Digital Marketing in the Fashion Industry

Photography Essays Bernd and Hilla Becher Distinguish what you consider to be the inheritance of the craftsman Bernd and Hilla Becher for the significance of the photographic picture. ‘The present day picture taker is the architect’s most noteworthy publicist’; that is, in the event that one considers design photography a stupid replicating gadget, and an unadulterated record that educates the spectator just of the structure and its functionality.â However dull a progression of photos delineating just water towers may appear, Bernd and Hilla Becher devoted a lot of thoughtfulness regarding capturing such symbols of post-war Germany thus made a chronicled document.â along these lines, the Bechers’ living inheritance is ‘a story of socio-notable reality dependent on photography’s potential to hold some indexical hint of its subject’, yet as referenced by Mack, the Bechers are among those photographic artists who are likewise ‘involved in some degree of development or manufacture, unmistakable from the pragmatist and target position which is typically ascribed to [photography]’.â Their photography and lessons speak to when photography was winning genuine thought by the European workmanship scene as are unquestionably significant and compelling, yet maybe the most directed inquiry toward pose of their work is the specific idea of its impact on different specialists, on the idea of the photographic picture, and on the scene of Germany of which the mines and storehouses they shot were an imperative part. Similarly as a memorable content is the subject of the author’s translation of the truth of the occasions, a photo is the result of the photographer’s decision and control of an image.â It is plain that the Bechers were not endeavoring to compliment planners or endorse of the structure and capacity of the structures they captured, as is regularly the situation in the exemplary comprehension of engineering photography.â Although it can't be denied that their numerous pictures, similar to those of August Sander, make a social archive for posterity’s purpose, the photos are not the slightest bit a nostalgic beholding back to the past or a consolation of German identity.â The innovation delineated in the Bechers’ typological successions, frequently in a condition of crumbling or deserting, could be said to speak to a period of otherworldly destitution and the ‘erosion of acquired social and good values’.â considering this proposal, Bernd a nd Hilla Becher appeared to try to record their subjects in a clinical, target way; staying entranced with yet shedding the past with the expectation that ‘the unburied mechanical wellsprings of Modernist symbolism be purified and removed from us, in case [they]†¦ attack the brains of another generation’.â Therefore, in contrast to August Sander, the Bechers are increasingly keen on giving us passing (as opposed to Sanders life investigation of the classes of Germany); the photos can be supposed to be looking forward to a superior future in particular if the watcher deciphers it so. Shouldnt these photographs at that point, intrigued by death to the point of necrophilia, be documented and forgotten?â Rather, it ought to be said that the photographs broaden our comprehension of the photographic picture, unequivocally in light of the fact that they fill in as an obvious token of a past away from which the world has moved.â As much as it was careful for German craftsmen to deny history in the quick post-war period, Bernd and Hilla Becher decided to show it, with distinctively functionalist trustworthiness and truth.â Viewing the photos, we realize that the profoundly abusive chance to which the structures have a place has passed thus see our position favourably.â Photography is the artistic expression that is most intently practically identical to our existence; regardless of whether they intended to or not, the Bechers have made craftsmanship through which we see history with a clearness that can't be increased through memory or other fine arts. Photography has consistently been related with some idea of removing and maintaining the past in control that it isn't overlooked, in spite of the fact that not really so as to recognize or genuine the occasions therein.â A broad assortment of in an exposed fashion honest design pictures, for example, the Bechers’, could be supposed to be a method of safeguarding the structures and what they speak to, as opposed to a method of banishing them to ‘the registers of the dead’ all together that society pushes ahead (or if nothing else away from the fake movement of industrialisation).â Preservation, truly, and as critical to the restoration of German way of life just like the protection of Auschwitz.â Indeed, the Bechers were intensely engaged with the German mechanical conservation development that began during the 1950s and brought about various symbols of the country’s monetary and social history being recorded and their destruction prevented.â The in tensity of the Bechers workmanship, and in this way part of their rendering of photography as a significant structure, is unmistakable in that the photos were convincing to such an extent that they turned into a piece of a development which changed (or kept up) Germany’s scene. It can likewise be said that, in safeguarding the winding apparatus, the system workers’ houses and storehouses in their specialty, the Bechers’ ‘industrial archaeology’ was an examination concerning explicit communities.â Despite claims that their subjects are totally confined from their condition, the photos are regularly dated and their areas archived, and along these lines offer a relevant token of a particular existence for each comparative however fundamentally extraordinary picture.  From there, a watcher can set aside some effort to examine the stilled rawness of the structures, their quiet watch, while staying mindful of their specific presence inside individual social orders. While this is a huge piece of the Bechers’ typological studies’ heritage, their method of demonstrating structures is unquestionably not anthropocentric.