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Took a short stroll around downtown Toronto after Collision Conference yesterday. It’s so beautiful near the lake, and it was the perfect way to relax. I was shocked to find this display of  Terry Fox’s Marathon Outfit.  

“Terry Fox was inflexible about his wardrobe during the run. He would only wear his white T-shirts with MARATHON OF HOPE lettering and his grey shorts.

Decades ahead of his time, he refused to wear clothing that had logos or brand names on them, as they might imply that he endorsed a company's products.”

Did you know that I’m an Airbnb Superhost! 🙌🏾 🥳 Airbnb has been a game changer for me. It has been a tremendous source of income and has allowed me to meet great travelers from all over the world. 💰

Well now, I’ve also been chosen to be an Airbnb Ambassador. 🤗 That means I’ve been selected by the company to guide others along their Airbnb journey and as Airbnb Ambassador, I earn when they become a host.

As a former hostel manager, I’ve been able to use my knowledge of hospitality to go far with Airbnb and I can teach you how as well. The best part is that you can start with the space you already have. You have a spare room or just a spare sofa? You can rent as often or as little as you like. One night a week, two weeks at a time, for an entire month, it’s up to you.

Earn Additional Money

Airbnb is a great source of side income but many find it so lucrative that they become full-time host. You’d be amazed how many people just need a cheap cozy spot to stay for a night or two. There have been many months where my Airbnb payouts have covered all of my rent. I even know folks who pay their entire mortgages using Airbnb income. (Next, up on my agenda when I move.)

Students, interns, traveling nurses, business people, backpackers, they all need you and it doesn’t matter where you live. There is not one place where someone isn’t visiting today.

Enjoy Freedom And Flexibility

One of the best things about hosting is the flexibility. You can turn your calendar on or off whenever you want. It’s great for those who have other jobs, hobbies, or other time commitments where hosting all the time might not fit their lifestyle.

It’s also a great option for those who want to only work a few months at a time and travel the rest. Whatever your reasons for hosting on your schedule, it’s up to you.

Incredible Tax Advantages

There are many tax benefits to owning rental property and being an Airbnb host. You’ll find that many, if not all, of your expenses will be tax-deductible. For example:

• Mortgage interest
• Credit card interest on purchases for the rental property
• Insurance
• Repairs and maintenance
• Travel expenditures
• Legal and professional fees
• Property taxes

Diversify Your Investment Portfolio

Diversifying your investment portfolio with realest is always a smart way to go and Airbnb is a great way for your investment to pay for itself.

Meet New People When Airbnb Hosting

One of the things I loved about hostel long and about managing the hostel was meeting travelers from all around the world. Thankfully, now I can recapture that experience as an Airbnb host.

You Don’t Have To Do The Hard Work

Airbnb does the marketing for you. They manage all the payment processing. They even handle getting the security deposit from your guest. If there is a problem, they intercede on your behalf. They also offer a secure platform to protect all parties. Imagine the headache if you had to handle all these moving parts yourself.

Are You Ready?

It doesn’t matter how large or small your space is, I can help you earn money with Airbnb. After all, I started off just renting out my sofa bed to make ends meet. 😅

Register to be a host and I’ll be your personal tour guide on the road to success. 💕

The post Thinking of Hosting With Airbnb? Let Me Help You. first appeared on DG Speaks.

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A couple of weeks ago, I saw a screening of one of my favorite animated anthologies, Love, Death + Robots. Love, Death + Robots is an animated anthology series featuring short animated horror, fantasy, and sci-fi films that (like the name implies) all have themes about Love, Death, or Robots. It’s a Netflix original series and the third volume in the series launched today!

It was fun to see some of the films from Volumes One and Two of the series, with the last four being featured in Volume 3. Here’s my review from my Volume 3 sneak peek.

Three Robots: Exit Strategies

Three robots travel the remains of destroyed humanity to see how each of the groups that make up our society tried to survive the end of the world. 

Funny and creative! I like that it pokes fun at how we use wealth and some of the questionable decisions we have made. It’s incredibly humorous and pessimistic in its outlook toward our future. Still, it’s charming and entertaining to watch. 

Bad Traveling

Bad traveling is about a massive crab who crawls onto a ship during a storm, eating some of the crew and hiding below the sip to force the survivors to take it to a populated island.

