#I just miss celebrating each creator that I admire and respect

[wroteclassicaly]

I need to start my fic rec suggestions back up. Idk, I just wanna bring happiness to the fandom, even if it’s in a minuscule way 🥺♥️

[askinkiskarma]

say something nice about your favorite mutuals!

there's so many people i want to say something about i am genuinely considering making a whole separate post and pouring all my love and affection for everyone i am mutuals with because THEY DESERVE IT AND I LOVE YOU ALL SO SO MUCH :(((

@tiredmamaissy - my issy baby, she was the first writer mutual i had and i remember hyperventilating to my bf when I saw that notification massively because i was such a fan and it meant so much to me. she was also the first person to reach out to me privately when i got my first anon hater and she made me feel so much better about that whole situation, and i will forever me grateful to her for that

@neteluvr - kendra means so so much to me, she has been with me pretty much since the beginning, and she was one of the people that stuck with me and my writing and i love her so much for that. she commented on EVERY illicit affair/the archer chapter and her feedback made my world, i used to wake up at like 5-6 in the morning to see if she has commented because it meant so much to hear what she had to say. she's probably my first tumblr mutual and i've come to love and respect her so so much, to admire her beauty, intelligence and compassion, and my life wouldn't be the same without her, our chats, our mutual love for ts for sure <3

@lanasblood - my baby lana is doing her own thing at the moment, but i hope when she comes back she sees this because i love and miss her so much, our late night conversations mean the world to me and she's just overall such an incredible, beautiful, funny, intelligent girl, and her writing leaves me genuinely starstruck every time with no fail. BABY I MISS YOU COME BACK TO ME RN!!! :(((

@pandoraslxna - Luna is one of the first people I followed on tumblr and she was a celebrity to me for sure hahahaha, i remember sending her a couple of asks when i first started writing bc I was such a fan of her work and the way she carried herself on the platform. When she followed me back and started reblogging my works i literally screamed and cried, i couldn't believe it hahahaha. I love her so much, I consider her a friend and I'm so happy I met her. Her writing inspires me, her kindness and beauty and openness and unwavering support for her fellow creators speak for themselves, but i will just say i love her a lot and i'm grateful to know her <3

@blue-slxt - my baby blue is such a kind, beautiful, kindred spirit. i haven't known her that long but it feels like a lifetime? i feel so close to her and like i know her and want to know her and want to be around her more and more each day. she is so kind and compassionate, so incredible and heroic, i admire the hell out of her for what she does, for helping to save lives, to change lives each day, i am so grateful for her and i can't wait to celebrate more milestones with her <3 ilysm pookie :(((

@fleurriee - my beautiful flower, she brightens my day in a way you wouldn't believe? not only is she a phenomenal writer, and pretty much the only person (alongside lana) who can get me to like fluff hahahaha, but she is a beautiful, incredible, awe-inspiring, light of a human being. i adore her and miss her so much when she's gone, and i genuinely don't know what i must have done right to manage to meet her in the circumstances that i did <3

@jakexneytiri - dani, my beautiful baby, i love her so much? she genuinely radiates such kindness and positivity, she is such a beautiful soul, full of love and light, and she always makes me feel safe and like i can tell her anything and she would listen and not judge? i am so appreciative of her and everything she's done for this fandom, i appreciate how tirelessly she works to make sure this is a healthy, happy community, i love talking and thirsting with her about dilf jake, and i LOVE her creativity and passion she puts in every project :(( ily baby

@neytris - i genuinely ADORE su with all my heart??!?!?! like she is one of the absolute funniest, most beautiful, kindest person i've ever met and I DIE every time i see her posts, and reblogs, her tags, i feel like i want to be su when i grow up and that's that!!!! i love you bb and never stop being you, because you are absolutely the brightest star <3 this barbie is hyperventilating over THE barbie x

@sulieykte - i feel like talking about lys is redundant, because no words or essays or novels can describe what she means to me, i'm literally tearing up just thinking about it. she has genuinely been my rock the past few months and i don't know what i would have done without her? i cannot imagine my life without her anymore, without talking to her daily, without sharing my every thought, woe and achievement with her and knowing that she'll feel it and understand, the same way I do with her. she's my soulmate, my twisted sister, and i love her to the moon and to saturn :((

it's 11pm and i'm writing this half asleep and i promise i'll do a part two in order to appreciate everyone the way they deserve <3 i love you besties xoxoxo

[wwinterwitch]

nothing compares | namor x fem!reader

summary: there's not really a plot, it's just filth

pairing: namor x human!fem!reader

word count: 1,8K

warnings/what to expect: SMUT 18+ (MINORS DNI), grinding, oral (fem receiving), overstimulation, fingering, p in v sex (unprotected), multiple orgasms, dirty talk, kinda softdom!namor, established relationship, not explicit but reader is latina/has latin american roots, spoilers free

note: I just really needed to write something involving this painfully hot man or I would've combust. I hope you enjoy!

note 2: My fic used to include Namor talking in spanish but it's been edited out to be respectful of his background. I will keep the reader's expression in spanish tho because it's my own little way of celebrating my latine roots after watching the movie and I don't want my fic to lose that because it does mean a lot me.

a reblog and/or comment on my posts really help me out as a content creator so thank you in advance if you take the time to do either!

main masterlist | marvel masterlist

There's nothing that could compare to this feeling. The sensation of his body against yours, his lips exploring your body with a devotion you've only seen in the way he makes love to you.

Everything's just perfect. From his teeth marking your neck to his hands gripping your hips just a little bit tighter whenever you pull his hair. From your fingers tracing down his firm back to his erection repeatedly rubbing against your soaked underwear.

He pulls away from your neck to meet your lips once again, practically melting into you as he leans impossibly closer, sharing a kiss so passionate you felt dizzy as your legs wrap around his hips to keep him as close as you possibly could.

A grunt left his lips when he moved his hips once again, his cock fully pressed to your clothed pussy. It was impossible to control himself as he started to move, trying to keep the slowest rhythm possible as he felt your wet underwear against him.

He moves back from the kiss, smirking when he realizes how you lean up in an attempt to continue kissing him. A hand reaches your neck to keep you in place just instants before he rocks his hips in one slow, sensual move, making you moan in response.

"You have no idea how much I missed you," Namor says, his hand around your neck still.

"Missed you too...," you're able to say, a moan escaping your lips again when he moves again, "...so much."

"Yeah?" he asks with a smirk, enjoying seeing your desperation grow with each movement of his hips. You were only able to nod. "Tell me."

"I missed you so much...I was hoping you'll come to visit me soon. It's been so long, and I can't make myself cum the way you do...I need you, mi amor. Please..."

You could feel his grip on your neck tightening as you spoke, his eyes dark with desire and his cock twitching after your confession.

Encouraged by your words, he let go of your neck to grab both of your legs, moving them away from his body to spread them open again. His hands were resting on each of your knees before trailing down the inside of your things, eyes never leaving your face as he admired your reaction to his touch.

Namor takes your panties off in a rushed, determined move. He keeps his hands on your hips right after throwing the piece of clothing to the floor, moving down your body. His tongue licks up your belly before he moves further down.

You look down to find him already looking up, smiling like he won the biggest price before he licked a single strap up your folds, the contact of his tongue against your clit sending shivers down your spine, moaning softly. He continued to taste you with his tongue. At first he was very gentle, but then he started to move his tongue way faster, his eyes looking up at you while you continued to moan for him.

He had no mercy. Sucking on your clit as hard as he could, tongue occasionally teasing your entrance, the way he didn't care to be loud and messy...he was determined to make you cum as soon as possible.

And you could feel your orgasm approaching. The fact that he repeatedly looked up at you and the work he was doing with his skillful mouth were driving you to the edge.

You cum with a loud moan, Namor's arms hooking around your legs to keep you as still as possible while he continues. It's not like it was necessary for him to move back to breathe anyway.

Managing to stand up just enough to get a better look of him, you felt like you could cum again just because of this sight. Namor holding onto you and keeping your legs open for him, eyes closed as he enjoys savoring you, almost humming against you as he continues to eat you out like it's his favorite thing in the entire world.

It was a matter of time before you felt your second orgasm approaching. By the time it hits you, you collapse back on the bed as you feel Namor's grip on you tightening to keep you from closing your legs.

The fact that you just had two orgasms only encouraged him to continue his attack at the fastest speed he could possibly achieve, his mouth creating the filthiest sounds against your wet cunt.

You had to hold onto the sheets of your bed, feeling the tears in the corner of your eyes while he sucked on your clit. Your legs shake and your whole body spasms with your third orgasm, and you felt like crying out loud when you realized he's still not going to stop.

He gave you just a couple of seconds to relax, pulling his mouth away from you but quickly moving his hand to your pussy. The feeling of his thumb barely rubbing your clit made you tremble all over again, whimpering.

"Please...," you say. It was unclear to you if you were asking for a break or for him to put his fingers inside you already.

"Please what, my love?" he questions, mouth and chin all covered in your juices. The fact that he just didn't seem to care, not wanting to clean himself off after his attack on you was slowly driving you insane.

"I– I don't..." you attempt to say, whimpering once again. "Can't...think."

Namor gives you a quick and sympathetic "Aww" in a clearly teasing manner before leaning down so his entire body would be closer to you again. His fingers start exploring your folds until they're at your entrance, making you shudder again. "What's the matter? Can't think properly when I make love to you?"

You nod eagerly, whimpering against his lips when he's kissing you again with as much devotion and need as ever. As soon as you feel two of his fingers entering you, your arms wrap around his neck in a desperate attempt to just do something. He was fucking you stupid, barely making it possible for you to move or talk without him instructing you to.

His tongue explores your mouth as his fingers curl inside you, and the taste of your own arousal invading your mouth mixed with the way his fingers move in and out of your still sensitive core only makes your situation worse.

You were so dizzy you were practically his doll right now. He could move you around however he pleases and you won't dare to complain because everything he does to your body just feels too good.

Due to how sensitive your whole body was, and the fact that his fingers kept curling inside you with no intention of ever slowing down, it was inevitable that a fourth orgasm would flow across your entire body. It forces you to move your head to the side to escape his kiss, panting as he whispers praises to you against your cheek, his hot breath hitting your skin as his fingers are still buried deep inside you.

"You think you can take my cock now?" he asks in the sweetest tone, contrasting with the words he just spoke and the way he didn't want to give your body any rest.

He awaits for your answer while he fixes your messy hair, moving it away from your face before one of his hands holds onto your chin, looking down at you. "Yes, please," was your response, earning a smirk from him.

"Always so polite," he comments in a joking manner, secretly enjoying the way you'd always ask for him to do things to you...how you never care to beg for him. He'll never get enough of it.

His fingers finally slip out of you and he moves his hand up to your lips. You understood the message fairly quickly, licking his fingers clean while he observes you proudly. He then uses that same hand to stroke himself a few times before he starts entering you in the slowest way possible, wanting to enjoy the feeling of your walls stretching around every inch of him.

You hold onto him as he enters you, every inch that disappears inside of you makes you that much desperate, rocking your hips up until he starts to hold you tighter, keeping you in place. Despite being so sensitive, you needed him to move already.

He's finally completely inside of you, and he takes a moment to take in the feeling of his cock entirely buried deep inside before moving his hips back, his cock sliding out of your tight hole as both of you moan at the feeling of it. It didn't take long for him to lose all sense of self control, starting to rock his hips in a faster rhythm as you hold onto his bicep, looking up at him with pleading eyes.

Namor completely gives in to the feeling, fucking you in a fast yet incredibly loving manner, trying to show you how much he loves you while also making it clear to you the way your body drives him crazy. To have a literal God worshiping you in this way...it was impossible for you not to let that go to your head.

He's gripping your hips with such strength, leaving a trail of sloppy kisses all around your neck, cock repeatedly hitting a particularly sensitive spot deep inside you...all of that is only contributing to your next orgasm rapidly approaching. You can tell he's close too, his grunts, praises and curses crashing into the skin of your neck like the waves were crashing against the shore the first time you met him.

"Fuck, just like that," he mutters close to your ear. "Keep squeezing me just like that," he added, the comment making you realize the way your walls are tightening around him as you're about to cum yet again thanks to him.

You finally cum with a loud call of his name, holding onto him for dear life as you spasm underneath him once again, tears falling from your eyes as you feel yourself in heaven for the fifth time. He keeps fucking you as you bite onto his shoulder in an attempt to muffle your sounds. Namor rocks his hips a few more times, his loudest grunt yet falling from his lips when he's filling you with his cum, giving a couple of hard, decisive thrusts to secure his cum inside you.

After a few seconds of entire bliss, you feel his fingers wiping your tears away before he once again makes sure to brush your hair away from your face. His eyes were looking down at you with such love, it was once again contrasting with the way he just fucked you. You run a hand up and down his arm affectionately in response, eagerly receiving his kiss when he leans down closer to you.

"You did so good for me," he praises you in a loving voice.

And as he continues to gently kiss your lips, cock still inside you and hands carefully roaming across your body, you once again could confirm that there is absolutely nothing in this world that could ever compare to this feeling. Absolutely no one could ever compare to Namor. You're entirely his, just like he's entirely at your mercy. You wouldn't have it any other way.