â Never do they intentionally utilize the human structure to legitimize or enhance their modern subjects.â Indeed, it is the very nonattendance of the human structure that makes these photos so intriguing in light of the fact that really ‘the workmanship of men is wherever visible’ and the assortment stands somewhat as a declaration to humankind’s boundless resourcefulness and inventiveness.â The Bechers’ interest with metal and all that goes with its creation couldn't be an all the more impressive articulation about that which is strange to human carnal presence, however similarly it is a remark on the degrees to which mechanical individuals are compelled to go in view of their dependence on the laws of nature. Not legitimately intrigued by the human structure, however in any case a result of the human psyche and expertise, the Bechers’ workmanship shows humankind’s hailing endeavor to ace nature, to reign it in and use it or, undoubtedly, to ‘make nature in the picture of their own desires’.â Such a fight can just end in disappointment as, with water towers for example, the very capacity of the structures advise us that we are completely dependent on the earth’s assets; just when we join our comprehension of powers, for example, gravity with our longing to stay alive are we ready to make advancements that serve us while complying with nature’s laws.â In so saying, it is fascinating to take note of that the static picture of the photo helps one to remember the forswearing of evolution.â The Bechers help the watcher see, through their practically thorough assortment of comparable pictures, the contrasts between the people self and the structures in the photographs.â The most pointed differentiation being the manner by which each capitulates to the procedures of evolution.â Whilst we proceed onward from war, from old thoughts regarding craftsmanship, from monetary top to financial trough, these structures remain particularly the same.â This turns out to be a piece of the removing procedure that appears to make the Bechers’ work so significant; the photographic picture is unchangeable, verifiable truth that will consistently stay in the past while we proceed onward ourselves.â The photos come to deny the ‘progress’ they initially represented, thus reaffirm our place in the present and, all the more critically, propose our continuation into a future that will be unique. The Bechers’ work has gotten a lot of consideration; in any event, winning a renowned prize for sculpture.â The confining of the shot structures, the uniform lighting utilized and the subjects’ obvious opportunity from their noticeable condition permits a balance, which carries the structures nearer to sculptural treatment than the two-dimensional reportage that is regularly the part of the photographic image.â As Klaus Bussmann states in first experience with the Bechers’ Industrial Faã §ades; ‘in these photos the capacity of the engineering doesn't rise up out of its form’.â Unlike the craft of the Neue Sachlichkeit, the Bechers’ photography doesn't commend the ‘dynamic and sensational usefulness of the mechanical machine’; to be sure it doesn't contribute them with any importance at all.â We contribute them with significance and recollections †yet the Bechers were apparently intrigued by their deadness, their stat ic spot in history and their examination with the dynamic quality of human presence. The Bechers’ work had a striking effect on the craftsmanship world, and the effect of their inheritance is incompletely because of the way where they decided to show their photos when their work was exhibited.â If there is a contention that portrays the photographic picture as a tasteless record of what we would all be able to see as it exists or existed in nature, at that point the Bechers’ typological develops deny this.â Seen in gatherings; one structure in contrast with twelve others of nearly (however distinctly not) indistinguishable appearance, the subjects of the photos are reproduced once again, and out of nowhere become some different option from their p

Research Proposal Assignment - A Stable Customer Service In Banking

Task Title Effect of a steady Customer Service on Loyalty of Clients in the financial area Conceptual With banking being a piece of an innovation driven industry, banks working in this space separate themselves on different parameters like Customer Services, assortment of the items and so forth. It is the obligation of the banks to utilize these elements successfully to hold the customers for a period sufficiently long to assist it with covering the expense of gaining the customers and an opportunity to strategically pitch its items to a bigger customer base. We wish to look at if a solid client assistance truly increases the value of consumer loyalty and client dedication in any capacity. We wish to outline input of numerous customers utilizing distinctive banking servicesindicating the various components which have increased the value of them. The extent of this undertaking is exceptionally wide and would assist us with looking at myriadaspects that include an incentive regarding consumer loyalty and client steadfastness. This examination can additionally help the different financial foundations to comprehend what are the administrations that customers esteem the most and what are where in the administrations must be enlarged with the goal that they can accomplish the objective of improving consumer loyalty. Writing Review The insight of banking specialist co-ops to concentrate on the customers is one of the most testing issues looked by them toward the start of 21st century. There is a deficiency of research on the client support and fulfillment assessment in the financial field. Be that as it may, the each financial establishment collates information about consumer loyalty