#and also this is a school project where we take a different medium and mode

[fnaf-fanatical]

(I tried uploading the audio file but tumblr doesn't like me for some reason :[ )

Anyways:

School Project

I’ve been writing for a while, which actually started through here because tumblr posts with incorrect quotes led me to reading stories, which in turn made me start writing them. I was 11 or 12 at the time, fresh into my first real fandom, and very into wattpad stories, which as anyone on this site will know are unhinged, unedited, and due to the fact that most people writing there are very young like I was, are more than often lower quality than other writing sites (which is not to hate on wattpad writers - i’ve actually even read some really good and profound stories on there, both fanfic and otherwise, but that’s not the vast majority of the site, at least from what I’ve seen).

Honestly I first started writing because not only did it let me make the things I want to see - and was the start of my maladaptive daydreams though I didn’t know anything about that yet - but because it was also an outlet. Life was shitty, and it showed me that other people struggled, that my favorite characters could suffer from anxiety and depression and just shitty mental health, and that meant that I could project onto them. I wasn’t the one who wanted to kill myself dramatically or mutilate my body to get people to finally recognize I was in pain, the character was. I was too scared to ever harm myself physically, at least with a blade or the way I’d seen depicted in stories, but when I wrote, it didn’t matter how realistic it was or how gorey or graphic, because it was all fictional, and the rules were fake anyways.

And over time, obviously, my writing got better and I learned to Care About Myself more, until I didn’t really need to do that anymore. Except... I still liked making stories. I’d always been a storyteller, and writing gave me a medium to do so that would actually get me listened to, my stories could be long and rambling and people wouldn’t be annoyed or stop listening because it was a text, so they could stop reading if they wanted or not look at it or come back to it when they had more energy, and I wouldn’t directly face that, probably wouldn’t even know it was happening.

And, well, one of the things with time blindness is that you can be sitting there, know the time is 2:30 and you’ve got to eat something before you go to bed hours later, and yet you’ll blink and suddenly it’s 10:45 and you haven’t eaten anything, used the bathroom, or even really moved in 8 hours and where did the time go what happened. I started setting an alarm to remind myself to eat dinner, but that didn’t change the fact that I could get so “in-the-zone” that literal hours would blink by like seconds, because while my perception of time has always been wack, focusing - likely hyperfocus cause of the undiagnosed adhd - knows no rules or bounds and disregards the passage of time like a used bandaid that will inevitably show up again later where you least want it yet will go unnoticed and un-thought of until then.

Genuinely, I think I’ve grown a lot as a writer and I enjoy most of my own works, both because they’re what I want to see and because I can appreciate the skill that goes into it - which doesn’t mean I don’t still have a lot to learn, just that I’ve learned to stop shitting on my own abilities because it’s not perfect.

I’d always noticed when I was reading - usually proper books, when I was younger at least - different mistakes or ways things could’ve been articulated better, and when I didn’t know what a word or concept was I’d do everything I could to find out. So it’s no surprise that those skills transferred over to when I became a writer and took every source I could to try and improve my writing, some more valid than others.

Just... yeah. Writing helped me a lot, and I like where I’m at now.

[technicalvictor]

Anywhere, Anytime Learning With Kitmek

Learning is a crucial yet necessary thing without which life does not go on the right track. Furthermore, the kids throw many tantrums while you pressurise them to sit still at a place and study. They will tend to move here and there, hampering their concentration. However, to deal with all these issues, the modern education system has brought the concept of Anywhere, Anytime Learning. Education with technology is new and ensures that your kid has all the facilities needed.

Furthermore, the advanced mode of education will open up a new door to a fantastic world where kids can enjoy the learning process. Conventional schooling is not the only way to teach your kids different subjects. Homeschooling is growing gradually in different countries of the world. Are you ready to learn about attractive online studying options? Here are the incredible facilities to get an education, irrespective of the place or time.

Learning Reaches Beyond Boundaries

The best part of “Anytime Anywhere Learning” is time savings. Virtual learning can project a new world of fantasy to the little ones. The system involves a teacher and a student with a shared network. Therefore, the teacher can impart education online through an active internet connection. A smart device like a laptop, smartphone, or PC is the medium to receive an education. This implies that the future of education is changing, and we need to adopt modern means to educate our children.

Preschool learning at home is one of the latest techniques to give your kid insights into different subjects in more detail. So, begin giving lessons to your child without waiting for any formal school to join. The digital school room is the learning platform for the new generation of kids. Therefore, learning is possible without being bound to a specific schedule or place. The children can take the opportunity as another game and indulge in remarkable activities. However, traditional classroom education is getting digital now, and most schools and colleges are also adopting technology. So, online education is an immersive learning idea where the students can enjoy the process without getting bored.

Kitmek The Learning App

Online Learning Is So Cool

During the corona days, keeping educational institutions open was impossible. But to save the education sector, the experts decided to teach digitally. This made the Anywhere Anytime Learning option famous among almost all the countries of the world. The future of education is going in a new direction with this incredible facility. Most schools allow devices like tablets and smartphones and arrange for specific software to teach online.

Moreover, they also conduct different tests by digital means. They can also use the same device at home to complete homework. Furthermore, the videos from teachers help them revise the topics better as they can listen to the explanations when they feel like it. Such a process is undoubtedly useful for educating your child in the best way possible.

The fusion of education with technology lets students concentrate more on their studies instead of avoiding them. Furthermore, the teachers can also give various practical activities to make them.

learn the concept from the core. Anytime Anywhere studies also facilitate students’ interaction with their teachers outside the classroom. This is undoubtedly an added advantage and proves to be highly beneficial. When studies can be done online, why stick to the old system? The immersive learning technique will keep your kid engaged without making them lose focus. Please be assured that Anytime Anywhere learning will promote improved learning strategies through virtual means.

Facilities Of Virtual Learning System

Through virtual learning, students can get several advantages. Some of them are;-

· Independent learning system

· A collaborative approach to make the students interact with many other students from various countries and states

· No limitation on teaching time

· Accessing the homework from any place through an online site

· Digital presentation of different videos and stories to justify a topic

· Solutions of test papers and healthy discussions by the teachers

· Various learning sources and study materials are available 24/7

The only issue in digital education is the increased instance of cyberbullying. However, through digital education, teachers can teach about cybercrimes to the students so that they get cautious about any unfavourable activities on any digital platform.

Conclusion

The guardians can now start preschool learning at home by registering for Kitmek. This organisation is the first online school that incorporates all the advanced means to educate children. Passing through different levels here will ensure admission to the next standard. As more schools prefer to hold classes online, this digital learning platform will surely make your kid learn every concept more fruitfully.

Install now : http://bit.ly/3Y17e8f?r=qr

[thecolormoon]

Best E-Learning App Developer in India | ColourMoon Technologies

Virtual Classrooms through E-learning apps are the current phenomenon across the world. The pandemic has caused every educational establishment including universities, colleges, schools, institutions, boot camps, corporate upskills, etc., to shift to virtual classrooms to ensure the continuity of the educational process.

The online education market, especially in India is seeing tremendous growth that, as per experts, is predicted to reach almost 360 billion rupees by 2024. Given that the online education market was just 39 billion rupees in 2018, the CAGR expansion is almost ~44% for the period from 2019 to 2024.

It is, however, important to develop the e-learning app with the right structure and components that include experience-enhancing &impacting features such as ease of use- UX interface, streamlined content delivery, massively scalable, etc., so that not only provides valuable educational content to your users and students but also engages them and impels them to share it with their counterparts.

We at thecolourmoon understand the end to end e-learning app development methodologies and with 13 years of app development experience & a huge clientele base are the best e-learning app developers in India.

From choosing the platform and language that best suits your e-learning app to deployment, and further onto world-class support that your app requires once users start consuming your services, the colourmoondevelopment team ensures that we are with you on every step towards your journey to success.

What is an e-learning App?

E-learning apps facilitate learning through various mediums such as videos, online face-to-face interactions, content delivery, blended and adaptive learning modes, podcasts, gamification, and task progressive modules, etc. – all on a mobile app.

Given the fact that 78% of the Gen Z-ers and almost the same amount of Millennials prefer learning online and by the practical “doing” teaching method, an e-learning app is the best approach to push forward your educational business towards success.

In addition, e-learning apps are not limited to catering to schools and colleges but also to professionals from different verticals who want to up-skill themselves in order to be promoted or perform better at their work.

What are the benefits of E-Learning Apps for the users and your education Business?

Learn Anywhere: The E-Learning App gives your learner the flexibility and mobility to choose the time and place they want to study or practice. No more scheduled classroom lectures nor a physical presence of an instructor required to deliver your educational content.

A continuous learning process:Your student/learner can study on the go (on the mobile phone) and are not limited to the physical educational institutions.

Education transitioning the limits of age:The users of e-learning apps are not restricted to any age group – young or old, students or professionals – now everyone can enjoy the benefits of lifelong learning through your e-learning app.

Easy Accessibility through Mobile phone: One of the reasons that e-learning apps are very popular and make huge revenues is that it provides quick and easy access to your educational content and other important information.

E-learning is highly efficient: Educational content delivery and information is more easily digested by all age groups and types of learners when the content presented is in small and concise “bites”.

Gamification Feature:E-learning apps can also include gamification features such as achievement awards, points, etc., that provide higher levels of motivation and engagement for your end-users.

Affordable cost: Learning through e-learning apps is a lot cheaper since there are no extra overhead costs to your company such as physical location rents, recurring instructor salaries, etc.

Easy collaboration: You can communicate with your fellow students, instructors, and other learning communities to take feedback and grow your education business accordingly.

Business expansion and revenue growth: Your E-Learning Appdoes not need to be restricted to a particular country or region. Since the app is available online and is easily accessible worldwide there is an immense potential for business growth, that is both profitable and socially useful.

Types of E-Learning Apps

Understanding what type of e-learning app will best suit your education model is the first step towards developing a successful e-learning app. Since you are already experienced and well versed with your education business model, you can easily choose the best e-learning app from the below types.

E-learning Apps for Online education courses:

One of the most popular and in-demand types of e-learning apps is the online education providers. Almost all universities now have an online education system that enables students to complete their higher education without the need to attend their physical locations and at a much-discounted price.

This type of e-learning model also has two sub-types.

E-Learning App for own educational business

E-Learning App as an aggregator.

E-Learning App for own education business

Two of the most famous online education type of e-learningapps are KhanAcademy and Byju’s apps. These consist of short and long lessons and covers a variety of subjects such as math, science, history to art and computer programming, etc.

However, while KhanAcademy mostly relies on donations as a means to run its App, Byju’s has a payment model where the students have to pay a yearly fee to avail their courses and content delivery. Some of the features of these apps include:

Catalog of courses on various subjects

Video lectures

Online tests

Mock preparations

Interact with instructors for more knowledge, etc.

Options to evaluate progress by levels and achievements

And much more…

E-Learning App for aggregator education business model

The aggregator e-learning app model is very similar to that of Amazon’s eCommerce model where other companies or businesses list their offerings on your website or mobile app. Some of the most famous aggregator e-learning app models are edX, Coursera, and Great Learning which not only offers smaller courses but also full university courses for students worldwide. These e-learning apps also offer financial aid for students who face financial difficulties. Some of the features of the aggregator e-learning apps also include:

Courses and content delivery in the form of catalogs, forums, and blogs

Interactive educational content textbooks with live and saved audio &video lectures

Online questionnaire and quizzes with options to submit tasks to students and other learners for assessment

Convenient payment system integrated country-wise allowing their students to pay online for courses undertaken

Integrated Gamification system to gain rewards on their achievements – making your app a lot more fun and intuitive to use.

Other types or E-Learning Apps

Language learning Apps:  These types of apps use interactive means in order to teach the users a new language.  Some of the examples include Duolingo, Cake, etc.

E-Learning Support Tools:There are many online tools to assist learners across the world to get help with regards to different components such as online dictionaries, libraries with free access to virtual books, and note keepers to maintain notes and records of the curriculum and subject matter.

Exam Preparation E-learning Apps: These types of apps support the learners to prepare and practice for crucial exams and certifications.

Developing your eLearning app

The first phase is to discover which type of E-learning Appconcept best suits your education business model. This is also known as the product discovery phase where you have to work with our highly skilled & experienced team and lay down a solid foundation for the development of your E-learning app.

You can also decide if you want to take the MVP (minimal viable product) launch route and grow your content and data step by step or want a big launch with all the specifications and features similar to that of larger Educational Apps such as Coursera, Byju’s, or KhanAcademy, etc.

In either case, you would be able to quickly respond to the end-users' needs with minimum effort and changes, especially since the trends and structure of the online educational e-learning apps are constantly changing.

The discovery phase also includes the decisions with regards to important software components such as functional specifications, UX/UIdesign, visual prototypes, backend structure, languages, platform integrity, etc., that will give you a clear vision of the end product.

This ensures that there is a close to perfect roadmap for your e-learning app project that sets up a realistic budget and other resource requirements in place.

Why E-Learning app development through the colourmoon in India?

With the above article, you may already have got a gist of our knowledge span with regards to developing a sophisticated App such as an E-learning App like Byju's and eLearning app like KhanAcademy. In a complex and ever-evolving field such as the educational sector, experience and understanding the core elements of developing and deploying successful E-learning apps and software is the leading factor in creating one of the Best E-Learning Apps across the Educational industry in India.

The E-learning app development structure at colourmoon not only includes the most secure and cutting-edge technical attributes but is also designed keeping in mind the business aspects that influence your users to continuously avail your educational content services with elearning app source code or eLearning app scripts and pay for them too.

With more than a decade of experience in developing Apps and software for large multinationals such as Intel, Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon, etc., the colourmoon company understands the ins and outs of all types of appdevelopment services.

