Category Archives: New Utopia

Oh to be an innocent teen/young adult again, dancing the night away at one of Berkshires many nightclubs. The club-goers of today will have different experiences of the countys nightlife as bars and nightclubs have morphed into each other over the years.

The old-school nightclub has sadly declined, meaning that many of the places that became our second homes have gone on to a new life. As music and social trends change, difficult decisions have to be made about the future of these much-loved establishments.

Hazy memories of sticky floors, drunken antics and huddling around the kebab van remain for many of us, no matter how much time has passed since our first experiences of these great clubs. In spite of the multitude of changes experienced in this market, these aspects remain essential ingredients of a memorable night out for today's clubbers

READ MORE : Berkshire pub where Oasis performed among 5 lost and forgotten ale houses you want back

On our Facebook page, we asked BerkshireLive readers to age themselves with a nightclub they used to go to thats no longer around - a name which (despite perhaps being too drunk to remember the details) will never be forgotten by those concerned. While plenty of other Berkshire clubs received mentions on our post, such as The Majestic, The Ricky Tick in Windsor and Rebeccas, these five were perhaps the most frequently named.

What was the first nightclub you visited in Berkshire? Let us know in the comments!

We begin by travelling way back to when the Top Rank represented a great night out from a different era. Pre-dating the likes of The Matrix by about four decades, Top Rank was a typical 1960s night out found just outside Reading station and above the entrance to the Thames Valley Bus Station.

The host of various events, Top Rank was the home of traditional ballroom dancing, as well as "discotheques" as they were known at the time. Local frequenters would often go dancing here three or four times a week.

There was a sweeping staircase and two bars - one to the right of the stage as you walked in, and one upstairs. As the ballroom headed into the '70s, they took advantage of the disco craze of that particular era; after the night, they'd be a long wait outside for the few taxis they had in those days.

Plenty of musical acts frequented Top Rank during its heyday, including The George Bradley Band, while other previously unearthed photos show the semi-finals of Miss Vanity Fair which also took place here. One BerkshireLive reader recalled: "OMG, such good memories that was the place to go! Remember many a boogie night dancing round our handbags, good times bring back those days, loved them, such a good place to meet up and socialise."

Unmissable fun was had during the weekends worth of entertainment. It later became a bingo hall before it was knocked down as part of one of the previous incarnations of the Station Hill development.

One which many Reading locals frequented during their drunkenly dancing days came in the form of Utopia. People of a certain vintage will recall a time before late-night bars when you were faced with the situation of bars closing at around 10.30pm.

The dilemma then arose about whether to try and get a taxi or bus home or if the night was only just getting started. Many of those in the latter camp soon headed to Yates' - still standing proudly today despite a few licensing issues - to get the bus to Utopia.

The trip out to Calcot was all part of the fun, even if it seemed to go on for hours before a night of fun followed your arrival. For a select few (although often making up a considerably larger percentage), there was a nervous wait outside due to being too young to (legally) enter.

As was standard for typical nightclubs, you were greeted with incredibly loud music and went to buy the very expensive drinks. Visitors from as far as Maidenhead and Swindon could be met at the bar or on the dance floor.

Despite having perhaps the most disgusting toilets anywhere outside day three of Reading Festival, it was the place to be in the town during the late 90s/early 2000s. The ultimate super-club has since become an IKEA.

This particular former club had multiple incarnations during its stint as part of Readings nightlife. Although it was finally known as RG1 before closure, it was previously known, and perhaps most fondly remembered, as Washington Heights.

A long stretch of time has passed since we were able to visit this part of town for a boogie. The site could be found as you go towards Caversham before the railway, where those nondescript flats currently sit.

The two-floor venue consisted of a VIP area upstairs for those after a more grand experience. A sunken dancefloor was a prominent feature of the club, including dancing podiums that allowed dancers to really make an impression on their fellow visitors.

Built to the side of the old car park in Chatham Street was Level One. This club is fondly remembered by many, while also being a place that other residents have never heard of.

Its out-of-town location made it a favourable club to make your regular. It also built up the reputation in the late 90s for the door staff having somewhat of an open mind with regards to what the law allowed and what they could get away with. Although its year of closure isnt widely known, what is common knowledge is that it was replaced with the flats that still stand there today.

Maidenheads representative in this list is the old Cinderellas. This is another club to have gone through many guises and rebrands. Finally known as Zoots (after a brief period as 5th Avenue), this was the town's only real nightclub. Although not being to everyone's taste, there were far worse places that you could spend a Friday night at.

