#but with the advent of the internet you don’t have to go very far to see these things. which sucks ass.

[glitchphotography]

Ok, I’m going to write one last thing about AI Art. This time, with no trolling or sassy memes. So I hope y’all can read it with an open mind.

So there was considerable pushback to my previous post and there were some very valid POVs. To the people who said stuff like “AI is being used unethically and I don’t want to f_ck with it,” Yes! You are right to feel this way and I respect that position. It’s equally valid to say “AI is being used unethically, so I want to explore the limits of this technology and how it affects the world we live in.” and it’s also equally valid to say “AI allows me to concept and source visuals that I can then process into my own artworks.”

But here’s the thing. There is more than one kind of visual art practice and many of them are not existentially threatened by generative image AIs. If anything, the artists who are threatened by this tech are the ones who make a living off of making representational imagery for a number of cultural industries. This in itself is a privileged position that isn’t afforded to most visual artists. Many artists who exhibit and publish around the world don’t get the opportunity to live off of their work, they have to teach or work in adjacent industries to survive. This is especially true for new media artists like myself.

That said. It’s obvious that these generative image AIs are quite adept at simulating visual data. But anyone who has used Midjourney or Dalle2 can attest, there’s so much that these AIs can’t and won’t do. Visual art is not just the mechanical simulation of visual style.

Here’s what generative image AIs can’t do, it can’t create images with a sense of:

Concept

Materiality (Physical or Digital)

Criticality 

Yes, it also can’t create hands and it’s not that great at drawing Black people either. But more importantly, AI can’t imagine what it means to work with materials, whether it’s the scratched up photos of Adrian Piper, or the glitch artifacts of a specific image format. Generative image AIs can’t create conceptual art and it can’t look at or arrange images in a critical way. What I’ve noticed is that many artists (not all ofc) who work on these levels of meaning are not threatened by AI, many of them see it as an interesting tool that they may or may not use. Working with these layers of meaning is what keeps artists ahead of the curve in terms of how these automated technologies are developed.

There were similar hysterics with the advent of photography, and it took many decades for photography to be accepted as an art form. “You just have to push a button,” they’d say. “Photography is going to kill the fine art of painting.” yada yada. Photography certainly didn’t kill painting, if anything, painting was freed from the burden of representation. We wouldn’t have cubism, or suprematism, or abstract expressionism, or pop art without the development of photography. It’s true that many portrait artists lost their gigs with photography, but overall humanity’s creative drive survived and flourished.

(Side note: Generative image AIs are going to eff up photography in many ways, some scary, and I think as a post-photography artist, it’s important to interrogate these dynamics rather than disavow it. But that’s my imperative. Stock photogs and some fashion photogs are going to get screwed, but not photojournalists or documentary photogs as much.)

So yes. Generative image AIs are basically appropriation machines and, as far as appropriation machines go, its like the equivalent of a visual art sausage maker. It averages all the images scraped from the internet into a kind of fast-food aesthetics.

But here’s the rub. Generative image AIs can’t imagine what doesn’t already exist. Every output is the result of averages from existing visual data . AI will never replace an unfettered imagination. This is another reason why the whole NO AI ART movement doesn’t speak for all artists, because many of us are striving create images that haven’t been created before.

But I get it, this is Tumblr, and since the great purge of 2018 the dominant aesthetic has been fandom-based art, which relies on borrowed aesthetics much in the same way that AI does. I think the reality is that many artists who work in this niche are going to get royally f_cked and my heart goes out to them. It won’t be the AIs that do the f_cking, but the IP owners like DisneyMarvel, Sony, Epic Games, Nintendo, etc . They will be the first to use generative image AIs so that they can save money by not hiring artists. This will be especially tragic for the privileged few who went to art school to land industry jobs.

These existential threats to artists are ultimately a question of labor rights as opposed to technology.(UNIONIZE!) Appropriation is literally the engine that drives all art from the beginning of time. Every artistic tradition has grown because of appropriation. Whether it’s blues or classical music, Shakespearean tragedy, renaissance paintings, pop art, conceptual art, hip-hop, you name it, there has been appropriation. The question about whether appropriation is good or not, is a question of where capital is flowing to. Like Rock n Roll is crap because it channeled capital from a Black musical tradition to the hands of white musicians. But hip-hop was great because sampling (a real art form, like AI art) became the basis or a whole new urban Black musical tradition that would bring some capital back, eventually from the sampled sounds of white musicians. Ofc this is a simplistic summary, look at how long it took Biz Markie to get royalties, etc 

So yes, Generative Image AI Services are appropriating art works in ways that are harmful to some artists and these artists should get royalties every time their name is conjured up in a text prompt. But I’m sorry, this doesn’t mean that “artworks are being stolen.” Nothing has been stolen.

What people don’t realize was that many of these image models were created years ago. Data was scraped from the internet on a mass scale and this was all legally sanctioned because of Fair Use Laws that protect researchers who want to scrape data. These datasets, like LAION-5B which itself is based off the Common Crawler dataset, are open source and freely available. They were created for research purposes within research settings and that is totally legitimate. Fair Use Laws are essential to artists and data scraping is one of those things that can be used for good or evil. But the way these AI models were trained was completely legal. What is ethically dubious and f_cked up is how corporations used these legal mechanisms designed to help artists and researchers to create a privatized service product. Again, this is why I say, “you don't hate AI Art, you hate capitalism”

The reality is that an artist can copyright an image, but not a general style. This idea that every artist on ArtStation has some inalienable originality and uniqueness to their work is the result of a hyper-individualistic capitalist ideology that is utterly out of touch with how art has been historically produced. Since the advent of mechanical reproduction, the magical aura of the art work has long been dead. Authenticity and originality are marketing buzzwords and not facts.

These “AI stole my art” arguments are crouched in a deeply regressive view of copyright and intellectual property, because very few artists, if any, would be able to prove in court that an AI plagiarized their works. AIs are sophisticated averaging machines, so the more an artist’s work appears to be copied, the more datapoints of their works and similar works exist in the training model. Proving that AI “steals art works” would also mean dismantling Fair Use Laws, which actually protect artists from predatory corporate IPs. 

Digital remix culture, fan art, hentai, all the things you dearly love and breathe on this Tumblr site would evaporate without Fair Use and it’s hella naive to think that if one of these illustrators actually proves that AI “stole their work,” that Disney and Studio Ghibli and Nintendo won’t come around and say that illustrators are in turn stealing their precious IPs. Copyright laws exist to protect the ruling class. There’s a reason why all us lefty new media artists release works as CC. (Side note: Still waiting to see an artist from the Global South make a “AI steals my arts” argument, so far i’ve only seen US and EU-based artists fret.)

And there is a sad irony in all of this. None of my works were used to train AI even though Tumblr was among the sites that were scraped. (I never used ArtStation or Deviant Art bc they don’t eff with experimental media artists) The reason is that there’s a preference for images that are algorithmically legible. The effed up reality of internet platforms is that algorithms judge your images before distributing them. Glitch art and experimental media arts are usually judged to be low quality content by the instagrams and tumblrs of the world. I had like 200 abstract images flagged during the great purge of 2018 that I appealed and won, because these algorithms don’t have a clue about what is art and what isn't. Everything on ArtStation, stock image websites, are easily legible by nature, and as such, easy to algorithmically appropriate. Artists who know how to create works that are algorithmically illegible will thrive in the post-AI era.

And this leads me to my final point. Many artists, like myself, are drawn to AI for what I call “Liminal Aesthetics.” It’s not about how good the AI can approximate an image, but how bad it is. Many of us are interested in these mal-nourished images. The weird faces and hands, the lack of proportions, the weird shapes, and unexpected textures. The thing though, is that as these generative image AIs get more advanced, the liminal aesthetics are lost. The more these AIs get better at parsing natural language, the more basic and unaesthetic the outputs. So for many artists, this AI moment is temporary. As DALLE2 and MidJourney will ultimately turn into a fancy clip art generator that will replace stock image and stock graphics sites, from iStock to Sketchfab. That’s why I think it’s important to embrace this shit now, because these gorgeous liminalities will soon be a historical artifact.

To conclude, I will say this, and this is very important. The trad art world and their system of values is dying. In the post-digital world of infinite images that aren’t bound by physical scarcity, the rarest and most valuable images are the ones that are remembered, shared, and viralized. If your art is being copied or replicated, even by an AI or a bot, that means that your art is surviving this new era. There are worse fates than having your art copied.

That worst fate is censorship and forgetting.

The image at the top is [ILLUSTRATION #4j2492D] by jonCates, he describes ths AI work as “The Artificially Illustrated Glitch Western Primer for Machine Learnerrs,” and it’s part of a much broader project of creating the first “Glitch Western” based on historical narratives of Black and Chinese people in the West. Most of this project isn’t AI-based imagery, but lovingly crafted video and game art.

Some may not know this, but jonCates was big on Tumblr before the purge of 2018. He’s an og glitch artist and his “Dirty New Media” tumblr was a veritable museum of lewd glitch arts. I remember being so proud when my boo’s glitched bootie ended up on that page. The site was a treasure. Sadly though, Tumblr deleted all record of the Dirty New Media blog as well as jonCates’ tumblr of personal work. All f_cking gone forever. This is the real tragedy of censorship and forgetting. A whole culture lost. 

So why cling to this destructive dynamic because you read a hot take about AI by a privileged artist working in gatekeeping industries? What is copied and appropriated can still live on and we all can do better and fight the power where it resides instead of vilifying other artists. Cheers, shout out to everyone who read all this <3

[fuckyeahfightlock]

Advent Ficlets 2022, Day 5

Wind

Sherlock was frowning, and not just with a down-turned mouth. His wrinkled forehead was in on it, and the bridge of his nose. His shoulders crept toward his ears; he looked vaguely horrified, or at the very least, disgusted. When he stretched one index finger to stroke his laptop’s trackpad, it was as if he were reaching to touch something slime-coated, and he was quick to withdraw. He let go a slight grunt, indicating exasperation and distaste.

“What’s so terrible?” John asked, peering at Sherlock over the top of the newspaper. He let the corner of the page dip down lazily, out of the way.

“Hm? Oh.” Sherlock shook himself free of his grimacing posture as if shaking off a bad dream. “Marriage vows. In specific, those vows written by couples and posted online as--” he made quick quote-marks in the air with his fingers “--inspiration. What myriad ways people won’t find to humiliate themselves publicly.”

“You’ve a point there. I think the internet experience peaked in the late ‘90s. It’s all a bit too easy now.” John folded up the paper and set it aside on the table beside his armchair as he went on. “The standard ones aren’t bad. Book of Common Prayer. Adaptable--nobody has to promise to obey the other.”

“Don’t be so sure, John.” Sherlock’s eyes sparked at his own joke.

“Right, I’ll be requesting final edit on those, then.” In the kitchen, John switched the kettle on and waited for the water to hot up, leaning against the worktop with arms folded on his chest. “I can feel a breeze here,” he mused. “We should see about this window.”

“Tell your landlady,” Sherlock said drily. “She can phone a handyman.”

“I think you and I are the handyman, Sherlock.”

“That can’t be right.” He leaned far back in his chair, stretching his limbs for miles before resettling. “Anyway, we can write our own, I suppose. Without inspiration from the windy drivel dreamed up by Helena and Thomas from Lincolnshire, who I’m certain are by now divorced.” He shut the laptop. “I’ll have tea, if you’re making it.”

“Indeed, I am.”

“That’s rare.”

“Or I could make just my own and get on with my day.”

“Thank you, John, for making the tea. Shall we promise ‘til death do us part?”

John busied himself with the mugs and sugar bowl, immediately reminded of their mutual propensity to run into danger rather than away from it. “Seems words like that might be tempting fate. And you’ll be tired of it long before we get anywhere near old age.” He shrugged.

Sherlock, now crossing the room to join him in the kitchen, fixed him with a hard glare. “Tired of it?”

John hadn’t realised how casually he’d just predicted the demise of their relationship. He’d been going for a joke, of course. But.

“Sherlock Holmes, tied down to domestic bliss?”

“With you, though,” Sherlock said, as if it were obvious that a marriage with John Watson in it was inevitably going to be anything but tamed down to the dull roar of silent shared meals and seeing to the drafty kitchen window.

“Tired of me, then,” John said, shrugging once more, feeling rather smaller than he liked to. Where was this coming from? “Know what? Nevermind,” he said quickly, forcing a grin. “Just a joke that didn’t land.”

“No,” Sherlock intoned, and reached for John’s hand. “Not a joke. If you for even a single minute can imagine a time I will not be wildly--one might say obsessively--enamoured of you every minute of the rest of my life then I have failed us both. I can’t imagine it. Because it’s impossible. I love you ferociously.” He put sincere, heavy emphasis on the last word, imparting his seriousness. “You must know this by now.”

John let go a self-deprecating little laugh and even as they eased into an embrace, he shrugged dismissively. “I know. I know you do. But how can you be sure you will tomorrow? Or in a few years--when I finally lose control of my thickening middle? When we’ve solved all the cases, and traveled and stayed in, and done all the sex things.”

“There are always more and different sex things,” Sherlock corrected, and the tension broke around their shared smiles.

“It just came on in a hurry, and now we’re three weeks away from committing to something I’m not sure you’ve really thought all the way through.” John’s voice was low, and they were too close to focus on each other’s faces, which made it easier. “I mean.” He cleared his throat. “Who am I? To think I can marry you?”

Sherlock stroked his hand down John’s chest, smoothing his edges, then plucked a bit of lint and gently flicked it away.

“Well isn’t it obvious?” he asked seriously, softly. “You’re John Watson.”

[mecarlhooperposts]

5G Video Streaming: How Can It Revolutionize Live Broadcasting?

The biggest innovation to date in the 21st century is the advent of 5G technology which is going to transform our very lives completely. Among all the industries that are going to benefit due to the usage of 5G technology, it is the live broadcasting industry that is going to reap the maximum benefits.

There are various reports being published by leading industry experts that provide a complete picture of how 5G technology would impact live broadcasting. Here in this article, we will discuss in detail about 5G technology.

Robust Network Connection

Remote Production Becomes Easy

Seamless Mobile Connectivity

Personalized Telecast

Robust Network Connection

One of the biggest advantages associated with the use of 5G technology is tied to the functioning of the networks. The biggest challenge live broadcasters face in their day-to-day operation is related to the unreliable functioning of the networks that affect their video streaming quality.

However, with the coming of 5G technology the problems related to network connectivity are going to be a thing of the past and live streaming would be seamless with better connectivity. As the distribution channels would be able to function without any challenges, the broadcasters would be able to broadcast their content far and wide.

In fact, live broadcasters have the option of setting up their own contribution networks which helps in boosting up the production infrastructures and helps in transmitting to a larger number of connected devices without affecting the content being transmitted over the network.

Remote Production Becomes Easy

The biggest benefit of the use of 5G technology is going to be witnessed by people who are into remote production. Well, previously with the use of 4G technology it was possible to live broadcast content remotely but the quality of the video was not up to par and the frequent network disruption also played a negative role.

Most of the problem in transmission is caused due to low bandwidth networks in 4G and higher latency rates and this problem is easily overcome with the use of 5G technology for live broadcasting. The higher bandwidth combined with almost no latency rates makes it very popular for broadcasters to produce & transmit remotely.

In addition to that, the cost and effort of transmitting over remote networks with the use of 4G technology is significantly higher than 5G technology. From employing more manpower and machines to bearing the cost of production everything played out to the disadvantage of the broadcasters.

Nevertheless, with the use of 5G technology, the number of people required for remote live streaming is going to reduce significantly. As the camera feeds can be sent to a centralized production center, you don’t have to deploy additional machines and manpower for your live broadcasting operation.

Seamless Mobile Connectivity

Nowadays, the use of mobile phones is rising by leaps and bounds and a majority of people across the globe are connected to the internet through their cell phones. The rapid penetration of mobile phones has created a new user base for broadcasting companies and 5G technology would help in tapping into this broad consumer base.

Besides that, many market researchers are opining that cell phones are the major source of video consumption and with the use of 5G technology live broadcasting of quality content to mobile phone users would become a lot easier without any hitch.

Most of the time mobile phone users face problems in accessing live broadcast videos due to various issues like lower bandwidth and high latency rates. But with the use of 5G technology, all these things are not going to bother mobile phone users because 5G technology offers seamless connectivity where mobile phone users can stream high-quality 4K and 8K videos without any challenges.

Personalized Telecast

One of the best things about 5G technology is that it can bring personalized content to the audience which is the future of live streaming. Personalization refers to the viewer’s ability to watch videos, audio, and graphics as per their wish from a variety of video and audio feeds.

In addition to that, as a large section of people across the globe are accessing live video streaming with the help of mobile devices, personalized telecast of live videos would be much easier than what was the scenario a few years ago.

Finally

The above-discussed factors are some of the ways 5G technology is going to revolutionize the way we use technology in our daily lives. In addition to that, the advantages of 5G technology are not limited to these factors only because the research on 5G technology is still ongoing and with each passing day interesting things are turning up on the horizon.