and they investigate their information all alone for their individual firms. Consumer loyalty is taken as full wellbeing for the financial specialist co-ops and incorporates an incentive for cash, satisfactory dedication, administration arrangement and relationship the executives. The forerunner to prosperity of the firm is taken from the contact focuses between the clients and the administration topics of the financial organizations. Consumer loyalty is the primary fundamental of administrative choice taking over the globe throughout the previous 2 decades. There are astounding business greatness apparatuses, for example, the Malcolm Baldrige Award and the European Foundation of Quality Management that focus on the significance of both assessing consumer loyalty and using sound assessment procedures for such work. Consumer loyalty has just accomplished an enormous exposure through the National Customer Satisfaction Indices structured from the information on Andersen et al. (1994). These lists are utilized for synchronous noticing in USA, Sweden and Denmark. From that point forward, the focus on client satisfaction has moved from only a little assessment issue to a vital must that effects firm intensity, Schneider and Bowen (1999a, 1999b). Client contacts are isolated into 3 gatherings closeness, correspondence time and data wealth (Chase (1981) and Soteriou and Chase (1998)). The trial proof from the administration isolation has demonstrated that the client contact measurements might be used as antecedent of client reaction in answer to their watched administration quality levels from the celebrated 5 verticals of the ServQual model-compassion, dependability, effects, responsiveness and confirmation. A commonplace bank may take its customers briskly as per the money they store or get. Different banks have been utilizing control and security as issues for their moderate and terrible administrations. As of late, many help firms, for example, aircrafts and cheap food have demonstrated that client administrations could be a brisk and fun experience for the two clients and laborers without surrendering costs, control and benefits. Numerous banks have now actualized these contemporary assistance benchmarks and began contrasting with non banking foundation with investigate about the best practice. For instance, BayBanks of Massachusetts has utilized the mail arranges firm L.L. Bean, famous for its great requests taking and administrations conveyance framework as its model for future. A major effect of this practical benchmark is the presentation of 24 hours client support focuses that answer the inquiries and issues and energize and give the banks item and administration. The inside empowers customers to have a financial records anyplace or get an overdraft at whenever. The ATM is reinvented to act from only a money provider to an alternate and simple record partner. It could purchase and sell common store now. Seeing L.L. Bean, Bay Banks gave a 50 pages inventory to help customers learn and have more than 160 monetary administrations from it. Seattles Seafirst Bank, promoted itself to a retailer from a retail bank and has contrasted and retailer having for best client administrations, for example, carriers and drive-thru eateries. Seeing these models, Seafirst planned a 5 minutes guarantee which said that-Waitingover five moment in line will make the bank give $5 inthe customers account. Also, when the customer gripes of any issue, they get $5. The banks branches have official individuals to direct and welcome customers to the correct teller like the visitor connection official or assistant of five star inn. The greeter sees an outlet at the section of the banks. To center this administrations brain research, branch chief is evaluated on special just as on administrations objective. Getting or in any event, overshooting deal focus without getting customer fulfillment objective would not make branch supervisors to get the banks regarded Gold Club award. Authorities from the CEO office are persuaded and requested to go to b ranch as often as possible to see administrations and experience the operations by and by. To re-format and update its branches to increase administrations, Seafirst got the administration of a known individual from the Godfathers Pizza chains. One advantage was building the teller see abdomen high. It was presently progressively open and individual when contrasted with the old chunk that is compromising and fabricates a barricade between the clients and the tellers. Like Seafirst, Citicorp views itself as to a lesser extent a bank and all the more a creation unit which makes crude material in the style of use structure, archive and client demand and the large item is a satisfied customer. Office, division, work area and other work station help as the machine and gear of the archives creation unit. In remaking the bank into a proficient and great administrations center point, the CEO John Reed, engineer, utilized the taking in he gained from his visits to Cummins Engine, Ford Motor, Core Industries, General Electric and Exxon. The essential advance he reengineered was the private cabin activity that contains different dull advances. Back workplaces of bank are well known for moderate organization that represses forefront activity and the last customer administrations. By utilizing the hypothesis of large scale manufacturing, normalization and smoothing out of steps, Citicorp needs to take out this significant barricade. The bank contrasted itself and Chrysler in having its practical division to work proficiently as group. Distinctive bank surrendering their old funds and controls picture have also had new help procedure and practice. Banco Frances made a data community or reference books in the hold up place where customers could go in numerous little and large chunks of information of significant information on administration, for example, the normal assets to end exchanges and the company's item and