#how did i end up stanning renaissance assholes

[discotreque]

Disco 3.05: Die Trying

Over the years, I have delivered so many condescending lectures about how it's everyone's responsibility to curate their own fandom experience, and if you're not having fun participating in this totally voluntary free hobby, that's nobody's problem to solve but yours. But I can be sloppy, or careless, or fail to unfollow someone who reblogs excellent gif sets but also a lot of toxic discourse—or whatever—and then I wake up one day like, "When did this stop being fun?"

Well... when I stopped putting in the effort to keep it fun, that's when.

Anyway. I'm staying out of shitpits like Reddit and YouTube, I only follow podcast feeds and Jola stan accounts on Twitter, and I'm back to blocking bad Tumblr takes on sight. I've loved Star Trek for 30 years and it's in the middle of a glorious renaissance—I'm not going to let some weird assholes on the internet take that away from me.

Onward!

Pictured: Owosekun’s impression of me watching this episode.

The little "Captain ;)" "Number One :) :) :)" between Michael and Saru in the first scene was so bittersweet and tender I could hardly breathe. The ghost of Prime Georgiou haunts their relationship in such a devastating way.

The bridge crew getting all :D over the future Starfleet ship designs was such a delightful reminder that this is a ship almost entirely crewed by young nerds <3 <3 <3

The Voyager-J, ahahaha, YES. And the USS Nog, NCC-325070 😭😭😭 (Can't believe it took them hundreds of years to name a ship after the first Ferengi in Starfleet though, come on)

I can't remember what we've seen for Starfleet C-in-C rank emblems before, but Vance seems to have double insignia of FIVE pips + TWO bars—that's a lot of hardware.

Eli's little bow tie fuckin SENT me. (I can't decide if a bow tie would have made the EMH on Voyager more or less insufferable.)

Hmmm. Might come back and revise/delete this point later because maybe they're building to something, but Saru seems almost dangerously naïve right now? (Also, I get that Michael might have become a little more chaotic good during her year with Book, but—she used to be able to manipulate Saru better than this, too. Hmmmmm.)

"Clinically dead?" "Well, I was emotionally dead, too—and I was murdered."

DAVID CRONENBERG????? (Oh shit, is this a backdoor pilot for S31?) You know he’s up to no good because he’s wearing glasses—and a tie. On Star Trek. What the fuck is up with this freak.

I should hate Mirror!Georgiou. I should hate that she's even on the show. I should REALLY hate that she's getting her own series—I don't have a problem with evil protagonists, it's just not a good fit for my idea of Star Trek, and literally every Section 31 story after the first one on DS9 sucked—but Michelle Yeoh is having SO MUCH FUN, and I'm delighted she's ending up with more to do than get shot down for suggesting "genocide" at every senior staff meeting she's inexplicably invited to.

...and then the episode got so interesting I stopped taking notes! "Spooky mystery with a tragic twist" is my favourite subgenre of Star Trek episode, and this was a banger. I loved the "haunted" seed vault as a setting, and I loved the very emotional heart to a very science-fiction problem—and the way the sci-fi and the feelings dovetailed into an awkwardly on-the-nose metaphor about "letting go" at the end was icing on the cake for me. That's my Star Trek.

And as much as I'm going to miss desperately wanting to smooch Nhan every time she's on screen, I loved the way she leaves the ship here: it's a drastic decision, but it's obviously rooted in her homesickness for the 23rd century, and it gives us a good example of the turmoil that must be happening off-camera for the rest of the crew. (And I suspect she’ll be back: I know Rachael Ancheril has filmed more for Discovery than this.)

I cried again! So much! This is a show full of charismatic, talented (and gorgeous) actors, and they're finally getting a chance to flex their skills and chemistry in these long, practically luxurious scenes that serve no other purpose but to deepen our emotional attachment to these characters. Can you even imagine saying that about Season 1?

