How do you do senegalese twists
How do you do, fellow Steve Buscemi fans?
2014.05.18 23:21 How do you do, fellow Steve Buscemi fans?
The Steve Buscemi Appreciation Subreddit. Only Steve-Posting is allowed. Check out FellowKids on Lemmy for Fellowkids content: http://lemmy.world/c/fellowkids
2021.03.02 00:53 C6H12O6-Cube How Do You Snoo
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2018.03.04 20:06 damememans How do you do, fellow kids?
welcome fellowkids refugees
2024.05.27 12:06 GhoulGriin Best Copper Braiding Hair
 | submitted by GhoulGriin to u/GhoulGriin [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/wb2xbizp0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6bd7767054ef7673311f7356d4e0365ef0097632 Get ready to elevate your hairstyle game with our top picks for Copper Braiding Hair! This roundup features a variety of options designed to bring warmth and depth to your locks, perfect for embracing the latest trends in hair fashion. Whether you're looking for a subtle upgrade or a bold statement, you'll find something that suits your taste and complements your unique style. Join us as we explore the world of Copper Braiding Hair and discover the perfect match for your hair needs. In this article, we will cover the top products available in the market, touching upon factors such as quality, versatility, and ease of use. We will also provide some styling tips and tricks to ensure your new Copper Braiding Hair addition lasts as long as possible. So, sit back, relax, and prepare to be inspired by our collection of copper-infused locks! The Top 6 Best Copper Braiding Hair
Reviews🔗Ombre Braiding Hair Extensions for Crochet Braids and Senegalese Twisthttps://preview.redd.it/ywnghx3q0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7524fbc1d0e3d72d7f939cd1a1b1376eae0d3c60 I recently tried the Ombre Braiding Hair extensions and was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable and easy to install they were. The synthetic fiber is soft and feels just like real hair! . I appreciate the hot water setting feature that allows me to change styles without any hassle. However, I noticed that the hair tends to tangle quite easily, which can be a bit frustrating. Overall, I'm happy with my purchase and would recommend it to anyone looking for a versatile and comfortable hair extension. 🔗Outre X-Pression Ultra Pre-Stretched 3X Braiding Hair 52", 4 Packhttps://preview.redd.it/blpaacgq0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9208f6533546985f38f684f817b59f492b2dfb8 I recently got the Outre X-Pression 3X Ultra Pre-Stretched Braid 52" in the color 1B+BU, and I couldn't be happier with it! The braids are made from 100% Kanekalon fibers, which are not only incredibly lightweight but also easy to manage. Plus, they're flame retardant and safe to use with hot water settings - perfect for styling! I've been using the braids to create all kinds of fabulous hairstyles, and one thing that really stands out is how they don't tangle easily at all. This makes them incredibly easy to use, even for beginners like me. And even though some users have described the braids as a bit thin, I personally didn't have any issues with thickness or fullness. However, one potential downside is that the braids can cause some itchiness on sensitive scalps. While this wasn't an issue for me, it's worth keeping in mind if you're prone to scalp irritation. In any case, I would highly recommend giving these Outre X-Pression braids a try - they're durable, versatile, and perfect for anyone looking to elevate their hairstyling game! 🔗Glance Pre-Stretched Copper Braiding Hairhttps://preview.redd.it/kgcgl93r0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=532d90a1146229a807e1e33a7d49ce7134d878cf I recently had the pleasure of trying out the ModelModel Glance Pre-Stretched Copper Braiding Hair, and I must say, it's been a game-changer for me! This 36-inch braid comes in a 3X value pack, making it a fantastic deal. Its soft texture is easy on my hands, and it's also non-flammable, making it safe to handle. One of the standout features of this braid is its ability to be set with hot water, which gives it a beautiful, voluminous look. Another plus is that it's pre-stretched, pre-cut, and pre-feathered, making styling a breeze. It also has a light yaky texture, which adds some fullness and dimension to my look. On the downside, it does tangle a bit, but nothing that a bit of patience and proper care can't handle. Overall, I would definitely recommend this hair braid to anyone looking to add some flair to their style without breaking the bank. 🔗Copper Braiding Hair for 3X Thick, 20-inch Locshttps://preview.redd.it/3qz9mt6r0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3ed83814ac4568d049c3f07b83c88dce29923f60 I recently tried out the 3X Modern Soft LOC braiding hair in Copper and I must say, it has been quite the experience. The hair is incredibly soft and lightweight, making it comfortable to wear all day long. These locs are designed to replicate real locs, giving you a natural look that doesn't feel heavy on your head. One feature that really stood out for me was the amount of hair in one pack - 3 times more than traditional braiding hair. This means you can achieve fuller, more voluminous locs without having to use multiple packs. It also makes the installation process much easier and quicker. However, there were a few cons worth mentioning. Firstly, the strands are not pre-looped, which means you'll have to loop them yourself before installation. While this wasn't too difficult for me, some users might find it a bit time-consuming. Additionally, I ended up using only three packs out of the five I purchased, so be prepared to have some leftover hair. Overall, I would recommend the 3X Modern Soft LOC braiding hair in Copper for those looking for soft, lightweight locs that offer great volume and versatility. Just be prepared for a little extra work during installation and make sure you have enough space to store any leftover hair. 🔗FreeTress Braid Water Wave Extra Long in Copper: High Quality Crochet Braiding Hairhttps://preview.redd.it/b99roa1s0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d35fafb414caf9ae88908e3a95dc0269acacd79b I've been using the Freetress Crochet Braid Water Wave Extra Long (Copper) and I must say, it has been a game-changer in the realm of wavy hair extensions. The crochet latch and hook technique make installing it a breeze. One of my favorite features is the vibrant color, which adds a nice pop to my style. However, my initial excitement was dampened when I realized that the image on my screen didn't perfectly match the actual product color. But after a few washes and some styling, the color settled in beautifully. I also noticed that the hair tends to hold its curl for a longer time compared to some other brands I've tried, which is a definite plus. Overall, I'm really happy with this purchase and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for some high-quality, easily manageable wavy hair extensions. 🔗24-inch Copper Braiding Hair by Braid Nation - Africana Maydehttps://preview.redd.it/isrs873s0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e0ecd195c8907798592a4b3690748e0937747290 I have been using this 3X Braid Nation 24 inch Africana Mayde Beauty Pre Stretched Braiding Hair in Copper for quite some time now, and I must say, it has been quite a game-changer for my hairstyle game. The color is stunning, albeit slightly varying due to screen settings, but that's expected. One of the things I absolutely love about this braiding hair is how stretchy and versatile it is. It doesn't tangle too much, which is a major bonus for me. I’ve been using it for the past few years, and it has held up great. Plus, the 6 pack is just perfect for my long-term styling needs. However, one downside is that the wig quality could be improved. Despite this, I have been quite happy with my overall purchase, especially since the shipping was incredibly fast. If you're looking to up your hairstyle game, I highly recommend giving this braiding hair a shot. Buyer's GuideCopper braid hair creates a unique, trendy look with a vibrant color that stands out. This guide will provide vital features, considerations, and general advice for choosing the best copper braiding hair to achieve your desired style. https://preview.redd.it/u8erpphs0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aea44816ae1469ff84607394129d4dbeaa30d481 Important Features
Considerations
https://preview.redd.it/bbgeyb9t0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef6f40a11eb61a405ddaf43c0dc893caf51af970 General Advice
FAQhttps://preview.redd.it/vie9pdat0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0e25c4655a86d44237ba7f3ed534191fbb2a40b8 What is copper braiding hair?Copper braiding hair is a type of extension made from real human hair, dyed in a shade of copper to resemble the color of naturally red hair. It is designed for use in various types of braided hairstyles, providing volume, length, and extra color to the wearer's hair.How do I know if copper braiding hair is of good quality?High-quality copper braiding hair should have consistent color, texture, and length with minimal shedding. It should be smooth, tangle-free, and easy to maintain. Check customer reviews and product descriptions to ensure you're choosing a reputable brand with good quality products. https://preview.redd.it/thkismjt0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a1aacea6ee54a516d4c47c47f2dc4e5be819aee Which hairstyles can I use copper braiding hair for?Copper braiding hair is suitable for many different hairstyles, including: cornrows, twists, box braids, faux locs, and Goddess braids. It's versatile and can be used to create various braided looks, making it a popular choice for those who love versatile and fashionable hair styles.How do I care for and maintain my copper braiding hair?Caring for your copper braiding hair involves several steps: shampoo and condition it regularly, braid it loosely before sleeping, and apply a hair oil or serum to keep it looking smooth. Avoid using excessive heat or harsh chemicals, as these can damage the quality and color of the braids. Store your braiding hair in a dry environment when not in use to maintain its color and texture.How long can my copper braiding hair last?The lifespan of copper braiding hair can vary, depending on how well you take care of it. On average, a set of braids can last up to 6-8 weeks. However, with proper care and maintenance, you may be able to extend the duration of your braids to last as long as 10-12 weeks.Can I dye copper braiding hair?While it's possible to dye your copper braiding hair, it may not yield the exact color you're looking for. It's generally advisable to invest in braiding hair that matches the desired shade you're seeking, as dyeing can be time-consuming, expensive, and may not give you the desired outcome. It's best to consult a professional hairstylist before attempting to dye your braids.How should I remove copper braiding hair?To safely remove copper braiding hair, start by unraveling the ends of the braids gently. Apply a hair oil or serum to make removal easier. Then, untwist or unbraid the hair while gently holding the base of your natural hair. Once the braids are completely removed, use a fine-toothed comb to gently detangle your natural hair and wash it thoroughly with a mild shampoo before conditioning.As an Amazon™ Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. |
2024.05.27 12:06 GhoulGriin Best Copper Braiding Hair
| | submitted by GhoulGriin to u/GhoulGriin [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/wb2xbizp0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6bd7767054ef7673311f7356d4e0365ef0097632 Get ready to elevate your hairstyle game with our top picks for Copper Braiding Hair! This roundup features a variety of options designed to bring warmth and depth to your locks, perfect for embracing the latest trends in hair fashion. Whether you're looking for a subtle upgrade or a bold statement, you'll find something that suits your taste and complements your unique style. Join us as we explore the world of Copper Braiding Hair and discover the perfect match for your hair needs. In this article, we will cover the top products available in the market, touching upon factors such as quality, versatility, and ease of use. We will also provide some styling tips and tricks to ensure your new Copper Braiding Hair addition lasts as long as possible. So, sit back, relax, and prepare to be inspired by our collection of copper-infused locks! The Top 6 Best Copper Braiding Hair
Reviews🔗Ombre Braiding Hair Extensions for Crochet Braids and Senegalese Twisthttps://preview.redd.it/ywnghx3q0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7524fbc1d0e3d72d7f939cd1a1b1376eae0d3c60 I recently tried the Ombre Braiding Hair extensions and was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable and easy to install they were. The synthetic fiber is soft and feels just like real hair! . I appreciate the hot water setting feature that allows me to change styles without any hassle. However, I noticed that the hair tends to tangle quite easily, which can be a bit frustrating. Overall, I'm happy with my purchase and would recommend it to anyone looking for a versatile and comfortable hair extension. 🔗Outre X-Pression Ultra Pre-Stretched 3X Braiding Hair 52", 4 Packhttps://preview.redd.it/blpaacgq0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9208f6533546985f38f684f817b59f492b2dfb8 I recently got the Outre X-Pression 3X Ultra Pre-Stretched Braid 52" in the color 1B+BU, and I couldn't be happier with it! The braids are made from 100% Kanekalon fibers, which are not only incredibly lightweight but also easy to manage. Plus, they're flame retardant and safe to use with hot water settings - perfect for styling! I've been using the braids to create all kinds of fabulous hairstyles, and one thing that really stands out is how they don't tangle easily at all. This makes them incredibly easy to use, even for beginners like me. And even though some users have described the braids as a bit thin, I personally didn't have any issues with thickness or fullness. However, one potential downside is that the braids can cause some itchiness on sensitive scalps. While this wasn't an issue for me, it's worth keeping in mind if you're prone to scalp irritation. In any case, I would highly recommend giving these Outre X-Pression braids a try - they're durable, versatile, and perfect for anyone looking to elevate their hairstyling game! 🔗Glance Pre-Stretched Copper Braiding Hairhttps://preview.redd.it/kgcgl93r0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=532d90a1146229a807e1e33a7d49ce7134d878cf I recently had the pleasure of trying out the ModelModel Glance Pre-Stretched Copper Braiding Hair, and I must say, it's been a game-changer for me! This 36-inch braid comes in a 3X value pack, making it a fantastic deal. Its soft texture is easy on my hands, and it's also non-flammable, making it safe to handle. One of the standout features of this braid is its ability to be set with hot water, which gives it a beautiful, voluminous look. Another plus is that it's pre-stretched, pre-cut, and pre-feathered, making styling a breeze. It also has a light yaky texture, which adds some fullness and dimension to my look. On the downside, it does tangle a bit, but nothing that a bit of patience and proper care can't handle. Overall, I would definitely recommend this hair braid to anyone looking to add some flair to their style without breaking the bank. 🔗Copper Braiding Hair for 3X Thick, 20-inch Locshttps://preview.redd.it/3qz9mt6r0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3ed83814ac4568d049c3f07b83c88dce29923f60 I recently tried out the 3X Modern Soft LOC braiding hair in Copper and I must say, it has been quite the experience. The hair is incredibly soft and lightweight, making it comfortable to wear all day long. These locs are designed to replicate real locs, giving you a natural look that doesn't feel heavy on your head. One feature that really stood out for me was the amount of hair in one pack - 3 times more than traditional braiding hair. This means you can achieve fuller, more voluminous locs without having to use multiple packs. It also makes the installation process much easier and quicker. However, there were a few cons worth mentioning. Firstly, the strands are not pre-looped, which means you'll have to loop them yourself before installation. While this wasn't too difficult for me, some users might find it a bit time-consuming. Additionally, I ended up using only three packs out of the five I purchased, so be prepared to have some leftover hair. Overall, I would recommend the 3X Modern Soft LOC braiding hair in Copper for those looking for soft, lightweight locs that offer great volume and versatility. Just be prepared for a little extra work during installation and make sure you have enough space to store any leftover hair. 🔗FreeTress Braid Water Wave Extra Long in Copper: High Quality Crochet Braiding Hairhttps://preview.redd.it/b99roa1s0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d35fafb414caf9ae88908e3a95dc0269acacd79b I've been using the Freetress Crochet Braid Water Wave Extra Long (Copper) and I must say, it has been a game-changer in the realm of wavy hair extensions. The crochet latch and hook technique make installing it a breeze. One of my favorite features is the vibrant color, which adds a nice pop to my style. However, my initial excitement was dampened when I realized that the image on my screen didn't perfectly match the actual product color. But after a few washes and some styling, the color settled in beautifully. I also noticed that the hair tends to hold its curl for a longer time compared to some other brands I've tried, which is a definite plus. Overall, I'm really happy with this purchase and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for some high-quality, easily manageable wavy hair extensions. 🔗24-inch Copper Braiding Hair by Braid Nation - Africana Maydehttps://preview.redd.it/isrs873s0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e0ecd195c8907798592a4b3690748e0937747290 I have been using this 3X Braid Nation 24 inch Africana Mayde Beauty Pre Stretched Braiding Hair in Copper for quite some time now, and I must say, it has been quite a game-changer for my hairstyle game. The color is stunning, albeit slightly varying due to screen settings, but that's expected. One of the things I absolutely love about this braiding hair is how stretchy and versatile it is. It doesn't tangle too much, which is a major bonus for me. I’ve been using it for the past few years, and it has held up great. Plus, the 6 pack is just perfect for my long-term styling needs. However, one downside is that the wig quality could be improved. Despite this, I have been quite happy with my overall purchase, especially since the shipping was incredibly fast. If you're looking to up your hairstyle game, I highly recommend giving this braiding hair a shot. Buyer's GuideCopper braid hair creates a unique, trendy look with a vibrant color that stands out. This guide will provide vital features, considerations, and general advice for choosing the best copper braiding hair to achieve your desired style. https://preview.redd.it/u8erpphs0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aea44816ae1469ff84607394129d4dbeaa30d481 Important Features
Considerations
https://preview.redd.it/bbgeyb9t0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef6f40a11eb61a405ddaf43c0dc893caf51af970 General Advice
FAQhttps://preview.redd.it/vie9pdat0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0e25c4655a86d44237ba7f3ed534191fbb2a40b8 What is copper braiding hair?Copper braiding hair is a type of extension made from real human hair, dyed in a shade of copper to resemble the color of naturally red hair. It is designed for use in various types of braided hairstyles, providing volume, length, and extra color to the wearer's hair.How do I know if copper braiding hair is of good quality?High-quality copper braiding hair should have consistent color, texture, and length with minimal shedding. It should be smooth, tangle-free, and easy to maintain. Check customer reviews and product descriptions to ensure you're choosing a reputable brand with good quality products. https://preview.redd.it/thkismjt0y2d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a1aacea6ee54a516d4c47c47f2dc4e5be819aee Which hairstyles can I use copper braiding hair for?Copper braiding hair is suitable for many different hairstyles, including: cornrows, twists, box braids, faux locs, and Goddess braids. It's versatile and can be used to create various braided looks, making it a popular choice for those who love versatile and fashionable hair styles.How do I care for and maintain my copper braiding hair?Caring for your copper braiding hair involves several steps: shampoo and condition it regularly, braid it loosely before sleeping, and apply a hair oil or serum to keep it looking smooth. Avoid using excessive heat or harsh chemicals, as these can damage the quality and color of the braids. Store your braiding hair in a dry environment when not in use to maintain its color and texture.How long can my copper braiding hair last?The lifespan of copper braiding hair can vary, depending on how well you take care of it. On average, a set of braids can last up to 6-8 weeks. However, with proper care and maintenance, you may be able to extend the duration of your braids to last as long as 10-12 weeks.Can I dye copper braiding hair?While it's possible to dye your copper braiding hair, it may not yield the exact color you're looking for. It's generally advisable to invest in braiding hair that matches the desired shade you're seeking, as dyeing can be time-consuming, expensive, and may not give you the desired outcome. It's best to consult a professional hairstylist before attempting to dye your braids.How should I remove copper braiding hair?To safely remove copper braiding hair, start by unraveling the ends of the braids gently. Apply a hair oil or serum to make removal easier. Then, untwist or unbraid the hair while gently holding the base of your natural hair. Once the braids are completely removed, use a fine-toothed comb to gently detangle your natural hair and wash it thoroughly with a mild shampoo before conditioning.As an Amazon™ Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. |
2024.05.22 08:58 Count-Daring243 Best Color 350 Braiding Hair
 | submitted by Count-Daring243 to u/Count-Daring243 [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/7c5sjppjex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9c9897fd41ee1e3ebceceaf4b9fb4a5c07fe7cc9 Discover the vibrant world of color 350 braiding hair, a trending hair extension that adds a bold and beautiful touch to your look. Our roundup article features the best products in this category, providing you with a range of options to suit your style and preferences. From vivid shades to natural tones, this collection of braiding hair has something for everyone. Stay tuned as we unveil the top picks for color 350 braiding hair, designed to bring life to your locks! The Top 18 Best Color 350 Braiding Hair
Reviews🔗Soft and Voluminous Braiding Hair for Pro Stylingshttps://preview.redd.it/wgdk3g2kex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e91884b332b4e819ce4e1730401313c6df772b9 As a hair enthusiast, I've always been on the lookout for products that offer both convenience and quality, and Outre Braids' Braid Up Pre-Stretched Braid has been a game-changer. This braid boasts a lightweight and soft texture that's incredibly comfortable to wear. Its crochet-looped design ensures a snug, no-slip fit, which makes it ideal for a variety of hairstyles. One of the most striking features of Braid Up is its material, Kanekalon. This synthetic fiber is not only soft and smooth, but also incredibly durable, allowing for long-lasting protective styles. Another standout feature is its hot water setting, which ensures a tight, secure weave that can withstand daily activities without unraveling. On the cons side, the color might not be as vibrant as some users may prefer, and the occasional tangling could be a minor inconvenience. However, these are minor drawbacks when compared to the overall quality and performance of Braid Up. In conclusion, Outre Braids' Braid Up Pre-Stretched Braid has been a game-changer when it comes to high-quality, comfortable, and long-lasting protective styles. Its lightweight and soft texture, combined with its durable material and secure weave, make it a must-have for both professional braiders and DIY enthusiasts alike. 🔗Glamorous 3X Pre-Stretched 58" Braiding Hairhttps://preview.redd.it/e0v66yfkex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1186c416e2932b2b620491308499cc4d809b1976 I've been loving the Sensationnel X-Pression synthetic braids! These 58-inch braids are made of 1% Kanekalon fiber, giving them a light and soft touch that feels more like real hair. I'm especially impressed with how pre-stretched they are, saving me tons of preparation time. Plus, they're pre-layered, which gives my hairstyle a more natural, finished look. I also appreciate the hot water setting feature, letting me refresh my braids easily whenever needed. However, there are a couple of downsides to these braids. Firstly, I've found that they tend to tangle a bit easily, especially if I don't take the time to properly care for and detangle them. Secondly, I feel like they're best for those with thicker hair, as they might not hold up as well when used on thinner locks. Overall, I've had a positive experience with the Sensationnel X-Pression synthetic braids. They're stylish, comfortable, and versatile – great for anyone looking to achieve a natural-looking braid style without the hassle of using real hair extensions. Highly recommend! 🔗Attractive and Durable X-Pression Braidhttps://preview.redd.it/o7ctwvokex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=066095de4ae7300b9748a13ee7a56de1abaa3198 I've recently been using the X-Pression Braid (350) and I've found it to be a game-changer for my hair styling routine. Crafted with super-light Kanekalon premium synthetic fibers, this braid gives unmatched length to any set of hair. It's amazing how this product not only holds its shape and volume, but also feels incredibly light and comfortable on my head. One of the standout features of the X-Pression Braid is its tangle-free nature. I've had issues with other braids getting tangled and knotted, but this one stays smooth and easy to manage. Another highlight is its flame-resistant quality - a feature that gives me peace of mind knowing my hair is safe from unexpected heat sources. However, it's not all perfect. Some users have reported issues with the hair staying in place, which can be frustrating if you're trying to maintain a specific style. Additionally, there's a chance of tangling over time, so regular maintenance is a must. In conclusion, the X-Pression Braid (350) has been a fantastic addition to my hair care routine. Its lightweight design, tangle-free nature, and flame-resistant quality make it a top choice for anyone looking for a reliable and stylish hair solution. 🔗Outre X-Pression Ultra Braid 6X Braiding Hair Packshttps://preview.redd.it/snsky0alex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=571842187979783526199c53ecaff5a92723b987 I recently tried the Outre X-Pression Pre-Stretched 6X Ultra Braid in color 350, and I must say, it's been a game-changer for my braiding game. This braid comes in a pre-stretched fiber, which has made my hairstyle more manageable and less time-consuming. Its 6X pack is convenient and worth every penny. One of the highlights of this hair is its ultra-lightweight feature. It's so light that I forget I have it on! Plus, it's fire retardant, making it a safe choice for those who worry about fires or stray sparks. However, there's a minor drawback to this braid. As it's made entirely of synthetic fibers, it doesn't have the same natural texture and movement as human hair. But considering its affordability and ease of use, I find it a great choice for those who want to spruce up their braided styles. Overall, I would say the Outre X-Pression Pre-Stretched 6X Ultra Braid is definitely worth trying out. 🔗Pre-Stretched Aquatex 8" Spring Twist Braidhttps://preview.redd.it/udfta1ilex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b198988dc12dfaa4adf4fa66f4a011bf03db7aac I recently decided to give the Sensationnel Ruwa Synthetic Spring Twist Braid a try, and I couldn't be happier with my choice! It's made with Aquatex fiber, which is known for its impressive water-repellent properties. This means I can shampoo regularly without worrying about extended drying times - a game-changer for someone with an active lifestyle like me. One of the things that stood out to me about this braid is its light weight and softness. Unlike some other braids that can feel heavy and cumbersome, the RUWA twist is a delight to wear. I also appreciated how pre-stretched it is, which saved me time during installation and helped me achieve a more natural-looking finish. Of course, no product is perfect, and I did encounter a few minor issues. Firstly, some users reported tangling issues, although thankfully I didn't experience this myself. Additionally, while the color selection is wide, some may find that the choice of colors could be improved upon. Overall, I would definitely recommend the Sensationnel Ruwa Synthetic Spring Twist Braid to anyone looking for a stylish, low-maintenance hair solution. Its water-repellent properties, light weight, and pre-stretched design make it stand out from other options on the market. 🔗Premium Pre-Stretched Braid Hair, 26" (EZ Braid)https://preview.redd.it/5x631nulex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f28ca65b80edbd5f395b9377568bb4572370f1ae I've been using the Authentic Crochet Braid B-Easy for a few weeks now, and I must say, it's been a game changer for my braiding game. The fact that it's pre-stretched has saved me so much time, and the natural looking yaki texture gives me the perfect blend of boldness and subtlety in my style. One thing I particularly love about it is how easy it is to install. It doesn't tangle much, and there's no shedding involved which is a huge plus. I also find it very durable; it's sweat resistant and anti-bacterial, making it suitable for high-intensity activities. However, the highlight for me is its versatility. Whether it's braids, locks, or twists, this hair extension does an excellent job in all these styles. It also works great for hot water setting, transforming my braids into a stunning masterpiece. In conclusion, if you're looking for a reliable, easy-to-use, and stylish hair extension that's perfect for various styles, the Authentic Crochet Braid B-Easy is a great choice. The only downside, perhaps, is that it can be a bit challenging to find different lengths or colors, which might limit your styling options. But overall, I'm thoroughly impressed with its quality. So, if you're considering trying it out, I'd say go for it! 🔗Sensationnel X-Pression Pre-Stretched Braid 38https://preview.redd.it/qy6c2x4mex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2017c27b8fa16295c30eeb9ae79b43a29ba0aaed Nestled within the rich tapestry of African culture lies the breathtaking beauty of Sensationnel's X-Pression Pre-Stretched Braid 38 - a testament to the brand's innovative approach. Crafted from 100% Kanekalon Flame Retardant Fiber, this 38-inch braid boasts a light and soft touch that will leave your tresses feeling effortlessly luxurious. The pre-stretched feature ensures quick and easy installation, while the pre-layered design lends a natural, finished appearance. But what sets this braid apart is its versatility. The X-Pression collection draws inspiration from Africa's diverse textures and vibrant color palette, enabling you to create a multitude of styles that range from classic to trendy. As a user who's been captivated by the allure of this braid, I can attest to its exceptional quality. It's well worth the investment for those seeking to infuse their hair with a touch of African elegance. However, be prepared to spend extra time grooming, as these strands tend to be on the thicker side. Overall, the Sensationnel X-Pression Pre-Stretched Braid 38 offers a beautiful blend of artistry and practicality, making it a must-try for anyone looking to elevate their hairstyle to new heights. 🔗Ombre Braiding Hair Extensions for Crochet Braids and Senegalese Twisthttps://preview.redd.it/2upezrimex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d98711cc8c6ac27c86cddf79dd775e0431adf6db I recently tried the Ombre Braiding Hair extensions and was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable and easy to install they were. The synthetic fiber is soft and feels just like real hair! . I appreciate the hot water setting feature that allows me to change styles without any hassle. However, I noticed that the hair tends to tangle quite easily, which can be a bit frustrating. Overall, I'm happy with my purchase and would recommend it to anyone looking for a versatile and comfortable hair extension. 🔗1 Inch Jumbo Braiding Hair with 100% Kanekalon Fiberhttps://preview.redd.it/8fpxrgtmex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=75bcf75da29d9a73fcf4da8144b810fcefd689b7 I first encountered Kanekalon Braid Hair a few months back, while searching for a versatile and affordable hair option to change up my look for the summer. As someone with a limited budget but a deep appreciation for the art of hair styling, I was excited to see how this 100% Kanekalon Fiber Jumbo Braiding Hair would fare. First off, its non-flammability is a huge plus. I've had some close calls with flammable hair products before, so knowing that the Kanekalon Braid Hair is safe in that regard put my mind at ease. The 24-inch length is also perfect for creating a variety of styles, from long, cascading braids to more intricate updos. One downside that I've noticed is the tendency for this hair to tangle easily. It can be frustrating to deal with knots and mats, especially if you're working with a lot of hair. However, I've found that the durability of the fibers makes it worth the effort. The hair also holds its color well and maintains a nice, natural sheen even after multiple washes. In terms of visual appeal, the Kanekalon Braid Hair truly delivers. The rich color and thickness of the fibers make it a pleasure to work with, and the variety of styles you can create is endless. This hair has quickly become a staple in my hair styling repertoire, and I can't wait to see what other creative looks I can achieve with it. Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase of the Kanekalon Braid Hair. While there are some minor issues to be aware of, such as tangling, the quality and versatility of this hair make it a great option for anyone looking to explore new styles without breaking the bank. 🔗X-Pression: Pre-Stretched Braiding Hair in Triple Packhttps://preview.redd.it/qdp2x8bnex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8145c69e14c4c268596e0eff844d24e09a659eff I've been using the X-Pression Lil Looks 3X Pre-Stretched Calming Braid in my day-to-day life, and I've gotta say, it's made my braiding process much easier and quicker. The length is perfect - not too long or too full. What I love most about this braiding hair is how it's extra soft and a breeze to work with. No more cutting your fingers on tangled strands or spending hours trying to detangle the hair before braiding! Plus, it's kid-friendly, as confirmed by some of my friends who've tried it. One not-so-fun aspect is that the pack doesn't include as much hair as I expected. However, considering the affordable price and the convenience of the triple pack, it's a small con to overlook. Overall, the X-Pression Lil Looks 3X Pre-Stretched Calming Braid has been a game-changer in my braiding routine. Its softness, ease of use, and kid-friendly length make it a must-try for anyone looking to add some extra flair to their hairstyles. 🔗Stylish 3X Jumbo Braid Pre-Stretched Braiding Hairhttps://preview.redd.it/974ankjnex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ecc5c33a5700ce549fc2f583c5b2aa4cffd683a3 When it comes to styling and braiding my hair, I've always been a fan of using products that are easy to use and give me that flawless finish. That's why I was excited to try out the Authentic 3X B-Easy Pre-Stretched Braid T1B/350! Here's the thing, this braid really lives up to its name - it is so easy to use, even for someone like me who's not a master braid developer. The pre-stretched feature definitely added to its appeal, as it made it super easy to twist, braid, and even knot without any fuss. Plus, the long length allowed me to experiment with various styles, from simple ponytails to more intricate French braids. The only downside I noticed was that the braid was slightly itchy at first touch, which could be due to the way it was packaged or stored. But after washing it with some conditioner, it became gentler on my scalp. All in all, I would recommend the Authentic 3X B-Easy Pre-Stretched Braid T1B/350 without hesitation. It's perfect for anyone looking for an easy-to-use, versatile braid to experiment with different styles. 🔗3X Ruwa Pre-Styled Braiding Hair - Color 350https://preview.redd.it/7jg56pvnex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a8c0cca31e631438b4d0f3f9a0dd2f69e5619c8d The Ruwa 3X Pre-Stretched Crochet Braid is an absolute game-changer for anyone living an active lifestyle. Crafted with AQUATEX Fiber from synthetic kanekalon fibers, these braids are water-repellent, fast-drying, lightweight, and incredibly soft. This makes them the perfect choice for anyone who needs to stay stylish on the go without compromising on the quality or practicality of their hair. One of my favorite aspects of this hair is its pre-stretching feature. This not only saves me hours in preparation time but also ensures that the braids are perfectly even and smooth from the get-go. Additionally, the pre-layered design gives the finish a flawless, natural appearance that's always on trend. On the downside, I've noticed that these braids can tend to tangle a bit more easily than some of their competitors. However, with proper care and maintenance, this issue can be easily avoided. Furthermore, the bundles for this product seem to be slightly smaller than what I'm used to, which means that I've had to use a few more strands than expected when styling my hair. Overall, I can't recommend the Ruwa 3X Pre-Stretched Crochet Braid enough for anyone who wants a stylish, practical, and comfortable hair solution for their active lifestyle. With its stunning colors, exceptional water-repellent capabilities, and effortless styling, this product is truly a cut above the rest. 🔗Outre X-Pression Twisted Up Braids - French Curl 52https://preview.redd.it/a7w15u9oex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=49820ce0a0f280620750f56f545f77a2e6917cb7 As an avid hair lover, I was excited to give Outre's Twisted Up DIY Prestretched Braid French Curl a try. Right from the get-go, I was impressed by how heat-resistant and versatile it was. Its 52" length allowed me to experiment with various styling options and the fact that it's dye, bleach, and perm-resistant meant I could play with color without worrying about damaging the hair. The twist-up style offered a simple way to achieve a polished look, while the pre-stretched braids made it easy to install. The synthetic material felt soft and lightweight, which was perfect for maintaining a comfortable all-day wear. One downside was the color options. Although the 350 braiding hair is lovely, I wish there were more choices available. Additionally, because it's synthetic, expect a little shedding after several wears. Overall, I'm thrilled with my Twisted Up DIY Prestretched Braid French Curl experience. Its versatility, heat resistance, and ease of installation make it a must-try for anyone looking to diversify their hairstyle options. Buyer's GuideNone https://preview.redd.it/oba94asqex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37e2ada7f29c65da8fa6d9f05e4814904629aac9 FAQWhat is Color 350 Braiding Hair?Color 350 Braiding Hair is a type of synthetic hair extension designed for braiding and styling. It comes in various colors, including the color 350, and is known for its durability and natural appearance. https://preview.redd.it/umn5j92rex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7dd86afc83108ab8e273ca2a77ed060d5af5a131 How is Color 350 Braiding Hair different from other synthetic hair extensions?Color 350 Braiding Hair differs from other synthetic hair extensions due to its unique color and texture, which closely resembles real human hair. Additionally, it is designed specifically for braiding and has exceptional durability compared to other synthetic hair types.What is the length of Color 350 Braiding Hair?The length of Color 350 Braiding Hair varies depending on the supplier and product package. Some may offer it in 12", 14", 16", or even longer lengths, while others may have specific bundlenights.https://preview.redd.it/mtsopbirex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd253d53aeda7b6dfec3595b8826efb263f3be24 How many bundles do I need for a full head installation?The number of bundles required for a full head installation largely depends on the desired length and thickness. In general, it is recommended to use between 3-6 bundles, depending on the individual's hair type and preferred fullness.How do I maintain Color 350 Braiding Hair?Color 350 Braiding Hair is relatively low-maintenance. To keep it in excellent condition, gently brush it with a wide-tooth comb or soft-bristle brush, and store it in a cool, dry place when not in use. Additionally, avoid using excessive heat or harsh chemicals on the hair. https://preview.redd.it/y02eaxprex1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=08124778a581f49c4f898ad43eb5ea7ad60590de Is Color 350 Braiding Hair suitable for all types of braids?Yes, Color 350 Braiding Hair is suitable for all types of braids, including cornrows, twists, and individual braids. Its high flexibility and natural appearance make it a versatile choice for various hair styling techniques.Where can I buy Color 350 Braiding Hair?Color 350 Braiding Hair can be purchased from various online and physical stores specializing in hair extensions and wigs. Some popular retailers include Amazon, eBay, and local beauty supply stores.How long does Color 350 Braiding Hair last?The longevity of Color 350 Braiding Hair depends on factors such as installation method, maintenance, and the individual's lifestyle. On average, it can last anywhere between 3-6 weeks when properly cared for.Can I dye Color 350 Braiding Hair?It is not recommended to dye Color 350 Braiding Hair. Synthetic fibers may not accept hair dye well, and the application process can result in uneven color or damage to the hair.Is Color 350 Braiding Hair suitable for those who are allergic to latex?The majority of synthetic hair extensions, including Color 350 Braiding Hair, do not contain latex. However, it is advisable to check the product's packaging or inquire with the seller to verify its components, especially if you have a known allergy to certain materials.As an Amazon™ Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. |
2024.04.06 05:58 GuiltlessMaple Best Burgundy Braiding Hair
 | submitted by GuiltlessMaple to u/GuiltlessMaple [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/iliwakle8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad7a5f6d822d0e3ca57b49481c8de2689cd40a90 Looking for the perfect burgundy braiding hair to elevate your hairstyles? Look no further, as we have curated a roundup of some of the best options available. From subtle ombres to bold statement pieces, our selection will not only satisfy your color preferences but also provide the quality and durability you desire. Read on to find your next go-to hair accessory. The Top 13 Best Burgundy Braiding Hair
