#every new review and comment and tidbit makes me more and more excited

[viir-tanadhal]

i need this album so bad

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.207 thoughts

[Oh, Mama!]

(Contents: power system analysis - souls/Negator succession, character analysis - Feng, predictions - Idol Arc)

What incredible timing that the idol arc would begin as I'm finishing my read-through of Oshi no Ko! I would've called this review "Oshi no Fuuko," but half of the comments on MangaPlus beat me to it, the bastards!!

Since this is a set-up chapter, it doesn't give me a lot of huge thematic topics to cover, so instead I'm going to go over the little tidbits of exposition and foreshadowing Tozuka sprinkled throughout it

Starting with Nico's Unforgettable overcoming its memory-crushing weakness of the previous loop, I'm really loving all of the different ways that Tozuka is finding to incorporate souls into Negator abilities. At first I was worried that everyone would just be doing constructs like Andy or astral projection like Ichico/Lucy, but Nico's ability to store memories in his soul rather than his brain is a really clever application that strongly suggests that Tozuka has put a lot of thought into how the system can best synergize with the rest of the cast

My favorite part, of course, is the confirmation of another one of my theories!!! I've been saying for years now that the distinction between self- and external-targeters was arbitrary and just another self-imposed limitation like pretty much every aspect of Negator abilities, but to think that Tozuka would just come out and say it! He really knows how to make me feel like I'm getting a good grade in reading comprehension~!

That said, I'm still having some trouble seeing how souls are going to help eliminate targeting limits in a lot of cases. For example, Unburn targets fire, that's not really a matter of internal/external, that's a matter of specificity. Souls are already stated to be self-replenishing when weaponized, so I'm not sure how Undecrease can be improved by adding souls to the mix other than being able to harm souls in the first place. Unrepair should be able to damage souls directly, but I'm not sure yet how much utility that really has since the need to do so has only come up once so far

As much as I want to say I see all of the possibilities, I think it's clear that Tozuka is still hiding some tricks up his sleeve, so instead of trying to uncover them, I'm going to let myself be pleasantly surprised. Still, I can't help but think about it a little bit, so at the very least I think that sensory-based abilities will be able to utilize the soul, kind of like Observation Haki, so Shen and Chikara won't need to worry about their vision being obscured and may even be able to project a portion of their soul to see a target from multiple angles

Projection, construction, sensation, even if these are the only categorical methods that Tozuka came up with for soul-based abilities, that would still provide a ton of versatility for the cast's fighting styles. However, I'm confident there's something else he's holding close to the chest, and I'm excited to see what it turns out to be

This chapter also gave us a little more insight into Negator selection, and answers a question that I've had since year one. In death, Ichico met her predecessors and specifically decided to hold onto Unsleep, which explicitly confirms that succession is neither immediate nor obligatory. This also explains why Rip retained Unrepair despite being confirmed to have died during his first fight with Andy; when he met his predecessors and they asked him to choose a new Unrepair, he undoubtedly refused, confident that he would find a way back to life to keep fighting for Leila. I do wonder if he forgot about that meeting because he couldn't perceive souls yet or if he thought it was just a dream like Ichico did. Perhaps we'll get some insight into that moment when Rip levels up?

Speaking of long-standing questions, I saw someone on twitter talking about why Feng has been falling through Kokuto'un ever since the Unmove Arc: if Kinto'un requires a good heart to ride, Kokuto'un must require an evil heart. Feng has been steadily becoming softer and kinder, even if it is hidden under a gruff exterior, and this chapter only helped solidify that - he can't even command Kokuto'un to fly away from a conversation he wants to avoid, because in his heart he's becoming a good man who sees the value in helping the people around him. He uses personal training as an excuse to accept Fuuko's request to teach other Union members how to use souls, whereas the old Feng would certainly have insisted everyone else figure it out for themselves. I wonder if there will come a time where Feng can't ride Kokuto'un at all, and if perhaps there will be a time where he literally doesn't need to because he'll figure out how to use his soul to fly

Finally, we arrive at the main attraction: the reintroduction of Fuuko's parents and the long-awaited Idol Arc! I think it's safe to see we all knew the latter was coming, but damn, who predicted the former??

I've certainly been wondering about the Izumo family ever since the loop started. At first I considered the possibility that there was a second Fuuko running around, but I quickly ruled that out and just assumed that the Izumos didn't have a child this time around. This was seemingly confirmed by Apocalypse when he told Juiz about how her soul that originally had no parents would be affected by the Rule that introduced the concept, that she would become the child of a couple that was previously destined not to have a child. From that, we all concluded that the reverse would be true for Fuuko, that since her soul wasn't present to be born, her parents simply wouldn't conceive

After that, I considered that Fuuko would either check in on her parents and leave them to live a happy life together even without her, or that she might meet up with them after the final battle and use Remember or something to tell them who she is, but I figured they'd be much older than when she lost them and they'd never be able to get back what they lost

I never suspected that the offset reincarnations would apply to the non-Negators, though. Sure, Mico ended up being born a lot later, but that's because her parents were directly affected by Fuuko's choices in the new loop. Fuuko's parents, though, seemed like completely unrelated parties, so I figured that they wouldn't be able or at least wouldn't be aware enough to influence their birth. I was so unprepared for this eventuality that I actually saw a girl with Fuuko's hairstyle and the "Fuu" kanji in her name on that flyer and thought "oh damn, Fuuko was reborn after all?? There really are two Fuukos??"

In retrospect, though, there's no reason their souls couldn't have decided to adjust their reincarnation. I suppose it's also not clear how old Kaede is here, but being generous, if she was as young as 16 in 2002 when Fuuko was originally born, she'd still be 29 here in 2015, a very unusual age for an idol. Therefore, it seems more likely that she adjusted her birth to coincide with Kururu's, knowing that Fuuko would one day cross paths with her while recruiting, and the current Kaede is likely between 14 and 21

How this will affect the Idol Arc, I have no idea. Maybe Fuuko will have to play wingman for her own parents, or maybe Kaede is already struggling with being an idol because it means she can't be with Mr. Izumo. Whatever the case, because of their striking resemblance, I'm willing to bet there will be a point where, for whatever reason, Fuuko needs to disguise herself as Kaede, whether as a ploy to get closer to Kururu or to cover for Kaede while she makes a move on Mr. Izumo. We just don't know enough yet to make any educated guesses, but I'll be shocked if at least that much doesn't happen somehow

Whatever happens in this arc, I do hope it'll be more like Enjin's arc than either of the previous Master Rule arcs. I'd like a more relaxed, character-focused arc rather than an action-heavy arc right now, or at the very least to have the tension come from interpersonal drama rather than life-threatening stakes. Jumping back and forth between styles seems to be Tozuka's forte, and now is a great opportunity to do something a little more light-hearted to prepare for the impact of the next Master Rule, but we'll just have to wait and see!

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[pikemoreno]

favorite writers on here?

alright alright, this’ll be fun and a long, long list. first off:

star wars characters

@tintinwrites- the best poe fics. i love everything of caitlin’s i’ve ever read. i have a terrible attention span for long series sometimes but hers are so easy to get into and just never stop reading??

@starryeyedstories- amazing poe and cassian fics. the fluff always makes my heart soarrrrr. such a natural at fluffy goodness.

@poeticandors- also really really nice poe and cassian fics!! (also writes for other characters but those are just the ones i’ve read) v good! i remember ‘didn’t mean it’ in particular? it breaks your heart and then puts it right back together

@beskars- hooo boy. one of the very few obi wan writers and woooow. *chefs kiss* love me some of elisha’s obi. but we all already be knowin elisha’s writing is quality.

@no-droids *screams* their din, cassian, and obi-wan are all EXCEPTIONAL i try not to put a lot of gratuitous smut on my blog so that’s why i haven’t commented on every single thing but like... this is THE STUFF. right here. sucks you right in.

@acomplicatedprofession- so, yes, lari IS a p*dro character writer, really. B U T. her cassian fic is one of the best fics my eyes have consumed. it’s cute and saucy and i’m in looove with it. 

p*dro characters

@rzrcrst- i’ve read a lot of kenzie’s one shots (mostly binged- need to go back and leave lots of juicy comments because i didn’t before like a terrible human) and they’re just chef’s kisses everywhereee. but her crowning jewel, sanctuary, is on my reading list and i can’t wait to read it.

@mandadoration- i made it through all her whiskey fics when i was on a whiskey kick a bit ago and hooooooo. i could read ‘you’re a fine girl’ 100 times and never get sick of it. looking forward to binging all the delicious mando content as well soon!

@longitud-de-onda- camila is just a gorgerous gem PERIOD. but her writing is so gorgeous and riveting. they’re all such wonderful studies of character and personality and what makes people tick.

@hopelikethesun- now... i do not search out javi fics generally. i love me some javi but eh he’s just not generally my first choice of fic for some reason. but mtmf is one of the few exceptions. it’s beautiful, it really is. 

@spacegayofficial - the headcanons are so fabulous, for one. but the first thing i think about with tori is their max phillips fics? they’re so good. one of the only people i’ve seen write max (and be AMAZING at it btw. that one fic... yanno that one... like i said before, i try to not reblog gratuitous smut to my blog so i need you to know now: that fic awakened something kind of terrifying in me.)

@madadlorian- i walked into a gilded lie a max lord hater and will i still probs hate canon lord? yeah. but am i in unashamed love with amber’s version? 100% (also really love ‘if you don’t love me now’ btw. i’ve read it multiple times)

@lesqui- les writes right from the soul. it’s all just beautiful and poetic. ‘m in love with les AND les’s writing.

@catfishingmorales- THE RANGER!VERSE. that’s all i can say. the ranger!verse is one of the best, most wholesome things on this godforsaken site. casualties made me feel things. i could read it another 50 times easily.

@hdlynnslibrary- jUST POSTED A NEW FIC AND I’M EXCITED. her writing is as sweet and lovely as she is. 

@secretpajamas wrote MARCUS PIKE smut like a BOSS. one of the few times i allowed gratuitous smut to be reblogged onto my blog. AHHHHHH. i’ve read it three times.

@keeper0fthestars- lovely lovely lovely person who writes an even lovelier frankie. SO SO good and real and perfect.

@marcusplke- my kindred spirit in writing for good ol’ pike. *squee* so nice. it broke me and i loved it

@softpedropascal- pragma is one of the series i’m reading that i’m most excited to see updates for. it’s gorgeous. so gorgeous. so complex and emotional. and NAILS frankie’s character.

@qveenbvtch i’ve read their shorter works/headcanon posts and WHEW BOY W H E W. it’s all so incredibly well written. exceptional. realllllyyyy excited to read funtimes in babylon soon. i’ve had my eye on it a while.

as a bonus:

on my list to read, so you should join me in reading them:

@dindjarindiaries - i’ve read her shorter things like headcanons yanno and they’re always sooo great, but i have molly’s masterlist on my list of things to binge and i’m very pumped about it. it all looks so good

@damerondjarin- loooove all the lil headcanons and things from taylor. a masterlist i’m reallllyyy excited to binge.

@murdermewithbooks- mmmmmm... i’ve read tidbits and i’m jazzed to read more!!!

@themandjalorian- *clappy hands* jeni’s reviews always get me amped to read other fics! amped to sit down and read hers too!!!

@sunshinepascal- is a sweetie!!!! i’ve read tidbits enough to know that i’m very excited to binge this masterlist

ALSO my tag /fic+rec has, well, fics i’ve recommended, in case i missed any here (don’t go past page like 10. it turns into a different fandom and i need to fix it)

[kaesaaurelia]

books and reading in 2021

Overall I’d like to read at least 65 books for 2021 and I’d like for most of those to be new-to-me and things I either already own or have listed as to-read on Goodreads.

So far I have read 11/65 books and 4 fanworks.

Themed reading challenge checklists and brief book reviews are under the cut.  I may or may not finish any of these challenges; again, my goal is to cut down my to-be-read list and unread books I own, and themes and deadlines help me pick a book rather than hemming and hawing.

Book reviews answer the questions “Did I like it? Was it good? Would I recommend it?” (please note these are very different questions) and how many stars I rated it.

I may put fanfiction, webfiction, and other things that are very much not traditional books down on here as well, depending on how booklike I’ve decided they are.

The FFA reading challenge, 2021 (2/12 books)

JANUARY - The Pandemic Year - a medical thriller, or a book about medicine The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum Did I like it? Yeah! Was it good? I think so.  Sometimes the prose meandered in such a way that I felt the author was kind of saying dun dun dun! under her breath at me, and I was like “idk, is that significant?” but usually it was good. Would I recommend it? Do you have a strong stomach? Then sure. 4 stars

FEBRUARY - Macavity/Ratigan - a genre you wouldn't normally read Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone, book 1 in the Jane Doe series Did I like it?  Yes!  Very much!  The power fantasy of being able to take vengeance against people who hurts your loved ones, without feeling bad about it, was really appealing to me, a person who feels guilt over a frankly ridiculous number of things.  It was also genuinely funny. Was it good?  I thought so.  The narrator had a really strong voice that struck the right balance between creepy cold indifference and endearing little moments of self-discovery. Would I recommend it? Yes, but with the caveat that there’s some pretty serious emotional abuse of the protagonist’s false persona (which she encourages and privately gloats about), and she also gets close to committing serious violence, including fantasizing at length about it. 5 stars

MARCH – 100+ Comments of Terror - a book set in the arctic, or a book about an expedition In the Land of White Death: An Epic Story of Survival in the Siberian Arctic by Valerian Albanov (ordered)

APRIL - Sexy John Oliver Rat – a book about animals, or a book with a character called Oliver or Olivia A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling (hardcover)

MAY - A Feud in Wolf-Kink Erotica - a book involving wolves, the legal system, or ripped from the headlines Song of the Summer King by Jess Owen (ebook)

JUNE - Showerhead Wank - a comedy of manners, an etiquette manual, or a book where someone wanks or has sex

JULY – My Shithead Is What You Are! - a book with profanity in it, or a book about themes of censorship

AUGUST - Yep, Still Indoors - a book involving travel, or being stuck in one place

SEPTEMBER - Socktopus, Maybe? - a book where someone has a secret identity, or a book about aquatic animals

OCTOBER - Politics is Sequestered – a book involving politics or politicians Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago by Mike Royko (owned in DRM’d ebook)

NOVEMBER - It's Canon in Spanish - read a book originally written in Spanish, or set in Latin America

DECEMBER - Apple Is a One Syllable Word - a book about language/linguistics/etc., or a book with a two syllable title. 

Around the Year in 52 Books (8/52 books)

A book related to “In the Beginning...”: (Using the subprompt a book set in the ancient world) The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson Did I like it? Yes; it was definitely a less comfortable read than prior translations I have read, but a more interesting one, I think.  A lot of details leapt out at me that I had either forgotten or that had been overlooked in the 3ish literature classes I have read the Odyssey for. Was it good? Yes! Would I recommend it? Probably, with the caveat that if you are just in it for a cool mythology story you would probably prefer an adaptation rather than a translation. 5 stars

A book by an author whose name doesn't contain the letters A, T or Y The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis Did I like it?  I really read this for the worldbuilding of Hell, so I liked that; to some extent I did also like some of the musings on how a lot of human foibles that people like to think of as virtues can actually be kind of shitty.  On the other hand, Lewis and I disagree about a lot of things -- mostly that whole Christianity thing.  So I liked it with caveats. Was it good? It was okay!  Again, I was not really there for the Christianity stuff.  I am never there for the Christianity stuff.  I am either precisely the wrong audience for all of C.S. Lewis’ stuff, or, if you look at it a certain way, precisely the right audience, but even if you look at it that way, he is never going to convince me; I wrote furious postcanon fanfiction about the dwarfs when I reread the Narnia books as a teenager and realized they were meant to represent people like me. Would I recommend it?  Probably not?  Unless you frequently write demons or other evil creatures trying to figure out how humans work, which I guess I am. 4 stars but only because that reveal at the end is great

A book related to the lyrics for the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music (The cover depicts a rose with raindrops or dewdrops on it.) Ensnared by Rita Stradling Did I like it? In a sense.  In a sense, I enjoyed this book.  It was a Beauty and the Beast retelling, and I like Beauty and the Beast.  There were robots, and I like robots.  And it certainly gave me something fun to talk about.  However, it also inspired me to try and figure out when and why I acquired this book, and while I still don’t know why I bought it, I was relieved to find that I only paid 99 cents for it.  For a more thorough description of the plot, please see my Goodreads review.  It was a weird book to start with, and then it really, really didn’t age well. Was it good?  IT SURE WASN’T. Would I recommend it?  No.  However, if you decide to read it I’d love to hear what you think.  Please.  Please talk to me about this book. 2 stars

A book with a monochromatic cover The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson Did I like it?  Yes, very much!  Also it accidentally became fic research.  I genuinely was just thinking “where do I slip Leonard into this narrative so he can try and fail to sabotage the Ferris Wheel?” and then I began to think about how much Leonard would admire and envy H. H. Holmes’ ladykilling ways.  But in general it was a really good read and had a lot of... Chicagoness, which I of course am fond of. Was it good? I thought so!  Obviously a lot of the narratives of Holmes’ murders were mostly the author’s speculation, but there were a lot of great research tidbits in there, and the picture the author paints of the World’s Fair was vivid and wonderful. Would I recommend it?  Yes, with the warning that this is true crime and there is vivid narration of several murders, including the murders of several children. 5 stars

A book by an author on USA Today's list of 100 Black Novelists You Should Read Wild Seed by Octavia Butler, book 1 of the Patternmaster series Did I like it?  Yes, but it was intense.  It takes a lot of skill to keep me reading and invested through so many horrors; the protagonist’s children and loved ones die on-page multiple times, in horrible accidents or senselessly murdered, and it hurts every time, but I kept reading.  Admittedly I am (predictably) extremely here for immortal enemies-to-lovers-to-enemies angst, so that was probably part of it. Was it good?  Yes!  I am kind of sad that I’m not just moving on to the next in the series (there are 3 more books), but also, god, I’m not sure I could handle it. Would I recommend it?  Yes, definitely, with the caveat that it is very dark and very sad. 5 stars

