You know how it is

org/events/premier_impact.org

@@ -0,0 +1,157 @@
+#+title: Premier Impact Retrospective
+* Premier Impact Retrospective
+** Introduction
+This is a retrospective on [[https://paris.reloadreset.net/][/Premier Impact/]], a music event we held on the 10th of May 2025.
+
+#+BEGIN_CENTER
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+#+CAPTION: /Event poster. I participated under the alias "Sakka"./
+[[../../static/images/premier_impact_poster.png]]
+#+END_CENTER
+** Organisation
+*** Context
+A bit of context that'll help illustrate some of the organisational difficulties involved in the event:
+
+- My mom and (later) brother were staying over at our place between April 20th and April 29th;
+- [[./wroclaw.org][We were in Wrocław, Poland]] from April 30th until May 5th for /Millennium Strike Live WROC.WAV/;
+- Premier Impact took place on the 10th of May;
+- [[https://linktr.ee/suzubrah][Suzubrah]] stayed over at our place between May 19th and May 26th.
+
+The observant reader might notice that this is a bit of a tight squeeze; it couldn't realy be helped[fn::my mom's visit was planned around her birthday, Premier Impact was planned to coincide with WROC.WAV, and Suzu's visit coincided with his world tour], but it was the underlying reason for a lot of the difficulties encountered.
+
+*** Motivation, Branding & Concept
+The event theme was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doujin_music][doujin music]] and generally [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J-core][J-core]]/[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakcore][breakcore]]/[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime_song][anison]], though in practice we gave DJs complete free reign as to what to play and the event was better characterized as "we invite our friends to play good music"; it's perhaps best understood in relationship to other similar events[fn::in Europe /e.g./ *Pon de Beats*, *the Dokomi J-rave*, *NDXJCL Unmuted*, *Neonyaa!!* and numerous overseas of which the venerable *Anime North Truck Rave* is probably the crown jewel)]. These events are already common elsewhere, but not aren't yet established in France, despite there clearly existing a sizeable audience for them --- our aim was thus to start putting this on the map here in Paris.
+
+Expanding the details on the branding and concept is where we get to my first source of dissatisfaction. I had really intended for us to have some unique visual branding and more of a "concept" to the event, with a bit of a /narrative/ through decorations and with me taking an emcee/host role with some intermissions; unfortunately primarily due to scheduling issues and inexperience we weren't able to make this happen and the event took a more straightforward "DJs play music while guests rave" format.
+
+For the poster we ended up borrowing a lot from the [[https://reloadreset.net/][《re;load re;set》]] house style. This was largely a functional decision; I personally had a somewhat different, more colorful/geometric/fractally vision for the design, but I lack apt's graphic design skills and we weren't able to accomodate my (admittedly poorly formed) ideas very well. We also ended up borrowing the 《re;load re;set》 name, though the event shouldn't properly be understood to be a 《re;load re;set》 event. The primary reason we did this was because we thought borrowing an existing brand would make for an easier sell to venues.
+
+*** Searching for a Venue
+Since this was our first event[fn::Discounting 《re;load re;set》which is Apt and merc's event and online-only.] we went into this without existing contacts and without a confirmed audience. Largely because of this[fn::And because of us being broke.] we mostly committed to finding a venue that would let us host the event /for free/.
+
+There's a decent number of cultural non-profits in the Paris area offering this kind of thing, but I was nonetheless rather skeptical of the idea --- we were, in practice, asking strangers to offers us something for free, taking on some level of risk on their part, with us having no reputation or experience.
+
+We asked around in our network and by /late january/ were in talks with an acquaintance about a venue. It was a venue they had played at before, some kind of shared cultural space that also had a workshop and stuff, but they required you to already have someone on the inside in order to deal with them. Best I can tell our contact /wasn't/ actually someone on the inside. We were in talks for quite a while, but after a series of canceled meetings, poor communication and an inability on our side to get in touch with anyone in charge at the venue itself[fn::Even after visiting in person several times and contacting all their social media.], we officially gave up on the matter on /March 18th/.