The bouncers werent particularly fussy about who they let in, with jeans being permissible. Found within was the main dance floor on the lower level and a smaller dance floor above, with big windows so you could see what was going on downstairs. Recollectors included Colin Webb who loved it there cheesy as hell saw a few groups from the day there too and Carole Marshall who met my husband there 35 years ago!.

In February 1998 the site was turned into a Chicago Rock Cafe before it was taken over and began trading as Roma Club. After that also closed in more recent years, the building was demolished and a car park can be found in its place.

If you could bring one of these former clubs back, which one would it be?

Sign up for our newsletter and get the top stories from BerkshireLive delivered straight to your inbox.

View original post here:

5 lost Berkshire nightclubs that provided first experiences of the nightlife - Berkshire Live

Jane Fishman| For Savannah Morning News

David Byrne talks turning Broadway show 'American Utopia' into a film

David Byrne teamed up with 'Da 5 Bloods' director Spike Lee to film his hit Broadway production 'American Utopia' for HBO.

USA TODAY

By now it shouldnt be such a surprise. You walk into a place like Savannahs new darling hotel, the Thompson, with your phone deeply ensconced in a pocket or a purse and the next day ads for it start showing up in some social media page.

Coincidence? Nah. Think cyberspace connectivity. Its creepy; its real.

But when youre in a cab, as I was recently in New York City, and a blurb pops up on one of those mini-screens in the back seat about Oscar Micheaux, a pioneering black filmmaker I had never heard of until an hour earlier when I had watched a clip of his work at the Museum of Modern Art; well, thats not a coincidence. Thats what happens when you venture out, when you get out of your own world for a few days.

Jane Fishman: Ignore the weather. Put the garden shear down. The real spring cleaning is needed in the home.

Not that its easy. New York is noisy. Construction crews are out day and night. You can try to close the window in your hotel but the jack hammers bleed through, the beep-beep-beep sounds of trucks backing up penetrate the glass, the garage service never stops.

Still, theres order. In three days, walking past hundreds of people (and just as many dogs, strollers, baby buggies, delivery people, nannies, old women, old men) and dozens of food trucks selling specialties from Jamaica, India, Guatemala or Mexico, I never saw one traffic accident, one altercation, one fight.

How can so many people pass one another, many looking down at their phones, and not bump into anyone?

Jane Fishman: A happy ending in 'Fahrenheit 451'? There's reason to revisit frequently-banned classic

Surprises abound. But you have to be on your feet. Lets go to the Ukrainian art museum, I said when we headed in from LaGuardia, except the first one I googled was in Geneva.

Oops.

And that corner in East Harlem, where I went to visit a cousin and her newborn in a neighborhood that at first glance looked a little bit sketchy to me. Its not Parkside or Wilmington Island but, I learn from my cousin, the boys hanging out on the corner gave her a baby present, she said, and I didnt even know their names.

New York is a hustle, always reinventing itself, just like us. This time, instead of taking a subway or a cab to the Village during rush hour, we tried the ferry up the East River. The Soundview costs $2.75 one way. No traffic. A view of Manhattan, including the UN building. No crowds. No steps. I wish it had gone on longer.

Jane Fishman: Among the urban sprawl of Port Wentworth sits sea of collard greens and Promised Land Farm

I felt the same way when I saw David Byrne's American Utopia. Sure, I had watched the Spike Lee version on HBO. I knew some of his music. But to see it live at the St. James Theater on Broadway? I think I had forgotten the surround of sound during a live show, the grandeur of the building, the feeling of doing something with other people. It doesnt take long before you realize youre not in front of your TV screen anymore.

We were masked, we were checked for COVID-19vaccinations and I had goosebumps.

Byrne's gratitude toward the audience seemed real. His energy was real. And then to stand at the stage door after the show not necessarily to get an autograph but just to see how normal and conventional the extraordinary members of the cast look in their street clothes, hoisting instruments on their backs, hugging friends, but also maybe to catch a glimpse of Byrne, this 69-year-old no spring chicken who is doing six shows a week.

Jane Fishman: How dare the government infringe on my unalienable right to compost my vegetables

Davids not going to be signing autographs, the burly but friendly security guy announces just before the door opens. Unlike other stars, Byrne isnt headed for a waiting black Town Car. He rides a bike. We see the front wheel first. Then theres Byrne, also carrying a backpack, navigating his red Specialized through the crowd, assisted by a few more security guys until he reaches the corner of West 44th and Eighth Avenue, where he presumably pedals home somewhere in Manhattan.

