#best apps for students 2021

[nanowrimo]

5 Tips for Building a Sustainable Writing Practice

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. First Draft Pro, a 2023 Camp NaNoWriMo sponsor, is a great writing app—whether you’re writing solo or with a co-author. Here are a few tips for building a sustainable writing practice, brought to you by author Ariana Brown and First Draft Pro.

We’ve all heard the advice to “write every day,” as if it were that easy! Translation: suck it up, no one cares if you’re tired. But what if there was another way to get writing done, without being unkind to yourself? 

Hi, I’m Ariana Brown, and I teach writers how to create a writing practice that is sustainable, flexible, and fulfilling. Most of my students are chronically ill, disabled, neurodivergent, or simply exhausted from the daily stresses of life. I know writing isn’t your only responsibility—capitalism makes sure of that! But I strongly believe that writing should be an enjoyable activity you look forward to.

Below I’ve compiled my top tips for exhausted writers who want to be kinder to themselves—and still get the work done.

1. Add pleasure to your writing routine.

Sensory pleasures are neither frivolous nor are they only for children. They’re a crucial part of being alive! They give us something to look forward to when times are tough and we need motivation. Candles, soft blankets, cold beverages, mood lighting, dance breaks, yummy treats—whatever you choose, make sure it’s something you love. Paint your nails a fun color so you have something beautiful to look at while you’re typing away. Make a playlist of your favorite songs and after you finish a chapter, blast one song so loudly you have to get up and dance. Then, get back to writing. Remember, even for the most focused among us, pleasure is a better motivator than shame.

2. Be clear about your intentions.

What brought you to writing in the first place? For some, it was the ability to escape into our imaginations. For others, it was the chance to finally express what we’d been holding inside. Identify your reason for writing, then ask yourself: Am I still enjoying this? Do I still feel connected to my reason for writing? If not, explore how you can strengthen your connection to your inner child’s reason for writing. 

3. Work with your brain, not against it.

If we know that everyone’s brain works differently, why do we force strict discipline and linear processes on ourselves? My advice: find or create a writing process that works for you. Maybe you love outlines; maybe you prefer to see where the words take you. Either way, make space for wandering, play, and discovery as you write. Take brain breaks. Doodle, map, dance, and draw when you get distracted. Body double with other writers, try new exercises and prompts to make the writing sing, and take plenty of breaks to stretch your body and talk to friends. We come to writing with our whole selves. Listen to your body, don’t shut it off.

4. Find a writing community.

You don’t have to wait for a community to come to you! I offer co-writing sessions on Zoom four times a month for my Patreon supporters, but do what works for you. Attend local open mics as an audience member and cheer on your peers. Invite your best friends to your living room once a month for a two hour writing/crafting session. Or check your local library and bookstores for free workshops and author events. You don’t have to do this work alone.

5. Develop a gratitude practice.

Finishing your draft is a huge accomplishment, but it’s not the only milestone to be celebrated. Consider creating opportunities to thank yourself throughout your writing practice. You’re doing an amazing and difficult thing. The fact that you keep showing up is worthy of celebration. Whether you decide to journal, rest, pray, meditate, or reward yourself, a little gratitude goes a long way.

Ariana Brown is a queer writer from San Antonio, TX, based in Houston. She is the author of We Are Owed (Grieveland, 2021) and Sana Sana (Game Over Books, 2020), and a national collegiate poetry slam champion. Ariana holds an MFA in Poetry, MS in Library and Information Science, and a BA in African Diaspora Studies and Mexican American Studies. She has been writing, teaching, and performing for over a decade. Follow her online @ArianaThePoet and www.arianabrown.com. 

[jikookuntold]

The Untold Truth of "Letter"

Back in 2021, 2022, or even early 2023, if someone had told me about the possibility of JK having vocal credits in Jimin's solo album, I would have called it wishful thinking at best. But it happened, and we got the song "Letter" (AKA Dear Army) as a hidden track in Jimin's first solo album, FACE, with back vocals by JK, and his name written invisibly in the album book.

The perfectly matching vocals of Jikook, with the heartfelt lyrics and soft instruments, undoubtedly made one of the most beautiful songs of the year, which could break many records for Jimin and his album if it was released in the streaming and buying services. The release of Letter as a hidden track in Jimin's solo album raised many questions and debates among Jikookers, and as someone who barely scrolls in the Tumblr app, I know I'm a bit late for the party, but I may or may not have some notes to add to the already made discussions. FYI, these are my analytic views and speculations, I am fully aware that this song has been named "Dear Army", and Jimin called it a "Fan song" on different occasions. So, I do not intend to ignore that and diminish Jimin's expression of love for his fans.

What's a Hidden Track?

Before getting into "Letter", we need to understand what a hidden track is. Well, the definition is pretty clear; When a song is not listed in the official track-list of a music album, but it exists in (some versions of) the physical printed CD, cassette, or LP, it's called a "hidden track". 

Hidden Tracks of BTS

There are several techniques and reasons to "hide" a track in an album, but in the case of BTS discography, the hidden tracks exist for a specific reason, and I'm going to explain it with the only examples we have. The debut album (2013) and Love Yourself: Her (2017), are the only BTS albums including hidden tracks, and if we ignore the skits in each album, "Path" and "Sea" are the only hidden songs BTS ever released. So, these two songs must have something(s) in common and different from the other BTS tracks that caused them to end up as a hidden track. To find that common factor, we need to check their lyrics first:

Path

[Intro: RM] Yeah, wassup? You know, time flows like stars (Check it, check, check, check, check it out) [Verse 1: RM] I started from imitating Eminem, Garion, Epik High To writing my own raps Now I see that I’m already at Hongdae My lyrics back then were all (****) Bossy But we dunno, we dunno When I dreamed without anyone to stop me Reality tied me down and trapped me inside Oh, my youth trapped me My hot heart lost to my cold mind (Damn) As I blindly told myself my decision was right I don’t know whether it’s an angel or a devil, but it says to me "Do you really have any plans to rap properly?" (Yes or no?) I didn’t have more time to hesitate and didn’t want to be stupid So I came here and three years passed by Some say art is long, life is short But for now, art is life Life is sports, just do it, uh [Chorus] If I had chosen a different path, would have I been any different? If I stopped and looked back (Oh hey ya, hey ya) What will I see at the end of this road? Where you should’ve been standing? (Oh hey ya, hey ya) [Verse 2: Suga, Suga & Jungkook] A long time passed and by 2013, I was a trainee for three years I was a high school student who grew overnight (I became a child) White hair grew from my desires and one by one my many friends (Parted ways with me) I spent my time in Seoul alone without a family (That was my third spring) I thought my worries would disappear with my debut ahead of me I closed my eyes to the present that had nothing to change But the reality was different, even as my family and friends tried to stop me I walked into the tunnels that shed no light on my own I thought I would be alone (Why?) As it turns out, there weren’t seven bare feet but we were wearing the shoe named Bangtan We’ll have to go forward, take one more step, become newer And that’s how I spent my fourth spring in Seoul (Whoa) [Chorus] If I had chosen a different path, would have I been any different? (Hey) If I stopped and looked back (Hey) Oh hey ya, hey ya What will I see at the end of this road? Where you should’ve been standing? (Oh hey ya, hey ya) [Verse 3: J-Hope] 2010, the year I walked towards Seoul! I just loved to dance, and now I’m standing on top of the stage Until then, I overcame many pains and scars to prepare myself I survived with my belief to bend, not break, and ran for three years Let the stars inside my heart shine! Now shine on me differently Write “Bangtan” on the paper world I walk my future with more lights on Give a smile to that far future (Ha, ha)

As you can see, the lyrics are simple and self-explanatory, so I guess we don't need any lyrics analysis, and the description section of the Genius translation I used here, says it all:

“길 (Road/Path) follows the member’s decisions to become idols in the Korean music industry. They recall their different upbringings from listening to hip hop in school to the hard years of being trainees under BigHit Entertainment. BTS pose the questions of how their lives would be different if they made a different decision, and they ask themselves what the future entails. A very introspective track about their career for a debut album, BTS display their thought processes as they enter the music scene.”

Sea

[Intro: Jungkook] Oh, ah, yeah [Verse 1: Rap Monster] I just started walking and ended up at the sea I'm looking at the coast from here There's endless sand and the rough wind I'm still looking at a desert I wanted to have the sea so I swallowed you up But I'm even thirstier than before Is what I know really the ocean? Or a blue desert? [Refrain: J-Hope] I don't know, I don't know If I'm feeling the waves right now, yeah I don't know, I don't know If I'm being chased by the sand wind, yeah I don't know, I don't know Is this the sea or the desert? Is this hope or despair? Is this real or fake? Shit [Pre-Chorus: J-Hope] I know, I know, my hardship right now I know, I know, I'll overcome I know, I know, open me up It's the place I can rely on Think positive, I'm swallowing my dry spit Even if I'm nervous, even if I'm in a desert I'm in the beautiful Namib Desert [Chorus: Jimin, Jin] Where there is hope, there is always trial (4) [Hook: V, Jungkook] Where there is hope You know, you know You know, yeah yeah (2) [Verse 2: Suga] I thought this was the ocean but it's a desert A medium-sized, ordinary idol was my second name Countless people get cut from broadcast But someone's empty spot is our dream They say some of these kids can't make it cuz their agency is too small I know, I know, I know too Times when the seven of us had to sleep in one room With foolish hope that tomorrow will be different before we fell asleep We saw the mirage in the desert but we couldn't grasp it Praying that we'll remain in this desert till the end Praying that this isn't truly our reality [Verse 3: Suga] In the end, we reached the mirage and it became our reality The scary desert became the ocean with our blood, sweat and tears But why is there this fear in between the happiness? Because we know too well that this place is really a desert [Refrain 2: Suga] I don't wanna cry I don't wanna rest No, who cares if we rest a little? No no no I don't wanna lose It's always a desert I told you everything Then I'll just be more depressed [Chorus: Jungkook, V] Where there is hope, there is always trial (2) [Hook: Jimin, Jin] Where there is hope You know, you know You know, yeah yeah (2) [Bridge: Rap Monster] Ocean, desert, the world Everything, the same thing Different name I see ocean, l see desert I see the world Everything's, the same thing With a different name It's life again [Hook: V, Jungkook] Where there is hope You know you know you know yeah (2) [Chorus] Where there is hope, there is always trial

Compared to “Path”, we have more innuendos and metaphors in “Sea” because of Namjoon’s lyricism (it was supposed to be in his mixtape at first), but as the description says:

"It discusses the hardships BTS has experienced since debut, particularly struggling to compete with groups from other, larger agencies. In this song, BTS reflects on these hardships, fearing that their global fame and success could leave as suddenly as it arrived."