It's still not perfect, but Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery feels like it's at least trying to become the show I've always wanted it to be. After the underwhelm of Picard and the stunning success of Lower Decks, I'm keeping my expectations for Disco carefully neutral—but they keep dropping episodes like this, and those expectations are creeping up week by week.

Next week post: I don't know, because I didn't watch the trailer, because I'm going to watch the episode as soon as I post this—but I think I saw a gif of Book and Michael kissing, so if you hear someone screaming "FINALLY!" from a vaguely Canada-ish direction, that's probably me.

#star trek discovery #amy's episode notes #disco spoilers

[artcenterstories]

Climbing the Ladder: Meet Catalyst CCO Josh Wright

AC: What inspired you to co-found Catalyst? Josh Wright (BS Product Design '03) Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Catalyst: The seed was planted when I was at ArtCenter. The College trains you to think about design, not just from the aesthetic or mechanical point of view, but also from a business perspective.

At ArtCenter, I was encouraged to look for a business partner. When you have someone who focuses on the financials, you can focus on making design work for the business.

AC: You've had an interesting career trajectory. Can you speak about your journey? JW: Designing for an outdoor lifestyle has always been important to me. In the early years of my career, I started working in California, designing a lot of sports and lifestyle products, including footwear and backpacks for various surf, skate and snow companies.

Then, I moved to Wichita, Kansas, to work for the iconic Coleman company. It was a cool experience because it was a very small design team, and I got to touch all of their products. After six months, I contributed $30 million to the company's bottom line.

That's something else ArtCenter taught me: Don't go to Porsche; don't go to Apple — they already have great design. Go to a brand that doesn't have great design, yet. Bringing good design and storytelling to their products transformed a 100-year-old brand into something fresh and fun. And they still sell some of my products today.

I later worked at Tumi in New York designing some of their carbon-fiber luggage and helping to expand some of the product categories into footwear, wristwatches and apparel. In 2006, I got this amazing opportunity in Hong Kong and I spent the next four years working at a world-class design consultancy firm. But I was always on the lookout for a business partner, based on what I had learned in school.

AC: How did you meet your Catalyst co-founder? JW: Rock climbing. It's one of the reasons I wanted to move here — the climbing community in Hong Kong brings together such a diverse group of people. My co-founder and I have such different backgrounds — she's from bio-tech and finance.

Through the years, we developed a friendship based on trust from countless days of climbing the jungles. We realized that we had complementary skills, with her business and my design background and our mutual desire to be outdoors. We wanted to create outdoor products that brought value to people's lives — that was the genesis of Catalyst.

AC: What was the first Catalyst product you designed? JW: At the time in 2010, the iPhone was becoming the device of choice, even for climbers, so our product was a fully waterproof protective iPhone 4 case. Soon after, we launched and had a successful Kickstarter campaign.

Today, Catalyst has reached a tipping point where it's becoming a global household brand name; our products are available in over 70 countries and major retailers, including Apple, BestBuy and Target, as well as eight Amazon marketplaces, four Shopify websites and WeChat in China.

AC: Catalyst 20L Waterproof backpack recently received the prestigious Red Dot Award. Can you speak about the design process? JW: Each of our products fills a need and solves a problem. The waterproof backpack offers travelers an ultra-compact, -lightweight pack that folds into a carry pouch that's a little smaller than a 12-ounce soda can.

Waterproof is a core component of Catalyst. I'm kind of a nerd for waterproof products.

I've used this bag as a flotation device while snorkeling in Thailand. I've carried it through heavy tropical rainstorms and through a canyoneering trip in northern Italy, where I was jumping off waterfalls. The backpack works incredibly well. When the bag is rolled up, anything you keep inside it will stay dry.

AC: What are you working on right now? JW: We're always working on something new — we launch eight to 12 products every year. We were the first company to make waterproof cases for Apple watch and AirPods.

The backpack line is something we're currently working on expanding, and soft goods in general. We're heavily focused on expanding our business solutions for industrial applications of our products, including for oil and gas, hospitals and schools.

