As the new smart home standard Matter gets closer to launch, connected devices built on Thread a technology thats integral to Matter are starting to roll out. In the last year, Eve, Nanoleaf, Schlage, and Wemo have released smart home gadgets such as motion sensors, light bulbs, door locks, smart plugs, and motorized blinds that run on Thread. But just what is Thread, and why does it matter to Matter?

I sat down with three Thread Group board members to find out how this new protocol (its actually been around since 2015) promises to fix many of the smart homes biggest issues: reliability, speed, connectivity, and scale. I spoke with Vividh Siddha, president of the Thread Group and director of software engineering at Apple, Jonathan Hui, vice president of technology for Thread and principal software engineer at Google, and Sujata Neidig, vice president of marketing for Thread and director of marketing at NXP.

As you may have spotted in those bios, Thread like Matter is being developed by a consortium of competing companies in the smart home industry. Only Thread started much earlier than Matter. In 2015, several companies got together and identified a problem in the industry and that we can work together to bring a solution to the market, says Neidig.

That problem was how to securely and simply connect all the various devices in the consumer smart home. The solution they came up with was Thread, an IPv6-based wireless protocol that could create a secure, robust, reliable, and simple-to-use network. Today, Thread is run by a board of directors that includes representatives from Google, Apple, Amazon, Samsung SmartThings, Qualcomm, NXP, Assa Abloy (owners of Yale and August), Lutron, and more.

What is Thread, and why is it important to Matter and the smart home?

Thread is a wireless protocol specifically built for IoT devices. Its designed to make them work faster, have fewer points of failure, use less power, and communicate with each other more seamlessly.

A low-power, low-bandwidth mesh networking protocol that uses the 802.15.4 radio technology, Thread is similar to existing smart home protocols Zigbee and Z-Wave. But unlike them, it doesnt need a central hub or bridge. Instead, Thread devices can talk directly to each other. By cutting out the middle man, Thread can be faster, especially over large networks.

Also, unlike the other low-powered smart home protocols, Thread is internet protocol (IP)-based, meaning it can directly connect to any other IP-based device, such as smartphones, tablets, computers, and Wi-Fi routers. What makes it unique is that it was built on IP, says Neidig. We are bringing the same protocol that the internet runs on to run on small devices.

Matter is an application layer that runs on Thread. Matter supports both Wi-Fi and Thread for connecting devices, and Thread provides that reliable mesh capability so there is no single point of failure, explains Neidig.

When Matter arrives later this year, Thread will be the protocol it uses for low-bandwidth devices, such as door locks and motion sensors, and Wi-Fi and Ethernet will be used for high-bandwidth needs, such as streaming video from a security camera. Finally, Bluetooth LE will be used for onboarding devices to a Matter network.

Why is Thread a better smart home protocol than those we already have?

Thread was designed from the ground up to be an IoT low-power protocol that supports low latency. Thats its purpose, says Hui. A lot of the other technologies [used in the smart home] were designed to optimize other applications. For example, Bluetooth was originally designed as a wire replacement. Thread was designed for devices that just want to sleep for a long time, wake up, send a single packet, and then go back to sleep and preserve battery for as long as possible.

Threads direct communication capability, combined with its ability to handle scale (over 250 devices), means lower latency. Benchmarking tests run by Silicon Labs show Thread thrashing Zigbee and Bluetooth in latency tests, especially in large networks with many devices.

Also, a Thread mesh [can work] as a routed mesh, which means the devices are proactively looking for the best route to every other device in the network, says Hui. This efficiency translates directly into reduced power consumption as well as reduced latency. As a mesh network, Thread is self-healing; if a router (see sidebar) drops offline, another one can pick up the slack so your network doesnt go down.

Does Thread really replace the need for any kind of hub or bridge?

Yes, although it does require a border router to bridge the Thread network to the internet. But it avoids you having a different bridge for [multiple] devices, says Siddha. Instead, any Thread device can connect to any Thread border router regardless of manufacturer. Additionally, unlike a bridge or hub, a Thread border router cant see the traffic it routes, as all communications in a Thread network are encrypted.

A Thread border router is not a dedicated device like a bridge or a hub. A border router is a feature that can be integrated into any device thats powered all the time, like Nanoleaf light panels, the Apple TV, or [a] HomePod Mini, says Neidig.

Do you have to have a border router to use a Thread device?

No, you dont need a border router for Thread devices to talk to each other. But you need a border router if you want them to talk to other networks in the home or the internet, says Hui.

Will Thread work when the internet is down?

Yes, Thread devices will. A Thread network will not go down if the internet goes down because its not doing anything in the cloud, says Hui. The network is self-configuring, self-healing, self-managing even. And its all done locally.

Which specific products benefit from Thread? Its not designed for every product in the smart home, is it?

No, its not. And looking at the current [smart home] use cases, the biggest elephant in the room in terms of bandwidth are cameras, says Siddha. Thread can be used for all sensors but not for high bandwidth use cases like cameras. Cameras are among the few IoT devices that require high bandwidth. Every other use case for a sensor or IoT accessory can be satisfied by Thread.

Thread is specifically designed for small, low-powered devices leak detectors, CO detectors, and motion sensors. These may be left untouched and unused for months or more but need to reliably spring into action when required and crucially need to not have run out of battery. In addition to sensors, its designed for actuators as well things like door locks, window shades, light bulbs, wall plugs, water valves, thermostats, thermostatic radiator valves, alarm sirens, etc., says Siddha.

Why are there so many versions of Thread? Theres Matter over Thread, HomeKit over Thread, Google / Weave over Thread, Open Thread, and so on.

Those are all the same Thread; theyre just different application layers running over Thread, says Hui. Thats actually one of the key highlights of the importance of IP [in Thread]. Its the same network technology; it can support multiple different application layers simultaneously. Matter over Thread is just another example of an application layer over Thread.

The latest release of Thread 1.3.0 addresses a significant problem around these different versions, allowing them to interact with each other. Previously, different ecosystems didnt have a good way for sharing this Thread network credentials with each other, says Hui. Thats changing.

Combined with APIs announced by Apple and Google for sharing Thread credentials between different mobile apps, the latest release of Thread Thread 1.3.0 will allow users to have one unified Thread network in their homes.

With 1.3.0, if a home network has an Apple HomePod Mini, a Google Nest Hub, and an Eero Wi-Fi router, they can all act as border routers in a single Thread network. Thats not how it is today, and likely, we wont see all devices update to Thread 1.3.0 until closer to when Matter arrives this fall, says Hui.

The origins of Thread go back to 2011 and the first Nest Thermostat. Why has it taken so long for it to be adopted in the smart home? And why are there so few Thread products available?

Thread had an inflection point probably two or three years ago when both Google and Apple came up with border routers, says Siddha. Then we were able to finally see Thread devices in action. Turning on a [smart] light switch was literally as good as turning on a physical light switch. That was not the experience people had before.

With border routers beginning to enter the wild, companies like Eve and Wemo, who had previously used Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, started to look at shifting. They saw the issues with [the other protocols] and now, seeing the maturity of Thread, are adopting Thread into their products and making a conscious switch from a different technology to Thread, for the benefits of the reliable, secure, instant control experiences, says Neidig.

However, there are still very few Thread devices available (see sidebar), and some that are such as the Nanoleaf Essentials A19 bulbs wont be compatible with Matter when the standard arrives. Similarly, a number of Google products with Thread such as the Nest x Yale door lock are based on earlier implementations of Thread and dont support the features required for Matter.

Amazon has announced its Echo smart speaker (fourth gen) will be updated to become a Thread border router.

What about backward compatibility? If Thread was built on Zigbee, cant all Zigbee devices be upgraded to Thread?

Technically, Zigbee runs on 802.15.4 radio just like Thread. So, current Zigbee products could be upgradeable to Thread, says Neidig. But because its IP-based, Thread has different resource requirements like memory. If a product isnt built with the right resource structure, it wont be upgradeable.

Can products that use hubs or bridges today, such as Philips Hue light bulbs, be upgraded to Thread through the hub or bridge? Or would you have to upgrade the individual bulbs?

One constraint is: do the accessories not the hub have sufficient memory to support Matter over Thread, says Siddha. If the accessories dont, then the product cant be upgraded to Thread via the hub (but it could work with Matter over Wi-Fi). Those are considerations that product manufacturers will have to make, he says. As a general principle, if something is not broken, people dont want to fix it.

Philips Hue already works with almost every ecosystem, and the company has said it will support Matter through its existing bridge but that it doesnt plan to replace its existing Zigbee-powered bulbs with Thread bulbs.

In the longer term, I think products will undergo a natural evolution to [Thread], says Siddha. But he hopes every company will look at bringing Thread into their existing devices, Because it just gets us to this IP backbone [for the smart home] quicker.

How will Thread and Matter work with Apple HomeKit?

HomeKit will be this application that works on the Apple ecosystem. But uses Matter underneath, says Siddha. So, you will have HomeKit on our products, supporting Matter and Thread accessories. Then we have our own kind of user experience for HomeKit, just as Google will have their own. We expect the innovation to happen at that higher layer.

How will Matter and Thread ultimately benefit the smart home?

For years, companies in the consumer smart home were trying to differentiate based on the connectivity they have [which platforms the device worked with], says Hui. Thats not what consumers care about. They care about the cool, fun features. Standardizing all these connectivity technologies gets the hard stuff around reliability and power out of the way. It lets the product companies focus on the new and exciting features consumers really care about.

The smart home today is like the early days of the internet, says Siddha. There are legacy technologies that werent coming together to make everything just work. Instead, there are all these multiple bridges and other devices you need. Thread, with its all IP-backbone, allows seamless access to the home network, essentially making home automation complete.

Ultimately, Thread and Matter are a reset for the smart home. They are an attempt to rebuild a broken system and make it capable of fulfilling its initial promise; the intelligent technological evolution of our homes. Now they just have to actually arrive.

See the rest here:
What is Thread and how will it help your smart home? - The Verge

It's hard to be human these days, and people are increasingly looking for respite and answers everywhere, including in the cosmos.

Wellness is no longer just about being physically fit; the majority of the more than 16,000 Americans surveyed for the 2022 MindBody Wellness Index said they are seeking mental and spiritual wellness, too.

It makes sense. Weve been enduring a global pandemic (among other traumas, tragedies, and natural disasters), while science has continued to forge on. Thats some fertile ground for soul searching. It turns out wellness + vacation might just be for all of us. Read on to hear why this trend might be your cup of herbal tea after all, tips for a first-time trip, and recommended places around the world to tap into yourself, whether thats Bali, the Caribbean, or a Four Seasons in New York City.

So why are more people turning to woo-woo?

Advancements in science have proven how interconnected everything is, which edges us more toward self-reflection and insight, Dana Childs, an intuitive and energy healer, says. She notes how things like quantum physics, entanglement theory, and even the discovery that trees communicate with each other address the power of belief, the mind, and consciousness. Childs says this awareness of our interconnectedness combined with modern communication and global travel leads us to consider how we are connectingto ourselves, others, the environment, and our own true essence or higher self.

Couple that with the COVID pandemic and isolation, trauma, and hardship, and its a recipe for spiritual seeking, she says. Theres a global awakening that there must be something more beyond our everyday existence and there is. Were waking up and asking the question, How can I be and feel better?

Woo-woo or alternative healing was actually helping them with things like overwhelming stress, anxiety, and fear.

