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smmickeyd · 5 years

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Forge is one of my favorite words

Well it’s been a while. I thought it would be a good idea to get some time on here before I start the job Monday. A LOT has happened in the last two weeks and even more since my last larger entry, both in an external event sense and in an internal mind/emotion sense. So it’s gonna be interesting to see what surfaces here. Let’s get into it.

So work on Monday. Woop woop! Super excited to start. Feels like everything is moving very fast now which is such a change from this summer. 4 months of moving like molasses and then 1 of just light speed. Didn’t quite get everything done I wanted to get done before I left. Motorcycle is inoperable at T&Js house. I didn’t visit Miami last weekend. Although, that may have been a double bullet dodge and it was actually an amazing weekend like I was anticipating so I’m glad I didn’t go. But still bummed I missed some friends before moving. I didn’t send the thank you cards to all the Maverick people I wanted to, two in particular. Suppose I still could but we’ll see.

Not too bad though. I was able to get all sorts of time in with friends. It cost some very late packing which has made some of my logistical choices questionable but absolutely worth it. I’ve never had people actively reaching out wanting to spend time with me like that before. I didn’t let anyone down I don’t think. Besides moving but beneath the jokes I know they understand. And my last day was just absolutely perfect. I couldn’t have wished for a better one.

I think I held it together pretty well, but I know I was a little banged up when I rolled into Maverick 4 months ago. Taking stock: Em had basically been a gaping hole in my self worth for months (my own fault for that), but then left without saying goodbye or even a hint of caring that she wouldn’t see me again. I had just graduated and had NOWHERE to go with what I wanted to do. Meanwhile Em is about to start medical school, a bunch of other friends of mine as well. Being a pretty big comparer that definitely wasn’t fun. I’m living at my brother’s and sister-in-law’s place. Better than the parents but not by much. I feel about 0 independence. I have no job, no money, and no place to call my home. Expecting social life to be a disaster. Dating? Give me a break. Mix that with Em never making any moves. Initiated holding my hand one time, so I feel about as hot and sexy as a dead fish. I had been working for years, doing well in school, having a job since 14, developing moral and spiritual beliefs. Forging myself and creating mold for who I want to be. For what? It all seemed to be for naught. Days initially set with aimlessness and procrastination. Endlessly revising a resume and cover letter when really I was just scared to submit it. Applying to the jobs I wanted with what I had and not getting accepted was such a nightmare.

Enter: Maverick CrossFit. In fact, Enter: Maverick Bootcamp. A reason to get out of the house, get blood moving, meet some people. I had some thoughts when I was planning the move to Melbourne. I told myself not to get too close to anyone and probably not even try to find a romantic connection (didn’t really have hope there anyway) because I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to be there long. Boy was I wrong in the best way possible, which just shows how wack out of myself I had become up to this point. My whole life I’ve lived with the “be happy it happened, not sad it’s over” mentality. And now I’m not gonna try to make things happen just because I might not be around forever. Who the heck was that? That is not making the most of what I have. That is not enjoying the moments I’m given. That’s not me.

I got to bootcamp and started to remember what it was like to work hard physically, something I hadn’t had in 4 years. And have a coach and a team, also lacking. I really like having a coach/mentor, it’s really what I felt was missing from my undergrad experience. It came at the perfect time. I wasn’t licking my wounds from a failed attempt at a relationship anymore, it was mainly settled in the back of my mind. I had taken just the very first step to walking out of the mental holes I’d been digging all semester. And body image has always been tricky. I’ve liked how I look, especially after I learned how to dress, but I’ve never felt “hot” or “desirable”. Never been that person that gets pushed up against the wall or onto the bed because they just HAVE to have me. Always the pusher never the pushee. I’ve been cute, adorable, handsome, etc. but hot never seems to be on the table from the ones I’m into.

If I had started two weeks earlier I would have been working out because I didn’t like myself, or wanted to look good solely for others. It wouldn’t have lasted and I would have burned out. Instead it came at the most opportune time, and I’m just remembering now my senior year high school quote, “at our lowest point we are open to the greatest change.” 4 years later I was living that quote which is ironic since the real one I wanted was similar but all the more true

“In the vacuum created by the loss of what’s most precious, opportunity abounds, influence maximizes, and desire becomes destiny.”

I was searching for a lifeline and I finally found one. The opportunity abounded, and it’s influence was certainly maximized by delipidated state. It light a hunger in me. A desire the likes of which was the physical manifestation of everything I want to do. Forge myself. I’ve thrown my heart into those I found in need even if they don’t back to develop a strong, resilient, and capable heart. I’ve sought out difficult academic problems and degrees to construct a formidable mind, always my top priority. And going from Bootcamp into CrossFit opened blasted open the door for me to forge my body. I didn’t know I could, didn’t know it was possible for me. I didn’t even know that’s what was missing from my self improvement based minset. I began to see my body as a conduit, the method by which I direct my thoughts and energies to the world.

I began working out because I love myself, not because I hate myself. I began because I want to have a hot body for me and my partner to enjoy, not to make previous people jealous. I found a purer way to think, to not focus on those who say I can’t. I don’t want to prove them wrong. I focus on those who support me and say I can. I want to prove them right.

I will prove them right.

I work so that the energy, love, and support that has been invested in me is returned in kind. It’s more difficult to do it this way, but I don’t want to descend to the pain cave. Sure the pain cave gives results, but I imagine ascending to a higher plateau. One where I’ve left conquered and left behind the struggle apd the previous one to take on new, mightier battles. Why would I want to keep having the same fight over and over? Greatness is not built that way. Impossibility is a mindset.

I’ve learned to have better role models, and not just follow the ones given to me. So seek them out and find out what they’ve done. If I’m not even dreaming as big as them, I’ll never get where I want to be. I’ve thought this before about building my mind and seeing academic progress is good, but there’s just something unshakable about real progress in your physical capabilities.

A 20 lbs PR on clean and jerk on my last day?

12 hours with J, incomparable to others in so many ways, on my last day?

Night drive to let my mind wander, process it all, on my last day?

2019 has been a real rough time: that may just have been the best day of the year.

At the end of The Office, Andy is talking to the camera after leaving Dunder Mifflin and says he wishes there was someone who would tell you you’re living the good old days while you’re still in them. That’s exactly how I felt in my final weeks, that one line allowed me to drink in every little bit until I pulled away at 10:14pm and set out.

I’m ready. Ready for my career, ready to find a box in HSV and keep getting fitter; ready for all the rest that’s coming my way I don’t even know about. I had no idea I needed these 5 months.

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wsmith215 · 4 years

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Cam Newton’s complicated NFL free agency

There were legitimate reasons for it to happen and all kinds of ways to see it coming, but if you were surprised by the Carolina Panthers’ decision to release longtime franchise quarterback Cam Newton in March, you’re surely surprised that he still hasn’t signed somewhere else.

Newton turned 31 on Monday, which is by no means an advanced age for an NFL quarterback. He’s a former league MVP who has taken a team to the Super Bowl and, just two years ago, was having one of the better seasons of his career before shoulder and foot injuries derailed him. On résumé alone, he’d qualify as an upgrade for at least half of the NFL’s teams at the quarterback position.

But none of those teams has signed him, and there has been no indication of any serious interest by any team in doing so. Jameis Winston, cut loose by the Buccaneers in favor of Tom Brady, signed a bargain deal to back up Drew Brees in New Orleans. Andy Dalton, released by the Bengals in favor of Joe Burrow, signed with the Cowboys to back up Dak Prescott. Brian Hoyer (New England), Nick Foles (Chicago) and Newton’s former Carolina backup Kyle Allen (Washington) are among the quarterbacks who’ve been sought and acquired by teams this offseason.