+
+Only then did we start contacting alternative venues. Mind that by then we were suddenly /very late/ late to start looking --- we were less than 2 months out from the event[fn::Which wasn't reschedulable because of schedule issues detailed earlier.] without so much as a lead on a venue. Without a venue, we couldn't publicise the event --- many people ended up flying in or otherwise travelling for the event, and we couldn't risk letting people schedule travel for an event that might be canceled.
+
+This mistake was by far the biggest f---up we had and really put the whole event in jeopardy. I put the blame for this basically entirely on naivitè and internal communications problems in our part, heavily potentiated by the fact that it was simply a rather busy and stressful period[fn::For reference, I definitively immigrated to Paris only in the final days of 2024 and was correspondingly exhausted as well]. We hold no hard feelings whatsoever towards our initial contact; we let way too much hinge on what always was a pretty weak lead, for way too long. Thank you for offering to help us, making time for discussions, and for all the helpful information you shared.
+
+We started scrambling to find a place. I don't really know the exact details since Apt, having more contacts and knowing French, handled the communication. I know the response was almost always one of two things:
+- They understandably weren't able to accomodate our narrow scheduling constraints on such short notice (/i.e./ they were already booked); or
+- They downright ghosted us.
+I of course completely understand venues being unable to accomodate this; no hard feelings. The names of those who ghosted us will be remembered.
+
+One place that /was/ open to talks with us was the awesome [[http://spot13paris.com/][Spot 13]]. Seriously, this place is /awesome/. It's a massive open free street art area under an overpass:
+
+#+BEGIN_center
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+[[../../static/images/spot13_1.jpg]]
+#+END_center
+
+#+BEGIN_center
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+[[../../static/images/spot13_2.jpg]]
+#+END_center
+
+On /April 11th/, we had a very good hour-long conversation on with a staff member in their office near the site. The deal they offer is straightforward:
+- You get access to the entire space for a full day;
+- It costs €1000;
+- You can't monopolize the place --- it stays open for anyone to access, so you can't charge tickets[fn::They do offer the ability to monopolize it at a higher rate.];
+- What you see is what you get, everything else you must provide yourself --- /i.e./, no speakers, no electricity[fn::They do rent out a generator.], /no toilets/.
+
+At the time we seriously considered the logistics of this --- with less than a month until the event and our schedules getting /very busy very soon/, we were really rather at the end of our rope. We concluded that it would've been... /possible/, but challenging, and we'd have to be prepared for a budget of ~€2000 total with little chance to recuperate much if anything of it. Still, I'm keeping the idea in my back pocket --- this would make for an awesome location for a day-long festival type event, with a BBQ and stuff[fn::/Summer 2027??/ :teto:].
+
+*I would like to deeply thank the staff of Spot 13* for taking us seriously enough to go over all of this in depth, even as it was very obvious our inexperience would put us in way over our head.
+
+*** Finding a Venue
+We originally got a reply from [[https://les-amarres.org/][/Les Amarres/]] on /April 4th/, so we were in communication with both them and /Spot 13/ in parallel, but we only got confirmation they'd be available on /April 15th/. They let us hold the event in their venue for free, so accepting immediately was a no-brainer. They even gave our staff free drinks and meals[fn::Though by the time many of us went to try and redeem the meal tickets, they claimed to have already given out all our party's meals, which can't be true, since we... still had the meal tickets.]!
+
+*** Staff and Promotion
+Only now that we had a venue we ready to formally invite guest DJs and start putting publicity out. Promo went out on /April 24th/, less than 2.5 weeks until the event.
+
+I want to give massive thanks to Ed for agreeing to take over the slot that my set would've taken at the last moment, since Apt and I decided to merge our sets which left a slot free. It was Ed's first time playing live.
+
+** Event Day
+*** The Venue; Setting Up
+#+BEGIN_center
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+#+CAPTION: /The venue,/ Les Amarres.
+[[../../static/images/pi_les_amaress.jpg]]
+#+END_center
+
+We arrived at the venue 2 hours early, and we needed every minute of that time, because when we arrived the event room looked...