[seance]

› gif maker appreciation tag

rules: answer the first half of the questions with gifsets of your own, then answer the second half by tagging gif makers you love!

in honor of dia’s wonderful two years gif-iversary ♡ i was tagged by a bunch of cuties: @iridescentides / @flynncarter / @molinareggie / @miriammaisel / @juliesdahlia / @madeline-kahn / @malikjavaddzayn / @faeryglass / @winterfrosted

LINK A GIFSET › 

Link a gifset you’re really proud of:

on this old ass five gifset, i don’t know there’s something about it i guess, the fact that i managed to keep it simple (i have a problem with overcomplicating things, making them way too messy) but still got the point and the feeling i was going for across › NEVER FINISH A WAR WITHOUT STARTING ANOTHER

Link a gifset where you tried something new:

I WANTED TO BE STRONGER › this was one of the first gifsets where i really went all the way with the style experimentation and where i had the idea of the ‘blubble frame’ as i like to call it, which i love using from time to time

SHADOW AND BONE MAIN CAST › i actually first used this particular style in one of my assassin’s creed edit (NO BOOKS, NO WISDOM) but that never on my main so!

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY EDITORIAL › i still like this edit a lot, completely different from my usual style but it came out neat!

JATP SCRAPBOOK › experimenting with textures and blending modes!

Link a gifset that features your favorite character or celebrity:

WICKER PEOPLE › my favorite chaotic disasters and special mention to THE RAIN WILL EVENTUALLY COME because this poem just kills me.

Link a gifset that you want more people to see:

i think maybe my last shadow and bone one? HERE COMES JUDGMENT DAY just because it took forever and i’m kinda proud of that first gif + i made it feeling super ill so it’s double the value agsgs- 

Link a gifset that you had fun making:

this JATP + BODIES OF WATER one, cause i absolute love finding things to associate characters to and i’m very happy how the blending turned out in the end!

Link a gifset that you created as part of a meme, challenge, or series:

FAVORITE S1 EPISODE › when i still used to gif somehow normally ahah 

Link a gifset of yours that makes you smile:

YOU WERE ALWAYS GOLD TO ME › this song and these characters just mean a lot to me and i poured my whole heart in this gifset!

Link a gifset that you made for someone else:

the love i feel for my friends is stored in the random gifsets

READY OR NOT for @overzonen

NO LULLABY / PARANORMAL INVESTIGATORS for @number5theboy

ON LOVE AND ANGER for @evakant

TAG SOMEONE WHO ›

Tag someone who inspired you to start making gifs:

Oh gosh, I think I started around 2011 so I really can’t remember. I never really stopped but I had some kind of renaissance last summer, in july and I owe that to all the amazing creators in the Umbrella Academy fandom.

Tag someone who makes great vibrant gifs:

@captainheroism @meliorn @ughmerlin and @nina-zenyk all make such unique use of colors, in their own personalized styles but with such consistency and I never fail to recognize their edits on my dash, they stand out in the best of ways!

Tag someone who makes great pale/pastel gifs:

I’m not really a fan of pale or bw gifs, I live and breathe colors but! @ciriofcintras is the only one I follow who edits  like that and the only one I need because everything she makes is amazing, neat, and sharp. Always the right balance of shades. special mention to my girl @mariathorpe use of muted colors that always fit the mood so well!

Tag someone who gifs for a fandom you love:

Well, too many to count I think. If we’re mutuals, there’s a good 90% chance that’s because you’re gifmaker too and we share fandoms! To name a few, @number5theboy you already know I’m ride or die for lizzie but the thoughtfulness she puts in each gifset makes it extra special! @andyoudoctor myra is constantly improving and dishing out amazing content

Tag someone who uses text/typography really well in their gifsets:

becca @inejz-ghafa engy @alina-mal and ava @anya-chalotra are my go to for this particular type of inspiration! their careful placements and gradient and font work is always lovely, you can feel the effort behind it. typhography is the thing i waste more time on when i gif so i can really appreciate their art!

Tag someone who motivates you to step up your game:

miss ava for sure, becca again, @ogaferoga is a artist in their own right and no one does it like them. honestly ALL the people i’ve tagged here are the reason why i always strive to try new things and experiment more, i feel like we’re all learning together, at our own pace but together nevertheless and that’s so inspiring and comforting ♥

Tag someone who you have taken inspiration from:

again, i won’t ever deny the huge impact @anya-chalotra had on my current style. i try not to go with the exact type of edits of other gifmakers, unless it’s a particularly popular trend that doesn’t involve a particular attention to composition both out of respect and because i like to experiment on my own. but that’s exactly what ava pushed me to do, her edits showed me how much potential photoshop had that i wasn’t really exploiting so i got down to learn more about it! she remains my # editing goals for sure ♥

Tag gif makers who you admire and appreciate!: i love you guys so much, keep doing your thing and being awesome! @arnos @alethiometry @milkovivhs @allisonshargreeve @rockyblue @evakant @dykejaskiers @arthurpendragonns @starkkov @jessiemeili 

[eighthxjune]

aixa writes black people + love #2 community: A “World” Still Necessary

It was 1987 when A Different World premiered.  I was young, like not yet double digits, young.  Every Thursday night, at 8:30, my mom, dad, sister, brother and I gathered around the TV, belting out the show’s theme song by Phoebe Snow in season one, Aretha Franklin in seasons two through five, and Boyz II Men in its final episodes.  Those lyrics were soon my alma mater:

I know my parents loved me Stand behind me come what may I know now that I’m ready For I finally heard them say

It’s a different woorrrrrld than where ya come from

Hillman College was a pinnacle place for me.  It personified cultural identity, and as someone who grew up in a predominantly white suburban town, the only Black pupil until high school, it was majestic and I wanted to be there.  Hillman displayed the cool factor our culture exudes so effortlessly; highlighting our style, dialect, posture, passion, and purpose from every region of the country, the continent of Africa and the Caribbean.  This “world”, was different than where I came from, and it was beautiful.  It gave me hope that a place - outside of my own home - supportive, caring and nurturing existed.

I saw Black teachers champion students who didn’t see their own unique potential, and dorm directors give sage advice. Witnessed roommates with nothing in common become best friends, and confidants.  I got hyped, and danced when adamant voices rallied together until a donor ceased support of South Africa’s apartheid.  And understood what loyalty looked like when a friend rescued his homegirl from what nearly turned into a date rape.  I cheered on two Black men fighting the weapon of racial injustice brought upon by a rival school, and marveled in a student reclaiming the image of Aunt Jemima, realizing her imperial complexion was to be treasured.  I observed discoveries, rejections, failed attempts, triumphs and losses, and empathized as if they were my own, because honestly they were.  Hillman was a community, a Black community, our community, an extension of who I was, who I am.  At such a young age, it was introducing me to myself.  This “different world” was a reflection of my desires and dreams.  It was an aspirational exhibit of Black successes - a rarity shown in media. Hillman was a place that encouraged you to stretch your capacity of thought and understanding.  It valued unlearning stifled ways of thinking, to learning expansively and with zeal.

Debbie Allen, an HBCU alum of Howard University, and the show's brilliant producer, as of season two, understood the importance of telling Black stories with all of their complexities.  She used television as a tool to address what was most difficult and challenging about us.  “If we’re not doing that, we’re not doing a good job.”  She expressed to Netflix’s Strong Black Legends.  When brought on board she excitedly wrote a storyline for character Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet), who, at the time, was pregnant in real life.  She thought it would be great to present the experience of a young Black student from an upper middle class family, not married, about to embark on motherhood.  Though the idea got nixed by the show’s creator, Bill Cosby - who didn’t approve of Denise being pregnant in college - I wonder what her story would have developed into as a student mother, a credible notion, and one I’m certain would have advanced her role.  

See, at Hillman, students strived to be the best versions of themselves, and looked forward to reciprocating care to those who raised them.  But, even more vital, they knew their obligation to boost those who were succeeding them. They cherished their Blackness and its power.

The hub of the campus was The Pit - the school’s eatery that made an appearance in practically every episode.  It was where students solely exhaled after a day of grueling classes and friends merged to catch up on the latest of tales.  Conversations flowed candidly at this hangout and with comedic flair.  Everyone passed through the beloved grumpy owner, Mr Gaines’ (Lou Myers) spot.  Even my forever heartthrob, Tupac, made a stunning guest appearance as Piccolo, an old flame from Baltimore coming to put claims on his childhood love, Lena James (Jada Pinkett Smith).

Relationships played a significant part in character maturation at Hillman, and the love story that tugged at my heartstrings was Whitley and Dewayne, performed by Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison.  Cleverly laced throughout the show’s entire series, we journeyed with a high maintenance southern debutante from Richmond, VA and a Brooklyn native in J’s and flip-up glasses, who got a perfect score on his math SATs.  Allen took us on an exciting ride while these two people - growing individually - were also hesitantly falling in love with each other.  It was the ingenious love story I needed, and subconsciously yearned for, even if I were only in the fifth grade.  How could I not gush over this attainable fairytale that spoke my love language. I kept twinkling at the idea that, ‘In just a few years, this college life will be a reality for me.’  

Although Hillman College was a fictional place, its impact tripled enrollment of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.  As you may have gathered by now, A Different World ignited my love for HBCUs, and then began my search in finding one most suitable for me; a place that served as a home and fostered my voice, since it was currently muffled, allowing others - who didn’t look like me - to feel comfortable in the presence of my Black skin.  By the time I got to high school I attended the Black College Tour, twice.  Not because I was having trouble finding a good school, but really I was in awe of the noteworthy offerings provided at these historically Black schools.  The curriculums were impressive, the faculty resembled me, and the alumni were groundbreakers.  I was visiting institutions that are irreplaceable.  There was so much to learn about myself, and it was to happen in this next phase.  During my visits, I watched students purposefully carry themselves across campus, greet friends with hugs and daps, expressively admire each other’s gear and hairstyles, pause on building steps to continue debatable class discussions, only to be interrupted by an eye-catching smile.  The exploration alone made my heart flutter, and shortly after I was back at home flexing in my new Black college apparel - showing off the schools I toured.  By senior year of high school I decided to attend Howard University in Washington, D.C. and it was more than I imagined it to be; finding me in a way I didn’t think it could.  It met me where I was and readied me to rule the world.

There have always been skeptics who find HBCUs to be limiting.  But, honestly there isn’t a place that will “teach you how to love and know yourself” like one - a necessary move after centuries of oppression; especially as a Black woman who receives bare minimum support when it comes to this country’s level of respect. These institutions encourage you to go inward and prepare yourself for life ahead, beyond Black communities.  On the backs of scarred ancestors, almost 200 years ago, HBCUs were created, reshaping American history.  Literally built by their hands, these Black forebears constructed a place to acquire a well desired education, and for once, as a majority, marked a setting where Black issues could be discussed. Despite what history instilled upon us, Black people were thriving and these HBCUs had a strong hand in making sure of that.

Howard University is a big part of my DNA, a connection made due to A Different World.  It’s not easy expressing to those who have never attended an HBCU how magical those four years were, and how much rich history is seeped in the campus soil.  However, the show is the best demonstration; restoring a feeling that will always remain in my heart, reminding me of friendships built that reside at my core.  I graduated from Howard years ago, started a career in New York and since moved to Los Angeles to begin a new chapter.  But every autumn, when I can, I race back to celebrate Howard’s homecoming, in high hopes of reliving just a taste of some of the greatest years of my life.  It's never quite the same, but I don’t expect it ever will be.

A Different World came to an “end of the road” in 1993, and now I stream its episodes to emotionally reconnect with a missed experience; watching amusingly as if I hadn’t seen each one several times already.  Because I still yearn to explore a “world” that inspires me to reach for more of myself, and a Black love story that provides hope.  And though this “world” may be different, I know, I’m not alone.

Take care of yourself.

[postguiltypleasures]

The Magicians Finale - (over a year later)

I didn’t watch the first season of The Magicians as it aired in late 2015- 2016. I was already watching the roughly estimated maximum amount of television I could watch. I didn’t have the time to make for a new show. It debuted at the same time as The Expanse, and that looks like the “better” show. But I would soon realize that I liked The Magicians more.

While I was watching the first season, I attempted to go back and look at the writing from while it aired. This experience profoundly influenced how I felt about the controversial ending to the fourth season, and the fall out in the fandom.

The fourth season ended after Quentin Coldwater, ostensibly the show’s central character, dying while saving the world. In his orientation to the afterlife there is discussion about was this actually heroic or was it a manifestation of his depression and suicidal identification. The show doesn’t answer this directly, it just has Quentin experience how his friends are mourning him and feel how loved it was. People felt really betrayed by this. It was considered deeply irresponsible. I have already written about it here. In the aftermath, part of me thought back to those recaps and reviews of the first season and wondered “how did we get to place where we could feel so betrayed?” Because reviews from the then seemed certain that it was more problematic than it was. Take for example this recap from Vulture season one, where the writer, Hillary Kelly, wonders who this show is actually for? Or this AV Club recap of the first season finale where the writer Lisa Weidenfeld erroneously thinks that The Beast and Julia, both rape victims, are being set up to be the show’s main villains? And that Eliot’s forced marriage to Fen was potentially a straight washing.

The fact that the worries Weidenfeld put into writing didn’t pan out is probably part of the reason that the show’s reputation improved. It would also have characters within the show call out others’s sexism, racism, etc. which could feel like something of a corrective to a lot of pop culture out there. You might also have noticed that in Weidenfeld’s recap she makes a comparison between Julia and Willow-gets-addicted-to-magic-plot season six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Ads for the first season even looked like they wanted viewers to draw that comparison.

I remember from around the second season coming across a several articles declaring The Magicians a worthy successor to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Emily VanDerWerff discussed it in her review of the second season. As one point she makes the statement that “The Magicians isn’t as politically subversive as Buffy”, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say that might be less true than she assumed at the time. In an era of backlash against Buffy’s creator Joss Whedon, The Magicians could be comparatively more empathetic to its characters and had some pretty subversive plot points. But I haven’t watched an episode of Buffy since the early aughts, or The Magicians since it wrapped.

