Category Archives: New Utopia

Metal Underground

Studio Update On New Album Posted By Bleeding Utopia Metal Underground Swedish death metal act Bleeding Utopia issued a video studio update on the upcoming new album. The band is currently in the studio finishing up the album, which is said to be a blast of deep-rooted Swedish death metal meshed with modern American ...

See the rest here:

Studio Update On New Album Posted By Bleeding Utopia - Metal Underground

In the 2016 US Presidential election, Donald Trump won 61 per cent of the vote in the mid-west state of South Dakota. This was not a surprise South Dakotans had backed a Republican candidate since 1968. South Dakota is a red state. Erika M. Anderson hails from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but for the past few years has resided in Portland, Oregon on the US Pacific Coast. In Portlands county Multnomah Hilary Clinton bagged over 73 per cent of the votes last November. Portland is a blue city.

Its the tension between these two versions of America the liberal coastal elite and the middle American that inspired much of EMAs third album, Exile In The Outer Ring. Its a staggering record, fuelled by class alienation, male rage as a society teeters on the verge of an implosive collapse. Its an album of heavy drones, self-loathing and Erikas gloriously twisted wit and feels like a sonic monument to the current fucked-up status of America in 2017.

However, Exile In The Outer Ring is a record aiming to build bridges. Amid all the dystopic energy lies a sliver of hope in the place EMA defines as the outer ring. According to Erika, this zone is where the two Americas collide. It can be found at the periphery of cities that have become too expensive for most, and its where the jobless from the countryside come to find a new life. Its a mass of faceless strip malls, vape shops and drive-thru fast-food joints and the good news is that the outer ring is culturally diverse, community-focussed and, as Erika tells me, is where all the weird shit is going down.

Its a place that suits Erika perfectly. She is still a mid-westerner at heart, but left Sioux Falls in part to remove herself from the suffocating misogyny of the towns punk rock community. Weve spoken before about her formative years (in an interview with fellow mid-westerner, Zola Jesus, in an article titled Empathy And The Red States) and Ive witnessed Erika visibly prickling at the lazy racist rednecks stereotypes bandied around by the coastal chattering classes.

I have interviewed Erika several times since a first meeting 2011, in the disused, top-floor storeroom in Salfords Islington Mill. She was touring her astounding debut album Past Life Martyred Saint and told me a terrible joke about an alien mattress salesman. Our most recent conversation was over a Skype video link for a tQ feature about her 2014 album, The Futures Void, a visceral and intense set of songs exploring online abuse, digital surveillance and media wrath. When we spoke, Erika was agitated and withdrawn. I was thinking about the last time I talked to you, Erika tells me, when we catch up to discuss Exile In The Outer Ring via another Skype video. I was a wreck and I was fucked up. I was not in a good place. This interview is very different.

Although I ask her some preposterous questions Erika has virtually fixed America by the time we are done she is on fine form and impassioned about an alternative vision for her wounded, flailing country. Exile and a desire to build bridges clearly suit EMA.

Congratulations on the new record. Three albums in, how close are we getting to the core DNA of EMA?

Erika M. Anderson: Well, I think I have done a pretty good job at being me on this record. It has all the things that I am interested in for as long as I have been making music - heavy drones, folk melodies, feedback and riffs. Its my language.

Thinking about the album title, can you give me an insight as to what you mean by the phrase outer ring.

EA: The outer ring is a term I came up with. Its the estuary between where the people who are being forced out of the cities, due to being economically disadvantaged, meet with the people who having to leave the countryside in order to get jobs. It has its own vibe and culture. And, where that place exists, is at the outer ring of a city. A lot of my work has been about spiritual transformations taking place in prosaic places. The outer ring to me is mess of chain stores and nondescript architecture, but also containing many super-unique elements the people. When I go to a city now, a lot of them are just all much of a muchness, with a culture and an aesthetic that makes them virtually identical. The fact that only wealthier people can live in the city, means they have become sterile. They all have the same kind of shops, bars and restaurants you could be in New York, London or Portland. Cities should be vibrant with culture and they still do house all of the cultural institutions but I think the outer ring is the place where the weird shit is going down.

Im also interested in a quote from the press release for this album, in which you describe your teenage self as a socialised male. What did you mean by that phrase?

