#feel free to use just credit the disney staff
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k-looking-glass-house · 1 year ago
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Twisted Wonderland background edit~ La cité des Fleurs
Well can't be help... I'm french after all (noooo I am not doing favoritisme....)..... and the US fandom finally got the event, yay!!! Enjoy "Glorious Masquerade"!! I was.... super into those edits ha ha!! (wanted to add the Eiffel Tower...but meh...nope too far from "NBC"), enjoy some edit street with a secret Ténèbre shop with a DC collection "prêt-à-porter" instead~ Also ...thanks a lot to the twiwon staff team.... they added red geranium in those background........ for us frenchies.....it's truly important being part of our history, very heart warming and much more.... I mean it ....thank you!!!
.....let me catch everyone on tumblr ha ha!! I am so slow...
Bg asset extracted by @alchemivich
edit and concept by me
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keyofjetwolf · 5 years ago
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GIFTENING Bonus Rounds
For each category, I included a “bonus round” question. YOU GUYS KILLED IT. I loved all the answers, but listed below are some of my particular favourites.
Haruka Tenoh is trapped in the wrong anime! Which would you have her visit next?
I want her to earth shake Kyubey out of existence, please and thank you
My bride is a mermaid. She can relate. :P
i think she would THRIVE in bodacious space pirates. gay teenage space pirates whose job is to dress up, be Dramatic, and rob the wealthy??? that shit is RIGHT up her alley
Hamtaro
Princess Tutu - where the world is finally as dramatic as her
PGSM (and Michiru is trapped with her, for REASONS)
Pokemon because everyone deserves to be happy
Any moe-style series so hijinks can ensue at her being baffled by everyone's ages
1960's Speed Racer
is is this a captcha or something i missed oh god
Free! so she can be indifferent to all the hot men and slightly uncomfortable because she still can't swim. 
Stick Haruka in a Gundam!
Dump her in Pretear or one of the Precures! It would be hilarious! She's never in the genre she wants to be!
Revolutionary Girl Utena, so she can be offended by misuse of roses.
Initial D, she will out-drive and out-drift all those guys and steal all their girls.
Evangelion. I would feel bad to watch her suffer, but it would be so, so funny for her to be the comparatively most normal person around.
Yakitake Japan! SO SHE CAN HAVE A SNACK OF DELICIOUS RIDICULOUS BREAD BEFORE THE NEXT INTERDIMENSIONAL ANIME STORM WHISKS HER AWAY.
The Holograms or the Misfits? DISCUSS
Holograms
both? both. BOTH IS GOOD
misfits bc Evil Ladies Hot
Steven and the stevens
Misfits.  How dare you make us try to think about anything in our lives.
Both, you mad fool. Those combined songs were the best.
The Misfits, their songs are better
The Misgrams: A group of girls who form a singing telegram start up company, but constantly deliver the telegrams to the wrong people.
kimber & stormer
Neither. Limp Lizards all the way. BROKEN GLASS.
I do not know what these things are
Misfits because guitar motorcycle
The Isle of Misfit Holograms
Holograms is just arguably better
I mean, I’m told the Misfits’ songs are better, but my true answer is the band Kimber and Stormer made in that big gay episode you liveblogged (checks) almost four years ago.
I've no idea what these words mean and I hope this does not make me TOO uncool.
this is about jem, right? right?? im hip i swear
Misfits, because Jasper is a member apparently
I don't know from Jem, but I mean...I certainly prefer holographic material to Glenn Danzig? So I guess there's your answer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The Stingers
LIMP LIZARDS FOREVER
Senshi Band
You can make me liveblog a full series of any show you want! You also hate me. What do you have me watch?
Pick a GoT rip-off, any GoT rip-off
The Bachelor?
The Bachelor :(
depends on how much i hate you, but....probably the bachelor. quantity AND lack of quality
Critical role, it would take forever
If I were a horrible person who sought only malice?  Big Bang Theory.  Entire series.
Toddlers and Tiaras
The Mandalorian - Disney would come after you and kill keyofjetwolf just as dead as keyofnik.  We would all be very sad, you would have to go through a second round of restoring things to a new tumblr account, and your organizational heart would weep over adding yet another hosting site out of chronological order.
You are liveblogging Eva, and must discuss in full detail Shinji's emotional state at all times.
Hannity & Colmes
The Kardashians. And all of their spin offs. *kisses*
The price is right
the bachelor
Probably something with lots of romance and no friendships. Soap operas are like that, right? My college roommate used to watch General Young Light Restless Hospital of Our Lives (which one had Like and Laura?) And it was torture.
One Piece, because it's over 900 episodes so you could maybe do 10% before you die, also you will hate how the women are treated most of the time.
Fushigi Yuugi. Not only do you hate it but it also comes with you squirming when you admit to watching the whole thing. ;) 
Plus belle la vie. It's an ongoing French soap opera that has been airing five days a week since 2004, they're nearing their 4000th episode and there's no end in sight. Imagine all those hours upon hours submerged in French drama, mwahahaha!!
The Bachelor.  Or the Bachelorette, maybe - more straight dudes in that.
The Young and the Restless - IT IS THE LIVEBLOG THAT NEVER ENDS. IT WOULD OUTLAST THE INTERNET.
The entirety of the Bachelor franchise.
You can only play one game for the rest of your life. Which game would it be and why?
Kingdom Hearts Complete Collection. A) I love them. B) I beat the system and get like 10 games instead of one.
Gemcraft. This game actually takes a lifetime to finish.
Hatoful Boyfriend. It is the best game ever created. Feel it in your heart.
that's a mean question and you can't make me answer it
Pathfinder, which you could play for the rest of your life and still never finish.
Civ VI , so I can rule the world without leaving my house.
I am legitimately perturbed by this question and refuse to answer it.
Pokemon Go. I would have nothing else, but I would catch them all.
The Elder Scrolls Skyrim: I'll never run out of side-quests.
Mass Effect--it's the only way I'll get full completion. 
The dinosaur game on Chrome when the internet doesn't connect because my life is monotonous and it's a welcome relief. 
Stardew Valley. Peaceful farmer life and turning my children into doves when I'm bored with them.
Crabs Adjust Humidity
Oh my! A number of things come to mind, not one of them fit for print. Just, you know...*gestures vaguely* sex shit. 
I can't even stick to the ones I play now.
This is the worst of all possible things and I refuse to answer. 
Monopoly, I hate myself :(
Probably Minecraft! I haven't gotten into it because I know if I start I will NEVER STOP. Who would do things like build a hundred foot tall statue of Mako-chan? A-THAT'D BE ME.
the game. Of LIFE! *shrug emoji*
I don't believe I'll tell you, because I AM a salty little fish and it was HARD to cut that 11th choice off my vote.
Holligay and I are going to be the leads in a new buddy film. What's the premise? How does it end?
Be gay do crimes. Thelma and Louise. Duh. :P
I have no idea but only just surviving disaster is how it ends.
You break down in a small town during a roadtrip- your stay is full of hijinks and ends with you teaching the townsfolk the true meaning of friendship.
Doctor Holligay, Esquire, PhD, renowned Jewish femme of many talents, is assigned one Operative Jet Wolf as her bodyguard on a foreign diplomatic mission/vacation/culinary tour of the world ("same difference, shut up, narrator"). One problem: Operative Wolf needs a bodyguard herself, as the good doctor discovers when in one night her toilet is destroyed ("IT WAS A SECURITY THREAT") and Operative Wolf nearly breaks a leg falling down a small set of stairs ("THEY PUT A CLIFF OUTSIDE THE DOOR"). Worldwide shenanigans ensue as Holligay and Operative Wolf learn the true meaning of friendship, and also how to take care of themselves... by taking care of each other.
I’m not sure about the premise, but DEFINITELY it ends in murder.
Someone posted a major spoiler during one of your liveblogs. The two of you track them down seeking revenge. It turns out it was the original creator of the series trying to stop you. For some reason Holligay is a CGI badger.
It's clearly a buddy cop movie, and like all good buddy cop movies, it ends with Doc almost dying, and you saving her, and slapping her wound in the hospital as the credits roll.
It ends as it began: with Holligay roasting you.
A straight detective and her lesbian partner have to solve the case of the missing cinnamon buns.  It ends with nobody getting the guy OR the girl and you drive off into the sunset together, perps behind bars sans cinnamon buns.
I don't know what it's about but I know it will be the only movie that ever existed. 
Holligay is the lesbian chief of staff to you somehow being elected President and she's basically running the country while you're the charming face of the administration
Nerd and cowgirl meet at a bar, justifyingly murder some gross dude, go on the run from the law and have a life-changing road trip, on the way Nazis are punched
carrying a delicate object through a forest after your helicopter goes down
Thelma and Louise, but instead of dying, your deaths are clearly faked and you live on a ranch in Montana with your respective spouses and animals. One time a cop comes by the restaurant/bar you joint own with Doc and says, "You look familiar." Doc, in perfect lesbian, answers, "Jet's just got that criminal look, on account of how much she'd love to steal my cheesecake recipe. More pie?"
Queer Eye with a Straight Goy. The two of you do the show but in your own special ways.
Doc Holligay is the wild-west no-nonsense sheriff. Jet Wolf is the all-fun cyberpunk cop from the future. They punch nazis and argue about food. It ends as a tv series ala B99.
Your lives are already a buddy film, don’t get greedy.
Hands and socks.  You know how it ends.
See Grumpy Old Men for details.  How does it end?  Badly.
I can't imagine the premise, but I'm pretty sure the planet explodes.
A Coen Bros film. It ends poorly.
Wait? You're not already living this now? 
REI HINO
REI HINO
Sure. Why not?
HINO REI
<3<3<3<3
REI HINO!
Rei who? ;)
REI HINOOOOOOOOO
Plush Is being hugged by Zoisite in your banner.
MINAKO AINO
MAKOTO KINO
The best
SOCKS
MICHIRU KAIOH
It's time tooo.... REI! THAT! HINO!
sponsored by Here! curry
LOVES USAGI LOVES REI LOVES USAGI LOVES REI LOVES USAGI LOVES REI LOVES USAGI LOVES REI LOVES USAGI LOVES REI LOVES USAGI LOVES REI LOVES USAGI LOVES REI LOVES USAGI LOVES REI LOVES USAGI LOVES REI LOVES USAGI LOVES REI [THIS REPEATS A LOT A LOT AND IS GLORIOUS] [...] LOVES USAGI LOVES REI LOVES JETWOLF
(THE REAL ONE)
Isn't how you spell Makoto Kino!
THE REAL ONE™
obviously
IS NOT A RHINO
In conclusion: Rei Hino
Rei Hino is giving this Giftening finger guns
BEAUTIFUL, STUNNING, SHOW-STOPPING, TALENTED, AMAZING, WONDERFUL
Hot stuff, lights my fire, blazes it regularly. I am out of fire jokes.
PASSION FLAME, SAILOR MARS
These hot feelings are C'EEEEEST LAAAAA VIIIIIIE c'mon rei-chan why aren't you singing along
IS THE BEST (I know who I'm talking to)
Ara!
DID DOCTOR HOLLIGAY PHD NOMINATE THE OPTION OF TALKING ABOUT MICHIRU KAIOH FOR 6 HOURS!!
If Hot Pocket were to plan One Last Heist, what do you think would be his objective? What would be Mina's role in his master plan?
Master Hot Pocket seeks BREAD. His friend and loyal companion, Mina-pup, acts as a distraction, as he has learned the humans are easily distracted by cute. While she does her sworn duty as Best Friend and Cutest Goodest Girl, probably with lolling tongue and glee at all the pets she receives, he picks the locks on the newly childproofed pantry, and Master Howard H. Pocket FEASTS AS NO CAT HAS BEFORE.
Every bag of flour in Montana; Mina runs distraction with her adorable puppy eyes
Open every container, leave none unmarked. Mina is the lookout who greets whoever comes and is completely ineffective at her job.
TAKE ALL THE FLOUR. Do it straight from the source: FlourCo Inc. What does a 10-pound cat do with eighty thousand tons of flour? If you can't figure that out, there's a reason he's the brains of this outfit. Mina would obviously be the bumbling lovable distraction to security or other people.
Bread.  Mina is The Face who provides distraction to the Keepers of the Bread by walking up to them and being herself.  Mina has absolutely no idea that Hot Pocket is using her in this manner because Hot Pocket is that Machiavellian, but Mina is a pocket full of sunshine in canine form and probably would just be happy to help out.
Hot Pocket knows that no mammal of the floor believes in flour anymore. It went away a long time ago. It doesn't exist. But what he also knows is that they're wrong. A lack of opposable thumbs won't hide the truth from him. He'll find the stash, and when he does, he'll stick his paw in it. Mina, with her limited climbing skills, will lick its remains from his claw and prove his discovery. As well as provide a warm place to curl up on for the aftermath of their adventure.
His goal is to sample every edible thing he can get his teeth on. Mina pulls triple duty as step stool, distraction, and scape goat
The Silver Crystal. Mina would play the role of Sailor V.
He is getting ALL THE FLOUR. Mina is a lovable distraction.
Looting all the carbs in the pantry. mina is distraction.
mina's role would be the "dopey" but talented best friend who it looks like HP is going to betray for the sake of the plan but then it all comes together when HP mounts a dramatic rescue. i dunno i'm still in film mode from that last one.
The Holy Bread Locked Within the Cupboard.  Mina would be the distraction, but she'd forget what she was supposed to be distracting from and end up leading you to him.
I am the Void. I am the Night. I am the Darkness with no hope of dawn. The Flour trembles before me in it's bleached fluffiness. It shall not escape my chaos, which will descend upon it like the Terrors of the Deep, claws and teeth and gnashing. It will howl at my claws. It will scream for my teeth, sharp and white, stars in the night of my fur. I shall tend and tear and -- Dammit, Dog-thing! How am I supposed to be terrible and terrifying with you wagging your tail and panting at me!? Oh, you found a good warm sunbeam? I guess I can stalk stuff later. I am the Void. I shall absorb the Sun's light and warmth and bring it into my Darkness where it cannot escape...
