twst has shared a new music video for her latest single ‘Sugared Up’. Released last month, the track is a hyperpop take on ‘Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy’, from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1892 ballet The Nutcracker. Check out the Vasso Vu-directed visual below.
‘Sugared Up’ is the follow-up to twst’s 2021 single ‘Chandeliers, Bullets and Guns’. Last year, the Welsh artist released her debut EP TWST0001, which topped our favorite EPs of 2020 list.
The festive season is always a good time to rewatch some familiar favorites, even if they’re non-Christmas comfort movies and TV shows. Years after its conclusion, NBC’s The Office continues to be a hit all year round, but luckily for Christmas enthusiasts, the series includes seven Christmas episodes.
Like most long-running shows, The Office has its ups and downs across the nine seasons. At its best, it’s a well-paced sitcom that draws laughs out of almost any kind of viewer. At its worst, it can be offensive and flat. The same goes for the show’s Christmas episodes – so here’s every Christmas episode in The Office, ranked from worst to best.
7. A Benihana Christmas (season 3, episodes 10 & 11)
This episode begins with a promising set-up: Carol dumps Michael after she realizes how immature he is (it takes him photoshopping himself into a family photo of her with her children and ex-husband on a ski trip). After the breakup, Michael invites Jan on a trip to Jamaica. In the office, the Party Planning Committee is at odds when Pam and Karen try to plan a margarita karaoke party to rival Angela’s stiff, boring breakroom party. Kevin finds himself torn between Angela’s brownies and the fun of Pam’s party, while Andy and Dwight fight for Michael’s attention by consoling him in his heartbreak.
Michael takes Andy, Dwight, and Jim to Benihana’s as a Christmas treat and an attempt to make himself feel better. Dwight is forced to sit separately, allowing Andy the chance to suck up to Michael while Dwight shouts across the table to participate in the conversation. This segment is a funny one until Michael brings two Asian waitresses to the office and makes a string of offensive remarks about them, going so far as to use a marker to tell them apart. While entertaining at times, this episode suffers from an overtly racist storyline. Even for a comedy, and even for a series that aired in 2006, the implications cannot be ignored.
6. Christmas Wishes (season 8, episode 10)
In this Christmas episode, Andy is the boss at Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch, and he’s decided to grant his subjects any Christmas wishes they may have. Erin quickly finds a few holes in this ambitious vow. She becomes jealous of Jessica, his new girlfriend who tags along for the office Christmas party, and Robert California persuades her to drown her sorrows in alcohol. The insinuation that the new CEO of Sabre is interested in Erin – who is very drunk, much younger than him, and clearly pining over Andy – gives the episode an undertone of awkwardness that is never addressed head-on.
Meanwhile, Darryl is trying to impress Val from the warehouse after she shows up to the party extremely overdressed – at his presumptuous suggestion. The most entertaining subplot, though it’s the least original by the end of season 8, is Jim and Dwight’s struggle to give up their pranks at the risk of losing their Christmas bonuses. Theirs is the most entertaining plotline of the episode, especially since Pam is away on maternity leave and Michael has left the show at this point. Apart from Jim and Dwight’s antics, the rest of the episode is a little tedious and probably the least original of all of The Office‘s Christmas episodes.
5. Moroccan Christmas (season 5, episode 11)
In an attempt to liven things up, Phyliss throws a Moroccan-themed Christmas party as head of the Party Planning Committee. However, Meredith’s excessive drinking soon brings the proceedings to a halt when her hair catches fire. Michael decides to hold an intervention for her, but instead of helping Meredith, he ends up insulting her and making her feel terrible about herself. In the end, he forcibly drags Meredith to a rehabilitation center, only to learn that patients must admit themselves voluntarily.
