#also the og post was about britney

[dreamiara]

[emocl0wnpp]

Because i'm in a fankid frenzy again,time to properly introduce my babies!!(part1)

(Also in the current canon they're all adults-)

Also they're all in the same friendgroup-

So first we have Claws' and Jack's kids,Liam and Lau

A little about them

Liam:

He was adopted when he was 7(he died as a human and due to a mistake,ended up in hell where Claws found him as a little ghostie creature-)

The doll he "uses as his body" was made to look like Jack(duh) because he looked up to his father as a child

Though as he grew older he looked up to Claws more and more

The doll is made out of porcelain btw-

He knows how to play the piano :D

He was in his school's sport team(main reason why he's buff as hell)

He's very much..expressionless,and has trouble expressing his emotions in general

He's kind of like a mime

But he's a very sweet guy tho!

He's gay..very gay #manlover

He owns a casino in the underworld and is kind of a maffia leader,but still works under Zalgo

Lost some of his colors :((

Mama's boy(the good kind-)

His best friends are Floss,Jay,Corn,Berry and Alan(they'll be mentioned later)

Absolutely spoils Alan(his bf) even if he can't show affection/love properly

Knows his way around guns

If you need a gun he knows where to get them(from him)

Very much overprotective of Lau

Jill's favourite (and only) nephew

Now Lau!

Same story as Liam,except she was adopted when she was 6(Liam was 12 by that time)

The pretty pink princess of her family

Very much a daddy's girl

Jack spoiled her rotten when she was a kid

But thankfully Claws didn't let her to become a spoiled brat

...she's still a brat though,but a likeable one

She was the pretty cheer captain of her school :D

And she was in the theatre club too

Pretty much a Draculaura, Regina George, and Heather C. kind of gal

She works as a model in the underworld (she rich rich)

Loves having girl's only days with Claws(we love a wholesome mother-daughter duo)

Her besties are Cheryl,Jenna and Floss(will be mentioned later)

Makes Jack carry her stuff when she goes shopping

Actually she makes Jay(her husband),Liam AND Jack carry her shit-

Biggest girl's girl out there.

HUGE Millionares and Britney Spears fan

Despite her "bimbo" persona,she's hella smart

Jill's favourite (and only) niece

Next up are the trouble trio..Vicky and Candy's sons Candy Floss(just Floss or Flossy), Candy Corn(or just Corn) and Jay(the pics are in this order)

First, Floss:

The oldest twin

Takes a lot of pride in being the oldest twin

He's a loveable jerk

Trans guy!! (Still dresses kind of feminine to break stereotypes)

Has a deep ass voice

His hair is dyed. Non if it was his real hair color(his og hair is the same color as Jay's)

He takes after his dad Candy a lot..like a LOT

But he's a momma's boy like Liam-

He had to do cheerleading instead of being in the sports team bc his coach was an asshole,but during his senior year he was allowed to play in the team :D

Bullies his brothers as a form of love

Ngl he's kind of a jerk to everyone but it's his love language

Pretty boy™️

Does modelling with Lau :D

His best friends are Liam,Alan,Jenna,Cheryl and ofc,his brothers

Has a ferret named Noodles

Despite his jerk personality,he's an absolute loverboy when it comes to his lovely wife Jenna

Next up,Corn!

The middle son of the 3

Pretty much the quiet artsy kid

Who knows how to make bombs

Half of his face is burned,but he covers with it makeup

He has a strange shape-shifting ability that makes his colors change according to the seasons(will post it either here or in a p2 post)

He's probably the closest to Candy from his brothers

But he learned witchcraft from Vicky and very much enjoys it

He has a prostetic leg because of an accident(same as his burn marks)

He usually wears funky clothes

His wife is named Halloween :D (she's not my oc but one of my bff's,and idk if he has tumblr or no so i can't show her-)

Even tho he's quiet,when he snaps it's over. He can be a big bitch let's just say that-

But i swear he's a cool guy

His best friends are his brothers,Berry and Liam

He was also in the sports team alongside Liam

He stores stuff in is hair (his hair genuinely works as a portal-)

And last but not least, Jay and his assistant Opal the snake!

The youngest of the twins

And probably the oddball-

The sweetest guy alive

Literally THE husband material

But his heart already belongs to Lau :3

Matching west and bowtie with Liam!!

The patches on his shirt represent his brothers and friends

He owns many snakes,but Opal is his baby

Again,best husband out there,also spoiled Lau rotten

Got bullied by his brothers but loves them regardless

He's has a dad bod!

He has a little portal in his hat

He got Vicky's thick german accent-

Unlike his brothers,he learned a lot from Jason actually

His best friends are his brothers,Liam,Berry and Alan

Lau made him dye a pink strand in his hair-

His dream is to make his own circus and he works HARD to achive that

He's very The Greatest Showman coded

He'd probably love that movie too

Next iiiiis Jenna! The daughter of Jason the toymaker and Jade(i STILL didn't make a post of her-)

Prettiest doll out there!!

Looks a lot like her mom :3

Her eyes are made from glass

The sweetest girl out there

Daddy's girl,learned a LOT from Jason

Literally just a ray of sunshine

The kindest killer out there if there's a thing like that-

Besties with Lau and Cheryl <33

She did cheerleading too

But she loves all of her friends equally

Also an art kid like Corn-

Even though she's a sweet and well mannered girl,she got her anger from her dad-

She has a slight french accent because of her mom

Her parents did not approve of her relationship with Floss but she didn't care

She's pretty rebellious ngl

But other than that she's just a bundle of joy

Despite all these sweet things i listed for her she's lowkey like Jecka from Class of 09-

Also she's very much a Heather M. and Gretchen girl

Next up,Cheryl and Alan :D

First Cheryl:

Alan's twin :3(the older half)

She's mute and uses her mask to talk

Modded her mask to sound like Hatsune Miku once

Both of her arms and legs are prostetics(lost them in a fire related accident,along with her voice)

She's a proxy for Slendy

She usually hangs around Clockwork and Kate the Chaser when she's with the other proxies

But her besties are Lau and Jenna of course<33

But she's also friends with BEN and Toby

Both her and Alan are raised by their older sister Natasha

Lesbian women kisser woman lover♡♡♡

Heather D. and Karen kind of gal(she ain't dumb she just loves Karen with all her heart)

Girl failure but it's okay I love her

Did cheerleading with Lau and Jenna as well

Very good around tech and hacking

Her and BEN make a great duo when comes to tech

She learned sign language just to cuss people out

Now Alan:

Cheryl's twin(the younger half)

He gets bullied by Cheryl for being 0.1 second younger

He loves her with every fiber of his body tho

He's dyslexic

He's also a proxy for Slendy

He usually hangs around Masky Hoodie and Toby,they're like the brothers he never had

He looks up to Masky a LOT

But his best friends are Liam,Cheryl,the trouble trio and Berry

Gay

And Liam's biggest fan(we love a supporting boyfriend)

He used to be scared of Liam's family,especially Lau since they are in the same friendgroup

He got his burn mark in the same accident as Cheryl

Ngl he's kind of a jock himbo

Unless Liam is around then he's just a simp

Borrowed Hoodie's old,well,hoodie-

Helps Cheryl with tech stuff

Now time for the oddball of the group,Berry

Zalgo's son

No his full name isn't Berry i just forgot his actual name

Berry is just his nickname

Yes Zalgo got himself a son

Though Berry ain't nothing like him

He's canonically autistic btw and his special interest is humans+human biology!!

Let's not count how many humans Zalgo got killed for Berry

He surprisingly gets along with Lazari

Claws had to babysit him when he was little

Till this day he calls her mom by accident

His bestfriends are everyone in his friendgroup but he's the closest to Liam and Lau

He can be hella scary ngl

When he's mad or just really overwhelmed all hell is unleashed

He's over 5 meters/16 feet tall damn

He's fluffy unlike Zalgo

He made a lot of comments about his dad being all bones AND being bald

Zalgo babies him to death and he hates it a lot

He loves his dad tho

The person in the back holding him is his wife Y(who also belongs to the same friend as Halloween does)

He's a pretty sweet guy who can and will do wrong,but usually he's very friendly to those who are friendly to him

Notes:

Corn's different season looks along with some other kiddos will be included in another post bc i can't add more pics</3

Hope you enjoyed this tho!!

[touyaeater]

HI!!!! I LOVE YOUR WRITING SM! Can you maybe write something about what kind of music touya listens to?

first request holy fart! most of this is me projecting into him shhh

i think touya would listen to a ton of shit but HATESSSSS modern pop and hiphop but gets absolutely feral over any britney spears song. i think he would have been into vkei at some point (projecting) but prefers more classical vkei than heavy metal (still projecting) because he gives him a headache. i also think he would like romantic oldie songs like these but absolutely refuses to admit it to anyone. i think touya also had a phase where he was realllyyy into la dispute and knows every lyric to somewhere at the bottom of the river between vega and altair. asmr wouldnt be his thing, but rain sounds? hed be all over that. i feel like hed also be into game soundtracks, especially ones from games he played as a kid with his siblings. i like to think they had a ps2 and played ffviii and dirge of cerberus, but never actually finished og ffvii because they got stuck on a sephiroth fight and rage quit.

unrelated but touya sucks at video games but i think he would KILL at wii sports and mario kart

some of this is inspired by this post by @mikuustuff ! pls go check it out its super cute (๑´ᵕ`๑)

[qnewsau]

Kylie Minogue's Tension II has even more bops to take on tour

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/kylie-minogues-tension-ii-has-even-more-bangers-for-tour/

Kylie Minogue's Tension II has even more bops to take on tour

Kylie Minogue’s latest album Tension II dropped on Friday, and the Aussie superstar’s stans are thrilled.

Kylie only announced the sequel album last month, alongside her Tension tour – her biggest since 2011 – which starts in Australia next year.

Tension II arrived on Friday, and it’s a direct continuation of her 2023 album. Speaking to Vogue, Kylie explained that while Tension II is her new album, it’s not her next album.

“With so many albums, you do a repackaging and there’s two or three more songs,” Kylie said.

“Because of the success with Padam Padam, more and more songs are being sent to me than perhaps the year before.

“I wouldn’t have been the name outside writers thought of… I kept writing lists of all of the songs we were working on. Then I remember calling my A&R in Australia and saying, ‘This is starting to feel like another body of work.’

“What we were working on definitely wasn’t the next album. The next album will be the next thing.

“I feel like we’ve gone from 16:9 ratio to Panavision; it’s broadened the world of Tension. With the new tour, there’s definitely still a lot of excitement for this current era.”

Kylie on the new tracks from Tension II

Speaking to NME about the nine new tracks on Tension II, Kylie Minogue described Taboo as “if Britney Spears’ Toxic had a kind of a distant cousin,” but the track also nods to Madonna’s Hung Up.

Kylie described Shoulda Left Ya as the “counterpart” to Tension track Story.

“That’s probably the most kind of oddball, like it kind of lives in its own world,” she told NME, calling it “a little more melancholy” than the other tracks.

Kylie’s Tension Tour 2025 begins in Australia next February, before she travels to the US and the UK.

“We’ve been working on the setlist and trying to lock down the show,” the singer told Vogue.

“We got a template of what works and it’s different from my past tours, where we take audiences to places like ancient Greece or outer space or something.

“This one will be more about delivering the music and feeling together in the room. That’ll be the magic… letting the music take you away.

“I was inspired by my time in Vegas, when I was trying to be present on stage and feeling super connected to the audience.

“It’s about making that energy swirl and just having an amazing night together.

“We’ll do Tension, the disco album, and then go back to the beginning with like The Loco-motion, which everyone usually goes crazy for.”

She added, “For fans who’ve been with me the whole time – the OGs – [the Tension era] feels like a celebration.

“There’s now a whole new generation who decided to plug in. And more broadly speaking [it shows] that anything is possible.

“I really hope that someone seeing this current phase of mine, even if they’re not in music at all, would think, ‘I bet no one saw this happening in her life.’ And that can relate to anyone.”

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[certifiedlurker]

I am not someone to make posts. This isn't even my og blog. It's more of a decoy. But I am here because I need answers. I watched kinnporsche and out of that my favorite couple story was that of vegaspete. I am more into taboo sort of things so there you go. But here is the thing, why do y'all keep supporting Pete's actor. If almost regularly anecdotes of him abusing those around him comes to light, then this is not just a case of young immaturity.

I know no one is pure, good. Not even our most favourite actors. Hey Brendan Fraser may have some dirty laundry in his closet, maybe even Britney Spears. We don't know them. But if we get to know about how religiously shitty someone is ( like jk Rowling): do we still go on and on gushing about the person?

I often feel that the persona that the actor built is what's been considered. I know we all have our own little personas and what we preach is not always something we practice. But come on! Every other day you see something in the tag that blares of alarm bells.

Wiser people have adviced me to not be so involved when it comes to famous people. And they are right. Because every other day we project our own morality on this unknown person and then get mad when they turn out to be entirely different. I have also been told that complaining online without any core action that can bring about change- is meaningless. And I agree. But my point is why is there not a discussion going on among fans? Like vegaspete are characters and not the actors...you can admit that you have enjoyed an idea but still initiate a discussion. Right?

[officiallyashley]

—about me!

Heya! Welcome to my blog! My name is Ashley, but I mostly go by Ash or Ashkele (that’s ash-kee-lee btw). I write fanfics for a multitude of fandoms, and I have been writing stories for 10 years now (can’t believe it’s been that long holy shit). I reblog stuff, as well! You’re welcome to send in asks about my ocs or other stuff, if you want. I’m down to chat. Keep in mind that I’m in school, so uploads may not be super consistent. Also, this is a chill, judgment-free zone where we can all vibe and hang out, so let’s not have any negativity here, kk? With that being said, I hope you enjoy my content on my blog!

Random Facts About Ash;

My first fandoms were vocaloid, creepypasta, and sonic the hedgehog! I’m still in those fandoms to this day!