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It makes no sense if you just stacked up “QB Ability” next to “Teams That Could Use a Cam Newton.” He is the prom king who all of a sudden can’t get a date. The Ferrari left alone in the garage while everyone’s out driving Fords. How could you, if you’re the Bears, or the Jaguars, or literally any team in the AFC East, look at your quarterback depth chart right now and not think signing Newton would make you better?

The answer, of course, is that it’s more complicated than that.

If the Cam Newton of 2015 had been released by the Panthers this offseason, he’d have been signed in less than a minute, to a record-breaking quarterback contract, by one of 12 or 15 teams. But this isn’t 2015, and the issues keeping Newton from signing with a team range from the frustratingly rigid to those that are uniquely 2020:

A tricky offseason for health concerns

One of the issues teams cite when discussing the prospect of signing Newton is that there’s no way to know what kind of player they’d be signing. This is a player with as many surgeries as games played over the past 16 months. When teams consider players who are coming off recent surgeries, it becomes especially important to give them physicals. In a case like Newton’s, when you’re talking about a quarterback who has taken 317 more hits than any other since 2011, teams aren’t going to be satisfied with workout videos and third-person medical exams. They’re going to want the doctors they trust, the doctors they’re paying, to check him out with their own eyes. And in the current climate, with the NFL imposing pandemic-related restrictions in line with those in place around the country, in-person physicals are still prohibited.

“You’re certainly not going to sign him sight unseen,” an NFL personnel man said of Newton. “This is a quarterback who has a shoulder injury, right?”

Cam Newton played only two games last season because of a foot injury, and the Panthers released him in March. AP Photo/Brian Blanco

Well … maybe. The shoulder surgery he had following the 2018 season was his second in two years, but the Panthers kept telling everyone all through 2019 that the shoulder was fine and it was his left foot — he underwent surgery to repair a Lisfranc injury in December — that cost him pretty much the entire season. Running has always been a vital part of Newton’s game. No quarterback in NFL history has more games with both a rushing touchdown and a passing touchdown than Newton’s 39. If his foot is injured, it stands to reason that he won’t be the same runner he has always been.

“Part of what makes Cam, Cam,” said an official with one NFL team that has been in the veteran quarterback market this offseason, “is that he’s a freak athlete.”

Is he still? And if not, what kind of contract would teams give him? A healthy Newton offers plenty as a passer, but teams are still going to want their own doctors to get a look at that shoulder. And even if the shoulder checks out fine and he can’t run the way he used to run, he’s not “peak” Cam Newton. When you look at it in those terms, it becomes a little bit easier to figure out why a team might prefer a Winston or a Dalton as its backup — especially at the prices for which those two signed.

Which brings us to …

What kind of contract could Newton get?

Newton’s last contract extension with the Panthers, signed in 2015, was a five-year deal worth about $103 million. It sounded big at the time, but by today’s standards, the average of $20.6 million a year is more than reasonable for a starting quarterback — especially one who would win the MVP award a few months after signing it, as Newton did. The reason the Panthers cut him wasn’t purely financial. He’d have cost them $19.1 million in non-guaranteed salary and $21.1 million against their salary cap this year: a bargain for a 31-year-old Newton if he’s healthy. The Panthers moved on because, as we’ve already discussed, they weren’t sure he would be healthy, and because they weren’t planning to extend him as they retool things under new coach Matt Rhule.

Newton’s replacement, Teddy Bridgewater, signed for three years and $63 million with $33 million guaranteed. At this point, though he’s far more accomplished than Bridgewater, Newton would have to count himself extraordinarily lucky to get a similar deal. Given the injury questions, he has no shot at the $25 million-a-year numbers Brady and Philip Rivers received. And forget the $91 million in guarantees the Titans gave Ryan Tannehill. No quarterback who’s signing at this point in the cycle is going to sniff the top of the market.

There’s a narrative out there that the Panthers did Newton harm by waiting as long as they did to release him — holding onto him through the first wave of free agency and until after the pandemic imposed restrictions on travel and in-person physicals. But league insiders dispute that notion, saying it was easy to figure out that Newton would be available based on the finances, the health questions and the significant coaching staff changes in Carolina. His contract would have been a lot less financially onerous than the Foles contract. There’s no way the Bears traded for Foles and then, a week later, saw that the Panthers cut Newton and said, “Dang it! We should have waited!” Teams knew Newton was an option and they chose different ones, which means he probably was never going to break the bank on this year’s quarterback market.

And the backup QB market, even for veterans, has been all over the map this offseason. Marcus Mariota got $7.5 million guaranteed to back up (compete with?) Derek Carr in Las Vegas. Winston got $1.1 million guaranteed to backup Brees. Dalton got $3 million to back up Prescott. All of those guys can earn more in incentives depending on how much they actually play and how the team performs when they do, but the range of the deals indicates that the appropriate contract for a veteran quarterback looking to build himself back into a starting role is a moving target.

Plus, teams don’t even know how much appetite Newton would even have for a backup job. Which brings us to …

Would Newton accept a backup role?

A large part of Newton’s current problem is that the league is experiencing a bizarre supply-and-demand twist at the quarterback position. It feels as if only a couple of years ago, we were writing stories about a quarterback shortage. Now, after 17 teams have drafted 18 quarterbacks in the first round over the past five years, just about every team feels as if it has its guy. There weren’t a lot of starting quarterback jobs open when this offseason began, and there are fewer now.

There was some industry speculation about Newton to the Chargers, but they like Tyrod Taylor and just drafted Justin Herbert with the sixth pick. Washington made some sense, given that former Panthers coach Ron Rivera is running things there now, but it drafted Dwayne Haskins last year and just signed Allen to back him up. The Patriots say they like Jarrett Stidham and, as of now, don’t have the cap space for Newton. As always, things could change in New England depending on how far Newton’s price drops, but for now, we’re told the Patriots are not planning to go that way. Jacksonville wants to give a real shot to Gardner Minshew, but that’s another team to watch in case things don’t work out with the 2019 sixth-round draft pick.

At this point, there’s no obvious team that would sign Newton and anoint him the starter without conditions. And bringing Newton in as a backup isn’t as easy as it sounds, either, given the way so many NFL teams still view that role.

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Stephen A. Smith explains that he would rather see Cam Newton sit out the 2020 season than sign somewhere as a backup.

For example: Newton would fit in Buffalo, where the coach and general manager come from Carolina and starter Josh Allen is a big, mobile quarterback himself. But adding Newton behind a young guy still finding his footing as an NFL starter creates potential issues that organizations and coaching staffs fear. I’m not saying this is specifically the case in Buffalo, but I’m just using the team as a hypothetical example: Bring in Newton as Allen’s backup, and no matter what you say publicly, you’re creating a difficult situation for Allen. Every time he has a bad game, you’ll be dealing with calls from your fan base (and possibly from your own locker room or coaching staff) to start Cam. If you’re developing a young quarterback, teams believe, that’s not necessarily the best way to show you support him.

The same can be said for places like Denver, Cincinnati, Miami, Arizona, both New Yorks and Washington, where teams are trying to build around young guys and want to create as fertile a situation as possible for that young quarterback’s success. Newton, whether you agree or not, is going to be viewed by some teams as a less-than-ideal backup option because of that old NFL buzzword “distraction.” It still exists as an obstacle in situations like this. If Newton’s going to land a backup job right now, it’s probably going to be behind an unassailably secure starter, like the one who’s in front of Winston in New Orleans. So …

What happens now?

