This Week’s Music is a weekly column that discusses the weeks’ best, worst, and most interesting songs. We try to select songs of different artists and genres to keep things interesting and to please a variety of music fans.
This week’s music column is all about the ladies, marking the comeback of the amazing Carly Rae Jepsen, Cardi B’s new single, and the first EP from the all-women band “boygenius”. Check them out:
Pop
Carly Rae Jepsen – Party For One
“Party For One” operates from Carly Rae Jepsen’s comfort zone; a pop song that makes you smile and that treats you like an adult. The single follows “Cut To The Feeling,” a bracing and honest anthem that’s catchy and uplifting in equal parts. Jepsen’s songs often deal with simple matters such as one sided love and break ups, never encouraging drama and instead forcing you to face your feelings and maybe get something out of your sadness. Jepsen is the queen of the loveliest type of heartache, and even though “Party For One” breaks no new ground I’m still glad she’s back.
Cardi B is no stranger to songs that discuss the wonders of making big checks and cash. Just this year she released “Dinero”, a mishmash of styles that features J-Lo and DJ Khaled. It seems like the second time around Cardi got things right, producing a song that’s honest, fun, and unapologetic. Unlike “Dinero”, this song is concerned with making something that’s good instead of creating a product that appeals to all ethnicities and marketable groups. Like the best Cardi B songs “Money” is personal and has her name signed all over it. Where else are you gonna find someone who mentions her baby and the wonders of morning sex in the span of 3 minutes?
Rock
boygenius – Bite The Hand
Boygenius is the brain child of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus, three reputable musicians who banded together to create one kick ass EP. “Bite The Hand” is a simple song, one that makes you long for three-piece bands, landing emotion with the use of lovely harmonies and instruments that are easy to locate. The song can at times be angry, sad, and melancholic, with weighty and complex lyrics. The full EP comes out November 9 and it’s one of the most exciting musical ventures of the month.
Henry Cavill is often maligned on film sets. In 2017 he became the most memorable part of Justice League with his awkward lip, which was photoshopped in order to remove a mustache that he had to keep for his role in Mission Impossible. Now, The Witcher is back at it, putting a wig on Cavill that makes him look like a greeter from Party City.
The Witcher is a successful book and video game franchise that tells the story of Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter who’s kind of handsome in a video game sort of way. His cool scars and long mane of white hair are not an easy look to translate on film. But the directors of the film had a trick up their sleeves: a wig.
Henry Cavill? is that you? first look at The Witcher’s Geralt of Rivia. coming 2019 pic.twitter.com/flbZV0VBIa
Netflix, who’ll be adapting the series into a TV show, uploaded a camera test of Cavill sporting Rivia’s look. Fans and Twitter users just made fun of him, drawing comparisons between Cavill and other embarrassing men, such Mark Zuckerberg dressed as an archer, Jon Snow with a wig, a cheap knock off of Legolas, and more. Check out some of our favorite responses:
Next month, the World Health Organization’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence will meet in Geneva to discuss the classification of cannabis and other substances. Ahead of that meeting, the Federal Drug Administration asked for the people’s opinions and comments on the drugs listed and specifically cannabis.
Over 20,000 people responded in the timeframe, which ended Wednesday. Around half of all the comments submitted were hand delivered by NORML, which had a form on their site to easily submit a comment to the FDA. Over 10,000 were also submitted through the federal portal.
The comments were gathered with the intention to inform the U.S.’s stance on scheduling requirements that fan out to international treaties prohibiting member countries from legalizing marijuana themselves. Cannabis is at the moment in the most restrictive category possible under international treaties, akin to its Schedule I status in the U.S..
The scheduling of cannabis has impact on every corner of the U.S. and is also crucial globally. Cannabis has been proven medicinal via science, anecdotal evidence and the ability to witness its properties working on someone going through chemotherapy, an arthritic flare or anxiety attack. Its current scheduling denies its healing properties and puts it in a category reserved for drugs with a high potential for abuse.