+
+#+BEGIN_center
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+#+CAPTION: /... like this./
+[[../../static/images/pi_empty.jpg]]
+#+END_center
+
+Les Amarres is[fn::Was?] a big place. It's more than just an event center; it also does duty as a community center and other community services like language lessons for refugees. When there are events it can accomodate several at once; /Premier Impact/ was held contemporaneously with a drag queen cabaret and a noise music show. The noise show on the same (upper) floor as us and impressive to hear --- there was a little tucked away bathroom where you could hear it very clearly, it was an experience. Big props to the folks from these events who showed up at /Premier Impact/ towards the end, y'all were awesome to see.
+
+Anyhow, the place was a maze --- from what I hear Apt drew a little map to our event and stuck it at the entrance to help people actually find our room. On the staff side, finding the necessary gear to set up the event was a big scavenger hunt through several little storage rooms throughout the complex. There was a helpful staff member present, but him being deaf made communication pretty tricky. Another big shout out to the guys from the noise show for showing us around!
+
+#+BEGIN_center
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+#+CAPTION: /All set up. The big subwoofer in the corner took four men to carry up the stairs; on the way back down after the event we used the elevator we had then learned exists./
+[[../../static/images/pi_setup.jpg]]
+#+END_center
+
+A big shout out to Shiz for actually knowing what he was doing and setting up all the audio equipment.
+
+*** The Event
+#+BEGIN_center
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+#+CAPTION: /Ravers. This picture is in the midst of the TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES of next section./
+[[../../static/images/pi_party.jpg]]
+#+END_center
+
+The event was, by all means, a *smashing success*. Being a free event it's hard to say exactly how many people showed up; the most I can reliably count in one picture is 32 people, during Shiz' set. Taking into account people moving in and out throughout the night, I don't think it's an unreasonable estimate to say that *about 50 people* likely attended the event in some capacity. That's a number I am incredibly happy with, given that it was our first event and that we only announced it a mere *16 days* earlier!
+
+*** TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES; Our Act
+Those that were present around the end of the event might have seen Apt and I frantically faffing about with two DJ controllers, three laptops and a bass guitar. We ran into two kinds of technical issues during our set.
+
+Our technical setup was messy. We had a CDJ available, and some DJs used it, but not everyone had experience playing on one, so we also let people bring their own laptops and decks which many including ourselves did. Additionally, with the setting up of the room being as hectic as it was, there wasn't enough time for sound checks, and we skipped ours.
+
+Apt and I had a special live VJing setup planned using a bass guitar as a controller, with apt manning the deck and me doing the video. The setup used a Roland GK-3B MIDI converter that mapped each string on the bass to a different effect, and each fret on that string to a setting for that effect, using TOOLL3. The Roland device was necessary for this; it installs as a bass pickup and lets you isolate a MIDI signal for each string (doing audio-to-MIDI conversion wouldn't work, since a (bass) guitar has the same notes at different places on different strings).
+
+We built the entire setup (including crafting the set) in a single 20 hour straight mad dash the day before the event. We didn't have time to do a general repetition of the set, or even to properly test audio on Apt's laptop (we built everything on desktop). In fact, we were still briefly tweaking the setup and adding effects in the hallway mid-event.
+
+The first issue we encountered was that Apt's laptop wasn't recognizing our deck, probably because of a driver issue. That's why in the previous section's picture you can see Shiz running Mixxx on his laptop while apt is installing Mixxx on Progress'. In the end we were able to get it working on Shiz' machine; thank you so much. Fun story: Apt gestured for me to call Shiz mid-set so he could ask him [spoiler]how to right-click on a mac[/spoiler]. I also want to thank Merc for jumping in and playing music on the fly while we were sorting ourselves out. And props to those of you who kept raving while listening to nothing but feedback hum for the 10 minutes or so leading up to that. All of you worked together to save our set, and my gratitude is immense.
+
+The second issue was that we couldn't get a signal out of the bass. The GK-3B has an outgoing cable that goes into a little MIDI conversion box, and the signal goes from there to the computer. The box has a certain setting that has to be turned on for our setup to work, but loses its state when unplugged, so it stopped working after we unplugged it and transported it to the venue. Unfortunately we didn't manage to figure the issue out at the time, and performed the set without visuals.
+
+The GK-3B is pretty expensive so we had bought it with the intention of using it at the event and then returning it to the store afterwards. Since our setup was still pretty rough around the edges and we didn't feel like polishing a setup for a device that we were getting rid of soon, we never ended up performing, much less recording the live visuals --- it wouldn't be the same as a recording anyways, since the showmanship would've been in the live performance. Still, I'd love to try this again another time, I still think it's a really cool idea.
+
+** Closing Words
+Looking critically, behind the scenes---and to some extend unfortunately also on the stage---this was an organisational mess. Some of this definitely could've been prevented -- Apt and I take full responsibility for the original error of failing to secure a venue in time. Other hecticness in the planning wasn't really preventable---there's a reason this post opens with a description of our schedule---but will be avoided in the future. It was a learning experience for sure.
+
+For me the primary takeaway is not organisational difficulties and incompetence on our part, but rather the fact that the event was a smashing success. Despite everything turnout was beyond our best hopes and the room was at capacity. The event was received incredibly well, and people were asking us when the next event would be as soon as it ended.
+
+This is the part of the story we don't tell our collective moms, but I suppose I must spare some words on "the incident". Those leaving the event at the end might have noticed the police presence on the lower floor. Best I can tell what happened is that two people unrelated to our event had an altercation on the bottom floor, whereupon one of them left only to return armed with a box cutter and hammer and assault the other person. I hear the victim was alright, or at least as alright as one can be after being assaulted with weapons. I want to stress that to my knowledge none of our party were in any way involved, in danger or inconvenienced by these events.
+
+In light of the heart-warmingly sunny reception, we are very tentatively planning to hold another event early next year, with the hope of making it a bi-yearly occurrence.
+
+
+\\
+*I want to give special thanks to:*
+
+- Apt, for handling all the venue negotiations and calling upon his immense social network to make this happen;
+- Ed, for jumping in and filling the slot that opened up last minute; it was his first live set;
+- Shiz, for helping us set up the audio at the venue;
+- Progress, because I know just how much effort you put into this; it was his first set;
+- Vyvyde, your set was crazy;
+- Merc, Alex and Pachy, for being there throughout the whole process and offering immense support from beginning to end;
+- Les Amarres, for agreeing to let us use their complex /for free/ on such short notice, for trusting us enough to let us haul around your audio equipment unsupervised, and for providing us with food and drink;
+- You, The Audience, for being the life and soul of the party and making this worth doing for all of us;
+- And You, The Reader, for bearing with my doubtlessly excessive wordiness.
+
+ #+BEGIN_center
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+#+CAPTION: /And to all children, congratulations./
+[[../../static/images/pi_congratulations.png]]
+#+END_center
+
+
+** Set Rerecordings

org/events/wroclaw.org

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+#+title: Wrocław/Millennium Strike
+
+* Wrocław/Millennium Strike WROC.WAV
+** Arriving
+Alex, [[https://apt-get.xyz][apt-get]], [[https://x.com/a_nrvnqsr][mercury.lamp]], pachy and myself were in Wrocław[fn::Pronounced "Vroslav".], Poland between April 30th and May <END DATE> for /Millennium Strike Live WROC.WAV/ where apt and merc were performing (B2B, under alias /Re;iwa Diabolik/). Shout out to pachy for finding time and money to join us last minute; I am very very glad he was able to be there, it wouldn't have been the same without him.
+
+#+BEGIN_CENTER
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+#+CAPTION: /Quake III was a good game./
+[[../../static/images/wroclaw_boys.jpg]]
+#+END_CENTER
+
+The trip there was a bit of an ordeal; due to a scheduling SNAFU our airport was far enough away that we had to take public transport, and our flight was just about early enough that taking the first train wouldn't get us there in time, so we had to leave at 11PM and spend maybe like 7 hours total waiting for our somewhere-around-8:30AM flight. Merc had also flown in from the States that very day and hadn't slept.
+
+We had a bunch of gear to transport and were trying to limit luggage charges, so we had to struggle to fit everything and had one bag that was slightly over size limits. This ended up biting us in the ass on the way back as RyanAir nabbed us for the oversized bag and made us pay their extortionate bag charges.
+
+#+BEGIN_CENTER
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+#+CAPTION: /Finding suitable bags./
+[[../../static/images/wroc_bags.jpg]]
+#+END_CENTER
+
+#+BEGIN_CENTER
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+#+CAPTION: /Poland from above./
+[[../../static/images/poland_plane.jpg]]
+#+END_CENTER
+** Setcrafting
+Basically all the time in Wrocław before the event was spent on... actually preparing the set, which hadn't really been started yet, so we were mostly inside the hotel --- this had much to do with apt and I being busy preparing for [[./premier_impact.org][Premier Impact]] and everyone just generally being busy. Alex, pachy and I were technically free, but I was also trying to make stuff happen for /Premier Impact/ still, and we all kinda hung around for moral support.
+
+#+BEGIN_CENTER
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+#+CAPTION: /+Cowboy Bebop at his computer+ Setcrafting./
+[[../../static/images/setcrafting_wroc.jpg]]
+#+END_CENTER
+** The Event
+#+BEGIN_center
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 50%
+#+CAPTION: /Event poster./
+[[../../static/images/milstrike_wroc.jpg]]
+#+END_center
+
+The venue for the event was a club called Transformator. Pretty cool place, good sound system, nice seating area around the bar, cool backstage room, small secondary stage where a house DJ was playing for an audience of nobody the whole event for questionable reasons.
+
+#+BEGIN_CENTER
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+#+CAPTION: /Backstage at Transformator/
+[[../../static/images/transformator_backstage.jpg]]
+#+END_CENTER
+
+The itself event was a lot of fun. Nothing much particular to say, other than that it's always such a pleasure to hang out with the Millennium Strike guys. Apt and merc's set was received very well despite being pretty "out there". Shout out to Ashton and the whole Millennium Strike crew for creating one of the only spaces where one can play this kind of thing live. Here's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiT9jrBMAfE][a re-recording]] of the set that merc did --- I know there's a live recording floating around somewhere too but it's currently not public.
+
+#+BEGIN_CENTER
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+#+CAPTION: /Merc is always so photogenic./
+[[../../static/images/milstrike_merc.jpg]]
+#+END_CENTER
+
+Unfortunately as the event was winding down (in the early morning, I think around 5AM --- people party late in Poland it seems) security at the club got bizarrely aggressive trying to shoo everyone out, even though we weren't really loitering by any means. I will neither confirm nor deny the occurence of an Alex Chimp-Stomping Incident that might have slightly ticked them off.
+
+** Wrocław
+*** Pleasant Surprise
+With us primarily being there for the event and it being a really busy period, I don't think any of us had really read up on the city very much. Safe to say we were all very pleasantly surprised! Wrocław is an absolutely lovely city; real student town energy with lots of young people, very warm hospitality and a very homely, casual atmosphere in restaurants as well.
+
+*** Food and Drink
+#+BEGIN_CENTER
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+#+CAPTION: /Delicious./
+[[../../static/images/poland_food.jpg]]
+#+END_CENTER
+
+Absolutely amazing food! This was a very unanimous opinion among all of us. I had no idea that Polish cuisine is so delicious; it's definitely something I look out for now, and I'm planning to learn to cook some dishes. Incredible beer as well, the best I've ever had. If you ever visit the city I highly recommend visiting [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Awidnicka_Cellar][Świdnicka Cellar]], the oldest restaurant in Poland (est. /1273/!) as well as [[https://konspira.org/en/][Konspira]], a restaurant themed around the anti-communist resistance with a lot of character (and amazing food; see image above).
+
+Food prices were maybe about half what you'd find in an equivalent western European city, less than half in supermarkets.
