#a poll with writers/producers/directors would have also been interesting

[designatedfandomblog]

So, since there have been many star trek actors who either played a huge amount of roles or who became important directors, I was wondering:

[ollyarchive]

Olly Alexander: ‘I want to make the community proud. I don’t know if I've always got it right’

By

David Levesley

As Ritchie Tozer in Russell T Davies’ devastating 1980s-set drama It's A Sin, Olly Alexander told a story from a tragically formative decade in gay history. As himself and as frontman of synthpop trio Years & Years, he contributes to a new narrative. But, as he reveals here, the insecurities and anxieties written into minority identities are not just a personal challenge: they can shape stories told by, for and about all his peers

It is the afternoon before It’s A Sin is broadcast to the nation and its star, 30-year-old musician and actor Olly Alexander, is buying a cat cushion. “It’s for a friend!” he says, mortified to be caught in the act of buying a plush feline.

Where once being the star of a primetime Channel 4 drama might mean greenrooms, watch parties and a celebratory afters, this is January 2021, so a flame-haired Alexander is sitting in his kitchen, drinking a smoothie the exact same lilac as his top.

“I’ve had a lot of restless energy,” he says, having binge-watched The Real Housewives Of New York City in between doing lots of squats and “watching homoerotic YouTube workout videos”. It’s not quite the normal build-up to a game-changing drama, but is there a better way to remember peacetime than watching a show filled with period pieces such as “friends drink indoors” or “strangers have guiltless sex at a house party”? It’s A Sin is both a masterpiece and a reminder that someday we will, once again, be able to be eaten out by hot men. “You’re so welcome,” Alexander says, laughing. “If I can bring anything to the British public, it’s a lesson in anal hygiene.”

Anal hygiene are two words we have probably never published together in GQ, but, more importantly, are probably not the subject of many – if any! – scenes in a piece of media not uploaded to OnlyFans. They are, however, the subject of a crucial scene in the first episode of It’s A Sin, in which Alexander’s character – an 18-year-old fledgling queer from the Isle Of Wight called Ritchie Tozer – gets rimmed by his campus crush, Ash Mukherjee (Nathaniel Curtis). No gay men watching came out of that scene not feeling seen and, like all the other sex scenes in It’s A Sin, it feels deeply realistic and fantastically homosexual.

“I can tell you I’ll never forget being practically butt-naked with my arse in the air in front of colleagues,” says Alexander, laughing. But by that point, he says, he had done so many sex scenes that it felt somewhat rote. “‘Ritchie’s got a dirty bum! Stick that arse in the air and look disappointed!’” What was interesting, he says, was the dynamic of trying to produce the most authentically gay experiences possible on camera.

‘WE UNDERSTOOD THESE CHARACTERS WITH A KIND OF SHORTHAND THAT GAY PEOPLE UNDERSTAND’

They were working with Ita O’Brien – a movement director and arguably the OG intimacy coordinator – but, for her sins, not a gay man. So while everyone would have an input in how a sex scene would be best shot, “There came a point when they would say, ‘Please tell us, because we’re not gay men.’” So then the writer, the performers, the director and O’Brien’s team would come to a consensus on how to make a threesome look like three men shagging, yet also make it look the best it could on camera and make sure “you never touch each other’s genitals, basically”.

Alexander says O’Brien’s input was a “lifesaver” for him on set. Although by the end he felt comfortable, he was at first intimidated by just how exposing this would be. “I had a bit of a hysterical breakdown. I was really worried I couldn’t do it. I just didn’t feel safe.” This was interesting to hear from Alexander, the proudly queer frontman of the band Years & Years, who “spent four years on the road performing and finding this character that I do feel sexy in”. It was then that O’Brien and the team asked him to bring whatever made him feel comfortable on stage into the room before the cameras rolled. “So I would sing before the takes, be a little bit of Olly on stage,” he says, laughing. “That was my way of tricking my brain and thinking it was a character. Which, of course, it was.”

Before he was Olly Alexander, consummate gamine artiste, Olly Alexander Thornton was a singled-out kid at a primary school in Gloucestershire (where his mother ran a music festival). He was, like many other gay kids growing up, bullied and harassed for being something “other”, which everyone is able to see long before you can define it yourself. “I remember being in primary school and I had long hair and people would call me a girl,” he says, and the wound still feels raw when he recounts it.

“I knew that was bad for boys. I didn’t like the things that other boys liked: I just wanted to play with the girls and watch Disney movies. Which obviously straight boys do as well,” he mentions, always making sure to provide caveats to include all facets of the human experience. Although the bullying began to subside by secondary school in Monmouthshire, he still stood out: he had big curly hair – “I was trying to hide my ears” – and would wear make-up or a choker sometimes on nonuniform days. “I think I was trying to figure out who I was,” he says. “Imagine getting to discover your own sexuality without any preconceived ideas! I mean, maybe that’s impossible. But it would be nice, right? Why should people bullying you be your first brush with your own sexuality?”

Like Ritchie Tozer, Alexander moved to London at 18 to pursue acting, but he also had designs on becoming a musician. “Because when you’re writing a song, you’re the director, the star, the producer, the writer. I wanted all of that! I needed that to be able to express myself,” he proclaims with faux hysteria. For years he found success as an actor in a diverse selection of roles: he appeared in Gaspar Noé’s Enter The Void, costarred with seemingly every other white British actor in The Riot Club and also in God Help The Girl, a musical film written by Belle And Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch. “Then Years & Years just got to a place where it was going to take over and needed my full time,” Alexander says. So his focus moved to the music.

‘IMAGINE DISCOVERING YOUR SEXUALITY WITHOUT ANY PRECONCEIVED IDEAS!’

It was on their third single, “Real” – released in 2014 – that Alexander first felt his art and his sexuality really intermingle. “It was the first time I put in a male pronoun – I say ‘Do it, boy’ – and it’s quite subtle, but it was a big deal for me at the time.” This was when Years & Years were trying to get signed to a major label, so doing something so consciously queer felt like a risk (the band went on to sign with Polydor later that year).

While pop music has long had an element of queerness about it – you need only look at the artists featured in It’s A Sin to see how gay 1980s pop was – Alexander has long been frank that sexuality and success are not always seen as natural bedfellows. At a Stonewall event in 2018 he recounted being told during his media training, “Maybe it’s better not to say anything about your sexuality at all.” In the same year, he told NME there had been progress, but that “I just know there are people who are hiding their sexuality, so it’s still not gone completely”.

Alexander doubled down on it with the music video – featuring his Bright Star costar Ben Whishaw – where he “purposefully made it gay. There’s a cruising element to the very beginning. It’s slightly ambiguous, though, because back then I wasn’t quite ready to launch into being the gay crusader I think I am now.” In 2015 the band won the BBC’s Sound Of 2015 poll, releasing their first album, Communion, the same year. It became 2015’s fastest-selling debut album from a UK-signed band.

‘I JUST WATCHED LIAM PAYNE TAKE HIS TOP OFF, BUT NOW I’M NOT ALLOWED TO?’

But despite the success, and the realisation that audiences were either supportive of – or simply unfazed by – the queerness of Years & Years’ music, there is always an anxiety for Alexander about just how accepting people are willing to be. “I’ll tell you for real,” says Alexander, “I go out on stage – even if it’s for our own audience – and I’m like, ‘What if some of them don’t like me? What if some of them have an issue with me today?’ I always feel like I’m going to try a bit harder next time, try to do a bit more.”

While the character of “Olly Alexander, Years & Years frontman” is one that bespangles its performer with confidence, being queer in the music industry isn’t always an easy thing to navigate. He remembers seeing a tweet from someone who said Alexander’s sexuality was a ruse to try to attract the pink pound – a term for the spending power of gay men – “And it had an impact on me, because I’ve consciously tried to [be openly gay] in a lot of circumstances where I wouldn’t normally. And then for someone...” He tries to think of how to put it and comes up short. “It can chip away at you.”

He wouldn’t change a thing about his success, he says, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t times when it isn’t hard to be out and proud while also getting your foot in the door. “When we’re playing a pop music festival, I’m looking at the other acts in the lineup and there aren’t that many gay people on them,” he says. “You see how quickly your show isn’t family friendly any more because I want to take my top off and I’m like, ‘Well, I just watched Jason Derulo and Liam Payne take their tops off and have all these women in underwear, but now I’m not allowed?’ What do you do with that?”

It’s A Sin marks a return to acting but, also, a chance to refresh Alexander’s musical batteries too. Following Years & Years’ second album – 2018’s Palo Santo – the third album was proving hard to pin down. “I’ve been trying to make this album for about 18 months at this point, stopping and starting, listening to all the songs and... it’s just not feeling relevant any more.” Alexander had always loved Russell T Davies’ work, so when he heard Davies was making a new TV show he “had to be in it. I would just jump at the chance to work with him. And that was before I read the script.” Years & Years had just finished touring Palo Santo and, to Alexander, it felt like the stars had aligned.

While the anxiety of performing queer sex scenes might have been particularly exposing for a gay man like Alexander, there were huge benefits for him being in a cast and crew that were predominantly LGBTQ+. “It was a revelation. I’ve never been on a set with so many queer people. I’ve never even worked with a gay director, so it was a completely new experience.” Plus, being asked to play part of a group of gay best friends, portrayed predominantly by gay actors, meant the chemistry came very quickly: “We understood these characters [with a] kind of shorthand that gay people understand.”

An inclusive, comfortable environment was beneficial for more than just sex scenes and simulating a decade of friendship. It’s A Sin also required its cast to grapple with the issue of HIV and aids, not just as a part of the furniture – as we do in the 21st century, with our knowledge of viral loads, sleeping with undetectable partners and new medications such as Prep – but really putting a forgotten part of British queer history under the lens, who it affected and how it changed the LGBTQ+ community irrevocably. “It’s an issue that is deeply surrounded by stigma and there’s a lot of trauma there and a lot of fear,” Alexander explains. “I know, personally, it was an area that I was scared to really engage with.”

He mentions that just before filming he made friends with an older gay couple at his gym and in talking about the show with them he was offered a rare opportunity to hear about personal experiences of the aids crisis. “It can be so difficult as a gay person to feel like you have intergenerational support,” says Alexander. “Elders are so important in our community. You can get so much from the people who have gone through so much before and fought that fight.”

For Alexander and the cast, It’s A Sin was a rare opportunity: a chance to be brought together with a whole group of men and women who were there at the time and who were willing to share their experiences with them. “I feel so lucky that I got to engage with that and keep learning. I was just scratching the surface and there are so many stories you can tell from this period. It’s impacted us all the way until now and it will in the future.”

Starring in It’s A Sin has also changed what Years & Years’ third album is going to sound like. After the initial writer’s block, Alexander says, he focused instead on the music of the show (Bronski Beat, Kelly Marie, the titular song by Pet Shop Boys) “and it really took my mind back to the club” – especially in the midst of a pandemic, when the queer nightlife venues that are the backbone of our community are so desperately missed.

“All the music I wanted to listen to in lockdown was high energy. It was dance floor. It was club music.” This was the music that had played such a huge role in his early life in London, had inspired the first Years & Years album and a genre that owes a great debt to the LGBTQ+ community. “I think at their heart, lots of these songs are about joy despite crushing pain. I just thought, ‘God, imagine hearing “I Feel Love” on the dance floor for the first time.’ What a transcendent experience that would be.”

‘ELDERS ARE SO IMPORTANT IN OUR COMMUNITY. YOU CAN GET SO MUCH FROM THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE FOUGHT THAT FIGHT’

And so Alexander went into the studio – as soon as it was safe to do so – and created a bunch of new songs. Is it easy to find collaborators behind the scenes who get it when he says, “I want it to feel like Britney meets Rihanna meets Hot Chip via New Order”?

“It can be a challenge to find someone that really understands,” admits Alexander. He recalled being sent round the songwriters and producers in Los Angeles that all artists are sent round at a certain point, “And some of those people are amazing – some amazing queer people as well – but predominantly... You know, they’re straight, so it can be quite challenging.”

Feeling safe with his collaborators hasn’t been an easy journey, but now he’s in a good place for it. He also pointed out that it’s not just queers who can understand his vision: his bandmates are straight, he points out – “I really believe in working with straight people! Some of my best friends are straight!” – and his frequent collaborator, the producer Mark Ralph, “is a real ally to us gays”, who was always willing to vibe along to Paris Hilton singles with him.

A new sound – a queerer sound – isn’t just a risk in a world where Alexander’s performances are held to double standards and the linchpins of queer culture can still be seen as synonymous with perversion. The impossible standards queer work is held to don’t just come from the straight world: gay men can be terrible recipients of work designed for them too.

Russell T Davies has dealt with it his entire career: “There’s the problem of lack of representation, but there’s the problem that when you are represented, it’s just not seen,” he explained when I spoke to him recently. “You just learn to cope. I worry about it. I probably worry about it more than I say here, but at the end of the day it’s never stopped me writing the next thing.” But he gets it because he, too, is a gay man who consumes art and he sees the same biases coming out when he watches other queer-centric work.

Yet he was amazed that artists younger than him are still dealing with the same crises: “It’s what comes with being a minority. It’s what comes of oppression and you kind of expect this to pass. But then you talk to young people like Olly, who’s a different generation from me, and you find them thinking the same things,” Davies said. “I was lucky to have my training during an age when you’d be lucky to get one review in the Times. Now you live in a world of reviewers.”

When I ask Alexander if he worries how gay men will respond to a gay artist’s work, it is no easier for him to respond than it was for Davies. “Oh, God, you’re making my heart race now,” he says, breathless. “I should be careful, because I don’t want to demonise anybody. But I tried to really unpack this myself and... I’ll just sort of say it.” It is clear that this is intense for him: his eyes are looking watery as he tries to phrase it delicately.

“I have this – I think irrational – anxiety about gay men tearing me down. And I tried to interrogate that within myself and I think it’s complicated, because a lot of it has to do with internalised phobias and shame, about how I see myself versus how other people see me.” He begins to cry. “What I do know is that I want them to not hate me. And I want to make the community proud. It’s been at the heart of pretty much every decision I’ve ever made. And I don’t know if I’ve always got it right.”

‘I HAVE THIS – I THINK IRRATIONAL – ANXIETY ABOUT GAY MEN TEARING ME DOWN’

It’s tough being an actor asked to shed light and humanity on a complex phase in British LGBTQ+ history; it’s just as tough to be a gay man trying to make pop music that speaks to the queer experience. But Alexander is doing both and, what’s more, he’s being unapologetically queer in the public eye. There aren’t many LGBTQ+ people in the position Alexander is in and it must be exhausting, I suggest, to be expected to speak for the needs and fears of an entire spectrum of sexual and gender identities. After all, he’s just one man who wants to be proud of who he is. “Sometimes, when I feel the most anxious, I have a voice in my head that goes, ‘Oh, Olly, why on earth did you put yourself in this position? You really are not the strong person people think you are.’” But, he says, he is learning he can’t speak for everyone, even if people expect it of him.

Instead, he’s focusing on being proud of what he’s done – the visibility, the audacity, the bravery – rather than the critique of his anxieties or Twitter trolls. “I’m always thinking about me as a teenager and how I’m creating the person I wanted to be in the world. I’m actually doing it! Holy fuck!”

[aion-rsa]

Michael Myers vs Pinhead: The Hellraiser/Halloween Crossover That Never Was

https://www.denofgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/rachel-talalay-five-scariest-scenes.png?resize=400%2C400

Up until the new millennium, cinematic crossovers were largely the preserve of Abbott and Costello or Godzilla. But that all changed in 2003 with the arrival of Freddy Vs. Jason. The Nightmare on Elm Street/Friday the 13th mashup had been 16 agonizing years in the making. New Line Cinema shelled out a reported $6 million on script development alone with as many as 16 different writers taking a stab at the concept. 

