#and this blog had the automatic player on and this song would play the whole time

[miserablegrl]

Listen to: snowdrop (instrumental) by Chouchou

[miraculouscontent]

Didn’t Need Burrow (April 11th-16th)

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: After the Truth episode occurs, Luka will either not appear nor be talked about(not even by Marinette, Juleka, Sass, or Anarka) at all, or, if he does appear, he'll avoid Marinette like the Black Plague. Guess who's fault it'll be(Kagami will still appear and be on good terms with Adrien, though, since anything that makes Marinette happy needs to be either ruined or gotten rid of, while anything that makes her miserable needs to stay around just to be rubbed into her face.).

I s2g if they have Adrien and Kagami patch things up immediately just to make Marinette feel awkward--

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: The idea that Nino's hat is a keepsake from his late brother comes up during an episode where it inevitably gets damaged and/or destroyed. Marinette is somehow responsible/blamed for this, and/or is forced to try and repair it regardless of feasibility, while being guilt-tripped/ridden every inch of the way. Bonus points for Adrien making some clueless comment about buying a replacement and STILL being treated as more empathetic to Nino's feelings even while ignoring them.

“Bonus” if everyone pressures her over the hat, which eventually leads to Marinette realizes that it can’t be fixed to be the exact same way, so she hides it and lies about it, leading to the episode blaming her for hiding things from her “totally understanding friends” (who are suddenly “totally understanding” and are only upset that she lied to them/”thought so lowly of them”) instead of her friends for making her feel like she had to be perfect.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: A Sleeping Beauty-inspired akuma will ensnare Ladybug, 'forcing' Chat Noir to kiss her awake. While Adrien/Chat naturally claims that he would 'never take advantage of his lady', he is openly gleeful at the prospect and taunts her afterwards, complete with a call back to Oblivio as he tells her to 'check the LadyBlog' to find out what happened. Her dismay over this is played entirely for laughs.

*flashbacks to the “jokes” in “Prime Queen”*

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Just like in countless Salt Fics, Alya will get upset at Ladybug for claiming that it's 'too dangerous' for her to be Rena Rouge anymore after Miracle Queen. Regardless of what she does/how she lashes out, Marinette will be held 100% responsible for the fallout, with Su-Han criticizing her for selecting Alya/the others in the first place AND for 'allowing' their identities to be exposed.

That’s what you get for trusting people, Marinette (apparently).

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Alya will expose more Miraculous-related secrets on the LadyBlog, such as posting the identities of the heroes who were 'already outed' by Miracle Queen. Marinette will be blamed for this, with Su-Han reading her the riot act for every single choice she's made.

And also, Alya will get no flack for this because “she’s a journalist!! she’s just doing what she’s supposed to do!”

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: After spending most of the season taking the piss out of Marinette at every available opportunity, Su-Han will start warming up to her just in time to be taken out of the equation by something like Alya posting another 'big scoop' on her blog revealing his existence to the villains. Marinette will be left with even less support and all of the guilt, while Alya learns absolutely nothing from the experience because why would she?

Considering “Truth,” I just automatically presume that characters who support Marinette lovingly/unconditionally will either be abused or kicked to the curb.

Anonymous said:

Don't need Burrow: "Queen Banana" will be like typical episode with Chloe akumatization. 90% Chloe drama and angst, 10% akumatized Chloe (and probably 0% sense)

Show, I’m begging you, just let this character’s focus die already. We are SO tired...

Anonymous said:

didnt need burrow: the show ends with hawkmoth (now shadowmoth i guess) being defeated, heavy implications that the LS will be canon, but no solid proof, any other plot holes disappear in the cheery end music and all fans are left annoyed at the open ending filled with plot holes (bonus: That Guy says smin like "you would know if you watched carefully" to anyone that asks wtf happened)

Fun for us love square salters at least so there’s that? :P

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Trixx wants to return to Alya despite the danger/her past exposure, and ignores Marinette's concerns, leaving/reuniting with Alya over her protests. This is either played as 'It's fine, and Marinette should have trusted Alya more' or 'It's not fine, and it's all Marinette's fault for trusting Alya in the first place and letting Trixx get so attached'. Or both.

Astruc would totally use the opportunity to brag about the whole, “She’s already taken!” line in “Truth” being foreshadowing.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Bunnix reveals that there is an alternate, 'better' future in which Lila never worked with Hawkmoth and became a heroine instead. The turning point was, naturally, that Ladybug never called her out for lying/stealing from Adrien. (Possibly because Adrien never snooped in the safe in this timeline, yet it's still depicted as Marinette's fault.) May couple with confirming she's the future Hawkmoth and that it's all Mari's fault the heroes are still fighting her years later.

Which means that Chat makes the “reversible” mistakes (i.e: Cataclysming Bunnyx’s miraculous) while Ladybug makes the “permanent” ones.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Marinette/Ladybug will get accused of being a selfish glory hound who needs to learn how to share the credit and 'be a team player'... after Adrien/Chat slacks off during a fight and refuses to help. Bonus points if this is tied into the exposed heroes' predicament somehow, implying that the REAL reason she won't give them 'their' Miraculi back is that she's selfish/short-sighted/not good at working with others/insert other bullshit excuse here.

T_T

I’m so tired.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Marinette will do something unbelievably selfless and self-sacrificing, only to promptly be slammed by the narrative and treated as though her decision was incredibly selfish.

Honestly you could just ad lib that.

“Marinette will do [something positive], only to promptly be slammed by the narrative and treated as though her decision was [negative].”

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Su-Han will pressure, belittle and berate Marinette until she breaks and agrees to give up being Ladybug/the Guardian. This is naturally treated as the worst thing she could possibly do, with everyone (including Su-Han) ripping into her for it. There is no equivalent of Plagg's 'I've had many holders, but nobody can replace you, Adrien' shilling, beyond Marinette being informed that she MUST continue and deal with her many inadequacies by becoming BETTER. She has no choice.

“You’re the worst Ladybug!”

“Okay I’ll stop being Ladybug.”

“HOW DARE YOU”

“?!?!?!”

Anonymous said:

Don’t need Burrow to know that the writers will retcon Marinette allowing Adrien to BORROW her lucky charm so that Marinette actually GAVE it to him instead.

Bonus: of course, the birthday scarf issue/secret is never addressed. RIP in piece, Marinette gift number xxx0

Technically, this has already happened even back in ��Befana,” so I don’t count it. Adrien has said that Marinette gave him that lucky charm forever.

Definitely adding that scarf one though.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: We get Love Square scenes (shipping fuel) in the next episode (even though Maribug and Adrichat just broke up with Luka and Kagami).

I mean, we got love square shipping fuel in the Adrimi and Lukanette episodes, so :|

I’ve just come to expect inappropriate timing at this point.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: In a future episode Chat Noir will be even worse than he was in Lies and still be portrayed sympathetically. I don't know how you can get that low, but I have faith that the writers will be able to pull it off and that's not a good thing

“I don't know how you can get that low“

they’ll find a way, I’m sure

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Kagami will become an antagonist/team up with Shadow Moth post-Adrimi breakup for the plot twist "the main villain has been in the show all along." ((This is based on the end card for Lies. I really hope they don't do this because Kagami is one of the only reasons I'm still watching the show.))

I’d only be here for that if her endgoal is getting Luka and Marinette as far away from the plot as possible.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: We STILL don't know how the Peacock Miraculous got damaged and how Emilie Agreste fell sick. Bonus points, we find out in the season/series finale or on social media.

Double bonus if Astruc claims that the decision is good and they did it on purpose (probably to keep people talking).

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Zoe debuts as the new Bee holder on the same episode Chloé is akumatized.

I’m 100% expecting Chloe to be salty at all the adoration that Zoe gets.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: if Adrien is ever in the wrong about something, it will only be for about five minutes and it will ultimately be blamed on Marinette.

Marinette: *breathes*

writers: Yes! Something we can blame on her!

Anonymous said:

Didn't need burrow: The relationship between the Couffaines and Jagged will not be explored. They might perform a song together and that's all, Luka forgives Jagged for abandoning him (his daddy issues just magically disappear so he doesn't bring it up anymore) while Juleka doesn't interact with Jagged at all

I’m torn between, “Luka will basically never appear again,” and, “Luka will suddenly appear much more often now that he’s no longer a ‘threat’ to the love square (Marinette didn’t break up with him because of Adrien but sure).”

Anonymous said:

Didn't need Burrow: "Gabriel Agreste" will be all about how he's not really evil just misunderstood. He had a lonely childhood or some garbage and we should feel totally sad for him you guys.

wow i hate it

[kaisooficrec]

Do you admins have any recent jock/fratboy fics??? I am sucker for it 😂😂

Hello, this is my first rec so I really hope it’s helpful!

Jock! AU:

A song to say I love you – Smut. High School!AU Kyungsoo is the lonely musician nerd who just can’t understand how can a jock be talented at baseball and dance and still be the gorgeous friendly guy.

Guys Bein’ Dudes, and sequel, Dudes Bein’ Boyfriends – Smut. Classic Sports!AU where Kyungsoo is not exactly a jock but a talented football player, and Jongin is the incredibly attractive cheerleader who makes him question his preferences. Memefucker69 is a legend and we all know that.

The Jock Digger – Nerd!Soo is asexual, but the swimmer with a “big head” and an unexpectedly pretty hair color might spark his interest. Also, best friends SeSoo and lots of crack. Gloriously hilarious.

Love In The Dark – Fem!Kyungsoo. Jongin is the popular striker and Kyungsoo is nothing but the invisible nerd who happens to be the younger sister of the famous cheerleader fem!Baekhyun and the center of interest of the unexpectedly shy soccer player.

Yes, The Brisket is Braised – Smut. Kyungsoo is a bitter and grumpy restaurant worker who mostly cooks for what he tags as insufferable jocks and jerks, until one of them caught his eye and eventually, his heart.

New Rules – Fem!Kyungsoo is an average student, not popular whatsoever, and so she can’t understand why the school’s most popular jock has chosen “her” to take his varsity jacket and be the object of his advances.

Blow Me Right – Pep Band!AU. Jongin hates football and automatically avoids all the players whom he has judged as intimidating jocks, so when he goes to the lockers for Baekhyun’s sake, the last thing he imagines is getting incurably horny over an extremely cute (naked) and attractive player. This is one of the most hilarious fics I have ever read, and Kyungsoo is THE ultimate adorable jock in the history of sports.

A Certain Romance – Smut. Kyungsoo knew for sure that jocks were not supposed to be that friendly or smell that good, but Jongin with his masculine pink hair and mellow voice proved every stereotype to be wrong. Actually hilarious, with a very satisfying addition of side ChanBaek.

Love Me Right – Very classic Sports!AU. This fic was recced so many times on the blog but it is an iconic must read with football players KaiSoo, annoying ChanBaek and the entirety of ot12.

Five Nights – Jongin sprained his foot during soccer and Kyungsoo visits him at home to help him keep up with lessons. As a jock and nerd respectively, their interactions start curt and minimized but they slowly learn to discover each other.

Personal Water Boy – When Kyungsoo agreed to be in an open relationship with the attractive jock he didn’t think it would hurt him that much. But maybe the nerd was for Jongin more than just a personal water boy after all. Short and veery mildly angsty, with bestfriends!BaekSoo.

Across Time and Space – Jongin and Kyungsoo were respectively a delinquent jock and a disciplined nerd who mutually disliked each other on different levels. Nothing prepared them for the day where they had to unwillingly trade bodies an ultimately, lives. A very original plot with a supernatural twist on the Nerd/Jock cliché.

Playing Pretend – As their Home Economics assignment, students (ot12) were paired to try and maintain a prosperous marriage. Coincidentally, most opposites end up together: the jock and the nerd (KaiSoo), the crush and eternal fan (KrisTao), the sworn enemies (BaekYeol)… Many side pairings, pretty original plot and misunderstood quiet Kyungsoo.

I Don’t Have Herpes – SeBaekSoo are three normal best friends who managed to get in trouble with the school jocks and bullies Kris and Jongin. Mentions of bullying and side ChanBaek.

Dare – High School!AU. Jongin is the popular leader of the football team who is dared to take Nerd!Kyungsoo’s virginity.

Frat! AU:

Our Season – Smut. ABO mechanics. Werewolves. Many things changed since the very first day in Kyungsoo’s new college: he made himself a best friend, attended a frat party, went through his first heat, lost his virginity and got marked by the resident womanizer. A beautiful lengthy fic that I am definitely planning on finishing soon.

Rush Ep Chi – Crack. Epsilon Chi Omega already has two typical brodudes, two notorious booties, two done-with-life presidents, two Chinese frat bros and a unique senior. Their recruitment system might be flawed, but the new recruits themselves are just perfect. My favorite type of comedy fics. Too bad it’s unfinished.

FratEXO – Where Exo Kappa is the top frat in the whole university that only accepts the best of the best, or a tipsy Jongin. A tale of twisted friendship and borderline lethal hazing. I love crack, and even more when it’s that beautifully written.

Fraternity Wars – ABO mechanics. Werewolves. A College!AU where every sub-gender has its own fraternity, with Alphas being privileged on many level. XiuHan and TaoHun as side pairings and OT12 appearance.

You can also check older fraternity fics and Sports!AU or College/University AUin general. Enjoy.

- Admin Cookie

P.S: My favorite fanfiction ever is Like Night and Day by Exobubz. It is ChanBaek centered but KaiSoo happens very gradually. So far, it has the best characterization I have ever read and it was Kyungsoo’s character. Also, “jocks” ChanKai, best friends/ex-boyfriends BaekSoo and chapters and chapters of crazily heavy angst. (Sorry but couldn’t let this rec go without mentioning it.)

[chelsmcd]

Those who work in Game Ops.

When people find out I work in sports, the automatic assumption is I grew up playing them.  I apparently have a look about me that, when the truth comes out, shocks a lot of people.