Reviews🔗Ombre Braiding Hair Extensions for Crochet Braids and Senegalese Twisthttps://preview.redd.it/7gwrqicf8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=04310f1c1e54947c4c01fbd77a796606715e65f3 I recently tried the Ombre Braiding Hair extensions and was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable and easy to install they were. The synthetic fiber is soft and feels just like real hair! . I appreciate the hot water setting feature that allows me to change styles without any hassle. However, I noticed that the hair tends to tangle quite easily, which can be a bit frustrating. Overall, I'm happy with my purchase and would recommend it to anyone looking for a versatile and comfortable hair extension. 🔗3X Bohemian Curl 14'' Glance Braiding Hair (Dark Burgundy)https://preview.redd.it/nmxwrvqf8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4da4fef61792141ae1d928b6575ae29848f5bdde I've been trying out the 3X Bohemian Curl 14 Glance Braiding Hair by Model Model in Dark Burgundy, and it's been a game-changer for my hairstyle routine! The slightly tighter curls of this bohemian curl make my hair look fuller, giving it a voluminous, natural look that I just love. The best part yet? These braids are so easy to separate, creating a seamless and realistic finish. Plus, they're versatile too, perfect for that butterfly loc style. It's safe to say this braiding hair has quickly become my new go-to. However, there's one minor drawback I've noticed. The color, Dark Burgundy, is not as vivid as I expected, appearing more towards the burgundy side rather than being a true dark burgundy. If you're looking for a brighter, more intense version, you might be left wanting. But for those who prefer a more subtle shade, this one is right on point. Overall, the 3X Bohemian Curl 14 Glance Braiding Hair by Model Model offers a great way to bring some extra fullness and glam to your hair, making it a worthwhile purchase. Plus, you don't need to worry about it being too tough to work with as it's super easy to separate. The natural curl pattern and voluminous result make it a perfect companion for styling different types of braids. So, if you're in search of a braid extension that's both stylish and easy to manage, this Dark Burgundy braiding hair could be the one for you! 🔗10-Inch Ombre Burgundy Passion Twist Hair Sethttps://preview.redd.it/f6xjx0gg8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=53960165831551c682416329e72e8cd43594777d I recently used Tiana's Passion Twist Hair for a hair makeover and I've got to say, it was a game-changer! The 10-inch long passion twist braids were incredibly soft and stylish. Using the pre-twisted hair extensions made the installation process a breeze, even for beginners. I also appreciated the high-quality, low-temperature Kanekalon synthetic fiber, which made the braids look and feel natural. The hair was not only lightweight and tangle-free, but it also had no unpleasant odors. I felt confident and stylish wearing these braids to both daily activities and special events. Tiana offers four beautiful colors to choose from, so I could find the perfect shade to complement my outfit and personal style. The only downside I experienced was the limited color options, but I understand that more colors and sizes will be available soon. Overall, Tiana's Passion Twist Hair has made my hairstyle routine so much easier and more enjoyable, and I would highly recommend it to others looking for a versatile and stylish hair option. 🔗Queen B 50" Braiding Hairhttps://preview.redd.it/sxhza4yg8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3b75b7c9d7f942c0c81d133ae684b8e77f3bd114 If you're looking for the perfect addition to your hairstyle, look no further than Urban Beauty's Queen B braiding hair! This high-quality, 50-inch braid has earned its place as some of the best available on the market. The braid is made with such care and quality, it truly feels and looks just like real, human hair. One thing that stood out to me was its pre-stretched quality, a feature that made styling super easy and effortless. It's made with Remy texture and can be styled with hot water curls, so you're not limited to braids only. It’s also virtually tangle-free, making it a breeze to use. Plus, it's lightweight, so it doesn't feel heavy or burdensome like some other braid brands. What's more, the Queen B's color was consistent throughout and blended easily with my existing hair. The color you see online may differ slightly depending on the device you're using, but it's a small price to pay for such an amazing quality braid. This braid has been a game-changer for me, making hair styling a lot more fun and less time-consuming. It's definitely a must-have item for anyone looking to enhance their hairstyle. However, I did notice it's a bit on the pricier side, but for such high-quality and lasting braid, I think it's worth the investment. Overall, I'd highly recommend Urban Beauty's Queen B braiding hair to anyone in need of a top-notch braid! 🔗Zury Yaky Hollywood Braid - Burgundy Colorhttps://preview.redd.it/1c2l6ngh8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d0b4799285595b9d9399f34eb11887941491656 As a fashion enthusiast, I recently discovered the Zury Yaky Hollywood Braid in Burgundy, and it has quickly become my go-to accessory for styling up my outfits. The braid, made from 100% highest quality synthetic fiber, is incredibly realistic and versatile, allowing me to create a variety of styles with ease. From elegant updos to trendy ponytails, this braid has truly transformed my hair game. Though the Zury Yaky Hollywood Braid is not without its drawbacks, such as its slight stiffness when compared to human hair, the benefits far outweigh the negatives. The vibrant burgundy color adds a touch of glamour to any outfit, making it the perfect statement piece. Additionally, the durability and ease of upkeep make it a top choice for those with a busy lifestyle. Overall, I highly recommend the Zury Yaky Hollywood Braid in Burgundy for anyone looking to elevate their hair game without breaking the bank. Its stunning color and high-quality synthetic fiber make it a must-have accessory for every fashionista's collection. 🔗2 Pack 16'' Red Braiding Hair in Burgundy Colorhttps://preview.redd.it/vyy2izxh8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fedf0b6c745829861910fb302c3211c7cf6b38a8 You know how finding the right blend of human and synthetic hair for your braid can be a headache? . Well, I can tell you first hand that using Essence's #P1B/118 burgundy yaki bulk hair was a game-changer for me. This hair is not only washable, but it's also heat safe, making styling a breeze. I'd been struggling with finding a hair blend that could withstand heat from my curling iron, but this one didn't disappoint. The color is vivid and bold, and the blend feels natural just like what you would get with human hair. However, the only downside I found was that the color can vary slightly from one pack to another, but this is a pretty minor issue. Overall, I'm really happy with how my braids turned out using this hair. It's definitely worth a try if you're looking for a burgundy hair blend. 🔗32" Africana Mayde Braiding Hair - Dark Burgundyhttps://preview.redd.it/wbdk1vgi8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b83fe308b4b63320cb5babc588608dbe6fac13ac I can't tell you how much I adore this three-pack of Africana Mayde Pre Stretched Braiding Hair in Dark Burgundy! The natural blown-out texture adds an extra touch of sophistication, while the non-slip texture keeps everything in place, making it perfect for hot water sets. It's incredibly lightweight, so it doesn't put any extra strain on your hands as you weave away. On the flip side, I have to admit that there might be some tangling issues. However, this really depends on how meticulous I am during the installation process. If you're a bit impatient, you might encounter some tangles. But hey, we all know good things take time, right? Overall, this braiding hair is a game-changer. It adds the perfect amount of sass to any hairstyle, especially if you're going for that fabulous braid look! As a user, I've recommended using around 4 packs for a full head, but of course, it's subject to individual preferences and head sizes. So, go ahead and give this a shot, you won't be disappointed! 🔗Zury 3X Hollywood Burgundy Braiding Hair Collectionhttps://preview.redd.it/lu2w5aui8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2ffc993beb83263250368e16c416e7349a726761 As a hair enthusiast, I was excited to try out the Zury Synthetic Pre Stretched Hollywood 3X Braid in Yaky Triple Burgundy. The BELOVED BRAIDS COLLECTION appealed to me right away, and I was eager to see how it would perform. I have to say, this braid exceeded my expectations. The 100% AFRELLE(KANEKALON) was incredibly smooth, making it easy to lock and style without any tangling issues. One of the best features of this braid is its manageability. Unlike some other products I've tried, this one was a breeze to work with. The VERSATILE EASY LOCK SMOOTH TOUCH made the entire process so much more enjoyable, and I appreciated the lack of snags and tangles while I was braiding. However, there is one downside to this product. When I received my order, it was shorter than what I had anticipated. While it was not a deal-breaker for me, it would be helpful if the sizing was more accurately represented in the product description. Overall, I am very happy with my Zury Synthetic Pre Stretched Hollywood 3X Braid in Yaky Triple Burgundy. Its smooth touch and easy-to-lock features make it a pleasure to work with, and I would definitely recommend it to fellow hair enthusiasts. 🔗Stylish and Comfortable Box Braidshttps://preview.redd.it/k9niq9cj8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=01f52ccf0ae02bf462c253b184fd6ce3e384eff9 When it comes to enhancing my braiding game, the Janet Collection Jungle Box Braid has been my go-to hair accessory. This braid features a premium synthetic fiber that not only feels comfortable on my scalp but also holds its shape well through every twist and turn. As someone who loves experimenting with different styles, I appreciate the box braid pattern that allows me to easily switch up my look. One thing I've truly appreciated about this particular braid is how it seamlessly intertwines with my natural hair. Its crochet loop design ensures a secure fit without causing any discomfort or tension on my scalp. It's incredibly versatile too - I've styled it in ponytails, updos, and even as loose waves, making it a great addition to anyone's hair collection. While I absolutely adore the Janet Collection Jungle Box Braid, one minor downside I've encountered is that it can become slightly tangled if not stored properly. However, this is easily remedied by properly detangling it before use and storing it neatly afterward. In conclusion, if you're looking to up your hairstyle game with a durable, comfortable, and stylish option, the Janet Collection Jungle Box Braid is definitely worth considering. It's a versatile product that adds depth and dimension to any look, making it a staple in my hair care regimen. 🔗2 Packs 16" Red Burgundy Braiding Hair with Heat-Safe and Washable Human-Blendhttps://preview.redd.it/bbhngysj8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=df0a0ff891215fd88e8d229f4ca0c5e1424b0feb I've been using the Essence #P1B/118 Burgundy Yaki Bulk 16 Micro Braiding Blend Hair for the past couple of months, and I must say it's been quite an experience. The blend of synthetic and human hair is perfect for creating natural-looking braids. It's not only heat safe but also washable, making it a versatile option for styling. One of my favorite things about this product has been how easy it is to work with. The pre-sectioned strands make the process of braiding so much smoother and quicker. Plus, the vibrant burgundy shade adds a nice touch of color to my braids. However, there have been some drawbacks. I occasionally find strands coming loose, which can be a bit frustrating. Additionally, the blending of synthetic and human hair isn't perfect, resulting in some unevenness in texture. Overall, the Essence #P1B/118 burgundy braiding hair is a good option for those looking for a blend of synthetic and human hair. Though it may have a few minor flaws, it provides a natural look at an affordable price. 🔗Vanessa Burgundy Braiding Hair - Original Color May Varyhttps://preview.redd.it/7lfgnu9k8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b7b438cb0d63aca0ded6329d852750b2475c2f0e I've been using the "EZYaky Perm 100 Kanekalon Pre-Stretched Breaiding Hair by Soul Sister- Vanessa-530 (Dark Burgundy)" in my daily hairstyle routine and I must say, it's been a reliable and easy-to-use product. The rich, dark burgundy color adds a lovely contrast to my natural hair tone, and it's surprisingly versatile. One of the standout features of this product is its pre-stretched quality. It made the braiding process a breeze, saving me both time and effort in the long run. Also, the Kanekalon fibers hold the tension well, keeping the braids looking neat and tidy. However, there's a minor downside - the original product color may vary due to screen resolution among other settings. This isn't a deal-breaker for me, but it might be worth keeping in mind if you're looking for a specific color match. All in all, if you're in the market for a high quality pre-stretched braiding hair, the "EZYaky Perm 100 Kanekalon" by Soul Sister is definitely worth considering. Its ease of use and beautiful color make it a go-to choice in my book. 🔗Zury 100% Human Hair Braids - Lurex Afro Bulk (Burgundy)https://preview.redd.it/rjmfmmnk8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=15318897c4c182b29ae3d4d0c18e1a61c1c0193d Lately, I've been trying out Zury's Sis 100% Human Hair Braid in Lurex Afro Bulk 16 inch - it's in burgundy, but the color is vibrant and eye-catching. I've been using it for twisting and wrapping, and I must say, it's been a total breeze. The hair is incredibly easy to apply, so no more fumbling with stubborn strands. Plus, the quick-finish feature has been a game-changer - no more sitting around for hours trying to get it right. This braid also holds up well to bleaching, perming, and dyeing, which is a massive plus in my book. On the flip side, the only downside I've noticed is the price point, but given the quality and convenience it offers, I'd say it's well worth the investment. 🔗Pre-Stretched Braiding Hair, Lightweight & Easy-to-Braidhttps://preview.redd.it/s0we185l8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f65587e8db3ae2bdc571392343f0dfe28792edae In the realm of pre-stretched braiding hair, Janet Collection's Triple EZ Tex Pre-Stretched Braiding Hair has firmly established itself as my go-to choice. As a frequent user of braids, I was blown away by how lightweight and comfortable this hair is. Made from a mix of anti-bacterial and water-resistant fibers, this product not only guarantees a natural, feathered look but also ensures my braids stay light and comfortable throughout the day. One of the things that stood out for me was the 3x pre-stretched texture. Compared to other products I've tried in the past, this one felt incredibly light on my head, making it perfect for long-lasting braids. Additionally, the layered ends provide a natural look that complements my style perfectly. Another major highlight of this product is its safety and security features. Being non-flammable and with itch-free materials, I felt confident wearing this braid all day long without worrying about any potential discomfort or safety hazards. However, like any product, there are some cons to consider. Some users have reported issues with tangling and frizz, which can be a bit of a nuisance when styling. While this didn't affect my overall experience, it's worth noting for those who prioritize low-maintenance styling. All in all, Janet Collection's Triple EZ Tex Pre-Stretched Braiding Hair has been a game-changer for me. Its unbeatable combination of comfort, style, and safety make it a must-have for anyone looking to elevate their braids game. Buyer's GuideBurgundy braiding hair refers to artificial hair strands or extensions that come in a rich, deep maroon color. This type of braiding hair is popular among those seeking to add a bold and striking element to their hairstyles. It can be used for various purposes, including adding volume, length, or color to your natural hair, creating protective styles, or even experimenting with unconventional colors.2. Choosing the Right TextureBurgundy braiding hair is available in different textures, such as straight, loose wave, deep wave, or kinky curl. Each texture has a unique look and feel that can greatly impact the final appearance of your hairstyle. Be sure to consider your personal style, comfort level, and the type of natural hair you have when choosing the right texture for your braiding hair. https://preview.redd.it/jo6muupl8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e61c40fa751248884f900cc4189a9eaab830fe0d 3. Quality MattersAs with any hair product, the quality of burgundy braiding hair can vary greatly. High-quality braiding hair is usually made from synthetic fibers and has a smooth, silky texture that closely mimics natural hair. It should also be tangle-free and easy to work with. To ensure you're getting the best quality braiding hair, look for well-known brands, read customer reviews, and inspect the product closely before purchasing.4. Length and WeightBurgundy braiding hair comes in various lengths and weights. When choosing the right length for your needs, consider your personal style and how short or long you want your hair to appear. In terms of weight, lighter options are generally easier to work with and can provide a more comfortable experience. However, if you're aiming for a fuller, voluminous look, you may prefer a heavier option.5. Preparation and CareTo properly maintain and prolong the life of your burgundy braiding hair, it is essential to follow a proper care routine. Begin by washing and conditioning your natural hair thoroughly before installation. It is also crucial to gently wash and condition your braiding hair regularly to keep it clean and tangle-free. Avoid using harsh chemicals or excessive heat when styling your braiding hair, as this can cause damage and reduce the lifespan of your extensions. https://preview.redd.it/cb2ezo4m8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=afd08e65b5d1b348a8a634fc82dfdc7d32a6237e 6. Consultation with a ProfessionalIf you're unsure about how to choose, install, or maintain burgundy braiding hair, consider consulting with a professional hairstylist. They can provide valuable advice and assistance in selecting the appropriate products and techniques for your specific needs and preferences.Burgundy braiding hair offers a versatile and striking addition to any hairstyle. By considering factors such as texture, quality, length, and weight, as well as proper preparation and care, you can achieve a flawless and eye-catching result. Remember to always prioritize your personal comfort and style preferences when choosing and maintaining your burgundy braiding hair. FAQ1. What is burgundy braiding hair?Burgundy braiding hair is a type of synthetic hair extension that comes in a deep, rich burgundy color. It is designed to be used for various braided hairstyles, such as cornrows, box braids, and twists, enhancing the overall appearance and versatility of your hair. https://preview.redd.it/j6waskkm8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=18f51c4098f323d1651031f5c22dfdceb381c866 2. How do I install burgundy braiding hair?Before installing the braiding hair, ensure your natural hair is properly cleansed, conditioned, and protected with a moisturizing product. Then, section your natural hair into manageable parts, and begin braiding each section using the burgundy braiding hair as your main braid or as the additional strands for twists or cornrows. Make sure to secure the ends with rubber bands or hair ties.3. How long does burgundy braiding hair last?The longevity of burgundy braiding hair depends on factors such as proper installation, hair care routine, and personal preferences. On average, braiding hair can last between 4-8 weeks, but it may vary from person to person. To prolong its life, avoid daily exposure to water, chemicals, and excessive manipulation.4. Can burgundy braiding hair be dyed?Yes, burgundy braiding hair can be dyed to create various shades or to match your natural hair color. However, it is essential to use hair dye specifically designed for synthetic fibers to avoid damaging the hair. Always follow the dye manufacturer's instructions and perform a patch test before applying the dye to the entire strand. https://preview.redd.it/r0kz9q3n8ssc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=03c359b7d469d5e06b97283a986d2681014ce2a7 5. How do I remove burgundy braiding hair?To remove burgundy braiding hair, gently unravel the braids or twists, taking care not to tug on your natural hair excessively. After unravelling, carefully slide the braiding hair off your natural hair strand by strand. Once all the braiding hair is removed, thoroughly detangle and deep condition your natural hair to restore its moisture and elasticity.6. Can I wear burgundy braiding hair even if I don't have naturally dark hair?Yes, burgundy braiding hair can be worn by anyone, regardless of their natural hair color. You can choose to match your natural hair color with a darker burgundy shade or opt for a more contrasting burgundy hue to create a bold statement. Remember to adjust the installation technique accordingly, as darker shades may require more blending and blending.7. How do I care for burgundy braiding hair during and after installation?To maintain the quality of your burgundy braiding hair while installed, avoid excessive exposure to water, chemicals, and heat sources such as direct sunlight, flat irons, or curling wands. Regularly moisturize your natural hair underneath to keep it healthy and well-hydrated. After removing the braiding hair, gently cleanse and condition your natural hair, focusing on repairing any damage or breakage caused from the installation.8. How do I prevent the burgundy color from fading?To prevent the burgundy color from fading, avoid using harsh shampoos or conditioners that contain sulfates or alcohol, as these can strip the color. Opt for sulfate-free, color-protecting products that help preserve the vibrancy of the color. Additionally, minimize the use of heat styling tools, and consider using a color-depositing shampoo or conditioner to maintain the richness of the burgundy hue.9. Are there any other uses for burgundy braiding hair besides braided hairstyles?Yes, burgundy braiding hair can be used to create various hairstyles such as buns, updos, and ponytails. The versatility of braiding hair allows you to experiment with different looks and styles, making it a multi-purpose hair accessory.10. Can I use burgundy braiding hair along with other hair extension types?Yes, burgundy braiding hair can be combined with other hair extension types, such as sew-in weaves, wigs, or clip-ins, to create a unique and personalized look. Ensure that the various extensions you use have matching or complementary colors and textures to achieve a seamless blend and a cohesive aesthetic.As an Amazon™ Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. |
2024.03.02 02:18 xulawriter1 Amirah Jenkins: "Blacker than Thou"
In his work of literature, “Blacker than Thou,” Kevin Young investigates the question of what it means to “be black.” Is the definition of blackness synonymous with the definition of struggle? Is being black a feeling? Is it something that is attainable. These questions ring throughout this article of work and allows us as readers to truly question what being black is. For me, saying I am black is like me stating that I attend Xavier University to get a degree. Obvious. For a woman like Rachel Dolezal, she believes that if she simply pretends to be black because that is the way she feels, then that makes her black. The attempt to navigate the world as a black woman, knowing full well that she is completely white is insanity. Who gave her the audacity to do this? Young mentions a show called “Fresh off the Boat,” which is about the attempt of an immigrant family to assimilate into an American culture. He proposes the questions, “How do you become American? Is this the same as becoming black.” Assimilation is used by minorities to blend into a culture where their authentic culture is otherwise not accepted. African American culture was something created by African Americans as a byproduct of oppression, and it was something used as a safe space in a country where our identity was already completely stripped from us. Rachel Dolezal clearly uses her ability to move throughout the world as a black woman to benefit herself and herself only. Perhaps “becoming black” is her attempt to escape the “white guilt” that comes from learning and teaching about the oppression of black people throughout history. She paints it as something completely harmless and innocent, when it is actually quite opposite. Being black is a unique experience not characterized by the music you listen to, the hood you grew up in, or the struggle you have experienced throughout your lifetime. It is not something that goes away when you remove a fake tan or Senegalese twists. It is not something you can just get up and decide to be. It is something deep in your soul. Something authentic. Blackness is an experience characterized by resilience, perseverance, and a culture rich in all its ways. It is unfair for a woman like Rachel Dolezal to try and assimilate into this safe space. This clear identity crisis prompts her to do things like change her name to a more “black-sounding” name, have black children, and perm her hair. It is nothing short of a costume, façade, and act for her. Some people do not understand why black women and men are offended by this. “Why do y’all always want to “gatekeep?” Of course some of us see “gatekeeping” as something necessary. Why would we want for our culture to be exploited and possibly stripped from us for a second time? Being quiet in situations like this will do nothing but lead to the erasure of our culture that we hold so near and dear to our hearts. We should pray for her, seriously.
submitted by xulawriter1 to xulaHonorsLit2024 [link] [comments]
2023.10.09 23:32 RegularCockroach WhatIfAltHist Believes Racism was Caused by "Lower African Development" in a Bizarre Racialist Tirade
Rudyard, keep Africa's name out your mouth! Seriously, every single time Whatifalthist brings up the world's second-largest continent, he finds a way to say something incredibly ignorant and misinformed. In a twist of fate that surprises absolutely nobody, his latest video, "Was Colonialism Good or Bad" continues this trend of ignorance.
This video is a treasure trove of bad history, a great deal of which falls beyond my expertise. Trust me though, if you specialize in Native American, East Asian, Spanish, or colonial American history, I would love to hear your thoughts on certain elements of the video.
Whatifalthist makes many remarkably ignorant claims in the video, but there is one that stands out to me as especially strange.
>"The assumption going into the African Slave Trade was that Africans weren't fully human. I know that worldview was partially created to enslave Africans so it's not an excuse, but keep in mind that (European Societies) didn't have the same scientific tools that we have today. So when they saw Africa's lower level of development, they ascribed it to intrinsic intelligence among the Africans, rather than factors like historical chance or geography."
There are many, many elements of this claim that are very, very wrong. For starters, Whatifalthist proposes that Europeans viewed African people as subhuman prior to the transatlantic slave trade. Whatifalthist cites no sources to support this idea, and that's appropriate since it's completely untrue. Let's do something that I assume Rudyard never did himself, and do some substantive research. When you read accounts of early Portuguese merchants in West Africa, you cannot detect any hints of racial animus or perceived superiority in their writings.
Prior to direct contact with West Africa, European knowledge of the region was derived primarily from secondhand accounts from North Africans. One example that illustrates well the impression of West Africa given to Europe by North Africans is the Antonio Malfonte letter, in which he travels to the Algerian oasis of Tuwat and relays the account of a North African merchant. The full text of the letter can be found in the citation for this section. In the letter, Malfonte and the North African man he speaks to provide a strong summary of how the Christian and the Islamic world viewed the concept of race in the late medeival period. The North African merchant divides the "Land of the Blacks" (Africa south of the Sahara), into two sub-divisions: the Land of Islam and the Land of Idolatry. Throughout the letter, the merchant paints the Muslim regions of Africa as an advanced and civilized region, a full and equal participant of a wider Islamic community. He depicts it as a land of thriving and well-governed cities, of which he provides a non-exhaustive list to Malfonte. The Land of Idolatry, on the other hand, is inhabited by non-Muslims and is a land wrecked by perpetual conflict and discord. (1) This account, as well as other accounts from the era, highlights how religious ties were viewed as more important than perceived phenotypical similarity. Even though both lands are inhabited by dark-skinned Africans (people who Rudyard would conflate together as "black"), the perception of the time was that religion, not appearance, was the primary divide among humanity.
For the most part, the Christian world shared the same view. While people could and did perceive phenotypical differences across regions, religious affiliation was viewed as the more significant tie. In the predominant view of the time, a Christian from Africa shared more ties to a Christian from Europe than to, say, a Muslim from Africa. Racial divisions, as we think of them today, were not yet widely believed in, a paradigm that remained true well into the 15th century.
The best example of such a paradigm was the Christian fixation with the idea of Prester John. The mythical figure of Prester John was a Christian king from somewhere far away from Europe, varying between retellings. Eur By the 15th century, a combination of conflicts between Islamic Egypt and Christian Nubia, combined with various clerical visits from Ethiopia, had convinced many European Christians that Prester John's kingdom was located somewhere in Africa, a belief that would later influence the diplomatic relationship between Ethiopia and Portugal. (2) The relevance of the myth here is in how it demonstrates the greater importance of religion over geographic origin. Due to his Christian faith, the figure of Prester John was firmly a member of the Christian in-group, with his geographic and presumed phenotypical distinction from European Christians being an afterthought.
The manuscript of Valentim Fernandes, a print based on the writings of Diego Gomes, describes the activities of Portuguese traders in great detail. Never, at any point, does the manuscript imply racial inferiority of Africans. In fact, while the manuscript obviously notes the dark complexion of the Africans, it doesn't ever write about them in a monolithic sense. While the manuscript notes the ethnic diversity among the Akan peoples near the Portuguese fort of Elmina, the main divide it notes is between the coastal people, who follow traditional religions, and the Muslims of the interior. This mirrors the divide proposed by the North African account. Overall, the main defining trait that the author emphasizes is not what Rudyard would believe. At no point do they mention any alleged lack of development, poverty, or backwardness. Rather, the manuscript primarily concerns itself with emphasizing that the people of West Africa, especially the interior, are industrious producers and honest traders. (3)
When a Portuguese voyage reached Benin City, the reaction among the Portuguese similarly did not make note of any supposed underdevelopment. In fact, given the more urbanized nature of the Benin kingdom and its capital, the Portuguese account was, in a twist contrary to Whatifalthist's claims, impressed with the organization and development of the city. While both sides were interested in pursuing commercial relations and did, diplomatic relations between the two countries was hindered by, of course, religion. In one case, when the neighboring Igala kingdom attempted to invade Benin, the Portuguese conditioned military support on the oba of Benin converting to Christianity (4), yet another example of the principal role that religion, not race or ethnicity, played in perceptions and prejudices of the era. This is something that Whatifalthist struggles to understand because he is motivated not by historical scholarship, but by modern racial politics. Since he lives in a racial world, he struggles to comprehend the idea of the existence of a pre-racial world.
In summary, both prior to and during the early stages of the transatlantic slave-trade, Europeans did not hold views of racial superiority over Africans. Given the principal role of religion in the ideology of the period, religious justifications were used for slavery. For generations, enslavement of Christians had been condemned by the Catholic church. (5) However, the acceptability of enslavement of non-Christians was a different story. Ultimately, it would be religious, rather than explicitly racial justifications that provided the initial ideological justification for enslavement. To quote historian James Sweet:
"The first transnational, institutional endorsement of African slavery occurred in1452 when Pope Nicholas V issued the bull, Dum Diversas, which granted King AfonsoV of Portugal the right to reduce to “perpetual slavery” all “Saracens and pagans andother infidels and enemies of Christ” in West Africa. In 1454, the Pope followed up DumDiversas with Romanus Pontifex, which granted Portugal the more specific right toconquer and enslave all peoples south of Cape Bojador. Taken together, these papal bulls did far more than grant exclusive rights to the Portuguese; they signaled to the restof Christian Europe that the enslavement of sub-Saharan Africans was acceptable andencouraged."
Whatifalthist fundamentally gets the paradigm backward when it comes to the origins of racism, which, tragically he comes very close to acknowledging. While Whatifalthist argues that racialism was the cause of enslavement, the opposite is true. Racialism was, fundamentally, a product of enslavement, not only in Africa but also in the Caribbean through the enslavement of the indigenous population. Like many gradual processes in history, it's impossible to locate a single point where racialism emerged and where it overtook religious identity in justifying enslavement. One of the earliest examples of racialist thinking within the Iberian world was the writings of Hernando del Pulgar, a Spanish court historian who wrote that West Africans were "“savagepeople, black men, who were naked and lived in huts.” Notably, this idea was promulgated by a man who had never actually visited West Africa. (6) While Whatifalthist claims that European prejudices were able to promulgate because they were confirmed by European observations in West Africa, the opposite is more likely. After all, even long after stereotypes of Africans as simple people were emerging in Iberia, there are many accounts of Europeans during the 15th century having their stereotypical perceptions challenged, not confirmed, by the reality in front of them. In one such case, the Portuguese chronicler Rui de Pena records a visit to Lisbon by a Bemoim, a Senegalese royal. "(Bemoim's) speech was so dignified that it was as if it did not appear as from the mouth of a black barbarian but of a Grecian prince raised in Athens." Rather than perceived superiority arising from observation of African cultures by Europeans, the opposite is true. Europeans who promulgated these stereotypes were often those with little or no exposure to Africa, and Europeans had to repress their observations of African civilizations to rationalize the supposed inferiority.
However, Whatifalthist does not acknowledge this reality because it does not align with the ultimate thesis of this section. Rather, he believes that negative European racial stereotypes of the rest of the world were motivated primarily by the savagery of non-whites. To quote 17:45 in his video: "It's easy for us to say how bad racism was in retrospect, but we're not in a world anymore where you run into another culture that practices cannibalism, human sacrifice, footbinding, and more."
If only non-Europeans had been less barbaric savages, then racism would have never existed, guys.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1: Crone, G. R., Cà da Mosto Alvise, Antonio Malfante, Diogo Gomes, and João de Barros. The voyages of cadamosto and other documents on Western Africa in the second half of the fifteenth century. London: Printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1937.
2: Kurt, Andrew. “The Search for Prester John, a Projected Crusade and the Eroding Prestige of Ethiopian Kings, 1200-1540.” Journal of Medieval History 39, no. 3, 2013.
3: Fernandes, Valentim. "Relação de Diogo Gomes", 1506.
4: Ediagbonya, Michael. “A Study of the Portuguese-Benin Trade Relations: Ughoton as a Benin Port (1485 -1506).” International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies, 2015.
5: Perez-Garcia, Rafael. Christian freedom and natural freedom. An introduction to an archaeology of Catholic controversies over slavery. Routledge, 2022.
6: Sweet, James. Spanish and Portuguese Influences on Racial Slavery in British North America, 1492-1619 . Yale University, 2003.
submitted by RegularCockroach to badhistory [link] [comments]
This video is a treasure trove of bad history, a great deal of which falls beyond my expertise. Trust me though, if you specialize in Native American, East Asian, Spanish, or colonial American history, I would love to hear your thoughts on certain elements of the video.
Whatifalthist makes many remarkably ignorant claims in the video, but there is one that stands out to me as especially strange.
>"The assumption going into the African Slave Trade was that Africans weren't fully human. I know that worldview was partially created to enslave Africans so it's not an excuse, but keep in mind that (European Societies) didn't have the same scientific tools that we have today. So when they saw Africa's lower level of development, they ascribed it to intrinsic intelligence among the Africans, rather than factors like historical chance or geography."
There are many, many elements of this claim that are very, very wrong. For starters, Whatifalthist proposes that Europeans viewed African people as subhuman prior to the transatlantic slave trade. Whatifalthist cites no sources to support this idea, and that's appropriate since it's completely untrue. Let's do something that I assume Rudyard never did himself, and do some substantive research. When you read accounts of early Portuguese merchants in West Africa, you cannot detect any hints of racial animus or perceived superiority in their writings.
Prior to direct contact with West Africa, European knowledge of the region was derived primarily from secondhand accounts from North Africans. One example that illustrates well the impression of West Africa given to Europe by North Africans is the Antonio Malfonte letter, in which he travels to the Algerian oasis of Tuwat and relays the account of a North African merchant. The full text of the letter can be found in the citation for this section. In the letter, Malfonte and the North African man he speaks to provide a strong summary of how the Christian and the Islamic world viewed the concept of race in the late medeival period. The North African merchant divides the "Land of the Blacks" (Africa south of the Sahara), into two sub-divisions: the Land of Islam and the Land of Idolatry. Throughout the letter, the merchant paints the Muslim regions of Africa as an advanced and civilized region, a full and equal participant of a wider Islamic community. He depicts it as a land of thriving and well-governed cities, of which he provides a non-exhaustive list to Malfonte. The Land of Idolatry, on the other hand, is inhabited by non-Muslims and is a land wrecked by perpetual conflict and discord. (1) This account, as well as other accounts from the era, highlights how religious ties were viewed as more important than perceived phenotypical similarity. Even though both lands are inhabited by dark-skinned Africans (people who Rudyard would conflate together as "black"), the perception of the time was that religion, not appearance, was the primary divide among humanity.
For the most part, the Christian world shared the same view. While people could and did perceive phenotypical differences across regions, religious affiliation was viewed as the more significant tie. In the predominant view of the time, a Christian from Africa shared more ties to a Christian from Europe than to, say, a Muslim from Africa. Racial divisions, as we think of them today, were not yet widely believed in, a paradigm that remained true well into the 15th century.
The best example of such a paradigm was the Christian fixation with the idea of Prester John. The mythical figure of Prester John was a Christian king from somewhere far away from Europe, varying between retellings. Eur By the 15th century, a combination of conflicts between Islamic Egypt and Christian Nubia, combined with various clerical visits from Ethiopia, had convinced many European Christians that Prester John's kingdom was located somewhere in Africa, a belief that would later influence the diplomatic relationship between Ethiopia and Portugal. (2) The relevance of the myth here is in how it demonstrates the greater importance of religion over geographic origin. Due to his Christian faith, the figure of Prester John was firmly a member of the Christian in-group, with his geographic and presumed phenotypical distinction from European Christians being an afterthought.
The manuscript of Valentim Fernandes, a print based on the writings of Diego Gomes, describes the activities of Portuguese traders in great detail. Never, at any point, does the manuscript imply racial inferiority of Africans. In fact, while the manuscript obviously notes the dark complexion of the Africans, it doesn't ever write about them in a monolithic sense. While the manuscript notes the ethnic diversity among the Akan peoples near the Portuguese fort of Elmina, the main divide it notes is between the coastal people, who follow traditional religions, and the Muslims of the interior. This mirrors the divide proposed by the North African account. Overall, the main defining trait that the author emphasizes is not what Rudyard would believe. At no point do they mention any alleged lack of development, poverty, or backwardness. Rather, the manuscript primarily concerns itself with emphasizing that the people of West Africa, especially the interior, are industrious producers and honest traders. (3)
When a Portuguese voyage reached Benin City, the reaction among the Portuguese similarly did not make note of any supposed underdevelopment. In fact, given the more urbanized nature of the Benin kingdom and its capital, the Portuguese account was, in a twist contrary to Whatifalthist's claims, impressed with the organization and development of the city. While both sides were interested in pursuing commercial relations and did, diplomatic relations between the two countries was hindered by, of course, religion. In one case, when the neighboring Igala kingdom attempted to invade Benin, the Portuguese conditioned military support on the oba of Benin converting to Christianity (4), yet another example of the principal role that religion, not race or ethnicity, played in perceptions and prejudices of the era. This is something that Whatifalthist struggles to understand because he is motivated not by historical scholarship, but by modern racial politics. Since he lives in a racial world, he struggles to comprehend the idea of the existence of a pre-racial world.
In summary, both prior to and during the early stages of the transatlantic slave-trade, Europeans did not hold views of racial superiority over Africans. Given the principal role of religion in the ideology of the period, religious justifications were used for slavery. For generations, enslavement of Christians had been condemned by the Catholic church. (5) However, the acceptability of enslavement of non-Christians was a different story. Ultimately, it would be religious, rather than explicitly racial justifications that provided the initial ideological justification for enslavement. To quote historian James Sweet:
"The first transnational, institutional endorsement of African slavery occurred in1452 when Pope Nicholas V issued the bull, Dum Diversas, which granted King AfonsoV of Portugal the right to reduce to “perpetual slavery” all “Saracens and pagans andother infidels and enemies of Christ” in West Africa. In 1454, the Pope followed up DumDiversas with Romanus Pontifex, which granted Portugal the more specific right toconquer and enslave all peoples south of Cape Bojador. Taken together, these papal bulls did far more than grant exclusive rights to the Portuguese; they signaled to the restof Christian Europe that the enslavement of sub-Saharan Africans was acceptable andencouraged."
Whatifalthist fundamentally gets the paradigm backward when it comes to the origins of racism, which, tragically he comes very close to acknowledging. While Whatifalthist argues that racialism was the cause of enslavement, the opposite is true. Racialism was, fundamentally, a product of enslavement, not only in Africa but also in the Caribbean through the enslavement of the indigenous population. Like many gradual processes in history, it's impossible to locate a single point where racialism emerged and where it overtook religious identity in justifying enslavement. One of the earliest examples of racialist thinking within the Iberian world was the writings of Hernando del Pulgar, a Spanish court historian who wrote that West Africans were "“savagepeople, black men, who were naked and lived in huts.” Notably, this idea was promulgated by a man who had never actually visited West Africa. (6) While Whatifalthist claims that European prejudices were able to promulgate because they were confirmed by European observations in West Africa, the opposite is more likely. After all, even long after stereotypes of Africans as simple people were emerging in Iberia, there are many accounts of Europeans during the 15th century having their stereotypical perceptions challenged, not confirmed, by the reality in front of them. In one such case, the Portuguese chronicler Rui de Pena records a visit to Lisbon by a Bemoim, a Senegalese royal. "(Bemoim's) speech was so dignified that it was as if it did not appear as from the mouth of a black barbarian but of a Grecian prince raised in Athens." Rather than perceived superiority arising from observation of African cultures by Europeans, the opposite is true. Europeans who promulgated these stereotypes were often those with little or no exposure to Africa, and Europeans had to repress their observations of African civilizations to rationalize the supposed inferiority.
However, Whatifalthist does not acknowledge this reality because it does not align with the ultimate thesis of this section. Rather, he believes that negative European racial stereotypes of the rest of the world were motivated primarily by the savagery of non-whites. To quote 17:45 in his video: "It's easy for us to say how bad racism was in retrospect, but we're not in a world anymore where you run into another culture that practices cannibalism, human sacrifice, footbinding, and more."
If only non-Europeans had been less barbaric savages, then racism would have never existed, guys.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1: Crone, G. R., Cà da Mosto Alvise, Antonio Malfante, Diogo Gomes, and João de Barros. The voyages of cadamosto and other documents on Western Africa in the second half of the fifteenth century. London: Printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1937.
2: Kurt, Andrew. “The Search for Prester John, a Projected Crusade and the Eroding Prestige of Ethiopian Kings, 1200-1540.” Journal of Medieval History 39, no. 3, 2013.
3: Fernandes, Valentim. "Relação de Diogo Gomes", 1506.
4: Ediagbonya, Michael. “A Study of the Portuguese-Benin Trade Relations: Ughoton as a Benin Port (1485 -1506).” International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies, 2015.
5: Perez-Garcia, Rafael. Christian freedom and natural freedom. An introduction to an archaeology of Catholic controversies over slavery. Routledge, 2022.
6: Sweet, James. Spanish and Portuguese Influences on Racial Slavery in British North America, 1492-1619 . Yale University, 2003.
- Rui de Pina, Crónica de el-rei João II, 1488. Republished 1950.
2023.09.11 21:39 OldmanRevived I saw three movies (Saint Omer, After Love, The Quiet Girl)
Ayy yo waddup. It's ya boi Oldman back at it again with another one! Not much to say in the header this time, just that these are some movies from far back earlier this yealast year that I just now caught up with [cue the usual line about contented laziness]. And I decided to go back to old habits and make them the usual length again. I dunno, I guess I'm just stuck with it. Sorry for the TL;DR-iness
First up was Saint Omer
"Saint Omer," director Alice Diop's first non-documentary feature, is a courtroom drama and also an unusual kind of true-crime chronicle. In 2016, Fabienne Kabou appeared in a provincial French court, charged with killing her daughter, who was a little more than a year old. Diop, who attended Kabou's trial, has turned the case and her own fascination with it into an intellectually charged, emotionally wrenching story about our collective inability to do justice to the violence and strangeness of human experience. The unadorned quality of the film can feel bleak, particularly in the early stretches of story, but Diop earns the effort she asks of her audience, methodically allowing a strange, intangible, but nevertheless palpable mix of emotions to emerge from the situation itself.
The premise finds Paris-based academic Rama (Kayije Kagame) traveling to the city of Saint Omer for the trial of Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanda) - a woman accused of abandoning her 15-month-old daughter by the ocean to drown - as source material for her latest book. It just so happens that Rama is pregnant, and that her common Senegalese background with Laurence has Rama contemplating her fraught relationship with her own mother. The majority of the film consists of Laurence's trial itself, with Diop capturing the testimony in long master shots that initially emphasize Laurence's seeming impassiveness, and the enigma of her actions. But that testimony also weaves in components from Laurence's background, leading to questions about how much cultural specificity should factor into legal decisions.
Race - which is to say France's history as a colonial power, and the uncertain present-day status of immigrants from its former colonies - is both one of the film's themes and a part of its atmosphere. The French ideals of republican universalism, implicit in the language and rituals of the red-robed judge and the black-robed lawyers, are entangled in prejudice and custom. One of Laurence's professors wonders why an African woman would be interested in Wittgenstein, a long-dead Austrian philosopher. "Why not something closer to her own culture?" That arrogant, insolent question ricochets toward Rama, who starts the movie contemplating Duras and later watches Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Medea," a rendering of Euripides starring Maria Callas. What is her relationship to those European works? And what, conversely, is Africa to her, or to Laurence?
These are hard questions, and Diop faces them with ardent, open-minded curiosity, resisting any obvious pronouncements about identity, individuality or universal values. Her main characters aren't the embodiment of social problems or political failures, but both women undergo an emotional ordeal that's also a crisis of meaning, an existential conundrum that defies description, or even naming. Some kind of recognition or revelation takes place in the courtroom that shakes Rama's understanding of who she is. To say that she identifies with Laurence would be to flatten the nuances of Diop's observant dramatic technique, and to simplify Kagame's seething, quiet performance. Still, the parallels between Rama and Laurence are hard to miss, for the audience as well as for Rama.
Around the mid-point of the movie, I noted that the material was sufficiently compelling but came close to having a grave miscalculation. Infanticide is a uniquely revulsion-inducing act to begin with, and this specific instance really demands extreme circumstances to...not "justify" it, certainly, but at least render it comprehensible. You need to feel as if this poor woman was trapped in a truly insupportable situation, one that caused her to temporarily lose her reason, see no other recourse. And I simply didn't get that from Coly's testimony, extensive and ably performed though it is. (Guslagie Malanga remains admirably stoic throughout, refusing to make any bid for pathos). Even if I had, the defense attorney's summation, delivered directly to the lens (i.e., to us) and arguing, in effect, that all mothers are fundamentally monstrous for placental reasons, would have undermined whatever allowance I might have made. That, and Diop's decision to cut to four different women in the courtroom - including the judge! - as their eyes well with tears of recognition.
"Saint Omer" is better when it deals with indirectness, which might be frustrating for viewers expecting a straightforward courtroom drama. As it stands, it's more interested in protean narratives and how language can be manipulated to expand or constrict identities. Plainly, others got more out of it than I did, as this was France's contender for the Best International Feature in this year's Academy Awards. But even with that said, the film's power comes from its subtlety - the way characters sneak glances at each other in the courtroom, the intensity of their emotions, the way their tone changes depending on the audience, how they construct their stories. These details destabilize what, at first, seems like a fixed narrative, prompting us to ask questions beyond innocence and guilt, truth and lies.
Next up was After Love
In the opening shot of "After Love," its heroine goes from contented wife to despairing widow. We're in the kitchen of her home in Dover, captured in one shot as she makes tea in the foreground, her husband Ahmed wobbles into his armchair in the background, and the two share a casual conversation. One minute, she's pottering around in her headscarf while Ahmed puts his feet up and watches television. The next, she finds out he's not breathing. The static camera never tracks in to intrude on this awful moment of discovery, but maintains a discreet distance.
After this brief prologue, we cut to Mary in the immediate throes of mourning for her husband. She wanders Dover's coastal cliffs, catches herself habitually pouring a cup of tea for her late husband, and listens to his last voice mail over and over. After decades of being a homemaker, she's lost the driving force behind her every move for 30 years. The memories of the person she was before him are so distant that she can't return to anything resembling her old life. Yet as she sorts through Ahmed's belongings, fragments of a double life emerge: Not only is there another woman, but an entire second family squirrelled away in Calais, who remain oblivious to his death when she tracks them down.
Writer and director Aleem Khan has chosen a narrative we've seen before, in which a still-grieving protagonist discovers that her freshly interred spouse had been having an affair, and becomes self-destructively obsessed with learning the details. There's an additional twist here, though, in that the widow, Mary (played with admirable opacity by Joanna Scanlan), is a British woman who adopted her Pakistani-born husband's faith and culture, while the other woman, Genevieve (Nathalie Richard, gently brittle), who's also mother to the dead man's only child (a teenager!), couldn't possibly be more stereotypically le chic français.
