#another drawback to that idea would be. i have not written any film reviews.

[carcarrot]

my skills include getting absolutely worked up over nothing

[jadedjo]

2019 End of Year Fic Review

I am happy to say that I achieved 3 of my goals from last year. Compete Return to Endor and Crossing A Line and find a beta/alpha/cheerleader: The Fic Whining Circle helped me achieve all of this! I LOVE you guys!

But despite having written more last year than this year I take this year as a more creative journey. With the support and encouragement of people I look up to, I was able to broaden my horizons and stretch my creativity. But this also had its drawbacks. Namely, in the form of the White Rabbit (plot bunnies multiply when other creatives pass theirs on to you unintentionally)

2 White Rabbits that I chased this year were Apocalypse Yavin and the WIP Admiral Luke Au. They were not my ideas. They started as discussions from others that I ran with (with permission). So new goals for 2020 are to leave plot bunnies alone. I have more than enough projects that I do want to finish.

If any come across my path, I shall appreciate them but shall not fall down the rabbit hole. There was a post that came across my dash that said something along the lines of, you need to start x projects to find the 1 that will get done. So, if I need to drabble something to get it out of my head so be it but not let it balloon into the 50k or more that the Admiral Luke Au is turning into.

If anyone sees me chasing the White Rabbit be sure to pull me out of the Matrix STAT.

Goals for 2020:

I’m not sure what I want to accomplish next year. I have WIPs that I need to decide if I’m going to continue or let go of. Many of them I like and would like to finish someday, but they also pressure me with their very presence.

Right now, the Admiral Luke AU is first and foremost in my mind. The basics came out of a what-if discussion about what-if Luke never left military service. While he was a General in Shadows of Mindor we all agreed that a man in Admiral Whites was HAWT so he was switched from General to Admiral Skywalker. Then Mara was added to the mix. Luke would dislike her fringe neutrality and she would think him just another stuck up military leader who was given a position based on his name only. The premise was so she and Luke could have angry sex in his office.

That idea quickly morphed into an elaborate back story with both nu!canon and Legends mixed together to explain the current state of affairs and a re-write of The Thrawn Trilogy to include Hera Syndula, Ezra Bridger, Ahsoka Tano, Thrawn from both TTT and nu!canon, and why Luke is still in the military. But I think I overwhelmed myself with the scope and now have to take this is small chunks so as not to hide in terror of the massive fic it wants to be.

As for the WIPs ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We’ll see.

Some interesting stats for this year:

1.    favorite fic you wrote this year

Apocalypse Yavin

2.    least favorite fic you wrote this year

Drabble: Corellian Checkers (nothing wrong with it, but of my mini fics I like it the least)

3.    favorite line/scene you wrote this year

From Twilight: Time stopped and in the instant between day and night their lips met.

4.    total number of words you wrote this year

For Posted Fics its 35,937

For WIPs its 28,574

Total: 64,511 (last year’s total was 79,028, but I admit I had a 20k sprint last year.)

5.    most popular fic this year

I Get Off (ya’ll love that PWP)

6.    least popular fic this year

Return To Endor

This was a self-indulgent fic for long-forgotten made for TV Star Wars films. I’m not surprised this is the least popular fic

7.    longest completed fic you wrote this year

Apocalypse Yavin (12792)

8.    shortest completed fic you wrote this year

Spin The Bottle (376)

9. favorite character to write about this year

I was going to say Luke Skywalker or Mara Jade but… Cindel was a surprise and interesting to write about so I shall name Cindel Towani as my favorite this year.

10. favorite writing song/artist/album of this year

According to Spotify, it was Blade Runner 2049. Its mellow and easy to have as background music that will drown out other noises without making me want to actively listen to it.

11. a fic you didn’t expect to write

I Get Off

12. fic(s) you completed this year

In reverse posting order:

Apocalypse Yavin Reeling from the revelations that Vader is his father, needing to get used to a malfunctioning new right hand, and having to save his friend from carbonite, Luke is sent on a quest to find a kyber crystal for a new lightsaber. Unfortunately for him, Yavin IV is where he can find one. The moon is now a hellscape from the death throes of the Death Star and he has the eerie feeling that something in the Force is there, in pain, crying out for release.

Return Luke returns to Tatooine. But what kind of welcome will he find there? Owen Lives AU Flash Fic Crossing A Line (Getting To Know You Series) With a new Force bond firmly in place, Luke and Mara must now navigate this unexpected turn in their relationship. How do you go from friends to lovers because the Force wills it? Post-Nirauan story.

