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cherrynojutsu · 3 years ago

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Title: Like Silver

Summary: A companion series for Like Gold.

Sakura misses him so much. She misses the faint smell of woodsmoke and sage, and mismatched eyes captivating in their intensity and unfathomable depths. The Rinnegan is beautiful, soft lavender ringed by hypnotizing layers of circle and tomoe, but flecks of silver dance in his right, tiny asterisms bewitching in nature, if one gets close enough; she’d first noticed it when they were children at the Academy. She knows they're Itachi's now, a slightly different scattering of luminaries aglow in the deep pitch of obsidian, but they're still as enthralling to her as they had been back then. She dreams of that silver sometimes, recalls it any time she sees something similar in color or reflet.

Blank period, canon-compliant, Sakura-centric, some expanded plot points from Like Gold, fluff and pining, eventually becomes a smut fest with feelings.

Disclaimer: I did not write Naruto. This is a fan-made piece solely created for entertainment purposes.

Rating: M (eventual nsfw-ness)

AO3 Link - FF.net Link - includes beginning/ending author's notes

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Chapter 1/?: An Introduction to Electrocardiography

Sakura gazes out the window of her office, a pile of paperwork set aside for a poetic sort of procrastination, trying to indulge for once in a Konoha spring, though she's finding it arduous.

As pretty as it is this time of year, all she can manage to feel is wistful.

Hanami has come and gone already for the most part, though there are a few stubborn cherry blossom trees lingering at the tail end of their blooming. She can see one here from her window, up on the hillside that slopes towards Hokage Rock, clinging to the uneven land. She’s sure its roots have to be all twisted, a labyrinth of gnarled wood clinging to any scrap of land it can wind itself around as its branches and petals try against all odds to reach upwards into the open sky that she can’t take her eyes off of.

There’s a metaphor in there somewhere, but it’s one she doesn’t care to unpack.

This year was her twentieth viewing of her namesake, though Sakura obviously doesn't remember the first few. Her parents take great pride in the retelling of tales from those first few years of her life, the ones she was too little to remember. The highlights come up annually on her birthday without fail, how she grasped at the petals like they were something precious, clutched in her sticky little hands the entire day.

A framed photograph is perched on one of the built-in shelves of her parents' living room, of her and her father on her first birthday. He was holding her up on unsteady legs, ridiculously proud and pointing towards the camera where her mother had been trying to get her to look. Her short pink hair was flying absolutely everywhere, matching the fluttering petals and in-bloom cherry blossom tree in the background, chubby hands grasping upwards. Strawberry cake and frosting were smeared all over her cheeks. They’d had a picnic for her, at the park nearest to their house.

“We came home and cleaned you up, and then your father helped you water your tree for the first time, in the little pink watering pail you unwrapped earlier. You were so cute.” That’s what her mom says every year. Sakura has the sentence memorized at this point, could recite it on cue, if she needed to.

Her parents had planted a cherry blossom sapling in their backyard a few days after they brought her home from the hospital as a newborn, so the tree is around the same age she is. She used to spend time under it often, as a kid, and some of her earliest memories involve sprawling beneath it to study the heavens while her mother gardened. She would also sneak berries from the patch when her back was turned. Sometimes her dad would join in her pilferage, and they would sit beneath the tree like a couple of bandits with stained lips, though those first few years she can remember he barely fit underneath it, as tall as he is. Many a tickle fight had been had, shaded by those branches. She would read books there on nice afternoons, when she was a little older.

The tree is fully grown now, also on the final cusp of its blooming for the year, floriferous wood expanded outwards to drape her childhood stomping grounds in a sea of soft pink. They have a picnic under it every year, in her family’s backyard, when they celebrate her birthday together. Her actual birthday has come and gone, but her birthday dinner is two days from now. Her parents swung by her apartment on Sunday afternoon for a bit with outlandishly large cupcakes, but her mom had mentioned they’d do dinner and a gift on their usual night, Thursday, since it works so well with their schedules every other week.

“We have to have your picnic, under your tree, like always. It’s a tradition! My beautiful girl. I can’t believe you’re twenty. It seems like just yesterday you were only yay high,” her dad had told her, gesturing below his knees before hugging her too tightly, ruffling the hair she'd inherited from him before they left. The cupcakes were strawberry with cream cheese frosting, one of her favorite treats. They’d left her with four extra to enjoy between then and Thursday, one for each day if she wanted it, turning her birthday into more of a week-long affair than a one-day celebration.

She and Ino had demolished two of them while watching some of the terrible movies they love to hate together, later that evening. It had been a smorgasbord of strawberries, really, because they'd washed them down with strawberry daiquiris, sugary sweetness topped with ridiculous amounts of whipped cream. They'd sat on her balcony, after, sipping a little tipsily and just looking.

"You should try to enjoy your namesake more this year, Forehead. You're so busy that I'm not sure you've realized, but you've really grown into it," Ino had said, beckoning vaguely towards a Konoha beginning to bloom, renewed with a warm breeze, spring ushered in by a fluttering of pink petals. Ino likes to give compliments in roundabout ways, she’s learned over the course of their friendship; crass as the blonde can be, she does have her moments. Her words meant a lot to Sakura, so she’s trying to take them to heart, to stop and smell the cherry blossoms, so to speak. It won’t be long before Konoha crescendos into the sweltering heat of the summer.

She loves her parents and her friends. She really does.

But birthdays are weird, Sakura thinks.

Last year, Sasuke had sent her a letter on her birthday. She’s reread it so many times that she has it more than memorized; it’s stitched into the muscle tissue of her heart at this point, or maybe scarred into the lining of her aortic valve, sempiternal markings adorning the tunnels that sustain her, causing her breath to catch every time.

Sakura,

Hanami has come to the wilderness in the Land of Honey. Bees are awakening and foraging for the first pollen of the season, with which to begin again. Cherry blossom petals are everywhere, lining the pathways and floating on the water.

Happy birthday.

-Sasuke

It had been short, simple, and even a little poetic; she had cherished it, as she does all of his other letters. She’d cherished the pressed flower with it just as much; a cherry blossom, neatly flattened with a precision that screamed Sasuke, near exactly the same shade of pink as her hair.

Sakura had started crying when she unfolded the paper to reveal it sitting atop his words. His hawk had waited patiently at her office window for a response to be written and tied to its leg, perched atop the windowsill and watching the goings-on of the village below, absolutely no concept in its predator brain of how much she delights in seeing it fly, a graceful tether to the boy - now man - she has been in love with for ages.

Cherry blossom petals are everywhere. Is there a hidden meaning there, or is she making a mountain out of a molehill?

She’s tried not to read too much into the letters. She's not sure if he sends any to Naruto or not; she's too afraid to ask, because she'll either get a heart-pounding hope if he doesn't get them, or a soul-crushing disappointment if he does. She can't imagine him sending a yellow flower to Naruto, but he may very well have sent him a different gift for his birthday.

Maybe he just thought she would like a flower, which she did - it’s pressed for safekeeping, along with all of his other correspondence to her, sporadically and chronologically throughout a book she keeps on her nightstand, An Introduction to Electrocardiography. It is her take on an album of small things she holds close to her own heart, things she wishes she could read in his. Sakura didn’t want to buy an actual album for such a thing; that felt too formal, for something as ambiguous as her ties to Sasuke, overflowing on her end as they may be. So she’d settled on a book about deciphering the heart’s tells based on science only, electrical impulses and repolarization, the sizes and positions of the chambers, how to diagnose conditions utilizing one’s findings. It’s one she doesn’t need access to anymore, extremely familiar with EKGs after years of study. She’d wanted it to be something no-nonsense, all hard facts and data on how to read activity plotted over time.

Evidence-based. Are letters evidence, though? She’s not sure that would hold up as empirical proof in any of the scholarly journals she’s studied or submitted work to since beginning her research. She thinks wryly, though, based on what she has witnessed get published, that scientific verification doesn’t always matter if you know the right people.

She’s thought many times sifting through it that perhaps it is too optimistic, too hopeful of a book subject for such a thing. Sakura has agonized over it, frankly, wondering whether it was an inappropriate choice.

...But now that they’re in there, it might ache worse to move them somewhere else.

It’s the last day of March now, and she didn’t get a letter this month, which is unusual, because she’s gotten one near each month in the time that he’s been away. She’s paged through the book a few times over the past several days, rereading and admiring the preserved sakura blossom, frozen in suspended animation indefinitely on a page about precordial leads.

Sakura hadn’t really expected anything from him for her birthday, other than a monthly letter like he usually sends... but this year she didn’t even get that. She’s trying really hard to not be disappointed. She has so much to be thankful for, in the grand scheme of things...

...But the petals of the cherry blossom from last year have faded over time, she’d evaluated yesterday, sitting in her bedroom. It might be like her, always pressed in a book, fading whilst stuck indefinitely between the boundless teeth of academia. There is always more data to record, more evidence, with which one can prove or disprove their findings.

No letter this month, though. Nothing to record, no new evidence.

It might be time to move the letters somewhere else, she thinks pensively. Maybe a place where she’s not tempted to look at them all the time; their placement in the book, small scraps of paper that stick out in only a couple of places, makes it easy to go back and reread them. She’s pretty sure she has an empty shoebox in her closet that she could move them to, in a pile rather than catalogued between pages rife with information and a fragile sort of hope. Maybe she’ll do it tonight, put it up in the far right corner of the upper shelf, shoved towards the back so she can’t reach it without the stool, so she’s not tempted whenever the next bout of heartsickness slams into her like one of Tsunade-shishou’s fists used to. She needs to go by the library after work first, to return some things, but maybe when she gets home, she’ll do it. She could eat a cupcake, too; that might make it a little easier.

She dreams of that silver sometimes, recalls it any time she sees something similar in color or reflet. There’s an extremely unique necklace in an antique shop she visits with Ino and Sai from time to time, and occasionally on her own, over on the northeast side of town. It’s a salt-and-pepper diamond, dark grey with inclusions, dainty and set in what must be a hand-fabricated setting. It hangs from a silver chain, towards the back of a display case filled with other vintage and distinctive pieces, but it’s the only one she ever finds herself drawn to. It is so similar to his right eye, dark smoke near black, speckled with beguiling silver startling in its clarity. The bevel cut reveals new flecks dependent on the angle at which you view it.

Sakura studies it closely on each visit, because it is so hauntingly breathtaking and it reminds her of him.

Ino has said it’s not her color, and that she should stick to warm tones and gold, for which she is better suited; Sakura has not confessed to her why it catches her eye so much. Sai has agreed with his girlfriend on the coloring note, sensitive as he is to such things, but the way he studies her every time she tears herself away from it makes her suspect he knows exactly why it captivates her so. It’s been sitting there for years at this point; she has to mentally talk herself out of buying it on each visit. It’s beautiful, but she would spend far too much time gawking at it, and it might hurt more with extended study than the gentle tugging at her heart she experiences when she’s in that old building throughout tiny fragments of lackadaisical afternoons.

Sasuke has been gone for a long time. She hopes he's finding the peace he's been seeking, that he's seeing the world with new eyes just as he'd imagined. She thinks of him every day, sends out little orisons like petals in the breeze in the hopes that they’ll find him, wherever he is.

I wonder where he is now.

Try as she does to enjoy the breath of spring Konoha is right now, and her namesake as Ino said, all she can seem to do is shift her vision to the sky, hoping against hope for a glimpse of a familiar bird-of-prey that will stay an ample amount of time for her to craft a response, before it abvolates away for another month.

Sakura smiles, then, close to laughing at the absurdity of it all, because she is so predictable. She loves this village despite its many flaws and challenges, despite the things about it she and Naruto and Kakashi-sensei and Ino and even Tsunade-shishou, off in the Land of Wind, are trying to change, but even after so many years, she’s still pining for something beyond it, something in the wilds of the sky just beyond her reach.

There’s always next year, she supposes, pupils drawn again towards the outstretched branches of the cherry blossom tree on the hill, before trailing her eyes along further. She can grow a little more to try to reach him. When she was little, she had wanted to grow tall so she could try to touch a star, like the branches of the tree in her backyard did when she and her father laid beneath them on balmy summer nights. He would tell her ridiculous stories about all of the constellations, things she knew had to be untrue, even at the ripe age of five. Precocious, he’d always called her, but in the loving, joking manner he had.

Her gaze follows the horizon, leisurely taking in the rest of her home. It really is a lovely day, despite her yearning. Spring is here again, and today's is a gentle sunset, one last little bit of sunlight with which to conclude March. The temperature is already spiking, unusually warm for early spring, but summers in the Land of Fire are always hot. She really should finish her paperwork, but it’s hard to find the motivation just yet.

Something possesses her, then, to turn her neck more, take in more of the skyline's continuation. She wants to see all of it.

And then Sakura’s eyes fall on an achingly familiar figure cloaked all in black, perched only a roof away and observing her, and she thinks she must have nodded off, because she has to be dreaming.

She subtly pinches herself in the millisecond of time that follows, but she is very much awake.

The words are blooming out of her throat before she can even process what’s happening, exultation sinking into her every vein. “Sasuke-kun!” She moves to crank her window open the rest of the way, and he hops from the neighboring roof down into her office, all nimble legerity that she still thinks has to be a mere mirage conjured from her memories. When he straightens to his full height, she muses that he has to have grown taller. The mere sound of his footsteps on the tile flooring, as familiar a refrain to her as if he’d just walked out of the village yesterday, are a treasure beyond price.

“Sakura.” His voice is a rich timbre that she has desperately felt the absence of; hearing him say her name almost makes her want to cry. She smiles wider instead, to the extent that it almost hurts, and her gaze latches hungrily onto the very eye she was just daydreaming about. A storm of soot and silver, beveled into countless fragments like some kind of dark, rustic diamond, and so staggeringly beautiful that she’s pretty sure she’s blushing just from beholding it. Gods, it's not fair for someone to be so handsome.

“When did you get back?” She asks, utterly overcome with joy. This is better than a letter or any birthday gift she could have received, brighter than any star she’s beheld.

“Just now.” He’s smiling, a small and subtle upturn of lips that is so characteristic of him. Then his words hit her, and her face must be getting redder.

Just now? As in…

“I’m sorry I missed your birthday,” he adds before she can simmer on that for too long, and she has to blink in bewilderment, because that is the absolute last thing she expected him to say. Sakura wonders how much heat can creep into one’s face before they spontaneously combust.

Then she realizes she should probably respond, as humans tend to do in conversations. “Oh! Um… it’s okay.” She folds her hands in front of her shyly, grinning like an idiot. “Thank you for remembering.”

There is a lengthy moment in which she just soaks him in, hoping he can read in her eyes how much she’s missed him. He is still so beautiful, prized eyes and aristocratic angles that have solidified a bit more into the face of a man in the time that’s passed. His hair is different now, covering his Rinnegan eye. His cloak is a little more threadbare, too. He’s tall.

His expression, normally unreadable, is calm. Content, even.

There’s a question nagging at her that she knows she needs to ask. She tries not to bite her lip as she asks it, braces herself for the possibility of not liking the answer.

“Are you… just back for a little while?”

Did you find what you were searching for?

He gazes at her for so long that she thinks he may be glimpsing her soul, peeking into her ventricles to see his own words immortalized there, seared into her core to be felt each time her blood pumps.

“...For more than a while.” And she smiles the biggest she ever has. Oh, this is so much better than a letter or a gift.

“Well, welcome back, Sasuke-kun. It’s… very good to see you again.” It feels as if a piece of her heart has been returned to her, something of the divine stitched back into her chest and full to bursting in omneity.

There is a pause, and then he’s reaching his hand out towards hers, initiating physical contact with a touch that is feather light, so gentle she thinks she is going to start sobbing.

She can’t help it; she pulls him into a hug, tinged with elation. She hopes he doesn’t mind too much; he stiffens for a brief moment, but then settles, wrapping his arm around her and settling his head atop of hers, and she could die happy right there, embracing him with feelings momentarily set free from where they’ve been whelved into her chest.

He smells faintly like sage and smoked cedar, just as she remembered. She can hear his heart thumping, a strong cadence, and it grounds her. Oh, she’s missed him.

“...I’m home, Sakura.” Soft words float above her head, and she can feel the vibration of them through his chest, right by her ear.

Oh, she’s crying.

Sasuke lets her embrace him for a long time, for which she is so grateful. She knows he’s not one for physical contact; it’s a privilege to be allowed into his space even for a single second, let alone for an extended period.

She draws back eventually, glancing up at him again through the tears still collecting in her eyes. Her face blazes when he reaches to wipe them away tenderly with a calloused hand, careful and with a lenity that she’s always known was there, hidden under the surface.

She could just stare at him for hours, she thinks as he lowers his hand. He’s still looking down at her with one of the softest expressions she has ever seen him wear. She really hopes she’s not dreaming.

It’s tremendously hard to get it together, but she tries, because she doesn’t want to spend the entire time crying, not when he's finally back. There are so many questions she’d like to ask him that she’s finding it a challenge to pick one with which to lead.

He surprises her by speaking first, quietly. “I… had something made for you.”

It takes a moment for the words to compute.

Made for me?

Her processing speed must be exceptionally slow, stuck in the utter mush her insides have become, because he adds, “...For your birthday.”

Sakura blinks, and furrows her brows in confusion. “Made… for me?”

He nods. “...I’m sorry it’s late.” The way he speaks it is cryptic, like the apology weighs more than one needed for a tardy gift. Doesn’t he know she doesn’t care? He could have showed up in July with something for her, and it still would have made her knees weak and her heart thump furiously in her chest.

Made for me? She’s still stuck on that sentiment as he breaks eye contact and turns to rummage through his satchel, beneath his cloak.

Sasuke pulls out a medium-sized flat box, a simple white, and she doesn’t know what she expected, but it wasn’t that. Something that comes in a box is a lot more formal than a pressed cherry blossom, something more… permanent.

She reaches out to take it on autopilot, and is stupidly distracted by the way his hand brushes against hers, a small spark that makes something in her quake. She wonders if he felt it, too.

Sakura clutches the box with both hands like her life depends on it, murmuring softly, “Thank you, Sasuke-kun.” She’ll wait until later to open it, after he’s left; whatever it is, she doesn’t want to embarrass him, and she also isn’t sure she can tear her eyes away from him just yet, anyways.

Is it just the lighting in her office, or are his ears a little flushed? She didn’t notice that before; maybe he’s had a drawn-out journey back. She wonders how much ground he covered today, if he’s still winded. He might need to rest.

But then he mumbles, voice husky with what she assumes is disuse, “...You should open it.”

His words echo in her head again. I… had something made for you.

“Okay,” she answers in a hushed voice, so she doesn’t scare him away, shifting slightly to set the box on her desk carefully. Suddenly she is very nervous, anticipation settling into her gut.

When she lifts the lid, she swears her heart ceases beating.

The most exquisitely intricate uchiwa fan she has ever laid eyes upon is placed in the box before her.

It’s carved into a likeness of a cherry blossom tree, branches twisting lissomely into bamboo framework, impossibly fine. A different set of words is reverberating in her head now.

You should try to enjoy your namesake more this year, Forehead. You're so busy that I'm not sure you've realized, but you've really grown into it.

Made for me?

“O-oh.” Sakura is not sure what she expected, but it wasn’t this. She fights back the tears, biting her lip and wide eyes soaking it all in, enjoying her namesake in a way that is entirely unprecedented in its sheer severity. The amount of time it would have taken for someone to sculpt and bind and sew is unimaginable; every detail is finely wrought, flawless down to the silk and stitching, lacquered and carved pale wood shifting effortlessly into eighty slivers of bamboo, intricately webbing silk together with the lithe grace of gossamer. It’s a cherry blossom tree, petals and all, pearlescent thread shifting slightly, gorgeously in the light, unimaginable detail. She has stitched people back together countless times over the course of years, but even her expert dexterity would look like a child’s first embroidery stitching in comparison. The stamen within the petals are nearly more detailed and finely milled than an actual, real life cherry blossom, plexure sutured in a fashion so baronial that it’s impossible to believe human hands were even responsible for it.

The silk. Oh, the silk. The color shift bears a striking resemblance to the Uchiha insignia. This is not a gift one gives to a teammate.

Oh, she's crying.

This has to be a dream, some kind of paracosm her heart thought up to give her brain the high of a lifetime. Hope burgeons and unfolds in her chest cavity, bleeding into her extremities like the pale pink shifting into red before her eyes. She’s never, ever going to forget this, not even if she lives to be one hundred years old.

Made for me?

She picks it up with disbelieving hands, grasping it more carefully than she’s ever held anything in her entire life, as if she’s going to wake up at any moment and it will dissolve into synapse, lost in the hazy juncture of morning the way one tends to lose awareness of the contents of a dream upon coming to lucidity. To her absolute bewilderment, it stays solid in her hands, a finery made even more unbelievable by touch. The grooves of the carving are as gentle as his hand had been on hers earlier. She thinks it would have had to be commissioned at least a few months in advance, outlandishly expensive. She’s never seen silk like this. She doesn't know; she's smart, but she's no artisan. Maybe she should ask Sai. She's crying.

She adores it.

Tears won’t stop welling in her eyes; she thinks they may be escaping from a tender spot inside her chest that’s been reserved for him since she was a child, a leak in a metaphorical dam. She takes a steadying breath, blinks, almost has them conquered. Get a grip, Sakura.

Then Sasuke’s hand is on hers, gently turning the handle over.

Her name is carved into the pale wood, on the back in formal calligraphy, Sakura daintier and more perfect than she could ever write it, as if it had just been uncovered in one of the inner layers rather than whittled there manually. Sasuke presses her fingers to it before loosening his grip, and in that second it feels as though his lost hand is in the wood, caressing her from split atoms in the grooves from the other side.

The tears spill over her cheeks - she admits defeat - intricacy of the entire thing blurring out of focus but still somehow burned into her retinas for all eternity.

Made for me, made for me, made for me-

Her voice finds her after a few more tears fall. “It’s beautiful.” Her voice is barely above a whisper, overwhelmed with complete and utter awe, trying desperately to choke down a sob. “Thank you, Sasuke-kun. I… I’ll treasure it. Always.” She cradles the fan closer to her chest, her heart - maybe An Introduction to Electrocardiography wasn’t a poorly-chosen book, after all; there is much to be read from something this precious - and regards him with watery eyes. She wishes she wasn’t crying; the distortion of the tears is making it hard to see the silver she’s loved and missed so much.

His hand lifts to her face after a moment, and to her surprise, he wipes away her tears again. She barely catches the something-more in his eyes, then, through the waterworks, precious metal flashing and pouring into the words scarred into her ventricles to live there forever, fortified in silver, but he is looking at her so -

“...Always,” he agrees, voice a little breathless, sparking scintilla near hypnotizing her in their luster, and he seems so happy -

Then he leans down to press his lips gently to hers, and this is better than her heart stopping, like when she opened the box. This time, her heart soars, and she touches a star she’s been dreaming of for eons.

#naruto #sasusaku #ssfanfiction #cherry writes #like silver #fanfiction #i'm really out here with just hundreds of pages of fanfiction in my google doc drafts huh

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commandtower-solring-go · 4 years ago

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Let’s talk about NFTs, what they are and why they’re bad.

So tumblr did this

And its like 90% a joke. However, I’ve noticed a lot of misconceptions about NFTs and in the interest of overcoming my own ignorance on the subject, I wanted to do some research and talk about what they are and why people think they’re bad. I'm sharing this because I completely misunderstood why they were bad. I believed that they were in and of themselves, conceptually, an unethical thing, but I was wrong. So let’s explore the work of crypto-art, crypto-currency, blockchains and the ever compounding list of new vocabulary I’ve waited too long to learn.

What is an NFT?

An NFT is what’s called a non-fungible token. Fungibility is a term used in economics to refer to the replaceability of a thing of value. For example, a dollar bill is fungible, because the value of that dollar is retained if it is replaced with another dollar. However, a piece of high art is considered non-fungible as, if it were replaced with a copy, the replacement wouldn’t have the same value as the original and would likely be considered a forgery. A music album is fungible, but a master copy is non-fungible etc.

NFTs are a generated tag which, when paired with a piece of art, can be used to verify the owner of that art. This attributes non-fungibility to a piece of strictly digital art.

What? How?

NFTs are tracked using Ethereum, a blockchain. Blockchains are a form of database which have the ability to track their changes over time as a fundamental part of how data is stored. When data is added to a blockchain, it is added as a block that becomes chained to the previous block. This chain of blocks serves as a linear history of changes made to the database and can be used to verify each and every transaction made through it.

In the case of Bitcoin, all transactions made with bitcoin are tracked using a blockchain database. This allows for transactions to take place within a purely digital space because every transaction is tracked and verified using the blockchain technology.

That doesn’t seem any more secure than traditional databases. I don’t get it.

