Saved by the Bell

This is the show that reminds me of having days off school, because it was always on at a point in the morning when I would usually be on the way in, so I could only see it when I was ill. That’s probably why I could smell Calpol, dry toast and Lucozade as I re-watched episodes on DVD. The nose never forgets.

The first season aired back in 1989, and it has got to be one of the most important kid’s sitcoms of my generation. And I mean important in the formative rather than the cultural sense. The jokes are deliberately goofy and the kids take a while to develop their acting talents beyond the wooden. But the costumes are amazing, Mr Belding is a hero and I like the idea of the feminist character of Jessie existing to counteract the mach male double-act of Zack and Slater. I also like the fact that teens are frequently sexualised in swimsuit and locker room scenes, proving that this kind of thing has been going on for years and has not yet destroyed society completely. Take that Aldous Huxley.

Saved by the Bell has managed to endure because some of its stars have had interesting lives off-screen. I am of course referring to the recent antics of Dustin Diamond, aka Screech. Mr Diamond was only 12 when he found fame, but now many people will remember him for the sex tape he produced to allegedly pay for his mortgage. Louis CK produced this NSFW sketch to promote his new show that is eerily reminiscent of what Mr Diamond probably had to go through. He has continued to destroy his reputation with appearances on various celeb-focused reality shows, and even wrote a book about his years working on the show that made him famous called ‘Behind the Bell’. Apparently none of the original cast is on speaking terms with him. I wonder how the cast of Boy Meets World are doing...

Street Hawk

If you hadn’t ever seen Knight Rider, or any other 80s action movie, you might think the concept for Street Hawk was moderately original. Rogue motorcycle cop sees his partner killed by baddies, and is nearly topped himself in the process. After his recovery and assignment to deskwork, he is approached by a mysterious government agency (which in this case consists of just one guy) and asked to become a loose cannon justice-dealer, working beyond the law to fight crime on a 300mph hyper bike. Enjoyable nonsense ensues. It’s no sillier than an episode of 24, I promise. And I imagine that in twenty five years all of Jack Bauer’s gadgets will look as outdated as the technology that is on offer here.

Sadly for Street Hawk, it came three years after Knight Rider had established itself, and so after one season it was canned. On the plus side, Christopher Lloyd makes an appearance in the first episode as a pretty convincing drug boss, and this cameo almost makes the whole thing worth a look.

It’s Garry Shandling’s Show

This sit-com is very similar to Saved by the Bell in many ways. Mr Shandling always addresses the audience, and spends most of his time getting into scrapes and ‘chasing tail’, as they say. It feels a little like Seinfeld mixed with Home Improvement and tons of other generic US personality-centred comedies that have come since. Mr Shandling was unknown to me until the DVD popped through my door, but a quick check of IMDB shows that he’s done pretty well for himself in the US. I suppose watching Garry Shandling’s show is the closes a UK citizen can ever come to experiencing what it must be like for foreigners to catch a rerun of Birds of a Feather.

In conclusion, the theme song is really good. Perhaps the show is a little too mediocre for this list.

Saved by the Bell: Season 1, Street Hawk and It’s Garry Shandling’s Show are all getting a full DVD release on the 22^nd of March.

*I refuse to acknowledge Channel 5 because we could never get good reception on it. Oh, and Sky or Cable don’t count either. Terrestrial all the way.

Original Queens of Noise, Joan Jett and Cherie Currie also rocked the red carpet for music video turned silver screen director, Floria Sigismondi’s highly anticipated new movie. Based on lead-singer, Cherie’s biography, Neon Angel the biopic shows the beginning and the end of the first all-girl rock band.

Although Michael Shannon - who plays the infamous industry legend, Kim Fowley - only made a quick appearance before running off for his current role on Broadway, Kristen, Dakota, Cherie and Floria took time to talk to the press – whilst Joan demonstrated her strong yet quiet persona to perfection.

Kristen looked every bit the perfect young Joan with her “jett” black hair and shy stance – answering questions along the press line, she was obviously a little taken back by such attention of a non-Twilight movie.

Wanting to take on the role of one of the most iconic female performers “as soon as someone said ‘There’s a Joan Jett movie’” Kristen explained how she admires how Joan is just herself:

“She is who is she is… there’s not some deep way to put it. If you said ‘You’re such a bad-ass. You’re so yourself all the time’ she’d be like ‘Really?’”. Kristen, in case you didn’t know, your legion of fans love you for just that reason - apparently she took more from the role than she even realized.