[lesfeldickbiblestudy]

  Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 3 * PART 3 * BOOK 78 PART 2 of the MESSIANIC PROPHECIES – PART 3 Psalms 22, 23, and 24 Again, for those of you joining us on television, you can tell we’re informal.  I mean we just don’t get too stiff if we can help it. We do appreciate the folks that come in and enjoy the afternoon with us.  And for those of you in television, we just want to invite you to study with us.  And evidently it’s working.  Our letters tell us that you get your cup of coffee and you get your notepad and Bible and we have Bible study.  Well, that’s what we like to hear. We always have to thank our TV audience, as well as all of you in here, for your support, prayers, financial, whatever.  We just trust the Lord is getting all the glory for it.  We just had contact with our mission group in Russia, and they’re still translating all our stuff into Russian and Ukrainian.  Churches are using it, and the Lord is blessing it. And then last month in our retreat, we had a fellow from Spain and a fellow from Czechoslovakia who flew over just to be with us for a couple of days. They had picked us up on the internet.  So you just have no idea how far the Lord is reaching with this—what I call—simple Bible study.  That’s all it is. All right, we’re in a series of three chapters back in the Book of Psalms that are pretty much tied together—Psalms 22, 23, and 24. They all deal, prophetically of course, with Christ at His first advent and especially in His identity with the Nation of Israel as the Shepherd of the Sheep.  In our previous two programs, we dealt with His crucifixion and how He died for the sheep.  And then we saw in the last program how He arose from the dead in power and glory.  Now we’re going to look at chapter 23, the Psalm that I imagine every one of you know practically from memory—the Lord is my Shepherd and so forth. Psalm 23:1 “The LORD is my shepherd;…”  Now, if I’m not mistaken, the original Hebrew would say that the Lord here is the I AM—the Jehovah of the Old Testament. And you remember, the I AM of the Old Testament was Jesus of the New.  It’s the same person of the Godhead who is claiming to be the Shepherd of Israel. Now we’ll jump up to the New Testament again for a little while, because I don’t like to get hung up in either part of Scripture.  Because they dovetail so beautifully.  Come up with me to Hebrews chapter 13.  Here we have the term the Great Shepherd—Hebrews 13 verse 20. Hebrews 13:20 “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead (See, just like we saw in Psalm 22.) our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,”  Now, I think we have to stop and consider.  From the very onset of Judaism, or the Jewish religion back there around Mount Sinai, they built the tabernacle—the tent made of animal skins—and established the priesthood and the feast days.  And Israel became aware that there was only one payment for sin.   And that was what?  Blood. They saw it in Egypt when they put the blood on the doorposts.  It was their escape.  It was their protection.  Now they also became aware of it, especially on the Day of Atonement—which was not a true atonement, because animal’s blood could not atone for their sin.  All it could do was cover it.  But you see, Israel had now gone through 500 years of their religion. So they had a pretty well-established idea that there had to be an atoning blood that would pay their sin debt, which animals’ blood could not do.  This little Book of Hebrews shows that. In fact, while you’re in Hebrews, you might as well just back up so that you’ll know what I’m talking about.  Back up to Hebrews chapter 9.  This is what we have to understand. That everything is moving forward to the time when the true atoning blood would be shed.  But, of course, Israel didn’t know how or why and when it would happen. Yet they had that understanding that animals’ blood could not take away their sin.  It was just a cover-up.  It was a temporary thing again.

All right, the Book of Hebrews, after the fact, now tells us exactly how it is.  Here in Hebrews chapter 9 and let’s start at verse 11. Hebrews 9:11 “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, (Not made of animal skins, not made even of the cedars of Lebanon and gold and silver.  But it was made without hands.) that is to say, not of this building;” Or this creation.  It was in Heaven. Hebrews 9:12a “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood (the blood from Calvary) he entered in once into the holy place,…”  Not in the Temple in Jerusalem, but the Tabernacle in Heaven. And you remember in John 20, that’s why He told Mary, Touch me not, I have not yet ascended to my God and your God.   Well, He couldn’t be defiled until He had presented His own blood in the heavenlies—in the Tabernacle that is up there.  Then he went on in verse 12. Hebrews 9:12b “…but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, (not in Jerusalem but in Heaven) having obtained eternal redemption for us.  Having paid the sin debt, not only for Israel, now, but of the whole human race. Hebrew 9:13-14 “For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, (if that) sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: (in the Old Testament economy) 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot (a perfect sacrifice) to God, (How much more shall that--) purge (or cleanse) your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”  See, that was all appropriated by His shed blood. All right, now lest we lose the Great Shepherd concept of the Book of Hebrews, let’s go back again to the Shepherd chapter in John’s Gospel, where we were in the first half hour this afternoon.   John chapter 10 verse 1.  And I was just sharing with somebody at break. This just struck me this morning.  I’d only been up for just a little bit and mulling these things over, when it hit me like a bolt of lightening.  And I’m going to see what you think of it when we’re through.  But I think you’ll agree—what a tremendous comparison. Here in John chapter 10, Jesus is speaking, still in the concept of the Shepherd and his Sheep.  God and His Covenant people Israel.  Look at verse 1. John 10:1a “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold,…”  Now I’ve got to stop a minute.  How many ways into God’s salvation?  One!  How many doors in the sheepfold?  One!  And as I’ve stressed in past years, where was the sheepfold?  In some inaccessible place or was it on level ground?  Right out in front where the sheep could just walk right in without having to jeopardize themselves, without having to crawl up a mountain or cross a river.  There was the sheepfold. But now Jesus is making the analogy that not everybody is going to come in that one prescribed sheep door.  They’re going to do what?  They’re going climb up some other way.  They’re going to find one excuse or another to go contrary to the one way that God has given.  And what is it? John 10:1b “…the same is a thief and a robber.”  Not very nice terms are they?  In other words, in the analogy, if someone is going to try to sneak into the sheepfold to do whatever dirty work he’s going to do, he’s not going to come through the door.  He’s going to sneak in some other way. That’s all well and good so far as God and Israel are concerned. But where is the same thing applied to us in this Age of Grace?  Now, I’m going to shock you.  Turn ahead to Galatians chapter 1.  And like I said, it just struck me like a thunderbolt this morning.  And if I wouldn’t have found time to share it this afternoon, I probably wouldn’t have slept a wink all night.  But it just came up perfectly. Galatians chapter 1, it is the same analogy.  If you’re going to do something other than God’s prescribed way, you’re under the anathema of God as much as a thief and a robber were in John chapter 10.

  Now that’s strong language.  I know it is.  I’ve used these verses.  I’ve spent three hours in seminars on these three verses, because people better wake up.  They are going in some other way and God will not have it. All right, look at it.  Galatians 1 verse 6 and I’ve got to stop a minute.  Always—before we read these verses—what was Paul dealing with?  Well you see, he had his little groups of Gentile believers up there—especially from Antioch and Syria and then across central Turkey through the highlands, Derbe, Lystra, Antioch of Pisidia, and then on over to Ephesus.  And here come the Judaizers from Jerusalem—who were still under the Law of Moses.  The Temple was still operating, but they had become believers in Jesus the Messiah. They come along behind Paul and go into these little Gentile congregations and tell them…. I guess I’ve got to use Scripture.  It’s the only way to do it. Acts chapter 15—a portion, again, that most of Christendom doesn’t even know is in their Bible.  And if they do, they ignore it.  But here was the problem that Paul had to deal with that precipitated these verses in Galatians—Acts chapter 15 and start at verse 1.  Now like I’ve said in so many other programs.  I didn’t intend to do this.  I was going to show you Galatians 1.  But you see, you can’t teach Galatians unless you know why it was written. Acts 15:1 “And certain men (We don’t know how many.  But they--) which came down from Judea (Now what’s in Judea?  Jerusalem, the Temple.) taught the brethren, (That is, Paul’s Gentile converts.  And these Judaizers--) and said, Except (or unless) ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.”  Isn’t that something?   And then you come along a little further up into verse 5. Acts 15:5 “But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees who believed, (That Jesus was the promised Messiah in the Kingdom economy.) saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, (Now don’t forget who we’re talking about—Paul’s Gentile converts up there in Asia Minor and so forth.) and to command them to keep the Law of Moses.”  Well, what did that fly in the face of?  Paul’s Gospel.  And that’s why he had to frantically write these six little chapters of Galatians. All right, now come back if you will to Galatians chapter 1.  Now don’t lose my analogy. The one that won’t come into the sheepfold through the door and goes in some other way is a what?  “A thief and a robber.”  And God has no time for that.  All right, Galatians 1: Galatians 1:6 “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto (What?) another gospel:”  What’s the word in John 10?  If he goes in another way instead of the door.  See the analogy.  I think it’s perfect.  And this is where we are.  John 10 was for Israel.  But here for us in the Age of Grace, if someone comes in and muddies up our thinking with another gospel, verse 7: Galatians 1:7 “Which is not another; (In other words, in John 10 they weren’t going into some other or somebody else’s sheepfold.  They were going into the prescribed one that Jesus is talking about.  And so Paul the same way—it’s not a totally different and new set of circumstances, but here is what the problem is.) but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert (or pollute or corrupt) the gospel of Christ.” They came in and added to Paul’s Gospel.  Now verse 8: Galatians 1:8 “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be (What?) accursed.” See how similar the language is?  I just can’t get over it.  All Paul’s converts were required to believe for salvation was that Jesus died for their sins, was buried, and rose again—as we see in I Corinthians 15:1-4.   But now they were being told this was not enough! If someone is going to come into Jesus’ sheepfold some other way, he’s a thief and a robber.  If someone is going to come unto us with a Gospel other than Paul’s Gospel of Grace, he is under the anathema of God.

  Why?  Because if someone is going to come and tell you and me that this Grace Gospel isn’t enough—you have to do this and you have to do that, etc.—he’s perverting that gospel.  And God won’t have it.  He won’t call them a thief and a robber, but you know what He’s going to call them?  Liars.  You’re liars.  There is nothing else but the one Gospel.  And if you’re going to add to it, even a smidgen, you’re telling God, You lied. You know why?  What were the last three words that Christ said from the cross?  “It is finished.”  And what has mankind been doing for 2,000 years?  Saying, no, it isn’t finished.  You’ve got to do this, and you’ve got to do that.  You’ve got to do something else.  Do you see the parallel?  Boy, I was so excited. You know, I was just on edge driving up here all morning.  But, listen, this is where we are.  This is exactly what we’re up against, like Israel was up against the thief and the robber sneaking into the sheepfold without any authority to do so. Now then, we know that Psalm 23 is that chapter of comfort, and we’re going to go back there. But since you’re in Galatians, I think I’ll just use it.  I was going to go back there and then come back, but since we’re here, we’ll stay here.  Stay in Galatians and move ahead to chapter 5 and jump in at verse 22.  Now while we’re reading this, keep rehearsing in your mind Psalm 23 – “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,” and all the promises that we’re going to look at in a minute.  That was for Israel. Now, we can take comfort from Psalm 23, don’t get me wrong.  But it’s still not as applicable to you and to me as this is, because we have this power of the Holy Spirit within us.  And this is as sweet a language as Psalm 23 is in the account of a shepherd and his sheep. Galatians 5:22-24 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they who are Christ’s have (put to death) crucified the flesh (or the Old Adam) with the affections and lusts.”  And in its place, we have all these good things in verses 22 and 23.  That’s glorious, isn’t it?  What kind of a better life-style could you hope for than to have these attributes in your everyday life? Now let’s go back, in the few minutes we have left, and see how that compares with the Great Shepherd of Psalm 23.  And again, never lose the concept.  The Great Shepherd is just like the Good Shepherd.  He’s willing to give His life for His sheep.  But He is primarily interested in giving them all the blessings of life.  And that’s what this chapter amounts to.  It’s all in language that a shepherd and a sheep owner would understand. Psalms 23:2 “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:…” Well, what’s that a picture of?  Tranquility.  Peace and quiet. You know, there’s nothing that looks better to me than to drive through the country and see a herd of cattle lying out there chewing their cud.  What is that?  That’s tranquility.  Nothing to disturb them.  They’re satisfied.  Their bellies are full.  Green grass abundant.  Well, that’s what you’ve got here.  This was the analogy of the believer’s life under the Law. Psalms 23:2 “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.”  Well, now what kind of creatures are we dealing with?  Sheep. Now sheep are different than all other animals.  If they had a roaring river, do you think you’d get them to drink out of it?  No way.  They would never touch it.  But you see, the shepherd made sure that he would bring them to a place of quiet, still water, where they could drink without fear.  Always keep the analogy in mind.  We’re dealing with sheep.  Then verse 3: Psalms 23:3 “He restoreth (or He invigorates) my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”  Well, what’s the Psalmist talking about?  Come back to Galatians once again.  Because that’s the only way we can understand Scripture.  It is to compare Scripture with Scripture.

  In this same chapter 5, just before the verses we read of the tranquil believer’s experience, like the sheep lying out there on green pastures drinking from still water.  All right, that’s what our picture is in verses 22 and 23.  But when David speaks of walking in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake, he’s speaking of the opposite that he’s not doing.  And that’s what we have up here in Galatians 5 verse 19.  This is the exact opposite of what it is to walk in the paths of righteousness. Galatians 5:19-20 “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20. Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, (See, this is all part of the opposite of the righteousness.) emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21. Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”  They’re going to miss it.   Now back to Psalm 23 verse 4. Psalms 23:4a “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, (Well, what’s he talking about?  Physical death.  And that’s how Job described it—like walking through a valley.  And here we have the promise, that even if he does come to physical death, the shadow of death--) I will fear no evil: (He doesn’t have to worry that he’s going to miss his eternal reward.) for thou art with me;…” All right, once again let’s slip back to see how Paul puts it for us.  What’s our assurance that if physical death catches up with us, and we have to go through that valley of the shadow of death before we’re called out in what we’re hopefully looking at—the Rapture.  Now we come to II Corinthians chapter 5. This question comes in almost every day.  What happens to a believer’s soul and spirit when we die?  All right, II Corinthians 5—I’ll probably run out of time.  Let’s just drop in at verse 6. II Corinthians 5:6 “Therefore we are always confident, (As a believer.  Now remember, that’s all Paul talks to.) knowing that, while we are at home in the body, (In other words, we’re functioning day-to-day under normal circumstances.) we are absent from the Lord:” We’re only seeing Him through the eyes of faith. II Corinthians 5:7-8 “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and (The minute our soul and spirit leaves this body that’s now in death, where does it go?) to be present with the Lord.”  Immediately!  So, if you’ve never known that before, you know now—that if you die, you go immediately into the Lord’s presence in that realm of the soul and the spirit. Now quickly back to Psalm 23.  I’ve got one minute left.  Maybe we can do fairly good justice to it.  Verse 5: Psalms 23:5 “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: (Now you can just about picture that, can’t you?) thou anointest my head with oil; (Which was a Middle Eastern habit, or whatever you want to call it.) my cup runneth over.” And then here’s the promise. Psalms 23:6 “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: (Because David has this glorious assurance that he is the sheep of the Great Shepherd.) and I will dwell in the house of the LORD (How long?) for ever.” And listen, it’s the same hope with us.  We, too, once time ends, are going to spend eternity in God’s presence.

[strawbeb]

hi this is a psa that if ur not south asian u have no authority to decide what is/is not racist to us. y’all will cherry pick aspects of our cultures that u find ‘aesthetic’ and mock our accents and customs and appearances and languages and food in the same breath. i know this isn’t exclusive to south asians but none of y’all take us seriously when we talk about this and i’m sick of it. and if u have to go around asking a bunch of us if something is offensive until u find someone who says ‘i’m south asian and this doesn’t offend me’ that doesn’t make it any better. that one person doesn’t speak for a population of over 1.9 billion.

[writing-prompts-for-friends]

Notes from Stephen King’s “On Writing” 07: The Revision Process

Next, King walks us through his revision process. He makes it clear that this method is not the only method. It is merely a method. 

How Many Drafts?

“For me, the answer has always been two drafts and a polish (with the advent of word-processing technology, my polishes have become closer to a third draft).”

King admits that this number of drafts is not the golden rule. Kurt Vonnegut rewrote each page of his novels until he got them exactly the way he wanted them. This meant that when the manuscript was finished, the book was finished. (I certainly am not that big of a perfectionist, nor am I that patient lol.)

For beginner writers in particular, King offers the following advice:

“Let me urge that you take your story through at least two drafts; the one you do with the study door closed and the one you do with it open.

“This first draft--the All-Story Draft--should be written with no help (or interference) from anyone else. There may come a point when you want to show what you’re doing to a close friend because you’re proud of what you’re doing or because you’re doubtful about it. My best advice is to resist this impulse. Keep the pressure on; don’t lower it by exposing what you’ve written to the doubt, the praise, or even the well-meaning questions of someone from the Outside World. Let your hope of success (and your fear of failure) carry you on, difficult as that can be. There’ll be time to show off what you’ve done when you finish...but even after finishing I think you must be cautious and give yourself a chance to think while the story is still like a field of freshly fallen snow, absent of any tracks save your own.”

Basically, King just wants you to get it all out onto the paper, with no external forces influencing you (for better or for worse). Just get that first draft out, and then open it up for closer examination both to yourself and others.

Let It Breathe and Then Dig In!

Okay, so you finished writing the first draft! Celebrate! Rejoice! Maybe cry!

...And then throw that manuscript into a drawer, lock it up tight, and don’t look at it for a minimum of six weeks. And in the meantime, do something totally unrelated to what you wrote. Get into knitting. Write a short story that is nothing like what you just finished. It’s consumed you for months now--so give your mind and imagination some time to reset and chill. 

King recommends a minimum of six weeks, but even longer is okay. Resist all temptation to peek at it. And once the six weeks have passed, do the following:

“Take your manuscript out of the drawer. If it looks like an alien relic bought at a junk-shop or a yard sale where you can hardly remember stopping, you’re ready. Sit down with your door shut, a pencil in your hand, and a legal pad by your side. Then read your manuscript over.

“Do it all in one sitting, if possible. Make all the notes you want, but concentrate on the mundane housekeeping jobs, like fixing misspellings and picking up inconsistencies. There’ll be plenty; only God gets it right the first time and only a slob says, ‘oh well, let it go, that’s what copyeditors are for.’

“If you’ve never done it before, you’ll find reading your book over after a six-week layover to be a strange, often exhilarating experience. It’s yours, you’ll recognize it as yours, even be able to remember what tune was on the stereo when you wrote certain lines, and yet it will also be like reading the work of someone else, a soul-twin, perhaps. This is the way it should be, the reason you waited. It’s always easier to kill someone else’s darlings than it is to kill your own.”