The benefit of systems like Bitcoin or Ethereum is that they are decentralised. They achieve this by storing a copy of the entire blockchain on multiple devices around the world, rather than a single server. If a transaction is made, every device on the network checks to make sure that that transaction is legit and that the person making the transaction is the owner of that bitcoin/NFT.

This is why people see cryptocurrency as so revolutionary. By putting the verification of the currency in the hands of the people using it, you get to take the power back from big banks. You create a currency whose value is verified and validated by the people in the system.

The creation of new bitcoin or NFTs is a process called ‘minting. It is the process of completing complex mathematical problems to find and use new and valid bitcoin and NFT tags. Not only do the problems need to be solved, but each new solution need to be verified as previously unused by comparing the new tag to one used previously in the blockchain. Mining computers are used for both this and the verification of transactions.

This is why it gets harder to mine or mint more of these things over time.

Wait? That doesn’t seem so bad. Why are these bad?

The problem comes from crypto-mining and the verification process of blockchains. There is an enormous ecological toll taken by the use of blockchains. With each transaction in the database being verified by hundreds or thousands of machines simultaneously, the cost of security becomes power usage and environmental impact. Moreover, the more machines are simultaneously mining and minting tags, the more power is being consumed. And these things don’t just consume power in small amounts. Each one could have the cumulative power input for several gaming computers and are often running non-stop. Moreover, the more of these tags that are found and the more miners there are, the harder it is for any one person to make money doing it. This requires yet more computing power. One person only makes money from mining based on how much of the overall pool of miners they represent. This means that an arms race will no doubt take place as the pool becomes diluted by both more people entering it with more powerful machines and as more tags are found.

Weird

It is indeed very weird, but to me, that’s not the weirdest part. For me, the attribution of value to a piece of art through NFTs is nonsense. At the end of the day, all digital art is still just as fungible as it has ever been and NFTs haven’t made it any more illegal for someone to copy and share things on the internet. Instead, NFTs apply value to the idea of owning a piece of art by pairing something with the NFT. This value then only exists to people who want the thing. Its glorified bragging writes. Its not like saying you own the Mona Lisa, but that you own the only NFT attributed to the Mona Lisa.

So not only does it have a massive environmental impact, but the existence and value they generate exists only within the world of people who care about them.

Anyway, yeah. So, like, artists who are attributing NFTs to their artwork are only problematic in so far as they encourage other folk to get into, trade, mine and mint NFTs. Otherwise, its just another source of income for them and artists finding a way to diversify their income is… its fine. I don’t care. The real problem is miners and minters.

Sources

https://www.investopedia.com/tech/how-does-bitcoin-mining-work/

https://memoakten.medium.com/the-unreasonable-ecological-cost-of-cryptoart-2221d3eb2053

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blockchain.asp

#nft #tumblr #article #weird #popular

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hclfhearted-a · 4 years ago

Note

15-20

RANDOM OC QUESTIONS / @magnusbanedfromperu

15. Are they good at cooking? Do they enjoy it? What do others think of their cooking?

growing up, lillian would often help her mother, aunt, grandmother, etc. make meals for their family, especially during holiday times like thanksgiving. while lillian won’t say she’s the best cook in the world, following recipes is pretty easy && she considers it just basic chemistry, though the artistry of it - especially when baking - is kind of lost on her. she isn’t really the kind of person to tweak too much in a recipe (unless it’s substituting things for health reasons) because she’s not sure she wants to mess with something && have it be awful, but if she was given help she wouldn’t mind doing it. she does enjoy cooking, as it was always something she did with people she loved && therefore carries good memories. when she cooks on her own, it’s less fun, but it’s not joyless either - it’s just a little more of a chore than a fun, bonding activity. most people who have tried her cooking think it’s pretty decent, maybe a bit bland because of her health substitutions, but it won’t make anyone sick or totally disgusted either.

16. Do they collect anything? What do they do with it? Where do they keep it?

the first thing to come to mind is crystals - she loves how pretty they look && she keeps them either in wooden boxes on her shelf or decorating her room, depending on the size. she doesn’t really do much with them other than look at how pretty they are, if she’s honest, but she does wear some as necklaces. not sure if it counts as collecting, but she has a lot of succulents - like, lined over her desk && windowsill because she likes taking care of them && thinks they’re really cute. also, not really collecting, more of hoarding, but she has a ton of office supplies because she likes how productive they make her feel && plus she’ll use them when she’s studying. she likes to keep her things really organized, but sometimes she loses something so she just buys more.

17. Do they like to take photos? What do they like to take photos of? Selfies? What do they do with their photos?

she does like to take photos, as she likes to capture things that make her happy && treasure what she loves. most of her pictures are of her family && friends, just random candid photos that she snaps on her phone, some of them are actual posed pictures, then there are the pictures she takes of her birds, strawberry && kiwi, she has pictures of her plants (especially when she is tracking their growth). she may also take a picture of a pretty flower she saw or the sky at sunset, if she ever travelled she’d have a billion photos of the changing leaves or snow since she doesn’t really get that in california. lillian doesn’t take a whole lot of selfies - she doesn’t really see the point of it, though she might just for a profile picture or because a friend asked for one. most of the pictures of her contain other people or maybe one of her birds on her shoulder, where the focus is not fully on her. a good portion of the photos end up printed && stored in a physical photo album, though there are some photos that get posted on things like instagram - though not many people follow her so it’s more like a personal thing.

18. What’s their favourite genre of: books, music, tv shows, films, video games and anything else?

lillian consumes a lot of educational media - like nonfiction books, documentaries, stuff like that. especially when she’s doing other things like knitting; just having something going on in the background. when it comes to more fictional things, in terms of books, she’s interested in mysteries - trying to figure out who did what really interests her, she also likes reading horror novels, especially psychological horror. she can’t consume scary media on the screen because of jump scares, but it’s safe to do so in books. when it comes to media on the screen, she, again, enjoys mysteries, medical dramas, educational stuff like national geographic - she definitely watches jeopardy && answers all the questions she can. being the impatient type, she doesn’t watch a whole lot of television - she prefers it to be out already so she can watch it when she wants. for music, she likes classical, a fair amount of popular music you would hear on the radio, some 70s/80s pop && rock, && videogame soundtracks for studying. when it comes to video games, she’s the kind to play those more relaxing games like animal crossing or the sims, not so much the violent/fighting games (partly because she was never allowed to have that sort of thing because of her parents), but she’s always down to learn how to play other games or play multiplayer games with friends.

19. What’s their least favourite genres?

she likes things that are more realistic - things she can imagine herself in, && therefore things that are high fantasy she’s not too fond of. there are some exceptions, if it has still more of realistic feel to it, with an added supernatural flair, but the more fantastical it gets the less likely she’ll be into it. the same can be said for certain science fiction things - if you can see it probably existing, she’ll like it, but the more it delves into crazy stuff that isn’t very realistic, the more she’ll dislike it. she tends not to care for reality television either, though she doesn’t think people who enjoy it are stupid or bad, she just doesn’t get the appeal of it. when it comes to music, she doesn’t like loud music that relies on screaming like screamo, heavy metal, etc. when it comes to videogames, she doesn’t like games that don’t have a whole lot of story to it, unless they are more of a sandbox type thing. a one thing she doesn’t like - it’s kind of niche - is she won’t read or watch anything that involves a disabled person unless it was written by a disabled person. lillian doesn’t have an interest in hearing disabled stories from able bodied people, no matter how much research they may have claimed to do for it.

20. Do they like musicals? Music in general? What do they do when they’re favourite song comes?

lillian thinks they’re kind of cheesy && weird, but she also kind of likes the idea of musicals && probably would enjoy going to see them, especially if she went with people that she could enjoy it with. she’s the person who’s going to ask why they keep bursting into song && why nobody is staring at them, but also get at least three of the songs stuck in her head for the next several weeks. she does like music in general, && deeply admires people who have a talent in it, because she certainly doesn’t, && it’s not uncommon for her to have earbuds in to listen to music or have it softly playing in the background while she studies or reads. when her favorite song comes on, she will quietly sing along, or bounce in her step a bit more like she’s dancing, though she tries not to do it in front of other people because it’s embarrassing. she also is someone who will play that song on repeat ten times in a row just because she can, though only when it’s in her earbuds, otherwise she’d feel bad for annoying anyone around her.

#╰ ☆ ◦ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏғ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ ✧ ☽ ― answered.#meta.#magnusbanedfromperu

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johannesviii · 5 years ago

Text

Top 10 Personal Favorite Hit Songs from 2009

20 to 21 years old. And so the 2000s end, not with a whimper, but with an explosion of upbeat, great pop songs.

Only one third of these lists left to make!

Disclaimers:

Keep in mind I’m using both the year-end top 100 lists from the US and from France while making these top 10 things. There’s songs in English that charted in my country way higher than they did in their home countries, or even earlier or later, so that might get surprising at times.

Of course there will be stuff in French. We suck. I know. It’s my list. Deal with it.

My musical tastes have always been terrible and I’m not a critic, just a listener and an idiot.

I have sound to color synesthesia which justifies nothing but might explain why I have trouble describing some songs in other terms than visual ones.

First to second and final year of my Master degree in Contemporary History. Also got two summer jobs that year. I was basically only researching and writing my master thesis at this point and trying to survive on a 50€ per month budget to pay for transport, clothes, driving lessons, and food apart from one meal a day. Needless to say, some corners had to be cut and my health wasn’t the best. I was also trying to register to pass some concours d’Etat to be a government worker considering there was 0% chance I’d be able to find a job otherwise with my qualifications and my mother had been trying to find an excuse to throw me out for more than four years at this point. Basically I was broke, stressed out and in panic mode.

Thank god, the music was mostly energetic and upbeat on the radio. I can’t imagine what my mood would have been like if the charts had been as horribly depressed as in 2018 or 2019.

This was also the year when my favorite music reviewer ever, Todd In The Shadows, started to make his first videos, so you might think his lists are going to influence mine, but as it turns out we have very, very different tastes for the most part (I mean come on, the guy hates Depeche Mode), so... not so much. But he helped me discover a lot of songs I would have ignored otherwise, so yeah, godspeed, Todd.

It should be mentioned that the two songs that I wanted to put at the top of this list before looking at the actual year-end lists turned out to be non-elligible and that is extremely frustrating. Obviously, as I mentioned in the previous post, there’s Life In Technicolor II by Coldplay, which has an incredibly fitting name since it’s one of their most colorful songs ever. But I’m not even sure I would have put it at #1 since this was the year of Mika’s second album, and oh my god, We Are Golden was FANTASTIC. It’s my absolute favorite song from the guy, the music video is incredibly fun, and I listened to that shit on a loop as soon as it dropped.

I usually don’t put such large links for non-elligible songs but the fact this isn’t elligible is nothing short of criminal. Check it out if you’ve never heard it.

youtube

As for albums from bands I liked... eh. Lacuna Coil dropped Shallow Life, which was not as good as KarmaCode, Pet Shop Boys dropped Yes which wasn’t nearly as good as Fundamental, Depeche Mode dropped Sounds of the Universe which was DEFINITELY not as good as Playing the Angel (I liked Wrong, though. But it’s not elligible), Eminem released Relapse which was joyless and pretty bad and he was kinda dead to me at that point (even if it wasn’t as terrible as Encore AND he had that song with Drake that was very good), Placebo released Battle for the Sun which was pretty great but still not as good as their previous two albums, Paradise Lost had Faith Divides Us Faith Unites Us and basically same thing there, and Indochine had La République des Météors which is imho their worst record in the past twenty years, by far.

Long story short, every single one of the bands and artists I loved who released an album that year let me down (except Placebo, maybe).

And then VNV Nation released Of Faith, Power And Glory, I listened to it, and suddenly I had a new favorite band, and everything was good and beautiful in the world again. Album of the year for me, hands down.

With that out of the way, a few honorable mentio-HOLY SHIT HOW MANY OF THESE ARE THERE, WTF

Replay (Iyaz) - A perfectly good and innocent little earworm.

Run This Town (Rihanna) - I don’t like the original very much (Kanye’s verse is atrocious) but I've had a mashup of it with Bach’s Tocatta & Fugue in D minor (yes you read that right) on my mp3 player for years now, so this has to count. The mashup is called Run This Town In D Minor. It’s one of my favorite mashups ever. I even made fanart of it once! Look it up if you can, the original video has apparently disappeared.

Circus (Britney Spears) - You know it’s a good year for pop when even Britney Spears makes music I like.

Magnificent (U2) - Wait, even U2 was making decent music? I had zero use for them since at that point Linkin Park had more or less taken over their ecological-musical niche of “mainstream epic-sounding pop-rock music with tortured vocals and Emotions(tm)” but that one was still kinda nice.

Même Pas Fatigué (Magic System & Khaled) - I’ve said that before and I’ll say it again but they always bring a smile to my face and I don’t get why it’s ‘cool’ to hate their songs in my country. Yeah, they often sound the same, but I’d listen to ten similar-sounding Magic System songs in a heartbeat whereas you’d have to pay me to listen to ten similar-sounding Nickelback songs.

Day n Nite (Kid Cudi) - This had a tendency to get stuck in my head, but not at all in an unpleasant way.

21 Guns (Green Day) - Much better than I remembered.

When Love Takes Over (David Guetta), Stereo Love (Edward Maya ft Vika Jigulina), Evacuate the Dancefloor (Cascada) - That year was full of catchy, stupid, energetic songs, wasn’t it?

Greenlight (John Legend) - If I had better taste, this would be on the list. Alas, you’re reading the top 10s of someone who once put Blue (Eiffel 65) in a #1 spot, so yeah.

In Your Hands (Charlie Winston) - Same thing, basically.

Like a Hobo (Charlie Winston) - “Like a hobo from a broken home, nothing’s gonna stop me”, said this very useful song. Now is a good time to remind you that my nickname at the public university was The Hobo. So yeah. I liked this song a lot and I still do.

Forever (Drake) - Drake and Eminem are both amazing on this track. Unfortunately there’s also Kanye West and Lil Wayne on it. But. Like. “I'm Hannibal Lecter so just in case you're thinking of saving face / You ain't gonna have no face to save”. Dude. Duuuuuude.

You Found Me & Never Say Never (The Fray) - Did I mention I really, really liked this band. I think I did. Several times.

Paparazzi & Love Game (Lady Gaga) - Would both have had a chance to land on the list without the incredible amount of great, catchy tunes that year had to offer.

C’est Dans l’Air (Mylène Farmer) - Mylène Farmer had THREE singles on the French year-end list and this is the ONLY one I like. Good electro, mediocre verses but a great chorus (and a weird and kind of hilarious music video). Basically a song saying we’re all going to die and she can only sing about it. It’s strange, it’s a bit dark in a fun way, but it’s sadly not enough to land on the list, and it was the last cut from it.

Phew. Making this list was like a Hunger Games of catchy, upbeat, stupid songs to find which one was the best. It’s not #1 but I’m still shocked I had to put it so high.

But first, the runner ups.

10 - Fire Burning (Sean Kingston)

US: #33 / FR: Not on the list

Yes, ALL these honorable mentions were kicked out to give the last spot on the list to this guy and a chorus that goes “somebody call 911, shawty fire burning on the dance floor, WOAH!”.

The fact that I don’t feel bad about it means this was the right pick for that spot.

9 - Rain (Mika)

US: Not on the list / FR: #22

Anybody else thinks Mika looks like the Fourth Doctor on this screenshot from the music video or is it just me?

Anyway. So yeah, as I said, We Are Golden would have topped this list if it had been elligible. Sadly, it isn’t, but Rain is. I don’t like it nearly as much as We Are Golden, but what can I say. It’s still Mika. I’ll take whatever I can.

8 - I Gotta Feeling (Black Eyed Peas)

US: #4 / FR: #17

I lost about 80% of the respect I had for this song the day I realised its untouchable, marvellous beat was very probably stolen from Take a Dive. I still love it though. Had a few actual parties in 2010 and early 2011 and this was garanteed to make everyone dance, even people like me who don’t know how to dance.

And then the dancefloor died instantly anytime anyone tried to put Boom Boom Pow on because it’s impossible to dance on that one. But that’s another story.

7 - Poker Face (Lady Gaga)

US: #2 / FR: #5

Needless to say this was absolutely everywhere and overplayed to death and beyond, and the fact I still wanted to listen to it and put it on my playlists really tells you how good I thought it was (and still is).

6 - Ça m’énerve (Helmut Fritz)

US: Not on the list / FR: #1 (...yes.)

This is a novelty song with a singer pretending to have a thick German accent, complaining about various things in France, like the fact he doesn’t fit the dress code for a club, that he wanted to buy a sweater with “Rock” written on it but it’s out of stock, that some girls can fit in a size 34 blue jean and not him, that there’s a queue of people trying to buy macarons at the Ladurée shop, and so on. And every time he concludes “that gets on my nerves”, said in a very flat tone. Here’s a translation.

It was overplayed as f█ck here. Think Despacito levels of overplay. But the beat is great and it’s still hysterical after having heard it about a hundred times that year.

Fun fact, while I was making this list and relistening to this song, my s.o said “haha that sounds great! What is it?” and I stared at him in disbelief. Somehow, he was completely serious. That’s like someone escaping the Great Macarena Onslaught Of 1996. What happened. How.

5 - Waking Up In Vegas (Katy Perry)

US: #36 / FR: Not on the list

Again, I must remind you that my s.o is a Katy Perry fan and that I’ve heard this song even more than the average radio listener did at the time, and it’s STILL #5 on this list. What can I say. It’s a ton of fun and one of my favorite songs from her.

4 - New Divide (Linkin Park)

US: #61 / FR: Not on the list

Is this their best song? Not by a f█cking mile. I thought it would be much lower when I started to make this specific list, but what can I say. Linkin Park is like that one old friend that you kept no contact with for years, and once you meet them again, it’s like they never left. Who cares if that wasn’t nearly as good as Numb or In the End? Not me, that’s for sure.

Also, “In every loss in every lie / In every truth that you deny / And each regret and each goodbye / Was a mistake too great to hide / And your voice was all I heard / That I get what I deserve”. Holy shit, dude.

3 - Good Girls Go Bad (Cobra Starship)

US: #43 / FR: Not on the list

BEHOLD. THE ONLY SURVIVOR OF THE 2009 ‘CATCHY UPBEAT STUPID SONGS’ HUNGER GAMES. THE CATCHIEST, UPBEAT-IEST, STUPIDEST OF THEM ALL. HERE IT IS AT LAST.

The thing I love about this is that it’s a song made by nerds for nerds and that the singer looks and sounds completely non-threatening. As Todd said in his own list back in the day, “that guy couldn’t make good MILK go bad” and that’s what’s so endearing about the song, I think.

Also yes, this is, in fact, placed above Linkin Park.

2 - Use Somebody (Kings of Leon)

US: #14 / FR: Not on the list

This was my #1 at first. I LOVED it. I even bought the album, even though, as you know, my funds were very low that year. That music is soaring. It’s majestic. Well, the lyrics aren’t that majestic and soaring, it’s about loving someone and trying to catch their attention, but the rest? Damn this is intense. It was also elligible for the 2010 list, by the way, where I ALSO wondered if it should be #1, but in both cases, it wasn’t meant to be.

And so this list of 2009 hit songs comes to a close.

It began with the forging of the Great 2009 Upbeat Songs. Three were given to the Punk Rock hits. Seven to the Dance Tracks. And nine, nine songs were gifted to the Radio Friendly Pop Songs, which above all else desired power.

But they were all deceived, for another song was made. Deep in the forgotten land of Synth Pop, in his Parents’ Basement, the Dark Lord Adam Young forged a master song, and into this song he poured his joy, his talent and his will to dominate all charts.

One song to rule them all.

1 - Fireflies (Owl City)

US: #60 / FR: Not on the list (76 the next year)

I know. It’s a meme nowadays. But still. Have you any idea how satisfying a song with an initial beat that looks like small pulsing yellow and blue lights in the dark ACTUALLY titled “Fireflies” is? How gentle it all sounds and looks, even when the music soars? The number of drawings and paintings I made just based on the colors of THAT song? It’s like a synth pop version of one of my favorite Mike Oldfield tunes ever, Weightless.

And then, on top of all the rest, how relatable was that guy’s body language and general attitude?? Before even knowing he was on the spectrum I was like “oh BIG mood.”

Also following his twitter was one of the best decisions I ever made.

So yeah. I would have loved to put Coldplay or Mika in that #1 spot, but I’m not too mad about it thanks to this wonderful little song and its author. Such a shame Deer in the Headlights and Alligator Sky aren’t elligible for the 2011 list.

Next up: Johannes finally moves out and finds a great job and starts living a little, plus here’s a #1 that will be difficult to justify

#Johannes’ bad not good pretty terrible music lists #music #long post #eye contact tw

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imeugene · 7 years ago

Photo

That above was my first real bike. It was an early 2000′s Hoffman Condor. I was dead set on getting it instead of anything else. Even as a kid, I was really into researching things for the sake of researching and the conclusion I came up with is that I needed to get a Hoffman Condor. It wasn’t based on real empirical evidence(some things never change) but I liked the idea of running the same type of bike the Condor did when he did the no-handed 900. It was such a mystical trick. It was pre Youtube, in the dial up days where people would post a scanned sequence online cause the idea of creating gif was beyond the skill set of the majority of internet users and even a few second video clip uploaded by someone who isn’t a professional of sorts was mind blowing. I still have the Hoffman Super Fork lying around somewhere in the house. Peg bosses and all. I bring this up cause I have nothing but respect for the Condor and in BMX with it’s heavy us verses them mentality, any point of argument will automatically be shut down. And it’s not even an argument really. It’s just a difference in thought I noticed. I’m gonna try my best to be objective which I think I can maintain cause I honestly don’t know what to think about all this.

https://digbmx.com/dig-this/why-we-need-to-keep-the-uci-out-of-bmx

https://www.reddit.com/r/bmx/comments/82x7kd/why_we_need_to_keep_the_uci_out_of_bmx_matt/dvdjg3i/

Those are the two reading sort of required to understand all this. Both opposing views. One made by the largest legend in our lifestyle/hobby/sport/art/whatever you wanna call it and another is an anonymous commenter who seems to have a pretty well thought view.

Mat Hoffman’s word in BMX is truth. Regardless of whether he’s right or wrong, it doesn’t matter cause he’s built up a legacy and reputation that has upheld the tenants of what he believes is right for BMX. Throughout the years, it’s never been questioned his motivations or his adherence to his own views. Whethers it’s pushing the rider-owned brand and then further into Taiwanese factories to keep BMX cheap for the masses or being there when BMX was ready to blow up with the whole “eXtreme sports” hysteria. There is a whole book called the “Ride of my Life” that documents him that elaborates on all this further (or check out this Albion interview which is just as informative). The Idea is that the Condor is a stalwart of BMX and in world where there aren’t conclusive answers to the questions the BMX industry asks, Hoffman’s word has every right to be spoken and heard. He’s like that old grandpa you ask for life advice cause he saw so much and experienced that much more. Just cause he’s a grandpa don’t make him always right but... he definitely knows more and has a higher chance of being right than most..and Mat Hoffman is against the UCI. Understandably so.

The UCI is an international organization that governs all forms of cycling. All the avenues of what it exactly does evades me but the big thing to understand is the various cycling entities is given a larger corporate identity that can involve itself with actual corporations for money. Even if all of BMX was run by a singular company maybe like.. RideBMX or Danscomp or S&M. It’d be a laughable presence for companies compared to companies like Pepsi to sponsor their events in a serious way. On one hand it’s a high level of bureaucracy that very few in BMX are truly capable of, and BMX isn’t a blip in corporations like thats radar. The UCI is an organization that can possibly make it a blip.

I don’t know how the UCI is directly directly run by but I imagine it’s a bunch of suits who do not have cycling industry experience.. probably some business degree from some fancy company. Maybe they did well with some regional juice company few years before and got a better offer by the UCI so switched jobs. They’re numbers people and that’s what they understand and the language they speak.The reputations these numbers people get proceeds them. At one point a company like Breyer’s probably made really good ice cream, then they went public, then these numbers people came in and looked at the numbers, they realized if they changed sugar to high fructose corn syrup that they’d save a lot of money at the expense of some taste, then they did that to a lot of other avenues which cut costs like amount of milk or changing from handmade to factory made, increasing the budget for marketing verse quality control, which leads them to being sold them in every supermarket in the United States. Now Breyer’s is a household item which makes millions more than it ever did but is half the product it ever was. I think Mat Hoffman is afraid that this kind of snowball effect will happen if BMX was to be controlled by the UCI. For BMX to involve themselves with numbers people who honestly don’t care about the means just the results. It’s completely understandable too.