And the travel industry is responding, expanding wellness offerings to include things like astrological readings and intuitive healings that were not all that long ago aimed only at a fringe market. In Hawaii, at the Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko Olina, Childs leads a Transformational Wellness Retreat in partnership with Native Hawaiian healer Pi`iali`i Lawson.

Lawson says the pandemic lockdown pushed people to explore a broader range of healing options. What was seen [previously] as perhaps woo-woo or alternativehealing through nature, meditation, crystals, or energy, for examplewas actually helping them with things like overwhelming stress, anxiety, and fear. These alternatives were providing tools, higher levels of consciousness, and awareness to navigate and heal.

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Remember, the worst possible thing that can happen is you have a few days of vacation in a dynamite setting with beautiful souls.

The trend is not limited to tropical locales like Thailand and Hawaii, which naturally attract travelers seeking an escape. Nicole Hernandez, founder of The Traveling Hypnotist and resident healer at Four Seasons New York Downtown, says shes seen a noticeable uptick in bookings since January 2021. In the past, spiritual and alternative healers werent as popular among professionals. However, many of my clients today come from the finance, tech, sales, and marketing industries. She attributes this largely to the shift in priorities that has come from living through the pandemic.

We began to ask ourselves, What matters? Buying designer clothing, having the nicest car or home, or a glamorous job didn't matter. Instead, we realized health, safety, and community were of the utmost importance for survival, Hernandez says. Going back to work and the old way of life was a relief for some. But for others, she says, they couldn't bear going back to a lifestyle that didn't feel purposeful or authentic. When you've spent your life following the rules and living by the unspoken social norms and expectations, you don't know what an authentic and purposeful life looks like for you. This is where spiritual and alternative healers can help.

Alternative healing isn't magic.

Booking a psychic sesh or joining a transformational retreat can be intimidating for first-timers. It can seem like retreat regulars have their own lingo and uniform. But you dont have to speak spiritual or pack a suitcase full of flowy linens and yoga leggings to participate in a transformational retreat. Be yourself and allow things to unfold as theyre meant to. Before you dive in, here are a few additional words of advice from the experts.

Tips for a first-timer

Consult your doctor. It's essential to first consult a doctor about any health issues, before seeking out spiritual and alternative healing, Hernandez says. Then use alternative healing to complement your treatment.

Research your options. Determine if the person is relatable, wise, and professional, Hernandez says. Read their blogs and testimonials and watch their videos. Ensure that the healer has worked with clients who have overcome similar problems. Schedule a phone or video consultation if possible, so that you can discuss your issue and understand [the practitioners] process.

Expect the unexpected. And the uncomfortable. Be open-minded and curious. A sincere desire for change and growth is a bonus. Throw caution to the wind and take advantage of all the offerings, Childs says. Trust that the goal of a healing retreat is to stimulate your mind and encourage you to examine beliefs, thoughts, and events that may be holding you back. Be open for healing and for the occasional discomfort that may happen on your way to a healed mindset. And remember, the worst possible thing that can happen is you have a few days of vacation in a dynamite setting with beautiful souls.

Participate. Alternative healing isn't magic, Hernandez says. You must fully collaborate with your practitioner to make the most out of your session. Some clients have significant breakthroughs after one session, and others require multiple sessions and ongoing work.

Dont compare your journey with others. Trust your intuition or your inner knowing and let that be your guide, Lawson says. Healing is a lifelong journey and everyone's journey is unique to them. All will occur in divine timing when we are ready.

Here are a few of the many places around the world where you can hit reset with astrological readings, energy cleansing, intuitive healing, and more.

Where to have a wellness vacation around the world

Learn from an indigenous healer in South Australia

For the true beginner wondering how to dip a toe into transformational retreats without diving into the deep end, the Australia Coastal Safaris Health & Wellness Weekender in South Australia is the answer. As Sarah Hayes, an ecologist, yoga instructor, and Wellness Weekender facilitator says, Its accessible for the everyday adventurer looking for a wellness experience without all of the fluff.

The two-day itinerary provides a holistic retreat that invites participants to better understand interconnectedness through the activitieswithout the lingo-learning curve.

Skipping the deeper academic discussions doesnt mean skimping on transformational possibilities and opportunities to immerse in Indigenous knowledge. Deeper spiritual and energy explorations weave their way in when we spend time with a Nangkari (a First Nations healer), Hayes explains. A Nangkari is someone who cares for peoples' physical and emotional healthkind of like a doctor/psychologist. They are often called medicine women or medicine men. The Nangkari that we work with speaks on her experiences and work with the spiritual and energetic realms, but keeps it simple enough to understand.

The Australia Coastal Safaris Health & Wellness Weekender costs AUD $760 per person and includes all activities listed on the itinerary as well as daily lunches and selected beverages (accommodations are the responsibility of the participant). With its pristine natural landscapes, an abundance of endemic wildlife, fresh seafood and local produce, and rich culture, the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia is an ideal setting for this first-timer-friendly experience.

Soak in the moonlight in the Dominican Republic

If you have some flexibility with your travel dates, let la luna lead you to Amanera in the Dominican Republic. There youll find a Healing Through Lunar Rituals experience and learn more about how the moon can impactand empowerphysical and emotional healing.

During the multi-day stay (three- and five-day retreats are available), local wellness therapists and Tano guides impart their moon wisdom. The guides harness the power of the moon through outdoor mind-body activities and hands-on experiences. Participants can embark on medicinal walks by daylearning ancient knowledge from a Tano healer and harvesting ingredients for their health and wellness needsthen bathe in the light and transformative energy of the big glowing rock during moonlight yoga sessions.

As this experience is based on lunar cycles and the benefits available during the various phases, travelers should consider their personal goals and then pair those with the appropriate moon phase. For example, those seeking growth and creativity will want to attend during a waxing moon, while those looking to release emotional blockages should book dates that fall during a waning moon. Amanera can help travelers choose the best timing and customize their experience.

Talk to a soul whisperer in Maui

Grand Waileas UnWind the Soul Experience with Juliet Doty offers an island escape with a side of psychic guidance. This experience is for the seeker who prefers to skip the full-on retreat schedule and dive straight into a one-on-one with a psychic in between a morning swim and an afternoon surf sesh.

Sit down with resident astrologist and soul whisperer Juliet Doty for a 90-minute UnWind the Soul Healing. Doty uses her psychic abilities to identify and help clear emotional, mental, and energetic blockages. She also offers natal chart readings (on-site and virtually). And if you dont know what that means, dont worry; Ive received one and still cant fully explain it. No fault of Dotys; its definitely a lot of information for an amateur to absorb. The image of the natal chart alonewhere all the planets were positioned at the exact moment you were bornis incomprehensible to the untrained eye. Thankfully, Doty takes the time to walk you through the various symbols on the chart and elaborates on what was happening when you were born, how it is impacting you now, and what you can do to adjust or surrender.

Through these two offerings (alone or combined), Doty helps participants better understand their souls pathwhere theyve been and what theyre here to learn in this lifetime. This can help people whove been feeling stuck, discouraged, and uncertain find clarity, harmony, and purpose. Psychic sessions at Grand Wailea start at $275 (which does not include any other services, accommodations, or meals). Contact Grand Wailea for a tailor-made itinerary and hotel package pricing.

Trance-form in New York City

If you need a change, like, RIGHT NOW and cant fathom going at a caterpillar-to-butterfly pace, a Trance-formation Healing might be a better fit for you.

Nicole Hernandez, founder of The Traveling Hypnotist and resident healer at Four Seasons New York Downtown, uses hypnotism and the True Trance-formation Healing (TTH) Method to help her clients make breakthroughs in their careers and relationships. Options include one-on-one sessions, starting at $285 for a 60-minute session or the 120-minute TTH Breakthrough experience at Four Season New York Downtown is $550 (the experience includes access to the spa facilities, but accommodations and meals are not included). Trance-formational experiences are customizable depending on client goals and can be combined with other spa and hotel offerings.

Go far out to immerse your mind in the Maldives

For those that need to get far, far, farrrrr away from it all for a reset, JOALI BEING provides a secluded sanctuary on the island of Bodufushi in Raa Atoll, Maldives. The well-being retreat was designed in harmony with the natural environment to create a sense of weightlessness, dissolving the boundaries between you and your surroundings to facilitate a feeling of interconnectedness. So, as the name says, just BEING on the island may be enough to kickstart your transformation.

Immersion retreats can be customized from five days to three weeks with experiences tailored to your needs. The Mind Immersion Programme aims to increase mindfulness and productivity while decreasing stress through a combination of sound therapy, mindful movement, and energy balancing treatments. Optional add-ons include water therapy and conscious cooking.

The five-day Immersion Programme starts at $1,665 per person (including full-board meals). Accommodations are not included in this price, but if you travel all this way, youll likely want to linger a little longer.

Choose your own wellness adventure in Arizona

If you prefer to DIY your retreat from an ala carte menu of on-site wellness and energy healing activities, consider a rest and reset for your body and soul at Castle Hot Springs.

Arizona is known for its vortices, and the healing energy is palpable in this region of the Sonoran Desert, with its storied saguaro cacti and mineral-rich hot springs. Set out on a meditative morning hike in the canyon, get a chakra tune-up, take an inner journey through sound healing, and experience your interconnectedness with an after-hours hot springs soak, embraced by a blanket of stars above and the therapeutic waters below. Resident wellness guide Colleen Inman can help craft an itinerary suited to your personal goals. You determine the pace, open your heart and mind, and let the desert work its magic.

Castle Hot Springs also hosts other unique healing and health-focused group retreats, such as a Sleep Retreat with sleep expert Dr. Rebecca Robbins. Inquire directly with the resort for upcoming retreat offerings.

Unblock your chakras in Bali

Bali has no shortage of wellness retreats, and you dont need your third eye to see why: the tropical setting, friendly people, and deep-rooted culture rich with spiritual and wellness practices make it an obvious destination for personal transformation. (But where the wellness travelers go, unfortunately, con artists posing as spiritual gurus often follow. So be very discerning when booking a wellness retreat in Bali.)

Visitors take a lot from time spent in Bali: inspiration, spiritual learnings, personal growth, and, inevitably, the islands limited resources. This is why its important to find a retreat like Global Family Travels Seven Chakras Regenerative Wellness Retreat, where you can give back to this sacred place that provides so much.

The 11-day experience works with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, an experienced yogi and healer who works with people from all backgrounds and abilities, and a team of local Balinese healers, non-profits, and practitioners. Guided by their learn, serve, immerse approach, Global Family Travels helps participants understand and unblock the seven chakras (energy wheels or energy centers in the body) through immersive experiences. For example, a day spent exploring the heart chakra includes mindfulness exercises in the morning, a visit to two nonprofits that focus on womens health and empowerment, and a dinner at the Womens Center.

Through engaging with and understanding local people, culture, and the natural environment, the goal is that participants will better understand themselves. The longer length of this retreat allows for a more gradual evolution and time for group discussions, private journaling, and reflection. The Seven Chakras Regenerative Wellness Retreat costs $3,250 for a shared double room or $4,150 for a single room and includes all activities, transfers, and meals listed on the itinerary.

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Use Crystals and Astrological Readings on These Dreamy Wellness Vacations - Thrillist

In the summer of 2022, many western influencers famous on Instagram discovered the magic of hair oiling in the form of hair slugging and made it known to the world.