I am a part of the lgbt+ community and I’m proud of it! I go by multiple terms, so I’ll just condense it a bit: I identify with greyromantic, panromantic, demiflux, and polyamorous to name a few. I mainly use she/her or they/them pronouns, but tbh, as long as I’m being addressed with feminine leaning or gender-neutral pronouns idc.

With my writing, I aim to add in topics that need more awareness around them. I like to write about topics that challenge some of the social norms of today and even from the past.

Outside of writing, my hobbies are singing, writing songs, making book covers/aesthetics/banners for my fanfics, true crime, watching anime, reading, and hanging out with my friends.

My aesthetics that represents my fashion would be grunge, goth, skater girl, and emo.

My favorite artists I would say are Linkin Park, Avril Lavigne, Black Veil Brides, Evanescence, Icon For Hire, The Pretty Reckless to name a few. I'm not gonna lie, I also really like Britney Spears and Aaliyah— I'm a total early 2000s kid!

I'm an INFJ :)

My favorite shows outside of anime are Steven Universe, SonicSATAM, Thundercats OG & 2011, Adventure Time, The Amazing World of Gumball, and Regular Show. I could list more, since I grew up on shows that were on the EARLY DAYS of Cartoon Network (you know, when CN was known as Boomerang. yeah.), but then we'd be here all day, so I'll leave it at that.

I have a Wattpad, Fanfiction.net, Quotev, and an AO3 account. I have multiple Wattpad accounts, and I have been on the app for a very very long time, but the main one I am utilizing currently is called AshuraElaineDragneel. My Quotev account is officiallyashley. Here is my AO3 account, AshleighVioletLouise248, and here is my Fanfiction.net account, polyforluffyzoroandsanji. I have been on all of these websites for a very long time, and I am in the process of transferring my stories onto these platforms, so not everything will be on there (and there will be more content on some sites than others). I have written a shit ton, and I'm adding my works from 2020-present day onto my profiles on these sites, so it's going to be a while until everything is on there because I'm going through years of content (so please be patient knowing that, and, ya know, life gets busy, as well.) If these links don't work, please message me and I'll try and have it fixed as quickly as possible.

I just made a Twitter account as of 03-21-23! It’s called @officiallyash24. You’ll know it’s me bc I have the same profile pic and background pic as I do here on tumblr.

If I need to or if I feel like I need to add something, then I will. I'm not trying to make this simple "about me" post something so complicated and shit like that. I just wanted to put something here that gives everyone some more knowledge of who I am. The Masterlist is currently being constructed. Also, since I reblog a shit ton of stuff, search up the tag #ashwrites if you’re interested in my fanfictions!

also, don’t interact with this blog if you’re homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, and all that other shit. i won’t hesitate to block your ass from my blog if i discover that someone is one of those things. another thing — please credit me if you take inspiration from one of my fanfics (also, i would love to see what you would do with that inspiration). if you’re someone that’s reading fanfics on YouTube and you want to read one of my works, all you have to do is ask me! as always, just credit me and leave a link to my tumblr page. please notify me if you realize that someone has stolen any of my stories. seriously, don’t steal people’s stuff, it’s not that hard to credit the original creator.

[rivetgoth]

I think the industrial vs goth stuff is part of a larger issue of like. People thinking of genres as exact categories with no overlap instead of a way of describing a grouping of bands/songs/etc. With certain attributes. And because people build their identities around genres it gets to a point where when they disagree with someone going "this is/isn't part of this genre" they treat it like a personal attack against them.

Yeah…. it is very frustrating cuz I do earnestly think that “gatekeeping” subcultures is important in the sense that I view music subcultures as communities, including (if not predominantly!) IRL spaces, and of course I want to only have cool people who actually understand the history of the genre and actually LIKE the genre and give a shit about being willing to learn more there, I think it’s important to stand ur ground if someone is trying to invade a subculture with bullshit redefinitions that water down what this stuff actually means to people who know and care, plus on a more severe level being willing to vocally cast out freaks is truly how you keep ur music scene from being run down by shit like Nazis and rapists and other bigots or violent people, but I also think that sometimes people get too obsessed with perfectly defining every genre or band into clean categories and create artificial walls between things and don’t leave room for fluidity, so you get that shit that is sometimes interesting or helpful for categorization in some contexts but can be pushed to way too extreme of a worldview if it goes too far, so you get people who are like “you called Skuppy GOTH? Lol okay poser, you’re a RIVETHEAD, not GOTH, get it RIGHT 🙄” and it’s like…. man…. Look at them. Listen to them. Learn about their influences. Understand that music is fluid and the history of the way music and subculture evolves means that these things aren’t going to be perfectly easily definable, ykwim?

Side note but it also reminds me of people who get weirdly obsessive about being like “real goths DON’T LISTEN TO [other, usually very popular genre],” like goths who insist that goths don’t listen to pop, or don’t listen to emo music, or whatever. Like obviously neither of the aforementioned genres are goth at all but goths are ultimately MUSIC FANS and ime most music fans will be able to appreciate good music from any genre. That doesn’t mean they LIKE every genre, and it’s perfectly valid if ur just the most trad goth of all time and literally only listen to like, the most classic post punk OG goth bands and that’s it. That’s fine. But I know soooooo many goths who are very happy to admit that they also love some goofy blatantly non-goth mainstream shit cuz they acknowledge that sometimes that stuff is fun and good. No shame in that at all. NOT LIKING certain music does not make you more goth than someone who likes it. If you listen to Bauhaus and Sisters of Mercy you are not more goth than someone who listens to Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, and Britney Spears LOL. Honestly one of my biggest non-serious complaints about the goth community is I DO think some of them are utterly boring and focused way too much on what they don’t like, and I get that taking shots at annoying popular bands is fun and I do it too, but in some ways I feel like I have more in common with like, a hardcore music fan who doesn’t care for goth music but ADORES like… dad rock or 80s hip hop or 90s girl bands or even kpop or emo music and wants to just discuss how much they love their music of choice and what it means to them than some pissy goth who spends more time talking about how much they hate popular music than actually talking about what they like about the music they actually fucking listen to. I’m goth cuz I love goth music and I want a community of people who also love goth music, end of.

[banghwa]

Pls elaborate on the Hobi being a Britney slut I mean stan proposed by the other anon that’s sadly gone because Jesus Christ now that I’ve seen it I can’t unsee it

There’s just this vibe about him…that’s just so…

[But for real, coming from experience, I have a younger brother and my musical taste (being an older sister) greatly influenced his music taste (and yes, he’s a Britney stan, ‘Oops!… I did it again’ is his jam), and Hobi himself is a younger brother to an older sister and he has said on a Run BTS episode that he used to listen to a lot of his sister’s favorite groups/bands growing up ANNND she’s the age of the og target demographic of Britney, plus he also likes related late 90s acts N’SYNC and Backstreet Boys so there’s definitely the right background for such ~vibes~ to be brewed so naturally]

OMG i don’t even know how to describe it aside from mostly vibes?? thinking abt how he was in old bangtan bombs too like yeah there’s no way this little dude wasn’t keeping up with the late-2000-early-2010s britney renaissance. and YES you’re right his music taste really does make me think he listens to britney like he DOES listen to a lot of girl groups and 90s women. he posted about listening to the pussycat dolls and old jennifer lopez i KNOW he has some old britney on that playlist too. he has a stan account where he posts threads about how her bsides are underrated because pop media didn’t want to take her or her music seriously i know it i feel it in my heart!!!

[dreamylyfe-x]

I have two other tags I really want to do but I’d have to dig for them and this is quick and also… I am movie-obsessed since childhood. So. From @gallavictorious. I am copying her instinct to talk about the movies, because I don’t understand how else to post about things. 

I’m a person who likes angst and drama, but almost all my comfort movies are comedies and romances. Go figure. 

Clueless — there was a period of my life when I watched this movie on a daily basis. There is still almost nothing I find as soothing as watching those ridiculous kids at that high school in their short skirts and knee-highs. Tiny twinge of sadness, though, about Britney Murphy. 

Before Sunset — Not that I don’t love its predecessor and successor, but this one is so lovely. And it’s Paris during the golden hour. It’s the rare sequel that makes the first film better. I put a tiny homage to it in a chapter of Bound: “He’s gonna fail this test” always plays in my head as following the rhythm of “You are going to miss that plane.” 

Monty Python & The Holy Grail — I’m not even that much of a MP person, but for some reason I watched this on a loop the week I packed to leave for University, so it’s still a weirdly silly distraction movie for me. 

Singin’ in the Rain — Betty Draper’s favourite movie. This movie is so loved, so oddly structured, and so watchable. And it has all the old Hollywood stuff that I find fun, and then there’s all these crazy behind-the-scenes stories… but honestly, a few Christmases I put it on for my Dad while I was doing stuff in the kitchen and he was rapt. Like a kid. It’s a powerful movie. 

Empire Strikes Back — any of the OG trilogy, really, but this is the one I enjoy the most. Have literally been watching these movies my whole life. Or as long as I’ve been watching movies. 

Cheating a bit and listing the three movies I watch every year: Scrooge (Alister Sims one), Jaws and Halloween. 

Notorious — I don’t even know why I love this movie so much. Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant are pretty great. The longest kiss in classic cinema, when the Hayes Office wouldn’t let them kiss for more than a few seconds — so they just kiss while talking for minutes. Dialogue like “Dry your eyes, baby. It’s out of character” and “I was just a fatheaded man, full of pain!” — those moments make me laugh, but it’s really all about Ingrid. 

I wanted to put the 90s Pride & Prejudice on here, but it’s not a movie, it’s a miniseries. A crazily well-cast miniseries (with maybe one notable exception). I also often put on Agatha Christie properties on for comfort, because I’ve read most of her books, but there’s no one production I’m in love with. I suspect, eventually, Knives Out would get on this list. But it needs time. 

I feel like I’m probably getting to this late, and @damngcoffee (who is the person I talk movies with) has already done it — so honestly anyone who’d like to do it, I’d be into hearing about it. 

[atimefordragons]

Get to know me tag game

thanks for the tag lovely @queen-of-salt-and-fury! 

Nicknames: lol, I mean, my fake internet name is basically a nickname, also “C”, all the broski, brosauce, etc variations me and my bestie use, speaking of, could also consider Elsa a nickname, or Cristina, because we are stone cold adults to refer to each other as our respective personality double in favourite duos (Elsa and Anna, and Meredith and Cristina) - yeah, we know we are fucking lame. My sister calls me “Titly”, which means butterfly, you may now also refer to me as Your Majesty, because I bought Elsa’s crown as a birthday gift for myself and gave myself a coronation, thereby legally making me Arendelle’s Queen. This is how it works now right? Declaring something online immediately makes it true. 

Real name: Clara, lol, it’s not, it’s just what I’ve been using online for nearly a decade or so now, so what’s the point? But my real middle name is “Taika”, which is a name I share with Taika Waititi, which is cool. 

Zodiac: Scorpio 

Favourite Musicians / Band: Taylor Swift, Dima Bilan, Sergey Lazarev, Anime OST (deep into Code Geass and Bleash OST atm, god they were iconic), OST in general, KAZKA (thank you again so much @pulltheskydown for introducing me to her), Alma, Amir, Rihanna, Polina Gagarina, been in a Britney mood the last few weeks. Idk, I just have music I like, and music I don’t like, and some people I am very thirsty for. Also, also, literally any song from any Shahrukh Khan movie. I always was, still am, and always will be, one of those SRK loving bitches. The man is ICONIC. 

Do I get asks?: Once in a blue moon. 

Favourite sports team: I support the national teams ‘cause Go Canada Go or whatever. Also more invested in the Raptors than I ever thought I’d be, but hey, them winning the NBA last year gave me more serotonin than I ever thought boring sports could give me. It’s still so boring, but I do follow the scores when they appear on CP24 (local news channel), feels good when your city’s teams win. Guess that means by default I also support the Blue Jays and the Maple Leafs, but whatever. 

Other blogs: lol, you are talking to the Queen of Too Many blogs right here. My first ever main was @livesinabluebox (which has gone through a few url changes, namely melanin-monster and moonrxvenge, but it’s 2012 again so I switched back to my og url), I’m trying to clear out all my likes so I’m still posting there, but trying to move to my new main over @moonrxvenge. And I also have 600 million sideblogs for characters and roleplays and resources and whatever. I have so many that I need to keep a masterlist, and yes, it is HELLA out of date. (I still say hella)

Tumblr Crushes: meh, I never really befriended people on tumblr until much more recently, and like all those people are friends I made elsewhere, ie polyvore (I shy, tumblr scary and got far too many stupid peoples opinions). 

Obvs, shoutouts to my loves @kzombi3 / @thots4daze @themadmonarchist @celestialfairies @alittlebitluna @eternalsailorstar @ayzrules @themonsterslut @turquoisesiren @pulltheskydown 

some tumblr people who are v cool and maybe I say things or just do that whole “senpai notice me” lowkey stalking from my main, main: @queen-of-salt-and-fury @daenerys-targaryen  @salty-sailors-unite​ @wellstartled​ and loads of others I’m probably forgetting rn

Lucky numbers: as a kid I considered 7 and 13 lucky, also 735 or something like that for islam reasons I forgot, but I don’t have any now. I think it’s all bull. 

What am I wearing: blue pajamas. my shirt says “happy monday - said nobody ever”, it is thursday. 

Dream holiday: Russia and Japan are definitely my number ones, all the historical places like the Winter Palace and Himeji Castle, and the cities.

Dream car: Tesla, it was a blue Model S, but that was 5 years ago (4? 3? idk, a time ago) and I’m sure there are newer models now that I am too lazy look up

Favourite food: Macarons

Drink of choice: Tim Hortons Ice Coffee with a shot of caramel

Instruments: I technically played the flute for a year (maybe three) in middle school music class, but it was mandated and I don’t remember. I could play the beginning of To Love’s End from Inuyasha back then, but not now. I can play the main tune, like just the first few notes, of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’s main theme on the piano, but I just memorized the keys. Idk the actual notes. F or G or E I guess? Idk. 