Despite such inauspicious beginnings, however, Freddy Vs. Jason ended up being a massive hit, raking in $116.6 million off the back of a modest $30m budget.  All of a sudden, crossover movies were in vogue. The kind of pop culture hybridization once reserved for the world of comic books was becoming big business in Hollywood. Freddy Vs. Jason was soon followed by Paul W.S. Anderson’s Alien vs. Predator which also cleaned up at box office making $177.4m off an initial $60m outlay. 

It was around that time that the idea for a crossover involving Halloween’s masked killer Michael Myers and Hellraiser’s iconic sadomasochistic cenobite, Pinhead, was first floated. 

Filmmaker Dave Parker, who went on to enjoy success with horror films like The Dead Hate the Living and The Hills Run Red, revealed during an interview with Creature Corner [via Paul Kane’s book The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy p.224] he pitched an idea for Michael Myers vs Pinhead to Dimension. 

“I had pitched, unsuccessfully, Freddy vs Jason to a guy named Ross Hammer at Sean Cunningham’s company around ’94 or early ’95. After that didn’t go well, I started think about what other franchises were at other studios…It was a no-brainer to see that Dimension had both the Halloween and Hellraiser franchises, so I put together a trailer using footage from the Halloween movies … and I called the idea ‘Helloween’.” 

Parker elaborated further on his idea for the plot of the movie in an interview with Fangoria Corner [see The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy p.224] published later that same year, saying that explaining why Michael Myers couldn’t die “led to opening the doors” to introduce Pinhead and the Hellraiser mythos. 

“I was just trying to come up with a plausible way to get these two guys together to fight,” he said. “So, why does he all of a sudden go out and kill his sister in Halloween? He’s trick-or-treating in a flashback and he goes up to this one house … and sees the guy with the black boots, who gives him the box. He opens it and the Lord of the Dead – Sam Hain – escapes from hell and takes over Michael’s body because he doesn’t want to be in hell. Now, Sam Hain is who the Shape is, and that’s why he can’t be killed.”

With the origin story out of the way, the modern part of the tale naturally followed. 

“So, the story takes place when people try to destroy the Myers house and they find the box hidden between the walls. Of course, they open it and Pinhead shows up, and it’s Halloween and it’s the Myers house, so Michael shows up because there are people there and Pinhead recognizes that Michael is Sam Hain because he can feel it – which begins this whole battle in the real world. And of course, the third act takes them all to hell…” 

Despite Parker’s intriguing proposal, Dimension rejected the concept – this was the mid-90s after all, a time when Kramer vs. Kramer was about as close as you got to film with a ‘vs.’ in the title. It would take another eight years and the success of Freddy vs. Jason before the studio would be turned on to the idea of a horror movie mashup. 

At one point, there were even plans afoot for Pinhead to feature in Freddy vs. Jason. One draft of the script written by Mark Swift and Damian Shannon saw Krueger and Voorhees fight their way down to Hell, only for the familiar Cenobite to appear and say: “Gentlemen…what seems to be the problem?” The cameo could have paved the way for an even more outlandish sequel featuring all three horror icons. Unfortunately, New Line Cinema balked at the idea of licensing Pinhead from Dimension Films. 

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Not that anyone was particularly disappointed at Dimension. Speaking to Your Move Magazine [via Movieweb], Pinhead actor Doug Bradley said “they didn’t think it would work…They predicted that Freddy vs. Jason would bomb, but it opened at the top of the box office and stayed there for a second weekend.” 

Of course, that success made Dimension feel more confident about a Hellraiser/Halloween crossover.

Eager to up the ante, in late 2003 the studio set a release date of Halloween 2004 for the film. They also enlisted the biggest of big guns to get the project rolling. In a surprise move, Dimension Films reached out to the original Hellraiser writer and director Clive Barker as well as Halloween’s own original co-writer and director John Carpenter. 

The plan was for Barker to write and Carpenter to direct – something Barker later confirmed during an interview for the Halloween: 25 Years of Terror documentary. Whether Barker got around to writing a script is unclear, but he definitely had ideas. Very interesting ideas, as Bradley revealed to me during an interview marking the 30th anniversary of the original Hellraiser’s release. 

“I remember getting quite excited at the prospect of it,” Bradley says. “Clive said that the versus bit, the Michael Myers vs Pinhead bit was a bit beside the point – it was a bit boring given that Michael doesn’t speak, which makes him a disappointment to Pinhead. Clive wasn’t interested in a mano-a-mano confrontation. He was interested in finding the places where the Hellraiser and Halloween landscapes might have crossed over. The first Halloween works like a classic vampire movie with Michael as Dracula and Dr. Loomis as Van Helsing.”

That relationship helped set up the conflict of the film. 

“Dr. Loomis spends a lot of the film warning people they don’t know what they are dealing with,” Bradley says. “It gave Michael this supernatural, mysterious element that made him so powerful. There was a suggestion he was something not human and Clive felt there was a way in there. Clive saw him as a sadomasochistic sexual pervert and serial killer which would be enough to pique Pinhead’s interest.” 

At the time, John Carpenter was in something of a self-imposed retirement, following the poor reviews that had greeted his most recent film at the time, Ghosts of Mars. Michael Myers vs Pinhead was not only a shot at redemption, it offered a chance to collaborate with one of the most unique voices in the world of horror. 

But just when it looked like the most unlikely of crossovers would come to fruition, everything stopped. While Dimension Films believed in the crossover’s potential, long-time Halloween producer Moustapha Akkad was vehemently opposed to the idea. 

And it was Akkad, crucially, who owned the rights to the Halloween franchise having purchased Carpenter and co-writer Debra Hill’s controlling interests during pre-production on Halloween 4. Barker would later hint at studio interference, telling a Fangoria convention that “The Shape” aka Myers was treated “like Hamlet” by certain big-wigs upstairs. 

In any case, the prospects of convincing Akkad of the project’s viability had not been helped by an online fan poll created by the official Halloween movies’ website at the time, which asked fans if they wanted to see a Halloween/Hellraiser crossover. 

According to CliveBarkerCast: “Out of 84,427 votes, 54% said NO”.  A year after pulling the plug on the project, Akkad was tragically killed, alongside his 34-year-old daughter, Rima Akkad Monla, in the 2005 Amman bombings. 

By then Hollywood had moved on from the short-lived fad for movie mash-ups – a Freddy vs Jason vs Ash of Evil Dead fame was pitched but rejected. A second Aliens vs Predator movie made a tidy profit but drew rancid reviews. 

Halloween eventually moved on too, with Blumhouse obtaining the rights to the intellectual property in 2015, after Dimension failed to move forward with a planned follow-up. No longer owned by the same studio, there remains one small glimmer of hope for anyone still clinging to hopes of seeing Michael Myers indulge in a spot of sadomasochism: David Gordon Green. 

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Green is directing the new trilogy of Halloween films and has also signed on to helm several episodes of an upcoming Hellraiser TV series for HBO. Watch this space. 

The post Michael Myers vs Pinhead: The Hellraiser/Halloween Crossover That Never Was appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[chicagoindiecritics]

New from Every Movie Has a Lesson by Don Shanahan: VINTAGE REVIEW: The Untouchables

(Image: vanityfair.com)

THIS RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW AND ANALYSIS WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 FOR 25YL AS PART OF THEIR BRIAN DE PALMA TRIBUTE AND RETROSPECTIVE SERIES.

THE UNTOUCHABLES— 4 STARS

At the turn of the late 1980s, lauded filmmaker Brian De Palma needed a commercial win, the kind of score that filled his bank account and raised his cache to make more of his own artistic interests. He got that in 1987 with The Untouchables, a pet project of producer Art Linson who loved the gangland folklore possible with Paramount’s full rights to the characters. Buoyed by a 50% female audience dared into a violent picture, the film returned triple its budget after what would be the 6th highest debut of the year. Featuring all the director’s bells and whistles singing a new tune, The Untouchables returned bankability and creative acclaim to the career New Yorker. 

For The Untouchables, De Palma came to the writer’s turf of The Windy City to update and redefine the tropes of gangster film “The Chicago Way.”  Bounding with all of the swagger and toughness of David Mamet’s script, The Untouchables amplifies and dramatizes the Prohibition takedown efforts of famed U.S. Treasury agent Eliot Ness against Chicago Outfit leader Al Capone previously serialized by the 1957 television program starring Robert Stack. Kevin Costner was the reluctant final pick for the lead from the pool of Miami Vice’s Don Johnson, a busy Mel Gibson, and a declining Mickey Rourke to play the lawmen pitted against De Palma’s insisted choice and transformed muse Robert De Niro, and all his peccadillos, as the worshiped crime lord.

With steep dramatic license for silver screen flair, the movie Hollywoodizes the story of the diligent crusader Ness coming to City of Broad Shoulders and getting the tutelage of a brash pair of those in the form of an aging Irish beat cop named Jimmy Malone, played by screen legend Sean Connery in his lone Academy Award-winning role despite what an Empire magazine poll voted as the worst movie accent of all-time. Mamet and De Palma condense the historical Primary Ten into a composite squad of four when Ness and Malone recruit rookie sharpshooter George Stone (Andy Garcia, getting to play a hero after being the heavy in Hal Ashby’s 8 Million Ways to Die) and elevate D.C. bookworm agent Oscar Wallace (the welcome amount of comic relief from Charles Martin Smith). Looming next to De Niro is an army of ne’er-do-well underlings covered with overcoats, fedoras, and Tommy guns led by his Outfit #2 Frank Nitti (Pale Rider’s Billy Drago, after Garcia was approached and moved to Stone).

Playwright hitmaker David Mamet showers these actors with outstanding lines, from long rants to rapid-fire conversation. While he may revise a heap of history, Mamet and his “Mamet Speak” give these actors steak to chew on and De Palma tension to shoot. Even with Connery’s rough accent brimming all over and Costner’s genteel baseline, there’s still not a clunker moment of line delivery all movie. All of it sizzles with cigar smoke mixing with spent gunpowder and lament and heroism teeter-totter strides with the moody and brassy pomp of Ennio Morricone’s top-shelf score. 

The high style and period detail are on display in all areas of the movie’s big and clean production values. Many people go straight to the sleek and Oscar-nominated Giorgio Armani threads from costume designer Marilyn Vance (quite a step up from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and they would be keenly right to be impressed. Surfaces like costuming and the equally Oscar-nominated production designs of Amadeus’s Patrizia von Brandenstein, comedy specialist William A. Elliot comedy specialist, and Disney live-action veteran Hal Gausman drape, bath, and decorate pulpy antiquity out of the genuine Chicago locations. 

From this Chicagaoan’s eyes, Eric Schwab, De Palma’s longtime location scout and manager (and a future second unit director on six of the man’s films), outdid himself with the rich finds and recreations that sought lurid decadence. From Roosevelt University standing in as the notorious Lexington Hotel, Frank Lloyd Wright’s The Rookery used as police headquarters on historic La Salle Street, the Tiffany Dome of the Chicago Cultural Center (and original city library) to those climactic Union Station steps and every church steeple in between, Chicago has rarely look better or more ominous. 

Furthermore, the cinematographer and editors are part of what makes Brian De Palma and The Untouchables look so damn good and pop with visual storytelling. That success comes from successful and extensive collaboration. Cinematographer Stephen H. Burum would go on to work with the director for eight films. Editors Bill Pankow and Gerald G. Greenburg add nine and five trips, respectively, with De Palma to that teamwork tally. For more detail, Burum was highlighted by a nice interview piece in American Cinematographer for his work on The Untouchables last year. One fun fact is that the studio quickly talked him out of shooting in black-and-white. Be glad he was because the color always pops. The outstanding widescreen framing from Burum and the suspenseful sense of pacing from Pankow and Greenburg sharpen and highlight De Palma’s entertaining and engaging moves. 

And those chops!  As for what we’re celebrating here on 25YL, the real talent is Brian De Palma and his endlessly studied and glorified filmmaking prowess and visual trademarks. His tricks of the trade are applied to a ballsy, dramatic adventure that bleeds buckets of crimson underneath all those aforementioned surfaces.  Let’s talk angles first.

In many establishing shots, including catching street signs and the high angle zooming straight down from an opening card of history notes to a character introduction of De Niro’s Capone getting pampered and nicked in a barber’s chair, De Palma uses canted angles. De Palma and Burum also enjoyed low angles that highlight height or the towering setting, like the Tiffany Dome presiding over the wide spectre looking up to Capone later. One stellar example of viewing location is the creeper sequence of Malone’s home invasion, where the low angle and the POV steps set up tension and surprise. 

The most celebrated clinical example of angles comes from the “di-opt” split focus used during the blood oath church scene between Malone and Ness with that great “Chicago way” proverb. A half convex glass, one part near-sighted and one part far-sighted, kept both the two heroes in focus as well as the lofty and gorgeous church ceiling behind them. The stillness and depth of that scene, boosted by Mamet’s words and the mettle of the performances, are a very good foil to the pace of the rest of the picture.

The next visual feast of De Palma’s craft from the film are the movements. The amount of slow-sweeping pans and tracking shots of precise choreography are impressively mind-boggling. Long takes rule as the average shot length of The Untouchables is 5.7 seconds, a stout eternity by today’s thriller standards. Capone’s stalking baseball bat table circle monologue has a few cutaways for potential swing victim identification, but the circular pan from the low angle is gorgeous for both the hulking fear and finery on display. Even a shorter sequence like the Steadicam use following Wallace escorting a witness through the police hallways to his grave ending in the elevator are a long single-take marvel. 

The piece-de-resistance of editing and motion married together is the movie’s storied gunfight climax set on lobby steps of Chicago’s Union Station. It’s a scene De Palma reduced from a moving train sequence for budget and shot on the fly in substitution. Out of necessity, De Palma mixed a source of homage, the Odessa Steps sequence from Sergei Eisenstein’s The Battleship Potemkin, to create his own holdout sequence where hurdles block the protagonists’ path for a necessary task. This classic scene also presents the best use of De Palma’s penchant for occasional slow-motion while amping up the sound work of the intersecting chess pieces. Pankow and Greenburg’s editing assistance really shines. Replica or note to Eisenstein, the result is brilliant and better than what some big-budget train chase would have been. De Palma would get that checkbook-busting chance again in Mission: Impossible nearly a decade later.

History and popularity have been kind to Brian De Palma’s crime movie achievement. The American Film Institute nominated the movie in five categories (Movies, Thrills, Hero, Villain, Film Score, and Gangster Film) during its “100 Years” series last decade. Then and now, The Untouchables earned a city’s pride and spurred new popularity to the Capone legend. Its success also fueled a star’s rise (Costner), secured another’s lasting legacy (Connery), and reminded audiences just how sharply talented its steward was. Once the end credits hit and Morricone plays us all out, you can also feel Brian De Palma channeling tough-guy Jimmy Malone with a “here endeth the lesson.”  The hitmaker never lost his edge.

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[samisadeangirl]

@flyingpurplepeopleeater42​  I know that you weren’t intending to cause drama with your posts, but both contains some MAJOR misconceptions about the show:

Most of the SPN viewers do NOT ship Destiel.  Various polls that Destiel shippers have tried to use to “prove” how popular their ship is instead show that only a few thousand people actually ship it out of an audience of several million worldwide--that comes out to <1% of the overall fandom.  The vast majority of viewers are non-shippers, most of whom aren’t online and don’t know that Destiel even exists, and then there’s the numerous fans who ship other pairings.  There isn’t even definitive proof that Destiel is the most popular ship among the shippers in the fandom, since no one has ever really done an analysis of the numbers among the various ships.  Destiel shippers tend to think they’re more numerous than in reality because many don’t leave their little echo chambers filled only with fellow D/C fans, and because too many are excessively loud and obnoxious online. 

