Category Archives: Hedonism

You have to see it to believe it, and you still might not believe it.

By Evan Saathoff May. 25, 2020

RED, WHITE & WASTED begins with its primary subject, Matthew Burns, dumpster diving in the shadow of Disney World with his two daughters, looking for scrap metal he can later sell. One daughter gets hungry when she smells pizza in the trash while Matthew marvels over an unused credit card swiper like he just found a brick of gold. If this were fiction, youd accuse it of being way too on the nose. Instead it is a documentary, telling you right off the top what your next ninety minutes will look like.

There are no good people in the film, but Burns is the easiest to watch. A near-perfect mixture of Geoffrey Lewis and Dana Carvey, Burns sad eyes and soft-spoken demeanor automatically make him the most likable of anyone else we see, despite still being awful. He also centers the films two very vague stories: the eradication of his beloved Florida mud holes and the birth of his first grandkid.

With this mudding stuff, you might think the documentary will offer insight into a subculture filled with nuance and rules people outside of it just dont understand. Documentaries do this all the time. But thats not this film. Directors Andrei Bowden-Schwartz and Sam Jones have no interest in this Florida pastime except as an extreme example of redneck hedonism. From Burns perspective, the act of taking big trucks into muddy swamp areas and getting drunk with friends has fallen downhill since modernity barred him and his friends from doing this stuff on private property. Now young people do it on a much larger scale in sanctioned spots, but the events have supposedly devolved into a sea of white trash sex, drugs and violence. He does not make a strong case that anything of importance was lost or that it wasnt a sea of white trash sex, drugs and violence to begin with. At times he comes very close to realizing this but never quite gets there.

It can be difficult to take the film at face value because the interview subjects speak as though every sentence is dialog in a comedy written by someone who hates them. Mudding is not some cherished pastime but a stupid thing enjoyed by stupid people. The films most frequent topic is not mudding at all but the values of being a redneck and why this or that racist view does not make this or that person racist. We get a lot of guns, a lot of talk about Lord Trump, and a lot of twerking.

I cant speak for the filmmakers, but there doesnt seem to be any search for hidden value amongst the subjects of RED, WHITE & WASTED. We are invited to look in terrified awe at the America represented here, not find ways to relate to fellow human beings. But at ninety minutes, it becomes an exercise in tedium. Person after person self-seriously offering the most perfectly ironic proof of their own idiocy, occasionally cutting to a SPRING BREAKERS-level montage of redneck partying. The ugliness of it all - with no hints of redemption or humanity hiding under all the rebel flag posturing - grows wearisome. The point, made nice and loud in the films opening minutes, never evolves into anything bigger, so youre just stuck stewing in the pessimism until it finally ends. It doesnt strike me as valuable or worthwhile. Youre not learning anything, and its not entertaining. Mostly you go through feelings of disgust and fear, followed by guilt for even watching.

The film concludes with Matthew Burns wearing the Confederate flag andtaping a homemade music video of him singing Hank Williams Jr.s A Country Boy Can Survive. Its impossible not to recall TIGER KING, which seems like a Disney production by comparison. The thing is, TIGER KING had a story. It was filled with wild people who occupied a strange subculture we got to know and upon which the real world eventually intervened (sort of). RED, WHITE & WASTED doesnt have any of this. Its just a worst-case-scenario look at America in its present form, and I feel like I get enough of that on the news already.

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The Chattanooga Film Festival: RED, WHITE & WASTED - The Role Of Florida Will Be Played By Florida - Birth.Movies.Death.

Despite paying 300,000 in insurance per annum, Tatiana Fokina, CEO of Hide restaurant and Hedonism Wines finds her insurer of eight years unwilling to pay out over coronavirus. She tells Imbibe why hospitality businesses like hers shouldnt give up

Do you want to ask questions or shall I just rant? asks Fokina when we speak about her experience claiming insurance following the closure of Mayfair's Hide due to lockdown.

Having paid 300,000 a year in insurance to the same insurer over eight years, and having never had to claim during that time, we never doubted wed be covered, she says.

That certainty has been shaken since she first contacted her insurers, whom she is declining to name for now, on 17 March.

We said, Look its obvious we are going to be closed imminently and feel there will be a claim for business interruption. It took until 24 April to get any kind of response from them. I just find this appalling.