This episode’s subplot involves Dwight selling “Princess Unicorn” dolls to fathers who haven’t bothered to think of Christmas presents for their daughters – only he’s inflated their price to make a sizable profit. When Toby is desperate to buy his daughters one of the dolls, he bargains with Darryl, who has just bought the last one. However, he balks when he sees that the doll is Black but is too nervous to say anything to Darryl. The real payout of the episode comes when Phyllis finally reveals to everyone in the office – minus Andy – that Angela has been sleeping with Dwight. After building up Phyllis’s new upperhand over Angela, it’s satisfying to see her triumph over the rigid woman.
“Moroccan Christmas” is a solid episode all-round, but it doesn’t quite match up to some of the other Christmas episodes. However, it does have one of the best cold opens of the series, where Jim wraps Dwight’s belongings in gift paper. When Dwight tries to sit at his desk, he discovers that his whole work space has been replaced with hollow cardboard.
4. Dwight Christmas (season 9, episode 9)
“Dwight Christmas” has to be one of the most original episodes of the series, while relying on familiar plotlines to carry it through. Dwight and Jim’s relationship comes to a head when Jim has to leave Dwight’s German-themed Christmas party to go to his new job in Philadelphia. As the last Christmas episode of the series, it’s a satisfying one with great emotional payoff. Dwight is visibly upset about Jim’s departure, and it’s one of the first times audiences can see how much he truly cares about Jim. When Jim decides to postpone his trip until the following day, Dwight is overjoyed at his return. Of course, the main reason Jim returns is to be with Pam, which fills the episode out nicely.
Dwight introduces his co-workers to some hilarious holiday rituals over the course of the episode, and his Belsnickel costume is a memorable fixture. Meanwhile, Erin watches Die Hard with Pete while Andy is on a boat in the ocean, and Toby tells Nellie every excruciating detail about the Scranton Strangler case. Darryl fears that Jim has forgotten his promise to introduce him to the Philadelphia gang, but is reassured by Jim that he’s organized a meeting for him. By this point, Darryl has drunk enough alcohol to drown his anger that he crashes the party – literally. The highlight of the episode, however, is easily the dynamic between Jim, Dwight, and Pam. It makes for a memorable and enjoyable Christmas episode with plenty of laughs and a great emotional payoff.
3. Christmas Party (season 2, episode 10)
The first Christmas episode of the series begins with a Secret Santa gift exchange. Jim is excited to give Pam a teapot she’s wanted for a while, and which he has filled with personalized mementos. Michael, meanwhile, is excited to give Ryan an iPod, though the price limit for gifts was $20. Michael is disappointed when he receives a hand-knitted oven mitt from Phyliss and suggests a game of Yankee Swap. Jim watches anxiously as Pam’s teapot travels from person to person, dismayed when she requests the iPod. Michael, meanwhile, struggles to get rid of the oven mitt, offending Phyllis.
Dwight ends up with the teapot, while others end up with personalized gifts meant for their colleagues. Pam trades the iPod for Jim’s gift after Roy tells her he planned to get her an iPod anyway. Jim decides not to give her the letter he’d written for her, but is pleased when Pam appreciates his gift and the effort he put into it. Afterwards, Michael disobeys company policy and brings an excessive amount of vodka to the party. Meredith gets drunk and exposes herself to him in his office. Angela, meanwhile is upset that nobody appreciated the effort she put into planning the party, and is jealous when Kelly suddenly seems interested in Dwight. The subplots in this episode work well without overshadowing the main plot, making for an entertaining and well-executed episode. Each character gets a chance to shine, which is useful for audiences who are just getting to know the ensemble early in the show’s run.
2. Classy Christmas (season 7, episodes 11 & 12)
Michael’s last Christmas with Dunder Mifflin is a memorable one. In “Classy Christmas”, he has just learned that Holly Flax will be returning to the Scranton branch while Toby is on jury duty for the Scranton Strangler case. In preparation for Holly’s return, Michael proposes a classier Christmas party. Holly arrives, and it’s clear that they still share an emotional connection, but Michael is heartbroken to learn that she’s still in a relationship with A.J. Feeling sorry for Michael, Pam and Phyllis talk to Holly, and she decides to give A.J. an ultimatum: if he doesn’t propose to her by the end of the year, she will end their relationship.