A love story Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha, book 1 of the Mercenary Librarians series Did I like it?  It was good!  I gather both of the authors who are Kit Rocha were (are still?) in fandom, and it shows in the right ways; it doesn’t shy away from depicting sex pretty explicitly but there’s a lot of emotion in it, and the main couple is a m/f couple without the book being unpleasantly heteronormative.  Like, yeah, it’s about a big butch macho dude who’s broken inside and a woman who’s very caring, but the big butch macho dude is genuinely kind and not like, violent for the hell of it or overprotectively jealous, and the woman doesn’t drop everything to Heal His Pain.  (Also I think most of the characters, including the romantic leads, are established to have had same-gender lovers at one point or another without that being considered unusual or wrong in the setting, so that’s nice.)  It’s also a cheerful and optimistic post-apocalyptic book about two found families coming together to make the world a better place, despite the very grim backstories of pretty much everyone in the story, which is really nice. Was it good?  It was okay.  It was good popcorny reading; it’s not winning any literature prizes, but it sets out to be fun and readable and exciting, and it is all of those things.  Also, as noted above, the prose has a lot of the strengths of fanfic (not being afraid to mix genres, not being afraid of writing sex earnestly and emotionally but also explicitly, strong emotional focus) without the much-derided stereotypical weaknesses of fanfic. Would I recommend it?  Probably?  This isn’t a must-read; it’s happy to be idfic so if it sounds like it’d scratch your id I would recommend it, but it might not be Your Thing and that’s okay too. 4 stars

A book that fits a prompt suggestion that didn't make the final list (Using the subprompt a book related to a local industry or small business) The Gangs of Chicago: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld by Herbert Asbury Did I like it? NO.  NO I DID NOT.  It made me genuinely angry.  It was a useful read for fic research and unfortunately I’ve got it in my little fic-writing reference material corner in my office but I DID NOT LIKE THIS BOOK IT WAS VERY BAD.  Many questionable or outright incorrect assertions and implications, and extremely racist and sexist.  For details, see my review on Goodreads. Was it good? It was actively bad. Would I recommend it? Not unless you are interested in it historiographically, or on the off chance that you are trying to find some fiddly details about a particular bit of Chicago crime history, but also have no responsibility to make sure those fiddly details are correct when you use them in the project. 1 star

A book set in a state, province, or country you have never visited The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France by Eric Jager Did I like it?  It was okay.  It was definitely interesting but not amazingly life-changing. Was it good?  It was fine!  I did think the underlying rape case was handled surprisingly sensitively given that this was a male author writing about 20 years ago about a medieval rape accusation and trial, but there is a chapter that is basically just the victim’s account of her rape, and it’s very brutal. Would I recommend it?  Do you want to understand more about trial by combat in the Middle Ages, and/or learn about how medieval people treated rape victims?  You should definitely read this book.  But if that doesn’t particularly interest you, probably not. 3 stars

A book you associate with a specific season or time of year Summers at Castle Auburn (ebook borrowed from CPL)

A book with a female villain or criminal Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul by Karen Abbott (owned in paperback)

A book to celebrate The Grand Egyptian Museum The Oasis by Pauline Gedge (ebook)

A book eligible for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa (on hold at CPL; est. 3 week wait)

A book written by an author of one of your best reads of 2020 The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow (on hold at CPL; est. 10 week wait???)

A book set in a made-up place Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey (paperback)

A book that features siblings as the main characters Sisters One, Two, Three by Nancy Star (ebook)

A book with a building in the title

A book with a Muslim character or author

3 books related to "Past, Present, Future" - Book 1

3 books related to "Past, Present, Future" - Book 2

3 books related to "Past, Present, Future" - Book 3

A book whose title and author both contain the letter "u"

A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads

A cross genre novel

A book about racism or race relations

A book set on an island

A short book (<210 pages) by a new-to-you author

A book with a character who can be found in a deck of cards

A book connected to ice

A book that you consider comfort reading

A long book

A book by an author whose career spanned more than 21 years

A book whose cover shows more than 2 people

A collection of short stories, essays, or poetry

A book with a travel theme

A book set in a country on or below the Tropic of Cancer

A book with six or more words in the title

A book from the Are You Well Read in World Literature list

A book related to a word given by a random word generator

A book involving an immigrant

A book with flowers or greenery on the cover

A book by a new-to-you BIPOC author

A mystery or thriller

A book with elements of magic

A book whose title contains a negative

A book related to a codeword from the NATO Phonetic Alphabet

A winner or nominee from the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards

A non-fiction book other than biography, autobiography or memoir

A book that might cause someone to react “You read what?!?” Missing 411: Eastern United States by David Paulides (terrible pdf copy I’m not paying $100 for a book about extradimensional bigfoot)

A book with an ensemble cast

A book published in 2021

A book whose title refers to person(s) without giving their name

A book related to "the end"

There’s No Business Like Snow Business February Reading Challenge (8/8)

Snow is precipitation in the form of small white ice crystals formed directly from the water vapor of the air at a temperature of less than 0°C (32°F).

Read a book that has snow on the cover or snow in the title. Killing Dragons: The Conquest of the Alps by Fergus Fleming Did I like it? It was okay.  There was more about the personalities involved in early mountaineering than I did about actual mountain-climbing, which was fine, but didn’t get really exciting until those personalities got really dysfunctional. Was it good?  Again, it was okay.  The prose wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t gripping, and there was some odd (lack of) translation on occasion.  The research seemed thorough and solid, though. Would I recommend it?  Not really, unless you are specifically looking to research the Alps or early European mountain-climbing enthusiasts for a writing project or something, in which case, of course. 3 stars

Precipitation: Read a book that has any weather related term in the title. Trail of Lightning, book 1 of The Sixth World, by Rebecca Roanhorse Did I like it?  Yes!  This took me back to my first forays into urban fantasy as a preteen/young teen.  I loved the Diana Tregarde books and also Harry Turtledove’s The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump, and whenever I want urban fantasy that’s kind of the pattern I’m looking for?  An unfriendly world full of myths that are real and living and breathing and otherworldly but also they are probably trying to bum a cigarette off you.  I haven’t reread my favorite childhood urban fantasy because I think it probably won’t hold up, and later urban fantasy has mostly been not quite what I wanted, but this book was like being that kid all over again.  I’m not super familiar with Dine folklore/mythology so it was neat to learn a little bit about that, too, although obviously to learn those stories maybe don’t go to an urban fantasy novel. Was it good?  It was pretty good!  The prose wasn’t like, stylistically exciting, but it conveyed the plot well, and I did like the narrative voice, and the characterization was good, I thought. Would I recommend it?  Absolutely.  Content warning for violence (as per urban fantasy) and a child dies violently early on in the book, but if you were the kind of kid I was but you’re not really into paranormal romance or Harry Dresden, give it a try. 4 stars

Small: Read a book that has less than 200 pages. A Butt in the Mist: Stirred to the Core of My Bodice by the Duchess Triceratops of Helena by Chuck Tingle Did I like it?  I mostly did, but it wasn’t super exciting.  I liked the free book afterwards better.  It was funny, but Chuck’s been funnier. Was it good? This 4,000 word book was written with all the quality and attention to detail that I have come to expect from beloved author Chuck Tingle. Would I recommend it? Not really?  It was funny, but I think I like his more metafictional stuff better, and I think he gets a lot weirder with his m/m stuff; if I’m reading Chuck Tingle, I want it to be weird. 3 stars

Snow is formed of crystals and is a slang term for diamonds. Read a book in which a gem or other mineral can be found in the plot, title, or cover art. Ombria in Shadow by Patricia A. McKillip Did I like it?  Mostly!  I love the lush visuals of McKillip’s prose; they more than live up to the also gorgeous covers.  Dreamy fairytale stuff but with solid emotions and a good sense of place. Was it good?  I think so, although the dreamlike quality of the prose does mean you’re liable to miss something if your attention drifts. Would I recommend it?  Yes, I think so. 5 stars

Snow is a dessert made of stiffly beaten whites of eggs, sugar, and fruit pulp. Read a book with a dessert on the cover, or read a book in which a dessert is made. Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke, book 1 of the Hannah Swensen series Did I like it? I enjoyed parts of it, but I thought it really suffered at the beginning, when our introduction to the detective was “not like other girls, not interested in DATING and MEN” and our introduction to her older sister is “she was a DITZY CHEERLEADER and now she’s married with a kid but she’s a HORRIBLE CAREER HARPY who WORKS ALL DAY and puts her child in DAYCARE and CAN’T COOK” and that was all just very tiresome.  The sister does turn out to have redeeming qualities and useful interests, but the way these two and their mother interact is all like, if you were asking yourself whether there’s such a thing as toxic femininity and what that would look like, it’s these women.  Aside from that, it was fine; it was a cozy mystery novel about a bakery specializing in cookies.  I will say, I did appreciate the Midwesternness of the small town Midwest setting. Was it good?  Not really.  I did kind of have to handwave a lot to let the detective get away with all the HIPAA violations and crime scene disturbing that she does, but it is a cozy mystery. Would I recommend it? Probably not; I’ve heard this series gets better so if you’re interested in the series and/or like the idea of cookie-themed cozies, maybe start with a different book, unless you’re a completist like I am. 3 stars

Snow is slang for cocaine. Read a book about drugs or drug addiction. The Man With the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren Did I like it?  It was not a fun read, by any means, but Algren’s prose is fantastic and it was such a novelty to see such a familiar accent represented by eye dialect.  (Which I know has fallen out of fashion and is considered the mark of a bad writer, but I really don’t mind it if it’s done well.)  It’s one of those books where nobody has a fair shake and everybody is doomed, but it doesn’t feel gratuitous.   All the characters are horrible to each other, but in fairness they are also horrible to themselves; it’s all they’ve ever known. Was it good?  Yes.  It was extremely good and I’m considering buying a physical copy so I can write things in the margins.  This is actually really weird for me to do; in high school we occasionally had to turn our books in so our teacher could be sure we were writing in them Correctly, and I found it a little painful, but I did want to do it with this book. Would I recommend it?  Yes, if you’re up for a really depressing story about heroin addiction and poverty. 5 stars

White is the color of snow. Read a book that contains white in the cover. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin Did I like it? I definitely did.  I haven’t read much Le Guin yet for some reason, and while this did initially start off feeling exactly like just another ‘70s SF story where in the future we’ve solved all of psychology and it’s super mechanistic, it was really fascinating and surprisingly, unpleasantly prescient. Was it good?  I thought so!  There were some parts of it that were pretty awkward about race, from a 2021 perspective, but it does actually deal with race in a way that made me think “yes, that’s exactly what would happen as a consequence of this plot, and it would be horrible, oh no, oh shit,” and it is horrible. Would I recommend it?  I am not sure I would!  I would recommend it in like five years, assuming those five years are not much like the last five years.  Hoping and praying that those five years are not much like the last five, really.  The premise of the book -- which I haven’t explained, I realize -- is that in this near-future environmental dystopia, the main character can change things in real life by dreaming about them, and he would like to not do that, only he is put under the care of a psychiatric researcher who tries to play God.  So this poor man literally wakes up every day to a brand new dystopia and it felt... familiar. 4 stars

To snow someone is to deceive, persuade, or charm glibly. Read a book about a con artist, or read a book about deception. Empire of Deception: The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated the Nation by Dean Jobb Did I like it?  I did.  I have joked that my own personal reading challenge this year is to fill up the Chicago shelf/tag on my Goodreads account, and this book was recommended to me in that spirit, and I always like hearing about a. Chicago; b. the 1920s; and c. con men conning people. Was it good?  The prose was fine; it was fun but I think the thing I appreciated most was all the punny newspaper headlines. Would I recommend it?  If you are someone who perks up at the sound of at least 2 out of 3 of the themes of “Chicago,” “1920s,” and “con men,” yes. 4 stars

2021 Q1 challenge: Changes (3/20)

Read a book that features:

The word "change" (Changes, Changing, or other variations) in its title. Weeds: How Vagabond Plants Gatecrashed Civilisation and Changed the Way We Think About Nature by Richard Mabey Did I like it?  It was all right.  I like hearing about plant history, and the chapter on plants unexpectedly surviving/thriving on battlefields and bombing sites was particularly interesting to me. Was it good?  It was okay, but kind of poorly-organized; there were chapter themes but it felt awfully stream-of-consciousness sometimes. Would I recommend it?  Maybe not unless you’re really into botany and Western anthropology.  (As in, the study of Western cultures; this book does not do much with other cultures.) 3 stars

The theme of money or money on its cover (loose change). Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik Did I like it?  I really, really liked it to the point that I feel kind of silly about it, gotta say.  I’m really, really hit or miss on the author’s work (both fanfic and profic) but the themes of this were perfect for me; Russian fairytales, a cynical but earnest sort of Judaism, creepy fairy abductions, interesting worldbuilding, and women coming together to help each other.  (Also some interesting enemies-to-lovers stuff that wasn’t really developed on the “lovers” side, which I would have dug.  Like its precursor, this book has a lot of f/f friends-to-lovers subtext and hostile canon het.) Was it good?  I don’t know?  I liked it enough that I genuinely don’t know if it was well-written. Would I recommend it?  I would, but I’m not sure you should trust me on this???  Again, this book really, really hit me in the id. 5 stars

An adaptation of its original format (book-to-manga, translation, etc.) Murder on the Rockport Limited! by Clint McElroy et al Did I like it?  It was okay, but not nearly as good as the original podcast’s murder train arc.  The art was good and all, but, eh. Was it good?  It was fine.  I’m not sure how into the DM/character conversations I am, and I found myself having to pause and reimagine the dialogue in the various McElroys’ voices, which wasn’t good because it meant I wasn’t automatically reading them in those voices in my head, which is a major litmus test I use when I’m deciding whether I want to keep reading a fanfic. Would I recommend it?  Definitely not as a standalone thing. 3 stars

The author's initials found in the word "change" Helen of Sparta by Amalia Carosella (in progress)

Separate book sections or part of a series of three or more books (make change) The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig (in progress)

An author or character writing under a pseudonym The Maker’s Mask by Ankaret Wells (in progress)

A topic or character about which you feel differently now than in the past. La Belle Sauvage by Phillip Pullman

Changing one's mind about a life decision. A Tapestry of Magics by Brian Daley

Switching careers/jobs. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine  Addison

Relocating to a different city, state/province, or country. Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout by Philip Connors

Cultivating new daily habits. How to Be Fine by Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer

A character who shifts shapes or identities. The Lie: A Memoir of Two Marriages, Catfishing & Coming Out by William Dameron

Life changes due to age Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage, and Survival by Velma Wallis

A medical transformation Specials by Westerfield, Scott

A life-changing experience. Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright

A changing household The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, A Rún, Volume 1 by Nagabe

An action or phenomenon that transforms society or the world. Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel

Replacing one thing with another (change out) In Vino Duplicitas: The Rise and Fall of a Wine Forger Extraordinaire by Peter Hellman & Charles Constant

Technological innovation Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet by Andrew Blum

A game-changer. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher  Clark

Fanfic Reading Challenge recs (1)

I have a private checklist with the fanfic reading challenge data, but will not be sharing all of the fics; fanfiction is generally an amateur endeavor, and many people do not enjoy receiving (or stumbling across) criticism of their work.  Bad reviews are normal and accepted as part of commercial publishing, and professional authors (hopefully!) get paid for their work, so I’m comfortable criticizing published novels.  I would prefer not to publicly criticize someone’s writing when they are just writing for the joy of it, especially since some of the tasks require me to read first-time authors’ fics, fics with relatively low kudos counts, fics for ships I don’t like, etc.  So I’m only putting the recs here.

Romancing the Tome by Anti_kate Good Omens; Aziraphale/Crowley; ~40k words; rated Explicit Romance novelist Aziraphale Wilder is pulled from his carefully ordered life when his sister is kidnapped and held to ransom. With the help of antiquities forger Anthony J Crowley, he braves the wilds of Scotland to rescue her and keep a priceless book from falling into the hands of dangerous book thieves. Did I like it?  Yes!  It was cheesy and cute and basically what I want out of this kind of romcom AU fic.  I’m not normally into human AUs and this one wasn’t like, super deep or anything, but it was very fun. Was it good? I thought so!  The dialogue was great, I enjoyed the characterization, the sex was good.  I do think the Crowley in this fic is pretty self-loathing in a way that I don’t see canon Crowley being at all, but I have a weakness for that and I also think self-loathing works for a human version of Crowley.  One thing it doesn’t shy away from is Crowley doing genuinely awful stuff (instead of being a misunderstood woobie) and yet the resolution is sweet and lovely anyway. Would I rec it? Yes!  Go read this fic.  It’s fast-paced but long enough to be worth settling in to read, it’s funny, and it’s sweet. 5 stars

In Holy Matrimony by Myracuulous Good Omens; Aziraphale/Crowley; ~6.7k words; rated General From the private journal of Alisha Jones, wedding planner, concerning the nuptials of Anthony J Crowley and Aziraphale and the planning process thereof, containing an account of chosen decor, guest list construction, and the holy war against the Antichrist that nearly ruined six months of professional organization and a very nice dinner. Did I like it?  Yes!  It was extremely cute, and I always really like outsider POV.  I did appreciate the fact that poor Alisha definitely knew something was definitely weird, but kept telling herself not to question it because a gorgeous wedding with an unlimited budget and zero issues with scheduling, catering, guest limits, etc. is a great problem to have. Was it good?  It was pretty good!  The climax and wrap-up felt a bit rushed, mostly due to the limits of outsider POV, but I did enjoy Aziraphale unexpectedly embracing his inner groomzilla while also being unfailingly sweet about it. Would I rec it?  Yup, especially if you want wedding comedy/fluff and outsider POV

Wrong Turn by anticyclone Good Omens; Aziraphale/Crowley; ~38k words; rated Teen And Up Lots and lots of somethings are wrong. First, Crowley's nearly hit by a car. Then he almost brains himself tripping over new and excessive piles of books at the bookshop. To add insult to near-injury, Aziraphale starts throwing knives at him. Safe to say his day could be going better.