Cannabis is a global issue at this point and all signs point to prohibition going by the wayside. Canada recently became the second nation to legalize cannabis across the board and Mexico has been paving the way to legalization as of late. Germany is figuring out its medical marijuana program as the UK welcomes cannabis into their own pharmacopoeia. It’s a green tidal wave and it’s a fair bet that a majority of those 20K+ comments were in favor of furthering the green wash.
It will be beyond interesting to see what comes out of the Geneva meeting of drug dependence experts. If prejudice prevails it won’t matter what the comments read, but there is the hope that people’s pleas to reschedule cannabis, globally even, will reach compassionate minds, open to the possibility that the War on Drugs was the wrong route to public safety.
Kensington Palace shared a photo Prince Harry took of Meghan Markle during the couple’s royal tour to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. The adorable snapshot was taken during the couple’s Redwood Treewalk in Rotorua, New Zealand and featured the Duchess of Sussex cradling her baby bump.
In the caption of the photo, the future parents thanked all of their international hosts for their hospitality during their recent visit.
“Thank you New Zealand for the most wonderful last week of our tour,” the duo wrote. “It has been a privilege to meet so many friendly Kiwis. Australia, Fiji, Tonga and NZ—we leave feeling inspired and reminded of how every single one of us can make a difference. ‘The rain that refreshes the parched ground, is made up of single drops’ – Kate Sheppard.”
After the 24-year-old Saturday Night Live cast member joked about split in a promo for the upcoming episode of the show, the 25-year-old “God is a woman” singer took to Twitter send some shade to her ex.
The midterm elections could loosen marijuana restrictions in the United States, as four states put ballot initiatives on legalization to a vote.
Voters in Utah and Missouri will choose whether patients should gain access to medical marijuana.
In Michigan and North Dakota, where medical marijuana is already legal, residents will decide whether to allow it for recreational use. If so, they would join nine U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Canada and Uruguay in launching a regulated recreational marijuana market.
Polling suggests that the upcoming marijuana initiatives in Michigan, Utah and Missouri will pass, while legalizing marijuana seems less likely in conservative North Dakota.
Two-thirds of all U.S. states will likely have some kind of legal marijuana by the end of this year. After that, the argument goes, its nationwide expansion is inevitable.
As marijuana policy researchers, we question that narrative.
Our research indicates that medical marijuana progress may well stall after this latest round of ballot initiatives. Recreational marijuana may continue to expand into states with legal medical marijuana but will ultimately hit a wall, too.
The reason for our caution has to do with the particular way marijuana legalization has occurred in the United States: at the ballot box.
Ballot initiatives have power
So far, every recreational marijuana law passed has occurred via ballot initiative, not through the state legislative process. Seven of the first eight medical marijuana laws – those in California, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Maine and Nevada – were also adopted via ballot initiative.
Such direct initiatives – where citizens can put a policy on the ballot for approval – are a powerful, if nontraditional, form of policymaking in the United States.
Canada legalized recreational marijuana on Oct. 17, becoming only the second country in the world, after Uruguay, to regulate a national marijuana market. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
Even in states where ballot initiatives have little hope of passing, they can be an important force for policy change.
The Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy organization, said it would put medical marijuana on Ohio’s ballot in 2016. In response, Ohio’s legislature moved quickly to craft and pass its own medical marijuana legislation.
Something similar may happen in Utah this fall. Gov. Gary Herbert opposes the expansive medical marijuana ballot initiative up for vote in his state but would support a more restrictive medical marijuana program.
Herbert says he will call a special session of the legislature to work on medical marijuana regardless of whether it succeeds at the ballot. Lawmakers are already working on compromise legislation that would be acceptable to conservative state legislators and the influential Mormon Church.
The limits of direct initiative
So the ballot initiative is powerful. But our analysis suggests its potential for liberalizing marijuana access in the U.S. is nearly tapped out.
