Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/gammut/.">Hairstylist Daniel Yap</a> is a color educator and a master of the rainbow <keyword id="9060164" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="prism-hair">prism hair</keyword> design.</li><li>The stylist, who is based in Perth, Australia, uses techniques called precision lightening and reverse painting to create the look.</li><li>He utilizes the precision-lightening technique to outline the design by strategically applying <keyword id="23927" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hair">hair</keyword> bleach.</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com">Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/hairstylist-creates-a-rainbow-prism-hair-design-2020-3">Insider</a>

Stylist is a master of rainbow prism hair

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Becky Martin grew up surrounded by kids and didn't think she could balance her career and motherhood.</li><li>She changed her mind after getting married but had a miscarriage at 27.</li></ul>We decided we were going to do it all — the house, the business, the backyard — all we needed was a kid. For most of my life, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/didnt-want-kids-husband-changed-mind-2024-1">I didn't want children</a>. I spent my teens babysitting cousins and knew from a young age that parenthood was far from sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows.But there was no denying that I was great with kids, so starting a career as a child and youth worker after graduating from college was a natural progression. Back then, when I thought about parenthood, I couldn't imagine <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/burned-out-middle-management-mom-changed-how-i-worked-2022-6">balancing my career </a>— centered on working with kids — while still being an ever-present mom. The two could not coexist in my mind, so I happily chose my job. But fast forward 7 years, after meeting my now husband. We had dated, married, lived overseas, started a business together, and just moved into our first house. I felt a baby would complete the perfect picture.<h2 id="0cdefe56-70b0-4052-bb66-25ce623d13c9">Falling in love changed my views on parenthood</h2>A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gentle-parenting-bust-millennial-parents-helicopter-kids-misbehave-permissive-authoritative-2024-6">fantasy of parenthood</a> with my favorite person in the world flooded my brain, and I suddenly felt confident I could balance both. After just a few months of trying, at 27, I was pregnant. After 12 weeks I <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/reproductive-health/signs-of-an-early-miscarriage">miscarried</a>. The grief I felt from the loss popped that prism-colored bubble of fantasy as easily as if it had never existed. We considered trying again and even discussed adoption, but one day I suggested: "What if we just don't have any?"It took us two years to come to the conclusion that we <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/always-wanted-to-be-mother-but-unsure-2023-9">didn't want to be parents</a>. We talked at length and gave ourselves time and space to make a decision without pressure. In the end, we were certain, and my husband decided to get a vasectomy. <div type="image" title="Couple holding three cats" height="3384" width="4512" msid="110923822" hostid="261" sizebytes="381034"></div><h2 id="52810f48-8e4f-4a5b-9f8e-c880c7baa761">It's been 18 years, and I have no regrets </h2>Many factors went into the final decision. The first was that I had no desire to give up my career and be a full-time mom. We knew that if we <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-gen-z-parents-struggle-lonely-childcare-costs-money-friends-2023-11">decided to be parents, our future would be cemented</a>. It meant establishing ourselves in one location to consider education, medical care, family, and community support. While before our loss, we were excited, later, it felt like we would be limiting ourselves. Another factor we weighed in was the state of our world. I loved children too much to bring them into this mess. Not one second has passed when I feel glad that we lost our child. My husband and I still talk about what they might have looked like — would they have had my curly hair or the height of my husband? This year, they would have turned 18. We would have loved them and our life with them with devotion and enjoyed sending them off into the world of adulthood with support.But that life didn't happen, and we designed a new one together. We moved overseas to teach English for 7 years. During that time we traveled, healed, and explored what we as a couple wanted for the future. When we got tired of living overseas, we packed up our three cats and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moving-to-canada-taiwan-helped-gen-xers-pay-student-debt-2024-5">moved back to Canada</a>. Upon returning, we tried a few new jobs and moved two more times over three years until we found a city with more extracurricular activities for people<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/parents-dinks-winning-childfree-economy-finances-income-vacation-retirement-kids-2024-2"> living child-free</a>. Since deciding not to have children, most of our choices have been based not on money or opportunities for a child but on our mental well-being, job exploration, and learning. We have become stronger, bolder, and more confident in the unknown. In a loving way, tinged with grief and sadness, we can thank the child who made us parents for just a little while because, without their entry and exit, we would not have seen the world from a very different perspective.Got a personal essay about living abroad or parenting that you want to share? Get in touch with the editor: <a target="_blank" href="mailto:akarplus@businessinsider.com">akarplus@businessinsider.com</a>.

I had a miscarriage in my 20s and it confirmed what I always knew: I didn't want to be a mom