(VanDerWerff’s writing heavily influenced my own thoughts about thee show, which I previously wrote about here. I am also including links to her old podcast, I Think You’re Interesting and the interviews she did with novelist Lev Grossman and show runner Sera Gamble, though I should note those are from before she transitioned and under her dead name. Also I wanted to include that she included it in her best television of the 2010s article.)

In the articles I just linked to, you might also notice frequent comparisons to Game of Thrones. While the comparisons focus on the the vast difference in budget and how ubiquitous GoT was at the same time The Magicians aired, it is worth noting that both series are postmodern, deconstruction takes on their respective sub-genres. While GoT could use that to point out why surprising and awful things happened to their characters, The Magicians mostly had fewer horrible things happen to its characters. But the comparison might have influenced how post Quentin’s death people made a litany of those events/plot points to prove that any faith in the show was misplaced and it was a betrayer better left behind.

The after the fourth season I pulled back from discussing The Magicians online. I just couldn’t deal with other people’s anger. I was never really active in the fandom, but I did write about it here more than probably any other series since I started this blog. This may have given me a false impression about how the media ended up covering the show. While writing this I was planning an arc that would go something like, “at the start of the fourth season the media loved it and articles this one by Kathryn Van Arendonk at Vulture came out saying that they regretted stopping the show part way through season one. But the fan backlash to the finale was so harsh that even the show’s frequent champion, Emily VanDerWerff didn’t write about it at all for the fifth season.” She did write a positive review at the start of the fifth season. I even read it at the time. She didn’t write about the finale, and that disappointed me, which may have led me to mis-remember the earlier. (I did remember this round table discussion about the ascendency of fandom in which she discusses the show’s situation, and it might have also contributed to my misremembering.)

The AVClub had Weidenfeld write a review of the first episodes, but she no longer recapped the episodes as she had for the first four seasons. (Her review is generally about what is missing from the Quentin-less series) While preparing to write this I found out that Decider’s Anna Menta recapped through the third episode, despite being amongst those who felt betrayed by Quentin’s death and the lack of opportunity for Quentin and Eliot to explore their romance.

(I just want to take a moment to say a couple of things here. Firstly, I really believed the show runners when they said Quentin was dead and not coming back so I didn’t see the first couple of episodes as a tease that he might come back. When my grandfather who I was very close to died I would regularly have dreams that his death was incorrectly called and he’d come back. I saw those episodes as a version of that.)

This has been show I’ve written about the most in recent years. But as I was mostly ignoring both professional and fan writing about it for its final season, I only really got around to reading these now. I’m going to start with this post-finale interview with the producers, Sera Gamble, Henry Alonso Myers John McNamara, written by Vlada Gelman at TVLine. It isn’t really a lot of new information. It’s interesting to read about how being renewed or not affected their editing decisions in post production. They seem happy with it. At Entertainment Weekly, Chancellor Agard interviewed Gamble and McNamara. There is more talk about the connection between the final season of the tv show and the finale book of the trilogy, The Magicians Land. (As a viewer I was always pleased when they somehow brought in details from the books late in the season, whether it was big things for the arc like the World Seed page or details that only mattered for an episode like whales being magicians.) In the interview, they also talk about some of the wildest plot points. Gamble and McNamara also gave and interview to Adam Chitwood at Collider. Chitwood is the most enthusiastic about the show. The interview also confirms for those who want to know that Jason Ralph asked to be let go from the show, and that Julia’s pregnancy probably wouldn’t have happened if her actress Stella Maeve hadn’t gotten pregnant. Finally, in an I can’t believe I missed it example, at the New York Times, Jennifer Vineyard also interviewed Gamble and McNamera. This one starts pretty politically with how trying to save the citizens of Fillory unintentionally works as a metaphor for quarantine and how we don’t get through difficult periods of times because of individuals, instead it’s more of a collective. Then it somehow turns into a a thing about being in a mutual admiration society with William Shatner. I truly didn’t see this one coming.

So now I have to get to the actual reviews of the finale, with the caveat that I haven’t watched any of the series in over a year so it’s definitely not fresh in my mind. Over at The AVClub, re-capper Weidfeld is mostly mournful for the series, but also makes the point that when the characters grew up and stopped being so hurtful towards each other and themselves, it was less compelling. It kind of ties back to my “how did people think this was a show that wouldn’t hurt them” question from earlier, but with less interest in fans. I don’t remember if my feelings as it went on would have agreed with it, but it is partially why it was in good place to end the series. At io9, Beth Elderkin seemed to think the finale was rushed and the show deserved better. I don’t remember if I felt like the episode was rushed. But as I read through her recap, I realize that I’ve also forgotten a lot of the episode’s plot points. Over at The Mary Sue, Jessica Mason wrote a positive review highlighting aspects that pleased her as a fan who wanted good things for these characters.

Shortly after the finale Sarah Stankorb at The Atlantic recommend the series to COVID bound bingers. I was shocked to see this. I didn’t think anyone would be recommending it post season for backlash. (Earlier on an episode of Our Opinions Are Correct the hosts walked back what could have been a recommendation for the series, which disappointed me. I don’t remember which episode this was.) It’s a lovely overview of the whole series. I especially like how Stackorb addresses the way the show dealt with Julia’s assault (greatly improving on the source material). It made me wonder if the show will have a legacy, one worthy of celebration. I don’t hope for a revival, but if I had time to re-watch it, I might. And I am happy to read comicbooks building on the source material.

[thisbitchinthecorner]

1976- Day 17 Ornament

This piece is important and will tie into a few other projects I have going right now. I wasn’t planning on revealing this yet, but the way the writing took felt right. I’ve been upset over the Star Wars leaks all day, so this sort of made up for it. For @drawlight

Ornament prompt!

In an antiquated bookshop in London Soho, an angel finishes decorating a massive Christmas tree; it is trimmed with garland of gold and lights of white, with many shiny ornaments depicting glorious angels all heralding the birth of Christ.

“So many pretty angels, looking all perfect with their wings and halos.” Crowley grumbled as he patted an ornament that looked remarkably like Michael.

“Angels are festive!” Aziraphale sputtered back.

“Needs more demonic influence, if you ask me.” Crowley quipped as he debated snapping the head off an ornament that strongly resembled Gabriel.

“It’s not like humans celebrate demons, Crowley.”

“Of course, who would want to put a creature of Hell on their Christmas tree?” Crowley said coolly.

“You cannot fault the humans, I mean, your kind is fallen and not something humans want to associate with.”

“Yes, angel. I’m aware. Fallen angel, not worthy of any respect what so ever.”

“Honestly, I don’t know what you expect. Humans believe they demons are evil, and no one wants anything evil...”

“No one wants anything evil what? Go on, finish what you were going to say.” Crowley snapped angrily.

“They don’t want anything evil around them.”

“I see. Who would want evil around when they can surround themselves with statues of angels that don’t give a shit about them.”

“Crowley, that’s not what I meant.”

“No no! I understand completely. Angels are good, demons are bad. Was that what you were trying to say?”

“Please don’t be upset.” Aziraphale tried his best to soothe.

“Why would I be upset? You’re just speaking the truth, aren’t you?” Crowley said bitterly.

“Don’t go! I didn’t mean you!”

“Well, I am a demon and I am fallen. Don’t worry, angel, I won’t pollute your home with my evil ways any longer.” Crowley yelled as he slammed the door, leaving Aziraphale completely alone.

He considered closing the bookshop, shutting down for the day, when the door opened and an elderly woman walked into the shop.

“I’m afraid I was preparing to close for the afternoon, if you could come back another time.” The angel, still clearly flustered, began.

“Please, if you don’t mind, I would very much so like to sell this book. You see, it’s been in my family a very long time, and none of my grandchildren are interested in it, so I thought before I throw it away, I would see if there were any takers.”

“An old book?” Aziraphale’s interest peeked.

“I can see that you’re getting ready to close, so I’ll just be off then.”

“Wait!” Aziraphale called. “I suppose I could take a look.”

“A look is going to cost you! No one outside of my family has laid a hand on this book, so if you’re interested.” The old woman wiggled the book a bit in front of Aziraphale.

“Very well, name your price.”

“Such a priceless heirloom cannot be summed up so easily...Oh! I see you have an antique silver tea set! You wouldn’t happen to have a milk pot with the cover would you? Mine went missing quite some time ago, and I haven’t been able to locate a suitable replacement.”

“I do have the milk pot, but I’m not certain I’d be willing to trade it for an unknown book. If I could perhaps...” Aziraphale said as he attempted to garner a glimpse.

“No. The milk pot for the book. One time offer.”

Aziraphale winced as he looked at his silver tea set, he would hate to part with such an ornate piece, but the book did appear to be quite old. “Alright, you have a deal.”

“Lovely!” The old woman grinned as she plunked the book into Aziraphale’s hands before plundering his silver service.

He looked down at the cover, the writing was scarcely legible; there were well-worn symbols embossed into the leather. Strange. He thought as he lifted the cover.

The writing was indeed ancient- no language ever spoken by humans, the language of the Seraphim, the language of angels.

“Where did you say you got this...” Aziraphale glanced up to see that he was once again, utterly alone in his shop.

He sat down at his desk and carefully opened the book; there were a great many pages loose that someone had seemingly shoved them inside haphazardly. It appears to be a recollection of the creation of angels. He scoured the pages with great interest, atop each page, a name, a rank and a description of the angel and their blessings.

Gabriel, Archangel

A mighty winged creature with eyes of violet, bands of gold flows through his throat, for he is the Word of God.

A stunning painting of a furious and righteous Gabriel holding a sword lit up the page, sending a shudder down his spine.

Let’s see Michael...Uriel...Raziel...Jophiel...Raphael... Camael... He muttered to himself as he flipped their pages, quietly admiring their Heavenly attributes and stunning images.

A torn slip of paper fell upon the floor, garnering his attention:

Jedbriel, Archangel

Most fair of all Heavenly creations....

eyes of gold and hair of flame. All ....

rejoices over his creations...

of stars that rain through the cosmos and ...

“Jedbriel? I haven’t heard this name before.” Aziraphale pondered as he held the slip of paper in his hand. “Archangel? That can’t be right.”

He continued to search the book, eventually coming to his own name; he blushed at the flattering drawing of him holding his flaming sword. He turned the page and what he saw caused his heart to skip a beat.

Crowley?

His rendering was unmistakable; auburn hair that fell past his waist, flowing down in a fiery wave. His golden eyes, warm and filled with light, seemed to look straight through to his soul. Wings of white illuminated by the radiance of starlight that surrounded him.

“Oh Crowley!” He sighed with adoration. He glanced up at the top of the page, looking for his name- the name that God herself had given to him, but the page was torn, many words were missing, but a few remained...

...with...

...Heaven...

...galaxies...

...beloved child of God.

Curious. He pulled the slip of torn paper and placed it over where the piece was missing; to his surprise, the piece fit seamlessly.

Crowley? It cannot be. Even if it were, that would make 8 archangels, and that’s not possible. We were told there are 7, always 7. This doesn’t make sense. His given name is Jedbriel? I don’t understand.

He poured over the book all that night, searching for clues, searching for anything that might give him a better understanding of who this mysterious named archangel was and why there was no other information to be found anywhere.

Nothing. How can he not exist at all in any other text? None of this makes sense. He poured himself another cup of hot chocolate as he continued to reason. But Crowley would have told me, it would have come up by now.

He paused and looked up at his brilliantly adorned Christmas tree, stunning angles heralding the arrival of Christ; trumpets and harps, halos and magnificent wings of white. His breath caught- these beautiful ornaments created by mankind to depict the glory of Heaven. If the information in the book was to be believed, then Heaven erased one of their own from existence- erased Crowley. Creator of stars and fairest of all Her creations. How painful it must be for the demon to look upon these ornaments and see nothing but pain, rejection and erasure.

Oh Crowley, I am so sorry.

Days pass, and another Christmas Eve arrives with little fanfare. Aziraphale continued to pour through his scrolls, texts, first edition unrevised Bibles and any religious works he has at his disposal. He finds nothing.

Night brings the moon and the soft glow of distant stars. The cold winter wind snaps him from his focus, and he turns to see a demon has, in fact, returned to his shop.

“Picked you up a little something for your tree.” Crowley announces as he sauntered in, finely wrapped box in hand.

“Crowley!” Aziraphale cooed with delight. “Listen, about the other day, I’m...”

“It’s nothing, angel. Water under the bridge.” Crowley dismissed. “Doing a little light reading?” He asked as he glanced around, noting that nearly every surface was covered with literature.

“Oh, just a bit of research.” Aziraphale said as he hid the book under a stack of papers.

“Anything important?” The demon asked as he made his way towards where the angel was standing.

“Important? Just something that peeks my curiosity.” Aziraphale glanced up, trying to erase the image of Crowley in his true angelic form from his mind.

“Just stopped in to give you this, then I’m off to a party. Big temptation to accomplish and then I’m leaving London for a bit. Meant to go to Italy.” Crowley stopped before him, gift in hand. “Go on, open it.”

Aziraphale accepted the package, and removed the wrapping; inside was a monstrous little figure with two great horns and bright red eyes. A look of confusion fell over his face.

“It’s Krampus! He’s a demon that comes for naughty children at Christmas Time. Anyway, he’s better than all your “holier than thou” angels and I thought this place could use a little more...”

“Crowley, I love it.” He held the glass ornament in his hands. “I know exactly where to put him.” He walked over to the tree and placed him on a branch at the top.

“Anyway, Happy Christmas angel.” Crowley shrugged as he turned to leave.

“Wait!” Aziraphale yelled a bit too loudly. “I have something for you too. He grabbed a gold trimmed package from his desk drawer.

“Tartan? Really?” Crowley moaned as he produced a printed scarf. “I mean, you don’t expect me to actually wear this, do you?”

“It’s stylish and besides, it will keep you warm. I know how you hate this weather.” Aziraphale teased.