That’s all I’ll say about the plot, but wow! This was a fantastic film. I loved the light world-building and how the characters were surprised by a giant crab but not shocked. Almost as if this dangerous creature is common enough for them to be aware they exist, maybe it’s a common danger of traveling the seas. The animation is excellent. It uses its stylized character design to make them very expressive, and the effects from the rain to the crab, to all the blood and guts, are just amazing. It’s a great film and is one of my favorites. I’d like to see more stories that take place in this world. 

Jibaro

Jibaro is about Spanish conquistadors that come across a gold plaid siren. All die save for Jibaro, a deaf soldier. The two, intrigued by one another, engage in a violent, dance-filled chase. 

I was not too fond of Jibaro for several reasons; It’s not the genre I enjoy, and experimental stuff can be hit or miss with me, but I found the animation jarring. However, the animation pushes the limits of 3D and really shows what the medium is capable of in the hands of great animators. Also, I wouldn’t say I liked the story, I won’t spoil it, but its messaging and ending are a little confusing to me. I probably need to watch it again to dissect it more because there definitely is a prominent theme about colonization, but there’s something else that is much deeper that I have not seen in the film yet. 

Night of the Mini Dead

Night of the mini dead is fantastic. It looks like a photo stop animation of miniature models acting out the end of the world via zombie apocalypse. Definitely one of the funnier films, with little jokes mixed into the film and creative use of perspective to make the swarm of zombies feel like a swarm. 

That’s it for today. Thank you for reading!

What’s your favorite episode of Love Death and robots?

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My first acorn squash! I always hated squash growing up because it was always served to me in a boiled pile of mush. 🤣 I’ve always been a picky eater and one thing I absolutely can’t do is mushy food. One of the reasons I took an interest in cooking in the first place was that I got tired of hating everything people gave me to eat growing up. LOL

Thankfully, as I got older exposure to other culinary customs opened my world to a whole new appreciation for many foods I thought I would never eat, the many varieties of squash being among them. I’ve found squash, like their cousin pumpkin, works very well with spices that bring out their sweetness and also spices that a little heat. I often like to combine both flavors.

Cinnamon and cayenne is one of my favorite spice combinations to use on squash, and it works quite nicely on acorn squash in particular because of its thicker meaty texture.

If you’re not a big squash eater, now is a great time to get reacquainted with it. Squash is very plentiful in the fall and it’s extremely nutritious. “Acorn squash is rich in nutrients, such as fiber, vitamin C, potassium, and magnesium. It also packs many beneficial plant compounds, including carotenoid antioxidants.” (Healthline)

Amazon Shopping List

Simply Organic Cayenne Pepper, Certified Organic | 2.89 oz | Capsicum annuum L.
Simply Organic Adobo Seasoning, Certified Organic, Non-GMO | 4.41 oz

Simply Organic Ground Ceylon Cinnamon, Certified Organic, Vegan | 2.08 Ounce | Cinnamomum verum J. Presl
Simply Organic Ground Paprika, 2.96 ounce | Capsicum annuum

Terrasoul Superfoods Himalayan Pink Salt, 2.5 Lbs – Extra Fine | Trace Minerals
Simply Organic Ground Mustard Seed, Certified Organic | 3.07 oz | Sinapis alba L.

The pork chop is organic heritage breed pork oven broiled with adobo, pink salt, paprika, cayenne, and mustard seed. 😋 I’m a bit of a food snob and I like to live sustainably so I get my meats from Butcher Box.

Instructions

Note: These instructions are only for the acorn squash!

1. Cut it in half.

Step one is to cut the squash in half. (After you’ve washed it of course.) If you cut the stem off and sit it on the cutting board cut side down it’s much easier to work with. Just cut it lengthwise from where the stem was.

2. Remove the seeds.

A spoon works great for scraping out the seeds. Just don’t toss them though because just like you can with pumpkin seeds, you can roast the seeds for a great healthy snack.

3. Dress it up. 

These amounts are not rocked hard set in stone. Truthfully, I eye-ball my seasoning most of the time but I did actually measure what I used the last time I made this just for you. LOL

You can adjust these amounts based on your own taste, especially the cayenne cause it can pack a punch if you’re not used to hot food.

Cover each half with butter first and then sprinkle with your spices.

• 1/2 tbsp grass-fed sweet cream butter
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp pink salt

4. Roast it.

Now, all you have to do is put your squash on a baking sheet and place it in the oven at 400° for an hour. When it’s done a fork should easily pierce it and be able to shred it.

If you’d like the instructions for the pork chops, let me know in the comments below.