The show is a tonic, a testament to community, to joy, to hopefulness. But no more, no less than his online news magazine. Minus choreography and music, the site is about people solving problems in very innovative ways all over the world. Its an antidote to negative news.

Byrne says he started collecting news articles that made him feel a little more hopeful. Its called reasonstobecheerful.world. His most recent article chronicled a program in the Netherlands that directs people with dementia to work on farms where they tend chickens, harvest vegetables, pick weeds. They focus on what they can do, not what they cant do. There are over 1,350 care farms in this itty-bitty country.

Connections, coincidence or not: theyre out there. You just have to find them.

Read this article:

Finding the good and bad of connectivity in New York City with the help of David Byrne - Savannah Morning News

You might think David Byrnes American Utopia on Broadway is a concert. Its not. Yet, its not exactly a play or a musical. Its something else outside the box. The Talking Heads frontman along with choreographer Annie-B Parsons and a band of international musicians, vocalists, and dancerscreates a show about exploring the unconventional, especially when it comes to unconventional thought and thought processes.

American Utopia made host Ruthie Fierberg wonder: How many solutions to societys conflicts might we be overlooking because we think the way we have always thought? American Utopia performer Tendayi Kuumba and experts Dr. Vinoo Alluri and Dr. Alejandro Lleras join us to explore: What problems could we solve if we used more of our minds and used our minds differently? Could we achieve an American Utopia?

Listen to the album of David Byrnes American Utopia.

Watch David Byrnes American Utopia on HBOMax.

Create the Change

Referred to in this episode (in order of mention)

About Our Guests:

Ruthie Fierberg, Host

Ruthiefierberg.com

IG: @whywetheater / T: @whywetheater

IG: @ruthiefierceberg / T: @RuthiesATrain

Tendayi Kuumba, Performer

A Spelman College 2010 graduate. She creates original performance work as UFLYMOTHERSHIP with Greg Purnell. Former touring member of Urban Bush Women, shes a recipient of the third Bloodlines (future) commissioning program by the Stephen Petronio Company and will debut new UFLYMOTHERSHIP work for Fall 22. @whostendayi

Dr. Vinoo Alluri PhD, musicologist and neuroscientist

Dr. Vinoo Alluri is an Assistant Professor at the Cognitive Science Lab at the International Institute of Information Technology-Hyderabad, India. She has a background in Electronics and Communication Engineering, after which she pursued a Masters in Music Engineering Technology at the University of Miami, and a Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Jyvskyl, Finland. Her work is highly interdisciplinary involving music psychology, music information retrieval, and neuroscience. She also has some formal training in the violin and piano. Currently she is working on projects that examine music listening habits on online streaming platforms and social media in relation to depression. In addition she is also working on determining how the brain processes musical features at varying levels of abstraction and how this depends on musical exposure, implicit learning, and enculturation.

Dr. Alejandro Lleras PhD, psychologist

Alejandro Lleras is a Colombian-American cognitive psychologist, with a Ph.D. from PennState. He is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a CAREER award recipient from the National Science Foundation. His work encompasses many subjects from visual awareness to problem solving and embodied cognition; from attention and distraction to the negative mental health effects of problematic internet/smartphone use; as well as other topics like time perception and the illusion of control. He is a founder member of the SPARK society, an non-for-profit organization aimed at increasing the participation and visibility of scholars belonging to historically-marginalized groups in the cognitive sciences. @alejolleras

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See the original post here:

DAVID BYRNE'S AMERICAN UTOPIA and Expanding Our Thinking to Solve Problems - Broadway Podcast Network

Courtesy of Wisteria Deng

Wisteria Deng GRD 26, a doctoral student in clinical psychology and founder of the Yale Vermilion Theater, a new theater group focusing on bringing the spotlight to Chinese language and culture theater productions, has always been interested in putting on a good show. She first experienced multicultural theater productions in her hometown in Singapore.

Singapore is an amazing combination of different cultures, especially in theater with different language mediums, she said. And thats where I grew up.

The Yale Vermilion Theater is Yales first bilingual theater club and was named after the mythological vermilion bird from Chinese tradition, which symbolizes rebirth and resilience. The group is currently working on a production of Secret Love in the Peach Blossom Land, originally written in Mandarin by Taiwanese playwright Stan Lai. It tells the story of two theater productions within its one storyline and is a meta, nesting doll of a show.