Blond “Cherry Bomb” Cherie, was as sweet as pie and could not speak highly enough of Dakota’s performance, gushing “there just aren’t words – Dakota is one of the most talented actresses who’s ever lived… I’m so proud of her” as the gal herself was rushed by, smiling at Cherie as she’d heard her praise.

Before dashing in to introduce the movie, Kristen, Dakota, Joan, Cherie, Floria and Riley Keogh – who plays Cherie’s twin-sister Marie (and grand-daughter to Elvis Presley – who knew?!) - faced the firing squad of group photo-call.

Even the camera shy Joan took the flash attack in her stride, whispering quiet encouragement to Kristen who was trying not to crack-up at the hysteria of it all, later laughing to Dakota “Man, how weird is this?”

Once inside the quieter atmosphere of the screening, legendary producer Kenny Laguna brought out director, composer and cast to introduce the film before heading off to after party hosted by Tommy Hilfiger and Quintessentially at the suitably iconic Bowery Hotel.

As for the flick? They rocked it – hard! Kristen’s embodiment of Joan is as convincing as it is bad-ass - from the Suzi Quatro shag to the leather and lyrics – whilst Dakota fills the silver platform shoes of Cherie as well as the iconic white corset.

As for whether the much speculated “kissing scene” between the two leading ladies is as hot as everyone hoped… well, you’ll have to go see for yourself!

Photos and video to follow as well as my exclusive interview with the original "Cherry Bomb", Cherie Currie!

The very premise itself veered on the slightly regressive side, in some delegates' opinion. Should we be returning to such divisive questions in a time where we feel we've come too far to see one sex as more 'powerful' or 'better' than the other? Perhaps it's not a helpful discussion any more, rather than polarise the issue, it's more beneficial to collaborate in celebrating our differences (whatever these are, again, worth another few hours of consideration) and focus on how the two can inter-relate to create a future founded on synergetic harmony. Aaaw, nice, fluffy, female pipe-dream eh?

I for one, found the question stretched my imagination. I tried to omit the figures of Hitler and Stalin from the annals of history and wondered how different things could have been – or would a crazed, hell-bent Helga have emerged instead, unable to repress the urge to exercise all her neuroses with the wonderful new power she had in her hands? Or am I so deeply entrenched in the pillars of patriarchy myself, that even the idea of attempting to dismantle them (or at least, tap them gently) has become an insurmountable and unimaginable task?

What we could all agree on is that society has a problem. Many problems. And a lot of these are impacting on women and young people. These are evident in the ever-growing numbers of 8 year-old girls with anorexia and bulimia that Dr Linda Papadopoulos works with on a daily basis (not to mention the increasing number of women in their 30s and 40s suffering from these diseases) to the more traditional examples of misogyny, so deeply entrenched they happen almost flippantly, such as the executive who asked Linda to make the tea before realising she was a doctor – I imagine that was a meeting he squirmed through.

And, on a more macro level, there is a problem. A disturbing statistic from Skillset recently revealed that from 2006-2009, 750 men compared to 4,900 women lost their jobs in television. I am going to hazard a guess that many of these jobs were administrative, therefore seen as more 'expendable' but that beggars another question, why are so many women in TV still only in clerical or junior positions. I'm also going to hazard another guess that some of the women over 30 were let go because it was assumed they'd be off to start families some time soon. There may be some validity in the reasoning here but this raised another important issue of the inter-connectedness between social policy and media. We need not only a social policy that supports women and men who require a flexible working lifestyle but must ensure this is endorsed throughout the media who act as though they operate in another realm, refusing for example, to implement the Gender Equality Duty Act of 2007. Davina James-Hanman, director of the Greater London Domestic Violence Project, also stressed the importance of supporting men in bonding with their children, suggesting that this could be implemented through a social policy that makes it mandatory for men to take ‘parenthood’ leave. And of course, we need a media that portrays these policies in a positive light.