Dean has NEVER been “coded” as queer.  He has only ever been portrayed as hitting on, kissing, having sex with, and having relationships with women, and he has clearly stated several times that he’s not sexually or romantically interested in men.  His heterosexuality has also been confirmed by Jensen, Kripke, and numerous others on the cast and crew.  All the “proof” that bi!Dean stans offer is based on scenes taken out of context (like how Dean “eye-fucks” EVERYONE, including his mom and his car, because he’s walking sex on bowlegs), circumstantial nonsense like clothing colors, lighting, and food, and toxic-masculinity and biphobic stereotypes (i.e. he “can’t be straight” because he cooks, likes telenovelas, fanboys over male celebrities, etc.).  Trying to insist that you, some rando person on the Internet, know Dean’s sexuality better than the character himself, the actor who’s portrayed him for 15 years, the showrunner who created him, the producers, directors, writers, set designers, etc. who’ve helped bring him to life, and the majority of other fans is not only arrogant and entitled AF, it's a form of homophobia called erasure (which applies to ALL sexualities).  Shippers are welcome to change his sexuality however they like in their fan fiction, fan art, and other fan content, but that doesn’t change the reality that in canon Dean is 100% straight.

There is NO “coding” for a romance between Dean and Castiel.  Besides the fact that Dean has been clearly portrayed as straight (see previous point) and also not attracted to non-humans (not even Anna after she became an angel), Castiel has been portrayed as mostly asexual with occasional romantic interest in female non-humans and sexual/romantic interest in female humans only when human himself--never any attraction to male humans.  In addition, their canon relationship is a toxic mess of insults, lies, threats, abandonment, beatings, and betrayals that shouldn’t even be considered a friendship, let alone anything more.  Plus it is an inarguable fact--the actual core of the show--that the most important person to Dean will ALWAYS be Sam, and Dean has repeatedly chosen Sam over Castiel, even when doing so would result in Castiel’s death.  As with the previous point, the “proof” that Destiel shippers try to offer for their ship being “real” is all scenes taken out of context (and which “prove” that Wincest is more “real” since there are far more heated stares, standing too close, heartfelt expressions of feelings, other characters calling them a couple, and so on between Dean and Sam than Dean and Castiel), circumstantial drivel, toxic stereotypes, outright manipulated images, GIFs, etc., and convoluted meta from obsessed fans.  Destiel is purely a fantasy with no basis in canon and has never been part of the show.  And again, shippers are welcome to enjoy that particular fantasy as much as they want, but that doesn’t make it anything more than that.

SPN is NOT racist, misogynistic, or homophobic.  This is a horror show where EVERYONE dies, including the main characters (and where many of them come back).  If people would take off their SJW glasses and really look, they’d realize that far more straight white men have died on the show than anyone else.  Also POC, women, and queer people have always been portrayed in a positive, non-stereotyped way and have included many important and/or powerful characters--hunters, archangels, Princes & Knights of Hell, Alpha monsters, sheriffs & police detectives, and more, even the King (and now Queen) of Hell, the Darkness, and God Himself.  

So to sum up--Destiel isn’t and has never been “so popular” among the overall SPN fandom, and making it canon would never be in the show’s “best interest.”  TPTB are well aware that Destiel shippers are a tiny minority of their audience, and they will never risk alienating 99% of their viewers by making a completely fanon ship “real”--which would involve making all the characters involved act utterly OOC from how they’ve been portrayed for 11 or more years--simply to please a few thousand obsessed shippers who can’t separate their personal fantasies from the reality of the show (which has NEVER been about romance BTW).  

Question for the SPN fandom: Does anyone still watch this show for non Destiel related reasons?

[lissted]

Top UK General Election Twitter Influencers according to @PoliticsUKTD

Highlights

Top Influencers based on total retweets and likes of influential tweets

The top 5 in this category is dominated by Labour.

1. @JeremyCorbyn 2. @ToryFibs 3. @OwenJones84 4. @davidschneider 5. @uklabour

Top Influencers based on volume of influential tweets

The top accounts in this category were from a broader political spectrum, in part reflecting the breadth of the sample of influencers tracked.

1. @Conservatives 2. @TheSNP 3. @LibDemPress 4. @MirrorPolitics 5. @JeremyCorbyn

Top Overall Accounts

66 accounts appeared in the top 100 of both of these measures.

These were therefore likely to have been the most significant voices as the analysis suggests they were both frequently heard above the noise, either generally or within their relevant community, and achieved a high level of engagement when they were.

Top 5

1. @JeremyCorbyn 2. @Conservatives 3.@uklabour 4. @ToryFibs 5. @BritainElects

See below for the full list.

Top Influencers based on the engagement rate of their influential tweets

This score was based on: (Retweets + Likes) divided by Followers.

1. @VoteJezzaCorbyn bio - Vote Labour. Vote Corbyn. This is our last chance to save the UK. Follow for original #GE2017 tweets! 2. @PoliticaPolls bio - Political twitter page discussing and polling twitter without bias for all things politics. #GE2017 3. @exiteu3 bio - Brexit must mean Brexit. No soft #Brexit. Pro Europe-anti EU. Make Britain GREAT again. Keep the Kingdom United.RTs are not an endorsement. Lists=Blocked. 4. @NHS_Roadshow bio - "Official Twitter Account for #OurNHS General Election Roadshow. From the team who organised the #OurNHS demo. #VoteNHS 💙RTs does not mean endorsement" 5. @BrianElects bio - Poll aggregator Accounts featuring in all 3 lists

Only two accounts appear in the Top 100 for all three criteria. These accounts achieved an impressive performance of featuring on PoliticsUKTD over 30 times during the campaign, achieving over 100,000 retweets and likes across these influential tweets despite having relatively low follower counts (compared to many of the other influencers) of circa 20,000 and 15,000 respectively.

@LiamYoung bio - Political commentary at @Independent, @VICE, @NewStatesman, @theipaper and others. Also studying at the London School of Economics. @EL4JC bio - Their videos are ❤️" - Owen Jones. "Heroes of the Election" - Red Labour.  "Factionalists" - Ealing Labour."

@EL4JC was only created in August 2016 and focuses on sharing video content.

Content comparison - @Conservatives v @JeremyCorbyn

The word clouds below compare the top 50 terms (excluding frequently used terms) featured in the high ranked tweets by the @Conservatives (blue) with those used in the @jeremycorbyn (red) tweets.

The most striking difference is “Brexit”. This is the #1 term in the @Conservatives tweets and doesn’t even feature in the top 50 of the Jeremy Corbyn tweets.

In fact the term appeared in less than 2 per cent of his tweets during the campaign.

In contrast Brexit appeared in 44 per cent of @Conservatives account tweets.

General election related tweet with the highest number of retweets and likes

The top ranked tweet based on retweets and likes featured on PoliticsUKTD during the election was this one highlighting the reaction on Facebook to the Prime Minister Theresa May's Facebook live interview with Robert Peston.

It's viral nature demonstrated by the 135,000 retweets and likes it received, dwarfing creator Ben Skipper's 2,000 followers.

Theresa May's Facebook Live interview is going well pic.twitter.com/ep85htOVMN

— Ben Skipper (@bskipper27)

May 15, 2017

Background

@PoliticsUKTD is one of the Twitter accounts powered by Tweetsdistilled, Lissted’s unique real time Twitter curation application.

The application had been dormant since the Tweetsdistilled experiment was ended back in February.

We decided to turn the PoliticsUKTD account back on when the snap UK General Election was announced as we were curious to see what it would highlight as being signficant.

Here's how Sathnam Sanghera of The Times described the account this week

Twitter tip: if you want to know what people outside your political bubble are talking about, follow @PoliticsUKTD - frequently wtf though

— Sathnam Sanghera (@Sathnam)

June 19, 2017

The account is followed by many top UK Politics Influencers.

Welcome to our new followers! You're in good company. Only 6 a/cs on the planet these 15 UK politics influencers all follow. We're one them. pic.twitter.com/VrfO8FIoLu

— PoliticsUKDistilled (@PoliticsUKTD)

June 26, 2017

Data and analysis

PoliticsUKTD’s results were based on the tweets of thousands of the top influencers in relation to UK Politics from right across the political spectrum. During the campaign period (18th April 2017 - 7th June 2017 inclusive) these influencers tweeted over 3 million times, including retweeting and replying to over 200,000 other accounts.

The Tweetsdistilled application tracked every tweet in real time, seeking out the ones that looked to have the most potential for influence. This assessment is based on a number of factors including who is reacting and the scope and velocity of that reaction.

This means to rank highly a tweet needs to be getting the attention of a lot of influential people, the wider Twitter community or preferably both.

Out of these 3 million tweets over 27,000 (around 500-600 per day) were rated of high significance. Based on an analysis of key terms used over 14,000 tweets from 2,756 different Twitter accounts were assessed as directly or indirectly related to the campaign. Between them these tweets were retweeted or liked over 21.2 million times.

NB: Unsurprisingly, a signficant number of high rated tweets in the campaign period were related to the tragic events in Manchester and London. Tweets that referenced parties and/or their leaders in relation to the attacks were included within the 14,000+ tweets used to produce the lists.

We summarised the 14,000+ high rated tweets into three Top 100 lists. To qualify for consideration an account needed to have a minimum of four tweets rated as high significance with an aggregate retweet and like count of greater than 1,000.

Full details of the lists are in this Google Sheet which is also embedded below

- Top 100 Accounts based on the total retweets and likes of their high rated tweets.

- Top 100 Accounts with the most tweets rated as high significance.

- Top 100 Accounts based on the average engagement rate of their high rated tweets. Engagement rate calculated as (Retweets+Likes) / Followers.

Top 66 Accounts

Combined RankUsernameNameProfile1jeremycorbynJeremy CorbynLeader of the Labour Party.2ConservativesConservativesStrong and stable leadership in the national interest with Theresa May.3UKLabourThe Labour PartyWe are the UK Labour Party. Follow us for the latest news, speeches, policies and ways to get involved. #ForTheMany #VoteLabour4ToryFibsTory FibsGrassroots Rebuttal Account that seeks to plug the gaps in rebutting the Tory establishment. Eoin5britainelectsBritain ElectsPoll aggregator.6OwenJones84Owen JonesAuthor of 'The Establishment' and 'Chavs', Socialist, Guardian columnist. Losing my Northern accent. My views etc... https://t.co/RThqdX7tJ07MirrorPoliticsMirror PoliticsUK politics news and views from the @DailyMirror team - @JBeattieMirror, @Jack_Blanchard_, @benglaze, @danbloom1 and @mikeysmith #GE2017 #Vote20178theSNPThe SNPScotland's largest political party and party of Government. Centre left and social democratic.9NicolaSturgeonNicola SturgeonFirst Minister of Scotland, @theSNP Leader and MSP for Glasgow Southside.10BBCNewsBBC News (UK)News, features and analysis. For world news, follow @BBCWorld. Breaking news, follow @BBCBreaking. Latest sport news @BBCSport11Kevin_MaguireKevin Maguire@DailyMirror associate editor. @NewStatesman columnist. @sunderlanduni visiting prof. Suburban man12LibDemsLiberal DemocratsChange Britain's future with the Liberal Democrats and our leader @timfarron.13davidschneiderDavid SchneiderActor, writer, director, fool.14DavidJo52951945David JonesUK government have abandoned Brits. We need to exit EU, ECHR, stop all immigration + look after British people. Like UKIP. All my views. I follow back15JamesMelvilleJames MelvilleProud Father | #PR #Sponsorship #SocialMedia | Tennis | Scotland Rugby | Liberal | Scottish | Contact: james@ninety-five.co.uk16SkyNewsSky NewsStories direct from the @SkyNews newsroom. Tweet us your queries and questions. For breaking news, follow @SkyNewsBreak.17LibDemPressLib Dem Press OfficeThe Most Entertaining Thing In British Politics'- https://t.co/rAqoej7hcx Because the next election will clearly be won on twitter.18paulmasonnewsPaul MasonJournalist | Film-maker. https://t.co/Hrf4OjoGVt19LeaveEUOfficialLEAVE.EU 🇬🇧Ensuring the will of the British people is respected following our historic vote to leave the European Union. In association with @WestmonsterUK. #Brexit20faisalislamFaisal IslamI'm @SkyNews Political Editor, economic crisis book @theDefaultLine Brexitologist. United ST holder. purveyor of bad jokes.21Rachael_SwindonRachaelPersistent | Blocked by 85 Tory MPs, Paul Nuttall & Mick Hucknall | Growing interest in politics | Bad driver | Mum | Cake | I blog a bit |22IanDuntIan DuntEditor of https://t.co/wOraaKxK8o. Author of Brexit: What The Hell Happens Now? Host on @RemainiacsCast. Says stuff on TV & radio.23BBCBreakingBBC Breaking NewsBreaking news alerts and updates from the BBC. For news, features, analysis follow @BBCWorld (international) or @BBCNews (UK). Latest sport news @BBCSport.24DPJHodges(((Dan Hodges)))Commentator for the Mail on Sunday. 'Worst political pundit in the West' - Glenn Greenwald. EI Political Commentator of the Year, 2016.25AngelaRaynerAngela Rayner MPProud Labour MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, Droylsden and Failsworth. Shadow Secretary of State for Education (E) angela@angelarayner.com26jimwatersonJim WatersonPolitical editor at @buzzfeeduk. Want to talk? Email jim.waterson@buzzfeed.com / @ me / my DMs are open. Follow @BuzzFeedUKPol.27JamieRoss7Jamie RossScotland reporter for @BuzzFeedNews. Send all tips and abuse to jamie.ross@buzzfeed.com.28campbellclaretAlastair CampbellWriter, communicator, consultant, strategist, Ambassador Time to Change and other mental health charities. Fighting for REMAIN29GuidoFawkesGuido FawkesScuttlebutt purveyor to all. Gathering kompromat. https://t.co/5EyGtTVSVQ30MichaelLCrickMichael CrickPolitical Corr, C4 News; PSA Political Journalist of Year, 2014. 3 RTS awards; author - books on Militant, Scargill, Archer, Hezza, Alex Ferguson. MU fan31IndependentThe IndependentNews, comment and features from The Independent.32theresa_mayTheresa MayPrime Minister and @Conservatives Leader. Tweets by Theresa signed TM33AngusRobertsonAngus RobertsonAngus Robertson is the Depute Leader of the SNP.34EL4JCEL4CTheir videos are ❤️" - Owen Jones. "Heroes of the Election" - Red Labour. "Factionalists" - Ealing Labour."35Nigel_FarageNigel Farage@UKIP MEP. @LBC presenter. @FoxNews contributor.36NHSMillionNHS MillionLooking for a million people who think the NHS is worth protecting. Pls follow to show your support & find out more. Unofficial but run by NHS staff.37timfarronTim FarronOfficial Tweets from the Leader of the @LibDems & MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale38johnmcdonnellMPJohn McDonnellLabour MP for Hayes and Harlington and Shadow Chancellor. Join the Labour Party here → https://t.co/vbWxb5FqMM39PolhomeEditorKevin SchofieldEx-Herald, Scotsman, Daily Record and Sun. Now editor of https://t.co/DhU0dI4IDE. Husband, dad-of-two and lifelong Celtic fan.40JolyonMaughamJo Maugham QCDirector @GoodLawProject. Barrister @DevereuxLaw. Blogs https://t.co/KiSIv7FdF141AdamBienkovAdam BienkovUK Political Editor of @BusinessInsider Email: abienkov@businessinsider.com DMs are open.42liamyoungLiam YoungPolitical commentary at @Independent, @VICE, @NewStatesman, @theipaper and others. Also studying at the London School of Economics.43PestonRobert PestonITV (pol ed), Speakers for Schools (founder), writer (How do we fix this mess?), Arsenal (East Stand), Peston on Sunday (Peston) - not always in that order44BorisJohnsonBoris JohnsonSecretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs. MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip45Channel4NewsChannel 4 NewsStories that reveal and inspire, challenging expectations.46paulwaughPaul WaughExecutive Editor, Politics, HuffPost UK. News, insight and analysis from the House of Commons47WestmonsterUKWestmonsterBurst the bubble.48JamesCleverlyJames CleverlyConservative Member of Parliament for Braintree.49PeterMurrellPeter MurrellChief Executive of Scottish National Party @theSNP. Passionate about Scotland's future. Married to @NicolaSturgeon. Proud Uncle. Part-time cook and gardener.50rosscolquhounRoss ColquhounStrategist @theSNP HQ, co-founder @wearenational, co-editor of Inspired by Independence (Wordpower) & @eca_edinburgh alumnus. The revolution will be digitised.51YvetteCooperMPYvette CooperMember of Parliament for Normanton, Pontefract, Castleford & Knottingley.52MrHarryColeHarry ColeWestminster Correspondent @TheSun53ThatTimWalkerTim WalkerA point of view54JeremyCliffeJeremy CliffeBerlin Bureau Chief at The Economist55JonAshworthJonathan AshworthDad | Husband | Marathon Runner | Labour MP for Leicester South | In dreams begin responsibility56davidallengreenDavid Allen GreenLaw and policy commentator at @FT and blogger at @jackofkent. Small 'l' liberal. Account formerly known as @law_and_policy.57SamCoatesTimesSam Coates TimesSam Coates, Deputy Political Editor, The Times. DMs open for tips and news58labourpressLabour Press TeamLabour's press team on Twitter59MichaelPDeaconMichael DeaconBias 'so called' juornalist, Daily Telegraph60itvnewsITV NewsBreaking news and the biggest stories from the UK and around the world. Bulletins weekdays at 1:30pm, 6:30pm and 10pm on ITV. Email yourstory@itv.com61JeremyCorbyn4PMJeremy Corbyn for PMTeam behind #JezWeCan. No one thought we could, but #JezWeDid. Now we're campaigning to win in 2017. Please note, we don't speak for @jeremycorbyn or @UKLabour62DVATWDavid VanceA man on a mission in two or three editions. Pro civilisation. Editor of A Tangled Web & Biased BBC. All views my own!63joncstoneJon Stonepolitical correspondent at @Independent jon.stone@independent.co.uk64FraserNelsonFraser NelsonEditor of the @spectator and columnist for the Daily Telegraph. Subscribe to the Spectator (digital and print) from just £1/week https://t.co/MMmL3UUV7H65AngrySalmondAngry SalmondSultan of Sexy Socialism. Leader of the Coalition of Chaos. Writer for @ScotNational. Post-truth commentator. Advocate for the Independent Republic of Scotland.66RuthDavidsonMSPRuth DavidsonScottish Conservative leader and MSP for Edinburgh Central. Mostly personal musings. For policy, quotes and releases see @ScotTories https://t.co/95zGOmkIVs