Languages: English, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, technically French, but I didn’t really retain anything from it, like I can read French, but got little to no idea what I’m saying. Straight up surprised when I do understand. I think it’s in there, but barely. Also supposed to be able to speak Arabic, but retained less of that than French. 

Celebrity crushes: Chris Evans, Jenna Coleman, SRK (lol, since I was born probably), Kajol, Bruna Marquezine, Yuki Kimisawa, and loads of others. I’m a hoe for the fictional and the theoretical, what can I say?  

Random facts: Buying notebooks and using them are two entirely different hobbies, and, okay, this isn’t like interesting in the least but I am OBSESSING over the drama that went down between Salman Khan and Zayn over his cover of Allah Duhai Hai - yeah, I know I’m 2 years late to this, but whatever, no fucking told me about it and I can’t find any definitive information and I’m going crazy! Please, someone explain what happened 'cause I am dying!!! I need to know!! (also, salman fans don’t interact, vo kuni hai yaar, tu phagal hai kya?) 

I’ll tag: all of you lovelies  @kzombi3 / @thots4daze @themadmonarchist @celestialfairies @alittlebitluna @eternalsailorstar @ayzrules @themonsterslut @turquoisesiren @pulltheskydown @queen-of-salt-and-fury @daenerys-targaryen @salty-sailors-unite​​ @wellstartled​ + whoever else wants to do it (and ofc tag me and befriend me, I am but a thirsty ass hoe for friendship) 

[chaoticoconut]

BARBARA GORDON HEADCANONS THAT MAKE ME SWOON!!

(and so can you!! alfkvoekfndnej does anyone get that reference anyhoo)

I couldn't NOT post these idk I was showering and then I was hit with a mf tornado of hcs about my favorite gal and I figured I'd share :))))

Barbara and Tim are actually the most potty mouthed members of the batfam, excluding Kate. Jason is close, but only when he's upset (which probably seems trivial bc he's yk always upset but I hc him a pretty chill if not bitter and snarky guy). Tim cusses more when he's tired, but he consciously tries to bite his tongue. Barbara has no remorse and cusses very casually and openly, because she sees no point in abstaining. It releases endorphins guys. Duh. She uses those ridiculous "holy heck Batman!" lines as Batgirl unless she's genuinely thrown off her game. She limits her cussing a lot as Oracle bc she's not one to offend people, and you never know. It's most definitely a civilian thing for her, and anyone who knows Babs knows she's a fucking sailor.

Her favorite food of all time is pizza. Her dream house has a brick pizza oven. She has a food blog with every pizzeria in the greater Gotham area ranked from best to worst. Her favorite of all time is the Gotham Pizza Garden, which is located in Old Gotham near the police station. Technically it's the second best pizza in Gotham, second to Gargoyle Pie Company, which is renowned for being the epitome of Gotham-style pizza and is always busy. She has a lot of memories of GPG though, and loves both pies. GPG also has an incredible Chicago style pizza, which is her second favorite type of pizza. She does however believe Gotham style is superior and thinks less of Dick for disagreeing (@blanddcheadcanons tie-in heyo!!) Very few things make Babs as happy as gourmet pizza.

She grew up watching Teenage Mutant Turtles, Powerpuff Girls, and Star Trek. They all hold a very special place in her heart. There is totally a connection between her love of pizza and TMNT and turtles and mixed martial arts. She once got the boys to go as the turtles for Halloween, with her crushing it as April.

Speaking of turtles, she's had a pet turtle named after icon Nichelle Nichols since high school. Yes, she does call her Shelly. Yes it's cliche. No she does not care. She also has a calico cat named Cornflake that Dick gave her as a birthday present. She doesn't have pet dogs until she and Dick finally settle down. She never had them growing up because her father is allergic and her mother was a devout cat lady. She's not really sure why she never got any on her own, she's just more familiar with cats. After her mom passed away, she did get a bunch of bunnies whom she and JJ named after their favorite horror movie monsters and serial killers.

She loves slasher flicks. It's a family thing. JJ was creepy about it, Jim loves the thrill, Babs loves the mythos, and her mom was never really afraid of anything and found them funny.

She inherited her mother's love for baking. She left her her cookbook, which contains an amazing mixed berry pie recipe. Her pie baking abilities rival Alfred's. She even begins to branch out with her recipes and experiment with all sorts of fillings and even cake-pies (fanfic au tie-in heyo). Everybody loves a Barbara baked good. She knows everyone's faves and literally crushes holiday season. Dick is all about the og mixed berry pie, whereas Jay, who loves lemon everything (hc I saw awhile ago that I just love) prefers either a lemon meringue or a raspberry lemon. Tim is all about strawberry open face while Steph prefers cherry cheesecake or pecan pie. Cass and Bruce both love her cinnamon apple pie. Duke loves just about anything she bakes, but especially her more adventurous, contest winning pies like kiwi-blueberry-black cherry and other originals. Kate will die for Babs' cherry pie. Damian prefers blackberry or mixed like Dick. Alfred is a sweet potato pie kind of guy himself. There's a farmer's market in Blüdhaven her mother went with her to when she was a kid that Barbara still goes to get get all the fresh fruit.

Even better than Barbara or Alfred baking alone is them baking together. Roy Harper is also a pretty good baker. They all trade recipes with Martha Kent. M'gann brings wine to the manor and assembles them all for fun days of baking.

She's also totally the type of gal who made a shit ton of cupcakes when she ran for class prez and stayed I from Batgirl duties to finish them. Just saying.

She picks baking back up as Oracle but several hero emergencies lead her to burn perfectly good desserts.

She and Roy will always have puppy-love crushes on one another and be totally oblivious. They both did ballet as kids, love baking, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, shameless empty flirting, and tech. They're completely platonic and really great lifelong friends. They met at a Wayne gala as kids.

As if she wasn't already talented enough, she's completely ambidextrous. I'm jealous. Dick and Wally are left handed. Bruce is similarly ambi. Selina's a leftie. Maybe Alfred too.

She likes to enter contests and win for fun. She's a monster. Everything from baking to video games to weight lifting, she loves showing people up.

Dick, Babs, and Tim all snore atrociously loud. The batfam hates it. She's the quietest out of them all, but she's also a blanket hog. And a major cuddler.

Her favorite colors are grey and green. Purple does deserve an honorable mention however. Her apartment is a fair mix of green and grey decor and covered in books.

She was a total ballerina growing up, just like her mom wanted. That was until she discovered how kick ass martial arts were, and she got a little too jacked to continue with ballet as a formidable career option. Her next best option is becoming a cop at this point, but her father believes that not only would it be far too dangerous but a waste of her skills (like ballet cough cough). This upsets her so much she goes off and invents Batgirl, complete with a stole grappling gun from evidence.

In college she works as a barista and excels at it. Her dream is to open up a cafe/bakery/flower shop with Dinah some day. She wants to call her half Bean Me Up Scotty! (another hc I saw and fell in love with)

Babs is also a pretty good cook being that she became the family chef at a young age (Jim can barbeque and make spaghetti. That's literally it. Maybe some breakfast). Cooking lessons from Alfred certainly helped.

Her personality is so versatile. She can get along with pretty much anyone due to her wide range of interests and skills which is what makes Oracle so bad ass. She's also a Libra so she adapts fairly easily to any group without seeming fake.

She has a podcast where she rants about tech and feminism and politics and plays video games

She SO took Latin in high school and dominated competitions. She loves classical studies and is a dork for Greek and Roman mythology as well as linguistics. She has a pretty good grasp on all of the romance languages, and learns languages fairly quickly.

She always smells like mint and books. She has killer mint shampoo and conditioner, which is a Kean family thing (they just love the scent). She always smells refreshing.

She likes coffee but prefers tea always. She's like Ramona Flowers with tea

Her music taste is total 90s nostalgia (grunge, boybands, air pop, ska, hip hop) meets far too indie 4 u. Yes she's pretentious. Yes she loves chick rock and *NSYNC and Britney and Kurt Cobain and Biggie and deal with it. She also loves shit you've never even heard of. Was totally into the Gotham punk scene as a teen.

She collects vinyl and books and horror flicks ugh hipster queen

She loves spicy food and Dick cannot stand it. They both like sour candy though

If your Barbara Gordon didn't graduate high school at 16 she doesn't have rights

She was all of the Robin's first crush. Duh. Tim will always think she's the gold standard of women. He likes that she usually sticks up for him. He doesn't mind being seen as her male equivalent lmao

At some point Jay and Babs are roommates and it's literally the best I'll talk abt that later

Her type is guys with dark hair or blonde gals.

[localbizlift]

Crisis Adaptation - Whiteboard Friday

Posted by BritneyMuller

Businesses all over the globe are struggling with new challenges as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. With consumers turning to the internet for the majority of their needs, it's never been more vital to ensure your online presence is easily found and your business updates clearly communicated.

In this special edition of Whiteboard Friday, Britney Muller outlines a checklist that businesses can use to meet the changing needs of consumers and improve visibility for local searches.

Bonus — We've adapted these tips into a free checklist you can download and share:

Get the checklist

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high resolution version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

Hey, Moz fans. Welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. Today we're going over crisis adaptation, and I first have to give a huge shout-out to Miriam Ellis, who really helped me package all of this up to deliver to you today.

If you're not already following Miriam on Twitter, I highly suggest you do. She is a local SEO genius. So let's dive right in. 

Meet your customers where they are

You often hear this phrase in marketing and in SEO about meeting your customers where they are. This might be important now more than ever because the current landscape, it's changed so much.

Listen to your customers & understand how their needs have shifted

In order to better meet your customers where they are, you really first have to listen and understand how their needs have shifted, how have their concerns shifted. What are they searching for now? Just really paying attention and listening online to your current target market.

One of the things I also like to suggest is listen to competitive reviews. Keep an eye on competitive reviews being posted on Google and other spaces to get a gauge of how things have perhaps moved. 

Know where your audience is

This could have also shifted a bit. Whiteboard Friday's OG, Rand Fishkin, launched SparkToro that does exactly that. So you can really deep dive into current data around what your audience is listening to, who they follow, all sorts of great stuff for you to leverage in today's climate.

Connect with potential customers in meaningful ways

Now is a great time to reach out and engage with not only potential customers but current customer base and remind people that you are still here, you're still serving them in various ways. So it's really, really key.

Partner with relevant businesses

I've seen this do really well in some great examples of pivoting, where a fruit delivery company partnered with a bakery to include these free cakes within orders. What a great way to get some visibility for that bakery, and vice versa — they could do different things. I think it's a great time to leverage those relationships and help one another out. I absolutely love that tip. 

Communicate all changes and updates

Now the other big, big priority right now is all around communicating changes and updates to your website visitors. So what do you need to cover?

Changes to hours is so important right now. It's essential that you have that information readily visible to anyone visiting your website, if this applies to you. All forms of availability, video, curbside, no touch delivery, have that information available.

Any expected delays and product availability challenges. This is a really great tip too. 

Sanitation and any adopted safety precautions. 

Payment methods accepted. This can be really helpful in the transaction. 

Any philanthropic efforts that you're doing to help support people in need.

I'm seeing a lot of these show up in banners and readily available information for people visiting websites. I think it's great to consider making sure that this information is easy for people to access. 

Immediately communicate this information:

Set up online orders and catalog inventory/services

In addition to these things, set up online orders. At the very least, catalog your online inventory or services for people to still have that awareness of what you're currently offering.

I would suggest if you're a struggling business and you don't want to go into a huge website build, you can absolutely check out and explore things like Squarespace or Shopify. I would have never thought I would be suggesting these platforms a year ago just because they're not usually great for SEO reasons. But they can do a beautiful job of solving this problem so quickly, and then you can roll out V2 and V3 down the road when you're ready to make those improvements. But I think just getting businesses off the ground is so important right now. 

Add products for free on Google Shopping

This was such a neat thing that Google offered I believe several weeks ago, and it's doing great. What it basically does is it allows you to list products for free on Google Shopping, giving you that extra visibility right now. So if you're an e-commerce brand, definitely check that out. 

Create maps showing delivery radiuses

Miriam had this great idea to create maps showing delivery radiuses, if that applies to you, so really giving someone visiting your site an easy to consume idea of the areas that you serve. Sometimes when you see the ZIP codes, it's a little overwhelming. You have to do a little work. But that's kind of a great idea. 

Routific

Then this was mentioned in a recent GatherUp webinar by Darren Shaw — Routific. So if you are doing local deliveries and they're getting a little out of hand, Routific is a company that creates delivery routes to make them most efficient for you, which I thought was so cool.

I didn't even know that existed. So it's a good little tool tip. 

Double down on SEO and content marketing

I absolutely loved Mike King's post on this — I think it was a couple weeks ago — where he explains why economic downturns favor the bold. It's brilliant. There are incredible use cases around this, and we'll link to that down below. 

Someone who has impressed the heck out of me the last couple of weeks is Kristin Tynski — I hope I'm saying that right — over at Fractl. She is going above and beyond to create content pieces that are not only genius but are link building opportunities, apply to various clients, and use traditional journalism tactics to gather offline, unique data to present online. I highly suggest you pay attention to what Kristin is up to. She is a genius. Kristin, we have to meet sometime. I'm a huge fan of you. Keep up the great work. 

Local & Google My Business

Now let's dive into some GMB stuff. While this might not apply to you if you're not a local business, I think there are still things to take away for larger companies that also either have a local listing or just to be aware of.

So here's an example of Uptown China Restaurant, a local Chinese restaurant. It's awesome in Queen Anne, and it's going to be our example. So what's the first thing? 

Correct any GMB errors

Just correct any GMB errors. Make sure that the current data shown and information is correct and up to date.

Update hours to remove warning

Then this is probably my favorite hack of all, from Joy Hawkins, about this warning that we see on all businesses currently, because of the pandemic, that says hours or services may differ. You can get this removed simply by updating your hours. How incredible is that?

So I highly suggest you just update your hours. Joy also mentioned in this webinar I keep referring to, that was so good, she suggests using the hours that you are available to take phone calls. Google has never had an issue with that, and it tends to make the most sense. So something to think about.