So, how can we, as women, implement change? The importance of women supporting each other was frequently raised. As television programme creator and developer Dianne Nelmes said: "Never be a woman who doesn't like other women." Interestingly, Linda cited another incident earlier she had been criticised for her looks by, yes, a female writer. My friend who holds a high-powered managerial position within the music business, leaves the office bang on five now in order to collect her children from after-school club, and unfortunately she knows it is the women who berate her for this, behind her back. We need change from the top but attitudes must be challenged from below. However, as Linda pointed out, this behaviour can in part be attributed to an early conditioning process – boys are encouraged to compete overtly, whereas girls, frustrated they have no other outlet in which to express this, turn in on each other, thus sowing the seeds for a lifetime of fiercely comparing and regulating each other’s ‘hotness’ factor.

I do think a lack of empathy, or the inability to place yourself in another's shoes is somewhere at the core of this rotten state of affairs, and this operates throughout the spheres of the home, politics and the workplace, across both genders. I was left thinking, why are we all so horrible to each other? What atavistic desires does buying Heat, for example, sate or feed? And whether it be dissecting the 'moral values' of Jordan or the daughter we admonish for not fitting into her swimsuit properly, thus propagating a generation of anorexics and bulimics by stoking doubts within themselves, we need more empathy. I’m not laying the blame entirely at mothers’ doors here, images in the press of airbrushed stick insect-thin girls, (which Linda argues in her ‘Sexualisation of Young People’ Home Office report should carry health warnings) certainly have a detrimental effect, but we also have a responsibility not to be brainwashed and consequently passing on the neuroses we absorb from the media and our peers.

To take the example of Jordan, yes, she clearly displays traits of an emotionally disturbed person, and for that she deserves our understanding, not our derision. Whatever we think about her now, she was once, like we all were (boys and girls), navigating the hazardous crossroads of sexuality, probably with all the agility and precision of Bambi's first faltering steps. As some of us understand, acting sexually confident and mature and actually being sexually confident and mature are two very different things, "the acting" demonstrates yet another effect of the ‘sexualisaton’ of young people, that Linda describes. It never surprised me to learn that Jordan was sexually assaulted in her early teens but I was pretty horrified (followed by flippin’ furious) to read some of the subsequent evaluations concerning this in the public arena – "how could you rape Jordan? It's not as though she'd be difficult to bed."

This might sound very idealistic and possibly prosaic, I'm not necessarily saying anything new here, but we do need to foster more kindness and understanding. As semiotician Dr Malcolm Evans said, towards the end of the event, we need to start listening to each other more, and this is a skill that must be encouraged in early education. If we can begin to recognise the validity of these traditionally perceived 'female values', also often indicative of a 'good mother' (a role that many women see as undermined and undervalued) perhaps then, we, as women and men, can begin to set an example and bring about change.

http://www.newplayerstheatre.com/london/events/seeyounexttuesday.asp

http://funnywomen.com/index.php

This fine documentary opens with a simple but salient point: who do we pay to talk to us? Politicians? Perhaps. Pastors? Maybe sometimes… The answer is comics. Comedians are the only people to whom we offer our money and say, “please talk to me… make me laugh at myself and the things around me.” In an age of global hostility, fear, and repression of thought and individuality, the voice of the comic is more essential than ever. We need comedians to remind us how farcical life is; and to poke fun at the institutions and zeitgeists that too easily become writ.

Bill Hicks understood the importance of this role from an early age. As a restless teenager – trapped in his Southern Baptist Texan townhouse with his all-American, college-graduate family – Hicks would sneak out and head for the only comedy club within a million miles of his home… the Houston Comix Annex. Hicks quickly became renowned for his clean, ‘high-school-kid’ brand of comedy and was taken under the wing of Steve Epstein’s fast-talking, hard-drinking comedy troupe, ‘The Texas Outlaw Comics’.

By his early twenties Hicks was already a legend on the Texan comedy scene, but he knew that his comedy could reach greater heights and deal with much wider issues than growing up in a Texan Baptist household. He began experimenting with hallucinogenic mushrooms, and would sit by a remote lake with a few trusted friends and explore the infinite possibilities of philosophy, consciousness, and existence.

This might all sound a bit heavy for comedy, and it certainly took Hicks a long time (and an almost fatal battle with alcoholism) before he really learnt how to incorporate his esotericism and staunch criticism of American society into his comedy routines. These routines – which began around 1989 with ‘Sane Man’, when Hicks was at the ripe old age of 28 – should be immortalised and filed away in the library of Congress with the works of Whitman and Hemingway. The raw simplicity, the fervent passion, the searing love for his common man that forced him to criticise society with all the spit and power he could muster, make Bill Hicks one of the most important spokespersons for Reagan’s America.