<ul class="summary-list"><li>I used to teach the children of Russian oligarchs and politicians.</li><li>Our classrooms were penthouse apartments, yachts, and mansions in exclusive Moscow suburbs.</li></ul>This essay is based on the recollections of Cameron Manley, 24, a news fellow at Business Insider who previously worked as a private tutor in Moscow and, following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Monaco. The names of students have been changed to protect their identity.In late 2021, I started working for an international tutoring agency in Moscow.The agency counted some of Russia's elite among its clientele — so I was quickly thrust into a world of private jets, guarded estates, and personal chauffeurs.I worked in Moscow until Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when I was relocated to Monaco.We charged $150 per hour minimum for classes, but more experienced tutors and specific packages for private-school assessments or English-language testing would cost more.Tutoring does not require any kind of formal qualification, but parents were still often happy to part with their cash as long as the tutors had a native-English accent and some connection to either the British private school system or some of the UK's top universities.$150 was also small change for many of these families, which was reflected in the various classroom settings — Monaco penthouses, Moscow mansions, and yachts.<div type="image" title="Yacht" height="3200" width="9045" msid="108564394" hostid="261" sizebytes="2779198"></div>The money the Russian elite were willing to throw at young, inexperienced tutors was unbelievable — and frankly quite frightening.I had acquaintances who worked as governors or nannies who were earning well into six figures.Others were offered similarly extortionate salaries to spend their summers teaching on yachts in places like St. Barts in the Caribbean or sailing around the world.<h2>I taught in luxurious villas and penthouse apartments</h2>Often the children we taught, who were from four to around 18 years old, had private drivers who hurried them about in tinted Range Rovers or Mercedes-Benz cars.In Moscow, many of our classes took place in Rublevka, an elite guarded estate in the west of the capital, where Russian President <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-kids-names-ages-secret-daughters-2018-6">Vladimir Putin owns a home.</a>Many of the kids we taught lived in a world entirely different from any we had known.A colleague of mine did after-school classes there with an eight-year-old boy called Ivan.One week his family had been planning a weekend trip to get away from the capital: "I hope the weather isn't too bad so we can take the helicopter and don't have to drive," he said.We also homeschooled two pupils: Alexei, 13, and his younger sister, Elena, 11.The first time I met Alexei, he walked into our office sporting $1,000 Balenciaga trainers and a watch worth at least five times as much.He was nevertheless a pleasant child but, like Ivan, appeared somewhat disconnected from reality.In one class, he was shocked to hear that we didn't receive regular pampering from staff at home: "It's been seven months since you had a massage? I have a massage every day, I have my own massage therapist," he told us.Elena was less communicative and didn't seem to enjoy the lavish lifestyle she had."What have I done to deserve this? I hate my life," she would often say.My colleagues and I became increasingly concerned about her well-being as time went on.She didn't enjoy classes alone and wanted to be with friends in a normal school.But her parents insisted.She seem tied to the life into which she had been born.<h2>The job constantly surprised me</h2>I met two types of parents in the job: Those who spent thousands of dollars on their children because they cared about them, and those who spent the money so that they didn't have to think about them.I felt that many of the parents fell into the latter category.Frequently, we had little, if any, contact with the parents, and we would usually deal with nannies or drivers instead.It felt like many of the parents found you to be an eye-sore in their luxurious lives.Once, I had to teach a lesson at a seaside villa in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, an exclusive area between Nice in the south of France and Monaco.The home was on a private road, and I entered through a large automatic gate that was littered with security cameras.The house was spread out over two floors, with a swimming pool, a fully-equipped gym, a sauna, and a steam room.<div type="image" title="Saint Jean Cap Ferrat, France" height="2875" width="3833" msid="108564396" hostid="261" sizebytes="1430486"></div>When I arrived, they told me that the kids, aged four and six, had not finished their personal training session and that I would have to wait outside in the street.Eventually the nanny said she would find me somewhere to sit "out of sight," so I was hurried into a large store cupboard in the furthest corner of the house. The kids strolled in about an hour later.<h2>Some tried to get their children out of Russia after the invasion began</h2>When the war in Ukraine broke out, a number of families came to us looking to find school placements for their children either in the West or in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moved-to-dubai-russia-ukraine-invasion-cost-of-living-2023-10">United Arab Emirates</a>, where many wealthy Russians fled at the outbreak of the war.<div type="image" title="Dubai Skyline and Jumeirah Open Beach." height="1333" width="2000" msid="108564398" hostid="261" sizebytes="116450"></div>There was one family with three young children who were looking to find schools in Dubai.Speaking to us in perfect English on Zoom with a background that boasted enormous paintings and palatial pillars, they seemed polite, well-mannered, and bright.We later discovered that the kids were the grandchildren of a senior Russian politician who had played a major role in starting the war in Ukraine.The irony was not lost on us that some of those who had played a key part in helping Putin initiate his brutal, unprovoked invasion were now trying to help their children escape Russia.<h2>The children often brought up politics and the war</h2><div type="image" title="Russian President Vladimir Putin poses with students." height="2823" width="4113" msid="108564400" hostid="261" sizebytes="519194"></div>The company we worked for had explicitly told us to avoid discussing politics with the pupils, as the government was cracking down on protestors, and it could have put us and our pupils in danger.But the children often brought the topic up themselves, their comments ringing with the ideology they had likely absorbed at home."Ukraine is ours, after all," Alexei told me in one class just after the invasion began in February.Ivan, referring to a picture of Putin, once said, "Oh, he's amazing! Don't you think he's amazing?""You should open an office in Kyiv. It's beautiful there," one parent also wryly said to me.<h2>There were occasional breakthroughs</h2>We taught many different pupils but only one really seemed to appreciate just how lucky they were.Elizaveta, 15, frequently expressed her discontent with Putin's Russia."We're killing thousands of innocent Ukrainians. It's awful," she once said.That week, she had been kicked out of school for dyeing her hair and had asked her parents to book some additional classes so that she didn't fall behind.Her parents were looking to send her to an English private school that September."The best thing I can do now is leave Russia," she told me. "That's the last option I have. Perhaps from abroad, I might be able to do some good."Elizaveta was an anomaly, and most of the time, you had to settle for smaller victories.I distinctly remember telling our homeschooled pupils that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moscow-russia-ukraine-war-broke-out">my colleagues and I had decided to leave Russia</a>.Elena seemed like she could not have cared less.But Alexei looked genuinely upset.It was as though the prism through which he saw the world had been, if not broken, then at the very least a little scratched.