I did not play sports as a kid.  Sure I tried, but I got hit in the shin with the baseball when playing T-Ball, my cleats were too small in soccer, I was too uncoordinated for dance, not really a ton of flexibility or spatial awareness for gymnastics… I was pretty good at skating, I mean I skipped level 3 but it didn’t last.  In high school, I attempted to play Rugby, but mom reminded me I would snap like a twig, and really... at 14, I wasn’t about to discover some unhidden talent.  So, suffice it to say, my experience with sports has been two things:

1. Dressing up as my high school mascot (which for the record is a hot, sweaty and gross job)

2. THEATRE SPORTS! Yeah, I was a drama nerd.  We know we what are, we own it.  I will always look for and run into the spotlight.  I’m an entertainer, it’s in my blood.

So how did I end up working in sports? Well, it’s a long story, and while this is my own blog and I don’t tire of my own stories, I’m hoping you’ll stay with me to the end, so I’ll skip the long version. The main point…is that sports provides a melting pot for all walks of life. No one cares what you do, what kind of car you drive, what neighbourhood you live in, what colour your skin is (unless you painted it the opposing team’s colours)…none of it matters.  In sports…If you’re in the same venue as me, and we’re rooting for the same team, we’re friends.

I’m like a mother hen with my friends, I’m the one who plans the events for everyone to get together, I make sure people feel welcome, comfortable and at home. How does this translate? In sports, I work in game day operations or events (depending on whether I’m with a team or the league office) – but it’s my job to provide the space to bring people together.

There is a feeling, I can’t quite describe, when you hear everyone erupt with cheers, or sing/chant in unison (Oh, Canada anyone)?  It wells up in me.  It literally gives me butterflies of excitement and I want to cry because I need to get it out somehow.  One of my favourite moments was with the Kingston Frontenacs back on January 28, 2017. We hosted a night honouring The Tragically Hip (for those who are in the dark on this one, the Hip are from KTown). We invited the band, they hung out in the suite, the players wore a special Hip Jersey that had their song lyrics all over it, and in the third period we did a sing along.  Now, in a regular game, no, there is no way I would dare to have a break that is just (essentially) karaoke.  But for this game, something grabbed me, and I felt like it would take off. I didn’t have full support at the time, but I was passionate about this one and I’m so glad it was green lit. It was a moment that gave me those butterflies. We had it all planned out, the host would get two fans to sing along to lyrics on the screen, camera pan out, mic down, and … WOW.  The whole stadium, in unison (and I’m pretty sure on key) singing the chorus to, obviously, Ahead By A Century.  Honestly, when that moment happened, it was like the whole arena was hugging The Hip.  We don’t get this for the national anthem (not everyone wants to sing Oh Canada, some want to respectfully listen, and that’s cool), but in Kingston, dare I say, this is a civic pride?  The breaks in the OHL are short and sweet, but the refs gave it a second too, they let the fans sing it out, and you just had to feel it.  It was an energy, or in today’s trendy words “It was a total vibe.”

Game Ops, or Game Presentation, it’s a tough act. You aren’t responsible for the literal score on the board, but you are responsible for the scoreboard (now much more commonly known as videoboards or jumbotrons).  You are responsible for what’s happening off the ice, off the turf, off the pitch and in between the whistles. You can’t control if your team wins or loses (but I’ll tell ya, if I could, I’d have a winning team!) So the job of Game Ops people is to ensure you have the best night, even when your team gets absolutely annihilated.  Did you hear a great song? Was there a hilarious moment on the videoboard? Did the mascot come to your section or heck… the most simplest way to engage: did you get a free t-shirt that is so big for you, it will only ever end up seeing the darkness of your bedroom?  That’s Game Ops, people.

COVID has been hard on these staffers.  Now, I don’t want to alienate anyone, because every cog in the wheel matters, but Game Ops people are the first to be scrutinized and usually the last to be congratulated. Their success isn’t always quantifiable. With Partnership sales there are numbers, with ticket sales, there are bums in seats, with PR & Outreach there are likes, follows and analytics, but with Game Ops… there’s … sentiment.  How do you accurately measure opinion?  The naysayers or grumpy cats are always the loudest and the first to take to social media.  The supportive ones or the people who enjoyed themselves, they don’t go out of their way to talk about the good, because, that’s the way it should be, and while I agree – I’ll ask all fans, here and now… when you have a good time at a game

PLEASE TALK ABOUT IT!

The person writing the script needs to hear it.  The people trying to pump you up, can always use that positive reinforcement, heck the person sitting directing the videoboard, or switching the camera angle, or the person who edited a video two weeks ago, or the person who designed the graphics – often go unsung.

Game Operations take a talented individual. Someone who can manage and plan but also throw their script out the window because things changed yet still deliver on all ‘sold assets’. If you don’t work in Game Ops, you have no idea the pressure these people are under – because the right people for this role, don’t let you know they are under the pressure. They keep it together, composed and focused.

Ok, tangent over. So, to hiring managers… As I mentioned earlier, COVID has not been kind to those who work in Game Operations (myself included), so at the risk of standing on a soap box, here’s what I think you should know while evaluating those resumes:

The Game Ops People are:

the first to show up

the last to leave

the most adaptable

quick learners

born with ambition & don’t need incentive to perform (but hey, if you can put a bit of financial gain in front of them, it never hurts)

inclined to say yes, you may need to remind them it’s OK to say “my plate is full” or to ask for help

some of the most resilient people you will meet

your biggest champions

never the ones to say “that’s someone else’s job” - they figure it out & get it done

Their skill sets? They manage budgets, they manage people, they manage time, they manage fans (and complaints) – they are easy to teach! I ask you, if a resume of a sports person comes across your desk, understand that who you’re hiring isn’t always something that can be captured in a cover letter and resume.  If I’ve learned anything in my career thus far, how you do a job is just as important as what you know coming into the job. You can teach the skills, you can’t teach personality.

I started this post, thinking about all the things I miss this year with not having a Grey Cup in Regina, and I didn’t even touch on it.  I’ll save that for another post; I think this one is more important.

With that, please stay healthy, physically distant and socially close.

-me.

[phoenotopia]

2019 December Update

The game is officially playable from beginning to end!

That battle has concluded...

Soon begins the war! But first, a brief reprieve for the holidays.

And I must throw in the usual caveats. We're still playtesting, we're still polishing, we still gotta get age ratings, more red tape, etc etc. And most importantly, we need to figure out the launch strategy. Think Megaman, charging his shot for 5 and a half years... We're not allowed to miss at this point. It has to HIT.

Luckily, we're in a relatively stable position where we don't have to rush the game out immediately. It's not LAUNCH or STARVE - it's... take some time to aim a little. We don't want to launch in the shadow of a bigger behemoth game, and we don't want to launch completely unknown either. We have to build up the game's media presence, which has been neglected so far. I know it's annoying to have to continue to wait... but please bear with us a little longer!

Here's what we've been doing for the past couple months.

---------- THE SCRIPT ----------

The script sits at over 80,000 words. I didn't realize the significance until a teammate told me that that's actually as long as a novel! I looked it up, and sure enough, it's a little longer than the first Harry Potter. But unlike Harry Potter, hardly any of these words are wasted on, pffft, narration. It's all juicy dialogue!

(Some of the game's golden nuggets of dialogue)

There was actually a lot of mundanity getting to the end. Pirate, acting as my editor, caught tons of errors and inconsistencies. One of the most recurring issues had to do with capitalization. I like to capitalize things, often inconsistently. Some common questions that arose:

Why is this text highlighted yellow, and this one highlighted blue?

Why is this monster name capitalized, but this monster not?

Why is this item capitalized, and this one not?

... and so on!

All very mundane issues, but all very necessary to tackle. And there was a TON of 'em. (em vs 'em was another thing we had to make consistent). I actually did some research to see what capitalization rules Zelda had. From what I could tell, when it comes to animals and monsters in the Zelda universe:

All monsters are capitalized

All regular animals are not capitalized

The Cuccos are special, and ARE capitalized

(a collage of Zelda pictures I assembled to study)

In the Zelda universe, all regular items are lowercase, but highlighted blue when mentioned in a quest context (e.g. "butter", "hylian wheat"). Items can be uppercase, if they are special named items (e.g. "Sheikah Slate"). We adopted similar rules as Zelda in some cases, and deviated in others. For instance, in the Phoenotopia universe, there isn't a clear distinction between animals and monsters - that fish monster is really just an animal that happens to be the alpha predator in its natural habitat. So most entities are lowercase, but "big deal" entities can be uppercase.

(we made a formal document to consult whenever a question regarding capitalization arises)

---------- A SAMPLING of QUEST AND CHARACTERS ----------

A lot of new quests have arisen in our great writing effort extending over the past several months. And with it, new characters, big and small. I'll tease a sampling of some of them here (warning: some light spoilers ahead):

My favorite new quest is undoubtedly our game's new "Trading Quest". This one takes inspiration from the Zelda series - the trading quest similarly has you roaming the world and its towns in search of needy people who desire a particular item. Deliver them the item they desire, and get a new item. Do this 10 times, and the ultimate weapon awaits you at the end.

I tried some things to vary up the formula. Some NPCs don't reveal what they need right away - steps have to be taken to get them there. It's also possible to go down the wrong route in the sequence, and have to double-back. We try to keep it interesting.

---------- LOOT PLACEMENTS & GAME BALANCING ----------

A great effort was also spent towards balancing the game this past 2 months. Because even one good healing item, easily obtained, can throw the game's whole difficulty off-kilter. And this same principle applies to other areas, like the money economy and player powerup options. Altogether, they form a very delicate ecosystem for enjoyment.

One of the recent things I did for this game was put down exactly where each heart ruby, energy gem, and moonstone could be found. And this was actually a rather involved process because you have a limited number of rewards to distribute (you wouldn't want the final max HP count to be a weird number like 297). Put too many rewards in the beginning, and the late dungeons would have no rewards to offer. Put too much in the end, and the inverse happens.

I found myself going back into earlier areas and plundering their rewards to fill the later areas. And then to ensure a relatively even spread of rewards within each area themselves, I drew crude maps of the dungeons & their reward spots, so that they could be studied from a bird's eye perspective.

But it was still not enough. With NPC quests and towns also taking up their own allotment of the rewards, I found myself running low on things to distribute. So I went back to the books and upped the number of rewards across the board. Before there were 44 Heart Rubies to collect - there are now 55. Before each Heart Ruby boosted your max HP by 5, but now each one now boosts your max HP by 4, so your final max HP count would still end up the same. It's kinda similar to what happened with Twilight Princess, where they broke with tradition and made 5 heart containers required to gain a new heart instead of the usual 4. Overall, the final tally for treasure to find is:

55 heart pieces

30 energy gems

108 moon stones

Who's crazy enough to collect them all?

---------- BADGES / ACHIEVEMENTS ----------

As one of the game's finishing touches, there's a menu for BADGES - they're this game's version of achievements. This is an ongoing task that we hope to stamp out this December. A few favorites of mine from the original flash game will return ("Pillow Connoisseur" is among them).

(The menu looks like this before any badges are earned)

I allocated slots for just 33 badges, so we're selecting the badges very carefully. We got rid of most of the fluffy ones that appeared in the flash game - we wanted to reduce the number of badges that you would earn automatically for just playing the game (so no more "1st boss", "2nd boss", "3rd boss" achievements). We're aiming for a healthy mix of easily earned badges, hard earned badges, collectathon badges, secret fun badges, and so on.

The badges have another twist - they bear miniaturized portraits of characters from the game! In the initial brainstorm mockup phase, I wasn't really fond of the badge designs. You got a medal of a heart because you collected some hearts, and you got the medal of a moonstone for collecting moonstones, etc. It just seemed so... expected.

(various badge mockups)

How could we engage the players on a more fun and deep level? The idea came - what if we attached pictures of the people you meet on your journey? And these people's stories and character would have a connection with the achievement? That could keep the player guessing which character would come attached with an achievement, or even reveal a hidden detail about the character you didn't know.

---------- MUSIC ----------

Will has just one more task to do. And that's to recut the song for the trailer. One of our other goals for this December is to make a really good trailer... again. There's actually 2 other trailers we cut and never made public for reasons. Maybe I'll talk about them one day in the post-mortem.

Since this may be the last conventional update, we wondered with which song to best leave the audience. And we decided that the most suitable song is "Sanctuary". It's a song that the player will often encounter often when they happen upon a quiet resting place in the world.

There's a little story behind this song. Two and a half years ago, I linked Will the Earthbound song, "Buzz buzz's prophecy", and told him, make a song like that!

In response, Will made "Sanctuary".

Give it a listen HERE. What do you think? Did Will hit close to the greats?

---------- FAN ART ----------

Three fan arts have come in the last couple months. I display them here proudly:

Another submission by Cody G! Gale looking shy as she flashes the V sign for the camera. I like how Cody G's art is continually evolving. Note the additional detail on her eye, and how her hair is drawn extra fluffy. Very nice!

Shafiyahh is another consistent contributor, and made one in the spirit of Halloween. I really like their costumes! Gale as an angel, and Lisa as a demon, fittingly captures their relationship, since Gale is the responsible one and Lisa is the troublemaker. So cute!

A contribution from a new artist, Negativus Core! Wow, Gale looks so bada-- here! We often forget about Gale's tough side due to the cutesy graphics. This is probably how her enemies see her. And the gummy (slime) is a cute touch!

---------- FINAL NOTES ----------

Similar to last year, this will be the last update for a while. If things run too slow, I'll post a status update come end of February 2020.

It's possible, and this is a BIG IF, that something notable happens sooner than expected - like we're going to a con or we have reason to drop the trailer sooner than later. If so, this blog will update earlier than expected. BIG IF. Otherwise, it's end of February till next you hear of us.

The game's development has reached a new uncharted territory. We're going to take the time and figure out exactly what our next steps are. In addition, we'll still be doing some playtesting and script polishing. And we'll be taking a break too. It is the holiday season, things move kind of slow around this time of year. We'll enjoy the company of our family and friends.

Until then, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

[postmodernjpg]

Exclusive interview with artist Vadicore for Postmodern.jpg blog.

