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fandomlurker · 4 years ago

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A Ponderous Rewatch: Bubba Bo Bob Brain and Cameo

Can I just say that I think I’m somehow getting worse at keeping the screenshot count down?

Neither the cameo nor the main episode in this post are animated by TMS, so that’s not the reason for the surprisingly high screenshot count. However, the regular episode is animated by Wang Film Production, who are the same folks that animated the very first PatB segment and have done most of the episodes I’ve covered so far, including the previous one. I can tell they’ve gotten a better handle at animating our main duo in the skit we’re looking at today, especially Brain. Wang Film Production is no TMS, but they’ve gotten very, very good at expressions. They’ve also seemed to settle into a rounded and soft design for Brain, something that they’re kind of known for among fans if I recall correctly. Pinky can still be a little…off at this point in time, though.

Moving on, the cameo that we’re starting with is animated by Akom Film Productions. They’re the folks who usually do the animation for the Chicken Boo and Goodfeathers episodes, and they usually do a pretty good job with those characters. As far as our mouse duo go, though, Akom has only done “Opportunity Knox” so far. You know, the one with the oddly nightmarish Brain close-ups. Thankfully we get none of that since it’s only a short bit.

So yes, onto the cameo in “Noah’s Lark”!

So this is actually a Hip Hippos episode, but luckily we don’t have to deal with them at all right now. The premise is the story of Noah’s Ark, obviously, but the character of Noah is done as a parody of the stand-up comedian Richard Lewis, who was somewhat popular in the 80s. The most modern and notable media he’s been involved in that people on Tumblr might know him from (or at least, what I think folks here might recognize, it can be a little hard to gauge that since both millennials and gen z folks are the main demographic of this site) are Robin Hood: Men in Tights where he played Prince John, and Curb Your Enthusiasm where he plays himself.

Noah is rounding up two of every animal to go onto the ark (which is a popular depiction of how the story goes, but is actually false: it’s supposed to be seven male and female pairs of “clean” animals of each species and one pair of “unclean” animals of the same species, but that’s as far as I’m going into that topic). He’s nearly finished the list and has just been mauled by the wolverine pair, and…

“Lab mice?...”

The fact that he’s specifically asking for a pair of lab mice raises a lot of questions that I don’t think we have time to unpack.

The pair of lab mice that he gets is, of course, Pinky and the Brain.

And Pinky is, for the very first time in the series, crossdressing, presumably to pass as a female mouse so he and Brain can survive the great flood by boarding the ark.

…This is also a lot to unpack.

“Check!” they both exclaim, although Pinky does it in a very deep voice for some reason.

Wow, look at the surprise and then hostile suspicion on Noah’s face there!

Their outfits are very 1950s, with Brain even carrying a suitcase. Anachronisms aside, these two really went all out for the ��we are a normal, heterosexual pair” ruse, didn’t they? Not only is Pinky in a dress and a blonde wig, but Brain even put on a little bowler hat. Why did he feel the need to do that? Did he feel left out of dressing up otherwise? Was he afraid he wouldn’t look “manly” and hetero enough without it? I have so many questions…

“Whew! These pantyhose are killing me, Brain!”

Wow, for once it’s Pinky physically hurting Brain, even if it’s a relatively minor tug on the ear.

“I think I prefer knee-highs…”

…Pinky, you’re not even wearing pantyhose. What the hell are you talking about?

Assuming that this is just the result of an animation oversight (which, honestly, I’m certain it was), we now know that his disguise went so over-the-top as to include pantyhose which Noah wouldn’t normally see…and also it’s a type of pantyhose that Pinky doesn’t even like wearing, which implies to me that this is something Brain acquired for him.

There is just so much going on in cameos like these if you think about them for even a few seconds.

Also, I agree with Pinky. Knee-high pantyhose are much less uncomfortable to wear.

BONK!

So the mice are allowed to board and the audience is left to think that their little ruse worked, but immediately after the two run off and are out of listening range Noah rolls his eyes and says

“Who am I to judge?”

Heavily implying Noah completely saw through it and let them on anyway. Wow.

That’s the end of their cameo. Who’d have thought that this little scene would be the precursor to Brain having Pinky crossdress to disguise him as Brain’s wife so many times in the series? And who’d have thought that this very first time wouldn’t fool anyone at all?

But now let’s move on to the meat of this rewatch post:

We open to Acme Labs at night, as usual, though I’ve never noticed until now how lonely and eerie the place seems if you ignore our mouse duo.

“Pinky… I believe I have conceived my most brilliant plan to date!”

Oh boy, we have another first for today! Brain is very much a fan of using temporary mind control for his plans. It’s the method he falls back on the most, which is very interesting when you consider his various psychological issues involving having control taken away from him all his life.

“I shall use subliminal mind control to take over the world!”

“…Pinky?”

The hand-on-hip pose here is great.

“Today’s inside story is country mega-star Willie Ray Cypress!”

Uh, Pinky? Considering that this is pretty much the expression you had while looking at Pharfignewton, I am very, very worried about you looking at the Billy Ray Cyrus parody the same way.

“Don’t tell my head, my empty hollow head!~”

“You know I wouldn’t understand!~”

Same, Brain. Same. It’s just like Pinky to enjoy a song as earworm-y as this (not to mention how relevant this parody is to his everyday experience with Brain’s plans), but lord was the real song this is making fun of annoying as hell back in the day. Like, I was a small child at the time this song came out, and I still hated how often this would be played on the radio.

Luckily, Brain pounces on the remote’s off button and puts an end to the nonsense.

But oh, the look of sad betrayal on Pinky’s face is heartbreaking! I’m sorry, sweetie!

“It must be inordinately taxing to be such a boob.”

Heh, Brain said “boob”. /inner six year old

“You have no idea…”

“Pinky, do you know what a subliminal message is?”

“Something you leave on a subliminal telephone answering machine?”

Nice try, Pinky.

“No. It is a recorded message perceived only by the subconscious human mind.”

Two things here:

This diagram bothers me because my mind always interprets the way they’ve drawn the bottom of the cerebellum as the person shutting their eyes extremely tightly.

Brain using his own tail as a pointing stick is very, very cute and I love this detail.

“I have recorded such a message.”

He’s still holding his tail, aaaa!~

“Citizens of the world, you are under my control. You will do whatever I say…”

“Nice mix, but it’s not exactly danceable, is it?”

Oh, Pinky. Only you would sincerely compliment Brain’s incredibly dry mind control message and then immediately point out a flaw that has nothing to do with its purpose. Bless you, you stupid and wonderful little mouse.

I like how Pinky’s interjection startles the hell outta Brain for a moment, too.

“If people heard this message enough times, they would succumb to my control and we could take over the world!”

Notice that despite Pinky being a minor annoyance and despite the fact that Brain claims that everyone will be under his control, yet again it’s still both of them taking over the world.

“What do you think, Pinky?”

And he still wants Pinky’s input. It’s small and scattered and very, very subtle, but in my opinion this is Brain’s most frequent way of showing that he cares about Pinky. Brain likely isn’t even aware that he does it. Pinky might not be aware, either.

“I think I’m getting dizzy and I rather like it! Ahahahahahoo!~”

“Sometimes you hurt my head, Pinky��”

And yet, Brain. And yet…

“The only problem: How to get this message repeated worldwide airplay…?”

Offscreen, Pinky turns the TV back on and startles Brain again, but only for a moment.

Another great pose and expression here: Mildly annoyed, but interested and on the verge of an idea.

“I just adore Willie Ray!”

“I listen to his song twenty times a day!”

I…really don’t know why they chose to have this shot done with Brain walking over the “camera” towards the TV so we get a brief close-up of Brain’s mousey behind. It made me laugh, though, so I thought I’d share.

“Pinky… Are you pondering what I’m pondering?”

I’m also kind of obsessed with this brief expression of Pinky’s I unintentionally managed to capture. It’s a bit of a smug, knowing, and yet endeared look. I’m sure it’s completely unintentional on the animators’ part, but I love the idea it gives me of Pinky knowing exactly what Brain’s thinking but purposefully saying something entirely unrelated to playfully tease him.

“Well, I think so, Brain, but burlap chafes me so.”

To be fair, Pinky, I think burlap chafes everyone. And were you thinking about doing a potato sack race? That’s the only connection to burlap I can think of that would be in any way relevant...

“Country music, Pinky. I will go to Nashville and become the biggest country music star of all time! Everyone will hear my record and my subliminal message and I will take over the world!”

In all honesty, that would probably be easier to do in the early 90s when this takes place since country music wasn’t such a…well, “dead” is a bit of an exaggeration, but country music as a genre is incredibly unpopular nowadays with the occasional notable exception. In the early 90s? Not so much.

“Egad, Brain!”

This is the most enthusiastic swoon I’ve seen and heard from you yet, Pinky.

“Oh! But no, no… It takes people years of hard work to become famous, Brain.”

Well, that or they’re born into a famous family. Or they’re just rich.

“Why, take Kathie Lee Gifford for example: She did community theatre, and—“

I actually can’t find anything via Googling about Kathie Lee doing community theatre before she became famous. She seems to have studied music and drama in university, and had a folk music group in high school, but the only reference to theatre I can find is professional musical theatre in the late 90s.

It’s possible Pinky’s right, though.

BONK!

BRAIN! …Wait, where did you even get that tiny club?

“Stop talking, Pinky, I must think.”

You… Brain, I think I’m starting to see why some fans believe you may be as neurodivergent as Pinky is, but in a different way. I can’t in good faith elaborate on that myself, since I haven’t been diagnosed as such and it would be completely disrespectful of me to do so, but if anyone wants a good little theory on that, try here.

“I have calculated every ingredient necessary to become a country music mega-star. Read me the list, Pinky!”

He’s typing by hopping from one key to another, aww!

Eeeh, the lettering work on that computer is pretty bad, though.

“A cowboy hat.”

“Check!”

“A southern dialect.”

“Check, ya’ll!”

“Nice, Brain.”

The way Pinky says “nice” here reminds me of this meme. Also, aww, Pinky’s always ready with the compliments.

“Working class values…”

“I enjoy beef jerky and the comedy stylings of Gallagher. Check.”

His visible cringe at having to say he enjoys Gallagher is wonderful. I first heard about Gallagher through My Brother, My Brother and Me, but for anyone that doesn’t know, Gallagher is a frankly terrible prop comedian whose most famous act was smashing things on stage (usually fruits of increasing size) with a large mallet that he called the “Sledge-O-Matic”, ending with smashing a watermelon. It was apparently a mildly popular bit of comedy in the south. Does that sound entertaining? No? Yeah, that’s…that’s why Brain is cringing so hard.

“A song.”

“Check!”

A song titled “A Song”. Brain, sweetheart, I think you’re going to need to put in a little more effort than that.

“A name consisting of not less than three words.”

“From now on, I shall be ‘Bubba Bo Bob Brain’. Check.”

I would make fun of him for this name, but honestly it’s kind of genius in its bland simplicity.

“And…a height of at least six feet!”

“Aaa--guebuh…”

Whoops. Forgot about that one, huh?

“Drat!”

“There must be some way for me to increase my height…”

Gee, if only you had a fully operational mechanical human suit just laying around.

“Hmm, let me think…”

“Don’t hurt yourself, Pinky.”

He is trying his best!

“Faster, Pinky! Faster!”

…Why does Pinky have to spin the thread? The whole point of sewing machines like this is that they’re powered electrically, Brain. Are you just making him do this so Pinky feels included?

Oh. Oh no…

Brain’s “WTF?” face is great. He’s surprised and yet not at the same time, because things like this just happen when you have Pinky around.

“You amaze me, Pinky.”

“I do my best…”

A very cute exchange.

So instead of using the mechanical human suit they usually fall back on in times like these (maybe it’s under six feet tall?), the mice instead come up with…this.

“Proceed, Pinky.”

I have to give them some credit, regardless of how ridiculous this is, as sewing denim to make a very bizarrely thin and tall pair of jeans must have been an absolute nightmare.

“Ki-yi-yippee-yi-yo. How do I look?”

I’m getting flashbacks to the similarly deadpan singing of “Camptown Races” from last episode. Brain’s really on a western kick lately, isn’t he?

“Oh, very nice, Brain!”

Your finger-framing may be focused on the back of Brain’s head for some reason, Pinky, but your pupils are definitely pointed a bit…lower.

“It’s ‘Bubba Bo Bob Brain’.”

“You are my manager, Colonel Pinky.”

This is a reference to Elvis Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, who was honestly quite the bungler when it came to managing Elvis’ career. I honestly don’t think Brain’s making a subtle jab at Pinky’s competency here for once because Brain’s grasp of pop culture he’s not already interested in is surface level at best most of the time.

“You discovered me playing the guitar on the front porch of my humble pig farm. Any questions?”

“Oh, just one: When you farm humble pigs, how far apart do you have to plant them?”

“…If I could reach you, I would hurt you.”

Hey now, you’re the one that asked, Brain.

“But for now, on to Nashville!”

“On to Nashville!”

BONK!

“This is a pain that is going to linger…”

That’s what you get for rolling your eyes at Pinky’s enthusiasm.

No perilous car trips this time! Instead, the boys are getting bus tickets to Nashville.

“Two tickets to Nashville, please.”

“Ooh-wee!~ You’re a tall drink a’ water, aint’cha, darlin’?”

…Ma’am? Excuse me, ma’am? Ma’am, are you flirting with The Brain?

Like, sorry, that “tall drink of water” saying is not just to point out that someone’s tall. It’s specifically for flirting with someone who is tall and gorgeous and a refreshing sight to see, like a tall glass of water on a hot summer day.

This lady is flirting with a mouse on stilt legs.

I know that Brain’s disguises are prone to inexplicably work even when by all rights they shouldn’t, but…

“Actually, I am a lab mouse on stilts.”

Brain does his usual bold and plain truth shtick and I’m a little surprised that he didn’t react to what she said beyond that. Then again, this is Brain and he’s quite terrible when talking to women in general, so maybe we dodged a bullet here.

“…At least he didn’t ask me to pull his finger.”

I’ve worked in retail and food service for years, ma’am, and if that’s the extent of your experience with unpleasant men, consider yourself lucky.

“EGAD, Bibby-boo-bop-Brain! Round trips are so exciting!”

“It’s ‘Bubba Bo Bob Brain’, Pinky.”

“Right! Sorry. Zort!”

Honestly, Pinky’s version is much cuter.

“Concentrate, Pinky, concentrate!”

BONK!

“YES! This pain will definitely be with me a while.”

Brain out here looking like a bad Minecraft texture.

Hello again, Warner Siblings! Gosh, that little fringed western skirt on Dot is cute.

“’The Rowdy Ranch Nightclub’… What are we doing here, Boobie-baa-baa-Brain?”

I checked the official subtitles for this and yes, that is exactly what he mistakenly calls Brain here. We have had both of these two call each other “boob” or some permutation of it this episode.

Pinky and the Brain sure is a show that exists.

“…It’s ‘Bubba Bo Bob’ Brain. And according to statistics, and inordinate number of country western superstars have gotten their start at this very establishment.”

You probably didn’t need me to tell you this, but there’s no Rowdy Ranch Nightclub in real life. There is, however, “The Rowdy Ranch”, uh, ranch in Texas.

“Egad! [gasp] Do you suppose Minnie Pearl performed here?”

“One can only hope…”

Man, Brain, you are really laying the sarcasm on thick this episode. Come to think of it, he’s been slightly more sassy towards Pinky than usual this episode as well. I suppose he’s still sore about the end of the last one. You know, for reasons.

BONK!

At least he’s getting some karmic punishment for it, I guess.

“I am a telephone repairman from this area!~”

This little ditty this man is singing has bugged the hell out of me for quite a while, as it certainly sounds like it’s a reference to something but I never knew exactly what it was referring to until just now thanks to an old Animaniacs Usenet group from way back in the day: It’s a parody of the song “Whichita Lineman” by Glenn Campbell. The writers are really giving it their all with the pop culture references this time.

“When I give the signal, play the subliminal message tape.”

“Right-o, Bippie Bebop Balloola!”

“…Sometimes you frighten me, Pinky.”