I'm new here and don't know all the complex lore of Jetwolf(fairly sure Mina is dog), so I'm going to assume that Hot Pocket is an actual hot pocket and his heist is robbing Fort Knox using Mina as his loyal stead/get away car. Then he explodes a microwave or something.
i lik the bred
Mina as the distraction while he takes one last tastes of EVERYTHING 
objective--stealing more chips; Mina--surprise betrayal 
The scene: Mama Jet's pantry The Objective: the bag of cake flour Aunt Doc made Mama Jet buy but she's never used Mina: confused but excited escape vehicle and/or scapegoat
RAIDING THE KING ARTHUR FLOUR FACTORY. Mina is of course adorable and keeps everyone's attention while Hot Pocket swan dives into the flour like Uncle Scrooge
Hot Pocket would definitely try to steal a monument, Carmen SanDiego style. Mina, of course, is the multi-talented and super cute face of the operation.
I have no idea who Hot Pocket is
HP would try to scale the tallest building in the world. Not to steal anything, just to be up there. Mina would be the adorable diversion.
It would be to get whatever food you've left on the counter. Preferably bread. He would tell Mina that he'll give her some of she acts as a distraction. She's a good dog so she does. He's a cat so she gets no food.
Truly, truly, THE GIFTENING winner is us all.
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turquoisewave · 5 years ago
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hey sira ..... about that post with the time periods with sinbad and treasure planet and all that ..... WHAT WAS GOING ON? you said you wouldn't rant about it in the tags so i sent this ....... i need answers ..... TT_TT
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Alrighty so the main way I know about it is because I learned about the decline of mainstream 2d animated films in the US so I’m gonna be covering both, partially using a copy/paste of a rant I made months back. All info under the readmore:
HOKAY SO, this isn’t all the factors and it’s not everything it’s just what I remember. I tried to fact check this mess and I think I changed any inaccuracies but I COULD BE WRONG.
So, animation in the 2000s, why it was the way it was and why a lot of films went under-appreciated. One thing you gotta remember is that while animation is a creative field, the companies in charge of them are businesses. And businesses will almost always go for low risk/high reward shit. This means, if there’s something tried and true they’ll stick with it. This is why studios often modeled works after other studios (funny talking animals, white gloves, black eyes with that lil white slit, musical shorts like Silly Symphonies, Happy Harmonies, and Merrie Melodies which yes were all by different studios), or in direct opposition of other studios (don bluth going darker with themes to contrast disney’s cuteness, bugs bunny’s trickster personality to contrast mickey’s nondescript Good personality, etc).
But there’s only so long you can do the same stuff before people get tired of it. Most animated feature length films had the same formula: a retelling of an old tale with musical numbers and cute sidekicks. And they started not doing so good.
However, animation at this time had grown in leaps and bounds. Digital coloring and compositing, merging of 3d effects, big studios run by huge companies, and a track record for being profitable as fuck. At the time the companies didn’t want them to go under so they decided to try to get Innovative. Cause that’s how they’d stayed afloat when things went bad before.
They weren’t going to stray from adapting though, too many unknown factors in original stories (which would also require more workshopping and pre-production). So, they’re still adapting old stories. However, they’re pulling from different sources, and in the case of Disney giving them a twist.
Atlantis was inspired by Journey to the Center of the Earth mixed with the myth of Atlantis, Treasure Planet was of course Treasure Island but Pirates in Space (which is one of my favorite nonsensical aesthetics), Dreamworks SKG (their 2d animation dept) went super old school with myths and legends (Sinbad, Prince of Egypt). And both studios went ham on trying to be innovative with the tech at their disposal.
There’s another reason why they went so hard, besides of course being artists. I said before that at the time companies didn’t want their 2d departments to flop, but as time progressed a new alternative began to become prevalent: 3D animation. And this became a huge threat to 2D studios.
Important to note in this regard is the advent of Pixar in the mid 1990s. 3D animation had come a long way from its clunky, surrealist roots. And with the success of movies such as Toy Story and A Bug's Life, it proved itself to be an upcoming profitable medium. It wasn't just the animation though, Pixar had amazing storytellers and directors. And this shit was new, not directly based on an old Grimm Fairy tale or something. In short their whole package was amazing. Dreamworks started being active around this time too and added fuel to the 3D animation fire. Granted Shrek was based on fairy tales, but in a way that was a subversion and became incredibly iconic for it.
At the time Pixar was independent from Disney but working in contract with them. And the success was more than welcomed. As always in capitalism, the question of profitability comes into question. Traditional 2D animation, especially at the high framerate disney was known for, is expensive af to make. Often if directors and producers are not careful, a budget can really run away from you. For example, Toy Story only cost 30 Million USD to make. Treasure Planet cost 140 Million USD. (granted that's because of the combination of 3d and 2d elements. But Lilo and Stitch was almost strictly 2D and still cost more than Toy Story at 80 million USD.) Also, Disney also kinda oversaturated their market. They released a fuckton of straight to dvd sequels (which Disney himself was avidly against) which kinda degraded the overall quality of the Disney 2d animation brand.
There was also competition from other factors. The early 2000s saw the Harry Potter boom, and Lord of the Rings came not soon after. Those of course siphoned off a lot of attention. They were part of pre-established series. The experimental stories that Disney was doing at the time, i.e. AU versions of literary classics, fell flat because the target audience was not familiar with the origin sources, and those that were weren't interested in "kids movies" They had no fucking clue how to market them, and the target audiences didn’t know to look for them.
Lilo and Stitch actually met with success, because 1) they marketed the hell out of it and capitalized on Stitch's mascot-like status and 2) it was more rooted in the kid demographic rather than that awkward kid/teen straddle the other two had. But even Lilo and Stitch couldn't save the Orlando animation studio when Disney finally decided to shut it down. They concentrated the last of their 2D animation studios in Burbank, California. Pixar's contract with Disney ended in 2004, and Disney tried to capitalize on the success of 3D with their own films, Meet the Robinsons and Chicken Little. Both were uh...the Meet the Robinsons wasn't too bad but Chicken Little was like...trying to hard to be a hacky version of a Dreamworks movie Ratatouille was released by pixar independent of Disney which is a neat thing to note. And of course met with success Meanwhile 2D kept falling behind, and whenever it flopped like with Home on the Range it was just another nail in the coffin. Disney renewed its contract with Pixar, and after the release of The Princess and The Frog they switched gears to focus solely on 3D animated feature length films, relegating their 2D staff to tv shows. Granted there's some great shows like Gravity Falls etc but, the fact that they've given up on films is disappointing. But the numbers don't lie. Tangled was its biggest success in a long time. And then Frozen came and blew it out of the water.
tl:dr - People were tired of seeing grim fairy tales stories retold with musical numbers and sometimes talking animals. - Studios tried to use different sources for adaptations and put cool spins on them and incorporate new technology.
But it didn’t end up working in their favor and 2D animation declined because:
- success of studios that were using 3D animation (though credit can also be given to their pre-production staff/writers/storyboarders) - competition from other growing franchises, in some cases Disney cannibalizing its own profits (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean) - Cost effectiveness of 3D vs 2D - Changing of fads and appeal to audience - Inability to market movies properly to target demographics - Studios actively sabotaging their 2d studios to have an excuse to tank them and focus on 3D work.
So yeah, that’s all I got. I’m definitely missing some nuances here though feel free to correct me whoever sees this.
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liam-93-productions · 6 years ago
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Liam’s Interview for Men’s Health Australia
When we arrive in springtime London to meet with singer Liam Payne, he’s at the centre of a heaving team of staff, fussing around a small hotel room in the heart of the city. It’s a small whirlwind overlooking a comparatively peaceful Hyde park.
Amongst all the drama, Payne remains unruffled. He’s alert, aware of every person and conversation in the room, yet oddly at ease with the lunacy ensuing, greeting me with a traditional British bro-shake.
His calm under pressure is perhaps a product of his adolescent stint as one-fifth of the world’s biggest boy band, One Direction, an experience in which an ability to find your equilibrium amid chaos was an essential survival skill.
What’s immediately apparent is that Payne is a surprisingly self-aware and largely egoless 25-year- old, no mean feat for a man who’s helped sell over 50 million albums in the past decade.
“You’re kind of known sometimes as, ‘the guy from that band’, which is not really where you want to be at a certain point,” Payne says within minutes of our first meeting. It’s a refreshing show of vulnerability so early on, setting the tone for a poignant, sometimes emotionally raw two-day encounter with the star. “If you are what you think you are, then you don’t have to fucking prove anything.”
Delivered with a hint of defiance, it’s a sentiment that applies whether you happen to be a popstar or a product manager.
“I’ve got a lot of things wrong in my time, but they were also the moments that I’ve learned the most about myself,” Payne adds. “The moments to do with fear, patience, intelligence, all those different things.”
The truth is, Payne has lived his life in fast forward, cramming youthful missteps, naïve blunders and redemptive wisdom into one dizzying decade in the crucible of pop-culture stardom, a vortex that generally chews up and spits out young men. Instead he’s emerged, if not fully formed, then certainly as a man acutely aware of who he is. He’s as unsure as the rest of us what happens next – there aren’t many five-year plans in pop stardom – but you’d be hard-pressed to find a guy more ready to seize his potential and make his mark. And that’s an enviable position to be in, whatever direction you want life to take you.
BOY BAND BLUES
At the height of their success, One Direction achieved the impossible, inducing Sixties-style hysteria in an era deemed too atomised for such levels of superstardom. A five-piece boy band, manufactured on TV’s X-Factor by none other than Simon Cowell, with universal appeal. The mop-top haircuts, cheesy grins and wholesome values echoed boy bands of decades past, with an updated millennial twist.
To fully grasp the band’s gigantic pop-cultural footprint consider this: One Direction are the only band in history to have their first four albums debut at Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, a feat not even The Beatles managed in their heyday.
“It literally was the perfect storm,” remembers Payne. “There were so many scenarios that had to fall into line for that to happen. It’s not something that can easily be recreated or probably ever will be because of the way the Internet was kicking off, the way The X Factor kicked off. I just  think it was just dumb luck.”
Prior to meeting Payne I’d been given strict instructions not to ask any One Direction-related questions. As it turns out Payne freely offers up details of his decade in the eye of the boyband storm. Indeed, he’s happy to share, almost as a cautionary tale.
“It’s difficult when you have the level of fame that we had in the band,” he says. “There have been a lot of people in trouble with mental health that aren’t really getting the help that they need and I think that’s a bit of a problem in our industry. It’s the same shit that happens to everyone, that’s been happening since the 70’s. You know what the traps are and if you are lucky enough, like me, to be able to get out of that scenario and back into a sense of normality, then you know it’s a bit different.”
Payne was only 14 when One Direction blew up. Forced to grow and mature under the magnifying glass of the global media, his adolescence quickly became click-bait fodder and, despite the companionship of fellow band members, he remembers his 1D days as a lonely time, punctuated by alcohol abuse.
“When you’re doing hundreds and hundreds of [concerts] and it’s the same 22 songs at the same time every single day, even if you’re not happy, you’ve got to go out there,” he says. “It’s almost like putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage and underneath the Disney costume I was pissed quite a lot of the time because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on. I mean it was fun. We had an absolute blast but there were certain parts of it where it just got a little bit toxic.”
It’s the only time in my two days with Payne that the mood darkens. The sentiment echoes around the empty room for a moment, Payne’s eyes glazing over as he’s transported back to those riotous days. Did he ever feel in control during those times? “No. Never.”
“I still struggle with it now,” he adds. “I really struggle to say no because I don’t like to let people down. It’s in my nature.”
If there’s anything Payne hopes his fans take away from his time in fame’s spin cycle, it’s to embrace your past for what it is and grow from it. That way, at least, you ensure the only direction in which you can head is forward.
PAYNE AND GAIN
As if to remind us that we are in fact in the UK, on my seconds day with Payne the spring weather gives way to frosty winds and constant light drizzle. It doesn’t seem to bother anyone in Payne’s camp. Today is the singer’s turn in front of the camera and he wears the dreary London day as well as his perfectly-tailored suit. 
After much negotiation, we manage to get onto the rooftop of The Beaumont Hotel, giving Payne a chance to survey his turf. It’s the most at ease I’ve seen him in our time together, the rain seemingly washing away the last traces of his boyish nervousness.
For all his self-discovery and reflection, Payne seems to have solace from the trials of pop stardom in fitness. He’s energetic and you get the sense his next workout is never far from his mind. Even as we shoot on The Beaumont’s suddenly wet rooftop, he jumps at the chance to squeeze in a few triceps dips on a flimsy railing. It’s an odd look, the former boy-band star dressed in a beautifully tailored Hugo Boss suit, the contrast perhaps symbolic of the crossroads Payne now finds himself at. 
The less than optimal workout gear not withstanding, Payne credits his newfound fondness for fitness for keeping him on the straight and narrow. 
“For me, working out was one of the things that I really wanted to tick of the list ‘cause I always saw myself as that sort of sporty active person and I actually wasn’t,” he says, “I was smoking tons of cigarettes and drinking alcohol. It was the complete opposite but in my head I was still a 14 year-old cross country runner who was fucking on top of the table.”
And although it seems Payne may have simply traded one addiction for another, there’s no denying the positive effects his commitment to movement has had on him. 
“I run every morning at the moment,” he says, showing off pictures from this morning’s run on his phone. “I’ve been getting up and doing a before sunrise sort of thing, whereas before I would have been out of bed at 11 and smoking cigarettes.”
Surprisingly for a man of his age, Payne’s workout motivation remains relatively pure, free of any vanity and at odds with the current gym-bro culture. 
“I think it’s just having a gentler approach to things and not thinking that everything has to be brawn, muscle and testosterone,” he says. “Man, just fucking be a man about it but do it gently.”
At the same time his fitness journey isn’t solely about pursuing emotional growth. Payne is keen to increase his strength, offering inspiration to fellow “lanky lads”.
“My biggest problem training wise has always been trying to bulk up,” he says. “Bulking up is super hard and my metabolism is just so quick and I’m always on the go, so fitting food in has always been quite hard.”