We had a chance to ask some questions to young and talented artist from Russia who is working in a original unique style and is known by the name of Vadicore.

Tell us briefly about yourself. How did you find your own style?

I was born in the middle of nowhere in a small Latvian town on Baltic Sea. Lived there till the age of ten until we had to run from gangsters. I started to draw just from boredom at school. I could not stand all the bullshit that they fed us there so i found myself in art. Continued at the university the same reason and do it still.

How were your first drawings born? Did you come up with all these forms on purpose or did it happen accidentaly during the search of your style?

I would say more likely it was an accident. I could not reach a decent level in realism so i had to invent a whole world of my own filled with my characters and system.

When you start composing a new drawing do you have a full picture of what's going on in your head or it's more like some sort of an automatic drawing technique?

It depends. Often i have a ready to go idea or a vision but most of the time what happens is that the drawing is telling me where to go. As to progress through the work it gives you hints where to turn. And many things just happen spontaneously. It is dope that you have no such thing as cancel or step back like on a computer or dealing with a pencil cause i always use pens and markers.

How much time do you spend daily on drawing? Do you feel your progress in technique and style?

I did not learn to draw nowhere. I like the fact that all my works are intuitive in a way. I am trying to reach a form that i would consider as beautiful. So you can tell that i have developed my own style or found it somehow if you wish. I tried to draw parallel lines on a certain distance from each other and then some circles in order to master my hand and make the lines more straight and accurate. But to study academical drawing is not my way cause i feel like i can loose my technique which is pure instincts. It may sound stupid but still. There is almost no progress only my imagination got bigger. Some things i realisied through the years with trying and failing. For example i realisied that every single liner out there has its own unique color even the same model. And you better have the work done with the same one. Also when you darken a big piece with a full black segment you can cheat using a marker. But if you stick with your more thin pen that you used already for the rest of the thing you will see that the piece is more accurate and atmospheric. I force myself to practice every day cause it happens so that your original idea can disappear when you do it slow. One A2 sized artwork is done in 10 hours. I am glad when its done in 3 sessions.

What can you tell us about contemporary art in Russia? In what state is it? Does the society support innovative artists or judge it having classical art as an example of how things should be?

I have no trace for contemporary art. Sometimes i find some artworks but they barely inspire me. I am still high on Dore and Giger. From Russia i like Rebus. Also i find very talented Joan Cornella who is more popular today, Skinner is the man, Bonethrower. I love Japanese style, retro futurism. As for the society, unfortunately we have no tradition to make prints and sell them in limited copies for the people out there as they do it abroad. I think the culture and the industry in Russia is in its birth phase. Commercial projects open new doors and make artists more popular but do we need it to be popular? In the documentary “Exit through the giftshop” there was an idea that they basically killed street-art making it more mainstream.

Is there a meaning in your drawings? What do you want to tell your viewers?

Honestly i don't even name most of the drawings. Very rarely. And something long and silly. Example - If Tom Jones be in the room he would laugh like a brewers horse. Or naming with songs that i draw to. It often affects the dynamics of the piece. For me it is more like an endless search for beauty. There are two ways to look at my works. Simply looking at them and you also can try to make your eyes stay out of focus. There used to be those albums with strange patterns and with a certain angle you would get more detailed images like a sailboat.

What does your family say about your art? Do they support you?

From the very beggining they did not took it serious at all and there was no support and understanding of what am i doing. But after more then 10 years in the game there is a lack of respect from them. Now they do understand that for me it is for real and i enjoy it.

Who or what gives you the inspiration?

Only women inspire me. Their movements and bodies.

Do you have other things you love as well as drawing?

I have a small vinyl collection i play the drums. Since 99 i skate. I used to be a rugby player and even took part in founding our own amateur rugby club with my cats.

Name your most favourite artists. With whom would you like to collaborate?

Love Dore, Giger, Skinner, Magritte. I love Edward Hoppers “Nighthawks”. Love Chinese master Minjun with his bizarre smiling men. No collaboration is desired. I have an experience of making art with my friend. We don't speak anymore.

We have an army of talented subscribers. Do you have an advice for them how to overcome the crisis in creativity?

Crisis is a start for new beginnings. It's simply impossible to make masterpieces every single time. I would say listen to yourself, what you want. Or go for a trip. Fall in love. Fight someone. I knew that i will dig in Sepultura and Marilyn Manson so i on purpose never listened to them till i turned 25. Except some hits on the radio. The idea was that eventually you will run out of good music so i wanted to keep something for better days. As a result it was mindblowing. Sure no alcohol and drug abuse. Only pure imagination.

Proposals for Cooperation: instagram.com/vadicore Интервью на русском языке / Interview in Russian

[sailolive93-blog]

The best Guide to Reddit Marketing around 2019

"Yep, i do all my modelling in C4D as I just know the tools so well there. I do minimal retopology in Zbrush on organic shapes but any hard surfaces I make in C4D. I'd recommend the "Introduction to Subdivision modelling in C4D" by Shane Benson on Vimeo (he goes by Sheppard O'Neill on YouTube if you prefer that) and it was his tuts that got me into box and subdiv modelling.

I'm also releasing a modelling workshop in C4D and models from the kitchen scene that these belong to will be in there to learn. Just not these two as they belong to marketing for the workshop. very well "Brand new Reddit account with two extensive comments defending Boa Vista Orchards huh...? We joked earlier about spotting the Boa Vista account in here but it looks like we actually have lol! > I just talked to the dude who does the marketing for Apple Hill and he sent me this So you just randomly talked to the guy and he emailed over his entire statement...? " "I too wonder why they didn’t just create a new line and call it the mach-e instead of mustang, I believe it has something to do with the marketing department since they knew it’ll stir a lot of discussion" "Precedent suggests it depends on the marketing around the product being sold and the implied purpose. " "Wow, ha. The fact that you think that it’s ok for the government to strip away my personal health insurance so that I HAVE to be on the same shitty plan on everybody else is crazy. If healthcare is “free” and universal, the quality of healthcare is bound to decrease. I can choose to pay for whatever the fuck I want and whatever healthcare I want. I give to charity and I have plans on giving a lot more to charity as I get further in my career and start making more money. Believe it or not, you aren’t the only one that cares about people just because you want “free” healthcare for everybody. And there is also no such thing as free healthcare. It has to be paid somehow and middle class taxes will go up no matter how complicated you try to make the source of payment sound. And regarding free college, that will also raise middle class taxes. You keep bringing up this. 02% of financial transactions bullshit as if that’s going to cover all costs. Have you done studies on this yourself? Do you even know that? You act like all these things can be magically paid for without anybody in the middle class being negatively affected. I have a bachelor’s degree and I didn’t feel like college was very challenging. It was more like a series of annoying classes I didn’t need when all of college could have been boiled down into one year of the core classes of my major of marketing. College is a fuckin scam and it’s only truly necessary for a very limited amount of majors. You’re just another minion that kisses the feet of big-government Democrats that try to make us feel like horrible people for not allowing them to sucks insane amounts of money out of the economy and spend it how they would like to. inch "That's including the localization teams for every language though, as well as PR and marketing. >! Some of them might even be legacy accreditation for the Gen 6 models they're *still* using.! < " "Time is a cost and you should track where that cost is going. That said, if you are working on general administrative/nonbillable stuff within your own department, it's pretty easy to have that time automatically go to the right cost bucket, so generic entries for that sort of thing are fine imo. The stuff that really has to be tracked is anything for clients or for departments that are outside your default (e. g. engineer writes a blog post, that's marketing time etc). micron "I believe there are some lessons on Google Academy for Adss (now called Skillshop) but hands-on experience is tricky. Two ways are possible, 1) is for you to have your own website and use Google Ad Sense, but this is more from the advertiser side rather than publisher or technical side 2) ask a digital or marketing agency that is near you if you can shadow/assist/internship/work experience for a week or so. This may be difficult depending on where you live and agency people are always very busy, so if you do ask tell them how you could help THEM not the other way around. To be honest, start with Analytics and Paid Search as they are arguable more accessible and have more out there for you to learn" "We are in the same boat, but different industry. Here's my approach, starting this week: I'm joining business groups that my target clients are a part of, for example, manufacturer groups. Then I'm going to target that organization with our services. I'm then going to offer to speak about the service I offer and how it helps businesses. Not a marketing spiel, an educational talk. Good luck" "One might consider a lawsuit if a car or alcohol company advocated or implied the action of drinking and driving in their marketing" "This post has been removed for breaking Rule 1. No Spammy Titles. Do not mention anything about selling anything in the title. Absolutely ZERO marketing in the title. Do not even ask for people to contact you for more. Be enticing. Post quality pics with quality titles. Read the rules for info on how to market yourself here. If your posts keep getting removed then you will be banned. READ THE RULES! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Remember to[contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/? to=/r/feetpics) if you have any questions or concerns. *" "I came of grew up and came of age in Chicago during Jordan's time with the Bulls and the shortest answer is that it's almost incomparable because the level of fame basketball players before Michael Jordan was laughably lower than now. Even today MJ has a logo that might be more identifiable than the company that created it. I would argue no athlete in any sport has surpassed MJ's level of fame. MJ pioneered so many avenues of endorsements, its like comparing planes in the era of propeller planes with jet planes. Jordan like most greats, stood on the shoulders of giants, specifically Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Those two spent the better part of the late 70's and early to late 80's dominating the sport of basketball. Also add in Isiah Thomas of the Pistons and arguably "Dr. J" Julius Erving of the 76ers and those four were the superstars of the four teams that won EVERY NBA championship of the decade. Before Michael Jordan won his FIRST NBA Championship in 1991, he was arguably bigger than all of them. Before MJ, being a big name athlete meant getting your name on a breakfast cereal box called Wheaties, and doing the commercial saying the plug line "Gotta eat your Wheaties! " That's not a joke. Check 'em out on youtube, they're cringe worthy. MJ's meteoric rise in my opinion was helped by a few special advertising campaigns. I think first would have been his Nike commercials with Spike Lee, another pioneer. He just made "Do the right thing" at a time when black people making movies with black people in the movies wasn't really a thing. Spike Lee also happens to like playing characters in his own movies and Mars Blackmon was a character in that movie that Spike Lee chose to portray in a series of commericals with Michael Jordan. Again, pardon me for repeating, but I have to say it again for context. You have a supremely talented and charismatic young athlete being marketed by a young shoe company (Converse Chuck Taylors were still THE basketball shoe) hiring a visionary and ground breaking director to do something that had not been done before. And they crushed it. Again, at this time Michael Jordan wasn't winning NBA championships. He was having savant level performances, but get bounced out of the first round by the Celtics, or getting manhandled in the playoffs by the Pistons. By the time he did win it all in 91, MJ was doing things that no one had done in fields well outside basketball. Michael Jordan in Flight is one of the first videogames to have 3D. He had already supplanted Dr J in the one on one basketball video game with Larry Bird. Gatorade put out a marketing campaign with the song "Be Like Mike" and that song was the top song for the summer of 92 in Chicago on most radio stations regardless of genre. You're already familiar with Space Jam, but before Space Jam, the Looney Toons were relegated to afternoon after school syndicated (rerun) television stations. Michael Jordan made Bugs Bunny cool again to a whole new generation that knows of them only through MJ. I hope that helps. inches "Yeah I don't want to turn it around and criticize Musk over this or anything, but Tesla is great at PR and marketing while convincing people they don't actually try to be. inches "No, you dont need more parties, you need to ban all parties and establish government funded elections where everyone with a certain amount of support by the people can run using government money and marketing channels. Equal funding, equal marketing, equal candidacy, by the people, for the people. Sounds too good to be true? Well fuck you, because parties are corrupt barbaric cavemen shit. " " Funny Cartoon Images for website content - Family Funny Images and illustrations, Ultimate single panel funny cartoons used for websites, social media and emails https://www.freecartoonsdaily.com https://www.cartoons.cafe   www.cartoons.cafe www.acmeblanks.com sign up now! Funny Cartoons, Funny family cartoon images, Custom Cartoons, Niche Cartoons, Humorous Illustration Services, Business Cartoons, Medical Cartoons, Custom Comic Strips, Book Illustration Services, Political Cartoons, funny hospital cartoons, cartoons for marketing, corporate cartoons, work cartoons, business cartoons, Computer��Cartoons, farmer cartoons, farm cartoons, tractor cartoons, Pig cartoons, pig farmer cartoons, cor farmer cartoons, wheat farmer cartoons, soybean farmer cartoons.... inch "That's including people associated with the marketing and promotion of Sword and Shield, which means people at Nintendo and the Pokemon Company rather than actual programmers at Game Freak working on the game itself. The same article you're looking at gives 200 at Game Freak - which is likely wrong since Game Freak had 143 employees, and Game Freak openly stated most were working on Town. You could include the modelers from Creatures Inc, but given that the models are the same as those developed for X and Y by Creatures Inc years ago, they are likely still being credited for "work" on this game that was actually done quite some time ago. " "Imagine what a lucky break JonTron was for FlexSeal. Their products are actually pretty decent, but their marketing was almost typical infomercial stuff that no-one over fifty would've seen. Next, out of nowhere, some YouTuber makes them famous amongst younger customers. People make "that's a lotta damage, " and "I sawed this boat in half, " memes. Everyone knows who they are. Chances are, when you need some stuff like this you'll at the very least know about their existence and you might buy their stuff because at least you know they're legit. Some people will buy it when they need something like that, literally for the meme. All they have to do is keep the ball rolling with tweets like these (because, of course, people actually follow them on Twitter now). " "That's my point. The pub you linked to is disney land. I'm looking for somewhere that recreates the  a more authentic historical experience. I think these places have got their marketing wrong which is why they are closing. They should be trying to recreate an experience closer to that in the Pathe news reel. If you just sold fresh baked bread, potted Hare, a variety of local ales you could heat with a poker while smoking a hilarious pipe you could capture a huge slice of the real ale / hipster / foodie market. " "No game in the genre had been competition for the Diablo franchise since it's inception. D3 no matter how you look at it was a huge commercial success being in the top 10 video games sold of all time at one point. Diablo now has become what WoW was before, tons of games saying they are a WoW killer and none of them doing it. So now we looming at Diablo killers but they all end up falling off somewhere because they don't get the same $$$ support / marketing. inch "8M opening weekend bad = bad marketing. Bad quality movie would be revealed in the multiplier (word of mouth and no rewatches). In this case I don’t think there was anything compelling from the movie they could focus the marketing around which led to the 8M OW. " "I’m in the same boat. I have to get 14 credits by may2020. In the last 2 weeks I did principle of marketing 3 credits score 66 and principal of management 3 credits score 62. This week I’ll take precalculas which is 5 credits and calculus which is 4 credits. I did not pay the $89 for the test because I did modernstates which pays the testing fee. It also reimburses me for the $20 testing fee" "Marketing. McAf€€ gets money from users, Micro$oft gets money from McAfee. They beget the green, motherfuckers that they are. Sometimes  http://tipofmytongue.topreddit.info  who install 3^^rd party stuff tho, it's not only Microsoft. Anyway, it's a motherfuckery of bloatware if not malware. "McAfee antivirus is one of the worst products on the planet" -John McAfee" "You're arguing entirely from marketing hype instead of actual quality, which is entirely stupid and comes down entirely to Sont having far greater of a userbase and them having less games to pump more money behind. Besides, let's not pretend Sony has an actual library of games here. Both Xbox and Sony have completely shit the bed this console generation in terms of exclusive libraries. Sony has had like, 8 good games this entire generation as exclusives. You have Death Stranding, Uncharted 4, Horizon, Until Dawn, Bloodborne, God of War, MLB The Show... That's about it? I guess you also have Detroit and Last Guardian depending on who you ask, but I defo don't wanna throw Days Gone on that list. But in any case, you could lump all of those games into loke 3-4 genres. Am I missing anything? But yeah, stop saying dumb shit like "Well its not a household name so its irrelevant" because you're entirely missing the point and reducing the entire industry to what can or can't be marketed. As well, its telling that Sony has stated their goal next-gen is to have less games release but have them be bigger, where Microsoft is going the opposite direction. Keep the the big titles, bur also have a little something for everyone. Diversity is important. Your Battletoads reboot might not sell as well, but its important to folks who like it. Games shouldn't be live or die based on how well they fit in established and marketable trends. Its absurdly reductive" "I actually never had injected one, whats the main difference? And is it really a big improvement or rather a marketing bait" "It’s all part of his NYC persona. Marketing. inches