Full results

[newyorktheater]

Workers in protective gear disinfecting an empty theater in Seoul, Korea. Theaters have been shut down in several world cities because of COVID-19. Will this happen in New York?

a closeup of the Coronavirus

With the first reported case of COVID-19 in Manhattan, there is increased concern about the virus among New Yorkers, and that includes theatergoers.

New York Governor Cuomo said yesterday that it was “inevitable” the outbreak would spread. But New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said “the facts are reassuring…We have a lot of information now, information is actually showing us things that should give us more reason to stay calm and go about our lives.”

Coronavirus in New York: The Latest

From the New York Times: The section most relevant to theatergoing: “NYC & Company, which monitors tourism in the city, has projected 285,000 fewer visitors this year from China. That would be a decline of more than 25 percent from the 1.1 million Chinese visitors last year. China is the second-biggest source of international tourists to the city, behind Britain. Through last weekend, restaurants, museums and Broadway shows were largely unaffected…”

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

This page created by the Centers for Disease Control is the most reliable source of health information about the virus

What you can do personally

Wash your hands thoroughly for at least 20 seconds, and keep them away from your face.

(More on hand washing from the CDC)

Keep your distance from sick people.

Leave the masks for the ill and for health care providers.

What can we expect

From Juliana Grant, preventive medicine physician and infectious disease epidemiologist: “Daily life will be impacted in important ways. Travel is likely to be limited and public gatherings will probably be canceled. Schools will probably be closed. Expect health departments to start issuing these orders in the near future, especially on the West Coast. The acute pandemic will probably last at least for several months and quite possibly for a year or two.”

Would the threat of coronavirus put you off going to the theatre?

That’s the poll question in The Guardian in the UK. So far, 52 percent  have said no, 48 percent yes.

In a survey of 2,200 U.S. adults from February 28 to March 1 by Morning Consult, 31 percent said they are less likely to go to a  theater performance because of the coronavirus; that figure jumped to 62 percent when asked “if the coronavirus were to spread to your community.”

Movie theaters and/or legitimate theaters already have been shut down in cities as varied as Tokyo, Seoul, Venice, Milan and Palo Alto

Statements from The Broadway League and Actors Equity:

“The Broadway League is closely monitoring this evolving situation on behalf of the Broadway community. The safety and security of our theatregoers and employees is our highest priority. We are following the lead of our city, state and federally elected officials, as well as implementing strategies recommended by public health authorities in all of our theatres and offices.  We remain vigilant, and we are prepared to make decisions based on current needs, as well as in response to changing conditions.”

Actors Equity: “We have shared guidance with staff, posted resources for members and are having the appropriate internal conversations about maintaining business continuity if an outbreak becomes more severe. We have also initiated conversations with major Equity employers and other labor leaders around maintaining a safe and healthy workplace. We will continue to monitor the situation, seek guidance and best practices from the appropriate health authorities and share additional information as warranted.”

March theater openings

February New York theater quiz

The Week in New York Theater Reviews

Video projection of Dharon E. Jones as Riff and Amar Ramasar as Bernardo, as the actual actors confront each other on stage.

West Side Story What’s most remarkable about Ivo van Hove’s shake-up of West Side Story is, for all the Belgian director’s ruinous choices – chief among them, an overabundance of distracting video projections – he doesn’t completely ruin what’s most thrilling about this 63-year-old musical updating of Romeo and Juliet. Leonard Bernstein’s music remains a miracle of melody and mood, rendered glorious by a 25-piece orchestra with orchestrations by the legendary 81-year-old Jonathan Tunick. If much of the singing doesn’t especially stand out in this production, Isaac Powell and Shereen Pimentel as the star-crossed lovers Tony and Maria give us what we need: They offer powerful evidence why the songs they sing — “Maria,” “Tonight,” “One Hand/One Heart” and “Somewhere” – are not just universally beloved; they can still make you cry.

For aficionados of West Side Story, there are many other, less salutary reasons to get emotional.

  Let West Side Story die, Puerto Rican writer and translator @FluentMundo writes. Or, to quote Anita: “Forget that boy, and find another.” https://t.co/Uk4Ii4BtDQ pic.twitter.com/ca3bXvpLYT

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) February 24, 2020

Beth Malone and David Aron Damane

The Unsinkable Molly Brown Molly Brown, a socialite, social activist and survivor of the Titanic disaster in real life — turned into a Tony-winning Tammy Grimes on stage and Debbie Reynolds at her pluckiest on screen — has been meticulously transformed once again, into…Elizabeth Warren.

Kevin Ramessar, Debbie Christine Tjong, Janelle McDermoth,

We’re Gonna Die

We’re all in pain – because of loneliness or loss, betrayal or illness – and playwright Young Jean Lee wants to offer us some comfort. This might not be immediately apparent, given the title of her unusual show, and its format: Performer Janelle McDermoth sings a half-dozen tuneful, hard-charging rock songs interspersed with anecdotes of sorrow and trauma that range from funny-sad to tragic to horrid, lifted from Lee’s actual life and that of her friends and family.

Natalie Portman is Keyonna’s imaginary friend, and also her crush. The 16-year-old has other crushes – all white actresses, pictures of whom she has cut out of magazines and pasted into a collage on her “dream board.” But she only plays with Natalie – performing in scenes with her from some half-dozen of the movies in which the Academy Award winning actress has appeared, from The Empire Strikes Back to The Professional. Keyonna does this, we realize from the beginning of C.A. Johnson’s sweet if largely familiar coming-of-age play, to find some moments of manufactured joy in a life burdened by a dead father, a drunk and sometimes disappearing mother, and a brother who is trying his best but is only two years older, so that the family is one rent day away from homeless, and one meal away from hungry.

All The Natalie Portmans

Cambodian Rock Band

How do you put genocide on stage? Lauren Yee starts with a rock band, which is playing so loudly when we enter that the theater management offers ear plugs for any who request it. A rock concert may seem an odd, even inappropriate, way for a play about genocide to begin, but what comes next is even more jarring in this disorienting, genre-bending show that shifts tone and time and focus — and may arguably be the best way, perhaps the only way, Yee could have told the story she wanted to tell.

The Week in New York Theater News

To Kill A Mockingbird plays to 18,000 students at Madison Square Garden

Greg Kinnear will make his Broadway debut succeeding Ed Harris as Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird, starting April 21.

Congratulations to @lucyprebblish winner of the 2020 Susan Smith @blackburn_prize + $25K for “A Very Expensive Poison” (inspired by murder of ex-Soviet spy Alexander Litvinenko), & to @AHarris1361 for Special Commendation (+ $10k) for “What to Send Up When It Goes Down.” pic.twitter.com/GYoIKl7xUI

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) March 3, 2020

“The Miranda Family” (@Lin_Manuel et al, pictured) is launching, in partnership w/ @repertorionyc, “Voces Latinx” National Playwriting Competition. Submissions due April 1st. Details: https://t.co/sP52qyT4nh pic.twitter.com/PmpAHEFBiP

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) February 25, 2020

Rush tickets and lotteries

Company $43 digital lottery and rush Diana  $40 digital lottery The Minutes $35 digital lottery and rush Hangmen – $39 rush

Airport Sushi skit on SNL spoofs The Phantom of the Opera,” “West Side Story,” “Annie,” “Wicked,” “Little Shop of Horrors” a

  Rest in Peace

James Lipton, 93, theater educator, Broadway producer, book writer & lyricist, but best-known as host of Inside the Actors Studio, talk show about CRAFT of acting “Anybody’s craft is fascinating. A taxi driver talking about taxi driving is going to very interesting.”

Negro Ensemble Company founders, left to right: Robert Hooks,Douglas Turner Ward and Gerald Krone

Gerald Krone, 86, a founder of Negro Ensemble Company

Claudette Nevins, 82, TV regular, four-time Broadway veteran (Plaza Suite) and on tour (The Great White Hope)

The Coronavirus and Theater. #Stageworthy News of the Week With the first reported case of COVID-19 in Manhattan, there is increased concern about the virus among New Yorkers, and that includes theatergoers.

[biofunmy]

Trump closes doors to immigrants, some US citizens open them

As news of immigrant parents being separated from their children at the border filled headlines last summer, Vivien Tartter became distraught.

So the 67-year-old psychology professor took action: She opened the doors of her Manhattan apartment to a Guatemalan family of three who had been separated at a detention center in Colorado, reunited in New York and had no place to stay.

“I wanted to help and I knew I could do this,” said the divorced empty-nester, who has housed them for a year.

Tartter is one more of a small but growing number of U.S. citizens who have picked up immigrants from detention centers, driven them to bus stations and doctor appointments, shared meals with them or hosted them at their homes, sometimes for one night, sometimes for a full year.

At a time when the nation seems starkly divided on who should be allowed to reside in the United States, hosts say they want to give these immigrants, many of them asylum seekers or refugees, a safe space, as well as respond to President Donald Trump’s tough stance on immigration.

Members of the Asylum Seekers Sponsorship Project, who are spread across the country, thought they would maybe find a dozen people willing to open their homes to strangers when the group was formed in the spring of 2018, shortly after a national debate broke out over a policy of separating migrant families arriving at the border. The group was surprised to see about 100 volunteers signing up the first two days, and now about 2,000 people have shown interest in hosting someone. The organization has so far placed asylum seekers with about 200 hosts.

“Every time the Trump administration lashes out at immigrants, at migrants, at asylum seekers, we see more Americans outraged for that, looking for ways to relieve,” said Heather Cronk, a core team member of the group who lives in the Washington area.

About 800 people quickly signed up to volunteer to host somebody shortly after the nationwide organization Freedom for Immigrants launched its sponsorship program last year, said Christina Fialho, co-founder and executive director of the group. Now nearly 2,000 people have signed up, she said.

The group, based in California and with offices also in New York, Washington and Texas, says it has also collected $1.1 million from donors to post bond and get more than 230 immigrants out of custody so that they can stay with hosts, friends or family.

In New York, Tartter was connected to Guatemalan immigrant Rosayra Pablo Cruz by the group Immigrant Families Together.

She placed Pablo Cruz, who is 36, and her 6- and 17-year-old sons in two rooms on the lower floor of her duplex apartment. Tartter went from living alone with a cat to hearing “little bubbly children noise” downstairs, which she described as a “delight.” The aroma of Guatemalan “pepian,” a meat and vegetable stew, sometimes filled the air.

“I don’t know if I gave them more than what they gave me,” Tartter said.

Immigrant Families Together paid for the Pablo Cruz family’s food and transportation while they were at Tartter’s home.

The volunteer group First Friends also offers that sort of aid, as well as visiting immigrants in detention and offering a room for a night or two. Before Trump arrived at the White House, the New Jersey group had 50 or 60 people. It now has about 120, said Rosa Santana, the group’s program director.

An unprecedented surge of asylum-seeking families from Central America has overwhelmed U.S. authorities during Trump’s tenure.

Ken Cuccinelli, the acting head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told The Associated Press last week that there is a backlog of about 335,000 asylum cases and more than half of that is over two years old.

Trump has made immigration a signature issue, pushing for tough restrictions on asylum — a stance that has pleased his supporters while rousing increasing sympathy for migrants among his critics.

A survey by the Pew Research Center published in January reported that 62% said immigrants strengthen the country “because of their hard work and talents,” while 28% said immigrants burden the country by taking jobs, housing and health care. The poll was based on telephone interviews of 1,505 adults conducted in mid-January 2019. It had a margin of error of three percentage points.

The process of becoming a host can be challenging. Not every host can communicate in Spanish, French or other languages, and the vetting process by some groups is rigorous. The international organization World Relief, for example, makes hosts go through a training process, background checks and in-home visits.

Many of the hosts are retirees, empty-nesters or people who work but have some time or space in their homes.

Some of those being hosted, like transgender immigrant Dulce Rivera, have a deportation order pending. Rivera, a Roma immigrant with no birth certificate or other identification documents, has lived for five months at the New Mexico trailer home of Jan Thompson, a former union official at a local university.

“It is humanity. You do it because it is the right thing to do,” said Thompson, who is 76 and met Rivera while she was in immigration detention. Rivera said she was expelled from her home as a child and isn’t sure where she was born. She said she lived in Spain, Uruguay, Honduras and Mexico before arriving to the U.S.

The host-an-immigrant movement irks many who favor limiting immigration.

William Gheen, president of the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, said hosting immigrants is wrong because U.S. laws state that “illegals are to be deported and not be given aid or jobs.”

“U.S. citizens and national groups should not be helping fake asylum seeker illegal aliens to enter and remain in the U.S. to sway U.S. elections to the left using anti-Trump illegal Democrat non-citizen voters to counteract Republicans,” Gheen said.

Many of the immigrants are asylum seekers who have been granted temporary authorization to stay in the U.S.

In Los Angeles, Mila Marvizon and her husband responded to a social media request to host a youth who, according to his lawyer, couldn’t get a bond unless he had a sponsor.

“So I said, ‘I will be the sponsor, fine,'” said Marvizon, a 57-year-old former documentary TV producer who runs an eBay store. “We had to prove we were American citizens, prove we were financially able to support someone and that we would make sure he gets to all official appointments, court dates, ICE appointments, everything else.”