The post Easy Cinnamon Cayenne Roasted Acorn Squash Recipe first appeared on DG Speaks.

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The post Rachel Stander Discussing the Bidirectional Benefit of Equity Crowdfunding Films first appeared on DG Speaks.

When I first became an investor one of the first things I became involved with was equity crowdfunding. I remember when Amazon was the small online store with a bad website that only sold books and Google was the small search engine that couldn’t compete with Yahoo.

I think back to what if I could have bought a small piece of those companies back in those days. That’s why equity crowdfunding appeals to me. It allows me to buy a small share of up-and-coming start-ups while they are fresh and new, and hopefully one day one (or two or three or four or…LOL) will be the billion-dollar brand.

Why Invest in Film

I cover a lot of film festivals for this online media outlet and I know that filmmakers often struggle for capital when they are first starting out. However, it wasn’t until my friend, Kevin Brown, said to me ” Why don’t you start investing in films?” that I was like, “What do you mean to invest in films?” It never occurred to me that I could invest in films in this way.

He said, there are films on the Wefunder. Oh, my gosh!!! The light bulb went off. Since I’ve started investing in films, it’s wonderful. I feel like I am a part of the movie-making process, and there is such a tremendous sense of pride in that. I love being able to say, “Oh, my God, I have been involved in making this thing happen, this thing that is going to forever be a part of the cultural consciousness.” That is something that makes investing in film special.

The people that we’re meeting on Wefunder maybe don’t have filmmakers in their friends and family, in their direct network. They have never been presented with the opportunity to invest in a film, to be involved in a film, to see what goes into making a film. So, you know, there’s enthusiasm that we’re benefiting from as filmmakers.

~Rachel Stander

Why SÉANCE’

Media is part of our human story. It is something that lives and breathes and takes on a life of its own. As an investor, I prioritize investing in films made by women and people of color, who are making stories that are new and creative and putting a spin on ideas that you don’t normally hear about.

Out of the blue, one day on LinkedIn I received a message from a filmmaker, Vivian Kerr. She has found me through my Wefunder investor profile and reached out to me to share with me that she was raising capital for her latest film project. Before responding I shared her info with my friend Kevin and found out that he had invested in her previous project, Scrap. That made me interested to talk to her and find out more about SÉANCE’ and I’m so glad that I did because it is one exciting project indeed.

SÉANCE’ is described as a Gothic thriller about grief, adultery, and ghosts but what does that mean exactly. I sat down with Vivian and her creative partner Rachel Stander to discuss the film. As Rachel puts it, it’s “horror for people who don’t like horror, where the what is uncomfortable about it is psychological. It’s what’s going on with the characters in the relationships and what’s in their minds and how they feel that is uncomfortable for the audience.” It’s like that. It’s a fresh take.

Short Synopsis:

A Victorian woman contemplating adultery is forced to take refuge from a storm at the home of her potential lover and his unstable wife, who claims to be haunted by their dead child.

Why All Women Need To Be Represented

In our efforts to empower women, it can be too easy to put women on a pedestal that might find too easy to stay on top of. For a long time, Hollywood has had far too many negative depictions of women that have been damaging to the psychological development of girls and the social standing of women. However, in our efforts to elevate the narrative, we can ofter undermine the progress made if we forget to include stories that reveal the fullness of lived female experiences.

I believe that representation of the good, the bad, and the ugly, is necessary and that all our stories have a place. That’s why I really valued it when Vivian said, “I’m interested in exploring stories of women who on the surface, maybe unsympathetic, or there’s something about them, we don’t like at first. And then you have to take the audience kind of on this journey of like, understanding and even if at the end of the movie, they still don’t really like her it’s like, Well, okay, at least I understand her a little bit more, or at least I have a little more empathy for this person.”

Meet the Female Filmmakers

“A Season of Rain” is a production company founded by Producer Rachel Stander in 2020. Our first feature film, SCRAP, was successfully financed on WeFunder, and we have already built a stellar reputation in a short period of time for our professionalism and taste.

I urge you to visit Wefunder to learn more about these latest and their campaign to support SÉANCE’. Currently, the campaign for the film has passed their 300K minimum, and they’re officially green-lit! Right now they are planning to continue to accept investments until they hit their 550K maximum. Don’t miss out on your chance to support women in film!

The post Conversation with SÉANCE Filmmakers: Equity Crowdfunding and Representation first appeared on DG Speaks.