Not Just Another Day (Flash Fic) Luke gives Mara a gift on his birthday. 

Comfort (drabble) Han finds Jaina at the end of the Vong War. Prompts:  “War’s End” kiss & “You’re strong, baby. You have to be.” Reveal (drabble) Luke returns home to find Mara in an unusual situation. Prompts: “I do” kiss & “Frost the damn cupcakes.”

Spin The Bottle (drabble) Prompt: Spin the bottle & "Come over here and make me"

Corellian Checkers (drabble) Han hears Leia say something to Wedge Antilles he'd never thought she'd ever say to anyone.Prompts: “We’re playing checkers. If you don’t like it, leave.” & A Hoarse Whisper “Kiss Me”

Twilight (drabble) When Luke and Mara are forced to trek through the wilderness once again they find more than just pretty scenery.Prompts: Staring At The Other’s Lips, Trying Not To Kiss Them, Before Giving In & “You can scream if you want.”

Return To Endor Cindel Towani is alone in the galaxy. She returns to the one place where she felt at home. The forest moon of Endor. She just prays that the one person she most wants to see is still there.

I Get Off “He could have called you ‘Master.’ Like I do sometimes.” Mara's voice was a smoky purr in his ear. Her arms slipped around Luke’s waist from behind. Luke smiled. “I don’t think it would be the same as when you do it.” “It better not be … Skywalker.” Luke jumped as one of her hands gave his stomach a slap. — Destiny’s Way, Chapter 3. by Walter Jon WilliamsJust how does Mara call Luke 'Master'? In the sexiest way possible.

4 Times Mara Noticed Luke's Feet and 1 Time Luke Noticed Mara's Mara never thought of herself as finding feet attractive. Until she spotted the toes of one Luke Skywalker. ~~~ Luke never paid much attention to Mara's feet. But they'd never been encased in shiny black leather before.

Written for the fetish/Trope roulette 

13. fics you’ll continue next year

I assume this means fics posted but not completed this year. Since its technically 0 I’ll say: The next installment of the Getting To Know You Series

14. current number of wips

7 which is too many. I’ll be paring down this year and trying to keep the white rabbit in check.

15. number of comments you haven’t read

ZERO. I LIVE for comments.

16. most memorable comment/review

Anything from the Fic Whining Circle!

17. events you participated in this year

Fetish/Trope Roulette which resulted in 4 Times Mara Noticed Luke's Feet and 1 Time Luke Noticed Mara's and its spin-off I Get Off

18. fics you wanted to write but didn’t

This years Halloween fic was supposed to be a Cyberpunk Halloween fic featuring Shirlee Faughn, Mara Jade, and my OC Starry Ice crew. I never finalized the plot so it got pushed to 2020 in favor of Apocalypse Yavin.

[traincat]

I’m honestly super excited over the prospect of a very well done f4 movie and like idk... seeing merch everywhere I look? But I’m mildly terrified of the fandom becoming huge. Bc huge attracts the crazy lol (I.e. m*u fandom) Since you are my official unofficial Queen of The Fantastic Four and have been rocking them forever... do you have any thoughts on this?

I guess my feelings on the subject right now boil down to “resigned.” I’m not thrilled about the whole Disney-Fox acquisitions deal from a big picture perspective and honestly as much as I love the Fantastic Four, I’m not comfortable viewing getting what’ll probably be a competently made, possibly fandom popular Fantastic Four movie as anywhere near an even trade for Disney’s global media takeover. It’s kind of like going “yeah Nestle’s chocolate syrup explosion contaminated 80% of the reservoirs but hey, more chocolate milk.” But whatever, the deal went through, and at least this means I don’t have to worry about execs throwing a fit about film rights and banishing my favorite team from the stands for years again. I’m not saying I won’t be excited later when more concrete plans for a Fantastic Four live action piece are in play, but right now there’s nothing concrete on the table as far as has been revealed to fans and I’m feeling pretty bleak about the consequences for the industry on the whole. But basically a Fantastic Four movie is one of the only properties left that would make me excited about seeing an MCU movie in theaters again. Is it going to be well done? I think that depends on some things.