Why, though?! Despite it being a mistake it’s honestly a goddamn adorable one. Why must you fear affectionate, innocent, unknowing malapropisms, Brain? Pinky’s still going to do what you told him to.

Anyway, Brain is ushered onto the stage as a newcomer and he’s…not exactly any more eloquent than Pinky was just now.

“Howdy, you all. Here’s a little…ditty I wrote. Hope you enjoy it…you all.”

Here’s the thing: Brain’s not one to get stage fright, and while he’s not the best actor he’s still usually better than this. He was saying “ya’ll” and getting the country-isms perfectly fine beforehand, although he was still doing it in his deadpan Brain way.

Now, suddenly, after hearing Pinky cutely screw up his fake name and going on stage he’s starting to mess up. It’s like Pinky’s error is still in the back of his mind and flustering him enough to throw him off for a bit.

He gets back into the swing of things when he starts singing his song, though.

“I am a lab mouse, I escaped from my cage

Never had a job, never earned minimum wage.~”

“He ain’t half bad.”

“Ain’t half good, either.”

OUCH. That’s a little harsh. Sure, the lyrics are kinda blah but he’s a decent singer here. Really, it’s just not a genre of music that his voice fits very well.

Also, lady? You’ve got a suspiciously busty doppleganger in the back there. That’s got to be a bad omen for you.

“But you will respect me, YES, once my plan is unfurled!~

You will call me your leader, I’ll be king of the world!~”

Careful, Brain. Your complicated emotional complex is starting to show in those lyrics.

There’s some more nice facial expressions here too. I can’t really capture it with still images, but Brain’s got a very tender demeanor when he sings about being king of the world.

“Now, Pinky!”

…I just noticed that Pinky’s wearing a completely different outfit here at the nightclub than he was when boarding the bus to get to Nashville. He was previously in an all-white colonel outfit and now he’s in a more generic yet very sweet cowboy get-up. Did you make yourself an entire wardrobe, Pinky?

Another minor detail is that while Pinky’s cowboy hat is a generic tan colour (although before, it was white), Brain’s hat is completely black, which as per western film traditions marks him as a clear villain.

You and I know he’s not really a villain and is, at worst, an anti-villain…but I thought this was worth pointing out anyway.

“Citizens of the world, you are under my control. You will do whatever I say.”

I love how he does this completely unneeded strum on his guitar in the middle of his subliminal message. It's for the drama!

“Buy my record and listen to it twenty times a day.”

Corporations be like…

Who am I kidding? Corporations nowadays would have you pay a fee monthly to have a song on your phone playlist and you would never really own a copy.

“Let’s buy his record…”

“And listen to it twenty times a day…”

Lady, that doppleganger is still over there. Do you need a distraction while you sneak out the back?

This smug lil’ jerk. Gotta love him, though.

And so Brain’s cassette tapes fly off the shelves at record speed.

Man. Cassette tapes. I feel so fuckin’ old…

“I don’t know ‘bout ya’ll, but I can’t get enough of Bubba Bo Bob Brain. Let’s hear it again!”

JFC, that spittoon. Blegh! And just what do you need that rope for?!?

“Well, he’s the hottest thing to hit Nashville since my mama’s jalapeno grits! Here’s Bubba Bo Bob Brain!”

Having just recently learned what exactly “grits” is, I am very disturbed by the idea of jalapeno grits.

“I’m your biggest fan! What d’you say to that?”

Hi, Dolly Parton! I’ve gotta say that the animators nailed the caricature of 90s Dolly here pretty well. She’s instantly recognizable, unlike some other celebrity parodies Animaniacs does. It’s not just because of Dolly’s, uh…most renowned physical characteristics, either. That’s a very Dolly Parton smiling face.

Not much to say here other than that Dolly’s a sweetheart of a woman, from what I know about her, especially for a celebrity. She’s a staunch supporter of Covid relief and Black Lives Matter as well.

That said, she’s sadly—both in the 90s and now—most well known for…

“I’d say puberty was inordinately kind to you.”

BRAIN!

Well, yeah. That.

I guess now you can see what I mean about Brain not being very good at talking to women. Like, he’s definitely not ogling her here. In fact he’s just kind of…stating something he’s noticed and looking absolutely done with this whole celebrity thing. But Brain you don’t just make a joke like that about a woman’s bust size no matter how deadpan you do it, you ass!

“Haha, go on.”

She takes it well, though, just like Dolly seems to in reality.

Still, though! Brain, you retroactively deserved all those run-ins with doorframes.

Continuing on the buxom southern women thing this episode has decided to run with (seriously, what’s going on here?), we now have a brief parody of a Hee Haw skit.

“Hahahahaha!”

“Hey, Bubba Bo Bob Brain, I just got back from France!”

“How’d you find it?”

“I used a map.~”

“Hahahahaha!”

Yeah, that’s an accurate depiction of Hee Haw style humour.

“And the Country Tune Award for best male vocal goes to…”

“Bubba Bo Bob Brain!”

Here we have Garth Brooks and Crystal Gayle emceeing this awards ceremony. I had to look up who these two were supposed to be, though, since the caricatures are pretty vague this time.

“EGAD! YIPPEE! Narf! Ah hahahahahaha!”

Aww, he’s so happy for Brain! And oh, is that yet another outfit I see? And a much more appropriately sunshine-y yellow and flamboyant one at that! Pinky really went all-out for this.

Again with the tongue hanging out too, except this time it’s more understandable.

“You’re embarrassing me, Pinky.”

And you’re continuing to be a jerk, wow. Someone needs a nap or something.

“Pardon my effervescence, but your accolade is more than any bucolic mouse merits.”

“What’s he sayin’?”

“I don’t know.”

Yes, Brain just used the word “effervescence”, much like in that one Tumblr Twilight meme. To those reeling from the fact that this compares Edward to Brain via their shared pretentiousness: You’re welcome.

Also, a Brain-to-common English translation: “Pardon my bubbly enthusiasm, but your award is more than any countryside mouse deserves.” Would that have been so hard to say, Brain?

“…I’d like to thank my mama and Elvis.”

I wouldn’t thank Elvis. He was an asshole. But that’s probably not wise to say at a 90s country music award show, so I guess it’s understandable.

“Oh, how nice!”

“Well isn’t that nice!”

“I’m outside the Grand Ol’ Opry, where tonight’s concert featuring country music sensation ‘Bubba Bo Bob Brain’ is being televised worldwide.”

“In two words: Bubba is hot!”

I… That’s twice in this episode where a human woman thinks a tiny, big-headed mouse on stilts is hot.

Furries, come get these poor, confused women.

“You gotta know how to cut ‘em

Know how to shuffle

Know how to deal the cards, before you play Fish with me.~”

Hello, Kenny Rogers. I only know the song parodied here, “The Gambler”, again through “My Brother, My Brother and Me” and the long and hilarious conversation about it.

It’s kind of weird to have a song that was made famous by Rogers in 1978 sung like it’s a recent hit in an early 90s awards show, but ehh. Maybe the shelf life of hit country songs is a lot longer than songs of other genres.

And then you die in your sleep~

“Do you realize what will happen if the world hears my song just one more time?”

“An angel will get its wings?!”

If only, Pinky.

“NO, Pinky!”

I think all this country stuff is really getting on Brain’s nerves. He’s being snappy and irritable and lashing out an abnormal amount ever since arriving in Nashville, and there’s not a lot of joy in the minor successes he’s had so far. Like, compare Brain smiling and praising Pinky for his work during the alien encounter spoof they did together, the last episode with Brain cheerfully singing to himself when he was certain he’d win the race…to now where he’s yelling at Pinky for minor mistakes that no one but himself is aware of and being joyless and faking pleasantries and rolling his eyes at the country stars he’s surrounded by. This mouse is crabby as all hell, and I don’t think it’s just because he finds the whole country western thing stupid and below him. This is a mouse who’s done and will continue to do degrading things to achieve his goal of world domination without this much jerkishness.

I think he’s still fuming about the whole Pharfignewton and Pinky thing, and the current plan being a very rural, country-focused plan like the last one with the Kentucky Derby is just exacerbating it by reminding him of it. Like, you don’t even have to take it in the gay way I am and instead take it in a “how dare that goddamn horse take the complete attention of my friend/world domination partner away from me and my plans, this sucks and I can’t believe Pinky’s just being his usual dumbass self like everything is fine and the same” sort of way.

But the gay way makes way more sense, fight me.

…Okay, don’t fight me, I’m tired and old and I really don’t want to get in internet fights about cartoon mice.

“My subliminal message will take permanent hold, and the world will be under my control!”

Ooof! We’re back down to “my” control and not “our”. Jeez, Brain. You really are spiraling right now, aren’t you? Your attitude has quickly devolved from the beginning of this episode...

“Oh, that.”

And dang, even Pinky’s enthusiasm is starting to get deflated.

“Now, do you remember what you have to do?”

“Yes. I need to make a dental appointment. I have horrible plaque buildup!”

Pinky, you do realize that unlike a regular, non-sapient mouse you can just brush your teeth, right?

“The tape, Pinky, the TAPE!”

“Oooh, right! When you give the signal, I play the tape.”

“And now, I’d like to introduce…”

“This is it, I’m on.”

“Good luck, Booba Bip Bop Brain!”

Folks, I swear to you that I tried to get a decent screencap of Pinky slapping Brain to figure out if he slapped his back or his ass and for the life of me I could not get it. The slap goes by just that fast and I’d honestly have to go frame by frame if I wanted to get it, but my video player will not go that slow.

Either way, Brain is certainly startled by the contact but is fixated more on the continued mangling of his fake name.

“How many times do I have to tell you, my name is--!”

Uhh, Brain? Getting a liiiittle close there.

“—Bubba Bo Bob Brain!” exclaims Kenny Rogers. And oh boy are these screencaps exploitable. Again, you’re welcome.

“Yee-haw! Let’s start this hootenanny!”

Better than last time you came out on stage to sing at a show, at least.

This time the crowd even sings along with him, and they’re not even hypnotized yet. Much better.

“Now, Pinky!”

“You are under my control, you will do whatever I say…”

“I will do whatever he says… Whatever he says… Whatever he says… Whatever he says…”

A confusingly consistent detail here: Every woman in the crowd has swirly red hypnotized eyes and every man in the crowd has swirly green hypnotized eyes. Why? Who knows!

“Way to go, Blubber Boo Bean Brain. Narf!”

Heh, that hand flip.

It looks like Pinky is trying hard to suppress his verbal tic here for some reason? Or maybe he’s just realized that he’s messed up the name again and is cringing in anticipation of Brain yelling at him? Either way, poor guy… You really don’t deserve any of what’s coming.

And what’s coming? Well, given Brain’s heightened pissy attitude and his mental issues with not having things go exactly the way he wants them to, plus his obsessive need this episode to correct Pinky on this one thing that doesn’t need to even be addressed because no one else hears it, plus other repressed emotions…

“Do me a favour and forget my name. While you’re at it, forget you ever knew me!”

Holy shit.

…Now you fucked up, Brain. Now you fucked up.

Man, I hate the one thick facial hair on the dude in the middle. It’s so unsettling.

“Hey, who’s that skinny guy on stage?”

“Who is he?”

“Get him off!”

“Boo!”

“We wanna see someone famous!”

Yup. Look at what you did. You messed this up all because you were having a temper tantrum about Pinky messing up your stupid false name. You hang that head in shame. And you apologize to Pinky.

Later...

“Tonight’s inside story: A complete unknown somehow made it on to the stage at the Grand Ol’ Opry.”

“…Turn that off, Pinky.”

You know what? Keep it on for a bit, Pinky. Let Brain wallow in this humiliation just a bit more. He needs to have the lesson set in.

“I’m trying to concentrate on a better plan for tomorrow night.”

“Why, Brain? What are we going to do tomorrow night?”

“Same thing we do every night, Pinky:”

“Try to take over the world!”

Hey wait just a minute! You can’t just reuse this excellent ending from “Win Big” on this episode! Brain doesn’t yet deserve to get back to being cocky and determined after being such an ass!

Ahh well. He does get better, folks, I promise. This is just a rough patch. Brain is… He’s going through some things, I think. He’s not processing his emotions in a healthy way and it’s really coming back to bite him.

Listen, I understand this whole thing with Brain being extra grumpy and hostile after the whole Pinky dating Pharfignewton thing is largely coincidence. We don’t actually know what order these episodes were made in, after all, and the Animaniacs writers were not big on continuity.

Here’s the thing, though: I still find it fascinating that these episodes were aired one after the other…especially with a random cameo with Pinky and Brain disguised as a married couple in between. It makes for the beginning of a strange sort of arc that occasionally reminds us that, hey, these two mice are a duo and something is amiss when that duo is broken up or there is a strain put on that relationship.

I’ve read that after a while, network executives at the time tried to push for these mice to settle down and have families and for the skits and the eventual spin-off to largely abandon the whole world domination thing. They wanted it to be more sitcom-like to rival and imitate shows like The Simpsons.

That obviously doesn’t work. It can’t work. The writers, especially Peter Hastings, very much pushed back against the idea. When you have a duo of characters who fit together and play off one another so well, when the basic premise of a story is of a pair of characters working together to achieve a goal, and when those characters just mesh so perfectly and basically complete one another…trying to add another main character just puts the entire story completely out of wack and/or changes it into something unrecognizable. You can add reoccurring characters off to the side, sure. You can have a nemesis or two pop up and return every now and again. But with something like Pinky and the Brain where the main story is a small pair against incredible odds working towards a singular goal, disrupting that core relationship is going to cause a domino effect that will ruin the whole thing.

All this to say that I like this approach that’s going on here much more, even if it was completely unintended by the creative team: There is the element added of Pinky, off-screen, dating someone. It’s not something that’s brought up a lot and whenever it is brought up, Brain is irritated. We’ve seen at the end of the last episode where this development was introduced that Brain is unusually snappy, and now in the next episode he continues to be angry more often than he was before. It’s a more subtle and smooth way of seeing how these characters react if something or someone threatens to come between them, in a way that doesn’t immediately break the entire premise to pieces. Of course, it helps that Pharfignewton is…largely absent for all this and is only brought up every now and again. It’s not a perfect way to explore this kind of thing, but it’s preferable when compared to something like Pinky, Elymra, and The Brain.

However, after this episode Brain’s temper begins to de-escalate, and we won’t pick back up on this accidental “arc” for a few episodes. So to folks who are maybe a little bit bummed out about his behaviour here: don’t worry. We’re getting quite the breather next time with a very odd alternate universe skit courtesy of the Warner Siblings messing around with character placement, as well as an entire Animaniacs episode devoted to a Pinky and the Brain skit…fantasy style!

#Pinky and the Brain #PatB #Bubba Bo Bob Brain

17 notes · View notes

the-lightning-strikes-again · 4 years ago

Note

Hey Lightning, I was wondering if I could get your thoughts on something. One take that seems to keep returning every once in a while is the "Allura fell for Lotor only after he revealed his Altean heritage," but I know u and others have disproven this many times, which does reassure me. While I love Allura, I definitely think one of her weaknesses was her devotion to Altea and singing Alfor's praises, which sometimes became too much. At the same time, it bothers me when I see some ppl (1/?)

Continuing anon message: “ say that she thought Alteans were superior to all other races, and that when the colony plot twist happened, she became repulsed by Lotor's Galra side, which is why she rejected him. For them, that's why she forced violent memories onto an uncorrupted Zarkon, but somehow "saw the good/redeemed" Honerva, the Altean. I can kind of understand where they're coming from, but for me, it just didn't make sense that Allura suddenly had a change of heart considering for most of s8, she was angry and dead set on going after Honerva. Even with that, I think to a lot of her fans, s8 made Allura so ooc that she became unrecognizable, which hurt to watch. I guess for me it's hard seeing antis and people who don't like her claim that that's just how she is and has always been. Haha sorry for rambling, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, since your arguments ease my mind on a lot of things when it comes to Allura :)”

Hi, anon. Wow, thanks for your extended note! I don’t know anywhere in canon that Allura champions Alteans as a superior race. The definition of racial supremacy is a belief that inherent genetic differences between races determine cultural or individual achievement, with social/governmental policies championing intolerance of other races. To get Allura to fit into such a label:

1. A viewer has to ignore or undermine all the evidence available about who the main-universe Alteans really were before main-universe Zarkon’s massacre of them.