The sense among people close to this situation is that Newton is in no rush. His best bet at this point is probably to wait things out and see whether a quarterback situation changes, either because of injury or because Plan A doesn’t appear to be working out. Especially with no in-person practices or minicamps to attend, there’s no compelling rush to get into someone’s facility or program and get a jump on things. Whatever current need there is for backup quarterbacks isn’t going to dry up over the next couple of months, and if he waits, he could find himself with one or more starting opportunities than are currently in front of him.

Where this gets interesting is if the season begins and he still doesn’t have a job. Does Newton, who has made more than $120 million in salary in his career, sit out a portion or all of the regular season while he waits for a team to give him the deal and the role he wants? Does he swallow hard and take a backup job?

All that’s clear is that the landscape for Newton is very different from the one he might have expected when the Panthers first put him on the market. And until that landscape changes, he and the rest of us will continue to marvel at the fact that a quarterback as talented and accomplished as he is can’t find a job.

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mastcomm · 4 years

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DealBook: Kobe Bryant’s Death Cuts Short a Budding Business Career

Good morning. U.S. stock futures are down sharply this morning on fears about the coronavirus outbreak. More below. (Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.)

An early end to Kobe Bryant’s new path

The death of Kobe Bryant, the retired L.A. Lakers star, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others in a helicopter crash yesterday has stirred up grief across the sports world. It also had corporate leaders lamenting the loss of an up-and-coming business mogul.

Mr. Bryant was one of the greatest N.B.A. players, with five championship rings and 18 All-Star selections in 20 seasons.

But he was building a business empire, too:

• He started the investment firm Bryant Stibel in 2013 with the Web.com founder Jeff Stibel. Bryant Stibel has invested in companies like Dell, Alibaba and Epic Games, the maker of Fortnight.

• He also invested in Bodyarmor, a sports drink maker in which Coke later bought a stake to compete against Gatorade.

• And he founded Granity Studios, a media company.

“I got tired of telling people I loved business as much as I did basketball because people would look at me like I had three heads,” Mr. Bryant told ESPN in 2017. “But I do.”

The crash raises questions about the increasing use of helicopters for business travel. Aaron Mak of Slate notes that the number of civilian helicopters has grown 30 percent since 2006, and that choppers tend to crash more frequently than other aircraft.

What the business world said about Mr. Bryant:

• The venture capitalist Chris Sacca: “Not sure I will ever know anyone else with his work ethic.”

• The Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian: “He still believed he had work to do.”

____________________________

Today’s DealBook Briefing was written by Andrew Ross Sorkin in New York and Michael J. de la Merced in London.

____________________________

Investors fear the growing coronavirus crisis

U.S. stock futures are down sharply this morning, as the death toll of the coronavirus outbreak continues to rise and pressure grows on China’s political leaders and its economy.

Here’s the latest:

• The S&P 500 looks set to open 56 points lower, while the Dow may open down 474 points.

• The number of deaths currently stands at 80, and infections have been reported worldwide.

• It’s still unclear how the outbreak began, since some patients never visited the seafood market in Wuhan where it is thought to have originated.

Questions have arisen over Beijing’s strategy of quarantining more cities in central China. Public health experts have asked whether the travel restrictions are limiting medical care.

President Xi Jinping has sought public shows of decisive action, including convening an extraordinary session of the Communist Party’s top political body. But “many Chinese remain unconvinced the government is being completely forthcoming about the toll of the disease,” Steven Lee Myers and Chris Buckley of the NYT write.

And Chinese consumer spending continues to drop, according to James Areddy of the WSJ, with potentially negative consequences for China’s economy. If the outbreak continues past March, economic growth might fall past a psychologically important level of 6 percent for the first quarter, according to analysts at Société Générale.

Will the Saudis enter the soccer arms race?

An investor group led by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is said to be in talks to buy the British soccer club Newcastle United for about $445 million, according to the WSJ and the FT. It could mean another team with well-heeled owners willing to spend millions to chase success.

The current state of play:

• Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is working with the financier Amanda Staveley and the billionaires David and Simon Reuben.

• The Saudis would own 80 percent of Newcastle in any such deal. Ms. Staveley and the Reubens would split the remainder.

Why Newcastle? It’s one of the better-known English Premier League soccer teams, with stellar attendance at matches. And its current owner, Mike Ashley, has been criticized for not spending enough on players.

The Saudis have been investing in businesses outside the Middle East to diversify their country’s economy away from oil. The sovereign fund, known as P.I.F., has taken stakes in companies like Uber and Tesla.

The question is how much the Saudis are prepared to spend on Newcastle. Abu Dhabi propelled Manchester City to the heights of the Premier League by spending heavily on the team, while Qatar has done something similar with Paris Saint-Germain.

U.S. and U.K. are headed for a clash over Huawei

Britain is reportedly expected to give Huawei a limited role in its 5G network this week, George Parker and Nic Fildes of the FT report. That could set up a fight with the Trump administration, which views the Chinese tech giant as a security threat.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is likely to approve the use of Huawei products in “noncore” parts of the next-generation wireless network, after British intelligence officials said that they could “contain” any risks of using its technology. And Mr. Johnson’s government is considering imposing a cap on Huawei’s potential market share.

Trump administration officials have repeatedly warned foreign governments that Huawei poses a security threat. The U.S. has sought to impose ever-tighter restrictions on the Chinese company, and has argued that it’s impossible to stop the Chinese from infiltrating a network that uses Huawei equipment.

But British officials reportedly feel they have little choice, given Huawei’s technological prowess and a lack of alternatives.

Remembering Clayton Christensen, innovation guru

Professor Christensen, whose 1997 book “The Innovator’s Dilemma” became a touchstone text for the business world, died on Thursday. He was 67.

His thesis was that “the factors that helped the best companies succeed — listening responsively to customers, investing aggressively in technology products that satisfied customers’ next-generation needs — were the exact same reasons some of these companies failed,” writes Glenn Rifkin of the NYT.

Successful entrepreneurs could miss out on the next big thing by focusing on their current customers and remaining married to their once-disruptive products. Professor Christensen published and spoke extensively about his findings, including at DealBook’s Playing for the Long Term conference in 2016.

Business leaders embraced his work. Andy Grove, a former C.E.O. of Intel, said soon after “The Innovator’s Dilemma” published that it was the most important book he had read in a decade.

Adam Grant, a Wharton professor and fellow sage for the business world, offered this assessment: “His most disruptive innovation was reminding us not to overinvest in careers and underinvest in people.”

More: How direct-to-consumer companies like Dollar Shave Club shook up the world of retail.

A screenshot of Louise Linton’s since-deleted Instagram post.

Greta Thunberg has an unlikely ally

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stirred up controversy last week when he said that the climate change activist Greta Thunberg should take a college economics class. But Ms. Thunberg found a supporter in Mr. Mnuchin’s wife, Louise Linton.

“I stand with Greta on this issue. (I don’t have a degree in economics either),” Ms. Linton, a Hollywood actor and producer who is a public supporter of animal rescue organizations, wrote in an Instagram post on Saturday.

Ms. Linton later deleted the post, and then posted to her Instagram Story defending herself, writes William Cummings of USA Today. “I am not my husband,” she wrote to one critic. “I happen to love Greta. Whatever he says has nothing to do with my views or opinions.”