Common Denominator

These two lyrics have one big thing in common, and it's the topic they are discussing. They talk about the members' struggles, fears, hopes, and dreams career-wise. I was thinking maybe these issues are something they can only share with their longtime fans, not the general public, therefore, they decided to release them as hidden tracks in the physical album for their real fans who buy them, something like the difference between Weverse and Instagram, I guess? Then I realized that’s something Namjoon has mentioned himself to Billboard Magazine, in LYS: Her interview:

And if fans are so lucky to own the physical album, they’ll hear two hidden tracks at the very. Why keep them secretive?

"I think they’re hidden because you have to be a real fan of BTS to understand them. Otherwise, you won’t. Otherwise, you’d like to be, “Why are they feeling so confused about things? They’re good?!? They’re No. 1 somewhere, they have so much stuff, why are they worried?” People always talk about that. But if you are a true fan of BTS and you buy the album and you listen to the hidden track — if you are an Army and we spent time together from 2013, 2014 — they could understand. It’s kind of more special, more closer, to our true hearts"

What about "Letter"?

In conclusion, hidden tracks for BTS, are something between them and their real fans who know about the path they have wended, therefore they can open up to them through lyrics and talk about their fears and struggles and ambitions without being judged or misunderstood. Also, we have to debunk some of the misconceptions going around (especially after the release of FACE) about hidden tracks. For example, some claimed that Letter is made for fans because hidden tracks are always supposed to be “gifts” for fans. This claim obviously can’t be true when you are able to listen to a hidden track legally, only by purchasing the physical album. Gifts are supposed to be free of charge, like Promise, Still with You, Christmas Love, My You, and so on. 

Then what about “Letter”? Why this song is a hidden track in Jimin’s first solo album? Did Jimin want to say something by hiding this track in FACE? To answer this questions, we need to pay attention to the lyrics and how the song was made:

 [Verse 1] What should I say? And how should I convey it? I'm really not getting my words right I know it sounds so clichéd So that it's not taken lightly Let me say it to you properly [Chorus] I say oh-oh, I hope you can be happier You, who stretched your hand out to me whenever I fell I say oh-oh, I'll hold it now (I'll hold it) So when you feel like crying, you won’t fall [Verse 2] After all this time has passed Will we still be the same? Just like we were when we first met, hmm-mmm If we are together, even the desert could turn to a sеa Just like how we were then, oh-hoo-ooh [Chorus] I say oh-oh, I really hope that it’ll last forever You, who felt like a warm spring to me in a cold winter I say oh-oh, I'll always cherish it All those moments between you and I [Refrain] Baby, don't leave Just stay by my side, yeah To you, who see me bigger than what my little self is (to you) So that I can give as much as I’ve received (oh-oh) So that I can keep my word (oh-oh) Don't worry, just stay by my side, yeah (Yeah) We don’t know what the future holds (holds, yeah) And that’s scary and makes us afraid (oh-oh) But don’t forget that we’re always together (don't forget) [Outro] I know it sounds so clichéd So that it's not taken lightly Let me say it to you properly

The Feelings

If you compare these lyrics to "Path" and "Sea" you can clearly see the differences, and except a mention of "sea and desert" there's nothing in common between them. Letter is not a monologue about career issues, it's a romantic song. These lyrics are expressing the feelings and addresses them to an audience and appreciates them. But how was this song made?

According to Jimin, at first, SMF Pt2 was supposed to be the last track of his solo album, but in their YTC promotion and recording era when they announced that they have planned to put their group activities on rest, Jimin decided to express his feelings of the moment through a letter, and turned that letter to song lyrics. Producers liked the song so much and decided to add it in his album and that’s how “Letter” was born. Although Jimin didn’t explain much about those “feelings” and left the conclusion to us like a true artist, we all know that this song is totally different from the other tracks in his album.

All the tracks of FACE are dark and sad. Jimin’s first album is all about himself, and he talks about the painful emotions he had as an artist and a person in the past few year, but with “Letter” there is a different story. Recording Academy admitted this and wrote:

“Though the EP is technically only six songs, the physical version has an additional “hidden” track called “Letter”. The song provides an intimacy that stands out from the other FACE tracks, capturing Jimin in his best form. The lyrics are poignant and vulnerable as Jimin pleads for someone to stay (“Baby, don't leave Just stay by my side, yeah”) The biggest surprise though? Fellow BTS member Jungkook contributes vocals to harmonize with Jimin.”  

A Fan Song?

“Letter” being a “Fan Song” is a stated fact by Park Jimin himself, and there can’t be any arguments about it, but that fact doesn’t mean Jimin made this song with the thought of fans in his head and all about them. In one of my old posts, I said that a faceless crowd can’t be the muse for a romantic song, especially when that song has a "standing-out intimacy".

Another reason for calling "Letter" a fan song, is the fact that it starts at 6:13 of the album, the numbers that remind us of the debut date of BTS. We can't call this a coincidence because we know how thoughtful and punctual Jimin is. But don’t forget that 6.13 is more of BTS time than ARMY time. So, as much as you call this track a song for fans, it can be called a song for his fellow BTS members.

Why JK?

Now, let’s address the elephant in the room. Why JK was a part of this song? Did it mean something for Jimin, or did he have no other options? Jimin said that FACE is an album about himself, and he didn’t feel right about featuring other artists in it, that’s why he decided to record SMF Pt2 all alone and do all the rap parts by himself instead of featuring Yoongi in it. He collaborated with several producers and songwriters (including Namjoon), but there was no featured artist in the whole album.

About the background vocals of the album, he did most parts by himself, and for the other parts, he worked with artists who already had credits in his album, such as BLVSH, Sumin, and James Keys. But JK didn’t have anything to do with Jimin’s album. Jimin was fully capable of doing the background vocals of Letter by himself, as he did for the first parts of the song. Jimin never really explained why he decided to have JK in the song, other than saying their voices match. This known fact doesn’t give us much information, but we can have our speculations. 

Closer Than This?

Another thing that questions the idea of “Letter" being inspired by fans, is the existence of “Closer Than This”. The newest release of Jimin is the exact definition of a fan song, the lyrics are straightforward and directly address the fans and leave no place for speculation. If CTT is the result of Jimin getting inspired by his fans, then “Letter” must be inspired by something different because these two songs are not comparable. 

The difference becomes more obvious when we look at the initial version of the Letter lyrics in Jimin’s drafts. I wonder what the Grammy journalist who called the final lyrics of “Letter” intimate would have said if they read this: 

You hugged me tightly Only you who protected me Hold my hand, hold my hand tightly You who reached out my hand You held out your hand to me

We don’t know what was going on in Jimin’s mind when he wrote these, but we can see that the initial lyrics have been moderated, and the intimate parts, which clearly refer to a person, didn’t end up in the final lyrics. FYI, I’m doing a lyric analysis here, and this is not a complaint or conspiracy theory because Jimin said that he liked the way the final version came out, and it's all that matters.

For Fans, Not About Fans

So far we made it clear that "hidden tracks" are not about fans, they are for fans like any other BTS song, but the hidden tracks are a secret between the artist and the fan, something that only the true and dedicated fan can understand, and this applies to Jimin's "Letter".

Jimin gave up on many records for streaming and buying by releasing this song as a hidden track in his album. So, there must be an important message in this song that he wanted to convey to the true fans. He did his share of being thankful to fans by CTT, and I don't think he needed to do it twice in a year.

Maybe you prefer to think Jimin just made this song for ARMY and hid it in the album as a surprise or because it didn’t match with the whole concept of FACE, and you might not be wrong about any of that. But, don’t forget that he didn’t explain anything about this, and we both are just making assumtions.

Yes, maybe Jimin didn't acknowledge JK being a part of Letter in his promotion era, but JK did everything he could for his share. A few hours before the release of FACE, he started a live and played a part of it with his guitar, and months later, he watched Jimin's live performance for Festa while harmonizing with it and reminding us that he knows the lyrics very well. In Jimin's documentary he was very supportive and even teased for a live performance with him in future.

Why Just Jikook?

Jimin and Jungkook are not the only members of BTS. But I don't know why everytime Jimin or JK do something with romantic undertones, the fans (OT7 ARMYs, to be more specific) immediately try to label it as "About ARMY". I usually don't see this energy with the other five members. I'm perfectly sure they are also very grateful for ARMY, they have released several songs about them, and they would have loved to collaborate in a fan song with Jimin, too.

Then why Jimin only included JK in Letter? Why he wanted to sing for "ARMY" with him? Unless we assume Jimin's gratitude towards ARMY has connections with JK, and I don’t even want to bring up 2019 "I am army" jokes. But "Letter" is the song the most optimistic Jikookers didn't expect to exist. You may try to ignore and normalize it, but you can't deny the fact that Letter proved Jikook's unbreakable connection as two harmonic colleages, long time friends, and inseparable souls.

[thenextdawn-temporarilyclosed]

One of Your Kind (CH. 3)

Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4 | Ch. 5 | Ch. 6 | Ch. 7 | Ch. 8 | Ch. 9 | Ch. 10

Word count: 2.8K

Summary: navigating through life in America. You go through a lot of stuff. Within Ups and downs, you get to direct your first movie on your own, it didn’t go as expected, but you’ll soon get a better job.

Warnings: none

Pairing: Jenna Ortega X Fem!Reader

———

January 2021

You weren’t one for social medias, you really weren’t. You hated the fact that whatever app you opened, there were people ready to judge you and criticize you or talk shit about you. It sucked, which is why you relied A LOT on emails. you had tried looking for Jenna’s email to send her a message asking for her number, since you promised you’d text her, but you never found it, so she either didn’t do emails or didn’t want to receive emails. It honestly felt bad, not being able to talk and stay in contact with your probably best friend, so when “The Fallout” Premiered only for actors in LA, you hoped to see her there. Megan had made sure you got an invitation because you helped her a lot for that movie. She felt like she owed you and even though you told her thousand of times that she didn’t have to do anything for you, she insisted. If anything, you were the one to owe her but she never asked for anything in return if not for you to study.

You were given an incredibly pretty dress for the premiere, stylists and hair stylists sent by Megan had come at the apartment she gave you, and they got you ready and pretty for the night, you even had a car taking you there. When you arrived Megan was the first one to greet you with a tight hug. “Hey darling! How have you been? How’s your English?” She asked and you smiled “definitely better. It was true, living here and only listening and speaking English definitely made a difference. My pronunciation definitely still needs to be worked on, but I can understand almost everything and form sensed sentences.” You said smiling and Megan was nearly amazed by you. For it only having been 5 months since you wrapped up filming, you had definitely gotten better. “What about you? How are you?” You asked her as you walked together in the theater. “I’m great! I’m really proud of how the movie turned out. It’s really good, you’ll see. Oh wait, this reminds me that I have to do this!”

