#has resonated enough that it can be my number 1 best piece of media for now. while something like yi sangs tale from limbus hit me more

[galakaz]

Watched Meti not the bad guy's video on roland from ruina

*DO NOT WATCH the video until you FINISH LIBRARY OF RUINA as it contains extreamly major spoilers*

and it reminding me of many beats of the game (and even telling me new things since i havent read the original orlando story and not every single piece of side text from these games) and my final conclusion is library of ruina is currently the best piece of media i have ever engaged with

[spriteno3]

Study tips/reminders for the lost

For some reason I’ve never been able to study. To sit down and revise for hours was impossible, especially during A-Levels (luckily I got pretty good grades at GCSE with little revision)- I would sit down for maybe 5 mins at a time before freaking out, getting severely distracted or overstimulated and finally, navigating to somewhere on the Internet, usually Youtube, and getting stuck there for hours on end. And so it continued. I was scared, overwhelmed by how much I needed to do, and felt hopeless because it took me ages to understand or memorise anything properly, and anyway I’d already lost so much time. Unsurprisingly, my final results were poor. I remember opening the envelope and feeling numb, I’d expected it. I tried to put on a positive smile, and slipped away off home on my own. The point is I was struggling and I didn’t get or ask for help. I’m 22 now and doing an apprenticeship at a well-known british media company. University was never something I wanted to go through after Sixth-Form Hell- and that’s okay: it’s not for everyone and there are other options. I’ve also finally found how best I study. If any of the above resonated with you, it may help you too?

Don’t make it into a big deal, literally nothing matters anyway, what will happen, will happen.

Make LISTS - make a to-do list and break it down into manageable chunks. It’s clear then what little things you need to do to make a big difference- and checking tasks off your list will feel so good. You’ll feel productive, accomplished and not guilty, allowing you to sleep better at night too.

Don’t worry if you don’t understand things first time round, just read and let it wash over you.

USE THE POMODORO TECHNIQUE - this time-management technique has saved my shocking attention span and me from my ability to get distracted- breaks are built in too which is amazing.

Decide on the task to be done.

Set the pomodoro timer (traditionally to 25 minutes).

Work on the task.

End work when the timer rings and put a checkmark on a piece of paper.

If you have fewer than four checkmarks, take a short break (3–5 minutes), then go to step 2.

After four pomodoros, take a longer break (15–30 minutes), reset your checkmark count to zero, then go to step 1.

TAKE BREAKS - If you’re not using the pomodoro technique, at least make sure you take sufficient breaks and regularly, set a timer for 25/30/45 min chunks to work and then go outside for 5/10 mins, get a cup of tea, have a screen break, talk to someone, stretch your legs, jump around, dance, sing or do something else that makes you happy.

STEP-BACK/REST  - Feeling overwhelmed? Teary? Stressed? Like you’ll never get through and it’s all hopeless? You’re literally just tired- your brain is like “nah I’m overstimmed...I’ll just shut down”. So you need to step back and get perspective or you won’t be productive- try a walk, a break, or an early night. Better sleep will mean you can cope for longer periods of time.

Make up stories - this is the best way I’ve found to memorise info- especially acronyms and numbers. Create a narrative with the information as the characters, and imagine it visually in your head. Add detail, and anthropomorphise/personify objects to make it weird and memorable but also make sense and resonate with you. For example to memorise the order in which to build a PC, I made up a story about the relationship between a CPU and a motherboard... Your brain has the capacity to memorise 3x the Internet apparently, or so my Chemistry teacher once told me (even if it’s only 1x, that’s still a fair bit).

SLEEP - I cannot stress enough how important sleep is. Without it you won’t cope- trust me, I know. Try to get 7/8 hours a night, and make sure to go to sleep before midnight- I like to aim for 10:00pm, then read a book for half an hour to calm down. Getting enough daylight helps, and also writing a to-do list before you sleep. If you still can’t calm down...

Exercise - If I’m still buzzing with thoughts, worries, or maybe the urge to do a million things that aren’t studying but I need to get to bed, I will do a home workout/yoga or just dance to my favourite music. Also my brain gets tired out my listening to music as I fall asleep- kinda like brain exercise.

Remember: this isn’t forever.

And finally.... 

Always have an evening treat - if you need to study all day, make sure you have time for yourself in the evening, and do something you love, preferably away from the screen if you’ve been on your laptop all day and your eyes are starting to ache. I like to draw, paint, maybe bake cookies or force myself on an evening walk, even if I think I can’t be bothered because I always end up feeling amazing and tired out, in a good way.

You haven’t failed until you give up!

spriteno3 x

[ellie-mnop]

Hi everyone! I just finished the 100 Days Of Languages challenge and I wanted to do something new afterwards, so I came up with a challenge of my own! I’m calling this the Checkerboard Challenge because it’s an 8x8 grid. Along the top there are eight language-related skills, and on the side there are eight modes of learning, so each box contains a way to study a particular skill using a particular mode. I wanted to do that because exposing yourself to the same information in different contexts is so helpful for learning and I wanted to apply that to how I study Portuguese. The result is a list of 64 different ways to study languages, 71 if you include the alternate options listed below, each one versatile enough to be repeated as often as you want using different topics or resources and hopefully interesting and useful for your learning.

Ways To Use This Challenge

Complete all of the challenges on the table, in whatever order you want.

Choose a particular skill you’d like to work on. Complete all of the challenges in that column.

Choose a particular method of learning that works well for you. Complete all of the challenges in that row.

Use dice or a random number generator to pick a challenge to do every day, and see how long it takes you to get bingo or connect four or something.

Choose whichever of the challenges sound useful to you and incorporate them into your regular studying routine.

There’s no obligation to post anything you make; even when I say to record yourself doing something, that can just be for your own future reference. (It’s recommended for the collaborative tasks that focus on creating resources that would be useful to other learners or interacting on social media, but even then you can just write the posts/comments and not post them if you prefer) However, I would love to see anything you do want to share, or any updates on your progress, so you can post anything like that with the tag “checkerboard challenge” which is also where I will be posting the tasks I complete.

The tasks are listed below, with more detail than what would fit in the boxes.

Reading

(Visual) Read a comic book, comic strip, or webcomic in your target language. Depending on your skill level and  the amount of time you have, you can choose anything from a single strip of a  newspaper comic to a full-length graphic novel

(Auditory) Read along with a chapter of an audiobook, or another piece of writing with accompanying audio. Some language learning websites have articles with recordings of native speakers  reading them. If you want, or if you can’t find anything else, you could even  use a song and its lyrics.

(Hands-On) Option 1: Play a video game in your target language. This can be a computer or console game, or an app on your phone or even a  little browser game. Check the language options on games you already have to  see if your target language is available, or if not, many free games have lots of language options. / Option 2: Read and follow a recipe or another  set  of instructions, such as an art/craft tutorial, the rules to a board or card game, a DIY project or a magic trick.

(Logical) Solve  riddles or logic puzzles in your target language. (Alternate:  Read a short mystery story such as a minute mystery (or something longer if  you prefer) and see if you can solve it before the characters do.)

(Collaborative) Talk by text chat with someone else learning your target language, or a native speaker learning your language.

(Read/Write) Read an article or a chapter of a book  (or the whole thing) in your target language. It can be about any topic, and can be a children’s or adult’s book depending on your skill level and preference.

(Personal) Find and read a translation of a piece of writing that’s important to you, such as your favorite book as a kid that you feel nostalgic for, or a poem  that resonates with you.

(Creative) Read story in your target language and illustrate what happens. The quality of the drawing isn’t important unless you want it to be; the important thing is to help you process what you’re reading.

Writing

(Visual) Choose a photo, either at random from a generator or by choice on a website like Unsplash, and describe it in as much detail as  you can. Your description can focus just on describing visible details in the image, or you can make up contexts for and stories around the things you see, whichever you prefer. (Alternate: Do this with a physical object nearby instead of a photo.)

(Auditory) Try writing simple poems, focusing on the auditory features of what you’re writing such as rhyme and rhythm. You can use a rhyme dictionary to expand your vocabulary in an interesting  way while you’re working on this. It’s not necessary to worry too much about  the artistic quality of the poems unless you want to.

(Hands-On) Write instructions for how to do something you know how to do, such as recipe, a life skill, a game  or sport, an art of craft project, or even your method of language learning.

(Logical) Create a persuasive piece of writing that logically argues a point. It doesn’t have to be about a serious or controversial topic. For example, you can defend your prediction for the next season of your favorite show, or what would happen if some fantasy or sci-fi concept were real (maybe a good  way to practice the conditional tense if you’re studying a language that has one), or why your best friend is awesome.

(Collaborative) Use  a language learning social media app like HelloTalk. Comment on posts and  make your own.

(Read/Write) Write a summary of something you’ve read in your target language. You can either read in your native language and summarize in your target language, or do both parts in your target language.

(Personal) Write a journal entry in your target language, talking about how your day or week has been or what you are thinking and feeling. (Alternate: Write about one of your memories.)

(Creative) Write a small story in your target language. It can be about whatever you want, and it doesn’t have to be very long or detailed. You can (option 1) write it as prose, which could be better to practice description and narration or to focus on a particular verb tense, or in (option 2) a script style which could be better to practice conversational language.

Listening

(Visual) Watch a video with narration that describes it, such as a nature documentary, an instructional  video such as a cooking video, or a video reviewing something.

(Auditory) Find an online stream of a radio station. Pay attention to both the music and what the announcers say.

(Hands-On) Watch a video demonstrating a craft project, recipe or other task and follow the instructions.

(Logical) Watch or listen to a mystery story and try to solve it before the characters do. This can be a whole movie or novel-length audiobook if you want, but it doesn’t have to be; even an  episode of something like Scooby Doo should work.

(Collaborative) Exchange audio with someone else learning your target language, or a native speaker learning your language.

(Read/Write) Watch a video or listen to a piece of audio and take notes on what you learn.

(Personal) Watch a dub of a piece of media you are familiar with, such as your favorite childhood movie.

(Creative) Option 1: Listen to a story or other piece of audio and  illustrate it. / Option 2: Listen to a song and make up a new verse.

Speaking

(Visual) Make a video of yourself showing something and talking about it, for  example a tour of your home or neighborhood, a review of something, or a video about your pet.