2. A viewer has to ignore or undermine how Allura actually responds to a variety of different races in the show, including her own.

So let’s start with issue one. To support an “Allura was a racial supremacist” opinion, a lot of antis (and even non-militant, average viewers) are favorable to the opinion that Alteans as a group, including Alfor, were actually evil and violent colonizer elitists before Galrans killed them off. In other words, they question Altean victimhood, and this allows the militant antis to poison and undermine scenes of a woman mourning her home and her beloved family. And it just gets to be a really unsettling conversation, to listen to someone actually try to justify genocide. They’ll also have suspicions that all of our foundational backstory in the s3 finale was just “cleansed” propaganda from Coran. So if antis can undermine Allura’s entire race and family as corrupt, then they can intentionally undermine any of her canonical statements about or efforts toward peace. Which is hilarious, because this racist tactic applied to Allura is actually what a lot of antis accuse Allura of doing with Lotor.

For the record, I don’t think the show production team actually intended the subliminal messaging/cognitive dissonance that I’m about to discuss. The people who designed and developed this show are fans of robot kitties and aren’t PhDs in social issues. But I think there is a very serious issue about the portrayal of genocide victims that feeds into some very real problems in our world, especially regarding the concept of racial supremacy and conspiracy theories about genocide victims.

VLD tried to play with both genocide politics for edge™ points while ALSO playing with shatterglass theory (shatterglass meaning an AU where the heroes are villains and villains are heroes). Combining these two concepts into the same universe creates some incredibly disturbing subliminal messaging about Alteans that very closely mimics ongoing neo-Nazi propaganda against Jews. Nazis and other anti-Semitists justify their hatred of Jews by equating them as terrible villains out for world domination via some underhanded shadow control of the mass populace. It’s an incredibly malicious form of propaganda, because it works so terribly well. And what do you know, VLD plays right into this kind of propaganda. In the season 3 episode, Hole in the Sky, we’re faced with team Voltron confronting an Altean Empire that was actually evil and out for multiverse domination. And oh by the way, they’re using malicious shadow tech to control a mass populace.

It’s like someone on the production team read the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and then just copied/pasted that incredibly damaging and widely accepted conspiracy theory right onto Alteans for s3 funsies because edge content.

This is incredibly punishing, for the narrative to wave the carrot stick in front of genocide survivors that maybe some others survived—and then to suggest that Alteans were the evil ones all along. A shatterglass twist worked very well in Captain Marvel (2019) for a lot of reasons, for example, but it just doesn’t work well in the VLD universe given that the show explicitly portrays the genocide victims as evil and validates this concept. And this episode unfortunately feeds ongoing cognitive dissonance in antis that if AU Alteans could be so evil…how certain are you that they aren’t in the main universe too? On the reverse side, the main-universe goes out of its way to portray that not all Galrans are evil, and even that Galrans were the primary resistance (BOM). But in this singular episode, we see a united Altean empire. And the only Altean who moves to stand against it once the shine wears off…is Allura. There is no AU Altean actually shown in the Guns of Gamara. So Allura stands alone as an Altean against her own people.

For this reason, this episode doesn’t function very well as a shatterglass AU either, because the moral “flip” isn’t a mirror balance to main universe. The Alteans of the AU world appear as fully united in their evil plans. And then, no doubt, anti-alluras point out other quirky things about main-universe Alteans throughout the show—the violent language-learning system that scares Pidge, and the ancient Altean terraforming technology that Haggar activates, and the fact that Oriande is a hidden place that keeps out the less magical with a violent guardian. These details, when removed from main-universe world building, create a cognitive dissonance about whether main-universe Allura and Alteans were actually genuine in how they depicted respectful “peace and diplomacy.” So anti alluras who believe Allura was a racial supremacist really rely on this s3 episode and these details to uphold their conspiracy theory.

So let’s focus on Allura in this episode, because it says a lot about who she ultimately is as a person, and people have forgotten how she actually responded in this episode. Allura is unquestionably hopeful at the thought that her and Coran might not be the last Alteans alive. Pretty understandable. If I were the last human, I’d be darn excited to find out there’s more of me left, lol. So her experience as a genocide victim initially blinds her to the evilness of these Alteans. You can even see the ache on her face, of how badly she wants to believe their narrative of peace.

So Allura is initially star-struck that she and Coran are not the last Alteans, yes, and that somehow they’ve achieved a “peace.” She is also not afraid to admit that they would be valuable allies in the war:

And she’s not wrong there, considering that they have what appears to be extensive military resources and a robot force of their own. But she makes a critical mistake in assuming that “these are my people” means that they share main-universe cultural sentiments. The instant Allura hears Slav (so not someone of her own race) call these Alteans out as actually evil colonizers turning people into slaves, she begins to question the narrative she’s received.

In this instance, she actually affords the Alteans the same courtesy she afforded Lotor—the opportunity to deny the accusations.

But in the AU Altean’s case, they try to turn blame back on other parties. Allura listens to Keith when he grows increasingly fearful of what the Alteans might do to the others, and she tries to plead for actual peace:

And actually, this is a pretty interesting moment for Allura. She tries to salvage an alliance…until she realizes that their differences are irreconcilable, and that their definition of peace is inherently different from her own. This probably sets the stage for why Allura was so triggered by Lotor talking about peace while also killing people—because she’s seen people misappropriate that term before. And also probably informs why she trusts the information of both Keith and Krolia (both of whom have Galran blood, btw).

Ultimately, Allura turns against her own people. Violently:

When they get angry about her wanting actual peace, Allura draws a weapon against them and rejects them from her people. This mimics how she spends several seasons fighting an Altean Haggar/Honerva for her crimes, and how she turns against Lotor too.

So case in point here, Allura loves her people, obviously—but she also is holding them to moral standards regarding their behavior, which is something that a genuine racist doesn’t do. As a matter of fact, Lotor is the only person of Altean blood that Allura genuinely bonds with ever again in the series. She’s distant with Romelle, she’s distant with the s8 Alteans… In s8, Allura even says this about Luca, which refers back to her own mistakes she made with initially being star-struck by the s3 AU Alteans who came in “peace”:

Allura herself had been manipulated in s3, wanting so desperately to not be the last Altean alive that it initially blinded her to how Commander Hira was manipulating her. The plight of the s8 Alteans who are deceived by Honerva is inherently frustrating to her, because she can see herself in them.

Absolutely none of this correlates with Allura seeing or perpetuating Alteans as a superior race. At every turn, her own people continue to disappoint her, and she increasingly and progressively separates herself from them in hopelessness, because they’re so brainwashed that they can’t see they’re just cannon fodder for someone else’s military agendas. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for a superior race, lol.

So let’s think about anti accusations here. Allura is a racial supremacist…but she’s arguing against her people who believe unquestionably in Honerva, another full Altean like herself? Nothing about that accusation makes sense with her actions.

The fact is, consistently from season 3 and onward, Allura is faced with her own people morally disappointing her.

The good news for the s8 Alteans like Tavo is that Allura is able to remove the dark entity Honerva is using to control him. Which allows other Alteans to “wake up” from being manipulated and try to make amends.

Regardless, Allura makes a very clear line that simply being Altean doesn’t make someone “right.” She sees herself fully at odds with her own people who are drawn in by Honerva’s lies. And she experienced well back in s2 (revealing Haggar as Honerva) and s3 (evil AU Alteans) that any given race, including her own, can house people who do bad things.

The fact is, she’s consistently and willingly drawn weapons against even her own people when they didn’t meet her moral expectations. So her response to Lotor isn’t particularly out of line there. She’s repulsed by a moral flaw.

And actually, Lotor himself wouldn’t have known this, but he very oddly echoed the AU Alteans by getting angry that Allura was angry over the means through which he was trying to get peace:

So Lotor actually reverts to the same logic of the AU Alteans—peace at any cost, just look at the results—

And keep in mind that the AU Alteans also manipulated Allura’s excitement about them, to get her to make the transreality comet usable so they could go into other realities. So Allura has felt betrayed and used before, by her own people.

So when she says this:

Yes, it’s a reference back to how Zarkon manipulated his friends in order to get access to the quintessence field, at the explicit cost of potentially killing his own people. But it’s not without understanding that yes, Alteans can be just as manipulative and betraying as Zarkon. Because she’s experienced it, again and again.

As a matter of fact, six out of the eight seasons of Voltron: Legendary Defender feature villainous Alteans/Alteans on the wrong side of the war, and we continuously see Allura punished again and again for wishing that Alteans still lived.

No wonder she wanted to die.

This is something that I find uncomfortable about the narrative of the show. Previous iterations of Voltron did in fact have a “blood on everyone’s hands” perspective, such as within the ages 16+ Dynamic Comics. However, Arusians/Alteans in those old Voltron narratives were not victims of genocide. VLD turns Alteans into victims of the worst racial crime possible and then also consistently portrays them as inherently antagonistic to genuine peace efforts in some way, instead of focusing on the evil of the oppressors.

And this is such a double whammy for Lotor’s characters as well, given that he was abused by his parents and threatened with slavery via his Galran culture, and that he was half-Altean too trying to connect to his lost culture.

As a matter of fact, the larger show’s narrative interest in “victims as antagonists” makes it such that when we see victims try to enact actual justice, it feels almost jarring. Let’s look at that s8 Zarkon moment you brought up as an example, where Allura destroys his innocent perspective by showing him his evil deeds.

The s8 Zarkon is a weird topic because 1) This Zarkon actually doesn’t exist outside of Honerva’s mind, so how he has any kind of actual free-will is beyond me, unless someone wants to argue that Honerva actually cursed his true soul just as she cursed the other paladins. It’s hilarious too, because Honerva-mind-Zarkon also calls Honerva a psychopath, so I guess now Honerva is psychoanalyzing herself using her dead husband as the vehicle, while also discreetly helping the paladins to stop herself—

ANYWAY, using this Zarkon as a “proof” of Allura’s “racism” is also cherry picking in the weirdest of ways. Is she angry about his horrific and incalculable crimes, including even how he betrayed the OG paladins and ruined his own planet? Absolutely. Does she want him to be aware of his crimes instead of having to pretend like nothing’s wrong? Yes.

But notice here, this Zarkon actually shows remorse. He is actually crying over those memories and recognizing that he had done something wrong. And Allura can work with that. In fact, out of everyone standing around and doing nothing, it’s Allura who gives him a second chance and offers an alliance with Zarkon in order to stop a crazy Altean:

Keep in mind too, Honerva didn’t have memory loss at the end of s8. She knew exactly what she’d done and had given up and had to actually be convinced to do anything halfway constructive. That’s a very different circumstance than mind-Zarkon had, who jumped at the chance to do something to fix what all had happened, and gets even morally righteous about it, calling his own wife a psychopath, lol.

So generally, antis who believe Allura was a racial supremacist haven’t watched the show holistically. We see her hold the same standards to her own people as she expects out of others. This show would look incredibly different if Allura were a true racial supremacist.

Ah, you ask. Okay, so we’ve refuted the big pieces of “evidence” used to incriminate Allura. But what about all of those weird details about ancient Altean history? The violent language-learning program that scared Pidge? The violent terraforming tech that almost kills Voltron? The concept that Alfor tried to play “police” over the Galra and actually blew up their planet? The Alteans’ ongoing discussions of “peace and diplomacy” and spreading it throughout the universe while they happen to sit on a massive load of ancient power?

The s3 finale and other facts throughout the series very heavily smash the claim that our canon, in-universe Alteans were evil colonizers like the AU Alteans. The biggest piece of evidence to the contrary is that the Altea we know was one (1) planet. You counted right. One planet. Not an empire, but a singular planet. The s3 finale corroborates this, showing Altea as being largely isolationist from a military perspective while Daibazaal and Nalquod warred "for generations," right in front of their salad.

So some viewers would have you believe that Alteans were these big bad, intergalactic police state colonizers. But for all of its great power and knowledge, the singular planet of Altea didn't even canonically interfere in the wars of its own galaxy for actual millennia? And looking at the screenshots upon the stabilization of the alliance, Alfor is revealed to not have had experience with a neighboring culture. His face while exploring Gyrgan’s homeworld is an indication that it’s all rather new for him too. So again, we have evidence showing that Alteans were not colonizing or even functioning as a police state.

Note here that in the s3 flashbacks, the show confirms that it actually wasn’t just Alfor who suggested an alliance. All five leaders had common interests in protecting their galaxy from even worse threats, so all five came together at the same time. This is actually the first piece of evidence we have of Altea entering into some kind of intergalactic military agreement to stave off said worse threats.

And all of this is on top of a history where in s6, the Galran Archivist confirms that the Galran Empire had existed before Zarkon for 3,000 years, with times of “expansion.” It’s very easy to see that Blaytz’s people were actively fighting off Galran occupation of their homeworld within this past.

And that’s actually what I think makes Alfor and the OG paladins some pretty interesting characters. Here, we had colonizing Galran empire setting down its sword and accepting the value and space of its neighbors. Here, we had master alchemist Alfor giving up military power within their group by acknowledging Zarkon as the superior strategist. Here, we had Blaytz who had previously been battling Galran occupation…fully accepting the Galra?

So the OG Paladin backstory represents a pretty incredible alliance that removed a lot of intergalactic toxicity and helped heal broken bonds. But it required all five leaders to agree to that. Alfor did not throw his weight or power around within this. There were several checks and balances here.

But this backstory also helps to explain some of the quirky details about Alteans. Their planet existed within an active war zone, and it’s very likely that they’d had to fight off Galran occupation just as Blaytz’s people did. So the violent robot trainers and fear-based language learning systems start to make sense. Alteans weren’t just simpering people playing harps all day and eating grapes. They were actively prepared to defend their planet and their culture.

So when Allura says in season 1 that Alteans were “spreading diplomacy” across the universe, the only pieces of evidence we have of that is the OG paladins themselves, in which Alfor was a big part in creating that alliance—and then possibly the Alteans with the Balmerans, given their deep collective rituals with that planet while the Galra literally just came in and ripped the planet nearly to death. Allura tries to mimic what it means to accept and interact with a culture without changing it well in season 1, when she stumbles through trying to respect Arusian culture and its demands on its people. Also, there is a big fact that antis like to overlook:

The fact is, despite the untold numbers of civilizations we interact with across 76 episodes, no outside race remembers Alteans as evil colonizers. If they were really so big and bad, we would have heard it, like, “Man, yeah the Galrans are bad. Just as bad as those Alteans, back in the day.” Or something. But nope, nothing.

So I heavily question the history of Altea as an ancient colonizing race. If they were, then Altea wouldn't have just been a single planet with limited resources to fight wars in even its own galaxy. All of this supports the idea of Altean children being raised to fight--because they were preparing to defend themselves when/if diplomacy fails.... But the fact that the Balmerans see Alteans fondly and that literally every other race we run into is explicitly suspicious of Galrans and not at all of Alteans says something.

I think the only piece of evidence there might be for a genuinely colonizing ancient Altea is the use of terraforming technology, as mentioned in s4. Haggar discovers it and activates it to try and kill Voltron--and she nearly succeeds, because said tech destroys the entire crust of the planet to reform it. But you have to step back for a second and wonder--if ancient Alteans were so powerful, why was Alfor struggling so hard to even hold his own planet together in the midst of all these other cultures warring and larger threats? If they had this technology--and they did know about it because Allura recognized it right away as ancient technology--why the heck wouldn't they use it? Or were they using it, and it was to reform uninhabited planets to help sustain displaced peoples? Why is it, if Alteans were so terribly bad, we have no record across ANY of the many alien races being cautious of them? Even Galran Lieutenant Lahn snapped at Allura only because he was jealous of the general security she had back on, you guessed it, explicitly Altea. There's a lot of potential explanations for a positive use of terraforming technology, and the evidence against colonization and Altea committing omnicide against other races is incredibly more aligned with the other details in the canon.

And even Alfor’s creation of Voltron and the blowing up of Daibazaal—that’s something that antis like to position as evidence of his police-state ways to underhandedly control other cultures.

So let’s tackle those too while we’re at it.

