they have taken over my brain

Since we discussed it: RFA with American MC lol o/

Okay, lemme do this. I find 2nd person pretty cringy so I'll avoid using it if I can. Also, I'm not that knowledgeable about Korean culture, so I can't really go too in depth about possible culture clashes. It took me a while to try to think of everything I could for that.

RFA reactions to an MC who's American

~Yoosung~

That's definitely not what he expected at all! Admittedly, in retrospect some of Seven's comments were probably hinting at that. He's still taken aback when he first sees her though. He'd stopped thinking of her as Rika a while before seeing her, sure, but without any hints as to what she looked like other than that, he'd left it as 'vaguely Rika shaped'.

It's fine, because she thinks he's cute, but she's as tall as he is! He chooses not to acknowledge her being taller by half an inch, because he doesn't measure by those and therefore that makes it completely fair to ignore it when she points it out. They are the same height.

He's kind of out of his depth, even considering how out of his depth he would be anyway just having a girlfriend, but...his perfect world is LOLOL and everyone is equal in LOLOL! Therefore, even if his girlfriend is kind of weird, he's willing to make the effort to get through that! Plus, her accent (she can't even tell she has one) is cute. On the other hand, he's so bad at speaking English that he can only bring himself to mumble it. It's hard to believe she isn't teasing him about it when she calls it cute.

But he lives for compliments from his girlfriend, so she'd best believe he keeps on trying. They still mostly communicate in Korean, but he eventually gets a bit more confident about speaking in English to her. If only in private. At first he tries to use it to tell secret mushy things to her...but then like half of the RFA understood him when he tried it at one of the parties, so. uh. never again.

His taste in food is also atrocious, so honestly, he doesn't find her foreign tastes to be that weird. Together they even organize a raid on Seven's place to steal a box of HBC chips, and then they both pretend that Seven didn't just let them do it. (Why does she know how to say 'I want to be your cat' in Arabic? YOOSUNG HAS SO MANY QUESTIONS)

He's super interested in some of the imported stuff she brought with her when she moved, especially the video games. Most of them are already available in Korea, obviously, but a true gaming connoisseur like himself enjoys comparing the differences between releases! Plus, it's easier to play co-op games with her when she doesn't need to think about how to translate certain instructions or things like that.

Speaking of her things, one time he found a book by her bedside with an interesting looking cover. It seemed to be a sequel book and the writing was too complex for him to really follow along very well, though. He had a pretty good idea the handcuffs on the cover weren't because it was a detective novel judging by the reaction she had when she caught him reading it. He got too flustered to even try to read it after that.

They visit her family back home sometimes, and he's always super excited whenever they do. There's so much food! Why do they sell burgers this big?! Why is everything so big? He doesn't really travel much aside from those family trips, so it's a nice change of pace. Even if her brother-in-law is taller than him. damn it-

At one point, she suggests they cosplay Superman and Lois Lane, but it's so awkward for him to pick her up princess-style given their relative heights that he chickens out. She cosplays as Wonder Woman instead, and honestly he thinks her as an amazon tying him-tying bad guys up with a golden rope is hotter than her as a reporter anyway.

He doesn't really grasp that American isn't a 'race', and brags about her anyway, despite her laughing every time he does.

~Zen~

It's dumb, but his first thought on seeing she's foreign is a moment of panic that he won't fit her tastes after all (despite the fact that she's already seen his selfies).

That's complete nonsense, though, because his beauty shines through cultural barriers. Hers does, too, and while he was admittedly imagining something else, he's absolutely immediately enchanted with her anyway. She's cute and beautiful and different from anyone else around him, and honestly perfect. He hadn't actually noticed the accent before when they were on the phone, but it doesn't bother him now that it's a bit more obvious.

He can't speak English if his life depended on it, so he trusts whatever she mutters to herself when she rolls her eyes or looks way too amused about something is all flattering. It's definitely flattering, because obviously it is. She does suggest that he should learn it, though, just so he can potentially broaden his horizons and reach a broader audience. He doesn't need the confidence boost or anything, but it does feel good to see her swoon over his attempts.

When she said she could keep up with him drinking, he hadn't realized it was because she just happened to be much bigger than he expected, closer to his size. Actually, though, she can take her liquor like a champ, even more than he expected. She claims it's something about college, but won't tell any stories about it other than that 'it was a crazy time'. It's fair. He had a crazy time in his past, himself.

He doesn't really care for some of the food she likes, but then again he'd eat anything if it meant eating with her, so it's not really an issue.

It takes a long time to go visit her parents, since they live over in the US, but he can't say that he hates them being starstruck when he arrives. The only trouble is that they keep trying to speak Korean to him and are so bad at it he can't really tell what they're saying. Given his personal grasp on English, she ends up having to do most of the communication as the translator, but it's a pleasant visit anyway and it makes him all the more determined to get his parents to accept her.

Which isn't made any easier by the fact that she's not Korean. To say his mother is 'displeased' would be an understatement. But he's not really new to disappointing her, so he won't give up, not on his relationship with his true love and not on fixing his relationship with his parents.

Obviously gossip mags go crazy about it. Famous actor Zen dates a strange foreigner girl! Love that transcends the barriers of culture, or something more sinister?!

It's not so bad until certain catty fans get involved. The fact that she doesn't look 'beautiful' enough for the Gorgeous Zen eventually erupts through the fandom, with all sorts of nasty comments coming up because of her foreign appearance. She handles it well, but he loses it and almost makes a public scene the time someone called her a giant ugly ogre. In the end, he decides to make a point of informing interviewers how beautiful she is during all future interviews. It's petty, but that's him.

It actually boosts his popularity, being the Romantic Zen who's hopelessly in love with his girlfriend.

Her fashion taste is atrocious, though. He doesn't know how to break it to her. It's just bad! Even if it's trendy in the US...he just doesn't like it...

They might be a bad influence on each other, since their drinking competitions seem to get out of hand and sometimes lead to Jumin or 707 collecting them in a place neither of them even remember going to.

She eats like some kind of a gorilla without any concern for politeness, and apparently without even realizing that's what she's doing, but it's honestly so cute to him that he doesn't mind. That said, it's not the best thing for his heart when she accidentally disrespects one of his directors in front of the whole crew. He manages to recover, but that particular cultural difference catches him off guard.

For the most part, though, her little quirks and differences just enchant him more. After all, she's his perfect princess, and she already was before they'd ever even met.

~Jumin~

He admittedly had something of a suspicion that she might be foreign or mixed, as he heard the difference in her voice when on the phone with her. He's still a little surprised to open the door and see just what she looks like, though.

Of course his English is flawless, as he needs to be able to converse internationally for business, and Chinese and English are essentially a requirement for that. He can't say he isn't pleased when she determines his 'English voice' (whatever that's supposed to mean) is 'sexy'...but he's also pretty sure she's the first one to think that.