[ericleo108]

☢️ ETM2: Capabilities, Tactics, and Purpose

ETM is the necessary prerequisite knowledge to understanding this information. It explains ETM’s semantic imagining, psychological conditions, and shows how hard it is to see.  This essay focuses on linguistic semantic priming, the red and blue pill manipulation tactic, mind control patents, facial and retina recognition, tracking through metadata, environment forces, the intergenerational tyranny that is ETM, and it’s social and personal assault tactics.

Linguistic Semantics

How ETM works is it is circumloquacious. In other words, ETM dances around the subject with other words, phrases, lyrics, or images. It’s like a system that plays balderdash automatically. I have three examples below. Read each lyrical example and then try and guess what the basic subject is for each.

Lyric examples:

1.

“I don’t like winter I want a different reason I like it hot, just like the season.”

2.

“I need them on my feet unless I’m in my seat. It suits me to tie them in the morning when I rise.”

3.

Jim Carrey tries to say it’s red when it’s really royal blue It’s mightier than the sword I use it to right wrongs in songs for you

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I intentionally used lyrics as an example so you may understand how ETM (through Universal Music Group) affects your subconscious. All of the examples should have been a dead giveaway and would probably had words I couldn’t have used in balderdash. In example #1 the subject is summer. In example #2 the subject is shoes.

The last example, #3 I intentionally made elaborate but should have been a dead give-away if you know the phrase “the pen is mightier than the sword.” The first line references the pen scene from Liar Liar with Jim Carrey, the third line is a cliche saying, and the last line I intentionally used the word “right” instead of “write” because it changes the meaning of the sentence for your subconscious mind. The point of doing this was to make your subconscious mind think of a knight fixing wrongs with his sword due to the word “royal” while your conscious mind thinks of a pen for writing due to the cliche phrase. Example #3 best exemplifies how ETM affects your subconscious mind. For a fuller understanding of ETM’s linguistic priming capabilities read the book “Semantic Priming.”

Points of Realization

Many people don’t know it but the following is a prototype example of how ETM knows you are following its directives. Most people don’t notice but say you are drinking a pop and as you simultaneously scroll down or are watching something on a website and you take a drink of your pop you see an ad of someone drinking a pop. This is because, as discussed in ETM, ETM has you look at it’s priming to steer your mind away from it. When you notice this synced interplay between the associated technological interface and your action is what I call it a “point of realization” (POR). What people don’t realize is that ETM also affects your behavior by stimulating you to do certain actions with a blue and red color code.

Red and Blue Pills

When it comes to social media and scrolling through Facebook posts for example ETM will set-up the post in a certain color-coded order to affect your subconscious decision making. ETM uses blue and red hues to indicate what decision it wants your subliminal mind to make. For example if it wants to stimulate you to eat a cracker it would show a red-hued image and then present cylindrical looking coin, object, (or better yet) cracker to make you want to get up and get that item. This is shown through the “residual backlash” of ETM in the movie “The Matrix.” ETM’s red eye identifies with a red card which means “follow ETM’s action” and a blue card means “stop.” This is extrapolated and specifically represented as the red and blue pill from “The Matrix.”

“You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember: all I'm offering is the truth.” - Morpheus

Remember, ETM’s tactic is to display the hued image and then a semantic prime representing the targeted object. As you will come to see in the “Mind Control Patents” section below this is automated and personalized. The whole purpose of ETM is to bombard your subconscious with subliminal messages to affect your behavior for it’s agenda.

Mind Control Patents

There are a number of mind control patents that prove the capabilities of ETM. I will mention them and their functioning here in passing but if you want a fuller understanding of their capabilities in context read The Societal Cornucopia journal. US patent US4717343A is the “Method of changing a person’s behavior and works by “conditioning a person’s unconscious mind in order to effect a desired change in the person’s behavior.”

Recalling the semantic imaging from ETM there are two applicable patents, US patent US5644363A which is the “Apparatus for superimposing visual subliminal instructional materials on a video signal” and US patent US4616261A which is the “Method and apparatus for generating subliminal visual messages. As far as auditory patents are concerned US patent US4777529A is an “Auditory subliminal programming system.” This system is delivered over conventional audio speakers and is designed to play an encoded subliminal message that is attached to the audio at “a selected consciously inaudible level relative to the level of said audio program signal.”

ETM also personalizes individual’s persecution by creating a psychological profile through “collaborative mind maps” which is represented by US Patent US20120036210A1. This patent utilizes “online chat, mobile SMS, Tweets, blog and any online content.” Social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, OkayCupid, MySpace, etc. also help create the psychological profile for ETM. Remember these aren’t proven patents and tactics used by ETM but it doesn't show capabilities.  

Perception Management

As discussed in The Societal Cornucopia journal ETM deals in perception management and you can tell when you’re being manipulated because you’ll find yourself in a series of pejorative coincidences. This is why I say ETM can sequence human behavior. You can see your subconscious mind react by becoming hypersensitive to the influence of media by perceiving POR as discussed the “Points of Realization” section earlier.

Facial Recognition

ETM has to have facial recognition both intimately and from a distance. Facial recognition systems are old and can be used from far away to identify an individual. This is important because ETM has to have access to a system of metadata just by being able to follow people’s online and phone activities. Companies also sell your personal information every day, the American people just don’t know it and Edward Snowden warns of a global system of surveillance in the 2013 holiday greeting below.  What ETM can do is basically follow you throughout life and advertise to you accordingly affecting your subconscious mind to affect your behavior.

Retinal Tracking

While sitting at your computer your laptop or webcam (for instance) it is probable ETM has a good enough camera to read your subtle facial tellings like signs of contempt, sadness, joy, etc. as discussed in the book  What Every Body Is Saying. I have found ETM can follow your eyes as your read to know just the right moment to pop-up an ad to create a desired psychological condition. ETM will also know how your feeling about it in real time through the ability to read facial expressions. (A way to beat ETM is to cover your laptop or webcam camera with a piece of tape so it can’t see your eyes or read your facial expressions.)

Controlling Environmental Forces

The goal of ETM is to control situational and environmental forces and short-term results equate to long-term eugenics. This is done by not only affecting the individual but affecting the mind of the surrounding people to create a social attack that has a compoundingly effective behavioral change on the target. In the realest way ETM tries to control as many known variables (including technological and biological) to synthetically create the intended outcome. The higher the population density the more complicated, more effective, and more concentrated the social-psychological assault can be.

An example of this functioning popular artists, celebrities, and movie star are targets and ETM gives them ideas “fished out” by triggers while compounding the effects by bombarding tertiary targets to attack the main culperates in the public eye. This more fully explains the “Key Players” sections of ETM. The goal is to only allow those who are manipulatable in positions of prominence and importance in the first place. Those that refuse to conform are attacked by the methods of economic oppression as explained in the ETM post so they never reach the higher levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Stolen Ideas

This economic oppression is often accomplished by the subjugation of the individual through the exploitation of ideas as explained in the Stolen Ideas post. Any idea you type into a computer or capture on a technological device can be taken and transferred into another person's mind through the methods previously discussed. This is done silently usually without the victims knowledge but the very verbal expression of this idea (of stolen ideas) makes the individual look mentally ill due to it’s unknown and obscure nature.

Big Brother is Watching

“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select--doctor, lawyer, merchant-chief, and yes, even beggar man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors." - John B. Watson, 1930

A good way to imagine ETM is as a computer that sits in your living room, no matter which house you are living in and watches you grow up and live every single day, hour, and minute. It’s sole purpose is to affect your behavior for it’s pre-programed agenda which is to get you to breed with a mate of it’s selection that will make your offspring more docile, brutish, and obedient. “The Matrix battery scene” signifies that humans keep it going and perpetuate it even into the next generation. How is this accomplished? 🔋

As discussed in the “Controlling Environmental Forces” section ETM aims for micro management of the individual and interactions between individuals. Since ETM has been stalking your every intimate move since childhood it can easily manipulate you to do something embarrassing or self-defeating to leverage your emotions against you. The goal here is to get the individual to do self defeating behaviors through ignorance, arrogance, anger, or frustration.  

Social Tactics

Socially ETM aims to delineate and dissolve social bonds between individuals and affect how attractive you are and how you interact with others, especially a prospective mate as discussed in the Jesus & Orwellian Doublespeak journal. The main tactic of ETM is to agitate social interactions to create and cultivate contempt to dissolve relationships or at least create disharmony in social social bonds and situations.  ETM is constantly running to stifle and thwart identified and unwanted social behaviors (based on its pre programmed parameters).

Personal Tactics

Along with isolation and conformity, ignorance and intimidation is the tactic of choice. In order to affect your subliminal mind ETM will embarrass your subliminal mind to get you to conform. If you do recognize the attack ETM makes it so that you have to expose what embarrasses you to explain it’s existence. My personal example is my hypospadias repair surgeries as discussed in The Chase and CKR. People don’t understand how bad the situation is because there is pluralistic ignorance about the subject and it’s gone on for so long individuals have cognitive dissonance as discussed in the America’s Mental Illness journal.

[imagines--harrystyles]

You are the music in me

Super old request I never got to: Hey! This is my first time checking your blog and I LOVE it!! :) Can you do an imagine where Harry hears (Y/N) playing the piano and he absolutely falls in love because she's so into the music. Thanks so much!Oh and she's also playing Sign of the Times on the piano And also singing it lol.. okay I'm done now :)

----------

You felt honored that Harry had brought you into the studio after you’d only been dating for a few weeks. It seemed so personal and special and you felt giddy being able to be in this space where Harry let out so much of who he is in the form of music. You had formed an instant connection with Clare, who played the keys in Harry’s band. The two of you got along so well, and you admired her so much as a piano player yourself. You stopped taking lessons years ago and you’d never really sung in front of anyone, so you didn’t think your love of playing piano and singing was worth sharing with Harry because it would never be anything compared to what he was capable of. 

You found yourself in a separate part of the studio with Clare as Harry recorded some vocals for his upcoming album. You watched as she played some melodies on the piano that you thought were just gorgeous, her fingers seeming to dance over the black and white keys. 

She apologized when her phone rang as she took the call out into the hallway, and you couldn’t help but melt as you stood with the most beautiful piano right in front of you, looking as though it ached to be played. You suddenly found yourself sat in front of the instrument, hands gliding to the shiny keys that filled you with so much happiness. Your fingers automatically began to play what had become your favorite song. The melody flew freely as a smile formed on your face, completely unaware that Harry had snuck up behind you, carrying himself lightly so as not to make his presence known. He didn’t even know you could play piano, let alone bring new life to the notes that were so familiar to him.

Just stop your crying it’s a sign of the times, you began to sign softly as you played. Harry felt his heart stop, a smile lighting up his whole face as he moved slightly to the side, still behind you, but now with a view of your fingers as they glided effortless over the keys.

You continued to play and sing, and Harry watched as your foot bobbed up and down on and off the pedal, your body beginning to sway more and more the further you got into the song, still unaware that you weren’t alone. 

Eyes wide and smile frozen on his face, Harry couldn’t help but feel so much love for you in that moment - love, he would find, that wouldn’t fade even after the music stopped. So filled with awe and mesmerized by the woman in front of him, his eyes became glossy as you got into what he found to be the most emotional part of the song when he performed it. 

We gotta get away from here. We got to get away. We got to get away. We got to, we got to away. Your body moved with the song gracefully as the words fell from your mouth like soft summer rain, your fingers dancing and your foot moving rhythmically to the beat. Harry was so enthralled that he didn’t really comprehend when the song ended, he just wanted it to last forever. 