Hair oiling is a practice passed down to generations of South Asian women by their mothers and grandmothers. It not only promotes healthy hair growth and vitality but an afternoon of champi (head massage with natural oil) is cherished as a bonding experience.

Like many other ayurvedic (the science of everyday living) beauty rituals, the emphasis lies in understanding ourselves; focusing on daily diet, exercise regime, beauty and healing rituals, as well as on the less tangible forms of thoughts, feelings and emotions. This theory translates to lifestyle brands in western countries. Unfortunately there is a major disconnect due to surface level research and fundamental misunderstandings of the practices that they are often inspired from.

The key difference lies in the fact that Ayurveda or any other South Asian practices, do not disregard science. With advancements in the wellness industry, traditional beauty regimens held onto their purist core while at the same time modernising old formulations to make them relevant today.

On the other hand, western companies are inspired by these practices but fail to understand how it actually works. They capitalise on a climate shifting towards natural products post the pandemic, in the form of people taking control of their own wellness. The idea of wellness culture has roots in the self-care movement which was directly linked with misappropriated practices such as yoga.

Over the years it has translated into companies making money off products that are shallow distortions of South Asian wellness practices; exploiting the lucrative market to sell unproven and misleading products.

Beauty for Indian women has always been skin-deep. The rich understanding of our bodies in ancient Ayurveda and other practices has formed a strong foundation for Indian wellness companies today.

Brands created by the Indian diaspora such as Inde Wild integrate conscious chemistry with 500-year-old rituals. Many Indian influencers are now reclaiming the narrative by centring the evolution of such concepts around brown women; sharing remedies and recipes for a wholesome beauty routine passed down to them by other women in their families.

Books like Almond Eyes Lotus Feet take people on a journey with an Indian princess as the narrator, as she shares rituals from different states in India as told by the women residing there. Glow written by Vasudha Rai presents a comprehensive list of recipes straight out of our Indian kitchens, curated to benefit both beauty and health.

In a culture that is now more welcoming of holistic beauty practices, it is important to beware of brands wearing garbs of wellness. It is more important to focus on the South Asian voices sharing wisdom with a deep cultural and authentic understanding of the ingenious traditions in beauty and health.

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How South Asian Voices Are Reclaiming Their Beauty Traditions - Homegrown

Decentralized, independentand anonymous user-owned identities will be a part of the Web3 stack, but only if we stay conscious of the pitfalls.

Despite a few hopeful signs for those looking for spring, crypto winter remains. Pundits and analysts addressing the market woes often point out the hopeful upsides. These hard times will likely shake out bad projects and leave a more robust ecosystem. Like most parts of evolution, it's an elegant system to contemplate but not always pretty to watch.

It's an excellent time to return to the fundamentals projects that deliver real utility and address human needs with actual use cases. One of the fundamental parts of any Web3 ecosystem is identity,and it's a big deal to people.

A recent survey of 8,000 respondents byOpinioniumshowed that 80% of consumers prefer online brands with strong digital identity verification. Web3 promises a new host of expanded services, some transactional, so there is good reason for the Web3 community to focus on the promise of a blockchain-protected, decentralized identity (DID).

Ontology NetworkONG/USD has been working on this issue since before its network launch in 2018, as part of its stated mission of "bringing trust, privacy, and security to Web3 through decentralized identity and data solutions."

We spoke with Humpty Calderon, head of community at Ontology, to learn more about the state and future of a truly decentralized, user-controlled, independentand anonymous identity system for Web3.

BZ: Why is self-sovereign identity an important feature for Web3 development?

Calderon:"With Web2 identities, like Facebook identity or Google identity, you create identities, and they are user services, but those identities are not yours. They are owned by those organizations. Data that you produce using those products is aggregated, mined, and monetized by these companies. You have neither a say in how your data is used nor a share of that revenue.

In Web3, we see an opportunity for individuals to own their identity to create richer user experiences in this ecosystem, but also for them to own the data on the backend. So currently, member identity is centered in, for all intents and purposes, your Web3 wallet, your MetaMask, is your Web3 identity. You sign in with them, and you do transactions. All the data that's on the back end is accessible via the private key via your wallet.

Decentralized identity takes it a step further. So DID is not a new concept. It was developed by the Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for quite some time. It allows you to take the identity that is currently siloed within one blockchain and take it across multiple blockchains. So my identity, and more importantly, the reputation that I build using this identity on blockchain, is portable and interoperable."

Is the idea of controlling your identity tied to monetization? And doesn't that suggest our identities are just a commodity to sell?

"I would argue that it isn't about the financialization of your data. It's about control and setting permissions to dictate how that data gets used. So it is up to you how that data is used, whether you choose to financialized that or not. The idea is for users to fully own and consent to how their data is used."

How many users are using Ontology's decentralized identities?

"In the area of decentralized identity, Ontology is one of the more mature projects. We have been building this since before they launched their blockchain;they were a member of the Decentralized Identity Foundation. There are more than 1.6 million on OntIDs that have been distributed. And so what that means is that Ontology has provided this self-sovereign identity for 1.6 million identities.

Keep in mind that in Web3 identities work a little differently than your email, where you may have different identities for different use cases, you may have an identity for DeFi, you may have an identity for interacting with DAOs and governance and so on. Because you want to be able to segment those areas of your Web3 activity. That's good PSYOPS. At least you want to be able to protect your identity, and you don't want to connect those identities for all sorts of use."

The term psyops (psychological operations) has a gray history at best, what makes it a relevant term for Web3?

"I'm not the first to use it. It means you want to create systems that allow you to have a segmented identity, and segmented use of your data, in the Web3 ecosystem. So you protect yourself if anybody wishes to identify you in the real world."

Doesn't the idea of truly decentralized and anonymous identity open up more possibilities for bad actors that want to use crypto for illegal activity?

"The same could be said about cash, right? Cash is probably one of the more anonymous ways to perform a transaction. I think we need to be reflective about the development that we do. And we need to be thoughtful and inclusive of different people and to be able to understand the future that we're building and so that it's not dystopian."

What about in cases where true anonymity can be used to plan or fund terrorism?

"There's going to be some malicious actors and people that are going to use the technology. This technology isn't exclusive to blockchain. The other thing I wanted to talk about is using your decentralized identity to build your reputation.

One of the other projects that Ontology is incubating is called Orange Protocol. And Orange Protocol is not the only one working on how we can build reputation, so it's usable within the blockchain space, still respecting people's privacy and their self-sovereign identity, but in a way that we can unlock access to the good actors, and segment communities based on interests. We can develop a system using DID-verifiable credentials, VCs, which provide some reputation proof for these individuals. And that could be positive and negative.

One school of thought says we should not be making negative attestations, and we should be making positive attestations. But negative attestations are valuable, especially in the social space. We want to make sure that the people we're interacting with are good actors. In fact, if you read theDecentralized Society paperthat was written by Puja Ohlhaver, E. Glen Weyland Vitalik Buterin in May, that's exactly the argument they're making."

How does Ontology fit into the Web3 ecosystem? What essential piece does it provide for developers?

"Ontology has experience and proficiency in the space of decentralized identity, reputation, and data. They've been working on DID since before they launched their network. So this is something that they truly believe in. So what that means, especially with the launch of EVM integration, is that any project that seeks to develop a protocol, a community that wants to build on top of this very rich and robust identity stack can build on Ontology."

What should we be looking forward to from Ontology in 2022?

"This year was formative for many of us to understand the space of Web3 is changing. There is this new and novel way of engaging and building with communities through DAOs. While often not decentralized or autonomous, the mission, purposeand impact of these DAOs are continuing to grow. Ontology is tooling for these DAO communities to be able to build with identity and reputation mechanisms. Orange Protocol is building a reputation-proof system that's backed by Web3 data and on-chain and off-chain data to be able to provision reputation models on the other end. That can unlock better onboarding mechanisms to create better incentive alignment with contributors and more robust governance systems that get away from plutocratic voting systems."Takeaways

It's easy to see the value in a decentralized identity that gives users more control over their personal data, which has been famously abused, productizedand resold clandestinely by big tech companies.

Ontology offers the prospect of increased identity independence for the user,allowing users to control how their information is used and making it possible to access multiple chains and apps with a single DID wallet sign-in.

I still have reservations about how a system of truly anonymous decentralization will keep bad actors from gaming the system to cover their activities. If there is a loophole, people hiding their actions will use it. It isn't a matter of "if" it is a statistical certainty as the technology grows.

I also worry that the idea of ranking users decentralized identities by positive and negative behavior. I think the system is well-intended but does not screen out criminal behavior, and has a creepy Orwellian overtone, much like the social ranking system in China.

So, the reality of workable DID may be within our grasp,but we still have to work out some of the "how," which means revisiting some of the "why." In such a young space as Web3, we may be seeing another case where the technology is ready, but the philosophy behind it just isn't as stable.

Still, Ontology is an impressive Layer 1 project that adds real value to projects, so it will be interesting to see where they take it.

Cover image sourceMohamed Hassanfrom Pixabay.

Read more:
Interview: Ontology And The Web3 Potential (And PsyOps) Of Decentralized Identity - Benzinga

Created: Jul 25, 2022 07:59 AM

The trajectory of our truth is not subjective, but rather objective. It discovers principle and the environment we are actively choosing to embrace not based on external opinion or adapted versions of ourselves, but the mirroring of the heart and mind, and its rightful needs in our evolution. Have you ever experienced an intense build-up of anxiety that said Hello! to your body or a specific body part after expressing a hot lie or a necessary truth? These bodily encounters are normally changes way of drawing us deeper into the understanding we have of ourselves and the community.

Both lies and truth have been taught to us in what we consume in our households, television, school systems, friendships, and also through our food and clothing. These external outlets of joined perceptions can often mislead us from our own truth-seeking when projected on to us at an early age or at a not-so-strong point in our lives. This is why listening is essential in our reconnection with truth. The spirit enables our conscious and subconscious mind to locate what resonates with our journey and the things that oppose it. I believe through opposition, whether positive or negative, we are presented with questions for self-discovery, where truth becomes practice in our choices, the shaping of our boundaries, and the expectations surrounding truth. The more we engage in the pendulum of truth, the more we gain bearing over its direction, as everything is energetic.

It is not by accident that a foetus and its mother converse through hearing before giving birth to physical life, and that hearing is the last sense to go before death occurs. Listening plays a special role in developing our relationship with truth. It paves way for discernment and conscious decision-making. When we choose to listen to the rhythm of our breath, the responses our bodies share with us, the environment we choose to exist in, and the repetitive thoughts that define our speech, we can begin to honestly question the role we play in truth. Creatively speaking, I often refer to the body as a figure of speech, where my mind and heart alert my body that I am safe or unsafe. These nudges grant me the space to acknowledge what is disarming my innate power and the things that anchor me into objective truths. I find that when listening is prioritised, decisions are formed based on intuition and wisdom, rather than fear and illusion. It is the way we connect to truth, the spirit.

KojiAar Hyde

Truth is both a question and also a statement, as it calls us to be the teacher unto ourselves and student our way through its discovery. In All About Love, bell hooks calls attention to the understanding that the heart receives justice when truth-telling is at the centre of our perception of ourselves and the world. Truth can only ritualise in our lives when we take responsibility for our journey and the choices we make. But this is established and cultivated only when we get clear on the world we are choosing to shape. Maintaining an objective through purposeful action, and remaining open to when we feel called to shift our objective, is key in shaping our truth. And this does not mean that truth will always create the outcome we desire, but it does shift something internally, whether we are aware of it immediately or not. The deeper we understand our truth and universal truth, the more our character forms, principles strengthen, and our direction is fine-tuned.