Okay, I think an MCU Fantastic Four movie would be far more competently done then its predecessors, although that’s not exactly a high bar to clear. The MCU has a formula and that formula works very well for them, and I can’t see them breaking it for the Fantastic Four because it probably would actually be a fairly good fit for them. I think it is very suspicious that Captain Marvel is the only MCU movie receiving a lot of criticism for the MCU being formulaic in nature, because well -- they have been for a long time. It’s just that this is a formula that most audiences like, so nobody thought to complain about it until the lady movie, I guess. But yeah: formulaic. Big time. But this is one of those cases where I think it could work -- give a Fantastic Four movie a snappy script with some good jokes, a fun color palate, a found family theme, and plenty of bought reviews from critics (sorry, I don’t like Disney and I don’t like Disney’s well-documented practices) and I think an MCU Fantastic Four movie could really be a hit. Also, a well-written Johnny Storm would provide plenty of room for one of the MCU’s Egregious Car Scenes, considering Johnny’s a prodigy with automechanics, a car aficionado, and occasionally a professional racecar car. That being said: I am apprehensive about the Fantastic Four in the MCU, albeit mainly from a content perspective.

First off, I hope they let the Fantastic Four be the Fantastic Four and don’t shackle them to another established MCU property, like Spider-Man was. This is already difficult because, well, in a lot of ways, Avengers (2012), the movie that cemented the Avengers as the MCU’s premier superhero team, is a Fantastic Four movie with the Avengers MCU origin pasted on, and I mean this two ways. First, huge amounts of the plot elements featured in Avengers (2012) were lifted straight from an Ultimate Fantastic Four arc called God War (Ultimate Fantastic Four #33-38). How huge? God War features Thanos, Ronan the Accuser, alien whale spaceships, a similar mindcontrol plot to the Hawkeye and Black Widow one but featuring Ben and Johnny, the cosmic cube, and a character who is literally named Tesseract. It’s not an exact duplicate of the plot, but the similarities are heavy enough that I don’t think that can be ignored. The second is that the emotional heft and the consequences of Avengers (2012) -- a hostile alien presence threatens to destroy New York and then the whole world, a small group of heroes emerging victorious and getting thrust into center of things, greater awareness of super-threats and threats from outerspace -- is to the MCU exactly what the Galactus Trilogy (Fantastic Four #48-50) was to 616. So you couldn’t do an adaptation of the Galactus Trilogy now that would have the same heft and gravitas, not in the same way, and the only way they could position the Fantastic Four as the central group of superheroes is if Endgame does what everyone keeps whispering about and really does kill the majority of the Avengers -- which wouldn’t be great for a new Fantastic Four, actually, because it would incite fan hostility against them. Like you said: bigger fandoms, more problems. So either the MCU likely loses their role as the Beyonce of superheroes in the world’s eye, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I DO think the in-universe fame is a big part of the Fantastic Four formula, or you start off the track with a bunch of fans already mad at them. (This is all speculation, mind. I have no idea what the mouse has planned. I’m just spitballing a couple years worth of frustration over MCU Fantastic Four takes.)

All that being said -- the idea of there being a bigger fandom for the Fantastic Four and the MCU bringing in more fans for the Fantastic Four, while it would have it drawbacks because all bigger fandoms have drawbacks (so do smaller fandoms, too), also would have some perks. A lot of people who initially got into the MCU later got into comics, and I would love there to be more Fantastic Four comic fans and more content creators for Fantastic Four fandom. I think Johnny Storm has all the potential to be a total fandom darling, if the cards are played right and they stick to his comics personality, especially his 60s comics portrayal. If the MCU cuts the borderline misogynistic horndog playboy schtick popularized by Chris Evans’ performance in the 2005/07 movies and goes along with the wavy-haired boybander levels of nonthreatening pretty boy team baby and frequent fainter of the comics? The fic. Think of the fic. I love Spideytorch, but I wish there was more Johnny-centric fic in fandom. He’s made for whump. (Granted, people will probably just make him Peter Parker’s conveniently located cardboard cutout boyfriend more, but that already happens, so I’m resigned.)

I don’t know. I’ll probably be more invested, either positively or negatively, as we learn more about what the actual MCU plans for the Fantastic Four are. But the above are my thoughts for right now. I’m still not happy about this deal in terms of having more a creative selection of movies in the future, and in the interests of Disney not owning everything.