“Goodnight angel.” Crowley waved as he sauntered towards the door. Aziraphale watched him leave, watched as his hair, much shorter, yet still long enough to flutter in the wind. Gone were his wings of white, his golden markings and his Heavenly name, yet in Aziraphale’s eyes, he was still the fairest of all Her creations.

[lilyjcollins-news]

Darren Star’s New Series Has More City Than Sex — And It’s Paris

WWD went behind the scenes with the television guru and his star Lily Collins as the new series wraps shooting in the French capital.

click here to see the full set.

Among clichés about Paris: Fashion is such an entrenched part of daily life that taxi drivers in the French capital can talk authoritatively about collections and designers during fashion weeks.

Darren Star discovered a new one: that French extras on film sets know precisely, almost instinctively, how to behave at a fashion show.

That was the case last week when 250 extras assembled for one of the finale scenes for season one of “Emily in Paris,” the television series the “Sex and the City” and “Beverly Hills, 90210” creator has been filming in the French capital, and environs, for the last four months. Shooting wraps up this week, and the 10 episodes are slated to air next summer on the Paramount Network.

“We’re really getting the character and the texture of the city — and it informs everything we do,” says Star, inviting WWD to attend a sprawling shoot in the courtyard of La Monnaie de Paris that involved a garbage truck, a guerrilla fashion show of outlandish neon gowns, and a roped-off red carpet swamped by a noisy crowd.

Star describes the series as a romantic comedy or “dramedy” centered on a “fish-out-of-water” American in Paris, portrayed by Lily Collins, on this day dressed in a floral-print puffer jacket, matching short skirt and bright pink beret.

The 30-year-old actress appears in almost every scene as Emily, sharing her star billing with a city that Star has swooned over since he was 19, and one he found to be more ravishing and picturesque than ever.

“We’ve become very inward-looking as a country, and I think it’s good to do a show that celebrates another culture,” Star says, seated on a director’s chair tucked in a chilly hallway steps away from the main action. “Anywhere you put the camera, this city looks gorgeous and surreally beautiful. That’s another cliché of Paris.”

Beyond the romanticism of the historic city, Star wishes to convey its elegant, unrushed way of life. “There’s still a sense of graciousness and manners, the way people interact with each other, the politeness and respect for one other, which I feel is really missing at home,” he enthuses. “It’s definitely a more mannered society. It still exists!”

Star brought his crew and cast to the gilded Opéra Garnier, the Pont Alexandre III, Le Grand Véfour restaurant, Luxembourg Gardens and the Musée des Arts Forains dedicated to funfair artifacts. “Paris is definitely a character in the story the way New York was in ‘Sex and the City,'” he says. “I revel in the clichés. I love it all.”

The television guru is equally smitten with Collins, daughter of English pop icon Phil Collins.

“She’s the youngest character I’ve written for since ‘Melrose Place,'” he says, name-dropping another of his zeitgeist-defining shows. “You’ve got to come to Paris as a young person to have a certain sense of wonder.”

Collins portrays a budding professional parachuted in from Chicago to implement social media at a French luxury marketing agency, setting the stage for drama and culture clashes — not to mention references to fashion and perfume brands; some real, some fictional.

In an interview, Collins described her character as a “go-getter, determined, optimistic” and perhaps “too happy and slightly annoying. She just has that American sense of can-do that clashes with some of the people she encounters. That can come across as foreign and annoying to some; for others, it’s endearing.

“Emily feels like a very modern woman, finding her way in her job, finding her way in her love life,” she continues. “We can all relate to that.”

Emily’s boss at the fictional agency is portrayed by French actress Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, who describes her character as “a little bit the villain” as Star’s “meta-vision” for the show explores the gulf between brash American enthusiasm and French formality and reserve.

“Darren is making as much fun of the Americans as he is the French. It’s a very tender way of looking at it. It’s affectionate cruelty,” she says, her mouth curling into a wry smile. “It’s more about bridging the cultures.”

And, she adds, “there are a lot of great punch lines.”

Star is careful not to reveal too much of the plot, but describes Collins’ character as a charming, yet tone-deaf American who “doesn’t speak French and doesn’t have any great love or affinity for Paris. And she’s not warmly embraced.”

Known more for dramatic roles in films such as “Love, Rosie,” “Mirror Mirror,” and “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones,” Collins shows a new side of herself in “Emily in Paris,” Star enthuses.

“She’s smart, she’s funny, and she’s a terrific actress. She is such a romantic comedy star,” he says, marveling that she brought to mind a young Audrey Hepburn in many scenes. “I think people are going to fall in love with her.”

Collins is also a producer on the program, consulted on the wardrobe and brought a contagious, joyful energy to the set. “Her spirit never flags, and that trickles down to everyone on the set,” Star says.

The admiration is mutual. “I grew up loving every show he did,” Collins says about Star, whose latest TV creation is “Younger,” already on its sixth season.

“I love his perspective on female characters,” the actress adds. “He’s so hands-on with everything and is on the set every day, yet he is also so incredibly collaborative. He chimes in and is creatively inspiring all the time.”

Collins has become smitten with the French capital over the past few months. “It has been an utter joy to work here,” Collins says. “There’s so much culture, so much beautiful architecture and so many beautiful sights to see in Paris. The locations have been absolutely incredible.”

Fashion plays an important and colorful role in the show, and Star called on his “Sex and the City” collaborator Patricia Field, plus costume designer Marylin Fitoussi, to team up and shape the look of the show.

“There are a lot of hats. Way more hats than I ever expected,” Star says, shaking his head in mock disbelief.

He gingerly describes Emily’s style as “fun” and not exactly subtle. “She can pull off an Eiffel Tower print dress,” he deadpans. “Her style gets more sophisticated as the show continues, but it’s a series, so she’s always going to be an American.”

Collins describes Emily’s clothes as colorful and loud, telegraphing her personality: “She’s a ray of sunshine; there’s so much color and pattern.”

In her life as an actress, Collins is admired for her sleek-yet-feminine style on the red carpet. She is an ambassador for Lancôme, and a friend of jewelry house Cartier.

Star is also a fan of fashion, more as a spectator, and appreciates the bite-size theatrical spectacle of runway shows. He praised Thom Browne’s spring 2020 display and Chanel’s beach set for its spring 2019 collection.

And he clearly is hip to the tensions that are festering between the new and old guards as fashion enters the social media age. The fashion show scene in the finale episode recounts a showdown between an elderly French couturier and a brash American streetwear brand that results in a boisterous display of one-upmanship.

“Lily’s character comes from the generation of Instagram,” Star explains. “The democratization of taste becomes a subject in the show. Who are the gatekeepers of taste, and how it’s changing is something we talk about in the show.”

Yet Star sees the show mainly as a “love letter to Paris” that will surely inspire many young women to log onto Expedia.com and book flights. Or armchair travelers can simply relish the cinematic splendor.

“Television has become big — and I mean big in terms of scope. I want people to have an experience watching this series,” Star says. “I wanted to share my excitement about Paris in this series, and I think people will be able to leave their lives for a bit watching this show.”

vía WWC.

[elhoimleafar]

From booksellers sorcerers and cyber-pagans. #SocialMedia #ModernPagans “Let your closest relationship be with the gods you worship and not with your social media”.

While it is true that I am very regular with social networks, for me it is inevitable because it is part of my job, managing the accounts of other clients for the two agencies with which I work keeps me very focused in the world of social networks, I graduated as a publicist in 2013 and my area is precisely managing profiles and social networks, and although it is difficult for me to keep my academic/professional life in my spiritual/professional life, I do my best to keep it that way and until now I think I have achieved it.

My Twitter account is permanently active, it is my window to the world, it is literally my way of doing catharsis, sharing with my readers, with my friends, with my followers who support me, it is my way of taking ideas from my head, sharing notes and thoughts, funny pictures, great places, etc... But I try to maintain a line and a firm position between both worlds and over time I have achieved a balance.

While my Instagram may be full of photographs of my candles and amulets, these are taken after the rituals, and mostly I do it to share the recipes with those who follow me, but not to show off, much less will they see me performing a ritual in a live Facebook, not by the intervention of the cameras, I really do not think that the device has any negative effect that I can not control, it is rather for two reasons that I think are quite logical, and which I have maintained against any argument that they have thrown me to defend the opposite.

First, for a topic of concentration, in the middle of my rituals, before and after them I like to feel focused on 100%, I do not tolerate any kind of distractions, and you can not give 100% of you, if 36% of your brain is busy focusing on the photo, the video and setting up snapchat filters.

Second, out of respect for my tradition, I'm not a Catholic, but I do not think Catholics go to mass and broadcast it on video, but I do not know much about their religion so I'm not really sure what I write here, and if They do, well, that's wrong. 

When you are in the middle of a ceremony or a spiritual session, you are having a private meeting with the creator gods of the universe, they descend to listen to you, look at you, encourage you, motivate you and encourage you to follow, listen to your complaints, your laments, and help you Heal in any aspect of your life that you need.

When you are reunited with the ruling god of your pantheon, you dedicate yourself to him or her, just as they dedicate themselves to you, and I do not think you can dedicate yourself 100% to them if you are focused on finding the correct angle of the camera for your Instagram post.

It is a matter of total respect and consideration, if I admire the American pagan community and its community of witches, it is that although they have all the facilities of the internet (much faster than you can imagine outside the USA) and make use of absolutely all social networks, they always seek to organize all kinds of talks, forums, events and festivals where they can meet face to face, celebrate the celebrations of the wheel of the year, perform all kinds of rituals in groups and long forums, talks and workshops to deal with various topics about the esoteric world and sorcery, and although it is true that we can find a lot of prejudice around, because there will always be those who only see the glass half empty and point out that all this is done only for money, beyond empty criticism, the money involved is not able to stain these events in any way, so far I have only attended the events organized in the state of NY, mostly by an agenda item, among other minor things, but to each of the events that I have attended I have found the same result: 

Sorcerers, magician shamans, and sorcerers with real trajectories, mixed with the common sorcerer, the sorcerer of the city, the apprentice who is entering this unknown world.World-renowned authors, many of whom we read in our early years in witchcraft and renowned as Judika Illes and Christopher Penczak, among many others who slip into these events to approach you and hold workshops, in addition, who does not want the opportunity to have signed a book of your favorite author?.

Believers and practitioners of all the diverse pagan and neopagan currents (Asatru, Wicca, Druids, sorcerers, etc ...) Mixed in complete harmony, interrelating, talking, attending together the workshops achieving a peaceful coexistence, thus demonstrating that all this war "who is better than who" and "who has the most beautiful altar" is only a vague idea that exists in the virtual world, but at the moment of truth, we are all part of something bigger than ourselves and that attracts us to these places to realize that if we are part of a huge pagan family that has not stopped growing.

Although I miss those times of going to the esoteric books section of the library, subscribe to the mailing lists of publishers waiting for their extensive catalogs of books to order the newest in the genre, although it was exciting to organize these forums of skype and yahoo where we saw each other's faces, I must admit that now the internet is available to everyone.

The internet makes us realize how big we are as a community, now we can participate in huge virtual forums of conversation, follow our favorite authors (and not to show off but now I'm even friends with several of mine on facebook), and keeps us abreast of the esoteric or spiritual events and organizations that interest us the most.

Likewise, and like the same magic, the internet has its respective pros and cons, is full of trolls, haters, pretty ridiculous memes and fake people with fake names and fake photos with which you must be very careful, in addition the internet unfortunately It supports and promotes piracy in large part, I had to leave several Facebook groups when I noticed that they were uploading files full of books by my favorite authors, at that time I was writing my first book for a small print shop In Venezuela, he was also working for the publishing company Circulo de Lectores de Venezuela, a company that literally sank with the rise of piracy and left a total of 3,500 people unemployed throughout the country.

Who does not miss those long Yahoo mailing lists, where people really wrote, and shared very broad thoughts and reflections, was something made for those who really like to read and study, many times I even print them, because Many of these emails that revolved around a common theme were almost books full of information that went through the filters of many people, and they were gold.

Now in the social networks are saturated with information, much of it information that you do not need, to the point of being overwhelming, and all this without mentioning that in social networks we limit ourselves (because if the post is very broad nobody reads it and nobody shares it) so you have to limit yourself to writing the whole idea in less than 200 characters.

Another problem that brings the internet to the pagan community, is that we find all these bookstore sorcerers, who have read a couple of books and believe they know everything, I have often encountered trolls that harass me on the internet trying to "correct my work" because it does not go with one or two books that they have read.

For example there is a lot with the subject of rituals and spells, you can perform hundreds of spells, and you can do them very well, and have the results you want, but there is always an egocentric to correct you, just to show you "how much they know "in theory, and not so much in practice.

Because to identify an herb, that anyone does based on photos and books, but go to cut the grass personally, dry it in your house and use it for your own spells, that's practice, and in social media times, that practice is worth gold, but not for those who follow you on social networks, but for you.

Yes, it is true that the internet has unfortunately given more power to haters and trolls, and now many people also write in a blog without knowing what they are talking about, so everything we find on the internet must be swallowed with an extra granite of salt, even now it is quite normal to meet people who come to chat with you at 5 am to evangelize and tell you that you worship the devil, understand, "why to bother going to knock on your door on a Saturday morning, being able to just open your chat window to bother you from the comfort of your home?".

Let's not forget that social networks also give us that positive look, that touch of positivism that we study so much in marketing, that "like", that "comment" that tells you that you are doing something right, that makes you believe that you are on the way correct, and that puts you in the same box of those pink characters who do whatever it is for the "like", the problem when people get used to it, when "like", that positive reinforcement you receive, is more important that the content you share, is the problem there, when people get so used to giving everything for that like, and without realizing it, they stop contributing real good material, just because they are focused on the likes, because many times the ego only he asks for more positive reinforcements.