KojiAar Hyde

It is important to note that the feeling of truth-telling will not always be a feeling that is familiar to us; truth may feel anxiety-ridden after being expressed. But it is up to us to compassion our way through its unfolding and honour these feelings of discomfort, as this is a call to liberation.

Truth is a journey that will sometimes revert us into old patterns, but the feeling of truth will always resurface when we value our walk with creation, God and spirit it is energetic. Expressing truth is a tapestry given with the tools to weave in our own unique way. It is a fine art that requires practice. In times of joy and also sadness, ask yourself the four Ps: What is my perception? Why is this my perspective? What am I choosing to project. How will I project it?

The rest is here:
The truth behind being truthful - Royal Gazette

Mr. Samir A Nerurkar, the founder of Samira Habitats

Samira Habitats Brand Logo

MUMBAI, 29 JULY, 2022 (GPN): That discussion about a family vacation, inevitably cued in on Goa, Kerala, or the exhilarating escapes of North India. If it was a short, weekend getaway, or reunion, or even that quick vacation, Lonavala, Mulshi or Karjat made the list.

Two years of the pandemic and lockdowns, have changed how we look at life! The getaway vibe has changed, and how ! A quick whisk of the coffee evoked pure happiness as we sat at our balconies taking in the sounds of birds chirping in Mumbai devoid of the raucous traffic. We learnt to reconnect with the most natural joys, around us. We unlearnt pace, and embraced slow living.And, not so quietly, a new wind of change was playing up in Alibag.

The Alibag Phenomenon, born during the pandemic, is now taking the world by storm. Samira Habitats, the visionary land asset people, took charge and rewrote this new chapter, in a changing world.

So, how did this bayside clutch of hamlets, across the Mumbai Bay, evolve into one of the biggest real estate benchmarks ?

A generation ago, the beautiful beaches or the historical significance of this place, was not given a second thought. Alibag was snooze-ville all along, until it became the repose of a select, whos who of Mumbais crme de la crme.

Still, only the almost secret, privilege to a few !

Mr. Samir A Nerurkar, the founder of Samira Habitats

2020 changed all that. Accessibility to Mumbai, a spattering of beautiful hotels and boutique destinations, started luring people to retreats and the intimate destination weddings.

This giant leap in tourist inflow, was further catapulted by two significant and overlapping events the pandemic, coinciding with the the flagging off of the Mumbai-Mandwa RoRo (Roll-On, Roll-Off) Ferry Service .

At a time when interstate travel was a dream, the private villas at Alibag, the freedom to move around mask-free in the company of your loved ones, and the blink-and-reach speed of the RoRo made it easier for people from South Mumbai to reach this beach town.

Everybody, across city demographics and sociographic, was thronging to Alibag. And half of them began to look at home options and second homes in Alibag.

Transformations seldom come easy. And, The Alibag Phenomenon too, wasnt built in a day. It took several developers and visionaries to make it the buzz we see, today.

Mr. Samir A Nerurkar, the founder of Samira Habitats

Undoubtedly, one such visionary, who believed and invested his belief, dreams and passion, even before the money, into Alibag, is Mr. Samir A Nerurkar, the founder of Samira Habitats. When others were busy constructing bungalows in Lonavala, he sat patiently at the Samira by the Bay lounge at Mandwa Jetty watching the dream unfold. One of the largest land aggregators in Alibag, the company has continued its unshaken voyage and is #NowTrending on the real estate map.

GPN (Global Prime News) Media Network in a candid interview with Samir encapsulated the evolution of Alibag from a sleepy town to the bayside, boho-chic vibe it now has

Q. Tell us about you and your beginning in Alibag?

I started with as less as Rs. 25000 which was borrowed from my mother and an old Maruti 800, when I put foot in Alibag for the first time. Starting with as less as half acre to today being the largest land aggregator of Alibag region.

In this journey have met various people who have been instrumental in building up Samira Habitats. We share a very close bond with the locals in Alibag and have always ensured the best for them and that the local farmers always got their dues. Thats the prime reason that this land has accepted and embraced us with open arms. We shared a common dream & love for the land.

Q: Tell us about the Alibag of the early days, when you first saw this dream ?

A:For that we need to rewindall the way to 1995 ! Then Alibag was a distant thought, on any realty mind. No one, at that time could visualise or calculate, by any conventional projections, the way its popularity would rise over the years. We began by working extremely hard on Alibags lifestyle infrastructure to draw attention to it and bring out the lively energy that Alibag had at its heart.

Back in the days, even the Trans-Harbour line and sea commute between Mumbai and Alibag seemed like such a far-fetched dream.

Q: Tell us about your interaction with the place?

A:I had conviction in this land, and worked intuitively to understand the place in and out. In turn, the town unraveled new grounds and opportunities for us. We faced plenty of challenges along the way but it made us what we are today.

I knew, that Mumbai would eventually saturate its vertical expansion; and would have to expand horizontally. That expansion would have to be towards the mainland, across the sea. Alibag.

Q: How has Alibag changed over the last couple of years?

A:Todays Alibag embodies multiple facets of a slower, more meaningful life, sprinkled with a good drizzle of excitement and haute culture! People come here to spend a day or two away; yet so close to home. Its become so simple! Hop on to the RoRo, with your car, and retinue if you please! Indulge in a hearty, gourmet, or local meal, bask under the clear sky, cavort at one of the many beautiful beaches, and come back to Mumbai by late evening!

Most Alibag Second Home owners spent months at their private reposes, during the lockdown. Its now an alternative to Goa and people spend days or even weeks at the chain of hotels, villas and homes here. Since the last couple of years, it has developed a cult of its own. Its a quiet, pretty place sitting still with the sway of coconut trees, the salty air and a subtle sense of surrendering to be one with the wind Thanks to the quick commute, South Mumbaikars would rather visit Alibag than go to any other part of Mumbai.

Q: Can you share briefly about your contribution to the town?

A:Our vision is synonymous with Alibag; to work in collaboration with the land and her people. Samira ensures that anybody looking for land is hand-held with our full support right from the start to end. We have nurtured and built our relationship through 25+ years of symbiotic presence in Alibag.

This land is extremely resourceful for investors. We have chaperoned thousands of satisfied customers into embracing the Alibag Life.

We hold a sweet pride, in stating that investing in Alibag is really an invitation to #investinyourself in an expanded life!

Our list of proud Samiras Alibagkars spans the globe and includes many prestigious institutions. Were the one-stop-shop for anyone looking at acquiring land, and building that dream home, here.

But, beyond the land, we are deeply invested in creating the infrastructure to support a life here. There is a lot brewing on the hospitality, healthcare, marine infra et al! So, watch this space!

Q: What role did the pandemic play in this shift?

A:The whos who of Mumbai, all from different walks of life were taken in by the Alibag Phenomenon during the pandemic. For those who wanted the best of both worlds be in Alibag; yet close enough to Mumbai made this dream come to life. It finally got the acknowledgement that was long overdue !

Q: What are your future plans?

A:We want to develop the region by partnering and facilitating the setting up of healthcare / criticare and trauma facilities, the best bistros, and restaurant brands,

, retail communities and shopping villages, sporting facilities and utility services. The whole community that feels deeply for its town is working in tandem to collaborate with this changing avataar of Alibag.

Our gated communities of ready to build plots, Bespoke land holds and bungalows, Villa Communities and more, are spread across the scenic landscape of Alibag. Beyond the beaches, we are offering you, scintillating hillsides, greens, thickets and premium cul de sacs close to Mandwa.

Something for every discerning taste.

I see the Alibag of my dreams, as a lively, throbbing, organic, conscious and warm community of like minded people, who have finally come home!

The Alibag Id dreamt of is finally here!-Ends.

For Exclusive Interviews and Authored Article Contact Mr. Sachin Murdeshwar at GPN- NEWS DESK (Editorial) on +91 8369388645 or +91 9768497333 (Mumbai)

View post:
The Alibag I dreamt of is finally here! : Samir A Nerurkar in an exclusive interview with GPN - Global Prime News

My Chemical Romance is touring again, Paramore and Jimmy Eat World are headlining a major festival this fall, and theres a skinny, tattooed white dude with a guitar dominating the charts. In case you havent heard, emo is back, baby! In honor of its return to prominenceplus the 20th anniversary of the first MCR albumThe Ringer is following Emo Wendys lead and tapping into that nostalgia. Welcome to Emo Week, where well explore the scenes roots, its evolution to the modern-day Fifth Wave, and some of the ephemera around the genre. Grab your Telecasters and Manic Panic and join us in the Black Parade.

At the corner of Hollywood and Highland, a Hot Topic is tucked away on the second floor of the Ovation Hollywood shopping center. You wouldnt even realize it was there if you didnt know exactly where to look. But once you ascend a few escalators and wind your way around some ongoing construction, there it is: The alternative music and culture retail outlet that once hosted in-store visits from pop-punk and emo icons like Paramore and that now boasts an elaborate display pyramid of Funko Pop dolls, anime-themed swim trunks, Obi-Wan Kenobi tokens, and various Squishmallows collectibles. The stores sign is white, hard-edged, and simple. It used to be blood red and written in heavy metal font.

Hot Topic in 2022 seems to cover every possible interest related to gaming and pop culture.Theres still plenty of music merch for sale as well, though the selection is different now, too: Instead of the once-famous band tee wall, the stores perimeter is blocked out with cubic shelves containing music tees of every popular genre, from Top 40 to death metal. Blink-182, Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Slipknot, and Cannibal Corpse take up decent real estate, but so do the Weeknd, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Selena, Machine Gun Kelly, Lana Del Rey, Wu-Tang Clan, and Snoop Dogg. Likewise, blasting from the speakers is a decade-spanning mishmash of popular music: Tina Turners Simply the Best segues into Alice Coopers Schools Out, which transitions to Evanescences 00s goth-metal classic Bring Me to Life, which morphs into the All-American Rejects Dirty Little Secret.

You can still visit the store today and walk out with elements of the Hot Topic uniforma dark, dramatic personal aesthetic that became popularized during emos third wave in the 2000s. But its clear that in the years since side swept bangs and studded belts, the retailer has become all things for all fansan ethos that may appear to be a far cry from Hot Topics roots, but is ultimately how it secured its survival when the rise of e-commerce closed the doors of so many storefronts.

By the early aughts, Hot Topic had already been supplying suburban alternative music fans with band tees, edgy accessories, and a curated supply of punk/metal/rave CDs for years, dependably evolving its merchandise around whatever subgenre was playing on MTV or headlining Warped Tour. In the early 2000s, nu-metal fashion (chains, wide-leg UFO pants, spikes, and studs) receded and gave way to the glam-goth aesthetic popularized by third-wave emo acts like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance, whose frontman, Gerard Way, famously worked at his local Hot Topic in New Jersey.

These emo kids were aesthetically louder than their predecessors, preferring to express themselves and their tastes with dark, distressed skinny jeans, Converse sneakers, an emo band tee, and big hair with shocks of neon color spliced throughout. Other uniform pieces for sale could include tartan miniskirts, fingerless gloves, hair bows, striped scarves, fishnets, black hoodies, buttons, and perhaps some skull imagery. If you lived hours away from the city, chances are your local Hot Topic carried any and all of these things.