Michael is encouraged by this news until A.J. arrives to surprise Holly for Christmas. He behaves immaturely, upsetting Holly. Meanwhile, Pam and Andy help Darryl make Christmas at the office fun for his daughter. Holly forgives Michael for his behavior when she sees him dress up as Santa to make Darryl’s daughter happy. Angela brings her boyfriend Senator Lipton to the party, where Oscar immediately suspects that he is gay. Pam makes Jim a comic book as a Christmas present, while Jim engages in a prolonged snowball fight with Dwight. The fight escalates over the course of the day, leaving Jim traumatized.
While funny, this episode also leaves room for some wholesome family moments, reminding the audience of what Christmas is really about. It gives Michael a chance to show the audience – and the other characters – who he really is, even while he continues with his antics. The subplots are entertaining and fit well into the overall storyline. Overall, this is a great episode of The Office.
As the boss, Michael is excited for another Christmas of dressing up as Santa in the office. However, he’s disheartened when he arrives at work to find that Jim has allowed Phyllis to be Santa that year. Michael becomes petty and eventually calls David Wallace, who informs him that Dunder Mifflin has been bought out. Partly to take the attention away from Phyllis and back to himself, Michael tells the other employees that they’re all going to lose their jobs. They call David again, but he reassures them that the office employees will keep their jobs – it’s the corporate team who will likely be replaced.
Meanwhile, Andy has decided to give Erin the twelve days of Christmas – literally. He thinks it’s a romantic gesture, while she is terrified and annoyed of being harassed by geese and other birds. Erin requests that her Secret Santa stop sending her the gifts. Andy’s interactions with her become awkward when she suspects that he’s her Secret Santa; Andy asks Phyllis to keep it a secret, but Michael reveals Andy’s cover. At the end of the episode, he sends “twelve drummers drumming” to the parking lot, and Erin is pleased.
“Secret Santa” is one of the funniest episodes of The Office, thanks to iconic scenes like Kevin sitting on Michael’s lap, Pam playing matchmaker for Oscar and Matt from the warehouse, and Dwight finally piecing together Michael’s Secret Santa gift with childlike joy. The episode does a great job of humanizing Michael after his selfish and immature behavior regarding the Santa incident. With the drama of Dunder Mifflin being bought, it’s a strong episode without a dull moment, and it still holds up years after its premiere.
Nas is back with a new project titled Magic, produced by Hit-Boy. The Christmas Eve release follows this year’s Grammy-nominated King’s Disease II, the sequel to 2020’s King’s Disease. It features nine tracks, including a collaboration with A$AP Rocky and DJ Premier called ‘Wave Gods’. Listen to it below.
Hit-Boy produced and executive produced both King’s Disease and King’s Disease II. Earlier this year, he teamed up with Nas on the singles ‘Big Nas’ and ‘Life Is Like a Dice Game’.
2021 has been another interesting year for film. With more productions getting back on their feet thanks to Covid-19 vaccination programmes, we can be cautiously optimistic about what’s on the horizon. As for this past year, Our Culture has once again selected an eclectic range of titles (chosen by key staff and contributors) which we feel were the cream of the crop.
Daniel Craig made his final appearance in the James Bond series with No Time To Die, leaving no stone unturned. The film was an emotional send-off that arguably marked the most successful Bond era since the late Sean Connery, who concluded his portrayal of James Bond in 1983. No Time To Die captured a more personal Bond, one with ties and emotional depth seen across Craig’s run. This level of character evolution has brought the franchise to further acclaim and planted a positive seed for Bond’s future. – Modestas Mankus
Luzzu, a Maltese film by Alex Camilleri, follows a struggling Maltese fisherman who faces the lure of selling his fishing boat and joining a black-market enterprise that ravages the fish population and the livelihoods of local community. The simple yet intriguing story of the film captures the ever-changing lives of fishermen through outstanding cinematography and captivating performances. – Modestas Mankus
If Censor tells us anything, it’s that director Prano Bailey-Bond has a very exciting future in film. The story follows Enid (Niamh Algar), a censor for the British Board of Film Classification during the height of the ‘video nasties’ moral panic. Every day she wades through a slew of violent films until one title in particular stirs uncomfortable memories of her missing sister. In her desperate search for answers, Enid’s behaviour becomes erratic and destructive.