(Auditory) Listen to a piece of audio and try to repeat what you hear. You don’t have to pause  after every word and repeat it, it’s probably better to go at least sentence  by sentence or with parts even longer so you can keep things in context.

(Hands-On) Explain to someone, or record yourself explaining, how to do something, possibly while demonstrating.

(Logical) Record  yourself explaining, and possibly demonstrating, how something works, such as a science concept.

(Collaborative) Record yourself explaining a concept you’re learning, like a grammar topic or how to use a particular word.

(Read/Write) Read out loud and record yourself.

(Personal) Make a recording of yourself talking about something that’s important to you  or a memory or anecdote you have. (Alternate: Make a vlog entry (even if you don’t have a vlog to put it on) talking about your day.)

(Creative) Record yourself telling a story, or tell one in person to someone.

Vocabulary (Most of these, with the exception of the first two, can be done with any vocabulary list you want.)

(Visual) Choose a page from a visual dictionary to study. One way you can do this is by studying the words and then covering  the labels with sticky notes or whiting them out on a copy and trying to fill in the blanks.

(Auditory) Choose  a song in your target language, and look up and study any unfamiliar words in it.

(Hands-On) Option 1: Use your vocabulary list as a scavenger hunt list. This works well if you have a lot of nouns and adjectives on the list. For everyday household items, you can look for the literal items on the list, while if they’re more obscure you can look for pictures or other representations of them. / Option 2: Act out the words on your list. This works well for verbs and adverbs, as well as more abstract  nouns or adjectives like emotions. You can record video of yourself doing this and later look back at the video to try to guess the words.

(Logical) Option 1: Make a crossword puzzle using your vocab list. If you write the words and clues, there are tools online that will build the puzzle itself for you, or you can do that by hand on graph paper if you prefer. You can either wait a while and then solve your own puzzle to see how much you remember, or give it to another language learner to solve an ask them to make one for you to solve. / Option 2: Look into the etymological history of the words to find out why they mean what they mean and whether they have any connections to words in your own language.

(Collaborative) Create a vocab list post around a theme, including words you are studying as well as any related words you already know. Include any resources that you think  would be useful to someone using the list, such as sample sentences, pictures, or whatever else you want.

(Read/Write) Try to write a small story or other piece of writing using as many of your vocab words as you can.

(Personal) Write  a sentence about what you think of each thing on your vocabulary list.

(Creative) Try to write an interesting sentence using each word on your vocabulary list. (Alternate: Illustrate each word on your vocabulary list. You can do this on index cards if you want, to make illustrated flash cards.)

Grammar

(Visual) Create a color or shape coded system to classify a concept like verb tenses or noun gender. For example, you can read  through a piece of text and highlight all of the verbs using a different color for each tense, or you can make flash cards with your vocabulary words and mark them with different symbols depending on the gender.

(Auditory) Grammar is a common topic for educational songs. Find a one intended for kids who speak your target language.

(Hands-On) Using words on sticky notes or index cards, build sentences that demonstrate grammatical concepts. If you have access to some of those little word magnets in your target language, those would probably work great for this, but if not (and I know I don’t) you can write various words, affixes, etc. on index cards or sticky notes, or use your existing flashcards if you have them.

(Logical) Create a table, chart, or diagram of a grammatical concept you’re studying.

(Collaborative) Write a post explaining a grammar topic you are learning.

(Read/Write) Read through a text, to find (and maybe highlight, circle, etc.) examples of a grammatical concept, then write more examples.

(Personal) Write about a part of your life that corresponds to the grammar topic you are studying. For example, for the future  tense, you can write about your plans or hopes.

(Creative) Write a small story relying on the grammatical concept you’re studying.

Pronunciation

(Visual) Look up diagrams of how to pronounce sounds you struggle with. These can be found as images or in an animated form in YouTube videos, and usually show what your tongue, teeth, etc. are supposed to be doing when you pronounce the sound.

(Auditory) Find a recording of a native speaker, record yourself saying the same thing, and listen for differences.

(Hands-On) Try to pronounce some tongue twisters or other pronunciation-based challenges.

(Logical) Try  learning the linguistic names of sounds you work with, and look into how they  compare to other sounds. Wikipedia has articles about the different sounds that can exist in languages and tables showing how they are used in various languages.

(Collaborative) Record yourself reading something that contains sounds you struggle with and post it for feedback, possibly on an app like HelloTalk.

(Read/Write) Look  at the written IPA pronunciations (these can be found on Wiktionary) of words you learn and look up what the symbols mean.

(Personal) Sing along to songs you like in the language, especially (for the personal category) nostalgic ones or ones meaningful to you.

(Creative) Write a tongue twister using words that are difficult for you to pronounce and practice saying it.

Cultural Context

(Visual) Explore a museum website in your target language. The museum should be located somewhere where your target language is spoken, but it up to you whether you want to look at an art museum, a science or history museum, or something else. Look at the exhibits and read the descriptions.

(Auditory) Create a playlist with traditional, classic and modern songs in various genres that either were invented in or popular in a place where your target language is spoken. Ideally using resources in your  target language, learn about the songs and genres.

(Hands-On) Using  resources in your target language, learn how to do or make something from a culture that speaks it. For example, you can look up a recipe, a tutorial for a dance style, the rules to a game, or how to make an art or craft project. (Make sure the thing you pick is being openly shared by  members of the culture it came from.)

(Logical) In your target language, learn about a scientist / inventor / etc. from somewhere the language is  spoken. Learn about their work, with explanations of what they invented or discovered, and if you want, find out other information about their life too.

(Collaborative) Comment  on or otherwise interact with the blog/YouTube channel/etc. of a native speaker,  after you read or watch it, of course. (You don’t need to receive a reply to check off this box, because that part is not under your control.)

(Read/Write) Try reading a significant work of (children’s or adult) literature in your target language.

(Personal) Learn about something relevant to your job/hobby from where your target language is spoken, using resources in the language.

(Creative) Read  about artistic or literary themes,  movements or eras where the language is spoken, and  create something (it can be something  simple) using those concepts.

[Image: The title “Language Learning Checkerboard Challenge” above a purple 8x8 table. The information contained in the table is repeated above.]

[1dcraftawards]

April Author of the Month

Drumroll please.... our author of the month for April is...... 

@harrysdodgyankles!

Congratulations! Check out her interview with us below! 

1.Did you start writing fanfiction for One Direction, or was there another fandom that you wrote fanfiction for before this?

One Direction is the one and only fandom I’ve ever written fanfiction for. It was my first foray into the fiction-writing world--I’ve been reading fic since 2012 and I initially started exchanging stories with one of my best friends from high school in this email chain we had. We never planned on letting those stories leave our inboxes, but one day I guess I felt driven enough to start publishing my stories on the 1DFF website--and here we are, six years later!

2.How old were you when you started writing fanfiction?

I started properly writing my own fanfiction in 2013, so I was 16/17 years old. It was a while before I published anything I thought was quality (at least, back then), but I wrote pretty consistently until my sophomore year of college. I took a bit of a break, mostly to focus on school and get through my last two years of undergrad, but I’ve found a new motivation for writing and this resurgence has been treating me well so far!

3.What’s been your favorite fic you’ve written to work on so far?

All of my fics are my favorites for lots of different reasons. I love writing Sit Back because of the amount of research I’ve had to do for all of the different historical periods. I know far too much about the fall of the Roman Empire than I’d ever thought I would. I loved writing my various fic exchange pieces because of my love for beginning stories in media res; these challenges are the perfect opportunities for me to create AU worlds from scratch. Each story has a really special place in my heart--I reminisce on my writing processes for them pretty often, especially when I’m looking for inspiration and drive to formulate new stories.

4. Is there a fic that you really wanted to write, but you just never did?

I have a fic I started and never finished. A League of Their Own--I started publishing it, gosh, probably back in 2014. It has such a special place in my heart, but with where my life was at the time and all of the other responsibilities I had, I couldn’t give the story the time and effort it deserved. It was my only OU story and I wanted to do its characters justice--one day I hope to come back to it, but for now it’s sitting in my drafts folder collecting dust.

5. What’s your favorite trope to write?

I’m allergic to angst, so I try to stay away from it (mostly out of self-preservation for my emotions). I love writing friends to lovers and established relationship fics. Dad!Harry, Husband!Harry--anything fluffy involving commitment. I’m really into that.

6. What’s your ideal space to write in?

In my bed, usually at night when the rest of my house is asleep. I like the quiet stillness of my house--it helps me clear my brain and focus on the content of my piece. It’s also because no one knows I write fic, so there’s less chance of them accidentally seeing something on my screen and asking questions.

7. What inspires you to write?

Honestly, telling stories for people who don’t often get their stories told. This was an important lesson that took me a while to learn. I didn’t used to do this, but now I make a point to write characters who are often underrepresented; for me, as a South Asian Muslim woman, I come from a very miniscule corner of representation in the One Direction fan community. It’s important to me that I try to give us a voice in any way possible. Lots of people don’t realize the impact seeing someone like yourself on a screen can have--it’s a little thing, but it says a lot. It makes sure we aren’t erased, that we aren’t cast aside. That’s why all my fics have characters of color, especially characters of South Asian descent. And when people resonate with that--that’s the biggest inspirational motivating factor for me.

8. Do you typically like to listen to music when you write? If so, what do you listen to?

If I listen to music, it’s music that I don’t know the lyrics to. If I know the lyrics, I’ll start singing them, then I’ll start typing them! I typically go for soft, slow, vibey music--Majid Jordan, Daniel Caesar, Miguel, 6LACK. Mostly hip-hop stuff.

9. Do you have any plans for any future fic ideas you’d like to pursue?

I do! I’m currently writing a post-doc Harry fic that I’m SO excited about. I also have plans for a rewrite of ALOTO and an orchestra AU.

10. Do you have any advice for other writers in the fandom?

I don’t know that I’m entirely qualified to give advice, but I will say this. The most important thing is to write for yourself. When you put your writing out into the world, you don’t owe anyone anything--especially in the fic community, where the vast majority of writers are putting hours of effort into content that they post with no expectation of compensation in return. Yeah, it gets pretty easy to get bogged down in the number of likes and reblogs or the number of asks you get after posting something. But in the end, you’re writing because you’ve found a story you want to tell, so focus on telling that story in the best way you can. Everything else will come later.