Through a mix-up best left unexamined if you want to enjoy this picture, the latter mistakes the former for a new housekeeper she didn't actually quite hire (see what I mean?). What follows is a banal when-will-the-ugly-truth-emerge? tensionfest, further complicated by the teen son being in the closet (to Mom, at least) and also entirely ignorant of his father's other life, to say nothing of his father's death. (Exactly how did this guy maintain two families in two countries for closing in on two decades, without anyone but himself and his mistress being aware of it? Again, please don't ask too many such questions. You can sort of piece it together, but you'll need to be quite generous.)
That I've spent so much time just laying out the scenario, while still omitting significant details, speaks to the movie's fundamental awkwardness. But it all seemed to be potentially coming together, in a productively disturbing way, when Mary stands before her late husband's lover's bedroom mirror and starts applying the other woman's makeup, eventually removing the headscarf she always wears outside of her own home and silently gazing at her reflection. That's the only moment suggesting that Mary's discovery may have triggered any retroactive regret about converting, or inner turmoil specifically related to the religious disjunction between what her beloved wanted at home and what he sought elsewhere.
Could Khan have made that psychological dynamic more effective? No idea, but I'd have been excited to see him try. His direction turns this into a sensitively made film, very well shot by Christophe Beaucarne; every frame is robustly picturesque. Scanlan is a dramatic powerhouse too, bringing a grounding emotional conviction to a character whose decisions sometimes come from a soap-opera playbook. She's in her element, and especially strong during the half-hour or so where she barely speaks, absorbing each new shock with a muffled agony. There's a palpable tenderness in Mary's inner turmoil, and it's possible build a credible and disquieting narrative around that. But as it is, "After Love" has too many notes, creating a discordant atonality.
Next up was The Quiet Girl
We teach more by example than by words, and children absorb those actions and their meaning. That's one of the main themes of Colm Bairéad's "The Quiet Girl," a small, delicate, and rather specific drama that, regardless, seems to possess entire worlds of insight, meaning, and emotions within the borders of its narrative. This is a lovely, heartbreaking film about loneliness and how simple acts of connection can at least start to break through the shells of despair, pain, and grief.
The simple plot, based on the Claire Keegan's short story "Foster," revolves around Cáit (a remarkable debut performance from Catherine Clinch), the last daughter in a family of maybe six children, with the most recent child and the upcoming baby being boys. As such, the girl has essentially been forgotten by her family. Her mother (Kate Nic Chonaonaigh) is busy with household chores and preparing for the new baby, and her father (Michael Patric) is either away at work or drinking and gambling. That leaves 9-year-old Cáit, growing up outside a small Irish village during the early 1980s, to fend for herself in more ways than any child probably should.
The story eventually has the parents sending her away from the family farm to live with the mother's cousin on their farm. This trip comes with barely an announcement and not a single word of input from the girl. She will stay with Eibhlín (Carrie Crowley) and her husband Seán (Andrew Bennett) for an indeterminate time after the birth of her baby brother. Having kids isn't a problem, the girl's father tells his distant in-laws, but feeding them can become quite the trouble. "This one," he calls her as if he wants the girl to know what a burden he believes her to be, will probably eat the cousins out of house and home by the time they're finished watching over her.
From there, the film announces a complete turnaround with the same subtle precision that it used to detail how alone, unwanted, and rejected Cáit feels. It's the little things, such as Eibhlín finding clothes for the girl to wear (her father didn't unload her suitcase), tucking her in at night, and making a non-judgmental joke when Cáit wets the bed. This way of life is communicated through vignettes, gradually forming comfortable patterns and safe routines by Bairéad and editor John Murphy. Not much happens on the outside surface. Cáit is taken to a funeral, and later meets a gossipy woman who interrogates her about Eibhlín. But life is not made up of dramatic events. The characters here are not expressive people. But when they do express themselves, it's with authenticity. Every word counts, and the feelings underneath are enormous.
Once on the farm, Eibhlín immediately begins treating Cáit with a warm tenderness to which she is entirely unaccustomed. The intercutting of certain moments forms a cohesion - of trips to the well and preparing food in the kitchen and Eibhlín brushing the girl's hair. That consistency further displays and reflects the bond being formed between these two characters - of hands being held and a rhythm in the chopping of onions and the soft, careful counting of those strokes of the hairbrush. This is how we learn to love and know that we're loved. It's as simple and profound as that.
While that connection is more or less instantaneous, much of the story focuses on the trickier bond between Cáit and Seán, who at first seems hesitant to even speak to her. They gradually develop something of their own kind of communication - sweeping the floor together, putting a cookie on the table next to her, timing her as she runs down the lane to gather mail (cinematographer Kate McCullough gives every natural locale, each nook and cranny of the home, and even the dirty parts of the farm some idyllic quality). Just as Crowley's performance exudes warmth and affection in its every moment, Bennett's act quietly communicates a man coming to terms with an old pain and this new possibility of happiness.
There is a secret beneath all of this, and while it's not a surprise - Bairéad doesn't try to hide anything - it will remain one here. When it's actually revealed, we realize just how much these new relationships mean to every party involved. Meanwhile, our appreciation for how much empathy Bairéad has extended to all three of these characters - through their routines, shifts in attitude and behavior, and small acts of kindness, compassion, and love - becomes overwhelming, and there's a cumulative power in the final stretch that's remarkably moving. (If I may be utterly, unabashedly frank, I will admit that I brushed away a few tears at the ending).
"The Quiet Girl" becomes an emotional experience of joy and devastation and, ultimately, the unpredictability of what will happen to the only certainty in the lives of these people - that they love each other. Just as the events and acts within the story itself, the simple things often say more than any grand gesture or big speech ever could. Even though this is Bairéad's narrative feature debut, he shows himself to possess a complete understanding of and a full command over that idea, as well as a means of storytelling that embraces the notion in its every frame.
submitted by OldmanRevived to MLPLounge [link] [comments]
First up was Saint Omer
"Saint Omer," director Alice Diop's first non-documentary feature, is a courtroom drama and also an unusual kind of true-crime chronicle. In 2016, Fabienne Kabou appeared in a provincial French court, charged with killing her daughter, who was a little more than a year old. Diop, who attended Kabou's trial, has turned the case and her own fascination with it into an intellectually charged, emotionally wrenching story about our collective inability to do justice to the violence and strangeness of human experience. The unadorned quality of the film can feel bleak, particularly in the early stretches of story, but Diop earns the effort she asks of her audience, methodically allowing a strange, intangible, but nevertheless palpable mix of emotions to emerge from the situation itself.
The premise finds Paris-based academic Rama (Kayije Kagame) traveling to the city of Saint Omer for the trial of Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanda) - a woman accused of abandoning her 15-month-old daughter by the ocean to drown - as source material for her latest book. It just so happens that Rama is pregnant, and that her common Senegalese background with Laurence has Rama contemplating her fraught relationship with her own mother. The majority of the film consists of Laurence's trial itself, with Diop capturing the testimony in long master shots that initially emphasize Laurence's seeming impassiveness, and the enigma of her actions. But that testimony also weaves in components from Laurence's background, leading to questions about how much cultural specificity should factor into legal decisions.
Race - which is to say France's history as a colonial power, and the uncertain present-day status of immigrants from its former colonies - is both one of the film's themes and a part of its atmosphere. The French ideals of republican universalism, implicit in the language and rituals of the red-robed judge and the black-robed lawyers, are entangled in prejudice and custom. One of Laurence's professors wonders why an African woman would be interested in Wittgenstein, a long-dead Austrian philosopher. "Why not something closer to her own culture?" That arrogant, insolent question ricochets toward Rama, who starts the movie contemplating Duras and later watches Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Medea," a rendering of Euripides starring Maria Callas. What is her relationship to those European works? And what, conversely, is Africa to her, or to Laurence?
These are hard questions, and Diop faces them with ardent, open-minded curiosity, resisting any obvious pronouncements about identity, individuality or universal values. Her main characters aren't the embodiment of social problems or political failures, but both women undergo an emotional ordeal that's also a crisis of meaning, an existential conundrum that defies description, or even naming. Some kind of recognition or revelation takes place in the courtroom that shakes Rama's understanding of who she is. To say that she identifies with Laurence would be to flatten the nuances of Diop's observant dramatic technique, and to simplify Kagame's seething, quiet performance. Still, the parallels between Rama and Laurence are hard to miss, for the audience as well as for Rama.
Around the mid-point of the movie, I noted that the material was sufficiently compelling but came close to having a grave miscalculation. Infanticide is a uniquely revulsion-inducing act to begin with, and this specific instance really demands extreme circumstances to...not "justify" it, certainly, but at least render it comprehensible. You need to feel as if this poor woman was trapped in a truly insupportable situation, one that caused her to temporarily lose her reason, see no other recourse. And I simply didn't get that from Coly's testimony, extensive and ably performed though it is. (Guslagie Malanga remains admirably stoic throughout, refusing to make any bid for pathos). Even if I had, the defense attorney's summation, delivered directly to the lens (i.e., to us) and arguing, in effect, that all mothers are fundamentally monstrous for placental reasons, would have undermined whatever allowance I might have made. That, and Diop's decision to cut to four different women in the courtroom - including the judge! - as their eyes well with tears of recognition.
"Saint Omer" is better when it deals with indirectness, which might be frustrating for viewers expecting a straightforward courtroom drama. As it stands, it's more interested in protean narratives and how language can be manipulated to expand or constrict identities. Plainly, others got more out of it than I did, as this was France's contender for the Best International Feature in this year's Academy Awards. But even with that said, the film's power comes from its subtlety - the way characters sneak glances at each other in the courtroom, the intensity of their emotions, the way their tone changes depending on the audience, how they construct their stories. These details destabilize what, at first, seems like a fixed narrative, prompting us to ask questions beyond innocence and guilt, truth and lies.
Next up was After Love
In the opening shot of "After Love," its heroine goes from contented wife to despairing widow. We're in the kitchen of her home in Dover, captured in one shot as she makes tea in the foreground, her husband Ahmed wobbles into his armchair in the background, and the two share a casual conversation. One minute, she's pottering around in her headscarf while Ahmed puts his feet up and watches television. The next, she finds out he's not breathing. The static camera never tracks in to intrude on this awful moment of discovery, but maintains a discreet distance.
After this brief prologue, we cut to Mary in the immediate throes of mourning for her husband. She wanders Dover's coastal cliffs, catches herself habitually pouring a cup of tea for her late husband, and listens to his last voice mail over and over. After decades of being a homemaker, she's lost the driving force behind her every move for 30 years. The memories of the person she was before him are so distant that she can't return to anything resembling her old life. Yet as she sorts through Ahmed's belongings, fragments of a double life emerge: Not only is there another woman, but an entire second family squirrelled away in Calais, who remain oblivious to his death when she tracks them down.
Writer and director Aleem Khan has chosen a narrative we've seen before, in which a still-grieving protagonist discovers that her freshly interred spouse had been having an affair, and becomes self-destructively obsessed with learning the details. There's an additional twist here, though, in that the widow, Mary (played with admirable opacity by Joanna Scanlan), is a British woman who adopted her Pakistani-born husband's faith and culture, while the other woman, Genevieve (Nathalie Richard, gently brittle), who's also mother to the dead man's only child (a teenager!), couldn't possibly be more stereotypically le chic français.
Through a mix-up best left unexamined if you want to enjoy this picture, the latter mistakes the former for a new housekeeper she didn't actually quite hire (see what I mean?). What follows is a banal when-will-the-ugly-truth-emerge? tensionfest, further complicated by the teen son being in the closet (to Mom, at least) and also entirely ignorant of his father's other life, to say nothing of his father's death. (Exactly how did this guy maintain two families in two countries for closing in on two decades, without anyone but himself and his mistress being aware of it? Again, please don't ask too many such questions. You can sort of piece it together, but you'll need to be quite generous.)
That I've spent so much time just laying out the scenario, while still omitting significant details, speaks to the movie's fundamental awkwardness. But it all seemed to be potentially coming together, in a productively disturbing way, when Mary stands before her late husband's lover's bedroom mirror and starts applying the other woman's makeup, eventually removing the headscarf she always wears outside of her own home and silently gazing at her reflection. That's the only moment suggesting that Mary's discovery may have triggered any retroactive regret about converting, or inner turmoil specifically related to the religious disjunction between what her beloved wanted at home and what he sought elsewhere.
Could Khan have made that psychological dynamic more effective? No idea, but I'd have been excited to see him try. His direction turns this into a sensitively made film, very well shot by Christophe Beaucarne; every frame is robustly picturesque. Scanlan is a dramatic powerhouse too, bringing a grounding emotional conviction to a character whose decisions sometimes come from a soap-opera playbook. She's in her element, and especially strong during the half-hour or so where she barely speaks, absorbing each new shock with a muffled agony. There's a palpable tenderness in Mary's inner turmoil, and it's possible build a credible and disquieting narrative around that. But as it is, "After Love" has too many notes, creating a discordant atonality.
Next up was The Quiet Girl
We teach more by example than by words, and children absorb those actions and their meaning. That's one of the main themes of Colm Bairéad's "The Quiet Girl," a small, delicate, and rather specific drama that, regardless, seems to possess entire worlds of insight, meaning, and emotions within the borders of its narrative. This is a lovely, heartbreaking film about loneliness and how simple acts of connection can at least start to break through the shells of despair, pain, and grief.
The simple plot, based on the Claire Keegan's short story "Foster," revolves around Cáit (a remarkable debut performance from Catherine Clinch), the last daughter in a family of maybe six children, with the most recent child and the upcoming baby being boys. As such, the girl has essentially been forgotten by her family. Her mother (Kate Nic Chonaonaigh) is busy with household chores and preparing for the new baby, and her father (Michael Patric) is either away at work or drinking and gambling. That leaves 9-year-old Cáit, growing up outside a small Irish village during the early 1980s, to fend for herself in more ways than any child probably should.
The story eventually has the parents sending her away from the family farm to live with the mother's cousin on their farm. This trip comes with barely an announcement and not a single word of input from the girl. She will stay with Eibhlín (Carrie Crowley) and her husband Seán (Andrew Bennett) for an indeterminate time after the birth of her baby brother. Having kids isn't a problem, the girl's father tells his distant in-laws, but feeding them can become quite the trouble. "This one," he calls her as if he wants the girl to know what a burden he believes her to be, will probably eat the cousins out of house and home by the time they're finished watching over her.
From there, the film announces a complete turnaround with the same subtle precision that it used to detail how alone, unwanted, and rejected Cáit feels. It's the little things, such as Eibhlín finding clothes for the girl to wear (her father didn't unload her suitcase), tucking her in at night, and making a non-judgmental joke when Cáit wets the bed. This way of life is communicated through vignettes, gradually forming comfortable patterns and safe routines by Bairéad and editor John Murphy. Not much happens on the outside surface. Cáit is taken to a funeral, and later meets a gossipy woman who interrogates her about Eibhlín. But life is not made up of dramatic events. The characters here are not expressive people. But when they do express themselves, it's with authenticity. Every word counts, and the feelings underneath are enormous.
Once on the farm, Eibhlín immediately begins treating Cáit with a warm tenderness to which she is entirely unaccustomed. The intercutting of certain moments forms a cohesion - of trips to the well and preparing food in the kitchen and Eibhlín brushing the girl's hair. That consistency further displays and reflects the bond being formed between these two characters - of hands being held and a rhythm in the chopping of onions and the soft, careful counting of those strokes of the hairbrush. This is how we learn to love and know that we're loved. It's as simple and profound as that.
While that connection is more or less instantaneous, much of the story focuses on the trickier bond between Cáit and Seán, who at first seems hesitant to even speak to her. They gradually develop something of their own kind of communication - sweeping the floor together, putting a cookie on the table next to her, timing her as she runs down the lane to gather mail (cinematographer Kate McCullough gives every natural locale, each nook and cranny of the home, and even the dirty parts of the farm some idyllic quality). Just as Crowley's performance exudes warmth and affection in its every moment, Bennett's act quietly communicates a man coming to terms with an old pain and this new possibility of happiness.
There is a secret beneath all of this, and while it's not a surprise - Bairéad doesn't try to hide anything - it will remain one here. When it's actually revealed, we realize just how much these new relationships mean to every party involved. Meanwhile, our appreciation for how much empathy Bairéad has extended to all three of these characters - through their routines, shifts in attitude and behavior, and small acts of kindness, compassion, and love - becomes overwhelming, and there's a cumulative power in the final stretch that's remarkably moving. (If I may be utterly, unabashedly frank, I will admit that I brushed away a few tears at the ending).
"The Quiet Girl" becomes an emotional experience of joy and devastation and, ultimately, the unpredictability of what will happen to the only certainty in the lives of these people - that they love each other. Just as the events and acts within the story itself, the simple things often say more than any grand gesture or big speech ever could. Even though this is Bairéad's narrative feature debut, he shows himself to possess a complete understanding of and a full command over that idea, as well as a means of storytelling that embraces the notion in its every frame.
2023.03.30 11:19 sophia9stevens 5 Braided Hairstyles You Need To Try In Summer 2023
 | Hey, hey, ladies! Summer 2023 is just around the corner, and you know what that means - it's time to switch up your hairstyle game with some fresh braided looks. submitted by sophia9stevens to u/sophia9stevens [link] [comments] Did you know that braided hairstyles are the ultimate summer accessory? Not only do they protect your natural hair from the sun and humidity, but they also add some serious style and elegance to your look. So let's dive into the 5 braided hairstyles you need to try this summer. Slay this summer with gorgeous braided hairstyles! 1. Fulani Braids Are you ready to add some spice to your summer braided hairstyles? Look no further than Fulani braids. It is a unique style created by braiding thin cornrows on either side of the head and leaving the middle section loose. But that's not all, honey - the real magic happens when you decorate that loose section with beads or cowrie shells. Talk about fierce and distinct braided hairstyles! 2. Lemonade Braids Lemonade braids, also known as Beyonce braids, are a stylish and trendy option for summer. They are created by braiding small, thin cornrows in a side-swept pattern and can be worn in a variety of lengths and styles. Lemonade braids are perfect for those who want a low-maintenance style that can last for weeks. 3. Goddess Braids If you are looking to channel your inner Goddess this summer, Goddess braids are the way to go! Goddess braids are created by braiding large cornrows in a circular pattern around the head, creating a crown-like effect. But we're not done yet, goddess braids can also be decorated with beads or gold thread for a touch of glamour. Talk about a regal look! They are perfect for those who want protective and stylish summer braided hairstyles. 4. Box Braids Box braids are a classic style created by braiding synthetic or natural hair into small, box-shaped sections. Their sleek and neat appearance makes them perfect for any occasion, from hanging out with friends to attending a fancy event. And with Especially Yours®'s hand-braided box braids wig, you can effortlessly transform your style this summer without the hassle of braiding your hair. Say hello to a timeless and versatile look that will have you slaying all season long. Get yours today and enjoy a seamless style switch-up that's sure to turn heads! 5. Twist Braids Feeling extra sassy? Add braided hairstyles to your summer 2023 look! Get ready to rock fabulous summer braided hairstyles with twist braids, also known as Senegalese twists! These low-maintenance braids are perfect for busy bees who want to maintain glam without sacrificing time. Created by twisting two strands of hair together, twist braids offer a practical and chic look that will last for weeks. And the best part? You don't have to spend extra hours styling them yourself! Discover Especially Yours®'s pre-styled hand-twisted locs and elevate your summer-style game in no time. Wrapping Up Braided hairstyles are the way to go if you're ready to take on summer 2023 in style. From the classic goddess braids to the trendy lemonade braids, there is a braided hairstyle for everyone. So why not try one of these 5 braided hairstyles this summer and see how it can elevate your look? Discover a world of endless styling possibilities with the 7 Especially Yours Wigs You Need To Try In 2023! Whether you're looking to switch up your look, experiment with different styles, or just have fun with your hair, these wigs are perfect. |
2023.01.06 06:02 bassclefharry Album of the Year #21 - billy woods - Aethiopes
Artist: billy woods
Album: Aethiopes)
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“Along the reaches of the street
Held in a lunar synthesis,
Whispering lunar incantations
Dissolve the floors of memory.”
-T.S. Eliot, “Rhapsody on a Windy Night”
When I first listened to billy woods’ Aethiopes, I didn’t notice the prick. In a recent interview for Brooklyn Magazine, woods remarks on his work, “’I want to make the true believers as uncomfortable as the hardened cynics… I am here to plunge a knife into the gaps in that makeshift armor, so you can feel it, see the blood and know that there is no protection.’” The interview was in support of two albums woods released this year: his recent project Church, produced entirely with Messiah Musik, and his first album of 2022, Aethiopes. Released on April 8, 2022, this album didn’t land for me at first. Perhaps it was that I didn’t wrap my mind around woods’ dense lyrics, or that the production helmed entirely by DJ Preservation sounded alien to my ears. And yet, unbeknownst to me, the album had already pierced me: as the year continued, I found myself revisiting this project above all others in what was one of the best years for hip-hop in recent memory. There was something in the darkness of the sound, something in how the jilted piano lines, limping drums, and woods’ blasé delivery fused together that inspired me to keep digging. At the time of writing this review, I have not found the bottom. In fact, I believe that this album is in the rare class of artistic works that is so varied in its valid interpretations that such a “bottom” does not exist.
Among many other possibilities, this album speaks to me as an expression of supplanted identity. The derealization of history as a result of generational trauma is not a foreign subject to billy woods’ work, but Aethiopes brings further nuance to this idea by investigating the mechanisms by which this past is obscured and replaced. The title itself, an archaic word used by European colonials to refer to the dark-skinned people of Africa, implies not only a detachment from history, but from self-determination itself. The most succinct expression of this idea is delivered not by woods, but by featured artist Boldy James on the track “Sauvage”: “Dug down in my soul and did some soul searchin’/All I found was a police report for a missin’ person.” Not only does the sentiment expressed by Boldy James invoke a loss of self-knowledge, but this same loss is notably expressed as a police report, a form emblematic of systemic oppression.
Before reviewing the album track-by-track, it is also worth mentioning woods’ atemporal lyricism. In order to trace such complex ideas that spans centuries, billy woods’ lyrics proceed in a consistent fashion that likewise spans centuries and unifies them under one idea. Take for instance the following passage from the track “Haarlem,” in which woods references the linguistic corruption inherent in Afrikaans, the recent work of fellow abstract rapper Earl Sweatshirt, and the desecration of pyramids along the Nile River: “Speaking Afrikaans, British accent, I want mine from back when/Thebe said the wind get the ashes in the end, bruv/The gorilla severed every inoculated limb, left ‘em with stubs/Ziggurats on the Nile, bought the house and tore it down/All your yesterdays in one neat pile.” These “yesterdays” woods refers to encompass the loss of traditional language, original architecture, and all the culture contained therein. What remains is a pile of rubble, near-impossible to sift through without being crushed under the weight of what was lost.
Aethiopes’ opens with “Asylum,” a rigidly avoidant track where paranoia is a way to cope. Over discordant stabs of Ethiopian jazz and faint static, billy woods makes his entrance by detailing an anecdote from his childhood in Zimbabwe, “I think Mengistu Haile Mariam is my neighboWhoever it is moved in and put an automated gate up/Repainted brick walls atop which now cameras rotated.” By imagining his neighbor as the deposed head of Ethiopia’s socialist government, woods gives himself a way to distract from a crumbling home life: “Downstairs I hear my mother breaking dishes, my father trippin’/It’s been quite bad lately, high tension.” His curiosity leads him to peer voyeuristically at his neighbor’s personnel, stealing glances at wounded secretaries and menacing security guards as his home life threatens to destroy his distraction, “Not sure what I’m looking for, but I’ll know when I find/My mother sent the gardener to look for me, but the sky is a great place to hide.” Then speaking as an adult in the chorus, woods warns us that such habits can cause us to become “Ever so slowly, slowly locked up in your own house.” This reaction of indifference to life’s disappointments is an emotional throughline for the entire album, and is applied to more general concepts of generational trauma and systemic oppression. The track concludes with a sample from the 1970 film Kongi’s Harvest, in which the deposed king Oba Danlola confers with his brother inside a detention camp about the nature of captivity, “But, so does captivity look well on a lamb we are fattening up for the feast… What happens when the great day comes and there is only a calabash under the wrapper?” In woods’ view, should we remain in captivity self-imposed or otherwise, our freedom is worthless we finally obtain it.
The next track, “No Hard Feelings,” flips a sample from Italian prog rock band Picchio dal Pozzo’s "Seppia." Over a bed of cacophonous wind instrument drones, woods gives one of his most impassioned vocal performances. Here he is confronted with the image of a destitute drug addict in the street and rapping with such urgency that it feels like he’s desperately drawing the thin line separating himself from a drug addict on the streets, “That’s that empty pipe hissin’, that’s him crying and twitchin’/That’s the vanishing point in the distance/Between us just the glass thickness/Cracked mirrors flash rictus.” However, even as woods struggles to separate himself from this visage of poverty, his own fortunate circumstances leave him wracked with guilt and an “Aftertaste [of] bitter melon and lemon peelings.” The second verse sees woods now on the receiving end of human indifference with defeat in his voice, “After all that, she no-showed/The suite already paid for, so I toweled the door and smoked dope… I dozed, woke up and ‘no hard feelings’ was all it said on my phone.”
The ghostly percussion that opens “Wharves” sounds like wind chimes stirred by a breeze from hell. Quiet discomfort is married with dusty and processional drums, and it is with this momentum that woods further explores socioeconomic disparities, the dawn of colonialism, and the inaction of indigenous people to address their imminent misfortune. woods views capitalist society as profoundly hopeless, with poverty “washing over” the poor and the pursuit of wealth sending the hopeful swinging into the “maw” of squalor. woods then describes the arrival of colonials as diseased monsters in the water, “Shipwrecked Europeans swimmin’ with the virus/Shot out like God’s semen/’Fuck the world,’ Pac’s screamin’/Crack missions for the heathens.” In combination with evocations of the crack epidemic and the social commentary of his artistic predecessors, woods’ profane imagery paints colonialism as wholly outside the natural order of the world.
The title “Sauvage” is another example of European names and notions being used to define others. In this track, woods and featured artists Boldy James and Gabe Nandez examine savagery and the means by which it perpetuates. Boldy enters first with a show-stopping verse about personal identity. He is critical of his own flaws, describing himself as a “Child of God, might stray away at times, though I’m still a servant.” Boldy also tries his hand at woods’ atemporal style to describe the difficulty of “making it” in the industry as a contemporary Black artist by likening it to mid-century minstrel performances, “Freestylin’ on that road, never did rehearse it/On the janky promoter’s tour through the Chitlin’ Circuit.” woods then steps to the mic with one of his most forceful and cinematic verses. Beginning with an anecdote of domestic abuse, woods details the spread of violence and savagery through an entire community in a manner similar to the “virus” the colonials carried in the preceding track. The verse begins already amid violence, which suggests that this cycle of savagery began long before “Dre shot his uncle for beatin’ his mom.” We don’t see how previous violence inspired the actions of Dre’s uncle, but from here on we see how Dre’s savagery inspires further violence and savagery in his community, “A few classmates made the news, police pursuits.” Keeping with the themes of dehumanization, woods reminds us that the spread of pain and violence is not always out of malice, but also from not valuing oneself. He drives this point home with disturbingly impersonal imagery, “Reg flew off the dirt bike like a carton of eggs,” objectifying Reg and imbuing the accident with a perverse sense of mundane worthlessness, as if Reg thought himself not worth protecting. The final verse from Gabe Nandez mirrors these same ideas of detachment featuring simple imagery and rhyme scheme, “No collar on my neck, no secret/Kamikaze jets, no leashes/Domino effect, no sequence/Holla at me man, no meekness.” The final sample of the track features an exchange from Kongi’s Harvest between the nephew of Oba Danlola, Daodu, and his lover Segi. Segi questions whether Daodu, the heir apparent, is becoming corrupted by the promise of political power by asking whether kingship has gotten into his blood. Daodu wryly responds, “I haven’t noticed it when I bleed.”
The following track, “Doldrums,” features a reprieve from the emotional performances that have so far comprised the tracklist. This is not to say that this track is without substance, however: it features a spare and meandering instrumental that reflects the titles. This stasis is further driven home by dispassionate imagery, “Bullets cuttin’ through dead air lookin’ for victims” and dread before being caught unawares in the pitfalls of modern society, “Time ran down on us like the first of the month, and dumped/Caught him lackin’, wakin’ up on a park bench a bum.”
“NYNEX” follows as another outstanding group cut with features from Armand Hammer collaborator E L U C I D, Denmark Vessey, and Quelle Chris. In the opening verse, woods delivers another highlight verse deeming modern technological progress as subordinate to lasting social change, “Quinine powder and alcohol, stir until dissolved/The future isn’t flying cars, it’s Rachel Dolezal absolved.” As the verse progresses, woods also questions whether it is worth bringing children into the world when it is still governed by such oppressive institutions, “Translucent man-of-war, the tentacles caress my paramouImplored the bitch to be sensible/The slave master’s children all looked identical/True, the future is children, but whatever future you buildin’ already look miserable.” As the verse ends, Preservation’s drums kick in with an infectious harmonica loop as the featured artists take turns stepping up for their verses. First, E L U C I D enters with a meditation on how the proper way to live is somewhere between myth and the profane, “I do a dance from’86, I’m a simple machine/Hammering the myth, pullin’ it from the extreme/The only answer sits, sits right in between.” Denmark Vessey writes about how systemic oppression and its pressures can breed new avenues to success, “Medu Neter in a love letteDove tears in the inkwell for a dove featheI make a dovetail when I spread the bills, blood money… I prefer my bluntin’ smothered in addiction/Subjugation is the mother of invention.” Finally, Quelle Chris enters with a similar idea on how artists desperately try to break into the mainstream and leave their mark, “E’rybody wanna be the next big thing to pop out Mother Nature’s gato breathin’/Spells, chants, incantations, readings…N***** thought we was writin’ raps and we manipulate seasons/That’s no cap and all caps at the same time.” Quelle Chris’ smug exit is also worth mentioning, rapping knowingly that he and his collaborators just delivered one of the best tracks on this album with “Sidesteppin’ like it’s hammer time/Deep cut so fire that it cauterizes.”
The second half of Aethiopes begins with “Christine,” whose title refers to the eponymous Stephen King novel about a haunted and homicidal car. woods’ raps follow in the spirit of King’s novel, likening cars to coffins and harbingers of death. He begins by drawing from his own life, referencing the death of his father in a car accident, “Black car on a backstreet, little me asleep on the back seat/Lulled by street lamps and the blackness in between/My parents’ argument picking up speed/In and out of bad dreams/That’s what they said when she saw him dead in the road.” woods then goes on to detail the ways cars relate to death such as in accidents, rides to the police station, or when unfortunate souls are simply shot outside their own vehicles, “Some went through the windshield, some went to the precinct/Some got yapped out driver’s seats in parking lots and left bleedin’.” The linkage of cars to death is further explored in the chorus, which is directly interpolated from the song “Mr. Brown” by Glen Adams. This song, popularized by Bob Marley, portrays Jamaican urban legend in which a demon named Mr. Brown travels in a three-wheeled coffin. woods’ second verse takes another view, this time exploring the effect on those left behind after such tragedy, “They lookin’ for the vehicle/Took the plates off, put it in his Granny back yard… He got killed, it was still there for a year or two/I’d seen it drivin’ through/Granny on the stoop, she never waved back.” The track closes with a transitionary verse from Mike Ladd, who employs woods’ atemporal style with equal expertise, “Three heads on a jackal, fantastic creatures in Africa/Universalis Cosmographia/Sebastian Münster, lying bastard/Wolfman in a Speedo, Cyclops and Chest Master.” The production on this verse also merits special attention. First, the drums come in partway through the verse on the line “Break the bank like Musa, mint the gold, truth aplenty,” energizing the verse and presaging the more aggressive nature of the following track. Then, as the music moves into the next track, Mike Ladd finishes his reminiscence on his childhood by wistfully remarking, “I was twelve years old, still could have gone ofay/So bless that day,” before spitting out, “And damn the last three centuries.”
As Mike Ladd reaches the word “centuries,” “Heavy Water” begins. Another posse cut featuring Breeze Brewin and El-P, this is my favorite track on the album. Featuring a masterful collage of drones, percussion, and scratches, woods and his collaborators burn through no fewer than six verses in two and a half minutes. Breeze Brewin begins, a slight edge of distortion added to his menacing monotone, “Time to be bold, screamin’ in a demon creole/Knowin’ that the native is the way to see our people/As if through a peephole.” woods follows quickly, declaring both his skill as a rapper and as a curator of the Backwoodz label as he assumes the persona of a herald of disaster, “Multiverse Benzino/Rode back on a black pegasus/Medusa’s head in a sack/Senegalese twists snakin’ out the bag/I come bearing gifts, rats, fleas, cave bats, black exorcist.” El-P piggybacks off woods’ final line “A HEPA filter glove box, brand new offline computers” with “Simulation rebooters/New version, I’m gunnin’ for light, the void’s useless/It’s all a stab in the back, et tu Brute-ers/Brutalist blue boys movin’, they shootin’/Nothin’ new, Google ‘Chrome’ if confusin’.” All three vocalists then give a second verse, which end with woods’ final lines referencing the theft of indigenous artifacts by colonial powers, “Ashanti gold on Queen Elizabeth’s neck/Scarification across both breasts.” The drums then fade away into a simple guitar line, keeping the same tempo before transitioning into “Haarlem.”
Much like the titles Aethiopes and “Sauvage,” “Haarlem” is an example of European terminology relating to African concepts. This particular instance links Haarlem, a city in the Netherlands, with the phonetically identical Harlem neighborhood in New York City. woods’ verse begins with references to Western attempts to simplify African culture, the works of Chinua Achebe, and 2001: A Space Odyssey, “King of all blacks, I eat human hearts/I let things fall apart, motorcars rustin’ in the garage/Granadillas wild in the yard, vines climbin’, burglar barred/The roof fell in, on gods it’s full of stars.” It is also worth noting a potential callback, as the crumbling structure referenced in the quoted passage could be his neighbor’s home in “Asylum.” This lends further credence to the interpretation of Aethiopes as a study of the degeneration of African culture under the oppression and substitution of European values. Midway through the song, it transitions using another sample from Kongi’s Harvest. This sample is taken from the final moments of the film, as the new head of state of the Republic of Isma repeats the same totalitarian mantras as his predecessor, “The will of the state is supreme. Destiny has entrusted in our hands the will of the state." The following instrumental is lifted directly from the credits of Kongi’s Harvest, and the jagged piano lines serve as an effective backdrop for another verse from woods and a demented vocal performance from Fatboi Sharif. The track ends with another sample from Kongi’s Harvest, this time an exchange between the titular Kongi, the tyrannical head of state, and his secretary regarding the presence of a photographer. This exchange echoes woods’ well-known reservations of being photographed to protect his privacy, “I don’t like being photographed! It would be a most unwarrantable intrusion.”
“Versailles” singles out capitalism as a system of oppression. Within woods’ verse, he simultaneously calls back to previous tracks and implicates the work of Mark Twain, specifically The Prince and the Pauper as a parable for materialist pursuits, “Paper chasing, it’s hard to stay on the same page/’No hard feelings’ the turn of phrase, Twain adapted for the stage.” Featured artist Despot also steps up, taking the perspective of a ruthless opportunist, “Keep your mind off what is mine or you’ll be smilin’ on a shirt/It ain’t ever over ‘cause the fat lady forgot the words/Rain or sleet or famine and disease, I’m in the streets steppin’/With a reason, somebody deceased dangling from each necklace.”
“Protoevangelium” is a complex track furthering woods’ criticism of capitalism and opportunism found in “No Hard Feelings” and “Versailles.” In the first verse, woods reflects on the opportunities he encountered in life and his discomfort in taking them while others remain less fortunate, “Life gave me lemonade, I pour in my spirit of choice/The trees weapons grade, it’s not that I’m ‘noid/UN inspectors upstairs, I’m tryin’ not to make a noise/Wave one hand like, ‘All that gotta get destroyed.’” He also comments on the nature of the rap industry, noting the tendency to pursue material goals without furthering more important social causes, “The game thick with con artists and hucksters/Flip a cardboard box, three-card monte social justice/That’s a no for me beloved and the rhymes are mostly rubbish/I get it/Tryna pay the rent, but that’s not Black empowerment.” Featured artist Shinehead then takes over for the bridge, questioning whether there is an end in the pursuit of wealth, “Now you get what you want, do you want more?” In woods’ second verse, he imagines the possibilities he could be afforded upon his death, “I came to the end or at least my finish and they said three wishes/It was dark, but I could see a fire in the distance.” For his first two wishes, woods chooses to rectify mistakes from his past, “That night in Chinatown we got in the party, I still don’t know how/Smokin’ cigars across from Dr. J, mine was full of haze… Oh the things we shoulda did,” and to spend more time with his family, “Give me a Thanksgiving while we all still lived/Auntie Carmen’s cornbread, I cooked the bird, carved the pig/Renell said bow our heads and Auntie Umi winked.” However, we are not told to his third wish: “And for the last I paused, lookin’ back at the road I walked/They said come now, it’s one more.”
Following a fading outro, a solitary wavering synth sampled from Czesław Niemen's "Dziwny jest ten świat" ushers in “Remorseless.” This track sees woods taking a more detached perspective and doing his best to look at the entirety of the bleak subject matter he has been covering from an externalized point of view. At the same time, he expounds further on the materialism found in the rap game and criticizes the notion of generational wealth on the grounds that it divorces the recipients from the struggle it took to obtain that wealth, “In person, these rappers’ watches look temptin’/The chain say envy, but PTSD keep me countin’, never spendin’… I’m not concerned with generational wealth, that’s its own curse/Anything you want on this cursed Earth/Probably better off gettin’ it yourself, see what it’s worth.” After a brief instrumental break, woods dives back in, this time detailing the loss of a lover and how he still holds on to one of her possessions, “The photograph of young Tutankhamun/Spaghetti links tangled like ramen/Everything behind the mask rotten/I tell people I keep it so you not forgotten, but that’s cap/I thought pillars of salt, but she too smart for lookin’ back.” As the track ends, woods reinforces his detached perspective and dismisses discourse on classism from those who haven’t experienced its evils firsthand, “Spare me the Hallmark Karl Marx/I was in the Dollar Tree break room playin’ cards with quarters/Stop loss posters on the wall, brick and mortaI watched the planet from orbit, remorseless.” The following outro features one final sample from Kongi’s Harvest in which governmental decrees are read out that replace earlier ones. This implies that as quickly as progress seems to be made, it is swept aside and replaced with alternative means of subjugation.
On the final track, “Smith + Cross,” woods comes crashing back down to earth. After having spent the last forty minutes examining the perpetuation of oppression, woods’ pain is palpable. The instrumental is eerily smooth, reflecting the numbness experienced when fully comprehending the generational trauma suffered by African people and their descendants. Here at the end, woods paints us with a final, harrowing image: “Fire in the cane fields, generational trauma/At the museum, eyes glassy from the pain pills/Me and her in the diorama.”
With Aethiopes, woods does not offer a way forward. There are glimmers of a brighter future in earlier tracks, but as the music fades we are left with a forlorn refrain: “Sugar, molasses, rum/Sun blasted bastard’s son/Some laughed, some slumped aghast at what we’d done.” woods delivers this mantra repeatedly, as if struggling to stay aware of this epiphany without letting its urgency fade. He knows full well that the antiquated systems of slavery and colonialism were only the beginning: his atemporal style and references to current topics of late-stage capitalism and police brutality show the continuation of systemic oppression. In turn, these systems are perpetuated by the same objectification and depersonalization that deprived the African people of themselves centuries ago. Despite its lack of answers, Aethiopes’ incisive commentary on the continued presence of oppression and the loss of cultural identity ensures that no listener emerges unscathed.
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Favorite Lyrics:
"Not sure what I'm looking for, but I'll know when I find/My mother sent the gardener to look for me, but the sky is a great place to hide." - "Asylum"
"Dug down in my soul and did some soul searchin'/All I found was a police report for a missin' person." - Boldy James, "Sauvage"
"Reg flew off the dirt bike like a carton of eggs/Came back stutterin' with a limp and a dent in his head." - "Sauvage"
"Some n***** run when they see n***** runnin'/Some n***** run and see/I be the latter." - Quelle Chris, "NYNEX"
"Deep cut so fire that it cauterizes." - Quelle Chris, "NYNEX"
"I was twelve years old, still could have gone ofay/So bless that day/And damn the last three centuries." - Mike Ladd, "Christine"
"Time to be bold, screamin' in a demon creole/Knowin' that the native is the way to see our people/As if through a peephole." - Breeze Brewin, "Heavy Water"
"The gorilla severed every inoculated limb, left 'em with stubs/Ziggurats on the Nile, bought the house and tore it down/All your yesterdays in one neat pile." - "Haarlem"
"I'm not concerned with generational wealth, that's its own curse/Anything you want on this cursed Earth/Probably better off gettin' it yourself, see what it's worth." - "Remorseless"
"Spare me the Hallmark Karl Marx/I was in the Dollar Tree break room playin' cards with quarters/Stop loss posters on the wall, brick and mortaI watched the planet from orbit, remorseless." - "Remorseless"
"Fire in the cane fields, generational trauma/At the museum, eyes glassy from the pain pills/Me and her in the diorama." - "Smith + Cross"
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Talking Points:
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Album: Aethiopes)
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“Along the reaches of the street
Held in a lunar synthesis,
Whispering lunar incantations
Dissolve the floors of memory.”