But also the internet has allowed us to form huge discussion groups, these groups where some 5 thousand people are added but only 50 participate, but those fifty people are worth gold, and for those fifty people who are now only a click away, it is worth keeping our presence on the internet, to share the links of our favorite books, to invite others like us to these events of pagan celebrations in our country, and even to chat and share the details and experiences of our spells.

But as I always write, as long as you are light, as long as you know how to shine, no matter how dark the cave you enter, you can be light and illuminate the path to others who come after you.

With Love & Respect

Elhoim Leafar

[baobao0331]

My hope for the Sherlock fandom

A disclaimer: I ship Johnlock. But this post entry is NOT about why I believe in this relationship. This post is about my thoughts on the different reactions from the Sherlock TFP, why there are such strong reactions, and what should we do about it. I also enjoy other ships: sherlolly and Adlock. And I follow people with different ships. All ships can sail and should sail, in each shipper’s own universe. That is the enjoyment of being in the fandom - to make our fantasies come true on Tumblr, share it with like-minded souls, and see what different ships look like.

Jan 29 is the anniversary when John first met Sherlock. I think very few people will disagree, that John and Sherlock share a very special bond, they care for each other, they understand each other, they are willing to sacrifice their lives for each other … that they share a very strong emotional bond, which can best be described as love. What kind of love it is - romantic or bro, intimate or plutonic … has never been explicitly confirmed by either the book or the TV show (no kiss in TFP). Many johnlock shippers are hugely disappointed, and many are still angry. I was disappointed at first after TFP. And without the kiss, I lost the bet to my husband. But with help from some blogs from Tumblr, @ivyblossom in particular, I got over it, and now I see, that the ambiguity is a gift that the show gave to all the different shippers in the fandom - a freedom to hold on to everyone’s fantasies, and dream on. The show give permission to fan’s imaginations to run free, and that, is a beautiful thing - all shippers can sail freely, in our own alternative universe.

From a story telling point of view, leaving lots of room for people to keep guessing is a good and often adopted approach, it keeps the story living on, and inspires all fans to continue to guess and debate, long after the show is finished. Will he, or won’t he? Many great literatures have done that.

Commercially speaking, I can also see why the show runners left Sherlock’s emotional journey unclear, and dropped hints that made all ships have reason to go on. Sherlock has been a huge commercial success globally, and confirming one ship is to deny other ships. In particular, if johnlock is the intended ship for the show runners, confirm it explicitly would have meant a much less global sale and refusal for entry in quite a few huge markets, such as China and Russia. While many, especially young people, would like to argue that for a right cause it is worth it, and I myself feel the show missed a historical opportunity to be a true trail blazer, I respect the creators’ choice, whether it is for artistic or commercial reasons. It is their show. And a brilliant and successful show it is.

About Johnlockers’ deep disappointment - it is natural for any shippers who have their fantasy / speculation denied to feel disappointed. But the blow of the ambiguity to the johnlockers is particularly hard. Many are very bitter, many are angry, many lashed out to the show and to other shippers in the fandom. This level of resentment is unusual. Why? It is not just about a ship, a wish for two persons to be romantically involved. To many people, johnlock is about the LGBTQ community finally has a main stream world wide popular show that can champion their right to be recognized and accepted. Also I do believe that there are a lot more hints and evidence of johnlock in the show, than any other ships, so johnlockers felt very convinced that they know what the show runners’ end goal is, when when it did not happen, they felt cheated, and worse, betrayed. But considering john and sherlock are the two main characters in the show, it is only natural that people will find more evidence to support this relationship than others. To be fair, even though Molly and Irene have a lot less scenes, the show has provided enough evidence for these two ships to ring true, to their believers.

Why so angry and drastic reaction? In human’s progress and fight against injustice and discrimination, minorities being oppressed often have to resort to more extreme measures to shake and wake people up and make their voices heard. There are many examples. The women’s liberation movement - many burned bras, some went to the extremes of undergoing operations to give up their ability to bear offsprings. But now in western countries, although the discrimination still exists to various degrees, overall women have a lot more choices, and the movement is a lot milder - because we (I am a woman) now have a lot more equality with man than before. Our rights are a lot better protected than before. The fight for equality for women continues, but at a much more confident and calmer level.

Imagine years from now, when same sex marriage is widely accepted (even if just in western, developed countries), when many LGBTQ people no longer feel the need to hide their sexual orientation, when their rights are truly and thoroughly well protected under the law, even if it may still be imperfect, even if there are still wide gap to fill (just like women’s equality issue now), do you think some johnlockers will react with such strong emotional responses? I think not. Because by then, their disappointment would have only due to their ships not sailed, but not about their identify and hope for acceptance and equality, which is every single person on earth’s god given right. I am confident that day will come, in the not so distant future, because I believe that civilization is progressing to be more and more supportive of a society where people are equal, maybe we will never reach there entirely, but we get closer and closer, even though there are bumps along the way.

So I do understand, deeply, why such anger among many johnlockers, in particular at this point, when there is a major setback in the US for minority rights, with the election of the new president. Johnlock is no longer just a fantasy about a relationship, to many people in the LGBTQ community and their supporters (myself included), it became a beacon of light, a symbol of what could be and should be, but did not.

This is not to say, that sending hate mails to the show or to others who do not share the same ship is right. Those who have done so need to realize, you should treat people the way you would like to be treated. And no one want to receive angry or hate messages, or have people lash out to them, simply because they do not share the same view. Those people need to understand that, people who do not confirm or support johnlock in no way equals to people who do not support LGBTQ community.

Many are hating this show which they had been loving and supporting for the past 6 years simply because the kiss did not happen. But I would like to remind everyone, in addition to its enormous entertainment value, how much this show has done to unite and inspire the LGBTQ community, and how much it has raised awareness of LGBTQ issues around the world. Take me for example, I am a straight married woman. Before the show I was fairly indifferent about LGBTQ issues and the discrimination against this community. But with this show, and through following people on tumbler, I understood the issues a lot better and gained a deep empathy, not just for this community, but for minority groups in general. I got to know several people from this community in Tumblr , that I adore, respect and admire. As a result, I am trying in my work and life, to find ways to support minority groups, whether it is LGBTQ or women, Muslims, etc.

Think about it, how can some people send hate mails to Mark Gatiss, an openly gay man who has devoted so much of his life in getting the community equal rights and raise awareness? How doe he feel that some people in his own community resent him, while he has given so much of himself to the cause? Mark deserves better. I sure hope, being a celebrity, Mark has thicker skin and can brush such negativities off easily, although I certainly can not, and I dont think he can either. Celebrities are human beings first, they can be vulnerable, they have the same feelings as us, and they have every right to be respected.

My hope: johnlockers who are hurt and angry, could calm down and channel your imagination and energy into continuing supporting LGBTQ community, and let your johnlock belief live on in your hearts and in your own fan arts, and let that continue to be an inspiration to you. Don’t harbour hate, it not only hurts the people we lash out to, it also hurts and poisons our own heart, and our own cause.

My hope: others who do not share and support angry responses to the show, can champion the voice of reason. If you feel that you are strong and in a good mental place and have the capacity to support others, then reach out and help those who are suffering, be understanding and tolerant. The people who are hurting now, are the same people we shared our joys of the show with, and they are going through a grieving process; If you feel you are not in a position to support or not have the willingness to help those who are suffering now , by own means don’t. Stop following angry posts. You have every right to do so. You need to take care of yourself and your own mental health first.

John and Sherlock have such a beautiful relationship (whatever it is), let’s simply treasure it in the way we interpret and want it to be. Whatever you think, as long as it keeps you happy and content, you can do no wrong.

Wow, this is long. I know the likelihood of this post gets read by more than even 10 people over Tumblr will be slim. But I take the comfort that I have said my piece, organized my thoughts, and cleared my head through this writing process. I am more determined than ever, that today, I will go to the next step to proactively reach out to support minority groups, within my sphere of influence, whether it is through work, through volunteering, or even through Tumblr. I know exactly what I am going to do today, and the next day, and the next day, to make a difference. DO YOU?

This is after all, what Benedict Cumberbatch would have done, and in fact, what he is doing. All I need to do is to follow my angel.

[pauldeckerus]

Why Do I Hate My Portrait Photography?

Portraiture has never been a genre that resonated with me as a creator, which is odd because there are many examples of portraiture that I enjoy, and I’d absolutely love to be able to create meaningful portraits of people in the same way that I feel I’m able to create meaningful images in other genres.

I recently took stock of the collection of “keeper” images that I have been creating over my career as a photographer. Out of these, I was surprised to have as many as a handful of portraits, which I actually like. I so often say that I have no portraits of value that these stood out to me. I then had to think about why – if I have a few I like – did I not have more than that? There must be some factor in these that I’m overlooking when it comes to actively making portrait photographs.

While it’s unfair to say I hate all of my portraits the vast majority do nothing for me. My candid portraiture is fairly decent but I don’t feel they’re valid as “portraits.” There are many commercial portraits I take as part of my work in production, or fashion but again I would not really share these anywhere other than my client and possibly my portfolio.

My favorite genre of portraiture is the street portrait; the spontaneous collaboration between a photographer, their found and consenting subject, and the environment and natural light. This is where I need to put in the work, and start to bring together these factors to establish a style I am happy with.

Finding a subject is one of the hardest things for me. For example, I’ll often be out shooting with a friend and they’ll notice someone who is fantastically or bizarrely dressed and will take either a portrait or a candid. However, this is usually the sort of character I meet at an event like Comic-Con or London Fashion Week where I will have been commissioned and paid to photograph them. I have dozens of portraits of this kind of character and as such am desensitized to their appearance on the street.

I am still figuring out exactly what I am looking for in a subject – and considering the things I’m avoiding (clichés, baseball caps, people of my own demographic etc) this may take me some time.

Once a subject has caught my eye however I rarely have an issue with approaching them. I’m not usually one for small talk, so I’ll go for a cold open – say hello, introduce myself, and then ask if they would be OK with me making a portrait of them. If they ask why I’ll usually highlight some detail – I liked your hair; you have an interesting face, that sort of thing.

If they disagree I’ll thank them for their time and wish them a nice day. If they agree however then that usually means I have about five minutes of their time with which to collaborate on their portrait. I have to give myself this five minutes as when I was starting out I would often worry that I was wasting their time, and would hurry my shot and produce something mediocre.

If I take my time, the subject is more likely to respect the process and the results and will feel like I know what I’m doing. I try to have an idea of what I’ll be going for as I approach them, so I’m not umming my way through asking them to look into their lens, turn toward the light and so on.

I’m not the best at posing or positioning; I prefer for a simpler pose from the subject and as long as the light is right I’m usually happy with the overall scene. However, at this point, my motivation starts to fall apart, as I tend to dislike my results from both posed and more candid presentations. A “pose” does not result in the kind of street portrait I am going for, and a more candid image, or plain with a relaxed face, does not have the same kind of energy I would have noticed when I first spotted my subject.

I’m certain there is something more I could be doing in order to achieve a portrait that is a little more than just a headshot of someone with an interesting face. I think there is something missing, perhaps with the way I render context or the way I ask them to present themselves to the camera – and this is something I will be working on for a long time.

What I want to be capturing in a street portrait is quite abstract and subjective, so when I say I want to capture the “soul” of my subject I’m still trying to figure out what that means myself. The portraits that resonate with me so far, both that I have taken and by artists I admire, will be the ones with a clear mood and intention, and sometimes have a personal connection – either images of people I know, or with an aesthetic that’s reminiscent of someone in my past – but these will be the most subjective examples. Portraits of my friends I consider to be personal documentary, and again wouldn’t really have much room in my portfolio.

The portraits which do not resonate with me are either boring or well composed but without “energy,” or “soul.” I think that in my own work eye contact will be one of the most significant things I need to improve when it comes to street portraits, but I’ve had mixed experiences with this, so it cannot be the only factor.

For example I quite like a small series of celebrity portraits I’ve been building up during my time shooting at MCM Comic Con (although they would not make the final cut when reviewing portraits as a specific body of work), each of which I shoot a couple of images of when I have the chance – portrait, landscape/eye contact, no eye contact. I find I enjoy both examples where eye contact is made, and where it is not, and it really depends on the expression more than anything in these cases.

Instead of specific aspects like eye contact, therefore, I think I ought to look at my portraits on the individual merit of what specifically does not work, and simply reduce that factor when it comes to future attempts. I try and avoid the idea of “liking” or “disliking” when it comes to criticism of any photography, my own or otherwise – looking at what works and what does not is more pragmatic, and can be used to actually improve. When it comes to what works in the portraits I enjoy it is usually a unique subject paired with an understanding by the photographer of how to bring out something “beyond” their eyes – a sparkle (lighting more than anything), or hint of expression. I’ve been working on the way I interact, leading without showing the camera to build up a better rapport before asking for anything, no matter how plain. I don’t just want headshots, I want to incorporate context, so I will be working on searching for better environments to use, and maybe try identifying a “spot” before even finding my subject.

However up until now my instinct has been to get as close as possible and fill the frame, and from a higher angle when possible, as the lower part of the frame becomes context, but the context of that person’s clothing rather than their environment. I need to work on the ideal distance for the kind of atmosphere I want to be showing in my portraits.

To do this I’ve decided to start working on a series of portraits on an RZ67, a format I’ve never really used before. The new aspect ratio and focal length equivalency mean that I will be forced to experiment with angles and distances I’ve never had to think about before. It will also mean being able to concentrate on my subject dead on through the SLR rather than via a screen, or rangefinder – to slow down and make focus and composition my primary goals.