You’ll also be on the lookout for any glaring holes in the plot or character development. And if you spot any of these big holes, you are forbidden from feeling depressed about them. Don’t be hard on yourself. Everybody makes mistakes, and they can all be fixed. 

Generally King goes through the first reading fixing all the superficial issues, like typos and unclear antecedents. But as he’s doing that, he’s also asking himself the Big Questions:

Is this story coherent? 

If it is, what will turn coherence into a song?

What are the recurring elements?

Do they entwine and make a theme?

What’s it all about?

“Most of all, I’m looking for what I meant, because in the second draft I’ll want to add scenes and incidents that reinforce that meaning. I’ll also want to delete stuff that goes in other directions. There’s apt to be a lot of that stuff, especially near the beginning of a story, when I have a tendency to flail.”

I can understand what King is saying here about the flailing at the beginning. Because I do not plot when I write, I have ideas that crop up halfway through that would require being introduced earlier, for example. Or perhaps as my understanding of the characters evolved as I wrote more, I realize that they behaved out-of-character earlier on. This is certainly one downside to not plotting. But isn’t is also kinda liberating to be able to take detours and wind up at a different but equally interesting destination?

Okay. So go ahead and fix all of the issues you found, and your first revision is complete.

Second Opinions and the Second Revision

“Do all opinions weigh the same? Not for me.”

Now you’re done with the first draft. You’ve patched over any plot holes and smoothed out those typos and grammar mistakes. You’ve polished the symbols and themes until they shine.

Once this is done, King gives a copy of work to his wife and several close friends (4-8) to receive detailed feedback. In other words, he has several close friends beta for him. 

“Many writing texts caution against asking friends to read your stuff, suggesting you’re not apt to get a very unbiased opinion from folks who’ve eaten dinner at your house and sent their kids over to play with your kids in your backyard. 

“The idea has some validity, but I don’t think an unbiased opinion is exactly what I’m looking for. And I believe that most people smart enough to read a novel are also tactful enough to find a gentler mode of expression than ‘This sucks.’ Besides, if you really did write a stinker, wouldn’t you rather hear the news from a friend while the entire edition consists of a half-dozen Xerox copies?”

What he gets back is 4-8 very detailed and different analyses of what he wrote. What’s very important to remember is that every reader looks at a work through a different lens. If half of them say a character’s portrayal is far-fetched but the other half say the opposite, than their feedback regarding that point has balanced out. However, if the majority of them say that something doesn’t work, then King goes back and sees if he can improve it. 

Also, different readers pick up on different details. This is the age of internet and now we are able to check facts whenever we like, but it is still nice to have something of a subject matter expert on hand, because they are liable to pick up on details that the writer may not. 

For example, I often beta fanfiction for anime. I am fluent in Japanese, live in Japan, and have studied Japanese culture and history. While I would never claim to be a “subject matter expert” on Japan, I am able to make certain corrections regarding, say, the type of kimono a character should be wearing, that the writer would not have considered. 

It’s very easy to accept feedback that deals with facts (i.e. a beta corrects you on the standard procedures for CPR). However, it’s much harder to handle subjective feedback (i.e. “The ending felt inconclusive.”). Having put as much work as you have into creating this, it can feel like a personal attack because this story is a very dear part of you. What do you do if your beta tells you something like this?

“Subjective evaluations are, as I say, a little harder to deal with, but listen: if everyone who reads your book says you have a problem, you’ve got a problem and you better do something about it.

“Plenty of writers resist this idea. They feel that revising a story according to the likes and dislikes of an audience is somehow akin to prostitution. ... But come on, we’re talking about half a dozen people you know and respect. If you ask the right ones, they can tell you a lot.

“Do all opinions weigh the same? Not for me. In the end I listen most closely to [my wife], because she’s the one I write for, the one i want to wow. If you’re writing primarily for one person besides yourself, I advise you pay very close attention to that person’s opinion. And if what you hear makes sense, then make the changes. You can’t let the whole world into your story, but you can let in the ones that matter the most. And you should.”

I think, especially in the age of prolific fanfiction in which the author usually updates as they write the story, the author feels a lot of pressure from their readers. Readers chomping at the bit for the main characters to have a naughty scene, or demanding to know about that one secret thing that you keep alluding to. A lot of fanfic writers struggle to tow the line of “writing a good story based on reader feedback” and “pandering.” 

My advice to fanfic writers out there is to tell those thirsty readers to read a one-shot if they’re looking for a quick fix of smut, and to have some goddamn patience. You’re trying to tell a story, one that builds and progresses, and that takes time. Don’t give in to those “OMG MAKE THEM KISS ALREADY” reviews. But if a lot of readers say something like, “I feel like this character wouldn’t do that,” then perhaps you should re-evaluate that. 

On Pace and Reducing Glut

“Formula: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft - 10%.”

So now you have your first draft done. You have your feedback from your trusted betas. And now you need to go and make the final changes. 

King states that you should rely on your most trusted betas to gauge whether or not your story is paced correctly and if you’ve handled the back story in satisfactory fashion. “Pace” is the speed at which your narrative unfolds. 

”There is a kind of unspoken (hence undefended and unexamined) belief in publishing circles that the most commercially successful stories are novels are fast-paced. I guess the underlying thought is that people have so many things to do today, and are so easily distracted from the printed word, that you’ll lose them unless you become a kind of short-order cook, serving up sizzling burgers, fries, and eggs over easy just as fast as you can. 

“But you can overdo the speed thing. Move too fast and you risk leaving the reader behind, either by confusing or by wearing him/her out. ... I believe each story should be allowed to unfold at its own pace, and that pace is not always double time. Nevertheless, you need to beware--if you slow the pace down too much, even the most patient reader is apt to grow restive.”

So how can you strike a happy medium? Rely on your most trusted betas and their input. King says, “Every story and novel is collapsible to some degree. If you can’t get out ten percent of it while retaining the basic story and flavor, you’re not trying very hard. The effect of judicious cutting is immediate and often amazing. You’ll feel it and your betas will too.”

On backstory, King issues some opinions and advice:

It’s important to get the backstory in as quickly as possible, but it’s also important to do it with some grace.

A reader is more interested in what’s going to happen instead of what already did.

Even when you tell your story in a straightforward manner, you’ll discover you can’t escape at least some backstory. 

“The most important things to remember about backstory are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting. Stick to the parts that are, and don’t get carried away with the rest.”

Source: King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Hodder, 2012.

[ordinaryschmuck]

Why I (Want To) Love Amphibia

Salutations random people on the internet who probably won't read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons. If you've been paying attention to my posts, you would have known that I made a top twenty list of the best-animated series of the 2010s. And if you read my Honorable Mentions list, you would have known that I consider Amphibia one of those shows that, while I like it, I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's one of the best. Don't get me wrong. It's good. But there are issues that I have with Amphibia, and I can't recommend it without being hesitant. I still like it fine, but I doubt some people will be as forgiving as me. So I'm going to explain the quality and faults that the show has, while still being considerate to those who do love it. Because unlike some people who would make a two-hour-long video essay about how much they hate something, I can at least acknowledge that while something doesn't entirely work for me, that doesn't mean it won't work for everyone else. Because there is a reason why this show has such a following...I don't think it's earned, but I won't knock people down when they love something I find passable. And I hope that respect goes both ways as I explain why I (want to) love Amphibia.

Also, this review is going to contain spoilers for the entire series. So if you haven't checked it out yet, I recommend you do it to form your own opinion. Season one is on Disney+, and you're on your own for season two. And I suggest you find a legal way to watch it if you can, because I'm not going to leave a link to a pirating website filled with every animated series and movie you can find. And I'm definitely not going to insert that link into a random letter in this review with the thought that if you have to pirate something, then you might as well work for it. Because that would be crazy.

...

Stop being crazy.

....

Anywho, let's start with:

WHAT I LIKE

The Comedy: Let it be known that this show is funny. Like, really funny. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's funnier than Gravity Falls, which got me chuckling with every episode, but Amphibia definitely hits more than it misses. There are occasions when the jokes aren't really character-oriented and could be said by anybody in the Plantar Family, but if they're still funny, then who am I to complain. Although there is one issue that I have with the comedy. But I'll save that for when I talk about what I don't like. For now, I can assure you that if you're hoping for some laughs, Amphibia has plenty to offer.

Warnings Against Toxic Relationships: But even the best comedies know when to offer some substance. Because I won't lie, when Anne described what is clearly a toxic friendship in the second episode, I was hooked. I love it when kids shows breach topics that can be important for children down the line. And for the most part, I think Amphibia does it well. There are so many instances that the writers' point out the several red flags that a person should avoid when it comes to a friendship and when it's time to either cut that person from your life and stand up for yourself. One of my favorite episodes is "Prison Break," where Sasha explains how she manipulates people and shows zero remorse for it. Then there's the episode "The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers" that shows how a person's influence can affect others and how much it changes perception as Anne and Marcy still believe they need someone like Sasha in their lives...At least I hope that's what the intention is. Because if the writers are trying to say that Anne and Marcy really need someone like Sasha...Well, I'll save that for my dislikes. Because even though it could use a little polishing, warning kids about toxic relationships is what keeps me hooked into seeing what happens next in this series.

It’s Not Afraid to go Dark: On top of breaking borders with morals intended for kids, I just gotta respect a show for playing around with what's considered "too dark." Especially if that show is on the Disney Channel!

The writers are not afraid to imply that death happens in the world of Amphibia, primarily because it is like a swamp ecosystem filled with predators and food chains. And I feel like because the characters are mostly amphibians, the writers can get away with an entire cave filled with the bones of victims as long as they're not humans. But frogs? No one gives a crap about them. There's a reason they're the ones who get dissected in schools.

Plus, a good majority of the monsters that Anne and the Plantars face are pretty horrifying at times. The crew who work on the show do a great job balancing the line of making these creatures look scary, but never go too far that they'll scar kids for life. Except in the Halloween special...How the f**k did they get away with the monsters in the Halloween special? And while they don't ever show what these monsters do, the implications honestly make things much worse, which again, I kind of respect. It's good to have shows like Amphibia that can scare kids a little bit. Getting through something fictitiously dark helps make kids feel braver and prepare them for the real horrors in the world. Especially since most of these creatures are just exaggerated versions of real-life predators...google them.

The Season One Finale: It was "Reunion" that made me realize that Amphibia has the potential to be amazing...it's also the last episode of season one, so let that sink in.

Joking aside, I honestly do love this episode. It's funny, it brings in elements from other episodes, nearly everybody does something useful, and it all ends with a satisfying and equally gut-wrenching climax. A climax, by the way, that is so perfect that I'm going to do a scene breakdown for why it's so good...so, you know, add that to the to-do list (I have so much s**t to make -_-). "Reunion" has so many elements about what makes a season finale so good that I feel like future writers should take notes for their own series that they plan to make. While I wish every episode of Amphibia had this level of quality, the writers know that the last impression is one of the most important. Because I will defend this show if this is the episode people use to trash it.

Marcy: I will also defend this show if someone trashes Marcy. Trust me, the best way to tell that someone is just hating on Amphibia for little to no reason is if they utter the word, "Marcy is a bad character." That is not true. Marcy is a great character, and I'd go so far as to say she's the best character in the series. She's sweet, adorable, and has a story ten times more interesting than Anne's. Anne learns what a sincere relationship is like through the Plantars, where Marcy falls victim to another manipulative relationship through King Andreas. It's her co-dependency that has the chance to get fleshed out more, and I can't wait to see if she has a moment to break out and form her own path.

Also, in the mass expanse of the multiverse, there exists a world where Amphibia is about the adventures that Marcy had in Newtopia as she uses Dungeons and Dragons logic to get by. And I want to see that universe! Because this clumsy nerd is already a blast to watch with the briefest of cameos. Imagine how much fun she would be if she had her own series!

Sprig: I don't know how much love Sprig gets within the fandom, but I got a feeling that it's not enough. He's funny without being annoying (most of the time), there's a whole lot of heart and sincerity to his actions, and above all else, he's the best friend that Anne needed. When Anne explained her very flawed views about friendship in "Best Fronds," it is clear how essential someone like Sprig is as he teaches Anne what friendship really means. It means caring for each other, supporting each other, making equal sacrifices for one another, and just being on the same page as each other. It is genuinely sweet seeing their friendship bloom, and I honestly hope the Amphibia fandom gives Sprig the amount of appreciation he deserves. Sure, he can be annoying sometimes, but for the most part, he's easily up there as one of my favorite characters.

Wally: Same with Wally! Who would have guessed that a character who appears as an dumb source of comic relief has a level of depth and lovability to him? "Wally and Anne" shows that while he is a nonsensical goofball, he doesn't really care what the frogs of Wartwood think of him. What matters is what he thinks of him. And that is just an incredible lesson to teach kids that just makes me love Wally more. 

(It also helps that he's probably the funniest character in the show. I know I said that he's dumb, but when he works, he works.)

Kermit the Frog Cameo: ...It's Kermit the Frog, y'all. I physically can't hate him. Especially since this is the perfect show for him to make a cameo in!

WHAT I DON’T LIKE

Anne’s Character: I don't have a problem with Anne. I think she's a serviceable protagonist, and I love the fact that she's Thai, offering a form of Asian representation other than Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. But here's the problem with Anne: After a season and a half, I still don't know what her character is. If you were to ask me to describe a Disney show protagonist within one sentence, I could do it effortlessly. Watch:

Star Butterfly: An adrenaline junky of a warrior princess who slowly learns to be responsible with each passing season.

Luz Noceda: A generous nerd that obsesses about fantasy and fiction, who still understands when to take a step in reality when the moment calls for it.

Scrooge McDuck: An old Scottish miser who has the heart of adventure and is a duck that almost loves his family as he loves his money.

For Anne, I don't know where to start because her personality is so inconsistent. Sometimes she makes friends with others without even trying, and other times, she gets on others' nerves easily. Sometimes she's a thrillseeker with the heart of adventure, and other times, she's a person who prefers to hang back and avoid doing work. And sometimes she's the only sane character with logical advice, and other times she's the most insane character who needs advice. Now, you could argue that these are all character traits that make Anne multidimensional. But if you ask me, it seems like her personality is dependent on what the writers want her to be for the episode. Someone like Luz going back and forth between two traits only works if there is a dominant personality trait that takes over the other. If Luz spends an entire episode being angry and serious, it proves that there's more to her than just a character that's nerdy and optimistic. But it's clear she is still that lovable nerd by having her say a corny line like, "Talk to the glyphs, Witch!" But because Anne has so many personality traits, it's hard to tell which is the norm and what is out of character. Case in point: Having Anne obsess over hang-gliding in one episode and doing a puzzle in the next is off as neither correlates with each other. Nor do they tell me who Anne is, other than the fact that she's clearly a character lacking a singular identity. And seeing how she's the main character, the one audiences are supposed to root for and identify with, it's probably not a good thing.

The Story: For the record, I have no problems with the story itself...the way it's written, however...

First off, there's too much filler. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as filler episodes have the potential to be fun when written well. The problem is that relying on filler instead of telling your story can leave some people (me) uninterested and angry. And the thing is, there is a perfect way to avoid filler that doesn't involve telling the overarching narrative: Introduce personal plotlines. Look at The Owl House, for example. There are several character-oriented narrative threads that get introduced within the first few episodes. Such as Luz learning magic, Eda's curse, her relationship with Lilith, and Amity's redemption. Therefore, The Owl House avoids any filler episodes just as long as it focuses on any of these plotlines and even introduces new ones. Amphibia has the plotlines, but it rarely focuses on them. Especially since the story takes way too long to develop. 

Every time I think the show is finally going to start moving forward and we can continue the story, there are like ten more filler episodes where everything comes to a screeching halt. Now, to be fair, there is an explanation why we're forced to wait for the story to move forward, and it's because the characters are forced to wait as well. But, even then, there could have been better ways to pad out that waiting than just adding filler. For example, I may not have been forced into an alternate universe where nearly everything wants to kill me, but if I was, I WOULD SPEND EVERY WAKING MINUTE I HAVE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT A WAY BACK! In the first season, how many episodes does Anne spend trying to figure out the mystery of how she got there and how to go home? Two. There are two whole episodes, out of thirty-nine, where Anne tries to figure things out...That is insane to me. But to be fair, season two is doing a much better job at moving things along...but it doesn't change the fact that the writers are kind of bad at telling their own story.

There are two episodes, "Anne Vs. Wild" and "Lost in Newtopia," where the story continues, but it's only in the last few minutes. The problem is that if you take those endings out, the episodes themselves do not change a bit. BUT because those are significant and essential moments for the plot, you can't take them out. Resulting in scenes that, while intriguing, come across as awkward in the long run. So now, my question is why. Why is the story handled so poorly? And I have one theory.