This weekend in Washington, DC The Chocolate House hosted the 5th Annual DC Chocolate Festival at the French Embassy. I, for one, am really over virtual events and when I saw this I was beyond excited. Of course, I was absolutely estatic when they extended guest passes to me. Let’s face it, being given press passes never gets old.

Chocolate is one of my favorite things in the world to eat. In my career, I’ve spent a great deal of time working with both cocoa growers in Ghana and chocolatiers in the US. As a chocolate lover and as one fortunate enough to see this industry from both ends of the value chain, I had to attend the DC Chocolate Festival and it did not disappoint!

I really had a great time meeting all the wonderful chocolate vendors and talking to them about their work and upcoming projects. I especially enjoyed talking to Cocoa Town about their marvelous multi-use chocolate processing invention and attending the Future of Chocolate Tasting workshop with 37 Chocolates. Of course, I also snagged some chocolate goodies to bring home with me too from Sleep Walk Chocolateria among others.

Party like it’s 2024 — the future of chocolate tasting is social (Estelle Tracy of 37Chocolates.com)

The best thing I loved about this workshop was thinking about all the different ways you can explore the coffee bean with your guest. Too often we think only about about sampling different varieties of chocolate. Estelle got us thinking about the whole bean. We sampled both bean dried paste and bean sauce. Two very delicious flavour and texture variations to add an interesting mix to our next tasting party.

Cocoatown Craft Bean-to-Bar Chocolate on a Shoestring Budget

Dr. Balu Balasubramania and Andal Balu of Cocoatown spoke about issues that were near and dear to my heart in their presentation. They spoke about the challenges facing small-scale cocoa producers and the need for those producers to be able to add value to their raw materials in order to have any meaningful economic gain.

They unvieled their compact processing matching and spoke about their hopes that it would be able to empower smale-scale farmers to be able to producer consumer goods and enter the marketplace as producers of bean-to-bar products.

In our private conversation, they made mention to me that the machine could be used to process a variety of commedities like nuts and grains, and they hope that they can roll it out to farmers globally.

Sleep Walk Chocolateria

There were many impressive chocolate companies present during the festival but I have to admit that I was most impressed by Sleep Walk Chocolateria. Most notedably because they had an all hands on deck approach to their activation, a very Latino way of doing things which being Colombian I can’t help but admire, but it also showed how much chocolate was a part of their culture.

The artwork on the wrappers was the first thing that caught my eye. My son’s father is Mexican-American (Chicano) so I’ve been immerse in the culture for a long time and I do have a great appreciation for it. As soon as I saw the symbolism on the wrappers, I knew what it meant and I was drawn in. But then the taste!!! WOW!!! Just WOW!!! This has to be among the best chocolate I’ve ever had in my life. It was amazing.

The Big Picture

All in all, The 2022 DC Chocolate Festival was a great event. It was informative and entertaining. Plus, it gave vendors a much needed opportunity to get in front of consumers, an opportunity that many had not had since the pandemic. Along with the tastings and workshops, there were were also film showings for those who need to know more about the social and cultural landscape that drives the chocolate industry.

I have high hopes for the future of this festival. I hope that as the festival continues to grow we can get to have more chocolate inspired cooking demonstrations and we can see more ways that chocolate is applied in the cooking landscape. I’d love to see more chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, chocolate wine, chocolate everything. LOL

The post DC Chocolate Festival Was a Chocolate Lovers Food Heaven first appeared on DG Speaks.

The Northman is unlike anything you have even seen. It completely defies all the rules when it comes to Hollywood blockbusters. It does have well known A listers on the poster that can easily fill up the seats but it certainly isn’t resting on that. Make no mistake this movie is all substance and you must be paying attention if you plan to keep with the story.

As the inspiration for Shakespeare’s Hamlet, The Northman is indeed a tragic tale. In the opening act we are introduced to what we think is a happy kingdom and a carefree Prince destined to rule once his loving father leaves his side.

However, it doesn’t take long before all that is yanked away and we end up having to follow Prince Amleth on his quest to avenge his slain father and we watch him become consumed by his hatred for the man that stole his happiness. He becomes a berserker and, as a man in the second act, is only a shadow of the boy we saw.

Stunningly visual, The Northman takes viewers on a cinematic journey through the world of the Vikings. According to a recent article in The New Yorker, The Northman “might be the most accurate Viking movie ever made.” Every detail was painstakingly adhered to with the intention to give audiences an immersive experience. Among its credits it lists several historical consultants including Craig Lathrop as production designer and Linda Muir as costumes designer.