Hicks was a product of a forgotten generation of Americans, growing up in the 1970s, who couldn’t understand what had happened to the gusto of Johnson’s ‘Great Society’ or the purity of spirit and love that inspired the cultural revolutions of the 1960s. Vietnam had killed the American spirit, and everything that came after it further distorted and twisted the American Dream into a dogmatic society of thoughtless and unquestioning pawns who were free to do whatever they wanted… just so long as they wanted to do what they were told.

But no matter how much energy Hicks threw at his performances, mainstream America was not ready to hear his message. He achieved international fame and was cherished and idolised in Canada and his spiritual home, the UK; but he was criminally unappreciated in his beloved homeland, and was left to perform in the same old clubs on the same old comedy routes that he had been peddling since his teen years.

In 1993, just as he was beginning to achieve the mainstream platform he so desperately desired (not because he wanted fame, but because he wanted people to hear him) Hicks was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and passed away within a year. He spent his final months touring, creating what many consider to be the finest and most passionate stand-up performances in the history of stand-up comedy. His friends could not understand why he had become such an unstoppable force; they didn’t realise it was simply the desperation of a great man to immortalise his message before he was dragged away from this earth.

Hicks’ last performance was, in his own opinion, the finest of his career. He was invited onto the David Letterman show (the only mainstream show to have shown him any support in his career) and delivered an extraordinary rebuke to America, largely based around the recent Waco massacre. The performance was cut from the final broadcast, and the network claimed that Hicks’ views were to ‘dangerous’ for mainstream broadcast.

Throughout his life Hicks was ignored and chastised as anti-American; but in fact, as with so many great insubordinates, it was his deep love for his country that inspired him to fight back against the forces of corruption and lethargy. It was too great a struggle in the 1980s, but in the 15 years since his death, the rise of the internet and a stuttering revival of American liberalism has allowed Hicks’ stock to rise. His fanbase is growing at an unprecedented rate, and DVD and CD sales have mushroomed inline with the growth of youtube and the revelation of previously unseen clips. The culmination of all this groundwork, and arguably the culmination of Hicks’ entire career, is this documentary.

In Hicks’ final days he returned to his family home and forced his mother to sit with him while he took her through his entire collection of photos and VHS recordings. When she asked him why he was doing this, he explained that someday, somebody might want to make a documentary about him.

15 years later, British TV producers Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas have graciously and expertly taken up the mantle. They have created an honest and simple documentary relying solely on the lucid and evocative memories of Hicks’ friends and family, and Hicks mountain of personal photos and video recordings. The Hicks estate have made it clear that this is the only time they will open up their lives to such a far-reaching project, and so this really is the final word on one of the most important men in the history of the American entertainment industry.

The film employs a revolutionary animation technique that allowed the filmmakers to animate old photographs, adding dimensions and colour and movement to them so that the viewer is transported into Bill’s world not just by the absorbing commentary, but also by the visceral images.

The live footage is also expertly blended into the narrative, so that Bill seems to jump out of the film and onto the stage to perform some of the material that has just been explored. This allows viewers to take a completely new perspective on material that may or may not be familiar to them. Hicks’ fans will surely relish becoming entangled in the trials and tribulations of his life while watching him rage against the dying of the American Dream, and they will feel so much closer to this complex and inspiring idol by the end of the film.

It is difficult to tell how this film will perform theatrically, but this critic certainly hopes that it will achieve the success that these filmmakers, and Bill Hicks, deserve. This wonderful film has recorded a life and immortalised a great man, and that is all one can ask of the cinema.

The announcement of the sale of the Nicole Farhi label came at the same time as news of the sale of the Tommy Hilfiger brand to Calvin Klein’s owners Philips-Van Heusen for the much grander sum of around 2.2 billion euros. Hilfiger himself remains principle designer and ‘face’ of his brand, but has no management role in the business side of the company.

What with all the closures of various magazines and fashion publications during the recession, it’s nice to see a new launch, especially of something as cool as The Gentlewoman, the new biannual fashion bible from the publishers behind men’s style mag Fantastic Man. Editor in Chief of the new title, Penny Martin, told Grazia magazine that she wanted The Gentlewoman to be something that women ‘could sit down and enjoy reading’ and it should attract interested fashionistas with its debut issue, with an exclusive interview with Celine’s newest designer Phoebe Philo, formerly of Chloe and responsible for one of the best collections on the Paris catwalks this season with the autumn/winter 2010 Celine show. The first issue will be available in newsagents on the 22^nd March.