11. What is your writing process like?

I’m still trying to find what works best for me, honestly. I usually start with one big document that has all my notes, researching, outlines, etc. Then I’ll break a chapter/one-shot down into scenes--I’ll write specifics of what I want to include, bits of dialogue that have come to me that I’d like to incorporate, and the like. Then I’ll write a full first draft in that same document. Once that’s done, I move it to a separate document and start editing or I’ll send it to my betas. So a finished piece for me looks like one big planning/draft document plus individual docs for each part of a story.

12. What inspired you to write “Sit Back”? How did you come up with the story idea?

I saw a prompt on one of those AU posts that was something like “we’re an immortal couple who likes to kill each other for fun.” I thought it was brilliant. I cranked out the first chapter in less than a day because I was so excited about all the possibilities swirling around in my head. It’s been an exhilarating story to write because of all the different AUs I’ve essentially created in this one story--a Civil War AU, a Roman Empire AU, a 1900s AU. And the elements of mysticism sprinkled throughout have been the most fun--I didn’t think it’d be this enjoyable to create a fantasy world, but I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to doing it again. There’s still one part left, and it’s proving to be the most difficult to write mostly because I know it’s going to break me.

13. Tell us about your upcoming story, “All The Things Yet to Come”.

The idea popped into my head after I caught up with my old departmental advisor at my university. He got married last year to a doctoral student in the same department, and I’d often wondered how that relationship came to be. They’re both two fairly quiet, incredibly intelligent, charismatic people. I wanted to explore that a bit more--so ATTYTC was born. Also, I wanted to write something other than a Uni AU since I’ve written too many of those. Harry as an academic is so enthralling, and the Harry in this story is one of the more guarded versions of him that I’ve created. It’s definitely going to be a journey and I’m thrilled to share it with everyone.

14. What is one thing you wish you would’ve known before you started writing 1d fic?

I don’t think there’s anything I wish I’d known about the 1D community, but I do wish I’d known what my own personal limits were in terms of how much I could handle. I think I went into it with unrealistic expectations for the amount of content I could produce. I wish I’d known a little more about my writing process and how long it takes me to be satisfied with something. Probably would’ve saved me a lot of disappointment.

15. Who has been your favorite OFC to write? Why?

I think it has to be Sofia from ‘You’ve Woken Up My Heart.’ There are certain qualities about her that I admire so much--her drive, her wit, her diligence. She knows exactly what she wants and how to get it. Because I’m also pursuing medicine, it was also fun to channel some of what I hope to be my future into her life. (Except I definitely don’t want to be a pediatrician. Yikes.)

16. Would you ever consider writing for any of the other boys?

I’ve written for Niall and Zayn in the past. I think there might even be a Louis one-shot from 2013 floating around somewhere in my drafts. At this point, however, I’ve been writing for Harry for so long, I feel like I’m pretty comfortable here.

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS & STUDIES, late April 2019

Welcome to my latest summary of recent news & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & ecommerce! This covers articles I came across from April 9th to May 2, although some may be older than that. 

I am really interested in hearing what you think of this new format - please leave a comment below, or convo, Tweet or email me through my website. Let’s make this as useful as possible! 

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

US Amazon sellers were told via email that they will have to pay taxes on some Amazon fees, as Etsy has been doing with sellers in the EU and in Quebec. 

The Instagram look may be dropping out of favour; apparently, reality is in. “Instagram museums and walls were built to allow normal people to take influencer-quality photographs—but they worked so well, those types of photos became common enough that they don’t resonate like they used to. “#unfiltered 

In case you missed it, my review of Etsy’s Spring & Summer Trends Guide, including all of the keyword data (which you do need to check out, as they reveal some interesting search info). 

ETSY NEWS

Etsy published a new census/survey of sellers in its 6 core countries, and also did a summary (if you don’t want to read the whole thing). “More than nine out of ten Etsy sellers (91%) are the sole owner of their businesses.”... “The majority (82%) of Etsy sellers would like to grow their business, but more than three out of five would not want to grow so big that they would have to hire more help.”

The bugs & errors with financial statements and records continue; Etsy botched the VAT statements yet again, even overwriting them all the way back to 2016. No word on whether any sellers have notified EU authorities on this yet. 

New seller handbook article covers advertising; not much new or gripping, but it does discuss general ad approaches, not just Etsy’s. 

There is also a new free shipping tool, in case you didn’t realize that Etsy wants more sellers to offer free shipping more often. “When we talk to shoppers during research, many say things like “I want to feel like I’m getting a deal!” and “I would love to see free shipping across the board, even if it meant increased prices.” Offering free shipping can be a great way to give customers like these the shopping experience they are looking for.”

CEO Josh Silverman participated in The Wall Street Journal’s “In the Elevator” interview series [video link]. Every 90 seconds, an engagement ring or wedding ring sells on Etsy. He also talks about free & fast shipping not always being a reasonable expectation when shopping on Etsy, unlike Amazon. 

Speaking of free shipping, a limited number of US customers will be getting it from Etsy, with Etsy reimbursing sellers for the costs. Non-US sellers and buyers get nothing. 

Etsy’s 2019 1st quarter results will be available May 8.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

Rand Fishkin released Part 5 of his Learn SEO in 1 Hour series: technical SEO [video & written transcript]. This is the one most of you can skip or just skim over, as it does talk a lot about coding.Some tips are important to everyone, however, like page linking/site structure (for websites), and having https set up. 

Part 6 covers link building, in 10 minutes. Remember, if you are going to put effort into getting links, do it for your website & not your Etsy shop or other marketplace page. If you are creating traffic, make sure you own it. 

Don’t forget looking beyond Google for your search engine traffic; this podcast [with written transcript] breaks down an approach to several of the biggest ones beyond Google. Spoiler: they only recommend worrying about the biggest, Bing, if you have around 1000 unique search visitors to your website per day. 

How to get keyword ideas from the Google search results: there’s a lot more available now, beyond the search bar suggestions. 

Google is asking local businesses if they would pay for their Google My Business listings. This possibility raises concerns about the impact on organic rankings. 

More SEO tips for Amazon, including discussion of the various factors involved.

If pages on your website aren’t indexed by Google, there are some steps you can take to fix them. (For websites only, not Etsy shops)

Advanced/semi-advanced content: Great tips on using bookmarklets in Chrome to get SEO things done quickly. (A lot of these involve tools that work best in the paid version, so I suspect most of us will not have much use for this, yet.)

Possible Google algorithm update last week. (I am seeing changes)

CONTENT MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails) 

Looking for new hashtags for your social media accounts? Try: https://www.tagshitter.com  (apologies for the name; that’s what they call it. It’s good, too! Just like its regular keyword research partner, http://keywordshitter.com/ ) 

Email subject lines [infographic] are crucial to top interaction with your newsletter etc. Includes Dos & Don’ts, plus the shockingly low open rates in most industries. 

Selling through social media directly is a great way to avoid people losing interest as they keep clicking. Note that this seems to work best with items under $50, though, which they suggest solutions to in the next part of the article.  

Despite all the scandals and negative media coverage, US social media use hasn’t really changed in the past few years. “A 2018 Center survey found that some Facebook users had recently taken steps to moderate their use of the site – such as deleting the Facebook app from their phone or taking a break from the platform for some time. But despite these findings and amid some high profile controversies, Facebook users as a whole are just as active on the site today as they were a year ago.”

Facebook scandal watch:  FB’s “stock price jumped after it said it expects to incur a fine of up to $5 billion from the Federal Trade Commission. And that’s all you really need to know about whether the historically large penalty matters to the company.”

Also:

they admitted to asking for your email password then importing all of your contacts. “...Facebook disclosed to Business Insider that 1.5 million people's contacts were collected this way and fed into Facebook's systems, where they were used to improve Facebook's ad targeting, build Facebook's web of social connections, and recommend friends to add.”

The Canadian Privacy Commissioner is taking FB to court over breaches of Canadian privacy law. 

But hey, it’s all fine, because they beat earnings expectations in the first quarter. 

70% of YouTube videos watched are recommended by its algorithm. “ The recommendations are fueled by the artificial-intelligence arm, Google Brain, of YouTube’s parent company. The machine-learning models help identify videos that aren’t exactly what you just watched, but similar enough that you might like them.“

Does directing people to the link in your Instagram bio really work? Testing says that it probably doesn’t work for most accounts, and more importantly, that Instagram may be limiting the algorithm visibility of posts that direct visitors to the link in your bio. 

Twitter has now limited the number of accounts you can follow in 1 day, to 400 down from 1000; this is intended to cut back on spammers. 

US Twitter users are better educated & better off than the average American.(Good article for target market considerations)

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS) 

Amazon is reducing/removing the ads for its own products, possibly due to increased complaints of unfair competition. “Amazon is now the third-largest digital advertising platform, behind Google and Facebook”, and could grow 50% this year alone, based on projections. 

Facebook retargeting tips. And everything you need to know about the Facebook pixel for tracking your ad performance. 

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING 

Some Google Analytics tips for websites - almost beginner level! 

The Google Search Console delays are nearly all fixed. 

Stats programs all give you different numbers, and that isn’t likely to improve. (This piece is semi-advanced; don’t bother with it if you aren’t a stats geek.)

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS 

eBay’s Spring Marketplace Updates include several back end changes and a fee increase for sellers who run afoul of eBay’s seller performance standards. 

Amazon sellers can buy so-called “black hat” services to beat its algorithms. These include tips from Amazon employees who are making money by reporting on Amazon’s inner workings. Amazon “also said it takes action against sellers who pay for internal information; penalties include terminating their selling accounts, deleting reviews, withholding funds, and taking legal action.” No doubt the company already has closed some of the loopholes discussed in the article.

Amazon also fires warehouse workers by algorithm, based on productivity. 