Honestly, I know people like to hate on Alfor, and I do think his character picks up some misogynism just from the writers....But I don't think he was as much of a controller as people think he was. He was already in an alliance with four other leaders to try and stop bad things from happening in their galaxy. That meant they were expending incredible amounts of time and resources to accomplish that end—resources that were not renewable and may have been straining various planets. We know that he started building Voltron with Zarkon and everyone else's blessing because he called them "clean ships," but it's only after the rift creatures attack that suddenly Alfor's perception of Voltron moves from "clean energy" to "omg we need a more powerful weapon against this unknown enemy.”

So these are his intentions BEFORE he discovers rift creatures are a threat to the universe. While Zarkon states that these new ships are to be endlessly powerful for the Galra Empire, Alfor shames him by offering what his desire is for them:

After the rift creatures nearly destroy Daibazaal, intentions change.

So here, we see the game change in a BIG way. Voltron is not just about offering a more renewable way of sustaining peace-keeping efforts. Alfor is now adjusting and finishing these ships with the explicit knowledge that if they are not powerful enough, then Daibazaal and the Galran people will die. Alfor’s got a LOT of pressure on him now to deliver a mighty and powerful weapon to stop this new threat. So even his creation of Voltron as a superweapon involved using it to protect people from imminent death—not to police them.

And about Alfor blowing up Daibazaal—once again, it’s Alfor trying to clean up Honerva and Zarkon’s mess. Honerva had convinced Zarkon that the rift needed to be wider, and so Zarkon deceived the paladins into widening it.

So keep in mind here, at this point in time—the rift was destabilizing and eating an entire planet. The entire universe was now at stake. Alfor had to choose between a bad fix and an even worse option of allowing everyone to die, but he very clearly evacuated people before destroying Daibazaal, as part of his promise to keep Galrans safe. So that no one would have to die.

And as a matter of fact—about that terraforming technology. How sure are you that Alfor didn’t intend to use it to build Galrans a new home? It’s entirely within the realm of acceptable conjecture that he allowed for the existence of that technology because it could restore what had been lost.

And here’s where the story gets really screwy and feeds into some anti hate. Because when Zarkon wakes up as a zombie, he desires more quintessence as zombies do.

So he’s pissed that Alfor just cut off his gateway, and he manipulates his people:

And it’s here where we get the idea that Alfor was an evil controller. The idea came from Zarkon, who—we can look around pretty easily and see that he was not a man of honor, ultimately. Even if you chose to not believe the s3 finale flashbacks as being objective, there’s something wrong with Zarkon. (It’s clear that the show thought using Coran was a smart way to shell off massive amounts of info, because clearly if this were truly in Coran’s perspective, we would NOT have had intimate looks into Zarkon and Honerva’s bedroom as Zarkon is tending to her, like omg.) Numerous sources, histories, and cultures outside of Coran confirm that Zarkon hit a point of no return on the evil scale, and that he projected his own blame for Daibazaal’s destabilization onto Alfor in order to raise up his new regime in the name of Quintessence™.

So at the end of the day, even Alfor was a victim. But yet somehow, various antis choose to believe Zarkon’s victim-punishing narrative because said antis can’t or else refuse to connect one scene to another since it undermines their justifications for why they can hate on Allura. And that’s not so much an issue with the story itself as it is just poor critical analysis or malicious weaponization of content against other fans.

Now, at this point, we’ve talked about Allura and we’ve talked about Altean history. I have numerous other posts about Allura’s interactions with other races and Galrans and overcoming trauma to give the entire universe a second chance. So if there is anything in this show that suggests Alteans were in any way a superior race, then it’s probably within the show’s own worldbuilding. The show contradicts its own definitions of what quintessence even is by suggesting Alteans have “bluer/purer quintessence” in order to justify why Lotor would even be trying to sacrifice them for anything. The show-championed concept that Alteans have a bluer, purer life force above all other people, and that only Altean energy could interface with the fabric of space-time. Now, this is a problem in the later seasons’ world building itself. And you know who wrote that in? The production team. So once again, we do have racial issues in this show, in ways that shows like Star Wars desperately try avoid by showing racial diversity in who has Midi-chlorians.

That said, I’m not a perfectly woke storyteller either. I think every story and show is going to have something problematic™, but with VLD it’s very clear that its disrespectful handling of genocide politics and shatterglass conspiracy theories, on top of its weird master race angle created the perfect storm. These mishandled and quirky details have created a cognitive dissonance with the provided narrative, resulting in some people in the anti fandoms to champion what aligns very closely to actual neo-Nazi propaganda against Jews, who according to them are not victims but instead the true perpetrators of all bad things. For the sake of the antis, I’m pretty sure they’re not intentionally looking at VLD this way and are probably just looking for any easily graspable reason to hate on Allura for interfering with their ship or something.

But this kind of subliminal propaganda that undermines victims, and the effect it has had on fandom morality politics, is deeply concerning to me. I really wish that we’d had an opportunity to respectfully and critically discuss this with the production team of the show, because a Y7-FV show about “strength in unity” should NOT result in us needing to have a conversation about people walking away with neo-Nazi-ish propaganda sentiments against genocide survivors. Like. Clearly, VLD is fictional, but it’s feeding into a real-life beast that it does NOT need to feed. And it’s keeping alive ongoing conspiracy narratives against some of our most vulnerable populations on the planet.

So, we need better stories. We need a production team that, if they’re going to get paid to do something involving portrayals of genocide and politics, that they need to do their research on those topics. Nobody is going to be perfect with a creation, but VLD validated some very damaging things—and it ALL is something that could have been fixable. I think it would have been incredibly validating to hear the production talk about and accept that these were issues that cropped up unintentionally, and to hear them confirm that these issues are not the sorts of things that VLD was supposed to champion.

The greatest tragedy of all of this is the potential that this show had to really champion some great and validating messages, and the potential that we as a fandom had to come together and do something that fandom was meant to do—which was celebrate the things we love. Because that’s why we’re all here. That’s why this crazy tumblr of mine even exists. It was supposed to celebrate things.

For that reason, I’m going to end this here. I’ve written several responses now as to my thoughts on the inappropriate narrative lens of the show, its contradictory and damaging worldbuilding about the purest race, and how it champions demonizing or punishing genocide survivors again and again. Within all of that, I’ve talked at length about Allura’s character and behavior over 8 seasons and how she built even empathetic connections with militant Galrans like Commander Lahn. In fact even her own homesickness is how she emotionally connects with Lahn, because she understands that desire to call something one’s own. To have a home. A family.

I now really would like to get back to writing stories that I find meaningful to me using these characters and these worlds—and trying to find the hope in all of this darkness, haha. And maybe with any luck, I can hope to do VLD some justice, knowing that I am still on a learning journey as well.

But I appreciate your note, and I hope this very extensive response helps to settle your questions and concerns once and for all regarding VLD Allura. If you should have any remaining questions, please feel free to reach out via a private message to discuss. Thank you!

#Volron #VLD #Allura #VLD Critical #Alfor #Zarkon #Honerva #Lotor #I hope this helps explain my perspective #I think this might have to be my last refutation to the Allura as racist/racist supremacist conspiracy theory #at a certain point #people either watch the show holistically or they don't #you can't convince an anti #so this meta will probably not help an anti #but if you're sitting on the fence and felt drawn in by anti propaganda #then I hope that maybe this post provides an alternate perspective #and one that tries to be more holistically fair to all 8 seasons of the show #and to the intentions and general oversights that can occur during production #Ultimately it doesn't matter if someone likes or dislikes Allura as a fictional character #we need better entertainment that can handle these hard topics and handle them well #And we also need a fandom who's willing to look at all of the information and not weaponize it to specifically demonize and silence others #Maybe a family TV show shouldn't be appropriating conspiracy theories from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion #real-world fans are incredibly vulnerable to such conspiracy theories #and it creates a lot of real-world strife as a result

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typographyinrome · 4 years ago

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The Significance of Layout and also Typography in Exterior Steel Lettering

Dimension, standard letterform, color, glyphs, as well as letter accents are all a component of typography. With the millions of lettering styles and also mixes feasible, typography includes selection, creative thinking and imagination. New font styles and also smart ways of utilizing letters are created daily, making typography an ever-changing art. Credit history the initial printing machine as well as its maker Johann Gutenberg for developing the technique of typography in 1450, with distinctive 15th century letter strokes and timeless font. The classic age of typography ended in the early 1700s as a typeface called "old style" entered style. However, by the mid-1700s the transitional period of typography was developed, with an Englishman called John Baskerville promoting what came to be referred to as "transitional font"-- a sophisticated and very classy letterform. The majority of contemporary word processing software pay homage to Baskerville by providing a Baskerville typeface option. Most of the 1800s was differentiated by the modern-day age of tipografia a roma , with was identified by a range of serif and also sans serif font designs. The innovation of lithography throughout this era made these styles prosper. The contemporary era of typography, moved by the futurist art activity, extends from the late 1800s to roughly 1961, when the existing as well as contemporary age of typography began. All eras of typography remain to affect modern developers who commonly integrate designs in free type. Due to its ability to persuade, cause emotion as well as subliminally send ideas, typography is typically utilized for display and advertising. The ability to change letters via unique types permits marketing to be personalized for various audiences and purposes. Not just can producers attract consumers to get products by giving pleasing enter an appealing shade, however they can likewise straighten themselves to social causes with the setup of type. Companies can merge type with or lay over kind over universal socio-cultural icons, such as peace signs, serpents, doves or other icons. Usually, letters are intelligently morphed to resemble those symbols for unique advertising influence. In terms of feeling, typography has the capability to distinguish particular kinds or typefaces as amusing, stern, harmful or frightening. This works in advertising and marketing because it suggests typography utilized for Halloween advertising campaigns can be greatly various from those made use of to promote comic strips and also theme park. Political project typography can convey gravitas while advertisements made to attract children can be more wayward with its letter serifs as well as stems. The adage of "kind follows feature" is specifically true in typography. A great typographer recognizes that while any word can be created millions of means, only a few forms will properly satisfy, target market and preferred effect and function of a marketing message. Beyond catering to clients and also consumers, typography in marketing helps services and companies since it is a kind of branding. Typography has become so carefully associated with branding, that lots of audiences can identify a business's item from afar when just the style of text as well as not they actual words can be differentiated. Branding is taken care of by advertising and marketing divisions, a lot of which produce strict guidelines wherefore shades, points, and also typefaces developers are permitted to use on letterheads, logos, signs and also buildings. Even institution of higher learnings have strict regulations on how the name of the school can appear on sweatshirts, caps, billboards, buildings as well as various other keepsakes. Such strict typography standard procedures guarantee what colleges as well as companies refer to as "aesthetic identification." Many universities, layout colleges and also colleges offer Bachelor of Arts and also Master of Arts levels in typography. Typography credentials work for professions varying from visuals designer to advertising and marketing exec. Typography is especially essential in signs and also ecological as well as architectural design. The dimensional letters makes a statement about the building as well as the organization in it. It likewise serves to recognize as well as lead individuals. Appropriate attention needs to be provided to metal letters and the typeface choice, spacing, and balance. A competent designer should be made use of.

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lostanarchymagazine · 4 years ago

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American Flagg! is an American comic book series created by writer-artist Howard Chaykin, published by First Comics from 1983 to 1989. A science fiction series and political satire, it was set in the U.S., particularly Chicago, Illinois, in the early 2030s. Writers besides Chaykin included Steven Grant, J.M. DeMatteis, Alan Moore and John Francis Moore.

American Flagg, which ran 50 issues (October 1983 – March 1988), was one of the first titles to be published by First Comics, an early alternative press comics company founded in Evanston, Illinoisin 1983. Unusually for the time, the company offered its freelance writers and artists creator rights, including ownership of their creations. Regardless, writer-artist Howard Chaykin, then living in New York City, felt trepidation when First Comics approached him to do a project. He recalled in 2010,

My concern had all and everything to do with the fact that this was a brand new company, located in [a suburb of] Chicago. I'd always worked for companies I'd visited and had day-to-day-dealings with. [But] they talked about a financial plan that would make it possible for me to get out from under the debt I had accrued working for [publisher] Byron Preiss [illustrating early graphic novels]. It was encouraging, so I went home and concocted a scenario, a pitch document, and that was it.

Chaykin devised a series set in 2031, a high-tech but spiritually empty, consumerist world in which the American government has relocated to Mars, leaving what remains of the U.S. to be governed by the all-encompassing corporation known as the Plex. The series star is Reuben Flagg, a former TV star drafted into the Plexus Rangers and posted as a deputy in Chicago, Illinois.

The first 12 issues, running through cover-date September 1984, consisted of four interlocking, three-issue story arcs. Chaykin recalled his difficulty in producing 28 pages of art and script monthly. "I was still a smoker and a drinker at the time. And [the output was such that] I'd never done anything like that before, and it was insane. It just devoured my life [and] I had no assistants. I didn't know how to work with an assistant at that point, and it was a very difficult process. ... I was trying to do a fairly high-quality product and I didn't want to slough it off."

Chaykin made wide use of Craftint Duoshade illustration boards for American Flagg!, which in the period before computers, enabled him to add shaded textures to the finished art.Ken Bruzenak's lettering and logowork also won notice, as it was integral to American Flagg's futuristic, trademark-littered ambiance.

American Flagg's first dozen issues form one complete story that has influenced comic creators including Brian Michael Bendis and Warren Ellis. The comic made a huge splash at the 1984 Eagle Awards, the United Kingdom's pre-eminent comics awards. Chaykin and American Flagg! were nominated for ten awards, eventually winning seven. American Flagg! also won the 1983 Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Comic Book and tied for the 1983 CBG Award for Favorite Character (Reuben Flagg).

After issue #12, Chaykin continued the series while also working on such other projects as his revamp of The Shadow for DC Comics and the graphic novel Time2, based on characters introduced in a one-off American Flagg! special in 1986. During this time, Alan Moore wrote a back-up story that ran several issues and concluded in an issue-length story.

Eventually, Chaykin left, to be replaced on a regular basis by first Steven Grant then J.M. DeMatteis. Grant left after only seven issues due to creative friction with the series's new artist, Mark Badger. According to Grant, he had wanted to continue doing stories in the same style that Chaykin had established, while Badger wanted to take the series in new directions. Chaykin returned for a brief run to wrap up storylines before the first volume ended in March 1988. The title was relaunched a few months later as Howard Chaykin's Amerikan Flagg!. This run saw Chaykin return to write the first issue before handing over to John Francis Moore, with Mike Vosburg and Richard Ory penciling and inking the interior art, but the franchise failed to recapture its early success and was canceled after 12 issues.

The story takes place in the year 2031, after a series of worldwide crises called the Year of the Domino (1996) has forced the U.S. government and the heads of major corporations to relocate to Hammarskjold Center, on Mars ("temporarily, of course"). In the wake of the American government leaving the planet and the Soviet Union collapsing from Islamic insurrections, there was a power shift throughout the world, with Brazilian Union of the Americas and the Pan-African League becoming the new superpowers on Earth.

However, the exiled American government, its corporate backers, and a group of technicians in the defected Soviet lunar colony of Gagaringrad form the Plex: a giant, interplanetary union of corporate and government concerns that conduct commerce and govern the United States from its capital on Mars. Many population centers are grouped around massive, fortified arcologies called Plexmalls and the law is enforced by the Plexus Rangers, the absentee Plex's Earthside militia.

The Plex has formed the Tricentennial Recovery Committee, to get America "back on track for '76", but the TRC is in reality a plan to sell the United States off to the new superpowers and to leech off the remaining inhabitants before gaining true self-sufficiency. As a result, the Plex has outlawed non-combat related education, organized sports such as basketball and personal aircraft, restricted media to only one outlet, the Plex itself (although it has multiple channels), and advocates and glorifies the use of political violence amongst independent policlubs by providing money and firearms for its hit TV show Firefight All Night LIVE!, and covertly sterilizes the population by using a combination contraceptive and antibiotic called Mañanacillin to reduce the population.