Meiting Chen 22, a performer in the show, said that on the surface, the play is about two different theater productions that overbook one theater, but the story turns into something much deeper than a simple managerial mishap.

One of these productions is a romance comedy based on the classic Chinese story of The Peach Blossom Land, originally written in 421 A.D. by Tao Yuanming, about a man who magically travels to the titular utopia to search for his wife.

His wife is cheating on him, so hes pissed, Chen added.

The other show within the show is a tragic romance called Secret Love. The lovers in this play have been separated by civil war in China, not infidelity and mystical paradise. Secret Love is about a man on his deathbed, discovering that his long-lost love has been in the same city as him, Taipei, all along. Although already married, he decides to try one last time to see his lost lover in person again.

Although initially butting heads at the prospect of sharing a theatrical space, the two performance groups find their narratives, actors and emotions intertwining; weaving together a sense of the very old and the still fresh, of love 1600 years ago and love just yesterday. Through language and culture, the two shows mesh and meld into Secret Love in the Peach Blossom Land.

Deng said that the play touches on topics and themes that are relevant universally, across time and across borders. Its about longing, warfare, peace, finding a sense of belonging, looking for that utopia, whatever that means, she said.

Given growing tensions between Taiwan and China, and news of war globally, Deng said. I find this play unfortunately really timely.

Deng also maintains that Chinese theater is by and for everyone. When first starting the Vermilion Theater, she says she was simply motivated by her love of the stage.

I felt so frustrated by how much I loved Chinese theatrical arts and how I wasnt able to share it with theater lovers, she said. Why dont we use theater as a window of opportunity and bridge the gap between American and Chinese audiences?

Tan Yi Tseung 24, who is acting as Jiang Taitai, the sickly mans wife in Secret Love, agreed. She added that the stories of Chinese theater, and drama in general, transcend language barriers and walls. The production of Secret Love in the Peach Blossom Land will be subtitled in English and Mandarin with a PowerPoint of over 600 slides.

Its not really about the language, she noted. The themes and emotions that we emphasize in this play are common to everyone. Well have English subtitles for the Mandarin parts, and some parts where we speak English with Mandarin subtitles. Language sometimes cant capture your emotions.

Deng echoed this sentiment. With this play, I just want to bring back shared humanity, she said.

The Yale Vermilion Theaters production of Secret Love in the Peach Blossom Land is slated to run from April 29 to May 1. Tickets can be reserved here.

Read the original here:

Rolling out the vermilion carpet: New theater group crosses boundaries and highlights Chinese theater traditions - Yale Daily News

LAWRENCE Stuart Day is both a professor in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese and dean of the University of Kansas School of Professional Studies and Edwards Campus in Overland Park, which focuses on training, often for nontraditional students. So what is he doing editing a new book titled Performances That Change the Americas(Routledge, 2022), which looks at both top-down and bottom-up uses of acting skills to create political change in the Western Hemisphere?

The idea is to explore the question How does classroom learning apply to the real world, and how does social change come about? in a fairly explicit way, Day said. It really is asking How does formal training in theatre performance impact the world around us? Everything we do at the Edwards Campus is very focused on that. How are we applying studies? How does training impact the world? So it might be in an American Sign Language & Deaf Studies degree; it may be in another area like biotechnology. But if you look at social change, a lot of change agents have some theatrical and some performance background. So I thought it would be interesting to study.

In fact, Day has long had a long career in performance studies, having written the book Outside Theater: Alliances That Shaped Mexico (University of Arizona Press, 2017), among several others. For the new book, he said, he sought contributions from experts in other regions, such that the content spans cases from Canada to Argentina.

Several chapters focus on recent, grassroots uses of theatricality to create social change, particularly by marginalized groups, including Carnival in hell: kinetic dissidence and the new queer carnivalesque in contemporary Brazil by Pablo Assumpo Barros Costa of the Universidade Federal do Cear.

Day highlighted the essay The queer/muxe performance of disappearance: Lukas Avendaos butterfly utopia by Antonio Prieto Stambaugh of Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico. Muxeis a word in the Zapotec language that can be translated as third gender. Prieto Stambaugh tells how Avendao theatrically demonstrated outside Mexican government buildings and elsewhere, seeking to address the 2018 disappearance (and, it turned out, the murder) of his brother, Bruno Alonso, in the state of Oaxaca.