The thing that's the most wrong of all is the universe, of course. In this one there was never an Arrangement. Aziraphale and Anthony (they can't both be 'Crowley') aren't friends and they certainly never agreed to prep for Armageddon. Unfortunately, the end of the world is two days away.

So that's something Crowley really has to fix before they can figure out how to get him home. Did I like it?  Oh yes.  I had read bits of this on ffa previously, and also anticyclone is a good writer (and a friend) so like, I was expecting it to be good; I was not disappointed. Was it good?  Yes!  I was particularly impressed at how much alternate backstory is set up in little hints here and there, and then explained more thoroughly in ways that take the AU Aziraphale and Crowley by surprise when they do finally get to talking. Would I rec it?  Yes!  Especially if you like a nice dose of enemies-to-lovers along with your friends-to-lovers, and also the awkwardness of meeting your alternate universe self.

Finished in January, not for reading challenges (3 books):

The Way of Kings, book 1 of The Stormlight Archive, by Brandon Sanderson Did I like it? It was fine. Was it good? I think so.  I am maybe not the best audience for epic fantasy at this point, partly because I’ve read a lot of it and partly because I habitually read 3-7 books at once at any given time. Would I recommend it? Maybe, but I feel like most of the people who would enjoy it have probably heard of it already. 3 stars

Get a Wiggle On, a Good Omens fanzine Did I like it? Yup! Was it good? Mostly, although as usual with zines and anthologies, quality varies piece by piece.   Of the fics I particularly liked “A Head Above Water,” “The Grapes of Mild Irritation,” and “Concerning the Great Serpent Glykon and the Angel Clothed With the Sun,” all of which are now available on AO3. Would I recommend it? If you like snakey Crowley, yes. 4 stars

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne Did I like it? Yes, very much!  A very silly thing I particularly liked (which unfortunately you cannot really replicate) is that the edition I have is an illustrated hardcover book from 1926 which I picked up cheap at a used bookstore, knowing I would like it because Jules Verne.  I didn’t think much about that specific date when I bought it, but I am now writing a fic set in 1926, with a character who has a habit of reading adventure novels and who I have specifically mentioned enjoyed Jules Verne in his childhood, so when I discovered the date the coincidence made me very happy.  The book itself smells very nice, it’s nice to hold, and as I was reading it I kept thinking about what Danny would think of the book, and whether he would try reading it aloud to Crowley, and wondering if the book smelled as nice in 1926 as it does now.  Maybe I will have Aziraphale give this book to him as a very small thank-you for all he has done to keep Crowley alive and well. Was it good? For the most part.  Jules Verne is prone to wandering off on tangents where he shows you his research, but I’m sympathetic to that, and there’s some really cool and atmospheric scenes in this book.  My favorite character was definitely Captain Nemo, who we don’t really learn much about.  Could have done without Conseil, the bland servant character who could be a naturalist in his own right, if he had any opinions of his own, or the period racism/imperialism, which unfortunately is so built into this kind of adventure novel.  But the environmentalism was a nice surprise, and you can definitely read some critiques of certain aspects of (Western?) culture at the time into Captain Nemo’s behavior; I have not yet read The Mysterious Island where Captain Nemo also appears, but I do get the impression a lot of people read him as being disgusted with imperialism. Would I recommend it?  Probably!  With the caveats above.  It was a good adventure story with some awesome visuals, and I kept thinking about what a pretty movie it would make with modern SFX, and how sad I would be that they would inevitably not spend just 3 solid hours on cool fish and interiors of the Nautilus and scenes of the lost city of Atlantis and Captain Nemo being very mysterious and dreamy scary, because they’d probably shoehorn an awkward romance into it. 4 stars

Finished in February, not for reading challenges (2 books):

The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig, book 3 of the Pink Carnation series Did I like it? I did.  It was a silly Regency romance novel with espionage elements, it is the third of a series I have enjoyed, and it contained an accidental/forced marriage to preserve a lady’s honor despite neither party to the marriage particularly liking or wanting to have anything to do with each other, and some misunderstandings about that.  Also spies. Was it good?  Not really.  It was fun and I liked the characters, but I don’t think the writing was of particularly high quality.  The handling of certain elements of English imperialism was not great, and bothered me enough to note it in my review on Goodreads. Would I recommend it? I’d recommend the series if it sounds like something you’d like; I might not recommend this specific book. 3 stars

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley Did I like it?  No.  It was very dark, and I did not enjoy most of the book.  A lot of it was because it was very gritty and grim, and because I frequently don’t enjoy military fiction; a lot of it was because many of the dystopian aspects of our present reality that came to a head in 2020 were magnified in the book.  Part of it was also that the protagonist’s entire reality and memory was being denied for much of the book, and I think it reminded me of being gaslit.  (This is not a criticism of the book, or some kind of weird accusation that the book or its author was somehow abusing me, I just have this personal history.  In fact, it turns out the main character is being gaslit to some extent, and the author writes it very well.)  It was a minor relief when she finally decided the stuff she was going through was real, and a huge relief when she was able to talk to someone who believed her. Was it good?  Yes, I think so. Would I recommend it?  Not right now, but I think this would be a good book to read at a time when the world feels more stable.  I don’t say this because I want you to wait until everything’s fine to read it; I say this because it feels like a good anti-complacency read. 4 stars (3 for not being an enjoyable read, 5 for the actual plot; it averages out.)

In progress, not for reading challenges (1 book):

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by 墨香铜臭

[paperclipninja]

Younger post-ep ramble 6x03

This week’s episode of Younger, ‘The Unusual Suspect’, was a big one. No scenes felt wasted, each one moving the story along and it all felt very purposeful. Despite some capital H hotness and really light and funny moments being scattered throughout, mostly thanks to fave (and only) NYC agent Redmond and the resurrection of some truly classic Diana Trout, there was definitely the sense of tension on the rise. It’s been simmering since the end of this season’s first episode and I feel like this week we have hit an apex.

We open with brunch at Maggie’s and what one can only assume is a time jump (either that or Clare has recovered remarkably well from birthing a baby the size of a four month old) and right away an overarching theme for this episode is established, as Lauren enters raving about the latest hit podcast, Exonerated. I’m gonna come straight out and say that I am so into this premise. The excitement around the table sounded like the break room in my office most days, they definitely nailed the trend of true crime fixation. It immediately allowed for Maggie’s quip about white women loving murder, a delightful array of OTT facial expressions from Liza and Kelsey dropping in that Millennial will be meeting with Audrey Colbert, subject of the podcast, to nab her book before anyone else does. Of course the other big news is that Josh and Clare appear to be happily family-ing it up (though mommy wipes, daddy dipes = vom in my mouth a little bit) and Maggie is dealing with unresolved BoUBT (Back of Uber Birth Trauma). Lauren’s vow to help get Maggie back on the ‘h for hunt’ once again epitomises why I love her character so and I want to record her sympathetic ‘oh Divaaa’ as my ringtone. I just love that Maggie, of all characters, is the one who seems like she should be the most pragmatic when it comes to something like birth yet her coping level is zero here.

You know who else wasn’t coping? Me and my Liza and Charles loving heart as Liza suddenly up and left the brunch because she ‘was late for a thing’, cue the scene that was released as a sneak peek last week that I have definitely only watched a normal number of times *cough*. The set up for The Rubin Museum from the opening conversation was fab and the fact that Charles and Liza are using the podcast to frame up a role play situation is just too much. Obviously I had seen the scene prior to the ep and while it is certainly *insert flames here*, I can’t help but wonder what it would’ve been like not to have expected it (actual combustion probable). I mean regardless, I will never think about a trip to the museum in the same way again. The voice-over narrating what we were seeing was such a great device that is really different to anything the show has done before, it built the anticipation of what was playing out and it felt like a scene from a movie. The moment when Charles turned and came face to face with Liza was a great reminder of how electric the chemistry between these two can be (actual lightening bolts were sighted) and quite frankly, seeing these characters being adventurous and lustful in their relationship is a yes on all fronts. I think the fact it all took place in a place of intellect and culture was extra fitting, it somehow kept the whole thing true to the characters and I am here for the #nerdlove. 

The office drama was amped this whole ep and that of course was largely due to the ever growing reign of our season 6 villain, Quinn. With the time jump since last episode confirmed by the fact that Quinn’s book is both published and sitting on the best seller list, Kelsey and Diana’s first encounter with Quinn as she uses the WiFi for a conference call included a) Diana saying goodbye in Mandarin, which was yet another lovely tidbit to add to this character while also setting up the classic Diana we got throughout this ep and; b) some of the best fashion and hairstyles all in one scene (and episode as a whole) ever. I mean the fashion on this show is always next level but this episode in particular took it up a notch: Diana’s high-neck printed electric blue top and Kelsey’s hair/makeup/outfit in the conference room were so stunning I was actually distracted by them. 

Kelsey’s office refurb was also noted, loved Liza’s ‘set it (Claw) on fire’ comment and of course, Diana telling Kelsey that now she is publisher, maybe she should stop speaking like a trucker was D. Trout golden line no.1 for this episode. Even better was seeing Kelsey, Diana and Liza settling into this new way of working. I adore the dynamic between these three and the way we’re seeing Diana adjust to her former assistant now being a peer without a fuss is why this show is so wonderful. It would have been easy to have Diana trying to assert herself and maintain some sort of authority, but to see her just want to get on with the work and do the best job she can gives a great credibility to the notion that this character is the best in the industry. I could pretty much write out every Diana Trout line from ‘The Unusual Suspect’ and leave this entire ramble at that (’why is everybody in this country obsessed with true crime? Actual people have died and they’re selling branded beanies on Etsy’ LOLLLLL) but I would then need to do that for Redmond because the fave one and only agent in NYC was back this week and as always, he was in fine form. 

The pitch of Audrey Colbert’s book is up there with the funniest scenes of this series, from the creepy af Audrey (A+ casting of Willa Fitzgerald) to Liza and Kelsey trying to play it cool while being hella freaked out to Redmond’s attempt to present a compelling pitch being railroaded by Audrey’s ‘crippling lack of media training’, it was Younger writing and delivery at its finest from start to finish. Seeing Redmond so unnerved by Audrey was unnerving in itself and really, I am so happy with the amount of Michael Urie in this episode. Our next encounter was of course when Kelsey and Liza interrupt his infrared sauna treatment (again, so many hilarious lines, I really feel that a transcript of the entire episode is about the only way to do it justice but may be problematic to pass off as a recap/review…or would it?) and discover that Audrey’s book is being shopped around thanks to the dagger next to Claw on the bestseller list, which = bulk sales = dodgy business = Chinese bots tweeting = Quinn is the worst (math doesn’t lie) = Audrey doesn’t want to be associated with anything suspicious on account of the fact she’s been accused of murdering two ppl (fair). I do want to back this truck up a little though to the way Kelsey and Liza discovered their next big hit was being pitched to half the major publishing houses around town.

Diana Trout hobbling into the office on crutches before dropping the bomb that her injury was the result of being so frazzled upon hearing the news re: Audrey going elsewhere, that she got caught up in her reformer (just go and re-watch this scene, you will not be sorry) is everything I never knew I wanted to see. The reference to Jackie Dunn, who you may remember has been a longstanding nemesis of sorts of Diana’s, was such an utter delight as a long time fan and once again, seeing Kelsey, Liza and Diana all equally vexed by the news was so great and continued to solidify them as a team. I promise no more direct quotes* (*this is a very loose promise), but ‘postpone the power-trip Kelsey, I am handicapped’ in response to Kelsey’s stunned expression upon Diana’s request for espresso, is so outrageously funny and makes this whole scene an absolute stand out on account of its hilarity. 

I missed Lauren and Diana interacting this week, however I appreciated seeing Lauren be the wonderful friend she is to Maggie and Josh. Taking Maggie to the support group obviously allowed us to meet Beth, who Maggie engaged for some one on one tutoring (looking forward to seeing where that goes this season) after returning to the store to apologise for running out during the group session. While Maggie was lining up her ongoing therapy, Lauren and Josh shared a sweet and heartfelt moment that highlights why their friendship is such a lovely one on this show. Obviously Josh had told Lauren that he and Clare had a moment that made him think, ‘maybe we should make this relationship work’ and Lauren is following up to see where his head and heart are at. 

I absolutely loved said scene between Clare and Josh, when he had finally settled the baby, asks Clare if she wants to go to her bed and then joins her on the floor when she says she sleeps where she can now. There was such a sense of unity and care and it made my heart swell. So in his discussion with Lauren we also find out the baby is named Gemma (last name TBC, for both father and daughter) and when pressed about what he actually wants, Josh reveals that he doesn’t think he and Clare are right for each other. I have said it before, but for all the wacky that Lauren can be, she is the most incredible friend who only wants the best for those around her in such a relentless and genuine way and this scene really highlighted that once again (the line about her dad having such a little bottom though brought us straight back to Lauren light in the best possible way).

The divorce proposal was such a great scene and while I was hoping that perhaps Clare and Josh could work things out, I am thrilled to see that the writers put both these characters on the same page right from the get go. I love that this show constantly bucks stereotypes and expectations of how certain characters and relationships will play out, so to see two adults who have an agreed desire to put their child first but know they need to do so outside a romantic relationship is something really unique on television. I have always enjoyed Josh and Clare’s dynamic and I hope we get to see a real, loving co-parenting arrangement play out.

Kelsey’s interaction with Zane when she is buying a bottle of Dom Perignon to celebrate scoring Audrey’s book (eek!) is my favourite interaction of theirs this season. Their banter was really effortless, Zane’s, ‘you’re not listening’, as he pulled out the cash to pay for the one remaining bottle smooth and a little bit over confident, but really played up that he has something in the works that is legit. I especially love that we later discover both are buying champagne to celebrate the same win. I feel like we also need to stop and appreciate that they were about to drop $400 between them on two bottles of bubbles like it was no big deal. What is this life? How do I get it?

Though admittedly Kelsey deserves a nice glass of something this ep considering all that she is dealing with. I have made no secret that I have struggled with Kelsey’s character these past couple of seasons and no one is more surprised than me at how much I am getting on board with her this season. Kelsey calling out Quinn point blank that she faked her best seller was so good to watch and seeing Liza backing her up and standing her own ground made this extra satisfying. Gah, I just LOVE how Laura Benanti plays Quinn and her stating that ‘the money is real, what else do you need?’ is so cold and matter-of-fact. What I love most about this whole confrontation is that it immediately made me think back to the first time we met Quinn - her whole presentation was about the fact that no one wants your success more than you do and that women helping women is actually holding women back. That right there should’ve been the red flag that her “helping” Liza and Kelsey was not legit. 

And so her true motivation for investing in Empirical becomes evident. It had nothing to do with saving an ailing publishing house, it was to ensure her book would be published, she could have some control over how big it would become and be seen to have the support of a reputable publishing house, all in order to gain name recognition so she could successfully run for Senate. In her mind, Kelsey and Liza benefit from the whole thing financially so it’s a win win but she also holds the power so feels like she has the upper hand. Which is why the scene at The Cut (which is so fab, the looks Quinn shoots Kelsey are searing), when audience members question the dagger next to her book, is so damn satisfying. Kelsey’s move to announce Quinn’s run for Senate is so bold, I am very on board and boy oh boy Kels, I think you’ve got yourself quite the adversary. I was very much Liza watching this all unfold, shocked, impressed and a little bit scared for and of Kelsey and what this all means.

Now Liza was late to the event because she was living out the next chapter of the podcast at the Brownstone which we need to discuss, however I first owe some of you an apology. At the end of last week’s ramble I suggested you may need a fire blanket at the ready after seeing the museum scene sneak peek to you know, contain the flames. I fear some of you may have deployed it prematurely (this is not a euphemism though I am very aware it sounds like one) in response to how damn hot that scene was, but I was not to know that we were going to get this later scene, in which Liza just wanders into the townhouse BECAUSE SHE HAS A FREAKING KEY (suspected ep 2, confirmed ep 3, appreciated always) and decides to have a good old snoop at her bf’s mail. Similar to the museum scene, this set up felt more like a movie than a typical Younger episode. There was an ominous weight to it; the music, the lighting, the Charles padding silently up behind her (barefoot again?) and the tension was palpable. 

Liza asks Charles about what’s going on, he provides a vague answer about moving some things around before asking her if she’s listened to chapter 7 of Exonerated, which conveniently mirrors almost exactly what just occurred, with Audrey’s ex finding her going through his things. Ok, so this is where it gets tricky for me. This entire exchange, from the way these two fall into that speaking in third person and wrapping a narrative around themselves, the way Charles wraps his arms around her, the way they look at each other, I mean, this whole thing makes my heart spontaneously combust because it is sexy and flirty, dripping with desire and just really really hot *reaches for backup fire blanket*. But then Liza is clearly distracted by that letter and Charles’ deflection and part of me is wondering why on Earth she isn’t pressing him harder for an answer or following up, I mean, we saw how open they were with one another last season, but then the other part of me looks at Liza and thinks, you are a person who has eyes and that whole situation is right there in front of you so I get it, go with it and worry about it later.

I am aware of how long this ramble already is, but I am going to do something a little different here and digress slightly away from the episode itself and put out some conjecture on my part. It could well be completely over-analysing (lol, I’m neck deep into a freaking novella about a 25 min episode of TV, I think that’s a given) but I know that there is concern about Charles behaving secretively and I have seen some people expressing disappointment in this season so far. 

For what it’s worth, my take on it is that it might seem as though some of the characters are behaving a little out of character but I feel that actually, the characters are behaving in ways we haven’t seen before because they’re in situations we haven’t seen them in before. As invested viewers we feel like we know these characters as whole people in every aspect of their lives when in fact, we’ve not seen Liza at the top of her game in her career or Josh as a parent or Charles in a romantic relationship or away from the office. So while the way they behave might not be the way we imagined it, to me it isn’t so much out of character as seeing a new dimension of the character. Also, the addition of flaws does not necessarily equate to destroying a character, it builds them out and makes them more real, if anything. 