EA: In my home town, any art or culture or anything interesting that was going on was strictly a boys club. Punk rock was the main art. There were definitely no girls that were playing music. I was the first woman to front a band in Sioux Falls. Even music fandom, if you wanted to hang out and learn about any of this stuff, all the people who were doing cool shit were dudes. They were also gnarly scumbags, but they were the people I had to learn from.

What impact did that have on you?

EA: Well, there are a couple of places on this record where I was going for a Guns N Roses vibe. It was me thinking about being six years old and getting the Appetite For Destruction tape and it containing a painting of a crumpled little girl who has just been raped by the huge robot. So, what did that do to me? I was taking in all of this culture the rage and the rebellion and it was all very male. When you are reading [Charles] Bukowski as a 12-year old girl, what does it do to you? Of course male rage is not hard to understand. It is everywhere. There are so many movies, so many books and so many songs that are fuelled by male rage. I have had to deal with male rage literally; by having crazy boyfriends who would destroy shit. I feel like I understand it. There is part of me that has been taking it in - artistically - for years, by observing, and then making something out of that rage.

The album explores some of the rage that fuelled the Presidential election. Why do you think that Trump was able to tap into so much frustration and anger?

EA: All the songs on this record were written before the US Presidential election. I think that one of the things I was tapping into, subconsciously, was a resentment of the liberal coastal elite in America. I dont know how to speak to the racism aspect [of Trump supporters] thats a whole different discussion but there is a resentment and rejection of liberal culture. That culture is not available to many people in America. And the liberal coastal elite, who may never have been to rural America, just think everyone there is racist and homophobic and judge them to be terrible people. They think there is nothing wrong to be making jokes about meth heads, who are actually a group of people with poverty-related drug issues. They dont see their own hypocrisy. I think this is a huge issue and one that cannot be ignored. Also, there is a dismissal of certain aspects of liberalism an almost wholesale rejection of multiculturalism and globalisation.

You are from South Dakota and I remember the article we did for tQ with Zola Jesus was entitled Empathy For The Red States. I am assuming you empathise with the demographic so reviled by the liberal coastal elite?

EA: I can pick up on that. I have a bit of that resentment. I can go a fancy bar or a boutique and it flips a switch in me, even though I have been living on the coast for a long time. I can still feel it, even if I havent been back home for a while. Having said that, I didnt really see Trump coming because he is such a conman. I could see the anger and a desire to say fuck you to the establishment and to the liberal elite, but how could you vote for a person who is a sleazy, New York City real estate mogul? Its beyond me.

Let me push you a little bit. While I understand your empathy, is it not true that there are many people in the Red States that are racist and homophobic and how do you square that away?

EA: Okay. I have a lot of thoughts going on. As for how to defend folk back home? I have been recently reading a lot about racism in America and the aspect that I can talk to and experienced when I was growing up in South Dakota, was about racism being linked to misbehaviour and shock value. I remember being in first grade and a kid carved a swastika into his desk. The teacher was so upset and the kid was getting into huge trouble. None of us knew what it meant at that point I didnt know and the kid didnt really know. He had no history of World War Two he just knew it caused a huge reaction. I think that is something I saw - kids being rebellious. Thats being going on forever. I was reading some stuff about the alt. right and some of them are these children who now have grown up and want to say the craziest things and make the most offensive memes. So, there is an aspect of that, which I remember as a kid. People would say racist shit and I would be like Dude, we are in South Dakota and everyone is white and you are obviously ignorant you literally have no clue what you are talking about at all. All they knew is that it would evoke a reaction. So, I had experience with this, when I was hanging out with some of the teenage scumbag boys. I dont have experience of actual hate crimes or of people who make that jump from saying stupid shit for shock value to piss people off, to the violent actions. I didnt grow up with that. I have no understanding of that. I dont know what thats about or how people can get that way. And, I dont know what to do about it.

Dont worry, Im not asking you to cure racism.

EA: Its frightening. There were people murdered recently on a train in Portland. Its insanity.

Have you a sense of what it means to be an American in 2017?

EA: This is the thing. I feel like an American and all this shit makes me want to reclaim it. I was so pissed when a group of people decided they were more American than I was. I dont believe any of the bullshit they try and put under the umbrella of what it means to be American. Since when has America just been about white people? We are all fucking immigrants what are they talking about? So, I definitely want to reclaim what it means to be American. Right now, the concept has been trashed.

How would EMA reclaim America? Sorry, thats a deeply unfair question.