A trickle of Britain’s most successful designers have been slowly returning to London Fashion Week over the last couple of seasons, but one of the country’s hottest, John Galliano, has been kept in Paris due to the success of his creative directing role at French super-fashion house Dior. But he will be crashing back to our shores soon enough, as he has been announced as Donnatella Versace’s replacement as the honorary chairman of the annual Fashion Fringe in Covent Garden. He has signed up for the role for the next two years, and will spearhead the search for London’s hottest new designers. Previous winners of Fashion Fringe include fashion editor and First Lady favourite Erdem, as well as Basso and Brooke. The applications for this year’s Fringe competition are now open so if you are a budding designer you better have a look.

You want the rainbow. I'm gonna give it to ya.

Hard.

It's good to be back!

Here's a few I took today.

I'm going to be taking pictures all weekend and hope to bring you some interesting outfits.

This was a man who worked out regularly, played a mean guitar, never smoked, drank in moderation and who suffered a fatal heart attack.

Our break up was amicable and although we hadn't been in contact for the best part of a decade, I've spent many hours this week trying to process the news.

He was kind, with a great sense of humour and as I've continued on life's journey (and subsequently had relationships with men who were anything but the above), I've come to realise just how genuine a guy he was. It makes no sense.

He had been married for eight years and had two step-kids when he passed away. Oddly (or not?), I felt the need to acknowledge his passing but unsure what to do, I slept on it. The next day I sent his brother-in-law my condolences via email. He was very kind and I'm glad I reached out.

More surreal is that I found out what had happened on a visit to see my mum in Tenerife. I lived here for three years in the early Nineties and it's here that we met. In fact, we lived together less than five minutes from where I'm staying.

Earlier that afternoon, I'd walked to the supermarket and spied the wine we used to drink; Faustino VII. People would laugh at us because we chose to pay an astounding 300 pesetas for a bottle of wine, while the majority of the Brits would glug the lousy cheapo battery acid that came in boxes for tuppence. Yes, we lived large!

For old time's sake, I bought a bottle and took it home. Mum asked me what he was up to and I told her I didn't know, so I Googled his name, thinking I'd find out what band he was playing in.

Instead, I found a two-year-old obituary. I walked out onto the patio, looked across the ocean and stood there rooted to the spot, stunned.

I've lost many people in my life, notably all my grandparents and my Dad but this is the first contemporary of mine who has died. And he was a man that I lived with. What?

The next day I went with Mum for coffee in a little town called Las Galletas, and while we were sitting there a woman came up to our table and told me that she remembered my Dad. He died 13 years ago so it was a lovely moment and made me realise that as long as we remember, they won't be forgotten.

So this is me, not forgetting.

We toasted Stefan's memory with the bottle of Faustino.

Instead Palazzo Vecchio offers two floors as well as a mezzanine floor filled with remarkable paintings and sculptures by Michelangelo, Donatello and many others as well as the lavishly furnished private rooms where Medici family members lived and worked like the beautiful Chapel of Eleonora of Toledo, the wife of Cosimo I with its paintings by Agnolo Bronzino or the fascinating Map Room with its painted panels representing the world as it was known in the sixteenth century.

A little less famous but holding a mystery all of its own, try not to miss the Chamber of Hercules on the second floor. You will find representations of Hercules, one of the most famous heroes of ancient mythology are strongly present throughout Palazzo Vecchio as the Medicis, in their quest for power, identified with his courage and endeavours to overcome all the adversities in his way. However, in this Chamber dedicated to him, you will not only see the ceiling decorated with frescoes of his twelve labours but also a famous nativity painting of a Madonna and Child. This painting is popularly known as the 'Madonna of the Ufo' or the 'Madonna of the Flying Saucer'. Painted in 1450 by Jacopo del Sellaio, the picture shows, in the centre, the Madonna in adoration of the baby Jesus who is propped up by the infant, St John the Baptist. Far in the background of the picture, behind the Madonna, on the left, there is a shepherd with a barking dog at his feet. The shepherd is looking and pointing upwards into the sky at what appears to be an oval-shaped flying object.