administration. Information on the bustling day or days of the branches are appeared to make the client need to forestall this period. In the ongoing part of Garanti Bankasi, telephone line only for customerservices was put. A customer could pickup the telephone and tell his objections, questions or challenges. This assistance was made to give the strong's guarantee to support and furthermore fill in as the clients possibly possibility if everything else doesn't work. In like manner, ASB Banks Limited made a telephone place to get, do and fathom clients grumbling. It likewise contains clients inputs prog rams where whomever the clients whine to-staff representatives or directors would be responsible for getting the client answers about the working and whereabouts of their grumblings. The banks clients administration focus has made 2 customer stream or line to give administration all the more productively. One is for credit and same item that need altered and individual assistance. The other line was for the monotonous and standard administrations like stores and withdrawals. By making 2 administrations condition that allude to 2 separate types of prerequisites, administrations are enlarged and secured. Bank Pertnian Malaysia has given the hypothesis of portable banking. For the straightforwardness and fun of customers remaining in longhouses on the waterway bank of the Sarawak River, the banks have given gliding branch on vessel which gives entire branches banks administration. To expand administrations, BPM has reengineered its ATMs to give money just as item cost and information on its item and administration as well. The Korean Technology Bank Corporations set up a Technology Finance server farm to give the various necessities of its clients, a considerable lot of whom are making joint endeavor abroad. The Center would have a huge database of information analyzed from various data from inner and outer source. By getting the databases, customer would have information on neighborhood data, specific innovation and other data connected to the mergers they are setting up. To help process and create monetary organization, for example, the Industrial Development Bank of India needs bor rower to give credit applications structure in electric floppy circle. Many bank and monetary foundation have gained such a significant ground in enlarging and reengineering customer benefits that they themselves turned into the benchmark of other organization outside the bank areas. For instance, American Express-the charge cards firm is a well known breaking point to duplicate when it is to improve an association's charging step. Amex's charging is considered the fastest and generally right in the globe in all businesses. Xerox, the model for different quality waysutilised the Amex model in improving its charging framework. In China, the model for clients administrations and clients civility is alarmingly a bank: The Industrial and Commercial Bank. M

Constantine 01x10 Quid Pro Quo

Constantine 01x10 Quid Pro Quo This is John Constantine. Leave your name and soul, and I’ll get back to you.   My dear Mr. Constantine my name is Lechter. Doctor Hannibal Lechter. Ive noticed that over the course of the past few episodes, youve copied my wardrobe and titled an episode over a rather particular phrase which I brought to popularity in the early 1990s. Now, I should be angry, Mister Constantine, but I assure you I am not. Id simply like to invite you to dinner tomorrow night, so I can pick your brains on the matter Dave: We begin with the simplest of simple cold opens. New York City at night. A robed, hooded man on a rooftop chanting in Latin. He summons a black smoke that drifts down the chimney and into a girl’s room, where she’s playing with her dolls. Jay: A room full or children’s dolls can be pretty creepy….but we get a big CGI thing instead. Dave: Yup, the CGI smoke surrounds her. The doll she was holding drops to the ground. Roll Credits. Back at the bunker, Constantine is renewing the protections after the Resurrection Crusade made their attempt to nab Zed. Jay: We get a little back story for Zed. I wonder, will we see this story play out in the next few episodes, or where they saving it for the episodes that didn’t get picked up? Dave: Good question â€" it does feel like there’s too much story there for the last few episodes of the season. I do like that John pushes her here â€" it’s getting more urgent, as it should. I also like the bit where Zed asks John why he’s helping her, and he says he “survives on instinct.” That feels like a good answer for John. I think an outsider might point to John’s anti-authoritarian streak, his need to take the bullies of the world, but I’m not convinced that John would be aware enough of that trait to make that his answer. I like the idea that, in his mind, he just goes with his gut. Oh… the map is back. Plot Alert! Magic is heating up in New York, and coincidentally Chas is already on his way to Brooklyn because it’s his weekend with his daughter! Will we finally dive into the enigma that is CHAS? Jay: HI CHAS! We’re getting some of the back story you’ve been looking for. Every time I hear (Don’t Fear) The Reaper I think of Orange Is The New Black. Dave: Right? It’s a little on the nose for the guy whose role on the show is to die over and over. That said, I suddenly have this funny idea that it’s not actually a coincidence on the radio, but rather a special MP3 mix that Chas makes when he goes on road trips. He calls it his “Its a Dead Mans Party Mix.” Jay: Music to not knock ‘em dead. Dave:  So, the drive turns into a flashback, as you noted, and we go back in time to a bar where John is leaving with a girl. We don’t know if this is before or after Newcastle… Jay: I like drunken John’s designated-driver spell. Dave: What I really dig is that we don’t have any sound effects or special music to let us know that this is a REAL spell. This is what it looks like if you’re hanging out with a guy who says he does magic, and you kinda don’t really believe him. Jay: Hey, a metal gig that leads to demonic goings on. Say, don’t I know someone who has written a comic very much like that….. Dave: Heh, ahem… yeah, well, I’m still waiting on that one to be drawn, but, anyway… yeah, we have a metal band, and some out of control pyrotechnics that turn into a fire. Chas stays inside and tries to help everyone.   