For suburban or rural-based emo fans in the 90s or 2000s, the local Hot Topic was the only place they could gooutside of a concertto find the music they liked, buy merch to match their music tastes, and convene with like-minded fans. Think of Hot Topic like the anti-Abercrombie: Instead of pushing an aspirationaland blatantly exclusionarylifestyle, Hot Topic went out of its way to be inclusive and welcoming, no matter your tastes. The same alternative kids who were being shunned by A&F were being welcomed by Hot Topic. They were the first store that had anything to do with what I still considered, and probably was still considered, an underground scene, says Dashboard Confessional lead singer Chris Carrabba. It was on the leading edge of popularizing the scene in a way that was very American mall.

Growing up in Tucson, Arizona, Emo Nite Los Angeles cofounder Morgan Freed was one of the many who found his community among other music fans at Hot Topic. I was playing in bands in high school, and I remember I went to the Hot Topic. The cashier recognized me from my band, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever, Freed says. Because that person working there was in the same scene as me. I felt welcomed. It felt familiar.

Meanwhile, Emo Nite cofounder T.J. Petracca started shopping at his local Hot Topic in 2004, which, for him, was the summer between middle school and high school. Back then, you really had to pick your label. You had to pick what type of person you wereyou were either an Abercrombie person or you were a PacSun person or you were a Hot Topic person, he says. I remember I literally made a conscious decision: Im going to come back [to school] as a new person. Im going to be an emo kid. And I went to Hot Topic and got a bunch of band T-shirts and track jackets and hoodies. And I got my girl pants at Hollister because [Hot Topic] did not sell skinny jeans for guys at the time. I went to high school fully fitted out as an emo kid.

Petracca and Freed both eventually landed in Los Angeles and founded Emo Nite alongside Barbara Szabo in 2014. But not all Hot Topic shoppers relocated to big citiessome, like Sammit Zanelotti, Brittney Moran, and Autumn Moe, still live in the suburbs and connect with other former emo kids via the internet. Zanelotti and Moran, who grew up together in Maryland (Zanelotti has since relocated to North Carolina), launched the Elder Emo Hours podcast this past year. Soon, via TikTok, they met a Pennsylvania-based listener, Moe, and invited her to help host.

All three hosts can recall in detail what their Hot Topic uniforms were when bands like My Chemical Romance, Further Seems Forever, Brand New, and Taking Back Sunday ruled the charts. Back then we called them bondage pants or tripp pants, Moran says, adding, I had band tees out the wazoo, platform Mary Janes, fishnet stockings, and arm warmers.

I had a pair of black-and-red Chuck Taylors, says Zanelotti, who graduated from high school in 2009 and grew up in Waldorf, Maryland. I wore them with fishnets or skinny jeans or tripp pants. I also had the sweatband bracelets that had band names on them, the clip-in hair colors. I got the black-rimmed glasses. I had the rubber-band bracelets, six or seven on one arm, the oversized hoodie, the tie, the band shirts. I was kind of like your emo-meetsAvril Lavigne but very confused between all of them. If it looked cute, and I could pull it off, I was gonna do it. Regardless of if it matched.

Back then, the only thing we had that was music-related was FYE or Sam Goody, Zanelotti continues. But Hot Topic was the only store that had an expressive, dark aesthetic I always wanted to stick out, to be the kid that identified with the music that I listened to. I remember the first thing I ever bought from Hot Topic was one of those little purses that you could never fit anything in. It looked like a skirt. It was black and hot pink and it had a skull on the corner. That purse was my entire aesthetic, the skull with a bow on it. Thats what I wanted my whole identity to be.

Despite its dark exterior, Hot Topics original ethos was, above all else, to seem approachable. Founded by Los Angeles retail veteran Orv Madden, whod previously been a high-level executive at The Childrens Place, the first two Hot Topic locations opened in Montclair and Westminster, California, in late 1989. Hoping to emulate the punk, goth, and fetish fashion storefronts lining Melrose Avenue in the 80s and 90s such as Lip Service and Kill City, Maddens original objective with Hot Topic was to bring Melrose to the mall. To realize this vision, Madden had help from Hot Topics first-ever buyer, Cindy Levitt, who rose through the ranks and eventually became senior vice president of licensing before leaving in 2018.

I had lived in London in 1979 and fell in love with the whole punk and alternative scene, Levitt says. I came back to Southern California and was like, theres nothing like this here. When building out the first Hot Topic stores, Levitt made sure to stock her section with leather wristbands with spikes and crucifixes and lots of skulls. While the majority of the first Hot Topics were filled with more mainstream accessories, Levitts section became a major selling point for customers, simply because no one had ever seen these alternative items in any mall before. Our first store manager said, People are asking if we carry band tees, Levitt recalls. You couldnt find a band tee at a Walmart or anywhere; it was only at concerts or head shops. So I was like, Im gonna figure out how to buy band tees. The first T-shirts I bought were Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, Depeche Mode, and Metallica. And that kept blowing up.

Levitt and Madden began opening more store locations in California, and soon expanded to the rest of the country. But not every mall owner was so open-minded about bringing in retail hocking alternative paraphernalia. Malls didnt want us. A lot of rumors were happening about what was going on in our stores: bloodletting, body piercing. There were stories about store managers [getting hit by] Bibles thrown in the stores, Levitt continues. And we had to go meet with the mall developers to calm them down. Satan bothered everybody, especially in the Midwest. So Hot Topic was able to grow because we didnt carry any of thatupside-down crosses, foul language, anything overtly satanic. Album covers were fine. But we were in the mall, so we had to follow mall rules.

We made sure that we were so friendly to everybody, Levitt says. Thats the thing, you go into Hot Topic, you probably know everyone is friendly. That was one of our guidelines: Be friendly to everybody. This is the home for misfits and weirdos and everybody, but its a home for the parents, its a home for anyone that comes in. This is the sanctuary for everybody. Everybodys welcome.

Hot Topics inclusive ideology is not only what got the brand into malls around Americaits what made so many teenagers and 20-somethings want to work there. I felt like I was working at Empire Records, says Zeena Koda, a former music publicist who managed multiple Hot Topic locations from 2000 to 2006. It became a place for alt kidspeople who were interested in musicto go and work and meet other people who were interested in the same shit.

It was a motley crew of lovable weirdos, says Marie Lodi, a freelance beauty and fashion writer and editor who worked at the stores Ventura location in 1999. Except [it was] more diverse in terms of styles and interests. Everyone there was into music, whether it was going to Warped Tour or playing in a local punk band, or part of the rave scene or goth. Or a mix, like me. I think I was listening to Saves the Day and Alkaline Trio as much as I was listening to Atari Teenage Riot and my happy hardcore tapes.

In addition to cultivating a welcoming atmosphere where employees could dress as they pleased with all manner of body art and gauged earlobes on display, Hot Topic encouraged retail associates to tell the higher-ups what they thought was cool, what they thought the store should be selling, and numerous store employees were eventually hired at the corporate office in Californias City of Industry. One of those employees was former music buyer Jay Adelberg, who started out on the floor in 1997 and worked at HQ through 2013. Because Adelberg had been a well-known show booker in his home state of Connecticut, it felt like a natural fit that hed be recommending which CDs to stock at Hot Topic. It was an open-door policyyou did not need to go through your boss, Adelberg says. You were free to get on the computer and see who the music buyer was, email them, and say, Hey, I saw this band last night, and theyre really great. I think they should be on your radar. Because I was booking shows, and because I was on the East Coast, I was really at the forefront of a lot of those East Coast bands as they were really first coming up. I was the first person to tell anyone at headquarters about Thursday and Boy Sets Fire and Saves the Day and Brand New, because I was booking all of those bands. I was the East Coast guy booking shows and sending emails every week going, Hey, guys, I just booked this band called Brand New. Theyre totally unknown. They might be worth keeping your eyes on.

When Adelberg started working at Hot Topic in the late 90s, he was pleasantly surprised by how much the store diverged from your average mall brand. At the time, Hot Topic was a company that very much prided itself on being on the cutting edge, Adelberg adds. What is the newest, freshest, coolest thing? I mean, that was the birth of the Warped Tour during that time. Alternative culture was suddenly becoming a viable economic model. All of a sudden, all of that stuff was really big and selling lots of records and selling lots of T-shirts.

Hot Topic even had a set of Management Principles that they shared among the corporate employees, which Adelberg still has in a note on his phone. As opposed to the highly problematic and racist 47-page rulebook that Abercrombie & Fitch infamously distributed to their corporate staffas uncovered in a damning Netflix documentary in April of this yearHot Topic had only five bits of advice:

Instead of a trickle-down culture, where corporate tells sales floor workers what to sell, Hot Topic had more of a trickle up approach to the music and merchandise they stocked, paying attention to what customers requested. Store employees were treated more as a street team, entrusted with telling higher-ups what alternative kids wanted to buymusic-related or not. This also extended to pop culture: Levitt recalls how, even as far back as 1999, customers were asking for Homey D. Clown from In Living Color, Twin Peaks, and SpongeBob T-shirts. We had heard that colleges were playing drinking games [themed around] Squidward or Patrick or SpongeBob, Levitt says. Everybody wanted SpongeBob shirts for these parties. So we went to Nickelodeon. They were like, What? You want SpongeBob? And so they let us break the product, and it blew up. Then the world changed. Everybody wanted us to carry their product. It was really a tipping point of something that did not look like it belonged in a Hot Topic. And that was because customers were requesting it, so we just went and found it.

Mike Escott, who is the manager of merchandising for the music marketing company Bravado and worked at a series of Hot Topic stores from 2000 to 2007, remembers very well how Hot Topic mirrored whatever the trends were. He says: You always wonder, is life imitating art, or is art imitating life? Hot Topic really had the finger on the pulse of what was going on with fans of bands. It wasnt like Hot Topic had their own agenda of Im going to push this band. Doing [in-store] promos with Paramore, Panic! at the Disco, My Chem, and Rise AgainstI dont think bands like that would be where they were if they didnt have the support of Hot Topic. But it wasnt so much one agenda pushing the otherit was an echo of what was hot and what the fans wanted.

As second-wave emo (Sunny Day Real Estate, American Football) gave way to third-wave emo (Hawthorne Heights, Fall Out Boy, My Chem), the emo kid aesthetic underwent a tectonic shift. Instead of understated grandpa cardigans purchased from Goodwill, emo fans were dressing louder, darker, and spikier. The driver of this aesthetic sea change was almost entirely thanks to the rise of My Chemical Romance, who wore dramatic, glam costumes, making them appear like members of a vampiric marching band. The thing about My Chem that makes them unique from basically any other emo band was that they had way more influence in the fashion world, Adelberg says. They were goth-influenced and a bit on the dark side of things that really pioneered what transformed into the emo look as we all knew it. Before that, emo was girls in cardigans with maroon glasses and saddle shoes, boys in sweaters with terrible muted colors like mustard yellow and olive green and in Spock haircuts. And that kind of stuff was not as marketable to the Hot Topic crowd.