His experience overseas means that he immediately recognizes that her disrespect to his father when they meet is unintentional. It's still cute, to him. As is her obvious mortification when Jaehee pulls her aside to explain. His own insult, however, is entirely intentional when his father starts planning plastic surgery appointments to 'bring her appearance more in line'.

Her bluntness is something that he heartily appreciates, and it honestly makes him more comfortable to know that he needn't worry about avoiding offending her by being direct as he prefers to be. She's not technically part of the company, but the idea does amuse him to make her one and bring her along to negotiations. They could play good cop-bad cop. (That particular line of thought travels off into imagining her in a police woman's uniform, and then he loses the train of thought entirely)

He thinks her taste in food is quirky, but his palate is somewhat expansive when it comes to international cuisine, so it works out just fine with him. Any food that he eats alongside her is food that he enjoys, so the issue is moot.

Apparently, the rumor magazines go wild every time she appears with him somewhere, but he never bothers to read those, so he has no idea what they have to say about her. If it's anything damaging, he trusts Jaehee to deal with it. It's probably for the best, because if he did catch any of the rude things they say about the gold digging foreign wife of the director of C&R, his policy of ignoring hateful comments would not hold up long.

That said, really the biggest culture clashes and shock come not from her American raising, but from her being poor. Most of what she learned about Korean culture before moving over just didn't touch on what the very rich and famous would be like.

~Jaehee~

Of the many things she had considered about her fellow female member of the RFA, that she might be a foreigner isn't one of them. Maybe she should have noticed from the little quirks in chat...but...no, everyone in the RFA is bizarre and always has been.

It suddenly makes sense why MC couldn't really understand what Jaehee was going through at work, and why MC hadn't been familiar with Zen! But that's just fine, because it means Jaehee gets the opportunity to introduce MC to all the more Zen things together!

She's not sure if she should be offended when the woman compares her cafe to Starbucks....but if she's compared to anything, it may as well be Starbucks. And it does give her the idea to make Zen-themed drinks, which means basking in his beauty at work while also helping to contribute to his popularity. Although, admittedly, it did more for her cafe than him.

She's occasionally mortified by the MC's unintentional rudeness, but more often than not her greatest concern to unexpected rudeness is finding a way to stifle her amused laughter. The sheer confusion on her ex-boss's face the first time it happens to him gets her through some of the rough times trying to set up and keep the business afloat.

She's not particularly good at English, but she's a fast learner, and even though the MC can speak Korean reasonably well, she wants to be able to speak in English too, so that they can both speak in their native languages when they want to. It means their cafe is bilingual, which makes it a tourist spot, which means that Zen actually can get extra exposure from it! She's as excited about that as the MC is.

She's less excited when the MC finally makes she and Jumin sit across each other and "talk about your problems or else". That's an awkward conversation she really could have done without. But...well, it's only inevitable MC's special kind of bluntness would eventually lead to something like that.

It goes better than she expects, actually, and the tension that's been zapping around them since that party finally goes away.

It goes too well.

He starts suggesting that they convert it to a cat cafe.

Oh no.

~707~

He could tell immediately from the moment he looked at the camera footage, which admittedly made the background check a little harder. It's fine though, because he did it several times, and now knows her family tree, GPA, and what boat her family got off on some hundred years ago.

The jig is up immediately, because he's a huge nerd and just immediately spoke in English when he called. He's fluent, obviously, but he doesn't get enough opportunities to practice, so now he can try out the 'cool' phrases he's come up with, and try to get rid of the pesky accent that gets in the way of certain assignments.

He doesn't tell anyone because it's way funnier for everyone to be confused when they come to the party and see someone they don't expect. He even offers a cute looking model to use as a messenger icon just to throw people off more.

He is way too excited the first time she comes home and said "Lucy, I'm home~!" - the fact that she's not an old fossil and thus actually didn't ever watch it in her life doesn't seem to matter to him.

At one point he playfully suggests that USA sinks actually have PhD Pepper running through their pipes instead of water, but she gets him back by saying she prefers doh-ritos to honey buddha chips. He's horrified and declares her tastes are never to be trusted again.

In reality, though, their tastes align pretty closely. Heavily greasy and extra sweet food with zero nutritional value are his heaven (she insists there's plenty of nutritional value. He pretends he doesn't hear her.)

For the most part, it's no different for him where the MC is from, because he doesn't exactly fit in himself and he's been all over the place anyway. The only significant conflict between them due to cultural differences came from when he decided to show up at her place and then immediately turn the cold shoulder and try to push her away.

He almost died.

She's terrifying.

~V~

He can't see a difference

he's blind

im kidding, i just don’t know v enough to include him

Interview: Andie Aronow, co-founder of Women That Rock, on kickass women, equally kickass bands, and what both mean for the changing scenery of the music world.

Who run the world? GIRLS. No one else knows this factoid better than Andie Aronow, founder of the collective Women That Rock. Their mission? Spotlight and celebrate talented, badass female musicians. Women That Rock hosts daily artist/music features through its Instagram platform at @womenthatrock, plus monthly collaborative articles with women's lifestyle mag Harness Magazine, and their own website. Women That Rock is in the live event space - putting on showcases, concerts and other related music events. Behind Andie is a slew of knowledge -- knowledge about feminism, good loud music, and the badass women who create it. We got to sit down with Andie to talk about some of the intense highs and (sometimes) lows of working in the music sector and what it means for the greater good to feature women on the stage.

DRM: Who or what inspired you to create Women That Rock? Was there a particular moment when the idea came to you?

AA: Women That Rock came to life one night on my girlfriend's couch in Williamsburg! We're both in the music world - she's an amazing musical artist (check out her awesome band MONTE - @monte.music on Instagram!) and I've worked on the business side of the music industry since I was in college at NYU's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, in lots of areas & jobs - marketing and digital promotions, music event planning, A&R, executive production, management.  We were hanging out and casually talking about music and the business; specifically, we were talking about how challenging press & promotion can be for indie artists - how hard it is to get press outlets to pay attention and how difficult it can be in the current industry landscape for up-and-coming artists to cut through the clutter and get their names out there, especially for female artists who are often marginalized or stereotyped.

We were chatting about the many amazing women artists we know, and how much they needed a more dedicated platform to shine a light on them, celebrate them and help share their amazing talents. That's when the idea of Women That Rock was born. My girlfriend encouraged me to strike out and take a chance launching a project I was passionate about, and that's exactly what I did. I created the WTR Instagram account and started doing super DIY social media outreach. I simultaneously texted all my incredible female artist friends telling them about the concept and asking if they were okay with me featuring them, and their responses were SO enthusiastic - they immediately loved the idea and were super excited to be involved.

Within a few days of outreach I had an inbox of 25, then 50, then 100, then 500, then too many Instagram messages to count from female artists who wanted to be featured. The message was so clear - women wanted & needed a platform that celebrated and spotlighted on their creativity and talents, as well as the musical support network that Women That Rock could provide.