Is Chas already resurrectable? We’re not sure at this point, but back in the present… Jay: Wow, this show is going artifact crazy. Dave: uh, yeah, is that Aleister Crowley’s… shaving kit? OCCULT ARTIFACT #1 … and a bracelet made from the actual sinew of Achilles’ heel… OCCULT ARTIFACT #2 Which John packs into his kit. So we’re all prepared, as we cut to Chas, who has arrived in Brooklyn to see his daughter. Only it’s too late â€" she’s in a coma (she, of course, was the girl from the cold open). John and Zed arrive at the hospital soon after, and John uses Occult Artifact #1 to learn that there are “celestial burn marks,” which is what happens when the soul is sucked out of your body. Jay: How do you separate a soul from the body? Personally, I’ve always found that money helps. Dave: He’ll be here all week, folks. But, as we’re told, the soul being separated from the body is not possible. It’s the Holy Grail ofâ€" Jay: I cringe a little when characters say “black magic,” that just feels corny to me. Dave: It almost has to be done tongue-in-cheek at this point. Anyway, from here we go into another flashback: Chas wakes up in the hospital after the bar fire, his wife and daughter at his side. Jay: “They told us you were dead when they pulled you out of that fire…” aha. Here we go. Dave: Yeah â€" seems pretty clear that this is his first brush with resurrection. Back in the present, John takes Zed and Chas to a medium he knows to see if they can contact Chas’ daughter’s (Geraldines) spirit, and thus use her as a homing device. Jay: I do like that John has to go to a medium, that he’s not simply the expert in whatever the plot needs,  which is a trap this kind of show would often fall into. Kind of reminds me of a difference between Raiders Of The Lost Ark and the other Jones films; In Raiders, he’s not the best at everything. He’s bad at other languages and he makes mistakes. But in the other films, comics and books he’s always the expert on whatever is needed. This random tangent has been brought to you by: Jay’s Obsessive Brain. Dave: It’s a good point, though. One of the easiest things to do with magic is to always have the mage know just the right thing. On another note: I also like that Chas has much more at stake in this episode. It changes the dynamic. Usually, he’s just following John around, which has resulted in him feeling tangential to the stories â€" popping in just to die or do a thing. Now, we know where he’s coming from, and so that moment when he snatches the gun from the medium and turns it on him? Excellent. You wouldnt like him when hes angry The medium starts a séance using water from the River Jordan… OCCULT ARTIFACT #3 … I suppose… But the séance doesn’t go well. A powerful entity reaches through the medium, someone who KNOWS Constantine, and then he burns the medium to well done. (Sorry.) Jay: I liked that the medium gets toasted. The episode has felt a little….subdued so far, and this moment kicked it up a little. The show is sticking to the idea of consequences and permanent costs. A spell has gone wrong here and someone dies. I told you to keep holding hands no matter WHAT happens. See what youve done? Dave: Exactly. But this isn’t quite a dead end. Zed uses her psychic abilities to connect to an abandon rail yard. The gang heads to the train yard, only to find an empty lot. Or is it? John frisbees a hubcap at the space, and… whammo, cloaking spell! Jay: I liked the idea of the hidden building, but not the reveal. I think -and you’ve said this before- that the CGI is a problem. It always feels like a different show when they use it. I would rather the reveal was done on a cut, or a camera tilt, maybe with some sly joke from John about David Copperfield and the Statue Of Liberty. But having the cgi ripple across the screen just tops the show from feeling spooky or down to earth. Dave: Yeah, it suddenly feels a bit more Star Trek. I much prefer the subtle stuff like the tree of fruit with human skin from a couple episodes back. Jay: Totally agree. The show loses something when it strays away from spooky and practical. But hey, we get Felix Faust! Is it weird that we kind of want him to be ringing a little bell? Dave: Indeed, the big bad of the episode is revealed to be longtime DC magical villain, Felix Faust… cast here as an old man who, in John’s words, has always been the apprentice or second fiddle  to the magical greats. Only now the Rising Darkness has changed things. Faust has figured out how to separate soul from body, and he’s very powerful now. John strikes a bargain â€" he’ll stop a minor demon from lunching on Faust’s stolen souls, if Faust will return Geraldine’s soul. It’s a horrible bargain, but… it’ll buy them time, How much? Oh, at least another flashback’s worth, as John sends Chas back to the hospital because he needs clear heads to do what’s next. Jay: Here we go then. John’s drunken protection spell has given Chas the lives of all the people who were in the fire. So he can die 47 times. I like that, firstly that this big mystery is the result of a drunken spell, and also that it has rules, that it makes a kind of sense, and puts a limit on the plot device. Dave: I also like the Arthurian origins of the spell. It kind of sets up Chas as this gallant knight. He’s been empowered, but there’s a kind of responsibility â€" to make these others’ lives count. Jay: Good point. I like that, it gives him a mission In a very compelling way. Dave: Meanwhile, in the present, John and Zed set a trap for the demon, which is a kind of hellhound-y thing, which John can see usingâ€" OCCULT