Respond to reviews

Now is also a great time to invest and be engaged with these reviews. I think it's one of the most overlooked PR and marketing tactics available, where customers exploring your brand, exploring your location want to know that (a) you care and that (b) you're going to engage with a customer and that you have a timely response. So I think it's important to respond to reviews, especially on behalf of the business side. 

Confirm or reject any new Google My Business prompts

So we're going to continue to see different things roll out. There were senior hours available to, I believe, grocery stores that popped up as an option. No-contact delivery. These things will always be changing. So I think it's important to maybe put a reminder in your calendar just to keep an eye on are there any new options within Google My Business that I could activate or clarify. Google loves that, and it also helps fill out your listing better.

Update menu and product listings

What a great time to take some good, new photos. Update your menu items. I wish Uptown China Restaurant did this, and I might suggest it to them that they can add those offerings. They can add those things to really pop up on the listing and kind of make it shine.

Use Posts

Posts have always been really, really great for Google My Business listings because it gives you a big photo. It lasts for a while up here, I believe up to 14 days. It's very prevalent when you see it. Now Google has also been offering COVID-19 posts.

There isn't an option to add an image with the COVID-19 posts. It's text only, but it lasts longer and it's more prominent than a regular post. So it will show up higher in your Google My Business listing, and we've also seen it pop up in actual SERPs in the organic area. So pretty cool. Good to know. I suggest you doing that. You have control over the messaging. You can say whatever you would like. You can provide updated info, all that good stuff. 

Use Product Posts

So a shout-out to Darren Shaw, who noticed this.

People are getting really savvy with product posts, which again it would show up in your Google My Business listing with a big photo and a description. What he's seen people do is basically have a photo of a car with text on it that says "No-Touch Delivery" or different service options as the product.

Google is currently letting that slide. I don't know if that will last forever. But it's an interesting thing to explore if you really want that visibility if someone is struggling with their business right now, and you can kind of get that to pop up on the SERPs. 

Enable text messaging

So I've heard from so many SEOs that this has continued to go up into the right during the pandemic, and it makes sense.

People want to just quickly get information from businesses. You can create a welcome message. So I highly suggest exploring that if that's available to you. 

Update images

Again, I think I've said this like three times, but update images. It's a great time to do that, and it can really help make your stuff pop. 

Share these tips with businesses in need!

Lastly, don't forget to share these tips with businesses.

Understand that there are a lot of people in need right now, and if there's anything that we can do to help, by all means let's make all of that stuff happen. The fact is that you're not alone. So whether you're doing this work on behalf of a client, or you yourself or family or friends are really struggling with a business right now, there are different support groups and options as far as financial support.

We've created a free PDF checklist of all this information that you can download and share with any marketers, clients, or businesses in need:

Download the free checklist

I know we at Moz are going to be putting everything we have into helping you and others during this time, and so I created a form at the bottom of this post where you can fill in some information and let us know if there are specific problems that we could help with. We're in this together.

We want to help you all as much as we can. I will be taking that very seriously and spending lots of time on replying or creating material to help individuals struggling. So please fill that out. Also, feel free to leave comments and suggestions in the comments. I think some of the best, most valuable takeaways sometimes happen in the comments where you're either clarifying something that I said or adding something really great. I would really appreciate that. Just want to get all the good information out there so that we can help everyone out. I really appreciate you taking the time to watch this edition of Whiteboard Friday, and I will see you all again soon. Thanks.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

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[lightsandlostbells]

Skam Italia season 2, episode 1 reaction

Hello, how’s everybody doing? We survived the first week of a S3 remake. I wrote a little (a lot) about it.

Just to be clear: I completely understand if people just want to hang on and enjoy the ride because it’s S3 again, we love it, it’s an important story for many people! But so far there are aspects of Skam Italia S2 that I am positive about, and there are areas where I have criticisms. Don’t read if you don’t want to hear some comments that are not 100% enthusiasm. For real, I’m not trying to be a buzz kill, like I’m fine with posting these to crickets, lmao, because it’s a fun exercise for me to analyze the remakes even if I’m essentially talking to myself. 

Thank you so much to everyone translating this show! Imagine if no one was translating this season. The fandom would lose its goddamn mind. You are literally saving the planet from destruction, thank you for your service.

At the risk of sounding pretentious, I’m going to put additional disclaimers here, because people have strong feelings about Skam S3, and people also have strong feelings about Skam Italia, and there is already drama when those feelings bump up against each other:

The reason why I started doing reactions to the remakes was to compare the versions of Skam and analyze what worked and what didn’t in the adaptation process. This was a clever change to fit this culture, this was awkward and didn’t work, etc. While I do want to judge S2 of Skam Italia on its own merits, I’m not going to leave the original series out of it and look at this season as something that exists in a Skamless void, because that’s not my aim with these recaps. So if you are really not interested in comparisons to the original show (positive, negative, or neutral) then perhaps don’t read further.

I’m also taking into account this is a different culture than the original show and noting how that might affect this story, and that it’s a big deal to have an LGBT Italian lead in a series and Italian fans are very excited. So I’m keeping that in mind! But I also think that, should Skam Italia bungle something, it’s okay to call it out, it doesn’t get a free pass. We criticized parts of the original series while praising it where it succeeded. Sana’s season, for example, is extremely progressive as a concept (a Muslim girl lead is extremely rare) but had numerous aspects where it stumbled, and as a fandom there was no shortage of criticism. This goes for both the social justice and educational aspects of Skam as well as writing, directing, acting, and other basic storytelling stuff.

Okay? Okay.

Episode 1

Clip 1 - GET OUT OF THE FUCKING TUB, LOSERS

Right away, I loved the voicemails. They sound like real accounts of homophobia, and I don’t know if these are actors recreating them or real people sharing their own experiences, but it was a powerful intro to the season.

I also like zooming in over the city while these voicemails played, over all these dark apartment buildings, because it felt like those voices could be coming from anywhere. They were anonymous. Your neighbor could be gay, the woman who lives downstairs could be a lesbian, and you might never know because they’re in the closet. You might never know how much they’d suffered due to homophobia. But they’re also everywhere. Despite their treatment in society, LGBT people aren’t “the other” but can be anyone you know. That’s why it zooms into the party, to link these anonymous voices to a face that we we do know.

I saw some people suggesting that maybe these have to do with Martino’s involvement in the radio station, and that this will be some part of a project that he does, and while I think it’d be awesome if the radio station came into play with his personal development, I’m ehhhhh about these turning out to be part of Martino’s project all along because it doesn’t seem like it goes with the real time format, and IDK, it seems too literal. But I’d be OK with it these were more of a thematic device and Martino has a literal confession along these lines later on. 

Rainbow logo 🌈🌈🌈

...who’s that blue-haired girl?

I feel like Edoardo being immediately on screen was to reassure any OG Skam viewers and Incantava fans who hadn’t yet gotten the message that EDOARDO IS DEFINITELY NOT GOING ANYWHERE THIS SEASON DO NOT PANIC.

Silvia is watching some girls dance and for a hot second I hoped they were finally hinting at the lesbian Vilde story we deserve, but it seems like she is watching them because of their slim figures, because she reconsiders the piece of cake she was going to eat. Silvia, no.

Silvia is very upset about the hotties at the party and Sana says there only would have been four people there and reassures her that she’s beautiful, awwww. But Silvia is upset about some Argentinean girl, who I assume is an apex hottie that she fears will outshine her, perhaps?

Silvia waves at Edoardo, who ignores her. You know, Edoardo’s apology to Silvia would feel more genuine if he acted like a baseline decent human being toward her instead of refraining from basic politeness because OH NO he has to shake her off his back (except when he can exploit her interest for his own gain).

It’s Italian Eskild! He says that Edoardo’s hair is indeed shit, suggesting Eleonora has told him all about it (something for the Incantava shippers) and I mean, I support him giving Silvia a boost, and I support any dragging of Edoardo, except Edoardo’s hair is like the one thing about him that is not shit.

He takes Silvia to dance and comments about checking her boobs to see if she is a virgin, so this is filling in for S2’s “It’s Britney bitch” moment. I guess they’re going to incorporate some Skam S2 material into this season in order to accommodate for the switch in storylines.

Hey, you know what I could have strongly done without? Filippo grabbing Silvia’s tit out of nowhere. There’s sometimes a tendency for gay men to grope women and get away with it because it’s obviously not sexual, so what’s the problem? Except the problem is that men, no matter what their sexuality, feel like they have unfettered access to women’s bodies. I’m not saying HE’S CANCELED or anything, but it irritated me that they threw in such a small moment that wasn’t needed, especially because this is our introduction to this character. Thanks, I want casual groping to be my initial impression of this guy. (Just to be clear, this dialogue happens in the original, but there is no unauthorized tit-grabbing from Eskild.)

And the fact that this moment went so unremarked upon is a sign of how normalized this behavior is, frankly. But they played it off as a funny moment so it’s okay!! Lol Filippo, you’re supposed to be gay!!!

Incantava shippers get a morsel before Eleonora leaves for London as she and Edoardo share a ~glance.

So Filo is Eleonora’s brother, which is a good way to incorporate his character considering it’s unlikely for Martino or Eleonora to live with a random roommate instead of their families, and they hadn’t set up the Filo character in S2 so his appearance in Martino’s life is going to need to be established quickly. So that makes both the Eleonora-Filo and Martino-Filo relationships more plausible in this culture.

Although lmao, imagine some of Eskild’s S2 scenes now that he and the Noora character are related. I’m sure Eleonora will need to bleach her eyeballs if she walks in on her brother getting his dick sucked to Circle of Life.

Eva catches up to Martino in the kitchen, and the flirtatious vibes are there right away, you know this isn’t going anywhere good. She tries to kiss him, so this is basically that scene from S2 where Eva tries to make out with Isak at a party, except way more awkward because this Eva actually manages to get a few kisses on Martino. Yikes.

Of course he’s not into it, and she’s just like yeah, go to your friends. Go find Gio. She knows where his real interests like. 

Martino answering some random landline is pretty endearing, especially when he has cans of beer he needs to balance to do so.

Him being like “I am not the owner.” Lmao, he’s a sweetie. I suppose this was maybe a neighbor or someone wondering about the noise level and activity at the party, and that was why the police show up later? But I like to imagine that they were filming in this building, the phone rang randomly, and they were like, eh, throw it in.

So now we’re moving into the OG S3 content, with Martino entering the bathroom and sitting in the tub with his friends drinking and getting high.

Elia is the second person to mention the Argentinean girl, so I guess she must be a stone cold babe. Are we ever going to see her? Or will her hotness exist only in legends?

They do the whole song and dance where Martino pretends like these girls aren’t hot enough for him, while the other dudes are not having it. Well, to be fair, he really isn’t into them. I’m not sure what to make of his reactions, because Isak was very performative, and Martino just seems indifferent.

The boys claim to have gotten Fede a present, I wonder what it was? Probably just booze or something?

Lmao I was wondering why this girl would use this random out-of-the-way bathroom, but apparently two dudes are fucking in the other one (what are the odds it’s Filo).

What assholes, get out of the fucking tub for two minutes and let the girl pee in peace! I guess they’re just lazy and stoned, but JFC.

Instead of saying the girl looks like Eleven from Stranger Things, Martino tells her she looks like a frog… I kind of see it? But she’s also a babe, soooo. 

Not gonna lie, I really did not like how they adapted this scene. “We’ll leave you alone to pee but you have to hook up with one of us” is not … cute … like it takes it out of negging teenage asshole territory and gets creepy. Maybe because of the hellscape that has been RL politics for the past few weeks, but I’m not in the mood for any of this boys-will-be-boys shit.

We know that one new dude must be Magnus because he is instantly rejected.

Martino gives the boys the thumbs up once Italian Emma starts making out with him and they’re leaving.

Martino didn’t actually do anything to win over this girl, really? With Isak it was a performance: Emma came in and he made a determined effort to flirt with her, he negged her, he complimented her, he got out of the tub and was more active in his pursuit. All of that was because he was trying to seem straight in front of his friends. Martino, on the other hand, was far more passive. He made the frog comment but that seems less like negging when all four of them are sitting there being dicks to this girl, rather than him alone, and she just happened to choose him out of the four. Isak was putting some effort into it and pretending to be interested until the boys left and things got steamier, but Martino just plain is not trying. He ain’t feeling it.

This is one of the disadvantages of writing recaps episode by episode as they air and not when you can look at the full season, though. Because on the one hand, making Martino more of a passive participant in his fake heterosexuality is fine, but on the other hand, if that’s not their intent - if they’re more or less going to follow Isak’s character arc for him - then I think they missed a big point of this scene in not making Martino pursue this girl more actively. But we don’t know exactly if this is a thoughtful, deliberate choice or an oversight. (For example, in S1 of Skam Italia, several of Eva’s key moments of “who are you?” were eliminated, Gio’s skate park speech was rewritten with a different focus, etc. which made me wonder about her character arc. It could have worked if they had intentionally made these changes to arrive at a different conclusion, but in the end Eva’s final speech to Gio is the same, the arc is supposed to be the same even though crucial points have been left out, and it didn’t feel as strong. So it’s hard to say whether Martino’s character is supposed to be written with subtle differences that change his characterization, or if they don’t realize how small edits can affect the perception of this character.)

I am a little alarmed that the girl goes for the blowjob like immediately after choosing Martino? Isak was hardcore flirting with Emma so it made more sense she was trying to do that with him. With this girl, she’s just trying to pee and some random guy’s like “Hook up with one of us and we’ll leave you be” and she’s like, “Sounds like a plan!” Damn girl, didn’t you need to really use the toilet? But you’re going to stop to blow him? Okay.

Eva is stumped by seeing that Martino was in the bathroom with a girl,  probably moreso because he just rejected her upstairs. Well, this girl isn’t his best friend’s ex, sooooo it makes a smidge more sense, Martino’s sexuality aside.

Incantava moment: Edoardo brings up the deal with the apology to Silvia, so that made it into this remake. Part of the deal was to erase the wall of conquests - smart of Eleonora - and I guess Edo did that, hopefully, but he also reminds her that she agreed to a date.