I think the people who involve themselves with the UCI that are riders are all well intentioned. I think they see that the UCI has something to offer and that in a way real BMX will never truly die. Something like the music industry. Music is a multi-billion industry that has Grammy’s by so called best artists, album sales, song plays, all these number based things but in the end real music continues to exist cause the need for real music continues to exist. I think the riders who involve themselves with the UCI see BMX in a similar fashion. Sure there is going to be A CHANCE in BMX being changed but it’s only on superficial level and only exists to fuel the rest of BMX that will continue to be what it is. To think of BMX expanding, I think a lot of people would think that instead of complete corporate takeover of BMX, that this would be how all this pans out. If all this happens in the first place.

The fact is that BMX doesn’t have money. For growth to happen, it needs money fueling it. The UCI and this whole Olympic situation is the best chance BMX has in growing in a drastic way. Plenty argue against the growth but that’s cause a lot of BMX is anti-social and a bit elitist like that. Which is honestly part of BMX that I love the best cause BMX created a video where some suburban kid ate his own poop and it was celebrated. That’s pretty cool. Seeing some banner in the background of the X-Games ramps that will be watched by millions in hopes that there is gonna be more clicks for that company’s website, hopefully creating more sales all directly tying back with that egregiously expensive spot for that $10 banner. It’s like Breyer’s ice cream. It’s a complete corporate mentality. Like there is probably gonna be a spread sheet of some sort predicting sales based on banner placement and tv screen time to explain all this for the number’s people. It’s not really BMX.

The reason the counter argument on Reddit brings up Fise is cause there is numbers that can be directly generated from that. Which in turn makes it an easier sell for the UCI, to sell to the larger corporations who have that real world money that can make a difference. Art is not supposed to be quantifiable, that’s why people always make big noise when some weird abstract art ends up selling for millions. Well.. there’s countless others that are equally as weird that will never sell for a dime. What I think some people worry is that can be as expressive and abstract as BMX will fall into the later category. It has some type of understood value but ultimately still worthless in real world money. If we’re gonna try to quantify things I can say right now the type of risks that Sean Burns takes does not equate the amount of money he probably makes. I don’t Yhe tricks he’s doing and the potential harm he can do for himself and buildings around him is probably gonna be a heavy risk burden for insurance companies. You hear big name professional riders take a bad fall and go on GoFundMe, it’s cause BMX is not paid nearly as much as the risks involved in that sense. But then we get into artistic argument of whether Sean Burns should be paid more cause he’s risking more compared to someone like Mathias Dandois who does flatland which is definitely less risky but seems to be able to generate good numbers by being ranked number in 1 flatland(not sure if it’s true). BMX is not something you can easily put money value into and any larger corporate entity will probably just avoid it all together cause it’s a headache to understand. They’ll take skateboarding cause the money that they generate is easily understood and in their opinion just as appealing if not more than BMX. There aren’t numbers people in BMX often so people who organize FISE would be conduit for the UCI and it’s BMX program.

What Hoffman and DMC did is not something that can be understood by numbers alone. How can you put a number on respect or what they achieved cause you can’t and that’s why the UCI is so easy to disrespect them. It’s not like they don’t have any real world value, they certainly do and their experiences also but for something as foreign as BMX can be, it’s not easily transcribable for something as large as the UCI, Olympics, large corporations or anything on that level. Numbers are their only language, the accomplishments of Hoffman and the DMC will fall on deaf ears. On one hand it does seem like Hoffman is willing to compromise but once again, to us Hoffman is all, to them he’s more or less just an overdecorated lobbyist.

It goes back to the whole question on how to grow BMX cause a lot of our industry certainly wants it. Whether to grow it slowly in an organic fashion which seems at times truly fruitless or cut a deal with the devil and do what it takes it to really make some changes. Cause it seems like every single time the corporations start having a hold in BMX, there certainly are noticeable changes people always bring up. For better or worse though. I don’t know though. No one does. That’s why were in this situation.

#bmx #uci #mat hoffman #dmc #dennis mccoy #olympics

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talesofealdancynedom · 4 years ago

Photo

Andromada Rosethorn, in faux fairy robe armor. best of both her parents.

Tale 17: Calliope Cwenfyre, Amadeus and Andromada Rosethorn (chapter 3 - Andromada 3/5) part 3. Stories of True Love

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Though they were only freshly graduated, Scarlet and Amadeus desperately wanted to start a family. Thus, the fact Amadeus had no interest in intimacy presented a problem. Ever since figuring out, everyone, including him and scarlet, accepted and respected that part of his identity; until they were in a situation where it might matter. They loved each other; Scarlet would not leave Amadeus’s side, and was nothing but respectful of his boundaries. Amadeus would also never leave her, as he and his inner fey adored her. It was wholesome cuddling, and charming daily life that made them close. Scarlet cared not for Amadeus’s wealth, or status; Amadeus’s mother had indeed made a wonderful match. However, as much as they wanted a child, that fact remained that cuddling does not result in offspring, and creative troubleshooting was needed. It wasn’t only Scarlet who was becoming stressed by pursuing a family; Amadeus was also pressured to make an heir to Rosethorn manor, and was inspired to be a loving father by his best friend, Morgan’s, brand-new family. He couldn’t wait to be a parent. It was not long before the two lovebirds where cooing, while rummaging through his inheritances for hand down nursery supplies. There is something special about being with your partner, while you go through first albums, and find their baby shoes and blankets. It made them feel warm and fuzzy.

finally licensed magic users, two years after they decided to settle, Scarlet and Amadeus at last eagerly anticipated their daughter. Andromeda was born the same year as Morgan’s daughter Calliope, but in the fall. She was to be the only child Amadeus would have, and inherit the Rosethorn wealth. Which only occurred to him after she was born, while holding her in the middle of the night. Making her had caused so much emotional chaos, Scarlet and Amadeus decided one was enough, and were incredibly happy just to hold her. Once Amadeus realized how Andromada would he the only heir to Rosethorn, like him, it bothered him. Years before Andromeda was born, Amadeus’s mother had died suddenly, and Amadeus became the new owner of the manor and assets, before he even graduated from the magic academy. He was an internship away from being a certified paladin, and not quite a legal adult. He had life tragically put on him far sooner than he had expected. Amadeus had to grow up fast; which on top of his other motivators, resulted in him starting a family early. Amadeus was privileged of course; he had the family support, love enchantments, and financial resources to do it. Unlike Morgan, whose family was materialized from magical intervention and prophesies, years before he thought he’d be ready. Amadeus lived in fear that his risky job may cause the same thing to happen him or his daughter. He feared the same thing would happen to her. While raising Andromeda, Amadeus avoided his mother’s tactics, and instead focused on nurturing Andromada’s individual dreams and joys; instead of smothering her in future responsibilities.

As a result of his overzealous encouragement and love, Andromeda became her father’s biggest fan; she wanted to be a paladin just like him. This is something she shared with Calliope; Aspiring to be the good they saw in their fathers. Andromeda was carefully taught business and family history, to better take care of and love the manor; as well as how to care for the tree children and lovingly prepare orders of magic herbs. Unlike his mother, Amadeus chose to make Andromeda interested and invested in Rosthorn manor, by inviting her to do these things with him as a family activity. Which resulted in him loving it more as well. Amadeus avidly avoided grooming her into and ideal candidate. He would make her future ditties, an appreciated facet of her identity, instead of the whole picture. However, it turned out Andromeda was bursting with passion for her heritage, and grabbed onto her destiny like Velcro. Scarlet thought it was adorable. Amadeus didn’t need to do anything to promote Rosethorn manor; she already enthusiastically learned swords and sang off tune to plants. She loved it the day she first did it with her father at two years old.

Andromeda originally looked like her mother Scarlet, but once she got in a fight at the magic academy, she went dark, causing her to now look like her father. In fact, Calliope was there when it happened, in the swordsmanship gym module. Calliope had gone dark herself years prior, and had her python familiar Heracles at that point; but it was still shocking to see it happen to someone else. The uncontrollable spells and flow of magic coursing through another person, was scary up close. No matter the change in colours, Andromeda was a prodigy paladin, and had an unconventional sort of radiance: Athletically built for battle, equally tall as Calliope, while still retaining the best feminine features. Andromeda went home sick from going dark, and would be gone from school for a week. However, seeing the dignity and talent Andromeda possessed drew Calliope in. Andromeda had become an intrusive thought. Calliope realized that day, that she had developed a special affection for her childhood acquaintance. Her father’s best friend’s daughter no less. When she came home, and saw cousin Reggie, she asked her gay aunt if she might like Andromeda. Reggie married a stone princess, and would surely give an accurate expeirianced second opinion. This gave Reggie vast amounts of amusement, as she listened to Calliope rant about Andromeda. It felt shocking to Calliope; Ralizing she had fallen for a girl she had known her whole life. Turned out as the years went by, Andromeda and Calliopes paths just wouldn’t diverge. Resulting in a near daily awkward encounters.

When Andromeda graduated, she was accepted to apprentice her father. Two years accompanying a certified magic user in your field, after graduating from an academy, was necessary to be licensed. Amadeus, though her father, was the closest and highest-ranking paladin available to take on a graduate. Andromeda’s first international mission would be with her father; and was to accompany seers on a quest to gather population and behavioral data on golden eyed green dragons, in Isfisceard in the Northlands. Andromeda gleamed when she read who else was on the research team.

“I picked this mission, because Calliope is on it. It’s her first international quest as well. I want to make sure she’s safe.” Amadeus said. Protecting loved ones on quests was his ambition after all. It wouldn’t be too different then going off with Morgan, Amadeus thought. Protecting Morgan’s carbon copy felt nearly identical to helping the friend he was indebted to. Then he noticed Andromeda’s expression; She was smiling widely, in a dazed sort of state. She was imagining the adorable smile Calliope got when she learned something new, and how soft her floral pink dresses must be on Calliope’s slight frame, if Andromeda ever hugged her. Then she recalled the weird cups Calliope always showed off with genuine excitement, and her obnoxious yet romantic rose perfume, and….

“Why are you smiling? Happy to be with friends too?” Amadeus said sitting next to his daughter. Andromeda squeezed the document into a crumple while blushing. Amadeus paused a moment after the words ‘friends’ left his mouth.

“I see. It’s like that. Well, I guess you also have a special place in your heart for Calli? Maybe not the familial variety as me, but still. Morgan will happy to hear his daughter of summer will return home safely.” Amadeus said, trying to be encouraging. But Andromeda had almost stopped breathing, and had become flushed. He didn’t want to influence his daughter and Calliopes relationship; yet he also really did want to make them happy together. Realizing he made Andromeda uncomfortable, Amadeus scraped his brain to change the subject.

“How about a haircut? You keep asking for a more butch haircut to be intimidating? You’ll look good for your first big mission! Even though your mother loves your hair being as long and nearly white like mine. It makes you look like her, I must admit. But as you put it: Long hair is something your opponent might grab. Between us, however, mine never got in the way of my badassery.” Amadeus proposed, running his fingers through his long platinum hair. Andromeda was still frozen. Calliope also had nice long hair… Why would my father do this to me? Andromeda thought.

On the journey, Amadeus went from protecting the child of his friend by oath, to wanting his daughter and Calliope to have a happily ever after. They were both failing at being calm around each other, and were in a state of being unable to express their feelings. It was frustrating to watch. Amadeus wondered how they even got through school without saying anything. He failed to realize, the girls had been playing a game of small talk, and awkward avoidance, because they were emotional teenagers focused on building their futures. It is also possible they were experiencing the crushing fate of true love, that effects people of magic houses. Love effects housed people differently; wizards and mages tend to spark a love that burns faster, hotter and longer than fluoride. It is a literal uncontrollable spontaneous spell.

After a day on the train, the research party began hiking to their final destination; Amadeus let Calliope and Andromeda go ahead together, while he debriefed with the team leader. Calli and Andromeda were alone far in front, together, in silence, unable to make eye contact. They were supposed to be lead guide and guard.

“I only thought only your father was coming. Its’, ah, nice to have you here too,” calliope murmured. “Also, I like your new hair…it suits you.”

“Oh. Thanks. My dad cut it… Which is weird because my maternal grandparents run the village salon. He was keen on doing it himself for me.” Andromeda vacantly rambled. “Anyway, moving on: I was also pleased to come on a mission with you, and Heracles, of course. Father probably took the job because he cares so much about Morgan, and you have all his best qualities… And so, we can keep you safe; It’s isolated on those sea cliffs. And there are dragons and such…” Andromeda nervously replied.

“We grew up in a magic forest, Ann; You know fey are not inherently dangerous right? You’re not going to hurt them, are you? your too nice…”

“Oh, oh, um, of course not. I just meant I wanted to ensure you are-” Andromeda panicked; they were interrupted by Amadeus bursting into laughter behind them. It caused such dissonance from his calm formidable reputation, that the whole troop went silent. The girls uncomfortable exchange seemed so funny to him at the time.

“Didn’t know he could laugh.” Calliope said, as she looked to Amadeus at the back. Andromeda looked away into the sea of to the side, to hide her face, and shrugged.

At the top of the cliffs, where the dragons where, Amadeus set up a tent while Calliope ran off and began interviewing the dragons. Andromeda cautiously tagged close behind, scared Calliope might fall. If she learned anything of seers, it was that they would easily forget fear, upon noticing something of their interest was within immediate grasp. Andromeda knew very little Old English, aside from what Amadeus taught her to sing to the Rosethorn garden; but nodded slowly while not taking her eyes off Calliope. Calli was entranced and didn’t notice Andromeda’s gaze, or Amadeus silently following.

After three hours of talking with fey, andromeda and Calliope headed back to the camp, and Andromeda noticed her father was at the tent, appearing to have been painting in his journal the whole time. In reality, Amadeus had only just returned, having dashed back to camp before they noticed him. His enfeyment with a moon serval gave him good stealth, tracking and speed. Amadeus had been watching them the whole the time, as was his job, but didn’t want them to know.

“FATHER.” Andromeda yelled; furious he wasn’t working. “Paladins take watch while on quests, not paint.” She scolded. Amadeus remained calm, as he actually had been doing his job.

“I’m sorry, Andromeda. You looked like you had control of the situation. I should add, now that I have your attention, that we are a tent short. You and Calli have to share one; Is that ok?” Amadeus responded casually, blowing on the gauche to make it dry faster. “Don’t worry, Ann. Calli will be up all-night filling in her journal. She’s a chip right off the old block.”

“Wait! What did you say Father?” Andromeda exclaimed. Calliope had so much fun talking to dragons, she had only just returned to reality, in time to hear this exchange. She realized instantly there was no way she was going to be able to journal notes, while sharing a tent with Andromeda. If she did stay up late, it would be from fluster.

In the past, anytime they saw each other, it was for an hour at most, and in a class or a party where they didn’t interact much. Being in a small town meant you knew everyone, but you had the choice not to spend every waking moment with them. Or sleeping moment in this case. Amadeus had already pitched the tent, and thought himself clever. He was happy he wasn’t as serious about things as he had been when he was younger. At best this was a nudge or joke, and worst a jerk move. Calliope and Andromeda did not make eye contact the whole evening, went to bed early, and pretended they were asleep until they actually were. Amadeus could sense they were still awake, when he woke at dark from his enchanted sleep schedule. Moon serval sleep four hours at dawn and dusk; guaranteed eight hours of hard-core sleep, but up at awkward times of the day and night. Convenient for night shifts. While making rounds, Amadeus crouched down to Andromeda and Calliope’s tent, and listened with his keen ears to ensure they were asleep. Instead, he heard their racing hearts, as they lay still and quiet in the dark spacious tent. It made him wonder if he had made a terrible mistake, by rooting a little too hard from the sidelines.

NEXT--->

<---PREVIOUS

#art #tales of ealdan cynedom #fantasy #short stories #story 17 #calliope #scarlet #morgan #amadeus #andromeda

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ronniesshoes · 7 years ago

Text

Keep Yourself Alive

It’s ten past nine, Tuesday evening, and despite the meeting having begun not twenty minutes ago, the table is a right mess already; littered with old magazines and library books he doubts will be returned anytime soon, Freddie’s sketches and scribbles, Roger’s Macbook, and a knocked over jar of glitter that was already there when Brian got home. He supposes Roger and John might have something to do with it, because there’s a fair amount of glitter in the bassist’s hair, and a speck just beneath Roger’s left eye.

“Okay, so, stagewear,” Freddie says, holding up his index finger as if about to start counting, and Brian, having been designated as scribe, starts scribbling, “and, no matter if we get signed or not, ideas on how to promote the next album. Personally I think we might as well go full glam, because as of now it seems like we are unsure of what’s going on ourselves. Anything else?”

John’s eyes drift towards the ceiling, and Roger, brow furrowed, is drumming a pen against his thigh. Brian reaches out to stop him.

“Well?”

“The website is still not up and running,” Roger begins slowly, having now begun to draw small triangles on the thigh of his jeans, “and we should probably talk about who’s in charge of social media as well, because as of now, the few people who actually write to us may never get back a reply.”

Freddie nods. “Right, yes, the banner is almost done, and you’re right about social media. Brian, what about your friend, what’s his name?”

“Daniel. He promised to get back to me before next week,” he says, making a mental note to do a follow up tomorrow.

“Good. Let’s start with stagewear, shall we?”

Brian drops his head in hand, attempting to hide his smile. Dressing his band for concerts and photo shoots is no doubt one of Freddie’s favourite pastimes, right up with researching Oscar Wilde and trying to persuade them to get another cat.

“I like these,” John says, holding up two of Freddie’s sketches of different batwing costumes which he has been examining, “on you two, at least. I’m thinking it would look really good on stage.”

“I looked at some of Zandra Rhodes’ designs,” Freddie says, reaching for one of the books, “obviously she does a lot with colour, but look at this wedding dress, for example. Imagine very large sleeves with pleats like that, how great a visual effect we could achieve. I’m sure I could ask Mary to make something like that.”

“I think it’s great, it goes well with the whole black and white theme we’ve got going,” Roger says.

“So we’re keeping that?”

“Didn’t they wear lots of colours back then?” Brian wonders aloud, trying to recall the pictures Roger and Freddie have shown him on various occations.

“They did, but to be perfectly honest, things like coloured satin and sequins and the like looks rather cheap to me,” Freddie says with distaste.

“Basically we’re taking the best of glam and ignoring the things we don’t like,” Roger says, tipping his chair back.

“Yes, but what I don’t understand is why we haven't had a glam revival yet,” Freddie says, sitting up straighter, “today’s rock scene is so ... insipid; really, it’s the perfect time to spice it up a bit of flamboyance, to provoke and to provide a bit of fun in a time where music has sounded pretty much the same for the past three decades. And, I mean, I understand the importance of the movement back in the 70s, but most of the performers who dressed up and did the whole androgynous thing were straight men, and now we have the opportunity to create a space where actual queer artists can express themselves. I mean, how often do you hear someone like Jobriath mentioned?”

Despite the rhetorical question, Roger shrugs, expression bemused. John purses his lips.

“So obviously we’ll have to find a new drummer,” Brian says, lazily adding to his stick figure portrait of only drummer present, already wearing a hat atop significantly longer locks and dressed in a tutu.

Roger opens his mouth to retort, but Freddie is quicker. “Don’t worry, dear, a dash of glitter and a haircut like Brian Connolly, and no one will notice!”

That comment makes John snorts into the crook of his elbow, and Roger looks like he's not sure whether to feel indignant or to laugh.

“The token straight,” Brian continues with a sigh, merely laughing when Roger socks him in the arm. Ziggy, disturbed by the commotion, hops down from the armchair he’s been sleeping in for the past hours, and starts rubbing his head against Freddie’s leg until the singer starts petting him.

“We can’t really go fully glam with short hair, though,” John points out, and they all fall silent, exchanging tentative glances.

“I suppose it’s not uncommon to see guys with long hair anymore,” Roger says after a while, “I do have a some trouble imagining it, though.”

He’s not the only one; every long haired guy Brian can recall seeing has been a whole other type, one he doubts any of them fits, especially not if they are going to adopt the glam style, which in and of itself is way out of Brian’s comfort zone. It may be less of a trouble for Freddie, who already owns a fair few pieces from that era, and generally dresses more or less glam already, if perhaps a bit more subtly, and Roger, who gladly lets Freddie dress him, and whose style spans from pretentious art kid to burnt out rock n’ roll star to a walking Adidas ad, and that despite not having engaged in any kind of sports since leaving Cornwall as far as Brian is aware.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Freddie says, “we should give it a go.”

“As long as I’m allowed to keep my hair as it is,” Brian says, suppressing a grimace at the thought of himself with long hair.

“What, no! If we’re all growing our hair out, you’ll have to do it as well,” Roger protests.

“Not with curly hair," he says, going for patience but finding it hard to, "I’ll end up with an afro, and I doubt that’s the look we’re trying to achieve.”

“It looked fine on Bolan!”

“Don’t know who he is, and it doesn’t matter anyway, I won’t do it,” he says, ignoring Roger’s outraged expression. He reaches for his Mac, punches the keyboard buttons, and shoves the screen into Brian’s face, showing a pretty faced guitarist who indeed works both long and curly hair.

“See?” Roger urges, a slightly manic expression on his face, “and Jimmy Page! You practically drool every time you see a picture of him, how can you doubt that curls and long hair don’t go together?”

“I would’ve phrased it differently, but I have to agree with Roger, dear, almost everyone wore their hair long in the 70s, and no doubt it will look good on you, too.”

“John and Freddie have curly hair as well, you know,” Roger offers, like he’s being helpful.

“Not the same,” he says, but when even John’s usually neutral expression shifts just slightly enough to convey his opinion on the matter, Brian knows he's lost. “All right, fine. I’ll complain, though, and if it looks stupid, I’ll cut it short again.”

He pointedly ignores the way Roger’s face fills with glee and Freddie looks pleased, opting instead to exchange glances with John, who merely lifts one eyebrow a fraction, a hint of a smile on his lips.

“Right,” he says, looking down at his notepad, “promotion?”

“Yes, right,” Freddie says, pausing for a second as if about to reveal some no doubt grand, but probably a bit mad, idea, a slightly worrying glint in his eyes, “I’m thinking a nude photo shoot for—”

“You’re thinking a what?” Brian interrupts, certain he’s heard wrong. Roger also looks uncertain, John plain uncomfortable.

“A nude photo shoot, of course,” Freddie repeats, like it’s no big deal.

Brian hides his face in his hands, wondering not for the first time how he's survived living with these maniacs for this long.

“I think Stones did that for Sticky Fingers though,” Roger says, and Brian looks up to see him already tapping on his keyboard.

“What?” Freddie exclaims, looking mildly outraged, “let me see.”

“No, sorry, it’s only Mick,” he replies, handing his laptop to Freddie, “I remembered it as all of them.”

“Well, I’m thinking more along the lines of Performance, now you mention him. Only less hippie and more stylish, you know.”

“We still haven’t seen it, Fred,” Brian says, because it’s not the first time Freddie has referred to a weird art film, and especially Performance he has talked about a lot for a movie he claims to hate.

“You don’t have to,” Freddie says dismissively, “you wouldn’t like it anyway, but here, look.” He turns the laptop so they can all see the picture of Mick Jagger, seemingly naked, reclining on a large bed. A moment later, Roger gets up and disappears into the kitchen.

“I want us all in the nude, sprawled on a large bed with expensive sheets and a bottle of champagne,” Freddie continues, raising his voice enough for Roger to hear.

“So just an ordinary day, then?” Roger asks as he return with more beers, making John laugh and Freddie hide his teeth.

“And why exactly is it that we have to be naked for this to be glam?” he asks after a moment. John, newly-brought beer can to his lips, shoots him a glance, and Brian thinks he looks relieved.

“It’s provocative, and that’s all I’m about, dear, you know that. God knows that it shouldn’t be, but here we are. Obviously you don’t have to be naked, it just has to look like you are.”

"Fred, I don't—"

“Oh, I know, Fleetwood Mac definitely had a picture taken where they were all in bed,” Roger interrupts.

“Roger,” Freddie says, tone saccharine, but when the drummer turns to look at him, he chucks a piece of crumbled up paper at him, “shut up.”

“But we’re trying to sell music, Fred, not ourselves,” Brian tries to reason, “I know you want us to be outrageous, but to be honest I can’t really see the point.”

“Of course we’re trying to sell ourselves,” Roger says, looking up from where he’s been inspecting the tattoo on his right wrist, “that’s the whole point, isn’t it? I mean, no one’s asking you to get your cock out on stage, but I agree with Freddie that it’s possible to do this with taste. Personally I think it’s a good idea.”

“You just want an excuse to show off,” Brian grumbles, annoyed that the two of them always gang up on him, “like we don’t see more than enough of you already.”

“Brian,” Freddie warns.

“I don’t— what are you talking about?”