“Hey everyone! May I have some attention?” People invited to the premiere and even paparazzis turned to the two of you. “This girl right here, her name’s (Y/N)(L/N), she was my student while shooting this movie and I’m telling you she has some talent! She needs a round of applause” you blushed, not used to this kind of attention as paparazzis started taking picture of the two of you before heading inside to watch the movie. “Megan, do you know if Jenna and Maddie are coming?” You asked hopeful. “No unfortunately they’re not. Miss your friends?” She asked and you nodded, giving her a small sad smile. “When everyone left set, me and Jenna promised each other we’d text, but we never exchanged phone numbers. I don’t do social medias and she doesn’t have an email so I don’t know how to reach her. Do you have her number?” Well, too bad for you she didn’t have it. It sucked, you just wanted to talk to your friend…

The movie was amazing. You found yourself to be hit by all of it, when filming you don’t really pay much attention to the details, but seeing this movie come to life was just amazing. People don’t go through traumas the same way, and in this movie Jenna did a great job with Vada, how she doesn’t really go through it but tries to put it aside even if in the ends it all comes afloat. Putting the trauma aside is not what you’re supposed to do because it always, always resurfaces no matter what you try to do. “Oh here it comes!” Megan snapped you out of your thoughts when the scene you directed came up and it was utterly perfect. The way it was filmed, the way the cameras moved. It was all just perfect. The whole movie itself was perfect, and at the end, Jenna’s performance made you tear up a bit.

After that, you stopped hearing from Megan as well. She was busy with the press and the interviews and you watched every single one of them, Jenna was in some too, though what made you think a bit was that when they talked about friendships on set, none of them talked about you or even hinted having become friends with a student. Not even Megan, who was so proud of you until just months back. You thought and thought, are you really that easy to forget? Were you really nothing but an occasional friendship?

-

The longer you stayed in America, the more fluent you became in english. You even got little jobs here and there, taking over directors places in movies when they were sick and for really short periods, while you paid for rent thanks to the job at a clothes shop that paid enough for rent and for some occasional vices, such as a beer on a Saturday night at a pub. You first went there with the intent of making friends… but eventually you found something more… you found yourself a girlfriend. She was the kind of girl that didn’t have many friends, same as you. She was very shy, same as you. But you opened up to each other a night where you were both drunk and ended up sleeping together at her place.

It turns out that, to her you were nothing but sex. She didn’t like you, she didn’t love you. She used you for sex, and then made fun of you with your friends, the friends you had worked a lot to have, now made fun of you, calling you slurs and, like every other person you met until now, didn’t believe in you and your dreams and abandoned you.

You were broken, too say the least. You were back to being alone, if you had to direct a movie about your life you would call it “lost in America” because truly, that’s how you felt. You have always been alone ever since you came to live and work in America, Jenna and Maddie and even Megan just being occasional people you work with, and you had to learn how to not get attached to people on sets because you knew you most likely won’t see them again.

Then eventually, you got to direct a movie, all on your own, with nowhere to guide you. You were scared, really scared. You hadn’t learned quite everything and the creators of the movie had given you enough faith and trust, convinced that you were gonna pull off something amazing… yet it was quite the opposite. Being scared of not knowing how to set up some scenes or how to act with actors definitely put a lot of stress on you and the movie came out like crap, there were lots of mistakes, scenes that had to be cut, outside voices that weren’t even supposed to be there. You received a lot of bad criticism and reviews, saying that your works sucked and that you weren’t worth of the title “movie director” and you felt as if you were destroying your career before it even started. You needed support, you needed maybe to hear from your mentor Megan, or from Jenna, but nothing.

Your applications for directing movies were always being turned down and you were starting to give up, until you got an email…

From: Tim Burton

To: (Y/N) (L/N)

Good morning. It took me a while to find your email address but finally I did and I have a proposal for you. It been following you and your road to being a director and I saw your first movie. It wasn’t the best movie both because of the plot and because of how it was directed, but you’re still young, you still have a lot to learn. If I were you, I wouldn’t think too much about it, trust me when I tell you that, my movies weren’t the best when I started either. Like Megan I also see some talent in you, and now that I have seen your work and now that you have some experience, I believe you can become a big director, which is why I’m offering you the opportunity to be my co-director. Not a student, a co-director. You’re in charge same as me, you can do what I do. What do you say?

This is how you ended up flying to Romania in July. Filming wouldn’t start for two more months and it would last around 8 months, but Tim wanted to get to know you, explain you some stuff and go through some things together. He had a lot of faith in you, even if he knew that your first and only work sucked. As soon as you arrived to the set, he and the crew - mind you, not the actors - were already there waiting for you. “Hello (Y/N), it’s so good to finally meet you!” He said and shook your hand. “The pleasure’s all mine! I’ve loved your works ever since I was a little kid. It’s good to have the chance to work with you. I’m not really sure why you want to work with me though. It’s clear that I’m not a good director” you said and sighed “oh don’t worry about that! That’s really not a problem. The way you work depends also on the genre you’re working with, and this is a series, not a movie. These are filmed in two very different ways.”

“What’s the series about anyways?” You asked him, and he handed you the script of the first episode. “Wednesday Addams” he started “it’s a Comedy-Horror show that talks about Wednesday during her teenage years in highschool, trying to find who’s behind a monster that has been killing people. It’s definitely gonna blow up” he gave you some time to look through the script “it does sound interesting. Definitely more interesting that my other projects. You think my performance as a director also depends on the genre?” He was sure of that and confirmed it again. The man definitely had a lot of experience, so you trusted him.

A month and a half passed and you and Tim had gone through pretty much everything. You went to every single detail of the set, both outsides and insides, then green screens, the scenes with the monster and CGI, it was all set. You just needed to wait for the actors, that would be coming today, as a matter of fact. You had never asked Tim who the actors would be, bot today as they were coming, you were curious, really curious. From what Tim had told you, they’re all about your age, which you didn’t mind at all. They started arriving: first Emma, then Percy, Joy, Hunter, and then… a car pulled up, a short ravenette coming out of it. She seemed familiar, the height, the body form… you had definitely seen her before

“Jenna?” You called once she recognized you. “(Y/N)? Oh my god it’s you!” She said and ran your way, to give you a tight hug. It had been a year since you last saw her, but she hadn’t changed one bit. If anything, you were slightly taller and she had to get on her toes to hug you properly. “I’m so sorry for not reaching out, I was so sure we had exchanged numbers! I even tried finding your email address but nothing” you started, hoping that she wasn’t mad at you “it’s fine really! Honestly I realized I didn’t have your number when I got to the airport, I wanted to warn you that I made it there and when I looked up for your contact I realized I didn’t have it. I’ve been wanting to reach out ever since- wait. Has your English gotten better?” She asked, just later noticing that you talked fluently now and that you’re pronunciation was immaculate.

You giggled at her question and pulled back from the hug, scratching your neck awkwardly “yeah. I’m definitely a mother tongue now” you chuckled and she laughed “that’s good! What are you doing here anyways?” She asked and you looked at Tim “I’m his co-director. Not quite sure why he chose me out of all people though” you laughed and watched Jenna go wide eyed “SERIOUSLY ? THAT’S AMAZING!” She said and hugged you again, as Tim spoke again. “I figured out it would be nice for you to have a friend here.”

That day as Jenna introduced you to the rest of the cast, you couldn’t help but be happier. Finally you were spending some time with Jenna again and you would be doing so for 8 months… now you just had to ask her for her number, so that when recordings were over, you would keep contact with her. However now you had to think of the present day. That same day you went to a bar with all of the cast, to get to know each other. Jenna already knew them and you didn’t, so you took advantage of the moment to get to know them. “So (Y/N), how did you two meet? It was so weird to see you two already knew each other.” Emma asked, she seemed really expansive, but she was actually really shy. “You know her movie “the fallout?” I was Megan’s student while filming. I’m from Italy and when I arrived I didn’t know English one bit, but she helped me a lot, she would come to my trailer even after filming, I owe her a lot.”

You saw as everyone went wide eyed. “You’re italian!??” They all said together, kind of startling you. “Yeah I am… is that weird?” Percy shook his head “no it’s just that you speak really fluently, we would have never guessed. How long have you been in America?” “Well after filming finished I stayed there so… about a year?” You said, looking at Jenna for confirmation, and she nodded “and you improved this much?” Percy asked, and You nodded “yeah. Jenna was right when she said that I had to ignore the grammar and go straight ahead to the hearing and speaking” everyone giggled and you were all soon brought your drink. You were sitting next to Jenna, and she had to slightly move over to you to grab her drink, and you slightly froze. Ever since you had broke up with your ex, the one who used you for sex, you never had someone this close.

You unfroze when Jenna, finally having grabbed her drink, moved back down at her place. You were lucky no one noticed you freezing. “I’ve been wondering, what did you di this year?” Jenna asked as she turned to look at you. “Well… after the fallout premiered, I tried making friends, I got a girlfriend, got the chance to direct a movie. I didn’t know everything yet, the movie sucked and I got criticized a lot. Movie creators didn’t want to hire me until Tim did so, here I am” you took a sip of your drink, that didn’t contain any alcohol as you didn’t drink Alcohol as you felt Jenna’s eyes on you forna few seconds before she spoke. “You… got a girlfriend?” She asked with a different tone than any other time. “Yeah, but it didn’t end well. She just used me for sex and I got my heart broken for like the thousand time” you shrugged and took another sip of your drink.

Jenna nearly chocked on her drink. “She used you? That sucks…” Jenna said and you shrugged again. “I’m used to it. The only friends I made only used me for money or for anything, really” you didn’t look at them. You’ve been feeling really bad mentally recently, and the fact that you didn’t have any friends never helped. “Well if we all become friends we won’t use you, trust us” Emma said, you nodded and finished your drink. “Who knows, maybe you’ll even get a new girlfriend. I saw some cute girls in the staff” Percy winked and you shook your head.

These are gonna be some long ass 8 months.

Tags: @idkjustliving2 @tundra1029 @engenelxver @rainbow-love4ever @gimaximoff

[theflagscene]

Growing up is realizing how toxic TharnType was.. like really

🤭🤭🤭 Ngl, when I got this message a couple days ago I legit giggled. I was not expecting it, and it took me a second to figure out where it came from until I remembered my answer for day eleven of the 15 Day BL Challenge. Then the Booping happened and the next day I was at the hospital with my dad all day because he was going in for heart surgery—it went well btw—so I just got around to replying to this today. I apologize for that my dear anon 💕

I felt kind of lucky because I came into TharnType when the second season was about to air, so I had heard of some spoilers about the first season, plus I had seen Love By Chance multiple times so I was familiar with Type and some of the other side characters—Techo, Tum, Tar, Kengkla, Technic, etc.