GoDaddy launches an ecommerce sharing tool that lets you list across multiple websites including your standalone. Current marketplace options include Etsy, Amazon, eBay, Jet & Walmart. They bought Sellbrite as part of this move. Quite a few different entities are releasing this type of service, so shop around if it is something you are interested in. 

eBay released their 1st quarter 2019 results on April 23. Total sales were down 4% from 2018 (they were close to even when currency fluctuations were accounted for), but eBay’s own income from seller fees was up. “eBay reduced their marketing by a significant amount where their cash was being used to effectively subsidise the sales of high value items. Put simply, eBay have been buying sales and now they’ve stopped and this has seen a reduction in high ticket items being sold in comparison to sales of lower value items.” Easter being later this year may have slowed ecommerce growth overall in the quarter. 

...but Amazon reported record revenue, up 16.9% over 2018. Despite that, analysts note that growth is slowing, & that Amazon’s own projections for the second quarter are lower than many predicted. “Amazon’s CFO Brian Olsavsky said during the call with analysts that part of the lower guidance is due to an $800 million investment in making free one-day delivery shipping the default for Prime members.” - if you thought buyers wanted stuff yesterday already, wait til this becomes the norm ... I mean, Walmart & Target stocks fell after the announcement. Walmart is already hinting at offering the same. 

You can return your Amazon purchases at Kohl’s in the US, starting everywhere in July. Ease of returns is going to be a bigger battleground in the next few years, as retailers continue to increase free & speedy shipping options. 

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE

Generation Z will be making 40% of US retail purchases by next year; they are going to change a lot about selling. “ Fair trade products, ethical business practices, and a strong mission statement have never been more essential. Vend reports, “Research has shown that this particular generation cares about various environmental issues (76% are concerned about humanity’s impact on the planet) as well as social causes such as racial, gender, and income inequality.” [Gen Z come after millennials, and are currently more numerous than millennials or boomers.] 

Millennials & Gen Z are big gift card buyers in the US - over 1/3 buy a card every 3 months. 

Brick & mortar stores & malls are using your phone location data (location analytics) to make marketing and product decisions. “Every company interviewed for this story said it chooses not to use information that could identify individuals. But for the most part they’re on an honor system because rules governing data remain relatively lax.” This surprised me: “To glean details, including an individual’s age, income, ethnicity, education level, number of children and more, firms connect the phone’s evening location with U.S. Census data”

MISCELLANEOUS 

US copyright law: the USSC rules that your copyright registration must be finished/approved before you can sue an infringer in federal court.  

If you hate Gmail’s current layout, you will love this Chrome extension. 

And if you use Google Sheets fairly often, you will likely learn something useful from these tips. 

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, missed industry revenue expectations in the first quarter of 2019. 

[betterfor4-blog]

My Pursuit of Happiness Manifesto

--- In a nutshell (to take the time to read or not): This post gives context to my life, why I have started this blog, the clear goals I have set for my family and how I am going to manage it. ----

Dear Universe and the Human Race,

The Context of My Life

Thank you for my life.  Through nothing else but chance and luck I find myself truly blessed (in a completely non-religious way).  Even if I didn’t intend, plan or pursue it, I find myself in my late 30s with a beautiful old-fashioned, very-not-cool nuclear family.  We could be the poster family for hetero-normative, white, 2 young kids and a dog in an average brick house.  Please don’t for a second though think that I believe or promote this as the only way as being.  This is the context for my life, however, I am open-minded and supportive of all the different kinds of ways that family and love exists in this world. 

I acknowledge that I live on this planet in a way many cannot or will never get the opportunity to.  I acknowledge that the way I live is because of the toil of many who will never have my privilege.

Completely off life-plan I married my first love who I met when I was a teenager.  He is intelligent, gorgeous, compassionate, funny, loyal and simply a good person (if not sometimes a little too ‘linear/pragmatic/black and white in his thinking).  We both had opportunities to become well educated and ambition to form our own independent careers.  We both trained and work in the Sciences; I am an educator.  We lived exciting lives with lots of travel and friends and then 3 years ago we welcomed our first lovely daughter into this world (Miss C1).  Late last year our family was completed by our second lovely daughter (Miss C2).

The Reason For This Blog And What I Want In This Life

I am genuinely happy, 8/10, like Scandinavian happy (those guys have it all worked out).  I know who I am and I am very clear in my mind about my goals, values and ambitions for myself and my family.   I have prefaced and contextualized my life in this post however, as my problems are slight, though they still exist an I am in pursuit of  happiness (9 and 10 numbers).

I want to live meaningfully in this life and raise my girls consciously and with clear intent.  I want our family activities, daily life and conversations to be ‘rich’ in the holistic manner of the word rather than the dollars and cents version.  I want for a lot and have some clear goals/thoughts:

1. MINIMALISM - I want to live better with less...

-  I want to spend less on the stuff we don’t need.  

- I don’t want to waste things (especially food and other such resources). 

-  I want every item in our home to bring joy, be useful and used frequently. 

- I wish to invest in family experiences more than things.

- I don’t want to get caught up in the fast fashion cycle, buying my girls $2 t-shirts that last 3 washes and are thrown away at the cost of both environment and people.  

- I want high quality goods that are fixed or re-purposed rather than just thrown away.

- I want to our modest block of land to be productive for 

- I don’t want to spend my life cleaning or battling with storing stuff making our home and lives less enjoyable.

- I want a clean and organised house that I don’t have to feel burdened by maintaining but I am not ashamed by unexpected guests.

2. Experiential Based Family Life - I want our daily lives to be rich in conversation and experiences.

- Less Screen time or maybe more meaningful screen time for everybody.

- More games and playing.

- More travel and family experiences more frequently.

- More nature in our daily lives.  More getting outside.

- Ensure my girls get the best education possible by exposing them to opportunities and educational experiences.  Peppa Pig is not nearly educational enough (read severe sarcasm).

3. HEALTH - A Healthier Family

For us health comes in 3 pillars: sleep, food and exercise.  To be honest all are crumbling a little at the moment...

- I am overweight and have been my entire adult life and I want to rectify that for the most important reason in the world; it gives me the best chance to be with my family for the longest amount of time.  I’ll blog about this later.

- I want my family to eat well and diversely.  I want my girls to have a good relationship with food where no food is forbidden.  I need to create strategies and structures to allow and develop this.

- We need to be working towards 8 hours of sleep a night, the girls need more.  

- We need strategies in our lives than ensures that Mum and Dad are getting at least 10,000 steps a day and some cardio (I would love to know how far Miss C1 goes in a Day).

4. IMPROVE MY IDENTITY CAPITAL - be the best Mum I can be.

I think for the first time in my life I am ready to live by the wisdom of ‘taking care of yourself before others’ (the old apply your oxygen mask in a plane emergency before helping others).  I am tapped out, my cup is dry... whatever you want to call it.  

Basically, I am a stay at home Mum with 2 girls under 3 and I am TIRED.  Not just sleep deprived but emotionally exhausted.  I feel like junk and everywhere I look I see work to be done.  Worst thing yet, I just returned from a holiday super relaxed.  Which was good, because it reinforced to me that I am more than run down, I am depleted.

I want more ‘arrows  in my quiver’.  In short, as my husband would put it I need more diverse identity capital.  I need to my life to be filled with hobbies and activities and people to recover some of my energy and zest for life.  Yet at the same time I feel the Social Media Direct Messenger culture of 21st Century melts my mind a little. 

Previously, my job consumed me and that is the way I liked it.  I have chosen however to sacrifice my career in order to give my girls the best chance (see goal 2-5).  Staying at home was not an emotionally easy choice, but an easy logical one.  I am an educator.  This is what I do.  The idea of returning to work (when I didn’t have to) and allowing someone else to raise and educate my girls at this early stage seemed like insanity.  I am also lucky that the system I work for holds my job for me for about 6 years.   But back to the point, it left a career sized hole in my life that of late has been harder to fill. 

My mind is a fog of fruit pouches, nappies and nursery rhymes.  Yet, I know that this time of my life will pass faster than I will in retrospect have liked it to.  Before it does though I need to write in full sentences on a regular basis.  I need to stretch my mind.  I need to model to my girls how you can work towards a work-life balance.

Vainly, I am also in desperate need of a Mum makeover.  I need some Mum style before my girls start school.  B.C. (before children) I had work clothes and a few casual pieces.  2 pregnancies and no work later I am adrift in my new life, at least style wise, and it has left me feeling fairly invisible.

5. WEALTH - I want us all to be grateful for what we have and show that.

This one really doesn’t need dot points.  My family are privileged and that is not a crime, but to become entitled or not appreciate our good fortune, well that is.  I want us to not waste and give back where we can as often as we can. 

As for our actual finances.  I figure if we live more mindfully with less we will spend less.  The money we save will be able to fund our experiences and travel.  It is the old “take care of the cents and the dollars will take care of themselves” approach.   I will be exploring this later though.

Summary

So on rereading this, two things I note.

- I sound far more ‘hippy-dippy’ than I feel I am, but the list is accurate.  I wonder if this resonates with other 21st Century slightly left-leaning Mum’s out there?  Where is my tribe?

- I am WAY daunted by this list.  To set an appropriate mental image I am sitting at my dining room table eating a carrot as the baby bashes her drink bottle on her highchair pulverizing crackers into dust (now on the floor) and the toddler is talking to me asking constant ‘why’ questions.  The latest question was “why do doctors say you can’t jump on the bed?” referring to the song ‘5 little Monkies’.  Both of these things are an improvement from 30 minutes ago where they were both competing to press any buttons they could on my laptop.

How Will I Achieve This?

Don’t know in short.  But I know this... I cancelled my gym membership recently because getting there with the two girls was near impossible and ridiculously expensive once I paid for the creche for the both of them.  I felt like I had lost something too.  Like the cards were proverbially stacked against me and my fitness goals as a stay at home Mum (CHAINED TO THE HOUSE I TELL YOU).  On the way home though I questioned why I honestly needed the gym, more specifically an instructor telling me to ‘sashay’.  I decided on two reasons.  The first, the group environment means I won’t quit as I would never give in when being observed by others.  The second, because the instructor had the knowledge.   

It occurred to me on that trip home that I could replace those classes with YouTube and a blog.  A blog to keep me honest and check in (even if no one reads it) and YouTube for the knowledge.  The internet is a global community of ‘DIY knowledge’ and all I had to do was harness it.

So that is the strategy for this blog.  I am going to use the power of the internet to learn, share and record my improvements.  