Of the 19 U.S. states that have no form of legal marijuana, only six – Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Utah and Missouri – allow for direct initiatives.
The remaining 13 states without legal marijuana are mostly conservative places like South Carolina and Alabama, where legislatures have indicatedreluctance to loosen restrictions. If voters there wanted medical or recreational marijuana, they would not have the option of bypassing policymakers to get the issue on the ballot.
Marijuana legalization won’t end with the 2018 midterms. There is still room for recreational marijuana to expand into the 22 states that currently have legal medicinal marijuana.
History shows that once people grow comfortable with medical marijuana – seeing its impacts on patients and tax revenues – full legalization often follows.
California fully legalized marijuana in 2016, 20 years after legalizing medical marijuana, following a national trend. AP Photo/Richard Vogel
In our analysis, the remaining 13 states are very unlikely to liberalize access to marijuana without a significant push by the federal government.
That’s unlikely, but not impossible, under the Trump administration.
Federal law still considers marijuana an illegal Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning that, as far as the U.S. government is concerned, the plant has no medical value.
Productivity is complicated. There are days when you get a lot of work done really fast and others when it takes you an entire day to get through one simple task. While there’s no straight and easy way to get things done, there are several tricks and tips that you can learn to master in order to make the most out of your day.
Fast Company compiled a list of some tips from productivity experts that’ll make your days last longer and your time more valuable. Check out 5 of our favorites.
By walking fast or going up and down the stairs before an important call you can reinvigorate yourself, and improve your mood and performance. Short jolts of exercise can decrease the need of snacks and can also give you some perspective when you can’t find any inspiration or motivation for work.
According to psychiatrist Don Mordecai, sleep is very important because it regulates your mood and energy. You should sleep between seven and eight hours a night, and keep a regular bed time schedule. He recommends turning off all sources of blue light such as iPhones, iPads and laptops an hour before you go to bed so there are no distractions and nothing that can disturb your sleep.
You should make time for three healthy meals a day and a snack, since these will keep your blood sugar levels high and will help you concentrate and find motivation. Since a lot of people don’t have time to cook delicious and fancy things, maintaining a diet with a lot of protein and fibers is recommended since it gives you the nutrients you need and consists of simple dishes.
Make lists labeling what’s important and what’s less timely, allowing you to get things done in order and to give you some peace of mind. Check on your list throughout the day and tack off the things you’ve already accomplished. Doing this will make you feel like you’re getting things done and you’re succeeding at whatever it is you’re doing.
Personal trainer Jill McKay believes that you should do something you enjoy in the mornings in order to start the day off right. This can include meditating, working out, or having breakfast with your family. If you feel good in the morning then you’ll likely feel good throughout the rest of the day.
A new poll from Harris Research revealed consumers aren’t buying cannabis to get high, but rather to relieve pain (75%), relax (70%), sleep (60%) or manage anxiety (59%). That insight has profound implications on an industry increasingly faced with serving audiences searching for products for their health and wellness needs. The implications on retail – or the dispensary system in the cannabis industry – are poised to trigger a revolution in the consumer shopping experience within the industry and beyond.
The Harris Poll of 2,000 cannabis consumers or cannabis curious individuals in Colorado and California identified key areas where dispensaries are, or are positioned to, provide a new kind of customer experience in areas including education, one-on-one customer service, flexibility of customer journey and approach and store design. Ironically, it is the unique operating environment with all of its product complexity, regulatory structure and fast growth, that is driving innovation.
For example, the Harris survey shows that half of visitors to cannabis dispensaries do no research in advance, suggesting they are relying on the retail experience for the information they need to inform their purchasing decisions. This places a higher burden on dispensaries to provide top-down education and establishes the sales associates – “budtenders” – as an essential conduit to creating a positive customer experience that navigates a complex product array as well as key features and benefits.