Women tend to be the biggest consumers of music (in any genre). Do you think the landscape of women consuming (and now, making) music is changing?

Absolutely! I think that day by day, women's voices are getting louder and clearer in the music space and in all spaces, which is awesome! A positive result of the current political landscape and recent spotlight on feminism & women's rights is that more women seem to be getting more of the respect, attention & support that they deserve. I absolutely think that is reflected in the landscape of women consuming & making music - and I feel the key point here is making sure that women support women, which traditionally can be difficult in certain industries, particularly in entertainment & media. The more women fans/consumers that support female artists (financially and otherwise), the more empowered female artists will be. Moreover, the more that female artists support one another (rather than seeing one another as competition), the more we'll all rise & succeed together and the more opportunities will come our way!

What is the process like when choosing the bands you feature at your showcases? What is it that gravitates you (and the audience) to them? Are there certain things you look for?

The process of choosing bands for Women That Rock's show bills is challenging - because there are SO MANY amazing artists! More than anything, we look for great performers & great onstage energy. We, of course, want all of our shows to be as fun and dynamic as possible, so that magical (and somewhat undefinable) artist energy is top of the list! Beyond that, we try to create lineups that are simultaneously cohesive & unique - we don't want all 4 bands on a bill to sound exactly the same, but we typically want them to make sense together (unless we're deliberately doing a grab-bag style showcase of many genres all on one lineup)! We'll sometimes theme around a genre, topic, vibe - something to tie the show together.

We also always keep diversity in mind, and work to make our shows inclusive of all types of womxn - all colors, all shapes, all sizes and all identities. But I'd say that what gravitates us (and the audience) to the bands we feature is their talent and stage presence. And what's especially cool about every Women That Rock show is that, since all the bands include female front-people and/or female musicians, nobody is "the girl" onstage or the "girl band." By making it a femme-focused space, it actually takes the focus OFF gender and makes the experience truly about the music!

More women are joining together and starting bands. What do you think this says about the path it took to get here, and where this will lead femme musicians in the future? Where do you see the sound / content evolving?

I'm so glad to see that more women are banding together and starting new musical projects!! I think this indicates that grrrl musicians are getting more confident, more inclined to collaborate and support one another, and that lines of communication between women in the music world are opening up. Hopefully, more young girls & women will be encouraged to pursue music & pick up instruments. Hopefully, they'll have unwavering confidence that they can achieve whatever they want musically, without feeling that gender is an obstacle. And the more inclusive the music space is, the more this effect will snowball.

I also believe that a shift is happening towards women being less inclined to tolerate sexism & misogyny in the music world. This will likely lead to femme community building - I think (and hope!) that women are feeling more emboldened to go for what they want and if they can't find it, create it themselves - with other women as musical partners, confidants, and friends.

As a woman working in the music industry and putting together these showcases, what are some of the hurdles you face? There is a lot of work involved, as well as a lot of sexism that still exists. What advice can you give other women who are looking to accomplish similar things to you?

I'll start with the positive: Ask for what you want!!! That's my biggest, most universal piece of advice! A lot of the time, getting what you want or need really just requires having a great attitude, being friendly & professional, and asking for whatever you want/need in a confident & fearless way. For example, if I come across an artist, organization or company that I think would be great to partner with (even if they seem big & intimidating), I just reach out and ask! And often, I get a fantastic response! This applies across all areas of Women That Rock's business and all business!

In terms of hurdles, two things come to mind. Firstly, time (or lack thereof!). As you said, there is a lot of work involved! Sometimes, how much work there is to be done versus how many hours are in a day feels like a hurdle! I work A LOT. Often late into the night, on weekends, etc. If you dream of starting your own project or company, be prepared to work really hard!

The second hurdle touches a bit on the sexism issue you mentioned. Yes, a lot of sexism does still exist, unfortunately! Sometimes, behavioral standards for women versus men feel very unequal and marginalizing. Sometimes I feel judged as a woman for being assertive, entrepreneurial & bold. It can feel like certain actions or behaviors if done by a man, would either barely be noticed or would be celebrated. But coming from a woman, it's criticized or threatening. These qualities that are looked at as extremely positive for men are not looked at as extremely positive for women, which can be frustrating.  Beyond that, certain spaces (particularly venues) still feel heavily male-dominated; at moments I have felt overlooked (sometimes even literally - it can be hard to feel noticed in a group of 6ft tall men as a 5ft tall woman!). I combat these things by just persevering with confidence and a good attitude and letting challenging moments roll off as much as possible!

Women That Rock are hosting a showcase tomorrow night (11/29) at the Knitting Factory Brooklyn featuring an incredible lineup of femme-fronted bands: headlining group Starbenders alongside Scarlet Sails, Astra the 22s and opener Natalie Claro. The evening will be MC’ed by popular New York-based artist Ess See. Doors are at 7:30PM. 

In addition to the incredible artist lineup, guests will enjoy a Women That Rock photo booth experience, Brooklyn-based femme vendors, a glitter bar, sparkly mini cupcakes, raffles, and more starry surprises! The event is being sponsored by LIT Cosmetics, Kate’s Magik, Rudy's Music, & Billy’s Bakery.

Tickets for the event can be purchased here. Tickets at the door are only $15.

You can keep up with Women That Rock on Instagram.

Catherine Dempsey will be at this show. Come and say hi and share a sparkly cupcake with her. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter. 

Follow DRM on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

What headcannons do you have about the Asano's

Hello, anon! Oh boy *Cracks knuckles*  I’ve got a few:

Gakushuu:

Ever since reading in Korotan C that he and his friends are oftenbusy practicing as a band for CD releases, I’m convinced that he must likemusic a lot. Since it’s his favorite instrument, he mostly listens to musicwith a lot of electric guitar, like Rock music, but he listens to a variety ofgenres to get ideas. He listens to music in many different languages to try tolearn the language faster, too. For him, finding the balance between havingwide-appeal without being overly generic is an enjoyable challenge.

Since he recommends big cities for Lea to visit while she’sin Japan, I feel that he’s a city person. He likes the activity, energy, and varietycities have to offer. Being able to get to places quickly and conveniently isalso a plus. One of the things he looked for while he was applying to differentuniversities was that it was situated in a city.

His least favorite season is Winter because: 

He hates the cold. He spends most of his time studyingindoors anyway, and their house’s heating system is superb, but he likes studyingnear the window of his room and the cold seeps through the crevices.  

It’s goddamn Karma Akabane’s birthday in December, and everyyear Karma will use that one week to taunt Gakushuu and demand that he respecthis elders. He will die before calling him “senpai”.

It’s his birthday season. This is the time of year whenpeople he barely knows give him things he doesn’t need with the expectationthat he’ll return the favor. He will, of course, since it’s good for buildingconnections, but people pretend extra hard to be sincere around this time ofyear, and he’d rather they lay their intentions bare.