“Forget it,” he says, working hard to keep his voice level, “if you really want to, I suppose there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Well,” Roger says after a beat, looking uncertain, “what do you think, John?”

“The four of us sprawled naked on a big bed might be a bit much,” he allows, “but I don’t see anything wrong with having pictures taken from the waist and up, for example. It comes down to the photographer as well. Did you have anyone in mind, Fred?”

“I thought maybe Tim, he’s been doing lots of weird art films lately, I’m sure he would be happy to do it if he’s not busy.”

Brian nods along with the others and quickly scans the bullets on his pad. “Should we keep our music on Soundcloud or extend it to Youtube as well? We all know Roger’s opinion on the matter, but what do you two say?

“It might be easier to share new songs on Facebook,” John says, “it looks neater with actual videos, but unless we keep it up to date and reply when people comment it just looks unprofessional and has the potential to do more harm than good.”

“John is right, and Roger mentioned it earlier as well, we need become better at checking up on social media,” Freddie agrees.

Brian caps and uncaps his pen. “Any volunteers?”

“As long as you check up on it once in awhile as well, I suppose I wouldn’t mind too much,” Roger offers.

“Great,” Freddie says, “now, does everyone have an outfit for the concert at King's College?”

“I don’t,” John says. Brian dips a finger in some of the glitter still on the table and carefully inspects it.

“Come down to the stall Friday, we’ll find you something,” Freddie promises. “Roger, I’ve seen yours already, Brian? Not gonna show up in one of those awful shirts, are you? I age ten years every time you wear one in public.”

Brian rolls his eyes, about to say a thing or two about some of the singer’s more outlandish clothes, but he holds his tongue. “No, Fred.”

He looks at his notepad again. “So I’ll call Daniel, Freddie will talk to Tim, Roger is responsible for social media, and John ... please turn it down a notch with Bonnie Tyler while you shower. It’s a bit disconcerting.”

“I’ll try to keep it down,” John offers, a smile tugging on his lips when Roger lets out a snort of laughter.

"If that's all, I'm off to bed," Freddie says, pushes his chair back, and stands. He pauses for a moment, looks at the table, and adds, "I hope this mess is gone tomorrow", before he disappears into their bedroom, Ziggy close on his heels.

♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛

It’s completely dark outside when he stumbles out of bed some hours later, half asleep still, but he barely registers it, his only thought revolving around the pressure on his bladder. It takes lots of fumbling before he finds the light switch, and when he does, the sudden light is too bright, and he has to screw his eyes shut again. He somehow succeeds in shoving down his pyjama bottoms and pushing up the toilet seat without ever opening his eyes, but he doesn’t trust himself enough to have a go at it and end up missing the bowl, and so he tentatively opens one eye, inwardly cursing himself for drinking those extra beers.

It is as he’s making his way back that he notices faint noises coming from the living room, and despite his desire to get back to bed as quickly as possible, he stops to push open the door to blearily peek in. Roger is there—or at least his blond head of messy hair is—huddled up in a corner of the couch watching A Clockwork Orange for the umpteenth time. Brian steps into the room, and Roger turns, startled by the creak of the floorboards, before his face quickly morphs into a smile.

“Why aren't you in bed?” he asks, and Brian waves a hand towards the bathroom with a grunt, too tired to form a proper sentence. Roger seems to understand, but there’s an amused smile playing on his lips. He decides to ignore it, and instead sinks onto the couch, his whole body melting into the soft, worn cushions.

He thinks about staying here for a while, because the couch really is soft, and conveniently enough he’s already sitting on it, whereas his bed is in another room, and now his eyes are falling shut anyway. If only he had something to support his head on, because the back rest really is too low and, weird, it never struck him how bony it feels, not at all like the rest of it, and ...

“Wanna lie down?” At the sound of Roger’s voice he looks up, and, wow, he has got a lot of hair. Finally registering the question, he lifts his head from where it appears to have settled on Roger’s shoulder, and nods, once, before shifting back to lie down with his head in the drummer’s lap. Only for a moment, though, then he is going back to bed. Said moment passes, and then Roger's hand comes down to thread through his hair, and no, he is definitely okay with staying here. For a while he tries to focus on the movie, but his eyes are heavy and stinging and keep falling shut. The scenes from the movie are in his head, created by memory and sounds, and even though Roger's thigh could've been softer, there are certainly less comfortable places to rest. If only it wasn't so cold, he thinks, and he really does want to open his eyes and go back to bed, it’s just so, so far away. Roger shifts underneath him then and removes his hand, and Brian tries to communicate his displeasure with a small noise in the back of his throat. A moment later, something warm and soft is draped over his body, and Roger's hand returns, lightly massaging his scalp with calloused fingertips. A minute or less, for sure, later, and Roger's voice, soft and gentle albeit somewhat distant, sounds, and then he's manipulated into first sitting up and then standing, and with the blanket around his shoulders he is dimly aware of the fact that he is being lead into his room, too dazed to even realise he is walking, before he falls into bed with a warm sort of gratefulness. ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛

The next morning, early but not too early in case he’s sleeping in, he calls Daniel. Brian doesn’t actually know the guy, except that he attends the same course as Brian, and that he has a knack for setting up websites. He has been very sweet and helpful about it all, but they haven’t even discussed a price yet, and the whole thing makes Brian stressed and unsure and a bit nauseous. When he gets the answering machine, it’s with equal measures of relief and exasperation that he throws his phone on his bed and gathers his books to finish his assigned readings. The kitchen is blissfully quiet, Freddie having left half an hour ago and John and Roger most certainly not up yet. It’s with some envy that he thinks of this, because his body is stiff and heavy from lack of sleep, but before readings and phone calls and his afternoon lecture are well over, he can’t justify going back to bed.

Two hours later and halfway done, he is just contemplating whether to take a break when the door at the far end of the living room opens and the rhythm section appears, both bleary-eyed in bare legs and jumpers and with their hair mussed from sleep, John wearing two different socks as usual and Roger only wearing one. “Good morning,” Roger says around a yawn, even though it’s closer to noon. Still, they’re up unusually early considering. “Morning,” he replies, “you’re up early.” “The bloody neighbours started having sex again,” Roger complains, flicking on the kettle and reaching for two cups. “They’re pensioners,” John explains, “suppose they don’t hear very well.” “They could at least close the window. It’s november, bloody freezing anyway,” Roger says, dumping tea bags into the cups, “can barely look them in the eye when I meet them. You want tea as well?” “Please,” he says, handing over his empty mug before returning to his work. “Do you actually colour code your stuff?” Roger asks a while later, so close to his ear it makes him jump. “It’s what I imagine Freddie does because he thinks it looks pretty.” “He does,” John confirms. “I don’t do it because it looks pretty, I do it because it helps me stay organized. You should try it sometime,” he says pointedly. “What, being organized?” Roger yawns, “nah, never works. I find comfort in chaos.” “Unless you’re late and can’t find your earphones,” John says, filling up a bowl with granola until it’s almost overflowing. “Or your phone,” Brian adds. “Okay, but everyone loses their phone once in awhile, that doesn’t mean I don’t know exactly where every other thing in my room is.” “Under your bed,” John says. “Exactly,” Roger says, pointing his spoon at John like he’s the one who really gets it. Which he probably is, because he’s not much better. He tries to return to his readings once again, but the two of them together make for a pretty big distraction, even when he does his best to stay out of the conversation. He picks up the tea Roger made him and reads the same line over and over again until his head is swimming and he starts thinking about everything on his to-do list. “Are you up for practise later?” John asks around a spoonful of granola, pulling him from his thoughts. “Sure,” he says, and dies a little inside. It's when they've finally buggered off that he realises just how tense he's feeling. He rolls his neck and shoulders, trying to work out some of the tension, but it only serves to make him even more aware of the stiffness. He idly wonders if a good, long wank is what he needs, but quickly decides that hoping to be left alone long enough is unrealistic. He doesn't fancy doing it in the shower, his body not responding to being naked the same way it does when he's in bed, but unless Roger has a lecture, even a few hours alone very unlikely to happen. John and Freddie both work Wednesdays, so it's practically the only day of the week where there’s a slight chance he can get some time for himself, but most often the drummer is there to keep him company. And it’s not as if he doesn’t like to spend time with him, but he really is not at all like Roger who thrives off company, and sometimes all that socialising is a bit much. Sighing, he packs up his stuff, saves his notes for the thirteenth time, and closes his laptop. He drains the rest of tea, long gone cold now, and allows himself a minute to just sit. He tries one of Freddie’s meditation techniques, but immediately feels stupid and stops. It would just be his luck for John or Roger to walk in on him. As it happens, Roger does have a lecture, and appears again half an hour later, smartly dressed which means the girl he fancies is going to be there, grabs a bottle of juice from the fridge, and hangs around for a good five minutes to chat. “Didn’t you have a lecture?” he hints when it becomes clear that Roger has lost all track of time during his not particularly asked for review on the new Roger Waters album. Roger stops mid-sentence, lets out a laugh, and puts on his shoes, waving at him before disappearing outside. Appreciating the near-silence immensely, Brian goes back to brainstorming his next paper. John appears again a while after to make another cup of tea, but he doesn't strike up conversation, and for the next half an hour, Brian manages to fill three pages in his notebook. Satisfied with his work, he puts it away and mentally goes through the rest of his tasks. There's that phone call again, which he supposes he can't really put off any longer, and afterwards there's lunch, and then he thinks he should be able to squeeze in a wank before he leaves for uni. “Right, I’m off,” John announces, patting his coat pockets, “see you later.” “See you. Have a nice shift!” John thanks him and leaves, and Brian is left alone. No point in putting it off any longer. He walks back to his room to get his phone and lies back on his bed, scrolling through his contacts until he finds Daniel’s number. While waiting for him to pick up, Brian eyes wander to the large poster of a deliciously sweaty Jimmy Page on the opposite wall. He thumbs at the hem of his trousers, his own cold fingers making him shiver when he brushes against the bare skin of his stomach. “Hello?” Daniel says, and Brian almost drops his phone, guiltily snatching his hand away. “Hi, uhm, hi,” he says, immediately feeling stupid, “sorry to bother you, but you never called me back, and—” “Right, yes, sorry about that. It’s just about done, I thought we could look over it after the lecture today if you’re not busy?” “No, that would be great, thank you.” “Alright, Brian, see you in a couple of hours.” “Yeah, alright. Bye!” Embarrassed by his lack of social skills, he finds that he’s not particularly horny anymore, and so deems it to be too much work. Glancing at his watch, he finds that he still has an hour to kill before leaving for class, and so he retreats to the studio and picks up his guitar, relaxing properly for the first time that day. ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛

“Yes, mum— No, I told you today is not so good,” he says, phone pressed against his ear as he steps up the stairs from the Tube, “but I don’t work Saturday, how’s that?”

“The Parkers are visiting, dear, I told you so the last time we spoke,” mum says.

“Right, sorry—”

“Are you sure you can’t come by today? Surely the guys won’t be cross with you for skipping band practise this once, I imagine they have mums who miss them, too.”

“It’s not just band practise,” he says, weaving through the crowd and wishing he was home already, “and I can’t skip, mum, I already agreed— hold on.”

He passes a group of construction workers drilling, and returns to the phonecall.

“What about tomorrow? I finish work early.”

He will have to move a few things around, and stay up after practise to rewrite his lecture notes, but there’s that.

“Oh yes,” mum thrills, “how’s it going with, what’s his name?”

“Louis,” he says, narrowly avoiding bumping into an old woman, “and it’s going fine. But mum—”

“Louis, that’s right. You know, I talked to Deborah, and I told her you started tutoring recently, and she’s looking for someone to help her son with maths, and I told her that I’m sure you’d love to, but she’d have to call you herself to make an arrangement, so I gave her your number, and—”

“Mum,” he says, unable to keep the slightly whiny tone from his voice, “I appreciate you trying to set me up with more work, but I’ve got enough on my plate as it is, and I’m not sure I have the time.”

“Of course, dear, but you know it would really help them a lot, and it’s only twenty minutes by the Underground.”

“Right,” he says. Twenty minutes to the station, and then he has to walk for twenty more to get to their house if memory serves him well. “I’ll think about, but I really can’t promise anything.”

“Oh, she’ll be thrilled,” mum says.

“Bri?” someone calls, and he spins around to see John a few blocks down.

He waves at him and says to mum, “how was tomorrow for you? I can probably be there around five-ish, is that alright?”

“Five is perfect. Dad will be happy to see you, I know he has quite a lot to talk to you about. In fact—”

“No, Mum, sorry, but John’s here, I really have to go now. Please tell dad I said hi, and then I’ll see you tomorrow, alright?”

“See you tomorrow. Tell John hello from me!”

“I will,” he says, just as John catches up with him, “bye, mum!”

“Wanted you to skip practise?” John guesses as Brian lets out a sigh.

“Like always,” he says, smiling in spite of himself. “How was work?”

“It was all right,” John says mildly, “did you talk to that Daniel?”

“Yes, he showed me how to set it up and everything, it looks really good,” he says, following John up the stairs to the flat.

“Seems like everything’s coming together then,” John replies, opening the door to the flat and the music coming from inside.

It’s Roger singing and playing Don’t Play Your Rock and Roll, which Brian has only ever heard him sing in the shower, and that only once or twice. “It’s not half bad,” he says genuinely, toeing off his shoes.

“What’s more baffling,” John says, not sounding baffled at all, “is how the two of them manage to play all three instruments at once.”

Brian is surprised to discover he is right - it’s a slightly stripped down version of the original, but never mind that, he already has trouble wrapping his head around the fact that they indeed are playing both drums, guitar, and bass. “How are they doing that?”

John shrugs and pushes his boots to the side with his foot. He’s wearing a sock patterned with pink octopuses, Brian notices. The other has The Great Wave off Kanagawa on it.

He follows John into the living room just as the door to the studio opens and Roger comes bouncing out, waving the drumsticks still in his hands. “Oi, there you are! Thought I heard you!”

“How did you—” he begins, but then Freddie and Tim both appear, Tim with John’s bass hanging from around his neck, and the pieces fall into place.

“Tim! How are you?”

“I’m good, I’m good. Just stopped by to pick up the drinks dispenser.“ He looks at John, “I hope it’s okay I borrowed your bass.”

“Of course,” John says, dodging Roger’s attempt at putting his arms around him. “Roger, stop, you’re all sweaty.”

“Tim,” Roger says, dragging out his name, “this is our new and better bass player, Deacon John. John Deacon. Deaky.”

“I know, Roger,” Tim replies with great patience, “I’ve known him for two years.”

This apparently strikes Roger as terribly funny, because he starts laughing so hard that no sound comes out and John has to hold him upright, all the while trying his best not to smile.

“Who let him have sugar?” Brian asks, watching with slight worry as Roger gasps for breath.

“Tesco had a 3 for 2 offer on all sweets,” Freddie replies, and knowing Roger’s absolute weakness for Tesco offers and sugar in general, Brian thinks this explains it very well.

Roger, seemingly able to breathe again, brightly offers to get the last bag to share, but luckily, everyone reclines.

“I was actually about to leave,” Tim says, “did you want me to have a look at your ideas for a photo shoot before I go?”

“That would be great,” Brian says, “Fred?”

“Right, yes,” he begins, before launching into a detailed description of his idea, one that impossibly enough involves even more nudity than the night before. He opens the door to their bedroom, and they all follow him inside. “I’m thinking my bed,” he says, gesturing to his god-awful rococo bed, “it’s as big as Brian’s but much nicer.”

“I see,” Tim says, tone neutral.

Roger, now looking bored, and clearly on the way down from his sugar rush, looks like he is strongly considering lying down on either bed. Brian takes a step to the side, blocking his own.

“I’m afraid I don’t have time the next couple of weeks, but things slow down quite a bit for me after the 1st,” Tim says, “I’ll get back to you, yeah?”

Hugs and claps on the back are exchanged then, and soon after Tim leaves with the drinks dispenser in hand, and another promise to stay in touch.

♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ Thursday morning sees Brian waking slowly, reluctantly, stirred from sleep by melancholic piano play he instantly recognises but doesn't remember. Eyes still closed, his attention is stubbornly focused on the warmth of his covers, the way his sleep-heavy body merely exist in this warm cocoon that is his bed. When he finally opens one eye—the song he now recognises as Für Elise still playing— Freddie is sitting in his bed, looking sleepy rather than tired, and lets the music play instead of turning the alarm off right away.

"Good morning," he says, and Brian's murmured remark gets lost somewhere between his lips and pillow. "It's nice, this, isn't it?" Freddie continues, wriggling out of his pyjamas and turning down the heat before reaching up to crack the window open. Brian pulls his duvet tighter around him. "Better than his 5th, definitely," he says, watching as Freddie rummages through his closet, "or that awful one, Rossini I think it was." Freddie's sudden interest in classical music and insistence to use a new piece every day for his alarm the past month has at times been trying, and while some of it is quite nice, Brian is unable to enjoy any kind of music before breakfast and two cups of coffee, and that's no matter how great a masterpiece it supposedly is. Freddie laughs. "Never seen you up so fast." He grimaces. "'m not a morning person." Nine months of living together, and it still seems necessary to point out ever so often. He envies John and Roger at times, because their sleeping arrangement seems to work quite well. While Freddie is in the shower, Brian lies in bed, face buried in his pillow, torn between getting up and go about the day, and staying in his bed, the internal struggle an as important part of his day as his morning coffee and Freddie's shower first thing in the morning. At last he gets up, albeit reluctantly, and if only to shut the window. Throwing on a warm sweater, he heads into the living room. John and Roger are there, still playing Mario Kart by the looks—and sounds—of it, just like they did when he went to bed last night. There's a crumbled bag of Walker's crisps under the sofa, and John is chewing on a strawberry lance, a concentrated look on his face. “Morning,” he greets. Receiving no answer, he tries instead, “have any of you fed the cat?” “I think Freddie did,” Roger replies distractedly, before letting out a shout of “bastard!" Brian checks Ziggy’s bowl and puts on the kettle, leaning against the counter while idly watching the other two play. "So who's winning?" he asks, already knowing the answer. "Not Roger," John says, face arranged in a carefully blank expression, but there's a smile in his voice, which breaks onto his face when Roger elbows him in the side. "Did you eat at all?" he asks, looking through the cupboard in search of coffee. "A bag of Cheese and Onion," Roger replies before throwing his whole body to the left to avoid crashing into another player. "Maybe you should get some sleep," he suggests, blowing at his tea. "I just need to win, just one more time." John keeps quiet, and races past the goal line. While waiting for the water to boil, Brian takes out his phone to check his university email. There’s a new one from one of his favourite professors, but he rarely ever writes emails. Curious, he opens it, leaning back against the counter while waiting for it to load. He glances at John and Roger who is finally turning off the TV, and when he looks at his screen again, a rather long mail has appeared. He scans the contents of it rather quickly, at once filled with excitement and quite a bit of nausea. “Fuck,” he whispers, just as Freddie enters the room, dressed in a kimono and drying his hair with a towel. “You alright, dear? You look terribly pale.” “No, I—” he begins, dimly aware of John and Roger turning to peer curiously at him as well, “my professor, he wants me to be a part of a team going to Tenerife.”

#i forgot i was supposed to post it this week hah #but that means two chapters in less than a week #i also couldn't come up with a summary but if anyone's dying to write one for me i'll include it

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evyautumn · 7 years ago

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High School/Lifestyle Headcanons

I thought giving this a try...

Taichi: Pretty well known among his classmates and obviously the star of the football team. A good amount of girls might have a crush on him because of his good looks but some may find him a little too loud. A total prankster and very goofy. Has a large group of friends to hang out with every now and then but prefers to spend lots of time with Koushiro, Yamato and Sora. Mostly Koushiro on days off. Likes to tease Joe about him studying forever but really he just wants him to loosen up a bit. He probably buys something (favorites sweets or drinks) on his way home to Hikari making up the excuse that he was just passing by. A favorite hobbie of his is planning with Takeru the next prank for Yamato. Pretty active, with initiative. He may not have Yamato´s cooking skills but he does well in that area and knows how to do a good damn omelette. Not so bad in school, you can tell he does his homework and studies the necessary but can be lazy and Sora is always reminding him when the next exam or project is gonna be. A pretty good strategic and analyses the situation very carefully. Doesn´t show it too much but he does care when his friends can´t make it to his soccer match or a little trip to the fair. He can be very carefree but sometimes he can pressure himself very hard.

Yamato: The Cool Guy. Or at least, that´s what he seems to be. Very good looking and all the girls in the school have a big crush on him. Want to attend his concerts and fangirl over him lots. Seems to be unapproachable but he is just a quiet person. People are intimidated by him at first but once you get to know him you see he is just a nice guy. Like Taichi, not so bad with his grades and is very organized with his schedule having a good balance between high school responsibilities and band practices. Loves music. So passionate to the point that he gets very stubborn and his mood changes constantly like the name of his band. A good cook. Always inviting Takeru to come over and taste his new dish. Gets scared pretty easily and hates horror films. Tries to maintain the cool image in front of his good friends but fails miserably.

Sora: The mother of the group. Reliable and caring. She could have been a class rep. Her classmates always know they can count on her. Likes to keep herself busy and although she is not the first one to take the lead and make some decisions she is always ready to create some cool stuff for the theme they are working on this years class cafe and so. Prefers to keep lots of things to herself and doesn´t tell anyone when she is in trouble. Wants to do it and resolve it herself but worries too much about others. She is always telling Taichi to be focused during class but knows he sometimes falls asleep so she makes sure to give him a copy of her notes. Telling Koushiro not to push himself so hard and gives him extra oolong tea. Checking on Joe and keeping him on good spirits. Hanging out with Mimi while shopping and talking about the latest. Advicing Takeru not to get in trouble on flirting with so many girls. Inviting Hikari to go with her to this new pastries shop. She and her mom have a better mother/daughter relationship and always spend time to talk and checking up on the other. Because of a lot of activities, she doesn´t play tennis that much like she used to but takes time to do some exercise by herself.

Koushiro: Kind of a loner, loves to be in his office a lot. Has a small group of friends in high school where they talk about the latest trends on technology. A prodigy on his field and very respected by his professors. Always curious, always doing research. Very awkward around girls and gets shy easily. Talks to lots of online friends and is more comfortable knowing his laptop is with him at all times. Likes to spends time with his family and is always making little surprises for them on special occasions. Hangs out with Taichi at his apartment always feeling very comfortable at the Yagami home and thankful when Yuuko makes his favorite meals when he is there. He might not show it but feels lowkey excited whenever he and Taichi are doing some kind of trouble together.

Mimi: Independent, strong headed and free spirited. Lowkey likes that she is still a bit spoiled by his parents. Does and says whats on her mind not caring what other people think about her. Hates when people are not truthful and don´t say the things they want to say or what they really feel. Likes to have fun and bring some of the America culture to the Japanese which sometimes can be amusing yet confusing to her classmates and can every now and then get her into trouble with some of the girls not sharing the same thoughts. Lots of boys have a crush on her but she´s somewhat oblivious to it. Has become stronger and tries not to cry in front of others. Loves fashion and even more going shopping trying new clothes and combining new looks. Very girly. Likes to experiment with food and although her choices can come off as weird, stated by Koushiro one time, she finds absolutely an incredible combination of flavors that needs to be put out in the world.

Joe: Responsible, very responsible. Feels pressured of what society expects from him but really he just want to makes his parents feel proud. Very smart, but struggles with his nerves that get the better of him and push himself sometimes a little too hard. Has a good amount of friends and dislikes that he cannot hang out with them that much now. His girlfriend is always texting him to take care of himself and relax. When he gets focused he can become very lonely and isolates himself to reach that goal on his own terms. Taichi and Sora are the ones who check on him the most and Mimi is the one who always tell him to drop the textbooks and go eat some at this new ramen shop. Even though he is the oldest of the group he likes when they all ask him how did it go or how is he and feels always included when they invite him to celebrate the good news. But in the end he is always giving some piece of advice to each of them when they most need it like telling Taichi some good options for his future career and comforts in every way he can.

Takeru: The little tease. Doesn´t get scared easily anymore and loves teasing the others for good fun. Very popular among his classmates and very flirty with the girls. Knows when to say the right words at the right time and is always advicing his big brother Yamato to control his impulsive nature. May not show it, but he is still a pretty sensible boy and hates when people he cares about the most get hurt. Likes to hang out with his friends. Pretty intuitive. Good grades. Probably has a secret online blog where he writes about his experiences and thoughts on some delicate matters making some controversial statements. Likes to be with Hikari and have a pretty good bond between each other. Knows when she is upset and knows exactly what to tell her even if sometimes it can hurt a little bit, but he cares about her very much that he only wants means well.