This is a terrific debut feature from Bailey-Bond. Her affection for horror history is evident as she captures precisely what the video nasties panic was really about: a government incapable of understanding social issues as a result of complex, intersecting factors and instead choosing an easy scapegoat. How she uses that background to frame Enid’s desperate struggle for closure is fantastic. Perceived social ills cannot be solved by quick legislation, just as one’s own grief can’t be easily settled. I cannot wait to see what Bailey-Bond does next. – Christopher Stewardson
Our Culture was lucky enough to see Phil Tippett’s Mad God earlier this year at the Fantasia International Film Festival – and what a privilege. Tippett had been working on Mad God off and on for over 20 years, with the film finally seeing the light of day earlier this summer.
It’s a nightmarish vision of warfare on an unfamiliar world. Told almost entirely through stop-motion animation, the film follows a strange soldier who is lowered into the planet’s underworld, map in hand, on a mysterious mission. On their way, they bear witness to numerous atrocities, weird creatures, and violent conflicts.
It’s an extraordinary piece of work, visually astonishing and dotted with resonant images. In Tippett’s words, “the final form of Mad God is the memory after you watch it, like waking up and exploring the memory of a dream you just had.” Hopefully it’ll soon make its way to home video, so we can pick that dream apart once again. – Christopher Stewardson
2021 was a great year for music documentaries. Britney Spears was the subject of four feature-length films that brought the #FreeBritney movement further into the public eye. Peter Jackson’s engrossing The Beatles: Get Back docuseries changed our perspective on the band’s final days. There were acclaimed documentaries on Tina Turner, The Velvet Underground, and Billie Eilish. But perhaps none was as revelatory as Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Summer of Soul, which would be true even if all it did was unearth footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival that was buried in a basement for 50 years. A 19-year-old Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples are just a few of the icons who are featured, and the film understands that it’s a wonder simply to watch these performances unfold. But it also uses the spirit of radical joy that unites them as an opportunity to shine a light on the culture and racial politics that surrounded these artists, creating a vibrant narrative that sits at the opposite end of another insightful 2021 music doc, Woodstock 99. Summer of Soul not only presents a powerful moment in the history of Black music, but serves as a loving tribute to it. – Konstantinos Pappis
Julia Ducournau followed up her cannibalistic 2016 debut Raw with a film that’s at least as ravenous and transgressive. But while Titane is most definitely a wild ride, it’s also much more than that: anchored by a fearless performance from newcomer Agathe Rouselle, this Palme d’Or winner takes the thrills of body-horror fantasy and uses them as a means of exploring queerness, family, and identity. You could describe it as a film in which an exotic dancer with a car fetish goes on the run after a killing spree, which might be enough to explain why it provokes such a visceral reaction – but Titane addresses deeper questions as much as it’ll have you mumbling “What the fuck?” at every turn. Ducournau may not offer answers to these questions, but the fact that she raises them with such bracing sincerity and a commanding vision is an achievement in and of itself. – Konstantinos Pappis
Simon Barrett is the writer of some of the best genre films in recent memory – chiefly You’re Next (2011) and The Guest (2014) – and one of the primary creatives behind the V/H/S series, which returned this year with the excellent V/H/S94 (Hail Raatma). While Barrett helmed an excellent and extremely creepy short for the latest instalment of the found-footage anthology series (a 2021 horror highlight in its own right), his larger contribution to the genre this year came in the form of his feature debut in the director’s chair: Seance.