Gakushuu is not a hoarder by any definition of the word. Helikes having clean space without clutter. His room is the cleanest room ateenager could possibly have. That being said, he can’t find it in him to getrid of the (frankly useless) things his virtuoso friends buy him, so he has asmall shelf on his room dedicated to gifts he receives from them. The onlyexception is a porno mag Seo gave him, which he promptly threw away. His fathergenerally gives him useful things, so he doesn’t need to set those items asideanywhere. He simply uses them. Out of caution, he won’t even bring any unopenedgifts from Karma into his house. He opens them outside.

Like Nagisa, he secretly worries about what he’s going to dowith his life in the future. While his future goal is to have an executive job,he hasn’t yet decided what kind of company he wants to lead. He’s a serious kidwho likes having everything planned out in advance (After all, he had plan F’sand other formations setup in advance for the pole toppling tournament), and he’sused to knowing which school he’s going to, so not knowing which college he’llgo to and which major he’ll pursue is extremely worrying for him.

He’s not Ren-level vain, but he’s a little fussy about hisappearance. He keeps a comb on him to keep his hair neat. Unfortunately, thismakes Gakuho’s teasing about the possibility of him going bald in the future extremelyeffective.

Gakuho:

He likes a lot of English music from the early nineties becauseit reminds him of his time in America as a college student, and he honestly hada lot of fun at college. There were a lot of interesting classes to take, a lotof intellectual freedom, and a lot of room to be an oddball. He also likes reallydark music, which certainly doesn’t help his image as “Education Satan”. Consequently,although he genuinely tries to give Gakushuu good, rational pointers regardingthe music he and his friends are working on, Gakushuu simply cannot follow hisadvice. His advice is too tailored to his own tastes, and it would scare toomany people away.

Since his dream school was up on a mountain surrounded byforest, I think he must love nature. His love of nature is also one of thereasons he likes to jog when he exercises. It’s good for the heart, which isimportant because he likes eating western style breakfasts with a lot of meat(assuming what he was eating in chapter 119 is what he normally eats), but healso gets to look at everything as he runs by. As he runs, he tries to identifyevery animal and plant he passes by, and he takes pictures of anythinginteresting he finds with his smartphone. He’s especially fascinated by bugs,so there’s a lot of pictures of bugs on his phone, which grosses other people,including Gakushuu, out.

His favorite season is Spring because:

School starts in Spring in Japan, and he’s a huge nerd wholoves school.

The weather is very nice, which is especially important whenyou’re jogging at 3 AM. All the plants and animals start to come back to lifeafter the cold of winter, so his jogs are more interesting.  

His birthday is in the Spring.  Yay, gifts!

He hoards the gifts he receives from students the same wayhe hoards all the random trophies and certificates he has been awarded over theyears. He’s very proud of the random stuff his students give him, and he’s gladthat returning to being a cram school teacher means more gifts for him. Thankfully,he owns a big house, so he has a room dedicated to storing all his junk. Whileit’s kept well-organized, the fact that there’s a whole room dedicated tostoring useless knickknacks drives Gakushuu crazy.

I usually avoid the headcanon of “X’s parents are pricks”because it seems like a common way to make one’s favorites suffer, but I cannotimagine someone naming their kid “Gakuho”, meaning “the peak of knowledge”,without being a total prick. Talk about high expectations :/

The reason why he’s so good with money and management isthat he was raised and groomed to be a businessman or a stock trader, kind oflike Karma’s parents. In fact, he went to the same high school as them since itwas a high school geared toward preparing mathematically gifted students forthe business life. Gakuho’s parents were very money driven, so they raised himin such a way to maximize his income.

He was never thrilled with the idea, and when he was youngand rebellious, he resented all the time and effort he was forced to put into askill he didn’t really want. However, like what many of the other characters inAssassination Classroom eventually learned, he came to realize that it’s askill that can help him achieve his true dreams. To respect his parents’choice, he went to Harvard and studied Economics and Mathematics, but he alsoworked on getting his teaching license. His transcript is filled with all sortsof random classes he took out of curiosity, though, and he ended up graduatinglate because he was too busy taking random classes outside of his major.  

He winds up being very glad he chose to go to Harvardbecause he meets his wife there. Also, while he feels a strong sense of ironywhen Gakushuu tells him he plans to study at MIT to become a businessman, he’shappy that he studied business since he’s better equipped to advise his son.

Thanks for the ask, anon! If I think longer, I might remember more, but these are themain ones, and I wanted to keep this post somewhat readable by giving them nomore than one page each. I should probably keep a word doc for other headcanonsI come up with.

Best Techno Artists 2019: Charlotte De Witte, Amelie Lens, Dixon & More

2019 is actually a year that observed the techno scene boom.From the genre making it to the mainstages of various big range events, musicians being welcomed to participate in all over different events and also virtually having touched commercial effectiveness, the style carries on to develop leaps and also bounds as well as reveals no signs of stopping. That being actually stated, this year likewise found our team being introduced to multiple brand-new acts that created it significant this year. Our experts note down 10 that possessed an impactful year. Review on to find who created our team to our list!Charlotte De Witte Belgium's Charlotte nc de Witte creates dark, driving techno that concentrates on bare, hammering

rhythms, from time to time integrating cuts of haunting melodies or even vocals, as on EPs including 2018's The Healer.Born in Ghent, de Witte to begin with begun to DJ in 2010, when she was actually 17. She originally adopted the pen name Raving George so that folks will focus on her DJ capabilities somewhat than her sex. In the beginning, she participated in electro-house and also EDM, and acquired her first luck through winning a Workshop Brussel DJ competition and rotating at the Tomorrowland festival in 2011. She went back to the festivity numerous opportunities and also became a resident DJ at Studio Brussel, in addition to doing at other festivities including I Passion Techno and Pukkelpop. She looked on the cover of DJ Mag in 2017, and also captured a Necessary Mix for BBC Broadcast 1 in 2018. Throughout the years, she revealed her new label KNTXT and also participated in display in organization with significant festivities such as Awakenings, Tomorrowland, etc and has actually trapped various worldwide reputed shows for the same.Tale People This story begins in Milan, where Karm as well as Matteo met at a quite youthful grow older. The Lombardic resources will transform out to be actually the preface of their success tale as they now reside in Berlin, their motivational verge.Born in Toronto, Karm