I will avenge you, Father. I will save you, Mother. I will kill you, Fjölnir.

Amleth

Food as a Weapon

One of the most confusing juxtapositions of slave societies to me has always been that a slave is supposed to care for her master so much so that she is expected to even give her own life to protect the life of her master. Let me tell you honey, it could not have been me. Had I been in the kitchen, no one would have been left standing. Sorry not sorry.

I was overjoyed when in the film Olga reclaimed some of her agency and mixed the men’s food with psychedelic mushrooms. This act allowed Amleth to enter Fjölnir’s house and get the upper hand. Food is generally used figuratively to convey themes in films. In this case, it was used literally as an actual weapon. Olga was fighting for her freedom and she was doing it with the tool she had on hand. The very thing she was expected to use to nourish her tormentors. Bravo!

Food for the Soul

One of the biggest questions viewers find themselves asking as the film progresses is what will be the thing that ultimate drives Amleth’s destiny in the end. For most of his life he has been driven by his hatred for his uncle. It has been the food fueling his blood rage. However, now he has Olga and we start to wonder if he lets his revenge quest go, will their love be enough nourishment to sustain him? Can love be the new food for his soul? Or is it that maybe his souls need both love and hate to be full?

I really enjoyed this movie. It was not what I was expecting at all. I was definitely expecting something much more like the History’s Vikings and this is absolutely not that! LOL

The post The Northman Asks What Feeds the Soul Love, Hate, or Both first appeared on DG Speaks.

Humans have celebrated solstices and equinoxes since pre-historic times. The vernal equinox which ushers in Spring is when people in many parts of the world celebrated coming out of the cold and darkness of winter. In such places this was reflected in their ancient religious practices and personified in the gods and goddesses.

Eostre or Ostara, also known Easter is the Germanic Goddess of the dawn, springtime, fertility of the earth, prosperity, growth, the harvest, renewal and rebirth.

“Ostara does all the work of bringing spring, yet Jesus gets all the prayers.” ~Mr. Wednesday, American Gods

As the Christian religion spread across the globe the church was masterful in its folding of ancient ideologies and their accompanying practices into its own. Most insidiously, it has nearly completely removed all femininity from the concept of divinity except as a tool for the uplifting of males or vessels to give birth to male leaders.

Many people complain that they don’t understand why many of the common holiday practices of today exists but they never really make any effort to find out. They simply have a negative idea that they must be tied to something pagan, and in their minds that means evil.

It’s rather sad that so many go through life with such a limited world view of the understanding of the history of religion given its importance to the development of us as a species and impacts on the world today. I for one enjoy learning as much as I can because of the insights it gives into who we are and how we came to be.

Smart TV is something I greatly enjoy, specifically because it can often make you come face to face with uncomfortable topics you might not other wise. American Gods did such an excellent job with this scene. I particularly loved the multiple variations of Jesus to represent the myriad of Christian denominations.

In this episode, Ostara like many others has tied her power to the fate of a man (Jesus) her worship is intrinsically linked to his worship. Because of this, she is not operating in her full divinity and she knows it. It’s like an ache but she is afraid to let go of what has sustained her for so long.

I Forgot I’m A Goddess

But wait, just when you thought Ostara had given up the fight, she remembers I’m divine. That’s right. Just as she can create life, bring warmth and light. She can take all those things away. She doesn’t need to be tethered to anyone. SHE IS THE SPRING!

The entire episode, like all of season one really, was poignant and beautiful. If you have never seen this show, I highly recommend it. I wish everyone a Happy Easter and as you celebrate this year, I hope you find the divinity without you and remember to look inward. Everyday is another opportunity for renewal.

Ostara and the Hare

There are several variations of this story but as I learned it, there was a frozen bird that Ostara saved. The bird laid especially beautiful eggs that she was extremely proud of, so proud to the point that it irked Ostara. As punishment for this vanity Ostara turned the bird into a hare. However this made the bird extremely sad and Ostara took pity on the hare, allowing her to lay eggs once a year. And that’s how we got out Easter Bunny!

Of course, eggs themselves are a symbol of new life as old as time. 🙂

Other Ancient Fertility Goddesses

I’ve loved learning about traditional religious expressions that celebrated femininity and find it fascinating that a consistent theme in the world is that many revolve around creation, and renewal.

The post American Gods Shows Us the Divine Femininity of Easter first appeared on DG Speaks.