How Will I Measure Progress And What Is The Timeline?

I am going to have to research that on the internet (LOL).  I think I am going to need different tools for different aspects of my life.

I am going to start by posting Mon, Wed, Fri and tackling a different aspect each time:

Monday - Health

Wednesday - Minimalism

Friday - Experiences

I am writing this to no one in particular and everyone in order to keep myself honest and on track in the way I am going to change our lives. 

The purpose of this blog and particularly long post... I’ve got to be better for the four of us.  I have to live my best life to honor this extraordinary life I have been gifted.

[angelinarecs]

Stargate SG-1 Rec - *Updated*

More Stargate fics! Because I can never get enough of this show. You can find my full rec list here. 

Organized by pairing (or gen), and then alphabetized by title. Summaries (which have been copied from their respective stories) and descriptions are provided. Notation at the end of the description indicates if a story is completed or a WIP.

Gen

Arachne’s Chase - “Sergeant, fire in short bursts. We don’t have many rounds, try to make each shot count, okay?” Sam looked him in the eyes; she was totally calm. Uncertainty had gone now; she knew what she was fighting. She wasn’t too sure on their odds of surviving, but then that wasn’t anything new. “You can do this, Sergeant.” She watched as his face set in a determined expression. It wasn’t a face suited for ferocity but she gave him credit for trying. Drama/Adventure. Sam and Walter get stuck off world trying to hold their own against giant spiders. Walter keeps freaking out and Sam just wants to get home. A good look at both Sam and Walter’s characters as well as a decently written action scene. One-shot.

Fortitude - This was written for a LJ Sam Carter Ficathon, and deals with the first mission for Sam after her encounter with Jolinar. Adventure. Sam tries to prove her mettle in the field, both to herself and her teammates. She fails to take care of herself and follow orders in the process. A good look into what must have been a trying first mission after everything that happened with Jolinar. One-shot.

Infirmary After - Sam’s turn to concentrate on breathing. Enough time passed that Janet was wondering if she’d even answer, wondering what she’d do if there was no answer. “Embarrassed,” Sam said at last, her voice too low to carry much beyond the bed. “Ashamed. Not so much that it happened - I really did get my head around that years ago, played it over and over and over until I desensitized myself to the possibility - but that they saw. That it happened in front of… of… That they’re never going to look at me again without thinking of it.” Drama. Compelling and hard-hitting, this story doesn’t need to be graphic to touch on the horror and also high likelihood of being raped in the dangerous world of SG1. The trauma is dealt with well, both from the Sam’s perspective and from the perspective of the team unable to stop it. This story should be commended for showing that a plot dealing with trauma does not need to be graphic to be shocking. One-shot.

Keeping Score - Sam is good at staying alive. Adventure. Sam remembers her past as she fights to stay alive and make it until her time finds her. One-shot.

Talking Strategy - TAG to The First Commandment. Friendship. After the death of Jonas Hansen, the guys try to get Sam to open up about her past with him and work through the funk she fell into. Some really lovely team moments in here. One-shot.

The Blue-Jello Metaphor - They were all eating Jell-O out of the long dessert glasses. She had her usual, the blue raspberry vivid and bright. The boys all had red Jell-O. She looked beyond them to the other tables. Every single person in her line of vision had red Jell-O. She glanced up at the dessert case along the food line. There sat the other glasses of blue. She knew that if she turned the other direction and looked at the other half of the cafeteria, there’d be more red Jell-O. She was the only blue. She stared down at her cup. She was always the only blue. Surrounded by a sea of red. Humor. This story gives an endearing and humorous look at a disgruntled Sam as she tries to navigate Air Force, team, and dating life as a genius scientist. I find this to be a good character sketch and really love the team dynamic portrayed. One-shot.

The Knife’s Edge of Madness - Alternate ending to Desperate Measures: What if Sam had managed to escape on her own without the team finding her? Angst/Drama. Trapped with few memories in the aftermath of Jolinar’s death, Sam finds herself sheltered in a hospital officially as a Jane Doe. While I don’t normally like stories about amnesia because the plot lines are often absurd and the handling of amnesia is almost never medically or psychologically accurate, this story manages to have a plausible explanation for the tramautic memory loss and explores several issues in memory retrieval and concepts of identity accurately and compellingly. This examination gives the reader a fascinating view of Jane coming to accept she’s Sam and relearning the whole process with her. One-shot.

The Most Wonderful - SG1 aren’t exactly where Jack wants them to be for the holidays. Gen. Set in early seasons, so it smells like original team spirit. Angst. Jack and Teal'c are left to save Sam and Daniel after they are trapped on an alien planet. Jack just wants to get home for Christmas. One-shot.

Under Fire - “She blinked up at him. “What happened?” she murmured.

“You tell me. One minute you’re doing a favorable impression of GI Jane, the next you were face-first in the dirt,” the Colonel said.“  Adventure/Drama. Carter and most of SG1 are injured offworld and have to struggle back to the gate, holding their own against three-foot, carnivorous lizards and other Jurassic threats. Set early in SG1’s history, the story explores team dynamics as well as providing a good inner monologue for Sam as she struggles to reconcile her skills and gender in a male-dominated world. The audience follows along through Sam’s POV, learning little bits and pieces about the situation as Sam does. Very good use of In Medias Res too. Overall, just a really well conceived, written, and executed story. One-shot.

Undertow - “Samantha Carter,” she managed to spit out, along with a mouthful of blood. Her tongue probed the gash inside her cheek and she was grateful to find no loose teeth. “Captain. United States Air Force. Service number 456731479 .” She couldn’t remember the question, but she knew this was the right answer – the only answer she had.“ Adventure/Hurt/Comfort. Carter and the team are captured offworld and Sam is being questioned/tortured after captors believe her to be a Goa'uld. The story is told from Sam’s POV and is as disjointed as he drugged thoughts would have been. Very well executed overall. One-shot.

Unsuspecting Universe - Two teammates alive, seven Jaffa dead. And one Captain Samantha Carter with a junked up weapon, and a glitter in her eye that boded badly for the universe. Adventure/Drama. Sam saves the team again with a McGyvered weapon and a little bit of luck. Jack is concerned that the universe will never be the same again. A fun look at Sam’s technical and tactical skills in the field. One-shot.

With Great Power - And what would you call me, a Tau'ri woman who can use the weapons of the gods? she challenged, power coursing through her until her whole body felt like static electricity was firing along every muscle and nerve fiber. No content to warn for. Adventure. BAMF!Sam has to get the boys out of trouble. The rest of the team are left to pick up the pieces, and their teammate, when it’s all over. An interesting look at the interaction between Sam and the ribbon device. One-shot.

Sam, Daniel Friendship

Eroding Away the Mountains - “If she’s learned anything over the past five years, over all the years of her life, it’s that the universe never pauses for you to catch up. Whatever happened yesterday, tomorrow will still come, because even time loops don’t last forever, and she has responsibilities that can’t be ignored. So she’ll go back to the Mountain, her lab, and a job she loves, even when it hurts.” Friendship. An exploration of Sam and Daniel’s friendships through a series of hikes. I really enjoyed that the friendship was built organically over time and that the loss of Daniel resonates with reader almost as much as it does with Sam. Bonus team interaction as well. One-shot.

Reckless - “This was the Sam that always surprised Daniel. Not the scientist or the soldier, but another person all together. Someone defined by an edge of recklessness that she normally hid underneath her levelheaded exterior.” Adventure. The gang is captured and Carter leads a minor revolt to save them. Sam-centric, but told from Daniel’s POV. This use of POV is a really creative character exploration for both Carter and Daniel. One-shot.

West - They gave her food and water and drew her a map to the city of Reata far away, where perhaps she could find the men she sought. “Stargate. Chapa Hi?” she said, so perhaps it was a farewell. “Chapa Hi,” they said in return, and sent Thaywood-ware-thees on her way with their best wishes. Adventure. Seperated from her team, Carter is stranded offworld where she doesn’t speak the language. She travels from town to town, continually getting sent further west, in search of her team and the Stargate. One-shot. Story is deleted! 

Sam, Teal'c Friendship

A Star At Dawn - While rescuing natives from a threatening volcano, SG-1 is caught in an avalanche. Angst/Drama. Teal'c is buried and Sam is injured. It’ll take both of them working together to live through the night. A welcome look at the friendship and bond between Sam and Teal'c, especially in the wake of losing Daniel and O'neill. One-shot.

The Working Hour - “I suppose you think I’m pretty weak.”

Teal’c looked up and realized she been watching him watching her. He shook his head. “No. I do not think you are weak. You have a warrior’s heart and a quick brain. You fought well, and you prevailed. That is not weak.” Adventure. Set early Season 1, Carter and Teal'c are stranded offworld and injured. Cue Carter being badass and Teal'c trying to reconcile his past as Apophis’ First Prime and his new role on the team and coming to trust a woman. I really enjoyed the writing style and the interaction between Sam and Teal'c. One-shot.

Sam/Janet (yay for underappreciated ships!)

Ten-Thousand Suns - Sam is trapped in the rubble after an earthquake collapses a building on an alien world. Hurt/Comfort. Janet and a team of specialists try to keep Sam alive long enough to free her from the rubble. For her part, Sam is just trying to keep it together as she fights for her life and fights for the realization of those that she loves. Featuring underappreciated ships that actually make a lot of cannon sense and ascended!Daniel. One-shot.

Jack/Sam

Camelot Episode Tag - What was Sam thinking at the end of Camelot? And what happened next? Sci-fi/Angst. The story follows Sam directly after the Ori arrive through the supergate and her recovery from free-floating in space. Bonus Married!jack/sam. One-shot.

Going Under - Set in Season 3. SG1 visit an alient planet, but their attempts at a meet and greet go wrong. Captured, seperated from the Colonel and under dire threat, they must find Jack and make their escape. Team fic, with S/J elements, but strictly within canon. Adventure. A planet-of-the-week story featuring BAMF!Sam, awesome team dynamics, and some hinted Jack/Sam. This story handled the adventurous and perilous atmosphere along with the friendship and working relationship of the team. Complete.