I tutored the children of Russia's elite amid the backdrop of war. One teenager said he had his own massage therapist.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Modern <keyword id="839588" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="funk">funk</keyword> creator <keyword id="11777039" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="dm-funk">DāM-FunK</keyword> found stillness and inspiration amid the COVID-19 pandemic.</li><li>Slowing down inspired new projects, creative renewal, and a reconnection with his Pasadena roots.</li><li>Insider spoke to DāM-FunK about his new album "Above the Fray."</li></ul>In many ways, DāM-FunK (pronounced Dame Funk) has always been above the fray.Hailing from Pasadena, California, DāM-FunK's environment generously influenced his musical mind. He rose as a producer and session musician at the nadir of synth-funk and the rise of G-funk, absorbing the punchy funk of the late 1980s and early 1990s rap built over funk samples or compositions. He toured the world and started Funkmosphere in 2006, his former weekly DJ set in <keyword id="6354803" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Los-Angeles">Los Angeles</keyword>. Under the Stones Throw record label, he released six projects, and now prolifically releases <keyword id="6354530" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="music">music</keyword> through his independent music label and company Glydezone Recordings.His music is an exercise in the art of honoring the past and interrogating the future, producing a sound that is layered by synth lines that meander and guide, growled basslines, meditative chords, and powered by the trademark knock and syncopation of his programmed drums.It's the committed authenticity of Southern California funk and G-funk infused with celestial ambiance. His versatility has spurred collaborations with stars like Snoop Dogg, Tyler, the Creator, Q-Tip, and the late Mac Miller; sessions with legends Steve Arrington and Todd Rundgren; and releases under alter ego "Garrett." Insider spoke with DāM-FunK about his new album "Above the Fray" as well as his creative process and outlook on life and music throughout the pandemic. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.How have things been for you in general, and creatively through the pandemic?Well, it's a good day in LA. I was on the road for so long, over 10 years, that when it came time to sit down, I was really looking forward to it. So when it all began around March of 2020, I was like, yes, let's sit down for a little bit and kind of recalibrate. And that's what I did, pretty much. And also, I do understand though that a lot of people were worried and hit with anxiety, as far as where things were going on financially for people. So I definitely understand the situation getting back out there.But I used the sit down for getting my head clear. Re-evaluating some things, maturing on a few different levels, and I even stopped drinking, which I just thought I'd be better for my health. I just personally took the leap, as I did with quitting smoking in 2019, March 25th of 2019, but I just adapted to different, positive things in my life. And so that's what I can tell you that the pandemic helped me on, and rather the sit-down portion of it, it helped me to see more clearly and make some more decisions that I probably wouldn't be able to do when I was being out there in the world so much and so busy all the time.Can you talk to me about this process of rediscovery on the musical and creative side? Did it feel like being a teenager in Pasadena again, in the early aughts of your music career?Yeah, no, you hit it on the nail. For some reason, sometimes when I would be on the road or on the airplane or in a hotel or something like that, or just doing things in my life, I started to have flashbacks of making music in Pasadena, California, in my bedroom, with cassette tapes, and bouncing the tracks back and forth to two tape decks and then CDs. And that's how I recorded my first album, was like bouncing CD to CD and stuff like that. It was more like these light flashes in my head, like wow, I think I want to go back home, in a creative, figurative sense, because it felt like I was returning home, especially the new place that I moved into out of LA. And the direction that I have my studio facing is the same direction that I grew up in, as far as like looking west out of the window and looking west and seeing the hills. With the rediscovery part, I was just able to rediscover more confidence in my sound. I do embrace the future as well, and I embrace new sounds as well. Like, I never want to be the old man on the front lawn screaming at the kids, you know? That's never what I've been like because I would consider myself timeless. You know, Prince, when he had his era in like the early Eighties, like late-Seventies to mid-Eighties, I would have loved for him to make a few more Ballad of Dorothy Parkers, but he didn't. And I always wish, like why do cats always move on so fast? I mean, you don't have to go make a rock and roll record just because you made a funk record the last album, you know what I'm saying? It's like, just keep rolling the way you feel. Where did you draw inspiration for the album's title "Above the Fray"? "Above the Fray" represents being above the noise, like in your own space. It's that drive that you take by yourself, across whatever freeway. You know, you have that time to yourself, and you kind of are able to figure things out, or that walk or that subway ride or whatever, that bike ride on your own. That's what "Above the Fray" is, the time period that you have to not participate in all of the drama that's out there right now. I want to influence people to get it together as we all try to move into this brand new decade together. But right now, we're just going to leave it instrumental so people can just ride and glide, and we're just going to be above the fray. "Above the Fray" is also referring to how everybody's always arguing all the time and getting themselves in trouble online, and being removed from that.I just wanted to make a record that was instrumental right now, but a full record, and not just like an EP that I've been doing lately, since 2015, which my last full album was "Invite The Light.""Above the Fray" is the soundtrack to trying to be the best that you can after living some life. We all are human. But, when you start realizing that, okay, I can maneuver in this obstacle course or dodge those crocodiles while I swing across the pond without getting snapped. That's kind of like what life is about. You still try to figure things out and then hopefully you can remain, where? "Above the Fray."<div type="image" title="Above the Fray" height="2249" width="3000" msid="84987962" hostid="261"></div>In having this kind of stillness, did you find yourself kind of getting into new creative routines, or letting go of old creative routines?You didn't know what was going to be happening. Are we going to be wrapped in our homes forever? Is this the new norm? So I think from all of that, and it's related to the process of recording this new music and things like that, or just putting this project together, I was able to experiment with connecting with the people through the portal of your social media lives and just sharing things, but then also fine-tuning what you're letting people into. So after a while, I was like, I don't know if I really have to feel comfortable about beaming my place of solace out to people.I was just getting more in touch with my private life. And I think I enjoy my private life more. And then I realized in order, and through the process of this record to maintain a private life is just to not put out stuff too much out there for the public and just speak through the music. And so that's some of the things that I was able to do as far as this particular project, again, to harness being in a private space.You were putting out <a href="https://glydezone.com/projects/">a lot of music</a> throughout this time. Was that kind of part of this renewal that you were going through too, in order to get to "Above the Fray"?Yes, it was. And also it was a plan to put out more music on a more periodic basis. There have been a lot of little things I was experimenting with between 2015 and 2021. And I really feel good about the Glydezone recordings platform where I could put out stuff where I want to, where it doesn't have to go through red tape, or any things, anybody approving anything.That's where I'm looking at right now because I definitely want to dive deeper into funk, as far as like chords and different moods, because a lot of people associate funk with a party all the time. And to me, funk isn't always a party. I'm building what I would like to visualize as like a progressive, modern funk corner of the game. That's what I'm trying to convey to people, even though funk is a party and it can be, we love that. I'm proud to say what a genre is. That's probably the difference with me, man, is because I'm not afraid to say I do funk music.I wasn't a hip-hop kid, I was a funk kid. A Funk kid who liked hip hop, liked new wave, liked heavy metal, liked