relocated to Italy when he was only a little one. It went to the childhood of 10 when his moms and dads took him to a classical show that he experienced" beloved at initial sight."He desired becoming a pianist however ultimately opted for regulation university. Matteo left behind Nyc when he was actually only a year outdated as well as devoted his late teenagers making a reservation for techno performers for his loft gatherings. After Karm quit regulation institution, both encountered while learning songs creation at the SAE Principle. There certainly, they bound over a common love for songs and discovered their complementary talents, thereby marking the source of Story Of Us.Amelie Lense Amelie Lense is a Belgian electronic music DJ, file manufacturer, and also co-owner of the Lenske document label. She is authorized to the Pan-Pot print 2nd State records, along with whom she has actually discharged numerous single people and also EPs, the absolute most productive to date being 2017's Opposition EP. She has actually likewise documented for the Drumcode as well as Elevate labels. Her real-time sets have a tendency towards bass-heavy marginal techno, combining timeless acid as well as tribe property determines with even more present-day International techno sounds.Lens has travelled widely all over Europe as well as The United States, featuring a 2017 appearance at LaPlage de Glazart in Paris, as well as at the 2018 Awakenings celebration in the Netherlands.Adriatique's DJ performances, in addition to their developments, are actually long, meditative, non-stop creating occasions, ever before testing the audience along with subtle spins interrupting their hypnotic gouge. There is even more to the duo than only a well-oiled digital songs machine. They additionally cohabit, draw strategies with each other, as well as support craft in every its types together.After virtually a decade of shared job, 2016 viewed the gratification of Adrian and Adrian's long-held wish: the founding of their exact own popular music label annex system for the fine arts. Named Siamese, their trace releases Adriatique's own music in addition to developments by others, as long as it complies with the Adrians'creed: that popular music needs to be reflection. Going over and past the standard for a tag, Siamese also supports visual and efficiency performers, managing club evenings that put these collaborators in the spotlights just like much as the musical stars.Gerd Janson Gerd Janson is operating the German tag Managing Back along with Thorsten Scheu(also known as Glance ). Like several children who have actually developed up in the very early 90s in the South West of Germany, Gerd Janson was a normal guest at Mannheim's epic Dairy Club. Although this place was most well-known for putting forest on the map in Germany, Gerd consistently utilized to hang around excitedly for the first blush hrs when the speed decelerated and the US designated house was the judgment noise. In the following years, his deeper passion for residence and nightclub popular music was actually supplied in Frankfurt's Wild Sound Nightclub by Heiko MSO and Ata. In 1998, Gerd Janson lastly had his very first DJ post degree residency at Darmstadt's COFFEE SHOP Kesselhaus.Gerd Janson has been actually serving the hottest house and also disco cuts at Frankfurt's Robert Johnson where he has actually entertained the Fluid club evenings together with DJ abundant Thomas Hammann for recent handful of years. Undoubtedly, Gerd Janson is one of the trendiest abilities on the German DJ circuit.From a Spandau-Basement experiment to a currently strong interject contemporary techno: The increase of the smoked-out musicians that go through the title of FJAAK has actually been actually absolutely nothing short of stunning therefore far.With eleven singles & EPs, two albums as well as a number of collection looks under their district, FJAAK can reflect on a huge discography (compared to their still fairly youthful grows older)that stuffs pretty a punch. Conveniently moving via Property, Techno, Rave, Ambient & Breakbeat, one can simply question what the triad will definitely discharge next. The only trait promised: It is going to regularly relocate a dancefloor.Clubs of this globe know along with FJAAK. They've taken their pulverizing real-time show throughout the entire globe and also played in every club worth discussing. Their strong Instagram(probably the finest in the activity)has lifted all of them onto the radar of every pot directly

the world, seeing to it & every series is packed out.Blawan Through both time in the workshop and also opportunity while driving, Jamie Roberts has dedicated the last decade to building his pen names, Blawan-- as well as while doing so, he is actually produced a world within techno that is actually all his own. Roberts expanded & up in Barnsley, the UK and also coming from a very early age was etching out his musical pathway as a drummer-- an antique of the past times which should come as not a surprise to any individual acquainted with his creations. His discography as Blawan brightens a natural fluency for rhythm, whether right, stridently syncopated, or even swinging someplace in between.Dixon Dixon has regularly preserved the significance of providing a genuine message. This making every effort for an unique identificationhas actually steered a fascination along with bring in private edits, tweaking keep tracks of up until they fit ideal. Occasionally it implies hitting the best balance between informing and also delighting the crowd. Yet mainly it entails remaining open up to new suggestions, observing need to explore and also counting on the exact same instincts that were developed in the incredibly initial years of his job. It's a special combo that has actually assisted to generate intimate, powerful and most importantly enduring minds on and off the dance floor.Peggy Gou Peggy Gou is a South Korean-born DJ and developer based in Berlin. Throughout the 2010s, she came to be worldwide renowned for energised DJ sets, which dreamily move with numerous styles of techno, home, as well as electro. Her personal keep tracks of, like the acclaimed 2018 singular" It Makes You Neglect(Itgehane), "are lively, jubilant productions that reflect vintage deep-seated house as well as post-disco without seeming like a throwback.Ellen Allien As a DJ Ellen Allien possesses huge skill-sets and resources, sourcing as well as picking up music for years. A techno aficionado from the start Ellen comfortably mixes and also interweaves a pattern of her very own hypnotic Berlin techno, acid, addict port penitentiaries, and classics. Absorbing the space as well as the electricity of the professional dancers, she creates one thing mysterious and also exciting for the present moment. Extraterrestrial Allien Dancing is actually occurring. Ellen Allien has residencies in

the nightclubs Nitsa, Barcelona and also Circoloco at DC10, Ibiza and also is a routine in nightclubs including Madrid's Mondo. She began her actually well known bi-monthly'Our experts Are Not the only one'goes crazy at Griessmühle in her cherished and dynamic native city Berlin that will definitely visitor in other cities around the planet also-- just like her in-store record outlet happenings under the label Vinylism.Of course, it was actually hard to always keep the listing limited to only 10 titles, however, our team performed our finest to note down artists that actually

drove the limit this

year along with their songs. That were the most impactful ones for you this year? Let us understand in the reviews below!Shivani Murthy resides and also inhales music. What began off as an enthusiasm became one thing she wound up seeking. She presently establishes content for T.H.E Music Basics as well as likewise forgets the PR as well as Media for Enchanted Lowland Circus. A substantial hypnotic trance as well as techno songs enthusiast, she possesses had the option to team up with various artists and leading music celebrations Most up-to-date posts by Shivani Murthy (find all)

This content was originally published here.

Cine Gear Expo: Three Cameras

Canon, Panasonic, and Sony all used Cine Gear Expo 2017 as the event to anchor their announcements of new cine-oriented cameras. What they revealed says much about where the industry is going, and when they revealed it speaks to the growing importance of Cine Gear as an industry show.

Canon C200 & C200B

C200 side panel. Yeah, you hang a decent lens on it, it gets nose-heavy.

Canon revealed the C200 and C200B a few days early on May 31st—and it’s clear they laid the groundwork some time prior to that. Jon Fauer (as usual) had with all facts and a good set of photos ready to roll, and Elliot Smith was good to go with a hands-on review. Erik Naso pondered whether the C200s are good upgrades for C100 and C300 users, and why. On the day Cine Gear opened, Andy Stout delved further in the new CinemaRaw Light codec, and of course Canon already has a set of C200 white papers available.