I’m really looking forward to taking this out over the summer, and hopefully succeeding at creating images that resonate with me and in the process figure out exactly what is necessary for me to do that in the first place!

About the author: Simon King is a London based photographer and photojournalist, currently working on a number of long-term documentary and street photography projects. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. You can follow his work on Instagram and you can read more of his thoughts on photography day-to-day over on his personal blog. Simon also teaches a short course in Street Photography at UAL, which can be read about here.

from Photography News https://petapixel.com/2019/03/23/why-do-i-hate-my-portrait-photography/

[sailorrrvenus]

Why Do I Hate My Portrait Photography?

Portraiture has never been a genre that resonated with me as a creator, which is odd because there are many examples of portraiture that I enjoy, and I’d absolutely love to be able to create meaningful portraits of people in the same way that I feel I’m able to create meaningful images in other genres.

I recently took stock of the collection of “keeper” images that I have been creating over my career as a photographer. Out of these, I was surprised to have as many as a handful of portraits, which I actually like. I so often say that I have no portraits of value that these stood out to me. I then had to think about why – if I have a few I like – did I not have more than that? There must be some factor in these that I’m overlooking when it comes to actively making portrait photographs.

While it’s unfair to say I hate all of my portraits the vast majority do nothing for me. My candid portraiture is fairly decent but I don’t feel they’re valid as “portraits.” There are many commercial portraits I take as part of my work in production, or fashion but again I would not really share these anywhere other than my client and possibly my portfolio.

My favorite genre of portraiture is the street portrait; the spontaneous collaboration between a photographer, their found and consenting subject, and the environment and natural light. This is where I need to put in the work, and start to bring together these factors to establish a style I am happy with.

Finding a subject is one of the hardest things for me. For example, I’ll often be out shooting with a friend and they’ll notice someone who is fantastically or bizarrely dressed and will take either a portrait or a candid. However, this is usually the sort of character I meet at an event like Comic-Con or London Fashion Week where I will have been commissioned and paid to photograph them. I have dozens of portraits of this kind of character and as such am desensitized to their appearance on the street.

I am still figuring out exactly what I am looking for in a subject – and considering the things I’m avoiding (clichés, baseball caps, people of my own demographic etc) this may take me some time.

Once a subject has caught my eye however I rarely have an issue with approaching them. I’m not usually one for small talk, so I’ll go for a cold open – say hello, introduce myself, and then ask if they would be OK with me making a portrait of them. If they ask why I’ll usually highlight some detail – I liked your hair; you have an interesting face, that sort of thing.

If they disagree I’ll thank them for their time and wish them a nice day. If they agree however then that usually means I have about five minutes of their time with which to collaborate on their portrait. I have to give myself this five minutes as when I was starting out I would often worry that I was wasting their time, and would hurry my shot and produce something mediocre.

If I take my time, the subject is more likely to respect the process and the results and will feel like I know what I’m doing. I try to have an idea of what I’ll be going for as I approach them, so I’m not umming my way through asking them to look into their lens, turn toward the light and so on.

I’m not the best at posing or positioning; I prefer for a simpler pose from the subject and as long as the light is right I’m usually happy with the overall scene. However, at this point, my motivation starts to fall apart, as I tend to dislike my results from both posed and more candid presentations. A “pose” does not result in the kind of street portrait I am going for, and a more candid image, or plain with a relaxed face, does not have the same kind of energy I would have noticed when I first spotted my subject.

I’m certain there is something more I could be doing in order to achieve a portrait that is a little more than just a headshot of someone with an interesting face. I think there is something missing, perhaps with the way I render context or the way I ask them to present themselves to the camera – and this is something I will be working on for a long time.

What I want to be capturing in a street portrait is quite abstract and subjective, so when I say I want to capture the “soul” of my subject I’m still trying to figure out what that means myself. The portraits that resonate with me so far, both that I have taken and by artists I admire, will be the ones with a clear mood and intention, and sometimes have a personal connection – either images of people I know, or with an aesthetic that’s reminiscent of someone in my past – but these will be the most subjective examples. Portraits of my friends I consider to be personal documentary, and again wouldn’t really have much room in my portfolio.

The portraits which do not resonate with me are either boring or well composed but without “energy,” or “soul.” I think that in my own work eye contact will be one of the most significant things I need to improve when it comes to street portraits, but I’ve had mixed experiences with this, so it cannot be the only factor.

For example I quite like a small series of celebrity portraits I’ve been building up during my time shooting at MCM Comic Con (although they would not make the final cut when reviewing portraits as a specific body of work), each of which I shoot a couple of images of when I have the chance – portrait, landscape/eye contact, no eye contact. I find I enjoy both examples where eye contact is made, and where it is not, and it really depends on the expression more than anything in these cases.

Instead of specific aspects like eye contact, therefore, I think I ought to look at my portraits on the individual merit of what specifically does not work, and simply reduce that factor when it comes to future attempts. I try and avoid the idea of “liking” or “disliking” when it comes to criticism of any photography, my own or otherwise – looking at what works and what does not is more pragmatic, and can be used to actually improve. When it comes to what works in the portraits I enjoy it is usually a unique subject paired with an understanding by the photographer of how to bring out something “beyond” their eyes – a sparkle (lighting more than anything), or hint of expression. I’ve been working on the way I interact, leading without showing the camera to build up a better rapport before asking for anything, no matter how plain. I don’t just want headshots, I want to incorporate context, so I will be working on searching for better environments to use, and maybe try identifying a “spot” before even finding my subject.

However up until now my instinct has been to get as close as possible and fill the frame, and from a higher angle when possible, as the lower part of the frame becomes context, but the context of that person’s clothing rather than their environment. I need to work on the ideal distance for the kind of atmosphere I want to be showing in my portraits.

To do this I’ve decided to start working on a series of portraits on an RZ67, a format I’ve never really used before. The new aspect ratio and focal length equivalency mean that I will be forced to experiment with angles and distances I’ve never had to think about before. It will also mean being able to concentrate on my subject dead on through the SLR rather than via a screen, or rangefinder – to slow down and make focus and composition my primary goals.

I’m really looking forward to taking this out over the summer, and hopefully succeeding at creating images that resonate with me and in the process figure out exactly what is necessary for me to do that in the first place!

About the author: Simon King is a London based photographer and photojournalist, currently working on a number of long-term documentary and street photography projects. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. You can follow his work on Instagram and you can read more of his thoughts on photography day-to-day over on his personal blog. Simon also teaches a short course in Street Photography at UAL, which can be read about here.

source https://petapixel.com/2019/03/23/why-do-i-hate-my-portrait-photography/

[caredogstips]

We need to talk about culture appropriation: why Lionel Shriver’s speech touched a nerve

Is it OK for white scribes to take on a black spokesperson? The assert that followed the American novelists address in Brisbane has shed new light on one of cultures hottest debates one that has hundreds of years of backstory and has sounded through literature, rap, stone and Hollywood movies

Lionel Shriver knew she was going to annoy beings. Inviting a renowned iconoclast to speak about community and belonging is like expecting a great grey shark to balance a beach ball on its nose, she articulated. She then used her keynote speech at the Brisbane columnists festival to tear into the debate that novelists most particularly grey writers are guilty of cultural appropriation by writing from the point of view of references from other culture backgrounds.

Referring to occurrences in which members of student authority at an American university faced impeachment after attended a tequila party wearing sombreros, and reports of a ban on a Mexican eatery from making out sombreros, the author of We Necessity to Talk About Kevin announced: The moral of the sombrero scandals is clear: youre not supposed to try on other people hats . Yet thats what were paid to time, isnt it? Step into other folks shoes, and try on their hats.

The response was instant. Sudanese-born Australian social activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied, who was attending the event, walked out and then rapidly wrote a comment part which was contended that Shrivers speech was a celebration of the unfettered exploitation of the experiences of others, for the purposes of the guise of fiction.

The argument is one of the most parted yet in a conversation that has a long record across literature, music, arts and rendition. While story might be the catalyst for this discussion, in the eyes of Abdel-Magied and others the issues are deeply rooted in real-world politics and a long history.

The image of the blackface singer creator of 1830s America the lily-white musician decorated up to look like a caricature of an African-American person and play-act comic skits is perhaps the most oft-invoked illustration of culture appropriation from record. The ethnic dynamic of minstrelsy was complex it was performed by African-American and Anglo actors alike but while African-American performers often sought to gain fiscal insurance from these best practices and in some cases use their scaffold to counter negative public stereotypes of themselves, white-hot performers reinforced those stereotypes. This produced within a society which continues to be has not been able to abolished bondage, and in which the political ability dynamic was very much racialized. As the civil right crusade thrived, so did criticism of white people attempting to exploit the pictures and events of people of colour for social and financial gain.

This pattern is recurred of all the countries, particularly in places that experienced colonisation and slavery, such as India, Australia and South Africa. As students, creators, activists and writers of emblazon fought to gain access to mainly grey institutions and public seats, and gained visibility in the cultural globule, they began to criticise the inaccurate images of themselves they construed created by and for the profit of others.

The issue has been heavily explored within the establishments but has reaped momentum in popular culture over the past decade. It underpins criticism of, among other things, Iggy Azaleas sonic blackness, Coldplays myopic construction of India in their music videos, and Miley Cyruss dance moves. Director Cameron Crowe lately apologised for casting Anglo-American actor Emma Stone as a part-Asian reputation in the 2015 movie Aloha not the first time a grey performer has been thrown to play a reputation from a different ethnic background in mainstream cinema. The proof has been assisted particularly by the feminist parish focus on intersectionality crudely the idea that discrimination takes on different forms depending on the hasten, class and/ or gender of the person or persons subject to discrimination.

The charge of culture appropriation is not confined to fiction, but at the moment thats perhaps the most heatedly raced terrain . In March, Harry Potter author JK Rowling was accused of proper the living institution of a marginalised people after a tale produced to her Pottermore website drew upon Navajo narratives about skinwalkers. Shriver herself mentioned the case of vehicles of grey British scribe Chris Cleave, whose novel The Other Hand is partly narrated by the character of a teenage Nigerian girl. In principle, I admire his firmnes, Shriver replied. She then went on to item reviewer Margot Kaminskis concerns that Cleave was manipulating the character, that he ought to be taking special care with representing its own experience that was not his own.

Shriver took aim at the proposal that an scribe should not use a reference they created for the service of a plot they saw. Of trend hes using them for his patch! she suggested. How could he not? They are his personas, to be operated at his caprice, to fulfil whatever purpose he cares to apply them to.

What borderlines around our own lives are we mandated to remain within? questioned Shriver. I would argue that any floor you are able to draw yours is yours to tell, and trying to push the boundaries of the authors its own experience is part of a fiction columnists job.

While it seems obvious that novelists of myth will endeavour to write from perspectives that are not their own, numerous writers of quality bicker there is a direct relationship between certain difficulties they face trying to make headway in the literary industry and the success of grey scribes who illustrate people of colour in their myth and who go on to build a successful literary profession off that. The difference between cultural illustration and cultural rights appropriation, by this logic, lies in the grey novelist telling storeys( and therefore taking producing possibilities) that would be better suited to a novelist of colour.

Some writers argue that it works in reverse, more. In an phenomenon for the Guardian in November last year, Booker Prize-winning author Marlon James told publishers too often pander to the white-hot wife( the majority of members of the book-buying public ), making writers of colouring to do the same. In a Facebook post responding to novelist Claire Vaye Watkins widely circulated essay On Pandering, James used to say the kind of storey favoured by publishers and bestows committees abode suburban white woman in the middle of ennui knowledge keenly observed epiphany pushed columnists of colour into literary conformity for fear of losing out on a journal deal.

Speaking to Guardian Australia, Indigenous Australian author and Miles Franklin winner Kim Scott adds its crucial to listen to the expressions of marginalised people who may not be given enough space to tell their own floors. Fibs are provides; theyre about reform and opening up interior macrocosms in the interests of expanding the shared nature and the common sense of community. So if theres many articulations telling we need more of us addressing our tales, from wherever theyre saying that, then that needs to be listened to.

Omar Musa, the Malaysian-Australian poet, rapper and novelist, told Guardian Australia: There is a history of stereotypes being continued by lily-white the authors and very, exceedingly reductive narrations. Beings are just generally much more cautious of that.

Musa supposes grey scribes should read, support and promote the operational activities of the novelists of emblazon before attempting to encroach on that cavity themselves, if that is something they want to do. But he admits he experiences the issue difficult; the suggestion that writers shouldnt move outside the boundaries of their own experiences comes into direct conflict with what he sees as the purpose of fiction: to empathise with and understand other families lives.

If youre going to write from someone elses perspective, Musa says, its important to shun stereotypes, especially if you want to move the specific characteristics rich and flawed as a good character should be.

Australian columnist Maxine Beneba Clarke. There are two schools of thought about[ culture appropriation] I dont know what the answer is but I can understand both views. Photograph: Nicholas Walton-Healey

Musa has his own experience of writing across the cultural subdivide. His first novel, Here Come The Dogs,was told from the perspective of a reference with a Samoan background. Musa answers consenting criticism is a crucial part of this process: There will be people who will tell you that maybe you didnt quite get this right, and you just have to cop that flack.

Maxine Beneba Clarke is an Australian-based novelist of African-Caribbean descent. Her memoir The Hate Race was prompted by a flow of racial insult; her accumulation of short narratives, Foreign Soil, was published to great acclaim after she won the Victorian Premiers Literary award for anunpublished manuscript in 2013. I think there are two situations in which Ive written outside of the African diaspora, she mentions. In both cases the latter are parts of short fiction and the process of writing them took several years, simply because of that consultation.