A gleeful mash-up of the slasher movie and the haunted house film, Seance takes place in a prestigious boarding school, where new blood Camille (Suki Waterhouse) is invited to sit around a Ouija board with the resident meal girls. They intend to contact the spirit of a student who recently died by falling from the window of her dorm room following a cruel prank – a decision they very quickly come to regret. Packed to the rafters with unpredictable twists and turns, Seance has all the hallmarks of Barrett’s best work – it’s a perfect balance of genre thrills, laugh-out-loud humour and astute social commentary. – Craig Mann
Gunda is unlike any other nature documentary. It’s also unlike any documentary about farm life. Executive produced by one of Hollywood’s most famous vegan activists, Joaquin Phoenix, this quietly revelatory black-and-white film from Russian director Viktor Kossakovsky takes a different approach from eye-opening documentaries like Earthlings or Dominion, as it avoids passing judgment or making its message explicit. It makes no attempt to anthropomorphise these animals, to insist that they are like us, or focus on the incalculable suffering humans inflict on them. Instead, it subtly prioritizes and gently immerses us in their unique point of view, following the daily life of the titular pig, two cows, and a one-legged chicken without adding music or voiceover narration. It’s a serene and meditative mood piece that fills us with wonder for the 90 minutes that we’re allowed to enter their curious world. But the slightest sign of human intervention is enough to disrupt this peace, and as it moves from beauty to transcendence, Gunda’s devastating finale leaves us with no choice but to reconsider our relationship with the animals we consume. – Konstantinos Pappis
The original Candyman (1992) is a classic of modern horror cinema, and its eponymous entity has taken his rightful place in the pantheon of contemporary horror villains. So Candyman (2021) director and co-writer Nia DaCosta had her work cut out in bringing the character back to the big screen following Candyman 3: Day of the Dead (1999). And then there was the widespread confusion as to what a new Candyman would be: a remake? A sequel? A ‘reimagining,’ whatever that means? As it turns out, DaCosta’s film is essentially a straight sequel, in which Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) – an artist living in the since-gentrified housing block at the centre of the first film – falls under Candyman’s thrall.
But its power lies in its revisionism; it is far from a slavish love letter to Bernard Rose’s movie. Where the 1992 film ultimately revolves around a white woman drawn to the vengeful spirit of a Black man, 2021’s Candyman keeps its attention keenly focused on issues faced by the Black community: poverty, police brutality and everything that comes with unchecked institutional racism. And, most importantly, it recognises that while (white, wealthy) society has an unfortunate habit of making monsters out of the marginalised, Candyman is not really a ‘villain’ at all, but rather a tragic symbol of America’s consistent failure to enact meaningful change. – Craig Mann
It might take a while for The Power of the Dog to get under your skin. Jane Campion’s first feature-length film in more than a decade (she co-wrote and co-directed two seasons of Top of the Lake in the interim) runs like an epic Western but has the air of an atmospheric period drama, with echoes of her 1993 classic The Piano and a mesmerising performance from Benedict Cumberbatch in the role of a tortured cowboy in 1920s Montana. Based on the 1967 novel by Thomas Savage, this slow-burn of a film is interesting for the elusive ways in which it plays with genre, but it’s Campion powerful vision and sense of control that makes it such an unsettling and poignant experience. A master storyteller, she digs deep into the dark inner lives of each of the characters, building tension around the central conflict to explore issues of family dysfunction, social dynamics, and male fragility. As the greater narrative slowly comes into focus and its many layers unfold, you’re left with no doubt that this is one of the year’s best. – Konstantinos Pappis
Join us in 2022 for new reviews, articles, and more.
Online gaming has had a tough couple of years that has felt like a bad beat at a casino! Don’t get me wrong: we’ve had lots of beautiful games to play and chat about, but the Covid-19 pandemic has ripped large holes in our routine. As a result, any excitement or anticipation throughout this year’s reveal streams was tempered by the knowledge that no matter what games were announced or how good they looked, they’d be years away.