-T.S. Eliot, “Rhapsody on a Windy Night”
When I first listened to billy woods’ Aethiopes, I didn’t notice the prick. In a recent interview for Brooklyn Magazine, woods remarks on his work, “’I want to make the true believers as uncomfortable as the hardened cynics… I am here to plunge a knife into the gaps in that makeshift armor, so you can feel it, see the blood and know that there is no protection.’” The interview was in support of two albums woods released this year: his recent project Church, produced entirely with Messiah Musik, and his first album of 2022, Aethiopes. Released on April 8, 2022, this album didn’t land for me at first. Perhaps it was that I didn’t wrap my mind around woods’ dense lyrics, or that the production helmed entirely by DJ Preservation sounded alien to my ears. And yet, unbeknownst to me, the album had already pierced me: as the year continued, I found myself revisiting this project above all others in what was one of the best years for hip-hop in recent memory. There was something in the darkness of the sound, something in how the jilted piano lines, limping drums, and woods’ blasé delivery fused together that inspired me to keep digging. At the time of writing this review, I have not found the bottom. In fact, I believe that this album is in the rare class of artistic works that is so varied in its valid interpretations that such a “bottom” does not exist.
Among many other possibilities, this album speaks to me as an expression of supplanted identity. The derealization of history as a result of generational trauma is not a foreign subject to billy woods’ work, but Aethiopes brings further nuance to this idea by investigating the mechanisms by which this past is obscured and replaced. The title itself, an archaic word used by European colonials to refer to the dark-skinned people of Africa, implies not only a detachment from history, but from self-determination itself. The most succinct expression of this idea is delivered not by woods, but by featured artist Boldy James on the track “Sauvage”: “Dug down in my soul and did some soul searchin’/All I found was a police report for a missin’ person.” Not only does the sentiment expressed by Boldy James invoke a loss of self-knowledge, but this same loss is notably expressed as a police report, a form emblematic of systemic oppression.
Before reviewing the album track-by-track, it is also worth mentioning woods’ atemporal lyricism. In order to trace such complex ideas that spans centuries, billy woods’ lyrics proceed in a consistent fashion that likewise spans centuries and unifies them under one idea. Take for instance the following passage from the track “Haarlem,” in which woods references the linguistic corruption inherent in Afrikaans, the recent work of fellow abstract rapper Earl Sweatshirt, and the desecration of pyramids along the Nile River: “Speaking Afrikaans, British accent, I want mine from back when/Thebe said the wind get the ashes in the end, bruv/The gorilla severed every inoculated limb, left ‘em with stubs/Ziggurats on the Nile, bought the house and tore it down/All your yesterdays in one neat pile.” These “yesterdays” woods refers to encompass the loss of traditional language, original architecture, and all the culture contained therein. What remains is a pile of rubble, near-impossible to sift through without being crushed under the weight of what was lost.
Aethiopes’ opens with “Asylum,” a rigidly avoidant track where paranoia is a way to cope. Over discordant stabs of Ethiopian jazz and faint static, billy woods makes his entrance by detailing an anecdote from his childhood in Zimbabwe, “I think Mengistu Haile Mariam is my neighboWhoever it is moved in and put an automated gate up/Repainted brick walls atop which now cameras rotated.” By imagining his neighbor as the deposed head of Ethiopia’s socialist government, woods gives himself a way to distract from a crumbling home life: “Downstairs I hear my mother breaking dishes, my father trippin’/It’s been quite bad lately, high tension.” His curiosity leads him to peer voyeuristically at his neighbor’s personnel, stealing glances at wounded secretaries and menacing security guards as his home life threatens to destroy his distraction, “Not sure what I’m looking for, but I’ll know when I find/My mother sent the gardener to look for me, but the sky is a great place to hide.” Then speaking as an adult in the chorus, woods warns us that such habits can cause us to become “Ever so slowly, slowly locked up in your own house.” This reaction of indifference to life’s disappointments is an emotional throughline for the entire album, and is applied to more general concepts of generational trauma and systemic oppression. The track concludes with a sample from the 1970 film Kongi’s Harvest, in which the deposed king Oba Danlola confers with his brother inside a detention camp about the nature of captivity, “But, so does captivity look well on a lamb we are fattening up for the feast… What happens when the great day comes and there is only a calabash under the wrapper?” In woods’ view, should we remain in captivity self-imposed or otherwise, our freedom is worthless we finally obtain it.
The next track, “No Hard Feelings,” flips a sample from Italian prog rock band Picchio dal Pozzo’s "Seppia." Over a bed of cacophonous wind instrument drones, woods gives one of his most impassioned vocal performances. Here he is confronted with the image of a destitute drug addict in the street and rapping with such urgency that it feels like he’s desperately drawing the thin line separating himself from a drug addict on the streets, “That’s that empty pipe hissin’, that’s him crying and twitchin’/That’s the vanishing point in the distance/Between us just the glass thickness/Cracked mirrors flash rictus.” However, even as woods struggles to separate himself from this visage of poverty, his own fortunate circumstances leave him wracked with guilt and an “Aftertaste [of] bitter melon and lemon peelings.” The second verse sees woods now on the receiving end of human indifference with defeat in his voice, “After all that, she no-showed/The suite already paid for, so I toweled the door and smoked dope… I dozed, woke up and ‘no hard feelings’ was all it said on my phone.”
The ghostly percussion that opens “Wharves” sounds like wind chimes stirred by a breeze from hell. Quiet discomfort is married with dusty and processional drums, and it is with this momentum that woods further explores socioeconomic disparities, the dawn of colonialism, and the inaction of indigenous people to address their imminent misfortune. woods views capitalist society as profoundly hopeless, with poverty “washing over” the poor and the pursuit of wealth sending the hopeful swinging into the “maw” of squalor. woods then describes the arrival of colonials as diseased monsters in the water, “Shipwrecked Europeans swimmin’ with the virus/Shot out like God’s semen/’Fuck the world,’ Pac’s screamin’/Crack missions for the heathens.” In combination with evocations of the crack epidemic and the social commentary of his artistic predecessors, woods’ profane imagery paints colonialism as wholly outside the natural order of the world.
The title “Sauvage” is another example of European names and notions being used to define others. In this track, woods and featured artists Boldy James and Gabe Nandez examine savagery and the means by which it perpetuates. Boldy enters first with a show-stopping verse about personal identity. He is critical of his own flaws, describing himself as a “Child of God, might stray away at times, though I’m still a servant.” Boldy also tries his hand at woods’ atemporal style to describe the difficulty of “making it” in the industry as a contemporary Black artist by likening it to mid-century minstrel performances, “Freestylin’ on that road, never did rehearse it/On the janky promoter’s tour through the Chitlin’ Circuit.” woods then steps to the mic with one of his most forceful and cinematic verses. Beginning with an anecdote of domestic abuse, woods details the spread of violence and savagery through an entire community in a manner similar to the “virus” the colonials carried in the preceding track. The verse begins already amid violence, which suggests that this cycle of savagery began long before “Dre shot his uncle for beatin’ his mom.” We don’t see how previous violence inspired the actions of Dre’s uncle, but from here on we see how Dre’s savagery inspires further violence and savagery in his community, “A few classmates made the news, police pursuits.” Keeping with the themes of dehumanization, woods reminds us that the spread of pain and violence is not always out of malice, but also from not valuing oneself. He drives this point home with disturbingly impersonal imagery, “Reg flew off the dirt bike like a carton of eggs,” objectifying Reg and imbuing the accident with a perverse sense of mundane worthlessness, as if Reg thought himself not worth protecting. The final verse from Gabe Nandez mirrors these same ideas of detachment featuring simple imagery and rhyme scheme, “No collar on my neck, no secret/Kamikaze jets, no leashes/Domino effect, no sequence/Holla at me man, no meekness.” The final sample of the track features an exchange from Kongi’s Harvest between the nephew of Oba Danlola, Daodu, and his lover Segi. Segi questions whether Daodu, the heir apparent, is becoming corrupted by the promise of political power by asking whether kingship has gotten into his blood. Daodu wryly responds, “I haven’t noticed it when I bleed.”
The following track, “Doldrums,” features a reprieve from the emotional performances that have so far comprised the tracklist. This is not to say that this track is without substance, however: it features a spare and meandering instrumental that reflects the titles. This stasis is further driven home by dispassionate imagery, “Bullets cuttin’ through dead air lookin’ for victims” and dread before being caught unawares in the pitfalls of modern society, “Time ran down on us like the first of the month, and dumped/Caught him lackin’, wakin’ up on a park bench a bum.”
“NYNEX” follows as another outstanding group cut with features from Armand Hammer collaborator E L U C I D, Denmark Vessey, and Quelle Chris. In the opening verse, woods delivers another highlight verse deeming modern technological progress as subordinate to lasting social change, “Quinine powder and alcohol, stir until dissolved/The future isn’t flying cars, it’s Rachel Dolezal absolved.” As the verse progresses, woods also questions whether it is worth bringing children into the world when it is still governed by such oppressive institutions, “Translucent man-of-war, the tentacles caress my paramouImplored the bitch to be sensible/The slave master’s children all looked identical/True, the future is children, but whatever future you buildin’ already look miserable.” As the verse ends, Preservation’s drums kick in with an infectious harmonica loop as the featured artists take turns stepping up for their verses. First, E L U C I D enters with a meditation on how the proper way to live is somewhere between myth and the profane, “I do a dance from’86, I’m a simple machine/Hammering the myth, pullin’ it from the extreme/The only answer sits, sits right in between.” Denmark Vessey writes about how systemic oppression and its pressures can breed new avenues to success, “Medu Neter in a love letteDove tears in the inkwell for a dove featheI make a dovetail when I spread the bills, blood money… I prefer my bluntin’ smothered in addiction/Subjugation is the mother of invention.” Finally, Quelle Chris enters with a similar idea on how artists desperately try to break into the mainstream and leave their mark, “E’rybody wanna be the next big thing to pop out Mother Nature’s gato breathin’/Spells, chants, incantations, readings…N***** thought we was writin’ raps and we manipulate seasons/That’s no cap and all caps at the same time.” Quelle Chris’ smug exit is also worth mentioning, rapping knowingly that he and his collaborators just delivered one of the best tracks on this album with “Sidesteppin’ like it’s hammer time/Deep cut so fire that it cauterizes.”
The second half of Aethiopes begins with “Christine,” whose title refers to the eponymous Stephen King novel about a haunted and homicidal car. woods’ raps follow in the spirit of King’s novel, likening cars to coffins and harbingers of death. He begins by drawing from his own life, referencing the death of his father in a car accident, “Black car on a backstreet, little me asleep on the back seat/Lulled by street lamps and the blackness in between/My parents’ argument picking up speed/In and out of bad dreams/That’s what they said when she saw him dead in the road.” woods then goes on to detail the ways cars relate to death such as in accidents, rides to the police station, or when unfortunate souls are simply shot outside their own vehicles, “Some went through the windshield, some went to the precinct/Some got yapped out driver’s seats in parking lots and left bleedin’.” The linkage of cars to death is further explored in the chorus, which is directly interpolated from the song “Mr. Brown” by Glen Adams. This song, popularized by Bob Marley, portrays Jamaican urban legend in which a demon named Mr. Brown travels in a three-wheeled coffin. woods’ second verse takes another view, this time exploring the effect on those left behind after such tragedy, “They lookin’ for the vehicle/Took the plates off, put it in his Granny back yard… He got killed, it was still there for a year or two/I’d seen it drivin’ through/Granny on the stoop, she never waved back.” The track closes with a transitionary verse from Mike Ladd, who employs woods’ atemporal style with equal expertise, “Three heads on a jackal, fantastic creatures in Africa/Universalis Cosmographia/Sebastian Münster, lying bastard/Wolfman in a Speedo, Cyclops and Chest Master.” The production on this verse also merits special attention. First, the drums come in partway through the verse on the line “Break the bank like Musa, mint the gold, truth aplenty,” energizing the verse and presaging the more aggressive nature of the following track. Then, as the music moves into the next track, Mike Ladd finishes his reminiscence on his childhood by wistfully remarking, “I was twelve years old, still could have gone ofay/So bless that day,” before spitting out, “And damn the last three centuries.”
As Mike Ladd reaches the word “centuries,” “Heavy Water” begins. Another posse cut featuring Breeze Brewin and El-P, this is my favorite track on the album. Featuring a masterful collage of drones, percussion, and scratches, woods and his collaborators burn through no fewer than six verses in two and a half minutes. Breeze Brewin begins, a slight edge of distortion added to his menacing monotone, “Time to be bold, screamin’ in a demon creole/Knowin’ that the native is the way to see our people/As if through a peephole.” woods follows quickly, declaring both his skill as a rapper and as a curator of the Backwoodz label as he assumes the persona of a herald of disaster, “Multiverse Benzino/Rode back on a black pegasus/Medusa’s head in a sack/Senegalese twists snakin’ out the bag/I come bearing gifts, rats, fleas, cave bats, black exorcist.” El-P piggybacks off woods’ final line “A HEPA filter glove box, brand new offline computers” with “Simulation rebooters/New version, I’m gunnin’ for light, the void’s useless/It’s all a stab in the back, et tu Brute-ers/Brutalist blue boys movin’, they shootin’/Nothin’ new, Google ‘Chrome’ if confusin’.” All three vocalists then give a second verse, which end with woods’ final lines referencing the theft of indigenous artifacts by colonial powers, “Ashanti gold on Queen Elizabeth’s neck/Scarification across both breasts.” The drums then fade away into a simple guitar line, keeping the same tempo before transitioning into “Haarlem.”
Much like the titles Aethiopes and “Sauvage,” “Haarlem” is an example of European terminology relating to African concepts. This particular instance links Haarlem, a city in the Netherlands, with the phonetically identical Harlem neighborhood in New York City. woods’ verse begins with references to Western attempts to simplify African culture, the works of Chinua Achebe, and 2001: A Space Odyssey, “King of all blacks, I eat human hearts/I let things fall apart, motorcars rustin’ in the garage/Granadillas wild in the yard, vines climbin’, burglar barred/The roof fell in, on gods it’s full of stars.” It is also worth noting a potential callback, as the crumbling structure referenced in the quoted passage could be his neighbor’s home in “Asylum.” This lends further credence to the interpretation of Aethiopes as a study of the degeneration of African culture under the oppression and substitution of European values. Midway through the song, it transitions using another sample from Kongi’s Harvest. This sample is taken from the final moments of the film, as the new head of state of the Republic of Isma repeats the same totalitarian mantras as his predecessor, “The will of the state is supreme. Destiny has entrusted in our hands the will of the state." The following instrumental is lifted directly from the credits of Kongi’s Harvest, and the jagged piano lines serve as an effective backdrop for another verse from woods and a demented vocal performance from Fatboi Sharif. The track ends with another sample from Kongi’s Harvest, this time an exchange between the titular Kongi, the tyrannical head of state, and his secretary regarding the presence of a photographer. This exchange echoes woods’ well-known reservations of being photographed to protect his privacy, “I don’t like being photographed! It would be a most unwarrantable intrusion.”
“Versailles” singles out capitalism as a system of oppression. Within woods’ verse, he simultaneously calls back to previous tracks and implicates the work of Mark Twain, specifically The Prince and the Pauper as a parable for materialist pursuits, “Paper chasing, it’s hard to stay on the same page/’No hard feelings’ the turn of phrase, Twain adapted for the stage.” Featured artist Despot also steps up, taking the perspective of a ruthless opportunist, “Keep your mind off what is mine or you’ll be smilin’ on a shirt/It ain’t ever over ‘cause the fat lady forgot the words/Rain or sleet or famine and disease, I’m in the streets steppin’/With a reason, somebody deceased dangling from each necklace.”
“Protoevangelium” is a complex track furthering woods’ criticism of capitalism and opportunism found in “No Hard Feelings” and “Versailles.” In the first verse, woods reflects on the opportunities he encountered in life and his discomfort in taking them while others remain less fortunate, “Life gave me lemonade, I pour in my spirit of choice/The trees weapons grade, it’s not that I’m ‘noid/UN inspectors upstairs, I’m tryin’ not to make a noise/Wave one hand like, ‘All that gotta get destroyed.’” He also comments on the nature of the rap industry, noting the tendency to pursue material goals without furthering more important social causes, “The game thick with con artists and hucksters/Flip a cardboard box, three-card monte social justice/That’s a no for me beloved and the rhymes are mostly rubbish/I get it/Tryna pay the rent, but that’s not Black empowerment.” Featured artist Shinehead then takes over for the bridge, questioning whether there is an end in the pursuit of wealth, “Now you get what you want, do you want more?” In woods’ second verse, he imagines the possibilities he could be afforded upon his death, “I came to the end or at least my finish and they said three wishes/It was dark, but I could see a fire in the distance.” For his first two wishes, woods chooses to rectify mistakes from his past, “That night in Chinatown we got in the party, I still don’t know how/Smokin’ cigars across from Dr. J, mine was full of haze… Oh the things we shoulda did,” and to spend more time with his family, “Give me a Thanksgiving while we all still lived/Auntie Carmen’s cornbread, I cooked the bird, carved the pig/Renell said bow our heads and Auntie Umi winked.” However, we are not told to his third wish: “And for the last I paused, lookin’ back at the road I walked/They said come now, it’s one more.”
Following a fading outro, a solitary wavering synth sampled from Czesław Niemen's "Dziwny jest ten świat" ushers in “Remorseless.” This track sees woods taking a more detached perspective and doing his best to look at the entirety of the bleak subject matter he has been covering from an externalized point of view. At the same time, he expounds further on the materialism found in the rap game and criticizes the notion of generational wealth on the grounds that it divorces the recipients from the struggle it took to obtain that wealth, “In person, these rappers’ watches look temptin’/The chain say envy, but PTSD keep me countin’, never spendin’… I’m not concerned with generational wealth, that’s its own curse/Anything you want on this cursed Earth/Probably better off gettin’ it yourself, see what it’s worth.” After a brief instrumental break, woods dives back in, this time detailing the loss of a lover and how he still holds on to one of her possessions, “The photograph of young Tutankhamun/Spaghetti links tangled like ramen/Everything behind the mask rotten/I tell people I keep it so you not forgotten, but that’s cap/I thought pillars of salt, but she too smart for lookin’ back.” As the track ends, woods reinforces his detached perspective and dismisses discourse on classism from those who haven’t experienced its evils firsthand, “Spare me the Hallmark Karl Marx/I was in the Dollar Tree break room playin’ cards with quarters/Stop loss posters on the wall, brick and mortaI watched the planet from orbit, remorseless.” The following outro features one final sample from Kongi’s Harvest in which governmental decrees are read out that replace earlier ones. This implies that as quickly as progress seems to be made, it is swept aside and replaced with alternative means of subjugation.
On the final track, “Smith + Cross,” woods comes crashing back down to earth. After having spent the last forty minutes examining the perpetuation of oppression, woods’ pain is palpable. The instrumental is eerily smooth, reflecting the numbness experienced when fully comprehending the generational trauma suffered by African people and their descendants. Here at the end, woods paints us with a final, harrowing image: “Fire in the cane fields, generational trauma/At the museum, eyes glassy from the pain pills/Me and her in the diorama.”
With Aethiopes, woods does not offer a way forward. There are glimmers of a brighter future in earlier tracks, but as the music fades we are left with a forlorn refrain: “Sugar, molasses, rum/Sun blasted bastard’s son/Some laughed, some slumped aghast at what we’d done.” woods delivers this mantra repeatedly, as if struggling to stay aware of this epiphany without letting its urgency fade. He knows full well that the antiquated systems of slavery and colonialism were only the beginning: his atemporal style and references to current topics of late-stage capitalism and police brutality show the continuation of systemic oppression. In turn, these systems are perpetuated by the same objectification and depersonalization that deprived the African people of themselves centuries ago. Despite its lack of answers, Aethiopes’ incisive commentary on the continued presence of oppression and the loss of cultural identity ensures that no listener emerges unscathed.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Favorite Lyrics:
"Not sure what I'm looking for, but I'll know when I find/My mother sent the gardener to look for me, but the sky is a great place to hide." - "Asylum"
"Dug down in my soul and did some soul searchin'/All I found was a police report for a missin' person." - Boldy James, "Sauvage"
"Reg flew off the dirt bike like a carton of eggs/Came back stutterin' with a limp and a dent in his head." - "Sauvage"
"Some n***** run when they see n***** runnin'/Some n***** run and see/I be the latter." - Quelle Chris, "NYNEX"
"Deep cut so fire that it cauterizes." - Quelle Chris, "NYNEX"
"I was twelve years old, still could have gone ofay/So bless that day/And damn the last three centuries." - Mike Ladd, "Christine"
"Time to be bold, screamin' in a demon creole/Knowin' that the native is the way to see our people/As if through a peephole." - Breeze Brewin, "Heavy Water"
"The gorilla severed every inoculated limb, left 'em with stubs/Ziggurats on the Nile, bought the house and tore it down/All your yesterdays in one neat pile." - "Haarlem"
"I'm not concerned with generational wealth, that's its own curse/Anything you want on this cursed Earth/Probably better off gettin' it yourself, see what it's worth." - "Remorseless"
"Spare me the Hallmark Karl Marx/I was in the Dollar Tree break room playin' cards with quarters/Stop loss posters on the wall, brick and mortaI watched the planet from orbit, remorseless." - "Remorseless"
"Fire in the cane fields, generational trauma/At the museum, eyes glassy from the pain pills/Me and her in the diorama." - "Smith + Cross"
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Talking Points:
- With woods' role as the founder of Backwoodz Studios, do you see him continuing to release music indefinitely, or eventually settling into a "curator" role similar to Westside Gunn and Griselda Records?
- In my view, Aethiopes gives incisive observations on oppression but does not offer much in the way of potential paths forward. Do you think such a path exists? If so, would you expect woods to explore his own ideas regarding social progress in future projects or continue offering critiques of modern society?
- billy woods has multiple projects in his discography where he collaborates with only one producer. What producer(s) would you like to see him work with in the future?
2022.05.30 07:02 trezebot [Rassegna Stampa] 30 May 2022 - Summary of Juventus news from Italy, translated
Here is summary of Juventus news from Italy:
Ibrahimovic shocked by the knee injury that forced him to have the operation: the revelation of the former Juve - VIDEO Ibrahimovic had to operate on his knee after winning the Scudetto with Milan.
Emptied the knee once a week for six months pic.twitter.com/ewLbIizL2P - Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) May 29, 2022 how he spent the last six months of the season.
The images, along with his words, are very eloquent about his condition.
"I emptied my knee once a week for six months."
Latest Hours 22.40 - The Renato Sanches affair for Juve is getting more and more difficult.
Pogba Juve (RMC), a competitor remains in the running: the surprise move 9.30 pm - Juve is ahead for Pogba, but does not yet have the free track to define the Frenchman's return to Turin.
The second is scheduled for 13-14 September, the third on 4-5 October; the fourth on 11-12 October, the fifth on 25-26, the sixth on 2 November.
Barça, to get to Koulibaly, would put on the plate the card of the former Juve, returning from the loan at Besiktas.
There is also Juve, as well as Chelsea, PSG and Barcelona, on the trail of the Senegalese, who is seen as the ideal heir of Giorgio Chiellini.
Italy Argentina, the charge of Juventus: "It will be nice, I want to play".
The words of the player expiring with Juve Bernardeschi in an interview granted to the social channels of the national team spoke of Italy Argentina.
The words of the player due with Juve.
ITALY ARGENTINA - When you meet a national team as strong as Argentina, with its history, I must say that it is always wonderful.
It will be a great match between two great teams full of champions on both sides.
Bremer Juve, the former Torino is sure: "An amazing deal, he's a top".
The statements of the manager on the transfer market Petrachi, a former manager of Turin, spoke about Bremer to Tele Radio Stereo The statements on the transfer market goal of Juve.
BREMER - «He is a top player, an exceptional player.
Thanks to him, even when he wasn't playing he was committed, he always believed in it.
Whoever takes Bremer makes an amazing deal ».
Monza in Serie A!
Pisa defeated 3-4: a former Juve also scored in the Serie B playoff final that ended in extra time Monza is the last team to earn promotion to Serie A after Lecce and Cremonese.
Stroppa's team defeated Pisa for 3-4 in an endless challenge full of twists that was decided only in extra time.
The former Juve, Luca Marrone, who scored the goal of the momentary 3-3, also put his hand in the Serie B playoff final.
Pogba Juve, the agent reveals: "he loves the environment, this is worth a lot".
The statements on the possible return to Turin Agent Pasqualin at Tuttosport outlined the details of Pogba's possible return to Juve.
THE DECLARATIONS - "Pogba is certainly a transfer of weight, even more than the Di Maria operation.
Pogba does not want to take off this Juventus Turin license: the Juventus environment fascinated him and he found himself very well.
Probably the PSG could offer him much more, but the impression is that he does not try too hard because he is aware of the high probability of rejection by the player. "
No "Waiting to see them on the pitch together, here they are side by side in Montecarlo to follow the Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic haven't played together for Juventus yet, but they have been close friends since Fiorentina.
With the winger who has been in the pits since early January, due to the rupture of a crusader which involved an operation and now a long rehabilitation.
He won't be back on the pitch before October.
The Serbian, on the other hand, had arrived at the end of January, and lived the first months of acclimatization at Juventus in view of a season that will see him even more in the center of the village.
On 29 May 1985 in Brussels, before the final of the Champions Cup between Juventus and Liverpool, one of the greatest tragedies in football.
There are the memories of those who were there that evening and who have hardly been able to watch a football match with the same joy and serenity since then, because Heysel's day is one of those that marks a first and a after.
There is the horror of those who may not even have been born yet, but when he looks at those images, in a documentary, or on the Internet, he finds it hard to believe that they are true, that they have happened.
Then there is the always lively drama of the thirty-nine families who saw their lives change that night.
The families of the victims, whom we will never stop clinging to, in thought and memory, today and every day.
In reality, even less is okay, but the current situation, at the beginning of the market, is not enough.
Cabrini, Juventus at the moment could only count on Alex Sandro, who showed some signs of abating.
Who is the best performer of the role?
Allegri also wants to add ready and winning players ... "We also need players of important names, like Pogba, or Di Maria: you can't do without experience."
"In defense we need to improve, in the last season I saw important neglect that created more than one problem."
For many Juve youngsters, the summer retreat will be equivalent to a final exams.
He has clear ideas: “It would be a dream to wear this shirt, but first I have to understand what their intentions are with me.
He will return to Juve, but he will probably be sent on loan again or included in some negotiation as a counterpart (Udogie?).
In January, Juve concluded the negotiations with Frosinone, bringing home Federico Gatti, one of the Lazio team's revelations in Serie B.
Even if Juve are looking for a more experienced center.
There will be plenty of time to relax, so the football stars could not miss a Sunday full of engines for the Monaco Formula 1 GP at the Monte Carlo circuit.
Among the many VIPs who did not deny themselves a photo to post on social media there were also Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic.
The two then also had their photos taken inside the Ferrari and Alfa Romeo garage together with the drivers Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou.
Chiesa was immortalized by raising his thumb, a sign of how the recovery from the serious injury suffered in January in Rome, the rupture of the cruciate ligament in his left knee, is proceeding quickly.
Chiesa, present on the sidelines in a shirt and shorts at the last home game of the season, the farewell to Juve of Chiellini and Dybala, should be available to Max Allegri for the start of the retreat.
The end of the football season also allowed UEFA to draw up the updated historical / ten-year ranking, which is essential in view of the upcoming continental competitions.
In the top ten it is worth noting the step forward of Juventus, which despite the third consecutive elimination in the knockout stages of the Champions League and the twenty points lost (from250to230) rises from sixth to fourth place.
As for the other Italian teams, after Juventus we find Napoli, in 19th place, while Roma gain seven positions and are 20th.
The announced overtaking by Inter over Milan is official: the Nerazzurri are in 26th place, immediately ahead of the new Italian champions.
Lazio, 33rd, and Atalanta are also in the top 50, gaining 16 positions and rising to 47th place.
Heysel, the memory of Juve: "A day that marked a before and after" This is the memory of Juve on the official website: "When the memory goes to an incredible tragedy, like the one that occurred on May 29, 1985 at Heysel, on the occasion of the European Cup final that pitted Juventus against Liverpool, emotions overlap.
There are the memories of those who were there that evening and who have hardly been able to watch a football match with the same joy and serenity since then, because Heysel's day is one of those that marks a first and a after.
Then there is the always vivid drama of the thirty-nine families who saw their lives change that night.
The families of the victims, whom we will never stop clinging to, in thought and memory, today and every day.
Because Heysel is a memory that lasts - and must last - forever ".
TURIN - Di Maria, there is only Juve.
Music for Juve, which therefore remains the only pretender to Fideo.
The reality is that Juve are in pole position and for this reason they maintain a direct channel with Pogba to close as soon as possible, so as to avoid surprises.
For this reason, in the event of a significant proposal, Juve would also consider the possibility of losing McKennie.
From the German club, Juve have taken Denis Zakaria into the winter market: will there be an encore?
On Saturday night, Alexander Ceferin's nightmare came true in Paris.
In any case, it is very possible that a preventive truce will be achieved, which could diminish the effects of the decision of the European Court, with Rummenigge who would be working with the role of mediator.
It is absurd that a more complete safety system has not been thought of, capable of guaranteeing the correct conduct of the competition.
It also remains absurd, the division of revenues that today sees Uefa do the lion's share with the crumbs left to the players, something that the Super League would like to cancel.
What happened on Saturday is however proof that the Champions League without Real Madrid, Barcelona but also Juventus cannot exist.
If you win over 14 Champion's history it means you have something special.
And Real Madrid have it.
He won 5 in a row at the time of Di Stefano, Gento, Puskas.
The evil tongues then claimed that the best striker of the blancos was called Saporta and not ...
Arkadiusz Milik's odds are growing: the former Napoli, currently at Olympique Marseille, did not perform as he expected when he left Ajax for Napoli in 2016.
However, he is still of age to change his career (28yearsold).
Juventus could be the ideal destination for him to rediscover his football.
He could be the fourth striker.
If you win over 14 Champion's history it means you have something special.
And Real Madrid have it.
He won 5 in a row at the time of Di Stefano, Gento, Puskas.
The evil tongues then claimed that the best striker of the blancos was called Saporta and not ...
If you win over 14 Champion's history it means you have something special.
And Real Madrid have it.
He won 5 in a row at the time of Di Stefano, Gento, Puskas.
The evil tongues then claimed that the best striker of the blancos was called Saporta and not ...
He won 5 in a row at the time of Di Stefano, Gento, Puskas.
The truth is that Real Madrid have always played stellar football.
Ancelotti's Real won, Klopp's Liverpool lost.
Real has won, having the "mentality" and the players.
I hear about the sale of promising young people and the hiring of people close to retirement.
Juventus would be interested in Monchengladbach's Borussia midfielder, Manu Konè.
The midfielder would also be the object of interest from Milan and Atletico Madrid as well as from Juventus.
The cost would be around 15 million euros.
If you win over 14 Champion's history it means you have something special.
And Real Madrid have it.
He won 5 in a row at the time of Di Stefano, Gento, Puskas.
The evil tongues then claimed that the best striker of the blancos was called Saporta and not ...
For Juventus we need a return to the past, understood as the ability to move on the market before the others.
With the management of Marotta, in fact, the bianconeri had been able to anticipate the competition, arriving often and willingly on the best talents.
In recent years it has not always been the case with Inter but also Milan who have moved even better.
Juventus took Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic, but we must return to being the first to return to dominate.
Click here, follow Massimo Pavan on twitter to interact with Massimo on the latest on the transfer market and on Juve
If you win over 14 Champion's history it means you have something special.
And Real Madrid have it.
He won 5 in a row at the time of Di Stefano, Gento, Puskas.
The evil tongues then claimed that the best striker of the blancos was called Saporta and not ...
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JuventusNews24
Ibrahimovic shocked by the injury: the revelation of the former Juve - VIDEO
May 30, 2022 - by JuventusNews24 Editorial TeamIbrahimovic shocked by the knee injury that forced him to have the operation: the revelation of the former Juve - VIDEO Ibrahimovic had to operate on his knee after winning the Scudetto with Milan.
Emptied the knee once a week for six months pic.twitter.com/ewLbIizL2P - Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) May 29, 2022 how he spent the last six months of the season.
The images, along with his words, are very eloquent about his condition.
"I emptied my knee once a week for six months."
Juve press review: sports newspapers front pages - 30 May 2022
May 29, 2022 - by JuventusNews24 editorial teamLatest Juve: PSG move for Pogba, Illuminated Mole for Heysel
May 29, 2022 - by JuventusNews24 editorial teamLatest Hours 22.40 - The Renato Sanches affair for Juve is getting more and more difficult.
Pogba Juve (RMC), a competitor remains in the running: the surprise move 9.30 pm - Juve is ahead for Pogba, but does not yet have the free track to define the Frenchman's return to Turin.
The second is scheduled for 13-14 September, the third on 4-5 October; the fourth on 11-12 October, the fifth on 25-26, the sixth on 2 November.
Barça, to get to Koulibaly, would put on the plate the card of the former Juve, returning from the loan at Besiktas.
There is also Juve, as well as Chelsea, PSG and Barcelona, on the trail of the Senegalese, who is seen as the ideal heir of Giorgio Chiellini.
Italy Argentina, the charge of Juventus: "It will be nice, I want to play"
May 29, 2022 - by JuventusNews24 editorial teamItaly Argentina, the charge of Juventus: "It will be nice, I want to play".
The words of the player expiring with Juve Bernardeschi in an interview granted to the social channels of the national team spoke of Italy Argentina.
The words of the player due with Juve.
ITALY ARGENTINA - When you meet a national team as strong as Argentina, with its history, I must say that it is always wonderful.
It will be a great match between two great teams full of champions on both sides.
Bremer Juve, the former Torino is sure: "An amazing deal, it's a top"
May 29, 2022 - by JuventusNews24 editorial teamBremer Juve, the former Torino is sure: "An amazing deal, he's a top".
The statements of the manager on the transfer market Petrachi, a former manager of Turin, spoke about Bremer to Tele Radio Stereo The statements on the transfer market goal of Juve.
BREMER - «He is a top player, an exceptional player.
Thanks to him, even when he wasn't playing he was committed, he always believed in it.
Whoever takes Bremer makes an amazing deal ».
Tragedy Heysel, the Mole lights up to remember the 39 victims - PHOTO
May 29, 2022 - by JuventusNews24 editorial teamMonza in Serie A! Pisa defeated 3-4: a former Juve also scored
May 29, 2022 - by JuventusNews24 editorial teamMonza in Serie A!
Pisa defeated 3-4: a former Juve also scored in the Serie B playoff final that ended in extra time Monza is the last team to earn promotion to Serie A after Lecce and Cremonese.
Stroppa's team defeated Pisa for 3-4 in an endless challenge full of twists that was decided only in extra time.
The former Juve, Luca Marrone, who scored the goal of the momentary 3-3, also put his hand in the Serie B playoff final.
Pogba Juve, the agent reveals: "Love the environment, this is worth a lot"
May 29, 2022 - by JuventusNews24 editorial teamPogba Juve, the agent reveals: "he loves the environment, this is worth a lot".
The statements on the possible return to Turin Agent Pasqualin at Tuttosport outlined the details of Pogba's possible return to Juve.
THE DECLARATIONS - "Pogba is certainly a transfer of weight, even more than the Di Maria operation.
Pogba does not want to take off this Juventus Turin license: the Juventus environment fascinated him and he found himself very well.
Probably the PSG could offer him much more, but the impression is that he does not try too hard because he is aware of the high probability of rejection by the player. "
News Serie A LIVE: Kean injured, PSG will try again for Pogba?
May 29, 2022 - by JuventusNews24 editorial teamJuve market, the Real Madrid champion reveals his future. Details
May 29, 2022 - by JuventusNews24 editorial teamGazzetta Dello Sport
Chiesa and Vlahovic together in Montecarlo. Federico: "I can't wait to play with him"
May 29, 2022No "Waiting to see them on the pitch together, here they are side by side in Montecarlo to follow the Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic haven't played together for Juventus yet, but they have been close friends since Fiorentina.
With the winger who has been in the pits since early January, due to the rupture of a crusader which involved an operation and now a long rehabilitation.
He won't be back on the pitch before October.
The Serbian, on the other hand, had arrived at the end of January, and lived the first months of acclimatization at Juventus in view of a season that will see him even more in the center of the village.
Heysel, the massacre 37 years later. Juve: "We will never stop remembering those 39 victims"
May 29, 2022On 29 May 1985 in Brussels, before the final of the Champions Cup between Juventus and Liverpool, one of the greatest tragedies in football.
There are the memories of those who were there that evening and who have hardly been able to watch a football match with the same joy and serenity since then, because Heysel's day is one of those that marks a first and a after.
There is the horror of those who may not even have been born yet, but when he looks at those images, in a documentary, or on the Internet, he finds it hard to believe that they are true, that they have happened.
Then there is the always lively drama of the thirty-nine families who saw their lives change that night.
The families of the victims, whom we will never stop clinging to, in thought and memory, today and every day.
Juve, the youth project is advancing. And there is not only Miretti
29 May 2022 - by Giovanni AlbaneseJuve, Cabrini votes for Alex Sandro: “He always did his. The full-backs of the past are gone ... "
29 May 2022 - by Valerio ClariIn reality, even less is okay, but the current situation, at the beginning of the market, is not enough.
Cabrini, Juventus at the moment could only count on Alex Sandro, who showed some signs of abating.
Who is the best performer of the role?
Allegri also wants to add ready and winning players ... "We also need players of important names, like Pogba, or Di Maria: you can't do without experience."
"In defense we need to improve, in the last season I saw important neglect that created more than one problem."
Corriere dello Sport
Juve: in retreat with many young people, but who will stay?
May 29, 2022For many Juve youngsters, the summer retreat will be equivalent to a final exams.
He has clear ideas: “It would be a dream to wear this shirt, but first I have to understand what their intentions are with me.
He will return to Juve, but he will probably be sent on loan again or included in some negotiation as a counterpart (Udogie?).
In January, Juve concluded the negotiations with Frosinone, bringing home Federico Gatti, one of the Lazio team's revelations in Serie B.
Even if Juve are looking for a more experienced center.
Formula 1, also Chiesa and Vlahovic in Montecarlo to cheer Ferrari
May 29, 2022There will be plenty of time to relax, so the football stars could not miss a Sunday full of engines for the Monaco Formula 1 GP at the Monte Carlo circuit.
Among the many VIPs who did not deny themselves a photo to post on social media there were also Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic.
The two then also had their photos taken inside the Ferrari and Alfa Romeo garage together with the drivers Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou.
Chiesa was immortalized by raising his thumb, a sign of how the recovery from the serious injury suffered in January in Rome, the rupture of the cruciate ligament in his left knee, is proceeding quickly.
Chiesa, present on the sidelines in a shirt and shorts at the last home game of the season, the farewell to Juve of Chiellini and Dybala, should be available to Max Allegri for the start of the retreat.
Uefa historical ranking: Juve rises to fourth place, leap of Roma
May 29, 2022The end of the football season also allowed UEFA to draw up the updated historical / ten-year ranking, which is essential in view of the upcoming continental competitions.
In the top ten it is worth noting the step forward of Juventus, which despite the third consecutive elimination in the knockout stages of the Champions League and the twenty points lost (from250to230) rises from sixth to fourth place.
As for the other Italian teams, after Juventus we find Napoli, in 19th place, while Roma gain seven positions and are 20th.
The announced overtaking by Inter over Milan is official: the Nerazzurri are in 26th place, immediately ahead of the new Italian champions.
Lazio, 33rd, and Atalanta are also in the top 50, gaining 16 positions and rising to 47th place.
Juve and Heysel: "The memory will last forever"
May 29, 2022Heysel, the memory of Juve: "A day that marked a before and after" This is the memory of Juve on the official website: "When the memory goes to an incredible tragedy, like the one that occurred on May 29, 1985 at Heysel, on the occasion of the European Cup final that pitted Juventus against Liverpool, emotions overlap.
There are the memories of those who were there that evening and who have hardly been able to watch a football match with the same joy and serenity since then, because Heysel's day is one of those that marks a first and a after.
Then there is the always vivid drama of the thirty-nine families who saw their lives change that night.
The families of the victims, whom we will never stop clinging to, in thought and memory, today and every day.
Because Heysel is a memory that lasts - and must last - forever ".
Juventus transfer market: Di Maria and Pogba. Tottenham on McKennie, there is Koné
May 29, 2022TURIN - Di Maria, there is only Juve.
Music for Juve, which therefore remains the only pretender to Fideo.
The reality is that Juve are in pole position and for this reason they maintain a direct channel with Pogba to close as soon as possible, so as to avoid surprises.
For this reason, in the event of a significant proposal, Juve would also consider the possibility of losing McKennie.