AC: How do you define success? JW: Being able to create products I believe that bring value to the people who use them, and seeing a lantern I designed for the Coleman company being used on the show The Walking Dead.

AC: Do you have any superstitions? JW: My dad always told me that it is bad luck to be superstitious and I live by that.

AC: What’s the design cliché you’re most tempted to use? JW: I really subscribe to modernism. I believe that form should follow function with zero added details for ornamentation. Everything I build is intentionally designed, but not decorative. We are loosening up this "cliché" by adding some fashion and styling elements to some of our future collections, which I'm pretty excited about.

AC: What’s the one tool you can’t do without? JW: My iPhone.

AC: What’s the first site you look at when you open your computer in the morning? JW: Slack.

AC: What do you do to detox from media and screens? JW: It's not just screens, it's the city itself because Hong Kong is so crowded. My detox is my weekends out in nature: rock climbing, hiking, canyoneering or surfing. I think an amazing secret of Hong Kong is that two-thirds of the territory is subtropical jungle with unreal, pristine waterfalls and beaches.

AC: If you could trade jobs with anyone for a day who would it be? JW: As a designer, there's no other job I'd rather be doing. But as a kid, I always wanted to be a marine biologist like Jacques Cousteau.

AC: What book is on your bedside table? JW: I have three books; none of them are finished. One is a history book called Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time, another is a business book The E Myth and the third is a just-for-fun, fiction book called This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It (John Dies at the End).

AC: Who are the most interesting designers working today? JW: Marc Newson. I also really like Michael Young — he's a British-born designer based in Hong Kong. Toy designer Michael Lau was at the forefront of the urban vinyl movement and I love his style. I'm also a huge fan of James Dyson, Jonathan Ive, and entertainment designer Stan Winston has always inspired me.

AC: Were you exposed to design growing up? JW: I come from quite an artistic and mechanically inclined family. My grandfather was a renaissance man: a photographer, inventor, mechanic, engineer, architect, designer... He had so many hobbies and passions, and he created so many things. He made all of my grandmother's jewelry.

He designed and physically built the house his family lived in, including the thermostat and heating system from spare parts. He built motorcycles for my mother and her siblings. When I was a kid, he built us a tree house with a zip line, which was super dangerous, and go-karts. I was always around people who were artistic and creating things.

AC: Describe a moment in your childhood when you first identified as a designer. JW: When I was in high school, I was lucky to have an art teacher who brought in different brochures from art and design schools around the world. For the first time, I was aware you could design cars, toys or products as a career. As a kid, I was always sketching, building models, taking things apart and putting them together. When I found out it was a career path, there was no other option for me.

AC: If you could have a superpower, what would it be? JW: Eternal life — I have too many hobbies and not enough time.

AC: What’s your most prized possession? JW: My grandfather passed away this year, and I have the camera he used when he was working as a photographer and a backpack he built for his Boy Scout group in the 1950s.

AC: Where is your happy place? JW: There are so many! Twenty meters deep, swimming with manta rays off the coast of Thailand, snowboarding in Japan. There's a canyon in Hong Kong that looks like Jurassic Park — it's just so raw with waterfalls everywhere. But to summarize, my happy place is being outside in a gorgeous location with people I care about.

AC: How would your closest friend describe you? JW: A relentless, laser-focused — I hate to say it — asshole, but with a heart of gold.

#catalyst #josh wright #product design #design #artcenter #artcenter college of design #catalystcase

[fmlfpl]

Lineup Lamentations - GW22

Our Transfers, Captains, and Starting 11s.

WALSH

Transfers:

N/A

Will let my double Chelsea attack go on for one last hurrah before I figure out which / how many Spurs assets to bring in next week with two frees. With the positive news on Costa and no huge problems besides Baines' knock which will probably keep him out for 3 months as per usual with him I'm in okay shape to save. Or so it seems.

GK: TOM. Seems like best case 4 pointer with bunch of saves. Meh. After that 10 spot last week he can do no wrong. Maybe he'll stop a pen from Donq. Kill for.