CFast card slot on the left, dual SD slots in the rear.

From the top: two XLR inputs, SDI out, headphone / USB ports, RJ-45 networking port, DC IN. On the side: HDMI.

Side grip with joystick, Fn button, dial control

The side grip uses a standard ARRI rosette for easy accessorizing

C200 LCD with buttons and joystick

There’s been a lot of discussion about this $6000–$7500 4K camcorder (the lower price is for an EVF-less, body-only C200B; the higher price includes EVF, LCD, top handle, and side grip). Many are distressed that the camera records only 8-bit 4:2:0 MP4 files to SD cards and DCI 4K Cinema Raw Light to CFast cards: the former is felt to be too lightweight for “serious” work while the latter is not cheap: a 64GB FCFast card will be consumed in a mere five minutes at 23.98 fps. (Gripers will be somewhat mollified by the promise of a future firmware upgrade to add XF-AVC recording, which offers 10 bits and/or 4:2:2 or even 4:4:4 sampling in its various flavors, though I don’t know which flavors the C200s will offer.)

People often grumble when Canon releases a new camera, whether in the EOS or Cinema EOS lines, usually saying (a) it’s too expensive for what it does, (b) it’s not pushing the envelope nearly as much as it should, and/or (c) they’ve completely misunderstood the market and built something nobody wants or needs. And yet, somehow, whatever overpriced, under-specced, missed-the-market camera Canon announces goes on to lead a happy and productive life. I think the C200/C200B will follow the same course.

I had a chat with Canon’s Paul Hawxhurst about point (c): who did they build this camera for? His answer was quite specific, though I’ve paraphrased it a bit: the C200 is for the C100 shooters who need an affordable, practical camera for their mundane day gigs, but want to step up their game on special projects. Plain, boring old 8-bit 4:2:0 MP4 will handle the long recording times and manageable file sizes needed for corporate talking heads, explainer videos, and the like, while Cinema Raw Light provides the grading flexibility and image quality for higher-end work—and it’s still more manageable and affordable than hanging an external recorder off the back.

While a 64 GB card may be consumed in 5 minutes, you can get cards up to half a Terabyte in capacity, for about 40 minutes of continuous recording time. And yes, CFast cards are expensive, but  they’re like film magazines, not film loads: they’re reusable containers, not expendables.

And, he said with his snarky hat on, if you’re already spending too much money on an “overpriced” Canon, why are you fussing about “overpriced” CFast cards? Remember when P2 cards came out? Or SxS? Or XQD? All new, fast media are annoyingly expensive. True, CFast isn’t that “new” any more, but there’s a global NAND flash shortage at the moment, and even commodity SSDs have suffered rising prices in recent months. Take a deep breath, buy some “digital mags” that’ll last the life of the camera or beyond, and get on with life.

Like many of the commentariat, I was a bit puzzled by the C200s when I first saw the specs and the pricing. But the more I thought about it, the more I think Canon knows exactly what it’s doing. The camera marks a further refinement and streamlining of the physical package, and the capabilities and price slot it neatly between the C100 Mk II and the C300 Mk II. The C200 may not make a lot of sense to “outsiders”, but those in the Canon camp—a somewhat hermetic society, like Apple or Leica users—are likely to adopt it with the same enthusiasm as they have other Cinema EOS cameras.

Note that all the bits ‘n’ pieces needed to make the $7500 C200 out of the $6000 C200B can be ordered a la carte, with the exception of the pigtail EVF. If you want the EVF, you’ll need to buy the C200; you can’t add that EVF to the C200B at a later date.

My only serious complaint is that the C200s employ the standard bayonet mount for the EF lenses, rather than the far superior breech-lock / positive-locking EF mount on the C500 and C700. Bayonet-mounted lenses can flex and wobble on the body, which they are wont to do once you hook up a follow-focus or drive motor; this is a sadly missed opportunity to continue the trend that Canon already started towards making a more stable EF attachment for cine uses.

The C200s are scheduled to ship in August.

Panasonic AU-EVA1

Panasonic tantalized crowds with a mockup of the AU-EVA1 under a cloth at NAB 2017; at Cine Gear Expo two mockups were unveiled: one under glass, and one in the hands of the indefatigable Mitch Gross.

Mitch Gross and the AU-EVA1

Mitch and his mockup attracted heavy crowds. I was his first interview at 10am; when I walked past at closing time, he was still at it—a security guard had to come over and threaten to throw him out so the show could close.

The AU-EVA1 is (or will be) a 5.7K, Super35mm camcorder with an EF mount recording 10-bit 4:2:2 to SD cards. While codec speeds ‘n’ feeds weren’t being discussed, take a look at what the DC-GH5 and the DVX-200 can do, and you’ll likely have a pretty good idea.

Like its larger VariCam stablemates, the EVA1 will have a dual-native-ISO readout (exact values TBD), V-Log and V-Gamut, and, with a future firmware update, raw output to external recorders. The camera will capture 4K at up to 60P and 2K at up to 240p. The button layout on the side panel is vaguely VariCam-ish, and Mitch says that the menus will likely have a VariCam-like flavor to them, too. One thing not carried over from the VariCam, I’m told, will be the long reboot times!

At $8000 or less, the EVA is aimed at the gap between the VariCam LT and the GH5:

(from Panasonic’s EVA website)

Why 5.7K? The EVA is a Bayer-pattern single-chip camcorder, and like all such beasties the “honest” pixel resolution of the debayered sensor is a fraction of the raw pixel count. If we go by the rule of thumb that a good deBayer yields a final luma resolution of about 80% of the raw pixel count, 5K will give you a proper 4K image. If we’re lucky, some of that extra .7K might be used to provide “lookaround” outside the active image area, so we can see mike booms and light stands before they show up in picture.

The EVA1’s 5.7K sensor

EVA1 side panel

EVA1: LCD can mount on either side at the back of the handle. Or pull the handle off and mount it to one of the top-plate sockets.

EVA1 has dual SD slots, takes DVX-style batteries or 7–12VDC power

Rotating side grip with control dial and function buttons

The units at Cine Gear Expo were weighted mockups, so the heft of the models was close to the 2.65 lb / 1.2 kg weight of the final product.

The cameras will have 2-, 4-, and 6-stop internal ND filters, electrically driven, along with a retractable IR filter on a second filter wheel.

The EVA1 will output 4K over both HDMI and SDI, and will feed both outputs simultaneously. There’s no eye-level EVF; you can fit a third-party loupe to the LCD, or use something like the Gratical if you prefer. Having both HDMI and SDI active means you can sacrifice one for an EVF and still have the other output for an external monitor/recorder or to feed video village.

An EF mount is the standard—and only—lens mount. Sadly, unlike the one on the VariCam LT, it’s a twist-on bayonet style, not the rigid and robust positive-lock version.

EVA1s are scheduled to ship in Fall 2017. More info at Panasonic’s EVA1 webpage.

