#and clearly lacks reading comprehension enough to understand this post or see themselves in it

[mittensmorgul]

Imagine you really, really hate murder mystery novels.

(this is difficult for me to imagine personally... but for the sake of a metaphor, let’s go with the concept. I’d prefer to use a category of fiction I actually enjoy for this particular point)

But for the sake of this argument, imagine you believe they’re terrible, to the point you think they shouldn’t even be allowed to exist. They’re bad all around, no redeeming value, not even for the sake of intellectual curiosity or pure entertainment. You think murder is just SO BAD in real life, that nobody ANYWHERE, EVER, should be allowed to engage with fictional depictions of this crime.

I don’t think you’re likely to find a ton of murder mystery authors who receive accusations that the only reason they enjoy writing murder mystery novels is because they’re ACTUALLY murderers in real life. Or because they are “glorifying” murder or have some agenda to promote murder or in any way make it appear ���morally acceptable” in the eyes of the general public. But just imagine someone SO ANGRY that these terrible, morally bankrupt books (in their eyes) are allowed to exist, allowed to be sold in bookstores or freely available in libraries, or even *gasp* adapted into films or television programs or other media, that they chose to go on a moral crusade against anyone who dared to write such moral (YET ENTIRELY FICTIONAL) atrocities.

In your goal to stamp out this moral outrage, you send these authors (real actual human beings!) death threats and other vile garbage. YOU HAVE NOW CROSSED THE LINE FROM FICTION INTO REALITY.

Sending real human beings direct threats of violence is NOT protected speech. It’s not “fiction.” And nobody consented to actually read that garbage.

The thing is, if you don’t like murder mysteries (because we’re continuing with this metaphor), when you walk into a library or bookstore you can easily avoid having to engage with that section. It’s clearly marked and labeled for your convenience, just like every other section is so that you can easily find what you DO want to read.

Nobody, and I do mean NOBODY, has to justify their reasons for enjoying murder mysteries to you. It’s literally none of your goddamn business. You hate those sorts of books? Fine! Someone else enjoys them? FINE! Their interests in the FICTION they consume do not dictate who they are as human beings, and how they relate and interact with the REAL WORLD. With OTHER LIVING PEOPLE.

People who enjoy consuming fictional things you hate do not deserve your condemnation and do not deserve your abuse. If you attack real living people over what fiction they choose to read or write, then YOU are officially an abuser.

Not in a fictional way.

If someone casually browsing in the romance department nearby hears you loudly complaining that these people who “glorify” murder in their books should be killed, or beaten, or banned, and steps in to suggest that would be morally unacceptable to harm real, living people over the contents of the fictional stories they create or read, and then you turn around and stalk that innocent person who has never read or written a murder mystery novel in their entire lives, and has no interest in doing so even, for the imaginary “crime” of defending free speech that you happen to find distasteful or offensive, then YOU have become an abuser. You have become (to another real, living human being) the embodiment of the thing you profess to hate.

At that point, you can no longer claim the moral high ground here. You could’ve just as easily walked past the murder mystery shelves. You could’ve carried on your entire life engaging with the types of stories that bring you happiness, but instead spend all your free time obsessing over the things you hate instead. I can only assume attempting to make people who are busy creating and consuming the content they enjoy most feel as miserable and hate-filled as you do.

Joke’s on you fools who think that way. It’s just fucking sad, is what it is. Pitiable. Honestly.

I cannot imagine going through life with that much hate and vitriol driving my every waking thought. Turn off the fox news already. Please engage with reality as it actually exists, because nobody gives a shit about your moral fucking outrage over fiction. Please read an actual book about cognitive dissonance, because the complete lack of understanding of your own actions is jarring, and yes, pitiable.

Yes, this has been about purity culture wankers. 

[mostlikelytofangirl]

Why do jc antis hate him for all the things he never did and hate his fans so much , they have blogs dedicated towards hating on his fans and questioning their reading comprehension , as if they are the only right ones and everyone else is wrong saying that they read the story from mxtx's intended lenses and jc stans are a red flag , how can someone hate a fictional character so much , and for everything that they say about jc fans lacking reading comprehension skills , for all we know everyone except mxtx is misinterpreting the story , everyone has their own opinions and own reading interpretations , why do you want to spread so much hatred ?

One of mdzs's strengths as a piece of literature is how much diversive opinions and interpretations can be made about it depending on person to person and culture to culture , isn't a fandom a safe place for bringing forth all diversive discussions and discourses , these diversive opinions is what makes a fandom interesting ! Of course fanon is gonna remain fanon and canon is gonna remain gonna canon , but why so much hatred ?

One of the anti jc blogs was even insulting a Chinese Diaspora person saying that they don't know about their own culture engaging in racism .

Sorry it got a bit long .

Hi there, anon. I... wish I had an answer tbh ^^;

I'm not a hater and as a rule of thumb I try to stay away from them as much as possible. In fact, most of the blogs I have blocked are the ones dedicated to trash JC (bc those really are a lot and goddamn Intense).

Bc you are right, it really is concerning just how much hatred and resentment there is for one fictional guy, and haters would jump on to any opportunity to blame him for pretty much every misfortune that happens in the story. I once saw a twitter post calling him out bc he did nothing about XY.

It's a witch hunt taken to the extreme, they'll use that purple dude for everything they have a problem with in the story, and act like literally no one else was right there doing shitty stuff too. Somehow, everything is his responsibility, he should have been there to fix every single problem he encountered, and not doing so bc of greater and more important reasons is a moral failing on his part and he deserves no forgiveness.

Like, I'm glad to see they hold him in such high regard that they really and wholeheartedly believe that he alone participated on the siege and had so much power that he could orchestrate everything better than NHS XD.

But no really, as I mentioned in a previous reply, the most aggravating part is that they think themselves superior or Keepers of the True Gospel of MDZS, when it's very obvious they are the first ones deluding themselves if they failed to see the glaring commentary on a broken society and all the others involved in the shittiness.

If you are gonna make a call out post for his participation in the siege, you also better make one for NMJ, LXC, LQR, JGS and literally every other major sect member and minor sect.

If you are gonna denounce him for hunting down demonic cultivators, you better listen first to those of Chinese heritage and origin to explain to you the cultural principles in which cultivation is based and why demonic cultivation is a Bad Thing Actually (also better point out too that the Nie sect uses something very similar —if with a key difference).

If you are gonna lapidate his character for asking WWX to leave the Wens and come back with him to a place where he can actually protect him... hate to break it to you, but JC isn't the only one asking that, he was just an asshole about it. In fact, he at least exposed his case clearly enough for WWX to understand what he was asking of him. But JC's duties to his sect came first and -brace for it- Even WWX Himself Understood That And Helped Staged A Fight so he wouldn't compromise the Jiang sect any more.

EVEN WWX UNDERSTOOD JC'S REASONS.

And as shown in the ‘taking JYL to show her dress to WWX’, they were still in good terms afterwards!

I really don't know what to tell you, anon. It's all clearly written in the novel itself and (methinks) portrayed well enough in all adaptations. I can only guess that haters want someone's head for all the pain WWX went through and that ultimately no one paid for. Someone who isn't already dead and that doesn't have the best relationship with WWX in canon. They pretty much just want a scapegoat for their quite frankly ridiculous accountability crusade for a fictional character, and will use whatever mental gymnastics they can pull off to add to the dogpile, even if that means ignoring clearly stated facts and even the protagonist's own stance.

It's a blind, raging mob against a target that suits them.

And isn't that just ironic.

[sotorubio]

I know its not the point of the post and is pretty minor but you mentioning Lou using a neutral nickname over the feminine name the teacher says, reminded me of how annoying it was to see how she’s listed in the finale credits. Idk if its a deadname if she’s cis? But it was pretty surprising considering this is supposedly a season about being trans. Even if she’s cis, it still doesn’t sit right that she insisted on using one name and showed distaste for the other (and the gncness of her preference and her character can’t be ignored there) and then its framed just as a nickname? Idk. So many things this season were off.

oh yeah absolutely! i thought so too. like not once was she referred to by her full name by the other characters (at least not that i know of) so it's strange that they still kept that in the credits especially since after hearing lou turn down her "real" name n call herself smth else, isi also introduced themselves as isi (as early as ep 1!) which i thought is pretty significant n speaks volumes abt the importance of lou's name. whether or not it should be considered a deadname i'm not sure since it seems that she's supposed to be read as cis (? maybe. i think so) but cis ppl can be uncomfortable w their given names too & not want to use them or even get them changed so that decision should be respected regardless of gender.

like the whole scene where lou helps isi dress in all the crazy outfits n tries to show them it's okay to be who u are screams "everybody has the right to express themselves however they want" and should be enough to view her name as smth she has chosen for herself bc that's more who she is. her experiences are clearly similar to isi's so her name should get the same treatment.

actually, this is a bit off topic n feel free to stop reading but since we mentioned lou being cis (or not), i wanna bring up my annoyance w this too like... in the first clip she was in i think we all assumed she was also nonbinary? and was going to be a role model for isi or just the sort of person to open that door for isi, a bit like eskild. and yeah she sort of did do that, she was an integral part of isi daring to be themselves more but her gender identity was never brought up at all which is kind of a problem imo regarding the fact that isi's identity was barely explored either.

bc due to the lack of talk abt lou's gender i assume she's supposed to be cis. and i mean not every form of representation has to be explicitly stated on screen but u'd think that if the person helping a nonbinary person live more freely as themselves is also nonbinary, they should mention that... like the whole point of isi & lou's friendship is that they're very similar their experiences overlap, the gnc clothes, just unusual style in general, using a different name, getting judged/or being afraid of judgment for being themselves. so... it would've made sense for lou to be like btw i'm nonbinary n then it starts clicking for isi like wait so the first person who truly understands this side of me and who i relate to is nonbinary? could this say smth abt me?

but bc her identity was never explained she just comes off as a cis gnc girl (and now to make sure everyone here has reading comprehension: i don't mean that being cis is the default for characters or that they can't be trans unless explicitly stated to be so, but the whole paragraph above was me explaining why in the context of this specific season, it doesn't work to make her identity subtext and it should be explicitly stated if she is anything but cis) which makes the nonbinary "rep" in the season seem even worse somehow.

like don't get me wrong ofc nonbinary ppl can have experiences in common with cis or trans gnc ppl but since isi never even said "i think i'm nonbinary" or anything like that it's a bit... annoying that the person they relate to when it comes to gender/gender expression is apparently a cis gnc person. bc then HOW are young nonbinary ppl watching the season supposed to make the distinction for themselves like i relate to this but am i like lou who just wants to be gnc or am i like isi who's trans/or how are uneducated but open minded cis ppl supposed to grasp the difference between gnc ppl and nonbinary ppl*. like i'll be honest here. if i didn't know abt eren's identity, i probably would've thought that isi is a gnc guy for the majority of the season specifically bc they get the support and strength from a gnc cis person. n i'd assume instead of struggling w gender identity they were struggling w gender norms. like they rly should've either confirmed that lou is nonbinary as well OR confirmed that shes cis and had isi talk w her abt how regardless of their similar experiences they actually feel like they're not cis.

*and one more media literacy check point bc i don't wanna have to explain my point over and over again: not all shows have to hold the audience's hand and walk them through the identities of the characters. sometimes u have lgbt characters that just exist and fight monsters or go on adventures w/o ever having a conversation abt the specifics of their identity & experiences but skam has always been an educational show and aimed at young ppl to represent them. from my understanding this is even more significant for druck since funk (?) is funded by taxes & their whole thing is making educational content. so in this context it actually is important to explore the main character's identity.

i'm sorry this got so long especially since half of this had nothing to do w ur original ask but i've been thinking abt the whole cis lou thing n this seemed like a good time to write abt it w/o having to make a whole post abt it

[sumeshi-t]

when to shutcho bitchass up.

so i had this long ass reply as i was about to reblog a haikyuu writer’s response to a hate ask but i had to eat lunch, and my wifi’s acting up so it all got deleted. but anyway, after lurking in the shadows for god knows how long, i decided to speak up about this on-going issue of hate being poorly masked as “constructive criticism”. 

it doesn’t just happen on haikyuu blogs, like, every fandom has it. and it saddens me because i’ve seen the greatest blogs out here just vanish into thin air (or has gone on hiatus and never returned/archived the blog/deactivated) for getting hate that they absolutely do not deserve. nobody does. nobody needs that hate; not now not ever. most often than not, there are people who hide behind the anon feature in asks. but i guess some people lately have now learned how to own up to their own mistakes; and yes, everyone’s opinion is valid, is welcome to be entertained; however the way you word these things out also matters. it’s just like when someone writes something, you know? why do you get to complain, “your writing suckxz” when you can’t even write down why you think so? lol gtfo. people can interpret your words in however way they want, and that’s the one thing you cannot control. so at least, when you attempt to apologize for something you “didn’t mean to” or “was just a joke”, at least make it sound like you mean it. if you want your opinion to be taken seriously, learn how to say it with manners.

anyway, this post will be terribly long, probably longer than the shit i’ve ever written anywhere lmao. some of the things i’ll say here might come off as redundant but because the same thing happens over and over again, what else would you expect?

Exhibit A: “constructive criticism” does not mean, or shall never be equated to “hate”

if you go around tumblr, there are tons of posts which educate people how to properly write a critique, how to decently and reasonably critic someone’s work, whether it be in the form of writing, or digital art, etc. even if you type “constructive criticism” on that google search bar, tons of websites are going to tell you how to do it, so it really is unacceptable to use “it’s constructive criticism” as an excuse when all you’ve said is “your writing sucks”. literally, how can “constructive criticism” go from “you’re not even a good writer, why the hype?” to “you’re too positive, too fake, if you’re sad, show that you’re sad.” that ain’t it chief. constructive criticism is given to the works of a content creator, not directed at the content creator itself.

ever heard of the sandwich method? yeah, yummy and easy, right? basically it means, you start it off with the positive things about the content creator, then the negative ones in the middle, then reinforce them at the end. okay, i’ll repeat that here, let me break it down if that isn’t enough for cute little noggins to understand:

tell the content creator what made you hooked on their works in the first place. what made you indulge in all that deliciously free content, that has brought you to tears, to laughs, to orgasm. you don’t necessarily have to praise them, but acknowledge that you’re aware of what they’re doing and how it is, or how their progress is so far.

now here comes the critique part. this where the “however” and the “but” words come in, to transition from (for example) “your way with words is breathtaking” to “sometimes i feel they’re too much to digest all at once”. get it? pinpoint to the content creator just exactly what aspects in their current state do you wish they could improve on, or areas do you think they are lacking or weak, so to speak. be concise, be comprehensive, be nice.

lastly, my favorite part, is you give them tips or advice or just a fucking hint how you think they can achieve the things you said from #2. even if you know or assume that they’d understand your point, or “it’s their job to find it out by themselves”... well, a little input or jumpstart wouldn’t hurt, would it? so from the example, “your way with words is breathtaking” to “(however) sometimes i feel they’re too much to digest all at once” you end it with a, “i think or why don’t you try doing so, and this, and that,”

lemme go back to the “it’s their job to find it out by themselves” aha, news flash honey: this isn’t their job. it’s their way of enjoyment, their leisure, their free time that they use up just to bring out free content for lots of people like you to indulge in. most people come here, or on ao3, or basically anywhere where you can post your work, just for fun. you cannot be demanding, that’s why they have their rules and all, but i digress. content creators feed on feedback, and feedback alone. i hope you have an idea how something as simple as “asdflkjshdls” in the tags can bring a phat smile to a content creator’s face, what more, if it’s something coherent. just fucking keyboard smash is a boost to their confidence (trust me, it’s very fun knowing that how “asdfgjkl” i was when writing something, is the same as the “asdfgjkl” the readers had when reading)

this sandwich method thing doesn’t only apply to this certain situation. in fact, this is an effective means of communicating your point across to people in school, at work, and even in the comforts of your home. right? 

didn’t you feel bad when your teacher returned your paper to you and just said, “i gave you that grade just because” and nothing more? or when that classmate of yours said, “no, i don’t like this idea. think up of something else” for a project? didn’t you ever question them, “why, and on what basis?” 

how about, when your boss returned your report, only saying, “revise this” but what is “this”? sure, there are bosses who do this to try to teach their employees to find things out and find solutions on their own, but you cannot deny that some are just being disgustingly rude about it. 

how about at home you say? well... remember that time when your parents compared you to their friends’ children, or even compared you among your own siblings? or that time you were lashed out on? actually, you know, what, i’m sorry for bringing this up, as light as this was worded out, some people might get triggered simply from those two phrases i put out. however, i will address this issue next.

Exhibit B: you don’t know the people you are talking to, therefore you do not know what they are going through

you can’t say, “oh, you’re all just so sensitive” or “it’s just an opinion” when clearly, this (tw: depression, suicide, family issues, gender and sexuality, body positivity, etc) topics is/are sensitive to most content creators, to most people. some brush it off fine, and take a while to reach their boiling point, but not everyone’s like that. you can’t tell people how they should react to your random spewing of hate. each person has their own level of tolerance, so don’t go off and assume that everybody online is the same and grew from the same fucking tree. 

some or most people use writing/drawing/etc. as a means to cope with what shit life has thrown at them; and then you, being so stupidly ignorant, just waltz in and drop that bomb on what possibly, could be the only ray of sunlight they have in their life, especially now in this bleak year. 

receiving anon-hate or hate-asks should not be the norm. it is not and never will be okay. i thought you were here to critic their work, why even joke about something that could have been personal to someone? why even joke about these kinds of things in the first place? why even bring up something that might have been a personal issue when all you had to do was critic their work? 

my god, stop acting like a boomer already. tbh the audacity of some people here, idk. if you’re not going through anything at all, then may god/brahma/allah/whichever supreme being you believe in or whatever good karma it is, bless you. 

it’s not that one should sympathize, or, it isn’t also expected of people to full on empathize, but a little respect goes a long way. why don’t we try to put ourselves in the shoes of the person we’re about to send that hate-ask to. if not us, how about that close friend who’s easy to bring to tears, or mom, or cousin? wouldn’t it be aggravating? wouldn’t it be painful?

well... who am i to assume, i don’t even know you. get it?

just please, acknowledge that everyone here is human. they have emotions, they have their own thoughts, they have their own lives outside of the screen. how they choose to portray themselves here has nothing to do with you. how they choose to react to that hate ask doesn’t have to do with anything you should concern yourself with. 

LET PEOPLE ENJOY THINGS. LET PEOPLE LIVE THEIR LIFE THEIR OWN WAY, both virtual and in reality. 

i know this post won’t get too far, but i have had enough of seeing the nicest people, who just wanted to express their creativity and share the happiness and the fun, be put down just because of unnecessary hate. i hope those people who send those in never get to experience that, or if they have, i hope they understand that doing so to others isn’t going to change anything about themselves.

[hellsparadiseessays]

Aza Brothers Week - Day 2

To keep celebrating the existence of our beloved bandit brothers, I thought it’d be funny to check some stuff I had written about them back in April/May with the current hindsight we have! It’s an essay in three parts, initially posted on r/Jigokuraku. This essay may also be very useful to those of you who’re waiting for my Criminality essay, btw. More under the cut!

Aza bros, an analysis – Part I : an essay on the traditional family model in Japanese culture, and how society’s expectations impact the siblings

As a disclaimer, three things need to be mentioned. First, thy enter spoiler territory; flee while thy can, new reader! Second, I am not Japanese nor raised in Japan, so my take is solely based on the academic documents I read, what I know and what I understand. If there’s a mistake in my understanding, please, feel free to address it. Third, English is not my native language, so while I’m fluent in it, I don’t promise a 100% quality and may make some grammar mistakes here and there. On this note, let’s start a needlessly academic write up. I hope you’ll deem it an enjoyable or educative read.

Writers tend to find inspiration in reality, and manga authors aren’t dispensed from that. It is visible in Jigokuraku, notably with the Aza siblings, Toma and Chôbe. These two characters, through their backstory, find themselves both in and out of society, influenced by it, yet rejecting it. In this first part of the full analysis of our good brothers, we’ll study the family model that was historically prevalent during the Edo period, the roles of the elder and younger brothers in the family, and what we can infer on the siblings’ respective personality based on those informations.

1. Definition of the Ie family model

Based on the historical references given by the characters, it is possible not only to pinpoint the period during which the story takes place (Edo period), but it is also possible to estimate a general time period based on the references to 47 rônin and the Kaitai Shinshou. Based on these informations, we can roughly establish the time of the story as between late 1710 and early 1730.

This time period generally tends to provide us with prime examples of the Ie family model, which is the family model that follows the Uji model (household/clan) that developed during the Heian period. The Ie model is initially found in the samurai cast, but later spread to the lower cast of Japanese society (merchants, craftsmen and farmers) to organise it according to both a symbolic and corporate perspective through the roles of its members (“Ie and Dôzoku - Family and descent in Japan” by Shimizu Akitoshi, 1987). The Ie model is based on a patriarchal system in which the head of the family has power not only over his wife and children, but over his younger siblings as well. It means, for example, that a younger sister couldn’t marry without her older brother’s consent, and a younger brother couldn’t quit the household without his older brother’s consent either – else it’d be perceived as desertion, which isn’t the best of things in the samurai cast.

A specificity of this family model is the use of titles rather than names (with the appropriate suffix attached to it). These titles serve to put an emphasis on the role of the family member over his or her persona. In “Socialisation for Achievement: Essays on the cultural psychology of the Japanese” (pages 44-45), George A. De Vos explains that titles such as Ototo (“little brother”, how Chôbe calls Toma) are such titles and put it as follows: “there is a sense of security attached to the role in that the individual knows he can maintain himself within the protective armor of his role position”.

The Ie model is seen with the Aza siblings, described in chapter 9 as being the sons of a samurai operating as a vassal to the Lord of Akô. We’ll see how it applies to them in-story, based on what we know of their past and mostly chapter 9, as it is the chapter in which both brothers are introduced along their past.

2. Chôbe and social expectations: a bitter tale

The first thing we learn about Chôbe is how strong he is. Not just physically, but mentally as well. External points of view paints him as a dangerously capable man, able to become the head of a group of bandits despite his youth, able to send a man flying up to six meters with a kick... And his adaptability, as his little brother mentions more than once throughout the manga – because Chôbe isn’t the one doing the talking in their story. “Every single time, he instantly digested goings-on, adapted to them, and in the end came out on top, to conquer it all”, says Toma in chapter 9. And it’s true, the narration showed us how resourceful Chôbe is – borderline crazy at times, even (as per chapter 30, it’s a human arm Chôbe, please stahp).

Then we get Chôbe’s direct point of view in chapters 9 and 49, and it tells us so much more about him, in more than one way. The thing that struck me most is the way we get his own flashbacks. It’s not explained, it’s showed with a handful of panels.What can we take from that? Well, the obvious would be how action-oriented he is, a show, don’t tell type of person. The less obvious would be the lack of actual words relating to his past. Both times, the flashbacks immediately lead to an extremely negative reaction, Chôbe is furious and let us know by going on a rampage. Even worse, it’s words that trigger his fury, words such as “murder is a sin” that sound way too much like “the crimes of a lord are the crimes of his vassals, his sins their sins” (chapter 9). Even worse, as of chapter 49, we see that the simple thought of samurai is enough to have him completely lose his mind out of sheer anger (“It’s making me mad. Eyesore. In my way. Kill.”), to the point he accidentally hurt his own beloved brother. These flashbacks allow us an interesting reading of Chôbe: he is strong, but still clearly damaged by what happened to him, to the point it becomes one of his Berserk Buttons and the one on the receiving hand doesn’t get out of it unscathered. To the point he still doesn’t put many words on it. To the point he rejects society’s rules and gleefully becomes what society claimed he was during his childhood, because this very society let him and his family down, indirectly led to his parents’ death, got him and his little brother in a terrible situation despite their innocence. This failing is also the reason why he despises his father so much: dad fought for revenge, sure, but still followed the rules in place and failed to stay alive afterwards. With everything we know, of course Chôbe will see him as a fool with no ambition, as opposed to himself, his survival instinct and adaptability. Why would he even act like the proper son of a samurai, when it only leads to a lot of trouble?

Funnily enough, there’s still a bit of society’s rules left in his behaviour, and it’s visible in the way the dynamic with his brother is shown.

3. Toma: the younger brother must follow

We had quick shots of Toma early in the story, but he’s been truly introduced in chapter 9, in a truly interesting manner. The very first thing we see is his skill with the blade and the praises he receives, a prodigy who rose in the ranks of the apprentices in only a month, a feat never seen before. Yet, his first thought sounds like a philosophy of life: “The meaning of strength... Is change”. As soon as he shares this thought with the reader, we’re lead to the actual goal: getting his brother out of jail by infiltrating the Asaemon. Immediately, Toma proceeds to share more of his thought on change: “and what is ‘change’? Change is shifting one’s outward form as the situation demands”. Well, it does seem to be precisely what he did with his successful infiltration and is shown having a nice little chat with Chôbe as he keeps explaining his definition of change, because Toma is quite the chatty one. “It’s the speedy comprehension, and acceptance, of the situation at hand. Even if there may be times that are awfully difficult to understand...” At this point, we’re switching from the flashback in prison to the current situation our brothers are in, which involves a group of Soshin as the welcoming committee on the island. At this point, Toma stutters and seems at loss, while Chôbe is asking a practical question regarding the creatures they are facing, before immediately taking action. And here, Toma’s monologue suddenly focuses on Chôbe: “he always instantly takes it in, that is what makes my brother strong”. But is it really a sudden focus? Wasn’t it all about Chôbe from the start, even though it felt like Toma sharing his personal view on life rather than the way he perceives his brother? These pages, which are only the start of chapter 9, already tell us a lot about Toma: his brother comes first, and Toma himself takes a step back even when he accomplishes spectacular feats all by himself: he does it all for the sake of his brother, his own will doesn’t matter as much.

And this admiration and respect he has for his brother is further justified with yet another flashback, during which Toma keeps telling us how skilled Chôbe is at adapting and dealing with all the misfortunes they had to face since childhood. Condemned for the mistakes of their lord? Toma is shaken and seems too young to fully understand the situation, Chôbe doesn’t show any specific emotion. Their mother passes away due to illness? Toma cries, like any kid losing their mother would, but Chôbe remains fairly composed. Same story with the execution of their father, the brothers being reduced to begging on the side of the road and getting caught by a group of bandits. Again, Toma keeps expressing his admiration towards his brother and his adaptability, how it keeps helping him come out on top. And everytime, Toma puts himself as the one who follows big brother, because big brother is the best and always knows what to do. Because if he can’t follow with the change, he becomes unnecessary to his brother. After all, Chôbe himself told him so, back when they were living with the bandits: “Quit yer cryin’, Toma! If you show weakness like that, you’re only begging to die! If you don’t know what’s right or wrong, then just believe in me! I’m your big bro, and a big bro is his little brother’s guidepost, I’m always right! Always and everytime!”

Funnily enough, as soon as Toma reminisces those words, we’re back to present again with Chôbe stating his new awesome revised plan: taking the elixir of life for themselves. He grins as he utters thee words, and right at the next panel, Toma shows us the exact same grin as he agrees yet expresses his thought concerning the difficulties they may encounter as they keep going, and how it may get worse the longer they stay on the island.

4. Orderly outsiders

Based on what has already been said about the Ie family model typical of the Edo period and especially prevalent in samurai families, as well as what has been inferred about the Aza brothers based on the informations given to us by chapters 9 and 49, we can draw some conclusion about the way they perceive themselves, their past, each other, and how their rejection of the social order that abandoned them despite their innocence doesn’t stop them from following certain social codes – the very codes that make them a real family according to the rules of society.

First thing first, their self-awareness. It seems Chôbe is better at it than Toma, as he knows what he can do and what he can improve, while Toma consistently put himself in the background, even when he could legitimately pat himself on the back a bit. Second, Toma seems to be better at putting words on their past than Chôbe. Way better at it, even, since he pushes the reflection as far as justifying his brother’s strength by the way he handled everything until now. Chôbe, on the other hand, barely puts any words on the few memories we see – memories we probably wouldn’t be able to comprehend without Toma’s point of view and explanations -, and the little words he expresses about it immediately lead to rage and brutality, the physical expression of a pain that runs deep and seems to never be properly addressed. This is where things become interesting: by becoming the big brother and the unofficial head of the family through unfortunate circumstances, Chôbe clearly seems to have repressed his own feelings in order to take the lead and move forward. Toma perceives himself as the little brother who must follow, as is the role of the proper little brother in the Ie family model. This perception goes as far as Toma describing himself as merely an extension of his brother, and not his own person. And it’s sad, really sad, because we’ve seen what Toma is capable of on his own, we’ve seen how much trust Chôbe himself puts in him. Which is why I think both of them being separated as of chapter 50 can lead to a lot of good for Toma, who’ll have to rely solely on himself and so will have to change his perception of himself. Considering his abilities, I personally believe it can only lead to a positive outcome for him [ETA: bless be chapter 54 IT’S HAPPENING I’m so proud of you Toma]. As for Chôbe, the situation may be more difficult for him – and no, I’m not just talking about his encounter with Rien. Accidentally injuring his brother is the one thing that made him get a hold of himself again in chapter 49 and 50, and generally speaking, he does what he does for the sake of protecting his little brother – he even sacrificed his right eye as a kid for his sake. In my opinion, Toma acts like the hoops that keep Chôbe together. Remove the hoops, and things may go horribly wrong. However, I do trust his survival instinct to be strong enough for him to figure a way out. I just hope he won’t lose it again, because this time it may be difficult for him to get control of the situation again.

And with that, I conclude the first part, which is longer than expected! However, I wanted to explain various things that’ll be mentioned in the next part, so we’re all clear. The next part should also be shorter, since it’ll be less focused on canon information and more of an opinion-based (and less academic) piece according to what we know for now. Again, I hope you found this write up enjoyable or informative. I certainly did enjoy working on it, and it led to my newfound appreciation of Toma. Please, love this guy, he deserves it.

Sources

Ie and Dôzoku - Family and Descent in Japan

Socialization for Achievement: Essays on the Cultural Psychology of the Japanese

[ganymedesclock]

I always feel bad for getting angry at things that are clearly fandom jokes, but at the same time, if the jokes are not something the character would actually do (or an understandable hyperbole of how they actually are) it just... sets my teeth on edge and this may have inspired a lengthy post about Keith’s childhood and fan depictions of that I have seen.

Like. Canon Krolia is established as someone who plans things out. She’s smart, a strategist- she has to be, because she’s a career spy with a long tenure under one of the most dangerous people in the empire. Remember, we were introduced to Warlord Ranveig by Lance commenting that “I’m guessing you don’t get that title by being a good person”, during the Kral Zera he murdered someone onscreen more obviously than we’ve seen before and flung their body aside, and was experimenting on a living creature with quintessence.

Krolia has to have a pretty ironclad set of nerves to, day in and day out, for years, lie through her teeth to this guy, undermine him, and feed intel back to his enemies, her allies. Especially since, while we don’t see the two of them together, Ranveig was like four times her size. 

And that’s reflected by her behavior within the episode- “I’m guessing Ranveig is dead, since Commander Trugg is attacking my base,” she says, with complete neutrality like she’s discussing the weather report.

This is also a trained military personnel who’s received a pretty darn long and comprehensive training in the use of a sword. That is to say, someone who has a very keen idea of how this is not a toy, must be used carefully, and is very dangerous, because she regularly uses its danger pointy bit to end the lives of other things.

So the No Fun Humdrum Clockie is here to say: there’s no way in hell someone with those kind of credentials would leave her weapon where a baby could get it, much less put it directly into his lacking-motor-dexterity hands. There’s no way someone as smart as Krolia would look at her kid trying to eat his own foot because he doesn’t realize it’s attached to him yet and go “hmm, what should I give him, this nice safe baby rattle or this deadly weapon that could cause him grievous injury?”

And part of the reason this makes me mad is the assumption that Krolia’s otherness- her being an alien- would make her inept at being a parent without evidence that this is actually part of her experience. The show illustrates that it’s really not hard in this universe for sentient life to understand each other and most of their needs are similar.

It’s frustrating to insinuate that Krolia, as someone smart enough to operate as a high-stakes deep-cover spy, can’t understand how babies work and would just bash ahead cheerfully endangering her son when that’s something she tacitly refuses to do.

It’s frustrating when sympathetic galra are so often framed as baffled or incompetent- like if they aren’t specifically placental mammals themselves they must have no idea what a placenta is! (Just like humans clearly have no idea what the hell an egg is because we don’t hatch from eggs, right?)

Even though the galra in this situation would actually be better set up to understand or, at bare minimum, not be thrown that far by humans being unlike them because the humans in this setting are only just meeting aliens for the first time now- the galra have met hundreds of other sentient beings in this time. Even if you have a bunch of headcanons about humans being different from galra, it runs a pretty high risk of arrogance to act like humans are somehow more different and more special than any other sentient race that the galra can’t possibly understand us.

And when I look at something that’s just supposed to be funny like a picture of Krolia carrying Keith in a baby harness with her sword sheathed in the front of the harness I know that’s not consciously and willfully what the artist is thinking, but it’s still... frustrating, very frustrating, because... child endangerment is not funny. 

Depicting a smart perceptive character who is shown to be worried about her child’s welfare and caring about how he’s actually feeling rather than what she thinks he should be feeling, as a negligent parent more concerned with her cultural standards or expectations-

(“Why is my baby so short, and not like a galra? I was definitely not prepared for this, somehow expected that having a partner that’s not a galra at all would still mean my children have stereotypical galra phenotypes”)

-than the actual reality of her child’s situation? Is not funny. It’s just frustrating. And it’s frustrating that most of the times I go into Krolia’s tag, that’s a sizable chunk of the content- depicting Krolia as a Wacky Incompetent Space Mom who doesn’t know how babies work.

Would Krolia probably be a little more militaristic than the average soccer mom? Yeah, but look at the actual reality of her situation. Where’s Keith who grows up in this comfortable environment, and as an elementary schooler knows how to wriggle out of people’s grip and a couple of ways to break out of restraints, and he’s really good at hide ‘n seek, and he has a toy, cloth-wrapped dagger that’s weighted so he can get used to the reach of it but soft-edged so he doesn’t cut himself or poke his eye out because he’s not ready for a real one, not yet.

Because Krolia wouldn’t just be idly going at this with an expectation that her Knife Boy must grow up to be the pride of his Sword Family. Krolia’s raising Keith, however much time she was allowed to spend with him, would be tinted hard with a lens of, she’s not going to have all the time in the world to make Keith safe.

Because she’s gonna know from the start that Keith is half-galra and the empire is not safe for half-galra, it’s barely safe for full galra, and Keith’s the son of a rebel so he’s gonna learn what all Blades do, he’s gonna learn to hide.

And frankly? Keith’s dream of his father in s2e8 carries that sort of vibe. His father talks very gently and carefully in language that a young child would easily understand (which is where Keith’s memories of him stem from) but also talks about staying hidden, where the advancing enemy army can’t find them.

Keith didn’t have a Normal Suburban Childhood with a white picket fence, and he didn’t have a negligent sitcom childhood, because he had parents that loved him, but his parents were a little more worried about whether or not the lurking space empire would come after them and kill them all than they were about “our baby is gonna be a doctor!”

So yeah, the first foster parent that got Keith after he lost his father probably was more than a little concerned that he’d been raised by conspiracy theorists or some kind of cult because why does this kid have a clear sense of what to do if he was kidnapped. Who taught him how to get out of an arm-bar choke, he’s all of eight and should have a strangely committed interest in dinosaurs or dolls or something else normal.

That’s not to say nothing funny ever happened in Keith’s childhood. It’s not to say Krolia never held up her baby boy who was staring lovingly into her eyes and asked herself “what the hell am I doing,” because she’s used to high stakes, she’s used to danger, but she’s not used to having this incredibly vulnerable tiny squishy thing, and bringing him into the world she’s put him where her enemies can reach him, and he’s not ready for the universe, but he can’t be ready, and she’s used to adults that choose and willingly take those risks and not a toddler who have no idea why anyone would hate his mommy or want her- and him, and their whole family- to die.

Where’s Krolia stressing out because she thought she was ready for this but Keith is so very small and so very soft, and that’s how all babies are, sure, but they’ve never been her baby before.

And frankly, given my reads on Krolia and her partner, there were probably more than a few times Keith was upset and Krolia sorta awkwardly handed him off to his dad because oh no, those are complicated emotions, how do you handle those.

Just- there could be all kinds of funny things in Keith’s childhood, that are, I think a lot funnier than “Krolia why does our child have a knife”. 

[stories-you-wont-hear]

– all i want.

Hey, hi, hello! This was a general request for a bau!reader and since we’re decorating for the holidays at work, I feel the need to write something Christmas-y. Enjoy!

If Spencer heard Mariah Carey one more time today, he’d probably start pulling his hair out. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy the song, but according to his exact calculations; the song was 4 minutes and 1 second long take that, multiply it by the number of times they had played it within the last week and Spencer had been listening to All I Want for Christmas for 96 minutes and 24 seconds. On top of that, he had completely forgotten to bring in a present for the office White Elephant exchange. It wasn’t that he didn’t have time, judging from the nicely wrapped presents piled around the small tree they had in a corner of the bullpen, everyone else had found the time to find something. He had done plenty of research on the tradition, but none on what kind of gift to get. Hence, the lack of a gift with his name on it under the tree. He hoped that someone would appreciate office supplies as he began to rummage his desk for a new pack of post-it’s, only to be interrupted by a fellow agent. “What the hell are you doing, Reid?” the voice called, drawing Spencer’s attention from his desk to the woman standing by him. As his eyes met hers, he found himself speechless. Having a crush on someone had that kind of effect, and that was a scientific fact.

She was the newest member of their team and a fine addition. Spencer’s return from jail had him unable to completely integrate back in, hence the need for the new addition. Y/N had made a great addition to the team, her sense of fierce loyalty mirrored JJ’s protective nature, her quirkiness paralleled Garcia’s eccentricity while balancing it out at the same time, and the best thing was that she listened to Spencer’s ramblings. She understood the moments he needed to retreat back into a shell and reveled in the moments where his old self flickered into the present, rambling about who knows what. He felt safe around her, something he had felt that he’d never be able to feel again while he was in jail. Her interruption was a welcome surprise, and if there was one thing she was good at, it was thinking on her feet. “I-” “Forgot a present for the white elephant gift?” Y/N supplied. Spencer nodded guiltily, wondering how she could have possibly known. “It’s just,” he began explaining, “I just don’t know what people like. I read about White Elephant traditions. Did you know that the tradition is rooted in an old legend about the King of Siam, which is present-day Thailand, who ga-” Y/N interjected him quickly, “Reid, you know I love when you talk witty to me, but if the others find out that you forgot, you’ll be in hot water.” “Right...” Spencer trailed off, suddenly even more worried, “What do I do, Y/N?” His eyes held her gaze, pleading silently.  After a moment of contemplation, Y/N began nodding, her expression playing out the apparent epiphany she just had. “I got it,” she said, a grin slowly spreading across her lips. “Great!” Spencer exclaimed before growing wary of the mischevious look on her face, “Wait. What is it?” She just continued smiling as she assured him, “Don’t you worry about it. You’ll see.” With that, she made her way back to her desk, with Spencer whispering loudly at her, “Wait, Y/N, What is it?” All he got in reply was a wink, one that had his heart skipping a beat. Not literally. Maybe literally.  The day went on, paperwork was filled, more Mariah Carey was played. Soon, it was towards the end of the workday and thus began the BAU’s Christmas celebration. Garcia brought cookies, Rossi some sparkling cider, and Tara even donned an elf hat. “Ladies and gentle-agents,” Garcia called attention as she stood in front of the tree. Penelope’s outfit had Spencer mistaking her for one of Santa's elves, perhaps the most technologically savvy one. If anyone in the world could put together a comprehensive Naughty or Nice list, it was Garcia. “It is time to begin our White Elephant gift exchange. According to my calculations,” she continued, “We have all but one gift. Which one of you is about to face my wrath?” Spencer shifted nervously in the office chair he was seated in, turning to catch Y/N’s eye. “Actually,” she spoke up, “There was one present we couldn’t leave under the tree.” “Oh?” Garcia questioned, looking along with the rest of the BAU curiously at Y/N. With that, Y/N stepped over to Spencer, in her hand a red bow, the kind you stick to presents. She placed the bow delicately on Spencer’s head before she pushed his chair towards Garcia. “Spencer’s genius idea,” Y/N explained, “was himself. What could be better than a day spent with the good doctor?” “Yeah,” Spencer said softly under his breath, a small smile growing on his lips, this idea was genius. “Okay,” Garcia said brightly, apparently satisfied with Y/N’s makeshift idea, “Everybody pull a number and let’s get started.” With that, a basket full of folded slips of paper held the fate of everyone’s turns and thus began the White Elephant game. Rossi was up first, selecting an elegantly wrapped gold and white box. He went through the paper carefully to reveal a grey coloured cashmere scarf. “Ah,” he exclaimed, “we have someone here with an affinity for the finer things.” “Indeed,” Tara piped up, holding her ballot which had the number 2 printed on it, “Which is why I chose the scarf.” “Damn it,” Rossi muttered, handing the box reluctantly over to Tara, who held the soft fabric of the scarf to her face. And so, the game continued, with JJ picking Spencer, even going over to the tree and wheeling him over to where she had been sitting. Spencer chose the slim envelope, containing a certificate for gourmet coffee from a fancy coffee shop in town, something he found himself looking forward to trying. Perhaps, with Y/N? His eyes found themselves looking at her, studying how her face lit up in anticipation anytime it was anyone’s turn and how she looked affectionately at all these people around her, individuals she had known a short time but ones that she had made a place for herself within. Her lips had spread into a smile as she caught Spencer’s eye and he did see her lips moving to form words, but he was so lost in thoughts about coffee dates on rainy days that all he heard from her was, “I want Spencer.” Behind him, JJ sighed, calling over to Y/N, “Come get your prize.” Y/N happily switched places with JJ, who took the last present in the pile, a luxury spa set, a gift that she was satisfied enough to give up Spencer for. At least, that’s what the happy expression on her face told him. Not that Spencer was unhappy with the results of this game, Y/N’s hand was on the armrest of his chair as if holding on to make sure no one stole him from her, a thought that brought blood rushing to Spencer’s cheeks. The end of the game lead to everyone dispersing to gather their things to go home, to spend time with their families, surely. Rossi had his daughter, JJ her boys, and from the sounds of Luke and Penelope’s chatter, the two had plans together as well. Spencer found himself lingering, buttoning his coat slowly as he replayed the events of the White Elephant game. Y/N had chosen him, him, Spencer Reid, over things like that really soft cashmere scarf that had been a target of a few members of the BAU. He was once again lost in his thoughts and didn’t realize that Y/N was standing in front of him, calling his name. “Spencer?” she asked, her eyes reflecting concern, “You there?”  It was this very feeling of understanding that was leading Spencer deeper into this abyss of falling for her. He hadn’t felt this way about anyone. Yes, Maeve was someone he loved, but the circumstances that had surrounded his life recently changed the kind of man he was, and Y/N was someone who recognized that and knew the Spencer that stood in front of her. “I’m here,” he replied back, his voice barely above a whisper. They were alone now, everyone else having left, leaving the two of them in the soft light of the lights on the Christmas tree. Y/N cleared her throat, holding Spencer’s gaze as she spoke, “I just want to make sure that you’re okay, Spencer. As okay as you can be.” “I am,” he replied, “I’m as okay as I can be.” The smile she gave in return pierced through his heart, a familiar feeling for Spencer. He was falling for her. Actually, Spencer had fully tripped, gotten up, and tripped again.  “You still have the bow on your head,” she said, laughing as she reached up to take it off, just as Spencer did. His hand grazed hers in the process, Spencer pulling away quickly as they did. “Sorry,” he muttered apologetically. She shook her head in protest, holding the bow in her hand, “Don’t be. Start planning for my Spencer Day.” “Spencer Day?” he questioned, to which she replied matter-of-factly, “You’re my present, remember?” “That I am,” he answered, the faint blush from earlier returned to his face. “I’m not as soft as a cashmere scarf, or as fun as an escape room,” he started, to which Y/N began shaking her head. “No, you’re not,” she agreed, “But.” “But?” Spencer asked, his voice dropping down to match her whisper. “But...” she continued softly, “All I want for Christmas is you.” “Oh?” Spencer’s brow knitted in confusion, worried that he had somehow missed that Y/N had just said to him very clearly. She nodded slowly, stepping closer to bridge the distance between them. Spencer was suddenly very aware of his own breathing and the proximity between the two, as well as the fact that she wasn’t the only one that was bridging the gap. He leaned down to place his lips on hers, something he had admittedly thought about doing many times before. He had thought of it when she was making herself a cup of coffee in the breakroom the same time as him, the little yawns she had before getting her caffeine fix, when she was sitting at her desk filling out paperwork, the way she played with a pen in her hands, when she walked in in the morning, her expression grumpy from the stress of morning traffic. Everything she did drove Spencer towards her, towards this moment. His hands found their way to her face, his fingers weaving into her hair as hers clutched at the fabric of his coat. As he pulled away, he left his forehead resting on hers, the moment feeling vulnerable and intimate. To his surprise, her response was to laugh. “What’s so funny?” Spencer asked, drawing back. Her face had a new glow on it, one that reflected on Spencer’s own. “I have waited so long to do that,” she replied, her hands still resting on Spencer. He felt himself relaxing, his lips spreading into a smile as he replied softly, “Me, too.”

[lindyhunt]

How to Create an Ebook From Start to Finish [Free Ebook Templates]

At age 11, I dreamed of being an editor at a major magazine. I even put together my first publication, Teen Scene Magazine, using colored construction paper, yarn, and in-depth feature interviews with ... my dad.

Flash forward to today. I've swapped my colored construction paper and yarn for PowerPoint and InDesign. I've replaced my dad with marketing experts and influencers (in the office, that is). And week after week, I have the satisfaction of being an ebook creator.

What Is an Ebook?

Ebook is short for "electronic book," and uses either a computer, mobile device, or ebook reader to display long-form texts in book form. Ebooks have multiple digital "pages" that people can navigate through, and are often packaged as a PDF document so they can easily be sent from one user to another.

How Is an Ebook Structured?

There's no set rule for organizing your content into an ebook. It generally mimics the structure of a novel or textbook (depending on what it is you're writing about). But, there are some aspects of an ebook you should be sure to adhere to.

Ebooks have some system of chapters and supporting images. Similar to a blog post, they also do well when further segmenting their text with subheaders that break down the discussion into specific sections. If you're writing about professional sports, for example, and one of your chapters is about Major League Baseball (MLB) in the U.S., you might want to establish subchapters about the various teams belonging to the MLB.

What Can an Ebook Be About?

Anything. Well, within reason. Ebooks are simply a marketer's way of delivering lots of critical information in a form their potential customers are most willing to read it. An environmental company might write an ebook all about water conservation. They also might focus an ebook entirely on how their water-saving product is used, or how it helped a customer solve a problem. Discover more ebook ideas at the end of this article.

No matter what subject your ebook takes on, research is a significant part of ebook creation. Unlike short-form content like articles and videos, the content of an ebook is predicated on trust and evidence. A user who obtains (or requests access to) your ebook wants the full story, not just the bullet points. That includes all the content and testing you went through to produce the ebook.

In What File Formats Can You Save an Ebook?

Ebooks can be saved in one of several formats. Depending on your end user, though, you might find a use for any of the following file types:

PDF

PDFs are likely the most well-known file type. The "PDF" extension stands for "Portable Document Format," and is best for ebooks that are meant to be read on a computer (digital marketers, you'll want to remember this one). We'll talk more about how to save your ebook as a PDF later in this article.

EPUB

This file type stands for "Electronic Publication," and is the more flexible ebook formats. By that, I mean EPUB ebooks can "reflow" their text to adapt to various mobile devices and tablets, allowing the ebook's text to move on and off different pages based on the size of the device on which a user is reading the ebook. They're particularly helpful for viewing on smaller screens, such as smartphones as well as the Nook from Barnes and Noble.

AZW

This is an ebook file type designed for the Kindle, an e-reader device by Amazon. However, users can also open this file format on smartphones, tablets, and computers.

ODF 

ODF stands for OpenDocument Format, a file type meant primarily for OpenOffice, a series of open-source content creation programs similar to Microsoft Office.

Can You Edit an Ebook?

Nope. An ebook can't be edited once it's been saved in one of the file formats described above, so it's best to ensure you have an editable version saved in a program like Microsoft Word.

But why would you want your ebook to be uneditable? Making ebooks uneditable ensures the content remains unchanged -- both the format and the information -- as it's shared between multiple uses.

You can edit ebooks if they're saved using an editable PDF, a feature that is specific to Adobe Acrobat -- the founding program of the PDF file type. Learn how to edit PDFs in this blog post.

How Do You Read an Ebook?

You can read an ebook on many different devices: iPhone, Android smartphones, a Macbook, PC, and e-readers such as the Nook and Kindle. The latter two devices are typically used to read novels in digital form. Nook and Kindle owners can store thousands of books (literally) on a single Nook or Kindle.

But making an ebook can be overwhelming. Not only do you have to write the content, but you also need to design and format it into a professional-looking document that people will want to download and read. With lead generation being the top goal for content marketing, however, ebooks are an essential part of an successful inbound marketing program.

In this post, we'll walk you through the ins and outs of creating an ebook by, well, creating an ebook. And if you're worried about your lacking design skills, fret not ...

Got your free ebook templates? Ready to make an ebook? Great -- let's get to it.

How to Write an Ebook

Choose a topic that matches your audience's needs.

Outline each chapter of your ebook.

Break down each chapter as you write.

Design your ebook.

Use the right colors.

Incorporate visuals.

Highlight quotes or stats.

Place appropriate calls-to-action within your ebook.

Convert it into a PDF.

Create a dedicated landing page for your ebook.

Promote your ebook and track its success.

1. Choose a topic that Matches your audience's needs

Remember: The goal of your ebook is to generate leads for your sales team, so pick a topic that will make it easy for a prospect to go from downloading your ebook to having a conversation with your sales team.

This means your ebook shouldn't deviate much from the topics you cover in your other content marketing channels. Rather, it's your opportunity to do a deep dive into a subject you've only lightly covered until now, but something your audience knows they need to learn more about.

For example, in listening to sales and customer calls here at HubSpot, I've learned ebooks for use in content marketing is a huge obstacle for our audience, who are marketers themselves. So if I can provide not only this blog post, but resources to make ebook creation easier, I'm focusing on the right topic for opening up a sales conversation.

To get your creative juices flowing, here are some example ebook titles to consider. (Note: Replace "x" with an appropriate number.) You can also use our free Blog Topic Generator tool to come up with more ideas. Most blog topics can be made comprehensive enough to serve as longer form ebook topics.

X Best Practices for [Insert Industry/Topic]

An Introduction to [Insert Industry/Topic]

X Common Questions About [Insert Industry/Topic] Answered

X [Insert Industry/Topic] Statistics For Better Decision Making

Learn From The Best: X [Insert Industry/Topic] Experts Share Insights

For this blog post, I'm going to use the PowerPoint version of template two from our collection of five free ebook templates. Through each section of this post, I'll provide a side-by-side of the template slide and how I customized it.

Below, you'll see my customized cover with my sales-relevant ebook topic. For help with writing compelling titles for your ebooks, check out the tips in this blog post.

2. Outline each chapter of your ebook.

The introduction to your ebook should both set the stage for the contents of your ebook and draw the reader in. What will you cover in your ebook? How will the reader benefit from reading it? For tips on how to write an effective introduction, check out this post.

Some ebook creators say that an ebook is simply a series of blog posts stitched together. While I agree you should treat each chapter like an individual blog post, the chapters of your ebook should also flow fluidly from one to the other.

The best way to outline your ebook is by thinking of it as a crash course on the sales-relevant topic you selected. In my example of creating an ebook, I know I need to cover how to:

write effective copy

design an ebook

optimize ebooks for lead generation and promotion

While my example has a few chapters, keep in mind that your ebook does not need to be lengthy. I have one golden rule for ebook length: Write what is needed to effectively educate your audience about your selected topic. If that requires five pages, great! If that requires 30 pages, so be it. Just don't waste words thinking you need to write a long ebook.

With that, let's move on to the actual copy you're writing.

3. Break down each chapter as you write.

Get writing! Here, you can approach each chapter the way you might write a long blog post -- by compartmentalizing each chapter into smaller sections or bullet points, as shown in the picture below. This helps you write simply and clearly, rather than trying to use sophisticated language to convey each point. It's the most effective way to educate readers and help them understand the new material you’re providing.

Be sure to maintain a consistent structure across each chapter, as well. This helps you establish natural transitions between each chapter so there's a clear progression from one chapter to the next (simply stiching blog posts together can rob you of this quality).

These practices should hold true for all your other marketing efforts, such as email marketing, call-to-action creation, and landing page development. “Clarity trumps persuasion,” as Dr. Flint McGlaughlin of MECLABS often likes to say.

Want to make sure you're keeping your ebook exciting for readers? Here are some key tips to keep in mind:

Use keywords in the title that emphasize the value of your offer. Examples include adjectives like “amazing,” “awesome,” or “ultimate.”

Keep your format consistent so you create a mental model for readers and enhance their understanding of the material.

When appropriate, make use of formatting -- like bulleted lists, bold text, italics, and font size changes -- to draw people’s eyes to your most important content or emphasize certain points you want readers to remember.

4. Design your ebook.

Our downloadable ebook templates are offered in both PowerPoint and InDesign. For this example, we'll show you how to do it in PowerPoint, since more people have access to that software.

You'll notice we only have one "chapter page" in the template (slide three). To create additional chapter pages, or any pages really, simply right click the slide and choose Duplicate Slide. This will make a copy of your slide and allow you to drag it to its proper place in your ebook via the sidebar or Slide Sorter section of PowerPoint. You can then customize it for any subsequent chapters.

5. Use the right colors.

Ideally, our free ebook templates would magically match your brand colors. But, they probably don't; this is where you get to truly personalize your work. However, because ebooks offer more real estate for color than your logo or website, it's a good idea to consider secondary colors within your brand's color palate. Ebooks are where this color scheme can truly shine.

To learn how to add your brand's colors to PowerPoint, check out this blog post. That way, you can customize the color scheme in our ebook templates to match your brand!

6. Incorporate visuals.

Images and graphics in ebooks are hard to get right. The key to making them fit well is to think of them as complementary to your writing. Whether you add them during or after you’ve finished writing your ebook’s copy, your visuals should serve to highlight an important point you’re making or deconstruct the meaning of a concept in an easy-to-understand, visual way.

Images shouldn’t just be there to make the ebook easy on the eyes. Rather, they should be used to enhance the reader’s understanding of the material you’re covering. If you need help gathering visuals, we have three sets of free stock photos that might help you along the way:

75 Standard Stock Photos

160 Business-Themed Stock Photos

250 Holiday Stock Photos

And if you're compiling a data-heavy ebook, you might want to download our free data visualization ebook for tips about designing compelling charts and graphs for your content.

7. Highlight quotes or stats.

Another way to enhance your ebook is by highlighting quotes or stats within your design. Just be sure the quote or stat you're using genuinely adds value to the content.

Whether you're emphasizing a quote or adding a visual, keep all your content within the same margins. If your copy is consistently 1-inch indented on your page from both the left and right side, keep your designed elements aligned using that same spacing.

8. Place appropriate calls-to-action within your ebook.

Now that your content is written and designed, it's time to optimize it for lead generation, reconversion, and promotion.

Think about how you got here -- you clicked on a call-to-action (CTA) in an email, on a social media post, or somewhere else. A CTA is a link or visual object that entices the visitor to click and arrive on a landing page that will get them further engaged with your company. Since your ebook readers have probably converted into leads in order to get their hands on your ebook to begin with (more on this in Step 2 below), use the CTAs within your ebook to reconvert your readers and propel them further down your marketing funnel.

For instance, a CTA can lead to another offer, your annual conference's registration page, or even a product page. Depending on what this next action is, CTAs can be an in-line rectangle or a full page teasing the next offer (see both images below).

To hyperlink the CTA in your ebook (or any image or text in your ebook) to your destination URL, simply go to Insert >> Hyperlink in PowerPoint.

We've even designed 50 customizable calls-to-action in PowerPoint you can download and use in your ebooks. You can grab them here.

Now, we don't have a dedicated CTA template slide in the PowerPoint ebook templates for you to customize ... but it's still simple! All you have to do is duplicate slide four (the Header/Subheader slide) and customize copy or add images as needed. You can also go to Insert >> New Slide and work from there.

9. Convert it into a PDF.

Once you've finished writing your ebook -- CTAs and all -- it's time to convert it to the right file type so it's transferrable from you to your recipient.

To convert your ebook to a PDF, click File >> Save As in the ebook template you have open. Under File Format, select PDF and select a destination on your computer for this new file.

Why can't you just attach what you have to a landing page and be done with it? Word documents, PowerPoints, and similar templates are perfect for creating your ebook, but not for delivering it. Because these templates are editable, the contents of your ebook are too easily corrupted, distorted, or even lost when moving from your computer to the hands of your future leads. That's where PDFs come in.

You've seen these letters at the end of files before. Short for Portable Document Format, the .PDF file type essentially freezes your ebook so it can be displayed clearly on any device. A popular alternative to PDFs is the .EPUB file type. See a comparison of EPUB to PDF here.

10. Create a dedicated landing page for your ebook.

Your ebook should be available for download through a landing page on your site. A landing page is a web page that promotes/describes your offer and provides a form that visitors need to fill out with their contact information in order to access your ebook. This is how you are able to convert your visitors into business leads that your sales team can ultimately follow up with.

For instance, you went through this landing page in order to access this ebook template. To learn more about how to optimize your landing pages for conversion, download this free ebook.

11. Promote your ebook and track its success.

Once your landing page is all set, you can use that destination URL to promote your ebook across your marketing channels. Here are five ways you can do this:

Advertise your new ebook on your website. For example, feature a CTA or link to your offer’s landing page on your resources page or even your homepage.

Promote your ebook through your blog. For instance, consider publishing an excerpt of your ebook as a blog post. Or write a separate blog article on the same topic as your ebook, and link to it at the end of your post using a call-to-action to encourage readers to keep learning. (Note: This very blog post is the perfect example of how to promote an offer you created with a blog post.)

Send a segmented email to contacts who have indicated an interest in receiving offers from your company.

Leverage paid advertising and co-marketing partnerships that will help you promote your ebook to a new audience.

Publish posts to social media with a link to your ebook. You can also increase social shares by creating social media share buttons within your ebook, such as the ones at the bottom right of this ebook. Here’s a blog post that shows how to hyperlink them.

After your content is launched and promoted across your marketing channels, you’ll also want marketing analytics in place to measure the success of your live product.

For instance, you should have landing page analytics that give you insight into how many people downloaded your ebook and converted into leads, and closed-loop analytics that show how many of those people ultimately converted into opportunities and customers for your business. Learn more through HubSpot's Landing Pages App.

And with that, we've built an ebook, folks! You can check out the packaged version of the example I built through this post here:

After your content is launched and promoted across your marketing channels, you’ll need to have marketing analytics in place that measure the success of your ebooks. For instance, having landing page analytics that give you insight into how many people downloaded your ebook, or show how many of those downloaders converted into opportunities and customers for your business.

Ebook Ideas

So, what should you write about in your ebook? I'll answer that question with another question: What do you want your readers to get out of this ebook? To identify an ebook idea that suits your audience, consider the type of ebook you're trying to create. Here are a few ideas.

New Research

Conducting an experiment or business survey? This is a great way to develop proprietary knowledge and become a thought leader in your industry. But how will you share your findings with the people who care about it? Create an ebook that describes the experiment, what you intended to find out, what the results of the experiment were, and what these findings mean for your readers and the market at large.

Case Study

People love success stories, especially if these people are on the fence about purchasing something from you. If you have a client whose business you're particularly proud to have, why not tell their story in an ebook?

Ebook case studies show your buyers that other people trust you and have benefited from your product or service. In your ebook, describe what your client's challenge was, how you connected with them, and how you were able to help your client solve their challenge and become successful.

Product Demo

The more complex your product is, the more information your customers will need to use it correctly. If your product or service can be used in multiple ways, or it's hard to set up alone, dedicate a brief ebook to showing people how it's done. In the first section of your ebook, for example, explain how to launch your product or service. In the second section, break down the individual features and purposes your product is best used for.

Interview

Interested in interviewing a well-known person in your market? Perhaps you've already sat down with an influencer to pick their brain about the future of the industry. Package this interview into an ebook, making it easy for your customers to read and share your inside scoop.

Playbook

A "playbook" is a document people can use when taking on a new project or concept that is foreign to them. Think of it like a cheat sheet, full of tips and tricks that help your customers get better at what they do.

When done right, a playbook equips your customers with information they would need to excel when using your product. For example, a software vendor for IT professionals might create a "virus protection playbook" that makes support teams better at preventing viruses at their respective companies.

Blog Post Series

Sometimes, the best ebook for your business is already strewn across a series of blog posts. If you've spent the last month writing articles all on the same subject for your business, imagine how these posts would look stitched together?

Each article can begin a new chapter. Then, once this ebook is created, you can promote it on a landing page, link to this landing page from each individual blog post, and generate leads from readers who want to download the entire blog series in one convenient ebook.

Ebook Creation Resources

5 Free Ebook Templates in PowerPoint and InDesign [Free Download]

13 More Customizable Ebook Templates in PowerPoint [Free Download]

Data Visualization 101: How to Design Charts and Graphs [Free Download]

How to Easily Turn Blog Posts Into an Ebook [Blog Post]

A Simple Guide to Creating Social Sharing Links for Your Ebooks [Blog Post]

Do you have any other tips or resources for making ebook creation easier? Apply them to your content marketing strategy. I'd be remiss not to admit every company's ebook will come to fruition differently. It all depends on the needs of your brand.

[imnotyogi]

Am I thick and missing something obvious? Maybe I didn’t think I explained myself as well as I could have but I also don’t see how they got that I’m defending abusers or demand women hold emotional burden for abusers. Or anything of the sort. When I read “dont play devils advocate...” I read it as “never do it under any and all circumstances” so asked what’s wrong with it.

GP: I’ll play devil’s advocate here..what would be the correct move for him in this situation? Besides not being an alleged sexual predator and general fucking creep to start, of course.

S: *Posts screenshot saying "Do not play devils advocate unless you have passed the bar and are currently representing Satan in a court of law*

Me: And what’s wrong with playing devil’s advocate,generally speaking? It gives an opportunity for actual discussion instead of a circle jerk of agreement. OG: Because it tends to be disingenuous or intellectually dishonest, especially when its something that hits people close to home. One can disagree with what you label “the circle jerk” (another phrase that makes me crazy), have reasons for that disagreement and own it. OR one can lay off the actual stakes on the “devil,” and not take responsibility for any position.   The actual Devil’s Advocate (which, btw, even the Catholic Church as given up) was someone who actually examined the evidence and pointed out flaws. I rarely see people do that. Mostly its lazy whataboutism. In my work life, I’ve had enough privileged men use this “Devil’s Advocate” BS to spew sexism and racism and then expect me to defend my existence to THE FUCKING DEVIL that I’m over it.

ME in response to OG: Thats what I actually mean by “Devils advocate”. To examine something from all viable angles. That, to me, is a good thing. It makes people think about their own views on something and gives them an opportunity to see it from a different pov. B: Did someone say “Hey, I’d like for you, as a dude, to help me, a woman, think about my views on this subject that disproportionately affects women and to see it from different POV?” If the answer is no, then shut the fuck up.

ME in response to B: I said “generally speaking” in my initial reply. Nothing about sexual abuse or harassment. Because I agree with you and sit down and shut the fuck up when it comes to it. CQ: Who gives a fuck how he “should” handle it though? Did you read the sexual harassment depositions? If he’s damned, it’s by his own hand. Nothing he says is going to salvage the situation until he tells the truth about what happened with his female employees - something he’s failed to do in any of his public statements so far. And by playing “devil’s advocate” here, you’re asking women to spend time coming up with a PR strategy for what appears to be an unrepentant serial predator. I’m sure you can understand why few of us are interested in doing so. And on another note, I’d love if the male commenters here offered more thoughtful, substantive commentary beyond constantly “playing devil’s advocate” on behalf of harassers.

ME in response to CQ: I haven’t tried to play Devil’s advocate with anything regarding Casey Affleck or the allegations against him. In hindsight, I should have stated things more clearly to avoid misunderstands. I was talking about it if there are, in fact, any viable positions to play devil’s advocate from which can lead to a healthy debate on the topic at hand. There is no viable positions when it comes to sexual assault/harassment claims.   I don’t feel like I have anything to add about Affleck specifically and don’t want to appear as if I’m trying to defend him or put the responsibility of his reputation/public persona on anyone but him. As far as I know he has always denied the allegations and, if he ever comes clean about any wrong doing, will most likely blame it on alcoholism anyway. CQ: “I was talking about it if there are, in fact, any viable positions to play devil’s advocate from which can lead to a healthy debate on the topic at hand.” This is tiresome. Men coming uninvited into spaces where women are trying to handle the fallout from decades of pervasive sexual violence looking for “healthy debate” is tiresome. You clearly have the privilege of being removed enough from this situation to choose “a viable position to play devil’s advocate from.” We’re too exhausted from actually living through it to spend more energy debating you on extremely fucking obvious points. If you are truly here to be an ally, you’ll understand this or at least take it to heart. But unfortunately very few men here do. ME: And the sentence I wrote right after the one you cherry picked: “There is no viable positions when it comes to sexual assault/harassment claims.” Obviously this was the wrong article to even try to talk about the general concept of playing devil’s advocate in certain discussions since people are repeatedly responding to me as if I’ve specifically spoke about sexual assault/harassment or demanded women forgive Affleck or whatever nonsense.

STBP: You find the need to defend yourself about whether there are viable positions to defend as devil’s advocate, because your attempt to play devil’s advocate was tasteless and groundless — you need to defend yourself because your statement that sexual harassment never needs needs a devil’s defender WASN’T obvious given what you said. Own up to your statements, and realize you need to do better or people WILL call you to task for simultaneously condescending AND demanding emotional labour for explaining what should be an obvious point. Jesus did you read your original comment? Go ahead, do it now, and if you don’t see the problem with it, you really ARE the problem, my friend

ME: No, I found the need to defend myself against people who seem to lack basic comprehension. I asked a question and only one user bothered to keep to that point without accusing me of trying to defend abusers or put the emotional burden on women when it comes to abuse. I appreciated their responses since they actually had some thought put into them and werent mindless or baseless attacks. I know what I originally said and what I meant by it. I also tried to clarify it in following posts. At the very least, specify that I am NOT talking about sexual abuse/harassment and/or Casey Affleck or any other abuser. You can “take me to task” all you want. You still miss the damn point of it so I basically sit back and shake my head over people pissing themselves off for no reason. STBP: No I got your point, it just isn’t logically consistent. See the logic laid out in my earlier comment: you requiring someone to explain easily discernable things means you maintain ignorance or ARE ignorant. I’m sorry I know that sounds rude but I know of no better or simpler way to put it. And to be honest, folks shouldn’t have to be worried about shutting an argument down because the arguer might take it personally. Tellingly, you failed to bring evidence to your reply/engagement with me — all you really did was summarize your previous comment, which I didn’t need, since I already read it and replied TO IT. Best of luck to you, my friend.

[apsbicepstraining]

Here’s a conclude: how do footballers do what the hell is do? | Gregg Bakowski

It is not often a footballer expands on what goes through their thoughts when they play at the highest level but when they do it is fascinating

The concerning the relationship between footballers and the media is frequently a extremely naive one. Before a coincide a actor is asked what their hopes are for the challenge onward. Their explanation invariably has them looking forward to the game while perhaps including a bit deflection when steered towards a topic who are able to to be translated into controversy. In post-match interrogations actors are asked how they feel about the result and perhaps something they did in the accord. Through shortfall of age, tirednes or media practice, we often memorize little beyond what feeling a actor is knowing at that moment. This is often no flaw of the footballer or even the interviewer. Thoughtfulness is not provide support to football. Consequently, it is rare to truly understand how a participate does what they do.

What are they envisioning when they are moving their own bodies in a way that enables them to open up cavity where a millisecond ago there appeared to be none? We take for granted, whether sat high up in the digests or when watching on television, how quickly a footballer is able to calculate gesture and day. Our perspective is a false one. The predicament of what they are doing is skewed by interval. When a truly remarkable purpose is scored, such as Mesut zils elegant winner against Ludogorets, it is often is complemented by exaggeration or cliches. When deeper thought is given to how a piece of footballing splendour is crafted, the players take on it is usually overlooked, perhaps because were not used to hearing anything from them that tells us something new. Even after reading a 75,000 -word autobiography we can be left wondering, beyond fitness, proficiency or tactical comprehension, what it is that a actor contains that gives them an advantage over others. Relationships, defies, achievements and altercations help build narrative within their life story , not introspection. “Theres” exclusions of course, such as Andrea Pirlos I Think Hence I Play, which intentionally plays up to Pirlos reputation as a cerebral midfield maestro.

On the subject of delivering he paints a picture of a playing realm that isnt so much a fraught mass of moving limbs and testosterone but a series of shapeshifting breaches of which it is his enterprise to thread the ball through.

Ive understood that there is a secret: I see video games in a different way. Its a question of viewpoints, of having a wide field of regard. Being able to see the bigger portrait. Your classic midfielder examines downfield and ensure the sends. Ill focus instead on the space between me and them where I can work the ball through. Its more an issue of geometry than tactics. Andrea Pirlo

Dennis Bergkamp, one of video games great thinkers, has alluded to exhaustive modern-day coaching as one of the reasons participates dont use their own the terms of reference of insight enough. They dont have to think for themselves any more, he told Amy Lawrence. It is all done for them. Its a problem. If they get a new statu, they look to someone as if to say, What do I have to do now? And while Bergkamp was talking specific about the ability to think critically in the midst of video games, his comments pass us a clue as to the lack of faith footballers have in their own ability to self-reflect.

Throughout his more youthful years, Wayne Rooney was pigeon-holed as an instinctive street-footballer, fearless and reliant on playing off the cuff. Hed have been the last being you would have picked to give careful consideration to how it is that he has been capable of doing things on a tar which go beyond the vast majority of other professionals. But in a uncover interrogation with David Winner he explained that he relies heavily on visualisation to prepare for parallels and his thoughts as moves develop can often move into the future. Winner “ve opened” that rarest of things: a opening to the in-game footballers mind and gave us a fascinating glimpse of how the cogs move.

I go and ask the kit man what emblazon were wearing if its red-faced surface, grey abruptlies, grey socks or pitch-black socks. Then I lie in bed the darknes before video games and visualise myself tallying points or doing well. Youre trying to put yourself in that minute and trying to prepare yourself, to have a remembering before video games. I dont know if youd call it visualising or dreaming, but Ive always done it, my whole life. When I was younger, I used to visualise myself tallying wonder objectives, substance like that. From 30 gardens out, dribbling through units. You used to visualise yourself doing all that, and when youre playing professionally, you realise its important for your cooking. Its like when you play snooker, youre always remembering three or four hits down the line. With football, its like that. Youve got to think three or four moves where the ball is going to come to down the line. And the very best footballers, theyre able to see that before much more quickly than a lot of other footballers you need to know where everyone is on the tone. You need to see everything. Wayne Rooney

Did Wayne Rooney visualise this goal against Manchester City or just anticipate the cross quicker than anybody else did? Image: Matthew Peters/ Man Utd via Getty Images

I once tried to razz this profundity of thought out of Alan Shearer when asking how he tallied a aim that he considered to be his greatest but, even after knocking on the door in as numerous new and interesting rooms as I could muster, he wouldnt let me in: That volley was one in a hundred I belief, he said. Its an answer that could have been given by thousands of other footballers who perhaps dont understand that what they are able to do and the rush at which they do it is extraordinary.

In the same room that pilots construe “the worlds” in slow-motion, the very best footballers are often spoken about as having this hyper-developed gumption when it comes to digesting multiple flows. Anyone who previously played with or against a former or current professional who has taken a step down to play an amateur activity, can see this first-hand. A musician such as Jan Molby, even when bellying out of his shirt and years past retirement, can run a game without moving. This is all part of the prowes of understanding space. Xavi, while has become a much more energetic proponent of this ship, stirred football sound like a manic competition of Tetris in a brilliant interview with Sid Lowe in 2011.

Think promptly, look for seats. Thats what I do: look for openings. All date. Im ever appearing. All daytime, the working day. Here? No. There? No. Public who havent played dont always realise how hard that is. Space, space, opening. Its like being on the PlayStation. I believe shit, the defenders here, play it there. I visualize the opening and pass. Thats what I do. Xavi

With socks down round his ankles and his play seemingly shortfall the gloss of other upper-echelon participates, Thomas Mller can give off the intuition of has become a forward who plays in the moment, never stopping for long enough to consider what it is that has induced him so effective. But in fact the opposite is true. In a piece for Eight by Eight magazine by Uli Hesse, the Bayern Munich player addrest astutely about the significance he targets on timing. And although he clearly checks his persona as being different to a metronomic passer such as Xavi or Pirlo, he considers his near-perfect punctuality in the six-yard casket as being a product of his ability to calculate intervals in a razor-sharp fad. In reality, he has thought about his role on the football lurch to such an extent that he has invented a refer for it.

Im an translator of opening. Every good, successful actor, specially an attacking actor, has a well-developed feel of seat and occasion. Its not a phenomenon you exclusively find in two or three people on ground. Every great striker knows its all about the timing between members of the public who plays the pass and the person making a run into the right zone. Its good-for-nothing new when you make a pass, you dont ever do it for yourself. Often you do it to open the door for a team-mate. Thomas Mller

So it would appear that some of the very best footballers, when made to feel comfy and requested the right queries, view their visual to better understand seat and experience as being vital components in putting them at the top of their profession. But what about one of the best, a participate who moved all over the pitch in the unhurried way of someone who had “ve been there” and done it a thousand times before, even at a relatively young age. In the fascinating documentary, Zidane: A 21 st Century Portrait, the Real Madrid legend and World Cup winner conjures an image of himself as an ethereal attendance on the football pitching with psychic powers.

Zinedine Zidane knew exactly what was going to happen.

I can imagine that I can sounds the ticking of a watch I recollect playing in another place, at another time, when something amazing happened. Person overtook the ball to me, and before even touching it, I knew exactly what was going to happen. I knew I was going to score. Zinedine Zidane

There are millions of words written and spoken about football and footballers every day. Some good. Some bad. On subjects of tactics, feelings, hopes and reveries, were well gratified for. So when one of video games enormous, such as Zidane, lets us into his head mid-match even for exactly a few moments it puts out. Well done to those reporters who get us there. And kudos to the footballers who take the time to think.

The post Here’s a conclude: how do footballers do what the hell is do? | Gregg Bakowski appeared first on apsbicepstraining.com.

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[apsbicepstraining]

Here’s a conclude: how do footballers do what the hell is do? | Gregg Bakowski

It is not often a footballer expands on what goes through their thoughts when they play at the highest level but when they do it is fascinating

The concerning the relationship between footballers and the media is frequently a extremely naive one. Before a coincide a actor is asked what their hopes are for the challenge onward. Their explanation invariably has them looking forward to the game while perhaps including a bit deflection when steered towards a topic who are able to to be translated into controversy. In post-match interrogations actors are asked how they feel about the result and perhaps something they did in the accord. Through shortfall of age, tirednes or media practice, we often memorize little beyond what feeling a actor is knowing at that moment. This is often no flaw of the footballer or even the interviewer. Thoughtfulness is not provide support to football. Consequently, it is rare to truly understand how a participate does what they do.

What are they envisioning when they are moving their own bodies in a way that enables them to open up cavity where a millisecond ago there appeared to be none? We take for granted, whether sat high up in the digests or when watching on television, how quickly a footballer is able to calculate gesture and day. Our perspective is a false one. The predicament of what they are doing is skewed by interval. When a truly remarkable purpose is scored, such as Mesut zils elegant winner against Ludogorets, it is often is complemented by exaggeration or cliches. When deeper thought is given to how a piece of footballing splendour is crafted, the players take on it is usually overlooked, perhaps because were not used to hearing anything from them that tells us something new. Even after reading a 75,000 -word autobiography we can be left wondering, beyond fitness, proficiency or tactical comprehension, what it is that a actor contains that gives them an advantage over others. Relationships, defies, achievements and altercations help build narrative within their life story , not introspection. “Theres” exclusions of course, such as Andrea Pirlos I Think Hence I Play, which intentionally plays up to Pirlos reputation as a cerebral midfield maestro.

On the subject of delivering he paints a picture of a playing realm that isnt so much a fraught mass of moving limbs and testosterone but a series of shapeshifting breaches of which it is his enterprise to thread the ball through.

Ive understood that there is a secret: I see video games in a different way. Its a question of viewpoints, of having a wide field of regard. Being able to see the bigger portrait. Your classic midfielder examines downfield and ensure the sends. Ill focus instead on the space between me and them where I can work the ball through. Its more an issue of geometry than tactics. Andrea Pirlo

Dennis Bergkamp, one of video games great thinkers, has alluded to exhaustive modern-day coaching as one of the reasons participates dont use their own the terms of reference of insight enough. They dont have to think for themselves any more, he told Amy Lawrence. It is all done for them. Its a problem. If they get a new statu, they look to someone as if to say, What do I have to do now? And while Bergkamp was talking specific about the ability to think critically in the midst of video games, his comments pass us a clue as to the lack of faith footballers have in their own ability to self-reflect.

Throughout his more youthful years, Wayne Rooney was pigeon-holed as an instinctive street-footballer, fearless and reliant on playing off the cuff. Hed have been the last being you would have picked to give careful consideration to how it is that he has been capable of doing things on a tar which go beyond the vast majority of other professionals. But in a uncover interrogation with David Winner he explained that he relies heavily on visualisation to prepare for parallels and his thoughts as moves develop can often move into the future. Winner “ve opened” that rarest of things: a opening to the in-game footballers mind and gave us a fascinating glimpse of how the cogs move.

I go and ask the kit man what emblazon were wearing if its red-faced surface, grey abruptlies, grey socks or pitch-black socks. Then I lie in bed the darknes before video games and visualise myself tallying points or doing well. Youre trying to put yourself in that minute and trying to prepare yourself, to have a remembering before video games. I dont know if youd call it visualising or dreaming, but Ive always done it, my whole life. When I was younger, I used to visualise myself tallying wonder objectives, substance like that. From 30 gardens out, dribbling through units. You used to visualise yourself doing all that, and when youre playing professionally, you realise its important for your cooking. Its like when you play snooker, youre always remembering three or four hits down the line. With football, its like that. Youve got to think three or four moves where the ball is going to come to down the line. And the very best footballers, theyre able to see that before much more quickly than a lot of other footballers you need to know where everyone is on the tone. You need to see everything. Wayne Rooney

Did Wayne Rooney visualise this goal against Manchester City or just anticipate the cross quicker than anybody else did? Image: Matthew Peters/ Man Utd via Getty Images

I once tried to razz this profundity of thought out of Alan Shearer when asking how he tallied a aim that he considered to be his greatest but, even after knocking on the door in as numerous new and interesting rooms as I could muster, he wouldnt let me in: That volley was one in a hundred I belief, he said. Its an answer that could have been given by thousands of other footballers who perhaps dont understand that what they are able to do and the rush at which they do it is extraordinary.

In the same room that pilots construe “the worlds” in slow-motion, the very best footballers are often spoken about as having this hyper-developed gumption when it comes to digesting multiple flows. Anyone who previously played with or against a former or current professional who has taken a step down to play an amateur activity, can see this first-hand. A musician such as Jan Molby, even when bellying out of his shirt and years past retirement, can run a game without moving. This is all part of the prowes of understanding space. Xavi, while has become a much more energetic proponent of this ship, stirred football sound like a manic competition of Tetris in a brilliant interview with Sid Lowe in 2011.

Think promptly, look for seats. Thats what I do: look for openings. All date. Im ever appearing. All daytime, the working day. Here? No. There? No. Public who havent played dont always realise how hard that is. Space, space, opening. Its like being on the PlayStation. I believe shit, the defenders here, play it there. I visualize the opening and pass. Thats what I do. Xavi

With socks down round his ankles and his play seemingly shortfall the gloss of other upper-echelon participates, Thomas Mller can give off the intuition of has become a forward who plays in the moment, never stopping for long enough to consider what it is that has induced him so effective. But in fact the opposite is true. In a piece for Eight by Eight magazine by Uli Hesse, the Bayern Munich player addrest astutely about the significance he targets on timing. And although he clearly checks his persona as being different to a metronomic passer such as Xavi or Pirlo, he considers his near-perfect punctuality in the six-yard casket as being a product of his ability to calculate intervals in a razor-sharp fad. In reality, he has thought about his role on the football lurch to such an extent that he has invented a refer for it.

Im an translator of opening. Every good, successful actor, specially an attacking actor, has a well-developed feel of seat and occasion. Its not a phenomenon you exclusively find in two or three people on ground. Every great striker knows its all about the timing between members of the public who plays the pass and the person making a run into the right zone. Its good-for-nothing new when you make a pass, you dont ever do it for yourself. Often you do it to open the door for a team-mate. Thomas Mller

So it would appear that some of the very best footballers, when made to feel comfy and requested the right queries, view their visual to better understand seat and experience as being vital components in putting them at the top of their profession. But what about one of the best, a participate who moved all over the pitch in the unhurried way of someone who had “ve been there” and done it a thousand times before, even at a relatively young age. In the fascinating documentary, Zidane: A 21 st Century Portrait, the Real Madrid legend and World Cup winner conjures an image of himself as an ethereal attendance on the football pitching with psychic powers.

Zinedine Zidane knew exactly what was going to happen.

I can imagine that I can sounds the ticking of a watch I recollect playing in another place, at another time, when something amazing happened. Person overtook the ball to me, and before even touching it, I knew exactly what was going to happen. I knew I was going to score. Zinedine Zidane

There are millions of words written and spoken about football and footballers every day. Some good. Some bad. On subjects of tactics, feelings, hopes and reveries, were well gratified for. So when one of video games enormous, such as Zidane, lets us into his head mid-match even for exactly a few moments it puts out. Well done to those reporters who get us there. And kudos to the footballers who take the time to think.

The post Here’s a conclude: how do footballers do what the hell is do? | Gregg Bakowski appeared first on apsbicepstraining.com.

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Here’s a conclude: how do footballers do what the hell is do? | Gregg Bakowski

It is not often a footballer expands on what goes through their thoughts when they play at the highest level but when they do it is fascinating

The concerning the relationship between footballers and the media is frequently a extremely naive one. Before a coincide a actor is asked what their hopes are for the challenge onward. Their explanation invariably has them looking forward to the game while perhaps including a bit deflection when steered towards a topic who are able to to be translated into controversy. In post-match interrogations actors are asked how they feel about the result and perhaps something they did in the accord. Through shortfall of age, tirednes or media practice, we often memorize little beyond what feeling a actor is knowing at that moment. This is often no flaw of the footballer or even the interviewer. Thoughtfulness is not provide support to football. Consequently, it is rare to truly understand how a participate does what they do.

What are they envisioning when they are moving their own bodies in a way that enables them to open up cavity where a millisecond ago there appeared to be none? We take for granted, whether sat high up in the digests or when watching on television, how quickly a footballer is able to calculate gesture and day. Our perspective is a false one. The predicament of what they are doing is skewed by interval. When a truly remarkable purpose is scored, such as Mesut zils elegant winner against Ludogorets, it is often is complemented by exaggeration or cliches. When deeper thought is given to how a piece of footballing splendour is crafted, the players take on it is usually overlooked, perhaps because were not used to hearing anything from them that tells us something new. Even after reading a 75,000 -word autobiography we can be left wondering, beyond fitness, proficiency or tactical comprehension, what it is that a actor contains that gives them an advantage over others. Relationships, defies, achievements and altercations help build narrative within their life story , not introspection. “Theres” exclusions of course, such as Andrea Pirlos I Think Hence I Play, which intentionally plays up to Pirlos reputation as a cerebral midfield maestro.

On the subject of delivering he paints a picture of a playing realm that isnt so much a fraught mass of moving limbs and testosterone but a series of shapeshifting breaches of which it is his enterprise to thread the ball through.

Ive understood that there is a secret: I see video games in a different way. Its a question of viewpoints, of having a wide field of regard. Being able to see the bigger portrait. Your classic midfielder examines downfield and ensure the sends. Ill focus instead on the space between me and them where I can work the ball through. Its more an issue of geometry than tactics. Andrea Pirlo

Dennis Bergkamp, one of video games great thinkers, has alluded to exhaustive modern-day coaching as one of the reasons participates dont use their own the terms of reference of insight enough. They dont have to think for themselves any more, he told Amy Lawrence. It is all done for them. Its a problem. If they get a new statu, they look to someone as if to say, What do I have to do now? And while Bergkamp was talking specific about the ability to think critically in the midst of video games, his comments pass us a clue as to the lack of faith footballers have in their own ability to self-reflect.

Throughout his more youthful years, Wayne Rooney was pigeon-holed as an instinctive street-footballer, fearless and reliant on playing off the cuff. Hed have been the last being you would have picked to give careful consideration to how it is that he has been capable of doing things on a tar which go beyond the vast majority of other professionals. But in a uncover interrogation with David Winner he explained that he relies heavily on visualisation to prepare for parallels and his thoughts as moves develop can often move into the future. Winner “ve opened” that rarest of things: a opening to the in-game footballers mind and gave us a fascinating glimpse of how the cogs move.

I go and ask the kit man what emblazon were wearing if its red-faced surface, grey abruptlies, grey socks or pitch-black socks. Then I lie in bed the darknes before video games and visualise myself tallying points or doing well. Youre trying to put yourself in that minute and trying to prepare yourself, to have a remembering before video games. I dont know if youd call it visualising or dreaming, but Ive always done it, my whole life. When I was younger, I used to visualise myself tallying wonder objectives, substance like that. From 30 gardens out, dribbling through units. You used to visualise yourself doing all that, and when youre playing professionally, you realise its important for your cooking. Its like when you play snooker, youre always remembering three or four hits down the line. With football, its like that. Youve got to think three or four moves where the ball is going to come to down the line. And the very best footballers, theyre able to see that before much more quickly than a lot of other footballers you need to know where everyone is on the tone. You need to see everything. Wayne Rooney

Did Wayne Rooney visualise this goal against Manchester City or just anticipate the cross quicker than anybody else did? Image: Matthew Peters/ Man Utd via Getty Images

I once tried to razz this profundity of thought out of Alan Shearer when asking how he tallied a aim that he considered to be his greatest but, even after knocking on the door in as numerous new and interesting rooms as I could muster, he wouldnt let me in: That volley was one in a hundred I belief, he said. Its an answer that could have been given by thousands of other footballers who perhaps dont understand that what they are able to do and the rush at which they do it is extraordinary.

In the same room that pilots construe “the worlds” in slow-motion, the very best footballers are often spoken about as having this hyper-developed gumption when it comes to digesting multiple flows. Anyone who previously played with or against a former or current professional who has taken a step down to play an amateur activity, can see this first-hand. A musician such as Jan Molby, even when bellying out of his shirt and years past retirement, can run a game without moving. This is all part of the prowes of understanding space. Xavi, while has become a much more energetic proponent of this ship, stirred football sound like a manic competition of Tetris in a brilliant interview with Sid Lowe in 2011.

Think promptly, look for seats. Thats what I do: look for openings. All date. Im ever appearing. All daytime, the working day. Here? No. There? No. Public who havent played dont always realise how hard that is. Space, space, opening. Its like being on the PlayStation. I believe shit, the defenders here, play it there. I visualize the opening and pass. Thats what I do. Xavi

With socks down round his ankles and his play seemingly shortfall the gloss of other upper-echelon participates, Thomas Mller can give off the intuition of has become a forward who plays in the moment, never stopping for long enough to consider what it is that has induced him so effective. But in fact the opposite is true. In a piece for Eight by Eight magazine by Uli Hesse, the Bayern Munich player addrest astutely about the significance he targets on timing. And although he clearly checks his persona as being different to a metronomic passer such as Xavi or Pirlo, he considers his near-perfect punctuality in the six-yard casket as being a product of his ability to calculate intervals in a razor-sharp fad. In reality, he has thought about his role on the football lurch to such an extent that he has invented a refer for it.

Im an translator of opening. Every good, successful actor, specially an attacking actor, has a well-developed feel of seat and occasion. Its not a phenomenon you exclusively find in two or three people on ground. Every great striker knows its all about the timing between members of the public who plays the pass and the person making a run into the right zone. Its good-for-nothing new when you make a pass, you dont ever do it for yourself. Often you do it to open the door for a team-mate. Thomas Mller

So it would appear that some of the very best footballers, when made to feel comfy and requested the right queries, view their visual to better understand seat and experience as being vital components in putting them at the top of their profession. But what about one of the best, a participate who moved all over the pitch in the unhurried way of someone who had “ve been there” and done it a thousand times before, even at a relatively young age. In the fascinating documentary, Zidane: A 21 st Century Portrait, the Real Madrid legend and World Cup winner conjures an image of himself as an ethereal attendance on the football pitching with psychic powers.

Zinedine Zidane knew exactly what was going to happen.

I can imagine that I can sounds the ticking of a watch I recollect playing in another place, at another time, when something amazing happened. Person overtook the ball to me, and before even touching it, I knew exactly what was going to happen. I knew I was going to score. Zinedine Zidane

There are millions of words written and spoken about football and footballers every day. Some good. Some bad. On subjects of tactics, feelings, hopes and reveries, were well gratified for. So when one of video games enormous, such as Zidane, lets us into his head mid-match even for exactly a few moments it puts out. Well done to those reporters who get us there. And kudos to the footballers who take the time to think.

The post Here’s a conclude: how do footballers do what the hell is do? | Gregg Bakowski appeared first on apsbicepstraining.com.

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