the Montcalm. Lather up. (montcalm.co.uk)

95) Tuck into an ostrich egg at Florentine in South Bank. Bring your mates its big enough to feed six people. (florentinerestaurant.co.uk)

96) Theres puppet-making, face- painting and Alice in Wonderland storytelling at the Horniman Easter Fair on Saturday and Sunday. (horniman.ac.uk)

97) The Wardrobe Ensembles immersive adventure, Eloise and the Magic Whisk, is at Greenwhich Theatre on Thursday and Friday. Punchdrunk meets Bake Off. (thewardrobeensemble.com)

98) On Friday, Caf Oto in Dalston is screening Nothing Here Is Perfect,an experimental documentary about improvised music. (cafeoto.co.uk)

99) Abba fans: make the pilgrimage to Tufnell Park as clubnight Gimme, Gimme, Gimme returns on Saturday. (dometuffnellpark.co.uk)

100) Jam-makers Rubies in the Rubble are organising a RealEgg Hunt around their favourite brunch spots. (rubiesintherubble.com)

Read more here:

100 hours of hedonism: Things to do in London this Easter weekend - Evening Standard

There's no denying the important role music plays in film. But what about when directors try to repay the favour?

The club is an exceptional cinematic tool that many people have tried to capture. The people, lights, energy and music makes a heady mix that can translate themes of fun, danger, anxiety and hedonism to the big screen. And when used to tell the stories of futuristic robot policemen, the 1970s porn industry or a vampire-fighting superhero you get some pretty interesting visions of what a club can be.

Well, we've dug deep to select the movies that piqued are clubbing interests. These are the places you would wait in line for two hours to get inside and the scenes you've watched and thought "I need to be there right now".

Door policy: Non-existent, they let a fucking robot policeman into the club.

Atmosphere: The atmosphere inside this downtown Detroit club is simply incredible! A blend of goths, punks and misplaced disco glam, nobody can stop dancing to the funky futuristic sounds of 2044 despite a robot policeman wading through the crowd. Thankfully the cop has a target (unfortunately for Leon Nash) and isnt in there working some misguided Operation Lenor.

Soundtrack: The future interestingly sounds a lot like Ministry. And Peter Weller.

Resident DJ: David Byrne

Average punter: Sick of the broken, shit hole that Detroit has become, a future punk ethic has become popular in the clubs. If the city's going to look like trash then so are it's citizens. Bad wigs and a no fucks given attitude.

Do: Carry a handgun because you never know when Robocop might get you.

Dont: Kick Robocop in the groin when he eventually hunts you down

See the article here:

Clubs on film: 10 of the best parties from the big screen - Mixmag

By Frazier Moore, The Associated Press

It will come as no surprise that this docuseries treats its subject, the founder of the Playboy-magazine-and-beyond empire, with tender, loving care. Co-produced by Playboy Enterprises, its 10 episodes unfold as a hagiography of Hefner, who, back in a dark age of sexual repression, put the "he" in hedonism for countless red-blooded males.

Hefner, who turns 91 on Sunday, played no on-camera role in the series. But he is seen and heard aplenty. Not only are there vast Playboy archives to draw from, but the saga is told mainly through dramatic reenactments, with young lookalike Matt Whelan portraying Hef on-screen and voicing him for the narration.

"My magazine wasn't just about naked women," says Hefner/Whelan at the series' start. "It was about breaking down barriers, starting a cultural conversation about sexuality, and standing up for social justice."

Mission accomplished. As "American Playboy" is eager to remind its audience, Hefner pushed back against the uptight 1950s with a magazine proclaiming that sex is fun, that it's OK for guys to like photos of nude women, and that masculinity didn't correspond directly with hunting and fishing.

In his new magazine, Hefner meant to champion a lifestyle of masculine creature comforts, a full menu of everything the would-be with-it male would want to feast upon including the main course of beautiful, seemingly compliant women.

Creating Playboy in his own vision the vision of whom he yearned to be as a man and manly archetype Hefner masterminded an intoxicating mix of rebellion, aspiration and pleasure. With his inspired formula, a few thousand borrowed dollars and, as his first Playboy centerfold, a nude calendar photo of pre-celebrity Marilyn Monroe, Hefner launched Playboy in 1953.

It was a smash, and so was he, "the guy who has it all: lavish mansion, legendary parties, and, of course, the women," says Hefner/Whelan, kicking off the tale ("at least, as I remember it," he hedges coyly) of how he redefined manhood.

Judging from the three episodes previewed, "American Playboy" airbrushes Hefner's image as much as Playboy airbrushes its centerfolds. But this doesn't mitigate Hefner's role as a game-changer. "American Playboy" shows how his magazine and his example advanced a new Age of Enlightenment the notion that virility could encompass civil rights and free speech, progressive politics and deep thoughts, as well as sporty cars, the right Scotch and the fine art of seduction. Hefner led a revolution with his pipe, his Pepsis and his legendary rotating bed.