Now, after three months hosting the 18-year-old Honduran who wears ankle monitor, Marvizon speaks in a maternal tone.

“His character is very cheerful, but I see him in his bedroom, hour after hour after hour, you know, door shut, windows drawn,” she said. “He will be fine when he gets his work permit. He then will be a busy boy and will be happy again.”

———

Associated Press writer Claudia Torrens reported this story in New York and AP writer Gisela Salomon reported from Miami.

Sahred From Source link World News

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Elections: Georgia counties respond to hacking, security threats

New Post has been published on https://britishdigitalmarketingnews.com/elections-georgia-counties-respond-to-hacking-security-threats/

Elections: Georgia counties respond to hacking, security threats

As Georgians prepare to cast their ballots in a nationally watched gubernatorial race, the security and reliability of the state’s election system remains a point of concern for many voters and security experts.

Polls show that a large percentage of Americans believe there’s a concerted effort underway by foreign entities to undermine American Democracy and promote discord, using everything from fake Facebook accounts to Russian Twitter bots. But perhaps nothing strikes fear in the hearts of voters in Georgia and across the country more than the notion that their ballots could be changed by hackers.

VIDEO: Previous coverage of this issue

In the metro area, elections officials in Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, Henry, Clayton and Fayette counties told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution they are working with the Secretary of State’s office to ensure every ballot cast in November is counted and reported accurately. They say their systems and processes are battle tested and secure.

Still, there’s a growing clamor for more precautions.

The state’s weaknesses have been well documented. Georgia uses electronic voting machines and is one of only five states that don’t have paper backups that can be used to audit results.

More than 20 experts from Georgia Tech, MIT, Princeton and other top-tier institutions signed a letter to Secretary of State Brian Kemp last year expressing “grave concerns” about Georgia’s election system and urging the state to adopt paper ballots. That process is underway, but no changes are likely before November.

Also feeding into voters’ apprehension is mounting evidence that Russia attempted to hack into election systems across the U.S. in 2016. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation found one suspected operative had visited Cobb and Fulton counties’ election websites, though no confidential information was obtained, the Secretary of State’s office said.

Russian hackers tried without success to gain access to the private election systems of 21 states, but Georgia was not one of them, Kemp’s office said. Still, some experts say, it’s a matter of time.

Harri Hursti, a data security expert who signed the letter to Kemp, said Georgia’s software is more than 10 years old and “definitely hackable.”

Without a paper trail, it would be very difficult to prove if an election had been tampered with because malware can easily be written to erase itself after completing a task, he and other experts have said.

“If something goes wrong there is no way to audit,” Hursti said.

And Richard DeMillo, the executive director of the Center for 21st Century Universities at Georgia Tech, said he recently attended a conference in which participants figured out how to break into election machines “in very interesting ways.”

“Ways that if I were in the Secretary of State’s office would make me very nervous,” he continued.

Kemp’s duties include overseeing the November election, even though he is on the ballot himself as the Republican gubernatorial nominee. His representatives say there is neither evidence that Georgia’s voting system has been tampered with nor cause for widespread concern.

“Alongside federal, local and private sector partners, we continue to fight every day to ensure secure and accurate elections in Georgia that are free from interference,” Secretary of State spokeswoman Candice Broce said. “To this day, due to the vigilance, dedication and hard work of those partners, our elections system and voting equipment remain secure.”

The voting machines have been tested, as well as the related systems used to tabulate votes, Kemp’s office said. Homeland Security has also held briefings for counties, and the Secretary of State offers training.

Kemp’s office, the General Assembly and a newly formed statewide commission are in the process of mapping out a plan to implement paper balloting before the 2020 presidential election. But the current system of 27,000 touchscreen machines remains in place for the short-term.

“The state is helping counties test the machines regularly to make sure that they operate as designed and that they are accurately counting voter selections,” Broce said.

Of course, as many point out, there have been plenty of problems with elections over the years that have nothing to do with Russians.

A cybersecurity researcher in 2016 exposed security vulnerabilities at Kennesaw State University’s Center for Election Systems, which provided logistical support to the state. The problems were serious enough to prompt the state to end its contract.

Also issues have cropped up frequently on the local level, most noticeably in Fulton County. In 2007, records for more than 100,000 voters were found in a dumpster. The following year, it took the county days to finish counting absentee ballots. And in 2012, another presidential election year, the county failed to properly register some voters, forcing 10,000 people to use provisional ballots.

Current Fulton elections director Richard Barron was hired in 2013. He’s said in the past that he was working to update voter rolls, reduce the number of provisional ballots cast and ensure voters are directed to the right polling location.

Regarding the more recent concerns, Barron said a lot of hacks that happen in labs would be much harder in the real world. For example, seals are placed on voting machines, and poll workers check to ensure the seals are unbroken. They also make sure that the serial numbers on the machines match those recorded earlier.

Fulton is among the counties that have asked Homeland Security to review its systems and procedures.

“We made the decision to avail ourselves of their services,” Barron said. “I’m not concerned about the voting system. I think it’s safe and secure.”

Officials from Gwinnett said the county “has never received any notification of an attempting hacking of its elections systems.”

County spokesman Joe Sorenson said Gwinnett uses “physical and electronic measures” to secure machines but did not provide specifics. He said safeguards are adjusted “from time-to-time,” adding that it’s important to note that neither the county’s voting machines nor the machines used to count votes are connected to the internet.

“Gwinnett County takes the security of elections seriously and implements best practices to ensure the integrity of the votes,” Sorenson said in an emailed statement.

Two weeks ago, Henry County officials installed an alarm system at its elections office in McDonough. Elections and Registration director Tina Lunsford said the move was made out of an abundance of caution — not because there’s any information that the county is a target of hacking or voting machine tampering.

“As you start to see more and more come out about the Russians, it’s just another way for us to increase security,” she said.

Across America, voters are worried. A February 2018 NBC News poll concluded that eight out of 10 Americans are concerned the country’s voting systems are susceptible to hackers, and two-thirds said they fear foreign governments will try to interfere in elections this year.

And many Georgia voters have voiced concerns about election security during county commission meetings and to their local elections boards. Backed by groups like the Coalition for Good Governance, Indivisible Georgia Coalition, Common Cause Georgia and the NAACP, they have tried to make a case for paper ballots sooner rather than later.

Clayton resident Timothy Vondell Jefferson said he is most concerned that the loss of political norms in Washington will have an impact on the integrity of voting in Georgia. He thinks Kemp has declined to resign as secretary of state because Donald Trump – a Kemp supporter – has encouraged leaders to break with tradition and do whatever it takes to win.

“The leader of the country is sending a message that anything goes,” he said.

DeKalb Commissioner Mereda Davis Johnson said she has heard enough to also have worries.

“I’m sure that many people throughout the state would feel much more comfortable with a printed ballot backup to make sure that their vote is counted,” she said. “Because of the allegations of hacking and the intimidation and all other scenarios surrounding our election process, people are concerned. … I just don’t feel 100 percent sure that my vote is my vote.”

Sara Henderson, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, is encouraging residents to vote early if they are worried about tampering.

“Lots of people love going to the polls on Election Day. I am one of them,” she said. “But if your concern is not having that human verifiable piece of paper, then go early-vote or go online and request an absentee ballot.” Early voting is still electronic in most jurisdictions. However, voters who want to use paper can request a mail-in ballot.

Common Cause also has a list of other recommendations it believes will help elections go smoothly, such as hiring enough workers to fully staff polling locations, not assigning voters to new precincts within 60 days of the election, increasing access to early voting and being more transparent about how and why voter roll purges are conducted.

At Johnson’s request, DeKalb commissioners recently delayed a proposal that would have caused some voters in Stonecrest to be sent to a new polling location in November. The change will now happen after the election.

Staff writers Tyler Estep and Arielle Kass contributed to this report.

Staff writers Tyler Estep and Arielle Kass contributed to this report.

OUR REPORTING

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is covering the issues and candidates in a busy election year. The AJC has already produced stories this year about how gun rights, immigration and fundraising have had an impact on this year’s races. Look for more at ajc.com/politics as the state approaches Election Day on Nov. 6.

IMPLEMENTING PAPER BALLOTS

The Secure, Accessible & Fair Elections Commission, created by Secretary of State Brian Kemp, is reviewing options for paper balloting that could be in place by the 2020 presidential election.

A coalition of election activists and voters filed a lawsuit in July in an attempt to force the state to implement paper ballots immediately, but state election officials say a change now would create chaos for the November election.

Georgia is one of only five states that rely on electronic voting machines and do not create a paper backup.

Source: https://politics.myajc.com/news/local-govt–politics/georgia-counties-respond-hacking-security-threats/CB6bJc0ax9tA6DyyS47k8M/

[lindawfowler101010]

​Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know (and more) About The Office

In the article below we've created a comprehensive guide that covers everything you would ever want to know about the immensely popular hit television show, The Office. If you haven't heard of The Office before then you're missing out on top-tier entertainment. Please continue reading the article below to find out exactly what you've been missing.

Is The Office a Sitcom

The Office is a US-based televised sitcom that was originally an American adaptation of a similar sitcom that aired as part of a BBC original series. While the original BBC sponsored sitcom was created for a UK based audience, the American version was adapted for a US audience and sponsored by Shine America and Deedle-Dee Productions, in partnership with the greater parent company, Universal Television.

When Did The Office Start

The Office aired its first episode on the 3rd of March, 2005, with its last episode airing nearly 8 years later on the 16th of May, 2013. The Office originally aired on the world-renowned  television network known as NBC. Outside of NBC's network, The Office was also syndicated throughout the US on the television networks known as TBS and Comedy Central, with Comedy Central's airing coming several years after The Office had aired its final episode.

Who Wrote The Office

The original UK adapted version of The Office was co-created and co-written by the extraordinarily popular British actors and comedians, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. The Office version adapted for American audiences, however, was written by Greg Daniels, the highly acclaimed writer and producer whose previous works include King of the Hill, The Simpsons, and Saturday Night Live.

While the original US adaptation of the sitcom featured a pilot that was a direct spin-off of its UK based counterpart, from the second episode onward the writing and production were Greg Daniels' work in their entirety. Daniels has spoken openly about this original process, stating that pilot episodes of any sitcom carry so much risk, that he decided to play it safe and not create the sitcom from scratch for the initial pilot airing.

While Daniels was the sole creative powerhouse behind the writing for The Office's second episode, his production company, Deedle-Dee Productions, hired writers to help Daniels with the creation of additional episodes, with Daniels taking the helm as a creative director. An interesting technique that Daniels' production company used in order to stimulate creative ideas for the writing, is that they hired writers and then sent them off to spend time researching within actual American offices. Daniels is well known for using this brilliant creative technique, having used it prior to help him create scripts for the television shows, Parks and Recreation and King of the Hill.

Where Was The Office Filmed

While The Office storyline takes place within a fictional office branch called Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the sitcom wasn't actually filmed in that location, rather, The Office was filmed almost entirely within Van Nuys district studios located in the greater Los Angeles area.

Although  The Office was filmed exclusively in Los Angeles, California, actual places that exist within Scranton, Pennsylvania were edited into the show to tie the storyline to the fictional location where the plot actually occurs. Many real-life Scranton landmarks were used in the show editing to increase the plot's realism, these landmarks include the Pennsylvania Paper and Supply Company Tower, Downtown Scranton, the Scranton Welcome Sign, as well as Scranton Business Park.

How Many Seasons of The Office Were There

Between the initial pilot airing and the final episode, there were a total of nine seasons of The Office. Eight out of the nine seasons typically averaged around 20 episodes that consumed a half an hour timeslot each, however, the first trial season only aired six half-hour episodes.

The lead actor cast in The Office was Steve Carell, whose onscreen charisma and comedic wit were largely responsible for making the sitcom so popular. Carell played the main character,  Michael Scott, and even dabbled in some of the production and writing tasks behind the scenes. After seven consecutive seasons, however, Carell decided not to renew his contract and left the sitcom to pursue other projects. While there was huge initial concern from The Office's fanbase that the sitcom wouldn't be the same without Carell, it still continued for two additional seasons after his departure and the ratings remained very strong.

How Many Episodes of The Office Were There

Over the course of all nine seasons, The Office aired a total of 201 episodes. The season with the fewest episodes was Season 1, which only aired 6 episodes, while Season 4 featured the most episodes per season, airing 30 half-hour shows.

Aside from the fact that Season 1 was a trial season intended to be used to gauge audience interest, another reason so few episodes were aired was due to the fact that The Office debuted on NBC as a midseason replacement. Due to its midseason debut, NBC was not particularly confident that the sitcom would gain traction with viewers who were already locked into their yearly sitcom picks, however, from the pilot episode onward the show was extremely popular.

While a large percentage of The Office episodes featured the cast of Steve Carell, Jenna Fischer, John Krasinski, BJ Novak, and Rainn Wilson, there were frequent cast changes throughout the nine seasons. The biggest change to the cast was Steve Carell's departure at the end of Season 7, however, there were many other changes and departures within the ranks of the supporting cast.

Which Office Episodes Were The Best

Amongst the most loyal Office fans, the episode largely considered to be the best was called Casino Night, which was the 22nd episode and season finale that aired during Season 2. The script for this episode was written almost entirely by Steve Carell and contained hilarious comedy bits widely considered to be legendary. Without giving any spoilers away, the central theme of this episode focused on the characters Jim and Pam and a love confession. It also hilariously contains a short bit regarding the character Kevin and his band called Scrantonicity, which mostly plays Police tribute songs.

The second best episode of The Office is widely believed to be the episode entitled Goodbye Michael, which was episode 20 aired during Season 7. This episode was the last appearance by the character Michael Scott, brilliantly played by Steve Carell. Fans of the show were left speechless by how extraordinary Carell's performance was during his final episode on the show. If you followed the show religiously then you might even have been left a bit teary eyed by the character's emotional exit.

Arguably, the third best episode of The Office is likely to be considered the episode entitled The Injury, which aired during Season 2 as the 12th episode. This hilarious episode focuses on an injury that Steve Carell's character, Michael Scott, received while using his George Foreman cooking grill. While rushing to assist the character of Michael Scott, another character named  Dwight ends up crashing his car and getting a bunch of injuries himself. If this fast-paced and quick-witted comedic style of The Office is what got you hooked on the show, then this is most certainly an episode that you should not miss.

The 4th best Office episode according to many different online polls, would largely be considered to be entitled Niagra, which aired as episode 5 during Season 6. During this episode, the characters Jim and Pam get married underneath Niagra Falls. The reason for this strange wedding location selection is because they are forced to outwit their co-workers who had planned to carry out a dance routine during the ceremony that both Jim and Pam weren't particularly fond of.

The 5th best episode according to fans, is considered to be episode 1 of Season 2, entitled The Dundies. During this hilarious show, the character Pam attends the annual Dunder Mifflin's award show, called the Dundies. During previous years she had constantly been given World's Longest Engagement award, however, this year Pam shows up at the award ceremony heavily intoxicated and receives a completely different award. With this episode being the first to air after the introductory first season had completed, the episode is largely credited for kickstarting The Office's hilarious reign at the top of the sitcom rating charts.

Which Season of The Office Was Considered The Best

Most Office fans will agree that the best season of the sitcom was Season 2. This season was also widely regarded as containing the most popular single episode, which as mentioned above was the season finale entitled Casino Night.

What makes Season 2 stand out above the rest, is it's the first time we get a chance to really see the characters fully develop into the rich ranging personas that fans grew to love during the remaining run of the show. Steve Carell's character, Michael Scott, is especially stand out in Season 2, offering viewers so many hilarious and brilliantly acted moments that they would be hard to count.

