Obsession

Mytheresa Launches an Immersive Shopping Experience for Apple Vision Pro as One of the First Luxury Platforms to Underline Digital Leadership

Retrieved on: 
Friday, February 2, 2024

MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ --

Key Points: 
  • The Innovation: Mytheresa leads the way in leveraging advanced technology and is amongst the first luxury platforms to design a shopping app for Apple Vision Pro.
  • The App: Designed for visionOS Mytheresa supports intuitive features throughout the digital journey, by using eye and hand controls.
  • The Mytheresa app for Apple Vision Pro will continuously provide new edited collection launches and exclusive capsule collections.
  • Neha Singh, CEO and founder of Obsess says: "Mytheresa's Apple Vision Pro experience represents a pivotal evolutionary moment for the luxury market.

Jaws turns 50: reading Peter Benchley's novel, you barely mind if its self-loathing characters are eaten by a 'genius' shark

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 2, 2024

But the reverse is often the case with popular fiction, which benefits from the immersive, visceral quality of the cinema.

Key Points: 
  • But the reverse is often the case with popular fiction, which benefits from the immersive, visceral quality of the cinema.
  • Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel Jaws, which turns 50 this year, was a smash.
  • Yet when we think of Jaws, images from Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film adaptation are what come to mind – along with John Williams’ iconic theme music.
  • Read more:
    From Jaws to Star Wars to Harry Potter: John Williams, 90 today, is our greatest living composer

‘The shark material is brilliant’

  • A career journalist, Benchley is effective in describing actions, events and scenery: shark hunting, the ocean, Quint’s boat.
  • The shark material is brilliant – the few times it cuts to the shark’s point of view (recalling Spielberg’s redeployment of the creature’s point of view from Creature from the Black Lagoon), the writing becomes electric, effortless.
  • Benchley is at his best when describing the movements of the shark in the water.
  • But the material about people is less confident – the writing is uneven and trite in places, with moments between characters sometimes strained in order to generate the necessary action.

Characters ‘loathsome in places’

  • One of the great joys of the film is the developing friendship between Hooper and Brody, culminating in their delightful final exchange.
  • After the shark is dead and they are kicking their way back to shore, Brody laughs: “I used to hate the water.” Hooper replies, “I can’t imagine why”.
  • The characters in the novel are thus thoroughly unappealing – even loathsome in places.
  • In the novel, Brody is “jealous and injured, inadequate and outraged”, a chauvinistic beer-guzzling bully, an obsessive – and often self-loathing – jerk.
  • Ellen is also much less sympathetic in the novel (though admittedly in the film she’s a cardboard cutout of virtuous motherhood and wifedom).
  • Martin, the middle son, age twelve, lounged in an easy chair, his shoeless feet propped up on the coffee table.
  • Martin, the middle son, age twelve, lounged in an easy chair, his shoeless feet propped up on the coffee table.

Is ‘easy to swallow’ better?

  • At the same time, Benchley – despite occasional flaws in the writing – does capture something of the dismal inconsistencies and banalities of being human.
  • The complex self-loathing of the characters contrasts with the brutal and unthinking power – the genius for action and killing – of the shark.
  • The film redacts the frailties and faults of the characters, turning an adult (albeit imperfect) novel into family-friendly fodder.
  • It comes as no surprise that the film also excises much of the novel’s pointed class critique.
  • […] Their bodies were lean, their muscles toned by boxing lessons at age nine, riding lessons at twelve, and tennis lessons ever since.

Benchley’s novel lingers longer

  • Benchley, horrified by the bad rap his novel gave sharks, would go on to become an ecological activist focused on shark protection.
  • Benchley’s Jaws may not immediately grab one as easily as Spielberg’s, and it’s certainly not as technically accomplished.


Ari Mattes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

$800m investment to accelerate Octopus Energy’s global clean energy growth

Retrieved on: 
Monday, December 18, 2023

Octopus Energy Group, the UK’s largest power supplier* and the owner of the Kraken technology platform, announces $800m (£625m) additional investment from its existing shareholders.

Key Points: 
  • Octopus Energy Group, the UK’s largest power supplier* and the owner of the Kraken technology platform, announces $800m (£625m) additional investment from its existing shareholders.
  • Recommended” an unprecedented 6 years in a row and according to consultants Bain**, Octopus Energy is rated 44 points higher than the next best company.
  • Through our partnership with Octopus Energy, we aim to provide our customers with services using the latest technology and clean energy.
  • Octopus Energy Group’s Kraken technology platform has seen astounding success, from 17 million accounts two years ago, to over 52 million today.

Crate & Barrel Launches Its First Virtual Store, an Immersive Re-Creation of Its New NYC Flagship, Powered by Obsess

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, November 16, 2023

NEW YORK, Nov. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Crate & Barrel announced today that it has launched its first immersive virtual store in partnership with experiential e-commerce platform Obsess. The fully shoppable virtual environment takes the form of Crate & Barrel's new flagship in New York City's Flatiron neighborhood, which opens today at 881 Broadway, and features engaging animations and interactive personalization tools that let customers visualize their own sofa and living room set and build their own bouquet using the brand's selection of vases and botanicals.

Key Points: 
  • NEW YORK, Nov. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Crate & Barrel announced today that it has launched its first immersive virtual store in partnership with experiential e-commerce platform Obsess .
  • We're thrilled to partner with Crate & Barrel on this launch and give its online customers, and especially those not based in New York City, an immersive way to discover and shop for products offered in the brand's new flagship store.
  • The virtual store is among the largest fully 3D-rendered spaces that Obsess has created to date, offering more than 450 products and eight interactive room environments, including separate dining, kitchen, living room, botanical shop and Crate & Kids areas.
  • Every element and product in the environment is available for purchase, giving online customers a very sensory-rich, lifelike shopping experience."

Global Real Estate Brokerage The Agency Launches Office in Yorkville

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, November 7, 2023

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Global real estate brokerage The Agency proudly announces the launch of its office in Yorkville in Toronto, Ontario. The new locale, which will be known as The Agency Yorkville, is the firm's seventeenth office in Canada, joining the brokerage's growing network of offices in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and Europe. The office will be led by industry veterans Peter and Paige Torkan and Nurit Coombe, who will serve as Managing Partners. The Agency also has offices in North York and Downtown Toronto, making the Yorkville locale the brokerage's third in the city of Toronto.

Key Points: 
  • LOS ANGELES, Nov. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Global real estate brokerage The Agency proudly announces the launch of its office in Yorkville in Toronto, Ontario.
  • "Toronto's Yorkville is truly a world-class destination that offers some of the most luxurious real estate in Canada," Nurit Coombe.
  • The Agency is an agent-first, tech-driven boutique luxury global brokerage representing clients worldwide in a broad spectrum of classes, including residential, new development, resort real estate, luxury leasing and vacation rentals.
  • Watch The Agency on Buying Beverly Hills, a new real estate occu-soap highlighting the high-stakes world of luxury real estate in Los Angeles, currently streaming on Netflix.

After a Nationwide Vote, The Habit Burger Grill Finally Settles the Santa Barbara Char Debate: It's a Burger!

Retrieved on: 
Friday, November 3, 2023

GLENDALE, Calif., Nov. 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- After weeks of fierce debate and a nationwide public vote, The Habit Burger Grill proudly announces that the Santa Barbara Char has been definitively recognized as a burger.

Key Points: 
  • GLENDALE, Calif., Nov. 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- After weeks of fierce debate and a nationwide public vote, The Habit Burger Grill proudly announces that the Santa Barbara Char has been definitively recognized as a burger.
  • “Finally, after 10 years of being in menu purgatory, our Santa Barbara Char has found its forever home in our burger category.” Jack Hinchliffe, Chief Marketing Officer of The Habit Burger Grill announced.
  • So, with this decision, The Habit Burger Grill is proud to declare the Santa Barbara Char is now officially, the Santa Barbara Charburger!”
    To commemorate the Santa Barbara Charburger's journey to the burger menu, The Habit Burger Grill is excited to announce an upcoming documentary that will spotlight the remarkable journey, the nationwide vote, as well as McCalister's grassroots efforts.
  • For media inquiries or more information about the upcoming documentary, please contact:
    The Habit Burger Grill Press Contact:

HYTE Releases the Latest Addition to its Y-Series of Cases, the New Y70 Touch

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 24, 2023

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- HYTE, a leading manufacturer of cutting-edge PC components and peripherals, is excited to release the new Y70 Touch, the latest addition to its signature Y-Series cases featuring a vibrant 14.1" 1100 x 3840 capacitive touchscreen integrated into the corner panel.

Key Points: 
  • "With obsessive improvements in cooling, capacity, and design, the Y70 Touch is the modern aesthetic case."
  • A larger rendition of HYTE's viral Y60, Y70 Touch takes interactivity and immersion in a PC case to new lengths.
  • Customization of the Y70 Touch is made possible via HYTE Nexus Touch.
  • To learn more about the Y70 Touch, please visit: https://hyte.co/y70Touch-PR
    To watch the official launch video for the Y70 Touch, please visit: https://youtu.be/4lelh9E1t9k

The book that haunts me – seven experts on the scariest thing they’ve ever read

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 17, 2023

It lurks in long evening shadows, calls out through mysterious bumps in the night and blows down your neck whenever you feel a sudden shiver.

Key Points: 
  • It lurks in long evening shadows, calls out through mysterious bumps in the night and blows down your neck whenever you feel a sudden shiver.
  • With Halloween approaching, we asked six of our academic experts to tell us about the scariest book they’ve ever read.

A Dictionary of Monsters and Mysterious Beasts, by Carey Miller (1974)

    • Lady Macbeth says it’s “The eye of childhood / That fears a painted devil.” She’s right.
    • I bought A Dictionary of Monsters and Mysterious Beasts at a school book fair when I was seven.
    • Miller’s book was undeniably a landmark in the development of my literary interests.

The Flypaper, by Elizabeth Taylor (1969)

    • “Scary” is too glib a word for the chillingly believable conclusion of the author Elizabeth Taylor’s short story, The Flypaper.
    • It starts with 11-year-old Sylvia, unloved and unlovely, riding the bus to her hated music lesson in the drab outskirts of a provincial town.
    • When a man starts harassing her, she is reassured by a middle-aged lady who she feels is “keeping an eye on the situation”.

Dracula, by Bram Stoker (1897)

    • Reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula was an unsettling experience I can’t forget.
    • The story unfolds through journal entries and letters, revolving around a young solicitor who discovers that his client is a vampire.
    • You know that feeling when something is so terrifying yet beautiful that you can’t look away?

The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson (1959)

    • “Hill House is vile, it is diseased,” muses protagonist Eleanor Vance, on approach to the titular manor of Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House.
    • Jackson, like me, suffered from parasomnias such as sleepwalking and nightmares, and there are moments in The Haunting of Hill House where the spookiness manifests itself through Vance’s sleep and dream-like trance states.

Things We Lost in the Fire, by Mariana Enríquez, translated by Megan McDowell (2016)

    • A book that still scares me whenever I think of it is Things We Lost in the Fire, a 2016 short story collection by Argentine writer Mariana Enríquez.
    • The stories take conventional horror tropes – murder, mutilation, abuse, the occult – and weave them into contemporary tales of Buenos Aires.
    • The stories shift between satirical realism and brutal surrealism, often when you least expect it.

The Woman in Black, by Susan Hill (1983)

    • A place miles away from the nearest house or village where, as cliche as it sounds, there is no one to hear you scream.
    • Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black serves as a truly haunting example of this.
    • Lawyer Arthur Kipps is hired to settle the estate of the late Alice Drablow and embarks on a trip to her home, Eel Marsh House.

Les Chants de Maldoror, by Isidore Ducasse (1868-1869)

    • Written under the pen name Comte de Lautreamont, Isidore Ducasse’s Les Chants de Maldoror (The Songs of Maldoror) did not scare me, but its images have long haunted me.
    • This deranged and surreal work takes readers into the mind of Maldoror, a misanthropic wanderer who revels in his unrepentant evil.
    • The book’s self-described “poison-filled pages” have a nightmarish quality throughout, with disturbing and yet sometimes darkly poetic descriptions of murder, malice and madness.

WorkLLama Announces Record Logo Wins as Industry Leader in Direct Sourcing

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, September 14, 2023

ALPHARETTA, Ga., Sept. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- WorkLLama, technology provider of a single, AI-driven talent marketing, relationship management, engagement, and direct sourcing suite, today announced a record-setting past three months with 15 new direct sourcing customers—most of them Fortune 500 customers—including the largest hotel chain, a UK-based airliner, an oil and gas company, and a premier global media and entertainment conglomerate. This solidifies WorkLLama's position in the market as the leading next-generation direct sourcing and talent acquisition platform. 

Key Points: 
  • This solidifies WorkLLama's position in the market as the leading next-generation direct sourcing and talent acquisition platform.
  • Industry partners have also recognized this innovative approach, and many have selected WorkLLama's platform as a key partner for their direct sourcing solution.
  • "WorkLLama is one of our key direct sourcing partners because we believe deeply in their mission of connecting people to meaningful work," said Brian Hoffmeyer, Beeline's SVP Market Strategies.
  • "We appreciate the trust these organizations have put in us, our roadmap, and our innovation in direct sourcing, talent marketing, and talent management.

WorkLLama Announces Record Logo Wins as Industry Leader in Direct Sourcing

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, September 14, 2023

ALPHARETTA, Ga., Sept. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- WorkLLama, technology provider of a single, AI-driven talent marketing, relationship management, engagement, and direct sourcing suite, today announced a record-setting past three months with 15 new direct sourcing customers—most of them Fortune 500 customers—including the largest hotel chain, a UK-based airliner, an oil and gas company, and a premier global media and entertainment conglomerate. This solidifies WorkLLama's position in the market as the leading next-generation direct sourcing and talent acquisition platform. 

Key Points: 
  • This solidifies WorkLLama's position in the market as the leading next-generation direct sourcing and talent acquisition platform.
  • Industry partners have also recognized this innovative approach, and many have selected WorkLLama's platform as a key partner for their direct sourcing solution.
  • "WorkLLama is one of our key direct sourcing partners because we believe deeply in their mission of connecting people to meaningful work," said Brian Hoffmeyer, Beeline's SVP Market Strategies.
  • "We appreciate the trust these organizations have put in us, our roadmap, and our innovation in direct sourcing, talent marketing, and talent management.