What a power move of Eleonora to go to England to avoid this date.

At least Edo was not pursuing her prior to this, apparently. It would be a shame if they suddenly had him pressure her into a date in Eleonora’s season.

Okay, I realize that Martino didn’t appear to have the best options to hide his weed,  but he’s really just gonna put it in a box on the railing where it could easily get knocked over the balcony or blown away or something? Lmao.

The scene of the boys running away from the cops was cute and had that “reckless youth enjoying the night” vibe.

So Martino clearly still has Giovanni feelings, and Giovanni is going to be crashing at his place tonight. Look at that hand on Martino’s shoulder, probably burning through his shirt. I like perhaps acknowledging the idea that all this casual affection between guys in this culture can take on a hidden toll for a closeted gay kid.

Martino mentions that his mom is freaking out, so they’re openly acknowledging Martino’s mom situation in front of the other guys (when Isak was less open about it) and Giovanni gives him a hug that fucks Martino up. It seemed like Martino didn’t want Giovanni to come over, probably both because of his crush and because of his mom situation.

Clip 2 - Sad boy slumber party

Martino wakes up and stares at Giovanni, who’s still sleeping. Martino is not on the bed, but on the floor, ostensibly because Giovanni threw him off the bed but really because he doesn’t want to be so close to Giovanni. He pointedly turns down Giovanni’s invitation to get back in the bed. This is a really delicate situation; this is such a casual thing for Giovanni that he doesn’t even think about it, but for Martino it’s this extremely loaded scenario that comes with dangers, so better not risk it.

Eva calls and wants to talk to Martino, but he can’t since he’s with Giovanni. Giovanni says that he’s been trying to get back together with Eva, and making a fool out of himself, so Martino is certainly not enjoying about this reminder that Giovanni likes girls, Giovanni loved (loves?) Eva, it will never be Giovanni and Martino in the way he wants. Also, awkward of course because Eva tried to kiss Martino, which says a lot about how she thinks of Giovanni - probably not keen to get back with him if she can make a move on his best friend, even when drunk.

Okay, I have a deeply unpopular opinion and that is: while Skam Italia’s cinematography is often visually impressive, at times it does not work with the material it’s supposed to be conveying. It’s not style over substance, but style against substance. There are several examples, but to go into one now: why the fuck is the lighting so dark in certain moments. Whyyyyyy.

And before you tell me, I do know why the director is perhaps doing this. It’s supposed to reflect Martino’s state of mind, it’s supposed to make things seem bleak, it’s supposed to contrast with the sunnier scenes such as later in the episode with Niccolò, etc. etc. The problem is that I do not think it is effective for the format of this show. Here’s the thing: we are supposed to be in Martino’s POV for a reason. His reactions should not be hidden from us, this audience, and to me the lighting is a barrier from getting closer to him and getting fully into his mindset. Like, the camera should be eating this shit up! Give me all the microexpressions! Federico Cesari is doing a nice job of acting so far and it bugs me that the lighting is obscuring some of his facial expressions. Now it makes sense for ambiguity on the part of say, Niccolò, who will be keeping secrets for most of the season (based on Even’s role) but this is Martino’s season, and we as the audience should be deep into his head every step of the way. This is supposed to be an immersive experience. There is zero reason to obscure Martino’s reactions from the audience. Martino may have a barrier between him and his friends, his family, his schoolmates, society at large - but not us, the viewers. (And not just the lighting, but for example, that his face is shot in profile for part of this scene, which again doesn’t give us a full range of Martino’s reactions, or the amount of distance between the camera and Martino at times. Even if you can assume what Martino is thinking and feeling enough that you don’t need really clear reaction shots, it’s like there’s a gap and we’re not supposed to get too close.) 

Like obviously this cinematography is working for people, and if it is for you, great! If this were a different show, I could be fine with it. But not with a series that is supposed to put me fully into this character’s head, not keep me at a distance.

Covitti is the girl from the bathroom? She’s followed Martino on IG. I feel like, if they’re doing a repeat of Emma’s involvement, then it doesn’t work as well as to why she’d suddenly be interested in Martino. With Isak, there was something karmic about it, because he blatantly pursued when he met her, and it’s like he reaped what he sowed, you know? Don’t get me wrong, he absolutely did not deserve the much later repercussions with Emma outing him, but the immediate aftermath of him flirting with Emma showed that his actions had consequences. He couldn’t just make out with this girl for the benefit of an audience and then drop her. With Martino, he was so much more passive with Covitti, that it feels less earned. I mean he’s very cute, but him being doggedly pursued by her doesn’t have as much to do with his characterization, unless the point is that he refuses to put his foot down and reject her. (A valid characterization choice! But hopefully an intentional one.)

We get to see Martino’s mom and on the one hand, it’s pretty cool that she’s around in this version, but on the other hand, goddamn am I apprehensive about how they will depict her.

Martino really does not want to eat lunch with her. Apparently they have chicken and potatoes four times a week. Credit to Giovanni, he acts normal and is polite to Martino’s mom and is eager to eat with her.

Eva apologizes for trying to kiss Martino. So Giovanni is trying to get back with Eva and Eva made a move on Martino. Awkward! Eva is also probably dying to bring up the topic of that girl in the bathroom with Martino, let’s be real.

Giovanni chides Martino for being an asshole and says if he didn’t treat his mom like shit, maybe he would help her! Hey, no offense, Giovanni, but fuck off. I agree that Martino was not nice to his mom, I agree that he should treat her better. But Giovanni is a visitor. He is a guest in this household. He doesn’t know shit about what it’s like to live there or what’s the best course of action. No, actually it’s not as easy being kind to someone and it’ll fix their mental illness.

If I sound weirdly pissed about this, it’s because I am speaking as someone who has been a caretaker to a mentally ill parent. One of the most frustrating things was when people who were completely outside of my situation told me how to deal with it. It’s fucking easy to think you have the answers when you don’t live in this situation, when you have the freedom to go back to your own home when shit gets really rough. When you likely haven’t seen a loved one at their worst. 

To clarify, this isn’t necessarily a flaw of the show, just an area where I think a character is flawed. But I would hate for Giovanni’s POV to be validated. Of course Martino should not treat his mother poorly, but he needs to do that on his own, not because some outsider who has no idea what is going on in this house thinks so.

Anyway. Shut the fuck up, Gio. 

Eva also doesn’t want Martino to tell Gio, so you know Gio is going to find out at some point. Here’s the thing: if this drama is more along the lines of ~ooo Eva kissed Martino and he didn’t tell Gio and Gio feels BETRAYED when he finds out~ then it sounds tedious and exactly the kind of drama I don’t want. It’s not necessary, it’s honestly a very low-stakes situation. However, if it’s more of a lead-in to S1’s drama being revealed, and Gio learns about what happened with Martino ratting out Eva, that would be interesting. I’d be very interested in seeing where it goes. I think the writers have to know that this would be the most compelling aspect, so here’s hoping.

Not gonna lie, one thing I liked about S3 was the lack of heterosexual relationship drama (other than what directly serviced Isak and Even’s relationship), and I don’t want this season to stray too far into Eva/Gio stuff. Though I realize that by switching S2 and S3, they probably feel like they have to account for their relationship.

In S2 of the original, we saw the remnants of Eva/Jonas more on Eva’s side, through Noora’s eyes. Eva told herself she was over Jonas and they were just friends, but we could see that wasn’t totally true. With this season, though, we’ll probably see Eva/Giovanni more through Giovanni’s eyes, because even if Martino is Eva’s friend, he’s Giovanni’s best friend.

Clip 3 - The Phantom Clitoris

Lmao, Luca being like “Guess what happened to me” and Gio being like “Did you put an egg in the microwave again?” (I mean, you can cook eggs in a microwave even if it’s not the best way!)

Luca hooked up with a girl! If we believe him. She didn’t have a clitoris! Except he didn’t know what it was called. I don’t know whether to think that if it he didn’t know what it was called, he probably didn’t know how to look for one, or that he’s straight up lying. But this is interesting because Jonas was the one who went down on girls in the original and had this dialogue, and then Magnus was the virgin seeking wisdom from Isak, and here apparently Luca is already banging girls? Or he’s pretending to.

Martino sees Niccolò for the first time! Niccolò is adorable. He’s got the Even denim jacket and a nice smile. Sana and Silvia are shown going up to him while he’s talking to another dude.

Luca is like, I watched a 20-minute porn tutorial of how to eat a girl out. No offense bro, but I doubt you were in a very studious mindset during that. Or maybe he was! Maybe he made flashcards.

Martino gets a text from his dad about having dinner “with us” and I’m guessing that his dad has a new girlfriend or something, because it’s kinda weird to text your kid “have dinner with us?” about both his parents when his dad left his mom.

Silvia and Sana come up, Elia brings up the girl with no clitoris to them (why was that the first thing out of your mouth, dude), and Silvia mentions that she and Sana are now in charge of the radio. So this is our kosegruppa! I wonder if the radio itself will have more plot relevance for the season.

The guys are conveniently too busy to help on Thursday! But Sana thinks they’ll be helping soon enough.

For a moment I thought Luca was frightened by Silvia and saw that as a point toward Luca/Silvia happening, since it would be in line with Magnus’ sado-Vilde dreams, but then I was like, oh right, he probably means Sana, lol. (Silvia is way less intimidating than Vilde. Silvia is cheerful, Vilde was sugar layered over a core of menace when she pitched kosegruppa to the guys.)

Martino checks out Niccolò again, because who wouldn’t, and Niccolò is talking to the other guy … maybe Niccolò is flirting with that guy?

The boys suggest smoking a joint but Martino didn’t get the weed back yet, so the boys are bummed, but Gio keeps his disappointment restrained to a few jovial  throttles of Martino’s neck. Martino dies inside and tries not to develop a choking kink.

Niccolò did not look at Martino in this clip, there’s no evidence he saw him in this scene, and he was in fact preoccupied with conversation with another dude. So ... has Niccolo seen Martino yet? In an “I saw you the first day of school” way? Because with that knowledge in mind, in the original we could look back at Even’s first appearance in the cafeteria and see that he had obviously grabbed a seat with a good view of Isak and was sitting there alone, possibly sketching him. I guess you could say that Niccolò was standing there to get Martino’s attention, maybe even trying to make him jealous by talking to another guy, but that seems .... really convoluted. If they do include the “I saw you the first day of school” line, they should have had Niccolò look at Martino for even a brief moment. It didn’t even need to be eye contact! Like you could show Niccolò looking toward Martino when he’s out of focus, as a background event, a little Easter egg for the eagle-eyed viewer.

This is one of those original clip comparisons, so hold on to your butts. In the original clip, the way the scene is shot and acted combines multiple details to demonstrate Isak’s alienation from the other boys. Tarjei’s acting shows that he is disconnected from this conversation - he’s picking at his sandwich, checking his phone, he’s not really engaged with the cat tongue/clitoris talk. He has a few mild smiles but his facial expressions and body language show he’s checked out. He doesn't participate in that conversation at all, actually, other than a look or two. There’s no dialogue from him. And the camera contributes to this impression that he’s withdrawn: it’s often just on Isak with the conversation coming from off screen, rather than showing him in the shots with the guys. It shows him alone instead of showing him connected to the group. When it does show him with the group, he’s not reacting to them much. So when he hears a boy's laugh, it seems plausible that it would get attention as the boys’ conversation is not holding his interest.

With this clip, Martino might make a comment like "Oh no, don't tell us your dirty story" but he is otherwise very engaged in this conversation. He leans into it, he's listening, his face makes him seem eager. He's frequently shown in the shot with the other guys, part of the group rather than isolated. Gio repeatedly looks back at him and shares looks with him so there’s something reciprocal happening. Martino speaks to Luca and he high fives him. He's just a definite participant in this conversation, so there isn't much of a feel of alienation here. I mean, we know he's gay, and maybe we can assume that his participation in this conversation is forced or half-hearted, but that's not coming through in how it's portrayed. And I like Federico, I think he's one of the better actors on the show, but I also think he's playing it too comfortably, though I blame Bessegatto more for that since his direction is what guides the performance. It seems like Martino's a nice guy with some friends, who doesn't seem too detached this conversation and who seems totally fine with looking at a cute guy over there. Not much of an internal struggle. Not much of an external struggle either, really. 

It felt like there were missed opportunities. For example, when Martino says he doesn’t want Luca’s TMI, and Gio is like, “Yes we do, don’t listen to him,” we don’t even get a reaction shot from Martino to see how that affects him? We could have seen him annoyed, or exasperated, or uninterested in this conversation. We could have seen him drifting and doing something with his body language to indicate he’s not comfortable, and then THAT is when he sees Niccolò, because his mind is already wandering. Not when he’s engaged in this conversation. Or keep in Luca asking Martino about going girls and wanting to know how Martino finds the clitoris, and Martino having to struggle to answer that when the boys are all looking at him.

I mean, again, it makes me wonder what they’re going to do with Martino’s characterization because they’re playing up his struggles with his attraction to Gio, but he does not seem to be struggling as much with the public performance of liking girls. Or even perhaps the internal conflict of liking boys. And that would be fine except it seems like it should be. Martino was the one who introduced the idea of liking Eva back in S1, before Eva had even suggested it herself. He was definitely on the defense then, so what’s going on now? 

Also, Isak glanced at Even and Even looked back, which made Isak look away. Julie pointedly did not show Even again in that clip because Isak was clamping down on his attraction and forcing himself not to look. Martino allows himself a second glance. It frames the scene way more comfortably.

Clip 4 - Fede almost had it all

12:12 ...it begins...

Martino sees Fede and Sana, so he approaches them. He calls them “rays of sunshine,” which is cute! Though he’s totally doing it to butter them up so he gets his stash back.

LMAO I love the part where Federica is like, I found a drill, who brings a drill to a party? (Someone you pray to God remains sober.)

He asks if he can come over and Federica chokes on her drink. She’s really cute in this scene. Honestly, she didn’t make a ton of impression on me in S1 compared to other girl Chrises from the remakes, but I enjoyed her here a lot, she’s sweet.

They can “study” together in the living room because Fede’s parents are gone. Oh babe, I think you’ll be disappointed at the amount of actual learnin’ that would take place were such a study session to take place.

Sana sits there texting Martino that she has his weed while he’s right there next to her. I guess Fede was just really excited by the prospect of having Martino in her house, but did she really not notice that Sana was texting and Martino just so happened to receive a text at the same time?

Sana saying that it’s “a friend of her brother’s” who has Martino’s “necklace.” Is that an actual nod toward Niccolò or just a coincidence? If she means Niccolò, then why is she bringing him up?

Like I know people like this theory, but I don’t think it makes sense that Sana was trying to hook up Isak and Even all along (or Martino and Niccolò if the circumstances are the same), because how does that explain her reactions to being asked about Islam’s view of homosexuality, or to Isak being outed? Of course they could be going for a diferent approach in this remake.

Federica is really adorable freaking out over how she ALMOST had Martino within her grasp. Poor girl, I’m sorry to tell you that your day is never coming. (Lmao, I guess one day a remake could swap out Emma for Isak hooking up with the Chris character? I mean Chris >>>>> Emma, but then I’d feel so bad for her.)

Clip 5 - Here we gooooooooo

So the carrot cake (made by Silvia) suuuuucks. Martino’s disgusted face is pretty good.

The girl squad is trying to Skype with Eleonora. Meanwhile Martino sits there by himself, not having a great time. As a contrast to the girl squad who are laughing and having fun, Martino is on his own because his dumbass friends ditched him.

Sana wants Martino to let them use his Internet connection to continue the Skype call, he’s like lmao, she’s ditching you guys on purpose. Gonna go out on a limb and say that he’s projecting.

Tbh I do think it’s odd that they wrote out Eleonora so much if they didn’t need to. Like I know people think they switched S2 and S3 for dramatic, important reasons, but I get the feeling it was just a matter of actor availability. I could be wrong!

That random curly-haired dude at the meeting is the true star of this clip. He was INTO everything that was happening.

SIlvia says it took forever to make her cake. And it still sucks, apparently. Good thing that the girls never seemed to get her pineapple cake from S1? Was Silvia behind the Jell-O disaster, too?

She doesn’t want another piece, which might be another hint at her ED, but the cake is garbage soooo maybe she just has taste buds and a self-preservation instinct, IDK.

It’s actually intriguing that Silvia seems to be baking cakes for people and yet she monitors her own eating so closely.

Lmao at there being dead noise when Martino sees Niccolò enter the room. Everything fades except this smiley hottie. (For a second I was like “is he flat-lining?”)

Niccolò walked in with some other people, including Covetti. He sits on the table beside Martino. Martino keeps glancing at him but Niccolò will NOT glance at Martino. Again, if they’re going to go with “I saw you the first day of school,” I don’t think they set it up that well. It’s fine if they don’t, but there are really no fun “extras” you get from these scenes with that reveal. In both of his scenes Niccolò has been hanging out with other people, he’s not glancing at Martino. There’s no foreshadowing. You can be like oh, Niccolò positioned himself outside the school for Martino to see, he DELIBERATELY didn’t look at Martino for reasons! But that’s not very enjoyable on a rewatch.

The way Martino begrudgingly greets that Uglydoll or whatever is the best part of the episode.

Covitti notices Martino looking over at Niccolo, by the way.

Okay, WHO IS THAT BLUE-HAIRED GIRL. Like it seems as if she would make a good Sonja, she reminds me a little of Theresa. 

Covitti whispers something to Martino but we don’t know what.

“Bad story about Chicco Rodi” Who was that? I vaguely remember the name from S1? Oh wait, was he the guy who got the award for worst attendance? I hope that “tutorial” is foreshadowing for Martino and Niccolò breaking into the school at some point.

Silvia comes across as positively chill compared to Vilde. It must be Osvaldo’s influence.

Why is Covitti even there, since she’s not interested in what Silvia’s saying? To stalk Martino? How did she know he would be there? Emma knew Isak was going to be there because of signups, were there signups for this? (This is nitpicky and I’m sure that’s what they meant, it’s just that they’re skipping over some parts where her motivations become clear.)

Martino: Sorry I have to take this totally real and not at all imaginary call!!!!!

Wow, no finesse, just like our man Isak.

Martino’s fake phone call is pretty funny, like he lets it go on way longer than necessary.

He plops down in a chair in the radio room and then he starts talking to himself and pretending to be on the radio. I really do like the idea of Martino finding his voice through the radio, literally and metaphorically. And actually, when he starts speaking by himself, he sounds pretty good to me! Confident, composed, his voice sounds good, the words come easy. So maybe this is a move from him being passive to speaking up for himself.

That shot of Martino, fractured in the glass, when Niccolò turns on the light is fabulous. Showing how Niccolò’s introduction is going to break apart Martino’s sense of self. And Niccolò‘s image is clear and whole so Martino perhaps sees him as this cool, confident dude who’s got his shit together. So he thinks. (Plus Niccolò literally turns on the light on and all.)

Niccolò says it’s a shame Martino stopped talking, basically, and they laugh about Silvia’s dry-ass cake.

Niccolò has a shitty ancient phone? Would that play into his avoidance of social media because of his manic episode? Since you can’t post to IG/FB/any apps from one of those. Or is he just a hipster who hates technology? Or something else? 

Lol, I didn’t have to wait long before the “breaking into the school” prophecy was fulfilled. They end up climbing into a part of the school that’s closed.

Beautiful view on the roof, obviously. I guess for O Helga Natt, Martino is going to run and find Niccolò here, maybe? And then he’ll be in the radio room instead? Will they stare at each other from behind the glass? 

Niccolò asks if Martino knows Silvia, and he says no, she’s a friend of a friend. Niccolò asks which one, so he’s probably wondering if Martino is good pals with Sana.

Niccolò notes that Martino doesn’t seem happy to be there, and neither does Niccolò. Taking him at his word, he’s doing this as part of school-work interchange. So I guess he didn’t show up just to meet Martino? Again, I have no problem with that changing that (I loved it with Evak but I’m fine with them not repeating it), I just want them to do a good job of foreshadowing if they do go with that.

We get the conversation about Niccolò being from a different school, but there’s no line (as in the original) where Isak notes with some incredulity that he transferred during his last year, so there isn’t as much of a hint that something happened to Niccolò, provided they are still keeping in his backstory. (I think he’s still in his final year?)

The camera gets very close up in the boys’ faces as they talk about more personal topics, THANK GOD. Like I do think the coldness and distance in other clips is intentional, I just don’t think it works with this show, but at least we can get warmer, closer scenes when necessary.

Covitti (whose first name is Emma, by the way) shows up and literally comes between them. They do the whole thing where Martino “introduces” Niccolò to Emma, except they’re not trying to pretend they’re already partners to avoid her. 

“Fares” means horseman or knight in Arabic, so I guess Niccolò is going to be Martino’s knight in shining armor? Or fight for him? That would explain his flipbook in the trailer with stick figure Niccotino on a horse.

Covitti isn’t very awkward as a person. She and Niccolò have a polite, maybe even flirty conversation when filtered through certain jealous ears; it’s Martino who suddenly feels like a third wheel. Covitti is still making eyes at Martino, though. Niccolò says he and Martino will stay back and smoke, which pleases Martino, but she invites herself to smoke with them. It’s awkward but way less so that with Isak, Even, and Emma, in my opinion, maybe because Covitti seems like she’s enjoying herself even if the boys aren’t. 

The poppy indie song at the end of the clip feels out of place. Like if they wanted to emphasize the awkwardness, they should have just ended in a stranger song or complete silence to drive home how Martino did not want her there. If they wanted to use this song to emphasize Martino’s crush, show closeups of Martino glancing at Niccolò with the sunlight bouncing off his face without including Covitti in there. 

Oh god. Don’t kill me for this. Okay. So we have Niccolò’s introduction in this clip, obviously, and I like him in the sense that he's a friendly guy with an utterly beautiful smile. But I felt like they made him just like ... a really nice, smiley guy, in a way that was one-note. And I’m NOT criticizing the actor’s abilities, because I’ve seen his acting clips from other projects and I think he could do justice to the character. This is more about directorial decisions.

Part of the reason I love Even is because he’s fucking strange. Sure, he’s Isak’s dream boy with his denim jacket and styled hair, and he’s got a smile like the sun, and he just feels cool, but he’s also a bouncy, twitchy weirdo coursing with energy. In his first clip he makes a HELL of an impression and it’s by pulling a bizarre stunt in the bathroom with paper towels and then by making a blowjob joke as one of his first lines to Isak. Now I don’t think every Even of the remakes need to do that, not at all, but Even felt like a really specific character to me, someone who was weird and strongly himself and presented in a way that made us fall for him piece by piece. And one fear I have about the remakes is that they’ll remove some of his weirdness to make him more of a general artsy hipster type who gets along with the Isak. (Or maybe him an artsy hipster asshole, but that’s another story.)

I feel bad because I do actually want to love Niccolò I think the actor is tremendously adorable and enthusiastic about is role, and I think he can make Niccolò into someone specific and memorable. But the way this scene was directed and performed, it felt like Bessegatto told Rocco to be charming by smiling a lot. And I mean, he DOES have a great smile, but Niccolò has the same amused, benign friendliness the whooooole clip, and my gut feeling was that they were trying too hard to make us like him and eliminating anything that might make the character off-putting, which is unfortunately some of what makes the character compelling, especially this early on as he should be something of a mystery both for Martino and the audience. 

Where this approach would have worked more for me is if Niccolò was this unstoppable force of sunshine against Martino’s constant grumpy iciness, and he couldn’t help but melt in the face of it. But the thing is, Martino isn’t a constant grump who’s freezing people out. He’s actually pretty friendly to people. So it was like radiant sunshine against slightly less radiant sunshine, and there wasn’t a lot like I felt I could mull over, IDK. 

And yes yes I know this is only the first clip. Niccolò has tons of time to make himself into a distinctive, memorable character. I’m aware of that. But I don’t want to lie about my reaction. 

General Comments/Social Media:

Continuing with Martino’s crush on Giovanni makes sense considering only a few months have passed. Though it should be said that I never thought Isak getting over Jonas from S1 to S3 without any elaboration was like .. a flaw of the show? It depends on how deep you think Isak’s feelings were. Personally I never saw him as in love with Jonas, I saw it as an intense crush, compounded by Isak’s bad home life so that Jonas, his best friend who was always there for him, was someone who really made his life better at the time, and whose attention he craved.

There was almost a year between the end of S1 and the start of S3, and during that time, Isak had seen Jonas go from Eva to other girls, so I’m sure it sunk in that Jonas wasn’t suddenly going to go for him just because Eva was out of the picture. And Isak had moved out of his parents’ home so there was less of an immediately chaotic situation where he was more dependent on Jonas for support. I mean he’s clearly not in a great place at the start of S3, but he was able to get some independence and distance from his parents. I think his life was more stable on a day-to-day basis. So it’s not hard to see how Isak’s crush would have faded with those factors in mind. Martino, on the other hand, has had less time to get over Giovanni, Giovanni perhaps has not moved on to other girls since he’s still trying to get with Eva, and Martino is still probably depending on him for more emotional support since he has to deal with a more directly stressful environment at home.

In the texts, Giovanni refers to Sana as “Sana Escobar” in reference to her taking the weed. Pablo Escobar is obviously extremely well-known on his own, but I do think it’s a nod to all the Narcos/Escobar mentions in Isak’s season. Or at least they took inspiration there.

Elia is apparently one hell of a dumbass according to an essay he wrote that showed up on IG.

I wonder if they’re going to swap out the Grindr clip with Eskild for the first meeting with Filippo. I really do wonder how that relationship will come across, because I know people are excited about seeing them meet (and I am too) but the thing is, a big part of what made Isak and Eskild’s relationship in S3 meaningful was that they had months of trust to be established between them. Eskild saw Isak repressing his sexuality for months, and when Isak finally came out to him, there was pride in seeing this kid’s long journey to acceptance. We also got plenty of little scenes between them so the dynamic wasn’t just a big dramatic thing, we saw the casual side of their relationship. So I’m not sure how they can replicate that with a relationship that cannot help but have less buildup.

Niccolò is a pianist and there’s a video of him playing on YouTube! I’m really glad they incorporated the actor’s talents into the character and gave him his own artistic skill to make him a little different from Even. I assume that Martino will find the piano video and watch that endlessly. And it’ll be fun if Martino is all convinced Niccolò is a serious classical music snob but then Niccolò is like, “YES, this is my JAM” over a cheesy pop song.

One big problem I have is that it feels like a lot of potential for conflict or tension (both internal and external) is being minimized across various relationships, in multiple situations. It just feels safer for Martino despite him still going through some major problems that Isak was not at this point, and so it really shouldn’t. And that makes it harder to get involved in his POV or to immerse ourselves in his struggles. For example:

The boy squad isn't angry or annoyed with Martino for losing the weed, they're just kind of like lol, get it back. 

Sana and Martino don't clash with as much tension, and does Sana even explain why she’s holding onto Martino’s weed instead of giving it back? Sana B. was disgusted that Isak left the weed in Eva’s house where Eva could get in trouble if it was found; Sana A. is just doing it to be sassy, so far? Knowing that she found Isak’s actions distasteful upped the animosity of the Sana-Isak relationship, whereas Sana-Martino doesn’t have that element. I mean it’s certainly a reasonable inference that Sana is mad at him for potentially getting Fede in trouble, but it’s not a clear motivation. Martino doesn’t know why she’s randomly holding on to his weed. Does he think she’s doing it because she’s Muslim and disapproves? Because she wants it for herself? Just to torment him?

Italian Emma comes across way more of a chill, tolerable girl than Nowegian Emma and less of a persistent nuisance causing him stress just by existing.

Martino is less alienated and uncomfortable and more like a chill dude who likes to look at guys. The boys talking about going down on girls doesn’t make him uninterested and detached from the situation, he just mildly protests about TMI but continues to engage. He can look at Niccolò without having to make himself look away. He puts up less of a show to perform heterosexuality than Isak.

Martino doesn’t want to get involved in the radio show, except when he’s left alone he starts talking into a mic and pretending he’s on the radio, suggesting that it is of interest to him even if he’s not into Silvia’s leadership or whatever (as opposed to Isak who just didn’t want to deal with kosegruppa).

Even the Martino and Niccolò meeting had them bantering right away, practically as soon as they spoke, rather than encountering any moments of uncertainty or confusion, no time where they had to find their groove. And people are going to be like “They got along right away when Isak and Even didn’t!” when the reason Isak and Even were a little awkward at first was not because they clashed but because they were attracted to each other. Isak was shy about talking to a cute boy and taken aback by Even’s approach; Even was overwhelmed about talking to the boy he’d liked for weeks. It’s also a mark of how genuine Isak’s interest was: with Emma he was all slick and insincere, with Even he was real and tongue-tied. I mean, think about episode 2 and what a great moment it is when Isak runs into Even on the tram and they fumble for words at first. It’s so good! It’s human and real. It’s vulnerable, especially from Isak’s POV since we know how hard he has been pining over the last week, but also from Even’s POV especially when you know he’s liked Isak for a long time. The thing with Martino and Niccolò is that they settle into conversation so instantly, without any bumps, that I don’t think I would buy a moment like that happening. It’s not like I expect them to immediately become best friends but it would feel strange after this scene. And personally, it’s not like this relationship needs to develop the same as Isak/Even, but it’s good to leave some room for build-up from a narrative perspective. That’s why it’s so satisfying when Isak goes from barely being able to speak to Even to getting so comfortable with him that he can joke around and laugh with him. Like, let Martino say the wrong thing, or not know what to say, or make a mistake, so he can earn that more comfortable place with Niccolò, or so we can savor the moments that show him as vulnerable. (I mean, did people not enjoy Isak and Even being shy around each other? Because the awkwardness, the long silent pauses, the fumbling for what to say ... I ate that shit up. I loved it.)

Now on their own, it’s not wrong for any of these plot threads or scenes to go more smoothly. But do you see how cumulatively, they don’t contribute that much to creating a stressful internal and external climate for Martino? He’s just so much milder about everything, and the people around him are milder to him, and from a dramatic perspective it’s not as engaging.

I mean fandom does this thing where it’s like “These characters get along better! Things are Softer! Cinnamon rolls!! It’s an improvement!!!” but that’s not ... actually great from a narrative standpoint. We’re at the beginning of Martino’s story and it makes more sense to emphasize what a shit place he’s in so we can build him up over the season. 

The conflict that IS there, and felt like it had more of a presence on screen when it was addressed, is Martino still having feelings for Giovanni and Martino’s issues with his parents. I’m not sure how much farther they’ll take Martino’s crush on Gio, since now Niccolò is in the picture, but they’ll likely have Martino keeping secrets from Giovanni that are Eva-related. And we have Martino living with his mother and dealing with her problems, but I felt like that should have been more emphasized in this premiere episode and not just one clip, since it’s really fucking huge. It’s not a problem he can kind of repress like Isak because Isak can just ignore his mom’s texts. Martino has to go home and deal with it every day. (Like I would have put the radio/weed stuff for episode 1 and kick off with Martino’s parental problems and meeting Filippo, since that should set sooo much of the stage for this season, emotionally.)

I’ve also seen the idea that this season will focus more on Martino dealing with external homophobia than internalized homophobia, and that’s certainly a good idea, but then they really should have hit the ground running with that theme. Show the boy squad making casually homophobic comments, show him fearing what his mom will say. Show some random assholes making gay jokes about Filippo at the party and Martino overhears. 

I think they’re doing the meeting with Filippo in episode 2, so hopefully we get more meat to Martino’s conflicts.

I sound like I’m being negative, probably, but I’m aware this is only episode 1, and there’s plenty more to come. There are things that I do like, such as Filippo being Eleonora’s brother and the introduction of the radio. I think those could be really cool for the season. And I’m still intrigued by everything else, because this is S3 and of course I’m wondering how they’ll adapt it!

Please feel free to correct me if I missed or misinterpreted anything!

If you got this far, thank you for reading! Especially if you disagreed with me, lol.

[ot5]

@tllthesundies HAPPY BIRTHDAY BITCH!!!🎉💖🌸💞🎂✨💌💖💞💗🎊🎉🍾💗🎂💕💖✨🎊💖🌹🍾🎉💘💕💌🌻❤️✨🌷💞🎉❤️💝🎂💘

so for this special occasion i used my amazing photoshop paint skills to make u this taylourry manip since there’s an unfortunate lack of those:/ they’re baking you three (3) cakes how great is that😫 louis, of course, asked ‘how do you whisk’ all three times and taylor n harry just shared a look and fondly rolled their eyes at him. i like to imagine they were singing along to britney classics and also laughing about how louis’ album and lyrics will shake us to our core bc they live for that drama👀 and cant wait to watch us freak out. of course at some point louis started throwing flour at taylor &harry which ended up in a messy kitchen fight.

thanks for reading my mini taylourry fic excuse the lack of angst i kno you live for that shit but anyways as i was saying, happy birthday bith! i hope u have a great one!! i cant believe you've turned 20 today🤧 you were already settling down at the old age of 19 an now you’re entering the final Grandma stage *kylie jenner dabbing tears.gif* as an og violin i feel blessed to have followed ur journey and  watched you grow up & to have experienced ur crazy crackhead days which i lowkey miss sometimes it was truly a blast with ur shit posts and you saying things that still haunt me in my sleep. since im getting Sentimental™ you know what else i miss in this chilis today? you getting asks & Interacting on here bc i recall thats what started my soft spot for u. you’re [louis voice] genuinely Genuinely one of the sweetest people ive seen on here like everytime you called someone crouton or replied with a row of heart emoji’s my heart grew 10 sizes bigger💗💗 i hate that my memory is shit and there’s no blog/archive anymore(rip in pieces we’ll get to that later) that i can search thru for those Receipts but i know not one (1) mean word has ever left your mouth, or keybord in this case, those are the Facts #confirmed by me! even back in the day when i was blissfully unaware of any drama and this hellsite was just a happy place u still stood out to me bc when you answered asks or whatever you were just so nice! kind! and sweet! and funny too i feel like u raised me on memes (i also appreciate that u tolerate me w my crusty sense of humor and memes from 2013) and tbh when i saw you were younger than me i was Shook bc you felt like an older sister to me with wise words and just this calm&kind presence on tumblr dot com where everyone always takes offense u were idk the word..... rational/nuanced/patient/understanding? ive thought it many times before but if everyone here were a bit more like you this place would be a nice valley filled with blossoming flowers sawying in a gentle breeze on a warm spring day🌻🌷🌸 (i know u prefer fall so u can represent a Quality Leaf too if u want and i’ll ship you w niall #neaf) anyway as my melancholic ass was saying, i sometimes miss @harryandlouisofficial /harryandlouisau? idk you’ve had your fair share of changes(as i was searching through my own blog for a certain pic i came across some deactivated urls that i think were yours lsdknvds) but that harryandlouis brand™ was truly You and just such a familiarity on my dash and tbh if i come across any blogs that start w harryandlouis im always side eyeing them for that copyright infringement of intellectual property. Even before we really started talking i already felt like i knew you bc you were always....out there...talking, yellin n sprouting bullshit which was [me as that gif of pam from the office tearing up] beautiful😫 like i didnt even know about the existence of the vampire diaries but u were practically screaming about it on a daily basis and lowkey got me to crush on nina dobrev bc of it also ur love for tom odell, soup, domestic hl, Angst, the midnight memories album, that purple suit harry wore to the late late show, birdy, those literature ppl whose names im not even gonna bother with, and of course taylourry & how do you whisk, they’re all filed under ‘Things That Belong To Violet’ and i kno yelling about thing or reblogging ask memes or doing those tag things doesnt go with ur Brand but i wish it did bc there’s so much i wanna know or ask or just see what you think about things👀 u could make a post saying ‘potato’ and eventho id disagree id still be over here giving a standing ovation

this is getting long im so sorry snlkdfnsld i was going somewhere but im kinda losing the plot. So anyhow the point was that ur an angel! and idk also intimidating to me back in the day? ive sent my fair share of anons (nice ones of course nskldnsf) and i vaguely rmr asking for advice a few times too and you were always so kind n wonderful🤧 and then one day i sent smth nice off anon and you followed me back even with the ugly ass url i had back then lfnvslknsd bless you and now here we are:) so i love getting sentimental and reminiscing about the old days but also know that i admire u for jus deleting and starting afresh! kween of rebranding!👏👏 and this tiddiesundays era feels like ur a professional business woman or maybe more like a professional writer who has that clean & calm aesthetic down to a T and i might’ve turned notifs on so i wont miss that one quality (1) post per day sdlknlksdn i love showing my Love thru liking and rb’ing a lot so you make it hard on me sometimes(rmr when we were each other biggest fans? good times😫) but jus kno my heart’s still beating the same yes thats a sad attempt at a oial ref bc that is also filed under the things that belong to u. i dont wanna like, overwhelm? you bc im sometimes afraid ill b too much but know that im always out here rooting for u &hoping that ur doing great bc this bitch has a lot of love and adoration for u!!💗 i know some v sweet people on here but you are just.....on another level like just your presence here clears my skin and puts a big smile on my face esp when u drag me or vice versa for having certain Opinons (like the 1d album or song discourse) dont @ me but ur truly one of my favorite people. One day when you give me the go ahead im gonna send you that card/letter and i’ll get even sappier (yes thats possible!) i was gonna wish you a sunny day but for some reason u love rain so...i hope it rains:’) or else you can move your ass over here so at least one of us can appreciate the dutch weather also i would toast to you but i think ur still not legally allowed to drink which is also a reason to get ur ass over here bc i feel like you’d be a blast to get drunk with (also shout out to you for indulging me in my wine aunt moments u were truly there for me when no one else was🤧came thru with lyrics to tmh bops faster than lightning ill never forget that!) so to conclude this Essay i lov u & hope u have an amazing birthday *serenades you with tom odell songs*💗💕💖💘💗💕💖💝💗💞💘💕💞💖💕💗💝💖💘💞💕💗

[seomiamiseo]

Crisis Adaptation - Whiteboard Friday

Posted by BritneyMuller

Businesses all over the globe are struggling with new challenges as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. With consumers turning to the internet for the majority of their needs, it's never been more vital to ensure your online presence is easily found and your business updates clearly communicated.

In this special edition of Whiteboard Friday, Britney Muller outlines a checklist that businesses can use to meet the changing needs of consumers and improve visibility for local searches.

Bonus — We've adapted these tips into a free checklist you can download and share:

Get the checklist

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high resolution version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

Hey, Moz fans. Welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. Today we're going over crisis adaptation, and I first have to give a huge shout-out to Miriam Ellis, who really helped me package all of this up to deliver to you today.

If you're not already following Miriam on Twitter, I highly suggest you do. She is a local SEO genius. So let's dive right in. 

Meet your customers where they are

You often hear this phrase in marketing and in SEO about meeting your customers where they are. This might be important now more than ever because the current landscape, it's changed so much.

Listen to your customers & understand how their needs have shifted

In order to better meet your customers where they are, you really first have to listen and understand how their needs have shifted, how have their concerns shifted. What are they searching for now? Just really paying attention and listening online to your current target market.

One of the things I also like to suggest is listen to competitive reviews. Keep an eye on competitive reviews being posted on Google and other spaces to get a gauge of how things have perhaps moved. 

Know where your audience is

This could have also shifted a bit. Whiteboard Friday's OG, Rand Fishkin, launched SparkToro that does exactly that. So you can really deep dive into current data around what your audience is listening to, who they follow, all sorts of great stuff for you to leverage in today's climate.

Connect with potential customers in meaningful ways

Now is a great time to reach out and engage with not only potential customers but current customer base and remind people that you are still here, you're still serving them in various ways. So it's really, really key.

Partner with relevant businesses

I've seen this do really well in some great examples of pivoting, where a fruit delivery company partnered with a bakery to include these free cakes within orders. What a great way to get some visibility for that bakery, and vice versa — they could do different things. I think it's a great time to leverage those relationships and help one another out. I absolutely love that tip. 

Communicate all changes and updates

Now the other big, big priority right now is all around communicating changes and updates to your website visitors. So what do you need to cover?

Changes to hours is so important right now. It's essential that you have that information readily visible to anyone visiting your website, if this applies to you. All forms of availability, video, curbside, no touch delivery, have that information available.

Any expected delays and product availability challenges. This is a really great tip too. 

Sanitation and any adopted safety precautions. 

Payment methods accepted. This can be really helpful in the transaction. 

Any philanthropic efforts that you're doing to help support people in need.

I'm seeing a lot of these show up in banners and readily available information for people visiting websites. I think it's great to consider making sure that this information is easy for people to access. 

Immediately communicate this information:

Set up online orders and catalog inventory/services

In addition to these things, set up online orders. At the very least, catalog your online inventory or services for people to still have that awareness of what you're currently offering.

I would suggest if you're a struggling business and you don't want to go into a huge website build, you can absolutely check out and explore things like Squarespace or Shopify. I would have never thought I would be suggesting these platforms a year ago just because they're not usually great for SEO reasons. But they can do a beautiful job of solving this problem so quickly, and then you can roll out V2 and V3 down the road when you're ready to make those improvements. But I think just getting businesses off the ground is so important right now. 

Add products for free on Google Shopping

This was such a neat thing that Google offered I believe several weeks ago, and it's doing great. What it basically does is it allows you to list products for free on Google Shopping, giving you that extra visibility right now. So if you're an e-commerce brand, definitely check that out. 

Create maps showing delivery radiuses

Miriam had this great idea to create maps showing delivery radiuses, if that applies to you, so really giving someone visiting your site an easy to consume idea of the areas that you serve. Sometimes when you see the ZIP codes, it's a little overwhelming. You have to do a little work. But that's kind of a great idea. 

Routific

Then this was mentioned in a recent GatherUp webinar by Darren Shaw — Routific. So if you are doing local deliveries and they're getting a little out of hand, Routific is a company that creates delivery routes to make them most efficient for you, which I thought was so cool.

I didn't even know that existed. So it's a good little tool tip. 

Double down on SEO and content marketing

I absolutely loved Mike King's post on this — I think it was a couple weeks ago — where he explains why economic downturns favor the bold. It's brilliant. There are incredible use cases around this, and we'll link to that down below. 

Someone who has impressed the heck out of me the last couple of weeks is Kristin Tynski — I hope I'm saying that right — over at Fractl. She is going above and beyond to create content pieces that are not only genius but are link building opportunities, apply to various clients, and use traditional journalism tactics to gather offline, unique data to present online. I highly suggest you pay attention to what Kristin is up to. She is a genius. Kristin, we have to meet sometime. I'm a huge fan of you. Keep up the great work. 

Local & Google My Business

Now let's dive into some GMB stuff. While this might not apply to you if you're not a local business, I think there are still things to take away for larger companies that also either have a local listing or just to be aware of.

So here's an example of Uptown China Restaurant, a local Chinese restaurant. It's awesome in Queen Anne, and it's going to be our example. So what's the first thing? 

Correct any GMB errors

Just correct any GMB errors. Make sure that the current data shown and information is correct and up to date.

Update hours to remove warning

Then this is probably my favorite hack of all, from Joy Hawkins, about this warning that we see on all businesses currently, because of the pandemic, that says hours or services may differ. You can get this removed simply by updating your hours. How incredible is that?

So I highly suggest you just update your hours. Joy also mentioned in this webinar I keep referring to, that was so good, she suggests using the hours that you are available to take phone calls. Google has never had an issue with that, and it tends to make the most sense. So something to think about.

Respond to reviews

Now is also a great time to invest and be engaged with these reviews. I think it's one of the most overlooked PR and marketing tactics available, where customers exploring your brand, exploring your location want to know that (a) you care and that (b) you're going to engage with a customer and that you have a timely response. So I think it's important to respond to reviews, especially on behalf of the business side. 

Confirm or reject any new Google My Business prompts

So we're going to continue to see different things roll out. There were senior hours available to, I believe, grocery stores that popped up as an option. No-contact delivery. These things will always be changing. So I think it's important to maybe put a reminder in your calendar just to keep an eye on are there any new options within Google My Business that I could activate or clarify. Google loves that, and it also helps fill out your listing better.

Update menu and product listings

What a great time to take some good, new photos. Update your menu items. I wish Uptown China Restaurant did this, and I might suggest it to them that they can add those offerings. They can add those things to really pop up on the listing and kind of make it shine.

Use Posts

Posts have always been really, really great for Google My Business listings because it gives you a big photo. It lasts for a while up here, I believe up to 14 days. It's very prevalent when you see it. Now Google has also been offering COVID-19 posts.

There isn't an option to add an image with the COVID-19 posts. It's text only, but it lasts longer and it's more prominent than a regular post. So it will show up higher in your Google My Business listing, and we've also seen it pop up in actual SERPs in the organic area. So pretty cool. Good to know. I suggest you doing that. You have control over the messaging. You can say whatever you would like. You can provide updated info, all that good stuff. 

Use Product Posts

So a shout-out to Darren Shaw, who noticed this.

People are getting really savvy with product posts, which again it would show up in your Google My Business listing with a big photo and a description. What he's seen people do is basically have a photo of a car with text on it that says "No-Touch Delivery" or different service options as the product.

Google is currently letting that slide. I don't know if that will last forever. But it's an interesting thing to explore if you really want that visibility if someone is struggling with their business right now, and you can kind of get that to pop up on the SERPs. 

Enable text messaging

So I've heard from so many SEOs that this has continued to go up into the right during the pandemic, and it makes sense.

People want to just quickly get information from businesses. You can create a welcome message. So I highly suggest exploring that if that's available to you. 

Update images

Again, I think I've said this like three times, but update images. It's a great time to do that, and it can really help make your stuff pop. 

Share these tips with businesses in need!

Lastly, don't forget to share these tips with businesses.

Understand that there are a lot of people in need right now, and if there's anything that we can do to help, by all means let's make all of that stuff happen. The fact is that you're not alone. So whether you're doing this work on behalf of a client, or you yourself or family or friends are really struggling with a business right now, there are different support groups and options as far as financial support.

We've created a free PDF checklist of all this information that you can download and share with any marketers, clients, or businesses in need:

Download the free checklist

I know we at Moz are going to be putting everything we have into helping you and others during this time, and so I created a form at the bottom of this post where you can fill in some information and let us know if there are specific problems that we could help with. We're in this together.

We want to help you all as much as we can. I will be taking that very seriously and spending lots of time on replying or creating material to help individuals struggling. So please fill that out. Also, feel free to leave comments and suggestions in the comments. I think some of the best, most valuable takeaways sometimes happen in the comments where you're either clarifying something that I said or adding something really great. I would really appreciate that. Just want to get all the good information out there so that we can help everyone out. I really appreciate you taking the time to watch this edition of Whiteboard Friday, and I will see you all again soon. Thanks.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

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[dentalimplant0]

Crisis Adaptation - Whiteboard Friday

Posted by BritneyMuller

Businesses all over the globe are struggling with new challenges as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. With consumers turning to the internet for the majority of their needs, it's never been more vital to ensure your online presence is easily found and your business updates clearly communicated.

In this special edition of Whiteboard Friday, Britney Muller outlines a checklist that businesses can use to meet the changing needs of consumers and improve visibility for local searches.

Bonus — We've adapted these tips into a free checklist you can download and share:

Get the checklist

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high resolution version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

Hey, Moz fans. Welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. Today we're going over crisis adaptation, and I first have to give a huge shout-out to Miriam Ellis, who really helped me package all of this up to deliver to you today.

If you're not already following Miriam on Twitter, I highly suggest you do. She is a local SEO genius. So let's dive right in. 

Meet your customers where they are

You often hear this phrase in marketing and in SEO about meeting your customers where they are. This might be important now more than ever because the current landscape, it's changed so much.

Listen to your customers & understand how their needs have shifted

In order to better meet your customers where they are, you really first have to listen and understand how their needs have shifted, how have their concerns shifted. What are they searching for now? Just really paying attention and listening online to your current target market.

One of the things I also like to suggest is listen to competitive reviews. Keep an eye on competitive reviews being posted on Google and other spaces to get a gauge of how things have perhaps moved. 

Know where your audience is

This could have also shifted a bit. Whiteboard Friday's OG, Rand Fishkin, launched SparkToro that does exactly that. So you can really deep dive into current data around what your audience is listening to, who they follow, all sorts of great stuff for you to leverage in today's climate.

Connect with potential customers in meaningful ways

Now is a great time to reach out and engage with not only potential customers but current customer base and remind people that you are still here, you're still serving them in various ways. So it's really, really key.

Partner with relevant businesses

I've seen this do really well in some great examples of pivoting, where a fruit delivery company partnered with a bakery to include these free cakes within orders. What a great way to get some visibility for that bakery, and vice versa — they could do different things. I think it's a great time to leverage those relationships and help one another out. I absolutely love that tip. 

Communicate all changes and updates

Now the other big, big priority right now is all around communicating changes and updates to your website visitors. So what do you need to cover?

Changes to hours is so important right now. It's essential that you have that information readily visible to anyone visiting your website, if this applies to you. All forms of availability, video, curbside, no touch delivery, have that information available.

Any expected delays and product availability challenges. This is a really great tip too. 

Sanitation and any adopted safety precautions. 

Payment methods accepted. This can be really helpful in the transaction. 

Any philanthropic efforts that you're doing to help support people in need.

I'm seeing a lot of these show up in banners and readily available information for people visiting websites. I think it's great to consider making sure that this information is easy for people to access. 

Immediately communicate this information:

Set up online orders and catalog inventory/services

In addition to these things, set up online orders. At the very least, catalog your online inventory or services for people to still have that awareness of what you're currently offering.

I would suggest if you're a struggling business and you don't want to go into a huge website build, you can absolutely check out and explore things like Squarespace or Shopify. I would have never thought I would be suggesting these platforms a year ago just because they're not usually great for SEO reasons. But they can do a beautiful job of solving this problem so quickly, and then you can roll out V2 and V3 down the road when you're ready to make those improvements. But I think just getting businesses off the ground is so important right now. 

Add products for free on Google Shopping

This was such a neat thing that Google offered I believe several weeks ago, and it's doing great. What it basically does is it allows you to list products for free on Google Shopping, giving you that extra visibility right now. So if you're an e-commerce brand, definitely check that out. 

Create maps showing delivery radiuses

Miriam had this great idea to create maps showing delivery radiuses, if that applies to you, so really giving someone visiting your site an easy to consume idea of the areas that you serve. Sometimes when you see the ZIP codes, it's a little overwhelming. You have to do a little work. But that's kind of a great idea. 

Routific

Then this was mentioned in a recent GatherUp webinar by Darren Shaw — Routific. So if you are doing local deliveries and they're getting a little out of hand, Routific is a company that creates delivery routes to make them most efficient for you, which I thought was so cool.

I didn't even know that existed. So it's a good little tool tip. 

Double down on SEO and content marketing

I absolutely loved Mike King's post on this — I think it was a couple weeks ago — where he explains why economic downturns favor the bold. It's brilliant. There are incredible use cases around this, and we'll link to that down below. 

Someone who has impressed the heck out of me the last couple of weeks is Kristin Tynski — I hope I'm saying that right — over at Fractl. She is going above and beyond to create content pieces that are not only genius but are link building opportunities, apply to various clients, and use traditional journalism tactics to gather offline, unique data to present online. I highly suggest you pay attention to what Kristin is up to. She is a genius. Kristin, we have to meet sometime. I'm a huge fan of you. Keep up the great work. 

Local & Google My Business

Now let's dive into some GMB stuff. While this might not apply to you if you're not a local business, I think there are still things to take away for larger companies that also either have a local listing or just to be aware of.

So here's an example of Uptown China Restaurant, a local Chinese restaurant. It's awesome in Queen Anne, and it's going to be our example. So what's the first thing? 

Correct any GMB errors

Just correct any GMB errors. Make sure that the current data shown and information is correct and up to date.

Update hours to remove warning

Then this is probably my favorite hack of all, from Joy Hawkins, about this warning that we see on all businesses currently, because of the pandemic, that says hours or services may differ. You can get this removed simply by updating your hours. How incredible is that?

So I highly suggest you just update your hours. Joy also mentioned in this webinar I keep referring to, that was so good, she suggests using the hours that you are available to take phone calls. Google has never had an issue with that, and it tends to make the most sense. So something to think about.

Respond to reviews

Now is also a great time to invest and be engaged with these reviews. I think it's one of the most overlooked PR and marketing tactics available, where customers exploring your brand, exploring your location want to know that (a) you care and that (b) you're going to engage with a customer and that you have a timely response. So I think it's important to respond to reviews, especially on behalf of the business side. 

Confirm or reject any new Google My Business prompts

So we're going to continue to see different things roll out. There were senior hours available to, I believe, grocery stores that popped up as an option. No-contact delivery. These things will always be changing. So I think it's important to maybe put a reminder in your calendar just to keep an eye on are there any new options within Google My Business that I could activate or clarify. Google loves that, and it also helps fill out your listing better.

Update menu and product listings

What a great time to take some good, new photos. Update your menu items. I wish Uptown China Restaurant did this, and I might suggest it to them that they can add those offerings. They can add those things to really pop up on the listing and kind of make it shine.

Use Posts

Posts have always been really, really great for Google My Business listings because it gives you a big photo. It lasts for a while up here, I believe up to 14 days. It's very prevalent when you see it. Now Google has also been offering COVID-19 posts.

There isn't an option to add an image with the COVID-19 posts. It's text only, but it lasts longer and it's more prominent than a regular post. So it will show up higher in your Google My Business listing, and we've also seen it pop up in actual SERPs in the organic area. So pretty cool. Good to know. I suggest you doing that. You have control over the messaging. You can say whatever you would like. You can provide updated info, all that good stuff. 

Use Product Posts

So a shout-out to Darren Shaw, who noticed this.

People are getting really savvy with product posts, which again it would show up in your Google My Business listing with a big photo and a description. What he's seen people do is basically have a photo of a car with text on it that says "No-Touch Delivery" or different service options as the product.

Google is currently letting that slide. I don't know if that will last forever. But it's an interesting thing to explore if you really want that visibility if someone is struggling with their business right now, and you can kind of get that to pop up on the SERPs. 

Enable text messaging

So I've heard from so many SEOs that this has continued to go up into the right during the pandemic, and it makes sense.

People want to just quickly get information from businesses. You can create a welcome message. So I highly suggest exploring that if that's available to you. 

Update images

Again, I think I've said this like three times, but update images. It's a great time to do that, and it can really help make your stuff pop. 

Share these tips with businesses in need!

Lastly, don't forget to share these tips with businesses.

Understand that there are a lot of people in need right now, and if there's anything that we can do to help, by all means let's make all of that stuff happen. The fact is that you're not alone. So whether you're doing this work on behalf of a client, or you yourself or family or friends are really struggling with a business right now, there are different support groups and options as far as financial support.

We've created a free PDF checklist of all this information that you can download and share with any marketers, clients, or businesses in need:

Download the free checklist

I know we at Moz are going to be putting everything we have into helping you and others during this time, and so I created a form at the bottom of this post where you can fill in some information and let us know if there are specific problems that we could help with. We're in this together.

We want to help you all as much as we can. I will be taking that very seriously and spending lots of time on replying or creating material to help individuals struggling. So please fill that out. Also, feel free to leave comments and suggestions in the comments. I think some of the best, most valuable takeaways sometimes happen in the comments where you're either clarifying something that I said or adding something really great. I would really appreciate that. Just want to get all the good information out there so that we can help everyone out. I really appreciate you taking the time to watch this edition of Whiteboard Friday, and I will see you all again soon. Thanks.

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