EA: No. Let me think about this. What would I reclaim America as? I do want it to be a diverse country. As I am talking to you, I am thinking that the reason the outer ring might work as a place of unification is because its signifiers of geography are neutral. It has a neutral aesthetic - it is chain stores and parking lots. Its not the city with its dark wood espresso shops or the country with its dive bars. I dont know how to fix the cities and make affordable housing in the city. It seems pretty fucked cities seem like places people visit but not anywhere that anyone could live. They dont feel vibrant or integrated and interwoven anymore. The only thing I can hope for is some sort of suburban utopia. Isnt that what everyone at some point desires? Didnt America invent the suburbs?

Can you define your suburban utopia?

EA: The suburbs have always been like an American version of utopia and a reflection of their hopes and fears. Erikas version of American suburban utopia which I am renaming the outer ring is a diverse place, with affordable housing, the possibility for people to have small businesses (which is more realistic in the outer ring than in the city with its huge costs), decent public transportation and the ability to access art and cultural events. Thats my dream for America.

I think you might have just fixed America. Finally, is Exile In The Outer Ring a hopeful album?

EA: Well, you can always accuse my records of being harrowing or dark or bleak. There is processing of trauma on my records and I think my music does contain a lot of healing. As a person who has been watching others rage for years, instead of having my own tantrums, I keep the feelings inside until I can find a way of making them into music. The songs are like healing spells and it really works for me. When I really do a good job on a song, it gets rid of a weight. So, as far as hope goes, there is hope that you can heal through processing stuff and make it through to the other side. I think thats all I can hope for.

Exile In The Outer Ring is out on August 25 via City Slang.

Read the original:

A New Suburban Utopia: An Interview With EMA - The Quietus

NewsBusters (press release) (blog)

Liberal Utopia Imagined Through Students in New Season of 'Degrassi: Next Class' NewsBusters (press release) (blog) A few episodes later, Yael reveals her new pronouns: they and them. In classic liberal fashion, the show rebukes Yael's boyfriend, Hunter, for not accepting his girlfriend's transformation. Despite his assertion that he's attracted to girls, his ...

Go here to read the rest:

Liberal Utopia Imagined Through Students in New Season of 'Degrassi: Next Class' - NewsBusters (press release) (blog)

WORDPLAY Written and illustrated by Ivan Brunetti 40 pp. Toon Books. $12.95. (Picture book; ages 3 to 7)

Childrens picture books are called picture books for a reason. The words are vital, of course, and they usually play an equal role, but the pictures pretty much always do the heavy lifting. In books where the words are understated or spare, the pictures are often overstated and elaborate. And then there are the wordless picture books, where the pictures dont even share the spotlight.

In these five new picture books, the pictures are back at center stage, but the spotlight is on the words or play of words. This subtle relationship shift has consequences. As the wordplay gets more complex, the pictures must exert more effort and ingenuity to make sense out of it. The result is uniquely offbeat, and wildly whimsical.

Most kids are familiar with the cryptic question: Why is 6 afraid of 7? The answer is Tara Lazars latest title: 7 Ate 9. Lazar has transformed this classic riddle into an improbable whodunit, featuring an all-star cast of large, brightly colored, walking, talking numbers. The pun-laden story, told in the voice of a hard-boiled private eye (played, naturally, by the letter I), involves the attention-seeking number 6 (a.k.a. The Client), who tries to pin a dreadful crime (cannibalism!) on the elusive number 9. Along the way there are supporting roles from Zero (shrewdly posing as an 8), and 11 (never far from 7) and B, a waitress who serves pi. Yes, pi. If this seems a little complicated, well, it is, but in a stylish, film noir kind of way. Lazars crisp, well-paced prose, combined with Ross MacDonalds dynamic illustrations, make the story a lot of fun to read, even if you have to backtrack to get your numbers straight. Think of it as a kid-friendly version of The Maltese Falcon, only with larger than life-size numbers, and no cigarette smoke.

In Susan Hoods Double Take! a boy, his cat and an elephant wander around the city, acting out the definitions of opposite words. It begins simply enough, with Jay Flecks expert compositions showing the difference between left and right, asleep and awake. But soon the concept shifts, from basic opposites to explaining what makes an opposite an opposite. Scale, perspective and point of view all come into play. Hoods rhyming prose gradually builds to a scene of a wild roller coaster ride, where she asks the reader to do a quick double take. Flecks picture shows the cat tied to a helium balloon, but the cat is above and the balloon is below a clue that proves that the right-side-up book is now upside down. Its a satisfying highlight to a stimulating book.