From the German club, Juve have taken Denis Zakaria into the winter market: will there be an encore?
TuttoJuve
CEFERIN'S NIGHTMARE HAS COME TRUE, DIFFICULT THAT NOW ...
May 30, 2022 - by Massimo PavanOn Saturday night, Alexander Ceferin's nightmare came true in Paris.
In any case, it is very possible that a preventive truce will be achieved, which could diminish the effects of the decision of the European Court, with Rummenigge who would be working with the role of mediator.
It is absurd that a more complete safety system has not been thought of, capable of guaranteeing the correct conduct of the competition.
It also remains absurd, the division of revenues that today sees Uefa do the lion's share with the crumbs left to the players, something that the Super League would like to cancel.
What happened on Saturday is however proof that the Champions League without Real Madrid, Barcelona but also Juventus cannot exist.
Massimo Pavan: "Juventus have counterparts that can be important"
May 30, 2022 - by TuttoJuve RedactionIf you win over 14 Champion's history it means you have something special.
And Real Madrid have it.
He won 5 in a row at the time of Di Stefano, Gento, Puskas.
The evil tongues then claimed that the best striker of the blancos was called Saporta and not ...
Milik's quotations are growing
May 30, 2022 - by Massimo PavanArkadiusz Milik's odds are growing: the former Napoli, currently at Olympique Marseille, did not perform as he expected when he left Ajax for Napoli in 2016.
However, he is still of age to change his career (28yearsold).
Juventus could be the ideal destination for him to rediscover his football.
He could be the fourth striker.
Juventus also follows Adama Traorè
May 30, 2022 - by Massimo PavanIf you win over 14 Champion's history it means you have something special.
And Real Madrid have it.
He won 5 in a row at the time of Di Stefano, Gento, Puskas.
The evil tongues then claimed that the best striker of the blancos was called Saporta and not ...
Barcelona could offer Pjanic for Koulibaly
29 May 2022 - by Massimo PavanIf you win over 14 Champion's history it means you have something special.
And Real Madrid have it.
He won 5 in a row at the time of Di Stefano, Gento, Puskas.
The evil tongues then claimed that the best striker of the blancos was called Saporta and not ...
SOTTOBOSCO - Inter becomes Juve bis. The possible Juventus reinforcements make the skin crawl, the project is missing. An influencer at Continassa. Ancelotti, Real, star football and players
29 May 2022 - by Andrea BoscoHe won 5 in a row at the time of Di Stefano, Gento, Puskas.
The truth is that Real Madrid have always played stellar football.
Ancelotti's Real won, Klopp's Liverpool lost.
Real has won, having the "mentality" and the players.
I hear about the sale of promising young people and the hiring of people close to retirement.
Konè, there is competition from Atletico Madrid
29 May 2022 - by Massimo PavanJuventus would be interested in Monchengladbach's Borussia midfielder, Manu Konè.
The midfielder would also be the object of interest from Milan and Atletico Madrid as well as from Juventus.
The cost would be around 15 million euros.
Milan risk losing a star
29 May 2022 - by Massimo PavanIf you win over 14 Champion's history it means you have something special.
And Real Madrid have it.
He won 5 in a row at the time of Di Stefano, Gento, Puskas.
The evil tongues then claimed that the best striker of the blancos was called Saporta and not ...
JUVE, WE NEED A RETURN TO THE PAST
29 May 2022 - by Massimo PavanFor Juventus we need a return to the past, understood as the ability to move on the market before the others.
With the management of Marotta, in fact, the bianconeri had been able to anticipate the competition, arriving often and willingly on the best talents.
In recent years it has not always been the case with Inter but also Milan who have moved even better.
Juventus took Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic, but we must return to being the first to return to dominate.
Click here, follow Massimo Pavan on twitter to interact with Massimo on the latest on the transfer market and on Juve
Vrioni in great demand, Juventus will have to decide
29 May 2022 - by Massimo PavanIf you win over 14 Champion's history it means you have something special.
And Real Madrid have it.
He won 5 in a row at the time of Di Stefano, Gento, Puskas.
The evil tongues then claimed that the best striker of the blancos was called Saporta and not ...
2022.05.29 10:27 AutoModerator Trending Hair Styles
 | As they say, change is as good as a holiday, and a new hairstyle is the best way to mix things up. While there is nothing wrong with a solid rotation of straight, curls, top knots, and ponytails, a styled cut can drastically improve your hair game. It can be hard to keep track of all the hair trends, and deciding what cut to get can be daunting. So to help you up your mane game, we have rounded up the most popular hairstyles and haircuts. submitted by AutoModerator to Only_Femboys [link] [comments] Short Wavy BobThe bob haircut is one of the most significant hairstyle trends of late. It is the perfect combination of edgy yet pretty with just the right amount of masculinity to make it on-trend. If you’re tired of the classic bob, try mixing things up with this wavy style. Bobs and waves are a match made in hair heaven. Nothing says cool-girl chic like a touselled just rolled out of bed crop. However, if you’re still looking to turn things up, try rocking this blunt cut front fringe. It is edgy and unique without being too out there. And did we mention that it is also a super-flattering style?https://preview.redd.it/l6dh2oag7d291.jpg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=533a8cf6719e20eeee96c0a956bc07708f728755 Short Tousled (curls) haircut.Big curls are left long enough to let their texture play, while the distinct undercut provides that modern feel to the style that seems to make it most populair among LGBTQ+ teens.https://preview.redd.it/xe9qcxowfd291.jpg?width=564&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1e29ff5cdbf419df30683f41cfcf4540613601de Low BunEven with the chicest cut, there will still be some days when you can’t resist the messy bun. It is the bad boy of hairstyles, we know we shouldn’t do it, but its allure is just too strong. With short hair, you may find yourself struggling to achieve the messy high bun. If so, go for the low option. This may not be something you have thought of, but a low messy bun achieves the same level of simple styling as a high topknot while making your locks appear thicker too. Just gather your hair at the nape of your neck and twist it into a bun the same way you would if the hair was on top of your head. If you have bangs, allow them to fall freely across your face, or pull a few strands out around your face and behind your ears to create a soft, elegant style.https://preview.redd.it/1hd9z30t7d291.jpg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0c3a18bca0cb7051093296de913b3e8dd1d8b032 Short and StraightWho says you need long locks to rock the iconic Rachel Green look? Short, straight hair with a mid-part is one of the all-time greats. And it’s not going anywhere, anytime soon. Mix up the classic 90s style with a blunt bob and a platinum blonde. This cut is striking, flattering, and just screams attitude. Channel your inner punk rock princess with a deep purple or red lipstick and heavy eye makeup.https://preview.redd.it/cr8qxcx28d291.jpg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=571f04568483b97b780fab4e95b1cc1855af73df Pixie CutGoing short can be very daunting for women with thick hair. When it goes wrong, it goes very very wrong (we’ve all had those awkward bowl looking haircuts). But the key to nailing short styles with thick hair is layers and texture. Avoid blunt cuts as this style will add bulk to your hair. Instead go for a layered, textured pixie cut. The layers will take some the weight out of your luscious locks allowing them to sit and flow with ease.https://preview.redd.it/zawjr8488d291.jpg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e25b0b311cd916fa2873f30fa6741ab034b1ee29 TwistsA few sexy twists are a great way to breathe some life into your cropped hairstyle. Not only is this a unique look, but it will also protect your locks too. The twists require zero additional styling and will let your hair repair itself from damage sustained from heat, coloring and just the general wears and tears of life.https://preview.redd.it/qm0j4sub8d291.jpg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=afa942ea6a14fdc95568a26ceb11aa027e30c51f BangsBangs are back, and short hair is here to stay, so why not combine two of the biggest hair trends from recent years? Simple and easy to style, bangs also require very little maintenance, other than the occasional trim. Bangs in short hair work particularly well as the frame your face, drawing attention to your features. This can also be a slimming style if you find your short hair is making you look a little fuller in the face. From side to front, choppy to blunt, curtain or sweeping, there are endless styling opportunities when it comes to bangs.Short Thin HairFrom bobs to faux hawks, pixie cuts, undercuts, asymmetric styles, and everything in between, short cuts were made for thin hair. That’s when they’re styled right of course. A short haircut is one of the best ways to not only create the illusion of thickness.Short Thick HairYou may be hesitant to partake in the short hair trend if you are blessed with naturally thick hair. But, short styles look like magic in a thick mane. Making the chop can also be a great way to take some weight out of your locks for the summer months. Ladies with thick hair can rock anything from short pixie cuts to bobs, with choppy layers, front fridges or side sweeping bangs. The key to short, thick hair is texture. So make sure to add a few layers to keep your hair light and sitting nicely.Short Curly HairIf you find your long curls are weighing you down then why not make the chop? Not only will a short style make your curls more manageable, but this flirty hairstyle is ideal for summer. From pin-curled pixie cuts and bouncy bobs, the styling opportunities for short curly hair are truly versatile.90s Middle Part PonytailChannel the celebrity go-to hairstyle with this sleek middle part ponytail. This style is perfect for babes with in-between length hair. This is because medium hair is the easiest to pull back, and it sits nicer and more effortlessly in a ponytail than heavy long hair. Pull your hair into a pony in the middle of your head at the back, and don’t forget to leave two thick strands out at the front. Rock it with some quirky shades or get out your glitter and go for some 90s makeup.https://preview.redd.it/nb4a9klv8d291.jpg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af25f843b471bc2e8438320a54f3cceaa9dc734b Asymmetrical LobIf you’re after an edgy cut but don’t want to go too short, an asymmetrical lob might be right up your alley. This A-line style is particularly flattering and not as sharp as some other asymmetric styles. Meaning, it is easier to grow out and can still be worn in a pony if you have hair regrets. But, we don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about with this uber cool and on-trend style.https://preview.redd.it/yhp1u3qr9d291.jpg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d0e62f73cd5146eea0f21f21c1c66e2ba670f44d Deep Side PartA deep side part is a great way to give the classic lob a trendy new take. While the lob itself is still very much a hit style, you can update your look by simply styling your hair into a deep side part and flicking one side over. This sleek and sophisticated style works equally as well for casual days as it does for formal outings.https://preview.redd.it/qlahx8iv9d291.jpg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d8efbe72de15e8fba7470520b09af1815793398 LobWe cannot forget the iconic lob. The lob has soared to popularity because of its laid back and easy nature. It requires almost zero styling yet offers endless styling opportunities. It is trendy yet timeless, mature yet youthful and can still be easily pulled back for lazy days.https://preview.redd.it/08uvijo3ad291.jpg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8d22cf43e097b5cb9bb9f5a4273127ca5db8960d UpdoDon’t shy away from updos just because of your long flowing mane. An up style is well worth the extra time and effort. Set your hair with hot rollers so that curls hold firmly in place, pull them and pin back as you like. From low rolled buns to curled up styles you can have the prom hairstyle of dreams, no matter how long your locks.Straight Long HairSometimes you just have to keep it simple, and there is nothing chicer than smooth straight locks. To achieve this divine look, firstly you’ll want to apply a hair mask to tame any split ends or flyaways. Dry your hair thoroughly and in sections using a flat brush. Straighten your locks in sections while combing them through at the same time. Run a small amount of anti-frizz through your mid-lengths and ends and set using a small amount of hairspray, to add a slight sheen.https://preview.redd.it/lmtk9ekmad291.jpg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=73f7a0817d2160c958b93871c704676abbb17ae7 Senegalese TwistsSenegalese twists are a great option if you’re on the hunt for a protective style which is still fun and flirty for summer. These rope-like twists work well with long hair extensions, for a trendy and chic look.https://preview.redd.it/kh5imxvobd291.jpg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=695a9ff11cb459940b9b86faec952b0f894b4560 Box BraidsBraids and long hair are the perfect pair. They keep your long strands out of your face while protecting them from heat and styling damage all while looking chic. But if you’re tired of the standard french braids, why not go for a cool box braid instead?https://preview.redd.it/56pvjjoubd291.jpg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=177c7b107f9533661e74065bf8b788b1dfcf8d69 UndercutAn undercut is a great way to edge up your look without losing too much length. You can undercut your hair at the back or the sides, but we recommend one side. This badass yet feminine look features hair which is shaved at one side with remaining length flicked over in the opposite direction.https://preview.redd.it/pjzzjhpzbd291.jpg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=edbdc743c42cadfb175a3b72df963eb933e49345 Short/medium/long Shag CutsThe shag cut hairstyle was and still is a popular hairstyle for people of all genders.The shag haircut is a heavily layered haircut. It’s a very chiseled, choppy, and textured look without all 70s and 80s flair. Whether your hair is long, medium, or short, a shaggy hair looks good on all hair lengths. Channel your inner rockstar and get ready to flaunt feathers, texture, and volume! On short hair, it will give you more of a choppy look and work best on thin or fine hair. For medium-length hair, it’s perfect for women with rounder faces. For long hair, adding lots of choppy layers to your modern shag haircut works great for women with thick hair and can go for a more feathered look. For naturally curly hair, it’s a nice way to freshen up your locks and lose the frizz. Style a shag haircut with texturizing sprays, moisture creams and oils, and hairspray for an all-day, lived-in vibe. https://preview.redd.it/dybi67tggd291.jpg?width=520&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=73946618ca5ba2f6347e046c7556268d4ac5e101 MulletLove it or hate it, the hair world hasn’t stopped talking about the mullet. Luckily, this modern take on mullet hair features more blended layers that make the grunge hair style way more wearable.https://preview.redd.it/yrmstisrkd291.jpg?width=563&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=61be36324132c2e8b29219c287bda7a6c3d442bf The Wolf CutA wolf cut is a hairdo that has a lot more volume around the front and top portion of your head. It goes gradually thinner and has a lot less volume down the end. It is a difficult cut to achieve, but it is something that is easy to maintain.https://preview.redd.it/97iq1hk5kd291.jpg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=17f5e317a72a8754f97c7bc4a41ea83c381a3686 |
2022.03.18 18:05 cubansombrero Bingo Wrap Up: All BIPOC Authors Card
 | When I looked at my bingo reading for 2021, the one thing that stood out was how white it was. So, how better to rectify that, than by doing a themed card. And while I didn't love every book I read for this card, the good news is that I found some excellent authors whose backlists and new books I am very keen to explore (and possibly work into future bingo cards). submitted by cubansombrero to Fantasy [link] [comments] I also read some excellent books by BIPOC authors for my other cards, which I reviewed here and here. Without further ado: https://preview.redd.it/w0fg34leo0o81.jpg?width=612&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=46cb103e0a9378a1fa01b313945be8def1e59712 Short stories: Exhalation by Ted Chiang A thought-provoking collection of science-fiction stories about the possibilities of future technology; I found Chiang's ability to make me feel things with his shorter works very impressive. Like all collections, some stories were more to my tastes than others, but there wasn't a bad story in the bunch. 4/5Set in Asia: Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong There's a lot going on in this series - monsters, politics, a star-crossed enemies friends to lovers to enemies to reluctant partners to lovers romance - and I had a blast. Gong really makes Shanghai come alive, and the plot is very easy to binge. Given this is a Romeo and Juliet retelling, it also has plenty of bittersweet moments. My main complaint is that you definitely have to age the characters up a few years in your head to make them believable. 4/5A-Z Genre Guide: The True Queen by Zen Cho I really liked Cho’s first book, Sorcerer to the Crown, but unfortunately this one didn’t wow me quite as much. There’s still the same astute observations about the intersections between regency Britain and colonialism, and I really liked reading about Malaysia in a fantasy novel. But the characters lacked agency and depth compared to the first book, and I never really felt engaged in the plot or compelled to keep reading. 3/5Found family: The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez Jimenez is an author to watch, and I'll definitely be picking up his next book. That said, this was definitely a book of two halves. The first half was incredible - the novelette that makes up the extended first chapter was one of the best things I read in 2021 - but it really lost its way in the last section as it switched from a slice of life story about space travel to a rapid fire story about intergalactic politics that became very difficult to follow. 3.5/5First person: A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir I started this series for 2020 bingo, and figured I should continue in 2021. In some ways it's rather generic, fast-paced YA, but there were also a few twists that genuinely surprised me. I also really love the blend of inspirations in the world-building with its mix of ancient Roman aesthetics and Middle Eastern mythologies. The flip side is that it's also typically YA in its lack of nuance when it comes to handling violence, and the villains are rather cartoonishly evil. But I had a lot of fug. 4/5Book club book: Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi This is one of those books I wish I’d liked more than I did. I could feel the anger and righteousness at centuries of racial inequality in America bubbling under the surface, but it never really broke through for me due to a combination of disjointed storytelling and characters that felt more like plot devices. Having said that, there are a few scenes in there that were striking and really spotlighted the harsh realities of racism, so some parts of the book have stuck with me if I didn’t really appreciate it as a whole. 3/5New to you author: Kindred by Octavia Butler I'd somehow never read Butler before and this seemed like the perfect excuse to rectify that. And this was one of the best books I read in 2021 - it's complex, disturbing, oddly hopeful about how far we've come, and yet scarily relevant decades after it was written. I will definitely be picking up more of Butler's work. An easy 5/5.Gothic: Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood The atmosphere of this book is excellent, and I enjoyed reading a gothic book set somewhere other than dreary England. That said, I really didn't like the romance in this book, which not only falls into all the YA insta-love tropes but also involves a love interest who is frankly kind of an asshole. Given the romance overshadowed the rest of the plot, unfortunately it dragged the story down for me personally. 2.5/5Backlist book: The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin This series doesn't need me to sing its praises - it's very good. The depth of world-building is incredible as is the sheer feeling of alien-ness that pervades every page. We also learn a lot more about Essun's past, which I found fascinating. I think this book's biggest failing is coming after The Fifth Season, since there's a dash of middle book syndrome, and it never lived up to the constant twists and turns of the first book. 4.5/5Revenge-seeking character: Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and unfortunately it didn’t live up to the hype for me. The mecha aesthetic and historical elements are kinda cool. But for a supposedly feminist book, I really didn't get that vibe at all. Zetian actively looks down upon other women who are also victims of patriarchy, and undermines and/or removes every potential female ally she might make. This is frankly not a book about feminist solidarity. Oh, and despite looking forward to a polyamorous story I didn’t really care about either love interest. 2.5/5Mystery: The Labyrinth's Archivist by Day Al Mohamed I really enjoyed this novella, which hit a lot of my buttons. I love stories about academics and scholars, and I love stories about disability that focus on what each individual person brings to a team and how we can draw on everyone's strengths. I'd love to see what the author could do in a full-length novel. 4/5Comfort read: Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord This was a surprise hit of 2021 for me, in no small part due to Robin Miles’ fantastic audiobook narration. It’s a fairly simplistic narrative based on Senegalese folktales, but it’s very thoughtful about how it approaches the themes of redemption and shared humanity. There’s also a genuine warmth and humility about it, which means it really feels like being told a story while sitting around a campfire. 4.5/5Published in 2021: Monkey Around by Jadie Jang A super cool idea to set an urban fantasy novel at the centre of the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011 San Francisco. The conversation around gentrification and immigration and cultural assimilation were really interesting, but the underlying fantasy story wasn’t necessarily my cup of tea. Jang constantly throws new characters and concepts at the reader, and there simply wasn’t enough time or space to get to know or care about them in depth. 3/5Cat squasher: Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee I'm in the minority on this one, in that I am overawed by this series as a whole, but really wish Lee had stuck the landing better. It's hard to think of another epic fantasy series like the Green Bone Saga, with its expansive world-building and deeply flawed yet fascinating characters. I particularly love that Lee pays attention to all elements of her society - economic, social and political. But the giant time skips in the final book didn't work for me, as I felt like they undercut some of the emotional moments I'd been waiting all series to see, and some of my favourite characters were somewhat sidelined. 3.5/5Translation [sub non-fiction]: Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi A magical realism story about a café in Tokyo that where one can travel back in time. This is not something I would have normally considered if it wasn’t a pick for my irl book club, but I wanted to enjoy it. However, the plot was contrived and the characters and dialogue were so stilted that I never got into it. Would make a great Netflix original, but it didn’t work for me as a book at all. 2/5Latin American author: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon I think you really have to like historical fiction to like this series – thankfully, I do. You can tell Gabaldon really does her research and there’s lots of very interesting details about life in Scotland and France that are worth reading for alone. That said, I’m not sure I’m going to keep reading, because I am really, really exhausted of reading about sexual assault used to shock and/or titillate. Also, the show covers the ground a lot faster. 3.5/5Self-published: The Black Veins by Ashia Monet Another book I really hoped I'd love and sadly didn't. I can see what the author was going for with a contemporary story where all the "Guardians (essentially "chosen ones") are non-white and/or queer. But unfortunately the snark was a little misplaced and instead all the characters came across as awful people (rather than witty, like the author intended) and there were a lot of threads left dangling in the world-building. 2.5/5Forest: Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon Solomon pulls no punches when it comes to portraying the trauma inflicted on Black and LGBT+ people throughout history (there are several relevant content warnings, but they are all handled with great care). The atmosphere of this story is eerie and unsettling, and really complements the story being told well. Unfortunately, their thematic work was let down by some inconsistent character development and a plot that veered rapidly away from the garden path towards the end. 3/5Genre mashup: The Ones We're Meant to Find by Joan He A YA sci-fi/mystery/thriller about two sisters who find themselves separated in very different places. I liked the focus on individual agency and sisterhood in this book. However, I didn’t love the overly convoluted plot and info-dump laden world-building, which drastically undercut the thriller aspects for me. I don’t mind being confused until all the pieces click, but this book never really made much sense to me. 2.5/5Chapter titles: Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeanette Ng The ultimate gothic story, with an intensively foreboding feeling and a very porous boundary between reality and insanity for our MC, but one that also includes a subtle critique of the follies of colonial missionaries. Excellent atmosphere, with plenty of twists and turns. I marked it down half a star only because I felt I needed a degree in Christian theology to fully understand this novel’s depths. 4.5/5X of Y: Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri I really loved the desert setting for this book, but otherwise what I really liked about Empire of Sand is that it’s a feminist book that isn’t about women defying expectations and brandishing swords. Instead, it’s a thoughtful novel about how culture and tradition shape people’s experiences and about finding the inner strength and determination to subvert oppressive social structures. It is quite slow in places, but otherwise a delightful read. 4/5First contact: The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull This book is hard for me to rate. Thematically, it’s very good: like so many books on this card, there’s a nuanced message about colonialism that we need more of in first contact stories. The Virgin Islands setting really helps bring out the myriad of tensions in this space. However, I’m not sure I really enjoyed it. I would have liked more interesting and engaging characters, and I found the actual first contact scenario a little underwhelming since we never really saw how it played out on a world-scale. 3.5/5Trans/nonbinary character: Pet by Akwaeki Emezi Pet is deceptively complex for a middle grade novel, and uses the monster metaphor to great effect to tell a story about child abuse and the real villains in our own world. Highly recommended for parents looking for diverse books for their middle grade readers (the MC, Jam, is a black trans girl who is also selectively mute), but for adults as well. 5/5Debut: Only a Monster by Vanessa Len So the blurb for this book frankly makes it look tropey as fuck (love triangles are so 2009). But I found it to be a fascinating read: this is a book about a girl torn between two boys who are both bad for her in different ways, and who has to come to grips with the consequences of her magic, but Len actively engages with these tropes and how a young biracial girl might experience them. There's also time travel, which is one of my all time favourite tropes (and again, Len is interested in the ethical consequences of travelling in time). 4/5Witches: Cemetery Boys by Aidan Thomas I am very thankful that this book has gotten so much attention, so I really wish I'd liked it more than I did. The diverse representation is great - the snippets of Yadriel's family's culture are the best part of the book by far - but I found the writing very repetitive and clunky and the mystery predictable, even for a YA book. There's also not a lot of depth to any of the characters, with the exception of Julian, who definitely steals the show. 3/5 |
2022.02.18 22:19 glibibli How long do Senegalese twists last?
Hi,
I want to get Senegalese twists (medium) for the first time. The hairdresser website says it only takes one hour. Is it because its ready (crochet)? Or is it the regular time?
And if I get them and they are crochet , Do they last the same as the braided ones? Or will be like two weeks?
I had single braids once when I was like 15. So not sure how long they supposed to last.
Thank you!!
submitted by glibibli to BlackHair [link] [comments]
I want to get Senegalese twists (medium) for the first time. The hairdresser website says it only takes one hour. Is it because its ready (crochet)? Or is it the regular time?
And if I get them and they are crochet , Do they last the same as the braided ones? Or will be like two weeks?
I had single braids once when I was like 15. So not sure how long they supposed to last.
Thank you!!
2022.01.20 20:52 ChickenInASuit Here's a bunch of cool non-Big 2 comics I've read recently, and that I think you should give a shot! [Part 3 of 3]
![Here's a bunch of cool non-Big 2 comics I've read recently, and that I think you should give a shot! [Part 3 of 3]](https://external-preview.redd.it/wHwufX25FyqdXd0pR_5EGr48512ufaV_hsmrSpFiX2U.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=ba6b75234d525a7c08f62b46cfd1d853e015af00 "Here's a bunch of cool non-Big 2 comics I've read recently, and that I think you should give a shot! [Part 3 of 3]") | Final instalment of an ongoing series that I've been sharing here over the past three days, the previous instalment of which can be found here, with a further link to Part 1 at the top. Hope you find something you enjoy in here! submitted by ChickenInASuit to graphicnovels [link] [comments] 1) Upgrade Soul by Ezra Claytan Daniels https://preview.redd.it/xqbjdcxwbwc81.jpg?width=1399&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9de8463efc1185095e8ef41ebe3f7f48359845cf An elderly couple decides to put their faith in an experimental science program that could result in them being rejuvenated, brought to a better condition than they even were in their prime and more than doubling their lifespans. That’s all I can really say without getting into spoilery territory. This is a book which unfolds gradually and deliberately, peeling back layers of character development and commentary on a whole myriad of topics, but better experienced going in as blind as possible. Broad strokes treatment: The book is a meditation on the idea of what makes someone a human being, and the concept of leaving a legacy and how that can be a powerful drive for some people to the point that it makes them do drastic things. It’s sci-fi meets human drama with hint of horror and it’s smartly written and strikingly drawn. Good shit. Recommended. 2) Plastic by Doug Wagner & Daniel Hillyard https://preview.redd.it/rz6xuhn0cwc81.jpg?width=334&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37e9545a3bbdec9afd8174521c120f29f0c355c1 A retired serial killer named Victor falls in love with a lady named Virginia. Virginia gets kidnapped by a local mob boss who is aware of Victor’s skill set, and promises Virginia’s safe return so long as Victor carries out a couple of hit jobs for him. Oh, and also, Virginia is a plastic sex doll. This is a very twisted, deeply fucked up, wonderfully weird and overall pretty enjoyable horror romp if that’s your kinda thing. The same team also released another story in the same universe called Vinyl this year, which is along very similar lines and should scratch an itch if you've a hankering for more post-Plastic. 3) The New World by Ales Kot & Tradd Moore https://preview.redd.it/1k0sbnjacwc81.jpg?width=1041&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39041598993e62c5359975ca001db3e912326d31 America, the not too distant future… Actually scratch that, it’s New California, because the good ol’ US of A has been torn apart by nuclear war, resulting in the Pacific Northwest and a chunk of the central North being reduced to uninhabitable wasteland, and the rest of the country divvied up into three new countries. The most prosperous is New California, a hyper-advanced, hyper-Capitalist state where Reality TV has merged with law enforcement and the hottest screen celebs are mega-enhanced Super Soldiers with cameras implanted in their eyes. The soldiers are given targets, they hunt the targets, they capture the targets, and then the audience watching the action on a live stream gets to vote on whether or not their star kills their target or lets them live. Naturally, a resistance movement develops, and one of the reality stasuper soldiers defects and has to run from the authorities while starting to fall for the dashing resistance leader. It’s all very 1984 meets The Running Man meets a dozen other 1980s sci-fi dystopias, but while it’s not super original, it makes up for it in a sharp sense of humor, some well developed characters (it actually made me feel things for a faceless AI home security system FFS) and, of course, that absolutely incomparable Tradd Moore artwork. Honestly, it’s almost worth it just for the Moore artwork, which is as dynamic and striking to look at as ever, but Kot’s writing is solid enough to recommend it wholesale. 4) Blue In Green by Ram V & Anand RK https://preview.redd.it/5mrnsmqccwc81.jpg?width=976&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b8f29e5050c5181ca54a38168fe5a27080211153 Erik, a failed jazz musician-turned-teacher returns to his mother’s house on the advent of her death. Struggling to come to terms with the grief he feels and the guilt over their fractured relationship, Erik stands in her room, looking at the photos on her desk, and sees one of a man he doesn’t know - neither a relative nor a famous musician, but a man with a saxophone who clearly meant enough to his mother for her to keep his photo. Desperate for a direction in which to move, Erik embarks on a quest to find out who this man was and what he meant to his mother, and sends himself on a journey into depression, frustration, failed ambitions, the dangers of obsession and the challenge of remembering people for who they were and not just the works they leave behind. This is a beautiful book, one of Ram V’s best IMO, and with Anand RK absolutely killing it on art again. Unlike RK’s sketchy, Graffiti-esque work on Grafity’s Wall, this time the story is rendered in a mix of watercolor and real media that reminds me a lot of late-period Bill Sienkiewicz and it’s just as effective. Stunning stuff from a creative team that I hope to see many, many more collaborations from in the future (side note: Check out their new comic, Radio Apocalypse!). 5) Djeliya by Juni Ba https://preview.redd.it/ejuv3i5mcwc81.jpg?width=1043&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=99836eb01c964434129ed479e7318a4b1a861698 My first exposure to Senegalese writeartist Ba was Monkey Meat #1 from early January, which absolutely blew my socks off and is, quite confidently, the best, most promising first issue of a comic I’ve read in a good long while. So of course I just had to dig into his archives and get some more exposure to his work. Unlike Monkey Meat, with its bitingly satirical tear-down of colonialism, consumerism and capitalism, Djeliya is a more straightforward story: Mansour, a disgraced prince, final scion of a destroyed empire, moves through an apocalyptic wasteland with Awa, his Djeli, a royal storytelleguide/bodyguard who is fiercely loyal to Mansour out of honor-bound duty rather than any true bond (Mansour’s kind of a prick). The land in which they live was once ruled by an all-powerful but benevolent wizard who, for reasons unknown, one day decided to be not-so-benevolent and set about destroying everything (Mansour’s kingdom included). Mansour wants answers, and so he and Awa are traveling around and trying to find them. The characters are wonderfully realized - Mansour might be kind of a prick, as noted, but he’s the right kind of prick: he might be arrogant, prideful and impulsive, but he also has a heart, and does the right thing when the chips are down. This makes his relationship with the loyal but sardonic and embittered Awa rather heartwarming despite their differences. Awa is, of course, much more than she at first seems - turns out training from birth to be the chronicler of the royal family gifts one with the skills of observation and often wisdom that others do not possess… Just like Monkey Meat, this book is fucking glorious too look at; As mentioned before, Juni Ba is Senegalese, and the characters and environment in this book are heavily inspired by African folklore. The vibrant, often mesmerizingly colorful artwork strongly evokes tribal art and the characters all either carry animal motifs (Mansour’s armor resembles the face of an ape) or are straight up animalistic in appearance (one of the villains is a large, anthropomorphic warthog). On top of this Ba also cites Mike Mignola and Gorillaz/Tank Girl artist Jamie Hewlett as major influences and you can absolutely see that play out in some of his character work and action sequences. Did I mention it’s funny, too? Not just Mansour and Awa’s banter (although that’s amusing enough), but the wealth of visual gags, and memorable one-off side characters with many a quip to be had. This comic is absolutely remarkable. It explores themes of loyalty, legacy, responsibility, and the perils of idolizing flawed human beings, with fabulous artwork, a wealth of imagination and a ton of heart. Juni Ba is a creator that we all should be keeping our eyes on. 6) Wild’s End by Dan Abnett & I.N.J. Culbard https://preview.redd.it/la8izpzocwc81.jpg?width=337&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9fa46aefbab43a146cbc436ea0f6ef6a8ef49141 ”Vengeance. Heroism. Justice… The values we hold dear… Fate does not countenance them the same way. War is NOT even-handed. It is blind and indiscriminate.” So says an anthropomorphic great dane to young, scared anthropomorphic piglet while they hide in the woods from murderous alien robots. This is, basically, a retelling of War of the Worlds, set in post-WWII England, filtered through an Usagi Yojimbo-esque zoomorph lens. It’s pretty standard Dan Abnett - outside of his collaborations with Andy Lanning, the man rarely writes anything truly deep or world-changing but what he does write is, 9 times out of 10, solid, sharply realized and imaginative pulp comics, and this is one of those. The characters are diverse and engaging: the drunken fox/local hunter turned Cassandra truth-teller who first discovers the aliens and is believed by nobody, the aforementioned, traumatized war vet great dane who leads the villagers in their battle against a particularly nasty alien robot, the avuncular rabbit who leads committee meetings and whose obnoxious, well-meaning outreach to the new bloodhound in town is what ropes him into this mess… Culbard’s art is brilliant. It’s deceptively simplistic-looking on first glance (partly due to the aforementioned cartoon animal characters) but, much like Andrew MacLean’s art for Head Lopper, its basic surface details belie a great sense of action storytelling and emotive character work. Extra props to the truly anyone-can-die atmosphere, with one character in particular, who is introduced as a major player and featured heavily in early cover art, meeting a surprisingly brutal end early on. Fun stuff. Highly recommended. Not gonna set the world alight but a fun way to spend an evening. 7) Gødland by Joe Casey & Tom Scioli https://preview.redd.it/qyhi1mcycwc81.jpg?width=585&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=99a781719c3a6a953d4c947f00977d4b872f89b4 I gotta tell you, if you’re a fan of Jack Kirby’s work and want to read a book that’s basically one big satirical loveletter to comics’ badass grandpa, you need to get your hands on this. I’m gonna crib from Greg Burgas, one of my favorite comics critics, as he summed it up better than I think that I can (although I will try afterwards): “Kirby bombast with a clever modern sensibility and a Moore-esque lecture on the nature of the universe without, you know, the lecturing.” My summary: An Astronaut named Adam Archer crash lands on Mars, meets a collective of aliens named The Cosmic Fetus Collective (I shit you not), who transform him into a cosmically powered super being who returns to Earth to become a superhero. He is aided by his three sisters, and a giant telepathic dog-alien named Maxim (I still shit you not). He goes up against villains like Basil Cronus, a floating skull in a jar whose primary ambition is to get high as fuck (I continue to shit you not). He has a long-term one-sided rivalry with Crashman, a non-superpowered, government-supported, much beloved superhero with a secret identity (as opposed to Adam, who is the literal opposite of all of those things). It’s loopy. It’s self consciously and referentially cheesy in its dialogue - Crashman especially speaks exactly like The Homelander from The Boys when he’s in his public-persona, although you get the feeling Crashman might actually mean it, and villain Friedrich Nickelhead, upon trapping Basil Cronus in a glass jar, exclaims “Au contrare, my bottomless chum, you’ve never looked better! We’re all in the same fishbowl together!” (“QUIT TAPPING THE GLASS!” exclaims Cronus). Tom Scioli’s art appears to be directly and deliberately aping Kirby’s, with the same blockiness and thick lines, all the way down to conspicuous Kirby Krackle whenever Adam’s powers activate. It is, as a I said, a very deliberate aping of the Kirby brand of superheroics that parodies and updates those sensibilities while also clearly being a work of love towards them. 8) Apocalyptigirl: An Aria for the End Times by Andrew MacLean https://preview.redd.it/6q9maok0dwc81.jpg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d5135557fe8abaac1a05ec256453851fc281ee2 A girl named Aria lives in an abandoned train carriage with her pet cat, Jellybeans, in an unnamed city that has been laid to waste by some unknown cataclysm and reclaimed by nature. Every day, Aria’s wristwatch receives a signal, sets off a warning, and Aria jumps into action to hunt down whatever is setting the signal off. What’s setting off the signal? What’s Aria hoping to find? How did she get to be there in the first place? What caused the cataclysm that ruined the planet? Where do the weird, violent tribes that beset Aria and each other come from? This is all answered as the story progresses, in an admirably well-timed manner that avoids dumping info on you, managing to keep the action flowing while giving you background info in brief snippets, keeping things remarkably tight and entertaining. The story is barely 100 pages long yet feels like it has enough meat to be at least twice that length, and MacLean’s even-handed, economic approach to the storytelling prevents it from feeling overstuffed. This approach also applies to characters. Aria is the only truly developed character in the book - Jellybeans is, of course, a cat, and a member of one of the tribes appears and becomes the closest thing the book has to an antagonist without us ever really finding anything about him (besides him being mad that Aria kills his attack dogs in self defense). So instead we’re left with Aria, interacting with her cat, finding the sources of her signals, and having a mildly antagonistic relationship with her inner monologue (there are multiple points where a criticism of Aria’s behavior will appear in a text box, which Aria will then yell at). This is a brisk, well-developed, action-packed sci-fi action-adventure with a fun and a captivating protagonist, rendered in MacLean’s distinctive, vibrant artwork, that neither outstays it’s welcome nor does it feel too brief. It’s good shit, in other words. Anybody who enjoyed MacLean’s Head Lopper and wants to seem him try his hand at sci-fi should give this a shot. 9) Skip by Molly Mendoza https://preview.redd.it/6awhl833dwc81.jpg?width=2427&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30266b14cf9d6418f600d5de110021a183b75f48 Two young children, a human boy named Bloom, separated from his guardian, and Gloopy, a strange, furry being of indeterminate gender who is outcast from their clan for being an optimistic dreamer instead of a hard worker like the rest, get lost. They find each other, and try to help each other get home, skipping through trippy, polychromatic alternate dimensions (the mechanism for this is unexplained, but it might be caused by a black stone keepsake given to Bloom by his guardian). They meet, among other things, a weeping giant, a paranoid raven, a huge crocodile who is literally a party animal and just wants to play board games with them, and an omniscient, sentient computer simulation with a wild imagination. Their toughest challenge, however, is facing their own fears: Bloom with his sense of abandonment and fear of the unknown, Gloopy with the realization that their family are not entirely right but also not entirely wrong to be mad at them. This whole book unfolds like a Pixar movie in graphic novel form. Seriously, it’s got all the quirks: Weird, adorable characters, vibrant artwork, bizarre fantasy settings, all anchored by the very human and family-friendly drama at the center. It’s visually absolutely draw-dropping, with Mendoza using the dimension-hopping motif to frequently switch art styles with often gorgeous results - just check out some of the pages in this link. I loved this book. It’s heartwarming and delightful and I can’t recommend it highly enough. 10) Mamo by Sas Milledge https://preview.redd.it/3asy9688dwc81.jpg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2bd9f577091c1a8c7dcd9aeacf71f1f45b18200f A small village named Haresden has recently been overrun by strange magical mishaps: Plants growing in places they shouldn’t be, people slipping into comas and not awaking from them, things like that. Jo, a young village girl, knows something is wrong and seeks out the only person she can think of to help: Orla, the young, solitary witch who has been spotted in the nearby woods. Together the two girls (plus Orla’s little black cat, Sith, because of course) adventure around the town fixing the various curses that have befallen them. There is, of course, something deeper happening and Orla is tied to it, but I’ll leave that up for you to find out more about by yourself. Suffice to say that a theme of this book is family, both the one you’re born with and also the one that you acquire over the course of your life, how the latter relates to the former and how the former can sometimes be more trouble than it’s worth. It’s also about having a place to whom you belong, and reconciling that with both the good and bad that comes with it. Remember how I compared Skip to a Pixar movie? Well, this one’s more like Studio Ghibli, complete with the lush, brightly colored landscapes, precocious child characters and general folksy charm. This would be a lovely book to read by a warm log fire on a cold winter night, it just has that cozy feel to it, y’know? 11) King City by Brandon Graham (Comixology link instead of publisher link because for some reason Image has removed it from their site) https://preview.redd.it/bzpbe7madwc81.