In relation to Charles and Liza’s relationship and the ‘Charles is being shady’ concern, IMO the key purpose of that is to create tension and you can FEEL it building. As crazy as it may sound, I think the Liza/Charles dynamic thrives in the build and resolution of tension and that’s why their moments in this episode felt so electric and hot, it’s like those unspoken, unresolved tension points charge their chemistry. As much as I think I would love to have Charles and Liza sitting around blissfully happy (I mean, I would obvs), the reality is, it’s not that fun to watch. I believe the tension is building towards a resolution of sorts that will actually put them in a better place and move the relationship forward. (*Full disclosure: since writing this I listened to the podcast from ATX fest and Joe Murphy, one of the writers for Younger, said very similar things so if you listened to that podcast I promise I have not just taken what Joe said and pretended they’re my thoughts, I legit had this written and then heard (ngl, I may be feeling a little smug as a result). I’m putting it down to us both being Australian because clearly that is a thing that makes sense).

I also think there is an unsettled feeling this season because the entire premise of this show, the roles these characters played, the interactions we have grown accustomed to week after week, has been completely flipped upside down. As viewers we garner comfort from the routine of watching a show but also from knowing where the players are positioned, how they will behave and what it looks and feels like. I think the writers know exactly what they’re doing and are achieving exactly what they would’ve hoped (apologies writers if this is wildly inaccurate and I’m just assuming things incorrectly left, right and centre) - everyone is sitting in discomfort and it’s largely due to the unfamiliarity of it all. The set up, the way we’re seeing characters etc, it reflects what the characters themselves are experiencing on our screens, which is all kinds of meta and actually pretty cool. But the further you push that discomfort and make viewers sit in it, the greater the impact and more satisfying the resolution. It’s like waiting for a beat to drop in a song, the build up can become almost unbearable but damn it’s good when it lands. That’s how I feel this is all going to go. 

That is what I meant by this episode feeling like an apex, it feels as though there’s a limit to how far an audience can be taken in a state of flux without some resolve somewhere. And the writers know this, it’s what they do, it’s WHY we tune in. I’m not suggesting that everything is going to go back to the way it was, the evolution of a show like Younger is exciting and part of the fun is seeing where it goes, but we are three episodes in to a twelve episode season and while we consume it week to week, it ultimately has to make narrative sense across the whole season. It’s as though we’re at the end of an ‘establishing’ phase right now. So I am reserving any judgement until I see how it all comes together, but have no doubt there will be many resolutions and many new points of tension throughout.

Right now, I am thoroughly enjoying all that we’re getting and I think the writing this season has been excellent so far, with moments like the final scene of ‘The Unusual Suspect’ providing us with the first true cliffhanger of the season. Our last bit of Redmond for the ep was peak Redmond (I love that he dashed off to a better table uptown), and of course the big Mercury reveal, YESSS. That moment of realisation washing over Liza’s face, props to Sutton Foster, and I cannot WAIT to see how this all goes down. The prospect of inter-generational team ups of Kelsey/Liza vs. Zane/Charles while members of each team are in relationships with one another is the kind of set up I live for in a TV show. Is it July 10th yet?

[chloeintheoffice-blog]

Books I’ve Read So Far In 2018 (Volume II)

Well I've read a couple more books since I last updated you guys so thought I'd get sharing them on here.

9. Countless by Karen Gregory

I actually really enjoyed this book. I didn't think it was a literary masterpiece, but I enjoyed my time learning the story of Hedda, a pregnant anorexia-suffering teenager. I can't comment myself on the quality of the representation of anorexia in this book, but what I do know about it was reflected well. Hedda must make the biggest choice she ever has; does she keep the baby, or keep the anorexia? On top of this she then has to decide, if she has the baby, is she keeping it, or putting it up for adoption? Although this story didn't move me to the extent I imagined it would, I found this an emotional and at the same time enjoyable read - would recommend.  

10.  Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

I had mixed feelings about this book. It is based on The Wizard of Oz, concerning another 'Dorothy' arriving from Kansas in the land of Oz. Since the original story has left off, Dorothy has returned to Oz, and become and evil and power-hungry ruler. It's the first book that I have read as an e-book, so was taking this into account as I was reviewing it. I was very interested in the storyline, and I felt like a re-telling of the Wizard of Oz was a very interesting place to go. But, it didn't do everything for me I wanted it to. I went into this book not knowing that it was part of a series, so I assumed that the drama of the book would come to a solution by the end. When this was not the case, I was disappointed with the time I had committed to it. Never the less, it was an enjoyable storyline and I think that carrying on with the series would be a good move if I enjoyed the story as a whole a little bit more.

11. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

I really enjoyed this book. The story follows Mara, whose friends died in a tragic accident. She moves to a new school, in a new town, to try and move on with the situation. She struggles to leave it behind because she can't remember what happened to her friends, and why they were even at the site of the accident on that night. Alongside all of her confusion, and stresses of starting a new school, somewhat paranormal things start happening to her that she can't understand or control. This is the first paranormal romance I have read of the year so far, and I really enjoyed it. The romance wasn't too heavy and definitely not forced. I have read similar stories with the truth of an accident being uncovered so really liked how this story was close to those, but had added supernatural elements. It's part of a series, which I have not delved into yet, though I am keen to do so. Would definitely recommend to a YA reader who needs a new type of supernatural. 

12. It Only Happens in the Movies by Holly Bourne

Upon starting this book, I didn't realise that it was the same author as my number 3 read of the year (see first book update), who I did not enjoy. This book was very similar. I enjoyed the storyline, though hated the additional elements of 'feminism' thrown in. The story follows Audrey, who is so over romance after the divorce of her mum and dad and the break-up with her first boyfriend. Then she meets Harry at her new job at the cinema, who is deeply into making his own films. She is asked to take the starring role, and Audrey can't help but fall for Harry. I enjoyed this part of the book, with the soppy to-good-to-be-true romance, but I got a little bit fed up with the underlying messages Holly Bourne was trying to push. Audrey stars as a zombie in Harry's film, but she just HAS to make this a feminist zombie, which I really didn't agree with. All in all, I LOVED the cover of the book, but hated the underlying messages. I'd recommend it to a 10-12 year old girl who wants a romance, but doesn't pick up on some of the authors opinions. 

13. The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

I stupidly enjoyed this book. It was a YA romance, that was definitely to-good-to-be-true, that you expect from the beginning, but love anyway. Caymen lives above the doll-store her mother owns; they are struggling with money and can't afford to pay the bills. The story line is sort of predictable, but I feel like that didn't matter at all to me. The fact I thought I knew what would happen next made me want to keep reading so I could find out, and I was like that every chapter. It was a very easy read; I read it in 2 days on my phone. It was perfect for a really stressed out couple of days revising, so the nice, easy, happy romance worked out well for me. I really would have liked this story to go further though. I wanted it to go further, to see what would happen between the two characters in the future. I think either the book could've been longer, or there should have been a sequel. I have so many questions about what happens next! I would definitely recommend it as a summer romance read.

14. Trouble by Non Pratt

I am very torn about this book. It follows Hannah, a teenager in high school without the best reputation with the boys, and Aaron, the history teachers son who is new to the school. Hannah finds herself pregnant and the talk of the school is the identity of the father. I thought this book had so much potential, and that there were many wasted opportunities with the storyline. When I was about halfway through the book, I wrote down my guess to the father's identity. It was scandalous,but it would've worked, and I think it would have made the perfect story. But, I was wrong. I obviously won't say who the father is, but I really thought my guess would have made more logical sense. Although saying that, I did really enjoy the book - enough to finish it in two days! I found the writing style easy to follow. Usually I don't like dual perspectives but because there would be no more than 1-2 pages, and sometimes only 1-2 sentences in someones perspective, I actually found this very interesting to read. So on the whole, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to others, but I have some thoughts that would've made it even better!!

15. More Than This by Patrick Ness

"A boy drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. He dies. Then he wakes, naked and bruised and thirsty, but alive. How can this be? And what is this strange deserted place?". I've had to just copy that from the blurb of the book because the storyline is impossible to describe. It's one of those books that you just HAVE to read, otherwise it will literally make no sense if someone tries to explain it. This is a difficult review for me. I struggled to get into the book, but when I went away for a couple of days and only had this to read, I found myself reading 100+ pages a day. The storyline was good because the reader's understanding of the world develops slowly throughout, and each small chapter leaves you desperate to read the next one. But, I was not happy with the ending. I don't believe there is a sequel to this book (correct me if I'm wrong) but I think I need one to close the story for me. I don't like how it's been left, and all in all that ruined the whole experience for me. I'd recommend this book but I think a couple of changes could be made to make it an absolute fantastic read.

16. The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

And finally, The Roanoke Girls. This book was actually recommended to me, as a 'dark' adult fiction. It was definitely dark, that's for sure. But saying that, it wasn't shocking. "Everyone wants to be a Roanoke girl. But you won't when you know the truth." Those two lines really drew me into this story; I needed to know why I didn't want to be a part of their family. I didn't enjoy the writing style of this book all to much, because it switched between the present, the past of the main character and also of every other character in the book. I felt it hard to keep up with at times, but managed to pull all of the chapters together as an enjoyable read. I did guess the 'big secret' in the first few chapters of the book, but there were also tidbits along the way that really did throw me off course. I would recommend this book, but not to those of a sensitive nature. It's not for the light-hearted.  

General Reading Update:

I am still about half way through Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which I have been since April - I really don't have the motivation to sit and finish this!

I said in April that I was thinking about picking up Carve the Mark, which I did, but I DNF'd it very shortly after starting. It wasn't for me, which is a shame because I really love the Divergent series.

I am around 100 pages or so into Heartless by Marissa Meyer which is the story of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland before she was the Queen. It's actually quite interesting but I'm struggling to get through at any sort of speed.

I am also listening to Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys on audio book. I have never listened to an audio book before so I'm generally excited to see how it goes. I'm not very far in but I'm picking it up whenever it's quiet in the office and I can sit and have it playing in the background. I don't know how much I'm soaking in but I like the comforting feeling of a book being read while you go about your day.

I think the next book for me is Clean by Juno Dawson. I got this out of my local library and am excited to start it as soon as I finish Heartless. 

If you've stuck with me for this long thank you very much! If you want to see what books I finish, when I finish them, here's my goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/14068917-chloeTTFN 

[cloudydamage3]

Arrow Season 7 Episode 10 Review: My Name is Emiko Queen

The Queen siblings may not look or sound the same, but one thing is sure -- they all have some serious daddy issues. 

Thea probably thinks (and still believes) that she should get a trophy for the award of Queen child with the most complex parental issues, but her long-lost step-sister may have snatched the prize from her. 

Seems only fitting since she snatched the green hood from her half-brother. 

The New Green Arrow was a small plotline in the first half of Arrow Season 7, but on Arrow Season 7 Episode 10, it became a primary focus as we not only confirmed the identity behind the mask, but we got a full-blown introduction into her motives.

The way the New Green Arrow story was told previously suggested that the introduction of Emiko Queen would be done slowly, with new information getting dropped every couple of episodes. 

Related: Arrow Season 7 Episode 8 Review: Unmasked 

That is no longer the case. The New Green Arrow went from unknown mystery figure to Emiko Queen, someone we now know very well. 

Still, it might have been too soon for Arrow to dedicate a lot of time to a character we barely know.

Is her story intriguing, and do I want to know more? Absolutely, there's no denying that. But if it weren't for Rene's help guiding her, she would've been too overbearing. 

Well, shame on us for being so sexist. Our mystery man is actually a woman.

Felicity

It has been an issue on Arrow before. Introducing new characters has never been their strong suit. The show relies too heavily on them before Arrow Fanatics get the chance to form a connection. 

Dinah's introduction on Arrow Season 5 is a standout example.

Related: Get HBO via Prime Video Channels for Addictive Dramas, Hilarious Comedies & Hit Movies! 

The show threw her into the limelight very quickly, taking away the spotlight from other characters we'd grown to love and to this day Arrow Fanatics still haven't managed connect with her. 

There's still hope for Emiko and a good chance that won't happen to her. Unlike Dinah, she has a backstory and an obvious connection to the Queen family that'll give Arrow much more to work with moving forward. 

Emiko's introduction may not have been perfect, but she has already formed relationships that can take her story in many different directions. 

Her partnership with Rene gives Arrow the vigilante angle it's missing now that Oliver's working with the police. And let's face it, their chemistry is undeniable. 

The show may not decide to go that route and keep their relationship strictly platonic, which is fine, but come on, Rene deserves some love. The dude's been riding solo for a long time. #GiveReneAChance. 

People say that revenge corrupts the soul; that if you go down that path you'll never come back. But sometimes embracing the darkness is the only way to get justice. My name is Emiko Queen. I will get justice for my mother and no one will stand in my way.

Their mission to avenge Emiko's mother and get justice brings back memories of old Arrow when Oliver's mission was practically the same. The only issue is that it seems as though everyone she was hunting until now was a waste of time. 

Each person Oliver went after had a purpose, a connection to his father. The fact that Emiko "failed" her mission just as we met doesn't make her look too heroic.

Related: Arrow Season 7 Episode 7 Review: The Slabside Redemption 

It felt like she was making strides as a badass female Green Arrow, but then that badassery crumbled down when it got she was wrong about who killed her mother. 

It's essential for the show not to make her look like she's in over her head, and she was in over her head/ She should be at the same level, or at least close to the level was during Arrow Season 1. 

Speaking of Oliver, can we discuss the day he had? The man seriously can't get one day of peace. He's was released from Slabside, reunited with his wife and friends and then boom, found out his father and mother were lying to him for most of his life. 

In a way, I was heartbroken for Oliver because he already had to deal with learning so much information about his parents in in the past that didn't exactly make them come off as the quality people he thought they were. 

Hey, you okay? You know, this has to be a shock. Maybe not as big of a shock as becoming The Flash and then fighting alongside Batwoman, but still a shock.

Felicity

This news seemed like the straw that broke the camel's back. Any positive image of his parents he had remaining in his memory was completely wiped away. 

Related: Enjoy UNLIMITED access to thousands of Movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime video. WATCH ANYWHERE. CANCEL ANYTIME! 

I have a feeling Robert may not have been as big of a monster as he looked like, though. Maybe he had a valid reason when it came to abandoning Emiko. Was he trying to protect her and her mother? The person who killed Emiko's mom is probably connected to Robert in some way. 

Oliver's reaction to the sudden news also showed how much he has grown. The old Oliver would've lashed out and done something pretty violent, but this Oliver expressed his sadness to his wife and talked about his feelings. 

Some heroes don't have to be brooding all the time; an emotional conversation is just as heroic as punching bad guys in the face. 

It was also a pivotal moment for Oliver and Felicity's relationship. It seemed as though that premature (and quickly brushed aside) break up on Arrow Season 7 Episode 8 was foreshadowing a rough road ahead for the couple, but it turns out the two are in a very good place right now. 

They managed to work together without bickering, and during a tough time Felicity comforted Oliver and encouraged him to be the man she knew he was. 

Is it possible that Olicity can stay in this state forever? No probably not, but it's during the simple, pure moments between the two when they talk that exemplify how much they truly do love each other. 

Oliver: I need you to analyze this DNA, it belongs to the New Green Arrow. Felicity: Some husbands bring their wives home flowers, and mine brings me home blood from a crime scene. And they say romance is dead.

The Queens may have been the main focus of "My Name is Emiko Queen," but Rene also played a vital role both as Emiko's new partner in the present and as mayor of the Glades in the future. 

It took me a second to adjust to this new Rene. And while he may not be the type of hero Zoe wants him to be, he may be the person who ends up saving Star City in the future. 

Also were any other Arrow Fanatics curious about the identity of the man working alongside Rene? He admitted to being involved in the death of Felicity, but I wonder if he's someone that has played, or will eventually play a role in the present timeline as well. 

Another tidbit that was slyly dropped by Dinah in the future was that Curtis may not be alive, or at least on Team Arrow's side. When trying to remind Rene that a group of them took a code to fight no matter what, she name-dropped Oliver, Diggle, Felicity, and Roy but not Curtis. 

It was such a small tease that many might not have clued into and it might not even end up being an issue, but it may also be a huge clue moving forward. 

While the flashforwards have been a fun puzzle that  Arrow Fanatics are desperately trying to solve, Diggle, Lyla and A.R.G.U.S. continue to be a boring puzzle that you can't help but nod off while doing it. 

Bringing Diaz into the fold didn't add intrigue or excitement to the story they've been telling with Diggle and Lyla. The fact that they are going to copy the plot of "Suicide Squad" also doesn't make it any more interesting. 

Diaz should've been put to rest for an extended period, so that when he did return it would've been a much more welcome surprise. Instead, his presence is dragging down Arrow, and his involvement with Diggle and Lyla hasn't been promising. 

Just like Oliver after Arrow Season 6, Diggle's in desperate need of a reboot for Diggle because everything he's currently involved in is undeniably stale. 

What did you think of "My Name is Emiko Queen"? 

How did you feel about the introduction of Emiko Queen?

Did you see a romantic spark between Rene and Emiko?

What kind of relationship would you like to see Oliver and Emiko have? 

What do you think happened to Curtis in the future? 

Does Diggle need to be rebooted or retooled? 

Let us know in the comments below and if you need to catch up, make sure to watch Arrow online right here on TV Fanatic! 

Brandon Viera is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.

Source: https://www.tvfanatic.com/2019/01/arrow-season-7-episode-10-review-my-name-is-emiko-queen/

[livereadyxyz]

Mc’Tacti-Schools

Have you noticed the number of "tactical training schools" that have popped up out of no-where recently? This all reminds me of the mid-nineties when the mixed martial arts craze started to happen. Dojo's started popping up on every corner, and anyone and everyone was enrolling in class to learn the arts. I like to call those Mc'Dojos, because they were everywhere like a popular fast-food joint. I suppose the same can also be said about Yoga studios today, as it's the new fad for many. The point is, "tactical training schools" are springing up in large numbers and not all are created equal.