Hikari: A little tease too. Always making fun of Takeru´s little flings and even if she appears innocent, she loves to be cheeky. Sensible, always making sure her brother is okay, eating well and trying not to disappoint him. She has a good amount of friends, but feels more comfortable being around Takeru and confides on him in lots of things which she doesn´t feel she can do with her girl friends. Loves photography and keeps lots of albums of her memories with her brother, family and friends in a shelve. Really good grades. Very reliable among her classmates and boys tend to fall head over heels for her. Her health condition has become better but still can feel a little down every now and then which makes Taichi worry and tells her to take it easy. Likes to be organized and helps her mother tidy around the apartment. Likes sweets, specially ice cream, and is always happy when Taichi comes back with a little treat for her. Tries not to be a burden to others therefore think she can overcome everything herself not relying on others.

#digimon adventure tri #digimon tri #digimon adventure #taichi yagami #yamato ishida #sora takenouchi #koushiro izumi #mimi tachikawa #joe kido #takeru takaishi #hikari yagami #chosen children #anime #digimon

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sftswigan · 4 years ago

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Wigan band, Dirty Circus, return with a point to prove and reveal name of new single

We’ve got Binns, frontman of the band with us. Alright man, how’s it going?

Good mate, just trying to adjust to this new world we live in as well as trying not to drink too much.

You guys have recently, over the year or so returned to the scene after a long time away. What made you come back and how would you compare the music scene now to how it was then?

Long story shortish...after we split from Sony we carried on for a few years but all wasn’t well within the band and cracks had started to show and we split in 2010. Even though we we’re all best friends the heartbreak of the split with Sony caused us to start blaming each other. We didn’t speak with each other for 8 years pretty much but there may of been an occasional text etc. Then in 2017 Stevie invited us all to his wedding and 3 of us decided to go and as soon as we saw each other we realised that the magic was still there. We decided to book a rehearsal room and see what happened, I contacted the other 2 lads they didn’t want to do it so we moved on as a 4 piece. Soon as we started playing we knew we wanted to play some shows again we had unfinished buisness. We booked a comeback show at the Old courts and sold it out it was only meant to be 1 show but because of the reaction we decided carry on.

The music scene now is completely different, it’s not enough to just be a musician anymore you’ve got to be so many other things. If you want to be successful, social media manager, record label owner, video director etc it’s great in the way that you don’t need to have a big label to release a record but it’s more difficult to really make a mark if you don’t know all the other stuff. But at the same time there’s always new music to listen to and new bands coming through. I just wished a few more of them would get the credit they deserved.

It’s mad how when we originally came through all it was about was finding a label now you can run your own label from a phone.

A real shame it didn’t work out with the label though isn’t it. Why do you think that was?

Yeah mate it just wasn’t the right time. Labels were losing so much money especially the big ones. Mad thing is we had our pick, we met with 6 labels 4 majors and 2 big indie labels. We could of picked any but unfortunately we chose wrong. If we would have had a manager in place before signing I reckon we would of signed elsewhere.

The Suzukis were on Deltasonic during their career and Moco we're well liked on the scene so Wigan bands were being looked at it seems.

Every band wants to sign to a major (in theory) but so many smaller labels do well now, Modern Sky are doing well with the bands they have on their roster. Are they a label you will approach?

We are good friends with Pichilingi who runs the label. We nearly signed to him and his previous label Robot.

The plan was to get the record off Sony and put it out on Robot. So Pichilingi paid for us to go to Wales for a week to record B-sides.

We recorded ‘Middle class masterclass’ on those sessions but couldn’t get the masters for the record in time and due to this it didn’t get released on Robot.

You mentioned interest from other labels, any stories about that?

When we were signed , Atlantic offered us a pretty big US deal including publishing. We turned it down because we were told Sony wanted us to sign a global deal with them so we missed that boat as well. It’s mad, I genuinely think we were cursed!

During the time you were signed to a major label like Sony, how was it? What positives have you taken from that experience?

It was mad really everything happened so quickly we had only been together 6 months with that line up we didn’t have a manager or anything and we started getting label attention. It was weird, after the first label reached out to us it felt like a different label was in touch everyday and were gradually getting bigger and bigger. It got to the point where we were playing small shows and people from Sony or Parlophone were pretty much the only people in the crowd, in-fact once we played a small festival on the back of a wagon in Ribchester which is near Preston and there was A&R from Sony there. We were all pretty intoxicated as we had been drinking all day and we pretty much told him to fuck off because we thought he was lying. Mad really, it got to the point where we had spoke to pretty much all the major labels and quite a few of the big indies.

Being signed was amazing at first. We got to quit our jobs and got paid for pretty much rehearsing and writing all day, it was the dream. We had all come from working class backgrounds and had that work mentality so we treated it as we would a normal job. We had a rehearsal room just outside Manchester City center and we would practice Monday to Friday 9ish till gone 6 everyday and learnt a lot in that time. I think it stands us in good stead today, we just fit together now we all know each other as musician and know exactly what each other are thinking on stage. We could go weeks between proper practices but as soon as we play it’s like we’ve been playing everyday.

In regards to our experience, like I said, it was amazing at first all our dreams had come true but it started to become frustrating. At about 8 months in, before we signed, we had a huge amount of momentum. Labels were all over us. We were selling all our show’s out, our MySpace (remember that) was going mad at one point we were getting about 600/700 plays a day which at the time was huge. We were playing every week, sometimes twice. We had just been mentioned in NME as part of the radar page and clash magazine had named us ones to watch. Then we signed the deal and the label told us to stop playing live and spend the next 6 months writing our album with the promise they would put everything behind us when we’ve finished the album. That completely derailed all the momentum we had built. We stopped booking shows and spent everyday writing and we wouldn’t see anybody from the label for months, when we did they would tell us yeah we’re speaking with producers about the album. At one point it genuinely looked like we were recording the record with Butch Vig in the US, well that’s what we got told. We had started to look at visa’s and stuff but then that went quiet. We had a manger at this point it was Phil Saxe who had managed the Happy Mondays and worked for Factory for years but he was appointed by Sony so he had his hands tied. Anyway, it got that bad we started to book some shows on the sly and we booked ‘in the city’ not on the main stage but one of the fringe shows we smashed it and had another raft of labels approaching us asking what’s the deal with Sony. We even got named as one of the acts of the festival by Clash Magazine. We hoped this would give Sony the kick up the arse they needed but it wasn’t. It’s key to mention, this was the mid noughties and illegal downloading and counterfeit Cd’s where rife. There was no Spotify or Apple Music and the labels were losing huge amounts of money. Sony had just put out kasabians second record and lost a huge amount of money on it . We had heard that a few our our label mates had been offered settlements to terminate there contracts, The Go Team and infact Primal Scream. So the label had started to cull less profitable bands. We had a meeting and got told they were still happy with us and to keep preparing the record so we cracked on for another 3 months but nothing happened and we still weren’t playing regularly. It was then we got an offer.

3 or 4 months after we left, Mani asked us to go and play a show he had put on. We played and the same A&R guy we told fuck of back in Ribchester who we had since become friends with came to watch us. He’d lost his job as part of the cuts and he told us that one of the reasons the label initially signed us was because they saw us a threat to Kasabian who were also on Sony and they wanted to keep us out the hands of other labels.

Which looking back made sense because early on in signing us they started asking us to write some ballads etc which we thought was strange.

Definitely seen the highs and lows of being on a label there. If you were in a new band starting out now, knowing what you know now, what advice would you give them? And also looking back, would you do anything differently?

Trust your own instinct definitely and don’t rush it. Wait to make the right decision and don’t get blinded by the lights. The music industry was a different beast back then it wasn’t as easy to put your own stuff out streaming services were in their infancy as was social media and you needed a label to release music properly. Just take your time and release your own music and don’t get obsessed with getting a label you don’t need them anymore you’ve got google.

The one thing I will say though is gig as much as you can, don’t refuse shows big or little even if it’s in someone’s back garden, play it. That’s why we got signed because we played everything, 2 or 3 gigs a week but never really got any money. We did it for the love of it and the crowds just got bigger and bigger.

Would we of done anything different, yeah we would of taken our time and not rushed. We got blinded by Sony a little before we signed. They sorted us a manger and took us to loads of fancy London parties and paid for everything. It was amazing but it was all just buttering us making sure we didn’t go elsewhere and it worked at the time we had the pick of the labels indies, majors, big indies the lot. We should of listened to what they had to say but we got blinkered. It could of been a completely different story if we would of given one of the other labels the time.

Great advice that but you make a important point about the strength of social media and labels not necessarily being as important as they were. Though there are some good ones about especially indie labels. I do believe in gigging as much as bands can, obviously do your research first and network with bands from other towns first maybe.

Can we talk about your new material? How’s that sounding? And also how much are you releasing and how are you going to about it?

Yeah it’s sounding really good mate. We’re super happy with it. We were always more experimental and been influenced by more than just guitar music. We loved dance music, hip hop, garage etc back in the day. We had a huge set up with loads of analog synths and drum machines only problem was we never really worked out how to use them properly so we were limited and never really got to the sound we wanted.

In a weird way though it worked and give us a kind of rawness at the time.

The difference is now in 7 or 8 years we were apart I got more into the electronic side of music through the likes of four tet, Jamie xx, SBTRKT. So I decided to buy a MacBook with logic and teach myself how to use it with the aim of doing something on my own. In that time I wrote and wrote learning more and more how to use it properly. I never planned on doing anything solo and when we reformed I had a raft of ideas to take to the lads. I wasn’t sure how it would translate with the lads because it was a lot more routed in Dance music with loads of samples and more modern drum patterns but they litterally lapped it up. We managed to build songs really quickly and I’d say we sound more Dirty Circus now than we did when we recorded the first record.

We’re going to release our first proper new music in over 10 years in August. We’re putting it out on our own label ‘Clap it off’ and we’re hoping we can do a video etc. It’s an absolute summer banger hugely influenced by Chicago house and punk rock! With the new stuff, I always say imagine Jonny rotten on ecstasy in the hacienda. The plan is to do it old skool like a lot of the late 90’s bands we are into and do the single with 3 or 4 remixes on it and here’s a world exclusive...it’s called SUNSHINE.

After that we’ve basically got another 5 songs in various stages of mixing but the plan is to do another single after this then put everything together for an EP.

Unfortunately, everything costs money so things don’t move as fast as they would do if we had a label behind us but we’ll get there.

We’ve got a point to prove and that’s what we want to do with these songs.

Well, there you go people...some exclusive news! I love the sound of that though the Johnny Rotten comparison. Is the songwriting process much different to how it was back then?

Not really just a bit more advanced plus there’s only 4 of us now as opposed to 6 back in the day. It’s usually starts with a synth line or drum machine loop then we build it up from that although we have loads of samples and loops we still structure the song pretty traditional. A little secret...we got a deal and we didn’t have any verse lyrics to the songs! I used to make them up every gig and freestyle them. We had choruses that were always the same and a melody but I genuinely used to make the verses up on the spot.

That’s mad innit, but you got away with it and was enough to impress people.

You’ve told us so much about the band and the stories of the highs and the lows of the band.

We’re gonna end on some quick fun questions...

What venue would you love to play?

Wherever you could fit as many people as possible. Not bothered as long as there is 60k+ people watching.

id like to do a massive hometown show in Wigan at the DW or something.

Streaming or Vinyl?

Streaming

If you could gig with any band (alive or dead) who would it be?

It’s difficult, but probably peak Happy Mondays, around 89-90 era.

Facebook or Twitter?

I’m personally more Instagram, but out the 2 Facebook, just.

Thanks for taking the time to chat to us, we’ve learned so much about the band!

Thanks for everything mate. Thanks for all the support over the last few months mate.

#Dirtycircus #Wiganmusicscene #Theboulevard #SFTSWIGAN

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ddrkirbyisq · 4 years ago

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It's always easier to write about things at the time, than to try and recall previous feelings at a later point. I guess that's why blogging every day after school always felt like a nice thing...

Most of last week was pretty busy (and even a few days the week before, honestly), mostly with work stuff, though that slowed down towards the end of the week. I was left this weekend with a weird feeling of not knowing whether I should try to just catch up on some stuff that I need to do (to feel better), or to just try to not really do anything productive at all (to feel better). When "being productive" and "being not productive" are sometimes two different roads to the same outcome it becomes difficult to evaluate where I should go. As always, though, balance is usually the right answer, and my mind is quick to course-correct whenever it has strayed too far in one direction or the other.

Yesterday, for example, I didn't really get to check anything substantial off of the todo list at all, so today I ended up making up for it by handling an album release, then working on a song for 4 hours, as well as writing and finishing a letter. Pretty much any day where I get to put significant progress (in this case, finishing the entire rough draft) towards a song outside of OHC time is usually a good day for me...

Did some "fun but also hard work" things this past week as well. We had a sushi night where I got to play sushi chef and make 4 different types of nigiri. Although my raw fish were not quite the ideal shapes/sizes, it was quite an experience trying to slice through them in one clean motion with my knife. I can see why people use single beveled blades for this stuff -- you can really feel it when your knife isn't up to snuff for this particular task. Forming the sushi rice itself was much easier this time, knowing that the "water" that you dip your hands into to avoid rice sticking should actually be a mixture of water and rice vinegar... We also did a hair bleaching + dyeing session, so I'm back to a deep blue color with some purple tips.

I've got a mental "checkup" of sorts coming up and thinking about that was a good chance for me to inventory what has potentially been bothering me in my life, even if those things are not really rearing their ugly heads at me at this moment. Usually it's the same few things, honestly...stress, people, family, and loss (not necessarily in that order). Out of all of those loss is the one that is perhaps most pervasive, though it also is not really as much of an issue when I'm busy being distracted by all the other ones. Thoughts about loss and "abandonment" are of a different nature really, than all of the other ones, and I'm sure that is obvious just from the way that I write about it.

As we settle into September it's important (as always) that we continue to track what makes sense for us to do in terms of our goals for Social Studies. Listening to an online LGBTQ+ roundtable for the city that I live in, one of the takeaways I got from it was how important it can be to make it obvious in our communities and interactions that we are thinking about inclusivity and to call out gender typing / etc. This is of course something that I've thought about a lot in the past as it relates to typecasting social dance roles, but there are a number of ways in which we can probably do better about that outside of dance as well. I've tried to make my pronouns (now listed as "he/him/she/her all OK") present in a few more places as that is something that is quite easy to do. I admittedly still have to get used to bringing that up when introducing myself, though that is difficult since introducing myself is something that so rarely happens in the first place...but I guess I can always start asking when I meet new people too. Honestly though, a lot of the time I hardly even ask for people's names when I meet them...bleh

In other news, I've been trying to get a little bit more aware of my sleep cycles -- not just my schedule of sleeping itself, but trying to be a little more conscious of regulating exactly how much sleep I get. After one too many times of waking up groggy due to getting "the wrong" amount of sleep I figured I should probably try to do a better job of figuring out what the "right" amount of sleep is. I've figured out for example that I tend to come out of a sleep cycle about 4 hours after sleeping, but I've yet to solidly figure out whether 7.5 or 8 or 9 are good number of hours for me to really feel ready to wake up in the morning (though I can guess).

I've been a little less involved with positive activism than I'd like to be. Granted, I've been busy, so that is sort of an excuse for it, but I don't think that's really the whole story either. I think I skimped a bit on research that I should have done in the meantime for more critical activism. Anyways, right now instead of that I've actually been thinking to sort of sidetrack my efforts and instead look for penpal programs. I tried writing a letter for the Letters to Strangers project and I may do so again but I felt like it did feel a bit impersonal to be sending a letter into the void. Granted, these blog posts are perhaps much the same thing, and there are certain times at which perhaps I would be ok with sending a letter to the void. But it seems perhaps more in line with my sensibilities to send a letter that is actually directed towards someone. I've joined up with a program that claims to pair writers with nursing home patients/workers to write to, so we'll see if that ends up going anywhere. Who knows, maybe I will end up finding someone who will actually write back, unlike all of those many people who seem to only exist in the memories of my past.

#Blogger

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onlinemarketingcourses · 6 years ago

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Massive Transformation in Six Months—Before/After with Walid Azami

Pat Flynn: Building a business is all about transformation. For you as a business owner: learning from your mistakes, growing over time, adapting to different situations, hopefully becoming a better person, one percent better every single day perhaps. And it’s about transformation of your audience and the customers that you have: your subscribers, your readers, your viewers, and you the listener.

And hopefully you’ve been transformed over the year, through a number of the examples that people have set here as guests on the show, sharing their stories and transformations that they’ve had. Hopefully you’ve been transformed by the information in some of the solo episodes that I’ve done here on The Smart Passive Income Podcast.

And since we’re closing in on 2019, and most of you hopefully have some really big, lofty goals for 2019, I’m excited to share with you today a unique episode, where it’s not an interview, per se, although it is a conversation with a person who has gone through a major transformation. What I’m gonna do here is pull specific episodes of AskPat and share them with you. If you don’t know what AskPat is, it’s a podcast where I coach a student and entrepreneur just like you through a process.

In Episode 1022, which was published about midyear 2018 here, I coached a guy named Walid Azami, who has a business called How to Photograph. He teaches people photography; he’s been doing it for free on Instagram and through other channels, YouTube, for quite a while. And in this episode I coached him through the process to help him figure out, well, what could he do to actually monetize this audience that he’s built? And I brought him back on the show in Episode 1044, which had just come out at the end of November. And the transformation that he went through, based on what I had coached him through, was absolutely just amazing.

So what I wanted to do was actually play Episode 1022, and then immediately after that play Episode 1044. Just six months different between the two interviews, or two conversations, and you’re gonna hear an immediate change in his intonation, in his confidence, in the action that he’s been taking. And Walid, I know you listen to the show, I’m just so proud of you for the transformation that you’ve created for yourself, and your audience, and those who are going to be served by you.

And for all of you listening, I want you to pay attention to not just how he sounds and the words that he uses, but just what he feels about himself, the story that he’s telling himself in the first half. And then I want you to consider the same things in the second half. And so, we’re not gonna play the intro music here, this is to help motivate you through the rest of the year here, into 2019. Because I know, like I said, you have some goals for yourself. And I want you to realize that amazing change can happen in a relatively short period of time. In just six months Walid went through the transformation that you’re about to hear and I hope, and I wish, and I know that you can have transformations just like this too.

So here we are, Walid Azami, who was published on AskPat in Episode 1022 in June. And we’ll consider this the Before picture, if you will. Then you’ll hear the After right after that.

Walid, welcome. Thank you for joining us here on AskPat 2.0. How are you doing?

Walid Azami: I’m doing great.

Pat Flynn: Why don’t you quickly introduce yourself and what you do to me and all the listeners.

Walid Azami: Sure. Well first of all, thank you for everything you do for the community. I’ve been listening for a couple of years and when I heard you accepting guests I had a weird feeling. I said, “You know what, just hit him up today.” So I screen-captured my phone so that I didn’t forget it—it was in my gallery. I went home that night and I’m glad that we connected.

A little about me. Let’s see if I can abbreviate this. My name is Walid Azami, I am a photographer, director, and creative director in Los Angeles. I’m one of those people that, I’ve seen a lot of success with my career as far as the portfolio that I’ve been able to build. Some of my clients, I guess many of your listeners would be familiar with: Madonna, Kanye West, Mariah Carey . . .

Pat Flynn: Insane.

Walid Azami: . . . The NFL. Insane people that I still, even right now when I name them I still have a wow moment, because Walid the little refugee from Afghanistan, that wasn’t supposed to happen for him that way.

I guess to give you an idea of what I do, I photograph album covers, magazine editorials, world tour posters. I also create video content for a lot of companies. My career has been about ten or eleven years long. Let’s just say I’ve seen things Pat, and I think that’s safe to say for every entrepreneur, but I guess the things that we hear about in Hollywood and about Hollywood . . . I’ve seen things. So I always was amazed from just the onset of my career how few people . . . Let me see if I’m saying that right. I guess the amount of people that wouldn’t help each other out. I recall starting out, asking people that I knew had the answers. They would just say, “You know Walid, I don’t know.” I got it early on. I was like, “Oh I get it, we’re not going to help each other and this is what it’s going to be.” I remember starting out very, very early and promising myself—I remember the exact little strip mall that I started my first ever internship for a documentary. It was a mockumentary. I went to go shake the producer’s hand and I said, “Hi, I’m Walid. I’m your intern for the day.” He looked at my hand, didn’t shake it, and said, “Can you go to Subway and get me a sandwich?” I remember walking down the street, walking in that strip mall and thinking, “When I make it I’m not going to be like this. I’m going to be different and I believe that helping others is the right thing to do.”

Fast forward about nine to ten years, and I have been very fortunate to make it professionally. Again, really nobody helped me; I never forgot that. But the past couple of years a lot has happened to the photography world. And artists, where they’re asking us to work for free for exposure—I lost the album cover for a major superstar because another photographer offered to do it in exchange for Instagram mentions. On top of that, I had a photo agent that started blaming the shift in the industry on things like, “Walid, maybe you need to lose some weight.” I’m by no means—

Pat Flynn: What?

Walid Azami: —heavy. Yeah, for real. I remember he had sent a personal trainer’s brochure with a Post-it note that said, “Think about it.” Now, I’m 190 pounds, 5’9″, so listen, I don’t have a six-pack, but I think that I’m fairly average. I remember thinking, “But I’m behind the camera.” It was all these different things, Pat. It was just, there was a lack of honesty and everything. I got so fed up with the industry that the worst thing that could happen to a creative—I actually hated photography, and I put my camera down for eight months.

I think that everyone is allowed to have a . . . I’m trying to abbreviate this Pat, sorry.

Pat Flynn: No, no please, this is all great, as far as understanding where your head is at.

Walid Azami: I think everyone is allowed to have a moment to fall apart, to have a tantrum, and then you got to get up and do something about it.

I had a very rich portfolio but I was like, “Oh my god, it’s like, what is happening, and there’s a shift in the industry and everything. I’m just not happy with the way that any of it is going and I’m unfulfilled.” In those eight months of not picking up the camera—it was dusty, I didn’t even touch the camera—I thought, “Okay, enough. Now be a part of the answer.”

I secretly started an Instagram account called @HowtoPhotograph. I just put myself out there with zero followers and I started helping photographers little nugget by little nugget with lighting tips, composition tips, business advice, how to talk to a customer, how to negotiate, how to get out of a heated situation. Everything that I learned over the past decade, I started feeding them little by little and they had no idea who this was. In about a year, year and a half, I grew to over 20,000 followers. Then with the convincing of a friend he said, “Look, you got to attach your name. You have a rich portfolio. People would probably listen a lot more if they knew that you photographed Kanye West or you’ve done these incredible clients.” So I did attach my name.

The weird thing is that I think your community is very much the same way, but I always tell people, “I have probably the politest community of followers ever.” They help each other. I don’t have to really even monitor it too much, but I make sure I answer every single person’s question, their DM, and I help them build a career in photography. This has been about two and a half—I’m probably about 28,000 followers now thanks to Instagram’s algorithm, that slowed things down. But, this has been one of the most fulfilling things of my career. It actually helped me pick the camera back up again and start going at a new, unprecedented pace, and start booking clients again and everything. It gave me back the soul that I thought was missing in my career.

After about two and a half years—I’m really skimming over it, but after about two and a half years I want to start monetizing the account little by little. Up until this point I really haven’t made any money whatsoever, but I’ve put a tremendous amount of time and money into educating people, even down to somebody asking me what kind of camera they should buy their son for Christmas. I do the research and make sure that . . . because I believe in providing value. These people are amazing and the DMs that I get, the comments that I get—a couple times it’s even made me emotional. I’m like, “Wow, you’re in Ukraine and I had that impact on you,” or wherever they would be.

So I guess my reason for reaching out now is I love this account. I still am photographing my clients. I still am doing creative directing and directing videos, but this is such a passion now. I’m looking for ways to start monetizing it. I’ve written two ebooks that I’ve not yet released, and the ebooks are a Part One and a Part Two of how to set up an entire fashion shoot and book an agency model, and hire your team, and stay in control, and execute your vision from the idea, to the mood-boarding, to everything. Then Book Two takes you step by step to delivering the images to the client. It is the book that I wished was around when I started. I compiled basically over a decade’s worth of knowledge and information, and I put it together in a book that kept growing, and growing, and growing. That’s where I’m at Pat, is that I want to start monetizing this.

One more thing to add to the wrench in the spokes, is that I’m very sensitive, I think maybe because of the way I grew up. We really didn’t have any money, especially as refugees in America. I would say about 40 percent of my audience are from countries that, let’s say India, Singapore, countries that don’t have a lot of money. I want to be able to monetize, but I also want to be very, very conscious of still being able to help these people that may not have the same access to the money that we do in the United States.

Pat Flynn: Sure.