And while eventually Alonsos body was returned to Avendaos family, perhaps as a result of his activism, Prieto Stambaugh argue(s) he is also gesturing toward a queer utopia where political, aesthetic and sexual dissidence merge, where violence and impunity fail to destroy hope.

The content of the book is so fresh that Day noted that Alonsos body was found shortly after that chapter was written, so we added an epilogue.

Sometimes, Day wrote in his introduction, a performance itself is the change.

Sometimes you're trying to raise awareness, he said. Sometimes you're trying to get attention. But sometimes you're just speaking to people; someone whose voice isnt heard otherwise has an opportunity then to express themselves, so that incremental change does happen. At least, we had better hope it does.

Top image: Performance artist Lukas Avendao (left) holds hands with a member of the Xica Teatre group in June 2018 outside the Mexican Consulate in Barcelona, Spain. Photo still from the short documentaryBuscando a Bruno (Searching for Bruno), posted on YouTube. Credit: Used with permission of Lukas Avendao.

Right image: Stuart Day, KUprofessor in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese.

Read more here:

Authors explore practical, political effect of theatre studies | The University of Kansas - KU Today

Henry David Thoreaus book Walden is spotlighted behind a glass case near the end of the room. Gold lettering stands out on the newly bound green cover, while forest-colored paint splatters the deckle-edged pages. This piece has no issue catching the eyes of spectators.

It is one of many that occupies the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center, which recently opened its newest exhibition, Mending, on Friday, March 4, to run through March 25. This exhibition showcases the work of Gina Fowler, Katharine Buckley and Luke Kelly, three graduate students in the MFA Book Arts Program at The University of Alabama.

Buckley earned her Bachelor of Arts in studio art from The University of Alabama, while Fowler earned her B.A. from Brigham Young University and Kelly earned his B.A. from Harvard University.

There are a plethora of ways to create book art. Book arts is a group of art forms encompassing both traditional and new methods of binding and papermaking to push the limits of the structure and function of books.

Fowler, who has been practicing book arts for five years, explained the wide variety of platforms that book arts takes and the meanings behind them.

There is a huge range in what we do, but it really is made up of three components. One is binding, so all sorts of different structures. There are different types of styles with books that have flat spines, round spines and exposed spines. Then we also do a lot of letterpress printing and papermaking, Fowler said.

Fowler said that there is a papermaking mill in Tuscaloosa that a lot of people in the community do not know about. This is somewhere artists go to make paper for their projects.

She went on to talk about her individual work and the category of her thesis project.

Myself and one of the other artists, [Buckley], are exhibiting artists books, which means we have conceptualized and designed and printed and basically assembled the books from start to finish, Fowler said. Sometimes it means making art that is meant to be in the book form, and sometimes it means making art that just references the idea of a book.

Fowlers work, titled An Ideal Nowhere: Finding My Utopia, is described in the preface at the gallery as a collection of work that explores the relationship between personal experiences and utopian societies.

Fowlers project Dreamland is a bound book, but individual pages are on display as well to better showcase singular ideas. Her pieces depict singular words and phrases decorated with colorful lines running across an otherwise blank page. Some of the phrases pose questions, while others make statements about Fowlers Dreamland.

Kellys work is in a different category than Fowlers and Buckleys. Kelly is a conservationist artist who focuses on mending and restoring older books with a decorative aspect. He explained part of his process of creating his thesis project, which features a thin, blue book with a silhouetted face on it.

Two of these books are for my thesis. I take the backs and put them together and then glue them together with the spine. Then, I stick a piece of board upright and pair the pages very, very thinly, Kelly said.

The pieces were set up around the outer walls of the room and were categorized by the artists. All the pieces meshed together, despite varying in style. From annotated criticisms of history textbooks, to pages decorated with quotes and color, to classic books with redesigned covers, there was much to marvel at.

The unique gallery experienced its opening night with a reception for the artists on Friday night. Faculty of the University of Alabama Book Arts Program were in attendance, as well as students and guests wanting to check out the display.

Ivy Borden, a junior majoring in art history and Southern studies, said the exhibition rocked the house and she felt grateful to be able to experience the artwork.

I am just incredibly thankful for the people at Book Arts, at Dinah Washington, at Flow Alabama for making it possible, Borden said.

Fowler said it felt special to have their work observed by the public because of how important tangibility is to the understanding of book arts.