Patience - Patience may be a virtue, but it can also get you killed. Hurt/Comfort/Drama. Things have been tense between Jack and Carter lately and Jack suggests some time off for the overworked scientist. When Carter doesn’t show up to work the next day, Jack figures she took him up on his offer. Little does the team know that Sam is trapped in her car just outside Cheyenne Mountain. A story with Sam in peril and Sam getting herself out of peril. Also hints of Jack/Sam. One-shot.

Remember Days of Gladness When Sorrow is at Hand - “For the thousandth time that week, Sam felt her eyes prick with tears. You wouldn’t know it by looking at them, but all three of her guys could be ridiculously sweet sometimes.” S8 post-Threads fic. Canon S/J with a side of teamy goodness. Friendship/Romance. Carter is still grieving over the loss of her father and still coming down from defeating the replicators. Her team surprises early one morning with helping hands to give her the dream home she always wanted. Jack and Sam also have some nice, if awkward, conversations. One-shot.

Three Wishes - Mistaken for a genie, bashed on the head and captured along with Sam, Jack wakes up with wishes in mind… Friendship/Adventure. Poor Jack is just trying to get through their latest missions, and Sam is just trying to get both of them home. Fun Jack/Sam friendship and/or pre-relationship. One-shot.

Tumbling Down - “Hours later, Sam is leaning against the window, letting the cool glass leach the heat from her face, with Cam’s hand resting lightly on her left thigh. Across the booth Daniel is slumped back, third cup of coffee in his hand and Vala draped half-asleep against him… Atlantis is wonderful and it’s the command step her career needs, but sometimes she misses her team so much it hurts. She doesn’t known if it’s better or worse to know they’re still exploring the universe together without her.” Friendship/Romance. An episode!tag for SGA Trio. Sam returns Earth to heal after breaking her leg in the Pegasus Galaxy, her team and Jack take care of their injured teammate. Sam revisits some memories of her time on SG-1 and muses on the life - and relationships - she built and left behind. One-shot.

[dakilanglaagan]

Work from home is not everyone’s cup of tea. While many have succeeded with their home-based jobs, there are those who are still struggling on how to keep the balance between personal and professional life at home. This transition brought about by the coronavirus pandemic has undeniably changed everything that we have been accustomed to – and somehow affected not only our personal life, but as well as our mental and social balance.

 For months, it has been a personal struggle of mine as to how to keep up with life. As a weekend traveler, it was totally difficult to live a life within the walls of our house for almost five months now. That means no more hikes on weekends, no more major climbs, and no more flights and long bus rides.

Traveling was my personal brand of therapy – an escape from workloads and all the shits of this life. So, imagine having no escape for months. A total scuffle.

Mental Health Support

But you see, not all battles are meant to be faced alone. There are those that you can actually share and fight together with along with your friends.

So my friends and I decided to meet up online once a week, listen each other’s sentiments, and just be there for each other. We launched this activity that we fondly call as Fridates – an online meeting where we get to eat together, pray together, and do crazy games and activities. So far, for more than a month now, we have successfully consoled and entertained each other through our faith sharing, trivia, and kwentuhan.

Zoom Activities that you can do with Friends to support Mental Health

To spice up your online video chat and somehow make you feel at ease with whatever you are going through these days, here are some activities and games that you can try on Zoom, MS Teams, FB Rooms, Messenger Room, Google Meet, Skype, or whatever platform you choose to see each other.

Quarantine Kwentuhan

On our first week of Fridates, we just allowed each other to share whatever that is that we are feeling, what emotions have surfaced through the week, and what primarily triggers our emotions. Each one was given a chance to pour out whatever is bothering them. The rest of the group was just there to listen – no pieces of advice required. Because sometimes, we don’t need immediate solutions to whatever that is that we are feeling. We just need a space to blurt it out.

At the end of every sharing, provide a minute of reflective time to honor the sharing of your friends.

Trivia with Kahoot!

Another way to somehow entertain each other is to host a trivia night. During our Fridates, we assign a trivia master who will prepare a 15-item quiz (easy, moderate, and difficult round). The trivia master usually align the questions with the theme for the meeting, but he/she can always prepare informative and education fun facts to share.

Trivia Night with Kamote Club

Unsolicited opinion: Some of our trivia include categories on Kdrama, Asian Culture, Online Conference and Social Media Fun Facts.

Online Videoke

One of our Kamote Club members, Jacque, brought her singing career to the next level. She introduced the online videoke to us. As a facilitator, she created her own album with list of songs that we had to choose from and explain how such song resonate with what we are feeling. The twist? Those songs were actually real songs that were just tweaked. After explaining our song choice, we had to sing and complete the missing lyrics of the song to win the game.

Click here for sample Album Playlist

      Imagine us battling with internet connection but still singing along to Bee Gee’s Stayin’ Alive, Frozen’s Into the Unknown, MYMP’s Kailan, and many other songs included in her album. That was a hilarious night!

Kdrama Dub

Knowing how we have been infected by the Hallyu wave, our next facilitator asked us to dub some of our Kdrama favorites and create scripts that would allow us to rant our feelings for the week.

So try to imagine Captain Ri of Crash Landing on You ranting about quarantine, Moon Gang of It’s Okay not to be Okay complaining about government subsidy, and Kim Shin of Goblin whining about the lockdown.

Unsolicited tip: This is best done in pairs for dialogue. You may use Zoom’s breakout session to give time for each pair to practice.

Online Travel

Surely, there’s a number of cancelled trips because of the pandemic. But if you’re creative enough, you can still travel with friends online! We even made it international!

Kamote Club goes to Thailand!

One fun way to spice up your zoom meeting is to agree on a certain theme. On our fourth and fifth week of Fridates, we agreed to go to South Korea and Thailand. The hosts shared informative input about these countries and even asked us to speak like locals!

Online Bingo!

Did you know that you can actually play Bingo online? Simply generate cards that your members can use and then maximize Google Random Numbers to draw. The thrill is actually real because of the internet connection and believe me, everyone’s actually competitive without you knowing it.

Bring Me!

Who’s not familiar with Bring Me? No one. This is an all-time classic party favorite. But did you know that you can actually play this online? On one of our Fridates, we were tasked to find anything that we can use for a bracelet. Pressured with time, we had to look for whatever that we can find at home. And guess what, it was totally fun to see what each one got through their search.

Unsolicited advice: Once everyone was able to bring whatever is asked of them, let them relate to their life whatever that is that they have brought. Believe me, the wisdom of your friends will get too deep.

Charades

If you can’t say it, act it! Charades is another way to make your online meeting livelier. The internet will get crazy with your friends guesses.

Another variation of this is Pictionary, Pinoy Henyo, and Read my Lips.

Online Dinner Date

No need to have a girl/boyfriend to be able to get on a date. Eat together with your friends! On our Fridates, we actually dinner together. If opportunity permits, we agree to have the same dish and share tips on how we prepared our meal (or where we ordered them). On our previous meetings, we had Barbecue Night, Milk Tea Meeting, and Samgyupsal Online!

Faith Sharing

More than anything else, I hope that your online meetings also give you time not only to talk, but most importantly, to pray for each other. Every week we assign a prayer leader who introduces us various ways of praying.

Once we had a song reflection, then we had a guided Eightfold Path meditation, Bible verse sharing, and Virtual Friendship Bond Prayer. Even a simple prayer for each other will do.

More than anything else, we have to establish our online community in order to support each other these trying times. We have to normalize conversations with regards to mental health because suppressed feelings can lead into anxiety… or worse. Remember that: What you can’t say owns you; what you hide controls you.

Let’s be there for each other! Plan your Fridates with friends now!

Support Mental Health: Creative Zoom Activities to do with Friends Work from home is not everyone’s cup of tea. While many have succeeded with their home-based jobs, there are those who are still struggling on how to keep the balance between personal and professional life at home.

[westphotolukedas]

Nadav Kander - The Meeting

210220

Nadav Kander (Born 1961) is the first photographer that I cite in conversation about which practitioner has influenced me the most. He was born in Tel Aviv and based in London, although he does not regard himself to be British. His photographs are a part of the collections at the National Portrait Gallery and Victoria and Albert Museum.

Kander began taking pictures at 13 years old with a Pentax camera. In the South African Air Force, he processed film and printed aerial photographs. In 1986, he moved to London where he currently resides with his wife and three children. Portraiture and landscape photography are the main genres that he is best known. I have an appreciation for the consistency in his career, which has traversed 30 years across fine art and commercial platforms. He has photographed celebrities, models and a multitude of other sitters. In 2009, his 52 portraits published in The New York Times Magazine portrayed President Barack Obama and his closest associates. It is the largest portfolio of work that the publication has ever showcased. Later that year, Kander was awarded the prestigious Prix Pictet Earth for Yangtze - The Long River (2008). The shortlist of nominees included Ed Kashi, Andreas Gursky and Naoya Hatakeyama. The list of his other awards is extensive and includes a World Press Photo Award 2013 and 2014, Honorary Fellowship from The Royal Photographic Society 2015 and Outstanding Contribution to Photography from Sony World Photography 2019. (Lens Culture, 2020)

During the World Press Photo Exhibition 2014 at the Southbank Centre, London, I was particularly taken by Kander’s 3rd Prize entry of actor Chiwetel Ejiofor. The photograph first appeared in New York Magazine as a staged portrait to commemorate the British actor. Ejiofor, played a black man kidnapped in 19th Century America and sold into the slave trade in the film 12 Years a Slave (2013). He received an Oscar nomination for the role and won Best Actor at the BAFTA awards. Actors have a trained ability to respond to a camera. He appears poised yet relaxed. Kander’s characteristic turquoise key light is apparent with a red back light to highlight the outline of the sitter. The lack of a fill light leaves a proportionate amount of this face in an enigmatic shadow. This low-key lighting design gives the photograph a sombre tone. Emphasis is placed upon Ejiofor’s eyes, which reveals the complexity of his role in the film. As a viewer of the work in person, I felt a closer affinity to the subject when it was close to life sized. Its considered forms had a significant presence akin to a drawing, painting or sculpture. (World Press Photo, 2020)

The Meeting (2019) is a book that acts as a homage to Kander’s career, with photography from his early foray into the genre to illustrious works recognised within the fine art and academic communities. The annotations add insightful anecdotes about each piece and the man himself. The opening, entitled ‘The Triangle’ outlines a relationship of personal interest to me between sitter, photographer and viewer.