Rebecca Van Slyke has created a brave young cowgirl/etymologist in Lexie the Word Wrangler. Lexie lives west of the Mississippi, where, along with corralling cantankerous cattle, she can lasso words from thin air. Its a place where trees sprout baby letters, which grow into multisyllabic words, which are tossed into stew pots and herded into sentences, which eventually become stories. In other words: an ideal location for a writers retreat. However, all is not hunky-dory in this wordplay utopia. A word rustler is on the loose. He has removed the letter D from Lexies bandana, turning it literally into a banana. Worse yet, an extra S has transformed the desert into a giant dessert. Lexie must track down this scoundrel and bring him to justice. Jessie Hartlands artwork is playful and bright, and she does a valiant job integrating the wacky wordplay with the plot. This isnt an edge-of-your-seat western, but the book is packed with puns, twists of words and vintage cowboy dialect kids will enjoy imitating.

A similar rascal is at work in Bill Richardsons The Alphabet Thief. This long-nosed, masked bandit is on a nefarious mission, starting with the letter A. Following the logic of Lexie, when a letter, like B, is stolen, bowls become owls, brats are turned into rats, and a dog named Bill becomes ill. The story is told in brisk, rhyming stanzas, by a determined, redheaded sleuth. The wordplay is fun a chair becomes hair, a fox turns into an ox though some examples are a visual stretch. Throughout, Roxanna Bikadoroffs lively spot illustrations deftly keep pace as the altered words pile up. In the end, the redhead prevails, with a unique weapon; a Y-shaped slingshot that fires Zs. Dont worry, there is no bloodshed. Just swift and punitive sleep.

In Ivan Brunettis Wordplay, a schoolteacher assigns her class a homework assignment: to create a list of compound words. Somebody suggests homesick, and a picture shows a sad-faced house with a thermometer in its mouth. Housefly is seen as a house with wings. One student, fittingly named Annemarie, becomes obsessed. She looks for compound words everywhere around her, even where they dont exist. Brunettis use of simple, sequential cartoons turns this basic exercise into a brief, but delightful story.

Each of these books, though different in style and sensibility, is designed to spark a curiosity in language. They prove that whether its chasing after a riddle, stealing alphabet letters or defining an opposite, the picture book is an ideal stage for the play of words.

Jon Agee is the author and illustrator of many picture books, including Milos Hat Trick and Terrific, which will both be reissued in September.

A version of this review appears in print on July 16, 2017, on Page BR16 of the Sunday Book Review with the headline: Watch Your Language!.

Visit link:

Whimsical New Picture Books with a Spotlight on Wordplay - New York Times

Submitted information

LIMA Employers in the greater West Central Ohio region will collect $33 million in rebates from the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation in checks that will be mailed beginning next week.

BWC Administrator/CEO Sarah Morrison, in Lima to present a ceremonial check to local business leaders, said employers are free to spend their rebates as they wish, but she hopes they will consider investing in workplace safety.

We work with employers all over Ohio to prevent injuries and illness in the workplace, and they will tell you that investing in safety is a wise business decision, said Morrison, speaking at a press conference at the Lima/Allen County Chamber of Commerce. Safe workplaces mean fewer injuries, fewer medical claims and a stable workforce, all of which leads to a healthy bottom line for a business.

Morrison was joined by chamber President/CEO Jed Metzger and Tony Daley of Limas Spallinger Millwright Services Inc. Metzger and Daley accepted the check on behalf of employers in the entire region, which includes Allen, Auglaize, Shelby, Hancock, Putnam, and Van Wert counties.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich proposed the rebate in March. Its the third such rebate in the last four years, made possible by an improving safety climate, prudent fiscal management and strong investment returns. The plan to distribute rebates to more than 200,000 Ohio employers during the month of July was approved by BWCs Board of Directors in April. Visitbwc.ohio.govfor more details and eligibility requirements.

The plan also includes a $44 million investment innew health and safety initiativesto promote a healthy workforce and a culture of safety in every Ohio workplace. This includes a new wellness program for small employers, funding for programs to help firefighters and those who work with children and adults with disabilities, and an education campaign to address common injuries at work and in the home.

A healthy economy depends on a strong and healthy workforce, Morrison continued. And when the economy is healthy, we all benefit.