I legit gave Mame a pass when watching LBC, not everyone’s first novel is great and the screenplay did what it could, ya know? But as time went on, as a queer person I started to get the sense that she was one of those rare hetero writers that actually do kind of fetishize gay men, which I really didn’t want to think was still happening in—at the time—2019.

But after I watched both TharnType seasons, and LBC and DSN, all of which have interconnected storylines and characters, I couldn’t help but not think that. Which is why by 2021, I sort of stopped giving her the benefit of the doubt as a writer even though I desperately wanted her to do better, so much better. And to be fair, Wedding Plan and Love Sea were both okay, I think those have been her least offensive scripts to date.

But getting back to TharnType lore, I remember actually writing up a ‘problematic trope’ list in my notes app whilst watching the series and oh boy, it’s a doozy! Let’s break it down, for anyone who (somehow) has not sat through the trash fire that was the highest heat BLs of 2019/2020 and the various storylines that tie back to TharnType that span four different series.

Heavy trigger warning for under the cut: SA/r*pe/DV/ped*phila/blackmail/ab*se/stalking/in*est/predatory behaviour/emotional manipulation and ironically enough, homophobia.

Right off the bat, the first thing in the very first episode was the comparison of gay men to pedophiles. Type was 100% allowed his trauma from what happened to him, but if Mame had done even an ounce of investigation into actual statistics, she’d know that pedophiles typically don’t identify as any type of sexuality outside of being attracted to underage people, that is their sexual preference. So no, a man assaulting a boy does not make him gay, it makes him a pedophile, full stop.

Violent homophobia: Not just outright blatant hate speech but Type is violent towards gay people, and specifically Tharn when he finds out that he’s roommates with a gay man. Also Type’s father literally chases him and Tharn with a machete when he finds out that Type is dating a man, so yeah.

Sexual assault and rape: Tharn assaults Type in the shower as a way to ‘get back at him’ for being homophobic, playing into the classic predatory gay stereotype. Techno is drugged, stalked, blackmailed and date raped by Kengkla (LBC). Tar is gang raped and was ‘so broken’ that he literally ran away to France (LBC/TT). Fiat forces a kiss onto Type against his will (DSN)

Domestic abuse: Type hits Tharn many times throughout their relationship, he constantly slaps, punches and kicks him and yet always is allowed to get away with it because of his traumatic past and jealousy issues. Uh, no, no no. You do not get to abuse your partner or anyone in your life because of your trauma, get thee into therapy!

Stalking: Kengkla is obsessed with Techno, he stalks him and often pays his best friend Technic—Techno’s little brother—to snap pictures of the older man when he’s sleeping or changing to give to Kengkla, as well many other things. It should also be stated that they are high school students whilst Techno is a university student, so they are putting Techno at risk with the law because Kengkla is underage. (LBC)

Lhong stalks Tharn for years, even going so far as to run off any potential suitors and hire bikers to rape Tharn’s—extremely underage—boyfriend Tar. (TT)

Fiat stalks Type and dismisses that he has a boyfriend, not caring about it because he’s convinced that he’s in love with Type after being treated by him for a sports injury (TT2)

Incest: Tum, Tar’s older half brother is in love with him and has been for many years. He hates Tharn for breaking Tar’s heart so badly that he ran away to a different country, not knowing about Tar’s rape. Tharn is the only one he tells and to Tharn’s credit, doesn’t tell anyone out of respect to Tar. Eventually it comes out and Tar tells Tum what happens and also tells him that his trauma from the event has left him sex repulsed and broken, unable to love or trust anyone… besides Tum that is! Of course, because Tar loved his big bro all along as well.

Emotional manipulation: Ummm *gestures wildly to every character* take your pick!

Blackmail: Kengkla and Technic—again I cannot stress this enough, Techno is Technic’s brother!—drug Techno during a party, strip him and then put him in bed naked with Kengkla. When he wakes up the next morning with a teenager in his bed and no memory of what happened, he rightfully panics. Kengkla then tells him that they had sex—up until this point Techno had no interest in men—and Kengkla promises that he won’t tell anyone what happened if Techno will sleep with him one more time, Kengkla wants to lose his virginity to him since they didn’t actually have sex, Techno was passed out due to GHB that had been slipped into his drink. As of TharnType2 it is heavily implied that Techno and Kengkla are still together, and that Techno has no idea about the truth behind how he ended up with an underage boyfriend his first year of university.

Dishonourable mentions: Kidnapping, slut shaming, toxic jealousy, racism, classism, misogyny, mishandling of mental health issues, a grown man being perversely obsessed with a teenage girl and extremely harmful LGBTQ+ stereotypes.

Seriously, nothing about TharnType was good or romantic. It was toxic waste and even as a trash/hate watch, I could not enjoy it. I don’t use this term lightly, but the whole series just gives me the ick. And remember those were just all the interconnected storylines that directly involved Tharn and Type, none of those touch on AePete, TinCan or PhugunCirrus. All of which have their own issues, many many issues, but it really does seem like TharnType are the atomic bomb of BL couple fuckery.

Whew! 😅

[beardedmrbean]

A grieving family is pleading with parents to monitor their children's online activity after a former Virginia police officer "catfished" a 15-year-old girl online and then traveled to her Riverside, California, home, where he allegedly killed her mother and grandparents.

"Nobody could imagine this crime happening ... especially it just being one day after Thanksgiving," Mychelle Blandin, the sister and daughter of the three victims, said at a news conference Wednesday.

She recalled the family debate they had on Thanksgiving about her mom's brownies.

MORE: Former police officer accused of killing 15-year-old's family was pretending to be teen online

"Little did I know ... that would be the last time my husband and I would see my parents and my sister again," she said. "The next day, when we were out buying Christmas lights for our home, I received a phone call from my parents neighbor of 22 years. They were best friends. They looked out for each other. She called to tell us that we needed to get there as soon as we could because my parents' house was on fire."

She pleaded, "Parents: Please, please know your child's online activity. Ask questions about what they are doing and whom they are talking to. Anybody can say they're someone else. And you could be in this situation."

"Catfishing led to the deaths of the three most important people in my life: my dad, my mom and my sister," she said through tears. "Tell our story to help your parenting. Not out of fear, but out of example of something that did happen."

Riverside police said the suspect, 28-year-old Austin Lee Edwards, met the 15-year-old Riverside girl online through "catfishing," where someone pretends to be a different person than they actually are. Police believe Edwards was pretending to be a 17-year-old.

Police said they believe Edwards drove from Virginia to California, parked in a neighbor's driveway on Friday, went to the teen's home and killed her mother and grandparents. Edwards then allegedly took the teen and drove away, according to police.

The girl has since been rescued and is not hurt, police said.

The murders were discovered on Friday after authorities received a report of a girl "who appeared distressed" while getting into a car with a man, police said. As officers responded to that report, they received calls of a fire at a nearby house.

Three relatives were found dead in the house from apparent homicides: 69-year-old Mark Winek; his wife, 65-year-old Sharie Winek; and their daughter, 38-year-old Brooke Winek.

Blandin said Sharie Winek was the "matriarch" of the family "with the biggest giving heart imaginable."

Mark Winek, a high school softball and baseball coach, "was a man with a big and caring heart who unselfishly gave to his student athletes," Blandin said.

Brooke Winek was a "loving single mom who did her best to raise her two teenage daughters in a loving way," she said.

Several hours after the three bodies were found, authorities said they spotted Edwards driving with the teenager.

Edwards allegedly led deputies on a chase and fired shots, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office said. Edwards then lost control of his car and drove off the road, pointing a gun at a sheriff's helicopter, according to the sheriff's office. Deputies then fired at Edwards and he was declared dead at the scene, the sheriff's office said.

Edwards was hired by the Virginia State Police in July 2021 and quit on Oct. 28, 2022, the agency said. He was hired by Virginia's Washington County Sheriff's Office on Nov. 16, 2022, and had started orientation, the department said.

The investigation is ongoing and includes learning "some of the intentions [Edwards] may have had," Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez said. It's not clear what app or site Edwards and the teen used to communicate or for how long they were communicating, the chief said.

Blandin said the neighbor who noticed the unfamiliar car and called police is a "hero."

As for Brooke Winek's two daughters, "We hope that this community ... can lift them up. They have the most difficult journey ahead," Blandin said.

[truly-morgan]

[Crossdresser!JC and teacher!WRH]

RuoCheng | Mo Dao Zu Shi Modern AU 28-04-2021

[#ruocheng - cross-dressing]

what if after losing a bet with nhs and wwx, jc as to cross-dress for a day (although he refuses to leave the apartment). nhs make him all pretty, jc wonders /why/ he has these fem clothes for the first time, but he doesn't dare ask.

he also has to send the picture to three random persons on one of nhs dating app under the "look at how cute my friend and I are :D" (not without hiding most of his face). He's a bit surprised by the praise these men give about him, saying the outfit fits him well.

but... jc actually like it? He won't admit it out loud and will curse wwx for making him do this, but inside? jc actually thinks he does look kinda pretty and cute?

So he secretly keeps cross-dressing when he's home alone, usually doing this for himself. Sometimes he will wear some cute panties or thigh-high socks under his clothes, even daring cute tops under his hoodie and jacket.

But it doesn't exactly do the same as when he first did it, so he tries posting a faceless photo on a forum. he's extremely nervous at first but then people compliment him on his looks and he feels a bit funny about it, he really likes it.

So he keeps this secret to himself, always allowing himself a little moment of fun when he knows his roommates are out for a while. then one day he dares go out in full cross-dress, makeup done as best he can to soften his look, wearing along-haired wigs to help to hide his original look. He feels really good in his cute dress.

he tries to stay away from the college campus, giving him less chance to stumble onto people he does know.

He feels a bit shy, nervousness still running under his skin at the situation. Yet he must be passing well enough because he doesn't get any weird looks, so he slowly gets more comfortable.

at first, he intended to simply walk around but he ends up going to get something to drink, placing his order in a small voice, scared that his voice would give him away. Yet the barista doesn't give him looks so he believes it just be alright.

everything goes well until he goes to leave, bumping into someone surprising him. He loses his balance, a bit more surprised when a strong hand help him stay upright. In his little moment of panic, he forgot to modify his voice, apologising and asking if the person was alright.

He realise quickly what he did, looking up to see the person's reaction, only to pale when he saw who it was.

Wen Laoshi!