During that time, official advice was changing all the time, things were very uncertain and we were trying to work out what we were going to do, above all else, for our 200 staff bearing in mind the furlough scheme at this point wasnt in place. Could we keep any of them on? What were the resources we had? To be kept in limbo for so long was terrible.

Having chased on several occasions, once the claim had been denied on 24 April, the decision was taken to instruct lawyers to pursue the case.

We all need to have a definitive answer on certain wording in certain policies, she says. The claim for Hide is around a clause concerning the actions of competent authorities, which essentially means the police closing you down due to an incident. The dispute here is whether that incident has to be local or not.

Id far rather be spending money on topping up furlough wages than legal bills.

I think hospitality needs to speak with a unified voice on this and its important to share information as well, so wed be happy to share learnings from our experience and any details. I know theres a larger group of operators who are looking at taking joint action on this. Wed already instructed our lawyers before that all happened so are continuing down this path at the moment, though I dont rule out joining them in the future.

What would really help operators like Fokina, of course, would be for the government to put pressure on insurers to pay out. That would result in less pressure on the furlough scheme and far more job security for thousands of workers, Fokina points out.

For now she is working on the assumption there will be no pay out. As we also have Hedonism Wines, which has been able to continue to operate, we are in a far better position than most others. Without that the future for us would look far more glum but Id far rather be spending money on topping up furlough wages than legal bills.

In any event, Hides policy is up for renewal in a few months and Fokina says she will almost certainly be looking for a new insurer.

It will be very interesting when this is all over, as people will be looking at how insurance companies reacted during this crisis and how they treated their customers. That will be a defining factor in which companies people choose to go with in the future.

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Opinion: We need to unify against insurance companies that won't pay out - Imbibe

So, another theory: the Chunky Dunkys success is due less to its specific design or quantity than its lineage. Nikes last eye-poppingly popular release was the Travis Scott Dunk that peaked at $1,522 on StockX. Scotts shoe was also an SB Dunk designed without restraintthe shoe brazenly mixed plaid and bandana prints. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it shot to the top of every sneakerheads wishlist. Forget the design, thoughwhat might matter most is its designation as a Dunk. Because so far, 2020 has been the year of the Dunk: beyond Scotts and Ben & Jerrys, to name just a few, Nikes released the green-and-yellow Brazils, a collaboration with Comme des Garons, and a pair of collegiate editions that borrow colors from Syracuse and Kentucky. There's been this massive reemergence around the SB Dunk and particularly the SB Dunk Lows, and obviously Travis was a big part of that, says Luber. If it had been reversed, if [the Chunky Dunky] came out before [Scotts] Dunk, then this one probably wouldn't be as big. In other words: the Dunk is being groomed for success, and the Chunky Dunky is the latest and biggest beneficiary of that process.

And the Dunks rise is connected to a broader shift in the kinds of sneakers we love. The reason why the Dunk has always been this canvas for great designs, and is such an iconic shoe, is the same reason the Jordan 1 is: it's just very, very wearable, says Luber. He points out that later Jordan models, and even the Kobes that are very popular among pro basketball players today, look like athletic shoesand basketball shoes now comprise less than 4% of athletic shoe sales, compared to 13% in 2014, according to NPD data. Dunks, on the other hand, have universal appealand their popularity in the early aughts makes them ripe for a comeback. Nike is king at picking winners by selling a story, bringing back a shoe like the Dunk from the graveyard, and catering to a consumer who buys shoes based on pop culture versus athlete recognition, explains influential sneaker reseller Corgishoe.

Im willing to admit that the shoes success may be a mystery only to me, the old man screaming at Ben & Jerrys idyllic blue skies. All those kooky colors, Corgishoe says, are carefully calibrated to work together: Strictly in terms of design, Corgishoe says, the shoe is executed incredibly well. (Still, he notes: As an adult male of a certain age, he adds, I would never consider wearing them.) Luber is a fan, too. In todays crowded social media-driven sneaker era, no shoe travels as far as an instantly recognizable one.

But maybe the appeal of the Chunky Dunky is even simpler. Ive pounded a carton or two of Phish Food in my dayso I guess I should understand that, when it comes Ben & Jerrys, immoderation to the point of hedonism is kind of the whole point.