Rebate checks will be mailed in phases starting July 10.

View original post here:

Jupiters casino ballroom - Utopia casino metropolis - Van Wert independent

Launched in 2008 and expanding incrementally ever since, the flagship Utopia III line of speakers from French audio manufacturer Focal has now been joined by an upgraded special-edition range dubbedappropriately enoughEvo. The new collection currently comprises two variations, the Scala Evo and the Maestro Evo, both of which retain the stunning design vocabulary of their forebears while offering technological upgrades to help audiophiles get the most out of their systems.

Both floor-standing speakers share the same basic layout as their respective cousins from the standard Utopia line. The Scala Evo (the smaller of the two models) is equipped with a 10.6-inch subwoofer, a beryllium inverted dome tweeter, and a newly improved version of Focals proprietary Power Flower midrange driver, all of which occupy their own, isolated sections of the cabinet. The Maestro is equipped with the aforementioned drivers as well as four additional woofers with a Magnetic Dampening System that allows the bass to adjust to the specific dimensions of the room the speaker occupies.

The Evos also have upgraded crossovers and the gauge of their cabling has been increased by 20 percent to reduce distortion. However, the new feature that will be music to hardcore hi-fi geeks ears is the support for bi-amplification, in which a single speaker is connected to two amplifiers: one that handles high and mid-range frequencies and a second amp for low frequencies. This affords discerning listeners greater control over their system and allows them to fine-tune the sound according to their personal preference.

Since its introduction, the Utopia line has been noted for its aesthetic appeal, and the Evos are no exception. The speaker is arranged in a slightly curved stack, with each type of driver housed in its own enclosure. The Evos differentiate themselves, however, with brand new set of three finish colors inspired by the automotive industry: British Racing Green, Metallic Blue, and Ash Gray. (Carrara White and Black Lacquer are also available for traditionalists.)

Though pricing for the two new models has not yet been announced, Focal expects to start offering the Evo for sale next month.

Go here to read the rest:

Focal Reveals the Next Generation of Its Flagship Utopia Speakers - Robb Report

In Andy Weirs novel-turned-Matt-Damon-movie The Martian, the protagonist endures the harsh terrain of Mars by using his own shit to grow potatoes. The idea isnt that outlandishover the last few years, a NASA-backed project has been attempting to simulate Martian potato farming by growing taters in the Peruvian desert. While early results were promising, new research suggests that survival of any life on Marsmuch less potato-growing humansmight be more difficult than we thought. I blame Matt Damon.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh tested how the bacteria Bacillus subtilis would react to perchlorates, which were first discovered in Martian soil back in 2008. Perchlorates are naturally-occurring (and sometimes, man-made) chemicals that are toxic to humans, but theyre not always so bad for microbes. In fact, in the Atacama Desert in Chile, some microbes use perchlorates in the soil as an energy source. On Mars, perchlorates allow water to exist in a briny liquid form despite the planets low atmospheric pressure.

However, when the researchers put B. subtilis in a bath of magnesium perchlorate solution similar to the concentrations found on Mars, and exposed the microbes to similar levels of UV radiation, the bacteria died within 30 seconds. Even when the researchers repeated the experiment on a Martian rock environment they made of silica, most of the bacteria still died. The depressing research has been published in Scientific Reports.

Although the toxic effects of oxidants on the Martian surface have been suspected for some time, our observations show that the surface of present-day Mars is highly deleterious to cells, caused by a toxic cocktail of oxidants, iron oxides, perchlorates and UV irradiation, the researchers wrote. However, we show the bacteriocidal effects of UV-irradiated perchlorates provide yet further evidence that the surface of Mars is lethal to vegetative cells and renders much of the surface and near-surface regions uninhabitable.

Not all hope is lost, however. For one thing, the study only tested one species of bacteriaits unclear how others would have fared under the same circumstances. Lynn Rothschild of NASA Ames Research Center told Gizmodo she and her team recently conducted research that suggests bacteria could withstand the perchlorates and salts on Mars. Weve reached out for additional information and will update this post when we hear back. Of course, its always possible that life forms on Mars are so biologically different, theyve found a way to adapt to perchlorates in the soil, and even thrive.

Obviously, more research must be done before we give up on Martian potatopia. Still, it does sense that a giant unused litter box orbiting the sun wouldnt be a great for potato farming. Goddamn you, Matt Damon.