It does not translate like a painting might, so this is a really special opportunity to be able to show in a public, open space, Fowler said.

Questions? Email the culture desk at culture@cw.ua.edu.

See the original post:

Tuscaloosa art gallery gives a new meaning to reading - The University of Alabama Crimson White

Theres a lot to see at fashion week. Blink (or scroll too fast) and youll miss the details: feathered bags, futuristic sunglasses, fork jewelry. All month long, well spotlight the things we saw that surprised or delighted us.

PARIS For many years, the fashion industry has been criticized for its lack of diversity in the types of bodies shown on runways.

Some progress has been made, and some seasons are better than others. But for the most part, at the most prominent fashion shows of New York, London, Milan and Paris, the landscape during the season that just ended looked like this: one plus-size model and one mid-size model was cast among a sea of size-zero (or thereabouts) models.

So it was refreshing, toward the end of this Paris Fashion Week, to see these ratios entirely flipped even if only at one show by a young brand called Ester Manas, designed by the Brussels-based duo Ester Manas and Balthazar Delepierre.

It was only Ms. Manas and Mr. Delepierres second runway show. In 2020, the label was a semifinalist for the LVMH Prize, a prestigious contest for emerging designers, in which the duo set themselves apart technically: About 90 percent of their collection comes in one size that fits several from about 34 to 50 in French sizing, or 2 to 18 in American sizing.

So, of the 29 looks presented at their runway show on Saturday, less than one-third were worn by conventionally thin models.

Yet instead of feeling like some extraordinary, yassified act of body-positive rebellion, the designers pulled off a more impressive feat: It just felt normal. The models like women who buy clothes in the real world, like the audience watching the show represented a wide range of sizes.

Still, these werent necessarily everyday clothes for every women, though thats true on most runways. These designs were ruched (which allows the broad size range), sheer, brightly colored and sexy, but securely constructed, exposing midriffs in a way that never seemed too exposing.

Backstage, after the show, a few models teared up, Mr. Delepierre said, because they couldnt imagine they could walk on the catwalk in Paris.

But the designers emphasized that their casting wasnt intended as an ethical stance, or by wanting to create some body-confident utopia. It was practical. They needed to show the clothes this way to sell the clothes. (Their largest stockist is Ssense.)

We have to show how the pieces move, Mr. Delepierre said.

Its about reality, Ms. Manas added. Its not about dreams.

See original here:

The Most Size-Inclusive Brand at Fashion Week - The New York Times

If Tweets and Facebook posts for decent accommodations and broker less-leads for flats in Bangalore were anything to go by, it would seem there's a mass migration happening in the country where everyone seems to be moving - or wanting to move - to India's prime startup hub.

For the past couple of days, there has been a substantial increase in the number of people taking to social media and announcing that they're moving to Bangalore - and the numbers have been so astounding, that "moving to Bangalore" has been trending on and off on Twitter India.

With offices opening up and some even making it mandatory for employees to move back, there has generally been a lot of movement all over the country, especially to major cities. Bangalore stands out because all the startups that have raised funds over the past two years are finally able to set up a physical workplace - a first for many, including companies founded after March 2020.

We'd be remiss to forget that Bangalore was deemed the most liveable city among 111 cities in India in the Union Housing and Urban Affairs' 'Ease of Living Index' report last year, although there has been much debate about that in Twitterverse.

Great weather, happening nightlife, and even job opportunities aside, people have been pointing out on social media that rental rates have definitely increased since the last year when the inflow to Bangalore finally picked up the pace after a long period of exodus.

Ravi Handa, the founder of Handa Ka Funda, a digital learning platform for CAT and MBA preparation which, last year, was acquired by Unacademy, took to Twitter saying, "Tech Bros with Rs 50 lakh per annum (LPA) salary keep projecting it as utopia because it is great for them" - but that may not be the case for everyone.

Others pointed out that Bangalore's infrastructure is already falling apart, that every summer the city runs out of water, and that traffic jams make commuting in the city a nightmare.

Of course, after some rationale back and forth, the conversation shifted to "Why is everyone talking about moving to Bangalore?", "don't move to Bangalore", and hilarious memes (which is the point of everything, isn't it?).

With startups like Zoho moving out from a major city to a village in Tamil Nadu, as well as the trend over the past two years of startups building from and in tier II and tier III cities, the perception that Bangalore is a startup hub has changed, even though one does stand a good chance of running into a well-known product manager or startup founder at a Third Wave Coffee Roasters in Koramangala.