[igotopinions]

Books I Read in 2019

* = Re-read Check out past years: 2012, 2013 (skipped), 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. Follow me on Goodreads to get these reviews as they happen. 1) The Right To Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet by Sheila Watt-Cloutier 2) Nollywood: The Making of a Film Empire by Emily Witt 3) The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi 4) My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh Reads like a more mature Chuck Palahniuk. 5) Of Dice and Men by ME I won't be a dink and give myself a star rating or glowing review, but I gotta get that credit for my annual reading challenge! I'll also say it's a richly rewarding experience to, after all the work of writing & editing & publishing & promoting, to re-read something you wrote and still feel all the strong, positive feelings it gave as you figured out the first draft. 6) Lagos Noir, edited by Chris Abani 7) The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St. Clair 8) The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi A really fun, cleverly written coming-of-age story with just the right period touches to it. I gobbled this thing down in a couple of days, having no problem seeing why Zadie Smith spoke highly of it in her latest book of essays. 9) Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice 10) America: The Farewell Tour  by Chris Hedges   TL:DR This book is not toilet paper, but it sure is shit-adjacent. It gave me strong feelings, which you can read on Goodreads. 11) The Anatomical Venus: Wax, God, Death & the Ecstatic by Joanna Ebenstein Great introduction to the subject with fantastic photos & illustrations. My only frustration was the layout, which frequently breaks up the main text mid-sentence for two or even four pages of images with details captions to read or full page quotes, so it takes a bit more effort to read linearly. 12) The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany I found this through the ol' Appendix N reading list and it's not hard to see how this influenced D&D in many ways, but it has value well beyond that novelty. This is a wonderful fantasy tale in the vein of classic fairy tales, a welcome break from the kind of epics we mostly associate with the genre these days. By the final run up to the ending I was really immersed in what I was reading and I know I'll be looking up more of his books. 13) The Worst Is Yet to Come: A Post-Capitalist Survival Guide by Peter Fleming *14) A Canticle For Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.   The first third remains perfect. The middle third is better than I remember, which is to say very good indeed, despite the feeling of inevitability running through it. The final third remains a pretty obvious punchline stretched out over too many pages, something basically predicted by the ending of the middle story. But! Ah! That first third! 15) The Gods of Pegana by Edward John Moreton Dunsany In theory this was an influence on Lovecraft's Dreamlands cycle books. 16) Era of Ignition: Coming of Age in a Time of Rage and Revolution by Amber Tamblyn 17) Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria by Noo Saro-Wiwa 18) 1985 by Anthony Burgess 19) Infinite Detail by Tim Maughan 20) Seasonal Associate by Heike Geissler,  Kevin Vennemann (Afterword), Katy Derbyshire (Translation) 21) Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport 22) How To Write Adventure Modules That Don't Suck Edited by Jobe Bittman 23) The Immortal of World's End by Lin Carter 24) This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life by David Foster Wallace 25) My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite *26) Idoru by Oliver Brackenbury 27) Conan by Robert E. Howard,  L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter 28) Heroes in the Wind: From Kull to Conan by Robert E. Howard 29) The Postman by David Brin Yes, this is that “The Postman”, the one which was adapted into a universally reviled Kevin Costner film in the mid-to-late nineties. It is, however, significantly different and far more enjoyable. It is an extremely White Straight Guy book with some curious ideas about gender in the back end, a "Rah rah, America!" through-line, and an obsession with describing horses as "steaming". It is also a well-crafted, clear, concise, quickly-moving story that avoids several obvious turns most authors would have plowed right into, and overall serves as a great exploration of the power of lies & myths. Plus, yeah, it is kind of heartwarming to imagine the concept of snail mail & the people who deliver it serving to re-unite us in the post-apocalypse. Unlike the movie, I'd honestly recommend this. Heck, I'm thinking I'll start exploring the rest of his catalog. 30) Beastie Boys Book by Michael Diamond  & Adam Horowitz If you're a fan, then you'll like this. If not? I dunno man! The whole thing feels like hearing stories from your favourite old high school buddies when they're at their most honest and interesting. Great stuff. 