DEF: First three at the back situation for me in a very long time. Alonso and Van Fuck go at home against some shitty ass teams so hopefully there are two cleans there. Van Fuck is on a short leash though - they have been pretty fucking bad lately and it doesn't feel outstanding to have a premium defender spot taken up by someone on a bottom half side. Turning him into a Spurs defender could be great, but we'll see if I have enough money to make it work based on what I want to do in attack. Baines suddenly is a concern. Koeman is a notorious liar about player fitness and it would not be the most surprising thing to see Baines not on the weekend team sheet. Usually when a manager says a player should be fine for the weekend that means he SHOULD BE FUCKING FINE but Koeman doesn't speak clear English and is a little tubby pea coat wearing cocksuck so who knows. If Baines misses out I think I'm going to rip him straight out as I do not want to be dealing with a niggle which could just as well keep him out for a month as had done earlier in the season. We'll see - hopefully he starts and just tits.

MID: This quartet looks ready to fire in some points for me this weekend. Still feel very high on Rambo and the double with Alexis still feels nice. Too bad G is healthy...although Alexis has been returning fairly steadily, there is no doubt that he is less threatening with Donq fuck in there. He will still steadily tick and return as he has done the past handful but an explosion does not feel imminent. Yaya was his usually Yayayay self against Everton playing pretty deep but with Raz in the side City probably have the highest chance of getting a pen of any team in the league. Really big game for City we'll see what Pep does with the lineup. Kinda thinking he will pack midfield, but we'll see. Finally, Hazard is still hanging around in my side. This is probably his farewell game regardless of what he does against Hull. Feels like there is better value elsewhere and he's got a few tough games after Hull. Should tit and tot this weekend though especially with Hull losing Livermore who has been a very steady and solid mid for them. I think they are going to get absolutely battered.

FWD: Crouch headlines my forward group with lesser humans Ibra and Costa fighting over who will carry his boots. I will be watching Stoke closely as Crouch suddenly seems like a reasonably solid start every week forward as long as he is featuring for Stoke. A career renaissance would make it very unsurprising to see this giraffe fuck bonk in another goal this weekend against a fairly short United defense. Hoping for no Fellaini in the team sheet. Costa should slot right back into the 11 for Willy after being declared fully fit by Conte today. Unless he wants to reprimand and bench him to send a message which would be annoying...and sort of a tactic I would expect from a lesser manager. Costa is my insane massive differential this weekend after suffering from I think 6 price drops he better repay it with some puntos against Hull on Sunday.

CAP: Hazard baby. Last time I tipped Hazard cap I took it off him after lineup lambs came out in a sudden rush of madness. I ended up losing points on the switch as often happens with last minute captaincy changes. This time I will not make the same mistake. Even though Alexis is the runaway leader I just don't love him out on the wing, simple as. Yes Burnley are shit away but thinking back to last season Alexis was barely ever a captaincy shout with Giroud in the side and I think the same sort of thing applies now. Hazard does his FPL business at home and I am hoping he flat track bullies Hull. A penalty is very real for Chelsea too as Hull have given away the most in the league which is not something that I am overlooking. A free 10 point spot kick would have me jerking it to a widescreen pic of the Belgian flag on my laptop. Go on Hazzy - do me.

ALON

Transfers:

N/A

Also saving. Saving is just the greatest. Unless you’re getting 0s in your lineup I think saving is a reasonable option whenever you only have 1 FT. It may not feel good, like you’re getting left in the dust by the other more aggressive managers flying into -4s and -8s and shit but no. Calm your tit saving is a beautiful thing always.

I still have Siggy in my team who has had a laser on his forehead for weeks now and I thought that I was finally ready to pull the trigger but I’m not. The maths are hard to do but I was trying in my head to figure out the value of a FT. I don’t know do you? Bottom line is this:

Siggy + FT vs. Eriksen or Alli away at the Ethiad

I’m taking the FT route. I think Tottenham fans and FPL managers are overlooking the fact that City are still a very good team and this match is at the Ethiad. I don’t see Spurs BATTERING them even though they’re probably slight favorites to win. I think I can live w/o Spurs for one more week and then have 2FT next to deal with probably Siggy, Firmino, and maybe one more (ie. if Baines is not fit).

GK: I love Lee Grant we all know this but fuck it feels legitimately awful to not have Heaton. He’s by far the best GK in all of FPL not even close. One day I’ll make that luxury transfer. Not this week though.

DEF: Same ole trio for me protecting Lee Grant starting with newly cemented legend lord of dongs Alonso. Great that he could come out like he did last week and break the hex that I had put on him. He’s golden. Phil Jones keeps his place in my side I just hope that Mou feels similarly because he’s way better then fucking two-footed tackling neck tattoo fuckboi Rojo but I’ll still be sweating the team sheet... United have been very good defensively and I hope they can keep a bundle of cleans in this nice run that they have starting with keeping out Crouch the Giraffe Monster tomorrow.. Lastly Bainesy who yes Walsh summarized nicely above. I’m terrified he’s going to miss and then be in and out for a month which would be classic Bainesy. So terrified that I even toyed with some de Roon transfers and playing my AOA but fuck that. Just have to pray Leighton is fine and can keep being a festival for us both.

MID: Well no transfers so you already know who. Alexis nothing to be said he’s the immutable staple in basically all of our teams and he gives no reason to think otherwise. Stan was a new friend last week and came straight through with a pen goal but he won’t always be on pens with Callum starting every other match basically. Gimme some open play tits Stanny... Stan too like Phil Jones above and Giroud below I will be sweating the fuck out of the team sheet. Usually can rely on Stanislas starting when fit but Howe is the true tinkerman of the league and who the fuck knows what he’s going to do. I got the boy for last week and these two home matches (WAT, CPL) and then I’ll probably figure a way out from Stan because the fixtures turn real bad. And then I have my two assholes who all they do is blank. It’ll be great to start my Saturday at 7:30am watching both Firmino and Siggy blank for fun. Or maybe I’ll get a treat... It would be surprising to see Liverpool score any less then 3 goals and Siggy can always produce a bit of FK magic or just get pen so he’s a tossup to return any week. Regardless 7:30am as both a LFC supporter and owner of both Bobby and Siggy this match kinda totes my mood for the rest of the weekend.

FWD: Heavy hitting fucks. The aforementioned Giroud has been declared fit so that I would imagine means he’s for sure starting. But no matter what Wenger said in the press conference I’m still terrified that he won’t start. Need him to do. Come on Donkey. Ibra loves an away match more then anyone and he has massive returns in five straight. Ibra the man the myth the legend makes it easy to not consider someone like Aguero who is still over a million more expensive. He’ll just keep ticking over. I wonder when United will get their next pen... Lastly Lukaku. Everton have been on the up and up lately playing much better with a change in system and of their next eight fixtures only a trip to White Hart Lane should cause them any trouble. The others being cpl, stk, BOU, mid, SUN, WBA, HUL. Doesn’t get better then that! Three goals in his last four I think Big Rom is primed for a big tit fest of returns over the next month or two which is why I got him. Let’s fucking go.

CAP: Well yeah maybe you could tell by how excited I am to have Big Rom but he’s my cap this week so yes let us go. I hope Walsh isn’t mad at me for capping a player vs Palace but Palace has just one clean all season and 40 goals conceded they are a nightmare at the back to say the least. I think Rom in his form and with Everton as a whole in great form they should batter this Palace side to the tone of something like 3-0. Romelu has played 90′ for 16 straight matches so just need him to keep being him and he should come good in the points. LEZ GOOOOOOO!!!

#Lineup Lamentations #FML FPL #FMLFPL #FML #FPL #Fantasy Premier League #Premier League #Soccer #Fantasy Soccer #Football #Fantasy Football #EPL #English Premier League #BPL #Barclays Premier League