The romantic relationship between the characters Pam and Jim also helped to catapult Season 2 to be a fan favorite, as it's here in this season that we get to see their love for each other blossom into what many consider to be one of the best romantic relationships in a sitcom to date.

With Season 1 only containing 6 episodes, it is highly recommended that you watch those first before viewing any of the episodes within the highly acclaimed Season 2. It is almost a guarantee that after watching all of Season 1 and 2 of the sitcom, that you, like tens of millions of other viewers, will be absolutely hooked on the show.

What Network Was The Office on

The American adaptation of The Office ran from beginning to end on NBC, a gigantic US-based commercial broadcast television network. NBC is headquartered in New York City, New York, and is considered to be a flagship enterprise under the NBCUniversal umbrella and is owned exclusively by Comcast, a global telecommunications conglomerate.

While The Office's main airing took place on NBC's network, it was also aired on a smaller basic cable network known as TBS, or Turner Broadcasting System. While the sitcom's airing on TBS had a much smaller reach than NBC's main network, TBS nonetheless helped the show receive a much broader audience reach across its paid cable network.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xnk4seEHmgw

Several years after The Office's sitcom series ended, it was picked up and aired from start to finish on Comedy Central's paid television network. Comedy Central plans to continue airing the show throughout 2018 and possibly onwards.

Outside of the major cable and non-cable based networks above, The Office has been broadcast across hundreds of local networks across the United States, as well as hundreds of foreign broadcast networks around the world. With the popularity of The Office being so high historically, the show will likely be in high broadcast demand for many years or decades to come.

What Channel Was The Office on

The channel that The Office aired on originally was NBC, with the actual numeric television channel varying widely depending on the viewer's specific location. The featured channels on TBS that aired The Office include channels 112 and 113 for AT&T and CenturyLink Prism. On Verizon FiOS the sitcom aired on channel 552, whereas on Google Fiber its designated channel was 284. With regard to The Office's airing on Comedy Central's network, the numeric channel is 249 and 1249 for DirecTV and channel 107 for Dish Network.

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/justice-league-no-avengers-box-office-wonder-racks/

'Justice League' no 'Avengers' at box office and 'Wonder' racks up

DC Comics seems to have put more might and time into its “Justice League” over “Wonder Woman,” but we already know which one wound up doing the best and worthy of a sequel. “Justice League” should have been DC Comics answer to “The Avengers” franchise, but even analysts overpredicted it’s weekend take thinking $110 million sounded right. Only in the modern era of superhero films could a $96 million opening weekend be considered anything less than impressive. But that’s the situation Warner Bros. and DC’s “Justice League” find themselves in. The movie features a murderer’s row of superheroes: Wonder Woman, Batman, Cyborg, the Flash, Superman, Aquaman. Some of the world’s most popular stars — Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Amy Adams — fill out the cast. Joss Whedon, the writer-director behind “The Avengers,” one of the biggest ticket sellers of all time, helped write the screenplay. If studio estimates hold, it will also have the dubious distinction of being the lowest-opening film in the DC Extended Universe. Most movies would be instant blockbusters with $96 million in opening-weekend ticket sales. But “Justice League” is far from a typical movie. On top of the blue-chip characters it assembles, the film cost at least $400 million to make and market worldwide. (Overseas, “Justice League” collected an additional $185.5 million, with strong results in South Korea and Brazil.)

The lackluster domestic turnout for “Justice League” raises new questions about the ability of Warner Bros. to effectively exploit its DC Comics characters on the big screen. Warner has delivered successful television adaptations like “The Flash,” “Gotham” and “Arrow.” But four of the studio’s last five superhero movies — designed to sell mountains of merchandise in addition to tickets — have been considered letdowns, to one degree or another. “Wonder Woman” is the lone exception.

“Justice League” received mixed-to-negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes, the powerful review aggregation site, delayed posting a score for the film until the last minute as part of a new video initiative. That move was interpreted as an effort to hide a “rotten” score, especially since Warner owns 25 percent of Rotten Tomatoes. A spokeswoman for the site subsequently said that Warner was not involved in the decision to delay the score.

It has been a rollercoaster for the DC Universe since “Man of Steel” kicked off the comic book franchise in 2013, with films battling high expectations, critical reviews and the impossible standard of competing against the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” may have been a critical dud in early 2016, but it still opened to $166 million and went on to net $873.3 million worldwide by the end of its run. “Justice League” comes on the heels of the widely well-received “Wonder Woman,” the first DC Extended Universe film to score with both critics and audiences. It reunites Ben Affleck’s Batman and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman to fight a new threat facing earth while introducing new characters like Ezra Miller’s The Flash, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Ray Fisher’s Cyborg. “Justice League” didn’t impress critics, but neither did “Batman v Superman” or “Suicide Squad,” which still managed to earn $133.7 million out of the gates. Warner Bros. is remaining optimistic about “Justice League’s” prospects, even with the lower than expected launch against a production budget that’s reported to be in the $250 million to $300 million range, which doesn’t include marketing expenses. “I did have a higher expectation for the three days,” said Jeff Goldstein, who heads up domestic distribution for Warner Bros. “(But) this is a big vacation week, and we have an opportunity to get a big audience to see us in a different pattern.” Goldstein said he is also encouraged by a few factors, including the overall B+ CinemaScore, the fact that women, who accounted for 42 percent of the audience, gave it an A- overall, and that Saturday earnings were up from Friday’s. “Clearly there is interest in the movie,” Goldstein said. “Justice League” pulled most of its weight abroad, where it launched to $185.5 million from 65 markets, boosting the worldwide debut to $281.5 million. One film that did have a heroic showing this weekend is “Wonder,” an adaptation of R.J. Palacio’s novel about a child with a facial deformity that stars Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, and Jacob Tremblay. The family-friendly drama opened in second place with $27.1 million against a $20 million production budget and could be on its way to becoming a sleeper hit. Lionsgate distributed the film, which was financed and produced by Participant Media. “Earnest emotions can be easily mocked, but they penetrate deep,” Erik Feig, co-president of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said in an email. “I think people feel besieged and uncertain about the world — wondering what is really in the hearts of their neighbors — and this movie shows that there is much goodness in most of us.”

Mr. Feig has built a reputation among book authors for cinematic adaptations. He worked with Stephenie Meyer to turn her “Twilight” novels into films. Other authors with whom Mr. Feig has worked include Mr. Chbosky (“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” started as a book) and Suzanne Collins, the force behind the “Hunger Games” book and movie series. Mr. Feig optioned the rights to Ms. Palacio’s “Wonder” before it was officially published.

“Any time you have a big superhero movie opening, a movie like ‘Wonder’ could be overshadowed. But it’s one of the brightest spots of the weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst for comScore. “This could be a $100 million movie as people get the word out.” Disney and Marvel’s “Thor: Ragnarok” fell to third place in weekend three with $21.8 million, bringing its North American total to $247.4 million. “Daddy’s Home 2" took fourth with $14.8 million and “Murder on the Orient Express” landed in fifth with $13.8 million. Both are in their second weekend in theaters. Opening outside of the top 10, the faith-based animated film “The Star,” from Sony’s AFFIRM label, took sixth place with $10 million. And both “Lady Bird” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” continue to thrive in their expansions. The Thanksgiving holiday should not be discounted either in its potential to boost a film’s earnings, and the only, albeit formidable, competition will be from Disney and Pixar’s latest “Coco.” “Thanksgiving is the perfect second weekend for any movie,” Dergarabedian said. “Including ‘Justice League.’” It is possible that “Justice League” could make up lost ground over the Thanksgiving holiday. Only two movies are scheduled to arrive in wide release, both starting on Wednesday: Pixar’s “Coco” and the Denzel Washington vehicle “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” Warner noted that ticket buyers gave “Justice League” a B-plus grade in CinemaScore exit polls, which could spur ample word of mouth. To compare, “Batman v Superman” got a B.

Warner seemed to have turned a corner with “Wonder Woman,” which wowed critics and audiences alike in June. But “Justice League” ran into unexpected production and marketing difficulties.

Mr. Whedon, initially brought in to rewrite scenes, ended up overseeing extensive reshoots when the film’s director, Zack Snyder, stepped away to contend with the death of his daughter. On the marketing side, Warner was somewhat hobbled by Mr. Affleck’s personal travails, which made him a less effective promotional force for the film.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.  

“Justice League,” $96 million ($185.5 million international).

2. “Wonder,” $27.1 million ($310,000 international). 3. “Thor: Ragnarok,” $21.8 million ($24.1 million international). 4. “Daddy’s Home 2,” $14.8 million. 5. “Murder on the Orient Express,” $13.8 million ($20.7 million international). 6. “The Star,” $10 million. 7. “A Bad Moms Christmas,” $6.9 million ($5.1 million international). 8. “Lady Bird,′ $2.5 million. 9. “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” $1.1 million. 10. “Jigsaw,” $1.1 million ($4.1 million international). Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore:

“Justice League,” $185.5 million.

“Thor: Ragnarok,” $24.1 million,

“Murder on the Orient Express,” $20.7 million.

“Paddington 2,” $9.2 million.

“The Golden Monk,” $8.5 million.

“Happy Death Day,” $8 million.

“A Bad Moms Christmas,” $5.1 million.

“Suck Me Shapespeer 3,” $4.3 million.

“Jigsaw,” $4.1 million.

“Coco,” $3.6 million.

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

[amazingviralinfo]

The acclaimed showrunner/director behind ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and ‘The Avengers’ on his Save the Day PAC designed to get young people out to vote—against Trump. ">

Joss Whedon has always been with her, so to speak. On top of being raised by a hard-core feminist, he was bullied relentlessly during his formative yearsthe sorry plight of the androgynous ginger kidand thus identifies with the helpless, the disenfranchised.

He attended Wesleyan University, a bastion of feminism (Michael Bay be damned), and his first writing gig was for the woman-fronted sitcom Roseanne. Heck, his dad was a staff writer for The Golden Girls.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Whedon has long harbored a predilection for female protagonists, from the titular ass-kicker in Buffy the Vampire Slayer to The Avengers Black Widow. And now, the filmmaker is doing everything in his power to help another intrepid, resilient woman triumph against the forces of toxic masculinity: Hillary Clinton.

Its fitting that instead of facing off against a man, she is facing off against maleness, says Whedon. She is campaigning against the male idall the worst of toxic masculinity in this country. This huge fart, this empty skin thats filled with gaseous hate, is a kind of Halloween monster of man.

The Halloween monster of a man hes describing is, of course, Donald J. Trumpa real-estate heir turned punchline-happy reality-show host turned Republican nominee for president of the United States. Whedon recently launched the super PAC Save the Day in order to encourage people, particularly the young and impressionable, to register to vote. And make no mistake about it: They want these registrants to vote against the orange guy with the tiny hands.

Save the Day kicked things off with a bang. Its first PSA featured stars like Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Julianne Moore, and Mark Ruffalo urging American citizens to register to vote, with wry self-deprecation and the promise of a nude Bruce Banner. Its since gone viral, garnering 7.5 million YouTube views and counting.

Whedon was inspired to start the anti-Trump PAC through a combination of what he calls angry writers syndrome and the Democratic National Convention, where, following the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails, many Bernie Sanders supporters believed the party conspired against their candidate.

They were so fractious, recalls Whedon. Before Michelle Obama spoke and made everybody feel better, the Bernie bros were yelling, Lock her up! and I thought, Oh my godwe could hand Trump this fucking election if we dont get our shit together. So I thought, well, Ive never had the means to do this and the time, but I do now, and therefore I have an obligation to. As late in the game as it is, Im just putting the pedal to the metal.

Since its Sept. 21 launch, Save the Day has produced eight shorts, the most recent of which is The Youth, a cheeky piece featuring comedians Bill Hader and Nicole Byer that pokes fun at how adults tend to pander to millennials by trying to speak their language. All it took for Whedon to secure all the stars for his PSAs was to askas well as a little help from his talent agency, CAA. Nobody said no, says Whedon. Everyone who we were able to get ahold of was game.

The 52-year-old filmmaker is not just an acclaimed TV showrunner and filmmaker, but also a total news junkie. Whedons first celebrity autograph came from John Chancellor, the longtime NBC Nightly News anchor. He and his mother watched him every night.

Trumps frequent criticisms of the mediathat its rigged against him and doesnt give him a fair shakeseem particularly ridiculous to Whedon, given that the blustering presidential candidate, who was caught on tape bragging about sexual assault (and was subsequently accused of sexual assault or harassment by 11 women), is best pals with CNN boss Jeff Zucker, who keeps a framed Trump tweet in his office, and has been propped up by the gossip rags and cable news channels for decades. This is a guy who used to masquerade as a publicist named John Miller in order to brag about his sexual conquests to the tabloids.

All his criticism of the media is incredibly hypocritical, self-serving, and unreal. He is a creation of the media, says Whedon. The only person whos ever really come out against him is him. All these mean ads hes complaining about from Hillary are just him talking. And they wouldnt put Bernie on the air, and they air him and his rallies for hours every day. The media has helped him at every step, and they let him play the part of the crass, lovable rich-guy figure. Well, it turns out hes not fucking lovable! And the person who revealed that was him. The least interesting thing about the rise of Donald Trump is Donald Trump, he continues. Whats great is, A) the hypocrisy that the GOP has descended into is being exposed by their Frankenstein creation, and B) conversations about race, immigration, sexism, and misogyny that were not taking place have begun to take place on a national scale, which is great.

One of the more prophetic Save the Day videos was Fraud Squad, a bit about a team of voter-fraud investigators (played by Minka Kelly and Anders Holm) who are left with nothing to do because, well, voter fraud is by and large a myth. A 2014 study found that out of approximately one billion ballots cast between 2000-2014, there were only 31 incidents of possible voter fraud. So Trumps incessant whining that the election is rigged against him due to widespread voter fraud is not only falseits dangerous.

That scares me honestly more than anything else hes ever said, claims Whedon. We made this video months ago, and the voter-fraud thing was very much about people paying attention to who was really trying to make voting difficult. We made this before Trump started saying, Lets monitor the polls and make sure no ones getting in who shouldnt. Thats terrifying as well. I almost changed the script to reflect that. But the fact of the matter is voter fraud is a GOP creationthat they can disenfranchise the poor and people of color.

Whedon is referring to North Carolinas Republican-pushed voter-ID laws, which were recently found by a federal appeals panel to be the most restrictive voting law North Carolina has seen since the era of Jim Crow that targeted African Americans with almost surgical precision who largely voted Democrat.

They say elections are rigged to distract people from the fact that theyre rigging them, says Whedon.

While Whedon acknowledges that the rise of Trump and his army of acolytes isnt due to just racism in people, and that theres a sense anger and fear about the economy and the way the world is changing, he also believes the GOP has been sowing these seeds for yearsfrom the Southern strategy all the way to the birther movement.

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Honestly, my favorite thing about all this was what they said on Saturday Night Live when they were doing Romney, says Whedon. He said, We in the GOP we do not say racist and sexist things; we imply them subtly over decades and decades of policy. So theyve been sowing these seeds, and then theyre like, Hey! Where did this guy come from?!

[Mike] Pence is just terrifying. I think Trump picked him because nobody would ever assassinate Trump. It would be the worst thing that could happen, he adds of Trumps incredibly homophobic running mate. People forget that the GOP fell out with Trump because he wasnt conservative enough. Forget the fact that hes just a racist, sexist horror whos trying to incite violence in order to clinch his bid for power, there are people here who are running for office who are worse. They really lost touch with their constituency. They went to the fringes and found the dreck of political humanity.

Whedon has been a Hillary Clinton supporter for quite some time, and thinks the unflappable former first lady, senator, and secretary of State is just the person to defeat Trump come Nov. 8.

Shes fought longer and harder against very unfair odds than anybody I have seen, he says. I do think she has a real chance of slaying what is an actual beastand then she can spend the next eight years dealing with amazing misogynist obstructionism, the way Obama got to do with eight years of amazing racist obstructionism.