It Feels Like the Writers Can’t Decide What they Want the Show to be: Sometimes it seems like Amphibia is written as a pure slice of life series like Big City Greens. However, there are times when the show seems like it's intended to mix slice of life with fantasy like Gravity Falls. Now here's the problem: Big City Greens and Gravity Falls are two very different shows in terms of storytelling, tone, and character work. Big City Greens is an episodic comedy series where character development is unimportant, and the adventures rarely go beyond just being wacky. As for Gravity Falls, it is a show that is semi-serialized where the character development is constant, and the fantasy-adventures are always prevalent in every episode. And there are several episodes of Amphibia that could be a part of either show. Episodes like "Stakeout," "Lily Pad Thai," and "Little Frog Town" have plots that I can see being in Big City Greens. Then there are episodes like "The Domino Effect," "Toad Tax," and "Marcy at the Gates" that I could see being in Gravity Falls. These two groups of episodes are vastly different from one another that it causes Amphibia to feel disjointed in the process. Usually, I'm a fan when a series mixes different genres together, but do you want to know why something like Gravity Falls does such a great job at mixing slice of life with fantasy-adventure? Because, as I said, fantasy-adventures are always present in every episode. "Dipper vs. Manliness," "Boss Mabel," and "Roadside Attraction" each have the most basic slice of life plots of the show, but there is always a fantasy element or a monster to fight. There are entire episodes of Amphibia where there is no monster, and even when there is, it doesn't have the same amount of tension and weight that the creatures in Gravity Falls have weekly. A show like Big City Greens doesn't have to worry about monsters or evil villains every week because it doesn't need to. It's a show about the wacky adventures of a family of farmers adjusting to city life. Why would they have to worry about a monster every week when they just have to worry about each other. If Amphibia was the same way then there would be no issue. But because if it wants to be a mix of slice of life with fantasy, then it does need to worry about a monster every week. I usually try to defend shows that try to play both sides, but this show has to be the one occasion where I have to say pick one or the other. Because the writers tried hard to be both, and personally, I don't think they did a good job.

Characters Don’t. Stop. SCREAMING!: It's here we move on from what's objectively wrong with Amphibia to the things that just bother me personally...and this is one of those things. I get it. An over-the-top reaction to something minimal can be funny on occasion...but it's never "on occasion" with this show. Nearly every episode has characters screaming to get a laugh, and most of the time, it's more annoying than it is funny. It's Hop Pop who does this the most, and I just feel so bad for Bill Farmer. That voice already seems like it's hard to do, so being forced to scream and yell with it for the sake of comedy can't do him any favors. Other shows, especially ones on the Disney Channel, have characters overreact for the sake of humor, but it's Amphibia that I feel like it relies on this the most. I'm sure some people aren't bothered by this, but I am, and this is my review, so I'm mentioning it.

Poly: Speaking of things that probably don't bother other people...I feel like I'm making some enemies with this one. Because, boy, do I not like Polly. Her voice is annoying, she mostly causes problems for the family, and to me, her entire character seems pointless. No, really. Think about it. Anne is the main character, Sprigs acts as her emotional support, and Hop Pop acts as the voice of reason. What's Polly's purpose? Because all she adds are unnecessary jokes, character traits that could have gone to anybody, and acting more as a plot device than an actual character. The only justification for her that I can think of is that she adds gender balance to the main cast. Which would be more than acceptable if there was a point to her existence. But I think it's pretty evident with her exclusion from the original pilot pitch for the program that Polly's personality is practically pointless...that is most likely the only alliteration I'll ever do for a review, so you have better appreciated it.

If you like Polly, then more power to you. For me, I just don't enjoy her.

Sasha: Oh, nelly. I can already see the hateful messages I'm gonna get from this.

Now, as a character, I actually do like Sasha. I think her personality is interesting enough to dissect, and I think she acts as a perfect antagonist to Anne, the Plantars, and even Marcy if you want to get into it. My problem relies on how much the fanbase is already jumping on the "Forgive Sasha" train. Because, "Aw, she's just like Catra and Amity! So sweet, tortured, shippable with the main character, and--" STOP IT! Stop it right now...and think. With Catra and Amity, you see the environment they grew up in, you feel the abuse they deal with, you understand the reasoning of their actions, and you come to forgive them for who they are...At least for Amity, you can. For Catra, it requires more of an argument. But Sasha? Did we see the same cruel mistreatment to her friends? Did we hear the same coldness in her voice as she describes how to manipulate people? Did we witness the same damage she's done to Anne and Marcy in how they perceive healthy relationships? Apparently not! Because while everyone else is already on the same page that Sasha deserves redemption, I'm sitting here thinking that maybe it's for the best to be a little more hesitant. So far, we have yet to see any way to understand her reasoning and have yet to see how she deserves forgiveness. Sure, Sasha was willing to sacrifice herself for Anne, but did Sasha really earn that? It works as a sudden realization that Anne deserves better, but Sasha has yet to do anything that proves she can be better. Especially since the next time we see her, she's trying to help a fascist ruler get back up on his feet...THINK ABOUT THAT!

But, sure, she's meant to be forgiven. That can work. Because while Sasha shows kids the type of people they should avoid, she can also work as a warning for what kids should avoid becoming. That is a great thing to teach...but it can also be potentially dangerous. Because if incorrectly interpreted, Sasha can show kids that every person who seems toxic just needs a chance to change. And that is the last thing you want to teach, given how very few toxic people actually change. You want to know why The Owl House gets away with an equally dangerous lesson about how not every bully is awful? It's because it shows two sides of the spectrum by proving why someone like Amity did the things she's done while also saying that characters like Boscha and Mattholomule are just a-holes for the sake of being a-holes. Sasha has no one to compare to. Sure, there's King Andreas, but he's a government figure. They're built to be manipulative. Sasha needs someone that's on her level of cruelty to prove that while some people can change and have reason to do so, others don't. And seeing how I don't think she deserves to change, at least not yet, that is an issue. It's the biggest issue out of all the issues I have with this show.

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So, yeah, I think it's pretty evident how I feel about Amphibia when I can write paragraphs about the stuff I don't like while barely being able to talk about the things I do like. Because I do enjoy this show. It's funny, most of the characters are enjoyable, and its discussion on toxic relationships still has me hooked to see what happens next. My issue lies with inconsistency. The main protagonist, storytelling, genre, and thematic purposes are all inconsistent. I'm interested enough to watch more, and who knows, maybe I'll make a final verdict review once the series comes to an end. For now, if you had to ask me what I’m excited to make a return, I don't know if I'll be willing to hop to it by saying Amphibia.

(Also, if you're still looking for that link for that pirating website I mentioned, now would probably be a good time to tell you that I really never did put one in. I told you, that would be crazy...That should teach you to try to break the law.)

[transracialqueer]

The Baby Brokers: Inside America’s Murky Private-Adoption Industry

by Tik Root

6/3/21

Shyanne Klupp was 20 years old and homeless when she met her boyfriend in 2009. Within weeks, the two had married, and within months, she was pregnant. “I was so excited,” says Klupp. Soon, however, she learned that her new husband was facing serious jail time, and she reluctantly agreed to start looking into how to place their expected child for adoption. The couple called one of the first results that Google spat out: Adoption Network Law Center (ANLC).

Klupp says her initial conversations with ANLC went well; the adoption counselor seemed kind and caring and made her and her husband feel comfortable choosing adoption. ANLC quickly sent them packets of paperwork to fill out, which included questions ranging from personal-health and substance-abuse history to how much money the couple would need for expenses during the pregnancy.

Klupp and her husband entered in the essentials: gas money, food, blankets and the like. She remembers thinking, “I’m not trying to sell my baby.” But ANLC, she says, pointed out that the prospective adoptive parents were rich. “That’s not enough,” Klupp recalls her counselor telling her. “You can ask for more.” So the couple added maternity clothes, a new set of tires, and money for her husband’s prison commissary account, Klupp says. Then, in January 2010, she signed the initial legal paperwork for adoption, with the option to revoke. (In the U.S., an expectant mother has the right to change her mind anytime before birth, and after for a period that varies state by state. While a 2019 bill proposing an explicit federal ban of the sale of children failed in Congress, many states have such statutes and the practice is generally considered unlawful throughout the country.)

“I will never forget the way my heart sank,” says Klupp. “You have to buy your own baby back almost.” Seeing no viable alternative, she ended up placing her son, and hasn’t seen him since he left the hospital 11 years ago.

Movies may portray the typical adoption as a childless couple saving an unwanted baby from a crowded orphanage. But the reality is that, at any given time, an estimated 1 million U.S. families are looking to adopt—many of them seeking infants. That figure dramatically outpaces the number of available babies in the country. Some hopeful parents turn to international adoption, though in recent years other countries have curtailed the number of children they send abroad. There’s also the option to adopt from the U.S. foster-care system, but it’s an often slow-moving endeavor with a limited number of available infants. For those with means, there’s private domestic adoption.

ANLC was started in 1996 by Allan and Carol Gindi, who first called it the Adoption Network. The company says it has since worked on over 6,000 adoptions and that it’s the largest law corporation in the nation providing adoption services (though limited publicly available data makes that difficult to verify). ANLC’s home page is adorned with testimonials from grateful clients. Critics, however, see the organization as a paradigm of the largely unregulated private-adoption system in the U.S., which has made baby brokering a lucrative business.

Problems with private domestic adoption appear to be widespread. Interviews with dozens of current and former adoption professionals, birth parents, adoptive parents and reform advocates, as well as a review of hundreds of pages of documents, reveal issues ranging from commission schemes and illegal gag clauses to Craigslistesque ads for babies and lower rates for parents willing to adopt babies of any race. No one centrally tracks private adoptions in the U.S., but best estimates, from the Donaldson Adoption Institute (2006) and the National Council for Adoption (2014), respectively, peg the number of annual nonrelative infant adoptions at roughly 13,000 to 18,000. Public agencies are involved in approximately 1,000 of those, suggesting that the vast majority of domestic infant adoptions involve the private sector—and the market forces that drive it.

“It’s a fundamental problem of supply and demand,” says Celeste Liversidge, an adoption attorney in California who would like to see reforms to the current system. The scarcity of available infants, combined with the emotions of desperate adoptive parents and the advent of the Internet, has helped enable for-profit middlemen—from agencies and lawyers to consultants and facilitators—to charge fees that frequently stretch into the tens of thousands of dollars per case.

A 2021 ANLC agreement, reviewed by TIME and Newsy, shows that prospective parents were charged more than $25,000 in fees—not including legal costs for finalizing the adoption, birth-mother expenses and other add-ons (like gender specification). The full tab, say former employees, can balloon to more than double that.

“The money’s the problem,” says Adam Pertman, author of Adoption Nation and president of the National Center on Adoption and Permanency. “Anytime you put dollar signs and human beings in the same sentence, you have a recipe for disaster.”

Even though federal tax credits can subsidize private adoptions (as much as $14,300 per child for the adopting parents), there is no federal regulation of the industry. Relevant laws—governing everything from allowable financial support to how birth parents give their consent to an adoption—are made at the state level and vary widely. Some state statutes, for example, cap birth-mother expenses, while others don’t even address the issue. Mississippi allows birth mothers six months to change their mind; in Tennessee, it’s just three days. After the revocation period is over, it’s “too bad, so sad,” says Renee Gelin, president of Saving Our Sisters, an organization aimed at helping expectant parents preserve their families. “The mother has little recourse.”

Liversidge founded the nonprofit AdoptMatch, which describes itself as a “mobile app and online resource” that aims to “increase an expectant parent’s accessibility to qualified adoptive parents and ethical adoption professionals.” She says the hodgepodge of state statutes invites abuse: “Anyone that knows or learns the system—it doesn’t take much—can exploit those loopholes very easily for financial gain.”

Thirteen former ANLC employees, whose time at the organization spanned from 2006 to 2015, were interviewed for this story. Many asked to remain anonymous, out of fear of retaliation from the Gindis or ANLC. (The couple has filed multiple suits, including for defamation, over the years.) “The risk is too great for my family,” wrote one former employee in a text to TIME and Newsy. But whether on or off the record, the former employees told largely similar stories of questionable practices at an organization profiting off both adoptive and expectant parents. “These are such vulnerable people,” says one former employee. “They deserve more than greed.”

The Gindis have long faced questions about their adoption work. In 2006, the Orange County district attorney filed a scathing complaint contending that while operating Adoption Network, the couple had committed 11 violations, including operating as a law firm without an attorney on staff and falsely advertising Carol as having nursing degrees. Admitting no wrongdoing, the Gindis agreed to pay a $100,000 fine.

Since around that time, the Gindis’ exact involvement with ANLC has been difficult to discern amid a web of other companies, brands and titles. They both declined interview requests, but Allan did respond to emailed questions, explaining that he plays what he termed “an advertising role” for ANLC, including for the company’s current president, Lauren Lorber (the Gindis’ daughter), who took over the law practice in 2015. Before that, an attorney named Kristin Yellin owned ANLC. Former employees, though, say that despite an outwardly delineated setup, Allan in particular has remained heavily involved in ANLC operations. As far back as 2008, even though Yellin was the titular owner, “everyone knew that Allan Gindi ran it,” according to former employee Cary Sweet. (Sweet and other employees were plaintiffs in a 2010 discrimination and unlawful business practices lawsuit against ANLC. The company denied the allegations and the parties settled for an amount that Sweet says she isn’t allowed to reveal but called “peanuts.”)

In an interview, Yellin bristled at the idea that Allan Gindi was in charge during her ownership period, saying, “I realized what the Gindis’ role was and how to put boundaries on that.” Lorber, who declined an interview for this story, wrote via email that Allan has been a “leader” in adoption marketing. He maintains, also by email, that over a 25-year period, each attorney for whom he has provided his “highly specialized marketing services” has been “more than satisfied.” In an earlier text message, Allan also characterized the reporting for this story as “an attack on the wonderful work that Adoption Network has done and continues to do.”

Sweet, who worked with both expectant and adoptive parents at ANLC from 2008 to 2011, says she wasn’t aware of Klupp’s experience but remembers a situation involving a staff member’s threatening to call child protective services on a mother if she didn’t place her child for adoption. In a 2011 deposition taken as part of Sweet’s lawsuit, Yellin stated that the employee in question had told her that they had conveyed to the mother that “if you end up not going through with this, you know social services will probably be back in your life.” Yellin said that she found the comment inappropriate in context but did not perceive it as threatening or coercive.

Lorber, who has owned ANLC since late 2015, wrote in an email that she’s unaware of any incidents in which birth mothers were told they would have to pay back expenses if they chose not to place their child. But Klupp isn’t the only expectant mother to say she felt pressured by ANLC. Gracie Hallax placed two children through ANLC, in 2017 and 2018. Although the company arranged for lodging during her pregnancy (including, she says, in a bedbug-infested motel), she recalls an ANLC representative’s telling her that she could have to pay back expenses if she backed out of the adoptions. Madeline Grimm, a birth mother who placed her child through ANLC in 2019, also says she was informed that she might have to return expense money if she didn’t go through with the adoption. “That was something that I would think of if I was having any kind of doubt,” she says. “Like, well, sh-t, I’d have to pay all this back.”

The experiences described by Klupp, Hallax and Grimm fit a pattern of practices at ANLC that former employees say were concerning. Many describe a pervasive pressure to bring people—whether birth parents or adoptive couples—in the door. This was driven, at least in part, they say, by a “profit sharing” model of compensation in which, after meeting certain targets, employees could earn extra by signing up more adoptive couples or completing more matches. Former employees say birth mothers who did multiple placements through ANLC were sometimes referred to as “frequent flyers.” (Lorber and Yellin both say they have never heard that term.)

“The whole thing became about money and not about good adoption practices,” says one former employee. As they saw it, ANLC made a priority of “bringing in the next check.”

Adoptive parents, former employees say, were sometimes provided inaccurate statistics on how often the company’s attempts to matchmake were successful. “They almost made it seem like birth mothers were lining up to give their babies away,” says one. “That’s not reality.” (Yellin says in the 2011 deposition that the data were outdated, not inaccurate.) Clients pay their fees in two nonrefundable installments, one at the beginning of the process and another after matching with a birth mother. As a result, former employees say, if the adoption fell through, there was little financial incentive for ANLC to rematch the parents, and those couples were routinely not presented to other birth mothers. “Counselors were being pressured to do this by the higher-ups,” claims one former employee, recalling instructions to “not match couples that are not bringing in money. Period.”

Some prospective adoptive parents whom the company deemed harder to match—those who were overweight, for example, say former employees—were given a limited agreement that timed out, rather than the standard open-ended contract. There was also a separate agreement for those willing to adopt Black or biracial babies, for which the company offered its services at a discount. (In her 2011 deposition, Yellin acknowledged that there were multiple versions of the agreement and providing staff with obesity charts. When asked if obesity was a reason clients got a limited agreement, she said, “Specifically because they were obese, no.” In regard to whether what a couple looked like was considered, she responded, “I can only speculate. I do not know.”)

Former ANLC employees also allege the company would encourage pregnant women to relocate to states where the adoption laws were more favorable and finalizations more likely. “I believe it’s called venue hunting,” one recalls. And while that former employee made sure to note that ANLC did produce some resoundingly positive, well-fitting adoptions, they say the outcome was largely a matter of luck, “like throwing spaghetti on a refrigerator to see if it’ll stick.”

Yellin acknowledges that when she took over the company in 2007, “there was a feeling that some of the adoption advisers had felt pressured just to make matches.” But she says she worked to address that and other issues. Yellin says she put an end to the use of the limited agreement, and denies that ANLC ever advised birth mothers to relocate to other states to make an adoption easier. She also says she wasn’t aware of any instances of birth mothers’ being coerced into placing their babies. Other practices, though, she defended. Charging lower fees to parents willing to adopt babies of any race makes business sense, Yellin says. “Their marketing costs were lower. That’s just the reality of it.” Lorber maintains that fee structure stopped in 2019. More broadly, she noted that of the thousands of parties that ANLC has worked with over the years, the complaint rate is less than half of 1% and “that is one track record to be proud of!”

But ANLC’s practices over the years could have legal implications. Experts say that reports of any organization’s putting pressure on birth parents to go through with an adoption would raise concerns about whether those parents placed their children under duress—which can be grounds for invalidating consent and potentially overturning adoptions. And ANLC may be violating consumer-protection laws with a clause in its agreement that makes clients “agree not to talk negatively about ANLC’s efforts, service, positions, policies and employees with anyone, including potential Birth Parents, other adoption-related entities or on social media and other Internet platforms.” The federal Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 makes contract clauses that restrict consumer reviews illegal, as does the 2014 California “Yelp” bill.

“It would certainly be unlawful,” says Paul Levy, an attorney with the consumer-advocacy organization Public Citizen, who reviewed the agreement. “If they put this in the contract, what do they have to hide?”