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2b40692e0c86aeab3967e978ef574bfaac99a4cb Another engrossing, delightfully weird sci-fi yarn by the brilliant (if slightly problematic) mind of Brandon Graham. Graffiti-inspired art crammed full to the gills with Easter Eggs and corny jokes (imagine if Rob Guillory had sex on the brain and you get the idea), stories of disenfranchised loners living in an urban dystopia trying their best to survive by illicit means (primarily smuggling), and a Swiss-army cat. You read that last part right. One of the character has a (pet?) cat that he injects with formula that basically turns it into whatever tool or weapon he desires while distinctly remaining a cat - he skateboards on it, uses it as a periscope (the cat’s mouth is the lens and you view it through the anus, no I am not making this up), makes it perform an autopsy on a dead body… And one of the other characters is studying the fine art of graffitiing mustaches onto billboards. She’s deadly serious about it. She once stole a large quantity of Kodiak bear fur to give a billboard a “hairlip”. Her professor was in the legendary Handlebar Riots of ‘63. She’s started using phosphorescent motion pain that glows when you walk by. That’s the delightfully weird world we’re working in, and yet at the same time, the book tastefully and movingly handles the topic of drug addiction in veterans suffering from PTSD, among many other things. Under all that weirdness is a beating heart full of sympathetically flawed, beautifully tragic characters that had me completely hooked. Also, can I just say? the badass hero character pointedly stays out of the giant apocalyptic fight happening around him, and it actually works as an important moment of character growth? Chills, man. Top notch stuff. I actually might have liked this more than Prophet, which is not something I ever expected I would say - there is a very high chance that this is my new favorite BG book. 13) Bodies by Si Spencer and various artists. https://preview.redd.it/im93p9hedwc81.jpg?width=1640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=be3b658a2f457cffcff59ce437bc71df1862f590 Spencer indulging in some of his more surrealist tendencies. It’s a murder mystery: Four different eras (1860s, 1940s, 2010s, 2050s), illustrated by four different artists, starring four different detectives, all focusing on the exact same dead body, with the exact same injuries, turning up in the exact same position in the exact same place. There’s a gay man in Victorian England hiding his tendencies from society, a sociopathic Polish refugee from the Nazis trying to hide his crimes, an Islamic police officer dealing with racism in the UK, and an amnesiac living in a dystopian future, all trying to figure out where the fuck this body came from and who the fuck he is. It’s a really cool piece of social commentary as well as being a mind-bending sci-fi murder mystery. The artists all acquit themselves magnificently, although I’m probably a bigger fan of Dean Ormston’s black, white and red depiction of Victorian England (with some serious shades of Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell’s From Hell in there). 14) Clean Room by Gail Simone, Jon Davis Hunt & Walter Geovani https://preview.redd.it/6btozt3idwc81.jpg?width=1651&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8b7c1cfef0eddeb61abf5dd474fa70ae7d77dd54 Well, fuck me, there’s a lot to to unpack here. Imagine, if you will, that Gwyneth Paltrow, with her empire of woo and bullshit self-help and her creepy cult of followers and all that Goop rubbish, was actually not a giant quack. Imagine she was instead putting on a front of being a giant quack, and was actually using the accumulation of power that her various enterprises granted her to fight a secret war against extra dimensional aliens who act like a cross between The Bodysnatchers and Cthulhu. Throw in some creepy obsessed serial killers, suicidal fiancées, psychotic, foul-mouthed monster babies, cheerful redneck neighbors, and some grotesque ultra-violence rendered in beautiful, crisp, clean lines by Jon Davis Hunt (and then Walter Geovani in the final volume, who acquits himself well even though it’s never quite the same). Now bear in mind that this all occurs over 18 issues, and I’ve only covered a fraction of the goings on. It’s complex, often terrifying and never anything less than engrossing. Probably my favorite thing I’ve read by Gail Simone so far, and one of the best things overall that I’ve read in ages. 15) Roche Limit by Michael Moreci & Vic Malhotra https://preview.redd.it/wfyucxnmdwc81.jpg?width=585&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d3a7e5b95a3bebbdc8d2df8d89adfe64a51d20a There was a time, in the distant past, when people looked up to the night sky, to the stars and the moon, and dreamed of science. Of exploration. Of answers to the oldest questions and promises of new beginnings. The great cosmos, out there to fulfill the lacking we humans inherently have. Like me, some believed that in that swirl of space was humanity‘s destination. The next step in progress, or maybe fulfillment. But the more advances we made, the more one thing became apparent: We were taking steps sideways, not forward. These are the opening lines of this book, the lament of a man who poured his life into creating a space colony named Roche Limit, hoping it would be an opportunity to bring the human race into the future, only to watch in horror as it backslid into old habits, revealing the station to be nothing more than expensive lipstick on an old, stubborn pig. Colonizing a dwarf planet with reserves of water beneath its surface, with the aim of mining said water, leads to the discovery of a mineral that can be used to make a potent drug named “Recall”. As can be expected, this mining colony/science center quickly transforms into an off-world Vice City roughly the size of India. In this city, a young woman named Sonya searches for her missing sister. She runs afoul of local druglords and gets rescued by Alex Ford, Roche Limit and Recall’s equivalent Walter White in Heisenberg persona, and thus we are treated to a sci-fi noir story full of the kind of social commentary that that blurb I just gave you would indicate. It’s damn good fun and I recommend it to anyone with an interest in noir and sci-fi dystopias. 16) Heavy Liquid by Paul Pope https://preview.redd.it/1rvadi9odwc81.jpg?width=585&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7be9cedc82e391452633c787ded6a37dc578eaa1 Nobody knows where the stuff came from… it wasn’t until about a year after we started hearing about it that Luis and I actually saw some of it. Heavy liquid… like curdled solid chrome cake batter. You’re not supposed to touch the stuff, you know. It’s poison. It’ll eat away your fingertips, dissolve your throat. Ah, but here’s our little secret. If you take the stuff, and cook it, the chrome cake batter turns into black milk. And if you take the black milk… and put it inside of you… You’ll feel… You’ll feel impervious. A nameless man (only ever referred to as “S”) runs through a dystopian vision of New York that could be twenty years into our future, or could be two hundred for all we know. He’s carrying a canister of the above mentioned titular liquid. He’s lanky, strung-out, with greasy hair and a pinched face. He reminisces about a fallen friend named Luis, who we can reasonably discern died a) violently and b) recently, given the conversation between S and a mutual friend in the beginning. He takes a taxi through a city full of festival goers. On his tail are three men, all of whom wear festival masques resembling Picasso paintings that give them grotesque, exaggerated appearances. These men carry guns and are clearly out for blood. We’re thrown into this situation In Media Res, given enough clues about the situation to follow the story but with a lot of it left between the lines for us to figure out for ourselves. This does a great job of helping with the panicked, paranoid atmosphere which permeates the comic, combining with Pope’s thick black inks and broad, moody colors to give the whole thing a thrum of intensity and confusion. What’s happening? Who’s following S? What is the “Heavy Liquid” - is it heroin, or is it something else? The story unfolds quickly and briskly as a chase through New York’s underworld that becomes enmeshed in a missing-person’s case, with orders coming from disembodied voices in pop-up television screens like something straight out of Phillip K Dick’s nightmares. I also see shades of William Gibson specifically when it comes to S’ use of hacking technology, with it being likened to a narcotic - S gets sucked into his cyber-work in the hunt for the missing woman, forgetting to move, eat or sleep for days on end. I don’t know that this is a truly original comic overall, although there is a very cool idea which starts to show itself later in the book. Still, it’s one of those comics that makes up for the lack of a truly original concept by the sheer panache of the execution, pulling from multiple different sources of influence putting together a dark but fun, cohesive whole. The characters, S in particular but also multiple smaller support roles, are well-sketched, living, breathing, believable people. I enjoyed it immensely. This is my first exposure to Paul Pope and I am eager to read more. Side note: Pope’s art? Sketchy, energetic, highly dynamic. Insanely detailed when it needs to be, sparse when it doesn’t. Very evocative of 1990s Eurocomic art melded with Manga. Love it. |
2022.01.17 22:41 ChickenInASuit Here's a bunch of cool non-Big 2 comics I've read recently, and that I think you should give a shot! (Round 3)
| | I've done two of these over the course of the past year (here's round 2, which also has a link to Round 1 at the top) and they've gone over quite well, so here's a third one! submitted by ChickenInASuit to comicbooks [link] [comments] As before, this is a compilation of some of the little comics mini-reviews I've been doing in the "What Have You Been Reading?" threads over the past six months. Hope you find something to enjoy in here! 1) Upgrade Soul by Ezra Claytan Daniels https://preview.redd.it/vt6em4zsebc81.jpg?width=248&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb360842d5e7c31a888a76ea50b87765bbc238db An elderly couple decides to put their faith in an experimental science program that could result in them being rejuvenated, brought to a better condition than they even were in their prime and more than doubling their lifespans. That’s all I can really say without getting into spoilery territory. This is a book which unfolds gradually and deliberately, peeling back layers of character development and commentary on a whole myriad of topics, but better experienced going in as blind as possible. Broad strokes treatment: The book is a meditation on the idea of what makes someone a human being, and the concept of leaving a legacy and how that can be a powerful drive for some people to the point that it makes them do drastic things. It’s sci-fi meets human drama with hint of horror and it’s smartly written and strikingly drawn. Good shit. Recommended. 2) Plastic by Doug Wagner & Daniel Hillyard https://preview.redd.it/rvt5jc1yebc81.jpg?width=384&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9499385abf18f183f7002e35b24050f95fc7a13d A retired serial killer named Victor falls in love with a lady named Virginia. Virginia gets kidnapped by a local mob boss who is aware of Victor’s skill set, and promises Virginia’s safe return so long as Victor carries out a couple of hit jobs for him. Oh, and also, Virginia is a plastic sex doll. This is a very twisted, deeply fucked up, wonderfully weird and overall pretty enjoyable horror romp if that’s your kinda thing. The same team also released another story in the same universe called Vinyl this year, which is along very similar lines and should scratch an itch if you've a hankering for more post-Plastic. 3) The New World by Ales Kot & Tradd Moore https://preview.redd.it/g3rszk53fbc81.jpg?width=384&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5c913b34a232e285ae06939afd8eedff1980be06 America, the not too distant future… Actually scratch that, it’s New California, because the good ol’ US of A has been torn apart by nuclear war, resulting in the Pacific Northwest and a chunk of the central North being reduced to uninhabitable wasteland, and the rest of the country divvied up into three new countries. The most prosperous is New California, a hyper-advanced, hyper-Capitalist state where Reality TV has merged with law enforcement and the hottest screen celebs are mega-enhanced Super Soldiers with cameras implanted in their eyes. The soldiers are given targets, they hunt the targets, they capture the targets, and then the audience watching the action on a live stream gets to vote on whether or not their star kills their target or lets them live. Naturally, a resistance movement develops, and one of the reality stasuper soldiers defects and has to run from the authorities while starting to fall for the dashing resistance leader. It’s all very 1984 meets The Running Man meets a dozen other 1980s sci-fi dystopias, but while it’s not super original, it makes up for it in a sharp sense of humor, some well developed characters (it actually made me feel things for a faceless AI home security system FFS) and, of course, that absolutely incomparable Tradd Moore artwork. Honestly, it’s almost worth it just for the Moore artwork, which is as dynamic and striking to look at as ever, but Kot’s writing is solid enough to recommend it wholesale. 4) Blue In Green by Ram V & Anand RK https://preview.redd.it/6cr4ay17fbc81.jpg?width=585&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9f37672c79eaaddd36f0b3b48e78fe2b605d668d Erik, a failed jazz musician-turned-teacher returns to his mother’s house on the advent of her death. Struggling to come to terms with the grief he feels and the guilt over their fractured relationship, Erik stands in her room, looking at the photos on her desk, and sees one of a man he doesn’t know - neither a relative nor a famous musician, but a man with a saxophone who clearly meant enough to his mother for her to keep his photo. Desperate for a direction in which to move, Erik embarks on a quest to find out who this man was and what he meant to his mother, and sends himself on a journey into depression, frustration, failed ambitions, the dangers of obsession and the challenge of remembering people for who they were and not just the works they leave behind. This is a beautiful book, one of Ram V’s best IMO, and with Anand RK absolutely killing it on art again. Unlike RK’s sketchy, Graffiti-esque work on Grafity’s Wall, this time the story is rendered in a mix of watercolor and real media that reminds me a lot of late-period Bill Sienkiewicz and it’s just as effective. Stunning stuff from a creative team that I hope to see many, many more collaborations from in the future. 5) Djeliya by Juni Ba https://preview.redd.it/m28uef9ufbc81.jpg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8c3bb84fc8b67fdd9f35bc45273ff1e2858a723a My first exposure to Senegalese writeartist Ba was Monkey Meat #1 from early January, which absolutely blew my socks off and is, quite confidently, the best, most promising first issue of a comic I’ve read in a good long while. So of course I just had to dig into his archives and get some more exposure to his work. Unlike Monkey Meat, with its bitingly satirical tear-down of colonialism, consumerism and capitalism, Djeliya is a more straightforward story: Mansour, a disgraced prince, final scion of a destroyed empire, moves through an apocalyptic wasteland with Awa, his Djeli, a royal storytelleguide/bodyguard who is fiercely loyal to Mansour out of honor-bound duty rather than any true bond (Mansour’s kind of a prick). The land in which they live was once ruled by an all-powerful but benevolent wizard who, for reasons unknown, one day decided to be not-so-benevolent and set about destroying everything (Mansour’s kingdom included). Mansour wants answers, and so he and Awa are traveling around and trying to find them. The characters are wonderfully realized - Mansour might be kind of a prick, as noted, but he’s the right kind of prick: he might be arrogant, prideful and impulsive, but he also has a heart, and does the right thing when the chips are down. This makes his relationship with the loyal but sardonic and embittered Awa rather heartwarming despite their differences. Awa is, of course, much more than she at first seems - turns out training from birth to be the chronicler of the royal family gifts one with the skills of observation and often wisdom that others do not possess… Just like Monkey Meat, this book is fucking glorious too look at; As mentioned before, Juni Ba is Senegalese, and the characters and environment in this book are heavily inspired by African folklore. The vibrant, often mesmerizingly colorful artwork strongly evokes tribal art and the characters all either carry animal motifs (Mansour’s armor resembles the face of an ape) or are straight up animalistic in appearance (one of the villains is a large, anthropomorphic warthog). On top of this Ba also cites Mike Mignola and Gorillaz/Tank Girl artist Jamie Hewlett as major influences and you can absolutely see that play out in some of his character work and action sequences. Did I mention it’s funny, too? Not just Mansour and Awa’s banter (although that’s amusing enough), but the wealth of visual gags, and memorable one-off side characters with many a quip to be had. This comic is absolutely remarkable. It explores themes of loyalty, legacy, responsibility, and the perils of idolizing flawed human beings, with fabulous artwork, a wealth of imagination and a ton of heart. Juni Ba is a creator that we all should be keeping our eyes on. 6) Wild’s End by Dan Abnett & I.N.J. Culbard https://preview.redd.it/skt0hh7pfbc81.jpg?width=690&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=647853ed598540c8b422e17de54963c3f29323bf ”Vengeance. Heroism. Justice… The values we hold dear… Fate does not countenance them the same way. War is NOT even-handed. It is blind and indiscriminate.” So says an anthropomorphic great dane to young, scared anthropomorphic piglet while they hide in the woods from murderous alien robots. This is, basically, a retelling of War of the Worlds, set in post-WWII England, filtered through an Usagi Yojimbo-esque zoomorph lens. It’s pretty standard Dan Abnett - outside of his collaborations with Andy Lanning, the man rarely writes anything truly deep or world-changing but what he does write is, 9 times out of 10, solid, sharply realized and imaginative pulp comics, and this is one of those. The characters are diverse and engaging: the drunken fox/local hunter turned Cassandra truth-teller who first discovers the aliens and is believed by nobody, the aforementioned, traumatized war vet great dane who leads the villagers in their battle against a particularly nasty alien robot, the avuncular rabbit who leads committee meetings and whose obnoxious, well-meaning outreach to the new bloodhound in town is what ropes him into this mess… Culbard’s art is brilliant. It’s deceptively simplistic-looking on first glance (partly due to the aforementioned cartoon animal characters) but, much like Andrew MacLean’s art for Head Lopper, its basic surface details belie a great sense of action storytelling and emotive character work. Extra props to the truly anyone-can-die atmosphere, with one character in particular, who is introduced as a major player and featured heavily in early cover art, meeting a surprisingly brutal end early on. Fun stuff. Highly recommended. Not gonna set the world alight but a fun way to spend an evening. 7) Gødland by Joe Casey & Tom Scioli https://preview.redd.it/0vxsgmy0gbc81.jpg?width=585&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=239b2e7621f96e6608c7378c39e513d86b07d1d7 I gotta tell you, if you’re a fan of Jack Kirby’s work and want to read a book that’s basically one big satirical loveletter to comics’ badass grandpa, you need to get your hands on this. I’m gonna crib from Greg Burgas, one of my favorite comics critics, as he summed it up better than I think that I can (although I will try afterwards): “Kirby bombast with a clever modern sensibility and a Moore-esque lecture on the nature of the universe without, you know, the lecturing.” My summary: An Astronaut named Adam Archer crash lands on Mars, meets a collective of aliens named The Cosmic Fetus Collective (I shit you not), who transform him into a cosmically powered super being who returns to Earth to become a superhero. He is aided by his three sisters, and a giant telepathic dog-alien named Maxim (I still shit you not). He goes up against villains like Basil Cronus, a floating skull in a jar whose primary ambition is to get high as fuck (I continue to shit you not). He has a long-term one-sided rivalry with Crashman, a non-superpowered, government-supported, much beloved superhero with a secret identity (as opposed to Adam, who is the literal opposite of all of those things). It’s loopy. It’s self consciously and referentially cheesy in its dialogue - Crashman especially speaks exactly like The Homelander from The Boys when he’s in his public-persona, although you get the feeling Crashman might actually mean it, and villain Friedrich Nickelhead, upon trapping Basil Cronus in a glass jar, exclaims “Au contrare, my bottomless chum, you’ve never looked better! We’re all in the same fishbowl together!” (“QUIT TAPPING THE GLASS!” exclaims Cronus). Tom Scioli’s art appears to be directly and deliberately aping Kirby’s, with the same blockiness and thick lines, all the way down to conspicuous Kirby Krackle whenever Adam’s powers activate. It is, as a I said, a very deliberate aping of the Kirby brand of superheroics that parodies and updates those sensibilities while also clearly being a work of love towards them. 8) Apocalyptigirl: An Aria for the End Times by Andrew MacLean https://preview.redd.it/crgw4155gbc81.jpg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e53d077a4e2ef956f271e65f589af47c3c5f6624 A girl named Aria lives in an abandoned train carriage with her pet cat, Jellybeans, in an unnamed city that has been laid to waste by some unknown cataclysm and reclaimed by nature. Every day, Aria’s wristwatch receives a signal, sets off a warning, and Aria jumps into action to hunt down whatever is setting the signal off. What’s setting off the signal? What’s Aria hoping to find? How did she get to be there in the first place? What caused the cataclysm that ruined the planet? Where do the weird, violent tribes that beset Aria and each other come from? This is all answered as the story progresses, in an admirably well-timed manner that avoids dumping info on you, managing to keep the action flowing while giving you background info in brief snippets, keeping things remarkably tight and entertaining. The story is barely 100 pages long yet feels like it has enough meat to be at least twice that length, and MacLean’s even-handed, economic approach to the storytelling prevents it from feeling overstuffed. This approach also applies to characters. Aria is the only truly developed character in the book - Jellybeans is, of course, a cat, and a member of one of the tribes appears and becomes the closest thing the book has to an antagonist without us ever really finding anything about him (besides him being mad that Aria kills his attack dogs in self defense). So instead we’re left with Aria, interacting with her cat, finding the sources of her signals, and having a mildly antagonistic relationship with her inner monologue (there are multiple points where a criticism of Aria’s behavior will appear in a text box, which Aria will then yell at). This is a brisk, well-developed, action-packed sci-fi action-adventure with a fun and a captivating protagonist, rendered in MacLean’s distinctive, vibrant artwork, that neither outstays it’s welcome nor does it feel too brief. It’s good shit, in other words. Anybody who enjoyed MacLean’s Head Lopper and wants to seem him try his hand at sci-fi should give this a shot. 9) Skip by Molly Mendoza https://preview.redd.it/bhry2ex9gbc81.jpg?width=2427&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d87e57385cc7ddf8a06d1b7ffa7100caa02890fd Two young children, a human boy named Bloom, separated from his guardian, and Gloopy, a strange, furry being of indeterminate gender who is outcast from their clan for being an optimistic dreamer instead of a hard worker like the rest, get lost. They find each other, and try to help each other get home, skipping through trippy, polychromatic alternate dimensions (the mechanism for this is unexplained, but it might be caused by a black stone keepsake given to Bloom by his guardian). They meet, among other things, a weeping giant, a paranoid raven, a huge crocodile who is literally a party animal and just wants to play board games with them, and an omniscient, sentient computer simulation with a wild imagination. Their toughest challenge, however, is facing their own fears: Bloom with his sense of abandonment and fear of the unknown, Gloopy with the realization that their family are not entirely right but also not entirely wrong to be mad at them. This whole book unfolds like a Pixar movie in graphic novel form. Seriously, it’s got all the quirks: Weird, adorable characters, vibrant artwork, bizarre fantasy settings, all anchored by the very human and family-friendly drama at the center. It’s visually absolutely draw-dropping, with Mendoza using the dimension-hopping motif to frequently switch art styles with often gorgeous results - just check out some of the pages in this link. I loved this book. It’s heartwarming and delightful and I can’t recommend it highly enough. 10) Mamo by Sas Milledge https://preview.redd.it/t43ebmvfgbc81.jpg?width=585&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b53950c6dfb04729b3b11c63f52039aae4f58ca7 A small village named Haresden has recently been overrun by strange magical mishaps: Plants growing in places they shouldn’t be, people slipping into comas and not awaking from them, things like that. Jo, a young village girl, knows something is wrong and seeks out the only person she can think of to help: Orla, the young, solitary witch who has been spotted in the nearby woods. Together the two girls (plus Orla’s little black cat, Sith, because of course) adventure around the town fixing the various curses that have befallen them. There is, of course, something deeper happening and Orla is tied to it, but I’ll leave that up for you to find out more about by yourself. Suffice to say that a theme of this book is family, both the one you’re born with and also the one that you acquire over the course of your life, how the latter relates to the former and how the former can sometimes be more trouble than it’s worth. It’s also about having a place to whom you belong, and reconciling that with both the good and bad that comes with it. Remember how I compared Skip to a Pixar movie? Well, this one’s more like Studio Ghibli, complete with the lush, brightly colored landscapes, precocious child characters and general folksy charm. This would be a lovely book to read by a warm log fire on a cold winter night, it just has that cozy feel to it, y’know? 11) King City by Brandon Graham (Comixology link instead of publisher link because for some reason Image has removed it from their site) https://preview.redd.it/xja4zh4zgbc81.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d59a786e0c5cba4fa330be8d77a195d23f302533 Another engrossing, delightfully weird sci-fi yarn by the brilliant (if slightly problematic) mind of Brandon Graham. Graffiti-inspired art crammed full to the gills with Easter Eggs and corny jokes (imagine if Rob Guillory had sex on the brain and you get the idea), stories of disenfranchised loners living in an urban dystopia trying their best to survive by illicit means (primarily smuggling), and a Swiss-army cat. You read that last part right. One of the character has a (pet?) cat that he injects with formula that basically turns it into whatever tool or weapon he desires while distinctly remaining a cat - he skateboards on it, uses it as a periscope (the cat’s mouth is the lens and you view it through the anus, no I am not making this up), makes it perform an autopsy on a dead body… And one of the other characters is studying the fine art of graffitiing mustaches onto billboards. She’s deadly serious about it. She once stole a large quantity of Kodiak bear fur to give a billboard a “hairlip”. Her professor was in the legendary Handlebar Riots of ‘63. She’s started using phosphorescent motion pain that glows when you walk by. That’s the delightfully weird world we’re working in, and yet at the same time, the book tastefully and movingly handles the topic of drug addiction in veterans suffering from PTSD, among many other things. Under all that weirdness is a beating heart full of sympathetically flawed, beautifully tragic characters that had me completely hooked. Also, can I just say? That ending where the badass hero character pointedly stays out of the giant apocalyptic fight happening around him, and it actually works as an important moment of character growth? Chills, man. Top notch stuff. I actually might have liked this more than Prophet, which is not something I ever expected I would say - there is a very high chance that this is my new favorite BG book. 13) Bodies by Si Spencer and various artists. https://preview.redd.it/8hfo523nhbc81.jpg?width=1640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa1196f975ae7f46ff3fc37bb818f605c970b527 Spencer indulging in some of his more surrealist tendencies. It’s a murder mystery: Four different eras (1860s, 1940s, 2010s, 2050s), illustrated by four different artists, starring four different detectives, all focusing on the exact same dead body, with the exact same injuries, turning up in the exact same position in the exact same place. There’s a gay man in Victorian England hiding his tendencies from society, a sociopathic Polish refugee from the Nazis trying to hide his crimes, an Islamic police officer dealing with racism in the UK, and an amnesiac living in a dystopian future, all trying to figure out where the fuck this body came from and who the fuck he is. It’s a really cool piece of social commentary as well as being a mind-bending sci-fi murder mystery. The artists all acquit themselves magnificently, although I’m probably a bigger fan of Dean Ormston’s black, white and red depiction of Victorian England (with some serious shades of Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell’s From Hell in there). 14) Clean Room by Gail Simone, Jon Davis Hunt & Walter Geovani https://preview.redd.it/9ttqkwguhbc81.jpg?width=323&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=47ed40a2bf72473c814fe13236522bfb504682b8 Well, fuck me, there’s a lot to to unpack here. Imagine, if you will, that Gwyneth Paltrow, with her empire of woo and bullshit self-help and her creepy cult of followers and all that Goop rubbish, was actually not a giant quack, and was instead putting on a front of being a giant quack and was actually using the accumulation of power that her various enterprises granted her to fight a secret war against extra dimensional aliens who act like a cross between The Bodysnatchers and Cthulhu. Throw in some creepy obsessed serial killers, suicidal fiancées, psychotic, foul-mouthed monster babies, cheerful redneck neighbors, and some grotesque ultra-violence rendered in beautiful, crisp, clean lines by Jon Davis Hunt (and then Walter Geovani in the final volume, who acquits himself well even though it’s never quite the same). Now bear in mind that this all occurs over 18 issues, and I’ve only covered a fraction of the goings on. It’s complex, often terrifying and never anything less than engrossing. Probably my favorite thing I’ve read by Gail Simone so far, and one of the best things overall that I’ve read in ages. 15) Roche Limit by Michael Moreci & Vic Malhotra https://preview.redd.it/cvzebeiyhbc81.jpg?width=585&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=12d0bcb43a0375176f5bbad6fdfcb6240f8b1567 There was a time, in the distant past, when people looked up to the night sky, to the stars and the moon, and dreamed of science. Of exploration. Of answers to the oldest questions and promises of new beginnings. The great cosmos, out there to fulfill the lacking we humans inherently have. Like me, some believed that in that swirl of space was humanity‘s destination. The next step in progress, or maybe fulfillment. But the more advances we made, the more one thing became apparent: We were taking steps sideways, not forward. These are the opening lines of this book, the lament of a man who poured his life into creating a space colony named Roche Limit, hoping it would be an opportunity to bring the human race into the future, only to watch in horror as it backslid into old habits, revealing the station to be nothing more than expensive lipstick on an old, stubborn pig. Colonizing a dwarf planet with reserves of water beneath its surface, with the aim of mining said water, leads to the discovery of a mineral that can be used to make a potent drug named “Recall”. As can be expected, this mining colony/science center quickly transforms into an off-world Vice City roughly the size of India. In this city, a young woman named Sonya searches for her missing sister. She runs afoul of local druglords and gets rescued by Alex Ford, Roche Limit and Recall’s equivalent Walter White in Heisenberg persona, and thus we are treated to a sci-fi noir story full of the kind of social commentary that that blurb I just gave you would indicate. It’s damn good fun and I recommend it to anyone with an interest in noir and sci-fi dystopias. 16) Heavy Liquid by Paul Pope https://preview.redd.it/z6u2qsf4ibc81.jpg?width=585&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ea03d6cbe96a468139344b540a27969e9620fbfb Nobody knows where the stuff came from… it wasn’t until about a year after we started hearing about it that Luis and I actually saw some of it. Heavy liquid… like curdled solid chrome cake batter. You’re not supposed to touch the stuff, you know. It’s poison. It’ll eat away your fingertips, dissolve your throat. Ah, but here’s our little secret. If you take the stuff, and cook it, the chrome cake batter turns into black milk. And if you take the black milk… and put it inside of you… You’ll feel… You’ll feel impervious. A nameless man (only ever referred to as “S”) runs through a dystopian vision of New York that could be twenty years into our future, or could be two hundred for all we know. He’s carrying a canister of the above mentioned titular liquid. He’s lanky, strung-out, with greasy hair and a pinched face. He reminisces about a fallen friend named Luis, who we can reasonably discern died a) violently and b) recently, given the conversation between S and a mutual friend in the beginning. He takes a taxi through a city full of festival goers. On his tail are three men, all of whom wear festival masques resembling Picasso paintings that give them grotesque, exaggerated appearances. These men carry guns and are clearly out for blood. We’re thrown into this situation In Media Res, given enough clues about the situation to follow the story but with a lot of it left between the lines for us to figure out for ourselves. This does a great job of helping with the panicked, paranoid atmosphere which permeates the comic, combining with Pope’s thick black inks and broad, moody colors to give the whole thing a thrum of intensity and confusion. What’s happening? Who’s following S? What is the “Heavy Liquid” - is it heroin, or is it something else? The story unfolds quickly and briskly as a chase through New York’s underworld that becomes enmeshed in a missing-person’s case, with orders coming from disembodied voices in pop-up television screens like something straight out of Phillip K Dick’s nightmares. I also see shades of William Gibson specifically when it comes to S’ use of hacking technology, with it being likened to a narcotic - S gets sucked into his cyber-work in the hunt for the missing woman, forgetting to move, eat or sleep for days on end. I don’t know that this is a truly original comic overall, although there is a very cool idea which starts to show itself later in the book. Still, it’s one of those comics that makes up for the lack of a truly original concept by the sheer panache of the execution, pulling from multiple different sources of influence putting together a dark but fun, cohesive whole. The characters, S in particular but also multiple smaller support roles, are well-sketched, living, breathing, believable people. I enjoyed it immensely. This is my first exposure to Paul Pope and I am eager to read more. Side note: Pope’s art? Sketchy, energetic, highly dynamic. Insanely detailed when it needs to be, sparse when it doesn’t. Very evocative of 1990s Eurocomic art melded with Manga. Love it. |
2021.04.10 12:45 RadioRetrofuture Lights in the Dark, part 3
Previous First
The third and final part of my first short story series. First time actually writing a battle scene. Hope you enjoy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 3
The moment Pépite walked off the ramp, its feet sunk into the marshy grass. With the blink of an eye, Marie’s viewport was obscured by the rain running down her windshield. But most unsettling was the howling of the wind trapped inside the air vent while gusts of rains irregularly clattered against the exterior.
Through the watery veil, Marie saw dozens of electric lanterns, dangling from the legionnaire's chests. They didn’t pity her now, poor saps.
Meanwhile, Oriflamme’s shape appeared to her right, its legs struggling to walk across the soft ground. From the front, the chassis looked like a cyclopic chevron-shaped crustacean on bovine legs. Ariel was to Pépite’s left. She was an odd chassis, not equipped with any weapons, but instead carried four searchlights. They wouldn’t be turned though. Not until they made contact with whatever waited for them on top of the hill.
“Pépite,” spoke an indiscernible voice through the radio static. “Thi- is Fa- Jacques. Do you ree-”
“Frère Jacques. This is Pépite. Reception is poor, over.”
“Underst- Pépite. Over n- out.”
There was a loud banging on the side of her cabin. Marie reached for the small hatch to her side. When she opened it, she was greeted by Uncle Henry’s mutilated face that was just centimeters away. Two Segnailse soldiers stood by his side, while he held a decorative mace over his shoulder.
‘Oui, Lieutenant?’
‘Pépite will hold the third position together with Ariel,’ he instructed. ‘You will not fire unless I give the order. Compris?’
‘Oui.’
The officer spun around and lifted his mace into the air. ‘Formez le Rangs!’ he cried. How he managed to scream like that without lips was a mystery to her.
Minutes later, the heat within the cabin rose as Pépite struggled with the uphill climb up the weathered road. Safe and dry inside, Marie stared over the chest lanterns and collar lights that danced in the darkness between the tree’s shadows that swayed about like waking flames. Oriflamme marched ahead of the column. Ariel was way at the back, along with some of the Senegalese tirailleurs. Somewhere down this road was an advanced platoon scouting out the situation, whatever it was.
The rain subsided by the time they encountered a signpost, pointing them in the right direction. Marie couldn’t read their destination’s name. Neither did it matter. The moment they were done, their train would leave this place, never to return again.
As the road’s incline decreased, straight-edged silhouettes of the buildings in the distance stood in slight contrast to the angry sky above. When the column entered the town proper, Pépite slowed down as the trooper’s lights spread through the street. There was little Marie could do apart from advancing through the narrow town street.
A sudden flash lit up the roofs ahead! The burst of light was followed by the sound of a gunshot that reverberated between the townhouses. Another flash. Gunshots cutting through the night made the men surrounding Marie scatter and seek cover wherever they could, lining up their guns in direction of the unseen threat. Marie squinted her eyes, but all she could see were bright bursts from behind the townhouses. Suddenly, a building’s roof collapsed, its silhouette appearing to tilt on its side as if it sunk into a cloud of dust. There were distant shouts, but the rain and the chassis engines droned them out.
Meanwhile, Uncle Henry was walking in between the soldiers, shouting orders all the while. Then he turned to face Marie and ordered her to move forward with a swing of his mace.
By the time the whole group advanced, the flashes had stopped. Either those in front disengaged or...
Uncle Henry’s mace shimmered in the light as he swung it overhead. It was an order to Ariel, but also a warning to the rest. Marie closed her eyes, and when she opened them, slowly, Ariels’ search lamps illuminated the town streets brighter than the sun.
They were near the town square, with a simple angular moment adored with Saint-Mary at its center. A typical french rural town, like the one she grew up in. Mortar brick townhouses with irregularly shaped foundations. Stores and stalls whose wares wasted away in the rain. In front of a collapsed cart lay the eaten remains of a horse carcass.
Beyond the square was the churchyard surrounded by an old boundary. Then there was the small medieval church. Gothic is style mostly, but she recognized the monolithic stones in the wall right away. This was a repurposed pagan site. She had seen such a place twice before. And neither of them was welcoming.
Meanwhile, the searchlights scanned the ancient building and focused on a wide gash inside the church wall.
Marie folded out Pépete’s tusk-like blades on the front to prevent the machine from toppling as she instinctively brought her weapons to bear toward the hole.
The penal troops held their weapons at the ready while standing in a chevron-shaped formation, ignorant of what waited for them beyond the reach of the light.
The rain had finally gone, and Marie could finally see clearly. But Uncle Henry didn’t seem pleased at all as he looked up at the sky.
“Oi!” cried a tirailleur, exploring the graveyard. Marie recognized him, though she didn’t know his name. A fearless one, covered in a layer of ritual scars, reached down. When he rose up, he held something in his hand. It was a severed arm.
‘Put that down!’ bellowed the Lieutenant.
There was another cry. Two troopers came running from one of the ruins soon after, screaming. ‘They’re coming!’
‘You’re the last?’ Uncle Henry asked the men who were catching their breath.
‘There were just so many of them,’ one of them explained. ‘And then the house collapsed.’
Without saying another word, Uncle Henry produced his dreaded ‘controller’: a handheld console with an array of switches. He began flipping them seemingly at random.
In her mind, Marie started to count. As she reached ten, an array of explosions wents in on the other side of the church. That was the sound of the dead men’s guillotines going off. A flip of a switch was all it took.
There were strange hissing barks in the distance followed by throaty gulping noise that sounded like a dog drinking from a pool.
Marie shifted uneasily in her chair. Something was coming.
‘Attention!’ The men assumed their formation when a creature resembling an emaciated naked canine walked into the light, unfazed by its intensity. Bony protrusions stuck out of its back. Its beak-shaped jaws contained needle teeth pointing outward, and eyes bulged out of its shrimp-like head like jet-black beads.
‘Tirailleurs! Fire!’ cried Uncle Henry.
Four sharpshooters fired a volley at the creature. It seemed effective. After being struck, the beast made a death spasm before dropping on its side.
Marie observed it all with an uneasiness. Most of the Outsiders they encountered were, fortunately, from flesh and blood like this one. Still, she was worried. Maybe this was a remarkably stupid breed, but usually, animals didn’t sacrifice themselves like that. unless…
The sound of the alien's persistent growling encroached on them. It wasn't long before more of the things emerged along the ridge, and some even on the houses, using their hand-like paws to climb the roofs. This was… Unusual behavior.
As the creatures closed in, Uncle Henry signaled Oriflamme. At a moment's notice, the machine doused the ruins in the left flank with a jet of flame. The rubble was set alight. Any of the creatures not caught in the inferno fled. The horde was frenzied now and stormed forward with animalistic rage, or jumped down from the roofs on top of the men.
That was the moment Marie waited for. Uncle Henry swung his mace in a downward motion, and Marie squeezed the triggers. Like so many gas propelled rockets her mitrailleuses send a constant stream of grapeshot into the horde. The hail of phosphorus projectiles cut up the swarm like the devil’s paintbrush, shredding the creatures apart by the bunch.
Through the trails of smoke, Marie saw the flashes of the guns and the shapes of men fighting with monsters. She was safe. It seemed unfair to be surrounded by people fighting for their lives while she waited idly for the next order. But that is how these operations went.
As the smoke dissipated, the number of creatures were greatly reduced. Some of the beasts fled leaving faint trails of smoke as the phosphorus shrapnel burned into their hides. The wounds didn’t seem like much, but it caused them enough discomfort so these Outsiders could either be shot or, or get their skulls bashed in by a legionary's weapon of choice.
She caught sight of the young legionnaire that Paulus had pointed out, looking aghast at one of the beasts at his feet. So, he survived.
It appeared to be a short engagement. Strange. They encountered swarms before, but usually, Outsiders don’t attack in groups like this. They need to be hunted, and only attacked when threatened, or hungry. Maybe this was an unusually aggressive species. But she figured it didn’t matter. It would be entirely different creatures next time. Now, the rubble was either on fire or covered in smoking carcasses. There was an occasional shot, or a trooper would strike one of the horrific carcasses just to be sure. It was over.
And yet, something about the situation felt wrong. Breathing in the heavy air, Marie wiped the sweat off her forehead while awaiting orders. ‘Mon, Dieu...’ It was hot. She reached for the drinking tube and sucked on the straw. Even the water was warm.
Folding back the straw tube, Marie noticed a strange shimmer above the illuminated ruins, like a mirror reflection of the flames. She moved closer to the glass, just to be sure it wasn't caused by the drops of water on her window. But then Marie spotted a piece of stone resting on its corner at an angle that seemed physically impossible as if some invisible force was holding it in place. Skeptical, she squinted her eyes. Maybe she just missed something?
Suddenly, the rock moved, tilting slightly further on its side.
Her whole body tensed up, and Marie squeezed the triggers.
As her weapons started to roar, troopers fled in all directions as Marie sent a volley of shrapnel into the ruin.
‘Ha-alt!’ screamed the lieutenant as he smashed his mace aggressively on the chassis.
As if released from a spell, Marie let go of the triggers.
‘Stupid broad, what did I tell you?’ screamed Uncle Henry, swaying his mace in anger.
‘I saw something,’ she muttered, scanning the cloud while dust stuck to the wet glass.
‘You what?’
‘It is invisible!’ she cried.
He looked over his shoulder at the cloud covering the ruins.
There was some weird movement in the smoke before the wind blew it away.
‘Lieutenant!’ said a trooper as he stared at a small streak of smoke that seemed the smolder off something suspended in mid-air. Carefully, he thrusted his bayonet toward it.
‘What the-’
Suddenly, the man was lifted off his feet, flung through the air.
An enormous serpentine creature burst from the debris, though its shape and size could only be deduced from the amount of dust and rubble it moved aside with its considerable mass. But Mary could make out parts of the rudimentary wing-like appendages emitting smoke due to the sulfurous shrapnel lodged inside them.
Oriflamme propelled two waving jets of flame in its general direction while backing away with awkward motions. The pilot panicked, lighting the men in front of her on fire as well as the beast.
The inferno revealed the beast's overall shape. That of some dragon from legend. As the flames danced on its skin and it lunged at Oriflamme, spreading its jaws like an angry crocodile.
‘Shoot it!’ cried Uncle Henry. But Marie froze as the serpent wrapped itself around Oriflamme with such force, it lifted the chassis of the ground as its legs buckled.
He slammed his mace against the cabin again. ‘Shoot! Shoot! Or I’ll have your head.’
It was just enough to wake from her trance and squeeze the triggers.
A hail of sulfurous grapeshot was unleashed inside the creature.
Oriflamme burst into flames, trapping the monster in the blazing inferno that covered the whole of its body. The beast rose up on its hind legs, swaying its arms around and cried toward the heavens while spreading its wings and releasing phosphorus vapors. Like a living torch twisting in torment, it illuminated the whole of the town, before toppling over and crashing into a row of houses just beside Pépite.
‘Keep firing!’ she heard Uncle Henry scream over the gunfire and the abysmal hissing from the creature. ‘Keep firing!’
Mary squeezed the trigger again, but as she heard the senseless clicking of spend mechanisms. ‘I’m out...’ Marie froze, sensing there was nothing she could do.
Suddenly a trooper in front was knocked aside. Before she could even contemplate what happened, the glass in front of her shattered, and Pépite was knocked over. As the machine tilted she felt weightless until the machine hit the ground, and her head collided with the ceiling.
As her mind drifted back into reality, the air was permeated with the stench of burning rubber and napalm. The pain made it feel as if her skull was cracked open. Enough pain to make her wish she was dead,
‘Lieutenant! She's awake!’ Somebody cried out.