[drmazel]

Ok, secrets in return.. 6, 10, 15, 17...

ooh a lil secret exchange...... like little kids at a slumber party..... love this energy

6) how is your life different now from two years ago

hmm.... july 2018.... tbh not a whole lot has changed since, then, graduate school has a funny way of being all the same all the time. but i can think of a few... 

school/job-wise, i became a doctoral candidate in june 2018 which was just over 2 years ago and that was cool, and my research was finally published in december 2019 which kicked ass. actually the project that was published wasnt even finished until october 2018 so i guess that too. my mentor and i have developed a really great mentor/mentee relationship that i attribute a good amount of personal growth to, bc for like the first time in my life i have someone actively helping me quash a lot of self doubt.

personal life-wise, hmm... in october 2018 i had the plate in my knee removed bc it was severely impeding my recovery and making it hard to walk. i figured out how to sit down on the floor and get up from the floor and go up and down stairs one at a time with a railing, then without a railing, learned how to crouch about halfway to normal, built up my stamina to stay standing for about an hour with minimal discomfort whereas before i suffered if i stood for 10 minutes. the girl that almost killed me was finally arrested and convicted and put in jail which doesn’t fix or reverse anything but still felt like some kind of justice. 

and then personality wise i am just a little less afraid of getting things wrong. still terrified and still impacts my life, but i am able to give things a shot instead of dismissing them outright. led to me finding out i’m pretty good at some stuff i otherwise never would have tried. i’m also a little less afraid of asking for help or setting boundaries. therapy has that effect i guess. 

i’m also way more long-winded than before, i feel like, as presented here. oops. i also feel like i’m much more forgetful and scatterbrained than before. not sure if it’s from stress, or a natural progression of taking on more obligations and learning how to balance them, or a long term side effect of having who knows what pumped into me for a month straight three years ago. maybe all three?

10) do you believe in ghosts

nah. i don’t really have a wordy explanation as to why i don’t so you get a break from the wall of text from the previous question.

15) what is your favorite memory

questions like this are hard bc i have a pretty bad memory and favorite memories only come to me when i encounter something that reminds me of it? it’s really hard to call upon specific memories. but i’ll at least try to think of a nice one from recent memory, i’m sure it’ll be far from my favorite but that’s okay. 

hmm... oh actually my most recent birthday (abt 2.5 weeks ago) was really really nice? nothing super special happened; i got up, i went to work, i went home and bought myself an ice cream cake and video called my family. but throughout the day i had more people wishing me happy birthday than i ever had in my life. i’m a fairly active member of the rq official discord and i had no fewer than 2 dozen people immediately send happy birthday messages if they caught the implication from someone else (maybe more, that server is huge and it’s hard to keep track). and i’m in another, smaller server (you may be familiar uwu) where i’ve pretty fairly recently gotten to know a new group of people that seemed to pretty quickly welcome me into their friend group and i got some really nice birthday sentiments there too. and then at work i didn’t even really tell anyone it was my birthday, but i’m friends with one of my lab mates on facebook and he must have had birthday notifications on because he came by and wished me a happy birthday

obvs the last few months have been really isolating for just about everyone, but tbh it’s been especially hard for me bc i don’t really have many friends to begin with and definitely like no friends in my home town so my minimal social contact of like just small talk at the store and only having real conversations with coworkers being taken away has had me fairly down? but apparently over the past few months i have slowly been submitting myself to the mortifying ordeal of being known, even just a little bit, and reaping the rewards of being loved in return, no matter how small, felt really nice and made it a really special day uwuwuwuwu

17) what ‘small things’ things terrify you

i know i have some intangible existential fears that would definitely seem trivial to some people but see above point about having a really hard time calling upon specific memories, and also i’m in a good mood so i’m not gonna try too hard. but off the top of my head two silly weird fears i have are 1) heights and 2) having people around me start singing. 

1) i know heights are a very common fear/phobia but you don’t understand. i’m talking “i will literally freeze in place if i try to step onto this 4-inch stepstool, like seriously my conscious mind will not be able to lift my second foot onto the step, like it’s bolted to the ground” PETRIFIED of heights. i cannot stand on anything my brain perceives as not-solid-ground. this means i’m actually okay in airplanes and things like the st louis arch. i actually love that shit, i’ll look down at the ground and enjoy the view all day. but the second i have a single doubt about my ability to stay upright, fuck the fight/flight/freeze response. we are on 24/7 freeze/freeze/freeze response LOCKDOWN.

2) i’m talking flash mobs, i’m talking karaoke night, i’m talking people singing happy birthday to me. the idea of it puts me in “find an escape” mode, and being in it gives me the worst second-hand embarrassment ever, even if it’s all in good fun and there’s no reason for anyone involved to be embarrassed. this extends even to movie musical numbers (i actually skipped the scene in the tavern in disney’s tangled bc it gave me weird anxiety) and shit like hearing someone i know from another medium begin to sing (this is why it took me so long to check out the mechs and also why i cannot listen to recordings of friends singing as much as it would mean a lot to them for me to do so). idk if there’s a name for this phenomenon or if i’m the only person on the planet with this weird almost-or-maybe-complete phobia.

[hackquarters]

Take Off İstanbul Day # 3: The Big Day for Startups

Take Off İstanbul Day 3 was very excited for startups. 50 startups selected with mentor votes made their presentation on Day 3. Startups in different verticals made their pitch deck to the jury of the leading Turkish and global mentors in different sectors. Besides that, presentations of Google and Invest in Turkey was pretty catchy for participants.

Why Invest In Turkey

Take Off İstanbul #DAY 3 started with Chief Project Director of Invest in Turkey Necmettin Kaymaz’s presentation. He talked about investing in Turkey and the support of the government for entrepreneurs. At the end of the presentation, Necmettin Kaymaz answered participants’ questions.

Google Training Session

Day 3 also included a Google training session in the afternoon. Trainer Devrim Ekmekçi was up first to talk about Measuring and Targeting for Startups, where he gave valuable recommendations on usage of Adwords & analytics, KPI Dashboards, and measurement of campaigns. Next up was trainer Yusuf Sarıgöz, who introduced Qwiklabs, Google’s online Cloud Training portal, before completing a hands-on session on Machine Learning.

Would you like to try Qwiklabs and receive Google Cloud training for free? Google has set up Cloud Study Jam-a-thon where you can learn more about Kubernetes, Machine Learning and BigQuery alongside many other Cloud concepts – enroll for free through this address (in Turkish) https://events.withgoogle.com/cloud-study-jam-a-thon/

Startup Pitches

In the afternoon, startup pitches are started. 49 semi-finalist startups made their pitch deck to the jury of the leading Turkish and global mentors in different sectors.

The semi-finalist startups that made a presentation are:

Auto Train Brain

Auto Train Brain improves the cognitive abilities of dyslexics at home reliably Website: www.autotrainbrain.com

Bren

Flexible Hybrid Nanogenerator running entirely industrial IoT device and wireless sensor without using a battery with battery-less sensor mode

Car4Future

Energy sharing network and transfer hardware developed with blockchain technology for electric vehicles and autonomous cars. Website: car4future.tech

Comparisonator

Comparisonator is a unique tool to compare players’ and teams’ performance data around the world. It assists scouts, sports directors, coaches, agents and players to make better and quicker decisions. Website: https://www.comparisonator.com

ConnectION

Connect-ION attracts attention to being an enterprise that starts out to transform about 1 billion cars in the world without autonomous vehicle technology to an autonomous car. It is aimed to make it available for non-autonomous vehicle owners to have an autonomous vehicle after an easy installation procedure without throwing their current car investments away. Website: www.connect-ion.tech

eMahkeme

“eMahkeme Online Incompatibility Solution Portal” aims to solve users’ judicial problems fast, safely and economically. Website: https://www.emahkeme.com.tr/

Fanaliz

Fanaliz helps companies measure credit risk in an easy, flexible and affordable way by applying algorithms based on data analytics. Website: https://www.fanaliz.com

FilameX

FilameX is a mini filament machine focused on the recycling of waste plastics and filaments to high-quality filaments. Website: https://www.3dfilamex.com/

HEXTECH GREEN

Develops and produces smart agriculture machines aim for indoor agriculture technology. Website: hextechgreen.com

Iltema

We are an R&D company that dealing with technical textiles and brings an innovative approach to heating needs in industrial areas, make them available for OEMs to reach the end-users. Website: www.iltema.com.tr

InMapper

inMapper is an interactive indoor map platform for large buildings such as airports,malls, offices. Website: https://inmapper.com/

Karbonol

Fuel from Cigarette Butt: Karbonol fulfills its production costs, and can solve the stub recycle problem. Website: www.karbonol.com

Meşk

Meşk Tech. is a İstanbul-based music technology company that provides unique software to revolutionize the eastern music education. Any person can learn and practice an instrument or develop vocal skills via using our Meşk App. Website: www.meskteknoloji.com

PACHA

PACHA; protein and collagen chips, %100 Natural and tasty functional food. Website: www.pachacips.com

PDAccess

PDAccess is a cloud security software that helps companies manage their clouds secure, agile and compliant. Website: https://www.pdaccess.com

Pirahas

A magical and revolutionary fully automated software at an unbelievable price for Amazon sellers. Website: www.pirahas.com

Respo Gadgets

Respo Gadgets is an Istanbul based medical device company that develops an innovative, silent, portable and comfortable oral device to be used in mild to moderate level obstructive sleep apnea and snoring treatment. Website: https://www.dormio.com.tr/

SafeTech

Safe Tech is an IDS and an IPS system that protects SCADA/Industrial IoT systems against cyber-attacks and operational threats. Website: www.smartscadasiem.com

Secpoint

To make and new perspective of cyber intelligence Website: https://www.secpoint.com.tr/

SFM Yazılım

SFM Software is a fast and accurate cost estimation software for the product to be manufactured by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the machine manufacturing industry and productivity software which increases the company’s productivity by up to 15% at no extra cost to the manufacturer. Website: www.sfmyazilim.com

T Fashion

T-Fashion is a platform that aims to provide customized live analytics and fashion trend insights to companies that operate in the textile industry via analyzing thousands of social media accounts by the use of sophisticated deep learning algorithms Website: https://tfashion.ai

Tetis Bio

TETIS BIOTECH is a biomaterial company producing high quality marine bioactive compound products for industries such as healthcare and cosmetics. Website: https://www.tetisbiotech.com/

Üretken Akademi

Training-oriented startup acceleration program that supports high school and university students to start-up. Website: uretkenakademi.com

User Vision

Uservision is a platform helping brands to acquire agile implicit, explicit and subconscious qualitative insights from their target audience leveraging AI. Website: www.user.vision

ARAIG Global

ARAIG Global is a new international company and partner of IF-Tech Canada. ARAIG Global is a licensed company for production and global sales of the product- Gaming vest. We have the exclusivity to produce, distribute and market the Gaming vest that gives gamers an experience unheard of. Website: araig.com

Augmental

Augmental is an educational technology application targeting middle to high school students where course materials are adapted to each student’s learning abilities using Artificial Intelligence and student engagement tools. Website: www.augmental.education

Beambot

BeamBot offers artificial intelligence software that utilizes the already existing CCTV feed for autonomous control of any facility in order to optimize operation expenses, safety and security. Website: www.beambot.co

BlueVisor

BlueVisor develops AI wealth management platform to lift financial burden so that people can enjoy a better life. BlueVisor mainly focuses on the B2B market with SaaS (Software as a Service) business model or platform. BlueVisor has made tractions already in a short period of company history. Website: bluevisor.kr&entrusta.ai

Cardilink

Displays the status of devices in a dashboard in real time and we analyze your data for the long-term monitoring and quality reports. Alarms and any occurring issues will be reported to you before the product will be used with a patient. Additional benefit for you: Data Analytics of your product for clinical studies. Website: www.cardi-link.com

DRD Biotech

DRD Biotech develops diagnostic blood tests for brain damage such as Stroke, Concussion, and Epilepsy. Website: www.drdbiotech.ru

Edubook

Edubook is an Interactive Learning Community that Provides a Safe Space for Educators and Learners to connect, collaborate, and communicate among each others. Website: WWW.EDUBOOK.ME

FIXAR AERO

FIXAR is an Autonomous commercial drone with unique aerodynamics. Website: WWW.FIXAR-AERO.RU

Hot-wifi

Guest wi-fi networks with marketing options & wi-fi analytics Website: hot-wifi.ru

Inspector Cloud

Inspector Cloud Website: http://www.inspector-cloud.com

InstaCare

InstaCare is transforming the typical healthcare infrastructure of Pakistan into a digital healthcare infrastructure in order to make it more accessible and reliable from the base of the pyramid to save lives over 2,000,000 people every year who die because of the current outdated infrastructure of the country. Website: https://instacare.pk/

Intixel

Intixel is building AI-based products to empower physician decisions as a second eye. Our Team is a finely selected Artificial Intelligence experts, engineers, computer scientists, and medical imaging experts. Website: www.intixel.com

Mazboot

Mazboot is the first Arabic in-app coach for helping diabetic patients self-manage their disease and get a consultation from doctors Website: https://www.mazbootapp.com/

MIFOOD

MiFood is a company that provides automation and robotization services for restaurants. Website: https://mifood.es

Monicont

Monicont is a next-generation utility, transforming lives and unlocking potential through access to energy. Website: https://monicont.com/

Otus Technologies

Otus Technologies develops a novel software tool for aircraft flight loads analysis and dynamic solutions. Website: https://otustech.com.pk

PakVitae

PakVitae provides lifetime affordable filters that can purify water to 99.9999% without any power requirement. Our technology revolutionizes the conventional water treatment processes. Website: https://www.pakvitae.org

Pharma Global

The system of technological solutions based on BigData and AI (e-commerce, e-learning, and marketplace platforms) that reduce costs for market access for pharmaceutical manufacturers. Website: https://pharma.global/

RAAV Techlabs

Data analytics and quality analysis instrumentation company, building devices to check the internal quality of agricultural produce and dairy, by non-invasive and non-destructive method, to give important information like nutritional and adulterants present in the produce. Website: www.raav.in

Torever

Torever allows travelers to plan their trips in a minute for free, and take back control of their journeys with accurate info and navigation on the go! Website: app.torever.com

UIQ Travel

Connects solo travelers with shared interests in-flight and in-destination. Website: https://uiqt.com

Usedesk

OmniAI-powered omnichannel helpdesk platform which supports customers and sales. Website: usedesk.com

UVL Robotics

UVL develops and produces of multi-rotary type UAVs with vertical take-off and landing on hydrogen-air fuel cells. The company was founded by leading experts in the field of aviation and robotics systems design with experience in scientific and industrial enterprises. Website: www.uvl.io

XYLEXA

XYLEXA is an early-stage company developing Artificial Intelligence(AI) based cloud the application which helps the radiologist in early, accurate and cost-effective diagnosis of breast cancer through mammograms. Website: WWW.XYLEXA.COM

[ultraenglishnerd]

DJ Griots (Week Five)

As implied by the title of the work, the book focuses on the importance of the digital griot and how DJs specifically relate to and continue the work of griots. Over the course of five chapters, the author discusses groove, mix, remix, mixtape, and fade, all different aspects of what DJs do in their composition and what we as writers should strive to do as well. The first chapter responds in part to the need for composition instructors to keep up with the changing technologies, much like many of the other works we have read, but it also discusses this specifically in tandem with the time and research put into African American folktales and why the overlap between griots and digital composition should be considered. 

The mix section was, for me, the most interesting because it challenges the traditional idea of community scholarship, in which generally it is seen as a service to the community and not a give and take scenario. The step by step process and decisions that the author took to starting his community project was highly interesting as it detailed why the outcomes were not easily visible, and what reasons he had for not engaging in a traditional model of literacy work. The success of creating an engaged community stemmed from mixing relatable and interesting fields of study, cultural conversations and politics, and having a space in which to form the beginnings of the community by being together rather than being instructed. The discussion of the village was also significant in this section because it again ties in the old with the new, the griot of the villages with the modern day DJ, who both work with history and rememory. 

The final three chapters worked to reinforce the claims made in the first two, first by attending to the generational gap and the idea of “back in the day” narratives. History is remembered differently by each generation, for example old school meaning Earth, Wind, and Fire for some and “Candy Girl” for others. The mixtape chapter was interesting for a variety of reasons, but sticking to the composition side, the concept of plagiarism and copyright was significant. Like DJs, new compositions can be made by using older texts and models in new ways with our digital modes if only we get passed the idea that borrowing things from other authors is automatically wrong. Finally, the last chapter summarizes the compositional themes of the book fairly well by giving the reader the type of composer they should strive to be, stating, “the digital griot demonstrates a synthesis of deep searching knowledge of the traditions and cultures of his or her community and futuristic vision; the skills, ability, and comfort level to produce in multiple modalities; the ability to employ those skills toward the purpose of building and serving communities with which he or she is aligned; and awareness of the complex and layered ethical commitments and questions facing that community; and the ability to “move the crowd,” to use those traditions and technologies for the purposes of persuasion” (155). 

For last week’s multimodal piece, I would have strived to layer the concepts a little better. The comparison of composition to music (even though music is composition) challenges me to better sync up my ideas and modes in which I express them. It felt like, for last week, that I merely took different modalities and forced them to work together. Did it work? Yes. But could the same thing have been expressed in a better way? Probably. After reading this text, I think I understand better the necessity use mediums that work together and make the transitions and overlaps between them appear as natural as a good DJ moves from one song to the next. Going beyond my own composition and thinking about what we did in class, I also think the way my partner and I worked with the Found Texts to create a narrative was forced as well. We focused so much on making a cohesive narrative in which all of the pieces were part of the same story that we (or at least I) did not consider how multiple narratives might overlap and share similar beats. 

As for traditions that might shape my voice, I cannot think of any other than the way in which I compose texts, that being the academic, straightforward style. Even when allowed to move beyond the traditional academic form, much like this blog, I still fall into the habit of not using contractions, of structuring sentences in various lengths, and attempting to use “I” as little as possible unless it involves personal reflection. I do know, based on what I learned in this reading and in a sociolinguistics course that I took last semester, that my writing and speech is influenced by my race, where I grew up, my economic status, and plenty of other factors, which is why I think I write incredibly straight laced and perhaps always sound more formal than I mean to. 

[sneek-m]

100 Favorite Idol Songs of 2019

(via Medium)

One of the most exciting developments of the idol scene this decade has been the evolution of what an idol song can sound like. Many groups have brought their own idol-pop take on metal, punk, rap, trance, emo, math rock, jazz, shoegaze — or multiple of these genres at once. Dance-pop idols expanded their list of influences too, borrowing from retro styles like city pop and disco but also current trends like future-bass. All the while, the twinkling synths and strings of more traditional groups have yet to wane in popularity.

That genre dive, however, has also become the norm. A strategy of juxtaposition no longer feels impressive with so many combinations of personality and sound that have already been done. An interesting sound won’t necessarily guarantee a long run of success either. A group still needs the tried-and-true idol-group foundations of a drawing narrative and a line-up of likeable members.

That’s if they want to stick around for long. Many acts will continue to be a flash in the pan, and that’s fine: I still think idol groups aren’t designed to last a decade, or even half of that time, and it takes a lot of resources, perseverance and luck to go on for even half of that time. But this decade, we’ve also seen the lifespan of an act grow a little longer. It has not necessarily become easier to navigate — in fact, it might be even harder now with so many around — but the scene has proven to be more established with more potential markets if you can get a little creative.

Adapting to change and tracking that growth has been a key element to idols this decade. Following the evolution of the group’s music has been exciting, but also witnessing individual idols find their own identity in real time has been the most rewarding. This won’t change going into the next decade, and perhaps more crucial, especially as it becomes harder to introduce a sense of novelty: it’s going to be more important to convince others to follow the ride than try to be the next big thing right away.

I wonder what next thing will sound or look like in the coming years as we go forward to a new decade. Will idols need to be a jack of all trades, a master of a different style from single to single? Will they include a multimedia facet to their work, so a song also feels like a video and a live show all at once? Or will their stubbornness to buy into this everything-at-once vision bring a new lane where strictly following a single style has been the right choice all along? It can go any way, and some groups in this list hint at each possibility.

You can check out my 100 favorite idol songs of 2019 over at Medium. Here is a Spotify playlist and a YouTube playlist of the 100 (or what is available). If you want the full YouTube archive of every single I kept tabs on, here it is as well. Below is a text list of the feature piece. Hope you find something new!

1. BiSH: "I am me." 2. Dempagumi.Inc: "Taiyoukei Kansatsuchuu Seimeitai" 3. GuGu-Lulu: "Picked" 4. Atarashii Gakkou No Leaders: "Koi Geba" 5. The Dance for Philosophy: "Hueristic City" 6. Angerme: "Yume Mita Fifteen" 7. Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku: "Donten" 8. Lyrical School: "Tokyo Burning" 9. Hinatazaka46: "Kyun" 10. Burst Girl: "Nancy" 11. Necronomidol: "Salem" 12. Migma Shelter: "69" 13. BEYOOOONDS: "Nippon No DNA" 14. M!LK: "My Treasure" 15. Juice=Juice: "Potsurito" 16. Maison Book Girl: "Yamiiro No Asa" 17. Keyakizaka48: "Nobody" 18. Kai: "Moonlight Tokyo" 19. EMPiRE: "Pierce" 20. AKB48/Rino Sashihara: "Watashidatte Idol!" 21. Passcode: "Projection" 22. Sakura Ebis: "Nee, Loafer" 23. Yufu Terashima: "Last Cinderella" 24. ZOC: "Chu Pre" 25. Sora Tob Sakana: "Knock! Knock!" 26. CY8ER: "Spotlight Theory" 27. Yukueshirezu Tsure Zure: "Odd Eye" 28. Zenbu Kimi No Seida: "Romancesect" 29. Gang Parade: "Last" 30. Koutei Camera Girl Drei: "Changes" 31. Flower: "Kurenai No Dress" 32. Super Dragon: "Don't Let Me Down" 33. Mellow Mellow: "Dear My Star" 34. Tsubaki Factory: "Sankaime No Date Shinwa" 35. E-girls: "Cinderella Fit" 36. Yanakoto Sotto Mute: "Cry Out" 37. Morning Musume '19: "Seishun Night" 38. NMB48: "Yakebokkui" 39. Ototoy Friday: "Spring Fever" 40. Negicco: "I Love Your Love" 41. Rukatama A Go Go: "Runaway Girl" 42. Kaede: "Kaede No Enkyori Renai" 43. Gunjo No Sekai: "Nonstop" 44. CYNHN: "Wire" 45. Emiri Kanou: "Just a Feeling" 46. Carry Loose: "Carry Loose" 47. RAY: "Butterfly Effect" 48. Blacknazarene: "Obsidian" 49. Toricago: "Kuchibashi" 50. Kamiyado: "Zenshin Zenrei Rhapsody" 51. Hamidasystem: “Sonzai Shinai Zonzai Na Ai” 52. Momoiro Clover Z: “The Diamond Four” 53. Team Shachi (ft. MCU): “Rocket Queen” 54. Kindan No Tasuketsu: “Flashing Light -Neubaten Time-” 55. Uijin: “Gold” 56. RYUTist: “Never Let Me Back” 57. Nogizaka46: “Yoakemade Tsuyogaranakutemoii” 58. Sayonara Ponytail: “Sora Tobu Koguma, Junreisu” 59. Jewel: “Mae-e” 60. One Chance: “I Want You Back” 61. Billie Idle: “Bokura Mada Chipokkena Koro No Hanashi” 62. Melon Batake A Go Go: “Ikasuze Idol” 63. Ringo Musume: “Kimi Dake” 64. Qumali Depart: “Goku Love Jodo” 65. Tiptoe.: “The Curtain Rises” 66. DISH//: “Henteko” 67. Transfer Girls: “Catch Me (If You Can)” 68. Kyushuu Girls Wing: “Flow of Red” 69. Geiin Wa Jibun Ni Aru: “Geiin Wa Jibun Ni Aru” 70. Shuu Cream Rockets: “Akuma No Deal” 71. WILL-O’: “Sparking” 72. Tacoyaki Rainbow: “Watashi, Tada Koi Wo Shiteiru” 73. Monster Girlfriend: “GAM” 74. WHY@DOLL: “Que Sera, Sera” 75. PRIZMAX: “Dance” 76. Colorful Scream: “Innocent Galileo” 77. Oyasumi Hologram: “Plan” 78. SKE48: “Frustration” 79. Gomaten: “Kakurekko” 80. The Banana Monkeys: “How Many Times Honesty” 81. Hitomi Arai: “Delicate Ni Sukinishite” 82. Happy3days: “Walk On” 83. IDOLATER: “Swipin’ Flickin’” 84. Farewell, My L.U.V.: “Gloomy Girl” 85. =LOVE: “Zuruiyo, Zuruine” 86. Bullet Train: “On & On” 87. CUBERS: “Mousou Romance” 88. Mushuuuuup!!!: “Tsukai Refrain” 89. OBP: “Progress” 90. Flowlight: “Flower” 91. Watashi Mugendai: “Neo Anarchism” 92. Pure White Canvas: “Persavior” 93. Run Girls, Run!: “Share the Light” 94. Earphones: “Churata Churaha” 95. Bury: "Break Your Wall" 96. Seireki13ya: “Yocto Asterism” 97. Q-pitch: “Nanikashiyou” 98. NILKLY: “Odyssey” 99. Tokimeki Sendenbu: “Koi No Shapeup” 100. Hashiyasume Atsuko: “A La Mode”

[vinylexams]

A very special fireside interview with XUXA SANTAMARIA

Check Insta for our thoughts on this landmark album from Oakland duo XUXA SANTAMARIA. Stay right where you are to read a really fun interview I scored with the band this week. They’ve just released Chancletas D’Oro on Ratskin Records out of Oakland and Michael blessed me with my very own copy. It was so good I knew I needed to tell you all about it and I wanted to pick their brains a little bit, too. Without further ado, please enjoy:

//INTERVIEW

You’re still breaking into indie world at large, but you’ve already got a huge following back in California and your home-base in Oakland. What has it been like to be featured in major outlets like The Fader?

SC: We are a funny project; we ebb and flow from being total hermits to having periods of relatively high visibility (relative to aforementioned hermit state). I wouldn’t say we have a huuuge following in CA but I do think that the ‘fandom’ we’ve developed here is really genuine because we don’t play shows out of an obligation to remain visible but instead do so because we feel super passionate about the work and the audience and I think people respond to that energy. I for one, and perhaps this is because of my background in performance, have a hard time performing the same stuff over and over without change which accounts for us being selective with our playing live. That’s also why videos are such an important part of what we’re about. The piece in The Fader was important to the launch of this album because it established some of the themes and, to an extent, the aesthetics of this album in a way that can be experienced outside of a live setting. None of this is to say we don’t like playing live, in fact we love it, we just like to make our sets pleasurable to ourselves and to our audience by constantly reworking it. We strike a weird balance for sure but we’ve made peace with it. If we ever ‘make it’ (lol) it’ll be on these terms.

Chancletas D'Oro is a pretty incredible record and while it reminds me of a few bands here or there, it’s got a really fresh and unique style that merges dance with all sorts of flavors. How would you describe your music to someone who is curious to listen?

MGK: Haha, we generally struggle to describe our music in a short, neat way (not because we make some kind of impossible-to-categorize music, but just because it’s the synthesis of a ton of different influences and it’s hard for US to perceive clearly). But with that caveat in mind - IDK, bilingual art-punk influenced dance/electronic music?

SC: Thank you for saying so, we’re pretty into it :) Like Matt says, we struggle to pin it down which I think is in part to what he says – our particular taste being all over the place, from Drexciya to The Kinks to Hector Lavoe- but I think this slipperiness has a relationship to our concept making and world building. As creative people we make and intake culture like sharks, always moving, never staying in one place too long. Maybe it’s because we’re both so severely ADHD (a boon in this instance tbh) that we don’t sit still in terms of what we consume and I think naturally that results in an output that is similarly traveling. Point is, the instance a set of words - ‘electronic’, ‘dance’, ‘punk’- feel right for the music is the same instance they are not sufficient. I propose something like: the sound of a rainforest on the edge of a city, breathy but bombastic, music made by machines to dance to, pleasurably, while also feeling some of the sensual pathos of late capitalism as seen from the bottom of the hill.

The internet tells me you’ve been making music as Xuxa Santamaria for a decade now. What has the evolution and development of your songwriting been like over those ten years?

MGK: Well, when we first started out as a band we were so new to making electronic music (Sofia’s background was in the art world and mine was in more guitar-based ‘indie rock’ I guess - lots of smoking weed and making 4 track tapes haha), so we legit forgot to put bass parts on like half the songs on our first album LOL. We’ve learned a lot since then! But in seriousness, we’ve definitely gotten better at bouncing ideas back and forth, at putting in a ton of different parts and then pulling stuff back, and the process is really dynamic and entertaining for both of us.

SC: This project started out somewhat unusually: I was in graduate school and beginning what would become a performance practice. I had hit a creative roadblock working with photography - the medium I was in school to develop- and after reading Frank Kogan’s Real Punks Don’t Wear Black felt this urge to make music as a document of experience following Kogan’s excellent essay on how punk and disco served as spatial receptacles for a wealth of experiences not present in the mainstream of the time. I extrapolated from this notion the idea that popular dance genres like Salsa, early Hip Hop, and Latin Freestyle among many others, had served a similar purpose for protagonists of a myriad Caribbean diasporas. These genres in turn served as sonic spaces to record, even if indirectly, the lived experiences of the coming and going from one’s native island to the mainland US wherein new colonial identities are placed upon you. From this I decided to create an alter ego (ChuCha Santamaria, where our band name originally stems from) to narrate a fantastical version of the history of Puerto Rico post 1492 via dance music. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing but I look back on that album (ChuCha Santamaria y Usted - on vinyl from Young Cubs Records) fondly. It’s rough and strange and we’ve come so far from that sound but it’s a key part of our trajectory. Though my songwriting has evolved to move beyond the subjective scope of this first album - I want to be more inclusive of other marginalized spaces- , it was key that we cut our teeth making it. We are proud to be in the grand tradition of making an album with limited resources and no experience :P

We’re a big community of vinyl enthusiasts and record collectors so first and foremost, thanks for making this available on vinyl. What does the vinyl medium mean to you as individuals and/or as a band?

MGK: I think for us, it’s the combination of the following: A. The experience of listening in a more considered way, a side at a time. B. Tons of real estate for graphics and design and details. C. The sound, duh!

SC: In addition to Matt’s list, I would just say that I approach making an album that will exist in record form as though we were honing a talisman. Its objecthood is very important. It contains a lot of possibility and energy meant to zap you the moment you see it/ hold it. I imagine the encounter with it as having a sequence: first, the graphics - given ample space unlike any other musical medium/substrate- begin to tell a story, vaguely at first. Then, the experience of the music being segmented into Side A and Side B dictate a use of time that is impervious to - at the risk of sounding like an oldie - our contemporary habit of hitting ‘shuffle’ or ‘skip’. Sequencing is thus super important to us (this album has very distinct dynamics at play between sides a/b ). We rarely work outside of a concept so while I take no issue with the current mode of music dissemination, that of prioritizing singles, it doesn’t really work for how we write music.

MGK: We definitely both remain in love with the ‘album as art object/cohesive work’ ideal, so I would say definitely - we care a lot about track sequencing, always think in terms of “Side A/Side B” (each one should be a distinct experience), and details like album art/inserts/LP labels etc matter a lot to us.

What records or albums were most important to you growing up? Which ones do you feel influenced your music the most?

SC: I know they’re canceled cus of that one guy but I listened to Ace of Base’s The Sign a lot as a kid and I think that sorta stuff has a way of sticking with you. I always point to the slippery role language plays in them being a Swedish band singing in English being consumed by a not-yet-English speaking Sofía in Puerto Rico in the mid 90s. Other influences from childhood include Garbage, Spice Girls, Brandy + Monica’s The Boy is Mine, Aaliyah, Gloria Trevi, Olga Tañon etc etc. In terms of who influences me now, that’s a moving target but I’d say for this album I thought a lot about the sound and style of Kate Bush, Technotronic, Black Box, Steely Dan, ‘Ray of Light’-era Madonna plus a million things I’m forgetting.

MGK: Idk, probably a mix of 70-80s art rock/punk/postpunk (Stooges, Roxy Music, John Cale, Eno, Kate Bush, Talking Heads, Wire, Buzzcocks, etc etc), disco/post-disco R&B and dance music (Prince, George Clinton, Chic, Kid Creole), 90s pop + R&B + hip hop (Missy & Timbaland, Outkast/Dungeon Family production-wise are obviously awe-inspiring, So So Def comps, Jock Jams comps, Garbage & Hole & Massive Attack & so on), and unloved pop trash of all eras and styles.

Do you have any “white whale” records that you’ve yet to find?

MGK: Ha - the truth is that we’re both much more of a “what weird shit that we’ve never heard of can we find in the bargain bin” type of record buyer than “I have a custom list of $50 plus records on my discogs account that I lust over”.

SC: Not really, I’m wary of collectorship. That sort of ownership might have an appeal in the hunt, once you have it do you really use it, enjoy it? Funnily, I have a massive collection of salsa records that has entries a lot of music nerds would cry over (though they’re far from good condition, the spines were destroyed by my Abuela’s cat, Misita lol, but some are first pressings in small runs). For me its value however, comes from its link to family, as documents from another time and as an amazing capsule of some of the best music out of the Caribbean. I’m glad I am their guardian (a lot of this stuff is hard to find elsewhere, even digitally) but I live with those records, they’re not hidden away in archival sleeves, in fact, I use some of that music in my other work. Other than that, the records I covet are either those of friends or copies of albums that hold significance but which are likely readily available, Kate Bush’s The Dreaming or Love’s Forever Changes, or The Byrds Sweetheart of The Rodeo as random examples

Finally, is there a piece of interesting band trivia you’ve never shared in another interview?

SC: haha, not really? Maybe that we just had a baby together?

//

Congrats on your new baby, and also for this wonderful new album. It was a pleasure chatting with you and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for you and your music!

[lovehaswonangelnumbers]

New Post has been published on https://lovehaswonangelnumbers.org/angel-messages-questioning-the-illusion/

Angel Messages ~ Questioning The Illusion

Angel Messages ~ Questioning The Illusion

 Love’s Beginning  

Today we focus upon your willingness to release the old, to let go of habits, to see things differently because you are looking upon what is Real. We’re going to take a slow and careful look at what happens when you don’t feel good and why this alert system of feeling is a very good thing.

If you are going to release something physical, you must stop holding onto it. If you’re going to release a mode of perception based upon illusion, it’s useful to see where you are attached to illusion. Every time you don’t feel good, an aspect of your attachment to illusion is being highlighted for you. This is a very good thing. You’re being shown exactly where to focus.

If you focus on the illusion, though, instead of your attachment to it (which is what the alert is for), you stay lost in illusion. So let’s say you’re irritated in traffic. If you really and truly believe it’s because of traffic, then you stay attached to illusion. That’s just a story, but it’s a story that you are giving power to victimize you and others when you attach to it. If you experience victimization, it is always through your own choice, because you are the one who chooses for illusion over and over again.

When you are ready to see things as they are, however, not-good feelings simply let you know that you are treating an illusion as if it is Real, and you are giving it power over you. It’s a game of pretend that you keep repeating. So you’re in traffic. You’re irritated. You’re starting to recognize that it’s not really because of the traffic, but it’s still pretty believable that outside circumstances could have that effect on you. You are so used to that pattern. What now?

If you are holding onto a physical object, a tool, in order to release it you must pause. You must interrupt what you were doing with the tool, stop that activity. There is a gap in your action, and then you allow the object to be taken from you. In this case, what you’re being given the opportunity to release every time you don’t feel good is misperception. When you don’t feel good, the tendency is to blame or to escape through pursuit of something illusory. This just keeps the projection of a world of suffering going.

So when you don’t feel good, use time to give priority to that helpful feeling and the invitation it brings. Stop activity. Stop illusion-based thinking. You think it’s about traffic, but on a deeper level, you know it’s not. So you stop the thinking about traffic. You look underneath. You can see that when you empower the traffic-based thoughts, you keep yourself from releasing misperception, from releasing attachment to illusion.

Does traffic have power over you? If you are attached to the storyline of the body, it seems to be so, but you are not a body. If traffic has no power over you, what does? You are power, so there is only power with, only flow, but the storyline contradicts that. Each time the storyline contradicts what you and others are, you should feel bad. You should have an alert that tells you that you have an appointment with healing.

Healing is what you need when you give an aspect of the storyline power over you or anyone else. That’s willing victimization, and that projects out a world of further victimization. You are not doing wrong, because this is not a true doing. It’s a chosen perception and a chosen experience. When you can see clearly what you are choosing, you can choose again.

So you feel irritated in traffic. You know you are receiving an alert. You know you have an opportunity to accept healed perception. You know this is a very good thing. Circumstances are conspiring to help you.

You have this habit of referring to the illusion over and over and over again as if it is real. You have this habit of looking to your interpretation of the illusion for definitions and next steps. You allow that to come from the personality structure. But now you’ve received an alert, and you’re ready for something different. This is a good time to remember our presence. We are right there, always ready to help you out, and it is our delight when you allow it.

Circumstances don’t need to change for you to feel better. People don’t need to change. What helps you feel better is accepting the healed perception we can give you.

So you realize something doesn’t feel right, and you can see the ego’s story about traffic. You know there is a temptation to stay attached to illusion there. You could quite easily believe it’s about traffic, but something deeper calls. You pause. You stop.  You realize the feeling is because you were referring to the illusion define things, and you were asking an illusion–the ego–to guide you. Luckily, that doesn’t feel good.

This is where we come in. We are willing to remove this mode of perception. You only need to release your grip on it. Today we ask you to look at those petty irritants and to recognize each time that they can help you out of your predicament. Watch the attachment to the storyline. Question it. Ask to see what is real.  It will get easier and easier to see that you don’t have to cling to something that isn’t real.

When you see this, you begin to listen for another voice, one that comes from beyond the storyline to guide you out of it, to show you the way out of a habitual reliance on suffering. We thank you for using this day to observe attachment, to see it for what it is, and to recognize that you always have a choice. By the merest desire to reach for what is Real instead of what the illusion is telling you, you allow guidance to become stronger and stronger until there is no difference between you and the guidance.

We love you. Welcome Home.

~~~~~~~~~

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[sorbriquette]

Tagged by @basic-banshee Thank you Ban <3

1. How did you begin writing? I was writing from childhood. My primary school tutor was really encouraging so I started posting fanfic on FF.net illegally at like age 9. It was bad. When I was about 13 I started doing online RP and fell in with a group of brilliant people who helped me keep that up for YEARS and is kinda how I got into writing properly, not my shitty childhood fanfic. 

2. What was your first writing project? Tell us a little about it. Like I said, shitty childhood fanfic. First legit project though would probably be last years NaNoWriMo (where you write 50k in a month). I wrote the first draft of a high fantasy kinda thing I’m working on but like the entire plot of that has been scrapped and I’m starting from scratch this year so...

3. What is your preferred medium for writing first drafts? Oh, I use ywriter 5 (link here) it’s like a free program that lets you write (without a spell check importantly so I don’t stop) and like add in like character and location and item tabs so you can keep track of what and who appears in the story and what each scene fulfills and shit. Imma shut up before this turns into an add but it’s really good and yall should check it out (even if I basically just use the POV system myself)

4. What rituals or habits do you have around writing? 

I don’t really have any I don’t think? For me it’s kinda just sit down and go for as long as I’ve got the motivation. Usually late at night admittedly but yeah there’s nothing particularly consistent about the way I write.

5. We all have a “type”– of character, plot, theme– what is yours? I feel called out. 

Probably wit though. Across all my characters RP, actual story, weves, I like the snarky asshole ones. I’m weak for that banter. 

Also kinda both theme/character: good characters bore the shit out of me. I like ‘em morally grey or immoral and as such I write a lot about the subjective nature of morality in my original shit.

6. Introduce us to one (or more!) of your OC’s. Right so my current original shit has 6 mains and asking me to choose between them is inhumane so you get the 4 starting ones and the other two will remain a mystery.

Ren --> Brings a knife to a gun fight because ‘you gotta live life on hard mode’, makes bad choices for fun, stupidly reckless, very loyal but issues with authority. Military deserter turned pirate. Unofficial leader of this band of misfits. 

Marcel --> Brings 2 knives to a gun fight because he is both a follower and coward. Just here for a laff and a taste of freedom. Prince of a country but does not want to rule. Falls in love with the first man who pays attention to him. Alignment is chaotic dumbass.

Kia --> Supposed to be the party thief but ‘it’s easier to loot a corpse than pick a pocket’. An actual proper coward, will leave everyone else to die if it saves her. Can’t take anything seriously. Tries to life-hack everything. Thinks murder is the solution to everything. 

Corvus --> Absolute pacifist regardless of the danger. RLLY into blackmail (and plants). Lowkey the token evil teammate. Perpetually rolling his eyes. Makes all the plans and then gets salty when no one follows them. Would sell you to Satan for one corn chip.

7. What’s your favorite genre to read? FANTASY! Which is why, despite only really writing fic for Carry On, I’ve not actually read any of Rainbow Rowell’s other work. Contemporary romance doesn’t really interest me.

Also I’m weak for anything featuring like crime, but the criminals doing the crime, not the crime solving. 

8. Your favorite genre to write? Fantasy again! Both high and low but with a preference for high because I like to world build. 

9. How do you conduct your authorial research? LMAO what?

Like I said I like to write high fantasy so I don’t so much research as like to perpetually learn and incorporating things I like in. 

10. What does your editing (gasp) process look like? So in 3. I said ywriter doesn’t have spell check? For fanfic I give it a cursory read over and fix anything glaring, then I copy it into word and use spellcheck and also grammarly. Then to the betas for the final round (I should do more but also?? Just fanfic)

My NaNo project tho? Never got edited at all. 

11. What are your favorite tropes? BRuh I love all the tropes. I am WEaK for tropes. So trimming down to the favs:

I have a weird thing for catagorising so I love me some Cast Calculus

I try but never quite succeed with Blue and Orange Morality

Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking barely counts but I love it

A comedic Rashomon  AKA that thing where everyone is being interrogated and they all tell completely different stories

I high key love a Magnificent Bastard in any form

And I mean a nice round five would have been good but how can one resist a Deadpan Snarker

Also I don’t think this is what I was meant to do for this segment but I enjoyed it so wevs

12. Show off your writing space. ABSOLUTELY NOT MY ROOM IS A MESS

13. What is the most useful piece of writing advice you’ve ever used? Don’t write for anyone but yourself. Write what you want to read. 

I know it’s been said a multitude of times but idk the first time it really resonated with me was when VE Schwab mentioned it. I can’t find the source but I think she was quoting someone, soz!

14. What is the least useful piece of writing advice you’ve ever ignored? Write what you know.

Like get fucked? What I know is fucking boring. Let me write what I can imagine. 

And though I don’t consider it real writing advice cause it was just 1 dumbass post on pinterest I saw one time “when writing a woman's pov make it more about emotions than a males. Her emotions, other peoples emotions’ etc. etc. Basically a load of shit. Don’t write a gender, write a fucking character. 

15. Your writing beverage/snack of choice? I drink a lot of tea but it usually goes cold. 

16. How do you compile your ideas? I don’t mostly, it’s a bad habit. Sometimes I drop stuff in my phone for fanfic or I have a couple of pocket sized leather note books I used to carry around for my original shit. 

But mainly it’s just left in my head to get forgotten :\

17. What are your controversial opinions ™ on the craft of writing? I’m about to get crucified but here goes:

Writing isn’t hard. 

Originally and concepts and stringing together a proper story? Yeah it’s a challenge. But just writing? Nah. not for me at least. If I’m sitting in front of a blank word document it’s because I have a problem with the scene. It doesn’t happen that often but when it does I find the best thing to do is go back and redo the sequence because going off no 13. It probably means I’m not interested in the scene. 

But that’s just my opinion so please extinguish your torches and put down the pitchforks.

Tagging: @mydamnsunshine @thatsbitchcraft and any of my mutals who write. Chances are if you haven’t been tagged I thought you already had so go ahead and consider urself tagged. 

[farrresidency]

Artist Interview #1 - Jérôme Nadeau

William: So for redundancy's sake just I guess introduce yourself and the basic gist of what you’re interested in your work.

Jérôme: Yeah so I’m originally from Levis, which is across the river from Quebec City. And I moved to Montreal about 10 years ago to go to Concordia in Photography. I did my undergrad there and I did an MFA there that I finished two years ago. I also studied during my MFA in Gothenburg in Sweden. While doing my MFA I also a thing called Soon.TW which is a publishing house and then two years ago when I finished my MFA we actually turned the project into a contemporary art gallery which is right there. And at this point we decided to take over this space and turn it into an actual physical space. I was joined by two artists Jean-François Lauda and Nicolas Lachance, and then at some point in the process there’s Simon who joined us. Simon was in Chicago doing his MFA, we also studied together we did our undergrad together and then he moved to the United-States and came back. So we started that project. In my practice I’m interested in photography and like I said before, mostly in the process of photography so what’s usually left unseen from the photographic process. Exploiting photography for what it is. Kind of a challenging indexical link with reality.

William: Did you start your art experience with photography or?

Jérôme: No I actually started, well in Cegep I studied film-making and by the end of that I realized I was never going to do that. I’m still really interested in cinema and yeah I still think it’s the most amazing medium in the way that it has this kind of capacity to attract mass media even with very kind of-

William: Artistic?

Jérôme: Yeah artistic aesthetic or philosophical kind of questions and it’s something that goes beyond any other medium which I think is interesting but it’s this thing where you have to collaborate with many people and I don’t know… I’m not a fan of that industry which is something that is always a long process to be able to achieve that and I saw that coming quite early. I mean what you need to do to be able to make it I guess in this world. At this point I finished studying filmmaking and then I went travelling to Australia. And I was like should I  buy a video camera or a photo camera and it was kind of at the beginning of digital photography being kind of affordable so I bought this digital camera for a few hundred dollars which is now completely obsolete. I’ve kind of learned to photograph through that, like there was a manual mode and I started to kind of experiment with it and I really-

William: So then you learned photography digitally before eventually going back to analog?

Jérôme: Yeah exactly but again I was at this point interested in abstraction. I remember the portfolio I submitted for Concordia for the undergrad was a lot of like longer exposure and colourfield photographs and it was all not necessarily very straightforward and I was also very interested in painting but I have absolutely no talent in painting and no patience to…

William: To get better?

Jérôme : To get better and I’ve never been formally trained as a painter so I like I remember as a teenage kind of, like in the backyard making this huge kind of Riopelle painting. Like I had a lot of fun with the process of painting but just, yeah I was lacking this kind of training that would allow me to get better. Or be able to actually do-

William: Like take something from your mind and put it onto the canvas?

Jérôme: Exactly, exactly. It felt like it was really limited but I was very interested in painting and I remember I had an art history class and I was interested actually with Canadian painting. Painters like Riopelle and stuff like that. I remember Riopelle because he died on this island called Isle-aux-Grues which is not too far from Quebec city, it’s in the middle of the river and my mom’s cousin has a house there so yeah I just remember seeing his work and at the National Museum in Quebec (city) and being kind of… really transported by his practice. I never really had a contact with art growing up like my family was just more involved in sports and stuff like that. So I remember walking into that museum and just kind of, I don’t know, really amazed by that painting. You know what I was saying about cinema? Like I kinda found a little bit of that in his work you know so I was just feeling stuff and is that even possible? Like you can’t really understand that from just reading about it or having a slide lecture in Cegep about it. So I was kind of mystified by that in a way but then again it was such on a large scale so this understanding of materiality that was kind of beyond me.

William: So do you think that experience informed your future work?

Jérôme: Oh yeah it informed the rest of my life. Like I remember that moment and they still have that painting in a permanent collection and I go back almost every year to see it. And there was this big show he did at the end of his life called the: “L’hommage à Rosa Luxemburg” because he had this relation with Joan Mitchell, the American painter, and when she passed he started this 120 meter long painting that’s an homage to her and it was shown in its entirety. It was bought by the museum now so it’s on permanent view and last year they actually made a show of Joan Mitchell and Riopelle too which was kind of interesting. So yeah I grew up with that-

Wanda: How young were you when you saw it?

Jérôme: I was in High School when I saw that for the first time so it just stuck with me and this kind of part of my life life where I started being more aware of like… culture in general but at this point there was internet but it was harder to find independent movies and even in Quebec city to find this kind of more edgier stuff.

William: And yeah especially in Levis too.

Jérôme: But a young age I started working in Quebec and getting involved in music a lot too. The electronic music scene was kind of beginning so I started being involved a little with film-making and a lot with music at this point. So you know I started making music, producing music, it was the beginning of what they call laptop techno. So you were moving on from vinyl and actually the programs like Live just came out and so it was quite easy to make music in your bedroom.

William: Do you think music still informs your work in some way?

Jérôme: Yeah, yeah totally. I mean not necessarily in terms of production because when I moved to Australia there was this, I don’t know, it’s still pretty expensive to buy records and just kind of constantly invest in all of that so I decided to travel and I started focusing on photography and when I came back I applied for Concordia while I was away and I got back and moved directly to Montreal to study. So I already made my choice to pursue visual arts and that music was not going to be a number one priority but its always been there. Like I’ve DJ’d for the past 15 years as a side job so I think it’s more this aspect that informs my work. Well not that it informs it but I feel that-

William: Do you work with music? Like in your space?

Jérôme: Oh yeah I listen to music all the time like if I don’t have my headphones there’s a good chance I’m not going to the studio. I know that there’s a lot of artists that can’t work with music but with me it’s just the opposite.

William: I kind of feel the same way when I do any sort of series I make a playlist specifically for it and I only listen to it when I working on it.

Jérôme: Yeah, sometimes I’m not even listening like I know, I don’t do it here as much but when I was doing my MFA I had a studio in a basement of the VA so there was no signal whatsoever so I could listen just to the same song over and over. It’s just you know especially physically when I’m working you don’t really listen to it. And there’s this thing where I feel, not with painting but with working even just on the computer, where you really get in the zone of something. Like it just feels like a different state of mind and there’s a lot of exterior signals that can be blocked out. But I just feel that music is just filling this weird void and it just allows me to focus. But sometimes you know if I do more quiet operation I listen just to white noise but I need something-

William: So you just essentially need noise?

Jérôme: Yeah

William: Does it, like are you looking for a mood or just a feeling while working or?

Jérôme: Hmm not necessarily I mean it informs what I’m listening to. But yeah it just gives me this form of energy. Especially when I’m working with headphones, it feels like I’m really blocking out the exterior and allows me to go deeper with my thoughts and with what I’m doing. That’s the only thing that’s happening is what I’m doing right now which is nice.

Wanda: If you’re in the space by yourself, do you ever listen to the music with no earphones?

Jérôme: No, no, then I get scared because someone would walk in and I’m just there with my headphones playing super loud.

William: Yeah I can only work with headphones too, I think it’s the physical part of having something in your ear that help block out those signals that you were talking about.

Jérôme: And when I’m writing I can’t really listen to any music, it has to just be sound. Or I have earplugs too sometimes. So I think it has something to do with my ear, maybe they need to be blocked.

Wanda: How do you see yourself or express yourself through your work?

Jérôme: To kind of go back to what I was saying with music and cinema then photography. I started at Concordia and the first thing we’re doing in the 210 class, you start working in the darkroom. Then I got really absorbed by the process of it. Like being in the darkroom. Especially starting with a digital camera where you take an image and then you put it on the computer screen you don’t really question it. It just appears there and it’s kind of magical but you don’t really see it as a physical thing. Then working in the darkroom and learning the basic of the film and I was really interested in the colour theory and physics behind photography. The mistakes that would happen in the darkroom too because there was a lot obviously. But I feel like something that informed my work up until now is following what messed up and try to accentuate it and always playing. I feel like the more I learned about the process of photography the more I could dismantle it. To just focus on certain specific areas of the photographic process.

So I guess what I’m trying to achieve… it’s a really hard question. It’s not that I don’t think I have anything to say. I just feel we feel in really complex times. Specially medium specificity and setting up these things it’s the process of photography that’s speaking for itself it’s not necessarily me. It’s funny because it’s always what I’ve been interested in, just the process, physics, and theory. And someone once mentioned to me it’s also a way of hiding any sort of personal expression from the work which could or could not be seen as a reflection of my personality. But coming from that person it really stayed with me. It’s what really motivated me a while later to introduce the writing in the actual work. So it’s a way to make something about the process a bit more personal through poetry and through self-expression that I feel a strong connection through poetry and visual abstraction. I feel that it’s functioning the same way. Obviously one is more visual than the other one but I feel the end process in your brain is quite similar and I thought it was a way to do that. And obviously even that isn’t really straightforward but for me there’s a connection to an event or a moment or person, something like that. It could be reflective, even if it’s abstract. I can look back at older work, me having produced that, it’s a moment in your life and it transports you to where you were. But for everyone else it’s not possible to achieve that. So I feel that leaving little clues can make that happen.

William: When did you realize you needed to have a studio space? And when you were trying to find a studio what were you considering? Did the image in your mind translate into reality?

Jérôme: I’ve always wanted a studio space. I was hanging around painters and I mean I had a studio in my apartment for awhile. I lived with a roommate and we had this huge apartment so I took the dining room and made it my studio. But at some point I was working with chemicals so I had to work outside and it just wasn’t convenient to do that in your own house. But I mean I was obviously restricted by budget and when I started the MFA I was pretty excited because you have a studio. Then I realized in photography you don’t really have a studio it’s an office on the same floor as where the labs are so I was pretty disappointed. But I started working in the spray painting room and using that but everything was scattered and always at school so it didn’t really make sense to have an outside studio at this point. When I moved to Sweden I was told it was the same thing that in this program you have this huge studio and some people even lived in it but when I moved there they decided to transfer me into the photography program and the photography program only had offices too so I was like are you kidding me. But they found me a little place in the basement where I could work and I came to Concordia and I applied for a studio in the VA which is more of a traditional space. I could do anything, and I really liked it. It was really small. Maybe half the size of here, no windows, I would just close the door-

William: And it was kind of like the earplugs?

Jérôme: Exactly. I could just close the door, no computer, it was just work. So I feel it was a really productive time. Then after your second year of your MFA you don’t have access to a studio anymore so you still have access to the facilities but you don’t have a physical space that’s assigned to you. So during that summer, my friend Étienne was subletting from Alexy and was going to Glasgow. So it was a last minute thing. I was working and I asked him what are you doing with your studio when you’re leaving? And he didn’t know so I was like ok I’m going to sublet it from you. So I worked here for that whole summer. It was while he was gone that the lease was transferred through Vincent. And Vincent asked if I wanted to stay since we’re doing this photography based studio and I said yes. Étienne came back and for a few months I was in a corner and we decided to share the space for that time.

Wanda: You’ve had studios with other people and by yourself, do you think you express yourself differently when you’re sharing a studio versus when you have a space to yourself? Also do you think it shows in your work?

Jérôme: Yeah totally. Now that you’re saying that I’m thinking that I had another studio for a few months in that building on Van Horne & Parc but it was before they renovated it. My friend he had a studio there for a year but the studio was maybe as big as both our studios here. There were like six people there And he had this big table and he’s doing collage… but I never actually worked in there I used it as storage because it was at the moment that I had to leave the studio at Concordia before I found it here. So I moved some of the stuff from that office there. But when I found this studio it was pretty much empty, just a few paintings tossed up along the wall so I had this whole 600 square feet space to myself. So I was like yeah...yeah I don’t want to be with six people in a small space. But sharing the space with Étienne was great because we were really close friends and we had the space open and it was messy. We had a beam here and he would hang stuff so there was some separation but then we decided to build this wall so even though it’s a shared space it feels pretty private. I can just close the door here and work without being disturbed. We’re also pretty quiet and respectful here so if someone is working we don’t just knock on the door for anything. Especially being here, it happens quite often that people leave and don’t even know so they lock the door so it feels like it’s my own studio.

It’s also pretty convenient with the gallery being there because I can work while tending the gallery. And now it’s pretty necessary because we sometimes have to use the studio as storage space.

Wanda: Do you see a change in your work when you’re working in a studio alone versus with a lot of people?

Jérôme: I couldn’t really do it with a lot of people like let's say right now I’m working on a lot of different stuff at the same time so there’s a lot of stuff that’s not resolved and I don’t necessarily want people to see that. And it’s where having the gallery is a little inconvenient because if there’s a vernissage we’ll do a bar here and it’s open so I have to clean. I don’t want this stuff around that I don’t want people to see. But then again I could decide to leave it closed but I don’t really mind that. I think it’s actually something that’s a good exercise, knowing that some people are coming over. Like if you’re having a studio visit you can pull some stuff out. Especially when you’re in the process of making your work, to look at all your work. It informs you And the way I work, I try not to work series even though it’s really difficult especially when it comes time to mount a show and propose a show. To dig in a whole lot of different processes and see how they talk to each other. And that, to follow back to what you were saying about music, that’s where I find a link. Especially with DJ’ing and mixing. There’s a whole lot of digging and using things that you couldn’t really see together and when you put them together there’s this dialog that opens and goes beyond the individual work that starts to speak. That’s something that I like, it’s not really something that you can see and just sit down and say oh I’m going to do that. Sometimes it’s just by chance, I’ll be pulling stuff out from boxes and then I look at them and say “oh my god!”. It could be formally or in the content or me and how I see it, but there’s a connection happening. That’s something that I really like and try to do and so when people do come over it’s a chance to do that and rearrange and look at your work in a different way.

William: Since you’ve already built and organised a studio, is there anything that you would warn against to anyone building their own studio or just general advice?

Jérôme: I guess it depends what you want to do. I guess build clever storage. Here we’re pretty lucky because it’s outside the studio but I feel before we had built that storage space I had accumulated stuff from Concordia, from the studio I had at my house, the studio I had on Van Horne so there was stuff that would pile up and it’s nice to be able to have storage. But then again I would advise against keeping too much stuff. I feel that again with the studio visit it helps to at least once or twice a year to do a cleanup. Go around the studio and get rid of stuff, it’s important to keep some because you’ll never know what you’re going to need but personally I feel I tend to hold onto things for too long and it just weighs on you. So it’s nice to clean everything out and get a fresh start. Which is something that if you go on a residency like when I went to Sweden I don’t have a studio I have nothing at this point. So you can very easily restart and you’re not starting from nothing you still have all these ideas and everything you’ve previously done that’s in your mind. That’s usually where it starts and you can start to experiment with new material and new ideas and I feel it’s nice to provoke that sometimes. Like I’ve rebuilt the table this summer and I completely emptied everything out and took everything out of the storage right after a show where there was tons of accumulation of images and tests. And I decided to move over that I was done, time for a new chapter. So yeah, be organised with the way you’re putting stuff in storage because oh someone wants to see a piece they saw online and you want to rework on it and you go and try to find it and it’s in a box that isn’t labelled. It’s quite a nightmare sometimes.

William: Is there anything in here that if you had absolute omniscient power to change anything in the room, what would be the one thing you would get rid of, add?

Jérôme: Repaint the wall and plaster everything. Especially because it’s years and years of oil paint. If I could sand it all out. And while I don’t mind the floor being dirty it’s just that it’s not sealed and has so much dust stuck to it so I would fix that. Maybe the ceiling too, make it more soundproof. We’re pretty lucky now it’s quiet I don’t know what’s happening maybe they’re freaking out because they know the building just got sold. I don’t know what they do but they I feel like they always have these I think it’s clothing racks moving and it’s almost scary. Probably why I’m listening to music so loud all the time but sometimes it’s annoying.

Wanda: Do you personally feel as though you work better in situations of controlled chaos or very tidy?

Jérôme: It’s a mix in between, like Étienne that had this other part of the space, have you seen Francis Bacon’s studio? It was exactly like that. A mountain of fucking shit he bought from Dollarama and just complete mayhem. So you know when you look at my studio compared to that it was the most organized thing in the world. But it’s always a play between resetting everything. Everything is organized and cleaned up but I need stuff laying around to play with and remind myself. So it’s cyclical. I would say I’m quite organized but I’m not insane about it.

William: Yeah you’re not like Georgia O’Keefe levels.

Jérôme: Yeah exactly, I wish I was like that. I’m like that in my house but here, maybe if I had a bigger space I could do that and I’d have a clean area. An area for printing and an area for experimenting with other materials and dirty practices. So I feel I could do that. Have an area that’s restricted by different processes.

William: What do you use most often in your studio?

Jérôme: I mean computer I guess but I wish it wasn’t that answer.

Wanda: So how long did it take to get the studio you wanted it to be or are you still evolving it?

Jérôme: It’s changed a lot. Like we built the wall a year and a half ago. So that changed a lot. When I got the printer I changed a lot of the configuration. I mean I’ve accumulated a lot of stuff. There’s also a moment where I was living in this really large apartment and I moved out so there was a lot of stuff like books that I had at my place that I moved here or in the storage. But I feel like it’s been like this since the summer, like I said I rebuilt the table so I built this platform underneath that works as storage. So it feels like it’s constantly changing.

Wanda: Did you have any inspirations when building it? If so who were your inspirations?

Jérôme: No, I mean it was about practicality. Stuff that I found. Nothing really belongs to me here. Like there’s some wood panels that I found and this someone gave to me [legs for desk], and there were so many ex tenants that left wood that I used to build. Lot of finding stuff. Even the table I mean most simple studio table you can build for cheap. If I could build the ideal studio I guess the inspiration would be Donald Judd’s studio in New York and Marfa. He even left instructions when he died like the little rock there and the pen. He was a collector and has all these books, built everything and designed everything himself. If I had more space I wish I could do that. Even here doing renovation, you start cutting wood and there’s wood chip everywhere.

William: And the into the floors must be a nightmare.

Jérôme: Yeah if I do that there’s also the other studio so it’s a bit difficult. We’ve been through quite a bit of renovation. Painting the walls and rebuilding the whole gallery space about two years ago.

William: Universally, what do you think is a must for any studio? Like one thing that every artist should need.

Jérôme: An exact-o knife.

William: And what do you use yours for?

Jérôme: For everything. I don’t know. Not that I’m dealing with collage but like if you need to cut a piece of paper. Mine was lost for awhile, I left it in my friends car-

William: And you were lost without your exact-o knife?

Jérôme: Yeah and it was a really good one with the black blade that I paid thirty dollars for. And he said like “oh I have the same I kept it” and he never gave it back to me now that I think about it. I feel like it’s the thing that especially after realising that it was gone for awhile.

William: You don’t know what you have until you lose it?

Jérôme: Yeah. Yeah. So I guess that and headphones.

Wanda: Do you find yourself stressed when you’re working here or do you find that it relaxes you?

Jérôme: I don’t think the studio informs that, it’s more about what I have to work on or if I have a deadline.

William: Is there a part of the process that you dislike or like more than another one then?

Jérôme: Not really. I like starting a new project because usually you have more time and it’s easier to place your ideas and there’s this playfulness. But I also really like the last stretches, putting up a show and deciding. Having people over looking at your work and seeing what you’re going to present and doing studio visits that are really directed towards what you’re going to show. I really enjoy that when everything is done. Like I was saying when I was doing my MFA I was working with my teacher and adviser a lot. I would just bring boxes and boxes of work that I had done throughout the year on her table and we would play with it. So I like that. And I try when I’m working to not overthink it. I just get it out. Work and experiment, get stuff out. And then when I’ve accumulated enough and I find something that makes sense I can take a step back. Start to think about it, see how it situates with ideas and theory and see if it makes sense. If there’s anything happening between the works.

William: So then is there a prevailing emotion when you’re in here or is it really just based on what you’re currently working on then?

Jérôme: I guess it really changed throughout the years. Like at some point I moved out and I was I was in this weird thing where I didn’t have anywhere to stay. It was just a lot of change in my life. So the studio became this place where I was here everyday. I would just work a few nights a week. I was just here all the time so I think it was not really good because it just became my second house. Like I would come here even though I didn’t really have any shows planned. Work on the computer, make some tests, and then Jean-François would be here and we would just hang out and there was the gallery so I wasn’t really coming here to work. But again I feel like it’s sometimes good to be in the studio all the time. I kind of miss it. Like sometimes I would put that on myself. Like this summer it was insanely, insanely hot in here. It was unbearable so there was this whole month after a show where I told myself I can’t be in here. I’m forcing myself not to be in here. Because sometimes you want to work on something but you know you’re not in the right state of mind and work for nothing. So it was nice to miss it and when I came back and put everything in order I felt this renewed energy from me not being here everyday for a whole month when it was 45 degrees.

William: Did you work outside of your space during that month?

Jérôme: No I just read, researched, and prepared the class for Concordia and thinking of the facilities there. So how I could work there. So it was more like making lists of things I wanted to do with those facilities, knowing that I would be here and that I’d have access to a lot of stuff I didn’t have access to before.

William: Do you think then that it’s important to sometimes take a step back away from your studio space and organize your thoughts?

Jérôme: Yeah for sure. Since it’s hard for you to do that when you’re in the space working. So it’s nice to impose that on yourself as a constraint.

Wanda: Do you have any recommendations then for people who can’t afford to have a separate studio? Like a lot of the times they end having a living room or in their bedroom, do you have any advice?

Jérôme: Yeah I’ve done that for a long time and it’s personal. I know a lot of people love to have their studio in their space. With the winters it’s more convenient. I like the idea of going to work but I know it’s a lot of money and not only that you have to find a studio not too far from your house. Who you want to be with, who are you going to be sharing with? So there’s all these questions. Like mine was in my room for awhile… that I would not recommend except you can’t have it anywhere else. It’s nice to keep your room for sleeping, it’s healthier that way. But then I had this dining room that after a year we made diner and invited people once so I’m taking it over and I was paying extra and my roommate had a bigger room so it was this common agreement we had. It just made sense and it doesn’t have to be big it just has to-

William: Be somewhere to be productive in that space?

Jérôme: Yeah and your stuff is there and you know that when you go there you go there to work it’s not like you’re working from your couch or your bed. I even do that for writing like I can’t write in here.

William: Because it’s more visual?

Jérôme: It’s more visual, like I always want to work on something else when I’m here like I look and there’s all these ideas and I need to be in a neutral space. Like the library is good for that, in my house I set up a space where I write so it’s nice when you have a space dedicated-

William: For specific tasks?

Jérôme: Yeah specific tasks, function. When you go there it feels like your mind is already settling into that mode. Even reading like I don’t see the point in coming here to read, I’ll go to the library, a cafe, or outside if I can.

Though actually if I could change something about the studio I wish there was more space where we could do this and be more comfortable. Have people over. I know Marc Seguin would invite people over all the time; collectors, curators, friends-

William: Have almost like a social space, like an old coffee house type of thing.

Jérôme: Yeah and again with Jean-François it was always like that. End of our day and just have a beer so you hang out and it’s nice when you have the chance to do that. Have conversations and talk about your work.

William: So you think it’s important to be able to have that social aspect?

Jérôme: Yeah I guess it’s really personal but I feel like, I give meetings with people here and most of the time it’s convenient because I’m here working. It’s another reason why having a studio outside of your house is nice because I had studio visits at people's house and you like judge everything it’s not comfortable for the other person for like an hour just standing there in someone's house. So it’s nice when ok you look at peoples work but you can sit down and relax, talk. But yeah it’d be nice if the space could function like that. Because collectors and curators you’ll have studio visits like so to be able to make the space as nice as possible would be cool. Also makes it go for longer.

William: Like ow my legs are hurting

Jérôme: Yeah and the chair is full of paint and you don’t want to touch anything. But then again some people might like it if you go to place and it’s just mountains of shit laying around and work.

William: I mean personally I wouldn’t want to go to Francis Bacon’s studio. That place looked insane.

Wanda: I would love to go like you’ve seen my room I wouldn’t be too upset.

William: Yeah but can you imagine doing a studio visit there just standing there for hours?

Wanda: Yeah can I move this pile of trash to this side of the room for one second!

William: It’s not trash, needs to be right there!

[basklin]

A love letter to Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

or how I learned to stop worrying and love the game.

Hotline Miami 2 turned 3 yesterday, I thought I’d write something up for it!

The following contains spoilers for both Hotline Miami and Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. I'm going to put it under a read more seeing as I got carried away.

I didn't get to play the game on its release date, I was busy with real life. My sister was playing a part in her university theatre troupe and had a role as Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest, it coincided with the date of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number's release and I was going to go back to the house me and my family were staying in at the time. It was a moment of respite during a time of year where I was working on my final art presentation for my school and I had worked non stop on it. I wanted to play the game since its announcement and having finished the first Hotline Miami less than a year before, I had waited so long, I could wait a day longer, my time was my own to work with. The comics by Dayjob Studio had gotten me really excited for the game at the time as well, more than happy to see my favorite medium put to use in promoting a game I was looking forward to.

I got back to my student flat in the early afternoon and made myself lunch, downloaded the game (updates and bug fixes included) and happily started it up. I'm ashamed to say now that I was expecting most of what the first few levels had to offer, since I'd spoiled myself on a leak that came out a few months before the official release of the game. I originally wasn't going to watch it, but a friend who'd watched before me said there was a character with my name in it, seeing as that was so rare to me, I caved in really fast. (Fun fact: it was the direct inspiration for one of the first comics I did for that game)

I have to point out that I'm thankful that the game's slasher style tutorial wasn't spoiled in the leaked gameplay footage, as it was a genuine joy to see the amount of details in the level design at my own pace. There was a big buzz around that level when journalists were framing it as an unwanted shocking sexual assault scene in a game about senseless violence and cartoonish gore. The game's meta commentary about sequels and how that kind of scene is used in horror movies for upping the shock value was lost on me too, but we can't be expected to get the point of a moment in media the first time. The presentation in most cases for this is frankly overblown and lasts around 3 seconds, a pair of pixellated buttcheeks over a woman I didn't even know the name of yet wasn't going to put me in a catatonic state, but a trigger warning  asking a player if they want to be spared from that kind of scene before the start of the game is always a worthy inclusion.

Even today the first 5 levels of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number are the perfect representation of the rest of the game: big sprawling detailed areas, a diversity in those locations, playstyles associated with named characters, and an actual commentary on violent video game protagonists.

As mentioned before, I was very much looking forward to the game's release and getting around to playing it. I had gone cold turkey on playing the previous installment, wishing to discover the gameplay anew and making my patience feel like a reward when I got around to playing it.

I wrote “named characters” because giving them a name makes them more real, part of the world, with motivations unique to them. Not just an avatar the player can slip into and mirror back what the little amount of pixels with a human shape might be beginning to feel when committing violent acts. That also means there are more stories that come bundled together, they're more present than ever and harder to ignore for a player who wants to skip to the next action set. The arcade game format of the first game alongside its simplicity is lost, but more story is what I wanted in the sequel, so I can't complain.

Playstyles and characters were a joy to discover and experiment with these characters comprise of:

The Fans, covered in colourful war paint with their individual animal masks and expertise, all set out to go on a vigilante murder spree, chainsaws and guns in hand.

Manny Pardo, the detective whose motives remain unclear, with a more gun oriented gameplay.

Evan Wright, the writer with the one with the most unusual playstyle of the lot, seeing as he tries to do non-lethal takedowns of people he chooses himself to be around needlessly putting him and his family in danger in pursuit of the truth behind the first game's phone calls. This unique gameplay can be made into the default one by going too far on ground executions, making him go into a blind rage and seeing red.

The Soldier, limited to a single gun of your choosing whose ammunition must be replenished through carefully placed boxes throughout the level and an army knife for close range combat.

The Mafia, comprising of the Son of the former leader of the Russian mafia and his Henchman. The former wanting to reinstate the dominance of the Russian mafia after the Colombian cartel took over and the latter wishing to break free of this cycle. The Son has the same array of skills as the Fans, exception made of the chainsaw and gun combo, making him a reckless one man army, and a cool parallel between the Russian mafia and the vigilantes in animal masks.

And the last playstyle, what feels like the default way to play the game, is the one found in the first game. Simultaneously not making you feel contrived to play a certain way, but not making you feel overpowered either. It's shared between a handful of characters in the game: the Henchman , the Rat, the Pig Butcher, and the Snake. (although the latter is able to play in a fists only way with one of his masks)

Guns only, dodge rolling, fists only, a chainsaw and gun at the same time, double MP5s, and even non-lethal gameplay help to define everybody really well, beyond words and appearances.

Getting to explore levels that are massive and open was the biggest game changer, being tunnel visioned and sticking to melee weapons became a death sentence for some levels with frustration quickly rising. I remember reading the advice that guns made too much noise in Hotline Miami, the result was sticking to a melee weapon and executing fallen enemies; which rewarded you with more immediate points than firing with the different array of guns, but rising combo counters and being wary of cover definitely became the name of the game in the sequel, for better or worse.

Gone were the collection of small colourful appartement buildings, what felt like cardboard boxes with “Miami, Florida” scrawled in felt tip pen on them; instead we have unique looking buildings, that feel inhabited, grubby at times, and more unwelcome than ever for a gunfight. More windows, and getting shot from offscreen, and enemies for which you have to use a specific kind of weapons on to progress through the level, all at the same time.

Multitasking is asked from the player, being aware of the enemies in your surroundings along with the abilities and limitations of the character you are playing. Not to mention hard mode which you unlock after finishing the game for the first time, with more reaction time and ammunition conservation playing a bigger role by then. Hotline Miami's puzzle side could expand to its full potential and the developers have truly made a better game. More thought, more gameplay, more amazing music tracks from a variety of indie musicians, and more story was put into Wrong Number, it was everything I was hoping for and I wasn't disappointed by the game at all... At first.

This isn't going to relate to a few people, but I try to finish games as fast as I can. Not speedrun them mind you, I like playing games too much for that, but finish it from beginning to end in a timely fashion. In the past, my interest dropped very fast for games that require time, knowledge of all its controls, or reflexes to beat and will get frustrated if I can't get back into the groove of it after a few months of not playing it. I tend to start over because I've either lost track of the story or of the rhythm of later chapters. On top of that, I didn't want to be spoiled accidentally or put it off too long. I remember finishing Hotline Miami's main story in one sitting only coming back the next day to finish the Biker levels, why not do it with Wrong Number?

To this day, I regret playing Hotline Miami 2 in one sitting. After 3 hours without a break, I had a slight headache, by the time I had finished the game 6 hours later, I had a migraine. By playing it the way I had, I'd successfully completed the game, but gotten a feeling of disgust by the end of it. I've had hangovers that felt better.

On a side note, that day I got a call from a classmate who wanted my opinion on the direction of his end of the year comic presentation was going. He came round when I was in the middle of Deathwish, on the level with Corey, what felt like the ultimate test of skill at the time. And I definitely gave vibes that I wanted to get back into the action, despite taking the time to answer questions and discuss his comic project (if you're reading this Jean, I'm really sorry, come round for tea sometime!). Time feels very fuzzy for this, as I seem to remember spending too much time on that stage, listening to the track Roller Mobster by Carpenter Brut over and over and slowly growing to resent it. I've gotten better since then and like the song just fine now, but I still have trouble with that level.

The assault on the Russian Mafia's headquarter by the Fans is a 4 floor action packed romp, where they all have their own floor for themselves and aim to meet each other on the roof of the building. Things don't go as planned for reasons that weren't explained immediately. Only after Deathwish do we realise that the Fans we had played as had fallen in battle one by one and died during their siege as we were playing the next floor. Now, characters whose gameplay were unique at that point got killed offscreen, with one onscreen by the police, rightfully so as they had only themselves to blame for their demise. I felt drained by the time I had come to what I thought was the end of the game. It turned out that it was the midpoint of the whole story. A pit in my stomach was slowly forming: there was going to be more after all this?

More of everything is both a blessing and a curse, more music leaves room for tracks I'll have a hard time liking, more violence means I'll slowly be apathetic to the character's struggles, and more characters is forgetting the levels that features only one of them, wondering why they were even there in the first place and if they could have been cut in favour of a smaller cast with their unique gameplay. Excitement had passed and doubt had settled in: character driven stories are what I love most of all and the cast was slowly thinning down. Those who had died weren't seen again in the story, was it going to keep my interest? I certainly expected it to.

I finally took a break to have dinner and a stretch before coming back to continue Casualties, the final level featuring the Soldier. The stages between that one and Deathwish are wonderful, great even, but they felt as thought they don't fit into the main story, I remember later trying to rearrange all the levels, keeping in mind which levels concluded each chapters and found that everything fitted really well together as it did. I was still getting over the previous levels so maybe I wasn't enjoying them as much as I should at the time.

I'm going to be honest when I say I forget the Soldier is in the game every time. An actual wartime setting, in an alien looking Hawaii none the less, with a gameplay that's really enjoyable and prepared me for hard mode's ammunition conservation gameplay very well should be memorable. It may be due to the fact that his inclusion was to give a background to the protagonist of Hotline Miami and give the origins of the secret organisation behind the phone calls of the first game, with parallels to mission euphemisms over walkie talkies, commando style hits, and sense of loss to a cycle of violence that doesn't care for its victims or its players. The character's final moments didn't bite as hard this time, even though that one felt the most undeserved out of the whole cast.

The next four levels featuring Richter the Rat are some of the best I've experienced, by that point we were focusing on a new character we'd met in the previous game and of which I didn't think much of at the time. Seeing him was an unexpected surprise for me, a really good one because of all its touching cutscenes and tight levels. Even in his last chapter, with the track Le Perv by Carpenter Brut, reminiscent of Deathwish's nauseating track, was honestly a joy to play through, despite the difficulty. It also was a nice conclusion for the Writer's story, who instigates the Rat's recollection of the events, with a final choice between continuing the book about the vigilante group and its mysterious phone calls or reconnecting with his estranged family while there is still time and discontinuing the cycle of violence, neither choice affects the outcome of the finale, but there is definitely an obvious conclusion in there, for me at least.

Nowadays, I know all the elements and numerous characters were included in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number so that everything would be done in one game. Everything Dennaton wanted to experiment with, characters that tied different storylines together and both made sense of the first game and concluded its story for good. Hotline Miami didn't have room for flamethrowers or more storylines with other operators, it was an overarching story for the player, to be in the shoes of a hitman in an animal mask, with room to interpret the story for ourselves. The sequel doesn't stand on its own from a narrative sense: I'd be utterly confused by some of the stories of Hotline Miami 2 if I hadn't played the first game, since everything stems from the events of Hotline Miami. The result is that it all feels very heavy to take in all at once.

I really didn't care for Jacket's background, or why he did anything in the first game. He doesn't have a name, or a voice, or a personality, he's really boring in a story sense, but he's the perfect game protagonist. If he can be anything you want him to be, there's no room to dislike him, aside for his violent actions which he doesn't justify to himself in any way, he just does as he is told, like the soldier he once was. We feel what he feels during the violent missions, the sense that we get better and better at the game, the character doesn't improve, as there's no character to improve, we as the player are improving level by level.

So when the sequel explained that he was a veteran that fought in a war we never get the context for or care about, my first thought was that “he was just Rambo”. I hadn't watched Rambo at the time and only ever saw that character in old Atari games where you kill nameless soldiers. He'd always seemed like the generic action movie soldier that looks cool shooting away at his enemies. But since then, I've sat down to watch the first Rambo and saw the tale about young man coming back from war without education, aside from how to kill, back to a country that doesn't need him, and even despises him. It's an incredibly sad thing to watch a character broken by committing and being the victim of violence only to be rejected by the society they served.

The personal interpretations about Jacket is one of the best parts of Hotline Miami, as much as its gameplay, graphics, and music. Wrong Number builds upon that foundation by taking multiple interpretations of what Jacket could be and extends it to the cast of the sequel: he could be a jingoist with a burning hate for Russians (Jake the Snake) just as much as he could be scared for his life and willing to protect a person he loves (Richter the Rat). He's the now unwanted soldier of a war that is long lost (the Fans) just as much as he is the patriot in service of a minority struggling for his rightful place in a hostile environment (the Son). He's also a serial killer in an animal mask (the Pig Butcher) just as much as he is a killer with his own motives that don't have to be revealed to the player (Manny Pardo the Detective). And Biker’s search for answers is mirrored by the Writer, it was only fate that they would eventually meet up.

After the levels with Richter, we have the final 5 levels featuring another one of my favourite characters: the Son. He's the de facto leader of the Russian mafia, a scarred one man army with what feels like the strongest desire of the cast of characters: taking back Miami from the Colombian cartel, the new organised crime network in charge. His Father, the final antagonist of Hotline Miami, felt like a strong businessman with the plan of gaining power over the city through assimilation: striking a deal between the Colombians and their cocaine distribution, owning methadone clinics for the new addicts to heroin and cocaine, and gaining the favour of local politicians. The Son is nothing like that. He has a more aggressive show of power and control, separating himself from organically made drugs in favor for more potent artificial ones produced locally and actively killing his competition through violence, being in a revolution similar to the masked vigilantes in an attempt to undo the damage caused by Jacket in the first game.

As an aside, Manny Pardo has his final level in the middle, throughout the game we are teased with his personal investigation, the one of a serial killer called the Miami Mutilator, separate from the main plot of the game. It all comes to a head in his last level when it's revealed that he is the one behind the murders of the Mutilator, in an attempt to overshadow the media's attention of the masked vigilantes. The interpretation I developed over time was that his story arc was a meta commentary on sequels having their own story and an inevitable lack of interest from fans of the first game, curious instead about a continuation of the first game's narrative.

I remember originally thinking from the game's trailer that Manny Pardo was Jacket and getting really curious about how the story was going to go about, until I realised that he was in fact another character with his own motives and losing interest almost immediately in favour of the Fans revealed alongside him in the video. When it emerged that he was a detective, it seemed immediately more interesting than Jacket ever was, that it would be a character in search of answers, similar to the likes of Biker from the first game. The expectation was subverted, as it turns out that he has more current things to worry about and masked vigilantes are a thing of the past, crime doesn't stop happening and random violence is the norm in the world of Hotline Miami.

After the Detective's final level, we have what has to be one of the hardest challenges of the game: the final showdown between the Son and the Colombian cartel's Boss in his sprawling villa. Even after having been playing the game for almost 8 continuous hours, it really felt like what the game was leading us up to, from random street thugs to the drug army in Miami. And yet, even when the level was all said and done, there was yet another level after that. We are back to what felt like the finale a few hours ago: Deathwish, only this time it's the Son's side of the story, overdosing on his own artificial drugs and going on a overcoloured haze of hallucinatory violence.

Apocalypse is the name of that level, and it's a beautiful boss rush, where all the Fans are turned into monstrous animal shaped fever dreams that the Son has set himself out to destroy in his terrible drug trip, alongside his own men, turned into unrecognisable demons. It all leads to the rooftop, where a rainbow bridge invites us off into the void as the game's credits show up on the screen. The credits fade in favour of the rest of the cast, alive and unperturbed by the finale we as the player went through, only to realise that events offscreen trigger the end of the world, nuclear bombs vaporise them all and...

I didn't get it.

It took a good night's sleep and a bit of thinking to understand what Hotline Miami 2:Wrong Number was about: deconstructing Hotline Miami. The first game's conclusion had a hopeful tone to it, with mocking comments by the developer's stand-ins if we came back looking for more answers by playing Biker's additional levels, with actual answers that feel forced if you actually manage to find all the clues within the game. The sequel ends the world with nuclear clouds and if we start a new game, we get a new introduction at the start of the game essentially asking: “why are you back?”. There were no more answers the game could provide.

Violence is at the core of both of the games and it never seemed to stop. Hotline Miami left us wanting more, Hotline Miami 2 left us with the most violent thing known to humanity. I remember thinking that it was a deus ex machina ending, an answer to problems that seemed unsolvable. But inside the game there’s all this rising tension, focusing so much on the characters distracted me from the fact that it was culminating towards the end of the world. All the characters were trying to solve all their problems through violence, but the world wasn't going to get better through those methods. It was the only conclusion a game like that could have and I love it more than ever.

I cannot thank Dennaton enough for the incredible time I had and keep coming back to with Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. It has made me explore media I never would have discovered otherwise and draw things I never imagined I would come to draw. Happy 3rd anniversary to an incredible game, and I look forward to the future.

[dropintomanga]

Faith Is Restored - An Interview With “Anime For Humanity”

Ever since I started this blog, I thought to myself whether I or someone else can start up a mental health organization that helps people using anime. I had some optimism at first, but grew jaded after seeing people’s impressions of anime and how anime was treated under the geek hierarchy over the years. Yet I found out that someone or should I say, a group of fans is doing what I envisioned in my head and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect

While I was reading up on the sudden “mental health” question that popped up in an “anime census”, I found out about an organization that anime fans should support when it came to mental health discussion. That organization is known as Anime For Humanity. They are based in Los Angeles and have been traveling throughout California at various conventions since starting in 2017.

I went to their site immediately and I was amazed that AFH are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to using a medium that many fans love to promote mental health awareness. So I decided to get an interview with AFH and their outreach manager, Ruby, got back to me. Here’s what she had to say on Anime For Humanity, their beginnings, a couple of their projects, the hashtag movement they started, and more.

Q: How did Anime for Humanity get started? What made you see that anime was inspiring for anyone with mental illness?

Ruby: Before Anime For Humanity (AFH) started, we were an anime club with a passion for anime and community. We volunteered with local charities and hosted events that people enjoyed. Then we realized there were specific ways anime could have an impact and make a difference in people’s lives.

When we first thought about the causes Anime For Humanity should tackle, we took a moment to reflect on what anime brought and changed in our personal lives. We found out that most of us suffered through depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Only a few us did get professional help and others didn’t because of the so-called “stigma."

Q: What professional backgrounds do you have in mental health?

Ruby: Since AFH started as an anime club, we all came from different backgrounds, including artists, teachers, computer scientists and therapy counselors.

We do close work with other LPCCs (licensed professional clinical counselors) and LMFTs (licensed marriage and family therapists) that volunteer to host panels, speak at events and run support groups.

As a member of the Anime For Humanity Clinical Advisory Board, it is very important for AFH to work with therapists and counselors who understand the fandom and use it as to a tool to help people find healing and recovery.

Q: Clinical Advisory Board?

Ruby: The Clinical Advisory Board is an initiative made by Anime For Humanity. It is still under the work and part of the Anime Therapy Project.  Since we attend a bunch of cons, a lot of licensed therapists stop by our booth and ask us to be involved in what we do. We call them the "Anime Therapists." :) 

The purpose of the Clinical Advisory Board is to discuss scientific research done on anime and help polish Anime For Humanity’s upcoming projects/programs. We also have been working on building a "find an anime therapist near you" (which is similar to our “Find Healing” resources, but with a twist) where the anime/geek community can find a therapist near them who understands the fandom and maybe uses it as a tool for therapy. 

So far, the project is still on alpha mode and local to LA. We are hopeful it will expand to other cities, states and around the world.

Q: With anime consumption almost completely online and anime conventions sometimes being the only spot to get fans together, how did you come up with ideas to get fans to come to your programs offline?

Ruby: Here in SoCal (Southern California), it happens that there is a convention every month where we get to be in touch with the attendees and tell them about what we do.

We are very grateful for all the convention organizers in our area because not only does the anime scene keep growing, but we also get to hand out local resources for people to get professional help.

Q: Describe what a typical workshop/support group session from Anime for Humanity is like.

The AFH support group is part of the Anime Therapy program, which is still under the works.

Q: What challenges came along the way as Anime for Humanity began to grow?

Ruby: One of the challenges Anime For Humanity faced when we first started was we weren't able to collaborate with other organizations because there wasn't much acceptance and support towards anime when discussing our mission and purpose.

Q: What did it take to get some of those who were skeptical onto your side? How did you convince them? I always felt anime has better acceptance in a place like California due to a large Asian population, Hollywood celebrities loving it, and a vibrant arts scene.

Ruby: At first, we couldn't convince them due to what they have been told about anime (ie. anime containing violent and sexual content) - things that didn't go with their mission and values. 

But once we showed them how conventions were growing (especially the growth of Anime Expo) and how anime presents themes such as kindness, courage, and friendship. We also told them our story of how anime gave us a purpose to make a change in our community. That gave a spark to start the conversation and change their minds about anime. And yes! You’re right about anime being more accepted in California. As I mentioned earlier, there is more than one convention happening each month here in California, where people celebrate their fandom (comics, anime, cosplay, etc) Seeing cosplayers on the train/metro, cons popping up everywhere; that made it easy to promote Anime For Humanity!

Q: I liked how you involve gamers of all kinds to support Anime for Humanity via the "Play Anime Project." In your opinion, what is it about gamers that make them the most charitable people out there?

Ruby: Gamers are a great community. They are passionate and empathetic. Especially when gaming with a purpose comes to play. Everyone would love to do what they are passionate about and help others at the same time.

The "Play Anime Project" is about taking and promoting new and fun anime games to non-anime conventions and start the conversation about the stigma of mental health with attendees.

Q: I found out about a program you had to combat illiteracy called “Take a Manga, Return a Manga Project." Given that manga literacy and comprehension can translate well into reading non-visual material, how did the program work and which series were the most helpful for fans struggling to read?

Ruby: “Take a Manga, Return a Manga” is a unique and exciting program we launched when we first started Anime For Humanity. Here are the 3 reasons why:

1. We wanted to promote anime/manga to a community who aren't familiar with either. Because as mentioned earlier, reaching out to that community was/is still one of the challenges we are facing.

2. We all have a bunch of manga collecting dust in our shelves. We thought how can we put those manga into use and make a space where values like sharing, friendship, and community are built in the anime community.

When we took the AFH library to a couple of conventions, we would invite the attendees to build one in their community, college, high school, etc. to bring those values and show the rest what anime is about.

3. Like you mentioned in your question, manga literacy and comprehension can\translate well into reading non-visual materials.

We have a special box for people to donate manga that will be taken to kids in orphanages as a way to fight illiteracy. Since the donated books were random, we do pick and choose the appropriate ones that will be given to the kids while the rest go back to the library.

Q: I wanted to ask about your thoughts about the recent Flying Colors Foundation situation where the now-defunct organization asked a question regarding users' mental health. There was a good amount of criticism towards FCF about that particular question. What concerns did you have over how they presented it?

Ruby: We believe the question about mental health could have been worded better or not have been asked at all. The survey was to show Japanese animation studios what most Westerners think and want in an anime, and not about personal mental health issues which are generally unrelated to their survey.

Q: I love the #SavedbyAnime hashtag you started, but there are times, as you and I know, where anime consumption can be harmful to someone. We've seen toxic situations involving fandom. How do you tell someone who may be letting anime or anime fandom take over their daily life that it's a good time to step back?

Ruby: “Too much of a good thing is good for nothing.” Moderation is always the key. Over-consumption of anything such as food, exercise, entertainment, and also medicine can be harmful. Finding balance in our lives is so important, yet it is so hard.

This is one of the complex questions that we face at conventions most of the time, since we have encountered many people saying “If it wasn’t for over-consuming anime, I'm not sure if I would be here right now.”

We tend not to judge or give advice to people, but paradoxically, our first approach is to invite people to watch an anime that would speak to their situation in life (Naruto, Welcome to the N.H.K, etc. for example). 

Then we follow up with them to ultimately help them understand what they are going through and hopefully get professional help. We believe all the struggles anime characters go through is to share with us their experiences that we can learn from and use it in our daily lives.

This is where we start the conversation and and educate people about the hashtag #SavedByAnime which is about how to use anime to find balance, growth and purpose in life.

Q: I noticed that there's an upcoming program called "Anime Therapy" on the front page of your site, which looks like screenings with some conversations afterwards, I believe? Can you talk more about it?

Ruby: We will keep you updated once it's ready for launch.

Q: Given that mental illness is becoming a popular topic in graphic novels and manga like “My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness” have hit mainstream success, what would like to see going forward in terms of anime covering portrayals of characters with mental illness?

Ruby: We would love to see more of the kinds of anime that cover characters with mental illness. For example, Welcome to the N.H.K depicted the struggles of a person who was suffering from mental illness. We also hope to see anime touch on the subject of getting professional help when in crisis.

This interview has been edited for clarity. 

You can visit Anime For Humanity at http://www.animeforhumanity.org.

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[studying-irene]

hey everyone, i’m going to be honest here, you will never get rid of procrastination completely. unless i’m wrong, and there may be some possible way to completely get rid of procrastination. if so, i don’t think anyone has figured it out.

anywho, i’ve been procrastinating for years, so i feel like i have some decent tips on how to procrastinate less. here’s my advice!

1. focus on your discipline the most. your discipline skills are your biggest defense against procrastination. there will be times in your life where you just DON’T want to finish your essay, we’ve all been there. you need good discipline to get you in focus. stop thinking about all of those distracting concepts that pull you into procrastination, and start doing your work.

2. you need to keep the good motivation to fight procrastination. it ties along with #1, except motivation is more long term. if you want to accomplish your goals, you get the discipline needed to work for them.

3. try to find time around the day to do some work, especially at school. i do school work at lunch, and sometimes in the morning, as well as occasionally in class if i have free time, since i don’t have a study hall. it helps since it feels like you have less work to do during your normal studying times.

4. remember, doing a little bit of work for a big assignment is better than ditching it completely. if you get a project on the first day, and only manage to do 1/5 of it on that day, it really is better than not doing it at all. you might thank yourself later. try really hard to at least do ONE thing on any work you get on the first day.

5. multitask if more than one assignment correlates with another. if you have a history worksheet and a history test coming up, use the worksheet to review concepts when you need to study. i do this often, and it helps me more than just doing the worksheet. this might not help others though, and that’s fine too! if you can only focus on one thing at a time, you do your thing.

6. i cannot stress this enough, find any good time management that works for you. one popular option is the pomodoro technique (25 minutes of working with a 5-minute break. i’ve heard of other options as well, from 20 → 10, 40 → 20, and even 52 → 17. if you’re not into routines, at least take a break for 5-10 minutes whenever you feel mentally exhausted! just not every 5 minutes, trust me, that leads to procrastination after the second or third “break”.

7. use your “break” time (from #6) doing something relaxing and NOT distracting. unless you have godly discipline skills, i doubt going on your phone will cause you to get back to work properly. take a small walk, eat a snack, stretch, etc.

8. use those app/program blockers to block social media and messaging apps if you’re like me and you have severely weak discipline skills. nothing much will happen while you’re busy doing your work. if something does occur, that’s up to you to find out when you’re done with your work.

9. find a good place to actually do your work! my favorite is the library, it’s so peaceful and it gives the right setting for studying. try your best to study in the least distracting place possible. if you can’t, attempt to decrease as many distractions in your location as possible.

10. find what works for you in terms of listening to music. i personally listen to kpop, and some of us know how catchy the music can be. however, i can usually listen to kpop while doing worksheets without getting distracted. however, if i’m studying, retaking notes, reading, etc. i need ambient music (i mainly use rainymood.com!) to make me concentrate. some of us need instrumentals and/or ambient music, others can’t listen to music at all. that’s fine!

11. turn off your notifications, turn on airplane mode, put away your phone, etc. do anything that works for you. i need my phone as well as internet, so i just turn off my notifications, but not seeing any distractions might make you more likely to do your work.

12. plan things out when you get home. i personally cannot do my work first thing when i get home unlike some people, i get too mentally drained from school! i take a shower, and then eat lunch while doing my work. find out what works for you. i also cannot do the hardest assignment first to “get it out of the way”. i need a medium level assignment to prepare myself for the heavy mental work for the hard assignments!

13. as referring to #12, if one advice doesn’t work for you, don’t use it! we are all different, so if practically everyone you know can do one thing, and you’re better doing the opposite of that, just do what makes you better at productivity.

14. plan out big projects, quizzes, tests, etc. do not cram! i repeat! please! do not cram! it doesn’t feel good at all, and you’re more likely to score worse anyways. try to balance out your work/studying every day or a couple days a week with a good amount of time for all of those days. it helps your memorization more, too.

15. some say that studying in a different place once in a while helps. i personally never tried this, because my brain cares more about adaptation, but it has helped other people i know!

16. get comfortable when you study, but not too comfortable. don’t study on your bed, and please don’t study on the floor. your brain thinks of your bed as the place to sleep, so it’s best to not be on your bed often unless it’s for sleeping. for me at least, studying on the floor really kills my back. please get comfortable and find a table or desk or anything good!

17. another thing i do is that i switch assignments if i feel like i’m not focused. it helps me a lot, i would assume it lets my brain change focus to another productive activity which results in me gaining focus on something important!

18. do anything productive if you have a long break (or if you’re procrastinating haha). it gets your brain in a productive mood and it can help you focus when you go back to your work.

19. reward yourself for whatever bit of work you accomplish. my favorite rewards are my biggest distractions that i look forward to when i finish all of my work. :”)

20. take your free time away to do some extra work every once in a while. it certainly helps not to cram everything in one day.

21. please remember that it takes some, if not a lot of time to improve a habit like procrastination. you will not improve completely in one night. and sometimes, you will procrastinate, and that’s okay! just keep improving yourself, you have time.

22. if you’re looking for a reason or a sign not to procrastinate right now, this is it. tumblr can be such a distraction. you probably have something important to do. and i’m here to tell you to get back to work and finish what you need to do.

[viteducation]

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The Master of IT is a Post graduate program that should be completed by qualified professionals who understand the fundamentals of information technology and understand the developments in the industry.

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A Masters In Information Systems Australia Degree for a Constant Career

Students will continue to cover the same learning development, design, programming, and installation tools for different computer applications and systems at all levels. If you are still unsure how to get your education, there are many websites online where you can provide reviews and opinions on the situation.

Like many other fields of study, the Master of it Australia  is A PG degree can offer you more than just a future job. You will master the skills of teamwork, improve your skills on your own and understand the importance of lifelong learning as IT is a vast field to be slowly discovered. There are tons of options that you can pursue such as: B. Security specialist, network technician, computer forensic scientist and system administrator. You also have the option to specialize in network development, systems improvement, or forensic research.

The Master of Information Technology in Australia provides a theoretical foundation for IT and related disciplines. (TI) The program aims to turn professionals into technology and management experts. The Master of Information Technology is open to graduates who wish to acquire advanced technical knowledge to combine business analysis and information technology. Not only does a master’s degree provide a thorough understanding of basic business applications, it also expands the capabilities relevant to changing IT areas. Information technology has become popular because it provides immediate benefits to current careers with Higher Education.

With this Master of Information Technology in Australia, you can develop software engineering and business expertise that has become essential to businesses around the world. The topics of this course include communication, programming ideas, algorithms, web programming, and software development. A Master of Information Systems and Technology enables the manager to plan, budget, design, integrate and deploy strategic business technologies that are a key element of a company’s work.

This Masters In Information Systems in Australia has become particularly popular due to the recent industry demand for technology management and human resource management. This combination is almost the definition of success and is well supported by an IT professional.

The Australian masters of IT work for executives are growing and new applications require more employees and executives. This program not only deals with information technology, but also promotes corporate governance. Team building, change management and communication between people are therefore key programs for any master’s degree in information science.

The Australian Master of Information Technology enables executives to successfully develop business policies, set business goals and establish industry standards. You can harmonize information technology to grow business. This inevitably leads to better business results in modern planning.

This program can help IT professionals and executives in other disciplines move forward in their area of ​​interest. The aim of the MSc in Computer Science is to provide people with strong technical knowledge and incentives to cope with the rapid change in this dynamic area.

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14/123 Queen St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

1300 17 17 55 (or) support@vit.edu.au