But after a couple of decades, Hef's revolution was beginning to sputter. A victim of its own spectacular success, Playboy didn't seem so cutting-edge to youngsters in the late '60s who claimed free love and doing your own thing as their birthright.

They also claimed women's rights. The rise of feminism exposed Playboy, for all its advancements, as embarrassingly backward in upholding male privilege. Playboy had always celebrated women. But their designated purpose remained stuck in the past: to please men.

Just consider the Playboy Clubs, which flourished from coast to coast in the 1960s, and not least because of its service staff: the corset-costumed Playboy Bunnies, complete with their rabbit ears and cotton tails. The real stretch for Playboy wasn't in these skintight outfits. It was how to reconcile Playboy-style panache with the new craze of sit-ins and peace marches.

The Playmate anointed for December 1969 seemed a desperate bid to shed its "Mad Men" brand of hipness and reassert its relevance. To that end, the comely Northwestern University political science major declared on her centerfold questionnaire that "my friends know I'm young, sexy, somewhat intellectual, hate parties, love teachers, enjoy money, clothes, cars" but also, in a power-to-the-power decree, she made clear that she loved "demonstrations, riots and anything for the revolution."

The Playboy revolution may have died with that pronouncement. Even so, Playboy presses on to this day. But where it once defied a puritan ideal that kept sex under wraps and condemned nudity as pornographic, now it struggles against a state of oversaturation, where nudity (and almost anything else) runs riot, free of charge, from any video screen.

No wonder little of the Playboy empire remains, at least when judged by the standards it once set. As "American Playboy" shows with cinematic flair, Hefner helped blast the world into a new permissiveness a world that long ago left him behind.

If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.

Read the rest here:

Amazon docuseries looks at the man who put the 'he' in hedonism - Berkshire Eagle (subscription)

In 1966, Otto Kirchheimerannounced that the era of traditional ideological parties has reached an end, and an era of new parties has begun, which he referred to as pervasive parties. Now that five decades havepassed since that time, a businessman, Donald Trump, has won the presidential election in America. The comedian Beppe Grillo founded theFive Star Movementin Italy and achieved significant success. But in France, the traditional Socialists and Republicans are still at the center of policy. However, elite corruption and inefficiency has allowed Marine Le Pen from the extreme right to claim unprecedented popularity.

In contrast, there is Cindy Lee, a formerstripper, who established Parti du plaisir (Pleasure party) nearly 15 years ago. Her goal was to create the conditions that would ensure enjoyment for all French citizens. In an interview she talked about her beliefs and goals.

Her answers have been translated from the original French.

What was the purpose of establishing Parti du plaisir?

We established the Party in 2002. Establishment of this party was based on the citizens requirements at that time and at the moment. Currently, the dissatisfaction with traditional parties has increased. In our opinion, joy can appear in all aspects, and it must be considered in daily life.Therefore, not only I do not defend free sexual desires, but also I know joy as a political project, in which welfare and good life quality must be prior to any other issue. Parti du plaisir defends the concept of freedom against restrictions due to some rules set up by certain elites, which disturb personal satisfaction of the community members. We are also willing to give back peoples authority.

What thinkers have influenced you? It seems that you were influenced by Jeremy Bentham and his utilitarianism.

The pillars of our party are based on the hedonism doctrine, which believes that joy is essential, and one must move towards achieving happiness. Hedonism is the goal of any individual and should be sought in all aspects. It is clear that we might get influenced by liberal philosophers, namely Jeremy Bentham.

The concept of joy can be considered in all aspect of daily life, including sexual relationships, eating and drinking, job, environment, and security. We are willing to have a pacifist society, consisting of people benefiting from the greatest level of joy. A happier society will be more efficient and can be economically productive.

Along the path of hedonism, nobody is allowed to disturb others effort for maximum hedonism and must respect their rights in this regard.

Where doesParti du plaisir stand onthe European Union?

Currently we have some common grounds with popular parties like the Five Star Movement in Italy on environmental issues and direct democracy. However, we do not see ourselves against Europe, instead, we wish for a stronger and more democratic Europe. This is our priority. We call for transparency of democratic institutions, protection of plant and animal environment, and measures to improve the quality of life.

The principle of secularism is emphasized in Parti du Plaisir. What is your opinion about burqa clothing in public places?

The advent of terrorism has intensified the fear among our people. Today, the principle of secularism is more critical and radical for a large population. As far as I am concerned, I consider secularism as a value.