The man scans his face frowning a bit, only for recognition to slowly settle in and jc knew he was screwed now. before he can even make some excuses to leave the man calls out to him, making him freeze more. he's so screwed. Of all people he could stumble onto, it had to be a teacher, and /wen ruohan/. The man didn't have the best reputation and he was scared of what would happen.

"Why don't we sit down" suggested the teacher, a hand on jc lower back guiding him back in. Soon they are sitting at one of the booths, jc squirming uncomfortably in his seat. wrh look on him is heavy, making him blush because he's /clearly/ checking out what he's wearing.

"I didn't know one of my best students had such interest"

"I-I don't-" tried jc despite the hard evidence of /him wearing these clothes right now/, blushing even more as he looked down at his iced coffee.

"It's alright, no need to hide it, I actually think it fits you well" he instead commented. from all thing jc thought would be said (and nothing good had come to his mind) but being complimented was not one of them. This made him blush /even more/, feeling a bit weird about /wrh/ being the one to compliment him like this.

he missed the smirk growing on his teacher's lips, the man continuing in his praises, clearly, the young man liked it. "I-I get it, please no more" managed to force jc although he likes the compliments, not really squirming out of shyness anymore. they talked a bit more, wrh trying to reassure him he won't tell anyone or use this against him (slipping some more praises in) before standing up, sliding his phone number on the table.

"If you ever want some help in your... past time, just text me". at first, he doesn't dare, but he can see the looks his teacher is giving him, as if trying to see if he tried to slip something more feminine on. He plays a bit by sometimes letting something show a bit more, clearly seeing in the man's smirk that he noticed it.

he only dares to send him a message when the semester is over and after weeks of playing around like this. He lies about saying he cannot dress up because his roommates are here, wondering if maybe wrh would like to help (false, nhs is back in Qingge and wwx at lwj place).

of course, wrh accepts, so jc packs up some of his cutest outfits and his makeup, making his way to his teacher's house, rather excited at the idea of dressing up for him, something in him wanting /more/ praises. He's starving for them.

jc ends up having a lot of fun, which didn't simply stop at dressing up, wrh taking good care of him. He supposes he can pass his summer break doing just this (which he does).

========

(sorry I ran out of energy to make it more steamy ( ; ω ; ) maybe I'll make a thread about what kind of fun jc ended up having with wrh on his "first date" with him (¬‿¬ ) maybe I can make it a married wenqi again jc deserve 2 nice daddy praising his cute outfit)

Original

[cboffshore]

Fashion first. Lab safety second. Ethics never. This is "Off The Deep End."

Welcome to Seabound Style: The Official Remaster.

Just like with my Twitter arrival in Spring 2021, I'm ringing in my triumphant return to The Superior Hellsite with a line of couture fashion sketches inspired by Ninjago: Seabound (without building a solid follower base first, of course, because of course I won't do that). This particular power suit, inspired by our favorite regicidal squid man Kalmaar, is the first in the series - and boy, do I have a lot to say under the cut.

(A quick note if you don't plan on reading further and just want to look at the art: this design and all future designs are meant to be viewed on a fullscreen desktop, so don't be afraid to zoom in!)

Affectionately nicknamed the Kalmaar Power Suit, this isn't just a design sketch - it's a whole origin story. These notes are going to be unreasonably long, but I promise they're worth a read. (You'll get some bonus content out of it, too!)

First off, the part you probably already know if you've seen my work before: Giles Panton's performance as Kalmaar in Seabound immediately clawed its way to the top of my list of Favorite Voice Acting Performances of All Time, where he's been slapping most other contenders off of the summit ever since. I was obsessed with Kalmaar's terrifying-yet-hilarious insane grad student energy right away, and I knew I had to do something about that. At the time, I was just dipping my toes into fanfiction for the first time and didn't think I could do him justice that way. (Still don't, by the way. Absolutely unhinged energy there, as proven by the Kalmaar Voice Request Open Season of November 2022.)

And then, the super secret part two of the story that I've never told: I took a closer look at Kalmaar's physical design and accidentally made the best design gamble of my life. Oh, and kicked off a very niche brand of fanart.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE KPS AND MY COUTURE SKETCH HOBBY: A TIMELINE

April, 2021: Thanks to my involvement in another internet project, I have an art app on my Chromebook and a short background in fashion concept design, so I figure: let's give Kalmaar a shot! I jot down some preliminary notes - okay, they basically just say "POWER SUIT FOR POWERFUL BOY", but they are notes. Concept out of the way? Cool. Time to grab that color palette.

For reasons I still don't get, Tommy Andreasen rings in Panton's participation with a high quality image of Kalmaar power posing. I snag that and start eyedropping colors, and then I notice something weird - something I had initially passed off as body markings.

Is... is that the edge of a jacket?...wait. My concept has a jacket involved. Okay, well, I guess we're committed whether or not that's a jacket or body markings! It's too good of an opportunity. Having never done a design on this scale (and only knowing how to use three brushes in my art app), I fumble my way through what is - at the time - my magnum opus. (Oh, 2021 me...)

April 20, 2021: I join Twitter, throw the design at Panton in the midst of his fanart-reaction and fan-engaging spree, and damn near die when he responds, even though this is par for the course at the time.

April 25, 2021: "The Tale of Benthomaar" airs. Having mostly forgotten about the body-marking-or-jacket debate from earlier, I get smacked in the face by the image of kid Kalmaar wearing.... hold on, that's not what he looked like last time.

Sailor suit? Sailor suit. That's a sailor suit!

Listen. Look at that clasp. Look at the wrist markings. THERE IS A DISTINCT COLLAR THERE THAT CONTINUES DOWNWARDS. I am, apparently, some kind of fashion oracle. A question that no rational human has ever asked - "Do humanoid squids wear clothing?" - has been answered.

And, in my first real foray into fashion design, I have apparently subconsciously picked up on it. Empowered by my surprise title of Fashion Oracle, I keep going, and pretty soon I've posted an entire thread that I've titled Seabound Style.

Every Date After That One, Up Until Now: I keep doing character-inspired fashion sketches and eventually graduate to bringing in hefty doses of analysis. I learn more about my art app and get good at using it.

And what do I do with those skills?

Something social media loves to see: I look back at my old designs and realize that I can do better.

And now, here we are.

Updates And Symbolic Breakdown

It should be noted that - for the most part - Kalmaar's about as deep as a tide pool. It's a refreshing change, honestly! Ninjago's got a rich tradition of villains nursing highly specific grudges for ridiculous periods of time, which is wonderful. Kalmaar, on the other hand, just hates everyone. Equal opportunity discrimination at its finest. Some people cite that shallow motive as a reason for Kalmaar not being a great villain, but I actually think it's a neat narrative strategy. Sometimes, people are just horrible for no reason! No grudges, no real wrongdoing, just a nerd who spends a little too much time researching eldritch horrors and practicing taser skills.

As it happens, displaying that shallowness through symbolism is not easy. I will admit that - as with a lot of my art - the elements sometimes happen first, and the symbolism comes later (usually on accident!). Sometimes, I do get a symbolic idea before I start sketching, in which case I'll build off of that. Mostly, though, it's all happy coincidences. In this case, I tried to preserve most of the original design, then elaborated on what was already present. Most of this design is and always has been based on his physical appearance, although I've slipped in what symbolism I can.

For reference, here's the original version of the Kalmaar Power Suit, in all its untextured glory:

Yeesh. Good foundation, I'll give my past self that - but I can do better now. In the new design, I introduced all kinds of fun symbols and techniques.

First up: technical stuff, like shading, proper textures, better lineart, and a refreshed color palette. Most of this manifests in the base of the suit itself, which I've given a speckled texture and a slight blush tone to better reflect Kalmaar's canon appearance.

Presenting even more dangly chain bits! Looking back, I've realized just how much of Kalmaar's appearance and the KPS carry over into my body of work now (you'll see what I mean as I work on transferring my other art over and progress through this series). Truly a style icon. In conjunction with the spearhead pins, the chains on the collar, waist, and hand jewelry are meant to call to mind Kalmaar's armored belt and asymmetrical chest drape.

I kept the honor-society-esque lapel pin and chains to lean into Kalmaar's scholarly background, but I turned the collar pins into tiny anchors as a subtle nod to his subtle weekend hobby of sinking ships. (I mean, not that subtle near the end, but he didn't seem to have to work too hard to hide it...) The other pins, such as the blazer clasp, boot dangly accents, and lapel pin, are all traced from the spear-like emblems dangling from Kalmaar's armor.

Kalmaar's gill-like torso slats have been reimagined as false pockets (so shallow there's literally nothing in there!)

The blue and pink edging embroidery are now 1. visible and 2. arranged in the right way.

The Merlopian representation is sparse to reflect his loyalty to himself - it tops out at the Art Deco shell texturing on the lapels and skirt lining. I chose this pattern because it closely resembles the throne room: his first major attack site and a goal he kept under wraps until the opportunity to stage a coup (couppertunity?) arrived.

You might have noticed that there's no amulet representation! As with the original (yes, I remember my excuse now), it's weird to think he'd tote both of them around with him in any capacity. The minute he got the Storm Amulet, the first thing he did was rush it home and fire it up. I did originally toy with incorporating the amulets into the handbag or the jewelry, but it ended up looking like too much (and not in a fun Kalmaarish way, either). Besides, those aren't his to control...

Speaking of the handbag, that got a complete overhaul! Both iterations represent his trident in some way. The original clutch purse is a more obvious representation, but I ended up not liking it when I began work on this revamp. A friend of mine (thanks, Nora!) suggested I lean into the Art Deco influence and go for something a little more avant-garde. Enter a handbag inspired by a glass nautical float, with copious fringe and a trident-shaped closure up top. I opted for a sickly acid green colordropped directly from Kalmaar's eyes for the glass ball (mainly because it was a cool shade I hadn't gotten to use), and wrapped it in a golden net. Historically, fishermen used these floats to keep their nets afloat, which I think has a fun double meaning here. One, it reflects Kalmaar's strategy of manipulation and entrapment via false innocence; two, he definitely took one or two of these from shipwrecks as souvenirs. I bet he used them as paperweights.

Although I did like the personal touch that it lent the finished art, I decided to nix the handwritten titles in favor of bringing in a texturing some custom lettering from Canva. Unfortunately, I made a very bad choice of font (after it was too late to change it, of course). It's not that I dislike the font - I fully intend to keep it for this series and possibly others - but I woke up the morning after I finished this piece and realized I'd accidentally made the damn thing look like a loading screen tip.

Which leads into the promised bonus content: this awful thing I made as fast as humanly possible.

I can't defend this. I won't try. This isn't quite as insensitive as the underground infamy that is "Ice Bear Is In", but it does not feel right.

So let's do some nicer bonus content, shall we? Here's the backdrop for "Off The Deep End," which you can use as a wallpaper, if you'd like to! I'm trying to make all the backdrops as cool as the pieces they support.

Anyway, you made it to the end! Yay! I promise the next posts won't be as long now that I've got the backstory out of the way. If you have any questions about my work, please ask me. I love feedback. I live for feedback.

[siennanotes]

I apologize it took this long for me to write but I am safe and well in my new residential place for university. Life lately has been filled with hugs and smiles as I get to personally meet those I've only interacted with online. It feels odd to no longer be part of the student council and it's sad to think that we never had the chance to host an onsite event; but I guess, it was all for the best.

The transition to online classes called for resilient and adaptive leadership--the leadership we were able to bring to the table, and the leadership that kept the community running virtually. We had a good term and although I would have loved to take my time and rest for now, I realized that certain situations sentence you to rise up to the challenge.

In the upcoming months, and even years, I don't think I would ever go back to the time where I was never in the frontlines. Tiring as it may be to always be putting myself out there, it is heartwarming to think that I get to touch and be a part of other people's lives.

-

Technicalities: Notes taken above were written using a drawing tablet (XP-PEN Star G640) but captured on the iPad Pro 2021 12.9”

App: Microsoft OneNote

Camera: iPhone 11 Pro Max

Photo Editor: Instagram Stories + Snapseed

-

Follow me on Instagram!

[tatianagonzalezbozung]

Introduction

Hi everyone! 

My name is Tatiana Gonzalez and I am from Lansing, Michigan. I transferred to Central Michigan University after receiving my general associates from Lansing Community College with the intention of becoming an elementary school teacher. Upon much reflection, I later changed my degree to a bachelor's in Business Administration. 

For about 3.5 years, I have been a student assistant within the State of Michigan but have transferred between offices to find the best fit for me. I started in the Insurance Fraud Prevention Unit, moved to the Office of Passenger Transportation early in 2021, and finally transferred into the Office of Financial and Administrative Services. I am on a path to move into a financial analyst position after graduation and hopefully, down the line, become a financial manager within my current office. 

With this blog, I hope to gain experience and skills on how to successfully integrate social media into business. I believe it is an integral part of successful businesses in the 21st century.

I think the brand Scrub Daddy gives an excellent example of how social media has continued to keep their business relevant and growing. The TikTok presence Scrub Daddy has created for themselves offers a continuous way to remain a relevant brand by keeping up to date with the ever-changing trends that occur on the app. Their comment section can even act as a "suggestion box" for improving their current products, as the comment section on TikTok keeps the most liked comments at the top. This helps keep comments from being a mass of unusable information. I have even seen Scrub Daddy partner with other well-known creators on TikTok, such as popular housekeepers, to expand their current product line with the expertise of those in the field of cleaning. I think this brand exemplifies the six principles of mass collaboration detailed in "The Social Organization: How To Use Social Media To Tap the Collective Genius of Your Customers and Employees" by Anthony Bradley and Mark McDonald, especially the principles of collective, transparency, and independence. 

https://www.tiktok.com/@scrubdaddy?lang=en

[genmakesmedia]

keeping organised and on task at uni: bullet journaling and reducing phone usage (plus module thoughts)

While it’s fairly clear that this blog exists to reflect on projects I’ve completed, I realised there’s not much information on here about the course itself. Let’s change that!

Digital Media Foundations (or DMF, for short) is a largely practical module on the Media and Communications course at Kingston University. It has a focus on doing creative work and teaching students how to use industry-standard tools like the Adobe Suite.

One of the things I really enjoyed about DMF was the lectures in Term Block 1. In these lectures, we would learn a bit about the history of the practical things we were going to do in the workshop, and their importance, and even science - for example, learning that the reason animation works the way it does is because our eyesight lags ever so slightly when looking at images, which makes a quick series of images look like one continuous picture (Richardson, 2023). I love to learn and so being given access to a wealth of information in such an accessible and interesting way was very enjoyable for me.

Another thing which was very cool were the workshops. In these we were given instructions to work through to experiment with various softwares or techniques. In all honesty, while it was nice to have the freedom to work at our own pace, I do tend to struggle with self-guided work as I can easily get off-task and distracted, so the workshops could sometimes be quite hit-and-miss for me in terms of how much work I’d get done or how happy I’d be with the work I was doing. I’ve been working to find solutions to this, including using the app Forest to block my use of my phone whilst working, as this is my most common distraction.

Isn’t it literally the cutest thing?

Another struggle I’ve consistently had during this module - and you will see it in many of my posts about bigger projects - is planning and time management. With creative work, I think a lot of the time I can have almost too many ideas and get overwhelmed by them, unable to decide which ones will work best. And historically my time management issues have always been because I struggle to organise the information in my head. Although the planning thing is annoying, I’ve sort of accepted it as part of my process at this point and started working on projects earlier to give myself time to try out as many of my ideas as I can.

The main difference that I’ve made to my work routine is more about organisation and prioritisation: I started a bullet journal. Bullet journaling was invented by Ryder Carroll in 2013 as a way of keeping focused and productive in spite of his learning disabilities.

I’ve had several bullet journals in the past, but because I tried to make them elaborate and aesthetically pleasing like the examples I saw online (especially from ‘studytubers’ like Amandarachlee) they didn’t stick as I just didn’t have the time to keep up with them. This time, though, I did a lot of research into effective and minimalistic journal spreads and pages which I could use, mostly through Pinterest (I'll link my pinterest board here) and YouTube. I’ll pop a few videos that really helped me in a list:

Super-Useful YouTube Videos That Helped Me Figure Out A "BuJo" System That Works For Me:

claudia spaurel (2022) '10 Minimalist Bullet Journal Spread Ideas For Beginners | Helpful Tips For Starting Out' [YouTube] 31 December. Available at: https://youtu.be/Tfjhws8gKS8 (Accessed: 15 March 2023).

Journaling with Nadia (2021) '8 Minimalist Bullet Journal Weekly Spreads for Productivity' [YouTube] 14 October. Available at: https://youtu.be/XP_ETHIj_dg (Accessed: 3 March 2023).

Rylee Autumn (2022) '10 WEEKLY SPREADS FOR YOUR BULLET JOURNAL | Weekly Bullet Journal Weekly Setup Ideas' [YouTube] 9 August. Available at: https://youtu.be/eU1VOpGDs64 (Accessed: 26 February 2023).

Using these tools, I was able to set up my journal. I’ve been using it consistently for almost two months now and am hoping I’ll be able to keep going with it as it’s been immense to my productivity. Having all of my information, schedules and time planning has been incredibly useful. Here are a few sample pages from my personal planner!

Bibliography:

Bullet Journal (2023) Who, what and why. Available at: https://bulletjournal.com/pages/about (Accessed: 17 April 2023).

Kingston University London (2023) Media and Communication BA (Hons). Available at: https://www.kingston.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/media-communication/ (Accessed: 17 April 2023).

Richardson, P. (2022) 'Animation'. MD4004: Digital Media Foundations. Kingston University London. Unpublished.

[dailydosetech]

Top 05 Digital marketing institutes in nagercoil

Digital Marketing Institutes in Nagercoil are now in high demand because businesses have shifted online, creating a demand for digital talents. It does not matter if you are a student, a business owner, or just a professional – mastering digital marketing will benefit you. Selecting the right place to learn is a must so, here we have a list of the best 5 digital marketing institutes in nagercoil. These institutes provide simple, straightforward classes, hands-on training, and coaching to enable you to succeed in the growing online marketing field.

1.Eloiacs Softwa Private Limited.

OVERVIEW:

Eloiacs Softwa Pvt. Ltd. stands out as one of the top 05 digital marketing institutes in Nagercoil. Founded in 2021, the institute offers hands-on digital marketing training for beginners and professionals. Their courses cover key areas like SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Social Media Marketing (SMM), Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, marketing automation.Students are equipped with real-world skills to excel in today’s competitive digital landscape.

SERVICES:

⦁ Software Development ⦁ Mobile App Development ⦁ Web Designing ⦁ Digital Marketing ⦁ Epub conversion ⦁ Xml conversion ⦁ PDF Accessibility ⦁ Quality Analysis ⦁ Data Entry

ADDRESS:

ELOIACS SOFTWA PVT. LTD. SBI Bank Building, Ramanputhur,Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu 629002.

PHONE NUMBER: +91 9486 00 06 07 EMAIL ID: info@eloiacs.com WEBSITE URL: https://eloiacs.com/

2.ALO Educational Hub.

OVERVIEW:

ALO Educational Hub is one of the leading names in the top 05 digital marketing institutes in Nagercoil. They offer a comprehensive Digital Marketing Certification Course focusing on SEO, SMM, PPC, and customer relationship management. With their practical approach and expert guidance, ALO helps students build skills that are highly valued in the digital marketing industry.

SERVICES:

⦁ Front End Development ⦁ Back End Development ⦁ Mobile App Development ⦁ UI/UX Design ⦁ Web Development&UI/UX Design ⦁ App Development&UI/UX Design ⦁ Phython ⦁ Digital Marketing ⦁ Tally ⦁ HRM

ADDRESS:

Christopher Nagar Rd, Christopher Colony Extension, Parvathipuram, Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu 629003

PHONE NUMBER: +91 99947 25508 EMAIL ID: contact@aloeducationalhub.com WEBSITE URL: www.aloeducationalhub.com

3.Jclicksolutions.

OVERVIEW:

JClickSolutions offers Software Training, Web Development and Digital Marketing Solutions helping Students, Professionals and Businesses to fulfil their digital needs. They make yourself Industry Ready with our outstanding training. Personalized and Job-Oriented hands-on training is what sets us apart from others. They continue to embrace the newness in technology in order to stay up with its pace and to help you climb the career ladder by arming you with excellent software skills in emerging technologies.

SERVICES:

⦁ Web Development ⦁ Java ⦁ Artificial Intelligence ⦁ Data Science ⦁ MERN Stack ⦁ React js ⦁ Mobile Application ⦁ Digital Marketing ⦁ Phython ⦁ Machine Learning ⦁ Software Testing

ADDRESS:

4th floor, Xavier buliding, near Assisi church, Veepamoodu junction. Nagercoil-629001.

PHONE NUMBER: 04652-469428, +91 9025357947 WEBSITE URL: www.jclicksolutions.in

4.Creative Technologies.

OVERVIEW:

Creative Technologies specializes in offering IT and consulting services that can help companies reach their digital transformation goals. They specialize in creating effective digital marketing campaigns that have proven to bring in results. Their team of experienced digital marketers are knowledgeable in everything from social media marketing, mobile marketing, email marketing, and content marketing.

SERVICES:

⦁ Web Designing & Development ⦁ Digital Marketing ⦁ Mobile App Development ⦁ Graphic Designing ⦁ Maintenance ⦁ Search Engine Optimization ⦁ Brand Identity ⦁ Media Production

ADDRESS:

Leslie Tower, Hindu College Road, Chettikullam Junction, Nagercoil - 629002.

PHONE NUMBER: +91 44 35572101, +91 8248325234 EMAIL ID: info@creativetec.in WEBSITE URL: www.creativetec.in

5.Prism Technology.

OVERVIEW:

Prism Technology, established in 2007, ranks among the top 5 digital marketing institutes in Nagercoil. They offer expert digital marketing training alongside web and mobile app development services. Their programs focus on SEO, web development, and mobile apps, ensuring students gain practical, in-demand skills to thrive in the digital world. SERVICES: ⦁ Website Design ⦁ Web Application ⦁ Mobile Application ⦁ Responsive Design ⦁ Digital Marketing ⦁ Service Industries ⦁ Career Opportunities ⦁ Customer Help Desk

ADDRESS:

221/93, Josusha Street W.C.C. ROAD - Nagercoil KANYAKUMARI DISTRICT - 629001.

PHONE NUMBER: +91 4652 420071, +91 9443347941 EMAIL ID: enquiry@prismtechnology.in WEBSITE URL: www.prismtechnology.in

[wanderinglotus7]

#BodyAcceptance

I haven't thought about weight loss until recently. Since I had my surgery, I've been unintentionally losing weight. I'm not complaining, but I don't want to be careless and turn around to gaining the weight back. The week before surgery I weighed 191lbs. On 9/20 I weighed 184lbs. So I lost 7lbs at this rate I can loose even more weight before Thanksgiving. My next goal is to loose 9lbs, so I'll be 175lbs by the end of 2024.

Reflecting on my overall weight loss journey, I believe I've been on the right track. I was at my highest weighing 195lbs in November 2022. At that time I was unaware that I had problems with my cortisol levels. I thought my rapid weight gain stemmed from PCOS because rapid weight gain is a symptom which is also a symptom of Cushing's disease which is related to cortisol and I was diagnosed with Cushing's June 7, 2024. I knew there had to be something else going on with me than eating poorly and being less active.

From 2022 to 2024 I lost a total of 11lbs which isn't bad because Dr. Tsai wants me to loose at least a total of between 12lbs-15lbs. The 12lbs-15lbs was a year goal set by Dr. Tsai (PCP). So, if I stick with my goal of being 175lbs by the end of the year, I will reach this goal. I would've loss 20lbs in 2 years. I know other doctors would say I need to loose more weight. However, they don't have to live in my body.

My goal is to be between 155lbs-150lbs. I'm comfortable with being that size considering my family's genetics and my history with Bulimia. Walking on this daunting journey, I could've relapsed and fell into my old disordered eating habits. I'm proud of myself for not relapsing. Maybe this is another reason why I attended Boston College. During my first year at BC all classes were virtual because of COVID-19.

I think on a random day, I was browsing through the college's various clubs and activities. Then I found The Body Project which helped me to recovery from Bulimia. The Body Project is a group-based intervention program for girls & women to confront unrealistic beauty ideals and develop healthy body through verbal, written, and behavioral exercises. From the 4th grade to my college years, I've struggled with my body image and self-esteem. Going through early puberty didn't help either. My weight became a BIG concern for me because I badly wanted to attend FAT CAMP (I was in elementary school). Ridiculous right!

Like a wine tasting, I dabbled in a little bit of everything until I decided that Bulimia was my niche. From middle to high school I downplayed my eating disorder and kept it moving. I was tired of doctors telling me and my mom that I was overweight and needed to loose weight. They didn't understand, I was a highly active individual playing multiple sports and spending most of my time outdoors. My mother provided me and my brother the best healthy foods as possible as well as allowing us to eat "kid" food (i.e. hot pockets, lunchables, Captain Crunch, etc.). Of course, these comments came from White medical doctors.

And this is were the disconnect comes to play: Race & Culture. Race is one reason why I couldn't talk about my body image and ED with my 2021-2022 therapist (she is a slim Yt woman). I felt like I could never win because I didn't have the 'ideal" body that is accepted in mainstream [Yt] society and I felt like I didn't have the "ideal" body that is accepted in Black America. The rise of social media increased my insecurities especially when I went off to college. Social media really popped off for me when I attended Bridgewater College.

Instagram was my App. I thought I found inspiration and empowerment. Instead I found myself in a constant state of comparison. I didn't realize IG was negatively impacting my mental health. The height for being slim thick was between 2015-2018 for me. I tried to model myself after Kylie Jenner, Jordyn Woods and a few IG models aka IG Baddies. I embodied the Baddie aesthetic outside of my student-athlete persona. Trying to look like Kylie Jenner was dumb; hello, she ain't BLACK and she had cosmetic procedures done to obtain her look.

I dressed like a Baddie to an extent. I wore high-waisted bottoms, crop tops & cropped hoodies, skinny jeans, leggings, bralettes with flannels or jean vests, regular hoodies, sneakers, wedges, and combat boots. I rocked my box braids and afro. At 27, I'm slowly going back to that style because I'm taking over my personal life. Still keeping it cool and casual. In the depths of my ED, images of slim thick plagued me. I hated my body because I couldn't look like the Nicki Minajs of the WORLD.

Then something clicked! I had to do the inner work to learn how to accept, appreciate, and love myself. I was already receiving individual counseling, next was deleting the bad/unhealthy influences on my IG. Good-bye Kylie Jenner!! You won't be missed. Sometime in 2018, I began my journey towards self-love. I was also riding a high from the news of me going to Thailand in 2019. Thank you Stacey for introducing Lizzo to me. Lizzo helped me learn about Body Positivity & Body Neutrality. Fast forward to the Body Project.

A group approach was best for me addressing and healing from my Bulimia. The Body Project provided me with space to be open with my body image issues and I didn't feel like an oddball. I was different from the others but the group was diverse. When I looked at my screen I didn't see digital space filled with slim nor Yt young women. It's been 2.5 years since I had my last binge and purge episode. Though I'm in recovery, I'm still working on myself every day. I LOVE ME!!!!

[atoquarks]

[lifeofagirlnameddan]

This Life

2019-2024 Did you ever find yourself trapped in a loop? Perhaps in ways you don't expect. Dan did. She never realized that she was trapped in a loop of love, pain, abandonment and loneliness.

Grade 6:

Was it real friends? I see everyday and find ways to make sure we have something to talk about so they dont find me boring. I fought a lot with others, I liked a boy who always asked me for help and advice when it comes to two things: His homework, and the girls he's pursuing. I got influenced into many things, got into trouble many times. Was I an introvert? A shy girl? I called myself a loser, a geek, whatever (Hah I was a theater kid if you get my reference.) Being that I am, I got exposed online-- in a bad way. I learned things I shouldn't be learning, and I was talking to people online where I shouldn't have been at that age. There was someone I met online, he understood my musical references and without thinking I joked that I've found my "soulmate". Boy was I stupid. While crushing on a classmate, I kept up my chats with this online friend. Oh it was getting bad... Chat me up, all day, all night. It was fun, I was being sneaky. Oh calls and video calls, voice message and more. Then he starts asking for pictures... Pictures Pictures Pictures. Ah so wrong what have I done? Not just that but a friend of mine was a very bad influence, I am not so sure what he was-- A friend? An enemy? I can't tell. I should have stopped myself, but oh how I liked the attention? May 14, 2019

It was class crush's birthday, it's summer and I just woke up. Oh no- mom drags me out my bed, shoves my phone to my face. The fear plastered on my face! She slaps my cheek, throws the phone to the window (I'm shocked it didn't break!) Ah bad bad bad time, she found out about Online boy. It was for the best. We didn't even love each other lol, he just asked for pictures and I...was a desperate child who wanted attention.

New Life: Mom took me out of that school, removed all my socials, and cut me out of society.

Grade 7: Starting my highschool life in homeschool

Ah it was fine, I had my own schedule. I was doing fine, I became a better student. I'm okay with this life... I have no teachers and classmates though, it was just me and the professors in the pre-recorded videos. My desk and my laptop and...Google (ahaha). Oh my, I'm lonely... But oh hey, I learned about Quotev, Ao3, and Wattpad...! Oh no. Here we go? I read, and read and read and read and read and read! This is my life now... I started hoarding books~ With that, I got into role play--(we all go through this dont act like im a weirdo) And I fell in love...with writing. I started working on an idea that based on a What If question I had at one of the sleepovers I had with my cousin (She made me watch animes and we role played together and wrote different short stories)

2020-2021

Grade 8-Grade 9: No friends like Fiction, Am I right?

I forgot how to be human, oh if you all could see... Long hair, glasses, dark clothes, nose stuck in a book, no sleep at all-- From the morning I studied and studied, at night I read til bed. Did I enjoy it? Yes. But at the present now, it is only a feeling. I don't recall what I read, I don't even remember what my brain rots were about! I continued my story ideas, brainstorming with my cousin actively (Oh which reminds me. Since I had no phone nor any socials, I chatted her through emails, hangouts, skype and pinterest--Ikr those were desperate times if I had no phone...) So yeah, we continued that story...Thats one year of working on it and it seemed pretty good. Life was okay like this...

Okay not really, so I mentioned I was into role play and that I would chat my cousin on pinterest. I was finally trusted to have a phone again but no socials still. But since I had pinterest...That meant I found someone to role play with me in that app... Goodness i'm stupid! So sneaky once again, a little bit of role play getting a little twisted and wrong in so many ways. Ah here's the shocker, I was talking to a GIRL! Oh this was the start... Of so many more problems. My mom found out about this one and once again, no phone (wahhh TT) But it was only for about what two? three...no four? I think six months yes. So how did I message my cousin? Well this was the time of the pandemic and jobs were hard to find... My dad took up a delivery job! So I wrote letters to her and had it sent weekly--It was creative and fun to do so. We traded books and wrote updates on our lives. I miss her. Back to topic, I can NOT be trusted with a phone haha. But I was anyway... and oh... no no, Homeschool was fun and all but I'm always alone. My family realized that and forced me to join christmas parties, camps and clubs and gathering... Nothing amusing for me I meet people, I laugh, they think I made a friend...I never speak to them again. Funny right? Anyway I joined an art club from my school which was online, that and a Writers Guild. The art community is in a group chat so guess what... My phone was given back to me, there I met a friend (Lets call him J) He requests collaborations with me and I was always happy to help a fellow artist. Oh yes don't worry, J is a good fellow and is still a very present and active friend to me right now. But there was a time that J invited me to join his discord server (ah yes my cousin introduced me to Discord) So I did join J's server full of other homeschool artists, it seems that it was a DnD role play group and he wanted us artists to play some roles! Oh sure of course, I agreed. I met his friend. (Lets call him Cat) Cat and I did not get along, oh no we started off quite weirdly. But oddly enough that feisty banters we have lead to something... Aha you see where I'm going? Yes Stupid once again was I! We knew each other for what...A year? after that stuff happened and...we got together and lasted...three months.