The speed read

Deals

• Reporters at The Chicago Tribune really want someone to buy out their newspaper’s current owner. (NYT)

• California regulators are becoming a big hurdle for T-Mobile in its quest to buy Sprint. (WSJ)

• Big investment banks are walking away from Chinese companies seeking to go public on Wall Street. (FT)

Politics and policy

• In an unpublished draft of his coming book, the former national security adviser John Bolton directly linked President Trump’s withholding of aid to Ukraine to his desire for investigations into Democrats. (NYT)

• Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross warned E.U. officials not to move forward with a proposed carbon tax. (FT)

Tech

• Amazon employees openly criticized the company’s environmental practices, defying a company policy against unauthorized public criticism about its businesses. (WaPo)

• The London police said they plan to start using facial-recognition technology, overriding privacy concerns. (NYT)

• Content moderators at a Facebook facility in Europe have reportedly been asked to sign a form acknowledging that the job may cause PTSD. (FT)

Best of the rest

• “How Under Armour Lost Its Edge” (NYT)

• Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia reportedly courted Jeff Bezos on business matters before an alleged hack of the Amazon chief’s phone. (WSJ)

• German prosecutors are said to be investigating payments by Deutsche Bank to win the business of a Saudi royal. (FT)

• Where Prince Charles of Britain’s personal fortune comes from. (NYT)

Correction: Friday’s newsletter misstated the name of the company whose founder was sentenced to prison over a racketeering scheme tied to the opioid epidemic. The company is Insys, not Infosys.

Thanks for reading! We’ll see you tomorrow.

We’d love your feedback. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [email protected].

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hviral · 5 years

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Where did all the cod go? Fishing crisis in the North Sea

With an international council now on the brink of declaring the species unsustainable – and Brexit looming – what is the future for one of the nation’s favourite meals?

Main image: A fishing vessel off the east coast of Scotland. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images

By 7.30am all the cod at Peterhead fish market had been sold, snapped up by competing buyers wearing thick fleeces, woolly hats and rubber boots against the chill of the vast indoor warehouse.

A gaggle of middle-aged men clutching books of brightly coloured “tallies” followed the auctioneer alongside crates of glassy-eyed fish nestling in ice. With a curt nod or a swift hand gesture, the price was settled, tallies thrown down to indicate the fish’s new owner, and the group moved on. It took less than 10 minutes to dispose of the night’s catch.

Most of the fish would be heading south, to England or mainland Europe. The Scots are not big cod eaters, preferring haddock with their chips. This dates, apparently, from pre-refrigeration days: haddock is a fish best eaten really fresh, whereas cod is tastiest a couple of days after being caught.

The Peterhead buyers were cagey about naming their customers, but the fish they purchased was destined for supermarkets, fishmongers, restaurants, and a few of the classic takeaway chippies that are a national institution. But all this could now be under threat: a report published last month by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Ices) revealed that North Sea cod stocks had fallen to critical levels. Warning that cod was being harvested unsustainably, it recommended a 63% cut in the catch – and that’s on top of a 47% reduction last year.

Independent auditors are reviewing the Ices report, and by late September they will announce whether the fisheries can retain their Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certificates of sustainability – issued only two years ago – or whether those certificates will be suspended. Depending on the decision, North Sea cod could soon be off the menu.

At Peterhead, Europe’s largest white-fish port, the cod haul was small, perhaps half the amount of the previous night, causing a buyers’ scramble. “It fluctuates,” said an official, shrugging his shoulders.

Stuart Cowie, who has been in the industry for 20 years, said everyone was worried about the Ices advice. “There are too many merchants and too few fish.”

But Will Clark was more sanguine. The managing director of Wilsea had bought 37 boxes of cod that morning, he declared after consulting a small black notebook. The fish would be heading down “the spine of England” – the Midlands and London, which were “strong cod-eating areas” – and across the Channel.

“The fish will be with my customers by 1am or 2am, and in the shops by 7am or 8am tomorrow. People will be eating it anywhere in Europe by tomorrow lunchtime.” North Sea cod, he said, was “well managed. All stocks go up and down. It’s a concern, but we’ve been here before.”

And indeed we have. North Sea cod stocks were once plentiful but plummeted – and came perilously close to collapse – between the early 1970s and 2006. A “cod recovery plan” sought to restore stocks to sustainable levels by limiting fishing days, decommissioning boats, banning catches in nursery areas and putting larger holes in nets to allow young cod to escape.

In what was seen as a significant achievement, the stock rose fourfold between 2006 and 2017, when the MSC – on whose guidance big retailers and many consumers rely – awarded three fisheries sustainable status. The MSC’s distinctive blue label with a white tick was a huge fillip to the industry.

The UK consumes about 115,000 tonnes of cod each year. Only 15,000 tonnes comes from the North Sea, with the rest imported mainly from the fertile grounds in the Barents Sea and around Norway and Iceland. But the species is of huge symbolic importance to the UK fishing industry, which employs about 24,000 people – more than half of them working in Scotland.

Ices, an international organisation of scientists from countries bordering the North Atlantic, advises governments and the industry on stock levels and the sustainable quotas that can be fished without endangering future stocks.

It sounded a warning last year with its recommended cut in the cod catch of 47%, but this year’s assessment – based on extensive scientific research – warned that levels were dangerously low and another two-thirds reduction was needed.

“It is unclear what the reasons are for this; further work is required to investigate climate change, biological and fisheries effects,” the report said.

Environmental organisations point out that cod has been fished above its maximum sustainable yield in recent years, meaning the fish are taken from the sea faster than they can reproduce.

The species is not breeding as fast as it used to, too many unwanted “juvenile” fish are caught, and the practice of “discarding” – throwing dead fish back into the sea to keep within quotas – continues despite being banned.

With the end of the cod recovery plan, fishing vessels are now entering sites that have not been trawled for more than a decade, causing damage to the ecosystem, they say.

“This is a fishery that was on the road to recovery, but failures to reduce fishing pressure have led to serious overfishing and a reversal of fortunes for cod,” said Samuel Stone of the Marine Conservation Society.

“It’s a very harsh lesson, but this is why we need legally binding commitments to fish at sustainable levels, to effectively monitor our fisheries and to take an ecosystem approach to fisheries management. We have to properly protect our fish stocks for the benefit of our seas, coastal communities and consumers who expect sustainable seafood.”

The Marine Conservation Society, WWF and ClientEarth jointly wrote to the environment secretary on the day Ices published its advice, calling on the government to take urgent steps to secure the future of North Sea cod.

“As the country with the largest share [about 40%] of the North Sea cod quota, we require the UK to play a leading role in introducing emergency measures that minimise fishing mortality and maximise spawning potential. Only by doing this will the stock be enabled to recover,” their letter said.

Ices is an advisory body with no legal authority. Its advice will be the subject of negotiations between the coastal nations bordering the North Sea to determine the “total allowable catch”, or quota, for cod next year.

Brexit is a further complicating factor, of course. In the 2016 referendum campaign, the fishing industry became a symbol of the Leave campaign, which claimed it would be a clear beneficiary of its “take back control” message.

The EU common fisheries policy was held up as an example of European bureaucrats dictating to the UK fishing industry what it could and could not do in the country’s coastal waters. But marine experts point out that fish do not respect national boundaries, and therefore the industry needs coordinated international management.

“Species like cod are ‘shared stocks’,” said Phil Taylor of Open Seas, which works on protecting and recovering the marine ecosystem.

“After we leave the EU we will have greater control of how fishing takes place at sea. But the buck will then land squarely at the feet of UK and Scottish ministers. We may have greater control, but we will also have greater responsibility and accountability.