Beneba Clarke conceives consultation is all-important, but so is examining your own impulse to write from the perspective of another. What does it mean to be a writer “whos not” national minorities writer and wanting to change your literature? How do you do that? I think that was the opportunity for conversation that was missed[ in Shrivers speech] … How do we feel about writing each others stories and how do we go about it? Whats the respectful practice to go about it?

In some ways it comes down to personal ethics, she answers. Whether you feel you are doing no damage; whether you feel you are doing it sensitively; and, I believe, whether the publisher or the reader been agreed that you have done it sensitively.

Helen Young from the University of Sydney English department speaks fiction can have a very real impact on marginalised people. Individual journals have an impact on individual lives, but representation overall composes a seat and an environment in which people can feel like its OK to be who they are.

The politics of representation is a huge question in the science fiction and fantasy worlds very, speaks Young. This was exemplified by the recent expeditions against a comprehended leftwing bias in the Hugo gifts, in which disgruntled rightwing science fiction and fantasy columnists bickered the awards were being diminished by what the hell is experienced as the tendency of voters to opt studies simply about racial prejudice and exploitation and the like over traditional swashbuckling adventures.

Referring to the JK Rowling occurrence, Young suggests precisely because imagination is often to be considered as escapist, doesnt symbolize those stories dont stuff, or that authors should not treat different sources of their brainchild with respect. Theyre still the lived, hallowed narrations of living cultures, she supposes. Theyre the beliefs of real parties. So if from a western view you go, oh well, its just myth, I can do whatever I like with it, thats a problem.

Kate Grenville said she find writing Indigenous attributes was beyond her when she wrote The Secret River. Image: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

In some respects, the dirt seems to be changing. When Kate Grenville wrote her highly acclaimed historic romance about colonial Australia, The Secret River, in 2005, she shunned writing from the standpoint of Indigenous characters because she felt it was beyond her. Speaking to Ramona Koval on ABC radio, she alleged: What I didnt want to do was step into the heads of any of the Aboriginal attributes. I think that kind of appropriation … theres been too much of that in our writing. In her tale The Lieutenant, the sequel to The Secret River, nonetheless, Grenville did go into outlining more rounded Indigenous reputations, but only after deep and careful involvement with the historical records upon which her characters were based.

All the writers who spoke to Guardian Australia say they believe that considering the question of cultural appropriation is decisive, but the tenor of that discussion matters. They say that making a mockery of marginalised peoples concerns about image and appropriation does not constitute a constructive debate.

Scott, who has previously suggested a postponement on grey columnists used to describe Indigenous Australia, speaks lily-white columnists could use fiction itself to explore the tension about representation. Even the desire to occupy the consciousness of the other, that can be explored in story.

For Musa, the transformation needs to go beyond volumes: You probably cant have a change in literary culture without a change in the whole culture of the two countries, he says.

On the question of progress, in Australia at least, Beneba Clarke replies: “Theres” two institutions of was just thinking about this: that Australian literature is not diverse enough for Anglo-Australian novelists to be even considering writing from other cultures, and the other school of thought is, well, how do we change literature then, given that most of our writers are Anglo-Australian? Are we locking ourselves into an inevitably whitewashed world of literature?

And I dont really subscribe to either thought; I dont know what the answer is but I can understand both positions. But I think what I perfectly cant understand is disregard for any kind of consultation and an inability to understand when people of colour are outraged.

Such articles has been amended to clarify that the Hugo awardings are voted on by the public.

Read more: www.theguardian.com

The post We need to talk about culture appropriation: why Lionel Shriver’s speech touched a nerve appeared first on caredogstips.com.

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[peterjcameron]

The Top 5 Worst Brand Video Marketing Fails from the Past Year

Big brands have the data and the resources to keep their finger on the pulse of social, political, and cultural topics. These resources create pressure to broadcast the right messaging in their video marketing campaigns. Getting the message wrong can spell disaster on a global scale, just as getting the messaging right can open new doors to spikes in sales and popularity.

When brands get the message wrong, those errors often surround gender, racial, or cultural stereotypes. 2016 was witness to a list of failures, proving that regardless of budget, your company’s messaging can make or break a video marketing campaign and the business attached to it. So as brands start rolling out their video campaigns for 2017, let’s learn from some of the worst failures of 2016.

1. Chevy “Understands” What Millennials Want

Chevrolet’s ad for the new 2016 Cruze was aimed intentionally at the millennial generation, or at least the “idea” of that generation.

The video presents a focus group filled with real millennials, not actors. This is Chevy’s first move: telling us that these are real people and so their experience with Chevy will be too.  Unfortunately, this is about as transparent as can be. A man with a Dali-esque mustache sits next to a tattooed lumberjack, across from a woman with a bleached mohawk. These stereotypes juxtaposed next to each other in a focus group is all viewers need to see to cue an eye-roll.

Next, images of “millennial” activities are presented to the group. They view men with long beards, people with piercings, and we go down the list of participants critiquing stereotypes while they sport those same stereotypes.

Finally, the focus group leader concludes that millennials would prefer a car that appeals to them, rather than an ad. Go figure.

Ultimately, the point of the focus group is obvious after the first few seconds but proceeds to be drawn out for the next two minutes. When the car is finally revealed, we’ve forgotten it was supposed to be a car ad. Chevy’s angle comes off as patronizing rather than youthful and insightful. Nothing about this ad or this car appeals to millennials, and that was the point, right?

2. Mushroom Pizza Is “Medically Proven” To Satisfy

Creative marketing angles are one thing, but advertising pizza as if it were a medical solution doesn’t sound like an appetizing combination. Unfortunately, Mellow Mushroom’s Pizza made this misstep not once, but a handful of times in their campaign. In this campaign, the brand advertises their pizza as if it were a cure for indigestion, erectile dysfunction, and more.

It’s possible to imagine how this pitch of hunger as a disease and Mellow Mushroom’s Pizza as the cure might have sounded creative initially, but then there is connecting a medical need with food that leaves little to salivate over.

Noting the video’s style, it mimics the formula of an ad for prescription medication with trips through an artificial stomach. Yum!

For the finale, Mellow Mushroom Pizza doubles down on their concept, just in case it was lost on some viewers, with a doctor appearing suddenly to join the pizza eating-clientele at their table.

The irony of this campaign is that viewers are left neither wanting pizza nor a medical consultation.

3. Secret’s Deodorant “Aids Women” In the Workplace

Female-targeted advertising campaigns (“femvertising”) are nothing new to the hygiene and beauty market. Females have been the target of many advertising campaigns through the decades, the majority of them quite crass and demeaning.

Only in the recent decades have women called foul on campaigns sporting messages that say they need product XYZ to be desired by men. This campaign message no longer works well and has been replaced with a much better one that says, “We see your value and understand your struggle. Try our product to make your day that much easier.” At least, that is the aim of most female-targeted campaigns.

Secret’s #StressTest campaign tries for this confident message admirably but flies right past it. It comes down to a combination of poor casting and poor dialogue that turns this video ad into a failure. The actress, suited up and sporting thick-rimmed glasses, seems out of place immediately. The glasses look like a cheap way to make it clear that this is a working woman who is serious. Then the monologue she recites is as far from authentic with lines like, “We won the company.”

Secret drove right past relatable and parked in the one-dimensional lot with their portrayal of a young woman in the modern day workforce. From Secret’s depiction, this gal is ready to battle the gender wage gap, and Secret’s deodorant can help get her there. After all, it’s less likely that she’ll tackle the gender wage gap if she’s not smelling berry fresh, right?

Secret’s message ultimately becomes: Ladies, to earn respect in the workplace, speak up, and don’t forget to smell nice. Needless to say, this video falls on deaf ears for the modern woman who is more attune to transparent marketing trends that plug the desirability factor at female demographics. This working woman’s fresh scent is going to seal the deal on her raise, and Secret wants us to know it.

4. Bud Light’s Political Parody Campaign Loses The Race

This video campaign reminds marketers how important it is to know your audience. The basic rule of thumb: beer and politics don’t mix. Beer brings people together to enjoy moments. Politics can be divisive and complicated. So Bud Light’s campaign with a couple of celebrity left-wingers, Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer, parodying a presidential candidate’s campaign feels out of place and a bit manipulative.

This universally popular brand is not so subtly aligning themselves with a political party but Bud Light, being an all-American beer, should advertise to all Americans. No one wants their beer to come with a side of political righteousness, regardless of how Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer are serving it up.

Bud Light eventually felt the heat when their numbers began to drop as a result of this campaign. A representative for the company released the statement:

“Turning around a brand the size of Bud Light, which alone accounts for almost one-fifth of the total category, takes time,” the spokesperson wrote. “Despite continued positive signs in brand health evolution, driven by millennials and Hispanics, 3Q was the softest performance of Bud Light for the year from a volume and share perspective.”

On the topic of this political parody campaign, the company spokesperson stated:

“The Bud Light Party campaign helped us improve these brand attributes, but it did not translate to improved volume and share performance.”

5. Damn, I Want Some White Vans

This video is not produced by the shoe brand, Vans, and it’s not a failed attempt at video marketing. In fact, this is an excellent example of video marketing. From this Viner’s video, Vans saw a 30% spike in online sales.

This video, made by a Viner in high school, was meant for no other purpose than to share comedic content on his social media profiles and yet it excels in showcasing the White Vans shoe, expertly. The clip is relatable, presenting the average teenager – Vans key demographic – walking into school and turning heads because of his white Vans. Damn, Daniel!

The video, coincidentally, includes an age-old advertising story angle ala back-to-school marketing. “Walk into school with these new shoes, and you’ll feel like a rockstar.”

The gem of this video is that it’s genuine and relatable. However, it’s the clip’s catchphrase that seals the deal on this viral video. It’s catchy and sticks in our heads. Not to mention, it’s fun to use in everyday situations. “Damn Karen, back at it again with the red pumps,” for example.

So, this video has authenticity, a catchy phrase, and a genuine depiction of how these shoes will make you say “Damnnnnnn,” when you look in the mirror.

Upon seeing the spikes in sales, the Vans company got wise to the video and redirected their homepage to a list of White Vans. Smart move.

“Of course, how could we not mention Daniel, as in ‘Damn Daniel’, which, as you can imagine, did have a strong impact on the sales of White Vans, which saw 100% sell-through in both retail direct-to-consumer and wholesale channels.

The national media attention the brand received is a wild demonstration of how creative expression, youth culture, and loyalty can conspire to cause a phenomenon. Well done, Daniel, well done.”

– Steven Rendle, VANs COO

Vans may not have made the video, but they easily could have. Maybe it would lose a bit of authenticity if it were a proper ad, rather than a Vine video, but the elements that make it so enjoyable would still be there. The clip entertains you, it doesn’t deceive you, and it makes you want some Vans. It’s an excellent example of a missed marketing opportunity.

In 2017, if you’re a notable brand with a video marketing budget, your campaign needs to be well thought-out and intelligent. A successful video marketing campaign requires a substantial amount of collaboration to be effective. Incorporating tools like GAIN into your process to help gather feedback for videos from the many content creators and approvers on your team ensures every stakeholder has a say before content goes live.

Brands have the power to shape the social commentary with their video campaigns, and when the messaging is misguided, it’s open season for criticism and backlash. So if your brand is ready to wield your influence through video, be sure to study these past failures so you can improve your chances for video marketing success.

Want to see examples of companies that did it right in 2016? Check out this post!

The post The Top 5 Worst Brand Video Marketing Fails from the Past Year appeared first on Vidyard.

from Peter Cameron Business Consultant http://www.vidyard.com/blog/top-5-worst-brand-video-marketing-fails-past-year/

[logancfrench]

The Top 5 Worst Brand Video Marketing Fails from the Past Year

Big brands have the data and the resources to keep their finger on the pulse of social, political, and cultural topics. These resources create pressure to broadcast the right messaging in their video marketing campaigns. Getting the message wrong can spell disaster on a global scale, just as getting the messaging right can open new doors to spikes in sales and popularity.

When brands get the message wrong, those errors often surround gender, racial, or cultural stereotypes. 2016 was witness to a list of failures, proving that regardless of budget, your company’s messaging can make or break a video marketing campaign and the business attached to it. So as brands start rolling out their video campaigns for 2017, let’s learn from some of the worst failures of 2016.

1. Chevy “Understands” What Millennials Want

Chevrolet’s ad for the new 2016 Cruze was aimed intentionally at the millennial generation, or at least the “idea” of that generation.

The video presents a focus group filled with real millennials, not actors. This is Chevy’s first move: telling us that these are real people and so their experience with Chevy will be too.  Unfortunately, this is about as transparent as can be. A man with a Dali-esque mustache sits next to a tattooed lumberjack, across from a woman with a bleached mohawk. These stereotypes juxtaposed next to each other in a focus group is all viewers need to see to cue an eye-roll.

Next, images of “millennial” activities are presented to the group. They view men with long beards, people with piercings, and we go down the list of participants critiquing stereotypes while they sport those same stereotypes.

Finally, the focus group leader concludes that millennials would prefer a car that appeals to them, rather than an ad. Go figure.

Ultimately, the point of the focus group is obvious after the first few seconds but proceeds to be drawn out for the next two minutes. When the car is finally revealed, we’ve forgotten it was supposed to be a car ad. Chevy’s angle comes off as patronizing rather than youthful and insightful. Nothing about this ad or this car appeals to millennials, and that was the point, right?

2. Mushroom Pizza Is “Medically Proven” To Satisfy

Creative marketing angles are one thing, but advertising pizza as if it were a medical solution doesn’t sound like an appetizing combination. Unfortunately, Mellow Mushroom’s Pizza made this misstep not once, but a handful of times in their campaign. In this campaign, the brand advertises their pizza as if it were a cure for indigestion, erectile dysfunction, and more.

It’s possible to imagine how this pitch of hunger as a disease and Mellow Mushroom’s Pizza as the cure might have sounded creative initially, but then there is connecting a medical need with food that leaves little to salivate over.