Currently eating over 12,000 kJ a day in pursuit of size, no doubt spurred on by his latest workout partner, Mark Wahlberg. Payne needs to mantain this high-energy intake and systematic recovery plan to sustain his vigorous training schedule. And it doesn’t come easy. “I have ice baths every single day”, he says. “It’s a fucking mission to get yourself in and out.”
Hard as it may be, fitness has become Payne’s sanctuary, the therapy that keeps his mind in the right place. “The moment you have that little bit of time to yourself where you put your body through a bit of stress, it’s like everything just starts to fall into place.”
FIND YOUR BEARINGS
As I accompany Payne to meetings with stylists and photo shoots for German fashion house Hugo Boss, it’s hard not to reflect on the duality of his circumstances. It’s clear Payne is caught somewhere between boy and man. He mantains the youthful energy and humour that endeared him to millions of teenage girls worldwide, yet there’s a vulnerability and self-awareness many pop stars could benefit from. The partnership with the fashion giant makes a lot of sense, with Payne looking to solidify himself as a man of style and the brand hoping to appeal to a new generation. In Payne, they’ve found the perfect bridge between the old and the new. 
The singer certaintly brings edgy appeal and a generous dollop of street creed to the table. 
“I haven’t really managed to settle,” he says (...), as we approach at his mate’s photography studio. “(...) Everything happens five years earlier in my life. I should just blame Brexit. It’s fucking Brexit.”
“I’m single... with a goal,” he continues, as he holds me back from a passing black cab. He has a cheeky look, (...).
(...)
(...) although Payne isn’t in a rush to define himself as a solo artist just yet. Unlike his fellow 1D grads, he’s yet to release a full album, instead biding his time to explore his sound and, indeed, himself. 
“At the moment, I’m kind of song searching a little bit, which is hard because a lot of songs sound the same to me,” Payne says. “I hope to tell more of a story about myself with the music. I think the first few songs I’ve done were fun and we were very lucky with the success we had, but it doesn’t necessarily paint the right picture of me.”
Indeed, Payne is keen to distance himself from the image he initially portrayed following the 1D departure, despise the success he enjoyed. On sales alone, he’s the most successful of the One Direction alumni. But he insists that the “Lamboghinis, big houses, flash shit, gold chains” have given way to “pick up trucks, lakes, sunrises”. 
“It might seem crazy, like a midlife crisis, but I don’t give a shit,” he says. “That’s what I enjoy doing. And then you just kind of have to develop on top of what you like. And I know what I like is getting up and watching the sun come up. And I can do that every single day, free of charge.”
He admits that it’s a complete transformation. He’s not wrong. For a man whose life and career have been shaped by sharp and distint trajectories, this qualifies as a very clear 180.  
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imagitory · 6 years ago
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D-Views: The Little Mermaid
Evening, everybody! Welcome to another installment of D-Views, my written review series where I look back at films either produced or influenced by the Walt Disney Company! If you would like to read some of my other reviews for films like Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, or even non-Disney films like The Prince of Egypt, feel free to consult my “Disney reviews” tag, and I hope to likewise focus on films like Mary Poppins, Star Wars Episodes V and VI, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame in the future!
I gave you three Disney Renaissance films and asked which one you wanted to read my opinion on. Thanks to the votes cast by @marciabrady, @aceyanaheim, and @cora-says, I’m proud to present...The Little Mermaid!
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To properly contextualize what a special film The Little Mermaid is, one first has to understand where the animation department at Disney was before the film was produced. To put it simply, it was on death’s door. Not only had the films been taking longer and longer to make, but they were also making less and less money. The Nine Old Men who had helped build the animation department had all retired, but their influence still lingered at the Burbank studio, casting its long, dark shadow over the new, younger staff that had trained under them. Being a Disneyland Cast Member myself, I can testify that the Disney company in general (and quite a few Disney fans too, actually) has a thing for tradition -- we love our heritage and it’s not unheard of for us to be reluctant to change. One only has to go to Disneyland and ask a Cast Member or even just one of our Annual Passholders about MuppetVision 3D closing, and it’s very likely you’ll get a rather disappointed, mournful response.
But yes, at the company in the 70′s and 80′s, the common mantra had been “What would Walt do?” -- but sadly, when the new kids at the animation department tried to follow that mantra, they just couldn’t seem to produce classic films like the kind Uncle Walt and his Nine Old Men used to make. The Rescuers was originally suggested by Don Bluth and a team of younger animators, but was ultimately scrapped and later picked up and produced by Disney veterans like Wolfgang Reithermann, John Lounsbury, and Ken Andersen. The Fox and the Hound, which was a joint project between the old and the new guard and directed by veterans Art Stevens and Ted Berman and newcomer and future Swan Princess director Richard Rich, was such a disaster in its production that it prompted Don Bluth and his friend Gary Goldman to resign from Disney altogether, and the finished result was only considered “average” by the film-going public. Worst of all, The Black Cauldron -- a movie that the new animators tried very hard to make their own and to take risks with, but which was dramatically censored and cut down by a horrified Jeffrey Katzenberg (oh yes, Mr. Katzenberg, I’ll be getting back to you) -- was such a box office bomb that it lost to The Care Bears movie on its opening weekend. Ouch. By this point, the animation department had been booted from the old, historic animation building that all the old Disney classics had been made in and were banished to a set of trailers. And yet somehow, out of those trailers and out of such disgrace, came Disney’s comeback. The opening acts -- The Great Mouse Detective and Oliver and Company -- were both moderately well-received despite not keeping time with Don Bluth’s rival projects An American Tail and The Land Before Time...but then came the big one -- she’s our mermaid, Ari -- !
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Ahem. Okay, before we actually go into the movie proper, though, we should ask how and why The Little Mermaid turned out as well as it did. Who do we have to thank? Well, admittedly, one person who does deserve some credit is Jeffrey Katzenberg, the fresh-faced Hollywood hotshot who had been brought in as the new head of Disney’s animation department at the time. As much as one could scorn Katzenberg for having had no knowledge of how animated films were even made before taking on the position and for being so obsessed with following what was popular at the cost of upholding tradition or artistry, I’ll be the first to admit that in this particular situation. he was right to dissuade the animators away from simply trying to follow in Uncle Walt’s footsteps. After all, no one can know what Walt would do if he were still here, and more importantly, even Walt dreamed of progress: you can’t move that far forward if you’re constantly looking behind you. Although Katzenberg and CEO Michael Eisner did provide an appropriate kick in the pants at the studio, however, the people I truly thank for The Little Mermaid’s success are directors John Musker and Ron Clements and songwriters Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. Ron Clements first brought a story concept for The Little Mermaid to the floor, and after Katzenberg said yes to it, Musker and Clements set off on the project in earnest. The two had previously worked together on The Great Mouse Detective and were very excited to work on The Little Mermaid -- what really sparked the film to life, however, was Broadway icon Howard Ashman also being brought on board. Not only was he a wonderful lyricist with a lot of connections to great Broadway talent (including Ariel’s eventual voice actress Jodi Benson, who had previously been cast in Ashman’s show Smile), but he was also an excellent story man. Ashman was very enthusiastic about the project, loving the thought of making a musical film that could possibly “fit comfortably” alongside Pinocchio and Snow White and (I suspect) identifying quite a bit with the protagonist who struggles against familial and societal expectations and wants so desperately to be part of this exciting, beautiful world just out of her reach.
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Thanks to the work by these four men, as well as all of the amazing actors and animators, The Little Mermaid was a monster hit. It earned almost $85 billion worldwide, won two Academy Awards for its soundtrack, and was nominated for four Golden Globes. It demolished Katzenberg’s painfully corporate presumption that it wouldn’t do as well as Oliver in Company had because it was a “girl’s movie,” and even now it boasts a 93% Fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Kids loved it -- adults loved it -- and most of all, my parents loved it. My mum and dad hadn’t been big Disney or animation fans previously, but originally decided to go see it because of what they’d heard about the soundtrack. It turned out to be one of the best “date movies” they ever saw. Thanks to the Little Mermaid, my mum and dad purposefully went to go see every new Disney musical in theaters when they were released, and from Aladdin on, they took me with them. So in a strange way, I have The Little Mermaid to thank for my family and me becoming Disney fans!
With all this said, let’s finally go ahead and dive in! (Pun fully intended.)
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The movie begins with Fathoms Below, a sea shanty that appropriately sets the mood for the fantastical tale to come, only to melt away into the ethereal, rippling tones of the opening titles. The Little Mermaid’s overture, which echoes Ariel’s solo Part of Your World, is just...heavenly! There is honestly no better word for it. It so captures the beautiful, mysterious, colorful aura of the ocean, beckoning you in and filling you to the brim with wonder and enchantment...and then the rising tide of notes comes to a head with the reveal of the first merman, rising into frame little by little, then being joined by countless other mermen and women, and finally leading us with the others to the castle of Atlantica. The entire sequence is just breathtaking, and watching it even now just awakens the little girl inside of me who loved playing pirates and mermaids in my bathtub.
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Alas, when we reach Atlantica, we come across a concert ending in disaster with the lack of its star soloist. And where should that star soloist be but exploring sunken ships with her best friend, a guppy fish named Flounder? I must admit, Ariel and I have a very interesting relationship. When I was a kid, I adored Ariel, her movie, and especially her TV series -- I loved her singing voice, I loved her adventures and interest in learning more about the world, and I loved her TV-original friends, like Archimedes, Gabriella, and Urchin. Then as a teenager, I got much more cynical and became a rather standard misanthrope. Although yes, I struggled with some very real problems and very dark feelings, I also rather unfairly looked at the things I’d liked when I was younger and only saw their flaws and thus mercilessly criticized them. Very few of my childhood Disney films and characters got through that phase unscathed (really, I think the only two were Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame), but Ariel and The Little Mermaid probably got tarnished the most. For someone who had to struggle with a father who dropped out of her life from an emotional standpoint and who was so starved for his love and attention, Ariel’s rebellion against her father and running away to land for a guy she’d never spoken to came across very badly to me as a teenager. Because I could never fathom making the choices Ariel did, I saw her choices as flat-out wrong...but with time (and hopefully wisdom), I’ve come to see that I was being ridiculously unfair. Even if yes, I wish Ariel and Eric’s relationship had had more development (heck, that Eric got more development, period!), Triton was not my father, and I was not Ariel. Ariel loved Eric, yes, but she’d loved humans ages before laying eyes on him -- she longed to be part of *that* world long before wanting to be a part of *his* world, and really, if it weren’t for Triton so effectively destroying their relationship when he wrecked her grotto and for Ursula sneakily suggesting that Ariel run away to land and marry Eric so she could be human permanently, well, how do we know Ariel wouldn’t have stayed a mermaid longer and/or spoken to Eric more first? Before the Under the Sea sequence, she even considers going up to the surface again to tell Eric she’d been the one who saved him, only to be interrupted by Sebastian. Heck, how do we know that Ariel wouldn’t have chosen to go up to land even if she hadn’t met Eric? And honestly, Ariel’s romantic interest in Eric is only touched on every-so-often in the movie -- whenever Ariel interacts with humans or their stuff, whether under the sea or on land, her passion for their culture and their inventions ripples all over her face and in every line she speaks. Ariel loves humans overall and Eric specifically -- and what’s hilarious is that for all the criticism people love to throw at Ariel now, at the time of her film’s release, Ariel was considered revolutionary and fresh compared to previous princesses, all supposedly because her story and motivation didn’t “solely revolve around finding her prince charming.” (Not my sentiment, by the way, just trying to make a point that every new generation claims their princess is the first one to be feminist and “ahead of her time.”)
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Anyway, once we’ve met our heroine, we also meet our villain and resident sea witch, Ursula, voiced by the marvelous Pat Carroll. Pat delivers such a scrumptiously wicked performance in this film, one right up there with Eleanor Audley’s as Maleficent, Jonathan Freeman’s as Jafar, and Keith David’s as Dr. Facilier. One thing I also just want to touch on in this paragraph are her eels, Flotsam and Jetsam -- they may be ridiculously creepy in this movie, thanks in no small part to how much they remind me of snakes mydeepestandgreatestfearhelpme, but I also must commend how they’re drawn. Something that I actually found very enchanting upon going to an aquarium recently after a long time is the mesmerizing way that eels trail through the water, looking so weightless and graceful that they resemble ribbons sliding through the depths...and yeah, that’s exactly how Ursula’s hench-eels move!
When Ariel returns home, we set up our central conflict -- Ariel loving and longing to be closer to humans and their world, while her overbearing father, King Triton, fears and hates them. It’s a very bold choice to have the main character arc not originate from our protagonist, but instead from her father learning to respect her decisions and be more open-minded. One critique I do have for Triton’s arc, however, is that we really don’t see as much of it as we could, since he only really is shown once after Ariel goes up to land, where he is desperately searching for her and is clearly upset about what’s happened. It’s a wonderful scene, but I would’ve personally loved to have a song that better showcased Triton’s thought process while Ariel was missing, like the If Only quartet written for the Broadway musical. Maybe the new LA remake could consider putting that quartet in for Ariel, Eric, Sebastian, and Triton? (I nominate James Monroe Inglehart and Idris Elba for the roles of Sebastian and Triton. <3)
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Ahh, and now...now comes the song that every single female Disney fan, regardless of age, knows by heart. When I work in the Animation building, people like to sing along to the songs played on the giant movie screens, and without fail, the song that everyone sings along to is not I See the Light, A Whole New World, or even Let It Go, but Part of Your World. And honestly, I can totally see why. It is just a perfect “I Want” song -- its words are evocative and almost like a stream of consciousness, and yet full of such passion and yearning as well. It speaks to a love and desire for knowledge and independence -- and geez, isn’t that something so many young people understand? It can speak to you at so many stages of your life, whether you’re a child yearning to make friends, a teenager seeking your place in life, a young adult about to head off to college, an adult trying to save up for your first house -- really, any time at all, if you seek something just beyond your reach! I think this is why even now I hear so many little girls saying Ariel is their favorite Disney princess -- yes, she’s a mermaid and that’s cool, but she is also full to the brim with curiosity and a love of life and new things. She’s so youthful of spirit, and her wonderful attitude can inspire similar youthful feelings in the hearts of those who follow her story.