Walid Azami: That’s my puzzle and that’s why I reached out.

Pat Flynn: Well thank you Walid. First of all, just, I appreciate people like you because you’re doing it right.

Walid Azami: Thank you.

Pat Flynn: You had gone through all this experience of not being treated well and not being . . . Even though you’re helping you’re not being recognized for that. Here you are now doing it differently and giving the industry really what it needs. I think the Instagram growth, and the DMs, and all the following that you have now, the tribe that you’ve built, is a reflection of really who you are and the work that you’ve done to make change in the industry. I think that’s really huge. I think a lot of people can follow your example. It wasn’t easy obviously, but you did it and I think the reason your audience is so kind is because you are kind. I teach this to my kids, I go, “What you give the world the world gives back to you.” You’re receiving back what you have now allowed yourself to give. I would encourage you to keep building that audience and to keep treating people that way, and to keep serving first, and I can feel it and I can hear it in your voice. You will be wildly successful, and you are obviously, but in this realm, continue down this route and you will be successful in this realm too.

Let’s see if we can jam and talk a little bit about monetization. Obviously, and you know this, I can already tell, monetization is a result of how helpful you are to your audience, right?

Walid Azami: Right, right.

Pat Flynn: To your concern about those countries, the 40 percent of countries who you feel just don’t, maybe don’t have the income: Number one, you don’t know that for sure.

Walid Azami: Right.

Pat Flynn: I think we have this perception of countries and how it might be there. Yes, there’s likely a number of people in all countries who cannot afford whatever it is that you’re going to offer. In that sense, that was a big issue with me related to building online courses. I was worried that by building online courses I was going to leave a lot of people out and still not be able to help them, the exact same concern that you had. If you create programs, if you release ebooks and they require a payment, are you taking anything away that you’re already doing? Can you still help those people through the content that you’re already sharing?

Walid Azami: Great question. Yes, I still can. I think it’s basically, if you buy an ebook you’re setting it all together organized at once versus drop after drop over months and months.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, absolutely. People pay for convenience if they can afford it and if they cannot they still have the means to find that information, and they want to get that information, whether it’s paid or free, from you because of the kind of culture that you’re building around your brand and your business. Whoever gave you that advice to put you into your Instagram, I think you owe them something because your name should be there. That’s number one, and hopefully that helps defeat that demon in your head about, “I’m going to be upsetting people by doing this,” because that’s a limiting belief and I think that’s a stigma that we all have from how we grew up and other people have taken advantage of us. So you’re different, and you should remember that.

Number two, in terms of monetization, the best way to do it, and you have this advantage now because you have this large audience who is communicative with you—have you done any asking, of all the things that you’ve talked about, what they need help with the most? You can maybe gauge based on the Instagram posts that you’ve had, since they are very specific to certain things, which ones are more popular than others and the kinds of information that they want. But I’m curious, have you done any surveying or have you asked around? Are your ebooks that you haven’t released yet, that we’ll get to in a second, were they a result of requests or was that kind of just, “Here’s what I’m into right now?”

Walid Azami: Great question. I think the ebooks are definitely a result of a lot of requests. It’s because, even if I go do a photo shoot, this is for a magazine or whatever it is, I take them with me. Do you know what I mean? They, a lot of times will say, “Oh my God, how do you book this,” or, “I wish I could shoot models,” or, “I don’t live in New York or LA.” It’s all their comments and DMs as a result, but I have here or there . . . Now, I haven’t sent out a survey. I haven’t done any sort of polls. Once in a while I’ll do a post like “Your Biggest Frustration as a Photographer is:” and then it’s just—

Pat Flynn: That’s perfect. That’s all you need. That’s perfect.

Walid Azami: Okay, okay. They’re very eager to share.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, that’s great. That’s awesome. That will give you some insight on what people are looking for. Then, you create those solutions. If this ebook is a solution to some of those problems that your audience has, then my big question is, well why is it just sitting there dormant? What’s going on?

Walid Azami: Part of it is, which I don’t want to admit, is a little bit of paralysis by analysis—is that the term, or no?

Pat Flynn: Yeah, I think that’s right, or analysis paralysis or whatever.

Walid Azami: Yeah, sure.

Pat Flynn: What are you analyzing?

Walid Azami: Is it perfect enough? Is it good enough? I’m attaching my name. Because my whole career has been “it has to be perfect,” and so basically the book that was supposed to be . . . you know it’s for ebook, so for Kindles and stuff. I thought it would be twenty pages, plenty of information. Now I have, combined, about ninety pages, actually a little more than that even. I keep adding and adding.

Finally, I just realized, “Stop. There can be future books.” I actually was going to release it this week and then I got so excited about speaking with you I thought, “Well I’ve delayed it this long. I want to talk to Pat first and then release it.” Now it’s like researching, do I just put it on Amazon and my website? Do I just do my website only? Everything, my whole career including this—and I think everybody is about being self-taught . . . It’s such a huge flow of information that every day I’m trying to learn something about doing this the right way. I’m kind of making excuses too, I just realized as I’m talking to you.

Pat Flynn: So what should the answer be then?

Walid Azami: The answer is, I think I just wanted to be so great and so helpful, and I know that it is because there is no other book like this out there. But it’s my first product and I just want it to be received well.

Pat Flynn: What are you scared of?

Walid Azami: That my intentions don’t come across.

Pat Flynn: How might they not come across the way you want it to?

Walid Azami: How might it not?

Pat Flynn: Yeah. You’ve, I’m sure, talked about, in the book, why you wrote the book.

Walid Azami: Yeah.

Pat Flynn: So where might a person misunderstand you, if you’re being so clear about those intentions?

Walid Azami: Well . . . good point, Pat.

Pat Flynn: Again, this is just . . . Don’t worry Walid, this is so common. We make up our own excuses, excuses that when you really think about it shouldn’t even exist. So just dissolve that in your head right now.

Walid Azami: Okay.

Pat Flynn: That intention, based on the conversation that we had today and based on your history, and based on what I know that you put into this, that’s not going to be a problem. In terms of monetization I think, number one, release book number one now, that way it’s out there, that will help build your name and authority. I like the idea of you had mentioned that these people might not be able to afford it, but if it’s on Amazon it’s likely affordable.

Walid Azami: Right.

Pat Flynn: And you’re not charging hundreds of dollars for it. Now, I will say that putting a book on Amazon isn’t going to make you a ton of money.

Walid Azami: Sure.

Pat Flynn: But it’s going to get your name out there and potentially and indirectly make you more money down the road, because now people are going to go deeper with you. They’re going to want more from you. I assume this might happen, this is very common, especially with how-to type books, they’re going to read this and they’re going to go, “Yes, I want to hire Walid to help me do this,” or, “I want something more in depth,” or, “I want coaching from him. Is there a workshop I can go to?” I would encourage you to think of maybe, if people wanted more what would that mean? That has to come from you and how you want to do it. As an entrepreneur, you have the freedom to create whatever you want and if you promise that outcome, that can be framed in all kinds of different ways, whether it’s an in-person workshop, a virtual workshop, maybe it’s a summit you put on, like a virtual summit, or a more in depth online course perhaps. That’s kind of cool. I would encourage you to pre-sell those things. It’s a little bit easier to pre-sell an event in our heads because you always charge upfront for tickets before an event. For information, for coaching, that stuff can be charged upfront too and then you have to obviously deliver that.

A book is just step one, and actually before we even launched the book I would ask you, is there any way that you are collecting a person’s information, i.e. email address, through that book that they’re going to read?

Walid Azami: In the book yeah, there is a . . . I actually do a, on my blog for HowtoPhotograph.net, at the end of almost every single article there will be newsletter form that they could sign up for. I do try to collect. It’s not a huge number, but it does sort of grow. You know what’s interesting Pat, is I’ll get a lot of signups on my Instagram Stories and this is what’s fascinating, is that—or to me it is, is that I’ll say, “Hey guys, for my next shoot I’m actually hiring one person. One of my assistants is coming straight from the newsletter from that list.” So I try to give them these experiences that they can’t get any other place.

Pat Flynn: Do you talk about that when people are signing up for the list, or only after people are on the list?

Walid Azami: Well I’ll say it, like actually I recorded the video last night and I’m putting it out today of, “Hey guys, I’m doing an eight page magazine editorial with a famous boxer. I want to invite one person either as hired help, or if they don’t have the abilities at the moment, to come in as a guest and watch.” I tell them that, but when I offer those sort of things the signups surge.

Also, it surges sometimes when I get a little bit frustrated and I say, “Look guys, I’m doing everything I can to help, so those people that want to be helped you’re going to sign up, but I’m not going to keep begging for signups on the newsletter. When I give them a little bit of tough love, then the signups surge. It’s the weirdest thing. If I say, “Hey guys, I’m gibing a freebee, I’m giving an exclusive tutorial on this. Please make sure you sign up for the newsletter,” it won’t move the needle very much at all until they really feel like they’re getting a little bit of tough love.

Pat Flynn: Interesting.

Walid Azami: Yeah it’s very interesting to me. I was like, “Okay, I guess that’s what they respond to.”

Pat Flynn: Yeah well, I mean they’re responding to you. The reason I bring this up is because most of the time, not always, it depends on the brand, but most of the time if you just offer an exclusive newsletter you’re not providing enough incentive. Because a newsletter is essentially telling people, “Hey, I’m going to send you more emails.” Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, “I want more emails.”

Walid Azami: True.

Pat Flynn: People wake up in the morning and go, “Man, if only I had the opportunity to shadow somebody who can help me in my career.” I would make that more prominent. Like, “Every month or every once and a while I select one of my email subscribers to come shadow me at a job or whatever, and you’ll hear more inside the email list and you also get a freebee,” or something. Anyway, the email list thing is not a huge deal because you already are building your audience and you’re utilizing Instagram and such, and I think that’s great. But I just wanted to make sure that the book had mechanisms to help you understand who is reading the book and, if possible, maybe have something closer to the top of the book versus the bottom to do that.

Walid Azami: I like that, okay.

Pat Flynn: Because now you have people who are starting to read the book who could be a cohort of people who might want more help, or maybe get frustrated by reading the book and they’re like, “This is too much work. I just want somebody to do it for me, or do it with me.”

In terms of next steps, I just want to ask you before we finish up, do you have further goals for how you want to monetize? A book is a great step one, but what might step two or three be for you? What do you want to do?

Walid Azami: I love the idea of workshops. I haven’t gotten to it. So when you mentioned it, I love workshops and I do coaching a little bit here and there, so I would love the idea of, just like right now, setting up Skype calls or whatever and coaching people with their photography career. That’s I think the next thing immediately after the book. Of course, I want to keep expanding the brand, but online workshops I think, and coaching abilities would probably be the next thing on the radar, which are all, by the way, things I’ve learned from your podcast, even the newsletter and all that. I didn’t collect emails before your show.

Pat Flynn: Well thank you, you’re too kind continuing to credit me, but you’re the one that took action. Have you ever seen those ads on Instagram and on Facebook for those famous people who go learn directing from Ron Howard, or those Master Class ones?

Walid Azami: Yeah.

Pat Flynn: People go gaga over those because they want to learn from those people who have that experience, and you have this amazing, unique ability that many other photographers who are teaching photographs don’t have, which is you have this experience in the industry. You’ve done photography for these mega stars and people want to connect with people like you. If you were to just simply offer, “Hey guys, I’m going to be coaching X number of people, apply here,” you’re going to get a flood of people who want to apply. That’s something that you could potentially charge a lot for. The book is even something that you could potentially, after it’s out there, you could potentially get it down as essentially just a lead generator for that. I think you could even charge it for ninety-nine cents, or every once and a while even give it away for free, which surges the people who read the book who dive deeper into you and your story, and your teaching. Then they’re like, “Oh I want more. I wish it was just coaching.” Then boom, through your email you go, “Hey, next month I’m opening up two coaching spots. I’m taking two students for $1,000 a month to help you further your career in photography and we’ll talk directly every week,” or something like that. You can develop the price points on your own, but I mean, that’s high level stuff. To connect with somebody of your caliber, you should be charging a premium for that.

Here’s what a few people do who are in similar situations. They don’t want to coach, but they still offer the coaching at a really premium level because they have a number. Like, “Yeah, I’ll coach somebody for like $3,000 a week.” Then they position themselves as that, and that anchors that price there for them. People go, “Oh wow, $3,000 a session, that’s way too much. But they have this online course though, and it’s only $200, wow okay that’s kind of a steal. I should totally get that because I can’t afford $3,000 per session, or per month, or whatever it is, but I can definitely afford a premium online course that’s likely going to give me the same information, just not access to a lead, but here’s all I need.” That could be a later phase, or just kind of planting seeds for what is available. You’ve definitely opened things up for yourself.

Walid Azami: I love that. Okay. No, I love that idea. Thank you. Sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you off.

Pat Flynn: No, no, that was the end of it. I want to hear from you what the biggest things you learned were from this conversation, and if you could tell me and everybody else what your next steps are going to be, I think that might help hold you accountable.

Walid Azami: Absolutely. Can I ask one quick question on the ebooks though?

Pat Flynn: Yeah.

Walid Azami: Because I love what you said about possibly offering it for free or for ninety-nine cents as a lead generator. Book one and book two, they basically take you from pre-production to post-production, so you need both books. Should I offer the first book for free as a lead generator, and then if they choose to buy the second book, should book one always be for free to build up the email list, or just here or there?

Pat Flynn: No. What you could do to help build the email list is take maybe chapter one of book one and give that away.

Walid Azami: Okay.

Pat Flynn: That would help people want to get the book and you’ll get the email. It’s a lot easier to go from email in a little snippet and preview essentially, like when you go to Costco and they’re like, “Here, free sample.” Then you’re like, “Oh my gosh, this dumpling is so good.” They’re going to want to get more.

I would have the books on Amazon. There’s some authority here with that, and the algorithms will help you as well. Just like with Instagram, there are algorithms and they can definitely work in your favor once you get some surge in traffic. There’s SEO, search engine optimization, but there’s also, “people who bought this also bought that,” and that gives you some additional exposure too. I would release book one, make a big deal out of it. Talk about how it’s at a low price point right now, maybe it’s $4.99, and then say, “Guys, next week I’m going to be bumping up the price to $9.99, which is going to be the normal price point, but for this week only it’s $4.99, so this is your time to go and get it now.” That will help you with the rankings. That will help you get more exposure and give Amazon like a, “Oh, this book is one I need to pay attention to and recommend.” Then of course, when you increase the price point, then that becomes something that can produce money for you.

Then you have the second book and then maybe you can, during certain times of the month or during certain holidays, you can always lower the price for a short time period to bring people in. Like I said, people are going to be in your ecosystem, they’re going to want more from you and then you can begin to offer more things down the road. But yeah, I think Amazon is a great play for you. It sounds like you’re excited about coaching, and perhaps online courses and things like that. That’s a perfect play. You’ve already built the thing, so I would say just tweak it a little bit and launch it.

Walid Azami: Awesome. Thanks Pat. I guess then when you said, “What did I learn,” I learned a whole bunch, but if I could just bullet point it real fast: Release the book, stop making excuses. So that’s number one. I never thought about, don’t assume someone’s price point or the size of their wallet. That’s what’s really important for me to remember, is that if they are not able to afford coaching workshops or an ebook I’m not cheating them out of the information. They still are getting it, it’s just at a slower rate. So everyone still has access.

Pat Flynn: Here’s the other thing about that, I was just thinking about out loud, or I am thinking out loud, is they can afford a camera.

Walid Azami: Yeah.

Pat Flynn: It’s not like you’re targeting five year olds who literally don’t have money. You’re targeting people, young adults and adults most likely, who want to get into photography. They obviously know that there’s going to be some sort of investment, especially when it comes to equipment. If they can afford the equipment or be able to rent it, they’re going to have a lot of value coming from you and would likely be able to afford you as well.

Walid Azami: Solid point. That’s a solid point for sure. I got it, it’s common sense. So there’s that. Then of course I love what you said about maybe putting the opportunity to sign up for the mail list earlier on in the book, so that—as they become frustrated or if they are overwhelmed they may not reach the end of the book. I love the idea of putting that in the front end to sign up for something, and then potentially very soon after, up-sell on coaching or workshops.

Probably one of the biggest points from today is maybe I downplayed the effect of being able to shadow me on a magazine shoot or a commercial shoot. I would just mention that as a by the way, but I really have never written it down on the website or bullet pointed it. I think that might be a huge selling point to sign up for further information.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, dude it’s a huge opportunity. If you were starting out in a career you would bend over backwards for that.

Walid Azami: I would kill for that.

Pat Flynn: You could try this out too, I don’t know the legalities of it, but you could potentially offer a spot as an Instagram ad to get more Instagram followers.

Walid Azami: Okay, so I’ll look into that.

Pat Flynn: I mean, I’m just brainstorming, but the fact that you’re letting people do that is huge. That’s something that could potentially turn into content too on a blog, or behind the scenes on your Instagram channel, and a video—that’s just bonkers.

Walid Azami: Okay, yeah. No, I love that, thank you. I’m happy to hear you say that at least I’m on the right path, I just need to push myself a little bit more and to not be so shy about asking for their support. I will look into that Instagram ad idea also, in exchange for more followers.

Pat Flynn: How can we, as a community here, make sure that you take action on this? How can I help you more?

Walid Azami: I would love to just—if possible, I would love to set a deadline where I can even email you and say, “Pat, I promised by this date the following things would happen and here they are delivered.” I just am maybe being held accountable, but I’m so open to if you have any suggestions of how I could maybe receive the help too. I’ve always been huge on doing it myself and never asking for help, which is a huge downfall.

Pat Flynn: What’s your Twitter handle or Instagram?

Walid Azami: On Instagram it’s @HowtoPhotograph.

Pat Flynn: Just literally, @HowtoPhotograph is your username there?

Walid Azami: That’s it, yeah.

Pat Flynn: I see it. All right guys, if you are on Instagram right now and you’re hearing this, and you want to help Walid take the steps to make this happen, find him, @HowtoPhotograph, and just send him a quick message of encouragement. What I would recommend to you Walid, is also take some time today to consider all the things you want to do and send me an email later, within twenty-four hours, with that date and that deadline like you talked about. That way I can just plan my schedule, a quick reminder to go and message you on that day to see how things are going. So knowing that’s coming can help you push forward.

Walid Azami: That’s amazing, Pat. Thank you.

Pat Flynn: Well man, I got you. We got you. @HowtoPhotograph on Instagram, approaching 30k followers. Great job, man. Thank you for being vulnerable and for sharing all this today. We wish you the best.

Walid Azami: Thank you so much. I appreciate it, and thank you, just for everything you do. I learned so much.

Pat Flynn: That’s why I’m here.

Walid Azami: Yeah, thanks Pat.

Pat Flynn: Alright, so that was Walid. And he took action. And I’m so thankful that I got to follow up with him on AskPat, which we often do. We bring a number of people back, actually all of November and half of December on AskPat were episodes where we brought people back on. By the way, if you’d like to get coached just like I coached Walid there, all you have to do is go to AskPat.com and fill out an application there. And please, if you haven’t yet subscribed to AskPat, go ahead and find it on iTunes or wherever you’re listening to this podcast right now. When you have the chance, subscribe to it, because we have many, many more episodes, and many, many more transformations to be had next year in 2019.

So, in the second half here we’re gonna bring Walid back. I want you to listen to his voice, his confidence, and also a big shout out to all of you who listen to AskPat and who actually helped as well. And you’ll hear exactly what that means, right now.

Walid, welcome back to AskPat 2.0, thanks for coming back again man, I appreciate it. Looking forward to the update.

Walid Azami: Thank you, thank you for having me, and yeah, a lot has changed since.

Pat Flynn: Ooh, I’m excited to dig in. For those of you who might not remember, Walid was featured in Episode 1022; the title of that episode was “How Do I Sell but Still Help People For Free?” We talked a lot about mindset related to price points and all those kinds of things, and he has an amazing, amazing photography business. You can also find him on Instagram @HowtoPhotograph.

Walid Azami: How to Photograph, yeah.

Pat Flynn: @HowtoPhotograph, so check that out on Instagram, you can see he’s got over 30,000 Instagram followers at this point, which is amazing. So give us an update, what’s been happening since? We’ll kinda see where this conversation goes.

Walid Azami: Awesome, thank you Pat. First of all, right after . . . Once the episode aired, I wanna say I got easily about forty to forty-five people because I think the last time you did say, “Hey, let’s hold Walid accountable, let’s motivate him,” and I got the nicest, kindest DM messages just out of the blue from all around the world, and it was such a cool thing to see the impact of this show. I tried to leave each one of them a video thank you message back, but it was so cool to get all that after your show. And it was very helpful to hold me accountable.

But right after, when I spoke to you last, I had talked about just exploring the idea of monetizing How to Photograph—and just as a review, How to Photograph is basically the channel on Instagram. Of course there’s other channels that go with it, YouTube and all that, but the core of it is the Instagram. It’s to be the account, to be the mentorship that I wish I had when I was first starting. With all of my wins and all of my losses and everything, up and down, I use that as personal experience to give people insight and background and help them with their business.

So you did inspire me to help . . . I was sitting on a couple ebooks: Part One and Part Two of Building Your Fashion Photography Portfolio: The complete guide of setting up a fashion shoot and building that portfolio. Of course, I found every reason and everything to do first, literally everything, like, “Let me email my cousin about . . .” Just anything to waste time.

Pat Flynn: As we do; that’s what we do.

Walid Azami: Yeah. And I had read articles saying, “When you first launch your ebook, try to go into a lesser category that’s less competitive,” and after we did the show and just said, “Just do it, get out of your own way,” I decided to go and just advertise it on my Instagram and let people know that it’s out there.

That first week, it went—Part One and Part Two went to number one and number two for all of photography on Amazon Books, and then all of fashion photography.

Pat Flynn: Good for you, man.

Walid Azami: Thank you. And I was like . . . I have a whole different attitude, if you hear my voice between this and Episode 1022 . . . I was just so shy about asking for my followers to support my next thing. And I changed my mindset also of, hey, I’m not asking for them to give me charity, I’m asking for them to invest in themselves.

Pat Flynn: Ooh, that’s it right there, dude; that’s the secret sauce.

Walid Azami: That’s it, right? And I think that was the big switch that happened. I said, “You know what, no, I’m doing this to help them, I’ve always started this for that.” So I actually decided, right before this was scheduled, I took the books down because they’re going to turn into a supplementary video course but I’m now, in about two weeks, probably about the time this publishes I will have started my video course for 30 Days to Starting a Photo Business. Start to finish, hold your hand through every single step of getting a business license, to which social channels you need, how to use each one, how to do contracts, emails, newsletters, networking, how to build your portfolios or website, what they’re looking for, how they’re hiring. Literally ten years of a career, I’m holding everyone’s hand through the process.

Pat Flynn: Yes.

Walid Azami: So that’s my new thing that I’m—

Pat Flynn: This is so cool.

Walid Azami: Thank you.

Pat Flynn: I don’t even know if you had mentioned the course last time, or if that was even an idea. Did we even talk about that before? It was just the books, right?

Walid Azami: You had mentioned it, as in, “Hey Walid, people are gonna read your books and then they’re gonna say, “This was very cool, it’s very informative. Where can I get more information?” Right? And we had mentioned in person workshops, or video courses, because I was gonna have to scale. So it is sort of borne of that conversation, but there was no plans of doing a course at that time. I was just receiving the information.

Pat Flynn: Right, right. It’s cool because you’ve been able to put these plans into place, and obviously it looks like you’ve already outlined what you’re gonna be talking about in those courses, which you can see how momentum plays a role here in the online business. You can see Walid just had to take some of those first steps, and sometimes we don’t even know what those first steps are, or we need somebody else to kinda help us as we’re taking our first steps, and then you get that momentum going.

And just like Newton says, an object in motion tends to stay in motion. That’s something that’s really important in business, is to keep going with that momentum. But obviously the opposite is true: An object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted on by an outside force. I’m thankful that I was able to become a little bit of that outside force, and you were able to see those small wins that have now led to bigger ones, and there will be bigger ones along the way.

And then also a side note, just a big thanks to all the listeners out there who had taken action and had reached out and encouraged Walid to get started. I think that’s so cool. I didn’t even know that happened. To know that the world is behind you. And of course it’s just a small percentage of people who are actually supporting you, because not everybody’s gonna take the time to do that, but how cool is that? You guys are amazing.

Walid Azami: That was one of the most moving things for me, was that . . . I was like, “Wow, you really . . .” I hope it doesn’t come out the wrong way, but you really didn’t have to do that. You don’t know me. And you’re in Portugal, or you are in another part of the United States, and you actually took the time out of your busy day, because we’re all very busy, and you’re like, “You know what, I’m gonna hear this guy, I’m gonna type in How to Photograph on Instagram, then I’m gonna click . . .” I just think of all the levels of barriers to do that, and it’s the most touching thing. It just completely warmed me up.