drum and bass, liked house, all of that stuff. In funk's tradition is always mixing a lot of styles, as you can see with P-funk, with lead guitar solos, by Eddie Hazel. So it was always about experimentation and where a funkster can go to a Frank Zappa concert and not feel weird, you know what I'm saying? So that's where I'm at in just trying to take it further. That's why I would do things like go on tour with cats like Todd Rundgren, for three months. It might not be understood by some cats, but that's what funk is to me too, to be into different styles, but I'm not afraid to call it funk.You've described funk music as "a smile with a tear" - tell me about that mantra.The music that I make comes out like that and that applies to other types of funk too. A lot of people know about the song "Juicy Fruit" by Mtume. But it's a cute title and a cute lyric format, but the music is very melancholy. If you listen to that song and the lyrics off of it, you'll hear a different style of funk and not be a party vibe all the time, which we love, don't get me wrong. "Atomic Dog" is a classic, gets everybody up off the seat. But there's room for "Juicy Fruit" or "Primetime" from Mtume, you know what I'm saying? Or there's room for "Hanging on a String" from Loose Ends. And there's room for a lot of different styles of funks. So that's just where I'm at. And I think "Above the Fray" has a lot of moody type of funk in there. It's all mixed and I'm just trying to take it further because to me, as I've said before, the funk continues, I'm still living funk, my shades are through a funk prism. So I don't want to keep going backwards. I want to do stuff how it sounds in 2022. You've always brought multi-generational audiences into the fold, whether it's modern progressive funk, or older styles of funk, or Black classical, and electronic music as well. So what do you think it is about the styles of music that you grew up with, and your creation and curation of them, that has this draw to wide audiences?I think it's just the respect. I think that's the key word. Everybody wants to be respected. Cats like Sly Stone or Isaac Hayes at Curtis Mayfield, or Barry White, or Ohio Players, and those cats, they came before me. So, I try to keep them in the mix when I do things or, drops of P funk at a show and "Knee Deep" by Funkadelic, the whole 15-minute version. And then followed up with the latest track by Specter, or something by Omar S, or Moodymann.I mean, you play "A Family Affair" by Sly and Family Stone, and you can put that right next to something that came out a couple of years ago. I try to respect the people who came before me, because I grew up with a mom and dad in the house, and my dad was always open-minded. Like on the weekends, when he wasn't working, he'll build a whole wall in the backyard by itself, cut the grass, the lawnmower. Have a briefcase during the week and this fresh suit and the cleaners, and drove into Burbank and went to work every day. That's the kind of stuff I grew up on.There's room for people like myself that came from my experience, living in the corner of Sunset and Hammond in Pasadena that you can share music from this prism. A lot of art that's celebrated is always coming from a dark place, especially with Black music. Black trauma is very profitable. So it's like when you're not talking about Black trauma all the time, it's kind of like you get lost in the sauce it seems. But I'm not here to complain. I'm just saying that I'm glad that I'm at least interjecting and showing that you don't have to really do Black trauma all the time in the music and art. I feel that I'm an alternative for people of all shades, and all backgrounds, and worldwide.And I think that's probably what has taken me throughout the world, like Dubai, and Russia, China, Eastern Europe. And I think when you do things from the heart, the universal law of energy picks up on that and you get that universal love, and it's not so regionally based. And that's why I'm able to maybe go out to so far different places, but then walk around in my own backyard and people might not know who I am.What it is, is that I just want to make music that, like how I felt growing up. I will look out the window and put the record in a record player, and I'd just stare at the mountains and the window and rocking my chair to it. I want to provide that type of experience for people.And how about your new weekly show with Apple Music hits, <a href="https://music.apple.com/us/curator/glydezone-radio-with-dām-funk/1550670086">Glydezone Radio.</a> How you're feeling about having that new platform?They tapped me to do it, and I just was surprised because there were a lot of different radio opportunities that would come here and there from different, very reputable platforms that we all enjoy online. But this particular one really caught my attention because it was the freedom that I enjoy to be able to do whatever I want, creative freedom. And then also being that I was able to be taken care of from a level where you're respected and not expected to do anything. And I would've never expected companies like Apple to have you a part of something that you're not compromising yourself. And that's what I'm really appreciative of. And I'm just able to share music with people and on a weekly basis.I just like to try to mix it up in this Glydezone Radio show, to show people that I don't only enjoy boogie and disco and funk. I'm a funkster, but I enjoy all styles of music, young and old. And that's just what I'm trying to do. There's nothing wrong with being a funkster and enjoying other people's styles of music. I just love any kind of music that's out there that makes me feel interested in something different. And I came from the generation that was kind of like the bridge, if you will, I call it the bridge generation, from regular Saturday morning cartoon TV and a TV in the living room that everybody had fun in front of, with only one day of cartoons on Saturday, maybe a few on Sundays, and then the weekdays was after school. I'm just happy to remember those times, and then now I'm not, like I said, will never be that guy on the front lines screaming at the next generation. I'm embracing what's going on, but also maintaining my own stance within it all through the radio show.How do you feel about the last decade or so being this more mainstream embrace of Disco and Funk sensibilities?I feel pretty cool about it. It's like, people will try to pit me against different people sometimes on social media, things like that. But I never fell for it, and I just feel, I've always dreamed of funk being back in the game to a level where people respect it and not just joking about it all the time, making it kind of a tongue-in-cheek thing. So you can hear it definitely in a lot of the music. You're right, you can definitely hear the influence. They're not necessarily calling it funk, but you can definitely hear the influence. It's like a mesh between disco and funk. You're right, with the four on the floor thing, you can hear the guitar, kick and scratch guitar, and some of the bass lines, and things like that. Then putting a different front cover on it.So I definitely see it. I'm not bothered by it. It's like, everybody has their time and every music has their moment. I wonder what people were thinking when metal was popular and the hair bands. Did the rock groups like Rolling Stones and all of those guys trip off of it? I don't know. But probably not. They probably had some jokes here and there. There's some good production out there, man. I've been listening.There will always be a McDonald's and there will always be the local burger stand. You got a choice.But I just wanted to ask you, how, coming out of, in the period of the pandemic that we're in, how are you feeling about live performances? What do you have lined up? What are you excited about?I'm just excited to share some different things, like new music, and then also share things, like curating mixtures of, maybe like a solo live set where I still play other people's stuff I would like people to hear, and also some of my original stuff. But also I'm gradually bringing back some live elements with one of the members of my earlier configuration. His name is Keith "E-Day" Eaddy, and he plays bass and keys. And I'm thinking about adding more elements but right now just sticking with E-day to join me on some of the shows. So he knows my music and we have a rapport. We laugh with each other and that kind of thing. So he gets it.I'll be definitely bringing my own microphone to shows and that kind of thing, and if I don't have one, sanitizing, that kind of thing. We're just in a new era right now. We have to really protect ourselves, protect people around us. And just be mindful, whatever you believe, be mindful of other people's space. I think 2022 is more of a realistic period that I think people will be more ready to really go out like that again. Some of the shows, they're coming up at the end of the summer, we'll see how things go, I'm still going to be dotting my I's and crossing my T's out here as we progress out here and return. But I'm looking forward to trying to be a part of the comeback.