ARTIFACT #4 â€" Ahem, well, yes, this thing that looks like a piece of bone with a hole in it, that he can use as some kind of mystical X-Ray monocle. No, seriously, you can see their knickers with this! Of course, the trap doesn’t exactly work, but luckily John had stolen a cattle prod from the Army surplus store earlier in the episode, which does the trick. They go back to Faust, who claims they did it wrong, and he tries to make another deal. Chas has other ideas. Like punching out John and taking matters into his own hands. Jay: I like desperate Chas. Dave: Me too. He has a clear point of view in this episode. It may be an obvious thing, as his daughter’s life hangs in the balance, but… I’m glad they’ve given us something. There’s also a flashback mixed in with this bit where we see the cost of working with John Constantine. This is after he’s become the Resurrection Man (ooh, that’s another DC hero, wonder if they can work him into this show?), and it’s sort of become his job to use his extra lives to help John. I like that his wife knows about this, so we get this weird bit of home life where Chas comes home with stories like, “Ah, sorry I’m late, honey… off slaying the Monkey King with John. (I kind of want a laugh track here.) So anyway â€" Chas plays out his final gambit, which involves handcuffing himself to Faust with the Achilles Tendon bracelet thing, and dropping a grenade on the two of them. Chas loses one life, but presumably Faust is gone. Jay: “Happy to do it your way, mate.” I like that, for this scene, Chas is the cleverest person in the room. He outsmarts john -which takes some doing- and also Felix. Dave: I like John trying to console Chas’ ex-wife. “Chas’ line of work is messy.” That leads up to a final flashback, in which we see a scene where Chas had WANTED to reverse the spell that John cast on him. And John’s been trying. But he can’t. So, while he can’t undo what he’s done, he can give Chas a new role. Jay: Wait…wait….I just realized. Chas’s family lives in New York. He has facial hair. That hat that he wears…..he’s not playing some rustic hillbilly….holy crap…he’s a HIPSTER. It’s HIPSTER CHAS. Dave: Oh my god. You  could be right! Is he maybe one of these Lumbersexuals I’ve been hearing about? He’d definitely be at home here in Portland. Could this be whats at the heart of Angry Chas? A Hipster? Jay: I hope we see him on a fixed-gear bike soon. I like that he has a photo album of the people who died in the fire, that he knows about their lives. Again with the idea of costs. Dave: It’s an interesting twist, now that they’ve revealed it. He sort of has to honor the lives and memories of these various souls. And the fact that he’s sharing this with his daughter is a nice touch. Finally, we have a scene with John and Zed in the hospital, Zed having collapsed after trying to psychically reach out to Geraldine during the climax of the episode. Zed has a message from John’s mother â€" her death is not his fault. I’ll admit it; I cringe a little when they bring up John’s mother… only because I worry a bit at how that kind of stuff will be handled. Jay: Yeah, I’d be happy for them to completely forget that plotline. Dave: There’s a tendency there to make everything sort of pre-determined, an Evil at the heart of things that has been setting John on his course his whole life, as opposed to John just mucking about with dark forces on his own and having to pay the costs of that. But we’ll see. This is the first mention of John’s mother since the pilot, if I’m not mistaken. Jay: This episode was solid, but after a run of very good installments, it didn’t really match them. It felt very much like a mid-season episode, expect with the truncated first year, and the rating struggle, it comes at a time when we need to keep up the pace. Still, I’m maybe being overly harsh. There was a lot to like. A lot of neat ideas. Dave:  I agree. Not as strong as the last few, but I do think that we got what we needed with Chas, and I’m hoping that moving forward, all three of our main characters can bounce off of one another more and keep the momentum building. ESSAY QUESTION! Its time for the Great Chas Debate! Hipster or Hillbilly? What is Chas? State your case in the comments below! EXTRA CREDIT: Include 2 or 3 songs that are on Chas Its a Dead Mans Party Mix playlist that support your case. Sign up to The Stack to receive  Book Riot Comic's best posts, picked for you. Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox.

Constantine 01x10 Quid Pro Quo

Constantine 01x10 Quid Pro Quo This is John Constantine. Leave your name and soul, and I’ll get back to you.   My dear Mr. Constantine my name is Lechter. Doctor Hannibal Lechter. Ive noticed that over the course of the past few episodes, youve copied my wardrobe and titled an episode over a rather particular phrase which I brought to popularity in the early 1990s. Now, I should be angry, Mister Constantine, but I assure you I am not. Id simply like to invite you to dinner tomorrow night, so I can pick your brains on the matter Dave: We begin with the simplest of simple cold opens. New York City at night. A robed, hooded man on a rooftop chanting in Latin. He summons a black smoke that drifts down the chimney and into a girl’s room, where she’s playing with her dolls. Jay: A room full or children’s dolls can be pretty creepy….but we get a big CGI thing instead. Dave: Yup, the CGI smoke surrounds her. The doll she was holding drops to the ground. Roll Credits. Back at the bunker, Constantine is renewing the protections after the Resurrection Crusade made their attempt to nab Zed. Jay: We get a little back story for Zed. I wonder, will we see this story play out in the next few episodes, or where they saving it for the episodes that didn’t get picked up? Dave: Good question â€" it does feel like there’s too much story there for the last few episodes of the season. I do like that John pushes her here â€" it’s getting more urgent, as it should. I also like the bit where