She managed to open her left eye. The other one, she wasn’t sure. She seemed to have lost a tooth as well.
Uncle Henry looked down on her with disdain, but didn’t say anything. ‘Biene,’ he muttered thoughtfully. ‘That her back to the train. I’ll deal with her later.’
Marie was lifted off the ground on a stretcher. As she tried to move her hand, there was no response. She tried to shift her foot. No reaction. She wanted to sit up straight to see what happened to her body. But all she could do was stare at the sky where she saw something drift above the trees. Something that was observing them. Something not of this world glowing faintly like a marsh light.
submitted by RadioRetrofuture to HFY [link] [comments]
The third and final part of my first short story series. First time actually writing a battle scene. Hope you enjoy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 3
The moment Pépite walked off the ramp, its feet sunk into the marshy grass. With the blink of an eye, Marie’s viewport was obscured by the rain running down her windshield. But most unsettling was the howling of the wind trapped inside the air vent while gusts of rains irregularly clattered against the exterior.
Through the watery veil, Marie saw dozens of electric lanterns, dangling from the legionnaire's chests. They didn’t pity her now, poor saps.
Meanwhile, Oriflamme’s shape appeared to her right, its legs struggling to walk across the soft ground. From the front, the chassis looked like a cyclopic chevron-shaped crustacean on bovine legs. Ariel was to Pépite’s left. She was an odd chassis, not equipped with any weapons, but instead carried four searchlights. They wouldn’t be turned though. Not until they made contact with whatever waited for them on top of the hill.
“Pépite,” spoke an indiscernible voice through the radio static. “Thi- is Fa- Jacques. Do you ree-”
“Frère Jacques. This is Pépite. Reception is poor, over.”
“Underst- Pépite. Over n- out.”
There was a loud banging on the side of her cabin. Marie reached for the small hatch to her side. When she opened it, she was greeted by Uncle Henry’s mutilated face that was just centimeters away. Two Segnailse soldiers stood by his side, while he held a decorative mace over his shoulder.
‘Oui, Lieutenant?’
‘Pépite will hold the third position together with Ariel,’ he instructed. ‘You will not fire unless I give the order. Compris?’
‘Oui.’
The officer spun around and lifted his mace into the air. ‘Formez le Rangs!’ he cried. How he managed to scream like that without lips was a mystery to her.
Minutes later, the heat within the cabin rose as Pépite struggled with the uphill climb up the weathered road. Safe and dry inside, Marie stared over the chest lanterns and collar lights that danced in the darkness between the tree’s shadows that swayed about like waking flames. Oriflamme marched ahead of the column. Ariel was way at the back, along with some of the Senegalese tirailleurs. Somewhere down this road was an advanced platoon scouting out the situation, whatever it was.
The rain subsided by the time they encountered a signpost, pointing them in the right direction. Marie couldn’t read their destination’s name. Neither did it matter. The moment they were done, their train would leave this place, never to return again.
As the road’s incline decreased, straight-edged silhouettes of the buildings in the distance stood in slight contrast to the angry sky above. When the column entered the town proper, Pépite slowed down as the trooper’s lights spread through the street. There was little Marie could do apart from advancing through the narrow town street.
A sudden flash lit up the roofs ahead! The burst of light was followed by the sound of a gunshot that reverberated between the townhouses. Another flash. Gunshots cutting through the night made the men surrounding Marie scatter and seek cover wherever they could, lining up their guns in direction of the unseen threat. Marie squinted her eyes, but all she could see were bright bursts from behind the townhouses. Suddenly, a building’s roof collapsed, its silhouette appearing to tilt on its side as if it sunk into a cloud of dust. There were distant shouts, but the rain and the chassis engines droned them out.
Meanwhile, Uncle Henry was walking in between the soldiers, shouting orders all the while. Then he turned to face Marie and ordered her to move forward with a swing of his mace.
By the time the whole group advanced, the flashes had stopped. Either those in front disengaged or...
Uncle Henry’s mace shimmered in the light as he swung it overhead. It was an order to Ariel, but also a warning to the rest. Marie closed her eyes, and when she opened them, slowly, Ariels’ search lamps illuminated the town streets brighter than the sun.
They were near the town square, with a simple angular moment adored with Saint-Mary at its center. A typical french rural town, like the one she grew up in. Mortar brick townhouses with irregularly shaped foundations. Stores and stalls whose wares wasted away in the rain. In front of a collapsed cart lay the eaten remains of a horse carcass.
Beyond the square was the churchyard surrounded by an old boundary. Then there was the small medieval church. Gothic is style mostly, but she recognized the monolithic stones in the wall right away. This was a repurposed pagan site. She had seen such a place twice before. And neither of them was welcoming.
Meanwhile, the searchlights scanned the ancient building and focused on a wide gash inside the church wall.
Marie folded out Pépete’s tusk-like blades on the front to prevent the machine from toppling as she instinctively brought her weapons to bear toward the hole.
The penal troops held their weapons at the ready while standing in a chevron-shaped formation, ignorant of what waited for them beyond the reach of the light.
The rain had finally gone, and Marie could finally see clearly. But Uncle Henry didn’t seem pleased at all as he looked up at the sky.
“Oi!” cried a tirailleur, exploring the graveyard. Marie recognized him, though she didn’t know his name. A fearless one, covered in a layer of ritual scars, reached down. When he rose up, he held something in his hand. It was a severed arm.
‘Put that down!’ bellowed the Lieutenant.
There was another cry. Two troopers came running from one of the ruins soon after, screaming. ‘They’re coming!’
‘You’re the last?’ Uncle Henry asked the men who were catching their breath.
‘There were just so many of them,’ one of them explained. ‘And then the house collapsed.’
Without saying another word, Uncle Henry produced his dreaded ‘controller’: a handheld console with an array of switches. He began flipping them seemingly at random.
In her mind, Marie started to count. As she reached ten, an array of explosions wents in on the other side of the church. That was the sound of the dead men’s guillotines going off. A flip of a switch was all it took.
There were strange hissing barks in the distance followed by throaty gulping noise that sounded like a dog drinking from a pool.
Marie shifted uneasily in her chair. Something was coming.
‘Attention!’ The men assumed their formation when a creature resembling an emaciated naked canine walked into the light, unfazed by its intensity. Bony protrusions stuck out of its back. Its beak-shaped jaws contained needle teeth pointing outward, and eyes bulged out of its shrimp-like head like jet-black beads.
‘Tirailleurs! Fire!’ cried Uncle Henry.
Four sharpshooters fired a volley at the creature. It seemed effective. After being struck, the beast made a death spasm before dropping on its side.
Marie observed it all with an uneasiness. Most of the Outsiders they encountered were, fortunately, from flesh and blood like this one. Still, she was worried. Maybe this was a remarkably stupid breed, but usually, animals didn’t sacrifice themselves like that. unless…
The sound of the alien's persistent growling encroached on them. It wasn't long before more of the things emerged along the ridge, and some even on the houses, using their hand-like paws to climb the roofs. This was… Unusual behavior.
As the creatures closed in, Uncle Henry signaled Oriflamme. At a moment's notice, the machine doused the ruins in the left flank with a jet of flame. The rubble was set alight. Any of the creatures not caught in the inferno fled. The horde was frenzied now and stormed forward with animalistic rage, or jumped down from the roofs on top of the men.
That was the moment Marie waited for. Uncle Henry swung his mace in a downward motion, and Marie squeezed the triggers. Like so many gas propelled rockets her mitrailleuses send a constant stream of grapeshot into the horde. The hail of phosphorus projectiles cut up the swarm like the devil’s paintbrush, shredding the creatures apart by the bunch.
Through the trails of smoke, Marie saw the flashes of the guns and the shapes of men fighting with monsters. She was safe. It seemed unfair to be surrounded by people fighting for their lives while she waited idly for the next order. But that is how these operations went.
As the smoke dissipated, the number of creatures were greatly reduced. Some of the beasts fled leaving faint trails of smoke as the phosphorus shrapnel burned into their hides. The wounds didn’t seem like much, but it caused them enough discomfort so these Outsiders could either be shot or, or get their skulls bashed in by a legionary's weapon of choice.
She caught sight of the young legionnaire that Paulus had pointed out, looking aghast at one of the beasts at his feet. So, he survived.
It appeared to be a short engagement. Strange. They encountered swarms before, but usually, Outsiders don’t attack in groups like this. They need to be hunted, and only attacked when threatened, or hungry. Maybe this was an unusually aggressive species. But she figured it didn’t matter. It would be entirely different creatures next time. Now, the rubble was either on fire or covered in smoking carcasses. There was an occasional shot, or a trooper would strike one of the horrific carcasses just to be sure. It was over.
And yet, something about the situation felt wrong. Breathing in the heavy air, Marie wiped the sweat off her forehead while awaiting orders. ‘Mon, Dieu...’ It was hot. She reached for the drinking tube and sucked on the straw. Even the water was warm.
Folding back the straw tube, Marie noticed a strange shimmer above the illuminated ruins, like a mirror reflection of the flames. She moved closer to the glass, just to be sure it wasn't caused by the drops of water on her window. But then Marie spotted a piece of stone resting on its corner at an angle that seemed physically impossible as if some invisible force was holding it in place. Skeptical, she squinted her eyes. Maybe she just missed something?
Suddenly, the rock moved, tilting slightly further on its side.
Her whole body tensed up, and Marie squeezed the triggers.
As her weapons started to roar, troopers fled in all directions as Marie sent a volley of shrapnel into the ruin.
‘Ha-alt!’ screamed the lieutenant as he smashed his mace aggressively on the chassis.
As if released from a spell, Marie let go of the triggers.
‘Stupid broad, what did I tell you?’ screamed Uncle Henry, swaying his mace in anger.
‘I saw something,’ she muttered, scanning the cloud while dust stuck to the wet glass.
‘You what?’
‘It is invisible!’ she cried.
He looked over his shoulder at the cloud covering the ruins.
There was some weird movement in the smoke before the wind blew it away.
‘Lieutenant!’ said a trooper as he stared at a small streak of smoke that seemed the smolder off something suspended in mid-air. Carefully, he thrusted his bayonet toward it.
‘What the-’
Suddenly, the man was lifted off his feet, flung through the air.
An enormous serpentine creature burst from the debris, though its shape and size could only be deduced from the amount of dust and rubble it moved aside with its considerable mass. But Mary could make out parts of the rudimentary wing-like appendages emitting smoke due to the sulfurous shrapnel lodged inside them.
Oriflamme propelled two waving jets of flame in its general direction while backing away with awkward motions. The pilot panicked, lighting the men in front of her on fire as well as the beast.
The inferno revealed the beast's overall shape. That of some dragon from legend. As the flames danced on its skin and it lunged at Oriflamme, spreading its jaws like an angry crocodile.
‘Shoot it!’ cried Uncle Henry. But Marie froze as the serpent wrapped itself around Oriflamme with such force, it lifted the chassis of the ground as its legs buckled.
He slammed his mace against the cabin again. ‘Shoot! Shoot! Or I’ll have your head.’
It was just enough to wake from her trance and squeeze the triggers.
A hail of sulfurous grapeshot was unleashed inside the creature.
Oriflamme burst into flames, trapping the monster in the blazing inferno that covered the whole of its body. The beast rose up on its hind legs, swaying its arms around and cried toward the heavens while spreading its wings and releasing phosphorus vapors. Like a living torch twisting in torment, it illuminated the whole of the town, before toppling over and crashing into a row of houses just beside Pépite.
‘Keep firing!’ she heard Uncle Henry scream over the gunfire and the abysmal hissing from the creature. ‘Keep firing!’
Mary squeezed the trigger again, but as she heard the senseless clicking of spend mechanisms. ‘I’m out...’ Marie froze, sensing there was nothing she could do.
Suddenly a trooper in front was knocked aside. Before she could even contemplate what happened, the glass in front of her shattered, and Pépite was knocked over. As the machine tilted she felt weightless until the machine hit the ground, and her head collided with the ceiling.
As her mind drifted back into reality, the air was permeated with the stench of burning rubber and napalm. The pain made it feel as if her skull was cracked open. Enough pain to make her wish she was dead,
‘Lieutenant! She's awake!’ Somebody cried out.
She managed to open her left eye. The other one, she wasn’t sure. She seemed to have lost a tooth as well.
Uncle Henry looked down on her with disdain, but didn’t say anything. ‘Biene,’ he muttered thoughtfully. ‘That her back to the train. I’ll deal with her later.’
Marie was lifted off the ground on a stretcher. As she tried to move her hand, there was no response. She tried to shift her foot. No reaction. She wanted to sit up straight to see what happened to her body. But all she could do was stare at the sky where she saw something drift above the trees. Something that was observing them. Something not of this world glowing faintly like a marsh light.
2021.04.03 21:34 darklampost AITA for refusing to tip or pay a surge price?
ETA: Wow. I wasn’t expecting these many responses. Thank you all for your comments. At least something positive came out of this, I’ve learned the difference between a “salon” and a “saloon”, although I wouldn’t mind doing my hair at a saloon if that was an option.
To answer a few questions, I had my hair washed, detangled, oiled and sectioned out the night before to make it easier for them to part and braid. With regards to the surge price, i don’t recall seeing it posted anywhere in the salon. I went on their website and it wasn’t listed either. I tried to book an appointment for next week Saturday at 12pm, that was when a disclaimer popped up that it will result in a 20% up charge on the price. I think the charge applies to the time of booking and not when the appointment ends. I didn’t cancel the appointment because I had already driven about 25 minutes to get there and I didn’t 4C when I’d have the time to go again. Time to find a new salon. Thank you for the comments and jokes and the awards.
I (26F) have very thick, coarse and coily 4C hair. Growing up, there weren’t any saloons that specialized in Afro textured hair where I lived. My mom(she is white) did my hair to the best of her abilities and I took over in my teenage years with the help of my aunt and cousins. I’ve learned how to wash, detangle, cut and braid my hair all by myself. I have a small set up in my house like a one person saloon that I used. I had my son about 10 months ago. Unfortunately I’ve had to stop just because of lack of time and also him wanting to play with the stuff that I use for my hair, most of which are hazardous.
I recently found a saloon that specialize in natural hair. My two visits went great. The stylist and her assistant did a great job and I ended up tipping them separately, about 40% of the price. I had an appointment yesterday for 9:30am to get Senegalese twists. On their website, the price was listed as $250 for the size and length that I wanted. I planned to tip the stylist and her assistant an additional $50, so my overall budget for this appointment was $300. I was told that for the style that I wanted, they’d be done 12:00pm. When I got there at 9:30(my appt time)they were still working with the previous client and didn’t start with me until around 10:45. They finished my hair around 1:30pm. After she was done, she told me the price was now $300 because they have a policy to add a 20% up charge during surge times (12-4pm, their busiest saloon hours). I refused to pay the additional charge on the basis that It wasn’t my fault that they didn’t begin to work o my hair on time. She tried to say that it took a longer time because of the texture of my hair and length and even if they had started at 9:30 am, it would have taken longer. I told here there’s no way that I’d pay the additional fee. I ended up paying $250 and didn’t add a tip. She seemed annoyed and frustrated. I told my partner about this and he said I’m the asshole because I could have just added the $50 that I intended to use as a tip and that the stylist could get into trouble with the owner of the saloon for not charging the surge price. I feel like that’s still not my problem and if she hadn’t tried to force me into paying a fee that was more than the agreed upon, I would have tipped. I’m now wondering I’m the asshole since I haven’t really been to saloons that much and may not really understand the client-stylist expectations.
submitted by darklampost to AmItheAsshole [link] [comments]
To answer a few questions, I had my hair washed, detangled, oiled and sectioned out the night before to make it easier for them to part and braid. With regards to the surge price, i don’t recall seeing it posted anywhere in the salon. I went on their website and it wasn’t listed either. I tried to book an appointment for next week Saturday at 12pm, that was when a disclaimer popped up that it will result in a 20% up charge on the price. I think the charge applies to the time of booking and not when the appointment ends. I didn’t cancel the appointment because I had already driven about 25 minutes to get there and I didn’t 4C when I’d have the time to go again. Time to find a new salon. Thank you for the comments and jokes and the awards.
I (26F) have very thick, coarse and coily 4C hair. Growing up, there weren’t any saloons that specialized in Afro textured hair where I lived. My mom(she is white) did my hair to the best of her abilities and I took over in my teenage years with the help of my aunt and cousins. I’ve learned how to wash, detangle, cut and braid my hair all by myself. I have a small set up in my house like a one person saloon that I used. I had my son about 10 months ago. Unfortunately I’ve had to stop just because of lack of time and also him wanting to play with the stuff that I use for my hair, most of which are hazardous.
I recently found a saloon that specialize in natural hair. My two visits went great. The stylist and her assistant did a great job and I ended up tipping them separately, about 40% of the price. I had an appointment yesterday for 9:30am to get Senegalese twists. On their website, the price was listed as $250 for the size and length that I wanted. I planned to tip the stylist and her assistant an additional $50, so my overall budget for this appointment was $300. I was told that for the style that I wanted, they’d be done 12:00pm. When I got there at 9:30(my appt time)they were still working with the previous client and didn’t start with me until around 10:45. They finished my hair around 1:30pm. After she was done, she told me the price was now $300 because they have a policy to add a 20% up charge during surge times (12-4pm, their busiest saloon hours). I refused to pay the additional charge on the basis that It wasn’t my fault that they didn’t begin to work o my hair on time. She tried to say that it took a longer time because of the texture of my hair and length and even if they had started at 9:30 am, it would have taken longer. I told here there’s no way that I’d pay the additional fee. I ended up paying $250 and didn’t add a tip. She seemed annoyed and frustrated. I told my partner about this and he said I’m the asshole because I could have just added the $50 that I intended to use as a tip and that the stylist could get into trouble with the owner of the saloon for not charging the surge price. I feel like that’s still not my problem and if she hadn’t tried to force me into paying a fee that was more than the agreed upon, I would have tipped. I’m now wondering I’m the asshole since I haven’t really been to saloons that much and may not really understand the client-stylist expectations.
2019.11.21 23:08 mykolasj Road to glory - Senegal: Week 8 "Content keeps on giving, but it's road to mediocrity so far"
This week was a mess, this post ain't gonna be different.
So the last week ended on a high note, I finally came back to DIV 5 (that seemed like a logical step since I have a world class attack right now). Then I got shalacked in five games out of seven and relegated back to div 6 instantly. Then I decided that I must change my playing style and switched my CDM's from Stay at the back to balanced.
I should acknowledge that my favorite club team is Arsenal and man I'm playing like one. If I play the way I want it's just mindless counter-attacking and trying to penetrate the box with my pacey players. Then there's a playing mode when I "try", that means that pull up my chair closer to the TV, twist my back into a C position and try to play like those players that were shalacking me in DIV 5. So that means I'm trying to play out of the back. With my LB having 43 dribbling and 42 passing and my CDM's not being able to understand why I'm asking that from them. If you still don't understand how pathetic me trying to do that looks, just watch Arsenal trying to play from the back against any PL team. It's just sad. Unfortunately I'm not gonna fire myself so I need to work that out somehow.
One of the other reasons I started keeping possession is the Special card of Senegalese player that came out recently. The card that eventually will allow me to play like an Elite 3 player. The card that no FUT has never seen and the card that in time will cause rage quits just when opponents will see my team on the screen. The card that will have the same effect as Flashback Ibra did last year. The great Fammy Diedhou finally got his first IF card!!!
On more serious note I'm extremely happy that Idrissa Gana Gueye received (dare I say my predicted) RTTF card. That was the quickest 200k I've ever made on FIFA, If I'd keep up that pace I would have Vieira in my team before the new year, but I have other stuff to do and 1.6mil seems just so far away. Besides, after buying back Dembele and Mendy (plus the great Diedhou) I'm broke again so I think I'll just wait for the next FUTSWAP icon list to come out and will hope that Vieira will be there.
Last year when I got Vieira he was an outlier in my midfield, surrounded by really inferior player. If PSG will perfrom the way they squad dictates they should in UEFACL, when Vieira will come to my team he may as well be a supporting option to my Gueye. It's wonderful, this card will keep me more engaged than any "RTTF investors" and since I'm arsenal fan It'll be nice to have a team to support in champions league knock-out stage.
I like to pretend that Kouyate is Vieira sometimes, that lead me to scoring couple of screamers and conceding a 10 goals on counter-attacks.
Right now I'm still figuring the stuff out but I have to say that on those rare occasions that I manage to create a goal only with passing out of the back I feel like football genius and that's nice. I want to keep that up and thanks to some tactic tips kindly provided to me by u/jamesholdsworth_ just before I started writing this post, I think I might be able to succeed, or at least become more mediocre.
Right now I have 120-48-124 record and 781 skill points. Last week I was at 98-35-96. Maybe when all the elite players will get their Icons I'll have a clearer road do div 5.
Sheesh I almost played 300 games. That's a lot. Also I've played 282 games with Pape Abou Cisse as my LB and since most of you guys try to advice me how not to play him and play someone else instead I want to dedicate a paragraph for a biggest fullback in all game. He's not doing bad. For the record, he's doing amazingly fine. I need to start the game with 3 atb to play both Mane and Sane on full chem. I'll also need that for my end goal (which is to fit in Dembele into starting 11 when Vieira will come) so that automatically means that I must play one of my CBs as a LB. Of course Cisse makes mistakes, but who doesn't? I have a top 5 CB in game playing next to him and he makes blunders all the time. Mane sometimes happily ignores that he cost me 400k and misses an open net or gets outrun by a fucking lenglet or whomever. That's just how the game always worked and it will. I love that my only silver player is kind of OP and I'm sure if he'd be in a better league he already be more famous in Fifa community. I have plenty of problems, but Cisse ain't one.
This week was hard, sometimes I even loose the joy of playing, but with this team I just regain it so much faster!. Also big thumbs up for EA, with Gueye and Fammy having their special cards this week, already 6 senegal players have special cards on this FIFA, in 19 there was nine players in total. I hope this pace will continue. I know that Future Stars promo is coming so I hope that the guy from EA that is certainly reading my posts will understand that 24 years of age is still quite young and will give Cisse that special card. Also, EA guy, please take a note of M. Loum from Porto and Niane from Metz they're gonna be something special, better make those cards now :).
Thank y'all for all the engaging it really keeps me going. Oh and here is how I set up right now https://imgur.com/a/blFUF2L
submitted by mykolasj to EASportsFC [link] [comments]
So the last week ended on a high note, I finally came back to DIV 5 (that seemed like a logical step since I have a world class attack right now). Then I got shalacked in five games out of seven and relegated back to div 6 instantly. Then I decided that I must change my playing style and switched my CDM's from Stay at the back to balanced.
I should acknowledge that my favorite club team is Arsenal and man I'm playing like one. If I play the way I want it's just mindless counter-attacking and trying to penetrate the box with my pacey players. Then there's a playing mode when I "try", that means that pull up my chair closer to the TV, twist my back into a C position and try to play like those players that were shalacking me in DIV 5. So that means I'm trying to play out of the back. With my LB having 43 dribbling and 42 passing and my CDM's not being able to understand why I'm asking that from them. If you still don't understand how pathetic me trying to do that looks, just watch Arsenal trying to play from the back against any PL team. It's just sad. Unfortunately I'm not gonna fire myself so I need to work that out somehow.
One of the other reasons I started keeping possession is the Special card of Senegalese player that came out recently. The card that eventually will allow me to play like an Elite 3 player. The card that no FUT has never seen and the card that in time will cause rage quits just when opponents will see my team on the screen. The card that will have the same effect as Flashback Ibra did last year. The great Fammy Diedhou finally got his first IF card!!!
On more serious note I'm extremely happy that Idrissa Gana Gueye received (dare I say my predicted) RTTF card. That was the quickest 200k I've ever made on FIFA, If I'd keep up that pace I would have Vieira in my team before the new year, but I have other stuff to do and 1.6mil seems just so far away. Besides, after buying back Dembele and Mendy (plus the great Diedhou) I'm broke again so I think I'll just wait for the next FUTSWAP icon list to come out and will hope that Vieira will be there.
Last year when I got Vieira he was an outlier in my midfield, surrounded by really inferior player. If PSG will perfrom the way they squad dictates they should in UEFACL, when Vieira will come to my team he may as well be a supporting option to my Gueye. It's wonderful, this card will keep me more engaged than any "RTTF investors" and since I'm arsenal fan It'll be nice to have a team to support in champions league knock-out stage.
I like to pretend that Kouyate is Vieira sometimes, that lead me to scoring couple of screamers and conceding a 10 goals on counter-attacks.
Right now I'm still figuring the stuff out but I have to say that on those rare occasions that I manage to create a goal only with passing out of the back I feel like football genius and that's nice. I want to keep that up and thanks to some tactic tips kindly provided to me by u/jamesholdsworth_ just before I started writing this post, I think I might be able to succeed, or at least become more mediocre.
Right now I have 120-48-124 record and 781 skill points. Last week I was at 98-35-96. Maybe when all the elite players will get their Icons I'll have a clearer road do div 5.
Sheesh I almost played 300 games. That's a lot. Also I've played 282 games with Pape Abou Cisse as my LB and since most of you guys try to advice me how not to play him and play someone else instead I want to dedicate a paragraph for a biggest fullback in all game. He's not doing bad. For the record, he's doing amazingly fine. I need to start the game with 3 atb to play both Mane and Sane on full chem. I'll also need that for my end goal (which is to fit in Dembele into starting 11 when Vieira will come) so that automatically means that I must play one of my CBs as a LB. Of course Cisse makes mistakes, but who doesn't? I have a top 5 CB in game playing next to him and he makes blunders all the time. Mane sometimes happily ignores that he cost me 400k and misses an open net or gets outrun by a fucking lenglet or whomever. That's just how the game always worked and it will. I love that my only silver player is kind of OP and I'm sure if he'd be in a better league he already be more famous in Fifa community. I have plenty of problems, but Cisse ain't one.
This week was hard, sometimes I even loose the joy of playing, but with this team I just regain it so much faster!. Also big thumbs up for EA, with Gueye and Fammy having their special cards this week, already 6 senegal players have special cards on this FIFA, in 19 there was nine players in total. I hope this pace will continue. I know that Future Stars promo is coming so I hope that the guy from EA that is certainly reading my posts will understand that 24 years of age is still quite young and will give Cisse that special card. Also, EA guy, please take a note of M. Loum from Porto and Niane from Metz they're gonna be something special, better make those cards now :).
Thank y'all for all the engaging it really keeps me going. Oh and here is how I set up right now https://imgur.com/a/blFUF2L
2019.11.08 07:04 sgihairmaster NGOZI'S PREGNANCY HAIR JOURNEY
 | https://preview.redd.it/kh9p45btkex31.jpg?width=356&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c3f3938103eed2181c8e86d0e7cf4aeef1e58b08 submitted by sgihairmaster to u/sgihairmaster [link] [comments] For as long as I can remember I’ve always been one of those women whose dreams and goals were primarily professional ones. I never dreamt of getting human hair wigs for sale, hair manufacturers in Chennai married until I met my now-husband, and motherhood was always one of those “if it happens, it happens” things for me as long as “it” happened when I was “ready” so when I found out I was pregnant last June, I went into a slight panic mode because it was super unexpected and I really didn’t know how to prepare or what to expect. It wasn’t long before the morning sickness kicked in, and my energy levels were pretty much non-existent. The LAST thing I wanted to think about was what to do with human hair suppliers in Chennai, hair exporters in Chennai my hair so I was convinced that I would be wearing a bonnet for 9 months straight lol. After attending a meeting with a satin bonnet on my head, (because I was too exhausted to style my hair) and realizing that when people were speaking to me their eyes managed to only look up, I decided hair wigs suppliers, hair suppliers Indian I needed to do something to my hair that was going to work for me and the various changes I was about to experience without attracting “what is she thinking” stares. The one thing that saved my hair throughout human hair manufacturers, Indian human hair suppliers my pregnancy was protective styling. Not just any protective style though. Protective styles that worked for me based on how I was feeling at specific times of my pregnancy. Here are 4 protective styles that allowed my pregnancy hair journey to be as stress-free as can be:
Early on in my pregnancy, I was EXHAUSTED, human hair manufacturers, human hair exporters to say the least. I needed a hairstyle that required nothing on my part. I wanted to get up and go first thing in the morning and crash on the couch at any given time without worrying about messing up my hair. These twists seriously held me down during my first trimester, but the more my bump grew, the less pleasant it became to have weighted twists on my head. I needed Chennai human hair suppliers, machine weft hair something super lightweight that would give me the same benefits of twists, so I had to switch it up. 2. Feed-in Cornrows 📷 After my twists, I transitioned into feed in cornrows raw Indian hair wholesale, raw Indian hair exporters because they were lightweight and easy to maintain which was perfect for me as my baby grew, and even more perfect for me when I unexpectedly had to be on bed rest for a few months. While I loved my cornrows, I didn’t love the fact that they got old pretty quickly so as the end of my raw Indian hair dealers, raw Indian hair distributors 2nd trimester neared, and my baby showers were about to approach, I knew it was time for another hair change. 3. U-Part Wig 📷 After taking out my cornrows and realizing that at 7 months pregnant it’s probably not in my best interest to sit still for 5 hours to get them back in or even 3 hours to raw Indian hair suppliers, raw Indian hair from India take them out, I knew my next protective style needed to be lightweight, easy to install, and versatile enough to get glammed up for my baby showers. I opted for a For Koils Goddess U-Part Wig and had a friend of mine style it with wand curls for 1 of my baby showers and barrel curls for my 2nd baby shower. raw Indian hair suppliers, raw Indian hair from India It was the most lightweight style I wore throughout my pregnancy (surprisingly more lightweight than the cornrows), and it made me feel most like myself and most confident of any of the styles I wore. 4. Sew-In 📷 As my delivery day approached, I knew I probably wouldn’t want to have to deal with taking a wig on and off, so I gave myself a sew-in with For Kinks Wefted hair. It was just what I needed because it was lightweight and didn’t require any curl defining so I was able to do minimal work to it. raw human hair, human hair importers Now that my son is here, I have learned a whole new meaning of the word busy. I go between For Kinks and Blow Out because they don’t require much maintenance. Plus, my son loves to practice his fine motor skills by grabbing them all day lol. 📷 Throughout my pregnancy hair journey, I needed styles that made things easier for me, and even more so now that I’m a new mom. With motherhood, raw human hair, human hair importers somedays I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing, other days I feel like I’ve got it all figured out. One thing I do know is that these past 5 months with him have made me a new (better) version of myself. So cheers to all the moms out there. I have a new level of respect for you all! And to all the moms to be, I hope you're inspired to look to protective styles for your pregnancy hair journeys! |
2019.01.10 01:01 animousity692 Addiction... to protective styles
Oh no. Ever since I started doing styles like senegalese twists and passion twists, I find myself not wanting to go back to my natural hair. I think about taking my style out when it starts getting raggedy and miss my hair, cause I want that freedom, but then I remember... these benefits--
--Rolling out of bed without having to do anything to my hair, which saves countless hours and frustration
--Getting tons of compliments from strangers
--The feeling of having long hair on my shoulder's back. It's freezing here and I didn't realize how WARM long hair is
--You know how you get used to dressing differently based on hair length? That too.
--Better suited to my face shape
I mean, protective styles are also high maintenance in a whole other way. So how do you feel when transitioning from an "easy" protective style back to natural (i.e. hair "out")?
submitted by animousity692 to Naturalhair [link] [comments]
--Rolling out of bed without having to do anything to my hair, which saves countless hours and frustration
--Getting tons of compliments from strangers
--The feeling of having long hair on my shoulder's back. It's freezing here and I didn't realize how WARM long hair is
--You know how you get used to dressing differently based on hair length? That too.
--Better suited to my face shape
I mean, protective styles are also high maintenance in a whole other way. So how do you feel when transitioning from an "easy" protective style back to natural (i.e. hair "out")?
2018.12.27 14:10 colsonian I want to write a whole story about a FIFA 19 tournament ($15 prize available for helping!)
Edit: DONE MASTER LIST!!!
u/DuckyDios : Vardy, Rashford, Sterling, Zaha, Gueye, Ndidi, Robertson, Bailly, Alderweireld, R. Pereira, Alisson, Pickford, David Luiz, Mendy, Matic, Ozil, Felipe Anderson, Firmino
u/Lord_Mersgoth : Son, Kane, Callejon, Danny Rose, Fred, Herrera, Allan, Stones, Miranda, Joao Cancelo, Leno, Valencia, Fernandinho, Hamsik, Laporte, Giroud, Gnabry
u/Schopem : Coutinho, Ibra, Neres, Paulinho, Rodriguez, Khedira, Telles, Pepe, Handanovic, Kompany, Carvajal, Lozano, RVP, F. De Jong, De Rossi, Howedes, Mustafi, Fahrmann
u/Dodgebah Inaki Williams, Douglas Costa, Lucas, Pjanic, Ben Yedder, Doucoure, Jordi Alba, Tah, Sanchez, Hector Bellerin, Courtois, Phillip, Musa, (Witsel taken so Delaney), Cuadrado, Kolasinac, Victor Ruiz, (no goalie selected so ill give him Karius for the meme)
u/babyjman : Promes, Mertens, Di Maria, Dembele, Witsel, Kolarov, Vertonghen, Marquinhos, T. Silva, D. Alves, Neuer, (Pickford taken so Mignolet), Akanji, Werner, Mkhitaryan, Ndombele, Aduriz, Lala
u/Biscuits2015 : Depay, Reus, Fabinho, Goretzka, Kondogbia, Willian, Alaba, Kimpembe, Skriniar, Walker, Oblak, Draxler, Jesus, Perisic
u/cbolson14 Immobile, Sane, Mahrez, Nainggolan, Fekir, Milinkovic-Savic, Dalbert, Barzagli, Manolas, Florenzi, Ederson, Patricio, Trent AA, Glik, D. Pereira, Tolisso, lamela, Rodrigo
ME (Cant win prize) : A. Sanchez, Higuain, Iago Aspas, Iniesta, Thiago, Saul, Grimaldo, Benatia, Koulibaly, M. Fernandes, Szcesny, Shaqiri, Arnautovic, Almiron, Keita, Parolo, Bartra, Aurier
https://challonge.com/tournaments/bracket_generator?ref=luqSbdco0O
u/Biscuits2015 VS u/DuckyDios :
5' Kyle walker twists his knee for Biscuits but looks set to carry on.
10' Zaha takes the ball out wide for Ducky but his cross just sails over the striker. Ndidi recollects but fires it over the crossbar.
15' Fabinho receives the ball from Goretzka as Biscuits attack the net. The Brazilian's strides are overpowered by the defender.
30' Kondogbia receives the ball in the middle of the park as Biscuits work the ball toward the frame, collecting the ball for a throw-in that ultimately leads to nothing.
38' Depay fouls Alisson as the French striker dives in for a header
45' Reus puts the ball into Alissons arms as the half draws to a close
55' Perisic's cross finds nobody as Biscuits dominate the play with nothing to show for it.
60' Right after Vardy gives way for Firmino a brutal Oblak error gifts Wilfried Zaha a goal
62' Kondogbia hits the POST. Ozil comes on for Zaha.
67' Two subs as Matic comes on for Biscuits and Draxler comes on for Ducky.
72' Possession currently 50/50.
74' Jesus on for Depay
86' Fabinho off for Locadia as Biscuits transition to all out attack.
FT: Ducky 1 - Biscuits 0 Thanks for playing Biscuits
u/babyjman vs ME:
7' Baby controls possession in my final third as pressure mounts.
14' Alexis Sanchez sends a ball in from outside the box forcing Neuer to put the ball out wide. Koulibaly sends the ball over the bar from the corner.
21' Promes nutmegs aurier in the corner before sending a cross to nobody for baby.
26' For baby, Di Maria's header sails into the hands of Szcesny as the polish shotstopper makes an easy save.
40' It has been a midfield game as both teams struggle to penetrating their opponent's backline.
46' Alexis Sanchez fins his way into the box for me but gets tripped up as the attack leads to nothing.
HT Baby possession: 67%
50' Vertonghen slides in to save his keeper from the threat of a Higuain breakaway! What composure!
The fans are absolutely buzzing as tension mounts in the stadium. Witsel comes off for Ndombele and Iago makes way for BIG SHAQ.
65' Shaqiri puts the ball out of play after too much dribbling. Iniesta comes off for Keita as the playmaker playing in Japan is looking lathargic and the shadow of his former self.
78' Baby in and around my box once more but no breakthrough in sight.
81' Mertens' shot forced wide by the Polish goalkeeper.
84' Sczesny's miserable attempt at a corner clearance results in a Promes goal! Baby finds a way through and my shambolic defending forces me to pay the price. It was an inevitability that the stadium was waiting for as the crowd explodes!
88' Dembele gives away the ball far too carelessly but Parolo can't capitalize for my lads.
FT Baby 1 - Me 0
IT RESUMES!!!!!!!
u/Schopem VS u/Dodgebah
1' Dodgebah kicks off as the fans roar in unison with the opening whistle.
5' James does well for Schopem as the Colombian international dribbles through the defense.
7' Davinson sanchez makes a goalline clearance for Dodgebah after a cheeky backheel attempt! groans resound around the groud as fans want a deft finish.
13' Schopem's Zlatan does well to nutmeg his marker and draws a penalty! Coutinho fires his shot against the left woodwork and Courtois does well to recover! Somehow 0-0 despite Schopem's utter dominance.
22' Zlatan draws a free-kick and takes it quickly and he and James link up nicely and almost penetrate the backline. These two are looking on fire tonight!
32' Inaki has Dodgebah's first real chance of the night! Some clever link-up play leaves the spanish forward alone with the keeper on his right side, but the shot fizzes across the wrong side of the post.
37' Dodgebah's wing backs are getting burned as Zlatan repeatedly singles them out for attacking movements before looping dangerous balls across the keeper's area.
38' James has a ball played to him as he loses balance...he manages to get a head to it but Courtois deals with it easily.
HT Schopem 4 shots - Dodgebah 1 shot
47' Douglas Costa makes a run at Carvajal that is dealt with deftly by the Spaniard who is making remarkable strides.
50' Jonathan Tan loops in a half-field free-kick for Dodgebah before Lucas makes way for Cuadrado.
56' James looks nothing like he did in the first half as he looks uncomfortable on the ball. Schopem seem to be struggling as Lozano takes Neres' place on the right side.
60' Delaney on for Doucoure for Dodgebah before a corner that is ultimately overhit and put out of play by Jonathan Tah.
64' For Schopem, Khedira makes way for young Frenkie de Jong who soon may be taking his talents to PSG.
72' De Jong seemed all but cornered in his own third as Douglas Costa ran at him but he's done well to side-step the Brazilian winger and move the ball up-field safely.
80' Cuadrado misses a header that he should've put away as RVP comes on from the lion Zlatan as the game begins to open up in the midfield.
89' GOALLLLLLLLLL Robin Van Persie puts away a beautiful Coutinho cross after De Jong had moved the ball brilliantly toward the opposition's goal. The old striker has seemingly peeled back the years and put the game away.
FT: Schopem 1 - Dodgebah 0 (Pepe Motm)
u/cbolson14 vs u/Lord_Mersgoth
6' Cbolson is controlling possession and doing well to close down opponents when they lose the ball.
10' Callejon does well for Mersgoth but is ultimately caught dribbling to much as the ball is stripped from his feet.
14' Mahrez gets space on the flank but his cross is ultimately covered by Mersgoth's keeper
21' GOALLLLLLLLLL Fekir somehow wins a header from a ball whipped in by Sane as Cbolson's XI go ahead early. The keeper cam out to contest the ball but Fekir's done well to meet it first.
22' Manolas clears a ball in the box that leads to a corner for Mersgoth that leads to nothing.
27' Barzagli is following Callejon like a man possessed as the spanish winger is given no breathing room at all.
35' Sergej loses the ball at the edge of his own area but Callejon's shot is weak enough to be cleared well by Cbolson's defense. The pressure seems to be shifting as the goalscorers are relying on the likes of Barzagli to preserve the advantage.
40' Callejon receives the ball from Allan who's done well but pings it off the foot of Dalbert to lose possession.
45' Son has swapped with Callejon and looks to be a much more imposing presence on the flank...hopefull he reverts back for the second to control the build-up play for Mersgoth!
HT Possession 51% Cbolson14 vs 49% Lord_Mersgoth
49' Nainggolan plays a dangerous ball in over the top but it is ultimately brought down and dealt with by Danny Rose.
52' Narrow miss as Son bends one right around the far post! Fred makes way for Marek Hamsik.
58' Barzagli makes a desperate clearance as pressure mounts. Tolisso comes on for Sergej.
60' Back to back corners for Mersgoth lead to nothing as they are knocking on the door.
63' Callejon looks much improved as his strike headed into the top corner is narrowly turned aside to preserve the lead for Cbolson14
68' Mahrez, against the run of play, gets a shot and does poorly to miss the net. The manager is left speechless as he kicks a water bottle and brings on Lamela for the Algerian International.
76' Sane runs the ball dangerously across his own box! A very bold move from the winger as the ball is slowly shuffled out of Cbolson's half.