While talking about Part of Your World, as well, I think it’s also a great time to discuss this film’s amazing soundtrack in general. Disney musical soundtracks in the past had always been much more Tin Pan Alley or vaudeville-inspired, in the way that the songs would be more subdued and often separate from the dialogue preceding it, rather than being climatic and devolving smoothly out of dialogue as one often hears in modern Broadway productions. Look at the difference between songs like Jolly Holiday or A Dream is A Wish Your Heart Makes versus ones like Part of Your World or Under the Sea. But that transition in how Disney films use music beautifully reflected the changing landscape of musical theater and music in general, while also tying the music more tightly to the story and characters. Something like Once Upon a Dream could theoretically be placed in a completely different story than Sleeping Beauty and still work. But Part of Your World, as written, could only ever be sung by Princess Ariel of Atlantica. Poor Unfortunate Souls could only ever be sung by Ursula the sea witch. It’s something Disney movies even now have still embraced, and we can completely thank that shift to Howard Ashman and Alan Menken.
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As I touched on earlier, I personally find Eric far less interesting than Ariel. The film does establish Eric as not being very interested in royal protocol or expectations and being far more interested in legends of the sea and sailing. He also comes across as kind of laid-back (largely thanks to his dress and posture) and loves his dog, Max, and music (as seen by him playing the flute and being so enamored of Ariel’s voice)...but yeah, I don’t know, he still comes across as a little bit bland to me. He is certainly nice, but I guess I would’ve preferred to see a little more passion and action from Eric that didn’t directly involve Ariel (like his yearning to find the girl who rescued him or the final battle), the way Ariel’s love of humans and the human world helps define her. Maybe if we got to spend more time with Eric before Ariel appeared and/or showed Ariel and Eric bonding over a shared interest in music, it might help Eric stand on his own as well as Ariel does.
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There’s a reason why Under the Sea won an Academy Award, and it’s because it’s effin’ amazing. Howard Ashman’s expert wordplay is on full display here, with every line being rapid-fire, witty, and unbelievably creative. It’s a song you need to listen to multiple times if you have any hope of catching every awesome lyric and every clever rhyme. Couple that seamlessly with one of Alan Menken’s best orchestrations, and you have a song that when performed well just makes you want to wiggle and bounce with joy. Every time I ride the Little Mermaid ride at Disney California Adventure and I reach this sequence, I can’t resist singing and swaying along to the rhythm.
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Although I question how the heck Flounder got Eric’s statue into Ariel’s cave in the first place, I admit, I still get a laugh out of Ariel’s play-acting around it. That amusement is quickly quashed, however, by the arrival of King Triton. His and Ariel’s confrontation is very hard to watch, full of raw frustration, desperation, anger, and horror. It’s this scene that some like to use to depict Triton as an abusive father, and although destroying a child’s possessions is an indisputably cruel and horrible thing to do and even Triton’s anger issues were clearly harmful to Ariel, I’m more the kind to place him in the “bad parent” category as opposed to “abusive,” if only for the fact that 1, we only see Triton act this violently in this very extreme circumstance and 2, Triton not only immediately regrets his action but actively tries to make up for what he’s done. I remember hearing a story from one of the Disney animators about a letter he’d received about a father seeing the film and it prompting him to call his daughter who’d he been estranged from for years, and I can definitely see how one can understand both Ariel and Triton’s perspectives, even if Ariel’s is pretty clearly the more sympathetic. Ariel is young and rash and doesn’t consider her own mortality or how worried her father is for her safety, but Triton is completely unreasonable and fails to listen to Ariel or respect her opinions. I still wouldn’t mind seeing Ariel go through a bit more of an arc the way her father does in the LA Little Mermaid remake, though -- as much as Ariel is right that Triton shouldn’t be prejudiced against humans, Ariel shouldn’t have just barreled into a deal with the sea witch without thinking, and the only acknowledgement she makes of this is a really quick “Daddy, I’m sorry” when she’s captured by Ursula, which isn’t really a full apology or realization. Even if it was more balanced between the two, with both growing from their experiences and getting focus and development (kind of like the LA Aladdin did for Aladdin and Jasmine, actually), it might make their reconciliation at the end mean more. 
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Once Flotsam and Jetsam come across Ariel and lure her to Ursula’s grotto, our sea witch finally gets the chance to shine with her epic number, Poor Unfortunate Souls, which is one of the best Disney villain songs ever written and recorded, second only to Frollo’s Hellfire. It climaxes with Ariel vocalizing as her voice is stolen in a truly haunting piece of animation, and then with a CRASH, Ariel reaches the surface, breathing her first breath of air in her brand-new lungs. And sure enough, when Ariel lays eyes on her feet and legs for the first time, her face is alight with pure, childish elation. It makes it so clear that she’s not just in love with Eric -- she’s also so fulfilled even just being up on land at long last. This scene is also where Sebastian finally turns a page in his relationship with Ariel. Before Ariel got her legs, Sebastian was solely focused on what Triton would think about the situation and what he would want...from this point on, however, he’s solidly in Ariel’s corner and can really be considered her friend.
Even though Ariel can’t speak in Jodi Benson’s wonderful, charming voice anymore, we still never are left in doubt about how she feels thanks to Glen Keane’s amazingly expressive animation. We see and feel her joy -- her longing -- her awkwardness -- her shyness -- her curiosity -- her excitement -- and she also comes across as wonderfully (if not purposefully) funny at points. (I actually find the scene with Ariel, Eric, and Grimsby much funnier than the following comic scene with Sebastian and Chef Louie. Really, a lot of the comic relief that comes from the side characters, like Sebastian, Flounder, and Scuttle I don’t find that funny.) The timing in Ariel’s reactions is just expert and reminds me, yet again, why Glen Keane is one of my favorite Disney animators of all time.
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Ariel and Eric’s date is accompanied by one of my other favorite instrumental tracks from the movie called Tour of the Kingdom, which just flutters and flairs with such romanticism and spontaneity. In my mind it’s the accompaniment of the best kind of date -- one exciting and full of little surprises, and then trailing off with the promise of something greater to come. And that “something greater” turns out to be the song Kiss the Girl. Some people like to try to bring up that if Eric can understand Sebastian, the crab could just tell him what’s going on even if Ariel can’t, but honestly, it’s a plot hole that I think is silly to harp on. It doesn’t really break my suspension of disbelief that much, and if Eric couldn’t understand Sebastian, then we’d miss such a nice song, so you know, who cares? (As a side, Ariel would actually make a very nice Diana or Rachel, good name ideas, Eric.)
Sure enough, though, it can’t be as easy as we think it’s going to be. Flotsam and Jetsam prevent Ariel and Eric’s kiss and Ursula decides to take action, by transforming into a pretty Ariel-look-alike called Vanessa. Something that I really like is that before Vanessa shows up, Eric is about to throw away his obsession with the “girl of his dreams” and pursue a relationship with Ariel. In a funny way, it turns the prince’s decision in the original fairy tale on its head. In the original Andersen tale, the prince chooses the human girl who discovers him on the shore over the mermaid who actually saved his life. He never finds the girl with the haunting voice in the fairy tale and finds happiness without her -- and in this version, Eric probably would’ve made the same choice by choosing Ariel, without realizing that he would find the girl of his dreams by accepting Ariel as she is. Of course Ursula hypnotizes Eric with Ariel’s stolen voice, leaving Eric as the dude in distress in need of rescue from Ariel and her animal friends. I must applaud Jodi Benson for making “Vanessa” so thoroughly unlikable even while speaking in her charming voice -- it makes it so that when her voice returns to Ariel, it feels so perfect and right.
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Unfortunately Ursula’s Vanessa ploy does succeed in running out the clock for Ariel, and Triton redeems himself for how badly he treated his daughter by sacrificing himself to save her. Eric is able to injure Ursula before Ariel has to save his life for a second time, and Ursula, empowered by the King’s magical trident, swells up to the size of a giant sea monster. The final battle in the ocean waves is actually really intense, with the sky a turbulent swirl of black and purple and the once serene blue waves now a demented green and lavender, before it crashes to a head with Eric stabbing Ursula in the heart with the figurehead of a raised sunken ship. The climax goes by a little quickly for my taste, but the emotions still run high. Our happy end comes with the completion of Triton’s arc, where he both accepts Ariel’s love for Eric and gives her the freedom to chase her own happiness. As the chorus sings, now Ariel “can walk,” “run,” and “stay all day in the sun” with her true love, Eric, and she’s also been able to grow closer to a father who she once was afraid to show all of herself to and who had so hated the world and culture she so longed to be a part of. It’s truly the ending our little mermaid deserves. 
Whenever Disney has been in major financial trouble, it is often a princess who comes to its rescue. When Walt Disney risked everything he owned to finish the first full-length animated film ever made, Snow White became the first blockbuster in movie history and kicked off a Golden Age of Disney animation. When the Disney studio was set to close after barely making any money during World War II, Cinderella was a huge hit that signaled the beginning of the Silver Age. Much more recently, The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, and Frozen helped kick off what fans call the Disney Revival. And of course, in this situation, Disney animation was set to close its doors for good, with the staff being banished to a trailer on the Disney lot, only to be saved by a brave, adventurous, beautiful sea princess. The Little Mermaid is a landmark Disney film and even with its minor flaws, it remains one of the shiniest, most precious gems in Disney’s crown. Its animation is stunning, its story is well-paced and written, its heroine is unbelievably relatable, and its music is just as memorable and evocative as it was back in 1989. I don’t really think it needs to be remade anymore than Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin needed to be, but I am cautiously optimistic to see how Halle Bailey brings Ariel to life in her own way. In the meantime, however, I’ll always enjoy revisiting the original and letting it carry me to the edge of the edge of the sea.
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inkyrealities · 5 years ago
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Time to Set Them Free
A parody of NerdOut’s Endgame song Whatever It Takes. Henry, Wally, Sammy, Susie, Norman, Shawn, Allison, Thomas, Grant, Lacie, Buddy, and Dot all got out in time, but Henry, Norman, Grant, Buddy, and Dot returned to help Joey set things right (the rest are doing fine). Warning: This is a bit long. ————— (As the piano introduction begins, we see shots from the first trailers for Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 4, and Chapter 5. Cut to the Sillyvision Survivors [Henry, Wally, Sammy, Susie, Norman, Shawn, Allison, Thomas, Grant, Lacie, Buddy, and Dot] quitting in ones and twos. Cut to Joey watching a car pull away.) Chorus: With axe in hand, we make our stand. Our goal is plain to see. Make real your dreams, just start up the machine. You know we must believe. Time to set them free. (Cut to Henry, Buddy, Dot, Norman, and Grant standing outside the studio, Henry holding Joey’s letter.) Grant: Of the Joey Drew crew, we’re among the twelve last, But only five came back to confront the past. The devil nabbed our colleagues and he turned them into monsters, Then he went and twisted their minds through the words of a false prophet! (We see the remaining staff being turned into various ink monsters. Cut to Aaron [the band conductor] donning a mask made from a Bendy cutout.) I’ve learned that history can’t be erased. All the memories of the lost ones, yeah we got them all on tape. So let’s put an end to the demon’s Gospel of Dismay, We’ll free their souls from this hellish prison of black, white, and gray! (Cut to Norman and Boris wading through a flooded hallway, the ink up to their knees.) Norman: Prayers, can I get an amen? Toons trapped deep in the devil’s den. Gotta get them out, we’ll find a way To let the Toons see the sun, we won’t die today. (Suddenly, the Projectionist appears. Norman and Boris run, the former firing the Tommy Gun at the monster. Eventually, he shoots out the lens, blinding it and letting Henry deliver the killing blow with his axe.) Monsters want our souls, they just won’t let us be. Even my projector is alive and trying to kill me. So flow the ink, we cannot be stopped, wow. Tell me who’s laughing now. We’ve got a shot, it’s time to turn the lights out. (Cut to Buddy, walking down a hallway with Bendy at his side, when they are ambushed by several Searchers.) Buddy: Walking alone through the halls There’s blood on the walls Can’t ignore the demon’s calls So many of our friends What did it do to them? (Tears well up in his eyes as he dispatches the Searchers.) Don’t know if Joey’s earned a second chance But hope to atone drove him to call us five back Give the devil his due You know that dreams do come true! (As the last of the Searchers disappears into ink, he picks up Bendy and continues his trek. There’s a brief shot of the Boris corpse from the Chapter 1, followed by scenes from the second Chapter 5 trailer.) Chorus: With axe in hand, we make our stand. Our goal is plain to see. Make real your dreams, just start up the machine. You know we must believe. Time to set them free. (Cut to a third-person view of the chase scene from the end of Chapter 2.) Henry: Is escape possible? Well, we have to try. Yet even so, I still find myself wondering why Why the demon forced me to run and hide Devil darling’s become something I don’t recognize. (Cut to Henry, Buddy, and Bendy hiding inside a Little Miracle Station. Henry pulls Bendy into a reassuring hug as Buddy peers out, only to jump back as the Ink Demon pounces. Thankfully, the door remains shut.) But we will not let this horror show be televised From the depths, we will arise We won’t bend or break, so don’t bet on our demise We are alive—immortalized! (Cut to Dot standing on a catwalk, looking down at a vat of ink. We see images of Matt [Bendy’s voice actor], Rick [Boris’s voice actor], and Lauren [Joey’s secretary]. This is followed by Lauren laughing wickedly as she emerges from the Ink Machine as Malice.) Dot: Twelve survivors, all that’s left Matt, Rick, and the rest, I can’t forget Won’t leave ‘til we can bring them home Those little Toons we love and know (We see shots from the second Chapter 4 trailer. Cut back to Dot, closing her eyes and diving into the ink vat. A moment later, the true Alice surfaces, looking the way she does in game.) I will not bow before a fake Just one path left to take No, I’m not afraid to pay the price, My soul to give Alice life! (Cut to Joey sitting with the others in the safehouse, looking remorseful. Henry, Bendy, and Boris attempt to comfort him.) Joey: Listen, all I wanted was to give my characters life Everything that happened is my fault, so I gotta make things right Get them outta here, there’s a way, I know I just have to believe Only takes a pencil and a dream But I got to think of how we’re gonna bring the devil down! (Cut to Joey in his office, watching Henry, Buddy, Norman, Grant, and the Toons enter a secret elevator. The moment they’re gone, the Ink Demon breaks down the door. Joey turns to him, a sad smile on his face.) Like the prophet says, for love, sacrifice is needed The beast wants to claim my soul, he must be cheated. I’ll give up any chance I had at freedom to keep the Ink Demon bound. Rewind! (A pentagram drawn in ink on the floor lights up. Everything resets to how it was before the arrival of Henry and company, with one difference—the Toons are no longer present.) Chorus: With axe in hand, we make our stand. Our goal is plain to see. Make real your dreams, just start up the machine. You know we must believe. (Know we must believe.) (Cut to the outside of the studio, where Henry, Norman, Grant, Buddy, and the Toons are watching the sun come up. Wally, Thomas, and Lacie’s vans pull up, with Sammy, Susie, Shawn, and Allison on board. Henry takes one last look at the studio as he and the others get in. As the song ends, we see the vans drive away, leaving Joey Drew Studios behind for good.) Chorus: With axe in hand, we make our stand. Our goal is plain to see. Make real your dreams, just start up the machine. You know we must believe. (You know we must believe.) Time to set them free. ————— Notes: I imagine the characters as resembling the designs of Aileen-Rose, as her art tends to have sort of a Disney-ish feel to it. -Character matchups: +Grant as Captain America: Grant is voiced by Will ‘DAGames’ Ryan, who wrote Build Our Machine, possibly the most famous BATIM fan song in existence. In Whatever It Takes, Captain America is voiced by JT Music, who wrote another popular BATIM fan song called Can’t Be Erased. +Norman as Thor: In Whatever It Takes, Thor is voiced by FabvL, the only other singer to have a BATIM song (don’t know about Divide, who did the chorus, but he wouldn’t count anyway). Likewise, Norman is the only other in-game character who only appears as a recording (I’m not counting the Projectionist as an appearance). +Buddy as Hawkeye: Hawkeye did not appear in Infinity War, and Buddy only appeared in the tie-in novel. +Dot as Black Widow: She is the only female character to return, and like Buddy, she only appeared in the novel (prior to Endgame, neither Hawkeye nor Black Widow had a movie of their own). +Joey as Iron Man: This version of Joey is a good guy, trying to make up for his mistakes, not entirely unlike Tony. +Henry as the Hulk: The Hulk is the only option left. XD -If anyone wants to do a comic or video of this, be sure to credit me! :)
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lightmywaytodawn · 6 years ago
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On the sleepng realm theory....
It points out some interesting things, but on the whole, I'm not finding myself on board with it.
I don't have an issue with people making far-fetched theories, and I think people are allowed freedom in expressing them. But I do feel that it also creates a bit of false hope, especially with how far spread this particular one went.
This isn't directed at anything or anyone, I just want to put my thoughts out there. Includes some ship talk.
First, things I did find interesting. One was Kairi's hoodie. The whole time I actually thought they were panda ears as I didn't look closely enough to notice the drooped shape. Whether it actually has meaning, I don't know, but the ears are indeed Chirithy-shaped.
KH3 did at its very core feels odd. But whether that’s just a case of bad writing, or some ridiculously convoluted bs-plotline going on in the background, is another matter.
I will admit they clearly put a lot of thought and effort into the theory. The dedication to write that much and find screenshots and gifs of all scenes in question must have taken a lot of time. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that over-analyzing every small detail is a good thing.
My biggest issue is on the things that they really reach for, especially regarding Kairi’s scenes. Saying that she didn’t take a bite of the paopu fruit, or that the scenes aren’t romantic-coded is cherry picking. I also have serious contention with her being labeled as “not the real Kairi”, as she already gets shafted by the writing staff enough without that. I flat out don’t like Sora and Kairi in a romantic relationship--but KH3 has made it explicitly clear that they are endgame. The signs have been there since KH1. While I do think the whole thing regarding her heart missing raises a lot of questions, I can’t bring myself to agree that they’ve gone through the same scenario x amount of times. Time loop has been done a million times before, and very, very few series have actually made it worthwhile. As convoluted as KH already is, this is one route I really don’t want it to take. Time traveling as it is is messy enough, and if Nomura really goes for time loop, then I really might quit.
The writers also seem to be writing off the fact that only Dream Eaters can appear in the Sleeping Realm. They also seem to be confusing the Datascape of KHUx with it, or mixing them to create an entirely unheard of Realm altogether. Any response I see in question to that evades really answering the question. Though by far the most reaching part might very well be the logo. I can’t see it as anything but a diagonal gradient.
The whole doc also reads from a shipper bias. Which is not something I think is particularly bad, and you can never hide your biases 100%. But when it comes to the fact that they’re very clearly downplaying Sora and Kairi scenes, while overanalyzing every Riku and Sora scene, it comes off more as a disappointment with what they were given. While I won’t defend Sora and Kairi’s relationship, since she’s off screen 95% of the time and never given a chance to actually gain natural development with him, it’s just silly to go and say that those scenes had no romantic intent. I’ve seen both the JP and Eng version, and based on cultural nuances, I don’t think those scenes were intended as friendship or parting. They were clearly wrapping up the romantic sub-plot that’s happened since KH1. Hand-holding in particular is a much bigger thing in Japan than it is in the West.
I will admit that JP->Eng translation for some scenes on Riku’s part came off with less impact. Japanese however is a very contextual language, and the same word can be translated multiple ways depending purely on context. The one that comes up in the document most is 大切な人. Essentially meaning, someone precious. For it to be translated on Hercules side as the one he loves most makes sense, because we all know Hercules and Meg’s relationship is romantic, and the West in general writes far more openly romantic than Japan does. While I didn’t like how it was translated on Riku’s side, using “important/precious person” over “true love” still would have made more sense. Again with the Elsa and Anna mirrors. The intent was familial love. I do wish they had translated the 俺は信じる、お前はあきらめない part more accurately, as it does show his faith  in Sora better.
And this brings me to the false hope part. Kingdom Hearts is, for all intents and purposes, a Japanese game made by middle-aged Japanese men, and co-owned by Disney. Even if I could argue that Riku maybe has one-sided feelings for Sora, if you expect the game devs to ever confirm something to that extent, then you’re barking up the wrong tree. And this is from the point of view for someone who has shipped them for 13 years of my life. Because yes, they have a really well developed relationship, due to the amount of focus both characters get in each game. But I knew deep down since KH1 that it would never go anywhere. I accepted it long ago. Yet now I’m seeing people gain hope from this doc that maybe it still has a canon chance, and this is what I feel is disingenuous to the fandom. I don’t want to see others get their hopes up for future installments only to end up getting hurt.
I want to be clear that I won’t stop shipping them just because my ship sunk in canon. And I won’t say I’m okay with it either. At first I shrugged it off, but it kind of hit much later on that I wasn’t really ready to see it happen. The writers of the doc seem to be dealing with escapism. Which is fine, you don’t have to accept canon, but that they or others who’ve read the theory seem to aggressively be pushing it, is what puts a bad taste in my mouth.
They also give Nomura a lot of credit for things he’s pulled out of his ass for the past 17 years to keep the series going. And I’m just personally not a fan of the whole “it was all a dream”. I feel that to say that for a game people waited so long for is a low blow to the fans. At least in DDD, the dream instances were obvious from the start, and Riku had the big glowing Dream Eater sigil on his back. It wasn’t using hidden or trick narrative--it was stupidly simple, and in plain sight. Which is what a lot of KH is, under the surface--stupidly simple. Just told in an overly convoluted, pointlessly roundabout way.
I also fail to see how anyone can take Yozora as anything but Nomura’s salt about Noctis and Versus. How his salt affected KH3 though is a topic for another time.
Either way... people are free to believe what they want, and support what they want. But I can’t in good faith tell people to have hope that Riku and Sora would ever become a canon couple. Not with my extensive experience with Japanese media.
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disneyphantomlover · 5 years ago
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Time to Set Them Free
Submitted by @magicalmonsterhero 
A parody of NerdOut’s Endgame song Whatever It Takes.
Henry, Wally, Sammy, Susie, Norman, Shawn, Allison, Thomas, Grant, Lacie, Buddy, and Dot all got out in time, but Henry, Norman, Grant, Buddy, and Dot returned to help Joey set things right (the rest are doing fine).
Warning: This is a bit long. ————— (As the piano introduction begins, we see shots from the first trailers for Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 4, and Chapter 5. Cut to the Sillyvision Survivors [Henry, Wally, Sammy, Susie, Norman, Shawn, Allison, Thomas, Grant, Lacie, Buddy, and Dot] quitting in ones and twos. Cut to Joey watching a car pull away.)
Chorus: With axe in hand, we make our stand. Our goal is plain to see. Make real your dreams, just start up the machine. You know we must believe. Time to set them free.
(Cut to Henry, Buddy, Dot, Norman, and Grant standing outside the studio, Henry holding Joey’s letter.)
Grant: Of the Joey Drew crew, we’re among the twelve last, But only five came back to confront the past. The devil nabbed our colleagues and he turned them into monsters, Then he went and twisted their minds through the words of a false prophet!
(We see the remaining staff being turned into various ink monsters. Cut to Aaron [the band conductor] donning a mask made from a Bendy cutout.)
I’ve learned that history can’t be erased. All the memories of the lost ones, yeah we got them all on tape. So let’s put an end to the demon’s Gospel of Dismay, We’ll free their souls from this hellish prison of black, white, and gray!
(Cut to Norman and Boris wading through a flooded hallway, the ink up to their knees.)
Norman: Prayers, can I get an amen? Toons trapped deep in the devil’s den. Gotta get them out, we’ll find a way To let the Toons see the sun, we won’t die today.
(Suddenly, the Projectionist appears. Norman and Boris run, the former firing the Tommy Gun at the monster. Eventually, he shoots out the lens, blinding it and letting Henry deliver the killing blow with his axe.)
Monsters want our souls, they just won’t let us be. Even my projector is alive and trying to kill me. So flow the ink, we cannot be stopped, wow. Tell me who’s laughing now. We’ve got a shot, it’s time to turn the lights out.
(Cut to Buddy, walking down a hallway with Bendy at his side, when they are ambushed by several Searchers.)
Buddy: Walking alone through the halls There’s blood on the walls Can’t ignore the demon’s calls So many of our friends What did it do to them?
(Tears well up in his eyes as he dispatches the Searchers.)
Don’t know if Joey’s earned a second chance But hope to atone drove him to call us five back Give the devil his due You know that dreams do come true!
(As the last of the Searchers disappears into ink, he picks up Bendy and continues his trek. There’s a brief shot of the Boris corpse from the Chapter 1, followed by scenes from the second Chapter 5 trailer.)
Chorus: With axe in hand, we make our stand. Our goal is plain to see. Make real your dreams, just start up the machine. You know we must believe. Time to set them free.
(Cut to a third-person view of the chase scene from the end of Chapter 2.)
Henry: Is escape possible? Well, we have to try. Yet even so, I still find myself wondering why Why the demon forced me to run and hide Devil darling’s become something I don’t recognize.
(Cut to Henry, Buddy, and Bendy hiding inside a Little Miracle Station. Henry pulls Bendy into a reassuring hug as Buddy peers out, only to jump back as the Ink Demon pounces. Thankfully, the door remains shut.)
But we will not let this horror show be televised From the depths, we will arise We won’t bend or break, so don’t bet on our demise We are alive—immortalized!
(Cut to Dot standing on a catwalk, looking down at a vat of ink. We see images of Matt [Bendy’s voice actor], Rick [Boris’s voice actor], and Lauren [Joey’s secretary]. This is followed by Lauren laughing wickedly as she emerges from the Ink Machine as Malice.)
Dot: Twelve survivors, all that’s left Matt, Rick, and the rest, I can’t forget Won’t leave ‘til we can bring them home Those little Toons we love and know
(We see shots from the second Chapter 4 trailer. Cut back to Dot, closing her eyes and diving into the ink vat. A moment later, the true Alice surfaces, looking the way she does in game.)
I will not bow before a fake Just one path left to take No, I’m not afraid to pay the price, My soul to give Alice life!
(Cut to Joey sitting with the others in the safehouse, looking remorseful. Henry, Bendy, and Boris attempt to comfort him.)
Joey: Listen, all I wanted was to give my characters life Everything that happened is my fault, so I gotta make things right Get them outta here, there’s a way, I know I just have to believe Only takes a pencil and a dream But I got to think of how we’re gonna bring the devil down!
(Cut to Joey in his office, watching Henry, Buddy, Norman, Grant, and the Toons enter a secret elevator. The moment they’re gone, the Ink Demon breaks down the door. Joey turns to him, a sad smile on his face.)
Like the prophet says, for love, sacrifice is needed The beast wants to claim my soul, he must be cheated. I’ll give up any chance I had at freedom to keep the Ink Demon bound. Rewind!
(A pentagram drawn in ink on the floor lights up. Everything resets to how it was before the arrival of Henry and company, with one difference—the Toons are no longer present.)
Chorus: With axe in hand, we make our stand. Our goal is plain to see. Make real your dreams, just start up the machine. You know we must believe. (Know we must believe.)
(Cut to the outside of the studio, where Henry, Norman, Grant, Buddy, and the Toons are watching the sun come up. Wally, Thomas, and Lacie’s vans pull up, with Sammy, Susie, Shawn, and Allison on board. Henry takes one last look at the studio as he and the others get in. As the song ends, we see the vans drive away, leaving Joey Drew Studios behind for good.)
Chorus: With axe in hand, we make our stand. Our goal is plain to see. Make real your dreams, just start up the machine. You know we must believe. (You know we must believe.) Time to set them free. ————— Notes: I imagine the characters as resembling the designs of Aileen-Rose, as her art tends to have sort of a Disney-ish feel to it. -Character matchups: +Grant as Captain America: Grant is voiced by Will ‘DAGames’ Ryan, who wrote Build Our Machine, possibly the most famous BATIM fan song in existence. In Whatever It Takes, Captain America is voiced by JT Music, who wrote another popular BATIM fan song called Can’t Be Erased. +Norman as Thor: In Whatever It Takes, Thor is voiced by FabvL, the only other singer to have a BATIM song (don’t know about Divide, who did the chorus, but he wouldn’t count anyway). Likewise, Norman is the only other in-game character who only appears as a recording (I’m not counting the Projectionist as an appearance). +Buddy as Hawkeye: Hawkeye did not appear in Infinity War, and Buddy only appeared in the tie-in novel. +Dot as Black Widow: She is the only female character to return, and like Buddy, she only appeared in the novel (prior to Endgame, neither Hawkeye nor Black Widow had a movie of their own). +Joey as Iron Man: This version of Joey is a good guy, trying to make up for his mistakes, not entirely unlike Tony. +Henry as the Hulk: The Hulk is the only option left. XD -If anyone wants to do a comic or video of this, be sure to credit me! :)
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justbeingsociable · 7 years ago
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For a marketing class, I recently had to describe two similar brands and why I do or do not enjoy their general business plans and #Marketing. I thought it was a rather detailed discussion, so I want to share!
***
When it comes to brand loyalty, I am just as guilty as the next consumer for having my favorites. For theme parks, I vacation with #Disney, when shopping online I choose either #Amazon or #eBay, when I think comfy clothing my shopping destination is #Hollister, and when fast food is the plan I go to #McDonalds or #InNOut. And when it comes to a big box retailer, I love #Target!
Just mentioning the name Target makes me feel happy! The store experience is usually a positive one, complete with uncluttered Isles, competitive pricing, fashionable clothing, groceries, media, friendly team members, photo service, easy returns, 5% discount with loyalty card, five cent discount for using reusable bags, online shopping, and free shipping with your Target #RedCard. I could go on! Target was the very first credit card that I applied for, and received. It was to purchase a comforter set and some other bedroom accessories. I still remember that after nearly 11 years. At that time after spending a predetermined amount, you received a single day of 10% off shopping. Over the years that changed to a consistent 5% off your entire purchase with the RedCard. Target was also one of the fore running shops to embrace reusable bags by encouraging guests to use them and awarded us five cents off with each bag. Even after the California law, Target continues to honor the $.05 discount. And when online shopping was becoming the trend, and other retailers were seeing a decline of in-store sales, Target moved forward with free shipping for all RedCard purchases, and have not lifted their incredible offer! I buy everything with them. Even if it’s just toothpaste, that free shipping saves me a trip to the store when, in our hectic life, time is precious. Every time I enter the store, I have a positive experience; often ending with me submitting a guest complement for several of their team members. I have stories galore- returns, Christmas trees, black Friday shopping, they are all wonderful memories! And I will always choose Target over any other big box retailer.
Target has been redesigned over the years, the marketing campaigns have promoted Target as a trendy shopping destination for the fashion conscious consumer. Their advertisements and on trend social media campaigns make them look cool, in style, and portray a brand that says quality. On their social media sites, Target also uses their target symbol and Spot the dog. “See Spot save!” Target pricing is competitive but while it might be a very small fraction more than its competitor, the quality level is leaps and bounds different. Targets will often be found in trendier locations. Whether they are anchor stores in malls or compact locations in high density metropolises, Target has found its way into the heart of everywhere! Super Targets began to pop up at the beginning part of the century. The #SuperTarget was the all in one shopping destination for a usually rural residential area. It was later in the beginning part of the previous 10 years that grocery sections were introduced to Targets. Originally the new grocery isles only offered a small variety of grocery items, but since then have become abundant shelves full of everything on your shopping list!
The Target team members are always helpful, knowledgeable and look professional. (Usually.) While Target also embraces individuality; they do allow their team members to have tattoos, piercings and colored hair. Whether it is because the location is already so trendy, but even the most bizarrely attired team member looks chic. And whenever I submit a compliment, question, or general communication with the Target online staff, I always receive a prompt, helpful and efficient answer. Especially when dealing with returns.
Now let’s talk about the opposite…#Walmart. Just saying the name brings such a distasteful feeling to my entire body. From memories of dirty isles and over stocked shelves, unhelpful and unknowledgeable employees, people of Walmart, cheap products, and solicitors. Ever since a child I’ve always thought Walmart is the second tier shopping experience. How often have you gone into Walmart and asked the employee a question and they look at you with confused and dumbfounded eyes. Admittedly I do go to Walmart sometimes because they have such an extensive selection of products that Target does not carry such as automotive and sewing supplies. Target doesn’t carry fabric, floral, paint and other crafts. Perhaps they should.
Walmart, which came from the Midwest, has been generally promoted as your friendly neighborhood shopping experience. But it is through first hand experiences that the general perception of Walmart is a negative one. A book was published titled “people of Walmart”. The book recounted stories and included photos of the outlandish customer that frequents the store. Target soccer moms come to shop in yoga pants, Walmart customers come dressed in sweatpants that hug their thighs two sizes too small, complete with their colored hair, beach sandals… and just all around poor choice in their appearance. Because I don’t have a loyalty to the brand, the only thing that I immediately recall regarding Walmart’s marketing is there low prices. That is a part of every single marketing campaign that they have: how low their prices are. Because of the fact that they advertise low prices, it attracts that particular clientele, and it makes me feel like their products are of lesser quality. While Target can be found in metropolises, Walmart is usually on the outskirts. In the middle parts of America, where Target is not as prevalent, Walmart is your local go to shopping destination.
The products might be the exactly the same, but they seem cheaper because of the environment, the pricing is competitive but to pay a few more dollars at Target and avoid the whole Walmart experience is worth it. Walmart is often out of the way and more inconvenient than Target, and as far as I am aware Walmart does not have a loyalty card which gives #discounts, #environmentality discounts, free shipping, fashionable choices, easy returns… although I have returned enough to Walmart to say that as long as you have a receipt it’s fine, and the general efficiency of its workforce – and the lack there of.
Even the difference that Target uses the nomenclature guest and team members while Walmart says employees and customers. Target invites you into their shops, Walmart tries to attract you by saying that their prices are low- so is everything else.
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mint-mumbles · 3 years ago
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We were so close! 😫
Explanations as to why these are considered are listed down below:
Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Luz, Hunter, Willow, and Gus going to the Human Realm and seeing Camilla. The screen cuts to the credits before Camilla’s reaction is shown.
Collector Betrays Belos: Debatable (see below), but I’ll still count it due to Collector turning that man into a puddle of sludge.
Belos Betrays Collector: Belos said he was going to help Collector escape their Limbo Realm, but instead uses their powers and knowledge for his own purpose of becoming the “General Witchhunter” of the Human Realm. (Gets his just desserts.)
Hunter and Belos Confrontation: Belos seems (emphasis on seems) shocked that Hunter would fight against him, as he tries to reason with Hunter about how he is doing this because he cares about Hunter. But as soon as he sees Flapjack, Belos screams “CALEB!” and attacks his own “nephew” as he morphs into a beast made of all the Palismen he consumed.
Huntlow Team Up: During the scene where the kids fight Palismen!Belos, Hunter falls and is unable to reach Flapjack, but is saved by Willow who catches him on her own Palisman staff. They also fight Belos alongside each other.
Caleb Backstory: Gus floods Belos’ mind with memories of Caleb (that we saw back in Hollow Mind’s background, although this time they’re more noticable) and when looking at Flapjack, Belos breaks his kind hearted facade and sreams “CALEB!” as he transforms into his Palismen form. (Since he never actually got Flapjack, I won’t consider the very top left one for this bingo.) Those theories about Caleb being Flapjack’s old friend’s name (or even Flapjack’s old name) definitely hold some truth...
Collector Freed: In order to try to stop the Day of Unity from killing everyone, King makes a deal with Collector: King will free Collector so they can play a game called “Owl House”, which requires an island’s worth of players. Once Collector is freed, he kills Belos, shifts over the moon like its nothing (something which would be very useful in another Disney show), and then proceeds to dismantle the castle they are in brick by brick in order to “make an Owl House!”
Real Disturbing Content: Oh, where to begin... Well, the Day of Unity is basically mass genocide (although if you said that to Belos he’d just look at you funny because 1) genocide wasn’t a term when he was around in the Human Realm and 2) ... he’s Belos). The Coven Heads who weren’t in-the-know felt betrayed by Belos because they were promised a land of glory where they reign as elites (even though Belos is the only one who profits), so the Emperor’s Coven is a cult. Belos almost petrifies Luz Pokémon style (looking at you, Yveltal) but only stops when Luz says how she can help Belos navigate the now changed Human Realm before branding him with his own Sigil Glove (which she knows killed witches back before it was perfected (see Hollow Mind)) so that he can feel the draining spell’s effects. Belos turns into a Palismen monster who refuses to stop the spell. Raine rips off Eda’s arm that has the bard sigil on it so that she doesn’t die and then proceeds to collapse with the viewer not knowing if they’re okay. In order to get to Collector’s prison, Kikimora (who was there when Belos would talk to Collector and now wants revenge on Belos after he discarded her efforts) leds King down into a pit “where the failures go” as the two of them look upon a bone bed of Golden Guards. Once freed, Collector taps Belos while playing a “game of tag” (with them being “it”) and makes Belos go flying into a wall where he turns into green gush WITH HUNTER LOOKING AT ALL OF THIS PLAYING OUT. And the episode ends with us not knowing the fate of the Boiling Isles once Collector stops the draining spell and builds the “Owl House” with King staying behind with his “new friend.” (Also, in order to get to the Human Realm’s portal, Hunter needs to run through Belos’ sludge, which drips down on him, so maybe that’ll be important...)
Self Sacrifice: Eda was willing to go along with sabotaging the Day of Unity disguised as Raine, but was found out by Terra and Adriane. Eventually, Raine is brought in for the spell to be complete and uses the last of their energy to say, “I made a promise to a very special kid to keep you safe,” and rip off Eda’s sigiled arm to keep her from dying. (It’s unclear if Raine died, but I personally believe that they’ll be alright.) King also makes a pinky promise to play with the Collector in order to stop the Day of Unity’s draining spell and stays behind (while Collector rebuilds Belos’ castle) to fulfill that promise and launches the kids into the portal with his hypervoice attack (yes, I’m naming it after a Pokémon move).
Anime-tion (Fight Scene/Lumity): We get both in one scene! While fighting a Palismen-morphed Belos, Amity protects Luz from falling debris while fighting alongside her. We also get a brief battle between the Coven Heads. later on, Amity pleads Luz to come to the Human Realm with her, Willow, Gus, and Hunter while Collector rebuilds the castle.
King and Collector Team Up/Lore: We found out that the marking on King’s collar tag allows him to be invisible to Collector, who can still sense King’s presence. Apparently, King’s father locked Collector up in this Limbo Realm (for unknown reasons) and Collector has been staying there for a very, very, verrryyyy long time. King was able to release Collector from his prison, however it is unknown if this is a power exclusive Titans (although so far it seems to be that way). Due to his new found freedom, Collector kills Belos and helps save all of King’s friends due to King’s pinky promise to be Collector’s friend. In order to keep that promise, King stays behind with Collector (who pleads him not to leave) by the end of the episode.
So, yeah! There was a lot going on in this episode. Hopefully this helps anyone who was confused about it out! I hope anyone who came across this post has a wonderful day! ^-^
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rushed king’s tide bingo for when i watch the episode may titan have mercy on our souls
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k-looking-glass-house · 1 year ago
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Great Seven avenue background (edit 2)
When I said it's all about effect...Setting mood is all time a good training in colo. Definitely a good training.... A loooot inspired by Disney universe and Disneyland park.
Random, can you spot K. Oswald Junior?
Bg asset extracted by @alchemivich
Edited by myself (for the puppy dalmatian I used a ref since the Disney version is very unique in their style)
Do you have any other idea of setting?
719 notes · View notes
riichardwilson · 4 years ago
Text
How Owners and Entrepreneurs Can Deal With Financial Stress
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Despite fewer customers coming through their doors, businesses still have overhead that needs to be covered.
August 14, 2020 7 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Millions of Americans have been left unemployed over the past half-year and are subsequently struggling to cover their bills and keep a roof over their heads. And for business owners, the situation is even more precarious. Unfortunately, despite fewer (if any) customers coming through the doors, businesses still have overhead that needs to be covered. Even those able to move some operations online likely still have had to contend with rent, utility and insurance costs and other financial obligations.
Additionally, some businesses may be obliged to cover the costs of supplier contracts even though they may not be able to use the items. For example, according to Reuters, the international clothing store Primark has committed to pay its suppliers $461 million for orders, despite all of its stores closing their doors in March.
Even though there have been provisions for businesses to defer payments, once they start trading again, these payments will need to be made. All of this adds up to a massive amount of financial stress for any business.
Related: 6 Stress-Relieving Financial Tips for Entrepreneurs
The Signs of Financial Stress
There are a number of signs of financial stress, and many of these have been exacerbated by economic shutdowns. These include:
Poor Cashflow. Since many businesses have been forced to close, this essentially shuts off the flow of cash through their doors. All businesses experience periodic dips when cash is tight, but when there is no money being generated on-site, your business is bound to feel financial stress. 
High-Interest Debt. Many lending institutions are wary of the viability of businesses, particularly new enterprises. This means that your business may have high-interest debt. Although the CARES Act allows for deferring payments and holds on interest charges, you will need to make up these payments once the crisis has ended.
High Outstanding Receivables. There are lots of enterprises under a financial strain, so it’s possible that your outstanding receivable amounts have gone increasingly higher. While you may be accustomed to receiving payments from your customers within 30 days, you may now be expected to wait far longer. The chances are that your customers have also shut their doors, so they are not in a position to pay their outstanding debts.
Managing Other People Amid Financial Stress
In addition to dealing with the financial pressures, you will also need to ensure that you are managing your team. Whether you have had to furlough staff or have made arrangements for them to work from home, you will need to maintain a working relationship, so you can call them back once things start to return to normal.
There are a number of strategies to manage other people during this period of financial stress. These include:
Increasing Team Meetings. It is important to stay connected, so it’s a good idea to maintain the same number of meetings or increase the frequency of communication. Contact does not need to be overly formal, but a quick one-on-one communication will reassure your team members that you’re still here.
Try to Organize Face Time. Since face-to-face meetings are a challenge during the current crisis, it’s a good idea to try to organize face time through video conferencing. Even if your team members cannot be on video, try to be yourself so they can feel more easily connected.
Understand the Challenges for Work at Home Employees. While you may want everything to continue as normal, you need to appreciate that your team members have challenges working from home. Your team members may be trying to work without a dedicated workspace or be juggling their childcare responsibilities. Try to make accommodations that will help them to work around these challenges. For example, you may allow them to stagger shorter shifts.
Support a Positive Business Culture. Business culture is not defined by four walls, so encourage social conversation and interactions and make sure that your people feel like they still matter.
Pay Attention to Productivity Changes. Finally, don’t ignore any unexplainable changes in productivity. These changes may be a signal of a problem that could be solved with your team. It may also highlight that your employee needs additional support.
How to Identify The Necessary Adjustments
There is no doubt this is a challenging time. In fact, according to the Business West Chamber of Commerce in the UK, just 16 percent of the businesses questioned believe they can cope should these circumstances last for more than six months. That’s why it’s crucial that you can identify the necessary adjustments you should perform. This should include:
Tracking Your Expenses. Conduct a proper evaluation of your fixed and variable expenses. You can then compare this against your revenue status. This will provide a clear picture of where you stand financially and aid you in planning ahead.
Check the Feasibility of Your Business Model. Considering the changing market, you should reassess where your business stands and whether your business model is still feasible. You will need to evaluate the impact of your revenues and costs and whether there are new sales, credit cycles and bad debts.
Evaluate Your Future Policies. Since it will be difficult to estimate how long the current conditions will last, you need to evaluate and adjust your policies for the next month-, three-months and year-long periods.
Most SMEs appreciate that the market is never stagnant, so they are often prepared to make adjustments to plans. However, the current situation has highlighted the importance of identifying where you can make changes now.
Strategies to Deal With Financial Stress
Fortunately, there are some strategies to help you to deal with financial stress:
Get Your Budget Straight. While you may have had a very efficient budget in the past, it may not be applicable now. Look at your expenses and where you can make changes. Remember that if you can transition some or all of your team to working from home, you will have different expenses, such as video-conferencing software and other communication tools. Take an honest assessment of your budget and make the necessary adjustments.
Secure Access to Cash. Liquidity can make the difference between a small business weathering this current crisis and folding. According to the Small Business Administration, only half of small businesses will still be trading after five years. There are significant overheads that can leave very little liquid cash, particularly in the early years. So to ensure that your business or enterprise can continue to operate, you need continued access to cash. This may be accomplished by streamlining your costs or securing finance.
Explore Aid Options. The Senate passed a $2 trillion rescue package to help businesses and workers, and Congress is negotiating additional stimulus as we speak. Explore what aid options are still available to you. Not all businesses are eligible for help, and you will need to agree to the government terms. However, these aid options could provide the relief you need to tide you over. Even something as basic as deferring loan payments under the CARES Act could free up crucial capital that can keep your business afloat.
Related: Is It Time for a Financial Stress Test?
Bottom Line
It seems like no business is immune to present economic conditions, as even global companies have lost a significant percentage of their turnover. According to Visual Capitalist data, the Disney Corporation has lost 31 percent in its value, while Delta Airlines has dropped from a value of $37.5 billion to $17.8 billion.
So it is crucial for SMEs to take action to deal with this financial stress and weather the current economic storm. There is no point in sticking your head in the sand. Now is the time to take an honest look at your business to work out where you can make changes to streamline your operation.
loading…
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Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co
Delray Beach SEO
source http://www.scpie.org/how-owners-and-entrepreneurs-can-deal-with-financial-stress/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/626502606243741696
0 notes
scpie · 4 years ago
Text
How Owners and Entrepreneurs Can Deal With Financial Stress
Tumblr media
Despite fewer customers coming through their doors, businesses still have overhead that needs to be covered.
August 14, 2020 7 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Millions of Americans have been left unemployed over the past half-year and are subsequently struggling to cover their bills and keep a roof over their heads. And for business owners, the situation is even more precarious. Unfortunately, despite fewer (if any) customers coming through the doors, businesses still have overhead that needs to be covered. Even those able to move some operations online likely still have had to contend with rent, utility and insurance costs and other financial obligations.
Additionally, some businesses may be obliged to cover the costs of supplier contracts even though they may not be able to use the items. For example, according to Reuters, the international clothing store Primark has committed to pay its suppliers $461 million for orders, despite all of its stores closing their doors in March.
Even though there have been provisions for businesses to defer payments, once they start trading again, these payments will need to be made. All of this adds up to a massive amount of financial stress for any business.
Related: 6 Stress-Relieving Financial Tips for Entrepreneurs
The Signs of Financial Stress
There are a number of signs of financial stress, and many of these have been exacerbated by economic shutdowns. These include:
Poor Cashflow. Since many businesses have been forced to close, this essentially shuts off the flow of cash through their doors. All businesses experience periodic dips when cash is tight, but when there is no money being generated on-site, your business is bound to feel financial stress. 
High-Interest Debt. Many lending institutions are wary of the viability of businesses, particularly new enterprises. This means that your business may have high-interest debt. Although the CARES Act allows for deferring payments and holds on interest charges, you will need to make up these payments once the crisis has ended.
High Outstanding Receivables. There are lots of enterprises under a financial strain, so it’s possible that your outstanding receivable amounts have gone increasingly higher. While you may be accustomed to receiving payments from your customers within 30 days, you may now be expected to wait far longer. The chances are that your customers have also shut their doors, so they are not in a position to pay their outstanding debts.
Managing Other People Amid Financial Stress
In addition to dealing with the financial pressures, you will also need to ensure that you are managing your team. Whether you have had to furlough staff or have made arrangements for them to work from home, you will need to maintain a working relationship, so you can call them back once things start to return to normal.
There are a number of strategies to manage other people during this period of financial stress. These include:
Increasing Team Meetings. It is important to stay connected, so it’s a good idea to maintain the same number of meetings or increase the frequency of communication. Contact does not need to be overly formal, but a quick one-on-one communication will reassure your team members that you’re still here.
Try to Organize Face Time. Since face-to-face meetings are a challenge during the current crisis, it’s a good idea to try to organize face time through video conferencing. Even if your team members cannot be on video, try to be yourself so they can feel more easily connected.
Understand the Challenges for Work at Home Employees. While you may want everything to continue as normal, you need to appreciate that your team members have challenges working from home. Your team members may be trying to work without a dedicated workspace or be juggling their childcare responsibilities. Try to make accommodations that will help them to work around these challenges. For example, you may allow them to stagger shorter shifts.
Support a Positive Business Culture. Business culture is not defined by four walls, so encourage social conversation and interactions and make sure that your people feel like they still matter.
Pay Attention to Productivity Changes. Finally, don’t ignore any unexplainable changes in productivity. These changes may be a signal of a problem that could be solved with your team. It may also highlight that your employee needs additional support.
How to Identify The Necessary Adjustments
There is no doubt this is a challenging time. In fact, according to the Business West Chamber of Commerce in the UK, just 16 percent of the businesses questioned believe they can cope should these circumstances last for more than six months. That’s why it’s crucial that you can identify the necessary adjustments you should perform. This should include:
Tracking Your Expenses. Conduct a proper evaluation of your fixed and variable expenses. You can then compare this against your revenue status. This will provide a clear picture of where you stand financially and aid you in planning ahead.
Check the Feasibility of Your Business Model. Considering the changing market, you should reassess where your business stands and whether your business model is still feasible. You will need to evaluate the impact of your revenues and costs and whether there are new sales, credit cycles and bad debts.
Evaluate Your Future Policies. Since it will be difficult to estimate how long the current conditions will last, you need to evaluate and adjust your policies for the next month-, three-months and year-long periods.
Most SMEs appreciate that the market is never stagnant, so they are often prepared to make adjustments to plans. However, the current situation has highlighted the importance of identifying where you can make changes now.
Strategies to Deal With Financial Stress
Fortunately, there are some strategies to help you to deal with financial stress:
Get Your Budget Straight. While you may have had a very efficient budget in the past, it may not be applicable now. Look at your expenses and where you can make changes. Remember that if you can transition some or all of your team to working from home, you will have different expenses, such as video-conferencing software and other communication tools. Take an honest assessment of your budget and make the necessary adjustments.
Secure Access to Cash. Liquidity can make the difference between a small business weathering this current crisis and folding. According to the Small Business Administration, only half of small businesses will still be trading after five years. There are significant overheads that can leave very little liquid cash, particularly in the early years. So to ensure that your business or enterprise can continue to operate, you need continued access to cash. This may be accomplished by streamlining your costs or securing finance.
Explore Aid Options. The Senate passed a $2 trillion rescue package to help businesses and workers, and Congress is negotiating additional stimulus as we speak. Explore what aid options are still available to you. Not all businesses are eligible for help, and you will need to agree to the government terms. However, these aid options could provide the relief you need to tide you over. Even something as basic as deferring loan payments under the CARES Act could free up crucial capital that can keep your business afloat.
Related: Is It Time for a Financial Stress Test?
Bottom Line
It seems like no business is immune to present economic conditions, as even global companies have lost a significant percentage of their turnover. According to Visual Capitalist data, the Disney Corporation has lost 31 percent in its value, while Delta Airlines has dropped from a value of $37.5 billion to $17.8 billion.
So it is crucial for SMEs to take action to deal with this financial stress and weather the current economic storm. There is no point in sticking your head in the sand. Now is the time to take an honest look at your business to work out where you can make changes to streamline your operation.
loading…
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Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co
Delray Beach SEO
source http://www.scpie.org/how-owners-and-entrepreneurs-can-deal-with-financial-stress/
0 notes
laurelkrugerr · 4 years ago
Text
How Owners and Entrepreneurs Can Deal With Financial Stress
Tumblr media
Despite fewer customers coming through their doors, businesses still have overhead that needs to be covered.
August 14, 2020 7 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Millions of Americans have been left unemployed over the past half-year and are subsequently struggling to cover their bills and keep a roof over their heads. And for business owners, the situation is even more precarious. Unfortunately, despite fewer (if any) customers coming through the doors, businesses still have overhead that needs to be covered. Even those able to move some operations online likely still have had to contend with rent, utility and insurance costs and other financial obligations.
Additionally, some businesses may be obliged to cover the costs of supplier contracts even though they may not be able to use the items. For example, according to Reuters, the international clothing store Primark has committed to pay its suppliers $461 million for orders, despite all of its stores closing their doors in March.
Even though there have been provisions for businesses to defer payments, once they start trading again, these payments will need to be made. All of this adds up to a massive amount of financial stress for any business.
Related: 6 Stress-Relieving Financial Tips for Entrepreneurs
The Signs of Financial Stress
There are a number of signs of financial stress, and many of these have been exacerbated by economic shutdowns. These include:
Poor Cashflow. Since many businesses have been forced to close, this essentially shuts off the flow of cash through their doors. All businesses experience periodic dips when cash is tight, but when there is no money being generated on-site, your business is bound to feel financial stress. 
High-Interest Debt. Many lending institutions are wary of the viability of businesses, particularly new enterprises. This means that your business may have high-interest debt. Although the CARES Act allows for deferring payments and holds on interest charges, you will need to make up these payments once the crisis has ended.
High Outstanding Receivables. There are lots of enterprises under a financial strain, so it’s possible that your outstanding receivable amounts have gone increasingly higher. While you may be accustomed to receiving payments from your customers within 30 days, you may now be expected to wait far longer. The chances are that your customers have also shut their doors, so they are not in a position to pay their outstanding debts.
Managing Other People Amid Financial Stress
In addition to dealing with the financial pressures, you will also need to ensure that you are managing your team. Whether you have had to furlough staff or have made arrangements for them to work from home, you will need to maintain a working relationship, so you can call them back once things start to return to normal.
There are a number of strategies to manage other people during this period of financial stress. These include:
Increasing Team Meetings. It is important to stay connected, so it’s a good idea to maintain the same number of meetings or increase the frequency of communication. Contact does not need to be overly formal, but a quick one-on-one communication will reassure your team members that you’re still here.
Try to Organize Face Time. Since face-to-face meetings are a challenge during the current crisis, it’s a good idea to try to organize face time through video conferencing. Even if your team members cannot be on video, try to be yourself so they can feel more easily connected.
Understand the Challenges for Work at Home Employees. While you may want everything to continue as normal, you need to appreciate that your team members have challenges working from home. Your team members may be trying to work without a dedicated workspace or be juggling their childcare responsibilities. Try to make accommodations that will help them to work around these challenges. For example, you may allow them to stagger shorter shifts.
Support a Positive Business Culture. Business culture is not defined by four walls, so encourage social conversation and interactions and make sure that your people feel like they still matter.
Pay Attention to Productivity Changes. Finally, don’t ignore any unexplainable changes in productivity. These changes may be a signal of a problem that could be solved with your team. It may also highlight that your employee needs additional support.
How to Identify The Necessary Adjustments
There is no doubt this is a challenging time. In fact, according to the Business West Chamber of Commerce in the UK, just 16 percent of the businesses questioned believe they can cope should these circumstances last for more than six months. That’s why it’s crucial that you can identify the necessary adjustments you should perform. This should include:
Tracking Your Expenses. Conduct a proper evaluation of your fixed and variable expenses. You can then compare this against your revenue status. This will provide a clear picture of where you stand financially and aid you in planning ahead.
Check the Feasibility of Your Business Model. Considering the changing market, you should reassess where your business stands and whether your business model is still feasible. You will need to evaluate the impact of your revenues and costs and whether there are new sales, credit cycles and bad debts.
Evaluate Your Future Policies. Since it will be difficult to estimate how long the current conditions will last, you need to evaluate and adjust your policies for the next month-, three-months and year-long periods.
Most SMEs appreciate that the market is never stagnant, so they are often prepared to make adjustments to plans. However, the current situation has highlighted the importance of identifying where you can make changes now.
Strategies to Deal With Financial Stress
Fortunately, there are some strategies to help you to deal with financial stress:
Get Your Budget Straight. While you may have had a very efficient budget in the past, it may not be applicable now. Look at your expenses and where you can make changes. Remember that if you can transition some or all of your team to working from home, you will have different expenses, such as video-conferencing software and other communication tools. Take an honest assessment of your budget and make the necessary adjustments.
Secure Access to Cash. Liquidity can make the difference between a small business weathering this current crisis and folding. According to the Small Business Administration, only half of small businesses will still be trading after five years. There are significant overheads that can leave very little liquid cash, particularly in the early years. So to ensure that your business or enterprise can continue to operate, you need continued access to cash. This may be accomplished by streamlining your costs or securing finance.
Explore Aid Options. The Senate passed a $2 trillion rescue package to help businesses and workers, and Congress is negotiating additional stimulus as we speak. Explore what aid options are still available to you. Not all businesses are eligible for help, and you will need to agree to the government terms. However, these aid options could provide the relief you need to tide you over. Even something as basic as deferring loan payments under the CARES Act could free up crucial capital that can keep your business afloat.
Related: Is It Time for a Financial Stress Test?
Bottom Line
It seems like no business is immune to present economic conditions, as even global companies have lost a significant percentage of their turnover. According to Visual Capitalist data, the Disney Corporation has lost 31 percent in its value, while Delta Airlines has dropped from a value of $37.5 billion to $17.8 billion.
So it is crucial for SMEs to take action to deal with this financial stress and weather the current economic storm. There is no point in sticking your head in the sand. Now is the time to take an honest look at your business to work out where you can make changes to streamline your operation.
loading…
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Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co
Delray Beach SEO
source http://www.scpie.org/how-owners-and-entrepreneurs-can-deal-with-financial-stress/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/08/how-owners-and-entrepreneurs-can-deal.html
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myvmk · 7 years ago
Text
Star Wars
Updated February 1st, 2018
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A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
Episode II
Star Wars Month
The MyVMK Staff had been planning on bringing the guests of MyVMK Star Wars month. This was a theme that they had been wanting to do since the beginning of December of the year 2017.
All of the MyVMK Designers had sat down in a meeting to decide the fate of this months theme. February's theme was decided on after a Counsel vote among the Staff members.
After two months of careful planning, the MyVMK Staff were proud to bring the new months theme to the guests of MyVMK, with hope that it would be one of the best months in the galaxy.
Please note that all releases will happen on the 1st, 8th, the 15th and the 22nd of every month at 12am EST. This will be the schedule until further notice.
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The new client alpha is now out for everyone to enjoy! To enter, just hit the big blue button that says ENTER (ALPHA) after you login to the website. We hope you enjoy the hard work that has been put into this, and any feedback is welcome! You can post feedback about the new client on our official forums!
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This week's release in the Inner-Space Shop, some treasures brought to you straight from merchants across the galaxy! Available starting now through January 7th! There will be a ride track located in the Space Mountain Quest Deck public room leading to the Inner-Space Shop due to some issues with the Tomorrowland Quests.
Tatooine Day Room
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Tatooine Night Room
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Also out this in the Inner-Space Shop are two new rooms both inspired by the desert planet of Tatooine. If you thought Luke's home was hot in the movies, you are going to love stepping into it. Available starting now through January 7th!
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  As a special event for February to celebrate Star Wars Month, multiple MyVMK Jedi Masters have put together a very unique special event for you to all enjoy. Introducing The Jedi Training Academy. Battle your way through 5 levels of trials and tribulations of becoming a Jedi. Fall short and you’ll be sent back to study the sacred Jedi Texts. More information coming soon!
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Join us for our HOST events this month and see what some of your favorite HOSTs have been working on just for you! This weeks HOST prize is Yoda's Hut with the consolation prize Degobah Swamp Carpet! Stay in line after the event ends to receive the out of this world queue prize Degobah Swamp Stump! May the force be with you!
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Join the MyVMK Staff for an impromptu game of Hide and Seek! All throughout the month, the staff will be hosting Hide and Seek games and hiding in public rooms only. Games will be announced as an in-game announcement and on our Twitter (@MyVMK) 15 minutes before the game begins. To win, you must walk up to a staff member that is hidden and say the following statement exactly: "I found you (StaffMemberName)!". Make sure to use the correct prefix (VMK_/HOST_/GA_). If you win, you will receive the pin of the staff member you found! You are allowed to win only two times per hide and seek event. The staff will not hide in rooms where players are already sitting. Do not "camp out"! This will ensure everyone has a fair chance at finding the staff members. May the force be with you out there seekers!
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Grab you X-wing Starfighters and TIE Fighters and head on over to Tatooine Market Trades for a chance at finding some most wanted pins. We do not accept Free, NPC, or 1 Credit Pins!
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  Pull this month's exclusive pins from the Sword in the Stone! For a chance to win, ride the rides in the Fantasyland Courtyard and you will have a chance at getting a Sword in the Stone pin! You can use this pin to have a chance at pulling the sword from the stone, and if you succeed, you will win one of these pins as a prize or some credits!
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New Blind Bags can now be obtained through all of your favorite mini-games! Each mini-game requires you to get so many points before you receive a Blind Bag so be sure that you balance your Jedi Studies before trying to collect all the Tsumazing Pins before they leave next month! Please do not play any of the mini-games against your clones. Guests that are found to be doing this will risk having both their main account and their clone account banned.
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Avast there mateys! Sail on over to the Pirates Treasure room for a chance to plunder some great loot! Be sure to collect as many of these treasures as ye can before they are sent back to Davey Jones Locker! Available all month! Credit to ChrisKuhn on blendswap for the millennium falcon!
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  Create a Great Guest Room! Get Recognized!
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Guest created Guest or Game Rooms demonstrate originality in concept and design. Our judges are looking for creativity, so try using traditional items in different and unique ways. Rooms are judged randomly by MyVMK Staff every month and selected from guest rooms.
January Best Guest Room
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Join saturnvmk in “Super Mario”! Welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom! Can you help Mario rescue Princess Toadstool from Bowser's castle?! Use arrow keys to move & A/B to get through the three Level 1 courses. Collect 100 coins for a Power Star. Watch out for Koopas and Bom-ombs! Congratulations!
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The Best Guest Room Winner receives: - 10,000 credits - A Castle Suite Guest Room Pin - plus furniture! - Best Guest Room Award Pin - Plus! A party in Club 33!
    Create a Great Game Room! Get Recognized!
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Create a game room and play with friends and others, and a MyVMK staff member may notice your idea! Game rooms that get the nod offer a new game idea or a new twist on an old favorite. In all rooms we look for room owners who welcome everyone with a smile and show a willingness to answer questions about their room.
January Best Game Room
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Check out Mad Hatter's Putt Putt Party” by Stephherrs. Welcome to Mad Hatter's Putt Putt Party. The rules are simple. Pick the "stroke" that will lead to a hole in one or be forced back to try again! Once you score, continue to the next hole through the red teleporter! Please read all descriptions! :D Congratulations!
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The Best Game Room Winner receives: - 10,000 credits - A Castle Suite Guest Room Pin - plus furniture! - Best Game Room Award Pin - Plus! A party in Club 33!
This could be you! Find out the details on entering for Best Guest Room and Best Game Room by clicking here!
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Ever wanted to know more about your favorite staff member? Now you can! Every month we will be interviewing a different member of the MyVMK Staff. Here is the most recent interview!
Strong with the force, this staff member is. Say hello to this months staff of the month, VMK_Rey!
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What is your favorite thing to do around the Kingdom?
Oh, definitely hanging out with guests in their guest rooms! I looove seeing what they put together, whether it be a creatively-themed room or a fun game! We’ve got a lot of talent in our community. :’)
What is the best item for building your rooms?
For building MY rooms, I’m going to be 100% predictable and say the four colored lightsabers we have in-game: blue, green, purple, and red! When you walk into a room and see those bad boys, you know it’s going to be a good time.
What has been your favorite HOST event thus far?
Ooooo, the first thing to come to mind was HOST_Dumpling’s Heroes of Winter Maze this past December! There were SO MANY ROOMS and each and every one of them was so well done! Ooo, also, last month, “A Sitch in Time” hosted by HOST_Duchess also got me amped up every time I got to help out! Props to her for elevating her event to the next level with “It’s Just You” by LMNT as its soundtrack! That's my JAM.
What is your favorite mini-game in MyVMK?
Pirates of the Caribbean! What’s better than a 4v4 game of Ship Battle?!
What is your favorite type of Guest Room?
I feel very passionately about the Skull Rock Guest Room… buuut maybe this month some new rooms will be released that I’ll love even more! ;)
Favorite MyVMK memory?
This whole month is already my favorite MyVMK memory. This. This is it.
What is your favorite Public Room in the Kingdom?
Y’all are nuts if you think I’m gonna pick just one. I love love LOVEEE the Waterpark Pool, the Inner-Space Ray Room, and the Monorail Train as standalone rooms, but the classic VMK music up and down Main Street genuinely makes me tear up – ESPECIALLY the Castle Forecourt. Gets me every time.
What is your favorite theme on VMK?
Star… Wars…? :)
What is your favorite Disney park?
The Magic Kingdom has alllllways been very near and dear to my heart, but I got to experience Hollywood Studios for the first time last year. Sorry for sounding like a broken record, but their Star Wars stuff blew me out of the water. If I ever get to go to the new Star Wars land after it opens, I'm not sure my fragile heart will be able to take it, honestly.
Who is your favorite Disney Character?
Rey, Leia, and Luke Skywalker (Star Wars), Woody (Toy Story), Ralph (Wreck-It Ralph), Rolly (101 Dalmatians), Kristoff (Frozen), Rapunzel (Tangled), Sadness (Inside Out), Sulley and Boo (Monsters Inc.), Will Turner (Pirates of the Caribbean), and Ella (the live action Cinderella in 2015)! I… just have a lot of feelings, okay?
Is there any advice you would give to guests?
Believe in yourselves. Dream. Try. Do good.
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yessadirichards · 5 years ago
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Does anime need to start being more politically correct for overseas audiences?ws24   TOKYO
Anime used to be conceived, produced, and consumed pretty much all within the confines of Japan. Sure, the occasional series would get licensed for overseas distribution, but with its story and characters so thoroughly rewritten, and its visuals so extensively re-cut, as to have little to no relation to the original version.
That started to change in the first major overseas anime boom of the 1990s, but even then, a series getting officially released outside of Japan was still the exception, not the rule. Nowadays, though, things have flipped entirely. It’s now practically a given that any anime but the most obscure or prohibitively expensive-to-license ones will stream online internationally, and most of those will get overseas home video releases too.
But as access to anime gets easier and easier, its overseas audience is continually expanding beyond people who grew up with or have an interest in/affinity for the set of Japanese societal values reflected in the medium. Because of that, there’s been increased debate as to whether or not anime needs to be more concerned with the idea of political correctness, and Japanese Twitter user @poepoeta01 recently weighed in with his opinion.
“Many people are under the mistaken impression that Japan’s manga and anime have earned their popularity overseas simply because of the artists’ high level of technical skill. Japan’s manga and anime are interesting because compared to other countries, they’re made under wild, limitless freedom of expression, without any restrictions. Saying ‘If anime isn’t more conscious about being politically correct, it won’t expand its overseas market’ it totally off the mark.”
The majority of the direct reactions to @poepoeta01’s tweet have been in support of his analysis and stance, with comments such as:
“Totally right. I think this is why Chinese-made anime-style animation hasn’t caught on internationally.”
“It’s like how late-night comedy shows are really funny, but then they lose their edge when the performers try to transition to more mainstream prime-time programs.”
“I can’t imagine another country where artists would be able to make a manga about Buddha and Jesus sharing an apartment.”
“Japanese culture has traditionally been a closed-off one, where otaku-like communities come together to push an artistic field forward, and while that inner circle is amusing itself, the art becomes so polished that eventually outsiders notice and are impressed by the quality. People who like anime support each other, and people who don’t like it don’t watch it.”
That last bit of reasoning, though, is something one could argue has new wrinkles to it in the current anime industry. With international distribution now easier than ever before, brand-new anime content is just a few clicks away for anyone with an Internet connection. Setting aside the question of whether or not anime has become more mainstream in overseas markets, access to it has definitely gotten much easier for non-Japanese media consumers, and an anime with content they find objectionable now risks leaving money on the table, money that could be used to help secure the long-term stability of a franchise and bankroll the continuing content production.
While not as numerous as the responses of agreement, @poepoeta01’s assertation that anime shouldn’t be concerned with political correctness also produced a few that disagreed.
“You’re totally wrong. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Looking at the staff credits for anime, I feel like you can say that it isn’t made only by teams that are 100-percent Japanese anymore, and I think that’s going to be the case more and more.”
@poepoeta01, though, went on to offer a different idea of how the internationalization of anime could play out in a follow-up tweet, saying that he hopes Japan becomes a bastion of free expression that will welcome artists from overseas who feel like their creative efforts are being stifled by regulations in their home countries.
In a purely mathematical sense, all else equal it stands to reason that reducing the amount of potentially offensive content in an anime broadens its potential market. On the other hand, anime’s distinct style and atmosphere, which grew out of its “by Japan, for Japan” nature, has established a fanbase outside its original country of origin that’s really only surpassed by Disney in the animation field. If the goal is to maximize anime’s popularity overseas, ostensibly there’s a sweet spot between “aligns so poorly with overseas societal expectations as to anger and alienate viewers” and “overlaps so much with the tone of overseas media that it can’t stand out as unique.”
The question of whether or not Japanese anime creators want to try to find that sweet spot, or if they fell trying to do so would put too much of a damper on enthusiasm from Japanese audiences, though, is something they still seem to be sorting out.
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