Modern funk progenitor DāM-FunK on his new album, quitting drinking during the pandemic, and the timeless allure of funk music

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Regardless of how you feel about Snapchat's new camera-equipped glasses, one thing is certain: Snapchat's marketing team is genius.The glasses, called Spectacles, are exclusive, hard to come by, and one of the most innovative products of the year. So of course, we all have to have them.But since Snapchat - which recently renamed itself to Snap Inc. - has only been selling them in obscure locations, Business Insider is just now getting our hands on a pair, thanks to our good friends at <a href="http://www.cheddar.com/" target="_blank">Cheddar</a>, who kindly lent us theirs.My first reaction? Wow.From the first moment of opening the lid to pairing the Spectacles with my phone, they were everything I hoped they'd be: well-designed, stylish, fun, and easy to use. Walking around New York City with them, I felt like part of an exclusive club, and was simultaneously worried someone would snatch them off my face.For the company's first hardware product, the glasses, which cost $130 and are only sold out of vending machines, can certifiably be called a hit.But there's one problem with the Spectacles: the novelty wears off quickly.<h2>Subtle and stylish</h2>Arguably the best part about the Spectacles is that they're subtle. We tested out a black pair and they look just like regular sunglasses at first glance. Walking down the street in them, I didn't feel like I was wearing a nerdy tech product on my face.The only ways you can tell that there's something different about the glasses are the yellow circles around the lens and the light on either side of the frame, and the fact that the hinges are quite thick - that's where the charging port is and where all the technology is housed.While the teal and coral versions of the Spectacles look more like toys or gadgets, the black pair is by far the most subtle of the three shades.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>And although some people - men especially - complained about the fit of the Spectacles, they fit comfortably on the bridge of my nose. There are two rubber pads on either side of the nose bridge that help them fit snugly, and the shape of the frames complemented most face shapes. In fact, they looked good on nearly everyone who tried them on. Clearly, Snap paid close attention to trends in glasses and sunglasses and chose a shape that probably won't go out of style anytime soon, but still looks modern.Oddly, Snap doesn't say anywhere on the Spectacles website whether the glasses offer 100% UVA and UVB protection, as most sunglasses do.<h2>Video capture made easy - some of the time</h2>Spectacles come in a plastic tube that houses the case, the glasses, and the other accessories, including a ghost-shaped cleaning cloth and a charging cable. While the case is a bit bulky - it's prism-shaped, so it doesn't fit in pockets or small purses - it's a clever design that charges the glasses when they're snapped into place.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Setting up the glasses to work with your phone is easy and straightforward, and Snapchat includes step-by-step instructions inside the package (for more on how to set them up, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-spectacles-how-to-pair-with-your-phone-2016-11" target="_blank">click here</a>). Once they're paired with your phone, you can begin shooting videos that will upload directly to your phone and are housed inside the Memories folders.It took me a little while to adjust to shooting video with the glasses. I spent years shooting video on DSLRs and I now constantly shoot video on my iPhone, but this is a totally new and mostly incomparable experience - the glasses are literally seeing what you're seeing.<div><a href="http://giphy.com/gifs/l3vRgCVahi25zbEje">via GIPHY</a></div>The most challenging part of recording video was how easily the lens could be obstructed. Being outside on a windy day caused strands of my hair to fly in front of the lens, ruining a perfectly nice video of the Flatiron Building. And since you can only guess at whether the glasses are still recording - you can kind of see the light flashing out of the corner of your eye - I often would take them off too soon and accidentally cover the lens with my hand.&#xa0;This is all part of a larger problem with the Spectacles: You can't see what you're recording in real time.With basically any other camera, you can watch the video as you're recording it, ensuring that you're capturing what you intend to. But with Spectacles, it's basically a guess. Because the lens has a fish-eye effect, it was hard to tell what would be in the frame and what would get cut off. While it might somewhat defeat the purpose of the Spectacles, I would have loved if I could watch my videos in real-time on my phone screen.&#xa0;And if you were hoping to record video with the Spectacles at nighttime, good luck: While Snap hasn't released the specs of the camera, the lens does not perform well in low-light scenarios.&#xa0;<div><a href="http://giphy.com/gifs/3o6ZtaIO9YGBxFDMbu">via GIPHY</a></div><h2>A clunky app experience</h2>There's one other major problem with Spectacles: It's actually a hassle to view the videos after they're done recording. While the shooting part is easy, the entire experience after the fact is clunky and time-consuming.The videos are buried in your Memories folder, which most people likely never even open but was clearly created to house Spectacles videos. You have to watch through every single video in order, so you can't just select your most recent video and look at it - all the videos you've created play back much like a Snap story.You can speed things along by clicking the button that says "Edit &amp; Send," which shifts the videos into a carousel view that you can scroll though, but it still puts them in chronological order. Anyone trying to view a specific shot will quickly be frustrated by how long it takes to get to your most recent video.But there's one feature of Spectacles that arguably makes it one of the coolest products I've used in a while: When you play back the video, it shifts around when you move your phone, much like 360 video. You can look around the entire image of what the Spectacles just by turning your phone. When you add a caption and upload the video to you Snapstory, the caption moves along with the video. That feature alone makes filming videos with the Spectacles incredibly fun to use.<div><a href="http://giphy.com/gifs/l2JhOmnksrO1i27AY">via GIPHY</a></div>My first instinct was to use the Spectacles to shoot beautiful, first-person videos, but it was clear very quickly that this product is not designed to do that. In trying to shoot a nice video walking up to the Chrysler Building at night, I realized after playing it back that it pretty much just looked like I had shot it with my phone.&#xa0;<div><a href="http://giphy.com/gifs/l2JhDNCvaHqhscMJq">via GIPHY</a></div>The Spectacles seem designed for experiences where there's a lot of movement and a lot to look at - an experience that's best represented POV-style. When I started really testing out the glasses, I felt like they were wasted on my jaunts around New York City. The glasses would be better put to use in situations like concerts, big parties, sporting events, or anything outdoors - which means that if you're buying them for everyday use, you might be disappointed.&#xa0;The other downside is the videos don't upload to your phone in HD. Instead, you get a somewhat blurry SD version first, and can opt to upload the HD videos after. But that requires connecting to the WiFi inside the Spectacles, which again is a clunky and time-consuming process, and it's difficult to select an individual video to upload in HD.&#xa0;<h2>Conclusion</h2>For Snap's first iteration of the glasses, they're a total success - as long as you're not looking at them as a tech product.&#xa0;If you think about the Spectacles as a fashion product that happens to be tech-enabled, they're fantastic: They look good, it's easy to record video, and they're fun to use. Owning them puts you in an exclusive club, but not in the same vein as the Silicon Valley techies who flocked around Google Glass.&#xa0;Instead, the Spectacles are aimed at a different crowd: Snapchat users who want to take their game to the next level; people who travel and explore and don't want to do so with a GoPro strapped to their heads; and millennials who are eager to be inspired by a tech product again and want to be the first to own the next big thing - in essence, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel himself.&#xa0;<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Are the glasses perfect? Not even close. The app's capabilities haven't caught up to what the Spectacles are trying to accomplish, the camera is below-average, and after only a few hours of using them, the novelty completely wore off. Right now, their allure mostly lies in how difficult they are to obtain, evidenced by the fact that everyone at Business Insider and all of my friends who tried them on immediately uploaded a selfie while wearing them, but didn't actually record any video with them.&#xa0;For $130, the product seems worth the money, and would be fun to have on-hand for the few days a year you're at a music festival or taking a road trip with friends. But don't be surprised if, after a few selfies and a couple fun POV videos, your Spectacles start to gather dust. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hands-on-snapchat-spectacles-video-2016-11">We got our hands on Snapchat's Spectacles - here's what they're like</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="A3eWVtNzE66m4FSkBq4MLZymOpml9Xvg" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