[recentanimenews]

What's the Most Popular Summer Anime in Europe??

Summer is here - and for most of the Northern Hemisphere, that means hot weather, exploring the outdoors, or...watching anime. The sun may be out later, but that doesn't mean we have to be!! This season, Crunchyroll's simulcasting 50 different anime series - that's around 17 hours of new anime to watch every week. But there's a burning question inside you that I'm sure you want to know: what do people like the most? 

  Looking at social media is only going to really show you what your friends like. There's plenty of polls from fans in Japan with a few thousand respondents, but anime tastes vary from country-to-country. So what's the most popular where you live? Luckily, every season, they let me dig through the Crunchyroll database to find out and share the results with all of you!! With millions and millions of viewers all around the world, this is essentially the biggest anime poll in the world, and today, we're going to be looking at Europe.

  This map is particularly exciting to me, because compared to previous seasons, Crunchyroll's content lineup across countries has never been more consistent. To say anime licensing is complex would be an incredible understatement, but this season, the average new simulcast is available in more than 150 countries and territories. This is great for at least two reasons: first, I think it speaks to Crunchyroll's efforts to serve all of its users, but secondly (and more importantly!) it gives us cleaner data to work off of here. 

  So without further delay: what are Crunchyroll's most popular anime in each country in Europe? Here are the results!!

    The non-stop twists of Classroom of the Elite and its deadpan protagonist Ayanokoji have won over Europe, claiming not only the highest number of countries (14), but one of the most anime-inclined of the bunch with France, which on its own represents half of the continent's manga market. At Anime Expo, the two directors of the series joked about how they each brought their own strengths to the show: Danganronpa: The Animation and Angel Beats director Seiji Kishi brought the crazy and Is the Order a Rabbit? director Hiroyuki Hashimoto delivered on the "cute girls".

    The next most-favored anime in Europe this summer is GAMERS!, which is also a Crunchyroll office favorite this season! I'm glad Aksys is spending their well-earned BlazBlue money on a rom-com this time around - living vicariously through a bunch of high schoolers making awful decisions in love has been a highlight of the season for me.

  That Knight’s & Magic claimed most of English-speaking Europe makes me as giddy as Ernie in the cockpit of a Silhouette Knight. While there have been more than a few so-called isekai, or “trapped-in-another-world”, anime in the last few years, Knight’s & Magic feel fresh with its earnest love of mecha and full force of positivity. 

    Taking home the gold in just Belarus and Kosovo, The Reflection is the delightfully strange result from the superhero team of Mushi-shi director Hiroshi Nagahama, American comic legend Stan Lee, and celebrated American music producer and song writer Trevor Horn. Since The Reflection began weeks after most seasonal viewers had already picked out their slate for the summer, and because it hardly looks or feels like a “typical anime”, I was surprised and pleased to see it make the map - but if you give this odd superhero story a chance, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

  As for our methodology, this map considers at a series’ total unique viewers in each country from the new summer anime. That means that anime that started last season (i.e. Sakura Quest and BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS) as well as long-running anime (like Dragon Ball Super or HEYBOT!) are not considered for our purposes. However, anime that are sequels and spin-offs but otherwise their own separate series are in fact included, allowing NEW GAME! to show up at least in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

What are your favorite new anime this season? Have you watched your country's favorite yet? Let us know in the comments, and we'll be delivering more maps this week, so if you're interested in what your country, state, territory, or region is enjoying, keep an eye out for more from Crunchyroll News!!

See the below chart for a full key for the summer season's European map:

  Country Favorite Summer Anime Aland Islands GAMERS! Albania My First Girlfriend is a Gal Andorra Classroom of the Elite Austria In Another World With My Smartphone Belarus The Reflection Belgium Classroom of the Elite Bosnia and Herzegovina NEW GAME!! Bulgaria In Another World With My Smartphone Croatia (Hrvatska) GAMERS! Czech Republic Classroom of the Elite Denmark Knight’s & Magic Estonia GAMERS! F.Y.R.O.M. (Macedonia) My First Girlfriend is a Gal Faroe Islands Classroom of the Elite Finland GAMERS! France Classroom of the Elite Germany In Another World With My Smartphone Gibraltar CHRONOS RULER Great Britain Knight’s & Magic Greece GAMERS! Guernsey Classroom of the Elite Hungary Classroom of the Elite Iceland Restaurant to Another World Ireland Knight’s & Magic Isle of Man Restaurant to Another World Italy In Another World With My Smartphone Jersey Classroom of the Elite Kosovo The Reflection Latvia GAMERS! Liechtenstein Restaurant to Another World Lithuania GAMERS! Luxembourg In Another World With My Smartphone Malta Classroom of the Elite Moldova In Another World With My Smartphone Monaco A Centaur's Life Montenegro Classroom of the Elite Netherlands Knight’s & Magic Norway Knight’s & Magic Poland GAMERS! Portugal Classroom of the Elite Romania In Another World With My Smartphone Russian Federation GAMERS! Serbia GAMERS! Slovak Republic My First Girlfriend is a Gal Slovenia GAMERS! Spain GAMERS! St. Pierre and Miquelon A Centaur's Life Sweden Knight’s & Magic Switzerland In Another World With My Smartphone Turkey Classroom of the Elite Ukraine Classroom of the Elite

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[williamgreen533]

Content Planning for the Win: 10 Expert Tips to Keep Your Audience Engaged Again & Again

Blank space: Great when it’s a Taylor Swift song (or a nifty 20’s-style cover of same), not awesome when it’s on your editorial calendar. You want to publish with a steady cadence to keep your audience satisfied. But you know that filler won’t do—it’s got to be quality and quantity.

Great content is no accident. It requires careful planning to provide the value and variety your audience craves. At TopRank Marketing, we create content for dozens of clients. That’s a lot of blank space to fill. But when it’s over, we know the high was worth the pain (sorry, now I have Taylor Swift stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Hopefully you do, too).

Here’s how to create a content plan that’s designed to excel.

#1: Start with Goals

“There is no content strategy without measurement strategy. Before embarking on a content initiative, irrespective of medium or platform, it’s important to know what you want to achieve.” Rebecca Lieb, Principal, Conglomotron LLC

The goal of content marketing is to compel your audience to take action. Without the action, you’re missing the “marketing” half of the equation. So don’t start with what you want your audience to know. Start with what you want them to do.

The desired action could be signing up for your blog, downloading a gated asset, attending a webinar, scheduling a demo, or just sharing your content on social media. Whatever you decide, make sure each piece of content is connected to a measurable result.

#2: Let Your Audience Guide Topic Selection

“The reason we struggle with content marketing is because we haven’t started with ‘Why?’ Customers don’t care about your vanity metrics. Ask them, ‘How can I help?’” Kristina Halvorson, CEO and Founder, Brain Traffic

At TopRank Marketing we have a name for the type of content that gets results: Best Answer Content. The word key word is “answer,” as in “a response to a question.” You’re not starting a conversation about your brand, you’re continuing a conversation about what concerns your audience.

Listen to the questions your audience is asking through search engine queries, emails to your sales department, forums like Quora, and tools like BuzzSumo and Bloomberry.

#3: Hit the Whole Funnel

“Your top of the funnel content must be intellectually divorced from your product but emotionally wed to it.” Joe Chernov, VP of Marketing, InsightSquared

Lower-funnel content is designed to lead directly to revenue. So it’s the type of content upper management likes—meaning it’s the type that helps justify your budget. It makes sense that marketers tend to focus on the lower funnel and go light on the upper stages.

The problem with that approach is that most of your traffic and interest is in earlier stages. If you don’t fill the top of the funnel you won’t have anyone left to read your awesome lower-funnel content. It’s important to find a content balance, with a variety of content across all stages of the funnel. The quantity of content in each stage should look like a funnel, too. Think lots of content in the upper stages, less (but more in-depth) content at the bottom.

#4: Change up the Content Type

“Just as anyone would quickly tire of eating from the same food group day after day, your customers and prospects can grow tired of the same type of content again and again.” Jason Miller, Global Content & Social Marketing Leader, LinkedIn Marketing EMEA

I don’t envy the folks at Buzzfeed. They came up with a winning content formula and now they’re stuck with it. Pity the writer who has to come up with yet another “28 Hilarious Things Dogs Did This Passover (You Won’t Believe #24)!” As the world has moved on from clickbait-y listicles, the site has struggled to reinvent itself.

Keep your content fresh, and fill holes in your editorial calendar, by changing up the content type. Save room for those easy-to-write, sharable listicles, sure. But balance them with thought leadership pieces that firmly establish your brand’s point of view. Add how-to articles that are 100% utility. You can even round up useful content from other sources and curate for your audience.

#5: Look for “Turkey Slices”

“I use a Thanksgiving analogy…You cook up this giant bird to serve up on one glorious occasion and then proceed to slice and dice this thing for weeks on end. If you are like most families you are going to be repurposing this bird as leftovers for quite some time, creating everything from sandwiches, to soups, and more. Your content marketing strategy can be thought of in the same way.” Rebecca Lieb

At LinkedIn Marketing Solutions*, they have a lovely mixed metaphor to describe their content strategy. It starts with a “Big Rock,” a hefty piece of gated content that includes visuals, influencer interviews, and in-depth discussion on a single topic (like their Sophisticated Marketer’s series).

They use the Big Rock to create “turkey slices,” blog posts that repurpose a small part of the content. Turkey slices help fill in your editorial calendar, and each one can serve to promote the Big Rock. A big enough Big Rock can keep your blog supplied with turkey slices for six months or more. Just don’t ask why the rocks are made of turkey.

#6: Have a Little Fun

“For those of you who think comedy won’t work for your brand, ask yourself: Will it work for your customers?” Tim Washer, Creative Director, Cisco

When you have plenty of thought leadership and useful, practical content, it’s okay to let loose every once in a while. Generally, people like to be entertained and like to laugh. Even decision makers at Fortune 500 companies have been known to appreciate the occasional chuckle. So there’s no excuse for not experimenting with a little comedy, as long as you stay consistent with your brand voice.

Ease into the idea of humorous content with an April Fool’s Day post—it’s the one day even the most staid of institutions can crack wise. If you get a good response, try a funny, light post once a month or so. Still not convinced humor would work for your industry? Look, if financial services marketers can enjoy a silly post, your audience likely will, too.

#7: Sprinkle in Interactive Content

“By its very nature, interactive content engages participants in an activity: answering questions, making choices, exploring scenarios. It’s a great way to capture attention right from the start. Individuals have to think and respond; they can’t just snooze through it.” Scott Brinker, ion interactive Co-Founder & CTO

I’m starting to get really excited at the potential of interactive content. It takes less than an hour to make a quiz that looks professionally designed, can be embedded on your blog, and provides detailed analytics on the back end. You can create a poll or a survey even more quickly.

Your chief competitor for your audience’s attention is not other content—it’s everything else in the world. We’re asking people to stop whatever else they were doing, ignore every other source of distraction, and engage. Interactive content makes it far easier to earn that level of attention.

#8: Leverage Internal Experts

“If you want to cultivate regular contributors to your content, create an editorial committee and invite key producers to join. Staffers will feel a greater sense of ownership and engagement in the content marketing program. They’ll also feel greater responsibility to produce quality content on time.” Michael Tevlin, Freelance Copywriter & Story Expert

“Authenticity” and “transparency” are marketing buzzwords that have almost, but not quite, lost their meaning through repetition. But there’s a reason we keep talking about these two concepts: Consumers want to hear the authentic voices of the people behind your brand. They know the purest expression of your brand’s values comes from your brand’s employees.

Cultivate these voices by asking internal experts across the organization to contribute to your content. As with external influencers (more about them in a moment), start with a small request. For example, if you’re writing a how-to guide, ask someone in a relevant department to contribute a quote or two. Next time, ask for a full interview.

Before you know it, you’ll have a team of regular contributors, filling your calendar with diverse voices across your organization.

#9: Co-Create with Influencers

“The future is not about marketing to influencers; it’s about marketing with them. Treating influencers as an extension of your company, rather than a distribution channel, will result in a more impactful experience for influencers and consumers alike.” Emily Garvey, Group Account Director, SVP

At TopRank Marketing, we have our own unique take on influencer marketing. It’s not about paying Snapchat stars thousands of dollars to pose with a product. Rather, it’s about building relationships with people who are genuinely influential to a relevant audience, and aligned with your brand’s goals and values.

You can start building relationships without even making contact with an influencer. For example, you can create a post that includes already-published quotes from influencers. Like, say, this post. Let your influencers know that you featured their expertise. Then nurture the relationship by helping to promote their content. Eventually, you can start co-creating content with the influencer, building in their contributions from the ground up. As with internal experts, start with an interview and go from there.

#10: Start a Dialog

“Twenty-five percent of search results for the world’s top 20 largest brands are links to user generated content and thirty-four percent of bloggers post opinions about products and brands.” Erik Qualman, Keynote Speaker & CEO, Equalman

Still stuck with a few blank spaces in your calendar? Let your audience fill them in for you. User-generated content helps foster community, builds enthusiasm for your offering, lets customers see real-world examples of what your company can do, and a host of other benefits.

The best way to encourage user-generated content is, simply, to ask for it. Ask for reviews, product photos, customer stories. Run a contest and recognize the best submissions.

Even better, ask your most valued clients if you can feature them—they will very likely jump at the chance. You get a compelling testimonial, they get extra visibility.

Fill in the Blanks

A blank content calendar can be daunting. But don’t fill it in with random acts of content. Start with your goals in mind, then match them with the topics your audience most wants to hear about. Plan for a good variety of content types and formats to keep things fresh, and make sure to fill the top of your funnel as well as engage the lower part.

And if you need help creating great content that inspires action, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’ve got a long list of satisfied customers. But we’ve got a blank space…and we’ll write your name.

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2017. | Content Planning for the Win: 10 Expert Tips to Keep Your Audience Engaged Again & Again | http://www.toprankblog.com

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[groovyturtlepeach]

Content Planning for the Win: 10 Expert Tips to Keep Your Audience Engaged Again & Again

Blank space: Great when it’s a Taylor Swift song (or a nifty 20’s-style cover of same), not awesome when it’s on your editorial calendar. You want to publish with a steady cadence to keep your audience satisfied. But you know that filler won’t do—it’s got to be quality and quantity.

Great content is no accident. It requires careful planning to provide the value and variety your audience craves. At TopRank Marketing, we create content for dozens of clients. That’s a lot of blank space to fill. But when it’s over, we know the high was worth the pain (sorry, now I have Taylor Swift stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Hopefully you do, too).

Here’s how to create a content plan that’s designed to excel.

#1: Start with Goals

“There is no content strategy without measurement strategy. Before embarking on a content initiative, irrespective of medium or platform, it’s important to know what you want to achieve.” Rebecca Lieb, Principal, Conglomotron LLC

The goal of content marketing is to compel your audience to take action. Without the action, you’re missing the “marketing” half of the equation. So don’t start with what you want your audience to know. Start with what you want them to do.

The desired action could be signing up for your blog, downloading a gated asset, attending a webinar, scheduling a demo, or just sharing your content on social media. Whatever you decide, make sure each piece of content is connected to a measurable result.

#2: Let Your Audience Guide Topic Selection

“The reason we struggle with content marketing is because we haven’t started with ‘Why?’ Customers don’t care about your vanity metrics. Ask them, ‘How can I help?’” Kristina Halvorson, CEO and Founder, Brain Traffic

At TopRank Marketing we have a name for the type of content that gets results: Best Answer Content. The word key word is “answer,” as in “a response to a question.” You’re not starting a conversation about your brand, you’re continuing a conversation about what concerns your audience.

Listen to the questions your audience is asking through search engine queries, emails to your sales department, forums like Quora, and tools like BuzzSumo and Bloomberry.