“The cannabis industry is faced with unique challenges when it comes to retail, including a legacy of behaviors and stigma, the regulatory environment and the fact that it is still a very young market,” said Peter Barsoom, CEO of edibles company 1906. “Many industry leaders are turning this challenge into an opportunity to reinvent the retail experience by reevaluating everything – from the educational component, the one-on-one interaction with sales associates, the flexibility of the customer journey and overall design of next generation facilities.”
Education, Budtenders, Customer Journey And Design
A recent research report from Frog Design emphasized the importance of product education among first-time visitors and in generating repeat visits and loyalty. According to Frog Research, “Education will facilitate consumer desire to repeat and refine their next experience.” The Harris poll confirmed this finding citing product information and dispensary staff as the two strongest drivers of choice.
The Harris survey showed mixed feelings among consumers about budtenders. While a large segment of repeat customers viewed budtenders as useful guides into the cannabis world, others – particularly new consumers – see budtenders as unrelatable or even untrustworthy. Nearly half of dispensary visitors (47%) felt that the budtenders expected them to know what they wanted and a quarter of visitors (26%) didn’t feel informed about what effects they should expect from the products they purchased. In some cases, particularly with Millennial audiences, customers don’t want to talk to any sales person – no matter how informed.
Perhaps more acutely than in traditional retail environments, the cannabis industry is faced with a wide range of consumers in terms of experience and understanding. Chris Znerold, Chief Marketing Officer at dispensary chain Native Roots, sees the need for flexibility within the customer journey. “Native Roots stores are reinventing the dispensary experience around a ‘choose your own adventure’ type approach. We offer delivery and pick-up for our most informed customers who don’t want to have a personal interaction, highly trained sales associates to guide those who come in and need help, and 30-minute educational sessions and consultations for those new to the process.”
As the cannabis industry expands across geographies and moves from medicinal to adult use, more and more industry leaders are carefully considering the retail experience. “Dispensaries still have a long way to go, but there are some promising signs,” said James Andrus, principal of the Andrus Group, an architecture firm working in the cannabis space. “A new generation of cannabis entrepreneurs are looking to rewrite the rules on retail and that creates some exciting opportunities for use of space, design and how form and function work together to enhance the customer experience.”
New Audiences Are The Key To The Future
The Harris poll found that more than 20% of self-declared cannabis users or cannabis curious have never been to a dispensary. More strikingly, nearly half of women responding to the survey say they are unlikely to go to a dispensary, as are a quarter of respondents 55 or older.
“There is a lot of work to be done to create a cannabis retail environment that meets the needs of consumers who currently are not or are unlikely to visit a dispensary,” said Peter Barsoom, CEO of 1906. “Given that three quarters of shoppers are looking for something other than getting stoned, we are uniquely focused on creating products and a retail experience that meets those needs, addresses new consumers in an inviting manner and reinvents the entire industry model. The very things that make the cannabis industry unique and challenging – from regulation to pace of growth to social stigma – has forced us to innovate, think beyond the traditional and lead the way for the rest of retail.”
Farmers around the world grow their crops with the hope and desire of creating the best possible products, usually with their own tricks of the trade that set them apart. Planting methods, soil supplements, harvesting ways and watering practices all go into how the final product looks, tastes, smells and feels. Cannabis is no different and California is on the cusp of creating regional marijuana appellations, just like Champagne is to the sparkling wine world.
In Northern California, cannabis growers are known to compare their grows with those of the wineries they’re surrounded by, in that growing in a valley as opposed to a hillside 20 miles away, the same strain from a different farmer will come out unique. Then there is the drying and curing process, the trimming and the storage and transportation all to consider.
Craft cannabis is becoming the norm for legalized and medicalized states, and even on the illicit market. You have to look harder for “dirt weed” now than you do for dank. It’s no wonder that California is taking the route to regional branding. How the lines will be drawn in the dirt is up to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and they plan to start a “county of origin” standard starting January 1, according to Mendocino Voice.