Pat Flynn: That’s so cool, and hopefully some of them are listening to this episode too and smiling big and realizing that your little message made a big impact. And I think that’s a big, important lesson for all of us, is sometimes people out there could use our support too, and when you’re building a business . . . You’re going to pay it forward, Walid, by helping the people who are following you on Instagram, who you’re gonna spend a little bit of time in helping them, and likely they’re gonna wanna share your stuff because they’re getting this encouragement from you now, in that way, which is great.

Walid Azami: It’s what you’re talking about, that motion. You said something right after that about . . . What is it, when you’re dead still you stay dead, still? I butchered it up, but . . . But you don’t realize that until you get out of that rut. When you look back, you’re like, “Oh wow, I was really, really, really stuck in the mud over there.”

Pat Flynn: Right.

Walid Azami: So everyone’s encouragement helps, and that was the coolest thing. So yeah, now I’m preparing this course, it’s gonna be a twelve-month drip content course. Every month builds on the last month, so it includes retouching, lighting, but it’s like, “First we have to start your business and build that foundation, and do the front-heavy work.” And it’s just . . . I wish there was something like this when I started.

It’s so funny how I’m a different Walid than then, but I would have made the investment. And I would have never even said I would have made the investment, it would have been more about . . . I guess I would have paid that. But it’s changed my whole perspective on things.

Pat Flynn: That’s so great. What is your process for outlining this thing? How are you actually putting things in motion?

Walid Azami: That’s really, I think if I have a gap in the plan, it’s more about . . . I wanted to talk to you about that, if you could help. The process is, I was thinking of Thinkific, but I’m not entirely married to it. I was going between that, and then I was looking at ONTRAPORT also and Kajabi, but what’s a little bit confusing—it’s not the content of what do they need to learn. I know all that I’ve done, like multiple posts about “What do you want to learn? DM me.” I mean, I’ve done it from Instagram stories to multiple posts. I want to know what they want to learn and that’s all been noted. Now it’s like, the delivery method of it. It’s a little bit overwhelming when you think, “Okay, do I need a landing page and a splash page? Are they one and the same?” We have emails, we have landing pages, we have funnels, newsletters, and they all kind of overlap each other. That’s kind of a whole puzzle right there.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, I mean, the biggest question I would ask myself would be, “Okay, if this were easy, what would it look like?” I think it’s a really important question to ask, and it’s something I learned from Tim Ferriss because we as entrepreneurs, we often, first of all, we have an ear on every solution out there and because of that they all get in the way of each other. A great way to kind of just narrow it down and simplify is just to ask yourself, okay, like, all right Walid, if this were easy, what would it actually be? It would be a person comes to a page, they see the thing for sale and then they buy it right there and then they get immediate access to it, right? Just bare bones, minimum way to get them in would be that. Then a lot of the other things can be added on if you wanted to like, the crazy funnels and all these other things. If it were simple, what would it look like? Let’s just start there and build that and add everything on top of that.

Now when it comes to the particular platforms you’re talking about, actually, many people know I’m an advisor and an affiliate for Teachable, which is very similar to Thinkific, which is very similar to others. I mean, the platform honestly doesn’t even really matter anymore, although of course I’m a little biased in who I think is better, but really that’s just where the course lives. Most of these platforms have the ability to do what we had just said for this sort of thing. What’s really cool is it’s actually not as hard as it needs to be, and these products out there like Thinkific, like Teachable, I mean it’s all in one and it’s just a matter of signing up and getting it up and running. [Full Disclosure: I’m a compensated advisor and an affiliate for Teachable.]

Walid Azami: Starting it right.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, exactly. Just like everything else, right? Just getting started and going.

Walid Azami: Yeah, I do notice that behavioral pattern. Again, I’m like, “Well, let me watch a few more videos on YouTube about how people are doing it,” and it’s just, you know, I’ve got the course outline, but now I’m like, “Okay, I think I needed this call again. Just start and then tweak along the way.”

Pat Flynn: Yes. That’s the beauty of it and that’s very different than how we grew up and how we were taught, but this is the cool thing about the world we live in, the tools we have available in the time we’re in right now, which is awesome. In terms of production of the course, tell me about how you’re thinking about the videos and the content and in terms of actually like, you have the outline, which is great. That’s step one. How are you going to produce it?

Walid Azami: As far as how will each module be or—

Pat Flynn: What are you thinking in terms of, how are you actually going to make it all happen? Are you going to record it yourself? Are you going to hire somebody? How is it actually going to come together?

Walid Azami: I will be recording the first three months because I am doing the drip content path. I find that if I give them a course all at once, I don’t know if I’ll have the success rate because I think students may get overwhelmed and so if I can drip it to them as an “Okay, first you have to get through this step to get to the next.” Right? I will do that, but I’m open to suggestions on that. I will record three months at a time. Anything that is me talking to them, if it’s just about business and. “This is how you use Instagram, how you maximize it,” all of that, it will be self-recorded on my little mirrorless Sony camera. Anything that is about lighting, about composition, then what I want to do is I want to make sure that I really talk—I’m going to Chapman University, which is a local university, or USC film school and making sure that their students are involved and of course it’s a paid thing, but I want students to help, film students. We would do a model shoot. I have a friend who’s a known name. I don’t want to say her name yet because if she doesn’t, but she said, “I would absolutely model for you.” It’s a chance to work with her, to see how it’s done with a celebrity also. Not that they’re that different, but it does kind of create a little bit of a wow factor.

Pat Flynn: Credibility for sure. You said it was Beyonce, right?

Walid Azami: Beyonce never credits her photographers, FYI.

Pat Flynn: Really? That’s sad.

Walid Azami: Yeah. Not a good thing. That’s a side note.

Pat Flynn: Okay, that’s great. I love how you have already visioned like, how and where and how you’re going to put this all together. I think the final question I have related to production is, when is this going to happen?

Walid Azami: The course was going to go live at the top of the year, 2019, and then what I want to do is, actually I would love your thoughts on pre-sales, just to get that solid evidence that people are interested in it and everything. Is there a method I should look into or consider? But literally, mid November is when first tier pricing is going to come out.

Pat Flynn: Yeah. I mean we’re almost mid November already. I mean the course you said is going to start in January.

Walid Azami: Mid January, yes.

Pat Flynn: Mid January, it is like a presale and you could even position it that way. You could still say, you know, “Hey guys, we’re preselling this. The course starts in January, but this is your first opportunity to get in at the lowest price.” I don’t know if you’re going to limit it to a certain number of enrollment seats or a certain timeframe to make that decision, but that could help with in terms of including scarcity in your offer so that it’s not just like, “Oh, I’ll make that decision later.” I mean, part of our jobs as marketers, whether you’re promoting your own products or other people’s products—our job is to help people get to a point where they can make a decision, and there are many things that stop people from making a decision. Number one, having too many options. This is why if you’re doing affiliate marketing: You want to only promote one solution versus two because you don’t want to have them think. You want to think for them. If you are selling your own stuff, giving people unlimited time to make a decision is going to be something that will keep them from making a decision because they can always make that decision later.

Whether it’s a first tier pricing that goes up after a certain amount of time to force people to go, “Okay, do I really want this? I should make the decision now or else I might lose out on this opportunity.” That could be really big thing, but I’m just so thankful . . . I mean, we’re recording this literally on Halloween right now and you’re already talking about a mid November launch like that; you are so different than you were on the last podcast. It’s insane, and I’m probably sure that I’d be able to hear it if I were to compare the two voices, but definitely in the approach. I mean, you’re just going all in with this. I think it’s important because you’ve got those first wins and you realize that, “Wow, like I’m actually safe in this pool and actually I am able to help people.”

Before I answer a few more questions of yours, go back to when you first put your books online and you know, best sellers. That’s amazing. What was it like to see the first evidence that this book was actually getting into people’s hands?

Walid Azami: Well, the first evidence was I started getting some DMs saying, “Wow, this book is amazing. It’s so informative.” Right? I kept promoting it and I really had to go against my regular behavior as like, “Oh my God, you’re begging for sales,” which is what I normally thought about it. I’m a big note writer so I wrote myself notes saying, “You’re not begging for sales, you’re giving them access to being better into building a career, and you’re just letting them know about something that’s going to help them.” Right? That helped me out a lot but I started seeing . . . I guess Amazon doesn’t release the numbers or anything until—

Pat Flynn: Later.

Walid Azami: Yeah, like some days later, maybe even a week later or something. I was quite surprised and I was like—I was operating on ego, I’ll be really upfront about that. I was like, “Please just at least go Top 20 or whatever, just so I can make the list and not down in the other section.” I was like, when I checked I was like, “Oh my god, Number One.” Then I looked right below that, I’m like “And Number Two?” It was the coolest feeling because my biggest fear was, it sounds so pathetic, but my biggest fear was, are they going to think I’m an impostor or some fraud? Are people going to call me out and say, “Oh, that’s not how you do it,” because there are the internet trolls. No one did because I mean, I know my stuff, but no one did. I don’t know, I guess everyone was just super, super kind about it.

The guy that—his name is Keith, awesome guy—the guy that is now editing some of my YouTube videos, he actually stumbled upon the book on Amazon and never even heard about How to Photograph on Instagram. He bought it. At the end of the book—because you had told me to start the book with some how to get in touch with me, and also end it, right? By the end of the book he had read that and then he followed my private Facebook group and then Instagram and then I put out a post saying I’m looking for an editor. I upload all my stuff to Ireland. He edits it for me. It just brought a lot of people to me, also.

Pat Flynn: That’s really cool.

Walid Azami: Did I answer fifteen other questions but the question you wanted?

Pat Flynn: See, you’re over delivering. I love it. This is great man. Okay. First of all, for all the listeners out there, how cool is this to hear this kind of success story, to know that a person was coming from a very reserved, very timid, very, “I don’t know if this is something I could do,” to now being super confident that this twelve month course is going to be coming out soon. What’s the price point going to be?

I’m playing with that right now. It’s going to be around the $550 to $600, and then I have to figure out the monthly. So that is . . . I have a couple of questions on that, and also what is your whole . . . would you offer it as hey, you could buy that once, pay an annual fee and then still the drip content, or just do subscription-based? That’s the one thing I’m really confused on. And I did an Instagram Stories poll, and it came down to almost fifty-fifty. I was like “Oh great, I’m now even more confused.”

I think what happens with courses that are that amount, it’s great because you can have people pay the full amount or a sort of installment plan. Typically, if you have the full amount, the installment plan would be in total, after the twelve months, would be 10 percent more. Or you get essentially—the reverse would be a 10 percent savings if they get it all at once.

Walid Azami: Got it. Okay.

Pat Flynn: So there is some sort of benefit to going, “You know what? I’m going to commit to this and get all of it now, and save some money.” Because some people will want to save money. What’s really cool is actually, in the end you’d probably be making more money even though the calculator will tell that you will be making more if people go on the payment plan, but the nice thing is you get that money up front.

Walid Azami: Right.

Pat Flynn: When you do the payment plan, there’s going to be some things administrative-wise that are a little bit of a headache, such as people’s credit cards expiring, failed payments, other things where you kind of have to work a little bit to kind of get those payments back. Every month that a person gets billed is another checkpoint for them to go, “Is it still worth paying for this?”

Walid Azami: I see.

Pat Flynn: Right?

Walid Azami: Okay, yeah.

Pat Flynn: So there is benefit to having the one time, but obviously you’re going to open up the course to a lot more people if you have it at a lower price point. So when you sell it, you give them all this value, you talk about how much this would normally cost for somebody to go to a workshop: Thousands of dollars. But when you pitch it, you start with the lower price, the payment plan price. “You can get all of this for as low as $99.00 for six months,” or whatever it calculates to, to 10 percent more. It’s not the right math there, but then they go, “Oh my gosh, just $99.00?” And yes, it’s $99.00, but over the course of six months, or you could save more by going the one time plan versus the opposite, which would be, you could get it for $699.00, but you could also have a payment plan for $99.00 a month. That doesn’t sound as “wow” in terms of the . . . I learned that from Chalene Johnson when I spoke on stage and sold Power-Up Podcasting to people. She said, “Make sure you mention the payment plan price first. You’re going to be honest and tell them it is the payment plan price, but by just seeing those really low numbers in just the position with everything else you just mentioned and what they could pay, it becomes a lot more like, ‘wow this is a steal.’ Because either way they’re getting the same thing—whether it’s the payment plan or a one time payment, they’re getting the same thing upfront, which is the first—

Walid Azami: It’s just how you deliver, yeah.

Pat Flynn: It’s just how you deliver it, yeah. it’s all about positing, so hopefully that helps a little bit in terms of how you might be able to approach the payment and how you announce it and stuff. Obviously, across all your channels—

Walid Azami: But that’s . . . because I’ve never read that anywhere. So that’s really helpful.

Pat Flynn: It’s just, I mean, a psychology thing.

Walid Azami: Yeah.

Pat Flynn: And only something I learned over time. The final lesson here is this is going to be your first big launch and you’re going to learn a lot of lessons. It may go well, it may not go well, but either way you are stepping in the right direction and you’re going to learn a lot either way.

Walid Azami: Thank you.

Pat Flynn: The next time you launch you’re going to learn from your mistakes, or do what you did well and do it even better, and just keep going with it man. I’m just excited to catch up with you again in the future; if you wouldn’t mind me asking you if I could have you back on the show later on, and we can kind of follow your journey here, that would be really amazing.

Walid Azami: That would be amazing. If I could ask one more question—yeah, I would be honored.

Pat Flynn: That will hold you accountable.

Walid Azami: Yes. Yeah, yeah, please. I love those messages. Can I ask you, what I wanted to do was, for the first, I guess, the pre-sales, maybe a certain amount—I wanted to offer them each like a thirty-minute Skype session where we talk about their business, or their photography, and is that something that I’m stretching too thin on? I really, really want to help everyone do their best.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, that’s awesome. I mean that’s something that I do for people who get my podcasting course quite early on, which is like a little audit that I do. I listen to their podcast, and then I give them some advice. I couldn’t possibly do that with all my students, but I do award that for people who act quick. And that would be something that you could do as like a fast action bonus, to get people excited and to get people moving now. That’s like, another way you’re helping them make a decision. “For the first twenty-five people who get in, I’m going to . . .” I mean, it’s a lot. You want to make sure that you calculate it in terms of your time and what you have available, because it is your time.

Walid Azami: Right, yeah.

Pat Flynn: You don’t want to overextend yourself. It is definitely something that you can offer. It would actually be a really good exercise for you, even if you only do it this once, and even though it might stretch you a little thinner, it’s going to be amazing for you to hear the stories of your new customers because that’s exactly who you’re going to be selling to in the future. For that reason alone I would do it.

Walid Azami: Do that. Okay, cool.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, in addition to obviously, being able to help them by making a better course, you’d be able to better sell the course later by learning more about them as soon as they come in too.

Walid Azami: Okay, cool. Cool. That’s what I was curious about, was how many you would suggest. But I think twenty-five is a fair number for, for the twenty-five people to sign up.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, or maybe it could be for everybody who signs up today, which is often risky but it gives you a good deadline on the scarcity and an actual time when you cannot get that anymore versus a number, which some people don’t know what number they are.

Walid Azami: Right.

Pat Flynn: So there’s different ways to do it. You could go live and actually count down how many are left. I mean I’ve seen people do that. Whatever style you like, you can do it that way. But I think the approach is correct, the mindset is correct, and just again, making sure you’re not stretching yourself too thin. I’ve heard horror stories of people offering similar things where then 1000 sign up and they’re, “Oh god, for the next six months I’m done.”

Walid Azami: Oh my god. Yeah.

Pat Flynn: Like, “I’m doing this every day.” You don’t want to get into that world, but I think the heart is there for sure.

Walid Azami: Okay, that’s cool. That helps. Yeah, thank you. And even just . . . you want to know something else that helped, Pat, was hearing myself talk on that first episode.

Pat Flynn: Tell me more.

Walid Azami: I didn’t even recognize myself, because I’ve always been the . . . tell me no and it’s like the biggest turn on. I’m like, “You know what? I’ll show you.” I’ve always been that person. That’s how I’ve worked with such legendary people. And then when I heard myself, I got to really . . . it was a little bit after the recording date I heard myself and I was kind of cringing. It was a great interview, it was a beautiful review, but I was like, “I don’t recognize this guy that’s not sure of himself.”

Pat Flynn: Yeah, wow.

Walid Azami: Because I’ve never been that. So to hear it and then to get the positive reinforcement, I was like, “Okay this is cool.” And then to see the review of the book come in and the sales, I was like, “Okay you still got it.” But it was actually . . . I’m so curious to hear this one, but I know it’s going to be a whole different voice. But I was like, “Who is this guy? This is not the Walid that barges in Madonna’s office, or sits with Jennifer Lopez and stuff.” I was like, “Why would I hire me?” I think I was so apologetic. Although the information was great, but I was apologetic. That woke me up a lot.

Pat Flynn: I love it. And yeah, if you actually listen to the other episodes this month from people who are back on the show, you’re going to hear very similarly, a different tone of voice, a different attitude. It’s there with you as well, Walid. I just want to congratulate you and say, “Keep conquering, man. You’re doing amazing things, and like you said earlier, you’re helping add value to people’s lives. You’re changing lives.” So keep up the great work, my friend.

Walid Azami: Awesome. Thank you very much.

Pat Flynn: Man, you’re a rock star. I’ll talk to you soon, all right?

Walid Azami: Thank you.

Pat Flynn: Alright, I hope you enjoyed listening to the before and after transformation of Walid. Walid again, congratulations, best of luck to you with the launch. We’ll follow up with you again, ’cause this is an amazing story. I just want you all to hopefully find some story in here that resonates with you, with Walid, because I know that you want to transform, you have an audience to serve, and you can do it. You just have to believe in yourself, make decisions, try things, and amazing things will happen.

I’m happy to be here as your coach, either through listening to this episode, or this podcast, or directly through AskPat, if I can help you in that way. Now we get a lot of applications on AskPat.com, so I cannot select everybody. However, if you want to apply—that’s going to give you the chance to get coached, by me, on AskPat—all you have to do is go to AskPat.com. And if you haven’t yet subscribed to the show, now’s the time to do it. Just find AskPat on iTunes, or wherever you listen to this podcast. Have an amazing finish to the year, and let’s get the energy started for next year. Let’s do it.

Got one more episode for Smart Passive Income in 2018; it’ll be kind of an update on what’s going on in the business, and where things are headed next year for you. That’s why I’m here, I’m here to serve you, and thank you so much for being a part of this show as a listener. And everybody who’s left a review for the show, you’re amazing, thank you so much. Everybody who’s taken the time to give me a shout out, or share the show, or send me a message @PatFlynn on Instagram or Twitter. If you want to let me know what you thought about this transformation, if you want to hear more things like this, whether it be here on Smart Passive Income or of course, again, on AskPat, let me know what you think, @PatFlynn on Instagram or Twitter.

And I love you guys, thank you so much for the support, I appreciate you. FlynnCON1.com for the event that’s happening next year, July 26 -28 in San Diego, California. Cannot wait to see you there. Many of you have already signed up; so thankful for that. FlynnCON1.com—history is in the making. Thank you, and I’ll see you in the next episode. Bye.

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irregularwebcomic · 6 years ago

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[Irregular Webcomic! #1754 Rerun](https://ift.tt/2tMkaU5)

I don't have much to say specifically about today's comic, but I do have something to say today.

I come up with ideas.

Lots of ideas. Lots of bad ideas. A few good ones. And some that are pretty bad as they stand, but which have the germ of something much better inside.

I was recently (as in today, as I write this annotation, which is about a month ago by the time this comic appears) lamenting the fact that I haven't been invited to a wedding for going on 2 years, and that I don't know anybody for whom marriage is a reasonable possibility in the near future. One of the things I really enjoy about weddings is the opportunity for photography. I have a lovely new camera and some pretty good lenses, and would like to give them a workout at a wedding some time.

The idea struck me that I could get up on a Saturday morning, dress in a suit and tie, head out to a nearby church, and just hang around waiting. Eventually a groom and his retinue would show up - they usually arrive pretty early, well before most of the invited guests. I could approach the lucky fellow and make an offer:

Hi, I'm an amateur photographer who lives nearby; here's my card with my contact details. I'm trying to improve my wedding photography, so I was wondering if you'd mind if I just hung out and took photos during your wedding. I'll be discreet, I won't get in the way of anyone, I won't be using a flash, and I'm dressed like a guest so your official photographer won't get ruffled feathers. I won't follow anyone away from the church - I don't want to crash your reception! And I'll send you a free CD with a copy of all the photos I take, no strings attached.

Now, depending on your own reaction, you're either thinking this is actually a very cool idea, or that there's no way you'd trust some stranger making a request like this. This, as it stands, is in fact a moderately bad idea. It has the potential to make people paranoid on their wedding day, which is not a good thing.

But the thing with me is that this doesn't stop me sharing the idea with people. I posted this idea to my blog, asking people what their reaction would be - while pointing out that I wasn't seriously considering trying it out; I was just sort of thinking out loud.

A few people posted comments saying it sounded cool and they'd take up such an offer, but many pointed out the weirdness aspect, and one guy wondered if I might be an ex-boyfriend of his bride-to-be doing some crazy stalking thing. About what I expected.

But one person suggested an alternative: Approach the pastor of the church with some business cards and the same story, and ask if he would share the idea with couples planning to be married at the church. This way each couple would have time to consider the offer and make a joint decision, it would be much less intimidating, and (very important) there'd be no strange surprise on their wedding day.

Suddenly my somewhat dodgy idea has been turned into something that is actually a pretty good idea!

My point here is not about weddings or photography, but about the process of creating good ideas. The best way to create good ideas is not to sit around by yourself trying to think of good ideas. Rather, it's to think up mediocre or even downright bad ideas, and to share them with other people. Collective human ingenuity is much more powerful than any individual. Given a seed of an idea, someone else can adapt it, apply a different perspective, or use it to spark something else entirely that they never would have thought of by themselves.

The corollary of this is that it's a good thing to share your bad ideas. We all come up with crazy sounding stuff sometimes. Many of us never share it with anyone, because we're afraid of sounding stupid, or being ridiculed. But sharing your bad ideas liberates them; it puts them out there into the collective idea-space, where they can attract the attention of someone who might just be able to give it the right twist to turn it into something good.

A more concrete example can be found on my own website. A while ago I had an idea for another comic. I thought it would be cool, but I mostly dismissed doing it as it would take a significant amount of time - a commodity I have in short supply. But rather than ditch it, I mentioned the idea to some friends of mine. They loved it, and suggested sharing the workload of writing and constructing the comics amongst all of us. Thus was born Darths & Droids.

I want to generalise this a little bit now. The best way I can think of to generalise it is to quote the title of a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic:

Dare to be Stupid.

The lyrics of the song are unimportant (though funny). The principle is that you should not be afraid of sounding stupid. If you have an idea or a suggestion for something, let people know about it. It may merely be mildly amusing in a "how stupid" way, sure, but it may also be the catalyst for something incredibly cool. If you don't risk sounding stupid, you never get the cool.

There's another context in which this general principle of "daring to be stupid" applies.

Have you ever been in a school classroom, or a university lecture theatre, or wherever you are supposed to be learning things, and either:

You thought the teacher made some sort of mistake, and wonder if anyone else has noticed, or if anyone would point it out? - or

Suddenly there's some point the teacher is trying to make that you don't understand, and you sit there confused, hoping someone will ask for clarification?

And then, lo, a fellow student puts a hand up and asks the question. "Sorry, have you made a mistake there?" Or "Sorry, I didn't understand that last point - can you go over it again?" And the teacher realises that there is indeed a mistake, or that something wasn't explained properly, and fixes it.

That student is daring to be stupid. By calling attention to himself, he runs the risk that his fellow students will think him an idiot. But you know what? That student is the smartest student in the class. Because he doesn't want to be left behind, he doesn't want to misunderstand something, and he wants to know if that mistake is a mistake in the teacher's writing or in his understanding. That student, by daring to be stupid, assures that he doesn't end up actually stupid.

I went through school and university several years ago. I graduated fairly successfully and I now have a doctorate in physics and a good job doing scientific research that interests me. One of the most important things I learnt in my education was to dare to be stupid. I used to be fairly unassuming as a child, and didn't want to draw attention to myself. I didn't want the other kids to think I was being stupid by asking questions in class.

But I was curious enough and eager enough to learn to start asking questions when I didn't understand something. That kid who always points out when the teacher makes a mistake on the board? That was me. The one who stops the teacher and asks for a better explanation when most of the class have just been bamboozled by something that was difficult to follow? That was me. The other kids would just sit there.