REVIEW: Snapchat's Spectacles live up to the hype, but have a ways to go

<div class="image-container" style="width:800px"><div class="image">REUTERS</div></div>
When those of us in the Western world look at <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>, we often do so through the prism of the expatriate, usually a young(ish) Westerner living in one of the country's major metropolitan areas. 
However, these expats are not always the most reliable narrators. Even websites that cater to expats are full of stories of foolish, usually drunken, <a href="http://shanghaiist.com/2013/06/14/nanjing_police_help_french_laowai_find_his_apartment_after_he_forgets_which_building_he_lives_in.php">"laowai" humiliating themselves in one manner or another</a>. 
Given how this community is a window into China — and perhaps also China's window into into the West — they probably deserve study, and a new book out this week in the U.S. attempts to do that. 
Tom Carter, both an <keyword id="6468264" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="expat">expat</keyword> and "laowai" in China since 2006, chronicles the expat experience as editor of "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Unsavory-Elements-Stories-Foreigners-Loose/dp/9881616409/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1">Unsavory Elements</a>" (a Chinese nickname for foreigners, perhaps one step above "foreign devils"). Featuring 28 essays from foreigners, the book is meant to show some kind of unifying experience amongst a relatively disparate community.
While most of the essays are by relatively established writers (the New Yorker's Peter Hessler is one notable example), they offer a good glimpse of the variety of the expat experience in China. Perhaps the seediest story is Carter's own story, a snapshot of a his trip to a brothel in an unnamed Chinese city (a story that was "so insensitive," <a href="http://www.timeoutshanghai.com/features/Books__Film-Book_reviews/11883/Unsavory-Elements.html">Time Out Shanghai felt forced to ask Carter about</a> "his motives for writing it") but others offer more family friendly fare (for example, Alan Paul’s road trip through remote Sichuan province with his young family).
"Unsavory Elements" comes out in the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Unsavory-Elements-Stories-Foreigners-ebook/dp/B00DKMP0KK/">United States this week and you can buy it on Amazon here</a>. Business Insider spoke with Carter in an effort to understand what he really things about the experience of foreigners in China. 
Business Insider: What made you want to edit this book? Your previous book was photography-based, why the shift?
Tom Carter: During my 2-year, 35,000-mile journey across China back in ’06-’08, my backpack was constantly filled with <keyword id="5050" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="books">books</keyword> – more books than anything else, which made my pack quite unwieldy – including the memoirs of many of the authors who would later contribute to Unsavory. The snapshots that I took during my travels ultimately resulted in the creation of my own book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/CHINA-Portrait-People-Tom-Carter/dp/9889979942">CHINA: Portrait of a People</a>, which was well received and inspired me to pursue photojournalism professionally.
<div class="image-container float_left" style="width:480px"><div class="image">Courtesy of Tom CarterTom Carter (R)</div></div>But, as it happened, in the following years the photojournalism industry basically collapsed (due in part to the decline of print media and the advent of digital devices). While I was sitting around waiting for interviews and job offers that never came, I started working on other literary projects, such as this anthology, for fun.
I conceived Unsavory Elements as a tribute to all those expat authors in China that had inspired me during my travels with their tales and prose. I reached out to them to commission all-new stories – I did not know any of them personally but everyone was accessible and receptive – and found I had a knack for editing. It was an entirely organic, grassroots project that perfectly exemplifies the unpredictable, fluid spirit of expatriate life in China, where anyone can reinvent themselves, and where even if one door of opportunity closes on you, another will usually open.
BI: Is there something unique about the expat community in China as opposed to say, expats in Japan or France?
TC: I can’t speak on France – my only knowledge of the expatriate scene there comes from Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer – but I did used to live in Tokyo. Gaijin and laowai share many quandaries, such as our host countries’ deep-rooted mistrust and openly xenophobic attitudes towards outsiders (“No Foreigners Allowed” signs are just as common in Shinjuku as they are in Shenyang).
And yet, my impression was that Japan’s expat community has an air of privilege and conceit to it; gaijin appreciate Japan for its opulent comforts, its meticulous perfections, its soft-spoken sensibilities, and seem to abhor the uncertainties and disquieting disorder of a developing nation. They really are quite precious, those gaijin.
China’s expat scene, on the other hand, is like a great big rowdy saloon from America’s Wild West days,