May 2, 2022

Ah it was a Sunday I'll never forget. I had a meeting with J and Cat online, J had some concerns he wanted to address. Ah...He felt like we shouldn't be together because he fears of the worst outcome for his friends... I didn't listen to him... I didn't...when I should have!!! I was supposed to continue the meeting but then my mom took my phone! (ARGH for the best but I hated it when it was so random and snoopy) She found out about me and Cat... aha again? Okay, again. But it gets worse. Oh it was a fight, she took my phone again and I stayed crying in my room until lunch time. She refused to see me, okay so in a whirl of emotions what did I do...? I was dumb so so dumb. I put on my slippers, grabbed the nearest bag and left. I ran away. (Worst case scenario, this is during Covid. I was in my pajamas, and I was wearing nothing but my bra inside my sweater. Oh and the bag I took? It had no money, nothing inside except... My old Harry Potter figurines! I had my smart watch on but it was dying!) So yes, I ran away. I walked and walked thinking, where should I go? So I walked headed towards a tower from my view, okay I'm almost there, I took an overpass and got lost. Hmmm, I planned to take a bus, oh but I have no money... Two men approached me. Oh shit. Oh they're trying to help me because Idfk where I'm going! They're asking for my destination, I say where, and one of them took their helmet, gave it to me, and gave me a ride on his motorbike. (First time to ride one by the way) I got to where I was headed, he asked me why am I headed there? I need a lie! I said I was going to meet my dad there. So he left me at the place of which I asked. As he left, I planned to cross the road, my next destination? Well my old house (Not exactly but the subdivision there, maybe I can stay at the park?) Oh but I was inexperienced, I was going to cross a main road! Right as I was about to cross a bunch of guards called out to me, told me what I'm doing would get me killed if I took another step. They lead me to an underpass. So I took that. I crossed the underpass and headed towards the place I wanted to go. Still so many problems... It was hot, I was wearing a sweater (again I can't remove it bcs I wasn't wearing a shirt under) and I didn't eat lunch, didn't have any water, and have been wandering aimlessly throughout. I was close now about....another 6-7 kilometers or so... I was stupid to think I'd reach it without passing out. I staggered as I walked, I hit a tree and a long branch fell on my head. I used it as a cane I guess. Then another man showed up, called out to me, I ignored him. He tried to give me money, I felt guilty so I refused. He tried to let me let him help me. (Wow tongue twister-I could word that better) Eventually I realized this man is a grab driver... Okay I took his offer to drive me, he offered to buy me lunch and so I ate a Mcdonalds meal. At first he asked me where I was headed. Panicked and not wanting him to know I said the address of my old school from 6th grade, which was nearby. He took me there and then asked me again. Where am I really supposed to go? Ah shoot he caught me, So I gave in. I told him to take me to a subdivision (my old place), He asked me, Why? I said I'm looking for my dad. And he told me he thought I was a foreigner, and asked for my name, and If I could understand him. Oh he fed my cover, so sure I said I was from another country, I said I was looking for my dad, and that when he asked for my name I panicked again inside my head, I saw a bike pass by with a plate number with the letters "XIAN" and so I told him my name was Xian. He took me to the subdivision, and left me at the park... Ah but he wouldn't leave me alone! He followed me even as I got out the car... goodness! He parked and came out again, he asked if I was okay, and in desperation I was walking in circles around my cousin's house (we were neighbors). So I asked him if I could borrow his phone, and he did, I messaged Cat, said my explanation and my situation, said my goodbyes and asked for one last favor.

[ear-worthy]

Hot Pod Goes Cold; Substack & Spotify Team Up; IAB’s Digital Advertising Report

 Podnews reported lastweek that Hot Pod, one of the longest-running newsletters about podcasting, is to suspend publishing. Lead reporter Ariel Shapiro has announced that her last week with its owner, The Verge, will be next week. Deputy Editor Jake Kastrenakes added: “We won’t have a new writer in place by next week, so we’re planning to put Hot Pod on hiatus while we figure out next steps.” The publication’s writers, Ariel Shapiro, Ashley Carman, and Nick Quah, have been a vital part of the industry since 2014 and Podnews reported that "Hot Pod inspired them to produce this daily newsletter in 2017."

I'd like to start a campaign to convince The Verge to hire one of these three people to take over Hot Pod. All three are tremendously talented and know podcasting 

The three are Arielle Nissenblatt, Wil Williams, and Samantha Hodder.

First, Arielle Nissenblatt is well-known and highly regarded in podcasting circles. In today's fragmented media world, there are TikTok celebrities, Instagram influencers, and YouTube stars who are unknown outside their media universe. If you've been involved in podcasting in any way over the last few years, you know Arielle Nissenblatt.

"I've been working in the podcast space since early 2017 when I started a podcast recommendation newsletter called EarBuds Podcast Collective,"Arielle notes. "Since then, I've managed podcast studios, worked as an in-app curator, gone to school for audio production, produced several podcasts, run successful marketing and PR campaigns for several dozen shows, have organized podcast communities on Twitter, Discord, and Slack, and much more."

Arielle confesses to "love working in and around audio because it's my favorite way to consume content. I want to help more people find their next favorite podcast."

Arielle is the founder of EarBuds Podcast Collective, a podcast recommendation newsletter. She is on the community team at Descript, an AI-powered video and audio editing software service. She hosts three podcasts, Trailer Park: The Podcast Trailer Podcast,  Feedback with EarBuds and Daily Tips That May or May Not Help You with Arielle and Ned.

Then we have Wil Williams, who is currently a marketing specialist for Tink Media. Williams has written for Discover Pods, Polygon, Vulture, and The Takeout. She has appeared on KQED's Forum, WAMU's 1A, Slate's ICYMI; has cried listening to Wolf 359's "Memoria" at least five times.

Williams is also the CEO of Podcast Problems LLC (If you have a podcast, you have problems), and you should read her website if you are a podcaster. You can read her articles there, including Your Podcast Needs Better Show Notes, Your Podcast Needs Better Metadata and my favorite, How I Know So Much Shit.

Williams also writes and manages the Substack Podcast Marketing Magic. When it comes to podcast journalism, Wil Williams is one of the very best.

Then we have Samantha Hodder, who is a multihypenate -- someone who does several different jobs in the entertainment industry—and does them well. Her Substack newsletter Bingeworthy is the mother ship for narrative podcast opinion, review, trends, and analysis. Hodder began the newsletter in September 2022 and has already amassed an impressive following.

Samantha is an award-winning audio producer and writer. She has been making media across multiple formats for over two decades. She publishes regularly on Mediumand on Substack. Her narrative storytelling podcast This is Our Time launched in 2017. It is a memoir-based story about an all-women’s expedition to Antarctica for women. Season 2 was featured in the Hot Docs Podcast Festival in 2021. She works as a freelance podcast producer, editor and narration script advisor. This year, she began to teach and mentor students at TMU and OCADU in narrative podcasting.

She also works with other writers and creatives one-on-one to help them find a winning narrative structure for their projects. To see if this approach could be helpful to your work, find her free 5-day email course Find Your Fish, which draws on lessons from screenwriting, podcasting, journaling and mindful meditation.

Over the last two decades her writing has appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines and her interactive work has premiered at festivals internationally. She was the recipient of the Al Waxman Calling Card for her first documentary, The Mantelpiece, which was broadcast on TVOntario, and premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Festival in 2004. Her short film The Nothingness That Is Everything opened in Venice, Italy in 2018. 

And if all this information doesn't persuade you, Samantha is from Canada.

So I ask The Verge to consider these three talented women for the role at Hot Pod.  This esteemed publication deserves a person with a deep knowledge of podcasting and a lifelong passion for audio.

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Before I extol the virtues of this latest collaboration between Substack and Spotify, I must confess that I am a little wary. Spotify entered podcasting in earnest four years ago, and since then has created an industry-wide asset bubble that since has burst, purchased accomplished podcast studios like Parcast and Gimlet and dismantled them with no remorse, and produced and released a lot of crap. 

So, we'll see how this goes.  Podcasters on Substack are collectively earning more than $100 million in annual revenue, a number that has more than doubled in the past year. The number of active podcasters on the platform has also more than doubled in the same time span. And it’s not just that new opportunities are available to podcasters bringing their shows to Substack—it’s benefiting existing Substack publications too. Those writers and creators who have added audio and/or video to their Substacks grow their revenue more than 2.5 times as fast as those who haven’t.

Substack makes it dead simple for anyone to independently create, publish, distribute, grow, and monetize a show.

“We used to have two different feeds, one for our paying subscribers and one for everyone to listen to free shows,” says @Alex Kirshner, a host of @Split Zone Duo, the biggest sports podcast on Substack. “We were looking for a way to put everything under one roof and make the experience as easy as possible for the people who pay us for our work. Moving to Substack from Patreon has let us do that and been very, very good for our growth in not even half a year.”

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The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. Its membership comprises more than 700 leading media companies, brands, agencies, and the technology firms responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital ad marketing campaigns. The trade group fields critical research on interactive advertising, while also educating brands, agencies, and the wider business community on the importance of digital marketing.

I know that's a mouthful, but the IAB holds an annual in-person and virtual meeting introducing new podcasts from some of the largest podcast networks.

 The IAB's report on advertising revealed that digital advertising revenues reached a record-high of $225 billion, increasing by 7.3% year-over-year overall (YoY) between 2022 and 2023, according to the newly released “IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report: Full Year 2023,” conducted by PwC. The report found that Q4 saw the highest growth rate of 12.3% from the year prior (4.4%), with revenues rising to $64.5 billion. “Despite inflation fears, interest rates at record highs, and continuing global unrest, the U.S. digital advertising industry continued its growth trajectory in 2023,” said David Cohen, CEO, IAB. “With significant industry transformation unfolding right before our eyes, we believe that those channels with a portfolio of privacy by design solutions will continue to outpace the market. For 2023, the winners were retail media, CTV, and audio, which saw the highest growth.” Audio advertising also saw a robust expansion, growing 18.9% to reach $7 billion. It is still the fastest-growing channel, albeit at a slower pace than last year. 

I know that most podcast fans have little interest in advertising trends and finances, but ads pay the bills for many podcasts.

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