Sony Next-Gen CineAlta Camera

Sony held a small press briefing hidden deep in the bowels of the Marathon Building before publicly announcing their next-generation CineAlta camera in the Paramount Theater.

Peter Crithary ran though the basics: Sony has has 17 years of experience in the cine world, and the F65 won a Scientific and Engineering Oscar in February. Sony’s Digital Motion Picture Centers exist in Hollywood, Pinewood Studios on the UK, Beijing, and Mumbai; these are places for industry pros to learn about and work with Sony gear, and for Sony to learn from industry folks. Sony also holds focus groups to have industry folks talk directly with design engineers (I’ve had the pleasure of doing this a few years ago), and they’ll take big-name DPs to Japan for intensive discussions—in the case of the current project, Claudio Miranda was involved.

And the current project? A complete, new, from-the-ground-up development of the next-generation CineAlta camera:

Full-frame, 36x24mm sensor. Sony agrees with Panavision that full-frame will be the feature format of the future. And it’s not just those with cameras to sell that say this; I’ve spoken with a number of thoughtful and perceptive DPs who agree that full-frame, a.k.a. large-format, offers greater “dimensionality, roundness, and separation of elements” than S35mm. One DP told me that the larger formats render images more the way we see them, while smaller sensors flatten the space too much.

“Lens agnostic”, implying flexible cropping for S35mm or other formats. When Geoff Boyle said he’s used to calling for a 40mm and knowing what that looks like (on 4-perf 35mm film), Peter nodded and said, “not a problem”.

4K 4×3 anamorphic is a specific target; the sensor will have at least that much resolution. Sony says that they have “very consistent feedback” that 4K 4×3 anamorphic was Something They Need To Do. (I even overheard mutterings—which I didn’t confirm—that “4K 4×3 anamorphic” applies to a S35mm-format crop. Make of that what you will.)

“Much wider latitude than anything we’ve had before”.

Wider color gamut.

All-new design: this isn’t a reworked F65 or F55 or anything else.

And yet: the same familiar workflow: 16-bit raw, X-OCN, XAVC. (Much approval voiced by the crowd at this.)

Sensor is “very far along”.

Existing cameras remain in the lineup. The next-gen camera supplements them, it does not replace them.

Sony is not ready to discuss lens mounts or recording media yet.

Release is planned for “early 2018”. Price TBD. When asked if there would be something to see at IBC in September, Peter said that IBC “may be a target” and there would definitely be more information then.

“Stay tuned.”

So What?

The three different announcements reflect three trends in the cine-camera industry: larger formats, resolution agnosticism, and high dynamic range / wide color gamut imaging.

Larger formats: various larger-than-S35mm sensors, mostly from RED, have been cropping up (pun intended) for several years now.

The RED-sensor-based Panavision Millenium DXL and ARRI Alexa 65 have legitimized the resurgence of large-format more than a bunch of aggro bad-boy biker-gang revolutionaries could (grin), and it doesn’t hurt that we’re now seeing large-format cine glass becoming increasingly available.

That the EVA1 uses a S35mm sensor instead of a four-thirds sensor as the GH5 and DVX-200 do is another indicator: size matters. I know a bunch of folks were disappointed that the EVA1 isn’t a direct follow-on to the AF-100/AF-101 MFT cine camera (hint: look at the GH5 instead), but S35mm was the right choice: while many (myself included) appreciate MFT as a perfect Goldilocks compromise between one-man-band live focusability and cinematic shallow depth of field, we’re in the minority.

Resolution agnosticism: scanning formats matched to broadcast or exhibition resolutions made sense in analog and early digital days, when memory was expensive, high-res sensors were difficult, and resampling framestores cost an arm and a leg. Nowadays there’s increasingly less reason to shoot what you screen, or to capture the same image you record. Shoot more pixels, and you can downsize for sharpness and detail, or have room to zoom in, pan ‘n’ scan, or stabilize the image in post. The EVA1 does this in a small way with its 5.7K sensor for a 4K image, downsampling in camera for higher quality. Sony’s announcement that their full-frame camera will be “lens agnostic” seems a clear indication that it’ll have plenty of pixels to play with, allowing for high-res images even with at least a S35mm crop factor.

HDR / WCG: all these cameras are firmly aimed at a high-dynamic range, wide color gamut future. Of course you’ll be able to capture log images at 10 bits or higher and/or record or output a raw image.

It’s interesting is that all three of these camera announcements were timed to synchronize with Cine Gear Expo, not NAB or IBC. It seems there’s a growing sense that NAB and IBC are too big and diffuse to be the best venue for cine-style gear rollouts; smaller, more focused shows like Cine Gear Expo and CINEC are the places and times to make a big noise in the industry. More power, then, to Cine Gear Expo and CINEC, and all the more reason to attend… or at least to keep an ear to the ground when they’re happening.

    Disclosure: There is no material relationship between me and any of the companies mentioned. None of ’em paid me to write about ’em or offered any blandishments to do so.

The post Cine Gear Expo: Three Cameras appeared first on ProVideo Coalition.

First Found At: Cine Gear Expo: Three Cameras

Microsoft's first wound at a tablet: Surface checked on Does Redmond have what it takes to be a tablet manufacturer?.

The organization has sold working frameworks for other organizations' PCs for over 30 years. Adhering to the product and giving other individuals a chance to manage the equipment side is the thing that made Microsoft the multinational behemoth that commanded the figuring scene through the 1990s and a significant part of the 2000s. MS-DOS; 16-bit Windows 1, 2, and 3; the crossover Windows 95 family; and the 32-bit (and, later, 64-bit) Windows NT family that is still with us right up 'til the present time: all were sold principally to PC OEMs for preinstallation on new machines.

With Surface, Microsoft is jumping fast into another plan of action. We should be limit here: Redmond is going the Cupertino course. Microsoft is not just composition the product. It's planning equipment to run with that product, and contracting makers in East Asia to transform its outlines into a great many units of genuine, delivery equipment, that Microsoft will offer specifically to customers.Why the change of heart? The leader of Windows and Windows Live Division, Steven Sinofsky, says that Microsoft has its own perspective with regards to tablets. He pointed at Google, Amazon, and Apple, saying that each of them have their own particular tablet take. Google's reality is fixated on hunt and gathering information; Amazon's tablets are proposed to drive buys from Amazon's store; Apple's is intended to benefit from the iPhone's nature.

Microsoft's take is the same as it has dependably been: the tablet is a kind of PC, with all the adaptability, extensibility, and assortment that that involves. This outlook is major to understanding why Windows 8 is how it is. It's additionally why Microsoft keeps on pitching its working framework to OEMs; it realizes that there's a lot of assortment in the market for one organization to address each issue.

Be that as it may, Microsoft has a contending weight. It needs to flaunt its product in the most ideal light, and controlling the entire experience—programming, equipment, and even retail—is the manner by which it arrangements to accomplish that.