Zed asks John why he’s helping her, and he says he “survives on instinct.” That feels like a good answer for John. I think an outsider might point to John’s anti-authoritarian streak, his need to take the bullies of the world, but I’m not convinced that John would be aware enough of that trait to make that his answer. I like the idea that, in his mind, he just goes with his gut. Oh… the map is back. Plot Alert! Magic is heating up in New York, and coincidentally Chas is already on his way to Brooklyn because it’s his weekend with his daughter! Will we finally dive into the enigma that is CHAS? Jay: HI CHAS! We’re getting some of the back story you’ve been looking for. Every time I hear (Don’t Fear) The Reaper I think of Orange Is The New Black. Dave: Right? It’s a little on the nose for the guy whose role on the show is to die over and over. That said, I suddenly have this funny idea that it’s not actually a coincidence on the radio, but rather a special MP3 mix that Chas makes when he goes on road trips. He calls it his “Its a Dead Mans Party Mix.” Jay: Music to not knock ‘em dead. Dave:  So, the drive turns into a flashback, as you noted, and we go back in time to a bar where John is leaving with a girl. We don’t know if this is before or after Newcastle… Jay: I like drunken John’s designated-driver spell. Dave: What I really dig is that we don’t have any sound effects or special music to let us know that this is a REAL spell. This is what it looks like if you’re hanging out with a guy who says he does magic, and you kinda don’t really believe him. Jay: Hey, a metal gig that leads to demonic goings on. Say, don’t I know someone who has written a comic very much like that….. Dave: Heh, ahem… yeah, well, I’m still waiting on that one to be drawn, but, anyway… yeah, we have a metal band, and some out of control pyrotechnics that turn into a fire. Chas stays inside and tries to help everyone.   Is Chas already resurrectable? We’re not sure at this point, but back in the present… Jay: Wow, this show is going artifact crazy. Dave: uh, yeah, is that Aleister Crowley’s… shaving kit? OCCULT ARTIFACT #1 … and a bracelet made from the actual sinew of Achilles’ heel… OCCULT ARTIFACT #2 Which John packs into his kit. So we’re all prepared, as we cut to Chas, who has arrived in Brooklyn to see his daughter. Only it’s too late â€" she’s in a coma (she, of course, was the girl from the cold open). John and Zed arrive at the hospital soon after, and John uses Occult Artifact #1 to learn that there are “celestial burn marks,” which is what happens when the soul is sucked out of your body. Jay: How do you separate a soul from the body? Personally, I’ve always found that money helps. Dave: He’ll be here all week, folks. But, as we’re told, the soul being separated from the body is not possible. It’s the Holy Grail ofâ€" Jay: I cringe a little when characters say “black magic,” that just feels corny to me. Dave: It almost has to be done tongue-in-cheek at this point. Anyway, from here we go into another flashback: Chas wakes up in the hospital after the bar fire, his wife and daughter at his side. Jay: “They told us you were dead when they pulled you out of that fire…” aha. Here we go. Dave: Yeah â€" seems pretty clear that this is his first brush with resurrection. Back in the present, John takes Zed and Chas to a medium he knows to see if they can contact Chas’ daughter’s (Geraldines) spirit, and thus use her as a homing device. Jay: I do like that John has to go to a medium, that he’s not simply the expert in whatever the plot needs,  which is a trap this kind of show would often fall into. Kind of reminds me of a difference between Raiders Of The Lost Ark and the other Jones films; In Raiders, he’s not the best at everything. He’s bad at other languages and he makes mistakes. But in the other films, comics and books he’s always the expert on whatever is needed. This random tangent has been brought to you by: Jay’s Obsessive Brain. Dave: It’s a good point, though. One of the easiest things to do with magic is to always have the mage know just the right thing. On another note: I also like that Chas has much more at stake in this episode. It changes the dynamic. Usually, he’s just following John around, which has resulted in him feeling tangential to the stories â€" popping in just to die or do a thing. Now, we know where he’s coming from, and so that moment when he snatches the gun from the medium and turns it on him? Excellent. You wouldnt like him when hes angry The medium starts a séance using water from the River Jordan… OCCULT ARTIFACT #3 … I suppose… But the séance doesn’t go well. A powerful entity reaches through the medium, someone who KNOWS Constantine, and then he burns the medium to well done. (Sorry.) Jay: I liked that the medium gets toasted. The episode has felt a little….subdued so far, and this moment kicked it up a little. The show is sticking to the idea of consequences and permanent costs. A spell has gone wrong here and someone dies. I told you to keep holding hands no matter WHAT happens. See what youve done? Dave: Exactly. But this isn’t quite a dead end. Zed uses her psychic abilities to connect to an abandon rail yard. The gang heads to the train yard, only to find an empty lot. Or is it? John frisbees a hubcap at the space, and… whammo, cloaking spell! Jay: I liked the idea of the hidden building, but not the reveal. I think -and you’ve said this before- that the CGI is a problem. It always feels like a different show when they use it. I would rather the reveal was done on a cut, or a camera tilt, maybe with some sly joke from John about David Copperfield and the Statue Of Liberty. But having the cgi ripple across the screen just tops the show from feeling spooky or down to earth. Dave: Yeah, it suddenly feels a bit more Star Trek. I much prefer the subtle stuff like the tree of fruit with human skin from a couple episodes back. Jay: Totally agree. The show loses something when it strays away from spooky