Many of these "tactical training schools" are taught by "qualified" personnel from military or law enforcement backgrounds. But some others, are taught by wanna-be's or people with made-up backgrounds to impress the unwary customer. I get people asking me, "where should I go to get trained on how to shoot a firearm" frequently. And honestly, it's nearly a full time job on keeping up with all of the available schools and trainers out there, so it's really no wonder why people have to ask for help.

So, how do you pick a trainer or training company to teach you? Hopefully the following list, in no special order of precedence, will help guide you in the right direction.

Do your homework up front, before you pay or register for a class. Know all you can about the company you choose and its instructors before attending a session. Google check for reviews of the class and its instructors. If they are claiming to be a SEAL, Green Beret, Ranger or anything else from the Spec Ops community, know that it will be fairly easy to verify online. There are several groups (e.g. Veriseal) that will be able to verify a fellow Special Operators service background. Some of the fakers out there have fooled a lot of knowledgeable people (e.g. SOFREP.org Article), so don't take it too hard if you get duped into taking a course by one of these jokers. The various Special Operations groups form a very tight-nit community and they take pride in policing their own ranks; so this is a good place to start if your having any doubts.

What are they really teaching you? If the prospective school or company primarily teaches law-enforcement and military personnel; is what they normally teach really transferable to a civilian? Are they teaching you more than simple point-and-shoot techniques? Do they believe in the basics? Maybe they go way beyond the norm, for the more advanced shooter,  by going into the bio-mechanics of shooting like some trainers do. As cool and high-speed as it sounds, do you really need to know how to conduct Maritime Assault Operations or learn how to properly shoot through a car windshield as a novice shooter or as a civilian? Let me be clear, I'm not knocking this training if you can find it useful, but you really have to first self-access what you anticipate taking away from the training before enrolling. There is no point in spending $600-800 on a three day class (not including travel, ammo, etc.) to only take away disappointment and an empty wallet. Think smart by training right.

Look for unbiased student testimonials. Listen,  just because someone has a Special Operations background doesn't mean they are inherently going to be a great civilian instructor. Teaching an adult learner takes some finesse and serious soft-skills, otherwise those tidbits of tactical know-how will bounce off your brain like sun rays to a mirror. It's important to seek out what others think, so you'll want to check out Social media pages and blogs (like this one) as they are a great place to seek out opinions. People will pretty much post anything and everything that they think about someone behind the cover of the anonymous internet shield.  So again, go to the companies YouTube Channel or Facebook fan page and see whats being said about them and also take note as to how they respond to the critics. Do they care enough about their reputation that they respond back to their past students criticism or do they pass it off without a care? How dedicated they are and how they treat customers, both present and past, may be a good indicator as to whether or not you should take one of their classes.

What do they specialize in? Does this "school" also moonlight as a private security company, consulting firm, or a weapons manufacturer? Companies that are too involved in every aspect of the tactical community may or may not be the best choice - it all really depends on the type of training you're looking for. Some may say that companies who do double-duty as security firms are better suited to test their teachings by putting their practice into action. Others might say it takes time away from being with students. Personally, I feel if you try to master everything you eventually become the master of nothing. This happens all the time in the normal workforce (meaning the non-tactical community), so it shouldn't be much different here. Bottom line is, if the company you're looking into has obvious identity issues, you might want to seek training elsewhere.

Do they have their own training facility? Why is this important? Well, if you are a training company (primarily) you should probably have a full scale, fully functional training facility and range either on site, or available to use. Again, this goes along with #4, if they don't have the physical means to train effectively, how can they honestly call themselves a true training company?

Who is teaching? Does the school have their own dedicated and qualified instructional staff or do they contract someone else to teach their classes for them? If they contract people to come in and teach, it may be better (and possibly cheaper) to just go directly to the contracted instructor rather than go through the middle-man company. It might also be a good idea to ensure the instructors are actually qualified. Going back to #1, depending on what they claim makes them qualified, there are resources out their to check out. Many instructors are NRA certified, which can be researched more by going to http://training.nra.org. But, before getting all excited that your instructor has a NRA certificate, think about how someone gets to be NRA certified. They pay a fee, attend a short workshop and fill out paperwork. So, does NRA certification really mean much to you? You decide for yourself.

Ask questions. Don't be so caught up in the excitement of training that you forget to ask questions. Some of these training companies are run by VIPs or celebs (within their respective industries) and many students neglect to ask whats being taught exactly and who the training is recommended for. There is no point in becoming a fan-boy, just to train with a semi-celeb. Sure its cool to post photos of you with them on Facebook to impress all your friends, but seriously, take it from me...they're all are human just like the rest of us. They have daily lives, families, bills, stress and they make errors just like you and I. My point is, don't get caught in the weeds; ask questions before enrolling to make sure that you are doing the right thing, etc.

This is in no way intended to be complete check list to follow, but instead it's intended to get you thinking correctly about selecting an tactical instructor or company. Feel free to add your own recommendation in the comments field below as well.

© 2014 www.KeithSipmann.com

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[bearpillowmonster]

Kingdom Hearts 3 Full Review

Here I am 6 years later and I've beaten Kingdom Hearts 3. Was it worth it? What did I think of it? This will be an extensive review. So bare with me because I'm going to cover almost every little detail however I'm going to try and keep it spoiler free in terms of story! (I'll nod to the people who finished it with vague comments as you already know what happens) I spent a lot of time on this review so it will work out to fully explain my thoughts on this game without hesitation, I don't want to hold back from criticism even though it's my favorite franchise and the most long awaited game for me.

I will say this to both people who haven't played the games and casual fans. DON'T COMPLAIN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE STORY. The negligence of some of these reviews is appalling because they haven't played the past games. Square Enix has went out of their way to go and rerelease all of the games ebfore the release of this one, put up a summary video, put nods in the intro to the game. As well as put seperate summaries in the menu of the game, so I don't want to hear the whining, if you want to play it so bad, play the other games first, that's all there is to it. Yes it is confusing, but make an effort to understand it.

There are no more pesky text boxes like the other games, this is all cutscenes baby! So it may seem like a lot but think how many text box scenes were in the previous games and translate those into full cutscenes.

Let's talk about the menu. Yes, the menu. It's BRILLIANT. I love the transition from the past games, you look at the first two games, Sora with that fish in his mouth looking to the side, then the second with Sora turning slightly but with a sea salt ice cream, and now we have Sora turned all the way around with a paopu fruit. The way the music is presented is excellent, I couldn't get enough of it. In fact a lot of the music is great, both Utada songs are top notch despite me not originally seeing why she made those songs specifically, they make some sense now. Now the actual battle themes and stuff were instant classics for me in KH2, I would unintentionally hum some of the tunes, in this game I might have to get used to them though and familiarize myself. I'm sure if I heard the theme out in the open, I would recognize it though.

I worked my way to try each of the keyblades a decent amount (about one world each and that don't need unlocked through version exclusives and Ultima weapon yet but I never get ultima weapon anyway) The fun part about that is that each keyblade has a different ability and a different form so no more drives. I especially love using all of them in the Monsters world because it changes the color of Monster Sora.

I'm not going to talk about all of the worlds but just the ones revealed through trailers because I want you to experience them blindly or to their full capacity without the knowledge of what's ahead so I won't mention anything in any particular order either. I'm going to refer to the movie they are from and not the actual world name, to make it easier on you. Let's start with Pooh since that was the shortest. The minigames are just eh, I mean I love Pooh as a character and I like the idea that he's in the games but I've never really found his actual world all that because it's just minigames, I can't really bash it because that's what they did in the past games. Also at the end of Winnie the Pooh, why was that happening? Was something made to throw us off?

Now let's talk Twilight Town. I love Twilight Town, it is my favorite non-Disney world to explore in Kingdom Hearts 2 and when I saw we would return and see the characters we love, I got all excited. This Twilight Town however seems kind of condensed because it's just a section of it. You don't get to explore as much of Twilight Town as I would have liked but they do make references to it through the townspeople such as mentioning Seifer. There's a certain group of characters we saw a lack of but after the secret ending I'm starting to understand story-wise.

Frozen. We all saw it coming and I can say to you that it's not a rhythm based world. YAY. They do sing at times but you don't play those parts. I just think Frozen is ok as a movie so this world wasn't too hyped, I did like seeing Marshmallow though, that part is fun in fact any part you fight an actual Disney character I just adore. As for the actual landscape, it's different than I would have imagined, the heartless are interesting but there's no draw back to make me want to go back to that world. This, technically Pirates, and Tangled are the two world that just follow the movie plot, the others have their own new plot.

Toy Story. I have to say that I like the Toy Story 2 game and I really like the idea of exploring the Toy Story world, even just exploring Andy's house. I knew we weren't going to see the whole house like TS2 but it was still fun to see everything there as I remember it. Galaxy Toys is a new area though, pretty cool to play through because it's not hard to navigate, there are 3 floors and you go through all the stores, interact with objects, and get this really cool and interesting mini boss. There are these mech robot things that I've come to love and each color has a different ability, making it just that much more fun to play around in. I particulary like the purple one because it's the fastest but even when you're in a keyblade form the mech will change colors with you (usually a bluish green in my experience) but that was a cool little tidbit I noticed. The story just surprised me with how involved it became with it's characters especially Woody.

Pirates. This opens so nice, it begins with Sora being excited to be brought back and then we eventually get a mini-boss (there are quite a few compared to the other worlds) where you can ride the heartless, that's really cool. We get some ship gameplay where you can shoot down other ships and basically sail around all the islands, they aren't all required so exploration is pretty vast. A really cool idea is that with the shotlock command you can shoot on over to wherever it can lock onto, that way instead of making your way all the way back to the ship then trying to find a way to climb back up it, you just use the shotlock and boom you're back!

In the Tangled world, it takes the time to show you some of its great design with Rapunzel pointing things out such as how nice the grass is and how when you use Aero on the dandelions, they fly all over the place, then you can splash in the water, it's her first time experiencing it but it's also a nod from the developers showing you the amount of work they put into it and it's well deserved.

Monsters Inc. I mentioned about how the forms change the color of your monster and I really adore that. You can actually go into Roz's place! There are some places that would be interesting to see but wouldn't do much for story, just be to explore so I can kind of see why they aren't in the game, same with Big Hero 6. This is where the railriding really comes into action and I must say is pretty fun. There is also a dive option when you get up to a certain height then it will have you free fall and you can press X to dive bomb, it's all over the place in this game but it's just another good addition.

Olympus. Not the Colessium, we saw that before. This is brand new ground and is quite a joy to explore, I would be disappointed if Greece didn't actually look like that. I beat it the first night I had the game and I've revisited multiple times for other content, this was essentially my first impression of the game as well as everyone elses and it delivers. This as well as Tangled have a town full of people. I love hearing the little conversations they have and even going around and interacting with them. There's a side mission to collect these Golden Herc dolls (I finished after the game) that reminds me of the odd jobs at the beginning of KH2 that I actually have come to love, however those were mandatory, these are optional.

The Gummi Ship system is awesome, I mean I don't see any multiplayer coming to this but it's fun. I like being able to customize my own gummi ships and unlock new parts to put on it. The only complaint I have with it is small and that's when you're creating a gummi ship, it's not always easy to know which way is up considering you can change all different angles, so you may end up building your gummi ship upside down if you don't pay attention when you start. I've saw this problem quite a bit in the community as well as experienced that mistake myself but it's nothing too major, can probably be fixed in a future patch to just have a little note pop up that says "This is the front". Big Hero 6 is the best world in my opinion. I love all the worlds in their own unique way but this has momentum. A lot of the worlds have their own original story but this one seems to use that to the best effect. This one has an atmosphere that is open and easy to navigate, it's all one big area. You can fly with Baymax during a certain part which I would have loved to do that all the time but then what would be the point in using your fly ability you get at the end of the game?

At a certain part at the end we see some of the heartless move slower, like the framerate is down. It does not affect your gameplay and the thing I'm talking about is only visible stuff, but once you reach that part you will understand why it's like that. Voice acting is pretty good, they didn't get all the same voice actors for some of the characters such as Buzz and Woody, Mike and Sully, etc but they got a pretty decent amount of the characters their original voice actors and I respect that. The ones that are standing in, do a really good job though to the point I had to actually listen to try and find faults that differ from the originals. Old man Xehanort also has a new voice actor, I mean nobody can beat Leonard Nimoy but this guy seems to do a different take on the way the character sounds so it might take some getting used to but it's nothing bad just different I guess. I think they should've given you more space in your camera because there's a whopping 90 hidden mickeys and 100 slots, so you better make those 10 extras count if you want to get that secret ending. (However you can delete pictures so I don't know if the hidden mickey still counts if you delete it but I wasn't risking it) If you try to take a picture of a character (mostly any character) they will pose or smile, I love that.

Kairi doesn't get enough. I'll be honest. We don't get enough Kairi, she was great in this game and we see her grow, in fact I'll argue we probably see her more than the other games but they could have given her more spotlight.

The final battle is interesting, I like how it turned out but I will say you take on a lot at once. I liked the change of pace, but at the very end with the final 4, I say you should have taken them one by one. I also expected a different order because (we all knew this was coming so it's not a spoiler) but I thought they were going to make us fight Xemnas and Ansem then Old Man Xehanort because if we beat Young Xehanort first then wouldn't they all disappear? I mean it does work out in a way that makes sense but I just would have liked that way too.

Also aging, we can see visible changes to Sora, Kairi, and Riku from age but what about the rest? Will it just continue like nothing ever went wrong or…I mean they left a few things open for future games but don’t think they ended it on a cliffhanger to where you feel cheated in any way. It’s not like that, it still makes you want to play future games without cheating you of the full experience. I know that’s a concern for some people. Critical mode doesn’t make an appearance but that’s fine, if they end up releasing it in a patch or something I might play it but it’s nothing bad, just some people complain about it and say that they left it out on purpose for DLC but I highly doubt that and even if they do put it in a DLC be rest assured that won’t be the only thing. I don’t know Square Enix to cheat fans, you get what you pay for and DLC is a new avenue for KH if it decides to go that way, if it does I’ll be there for it but I think it’s fine without it. Look at FFXV for example, they put out full episodes based on the side characters with new gameplay, story, and various weapons and skins, I’d say that’s a pretty good deal and if I get far enough in the game I might get it and I’m not one who buys DLC at all unless it comes with the deluxe edition. So stop complaining about that, you don’t know what will come of this game.

I love the recovery command, I never used it in the older games (inexperienced noob) but this is more or less my first experience getting strategic. As well as the kupo coin where you get one last shot after a fatal blow. I can't tell if I actually got good at the game or it's just that easy but because of that Kupo Coin, I only actually died once or twice.

I cried. Once (before all the soras ;)) and of course at the end and even just thinking about the end afterwards. They throw back to one of the most well known gameplay parts in KH2 and in my opinion made it even better. Goofy is the smartest one in this game, like I found myself surprised at how aware he was. I knew the Big Hero 6 keyblade would be my favorite the moment I saw it in the trailer, I was right, I played with it until the very end and upgraded it (The monsters keyblade is a close second along with the one you get from Classic Kingdom). However...the snowball is the most powerful weapon hands down.

Flowmotion is fixed, but the shimmer effect doesn't need to exist. The sparklies that indicate that you just hold the control stick in that direction and they'll parkour it wasn't always as functional as you might like, I found myself just jumping my way up whatever villain had it some of the time, but again it's no big deal, it gives you that freedom to do whatever you want.

The attraction flows are fun but what threw me off is that you get more or less all of them from the start, you don't progressively unlock them. This led me to think that they will get repetitive but no they really weren't, I ended up skipping some of the events from time to time just to challenge myself but I never found myself bored with playing with any of them. I will say that once the command pops up, there can be another one above it and there's a time limit for each of them, I actually didn't know that you can choose between reaction commands (using L2) until after I finished it...so that happened. As well as learning that you can change keyblades on the fly just using the D-Pad.

My favorite attraction is either the teacups or the Buzz Lightyear blasters because the train is awesome but you only get to use it in certain parts of the game. The worst one is probably the carousel in my opinion just because it's more rhythm based and overall doesn't seem to do much damage. Some of the finishers get stuck or caught and I think that's a little bit of a problem, like the Pegasus chariot that you get with the Hero's Origin keyblade; I wish you could actually control that rather than Pegasus doing whatever and you just press X but there's such a variety of them so there's bound to be a few that aren't as good.

This game reminded me why Sora was originally my favorite character. You can look at him as naive but it's part of his character, I actually want to be friends with this dude in real life. All of them really but Sora has that vibe where he'll accept just about anything and find a way to work through it. You can play as a few of the characters and they all feel different to me, I like the subtle differences in gameplay but having the same core, it's very fun which makes me wish there was more of us playing as them.

How does it stack up versus the rest of the games? Well it's hard for me to say because I love them all, KH2 is my favorite game of all time and this is actually giving it a run for it's money. I do like this better than KH1 though (KH1 is my second favorite KH game so it's better than the rest too)

The graphics are impeccable, like I literally can't say they could have made this look any better, even going farther into the game it almost looks better than the rest (given there are more higher quality cutscenes such as the end of the Disney worlds just because of their importance) I was a bit worried about a few of the characters from the trailers such as Xemnas and Young Xehanort. In the earlier trailers they looked just eh but in the actual game they look way way better. Mickey even has fuzz on the top of his head but just by the secret ending alone, I was blown away by how real it looked for a cartoonish styled game.

Speaking of the secret ending I mentioned earlier, it took a hot minute to realize what it meant exactly, until I found a post on tumblr (on reddit too) about it. I won't link it or anything but just know there's an explanation/theory out there if you end up watching it. It makes me give it more credit for what it's worth.