While the year of delays has been frustrating, it has set the stage for 2022 to be one of the most exciting years in online gaming history. In 2022, we’ll see new games from well-known studios, as well as sequels to all-time online classics, and the indie industry will be bigger and more surprising than ever. As a result, every genre once thought to be extinct will be alive and thriving in 2022.
With all this in mind, here are the best five games that I believe will come out of 2022.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus is set in the Sinnoh region, similar to Diamond and Pearl, but in a distant past before humans and Pokemon interbred. Gameplay clips from trailers show the playable characters creeping up on Pokemon and attempting to catch them in real-time, as well as the series’ trademark turn-based fighting. Finally, Arceus appears to be giving longstanding players what they’ve been asking for: something new.
A realistic driving experience that makes full use of the haptic feedback available in current controllers has been a primary focus of this new chapter in the Gran Turismo series. Aside from that, the experience of customizing and altering your vehicle has been improved even more than in previous games, and other confirmed features include weather changes during races and dynamic lighting. As a result, for the player who appreciates both autos and video games, Gran Turismo 7 will define your 2022.
If you are an avid traveler who loves to drink a glass of wine now and then, wine tourism might be the perfect type of tourism for you to try. It combines both of these activities into one unforgettable experience, allowing you to explore the world’s finest vineyards and wineries while discovering new cultures.
Every winery on your journey will provide you with unique sensations — scents, tastes, and visuals. Furthermore, you will get to experience wine production first hand and do wine tastings. And, if the season is right, you might even get a chance to participate in harvests!
If we managed to pique your interest in wine tourism and you wish to learn more about it, read on! Below, we explain what it is, why it is so beneficial to do, and how to do it right. Let’s get started!
Wine tourism is a form of tourism that involves traveling to wineries and vineyards to learn more about the wine production process, taste different wines, and enjoy the local attractions. It can also be described as a type of agritourism — a branch of tourism focused on agriculture and nature-based activities.
In other words, wine tourism is an exciting way to experience the world’s best wine regions and learn more about the local culture of the largest wine-producing countries in the world. And if you are not a big fan of wine, why not check Bourbon Bounty hunting instead, or perhaps dive deeper into the magical world of Kosher Blends?
There are many reasons why you should consider wine tourism. First of all, it combines two great things: traveling and drinking wine! Secondly, it gives you a unique chance to explore the world’s finest vineyards and discover new cultures. And lastly, it will help you discover yourself and understand your true passion and preferences.
Here are some specific benefits you can get from wine tourism:
If you have always been interested in how wine is made, this might be the perfect opportunity for you to learn more about it. In fact, visiting a winery is the best opportunity for learning how wine is produced!
One of the main perks of touring around the world is getting to know new people, cultures, and traditions. Most wineries and vineyards are located outside of major cities, which means that you will get to interact with locals in an authentic manner.
Another great benefit of wine tourism is that it gives you more time to really explore the area you are visiting. You can travel to many vineyards and wineries, meaning you will be able to take your time and truly enjoy each place on your list!
Since most people who engage in wine tourism have similar interests, this activity is the perfect opportunity for you to meet like-minded people! You might even make new friends!
Last but not least, wine tourism can be seen as a self-discovery journey — while visiting different vineyards and wineries, you will get to explore your own personal preferences. This will allow you to understand yourself better as well as highlight your strengths and weaknesses in regard to wine tasting!
There are many ways for you to experience wine tourism outside of your home country — however, we recommend that you should do some research beforehand so that you can choose the best option for yourself! Here are some steps you should follow:
1) Choose a Destination That Is Right for You
The first step in planning your trip is deciding where exactly you want to go. Some wine regions, such as Alsace in France or Tuscany in Italy, offer amazing experiences for those who wish to visit a variety of wineries; others such as California offer more opportunities for those who want to do some grape stomping!
Figure out what kind of destination would be best suited for your needs by reading reviews online or asking your friends who have already visited a certain area.
2) Organize Your Itinerary Ahead of Time
Once you have figured out where exactly you want to go, it’s time to start planning your trip! Decide how long and when you want to visit certain parts of the world; then, start planning your itinerary based on these parameters!