“It will be completely within the gift of our ministers – whether they take a short-term, smash and grab approach to fish stocks or manage these fisheries more fairly to protect the environment and yield the best long-term profit from the system. We require an urgent transition towards more sustainable seafood.”

Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said the industry was “100% committed to sustainable fisheries for the very obvious reason that anything else would spell the end for hundreds of businesses that sustain so many of our coastal communities”.

The latest challenge on cod stocks could be overcome by “responsible, practicable measures”, he added. “It will not be easy, and many sacrifices will have to be made along the way. But we will succeed, and when this country is no longer in the common fisheries policy we will be able to set our own more meaningful and stringent sustainability goals and ensure that it is our fishing boats that will have first call on quota.”

The MSC acknowledged that the drop in cod stocks was “disappointing news” for the industry. But, said the MSC’s Erin Priddle, “it is imperative that effective measures are introduced to secure long-term sustainability of this iconic and ecologically important fishery … protecting North Sea cod for this and future generations must be a key priority for all involved”.

Consumers, said the MSC, could continue to eat cod it has labelled as sustainable. If the auditors decide next month to suspend the certificates, the change would come into force towards the end of October.

The impact of such a move will be felt mainly in supermarkets, fishmongers and restaurants where sustainability is an important factor for conscientious consumers. In the nation’s chippies, 90% of the cod served is imported. “There will be less UK-caught cod, but even before the Ices advice, we’ve always imported most of the seafood we eat,” said Aoife Martin of Seafish, which supports the UK seafood industry.

A “huge variety of amazing seafood species” was caught by UK fishers, she said, but about 80% was exported. Monkfish, scallops, lobster and crab were in demand in Europe and Asia – “Koreans love UK whelks” – but “either we don’t catch the fish we want to eat here in the UK, like tuna, or we don’t catch enough to meet demand, such as cod”.

According to the National Federation of Fish Friers, one in five Britons make a weekly trip to the chippie. But big hikes in the price of fish in the past few years are putting the industry under pressure.

“Every day shops are going up for sale. A lot are really struggling, but it’s tight for everyone,” said Andrew Crook, the federation’s president.

The first fish and chip shop is believed to have been opened by Joseph Malin, a Jewish immigrant, in east London around 1860. Another businessman, John Lees, is also credited as a fish and chip pioneer, selling the dish from a wooden hut at Mossley market in Lancashire as early as 1863.

It soon caught on. By the 1930s, the number of fish and chip shops across the country had reached about 35,000. In The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell credited the ubiquity of much-loved fish and chips as one of the factors in averting revolution.

During the second world war, the government ensured that fish and chips were never rationed. Winston Churchill described the constituents of the dish as “the good companions”.

Traditional takeaway fish and chips, seasoned with salt and vinegar and eaten with fingers out of newspaper wrappings, sometimes accompanied by a pickled onion, have long been superseded by polystyrene cartons, plastic forks and sachets of sauce.

Now the dish is also served in miniature portions at glamorous parties, and it has a place on the menus of expensive restaurants as well as pubs and seaside cafes.

Fish and chips is ingrained in the nation’s identity, said Crook.

“You remember eating fish and chips with your grandparents on the seafront in Blackpool or Margate, but you don’t remember your first kebab. There’s a romance to it, and a sense of theatre, as well as being a comforting and nutritious meal.”

The looming Ices decision on cod could, however, take its toll. At a cafe in Peterhead run by the Fishermen’s Mission, Kyle Wood said that if cod was deemed unsustainable, “supermarkets will take it off their shelves”. “There’ll still be fish and chips, but there’s bound to be an impact on price and availability,” he said. “It will be a big struggle for the industry.”

The post Where did all the cod go? Fishing crisis in the North Sea appeared first on HviRAL.

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archivewr · 5 years

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TeenSpeak Interview

At the age of 18, Wade Robson has already done more than most people dream about doing in a lifetime. His insight into the music world has commanded the respect and attention of Britney Spears, N'Sync, Tyrese, Michael Jackson, Paula Adbul, Janet Jackson...just to name a few. This rising star is quickly becoming an explosive force on our pop scene, having proven his weight in gold time after time. Having just directed and choreographed Britney Spear's and N'Sync's dynamite performance on the MTV music awards, Wade Robson is making all of the right moves to being the most sought after choreographer, director, and recognized artist for his own music.TeenSpeak had the opportunity to catch up with Wade to learn that this 18 year old is involved in writing his own music, in the midst of writing songs with N'Sync's Justin Timerberlake, and, hoping to revive interest in the musical by writing one of his own. While he paraphrased Andy Warhol's "Every-body will be famous for 15 minutes, and I think that's scary and it's so true," Robson seems to be doing everything right to insure himself a spotlight that makes a lasting impression.Born with a "gifted talent," Wade seems to have the ability to predict just what is happening in the "popular" industry, and he admits that some of what's happening is not all good. He says, "Before you had your Princes and your Madonnas and your Michael Jackson superstars...but it's hard to do that now. Musically, the thing that has been bothering me is that a record label will find their artist, and then, the first thing they will do is go to every huge producer. This is fine, but each producer is going to do what they do, so this album becomes this conglomeration of all of these producers' visions of the artist, and it's no longer the artist's vision anymore."Dedicated to his own artistic feelings, "It's really just a feel, and I just go with whatever the music makes me do," Wade also admitted that artists, like N'Sync will remain popular if they grow with their fans and the times. "The times are always changing... each generation that comes is brought up with a different sort of music, so you are going to have to change with it. If you don't change, you'll be gone in a minute."Born in Brisbane, Australia, Wade began dancing at the age of 3. When he was a mere 5 year old, he was sharing the dance floor with such stars as Michael Jackson, Paula Adbul and Debbie Allen. In a feature article in Rolling Stone Magazine, Wade was lauded as the "hottest choreographer.""Sometimes it's hard for people to take instructions from me because of my age, but they eventually give in," Wade pronounced with a chuckle. Wade's young age has certainly not hindered his ability to maintain a substantial status in the entertainment world. At age 11, he signed with Sony Music as a member of the Rap group Quo. He has also landed guest appearances on "Full House," "Pacific Blue," Nothing Sacred," Picket Fences," and a role in the movie, "Ed TV."A consumate entertainer of the 21st century, Wade is a brilliant star in the entertainment industry, and his "fifteen minutes of fame" are far from over. What follows is TeenSpeak's interview.

TeenSpeak: Where do you think that the music industry is going?

Robson: You start off with a bang! Obviously pop is really strong right now, as we all know. But I think pop is definitely changing a lot. I think pop is going into an electronica sort of vibe. Things like techno and electronic is sort of becoming more mainstream. Even N'Sync's last album, had some electronica elements -- all musicians are kind of going towards that. Also, I pretty much think that everything is starting to come together. Pop is using a lot of R&B, now too. It's funny because we forget what pop means. Pop comes from popular, so, if the people like it, it's pop. Everything is just starting to come together, it's starting to broaden -- maybe things won't be so specified.

TeenSpeak: Where is your music taking you?

Robson: My stuff is real dance oriented, and it actually has some rock elements in it too, because I have always really loved rock. It comes from the base of hip hop and the pop audience, but there are some rock influences and R&B influences in it. It's definitely something new that no one has heard before, but it's not going to scare anyone because it's not too different.

TeenSpeak: How much harder is it to be a music star today than ever before?