31) Best. Movie. Year. Ever.: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen by Brian Raftery 32) Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master by Michael Shea 33) Conan of Cimmeria by Robert E. Howard,  L. Sprague De Camp, and Lin Carter. As tends to be the case, the pure Howard stories are best. Carter and De Camp are mostly interested in arranging Howard's work into a larger, more coherent universe...which is fine, I guess, but it has a way of making Conan feel less a legend striding in and out of fantastic situations, more a man - a strong, interesting man, sure, yet still just a man. *34) The Hunter by Richard Stark *35) Beast by Paul Kingsnorth 36) The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline 37) It Came from Something Awful: How a Toxic Troll Army Accidentally Memed Donald Trump into Office by Dale Beran 38) Planetes, Vol. 1-4 by Makoto Yukimura 39) The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan 40) Reawakening Our Ancestors' Lines: Revitalizing Inuit Traditional Tattooing by Angela Hovak Johnston 41) Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq 42) Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott Part life-as-a-writer therapy, part craft, this leans more toward the latter than Stephen King's ON WRITING and that's plenty fine.  A nice, light read that holds value for writers at all stages of their career, I reckon. 43) Conan The Freebooter by Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp As tends to be the case with these collections, the pure Howard stories are best. That said, Lin Carter carries himself much better here than in some of the earlier volumes. There are no magical abstractions of good and evil arm-wrestling each other while Conan just stares at them... 44) The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie 45) The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by H.P. Lovecraft Pretty good stuff but, as was pointed out on the excellent Appendix N Podcast, this story would have been really something had it been edited down a bit. RACISM METER: Honestly, pretty okay, which is saying something for Lovecraft! No cats with awful names or race theory or any of that. Just a good wholesome story of madness and history. 46) Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad by Brett Martin 47) Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber 48) The Enchantress of World's End by Lin Carter 49) The Barbarian of World's End by Lin Carter These are not terribly good books....but I keep reading them for the goofy ideas and setting. Averaging 180 pages, they're not a big investment so hey why not? 50) The Giant of World’s End by Lin Carter The first is the best. I think because it was written as a complete story, not the literary equivalent of another episode of a Saturday morning cartoon, as the other World's End books read. As with the rest of the series it is enjoyed more on the merits of the wacky ideas than the quality of prose, including a part near the end who may well have been a source of inspiration for the Emperor of Mankind in the Warhammer 40K universe. Its main drawback is the classic scifi/fantasy failing of providing multiple asides to historical background meant to add depth to the world but which is ultimately meaningless to the reader as it has little if anything to do with the story - nevermind the characters! Heck, it's only 140 pages. It's fun. The ending actually got to me a little. It's a good place to pluck out ideas for tabletop roleplaying, if you're into that. Yup! 51) Wonder Tales: The Book of Wonder and Tales of Wonder by Lord Dunsany 52) Outcast of Redwall by Brian Jacques It's a fun little story, clearly intended for younger audiences, and I've no regrets having bought it second hand. BUT You could have clipped off nearly a hundred pages if the author didn't feel compelled to give you a highly detailed account of every single meal - including many feasts - had by characters big and small. Holy mother of God do you come out of this knowing a lot about the diets of the various woodland creatures, with their meadowberry pies and etc. 53) Björk's Homogenic by Emily MacKay 54) DCC RPG Annual Vol 1 by Steve Bean, Julian Bernick, Daniel Bishop, Jobe Bittman, Tim Callahan, Colin Chapman, Michael Curtis, Edgar Johnson, Brendan LaSalle, Stephen Newton, Terry Olson, and Harley Stroh 55) Conan the Avenger by Robert Howrd & L Sprague De Camp This is one of the better collections. Only the third story is a reconstruction from one of Howard's outlines, the rest are undiluted and glorious.That said, the back two stories are a bit cringey re: race, *especially* the reconstruction I mentioned. I'd say I don't know who looks at a Howard story and thinks "Ah, this needs more complex racial hierarchy nonsense!" but I do and that man's name is L. Sprague De Camp, apparently!The important thing is now I'm all caught up for the next episode of The Appendix N podcast, which I heartily recommend. 56) Medallion Status: True Stories from Secret Rooms by John Hodgman 57) Grand Union: Stories by Zadie Smith 58) The Singing Citadel by Michael Moorcock 59) White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo 60) The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson *61) Virtual Light by William Gibson 62) The Dragon Masters by Jack Vance *63) Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky, Ursula K. Le Guin (Foreword), Olena Bormashenko (Translator) *64) Bill, the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison A fun little dunk on Heinlein and his ilk. Very slapstick. 65) Gonzo by Hunter S. Thompson *66) McGlue by Ottessa Moshfegh

STATS Non-Fiction: 23 Fiction: 42 Poetry Collections:0 Comic Trades: 0 Wrote Myself: 1

[darrengowland]

VideoPal Review

VideoPal Review – Exit Pop-Ups, Overlays & old CTAs are Extinct – Here’s What To Do Instead! 

  Name: VideoPal 

Product Owner: Todd Gross & Paul Ponna 

Website: Click Here 

Price: $39 

  In a nutshell, what is VideoPal? 

Pop-ups, exits pops, overlays, floating forms… The might have worked in 2010, they don’t work now. Why? Because people have seen them so many times, they don’t grab their attention any more. VideoPal is a ground-breaking software that uses tiny “walking-talking” video 2D or 3D animated character, which speak and engage with your visitors (using a choice of pre-recorded voices, or even your own voice) and help to convert your traffic into massive sales. Not only that; it can also translate your English instructions and messages in 24 different languages, allowing you to tap into the often forgotten non-English speaking audience.   

Who is VideoPal for? 

VideoPal is ultra-simple to use, so from that point of view, it is beginner friendly. Creating video avatars may sound complex, but VideoPal makes it easy, and you don’t need to know a thing about code. However, VideoPal is not a course that shows you a business plan, or how to make money. It assumes you are already making money online (or at least have chosen what you want to do online). From that point of view, it is aimed at slightly above newbie-level and beyond.  

Basically, anyone who has websites, sales pages, landing pages etc., and want to increase their sales conversions will benefit:  

Social media marketer 

Ecom store owners 

Local brick-and-mortar business  

Product creator 

Blogger / Author 

Affiliate marketer 

  3 things I love about VideoPal: 

Your video avatars are 100% cloud-based. One major issue I thought of when I first heard about VideoPal was that it would take up a lot of storage space and slow down a website, particularly WordPress, which is the main website that most online business owners start with. VideoPal hosts all your avatars on Google’s cloud storage for you. All you have to do is generate an avatar on their cloud-based software, and then paste the code snippet into your website. This means no problem with slowdown of website. 

You get a whole host of 2D and 3D avatars you can use, but what is truly unbelievable is how you can film yourself on a green screen background, and turn yourself into an avatar! It’s easy to think this is a gimmick, but seriously, how attention-grabbing would it be if you go to a site and see a real human avatar speaking to you, telling you how to navigate around the site, or telling you where to click, what else to add to cart etc.? That’s the power of VideoPal. Once you have it on your pages and sites, you’ll start hating ugly sign up forms and popups…I know I do. 

Another major problem I thought of was how these avatars would work on different devices. Remember, more people search on smartphones now than on desktop. But I had no need to worry. Todd and Paul have thought of this too, and made sure VideoPal avatars work perfectly on any device, not matter how small or big. 

  What will I get inside VideoPal? 

You get the full, easy-to-use software platform, including: 

Full video creation and rendering: VideoPal handles all the video creation and renders your avatars on the fly, you don’t need pricey video creation software or an expensive video editor. 

Professional Human Avatars: These actors and actresses have proven audience appeal, and are proven to increase conversion rates. Choose from pre-selected male and female actors to be your avatar. Use them to engage with your audience and entice them with offers. 

Make yourself into an avatar function: You can add your own videos with any green screen or “solid background” and convert them to stunning Video Pal’s with invisible background that will play on all websites. 

Life-Like 3D Animated Avatars: There are incredibly human-like (male and female) avatars that you can use to convey your message to your visitors in an eye-catching way.  

Stunning 2D Animated Avatars: These characters are vector-based animated characters that you can use to engage your visitors.  

State-of-the-art, life-like text-to-speech technology: Proprietary text-to-speech engine can easily record your own voice, or upload any pre-recorded voice/video track. Also customize your scripts, or use one of our pre-written scripts, with the voice and customizations that you choose. You have a wide variety of options, and a selection of over 47 male and female voices. 

Global Accessibility: Targeting a specific country or language? VideoPal allows you to create your avatar to speak in any of 24 languages! You can use the built-in auto-translation system to convert your script cleanly and professionally. Your avatars will speak to your audience in their own native language. 

A powerful array of conversion tools to add to your VideoPal avatars: These include customizable call-to-action buttons, easy opt-in tools that interface directly with Aweber, GetResponse, and any other autoresponder, coupon codes and more. 

Works on any device or browser: Whether you’re on a desktop PC, tablet or even a smartphone, you can create and manage your avatars quickly and easily, with no software installation needed. Just copy and paste the code snippet generated by the app into your website and you’re done. And the avatars themselves work beautifully on any device. 

Lifetime cloud hosting for your avatars: VideoPal’s lightning-fast, high-performance cloud hosting on Google’s award-winning network eliminates the need for expensive video hosting. 

  Any drawbacks to VideoPal? 

It’s difficult to find a drawback here, because this technology really is amazing. The only thing I can think of is that it’s not newbie-friendly. Let me make this clear. It IS beginner friendly, as in, if you’ve never created videos before, this software will walk you through everything. However, if you’re not already making money in the online sphere, then this is not a course that tells you how to make money. It assumes you have web pages and sites, and are possibly already using things like popups and forms, but have seen a drop in conversions over the last year or so because people are tired of them. 

If you’re a complete beginner, who has no idea what avenue to pursue to make money online, then VideoPal is not for you. However, if you’ve already started making money online in some capacity, with your own sites, pages etc. then VideoPal will explode your sales and signup conversions.

  Watch VideoPal in action here

  Do I get any bonuses with VideoPal?  

Yes, you get 5 bonuses in total: 

Two highly engaging ‘niche friendly’ video avatars: To create just one highly engaging video avatar would cost you anywhere from $300 to $500. Here you get 2 completely free. 

Real world video pal customer case studies: Get a sneak-peek into real-world case studies of VideoPal customers who are using video avatars on their sites to make profits. 

FIVE additional human video avatars: Hiring an actor to do the videos for you would cost you $100 or more per video. Professional onscreen actors who know their craft and engage your audiences are very rare. You will get access to five done-for-you ‘call to action’ videos that you can use as avatars on your site using VideoPal. 

Six additional cartoon style avatar videos: You will also get six additional ‘cartoon style’ video avatars that you can place on your websites, blogs, affiliate pages and more in seconds.  

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  The post VideoPal Review appeared first on Netmillionairedude.

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Written by R. Ann Parris on The Prepper Journal.

Editors Note: Another article from R. Ann Parris to The Prepper Journal. As always, if you have information for Preppers that you would like to share then enter into the Prepper Writing Contest with a chance to win one of three Amazon Gift Cards with the top prize being a $300 card to purchase your own prepping supplies!

The Bug-Out Bag is pretty much a ubiquitous prepper topic. As with GHB-Get Home Bags, 72-our kits, and INCH-I’m Never Coming Home bags, there’s usually some mention of water.

For good cause. Dehydration can take effect very quickly, and lead to stumbles, inattention, and poor decision-making. Pack-friendly water options deserve consideration, especially when we’re planning for interruptions in services and other hardships.

On the Road

Don’t ignore a BOB or GHB and field water resupply just because “I never leave home”. Almost all of us travel. Frequently or infrequently, we depart on trips that take 30-90 minutes by vehicle, if not hours or days.

Some of us go RV’g, camping, hunting, fishing, and off-roading – regularly, somewhere off the daily beaten path. Some of us may still vacation-vacation. Some of us chaperone school trips.

Friends and family draw us out with funerals, weddings, illness or injury, child births, holidays, and boot camp, college, and high school graduations.

Many of us take monthly, quarterly, or annual trips to feed stores, big-box warehouse retailers, and discount outlet malls. We might also infrequently travel to take advantage of back-to-school sales or tax holidays, either a neighboring state or brick-and-mortar locations outside our normal stomping grounds.

Trips that take next to no time when traffic flows smoothly can expand exponentially when roads get gummed up. Should our ride go down, those quick 30-60-minute road trips can extend to hours or days of foot travel.

Even if we keep our vehicle, we may end up needing a water resupply – for ourselves, or to keep that vehicle running.

Plan For Varied Water Sources

Ideally, we have starting points – the silcock valve behind a store that’ll be closed, the exact lay of a drainage canal or duck creek – and we’re familiar with area-specific risks.

Each water source and the approaches to it greatly affect how and what we can use to efficiently and safely resupply. “One is none, two is one” applies hugely to attaining clean, safe water on the move, but at the same time remember that we have to carry this bag (putting BOB on a diet is a whole topic on its own).

Especially if we’re planning to hike across the unknown using maps and terrain cues of surface water, however, and especially if we have kids, pets, injuries, or aging to deal with, we may need to pack differently than originally planned.

Filters – The Fine Print

Make sure to read-read the information about our portable filters. Most filters have a maximum number of gallons/liters they’ll effectively treat.

The effective lifespan also regularly varies based on how dirty water.

It’s just something to be aware of, and to remember while assessing our needs and distances. Small portable emergency filters tend to filter the lowest volumes. In some cases, they may only treat 3-10 gallons or 15-30 gallons.

We can extend the life of most filters by doing a rough pre-filtration through socks, tampons in a bottle neck, coffee filters, t-shirts, or sand drips.

We can also extend our filters’ lives by not using them if we’re accessing water that should be clean, like from a faucet on a trail, somebody’s irrigation line, or outside a building, or if we’ve used the fire we built to drip-catch distilled water.

To avoid the unnecessary use, we’ll sometimes just have to remember to unscrew a cap to drink instead of sucking on the nozzle. Sometimes we may have to get creative.

Water Treatment Tabs & Solutions

If we go for a chemicals to kill off uglies, we have to be as aware of the same total volume we can treat as we do with physical filtration methods. We also want to remember that they typically take some time to work, some in as little as 5-15 minutes, but others 1-2 hours.