Depending on whether you wish to go alone or with a group of friends, decide how many days per week you would like to spend exploring different regions around the world. Then figure out how many days each region will require in order for you to see all of its main attractions.
Once this has been done, list each region on its own piece of paper or create an Excel spreadsheet with all of them!
3) Choose the Right Type of Transportation and Accommodation
Once you’ve decided on your itinerary, it’s time to start planning transportation and accommodation. The first thing you need to figure out is where you are going to stay the night. Depending on your preferences, you can opt to stay in a hotel, rent an apartment, sleep in a tent, or rent a guesthouse.
After figuring out where you are going to stay, start planning your transportation. You can choose from a variety of different airlines and prices. Make sure to consider not only the cost of getting to your travel destination but also returning home.
The type of transportation that you choose should be directly related to the regions you want to explore — for example, if you wish to visit a variety of vineyards in France, then taking a train is a great option since it will allow you to explore many different cities! However, if you wish to do grape stomping and winery tours in California, taking a plane from the east coast of the U.S. might be more convenient for your trip!
Wine tourism is an amazing way for you to explore the world and discover new cultures. It combines two fantastic activities: traveling and drinking wine! In fact, some people even say that wine tourism is a better choice than traditional tourism since it allows you to immerse yourself in culture much more deeply!
No matter which wineries you decide to visit, you will surely have a great time. On top of that, you will get a chance to learn more about the world’s finest vineyards while also getting to know yourself better! So, if you love wine and traveling, this type of tourism might be just what you have been looking for!
So you’ve seen plenty of people talking about their shirt-selling business and how it’s become pretty successful. So you go over to their website and look at their designs, only to discover that it’s fairly boring, bland, and honestly a bit cheap. You think “hey, I could do that too!” and so you start your own website, start looking at printing services, and set up Shopify so you can automate the process. You make a few designs, upload them, and then you put your website online.
Many aspiring entrepreneurs believe that selling t-shirts as a business is simple, but the reality is more complex. However, with Gelato’s printing on demand services, you can simplify the process and turn your t-shirt business into a profitable venture. Discover the ins and outs of selling t-shirts as a business and how it can make it easier by visiting Gelato.
But after a few days without a sale, you might start to rethink the difficulty of selling shirts as a business. But why? What are you missing and why is it so difficult to sell shirts as a business?
You might think that your designs are great and that you deserve to have more sales. But let’s face it, the only person that cares about your t-shirts is you. Even if you give them away, people aren’t likely to care about them because it’s not from a major brand, it’s not from a reputable influencer, and nobody they know owns anything from you.
So let’s face it; your t-shirts aren’t worth the customer’s time. Nobody knows you, your brand isn’t popular, and your designs probably aren’t that great because you made them in a few hours. So where do you go from here?
Before you start charging people for products, it’s worth checking out the quality of your shirts especially if you’re dropshipping them. For example, Gildan t-shirts are generally a good starting point in terms of value and comfort, but you should make sure to examine the print quality and the overall construction of the garment before you start selling them.
If it’s not good enough for you to wear, then you shouldn’t sell it to your customers. If you put a strong focus on quality, then you’ll almost certainly grow a loyal following. Equally important is selecting the right printing technology for different fabrics. While DTF printing machines are excellent for producing vibrant and durable prints on a variety of textiles, other techniques like sublimation or screen printing might be better suited for specific materials and design requirements.
One of the very first things you should think about is how to create content around your message and your brand. You could try finding a copywriter to write something about your brand message, you could get on social media to talk about how your brand is different, and you can generally just be honest about why you started your brand in the first place. Of course, you can’t just say “because I wanted to make money”. You need to give your audience a message that they can resonate with.
For example, maybe you wanted to offer Japanese-inspired clothing because there’s not enough of it in the west. Maybe you’ve been inspired by South African clothing and want to use similar patterns and colors to create a brand-new range of inspired fashion pieces. Whatever the case is, you need to be honest and transparent if you want to get people to care about your brand.