Robson: It's funny I was driving along Sunset yesterday and I saw this quote that this friend of mine had brought up a while ago. It's a quote from Andy Warhol that basically says, in the future, everybody will be famous for 15 minutes. And, I think that's scary, but it's so true. There's so much of everything now. Things are so specialized. There are so many of each thing that it's really hard to be famous.

There really aren't that many mega-stars or super-stars -- there's very few of them now. You had your Princes and your Madonnas and your Michael Jacksons superstars, and it's hard to do that now. Also, and I may be going off the question a little bit, but musically the thing that has been bothering me is that a record label will find their artist, and then the first thing they will do is go to every huge producer. This is fine, but each producer is going to do what they do. So, this album becomes this conglomeration of all of these producers visions of the artist. It's not the artist's vision anymore. So, to me, there can't be artists anymore. I think it's hard for the fans. How can you really like an artist when, I'm not saying that they are not talented, but you have got all of these other people around them doing their thing. You may like one vein to the picture, but the whole package doesn't always make sense. Before, when an artist would make an album, they would have one main producer, or one group of producers who would together figure out what the vein of the album was going to be together. Today, we get all of these random songs that don't go together and don't make sense. It's hard for the fans to know what the artist represents.

TeenSpeak: How long do you think that the real popular stars of today are going to last?

Robson: It depends. Artists must grow because the times are always changing, and the cycle has been here before with the pop thing. The thing that didn't happen before is that the artists didn't grow. I think that N'Sync has a chance because they are changing. Artists have to think that their fans get older so either they want to grow with their fans, or they want to keep the same age group. But, even if they do want to keep that same demographic of fans, each generation that comes is brought up with a different sort of music, so artists are going to have to change with it. If they don't change, they'll be gone in a minute, any of these artists that are out right now.

TeenSpeak: What accounts for the popularity of groups like N'Sync and solo artists, like Britney Spears?

Robson: I think part of it is that kids feel that that could be them up there. They are pretty much regular people. Especially when N'Sync started -- and it bothered me at first because when I think of somebody who is an artist and on stage, I want them to look really elaborate, with cool costumes. They were always up on stage in street clothes. Then I realized that was what made them so popular. The fans could see them up on stage, and then they could go and buy what they were wearing at the store down the street. They felt like they were close to them. They were regular guys, so that could be them up on stage. They feel a part of the music scene. That's part of the reason why they are so big.

TeenSpeak: When you are choreographing, how do you match dance movement with different music styles?

Robson: It's really just a feel, and I just go with whatever the music makes me do. I am lucky, or blessed with the talent to do music too. Pretty much all of the choreography work that I have done has involved a complete redo the music myself. Like all of the stuff I have done with N'Sync and Britney and IMAX and whoever, I have always remixed their songs -- which is great because it goes different ways. Sometimes I will do the music first and then choreograph to it, or sometimes I'll start choreography first and then build the music around the choreography. That's what's so cool. You will watch it and you can't tell what came first, the music or the choreography, because they go so well, hand in hand. The way I'm just feeling it, it's whatever it makes you do. As far as the movement, I don't like to think about it too much. When it comes to staging and concepts, obviously, it's different.

TeenSpeak: So Rap music doesn't cause you to do more hard edged moves...

Robson: Oh, definitely, whatever the song is -- if it's a harder song, and a darker subject, my movement is going to be a lot darker and gothic. If it's a happier song, my movement is going to be happier and jumpier and more like a party.

TeenSpeak: Do you think that pure creativity is squashed in an effort to give the public something that they can comprehend?

Robson: Yeah, to a certain extent, but I think the artists today are talented.

TeenSpeak: Who do you think is an example of a pure creative talent?

Robson: Lauren Hill, D'Angelo -- these people who are really self contained artists. But I think that if you are talented, even if you are packaged by the labels, your talent will eventually shine through no matter what. It's the strongest thing. People will begin to recognize it. But if it is just not there, or the drive is not there in you, then anything that happens to you, you let happen to you. If you say you got caught in a bad deal, well, you signed the bad deal.

TeenSpeak: What do you think about some of these stars who are dressing in a certain way, and in so doing, encouraging young girls to copy them? A lot of people started to criticize Britney Spears, for example, for going from a sweet look to something more expository.

Robson: I will have to say that a lot of that is my fault too! But, it's a hard situation, and obviously Britney is a role model, and she has got to be aware of that. At the same time, she has got to be her. It's hard. I don't think it's too bad, because I think she always does it in a way that is respectful. If she does it, it is because she wants to, not because anybody else tells her to do it. I think it's empowering, and it may not be what certain people like, but you are always going to have some of the people love you, and some of the people hate you. That's the way it is. At least you are doing it and this is who you are.

Teenspeak: We learned that you are interested in reviving the musical. Can you tell us a little about that?

Robson: I have always loved musicals, but there was always something that bothered me about the way they were done. Even the simplest things, it may sound silly, bothered me. Like, when someone was walking on the street, they would go into a song. Where did that music come from? Things like that always bothered me. I always wanted there to be a reason for the song. I don't like meaningless songs. I don't mean to say that everything has to be practical and realistic -- of course not. It is afterall, a dreamland, but if a song is supposed to be in the character's head, I want someone to explain that, so the audience will understand why this is the music that they are hearing. These things just weren't explained, and this was a little cheesy to me. But also, filmed musicals are something that I want to do a little later in my life -- it's something I definitely want to do, but I want to bring them up to date with things that go on in our lives today. I wrote one, actually, that had to do with the stock market -- it was a musical, and I brought in different elements, taking it to a different level.

TeenSpeak: Why do you think that the musical has failed? We really haven't seen one since West Side story.

Robson: The same thing -- times change, and musicals weren't changing with the times. They were a little cheesy. People were becoming more political, and people didn't want to see this hunky dorry stuff. The musical didn't consider the issues of the day.

TeenSpeak: What do you think about music telling a story or having a message? Is that occuring a lot?

Robson: No I don't think it's happening enough. There is a way to do it. To me, sending a message is a hard thing to do without being corny. There is a way you have got to figure out how to do it. I think it's hard, and that's why it doesn't happen that often. But, I think it's important. It's something that I always try to do. I always try to put some sort of story line in, or a message in, but you have got to find a cool way to do it. It's something that you will definitely notice about my music when it starts popping.

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felinevomitus · 7 years

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The Only Authentic Work: Yan Jun Interviewed

'Feedback Performance' (with Andy Guhl), 2014, St. Gallen. Photo by Tabea Guhl.

Yan Jun is a writer and sound artist from Beijing whose practice focuses on the use of feedback, field recording, voice and gesture. Yan Jun began his sound art career by celebrating Chinese underground rock bands in Sub Jam magazine, a venture which soon developed into a “guerilla label” and publishing house in the year 2000.

With Sub Jam – and its subsidiary sister label Kwanyin Records – Yan Jun has released over fifty albums of experimental music by himself and others. These include field recordings by Peter Cusack, Laurent Jeanneau & Kink Gong, noise music by Tim Blechmann & Manuel Knapp as well as improvised music from the Beijing underground. This scene is best articulated by Yan Jun’s ‘Living Room Tour’, whereby intimate concerts occur in private domestic settings.

In 2013, Sub Jam published 23 Formes En Élastique / The Only Authentic Work. This collection of music concrete compositions by Lionel Marchetti was coupled with Yan Jun’s poetic and literary responses to them. The book sought to build “a labyrinth of elasticity, empty space, reality and its metamorphosis” by looking back on 23 years’ worth of work with forward-thinking lyricism.