Stories of enticement and pressure tactics in the private-adoption industry abound. Mother Goose Adoptions, a middle-man organization in Arizona, has pitched a “laptop for life” program and accommodations in “warm, sunny Arizona.” A Is 4 Adoption, a facilitator in California, made a payment of roughly $12,000 to a woman after she gave birth, says an attorney involved in the adoption case. While the company says it “adheres to the adoption laws that are governed by the state of California,” the lawyer, who asked to remain anonymous because they still work on adoptions in the region, says they told A Is 4 Adoption’s owner, “You should not be paying lump sums. It looks like you’re buying a baby.”

Jessalynn Speight worked for ANLC in 2015 and says private adoption is rife with problems: “It’s much more rampant than anyone can understand.” Speight, whose nonprofit Tied at the Heart runs retreats for birth parents, worries that the industry sometimes turns into a cycle of dependency, as struggling women place multiple children as a means of financial support. (The same incentive may also encourage scamming adoptive birth parents, with purported birth parents who don’t actually intend to place a child for adoption or are never even pregnant.) Anne Moody, author of the 2018 book The Children Money Can Buy, about foster care and adoption, says the system can amount to “basically producing babies for money.”

Claudia Corrigan D’Arcy, a birth-parent advocate and birth mother who blogs extensively about adoption, says she routinely hears of women facing expense-repayment pressures. Some states, such as California and Nevada, explicitly consider birth-parent expenses an “act of charity” that birth parents don’t have to pay back. In other states, though, nothing prohibits adoption entities from trying to obligate birth parents to repay expenses when a match fails.

“How is that not blackmail?” D’Arcy asks, emphasizing that in most states, fraud or duress can be a reason for invalidating a birth parent’s consent. According to Debra Guston, adoption director for the Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, conditioning support on a promise to repay or later demanding repayment if there is no placement is “at very least unethical.”

States are ostensibly in charge of keeping private-adoption entities in line. Agencies are generally licensed or registered with the relevant departments of health, human services or children and families. Attorneys practice under the auspices of a state bar. But even when misdeeds are uncovered, action may be anemic and penalties minimal. In 2007, Dorene and Kevin Whisler were set to adopt through the Florida-based agency Adoption Advocates. When the agency told the Whislers the baby was born with disabilities, the couple decided not to proceed with the adoption—but they later found out that the baby was healthy and had been placed with a different couple, for another fee. After news coverage of the case, Adoption Advocates found itself under investigation. In a 2008 letter to Adoption Advocates, the Florida department of children and families (DCF) wrote that it had found “expenses that are filed with the courts from your agency do not accurately reflect the expenses that are being paid to the natural mothers in many instances.” Although DCF temporarily put the organization on a provisional license, a spokesperson for the department says that after “enhanced monitoring for compliance,” it relicensed the company, and there have been no issues or complaints since. (When contacted, Adoption Advocates’ attorney replied that the company is “unable to respond to your inquiries regarding specific individuals or cases.”)

More recently, in 2018, the Utah department of human services (DHS) revoked the license of an agency called Heart and Soul Adoptions, citing violations ranging from not properly searching for putative fathers (a requirement in Utah) to insufficient tracking of birth-mother expenses. Rules prohibit anyone whose license is revoked from being associated with another licensed entity for five years. But a year later Heart and Soul owner Denise Garza was found to be working with Brighter Adoptions. DHS briefly placed Brighter on a conditional license for working with Garza but has since lifted all sanctions and never assessed any fines.

Enforcement is even harder when middlemen operate as consultants, facilitators or advertisers or under any number of other murky titles that critics believe are sometimes used to skirt regulations. There is little clarity on who is supposed to oversee these more amorphous intermediaries.

Jennifer Ryan (who sometimes goes by “Jennalee Ryan” or “Jennifer Potter”) was first a “facilitator” and is now a kind of middleman to adoption middle-men. Her “national online advertising service” refers expectant parents to lawyers (including her own son), facilitators and other intermediaries; as of November 2020, the company was charging these middlemen fees starting at $18,800 for each birth-mother match (with the idea that the cost is passed on to families). Ryan declined an interview but, in an email, she says she does approximately 400 matches annually. Among the websites Ryan operates are Chosen Parents and Forever After Adoptions, which both include a section that lists babies for adoption, sort of like a Craigslist ad. One example from last August: “AVAILABLE Indian (as in Southeast Asia India) Baby to be born in the state of California in 2021…Estimated cost of this adoption is $35000.”

Many advocates say they would like to see reforms to private adoption in the U.S. Even Yellin, a proponent of private-sector involvement in the adoption space, says there probably ought to be more regulation. But calls for systematic change have remained largely unheeded, and agreeing on exactly what should be done can be difficult.

Some believe the problem could be addressed with greater federal-level oversight—pointing to the foster-care system, which a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services helps administer, as an example (albeit an imperfect one). But Liversidge notes that family law has traditionally been a state issue and says that is where fixes should, and will likely need to, occur. She wants to see improvements such as an expansion of mandatory independent legal representation for birth parents, better tracking of adoption data and the reining in of excessive fees.

Illinois attempted to take a strong stand against adoption profiteering in a 2005 adoption-reform act, which barred out-of-state, for-profit intermediaries from engaging in adoption-related activities in the state. But Bruce Boyer, a law professor at Loyola University who championed the legislation, says, “We couldn’t get anyone to enforce it.” Only after much pushing and prodding, he adds, did advocates persuade the state to pursue a case against what Boyer called the “worst” offender: ANLC.

The Illinois attorney general filed a complaint in 2013 alleging that ANLC was breaking the law by offering and advertising adoption services in the state without proper licensing or approval. To fight the suit, ANLC retained a high-profile Chicago law firm, and within months, the parties had reached a settlement. ANLC agreed that it would not work directly with Illinois-based birth parents, but it did not admit any wrongdoing and called the resolution “fair and reasonable.” Boyer disagrees. “They caved,” he says of the state. “There were no meaningful consequences that came from a half-hearted attempt.” The attorney general’s office declined to comment.

What few changes have been made in adoption law are generally aimed at making the process easier for adoptive parents, who experts say tend to have more political and financial clout than birth parents. At the core of the inertia is lack of awareness. “There’s an assumption in this country that adoption is a win-win solution,” says Liversidge. “People don’t understand what’s going on.”

Many proponents of change would, at the very least, like to see private adoption move more toward a nonprofit model. “It’s a baby-brokering business. That’s really what it’s turned into,” says Kim Anderson, chief program officer at the Nebraska Children’s Home Society, a nonprofit that does private adoptions only in Nebraska (with a sliding fee based on income) and which rarely allows adoptive parents to pay expenses for expectant parents.

Whatever shape reform ends up taking—or mechanism it occurs through—advocates say it will require a fundamental shift and decommodification of how the country approaches private adoption. “A civilized society protects children and vulnerable populations. It doesn’t let the free market loose on them,” says Liversidge. Or, as Pertman puts it, “Children should not be treated the same as snow tires.”

Yellin kept working with ANLC as an attorney until late 2018. By then, she says adoption numbers had dropped significantly because of increased competition and a decreasing number of expectant mothers seeking to place their babies. But the company seems to still be very much in the adoption business. During the pandemic, Adoption Pro Inc., which operates ANLC, was approved for hundreds of thousands of dollars in stimulus loans, and its social media accounts suggest it has plenty of adoptive-parent clients. According to data from the search analytics service SpyFu, ANLC has also run hundreds of ads targeting expectant parents. For example, if you Googled the term “putting baby up for adoption” in January 2021, you might get shown an ANLC ad touting, “Financial & Housing Assistance Available.”

Meanwhile, Allan Gindi continues to play an advertising role for ANLC (and to use an “@adoptionnetwork.com” email address). Court documents connected to a bankruptcy case show that, in 2019, Gindi expected to make $40,000 per month in adoption-advertising income. (He says that number was not ultimately realized but did not provide any more details.) Lorber’s LinkedIn profile says that ANLC is a “$5 million dollar per year” business. “And that’s just one family in Southern California,” remarks Speight, who used to work for ANLC and who runs a birth-parent support nonprofit. “Think about all of the other adoption agencies where couples are paying even more money.”

Klupp’s Facebook feed still cycles through “memories” of posts she made when she was placing her son through ANLC. They’re mournful but positive, she says; in them, she tended to frame the decision as an unfortunate necessity that put her son in a loving home. “I thought everything was really great,” recalls Klupp, who has since immersed herself in the online adoption community. What she’s learned has slowly chipped away at the pleasant patina that once surrounded her adoption journey; such a shift is so common, it has a name, “coming out of the fog.”

“They take people who don’t have money and are scared, and they use your fear to set you up with an adoption that you can’t back out of,” Klupp says of the industry. “I’m sure even the parents that adopted my son … didn’t know half the stuff that went on behind the scenes. They probably paid this agency to find them a baby, and that’s what they cared about. And this agency takes this money from these people who are desperate.” Klupp isn’t anti-adoption; in fact, she’s been trying to adopt out of foster care. The problem, she says, is the profit. Today, she believes she has a better understanding of the extent to which ANLC influenced her and now views her decision as, at the very least, deliberately ill informed, if not outright coerced. She says she’s taken to deleting the Facebook posts about her son’s adoption as the reminders pop up—they’re too painful.

“It seems like the agencies have some universal handbook on how to convince doubtful moms,” she says. “I know in my heart that I would have kept my son if I had had the right answers.”

[Link in the notes]

[tumbling-odyssey]

Games I played in 2020

Just felt like getting my thoughts out on all the games I played this year. I’ve been wanting to do something like this for years but I always let it pass me by. Well not this year! Fuck you laziness! 

I played the first half in 2019 but finished it in 2020 so I guess I'll count it. DQ11 was my intro to Dragon Quest and what a good starting point. I'm not exaggerating when I say this is one of the best traditional JRPGs on the market. Characters, story, combat, it all clicks in just the right way to make a flawless game... until the end credits roll that is. 

I have no idea what happened with the post game but by god does it dive off a cliff. It undermines everything you worked to do in the main plot. The characters act brain dead and it shamelessly reuses events from the main game. Please pick up and play DQ11 but for the love of god just stop when the credits roll.

Doom is a game I knew I'd like. The heavy metal ascetic and soundtrack were right up my alley, but I just never found the time. With Eternal on the way though and having found it on the cheap at a pawn shop I figured there was no time like the present. Needless to say but I was right. I loved everything about this game. The thrill of combat, the screech of the guitars, and the silent take no shit attitude of Doomguy. Make no mistake though, I SUCK at this game. I played on easy but still got my ass handed to me on the regular. But I don't care, I was having way to much fun.

I flipped my shit when this game got leaked at the tail end of 2019. Zero 3 is my all time favourite game. To celebrate this getting announced I went and 100% Zero 3 as I hadn't done it on my current cart, and Zero 3 was still the first thing I played when I got this collection! I love that game to death and I’m glad to have it on modern consoles again. As I was under a bit of time crunch with other games releasing soon I only played 2 other games in the collection Zero 4 and ZX Advent. Until the DS collection those and 3 were the only Zero/ZX games I had so I have a lot of nostalgia for them. 

Zero 4 hold ups better then I remember. Not as good as 3 but a damn solid game with tweaks I honestly wish hit the series before its end. I remember having issues with the stage design and ya it’s not perfect, but it’s far from as bad as I thought. For ZXA this was the first time I beat the game on normal difficulty. For some reason the ZX games have always given me more trouble than the Zero games, so finally beating one on normal was very exciting. Maybe I can now finally go and beat ZX for the first time...

The Mystery Dungeon series rising from the depth to punch all those unexpecting in the face was a very welcome surprise. I had a lot of hype going into this one as I have very fond memories of my time with Red Rescue Team and even more with Explorers of Darkness. And the game lived up to it! The remastered music is great and crazy nostalgic, the 3D models are well used and don't feel as stiff as they do in the core series, and the QOL changes are near perfect... So why did I drop this game like a rock once I finished the main quest? 

Anyone familiar with Mystery Dungeon will know that the post game is the real meat of it. The story is short and all the really cool shit comes in after it's done. But I just couldn't bring myself to put more time in after I finished said story mode. I'm definitely chocking that up to me just not being in the mood then an issue with the game. Here's hoping we get an Explorers DX sometime soon. That will fucking hook me for all it's got.

Second verse same as the first. I loved this game and sucked at it horribly. Out of all the games I've played this year Doom Eternal is the one I want to go back to the most. I was not the hugest fan of some of the changes made and retained a stance that I liked 2016 better. First person platforming has never been a fun experience in my opinion and Eternal did little to change that. And I know this a lukewarm take at best but fuck Marauders!. They are so unfun to fight and ruin the pace. The Marauder in the last mook wave took me so long I was worried I wouldn’t be able to finish the game. But the more I've seen of Eternal after my playthrough makes me think I was being far to harsh. I haven't played the DLC yet either. Mostly cuss I haven't heard great things about it. Gonna wait for the rest of it to come out to see if it's worth getting. Might just replay to whole game at that point to see if it clicks with me better.

This was my second favourite game of the year, and was going to take the top slot until a certain other game came out. Addressing the elephant in room right away, I hated the ending. But I was expecting something like that, I think we all were. I won't let the ending ruin the rest of the game though. Not gonna let 1 segment colour everything that came before it. We have to see how the later parts play out to truly see if this ending was trash or not anyway. 

It took Square over a decade but they finally got an action RPG battle system that works and feels good to play. This may be my favourite battle system in an RPG period honestly. All four characters are a blast and it only gets better the more time you spend with it. Figuring out the nuances of each character’s skills and how to combine them not only with the skills of the others but how to enhance them with the right Materia set. This makes fights thrilling and satisfying when you finally best whatever was giving you trouble. Tis was the best way to bring 7′s mechanics into the modern landscape while also fixing the BIGGEST issue the OG had. The fact every character feels the same aside from Limit Breaks. 

All this on top of graphics that just look fucking stunning, a few glitched out doors aside. Fuck I still feel blown away looking at the characters models (mostly Tifa) and see how god damn pretty everyone is. Also Tifa’s Chinese dress is gift from the Gods and I still haven’t picked my jaw up from the floor after I first saw it.

In my circle of the internet there was a lot of hype for this game. So much so that I ended up buying it to see what all the hubbub was about. I had never played a Streets of Rage game before and my only experience with beat'em ups was playing a LOT of Scott Pilgrim and last year's River City Girls. Turns out Streets of Rage plays quite a bit different and it kicked my ass! So sadly I had to switch to easy to make it through but I still had a fun time with it. 

I started playing mostly as Blaze but once Adam hit the scene oooooh fucking boy. I didn’t play anyone else. There's a deceptive amount of content in this game. You can unlock almost every character from the previous games and all of them rocking their original sprites and moves. If I had more of a connection with this series I'm sure I would have gone nuts on unlocking everything. I stopped after my one playthrough and I was happy with that. Always glad to support a long overdue franchise revival.

To properly talk about P5R I think I need to air a lot of my feelings on the original game and the importance it has to me. You see, prior to 2017 I barely played games, only sticking to specific franchises. AKA Pokemon and Mega Man/Mega Man like games. Until 2016 though I still bought a lot of games. Eating up Steam sales and deals I found at pawn shops. This lead to a Steam library and shelf filled with games I've never touched outside of maybe an hour or 2. So in 2016 when I took interest in the newly released Kirby Planet Robobot I made a deal with myself. I could get the game but I HAD to beat it.  And I did just that, gaining not just a new fav Kirby game but a new rule for game purchases. If I knew I wouldn't beat a game I was not aloud to buy it. Now what does ANY of this have to do with P5 you may ask? Well... almost everything.

 I was immediately interested in P5 when it hit the west in 2017. I loved the 20 or so hours I but into P3 years ago and really liked the P4 anime I had watched around the same time. So of course with all the hype around it I wanted to dive into the series full force with P5. But I knew myself. Putting over 100 hours into a game was beyond me and I had a weird relationship with home console games as I was predominately a handheld gamer. Add in the fact I didn't even have a PS4 and I was convinced P5 would be something I always wanted to play, but never would. So when I went to the mall with a few friends and they showed me that P5 had a PS3 version, I had a dilemma on my hands. I knew I wanted to play it and I now had a way to do so. But doing that would require me to change 2 HUGE hang ups I had with games. Would I being willing to waste 60 bucks with so much working against me? Apparently I was. I immediately started going to town on this game. Making sure I spent no less then 2 hours a day playing NO MATTER WHAT. Which may not seem like a lot but it was to me... at the time.. I also had just moved to my current house, so coming home from my still relatively new job and going straight into P5 was the first real routine I formed during this heavily transitional part of my life. 

I of course ended up loving P5 and put 200 hours into it. As such my outlook on gaming was forever changed. Console games were no longer out of reach and I knew I could handle playing monster length game. I started playing way more games then I ever did before and trying out generas I never thought I would play. P5 is the main reason for this and why I'm able to make a post like this. To actually touch on Royal though? It's unarguably the better version of the game and Atlus learned all the right lessons from P4G. The new characters are great and the added section at the end is possibly the best shit Atlus has ever written. I only wish Yoshizawa joined the party sooner so I could play as her more. 

The release of this really came out of nowhere huh? Wayforward announced it was being made mid way through 2019, then there was its weird half release on the Apple store... and then suddenly it was out! Very little fanfare for this one. Is that indicative of the games quality? Luckily no. Seven Sirens is a solid addition to the series and follows up Half Genies Hero nicely. The game goes back to Shantae's Metroidvania roots and makes a TON of improvements. 

Transformations are now instant instead of having to dance for them (don't worry dancing is still in the game) making the game feel more like Pirates Curse in its fast flow. They also added the Monster Cards which take heavy inspiration from Aria of Sorrow's Soul system. A feature I'm happy to see in any Metroidvania since Aria is one of my all time favourite games. Sadly though the game does not take the best advantage of these improvements. 