In addition to influencing Hot Topics clothes and accessories, 00s emo bands would frequently stop by for fan meet-and-greets. Adelberg remembers how Hayley Williams was always really cool but Panic! at the Disco apparently were not. But while popular 00s emo and punk acts loved making their merch more widely available to fans, they also were conflicted about what working with a corporation would do to their reputations. After all, the concept of your favorite underground band selling out was still considered the ultimate sin around this time. Carrabba admits his own mixed emotions around selling Dashboard Confessional shirts at Hot Topic in the aughts: It was strange to me on a few levels. Part of the scene ethos at the timeit wasnt anti-capitalism because there were many small businesses that kept the whole scene running. But there was a feeling that things had to be befitting of the ethos that was shared within the scene. And until that moment, I wouldnt have considered anything at the mall. [Selling merch] was relegated to the domain of the indie record store. Or being at shows where you could get merch, or somebody would have a pool table covered with records they were selling. That was considered distribution.

So I found it a little odd when Hot Topic reached out to me about buying our shirts in bulk, Carrabba continues. I will admit to never quite committing to it in a way that, if Im honest, I sort of wish I had. Because it really did feel fun. Every now and again to walk into a mall and see one of your T-shirts. It was undeniably fun to walk into a mall and see a wall that was dedicated to your friends bands. Bands that werent necessarily on the radio or MTV yet.

Working as a stock boy at Sears in the 1990s, Carrabba recalls feeling unable to identify with any of the other retail outlets his peers would frequent, Abercrombie included. It was just a place I went to work, he says, adding that if he had been able to visit a Hot Topic, such a space might have provided a refuge for him. Or maybe I would have hated it, he laughs. After Dashboard took off, however, Carrabba would find himself visiting Hot Topics around the country while on tour. Hed gaze at the famous T-shirt wall and marvel at the selection featuring his friends bands. I still cant get over it. I still cant get over the fact that my friends have had these careers.

Carrabba wasnt the only musician conflicted about what Hot Topic stood for. Gabe Saporta, best known for fronting 00s bands Midtown and Cobra Starship, got a job at his local outlet in New Jersey but was fired after expressing his anti-corporate views. I was very, like, fuck-the-system punk rock when I was a kid, Saporta says. I worked there for maybe a week or something. And I would talk to the manager and kind of express my internal conflict about working [at Hot Topic]. I felt Hot Topic was like a corporation. I wasnt specifically trying [to be against] Hot Topic, just corporations in general that put mom-and-pops out of business. The next thing I knew, she was like, Yeah, youre fired.

However, Saporta soon formed Midtown with drummer Rob Hitt, and eventually Hot Topic reached out wanting to sell their bands T-shirts, which, like most of their peers, they obliged. But Saporta remains a skeptic. I definitely still have fuck the system in my soul, he says. I generally tend to think that big corporations, when theyre too centralized, have a tendency toward a lot of the things that happen when power becomes centralized. The interest of the big corporation is to get bigger, and independent people get hurt along the way.

Come 2008, emo had arguably reached its pop-culture saturation point. Suddenly, emo was an embarrassing, faddish concept, with bands opting to be called alternative and fans rejecting the label en masse. (Even Say Anything winkingly named their 2007 album In Defense of the Genre.) Fad or not, you couldnt deny that the tide was turning. 2008 was the year that Gossip Girl took over the CW, and lots of emo-clad fans had switched over to the (now indie-sleaze) American Apparel aesthetic. MTVs Total Request Live had been canceled. Hawthorne Heights gave way to Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend.

Things werent going so well for Hot Topic corporate, either. When the great recession hit in 2008at the same time that consumers shopping and music-listening habits were changingthe store was forced to reinvent its business model, licensing a wider array of pop-culture franchises and even buying Top 40 music merchandise. My dream job turned into a real nightmare, Adelberg remembers. In a panic move, they ended up hiring two very corporate people to come into headquarters. One, [Amy Kocourek], took over merchandising and another, [John Kirkpatrick], took over the music department. It was inexplicable to me, some of the things that started to happen.

No doubt both Kirkpatrick and Kocourek had experience; from 2004 to 2007, Kirkpatrick had been the SVP of music and creative affairs at Paramount Pictures, and today hes the SVP of brand marketing at Epic Records. Kocourek, meanwhile, had come over from American Eagle, where shed been the vice president/GM of merchandising for womens and accessories from 2007 to 2009. But the culture at Hot Topic had, until that point, been all about hiring from the ground floor. To now be taking orders from corporate types like Kirkpatrick and Kocourek could not have been easy. (Kocourek declined to comment for this piece.)

One jarring shift: Kirkpatrick started suggesting bands to Adelberg that just didnt make any sense. He comes to me and says, So, hey, theres a new Nickelback record. And I was like, Yeah, thats a hard pass on that one. But Aelbergs input no longer seemed to matter; his new boss decided they were going to stock the new Nickelback record. Im telling you right now that I dont think that that is a good idea at all, Adelberg continues. And he said, Why? Its a rock band.

Adelberg tried to impress upon his new boss the curatorial nuance involved in selecting albums to stock in Hot Topic. I said, heres the deal: Whatever decisions we make as a company, at the end of the day, before you pull the trigger, the last question you need to ask yourself is, Is this cool? And Nickelback are literally the punch line to a joke about uncool. If we say yes to this today, its a slippery slope. Within six months, I was buying Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber.

But Kirkpatrick didnt view Hot Topics music evolution as being a battle of cool vs. uncool. His job, as he describes it, was to test new markets that reflected the changing music ecosystem. I was brought in at a time when Hot Topic had had six straight negative [comparable sales] years in a row, he says. The premise from then-CEO Betsy McLaughlin was to bring someone in to really help evolve musicto really reflect the culture around music [with] other components, whether it be film, TV, or pop culture as a whole.

There was never a conversation to change to pop music, Kirkpatrick continues. Bieber was brought into the store, but it was brought into the store specifically from customer requests. It was extraordinarily successful in the store. Other artists that we might have experimented with would have varying degrees of success. But we never continued to lean into something that wasnt actually showing success in the actual store itself.

Specifically, Kirkpatrick says he has no recollection of suggesting Nickelback be sold in Hot Topic. Nickelback in particular was not a band that I would have thought at that time was leading a cultural edge on anything, he says. Maybe there was Nickelback in the stores at that point in time, but it wouldnt have been my lead.

In all, the panic pivot lasted for about three years. I watched a lot of really great people leave the company, people who were super passionate, Adelberg says, noting how the brands longtime CEO, Betsy McLaughlin, was forced out in 2011. It was a really dark time. There was a lot of pressure to say yes to bad ideas. Because it was that, or look for a new job.

From Adelbergs perspective, the backlash was tremendous. By that point, hed become an admin on the brands Facebook page, and under the moniker Hot Topic Guy, he would sign on and try to engage with the shoppers. I would put up a post that said, Hey, guys, Hot Topic Guy here. What do you want to talk about? I got an earful about a lot of the things people perceived to be wrong with the company, he says. People would say, You sold out Fans didnt like seeing Justin Bieber T-shirts in the store. It wasnt really capturing a significant amount of new business.

In one regard, theyre not wrong, Adelberg reasons. We did say, Hey, these are the things we stand for, and these are the things were against. The truth is, its easy to stick by principles when times are good. And now all of a sudden, theres a blurring of that. The minute times got tough, Hot Topic was willing to throw the principals right out the window.

After a lot of trial and error, Hot Topic stabilized and found a way backat least monetarily. They figured out that the key to staying afloat was not broadening of the music assortment, but rather the broadening of the licensing assortment, Adelberg says. Thats when the company really leaned into stuff that was hot at the time. Doctor Who, Funko Pops, Harry Potter, Marvel. Dial back the music part a little bit and really go into fantasy and sci-fi properties that are mainstream [but also] edgy and fun. In my opinion, thats what saved them from going off the deep end.

The magic key is still fandombut instead of investing in niche music trends, Hot Topic has leaned into geek fandom, which, ironically, is mainstream now. In 2015, Hot Topic launched BoxLunch, a gift and novelty retail store, and in 2017, it acquired Her Universe, a womens geek apparel and accessory company.

Hot Topic may never sell physical albums again, but I was pleasantly surprised at the wide selection of band tees for sale at the Hollywood and Highland location. I hadnt been to a Hot Topic since 2017, when Id stopped in the Glendale Galleria location and walked out with an Alien-themed T-shirt: on sale, two for $15. Five years ago, Hot Topic seemed to be barely selling music merch; now the ratio has evened out. On its website, an algorithm lists some T-shirts I might like: Paramore is next to Death Cab for Cutie, which is next to Green Day, Blink-182, Fleetwood Mac, My Chemical Romance (naturally), and a Hellfire Club shirt from Stranger Things.

Emo might be popular again, thanks to the 20-year nostalgia cycle (My Chemical Romance announced their reunion in 2019 and will kick off a U.S. tour in August). But todays emo is not the same as it was two decades ago, when it was already on its third wave. Emo in 2022 involves a flurry of micro-genresemo rap, the math-rock-influenced Midwest emo, emo pop, screamo, emocore. Meanwhile, Gen Z shoppers are not bound to one scene the way that millennials were, and Hot Topics merchandise reflects that. (Hot Topic declined to participate in this article.) We all used to label ourselves and put ourselves into sub-categories, like the jocks, a.k.a. the Abercrombie people; the goth or the emo person; or the person that was super into hip-hop, says Petracca, the Emo Nite cofounder. Now, everybody likes everything. Its OK to like everything, and you dont have to define yourself by the music you listen to. You can love emo and pop punk. And you can love rap. You dont have to put your whole personality behind that.

Generations and cultures change, adds Freed, the other Emo Nite cofounder. I think Gen Z is much more accepting. Theyve got the internet Everything is online. [I grew up when] kids still didnt have cellphones, and so your viewpoints were pretty much of everybody that was around you, and your friends in your friend group. Now, you get to look at the viewpoints of everybody around the world as soon as you wake up. You get to discover things much quicker. I think that that really helped mold this sense of togetherness.

Sammit Zanelotti, one of the Elder Emo Hours cohosts, also notes how perspectives have shifted around what it means to be emo at all. When I was in high school, I was also an emo kid and a theater kid. Im also very stout as a person. I got bullied a lot for being that person because I was weird. I was into all these weird things that people didnt understand. I stopped wearing the styles because I didnt want to be bullied anymore. Now, with the way social media is, and a lot of the bands we grew up with are coming backlike My Chemical Romance, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, and Simple Planits bringing a new perspective to the emo scene. The way that our generation is right now, were the parent emos that are like, Hey, its OK to be yourself. We went through that so you dont have to.

Now living in Houston, Adelberg will occasionally find himself in a mall, which will inevitably house a Hot Topic. But the former music buyer isnt upset at the brands evolution from Bring Melrose to the Mall to pop-culture collectibles. I have been able to keep tabs on quite a few folks over there, Adelberg says. The licensing guy put up an Insta Story where he was clearly in a limo going to the AEW Dynamite pay-per-view [event] last night, and I was like, Thats awesome. Hes clearly getting the VIP treatment, and theyre clearly selling that stuff. Good for them. I wish nothing but success for all those folks.

An earlier version of this piece misspelled tripp pants.

Rachel Brodsky is a music and pop culture writer, critic, and reporter living in Los Angeles.

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How Hot Topic Defined a Generation of Emo Kids - The Ringer

Time was, you could binge every entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a single marathon session. That was a simpler era now, youd need to set aside days to digest the 29 movies, 19 TV shows, and eight short films that currently make up the franchise. Fortunately, theres a quicker and easier way to relive the entire history of the MCU: You could just rewatch the stand-alone Thor movies.