That means we’re mostly likely going to want at least two water containers (which isn’t a terrible idea, anyway, especially for those of us who ascribe to that other “rule of threes”). One bottle is in use, while the other is going through its treatment process.

When we use chemical treatments, don’t forget to let it start working, shake it, then partly unscrew the cap and shake it again. Doing so gets the treatment solution into all areas of the threads and caps – which we’ll touch with our lips, and which can re-contaminate the whole container. If we have a sipper-nipple or sports top, open or pinch that, too, to fully expose all areas.

That goes for Camelbaks, too. Especially Camelbak-type bags, really. They already have some issues with stagnant areas to contend with, but it’s especially true of bags and hoses that are going to be lowered into water sources directly.

Which brings us to …

Water Access Capabilities

Filling a Camelbak without a faucet can be “funtastic” (at least Camelbak-type bags have that nice, wide opening). It gets more funtastic yet with a water source that’s barely trickling, shallow pools, ice, or a sketchy bank. Same goes for most types of canteens and narrow-neck bottles. Cold, moving water and slick rocks add to the adventure, especially if you don’t have a bottle or mug to use as a baler (which gets contaminated in the process).

It’s something to keep in mind when loading a get-home or bug-out bag, especially with kids, pets, and seniors.

The various straw types are fantastic, and they have a lot of benefits, but they also have some huge drawbacks.

One, you have to get your face right down 6-18” from the surface of water to use them.

That lowers audio-visual observation. It also regularly requires holding a push-up or squat (I hope your bag is well balanced) or laying flat on the ground, all of which decrease fast-response capabilities. It also increases the chance of soaking clothing and getting muddy (pack non-rip, sturdy rain gear).

Second drawback: If all you have is the life straw and a quart canteen or bottle, you’re going to be sourcing water again before long, especially in high heat. That’s going to slow you (significantly).

Third: You can’t use them to filter water for a pet or someone who can’t access that water source. (Workaround: Play the suck-spit game to fill a container.)

To reduce all the drawbacks, source a container that can be contaminated – even a plastic bag will work (if you have a name-brand LifeStraw, double check the amount of depth/width you need). Fetch and carry water in that and stick the straw in to drink. It’s not an option for pets, though.

Some of the pump-draw filters have nice 2-3’ intake hoses on them, but some of them require you to be just as close to the water surface as those LifeStraws. That can be handy.

Even so, we also have to consider the times when banks are frozen, wet or slick, steep, there’s an overhang and-or ice shelf.

It’s not actually a difficult fix.

Use a coozie with a strap as a pouch or source a container with a wide mouth to use as a mini well bucket, even something like a used Powerade bottle or a tin can we can punch/drill some holes around the lip of – anything we can duck-tape a carabiner to or get 550 cord tied around securely. We can pitch them out and haul them back up to skip sketchy approaches.

Psst … Remember that on most lanyard-ready bottles the clip/loops are attached to the lid, not the bottle, and bottle-lid attachments are regularly flimsy. Plan for that.

Some of my stand-alone, inner-bag, and vehicle kits are in soft mini-coolers or thermal lunchboxes. They’re handy for a whole host of tasks and reasons, but I increased their use specifically to expand my water capabilities.

Most have a hard plastic liner, and the bags themselves will hold some water long enough for me to haul them up or toward me, even if they don’t have a film liner or the liner gets punctured. I can use them to lift water up to me safely, and I can carry (and be treating) a gallon-plus of water, even if my bottles get lost or damaged.

A wet-dry bag or pouch of the type with open handles or a cinch closure can also be used to bring up water with less observation loss and less risk of getting soaked, slipping, or falling.

Both beat the pants off a bottle, canteen cup, and Camelbak when there’s a skim of water over ice and for catching solar-still drips, and they haul up more per load as a well bucket when access is iffy.

Water on the Go

Over even just hours, we can easily dehydrate (even when it’s cold) and any circumstances that slow us down increases that risk. Don’t neglect a BOB/GHB, and don’t neglect practical water resupply for it.

Longtime through-packers and multi-day hike-in campers can be excellent sources for information about water options for our bags. The military can also be an excellent source for gear and reviews.

It’s important that we remember their context, though, especially the military, campsite, and trail hikers. Things that work or are available to them – like faucets and bottled water – aren’t always an option for us, and won’t be as safe or as readily obtainable in a scenario where we’re actually using a bag, short term or long duration.

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