There's a growing cohort of companies, not just in India, that are now hiring globally, no matter where the person is located, and working with them virtually. For a lot of industries, the pandemic has been a litmus test for "borderless" co-working, and now that the "work from anywhere" model has proved its mettle, that cohort of companies is likely to keep growing.

Bangalore, though, will live to fight overpopulation, crumbling infrastructure, higher rents, and a mass influx of people, another day.

Continue reading here:

Is moving to Bangalore the new cool? - YourStory

Night Gallery, a taste-making Los Angeles gallery which expanded its footprint in the city earlier this year, now represents Marcel Alcal.

Alcal was born in 1990 in the Orange County city of Santa Ana, about an hour south of Los Angeles, and their work, which spans painting, sculpture, and performance, is directly influenced and responding to their lived experience a queer artist of Mexican American heritage growing up in Southern California. The L.A.-based artists work, in particular their paintings, draws on a vast array of references, including art historical movements like Fauvism and Surrealism, as well as the arts of Mexicos Indigenous Huichol people, reality television, and the rituals and symbolism of Santera. What results is an imagined utopia populated by what they call their non-binary girlies thats intended to imagine new possibilities for queer life.

Alcal has previously exhibited with Night Gallery, having had a solo show there in 2020 and having participated in two group shows. They have also had solo shows at Mickey Gallery in Chicago and Deli Gallery in New York, and exhibited work at Ballroom Marfa in Texas, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. In 2020, they were an artist-in-residence at the Tom of Finland Foundation in Los Angeles.

In an email, Brian Faucette, Night Gallerys senior director, said, [Marcels] work never ceases to surprise and delight and its a privilege to witness, firsthand, their fantastical universe unfold painting by painting. Its important to us to champion new voices from our hometown of Los Angeles and bring their work to a wider international audience, and we are excited to see Marcel, a born-and-raised Californian, charm and intrigue the rest of the world.

Read the rest here:

Night Gallery Takes on Marcel Alcal, L.A.-Based Artist on the Rise - ARTnews

Park Seo Joon made several MCU fans proud after the South Korean star official confirmed that he is set to star in The Marvels.

After months of speculations, the actor's label, Awesome ENT, announced that the Itaewon Class star left South Korea to film an upcoming sequel to Captain Marvel.

In an article cited by Soompi, Park Seo Joon's agency declined to detail the actor's new project with MCU.

"We are well aware that many people are curious about the name of the film in which he will be appearing, his character, the filming location, and his filming schedule, but we plan to reveal the details of the movie at a later date," according to the agency, as obtained by the outlet.

Following his Hollywood debut and continued the project in South Korea, will there be massive growth in Park Seo Joon's net worth after his appearance with The Marvels?

Although he may not be on the list of highest-paid K-drama actors, the What's Wrong with Secretary Kim star is among the wealthiest South Korean celebrities, joining award-winning actor Lee Seung Gi, Hyun Bin, So Ji Sub and more.

According to Channel News Asia, Park Seo Joon's net worth is estimated at $21 million as of 2021. The majority of his earnings came from movies, K-drama, endorsements and guestings projects.

With the South Korean star officially joining one of Marvel Cinematic Universe's highly anticipated projects, it only means that his net worth will surely increased.

READ MORE: Park Seo Joon Workout Plan 2022: Heres How The Marvel Star Prove That Hes The Ultimate #FitnessGoals

Aside from Park Seo Joon's The Marvels, he will also appear in a slew of projects in South Korea.

The 33-year-old actor will have his K-drama comeback with Han So Hee and Squid Game star Wi Ha Joon for K Project.

Although the lineup for the lead stars was already confirmed, reports noted that Park Seo Joon's new drama will air in 2023.

Interestingly, the actor has several upcoming movies. First on the list is Concrete Utopia which he finished shooting before leaving the country to work with MCU.

He will be joining Lee Byung Hun, Park Bo Young and Park Ji Hoon from All of Us Are Dead. Another forthcoming film that he will be headlining is the sports-themed film Dream with singer-actress IU.

IN CASE YOU MISSED: Park Seo Joon, Lee Jun Young, Shin Hye Sun Tests Positive for COVID-19

Stay tuned to EpicStream for the latest news and updates about Park Seo Joon.

See the article here:

Park Seo Joon Net Worth 2022: Will His Wealth Increase Because Of The Marvels? - EpicStream