Not only can you knock over these four flicks in less than eight hours, youll also enjoy a Bifrost-quick journey through the evolution of Marvel Studios shared universe itself. Its not just that each movie including the latest, Thor: Love and Thunder lays vital narrative groundwork for the wider franchise. Its that these Chris Hemsworth-headlined blockbusters perfectly embody the creative milestones and missteps that characterized the MCUs four major story groupings, or Phases, to date. This is no accident each of the Odinsons four solo outings was released in a different phase of the MCU, so its only natural that they reflect their respective eras.

To paraphrase the first chapter heading in Batman: Year One, Thors story is the story of the MCU what it is and how it came to be.

Revisited today, 2011s Thor is emblematic of the ways Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and those around him worked to nail down the MCU template through Phase One. Theres a lot here thats instantly, recognizably in line with what later became the franchises distinctive brand of storytelling, but theres plenty missing, too.

Most obviously, with Thor, Marvel Studios seems a little uncertain about exactly what kind of tone its trying to strike. Director Kenneth Branagh handles the fantasy adventure and fish-out-of-water comedy elements equally well, but the movie crunches gears whenever its forced to shift between the two. The way Branagh and Marvel manage Thors obligatory foreshadowing of future MCU projects (shoutout to Jeremy Renners Hawkeye cameo!) is about as clumsy as it gets, too. Then theres the underwhelming third act, which like most of the Phase One movies asks us to invest in the God of Thunders efforts to foil an evil scheme that doesnt actually threaten any of our friends on Earth or Asgard.

Yet for all these shortcomings, Thor is a hugely influential addition to this first and most experimental phase of the MCU. Although its approach seems restrained compared to a Spandex-fest like Avengers: Endgame, Thor nevertheless represents Marvel Studios drawing a line in the sand in terms of how unapologetically it wanted to tackle its source material. Magic hammers, rainbow bridges, flowing capes, and horned helmets were declared to be acceptable in the universe Marvel was building. The self-conscious faux-science and all-leather jumpsuits of 20th Century Foxs X-Men franchise were not.

Thor also delivers the MCUs first truly great villain in the form of Tom Hiddlestons Loki. Thors adopted sibling is a complex creation who looms large over Phase One, and he sets a standard the studio has rarely equaled, much less surpassed. Hiddleston brings a Shakespearean edge to Lokis antics, something no doubt encouraged by Branagh, who built his career performing and staging celebrated screen adaptations of the Bards plays. His work on Thor epitomizes what the MCU was and is capable of when the person hired to call the shots is actually calling the shots. For all Thors superhero sheen, it still feels like something only Branagh couldve made, while still being very much keyed into the overarching formation of the Avengers subplot that defines Phase One.

Ultimately, though, Hemsworth is the one who makes Thor work and who further validated Marvel Studios risky approach to casting throughout Phase One. Hiring a relative unknown like Hemsworth to headline a $150 million picture was a big gamble that paid off. The Aussie actor instantly won over audiences with his uncommon gifts for comedy and action, proving he was the right guy for the job the moment he appeared on screen. Just as with Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man and Chris Evans in Captain America: The First Avenger, Marvel casting Hemsworth was a validation of the studios commitment to hiring the right people for the role, no matter how well-known they were in Hollywood at the time.

Thor isnt perfect, but like the phase it belongs to, it proved that the formula for the perfect MCU movie was within Marvels reach.

Unfortunately, Thor: The Dark World was not that movie. On the contrary, this 2013 follow-up is widely considered not just the worst Thor film, but also the worst release of Phase Two.

The Dark World is the poster child for the studios short-lived push to go, well, darker. In certain instances, the graver, higher-stakes approach worked most notably in 2014, when the Russo brothers injected a gritty espionage-thriller vibe into Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But the same approach just condemns Thor to an overwrought, tonally muddled sophomore adventure predominantly set in dreary locations, which director Alan Taylor seemingly borrowed from his previous gig on Game of Thrones.

It also doesnt help that The Dark World is saddled with a truly forgettable villain, another MCU Phase Two mistake that not even certified bangers like Guardians of the Galaxy avoided. This time, its poor Christopher Eccleston who takes the fall as dark elf Malekith, the victim of too many reshoots and not enough screen time. As with his fellow Phase Two antagonists Ronan the Accuser, Ultron, and Yellowjacket, the audience knows what Malekith wants; we just arent given any reason to care.

Yet The Dark Worlds murky tone and nonentity villain are really just symptoms of arguably the biggest problem with the MCUs Phase Two: the studios approach to directors. Taylor wasnt the first choice to helm the movie he only landed the gig after Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins left, offering the usual creative differences excuse. This was the first instance of Marvel clashing with a high-profile auteur over their vision for an MCU film. It wouldnt be the last, either Edgar Wright later bowed out of Ant-Man, while Taylor and Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon butted heads with studio executives during post-production on their movies, too.

In spite of a few bright spots, the MCU was, like Thor, in a dark place in Phase Two. And then, just like that, everything changed.

It was as if someone flipped a switch at Marvel Studios just as the MCUs third phase began and no film reflects this reversal of fortune more acutely than Thor: Ragnarok.

Where Thor: The Dark World is the product of a studio stumbling over itself, Ragnarok is Marvel at its most assured. The third (and arguably best) Thor movie marked the moment when Marvel finally understood exactly what kind of movies it wanted to make, and who it wanted to make them with. The story-group mandates of the previous phase ended, replaced by greater trust in individual talent.

Sure, Feige and company still favored more of a showrunner approach to the franchise, and there was certainly a sense from films like Captain America: Civil War that Marvel Studios had a default narrative and visual house style. But more than any other Phase Three movie, Ragnarok proved the studio was willing to compromise with filmmakers who wanted to work outside this box. When director Taika Waititi asked to scrap the sequels original setup, teased in Age of Ultron, Marvel didnt bat an eye. Nor did they do so when the New Zealand filmmaker started pulling together a glitter-bomb blockbuster to make even Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn blush.

Yet for all that Ragnarok was unmistakably the product of Waititis unique filmmaking sensibilities, it also represented the MCU template refined across the last three phases at last achieving its final form. Now, there was a measured approach to the franchise meta-narrative a newfound openness to bend space rock-related plot points to suit the story at hand and not the other way around. There was a well-realized villain, Cate Blanchetts camp icon Hela. Most importantly of all, for better or worse, everybody involved finally accepted that the MCU was an action-comedy franchise, forever ending its frankly exhausting identity crisis.

Phase Three was the Golden Age of the MCU and nowhere did that gold shine brighter (or in a wider array of colors) than in Thor: Ragnarok.

All of which brings us to Thor: Love and Thunder and the MCUs Phase Four, which is scheduled to conclude in November with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Certain trends have started to crystallize as this phase draws to a close and as expected, all of them are present to some extent in the fourth Thor film.

The biggest complaint you can lob at both Love and Thunder and Phase Four is that they feel a bit aimless. For fans, theres plenty of enjoyment to be found in both, but not enough to fully shake the sense that the people at the top dont entirely know where theyre heading or why. Its as if Marvel Studios 14-year quest to crack the MCU code has, ironically, left them equipped to make exactly the kind of movie theyre no longer interested in making. And so Feige and his team continue to crank out new films that halfheartedly adhere to the old formula not to mention TV shows barely capable of following it while they figure out how to mobilize the overarching Multiverse Saga narrative meant to unite Phases Four to Six in the same way the Infinity Saga brought vague coherence to Phases One to Three.

Sure, occasionally they strike it big with this approach. Spider-Man: No Way Home made a fortune, as did Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, in spite of its divisive, horror-lite approach. But theres a sense that the MCU is in crisis forced to recycle its greatest hits in projects like Love and Thunder, while being keenly aware that fans are growing tired of superhero-movie cover songs. Marvel is clearly experimenting with change by embracing elements of other genres. But its starting to discover there are limits to even the flexibility learned in Phase Three. After all, how do you retrain a studio and a fan base to accept a new kind of MCU movie after weaning both on the same recipe for more than a decade?

Its a tough question, and well have to wait until Phase Five for answers and possibly Thor 5 along with it.

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The history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in four Thor movies - Polygon

The term ESG, or Environmental, Social, and Governance, has been getting rather hot lately. As one of the latest focuses of investors and stakeholders, its gotten plenty of coverage, with publications like The Edge even introducing a monthly pull-out for it alongside The Edge ESG Awards.

ESG refers to a set of non-financial factors that investors are using to evaluate a corporations social and environmental goals. Basically, it checks how socially-conscious a company is.

Beyond ethics, investors are directly incentivised to invest in green tech. For instance, under Malaysias Green Income Tax Exemption (GITE), taxes are exempted for income earned from green technology and certain green assets.

However, while the focus on sustainability is commendable, there are those who dont exactly have the purest intentions.

Instead, theyre taking advantage of the situation, and are promoting their own brands as sustainable, but wrongfully so.

According to Investopedia, greenwashing is the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a companys products are more environmentally sound.

This is typically done to deceive investors and consumers into believing a companys product is more eco-friendly than it actually is.

An example of greenwashing is when a business claims their products are very eco-friendly, but they actually buy from unethical and unsustainable sources.

Or, perhaps, a business harps about its eco-friendly approaches, but ends up sending you a product wrapped in layers upon layers of plastic packaging.

Though this might all sound like a small issue to some, it can have very detrimental impacts. In an article, The Edge posited in its title: Greenwashing: The next big scandal?

In this article, the publication discussed whether ESG could be allowing for opportunities for greenwashing, mainly focusing on how big corporations perpetrate it.

However, its not just Fortune 500 or big companies who are greenwashing. While its true that big companies have a greater impact on the environment (back in 2017, just 100 companies were responsible for 71% of global emissions), small businesses riding the eco-friendly wave dont get a pass either.

These days, Ive been coming across a lot of small, local businesses that claim to be eco-conscious and sustainable. This is especially prevalent in the beauty and personal care industry, Ive observed.

However, because these businesses arent obligated to be transparent about their production processes, theres really no way to tell if theyre being honest about their claims.

To add, many times, SMEs seem to be given a free pass for the sake of shopping local or supporting small businesses.

But its gotten to a point where businesses are intentionally fooling the public into thinking they are a sustainable brand when they arent.

Although smaller brands dont have the same capacity to fool investors and the masses, they are still able to trick consumers.

And unfortunately, many modern consumers do fall for them, not because we genuinely want to do better for the environment, but because were looking for an easy way out to save the Earth while continuing our hyper-consumption. (This could be a whole article on its own though, and it isnt the focus of this one.)

In 2007, TerraChoice, an environmental consultancy in Canada, launched a study and subsequently published about the Seven Sins of Greenwashing. The seven sins are:

The hidden trade-off occurs when a business suggests its product is green based on one single environmental attribute or an unreasonably narrow set of attributes. These claims arent necessarily false, but it basically hides the larger environmental picture.

Its pretty straightforward for the sin of no proof and the sin of vagueness. The sin of worshipping false labels though refers to when a product uses words or images to give the impression of a third-party endorsement.

The sin of irrelevance occurs when an unimportant or unhelpful claim is made to make it seem like the business is putting in extra effort to make the product eco-friendly when they arent.

A business commits the sin of the lesser of two evils when it makes a claim that might be true within the product category, yet is made to distract the consumer from the true environmental impact of the category as a whole.

For example, this happens when organic cigarettes are promoted as better for the environment but are actually still a pollutant.

The final sin of fibbing is just straight-up lying about the product.

In my experience, there are quite a lot of businesses that commit these sins, whether consciously or not. Dont get me wrong; its great that weve come to place such emphasis on eco-friendliness.