How Microsoft will sit in the more extensive tablet market isn't yet totally clear. The organization is keeping close-lipped regarding creation volumes and expected deals figures. There are a couple of forecasts and bits of gossip skimming around, placing desires in the locale of low millions. That is a littler scale than, for instance, Amazon's Kindle Fire or Google's Nexus 7, yet generous for a first item.

In the case of nothing else, the restricted dispersion—Surface will at first be accessible in only eight markets—will serve to breaking point Surface's capacity to upset the OEMs, making the PC even more a Nexus-like benchmark than a total change of Microsoft's plan of action. In any case, we can anticipate that that will change with time. Studio B, the working in Redmond that houses the Surface group, is considering equipment important, and Microsoft needs to make a reasonable, productive equipment business to position itself as a "gadgets and-administrations" organization.

Surface is the principal item to mirror this gadgets and-administrations desire and I've been test driving one for about seven days. Does Microsoft have what it takes to be a player in the equipment advertise? Will it go up against not only the OEMs, but rather the Apple juggernaut?

It's a tablet

With the way Sinofsky stressed Microsoft's yearning to put its own particular stamp on the tablet advertise and guarantee that its equipment experience was the most ideal, one may have expected something somewhat more extraordinary than a dark widescreen piece. A dark widescreen chunk is the thing that we have.

I believe it's a gorgeous chunk. The shape is squarer and more precise than many contending items, which I appreciate. It's thin, at 0.37 inches (9.4mm), and light, at 1.5lb (681g). Its front face is ruled by the 10.6-inch, 16:9, 1366×768, Gorilla Glass 2-secured IPS screen. Over the screen are a 720p camera and a little light that enlightens to demonstrate that the camera is being used. Underneath that sits a Windows logo that fills in as a Start catch.

All equipment intended for Windows 8 will wear a Start catch situated halfway beneath the long edge of the screen (aside from cross breed tablets, which are given more space in their situating) and it is a disturbing plan defect that Microsoft has commanded. Sinofsky has said that one of Surface's permanent plan requirements was that it was proposed for two-gave operation, held in scene mode. Windows 8 and RT comparatively are worked for this mode with their advantageous thumb console. Issue is, when held along these lines the Start catch is inaccessible.

The front of the machine is shrouded edge-to-edge in Gorilla Glass. Every single opposite side are metal.

Surface is produced using infusion formed magnesium amalgam, a similar strategy utilized for building the inward structures of SLR cameras. The outcomes are solid and strong (and charmingly combustible) additionally lightweight. How solid? All things considered, Microsoft has transformed one Surface tablet into conceivably the world's nerdiest skateboard by appending four wheels.

The dark (or "Dim Titanium," as Microsoft calls it) complete is a consequence of Microsoft's VaporMg (articulated "Vapor Mag") vapor statement system. The outcome is difficult to scratch, simple to grasp, and agreeable to hold. It's additionally a veritable unique finger impression magnet. Keeping your Surface looking savvy will require kid gloves.

The edges of the machine all have a 22° edge, which has the impact of making whatever remains of the machine "vanish" when you're taking a gander at the front. It likewise feels great in the hand. The Surface is agreeable to hold, feeling great balanced.Buttons and ports

Around the edges of the machine are different catches and connectors. Through and through on the right, we have a speaker, small scale HDMI, full-estimate USB 2.0, and the attractive power connector. I've taken a moment abhorrence to the power connector. The magnets are strong to the point that the Surface forcefully gets the connector, grabbing it far from my grip. It doesn't, in any case, situate the connector appropriately inside its container, so the framework can't really charge. I need to shake the thing and reseat it without fail.

At the flip side of the power lead is a 24W divider wart. There's no alternative here for USB charging. Sinofsky portrayed this as one of the many exchange offs that must be made when outlining equipment. USB charging is helpful, on the grounds that it implies that you can bear less chargers. Be that as it may, it's additionally control obliged; despite the fact that the USB working gathering is delivering a high power (100W) standard, current USB 2.0 is restricted to 2.5W and USB 3.0 to 9.0W. With Surface's 31.5Wh battery, that would deliver a best-case charging time of 3.5 hours over USB 3.0 (accepting the machine has its screen off and is sit out of gear, so all the vitality guzzled in over the port can be put away in the battery), and over 12 hours over USB 2.0. With the 24W charger, a full charge can be had in around 80 minutes.

The situating of the power connector is likewise disturbing. In case you're holding the Surface in the two-hand scene style—the style that was an outline imperative—your correct hand goes where the power connector appends. The connector acts as a burden. It's not as terrible as on some different machines I've utilized, be that as it may. Samsung's Series 7 Slate puts its energy connector in a similar place, however not at all like the level connector of Surface, it's a customary roundabout jack that sticks out opposite to the side of the machine, as opposed to lying close by it. In any case, the Surface's position is by all accounts inconsistent with the expected plan and utilization of the machine.On the top edge there's a power catch and two mouthpiece openings. The top edge and a little bit of the back are canvassed in a material that isn't magnesium compound. It's most likely plastic (however Microsoft would not affirm this), and situated behind it are the twin MIMO Wi-Fi radio wires. This attempted to-be-plastic piece additionally houses a moment 720p camera, mounted on the back of the machine.On the left edge is another speaker, a 3.5mm earphone jack that you'll need to use rather than the implicit speakers (as they're fairly calm, even at full volume), a volume control, and a chamfer to make it simpler to flip out the kickstand. Concealed behind the kickstand is a microSDXC slot.Not introduce? A revolution bolt catch. There's a product bolt, yet I would have preferred an equipment catch; substantially simpler to tap an equipment catch before giving the gadget to somebody to show them something than whine around with the symbol on the splendor slider in the settings fascinate.

Kickin' it

The kickstand is Microsoft's first key purpose of separation. Whenever shut, it fits flush with the back of the machine. It opens with a sure, guaranteed adjust, snapping safely properly. Whenever sent, it props the screen up at a 22-degree point.

Sinofsky and Panos Panay, General Manager of Surface, revealed to us that their objective with the kickstand was to ingrain certainty. Surface clients ought to have the capacity to flip it out, sure that it will fit properly (instead of half sending, prepared to fall, getting clients uninformed) and safely hold the gadget up.

Albeit imperceptible to clients, the kickstand utilizes a perplexing course of action of three hand crafted pivots to do its thing. The left and right pivots are in charge of snapping the kickstand close and holding it open, with a course of action of cams and springs inside. The focal pivot gives damping to guarantee that the metal stand doesn't vibrate and makes a consoling commotion. It likewise utilizes magnets to close more safely.

On a level surface, the kickstand holds the gadget enduring, and on a work area or a table the point is acceptable. The mechanical feel is gigantically satisfying; I would not be at all astounded to discover Surface purchasers inertly snapping the kickstand open and shut on the grounds that it feels so great. At any rate on the off chance that they're left-given; the chamfer to make flipping the kickstand out is on the left of the machine.