#3: Hit the Whole Funnel

“Your top of the funnel content must be intellectually divorced from your product but emotionally wed to it.” Joe Chernov, VP of Marketing, InsightSquared

Lower-funnel content is designed to lead directly to revenue. So it’s the type of content upper management likes—meaning it’s the type that helps justify your budget. It makes sense that marketers tend to focus on the lower funnel and go light on the upper stages.

The problem with that approach is that most of your traffic and interest is in earlier stages. If you don’t fill the top of the funnel you won’t have anyone left to read your awesome lower-funnel content. It’s important to find a content balance, with a variety of content across all stages of the funnel. The quantity of content in each stage should look like a funnel, too. Think lots of content in the upper stages, less (but more in-depth) content at the bottom.

#4: Change up the Content Type

“Just as anyone would quickly tire of eating from the same food group day after day, your customers and prospects can grow tired of the same type of content again and again.” Jason Miller, Global Content & Social Marketing Leader, LinkedIn Marketing EMEA

I don’t envy the folks at Buzzfeed. They came up with a winning content formula and now they’re stuck with it. Pity the writer who has to come up with yet another “28 Hilarious Things Dogs Did This Passover (You Won’t Believe #24)!” As the world has moved on from clickbait-y listicles, the site has struggled to reinvent itself.

Keep your content fresh, and fill holes in your editorial calendar, by changing up the content type. Save room for those easy-to-write, sharable listicles, sure. But balance them with thought leadership pieces that firmly establish your brand’s point of view. Add how-to articles that are 100% utility. You can even round up useful content from other sources and curate for your audience.

#5: Look for “Turkey Slices”

“I use a Thanksgiving analogy…You cook up this giant bird to serve up on one glorious occasion and then proceed to slice and dice this thing for weeks on end. If you are like most families you are going to be repurposing this bird as leftovers for quite some time, creating everything from sandwiches, to soups, and more. Your content marketing strategy can be thought of in the same way.” Rebecca Lieb

At LinkedIn Marketing Solutions*, they have a lovely mixed metaphor to describe their content strategy. It starts with a “Big Rock,” a hefty piece of gated content that includes visuals, influencer interviews, and in-depth discussion on a single topic (like their Sophisticated Marketer’s series).

They use the Big Rock to create “turkey slices,” blog posts that repurpose a small part of the content. Turkey slices help fill in your editorial calendar, and each one can serve to promote the Big Rock. A big enough Big Rock can keep your blog supplied with turkey slices for six months or more. Just don’t ask why the rocks are made of turkey.

#6: Have a Little Fun

“For those of you who think comedy won’t work for your brand, ask yourself: Will it work for your customers?” Tim Washer, Creative Director, Cisco

When you have plenty of thought leadership and useful, practical content, it’s okay to let loose every once in a while. Generally, people like to be entertained and like to laugh. Even decision makers at Fortune 500 companies have been known to appreciate the occasional chuckle. So there’s no excuse for not experimenting with a little comedy, as long as you stay consistent with your brand voice.

Ease into the idea of humorous content with an April Fool’s Day post—it’s the one day even the most staid of institutions can crack wise. If you get a good response, try a funny, light post once a month or so. Still not convinced humor would work for your industry? Look, if financial services marketers can enjoy a silly post, your audience likely will, too.

#7: Sprinkle in Interactive Content

“By its very nature, interactive content engages participants in an activity: answering questions, making choices, exploring scenarios. It’s a great way to capture attention right from the start. Individuals have to think and respond; they can’t just snooze through it.” Scott Brinker, ion interactive Co-Founder & CTO

I’m starting to get really excited at the potential of interactive content. It takes less than an hour to make a quiz that looks professionally designed, can be embedded on your blog, and provides detailed analytics on the back end. You can create a poll or a survey even more quickly.

Your chief competitor for your audience’s attention is not other content—it’s everything else in the world. We’re asking people to stop whatever else they were doing, ignore every other source of distraction, and engage. Interactive content makes it far easier to earn that level of attention.

#8: Leverage Internal Experts

“If you want to cultivate regular contributors to your content, create an editorial committee and invite key producers to join. Staffers will feel a greater sense of ownership and engagement in the content marketing program. They’ll also feel greater responsibility to produce quality content on time.” Michael Tevlin, Freelance Copywriter & Story Expert

“Authenticity” and “transparency” are marketing buzzwords that have almost, but not quite, lost their meaning through repetition. But there’s a reason we keep talking about these two concepts: Consumers want to hear the authentic voices of the people behind your brand. They know the purest expression of your brand’s values comes from your brand’s employees.

Cultivate these voices by asking internal experts across the organization to contribute to your content. As with external influencers (more about them in a moment), start with a small request. For example, if you’re writing a how-to guide, ask someone in a relevant department to contribute a quote or two. Next time, ask for a full interview.

Before you know it, you’ll have a team of regular contributors, filling your calendar with diverse voices across your organization.

#9: Co-Create with Influencers

“The future is not about marketing to influencers; it’s about marketing with them. Treating influencers as an extension of your company, rather than a distribution channel, will result in a more impactful experience for influencers and consumers alike.” Emily Garvey, Group Account Director, SVP

At TopRank Marketing, we have our own unique take on influencer marketing. It’s not about paying Snapchat stars thousands of dollars to pose with a product. Rather, it’s about building relationships with people who are genuinely influential to a relevant audience, and aligned with your brand’s goals and values.

You can start building relationships without even making contact with an influencer. For example, you can create a post that includes already-published quotes from influencers. Like, say, this post. Let your influencers know that you featured their expertise. Then nurture the relationship by helping to promote their content. Eventually, you can start co-creating content with the influencer, building in their contributions from the ground up. As with internal experts, start with an interview and go from there.

#10: Start a Dialog

“Twenty-five percent of search results for the world’s top 20 largest brands are links to user generated content and thirty-four percent of bloggers post opinions about products and brands.” Erik Qualman, Keynote Speaker & CEO, Equalman

Still stuck with a few blank spaces in your calendar? Let your audience fill them in for you. User-generated content helps foster community, builds enthusiasm for your offering, lets customers see real-world examples of what your company can do, and a host of other benefits.

The best way to encourage user-generated content is, simply, to ask for it. Ask for reviews, product photos, customer stories. Run a contest and recognize the best submissions.

Even better, ask your most valued clients if you can feature them—they will very likely jump at the chance. You get a compelling testimonial, they get extra visibility.

Fill in the Blanks

A blank content calendar can be daunting. But don’t fill it in with random acts of content. Start with your goals in mind, then match them with the topics your audience most wants to hear about. Plan for a good variety of content types and formats to keep things fresh, and make sure to fill the top of your funnel as well as engage the lower part.

And if you need help creating great content that inspires action, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’ve got a long list of satisfied customers. But we’ve got a blank space…and we’ll write your name.

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2017. | Content Planning for the Win: 10 Expert Tips to Keep Your Audience Engaged Again & Again | http://www.toprankblog.com

The post Content Planning for the Win: 10 Expert Tips to Keep Your Audience Engaged Again & Again appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Joshua Nite http://www.toprankblog.com/wp-content/uploads/content-marketing-planning.jpg

[christopheruearle]

Content Planning for the Win: 10 Expert Tips to Keep Your Audience Engaged Again & Again

Blank space: Great when it’s a Taylor Swift song (or a nifty 20’s-style cover of same), not awesome when it’s on your editorial calendar. You want to publish with a steady cadence to keep your audience satisfied. But you know that filler won’t do—it’s got to be quality and quantity.

Great content is no accident. It requires careful planning to provide the value and variety your audience craves. At TopRank Marketing, we create content for dozens of clients. That’s a lot of blank space to fill. But when it’s over, we know the high was worth the pain (sorry, now I have Taylor Swift stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Hopefully you do, too).

Here’s how to create a content plan that’s designed to excel.

#1: Start with Goals

“There is no content strategy without measurement strategy. Before embarking on a content initiative, irrespective of medium or platform, it’s important to know what you want to achieve.” Rebecca Lieb, Principal, Conglomotron LLC

The goal of content marketing is to compel your audience to take action. Without the action, you’re missing the “marketing” half of the equation. So don’t start with what you want your audience to know. Start with what you want them to do.

The desired action could be signing up for your blog, downloading a gated asset, attending a webinar, scheduling a demo, or just sharing your content on social media. Whatever you decide, make sure each piece of content is connected to a measurable result.

#2: Let Your Audience Guide Topic Selection

“The reason we struggle with content marketing is because we haven’t started with ‘Why?’ Customers don’t care about your vanity metrics. Ask them, ‘How can I help?’” Kristina Halvorson, CEO and Founder, Brain Traffic

At TopRank Marketing we have a name for the type of content that gets results: Best Answer Content. The word key word is “answer,” as in “a response to a question.” You’re not starting a conversation about your brand, you’re continuing a conversation about what concerns your audience.

Listen to the questions your audience is asking through search engine queries, emails to your sales department, forums like Quora, and tools like BuzzSumo and Bloomberry.

#3: Hit the Whole Funnel

“Your top of the funnel content must be intellectually divorced from your product but emotionally wed to it.” Joe Chernov, VP of Marketing, InsightSquared

Lower-funnel content is designed to lead directly to revenue. So it’s the type of content upper management likes—meaning it’s the type that helps justify your budget. It makes sense that marketers tend to focus on the lower funnel and go light on the upper stages.

The problem with that approach is that most of your traffic and interest is in earlier stages. If you don’t fill the top of the funnel you won’t have anyone left to read your awesome lower-funnel content. It’s important to find a content balance, with a variety of content across all stages of the funnel. The quantity of content in each stage should look like a funnel, too. Think lots of content in the upper stages, less (but more in-depth) content at the bottom.

#4: Change up the Content Type

“Just as anyone would quickly tire of eating from the same food group day after day, your customers and prospects can grow tired of the same type of content again and again.” Jason Miller, Global Content & Social Marketing Leader, LinkedIn Marketing EMEA

I don’t envy the folks at Buzzfeed. They came up with a winning content formula and now they’re stuck with it. Pity the writer who has to come up with yet another “28 Hilarious Things Dogs Did This Passover (You Won’t Believe #24)!” As the world has moved on from clickbait-y listicles, the site has struggled to reinvent itself.

Keep your content fresh, and fill holes in your editorial calendar, by changing up the content type. Save room for those easy-to-write, sharable listicles, sure. But balance them with thought leadership pieces that firmly establish your brand’s point of view. Add how-to articles that are 100% utility. You can even round up useful content from other sources and curate for your audience.

#5: Look for “Turkey Slices”

“I use a Thanksgiving analogy…You cook up this giant bird to serve up on one glorious occasion and then proceed to slice and dice this thing for weeks on end. If you are like most families you are going to be repurposing this bird as leftovers for quite some time, creating everything from sandwiches, to soups, and more. Your content marketing strategy can be thought of in the same way.” Rebecca Lieb

At LinkedIn Marketing Solutions*, they have a lovely mixed metaphor to describe their content strategy. It starts with a “Big Rock,” a hefty piece of gated content that includes visuals, influencer interviews, and in-depth discussion on a single topic (like their Sophisticated Marketer’s series).

They use the Big Rock to create “turkey slices,” blog posts that repurpose a small part of the content. Turkey slices help fill in your editorial calendar, and each one can serve to promote the Big Rock. A big enough Big Rock can keep your blog supplied with turkey slices for six months or more. Just don’t ask why the rocks are made of turkey.

#6: Have a Little Fun

“For those of you who think comedy won’t work for your brand, ask yourself: Will it work for your customers?” Tim Washer, Creative Director, Cisco

When you have plenty of thought leadership and useful, practical content, it’s okay to let loose every once in a while. Generally, people like to be entertained and like to laugh. Even decision makers at Fortune 500 companies have been known to appreciate the occasional chuckle. So there’s no excuse for not experimenting with a little comedy, as long as you stay consistent with your brand voice.

Ease into the idea of humorous content with an April Fool’s Day post—it’s the one day even the most staid of institutions can crack wise. If you get a good response, try a funny, light post once a month or so. Still not convinced humor would work for your industry? Look, if financial services marketers can enjoy a silly post, your audience likely will, too.

#7: Sprinkle in Interactive Content

“By its very nature, interactive content engages participants in an activity: answering questions, making choices, exploring scenarios. It’s a great way to capture attention right from the start. Individuals have to think and respond; they can’t just snooze through it.” Scott Brinker, ion interactive Co-Founder & CTO

I’m starting to get really excited at the potential of interactive content. It takes less than an hour to make a quiz that looks professionally designed, can be embedded on your blog, and provides detailed analytics on the back end. You can create a poll or a survey even more quickly.

Your chief competitor for your audience’s attention is not other content—it’s everything else in the world. We’re asking people to stop whatever else they were doing, ignore every other source of distraction, and engage. Interactive content makes it far easier to earn that level of attention.

#8: Leverage Internal Experts

“If you want to cultivate regular contributors to your content, create an editorial committee and invite key producers to join. Staffers will feel a greater sense of ownership and engagement in the content marketing program. They’ll also feel greater responsibility to produce quality content on time.” Michael Tevlin, Freelance Copywriter & Story Expert

“Authenticity” and “transparency” are marketing buzzwords that have almost, but not quite, lost their meaning through repetition. But there’s a reason we keep talking about these two concepts: Consumers want to hear the authentic voices of the people behind your brand. They know the purest expression of your brand’s values comes from your brand’s employees.

Cultivate these voices by asking internal experts across the organization to contribute to your content. As with external influencers (more about them in a moment), start with a small request. For example, if you’re writing a how-to guide, ask someone in a relevant department to contribute a quote or two. Next time, ask for a full interview.

Before you know it, you’ll have a team of regular contributors, filling your calendar with diverse voices across your organization.

#9: Co-Create with Influencers

“The future is not about marketing to influencers; it’s about marketing with them. Treating influencers as an extension of your company, rather than a distribution channel, will result in a more impactful experience for influencers and consumers alike.” Emily Garvey, Group Account Director, SVP

At TopRank Marketing, we have our own unique take on influencer marketing. It’s not about paying Snapchat stars thousands of dollars to pose with a product. Rather, it’s about building relationships with people who are genuinely influential to a relevant audience, and aligned with your brand’s goals and values.

You can start building relationships without even making contact with an influencer. For example, you can create a post that includes already-published quotes from influencers. Like, say, this post. Let your influencers know that you featured their expertise. Then nurture the relationship by helping to promote their content. Eventually, you can start co-creating content with the influencer, building in their contributions from the ground up. As with internal experts, start with an interview and go from there.

#10: Start a Dialog

“Twenty-five percent of search results for the world’s top 20 largest brands are links to user generated content and thirty-four percent of bloggers post opinions about products and brands.” Erik Qualman, Keynote Speaker & CEO, Equalman

Still stuck with a few blank spaces in your calendar? Let your audience fill them in for you. User-generated content helps foster community, builds enthusiasm for your offering, lets customers see real-world examples of what your company can do, and a host of other benefits.

The best way to encourage user-generated content is, simply, to ask for it. Ask for reviews, product photos, customer stories. Run a contest and recognize the best submissions.

Even better, ask your most valued clients if you can feature them—they will very likely jump at the chance. You get a compelling testimonial, they get extra visibility.

Fill in the Blanks

A blank content calendar can be daunting. But don’t fill it in with random acts of content. Start with your goals in mind, then match them with the topics your audience most wants to hear about. Plan for a good variety of content types and formats to keep things fresh, and make sure to fill the top of your funnel as well as engage the lower part.

And if you need help creating great content that inspires action, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’ve got a long list of satisfied customers. But we’ve got a blank space…and we’ll write your name.

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2017. | Content Planning for the Win: 10 Expert Tips to Keep Your Audience Engaged Again & Again | http://www.toprankblog.com

The post Content Planning for the Win: 10 Expert Tips to Keep Your Audience Engaged Again & Again appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.