‘I don’t photograph to tell stories. I photograph to make stories. The viewer, if they hold their gaze long enough, becomes the author of the work’s meaning.

Consider there’s a metaphorical suitcase packed with white, grey and darker clothing that we carry around with us wherever we go. When we meet someone, we choose what items to show; maybe only clean white shirts, perhaps darker one. This unpacking is symbolic of a meeting. Much like when I work with a sitter. Our stories collide and change depending on the day, the weather, our emotional states.

If I manage to make a portrait that stirs a viewer then they complete what I call ‘The Triangle’ by bringing their own story or state of mind to the picture. This is fundamental to me, but often missed or misunderstood, because photography is still considered by many to be a record of an event. It is that; but it is not only that. How can it be?

Perhaps if we replace the word ‘photographer’ with ‘poet’ the point becomes clear. It is accepted wisdom when it comes to poetry that every individual reader finds his or her own meaning in the poem and this perspective is unique - no more less valid that yours or mine. The same, in my view, is true of photography.’

In email correspondence between 4th and 28th April 2019 with David Campany, Kander describes his photographic process. These extracts resonated with me as a practitioner of portraiture and landscape photography.

NK - I’ve walked down one road since I started photographing when I was 13. I feel I haven’t deviated at all. I still need my work to strike the same chords in me that I’ve always longed and striven for. My photographs (however varied a viewer might find them) come from the same inner place. I seem to revisit a slowed-down reality, which is very beautiful and important to me. Slow, quiet and slightly uneasy, alluding to more going on beneath what you first see. The subconscious need to express what feels meaningful and profound never goes away. I just try many ways to revisit it, to come at it from different directions.

DC - The portraits you’ve made seem to have quite a special place in your work. As if a face, or a person, is a way to get to the tension between surface and depth. I feel the human face is somehow already an image before it’s photographed. It’s already a kind of presentation, or representation of the self, although a very fragile and elusive one.

NK - That is beautifully put! Yes, my photographs of people are an essential part of my practice.

They follow on from my photographing landscape. When first dealing with landscape I realised it wasn’t the natural environment I was after, but the man-altered landscape. I focused on a darker nature, our destructive ambivalence to our surroundings, but I shrouded these scenes in beauty using compositions that, purely from their form, colour and weight, would have an effect on me apart from the information shown.

DC - Portraiture is often thought of as a two-way exchange, between photographer and sitter, but you’ve talked often of the viewer being crucial to meaning. That said, there’s a real intimacy to your portraits, as if these people have been given the freedom to forget their audience momentarily. We viewers can look, without feeling we’re being performed to. Is this how it is?

NK - I’ve had to think a long time about your question. Much of what I do is intuitive so finding the words is difficult. When I’m in front of a person (or a landscape for that matter), there’s nothing in my head that matters. I’m just looking with so much concentration that sometimes it feels as if I might explode. I do not want to be stirred so badly! All I want is for something to show itself, something that if I release the shutter will become an image that will stir me and unsettle me. To get close to this I must direct people very softly, subtly, and create the appropriate light so that they experience something of themselves. Any frivolous act for the viewer will never work; it would appear transparent. It has to be just for them and me. Only once this is successful does the viewer enter and make up the triangle. Artist, subject and viewer - each one a part of the whole.

From beneath the surface beauty, comes an existential call that touches on questions of destiny and the unknown. The works of Hans Bellmer, Man Ray, Raoul Hausmann, Dalí and Hans (Jean) Arp have also had a big influence on me. Although my work is not surreal, the feeling I get from the work of these artists is something I always search for. For example Jean Arp’s sculptures were very informative when I began photographing the nudes that became the series ‘Bodies - 6 Women, 1 Man’.

DC - It’s interesting that you put it that way. Very often I find myself wondering what landscapes your sitters were in just before they came to you, what it was - out there in the world - that is on their mind as you make the photograph.

NK - A portrait is one way of looking at some facets of our condition. There’s a precious and beautiful flicker of understanding, or the opposite, that shows itself for short periods and disappears. These periods, which I must see and try to photograph, are often responses to the light or the atmosphere that the light imbues. I must try to recognise them as an image that has what I love; depth of feeling, vulnerability and poise, pride and soul, a recognition of something more than just this moment now. Little of this clear to me, but this is the best I can do to explain it. (Kander, 2020)

Summary

It is an inevitability that a photographer emulates their heroes. Whenever I read that someone like Kander also had starting points for their practice, I am encouraged. I have covered in detail the practitioners that have inspired me for this project - Smith, Andrew, Refn, Sigel and Norwood. There are blog posts committed to each of them. However, I felt that Kander required more substantial meditation. There are parallels between his voice and my own - low key lighting and moody colour saturation delivered with a quiet temperament. He reveals that these attributes are the reflection of triangles that he forms between himself, his sitter and viewer. A sitter may choose to present themselves in any number of ways to his lens then this narrative is open for further interpretation by anyone that encounters his imagery. During his interview with Campany, he explains that he implements soft direction, free of frivolity to search for each photograph. He also explains a slow and quietened reality that he occupies beneath the surface appearance of what he sees.

The Ejiofor portrait inspired me during a formative stage of my photography. There is overlap with the other photographers and cinematographers that I have mentioned. Low key lighting is a continuous theme; however, Kander’s renderings have more depth. He is reluctant for media attention and I found The Meeting (2019) to be highly enlightening. His is the work of a ‘poet’ acting as a ‘photographer’, to use his own metaphor. As an analytical student, I have attempted to dissect what makes Kander, Kander. An awareness of his process is just the beginning. My lighting will resemble his, in addition my direction style is already collaborative instead of dictatorial. Any additional intricacies are unique to his voice. As I develop as a photographer myself, I am hopeful to have as reputable career and recognition. There are plenty more triangles that I am eager to construct.

Bibliography

Kander, N. (2019). The Meeting. London: Steidl

Lens Culture (2020). Biography. Lens Culture. Available from

www.lensculture.com/nadav-kander

[Accessed 10/04/2020]

World Press Photo (2020). 2014 Photo Contest. World Press Photo. Available from

www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo/2014/29789/1/2014-Nadav-Kander-PS3

[Accessed 10/04/2020]

Nadav Kander, Chiwetel Ejiofor, 2014

[booklust]

futurelit vol 3: starlit void

I knew for a fact that for volume 3, I had to cover a twitter bot. Come hang with me and starlit void for a while and see why---

The boom of Creative Writing Twitter is a natural extension of how we communicate today: quickly, constantly, concisely, urgently. But short doesn’t mean simple: following the ethos of writing (or subverting) formal verse poetry, the restraints of Twitter often produce the most creative content. Among them are many creative writing-oriented twitterbots. These clusters of code generate tweets following a certain linguistic--and sometimes also visual--structure a set amount of times per day. Some results are "better” (more beautiful, or more hilarious, or more surprising, or more mundane, or more....) than others, but it’s always enchanting to watch unfold. The dependable, structured presence of twitterbots--however unexpected the results---on our feeds makes them eventually feel like a friend---oddly human. One creative writing bot that stands out to me is starlit void’s quietscape--the bot pairs a colorful, randomly generated, geometric digital landscape picture with a short, fantastical suggestion/description. Each tweet creates an environment for thoughts to exist in, like a creative writing prompt. At least for me, it serves an essential meditative function within hectic internet space. I knew that my conversation with starlit void would be a rad discussion about writing and tech, but it bloomed into so much more: an oral history of bot world, seriously cool meditations on mental health, Soundcloud playlist suggestions, + more! Keeping with the futurelit tradition (and my own personal tradition), we avoided a phone call and did our chat over Twitter DMs this time:

what is your favorite environment to create in? (whether it's a certain physical space, listening to a certain kind of music/silence, etc.) 

i typically like to be well-caffeinated, alone or in a cafe, & excited about getting something working.... there's a thin line between excited & stressed about how something is going to turn out. i used to go to "game jams" until i discovered it was actually really stressful for me. i'm trying to be more relaxed about my creative output (this is easier said than done) & trying to avoid equating prolificness w/ human value. i think i do my best work when the intended audience is very selective, even 1 or 2 people, or just for myself. i also listen to what i call "robot music" a lot, for example this sort of mix.

----continue below----

tell me a little bit about how you came up with your bot 'quietscape' -- what were your inspirations for it? as i believe you had already guessed, @quietscape was first intended as a prompt bot, for getting some creative thoughts limbered up. at first the output was text only, which was easy to do using tracery (TRACERY PLUG: tracery by @galaxykate along w/ http://cheapbotsdonequick.com by @v21 are hands down the greatest twitterbot making tools around, lowering bar to entry for many many people into the complex world of botmakery). i think at first i did use a few of them as prompts, but quietscape was ultimately too bland & not interesting enough. i added the raytraced images as a proof-of-concept & it's remained almost unchanged ever since. quietscape is still a work in progress!!!!! of course after adding images i came up w/ a huge complex system of how this takes place on a mysterious earth-sized artifact orbiting a binary star system blah blah blah but i felt it was more important to synchronize tweets to my own daytime schedule. i found some code to roughly calculate sunlight intensity & sunrise/sunset times at roughly my latitude for a planet that's roughly earthlike & that was "good enough"! the schedule is also in line w/ some of my thoughts on bot tweeting volumes. i like that quietscape only tweets 5 times a day (dawn, afternoon, dusk, midnight, & a daily "shrine" tweet), which i think helps keep xem from getting too familiar or overstaying xyr welcome. i love procedural generation but our minds can feel out the recurring pattern of a bot very quickly, even if there are 50 bazillion possible combinations, which sounds good on paper but doesn't actually provide human quality variety in the output. my partial answer was to make a terse bot. as far as actual inspirations go: quietscape owes quite a lot to tsutomu nihei's architectural renderings, @katierosepipkin & @lorenschmidt's collaborative work, and @edclef & @davidkanaga's game _proteus_. the daily "shrine" tweets are thanks to @trapitolina's @obelisk_bot, which got me thinking about adding more of a physical location feel to quietscape.

what do you love most about coding as an art/writing form, and how did you get into it? i see generative & algorithm-assisted creativity as a vast & mostly untapped field, where the product isn't really the product, but a wild & nearly organic factory that can make lots of weird & surprising things. i think @katierosepipkin said it best in their interview: "Here, the cartographer draws the cliffs that contain a sea of one hundred thousand artworks. And then one searches for the most beautiful piece of coral inside of their waters." this resonates w/ me, especially this feedback loop of curated generation (generate a huge number of results & then pick out the best ones). of course that's hard to do when making a bot that supposedly exists independent of human interference. there are a lot of successful procedurally generated experiences out there & yet i think there is much to be learned about how we can work hand-in-hand w/ computers to make more human accessible works. @emshort explores this a whole bunch in her notes following the text of "the annals of the parrigues" (see page 81), "the state of the roads", & it's really eye-opening & exciting. on the other end of the spectrum, it's exciting to me that there are several wonderful tools available for picking up rule-based creativity & just making it. i would love to make tools that help people get started down the road of algorithmic creativity. i would love to see more voices using these techniques.