Yan Jun is currently based in Berlin, as a result of a DAAD Scholarship and artist residency programme, which allows him to attend “innumerable events” and perform in front of “open-minded audiences” in what he considers to be “the last paradise”. Yan Jun is a member of the FEN Quartet (along with Otomo Yoshihihe, Ryu Hankil and Yuen Chee Wai) who will be performing at Cafe Oto on the 24th and 25th April 2017.

Ilia Rogatchevski talks to Yan Jun about the notions reality and authenticity in underground music culture. This interview was conducted over email in February 2017.

Ilia Rogatchevski: Sub Jam began as a magazine before developing into a label and publishing imprint. What were the reasons behind this explosion of activity?

Yan Jun: Yes, this name first popped up as title for a magazine. I actually made only one issue, but in 5000 copies. It was supposed to be published with a concert I was organising – the first gathering of underground rock bands around China – but it failed. That was 1998. I was inspired by [the US independent label] Sub Pop, and ‘jam’, as a free-form of playing (I didn’t yet know the English word ‘improvisation’).

Next year, I moved to Beijing and, in 2000, I decided to release friends’ work. Most of them were in a queue to be signed by a few small, but mainstream labels. I prefer DIY, a spirit lacking in the scene. The so-called underground was weak. There was no [sense of] its own tradition. No deep thought. Very few experiences of touring. Sub Jam was perhaps the third independent label established in the country. Most people thought the underground was just not successful. I thought: “Ok, let’s do something urgently!”

[Now] there is no underground in China. No such culture or scene. No such community or aesthetics. It had a chance to grow it but it stopped about 15 years ago. If someone uses this word now it’s either to sell something to you or it has already been bought. There is a small scene of fake Dionysos, which looks ‘underground’ due to the noise, free jazz and rock & roll styles, as well as the weed and New Age Taoism/Buddhism bullshit, but it’s just another version of the Spectacle. It’s true that it’s at least a reaction to reality. Perhaps a sad one. Like those people who embraced Romanticism while some others embraced National Socialism when they felt tired by the struggle with modernity.

Why did the concert fail? Have you ever used failure to your advantage when creating work?

It was a typical failure, when one wants to create independent art by borrowing resources from the mainstream. I was dependent on one businessman’s word that he will pay the cost [of the event]. Somehow, he disappeared.

My life is full of mistakes and failures. I was (am) always stupid and sometimes an asshole, but I always change and turn direction to new territories. Most people are educated that they are losers in this society. That’s why we depend on dreams. So, in my experience, all these failures are good. Noise is good. Malfunction is good. Non-music is good. Poor sound and nothing meaningful is good. Feedback starts from mistakes, right?

I still believe in Nietzsche’s idea that tragedy was born out of music. It’s not about things we already know or what we can draw from an image by narrative or drama. We don’t paint it by an atmosphere of shining effects – which is what Nietzsche criticised Wagner for – art has to be abstract and emphatic. Life is a tragedy and we should enjoy it by dancing into its depths. If you paint life with colourful wallpaper (as Brian Eno does today), you are cheating.

‘Living Room Tour’, performance at audience’s home (2016, Beijing). Photo by Li Jingyi.

Your mission statement describes Sub Jam as a “guerrilla organisation”. In what sense is Sub Jam’s output radical? In other words, what guerrilla tactics do you employ when approaching new publications, films, events or sound art releases?

To be radical is to react with the ‘Radical Reality’, [something] far more radical than art. Think about the huge LED screen on Tiananmen Square, used for government propaganda, and all the performative and poetic tactics used by politicians and big companies. Think about the everyday news we read: that someone suddenly turns mad and burns a bus for revenge on ‘society’. I think I’m not radical enough. I’m trying.

It’s not easy to stand steadily in this rapid changing environment. You have to move, follow, find fissure, collaborate, kill yourself and rebirth yourself, betray, learn, wake up again and again… that’s guerrilla.

Listening to your work, I get a sense that persistence and feedback play a major role in your sound art practice. What are the motivations behind approaching sound in this way? Are they political, personal or purely aesthetic?

I’m not good of playing anything. Instruments, [computer] programmes, voice, anything. That’s my education and that’s me. I started to make music when I was thirty years old and I was busy organising [concerts] as well. No time to learn to play ‘music’.

Feedback is the thing I finally found easy. You don’t put your beautiful ego and virtuoso skill into an object. It’s there already. And I don’t know how to start and end musically. It’s better to let things be persistent. I think the best music sounds like field recording (and the worst field recording sounds like music).

Do you have a favourite frequency, or a method, to which you find yourself returning to again and again? If yes, why?

15800 Hz. It’s the frequency my feedback system always produces. I can’t chose it. I like it as it comes to me. And it’s audible while some people aren’t aware. It’s radically sharp and small and intense. Once my friend complained that it’s more painful than Merzbow. I was very happy because Merzbow is not radical – but he is sweet and beautiful – and I was enjoying the radical aspect of so-called noise music.

What relationship, if any, does your sound work have to gesture? (I’m thinking here not only of theatrical, performative or practical gestures, but symbolic ones too, such as your attempts to blow up cheap speakers.)

Gestures are performative. Political gestures, linguistic gestures, ritual gestures… I enjoy them and I also enjoy breaking them. For instance, stopping and turning before a motive grows fully. Or telling people it was fake, what I just did a second ago. Or just say “but”. If I go too seriously, I would make a joke to myself, which takes things to another level of seriousness. The symbolic world is basically built by gestures. To play the role of the human is to play with gestures. However, for play, it is more passionate if we are aware it’s a game. Artists should devote themselves to games instead of illusion.

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Yan Jun – Feedback Solo (2016, Berlin)

In your interview with Perfect Sound Forever you state that your affinity for “dry sound” is an attempt to “expand people’s idea of what reality is”. I feel like, on a social level, we’re moving away from a useful understanding of what reality is and diving into a dangerous flirtation with fallacy – with Trump and Brexit being the most obvious examples. Does your ‘dry-reality’ come at odds with the ‘wet-reality’ of contemporary popular culture? How do you navigate this dichotomy?

First at all, delay pedals were abused too much in the music scene. And beer. It sounds like you’re make many copies of your poor ego and sending them out as a grant army. What about focusing on one tiny substantial sound?

Good psychedelic music depends on no delay effects, but on individual sounds. For example, drums in 1960s psychedelic rock. Of course, people tend to prefer a laid back atmosphere, instead of [focusing on] details. I too enjoy shit beer, if I’m with friends and the vibe is good.

As for Trump, he is perhaps the most successful actor in the history of American presidents. Use him as a mirror and you can see how people need performances and gestures, how thirsty we are, how poor the reality is. People both love him and hate him. I’m sorry, but it’s true that we enjoy him so much. Without such a entertainer life is boring and fighting is meaningless, right?

But why is the reality poor or do we just think it’s poor? Why do we lack the ability to process information? Why don’t we just accept that the reality is poor and being poor is totally ok, or even great? Why don’t we just accept that we are not beautiful and elegant, but just nothing, and that being nothing is great?

The medicine companies tell us that we have certain diseases and that we need comforting pills. Why are musicians and artists also doing the same thing as those companies? Why are these fucking star artists telling people that you, little losers, [need to] come and worship my giant spectacle? Why do those losers produce dreamy art, which looks better than themselves, yet they forget they they will be greater greater if they don’t make up?

I feel touched sometimes when I see people devoted to making up so much, for example Brian Eno or Merzbow. So childish. So poor. So sad and so true. I would cry for a such love song, because I’m a loser too.