This all changes when former television star Reuben Flagg is drafted and transferred to Chicago's Plexmall to replace the local Ranger Hilton "Hammerhead" Krieger's fallen partner. He witnesses widespread graft and corruption throughout the Plexmall, but also a series of subliminal messages implanted in a television show that are causing outbreaks of gang violence. After he uses his emergency powers to interrupt the broadcast, he not only ends the violence, but also brings forth a series of events that causes the Plex to send in covert agents, the death of Hilton, and the unveiling of Q-USA, a secret TV station owned and operated by Krieger that opens Flagg's eyes to the nature of the Plex.

As the series progressed, Chaykin took less and less of a direct role in scripting and plotting the stories out, and by the third year of its run, he really had nothing to do with the book other than cover art. Stories began to violate the rules that Chaykin had explicitly stated in the writer's bible for the series (for instance, California was said to have slid into the Pacific Ocean, but in the final year of the book, California was merely shown to have been abandoned for reasons that were vague at best), and characterizations began to drift considerably as well. (Among other things, Flagg abandoned his interest in 1930s jazz, and was frequently shown listening to late-1960s rock, as well as becoming more of a traditional stern-jawed good-guy hero). After trying and failing several times to shore up declining interests, First Comics decided to lure Chaykin back into the writer's seat. "American Flagg!" wrapped up its principal storyline with issue #50. By this time, Reuben Flagg had traveled to Mars, overthrown the Plex, and become President of the United States. He then decided to separate Illinois from the United States and run it as his own personal fiefdom. All issues of this series took place in the year 2031.

The next year, the comic was re-launched under the name Howard Chaykin's Amerikan Flagg! (The "K" and a reversed "r" were to reflect the fact that most of this series took place in Russia) and picked up from where the earlier book had left off (in 2032). There is some difference of opinion as to whether this new book was intended to be a limited run, or open-ended as is the norm with comics. In either case, it ended after twelve issues. The final issue ends with a photo album of the Flagg's future domestic life, with lots of kids, a screaming shrew of a wife, and a balding, overweight Flagg.

Characters

Reuben Flagg, born in 2000 at Hammarskjold Center, Mars, to Axel and Rebecca Flagg, was a stand-up comic and popular television star of the show Mark Thrust, Sexus Ranger. After he was made superfluous by CGI technology, he joined the Plexus Rangers and emigrated to Earth, being stationed in the Chicago Plexmall. Flagg is Jewish, and his parents' "undesirably bohemian" attitudes have given him an idealistic view of the United States that runs contrary to the Plex. He has a desire to set things right again, and through inheriting Q-USA, begins to set on that path.

Raul the cat, an intelligent, talking orange tabby housecat. With the exception of his intelligence and his ability to speak (an ability whose origin is never explained), he appears to be otherwise a normal house pet. However, he has a customized set of cybernetic gloves, designed by Mandy Krieger, that give him opposable thumbs.

Hilton "Hammerhead" Krieger, was Flagg's superior at the Chicago Plexmall. A co-founder of the Genetic Warlords motorcycle gang along with Charles Blitz, but after his 13th arrest, the Plex drafts him because of his criminal experience. Intending to take advantage of the fledgling organization, he meets his future wife Peggy and stays with the Rangers. He does not trust anyone, not C.K., the mayor, not his wife Peg, not his daughter Mandy, and, while a Plexus Ranger, he especially does not trust the Plex. He runs an underground television station called Q-USA that broadcasts illegal sports, pornography, and pre-collapse movies and television shows. He is killed by a Plex secret agent, and his cat Raul gives Flagg the keys to the station. He also leaves behind a video explaining to his "heir" the truth of the Plex and the rules he wishes his successor to follow.

Amanda "Mandy" Krieger, daughter of Hilton, she is the air traffic controller for O'Hare Chicago Plexport. However, since the O'Hare Plexport only receives two flights a week, Mandy spends her time tinkering with electronics or getting into mischief. She later becomes a deputy to Flagg.

Jules "Deathwish" Folquet, captain of the Skokie Skullcrushers basketball team. Despite his punk appearance, his hulking size and the extreme nature of the sport he plays, Jules is quite intelligent. He is referred to as the "king of the two finger lobotomy." He first teams with Flagg to resolve a hostage crisis, but later forms the Video Rangers auxiliaries, and then becomes a Ranger deputy. He also later hosts a talk show with Raul called the "Him and It Show". In the second series, he renounces his violent ways, and, through a remarkable series of events, becomes Pope.

Charles Keenan Blitz, also known as The Honorable C.K. Blitz, a co-founder of the Genetic Warlords along with Hilton Krieger, also ended up getting drafted into the Plexus Rangers, but ended up leaving to become mayor of Chicago. Blitz has his hand in every deal, regardless of how illegal it may be; is extremely wealthy and corrupt; and has killed political opponents. As a side venture, he runs the Skokie Skullcrushers blackmarket basketball team. He is usually flanked by his two robot bodyguards, Bert and Ernie, named after "a private joke no one under 40 understands". He has had affairs with Mandy Krieger and with Peggy Krieger, while Hilton was fighting a brushfire war in Carracas, which lead to her being kicked out by Hilton and giving birth to...

Medea Blitz, the offspring of C.K. and Peggy. Early in the series, Medea is a wild child and hangs out with Cyril Farid-Khan, gang leader of current Genetic Warlords. She has a secret affair with Hilton Krieger, but after his murder, is considered a suspect and is involved in a traffic accident, which causes her to miscarry Krieger's child. In order to clean up her act, C.K. Blitz has her join the Plexus Rangers to straighten her out. As the series progresses, Medea is shown to become more and more accepting of the Rangers and becomes a decent team player in Flagg's group.

Sam Luis Obispo also known as Ned Beaumont, also known as Tom Slick. A hustler Reuben meets in Havana while escorting the Skokie Skullcrushers, he later partners with Flagg for most of his time in South America. He has an affair with the wealthy daughter of the Brazilian ambassador, which causes all sorts of problems for Flagg and himself.

William Windsor-Jones, but his best friends just call him Bill. Bill is the youngest member of the Witnesses, a gang of octogenarian rebels. He helps Flagg out from time to time, giving him intelligence and technical support. He later has become a newscaster for Q-USA. Bill is Prince William, and the rightful heir to the now-abolished British throne.

Luther Ironheart, a robotic Plexus Ranger with a head that consisted of a holographic projection. Assigned to be Reuben Flagg's partner on patrol. While not very bright, he exhibited superhuman strength and agility.

#american flagg #american flagg!#mark thrust #howard chaykin #dystopia #dystopian #1983 #silversteel rocks #first comics #howard chaykin's american flagg #bob violence #mojo el diablo #comic tropes #overlord comics #strange brain parts #reuben flagg

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diyminddesign · 5 years ago

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Do Silent Subliminals Work?

Introduction

Yes, silent subliminals and ones with audible music or nature sounds are equally effective. Below I explain in detail how silent subliminals work.

What Are Subliminals And How Do They Work?

What is Subliminal Messaging?

Silent subliminal messaging tracks are made up of voice recordings that are inaudible to humans. These are usually positive statements that target a problem area for the listener.

An example of a problem area might be someone struggling to lose weight because of emotional eating habits. Another example could be a person struggling with confidence due to childhood trauma.

In these examples, subliminal messaging might include positive statements to rewire the subconscious mind and replace negative emotions with positive ones.

Rewire the Subconscious Mind

The subconscious mind is where everything we have experienced is stored – like a huge database. Your beliefs and self-image are stored here, including limiting beliefs and imaginary boundaries.

There’s a combination of positive and negative stuff that enables you in some ways and limits you in others.

Subliminal messaging bypasses the conscious mind and lets you install more enabling beliefs and disable limiting ones without interference from your conscious mind. The new programming in your subconscious affects your everyday thoughts and actions.

What Does “Silent Subliminal” Actually Mean?

All subliminals are messages below your visual or audible threshold. They are outside of your ability to perceive consciously. But, your subconscious mind does receive and react to the stimuli.

Silent subliminal means a subliminal message recorded outside of your ability to perceive consciously and without dubbed music or nature sounds on top.

So the audio recording sounds like a blank disk or tape. However, if you test the recording in an audio recording software, you can see sound waves even though you don’t hear the message.

How Do Silent Subliminals Work?

Bypass Conscious Mind

Silent subliminal messages are affirmations that bypass your conscious mind and go straight into your subconscious. These hidden positive affirmations are embedded just out of range of your conscious awareness.

Subconscious Mind Accepts Suggestions Without Question

Your subconscious mind begins to accept the suggestions as true after repeated listening. A suggestion to the person at a level beyond the conscious mind goes directly into the subconscious mind.

The subconscious mind accepts commands without question. It’s just like a small child accepting what parents say with complete innocence. (If you’re a parent, you know that changes rapidly as they get older).

Sneak in Good Code

So you can use subliminal recordings as a way to sneak in good code and bypass your conscious mind where thoughts are blocked and filtered. This way you deliver good, favorable commands in an unnoticeable and repetitive way.

Why Are Silent Subliminals Better?

It could be a matter of your personal preference. You may prefer silent because it doesn’t distract you with consciously audible music or nature sounds. So you can work without being distracted by music or nature sounds.

You can also enjoy a movie or TV programming without competing audio from a subliminal recording of music or the ocean waves pounding on the surf.

Silent subliminal recordings have the same effect on your subconscious as subliminals recorded over with audible sounds.

3 Subliminal Recording Samples to Compare:

NOT SILENT: Absolute Self Confidence Masked Subliminal (Ocean Surf)

SILENT: Absolute Self Confidence Ultrasonic Subliminal (Silent)

COMPLETE SILENCE: Recording of Silence With Microphone Muted

What Are Different Ways To Absorb Subliminal Content?

Play Subliminal Tapes During Sleep

Subliminal audio during sleep is popular because it doesn’t impose on your productive waking time. With no effort, you can turn your 6-8 hours of sleep time into a personal growth period.

It’s far easier to take advantage of the 1/3 of your day sleeping to eliminate your most challenging issues and replace bad code with good.

Watch subliminal flashes on your computer screen

Subliminal messages can also be transmitted visually. Visual subliminal messages appear as quick flashes on your computer screen.

You can adjust the flash intervals to meet your comfort level and avoid distractions while on your computer.

Play MP3 subliminal messages during daytime

In addition to subliminal flashes, another great way to use subliminal messages during the day is to listen to MP3 subliminal tracks.

Although it’s best to listen to subliminal tapes before or during sleep when the mind is in a receptive mode, you can still benefit from subliminal exposure during the day.

While awake, you function with beta waves, but new information still enters the subconscious non-stop.

Links To Subliminal Resources.

Silent Subliminals Software

There are many places to get silent subliminal recordings, but few places to get your own software to create and record silent subliminals.

Source Links (DIY Mind Designs has no affiliations with these links) https://subliminalpro.com/silent-subliminal-technology/ https://www.sprudio.net/downloadsilent.html https://www.fiverr.com/search/gigs?query=silent%20subliminals&source=top-bar&search_in=everywhere&search-autocomplete-original-term=silent%20subliminals https://create.christaherzog.com/silent-subliminals/ http://blisscodedsound.com/subliminals/

What can Silent Subliminals Do?

Subliminal messages can target any area of self-improvement.

The messages are targeted to implant powerful suggestions (some examples):

Losing weight

Increasing self-confidence

Reducing anxiety

Increasing success and prosperity

Curing addiction

Passing exams

Being more positive

Being more optimistic

(Fill in the blank) you want.

Change habits

Silent subliminal recordings can help you get rid of bad habits and adopt good ones.

Habits are hard to break because they are deeply entrenched, by frequent repetition, into your brain. Habits are also patterns of behavior and breaking the patterns is the key to breaking the habits themselves.

Subliminal messages bypass the conscious to promote establishing new habit patterns with little resistance from the pesky conscious mind.

Change deep-seated thinking patterns

What does Science say about Silent Subliminals

Emerging research indicates that subliminal messages can influence our thoughts and behavior (see Kunst-Wilson & Zajonc, 1980). Subliminal priming can influence choices.

Here is an interesting video about how subliminal priming influences choices:

youtube

Other research indicates that subliminal messages in advertising influence purchasing behavior.

One example is where participants in a study (Karremans, Stroebe, & Claus, 2006) were significantly more likely to choose a Lipton ice drink when they were subliminally primed with the words “Lipton ice”.

Still more findings demonstrate the effects of subliminal stimuli.

An experiment by Fitzsimons, Chartrand, and Fitzsimons (2008) demonstrated an increase in creative ability induced by a subliminal message.

The study found that people could list significantly more uses for a brick after they were subliminally primed with the Apple logo compared to IBM’s logo.

Flashing subliminal smiling faces caused people to have a more favorable opinion.

Murphy and Zajonc (1993) demonstrated that people who were exposed to subliminal smiling individuals had a more favorable opinion of ambiguous symbols.

This effect was stronger with subliminal exposure than with non-subliminal.

Participants agreed more with a person after researchers subliminally exposed the participants with a picture of the person. Bornstein, Leone, and Galley (1987)

A message about tap water consumption was more persuasive for people who were subliminally primed.

Légal, Chappé, Coiffard, and Villard-Forest (2011) subliminally primed people with the words “to trust” and those subjects found a message about tap water consumption to be significantly more persuasive.

Subliminal Images Influenced Political Attitudes and Voting Behavior

How powerful is that?

Research conducted by Dr. Ran Hassan (Hassin, R. R., et al, 2007) revealed that subliminal messages processed in the subconscious part of the brain reduced the intensity of political attitudes.

The researchers also found that subliminal exposure to the national flag influenced voting intentions and behaviors. Wow! The voters who were exposed to subliminal images of the national flag voted more moderately.

How To Make Silent Subliminal Messages

The maker chooses well-thought-out affirmations to help people solve specific challenges.

The messaging is sometimes recorded by a hypnotherapist or guided meditation teacher. However, any professional voiceover artist could record the statements.

The audible recording is then modulated, using EQ, to move the audio out of the hearing range of humans. The EQ raises the frequency above the human detection range.

This is how subliminal messages can bypass your conscious mind and go directly to your subconscious.

Conclusion

Silent subliminals do work as effectively as subliminals with audible music or nature sounds dubbed. The silent brand may be better because you aren’t distracted by nature sounds or music.

Plus, there is significant research showing how effective subliminal messaging can be. Many people have transformed their lives using subliminal programs as part of their personal growth program.

Give it a try and see if you benefit as much as I have from subliminal programs.

Here is a link to my review of the subliminal tool I recommend.

Works Cited

Bar, Moshe, and Irving Biederman. “Subliminal Visual Priming.” Psychological Science, vol. 9, no. 6, 1998, pp. 464–468., doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00086.

Bornstein, Robert F., et al. “The Generalizability of Subliminal Mere Exposure Effects: Influence of Stimuli Perceived without Awareness on Social Behavior.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 53, no. 6, 1987, pp. 1070–1079., doi:10.1037/0022-3514.53.6.1070.

Fitzsimons, Gráinne M., et al. “Automatic Effects of Brand Exposure on Motivated Behavior: How Apple Makes You ‘Think Different.’” Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 35, no. 1, 2008, pp. 21–35., doi:10.1086/527269.

Hassin, R. R., et al. “Subliminal Exposure to National Flags Affects Political Thought and Behavior.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 104, no. 50, 2007, pp. 19757–19761., doi:10.1073/pnas.0704679104.

Karremans, Johan C., et al. “Beyond Vicary’s Fantasies: The Impact of Subliminal Priming and Brand Choice.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 42, no. 6, 2006, pp. 792–798., doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2005.12.002.

Kunst-Wilson, W., and R. Zajonc. “Affective Discrimination of Stimuli That Cannot Be Recognized.” Science, vol. 207, no. 4430, 1980, pp. 557–558., doi:10.1126/science.7352271.

Légal, Jean-Baptiste, et al. “Don’t You Know That You Want to Trust Me? Subliminal Goal Priming and Persuasion.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 48, no. 1, 2012, pp. 358–360., doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.06.006.

Murphy, Sheila T., and R. B. Zajonc. “Affect, Cognition, and Awareness: Affective Priming with Optimal and Suboptimal Stimulus Exposures.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 64, no. 5, 1993, pp. 723–739., doi:10.1037/0022-3514.64.5.723.

from DIY Mind Design https://diyminddesign.com/do-silent-subliminals-work/

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nancysnarrative · 3 years ago

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Print Work Shop 1: Disperse dyes and heat press

For this workshop, we worked with disperse dyes. Dyes are coloured, unsaturated organic chemical used to colour a substrate (a textile).

These dyes are applied only for hydrophobic natural fibre such as Nylon, Polyester, Acrylic etc.

I wanted to create samples linked with my research on subliminal advertising. I drew inspiration from a particular scene in the movie ‘They Live’ where the character in the movie puts on a pair of glasses and was able to see the subliminal messages being broadcasted to the masses with messages such as “watch TV and “CONSUME. There was only a few letter stamps available in the print room so I was limited in the messages I wanted to include in my design.” I decided to use the command BUY in my design as it still relates to consumerism. I dipped each stamp in the dye and pressed onto the paper from which the design was later transferred onto my fabric, via heat press. Working with the dye was a bit difficult because the stamps would get over saturated and the shape of the letter would not be distorted. I then realised I had to press the stamp multiple times on some scrap paper before pressing it onto my design for the shape to come out clear.

I also used a dollar sign stamp to create a repeat design in theme with my narrative. Repetition is one of the patterns I noticed in the consumerism sphere. Looking at the works like Campbell’s soup illustrations of the artist Andy Warhol, this pattern of repetition is also seen. It mimics the fully stocked supermarket shelves where multiple of the same product is stacker in neat rows. The multiple dollar signs represent the money driven, capitalist society. I chose the colour green as it signifies greed. I also chose to incorporate red and yellow in my design as those colours connote danger; especially the colour red but when they are used in conjunction, it is more alarming as they usually represent fire. My message is that consumerism is dangerous to our planet and the subliminal messages prompting us to consume more is leading us astray.

I liked the outcome as the colours were very bold. I was able to reuse the designs I cut out to make more samples as the paper absorbs a lot of ink and the design that transfers onto the fabric come out very bright. The heat press machine has a large surface area so I could have done a bigger design or make multiple designs and have them heat pressed at the same time. I think I could improve on creating a more diverse range of samples. Although I did experiment with mark making using a fork and mesh to add to the background, I think I should create more samples with even more textures next time.I would also like to see the outcome of just printing the negative space to create a design. Another thing to note from my samples is that I need to remember the design transfers in the reverse, which is particularly important for my design as I incorporated words but they were backwards. This affects how well I am visually communicating as it is not clear to all that the letters are spelling out the command ‘BUY.’

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gloverdominic92 · 4 years ago

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Vitamin B12 Premature Ejaculation Top Ideas

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How Can You Avoid Premature Ejaculation

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How To Solve Early Ejaculation Problem

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#Vitamin B12 Premature Ejaculation Top Ideas #Can Primary Premature Ejaculation Be Cured

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matchbox-fighting-furies · 5 years ago

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The Matchbox Fighting Furies Adventures!

Each Fighting Furies action figure and their six original accessory adventure packs all included their own adventure “booklet” (which could be better described as a leaflet) in order to fire the imagination of the little hands and minds they were intended for.

The adventures

A decade before the Masters of the Universe toy range had the celebrated idea to create their own character creations supported directly by their own comics (and as supplied with each figure), Matchbox had already been dreaming up adventures to illustrate with each of their own unique characters and even portrayed them – in similar fashion to the Lone Ranger Rides Again toy line – in comic strip form which were run as full-page advertisements in boys comics.

Not only were the figures themselves supplied with their own backstories, but the separately sold packs of outfits and accessories were also served with their own episodic adventure tales, ingeniously incorporating the very outfits and paraphernalia each story employed and duly describing the sets as ‘Fighting Furies Adventure Packs’.

In one such action adventure – the ‘Spanish Main’ – the accompanying story retells the account of how our two likely lads opportunistically spy the crew of a Spanish shipwreck hauling its cargo onto the beach of the ‘Fighting Furies island’ (presumably being where the Furies spent their days off). Accompanying illustrations show Hook and Peg-leg relishing the fun of dressing-up in a full Spanish uniform disguise and cheerily waving at an unsuspecting Spaniard as they approach; upon which Peg-leg energetically shoots the unsuspecting guard at arguably un-sportingly point-blank range (seemingly in the face and using a pistol omitted from the actual disguise pack) to successfully commandeer a wooden chest full of the finest silverwear booty! Thankfully, as was typically the case with all their capers, we’re spared any major moral concerns as its clear the military convoy are not victimless and continue their own habit of seeking ill-gotten plunders and the story recasts our seafaring rouges as anti-establishment figures resisting boorish authoritarianism. But Peg-leg, ever the master of subtle body language, shows his dominance within the team by brazenly standing upon and pinning down their newly acquired wealth, thus subliminally claiming primary ownership (of which he chooses to share), as the duo celebrate. The more modest Hook meanwhile demonstrates restraint and how well their working relationship is blossoming by not-so-much as mentioning that Pete is damaging the goods and whether or not he would mind not resting his big filthy wooden stump inside their treasure chest full of precious tableware?

In other stories, such as the mysterious “Hooded Falcon” the alleged “adventure” is sparse and simply asks several questions, inviting us to fill in the gaps and decide the details.

“The Fighting Furies cross to the Barbary Coast and wait out to sea for well-laden merchant ships to leave their ports. How do they know which ships have the best plunder? Who is the Mysterious, enigmatic figure, who is seen everywhere with a Falcon on his wrist and known only as the ‘Hooded Falcon’? Who is sending messages to the ‘Fighting Furies’ ship, via the well-trained bird? Peg-Leg or Hook?... Or both?”

The Hooded Falcon Adventure.

All that said, these glorious but brief tales are genius outlines – sidestepping the absence of any movie, TV or comic book tie-in – beautifully designed for children to re-enact and embellish with their own little Peg-leg and Hook effigies. But with all the reckless abandon encouraged by their Adventure sagas and Disguise packs, the chronicles and descriptions potentially employ two interpretations for the products. Not only can our debonair heroes readily evade detection with their deceitful but brave use of playing dress-up, but the action figure toys themselves might also be disguised by switching identity and becoming a wholly different character, such as a Spanish Officer, a Japanese Pirate leader or by adopting the rather dapper disguise kit for Captain Blood.

The Capt. Blood Adventure set can be interpreted either way as a decidedly problematic plan is retold within its own “adventure booklet”, when Peg-leg and Hook both simultaneously disguise themselves as Captain Blood in order to pilfer the keys required to get their hands on Blood’s maps which in turn pinpoint his buried loot. Blood, who’s main pastime was apparently terrorising the island of Haiti, seems particularly irked by the exploits of our happy-go-lucky team and with seemingly little regard for a fair trial he keeps things simple by exercising his pursuit of their “destruction”. This refreshingly uncomplicated plan instantly formalised his self-proclaimed status as the Furies “sworn enemy”.

It’s a shame Matchbox never produced a Captain Blood figure or maybe some generic journeyman figures – perhaps representing British Redcoats – for the boys to tackle en-masse; instead of just fighting spookily familiar looking characters robed in different frocks or apparently just endlessly duelling with each other? Two years into their reign – one year in Europe - our pirate duo were eventually joined by a third figure in 1976 to share their rough seas adventures but unfortunately for them he wasn’t a new drinking buddy or a nemesis they could easily enjoy running through with cold steel as he wasn’t of this world, being nonother than the Ghost of Captain Kidd! Presumably inspired by the folklores and legends of ghost ships, the Fighting Furies toy line was decades ahead of a certain Hollywood movie franchise (starring Mr Johnny Depp) and was a fictional world happy to ignore the sage advice about there being too many Captains. (Or was that Chiefs?)

However, the interpretation of what constitutes a ghost is seemingly a bit befuddled in the world of Matchbox figures as according to the associated literature and comic story strip advertisements, when returning to Jamaica’s Port Royal Kidd’s ship was mutinied and he was duly murdered, where eventually his body would be abandoned on a tropical island leaving the sun to bleach the bare bones of his rotting corpse. This physical skeleton, and what remained of his clothing, then rises as Captain Kidd’s Ghost?! But considering the brutal murder by his crew, the theft of his ship and the disregard for his mortal remains, Kidd’s ghost rather magnanimously is only hellbent on revenge via his chosen technique of “swordplay”. This is pretty reasonable of him and arguably a proportionate response. Its left to us to assume, on seeing further promotional material for the products, that he also indulges in being a massive nuisance and being generally disagreeable to the totally unimplicated Captain Peg-leg and Hook while they’re no-doubt just trying to go about their daily business. According to the further detail included with the figure, after striking a reef his ship sank along with his coffin which is retrieved by the survivors, intent on claiming an unspecified reward, and brought ashore. Upon opening it his bones absorb the sun’s rays! Then “at midnight, re-energised, his Ghost with fantastic swordplay takes a terrible revenge”.

Full page Ghost of Cap’n Kidd advertisement circa 1976.

Alas, no such imaginings accompanied the more subdued enthusiasm of the two blister-card Disguise Packs (containing two additional costumes) released in 1976 and we can only draw inspiration from their names: Buccaneer Captain and Spanish Officer.

(More adventure details for the 1976 Western series of Fighting Furies available in a separate post).

#fightingfurie #matchboxfightingfuries #vintageactionfigures

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dffghht6-blog · 5 years ago

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More Easy Treatment Alternatives To Fight Tinnitus

Many Ph.D. students who composed dissertations that are highly concentrated will be surprised just how a lot of folks will use it now that they've got accessibility that is easy and also will provide us their data. Click here The design and material used in the creating of earplugs may give complete comfort and can be worn through the night. How do I become socially positive? Included with all the mask is a handy travel situation in which you'll be able to store the cover in addition to the added 3.5-millimeter cable. They're expensive, but worth the cost in the event, you've made it spare. So in the case of inconsistent sound (snoring, chatter, etc.), Sleep-buds do not live up to their freezing claims. Acoustic Sheep claims these headphones are specifically intended for use by Insomnia's sufferers, tinnitus or whoever shares a bed with a snorer. For many others with tinnitus, already-damaged nerve cells may aggravate, and also assist in the generation of whistling sounds and their cataract ringing. How can I become influential? But now we can only listen to their stories right on the Internet. It is taking a little while to percolate through an entirely different set of earlier adopters. And it's this which has brought us now, at this moment.

They are also called noise isolation headphones and do not cost much.

Over the years subliminal messaging tapes have been encouraged to people who are wanting to learn all kinds of things. It was published for four or 3 years before a conductor, Ron Staheli performed it all around the world of Brigham Young University found it. The mono headset functions as a regular group of headphones could, sleeping on the mind in making phone calls, and useful chiefly. Are they looking for a set of the best noise canceling headphones for sleeping? Active noise canceling is something called destructive interference. They are also called noise isolation headphones and do not cost much. There is comprised A further technology named Start Mic. They cancel all of the noise will maintain temperature, and allow you to have a deep sleep every single night. Because headphones do not have speakers which encircle the head, this will be the business standard, however.

Most Comfortable Headphones For Sleeping

headphones for sleeping best but here's a way to stop this from occurring - you have to care for the loudness and time you spend with cans. "I'll always choose a night flight once I own a lie-flat bed," explained Ben Schlappig, who conducts the loyalty plan website One Mile at a Time. That is a feature for individuals who journey long distances who be ready to function as making phone calls and hearing to their cans. These cans are fantastic for those audiophiles out there who need their music to appear its best, even if they're traveling. The headphones overall are created out of stainless steel and polycarbonates. Some other works I've written will also be unfinished for reasons. I showed it to Jerry and arranged a version of the bit. I'd LOVE to have the ability to play an intermediate level variant. Think of this Cozy-Phones. Cozy-Phones provides a fantastic line of children character cans.

For quite a few headphones are a terrific tool for finishing the day's distractions, even such as listening to music when exercising or working, or to incessant vanquish the drone of airplane and train sounds while traveling. This headset will protect you in no small extent from noises. That is because CEOs of technology companies have an emotional bond to their customers -- their goods. More will emerge in the more extended period while the technology becomes more straightforward and to make while it's possible to find in reality just two services and products in this course which individuals would indicate. Why aren't their online designers I can hire? There is either way too much way too little glue keeping the two top flaps. I will bet there are quite a lot of musicians on this website.

On the other hand, if you are currently working near a rumbling machine, the more Leightning L3 should work for you. After working on the bit nicely to the night, Eric came in the following morning and inquired, "Can it be finished? Great for comfort for athletics, even at meditation, yoga or night. Provides HD fidelity sound, for excellent audio quality.

https://healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed/postings/2017/01/headphones.php

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wickedbananas · 8 years ago

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Branding Success: How to Use PPC to Amplify Your Brand

Posted by purna_v

Here’s a question for you:

Do you think a brand can influence your behavior outside of purchase preference? Put another way, will seeing the North Face logo make you want to take up hiking in the snow?

A few years ago, researchers at Duke University conducted an experiment with 341 students. Their goal? Studying what makes a brand powerful and how we’re influenced by brands. As part of this study, the students were asked to complete what they were told was a visual acuity test.

During this test, either an Apple logo or IBM logo flashed on the screen for a second, so quickly that the students were unaware they had been exposed to the logo. The participants then completed a task designed to evaluate how creative they were, listing all the uses they could think of for a brick.

Are you surprised that students exposed to the Apple logo came up with not just more uses, but more creative uses? The experiment was also done using the Disney Channel logo and the E! logo – and the students were tested on their degree of honesty and dishonesty. Which logo exposure led to more honesty? If you thought Disney, you’re right.

This is evidence that subliminal brand exposure can cause people to act in specific ways. Branding matters.

For those of us who work in paid search, this whole “branding” thing, with its unintuitive KPIs, can seem nebulous and not something for us to worry about. We PPC-ers have specific goals and KPIs, and it’s easy for us to be seen as only a bottom-funnel channel. But we’re far more powerful than that.

Here’s the truth: Brand advertising via PPC does impact the bottom line.

I’ll share three key ways to build a framework for branding:

Make choosing you easier.

Show your customers you care.

Make it easy to be a loyal customer.

Chances are you’re taking some of these steps already, which is fantastic. This framework can guide you to ensure you’re covering all the steps of the funnel. Let’s break down how PPC can support all three of these key points.

1. Make choosing you easier

Top brands understand their audiences really well. And what’s true of pretty much every audience right now is that we’re all looking for the fast fix. So if a brand can make it easy for us to find what we need, to get something done – that brand is going to win our hearts.

Which is why getting your ad messaging right is critical.

Something I notice repeatedly is that we’re so focused on that next advanced tactic or the newest feature that we neglect the simple basics. And that is how we get cracks in our foundation.

Most accounts I look at perform brilliantly with the complex, but routinely make avoidable errors with the basics.

Ad copy

Ads are one of those places where the cracks aren’t just visible, they’re also costly. Let’s look at a few examples of ads with sitelink extensions.

Example 1: What not to do

What do you think of this ad?

It’s a decent ad. It’s just not great. What’s hurting the ad is that the sitelinks are a broad – even random – mix of different paths and actions a person can take. We have a mix of product, social media, and spokesperson content. This is not likely to make anyone’s life easier.

Even if I had been interested in the makeup, I might be distracted by the opportunity to meet Carrie Underwood, reducing the odds of a conversion. In trying to please too many different audiences, this ad doesn’t do a particularly strong job of pleasing anyone.

Example 2: Sitelinks organized according to stage of interest

Why not organize your sitelinks according to your customer’s stage of interest instead, like Clinique did here? This is brilliant.

Clinique is acknowledging that some shoppers are here just to buy the makeup they always order – so “Shop Makeup” is the first sitelink offered. But other visitors have come to see what’s new, or to do research on the quality of Clinique skincare, and probably everyone is looking for that discount.

Organizing sitelinks by your customer’s stage of interest also boosts brand by showing your customer that you care. We’ll talk more about that piece later.

Example 3: Sitelinks organized according to customer’s need

Here’s something smart: Organizing sitelinks according to what you already know your customers need.

Harley Davidson knows that a potential customer coming to their website wants more than pretty pictures of the bike. They’re ready to schedule a test ride or even estimate payments, so these options are right at the top.

They also understand that Harley Davidson is an aspirational product. I may want to estimate a payment or find information about my local dealer even before I know how to ride a bike. It’s part of the dream of joining the Harley lifestyle. They know this and make their customers’ lives easier by sharing links to learn-to-ride classes.

Example 4: Give them multiple ways to choose you

For brands targeting by geography and who have a local presence, including call extensions and location extensions is a must.

As searches move from desktop to mobile, we know that local searches take the lead – and conversions on a local search happen within five hours of the search (source: Microsoft Internal research). Including call and location extensions helps shorten that conversion cycle.

What I especially love about this ad is that they give you two different buying options. You can visit the store at the physical address, or if that is deemed out-of-the-way by the searcher, the ad entices them to shop Sephora with a discount code for an online purchase. This increases the odds that the shopper will choose Sephora as opposed to visiting a more conveniently located competitor.

Indirect brand terms

When people are looking for your service but not necessarily your brand, you can still make their lives easier by sharing answers to questions they may have.

Of course, you’re already showing up for branded searches or searches directly asking for your product. But what about being helpful to your customers by answering their questions with helpful information? Bidding on these keywords is good for your brand.

For example, Neutrogena is doing a great job at showing up for longer-tail keywords, and they’re also working to build the association between gentle makeup removers for sensitive skin and their brand.

And here, Crest is doing a fantastic job in using their ad copy to make themselves stand out as experts. If anyone has questions about teeth whitening, they’re showing that they’re ready to answer them:

This also helps you show up for long-tail queries, which are another increasingly critical aspect of voice search.

2. Show your customers you care

If you can anticipate issues and show up when your customers are venting, you win.

Professor Andrew Ehrenberg of South Bank Business School says that people trust strong brands more. They forgive your mistakes more easily. They believe you will put things right.

And what better way to show your customers you care than by anticipating their issues?

Be there when they want to complain

Where’s the first place you go when you want to look something up? Most likely a search engine. Showing up well in the SERPs can make a big difference.

Let’s look at an example. I did a search for complaints related to Disney, a brand with a strong positive sentiment.

Surprisingly, the SERPs were filled with complaint sites. What could have helped Disney here would be if they ran ads on these keywords, with the message that they were keen to make things right, and here’s the best number to call and chat.

Wouldn’t that diffuse the situation? Best of all, keywords like this would be very low-cost to bid on.

What about showing up when potential customers are complaining about the competition? You could consider running ads for keywords related to complaints about your competition.

I’d advise you to be careful with this approach since you want to come across as being helpful, not gloating. This strategy also may not lead to very many conversions – since the searcher is looking to complain and not to find alternative businesses – but given the low cost, it may be worth testing.

Cross-channel wins

As PPCs, we’re more powerful than even we give ourselves credit for. Our work can greatly help the PR and SEO teams. Here’s how.

PR:

As noted earlier, the search engine is the first place we go when we want to look up something.

This is so very impactful that, as reported in the New York Times, Microsoft scientists were able to analyze large samples of search engine queries that could in some cases identify Internet users who were suffering from pancreatic cancer, even before they have received a diagnosis of the disease.

This all goes to show the power of search. We can also harness that power for reputation management.

Broad-match bidding can help PR with brand protection. Looking through broad-match search term reports, a.k.a search query reports (SQRs), can help to spot trends like recalls or a rise in negative sentiment.

PPCs can send the PR folks a branded SQR on a regular basis for them to scrub through to spot any concerning trends. This can help PPC stand out as a channel that protects and monitors brand sentiment.

SEO:

Content marketing is a key way for brands to build loyalty, and PPC is an excellent way to get the content to the audience. Serving ads on key terms that support the content you have allows you to give your audience the info they really want.

For example, if your SEO teams built a mortgage calculator as value-add content, then you could serve ads for queries such as “How much house can I afford?”:

Taking this concept a step further, you can use high-value content to show up with ads that match the research stage of the customer’s interest. As PPCs, we’re often keen to simply show an ad that gets people to convert. But what if they’re not ready? Why should we either ignore them or show up with something that doesn’t match their goal?

Take a look at these ads that show up for a research-stage query:

The first ad from Sears – while very compelling – seems mismatched to the search query.

Now look at the third ad in the list, offering 50 kitchen idea photos. This is a much better match to the query. If it were me searching, this is the ad I would have chosen to click on.

What happens to the conversion?

Well, the landing page of the “50 ideas” ad could feature some type of offer, say like what the Sears ad has to offer, and here it would be much more welcome. In this way, we could use higher-funnel ads as lead gen, with KPIs such as content impressions, lead form fills, and micro-conversions.

This is such a win-win-win strategy:

You’ve shown your customers you care for them and will be there for them

You’ve helped your colleagues get more exposure for their hard work

You’ve earned yourself cost-effective new leads and conversions.

Boss move.

Want more ideas? Wil Reynolds has some fantastic tips on how SEOs can use PPC to hit their goals.

3. Make it easy to be a loyal customer

Growing customer lifetime value is one of the most worthwhile things a brand can do. There are two clever ways to do this.

Smarter remarketing

You liked us enough to buy once – how would you like to buy again? Show your customers more of what they like over time and they’ll be more attuned to choosing your brand, provided you’ve served them well.

What about remarketing based on how long it’s been since the purchase of a product?

This tactic can be seen as helpful as opposed to overtly sales-y, building brand loyalty. Think of how Amazon does it with their emails suggesting other products or deals we may be interested in. As a result, we just keep going back to Amazon. Even if they don’t have the lowest price.

For example, what if a sports nutrition company knew that most customers took three months to finish their box of protein shake powder? Then around the middle of month two, the company could run an ad like this to their list of buyers. It features an offer and shows up just at the right time.

The customer will probably think they’ve lucked out to find a special offer just at the right time. We know that it’s not luck, it’s just smarter remarketing.

Want more ideas? Check out Sam Noble’s Whiteboard Friday on how paid media can help drive loyalty and advocacy.

Show up for the competition

Remember when the iPhone 6s launched? Samsung ran very clever PPC ads during the launch of the iPhone 6s, and again when Apple was in the news about the phones bending.

Samsung used humor – which, importantly, wasn’t mean-spirited – and got a lot of attention and goodwill, not to mention a ton of PR and social media attention. Great for their brand at the time!

You can use the same tactic to run ads on competitors’ brand names with ads that showcase your USP. This works especially well for remarketing in paid search (or RLSA) campaigns.

Here, Chevy capitalized on the Tesla Model 3 announcement-related search volume spike. They ran ads that reminded users that their cars were available in late 2016, with the unstated message that it’s much sooner than when the Tesla Model 3 cars are expected to arrive.

Give back

Engaging with the customer is the best way to make it easy for them to be loyal to your brand. Enhance that by showing them you care about what they care about for added impact.

Here’s one way to give back to your customer, and this particular effort is also a huge branding opportunity.

I love how L’Oréal is associating themselves with empowering women – and most of their customers will like this as well. They’re giving back to their customers by honoring the women they care about. To create loyal customers, the best brands give back in meaningful ways.

Wrapping up

One of my favorite Seth Godin quotes is, “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories that you tell.”

PPC is a wonderful channel to shape and create stories that will engage and delight your customers.

And now we come full circle, to that place where we started, wondering how in the world PPC can impact brand. Your paid search campaigns are a chapter in your brand’s story, and you have an unlimited number of ways to write that chapter, and to contribute to the brand.

Branding isn’t just for the birds. Have you found a way to use PPC to help grow your brand? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below.

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mumbainashiktaxiservices-blog · 7 years ago

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Build a site like FabIndia

Currently, SEO web design is the most promoted product for the online businesses to achieve their sales targets. Yes, fetching a good traffic from Google or other search leading engines is being possible with SEO campaigns. On-page optimization, off-page optimization, and technical factors are the three prime elements of bringing SEO success for a website. So, the need of SEO friendly programming language can be fulfilled with PHP. For a better search engine visibility of the web pages, the web developers should follow the following tips while developing a SE friendly website.

• Clean URL structure:

Dynamic URLs and season IDs in URL are not good so the developer need to use a unique PHPSESSID variable. If the season IDs will be included in URLs so, the search engines will treat a single page with different season IDs as different pages. It leads to duplicate content which is punishable by search engines.

Use keyword rich permalinks with url_rewriter tags, which makes the URLs friendly for both search engines and visitors. Also decrease the use of special characters other than the hyphen (-) symbol.

• Avoid canonical errors:

Search engines treat www and non-www sites differently if also they contain the same content. Duplicate content issue may arise, so use 301 redirection. In this concern the PHP developers need to spend more time on the homepage as the site.com/index.php will be treated as different to site.com.

• Putting right heading and bold tags:

Optimizing the website for search engines in the development period carries a lot of responsibilities and adds more tasks for the web developers. Creating a dynamic header (header.php) and using unique values for Meta of singular web pages is a must do act for designing an SEO website. So, at the time of coding, using of page-specific PHP variables get’s the work done. $pageTitle, $pageDescription, $pageCanonical, $pageKeywords, $pageRobots, etc are the significant SEO stuffs for On-page optimization of a PHP website. Also, using H1, H2, H3 and <strong> attributes in a webpage improves it’s indexing possibility.

• Cross browser issues:

In this mobile web age, we can’t rely upon the desktop users only as the growth rate of internet on mobile browsers created a milestone in the last few years. SEO is now promoting user experience and the cross browser compatibility will surely impress both visitors and the search engines. Coding a responsive or mobile friendly website using PHP language is not a hard task for the experienced web developers.

• Navigation and links:

Both of these are vital in bringing SEO success for a website. It is proved that the Google and others like easy to navigate websites. So, use texts based navigation as well as try to have breadcrumbs which provide more flexibility for a user for browsing the site effortlessly. Links, both inbound and outbound, carry the scores of getting good link juice. Using diverse and relevant anchor texts for hyperlinks and declaring rel=nofollow/dofollow attributes is advised.

Advantages of PHP (compared to ASP):

The accessories or software required for a functional web server for PHP websites, i.e. Linux OS, Apache server, MySQL server, and PHP can be installed or upgraded at free of cost with no restriction. But the MS Windows Server and MS SQL Server (used for ASP) licenses need to be purchased which proves PHP is cost effective.

ASP.net holds about double time for coding or deployment than PHP so, choosing PHP is wise for the busy web developers concerning time.

Talking about support, as an open source platform, PHP (with LAMP - (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) has a lot of resources and support options.

According to most of the research data sources, the communication between PHP and MySQL is a little bit faster than ASP.net and MSSQL. Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube, etc like some high traffic websites are using MySQL so there is no doubt about the performance of PHP’s preferred database management system i.e. MySQL (by Oracle).

The ext4 file system of Linux OS (supports PHP) has a better performance record than MS Windows OS’s NTFS (used for ASP) during Input/output (IO) process.

The Linux web servers with LAMP platform use comparatively fewer server resources, i.e. CPU and Memory.

The PHP developers got the flexibility choose their own editor, but this feature is not associated with ASP. Using VI and VIM editors, the PHP developers get access to use and integrate other important platforms like Ajax, JavaScript, JQuery, etc due to developing on an open source platform.

PHP is supported on any OS platforms like Linux, Mac (Mac OS X), UNIX and Windows also. But ASP is limited to only with MS Windows OS.

How to survive a Google Algorithm Change or Update

Each time a new Google update is rolled out, the moans and groans from webmasters, bloggers, and internet writers whose traffic seemingly fell off a cliff can be heard across internet forums.

Survivors chime in too, tentatively claiming victory, although accompanied with the uneasy feeling that maybe they only dodged the Google bullet this time.

Yet, these "unlucky" and "lucky" internet content providers often have this in common: they have no understanding of why the most recent Google update caused their site's search engine traffic to either sink or survive.

But ranking well in Google SERPs does not have to be a mystery.

In reality, Google SEO is as simple as black and white.

Google Panda and Penguin

Website owners dependent on traffic via Google understand that a sudden loss in traffic may mean a sudden drop in income. During 2011 and 2012 this was the case as Google changed their search algorithm with the Panda and Penguin updates.

The over-arching goal of Google's search algorithm updates is to return higher quality sites to users. Yet, it seems as though Panda and Penguin have been unfairly blamed for the traffic loss that many websites have experienced.

Remember the old saying about blame: when pointing a finger, three are pointing back. Sure Google is setting its "rules" for who gets to play in its top-search-results playground, but the only thing that website publishers, bloggers, and writers can do is examine and change their own body of internet work.

Black Hat SEO vs. White Hat SEO

Perhaps the names of the most recent Google updates, Panda and Penguin, provide insight into Google's expectations for pages to rank high in its search engine results.

Think about it:

Question - What do a panda and a penguin have in common?

Answer - They are both black and white.

To those in-the-know about all things SEO, black and white are very meaningful terms, as in black hat SEO and white hat SEO. Whether or not Google is attempting to humorously pass this subliminal black and white message along through their update names really does not matter. What is important is understanding that each can have a major impact on search engine rank. Simply put, Google penalizes sites employing black hat techniques and rewards those using white hat SEO.

What is black hat SEO?

Black hat SEO involves exploiting a weakness in search engine algorithms in order to gain rank. Keyword-stuffing, web-spamming, link schemes, cloaking and doorway pages are just a few black hat techniques. According to Wendy Brown, web search guide for About.com, in Black Hat Search Engine Optimization, black hat SEO characteristically:

Breaks search engine rules

Creates a poor user experience

Unethically presents information differently to search engine spiders and users

What is white hat SEO?

On the other hand, white hat SEO enhances the user's experience. According to Webopedia, the term white hat SEO refers to...

"...the usage of SEO strategies, techniques and tactics that focus on a human audience [as] opposed to search engines and completely follows search engine rules and policies."

Google Webmaster Guidelines

The good news is that the key to achieving good Google search engine rank is not a secret. In fact, Google publicizes it for anyone to read. Google Webmaster Guidelines is a must-read, providing a list of, and explanations for:

Design and content guidelines

Technical guidelines

Quality guidelines

Google is very clear about their expectations, strongly stating that,

"Webmasters who spend their energies upholding the spirit of the basic principles will provide a much better user experience and subsequently enjoy better ranking than those who spend their time looking for loopholes they can exploit."

User is King

The goal of the Google Panda and Penguin algorithm changes is to return higher quality sites to users - sites that provide a great user experience and meet their information needs.

It's often been said that "content is king" but perhaps the new mantra should be "user is king." Certainly creating essential, high-quality, and unique content is almost mandatory to achieve good rank and must not be overlooked; after all the user's information needs must be fulfilled.

But spend time reading Google Webmaster Guidelines and the official Google Webmaster Central Blog, and very quickly it becomes apparent that the user's experience is the heart and soul of Google's focus. Over and over the user's experience and usability of a site are touted.

Journalism students are often taught to know their audience. Likewise, web content providers should consider their audience, and determine what type of experience their audience expects; what would make their page far more compelling than the next one about the same subject?

Google engineer, Matt Cutts explains in his April 2012 post Another Step to Reward High-quality Sites on the Webmaster Central blog that,

"Good search engine optimization ... mean[s] ... thinking about creative ways to make a site more compelling, which can help with search engines as well as social media."

How to create compelling, creative sites with the user in mind

The best writers are the ones that can put themselves in their intended audience's shoes and provide the best web content and experience for that particular audience. But it is important to realize that content goes beyond the written word. Make no mistake about it, words can be compelling, especially when it is clear the author has first-hand knowledge, but the internet is not an old black and white static newspaper.

Be creative! Compelling content has to do with engaging your audience, keeping them on the page longer, maybe even causing them to share.

Example 2: Or suppose you turn to the internet to find a recipe for chocolate cake. Do you find the recipe that has a photo of the ingredients needed to bake the cake or the recipe that showcases the author's photo of a slice of the moist chocolate cake more engaging?

Example 1: Suppose you are a first-time mom who just can't figure out how to get her crying baby to burp. What would be more compelling... an article on how to burp a baby maybe with a stock photo of a baby and mom included, or an article on how to burp a baby with a video showing the technique? Perhaps you might even share the video with your mom's group.

Example 4: You are searching for fun birthday party ideas; you come across a website that is very slow to load and when it finally finishes is full of ads and clutter. You next visit a page with ten fun birthday party ideas, listed 1-10 with a pleasing amount of white space, photos, and a rapid load time. Which are you more likely to read and perhaps share?