In university it wasn't always me - there were other students who raised their hands and interrupted the lecturer. And helped both themselves and everyone else in the class by doing so. Several of the people who ended up doing the same difficult university courses I did had got there by daring to be stupid.

I've learnt many lessons in life. Today, this one was reinforced in me by my now habitual tendency to share my bad ideas. It led to a much better idea. And now I have another good idea (that's two good ideas from the one bad idea I had this morning): to share it with all of you. So I've co-opted this comic's annotation to bring you this story. The moral? I'm sure you know it by now.

2018-07-02 Rerun commentary: Some ten and a bit years later, I've never gone through with my idea to practise wedding photography. I have however attended a few more weddings and managed to get some more experience. In fact, when my friend Andrew got engaged, not too long after this comic and annotation were published, he asked me to be the official photographer at his wedding. He said he admired my photography skills and wanted a friend to do the job. I was very cautious about accepting, because although I'd taken photos at weddings before, I'd never been the photographer. This is an awesome responsibility and I didn't want to be responsible for ruining the mementos of Andrew and Von's wedding day. But Andrew was insistent and encouraging, so I said yes. To get some additional practice before the big day, I organised an engagement photo shoot a few weeks before the wedding. I chose a location by the riverside and a meeting time. But as I was driving there a huge storm broke and the rain came pouring down. I didn't have an easy way to contact Andrew at the time, so I just kept going. As I arrived, the rain eased off a bit. But Andrew and Von showed up and we made the most of it, using an umbrella as a prop. After shooting some photos, the rain stopped and the clouds began breaking up. And I shot this photo: The wedding day arrived. I went to Von's place early to get photos of her having hair and make-up done. Then Andrew arrived and after a traditional Chinese morning tea with the bride's family they left for the ceremony. I won't spam more photos here, but if you're interested I've collected some of the photos I took at both the engagement session and the wedding in this album. Well, the results turned out pretty decent! I'm sure a professional wedding photographer with more experience could have captured a higher proportion of good and great shots, but I was pleased, and Andrew and Von were happy. My other friends were imoressed enough that when David and Tina got married a couple of yesrs later, they repeated the request and I was the official photographer for their wedding too. And there are more shots from their wedding in this album. I was afraid of ruining someone's wedding, but with the confidence and strong support of my friends, I dared to be stupid. And produced some of the photography that I am most proud of.

#Irregular Webcomic!

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showupgoupla · 6 years ago

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Do Comedians Need Record Labels? by Jay Whitecotton

edited by Al Bahmani

Are you debating releasing an album? The idea of recording an album may be very overwhelming and you may be at a loss as to how to proceed, but I’m telling you- You can pull this off. Before making any decisions or signing any contracts, collect as much information as you can before you both regret and literally pay for it.

Fair warning, this is going to be as thorough as I can be, trying to cover angles you might not have even considered. There will most likely be some run on sentences and editing mistakes because I tend to blank out anytime I’m doing something that feels like work. Avoiding work is what attracted me to Standup in the first place and I’m not the most disciplined of people.

Also - I’m told visuals help break up the monotony of long posts so I decided to use the same picture of Jon Hamm and a German Shepard mix to ease your reading experience.

Let’s start here:

Should you record an album?

It's on you to know whether or not you’re ready. Just please be ready and don’t be the ‘I have three hours of material’ fraud carrying pounds of notebooks, but struggles to fill a fifteen-minute spot with consistent laughs.

Do you need something to sell on the road?

Clubs are paying less and less, no longer putting up Features in hotels, and having something to sell is almost a necessity just to cover gas. Headliners are even feeling the pinch trying to scrounge up more credits just so clubs will feel comfortable booking them over rising YouTube stars or that host of the Mr. Sexy Murder Podcast.

Do people want this?

Having an album feels cool and may con your parents into covering your rent while you pursue your dumb dreams, but nothing is going to put you down to reality harder than when you do all this hard work just to find out the eight friends who always ask ‘when’s your next show’ and never go – can’t seem to justify paying $10 for your ‘art’.

(Let’s all take a second to reflect on all the idiot musicians who are in the same boat, but with thousands of dollars of burdensome equipment they have to lug around. Lol art sucks)

Finally

Are you actively being sweet talked by industry and label heads looking to profit on all the years of work you already did by yourself? This is your best sign that you are ready. When industry leeches smell a hint of hope and money on you, ya know you have a shot of making a go at this.

Label vs. Self-Distribution

First the positives. If a label can’t contractually guarantee you plays on Sirius/XM radio and expose you to a large audience of new fans with contractually agreed payments for advertising and marketing in places that will get you seen – then you don’t really need a label. (Most don’t really do these things)

Here’s the nitty-gritty. I’m telling you from experience and with the same level of lazy blindness when it comes to taking control of this side of the work that – you don’t need a record label. In fact, most people don’t need record labels. We live in the future. If you’ve already recorded and edited an album, you can put it out on all the avenues the labels use and get 100% of the profit from your laptop.

“But Jay, doesn’t a Label sound cool to consumers?”

Get over yourself. No one cares anymore. You just want things that sound cool to give you validation. Fuck your validation. It’s not real. Just be good, it’ll be fine.

“But Jay, a label will promote me to a huge fan base! I’ll get new fans and lots more places will book me!”

Nope. That’s not really what they do. They may promise that to you and something like Comedy Central Records may be a giant boon, but if Comedy Central is releasing your album, you’re probably already getting exposure on the channel or getting writing work and in no way reading this.

Very few labels exist for ‘the love of comedy’. It’s about money. Labels make a money from a few physical sales, mostly digital sales and plays and some by getting the comics to buy their bulk physical copies through them.

Here’s the digital breakdown.

There’s a thing called Sound Exchange. And when your comedy gets played, a fraction of cents gets divided into two piles: The Producer and The Artist. Periodically you will get a check (usually quarterly) and the Producer will get an equal amount separate from you. Both checks are equal in amount. (I have a friend signed to one label who doesn’t even get his artist check. That goes to the label as well and it’s becoming a thing he has to try and legally negotiate with them about. There’s a ton of free-floating confusion about this stuff, ask questions)

The money is based on your popularity and for some it’s great, others not so much. Most people tell me the pay seems less and less every year. It’s almost like these streaming services are designed to profit off the artists as well as the general public. WEIRD!

Here’s what this means. Basically – you as an individual have a ceiling of worth. When you release your album – the first three days is when you will pretty much get all your sales. You’ll promote it, you’ll have toured and built up a fan base interested in buying it, and when you release it – all their enthusiasm will come together in a big sales push to support you. After that – they move on to the millions of other shit in their lives. Welcome to the future! It’s a pool of nonsense swirling with illusion and you’re a drop of water.

The Label will have got their heavy cut purely on your years of hustle and work, then pretty much move on to another because that’s their grind.

You see – while you get that Sound Exchange, they also get one AND another for as many artists as they can gobble up. It’s not in their financial interest to take the time and help you build your fan base.

It’s in their interest to profit off you doing that work and the hundreds of other comedians trying to do the same thing for themselves. You understand? You get one check, but their goal is to get hundreds.

That’s the game.

If you’re still looking for a Label to validate you, look at the Label’s previous history of artists and promotion. How many likes or shares do their posts get? Chances are – you get way more. That means the Label is most likely profiting off of you more than you from them. It might be a silly thing to view social media likes as a barometer of interest to some, but really – you know what a post advertising your album with three likes on their page vs. 200 on your own personal page means.

Look at the roster. Ask people you may know about their experiences. Research how often the Label’s been sued. Seriously, that’s a thing. I almost released on one label that had a giant roster of my favorite comedians, only to find out most were one-and-done and more than a few ended up in court over the label’s shenanigans.

The Contract:

No contract is the same as the other and I’m not a lawyer, but here’s some sample verbiage you need to familiarize yourself with as to what it means to your career.

“Recording Costs and Procedures. Each LP will be recorded at the sole expense of Label. Recording expenses shall include engineering, production, equipment, tape, editing and mastering expenses. None of these expenses will be charged to Artist’s account, nor will they be recouped from Artist’s royalties. Subject to any necessary third-party approval, Label will be allowed to record any performance of Artist during the Term, provided that Label gives Artist at least seven days notice of its intent to record.”

What this is saying is that the label will take on the cost of hiring someone to bring all the necessary equipment to record your performance and then spend the time to edit and master it. You won’t ever be out of pocket for these expenses. This is a good and worthwhile thing as getting the best sound is crucial. However, what if the label hires someone who’s not good at this? Just because someone has a mic or two and a soundboard doesn’t mean they know how to record a proper standup show. I’ve heard many a mix where the audience is super quiet and the comedian very loud. This usually means that the sound person just mic’d up the comic and let the audience laughter bleed into his direct track. It’s lazy, poor quality and also doesn’t involve that much actual “mixing”. Ask to hear the specific person recording’s previous work.

Just because they’re a professional Label, doesn’t guarantee you a professional recording! I’m looking at you Rooftop Records.

You need to make sure there’s a stage mic and that it’s recorded directly into the board, an area mic above the audience to capture their laughter and two mics towards the back wings of the crowd. Why so many? You want to get the best mix between the crowd and the comic to sound fresh on your album, but also able to tweak in the mix in case you need to hide an annoying weird laughter, somebody’s coughing fit, or worse – a drunken girlfriend trying to be supportive by answering all your rhetorical questions. All shit that can happen. All shit a proper sound engineer and label should expect if they actually care about you. Ask for it in your contract.

“Ownership of Recordings and Underlying Works. All Recordings made by Label and released on any LP under this Agreement will be deemed “works made for hire” under the United States Copyright Act, and Label shall be the sole and exclusive owner of all right, title and interest in the Recordings, including all copyrights and reversions in the Recordings delivered by Artist under the terms of this Agreement.”

This means the Label owns your recorded material.

“Label, its successors, licensees and assigns shall have the exclusive worldwide right in perpetuity, to manufacture, sell, distribute, exhibit, publicize, market and advertise the Recordings by any means and in any format.”

The Label and anyone who buys their catalog can do whatever they want with it. It means if they want to put you on their ‘Now That’s What I Call Farts Vol. 5’ compilation – they can. You’ll still be owed money for listens and sales, but the label has this option. The keyword here that you have to be careful about is “in perpetuity” – that means forever. Permanent. You as an artist have the right to put a timetable on this. You can negotiate clauses. Just know, the likelihood of being on a NOW Farts compilation is highly unlikely.

“Notwithstanding the foregoing, Artist will retain all copyrights in the original material (i.e., all jokes, stories, comedic and other material included in Artist’s performance), provided that Artist agrees not to re-record any of the same material contained on LPs produced hereunder for release as an audio-only recording until 5 (FIVE) years shall have passed from the termination of this Agreement. Label will be the ‘publisher’ of the material and entitled to collect the publisher’s share of any analog public performance royalties payable to the publisher of the material. Artist will receive its own share of analog and digital public performance royalties and digital master public performance royalties directly from its affiliate performing rights organizations.”

Ok – this shit is important. It says that while you own your own words and act, if you re-record any of it again in a 5-year window, the Label is owed money. Which makes sense – why would they record you if you were to just put out other versions in a year? The “audio-only” is important as it gives you the right to film the material if you get that opportunity.

Say HBO gives you an hour special, or SeeSo rises from the dead to feast on your act – you SHOULD be good to go to record your act for video, but if they make an album out of it you may be stuck in litigation and have to pay the Label to buy yourself out. This could turn into a motherfucker. Ask questions. Write it down.

Look harder at these words: “until 5 (FIVE) years shall have passed from the termination of this Agreement.” Ask when the termination of this agreement ends. If there’s no set date - then that 5-year window doesn’t really matter. Its five years AFTER you both decide to end the agreement. Is it the date of release? The date of recording? This matters because – and this seriously happens – if you record your hour and they drag their feet in releasing it. That means they still own your material even if it never gets released. That’s that magical “in perpetuity” coming to fuck you. It’s a predatory language in a contract and if you’re currently stuck in one – may give you a legal way out of a bad deal. Again – not a lawyer, but you see why you may need one to go with the ‘convenience’ of a Label?

STORY TIME: say you record twenty minutes opening for someone else’s album recording and they get you to sign this deal saying they could get you some extra money if you’d like from online streaming. However – they never put it out and you don’t think twice about it because you’re a comedian, not a business nerd. Then – years later and after no communication with the label, your career starts to explode. You’re getting TV show stuff and decide to record your full hour and feel excited, but guess what – after years of silence, suddenly the Label dude announces that he owns that twenty minutes he oft handily recorded years ago and you can’t use any of it for the proper album you’d like to release. Not only that but for some reason, there was a clause in the contract you didn’t notice because “TL/DR” and now you owe the label three hour long albums! You know – that thing we all can just write and do. Then imagine you have to pay the Label that did nothing for you to let you go and because you seem successful, the asking price to buy you out suddenly becomes thousands and thousands of dollars.

This happens.

Now let’s look hard at the Term of Agreement.

“The Term of this Agreement will begin on the date on which it shall have been signed by both Label and Artist. The agreement will run for up to two (2) contract periods, one initial period, during which Artist will deliver one LP (LP1) and one (1) optional periods during which, if the option is exercised by Label at its sole discretion, Artist will deliver an additional LP (LP2). Within one year from the release date of each LP delivered hereunder, Label shall notify Artist in writing of its intent to exercise its option to record the next LP. The Term of this agreement will expire either: 1) nine (9) months after the release date of the last released LP; or, 2) when Label declines to exercise its option to record the next optional LP, whichever comes first.”

The word “period” is vague here. What measurement is a “contract period” much less two of them? At the end, it says “The Term of this agreement will expire either: 1) nine (9) months after the release date of the last released LP” meaning that it's over – only after the album is officially released. Meaning – in perpetuity – if not released. The other is a Label option for a second album after you record the first. That means the label can hold you to a second release even if you didn’t like how they handled the first, which may screw you if say you get interest from Comedy Central. Especially if you’re buyout clause from your agreement doesn’t have a set price like say $500 and a pizza.

Funny story. The above excerpt is from a contract that was sent to me by a stand-up record label. When I verbally agreed to work with them, I had specifically stated that the deal would be for one album with an artist option for a second. Meaning whether or not the process sucked or was good, I had the option to record another with them or not. However – they wrote it in the official contract as their option instead. Meaning I could be trapped in a bad deal owing them the second album.

Just because you agree in person means nothing if it’s not written down to reflect your spoken agreement. Always put it in writing.

Artist’s Additional Rights.

“Artist’s Right to Purchase Copies from Label. Artist may also purchase an unlimited number of non-royalty bearing CD copies of the Recordings from Label for purposes of resale by Artist for Artist’s personal or promotional use at the price of five dollars ($5.00) per CD and ten dollars ($10.00) per LP, if manufactured by Label, (the “Artist Discount Rates”). Notwithstanding the foregoing, Label agrees to provide thirty (120) copies of the CD to Artist at no charge.”

This is about the physical copies. It means that if you’d like to sell them after your show you have to buy them from the Label. This is helpful because the label pays to have them made and you can sell them. However, $5 a copy? They are literally fucking you. There’s a whole bunch of services that charge way less to manufacture CD’s. (seen some as low as a $1 depending on quantity) Services the Label goes through themselves! That $5 is just another way the Label can profit off the comedians work.

Here’s a fun fact! It’s 2018 – who buys CD’s anymore? Do YOU buy CD’s? From experience, I’ve seen comedians sell less and less physical albums every year. Everything is about digital now. The audience wants to stream it and could give two fucks about physical copies after shows. They want T-Shirts. It sucks, but it’s true. Stand Up Comedy was invented by the T-Shirt companies to move product. If any label tries to push you into buying CD’s from them at $5 a pop – suspect everything they do.

Back story: In my contract, I negotiated down to $3.25, but found out from other people on the Label they were paying $5 while some were paying $3. This is shady shit and the Label head got super pissed we were talking to each other about it. Remember – If a Label head doesn’t want you talking to other artists about their contracts then they are trying to fuck you somewhere.

Digital Download Royalty Rates.

“For each individual track from the Recordings (a “Single”) or complete album sold or streamed via Digital Download, Label will pay Artist a royalty equal to fifty (50%) of Label’s Net Receipts from such sale(s). Label’s Net Receipts are defined as Label’s gross receipts from Digital Download sales of Artist’s Recordings, less any distributor charges for upload or file maintenance.”

Digital sales are everything you’re going to make here in the World of Tomorrow. That’s the bulk of what you get from iTunes, Bandcamp, Amazon, the whole bit. Here it says you get 50% of Net receipts from online sales.

Quick lesson: Gross sales are the grand total of all sale transactions reported in a period, without any deductions included within the figure. Net sales are defined as gross sales minus deductions.

Here’s what you need to iron out.

“…less any distributor charges for upload or file maintenance.”

Say your album is sold for $10. Well, iTunes can take 30 to 40% of your sales just for hosting it. That means you’re immediately making $6-7 on your album. Cut in half with the Label, 3 to $3.50. Think about this hard. Half your sales are going to a Label just because they spent an hour uploading it to a distribution site. Did the label bring you any extra sales or were they all from the audience you already created?

Did you not have the hour in your life to do it yourself?

Food for thought. Do you get your digital sales back after the agreement is over? Or does the label get 50% of your online sales (again the bulk of where you’ll make money) in perpetuity? This is a real thing that can happen if not written out. For instance, if you eventually get your album rights back – how will the Label transfer all your future sales back to you?

There’s a whole bunch more to this process, but essentially these things above are what you need to really get your head around. Some of you reading this may already be in bad contracts. You may have a few outs, depending on state laws and the verbiage. You may have good legal reasons to get out of it and take your career and art back into your hands from predators and dream fuckers. Talk to other comics, work together, it’s not that hard and most of you have nothing to lose.

They’re the ones with something to lose and us talking publically about these issues is how we protect ourselves from frauds.

Own your own hard work and make sure the people who get behind your talent are pushing it forward, instead of bleeding it out for their own profit.

It sounds like you hate Labels, are you bitter?

I don’t hate labels, I hate frauds. My first album was put out by Sure Thing Records based out of Austin, TX. Not only are they good friends of mine, but also genuinely doing it for the sake of comedy. They gave me a great deal and were completely upfront with me about all the ins and outs, plus they had already signed comics I loved and respected. It was the perfect situation and if anyone asks me privately, I would recommend them wholeheartedly.

For my second release, I did it by myself for two reasons. One, because Sure Thing and I couldn’t match our release schedules (they put all their energy/promotion into one release at a time and were already releasing another) and two, I wanted to research how to do this alone specifically to show others who may not have had the options I had (or considering working with leeches), how to take control of this themselves.

It's crazy how there are so many options for comics to do this and yet we’re still resigned to banging our heads with car doors at the mere sound of handling business.

But Jay, how do I know if I can record an album by myself?No problem. Let’s go through that beat by beat.

Recording and mastering

Do you know musicians? Podcasters? People who record with mics and equipment? Ask around. Get on Facebook and ask if anyone can help. This also helps in seeing if the general audience is hyped about you even doing an album. You will find plenty of people to talk to who’ll probably be down to do this. I was fortunate and had a friend named Jess who did professional commercial editing. He asked for $50, but I ended up paying him more because he was incredible and as obsessive as I was about the mix. Mastering is very important, but you can get that done later in the process. Stay tuned.

Pick a venue according to your audience needs.

If you work mostly clubs, you’ll know which ones would love to have you record in their space, but keep in mind they’re pretty much bar/restaurants. You may not want the sound of waitresses barking orders or a random bridal party fucking up your shit. For my recording, I found a bar that had a separate basement that was carpeted so the sound wouldn’t bounce around like a warehouse. It fit 50 people comfortably and maxed out at 75.

Plan on two to three shows (four is most desirable).

Hopefully, you got your shit down and can do a full hour, but that said – mistakes happen. Bad things always get in the way. Sometimes you’re sharper the second show because you were able to get your rhythm in the first. Or better yet – maybe you knock it out of the park the first show and can really relax and not be stressed out for the others. Maybe you think it sucks. You’ll probably think it sucks until you listen to it later and realize its fucking rad. Then – after tons of listens you’ll hate it and yourself again.

Promote.

Maybe do a suggested donation instead of an admission charge. You want the people who support you to come out excited to hear you record. Say it goes to pay for the recording. It's more legit then being one of those gofundme assholes.

After the recording.

Listen to it and mark notes if and when you hear a mistake or want to edit something out. Listen to all the shows. Pick what feels right. Do what matches your voice best. You or your editor can mix the tracks together on almost any audio program like Garageband, etc. Listen to it – take long breaks then come back to it. Don’t rush, you want to be proud of this thing that’s going to be in perpetuity. It’s your words, it’s your craft, whose hands do you want it to be in? Once you’re satisfied with the mix you’ll need to master. GET IT MASTERED. This makes the audio even without extreme volume peaks and quality for professional distribution.

I have my album and track listings, now what?

You’ll need art. Put out the call on Facebook. Ask around, you probably know tons of artists or just use a clean headshot. I’ve designed tons of ideas on my phone just working with apps and being creative. Know anyone with photoshop skills? Put out the call, you’re friends want to help. Just don’t be too needy and reciprocate back. We all got to support each other. I was lucky to randomly scroll through Facebook and discover Brett Brock. He’s my favorite human being and a fantastic artist.

How do I self-release this thing I’m sick of now?

There’s a ton of options and a lot of people have used sites like Tunecore and CD Baby. Both have their strengths and easy to research, but I’ll just cut the bullshit and recommend Distrokid. It was the simplest process, the best priced and gave me the options I needed for comedy. You literally upload your album and they host it for $19.99 a year. To put this into perspective, other places charge 2-3 times more to do the same thing. More perspective? No problem. For that $19.99 you can upload all the content you want, while the other places charge for each individual upload. Meaning that if you wanted to release multiple EP’s instead of one album, you still only pay $19.99 a year. Or pay $50 and Distrokid will never take it down if your membership lapses or you die. It’s kind of rad.Still want physical copies? No problem, there’s a ton of businesses who ship from everywhere in the country. I used https://www.affordablesound.com based out of Austin, TX and they were easy to work with. The price depends on the quantity you print, but keep in mind – people don’t really buy them anymore.

Release Strategy

Ok, here comes some realities. What do you want out of this release? Only you can decide this. When you upload to Distrokid you can choose literally 150 or more platforms to put your album on. If its just about exposure then click all the boxes and have a drink, you’re done. If its about sales then I’d suggest not putting it out on Spotify or Pandora streaming sites as it means people will choose to do that over paying the $9.99 for your work. Later on, go ahead and steam it as you like. I waited a year myself, but before that I personally wanted to set a value to what I produced and genuinely feel streaming lessens the public’s perception of what you do.

The fact is people don’t really want to pay for shit. Also - most of the people I know are broke, but that said - its up to you what your album is worth. There’s nothing wrong with saying your work is worth $10 and then putting it up on YouTube etc after a year as you move on to the next project. If your goal is to rank on iTunes, then make that push and promote the hell out of it on release day. I did that for my first album and got the #1 credit that pretty much no one cares about and does nothing for your career. For my second release, I first went through Bandcamp before Distrokid. I got paid quicker and got to see who and where was buying the album. It rocked, was easy and they only took 15% of each sale. You have to link it with Paypal and I’d advise paying the $10 to go with Bandcamp Pro. This will help you keep it from being a streaming release (and you can cancel after your sales die off). However, most people would rather click the ‘Buy’ button on iTunes and Amazon instead of filling out the credit card information on Bandcamp so eventually, you’re going to have to put it up through Distrokid anyways. You have options. Above all else make a list and look at what resources you have in your own community and decide for yourself what direction you’d like best to go. When do I see money from iTunes, Amazon, etc?

If you are on a label or doing it solo it takes 3-4 months to get your sales information back (unless you exclusively go through Bandcamp). Distrokid keeps track and will help you get paid. Do you work for Distrokid?

No. It was just so easy and convenient to use especially for standup that for the price and speed of service, I was pretty grateful they were an option.

Is this post just a way to promote your own shit?

Nope. This isn’t one of those dumb marketing things. Its just information for you to use or not. No twitter handles or links here.Most likely I’ll go back and edit this as more people either correct me or provide extra information that’s helpful to comics.

I hope this helps.

Jay Whitecotton is a stand Up comedian from San Antonio, TX now living in Austin. He’s written columns for magazines without any journalistic credibility – toured professionally as a guitarist, despite no lessons – and sold a script that was never made into a movie… – He likes dragons. His album “Hi, Lonesome!” & “Monster Ballads” are available on iTunes, Bandcamp, Amazon and wherever fine albums are found.

#standup comedy albumrelease recording labels record label distribution jaywhitecotton

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