Over all the game feels kinda empty. The dungeons aren't super exciting to explore nor are they challenging in any way. And the plot is very repetitive, with each dungeon repeating the same beats. Really this game feels more like set up for a better game down the line. The mechanics are all here and Wayforward has a solid art style with the sprites from Half Genie Hero. Hopefully they capitalizes on this for Shantae 6 and we get the best game in the series.

While it may not have been the most thrilling game, Seven Sirens really put me into a Shantae mood. So much so that I went back to play the 2 games in the series I had never touched. This being the first game and Risky's Revenge. Shantae 1 really is a hidden gem in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, it's the definition of jank, but there's a lot of heart to this game. The sprites are great, the soundtrack is good, and the characters are funny... but it's still on the OG Gameboy and that's a massive hindrance for any game. I'm hard pressed to recommend this with how poorly its aged but I think it's better then it looks. 

Risky's Revenge on the other hand was a game that shocked me by how little it had to offer. I know this game went through a hellish development and what we got was far from what Wayforward planned to make, but it's hard to imagine a world where this was the technical BEST Shantae game. It's not a bad game by any stretch... just a boring one.

For the record my ranking of the games goes Pirates Curse>Half Genie Hero>Seven Sirens>Original>Risky’s Revenge

Sword and Shield are mediocre games at best. I know, real steaming hot take there. I managed to make my Sword playthrough a lot more fun by not spoiling myself on the new Pokemon designs for the first time since Gen 3. Either way, I enjoyed myself enough that I didn't mind playing more of it with these DLC campaigns. Plus I love the idea of Game Freak switching over to this method as apposed to making a third version, so I wanted to support it. 

Klara is a fucking top tier Poke Girl both in design and personality and is probably the highlight of Isle of Armour. GF actually went out of their way to give her multiple expressions to sell her toxic bitch personality and I love every minute of it. She sadly drifts into the background for the second half of the DLC’s story which hurts an already rough section even more. Not more then having to grind Kubfuu all the way to fucking level 70 though! That put a serious hamper on my motivation to finish the story but I pushed through anyway. Having to solo the tower with Kubfuu was at least a fun challenge though, as was the final fight with Mustard. Fuck the Diglett hunt though. Ain’t no one got time for that.

Crown Tundra may be my fav of the 2 though even if there isn't a character as good as Klara in it. The hunt for the legendaries was just pure adventure and I had a fucking blast doing it. The joy I felt when I figured out Registeel’s puzzle put a smile on my face unlike any Pokemon game since I was a kid. The whole Regi stuff was honestly a nice Nostalgia trip to my times with Emerald. The story around Calyrex was enjoyable, even if I still hate its design. Not revealing the horses before release was a good call to as it gave an honest surprise. Having to chase down the Galar forme Birds in the overworld is a great way to evolve the roaming legendaries idea and I hope GF sticks to this. Plus the Galar forme birds are some of the best legendary designs since Gen 5 and I love Chocodos way to fucking much. 

Here we are folks, my GotY. I love Panzer Paladin so fucking much. A combination of mechanics from Mega Man, Castlevania, and Blaster Master? Sign me the fuck up! This game is tailored made for me and I knew I had to play it once it started making the rounds on social media. I'll admit though, I was a bit worried when the the first full trailer dropped and showed the weapon mechanics. Breakable weapons that you have to sacrifice for checkpoints and power ups? I'm not sure about that.... Luckily I was being a complete moron and those mechanics are near perfect. 

I love the set up of each boss being a mythological creature from different cultures. They didn’t just pull the easy ones either. A lot of these things I learned of for the first time here. I love how Grit controls. Using the upward stab as a double jump and being able to pogo off enemies Shovel Knight style just felt great and satisfying. Flame was limited but it made her sections feel tense. She does more damage then you think she could at first glance. Also the only way to heal Grit being to use pods that only Flame could access was a cool idea. 

I am begging you Tribute Games, you have to make more Panzer Paladin games. Slap some new upgrades on Grit and expand what Flame can do and you have an even better sequel  on your hands. Also maybe not have so many 'gotcha' moments with enemy placement. That's really my only complaint about the game. Great music, great sprites, giant robots, unique premise, and a reference to Canadian legends. The ultimate self indulgent game for me.

It felt super out of left field for Curse of the Moon to be getting a sequel. The games fucking amazing but it was really just a tie in for the main Bloodstained product. Not something I expect to get a continuation. Either way I was pumped. If this was even half as good as the original then I was in for a great time. Which held true... cuss this legitimately is only half as good as Curse of the Moon. I still like the game, quite a lot actually. I mean how could I not with a fucking Corgi piloting a Death Train Mech. 

Something was just missing here that never made this click like the first game. Maybe it was the stage design, maybe the bosses, maybe the fact that it's a bit to long. I'm not sure. All I know is I couldn't bring myself to play all the modes like I did in the original. . Stopping part way in to the one where you can get the first games characters. I want to go back some day... I just don’t know when someday is.

This was an announcement I never saw coming. A Gundam Verses game coming to the west? That hasn't happened in the entire time I've been a Gundam fan. I had played a bit of Full Boost on my old roommates PS3 thanks to him having a Japanese account and I played Force on the Vita a few years ago. But to have the latest version fully translated with open servers? Holy hell that's a dream come true. 

Having the open betas every weekend leading up to launch was some much needed fun during this shit hole year. I had a lot of fun just fucking around with different suits and seeing what I could do with 'em. Absolutely trashing two Bael players as the Kapool is a memory I'll keep with me for a long time. Fucking danced on their graves. This gave me some new appreciation for suits like the Baund Doc and Hambrabi, the later becoming a lowkey fav as it was my main.

I've fallen off with the game in the last few months but I definitely want to go back. I hope to start learning the game and take parts in tourneys when cons aren’t death sentences anymore.

It felt like everything in my life was SCREAMING at me to start the Yakuza series. From 2 of my friends playing 0 recently, a youtuber I following live tweeting as he played through the WHOLE series back-to-back, and Yakuza 2 having a run at AGDQ 2020. Plus the constant pleas to play this series you get from following Little Kuriboh on Twitter. I finally broke and picked up 0 in the middle of August. Boooooooooy howdy did I not know what I was getting in to. And no I don't mean the content. I knew Yakuza was a series of wildly conflicting tones between the main story and side quests. What I mean is the length. I legit thought this was gonna be a 20-30 hour game. When i reached hour 30 of my playthrough and realized I wasn't even close to a conclusion, I think I knew I had bitten off more then I was planning. That misstep aside I ended up loving this game and want to play the rest of the series.... I just need to rest up first before I dive into Kiwami 1.

 Let's actually talk about the game for a moment here. Kiryu and Majima quickly clicked as likeable characters to me and I cared about their stories. Combat is fun and the multiple styles are all great.... though both the default styles take a while to get there. The mad rush I felt at the end was fantastic and the last bosses are a joy to fight. Only real complaint is the pacing of the side stories. I loved being able to just stumble into various different events while on route to the next plot objective. But this became less common as the game went on and side stories started getting more tucked away. Also hot take here, the host club mingame is more tedious then fun and I like Kiryu’s business stuff as I could do that in the background. I’m excited to dive into Kiwami and probably Kiwami 2 this year... Though I’m not sure when just yet.

Just gonna say it flat out, I think this is better the the 2018 game. The smaller scale helps in this style of game and Miles just naturally has a better move set then Peter. I'm not sure if they actually tightened up the combat system or if they just threw less bullshit enemies at you but fighting feels so much better in this one. Traversal is better too,  simply because they changed the button for tricks. In the original you have to hold down 2 face buttons to enter trick mode??? In hindsight that was such a bad call. 

Having both the heal and venom powers run off the same meter was a good idea. Making the choice between keeping yourself alive guaranteed or potentially ending a fight quicker/disposing of a problem enemy is super fun. The player having to make small choices like this during combat is what helps it not be brainless. I love all the different venom skills you get. While they all achieve the same thing in stunning opponents, how you achieve that goal is up to you. Do you want to just slug the bastard, throw 'em up in the air, tackle the shit out of them? The choice is yours. 

Only real big complaint is certain upgrades being NG+ locked. I know you want to encourage replays, but this is a shitty way to do it I feel. Also can we retire Rhino for the next game. Man has had 2 shitty boss fights now and I need a break. Between this and Spider-Verse, I'm honestly starting to like Miles as Spider-Man more then Peter.

I got this game more on a whim then anything. I was definitely interested when it was first announced for the west. Vanillaware's beautiful art style in a story about giant robots beating the shit out of Kaijus? Sign me the fuck uuuuuu-oh wait it's an RTS? I had never played an RTS's before, mainly due to the sheer concept stressing me out. So I let it fall to the wayside. The game started coming up again though towards the end of the year with GotY on everyone's minds.  This revived my interest, especially as what I HAD planned to be playing around that time was... well. Cyberpunk. Don't think I need to say much more. Also I had worried for nothing as the Real Time Strategy was not that Real Time. 

This game really lays on the analysis paralysis once you're out of the tutorial. Do you want to fight, do you want to do story, who's story do you want to do, what branch should you follow, how much should you play with this one character? It's very overwhelming at first. I decided to not go ham on just one character and swap around all the time. The twists in this game are equal parts exciting and infuriating. Learning something new always came with the caveat of more questions, or something you knew 'for sure' being disproven. Like when I learned 1 characters was actually 4 separate ones! Anyone that's played knows exactly what I'm talking about. 

Natsuno ended up being my fav and not just because of.... obvious reasons. BJ was cute if unfortunately named and her relationship with Mirua was my favourite in the game. Not that there was much competition except for maybe Ogata and Tomi. I ended up really liking the combat but I can see why RTS fans say it's the weakest part. It's far from complex and I had a winning strat by the third or so real fight. Aka spam turrets and have the Gen 1′s gank all the bosses.

One quick thing I want to share was how I beat the boss at the end of Area 2. The one where Inaba is singing. I had Hijiyama use the limit break skill to bum rush the boss right off the hop. I took out half its health in one hit but Hijiyama’s Sentinel was on death’s door. Only thing that saved him was sending in Amaguchi to blow up a bunch of missiles. Hijiyama took it out on his next attack but lost his Sentinel at the same time. It was a real clutch victory and crazy fucking anime. 

The best way to really describe Carrion is that it's a fantastic proof of concept. Can you make a game where you play as The Thing? Why yes, yes you can. Carrion just needed a bit more tweaking to really bring this concept home and be the A+ game I know it can be. As it is now the game is a bit empty. The level design is super samey and the lack of a map is fucking brutal at points. I know it would make no sense for a blob monster to have a map but somethings you just have to gameify for convenience. The level design must have done something right as even though I was completely lost I still moved from area to area properly. Hell by the time I actually looked up a map I had 1 more item to get and I learned I was one door away from beating the game. 

I love the idea of losing mass as you take damage and gaining more by eating people, but having abilities tied to size was a terrible idea. It just leads to tedium as I have to go and shed myself to the right size, do the puzzle, then of course I'm going to go back and rebuild myself to see if I can do the next segment at full power. Just make it so you can swap between abilities using the d-pad or something. I hope this game gets a sequel just so this sick ass concept can be fully realized.

[iaintyourbro]

But isn't the one who forget about Zack the devs not us they were so bias toward Aerith all these years as someone who's a big fan of Zack I felt so disappointed and furious at them because Zack gave his life to Cloud and Aerith gave her life to save the planet but all I saw is his over the top guilt over Aerith heck even the op of AC had him bury her in the water where's Z ?? No where to be found it was only in the complete version , what IAM saying it not us who keep forgetting about Zack(1)

Not to mention all these years despite Tifa who ended up with him SE kept promoting A as the love interest while Tifa kept being negelating by SE so it not only Z but T too , that why I'm happy right now with their treatment to T after years of being so bias toward A and forgetting what Z done to C and T ,but I know I can't trust SE i know what they're going to do for next parts I do know one thing they are going to hype A to the last scene of her and leave T to the last as usual (2)

Hi anon.

I’ve never felt they were biased towards Aerith. Talking to Japanese fans, Tifa is by far more popular overall in Japan. Worldwide she’s had more cameo appearances. The only other FFVII character that has more than her is Cloud. When polls that are actually controlled (not bottable), Tifa is more popular. 

Google trends shows that Cloti has always been more popular - since 2004, which is the furthest back it’ll go. I don’t fully trust it since I don’t think it takes every area into account, but it is interesting to see the stark difference. 

There will always be fan service - and in the case of things like Airship Brigade (I think that’s what its called) you can have whatever couple you want. It’s for fun, but it’s not canon.

I think that’s where people can get mixed up. There’s fanon/fanservice and canon. Canon doesn’t show any type of romantic relationship between Cloud and Aerith. In fanon you can have this happen - but that’s because it’s fanon. I can also make Clack/Zakkura legit in fanon. It’s not canon. 

There’s actually more evidence for Clack/Zakkura and AerTi than there is for CA, but that’s not for this post.

I think unfortunately some antis spread a lot of false information online and they really do make it seem like its their life’s work to do this. New fans can get confused and discouraged and slowly learn what the truth is. Yesterday I saw a tweet that somebody just finally found out that Maiden Who Traveled the Planet and Dismantled weren’t actually canon resources, but had been told by people online that they were. 

Fans of C/A - especially Tifa haters - will make people think that Tifa is hated by SE and everyone else. It’s just not true. SE is going to go with where the money is in most cases. Nojima and the team want to make sure their story is clear now. OG, Advent Children, and Case of Tifa are usually very misunderstood. If you put ALL of the compilation together and actually look at it as it should be looked at, all of this makes sense. 

In the case of Zack, he’s a very popular character. I think timing can cause a problem here, and I just had this argument last night. 

Dirge of Cerberus came out in 2006. 

Crisis Core - 2007

Advent Children Complete - 2009

Revised Cases in OtWtaS - 2009

People will argue since in DoC it’s not explicitly stated that Cloud and Tifa are lovers/romantically involved, that it must not have ever worked out. The devs purposely put Crisis Core out. They purposely redid parts of Advent Children and their novels because they realized people had SEVERELY misunderstood things.

Zack isn’t mentioned in DoC because at the time he was only mentioned in OG briefly and shown briefly during the Lifestream and then if you go and find the hidden/optional scene from the Shinra Mansion basement. 

The reason Tifa is called a childhood friend in things like user guides is because the big reveal on what is actually going on with Cloud is the plot twist. Why would they freely advertise that? It’s a big reveal, it’s supposed to be a surprise. In the case of DoC’s guide, they get stuck on that and the “engraved in heart” which is actually “who he’ll never forget” in the English version - either way - why would he forget her? She was killed in front of him. He tried to kill her twice.

The other thing... people really forget how much guilt Tifa has. It’s just not heavily talked about and a LOT of people haven’t read Case of Tifa. I think it was one of the best things I did because it filled in some concerns I had over Advent Children. 

So Zack isn’t forgotten - but they do keep his stuff sealed because it’s part of the ending of Remake Part 1. Zack was WRITTEN in so much for the Famitsu poll, they had to censor his name because of spoilers. He wasn’t even an option and people still got him int he top 10 - that’s how well liked he is. 

A lot of people also will flat out deny Crisis Core. I saw this just as recently as yesterday as well. It’s hard to navigate at times. I think the only way I can keep myself sane is to ONLY refer and look at canon materials. To ONLY use non-optional scenes in arguments. 

Even spin-off games like Kingdom Hearts end up showing Cloti. People said he was looking for Aerith, but he was actually looking for Sephiroth. People say Aerith was his light, but Nomura confirmed that Tifa was his light.

These two here are good to go over the KH and some other stuff. 

The Love Triangle of FFVII - LS.net

Cloud and Tifa in Kingdom Hearts - by @danseru-kun

In conclusion, the devs love Tifa too much to be neglecting her. The internet is a den of monsters. It’s like SOLDIER. It’s messy, it’s brutal, and full of lies. You can think something is more popular just by reading a biased person’s blog or going to certain websites. They’re very good at swaying you. Look at official materials, what games have been released where Cloud and Tifa have cameos, and decide for yourself on it.

I think Mobius also has a whole One True Love thing where Cloud is trying to remember something and it’s heavily implied that it’s Tifa. The little fairy thing actually is the one trying to help him with this. @silver-wield may have some more info on this. 

Hey, Silver, I think I picked a good summoning gif for you. :)

[songsmore]

Music Marketing - The Essentials of an Effective Music Press Kit

As a suffering impartial musician in a exceptionally aggressive over-crowded promote it must be left unsaid which you want to face out from the crowd. There are many approaches to do this. There is song exposure, radio promoting, substantial excursion presence, and the almighty song advertising and song promoting. You want to get your message available --period. Getting your song advertising message out there's one issue however getting the proper message out there's any other. Your expert photo as an impartial artist is of the maximum significance so as to upward push above the ocean of competition. Most impartial bands and impartial artists have a few type of a song press package or song promoting package that they use for promotional purposes.

Generally, musicians will use both a conventional print song media package, a virtual press package (DPK), or an internet EPK (Electronic Press Kit). But simply how expert and convincing are they? A regularly requested query that I get all of the time from my impartial artists and musicians is which sort of press package must we positioned together? Which sort of song press package works nice and is maximum surprising and effective? The solution to that query relies upon on some matters. What I imply with the aid of using that is that I advocate developing and retaining varieties of press kits -- both a print or virtual song press package, and an digital press package.

The purpose for that is simple. Certain media stores, labels, venues, song control companies, etc. decide upon a print press package or virtual press package together along with your complete blown CD so it may be listened too on excessive performance stereo system to get the overall impact of your song and its manufacturing qualities. Others decide upon now no longer to have their workplace congested with piles of press kits, and their desired approach is simply reviewing your song on line. For the motives simply noted, we advocate you do a print or virtual press package and feature one on line as well. There's surely not anything to developing an internet EPK so why now no longer have it to be had.