and practical. But hey, we get Felix Faust! Is it weird that we kind of want him to be ringing a little bell? Dave: Indeed, the big bad of the episode is revealed to be longtime DC magical villain, Felix Faust… cast here as an old man who, in John’s words, has always been the apprentice or second fiddle  to the magical greats. Only now the Rising Darkness has changed things. Faust has figured out how to separate soul from body, and he’s very powerful now. John strikes a bargain â€" he’ll stop a minor demon from lunching on Faust’s stolen souls, if Faust will return Geraldine’s soul. It’s a horrible bargain, but… it’ll buy them time, How much? Oh, at least another flashback’s worth, as John sends Chas back to the hospital because he needs clear heads to do what’s next. Jay: Here we go then. John’s drunken protection spell has given Chas the lives of all the people who were in the fire. So he can die 47 times. I like that, firstly that this big mystery is the result of a drunken spell, and also that it has rules, that it makes a kind of sense, and puts a limit on the plot device. Dave: I also like the Arthurian origins of the spell. It kind of sets up Chas as this gallant knight. He’s been empowered, but there’s a kind of responsibility â€" to make these others’ lives count. Jay: Good point. I like that, it gives him a mission In a very compelling way. Dave: Meanwhile, in the present, John and Zed set a trap for the demon, which is a kind of hellhound-y thing, which John can see usingâ€" OCCULT ARTIFACT #4 â€" Ahem, well, yes, this thing that looks like a piece of bone with a hole in it, that he can use as some kind of mystical X-Ray monocle. No, seriously, you can see their knickers with this! Of course, the trap doesn’t exactly work, but luckily John had stolen a cattle prod from the Army surplus store earlier in the episode, which does the trick. They go back to Faust, who claims they did it wrong, and he tries to make another deal. Chas has other ideas. Like punching out John and taking matters into his own hands. Jay: I like desperate Chas. Dave: Me too. He has a clear point of view in this episode. It may be an obvious thing, as his daughter’s life hangs in the balance, but… I’m glad they’ve given us something. There’s also a flashback mixed in with this bit where we see the cost of working with John Constantine. This is after he’s become the Resurrection Man (ooh, that’s another DC hero, wonder if they can work him into this show?), and it’s sort of become his job to use his extra lives to help John. I like that his wife knows about this, so we get this weird bit of home life where Chas comes home with stories like, “Ah, sorry I’m late, honey… off slaying the Monkey King with John. (I kind of want a laugh track here.) So anyway â€" Chas plays out his final gambit, which involves handcuffing himself to Faust with the Achilles Tendon bracelet thing, and dropping a grenade on the two of them. Chas loses one life, but presumably Faust is gone. Jay: “Happy to do it your way, mate.” I like that, for this scene, Chas is the cleverest person in the room. He outsmarts john -which takes some doing- and also Felix. Dave: I like John trying to console Chas’ ex-wife. “Chas’ line of work is messy.” That leads up to a final flashback, in which we see a scene where Chas had WANTED to reverse the spell that John cast on him. And John’s been trying. But he can’t. So, while he can’t undo what he’s done, he can give Chas a new role. Jay: Wait…wait….I just realized. Chas’s family lives in New York. He has facial hair. That hat that he wears…..he’s not playing some rustic hillbilly….holy crap…he’s a HIPSTER. It’s HIPSTER CHAS. Dave: Oh my god. You  could be right! Is he maybe one of these Lumbersexuals I’ve been hearing about? He’d definitely be at home here in Portland. Could this be whats at the heart of Angry Chas? A Hipster? Jay: I hope we see him on a fixed-gear bike soon. I like that he has a photo album of the people who died in the fire, that he knows about their lives. Again with the idea of costs. Dave: It’s an interesting twist, now that they’ve revealed it. He sort of has to honor the lives and memories of these various souls. And the fact that he’s sharing this with his daughter is a nice touch. Finally, we have a scene with John and Zed in the hospital, Zed having collapsed after trying to psychically reach out to Geraldine during the climax of the episode. Zed has a message from John’s mother â€" her death is not his fault. I’ll admit it; I cringe a little when they bring up John’s mother… only because I worry a bit at how that kind of stuff will be handled. Jay: Yeah, I’d be happy for them to completely forget that plotline. Dave: There’s a tendency there to make everything sort of pre-determined, an Evil at the heart of things that has been setting John on his course his whole life, as opposed to John just mucking about with dark forces on his own and having to pay the costs of that. But we’ll see. This is the first mention of John’s mother since the pilot, if I’m not mistaken. Jay: This episode was solid, but after a run of very good installments, it didn’t really match them. It felt very much like a mid-season episode, expect with the truncated first year, and the rating struggle, it comes at a time when we need to keep up the pace. Still, I’m maybe being overly harsh. There was a lot to like. A lot of neat ideas. Dave:  I agree. Not as strong as the last few, but I do think that we got what we needed with Chas, and I’m hoping that moving forward, all three of our main characters can bounce off of one another more and keep the momentum building. ESSAY QUESTION! Its time for the Great Chas Debate! Hipster or Hillbilly? What is Chas? State your case in the comments below! EXTRA CREDIT: Include 2 or 3 songs that are on Chas Its a Dead Mans Party Mix playlist that support your case. Sign up to The Stack to receive  Book Riot Comic's best posts, picked for you. Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox.