#(infinitely silly / no pun intended)

[stxrysnow]

might i add priest!satoru x vampire!reader. hm hm hm

[tacagen]

rating thawne's deaths on a 10 point scale

snapped neck: 6/10. ok. not good, not bad, well-deserved, timeless, impactful. i love the way thawne is still complaining about that one though.

flashpoint: 9/10. imagine becoming a living paradox and proceeding to rant about how your speedster nemesis cant hurt you now (very normal way to put it btw.) only to be pierced by a fucking sword. dumb and classic, all good here.

the button: 100/10 THE DUMBEST DEATH OF THEM ALL AND MY ALL TIME FAVORITE. also a classic, imagine being told multiple times that youre going to die and fucking carry on like youre the Smartest here and nothing could ever happen to you and actually ima adopt you barry. thawne's character at its finest.

running scared: 8/10. not bad. ironic last words and 'on my life i swear' about the promise he intended to break all along. once again, dead because he couldnt shut the fuck up and look around him. iris, my beautiful tired of thawne's shit queen, I STAN.

the flash cw season 1: 5/10. dont remember it much asides from being totally pointless as it has 0 effect on thawne's existence further and our beloved Genius of Time Travel, who can Calculate Every Single Timeline Consequence To His Actions revealing his fucking name to his ancestor and bullying him into murder by suicide.

legends of tomorrow season 2: 10/10. love this one. top 10 reverse-flash moments. my dude got together like 15 other versions of himself for each to do practically fucking nothing other than to group pose and die. an honorable mention: poor black flash who got called a monster just for trying to do his timeline protection job and who endured all of thawne's shit only for it to turn out completely pointless as well. then again if you think about it, everything that happens in cw is pointless.

the flash cw season 6: 2/10. does that even count as a death. makes zero fucking sense. 2 points only for thawne being a total loser and resembling negaduck's 'crisis on infinite darkwings' death.

suicude squad: hell to pay: 10/10. i gave this 10 points already just for his last words 'fuck my life'. again, DOESNT KNOW HOW TO SHUT THE FUCK UP WHICH GETS HIM KILLED. thawne believing in the afterlife in the first place feels out of character to me though.

finish line: 0/10. it was very hard to waste a character like that without even realizing it AFTER WRITING HIM WITH SUCH A DEEP UNDERSTANDING BEFORE but you've done it, williamson ⭐

legends of tomorrow season 7: 7/10. very balanced death, little bit of thawne having zero fucking braincells, little bit of meaning. not even complaining about the concept, silly little domesticated rat doing his silly little job of preserving the timeline. i approve.

jurassic league: 10/10. first i suggest we just stop and think for a moment about the fact that we got a DINOSAUR THAWNE in a list of deaths. second THIS PREHISTORIC DUMPLING GOT FUCKING EATEN. third insert an extinction pun. perfect understanding of thawne being a fucking joke of a character and meme potential.

flashpoint beyond: 12/10. did NOTHING in the plot. meant NOTHING for the plot. just spawned as a corpse and looked pretty in the morgue (10 points already purely for The Page) and i respect that. 1 more point for the button encore and another to martha wayne. thank you for your service queen, we'll never forget your impact on this one.

knight terrors: the flash: 8/10. this mf lasted exactly 3 pages. neat but a bit sad if you think about it. not only got killed unprovokedly but his precious museum he just tried to protect got damaged as well. didnt even get to finish neither the tour or his point about barry not being able to wake up (again, only tried to help in a way by that?). also i like the way he's once again a creation of barry's subconsciousness acting suspiciously fruity.

[bitter-sweet-coffee]

for the ship thingy: fireball, espave, and brando/clara

someone may or may not have asked for espave already so i will just point you towards that ask, but i’ll do the other two!!

fireball (aka bean x amy)

- i think it would be really funny if amy stopped crushing on sonic and then got with BEAN.

- no one would like the ship except fang, who would get some peace and quiet. the fact fang agrees with bean on something is enough to make it powerful and worthy

- bean might be silly but he can FIGHT so they’d be a dynamic duo, pun intended

- amy hitting bombs into enemies with her hammer

- bean might just be random all the time for no particular reason, but i’d like to think he also uses it for deflection. amy sees through this shit and makes him be vulnerable without the threat of being too overbearing or ruining his image

- i think amy needs someone who will make her laugh, and bean is so hilarious that it’ll work like a charm

- they both talk really fast so trying to listen in on one of their conversations sounds like a youtube video sped up too fast

- amy has a thing for green birds (cough tekno cough)

- i normally see bean as aroace but it would be funny if amy and her big fat crush awkwardly tell him and apologize but he just goes “no it’s cool let’s date” with like a shrug. idk methinks it would be adorable (the look of shock on amy’s face would send me into orbit if someone drew it ngl)

- both of them are highly emotionally affectionate so amy would never get told off for being clingy, and bean would never be called annoying (more playing and adventuring and high energy activities and hugs bean is definitely a hugger)

- headcanon: amy would believe him 100% like he will break the fourth wall and her empath powers assure her he isn’t kidding

brando x clara (jet’s oc parents)

(this is admittedly a hard one because brando sucks but i’ll try!)

- clara is literally the only person brando has and will ever love. well you could kinda count jet but that’s because he’s the last bit of clara still alive, but alas

- they’re pleasant to be around when they’re together! clara gets brando to spend his infinite money on people so if you so much as look their way you get a couple thousand dollars every time you blink, bonus points if you look sad

- brando is too powerful. like he has unlimited cash, jewels and fame, to the point it’s just empty. what’s there to fight for when you have everything? this contrasts clara growing up during a war while broke as shit working for any money she can get to support her little sister and keep them safe. despite all this she’s so kind and full of love, something brando hasn’t really experienced before. they solve each other’s problems!

- they give us one (1) jet q hawk which is the best ship gift ever

[ailogomakerr]

Beyond The Slime: A Logo Analysis of Some of Nickelodeon’s Bizzare Logos

You can’t simply think of a kid’s TV channel without immediately thinking of Nickelodeon! It’s every kids’ staple along with Cartoon Network and Disney Channel. All of which has captivated audiences, young adults and even young adults with their iconic shows and series!

But apart from their quirky cartoons and shows that are joint to the hip with fun, there’s much more interesting things about Nickelodeon and that’s how their logo practically is shapeshifter! It is indeed a wonder to look into this symbol strategy and learning about their logo history and symbol success can help you kickstart your logo-making journey. Make sure to check out Ai Logo Generator for a convenient, and fast logo-making journey!

Source: The Guardian

Some of Nickelodeon’s many forms of logo stood out among the pool of slime-themed logos and in this blog, we are going to dive right into the inspiration behind these logo designs and the extent of creativity it took to make them that made Nickelodeon a success. Whether you’re looking to learn for a logo do-over or you’re starting out from scratch, tune in!

The Slime, A TV Icon

Creativity and Fluidity at Its Peak

The Splat went under a bajillion iterations as there’s really no definite number as to what shape liquid would form into and this genius reason represents Nickelodeon’s fluid and ever-evolving nature. It effectively echoed the infinite possibilities and limitlessness of fun, it perfectly reflects a kid’s ideal of what fun means, there’s no set form to it and everything is possible!

A Emblem of Infinite Possibilities

Reinvention is what Nickelodeon’s splat represents: the ability to adapt and reinvent itself, mirroring the limitless imagination of its audience. It acknowledges that children’s interests are varied and ever-changing, and so too must be the network that seeks to entertain them. This logo embodies the spirit of innovation that drives Nickelodeon, reflecting its commitment to being a dynamic and responsive entertainment platform.

The Turkey Logo

Spirit of The Season

This certain season Nickelodeon logo was specifically made for a very special holiday, and you’ve guessed it, Christmas! Kidding aside, this logo really showcased the Thanksgiving spirit and how the channel brings families together even just by gathering them around their TV screens at home. This logo is a perfect mix of celebratory and comedic branding.

Why a Holiday Logo?

The turkey is not just a Thanksgiving cliche, it is strategically adopted to reflect the channel’s awareness and respect for cultural significance of holidays and how important these events are for their viewers. By temporarily changing their logo to that of a turkey, they are showcasing that even if they are a large name in the industry, they can still intimately celebrate familial holidays right inside everyones’ home so long as they have their televisions on.

Five Fingers to the Face (When You Know, You Know)

A Personal Touch

This might not come as a shock to everyone but Nickelodeon’s hand logo is not just something silly that they slapped on (pun intended) and got over with. It actually represents the channel’s hands-on approach to everything they produce and their undying dedication to create television content that can touch their audience’s lives. Even if it’s through a comedic show from Drake & Josh or from a funny banter between Sam and Cat, Nickelodeon knows how to touch people’s lives (not literally we hope). This kind of logo personalization shows creativity and expression within the network.

Significance of the Handprint

Everybody else knows that a hand print is a sign of one’s individuality and uniqueness and Nickelodeon took that to their advantage using a handprint to signify how their channel just stands out among the crowd. It is also evident that this logo symbolizes how their viewers are unique as well, with a different set of interests, tastes and take on things. That can be seen on the shows their produce, this logo only proves that the network fosters individuality among their viewers.

The Feet Logo

This Aged Like Milk

Before the whole Fiasco with Schneider’s alleged demeanor in and out of the Nick show’s set, the feet logo used to be a profound representation of the channel’s fun and quirky spirit. “Go wherever your feet take you!” Is a saying that’s quite inspiring for children that are fans of the channel and the shows it aired at the time and the feet logo is a smart marketing strategy to uphold their ambition to have children explore and engage with the world. It’s also a genius call to action to have viewers kick off their shoes and get comfortable just as how their show aimed to.

Why Feet?

Opting for a foot logo made Nickelodeon stand out among its competitors that are giants in the kids’ TV industry. Although the foot looks like a suspicious option to pull that off with all the choices the channel has for the central visual element. But suffice to say, it worked! Then, that is. Humor and joy was the network’s mission and the logo seemed to have appealed to children, just how Schneider wanted to (just a rough guess.)

To Wrap Up

These logos that represented Nickelodeon are only a few of the ones that the channel made and utilized for certain occasions or events. Talk about dedication for staying current! When it comes to knowing and standing on business on what’s in, Nickelodeon never came to play! This unique yet effective symbol strategy is deeply intertwined with the channel’s personality.

Apart from being quite a hit on the marketing side of things, these logos also represent how the channel really knows their audience and cares about viewer’s preferences. With these bizarre logos, Nick had the edge to stand out and be one of the best TV for kid’s entertainment out there.

What do you think about this versatile type of branding? It’s quite tedious and takes a lot of brainstorming but totally do-able and worth it! So would you dare to incorporate it into your symbol? Let us know!This blog is from Ailogomakerr.com

[shini--chan]

Hello! I'm new to your account, and so far I'm loving your stories! I love all the head cannons you've made! I hope you've been safe and healthy! I have a recommendation for you, it's an anime called servamp. It's a good show in my opinion. And, if your request are open, may i request a Karma Akabane sfw and N.sfw head cannon? Thank you for your time ^^.

Thank you! It means a lot to me!

Yandere Karma Akabane

Sfw

You’d think that a wolf in sheep’s clothing could be the best metaphor to describe this young man. Personally, I’d say he rather is a fox posing as a rabbit. Over the years, Karma has learned to deftly hide his true nature and intension through a surface persona. The essential part is it isn’t even completely fake. He exists in multitudes.

is exactly what makes him so dangerous – he is a loose cannon. Hence why you’d have such a difficult time outmanoeuvring him when he takes an interest in you. Going from hot to cold in a matter of seconds, he can be very exhausting when he wants to – overwhelming as well.

Karma is very playful in nature and would enjoy toying with you. It’d be a twisted game of tag to be with him, no matter the circumstances. In the beginning, he just finds it entertaining to annoy you and play (not so) silly tricks on you. However, as time progress he realises that he has gotten quite attached to you.

In order to arouse his interest, you’d have to be an interesting person yourself. Once he is hyperfocused on you, your best bet to get away would be to suddenly become very boring because the more you push him away, the more he pulls you towards him. And even then, you’d have to be a terrific actor and in possession of infinite patience in order to resist his attempts to make you snap out of it.

He is obsessive and despite the twisted nature of his emotions for you, he does his best to respect you and treat you as an equal. Out of that reason you could be conflicted about what you want – to stay with him or run as far away as possible.

 Nevertheless, he is persistent in his pursuit of you and wouldn’t hesitant to black-mail and manipulate you. To him, respecting a person largely involves not underestimating them and also being meticulous in his way – it would be a miracle if you could gather enough evidence to convince people of the truth.

While he makes everything look childish easy, there is a lot of hard work behind every one of his ploys and plots.

Do not betray him, especially when you’ve gained his full trust. That’s a sure-fire way to get on his bad side. It would mean instant karma for you. (All puns intended)   

N.sfw

Always considerate of you and also would also always ask for your consent – it is part of good BDSM etiquette, after all.

Would get kinky very quickly, but not into the realm of the absurd. Rope bondage, overstimulation, blind-folds and such all have the green light by him.

Through beware, Karma would quickly steer away from vanilla if it isn’t passionate enough. After a certain time period, he’d only go traditional if he is out to quickly seduce and manipulate you. 

[citialiin]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm. tagged by: @forseenclade thank you ! man i am so bad at doing memes.  tagging: @blossomingbeelzebug @zhrets @lupichorous @dansiere yayayayayayayaya

My muse is:   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless / complicated [ z/iggy stardust is DEFINITELY not my original character, but 683 is, and every single part of how i rp ziggy from his backstory to his personality was made up by me. that being said, ziggy is still a character that exists in media. ]

Is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO. [ im pretty sure ziggy is tied with the thin white duke as one of b*wie’s most famous fictional personas? ]

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES ? / NO / IDK.

Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.

Are they underrated?  YES / NO / IDK. [ maybe a little overrated ]

Were they relevant for the main story?  YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG.

Are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO.

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. [ celebrity rock god of limitless talent vs inevitable overrated washup. most celebrities are polarizing anyways ]

How strictly do you follow canon?  — there isnt much canon to go off of i think? the album barely even states if ziggy is an alien and b*wie himself got really wishy washy about it (sometimes saying z is a human who was contacted by aliens, he was an alien himself, etc). i dont think we know anything about him besides what he looks like (red hair / weird eyes / pale / “well hung” lmao) and he has a band called the spiders from mars, he plays the guitar left handed, he’s bisexual + androgynous, and he’s charming and popular with the teens but inevitably is a victim of his own ego. and he dies.  that too.  but that’s literally it! we know Nothing else about him.  so i filled in all the gaps because my brain has worms.  theres a little bit of the story that verges on fantasy (that he’s some sort of messiah messenger for “the infinites,” whatever the fuck THAT means, david) so i nix that because i prefer hard scifi.  and theres one BIG part that i just ... deleted out of his canon, in that the world is ending in 5 years in his timeline, and he’s like ... aware of this ?  but that’s dumb and confusing.  i legit dont care anymore. my OC now.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.  —  im so embarrassed i know i could be genuine and actually try but i have brain blockajjolajlakala33lak33klak333ak3jka3akjj323j3 i guess it’s like ... ziggy is truly the ultimate expression OF humanity because he reveals everything both wrong and right about the human condition, he literally embodies the best of humanity and the worst at the same time, he’s a really interesting critique on the idea of genuineness/earnestness vs commercalism in art, the perils of fame, and also how humans are so inherently corrupting?  a lot of thematic stuff i like exploring is like what is innate to humans vs what is learned behavior, what are things that humans do naturally that ziggy mimics out of his desire to be like us?  i think he has a really good story arc -- he went from being a literal nameless CLONE in a society full of pragmatic forward thinking science-oriented people to a sell out rockstar celebrity in a society of people that value individualism and self expression and art, but in the process completely lost his mind and himself and gave into the worst that humanity has to offer like rampant selfishness, drug abuse, self destructive tendencies, etc. characters changing is always interesting and ziggy truly changes for the worse -- but he is never just black and white, he was never good and then suddenly evil, he just was always the same person putting on different facades and trying to be himself by constructing an identity that maybe was who he wanted to be versus who he actually is.  i dont know what im talking about. hes just an alien trying to be too hard to be human in all the wrong ways.   i just like how “gray” ziggy is. he isnt good or bad, he can be very nice and he can be very mean, he’s overtly showboating confident but at the same time deeply afflicted with self-consciousness (why tf else would anyone be So obsessed with how they present themselves?).  hes an icon of individualism but also commercialism.  he’s freakishly alien but is almost more human than humans themselves.  he struggles as lot in his head -- which makes for interesting writing, i guess !!  Im so emabrrased im not going to go back and read what i wrote so if i typoed dont look at me

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).  —  i think ziggy comes across as really mean and nothing else.  his horrible bitchy rudeness comes across as hee hee hoo hoo sassy isnt he a rascal when it’s supposed to be more like ... he’s so far gone into the celebrity delusion he’s conflated aggressive rudeness with charmingness because no one told him otherwise and everyone worships him to the point where he’s just given into the delusion that he can do no wrong.  i think theres the general simplification problem that happens with a lot of fictional characters, it’s easy to see him as just a whacky sassy glittery quirky rockstar when i guess it avoids the inherent tragedy of like ... everything else about him. his totally fake and false sense of identity built up from superficial things like fame and labels and stardom.  maybe my version of ziggy is just too weirdly depressing and sad when i know his original iteration wasn’t quite so ... grim.  im not very sure tbh.  

What inspired you to rp your muse?  —  hmmm ... a lot of things! i just really got into b*wie stuff in early 2019, i’ve ALWAYS loved aliens and sci-fi, and i was really shocked that db sets up such great visual storytelling potential but does it through music.  i just really liked ziggys “story” and i like any chance to think about aliens so i just got invested into piecing together a little backstory for him using, like, the cumulative knowledge of literally every other piece of science fiction ive ever consumed in my life.  this was summer 2019 when i was making initial pitches for my thesis film, and so i just randomly decided to pitch “animated version of ziggy stardust” as one of the potential ideas.  shockingly everyone liked it a lot and so did my professor who thought it was really cool, and then i just ended up sticking with the character and working on him for an entire year.  ziggy became my hobby but also my homework.  he was such a fun character because everything about him was interesting to me and i had just enough source material to have a starting point but so much room to take him in any direction i wanted to.

What keeps your inspiration going?  —  honestly, yooooou guyssssss. i have some really amazing fwends that ive met thru here .... and some of our dumb stupid stories have literally become NOVEL length. it just self generates inspiration because you realize the limitless amount of stories you could tell with this one single character when your character enters his story or he enters their story and etc. etc.  ive drawn endless amounts of comics and stuff for him ... ziggy is just so endlessly interesting ...   cringe be cringed bro but recently (i know this sounds dumb bear with me or die.) ive kind of realized a lot of how i rp z comes as some metaphor for the experience of being an asian immigrant/being asian in the US -- his home “culture” is a lot stricter than the rampant selfish individualism of the usa (he only lives in the uk and usa, so he thinks the whole planet is like this), he’s dissuaded from standing out from his community and his selfishness becomes a community burden rather than a personal flaw, and when he does come to earth, he goes through such awful culture shock, literally nothing makes sense to him and everything is Different.  and while some things are different in a Nice way, something things are different in an Awful way, and he’s given the option between losing his true personal identity as an atominan and giving it up to be a human.  the allure of being a human is a little too much but losing yourself like this is traumatic, in a way.  obvs like ... a little silly and definitely not something that i actively intended to put into his story arc, its just something that fell into place cuz i guess i worked so closely with my own personal experiences and feelings of “alienation” (pun intended) to try to understand how he would feel being a literal alien an shid. its cathartic to write about him. but he also has a lot of my own personal interests just thrown in -- 70s fashion, scifi, science, tryhard implications about human nature, art history, whatever dumb nonsense i get into

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO / SOMETIMES?

Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO  [ i would prefer information to spring up organically in the story but cuz threads always get dropped i end up just telling people outright. i didnt want anyone to know his home planet/his old name but barely anyone writes enough with ziggy to get to that point to reveal it (i legit managed to do it organically Once) so i just had to write it in a post lmao orz ]

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO [ wrote a ton of drabbles ! drew a ton of comics! ]

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO 

Are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO / I DUNNO?

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / HAHA NO.

Are you a sensitive person?  YES  / NO. / IDK ? 

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?  —  definitely!  like i said ... my version of ziggy ended up being the protag of my thesis film and for 1 yr straight his characterization, backstory, design, and even how i wanted to animate his fucking movements (ziggy stardust timing charts.) were beaten to death in a classroom environment, torn apart and rebuilt into something better.  had i stayed with what i originally wanted to go with, ziggy would be so different than how i write him 2day. amazingly my pre production professor is a literal two time emmy award winning storyboard artist and animator so he definitely helped me design him (my version of ziggy is meant for ... a cartoon, obviously, not real life) and give him a better backstory?  and my post production professor is a retired disney animator who worked on hercules and a bunch of old disney channel shows?  had i gone wah wah wah i dont want to hear ur critiques i wouldnt have made him better.  if you ever think ziggy seems inconsistent or poorly written ... tell me !! i literally major in ... animation. cartoons. entertainment.  my job is to entertain you. if you are not entertained, there is a problem.  ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED ????

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?  —  I LOVE QUESTIONS? i love ... answering questions ... if you ask me something ill come kiss you.

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?  —  sure! i dont know why that would happen, though, because i mean ... he’s an OC. but i gues someone could be like “i feel like this is incongruous to things you’ve previously established in his character” or somethin

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?  —  i feel like a lot of b*wie stans would find my version of ziggy weird but i mean thats fine!  i guess my goal is to have a well written character, not necessarily an accurate version of ziggy

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?  —  if you hate MY version of ziggy thats fine but if u hate ziggy stardust in general (like the bowie concept) then u need some taste what the fuck is cooler than a egomaniac genderless bisexual rockstar alien with red hair? nothing. go back to watching your CW shows you dirty filthy normie

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?  —  yes! dm me though. dont clown me on the dash like that.  i usually write your replies 12 AM - 4 AM so it’s expected.

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?   —  hmmm ... maybe! i do like to talk to people and i am VERY nice, trust me, if youre ever sad ill do everything i can to make you feel better. but im quiet! i dont really reach out to people and i tend to just keep to myself.  im not very social or extroverted at all haha i barely can make ooc posts without feeling like god’s coming to beat my head in with a brick. im sitting here at 5:30 AM with this meme feeling like if i post it i will die (BUT I MUST)

[thefilmsimps]

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (dir. Jeff Fowler)

-Jere Pilapil- 6.5/10 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is the kind of sequel that relishes in having the exposition done away during the first movie, and now we can introduce friends and have the hero be himself and have adventures. It makes this movie a marked improvement over the first, since explaining a super fast blue hedgehog is silly, dumb and unnecessary (they went with “he’s from another dimension, or some shit”). But, Sonic the Hedgehog (Ben Schwartz) is also not a character that lends itself to depth. He is an invention of the video game era where the plot could be explained in the instruction manual, and to play the actual game all you needed to know was “move right to left, point A to point B”. That’s both freeing and restricting for a movie adaptation: characters and settings A, B, C, and D all have to appear to please the fans, but the filmmakers are free to arrange them in whatever pattern they see fit. This time around, Jeff Fowler’s film opts to introduce the two oldest Sonic the Hedgehog characters, the two-tailed fox Miles “Tails” Prower (Colleen O’Shaughnessey, Tails’ longtime voice) and the red echidna Knuckles (Idris Elba, having a blast). This is already better than the first movie, where Sonic is a fish out of water mostly interacting with James Marsden’s Tom. Marsden was game (no pun intended, I swear) for the gig, but who ever played a Sonic the Hedgehog game or watched the cartoons and thought “what if this character met real people?” He ain’t Roger Rabbit (he ain’t even Detective Pikachu). Better to have him interact with characters his size (and speed). I’d rather see Tails worshipping Sonic until they are friends and equals over Tom being confused by Sonic’s existence because I, also, grew up thinking Sonic is just fuckin’ awesome. This time around, Jim Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik is back. He by chance meets Knuckles, who is searching for a magic emerald MacGuffin granting infinite power etc etc, so they team up thinking Sonic’s past might have clues to its location. I’m not going to spoil where this goes except to say the movie would be very boring if this emerald’s existence were just a myth. Anyway, this razor thin setup is all you need as an excuse for a series of setpieces and action scenes wherein everyone eventually learns a lesson about honor and loyalty or whatever, who cares. It’s paced briskly enough that I couldn’t believe the movie took up 122 minutes until I remembered there’s a whole subplot with Tom and the returning human characters going to a wedding. I assume the actors showed up on set and they scrambled to give them all something to do while everyone asked “They were contracted for more of these?” Let me take a minute to sing praises of Jim Carrey, who, like Sonic, was someone I loved deeply during my childhood. While doing the press for this movie, he teased this perhaps being his last acting role. While this isn’t a great movie by any definition, it’s as good a late-career showcase of what makes him special as you’re going to find. Since he’s playing opposite a bunch of literal cartoons, he’s free to throw himself fully into this stupid mad scientist character in a way I haven’t seen him do since he started taking more “serious” roles. There’s a physicality here that’s admirable and wildly unnecessary. Maybe not everything he does or says is funny, but there’s a conviction and total lack of self-consciousness to Jim Carrey’s schtick that is refreshing. Ultimately, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a very generic movie in terms of its story and what it delivers, which is fine. It’s a perfectly nice and unchallenging way to spend 2 hours, and handsomely crafted. But like Sonic’s transition from 2D to 3D, I can’t shake the feeling that this only exists because other people were successful doing it and not because there was a specific inspired reason for any of it to happen. Still, hey, I laughed when the coffee shop was called the “Mean Bean” (I was terrifyingly good at that game) and I’m not sure anyone has any right to demand more from this.

[nyaarr]

Anahardt week - A love story in seven days.

Day1 - Sugar

Ana was looking at her datapad, her frown getting deeper and deeper as she read the news. Terrorist attacks. Omnics out of control, companies hacked. Governments unable to keep the streets safe-- and Overwatch, mentioned in the list of threats to them all.

Sometimes she would like to get back to the UN council and punch them in their faces. And she would, soon enough. If only-- If only she could made her mind about leaving. She kept delaying her departure, her rifle forgotten against a corner.

Overwatch’s fall was all over the news few days after she woke up in a hospital, one-eyed and presumed dead. The two commanders were MIA, presumed dead among the many, many casualties of the explosion at the headquarters. It shook her to the core to think so many friends had died, but there were no tears. If Amelie was with Talon, they must have had something to do with the explosion. Someone had betrayed their family, toyed with Jack and Gabriel, and she--she was completely alone.

Of course she trusted Reinhardt, and Torb and his family. Lana, Winston... They would never betray them--but with Overwatch disbanded, she could not ask anyone to go against the law to help her track Talon. Besides, the less they knew, the safer they would be. The last Ana wanted was to put them in danger. No, she would not contact them.

Being a lone hunter for years had a lot of advantages, and the ache of loneliness was soothed by her frantic activity to survive another day without food, money, or contacts. She became a ghost-- a ghost that ended tracking another ghost. Two ghosts, actually. Ah, to see Jack and Gabriel alive brought her both happiness and pain. They reminded her of everything she had left behind. Everything she had never had. Everything she had been too busy to appreciate.

Yet, it had been her choice to remain alone, and her job at Gibraltar was done. She had warned Winston already and she did not want to overextend her welcome. Torbjörn glared every time he saw her, disapproving. He had never been one to silence his thoughts, and the fact that she left them in the dark for so many years irked him. She could not blame him.

There was a noise at the door that could pass for an elephant walking, and she looked up if just to confirm she was right. A grey head of hair popped up at the doorway, looking at her from afar. He had done that every single day, as if he still would not believe she was alive and there, but he had never came to talk.

She stayed put, eye back to the datapad, as if he was some wild animal that could get easily scared. She would not push him after the hell he must have been through--It was only fair to let him come if he wanted to, which did not seem to be the case, since he had left again.

Ana could not blame him, either. Not after seeing him break at her return.

She had wanted to run away, that day. Run as fast as her legs would carry her--but she was frozen in place, taking in his inconsolable grief. It had melted her inside, had poured down her cheeks. It was impossible that he still loved her that much, but then, she--

She had missed him so much. His voice, his smile, his warmth, his hands. Her home for years, her friend--and everything she had never allowed him to be. Her whole body had screamed at her to open up to him. Bloody let him in already, please, before it was too late. But she did not deserve him, and he did not deserve someone that had broken his heart again, and again.

A soft knocking took her away her depressing thoughts, and Ana could not believe her eye when she saw Reinhardt at her very doorstep.

“May I?” He asked, hesitance clear in his voice. He was carrying something on his hands, and the smell betrayed it.

“Hot chocolate?” She made a gesture with her hand, inviting him in.

He sat close to her and yet too far to feel his warmth, leaving his precious cargo in the table by her side. There was only one mug with a spoon--a gift.

“Swiss chocolate. The one Jack used to smuggle everywhere he went, remember?”

She nodded. It was impossible to forget Jack producing milk or hot water during their missions and sharing a couple of mugs between them all.

With infinite care, Reinhardt put his hands on the front pocket of the oversized sweater he was wearing and produced a small package. At that point, her plan not to scare him off was damned, and Ana was actually looking at him open up the napkin-wrapped parcel. The german was much more silent than she remembered, much more somber, and it ached--it ached to see him reduced to this.

“Tiny marshmallows,” she gasped at the sight of the little pink squishable squares. Now that was rare.  “How did you get them?”

“Someone owed me one,” he finally cracked a smile. “A big one. These come from Korea. There’s a family that make them by hand, there.”

“This is… really sweet, Reinhardt,” she smiled, fondly, reaching out for his hand without thinking. “Pun intended.”

“I promised you long ago I’d treat you to a real heiße schokolade,” he snorted softly, caressing her fingers with the thumb, but then he stopped abruptly. “Ah, but I’m missing the whipped cream, silly old me. Would you wait here, maus?”

Reinhardt disappeared before she could say anything, and Ana was left with the impression that he would never come back to her room. He popped back a moment later, however, a hand on his pocket and another holding a canister of whipped cream. The grown beard may help conceal his expression better, but he was still as easy to read as the day she met him. Being there was taking him a lot of effort; he was uncomfortable and heartbroken, yet he kept playing his part flawlessly.

“Unfortunately, I could not get a hold on anything better than this,” he shook it vigorously for a moment, then left it by the mug and sat down again.

She did not deserve him--but there he was, stubbornly drawing near in spite of the circumstances. As he always had done. And bringing gifts, as if his mere presence was not enough to lit the room.

Ana stared at the chocolate mug, breathless, fighting back tears. Was this how he felt when she was so close, and yet so far?

“Would you prepare it for me?” Her voice cracked a bit, and she cleared her throat. “I don’t want to ruin it after you put so much effort on--everything.”

He picked several marshmallows and deposited them on top of the chocolate. Then, he shook the canister again and created a swirling mountain of whipped cream on top of it. To crown it all, he picked six marshmallows with all the care in the world and, one by one, he made a smiley on top of the cream.

“It looks fantastic,” she forced herself to smile at him, grateful for the patch that covered half her face and the hair that obscured her good eye. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. It was-- I didn’t want to miss the chance again and--” He stopped talking, made a gesture with a hand. “Doesn’t matter. Hope you like it.”

“Can we share it?”

Reinhardt got up, hiding behind the fake smile plastered on his face, and shook his head.

“I’ll see you around.”

The door closed behind him, taking away the sun, the breeze, and everything that made the world right, and Ana covered her face with her hands.

What will happen tomorrow... ?

Day 2: “Date Night”

[ryanmeft]

2017 in Film, in a Tweet (Part 1)

So, apparently Twitter doubling the size of Tweets is a controversial topic. Are we that starved for outrage? Probably. Anyway. Given the new space limits, I decided to see if I could review every film I saw in 2017 in 280 characters (not including the rating). Here’s the first batch.

Alien: Covenant Scott's return to the franchise proper is one of 2017's best entertainments. His team even uses horror tropes to good effect, and Fassbender gets one of the most poignant scenes in all of blockbuster history. Frightening and haunting. 4 stars.

The Beguiled All around fantastic performances elevate what is essentially seedy, seamy pulp material that was never meant to be more than base entertainment into a tense battle of the sexes that plays very differently now than it would have in 1971. 3 stars.

Coco Coco is a triumph for Pixar, and for Latino audiences, as they get a film about them and their culture that stands on its own with no help whatsoever from white people. It's just too bad Disney made the cynical decision to stick a 21-minute Frozen ad in front of it. 4 stars.

Frantz It pulls you in while you're watching, but ultimately can't quite pay off emotionally on the complex narrative web it weaves. I sometimes felt about to connect to the two young protagonists, but they faded from my mind shortly after the credits rolled. 2 & 1/2 stars.

The Glass Castle A complex look at people with many contradictions, and one that flummoxed those seeking a more controlled story. Life, however, is often messy and doesn't fit inside a narrative structure, and Walls' story is an atypical bio-pic with a lot of conflicting emotions behind it. 3 1/2 stars.

Kedi A magical film of infinite wonder coaxed out of the most common of everyday objects, the ordinary street cat. Mesmerizing in the way it follows these deeply personable creatures through the ancient and mystical city of Istanbul, this isn't just for kitty lovers. 4 stars.

Logan Lucky Strangely paced, with lines of dialogue that seem a little off, Soderbergh's "redneck Ocean's 11" succeeds in part because the director knows what he wants to do, and in part because the cast is game to play along. A more relatable crew than the baccarat set. 3 stars.

My Cousin Rachel Rachel Weisz predictably shines, but otherwise this one primarily appeals to devoted fans of 19th century-set class dramas. 2 1/2 stars.

Spider-Man: Homecoming The demands of a shared universe means this one can't approach the wonderful idiosyncrasies of Raimi's classic Spider-Man 2, but it's more sincere and involved than most tights fare. Keaton soars (pun intended) as the best of the MCU's villains, and Holland makes a good Spidey. 3 1/2 stars.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Easily one of the best films of the year, possibly one of the best of the decades, this is a masterpiece for McDonaugh, who captures pain, fear anger and deep damage of the soul in every character. I might see it twice; I'm just too impatient to wait to buy it. 4 stars.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets Completely silly, with dialogue right out of a hammy old 1940's sci-fi radio show, this ridiculous romp through a future that casts humanity as just one species in a Mos Eisley-esque universe hits more often than it misses, if you can get used to its retro vibe. 3 & 1/2 stars.

The Zookeeper's Wife A film of shamelessly cheap emotional manipulation via adorable animals and children. Despite the chops of Chastain and Bruhl, the film's poor writing and pacing often made me feel like it was daring me to criticize a movie about the holocaust. Challenge accepted. 1 & 1/2 stars.

[ajourneythroughtime]

HARDCORE babbling intro, BUT!@ Very interesting video in it’s entirety! Weird? Definitely. Also...wouldn’t recommend any blood over ANYthing, but you’re free to do as you choose (free will seems to be a big law in the cosmos...on the ‘new age’ side of the coin if we had to segregate info trains here). 

If on Sundays you drink his blood and eat his body in communion, maybe toss a little of your own blood in there too! Not to sound condescending, but I’m thinking/looking/feeling deeper at all of our traditions and things we do in all the different facets. (Don’t get me wrong, Christians, like any collective group of peoples) contain the spectrum of good/bad. I have learned some of my greatest lessons and meaning of love through them.) WE--being collective american perspective here. (Ultimately, person POV can be taken globally, 1st-third, etc.) Like the 4th of July (Jew-lie? Better known as Independence Day [which just-so-happens to be a movie about an alien invasion], the celebration of us adopting the Declaration of Independence and celebrating ‘our escape from England’. Kids think it’s because fireworks. (@:23; Potential, yet classical social conditioning there, Pavlov.) Other adults aren’t sure why....Oh! speaking of rainbow serpents, they have colored snakes now XD Are we on our way to heaven to become like gods? ArkOfTheCovenant=Arc=ElectraAndThaumas=Electromagnetics=Prometheus&Pandora=PierceTheVeil=IronMan=Tesla=CERN=DragonFIRE=CycleToTheInfinitePower)  we americans just had. To celebrate “freedom,” we BBQs, get drunk, and light shit on fire? ...sounds pretty........ nefarious to me. Then again, I guess we do that in all kinds of stadiums, concerts, baseball games, football games, college activities, etc on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. We feed our energy and focus to vanity. Oh!! Sometimes there is a giant bunny that hops around and hides easter eggs for the children to find. Silly rabbit (eyeseeyou) trix are for kids. Not to mention the fat bearded guy in the red suit that sees how many children he can fit on his lap while they spew their worldly desires at him...I’m telling you, this shit is weird af you dirty ol bitch...

Now in serious retrospect, there is valid information backing a lot of these claims if you'd only do the research! If we actually practice silence & being to THINK about WHY we do what we do, we might come to find that we aren’t truly sure of the ROOT REASONING behind many of our nuances. Especially when we delve into psychology, the functioning of the mind, subconscious, memory, brain stimuli, focal input, etc. A lot of what we do is on auto-pilot (yes, like a fucking robot. Forgive us father, for we know not what we do.) and it reminds me of some wonderful self development teachings that I won’t delve into right meow because I’ve already gone too far down the ranting rabbit hole.

Speaking of rabbit holes...

And if you’re still reading this far is when we’ll get into the juicy fruit. Double the freshness, double the fun! Give me a break, give me a break...

“Scientists at five German universities designed the instrument, and they came up with the name, according to Daniel Stolte, a spokesman for the University of Arizona. Stolte -- who is German -- explained that the team was tossing around names, looking for an acronym that would fit all the technical terms.” ie-Lucifer (Hint: If that triggers your fear e-motion, do research in regards to that name and the many incantations of this character. ‘Shadow work’ may be necessary in order to align those polarities in your intellect & heart.)

Who writes the history books? Winners of wars. The history you know might just be one perspective upon many.

And what did the video say about the u.s. and borrowing those lovely germish scientists during WWII? History is a bitch, and it will make us it’s bitch if we don’t connect the dots. All the ties and puzzle pieces are there, intermingled like a big orgy and I’m telling you, the stars are aligned.

And sometimes (more often than not) we do things we don’t mean to. (Maybe the creator[s] (He made us in his own image? Just like we create and make robots like ourSelves, and then some.) knew human curiousity never fails in peeking into pandora’s box. Sexual innuendo and pun intended.) We make decisions without completely being able to understand the consequences.

Music, sound, vibration, noise....it will seduce you and chain you up to all kinds of sights, smells, memories, ideas, back & forth duality, potentialities ....#ChainedToTheRhythm (it’s deep even for the head puppets, but the shadows have their place & purpose) Rituals?

Or maybe the ancients and mythology have something to say?

Disney, how about you?

This Quantum Simulation, Conscious Generating, machine of the renown is the real deal, baby.

You see, reality IS stranger than fiction--It’s almost as if it’s

Out of the Ordinary...       Out of this World Thank YOU, HubbleBubbleWrap!

Whether the earth is a floating ball of goo, flat, a plane/cube grib, a cookie, or a triangle is almost irrelevant because an egg’s about to hatch and you might need a savior in your nakedness of eating fruit from a tree (or world) that is run by gods (creators, coders, builders, masters, transcendental icons, fathers, mothers, myths, and legends) that know you greater than you know yourself.

Did you find what you were looking for?

“What you should do, is not let them win.”

Who? The ‘enemy’? But first you must determine your enemy(s)! Know Thyself.

“The most difficult battle to win, is the battle within.” -I made that up...probably stole it from somebody else’s regurgitated rhetoric that resonates with me on a very deep level. Especially in the sense that others are just different versions of ourSelf and trying to place our mind in their shoes for greater understanding. Did you catch that in the photo above? Are the gods all in your mind? All you have to do -- Is wake up...

This algorithm runs many layers deep my friends, it’s as thick as a dimensional onion (shadow secrets) running fibonnaci everywhere you turn a blind eye.

Wake up! they chant synonymously while undermining their own intent to unconsciously promote the next chapter. That of infinite possibility. To infinity, and beyond! 

Beginning & End. From the Big Bang to a Black Hole. Saturn to Santa Barbara. Timekeeper. Sew, Harvest, Reaper.

Rinse, Recycle, Repeat.

Where this goes, only you know

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

The Threat

Short opinion: I might have had empathy for David while reading #20, but that all disappeared real fast around the time Jake tells Ax that they need to start looking for Tobias not in the sky but dead on the ground.  

Long opinion:

This book has always struck me as being a study in military leadership.  We get relatively little introspection from Jake for once (and thank goodness; as much as I love that kid even I think he needs to lighten up on the self-loathing sometimes) because this is a book about how the Animorphs are doing something very right.  Specifically, they are operating exactly as a small military unit should—and it takes a clueless, selfish outsider in order to act as a foil and show just how friggin’ competent these child soldiers actually are.  A lot of that competence comes straight from the Animorphs’ absolute, unhesitating trust in their leader, to the point of literally being willing to die at his command.  David throws a pretty huge wrench in the works by simply being there with the team, and none of the Animorphs handle that challenge to Jake’s leadership particularly well.  Then again, considering how much of the plot of this book hinges on the Animorphs needing strong leadership just to stay alive, one can appreciate their disgust at David’s disobedience.  

Because Jake holds that team together.  Marco might tease him for his lack of science knowledge, Rachel might treat him like a little brother, Ax might enjoy winding him up with the whole “prince” thing, Tobias might happily poke fun at his bad grades, and Cassie might be quick to point out his lack of people skills, but they all respect the hell out of Jake.  Again and again in this book (and in the series as a whole) they prove that they literally trust him with their lives.  Sure, it helps that going into the war Cassie and Marco have both been friends with Jake for years while Rachel’s known him her whole life, Ax wants anyone who can tell him what to do, and Tobias has latched on like a barnacle learned that he can rely on Jake to help him out.  But Jake also earns that trust over the course of the war.  He goes into every battle with six Animorphs, and he comes out of every battle except the last one with six Animorphs (X).  He will deliberately refuse to ask his team to do anything he isn’t willing to do himself, and he will physically throw himself between the line of fire and any of his friends if he can.  

…so it’s patently ridiculous that David thinks he can win leadership over the Animorphs through biting people.  It seems almost silly to consider that David thinks Rachel and the others will seriously acknowledge his superiority as a direct result of him hurting someone they love.  And yet that exact trope is incredibly common in fantasy and sci fi.  Highlander, Pacific Rim, Dune, The Sword of Truth, X-Men, Spectrum, Babylon 5, Journey to Chaos, and like 400 other books and movies I don’t have space to list all portray male characters winning or attempting to win leadership roles (or infinitely worse, the respect of relatively passive female characters) through punching each other.  Technically speaking, David and Jake’s little catfight is a classic dominance battle… and Jake loses.  Badly.  Non-technically speaking, David never had a prayer of getting the Animorphs to respect him as much as they respect Jake pretty much no matter what he did.  

Because this whole book is all about showing the boundaries of Jake’s authority, which are far-reaching and close to absolute. When Ax says that it would be smarter for him to join Jake in following David into David’s bedroom, Jake insists on having Ax in the backyard and Ax goes to demorph without question.  During the opening scene, Jake asks Tobias first for clothes for David and then for a seagull, and Tobias runs off (flies off?) to go grab both immediately.  When the Animorphs first pop up inside the banquet hall pillar next to the yeerk pool, Jake asks Rachel to go into battle morph… and then asks her to demorph thirty seconds later.  She does both without grumbling.  When the seven of them are facing down the (apparent) army of hork-bajir controllers, Jake asks Marco to attack the thirty-odd controllers while alone and unarmed (pun intended) and Marco just says “you’d better be sure” before he goes ahead and does it (#21).  Cassie and Jake toss the issue of What to Do About David back and forth, but Cassie defers to Jake’s judgment.  When the seven of them are poised to grab the Russian prime minister and Jake suddenly says “Battle morphs! Now!” without a word of explanation, his narration notes “No one asked why. No one hesitated” as everyone frantically starts morphing (#21).  

However, Jake also repays that trust in spades.  His snap-judgment order to have the team go into battle morph saves their lives when otherwise Visser Three’s trap would have closed on them all.  He doesn’t get Marco killed because he’s right about the hologram within a hologram, and he also correctly calculates that having Ax demorphed during that final battle with David is more valuable than having him in harrier morph would be.  When asking for favors from Rachel and Tobias he says “please” and “thank you” and “sorry for the trouble,” and offers to repay the surf shop out of pocket so that Tobias or David won’t have to.  He freely admits that Cassie’s a better judge of character, Rachel is a better fighter, and Marco is a better strategist than him.  He verbally acknowledges Tobias’s skill at aerial fighting and Ax’s at blade fighting.  

More than that, he knows his team.  Not only does he take the time to study all five of his friends, but he also spends this entire book trying desperately to figure out what makes David tick.  He says, “I knew each of the others. Name any situation. I could tell you exactly how Cassie or Marco or Rachel or Tobias or even Ax would react. But David remained unknown. Unpredictable,” and he’s right (#21).  He moves the chess pieces around and around and around solving the dual problems of the world leaders’ conference and the seventh Animorph throughout this trilogy, and eventually figures out how to solve the leaders himself and how to move out of the way to let Cassie and Rachel solve David.  He knows that when the David situation needs a gentle touch to use Cassie, that when the Animorphs start dropping like flies Ax has to “get Rachel,” and that when it comes to attacking controllers with finesse he needs Marco.  He tells Cassie that “I’m just a moron when it comes to figuring people out,” but the truth is that, while he might not be able to do it as easily as Cassie does, he’s still got the necessary brain power (and empathy, for that matter) to figure people out just fine on his own if given enough time to do so.  

All of the moments when Jake making snap judgments—and the other five core Animorphs following those judgements—result in lives being saved also justify the fact that Jake is pretty harsh at several moments in this book.  He threatens David’s life after catching him breaking into the hotel room, and actually snaps at both Marco and Rachel when they try to ream David out for nearly betraying them.  He risks everyone’s lives by sneaking them into the world leaders’ summit, and he goes after David on the roof of the mall with the intention of killing David to avenge Tobias.  Jake is not anyone’s dad (as he reminds the team again and again) but he’s also not a mere “teacher or principal or whatever” the way David tries to make him out to be.  The Animorphs’ lives depend on them having a strong leader who gives intelligent orders and can expect them to be obeyed immediately without question.  David threatens the continued existence of the entire team by subverting that order.  

Again, if this was a different type of science fiction series, then David winning the fight against Jake would be enough to promote him automatically to being leader of the Animorphs.  If this was a very different type of story, then David winning the fight against Tobias would mean he’d get to be Rachel’s boyfriend.  K.A. Applegate shows that those kinds of gender roles are frankly ridiculous, because the qualities that make Jake the leader of this team have nothing whatsoever to do with his ability to punch or bite things.  

[luxus4me]

The Verge http://j.mp/2gAXiTR

Look, there are some things that will happen with this review that are outside of my control. Firstly, if you’ve ever seen an episode of Doctor Who, or if one has even aired somewhere in your vicinity, you’ll exclaim that this Bang & Olufsen speaker looks just like a Dalek. If you need time to make up a silly pun to celebrate that resemblance, please take a moment. I already have.

The other thing that will inevitably happen is you’ll guffaw at the price of $1,995. Most people can outfit their entire homes with Sonos speakers for less than this single chunk of B&O equipment costs. The BeoSound 2 is a hard sell as a regular 360-degree wireless speaker, because there are just so many competitive options out there. But the thing with Bang & Olufsen is that this company never tries to merely convince you through mere functionality. It does functional design, yes, but ultimately B&O is as much in the home furnishings and decoration business as it is in the tech realm.

This speaker has attracted as many admiring looks as it has questions about what the hell it is

Buying one of these speakers is as much about the highly distinctive aesthetics as it is about the musical performance. Over the two months I’ve had one for review in my home, the BeoSound 2 has attracted admiring looks, smiles, and questions about what it even is. It has also produced brilliant sound that’s left me deeply satisfied.

I’m not going to tell you that spending $2,000 on a pretty speaker is good and rational, but I’m not going to tell you that it’s dumb either. I really like this speaker, and I just can’t call something overpriced if I enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed my time with the BeoSound 2.

If we start with the design, the BeoSound 2 is a tapering cylinder that measures 43cm (nearly 17 inches) in height and 4.1kg (9lb) in weight. There are discreet ports in its base for an Ethernet cable or a 3.5mm analog audio connector. The primary method of connecting to it, though, is intended to be wireless: whether through Apple AirPlay, Google Cast, DLNA, Spotify Connect, or simple Bluetooth 4.1 pairing. Inside the thick aluminum shell reside four speakers: one tweeter, two for the mid-range, and one large woofer to provide low-end rumble.

Bang & Olufsen can do things with aluminum that no other company can achieve

The thing that will be hard to see in photos or appreciate from afar is just how good the B&O construction is. This is the first proper Bang & Olufsen product I’ve yet reviewed — all of the headphones I’ve had from the company have come from the more consumer-oriented B&O Play sub-brand — and it’s left a very positive impression on me. The aluminum BeoSound 2 enclosure looks smooth from a distance, but it actually has an almost microscopic pattern of horizontal ridging that gives its surface an appealingly rough texture. I can’t offer a functional reason for why this might be better, but it’s certainly different. There’s no chance of you accidentally coming across a surface that feels like this in your everyday life, and that just enhances the sense of alien technology that’s already conveyed by the visual design.

I really like the portability and adaptability of this speaker. It’s just as much at home residing on a living room floor as it is on a kitchen table or a bedroom desk. And when I want to move it around, its shape is convenient enough to carry with just one hand.

The volume control is an infinitely rotating knob at the top of the unit, which sits atop a thing Bang & Olufsen calls an acoustic lens. Basically, the tweeter fires down and its output is then diffused outward by the clever architecture of B&O’s design. This is an approach the company favors with its flagship speakers too, though I’m still not convinced that it’s necessary strictly for acoustics. I’m pretty sure the flamboyance of the appearance is part of the deal.

Behind the 360-degree grill that wraps around the BeoSound 2, you’ll find the two mid-range speakers, mounted back to back in order to provide the fullest and widest sound. The woofer is at the bottom, mounted upside down so as to make use of the full capacity of the cabinet. I’m describing these details without critiquing them, because I happen to agree with everything B&O has done in terms of acoustics. Every company will tell you that its design is optimized and optimal, but in the case of the BeoSound 2, the eventual performance really does agree with the marketing spiel about thoughtful design. This speaker can fill large rooms with sound easily, and it doesn’t feel like a single-point audio source either.

I find the BeoSound 2 sound lush. Take note that I’m not calling it accurate, neutral, faithful, or any of those other terms that are used to describe boring speakers. If this were a display, it’d be a richly saturated OLED screen that embraces its vividness rather than being embarrassed by it. There’s a real sense of dynamism and muscle coming out of this speaker. The bass is exaggerated and oh so satisfying. I make no apologies for loving this big bottom end. Watching movies, playing games, and listening to modern electronic music through the BeoSound 2 is just a pleasure. The elevated bass makes explosions and bass drops feel hefty and impactful, but it doesn’t impinge on the mids and highs in a way that would disturb or undermine vocals or on-screen dialogue.

Fans of classical or acoustic music would not be well served by a tuning such as the one Bang & Olufsen has devised for the BeoSound 2. If you want to hear the intricate detail of tweeting birds in a Japanese garden as a heartbroken ronin mournfully plucks the strings of a lute, you’re probably better off looking elsewhere. If, on the other hand, you just want to immerse yourself in some hour-long deadmau5 mix with a throbbing bassline, this B&O speaker is one of the best for that task. This isn’t a thinking person’s audio system, it’s a lazy person’s shortcut to just enjoying the simple pleasures of music.

This is an indulgence: of the senses and the wallet

Bang & Olufsen has a multiroom wireless solution and there’s a bevy of options for connecting up the BeoSound 2 to streaming apps and services, but I primarily used the wired and Bluetooth connectivity. As a PC speaker, this Dalek lookalike did a surprisingly good job, though I found myself preferring the wired connection to avoid lag between the video and audio. You can even game with it, though obviously you won’t get the same surround sound as you might from a multi-point speaker system or some good headphones. I just like that it worked at all. And as for more casual music and radio listening, the BeoSound 2 gives me no reasons to complain. The top of the unit functions as a play-pause button too, so I can do the essential volume and play toggling just with the hardware on the speaker itself.

BeoSound 2 next to Dell’s 32-inch 8K monitor

As Bluetooth speakers go, this Bang & Olufsen one is surely among the most indulgent. And if I could tell you that I can get the same sound pleasure out of some other competing speaker, I’d say B&O has overshot its pricing and needs to be more competitive. But I’ve listened to the entire range of Sonos speakers, I’ve spent a long time with the $999 Naim Mu-So Qb, and I’m familiar with the majority of other competitors too. None provide me with the warm, enveloping sound of the BeoSound 2, none play to my musical tastes in quite the same way.

We can joke about its robot invader appearance and we can poke fun at its $1,995 price (because, come on, who’s paying that much for a wireless speaker?), but we shouldn’t dismiss the BeoSound 2 as a bad product. Bang & Olufsen could have given us some anodyne, Bose-like sound and just relied on its branding and stellar reputation for aluminum craftsmanship to carry the BeoSound 2 sales into the luxury segment. But the company opted to win on sound quality as well: not by being the most faithful, but by being the most fun. The end result is a speaker that’s as desirable as it is unaffordable.

Photography by Vlad Savov

7.5 Verge Score

Good Stuff

Lush, room-filling sound

Exquisite aluminum craftsmanship

Adaptable to a wide range of uses and positions

Bad Stuff

Much pricier than most of its competition

Some sound fidelity sacrificed in the name of fun

The Dalek jokes will never end

http://j.mp/2gzvrDG via The Verge URL : http://j.mp/2r68aKz

[identityshine]

Infinite "People Also Ask" Boxes: Research & SEO Opportunities

Posted by BritneyMuller

A Glimpse Into Google's Machine Learning?

You’ve likely seen the People Also Ask (Related Questions) boxes in SERPs. These accordion-like question and answer boxes are Google’s way of saying, “Hey, you beautiful searcher, you! These questions also relate to your search... maybe you're interested in exploring these too? Kick off your shoes, stay a while!”

However, few people have come across infinite PAAs. These occur when you expand a PAA question box to see 2 or 3 other related questions appear at the bottom. These infinite PAA lists can continue into the hundreds, and I've been lucky enough to come across 75+ of these gems!

So, grab a coffee and buckle up! I’d like to take you on a journey of my infinite PAA research, discoveries, machine learning hypothesis, and how you can find PAA opportunities.

Why PAAs should matter to you

PAAs have seen a 1,723% growth in SERPs since 7/31/15 via Mozcast! ← Tweet this stat!

Compare that to featured snippets, which have seen only a 328% growth since that timeframe.

Research has also shown that a single PAA can show up in 21 unique SERPs! How 'bout dem apples?! PAA opportunities can take over some serious SERP real estate.

My infinite PAA obsession

These mini-FAQs within search results have fascinated me since Google started testing of them in 2015. Then in November 2016, I discovered Google's PAA dynamic testing:

You guys, I've discovered a SERP black hole! I'm on #200 suggested PAA for this SERP?! Has anyone else seen an infinite PAA SERP before? http://pic.twitter.com/YgZDVWdWJ9 — Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) November 23, 2016

The above infinite PAA expanded into the hundreds! This became an obsession of mine as I began to notice them across multiple devices (for a variety of different searches) and coined them “PAA Black Holes.”

I began saving data from these infinite PAAs to see if I could find any patterns, explore how Google might be pulling this data, and dive deeper into how the questions/topics changed as a result of my expanding question boxes, etc.

After seeing a couple dozen infinite PAAs, I began to wonder if this was actually a test to implement in search, but several industry leaders assured me this was more likely a bug.

They were wrong.

Infinite People Also Ask boxes are live

Now integrated into U.S. SERPs (sorry foreign friends, but get ready for this to potentially migrate your way) you can play with these on desktop & mobile:

If you're in the US and like exploring topics, there's a nifty feature for you to try with "People also ask" on Google. :-) http://pic.twitter.com/s2WtwyYvun — Satyajeet Salgar (@salgar) February 10, 2017 I’m fascinated by Satyajeet's use of “exploring topics”.

Why does Google want people to spend more time on individual SERPs (instead of looking at several)? Could they charge more for advertisements on SERPs with these sticky, expansive PAAs? Might they eventually start putting ads in PAAs? These are the questions that follow me around like a shadow.

To get a better idea of the rise of PAAs, here's a timeline of my exploratory PAA research:

PAA timeline

April 17, 2015 - Google starts testing PAAs

July 29, 2015 - Dr. Pete gets Google to confirm preferred “Related Questions” name

Aug 15, 2015 - Google tests PAA Carousels on desktop

Dec 30, 2015 - Related Questions (PAAs) grow +500% in 5 months

Mar 11, 2016 - See another big uptick in Related Questions (PAAs) in Mozcast

Nov 11, 2016 - Robin Rozhon notices PAA Black Hole

Nov 23, 2016 - Brit notices PAA Black Hole

Nov 29, 2016 - STAT Analytics publishes a research study on PAAs

Dec 12, 2016 - Realized new PAA results would change based on expanded PAA

Dec 14, 2016 - Further proof PAAs dynamically load based on what you click

Dec 19, 2016 - Still seeing PAA Black Holes

Dec 22, 2016 - Discovered a single PAA result (not a 3-pack)

Jan 11, 2016 - Made a machine learning (TensorFlow) discovery and hypothesis!

Jan 22, 2016 - Discovered a PAA Black Hole on a phone

Jan 25, 2016 - Discovered a PAA Black Hole that maxed out at 9

Feb 10, 2017 - PAA Black Holes go live!

Feb 14, 2017 - Britney Muller is still oblivious to PAA Black Holes going live and continues to hypothesize how they are being populated via entity graph-based ML.

3 big infinite PAA discoveries:

#1 - Google caters to browsing patterns in real time

It took me a while to grasp that I can manipulate the newly populated question boxes based on what I choose to expand.

Below, I encourage more Vans-related PAAs by clicking “Can I put my vans in the washing machine?” Then, I encourage more “mildew”-related ones simply by clicking a “How do you get the mildew smell out of clothes” PAA above:

Another example of this is when I clicked “organic SEO” at the very top of a 100+ PAA Black Hole (the gif would make you dizzy, so I took a screenshot instead). It altered my results from “how to clean leather” to “what is seo” and “what do you mean by organic search”:

#2 - There are dynamic dead ends

When I reach an exhaustive point in my PAA expansions (typically ~300+), Google will prompt the first two PAAs, as in: “We aren’t sure what else to provide, are you interested in these again?”

Here is an example of that happening: I go from “mitosis”-related PAAs (~300 PAAs deep) to a repeat of the first two PAAs: “What is Alexa ranking based on?” and “What is the use of backlinks?”:

This reminds me of a story told by Google machine learning engineers: whenever an early ML model couldn’t identify a photograph, it would say a default ‘I don’t know’ answer of: “Men talking on cell phone.” It could have been a picture of an elephant dancing, and if the ML model wasn’t sure what it was, it would say “Men talking on cell phone.”

My gut tells me that G reverts back to the strongest edge cases (the first two PAAs) to your original query when running out of a certain relational threshold of PAAs.

It will then suggest the third and fourth PAA when you push these limits to repeat again, and so on.

#3 - Expand & retract one question to explore the most closely related questions

This not only provides you with the most relevant PAAs to the query you're expanding and retracting, but if it’s in your wheelhouse, you can quickly discover other very relevant PAA opportunities.

Here I keep expanding and retracting "What is the definition of SEO?":

Notice how “SEO” or “search engine optimization” is in every subsequent PAA!? This is no coincidence and has a lot to do with the entity graph.

First, let's better understand machine learning and why an entity-based, semi-supervised model is so relevant to search. I’ll then draw out what I think is happening with the above results (like a 5-year-old), and go over ways you can capture these opportunities! Woohoo!

Training data's role in machine learning

Mixups are commonplace in machine learning, mostly due to a lack of quality training data.

Well-labeled training data is typically the biggest component necessary in training an accurate ML model.

Fairly recently, the voice search team at Google came across an overwhelming amount of EU voice data that was interpreted as “kdkdkdkd.” An obvious exclusion in their training data (who says “kdkdkdkd”?!), the engineers had no idea what could be prompting that noise. Confused, they finally figured out that it was the trains and subways making that noise!

This is a silly example of adding the "kdkdkd" = Trains/Subways training data. Google is now able to account for these pesky "kdkdkdkd" inclusions.

Relational data to the rescue

Because we don’t always have enough training data to properly train a ML model, we look to relational data for help.

Example: If I showed you the following picture, you could gather a few things from it, right? Maybe that it appears to be a female walking down a street, and that perhaps it’s fall by her hat, scarf, and the leaves on the ground. But it’s hard to determine a whole lot else, right?

What about now? Here are two other photos from the above photo’s timeline:

Aha! She appears to be a U.S. traveler visiting London (with her Canon Ti3 camera). Now we have some regional, demographic, and product understanding. It’s not a whole lot of extra information, but it provides much more context for the original cryptic photo, right?

Perhaps, if Google had integrated geo-relational data with their voice machine learning, they could have more quickly identified that these noises were occurring at the same geolocations. This is just an example; Google engineers are WAY smarter than myself and have surely thought of much better solutions.

Google leverages entity graphs similarly for search

Google leverages relational data (in a very similarly way to the above example) to form better understandings of digital objects to help provide the most relevant search results.

A kind of scary example of this is Google’s Expander: A large-scale ML platform to “exploit relationships between data objects.”

Machine learning is typically “supervised” (training data is provided, which is more common) or “unsupervised” (no training data). Expander, however, is “semi-supervised,” meaning that it’s bridging the gap between provided and not-provided data. ← SEO pun intended!

Expander leverages a large, graph-based system to infer relationships between datasets. Ever wonder why you start getting ads about a product you started emailing your friend about?

Expander is bridging the gap between platforms to better understand online data and is only going to get better.

Relational entity graphs for search

Here is a slide from a Google I/O 2016 talk that showcases a relational word graph for search results:

Slide from Breakthroughs in Machine Learning Google I/O 2016 video.

Solid edges represent stronger relationships between nodes than the dotted lines. The above example shows there is a strong relationship between “What are the traditions of halloween” and “halloween tradition,” which makes sense. People searching for either of those would each be satisfied by quality content about “halloween traditions.”

Edge strength can also be determined by distributional similarity, lexical similarity, similarity based on word embeddings, etc.

Infinite PAA machine learning hypothesis:

Google is providing additional PAAs based on the strongest relational edges to the expanded query.

You can continue to see this occur in infinite PAAs datasets. When a word with two lexical similarities overlaps the suggested PAAs, the topic changes because of it:

The above topic change occurred through a series of small relational suggestions. A PAA above this screenshot was “What is SMO stands for?” (not a typo, just a neural network doing its best people!) which led to "What is the meaning of SMO?", to “What is a smo brace?” (for ankles).

This immediately made me think of the relational word graph and what I envision Google is doing:

I hope my parents hang this on their fridge.

My hypothesis is that the machine learning model computes that because I’m interested in “SMO,” I might also be interested in ankle brace “SMO.”

There are ways for SEOs and digital marketers to leverage topical relevance and capture PAAs opportunities.

4 ways to optimize for machine learning & expand your topical reach for PAAs:

Topical connections can always be made within your content, and by adding additional high quality topically related content, you can strengthen your content’s edges (and expand your SERP real estate). Here are some quick and easy ways to discover related topics:

#1: Quickly discover Related Topics via MozBar

MozBar is a free SEO browser add-on that allows you to do quick SEO analysis of web pages and SERPs. The On-Page Content Suggestions feature is a quick and simple way to find other topics related to your page.

Step 1: Activate MozBar on the page you are trying to expand your keyword reach with, and click the Page Optimization:

Step 2: Enter in the word you are trying to expand your keyword reach with:

Step 3: Click On-Page Content Suggestions for your full list of related keyword topics.

Step 4: Evaluate which related keywords can be incorporated naturally into your current on-page content. In this case, it would be beneficial to incorporate “seo tutorial,” “seo tools,” and “seo strategy” into the Beginner’s Guide to SEO.

Step 5: Some may seem like an awkward add to the page, like “seo services” and “search engine ranking,” but are relevant to the products/services that you offer. Try adding these topics to a better-fit page, creating a new page, or putting together a strong FAQ with other topically related questions.

#2: Wikipedia page + SEOBook Keyword Density Checker*

Let’s say you're trying to expand your topical keywords in an industry you’re not very familiar with, like "roof repair." You can use this free hack to pull in frequent and related topics.

Step 1: Find and copy the roof Wikipedia page URL.

Step 2: Paste the URL into SEOBook’s Keyword Density Checker:

Step 3: Hit submit and view the most commonly used words on the Wikipedia page:

Step 4: You can dive even deeper (and often more topically related) by clicking on the "Links" tab to evaluate the anchor text of on-page Wikipedia links. If a subtopic is important enough, it will likely have another page to link to:

Step 5: Use any appropriate keyword discoveries to create stronger topic-based content ideas.

*This tactic was mentioned in Experts On The Wire episode on keyword research tools.

#3: Answer the Public

Answer the Public is a great free resource to discover questions around a particular topic. Just remember to change your country if you’re not seeking results from the UK (the default).

Step 1: Enter in your keyword/topic and select your country:

Step 2: Explore the visualization of questions people are asking about your keyword:

Doesn’t this person look like they’re admiring themselves in a mirror (or taking a selfie)? A magnifying glass doesn’t work from that distance, people!

Note: Not all questions will be relevant to your research, like “why roof of mouth hurts” and “why roof of mouth itches.”

Step 3: Scroll back up to the top to export the data to CSV by clicking the big yellow button (top right corner):

The magnifying glass looks much larger here... perhaps it would work at that distance?

Step 4: Clean up the data and upload the queries to your favorite keyword research tool (Moz Keyword Explorer, SEMRush, Google Keyword Planner, etc.) to discover search volume and SERP feature data, like featured snippets, reviews, related questions (PAA boxes), etc.

Note: Google’s Keyword Planner does not support SERP features data and provides vague, bucket-based search volume.

#4: Keyword research “only questions”

Moz Keyword Explorer provides an “only questions” filter to uncover potential PAA opportunities.

Step 1: Enter your keyword into KWE:

Step 2: Click Keyword Suggestions:

Step 3: Filter by “are questions”:

Pro tip: Find grouped question keyword opportunities by grouping keywords by “low lexical similarity” and ordering them from highest search volume to lowest:

Step 4: Select keywords and add to a new or previous list:

Step 5: Once in a list, KWE will tell you how many “related questions” (People Also Ask boxes) opportunities are within your list. In this case, we have 18:

Step 6: Export your keyword list to a Campaign in Moz Pro:

Step 7: Filter SERP Features by “Related Questions” to view PAA box opportunities:

Step 8: Explore current PAA box opportunities and evaluate where you currently rank for “Related Questions” keywords. If you’re on page 1, you have a better chance of stealing a PAA box.

+Evaluate what other SERP features are present on these SERPs. Here, Dr. Pete tells me that I might be able to get a reviews rich snippet for “gutter installation”. Thanks, Dr. Pete!

Hopefully, this research can help energize you to do topical research of your own to grab some relevant PAAs! PAAs aren't going away anytime soon and I'm so excited for us to learn more about them.

Please share your PAA experiences, questions, or comments below.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

Infinite "People Also Ask" Boxes: Research & SEO Opportunities posted first on http://ift.tt/2maTWEr

[ubizheroes]

Infinite “People Also Ask” Boxes: A Glimpse at Google’s Deep Learning Edges

Posted by BritneyMuller

A glimpse into Google’s machine learning?

You’ve likely seen the People Also Ask (Related Questions) boxes in SERPs. These accordion-like question and answer boxes are Google’s way of saying, “Hey, you beautiful searcher, you! These questions also relate to your search… maybe you’re interested in exploring these too? Kick off your shoes, stay a while!”

However, few people have come across infinite PAAs. These occur when you expand a PAA question box to see 2 or 3 other related questions appear at the bottom. These infinite PAA lists can continue into the hundreds, and I’ve been lucky enough to come across 75+ of these gems!

So, grab a coffee and buckle up! I’d like to take you on a journey of my infinite PAA research, discoveries, machine learning hypothesis, and how you can find PAA opportunities.

Why PAAs should matter to you

PAAs have seen a 1,723% growth in SERPs since 7/31/15 via Mozcast! ← Tweet this stat!

Compare that to featured snippets, which have seen only a 328% growth since that timeframe.

Research has also shown that a single PAA can show up in 21 unique SERPs! How ’bout dem apples?! PAA opportunities can take over some serious SERP real estate.

My infinite PAA obsession

These mini-FAQs within search results have fascinated me since Google started testing of them in 2015. Then in November 2016, I discovered Google’s PAA dynamic testing:

You guys, I’ve discovered a SERP black hole! I’m on #200 suggested PAA for this SERP?! Has anyone else seen an infinite PAA SERP before? pic.twitter.com/YgZDVWdWJ9 — Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) November 23, 2016

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

The above infinite PAA expanded into the hundreds! This became an obsession of mine as I began to notice them across multiple devices (for a variety of different searches) and coined them “PAA Black Holes.”

I began saving data from these infinite PAAs to see if I could find any patterns, explore how Google might be pulling this data, and dive deeper into how the questions/topics changed as a result of my expanding question boxes, etc.

After seeing a couple dozen infinite PAAs, I began to wonder if this was actually a test to implement in search, but several industry leaders assured me this was more likely a bug.

They were wrong.

Infinite People Also Ask boxes are live

Now integrated into U.S. SERPs (sorry foreign friends, but get ready for this to potentially migrate your way) you can play with these on desktop & mobile:

If you’re in the US and like exploring topics, there’s a nifty feature for you to try with “People also ask” on Google. pic.twitter.com/s2WtwyYvun — Satyajeet Salgar (@salgar) February 10, 2017 I’m fascinated by Satyajeet’s use of “exploring topics”.

Why does Google want people to spend more time on individual SERPs (instead of looking at several)? Could they charge more for advertisements on SERPs with these sticky, expansive PAAs? Might they eventually start putting ads in PAAs? These are the questions that follow me around like a shadow.

To get a better idea of the rise of PAAs, here’s a timeline of my exploratory PAA research:

PAA timeline

April 17, 2015 – Google starts testing PAAs

July 29, 2015 – Dr. Pete gets Google to confirm preferred “Related Questions” name

Aug 15, 2015 – Google tests PAA Carousels on desktop

Dec 30, 2015 – Related Questions (PAAs) grow +500% in 5 months

Mar 11, 2016 – See another big uptick in Related Questions (PAAs) in Mozcast

Nov 11, 2016 – Robin Rozhon notices PAA Black Hole

Nov 23, 2016 – Brit notices PAA Black Hole

Nov 29, 2016 – STAT Analytics publishes a research study on PAAs

Dec 12, 2016 – Realized new PAA results would change based on expanded PAA

Dec 14, 2016 – Further proof PAAs dynamically load based on what you click

Dec 19, 2016 – Still seeing PAA Black Holes

Dec 22, 2016 – Discovered a single PAA result (not a 3-pack)

Jan 11, 2016 – Made a machine learning (TensorFlow) discovery and hypothesis!

Jan 22, 2016 – Discovered a PAA Black Hole on a phone

Jan 25, 2016 – Discovered a PAA Black Hole that maxed out at 9

Feb 10, 2017 – PAA Black Holes go live!

Feb 14, 2017 – Britney Muller is still oblivious to PAA Black Holes going live and continues to hypothesize how they are being populated via entity graph-based ML.

3 big infinite PAA discoveries:

#1 – Google caters to browsing patterns in real time

It took me a while to grasp that I can manipulate the newly populated question boxes based on what I choose to expand.

Below, I encourage more Vans-related PAAs by clicking “Can I put my vans in the washing machine?” Then, I encourage more “mildew”-related ones simply by clicking a “How do you get the mildew smell out of clothes” PAA above:

Another example of this is when I clicked “organic SEO” at the very top of a 100+ PAA Black Hole (the gif would make you dizzy, so I took a screenshot instead). It altered my results from “how to clean leather” to “what is seo” and “what do you mean by organic search”:

#2 – There are dynamic dead ends

When I reach an exhaustive point in my PAA expansions (typically ~300+), Google will prompt the first two PAAs, as in: “We aren’t sure what else to provide, are you interested in these again?”

Here is an example of that happening: I go from “mitosis”-related PAAs (~300 PAAs deep) to a repeat of the first two PAAs: “What is Alexa ranking based on?” and “What is the use of backlinks?”:

This reminds me of a story told by Google machine learning engineers: whenever an early ML model couldn’t identify a photograph, it would say a default ‘I don’t know’ answer of: “Men talking on cell phone.” It could have been a picture of an elephant dancing, and if the ML model wasn’t sure what it was, it would say “Men talking on cell phone.”

My gut tells me that G reverts back to the strongest edge cases (the first two PAAs) to your original query when running out of a certain relational threshold of PAAs.

It will then suggest the third and fourth PAA when you push these limits to repeat again, and so on.

#3 – Expand & retract one question to explore the most closely related questions

This not only provides you with the most relevant PAAs to the query you’re expanding and retracting, but if it’s in your wheelhouse, you can quickly discover other very relevant PAA opportunities.

Here I keep expanding and retracting “What is the definition of SEO?”:

Notice how “SEO” or “search engine optimization” is in every subsequent PAA!? This is no coincidence and has a lot to do with the entity graph.

First, let’s better understand machine learning and why an entity-based, semi-supervised model is so relevant to search. I’ll then draw out what I think is happening with the above results (like a 5-year-old), and go over ways you can capture these opportunities! Woohoo!

Training data’s role in machine learning

Mixups are commonplace in machine learning, mostly due to a lack of quality training data.

Well-labeled training data is typically the biggest component necessary in training an accurate ML model.

Fairly recently, the voice search team at Google came across an overwhelming amount of EU voice data that was interpreted as “kdkdkdkd.” An obvious exclusion in their training data (who says “kdkdkdkd”?!), the engineers had no idea what could be prompting that noise. Confused, they finally figured out that it was the trains and subways making that noise!

This is a silly example of adding the “kdkdkd” = Trains/Subways training data. Google is now able to account for these pesky “kdkdkdkd” inclusions.

Relational data to the rescue

Because we don’t always have enough training data to properly train a ML model, we look to relational data for help.

Example: If I showed you the following picture, you could gather a few things from it, right? Maybe that it appears to be a female walking down a street, and that perhaps it’s fall by her hat, scarf, and the leaves on the ground. But it’s hard to determine a whole lot else, right?

What about now? Here are two other photos from the above photo’s timeline:

Aha! She appears to be a U.S. traveler visiting London (with her Canon Ti3 camera). Now we have some regional, demographic, and product understanding. It’s not a whole lot of extra information, but it provides much more context for the original cryptic photo, right?

Perhaps, if Google had integrated geo-relational data with their voice machine learning, they could have more quickly identified that these noises were occurring at the same geolocations. This is just an example; Google engineers are WAY smarter than myself and have surely thought of much better solutions.

Google leverages entity graphs similarly for search

Google leverages relational data (in a very similarly way to the above example) to form better understandings of digital objects to help provide the most relevant search results.

A kind of scary example of this is Google’s Expander: A large-scale ML platform to “exploit relationships between data objects.”

Machine learning is typically “supervised” (training data is provided, which is more common) or “unsupervised” (no training data). Expander, however, is “semi-supervised,” meaning that it’s bridging the gap between provided and not-provided data. ← SEO pun intended!

Expander leverages a large, graph-based system to infer relationships between datasets. Ever wonder why you start getting ads about a product you started emailing your friend about?

Expander is bridging the gap between platforms to better understand online data and is only going to get better.

Relational entity graphs for search

Here is a slide from a Google I/O 2016 talk that showcases a relational word graph for search results:

Slide from Breakthroughs in Machine Learning Google I/O 2016 video.

Solid edges represent stronger relationships between nodes than the dotted lines. The above example shows there is a strong relationship between “What are the traditions of halloween” and “halloween tradition,” which makes sense. People searching for either of those would each be satisfied by quality content about “halloween traditions.”

Edge strength can also be determined by distributional similarity, lexical similarity, similarity based on word embeddings, etc.

Infinite PAA machine learning hypothesis:

Google is providing additional PAAs based on the strongest relational edges to the expanded query.

You can continue to see this occur in infinite PAAs datasets. When a word with two lexical similarities overlaps the suggested PAAs, the topic changes because of it:

The above topic change occurred through a series of small relational suggestions. A PAA above this screenshot was “What is SMO stands for?” (not a typo, just a neural network doing its best people!) which led to “What is the meaning of SMO?”, to “What is a smo brace?” (for ankles).

This immediately made me think of the relational word graph and what I envision Google is doing:

I hope my parents hang this on their fridge.

My hypothesis is that the machine learning model computes that because I’m interested in “SMO,” I might also be interested in ankle brace “SMO.”

There are ways for SEOs and digital marketers to leverage topical relevance and capture PAAs opportunities.

4 ways to optimize for machine learning & expand your topical reach for PAAs:

Topical connections can always be made within your content, and by adding additional high quality topically related content, you can strengthen your content’s edges (and expand your SERP real estate). Here are some quick and easy ways to discover related topics:

#1: Quickly discover Related Topics via MozBar

MozBar is a free SEO browser add-on that allows you to do quick SEO analysis of web pages and SERPs. The On-Page Content Suggestions feature is a quick and simple way to find other topics related to your page.

Step 1: Activate MozBar on the page you are trying to expand your keyword reach with, and click the Page Optimization:

Step 2: Enter in the word you are trying to expand your keyword reach with:

Step 3: Click On-Page Content Suggestions for your full list of related keyword topics.

Step 4: Evaluate which related keywords can be incorporated naturally into your current on-page content. In this case, it would be beneficial to incorporate “seo tutorial,” “seo tools,” and “seo strategy” into the Beginner’s Guide to SEO.

Step 5: Some may seem like an awkward add to the page, like “seo services” and “search engine ranking,” but are relevant to the products/services that you offer. Try adding these topics to a better-fit page, creating a new page, or putting together a strong FAQ with other topically related questions.

#2: Wikipedia page + SEOBook Keyword Density Checker*

Let’s say you’re trying to expand your topical keywords in an industry you’re not very familiar with, like “roof repair.” You can use this free hack to pull in frequent and related topics.

Step 1: Find and copy the roof Wikipedia page URL.

Step 2: Paste the URL into SEOBook’s Keyword Density Checker:

Step 3: Hit submit and view the most commonly used words on the Wikipedia page:

Step 4: You can dive even deeper (and often more topically related) by clicking on the “Links” tab to evaluate the anchor text of on-page Wikipedia links. If a subtopic is important enough, it will likely have another page to link to:

Step 5: Use any appropriate keyword discoveries to create stronger topic-based content ideas.

*This tactic was mentioned in Experts On The Wire episode on keyword research tools.

#3: Answer the Public

Answer the Public is a great free resource to discover questions around a particular topic. Just remember to change your country if you’re not seeking results from the UK (the default).

Step 1: Enter in your keyword/topic and select your country:

Step 2: Explore the visualization of questions people are asking about your keyword:

Doesn’t this person look like they’re admiring themselves in a mirror (or taking a selfie)? A magnifying glass doesn’t work from that distance, people!

Note: Not all questions will be relevant to your research, like “why roof of mouth hurts” and “why roof of mouth itches.”

Step 3: Scroll back up to the top to export the data to CSV by clicking the big yellow button (top right corner):

The magnifying glass looks much larger here… perhaps it would work at that distance?

Step 4: Clean up the data and upload the queries to your favorite keyword research tool (Moz Keyword Explorer, SEMRush, Google Keyword Planner, etc.) to discover search volume and SERP feature data, like featured snippets, reviews, related questions (PAA boxes), etc.

Note: Google’s Keyword Planner does not support SERP features data and provides vague, bucket-based search volume.

#4: Keyword research “only questions”

Moz Keyword Explorer provides an “only questions” filter to uncover potential PAA opportunities.

Step 1: Enter your keyword into KWE:

Step 2: Click Keyword Suggestions:

Step 3: Filter by “are questions”:

Pro tip: Find grouped question keyword opportunities by grouping keywords by “low lexical similarity” and ordering them from highest search volume to lowest:

Step 4: Select keywords and add to a new or previous list:

Step 5: Once in a list, KWE will tell you how many “related questions” (People Also Ask boxes) opportunities are within your list. In this case, we have 18:

Step 6: Export your keyword list to a Campaign in Moz Pro:

Step 7: Filter SERP Features by “Related Questions” to view PAA box opportunities:

Step 8: Explore current PAA box opportunities and evaluate where you currently rank for “Related Questions” keywords. If you’re on page 1, you have a better chance of stealing a PAA box.

+Evaluate what other SERP features are present on these SERPs. Here, Dr. Pete tells me that I might be able to get a reviews rich snippet for “gutter installation”. Thanks, Dr. Pete!

Hopefully, this research can help energize you to do topical research of your own to grab some relevant PAAs! PAAs aren’t going away anytime soon and I’m so excited for us to learn more about them.

Please share your PAA experiences, questions, or comments below.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don’t have time to hunt down but want to read!

from Moz Blog https://moz.com/blog/infinite-people-also-ask-boxes via IFTTT

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[tracisimpson]

Infinite "People Also Ask" Boxes: A Glimpse at Google's Deep Learning Edges

Posted by BritneyMuller

A glimpse into Google's machine learning?

You’ve likely seen the People Also Ask (Related Questions) boxes in SERPs. These accordion-like question and answer boxes are Google’s way of saying, “Hey, you beautiful searcher, you! These questions also relate to your search... maybe you're interested in exploring these too? Kick off your shoes, stay a while!”

However, few people have come across infinite PAAs. These occur when you expand a PAA question box to see 2 or 3 other related questions appear at the bottom. These infinite PAA lists can continue into the hundreds, and I've been lucky enough to come across 75+ of these gems!

So, grab a coffee and buckle up! I’d like to take you on a journey of my infinite PAA research, discoveries, machine learning hypothesis, and how you can find PAA opportunities.

Why PAAs should matter to you

PAAs have seen a 1,723% growth in SERPs since 7/31/15 via Mozcast! ← Tweet this stat!

Compare that to featured snippets, which have seen only a 328% growth since that timeframe.

Research has also shown that a single PAA can show up in 21 unique SERPs! How 'bout dem apples?! PAA opportunities can take over some serious SERP real estate.

My infinite PAA obsession

These mini-FAQs within search results have fascinated me since Google started testing of them in 2015. Then in November 2016, I discovered Google's PAA dynamic testing:

You guys, I've discovered a SERP black hole! I'm on #200 suggested PAA for this SERP?! Has anyone else seen an infinite PAA SERP before? pic.twitter.com/YgZDVWdWJ9 — Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) November 23, 2016

The above infinite PAA expanded into the hundreds! This became an obsession of mine as I began to notice them across multiple devices (for a variety of different searches) and coined them “PAA Black Holes.”

I began saving data from these infinite PAAs to see if I could find any patterns, explore how Google might be pulling this data, and dive deeper into how the questions/topics changed as a result of my expanding question boxes, etc.

After seeing a couple dozen infinite PAAs, I began to wonder if this was actually a test to implement in search, but several industry leaders assured me this was more likely a bug.

They were wrong.

Infinite People Also Ask boxes are live

Now integrated into U.S. SERPs (sorry foreign friends, but get ready for this to potentially migrate your way) you can play with these on desktop & mobile:

If you're in the US and like exploring topics, there's a nifty feature for you to try with "People also ask" on Google. :-) pic.twitter.com/s2WtwyYvun — Satyajeet Salgar (@salgar) February 10, 2017 I’m fascinated by Satyajeet's use of “exploring topics”.

Why does Google want people to spend more time on individual SERPs (instead of looking at several)? Could they charge more for advertisements on SERPs with these sticky, expansive PAAs? Might they eventually start putting ads in PAAs? These are the questions that follow me around like a shadow.

To get a better idea of the rise of PAAs, here's a timeline of my exploratory PAA research:

PAA timeline

April 17, 2015 - Google starts testing PAAs

July 29, 2015 - Dr. Pete gets Google to confirm preferred “Related Questions” name

Aug 15, 2015 - Google tests PAA Carousels on desktop

Dec 30, 2015 - Related Questions (PAAs) grow +500% in 5 months

Mar 11, 2016 - See another big uptick in Related Questions (PAAs) in Mozcast

Nov 11, 2016 - Robin Rozhon notices PAA Black Hole

Nov 23, 2016 - Brit notices PAA Black Hole

Nov 29, 2016 - STAT Analytics publishes a research study on PAAs

Dec 12, 2016 - Realized new PAA results would change based on expanded PAA

Dec 14, 2016 - Further proof PAAs dynamically load based on what you click

Dec 19, 2016 - Still seeing PAA Black Holes

Dec 22, 2016 - Discovered a single PAA result (not a 3-pack)

Jan 11, 2016 - Made a machine learning (TensorFlow) discovery and hypothesis!

Jan 22, 2016 - Discovered a PAA Black Hole on a phone

Jan 25, 2016 - Discovered a PAA Black Hole that maxed out at 9

Feb 10, 2017 - PAA Black Holes go live!

Feb 14, 2017 - Britney Muller is still oblivious to PAA Black Holes going live and continues to hypothesize how they are being populated via entity graph-based ML.

3 big infinite PAA discoveries:

#1 - Google caters to browsing patterns in real time

It took me a while to grasp that I can manipulate the newly populated question boxes based on what I choose to expand.

Below, I encourage more Vans-related PAAs by clicking “Can I put my vans in the washing machine?” Then, I encourage more “mildew”-related ones simply by clicking a “How do you get the mildew smell out of clothes” PAA above:

Another example of this is when I clicked “organic SEO” at the very top of a 100+ PAA Black Hole (the gif would make you dizzy, so I took a screenshot instead). It altered my results from “how to clean leather” to “what is seo” and “what do you mean by organic search”:

#2 - There are dynamic dead ends

When I reach an exhaustive point in my PAA expansions (typically ~300+), Google will prompt the first two PAAs, as in: “We aren’t sure what else to provide, are you interested in these again?”

Here is an example of that happening: I go from “mitosis”-related PAAs (~300 PAAs deep) to a repeat of the first two PAAs: “What is Alexa ranking based on?” and “What is the use of backlinks?”:

This reminds me of a story told by Google machine learning engineers: whenever an early ML model couldn’t identify a photograph, it would say a default ‘I don’t know’ answer of: “Men talking on cell phone.” It could have been a picture of an elephant dancing, and if the ML model wasn’t sure what it was, it would say “Men talking on cell phone.”

My gut tells me that G reverts back to the strongest edge cases (the first two PAAs) to your original query when running out of a certain relational threshold of PAAs.

It will then suggest the third and fourth PAA when you push these limits to repeat again, and so on.

#3 - Expand & retract one question to explore the most closely related questions

This not only provides you with the most relevant PAAs to the query you're expanding and retracting, but if it’s in your wheelhouse, you can quickly discover other very relevant PAA opportunities.

Here I keep expanding and retracting "What is the definition of SEO?":

Notice how “SEO” or “search engine optimization” is in every subsequent PAA!? This is no coincidence and has a lot to do with the entity graph.

First, let's better understand machine learning and why an entity-based, semi-supervised model is so relevant to search. I’ll then draw out what I think is happening with the above results (like a 5-year-old), and go over ways you can capture these opportunities! Woohoo!

Training data's role in machine learning

Mixups are commonplace in machine learning, mostly due to a lack of quality training data.

Well-labeled training data is typically the biggest component necessary in training an accurate ML model.

Fairly recently, the voice search team at Google came across an overwhelming amount of EU voice data that was interpreted as “kdkdkdkd.” An obvious exclusion in their training data (who says “kdkdkdkd”?!), the engineers had no idea what could be prompting that noise. Confused, they finally figured out that it was the trains and subways making that noise!

This is a silly example of adding the "kdkdkd" = Trains/Subways training data. Google is now able to account for these pesky "kdkdkdkd" inclusions.

Relational data to the rescue

Because we don’t always have enough training data to properly train a ML model, we look to relational data for help.

Example: If I showed you the following picture, you could gather a few things from it, right? Maybe that it appears to be a female walking down a street, and that perhaps it’s fall by her hat, scarf, and the leaves on the ground. But it’s hard to determine a whole lot else, right?

What about now? Here are two other photos from the above photo’s timeline:

Aha! She appears to be a U.S. traveler visiting London (with her Canon Ti3 camera). Now we have some regional, demographic, and product understanding. It’s not a whole lot of extra information, but it provides much more context for the original cryptic photo, right?

Perhaps, if Google had integrated geo-relational data with their voice machine learning, they could have more quickly identified that these noises were occurring at the same geolocations. This is just an example; Google engineers are WAY smarter than myself and have surely thought of much better solutions.

Google leverages entity graphs similarly for search

Google leverages relational data (in a very similarly way to the above example) to form better understandings of digital objects to help provide the most relevant search results.

A kind of scary example of this is Google’s Expander: A large-scale ML platform to “exploit relationships between data objects.”

Machine learning is typically “supervised” (training data is provided, which is more common) or “unsupervised” (no training data). Expander, however, is “semi-supervised,” meaning that it’s bridging the gap between provided and not-provided data. ← SEO pun intended!

Expander leverages a large, graph-based system to infer relationships between datasets. Ever wonder why you start getting ads about a product you started emailing your friend about?

Expander is bridging the gap between platforms to better understand online data and is only going to get better.

Relational entity graphs for search

Here is a slide from a Google I/O 2016 talk that showcases a relational word graph for search results:

Slide from Breakthroughs in Machine Learning Google I/O 2016 video.

Solid edges represent stronger relationships between nodes than the dotted lines. The above example shows there is a strong relationship between “What are the traditions of halloween” and “halloween tradition,” which makes sense. People searching for either of those would each be satisfied by quality content about “halloween traditions.”

Edge strength can also be determined by distributional similarity, lexical similarity, similarity based on word embeddings, etc.

Infinite PAA machine learning hypothesis:

Google is providing additional PAAs based on the strongest relational edges to the expanded query.

You can continue to see this occur in infinite PAAs datasets. When a word with two lexical similarities overlaps the suggested PAAs, the topic changes because of it:

The above topic change occurred through a series of small relational suggestions. A PAA above this screenshot was “What is SMO stands for?” (not a typo, just a neural network doing its best people!) which led to "What is the meaning of SMO?", to “What is a smo brace?” (for ankles).

This immediately made me think of the relational word graph and what I envision Google is doing:

I hope my parents hang this on their fridge.

My hypothesis is that the machine learning model computes that because I’m interested in “SMO,” I might also be interested in ankle brace “SMO.”

There are ways for SEOs and digital marketers to leverage topical relevance and capture PAAs opportunities.

4 ways to optimize for machine learning & expand your topical reach for PAAs:

Topical connections can always be made within your content, and by adding additional high quality topically related content, you can strengthen your content’s edges (and expand your SERP real estate). Here are some quick and easy ways to discover related topics:

#1: Quickly discover Related Topics via MozBar

MozBar is a free SEO browser add-on that allows you to do quick SEO analysis of web pages and SERPs. The On-Page Content Suggestions feature is a quick and simple way to find other topics related to your page.

Step 1: Activate MozBar on the page you are trying to expand your keyword reach with, and click the Page Optimization:

Step 2: Enter in the word you are trying to expand your keyword reach with:

Step 3: Click On-Page Content Suggestions for your full list of related keyword topics.

Step 4: Evaluate which related keywords can be incorporated naturally into your current on-page content. In this case, it would be beneficial to incorporate “seo tutorial,” “seo tools,” and “seo strategy” into the Beginner’s Guide to SEO.

Step 5: Some may seem like an awkward add to the page, like “seo services” and “search engine ranking,” but are relevant to the products/services that you offer. Try adding these topics to a better-fit page, creating a new page, or putting together a strong FAQ with other topically related questions.

#2: Wikipedia page + SEOBook Keyword Density Checker*

Let’s say you're trying to expand your topical keywords in an industry you’re not very familiar with, like "roof repair." You can use this free hack to pull in frequent and related topics.

Step 1: Find and copy the roof Wikipedia page URL.

Step 2: Paste the URL into SEOBook’s Keyword Density Checker:

Step 3: Hit submit and view the most commonly used words on the Wikipedia page:

Step 4: You can dive even deeper (and often more topically related) by clicking on the "Links" tab to evaluate the anchor text of on-page Wikipedia links. If a subtopic is important enough, it will likely have another page to link to:

Step 5: Use any appropriate keyword discoveries to create stronger topic-based content ideas.

*This tactic was mentioned in Experts On The Wire episode on keyword research tools.

#3: Answer the Public

Answer the Public is a great free resource to discover questions around a particular topic. Just remember to change your country if you’re not seeking results from the UK (the default).

Step 1: Enter in your keyword/topic and select your country:

Step 2: Explore the visualization of questions people are asking about your keyword:

Doesn’t this person look like they’re admiring themselves in a mirror (or taking a selfie)? A magnifying glass doesn’t work from that distance, people!

Note: Not all questions will be relevant to your research, like “why roof of mouth hurts” and “why roof of mouth itches.”

Step 3: Scroll back up to the top to export the data to CSV by clicking the big yellow button (top right corner):

The magnifying glass looks much larger here... perhaps it would work at that distance?

Step 4: Clean up the data and upload the queries to your favorite keyword research tool (Moz Keyword Explorer, SEMRush, Google Keyword Planner, etc.) to discover search volume and SERP feature data, like featured snippets, reviews, related questions (PAA boxes), etc.

Note: Google’s Keyword Planner does not support SERP features data and provides vague, bucket-based search volume.

#4: Keyword research “only questions”

Moz Keyword Explorer provides an “only questions” filter to uncover potential PAA opportunities.

Step 1: Enter your keyword into KWE:

Step 2: Click Keyword Suggestions:

Step 3: Filter by “are questions”:

Pro tip: Find grouped question keyword opportunities by grouping keywords by “low lexical similarity” and ordering them from highest search volume to lowest:

Step 4: Select keywords and add to a new or previous list:

Step 5: Once in a list, KWE will tell you how many “related questions” (People Also Ask boxes) opportunities are within your list. In this case, we have 18:

Step 6: Export your keyword list to a Campaign in Moz Pro:

Step 7: Filter SERP Features by “Related Questions” to view PAA box opportunities:

Step 8: Explore current PAA box opportunities and evaluate where you currently rank for “Related Questions” keywords. If you’re on page 1, you have a better chance of stealing a PAA box.

+Evaluate what other SERP features are present on these SERPs. Here, Dr. Pete tells me that I might be able to get a reviews rich snippet for “gutter installation”. Thanks, Dr. Pete!

Hopefully, this research can help energize you to do topical research of your own to grab some relevant PAAs! PAAs aren't going away anytime soon and I'm so excited for us to learn more about them.

Please share your PAA experiences, questions, or comments below.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[my-tranhung]

Posted by BritneyMuller

A glimpse into Google's machine learning?

You’ve likely seen the People Also Ask (Related Questions) boxes in SERPs. These accordion-like question and answer boxes are Google’s way of saying, “Hey, you beautiful searcher, you! These questions also relate to your search... maybe you're interested in exploring these too? Kick off your shoes, stay a while!”

However, few people have come across infinite PAAs. These occur when you expand a PAA question box to see 2 or 3 other related questions appear at the bottom. These infinite PAA lists can continue into the hundreds, and I've been lucky enough to come across 75+ of these gems!

So, grab a coffee and buckle up! I’d like to take you on a journey of my infinite PAA research, discoveries, machine learning hypothesis, and how you can find PAA opportunities.

Why PAAs should matter to you

PAAs have seen a 1,723% growth in SERPs since 7/31/15 via Mozcast! ← Tweet this stat!

Compare that to featured snippets, which have seen only a 328% growth since that timeframe.

Research has also shown that a single PAA can show up in 21 unique SERPs! How 'bout dem apples?! PAA opportunities can take over some serious SERP real estate.

My infinite PAA obsession

These mini-FAQs within search results have fascinated me since Google started testing of them in 2015. Then in November 2016, I discovered Google's PAA dynamic testing:

You guys, I've discovered a SERP black hole! I'm on #200 suggested PAA for this SERP?! Has anyone else seen an infinite PAA SERP before? http://pic.twitter.com/YgZDVWdWJ9 — Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) November 23, 2016

The above infinite PAA expanded into the hundreds! This became an obsession of mine as I began to notice them across multiple devices (for a variety of different searches) and coined them “PAA Black Holes.”

I began saving data from these infinite PAAs to see if I could find any patterns, explore how Google might be pulling this data, and dive deeper into how the questions/topics changed as a result of my expanding question boxes, etc.

After seeing a couple dozen infinite PAAs, I began to wonder if this was actually a test to implement in search, but several industry leaders assured me this was more likely a bug.

They were wrong.

Infinite People Also Ask boxes are live

Now integrated into U.S. SERPs (sorry foreign friends, but get ready for this to potentially migrate your way) you can play with these on desktop & mobile:

If you're in the US and like exploring topics, there's a nifty feature for you to try with "People also ask" on Google. :-) http://pic.twitter.com/s2WtwyYvun — Satyajeet Salgar (@salgar) February 10, 2017 I’m fascinated by Satyajeet's use of “exploring topics”.

Why does Google want people to spend more time on individual SERPs (instead of looking at several)? Could they charge more for advertisements on SERPs with these sticky, expansive PAAs? Might they eventually start putting ads in PAAs? These are the questions that follow me around like a shadow.

To get a better idea of the rise of PAAs, here's a timeline of my exploratory PAA research:

PAA timeline

April 17, 2015 - Google starts testing PAAs

July 29, 2015 - Dr. Pete gets Google to confirm preferred “Related Questions” name

Aug 15, 2015 - Google tests PAA Carousels on desktop

Dec 30, 2015 - Related Questions (PAAs) grow +500% in 5 months

Mar 11, 2016 - See another big uptick in Related Questions (PAAs) in Mozcast

Nov 11, 2016 - Robin Rozhon notices PAA Black Hole

Nov 23, 2016 - Brit notices PAA Black Hole

Nov 29, 2016 - STAT Analytics publishes a research study on PAAs

Dec 12, 2016 - Realized new PAA results would change based on expanded PAA

Dec 14, 2016 - Further proof PAAs dynamically load based on what you click

Dec 19, 2016 - Still seeing PAA Black Holes

Dec 22, 2016 - Discovered a single PAA result (not a 3-pack)

Jan 11, 2016 - Made a machine learning (TensorFlow) discovery and hypothesis!

Jan 22, 2016 - Discovered a PAA Black Hole on a phone

Jan 25, 2016 - Discovered a PAA Black Hole that maxed out at 9

Feb 10, 2017 - PAA Black Holes go live!

Feb 14, 2017 - Britney Muller is still oblivious to PAA Black Holes going live and continues to hypothesize how they are being populated via entity graph-based ML.

3 big infinite PAA discoveries:

#1 - Google caters to browsing patterns in real time

It took me a while to grasp that I can manipulate the newly populated question boxes based on what I choose to expand.

Below, I encourage more Vans-related PAAs by clicking “Can I put my vans in the washing machine?” Then, I encourage more “mildew”-related ones simply by clicking a “How do you get the mildew smell out of clothes” PAA above:

Another example of this is when I clicked “organic SEO” at the very top of a 100+ PAA Black Hole (the gif would make you dizzy, so I took a screenshot instead). It altered my results from “how to clean leather” to “what is seo” and “what do you mean by organic search”:

#2 - There are dynamic dead ends

When I reach an exhaustive point in my PAA expansions (typically ~300+), Google will prompt the first two PAAs, as in: “We aren’t sure what else to provide, are you interested in these again?”

Here is an example of that happening: I go from “mitosis”-related PAAs (~300 PAAs deep) to a repeat of the first two PAAs: “What is Alexa ranking based on?” and “What is the use of backlinks?”:

This reminds me of a story told by Google machine learning engineers: whenever an early ML model couldn’t identify a photograph, it would say a default ‘I don’t know’ answer of: “Men talking on cell phone.” It could have been a picture of an elephant dancing, and if the ML model wasn’t sure what it was, it would say “Men talking on cell phone.”

My gut tells me that G reverts back to the strongest edge cases (the first two PAAs) to your original query when running out of a certain relational threshold of PAAs.

It will then suggest the third and fourth PAA when you push these limits to repeat again, and so on.

#3 - Expand & retract one question to explore the most closely related questions

This not only provides you with the most relevant PAAs to the query you're expanding and retracting, but if it’s in your wheelhouse, you can quickly discover other very relevant PAA opportunities.

Here I keep expanding and retracting "What is the definition of SEO?":

Notice how “SEO” or “search engine optimization” is in every subsequent PAA!? This is no coincidence and has a lot to do with the entity graph.

First, let's better understand machine learning and why an entity-based, semi-supervised model is so relevant to search. I’ll then draw out what I think is happening with the above results (like a 5-year-old), and go over ways you can capture these opportunities! Woohoo!

Training data's role in machine learning

Mixups are commonplace in machine learning, mostly due to a lack of quality training data.

Well-labeled training data is typically the biggest component necessary in training an accurate ML model.

Fairly recently, the voice search team at Google came across an overwhelming amount of EU voice data that was interpreted as “kdkdkdkd.” An obvious exclusion in their training data (who says “kdkdkdkd”?!), the engineers had no idea what could be prompting that noise. Confused, they finally figured out that it was the trains and subways making that noise!

This is a silly example of adding the "kdkdkd" = Trains/Subways training data. Google is now able to account for these pesky "kdkdkdkd" inclusions.

Relational data to the rescue

Because we don’t always have enough training data to properly train a ML model, we look to relational data for help.

Example: If I showed you the following picture, you could gather a few things from it, right? Maybe that it appears to be a female walking down a street, and that perhaps it’s fall by her hat, scarf, and the leaves on the ground. But it’s hard to determine a whole lot else, right?

What about now? Here are two other photos from the above photo’s timeline:

Aha! She appears to be a U.S. traveler visiting London (with her Canon Ti3 camera). Now we have some regional, demographic, and product understanding. It’s not a whole lot of extra information, but it provides much more context for the original cryptic photo, right?

Perhaps, if Google had integrated geo-relational data with their voice machine learning, they could have more quickly identified that these noises were occurring at the same geolocations. This is just an example; Google engineers are WAY smarter than myself and have surely thought of much better solutions.

Google leverages entity graphs similarly for search

Google leverages relational data (in a very similarly way to the above example) to form better understandings of digital objects to help provide the most relevant search results.

A kind of scary example of this is Google’s Expander: A large-scale ML platform to “exploit relationships between data objects.”

Machine learning is typically “supervised” (training data is provided, which is more common) or “unsupervised” (no training data). Expander, however, is “semi-supervised,” meaning that it’s bridging the gap between provided and not-provided data. ← SEO pun intended!

Expander leverages a large, graph-based system to infer relationships between datasets. Ever wonder why you start getting ads about a product you started emailing your friend about?

Expander is bridging the gap between platforms to better understand online data and is only going to get better.

Relational entity graphs for search

Here is a slide from a Google I/O 2016 talk that showcases a relational word graph for search results:

Slide from Breakthroughs in Machine Learning Google I/O 2016 video.

Solid edges represent stronger relationships between nodes than the dotted lines. The above example shows there is a strong relationship between “What are the traditions of halloween” and “halloween tradition,” which makes sense. People searching for either of those would each be satisfied by quality content about “halloween traditions.”

Edge strength can also be determined by distributional similarity, lexical similarity, similarity based on word embeddings, etc.

Infinite PAA machine learning hypothesis:

Google is providing additional PAAs based on the strongest relational edges to the expanded query.

You can continue to see this occur in infinite PAAs datasets. When a word with two lexical similarities overlaps the suggested PAAs, the topic changes because of it:

The above topic change occurred through a series of small relational suggestions. A PAA above this screenshot was “What is SMO stands for?” (not a typo, just a neural network doing its best people!) which led to "What is the meaning of SMO?", to “What is a smo brace?” (for ankles).

This immediately made me think of the relational word graph and what I envision Google is doing:

I hope my parents hang this on their fridge.

My hypothesis is that the machine learning model computes that because I’m interested in “SMO,” I might also be interested in ankle brace “SMO.”

There are ways for SEOs and digital marketers to leverage topical relevance and capture PAAs opportunities.

4 ways to optimize for machine learning & expand your topical reach for PAAs:

Topical connections can always be made within your content, and by adding additional high quality topically related content, you can strengthen your content’s edges (and expand your SERP real estate). Here are some quick and easy ways to discover related topics:

#1: Quickly discover Related Topics via MozBar

MozBar is a free SEO browser add-on that allows you to do quick SEO analysis of web pages and SERPs. The On-Page Content Suggestions feature is a quick and simple way to find other topics related to your page.

Step 1: Activate MozBar on the page you are trying to expand your keyword reach with, and click the Page Optimization:

Step 2: Enter in the word you are trying to expand your keyword reach with:

Step 3: Click On-Page Content Suggestions for your full list of related keyword topics.

Step 4: Evaluate which related keywords can be incorporated naturally into your current on-page content. In this case, it would be beneficial to incorporate “seo tutorial,” “seo tools,” and “seo strategy” into the Beginner’s Guide to SEO.

Step 5: Some may seem like an awkward add to the page, like “seo services” and “search engine ranking,” but are relevant to the products/services that you offer. Try adding these topics to a better-fit page, creating a new page, or putting together a strong FAQ with other topically related questions.

#2: Wikipedia page + SEOBook Keyword Density Checker*

Let’s say you're trying to expand your topical keywords in an industry you’re not very familiar with, like "roof repair." You can use this free hack to pull in frequent and related topics.

Step 1: Find and copy the roof Wikipedia page URL.

Step 2: Paste the URL into SEOBook’s Keyword Density Checker:

Step 3: Hit submit and view the most commonly used words on the Wikipedia page:

Step 4: You can dive even deeper (and often more topically related) by clicking on the "Links" tab to evaluate the anchor text of on-page Wikipedia links. If a subtopic is important enough, it will likely have another page to link to:

Step 5: Use any appropriate keyword discoveries to create stronger topic-based content ideas.

*This tactic was mentioned in Experts On The Wire episode on keyword research tools.

#3: Answer the Public

Answer the Public is a great free resource to discover questions around a particular topic. Just remember to change your country if you’re not seeking results from the UK (the default).

Step 1: Enter in your keyword/topic and select your country:

Step 2: Explore the visualization of questions people are asking about your keyword:

Doesn’t this person look like they’re admiring themselves in a mirror (or taking a selfie)? A magnifying glass doesn’t work from that distance, people!

Note: Not all questions will be relevant to your research, like “why roof of mouth hurts” and “why roof of mouth itches.”

Step 3: Scroll back up to the top to export the data to CSV by clicking the big yellow button (top right corner):

The magnifying glass looks much larger here... perhaps it would work at that distance?

Step 4: Clean up the data and upload the queries to your favorite keyword research tool (Moz Keyword Explorer, SEMRush, Google Keyword Planner, etc.) to discover search volume and SERP feature data, like featured snippets, reviews, related questions (PAA boxes), etc.

Note: Google’s Keyword Planner does not support SERP features data and provides vague, bucket-based search volume.

#4: Keyword research “only questions”

Moz Keyword Explorer provides an “only questions” filter to uncover potential PAA opportunities.

Step 1: Enter your keyword into KWE:

Step 2: Click Keyword Suggestions:

Step 3: Filter by “are questions”:

Pro tip: Find grouped question keyword opportunities by grouping keywords by “low lexical similarity” and ordering them from highest search volume to lowest:

Step 4: Select keywords and add to a new or previous list:

Step 5: Once in a list, KWE will tell you how many “related questions” (People Also Ask boxes) opportunities are within your list. In this case, we have 18:

Step 6: Export your keyword list to a Campaign in Moz Pro:

Step 7: Filter SERP Features by “Related Questions” to view PAA box opportunities:

Step 8: Explore current PAA box opportunities and evaluate where you currently rank for “Related Questions” keywords. If you’re on page 1, you have a better chance of stealing a PAA box.

+Evaluate what other SERP features are present on these SERPs. Here, Dr. Pete tells me that I might be able to get a reviews rich snippet for “gutter installation”. Thanks, Dr. Pete!

Hopefully, this research can help energize you to do topical research of your own to grab some relevant PAAs! PAAs aren't going away anytime soon and I'm so excited for us to learn more about them.

Please share your PAA experiences, questions, or comments below.

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