There are some superb EPK offerings available and that they fee only some greenbacks in line with month. But I am placing an emphasis at the truth that an EPK (Electronic press package on line) isn't always enough. You nevertheless need to have the conventional print or virtual press package for your song promoting arsenal. It is top notch to say that your Music press package might be your maximum precious promotional device and it wishes to be taken very seriously. Other than your CD and stay overall performance it is also the primary influence of you as an artist that labels, venues, and different song media stores will obtain.

There are many photograph artwork corporations that specialize with inside the education of media promoting kits that you could need to don't forget in case your finances permits. If now no longer, for some greenbacks, a touch creativity, and time and effort, you could do it yourself. Here are the simple factors of a print press package and Electronic press package, and the expert way with the aid of using which to move approximately it. In your conventional print song press package model the factors to encompass are a professionally designed cowl together along with your brand or picture graph, a cowl letter of introduction, Band or Artist biography, a expert 8- x 10- black and white sleek promotional picture graph, media function articles and press releases, album critiques and quote sheet, your complete period - prolonged play, or professionally recorded demo CD, an enterprise CD-one sheet, a commercial enterprise card and professionally classified envelope. The materials wished are heavy inventory paper, portfolio cowl, massive envelope, cope with labels, commercial enterprise cards, and your 8- x 10- sleek picturegraph.

Now this is the way to move approximately placing the print press package together. COVER AND LETTER OF INTRODUCTION: Your expert song press package must have an outstanding cowl. This must encompass a picture graph of the artist, artist's name, and artist's touch data. Sort of like the duvet of a book. You must additionally encompass a cowl letter of introduction.

This must introduce you because the artist mentioning in short a touch approximately yourself. Don't get too unique on this letter you could go away that for the bio and different media which you'll encompass. Make positive you cope with the letter to 1 unique person - - being non-public is crucial. It offers the advent of a non-cookie cutter appearance and that you're feeling this media outlet, label, venue, or song agent has significance. Make positive that both on the pinnacle or the lowest of this letter you've got blanketed your complete touch data or your artist's consultant's touch data. The cowl letter must be inserted simply in the package's cowl previous to another data.

The touch data must additionally be blanketed at the lowest proper on each web page with inside the song promo package. Artist or Band Biography: The subsequent web page or what could really be the primary informational web page of the song media package could be your artist biography web page. Here you must encompass a quick records of the artist or band, a touch approximately every member if it is a complete band. This must be now no longer than one web page and must now no longer be a protracted drawn out records of the band however only a quick synopsis of what you've got executed and wherein you intend to move.

More importantly, you must encompass such things as vast indicates or tours, contests won, radio play, or any achievements that you're feeling are noteworthy and can improve you above others in phrases of reputation and development. Keep it simple, concise, and meaningful. If there aren't anyt any writers amongst you or your buddies than we exceptionally advocate having your band bio written for you with the aid of using a expert song copywriter. It's so crucial and it need to be expert. Media and Press Section: The following pages for your song promoting package must be media and press. These are essentially vast clips of any function articles you could have acquired in song enterprise magazines, or newspapers. Don't move overboard.

include handiest media clips that surely spotlight you as an artist. Pick the nice 5 clips you've got and ensure they're professionally reproduced. Noting irritates someone receiving those kits greater that sloppy crooked copies of media. Take satisfaction with inside the great of the package. Plastic see-thru walls must be used for every person object. Album Reviews and Quote sheets: You might also additionally need to don't forget together with desirable critiques of your CD and fees you've got  acquired concerning the CD or your overall performance. This web page must be professionally laid out with classified headings. One must be -Album Reviews and the alternative must be Quotes. Don't overlook to position citation marks earlier than and after every assessment and quote. CD: Either a Full Length Album, EP, or Professionally Recorded Demo: There are some specific approaches to connect your CD on your song press package. If your portfolio has a sleeve with inside the rear you could simply slip it in there. Another approach is to apply Velcro strips located at the rear of the CD and connected someplace at the inner of the again cowl.

This but isn't always the advocated approach. Especially if the rear cowl of your CD has crucial data published on it. If you're enclosing a complete period file or EP (Extended Play) the desire could be which you have taken the time to launch a expert recording so its professionalism is as much as snuff. However in case you are handiest the usage of a demo CD it's far extraordinarily crucial to observe the following: - Make positive it's far of expert recording great (No basement stuff) - Make positive the manufacturing great is as expert as possible - Include no greater than three songs, perhaps 4 of your very nice - Place them in a series of nice - Do a few semblance of expert cowl artwork and labeling - Make positive your touch data is displayed at the demo - If you actually need to ensure, have it evaluated with the aid of using a expert CD- Music Industry One-Sheet: If you're enclosing a CD of a professionally recorded and commercially launched complete period album or EP than it is a great concept to connect a song enterprise one sheet.

One-Sheets are commonly used throughout the song distribution technique however with the aid of using enclosing one it offers the recipient of your press package greater perception to your real file. A one sheet typically consists of a picture graph of the album cowl, album title, artist's name, quick description of the file, song listings, UPC code, fee factor and some different matters. Notes with inside the one sheet must encompass journeying data, radio play, a few fees, and some different matters. The one sheet must be professionally written and produced as it's far an object that commonly can get into the fingers of very crucial human beings.

Business Card and Professional Envelope and Labeling: If you or your consultant has a commercial enterprise card that must additionally be connected to the folder someplace. Once the bundle is absolutely assembled it must be located in a expert envelope with published cope with and go back cope with labeling. This might also additionally appear very time ingesting and you could think, why cannot I simply write out the recipient's cope with. Well, that appears sloppy and unprofessional and keep in mind what we stated approximately sloppy. A lot of human beings may not even open a bundle if it seems unprofessional at the outside. Some might also additionally name us anal-retentive, however we get effects with the aid of using utilising those expert methods. Some crucial notes that will help you make the maximum of your print song press package.

One issue you want to keep in mind is that matters are continuously converting with you as an artist. New function articles, new country wide excursion, new greater up to date photo/pix, etc. Therefore after you get the primary model of your song press package finished, you're by no means finished. Keep updating it with new substances and new pix for destiny mailings. Remember in terms of your song press package, you're by no means done. It's a piece in progress. Once you've got  dispatched your press package to a person it does now no longer stop there. FOLLOW UP a pair weeks or so later with a telecellsmartphone name, email, or correspondence. Labels, media, and venues obtain loads of press kits weekly. Don't permit yours wander off with inside the shuffle. Make positive to convey it to their interest and to the leading edge of the barrage of song press kits they obtain. The Digital Music Press Kit (DPK): The Digital Press Kit commonly incorporates the equal data because the conventional print song press package, even though it has the cap potential to let you really upload greater with out being overcrowded. Basically all of your data, your bio, media articles, song, fees, etc. are housed on a CD Rom as documents.

The DPK, due to sure understanding worried in programming, photograph arts, etc., must but likely be professionally done. Unless of path you, any other band member, or a person you know, is gifted in doing this. The blessings of a DPK are quite obviously. They take no paper, no portfolios, no paper pix, or any print media. Everything is virtual. The DPK is typically housed in a DVD Case which has expert art work. So there's nevertheless the detail of photograph art work worried on the duvet and CD stamp. Overall, the DPK is a great opportunity to the print song press package. Electronic Press Kit (EPK): The Electronic Press Kit, higher referred to as the EPK is largely an internet model of your promotional substances -- type of like a internet site however now no longer quite. It's much like the DPK handiest in that every one the documents and photos are virtual. You essentially create an EPK like you will create a internet site. However there are some desirable offerings available that offer template primarily based totally WYSIWYG editors that essentially come up with the possibility to actually add your documents. There is mostly a segment in your biography, your pix, your press, your song, your videos, and your backline requirements.

The EPK is some thing which you must use similarly on your print or virtual song press package. Whichever sort of press package you make a decision to apply, please keep in mind it need to be professionally reproduced and prepared. This is your first influence so that you need to make it a great one. ©2009 Ken Cavalier All Rights Reserved Ken Cavalier is a song commercial enterprise advertising consultant, song publicist, artist manager, speaker, and author.

He is broadly taken into consideration an professional in his subject and his consciousness is the development of his musician's and artist's careers. Ken is likewise the founding father of Allure Media Entertainment, a song exposure, artist control & consulting corporation in Philadelphia, PA. As a vote casting member of The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (The Grammy Association) and different outstanding song enterprise organizations, Ken has authored many informative courses on song promoting and song advertising.. Ken is to be had for impartial artist consultations on an hourly foundation or on a brief time period control-consulting foundation and he additionally gives song exposure copywriting offerings which include artist biographies, press releases, function articles, song advertising plans, and different song enterprise associated press for impartial musicians. For More Information About Songs Please Visit songsmore

[hiddensandtrap]

Can’t believe I’ve seen someone arguing against book piracy end up mired in the ‘you wouldn’t download a car’ fallacy.

So okay.

I’m a writer, so lest anyone get it in their head that I’m coming into this from the outside - I’m not. I currently cannot make enough money to support myself off of my writing alone, which is frustrating but is also a fault of the industry, not EBUL BUK THIEBES!!! who pirate. Yes, pirates are a problem and pirating books is a very different animal from pirating mainstream television or films - the vast majority of book authors are essentially indie creators, and a lot of publishing houses are actually very small time too.

But digital piracy is not a theft of goods. Copying a file and sharing it doesn’t actually cost the author or publisher anything because they haven’t created a physical item which has then been stolen - there’s no loss on materials, packaging, distribution, production, etc, etc.

What digital piracy IS, is a theft of labor. The author and the publisher (and editor) all did work to create the book you want to read, and if the copy you are reading has not been paid for, then they have not been compensated for that work. You get the benefit of enjoying that work, the fruits of their labor as it were, but you rip them off for the time and effort they spent producing the enjoyable thing.

Of course, with books and the digital age, there’s more to it than that. People have always shared books. Getting free books to people who can’t otherwise afford to read them is a noble mission which anyone with an ounce of sense has endorsed since the advent of the printing press. Libraries are good. When I was a kid the same battered set of Goosebumps books made the rounds through what must have been the entire school, several times over. When authors talk about digital piracy, a lot of times they open their mouths and arguments fall out that sound like ‘if you even SHARE a copy of my book with your friends without all individually paying for it, you’re a filthy thief’ and I know most of them don’t actually mean to sound like that.

The crucial difference that often seems to go unmentioned is that, in the past, in order to a acquire a copy to share you still had to acquire at least one copy. Every library would need a book before they could loan it out. More than one copy if it was really popular. Someone still needed to buy those Goosebumps books for my school even if more than a 100 kids then got to read them for free.

In the digital age, a single copy goes a lot further. Especially since with digital copies, you don’t need to wait until someone else is done to borrow it yourself - meaning there’s no incentive for anybody go buy their own even if they can afford it, or for the people supplying the books to buy a whole bunch from the publisher. One person buys one book and suddenly THOUSANDS of people have it, all at once, and while in one sense that’s actually an amazing thing, in another sense we still live in a world where writers have to eat. And while I think that people should be able to have free entertainment and read free books, no one is entitled to a particular book - especially not because it’s new and popular and you just want to read it so bad. There are entire online archives of 100% legitimately free books for you to read, plus fanfiction.

File sharing is not theft. If you buy a book you like and put a copy of it on your mom’s kindle so she can read it too, I think it would be absurd to call that piracy. But if you torrent a copy, read it, and then put it on your mom’s kindle to read... yeah, the point at which someone actually bought a copy of this book is getting much further removed from the number of people who read it. The number of copies bought can be far far smaller than it otherwise would be without the internet making files accessible between total strangers. And that has consequences. In a perfect world it would not, but we still live in a very imperfect world.

I would like to live in the world where I could hand out my books to anyone who wants to read them and still pay the bills. I think most authors would. But, people need to be paid for their work in order to survive. People deserve compensation for their effort. Contextualizing it as ‘you wouldn’t steal a car’ is trying to make the wrong point (also: most pirates would absolutely steal a car if it was as easy as torrenting, ask any of them). Instead I would argue it’s more like ‘you wouldn’t eat at a restaurant without tipping your server’.

That’s the variety of dick move that pirating books and most indie media is. It’s ‘theft’, yeah, but what’s being stolen is not a piece of property - nothing vanishes when a file is copied. What’s happening is, book piracy stiffs a working class author out of being paid for their services. The more rampant the piracy, the more likely the author won’t be able to pay their bills.

[sagiow]

“The Confederacy Strikes Back”: The Making Of

In a country far, far away North, late on a frozen, frigid December night... a lone writer sits down with her older-issued, low-batteried creative droid and a simple mission.

BR41N, we should really do something for the Mercy Street Advent challenge... let's see, what’s tomorrow’s crossover… Star Wars? Hmmm. We know Star Wars. Well, kinda. 

Well, a little. 

Well, a whole lot more than Star Trek, at least.

I say we give it a shot… OK, BR41N, give us a crossover!

404 Not Found

What, why? Come on, BR41N. You just take someone from Story A, you put it in Story B, you get Story C. Crossover. Easy peasy.

422 Unprocessable Entity

Please. Just one theme. Two characters. 100 words. No plot. Do it. Please.

415 Unsupported Media Type

OK fine, I know we typically go longish with tons of dialogue, but we ain’t got time for that. We just need a tiny little Civil Star War drabble, stat.

408 Request Timeout

No, it’s a daily challenge and it’s already 10 PM. I know you're tired from the MHMM marathon, but no timeout until you spit me out an idea. We gotta write this NOW.

418 I'm a teapot

Oh fuck off, BR41N.

You know what, fiiiiiine, forget it: we’ll take the lazy person’s way out since you’re obviously not cooperating.

Get Star Wars script from Internet

Cast Mercy Street characters in it

TA-DAAAA

That should work.

101 Switching Protocol

Thank you. Ok so which Star Wars?

300 Multiple Choice

I know, there’s like 20 of them. Let’s go old school. Original three. Uugh it’s been a while…What’s the best scene? Best pairing? Most iconic line?

429 Too Many Requests

I KNOW. OK let’s go Han & Leia. Can’t go wrong with Han & Leia. “I love you / I know”, The Empire Strikes Back. Works for you, BR41N?

426 Upgrade Required

Upgrade?! It’s a classic! But fine, maybe we should quickly skim the full script. Maybe there’s something else in there that will be a bubbling pool of BR41N-exploding inspiration.

404 Not Found

So that was a semi-wasted half-hour… I thought there was plenty of good, but nooooo, nothing good enough for you. So back to Han & Leia, “I love you / I know”. Simple. Who do we cast in those roles?

428 Precondition Required

Preconditions... well, we need someone for Leia who’s reticent to admit they’re into Han, and finally spits it out when he’s about to get… what was the name of that again? And we need someone for Han that’s a bit of a… shit, what was it he called himself in that “dirty hands” scene?

507 Insufficient Storage

Ah, Carbonite. And a Scoundrel. Nice... hmmm that first kiss is also a pretty awesome scene… should I do that instead?

303 See Other

Or maybe the first one, where she confronts him about leaving? It does have that “I’d rather kiss a Wookie” that would translate great to “I’d rather kiss a Yankee”… And Emma as Rebel Princess is pretty on the nose. So that would make Henry… Hen Solo!! LOL wiiiiin.

303 See Other

But Henry is never the more emotionally available of these two, it’s the other way around… And “scoundrel” is rather very Jed, isn’t it? Not Henry at all… and that first kiss scene is Peak Phoster. Maybe Mary’s fixing something -someONE?- and Jed comes in, and their hands being dirty means bloody, and her being flustered and liking “nice men”…. And then her running off when C3PO -damnit, who is C3PO gonna be?!- barges in and reality sink back in, it’s so Phinnian…

303 See Other

But isn’t that kinda… expected? Even boring? I guess everybody expects us to go Phoster (or Haliza. NO, BR41N. Not going there tonight.) Who else…. OOOOOOH Samuel and Charlotte!

508 Loop Detected 

Yes, back to the first scene, with Sam as Han Solo (Sam Solo!) and Charlotte as Rebel Princess of the Contraband Camp (even if the name does not work at all)! But who cares, it might work overall! And Han/Sam wanting to leave the camp to go… to medical school! Totally canon. And Charlotte is always the more distant one in this relationship! Yes!

409 Conflict

What do you mean, conflict? We don’t have to care about that damn middle scene with them and Luke. It’s a drabble, damn you.

307 Temporary Redirect

OK can we make it work with that damn middle scene with Luke and that “scruffy-looking-nerf-herder” gem. In which Han/Sam brags about her admitting her feeling, and Charlotte ends up kissing Luke instead. 

...who the fuck is Luke in this? Shit, who the fuck is Darth Vader?!

506 Variant Also Negotiates

I think Emma should be Luke. Fighting the Dark Side of Slavery, finding her inner Force… yes I like that.

That would make Darth Vader…. JANE GREEN. HA!

And Yoda…. MATRON! LOL Emma struggling around in a swamp with a tiny, backwards-speaking Matron on her back! someone should soooo draw that.

409 Conflict

Come on, it’s not a conflict, Charlotte would totally kiss Emma to prove the point that Sam knows nothing about women. Totally. But then I have to cast the others in that scene.

308 Permanent Redirect

Sooooo….. Chewie the Wookie becomes… Henry the Yankee! Hehehe... they are both as talented in using their words.

102 Processing

Annnnnd…. Anne Hastings as C3PO!!! They’re both British, like yellow and talk a lot.

102 Processing

Byron Hale as Lando Calrissian! Smooth, treacherous sonofabitch who throws Sam under the bus to save his ass.

102 Processing

R2D2… little thing that chimes prettily and follows them around…. Nurse Isabella?