Read the original here:

Mars Might Not Be The Potato Utopia We Hoped - Gizmodo

It was back in mid-May that Joe Maddon first urged Cubs fans to "embrace the suck," one of the rare Maddon catchphrases that never caught on.

The Cubs were a mediocre 21-19 when he unveiled the T-shirt during a pre-game news conference at Wrigley Field, and they remain a mediocre 43-43 after Friday's 6-1 victory over the Pirates.

But for one reason or another, no one has embraced the fact the Cubs suck, especially those who paid a whopping 20 or 30 percent increase on their season tickets.

They have analyzed it, debated it and denied it, but embracing it is another matter altogether.

Of course the point of the slogan, as well as the original 2016 version, "Try Not to Suck," was to poke fun at the franchise's well-chronicled failures of the past century. Maddon effectively was de-Cubbing the Cubs image, turning the loveable losers tag on its head for a laugh, with proceeds going to charity.

It worked fine in 2016, but not so much now.

For the first time since he came to town in 2011, President Theo Epstein is under pressure to make changes and avoid the suck. Epstein said Thursday most of the answers can be found inside the Cubs clubhouse, and he doesn't feel the urgency to make a splashy trade.

But remember that one of the first things Epstein said when he took over the Cubs was he prided himself on being unpredictable, suggesting "being unpredictable is a competitive advantage."

So far Epstein's biggest decisions have been predictable dumping Miguel Montero for his rant about pitchers not holding runners and sending Kyle Schwarber down to Triple-A Iowa for a couple of weeks.

Maybe it's time for an unpredictable move just to shake things up.

Waiting on the Cubs to get hot has been mind-numbing, and it's time to consider the possibility this just isn't the year. It doesn't appear as though this particular team is capable of matching last year's postseason success even if they get in, so maybe it's best to enjoy each game on its own merits without fretting over the big picture.

It was once common to do that to go to Wrigley and take in a game without the extra baggage of really caring whether or not the Cubs win. "That's Cub" had a totally different meaning to the generations of fans who endured a 20-year stretch of bad baseball from 1947-66, when only one team the 82-80 Cubs of 1963 were above .500.

Losing seasons were taken for granted, yet they kept coming out to the Friendly Confines, and now their grandkids are doing the same. Some blamed that laissez-faire attitude for allowing Cubs ownership to field mediocre teams continuously, knowing the ballpark was going to be a drawing card win or lose.

But now that the Cubs finally have won, just going to Wrigley for the sake of being there isn't quite enough.

Games like Friday's, when Ian Happ ran into Schwarber on a routine fly and knocked the ball out of his glove, and Gregory Polanco took an extra base after Addison Russell flipped the ball to an inattentive Eddie Butler without calling time, make you nostalgic for the days when Larry Biittner lost a fly ball in his cap.

You laughed off the ineptitude back then and chalked it up to being a Cubs fan. Those days are over now, thanks to that shiny trophy and dreams of a dynasty.

The new norm of Cubs' mediocrity may be hard to stomach for those who expected utopia based on a young, talented roster and one of the top managers in the game.

But the dinosaurs among us have endured worse seasons and survived. One of the more memorable examples occurred 40 years ago in 1977, when the Cubs finished 81-81 after being 25 games above .500 on June 28th.

It was a classic Cubs choke, but for a while it was some of the more enjoyable baseball we had seen on the North Side, and a fun time was had by all, with the possible exception of manager Herman Franks and his team.

Two years later, after another underachieving season, Franks quit and ripped his players, calling them "crazy" and leaving with one of the greatest exit lines ever on outfielder Mike Vail: "There isn't enough money in the world to pay me to manage if I have to look at that face every day."

Maddon never will channel his inner Herman, and probably could find a silver lining in a pothole, as his glass half-full assessment of Thursday's 11-2 loss to the Brewers showed.

"If there is a way to get your butt kicked properly, we did that yesterday," he said.

Embrace the butt-kicking?

Now that's Cub.

psullivan@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @PWSullivan

Read the original here:

Getting used to not-so-new Cubs norm of mediocrity no problem if you know history - Chicago Tribune

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Cruisin Indiana is headed to an unusual village on the southwest tip of the state. For more than 200 years, people have been drawn to the peaceful charm of New Harmony.