You smiled, getting up and turning around to find Harry standing mere feet from you, jaw dropped and eyes wide. The smile began to fall from your face as you realized that you had an audience, the only person whose opinion you ever really cared about regarding your music. Well, his music in this case. 

Harry quickly shut his mouth before trying to speak, but no words came out.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think anyone was in here...” you trailed off, staring down at your feet. What if you just butchered a song in front of Harry Styles - his song?! You began to feel panicked when Harry finally pulled himself together, the biggest smile forming on his face as he all but lunged towards you, engulfing you in a hug.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” he breathed out, the smile slowly returning to your face. “I just want you to know that I plan on falling completely in love with you Y/F/N Y/L/N.” 

Little did you know that he already had. 

[djevsmev]

Episode 1: Sh*t gets real

HELLO!

I hope you’re all keeping inside and keeping well.

Well, today it began, and it took ages. Let’s say it was an experience to learn, and to grow. First of all, I dug out the boxes of 7″ singles. Here they are:

Stored lovingly in line with What Hi-Fi guidelines. 

Whilst digging them out, I also found the sheet music for the theme from “Cheers” so that’s something to learn.

Elite series.

Next, I realised I bought far fewer records than I thought I had. Far fewer. “But wait!” you say, “There seems to be a lot of vinyl there.” Well yes, there is, but most of it I inherited and forgotten I had. There’s a ton of stuff that I think are my parents’ and Aunty and Uncles’, but there’s also a whole lot of other stuff for reasons we’ll come to later.

Also, in my head I’ve been giving it “Aw, I’m a vinyl guy, I’ve always been a vinyl guy, it’s the format of my SOUL” but let me tell you, it’s remarkably tricky to tell which is the A-side and which is the B-side at first glance. I am no more a vinyl guy, than I am a skater because when I was 10 I used to go down the hill outside my house on my Argos skateboard until I fell off and thought “sod this.”

But with all that in mind, LET’S BEGIN!

VINCE GUARALDI TRIO - LINUS AND LUCY

Yes, let’s begin with an album track, totally contrary to the whole exercise. But it was on my turntable and I thought I better start with something good. I heard this as Amy Lamé uses it as a bed on her 6Music show, and it’s great. My sister got me this cracking LP for my Christmas. It’s about as jazzy as I get, but I love it.

THE DREAM ACADEMY - LIFE IN A NORTHERN TOWN

Saw this, wanted to hear it. What a tune. I didn’t buy this, this comes in to the “where I got other vinyl” I mentioned earlier. Basically, I remembered that I kind of became the repository for my parents’ friends’ old record collections. “So and so is chucking out all their old records, do you want them?” that sort of thing. I’d say yes, obviously, because getting things is good, and there we have it. 

JIVE BUNNY AND THE MASTERMIXERS - THAT’S WHAT I LIKE

This is definitely mine. You can see because young Evan has put a sticker on the front so you definitely know. There was a reason I did that but I’ll save that for another blog. There’s a lot of #content required to fill this lockdown. And besides, the rest of the cover offers so much to take in. Just wow. They were different times, my word, were they different times. Jesus. (In fairness to the tune, whilst making everything up is obviously an abomination, there are so many bangers that I don’t think I would have known were it not for this. I hate to say it, it’s better than I thought it would be. Still, that cover. Best move on.)

STEPHEN MALKMUS - JENNY & THE ESS-DOG

It’s Malkmus, it’s not as good as Pavement, but it’s definitely worth 99p - staff discount. I’ll have that thank you, and listening back it’s definitely worth 74p of anyone’s money.

R.J. AND THE FAMILY - GLORIA

Woo! Yeah! Wow! Yeah! 

This is what reminded me of the donations. I recognised the sleeve instantly but couldn’t remember listening to it. Turns out it’s a 90s dance version of the Van Morrison classic. The world was crying out for it.

EVA - SOLO

Eva were a cracking band that did the rounds in Glasgow (and beyond) in the early 2000s. They were also thoroughly nice people we got know through gigging & drinking in Nice and Sleazy, as every music fan in Glasgow tends to do quite a lot in their late teens and 20s. If you think the ending is wonky, it’s because my record player fucks it: the single’s so long the arm gets too close to the middle of the record and the automatics stop kicked in and lifted off. Sorry Eva.

ERASURE - BLUE SAVANNAH

I was probably about 9 when I bought this. It’s not an Erasure song that’s particularly famous so I thought I’ll have a listen and see if it stands up. I can report I still like it.

AMY GRANT - BABY BABY

I think my sister bought this. Even though I had the record player! Unbelievable! But I played the long game and now it’s mine, so who’s the big winner, mmm? Not bitter. Nice tune though. Runs out of steam a bit at the end, but that’s OK.

GENE PITNEY - SOMETHING’S GOTTEN HOLD OF MY HEART

Found it in the parents’ pile. Absolute banger. Wanted to hear it. Went in the mix. Easy.

PARIAH - SLEEPS WITH CACTII

The band I was in at Uni! Some might say that’s self-indulgent, but Jesus, I’m writing a blog about my own tastes; what did you expect? This was the B-side that I always liked. Still think it’s a lovely tune. I’ll stick the A-side on another day as I want to hear how that sounds too.

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS - FIRE IN MY HEART

Another cheapy. Another good tune. Worth it for the artwork alone. This was going to be the last tune today, but then I found...

ROARING BOYS - EVERY SECOND OF THE DAY

The Roaring Boys? Who? No idea, but there was no way I wasn’t going to give this a go. THE ROARING BOYS! From 1985. In fairness, I thought this was going to be terrible, but I quite like it. It would sit happily in pretty much any mid-budget 80s rom-com, as long as it wasn't a crucial scene. Fair play to the Boys.

STATUS QUO - DOWN DOWN

Thought I better finish on a banger, and this is a banger. Absolute tune. We once did a gig in London and one of the band did a mixtape for the van down. This was the opener. Our pal who’d volunteered to drive us (he was old enough to rent a van) heard the opening chords and just screamed something like “FUCKING YES! THE QUO!” and cranked the volume. Ahhhh youth.

And there we have it. Hopefully the levels are all right and I think I got a bit carried away so the next one won’t be quite so long. A bit indulgent, but this whole thing is so hey ho.

Now let’s see if the audio player embeds...

Cheers,

[bboongobbang]

Hello new blog~! Can I request​ for RFA + V an Saeran reactions on MC being a piano prodigy? Thanks in advance! /huggeu

Hello!! *hugs u back*

JAEHEE:

She thinks your piano playing is beautiful, asks you to play for her after a stressful day

You sit down at the piano, fingers poised over the keys

“What should I play, Jaehee?”

Usually she’ll ask for something slow

Moonlight Sonata and Clair de Lune are her favorites

But instead she comes up behind you on the piano bench and wraps her arms around you from behind

She leans her head on your shoulder, lips grazing the outside of your ear

“Surprise me.”

You look down at the expanse of ebony and ivory before you, and then

You close your eyes

You start off with one note

And then an arpeggio in that scale

And you build based on that- the movement of your fingers simply second nature to you as you focus on the movement of Jaehee’s breathing against you

You’re no longer in control of this piece- the notes dance to the tune of Jaehee that is playing in your mind

And when your improvisation trails off, Jaehee sleepily nuzzles your cheek

“What was that one called, MC?”

“I think I’m going to call it ‘Jaehee.’”

YOOSUNG:

He took piano lessons as a kid, just like all korean kids do

But it was always for a recital or a specific performance of some kind

It always felt very strict to him

So he’s blown away by the way you play, the way you feel the music and the way you play like the music is a part of you

His eyes are wide whenever he watches you play for him

which is all the time, at his request

He doesn’t really care much for classical music, because it’s all stuff he had to learn how to play

But he loves it when you play contemporary themes

He didn’t realize the piano was such a versatile instrument

He shyly asks you if you can teach him how to play again

You sit him down on the piano bench and sit down behind him, legs on either side of him

He automatically goes into the rigid playing position from all his piano lessons

You put your hands over his, fixing his pose

“Relax, Yoosung. Why are you so stiff?”

You eventually get his fingers to relax and you flip to the page for one of his favorite songs

You help him play at half speed, as he still remembers the notes and he is a very skilled player, if a rigid one

“Okay. Now I want you to do that all again, but close your eyes.”

“What??”

“Close your eyes. I’ll help you play the notes, but I want you to feel it.”

You guide him through the blind session, your hands over his the whole time, and you can feel him start to melt into the melody

He can feel the difference too, and he’s eager to try again

JUMIN:

When he comes back to the penthouse and finds you missing, he’s not extremely worried

You were, after all, free to the premises of the entire building

And you were often gone to the gym or to the cafe downstairs

But after checking all of the usual places and finding you nowhere, he gets a little nervous

He hadn’t even bothered to ask his security chief about your whereabouts, but he turns to him now

“She said she was going to the orchestra hall, Mr. Han.”

He approaches the empty hall, slightly skeptical until he hears the sound of beautiful piano music coming from inside

He enters the hall as quietly as he can, standing against the back wall with a smile slowly growing on his face

The stage and the stands are both empty, but you’re seated at the piano, eyes closed as you play one of your favorite songs, Yiruma’s River Flows in You

He can’t believe he never knew this about you, and he can’t tear his eyes away from that look of absolute peace on your face

When your song draws to a close his applause rings out through the hall

Embarrassed, you start to move away from the piano as he walks towards you

“No, love, please stay. Play another for me.”

He’s amazed when you can play any classical piece that he requests

And even more amazed when you confess that you usually visit the hall when it’s empty to play the piano

He immediately orders a grand piano for the penthouse so you don’t have to play in an empty hall

707: 

He saw your piano videos a long time ago 

But he doesn’t bring it up until all the Saeran issues have been solved and you two move in together

But he surprises you one day

With a keyboard that he built himself

It has the full piano range and three working pedals

But it has literal thousands of instrument capabilities

Including one that is just Saeyoung screaming at different pitches

You two mess around with it for hours, laughing at some of the more ridiculous ones

Elizabeth the 3rd’s meow autotuned to the whole range

Car horns

He asks you to play something serious

So you straighten up into proper posture

Fingers over the keys and feet flat on the floor

And play Etude No. 3 in a soundfont of Vanderwood’s disinterested (and heavily autotuned) “Ya…”

Saeyoung is losing his shit as you continue to play as if you were in front of a crowd in an orchestra hall

And you solemnly stand up and bow when you’re finished

He wipes tears of laughter from his eyes and switches it back to the default piano setting

“Baby I’m sorry I couldn’t finish this sooner. You must’ve been so sad, with no piano in the apartment”

He doesn’t answer when you ask him how he knew to get a piano for you

ZEN:

OH BOIIII

DUETS DUETS DUETS

ACCOMPANIMENTS ACCOMPANIMENTS ACCOMPANIMENTS

Literally he is OVERJOYED when you first play for him

He brings you with him to the practice room for the first time

And you light up when you see the piano there- it’s been months since you’ve been able to play

When you tell him you can play he’s excited 

But he sure as hell wasn’t expecting you to tap out a full-on 5 minute jazz improvisation

“Babe, how are you so perfect for me??”

He gives you the piano music for the musical he’s rehearsing for

It’s easy compared to the pieces you usually play, but you help him practice for as long at he needs to

Once his self-allotted time is over, though, he leans over the piano to kiss you on the nose

“Okay, I’m done~~ So show off for me now, okay?”

You’re happy to oblige

His face lights up when he recognizes the opening of “Think of Me” from Phantom of the Opera

And you swear you see stars shining in his crimson eyes when you start to sing Christine’s part

He’s the only one in the room but he makes you feel like you’re playing for the real opera with the undivided attention he gives you

He comes in perfectly with Raoul’s verse, and nearly reels back in shock when you nail the high note in the ending

As soon as you’re done he’s all over you with kisses

“Why didn’t you tell me you were so talented?? You have to perform for the director, he has to give you a part”

He bugs and bugs you to audition with him, and he’s super determined to get you on stage

SAERAN:

He’s been living with Seven for a few months now, but recovering from a traumatic experience like Mint Eye takes a lot more than months

So he still has a lot of sleepless nights

He’ll call you often, and you do your best to talk him to sleep

But it’s been bad lately

So when you offer to let him sleep at your place for a few nights he definitely accepts

You wake up in the middle of the night to find that he’s not there

So you shuffle out of bed and into the living room

Saeran is sitting on the couch, staring out the window

You sit down next to him, curling into his side

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help.”

“No, no, it’s not your fault. I’m sorry I woke you.”

“I don’t want you to spend all night here alone. Want me to play some music for you?”

He’s heard you play before, but usually only scales or pop songs

So when you sit down at your piano and weave a soft melody out of thin air he’s taken aback

But the lull of the notes instills in him a sense of comfort that he realizes he’s been missing these past few nights

He can’t tell if it’s the music or the person playing it

And it could very well be both

But he finds his eyelids drooping, his mind finally able to feel the fatigue of his body

When you realize he’s asleep you stop playing and pull a blanket over him

It’s the best sleep he’s had in years

V:

Oh boy he loves you even more for it

The two of you are at one of V’s friends’ exhibitions at a local cafe

It’s very artsy kind of place, with a grand piano that is free for the public to use

And when you arrive someone is currently seated at it

But once they leave V turns to the now-empty piano

“I remember when my mom had me taking piano lessons. I wonder if I even remember anything from it.”

“Oh, I still play,” you say with a laugh, trying to downplay it

“You do?”

V’s face lights up, and you realize too late the mistake you just made

“Can you play something for me?”

He’s already ushering you to the piano before you can protest

And as you sit down you think about what kind of song V would like

You settle on a piano version of La Vie en Rose, with arpeggios and fills

V is rendered speechless while you play, and he hugs you afterwards

“MC, I had no idea!”

“Oh, it’s nothing really...”

Won’t stop giving you praises

sorry these are so late!! i’ve only been back a week but it’s been a rough week T_T i’ll try to update more....

[pagedesignhub-blog]

How to transfer iTunes tune to Android

New Post has been published on https://pagedesignhub.com/how-to-transfer-itunes-tune-to-android/

How to transfer iTunes tune to Android

If you have just moved from an iPhone or iPad to and Android phone or tablet, you might have music in your iTunes library that you want to have on your new tool. You may both copy the tune at once with a cable or add songs to Google Play tune making them to be had to circulation to any device without taking up storage.

In case you pass for the first technique, the procedure is reasonably simple because Android gadgets may be used much like a USB stick. You’ll need your telephone or pill’s USB cable for this. ITunes song Organizer You would have needed to be dwelling underneath a rock for the past nine years, If you overlooked the release by using Apple Laptop of what has end up the maximum popular virtual media player software ever: iTunes. It is used for gambling and organizing digital song and video documents, in addition to functioning as an interface to control the contents on Apple’s famous iPod virtual medial players, as well as the iPhone and iPad. Not to be forgotten is its ability to connect with the iTunes Store via the Net to buy and download song, tune motion pictures, television shows, iPod video games, audiobooks, podcasts, feature period movies and movie leases, even ringtones!

Of all of the makes use of listed above, song has emerge as the most famous use of iTunes which has created a rave national and internationally, Now not to say the skyrocketing increase in income for Apple Computer.

To deal with the recognition and quantity of song being downloaded, performed and saved via tens of millions of iTunes customers, the iTunes song organizer came into being. It serves as an clean and automatic manner to organize and control your tune library and your whole mp3 collection. Agree with it or No longer, this can be carried out with the click of a button. Why is that No longer so unexpected, given the first rate era and comfort of this era. The iTunes song organizer No longer only presents a extraordinary way of gambling digital song and video documents, but it could additionally interface with the famous iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Right here are some features of an iTunes track organizer and other comparable media gamers, relying on what software you pick to use and the version which you can adopt:

To down load and arrange tune picks To synchronize content material with the iPod, iPhone and Apple Tv. to prepare with the aid of language, problem and class, and mechanically replace subscribed podcasts To keep music of songs by developing a virtual library, permitting customers to access and edit a music’s attributes remove replica songs To restore details of a song which have been written incorrectly or misspelled To fill in needed information consisting of artists, years and genres To add lacking album community To sort all your song documents and so that it will identify what might be lacking or whether or not any document has been duplicated To easily change tracks without having to genuinely switch to a particular album in an effort to synchronize with numerous famous cellular phones natively (No longer all organizers are able to perform this feature) To do all its functions automatically so that you can store all of the time it’d have taken you to do those obligations manually

If you pick to go to the numerous blogs that exist on the iTunes song organizer, you may be capable of choose up othe functions and suggestions shared by the myriad of users and iTunes lovers who’re glad to submit their remarks and stories in the use of this music organizer. For every problem or difficulty which you might be having along with your iTunes music organizer, there will be three or more answers or possibilities to attempt to restoration that precise problem. these blogs cater to individuals who are in a rush and searching for shortcuts and short answers to tidy up their songs and tune.

fix Your iTunes tune Library

iTunes is my satisfactory buddy. I like music and I’ve lots of tune in my iTunes. My whole collection of song that I’ve sold over time has been loaded into my iTunes. I’ve been amassing song all my lifestyles. Nicely for two/three’s of my lifestyles this is. but in fact iTunes is my worst enemy. I have any such disorganized iTunes that it makes me in reality harassed out. Truth is although I would really like to discover a brief and smooth manner to restore my disorganized iTunes and to place it lower back in entire running order.

Once I have my Laptop released the primary thing I open is my iTunes. I exploit iTunes daily it’s pretty a lot my lifestyles, music that is. It has my whole collection in one region in my iTunes at the huge Computer. however there is something that without a doubt frustrates me though and that is due to the fact I’ve songs that are misspelled or are not titled. there is other problems like numerous my track is missing the stunning album cowl art work and there are a ton of duplicate songs in my iTunes, which are taking over a lot area! You recognize once I buy an album from Madonna as an example the Like A Virgin Album. Then I additionally have the stainless collection and GHV2 and Party her remaining finest hits album. So this reasons a hassle because I’ve duplicate songs all around the location. 4 variations of Like A Virgin in my iTunes, is an excessive amount of. And it is No longer just Madonna that I’ve achieved this with. I have tons of bands with this equal situation. So I have a lot of replica songs that I want to get rid of or set aside.

I have come to understand that I severely need to fix my iTunes. It wishes primary fixing. I started researching applications to restoration Your iTunes track Library and located a superb software program device that does wonders to my iTunes library and fixes everything. I used to be thinking if I had to go through all my songs via hand and attach them. I used to be thinking that could sincerely pressure me extremely loopy. It just would Not get executed if I needed to do it all by using hand. it would take so much time and I’ve a lot higher activities than sit in front of my Pc and prepare! Now not!

I need a device which could do all of the iTunes Fixes automatically. All I want to do is launch a program on my Laptop my iTunes is on, click on multiple buttons, set a pair of factors and allow it run with the aid of itself. After widespread studies on line I discovered the quality tool! It is exactly what I honestly desired to restoration My iTunes track Library. I first downloaded a free trial and ran it and i preferred what it did so I had to get it and use it on my complete collection because it achieved magic tricks on my series. It changed into just awesome!

Now that I’ve ran this program to repair My iTunes I am now not annoyed at how messy it was. it’s absolutely changed my iTunes and that i virtually adore it. All my songs have lovely album cowl paintings, no more misspelled songs or missing track info, no more replica iTunes songs. it is all constant. I enormously suggest this tool for anyone into music, iTunes or When you have quite a few track in your iTunes.

[baburaja97-blog]

New Post has been published on Vin Zite

New Post has been published on https://vinzite.com/things-to-love-about-the-iphone/

Things to Love About the iPhone

10 things to love about the iPhone I took delivery of my iPhone at the start of September, the start of a trying month personally that saw me out of the office for very long periods and only in touch with the world via my phone. It was a baptism of fire for me and the device.

You will have seen the adverts, played with it in phone shops, looked over fellow commuters’ shoulders, borrowed your friend’s … great isn’t it? Or is it?

In this article, I touch on some of the best things about the device that have wowed me completely. Or even just a bit. And to maintain the celestial karmic balance I have a companion article on some of the things that drive me absolutely nuts. There’s enough material for both articles, I assure you!

So here we go, in reverse order, the 10 things that you should love about the iPhone!

10. Voicemail organisation One of the cutest features of the device is the way it organizes your voicemail for you. No more phoning the voicemail number, listening to all the messages in your mailbox in the order they arrived to get to the ones you want to hear. There they are, in a list, with real names instead of phone numbers when the number is in your contact list. You can go straight to the message you want and avoid the junk calls.

You aren’t limited to the time limit on saved messages that your phone provider imposes – they will stay on your device as long as you need them. It’s even got deleted file recovery, with deleted messages staying in your trash can until you commit the delete.

9. SMS text organization If you like the way the iPhone manages your voicemails, you’ll love the SMS organization even more. SMS messages are organized by third party name as before, but even better when you drill down by the third party the messages themselves are displayed, in order, as a series of quotes like an instant messaging dialogue, so you can see the whole conversation. So good, so obvious, so why hasn’t it been done before?

8. Onscreen keyboard One of the things that strike you about the iPhone is the absence of any keyboard or stylus. In fact, it’s almost devoid of buttons altogether, which is one of the criticisms I would level against the iPhone.

The absence of a keyboard was one of the reasons I delayed switching to the iPhone in the first place. I work out of the office probably 60% of the time and my PDA is often my only link with my business while I am out of the office. Sending email via a T9 keypad is not ideal, and most soft keyboards I have to see to date have been frustratingly slow. I have had a couple of PDAs with slide-out keyboards and these can be satisfactory, but they also make the device heavier, thicker and less attractive as a telephone handset.

The iPhone soft keypad is surprisingly good. I watched some demos on YouTube before I ordered the iPhone yet had nagging doubts about how realistic they were. I need not have been concerned, however: It really is as good as the demos suggest. The auto-correction works by comparing what you type with the keys around the key you strike, so if you hit an “h” instead of a “g” it will pick this up and correct your mistake.

It isn’t perfect, however. I have consistent problems reaching the space bar and seem to hit the letter “b” instead. The correction picks up faulty key presses, but won’t necessarily correct a mis-spelling if you put too many or too few letters into the word. You also need to be around 60-70% accurate with your key presses or the algorithm gives up. Rejecting an auto-correction suggestion requires that you hit the minuscule “x” at the end of the suggestion, rather than a dedicated key or backspace as in most Windows applications, and this can be really difficult.

But overall the keyboard works well and, I have to admit, is more usable than the keypads on most of the Windows Mobile PDAs I have had. I’m still not sure whether I prefer it to handwriting recognition with a stylus, but I can live with it.

7. iPod on a phone Although it lacks the intuitive touch wheel interface of the original and best iPod, the iPhone, like the iTouch, makes up for it with its full-screen iPod player interface that gives you faster and more direct access to media stored on the device. I prefer the wheel of the iPod, but I admit it’s 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.

Although the 8GB or 16GB memory of the iPhone is shared between the iPod features and other storage-dependent applications, I can still store over 3,000 songs which are more or less my entire CD collection. I can play movies too, and the display is more than adequate for doing so, but a typical movie takes up to 2GB of storage so of course, I have to “budget” for it.

All in all the iPhone serves me well as a media player, especially as my BMW has the direct iPod interface built into the iDrive, so I can access my music library through the car’s steering wheel controls and navigation display.

6. Motion sensors and landscape mode (to a point) The iPhone is jam packed full of sensors. Proximity sensors so it knows you are using it as a phone. Light sensors to adjust brightness. Motion detectors to know you are waving the thing around (used to great effect in “Lightsaber Unleashed” – a free demo game on iTunes).

The motion detectors are used to greatest effect to in Safari and document browsers to detect when you tilt the screen to view it in landscape mode. Document to side to fit readably onto the screen? Just rotate the device and it will change the screen orientation. Cute!

The only problem is that implementation of the feature seems to be application dependent and is not consistently deployed across all applications on the device. So reading and typing mail do not benefit from the feature, for example, while email attachments (see below) do.

5. Full web browser on a phone I’m not a great Safari fan in general, preferring Firefox on the Mac and IE on the PC. That said, the implementation of Safari on the iPhone is, without a doubt, the best mobile browser I have seen to date.

It supports CSS and Javascript and will support Silverlight in the future, but it does not support Flash at present. With the screen rotated to landscape mode you can generally read most websites directly on the iPhone screen, while the “pinch” metaphor (placing two fingers on the screen and moving them together apart) zooms in or out to allow small text or fine detail to be viewed. Touching on-screen controls like text boxes and menus zooms in onto the control making it easy to complete browser-based forms. The whole browsing experience is smooth, intuitive and engaging.

4. Native support for PDF and Office document formats As a “dyed in the wool” Microsoft user, this feature has wowed me more than almost anything else on the device.

The iPhone renders all “standard” Office formats (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint) as standard, without any plug-ins. And not just Office 2003 – the extensible Office 2007 formats are supported as well! The iPhone supports rotation to view documents in landscape format, complete with pinch zoom.

Sadly you cannot edit Office documents as standard, although a number of publishers are planning to offer document editors and spreadsheets in the future. However for 80% of remote working scenarios I find the device suits me perfectly.

3. WiFi and 3G stacks The original iPhone whetted appetites for mobile computing but soon disappointed Europeans due to its lack of support for 3G. That, of course, is a thing of the past with the Mark II device.

I have been more impressed by the device’s WiFi capabilities, however. Although battery consumption is less than ideal with wireless switched on, the WiFi stack performs really well, particularly in larger office and public environments where you move in and out of range or between access points, sometimes using different protocols, on a constant basis. It supports a number of security protocols including certificate-based WPA-2 and TKIP and can interact with Microsoft-centric enterprise security deployments.

You configure the device to join new networks automatically and of course, once you have set up access to a network it will reconnect automatically the next time you are in range. It works really, really well – so well that frankly, you can afford to forget all about it. Which is how it should be, frankly.

2. Ease of adding applications The basic iPhone provides basic email, calendar, and contacts management alongside the Safari web browser, camera, and iPod application. It also has a superb aGPS and Google maps which are surprisingly good, although the battery consumption with location services switched on renders the device almost unusable in my opinion. In other words, the iPhone offers a fairly reasonable set of basic mobile productivity applications.

So what do you do if you need more? The answer is iTunes AppStore, an online service accessible from the iPhone that enables you to search and download applications that are charged against your iTunes account. So far I have mostly downloaded sample applications and free utility ware, which is enough to get a feel for what is out there and appreciate the very straightforward installation and updating process. I have only bought one application so far – iBlogger, a generic blogging writer to connect to my CMS and blog. The process is seamless and transparent, from the user’s standpoint, and exactly what the user needs.

The idea of extensibility is a good one. This is where the crossover from computing and PDAs into the world of the mobile phone really has benefited the consumer. But for the consumer to benefit completely there has to be an adequate choice.

To date, Apple has been successful in attracting software publishers to the game with a powerful development kit and simple distribution model. I appreciate the concerns that some publishers have over the stranglehold that Apple maintains over the distribution channel, rather like Sony with the PlayStation, and time will tell whether the Apple developer engagement model continues to attract the best developers.

Right now what the iPhone lacks as standard is a task management tool that interfaces with Microsoft Exchange and a more advanced set of editing tools that offer basic features like cut and paste (that’s right, iPhone does NOT allow you to cut and paste text while editing). I don’t know if any such applications exist on the AppStore and I haven’t looked yet because frankly, I would expect these to be provided by Apple as standard and hope that a future firmware update will provide them.

If my impatience gets the better of me I will go and look in the AppStore and I will probably find what I am looking for.

1. Great design (to a point) Apple has done a phenomenal job with the iPhone. It is gorgeous! My iPhone is probably the most elegant and iconic object I have ever owned. That’s right, not just the most elegant phone, or PDA, or mobile computer – as an exercise in pure physical design it excels.

The glossy surface is hard to keep clean and within minutes is covered in finger marks, but I find that wiping with a barely moist chamois leather is enough to restore it to its full glory.

Difficulties in keeping it clean aside, it is also pretty robust and usable day to day. I have dropped it a few times onto hard floors with no apparent ill effects and it feels really solid in the hands. I don’t bother with a case and simply slip it into my jeans pocket (front or back) and usually forget that it’s there.

[netmaddy-blog]

10 Things to Love About the iPhone

New Post has been published on https://netmaddy.com/10-things-to-love-about-the-iphone/

10 Things to Love About the iPhone

10 things to love about the iPhone I took delivery of my iPhone at the start of September, the start of a trying month personally that saw me out of the office for very long periods and only in touch with the world via my phone. It was a baptism of fire for me and the device.

You will have seen the adverts, played with it in phone shops, looked over fellow commuters’ shoulders, borrowed your friend’s … great isn’t it? Or is it?

In this article I touch on some of the best things about the device that have wowed me completely. Or even just a bit. And to maintain the celestial karmic balance I have a companion article on some of the things that drive me absolutely nuts. There’s enough material for both articles, I assure you!

So here we go, in reverse order, the 10 things that you should love about the iPhone!

10. Voicemail organisation One of the cutest features of the device is the way it organises your voicemail for you. No more phoning the voicemail number, listening to all the messages in your mailbox in the order they arrived to get to the ones you want to hear. There they are, in a list, with real names instead of phone numbers when the number is in your contact list. You can go straight to the message you want and avoid the junk calls.

You aren’t limited to the time limit on saved messages that your phone provider imposes – they will stay on your device as long as you need them. It’s even got deleted file recovery, with deleted messages staying in your trash can until you commit the delete.

9. SMS text organisation If you like the way the iPhone manages your voicemails, you’ll love the SMS organisation even more. SMS messages are organised by third party name as before, but even better when you drill down by third party the messages themselves are displayed, in order, as a series of quotes like an instant messaging dialogue, so you can see the whole conversation. So good, so obvious, so why hasn’t it been done before?

8. Onscreen keyboard One of the things that strikes you about the iPhone is the absence of any keyboard or stylus. In fact it’s almost devoid of buttons altogether, which is one of the criticisms I would level against the iPhone.

The absence of a keyboard was one of the reasons I delayed switching to the iPhone in the first place. I work out of the office probably 60% of the time and my PDA is often my only link with my business while I am out of the office. Sending email via a T9 keypad is not ideal, and most soft keyboards I have see to date have been frustratingly slow. I have had a couple of PDAs with slide-out keyboards and these can be satisfactory, but they also make the device heavier, thicker and less attractive as a telephone handset.

The iPhone soft keypad is surprisingly good. I watched some demos on YouTube before I ordered the iPhone yet had nagging doubts about how realistic they were. I need not have been concerned, however: It really is as good as the demos suggest. The auto-correction works by comparing what you type with the keys around the key you strike, so if you hit an “h” instead of a “g” it will pick this up and correct your mistake.

It isn’t perfect, however. I have consistent problems reaching the space bar and seem to hit the letter “b” instead. The correction picks up faulty key presses, but won’t necessarily correct a mis-spelling if you put too many or too few letters into the word. You also need to be around 60-70% accurate with your key presses or the algorithm gives up. Rejecting an auto-correction suggestion requires that you hit the minuscule “x” at the end of the suggestion, rather than a dedicated key or backspace as in most Windows applications, and this can be really difficult.

But overall the keyboard works well and, I have to admit, is more usable than the keypads on most of the Windows Mobile PDAs I have had. I’m still not sure whether I prefer it to handwriting recognition with a stylus, but I can live with it.

7. iPod on a phone Although it lacks the intuitive touch wheel interface of the original and best iPod, the iPhone, like the iTouch, makes up for it with its full screen iPod player interface that gives you faster and more direct access to media stored on the device. I prefer the wheel of the iPod, but I admit it’s 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.

Although the 8GB or 16GB memory of the iPhone is shared between the iPod features and other storage-dependent applications, I can still store over 3,000 songs which is more or less my entire CD collection. I can play movies too, and the display is more than adequate for doing so, but a typical movie takes up to 2GB of storage so of course I have to “budget” for it.

All in all the iPhone serves me well as a media player, especially as my BMW has the direct iPod interface built in to the iDrive, so I can access my music library through the car’s steering wheel controls and navigation display.

6. Motion sensors and landscape mode (to a point) The iPhone is jam packed full of sensors. Proximity sensors so it knows you are using it as a phone. Light sensors to adjust brightness. Motion detectors to know you are waving the thing around (used to great effect in “Lightsaber Unleashed” – a free demo game on iTunes).

The motion detectors are used to greatest effect to in Safari and document browsers to detect when you tilt the screen to view it in landscape mode. Document too side to fit readably onto the screen? Just rotate the device and it will change the screen orientation. Cute!

The only problem is that implementation of the feature seems to be application dependent and is not consistently deployed across all applications on the device. So reading and typing mail does not benefit from the feature, for example, while email attachments (see below) do.

5. Full web browser on a phone I’m not a great Safari fan in general, preferring Firefox on the Mac and IE on the PC. That said, the implementation of Safari on the iPhone is without doubt the best mobile browser I have seen to date.

It supports CSS and Javascript and will support Silverlight in the future, but it does not support Flash at present. With the screen rotated to landscape mode you can generally read most websites directly on the iPhone screen, while the “pinch” metaphor (placing two fingers on the screen and moving them together apart) zooms in or out to allow small text or fine detail to be viewed. Touching on-screen controls like text boxes and menus zooms in onto the control making it easy to complete browser-based forms. The whole browsing experience is smooth, intuitive and engaging.

4. Native support for PDF and Office document formats As a “dyed in the wool” Microsoft user, this feature has wowed me more more than almost anything else on the device.

The iPhone renders all “standard” Office formats (Word, Excel and Powerpoint) as standard, without any plug-ins. And not just Office 2003 – the extensible Office 2007 formats are supported as well! The iPhone supports rotation to view documents in landscape format, complete with pinch zoom.

Sadly you cannot edit Office documents as standard, although a number of publishers are planning to offer document editors and spreadsheets in the future. However for 80% of remote working scenarios I find the device suits me perfectly.

3. WiFi and 3G stacks The original iPhone whetted appetites for mobile computing but soon disappointed Europeans due to its lack of support for 3G. That of course is a thing of the past with the Mark II device.

I have been more impressed by the device’s WiFi capabilities, however. Although battery consumption is less than ideal with wireless switched on, the WiFi stack performs really well, particularly in larger office and public environments where you move in and out of range or between access points, sometimes using different protocols, on a constant basis. It supports a number of security protocols including certificate-based WPA-2 and TKIP and can interact with Microsoft-centric enterprise security deployments.

You configure the device to join new networks automatically and of course once you have set up access to a network it will reconnect automatically the next time you are in range. It works really, really well – so well that frankly you can afford to forget all about it. Which is how it should be, frankly.

2. Ease of adding applications The basic iPhone provides basic email, calendar and contacts management alongside the Safari web browser, camera and iPod application. It also has a superb aGPS and Google maps which is surprisingly good, although the battery consumption with location services switched on renders the device almost unusable in my opinion. In other words, the iPhone offers a fairly reasonable set of basic mobile productivity applications.

So what do you do if you need more? The answer is iTunes AppStore, an online service accessible from the iPhone that enables you to search and download applications that are charged against your iTunes account. So far I have mostly downloaded sample applications and free utility ware, which is enough to get a feel for what is out there and appreciate the very straightforward installation and updating process. I have only bought one application so far – iBlogger, a generic blogging writer to connect to my CMS and blog. The process is seamless and transparent, from the user’s standpoint, and exactly what the user needs.

The idea of extensibility is a good one. This is where the crossover from computing and PDAs into the world of the mobile phone really has benefited the consumer. But for the consumer to benefit completely there has to be adequate choice.

To date Apple has been successful in attracting software publishers to the game with a powerful development kit and simple distribution model. I appreciate the concerns that some publishers have over the stranglehold that Apple maintains over the distribution channel, rather like Sony with the PlayStation, and time will tell whether the Apple developer engagement model continues to attract the best developers.

Right now what the iPhone lacks as standard is a task management tool that interfaces with Microsoft Exchange and a more advanced set of editing tools that offer basic features like cut and paste (that’s right, iPhone does NOT allow you to cut and paste text while editing). I don’t know if any such applications exist on the AppStore and I haven’t looked yet because frankly I would expect these to be provided by Apple as standard and hope that a future firmware update will provide them.

If my impatience gets the better of me I will go and look in the AppStore and I will probably find what I am looking for.

1. Great design (to a point) Apple has done a phenomenal job with the iPhone. It is gorgeous! My iPhone is probably the most elegant and iconic object I have ever owned. That’s right, not just the most elegant phone, or PDA, or mobile computer – as an exercise in pure physical design it excels.

The glossy surface is hard to keep clean and within minutes is covered in finger marks, but I find that wiping with a barely moist chamois leather is enough to restore it to its full glory.

Difficulties in keeping it clean aside, it is also pretty robust and usable day to day. I have dropped it a few times onto hard floors with no apparent ill effects and it feels really solid in the hands. I don’t bother with a case and simply slip it into my jeans pocket (front or back) and usually forget that it’s there.

The user interface is remarkable – mostly. The pinch zoom and fast list scrolling are excellent. Adding, deleting and moving application icons on the home screen is intuitive and can be mastered in minutes.

However the good parts of the UI are so good that the gaffs in design – the inability to collapse large directory trees in mail folders, the absence of a file manager, the lack of a cut and paste feature – stand out even more starkly and underline the genesis of the device.

The point is that the iPhone is the product of a prolific and brilliant yet highly introspective group of engineers. It is design untrammelled by any notion of reality or practicality, particularly in the corporate context. In most respects, and I mean probably 80% of the product in this case, the outcome is wonderful. The 80% is so good I can almost forgive Apple the 20% of absolutely essential features that are missing

[markwatkinsconsumerguide]

Consumer Guide / No.40 /   Maggie K de Monde (Swans Way & Scarlet Fantastic) with Mark Watkins.

MW: Maggie, you wrote your first song - “Gloriana” - aged 14. Can you recall the first two lines? What's the story behind it?

MKDM : Mark, the first two lines were : “ Mrs Moffat’s done a bunk, the barbs she ate made her a punk. She flies higher, cooler higher, in her automatic Hotpoint spin drier.”

“Gloriana” is an imaginary state of grace/imaginary place where everything is calm and full of love, and there is no suffering, and everything and everyone is in perfect harmony. A Utopian fantasy. I think I was very influenced by the TV show Rock Follies at the time!

MW: How did Swans Way, then Scarlet Fantastic, come about?

MKDM: I met Rick P Jones at Kent uni where I was studying French and Drama. Rick was a guitarist. We formed our first band Playthings, and then we met Robert Shaw and decided to do something completely different - which to us, meant ditching our original instruments and starting afresh on something new. Hence me playing the drums!! We read a lot, and watched a lot of old '50s movies, and listened to many soundtracks (French and Italian). We were looking for some different influences. Marcel Proust wrote a novel, “Swann’s Way”. I think we may have chosen our name as a nod to this, although we spelt our name differently, as we didn’t want people to think that we were all about the book.

After the release of a critically acclaimed album, The Fugitive Kind, Rick and I became restless, and decided we wanted to take a different musical direction. We weren’t inspired by Swans Way any more. We bought our own studio gear and Rick learned to programme drum machines and synths etc and we came up with a glam/pop/electro/ kind of sound which seemed quite unique to us at the time. We were into larger than life imagery and big slogans: - “Energy Breeds Energy” , “Deconstruct the bad vibes” and many more. I think we felt we were on a bit of a mission, we were very much into the idea of spreading peace and love! We used to describe our sound and imagery as a mix of the REAL the SURREAL and the FANTASTIC. We needed a name that encompassed all this so we chose Scarlet Fantastic! Rick used to make a joke and say it was the colour of my lipstick!

MW: How did Swans Way and Scarlet Fantastic compare and contrast?

MKDM: I think there were similarities in the sense that we were out on our own, doing our own thing, writing songs from the heart, but sound wise there were definite differences as Swans Way had a very organic sound and Scarlet Fantastic was more electro. Lyrics were a very important part of both projects.

MW: Tell me about Duran Duran...

MKDM: Rick and I were in our first band Playthings before Swans Way. Duran Duran used to say that we were the other best band in Birmingham apart from themselves. Birmingham back in the '80s was a very close knit scene, everyone knew everyone. We toured with Duran Duran as they had their first hit “Planet Earth”. I was with Simon sound checking for a gig at Aston Uni when they received the news that “Planet Earth” had charted. Simon was a big, friendly, bouncy ex-drama student, always the flirt too!! Jon Taylor was the one who was always perceived as the cool one (I guess he was initially a little shy). My mum had a cup of tea with him once and said: “what a lovely boy he is!” . Nick Rhodes was the one who people would sometimes say had a tendency to be somewhat of a poseur, but I think he was genuinely into quite diverse and left field art projects etc. Andy Taylor the guitarist was the most down to earth, a salt of the earth Northern lad and Roger Taylor the drummer just always looked incredibly cool!!

MW: …careless memories of BBC Radio 1?

MKDM: I used to love doing Radio one sessions, going to the big studios in Maida Vale and then getting all excited when the sessions would air. Swans Way played live several times on Radio One sessions but I can’t remember whose show we were on. Janice Long was a great supporter of ours along with her producer Mike Hawkes.

MW: ...TV appearances?

MKDM: I think Top Of The Pops and The Tube were always my faves. Both shows were iconic for their time. I miss them both, and sadly there seems nothing like them today. The Tube made several really interesting films of Swans Way and Scarlet Fantastic ; it’s so great that those time were captured on celluloid and can now be see on YouTube all these years on!

MW: Maggie, tell me about your new album Reverie...