Marine Le Pen is expected to do well in the upcoming vote. (via Facebook)

The conditions change and the rules should be adapted with them. I believe remaining impartial in the public domain is necessary to prevent conflicts, even if it causes some restrictions for individual freedom. In my opinion, burqa clothing not only is considered anti-secular, but also exploitation of the woman wearing it. Women shouldnt be hidden from men behind a veil because of religious reasons or any other reason. They should represent themselves as a woman and be equal with men in a society.

Do you see any chance for your success?

At first, many people and the media saw my candidacy as something imaginary. Today, after several years of resistance, my presence is more serious, even if Id be present on the French political horizon as a flying saucer, even if I wouldnt be able to earn the necessary credit for nomination due to lack of enough support (since the local elected officials might be afraid that their personal and local benefits would be threatened by supporting an unusual candidate) my presence delivers my desired message to people through my behavior and actions.

A presidential election candidate in France must earn the support of 500 selected officials. Therefore, their validation is done by the constitution council, and even some of the supporters do not want their names to be disclosed. This system is, in fact, a hindrance against advancement of candidates independent of traditional parties, like me.

In the American election, some of Trumps critics said that he is a businessman with no experience in politics. By analogy, someone could argue that you were a stripperand a model without any experience in politics.

After negligence and abuse of many governments, people demand some changes. Advent of populism provides an evidence in this regard. Politics has long been the profession of the politicians in France, but they only wished to extend their mission duration and their main job was corruption and abusing power. Therefore, I believe that people should be judged based on their real motivation and politic project. People with no experience in politics can accomplish huge works. Because of my job in the art scene, I do not fear criticism.

Why do you use nudity in yourpolitical campaign?

I have used organized actions of nudity since 2001 to challenge the media, aiming to increase public awareness on various topics, namely environmental protection, social welfare, economic crisis, corruption, etc.

The Parti du Plaisir supports brothels, while the feminists call it exploitation of women. How do you guarantee that your program wont result in the exploitation of women?

The Parti du Plaisir agrees with all free sexual desires and believes that the citizens should have access to all joys of life. We are an advocate of freedom. We are in favor of a free society. How can you have a peaceful community when you leave people alone with their desires, sexual needs, and disappointment? I defend the freedom of action of the brothels as they satisfy the communitys social needs and might be useful since they can reduce the rape and sexual violence imposed on women.

In my opinion, France should learn from its European neighbors. The have comprehended the sexual demands. We also should look at this concept with a more open mind. The current socialist government in France imposes a repressive policy, punishes the brothel customers, and justifies all of these under the banner of moral order. I do not know that prostitution is equal to women exploitation. Prostitution has long existed, exists now, and will exist in the future. Today, about 40,000 women in France do prostitution via internet or by distributing declarations on dating sites and social media, an action which is not monitored and is not void of risks. If a woman voluntarily decides to work with her own body, she must be at least given the chance to benefit from legal rights, social status, and secure and healthy conditions. From legal perspective, I consider prostitution to be an official job and have a liberal attitude in this regard. The institutions providing private sexual services must obtain legal permission, and the police should monitor them with video surveillance through CCTV.

Why are you an advocate for specifying certain quotas for allowing immigrants and asylum seekers to enter France?

In the context of policy-making regarding immigration by the Parti du Plaisir, I believe a largely populated community can hardly achieve welfare and there should be, at least, temporary measures to set a quotas for assimilation of the immigrants. Today, France cannot offer asylum anymore as it is experiencing economic and social crisis. So, we have to find temporary solutions in order to limit too many immigrants. In case of winning the election, first, I propose to hold a national referendum about this issue. The measures we take to limit immigration, a proposal to modify the constitution, is to determine a certain limit for accepting the legal immigrants each year according to the economic status of the country and France requirements. This quota will first include the immigrants who are asylum workforces. We will also increase the tax on French companies or employers who hire an immigrant. Finally, we will reinforce the Immigration Charter, stating that the immigrants are required to master the French language and respect secularism principles, and will be expelled in case of any violation.

What is your opinion about French National Front and Marine Le Pen? Do you think she has a great chance of winning the presidential election?

The French National Front conveys nationalist and too conservative ideals. This group has always been considered dangerous in France. However, there are new components today which have resulted in greater appreciation of the French National Front, and it seems that the majority of the votes for the candidate of this Front will be negative votes to oppose other groups. There are people who will vote for the National Front in opposition to the traditional parties. Factors such as political corruption of the elites, risks caused by terrorism, increased unemployment, and peoples dissatisfaction with policies of previous years are all in favor of the French National Front, and they even might allow Marine Le Pen to enter Elyse, unless the citizens support another candidate as a mass mobilization in order to defeat the French National Front.

What is your opinion about Trump?