Now the big part...how long was it? I won't tell you how long it took me to beat but I will say it logged more hours than any of the other games. I knew this was coming, because no matter how long this game was, I was going to want more, I'm actually going back to play through some stuff since it lets you keep your stats and puts you back before the final bit, so I will keep playing it and I will more than definitley play it again. I've played the beginning of the first game so many times, just haven't beaten it as much, same with KH2 (though I always end up farther in KH2 than 1) . I want to challenge myself, I want to take on hard mode, see how far it goes since I beat standard already, collect the secret reports, get ultima weapon (first time in a KH game if I can beat this stupid Frozen minigame). I kind of see where they changed some stuff from its original state, perhaps way back from the conception in 2013 but still to see the growth and adaption makes me feel really connected to it.

I will probably post updates to the review whenever the DLC comes out or once I get level 99, ultima keyblade, etc. so take what you will with it. It is currently up there with my favorite games of all time which isn’t so easy to get to.

[goodra-king]

The Relationship Between the Marketing Hourglass and Maturity Model

The Relationship Between the Marketing Hourglass and Maturity Model written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

The Duct Tape philosophy is that marketing is a system. There are so many moving parts that go into creating a great marketing strategy that, without a guiding framework, it’s easy to get tangled up, twisted around, and lost completely in the weeds.

Over the years, I’ve developed two systems that inform all of the marketing work we do: the marketing hourglass and the marketing maturity model. The marketing hourglass is a way of thinking about the customer journey. These are the steps that a consumer will take in engaging with your brand. It starts with first coming to know you, and goes all the way down to when they’ve become a happy repeat customer, ready to refer friends.

The marketing maturity model is a way for you think about your own marketing activities. What are the assets you need to build, then grow and amplify (or ignite) in order to guide those prospects from the top to the bottom of the marketing hourglass?

In this blog post, I’ll walk you through how the two systems are inextricably linked, and how you can align the way you think about the work you do behind the scenes to create your marketing presence with the experience customers are having on the other side.

The Top of the Hourglass and The Grow Phase

The top of the marketing hourglass is when prospects are first coming to know your brand. We call them the know, like, and trust phases. They’re not ready to make a purchase decision yet, but as they move through these three steps, they’re getting closer.

It starts with them first encountering your brand. Maybe they hear your name from a friend, maybe they discover you in a Google search. Whatever the case may be, you need to greet them with a solid marketing base at this stage to get them to go any further.

Create a Strong Website and Tackle SEO

Don’t you grow wary when a business operating today doesn’t have a website? What are they trying to hide? Or how far behind the times are they? The first step in the marketing maturity model is building a great website because it is the heart of your online presence. A strong website is more than great design; it’s about incorporating a modern promise that shows you understand your customers’ problems and have the best solution out there to fix it.

Behind every great website is a strong SEO strategy. While SEO is an ongoing process and there are dozens of factors to consider if you’re taking a pro-level approach, even a marketing novice can use some SEO quick fixes, like repairing broken links, checking site speed, and designing a mobile-friendly site, to get your website ranking higher.

Build Trust with Content

Once the prospect has discovered your website, you need to provide them with ways to come to know and trust your brand. That’s where the other elements of the build phase—a strong content program, social media presence, and email marketing campaign—come in.

The content on your website (blog posts, explainer videos, product descriptions, your about us page—if it’s on your website, it’s content!), should help prospects get a greater sense of what you do. Your homepage will draw them in with a promise to solve their problem, your other content needs to prove that you’re as good as you say you are. Informative blog posts, glowing reviews from existing customers, and explainer videos that teach viewers something valuable are all great ways for them to come to know and trust your brand.

Get on Social Media

Social media can help in the like and trust phases, too. Simply having a presence on the major social sites gives your business greater legitimacy. Then, creating a strong social presence, with consistent posts that are relevant and helpful, builds on the trust factor.

And take it beyond simply posting—engaging with your followers on social media means building a personal connection. It allows prospects to get to know the individuals behind the brand, and when they get 1:1 responses to their questions and comments on your page, they develop a deep trust in your business: “If they’re paying this much attention to me before I even become a customer, I’m sure I’ll be in good hands once I make a purchase!”

Stay Top-of-Mind with Email Marketing

Finally, email marketing is a great way to continue to show your expertise and remain in prospects’ fields of vision. While they have to seek out your website content or social media profiles, creating an email newsletter filled with helpful tidbits (and the occasional offer) allows you to come to them with your industry knowledge.

The Middle of the Hourglass and the Grow Phase

The middle of the hourglass are the stages we like to call try and buy. By this point, you’ve built a lot of trust around your brand. Your prospects are intrigued and really like what you do. If you can make a compelling offer to get them to give you a try, and the trial goes well, that’s often what seals the deal and helps them convert to full customer.

At this point in the marketing maturity model, you want to continue expanding your essential blocks from the build phase. Your website and content program can grow. Adding things like a regular podcast with a cadre of exciting industry guests is a great way to strengthen your content. Gather all of your relevant content together onto hub pages to give your content program and SEO a boost.

Speaking of expanding SEO efforts, focus on building up backlinks, and get Google Search Console set up so that you can optimize your search ranking for many years to come.

Also, continue to engage and follow up with leads via social media and email marketing. But it doesn’t stop there; now is the time to introduce new tactics to grow your existing relationships and turn prospects into customers.

Undertake Paid Lead Generation

When we say paid lead generation, we’re talking about things like search ads and social media advertising. These can come in many forms. A great place to start is with boosting content on social media, giving posts you’ve shared organically a broader reach for a small fee.

The more advanced tactics take you further into tracking your ads and getting more efficient about driving conversions.

Once you’ve established a series of Google Ads, you can use their offline tracking tool to understand how your ads are impacting business in the real world. By importing your sales information from conversions that happen in your brick-and-mortar store or over the phone, you can better understand the effectiveness of your online ads and refine your approach to win over more prospects.

For all of your ads, you should be creating landing pages that are unique to that particular campaign. In doing that, prospects find the exact deal, offer, or topic that intrigued them in the ad front-and-center on your website, and it makes them all the more likely to convert.

Create a Culture that Integrates Sales and Marketing

Your marketing efforts can take you pretty far, but you need them to be integrated with your sales approach from the start in order to get the greatest result. Make sure that your sales and marketing teams are in communication from day one about prospects.

Set up a clear process for the handoff from the marketing to sales teams, so no one falls through the cracks. And have your marketing team create materials for your sales team, so your brand voice remains consistent in those interactions with prospects as you’re shepherding them from your marketing to sales basket.

Focus on Customer Experience

This is the stage at which your prospects become customers. They’ve liked you enough up to this point to give you a try, so the customer experience must be stellar. That’s the way to take them from one-time customer to repeat buyer.

This starts with a killer onboarding process. No matter what kind of business you’re in, there’s some kind of onboarding for new customers.

If you sell products, your onboarding has to do with getting the product to your customer and ensuring they know how to use it. If you’re shipping your items, make sure that you have a process for your customers to track their packages. Once the item gets to them, include information that will help them get the most out of their new item.

For complicated products, like an electronic device, include clear instructions and maybe even a link to explainer videos to help them get set up. Simpler products, like clothing items, can include care instructions or even just a thoughtful thank you card to show you appreciate your customer’s business.

For services, your onboarding process might be more complex. Establishing a single point of contact within your company for any questions your new client may have, and sending along forms and paperwork that can help you both get on the same page faster, are important elements of your onboarding process.

No matter what kind of business you run, reviews are also very important at the try and buy stage. If you have an unhappy first-time customer, a speedy, sincere response to their complaint can turn things around and save the relationship. Similarly, glowing reviews shouldn’t go ignored. If you take the time to thank new customers for their positive feedback, their happy feelings will only grow!

The Bottom of the Hourglass and the Ignite Phase

By the time you’ve reached the bottom of the marketing hourglass, you’ve already won over that first-time customer. This is your chance to get them to become a life-long customer, and to tell all of their friends and family about your business.

And while it’s statistically easier to hold onto existing customers than to win new ones over, the last thing you want to do is take someone for granted now! You’ve already put in the hard work of converting them; you need to continue to wow them so that they’ll stick around.

Again, you continue to work on the existing tactics you’ve got up and running, from your website through to sales enablement and customer experience. But here, you add three more elements to take your marketing approach to a whole new level and build those lifelong customer bonds.

Invest in a CRM

A customer relationship management tool (or CRM, for short), helps you to better manage all of your customer interactions, both old and new. The tool allows you to track all points of contact with prospects and customers.

This is helpful in better understanding prospects’ path to conversion, and in offering better service to your existing customers.

Let’s say you have an existing customer who’s had an issue with an order. When your team can see that they called last week and emailed a few days later to follow up—and can pull up the transcripts of those communications, plus see notes from the customer service representative who was handling the case—you’re better able to take appropriate action for your customer, without making them explain their problem over and over each time they reach out.

Or maybe you have a customer that’s never had a complaint in their life. The CRM can still help; it can provide information for you to make smarter offers to that customer. If you’re a home improvement store and you notice that a customer recently purchased a dehumidifier, you can target them with ads about replacement filters for their new machine.

Whether you’re troubleshooting, looking for new cross-sell opportunities, or simply trying to better understand your sales pipeline, a CRM is the way to do it.

Use Marketing Automation

Marketing automation and a CRM tool often go hand-in-hand. The CRM gives you all of the customer information you could need or want to enact smart marketing automation techniques.

When you understand your customers’ behaviors, you can segment your buyers into different personas. Each type of customer has their own unique needs that your business meets, and when you understand those needs, you can create marketing materials that most effectively speak to them (and direct that messaging only at the relevant parties).

Take Advantage of AI and Analytics

Also tied in with your customer information is analytics and AI. When you’re gathering information on your customers, you can use analytics to understand what the data all means and, from there, refine your marketing strategy long-term.

Tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console for your website are free to use, and can provide you with deep, meaningful information about the behaviors and attributes of your customers and prospects. You can even use more advanced techniques, like call tracking, to understand how your online marketing efforts are affecting customers’ behaviors on the phone.

Armed with this information, you can undertake A/B testing, showing two different marketing messages to two different audiences in order to understand which one works best. This kind of testing allows you to hone in on the best possible messaging for each segment of your audience, helping you to retain existing customers and win new ones who might be referred by your biggest fans.

When it comes to creating an effective marketing strategy, you need to align your marketing tactics with what your prospects and customers want and need. By using the marketing hourglass as a guidepost while you walk through the marketing maturity model, you can build a strong marketing presence that will work for your business from start to finish.

from http://bit.ly/35XjN9K

[recentanimenews]

Mario & Sonic at the Olympics: Tokyo 2020 Offers a Few New Twists

It’s about that time again where athletes from around the world are preparing to compete for glory at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Meanwhile, the games are already underway for Sonic, Mario and their friends in the latest installment of their long-running series based on the historical sporting event. This Olympic clash of gaming mascots is being taken right to their country of origin in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 for the Nintendo Switch. And if the name “Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games” is any indication, you know exactly what kind of game you’re getting into.

As with previous titles, up to 4 players can choose from a vast array of characters from both the Mario and Sonic franchises to compete in a collection of more than 30 minigames inspired by actual sporting events in the upcoming Olympic games. These include anything from 100m dashes, badminton, and Olympic diving. You can even participate in some of the newest Olympic events such as skateboarding, karate, surfing, and climbing. The game also includes a story mode in which Mario and Sonic are sucked into a retro gaming system and must compete in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics to escape while their friends on the outside compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 

New to the series are the pixelated sporting events that have you play as the earliest game iterations of Mario, Sonic and others. These minigames are vastly different from the traditional 3D challenges, as they have you playing charming arcade versions of certain events. The Dream Minigames also make a comeback, in which you and your fellow players take each other on in wacky competitions that are less attuned to the grounded nature of Olympic events. 

If you’ve been keeping up with Mario and Sonic throughout their Olympic escapades, then you’ll probably know what to expect from their latest outing. You have your eclectic collection of simple yet challenging minigames all wrapped up in a homey crossover package. Surprisingly fluid motion controls and accommodation for all controller types make the game pretty accessible to anyone, but nothing ever truly pushes the envelope in terms of execution.  

While having a distinct Japanese flavor becoming of SEGA’s home country, Tokyo 2020 offers up a lot more of the same. It’s easy to pick up and share with your friends, and there are plenty of games to choose from. It’s no Mario Party level of intense, friendship-ending competition, but it’s entertaining enough to break out on game night and a serviceable time-killer when flying solo.

One thing I wasn’t exactly used to was having to select individual games. Tokyo 2020 features a Quick Play option that lets you dive into many of the minigames this title has to offer. Yet I found myself stumbling at the end of each one having to go out and select a new character, then select a game, then back out to select a new game and a new character all over again. Maybe I’m just too used to the party game formula that more or less offers me a grab bag of challenges with each run, but a little more structure and a little less menu hopping would’ve really helped toward a more seamless experience.

This latest installment isn’t without some noticeable spots of higher-than-average enjoyment, thankfully. While some minigames are pretty straightforward, there is a surprising sense of variety when it comes to some of the newer additions featured in Tokyo 2020. Skateboarding and Karate were some of my favorite events to play, as they both require a little more skill and creativity in their execution. The retro games feature a very appealing aesthetic whose gameplay and style are sure to please fans of the old classics. The Dream Minigames, as with previous installments, also provide brief snippets of gameplay that could honestly stand to be part of their own title. And a markedly better one at that.

Take “Dream Racing,” for instance, a returning staple. As the name suggests, you race on a crazy futuristic track using a hoverboard. You can perform tricks to boost your speed and even pick up items to trip up your opponents, like the dreaded Red Shell that Mario Kart fans will surely recognize. The newest addition is Dream Karate (my personal favorite, pictured above), which has you kicking and punching opponents with flashy special moves in order to gain territory on a game board. Then you have another comeback in Dream Shooting, where you run around an obstacle course shooting targets to rack up points. 

As per the Mario & Sonic standard, the Dream Minigames are just fun little pit stops that provide a lovingly-wacky spin to shake up what is typically a by-the-numbers love letter to the upcoming Olympics. This deviation from the otherwise semi-realistic minigames are always, if nothing else, refreshing twists to an otherwise formulaic series.

  And believe it or not, I was able to squeeze some enjoyment out of the story mode as well. While the narrative itself is pretty tedious and unremarkable (the excuses everyone makes to play Olympic events instead of rescuing Sonic and Mario get lamer and lamer), you’re able to visit fantastical versions of famous Japanese landmarks and tourist attractions. As you progress, you can unlock new games and characters to add to your roster.

But my favorite part was actually finding out neat little historical tidbits. Scattered throughout certain levels are NPCs and shiny pick-ups that provide brief facts about either a Japanese historical landmark or fun facts about Olympics history in and around Japan. I honestly had a lot of fun scouring different areas just to learn a new fact about the Olympics. 

There have been several installments of the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series that we've seen before, and while it was a neat idea way back in 2007, it’s since become a standard copy/paste affair that consistently hits a middle ground of “just fun enough.” In that sense, Tokyo 2020 isn’t terribly different from its predecessors. The traditional Olympics challenges are still charming enough while never being too innovative or labor-intensive. The Dream Minigames and retro arcade bits are nice little pops of color, and Story Mode was a lot more educational than I thought it was going to be. 

It basically boils down to whether or not you enjoy Mario and Sonic’s Olympic outings to begin with. If you enjoyed the previous ones, you’ll enjoy this one. If you’ve never touched one, it’s as good a place to start as any. Anyone looking for a more legitimate and exciting party game experience may want to look elsewhere, but you could certainly do worse. 

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 is a lot like watching the actual Olympics every four years. It’s there for you to check out for a little while. You’re not missing out on much if you don’t watch them, but there’s some fun to be had if you do.

REVIEW ROUND-UP:

+ Dream Minigames are, as always, super fun

+ Retro games and aesthetic are charming, welcome additions

+/- Not terribly different from any other Mario and Sonic title

- Story mode is tedious

- Jumping from game to game can be clunky

  What are some of your favorite new minigames? Looking forward to the real Olympics in Tokyo this summer? Comment below and let us know!

----

Carlos is a freelance features writer for Crunchyroll. Their favorite genres range from magical girls to over-the-top robot action, yet their favorite characters are always the obscure ones. Check out some of their satirical work on The Hard Times.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

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New Post has been published on https://shovelnews.com/this-week-in-comedy-podcasts-punch-up-the-jam-reviews-nookie/

This Week in Comedy Podcasts: Punch Up the Jam Reviews 'Nookie'

The comedy podcast universe is ever expanding, not unlike the universe universe. We’re here to make it a bit smaller, a bit more manageable. There are a lot of great shows and each has a lot of great episodes, so we want to highlight the exceptional, the noteworthy. Each week our crack team of podcast enthusiasts and specialists and especially enthusiastic people will pick their favorites. We hope to have your ears permanently plugged with the best in aural comedy.

Punch Up the Jam – Nookie (w/Jamie Loftus)

Mark: Limp Bizkit’s suckitude is undeniable. It doesn’t take a 70-minute podcast to reach this conclusion, but Punch Up the Jam hosts Demi Adejuyigbe, Miel Bredouw, and guest Jamie Loftus (Bechdel Cast) present a hilarious case. Though any of Limp Bizkit’s oeuvre would be ripe for dissection, they choose to suffer through 1999’s anthem for toxic masculinity, “Nookie.” Bob Dylan meets Coolio meets incel culture in this cacophony of horseshit every single one of us all once knew and loved as teenagers. It’s guaranteed that nobody in history has put as much time and effort into researching and breaking down “Nookie” as these three do, and that includes lead singer Fred Durst and guitarist Wes Borland — two people who, as Punch Up the Jam points out, were clearly going through some tender relationship issues before writing this angsty revisionist love letter. But, as the patriarchy dictates, those feelings are buried beneath confusing jazz riffs and ad-libs that will haunt your nightmares. Don’t worry, Miel and her brother Henry Bardot deliver a patented punch-up closer to the gentle folk ballad “Nookie” should have been. If there’s one thing to take away from this episode, it’s that Fred Durst was definitely a virgin when he wrote this song.

Spotify | Apple | Website

Apple | Website

Pop Rocket – “Who Is America?” w/“UnREAL” Creator Sarah Gertrude Shapiro

Kathryn:  A stacked Friday version of Pop Rocket examines the “strong” men of our cultural moment. Guest Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, field producer on The Bachelor turned co-creator and producer of the Lifetime drama UnREAL, joins hosts Guy Branum, Karen Tongson, and Margaret Wappler. First they pay tribute to the late Jonathan Gold, Pulitzer Prize–winning titan of food criticism. As a cultural tastemaker, Gold set out to review dishes and restaurants where real people eat and convinced Angelenos to be a little less afraid of their neighbors in the process. Next up is literal strongman the Rock. Does Dwayne’s single-handed rescue of the mid-budget comedy outweigh his support of the Bush administration to earn the Pop Rocket seal of approval? The ruling might surprise you. Lastly, the hosts dive deep on comedic heavyweight/brutalist prankster Sacha Baron Cohen and his new Showtime show, Who Is America? Their discussion takes much the same tack as your own inner monologue while watching the show: Is present-day political “gotcha” comedy smug and bloodless? Should we take pleasure in catching people with their pants down in 2018 now that some people are comfortable living with their pants down at all times? Or is it always funny to show someone’s ass? There’s no consensus, but former Bachelor producer Shapiro offers perhaps the most incisive description of the American experience today: “We create these monsters, and then we mock them for being monsters.”

Spotify | Apple | Website

High & Mighty – Prime w/Christine Blackburn

Tom: For a show that could easily coast on the humor of host Jon Gabrus alone, it’s always nice to see topics on High & Mighty seesaw between the silly and serious. This week our favorite fuccboi welcomes Christine Blackburn (Story Worthy) to talk about what it means to be in the prime of your life. Early on, Blackburn points out that there is no one definition or time period that constitutes when your prime is. In discussing how age, fitness, and finance can contribute to your prime, Blackburn challenges the notion that these nuances have to serve as the main puzzle pieces to happiness. In using her time as a flight attendant, for example, Blackburn says she didn’t feel the inner peace she was searching for, despite having youth, money, and the ability to travel. Given Gabrus started a podcast around the very notion of celebrating the good old days, even he shows signs of excitement that his best days, and true prime, have yet to come. If all this hippie-dippie talk doesn’t do it for you, tune in to hear why Gabrus thinks he would make the perfect spokesperson for Boar’s Head Premium Meats.

Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website

My Neighbors Are Dead – Pet Sematary with Janet Varney

Marc: Adam Peacock’s podcast feels a little like a play where the lead actor comes out before the show, out of character, and chats with the audience before ducking behind the curtain to reemerge fully in character to give their performance. Except with My Neighbors Are Dead, the performances are usually ghoulish, weird, and funny. The latest guest to start out in front of the footlights is Janet Varney (The JV Club, Stan Against Evil, The Legend of Korra). She scratches the host’s itch about the recently completed edition of San Diego’s Comic-Con, which he has never visited but at which Varney has been a frequent presence. And she fills listeners in on her latest projects, including some interesting spoiler-free tidbits about the third season of IFC’s Stan Against Evil and a list of guest performers in a new project that she’s producing herself. Then it’s time for Varney to say good-bye to make way for Crimson, a creepy, Goth-y teen from Maine and her story of what went terribly wrong when she started burying some recently departed pets and relatives in a nearby graveyard. As poorly as everything has turned out, it doesn’t stop Crimson from mulling over ways to arrange her own burial in the cemetery.

Spotify | Apple | Website

MTowne: Where Murder Happens – The Rum of All Parts

Elizabeth: NBC has gotten into the podcast game with shows that give a behind-the-scenes look at hits like The Good Place, Late Night With Seth Meyers, and American Ninja Warrior. But for their latest podcast, the network went with a new format, creating a podcast that doesn’t comment on its companion show but rather is actually a part of it. MTowne: Where Murder Happens follows the second season of the sitcom Trial & Error and its new murder case. Hosted by the character of podcast producer Nina Rudolph (Amanda Payton), MTowne expands on the universe of the show and delves deeper into some of the quirkier aspects of the town of East Peck, such as its lady laws and multiple time zones. (There are even ads for local businesses.) The latest episode explores the town’s love of rum and its secret rumholes while adding context to the background of defendant Lavinia Peck-Foster (Kristin Chenoweth), who is accused of killing her clock-magnate husband. The podcast is a fun send-up of shows like Serial and S-Town, and as a viewer, it’s interesting to see how the show and podcast intertwine so perfectly.

Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website

The Bechdel Cast – Wet Hot American Summer with Allison Raskin

Anna: Summer isn’t over yet! Hosts Jamie Loftus and Caitlin Durante bring guest Allison Raskin (Gossip) back to camp for a look at how the raunchy, broad 2001 comedy Wet Hot American Summer represents women. Actually, this cult favorite, set on the last day of camp in 1981, is a tad more progressive than you’d think. But does it pass the Bechdel test? (It needs two named female characters speaking to each other about something other than a man.) With an ensemble of adults playing sexually charged teens, there’s a lot to dissect: Janeane Garofalo’s well-liked Beth as the respected head of the camp; Marguerite Moreau’s sexually empowered Katie subverting the “nice guys deserve pretty girls” trope; Amy Poehler’s Susie as the only female character not tied to a romantic relationship; and Paul Rudd’s aggro-playboy Andy commenting on toxic masculinity — especially as played in a 32-year-old’s body. (Daily reminder: Paul Rudd was born in 1969.) Throughout, our hosts share their deep love for the only queer sex scene, which was also the only genuine one, not played for laughs. Overall, any progressive praise is relative to 2001. This cast is extremely white. Grab your bug spray for The Bechdel Cast’s final verdict.

Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website

Other Podcasts We’re Listening To:

Keep It – Can’t Fight the Moonves (w/Marti Noxon) Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website

Why Won’t You Date Me? – Sabrina Jalees Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website

Quick Question – Hard Topics With Joy Lenz Listen: Apple | Website

WTF – Luzer Twersky Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website

Absolute Worst Podcast – Murderers & S****y Sisters Listen: Apple | Website

New Player Has Joined – Diddy Kong Racing – Dani Fernandez (Flying Under The Radar) Listen: Spotify | Apple | Website

Got a comedy podcast recommendation? Drop us a line at comedypodcasts@vulture.com.

This week’s reviewers: Pablo Goldstein, Kathryn Doyle, Marc Hershon, Elizabeth Stamp, Mark Kramer, Tom Rainey, and Anna Marr.

Source: http://www.vulture.com/2018/08/this-week-in-comedy-podcasts-punch-up-the-jam.html

[samiam03x]

The Single Advertising Factor That’s More Important than Demographics (And How Measuring It Makes All the Difference)

When it comes to online advertising, no one is disputing that demographics are important. After all, they’re what powers your media buying and customer personas. The data you collect is meaningless without demographics to help you properly filter and segment it.

But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find something much more important than demographics powering actual conversions. And using it effectively could make a huge difference in your sales. Let’s take a closer look at what it is, and how you can leverage it to the fullest.

The Dismal State of Online Retail Conversion Rates

According to a report just released by Monetate in November, online retailers continue to struggle with e-commerce sales. A meager 3% conversion rate is something these retailers get excited about. But I’m of the opinion that this number could be much higher, and it has nothing to do with demographics.

Fourth quarter e-commerce conversion rates across devices for the US, UK and global markets

Let’s use the just-passed holiday shopping season as a perfect example. Let’s say I’m in the market for a technology gadget of some kind. I’m already not in the target demographics for this market, which tends to lean heavily toward the 20-something male segment. I go to a website where I find the gadget, and proceed to buy it, but the shipping is a bit too high for my tastes, so I abandon my cart and go back to my search.

If you, as the online retailer, carried the same gadget at a better price or value, wouldn’t you want the opportunity to earn my business? Of course you would – which is why demographics go right to the back burner when it comes to enticing me to do business with you instead.

This is known as customer intent.

“So what?” I can hear you saying. “That was for a gift, and it was a one-off purchase, so it doesn’t count.”

But when you consider that 56% of mobile searches for sporting goods are made by women, and 68% of influencers for skincare and beauty were male, you can see how targeting by demographics alone goes right out the window.

How Do You Measure What You Can’t See?

You leave telltale traces of your intent every time you browse the web

Currently, there is no “one size fits all” tool to measure something like customer intent. It’s far too complex. We can, however, measure the things that lead up to intent. You do it right now without even realizing it. Cookie-based ads, remarketing, email automation — all of these things have been used successfully for years to help target ads relevant to the customer’s search.

But it’s not enough. Until now, marketers have relied on their existing automation systems, their CRM cata and other traditional sources (known as first party data) to better understand their customer base. More and more, however, a new type of data known as third-party data, is coming into play. Third party data is often captured through things like IP tracking, shared cookies or user opt-ins.

Let’s say a user comes to your site through a link on social media. They find an article funny or entertaining and decide to continue reading other, similar articles on other sites. Maybe they even leave a comment or two.

All of these actions leave a sort of “breadcrumb trail” for publishers to follow and glean insights from. Maybe the article you read had to do with funny images of babies, and perhaps your comment was a story about your own little one. From these few points alone, advertisers can deduce that you’re probably a mother of an infant or toddler, and that information, combined with other sites you visit, could paint quite a picture of you without ever being personally identifiable.

It’s questionable from a privacy perspective, but welcomed by marketers, as it gives them little tidbits of information about a prospect — just enough, perhaps, to measure their intent on buying.

So the question then becomes, how do we attract the kinds of people that are intent on buying?

Crafting Content for an Intent-Centric World

Just as all these first party and third party data snippets come together like pieces of a puzzle, so to must marketers and content creators do a little detective work to determine what kinds of content best resonate with that audience. One of the most well-known companies to leverage this kind of information in a meaningful way that boosts their own sales is the Home Depot.

A couple of years ago, they discovered that their do-it-yourself customers were browsing YouTube on their mobile phones to determine how to do different home improvement tasks, ranging from painting a room to building a fire pit. So Home Depot made several YouTube videos walking customers through the process of the most popular types of DIY projects:

Currently, the Home Depot’s YouTube channel has hundreds of how-to videos, all of which have received a remarkable 48 million views combined. There are lots of different ways you can leverage this strategy yourself, including:

How to clean/repair/care for the products you sell

Reviews of the products or their ingredients

Recommended accessories or add-ons for the products

There are plenty of analytics tools available – including Kissmetrics – which can help you ascertain customer intent and then harness that intent to the fullest with helpful content, reviews and recommendations.

And although it may be a bit of a stretch to say that intent is more important than demographics, it nevertheless fills an important role that all marketers should be aware of when planning campaigns both now and in the future.

Which Do You Think is More Important? Demographics or Intent?

Do you weigh demographics more heavily than customer intent? Or is intent simply too cumbersome to measure? Do you think both deserve a place in your marketing plan? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

About the Author: Sherice Jacob helps business owners improve website design and increase conversions through content marketing and SEO copywriting. Get your free printable conversion checklist and web copy tune-up at iElectrify.com or follow @sherice on Twitter.

http://chimpfeedr.com/img/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.kissmetrics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F02%2Fonline-retail-conversion-rates.png&width=540&mix=72dd8-MarketingRSS from MarketingRSS http://ift.tt/2kUFhj4 via Youtube

[marie85marketing]

The Single Advertising Factor That’s More Important than Demographics (And How Measuring It Makes All the Difference)

When it comes to online advertising, no one is disputing that demographics are important. After all, they’re what powers your media buying and customer personas. The data you collect is meaningless without demographics to help you properly filter and segment it.

But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find something much more important than demographics powering actual conversions. And using it effectively could make a huge difference in your sales. Let’s take a closer look at what it is, and how you can leverage it to the fullest.

The Dismal State of Online Retail Conversion Rates

According to a report just released by Monetate in November, online retailers continue to struggle with e-commerce sales. A meager 3% conversion rate is something these retailers get excited about. But I’m of the opinion that this number could be much higher, and it has nothing to do with demographics.

Fourth quarter e-commerce conversion rates across devices for the US, UK and global markets

Let’s use the just-passed holiday shopping season as a perfect example. Let’s say I’m in the market for a technology gadget of some kind. I’m already not in the target demographics for this market, which tends to lean heavily toward the 20-something male segment. I go to a website where I find the gadget, and proceed to buy it, but the shipping is a bit too high for my tastes, so I abandon my cart and go back to my search.

If you, as the online retailer, carried the same gadget at a better price or value, wouldn’t you want the opportunity to earn my business? Of course you would – which is why demographics go right to the back burner when it comes to enticing me to do business with you instead.

This is known as customer intent.

“So what?” I can hear you saying. “That was for a gift, and it was a one-off purchase, so it doesn’t count.”

But when you consider that 56% of mobile searches for sporting goods are made by women, and 68% of influencers for skincare and beauty were male, you can see how targeting by demographics alone goes right out the window.

How Do You Measure What You Can’t See?

You leave telltale traces of your intent every time you browse the web

Currently, there is no “one size fits all” tool to measure something like customer intent. It’s far too complex. We can, however, measure the things that lead up to intent. You do it right now without even realizing it. Cookie-based ads, remarketing, email automation — all of these things have been used successfully for years to help target ads relevant to the customer’s search.

But it’s not enough. Until now, marketers have relied on their existing automation systems, their CRM cata and other traditional sources (known as first party data) to better understand their customer base. More and more, however, a new type of data known as third-party data, is coming into play. Third party data is often captured through things like IP tracking, shared cookies or user opt-ins.

Let’s say a user comes to your site through a link on social media. They find an article funny or entertaining and decide to continue reading other, similar articles on other sites. Maybe they even leave a comment or two.

All of these actions leave a sort of “breadcrumb trail” for publishers to follow and glean insights from. Maybe the article you read had to do with funny images of babies, and perhaps your comment was a story about your own little one. From these few points alone, advertisers can deduce that you’re probably a mother of an infant or toddler, and that information, combined with other sites you visit, could paint quite a picture of you without ever being personally identifiable.

It’s questionable from a privacy perspective, but welcomed by marketers, as it gives them little tidbits of information about a prospect — just enough, perhaps, to measure their intent on buying.

So the question then becomes, how do we attract the kinds of people that are intent on buying?

Crafting Content for an Intent-Centric World

Just as all these first party and third party data snippets come together like pieces of a puzzle, so to must marketers and content creators do a little detective work to determine what kinds of content best resonate with that audience. One of the most well-known companies to leverage this kind of information in a meaningful way that boosts their own sales is the Home Depot.

A couple of years ago, they discovered that their do-it-yourself customers were browsing YouTube on their mobile phones to determine how to do different home improvement tasks, ranging from painting a room to building a fire pit. So Home Depot made several YouTube videos walking customers through the process of the most popular types of DIY projects:

Currently, the Home Depot’s YouTube channel has hundreds of how-to videos, all of which have received a remarkable 48 million views combined. There are lots of different ways you can leverage this strategy yourself, including:

How to clean/repair/care for the products you sell

Reviews of the products or their ingredients

Recommended accessories or add-ons for the products

There are plenty of analytics tools available – including Kissmetrics – which can help you ascertain customer intent and then harness that intent to the fullest with helpful content, reviews and recommendations.

And although it may be a bit of a stretch to say that intent is more important than demographics, it nevertheless fills an important role that all marketers should be aware of when planning campaigns both now and in the future.

Which Do You Think is More Important? Demographics or Intent?

Do you weigh demographics more heavily than customer intent? Or is intent simply too cumbersome to measure? Do you think both deserve a place in your marketing plan? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

About the Author: Sherice Jacob helps business owners improve website design and increase conversions through content marketing and SEO copywriting. Get your free printable conversion checklist and web copy tune-up at iElectrify.com or follow @sherice on Twitter.

[paperclipninja]

Younger post-ep ramble 6x03

This week’s episode of Younger, ‘The Unusual Suspect’, was a big one. No scenes felt wasted, each one moving the story along and it all felt very purposeful. Despite some capital H hotness and really light and funny moments being scattered throughout, mostly thanks to fave (and only) NYC agent Redmond and the resurrection of some truly classic Diana Trout, there was definitely the sense of tension on the rise. It’s been simmering since the end of this season’s first episode and I feel like this week we have hit an apex.

We open with brunch at Maggie’s and what one can only assume is a time jump (either that or Clare has recovered remarkably well from birthing a baby the size of a four month old) and right away an overarching theme for this episode is established, as Lauren enters raving about the latest hit podcast, Exonerated. I’m gonna come straight out and say that I am so into this premise. The excitement around the table sounded like the break room in my office most days, they definitely nailed the trend of true crime fixation. It immediately allowed for Maggie’s quip about white women loving murder, a delightful array of OTT facial expressions from Liza and Kelsey dropping in that Millennial will be meeting with Audrey Colbert, subject of the podcast, to nab her book before anyone else does. Of course the other big news is that Josh and Clare appear to be happily family-ing it up (though mommy wipes, daddy dipes = vom in my mouth a little bit) and Maggie is dealing with unresolved BoUBT (Back of Uber Birth Trauma). Lauren’s vow to help get Maggie back on the ‘h for hunt’ once again epitomises why I love her character so and I want to record her sympathetic ‘oh Divaaa’ as my ringtone. I just love that Maggie, of all characters, is the one who seems like she should be the most pragmatic when it comes to something like birth yet her coping level is zero here.

You know who else wasn’t coping? Me and my Liza and Charles loving heart as Liza suddenly up and left the brunch because she ‘was late for a thing’, cue the scene that was released as a sneak peek last week that I have definitely only watched a normal number of times *cough*. The set up for The Rubin Museum from the opening conversation was fab and the fact that Charles and Liza are using the podcast to frame up a role play situation is just too much. Obviously I had seen the scene prior to the ep and while it is certainly *insert flames here*, I can’t help but wonder what it would’ve been like not to have expected it (actual combustion probable). I mean regardless, I will never think about a trip to the museum in the same way again. The voice-over narrating what we were seeing was such a great device that is really different to anything the show has done before, it built the anticipation of what was playing out and it felt like a scene from a movie. The moment when Charles turned and came face to face with Liza was a great reminder of how electric the chemistry between these two can be (actual lightening bolts were sighted) and quite frankly, seeing these characters being adventurous and lustful in their relationship is a yes on all fronts. I think the fact it all took place in a place of intellect and culture was extra fitting, it somehow kept the whole thing true to the characters and I am here for the #nerdlove.

The office drama was amped this whole ep and that of course was largely due to the ever growing reign of our season 6 villain, Quinn. With the time jump since last episode confirmed by the fact that Quinn’s book is both published and sitting on the best seller list, Kelsey and Diana’s first encounter with Quinn as she uses the WiFi for a conference call included a) Diana saying goodbye in Mandarin, which was yet another lovely tidbit to add to this character while also setting up the classic Diana we got throughout this ep and; b) some of the best fashion and hairstyles all in one scene (and episode as a whole) ever. I mean the fashion on this show is always next level but this episode in particular took it up a notch: Diana’s high-neck printed electric blue top and Kelsey’s hair/makeup/outfit in the conference room were so stunning I was actually distracted by them.

Kelsey’s office refurb was also noted, loved Liza’s ‘set it (Claw) on fire’ comment and of course, Diana telling Kelsey that now she is publisher, maybe she should stop speaking like a trucker was D. Trout golden line no.1 for this episode. Even better was seeing Kelsey, Diana and Liza settling into this new way of working. I adore the dynamic between these three and the way we’re seeing Diana adjust to her former assistant now being a peer without a fuss is why this show is so wonderful. It would have been easy to have Diana trying to assert herself and maintain some sort of authority, but to see her just want to get on with the work and do the best job she can gives a great credibility to the notion that this character is the best in the industry. I could pretty much write out every Diana Trout line from ‘The Unusual Suspect’ and leave this entire ramble at that (’why is everybody in this country obsessed with true crime? Actual people have died and they’re selling branded beanies on Etsy’ LOLLLLL) but I would then need to do that for Redmond because the fave one and only agent in NYC was back this week and as always, he was in fine form.

The pitch of Audrey Colbert’s book is up there with the funniest scenes of this series, from the creepy af Audrey (A+ casting of Willa Fitzgerald) to Liza and Kelsey trying to play it cool while being hella freaked out to Redmond’s attempt to present a compelling pitch being railroaded by Audrey’s ‘crippling lack of media training’, it was Younger writing and delivery at its finest from start to finish. Seeing Redmond so unnerved by Audrey was unnerving in itself and really, I am so happy with the amount of Michael Urie in this episode. Our next encounter was of course when Kelsey and Liza interrupt his infrared sauna treatment (again, so many hilarious lines, I really feel that a transcript of the entire episode is about the only way to do it justice but may be problematic to pass off as a recap/review…or would it?) and discover that Audrey’s book is being shopped around thanks to the dagger next to Claw on the bestseller list, which = bulk sales = dodgy business = Chinese bots tweeting = Quinn is the worst (math doesn’t lie) = Audrey doesn’t want to be associated with anything suspicious on account of the fact she’s been accused of murdering two ppl (fair). I do want to back this truck up a little though to the way Kelsey and Liza discovered their next big hit was being pitched to half the major publishing houses around town.

Diana Trout hobbling into the office on crutches before dropping the bomb that her injury was the result of being so frazzled upon hearing the news re: Audrey going elsewhere, that she got caught up in her reformer (just go and re-watch this scene, you will not be sorry) is everything I never knew I wanted to see. The reference to Jackie Dunn, who you may remember has been a longstanding nemesis of sorts of Diana’s, was such an utter delight as a long time fan and once again, seeing Kelsey, Liza and Diana all equally vexed by the news was so great and continued to solidify them as a team. I promise no more direct quotes* (*this is a very loose promise), but ‘postpone the power-trip Kelsey, I am handicapped’ in response to Kelsey’s stunned expression upon Diana’s request for espresso, is so outrageously funny and makes this whole scene an absolute stand out on account of its hilarity.

I missed Lauren and Diana interacting this week, however I appreciated seeing Lauren be the wonderful friend she is to Maggie and Josh. Taking Maggie to the support group obviously allowed us to meet Beth, who Maggie engaged for some one on one tutoring (looking forward to seeing where that goes this season) after returning to the store to apologise for running out during the group session. While Maggie was lining up her ongoing therapy, Lauren and Josh shared a sweet and heartfelt moment that highlights why their friendship is such a lovely one on this show. Obviously Josh had told Lauren that he and Clare had a moment that made him think, ‘maybe we should make this relationship work’ and Lauren is following up to see where his head and heart are at.

I absolutely loved said scene between Clare and Josh, when he had finally settled the baby, asks Clare if she wants to go to her bed and then joins her on the floor when she says she sleeps where she can now. There was such a sense of unity and care and it made my heart swell. So in his discussion with Lauren we also find out the baby is named Gemma (last name TBC, for both father and daughter) and when pressed about what he actually wants, Josh reveals that he doesn’t think he and Clare are right for each other. I have said it before, but for all the wacky that Lauren can be, she is the most incredible friend who only wants the best for those around her in such a relentless and genuine way and this scene really highlighted that once again (the line about her dad having such a little bottom though brought us straight back to Lauren light in the best possible way).

The divorce proposal was such a great scene and while I was hoping that perhaps Clare and Josh could work things out, I am thrilled to see that the writers put both these characters on the same page right from the get go. I love that this show constantly bucks stereotypes and expectations of how certain characters and relationships will play out, so to see two adults who have an agreed desire to put their child first but know they need to do so outside a romantic relationship is something really unique on television. I have always enjoyed Josh and Clare’s dynamic and I hope we get to see a real, loving co-parenting arrangement play out.

Kelsey’s interaction with Zane when she was buying a bottle of Dom Perignon to celebrate scoring Audrey’s book (eek!) is my favourite interaction of theirs this season. Their banter was really effortless, Zane’s, ‘you’re not listening’, as he pulled out the cash to pay for the one remaining bottle smooth and a little bit over confident, but really played up that he has something in the works that is legit. I especially love that we later discover both are buying champagne to celebrate the same win. I feel like we also need to stop and appreciate that they were about to drop $400 between them on two bottles of bubbles like it was no big deal. What is this life? How do I get it?

Though admittedly Kelsey deserves a nice glass of something this ep considering all that she is dealing with. I have made no secret that I have struggled with Kelsey’s character these past couple of seasons and no one is more surprised than me at how much I am getting on board with her this season. Kelsey calling out Quinn point blank that she faked her best seller was so good to watch and seeing Liza backing her up and standing her own ground made this extra satisfying. Gah, I just LOVE how Laura Benanti plays Quinn and her stating that ‘the money is real, what else do you need?’ is so cold and matter-of-fact. What I love most about this whole confrontation is that it immediately made me think back to the first time we met Quinn - her whole presentation was about the fact that no one wants your success more than you do and that women helping women is actually holding women back. That right there should’ve been the red flag that her “helping” Liza and Kelsey was not legit.

And so her true motivation for investing in Empirical becomes evident. It had nothing to do with saving an ailing publishing house, it was to ensure her book would be published, she could have some control over how big it would become and be seen to have the support of a reputable publishing house, all in order to gain name recognition so she could successfully run for Senate. In her mind, Kelsey and Liza benefit from the whole thing financially so it’s a win win but she also holds the power so feels like she has the upper hand. Which is why the scene at The Cut (which is so fab, the looks Quinn shoots Kelsey are searing), when audience members question the dagger next to her book, is so damn satisfying. Kelsey’s move to announce Quinn’s run for Senate is so bold, I am very on board and boy oh boy Kels, I think you’ve got yourself quite the adversary. I was very much Liza watching this all unfold, shocked, impressed and a little bit scared for and of Kelsey and what this all means.

Now Liza was late to the event because she was living out the next chapter of the podcast at the Brownstone which we need to discuss, however I first owe some of you an apology. At the end of last week’s ramble I suggested you may need a fire blanket at the ready after seeing the museum scene sneak peek to you know, contain the flames. I fear some of you may have deployed it prematurely (this is not a euphemism though I am very aware it sounds like one) in response to how damn hot that scene was, but I was not to know that we were going to get this later scene, in which Liza just wanders into the townhouse BECAUSE SHE HAS A FREAKING KEY (suspected ep 2, confirmed ep 3, appreciated always) and decides to have a good old snoop at her bf’s mail. Similar to the museum scene, this set up felt more like a movie than a typical Younger episode. There was an ominous weight to it; the music, the lighting, the Charles padding silently up behind her (barefoot again?) and the tension was palpable.

Liza asks Charles about what’s going on, he provides a vague answer about moving some things around before asking her if she’s listened to chapter 7 of Exonerated, which conveniently mirrors almost exactly what just occurred, with Audrey’s ex finding her going through his things. Ok, so this is where it gets tricky for me. This entire exchange, from the way these two fall into that speaking in third person and wrapping a narrative around themselves, the way Charles wraps his arms around her, the way they look at each other, I mean, this whole thing makes my heart spontaneously combust because it is sexy and flirty, dripping with desire and just really really hot *reaches for backup fire blanket*. But then Liza is clearly distracted by that letter and Charles’ deflection and part of me is wondering why on Earth she isn’t pressing him harder for an answer or following up, I mean, we saw how open they were with one another last season, but then the other part of me looks at Liza and thinks, you are a person who has eyes and that whole situation is right there in front of you so I get it, go with it and worry about it later.

I am aware of how long this ramble already is, but I am going to do something a little different here and digress slightly from the episode itself and put out some conjecture on my part. It could well be completely over-analysing (lol, I’m neck deep into a freaking novella about a 25 min episode of TV, I think that’s a given) but I know that there is concern about Charles behaving secretively and I have seen some people expressing disappointment in this season so far.

For what it’s worth, my take on it is that it might seem as though some of the characters are behaving a little out of character but I feel that actually, the characters are behaving in ways we haven’t seen before because they’re in situations we haven’t seen them in before. As invested viewers we feel like we know these characters as whole people in every aspect of their lives when in fact, we’ve not seen Liza at the top of her game in her career or Josh as a parent or Charles in a romantic relationship or away from the office. So while the way they behave might not be the way we imagined it, to me it isn’t so much out of character as seeing a new dimension of the character. Also, the addition of flaws does not necessarily equate to destroying a character, it builds them out and makes them more real, if anything.

In relation to Charles and Liza’s relationship and the ‘Charles is being shady’ concern, IMO the key purpose of that is to create tension and you can FEEL it building. As crazy as it may sound, I think the Liza/Charles dynamic thrives in the build and resolution of tension and that’s why their moments in this episode felt so electric and hot, it’s like those unspoken, unresolved tension points charge their chemistry. As much as I think I would love to have Charles and Liza sitting around blissfully happy (I mean, I would obvs), the reality is, it’s not that fun to watch. I believe the tension is building towards a resolution of sorts that will actually put them in a better place and move the relationship forward. (*Full disclosure: since writing this I listened to the podcast from ATX fest and Joe Murphy, one of the writers for Younger, said very similar things so if you listened to that podcast I promise I have not just taken what Joe said and pretended they’re my thoughts, I legit had this written and then heard (ngl, I may be feeling a little smug as a result). I’m putting it down to us both being Australian because clearly that is a thing that makes sense).

I also think there is an unsettled feeling this season because the entire premise of this show, the roles these characters played, the interactions we have grown accustomed to week after week, has been completely flipped upside down. As viewers we garner comfort from the routine of watching a show but also from knowing where the players are positioned, how they will behave and what it looks and feels like. I think the writers know exactly what they’re doing and are achieving exactly what they would’ve hoped (apologies writers if this is wildly inaccurate and I’m just assuming things incorrectly left, right and centre) - everyone is sitting in discomfort and it’s largely due to the unfamiliarity of it all. The set up, the way we’re seeing characters etc, it reflects what the characters themselves are experiencing on our screens, which is all kinds of meta and actually pretty cool. But the further you push that discomfort and make viewers sit in it, the greater the impact and more satisfying the resolution. It’s like waiting for a beat to drop in a song, the build up can become almost unbearable but damn it’s good when it lands. That’s how I feel this is all going to go.

That is what I meant by this episode feeling like an apex, it feels as though there’s a limit to how far an audience can be taken in a state of flux without some resolve somewhere. And the writers know this, it’s what they do, it’s WHY we tune in. I’m not suggesting that everything is going to go back to the way it was, the evolution of a show like Younger is exciting and part of the fun is seeing where it goes, but we are three episodes in to a twelve episode season and while we consume it week to week, it ultimately has to make narrative sense across the whole season. It’s as though we’re at the end of an ‘establishing’ phase right now. So I am reserving any judgement until I see how it all comes together, but have no doubt there will be many resolutions and many new points of tension throughout.

Right now, I am thoroughly enjoying all that we’re getting and I think the writing this season has been excellent so far, with moments like the final scene of ‘The Unusual Suspect’ providing us with the first true cliffhanger of the season. Our last bit of Redmond for the ep was peak Redmond (I love that he dashed off to a better table uptown), and of course the big Mercury reveal, YESSS. That moment of realisation washing over Liza’s face, props to Sutton Foster, and I cannot WAIT to see how this all goes down. The prospect of inter-generational team ups of Kelsey/Liza vs. Zane/Charles while members of each team are in relationships with one another is the kind of set up I live for in a TV show. Is it July 10th yet?

[dianesaddler]

The Single Advertising Factor That’s More Important than Demographics (And How Measuring It Makes All the Difference)

When it comes to online advertising, no one is disputing that demographics are important. After all, they’re what powers your media buying and customer personas. The data you collect is meaningless without demographics to help you properly filter and segment it.

But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find something much more important than demographics powering actual conversions. And using it effectively could make a huge difference in your sales. Let’s take a closer look at what it is, and how you can leverage it to the fullest.

The Dismal State of Online Retail Conversion Rates

According to a report just released by Monetate in November, online retailers continue to struggle with e-commerce sales. A meager 3% conversion rate is something these retailers get excited about. But I’m of the opinion that this number could be much higher, and it has nothing to do with demographics.

Fourth quarter e-commerce conversion rates across devices for the US, UK and global markets

Let’s use the just-passed holiday shopping season as a perfect example. Let’s say I’m in the market for a technology gadget of some kind. I’m already not in the target demographics for this market, which tends to lean heavily toward the 20-something male segment. I go to a website where I find the gadget, and proceed to buy it, but the shipping is a bit too high for my tastes, so I abandon my cart and go back to my search.

If you, as the online retailer, carried the same gadget at a better price or value, wouldn’t you want the opportunity to earn my business? Of course you would – which is why demographics go right to the back burner when it comes to enticing me to do business with you instead.

This is known as customer intent.

“So what?” I can hear you saying. “That was for a gift, and it was a one-off purchase, so it doesn’t count.”

But when you consider that 56% of mobile searches for sporting goods are made by women, and 68% of influencers for skincare and beauty were male, you can see how targeting by demographics alone goes right out the window.

How Do You Measure What You Can’t See?

You leave telltale traces of your intent every time you browse the web

Currently, there is no “one size fits all” tool to measure something like customer intent. It’s far too complex. We can, however, measure the things that lead up to intent. You do it right now without even realizing it. Cookie-based ads, remarketing, email automation — all of these things have been used successfully for years to help target ads relevant to the customer’s search.

But it’s not enough. Until now, marketers have relied on their existing automation systems, their CRM cata and other traditional sources (known as first party data) to better understand their customer base. More and more, however, a new type of data known as third-party data, is coming into play. Third party data is often captured through things like IP tracking, shared cookies or user opt-ins.

Let’s say a user comes to your site through a link on social media. They find an article funny or entertaining and decide to continue reading other, similar articles on other sites. Maybe they even leave a comment or two.

All of these actions leave a sort of “breadcrumb trail” for publishers to follow and glean insights from. Maybe the article you read had to do with funny images of babies, and perhaps your comment was a story about your own little one. From these few points alone, advertisers can deduce that you’re probably a mother of an infant or toddler, and that information, combined with other sites you visit, could paint quite a picture of you without ever being personally identifiable.

It’s questionable from a privacy perspective, but welcomed by marketers, as it gives them little tidbits of information about a prospect — just enough, perhaps, to measure their intent on buying.

So the question then becomes, how do we attract the kinds of people that are intent on buying?

Crafting Content for an Intent-Centric World

Just as all these first party and third party data snippets come together like pieces of a puzzle, so to must marketers and content creators do a little detective work to determine what kinds of content best resonate with that audience. One of the most well-known companies to leverage this kind of information in a meaningful way that boosts their own sales is the Home Depot.

A couple of years ago, they discovered that their do-it-yourself customers were browsing YouTube on their mobile phones to determine how to do different home improvement tasks, ranging from painting a room to building a fire pit. So Home Depot made several YouTube videos walking customers through the process of the most popular types of DIY projects:

Currently, the Home Depot’s YouTube channel has hundreds of how-to videos, all of which have received a remarkable 48 million views combined. There are lots of different ways you can leverage this strategy yourself, including:

How to clean/repair/care for the products you sell

Reviews of the products or their ingredients

Recommended accessories or add-ons for the products

There are plenty of analytics tools available – including Kissmetrics – which can help you ascertain customer intent and then harness that intent to the fullest with helpful content, reviews and recommendations.

And although it may be a bit of a stretch to say that intent is more important than demographics, it nevertheless fills an important role that all marketers should be aware of when planning campaigns both now and in the future.

Which Do You Think is More Important? Demographics or Intent?

Do you weigh demographics more heavily than customer intent? Or is intent simply too cumbersome to measure? Do you think both deserve a place in your marketing plan? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

About the Author: Sherice Jacob helps business owners improve website design and increase conversions through content marketing and SEO copywriting. Get your free printable conversion checklist and web copy tune-up at iElectrify.com or follow @sherice on Twitter.

The Single Advertising Factor That’s More Important than Demographics (And How Measuring It Makes All the Difference) posted first on Kissmetrics Blog

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