According to the American UFO Research Coalition, this painting is one of the oldest documents testifying the existence of UFOs and extraterrestrial beings. Others do not agree. For example,  after considerable research, the art historian, Diego Cuoghi, who is also a member of Cicap (Comitato Italiano per il Controllo delle Affermazioni sul Paranorma - Italian Committee for Investigation of Claims on the Paranormal) has concluded that the object in question is simply a comet of the Nativity star.

How much more fun it will be for you to make up your own mind.

For a certain in the know person, a fragrance from Escentric Molecules is the only accessory worth wearing. Created by one of the most talented perfumers in the industry, Geza Schoen, the brand has a cult following with worldwide waiting lists and adulation from every fashionista worth her top note. Oh, and lest you forget, there’s the much discussed pheromone effect.

You’ve probably read how Molecule 01 is a single scent ingredient (Iso E Super) with incredible powers of attraction and that The Beautiful Mind Series Vol. 1 reconfirms a smart woman as a sexy woman. But the genius of the EM series is rather than smelling of a perfume, you instead become enveloped in a feeling, which opens you into other worlds of possibilities and aromas.

The scents you can spray on your wrist when next in Harvey Nicks (if they’re in stock!), but for where the brand’s inspiration comes from, read my conversation with two of the founders of EM, Geza Schoen and Paul White of Me Company.

KD: Tell me about EM and where the idea came from.

GS: EM is the idea that not anybody wants to wear a ‘perfume.’ EM offers ‘auras’ with the Molecule series and incredibly sexy scents with the Escentric series. I’d been carrying that idea with me since 1990. It just needed the right time with the right people and that is precisely what came together when I met Jeff Lounds and Paul White in 2004.

PW: It all started with a conversation between Geza, Jeff and myself. A brief tour around the concept of EM followed by the working versions of Molecule 01 and Escentric 01. For Me Company it rapidly developed as investigations into concepts that could be loosely described as binary efflorescence, the science of scent and the sensuality of encoded messaging.

Ultimately we had 0’s & 1’s and geometrical binary on our mind, everything decodable if looked at intelligently enough. An arcane, submerged string of messages about the product. The EM01 is denser than the EM02, but even the dots on the EM02 are decipherable. All of this is a distinct and clear response to the nature of fragrance and its role in attraction.

KD: How do you ‘make’ fragrances?

GS: Well, fragrances are being created. You start with an idea; an accord of raw materials you think is exciting enough to try out. If it is a good one you carry on refining the scent until you are happy.

KD: What do you think people want from a fragrance today?

GS: Overall I’d say it needs to combine a few things. Everyone somehow still likes freshness in a perfume, it also shouldn’t get on your own nerves or others, i.e. be too strong or sweet or cloying. People also want to feel sexier or desirable with a perfume so it needs some intriguing notes others can’t get their nose off. So, that’s not too easy then to combine all these things and still smell different but good.

KD: Describe the bottle design . . .

PW: We have a saying, 'Being creative is like running in someone else's trainers. You don't know where you're going all the time. You don't think about thinking, the synapses fire and you feel possessed. It's like speaking in tongues.’ As in the case of EM, where someone really wants to work with you simply because they like and trust your potential to produce something original, this is going to produce the most interesting and original work.

Possibly this dark, encoded packaging has a quiet dignity that speaks to people. Equally the restraint of the branding and the subtle encoding help with the idea of a personal possession of the brand – we have heard people say many times that it is their fragrance and not ours.

KD: There are so many perfume bottles on the ground floors of the world's department stores. What makes a fragrance cut through the hype and have impact?

GS: Phew, I hope that it is ultimately still the juice itself, which holds up the spirit and the success of a particular brand. In some cases advertising and TV campaigns will help for sure but if the fragrance isn’t right, it wont last.

KD: Where do you see the perfume industry going? New types of products, packaging, ingredients?

GS: For ingredients, as such, it will be a horrible future. Already so many fabulous ingredients have been eliminated or restricted that the new introduction of interesting chemicals won’t make up qualitatively for the losses. Imagine you’re a painter and some powerful organisation comes in and tells you to forget about dark green shades, no silvers and just maximum 10% of light violet tones please in the future.

Regarding the packaging I couldn’t care less really as the problem is within the cost structure of most products. As long as the industry won’t spend more money on better ingredients we won’t see amazing alternatives coming up. That’s why the niche market is more exciting to watch for future creations.