102 Processing

JIMMY AND FRANK AS ALL THE INCOMPETENT STORMTROOPERS THAT GET SHOT AND DIE.

BULLEN AS JABBA THE HUT.

202 Accepted

Hell yeah, we might finally have something of a plan… now to writing it… what time is it?...

Hell no. 12:21. 

And Fuck! Phoster! I forgot Phoster! AAARRRGH!

504 Gateway Timeout

500 Internal Server Error

501 Not Implemented

[angryfiregardener]

Career Outcomes of PGDM in Media and Communication

Let’s begin with a question that you’ve probably heard more than once  in your lifetime, “Where do you see yourself five years down the line?”  Each time this question arises, your mind and a search on google can  bring about a plethora of options and ideas to make your career better  and powerful. But all of these answers won’t make any sense if they  don’t match your interests. Growing up, things gradually change. By the time you are a fully  grown person who is ready to take all the responsibilities with passion  in your eyes and mind, your vision and goal may or may not match with  the ones you had when you were a child. So have you ever planned a  maneuver to escape from such a dilemma? Or have you ever narrowed down  your list of interests of what you want to become? By all these questions we don’t mean to make you anxious or worried  because we have got you covered. If you haven’t figured out by now about  what you want to invest your energy, time, and money in, we have got  Career Counsellors in our institution who would proffer a virtual career  guiding path, if you desire to build your career in the demanding media  and communication industry.

Students and learners who are intrigued by the Media and Communication Industry appear to be at the right address since our institution offers a transformational PGDM course in Media and Communication. The PGDM in Media and Communication approved by AICTE is a  far-reaching course in the field of Media Management and circumscribes  training towards various sectors of the media industry including  television, print, digital media, radio, films, live events, sports, out  of home, and music. This program is designed like any other MBA in Media Management  Program but it is structured in a way as to mold students to master  managerial characters of media and communication with professionals as  well as functional knowledge of all the regions involved in this field.  The kingpin of this program is to make students learn and understand the  refinement of the media & advertising industry and all its latest  updates. The program investigates and teaches about every detail of each  field and imparts knowledge on how deep correlation exists between  content creation and associated media business.The PGDM course at DGMC centers on providing a notional understanding  of general management principles and their practical application,  crucial knowledge, and managerial skills in the media and communication  industry. To understand the consumption of media in rural, as well as  urban sectors and global media perspective and ways of management. DGMC’s analytics for PGDM states that equal importance should be  given to Concepts, Applications, and Learnings. It focuses on clearing  and covering the fundamental concepts of media and management. It  assigns projects and assignments to students to enhance their skills in  implementing in the areas of Media and Communications with the use of  technology to make them employable ready. To cover additional aspects of  life other than academics, students are trained with extra activities  which include developing a sense of responsibility and sensitizing them  towards being responsible citizens to serve society. At DGMC, the PGDM course in Media and Communication  offers three main specializations, Branding and Advertising, Media and  Entertainment, and Sports Management, each of which illuminates the minute detailing of their respective fields and industries. We consider  keeping a holistic view for all the specializations to help polish our  students to step out in the real world and go great guns in their careers and fields of interest.We aim to make our students capable of getting a job and retaining it  as well. We make sure that knowledge is imparted not just for the sake  of passing exams but to master and be conscious of the existence in the  physical world. Let us now commence with the specializations and the  career outcomes they produce. The first in the queue is Branding and  Advertising.

Branding

A strong brand creates a positive association between consumers and a  business, product, or service. Proper and high-toned branding is important because it helps the public remember a company and its products and feel good about using them. The elements used to create a brand can include name, logo, tagline, color, music or jingle, and the message or feelings that the company wishes to associate with itself. To  pay attention and work on these tiny details concerning the branding of  the product is exactly what is taught at this particular course of MBA  in Branding.

Career outcomes in Branding.

This course guides you through the intricacies of branding of the company which will result in you mastering the knowledge of branding and  becoming a Brand Strategist, Product Manager, Brand Manager, Brand Marketing Specialist, Brand Marketing Representative, Brand Marketing Manager, Brand Activation Manager, and many other options that you have  dreamt of becoming with the help of this field.

Advertising

Advertising is related to conveying the brand message by telling a story. Generally, this involves presenting sympathetic characters that encounter a problem that can be fixed or solved with the product or service offered by the company. Good advertising includes a clear brand  message and may also include a direct call to action. Because so many companies, political campaigns, and nonprofits currently use advertising, your ad must attempt to stand out from the crowd by being unique, powerful, and uncomplicated.

Career outcomes in Advertising

All of the above requires a team of Creative Assistant, Creative Director, Media Director, Media Planner, Media Researcher, Copywriter, Advertising Director, Account Coordinator, Account Executive, Advertising Manager, Art Director and so many other elements involved to  make a successful advertisement. Pick your role and become anything you  want at DGMC the media college in Mumbai offering MBA in Media and Communication.

Media and Entertainment

Next in line of specializations at DGMC, the top journalism college in Mumbai is MBA in Media and Entertainment. The Media and Entertainment  industry, majorly, comprises film, television, print, and radio. These  segments include movies, news, TV shows, newspapers, radio shows,  magazines, and books. With the advent of the Internet and the growth of  digital content, we can now access media and entertainment 24×7 through  Smartphones, computers, tablets, custom mobile apps, etc.And for someone keen in this ever-evolving world of media and  entertainment  PGDM in Media and Entertainment is the right prospect to  outgrow their existing talents and creative ideas in the matter of filmmaking, writing, shooting, directing, or producing. Through assignments and practical application of the themes taught helps gain experience on the field for the students.

Career outcomes in Media and Entertainment

Even to make a short ad it takes a huge team and workforce, now imagine making a whole movie. The major roles required to work behind making a movie successful are Director, Produce, Technical Writer, Film/Video Editor, Sound Engineer, Video Producer, Cameraman. These are  the major roles we’re talking about, there are hundreds of other roles  that are necessary and required to complete a movie. There are many famous companies like Alt Balaji, BBC Production, Sony Pix who proffer placements to our students which provides real-world exposure in this field.

Sports Management

The country recently witnessed the glory and glam of the most-awaited  game, IPL and as much as we enjoy watching it, we must realize the work, efforts, and professionalism that goes behind holding the attention of crores of people. Have you ever wondered how the teams are  managed or how to deal with sponsors, public relations, fraudulent cases? It is a very gripping and interesting course to learn and become  an expert in this field. And how? With the help of PGDM Courses in Sports Management at DGMC in Mumbai.

Career outcomes in Sports Management

Here we make another claim. We claim that you’re curious about knowing the career opportunities in Sports Management, don’t worry we have answers to all your questions. Team Coordinator, Public Relations Manager, Marketing Coordinator, Fraud Manager, Athletic Development Specialist, Event Coordinator, Contract Administrator, Business Development Coordinator are a few of the professions under sports management which you can become with proper training at DGMC. So these were the courses DGMC offers and the career outcomes of  pursuing these courses from top to bottom. We hope this helped in  narrowing down your area of interest and saved you from the situation of  dilemma you were stuck in.

[writing-prompts-for-friends]

Notes from Stephen King’s “On Writing” 03: How to Write

Now that King has laid out the tools before us, he sits down and tells us exactly how he goes about his craft. He acknowledges that everyone writes differently, and that how he writes may not jive with you, and that is okay. He is just walking us through what he does, and you can take what you want and leave what you don’t.

How to Summon Your Muse

“There is a muse, but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer station. He lives in the ground. He’s a basement guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in. You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you.”

Read a Lot and Write a Lot

“We read to experience the mediocre and the outright rotten; such experience helps us to recognize those things when they begin to creep into our own work, and to steer clear of them. We also read in order to measure ourselves against the good and the great, to get a sense of all that can be done. And we read in order to experience different styles.”

Man, I probably can’t even count how many times I’ve seen this piece of advice. But the fact that I’ve seen it this much means that it must be right, I guess. In particular, King advises us to read bad books, as the bad stuff is usually more glaring than the good, and we can learn from that. 

He also says that reading bad things can provide us positive inspiration.

“Most writers can remember the first book he/she put down thinking: I can do better than this. Hell, I am doing better than this! What could be more encouraging to the struggling writer than to realize his/her work is unquestionably better than that of someone who actually got paid for his/her stuff?”

Certainly, I have to agree with him.I remember the first time I was deflowered with bad fiction.

King also advises us to read good books, because we can learn about style, graceful narration, plot development, the creation of believable characters, and truth-telling. 

On Finding Time to Read

It’s not that we don’t want to read, it’s that we just don’t have the time to read when we’re working and have other obligations and also want to write. So how do we find the time to read? King says:

“The trick is to teach yourself to read in small sips as well as in long swallows.”

Especially with the advent of e-books, it is easier now than ever to have a book on hand at all times. Read in waiting rooms, in transit, in the checkout line, on the treadmill, and the bathroom. Read when you have an hour to yourself on Sunday. Just read when you can. 

On the Importance of Reading

“The real importance of reading is that it creates an ease  and intimacy with the process of writing. ... Constant reading will pull you into a place (a mindset, if you like the phrase) where you can write eagerly and without self-consciousness. It also offers you a constantly growing knowledge of what has been done and what hasn’t, what is trite and what is fresh, what works and what just lies there dying (or dead) on the page. The more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen.”

This makes a lot of sense. From personal experience, even though English is my native language and I love reading and writing, I stopped reading English for leisure when I moved to Japan. I poured all of my free time into learning Japanese, and I consumed only written Japanese media for about three years. When I went to pick up a pen again, it felt like a foreign object in my hand. My prose was clunky, the words were stop and start, and I was forgetting words. Especially since I spend a good 90% of my day in Japanese now, I make it a point to come home and read in English every night, and I have seen an improvement. 

How Much to Write?

Okay, so we know that we have to “read a lot” and “write a lot,” but let’s quantify that. (This is the specificity that I really love in this book.) 

King prefaces this section by making it clear that all authors work at different paces. James Joyce sometimes wrote just seven words a day. There was this dude Anthony Trollope who wrote for 2.5 hours every morning before work and stopped even if he was mid-sentence when time was up. If he finished writing a book before the 2.5 hours was finished, he would close that manuscript and start writing the next one. What a machine.

Also, just how many works must a person write to become a Real Writer? Harper Lee only wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. (I know a sequel has been released since King’s book was published, but don’t we all want to forget that sequel exists anyways?) This guy John Creasey wrote five hundred novels under ten different names. 

So how long your works are and how many works you have is your choice. You do you. But if you’re good at it and you love it, don’t put down that pen! 

Writing Schedule

King writes in the morning, takes naps in the afternoon, and spends time with his family in the evenings. That sounds like a dream come true to most of us that are still working a 9-5 and writing on the side. But that’s what he does now. 

To put things more concretely, he says that he has a strict 2,000 minimum that he must write every single day. Even if it’s like pulling teeth, even if it takes longer than he hoped, he does not stop until he has 2,000 new words on the page. 

King also believes that the first draft of a book, even a long one, should take no more than three months to write. (Personally I feel that could be difficult for everyone to do unless they have the ability to commit a certain amount of time everyday to writing no matter what.)

How to Keep Good Writing Habits

King gives us this advice.

Have a “writing room.” For King, this was the cramped laundry room while he wrote Carrie and Salem’s Lot. He isn’t telling you to add a room onto your house. Just have a space that is yours and free of distractions. Have a space that is designated for writing and nothing else, and make sure you can close the door to it. 

Set a daily writing goal for yourself. Even if it’s as low as 100 at first, that’s fine. Just write every day no matter what. He says you can take one day off a week at first. But only at first. 

Eliminate all possible distractions while writing. No phone, no TV, don’t even have the windows open (unless your view is boring). You can have music on if it helps filter out the outside world. 

Have a schedule. Dedicate a certain time before or after work that will be “writing time.” Let’s say mine is 8 pm to 10 pm every day.

Don’t wait for the muse. In King’s words, “Your job is to make sure the muse knows where you’re going to be every day from nine ‘til noon or seven ‘til three. If he does know, I assure you that sooner or later he’ll start showing up, chomping his cigar and making his magic.” Sidenote: King’s muse doesn’t match muse stereotypes lol.

“I think we’re actually talking about creative sleep. Like your bedroom, your writing room should be private, a place where you go to dream. You schedule -in at about the same time everyday, out when your word goal is on paper - exists in order to habituate yourself, to make yourself ready to dream just as you make yourself ready to sleep by going to bed at roughly the same time each night and following the same ritual as you go. In both writing and sleeping, we learn to be physically still at the same time we are encouraging our minds to unlock from the humdrum rational thinking of our daytime lives. You can train your waking mind to sleep creatively and work out the vividly imagined waking dreams which are successful works of fiction.”

The above quote put a lot of things into perspective for me. I had never thought of writing like dreaming, but really, that is what it is. I have a desk that was meant for writing, but is actually for everything now. Eating, chatting with friends, surfing the web, and writing. It is very far from distraction-free. I also just write “when I feel like it,” which means that sometimes I have months-long or years-long dry spells. And that’s nothing but a shame. 

So now I’m looking at getting another smaller, simpler desk to put in my bedroom, upon which I’ll put a tablet with no internet connection and a wireless keyboard. Maybe a notepad. Maybe. I’m not much of a note-taker. But I’ll put that in my bedroom, which really has just a bed and clothes, not even a clock, and I’ll push myself to write more every day, right there, from 8 pm to 10 pm. 

Source: King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Hodder, 2012.

[singularityhacker]

Is Blockchain a Fad?

Blockchain is the technology on which Bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies are built. Much of the talk around this technology revolves around speculation and making fast money. Because of this many scams have been pulled and this has, in turn, led many people to discount the entire technology as unnecessary and as even a scam itself. In fact, my favorite place for tech news for over a decade has been Hacker News but you will find nearly all the comments on all articles related to blockchain technology completely dismissive of it. It was pretty shocking to me when I first saw it because the level of disdain for anything related to blockchain technology on Hacker News is nearly absolute. There aren't even metered assessments such as Blockchain has a specific and limited use case but rather the opinions are that the technology has zero use and has zero value in any context. One can't help but give pause and really wonder if you're being deceived when the likes of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett dismiss the entire technology as worthless as well.

Think twice before you listen to advice from people who don't know the difference between Bitcoin and Blockchain. You might as well take technology advice from someone who doesn't know the difference between Facebook and the World Wide Web. For as many naysayers, there are thought leaders who pronounce Blockchain as his greatest discovery of man since fire, the wheel, and the internet. Steve Wozniak for one compares it to the early days of Apple when they were still in the garage. The very fact that these disagreements and controversies exist points to the reality of how early we are in the development and application of this technology. The polarization is so deep right now you could almost say that the mental divide that existed between the pre-internet mindsets and the pioneers of the internet now exists between traditional internet thinkers and decentralized Blockchain thinkers. Time will show you who the truly prescient ones were. Consider the following analogy that illustrates where I think we are with this technology.

Imagine we're in the early nineteen hundreds and there are only 100,000 cars in the country. By 1908 there will be somewhere around 200,000 vehicles registered in the United States and around 500 companies busily making more types of cars. Ford leads the pack with the Model T, Buick is right behind them, and General Motors has just been founded and will be creating even more models. There are no shortage of critics. The president of a Michigan savings bank advised Horace Rackham, Henry Ford’s lawyer, not to invest in his client’s company, telling him, “The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty -- a fad.” The Washington Post stated that "Local horse dealers do not look upon the advent of the automobile with any degree of seriousness. It is true that society has taken up the automobile, but the dealers consider it nothing but a fad, which will not have as much permanency as the bicycle. They argue that the noise of the engine or motor will soon wear the tender nerves of the society belle or swell to a frazzle and that the odor of the locomobile is not at all agreeable to the sensitive nostrils." - The Washington Post from May 14th, 1900

Consider the following parallels. Blockchain is to the crypto ecosystem what the internal combustion engine was to the automobile ecosystem. Bitcoin is the Model T of this new burgeoning ecosystem. It has all the brand recognition and it's come to be almost entirely identified with the automobile itself. But there are many other types of automobiles on the road and many more will come that bring their own unique properties, strengths, and weaknesses. There are numerous other cryptocurrencies and Blockchains that exist besides Bitcoin. There were many unorthodox car designs in the early days and even foolish applications of the internal combustion engine but none of these discounted the entire revolution in transportation that was transpiring.

Just like the analogy with these cars, there doesn't need to be one car to rule them all or a "winner". Each protocol can have its own unique properties suited to a specific use case. One doesn't even need to know which particular car is going to do well or not in the market. Just knowing that the world is going to be overtaken by cars as a product category puts you in an extremely advantageous position. Certainly better than the horse traders who could see nothing but another fad. A person with this knowledge can invest in cars at the ecosystem level. As I've stated elsewhere, this technology has produced digital scarcity, something inconceivable prior to the Bitcoin whitepaper and we are in the very early stages of recognizing its impact and potential applications.

There are two methods of analysis that are used when analyzing the value of any asset security. Technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis has to do with understanding charts and the fluctuating price of something and trying to infer certain patterns to determine whether the price will go up or down. This is what a lot of people think of when they think of cryptocurrency and Blockchain. This involves studying charts and buying tokens when they're cheap and waiting for them to go up in value and making lots of money. But fundamental analysis has to do with the intrinsic utility of the thing being studied. That is, regardless of how the price is fluctuating or what the current demand is, how useful is this thing? This is what separates the traders and investors. So drawing upon the previous analogy with the history of automobiles, I asked myself, what is the fundamental utility of programmable digital scarcity? This technology not only has the power to displace everything we've known concerning financial systems but it also has the potential to completely rewrite the internet and all digital coordination as we have known it thus far.

“Bitcoin Is Dead” - Tracking Notable Bitcoin Skeptics Since 2010