The CDFA is in the process of developing, “a process by which licensed cultivators may establish appellations standards, practices, and varietals applicable to cannabis grown in a certain geographical area in California” by 2021. After surveying a number of craft growers, the agency is now focusing on the application process for branding bud as an appellation.
There will be requirements that are written in stone once the program is up and running and it will be up to the farmers to self govern the crops to ensure that the labeling isn’t being used out of the context of what constitutes that region’s specific standards. And doing so is in their best financial interest. Setting yourself apart in this burgeoning market is a must and having a successful varietal could be the difference between becoming a household name and being left on the shelf.
Cannabis agriculture, especially when done outdoors as these varietals will be, is an undertaking with many, many rewards, and one could easily see how having certified variety would drive competition and thus the market itself. It will be interesting to see which strains and farms will resonate with cannabis connoisseurs. Perhaps weed tasting trips across the Emerald Triangle will compete with California’s infamous wine tasting tours in the near future.
A study sheds some light on a possible “super power” for cannabis consumers: Night vision.
Nearly 20 years ago, it was anecdotally reported that fishermen in Jamaica experienced “an uncanny ability to see in the dark” after a ganja session. A few years later, reports out of Morocco showed that fishermen and mountain dwellers had similar experiences after smoking hashish.
So researchers at McGill University in Montreal decided to get to the explore the science behind the phenomena.
According To The Guardian:
Now, another study provides hard evidence for the claim, revealing a cellular mechanism by which cannabis might improve night vision. The findings, published recently in the open access journal eLife, could eventually be applied to the treatment patients with degenerative eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa.
The researchers applied a synthetic cannabinoid to the eye tissue of tadpoles of an African toad. The experiment found that the cannabinoid made retinal cells more sensitive to light, improving the speed at which the eye responded.
“We didn’t believe what we were seeing,” a study author told the Montreal Gazette. “The cannabinoids were increasing the excitability of cells in the eye that connects to the brain.”
The experiment followed the tadpoles, showing them dark moving dots, which the tadpoles avoid in nature. All of the tadpoles performed well in normally lit conditions, but the tadpoles given the cannabinoid performed much better than those that didn’t in dark conditions.
What is the medicinal application for humans? Cannabis could be a viable treatment for retinitis pigmentosa and glaucoma.
Certain cannabinoids are known to have a neuroprotective effect on retinal cells, so improved night vision is not the only benefit. Patients with deteriorating eyesight — a common complaint among senior citizens — may derive benefit. Researchers also are optimistic that cannabis may actually slow down the progression eye disorders.
Netflix’s method of releasing all their content at once and all throughout the world has proven to be extremely successful, at least in terms of the company’s growth and recognition. The company is currently producing an insane amount of critically acclaimed TV, something that has put them in close competition with major players like HBO. Making news, Netflix will release movies in theaters before their lineup.
When it comes to films, Netflix has faced some trappings and conflicts, mainly because they’re not able to blend in as easily as they did with television. Despite the fact that Netflix has worked with critically acclaimed filmmakers in the past, these movies have been sort of omitted from film festivals and awards shows. The product becomes eclipsed by the company itself that doesn’t really advocate for the moviegoing experience. And among film aficionados, that’s a capital crime.
Variety reports that Netflix is finally giving three of their films alone time in theaters. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Bird Box will both have a one week run in select theaters before they appear on Netflix. Roma, Netflix’s biggest Oscar bet and one of the year’s most buzzed about films, will screen in theaters for three weeks starting November 21.
While Netflix says that these measures are done in order to serve their members and filmmakers, we all know that what they really want is to avoid rocking the boat. The Oscars don’t have a rule that prevents movies from being offered in theaters and on streaming services simultaneously, but by becoming invisible and more like other film studios, Netflix is betting that they’ll win something.
Maybe if Netflix stays quiet long enough, their movies will walk away with gold, with academy members only realizing this as they’re handing out statuettes.