In my opinion, Trumps decisions and actions are taken too hastily and without thinking. He dismissed the rules set by the former president as soon as he came into power, without considering this might have serious consequences. I do not confirm the Unites States policy. In my view, Trumps policies are too radical and isolationist. Trumps economic policy is only based on profit-making. This will ultimately be a detriment to planet Earth. I also think he is too rigorous regarding immigration policies.

Continue reading here:

A Candidate who is Willing to put 'Pleasure' at the Center of French Politics - International Policy Digest (press release) (blog)

Matt Whelan as Hugh Hefner on Amazon Prime (Matt Klitscher)

NEW YORK -- Most Americans would hate living in a world untouched by Hugh Hefner. That's a message from American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story, which premiered Friday on Amazon Prime.

It will come as no surprise that this docuseries treats its subject, the founder of the Playboy-magazine-and-beyond empire, with tender, loving care. Co-produced by Playboy Enterprises, its 10 episodes unfold as a hagiography of Hefner, who, back in a dark age of sexual repression, put the "he" in hedonism for countless red-blooded males.

Hefner, who turns 91 today, played no on-camera role in the series. But he is seen and heard aplenty. Not only are there vast Playboy archives to draw from, but the saga is told mainly through dramatic reenactments, with young lookalike Matt Whelan portraying Hef on-screen and voicing him for the narration.

"My magazine wasn't just about naked women," says Hefner/Whelan at the series' start. "It was about breaking down barriers, starting a cultural conversation about sexuality, and standing up for social justice."

Mission accomplished. As American Playboy is eager to remind its audience, Hefner pushed back against the uptight 1950s with a magazine proclaiming that sex is fun, that it's OK for guys to like photos of nude women, and that masculinity didn't correspond directly with hunting and fishing (which men's magazines of that day dwelled on).

In his new magazine, Hefner meant to champion a lifestyle of masculine creature comforts, a full menu of everything the would-be with-it male would want to feast upon -- including the main course of beautiful, seemingly compliant women.

Creating Playboy in his own vision -- the vision of whom he yearned to be as a man and manly archetype -- Hefner masterminded an intoxicating mix of rebellion, aspiration and pleasure. With his inspired formula, a few thousand borrowed dollars and, as his first Playboy centerfold, a nude calendar photo of pre-celebrity Marilyn Monroe, Hefner launched Playboy in 1953.

It was a smash, and so was he, "the guy who has it all: lavish mansion, legendary parties, and, of course, the women," says Hefner/Whelan, kicking off the tale ("at least, as I remember it," he hedges coyly) of how he redefined manhood.

Judging from the three episodes previewed, American Playboy airbrushes Hefner's image as much as Playboy airbrushes its centerfolds. But this doesn't mitigate Hefner's role as a game-changer. American Playboy shows how his magazine and his example advanced a new Age of Enlightenment -- the notion that virility could encompass civil rights and free speech, progressive politics and deep thoughts, as well as sporty cars, the right Scotch and the fine art of seduction. Hefner led a revolution with his pipe, his Pepsis and his legendary rotating bed.

But after a couple of decades, Hef's revolution was beginning to sputter. A victim of its own spectacular success, Playboy didn't seem so cutting-edge to youngsters in the late '60s who claimed free love and doing your own thing as their birthright.

They also claimed women's rights. The rise of feminism exposed Playboy, for all its advancements, as embarrassingly backward in upholding male privilege. Playboy had always celebrated women. But their designated purpose remained stuck in the past: to please men.

Just consider the Playboy Clubs, which flourished from coast to coast in the 1960s, and not least because of its service staff: the corset-costumed Playboy Bunnies, complete with their rabbit ears and cotton tails. The real stretch for Playboy wasn't in these skintight outfits. It was how to reconcile Playboy-style panache with the new craze of sit-ins and peace marches.

The Playmate anointed for December 1969 seemed a desperate bid to shed its "Mad Men" brand of hipness and reassert its relevance. To that end, the comely Northwestern University political science major declared on her centerfold questionnaire that "my friends know I'm young, sexy, somewhat intellectual, hate parties, love teachers, enjoy money, clothes, cars" -- but also, in a power-to-the-power decree, she made clear that she loved "demonstrations, riots and anything for the revolution."

The Playboy revolution may have died with that pronouncement. Even so, Playboy presses on to this day. But where it once defied a puritan ideal that kept sex under wraps and condemned nudity as pornographic, now it struggles against a state of oversaturation, where nudity (and almost anything else) runs riot, free of charge, from any video screen.

No wonder little of the Playboy empire remains, at least when judged by the standards it once set. As American Playboy shows with cinematic flair, Hefner helped blast the world into a new permissiveness -- a world that long ago left him behind.

Read the rest here:

Hefner's Bunny business bared in docuseries - Lowell Sun