Example 3: Perhaps you are trying to find a healthy way to make delicious homemade french fries. Is the recipe you find on the internet that is simply text, ingredients and instructions, more engaging, or the recipe that provides step-by-step photos, perhaps a video, nutrition facts, user ratings and comments?

Google SEO is all about the human audience

When the human audience is the focus of search engine optimization, both the website content provider and the user win. Content providers will be pleased to no longer have to try to stay on top of the latest black hat SEO trends, but rather focus their expertise into great content.

Users will be pleased to find authoritative, unique and compelling content that meets their information needs, highly-ranked and easy to find in Google results. Additionally, users will often find that the content is creative and engaging, and worth sharing. It's as simple as black and white.

Do you want to write about what you know or what interests you?

Join HubPages now. It's free, simple to use & you can publish within minutes.

The use of metadata by search engines, including meta keywords, has changed extensively throughout the years. While many of the rules regarding metadata remain the same, it is now an area of lesser importance when it comes to SEO. That said, meta tag optimization is still an important aspect of search engine optimization, so it is important to employ many of these so-called "deprecated" techniques to ensure high SERP rankings Following these rules pertaining to metadata can help ensure a site's high ranking in search results. While Google does not use metadata for site rankings, there still are search engines that do. A variety of websites and syndication services also rely on metadata. Furthermore, Google even pulls your site's description from your metadata for use in the SERPs. While meta tag optimization is still useful, it's important to note that there is no reason to stress out over metadata. This article is meant to serve as an informational piece on how metadata is used today as well as noting its much greater historical importance. Feel free to comment, however, on your thoughts and feelings (particularly on the modern usage of meta tags and meta data in SEO.)

What is Metadata? What are Meta Tags?

Metadata provides information about a site. This information gives search engines clues regarding what a site is about. Since metadata is hidden away in a site's markup, visitors can't see it, but search engines can. There are several types of metadata, but we're going to talk about the three most important parts that make up meta tag optimization: meta keywords, meta descriptions, and the robot tag.

Meta descriptions are actually one of the few things that visitors will see, but they won't see it on your site. Here is an example: Bob has a site about sports cars and in his meta description, he has written, "The ultimate guide to European and American sports cars." When someone searches on Google for the term "sports cars," Bob's site may show up in the results. If it does, the listing will show his meta description. In short, meta descriptions tell people what a site is about before they even visit it.

What Do Meta Keywords Do?

Meta keywords work very similar to meta descriptions, but instead of telling Internet users what a site is about, it tells the search engine. Here is an example: Lisa's site is about Georgia peaches. In her meta keywords, she has written, "Georgia peaches, peaches from Georgia, peach orchards" By writing these keywords, Lisa is telling search engines that her site is about Georgia peaches, peaches from Georgia, and peach orchards. Annette searches in a search engine for the term "peaches from Georgia." Since Lisa's site has this phrase in its meta keywords, the search engine may show Lisa's website to Annette in the search listings.

Why You Need Meta Data

Meta information is very important to a site's well being when it comes to SEO. The part of SEO that deals with metadata is known as meta tag optimization. Many people say that you don't need meta keywords because "Google doesn't use metadata in their algorithm and since Google is the most popular search engine, there's no need to use them." That is a myth. While there is no argument that Google is the most popular search engine in the world, Google also reportedly does not use metadata as a way to weigh sites. Still, it's a bad idea to ignore meta tag optimization. Here's why:

Other search engines use meta keywords in their algorithms and although they won't make up the larger portion of a site's traffic, it is traffic the site may not be getting if it didn't have meta keywords.

Google doesn't care about meta keywords at all, so no sites will be penalized by Google for having meta keywords.

Meta tags are easy to add. It's as simple as adding a tiny bit of HTML right after your <head> tag. Many content management systems even do all the work for you. Those using something like Wordpress are blessed with the number of plug-ins available that help out with metadata.

Google uses meta descriptions to give searchers more information about your site. Without a meta description, Google will hand-pick something from the site it feels is relevant to what the searcher is looking for. While this can be helpful, having a clean and well-written meta description can really entice searchers that YOUR site is the one they are looking for. While it has no impact on a site's ranking, it can help click-through rates.

How to Add Metadata

Each site has a main page or an index page. In the file for this page, a web developer or site admin, should is to look for the open head tag: <head>. Right after this tag, the site admin should enter their metadata. The following example shows what metadata should look like:

Metadata Mistakes

There are a few easily fixable problems that people run into when they are optimizing their metadata. For example, sometimes metadata is set up to disallow search engines from indexing a site. There are a few reasons webmasters set their sites up to block search engine, but those creating websites for SEO purposes should make sure search engines are NOT blocked. If a website isn't being indexed in the search engines, generally the first thing a webmaster will do is make sure their robots tag is not blocking search engines. By default, if a site does NOT have a robot tag, search engines will index it. Many webmasters write a robot tag that essentially says "allow search engines to index this", but this is unnecessary as search engines will only avoid indexing a site if there is a robot tag that disallows them from doing so. (Or if it's been blacklisted, but that's a whole different issue.) Another problem that people run into is giving search engines too much information. Sites are allowed a max of 10 keywords in their metadata. Here's an example: Lisa's site has three meta keywords which are "Georgia peaches, peaches from Georgia, peach orchards." Gina, who is Lisa's competition has 12 keywords which are "peaches from Georgia, Georgia peaches, peach orchards, peach orchard, peaches, Georgia, Georgia peaches, Gina's peach stand, juicy peaches, peaches from the south, ripe peaches, fresh peaches" Because Gina has more than 10 keywords and Lisa has only 3, Lisa stands a better chance of doing well in the search engine. The same rule applies to meta descriptions, except web developers are allowed a max of 150 characters for meta descriptions. Remember that it's 150 characters and not 150 words. While this isn't one of the biggest SEO mistakes a web developer can make, it still can negatively affect search engine rankings.

There is always a hype surrounding Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and websites will do almost anything including selling there mother to have a good SEO Ranking with Google. SEO has become a big business now on the internet has people have actually become experts in the art of good Search Engine Optimization. There are many jobs now available through SEO alone. That's right, people will hire full time SEO experts who dedicate their expertise solely on making sure that a website SEO score is high and remains that way. While some companies may hire a SEO in house expert, others will simply outsource the task whenever they see it fit. This is where the SEO Agencies come in. SEO Agencies are companies with a group of experts who are hired to ensure that a website is ranked well in Google. With that said, lets look at some of the benefits of using SEO Agency.

SEO Agency Website Analysis

Good SEO Agencies will do a complete website analysis and then engage you in their findings and recommendations. The strip down of your website by the agency will include but not limited to:

Website Design or Redesign

Website design has its small share in how well your site is ranked by Google. Google crawlers expect to find a website which is user friendly. This means that the user experience on the website must me of good to excellent quality. How to get a high user experience will be determined by:

How well categorized is your website

Is your web pages headings properly placed and categorized properly? Does a user click on the Home button and it navigates to a sister site instead of actually going back to the sites home page.? Are buttons and links on the site well placed and information easy to find? Is the site color easy on the eyes of the user? Is the website in any type of order? Do clicking on links actually bring up the information under the link title? Is your website mobile ready? Is your website slower than a dial up modem? When designing your site to meet top SEO standards, you will definitely have to look at all these questions to ensure that you cover all the basics. The SEO Agency will have the expertise and manpower to strip down your site design to see what can be improved.

Authoritative Link Building

Relevant and authoritative link building are both essential for your website ranking with Google. A good SEO Agency will ensure that useful and authoritative links are created back to your site.The Agency will normally conduct a link audit on your website and and evaluate your link portfolio. Smart SEO Agencies do not only look at your website link building alone, but will also look at your competitors site and compare your link portfolio with theirs to see the type of link building strategies your website would most benefit from.

The reason why any Good SEO Agency would run a link building analysis on your competitor website is to determine how well your site measures up. It gives you an insight as to where you are on the authoritative table with Google. It gives the agency insight on the kind of links to be built and how much manpower needed to build the authoritative links.

Strong Social Media Presence

SEO Firms can provide you with the right social media marketing strategy. The agency will help your website to establish business objectives and core functions tied into your social media campaign. The agency should be able to:

Identify Target Audience

This is important because it helps to create relevant and integrated customers and followers of your business. One of the best and most profitable aspect of any business is to have continuous returning customers.

Share Worthy and Useful Content

Remember the content you present to your clients speaks to what you are about. Your content should be very engaging and worthy for re-shares.

Everyone who has a profitable website knows the power of good social media marketing. It gives you the opportunity share relevant information which will lead to brand awareness. So how do SEO agencies know that they have stunted a good social media campaign? Well the shares and retweets, likes views and comments are good marking tools. Some of the most popular social media platform to focus on campaigning are; Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+.

Keyword Research and Placement Strategies

Keywords are very much relevant to how well you website will rank for a particular term or word. The content on your website should not only be useful and relevant, but should have a focus keyword placed in relevant areas within the article. SEO agencies will research and determine best target keywords to drive website traffic and will advice on the best placement area. Proper keyword placement can increase your search engine ranking and intern give your business a better SEO Score. Some of the best places to place keywords are within the body of your article, The title of your article and within the meta data. If this is done correctly, chances are that your organic traffic will also increase.

Content Creation and Content Marketing

Not all people with a good web site business plan are capable of churning out good content for their clients. This is another area where a Good SEO Agency or Firm can help significantly. You do not want to have a highly developed site with crappy content. This can be a turnoff for clients. The agency can determine the right content to be produced on your website, do the keyword research on that particular content and have their content creating experts develop these content for you. This is good as it give you time to focus and simply advertising and driving business to your website.

Content Marketing builds communities, inspires engagement and increases rankings via creation and sharing of high quality, problem-solving relevant information, aiming to satisfy business objectives. It helps influence consumer behavior, with the end goal of boosting sales and increasing interaction between the brand and customer.

Content Marketing is an effective way to encourage conversions and its main objective is to build a content strategy to meets the needs of your target audience. It helps you stand out from the competition, provides a great resource to your customers and is highly shareable. Content Marketing is meant to improve your brand profile and online reputation.

Effective Mobile Marketing

If your website is not being optimized for the mobile market then you undoubtedly are in trouble as it relates to website ranking and potential sales. This is a heads up, Smartphone users are growing everyday and outnumber PC users. Smartphone users are also always connected to the internet than PC users as mobile data plans are becoming cheaper and cheaper everyday. More marketing apps are available to smartphone users than anything else. The potential to create a strong following and effective branding is endless with mobile marketing. You can reach targeted groups anytime and anywhere.

An effective SEO agency will be able to stare your mobile marketing campaign. They will be able to effectively create a strong online presence, and effective audience profiling. This profiling will allow you to understand the interest of various mobile users by age, gender, location and browsing style.

Conclusion

You website or online business success depends on your online presence and ranking in Search Engine results. It can mean you are either successful on line or you have failed to make your mark. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is quite detrimental in order to have that effective online presence. It is geared towards ranking your site better in search results, thus increase your organic views, increase website traffic and intern boost web sales.

• Clean URL structure:

Use keyword rich permalinks with url_rewriter tags, which makes the URLs friendly for both search engines and visitors. Also decrease the use of special characters other than the hyphen (-) symbol.

• Avoid canonical errors:

• Putting right heading and bold tags:

• Cross browser issues:

• Navigation and links:

Advantages of PHP (compared to ASP):

ASP.net holds about double time for coding or deployment than PHP so, choosing PHP is wise for the busy web developers concerning time.

Talking about support, as an open source platform, PHP (with LAMP - (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) has a lot of resources and support options.

The ext4 file system of Linux OS (supports PHP) has a better performance record than MS Windows OS’s NTFS (used for ASP) during Input/output (IO) process.

The Linux web servers with LAMP platform use comparatively fewer server resources, i.e. CPU and Memory.

PHP is supported on any OS platforms like Linux, Mac (Mac OS X), UNIX and Windows also. But ASP is limited to only with MS Windows OS.

Search Engine Optimization is Also Known As SEO

This is the first part of a three part series on search engine optimization or SEO.

In this section, we'll discuss how search engines work and why search engine optimization is important.

In the second section, we'll discuss basic techniques and important factors in SEO and search rankings.

And, in the final section of this guide we'll discuss how to maintain and continually improve SEO long term.

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is optimizing your content to drive search engine traffic to your work.

It involves gaining a thorough understanding of how search engines work and then reflecting that knowledge in your writing and webpage design to maximize traffic to and user experience on your page.

SEO is important because search engines like Google, YAHOO!, and Bing drive the majority of web traffic. Shares on social media can cause short term spikes in stats, but real, long term success comes from maximizing search engines ability to drive traffic to your page.

Not only will good SEO improve search rankings and increase traffic for the author, but it helps people interested in your topic find your page and improves the viewer's experience as well.

SEO involves strategically using appropriate keywords, building links to your work and making your pages search engine friendly. Although it is important to understand what SEO is, it is also important to understand what SEO isn't. While SEO can make a big difference in stats, it cannot fix bad writing or poor content. SEO can make good writing into a great, high performing webpage, but it cannot turn poor content into good writing.

How Search Engines Work

Search Engines use "spiders" or "crawlers" to build an index of the webpages available, the words on each page, and where on the page those words were located.These program robots begin on popular webpages and add important words found on the page to the search engine's index. From there, they follow every link on the page and index the corresponding pages before using the links on those pages to go to the next set of pages, and so on and so forth. This process is known as crawling.

Once this information is gathered by the spiders, it is encoded and stored for indexing. In order to even out the difference between the time needed to search a term beginning with a popular letter like 't' and a search term beginning with a less popular letter like 'q,' a numerical value is applied to each word. This process is known as hashing. Not only does hashing even out problems related to letter frequency, but it condenses the index. Only the numerical value and a link to the actual information is stored in the index. This increases index and search speed, especially with more complicated searches that involve multiple words.

When a user performs a search, he or she types a query into the search box. Boolean operators can be used to define specific relationships between the terms in a query. Some of the most common operators are:

AND-requires that both terms are on the page

OR-requires that one term or the other is on the page

NOT-excludes pages that include the following term

NEAR-requires that two terms be near each other on the page

"quotation marks"-requires the query be treated as a phrase, instead of each significant word in the query being considered an individual keyword

FOLLOWED BY-requires that one term be followed by another

These searches are defined as literal searches. Research is currently underway on concept based searching which uses statistics statistical analysis of webpages containing your query to recommend pages you might be interested in, as well as natural language searching which allows users to type a question into the search box using the simple language they would use to ask a friend their question instead of using Boolean operators.

There's More than One Search Engine

Each search engine uses different rules for determining which words are indexed and which words aren't. Some search engines index every word on the page. Others focus on the most common words, the words in titles and subtitles, meta tags and the first few lines of text.

If you've ever tried searching the same phrase on different search engines, you probably noticed that you got different results. This is because each engine uses different algorithms to weight and index keywords and determine search result rankings. Search engine ranking algorithms use website popularity, meta tags, number of back links (links to the page), keyword frequency and location and a wide variety of other factors to rank webpages and how well they correlate to viewer searches.

In addition to relevance, website popularity is taken into account in determining search rankings. As more interested users are directed to your page by your SEO techniques, not only will the techniques increase your relevancy scores, but the popularity component of the ranking algorithms will increase as well.

(For more concrete information on specific ranking factors and their relative weight please see this website.)

Your Audience is Important in SEO

Now that you know how search engines function, we need to consider how users interact with search engines. To conduct a search, the user types a few keywords into the search box and clicks enter, browses the results and selects a page to visit. If the user is unsatisfied, he or she will return to the search and select another result or modify their query for a new result list.

People perform searches because they a) want to go somewhere specific on the web b) want to do something specific or c) learn a piece of information. In order to create a high performing webpage, you need to think like your user.

Ask yourself how many of your audience's needs can be met on your page. Add additional, relevant content that meets these needs to attract more viewers and happier views. Then ask yourself if your audience can find your page. What queries might your target audience put into the search engine? Are those keywords found in your titles, subtitles, alt text, summary and first few sentences?

Remember, building content for your users will lead to better results than trying to build pages for search engines.