But we have to ask ourselves, be we brands or consumers: Are we doing it for the right, genuine reasons?

On the flip side, though, overly strict expectations on sustainability might have an adverse effect.

Last year, The Institute of Marketing in the UK reported that out of over 200 marketing professionals in the UK, around half were wary of working on sustainability campaigns for fear of being accused of greenwashing.

The institute also published research that showed that out of 2K UK consumers, 63% believe many brands only get involved with sustainability for commercial reasons rather than ethical ones.

Of course, this might be different in Malaysia, but the theory is there. If consumers are overly sceptical of brands eco-friendliness, brands might feel more hesitant to even try promoting green practices.

Instead of feeling wary, though, brands should be finding ways to avoid greenwashing by using facts and figures to back up their claims and by being transparent with their customers.

When it comes to justifying a brands claims in materials or impact, it is pretty easy to tell a shallow answer from one with in-depth work and research, shared Najmia Zulkarnain, the co-founder of Unplug, a sustainable business that deals with other eco-friendly brands.

She continued, Most times, based on our experience, we feel that greenwashing from smaller brands comes from limited knowledge or resources, not with bad intent.

Its okay for a small brand to not be 100% eco-friendly as long as theyre honest about it, and the majority of consumers probably dont even expect or require them to be.

Swapping out regular practices for eco-friendly ones can be more expensive and tougher, particularly in industries where theres no clear blueprint for how to go about it yet.

So, understandably, profitability has to come before sustainability for many smaller brands, but having a clear roadmap of a businesss eco-friendly evolution while keeping consumers in the loop would be good.

Its clear that small businesses may sometimes be complicit in the culture of greenwashing. At the end of the day though, perhaps they dont deserve the same level of scrutiny as big companies, who should have the resources and capabilities to do better.

On top of that, many small businesses still do present better options than big companies, even if they arent the most sustainable product in the world.

Small businesses do have more room to scale down and break away from a rigid operating system that may need to be re-assessed more easily than larger corporations, Najmia added.

Plus, shopping locally does technically help cut your carbon emissions, but of course, that doesnt mean the brand itself isnt unnecessarily shipping its materials from abroad.

In this day and age where we know to do better, its only right that we actually do. This applies not just to us as consumers, but also to entrepreneurs and corporations.

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Yes, big corps need to cut the greenwashing, but Msian SMEs dont get a free pass either - Vulcan Post

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

In the fast-moving ESG landscape, corporate leaders are constantly bombarded with new and expanded reporting requirements, investor expectations and endless expert platitudes about the importance of ESG factors to business success. What is often missing from this conversation is a clear sense of what this can mean in practice.

George Bandy, Jr. is a global leader of sustainability, ESG and circularity. He is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Fiber Industries LLC, the former head of circular economy at Amazon. George has a long history in the sustainability field, including extensive work with leading design manufacturers and as a board member of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA), making an impact in one of the industries under the most scrutiny for environmental impact.

I spoke with George to tap into his vast experience in orchestrating strategic change to better understand how additional responsibility that companies take on when tackling ESG issues needs to be accepted, operationalized and addressed.

Related: ESG Is the Next Frontier a Conversation With Buro Happold's Mike Stopka

Speaking as a practitioner, what's the best way to add a strategic lens to approaching ESG?

One of the things about the whole stakeholder capitalism conversation is how things have moved, how frameworks and ratings are changing the way people look at things. You're moving from knowns to unknowns. You know what steel extraction and concrete making are, but the unknown is the environmental impacts that result, and that becomes a problem for your company. This means systematically looking at it and asking, "When we do this, what are the outputs? How do we address that? How do we begin to think about that ahead of time and have a strategy for it?" Smart ESG-based organizations are doing that, and it's a power shift. Investors used to have the power, but now the stakeholders have it.

Manufacturers, organizations and corporations have functioned in a very linear way for a long time, without taking a systematic approach that looks at values or at what could happen to their business when resources run out. It's what I call hitting the wall. If you continue to extract the Earth's resources because of increases in population and affluences, there's going to be a decline. Companies have to adjust. ESG gives you the ability to look at these things and strategically align yourself.

Are you seeing good examples of that actually happening?

Bandy:

I don't think anyone's gotten it perfectly right. It has to be addressed based on your business. Let's say we make circles. What do we need to make them? Where do the materials come from? Can we access those materials for a long time? Are we looking for alternatives? What's the impact to the community where we're taking these materials from? What kind of relationship do we have with them? How about the people we bring in to work? Have we thought about designing this for end-of-life disposition on the front end? Have we thought about whether we can get raw materials back at the end of the circle's life, so we create a circular economy that brings materials back? Can we partner with someone to bring materials back to us?

Think about this: There's a company that sells you something that almost everyone has. They charge you for the service, and they partner with someone else for the infrastructure, and eventually you bring it back to get a new one. They decomposition the old one because they're connected to the manufacturing facility. I think 85% of raw materials go back. You're giving them the raw materials to make you a new item, and they're charging you for it, and you're paying willingly.

You're talking about an iPhone or cell phone.

The automotive industry is the same way. You lease a vehicle and use it for 8 to 10 years, then they lease it to somebody else. They extend their product's life, and they get the materials back, and 85% of the materials goes into a new vehicle. What better model of controlling your supply chain and having access to raw materials? You continue making money while not having to worry about your supply chain ever running out. Those are the kinds of mindsets we need to start having.

If you're selling services and people are a big component of what you do, how are you investing in them so they're healthy, well and in an environment conducive to success so that you create innovation and opportunities for them to flourish and be great?

How do you communicate your purpose-driven message as an organization, so it becomes contagious to multiple people? Greg Norris from MIT asks, "How do you get beyond looking just at our environmental footprint and start thinking about our restorative handprint?" Handprints over footprints not just measuring how we fix what we've done.

Related: ESG Is the Next Frontier a Conversation With The Conference Board's Paul Washington

Twenty years ago, we had to build a business case for ESG sustainability. Now it feels like a lot of people are on board. They see intrinsic value and companies are introducing policies with the assumption that they have to do it. Is there still a place where a business case is required, or is it just marginally helpful? Is it helpful for certain decision makers?

The companies that do really well are the ones that are able to figure out how to navigate within the changes that come downstream so that they still remain a primary supplier.

If a supplier is extremely valuable to you, you look to strategically align what you're already doing at a large scale to encompass some of these visions and create pathways for success. That's where the people who take a systematic approach to thinking about ESG do really well, really fast.

Value comes when you're able to position yourself as a true strategic partner and other people and third parties speak about what you're capable of doing better than you do. Anytime I've done a program looking to add value to a community and value to our company's ESG strategy, I always had a third party or an academic institution connected to it. Because they don't have a vested interest their voice gives you a little bit more credibility. A branding-smart organization gets it because they know that the audiences that are suspicious about buying their material are the ones they don't have a good relationship with, and this gives them access to that audience.

If I tell you about a great restaurant and you go and try it and like it, you're going to tell other people. But if I tell you about a great restaurant, and it's not so good, you're going to tell people that as well. We underestimate the impact. Today's word-of-mouth is a tweet, or IG, or the word of Metaverse. It moves and it touches people so fast, and that's both good and bad because its power is beginning to control the way to the customer.

Is decision-making really shifting to stakeholders, or is it that investors are paying more attention to them or getting more pushback from them?

I think that's the shift. An investor's customer is the stakeholder. They know that the more information they provide that leads stakeholders to believe in investing, the more they win. The smart phone provides information on everything in a moment. This whole evolution of having immediate access to information, good and bad, and allowing people to make decisions, represents a power shift. You can see when a company hits the wall, how their stock prices fall. Think about the whole situation with Colin Kaepernick and Black Lives Matter. The situation with the war between Ukraine. Different things happen and impact how people respond with their dollars. That is shareholder power shifting.

The reporting based ESG culture has so many metrics and potential data points. How do you change that?

I don't know if you should. An ESG professional's responsibility is to evaluate their company's mission, vision and values and to use the metrics that align best. What may be good for a manufacturer may not be good for a tech company. It's your job to evaluate and ask, "What works best for my company?"

My grandfather used to say, "Don't always buy what people are selling. Ask for what you really want." That's why companies are trying to create their own. It's because everything doesn't fit. A round peg doesn't fit in a square hole.

You should evaluate the rating systems for what works for you, and the rankings that you're looking for. Are you looking to be in a Fortune 100? Are you looking to be in climate leaders? There are standards, ratings, ranking, and then there's information like Bloomberg, Morning Star, Thomson Reuters. And then there are your investors. You put up a full scope and you evaluate, "How does this work for me? Who do I partner with? Where do I make it?"

What you're talking about is a complete shift.

It's necessary. Why would MSCI be randomly sending you your score? Because they think your score is low because they don't have all the data. They're the people who are going to help you get the data, so they're going to sell you a service.

I think people are going to figure out the best way to communicate their narrative around their purpose as an organization. You're going to be criticized anyway, so try to create a narrative that communicates what you're doing. You already know where your weaknesses are. It's not that companies don't know they don't have minorities on their board, or that they don't have women on their board. They know, and it's not going to happen. They're not going to say, "We're going to put four women on our board tomorrow." Instead, they create a strategy that says, "We're going to start intentionally looking for" Customers respect that, because you've already identified where you're weak.

It takes power away from the reporting agencies and gives it back to the ESG officer or sustainability officer. It's a series of choices around how to tell the story. It creates a more conscious approach to strategy.

Related: A Conversation With Bridgette McAdoo: Sustainability as a Matter of Corporate Strategy

Do you see a point where we won't need an ESG officer or sustainability officer? Where it's so ingrained into company operations that it's just there?

You have to evaluate that in timeframes. We didn't get here in a short period of time. Climate issues took a long time to evolve and become what they are, and some of the systematic approaches to how we've looked at privatizing wealth and socializing risk didn't happen overnight either. The whole model around looking at stakeholder capitalism started back in the sixties. It's just reemerging because of what we see happening. People need to be educated to raise the bar of intelligence, globally and collectively first, before you can move to a place where it's normalized.

The challenge now is that companies are focused on specific risks to their supply chain, to their financial acuity, to their stock price, to their employees or their need for employees. Risk to their union or their leadership team. Risk to their source of energy, their source of water, their natural gas source. There are systematic risks like Covid, war, geopolitical impact, environmental justice claims. Focusing on specific risks is how you set goals, move and improve. You try to create strategies that allow you to be risk averse. But today's consumers are looking at you differently because of what you're doing or what you're saying.

When I started in sustainability back in 1992, there were no degrees in sustainability. There wasn't one until 2008, 2010. The subject matter is only 12 years old. That's a very narrow period of time in terms of building a strategy around systems. We don't know what we don't know yet. There's so much information we still have to gather and get smart about. You need partnerships, relationships, NGOs, government. We haven't even started talking about policy movement, and how things are evolving and changing. There's still time to move in these different spaces in so many different ways.

I'm ultimately optimistic because of the ability to share, and to learn. Every experience I've had good, bad, or indifferent is a topic of discussion in places where it wasn't before. That's movement. That's what systems thinking is about.

It's one of the responsibilities of ESG leadership and the chief sustainability officer: to think about some of those impacts in a different way and try to strategically align them so that you're able to be successful over long periods of time rather than over short steps.

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ESG: The Next Frontier A Conversation with George Bandy, Jr. - Entrepreneur