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Yan Jun – Living Room Tour: Vickie’s Place (2015, Singapore)

What is it about the music of Brian Eno, Merzbow and other artists who “make-up”, as you say, that is so poor and childish?

Merzbow and Brian Eno are different. Merzbow here is more symbolic as the “king of noise”. People always want a king – of pop, of noise, of Russia, of the USA, of China etc. I enjoy his music. It’s always peaceful and shining. Beautiful in a traditional way. It’s easy to be used as drugs. Harsh noise or fast cut noise or shitcore or noisecore or avant-garde metal or whatever, are no purer than Brian Eno’s wallpaper.

To be childish is not bad. Poor is not bad. It’s just a problem of staying in a feedback loop where poor people always buy dreams produced by noble people. Or they produce dreams by themselves.

How would you define authenticity in this context? Is it a question of process, or delivery, perhaps? Is a living room concert more ‘authentic’ than one that is staged in a concert hall?

No, a living room concert is not more authentic than a concert hall one. An avant-garde composition is not more authentic than a classical one. A master piece is not any better than an auto-tuned teenager song.

To be authentic is to have the ability to make people listen or dive into [your work]. [The pre-Socratic philosopher] Empedocles defined image as consequence of two lights streaming from eyes and touching things. Without the gaze there is no image. To make art is to make people emit themselves through sight. All the CDs and vinyl and sounds are nothing, but waiting for such attention.

Although I see the poetic licence you’ve employed with regards to his theory on sight and perception, Empedocles was fundamentally wrong about this process. Light comes into the eyes. The same goes for sound. There is a strand of thought in sound art theory, leading back to John Cage, which states that the audience is as significant as the performer/composer, because their ‘active listening’ allows them to ‘compose’ the piece as it is happening. Would you agree with this statement?

Of course he was wrong in the sense of science, but let’s think about artists instead of audience. Artists have to emit themselves!

I don’t think the audience changes anything other than their perception. If you just come to take a photo and post it on Facebook, I doubt there is anything valuable in front of you. That’s why we say the audience is the composer. The point of the argument is about an object, i.e. the artwork. “Can you change it by just gazing on?” I don’t care if this object can be changed or not.

If one is merely a receiver, and/or an aesthetics cataloguing machine, s/he does not deserve her/his life (the tragedy, the possibility, the only chance of life). It’s simple: do something. I don’t care for that strand of sound study. My concern is that I don’t want to be a sad consumer who couldn’t find a nice wallet to buy.

The relationship between the audience and the artwork is not one between the consumer and the supermarket. Today, in Beijing, I have seen many experienced audiences who are always picky and criticise the music on stage: “Shit, this is so bad! Oh, he ruined everything! That master shouldn’t play with this local young guy!” This [attitude] is total consumption. No love for the world. In ancient times, people named a small booth as a “place for listening to rain” or a “booth for listening to trees”. Why does nobody complain that the tree does not sound virtuous enough? Because they didn’t buy a ticket for it? You have to do something. Art is life. 23 Formes En Élastique / The Only Authentic Work is available to purchase from the IKLECTIK bookshop. For more information about Yan Jun please visit the Yan Jun or Sub Jam website.

Ilia Rogatchevski Originally published by IKLECTIK, 8 March 2017

#YAN JUN #THE ONLY AUTHENTIC WORK #SUB JAM #INTERVIEW #IKLECTIK

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mastcomm · 4 years

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DealBook: Kobe Bryant’s Death Cuts Short a Budding Business Career

Good morning. U.S. stock futures are down sharply this morning on fears about the coronavirus outbreak. More below. (Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.)

An early end to Kobe Bryant’s new path

Mr. Bryant was one of the greatest N.B.A. players, with five championship rings and 18 All-Star selections in 20 seasons.

But he was building a business empire, too:

• He started the investment firm Bryant Stibel in 2013 with the Web.com founder Jeff Stibel. Bryant Stibel has invested in companies like Dell, Alibaba and Epic Games, the maker of Fortnight.

• He also invested in Bodyarmor, a sports drink maker in which Coke later bought a stake to compete against Gatorade.

• And he founded Granity Studios, a media company.

“I got tired of telling people I loved business as much as I did basketball because people would look at me like I had three heads,” Mr. Bryant told ESPN in 2017. “But I do.”

What the business world said about Mr. Bryant:

• The venture capitalist Chris Sacca: “Not sure I will ever know anyone else with his work ethic.”

• The Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian: “He still believed he had work to do.”

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Today’s DealBook Briefing was written by Andrew Ross Sorkin in New York and Michael J. de la Merced in London.

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Investors fear the growing coronavirus crisis

U.S. stock futures are down sharply this morning, as the death toll of the coronavirus outbreak continues to rise and pressure grows on China’s political leaders and its economy.

Here’s the latest:

• The S&P 500 looks set to open 56 points lower, while the Dow may open down 474 points.

• The number of deaths currently stands at 80, and infections have been reported worldwide.

• It’s still unclear how the outbreak began, since some patients never visited the seafood market in Wuhan where it is thought to have originated.

Questions have arisen over Beijing’s strategy of quarantining more cities in central China. Public health experts have asked whether the travel restrictions are limiting medical care.

Will the Saudis enter the soccer arms race?

The current state of play:

• Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is working with the financier Amanda Staveley and the billionaires David and Simon Reuben.

• The Saudis would own 80 percent of Newcastle in any such deal. Ms. Staveley and the Reubens would split the remainder.

U.S. and U.K. are headed for a clash over Huawei

But British officials reportedly feel they have little choice, given Huawei’s technological prowess and a lack of alternatives.

Remembering Clayton Christensen, innovation guru

Professor Christensen, whose 1997 book “The Innovator’s Dilemma” became a touchstone text for the business world, died on Thursday. He was 67.

Business leaders embraced his work. Andy Grove, a former C.E.O. of Intel, said soon after “The Innovator’s Dilemma” published that it was the most important book he had read in a decade.

More: How direct-to-consumer companies like Dollar Shave Club shook up the world of retail.

A screenshot of Louise Linton’s since-deleted Instagram post.

Greta Thunberg has an unlikely ally

The speed read

Deals

• Reporters at The Chicago Tribune really want someone to buy out their newspaper’s current owner. (NYT)

• California regulators are becoming a big hurdle for T-Mobile in its quest to buy Sprint. (WSJ)

• Big investment banks are walking away from Chinese companies seeking to go public on Wall Street. (FT)

Politics and policy

• Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross warned E.U. officials not to move forward with a proposed carbon tax. (FT)

Tech

• Amazon employees openly criticized the company’s environmental practices, defying a company policy against unauthorized public criticism about its businesses. (WaPo)

• The London police said they plan to start using facial-recognition technology, overriding privacy concerns. (NYT)

• Content moderators at a Facebook facility in Europe have reportedly been asked to sign a form acknowledging that the job may cause PTSD. (FT)

Best of the rest

• “How Under Armour Lost Its Edge” (NYT)

• Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia reportedly courted Jeff Bezos on business matters before an alleged hack of the Amazon chief’s phone. (WSJ)

• German prosecutors are said to be investigating payments by Deutsche Bank to win the business of a Saudi royal. (FT)

• Where Prince Charles of Britain’s personal fortune comes from. (NYT)

Correction: Friday’s newsletter misstated the name of the company whose founder was sentenced to prison over a racketeering scheme tied to the opioid epidemic. The company is Insys, not Infosys.

Thanks for reading! We’ll see you tomorrow.

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