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What Is a Chunky Dunky, and Why Is It $1600? - GQ

Like language, our emotions are universal and whatever fears and anxieties we are now experiencing, someone else in centuries gone by has felt the same way. Here is an A-Z of archaic and forgotten words that at some point in the past exactly described an elusive sense of peace, calm and delight. So, if you want to know your agathism from your euneirophrenia, read on and draw comfort from these linguistic oddities

Agathism Its hard to be an optimist knowing that there are tough times ahead. But in lieu of optimism, theres always agathism a word coined in 1830 for the belief that all things eventually get better, though the means by which they do is not always easy. It is a word to remind us that though we may be in for hard times, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Bummel Our daily constitutional neednt be an exhausting run around the block. Derived from a German word for strolling, a bummel is nothing more than a relaxing leisurely walk or wander.

Concubium Adopted into English from Latin in the 1600s, the concubium is the soundest, calmest, deepest part of your sleep. That time of night when all men are at rest, as one 17th-century dictionary put it.

Dolorifuge Whatever it is that makes you happy, that is your dolorifuge: this 19th-century term describes anything or anyone that alleviates feelings of pain or sadness.

Euneirophrenia One of the strangest side-effects of our curtailed routines at the moment is that our brains are working overtime while we sleep, so the word euneirophrenia might come in useful. It describes the wholly pleasing feeling you have on waking from an equally pleasant dream.

Focillation Derived from the Latin for nourish, a focillation is a momentary act of comfort or refreshment. Take it as a reminder that it is perfectly fine to take some time out, whenever you need it.

Glee-dream If you find solace in films or music, or find that youre dearly missing the theatre or cinema, the word you are looking for is glee-dream. The modern form of the Old English gleodream, the Oxford English Dictionary defines this as delight of minstrelsy that is, the pleasure that comes from a musical performance or similar entertainment.

Heterocentric How we all should and, thankfully, how a great many of us currently are living our lives: if youre heterocentric then youre more concerned with other people than you are yourself.

Interfulgent A fitting metaphor for the triumph of light in dark times. Derived from the Latin word for shining, something that is interfulgent shines through or between that which would otherwise obscure it as sunshine through clouds or the leaves of trees.

Jamb-friend A jamb is a supporting timber, of course, which makes a jamb-friend an early 19th-century word for a friend with whom you could quite happily sit by a fireside talking and relaxing well into the early hours.

Kaffeeklatsch Borrowed from German in the 1800s, a kaffeeklatsch is a chattering catch-up with friends and family over endless cups of coffee. Its a lot more poetic than the Victorian alternative: according to one contemporary dictionary, scandal-loving women who like to meet over a cup of tea were once known as muffin-wallopers.

Back in the 1600s, laetificate meant to lift someones spirits

Laetificate Its a word not much used since the 1600s, but its one you might need today or might be called on to offer to someone else. Quite simply, to laetificate is to lift someones spirits.

Meliorism George Eliot coined the word meliorism to define her outlook on life, once writing to the psychologist James Sully to explain that: I dont know that I ever heard anybody use the word meliorist except myself. Operating halfway between optimism and realism, meliorism is the belief that the world no matter what shape it may be in can always be improved by the concerted effort of mankind.

Nikhedonia Nike was the Greek goddess of victory. Hedone (as in hedonism) was a Greek word for pleasure. Put those two together and you have nikhedonia a term from psychology for the inspiring, adrenalin-raising excitement of anticipating a future success.

Omnibenevolence Just as an omnipotent person has power over everything, an omnibenevolent person exhibits kindness to everything and everyone. That endless, all-encompassing compassion is omnibenevolence.

Peeled-egg Were all guilty of worrying that the worst could suddenly befall us, but rarely imagine that something just as unexpectedly wonderful could take place. JRR Tolkien coined the word eucatastrophe to describe an unforeseen event of sheer good fortune, but the Scots beat him to it. First recorded in Scottish proverbs dating from the 1800s, a peeled-egg is: A stroke of good fortune which one has not had to strive for. It was once a popular name given to farms established on land with unanticipated natural advantages.