Theres an undeniable sense of tranquility in historic New Harmony. It is surrounded by beauty and the search for higher meaning. This fertile village on the banks of the Wabash River was once the outermost edge of the Indiana frontier where settlers tried to form the perfect society.

Think if you rode into this town on horseback in 1820 and found this out in the middle of the wilderness, said Linda Warrum. Youve just got culture way ahead of its time here.

German-born spiritual leader Georg Rapp, led his Harmony society to Indiana. For ten years, they built a pious and prosperous utopia that became known as The Wonder of the West.

They made products they shipped to 10 countries and 22 states. They had leather and shoe factory and made rope.

But the experiment moved elsewhere.

Rapp and his followers left in 1825 to get closer to East Coast markets. They sold the village to a British social reformer Robert Owen. Owen was Welsh born and had factories in New Lennox, Scotland. He wanted another Utopia and a new moral order with equal education and equal social status.

Walking tours beginning at the Athenaeum Visitor Center where you learn about Owens rigid socialism too radical to survive. But his ideas and respect for education live on.

Today New Harmony is buzzing. Visitors flock to the village's artisan shops.

Golf carts you can rent are a favorite mode of transportation. Others strolling to friendly taverns and a local micro-brewery. There are performances at the historic Opera House.

Pottery makers also put on a show and display their creations at local galleries like 609.

When you look at that piece of art, you see the beauty of the art. And when I look at it, I see the beauty of the artist, said Len Blackwell.

Theres equally brilliant art at the Red Geranium Restaurant, with an original Picasso in the dining room.

Overnight guests can lodge at the eco-friendly New Harmony Inn or rent an original home. Much of the village on the National Register Historic Places.

Especially for my wife and daughter, its one of those things where they just love the old houses and different architecture and landscapes, said David Roos, a visitor at the New Harmony Inn.

New Harmonys challenging Labyrinth was designed as a place for reflection. It can take an hour to reach the center if you make a wrong turn. Harmonists believe that the labyrinth is a symbol for the difficulties of making the right choices in life towards attaining true harmony.

The early Utopians are gone, but the yearning for something greater remains.

The serenity of the Chapel of the Little Portion dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi is one of many places to find spiritual connections.

Many are drawn to a New Harmony treasure known as the Roofless Church commissioned by descendants of Robert Owen.

Walk up underneath the small dome and youll feel the presence of something special. The spirit of peace and perfect grace that seems to envelope you every time you return to the place known as New Harmony.

View original post here:

The wonder, peace and 'harmony' in Southwest Indiana - WGN-TV

Utopia hits the most important checkmarks on nearly every consumer's wish list, by providing:

Utopia will unveil its new brand and product lineup at the 4th Annual Chalice Festival, July 7-9 at the San Bernardino County Fairgrounds in Victorville, at the Critical Concentrate Terp Terrace #2.

"For years, cannabis consumers have said they care about their cannabis, and want clean, quality products they can trust," said Emily Bercow, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Utopia. "We are proud to offer our line of premium products that are as close to perfection as possible."

Utopia worked on the rebranding project with Hippo Premium Packaging, a leading cannabis-focused custom packaging and branding agency, known for its upscale product enclosures, POP displays, graphic design, and brand development.

Kary Radestock, Founder and CEO of Hippo Premium Packaging said working with Utopia has been uniquely fulfilling. "It has been our team's immense pleasure to work this bright, focused group of entrepreneurs. The unveiling of the refreshed brand is just the beginning. As we continue the development process, we will be releasing additional products and packaging that will reflect Utopia's new spirit and energy."

For information on Utopia, call: (831) 824-4099, or visit: http://www.utopiacannabis.com

For information on Hippo Premium Packaging, call: 619-269-0939, or visit: http://www.hippopackaging.com.

Connect with Utopia:Facebook: facebook.com/utopiafarms.org Twitter: @UtopiaFarms Instagram: instagram.com/utopia.ca/

Website: http://www.utopiacannabis.com

Connect with Hippo:Facebook: facebook.com/hippopackaging Twitter: @HippoPackaging Instagram: instagram.com/hippopackaging Pinterest: pinterest.com/hippopackaging Website: http://www.hippopackaging.com

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/utopia-launches-new-branding-with-innovative-packaging-and-positioning-300483972.html

SOURCE Hippo Premium Packaging

http://www.hippopackaging.com

See the original post:

Utopia Launches New Branding with Innovative Packaging and Positioning - PR Newswire (press release)