with dusty explorers, try-your-luck prospectors and even the occasional outlaw laowai riding in from the hazy horizon to find their fortunes in this final frontier … or simply to get in adventures that no developed country like Japan could ever offer.
BI: Why do you think so many people move to China?
TC: China truly has become the new land of opportunity, where westerners of all walks, defeated by this ongoing global recession, have replaced the Chinese as the world’s economic refugees; a “floating population” of blonde-haired, blue-eyed migrant laborers blown in by fate and free-trade treaties onto the red shores of China, destitute and dragging plaid peasant bags bursting with emotional and financial baggage.
I’m being lyrically sensationalistic here, but beneath my playful prose is the harsh truth: America is seeing its end of days. China is our largest foreign creditor – the Communist Party basically owns us – we’ve exported most of our manufacturing base (that iPad you are reading this article on was assembled by an adolescent from Anhui), and our “land of the free” ethos has regressed to a totalitarian police state echoing Cultural Revolution-era China.
The irony of this reversal of roles is not lost on me, nor on the nearly 1 million foreigners living and working in China today, an (unofficial) number that has increased 10% year-on-year for the past decade. All said, I am less inclined to think we are moving to China so much as we are fleeing the west.
BI: Do you think the view of foreigners in China has changed over the years?
TC: Mark Kitto, a contributor to the Unsavory anthology, writes a humorously-vain account about how local authorities wanted to immortalize his likeness into a statue – and as soon as they did they tore it down! I think this story is an apt metaphor for China’s historical love-hate relationship with foreigners, where one moment they are idolizing westerners like superstars and the next they are fumigating us like some invasive species (an analogy that Jonathan Watts touches on in his essay).
If you look back at history, China is one of the few countries that have instituted systematic purges of “foreign devils” over the centuries, most notably the wholesale slaughter of thousands of Christians during the bloody Boxer Uprising and the Cultural Revolution persecutions of any Chinese who associated with westerners.
Foreigners in China have advanced (some might argue regressed) over the centuries from unremitting missionaries and exploitative opium operations to backpackers and businessmen, but the purges continue to take place to this day at the whim of the ever-capricious Communist Party, including last year’s state-sponsored looting of Japanese businesses and vehicles, and the campaign’s official government artwork of a fist smashing down on the characters for “foreigners.” My anthology’s title “Unsavory Elements” is a cheeky reference to one of the Party’s many pet names for us.
BI: Could you make out any common themes? Did anything in the stories surprise you?
TC: The lighthearted tone of the book is emulated in part after my backpacking days when I’d just sit around a hostel laughing and swapping short stories with other travelers and transients about our various adventures.
<div class="image-container float_left" style="width:300px"><div class="image">Via Tom Carter</div></div>But beneath the fun reading I was surprised to find a subtext of heavier themes shared by all the writers, such as how modernism and the country’s break-neck development have done more to disrupt the society than enhance it, yet, for all of New China’s pretentious pomp and steel-and-glass glitz, there remains an undercurrent of thousands-years-old traditions that will always define this culture and dictate their decisions.
BI: There are a lot of stories about the bad behavior of foreigners in China floating online. In Unsavory Elements, some of the stories (including your own) perhaps further the image of foreigners as, well, unsavory. Do you think that the influence of foreigners on China is a good thing?
TC: To be fair, the anthology is a well-balanced mix of family-friendly fare – such as Alan Paul’s “National Lampoon’s Vacation”-esque road trip across Sichuan with his family, and Susan Conley and her children using street food as a means to acclimate – as much as the backpackers behaving badly, or should I say Gweilo Gone Wild, contingent, like Dominic Stevenson tossed in a Shanghai prison for drug dealing or Susie Gordon during her decadent evening of ketamine, cocktails and karaoke.
Admittedly, my own story, about a boy’s night out to a brothel, has made the most ripples: Time Out Shanghai called it “offensive and implicitly exploitative”, which I accepted gracefully as their professional interpretation. I was prepared for this critical fallout and decided to martyr myself because, as the editor, it would have been disingenuous to exclude a story about prostitution, which is rampant in China.
But then the Time Out review online was overrun by clique of “fem-pats” (not my phrase; I borrowed that from one of the website’s comments; I think it refers to those angry, lonely, single female expats in China who are overlooked by western males seeking Chinese girlfriends) who, not even having read the book, knee-jerkingly called for my “arrest and deportation from China” because, they believed, I patronized an underage prostitute.
All things considered, I think China is more of an influence on the expats who live here than we are on it…though, if my own story is any indication, this “When in China” outlook can get us into trouble.
BI: Is there a danger when writing about the expat experience, of "otherizing" China — playing up the weirdness too much, falling into tropes?
TC: Absolutely. There are many “gonzo adventure” books out there – I don’t want to name them because they are rather lame – about how “unusual” and “mystifying” China is.