If you love your shoes, then you should make sure that they’re kept in the best condition at all times. Your shoe game is worth preserving, after all. Especially given the fact that your collection is likely to be one of the most expensive parts of your entire wardrobe. Here are some tips to help you take better care of those shoes.
It might sound like the most no-brainer piece of advice, but some people have some pretty bad habits about how they put on and take off their shoes. First of all, make sure you put your shoes on when they are open. Don’t put on laced shoes, unlace them first. Similarly, do not take off your shoes by stepping on the back of them with the other foot and then lifting the foot out of them. Both of these can warp the shape of the shoe over time. If you need to use a long-handle shoe horn to take them off more easily, then you should.
Maintaining the shape of the shoe is going to be one of the most vital aspects of maintaining your shoes. To that end, while you should rely on more closed forms of storage for your more expensive and less worn shoes (more on that later), a shoe tree can be a great thing for those that you’re going to wear every day or every other day. You hang the shoes from the tree by hooking the back of the heel onto them, which causes them to hang in a way that preserves the heel shape and doesn’t flatten the top.
For your other shoes, you should keep in mind how bad the elements can be for them. Dust can cause the color to fade. Moisture can cause them to lose their shape. Even direct sunlight can be bad for them, bleaching out the colors and wearing out the fabric. To that end, getting a shoe storage cabinet and shoe racks for your home can be vital. It can help keep them out of the way and also make sure that they are well organized. This way, you can make sure that you don’t have shoes on top of shoes in a pile that squishes the bottom ones.
Of course, you should also know how to care for particular shoes. Leather shoes are going to be the most common type that requires a little extra specific care. This can include making use of polish and shiner to help them not only retain their great looks, but also the suppleness of the material that prevents them from drying out and cracking over time.
Your shoes are worth taking care of, to make sure that you can keep rocking them and keep your choices as versatile as possible. There might be more specific ways to take care of certain types of shoes, too, so keep doing your research when you get a new pair.
LCD Soundsystem have unveiled their new special, the LCD Soundsystem Holiday Special, on Amazon Prime Video. Directed by and starring Eric Wareheim, the special also features Macaulay Culkin, Aparna Nancherla, Jon Daly, Christine Ko, and more. It opens with a ’90s-inspired sitcom called All My Friends that sees comedians and actors portraying members of the band. It’s followed by a pre-recorded performance that includes the band playing the 2015 holiday single ‘Christmas Will Break Your Heart’ for the first time ever, which has been released on Amazon Music as ‘christmas will break your heart (live holiday special edition – amazon original)’. Check out clips from the special below; the full thing will be available for Prime members for a limited time.
“I’ve already conquered film, James has conquered music, but we have yet to conquer the sitcom — the highest form of art,” Wareheim said in an earlier statement. “We’ve been working on this project for 15 years, and for this show, we’re unveiling a uniquely emotional perspective of the sitcom universe for the holidays — provided by one of the greatest bands of all time and my dear friends, LCD Soundsystem. I can’t believe Amazon Music is letting us do this.”
“I am similarly stunned that someone let us do this,” Murphy added. “At least we finally get to use our Korey puppet.”
Over this past weekend, LCD Soundsystem were forced to cancel the last three shows of their residency at Brooklyn Steel due to the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases in New York. “We certainly had enough cancellations to make the vote count, but we also, now with all the new info, want to stop for our own sakes,” the band wrote on Instagram.
Grimes has shared a new music video for her recent single ‘Player of Games’. With a story and creative direction by Grimes, the Anton Tammi-directed visual sees Grimes facing off against a villain called The Dark King, who is portrayed by Andreï Pishchalnikov. Watch it below.
‘Player of Games’, which Grimes co-produced with Illangelo, arrived earlier this month. The track also appears on the soundtrack for the latest season of the video game Rocket League. Grimes’ most recent LP was 2020’s Miss Anthropocene.
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