Queem Something described as queem is perfectly calm or serene or by extension, perfectly smooth and level. Queemness, likewise, can be used to describe perfect serenity, or perfect smoothness and levelness, while two things that work queemly with one another are either perfectly harmonious, or, like two parts of a joint, snug and well adapted to one another.

Adopted from French, retrouvailles literally means 'refinding'

Retrouvailles Adopted from French, retrouvailles literally means refinding but its more usually understood as the French equivalent of what we might call a reunion or homecoming. Recently the word came to be used more imaginatively to describe the utter happiness or joy sparked by reuniting or catching up with someone you havent seen in a long time. A word well worth recalling in the months ahead.

Supernaculum It might be a fine glass of wine or whisky or nothing more than a perfectly brewed and timed cup of tea. A supernaculum is a drink so appreciated that it is savoured to its very last drop.

Traumatropism A tree partly felled by gales or lightning can often continue growing albeit in some ever more unwieldy or implausible shape. That undeterred response to earlier damage is an example of a phenomenon called traumatropism. Taken literally, it reminds us that nature is stronger and more resilient than we could ever imagine; metaphorically, it tells us that harsh setbacks need not end our progress.

Unsoulclogged Its not the most handsome of words, but were all striving to be unsoulclogged. It is total contentment, peace of mind, and freedom from sadness and dejection or, as one 1881 dictionary defined it, the state of not being weighed down in spirit.

Villeggiatura When youre tired of the city or your usual routine, its time for a villeggiatura. Adopted into English from Italian in the 18th century, a villeggiatura is a restorative trip or holiday to the countryside, taken to lift the spirits and unwind the mind.

Worldcraft Ageing is hardly the most welcome of lifes certainties. But for every word to remind us of its drawbacks (to be eildencumbered is to be held back by age), there is one for its seldom considered positives. Worldcraft is an 18th-century word for the unmatched cumulative wisdom of an aged person whose long life has given them unique and much venerated insight far beyond anything a younger, less experienced person could ever imagine.

Xenodochy Hospitality offered to strangers. The prefix xeno comes from the Greek word for strange or foreign, but we only tend to encounter it today in xenophobia. Now seems an apt time to highlight one of its overlooked opposites.

Yahrsider We are all looking out for our yahrsiders at the moment. A dialect term from the 18th century, a yahrsider is someone from the same family or town as you, or who shares the same community spirit.

Zenobia A courageous and effective third-century queen of Palmyra, Zenobia expanded her kingdom into the almighty Palmyrene Empire, stretching from Ankara to Aswan. Her name has been adopted as a term for a powerful, unstoppably determined woman.

The Cabinet of Calm: Soothing Words for Troubled Times by Paul Anthony Jones (Elliott & Thompson, 12.99) is out now

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An A to Z of old words to calm and inspire hope - The Guardian

In the run-up to Chinas 13th National Peoples Congress (NPC) on May 22, the chairman of its Standing Committee, Li Zhanshu, said how important it was that the session was being held in themiddle of the global coronavirus pandemic. Li remarked the session was being held at a time when overseas COVID-19 epidemic situations remain grim and complex, while in China major strategic achievements have been made.

Such differentiation between China and the rest of the world is likely to become more prominent in Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rhetoric as the nations success is attributed to its socialist political system. The English version of the Peoples Daily commentedin its coverage of the NPCthat foreigners will be looking to Chinas socialist system for enlightenment and guidance as they emerge from the shadow of the pandemic.

The CCP is now proclaiming its success over COVID-19 as a victory for President Xi Jinpings brand of Marxism.

Early in thewaragainst coronavirus, it was predicted that the CCP would be one of the most high-profile casualties. But rumours of the CCPs demise were premature. As China deployed an increasingly vast and sophisticated surveillance system, the pandemic hasaccelerated the partys authority and control, not caused it to crumble.

While many countries declared war on COVID-19, China stressed it was a Peoples War. Such an analogy recalls the rhetoric of Mao Zedong, who called for aPeoples Warto liberate China from the Imperial Japanese in 1938.

By talking about the pandemic in the same language, Xi identified the magnitude of the threat posed by COVID-19. But he also signified that the war would be waged according to the spirit, ideology and beliefs of the CCP and in an effort infused withChinese socialist characteristics. Victory in this war will be a vindication of Xis Marxist strategy.

Socialist ethics

As aresearcherof the uses of contemporary Marxism in bolstering ideas of citizen obligation and state legitimacy, Im looking at how China channels revolutionary analogies. Seventy years afterthe founding of the Peoples Republic, Xi has been notable in his efforts to re-establish Marxism at the heart of Chinese politics.

One of thekey rationales Xi givesfor the strengthening of Marxism is that the ideology can restore Chinas social cohesion. This is required to address the ills of hedonism, extravagance and corruption which have infected China as an inevitable result of opening up to the West.

As China recovers, its success in containing the virus is being put down to thedevotion and solidarity of the people. Such claims are not unfounded: aWHO-China joint missionreport particularly praised the Chinese peoples solidarity and collective action during the pandemic. Such praise for solidarity will doubtless vindicate Xis efforts in creating a more cohesive and collectively minded populace.

Chinas way versus the West

Xi consistently asserts that Chinese leadership is guided by Marxisms scientific truth. An ambiguous term, Xi often explains this approach as one that uses Marxist theory toidentify the best way to solve practical challenges. As the CCPdeploys a mixof advanced technology and traditional socialist organisational models to tackle COVID-19, this will doubtless exemplify such practical use of Marxism.

Successfully tackling the outbreak is vital for the CCPs domestic legitimacy. Since the early years of the Peoples Republic of China, the promise of eradicating disease and improving the health of all has been at the centre of communist propaganda. Such focus has createdan inextricable link between health and Chinese politics. Given this link, the war against COVID-19 was of vital importance for the CCPs legitimacy.

Nonetheless, the global nature of the pandemic means that the success China has will also be judged in relation to how other countries, especially Western liberal states, handle the crisis.

Chinese state media claimedChinas low death raterelative to other hard-hit countries was due to the superiority of socialist Chinas institutional framework. Such assertions have been made in the context of an ideological war with the West, stressing the benefits of Chinese socialism in relation to the weaknesses of Western capitalism.

In theHong Kong editionof the China Daily, this political message was explicit: COVID-19 should make the people of Hong Kong, who have long been under the influence of Western ideology, recognise the benefits of the alternative socialist system.

In Marxist philosophy, progress comes through conflict. Chinese officials have evoked such belief,quoting Friedrich Engels in particularto claim that Comrade Xis new era will emerge stronger from its struggle with COVID-19. The CCP is already in the process ofdrafting a book to be published in multiple languages showcasing the key role of the CCP and Chinas socialist system in defeating the virus.

Rather than causing communist China to crumble, the virus will likely serve as a catalyst in Xis bid to present his brand of Marxism as a challenge to the global capitalist system.

Ruairidh Brown is an Academic Tutor and Year One Coordinator in International Studies at the University of Nottingham.

This article is republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.

Image: Reuters

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Beijing Heralds Success Over Coronavirus as Victory for Chinese Marxism - The National Interest

A life of hedonism is about to catch up to Jackie Quinones.

As played by Monica Raymund (Chicago Fire, Lie to Me) in the Starz drama Hightown, premiering Sunday, shes a National Marine Fisheries Service agent in the raucous LGBTQ resort town of Provincetown who drinks too much, snorts too much and has too many casual hook-ups with other women. But that changes when shes involved in a DUI crash that forces her into rehab to avoid a jail sentence.

Her life becomes even more complicated when she finds a young womans body washed up on the beach, presumably another casualty of Cape Cods opioid epidemic. Joining the investigation, she must contend with Sergeant Ray Abruzzo (James Badge Dale, 24), an abrasive member of the Capes Interagency Narcotics Unit, who isnt afraid to cross lines. He believes the murder is somehow connected to incarcerated drug lord Frankie Cuevas (Amaury Nolasco, Prison Break), so he gets close with Frankies baby mama Renee (Riley Voelkel, The Originals), a stripper.

As the lives of these and other characters involved in the murder run together, the toll that addictions can exact become apparent. Its a story series creator/executive producer Rebecca Cutter drew from many of her own experiences.

At Cape Cod, I grew up going to Provincetown in the summers, she said. My husbands from there. His father is a Fisheries Service agent. So certainly a lot of the background elements. I have been touched by opioid use around me. Im sober myself. So theres many elements from my life.

But the character of Jackie really did sort of come to me in a vision, she added. And I say that sincerely, like really it hit me. And thats not me. And thats the creative process, is creating that person and using the elements of myself that work and then letting a brilliant actress take it from there and inhabit it and make her real.

And Raymund was all too willing to oblige. In Jackie, she embraced the chance to play someone who is fighting her way back from rock bottom, an acting challenge and a role that she regards as a gift.

This role is really about battling my inner demons, she said, trying to find redemption, trying to fill something within me that I cant fill. I dont have a whole person yet. Im exploring that as the character of Jackie. And all of the characters, even though its centering around murder, were with these characters all throughout and see how they intersect. So, this story is the real deal.

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Murder rocks Cape resort community in Hightown - Boston Herald

Heavy Metal Parking Lot

I hope youve found a way to figure out how to manage and express your emotions during this global crisis. This weeks offerings share a common theme of outrageousness. Nothing is sacred, and all emotional responses can be useful in figuring out the absolute moral truth of yourself (or as I call it, Mulholland Drive Syndrome). Check out this week's recommendations, along with links to trailers, below. Stay safe if you can, and visit past issues for more recommendations of what to stream:March 26, April 2, April 9, April 16, April 23, April 30, May 7, May 14.

One of the most essential and beloved documents of suburban 80s culture, Heavy Metal Parking Lot is a slice of life in the Landover, Md., Capital Centre parking lot before a 1986 Judas Priest concert. Its a portrait of humanity that never fails to entertain, to endear and to induce cringe. This is the joy of metal, and hedonism, and the power of power chords, and it has rightfully become immortal. Its also a trenchant illumination of Reagan-era white America that provokes necessary questions for the viewer watching with a critical eye. Its the sound of addled youth communing with their pleasure centers underneath the yoke of the daily fear of nuclear annihilation. Its also a testament to Rob Halfords power as a (then-closeted) icon who moved hearts and bodies in the midst of the AIDS pandemic, during which the emotionally lazy ignored an entire community to death with homophobia. Heavy Metal Parking Lot is all of that, but its also a great deal of fun, and if you havent found some kind of fashion inspiration whether a do or a dont by the time it winds up, then as your film-critic abstract friend, Im concerned.

Blood Quantum

Theres a worldwide outbreak of degenerative zombiism, and the only place where civilization is entrenched and resistance against the shredding, flesh-eating menace is holding is in a Mikmaq reservation in Canada. Something about the genetic markers in this plague have left First Nations peoples immune to this bite-borne pathogen, and so hordes of rampaging white zombies are out to destroy and consume everything. Director Jeff Barnaby made the singular Rhymes for Young Ghouls back in 2013, and he has a gift for artfully visceral mayhem as well as expressing the social history of indigenous people in a way that feels like an expos and an exorcism at the same time. If at times Blood Quantum slips into nihilistic Walking Dead-adjacent territory, it remains an essential horror film that gives the viewer unexplored angles on a scenario we think has been done to death. The first half-hour of this film is close to perfect, and it serves up gore and bleak atmosphere with style and verve. This was one of the secret surprises at the Belcourts 12 Hours of Terror overnight horror marathon in October, and it knocked the theater on its emotional ass.

Darktown Strutters is a legendary blaxploitation sci-fi musical allegory that deserves all the trigger warnings and content warnings despite having a playful and sweet spirit at its depraved core (and a 1975 PG rating, which can mean absolutely anything). The fact that this movie is even available to stream is staggering. Syreena (Trina Parks), leader of a Frazetta-ish motorcycle gang, is out to rescue her mother Cinderella (Frances E. Nealy) from a deranged and racist fast-food entrepreneur and his plantation fantasies. Along the way, there are pie fights with the police, car chases with the KKK, funk throwdowns, imprisoned R&B groups, a science-fiction conspiracy and amazing outfits that will inspire your deepest sartorial dreams. Darktown is for anyone who saw Blazing Saddles and thought, Are there any other movies that do this? With Frankie Crocker, The Dramatics and Dick Miller!

Petey Wheatstraw, the Devils Son-in-Law

The cinematic legacy of Rudy Ray Moore is thankfully within reach for pandemic-era streaming culture. The original Dolemite endures as a testament to persistence and recognizing an unfulfilled audience, but sometimes its OK to want a little more from the films you enjoy when it comes to narrative intricacy. The end result can often be something like Petey Wheatstraw, the Devils Son-in-Law. A riff on the story of Faust that also at times feels like a takedown of The Devil Went Down to Georgia, this film finds our murdered protagonist Petey pledging to wed the devils daughter in order to avenge himself (and the massacre of his funeral party) with the power of Satans pimp cane. Theres an army of kung fu demons, children in crisis, a punishing audition sequence and surrealist exercises of supernatural power. Its pretty awesome. And if you havent seen Dolemite Is My Name on Netflix, then you really should.

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Zombies, Blaxploitation and Heavy Metal, Now Available to Stream - Nashville Scene

Say youre BMW, and youre unwilling to produce a true M-badged large SUV that would be one with the M in front of its alphanumeric designation rather than with the vaunted letter at the end, as with, say, the X7M 50i what do you do to satisfy the demand from you clientele for an even faster, more luxurious sport-brute?

Well, you turn to Alpina, your brother-from-another-mother while Alpina is recognized as a completely separate automaker, BMW does assemble certain of the companys cars with parts sent to its factories from Alpina and get them to upgrade your uber-SUV offerings. Hence, the new 2021 Alpina XB7, a, well, more luxurious and powerful version of BMWs flagship SUV.

So, starting with BMWs top-flight engine, the 523-horsepower 553-foot-pounds 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8, Alpina massages both turbochargers (using 53-millimetre turbochargers) and the cooling system larger intercoolers and then two extra coolers to handle all the extra horsepower to pump out a thoroughly stellar 612 hp and 590 lb.-ft. of torque.

That makes the XB7 one ginormous SUV capable of accelerating to 100 kilometres an hour from zero in 4.2 seconds, and scamper a full quarter-mile in just 12.6 seconds. A contextual note here: one of the biggest, baddest muscle cars of yore, 1969s Chevy Camaro ZL1, needed a little over 13 seconds to trip the lights fantastic. Indeed, so endowed is BMWs beastly SUV it needs to be limited to a 290 km/h top speed, lest it melt its tires.

Alpina doesnt stop there. The X7s eight-speed automatic transmission gets beefed up and the driver gains Alpinas Switch-Tronic wheel-mounted shift buttons. It also gains a larger oil sump so it can survive all that extra power. The XB7 also gains a beefier limited-slip rear axle Alpina claims 1,475 foot-pounds of locking torque to better handle the engines greater twist.

The 7s suspension also gets beefed-up rejigged dampers and springing. More importantly, said air suspension can be dramatically lowered for greater stability at speed. So, for instance, at speeds above 160 km/h, the XB7 hunkers down some 20 millimetres. Stretch its legs past 250 klicks and it squats down another 20 mils (40 mm in all, or about as much as a McLaren Senna does in Race mode) for seriously ground-hugging aerodynamics.

I was just testing my Sport+ modes air suspension, however, will not be a legal defense if you get caught exercising Alpinas new dimension in driving dynamics. And making sure that everyone understands how fast you could be going if you so chose, the XB7 runs on gargantuan 23-inch dubs, the rear Pirellis measuring an incredible 325/30ZR23.

And because it would not be an Alpina without some truly outrageous hedonism inside, the XB7s Merino leather seats, Alcantara headliner and leather instrument panel are joined by a Panorama Sky Lounge LED Roof, which according to BMW Canada, has LED lighting spread across the roofs glass surfaces to illuminate more than 15,000 graphic patterns and generate a display reminiscent of a starlit sky.

Lastly, though Alpina is technically a separate company, it will be sold through select BMW dealers in Canada and serviced by the same network. No price has been set, but considering that the B7 is a $53,300 jump from the basic 7 Series sedan, dont expect much change from $150,000.

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Alpina's 2021 XB7 is the large 'M' performance SUV BMW won't build itself - Driving

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have now been happily married for nine years, since their 2011 royal wedding. Now the proud parents of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, the hardworking couple are steadily increasing their royal workloads in support of the Queen as well as home-schooling George and Charlotte during lockdown.However, although they have a content family life together now, the royal couple had a few bugs along the way in their royal romance.

Veteran royal editor Robert Jobson, in his 2006 book Williams Princess, writes how by 2004, the strain of William and Kates final year at university was also putting pressure on their relationship.

Mr Jobson said: [Kate] had the same stresses and workload ahead of her as William. If anything, she always seemed the more studious of the two.

What apparently troubled her far more were Williams plans to travel overseas when his studies were over.

Instead of staying with her in Scotland during the month between the end of final examinations and graduation in June, he wanted to head off on his own.

Worse still for Kate was Williams claim that he felt claustrophobic and hemmed in by the relationship.

At a time when all around him students were playing the field, he had fallen into a comfortable coupling in his early years of university.

William would not be the first person to wonder if he were missing out on the rather innocent hedonism of university days by settling for somebody too soon.

Might he have met the right girl at the wrong time?

READ MORE:How Prince William's name for Michael Middleton 'prickles' Charles

Royal author Katie Nicholl, in her 2010 book William and Harry, also writes how Kate had doubts of her own about the relationship at this point.

Ms Nicholl writes how William wanted a break, and organised a boys-only yachting holiday in Greece from which Kate was excluded.

Meanwhile, she wrote: Kate was beginning to question Williams commitment to their relationship, and she also had her own creeping doubts about their future after St Andrews.

Ms Nicholl continued: A number of things had caused her to question Williams commitment, although she had not raised them with him yet.

One was Williams friendship with an American heiress called Anna Sloan.

She added: Anna had lost her father, businessman George Sloan, in a tragic shooting accident on the familys 360-acre estate in Nashville, and she and William had bonded over the loss of their parents.

When Anna invited William and a group of friends to Texas for a holiday before he went to Greece, it hurt Kate deeply.

She suspected William might have feelings for the 22-year-old heiress.

However, a romance between the prince and the Tennessee-born interior designer did not happen.

Continued here:

Royal snub: Why Wiliam felt 'claustrophobic' in relationship with Kate - Express

Richard Melville Hall has bought the t-shirt made for people whove bought the t-shirt; punk, vegan, Christian, seller of tens of millions of albums, enthusiastic drug guzzler (all of these things were not at the same time obviously), the man they call Moby has turned indulging virtue and vice into a fine art.

More recently, attention has switched away from music and towards his hugely candid pair of autobiographies in which hes talked about the vacuum in his soul that attaining fame and fortune largely via his 1999 album Play created, and how he filled it with anything he could lay his hands on. In them, he laid bare the impossible process of following it up and the damaging psychological effect of the mediocre (by comparison) sales of subsequent records since has had.

The first thing to say about All Visible Objects is that it isnt going to fix that. There are some clear reasons for this which well cover later, firstly though its worth reminding ourselves that the project is a philanthropic exercise, with all the profits going to a range of charitable organisations, as did the proceeds of his recent equipment auction. Its also true that many of the things which you might expect from a Moby album are present as expected: opener Morningside seems to have come straight from a rave without having gone to bed, wailing diva sample circa 91 and tipping hi-hat, while those who havent stopped by since the Play era will definitely be satisfied with the dinner party background vibes of Forever and Roxy Music cover My Only Love.

Business as usual then? Well, sort of. Moby has spent his entire career as both a musician and an activist, and whilst sometimes thats taken a back seat theres an anti-establishment streak of sorts here in Rise Up In Love (theme: Hug a stranger) and Power Is Taken (theme: Techno terrorist takeover), the latter featuring street ready vocals from the Dead Kennedys D H Pelligro. That has a real wash of angry energy to it, but on the seemingly never ending Too Much Change the anti-futurist sentiment just turns mawkish and dull.

This over earnestness is buttressed with an anthology approach to track selection: the producer has recently been making lengthy ambient collections, and for every dancefloor orientated tune like Refuge there are Quinoa friendly pieces such as Tecie and the piano led title-track, a nine-minute opus which brings things to a sombre close.

All Visible Objects cuts an ambitious slice through much of its creators fascinations old and new, be it riotous anarchy, delirious hedonism or entropic comedowns. This mightve worked too, but theres simply not enough conviction in these songs; no real rage, joy or paranoia to compel the listener into feeling empathy.

A man who bears the scars of a life lived, Richard Melville Hall has done many things. Its surely too late for him to be caught treading water now.

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Album Review: Moby All Visible Objects - Live4ever