Commercial publishers, especially travel magazines, love to otherize this country and its people, as it plays off the west’s ignorance, which is unfortunate because beyond the obvious cultural differences, it is a beautiful, traditional culture with a complex, rich history.
 
My photo-book CHINA: Portrait of a People sought to dispel the widely held belief that the Chinese are a single, homogeneous race – there are over 56 different ethnicities of Chinese – so I am conscious about the tendency to otherize China. And I think the final result of Unsavory Elements echoes the comedic if not slightly tragic reality of our situation here as outsiders: we, not the Chinese, are the weird ones.
BI: How has the book been received by the expat community? Has the Chinese reaction been different?
TC: It’s been a mixed response from both demographics. We debuted Unsavory Elements to a sold-out session at the Shanghai Literary Festival: over 250 attendees. But our session at Beijing’s Capital Literary Festival was only 25 people! Having lived in both cities, my interpretation is that the rough-and-tumble expats in Beijing are more likely to go seek their own adventures, whereas Shanghai’s colonialist-minded expats have less opportunity, or inclination, to explore “real China”, and therefore prefer to experience China vicariously. That’s just my cursory analysis.
As far as the Chinese, I can’t imagine many if any are aware of this or other English-language books. China’s book market is growing fast, however, so getting Unsavory Elements translated into Chinese is a priority for my publisher. We’ve received positive reviews from all the state-operated English-language new agencies such as China Daily and Global Times, so there is obviously an interest in our lives here as “waiguoren,” outsiders.
But truthfully, I think the Chinese government couldn’t care less about what foreigners in China are up to or what we have to say so long as we don’t speak it in a language that 1.3 billion people can understand, and so long as we are not raising hell about the Three Taboo Ts.
BI: A lot of people featured in the book began as English teachers — do you think that influences the relationship they have with the country?
TC: Indeed, many of this anthology’s most respected writers such as Peter Hessler and Michael Meyer got their start as English teachers in China. And yet there is this stigma surrounding English teaching where we are utterly despised by the white-collar expatriate community and even by our own Department of State. Whether this is due to our perceived status as bottom-feeders detritivorously foraging Asia for any job that will hire a white face, or because they think we are aiding and abetting America’s successor, I don’t know, but the derision towards English teachers is palpable.
I too got my start in China as a teacher (after responding to an ad on Craigslist which turned out to be a scam and left me homeless and jobless my first week here) and eventually wound up teaching 1,500 primary school students entirely myself, a baptism by fire if there ever was one. I then went on to teach business English to companies in Beijing. Honestly, I can think of no other career path that places you so directly in the heart of Chinese culture and society like teaching does, or gives you a better ground view of the future of this country.
For this reason, I was adamant about including at least a couple stories from the classroom, including Michael Levy’s account of being offered vast sums of money by the principal of his school to write college entrance exams for his students, and Matt Muller’s observational piece about being in a class full of indifferent high school students with no ambition for higher education. When read together, these stories offer a contrasting glimpse into China’s widening economic disparity, from perspectives that no executive and no journalist could ever obtain.
<div class="image-container float_left" style="width:480px"><div class="image"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo96K5YLcb8&amp;feature=player_embedded">Reuters / Youtube</a></div></div>BI: A lot of the people writing in the book have since left the country, and some — such as, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-expat-businessmen-are-leaving-china-2012-9">famously Mark Kitto</a> — have said they intend to leave soon. Do you perceive there to be an exodus of people leaving? If so, what would you put that down to?
TC: Regarding the so-called exodus, I don’t believe that more foreigners are departing China than arriving. Sure, certain western corporations are looking for the next burgeoning nation to exploit now that China’s economy is on a downturn. But good riddance to the expense-account expats. Of the laowai who are leaving because of pollution or whatever, in the past year it’s become a kind of trend to publish your “Why I’m Leaving China” goodbye letter. What most people don’t know is that Mark Kitto, who is to be credited, or blamed, for starting this trend, never left!
And this fact speaks volumes about our love affair with China, a love-it or hate-it kind of place, to the point that even when we want to leave, we really can’t. I had this happen to me too, where after living here for four straight years I moved to Japan for a year, and then to India for another year, but each time I found myself drawn back to China. I now concede this is where destiny intends me to be.
But of the authors in this anthology who have left, such as Pete Hessler to Egypt and Jon Watts to South America, the fact that they can continue to write so passionately about China is a testament to how close to our hearts this culture and its people are.
BI: After editing the book and hearing many stories, what advice would you give to a young man or woman about to move to China?
TC: Read. There really are so many inspirational memoirs and travelogues about China, including all the ones penned by the contributors of this anthology, which will give you a good understanding of what you are getting yourself into. But I feel a bit hypocritical proffering this advice, as I myself had not ever read a single book about China prior to moving here – I came on a lark because I wanted to travel the world and go on adventures but didn’t have any money to do so – and was completely oblivious of Chinese culture and its history. I learned as I went along, total immersion, which upon reflection was not the easiest way, especially in a challenging country like China. Reading memoirs, and learning from the first-hand insight of others, can help ease your transition.

You Searched For "prism hair" and got 7 results

Stylist is a master of rainbow prism hair

Shauna Coen,Manuel Silva-Paul…

Stylist is a master of rainbow prism hair

Insider

I had a miscarriage in my 20s and it confirmed what I always knew: I didn't want to be a mom

Becky Martin

I tutored the children of Russia's elite amid the backdrop of war. One teenager said he had his own massage therapist.

Cameron Manley

Modern funk progenitor DāM-FunK on his new album, quitting drinking during the pandemic, and the timeless allure of funk music

Azmi Haroun

REVIEW: Snapchat's Spectacles live up to the hype, but have a ways to go

Avery Hartmans

Here's What Those Notorious Expats Are Really Doing In China

Adam Taylor

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides