#and ends up more like some highly performed regurgitation

[thehardkandy]

got a sinking feeling in my stomach when my groupmate said they had done quote "a lot of work" on a piece of this assignment that was largely complete. and so i check it out this morning. and lo! they've gone and added a whole bunch of shit that's completely irrelevant despite my best efforts to prevent this

[snini-9]

Abnormal Behaviour

All information and images can be found on this site. *as by request, some of the videos here were originally from PETA* As seen with other highly intelligent animals such as apes and elephants, cetaceans often exhibit stereotypical or abnormal behaviour. Repetitive in nature, this behaviour has no obvious goal or function and is thought to be a result of boredom, distress, and frustration related to an unnatural environment. As a cetacean’s natural repertoire of behaviours cannot be satisfied in a barren concrete tank, they may try to reduce the resulting tension by developing destructive behaviours such as self-stranding for prolonged periods of time, biting on metal gates/chewing at the environment, vomiting and self-mutilation, or non-beneficial behaviours such as comatose-like states/lethargy, head bobbing and pacing/circling.

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Self-stranding is a particularly notable stereotypical behaviour due to its potential to become life-threatening. In captivity, cetaceans are taught to beach themselves on concrete slide outs to present themselves to an audience, or to participate in husbandry behaviours such as having their weight taken. This taught behaviour quickly becomes an abnormal habit as cetaceans have been seen to repetitively slide out and lie motionlessly on concrete surfaces for up to 30 minutes. Killer whales, the largest species of cetacean in captivity, can weigh up to 22,000 pounds. Once beached, the orca’s weight begins to slowly crush its internal organs and damage its muscles, causing stores of myoglobin to be released. Travelling in the bloodstream, the protein reaches the kidneys where it is highly toxic. After a prolonged period of time, the damage to their kidneys is irreversible. Re-entry into the water allows their blood to circulate more freely, and this carries even more myoglobin to the kidneys leading to severe kidney damage.

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Photographer Reginald Andreas captured the moment a transient orca stranded whilst hunting elephant seal pups on Sea Lion Island, the Falkland Islands. After vomiting repeatedly, the male died.

Additionally, on top of this risk, beached cetaceans can also perish from dehydration and heat exhaustion. Their thick layer of blubber and the lack of water causes cetaceans to overheat, become dehydrated and dry out. In February 2016, Morgan, a female orca at Loro Parque, intentionally beached herself on a slide out for around 10 minutes.

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Morgan beaching herself on a concrete slide-out at Loro Parque. The skin on her melon began to dry out leading to her trainer, Rafa Sanchez, signalling her to return to the water.

Within this time, the skin around Morgan’s melon dried out in 19°C heat. Following this incident, Kelly Flaherty Clark, SeaWorld Orlando’s director of animal training, admitted she’s seen orcas “slide out for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, even 30 minutes, on their own.” If Morgan’s skin can dry out in 10 minutes in 19°C heat, it’s unimaginable how damaging this abnormal behaviour can be if performed for 30 minutes at SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, which regularly sees temperatures of up to 28°C.

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In the wild, only one small population of Patagonian transients in Argentina intentionally strand themselves for hunting purposes. Consisting of around 22 individuals, the whole population was taught how to perform the unique hunting technique by two male orcas named Mel and Bernardo. This cultural behaviour is passed down from generation to generation of Patagonian mammal-eating orcas and, as no captive orcas originate from this population, it’s completely unnatural for the behaviour to be replicated in captivity. Kshamenk, a bull orca at Mundo Marino, is indeed an Argentinian transient but it is unclear whether he is directly related to the stranding orca pod.

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Despite not originating from Patagonian transients, orcas at Kamogawa SeaWorld seem to be avid participants in this behaviour, as do various other species of cetacean trapped in Japan’s often horribly inadequate tanks.

​https://youtu.be/hJVybEhJGV4

https://youtu.be/CW6-8t_RSyM

Other damaging abnormal behaviours include wearing the teeth by chewing at the environment and regurgitating food. It’s common for under-stimulated and bored orcas to “chew” metal bars and mouth concrete pool corners, like the main stages and concrete slide outs, consequently causing their teeth to become worn, chipped and broken.

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Morgan chewing on concrete.

Following feeding sessions, captive orcas have been seen to regurgitate their food and play with it. Although this may provide the orca with some stimulation, obsessive regurgitation can lead to health problems as the corrosiveness of stomach acid can damage the lining of the oesophagus as well as already worn teeth. According to John Hargrove, a former senior trainer, all of the whales at SeaWorld Orlando, SeaWorld San Antonio and Marineland Antibes frequently regurgitated their food, to the point that it became a notable problem. Trainers at Marineland Antibes attempted to discourage the behaviour by mixing spiny mackerel (a fish with painful spikes) into their food to make regurgitation painful, and therefore less appealing. However, unwilling to give up their harmful habit, the orcas figured out how much spiny mackerel was in their food, when they ingested it, and when it was less painful to regurgitate it.

​https://youtu.be/Pnj4rvV4htQ

Perhaps the most worrying of all abnormal behaviours witnessed in captivity is self-mutilation. There are various ways a cetacean can harm itself in a captive environment but the most commonly observed behaviour is for a cetacean to ram its head or body into the walls or gates of its tank. A particularly disturbing example of self-mutilative behaviour in captive orcas would be the behaviour of Hugo, a male Southern Resident killer whale who was captured from the wild in February 1968 and housed at Miami Seaquarium. Prior to being moved to “The Whale Bowl” (the tank that currently houses Lolita), Hugo was housed in “The Celebrity Pool” which is so small that it now houses manatees.

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​Hugo housed in the “The Celebrity Bowl” in the late 1960 – early 1970s.

“The Celebrity Bowl” now housing manatees.

During his stay in this pathetic pool, Hugo developed self-harming behaviour that consisted of him slamming his body into the tank walls. This resulted in a nasty injury on October 1st, 1970 when he slammed his head into the circular ‘acrylic bubble’ feature of his tank and punctured a five-inch hole into it.

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The acrylic window Hugo smashed his head into

The acrylic sliced off approximately two-inches of his rostrum. Hugo had to undergo a 45-minute operation without a local anaesthetic for his severed flesh to be stitched back onto his rostrum. Despite his veterinarian’s best efforts, the sewn-on tissue turned completely white, died and fell off completely after seven days, although Hugo did make a full recovery within just four months.

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Newspaper clipping of Hugo’s injury.

Hugo’s self-harming behaviour continued when he was placed in The Whale Bowl with Lolita. On March 4th, 1980, his behaviour proved to be fatal as he slammed his head into a tank wall and suffered a brain aneurysm resulting in his death. He was just 15 years old.  

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15-year-old Hugo being removed from his tank shortly after his death in 1980.

However, self-harming behaviour at Miami Seaquarium did not end with the death of Hugo. As recently as September 2015, multiple bottlenose dolphins who take part in the oceanarium’s “Top Deck Dolphin Show” were seen to repeatedly hit their heads on the bottom of their tank floor. Watch the video below.

https://youtu.be/QpANcUismqU​

Just like Hugo, Kanduke, a Bigg’s transient housed at SeaWorld Orlando, was also known to participate in self-mutilative behaviour. According to Carol Ray, a former SeaWorld trainer, Kanduke would ram himself as hard as he possibly could into the cement walls, metal gates, and glass panels in the show pool on a daily basis. He bloodied his chin, teeth, and rostrum so badly on some occasions that he was not allowed to participate in shows because management said he looked too bad for the public to see. More recently, Skyla, a female orca at Loro Parque, displayed similar behaviour when she breached onto concrete, effectively slamming her body onto the stage, prior to a show.

Skyla, a female orca at Loro Parque, slamming her body onto a concrete surface.

Morgan, another female orca at the same facility, repeatedly rammed the gate of the medical pool she was held in after she was separated from her tank mate, Tekoa.

https://youtu.be/JIqmG_PE7kQ

Some captive cetaceans take it a step further and leap out of their tanks, hitting the hard concrete floor below. Kotar, a deceased male orca who resided at SeaWorld San Antonio, reportedly jumped out of his tank twice whilst at the facility, requiring staff to clear and flood the entire stadium so that they could float Kotar back into the pool. In 2002, Hudson, another deceased orca, jumped out of his tank at Marineland Canada during a feeding session. Reportedly unharmed, Hudson was placed on a stretcher and lifted by crane back into the pool. Eight years later in 2010, Kuru, a female false killer whale, jumped out of her tank during a show at Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. She sustained minor scratches and bruises from the incident.

​https://youtu.be/wxzTyQillMQ

As recently as 2015, a dolphin jumped out of its tank at Gulf World, landing directly on its dorsal fin. According to former Gulf World trainer, Ashley Guidry, the marine park’s dolphins would jump out of their tanks so frequently that a metal rail was added to the top of the show tanks to try to discourage the dolphin’s dangerous behaviour. It wasn’t uncommon for trainers to come into the park in the morning to find a beached dolphin lying on the concrete walkway beside their tank.

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Other abnormal behaviours, such as comatose-like states and logging, are not necessarily harmful when performed, but do carry risks of their own – risks which have been held responsible for contributing to the deaths of two of SeaWorld’s orcas. In captivity, it’s extremely common to see lethargic cetaceans floating motionlessly at the surface, known as logging, or lying perfectly still at the bottom of the pool.

​https://youtu.be/4dHLzWuVvl0

https://youtu.be/A2qhfcTYP8E

https://youtu.be/vkpOzTETYY0

https://youtu.be/RWq7ZxsadAM

These lethargic behaviours are explained to guests who query it as how dolphins rest. However, although this may be the captivity-adapted version, wild dolphins do not stop moving to sleep. As dolphins must be conscious to breathe, they use unihemispheric sleep, in which they shut down one hemisphere of their brain at a time, to rest whilst remaining alert and able to breathe. Whilst in this state, dolphins remain in close proximity to their pod members, slowly moving forward.

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https://youtu.be/W8UyuSijYsE

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According to Dr. Naomi Rose, a leading marine mammal scientist, it’s “extremely rare” for wild orcas to remain still for a minute or two, unlike captive orcas who log for hours upon hours at a time. Dr. Rose believes this highly abnormal behaviour is the result of “chronic stress, boredom and inhibition of natural behaviours that occurs as a result of inadequate living conditions” at marine parks and aquariums alike. As for captive orca deaths related to this behaviour, Kanduke, a 19-year-old male, died in 1990 with the St. Louis Encephalitis Virus (SLEV) implicated in his death, followed by Taku, a 14-year-old orca, who succumbed to the West Nile Virus (WNV) in 2007. Mosquitoes, who swarm the orca’s exposed dorsal fins and backs when they’re logging, were held responsible for transmitting the viruses.

[theparanormalperiodical]

The Real Story Behind The Babadook (2014), And 17 Weirdest Bogeymen From Around The World That Might Be Hiding Under Your Bed Right Now

Strange times we live in.

It’s a Saturday night, and I’m hauled up at home eating a vegetarian lasagne whilst my mother asks me for the 37th time why I’ve decided to give up meat, when really, if there was no global pandemic, I’d be hauled up at home eating a vegetarian lasagne whilst my mother asks me for the 37th time why I’ve decided to give up meat.

It really is a strange time we live in.

But, in my attempt to protect the vulnerable groups in society and halt the spread of the latest Twitter hashtag in its tracks, I decided to catch up on the horror films hadn’t found the time to press play on just yet.

So, a bucket of popcorn and some mild trauma later, I could finally join in the conversation about The Babadook.

6 years too late.

Nevertheless! Once I’d emotionally recovered, I finally had my Sex And The City moment. No, not the ones with feminism that would make Emilline Pankhurst perform the equivalent of a Viennese Waltz in her grave - the one where Carrie sits in her NYC apartment and thinks about men at her computer.

“I couldn’t help but wonder: could the Babadook be based on a true story? ”

Unfortunately, I discovered that the Babadook is based on the concept of the boogeyman, an urban legend that has a greater global reach than Covid-19. 

So, to distract you from the global pandemic with the threat of a creature lurking under your bed and waiting to snatch an ankle, I thought I’d let you in on the reality behind this queer icon.

First, let’s talk ‘bout The Babadook.

It was one of the biggest hits of the 2010s, combining the classic trope of creepy children with the classic colour palette of depression. Our story follows a single mother and her son who begins to be visited by an imaginary creature fresh from the pages of a children’s book.

With spiky talon-like hands, a cloaked figure, a jaw crammed full of teeth, a face paler than that time you bought that foundation on a whim in TK Maxx - all crowned with a dusty hat - the Babadook the child was seeing certainly had a sense of style.

The child, Sam, begins to create intricate traps and weapons designed to stop the Babadook, all the while the book predicts the mother’s rather dark future. It becomes clear that the Bababook is preying on the mother and essentially possessing her, a diagnosis that is confirmed when the mother attempts to kill Sam.

She then regurgitates a black inky substance evocative of ectoplasm, and is released from its grip. 

The film ends on the happy family feeding the Babadook as it lives in their basement.

This indie horror - once it had finished polishing the 5 awards on it’s mantelpiece - might have woven a intricate plot deviating from the simple basis of international man of mystery James Bond The Boogeyman, but the basis still sticks out more than that wardrobe in the corner of your bedroom you’re now highly conscious of.

Simply put, the Babadook matches the basic concept of the boogeyman:

There’s some weird, dark creature that knicks kids and eats ‘em if they wander alone or don’t go to bed or misbehave. Just like Krampus, the bogeyman is a legend propagated by parents to convince kids to stay in line.

That being said, the mythical creature isn’t the only inspo behind this cinema-hit.

Specifically, the brains behind the film, Jennifer Kent, claimed it was about a deep-rooted fear we all have: that of going mad. On top of this, it seeks to show parenting from a real perspective.

The film focuses on a single mother as she faces one of the most difficult challenges in life: she loses her husband whilst going to give birth to her son, and then has to raise him alone. But that is not all.

Kent also spoke of a real encounter with the bogeyman. 

Basics, her bestie’s son was being plagued by an imaginary monster, so she pretended to talk to it to calm his concerns. Sure, this tale might not have kickstarted the real terror engaged with in this movie, but it invited us into the reality behind the bogeyman.

But beyond this, the movie also detracts from the Babadook, and instead looks for the primal instincts in the mother - it looks for the bogeyman within us all.

That’s right - the real horror that was inside us all along.

Yawn.

But the thing is, it also brings up hell of a lot of paranormal activity that is remarkably accurate to theories of the supernatural.

      Let’s start with the introduction of the Babadook.

He arrives in the form of a creepy children’s book no one’s seen or heard of. Armed with a chilling nursery rhyme and an aesthetic last seen in 2007, the Babadook follows the basic principles of a basic haunting: ghost does spooky stuff, ghost spooks humans, humans invite it in following the consent laws of the universe by interacting with it, ghost spooky powers intensify.

This begins with the book itself. Although the film doesn’t consider if he is a paranormal being aligning with the concept of demons and spirits (etc.), this book follows the concept of haunted objects.

By opening the book and reading it - or, interacting with it - they invite in the Babadook. And when she tries to destroy it, it crops up again, fully intact and conveniently lying on her doorstep.

No ‘sorry we missed you card’ needed.

This closely follows the theory of the haunted object, something more on-trend than tutting at empty shelves in the grocery store. Haunted objects have a habit of failing to be destroyed, and by engaging with them, such as not asking permission for taking a picture of a haunted doll, you enter communication with them.

From there, you’ve basically consented to a full possession. The object is a vessel for a spirit or a demon until a new, better, breathing vessel can be found.

You can find out more about this here.

I can’t find anything about haunted books specifically online, but as a variety of haunted objects exist, from bunk beds to boxes, I’m sure there’s potential for it.

     Next is the eventual possession of the mother.

One of the most dramatic moments we witness is when the mother coughs up this black bile which represents the removal of the Babadook. This bears a striking resemblance to ectoplasm, a white liquid often released by those experiencing intense paranormal activity.

When mediums experience a trance-like state, they supposedly release a fabric-like or thick substance that darkens as physic energy is intensified. It allows those in the supernatural realm to interact with the physical realm, and for spirits to represent themselves to the audience of a seance.

This film was one of the first to explore the potential paranormal explanations behind the bogeyman, and give some basis to a beast that has haunted communities since the beginning of time.

Speaking of the beast…

Who is the bogeyman?

It’s sometime in the 1500s.

We are in the middle of a small country called England, struggling to make ends meet between the near constant famine, the anxiety of being cursed by a witch, or some war with [insert european nation that may or may not exist anymore].

Either way, when we aren’t trying to spell everything with an ‘e’ at the end, we are being taunted by hobgoblins.

These pesky beasts made their name in tormenting Englishmen, playing pranks on them or simply just being foul.

Hobgoblins are the OG bogeymen, or are the first we can trace back to recorded sources. But they were no means the last. And they were by no means the only ones in the world.

As a simple definition, the bogeyman is a mythical creature that makes sure kids are staying in line, and was made up by parents. The thing is, the bogeyman features in every culture that has ever been created.

And given the realm of the paranormal explored so far on this blog, perhaps your local Babadook isn’t so out of the question.

The bogeyman has always claimed a rather vague existence, representing a non-specific terror that has even extended to just ‘being the devil’ in some cases. The origins of the name are no different: ‘bogge’ comes from middle english, meaning ‘something frightening’ or ‘scarecrow’.

It has even been interpreted to mean ‘goat’ which can be traced to relations to the devil.

Appearance wise, the bogeyman has several broad features that stretch across cultures. Standard features include sharp teeth, talon or claw-like hands, hooves for feet, and even bug-like features. The Babadook might have shared in a few of these #basic-bogeyman traits, but it’s not all about looks.

How does his personality fair?

The bogeyman can pick between three personality types: something that punishes misbehaving children; one that is just violent for the hell of it which includes stealing kids, and eating them and/or taking them back to hell; or one that protects the innocent.

“So what you’re saying is, this is a vague looking creature with a vague personality with vague ambitions that is made up by parents who are tired of their kids interrupting their vague post-marital sex?”

Okay, fine, the bogeyman bears little resemblance to the basic concept of the bogeyman. But this is what makes him the international man of mystery. It’s the regional divergences between each nation’s own Babadook that makes this creature quite so peculiar.

You see, I assumed the bogeyman would be a universal concept draped in more black clothes than a kid that was in the throes of that scene where Edward leaves Bella. 

Turns out that there’s actually a band of bogeymen which can be specified by their not-so-casual racism and genitalia.

But as the 195 countries dotted across the globe have fostered their own child-eating monster, I thought I’d cut to the chase and fill you in on the world’s weirdest bogeymen.

*Rolls up sleeves of Team Edward hoodie*

     The Sack Man

Making his cinematic debut in The Nightmare Before Christmas, the Sack Man is the international symbol for the bogeyman. Whether he himself is draped in sack-like materials, or is lugging one around with him, Hombre Del Saco uses his luggage to capture and carry naughty children away to, uh, somewhere.

Most popular in Latin countries and Eastern Europe, the Sack Man is the most well travelled bogeyman on this list.

     Babaroga

The original inspiration behind the Babadook - note the similar name - Babaroga is a resident of Serbia and its neighbouring countries. However, the mood board for the Babadook’s inspiration stopped there.

Babaroga literally translates to “old woman with horns”.

And this pensioner spends her time finding children, putting them in a sack (how original), bringing them to her cave, and eating them. Or, to shake things up, she pulls childrens through small holes in the ceiling.

     El Coco

When he’s not featuring in lovable Disney hits, El Coco is snatching kids that don’t get to sleep when they should. With nursery rhymes detailing the legend - a chilling similarity to the Babadook - spanish-language countries across the globe are versed in reportedly seeing a coconut-like face hiding under their beds.

With a brown hairy face and body, and glowing red eyes to match, this famous humanoid might be closer than you think.

“Que viene el Coco y te comerá” 

 - A line from the traditional Spanish nursery rhyme.

     The Mamma

Pakistan gets its fair share of attention on the news cycle, but aside from the war going on, no one has ever noted the rather peculiar beast haunting the nation’s young women.

The Mamma isn’t the mothering being the name suggests, but is a large ape that lives in the mountains and only comes to the civilised world when in need of a young girl. Once he’s kidnapped ‘em and taken ‘em back to his cave, he licks their hands and feet so they can’t escape.

I have a strong feeling that what happens next to these innocent women isn’t as silly as someone licking your feet.

     La Tulievieja

Bringing together the award-winning aesthetic of The Ring and the naseau-inducing aesthetic of Cats, La Tulievieja is Panama’s warning for naughty children. Legend has it she is a spirit cursed by God for drowning her child.

The thing is, God’s curse was, uh, confused. Her monstrous form consists of acne scarring, long hair, claws for hands, a cat’s body and a farmyard animal’s hooved feet. On top of that, she also looks like the child she drowned.

Yep, confused.

     The Jersey Devil

Most countries suffer from multiple bogeymen - here in the UK, for example, we have 12 varieties - and America is no different. The Jersey Devil is actually one of 4 variants, and, like La Tulievieja, is also confused.

Fresh from the jaws of New Jersey, this beast has a horse’s head, bat wings, hooves, and a snake’s tail. First spotted in the 18th century and then again in 1909, it is believed that this legend was actually manufactured as a real estate hoax to coax residents into lowering their selling prices.

You might be able to deny the existence of this beast, but the Cipelahq (a large owl), the Long Black Being that makes a habit of slithering round like a snake, and Bloody Bones (a dancing skeleton and a separate skull) have yet to be disproven.

     The Copperpenis Owl

Hungary has 3 different bogeyman, and most fit the description of the international beast: there’s one with a sack, there’s one which is just a-bit-beasty, and then there’s the giant owl with a penis made of copper.

I personally feel a Babadook with rose gold genitalia circa 2013 might have detracted from the overall feel of the film.

     Ijiraq and the Qalupalik

Iniut communities also follow beliefs in the bogeyman, and probably focus on them more than others because if you wander off in the Arctic you will either get mauled by a bear and die, or freeze.

And then you’ll die.

They actually have 2 resident bogeymen. There’s the Ijiraq, a shapeshifter that kidnaps kids. You know, pretty basic bitch stuff. And then there’s the Qalupalik who is slightly more spooky.

This is a mermaid laden with green skin, long fingernails, and ratty hair that carry babies away in amauti (pouches or sacks for carrying kids) and bring them to live in their underwater world.

     Butzemann

Remember when I mentioned that thing about casual racism? It’s a bit of grey area, ironically.

Germany’s very own bogeyman is known as The Black Man.

(You can see my point.)

That being said, this probably doesn’t actually refer to the colour of his skin as most Germans during the Middle Ages hadn’t actually seen anyone from the African continent. Instead, his outdated nickname was actually down to his preference for dark corners.

The closet, under the bed, in forests during the early hours... If it’s spooky, you’ll find him here.

     Babau

Germany isn’t the only country with politically incorrect bogeyman. Italy has its very own Black Man, a mysterious figure which often features as a black man (gasp) or a black ghost. Only this entity has no legs.

The Marabbecca on the other hand is specific to Sicily, and mirrors the mythology of the Inuits.

Don’t play too close to the water, kids, or a Marabbecca will swim up and drag you to your watery grave!

     The Kropeman

Our final iconic bogeyman isn’t like the other girls, even if his fellow Luxembourgian monsters are. There’s yet another Black Man, and there’s something about an uncle, but it's the Kropeman which has me sleeping with the lights on.

Under the streets of this small country roams a man with a long hook.

When he’s not busy dodging rats in the sewers, he’s grabbing kids by their nose via the hook, and dragging ‘em down into the storm drains.

So - which one is hiding in your closet?

(Aside from the queerness your inner 14 year old hasn’t fully unleashed yet like a big bisexual dragon spewing flames of gender-neutralness.)

(Don’t worry, I’m fine.)

Are you a whore for horror? Passionate about the paranormal? Do you want to see a new real ghost story every day? Then you have to follow this blog.

Read this post next!

[jennywolfgal]

Demonology: Succubus/Incubus

Succubi/Incubi (Daemon delenimentum) are a type of demon that lurks and hunts within human settlements like villages, towns, and cities. Origin/evolutionary history: This offshoot of the retrovirus-carrying species of cordyceps is specialized in operating in not only dark moist environments like most other types but also places that have little to no activities from other demons, and so places like human settlements are the perfect breeding grounds, and thus making them highly specialized at preying on humans and werecreatures. Despite them still being formidable predators to face in a one on one fight, they've evolved the ability to be skilled ambush predators that'll allure and seduce their prey. Their place of origin's been theorized to be either Southern Europe or the middle east, and diverged from other demons when colonization of humans and werecreatures really gained a solid foothold on the land, essentially becoming literal sleeper cells once they've gained a host. Physiology/biology Despite the different names of "succubus" and "incubus", they aren't really the male or female members of the species, but are rather two interchangeable forms of the same individual that can switch back and forth or even mix, being in an "intersex" or even "hermaphroditic" form, the latter form being their preferred "neutral" form. Succubi/Incubi, like all other demons, start off as a cloud of spore that is expelled from pods that form on the surfaces of gooey fungal masses that're either formed from the outer edges of Hell-zones or are regurgitated by other succubi/incubi that have collected enough of their own excess mass to let out. Unlike most other demons they're only capable of possessing sleeping hosts, and their host is their first prey as well due to them feeding on the production of serotonin and dopamine that they stimulate when the host/prey is asleep, giving them wet dreams, and very rarely can do such things when said host/prey is awake, but they do increase their libido. This gradual nightly feeding routine lasts for up to 2-5 weeks, and in the later weeks when they're accustomed to the host/prey's brain, they're able to manipulate it to induce increased sleepiness and thus have more time to continue to feed and spread, eventually encasing the entire brain in fungal mold, before then sprouting a pair of stems which will pierce and erupt through the fully fed-upon host's head, but they'll be numbed to it and feel the highest of euphorias in the stead of agony, and by this time the host's blood would've already turned dark green due to the sulfur atoms being mixed with the host's hemoglobin, just like with all other demons. Unlike within regular cordyceps and like with most other demons, this cranial eruption is nonlethal, and the host is usually barely conscious during the process, as fungal mold seals the wound like hot glue, before then slowly envelop over the host's head and body, which takes a week to finish. Once the host is encased in a form of thin cocoon-like membrane, the retrovirus will start molding and changing the host's form, the pinky toes will be absorbed as the rest get altered and gain talon-like growths and become suited for a more digitigrade posture, but with the big toes migrating high up to the heel before remaking contact to the ground, thus forming a sort of "high-heel" appearance, the hands also change into being taloned-like, save for keeping all five digits and the thumbs don't migrate backward. The eyes become suited for an ambush predatory with slits and can glow an alluring blue from fungi, and the ears become elongated, well-suited for hearing prey's heartbeats clearly from up to 69 ft. The more drastic changes during the metamorphosis are the extension of a prehensile tail-like tentacle, tentacles erupting from the back and splitting to for a wing-like structure, and a monstrous jaw, previous x-ray studies show no actual change to the tail vertebrae, save for some neurons between the vertebrae and tentacle being formed, connecting them. This pseudotail ends in a spade-shaped organ that's capable of opening up like a flower with 6 tiny brightly yellow stinging tentacles that contains a neurotoxin in a very similar manner as the tentacles found on jellyfish surrounding a hole in the middle of the tentacle. This pseudotail is used for maintaining extra balance much like a real tail, as well as conveying their emotions, but the major purposes for the tail includes using it as a means of incapacitating prey by having the smaller internal tentacles converge just barely out from the closed tip and inject the venom into the thigh region, preferably right in the femoral artery, which has a mild numbing effect along with a strong aphrodisiac property too as the arousal that it inflicts is crippling, and the tail can also engulf around a part of the prey, whether it be a breast, penis, or vagina, and then start performing a sucking motion to extract not only fluids but also the prey's lifeforce/energy as well, and even though they mostly use their mouths for that too, doing it with their pseudotails is not dissimilar to alcohol consumption via anally. The back tentacles are located right underneath the shoulder blades and split off into four tentacles branching out on each tentacle, and create a retractable membrane, thus forming a wing-like structure. These pseudowings are capable of expanding up to 19 ft in wingspan, enabling for good gliding and some poor form of flight, they're also able to release spores and are the main indicators for their health. The host's teeth all become sharp fangs, and the jaw's able to extend into a muzzle to take bigger and easier bites out of unsuspecting prey at a force of up to 389 psi, and the tongue becomes purple in color as well as long and semi-prehensile and contains retractable barbs, capable of ripping out their prey's own tongue or esophagus. They can also grow out black hair-like fuzz throughout their body, but they mostly just do it on their heads, unless their prey may prefer otherwise. The original gender of the host no longer matters and the Succubus/Incubus is able to flatten or expand their chest and change overall body shape at will, including having pseudo penises and vaginas, with the latter organ being able to suck up and store excess semen that doesn't get absorbed and once the efficient amount is collected within their pseudowombs over the many hunts (which is estimated to be around 2-6 tablespoons). The pseudopenis is also able to take in fluids but is normally used for injecting the collected semen into a female host, the collected semen takes a week or a couple of days less to get infected/contaminated, in which it'll gain a grey tint to it. Why they do this when they make more succubi/incubi via regurgitating excess fungal mass into a dark damp part of a settlement is far more nefarious, for the offsprings that gestate and get birthed by the uninfected female are [REDACTED] if it's a human female and a [REDACTED] if it's a female werecreature. Despite their polymorphic capabilities, they're actually quite mild, for they can't actually morph into whatever their prey desires the most in a sexual partner, no matter how they mold their shapes to be, you'd still see their pale red fungal visage, horns and all, which is why they passively produce pheromones from their "skin" which act as a strong cognitiohazard, making prey and bystanders think they're looking at just a normal attractive person, this of coarse won't effect photography or film, and thus showing their true form through them. Their strength varies depending on how well-fed they are. The strongest a succubus/incubus got, thanks to being spoiled with a plethora of 53 willing meals The Order set up for them and the feedings lasted for a month with only 3 fatalities and 27 injuries, was able to lift around 4 and a half-tons and was able to run and fly at a top speed of 50 mph. Behavior: Unlike many other demons that have fully taken over their hosts, succubi/incubi retain sapience as it's still a greatly important feature to keep as they dwell and hunt within civilization. They're highly sensual, lustful, and predatory in their mannerisms which they'll use to their advantages in seducing prey. They're also quite untrustworthy, and what little of a moral compass can be easily swayed with the offerings of a meal, tiny shreds of power, shiny objects, revenge, or all of the above. Their favored hunting grounds are places like brothels, strip clubs, sidewalks in lowly-populated streets, parks, alleyways, etc. For most of the time during feedings, succubi/incubi try to keep each person they feed on tired and weak but alive and capable of mobility in a couple of hours after the ordeals, but prolonged exposure will cause health deterioration and, if continued, death. While it differs depending on how much the succubus/incubus drains, frequent feedings on one person for 3 months will bring certain death. No matter what form of life they make for themselves within society, their natural instincts will always ultimately overwhelm them and will make them go into dark and damp areas to form the fungal pods and/or find a female host to use as an incubator for producing [REDACTED] or [REDACTED]. Weaknesses/termination methods: Aside from always showing their true self within film and photography, they also can starve to death if they haven't fed for about 2 months or so. Surprisingly, despite their formidable abilities and being demons, it's actually quite easy to wound and kill one with just conventional weaponry, although they'll still react violently to silver, iron, and salt. However, if they're either well-fed or would happen to feed after not getting killed by the initial assault, they can heal up fairly quickly from most trauma, and unless they're starving, will be capable of limping off from normally fatal wounds, like a shotgun to the chest. The best means of terminating a specimen in a quick and clean manner is through methods like decapitation, severe head trauma, sudden and grievous bodily trauma like from bullets (approximately 10 shots into the body from a 9mm has shown to be quite efficient) or explosives, or a simple stab from an iron or silver blade. Containment/handling procedures: The common containment cell for succubi/incubi is a dimly-lit 15x10 bedroom with a two-person bed, the subject is permitted to be given trinkets to keep like weekly meals, miscellaneous shiny objects, porn mags, The Kamasutra, sex toys, and BDSM gear. There're also bedrooms that are 3 times the size of regular ones which contain a king-sized bed and are used to provide for orgies and to give them some more power/authority should they be well-behaved. A couple of android units are sanctioned to be guarding these rooms, armed with shotguns loaded with rock salt, and several small stealth cameras are placed around the insides of the rooms to monitor the subject(s). Once a subject's collected enough mass or semen they are to be either escorted to a 9 ft round dark and humid chamber to regurgitate the excess mass, after which will be air-sealed shut after they've finished, or be brought a willing female to inseminate the infected seed into, both the fungal mass and the woman will each be safely monitored 24/7. All subjects are to wear metal collars that contain antimony and have four bolt eyes on them for chains and/or leashes, which are to be placed immediately upon the subject's capture. An offering of chalices or bowls filled with sexual fluids like semen (which will put them in an intoxicated state, the warmer the better for more potent intoxication) and presenting yourself as no threat will placate them and make them well-suited for safe and easy transportation out from settlements and into facilities. Aggressively dangerous specimens are to be neutralized via injections by darts or syringes filled with sexual fluids, which are luckily just as effective as the offerings.               The means of "domesticating" (these creatures CAN'T fully become passive and trustworthy, so never really let your guard down around them, no matter how tamed and loving they may act, they can still be deadly even when intoxicated, albeit rarely) a succubus/incubus involves occasional but indirect feedings through masturbation and ejaculating on their faces for about a month or so. Direct contact of genitalia is ill-advised, as the most common thoughts of a captive subject during the first week or two definitely would be to drain and devourer their would-be master/mistress and get their freedom. When wishing to get more intimate and engage in more physical contact with them, be sure to have them pleasure you manually and keep your genitals out from the reach of their mouth and hips, as well as keep an eye on their tail and wing-like tentacles. Aside from feeding them, providing them with items of interest is advised as such things will keep them feeling intrigued and comfortable as they settle into their new life. During the first week of the next month after getting used to each other, engaging in oral sex is recommended to try out at least once. When oral sex is performed it's important to keep them firmly under you and settled in between your legs, and to tug on their leash on occasion to remind them of your place above them, so that they may be unable to drain any life from you as they're struggling to breath, but thankfully they don't really need to breathe in order to get healthy doses of oxygen, and as they'll still get to feed on the sexual fluids during your climax, so it's a win-win at the end of it. Eventually, anal and genital sex with them will be possible, as they'd learn how to fuck without draining you, to both of your surprises, and can go off on just a few ounces of your life for a couple of months or a few more. When spent but they still hunger for sex, it's best to keep sex toys or even another person to keep them occupied nearby, least they end up killing you in a sudden and spiteful rage. Art is by www.deviantart.com/ramul and was colored in by RickWhitetiger on Discord.

[beinglibertarian]

Civilized Society: On the Death of Civility

One of the most influential questions I’ve ever encountered came not from a great philosopher or writer, nor from any inspiring conversation or work. Rather it came from a black comedy at the end of a rant about people throwing used tampons at each other and ripping on American Idol.

The movie (and I highly suggested giving it a watch) was called “God Bless America” and was a story of a man who decided to address the idiocy and (un)culture of the U.S. Of A.

The question: “Why have a civilization if we are no longer interested in being civilized?”

The weight of that question has stayed with me for many years. In all aspects of our lives, we see a continuous shift towards not just tolerating but accepting and rejoicing at the de-evolution of our moral and normative standards.

Before this gets misinterpreted, I am not attempting to start the “objective/subjective” morality debate. Rather I want to touch on this trend, the damage it has and will continue to do, and its effects on not just discourse but human interaction at large.

For the purposes of this piece, I feel that I need to define what I mean by “civilized” in this context.

I am referring here to a standard. A level of culture, of self-betterment, and of social advancement. I am referring to refinement, tact, principles, and all of the other things we have allowed to be eroded from our social norms. The very things that made us as advanced as we are as a civilization are the things that we are allowing to disappear, and it’s primarily due to either apathy, intellectual laziness, or the false belief that these cornerstones of our society are mere relics compared to our own decay.

Make Politics Civilized Again

When we talk about politics we usually end up discussing how terrible one politician is compared to another (which I’ll touch on later). Worse still is attempting to engage with people themselves. Moreso than our politicians, people in general need to be more civilized when discussing these topics.

God forbid one disagrees with someone these days! Outline the belief in an opposed idea and you will be beset by the tribalistic howler monkeys hungry for the flesh of the heretic.

To many, it has become as if the mere existence of opposition is equal to a personal affront or attack.

If one believes or is thinking something different than the hive they are implying that the other is somehow mentally deficient.

Everything gets couched in false dichotomies of us/them, yes/no, right/wrong, all when the world of political ideologies are far more convoluted and nuanced than that. I may disagree with someone’s views on a topic like gun control, but that doesn’t mean that that alone is justification for me to start screeching “Statist!” the second someone suggests some form of restrictions. Just the same I would hope that my opposition wouldn’t immediately jump into saying I support the deaths of children or some other absurdity simply because my stance remains unchanged after a school shooting.

The purpose of debate and civil discourse is to present and challenge ideas; not to pontificate and organize pissing contests.

I find it odd that people will demand to have their voices heard, then squander the opportunities to shift hearts and minds to their cause through empty vulgarities.

Despite millennia of evolution, we still allow ourselves to be put into the little boxes of our self-designed tribes. Even those of us who preach for individualism can be found guilty of this.

Not all is lost here though. I’ve found that much of it lies in approach. If one approaches a discussion from a good faith position with a true willingness to objectively debate and review ideas you will eventually find those on the opposition that are the same. Even the ones that aren’t can eventually be swung into a proper discussion with the right levels of tact and respect.

Obviously, there will be those that are simply there to screech, but that doesn’t grant a license to debase one’s self and do the same. Ideologies can and ought to be discussed on an ideological level. Any lower and one may as well not speak at all.

The Death of Nuance

By and large, this might be the biggest contributing factor to the issues spelled out above and below.

Even those that maintain the ability to discuss, debate and create tend to have lost this necessary skill. The ability to understand and look for the nuance in things.

We design things around simplicity rather than quality. Whether it’s our political arguments or our art, we are constantly aiming to accomplish some form of streamlining that in turn means the frills need to be trimmed.

Arguments are reduced to dichotomies and art reduced to the most easily packaged thing. We see this with our politics especially. We will ignore the nuances of arguments that have vastly different implications because they are outside of our tribes.

There is a massive difference between saying “I’m against the existence of unions” and saying “I’m against government empowerment of unions.” Supporters of unions will treat these as the same thing, even if the latter statement came from a supporter of unions themselves, or if the opposition is some form of left-libertarian. Logical consistency and honest review of the details of their opponent’s arguments are thrown aside for the sake of their tribe.

As I mentioned above, we try to reduce all things into “yes/no” categories and trap ourselves within them. This does far more harm than simply amputating the civilized tones political discourse once held. It also kills our ability to think outside of these dichotomies.

If what one has to say can’t be reduced to a tautology or syllogism then it isn’t worth hearing in the eyes of our generation of pundits and keyboard warriors. As a society, we have stopped our exploration of philosophy and the arts and moved into a phase of rearrangement. We no longer strive to make something wholly new, but simply remix and argue over what has already come before us.

Most of our media and ideas are not our own anymore. They are remixes of ideas and arguments from before.

While it is worth understanding and appreciating what came before us, we should strive to move past it. We should strive to improve rather than regurgitate the ideas that came before us. We should take the time to learn the subtleties of what we engage ourselves in. I brought it up in one of my podcast episodes where I talked about the human habit of overcomplication, yet I am equally astounded by the amounts of those complications and nuances that we add to our interests that we then summarily ignore.

We will spend all of this time debating philosophy, politics and economics, but we won’t take an equal amount of time to review the basis for the arguments our opponents use, or in some cases ourselves. Instead, we will defer to the basics of what we encounter and fight from there.

In art, we will accept a lower quality of music lyrically because we’ve reduced our listening experience to the beat. We examine our world from generalizations rather than attempting to view things as a whole. We discard the whole once we’ve decided what is in front of us. There are some out there reading this that likely saw the repetition of the word “we” and got their backs up. It should be easily understood that the usage of the word here is in a generalized form and thus should receive no contention from those this critique doesn’t apply to. The fact that this likely needs to be explained further illustrates my point.

“It’s Art”

It is saddening when people say this in defense of baseless vulgarity or unoriginal pieces of “art.”

Through the postmodernist lens, we’ve come to accept anything as art so long as it was made in expression of whatever the “artist” whips up as a reason after the fact.

While some pieces can indeed be interesting, on the whole, much of the talent the art world use to hold has been replaced with expression for the sake of expression; no actual skill required. We’ve turned the study of the aesthetic into a scatological field.

The truest shame of this is the amount of true talent that gets passed over in place of these works of “art.” The amount of technical skill and artistic vision that likely went into your phone’s background or those random “cool art” Facebook page posts you’ve seen massively outweighs anything I’ve seen from the “performance art” crowd in recent years.

Outside of the regular talentless hacks that throw the term “avant-garde” around like they actually know what it means, there’s the overpackaged side of this decline as well.

Now it needs to be stated first: I understand that most television, movies, and pop hits aren’t designed to be masterwork expressions of the craft. They’re designed to be popular. The problem is twofold here.

First, we are a very systematic species. We’ve devoted thousands of man hours and resources into the study of what makes certain music or shows popular and reduced these fields to a science rather than the art it ought to be.

Not every TV show needs to be some high-level journey of wonderment, but at least they could stop redoing the Three’s Company formula every time they need a new hit. Even some of the better works that have come out in recent years like Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad, while refreshing, ended up doing little more than creating a new system for companies to flood the market with.

With every repetition of the model, it becomes weaker and more deformed.

Pop music has always suffered this, but the emphasis on it has eroded the usefulness of the media form.

Even older pop hits still had to reach a certain level of quality before we would begin to eat it up. Instead of keeping up with that trend, we’re fed things that are scientifically designed to be appealing; rather than being appealing on its own artistic merits.

Luckily there are definitely acts out there that bring that higher level of quality, but sadly they simply aren’t as big or on the same level of reach as the cookie-cutter ensembles that I’m referring to.

I’m not suggesting we need to go back to some idyllic civilized high society that only listens to classical and jazz (though I wouldn’t really oppose that either), but rather that we pay more attention to the art we consume and demand more than a catchy tune with an appropriate level of compression.

The Pursuit of Knowledge

As of the beginning of this sentence, this article was already at 1795 words. For most of those that read web articles, I’m already over the average attention span by about 1000 words.

Even in libertarian circles, there are tons of people that will fight you to the death on an economic or philosophical concept, yet they’ve never read the source material these ideas came from.

They’ll have gotten their arguments from watching others debate online or by parroting whichever YouTuber they happen to follow.

They’ll attack commies for their ideological views, but have never picked up a copy of anything by Proudhon, Marx, or Kropotkin. This isn’t a libertarian issue alone though as those same commies are just as likely to have never read the material either.

We’ve bred a social order that values the products of knowledge, but not it’s acquisition. Sure, we push our youth to run off and get their degrees, but we do that for the sake of them gaining better  employment rather than to actually learn.

Shows like “Are you smarter than a 5th grader” are only possible in a society where we treat the civilized pursuit of knowledge as a means rather than an end in and of itself.

Even when we do pursue knowledge, we aim for summaries. In order to stand for something one first needs the legs that true knowledge grants you. After reading a single Wikipedia article or listicle people consider themselves educated enough to discuss the finer points of Spinoza. And that’s if they even read non-fiction to begin with.

The average person reportedly reads twelve books per year, though this is largely believed to be inflated with the actual average closer to four. This is out of the nearly one million books published every year. Obviously, it would be physically impossible to read that much per year, but even when we do read the quality is suspect.

Look at the explosion of YA novels. Most of it is average, slightly above dime store level tropes repackaged in slightly different arrangements. These sell millions of copies and get turned into blockbuster movies.

Even “Adult” (no, not that kind) novels tend to follow the same path of repetitive swill. The bulk of the variety ends up coming from the types of characters rather than the plot itself, or the authors will predictably try to over M. Night Shyamalan their works with more twists than a 50‘s sock hop.

All of this may sound like some form of intellectual elitism, but rather it is a call for standards. We can enjoy the odd bit of trite every once in a while (one of my favorite films is still “The Room”), however, we cannot sustain ourselves on it.

Civilization and culture around the world has been built on the backs of the thinkers and the dreamers. If we only feed our brains garbage then we will produce the same. To make society more civilized we need to start by making ourselves more informed and demand of others and ourselves the higher standards that would grant us.

Psuedos: A Cancer on Culture

In listing all of this I feel it is important to list the worst offenders of those that erode all that is civilized: Psuedo-intellectuals.

These are the types that list their IQ and pedigree within the first 5 facts you learn about them. They learned all they need to know about being successful from reading 7 habits of successful people and a handful of Malcolm Gladwell books. They took not one, but two CrossFit classes and are ready to become personal trainers and dietitians. They are plebs in Armani.

The reason I think they are contributing to the uncivilized trend that we have been experiencing is that they steal the limelight from real thinkers in the name of egotistical desire.

They speak less for the purposes of sharing any real knowledge they might, by chance, have gathered, but solely to express that they are the ones that know it. They are not agents of enlightenment, but rather of sophistry.

They make compelling arguments completely devoid of any nuance that could show true thought behind their ideas, and become excessively defensive should their supposed superiority be questioned.

They’re willing to show how civilized they are in a discussion right up until any of their ideas are challenged. In their eyes, to challenge them is to say they are wrong which is tantamount to blasphemy.

Their involvement in a conversation sullies it, which in turn turns people away from engaging in the material at all.

Worst still, it can lead to people quietly settling into their little tribes on the topic.

A true thinker should want people to engage in their material. Critiques help people hone their ideas, add to their knowledge base, and offer perspectives that may previously have been unconsidered. A Psuedo-intellectual wants none of that.

The Psuedo just wants to be right from the start, and acknowledged for it. Most painfully, they are likely to self-victimize. They will claim they argue purely from facts and reasoning, but they will also be offended on a personal level if they are sufficiently challenged.

Most commonly this results in pedantic commentary, condescending remarks and stances, and a transition of the discussion from the topic at hand to an emptier game of linguistics. If one dares stoop to their level they’ll immediately decry that they’re being attacked and turn the discussion towards tone and words to gain some level of superiority out of the exchange.

This erodes not only civilized and intellectually honest discussion, but also the foundations of knowledge in the public sphere. Discussion gets driven not by the wisest voices, but rather the loudest.

I think the best example of this committed to film was in the movie “Good Will Hunting.” In the famous bar scene where the pretentious grad student attempts to browbeat Ben Afflick’s character solely for the purposes of browbeating him and making a spectacle. Matt Damon’s character (Will) comes forward and begins to pick him apart for the ideas stolen from entry-level books, generic stances, and walks him through what his academic and general future will encompass being that way.

He quotes the authors he’s stealing from (and even the damn page number), and generally summarizes all of the issues with this breed of person; all through a thick Boston accent.

I highlight this scene because it perfectly encapsulates what I’m referring to. Unfettered pedantry by those that overvalue their own knowledge and capabilities.

Now, I’m not lacking in self-awareness to the degree to not notice that one might think the same of me for writing such a lengthy piece as this attacking all of these aspects of discussion and society as if I am somehow above it all.

I am the first to acknowledge if and when I slip up on the things listed here, and truly without pretense welcome it when others notice so that I can course correct and improve. Noticing these traits and taking the time to improve upon them is what separates us from those that are simply in it to put on a show. True learning and development start with a real hunger for the knowledge, and a humble willingness to be wrong.

Civilized Office Starts With Civility

Look at the news. Just look at it and weep. People have always gotten heated and thrown mud in the political arena, but it had generally been understood that there are levels to which one simply does not stoop.

As time progresses that notion has been eroded.

Even during the infamous Watergate fiasco, we could still see a level of civility in the commentary and discussions on Nixon’s actions, and what should follow. I doubt that reporters from most MSM outlets could sit down through an interview with Trump and remain as civilized yet to the point as Frost could.

Even amongst the general public, we’ve seen this shift. After Clinton and that little blue dress, the respect for the presidency as an office plummeted as seen with the open hostility towards Bush, the baseless attacks against Obama (which tended to ignore the large list of factual reasons to criticize him), and the circus around this current presidency.

I welcome the reduction in the worship of the office as much as the next libertarian, however, I cannot support the lack of civilized discourse regarding it.

One doesn’t need to pretend these politicians are good people (generally they aren’t), but debasing one’s self for the sake of attacking them is unnecessary and pointlessly negative as well.

Civilized discourse is built around maintaining a level of decorum and mustering enough respect to effectively and fairly engage an opponent. As we remove our respect and decorum we also erode our expectations.

You don’t get a Trump (or a Hillary, or Bernie) in office if you actually demand a higher quality from these offices. While one may be on the anarchist side and against the existence of the offices themselves, that doesn’t mean we should treat the offices so poorly as to turn them into a joke. When we do that we don’t reduce the power these offices currently hold; we only reduce the quality of those who hold them.

Put another way, one can question the legitimacy of these offices and want them abolished, but simply treating them sloppily only results in lower quality people hold these positions of power, making them that much more dangerous. Conflating that these offices ought to be removed or reduced with the idea that they hold no power is a root cause of the continuous degrade in the quality of people that hold them.

Conclusion

This also needs to be said: I’m not dictating that we need to make these changes by force. That’s an important detail that is likely to be missed by some on first glance.

Cultural direction works the same as markets in the sense that changes only happen three ways. They happen by environmental factors (abundance of a resource in one area, natural disaster, etc), by the force of an interloper (such as the government), or by the sum of the actions of the individuals of society.

The environmental influence on civilized societies are mostly immutable (note: mostly), and, while there are those that attempt to enforce their cultural views via force and law (From the Puritans of old to the archetypical SJWs of today) I am attempting neither.

I write this in an attempt to get people on a different track and to change how the sum of our culture will look. Between these three factors, I personally will always bet on the individual as being the greatest genesis of change. It’s the individual I seek to showcase this to, and to engage. At the very least I hope this sparks a discussion and consideration of the points herein.

The Dalai Lama had a book titled “How to see yourself as you really are” that I think is apt to mention here. The book discusses the concept of self-knowledge, and removing the biases that attribute to both false negative and false positive interpretations of yourself.

The goal of the exercises and philosophy presented is to direct the reader towards being able to see the reality of themselves, and act accordingly rather than from empty pretenses they might have of themselves.

While I most definitely am nowhere near his levels of understanding or wisdom, my intentions here are the same.

It is my hope that those that read this will aim for more civilized heights than they had before, and will look for opportunities to improve the way we function.

I hope that you will self-reflect and take something away from all of this. It is my hope that we can answer the question of whether to have a civilization anymore with a resounding yes, but that will only be possible if we as individuals are willing to fulfill our parts.

* Killian Hobbs is a writer for Think Liberty.

The post Civilized Society: On the Death of Civility appeared first on Being Libertarian.

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[divyarathi01]

Non Surgical Heart Valve Procedure Spurs Cost Concerns

Heart surgery is the procedure to correct the damaged valves and retain the normal flow of the blood through the arteries to all the body parts. Even if one of the four heart valves dysfunction, there can be difficulty carrying out normal day-to-day activities. 

There are many ways to treat a degrading valve- surgical and non-surgical. While the heart valve surgery cost in India has its reasons for surging, the increasing rates of non-surgical treatments have left people in a dilemma.

This article sheds light on the latter and how it has spurred cost concerts amongst the patients.

Why Is There A Need To Undergo Heart Valve Treatment? 

Two main heart valve defects cause a decrease in blood flow to the heart. They are:

Stenosis, which causes narrowing of the valves

Regurgitation is caused due to leakage in the valves, which leads to the blood flowing the opposite way.

Why Is Non-Surgical Heart Valve Treatment Better Than Open-Heart Surgery?

Unfortunately, not everyone is healthy enough to undergo open-heart surgery, so they must rely on medication and other treatment methodologies to lead a normal life. 

Furthermore, non-surgical approaches come with fewer chances of you getting infected, scarred, and having further complications than traditional heart valve replacement surgeries. In this type of treatment, the recovery rate is faster, and the entire procedure is less painful.

Non-Surgical Heart Valve Treatment Types

Just like the type of valve replacement you undergo affects heart valve surgery cost in India, different types of non-surgical heart valve treatment also drive their own price tags. Thus it becomes imperative to understand your options before proceeding further. 

Given below are the most common non-surgical ways of replacing a heart valve:

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement

Bioprosthetic valve replacement 

Transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) 

Balloon Valvuloplasty 

Factors Which Spurs Up The Cost Of Non-Surgical Heart Treatment

Some of the factors that lead to high heart valve surgery cost in India are the same as that of the non-surgical one; these include:

Type of room provided to the patient

Fees of the doctor and specialists

Procedure complexity adds to the cost of the treatment

Diagnostic tests and procedures

Cost of heart valve replacement plan selected

Follow-up care after the treatment

Some other factors that, though, are reasonable, have played a vital role in making non-surgical treatment more expensive are:

Modern technologies are used along with advanced machines, which adds to the cost. 

The stents or implants used during the surgery

The biggest factor responsible for this spike is the nature of treatment- minimally invasive and non-surgical. This has added huge value to such procedures, hence making them costly.

Conclusion

Whether you’re looking for surgical or non-surgical approaches for heart valve replacement, the Max Hospitals group is one of the best medical facilities for all treatments. 

They have a highly qualified and experienced team of cardiologists, trained physicians and technical staff who are specialised in performing heart valve replacement surgeries. Their services, affordable treatment plans and utilisation of high-end technology make them the leading medical centre in India.

[homeiswherethestuckis]

Filet Mignon

@notedchampagne man, I hope there’s enough fluff in this to make up for the lame title.

You and Karkat have plans to watch every single fucking movie he has downloaded on his husktop before you head off the meteor.  If you’d known how many he had at the time (a literal metric fuck ton) you wouldn’t have agreed to this so easily.  It’s too late to back out of that agreement now, you’ve already clocked so many that to give up now would mean that you’d essentially wasted hours of your valuable time sitting on this couch watching the two blatantly obvious love interests go through some usually not that difficult but extremely convoluted situations in order to finally be together in the end.  Besides, after watching so many of them you realized you really don’t mind them as much as when you thought you would. You definitely like them more than when you first got here.  You’re kinda getting the appeal to all the romance and a happy ending that’s practically ensured the moment the protagonists make eye contact.

The only problem is that they can get so repetitive.  If you’ve watched one, you’ve watched them all, and you’ve watched way more than one god damn romcom.  You might not hate them, but watching so many in succession is making you bit sick of them.  It really makes you question how Karkat can do this all the time and still like them.  You know he’s marathoned all these flicks more than once.  Fuck, some of them he must have seen at least ten times by now.  

Once this movie ends, you think you’ll see if he wants to take a break and do something else.  Go see what the Mayor’s up to, grab some food, whatever.  You think after a breather you’ll be more willing to pick this back up again and watch Dane Cook act like a bumblingly charming idiot for a cute girl real soon.  Right now though, you’re not interested in his shit.  You are physically incapable of caring and less about the dumb situation the characters have gotten themselves into than you do at this moment in time.

This is the fifth romcom you’ve watched today, and you are so.  fucking.  bored.

You slump against the couch’s armrest and prepare for an hour and a half of zoning out.  The beginning credits aren’t even over yet when Karkat slides his hand into yours and squeezes, drawing your attention back out of your head and over to him.  His face is bathed in the light from his husktop, made garishly bright by the rest of the room being shrouded in total darkness.  He’s not looking at you, his eyes are fixed unblinkingly on the screen.  

Karkat’s grip on your hand tightens.  “This one’s my favorite.”

“Oh.”  You push yourself up off the armrest and force yourself to pay attention.  “Shit, guess I better pay extra careful attention to this one so I can make fun of you for your awful taste in movies some more.”

Karkat rolls his eyes.  “You say that, but I don’t see you complaining about them when we’re actually watching these.  In fact, you only gripe endlessly about me “forcing” you to watch one of my pieces of “shit-tacular cinematic drivel” when one of the girls is within earshot.  If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you like romcoms, Dave.”

“It’s a good thing you know better, then.”  You reply.  Karkat’s hand is warm and making yours sweaty.  You want to wipe it off, but that would require letting go.  “Maybe you’re not as stupid as you look, after all.”

“That’s rich, coming from the guy who looks like a garbage monster and a douchebag hipster had a grub, slathered it in chunky mucus, chewed it up, regurgitated it and gave it a pair of lady shades too big for its fucking gross face.”

“Said the piece of literal talking shit.”

“Wow.  Such an excellent and witty comeback about the state of my character.  That’s so amazing for a creature that doesn’t even have two pan cells to rub together.”

“It’s funny that you mention that, because I actually am rubbing those two brain cells together in my fingers as we speak in order to play the saddest song ever composed.  Just for you.  Do you wanna know what the song’s called, Karkat?”

He tears his gaze away from the movie and squints.  “I don’t know, Dave, do I?”

“Probably not, but I’m going to tell you anyway.” You hold up your free hand and start rubbing your fingers together.  “It’s called Ode to a Dumb Cranky Stink Crab.”

“I’m not hearing anything.  This only proves my point that your dumb ass doesn’t have any pan cells to speak of.”

“See, that’s where you’re wrong.  You probably aren’t aware of this on Alternia since I doubt your culture made room for even the basic concept of music while you were busy making puns and conquering planets or whatever the fuck it was that you did, but performing a piece a la brain cell was a highly controversial topic back on Earth.  The thing with playing a song on the brain cell is that it has such a high frequency that only those with functioning brain cells could actually fucking hear it.  In other words, pretty much no one.”

“I can’t believe you just pulled all of that shit straight out of your ass just so you could say I’m stupid again.”  He snorts.  “Well played, shit stain.  Though I’d like to point out, you never did respond to my first inquiry.”

“And what was that again?  We do this insult thing so often I forgot what we were initially insulting each other over.”

“What I was saying before you turned this into a battle of which of us is the dominant walking bomb of dumbstink, I was saying that despite your endless string of complaints about them in front of everybody else, you actually really like romcoms.  Admit it, Dave, you like them.  Why the fuck else would you spend so much time sitting here watching them with me if you didn’t like them at least a little?”

“Gee, I don’t know, dude, fuck, I guess you got me.  Clearly there’s no other explanation for why I would sit here and watch these.”  You reply sarcastically.  “But now that I think about it, another more definitely right reason springs to mind.  Hey, maybe I’m sitting here watching all of this shit because, and I’m just spitballing here, I like you?”

“Oh.”  He turns back to the screen, but you can tell he’s not really focused on what’s going on.  You think his face might be a darker shade of gray than it was before, but it’s hard to tell without more lights on.  “That’s-”

“Shocking, I know.”  You squeeze his hand again.  You’re no longer sweating, thank fuck, but you can’t imagine how gross the feeling of another person’s cold and drying sweat on your hand must feel like to Karkat, so you still want to wipe it off.  “Your boyfriend likes you.  What a twist.”

“So you’re only watching these because you like me and wanted to spend more time with me?”  From his tone he sounds less happy about this than you expected.  

You shrug.  “Yeah.  At least the first few times it was that, coupled with poking fun at you about them later.  I’ll be honest, after awhile they kinda grew on me.”  Which isn’t too surprising, since Karkat also grew on you.  “They’re not my favorite movies, but I don’t mind them.”

“Dave, this is the fifth one I’ve put on today, how the hell can you not mind that?"  Karkat brings his hand to his forehead and drags it down his face in what has to be the most exaggerated facepalm you’ve ever borne witness to.  His other hand twitches in yours, and there’s not a doubt in your mind that if you’d let go this would have become a double facepalm.  “Fuck, I thought you looked bored earlier, but I didn’t do anything because I figured you would have said something about it.”

“Now that you mention it, I was going to suggest we do something else for awhile after this one.”  You admit.

“But you said you’re mostly tolerating these because of me.  Aren’t you bored by now?”  He asks, his eyebrows knitting together into a worried line.  “I can turn it off and we can go fuck around in Can Town or something.”

“Okay one, I never said I was just tolerating them, don’t twist my words into a pretzel and put them in my mouth, that shit’s not cool.  Two, you said this one’s your favorite, like fuck I’m gonna make you turn it off that would just be a dick move.  Three, yeah, I’m a little bored,” more than a little.  Before you started talking you weren’t sure if you were even going to make it through this movie, “but that’s my own damn fault, I can deal with that.  And my fourth and final point, how the hell do you expect me to cuddle up to you during a movie if there’s no god damn movie to cuddle up during?”  You poke him in the forehead with your free hand.  “Come on, Karkat, you gotta consider this shit before you do it.”

He rubs at the spot you poked and smiles, your hand gets squeezed again.  “Fine, I’ll leave the movie on.  Only if you make do on that cuddling you just promised me.”

“Believe me, I had no intention of jipping you out of any of this prime cuddle time. Mark my words, babe, I’m gonna wrap around you like bacon on a filet mignon.”

“I don’t know what the fuck that is.”  

“Doesn’t matter, all you need to know is that it’s the fucking best and we’re going to be it.”  You collapse against him without another word and the sudden addition of your weight against him sends him sprawling onto his back.  You faceplant right into his chest, and you take this opportunity to bury your face in his shirt.  It’s really soft.  

“So, are we doing it?”  Karkat laughs.  “Are we filet mignon now?  Is that happening, is that what this is?”

“Fuck yeah, bitch we are the filet mignon!”  You hold out a fist expectantly.  

Karkat has to wiggle his arm free from where it’s pinned under you so he can bump your fist.  “Hell yeah!”

He frees his other arm and wraps both of them around you.  You’re so glad your face is hidden because there’s no way your face isn’t red as a god damn tomato at this point.  You swear you can even feel your ears burning.  

“I can feel your heartbeat on my face.”  You mumble, uncertain if you’re speaking loud enough for Karkat to hear.  His heart’s beating so fast it feels like someone trapped a hummingbird inside a drum.  You burrow deeper into his chest.

“Hm." One of Karkat’s fingers is tapping against your back.  You don’t know if he’s doing it on purpose or not, but it feels nice and you hope he doesn’t stop.  “Aren’t you uncomfortable like that with your shades on?”

You shrug, but right when he says it you start to feel the metal pieces pressing hard into your skin and you can’t stay in this position for another second.  You turn your head to the side so you’re facing the husktop and take off your shades.  You fold the arms and carefully stick them into your collar for safe keeping.  After some careful consideration, you decide to stay in this position.  

You’re really trying to watch the movie, but you can’t seem to follow much of what’s going on at this point and end up focusing right back in on Karkat.  He’s still hugging you, practically squishing you to him in this really warm, affectionate embrace that you have no idea how to reciprocate.  You don’t think you’ve ever received this much physical affection before in your entire life.

You have no idea what to do with your own hands, right now one of them is just hanging off the couch like a limp noodle and the other one’s at your side.  You take your hand that’s not busy being a noodle and start running it through Karkat’s hair.  It’s thick and softer than what you’d expected, but it’s clear that he’s never met a hairbrush in his life.  That would explain all the weird angles it’s always standing up in.

“Dave, what are you doing?”

“Playing with your hair, what the fuck do you think I’m doing?”  You start combing it through your fingers slowly.  Your fingers keep getting caught in the tangles.  “Do they have brushes on Alternia or are you just so fucking lazy you never bothered to learn basic hygiene?” “Shut up, Dave.”  He doesn’t confirm nor deny your suspicion, and instead leans his head closer to your hand as you continue.  

Karkat relaxes under your touch, and you can literally hear his heart slow into a more comfortable, natural rhythm.  You pull yourself up a couple inches and nuzzle into his neck.  You can’t help but smile when you feel his face grow warm.  He hugs you a little tighter, and it’s the best thing ever.

The movie ends sooner than you expected, mostly because you had no fucking idea what was going on during any part of it whatsoever.  Literally none.  If you were asked to give a report about what that movie was in four hundred words, you would be unable to because you have no clue.  Still, you’re disappointed that it’s over.

Karkat starts to sit up, and you move so you’re no longer laying with all of your weight on him.  You end up sitting on his lap instead, which for some reason feels more awkward than when you were completely on top of him a moment ago.  

He removes one arm from around you and turns off the movie on his husktop.  The other arm stays at your hip. “So, what do you want to do now?”

Karkat regards you curiously, waiting for your response.  He’d probably agree to doing anything you want to right now.  Shit, he’d probably do a dramatic one man reenactment of one of your comics if you asked right now.

One of your hands is still in his hair, and you use it to gently guide him over to you.  You cup his face in both your hands and kiss his nose.  You were really fucking tempted to go for the lips, but you don’t think either of you are ready for that just yet.  Especially not when you’re both embarrassingly red in the face from that tiny peck just now.  “Why don’t you put on another one?”

Karkat looks surprised by your suggestion but then smiles and wrinkles his nose at you.  “Okay, if that’s really what you want.”

“Oh, it is.”

He puts on another romcom, and you both slump back into the couch and resume cuddling positions.  Karkat buries his face in your hair, and this time you’re the one doing the affectionate squeeze hugs.  At one point you start holding hands again, it’s at an awkward angle for both of you but neither of you let go.

You don’t watch the movie.

[pearlcrysta]

How I Create Fanfiction Using MysMe as Example (Method and Advice)

I am not coming close as a great writer.

Fanfictioning is purely done for my own enjoyment and amusement whenever i fall in love deep, DEEP, with a story, char, setting etc, whether it’s related to anime or other works of fiction. Ideas keep clinging onto my brain and those ideas need their release onto either an art medium or writing. 

Anywho, probably a long ass text coming here, so here I present to you the steps my brain takes in order to regurgitate writing content. I’ll be using my Night-Owl Romance hiatus fanfic as an example for some steps. If you don’t wanna read all the text, just look at the bold letters. 

PREPARATORY STEPS

 1) First of all, as a general rule to have in mind before starting, it is NOT ENOUGH to see an anime or read a book/manga only ONCE and then establish a story based on your first impressions. I mean, you could - but you would surely miss out on a lot of info and context about the characters you wish to play with and not realize the full depth of their impact within the story. Or why they might do questionable things or actions u may not understand the first time.

 For a game like Mystic Messenger, it’s important for you to have gone through all routes a few times and then keep on researching about the character you wish to base your subject on. If you don't have that much time on your hand to be thorough, then it's ok. XD But it's a recommendation if you want to strive to have less OOC'ness in your writing.

 (OOC = Out of Character)

 In my case, I chose to focus the story around the developing relationship between MC and Zen (slow, SLOW romance) and his route is not nearly enough to establish the complexity of his char and the dynamics he has with the other members. For example, if I’d have stuck with just his route and had not gone through them all, then I’d probably DISLIKE Jaehee quite a lot and confuse her with a jealous fan/girlfriend and not realize the level of rudeness Zen can have against Jumin - even without being provoked. Zen really doesn’t like being around Jumin, always seeing him in a bad light. Like, I love this handsome actor, but sometimes he can be a big jerk. 

 A major plus is if you manage to get the call cards, in order to reach out to the RFA members – extra content is given there too. ^^

 2) Research is vital because it can help you better understand the complexity of the character. Not only the events in the game, but real life situations too. 

Research a bit about Korean lifestyle !!!

You can find a lot of subtle things you might have missed - or unsubtle ones. 

 a) In Zen’s route, you’ll realize that Jaehee is actually looking up to his wellbeing and trying to protect the actor from career-ending scandals. Jealousy is not the issue. Jaehee doesn’t hate the MC, but is weary of her intentions of dating Zen because it can ruin his dream if the relationship comes into the spotlight.

In Korea, celebrities dating can become a huge, huge PR disaster if handled poorly. Career ending even, to the point even idol groups can disband over one such scandal and you ruin not just your own life, but other people as well who depend on this job to survive. Some people train their youth away and have such a moment ruin all they've built...

It's just horrible. 

 b) The boys asking you constantly whether you ate or not is not them thinking you are a dumbass adult who cannot feed yourself and need a protective mother to remind you day, after day. It’s almost mechanically said to you, like how people ask someone “How are you?”, but not necessarily asked out of intense care of your wellbeing. It's just a habit that requires “I’m fine” even if not meant to be true. In the eating case, one usually expects “Yes, I ate.” as answer.

 c) Kimchi is not the only korean food. Try to explore other parts of their cuisine if you are mentioning foods.

 d) I don’t think cereals are that common to eat in the morning there. Like SUPER common. Or waffles. Or peanut butter and jelly on bread. 

... Or bread.

Rice is the equivalent of westerners’ bread in terms of importance in a meal.

 e) Driving can become an 'interesting' experience in Korea. I've seen many Youtubers living in Seoul that point out the chaos on the streets thanks to reckless drivers that rush through traffic like there's no tomorrow.

 So when Zen is out on his motorcycle, people can only become super worried about his safety for a good reason. Especially since he had a nasty accident in the past, it can always repeat itself due to the unsafe conditions on the road sometimes. And humans are squishy beings, so if a car hits you on a bike while you aren't wearing proper outfit protection then... RIP.  

f) and many other.

3) Make sure you got the essence of the plot figured out and pin point any storytelling holes or flaws you may notice within the canon story. 

 It is highly recommended that you note down these observations or questions you may have about what’s going on in this story. You may even use these particular things to help you create the intro of your story. ^o^ 

 Ex: Find a logical reason why MC would so willingly ignore the ‘stranger-danger’ factor at the beginning of the story. ((Daredevil MC? Lulz, sure, you could try this angle, but I’d question how she survived unharmed so far.))

 Or why she has food, water, clothing in an apartment where she is supposedly stranded within, unable to leave. Or...is she unable to leave it?

 Or where are her parents and why is nobody worried about her missing?

 Does she have a workplace? Is she a student at school? Homeless? 

 A lot to interpret ^^

4) Plan your plot points, but don’t overdo it or sob when plans change while writing.

I don’t really plan chapters ahead much, since I tend to change my mind a lot about things. It depends on my mood and emotions. But it is important to set goals for the near future to reach for your story --- like, you may want X event to happen in Day 1 or Y action on Day 2. 

And from these thoughts, you can start sketching situations that can lead your char up to the desired points.

But the road to X or Y can change and not remain static. Heck, even the Y event can happen in another moment of time --- the planning doesn’t have to be a rigid one and must be open to changes, befitting the flow of the story. If an idea you wanted badly to write in a chapter doesn’t seem like it fits in a spot anymore... 

Then, don’t put it in. It’s simple as that.

I personally have over 60 pages worth of content of Night-Owl Romance that are unusable because I kept going in different directions than what I had initially wanted.

Ex: For my story, I really wanted MC to have moments where she’d interact with the RFA outside the messenger. But I still wanted MC to meet up with Zen - officially, make him be the one she meets the first properly. 

 Close-encounters scenarios were fun to add and, at one point, I even wanted MC to see Zen rehearse on stage, without him realizing it was her in the crowd, watching him from the side. Pages about her reactions while seeing Zen on stage were later on discarded. Because I was stuck. It would have caused a nasty rift between them if he was to discover that MC had not bothered to greet him after rehearsals.

 I did not want them to have their first official meeting there.

 But I DID want MC to go to his workplace.

 So I used a trope, to have MC leave the theater without attending the actual rehearsals as a member of the audience, thus the girl remained completely unaware that Zen was working there. And the reason why she did not see him perform was because she would have felt uncomfortable being surrounded by the people in the audience, whom she'd known from her time in University.

 They did not get along.

  5) Try to write characters in a way that doesn't surpass the boundaries of OOC’ness (Your own characters included). To avoid the OOCD (Out of Character Disease), try to make notes about the chars you will write about. Or just keep in mind certain personality traits and you should do fine. In the case of Mystic Messenger, I often use info online about the characters from their data book, wikia, chats etc and create mini summaries about them.

 ...

 Lol, not really creating mini summaries, since I can remember small stuff, here and there, but if you aren't the type to hold up a lot of info and are forgetful about details, you can write them down in order to ease your work.

 Here's an example ^o^:  

  Jumin – uses a lot of formal language. And only when being quite tipsy with wine may he become less rigid in speaking online. Even 'funny', depending on his soured mood caused by the distress he may have with his father and the women he is dating.

Jaehee – also uses formal language, but somehow it seems to me that she drops into informal tones when she goes in her fangirling mode about Zen. Or when she points out why Yoosung cannot find a girlfriend, (Lolz, poor guy) Or when she points out things she finds wrong about Luciel (name included)

Yoosung – uses a lot of informal language.

He is traumatized by the loss of Rika, but not to the point he can't go a second without mentioning her to the MC. ^^;;; I think some fanfics can tone it down with the Rika, and just write glimpses from time to time. Like, if MC is really hardworking, he may do some parallels and notice similarities – at the same time, acknowledge the differences. For example:

Rika seemed like a serene, wise being, almost like an idol for Yoosung.

MC in Yoosung's route seems a bit more... grounded. Like he doesn't put MC on such a steep pedestal.

 Zen – also, more on the informal spectrum of speech, unless he is talking to directors, producers etc.

 His narcissism stems from the fact that he wants to be acknowledged by the world and recognizes that he has the potential to be seen and reach greatness in his craft. At the same time, this has become a double edged blade for the actor, since many ppl offer him work that rely on his looks more than skills. Or people like to shove away all his hardwork and point out how he could never had achieved this without his good looks and body.

 Basically, his skills are overshadowed by his handsome features a lot of time.

 Which is why he doesn't like modeling jobs very much, or that was the impression he gave. When a folklore group wanted him to wear a hanbok for a shooting, Zen refused. When Jumin offers him money for contracts that make good use of his looks, rather than talent – he refuses.

His route's deep flaw: he falls in love too easily with the MC.

Realistically, if MC was a despicable human, Zen would be trapped in a hurtful relationship if she were a manipulative ****. Which shows how lonely and desperate for companionship he truly is at times – 5 years without having someone to share his life with, must be difficult.

   707/Luciel – first impression: he is bat-shit crazy, but in a fun way. Cosplayer, so must be good with costumes and make-up. Perfect Trap, who makes people question their gender preferences.  (Lolz, I can imagine this to be so true).

 He probably had to learn to go undercover as both throughout his days as a secret agent.

 His speech is informal and secretly-mocking, especially when he's talking this way towards his superiors. Really, in Korean culture, if you speak informally to someone higher ranking than you at your workplace and you aren't necessarily best of buddies --- you are branded as a rude ass **** and can even lose your job. And the potential to find other jobs if you pissed off the wrong people.

 So, 707 plays with a lot of fire and knows he is THAT important to his organization – it's enough to have them accept his flaws.

 -  second impression: Saeyoung: Well, the funny guy was just a persona he uses to mask his deeper, , hurt and raw self. But that doesn't mean the funny, quirky personality was all just a lie, even if he tries to tell MC this in his own route – more, to me it seems like 707 is the person he wished he could be day, after day. And not the secret agent who may have killed people in the past or helped his organization in missions to achieve such cruel things.

 We can only imagine these things ^^

 Serious Saeyoung seems more formal in speech, compared to his 707 persona.

 - third impression: I think that after the story unfolds with the whole Saeran thing, who is back into Saeyoung's life, the red head's personality becomes a mixture of both with the fall of his organization. He still has quirky, crazy moments, but is more freely expressing himself. Especially with MC, adding jokes here and there when he is in lovey-dovey moments.

 V – is incredibly formal and super respectful, more so than Jumin, to the point he overly apologizes for things he had no control over, but considers himself to be solely to blame. ;=;

 6) Don’t be afraid to give your characters flaws. Keep a balance of skills vs. flaws and try to stick to it in a realistic manner. (Of course, there's always room to improve one's flaw or skills, but – same thing – keep it realistic)

 Also, canon characters aren't superheroes – Mystic Messenger ones aren't superheroes, they are humans with their own limitations. Don't give them God-mode unless you do it in LOLOL.

  7) It's OK to imagine your own reactions regarding certain situations in life and write them down from the perspective of your char. If it fits.

 Same thing when writing happy scenes or emotionally sad ones – if your mood reflects the vibe of the story you wish to convey, you can portray it better. This, however, doesn't mean u can't write a sob story when your life is all sunshine and rainbows.

 This is why humans have imagination ^^

 Just picture how you felt when hearing saddening news or when you had a moment you were not feeling cheerful. Step in your characters' shoes and imagine how you'd have felt in her/his situation.

  I also change my music playlist if I cannot write a certain feeling down – it usually improves it. ^^

 8) Don't worry about choosing a title/chapter names. 

You’ll come up with one as you start planning the plot you wish to pursue in your story. Sure, a catchy title can make people wanna start reading your fic, but if your story is boring and goes nowhere, then don’t expect much feedback even if your title and story summary are engaging and make people curious. (I should listen to this advice too TwT)

For example: In my MysMe story, Zen x MC pairing, I wanted most of their chats and conversations to take place during nighttime. Or, at least the ones where they bond more closely together.

And what do you call insomniacs who cannot sleep at night? Night-owls.

What do I want to happen between Zen and MC? Romance.

Story title: Night-Owl Romance (ikr, very creative, but it's a decent title. TwT)

And the same mindset I have with chapter names too. I see what is dominant there and then try to summarize it in a title. Sometimes it fits, other times it's just weird.

Also, my Insomniacs, Insomniacs Second, Insomniacs Third etc --- i choose these titles for certain chapters from my fic in order to help me remember what Day is in the story. ^^;;;;; Needless to say, I needed a better system since I mixed up the days LOL.

 9) I love cliffhangers. You should as well. OwO

Cliffhangers are basically a device that fanfic writers use in order to make sure that their engaging audience keeps being curious about the following chapters and want to find more. Feed in their addiction to know what will happen and if the outcome will go to their imagination.

ACK!!! Is everything going to be ok??? 8D!!!

But, also, try not to be sadists with your cliffhangers.

 10) Synonyms are your friends. So are linking words (connectors). So are online dictionaries. And spell check.

Example:  but – however, yet, nonetheless, nevertheless, still, though, although.

Already you can stop using all these but(t)s in your writing by just replacing the over usage of one word with a similar one. Every time you see a word being repetitive to the max in a text that's not even 2000 words long, you should really, REALLY check whether it has a synonym or not. Because it can become quite tiresome to read after a while.

I personally use thefreedictionary website.

11) Don't over explain things in your writing (like I do)

Try to alternate between dialogue and texts as much as you can. Offer variety. Try to stay relevant and not stray far away from the plot points you wish to achieve by including 32432464 scenes and scenarios that might make readers forget what you wanted to do/achieve in the first place. Or else, you may end up with a chaotic storyline that doesn't seem to have any clear steering.

 12) Try to write chapters in advance!!!

I find this step to be very, very important.

You should aim to have written chapters ahead of posting schedule (at least 2-3), in order to observe whether your idea has a place to grow from there onwards or you might hit a nasty dead end with the proposed scenario. If you end up in a point in your story where you are nearly convinced that you need to rethink the direction your plot goes, perhaps finding a better solution on the way... it's much better to have a 'backup' in chapters and not having instantly published everything you had done.

Like I pointed out earlier, I have over 60 pages of written content for my fanfic that are unusable. Because I ended up not going on certain routes and changed directions "off-camera", which could not have been possible so easily had I just posted chapters as I finish writing them.

But hey, this is just how I do it. :D

 13) Sorry to say this, but your first ever written fanfic will SUCK for sure, especially if you started as a kid.

I'm not trying to piss anyone off by mentioning this so harshly or discourage any potential writers. ^^ But, if writing, in general, is not a hobby of yours or if you don't have any affinity to it prior to starting planning a story (like role playing with friends/groups), then expect lots of criticism to pour down your story, many which may point out your writing mistakes.

It can be awful... TwT

But really, you can't be a pro at it from the beginning and you need to understand that there is a step one you need to take in a long, long journey in writing. Heck, I'm not even a pro myself and my skills are relatively decent.

Seriously.

Guys and Girls.

DON'T BE DISCOURAAAAAGED~!!!! <3

Just, write to your heart's content and try to always perfect yourself. ^^ Keep an open mindset and appreciate those people who comment on your work, who try to offer you constructive criticism and feedback.

You'll know when that person is doing it with good intentions.

Don't be upset or angry at people pointing out the faults they see in your story. You're not baby Tolkien. Sometimes, you don't even realize it's something you need to work on to improve. ((For example: in my Night-Owl Romance, someone pointed out to me that I was using ellipses far too often and, at first, I did not think it was the case until I re-read the text and realized... oops, yeah. I kind of over did it. And then, I tried using them less frequently.))

Bonus PearlCrysta Trivia: I started writing fanfiction after my school ex-friend stopped RP-ing with me frequently, so basically, I was probably... 13-14 years old when I started doing it. Quizilla was the monster site with fics and tests I would do daily during my summer holidays (do you guys remember that site? X'D I still do lol.)

At the time, I was super into Yu-Gi-Oh that I needed to write a romance between my god-mode OC and Marik/Malik Ishtar.

Now, I am 25 and I cannot find the power to read my story from scratch ever again.

...

The level of cringiness will make even 707 shudder.

 See guys?

SEE?!!

Yeah, I know what I'm saying when I say that your fanfic will suck.

But there's a remedy for it. OwO

 14) Practice makes it perfect. ^^ (10 years+ with obvious breaks in between) 

And this isn’t everything. Some are snippets, others have over 300 pages.

15) Reading enriches your vocabulary! 

And by reading, I mean reading literature books or whatever tickles your senses. But has to be of quality. And keep that dictionary close by in case u meet expressions or words you do not understand. 

[bruno-news]

It’s Joy Time for Bruno Mars

WE’RE JUST CAVEMEN, hitting on rocks,” says Bruno Mars. “It’s no different—you’re a caveman and you got a rock in front of you, you hit it with a stick to get everybody dancing. This is our time to forget about everything, it’s joy time. So who’s the best at hitting that rock? Who’s going to make the village dance the hardest?” 

At a casual glance, you might not know that Mars is one of our superstar cavemen. Pulling up to an upscale Italian restaurant on an anonymous street in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley, alone in a relatively modest Cadillac, he parks in back by the dumpsters to slip in quietly. In contrast to the flashy outfits he wears onstage, he’s dressed in a simple collarless bomber jacket, a white Gucci logo T-shirt and camouflage pants. A small crucifix on a thin chain hangs around his neck. 

But at age 31, the singer/songwriter/producer dynamo born Peter Gene Hernandez is unquestionably one of the most highly decorated figures in pop music, with 21 Grammy nominations and 21 Hot 100 hit singles. He has sold over 170 million singles and 26 million albums worldwide and notched his first five No. 1 hits faster than any male artist since Elvis Presley. His third album, 24K Magic, debuted at No. 2 in November; more than two months later, it was still parked in the top five. 

On this drizzly January day, Mars is trying to take care of business before heading to Japan for promotional duties. He’s finalizing plans for the album’s second single, the breezy, drop-top banger “That’s What I Like,” and plotting out his performance for the Grammy Awards. Today, he’s mostly bouncing between meetings and calls to assemble the staging for his massive world tour—already more than 100 dates this year, starting in late March in Antwerp, Belgium, and hitting the U.S. in July. 

“I want the show to be powerful, because people spent some money on a ticket,” he says. “I’ve seen some awesome shows. I’ve seen Prince and Michael Jackson ; those are nights I will remember forever. I’m not doing my job unless I leave a piece of me everywhere I go—if you do the right show, it will stay with people and they’ll tell their kids about it. I hope people can see what I was feeling when I made the records. Then I want to go beyond their expectations and fly.” 

With his old-school dedication to entertaining and his grounding in classic pop and R&B songwriting, Mars stands alongside Adele as one of today’s most universally beloved musicians. “My mum loves Bruno Mars and my son loves Bruno Mars and he’s 5,” says James Corden, host of The Late Late Show—and, recently, the Grammys—in a phone call. “I love how joyful, positive, uplifting his music is. It excludes no one. Everybody is welcome.” 

Mars makes no secret that being onstage comes much easier to him than being in the studio. Almost four full years passed between his quadruple-platinum Unorthodox Jukebox album and the release of 24K Magic. He works so obsessively on each song, he says, that he drew up parameters for himself in order to get the concise, nine-song project finished. “I wanted to make a movie, where each song has its own moment,” he says. “So ‘Versace on the Floor’ is the tender moment, ‘That’s What I Like’ is the fun moment, and the ballad at the end [“Too Good to Say Goodbye”] seals the deal. That’s how I kind of tricked myself into making the album. 

“We were trying really hard to tap into the ’90s R&B music that we grew up with, and it’s a very fine line—it can get tribute-y, it can sound forced,” Mars adds. “But that New Jack Swing sound brought me so much joy as a kid, so we took that on and did our best to try to get that feeling, that effortless fun.” 

His interest in exploring the sounds of the past has sometimes led to accusations that Mars is just a talented copycat. When 24K Magic was released, one publication offered a track-by-track analysis of which artist each song was imitating. Not surprisingly, Mars gets heated about such criticisms. 

“Man, that pisses me off so much!” he says. “It’s so easy to say that, but anyone that does that kind of shit has never written a song in their life. That’s why I’m here, because of musicians before me. 

“Don’t get me wrong—there is plagiarism when you just say ‘Hey, man, what are you doing? I’ve heard that already.’ And I’m not stupid, of course it sounds like [the ’90s]. We’re using these vintage instruments and there is a certain sound, but it’s not just regurgitated. You can tell that we were listening to ’90s R&B. It has that spirit. That’s what we capture, and that’s what I want.” 

Every time I think about it, my whole story is just weird,” says Mars. “Even I don’t get it!” He was born and raised in Honolulu, one of six children—his Filipino-Spanish mother was a singer and dancer; his Jewish–Puerto Rican father was a percussionist. By age 4, young Bruno (the nickname came from his father, who thought the infant Peter resembled wrestler Bruno Sammartino) was performing five days a week in the family band, the Love Notes, singing Michael Jackson and Temptations covers. 

According to his older brother, Eric “E-Panda” Hernandez, when Bruno was just a few years old, his parents dressed him up as Elvis for Halloween. “He was already so in tune with Elvis that he was imitating the moves, the lips, drawing a crowd,” says Hernandez. “I thought, ‘Holy cow, he’s a showstopper already!’ ” “Little Elvis” went on to perform at halftime in the 1990 Aloha Bowl and had a cameo in the 1992 film Honeymoon in Vegas. 

“If you took your kid to school with you every day, and you were studying rocket science, he’d probably be a rocket scientist,” says Mars. “So that’s just it—my dad and mom took me to work every single day, and I got to see what it’s like to entertain an audience. I got to entertain everybody who came to Hawaii—a roomful of people that didn’t speak English, from around the world—and to see what music can do, and how it can bring the world together.” 

Above all, he learned the power of a great song, the fundamentals of writing music that far outlives its creator. Hernandez, who is now the drummer in Mars’s band, recalls Bruno constantly studying music videos—doo-wop, Michael Jackson, Elvis, anything he could get his hands on—in the bedroom they shared. 

“I’ve been singing amazing songs since I was a kid,” Mars says. “They weren’t my songs, but they were classics. So I’ve trained my brain to know what it feels like to sing an amazing song—when you do a lot of covers, you see it; you’ll play a song and you see everybody freak out when you get to that chorus, everyone is singing. It taps into something, whether it’s nostalgia or it just makes people feel a certain way.” 

His father gave him a guitar and started teaching him to play—surf music at first, classics like “Walk Don’t Run” and “Apache.” The influence ran deeper than just the music, as evidenced by the silk-shirt-and-shorts set, white shoes and gold jewelry he sports on the cover of 24K Magic. “The style stuff all comes from watching my dad—the pinkie rings, the pompadour, everything,” Mars says with a big grin. “My dad would take me to school in some big, busted-up Cadillac, and he’d be wearing a rhinestone jacket and have his hair all whipped and greased up, flashy glasses, and I was like, My dad’s not like the other dads at school! I’d try to get out of the car, zoom out. And now I’m the one driving the busted Cadillac, wearing some gaudy shit, and it’s what makes me happy.”

“Bruno is a fashion leader, with a sense of style that is truly his own,” says Tommy Hilfiger, whose clothes Mars sometimes wears onstage. “He is almost chameleonlike—for one concert, he’ll wear an animal-print shirt, then the next, he’ll be in a tuxedo, and it’s all him, he is totally in control of his presence.” 

After graduating from high school, Mars moved to Los Angeles to pursue a musical career. (He now lives in the Hollywood Hills with model/actress Jessica Caban, whom he has dated since 2011.) He was signed by Motown Records in 2004 but then dropped. He kicked around town, signing a publishing deal, playing in cover bands and soaking up all he could from sympathetic, successful songwriters. He wrote songs for K’naan, Brandy and Flo Rida and, in 2009, co-founded a production team, the Smeezingtons. 

His breakthrough came with the hits “Nothin’ on You” by B.o.B. and “Billionaire” by Travie McCoy, both of which featured his voice on the hooks, and then with Cee Lo’s 2010 smash politely known as “Forget You.” Just weeks before that song dropped, Mars released “Just the Way You Are,” the first single from his debut album on Atlantic Records, Doo-Wops and Hooligans. The irresistibly sweet ballad went to No. 1 and topped the adult contemporary chart for a record-breaking 20 weeks. (The next single, “Grenade,” also went to No. 1, and the ukulele-driven trifle “The Lazy Song” cracked the top five.) After a brief tour opening for Maroon 5, he played headlining dates for more than a year, as the album saw sales of more than six million units worldwide and an unbelievable 300-plus weeks on the Billboard Top 200. 

On the road, though, Mars became aware of the limitations of his repertoire. “The first album was so ballad-heavy,” he says, “and when I toured I was like, ‘Man, I need to dance!’ We gotta pick this up, because we can offer more and we’re kinda stuck. And that’s where ‘Locked Out of Heaven’ and ‘Treasure’ and a lot of tunes on the second album came from, because we wanted to push the tempo.” 

With an Anglo-reggae groove reminiscent of the Police (Mars and Sting sang together at the 2013 Grammy Awards), “Locked Out of Heaven” shot Unorthodox Jukebox out of the gate in 2012. The album explored disco and classic soul styles and topped charts around the world. And then, at the end of 2014, Mars was featured on producer Mark Ronson’s earth-quaking, booty-shaking, record-breaking throwback “Uptown Funk.” Certified diamond, for sales over 10 million, the song is only the eighth single in history to spend at least 14 weeks at No. 1. “Uptown Funk” won three Grammys, including record of the year, and for months it was unavoidable—on your TV, in your car or at sporting events. 

Mars says the song emerged only after a long struggle and that they had almost tossed it away. “We went through some trials and tribulations,” he says. “I’m not lying when I tell you that we were fighting—I was on tour and Mark would send me something and I’d be like, ‘Are you out of your mind?’ And I’d send him something back and he’d be like, ‘No, my version is better.’ We were both fighting for the greater good of the song. 

“You press play and it went, ‘This here’s that ice-cold…’ and it was like, ‘Oh, what’s about to happen?!’ But then ‘Oh, man, that’s what you got? Nah, never mind, turn it off.’ And that kept happening for months. 

“Finally the solution was that we just needed to dance—to say, ‘Don’t believe me, just watch,’ and that’s it. Don’t try to write a hook. You don’t need more; that already said everything. But it took us a while to feel that, because the way we were doing it was so unorthodox, piece by piece. When we finally got together and picked up the instruments, we got to feel it. That’s when the superpower comes in.” 

Even after cranking out so many hits—plus collaborations with and writing efforts for everyone from Lil Wayne to Alicia Keys, Adele to Jay Z and Kanye West—Mars has no formula or shortcuts; songwriting remains an instinctive craft. 

“When you’re in the studio, you can feel the energy shift,” he says. “It’s no different from telling a good joke—you can tell when it lights up the room. Or from telling a shitty joke that makes everyone want to leave and you hear the crickets. So you’re always trying to find that magic and then capitalize on it. 

“You find something—‘put your pinkie rings up to the moon’—and everyone’s excited, but now what? What does the bass sound like, or the drums? If ‘24K Magic’ is supposed to sound like I’m having the time of my life, you gotta hear me smiling on the record.”

There’s no bigger stage than the Super Bowl halftime show; Bruno Mars is one of a few performers who have played it twice. In 2014, he played during a rare northern excursion, as the 48th annual game took place in New Jersey. “Rehearsing in the cold sucked,” he says. “We got lucky on the day, it was 50 degrees, but two days before it was -9 or something.” His action-packed performance was the highest-rated halftime show ever (since surpassed by Katy Perry and Lady Gaga) and earned widespread raves, especially considering that his career hadn’t quite reached the spot’s usual mega-A-list status. 

Then last year, on the heels of “Uptown Funk,” Chris Martin of Coldplay invited Mars and Beyoncé to join the group’s halftime set. “I told Chris, ‘This is your Super Bowl performance, you deserve it, go kill ’em,’ ” Mars says. “But he’s such a sweetheart and he kept saying, ‘Bruno, this is a gift I want to give to everybody.’ He talked me into it. He’s a sweet talker, that guy. And she signed up, and all of a sudden I’m in rehearsal dance-battling Beyoncé—what the hell happened?” 

Mars is proud of his work ethic and dedication to every appearance, something Corden can attest to after they filmed a Carpool Karaoke segment last year (the clip has had nearly 40 million views on YouTube since airing in December). “My biggest memory of that day was that the second it ended, I got a little depressed,” says Corden. “Like the last day of vacation, where you’re on the plane home and feel sad that it’s over. It was so euphoric, I just wanted to do it again. There’s a moment at the end of ‘Uptown Funk’ where we’re just sitting there and breathing heavily, and that was real. His commitment was everything—we left it all in the car. 

“I think he’s 100 percent on his way to being one of the greats,” Corden continues. “There are great showmen who get by without always having great songs and great songwriters who aren’t great showmen, but he’s both those things. He has this unquantifiable energy, where you want to watch it and be a part of it somehow.” 

Hernandez notes that his brother works tirelessly, showing up for every sound check, sometimes arriving before the rest of the band. “He sees something lacking in the business, maybe something we were influenced by as kids that’s missing today, and he sticks to his vision,” says Hernandez. “He’s put that work mentality on the rest of the band, where he makes us want to be great.” 

The rain has stopped and as the sun goes down over the Santa Monica Mountains, Mars heads to the restaurant’s back patio for a cigarette. He seems in no great rush to get back into the scramble of preparing for a tour and keeping the business humming. With the long process of an album finally complete, he says that although he’s open to the idea of more new music or another collaboration, he wants to be careful. 

“I just don’t want to feel gross,” he says. “It’s as simple as that. I don’t want to feel gross, I don’t want to regret any decisions. Even if I turn down a sweet check because I don’t want to be on that billboard, hawking some shit to the world—I just don’t need to do that. Because you get one shot at this. 

“I’m not a model. I’m not an ice skater. I’m not a chef. I’m here to do music. And I want to be able to look back and say, ‘Yeah, I did it the way I wanted to do it.’ Whether it triumphs or fails, I can live with that.”

[cantstaymusic-blog]

Unlimited Advantages of Unlimited Music Downloads

Although the first music video ever broadcasted was 'Video Killed the Radio Star' played by MTV in 1981, some contemplate the music video to be much older than that year. Plainly the film Alexander Nevsky, directed by Sergei Eisenstein in 1938 had some extended pictures of battles which had been choreographed by Sergei Prokofiev. These new scenes were so progressive that they've these days been considered to be the first music video.

Apparently, the music video is even a lot older than these innovative scenes. The 1911 Alexander Scriabin's symphony - Prometheus: Poem of Fireplace was written for orchestra and 'light organ'. Oskar Fischinger's animated motion pictures were thought of to be other ancestors of the music video as they had been known as 'visible music' and so they had been equipped with orchestral scores.

Max Fleischer's brief cartoons had been additionally thought-about to be makes an attempt of a music video. He created a brand new type of cartoons, the sing-alongside cartoons which he known as Screen Songs. These quick cartoons had been inviting the general public to sing alongside to famous songs at that time. Few years later, within the Thirties, these cartoons had been modified; they displayed the musicians singing their hit songs in entrance of the camera in a dwell-action show.

Walt Disney additionally contributed to the music video evolution via his 'Foolish Symphonies' which had been based on musical pieces. The Warner Brothers cartoons were additionally created around songs. However the preferred videos had been the live music live shows, performing well-liked singers, movies which were displayed in theatres.

Bessie Smith's dramatized performance of a track was another try to make a music video. This efficiency consisted in a short movie named Saint Louis Blues. It was very talked-about and it had been performed in theatres for more than 3 years. She wasn't the only musician that appeared in short musical supplies. Many musicians favored the thought and began capturing their own materials. Music historian Donald Clarke considers that Louis Jordan's strange feature film Lookout is the official ancestor of the music video.

I receive several e-mails every week from people asking me the best way to break into the enterprise of music video remedy writing. As I have written over four hundred treatments for numerous document labels, artists and administrators, I've some perception into this area. There are several parts to consider when writing a music video therapy and I will try to define them here.

Earlier than you try to jot down a single word, it helps to understand slightly bit concerning the "biz." The music video trade has undergone main changes lately. Many report labels have gone out of business or consolidated. There are far fewer "large funds" videos being produced, but with broadband Web access, there are way more avenues of distribution.

There are three main gamers: The Report Labels, The Manufacturing Corporations and The Directors. The report labels signify the recording artists. The Manufacturing Companies symbolize administrators. There are additionally directors who should not affiliated with any explicit manufacturing company. They often solicit work on their very own, or rent an independent representative to work for them.

When a record label wants to make a music video for one of its artists, it approaches a number of manufacturing firms and directors who they suppose could be applicable and solicit bids. They'll say, for instance, "We would like a music video for Britney Spear's upcoming single, 'I Want I Had Talent,' and we've got a budget of 750,000 dollars.

The manufacturing company will scramble to assemble a bid, consisting of a remedy and a price range, which they may then rush to the label as shortly as potential. Usually, it's assumed that the proposed director will write the treatment himself or herself, but that is usually not the case. Loads of directors, together with a number of the most noted within the enterprise, do not like writing treatments. Usually it's because they're requested to bid on so many video jobs that the amount of writing - on spec - will get to be overwhelming.

Sometimes it's because they don't have a very good strong idea. Most frequently it is as a result of they don't seem to be good writers. They may be masters of visualization, they might know how one can place a camera and work with the expertise to get a dynamite efficiency, however this does not necessarily mean they know methods to translate their ideas to the written word.

In other instances, the director could also be extremely proficient with the written word, but nonetheless need to collaborate with an out of doors author to give you the most effective treatment possible. So they'll rent, usually via the auspices of the production firm that represents them, somebody to write the remedy. This could possibly be anyone from the secretary on the production office, to the producer of the video. Usually, nevertheless, it's a freelance writer.

There are three most important elements to consider when writing a music video treatment: SELLING, CONTENT MATERIAL and PRICE RANGE. The one which beginning writers seem most involved with is the content material; that's, all the visual points that will probably be photographed and (hopefully) translated to the screen. Be suggested, the opposite two components are equally important. If one does not take PROMOTING and FUNDS into consideration, the content shall be woefully irrelevant.

PROMOTING

For the reason that treatment is written as a part of the preliminary bid to convince the file label to award the job to the manufacturing company and/or its director, it have to be an effective SELLING TOOL. In addition to the nice content and visuals you will include within the therapy, you have to be cognizant of what it is the label and the artist are searching for, and - for lack of a better word - regurgitate it back to them. The artists are involved with how they will be offered. The label is concerned with promoting albums. So in the text you have to convince both that these wants will probably be met.

In case you are writing for a rap artist who has talked about that he wants to drive a current model Lincoln Navigator, just be sure you consult with this precise car in the textual content of the treatment. No matter whether you think it's a terrible idea, or whether or not or not the car makes it into the completed video, your fundamental concern at this point is to get the job. Do not be obstinate. If the label says they wish to steer clear of utilizing a whole lot of extras, do not set your video at a concert with a whole bunch of screaming fans.

Get it? Give them what they need, keeping it inside the context of the opposite two parts: Content and Budget.

CONTENT

Treatments are usually written within the present tense, with the author describing all the visuals that will be within the proposed music video and tying them into the varied verses of the track.

Being as descriptive as attainable is crucial. Typically chances are you'll think you've gotten the good imagery for the video, but if the reader doesn't understand what concepts and images you're conveying, or does not get the same psychological pictures as the writer, it'll all be lost. Find the appropriate adjective. Usually, writers do not need to be redundant, but in a music video, it is sometimes important to "hit the reader over the head." Think about your viewers will likely be composed of everybody from a Nobel laureate to a second grader with a learning disability. Is the efficiency set inside a "blue room"? Or is it a COBALT BLUE ROOM, with a low fog that permeates each nook. Description, description, description.

Performance vs. "B Roll". Once you see the artist taking part in an instrument and/or singing to the monitor, that is called "EFFICIENCY." Every part else that takes place within the video is known as "B-ROLL.

Usually, you need to describe three or 4 efficiency set-ups, that can be intertwined together with your B-Roll visuals. Describe how the artist will come across in his or her performance. Robust? Highly effective? Seductive? Flirtatious? Horny? It helps to know a little about how the artists understand themselves. You'll be able to usually discover this out by visiting their official web sites and reading their bios.

B-Roll could possibly be narrative or interpretative. That is, it could tell a linear story, with a beginning, center and end, or it might just be imagery that you simply feel works properly inside the context of the song.

As with every type of writing, the more you do it, the higher you will get. Preserve writing music movies, whether or not you might be getting paid for it or not. Watch MTV. Examine your favourite videos after which write what you think about the treatment should have seemed like. Study other remedies which have been written, and then come up with your personal model. While there aren't any onerous and quick rules about format, it is important that a remedy communicate its ideas in a clear, concise and inventive method.

FUNDS

Normally, the author could have an idea of the finances vary the label or artist wishes to spend. A therapy written for a 5-hundred thousand greenback video will look very different from one for a five thousand dollar video. When you've got any production expertise, this will be a little simpler to determine, but in case you are strictly a author, then you need to use your common sense. Major effects are costly, whether they are "mechanical" effects that you'll carry out on the set (such as a automotive crash or explosions), or digital results that you'll add later in the post production course of.

In the half-million greenback video, it is perfectly okay to incorporate a couple of of those effects in your treatment. In a funds of under fifty-thousand, it's best to keep away from them. Smaller effects that may be created using lighting and smoke, etc., are relatively cheap and might be achieved on even essentially the most modest of budgets.

The decrease the funds, the less the extras, locations and effects it is best to incorporate into the therapy.

GETTING YOUR FIRST JOB

Now that you've a primary understanding of the method of writing music video therapies, you might be probably questioning where to start. How do you get your first job? First ought to have two or three samples of your work. Discover just a few new songs that you simply really like and write your individual treatments for them. Since you aren't under a deadline, you should take your time to make these samples sparkle.

Subsequent, contact every production company and director yow will discover and let them know you are available as a remedy author. You can locate them by performing some basic analysis on the Web, however a great place to start is the Music Video Manufacturing Affiliation . The MVPA has lists accessible on its website of its member producers, administrators and production corporations.

ABSTRACT

Upon getting turned in your therapy to the production company and/or director, and they have despatched it off to the record label, you may sit back and cross your fingers. Normally you will hear in a short time whether or not the music video has been awarded to your crew. Don't be discouraged in the event that they go with any person else. There are so many factors involved when a report label decides to whom they will award the job, lots of them political and totally out of your control. Within the occasion that the record label likes the therapy however has some points with it, you should be prepared to do a couple of rewrites.

As the popularity of shiny rap, r&b and reggae music movies soar, city music followers are choosing to obtain music videos slightly than phoning or texting music television channels to request their favourite videos. City Music fans have been lengthy-awaiting an alternative to UK music tv channels reminiscent of MTV Base, The Field and Kiss TELEVISION, resembling access to Music Videos free music video viewing of the videos of their selection, in addition to music video downloads. At £1 minimum per video request, music followers are fast diverting away from music television and as an alternative watching music videos totally free on-line and downloading them to observe on their iPod's, mp4 players, BlackBerries and different mp4-compatible telephones.

On this information age we're residing in, folks want information quick and for it to be easily accessible. Music fans need to hear good music free of charge, and if they like what they hear from an artist, they're going to need to visit that artist's official website and MySpace web page, as well as their Amazon and iTunes stores. Having all of this data listed with each music video will make music accessibility simpler for the viewer, as well as bridging the gap between the fan and the artist. With simply-accessible music movies in your pocket, your iPod, cellphone or mp4 participant will certainly breathe a new lease of life into those lengthy bus, train and aircraft journeys!

[secretofpet]

best: Dr. Katy Answers Your Most-Asked Vet Questions

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Today –

We know that when it comes to being a pet parent, there are a lot of unexpected questions that arise – and are often best answered by a professional. We reached out to our resident vet, Dr. Katy Nelson, and asked her to her share answers to the top questions she gets from her pet parents.

Grooming and general care

Q: My pet’s toenails seem really long but they won’t let me cut them – what should I do?

A: If you’re not able to cut your pet’s nails yourself, take them to the vet’s office or to a groomer. A professional knows how to properly restrain your animal, how short to cut the nails, and most importantly, they have all the equipment needed for a fast and pain-free pedicure.

Q: My pet sheds SO much – is anything I can do to help with the shedding?

A: Shedding is normal for cats and dogs, but certain breeds definitely shed more – especially at certain times of the year. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t things you can do to keep shedding to a minimum. Start by ensuring your pet is on a fresh, healthy diet, like Freshpet, that supplies needed protein and fatty acids to keep the skin and coat healthy. Flea and tick preventives can also be applied regularly and don’t be afraid to bathe your pet when needed. Finally, regular brushing can help to decrease the mess associated with shedding.

Q: I feel like my pet gets stinky really often – why is that?

A: The answer to this question depends on what your pet smells like:

Is it a metallic or fishy smell? Have their anal glands checked.

Is it a bready or sweet smell? It could be a yeast infection in their ears or on their skin.

Is it their breath? Have your veterinarian assess your pet’s dental health.

Is it a urine or poop smell? Maybe they just stepped in something and need a bath.

Regular bathing, ear cleaning, teeth brushing and, in some pets, anal gland expression can help to keep your pet smelling fresh.

Q: How often should I bathe my pet?

A: The frequency at which you bathe your pet will vary based on breed, lifestyle, and skin conditions. In general, most pets do not need to be bathed more than once a month as bathing more frequently can strip the skin of necessary oils, leading to dry skin and a poor quality coat. If you need to apply a topical flea, tick, or heartworm preventative, plan your pet’s baths accordingly. These medications require a healthy lipid layer to spread and work effectively, so it’s best to wait 24-48 hours after bathing to apply them.

My pet’s breath stinks! What can I do to make it better?

A: The first thing you should do is have your pet seen by your veterinarian. During this appointment, they will do a full dental exam and determine whether professional cleaning is needed. If this is the recommendation, your pet will be put under general anesthesia and a thorough oral exam performed, as well as x-rays and an ultrasonic scaling and polishing. Once this is done your pet will have a clean palate, so you can move forward with preventive care like brushing and dental chews to maintain a mouth that is healthy and smelling fresh.

Bathroom habits

Q: Why does my dog eat its own poop?

A: There is usually no medical reason for coprophagia (eating poop). While there are numerous options on the market for food additives that may discourage the behavior, there is truly only one solution: Deny their access to it. Whether you’re at home or on a walk, pick up poop immediately and discard it to keep it away from your dog.

Q: My cat keeps missing the litter-box – help!

A: Inappropriate urination is one of the most common reasons that cats are brought to a veterinarian. During your visit, your vet will start by ruling out any medical issue, such as urinary crystals and stone, a urinary tract infection, or arthritis making it difficult for cats to get into the litter-box. This will likely involve running some tests on your cat’s urine and may include a recommendation for blood-work, x-rays or an ultrasound of their bladder. If no medical reason is found, your vet will then move on to possible environmental factors, such as the type of litter boxes you have, the number of boxes in the house, the box locations, the type of litter you’re using, and whether or not your other cats are “bullying” near the box. Once they have a better idea of your cat’s litter-box environment, they will be able to recommend changes you can make. Your veterinarian can also recommend an enzymatic cleaner that can get deep down into carpets and soft materials to break down the urine proteins that we can’t smell, but your cats can – this is important in stopping your cat from continuing to urinate in the same spots.

Food and Eating Habits

Q: What type of pet food is best for my pet?

A: Given the huge market for pet food, it’s not hard to find one that’s perfect for your pet’s unique needs. Dogs are omnivores and should be fed a diet made of fresh lean proteins, vegetables, and fruits & grains, so I prefer diets that keep the proteins and carb sources intact with minimal processing and preservatives, like Freshpet. Cats, on the other hand, are obligate carnivores and should be fed a low-carb diet composed primarily of meat – similar to the Atkins diet for people. Cats do not effectively process carbs and tend to get very overweight with higher carb options.

Q: I notice that my dog tries to eat grass a lot – is this bad?

A: Believe it or not, eating grass is normal behavior for dogs. Many dogs simply like the taste of it, but it’s not highly digestible so they may end up regurgitating it later. However, there are two instances where grass consumption can be dangerous for your pet. Firstly, if they eat too much of it they rick it becoming impacted inside their digestive system. Secondly, if you use pesticides or fertilizers on your lawn, consuming this grass means your pet is ingesting these toxic chemicals, which can be deadly.

Allergies

Q: My pet has bad allergies – can I give them Benadryl?

A: Before you run to your medicine cabinet in search of your own allergy medicine, talk to your veterinarian. There are numerous anti-histamines available for pets and they will be able to determine if they’re necessary for their specific allergy and symptoms, as well as to recommend dosage and frequency.

Q: My pet is always scratching no matter what I seem to do to help them stop – any advice on how to manage this?

A: If your pet is continuously scratching, have them seen by your veterinarian. They will evaluate the skin and determine if there is an underlying issue causing the itching. There are numerous reasons for itchy pets including endocrine issues, such as hypothyroidism and Cushing’s disease, as well as ectoparasites, allergies, nerve disorders, or skin infections. Once your veterinarian determines the cause of the itching, they’ll be able to give your pet the relief they deserve. From grooming and general care to allergies and bathroom habits, we hope Dr. Katy was able to answer some of your questions. If there’s still something you’re wondering about, schedule an appointment with your vet. Their team will be happy to answer any questions you may have about your pet and how to best care for them.

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Are You Doing Your Pets Wrong?

best: Dr. Katy Answers Your Most-Asked Vet Questions

from Secret Of Pet All Goods For Our Friends

[darkammarketing]

Demand Generation Marketing: A Five-Minute Guide

If you’ve landed here, it’s safe to say you probably have some questions about demand generation. Most likely, the first one is “What exactly is it?”

The common misconception is that demand generation is all about creating demand for a product. The clue’s in the name, right? Well, demand generation is actually far more than that.

In an industry where creating better brand-to-customer relationships is everything, demand generation is an umbrella term for a range of marketing activities that drive long-term engagement—including lead generation, demand capture, and pipeline acceleration.

It includes a series of touchpoints designed to raise awareness of customer challenges, position your brand as a trusted advisor, generate leads, sell your solution, and—if done correctly—foster genuine brand loyalty.

The “long-term” element is essential. Demand generation isn’t a quick fix. It’s a gradual, comprehensive, holistic approach to engagement that comprises dedicated inbound marketing tactics, social interactions, ebook campaigns, weekly newsletters, pop-up events, webinars, and more.

Done properly, demand generation can create awareness around the issues most relevant to your business, provide sales the qualified leads it need to close deals, and position marketing as a revenue generator instead of a cost center.

So, how does Marketo define demand generation?

The three pillars of demand

Demand generation can be easily split into three key pillars:

1. Lead generation

Before any other stages of demand generation can happen, you need to have leads to deliver your strategy to. Lead generation involves gaining the interest of potential customers and adding them to your marketable database. Once captured through a nurture program, these leads can then be handed to sales development to guide them through the sales funnel.

2. Demand capture

If there is existing demand in the market, you can capture it and guide potential customers to your products and services. This process involves a range of lower funnel content that will establish your brand proposition, such as PPC advertisements, SEO optimizations, and 3rd party intent data.

3. Pipeline acceleration

Once you’ve succeeded at generating or capturing demand as opportunities, you can speed up the sales process using pipeline acceleration techniques. These can be as simple as engaging in conversation with potential customers or creating highly targeted content that meets your leads’ pain points and is appropriate to their position in the sales funnel. Field marketing events are also a very common tactic for pipeline acceleration.

The five stages of demand generation

Because demand generation is so comprehensive, the hardest part can be knowing where to start.

In later posts in this blog series, we’ll take a deep dive into the stages of a successful campaign. But for now, here’s an overview of the five key components:

1. Goals

The best place to start planning a demand generation campaign? At the end, of course.

By identifying the end goals of your campaign up front, you can plan the rest of your strategy around them.

For instance, if you pin down your booking revenue goals, you can then work backward to figure out how many opportunities, SQLs, and MQLs you’ll need to hit that target.

And that will dictate how many marketing programs you undertake to generate these leads.

2. Audience

Of course, before you decide what the programs entail, you need to know who you’re targeting.

Understanding your audience and building customer profiles will help you target your marketing more precisely. You can develop personas based on the roles, needs, and objectives of your target audience. And the more details you can include, the better.

Because consumers today are so overloaded with information, strategic audience marketing is more crucial than ever. Ad blockers, email opt-outs, and even new laws, like GDPR, have given consumers more control over which brands they engage with—and they can easily reject brands that fail to respect their communication preferences.

3. Content

Once you cement your goals and audience, it’s time to plan and produce content for each stage of the marketing funnel.

The pre-purchase, top-of-funnel stage should include “light” thought-leadership content that builds brand awareness, highlights a need, and drives desire.

In the mid-funnel, research-and-consideration stage, your job is to educate buyers of the challenges they face and help them solve their issues with things like whitepapers, buying guides, analyst reports, and ROI calculators.

Finally, at the bottom of the funnel, you’ll deliver company-specific information, like demo offers, case studies, and third-party reviews, to reinforce that your product is the best choice.

4. Distribution

Creating great content is important. But you also need to understand the best way to get it to your audience.

Delivering content to your prospects and directing them to the right place will involve a robust mix of programs covering a variety of channels—email, social, direct mail, even live events.

The distribution method will change based on the stage of the funnel. At the top, you’ll likely use display networks, remarketing, and social channels to cast your net.

At the bottom of the funnel, you’ll leverage paid search and email to drive direct response and convert prospects into qualified leads.

5. Measurement

You can’t understand how your programs perform unless you measure everything they do.

Remember when we recommended starting your campaign by identifying your end goals? Well, that’s only half the equation. The other half is determining and tracking your key performance indicators (KPIs) to see if your demand generation program is achieving its goals.

This includes early-, mid-, and late-stage metrics that cover everything from the program cost, new targets, and cost-per-target to the number of opportunities your campaign has generated and how much revenue you can attribute to it.

Analytics and operations are two of the fastest-growing areas in marketing—largely because marketers are eager to show the results of their campaigns. Understanding what KPIs you need to track and having the reporting infrastructure in place to track them enables you to easily illustrate ROI.

Three tips for demand generation success

Demand generation can be complicated. But our experience has taught us a few things that can help ensure success. Here are three top tips for making sure your campaigns hit the mark:

1. Give your prospects something great

Whether it’s your weekly email newsletter, an ebook, or a product demo, make sure the things you put out into the world are valuable.

By providing something truly useful, you make a prospect more likely to part with the coveted contact information that helps you qualify them as a lead. Plus, they’ll be much more likely to remember your brand and come back to it in the future.

2 Be original

Content marketing is a crucial element of demand generation. And doing it well requires two things: investment and originality.

There’s no point in regurgitating what’s already out there. In fact, it’s a surefire way to get lost in the crowd. Instead, pepper your content with original insights, research, and expert takes on emerging trends—it’s the best way to make sure your brand stands out.

3. Never stop testing

Let’s face it: marketing is sometimes one big hypothesis. We think we know what messaging resonates and what content our audience wants. And digital data has certainly given us some confidence here. But at the end of the day, we can’t get inside our audience’s head, so there will always be an element of the unknown.

The key to all successful marketing is knowing what your audience responds to—and A/B testing gives you the answers you need.

Do it correctly, and you can increase engagements, improve effectiveness, and raise the bar for your campaigns.

The post Demand Generation Marketing: A Five-Minute Guide appeared first on Marketo Marketing Blog - Best Practices and Thought Leadership.

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[cryptswahili]

What I Learned From Running a Cryptocurrency News Site for the Past 5 Years

For those of you that may not know, I am the founder of NullTX. This site has been live for almost 5 years and today I wanted to share with you guys what I learned from running a crypto media business for half a decade. This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the lessons learned but it will cover some of the more important learning points for me. Some of these lessons apply to all media businesses and some are specific for crypto, let’s get started.

Triple Check Your Facts

I can’t count the amount of times an anonymous source will send me an email claiming to have dirt on a certain cryptocurrency project or ICO and claiming that it’s a scam. In my early days I would quickly jump on the opportunity to inform the community about a scam without doing due diligence. While most of the time the anonymous source’s information would check out, there were a few instances when the “source” is simply a disgruntled ex employee or a competitor. As such, not only do you risk discrediting your own media site, but you also face liability for a defamation lawsuit.

Don’t Give Into Extortion Threats

Following up on my previous point, when you know something is true you need to stand behind your words and fight for the truth! I have received numerous cease and desist letters and threats when exposing a scam. Here’s one such letter back from 2017 when we exposed the “Ethereum Project.”

Cease and Desist from Project Ethereum. Facts is not slander. Referring to: https://t.co/2XrYZjS9gA #bitcoin #ethereum pic.twitter.com/czj7vJ0lwB

— Null TX (@nulltxnews) June 7, 2017

Keep Your Content Original

There is no point in regurgitating the same content over and over again. Unless the news is extremely major it’s always better to publish original content not posted on other sites. Some of our best performing articles are what I like to call: Top X, VS, and What is pieces. These are entertaining and educational pieces that can really draw the reader in. Sometimes people get tired of reading about crypto developments, price trends or other generic content. More entertaining topics can not only help you go viral but can also draw higher engagement on social media.

Don’t Promote Scams

This would seem like an obvious lesson but one that seems to be overlooked by many crypto media sites. Without naming any names, many sites blatantly promoted scams back in 2018. While in some instances it’s honestly hard to distinguish what is a scam or not, in other instances when a project claims guaranteed returns anybody with half a brain can tell that investing in this project is a ticking time bomb. If you do end up promoting scams, that will really hurt your reputation long after the scam is gone. It’s best to avoid promoting any questionable projects and instead put your marketing efforts into quality clients.

Be Honest With Your Readers

I’m sure you’ve heard this saying before: “honesty is the best policy.” This applies to any media site as well. Our lead writer JP, who has been with us since the very start does a great job at always staying honest with his writing. Reading his articles you will always find a hint of cynicism, this goes a long way in crypto as most projects are simply vaporware.

Staying honest with your readers is one of the most important qualities in keeping your audience and reputation in such a relatively small industry. If you are promoting a project that paid you to write content, make sure to disclose that with a disclaimer. Otherwise, if you are hyping up a project because you are invested in it, simply disclose that in the article, there’s no shame in disclosures.

Adapt Your Content Strategy

It’s important to stay malleable and be able to adapt to the market around you, this is especially important for crypto media as cryptocurrency is a highly volatile industry. Back in 2017, our best articles were “What is” articles that educated our readers about various cryptocurrencies out there. As the crypto hype died down in 2018 people stopped caring as much about the random altcoins and were more interested in their prices. Being able to adapt your content strategy to your ever changing audience is the key to keeping your traffic and engagement high

Don’t Be Afraid to Have a Voice

While there is a time and a place for professional journalism, don’t be afraid to use phrases such as: I think, I believe, I agree, etc. By having a voice you are able to connect more with your readers which will increase engagement and attract a more loyal audience. Breakermag does a great job having a critical voice in their articles which in turn makes the articles not only more interesting to read but also invokes emotion from the reader.

Don’t Be Afraid to Have Fun!

Imagine how bored you can get just reading some articles, imagine how much more bored the author is writing them. After being in the media business for over 5 years what kept me going was being myself and more importantly, having fun. Have a topic that you have a strong opinion about? Write it right away and your audience will appreciate it. Not everyone will agree with your opinion but that will at least spark a debate with will increase your engagement. There is a time and place for everything, and having fun is a must if you want to last in the media business.

Image(s): Wendy van Zyl/Pexels.com

The post What I Learned From Running a Cryptocurrency News Site for the Past 5 Years appeared first on NullTX.

[Telegram Channel | Original Article ]

[mattgrips]

Divinity

Power -> The potential to do work (overtime). A simple scientific attempt to ascertain the meaning of power. A great definition to establish power grids and make batteries but without further elaboration, it’s hard to see it in more of the kings and rulers kind of sense. Certainly, the president is powerful -> he/she can do a lot of work (overtime). I don’t know, that doesn’t sound right to me. A powerful engine can produce a lot of work to move a hunk of junk around, but the way a president/manager/CEO does work is more indirect – they are only one piece in the system where many other movers expend additional energy that accumulates into the later fruits of collective labor. But following the same logic, I would be hard pressed to isolate an individual engine component and declare it as powerful. There’s a lot about us people that isn’t taken into account when looking into power in this abstract sense.

The difference is Will. Once this is established, it is easy to see how power is both defined and allocated within a system of human beings. Now power is not a matter of how much work one can do, but how much work one can command. Following this additional concept into our universe is a snowball of newer concepts amalgamating into our anthropocentric worldview: respect, class, shame, pride, reputation. All wonderful terms that help us distinguish each other and enrich a world that would be rather dull without. I’m partially kidding – obviously power is one of the first ways we are introduced to our vices and fallibility. By inventing power we have essentially created the currency that enables our vanity, greed, and selfishness to run amok in the world. Life is no longer indifferent matter and energy. It now has us. Woohoo

I’ve cut going into a longer tangent to get to the original point of my post. Obviously, just like with ‘purpose’ (discussed in my previous post) the combined elusiveness and necessity of power has inspired many to try and write a book about it. The massive pile of power-related books attempts to see power in many different perspectives; from diplomatic (The Prince) to military (The Art of War), to business (Something by 50 Cent probably), to fantastical (fables i guess). Obviously this isn’t a topic that is only found in specific publications. Power is an apparent revelation in literally everything we do, so many perspectives exist outside of literature. It’s all quite a bit to wrap your head around. Luckily there exists a book that has compiled most of our history of power into a comprehensive anthology for totally academic and not pecuniary purposes.

Enter Robert Greene’s ’48 Laws of Power’. I picked it up last week and have enjoyed reading it up to this point. Much like other books, it is filled with obnoxious and facetious rhetoric, but it’s all good because it’s all in reference to historical accounts where it was okayy to talk like a sociopath. I can go on about the 48 Laws’ many contradictions, impracticalities, and immorality but to do so would be like intelligently discussing youtube drama. It would force me to talk like I was above the book’s pettiness, cynicism, and condescension. I most certainly am not, and I appreciate a book that understands when a topic is too broad and undefined to be talked about in a way that has no humor and play in it.

So I’ve enjoyed this book for what it is -> the book equivalent of Assassin’s Creed: an action packed adventure sprinkled in with historical tid-bits meant to not so much explicitly teach me something, but take me through a journey of the human experience through story, myth, and anecdote. And it does quite a good job. The stories are engaging enough to have me pondering many things happening in my life.

I want to discuss on the last law I read about today. Law number 30: ‘Make your accomplishments seem effortless’

I like this one because it’s one of the less objectionable laws. Also, it is one of the laws that has a more coherent connection to the underlying concepts of power that the book is trying to express (assuming the author had an underlying logic to his writing and was totally not just regurgitating content into a marketable way for money). Throughout the book, there has been a recurring theme on maintaining appearances. Greene cleverly recognizes that in the game of power most people are more equally matched than the power differences we observe in the world suggest. What differentiates people from each other is more of a matter of public perception. Two people can perform at the same caliber of whatever on the public stage but still be perceived very differently. One may be seen as the more honest competitor, or the more likable character, or be attached to a more noble cause, or a higher virtue. Whether these perceptions are true or not is not a practical concern in terms of transaction costs, and societal well-being. If there is to be any social fabric keeping us together, people can’t be in continual skepticism throughout the day. The result is a world based on appearances which creates a playing field where objectivity is obscured and people can be exalted to higher realms that any physiological, intellectual, or conscientious basis could never accomplish.

This is the only idea that is so apparently and consistently followed throughout the book. There are so many gaps in our perceptions of everything, all of which require too much rigorous work to actually figure out. Also deterring us is the likely prospect that whatever we discover will be a thousand times more boring than whatever we can imagine in our heads. Of course this last point is subjective as many find wonder and excitement in what others would call dull, but there is a well-defined picture of what the ‘public’ finds objectionable, boring, exciting, and just even though this majority is becoming more and more blurred these days (ill elaborate later).

Anyways, one of the many gaps in our worldview is the one inquiring on the varying capacity of human potential. The main driver of this gap is the inconsistency in seeing amazing human beings on TV, radio, stories etc. while also seeing the abysmal existence most of us live out for whatever reason. How could it be that some live to be great men and women while I struggle to get up everyday? Possible rational (but not necessarily true) explanations can be drawn from the social sciences, using a varying arsenal of socio-economic theories, or from the physical sciences where we can explain everything away with biological and atomistic determinism. If I’m really unfortunate , I may end up with an explanation that puts sole responsibility on myself, and my ego would hate that.

No matter how you slice it, finding a rational explanation for the outcomes of other people’s lives as well as my own is way too rigorous, and boring. What is more natural/probable (not necessarily more desirable) is subconsciously drawing conclusions from what I see from the outside. From the limited time I spend with people, I pick up clues on how happy, stressed, and well-adjusted a person is. Drawing these conclusions within the context of other things I know about the person will draw even more inferences. A person I see as stressed out and know as a working class shmuck will draw sympathy from my mind. A person I see as sad and know to be well-off will draw disgust. A person I see as easy-going and think to be in a highly difficult position will seem like a god to me.

And with this emerges the most well-defined aspect of power -> appearances. Finally a framework that can be elaborated on in a productive studious way. From this a multitude of Laws come about aside from Law 30. Law 5: Protect ya rep; Law 3: Conceal your intentions; Law 12: Use selective honesty; Law 21: appear dumber than your mark. All recognize the reality that we can’t background check every person we meet and have to use expedited forms of perception to form a worldview. From this we have a beautiful world of acts, stories, narrative, rhetoric; it’s all just one big play!

But I did emphasize Law 30 for a reason. It’s because while other Laws seek to have the user be perceived as ignorant, virtuous, or innocent, Law 30 aims to exalt the user into Godlike status. This brings us back into the gap of human potential. Because of this inconclusive aspect in our psyche, many of us won’t be too against the possibility that some among us are exceptionally divine. It makes life fun and brings excitement into our existence without actually taking on the stress that undertaking divinity in our own individual lives would entail. So even though it may be unlikely that an individual is divine, under the right conditions, many of us would want to believe that some of us are paragons.

This certainly brings excitement into my own personal life. To say that I don’t place existential burdens on celebrities, idols, and myths by holding them to unreasonably high standards would be dishonest. The trick (i guess) to not making this totally messed up is by a) being aware of how I am viewing people to continually find ways to reduce harm in the world; and b) using the use of idols as role models to continually push me to achieve greater things. Don’t sound that bad now eh? Oh well. Either way, this perception of divinity allows me to enjoy an exciting and productive thought process. I love my favorite bands, authors, and public figures based on how divine they seem to me. Outward appearances matter for me in this. I look out for: absolute disinterest (or even disgust) for others, elusive social media, lack of engagement, but of course with the occasional burst of exceptional performance or amazing revelation that asserts why I think whoever is amazing in the first place.

This is is really the idolized character I place in my mind. I hate it when someone on a screen I don’t know tries to reach out and establish a personal connection with me, and continually tries to establish relatableness with me. For me I really don’t want validation of who I am from others. I think I get that enough from my own existence. What I truly seek out are people to attach aspirations and goals to. I think many people do that too. And in that lies the empty space for people to obtain power from. Whether you think that’s unfortunate, or exploitable, or whatever, I find that it is a definite reality, and kind of makes life interesting.

Of course there are other people, or rather times when people, are on the other side of the coin. Sometimes we do look to others to feel validated in our current state. Sometimes we’d probably want someone to say things like ‘you can do it too!’, but from my experience I think those times are few and far, and are used in toxic ways that ultimately stagnate any sort of growth in an individual. I’m not sure if our tendency for this sort of comfort is on the rise, or just a simple pattern that occurs in all generations as they age. Whatever the actual answer, this is yet another vacancy for others to claim influence and power over.

Appearing divine by observing the 30th Law of Power does have its obstacles in this day and age. There is an increasing need and ability for transparency and accountability from anybody who does anything. How is one to give the appearance of ease when people now demand to see everything, from behind the scenes, to documents, to emails of all the workings of the system we live in. Obviously this is a great thing, I’m just saying that it is now harder to take on an exalted appearance now.

Which brings me to the actual point I was trying to make in this whole blog post. I didn’t think it would take this long to lay the groundwork for the only original contribution in this blog post but thank you for reading this far in. As the future brings in less ways to isolate yourself and give off appearances through subtle signals, there is still one signal that brings divine hope. It’s simple: Happiness. This world is an increasingly aware place that places a lot more emphasis on what to be sad about than anything. The world wants people to be aware that everything they do holds a negative consequence to someone else, and that the world is a large injustice that should just be done away with. With this in mind, how else can one go about life without being solemn, dull, and disillusioned?

This disillusion simply brings in the vacancy to obtain power through a new ‘illusion’ (I use illusion loosely because I don’t mean it like something different from reality. Rather I’m using illusion as anything that differs from what the public would like to enforce as ‘reality’). Before, the amazement from watching a virtuoso performance was partially by seeing how easy heshe made it seem. In other instances, where I see myself, I can see it beneficial to give the appearance that I can carry on my duties with happiness, hope, and optimism. Taking on Engineering and Law School, very socially demanding occupations, I have the feeling that society sees STEM and continuous learning to be undertakings of present sacrifice for future gain. A rational, and BORING perception of someone. How exciting would it be rather, to see someone undertaking such an act for deeper reasons. To see someone pursue something for virtuistic, philosophical, dare I say it divine ambitions.

I think this is why I derive much enjoyment from the book. Not for its simplistic listing of steps to crush enemies and feel all high and mighty. In its words, it kind of sets a framework of appearances that allows for creativity, innovation, and fun to be had when thinking about public perception, the human experience, and how power all plays a part in it.

That’s pretty neat.

[takenews-blog1]

The Extremely Questionable Life-style of Dan Bilzerian

New Post has been published on https://takenews.net/the-extremely-questionable-life-style-of-dan-bilzerian/

The Extremely Questionable Life-style of Dan Bilzerian

Dan Bilzerian is an Web persona who has been dubbed the “King of Instagram.” He’s gained worldwide notoriety for his past lavish way of life stuffed with high-stakes poker, half-naked ladies, big weapons, non-public jets, and over-the-top holidays. He has utilized social media with a view to promote his picture and construct his Bilzerian empire. However though he has a cult following, there’s no scarcity of controversies surrounding Bilzerian — together with numerous questions surrounding the supply of his cash and his all-around morality. From kicking ladies within the face at nightclubs to having two coronary heart assaults at simply 25 years outdated, that is the highly-debated and infrequently unbelievable lifetime of Dan Bilzerian.

Would you imagine he lived in a Mormon group as soon as upon a time?

Picture Credit score: Wall Avenue Journal

Dan Bilzerian claims that he has managed to make a fortune of $50 million in a 12 months’s time by taking part in poker. In a 2014 video interview with ALL IN Journal, he went as far as to name himself the “Invoice Gates of poker – if poker was like a enterprise.” Did Bilzerian one way or the other handle to revolutionize the sport of poker? No. We are able to’t deny that he’s past set for all times after successful $10.eight million in a single night time of poker — or that truth that he’s financially superb even after flipping a coin for a pile of chips value $2.three million and dropping. Though folks could not query his poker profession, they do query the place his seemingly limitless wealth got here from.

Picture Credit score: CalvinAyre.com

At any time when Dan Bilzerian is requested about the place his cash initially got here from, he at all times appears to draw back from the query or regurgitate that he’s earned all of it playing. However this appears extremely unlikely contemplating Bilzerian’s father, Paul Bilzerian, earned a whole lot of thousands and thousands of as a company raider and shadily strategized for years to guard his property from a Securities and Change and Commissions judgment. He even hung out in jail for securities and tax legislation violations referring to unsuccessful takeovers of firms within the 1980s. Although younger Dan admits that he obtained (quite questionable) cash from his father in a belief, he repeatedly declines to confess how a lot he acquired or the way it helped him in his poker profession.

Picture Credit score: Every day Mirror

Dan Bilzerian was a comparatively unknown man in 2007 in each the poker world and on social media. Nevertheless, that 12 months, he confirmed up in a Lake Tahoe on line casino with a briefcase full of money seeking to play some high-stakes poker. Las Vegas-based skilled poker participant Todd Witteles remembers that he earned the nickname “Suitcase Man” that night time as a result of no one knew he who was, besides that he was arduous to overlook with a suitcase full of cash. Since then, he has moved as much as ultra-high-stakes non-public video games with thousands and thousands of on the road. Nevertheless, his declare that he has remodeled $50 million in winnings has been questioned by trading-firm founder Bob Shiny who says he’s by no means heard of something like that and he’s performed usually with Bilzerian for years.

Picture Credit score: Sq. Mile

Ever surprise why Dan Bilzerian does what he does? Perhaps it’s as a result of he’s making an attempt to fill a void of some type with numerous quantities of intercourse, medication, weapons, and cash? Effectively, apparently, Bilzerian admitted that he hated highschool for a wide range of completely different causes and that he was extraordinarily unpopular as a teen. He was as a rule lonely and ridiculed by his classmates for what his father had completed. Whereas his dad was in jail, he moved excessive faculties twice and was expelled from each attributable to his habits. He additionally carried this unpopularity into the army making an attempt to stay as much as his father’s popularity after he had earned a bronze star in Vietnam.

Picture Credit score: Greatest Babel

After Dan Bilzerian was expelled from his second highschool attributable to his antics and teenage angst, there have been plans to ship him off to a army academy with the hopes of straightening him out. Within the nick of time, his father, Paul Bilzerian, was launched from jail. Paul purchased a brand new firm and moved the household to Utah — particularly, the guts of Mormon nation. Unsurprisingly, Dan, the Utah scene, and the Mormon surrounding communities didn’t get together with each other. So, in an effort to get out of his present state of affairs, he went again to his outdated methods. Not solely did Dan get expelled from college however he was requested to depart the state of Utah completely.

Earlier than making a reputation for himself as a poker playboy, Bilzerian entered the army and spent 4 years coaching to change into a Navy Seal. Nevertheless, after a number of makes an attempt and 510 days of precise Navy Seal coaching, he was dropped or “honorably discharged” after verbally insulting one of many administrative officers. Though army officers have stated he was discharged for a “security violation on the capturing vary,” Bilzerian claims that he was dropped for no actual purpose. Studies declare that Bilzerian known as one in every of them a derogatory phrase simply two days earlier than he was anticipated to graduate. After his 4 years within the army, he went on to attend Florida State Univesity, the place he studied Enterprise and Criminology.

Hold studying to see why his cats would possibly be an indication that he truly has a coronary heart someplace in there.

Picture Credit score: Sq. Mile

Dan Bilzerian is a recognized gun advocate and fanatic. On his social media platforms, he might be seen capturing large firearms within the desert surrounding by half-naked ladies cheering him on. He’s recognized for his in depth gun assortment (he reportedly personal 97 weapons and boasts that he has a loaded gun in each room of his Hollywood mansion). However this gun habit and odd obsession isn’t a current phenomenon. His senior 12 months of highschool, he was arrested and expelled for possession of a machine gun on college property. Clearly, that have didn’t flip him off of weapons by any means.

In 2014, a video of Dan Bilzerian went viral after he threw grownup movie star Janice Griffith off of a roof right into a pool for a shoot for Hustler journal. The stunt ended with Griffith breaking her foot on the sting of the pool and submitting a lawsuit towards Bilzerian and Hustler. She claims that the roof toss was Bilzerian and Hustler‘s concept and that it was unsafe from the beginning. Bilzerian’s attorneys responded with a lower than respectful response to Griffiths lawsuit. Shockingly sufficient, that wasn’t the primary lawsuit that Bilzerian was confronted with that week. Just some days later he was sued for kicking mannequin Vanessa Castano within the face at LIV nightclub in Miami. Bilzerian claims that he was simply defending the lady he was with on the time.

On December 9, 2014, Dan Bilzerian was arrested on the Los Angeles Worldwide Airport for allegedly possessing the gear essential to manufacture bombs. He was arrested by the LAPD and booked on the Pacific Division round 10 p.m. that night time. Unsurprisingly, he was launched from LAPD on the day of his arrest after the fees had been dropped however he was scheduled to be arraigned in January 2015 in Clark County, Nevada. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor cost of negligently failing to extinguish a fireplace within the open and was fined $17,231.50. After all, Bilzerian managed to shake the entire thing off and posted an image after being launched from jail in his non-public jet between two ladies with the caption “Jail…Let’s not try this once more.”

When you can inform by his Instagram posts @danbilzerian, he makes it very well-known that he’s continuously surrounded by engaging ladies. That is one in every of his most important methods on the Web to point out the world that he’s having a “good time” and trying to show to everybody that he’s the epitome of a women man. He’s well-known on Instagram for taking photos of him dwelling an expensive life with numerous women in bikinis within the background. He’s additionally not shy about discussing his sexual escapades claiming that he’s had intercourse with hundreds of ladies and even had intercourse with 16 completely different ladies in a interval of 12 days. Nevertheless, his depiction of ladies has additionally introduced some critical warmth, with folks labeling him as misogynistic, disgusting, and a foul position mannequin for younger males.

Dan Bilzerian had a surprising second of vulnerability when he skilled two coronary heart assaults on the younger age of 25. Because the story goes, throughout a five-day snowboarding trip together with his fraternity brothers — filled with snowboarding, ingesting, women, copious quantities of cocaine, ecstasy, playing, and 200 milligrams of Viagara — Bilzerian skilled a coronary heart assault. Whereas recuperating within the hospital from the primary coronary heart assault, he skilled one other solely 12 hours later. Fortunately for him, he recovered absolutely from the primary two coronary heart assaults in two weeks. Nevertheless, his coronary heart gave out once more in 2011, whereas flying between Maui and Las Vegas, twice in three days taking part in an around-the-clock event. Medical doctors then recognized him with a pulmonary embolism.

Do you know Dan Bilzerian is a semi-successful actor?

When you didn’t already know, Dan Bilzerian has a cat that he holds pricey to his coronary heart named Smushball. For most individuals, Bilzerian’s affection in the direction of his cat is the one proof that the “King of Instagram” might need a coronary heart someplace beneath the entire cash, weapons, and girls. Smushball is a three-legged Persian Doll Face cat together with her personal Instagram web page that has nearly half one million followers. Bilzerian steadily posts photos of him and the cat on his personal web page in addition to the cat’s web page. Why achieve this many individuals need to comply with Dan Bilzerian’s cat? We don’t suppose we’ll ever know. He additionally has two goats, however they don’t have an Instagram. That’s reserved for Smushball.

Picture Credit score: TMZ

Dan Bilzerian was current through the mass capturing in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017. He even posted a video on social media through the commotion of him operating away from the motion. This obtained a variety of backlash from Marine Veterans resembling Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Myers who stated, “That is why kids shouldn’t classify their heroes by their followers or their pictures…All the time taking part in operator costume up. A girl simply acquired shot within the head and also you’re operating away filming.” Within the video, Bilzerian may also be seen asking law enforcement officials for a gun however is denied for apparent causes.

Simply if you thought Dan Bilzerian had achieved all he might probably need, he confirmed everybody that he wasn’t happy simply but. He discovered a second profession as an actor in addition to a stuntman. He labored as stunt double for Gerard Butler on Olympus Has Fallen and in addition appeared within the movie The Equalizer with Denzel Washington, and The Different Ladies. Though it was all going effectively, he had points with Hollywood when it got here to the movie Lone Survivor with Mark Whalberg. Bilzerian invested $1 million into the movie in alternate for 80 phrases of dialogue and eight minutes of display screen time. Nevertheless, when the producers determined to chop his position to at least one line he filed a $1.25 million lawsuit towards the corporate however ultimately dropped it after making $1.5 million from the film.

Picture Credit score: Auto Overload

With Dan Bilzerian’s ego and all of that cash, you realize that he has some very huge and really good toys to mess around with. He has a high-end sports activities automotive assortment consisting of a 1965 Shelby Cobra, Lamborghini Aventador, Bently GT Continental, and plenty of extra. After all, these all have a license plate with phrases like “SUCK IT” and “MR GOAT” proudly on the again. Alongside together with his automotive assortment, he additionally owns a personal jet, yacht, helicopter, snowmobiles, quads, a Humvee, and absolutely anything with a motor which you could get your fingers on. He might be seen using them on his social media platforms whereas a flock of ladies follows behind.

Other than loving automobiles and proudly owning them, Dan Bilzerian additionally likes to race them. In 2011, he made $400,000 in a drag race towards fellow automotive fanatic and Supreme Court docket Litigator, Tom Goldstein. Goldstein drove his 2011 Ferarri 458 Italia whereas Dan drove his personalized 1965 Shelby 427 Cobra in 1 / 4 mile drag race. Dan received the race with a time of 10.47 seconds and a prime velocity of 132.88 miles per hour. Goldstein had a time of 11.54 seconds with a prime velocity of 121.97 miles. This was an enormous win for Bilzerian as a result of he proved that he wasn’t simply all speak when it got here to his automobiles.

Dan Bilzerian discovered one other technique to make much more cash in addition to promote his lavish way of life. He lately got here out with the sport “Blitz Poker,” which is an app that gives an genuine Texas Maintain ‘Em expertise with completely different sport choices and preferences. If poker isn’t your factor, the sport additionally comes with a “Life-style Simulator” that permits to stay like Dan Bilzerian and participate in his many loopy actions by way of mini-games like skeet capturing drones within the desert, undoing bras, and aiming at strippers’ underwear. Fantastic. When you’re tremendous determined to get a style of Bilzerian’s life, you would possibly need to begin right here.

Okay, however why does Dan Bilzerian have two goats?

In 2013, Dan Bilzerian invested $2,000 in his private pal and fellow poker participant Jay Farber, also called “Panda.” Farber ended up ending second within the 2013 WSOP Primary Occasion and received $5.1 million during which he gave Dan $1 million. Dan and him proceded to go on trip along with greater than sufficient ladies and partying to final them a lifetime. To be able to thank Bilzerian for his funding and the holiday, Farber gifted him with a goat. Bilzerian appreciated the present however felt that his goat wanted a pal so he went and acquired one other one for himself. Now he has two goats that are steadily featured on his social media pages.

In an interview with Howard Stern, Dan Bilzerian admitted that he wants three separate private cooks with a view to fulfill his meals wants. He stated that each time he had only one private chef they acquired too burnt out from all of his calls for. So, with a view to repair the issue, he employed three completely different cooks to allow them to rotate all through the day. Every of the cooks works 12-hour shifts at his houses in each Hollywood and Las Vegas. Alongside together with his cooks, he additionally has a employees of 20 staff that work immediately for him, together with three assistants.

Picture Credit score: Lilly Lawrence/WireImage

In November 2011, Dan Bilzerian (together with 10 others together with actors Toby McGuire, Nick Cassavetes, and Gabe Kaplan) had been requested to pay again their winnings that that they had received towards Ponzi scheme operator Bradley Ruderman. They had been requested to pay after Ruderman was sentenced to jail with a view to assist pay again cash owed to the victims that Ruderman had stolen from over the course of his profession. After all, this didn’t section him in any respect or make him query the sort of folks he was playing massive sums of cash with. The present should go on as Bilzerian would say.

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Belonging to a family of “loud, intense people” makes for a lot of anecdotes in the life of young Stephanie, a twenty-something who doesn’t appear quite ready for the ‘partner, children and mortgage’ lifestyle that, come the end of the play, might still end up being the future for this rather charismatic character. There is no set – by ‘no set’ I mean ‘no set’; neither chair nor table, neither door nor window – and this production is therefore entirely reliant on the strength (or otherwise) of the script and its delivery.

This confidence is made somewhat ironic by the moderately self-deprecating nature of Stephanie (Elaine Fellows). I say ‘moderately’ – she puts herself down but not to the point of melancholy. Despite the steady pace (it’s unhurried but never sluggish) it’s rather frenetic in terms of structure, flitting between childhood memories and adult experiences, and even these are not easily categorised. At points in her childhood, Stephanie was rather philosophical, pondering on questions about the afterlife, amongst other things; more recent trains of thought are comparatively run-of-the-mill.

There’s much to be enjoyed in the sort of questions she asks, not only about and of herself, but of her family, friends and acquaintances, and by extension – this being a one-woman performance with an excellent rapport established with the audience – those of us sat in the theatre. Why indeed do people spend their teenage years longing for the day when they no longer have to rely on lifts from parents or standing around waiting for the bus, only to later use their car just for commuting and grocery shopping?

Fellows is a consummate storyteller, and a highly likeable one at that, going into some detail about certain events in Stephanie’s life that I couldn’t help but wonder, at least momentarily, whether this play is partly or even wholly autobiographical. It’s sometimes crude, and occasionally shockingly so, but it’s always so credible. Every single titbit could feasibly have taken place in the real world. Perhaps it is the sheer number of real world references that reinforce this.

“We’re impatient,” Stephanie muses. “It’s hard to wait for things.” That’s so true. We have instant coffee, fast food, high speed railways, shows without an interval (ahem). This show lasts just 45 minutes and ends on a high note but nonetheless it ends abruptly. While there was a sense of completeness in this play, I would have liked to have heard a little more about Stephanie’s own opinions, in addition to the existing regurgitations of what her mother advised her years ago. The themes brought out call to mind the poem ‘Leisure’ by WH Davies, which begins with the lines, “What is this life if, full of care, / We have no time to stand and stare.”

This is, all in all, a witty and positively cheerful production.

Review by Chris Omaweng

Decibels follows the story of Stephanie. Stephanie doesn’t make plans. Which is probably why at 24 she finds herself back at home with her mum, single and unable to fit into her jeans. Without really knowing why, Steph takes us through what she feels are the most significant parts of her life so far. Could reliving the bad dates, moaning housemates and awkward waxes give her the answers as to why she’s ended up where she is? Or is the problem actually closer to home? Written and performed by Elaine Fellows, this piece is for anyone that has ever took a step back from their life and thought “what the hell am I doing?” Directed by Jesse Michael Angelo and produced by ‘Scripts and Giggles’.

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Decibels at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre, 27th, 28th Feb and 1st, 2nd of March 2017. Winner of the Michael Bryant Award 2015, National Theatre

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