81' GOALLLLLLL Ciro Immobile's ball is met by the foot of Nabil Fekir. The man who should've moved to Liverpool this summer proves once again why he is worth big bucks.
84' Joao cancelo leaves for Gnabry and Immobilie, after a beautiful assist, makes way for Valencia striker Rodrigo.
92' Florenzi barely gets a head to defend a dangerous ball as the game dwindles to a close.
FT Cbolson 2 - Mersgoth 0 (Motm Fekir)
SEMI FINALS
u/DuckyDios vs u/babyjman
The players come out of the tunnel with determination in their eyes as the meaning of the night is palpable. Both sides will desperately want to advance to the final for their shot at $15 and uneneding glory.
2' Dembele does well for Baby but ultimately loses possession in the middle of the park.
5' Neuer does well to intercept a cross from Ducky and distributes well as Baby's men work the ball meticulously up the field.
9' Promes fouls Pereira on the right side but the free kick leads to nothing as Mertens picks up the ball and tries to spearhead a counter that never comes to fruition.
12' Gana misses by inches as all of the attacking chances have gone Ducky's way. Luckily for baby Neuer's presence seems enough to keep the looping balls at bay.
15' Zaha fouls Thiago Silva but the freekick leads to nothing.
19' Dani Alves intercepts a terrible pass from Gueye and Baby's men again control the ball in their own half.
23' Mertens gets a threatening ball in from Witsel but is inches offsides.
25' Di Maria cuts inside beautifully and plays a ball to Quincy Promes who gets boxed out as the ball trickles out of the penalty area.
29' GOALLLL Vertonghen chests down the cross dreadfully as Ndidi pokes the ball out from under him and into the top corner to give Ducky a lead 1-0.
30' Zaha passes to Idrissa Gana Gueye but a sprawling Neuer puts the ball out for a corner that leads to nothing.
38' YELLOW Jamie Vardy makes a rash challenge that sees him booked.
45' Dembele almost pulls one back for Baby as his finesse curls just around the post! This game is so close!
HT Ducky 1 - Baby 0
50' Rashford is caught dribbling in the corner and Baby's men remove him from the ball. Ndidi then receives a cross that Neuer deals with well.
53' Witsel makes way for Ndombele who comes on for the second time in two games.
58' Ndombele recovers the ball after Dembele seemingly had a seizure but the attack stutters to a halt and the ball is recollected for Ducky's lads.
63' Ndombele backheels a pass to Promes who can seem to get a good handle on the pass and loses possession.
64' Vardy comes off for Firmino while Matic enters for Ndidi. For Baby, Mkhi comes on for a tired Moussa Dembele.
66' Rashford brings about some ooohs and aaahs from the stands as he dances around defenders with a few stepovers but his efforts lead to nothing as he runs himself into a corner.
71' Nothing to split the teams in terms of possession, yet Ducky's team seem to rush the ball down the field while Baby's too often pass around the back.
78' Baby's men look a bit more positive in possession as they try to stretch the opposition with lateral passes but the defense is willing to spread all the way across the field to defend their narrow margin of victory.
80' Zaha wastes time as he slowly walks off for Mesut Ozil. His fans cheer loudly while the opposition's faithful greet him with jeers and half filled soda cans.
85' Baby's men look almost defeated. Have they got a suprise attack left in their weary legs?
88' Baby's Mkhitaryan gets bullied off the ball by Nemanja Matic as one of the last attacks of the game is stifled by the giant serbian.
FT Ducky 1 - Baby 0
Baby we will miss you as your support was brilliant and your team played with heart. If we ever do this contest again you will surely be invited and we hope to see you soon. Happy holidays.
u/cbolson14 vs u/Schopem
3' Ederson collects for Cbolson as Schopem's men push their opposition back with real intensity.
6' Carvajal receives a cross and takes the ball down beautifully before a sliding Ederson saves Cbolson's team from an early deficit.
11' Schopem's XI work the ball deftly around the box as Ibra gets his first touch of the night
16' Schopem's men win a corner that leads to nothing.
17' GOALLLL The ball is worked beautifully before Telles whips in a ball to Paulinho who puts Schopem up 1-0!
23' Mahrez neglects a potential through ball and dribbles into the opposition as momentum still seems in Schopem's favor.
28' Fekir loses the ball at the top of Schopem's box as pressure begins to swing in Cbolson's favor!
32' The characteristic high volume of crosses coming from Schopem's men is, save for the goal, dealt with by Ederson.
38' Schopem clearly have a dominant aerial presence as even Coutinho finds himself as the recipient for long over-the-top balls.
45' The game is definitely tipping towards Cbolson's men, yet their passing in the final third has been absolutely dreadful.
HT Schopem 1 - Cbolson 0
50' The golden boot leader, Fekir, neglects a shot opportunity and lays the ball off before the attack slowly dies away.
55' David Neres does well to take ball of Dalbert but ultimately possession is lost in the middle of the park as two sets of strong midfielders begin to shape the fixture.
59' Neres makes his way for Lozano and Khedira leaves for De Jong as two youngsters once again enter for Schopem's benefit.
65' Fans scream for a penalty as Mahrez collapses under the weight of Nainggolan's cross the ball is all in Schopem's end now and an opposition goal seems more than plausible.
71' Milinkovic gets a yellow before being taken out for Tolisso. He has conceded a dangerous free kick and has played poorly throughout. De Rossi also comes in for goalscorer Paulinho who receives a standing ovation.
72' Ederson easily snags the freekick out of the air and plays the ball to try to start a counter.
77' GOALLLLL After an absolutely horrendous attempt at a clearance by Leroy Sane, Lozano slots the ball home against the run of play to surely put Schopem into the finals for a whopping 15$
80' Cbolson's men look utterly defeated as they stride across the pitch with their heads down.
84' Rodrigo comes on for Immobile.
87' A corner where Ederson comes up is put right to the hands of Handanovic but he does nothing with his possession.
FT Schopem 2 - Cbolson 0 (MOTM Alex Telles)
"""""" FINALS """""""
u/Schopem v u/DuckyDios
You can see what it means to the players as there are some nerves as they exit the tunnel. Ibra looks calm as you like...hopefully he can bring his team glory.
1' Ducky gets a fast start and a low cross has to be intercepted by a collapsing Handanovic.
4' Carvajal does a beautiful skill move to create space but the resulting cross finds nobody.
7' GOALLLLL Ducky gets an early corner and Zaha puts it away! Vardy's delivery is sublime and Zaha simply has to jump to put his team up early on. The fans are already signing goodbye!
10' An Ibrahimovic pass drifts out of play as the Swedish striker seems to strangely recoil in this bright spotlight. How will his team respond?
18' Ricardo Pereira is bossing his side of the field as coutinho's attempts are stifled.
21' Coutinho is forced to run horizontally but his creativity, which leads to a corner, is ultimately wasted by his teammates.
25' Rashford's creativity on the flank comes to nothing as the defender steps in cleanly.
29' Coutinho chests down a cross but Alisson deals with it well. The ball comes back to the Brazilian keeper and his countryman, David Neres, ultimately intercepts, leaving the Liverpool shotstopper lucky to remain unscathed.
33' Some creative link-up in the final third leaves Ducky fans on the edge of their seats but Schopem seems to retain a well-structured backline.
38' All of Schopem's possession seems to be in his own half as his players aren't making the scintillating runs they ought to.
45' GOALLLLLL Rodriguez puts in a header of his own after Ibrahimovic puts in a perfect ball. The lion steps up and ties the game as the Colombian simply has to slot the beautiful delivery home.
HT Schopem 1 - Ducky 1
46' Rashford runs down the wing after leaving the opposing wingback in his trail, but no supportive runs meet him as he languishes with the ball at his feet.
49' A quick free kick is taken by Schopem's men but they quickly lose possession once more.
54' Rashford's shot for Ducky is opposed brilliantly by the defender and Sterling recollects to send it soaring over the crossbar.
59' Ozil comes in for Ducky goalscorer Zaha while Schopem's Neres is once again replaced by Lozano. If precedent serves, De Jong should be coming on soon.
60' James' ball across the six is met by Gana and sent flying out of the zone as the Senegalese midfielder proves his defensive worth.
62' Like clockwork, De Jong comes in for Khedira.
64' GOALLLLLLLL What a comeback!!! Schopem's Coutinho takes a ball chested down by a nearby defender and dances laterally before sliding it home. The Barcelona man breaks free of his recent form to set a brilliant comeback in motion!
65' Ndidi is almost able to respond! his header off of a corner forces a goalline clearance as Schopem's men barely hang on to their hard-earned lead.
69' Ducky's Gueye, who has been excellent to be fair, gives way to Matic while Schopem's Paulinho, the man who buried Cbolson, comes off for Daniel De Rossi. Both substitutes look devastated to be taken out of such an important match.
71' A Ricardo Pereira cross is just too tall for Rashford who has been creative on his flank as Ducky's XI still have some energy left in their hard-worn legs.
76' Toby Alderweireld steps in to cut off a Rodriguez ball intended for Ibrahimovic which may prove pivotal as the fixture draws to a close.
79' For Ducky, Firmino comes in for Vardy. Perhaps the Brazilian who found success from Brazil's bench at the World Cup will bring some similar fortune to his losing side.
84' Perhaps Ducky's men do not realize the gravity of the situation as, while losing, they continue to pass the ball around their backline.
87' Tension in the stadium mounts as the sound build beautifully.
89' GOALLLLLLLL OH HE CAN HIT ONE Bobby Firmino ties the game at 2 in the dying minutes of the match as Telles, last game's man of the match, coughs up the ball in the worst of positions and puts his team's trophy lift in jeopardy!
END OF REGULATION: We are headed to extra time!!
92' Ibra looks frazzled and betrays his aged legs by sprinting from the get go in an attempt to spur on his team...ultimately his efforts force Alisson to collect a high, looping cross.
97' GOALLLLLLLL Hriving Lozano puts Schopem back in the lead as Coutinho's cross is met by the young Mexican International whose goal rivals his strike against Germany in the World Cup!
103' Ricardo Pereira is on his last legs but he completes fake shot after fake shot to try to clear any possible space.
HT Schopem 3 - Ducky 2
106' If its going to be anyone for Ducky it must be Rashford who looks hungry as ever in these dying minutes.
109' Ibra is all too happy to waste time as his side close in on a very important trophy.
112' After a long ball is sent to Rashford, he is caught just barely offside.
114' A cross intended for Ozil is dealt with easily by Handanovic as Ducky almost come back.
117' Again Ducky's men look too complacent with the ball at their feet surely good fortune can't aid them once more.
FT Schopem 3 - Ducky 2 (MOTM Firmino)
SCHOPEM WINS!!!!! Golden Boot shared three ways by Lozano, Fekir, and Zaha each with 2. Coutinho and Ibra tie for most assists also with 2. 2 goalkeeps managed to post 2 cleansheets namely being Alisson and Handanovic
submitted by colsonian to EASportsFC [link] [comments]
u/DuckyDios : Vardy, Rashford, Sterling, Zaha, Gueye, Ndidi, Robertson, Bailly, Alderweireld, R. Pereira, Alisson, Pickford, David Luiz, Mendy, Matic, Ozil, Felipe Anderson, Firmino
u/Lord_Mersgoth : Son, Kane, Callejon, Danny Rose, Fred, Herrera, Allan, Stones, Miranda, Joao Cancelo, Leno, Valencia, Fernandinho, Hamsik, Laporte, Giroud, Gnabry
u/Schopem : Coutinho, Ibra, Neres, Paulinho, Rodriguez, Khedira, Telles, Pepe, Handanovic, Kompany, Carvajal, Lozano, RVP, F. De Jong, De Rossi, Howedes, Mustafi, Fahrmann
u/Dodgebah Inaki Williams, Douglas Costa, Lucas, Pjanic, Ben Yedder, Doucoure, Jordi Alba, Tah, Sanchez, Hector Bellerin, Courtois, Phillip, Musa, (Witsel taken so Delaney), Cuadrado, Kolasinac, Victor Ruiz, (no goalie selected so ill give him Karius for the meme)
u/babyjman : Promes, Mertens, Di Maria, Dembele, Witsel, Kolarov, Vertonghen, Marquinhos, T. Silva, D. Alves, Neuer, (Pickford taken so Mignolet), Akanji, Werner, Mkhitaryan, Ndombele, Aduriz, Lala
u/Biscuits2015 : Depay, Reus, Fabinho, Goretzka, Kondogbia, Willian, Alaba, Kimpembe, Skriniar, Walker, Oblak, Draxler, Jesus, Perisic
u/cbolson14 Immobile, Sane, Mahrez, Nainggolan, Fekir, Milinkovic-Savic, Dalbert, Barzagli, Manolas, Florenzi, Ederson, Patricio, Trent AA, Glik, D. Pereira, Tolisso, lamela, Rodrigo
ME (Cant win prize) : A. Sanchez, Higuain, Iago Aspas, Iniesta, Thiago, Saul, Grimaldo, Benatia, Koulibaly, M. Fernandes, Szcesny, Shaqiri, Arnautovic, Almiron, Keita, Parolo, Bartra, Aurier
https://challonge.com/tournaments/bracket_generator?ref=luqSbdco0O
u/Biscuits2015 VS u/DuckyDios :
5' Kyle walker twists his knee for Biscuits but looks set to carry on.
10' Zaha takes the ball out wide for Ducky but his cross just sails over the striker. Ndidi recollects but fires it over the crossbar.
15' Fabinho receives the ball from Goretzka as Biscuits attack the net. The Brazilian's strides are overpowered by the defender.
30' Kondogbia receives the ball in the middle of the park as Biscuits work the ball toward the frame, collecting the ball for a throw-in that ultimately leads to nothing.
38' Depay fouls Alisson as the French striker dives in for a header
45' Reus puts the ball into Alissons arms as the half draws to a close
55' Perisic's cross finds nobody as Biscuits dominate the play with nothing to show for it.
60' Right after Vardy gives way for Firmino a brutal Oblak error gifts Wilfried Zaha a goal
62' Kondogbia hits the POST. Ozil comes on for Zaha.
67' Two subs as Matic comes on for Biscuits and Draxler comes on for Ducky.
72' Possession currently 50/50.
74' Jesus on for Depay
86' Fabinho off for Locadia as Biscuits transition to all out attack.
FT: Ducky 1 - Biscuits 0 Thanks for playing Biscuits
u/babyjman vs ME:
7' Baby controls possession in my final third as pressure mounts.
14' Alexis Sanchez sends a ball in from outside the box forcing Neuer to put the ball out wide. Koulibaly sends the ball over the bar from the corner.
21' Promes nutmegs aurier in the corner before sending a cross to nobody for baby.
26' For baby, Di Maria's header sails into the hands of Szcesny as the polish shotstopper makes an easy save.
40' It has been a midfield game as both teams struggle to penetrating their opponent's backline.
46' Alexis Sanchez fins his way into the box for me but gets tripped up as the attack leads to nothing.
HT Baby possession: 67%
50' Vertonghen slides in to save his keeper from the threat of a Higuain breakaway! What composure!
The fans are absolutely buzzing as tension mounts in the stadium. Witsel comes off for Ndombele and Iago makes way for BIG SHAQ.
65' Shaqiri puts the ball out of play after too much dribbling. Iniesta comes off for Keita as the playmaker playing in Japan is looking lathargic and the shadow of his former self.
78' Baby in and around my box once more but no breakthrough in sight.
81' Mertens' shot forced wide by the Polish goalkeeper.
84' Sczesny's miserable attempt at a corner clearance results in a Promes goal! Baby finds a way through and my shambolic defending forces me to pay the price. It was an inevitability that the stadium was waiting for as the crowd explodes!
88' Dembele gives away the ball far too carelessly but Parolo can't capitalize for my lads.
FT Baby 1 - Me 0
IT RESUMES!!!!!!!
u/Schopem VS u/Dodgebah
1' Dodgebah kicks off as the fans roar in unison with the opening whistle.
5' James does well for Schopem as the Colombian international dribbles through the defense.
7' Davinson sanchez makes a goalline clearance for Dodgebah after a cheeky backheel attempt! groans resound around the groud as fans want a deft finish.
13' Schopem's Zlatan does well to nutmeg his marker and draws a penalty! Coutinho fires his shot against the left woodwork and Courtois does well to recover! Somehow 0-0 despite Schopem's utter dominance.
22' Zlatan draws a free-kick and takes it quickly and he and James link up nicely and almost penetrate the backline. These two are looking on fire tonight!
32' Inaki has Dodgebah's first real chance of the night! Some clever link-up play leaves the spanish forward alone with the keeper on his right side, but the shot fizzes across the wrong side of the post.
37' Dodgebah's wing backs are getting burned as Zlatan repeatedly singles them out for attacking movements before looping dangerous balls across the keeper's area.
38' James has a ball played to him as he loses balance...he manages to get a head to it but Courtois deals with it easily.
HT Schopem 4 shots - Dodgebah 1 shot
47' Douglas Costa makes a run at Carvajal that is dealt with deftly by the Spaniard who is making remarkable strides.
50' Jonathan Tan loops in a half-field free-kick for Dodgebah before Lucas makes way for Cuadrado.
56' James looks nothing like he did in the first half as he looks uncomfortable on the ball. Schopem seem to be struggling as Lozano takes Neres' place on the right side.
60' Delaney on for Doucoure for Dodgebah before a corner that is ultimately overhit and put out of play by Jonathan Tah.
64' For Schopem, Khedira makes way for young Frenkie de Jong who soon may be taking his talents to PSG.
72' De Jong seemed all but cornered in his own third as Douglas Costa ran at him but he's done well to side-step the Brazilian winger and move the ball up-field safely.
80' Cuadrado misses a header that he should've put away as RVP comes on from the lion Zlatan as the game begins to open up in the midfield.
89' GOALLLLLLLLLL Robin Van Persie puts away a beautiful Coutinho cross after De Jong had moved the ball brilliantly toward the opposition's goal. The old striker has seemingly peeled back the years and put the game away.
FT: Schopem 1 - Dodgebah 0 (Pepe Motm)
u/cbolson14 vs u/Lord_Mersgoth
6' Cbolson is controlling possession and doing well to close down opponents when they lose the ball.
10' Callejon does well for Mersgoth but is ultimately caught dribbling to much as the ball is stripped from his feet.
14' Mahrez gets space on the flank but his cross is ultimately covered by Mersgoth's keeper
21' GOALLLLLLLLLL Fekir somehow wins a header from a ball whipped in by Sane as Cbolson's XI go ahead early. The keeper cam out to contest the ball but Fekir's done well to meet it first.
22' Manolas clears a ball in the box that leads to a corner for Mersgoth that leads to nothing.
27' Barzagli is following Callejon like a man possessed as the spanish winger is given no breathing room at all.
35' Sergej loses the ball at the edge of his own area but Callejon's shot is weak enough to be cleared well by Cbolson's defense. The pressure seems to be shifting as the goalscorers are relying on the likes of Barzagli to preserve the advantage.
40' Callejon receives the ball from Allan who's done well but pings it off the foot of Dalbert to lose possession.
45' Son has swapped with Callejon and looks to be a much more imposing presence on the flank...hopefull he reverts back for the second to control the build-up play for Mersgoth!
HT Possession 51% Cbolson14 vs 49% Lord_Mersgoth
49' Nainggolan plays a dangerous ball in over the top but it is ultimately brought down and dealt with by Danny Rose.
52' Narrow miss as Son bends one right around the far post! Fred makes way for Marek Hamsik.
58' Barzagli makes a desperate clearance as pressure mounts. Tolisso comes on for Sergej.
60' Back to back corners for Mersgoth lead to nothing as they are knocking on the door.
63' Callejon looks much improved as his strike headed into the top corner is narrowly turned aside to preserve the lead for Cbolson14
68' Mahrez, against the run of play, gets a shot and does poorly to miss the net. The manager is left speechless as he kicks a water bottle and brings on Lamela for the Algerian International.
76' Sane runs the ball dangerously across his own box! A very bold move from the winger as the ball is slowly shuffled out of Cbolson's half.
81' GOALLLLLLL Ciro Immobile's ball is met by the foot of Nabil Fekir. The man who should've moved to Liverpool this summer proves once again why he is worth big bucks.
84' Joao cancelo leaves for Gnabry and Immobilie, after a beautiful assist, makes way for Valencia striker Rodrigo.
92' Florenzi barely gets a head to defend a dangerous ball as the game dwindles to a close.
FT Cbolson 2 - Mersgoth 0 (Motm Fekir)
SEMI FINALS
u/DuckyDios vs u/babyjman
The players come out of the tunnel with determination in their eyes as the meaning of the night is palpable. Both sides will desperately want to advance to the final for their shot at $15 and uneneding glory.
2' Dembele does well for Baby but ultimately loses possession in the middle of the park.
5' Neuer does well to intercept a cross from Ducky and distributes well as Baby's men work the ball meticulously up the field.
9' Promes fouls Pereira on the right side but the free kick leads to nothing as Mertens picks up the ball and tries to spearhead a counter that never comes to fruition.
12' Gana misses by inches as all of the attacking chances have gone Ducky's way. Luckily for baby Neuer's presence seems enough to keep the looping balls at bay.
15' Zaha fouls Thiago Silva but the freekick leads to nothing.
19' Dani Alves intercepts a terrible pass from Gueye and Baby's men again control the ball in their own half.
23' Mertens gets a threatening ball in from Witsel but is inches offsides.
25' Di Maria cuts inside beautifully and plays a ball to Quincy Promes who gets boxed out as the ball trickles out of the penalty area.
29' GOALLLL Vertonghen chests down the cross dreadfully as Ndidi pokes the ball out from under him and into the top corner to give Ducky a lead 1-0.
30' Zaha passes to Idrissa Gana Gueye but a sprawling Neuer puts the ball out for a corner that leads to nothing.
38' YELLOW Jamie Vardy makes a rash challenge that sees him booked.
45' Dembele almost pulls one back for Baby as his finesse curls just around the post! This game is so close!
HT Ducky 1 - Baby 0
50' Rashford is caught dribbling in the corner and Baby's men remove him from the ball. Ndidi then receives a cross that Neuer deals with well.
53' Witsel makes way for Ndombele who comes on for the second time in two games.
58' Ndombele recovers the ball after Dembele seemingly had a seizure but the attack stutters to a halt and the ball is recollected for Ducky's lads.
63' Ndombele backheels a pass to Promes who can seem to get a good handle on the pass and loses possession.
64' Vardy comes off for Firmino while Matic enters for Ndidi. For Baby, Mkhi comes on for a tired Moussa Dembele.
66' Rashford brings about some ooohs and aaahs from the stands as he dances around defenders with a few stepovers but his efforts lead to nothing as he runs himself into a corner.
71' Nothing to split the teams in terms of possession, yet Ducky's team seem to rush the ball down the field while Baby's too often pass around the back.
78' Baby's men look a bit more positive in possession as they try to stretch the opposition with lateral passes but the defense is willing to spread all the way across the field to defend their narrow margin of victory.
80' Zaha wastes time as he slowly walks off for Mesut Ozil. His fans cheer loudly while the opposition's faithful greet him with jeers and half filled soda cans.
85' Baby's men look almost defeated. Have they got a suprise attack left in their weary legs?
88' Baby's Mkhitaryan gets bullied off the ball by Nemanja Matic as one of the last attacks of the game is stifled by the giant serbian.
FT Ducky 1 - Baby 0
Baby we will miss you as your support was brilliant and your team played with heart. If we ever do this contest again you will surely be invited and we hope to see you soon. Happy holidays.
u/cbolson14 vs u/Schopem
3' Ederson collects for Cbolson as Schopem's men push their opposition back with real intensity.
6' Carvajal receives a cross and takes the ball down beautifully before a sliding Ederson saves Cbolson's team from an early deficit.
11' Schopem's XI work the ball deftly around the box as Ibra gets his first touch of the night
16' Schopem's men win a corner that leads to nothing.
17' GOALLLL The ball is worked beautifully before Telles whips in a ball to Paulinho who puts Schopem up 1-0!
23' Mahrez neglects a potential through ball and dribbles into the opposition as momentum still seems in Schopem's favor.
28' Fekir loses the ball at the top of Schopem's box as pressure begins to swing in Cbolson's favor!
32' The characteristic high volume of crosses coming from Schopem's men is, save for the goal, dealt with by Ederson.
38' Schopem clearly have a dominant aerial presence as even Coutinho finds himself as the recipient for long over-the-top balls.
45' The game is definitely tipping towards Cbolson's men, yet their passing in the final third has been absolutely dreadful.
HT Schopem 1 - Cbolson 0
50' The golden boot leader, Fekir, neglects a shot opportunity and lays the ball off before the attack slowly dies away.
55' David Neres does well to take ball of Dalbert but ultimately possession is lost in the middle of the park as two sets of strong midfielders begin to shape the fixture.
59' Neres makes his way for Lozano and Khedira leaves for De Jong as two youngsters once again enter for Schopem's benefit.
65' Fans scream for a penalty as Mahrez collapses under the weight of Nainggolan's cross the ball is all in Schopem's end now and an opposition goal seems more than plausible.
71' Milinkovic gets a yellow before being taken out for Tolisso. He has conceded a dangerous free kick and has played poorly throughout. De Rossi also comes in for goalscorer Paulinho who receives a standing ovation.
72' Ederson easily snags the freekick out of the air and plays the ball to try to start a counter.
77' GOALLLLL After an absolutely horrendous attempt at a clearance by Leroy Sane, Lozano slots the ball home against the run of play to surely put Schopem into the finals for a whopping 15$
80' Cbolson's men look utterly defeated as they stride across the pitch with their heads down.
84' Rodrigo comes on for Immobile.
87' A corner where Ederson comes up is put right to the hands of Handanovic but he does nothing with his possession.
FT Schopem 2 - Cbolson 0 (MOTM Alex Telles)
"""""" FINALS """""""
u/Schopem v u/DuckyDios
You can see what it means to the players as there are some nerves as they exit the tunnel. Ibra looks calm as you like...hopefully he can bring his team glory.
1' Ducky gets a fast start and a low cross has to be intercepted by a collapsing Handanovic.
4' Carvajal does a beautiful skill move to create space but the resulting cross finds nobody.
7' GOALLLLL Ducky gets an early corner and Zaha puts it away! Vardy's delivery is sublime and Zaha simply has to jump to put his team up early on. The fans are already signing goodbye!
10' An Ibrahimovic pass drifts out of play as the Swedish striker seems to strangely recoil in this bright spotlight. How will his team respond?
18' Ricardo Pereira is bossing his side of the field as coutinho's attempts are stifled.
21' Coutinho is forced to run horizontally but his creativity, which leads to a corner, is ultimately wasted by his teammates.
25' Rashford's creativity on the flank comes to nothing as the defender steps in cleanly.
29' Coutinho chests down a cross but Alisson deals with it well. The ball comes back to the Brazilian keeper and his countryman, David Neres, ultimately intercepts, leaving the Liverpool shotstopper lucky to remain unscathed.
33' Some creative link-up in the final third leaves Ducky fans on the edge of their seats but Schopem seems to retain a well-structured backline.
38' All of Schopem's possession seems to be in his own half as his players aren't making the scintillating runs they ought to.
45' GOALLLLLL Rodriguez puts in a header of his own after Ibrahimovic puts in a perfect ball. The lion steps up and ties the game as the Colombian simply has to slot the beautiful delivery home.
HT Schopem 1 - Ducky 1
46' Rashford runs down the wing after leaving the opposing wingback in his trail, but no supportive runs meet him as he languishes with the ball at his feet.
49' A quick free kick is taken by Schopem's men but they quickly lose possession once more.
54' Rashford's shot for Ducky is opposed brilliantly by the defender and Sterling recollects to send it soaring over the crossbar.
59' Ozil comes in for Ducky goalscorer Zaha while Schopem's Neres is once again replaced by Lozano. If precedent serves, De Jong should be coming on soon.
60' James' ball across the six is met by Gana and sent flying out of the zone as the Senegalese midfielder proves his defensive worth.
62' Like clockwork, De Jong comes in for Khedira.
64' GOALLLLLLLL What a comeback!!! Schopem's Coutinho takes a ball chested down by a nearby defender and dances laterally before sliding it home. The Barcelona man breaks free of his recent form to set a brilliant comeback in motion!
65' Ndidi is almost able to respond! his header off of a corner forces a goalline clearance as Schopem's men barely hang on to their hard-earned lead.
69' Ducky's Gueye, who has been excellent to be fair, gives way to Matic while Schopem's Paulinho, the man who buried Cbolson, comes off for Daniel De Rossi. Both substitutes look devastated to be taken out of such an important match.
71' A Ricardo Pereira cross is just too tall for Rashford who has been creative on his flank as Ducky's XI still have some energy left in their hard-worn legs.
76' Toby Alderweireld steps in to cut off a Rodriguez ball intended for Ibrahimovic which may prove pivotal as the fixture draws to a close.
79' For Ducky, Firmino comes in for Vardy. Perhaps the Brazilian who found success from Brazil's bench at the World Cup will bring some similar fortune to his losing side.
84' Perhaps Ducky's men do not realize the gravity of the situation as, while losing, they continue to pass the ball around their backline.
87' Tension in the stadium mounts as the sound build beautifully.
89' GOALLLLLLLL OH HE CAN HIT ONE Bobby Firmino ties the game at 2 in the dying minutes of the match as Telles, last game's man of the match, coughs up the ball in the worst of positions and puts his team's trophy lift in jeopardy!
END OF REGULATION: We are headed to extra time!!
92' Ibra looks frazzled and betrays his aged legs by sprinting from the get go in an attempt to spur on his team...ultimately his efforts force Alisson to collect a high, looping cross.
97' GOALLLLLLLL Hriving Lozano puts Schopem back in the lead as Coutinho's cross is met by the young Mexican International whose goal rivals his strike against Germany in the World Cup!
103' Ricardo Pereira is on his last legs but he completes fake shot after fake shot to try to clear any possible space.
HT Schopem 3 - Ducky 2
106' If its going to be anyone for Ducky it must be Rashford who looks hungry as ever in these dying minutes.
109' Ibra is all too happy to waste time as his side close in on a very important trophy.
112' After a long ball is sent to Rashford, he is caught just barely offside.
114' A cross intended for Ozil is dealt with easily by Handanovic as Ducky almost come back.
117' Again Ducky's men look too complacent with the ball at their feet surely good fortune can't aid them once more.
FT Schopem 3 - Ducky 2 (MOTM Firmino)
SCHOPEM WINS!!!!! Golden Boot shared three ways by Lozano, Fekir, and Zaha each with 2. Coutinho and Ibra tie for most assists also with 2. 2 goalkeeps managed to post 2 cleansheets namely being Alisson and Handanovic
2018.11.13 00:40 garethvk Battlefield V Review
I got an early copy for review purposes and it was better than I expected it to be. I did not see any of the content that caused an issue with the reveal trailer such as the Female Resistance fighter with a prosthetic arm. There is a lot of other content coming as much of the menu listed stuff due to be released soon. My review is below and I used what E.A. sent us for the map and online mode descriptions.
The latest chapter in the long-running Battlefield series has arrived with the release of Battlefield V. The game looks to follow up the success of Battlefield 1 with a World War 2 based game that puts players directly into the action with large and highly-detailed maps.
The solo portion of the game has players battle in some diverse locales and focuses on situations form history where the participants were not well known and did not receive much glory or attention for their deeds.
After the introduction, players have the following options as described by E.A.
Nordlys
This story involves a young resistance fighter who carries a weight greater than her weapons and ammo. Her story centers on not only her fight for her country’s liberation from occupying forces but her family’s survival.
Under No Flag
Tasked with blowing up German air bases in the scorching North African desert, a young British criminal with poor judgment causes mayhem – but learns valuable lessons.
Tirailleur
It’s high-intensity all-out infantry warfare, where Senegalese units of the French Colonial Forces fight to liberate the French “homeland” that they’ve never even seen before.
The stories were very enjoyable and thought provoking though I did get a few bugs while playing like a cut-scene lock up and some clipping issues where enemy characters were lodged in walls. Thankfully issues like this were few and I was able to complete the missions as they were engrossing and kept me riveted throughout.
I especially liked the Nordlys mission where I was able to don Skis and made my way around the frozen landscapes to complete my mission.
The missions were a mix of stealth, surviving waves of enemies, and capturing objectives which is what you would expect for a game of this type. The game does allow players to have a more diverse approach to completing missions as you can use vehicles and other objects found in the game to be creative. I was able to “borrow” a plane in Under No Flag to strafe the enemy locales. When my piloting skills were not up to snuff and I crashed in a lake; I redid the mission from a direct assault approach and things went much better for me.
The game uses a regenerative health system so should you take too much damage, simply take cover until you heal up and battle on. There is also an option to heal from time to time when battling online. Players will be able to pick up new weapons and ammunition off fallen enemies as well as at various points throughout the game.
Visually the game is very appealing from the open desert to the raging blizzard in the campaigns; there is plenty of eye candy to enjoy along with the action.
The online modes were very enjoyable as there were a variety of modes for players to enjoy.
There are eight maps which cover four geographic areas and E.A. lists the online modes as follows…
Conquest
You and your squad must fight point-to-point in 64-player Conquest mode, working to gain control of key locations on a massive multiplayer map.
Conquest Assault
Every inch of ground becomes precious as a line of capture points focuses the battle into all-out firefights in Conquest Assault mode, reworked and improved from Battlefield 1. In a twist on Conquest, using a classic majority rule set, your strategic choices are brought to the forefront as attacking and defending forces are drawn to a single objective at a time.
Frontlines
A mix of Conquest, Rush, and Battlefield™ 4’s Obliteration mode. Frontlines pits teams in a fight for chained control points in a tug-of-war. Both teams fight for one flag at a time, and once this objective is captured, the action moves on to the next. Conquering the last flag opens the enemy base, and then certain objectives suddenly become vulnerable to planted explosives– a new addition in Frontlines for Battlefield V.
Domination
A scaled-down version of Conquest, this packs in just as much infantry-focused action. Two teams battle over ownership of multiple objectives. Owning at least half of these flags will cause the enemy team to start losing respawns. Control more than half, and your enemy team will bleed respawns even faster.
Team Deathmatch
This is Battlefield pure and simple. Work closely with your squad to dispatch the most enemies of the two infantry teams and victory is yours. Use the new Fortifications to change the face of the battle.
Airborne
Spearhead a Grand Operation by replicating the feats of WW2 airborne soldiers. Brave a storm of fire and steel as you parachute down and mount an offensive. Each team gets a set number of tickets that represent a player’s respawn, where each death drains the total number of tickets until there is a winner.
Breakthrough
One side will push to seize all control points in a sector, and to force the enemy to retreat. Each engagement in Breakthrough is a frantic fight to capture sectors as an attacker and, for the defense, on-the-fly planning to keep the opposition at bay.
Final Stand
A nail-biting, tie-breaking mode, Final Stand appears depending on how well your team performed in the first three days of a Grand Operation. If the two factions are evenly-matched after days of fighting, you’ll find yourself armed with depleted ammo and no respawns, in this mode to determine the winner.
The multiplay was good and what impressed me was how fair the hit detection was. You did not have to empty an entire clip into an enemy to take them down nor did glancing shots also produce a fatal result. The maps were large and highly detailed which allowed players to try a mixture of gameplay styles to best suit their needs.
It should be noted that additional content for the game will be coming as the menus made mention of solo missions and other features that were listed as “coming soon” and we know that the Battle Royale mode for the game is not due until 2019 as an example.
It should also be noted that I did not see the Female fighter with the prosthetic arm that was featured in the announcement trailers for the game and caused division amongst fans upon the reveal for the game. If she was edited out, planned for a later date, or simply included for demonstration purposes remains to be seen. What is clear is that although fans may expect more content and be disappointed in having to wait for parts of the game to release at a later date, the game is enjoyable for fans of the series and after my experiences with the Beta; even better than expected. I look forward to seeing what the game will look like in the future once the coming updates and patches are applied, but for now; Battlefield V is a solid WW2 game with solid visuals and sound and is a worthy entry into the series.
4 stars out of 5
E.A. provided us with PC version of the game prior to release in order to do this review.
submitted by garethvk to pcgaming [link] [comments]
The latest chapter in the long-running Battlefield series has arrived with the release of Battlefield V. The game looks to follow up the success of Battlefield 1 with a World War 2 based game that puts players directly into the action with large and highly-detailed maps.
The solo portion of the game has players battle in some diverse locales and focuses on situations form history where the participants were not well known and did not receive much glory or attention for their deeds.
After the introduction, players have the following options as described by E.A.
Nordlys
This story involves a young resistance fighter who carries a weight greater than her weapons and ammo. Her story centers on not only her fight for her country’s liberation from occupying forces but her family’s survival.
Under No Flag
Tasked with blowing up German air bases in the scorching North African desert, a young British criminal with poor judgment causes mayhem – but learns valuable lessons.
Tirailleur
It’s high-intensity all-out infantry warfare, where Senegalese units of the French Colonial Forces fight to liberate the French “homeland” that they’ve never even seen before.
The stories were very enjoyable and thought provoking though I did get a few bugs while playing like a cut-scene lock up and some clipping issues where enemy characters were lodged in walls. Thankfully issues like this were few and I was able to complete the missions as they were engrossing and kept me riveted throughout.
I especially liked the Nordlys mission where I was able to don Skis and made my way around the frozen landscapes to complete my mission.
The missions were a mix of stealth, surviving waves of enemies, and capturing objectives which is what you would expect for a game of this type. The game does allow players to have a more diverse approach to completing missions as you can use vehicles and other objects found in the game to be creative. I was able to “borrow” a plane in Under No Flag to strafe the enemy locales. When my piloting skills were not up to snuff and I crashed in a lake; I redid the mission from a direct assault approach and things went much better for me.
The game uses a regenerative health system so should you take too much damage, simply take cover until you heal up and battle on. There is also an option to heal from time to time when battling online. Players will be able to pick up new weapons and ammunition off fallen enemies as well as at various points throughout the game.
Visually the game is very appealing from the open desert to the raging blizzard in the campaigns; there is plenty of eye candy to enjoy along with the action.
The online modes were very enjoyable as there were a variety of modes for players to enjoy.
There are eight maps which cover four geographic areas and E.A. lists the online modes as follows…
Conquest
You and your squad must fight point-to-point in 64-player Conquest mode, working to gain control of key locations on a massive multiplayer map.
Conquest Assault
Every inch of ground becomes precious as a line of capture points focuses the battle into all-out firefights in Conquest Assault mode, reworked and improved from Battlefield 1. In a twist on Conquest, using a classic majority rule set, your strategic choices are brought to the forefront as attacking and defending forces are drawn to a single objective at a time.
Frontlines
A mix of Conquest, Rush, and Battlefield™ 4’s Obliteration mode. Frontlines pits teams in a fight for chained control points in a tug-of-war. Both teams fight for one flag at a time, and once this objective is captured, the action moves on to the next. Conquering the last flag opens the enemy base, and then certain objectives suddenly become vulnerable to planted explosives– a new addition in Frontlines for Battlefield V.
Domination
A scaled-down version of Conquest, this packs in just as much infantry-focused action. Two teams battle over ownership of multiple objectives. Owning at least half of these flags will cause the enemy team to start losing respawns. Control more than half, and your enemy team will bleed respawns even faster.
Team Deathmatch
This is Battlefield pure and simple. Work closely with your squad to dispatch the most enemies of the two infantry teams and victory is yours. Use the new Fortifications to change the face of the battle.
Airborne
Spearhead a Grand Operation by replicating the feats of WW2 airborne soldiers. Brave a storm of fire and steel as you parachute down and mount an offensive. Each team gets a set number of tickets that represent a player’s respawn, where each death drains the total number of tickets until there is a winner.
Breakthrough
One side will push to seize all control points in a sector, and to force the enemy to retreat. Each engagement in Breakthrough is a frantic fight to capture sectors as an attacker and, for the defense, on-the-fly planning to keep the opposition at bay.
Final Stand
A nail-biting, tie-breaking mode, Final Stand appears depending on how well your team performed in the first three days of a Grand Operation. If the two factions are evenly-matched after days of fighting, you’ll find yourself armed with depleted ammo and no respawns, in this mode to determine the winner.
The multiplay was good and what impressed me was how fair the hit detection was. You did not have to empty an entire clip into an enemy to take them down nor did glancing shots also produce a fatal result. The maps were large and highly detailed which allowed players to try a mixture of gameplay styles to best suit their needs.
It should be noted that additional content for the game will be coming as the menus made mention of solo missions and other features that were listed as “coming soon” and we know that the Battle Royale mode for the game is not due until 2019 as an example.
It should also be noted that I did not see the Female fighter with the prosthetic arm that was featured in the announcement trailers for the game and caused division amongst fans upon the reveal for the game. If she was edited out, planned for a later date, or simply included for demonstration purposes remains to be seen. What is clear is that although fans may expect more content and be disappointed in having to wait for parts of the game to release at a later date, the game is enjoyable for fans of the series and after my experiences with the Beta; even better than expected. I look forward to seeing what the game will look like in the future once the coming updates and patches are applied, but for now; Battlefield V is a solid WW2 game with solid visuals and sound and is a worthy entry into the series.
4 stars out of 5
E.A. provided us with PC version of the game prior to release in order to do this review.