+
+*** Architecture, Cityscape
+Wrocław has really cool architecture, a pretty eclectic mix of styles and old and new stuff. Lots of old defensive works that I believe were built after the Mongol invasion. Quoting Wikipedia:
+
+#+BEGIN_QUOTE
+In the 13th century, Wrocław was the political centre of the divided Polish kingdom. In April 1241, during the first Mongol invasion of Poland, the city was abandoned by its inhabitants and burnt down for strategic reasons. During the battles with the Mongols Wrocław Castle was successfully defended by Henry II the Pious.
+
+In 1245, in Wrocław, Franciscan friar Benedict of Poland, considered one of the first Polish explorers, joined Italian diplomat Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, on his journey to the seat of the Mongol Khan near Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol Empire, in what is considered the first such journey by Europeans.
+#+END_QUOTE
+
+Lots of beautiful brickwork which is a style of architecture I have not encountered before in this manner.
+
+#+BEGIN_CENTER
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+[[../../static/images/wroc_architecture1.jpg]]
+#+END_CENTER
+
+
+There was something very familiar about the layout of the city and the style of architecture in places, being similar to my hometown; I chalk this up to the places being connected through the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanseatic_League][Hanseatic League]].
+
+#+BEGIN_CENTER
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+[[../../static/images/wroc_architecture2.jpg]]
+#+END_CENTER
+
+The streets are broad, well-maintained and very clean. There's good public transport options --- busses, trams --- and the city is also very walkable. A couple times we used Bolt, taking advantage of the low prices.
+
+#+BEGIN_CENTER
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+[[../../static/images/wroc_architecture4.jpg]]
+#+END_CENTER
+
+The nighttime atmosphere was very pleasant as well, perhaps owning to the high student population. Wrocławians have a very interesting fashion sense; a lot of young people there dress like early 2010s scene kids, so you see a lot of bona fide goths and stuff. Very endearing honestly.
+
+#+BEGIN_CENTER
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+[[../../static/images/wroc_street.jpg]]
+#+END_CENTER
+
+We were there at the same time as the largest guitar festival in the world. Guitar music, rock especially and boomer rock especially within that is very popular. Lots of street musicians playing AC/DC and stuff.
+
+#+BEGIN_CENTER
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+#+CAPTION: /That's a lot of guitars. We didn't really have the time to hang around unfortunately, and as you can see it was very busy anyhow./
+[[../../static/images/wroc_guitars.jpg]]
+#+END_CENTER
+
+
+*** People, History and Closing Notes
+Overall Wrocławians made a strong impression on me as warm, hospitable, humorous and headstrong people. Wrocław had a very active anti-communist resistance that they are very proud of, and they've kept that history very alive, both visibly in the city scape but also in their endearing fashion sense.
+
+#+BEGIN_CENTER
+#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%
+#+CAPTION: /The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wroc%C5%82aw_Dwarfs][Wrocław Dwarves]] that abound in the cityscape are emblematic of the resistence. Their appearance traces directly from Dutch/ kabouters, /so they were a strangely familiar sight./
+[[../../static/images/wroc_dwarf.jpg]]
+#+END_CENTER
+
+Perhaps also because our visit coincided with a largest-in-the-world scale event and two national holidays, we overpaid quite a bit on the flight and accomodations. Flights within the EU can be had for really cheap; I think on a good day a Paris-Wrocław return flight can be had for around €70. Also, in our case in hindsight it turned out that getting two-person hotel rooms was a lot more expensive than it would've been to get single rooms instead; I don't know if this is normal in Poland, but it was certainly unexpected to me and is something to look out for.
+
+We ran into a lot of weird cursed technology SNAFUs this trip, summarized:
+- One of our hotel rooms had the electricity short out after we connected some gear, and we had to switch rooms;
+- The replacement room's window wouldn't open;
+- My laptop developed a black line running through the middle of the screen;
+- I broke my phone by launching it off the bed across the room.
+
+I definitely intend to return to Wrocław sooner rather than later. With how busy we were there's a lot I didn't get to see, and I'm honestly just really fond of the place. Honestly, more than anything I /really/ want to eat the local food again :).