Noting the video’s style, it mimics the formula of an ad for prescription medication with trips through an artificial stomach. Yum!

For the finale, Mellow Mushroom Pizza doubles down on their concept, just in case it was lost on some viewers, with a doctor appearing suddenly to join the pizza eating-clientele at their table.

The irony of this campaign is that viewers are left neither wanting pizza nor a medical consultation.

3. Secret’s Deodorant “Aids Women” In the Workplace

Female-targeted advertising campaigns (“femvertising”) are nothing new to the hygiene and beauty market. Females have been the target of many advertising campaigns through the decades, the majority of them quite crass and demeaning.

Only in the recent decades have women called foul on campaigns sporting messages that say they need product XYZ to be desired by men. This campaign message no longer works well and has been replaced with a much better one that says, “We see your value and understand your struggle. Try our product to make your day that much easier.” At least, that is the aim of most female-targeted campaigns.

Secret’s #StressTest campaign tries for this confident message admirably but flies right past it. It comes down to a combination of poor casting and poor dialogue that turns this video ad into a failure. The actress, suited up and sporting thick-rimmed glasses, seems out of place immediately. The glasses look like a cheap way to make it clear that this is a working woman who is serious. Then the monologue she recites is as far from authentic with lines like, “We won the company.”

Secret drove right past relatable and parked in the one-dimensional lot with their portrayal of a young woman in the modern day workforce. From Secret’s depiction, this gal is ready to battle the gender wage gap, and Secret’s deodorant can help get her there. After all, it’s less likely that she’ll tackle the gender wage gap if she’s not smelling berry fresh, right?

Secret’s message ultimately becomes: Ladies, to earn respect in the workplace, speak up, and don’t forget to smell nice. Needless to say, this video falls on deaf ears for the modern woman who is more attune to transparent marketing trends that plug the desirability factor at female demographics. This working woman’s fresh scent is going to seal the deal on her raise, and Secret wants us to know it.

4. Bud Light’s Political Parody Campaign Loses The Race

This video campaign reminds marketers how important it is to know your audience. The basic rule of thumb: beer and politics don’t mix. Beer brings people together to enjoy moments. Politics can be divisive and complicated. So Bud Light’s campaign with a couple of celebrity left-wingers, Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer, parodying a presidential candidate’s campaign feels out of place and a bit manipulative.

This universally popular brand is not so subtly aligning themselves with a political party but Bud Light, being an all-American beer, should advertise to all Americans. No one wants their beer to come with a side of political righteousness, regardless of how Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer are serving it up.

Bud Light eventually felt the heat when their numbers began to drop as a result of this campaign. A representative for the company released the statement:

“Turning around a brand the size of Bud Light, which alone accounts for almost one-fifth of the total category, takes time,” the spokesperson wrote. “Despite continued positive signs in brand health evolution, driven by millennials and Hispanics, 3Q was the softest performance of Bud Light for the year from a volume and share perspective.”

On the topic of this political parody campaign, the company spokesperson stated:

“The Bud Light Party campaign helped us improve these brand attributes, but it did not translate to improved volume and share performance.”

5. Damn, I Want Some White Vans

This video is not produced by the shoe brand, Vans, and it’s not a failed attempt at video marketing. In fact, this is an excellent example of video marketing. From this Viner’s video, Vans saw a 30% spike in online sales.

This video, made by a Viner in high school, was meant for no other purpose than to share comedic content on his social media profiles and yet it excels in showcasing the White Vans shoe, expertly. The clip is relatable, presenting the average teenager – Vans key demographic – walking into school and turning heads because of his white Vans. Damn, Daniel!

The video, coincidentally, includes an age-old advertising story angle ala back-to-school marketing. “Walk into school with these new shoes, and you’ll feel like a rockstar.”

The gem of this video is that it’s genuine and relatable. However, it’s the clip’s catchphrase that seals the deal on this viral video. It’s catchy and sticks in our heads. Not to mention, it’s fun to use in everyday situations. “Damn Karen, back at it again with the red pumps,” for example.

So, this video has authenticity, a catchy phrase, and a genuine depiction of how these shoes will make you say “Damnnnnnn,” when you look in the mirror.

Upon seeing the spikes in sales, the Vans company got wise to the video and redirected their homepage to a list of White Vans. Smart move.

“Of course, how could we not mention Daniel, as in ‘Damn Daniel’, which, as you can imagine, did have a strong impact on the sales of White Vans, which saw 100% sell-through in both retail direct-to-consumer and wholesale channels.

The national media attention the brand received is a wild demonstration of how creative expression, youth culture, and loyalty can conspire to cause a phenomenon. Well done, Daniel, well done.”

– Steven Rendle, VANs COO

Vans may not have made the video, but they easily could have. Maybe it would lose a bit of authenticity if it were a proper ad, rather than a Vine video, but the elements that make it so enjoyable would still be there. The clip entertains you, it doesn’t deceive you, and it makes you want some Vans. It’s an excellent example of a missed marketing opportunity.

In 2017, if you’re a notable brand with a video marketing budget, your campaign needs to be well thought-out and intelligent. A successful video marketing campaign requires a substantial amount of collaboration to be effective. Incorporating tools like GAIN into your process to help gather feedback for videos from the many content creators and approvers on your team ensures every stakeholder has a say before content goes live.

Brands have the power to shape the social commentary with their video campaigns, and when the messaging is misguided, it’s open season for criticism and backlash. So if your brand is ready to wield your influence through video, be sure to study these past failures so you can improve your chances for video marketing success.

Want to see examples of companies that did it right in 2016? Check out this post!

The post The Top 5 Worst Brand Video Marketing Fails from the Past Year appeared first on Vidyard.

from News By Logan French http://www.vidyard.com/blog/top-5-worst-brand-video-marketing-fails-past-year/

[mahtewtwook86]

The Top 5 Worst Brand Video Marketing Fails from the Past Year

Big brands have the data and the resources to keep their finger on the pulse of social, political, and cultural topics. These resources create pressure to broadcast the right messaging in their video marketing campaigns. Getting the message wrong can spell disaster on a global scale, just as getting the messaging right can open new doors to spikes in sales and popularity.

When brands get the message wrong, those errors often surround gender, racial, or cultural stereotypes. 2016 was witness to a list of failures, proving that regardless of budget, your company’s messaging can make or break a video marketing campaign and the business attached to it. So as brands start rolling out their video campaigns for 2017, let’s learn from some of the worst failures of 2016.

1. Chevy “Understands” What Millennials Want

Chevrolet’s ad for the new 2016 Cruze was aimed intentionally at the millennial generation, or at least the “idea” of that generation.

The video presents a focus group filled with real millennials, not actors. This is Chevy’s first move: telling us that these are real people and so their experience with Chevy will be too.  Unfortunately, this is about as transparent as can be. A man with a Dali-esque mustache sits next to a tattooed lumberjack, across from a woman with a bleached mohawk. These stereotypes juxtaposed next to each other in a focus group is all viewers need to see to cue an eye-roll.

Next, images of “millennial” activities are presented to the group. They view men with long beards, people with piercings, and we go down the list of participants critiquing stereotypes while they sport those same stereotypes.

Finally, the focus group leader concludes that millennials would prefer a car that appeals to them, rather than an ad. Go figure.

Ultimately, the point of the focus group is obvious after the first few seconds but proceeds to be drawn out for the next two minutes. When the car is finally revealed, we’ve forgotten it was supposed to be a car ad. Chevy’s angle comes off as patronizing rather than youthful and insightful. Nothing about this ad or this car appeals to millennials, and that was the point, right?

2. Mushroom Pizza Is “Medically Proven” To Satisfy

Creative marketing angles are one thing, but advertising pizza as if it were a medical solution doesn’t sound like an appetizing combination. Unfortunately, Mellow Mushroom’s Pizza made this misstep not once, but a handful of times in their campaign. In this campaign, the brand advertises their pizza as if it were a cure for indigestion, erectile dysfunction, and more.

It’s possible to imagine how this pitch of hunger as a disease and Mellow Mushroom’s Pizza as the cure might have sounded creative initially, but then there is connecting a medical need with food that leaves little to salivate over.

Noting the video’s style, it mimics the formula of an ad for prescription medication with trips through an artificial stomach. Yum!

For the finale, Mellow Mushroom Pizza doubles down on their concept, just in case it was lost on some viewers, with a doctor appearing suddenly to join the pizza eating-clientele at their table.

The irony of this campaign is that viewers are left neither wanting pizza nor a medical consultation.

3. Secret’s Deodorant “Aids Women” In the Workplace

Female-targeted advertising campaigns (“femvertising”) are nothing new to the hygiene and beauty market. Females have been the target of many advertising campaigns through the decades, the majority of them quite crass and demeaning.

Only in the recent decades have women called foul on campaigns sporting messages that say they need product XYZ to be desired by men. This campaign message no longer works well and has been replaced with a much better one that says, “We see your value and understand your struggle. Try our product to make your day that much easier.” At least, that is the aim of most female-targeted campaigns.

Secret’s #StressTest campaign tries for this confident message admirably but flies right past it. It comes down to a combination of poor casting and poor dialogue that turns this video ad into a failure. The actress, suited up and sporting thick-rimmed glasses, seems out of place immediately. The glasses look like a cheap way to make it clear that this is a working woman who is serious. Then the monologue she recites is as far from authentic with lines like, “We won the company.”

Secret drove right past relatable and parked in the one-dimensional lot with their portrayal of a young woman in the modern day workforce. From Secret’s depiction, this gal is ready to battle the gender wage gap, and Secret’s deodorant can help get her there. After all, it’s less likely that she’ll tackle the gender wage gap if she’s not smelling berry fresh, right?

Secret’s message ultimately becomes: Ladies, to earn respect in the workplace, speak up, and don’t forget to smell nice. Needless to say, this video falls on deaf ears for the modern woman who is more attune to transparent marketing trends that plug the desirability factor at female demographics. This working woman’s fresh scent is going to seal the deal on her raise, and Secret wants us to know it.

4. Bud Light’s Political Parody Campaign Loses The Race

This video campaign reminds marketers how important it is to know your audience. The basic rule of thumb: beer and politics don’t mix. Beer brings people together to enjoy moments. Politics can be divisive and complicated. So Bud Light’s campaign with a couple of celebrity left-wingers, Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer, parodying a presidential candidate’s campaign feels out of place and a bit manipulative.

This universally popular brand is not so subtly aligning themselves with a political party but Bud Light, being an all-American beer, should advertise to all Americans. No one wants their beer to come with a side of political righteousness, regardless of how Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer are serving it up.

Bud Light eventually felt the heat when their numbers began to drop as a result of this campaign. A representative for the company released the statement:

“Turning around a brand the size of Bud Light, which alone accounts for almost one-fifth of the total category, takes time,” the spokesperson wrote. “Despite continued positive signs in brand health evolution, driven by millennials and Hispanics, 3Q was the softest performance of Bud Light for the year from a volume and share perspective.”

On the topic of this political parody campaign, the company spokesperson stated:

“The Bud Light Party campaign helped us improve these brand attributes, but it did not translate to improved volume and share performance.”

5. Damn, I Want Some White Vans

This video is not produced by the shoe brand, Vans, and it’s not a failed attempt at video marketing. In fact, this is an excellent example of video marketing. From this Viner’s video, Vans saw a 30% spike in online sales.

This video, made by a Viner in high school, was meant for no other purpose than to share comedic content on his social media profiles and yet it excels in showcasing the White Vans shoe, expertly. The clip is relatable, presenting the average teenager – Vans key demographic – walking into school and turning heads because of his white Vans. Damn, Daniel!

The video, coincidentally, includes an age-old advertising story angle ala back-to-school marketing. “Walk into school with these new shoes, and you’ll feel like a rockstar.”

The gem of this video is that it’s genuine and relatable. However, it’s the clip’s catchphrase that seals the deal on this viral video. It’s catchy and sticks in our heads. Not to mention, it’s fun to use in everyday situations. “Damn Karen, back at it again with the red pumps,” for example.

So, this video has authenticity, a catchy phrase, and a genuine depiction of how these shoes will make you say “Damnnnnnn,” when you look in the mirror.

Upon seeing the spikes in sales, the Vans company got wise to the video and redirected their homepage to a list of White Vans. Smart move.

“Of course, how could we not mention Daniel, as in ‘Damn Daniel’, which, as you can imagine, did have a strong impact on the sales of White Vans, which saw 100% sell-through in both retail direct-to-consumer and wholesale channels.

The national media attention the brand received is a wild demonstration of how creative expression, youth culture, and loyalty can conspire to cause a phenomenon. Well done, Daniel, well done.”

– Steven Rendle, VANs COO

Vans may not have made the video, but they easily could have. Maybe it would lose a bit of authenticity if it were a proper ad, rather than a Vine video, but the elements that make it so enjoyable would still be there. The clip entertains you, it doesn’t deceive you, and it makes you want some Vans. It’s an excellent example of a missed marketing opportunity.

In 2017, if you’re a notable brand with a video marketing budget, your campaign needs to be well thought-out and intelligent. A successful video marketing campaign requires a substantial amount of collaboration to be effective. Incorporating tools like GAIN into your process to help gather feedback for videos from the many content creators and approvers on your team ensures every stakeholder has a say before content goes live.

Brands have the power to shape the social commentary with their video campaigns, and when the messaging is misguided, it’s open season for criticism and backlash. So if your brand is ready to wield your influence through video, be sure to study these past failures so you can improve your chances for video marketing success.

Want to see examples of companies that did it right in 2016? Check out this post!

The post The Top 5 Worst Brand Video Marketing Fails from the Past Year appeared first on Vidyard.

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