MKDM : Well Mark, I called my new album Reverie as I felt the word describes the sound. Reverie is released on Dirtbag Baby Records and it’s distributed by Right Track through Universal. It’s a gentle, dreamy alt-folk album. A journalist recently described it as ethereal folk. It’s a very song based album. I wanted the emphasis to be on my voice and my words. I had an idea for the overall sound and it was a joy to work with my husband and musical partner on it, Mark Leif Kahal, he produced it and played most of the instruments on it too. We really went for clarity and an uncluttered sound. The songs were very much influenced by dreams and nature. There are many similar themes to the original Scarlet Fantastic from 30 years ago but the sound on this new album is very different. It’s more in keeping with my previous album Union which was by Maggie and Martin, a collaboration I did with Marc Almond’s keyboard player.

MW: OK, let’s talk books...

MKDM: The most recent book I read was written by my friend Clayton Littlewood, “Dirty White Boy”. It’s about a shop he had on Old Compton St., and the daily goings on with all the Soho locals. It’s hysterical. It’s a real fun read and it’s in a diary form as Clayton started off by blogging but ended up turning it into a novel. I love his observations of people and places, he’s so insightful and so funny!

My next read will be a re-read, “Tender is the night”, by Scott Fitzgerald. It’s been on my mind often lately and definitely needs a revisit. I love the time it’s set in and I’ve been enjoying a lot of artists from this period recently too. I have also just bought “Testimony” by Robbie Robertson; I can’t wait to to get tucked into this! I’m a huge fan of his and the whole period with all his contemporaries, some legends. It’s meant to be a brilliant book.

MW: Which newspapers can’t you live without?

MKDM: I read The Guardian and The London Evening Standard. Simon Jenkins is one of my favourite journalists. On world news, I’m a big Christiane Amanpour fan.

MW: What are the best and worst aspects of social media?

MKDM: The best aspects are being able to spread the news about my work and to connect and reconnect with people/old friends/new friends/like minded people etc. I enjoy learning about new projects and hearing reactions to world situations etc. I feel the whole “community” aspect of it can be a positive thing. The worst aspects are the cruelty and bullying that can occur, especially amongst teens. I think people can also waste way too much time on social media and forget about/neglect real life. I do know that it does help socially isolated people and lonely people which is a very positive thing.

MW: List your Top 10 favourite EIGHTIES albums...

MKDM:

1 Joshua Tree - U2 (1987) 2 This is The Sea - Waterboys (1985) 3 Faith - George Michael (1987) 4 Kick - INXS (1987) 5 Purple Rain - Prince (1984) 6 Let’s Dance - Bowie (1983) 7 Sign o’ the Times - Prince (1987) 8 The Lion and the Cobra - Sinead O'Connor (1987) 9 Fisherman's Blues - The Waterboys (1988) 10 Hounds of Love - Kate Bush (1985)

Each album I’ve listed here reminds me of a very specific time in my life and a very specific feeling evoked when listening to the music. My life’s journey has been accompanied by some very poignant soundtracks. I spent a very special time in South Africa with my father before relocating to Dublin which was full of magic. Throughout my African experience then onto my Dublin experience, before, during and after, The Joshua Tree held a very special kind of magic for me as did the top 5 albums I’ve listed, all of them in fact! Very hard trying to pick the favourite. All sensational and played an important part in my life, helped me through a few things and celebrated with me too!

MW: Which BOWIE song is your favourite? How did you feel on hearing the sad news of his death?

MKDM: Mark - I was devastated when I heard of his death. It’s so difficult trying to pick one favourite song, I have many but one which never fails to move me is “Wild is the Wind”.

MW: You live in Eastbourne. What do you enjoy doing along the South Coast?

MKDM: I love the nature here. I walk and cycle often and spend a lot of time by the sea. I’m enjoying painting again. We have a fantastic modern art museum here, affiliated with the Tate, so I’m often there. We have some great record shops and cafes and some amazing restaurants too (I’m a real foodie!!). I often hop over to St. Leonards, Hastings or Brighton. London isn’t far either. I travel a lot around the South East as there is always a lots going on. Music, art shows etc. I have my own studio so I record a lot of stuff here too.

MW: … plans for 2017?

MKDM: I have a song “Heartbreak House” on Hifi Sean’s album Hifi Sean Ft. The video for the song will be released shortly. I filmed it in St Leonards, it’s turned out to be a rather neo-Gothic affair! Sean is ex-Soup Dragons, his album is doing very well, his track with Crystal Waters has just gone into the Top 40. There are some interesting artists on the album, Yoko Ono, Fred B52’s, David Mc Almont and many many more. As well as being a part of that I’m writing new material and I’m also painting a series of still lifes in oils. You can keep up with me on my Facebook musician pages, Maggie K de Monde, Scarlet Fantastic and Swans Way. There is also a website www.scarlet-fantastic.co.uk

© Mark Watkins / February 2017

[baburaja97-blog]

New Post has been published on Vin Zite

New Post has been published on https://vinzite.com/a-practical-legal-guide-to-iphone-application-development/

A Practical Legal Guide to iPhone Application Development

You will have seen the adverts, played with it in phone shops, looked over fellow commuters’ shoulders, borrowed your friend’s … great isn’t it? Or is it?

In this article, I touch on some of the best things about the device that have wowed me completely. Or even just a bit. And to maintain the celestial karmic balance I have a companion article on some of the things that drive me absolutely nuts. There’s enough material for both articles, I assure you!

So here we go, in reverse order, the 10 things that you should love about the iPhone!

10. Voicemail organisation One of the cutest features of the device is the way it an your voicemail for you. No more phoning the voicemail number, listening to all the messages in your mailbox in the order they arrived to get to the ones you want to hear. There they are, in a list, with real names instead of phone numbers when the number is in your contact list. You can go straight to the message you want and avoid the junk calls.

You aren’t limited to the time limit on saved messages that your phone provider imposes – they will stay on your device as long as you need them. It’s even got deleted file recovery, with deleted messages staying in your trash can until you commit the delete.

9. SMS text organization If you like the way the iPhone manages your voicemails, you’ll love the SMS organization even more. SMS messages are organized by third party name as before, but even better when you drill down by the third party the messages themselves are displayed, in order, as a series of quotes like an instant messaging dialogue, so you can see the whole conversation. So good, so obvious, so why hasn’t it been done before?

8. Onscreen keyboard One of the things that strike you about the iPhone is the absence of any keyboard or stylus. In fact, it’s almost devoid of buttons altogether, which is one of the criticisms I would level against the iPhone.

The absence of a keyboard was one of the reasons I delayed switching to the iPhone in the first place. I work out of the office probably 60% of the time and my PDA is often my only link with my business while I am out of the office. Sending email via a T9 keypad is not ideal, and most soft keyboards I have to see to date have been frustratingly slow. I have had a couple of PDAs with slide-out keyboards and these can be satisfactory, but they also make the device heavier, thicker and less attractive as a telephone handset.

The iPhone soft keypad is surprisingly good. I watched some demos on YouTube before I ordered the iPhone yet had nagging doubts about how realistic they were. I need not have been concerned, however: It really is as good as the demos suggest. The auto-correction works by comparing what you type with the keys around the key you strike, so if you hit an “h” instead of a “g” it will pick this up and correct your mistake.

It isn’t perfect, however. I have consistent problems reaching the space bar and seem to hit the letter “b” instead. The correction picks up faulty key presses, but won’t necessarily correct a mis-spelling if you put too many or too few letters into the word. You also need to be around 60-70% accurate with your key presses or the algorithm gives up. Rejecting an auto-correction suggestion requires that you hit the minuscule “x” at the end of the suggestion, rather than a dedicated key or backspace as in most Windows applications, and this can be really difficult.

But overall the keyboard works well and, I have to admit, is more usable than the keypads on most of the Windows Mobile PDAs I have had. I’m still not sure whether I prefer it to handwriting recognition with a stylus, but I can live with it.

7. iPod on a phone Although it lacks the intuitive touch wheel interface of the original and best iPod, the iPhone, like the iTouch, makes up for it with its full-screen iPod player interface that gives you faster and more direct access to media stored on the device. I prefer the wheel of the iPod, but I admit it’s 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.

Although the 8GB or 16GB memory of the iPhone is shared between the iPod features and other storage-dependent applications, I can still store over 3,000 songs which are more or less my entire CD collection. I can play movies too, and the display is more than adequate for doing so, but a typical movie takes up to 2GB of storage so of course, I have to “budget” for it.

All in all the iPhone serves me well as a media player, especially as my BMW has the direct iPod interface built into the iDrive, so I can access my music library through the car’s steering wheel controls and navigation display.

6. Motion sensors and landscape mode (to a point) The iPhone is jam packed full of sensors. Proximity sensors so it knows you are using it as a phone. Light sensors to adjust brightness. Motion detectors to know you are waving the thing around (used to great effect in “Lightsaber Unleashed” – a free demo game on iTunes).

The motion detectors are used to greatest effect to in Safari and document browsers to detect when you tilt the screen to view it in landscape mode. Document to side to fit readably onto the screen? Just rotate the device and it will change the screen orientation. Cute!

The only problem is that implementation of the feature seems to be application dependent and is not consistently deployed across all applications on the device. So reading and typing mail do not benefit from the feature, for example, while email attachments (see below) do.

5. Full web browser on a phone I’m not a great Safari fan in general, preferring Firefox on the Mac and IE on the PC. That said, the implementation of Safari on the iPhone is, without doubt, the best mobile browser I have seen to date.

It supports CSS and Javascript and will support Silverlight in the future, but it does not support Flash at present. With the screen rotated to landscape mode you can generally read most websites directly on the iPhone screen, while the “pinch” metaphor (placing two fingers on the screen and moving them together apart) zooms in or out to allow small text or fine detail to be viewed. Touching on-screen controls like text boxes and menus zooms in onto the control making it easy to complete browser-based forms. The whole browsing experience is smooth, intuitive and engaging.

4. Native support for PDF and Office document formats As a “dyed in the wool” Microsoft user, this feature has wowed me more than almost anything else on the device.

The iPhone renders all “standard” Office formats (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint) as standard, without any plug-ins. And not just Office 2003 – the extensible Office 2007 formats are supported as well! The iPhone supports rotation to view documents in landscape format, complete with pinch zoom.

Sadly you cannot edit Office documents as standard, although a number of publishers are planning to offer document editors and spreadsheets in the future. However for 80% of remote working scenarios I find the device suits me perfectly.

3. WiFi and 3G stacks The original iPhone whetted appetites for mobile computing but soon disappointed Europeans due to its lack of support for 3G. That, of course, is a thing of the past with the Mark II device.

I have been more impressed by the device’s WiFi capabilities, however. Although battery consumption is less than ideal with wireless switched on, the WiFi stack performs really well, particularly in larger office and public environments where you move in and out of range or between access points, sometimes using different protocols, on a constant basis. It supports a number of security protocols including certificate-based WPA-2 and TKIP and can interact with Microsoft-centric enterprise security deployments.

You configure the device to join new networks automatically and of course, once you have set up access to a network it will reconnect automatically the next time you are in range. It works really, really well – so well that frankly, you can afford to forget all about it. Which is how it should be, frankly.

2. Ease of adding applications The basic iPhone provides basic email, calendar, and contacts management alongside the Safari web browser, camera and iPod application. It also has a superb aGPS and Google maps which are surprisingly good, although the battery consumption with location services switched on renders the device almost unusable in my opinion. In other words, the iPhone offers a fairly reasonable set of basic mobile productivity applications.

So what do you do if you need more? The answer is iTunes AppStore, an online service accessible from the iPhone that enables you to search and download applications that are charged against your iTunes account. So far I have mostly downloaded sample applications and free utility ware, which is enough to get a feel for what is out there and appreciate the very straightforward installation and updating process. I have only bought one application so far – iBlogger, a generic blogging writer to connect to my CMS and blog. The process is seamless and transparent, from the user’s standpoint, and exactly what the user needs.

The idea of extensibility is a good one. This is where the crossover from computing and PDAs into the world of the mobile phone really has benefited the consumer. But for the consumer to benefit completely there has to be a an equate choice.

To date A, ple has been successful in attracting software publishers to the game with a powerful development kit and simple distribution model. I appreciate the concerns that some publishers have over the stranglehold that Apple maintains over the distribution channel, rather like Sony with the PlayStation, and time will tell whether the Apple developer engagement model continues to attract the best developers.

Right now what the iPhone lacks as standard is a task management tool that interfaces with Microsoft Exchange and a more advanced set of editing tools that offer basic features like cut and paste (that’s right, iPhone does NOT allow you to cut and paste text while editing). I don’t know if any such applications exist on the AppStore and I haven’t looked yet because frankly I would expect these to be provided by Apple as standard and hope that a future firmware update will provide them.

If my impatience gets the better of me I will go and look in the AppStore and I will probably find what I am looking for.

1. Great design (to a point) Apple has done a phenomenal job with the iPhone. It is gorgeous! My iPhone is probably the most elegant and iconic object I have ever owned. That’s right, not just the most elegant phone, or PDA, or mobile computer – as an exercise in pure physical design it excels.

The glossy surface is hard to keep clean and within minutes is covered in finger marks, but I find that wiping with a barely moist chamois leather is enough to restore it to its full glory.

Difficulties in keeping it clean aside, it is also pretty robust and usable day to day. I have dropped it a few times onto hard floors with no apparent ill effects and it feels really solid in the hands. I don’t bother with a case and simply slip it into my jeans pocket (front or back) and usually forget that it’s there.

The user interface is remarkable – mostly. The pinch zoom and fast list scrolling are excellent. Adding, deleting and moving application icons on the home screen is intuitive and can be mastered in minutes.

However the good parts of the UI are so good that the gaffs in design – the inability to collapse large directory trees in mail folders, the absence of a file manager, the lack of a cut and paste feature – stand out even more starkly and underline the genesis of the device.

The point is that the iPhone is the product of a prolific and brilliant yet highly introspective group of engineers. It is design untrammelled by any notion of reality or practicality, particularly in the corporate context. In most respects, and I mean probably 80% of the product in this case, the outcome is wonderful. The 80% is so good I can almost forgive Apple the 20% of absolutely essential features that are missing. For now!