I can't help but notice that your 'quietscape' website is hosted on neocities---were you into geocities when you were younger? and if so, do you have any cool memories about it? (or about any other piece of the internet that's not around anymore that you're nostalgic for?)   sure!!! i had a geocities site & i'm still known to gawk in awe at mid-90s web aesthetics. but even more important than that, i think it's crucial we move away from centralized conglomerate based media platforms for our creative output. html remains a viable technology for sharing ideas & presenting them online, & to get started you just need to copy paste some nearly-human-readible code. returning to lists of url links & webrings & simple web crawlers as the means to discover other sites.... it's not democratic or equal in any sense, but in hindsight it seems better than entrusting your content to an algorithm w/ an intrinsic corporate bias. geocities was the era during which we were sure that the internet had come to free us all from ignorance & relying on centralized systems. 20 years later, 3 or 4 companies control almost everything you do online. the bleak cyberpunk corporate surveillance police state of the 80s is happening instead. i'd love to go back to those innocent days & work for a better distribution of technology. or breaking systems down, i don't know. relying on systems is killing us.

which projects are you currently working on, or would like to in the near future? the big theme of what it would be like to live in a weird endless megastructure has haunted me for about 15 years so i'll probably still find ways to explore that in future work. the two other forces that draw me kind of go hand in hand but they're also kind of opposite. i'd like to put more of myself in my work, & focus on some of the changes & revelations i've had over the past few years (gender, sexuality, identity in general). but also i'd like to address bigger issues, like stepping down & propping up marginalized voices.

post an image/images that feels like 'the future' to you (x) love mushbush's work & it feels out of time & futuristic in a playful way!

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasWatches: My Hero Academica

If there’s something I needed in my Anime Repertoire, it was a fun, pulpy Shonen Series.

I have selected My Hero Academia because frog girl.

Tsuyu Asui and the various tumblr posts she spawned is what drew my attention, and I was hearing good things about the series, so I thought I’d give it a go. Plus I’m catching it in the early stages, so there’s not too much of an archive to panic over. It’s a good time to get in.

I’m not one for long runners, since I enjoy definite start and end points.[1] Media designed to just go on forever, stuffed with filler and formula is a quick eject for me. And I’ve never been one for fighty man Shounen.

I couldn’t get into Dragon Ball Z, because I only caught brief segments, and those segments were the parts with Goku floating there staring down his enemy. Or Buu turning someone into a cookie and eating them. Contextless nonsense that was very unappealing.[2]

Naruto began it’s dubbed broadcast as I entered Middle School. However, those were troubled times of much grounding due to academic indifference, and I couldn’t be bothered to monitor the broadcast schedule. So I fell off the Naruto train… basically after the second episode.

I didn’t care about pirates enough to try One Piece, and Bleach seemingly left no cultural weight to enter the equation.[3]

However, these reviews are nothing if not a bizarre justification for making up for my misspent youth. Because yearning for the nostalgic past is what adulthood is for.

And I finally committed to Funimation’s streaming service, so, yay! More dubs for Canvas![4] Which leaves only the Viz stable to have difficulties with.

So… why does My Hero Academia succeed where it’s predecessors fail?

Likeable cast, mostly. While other self-perpetuating shonens have large casts with various interesting gimmicks, usually only one or two will resonate with the viewer, and there’s often little by way of character complexity or arcs.

Meanwhile, MHA has a cast that, oddly, are mostly characterized by positivity. There’s one or two grumpy loners, sure, but they’re handled with an almost parody tone, and the rest are actually nice kids you can appreciate.

And our protagonist, Deku, is notable for not being uniquely special. At the outset, he’s in the minority of people without powers. He eventually gains some, a decision I’m… conflicted on, but he gets superpowers by earning them.

Deku’s a tenacious fanboy, particularly idolizing the biggest hero in the world, wanting to follow the man’s example. However, as he doesn’t have a gift, he’s seemingly incapable of reaching that point.

Our hero takes this in stride, instead dedicating his attention to analyzing heroes and their methods. He’s a very clever and intelligent protagonist, and considering he’s following the trail of Naruto and freaking Goku, that defining trait is a refreshing departure.

Then he earns his chance at his dreams by being undeniably heroic despite being a squib.

Now there are obviously two sides to Deku inheriting All Might’s power:

One one hand, we miss the story of a muggle climbing his way up the ranks through sheer willpower and analysis.

But, with him getting All Might’s power, we instead see a young boy struggle with a power well beyond his control and capabilities.

While I’d prefer the Rock Lee route, the physical struggle of Deku literally destroying himself with every use of One for All, and the ramifications (risk of permanent damage and Deku needing to use it strategically) is a compelling narrative thrust in its own right, so I can’t complain too much.

The duality of All Might is an interesting sight to behold. In full hero mode, he’s nothing if not positive and encouraging. Outside of that persona, All Might is a little pessimistic and grumpy, but he still has a clear streak of good that’s never suppressed, even when he’s feeling sick.

It would’ve been easy and in line with established tropes to make All Might a lazy and harsh task master, but even when sending Deku through an excessively intense training regiment, All Might’s encouraging and positive, pushing Deku not for his selfish purposes, but because he honestly believes in Deku.

Then, after Deku goes above and beyond the task All Might set (clear out a stretch of beach), All Might tells his student to eat a strand of his hair, which is precisely the sort of thing I make jokes about when watching television.[5]

The even more amazing thing is that this positivity isn’t exclusive to All Might. The entire hero cast are positive and supportive people. Besides Bakugo, who’s the childhood friend turned rival character, no one specifically puts down anyone else. Every challenge and lesson has the whole of Class 1-A cheering each other on.

Even during the admission trials, where they’re literally competing against one another, you never see any character go out of their way to sabotage another.

Normally, it’s so easy to make the main character a total reject, give them a whole community of opposition and conflict. So it’s refreshing that everyone who wants to be a hero is a positive person.

It’s the same reason so many people gush over pages featuring Batman offering sympathy to others instead of punches. We want our heroes to be the best example of humanity, something to aspire to be.

Which is the exact philosophy that brings All Might to take Deku under his wing.

Then Bakugo, who’s introduced as a violent bully, wanting to believe heroics is his birthright, becomes mocked for being such a hothead. He’s got a powerful quirk, was number one for the admission test, but the rest of the class silently agree that they don’t wish to abide by his attitude. And it’s not even bullying Bakugo, but more gentle mocking and pushback against his egocentrism and violence.

Because the class are still children, but their nature shows a preference toward acceptance and teamwork, and an openness for redemption.  The class’s treatment of Bakugo is negativity towards his current actions, not the kid himself.

UA is structured to be a competitive environment, a whetstone to hone the next generation of heroes. You have to compete in a trial to get into the programs, teachers can expel whole classes, and you can lose your spot in class to someone in a ‘lesser’ course. However, even when the cast are explicitly telling one another they’re gunning for each other, it’s usually with a tone of ‘nothing personal, it’s just the situation,’ and there’s no hard feelings. No one resents anyone else, really, and there’s no hesitation to work together when the situation calls for it.

Which is important because this is a show for children, and it’s showing, by example, that intent and actions are a better defining trait than raw ability or natural born talent.

A lot of the quirks are explicitly underwhelming. Class 1-A runs the gamut between making explosions, nullifying gravity, sticky balls, being invisible, and having a tail, with various and unequal limitations. It’s not what you have that makes you good or evil, it’s what you do with it.

To further cement this, One for All is absurdly powerful, and after a training montage, Deku’s given a portion of the quirk. And that portion is so strong, so powerful, that even with the preparation All Might put him through, using it still physically breaks Deku.

Which means, while most Shonens are about the protagonist becoming stronger, working their way to being the best there is, Deku literally gets handed that strength in episode 4.  So, instead of growing powerful, Deku has to learn restraint and self control when using One for All.

Because being a hero isn’t about being better than everyone else, it’s about using what you have effectively to make the world around you a better place, with both physical abilities and personality.

Deku has the right personality and philosophy, he needs to learn how to use his power.

Bakugo knows how to use his power, but he doesn’t quite have the needed interpersonal skills or humility.

Thus why the two are the rivals.

The actual arcs do a good job of tracing old structures while also bringing in its own twists.

There is, of course, the introductory arc, where we’re introduced to the protagonist whose dream seems impossible to him, until a mentor figure steps in and grants him the one thing needed to proceed (A quirk for Deku, headwear for Naruto and Luffy). Then he meets his crush and turns a few low-grade rivals into allies (like you do) as he begins the journey to become the best… hero/ninja/pirate/grim reaper?[6]

Deku takes the entrance examine, which he technically failed, but he put in such a good effort that he was given bonus points so he could enroll at UA anyways.

Then we get a nice mix of Slice of Life and implied opposition from a mentor figure, who turns out to have been performing a secret test of character.

Next, the main cast is given their first field mission, which suddenly becomes a lot more serious than expected.

Which brings us to the end of the first season.

So, a quality that I find takes a series from good to great is its approach to balancing drama and comedy: namely, no one’s truly exempt from either. Naruto had shades of it, Fullmetal Alchemist did it to the hilt. Sometimes it’s well set-up jokes, sometimes it’s just goofy character designs.[7]

Class 1-A is filled with goofballs, and even though they serious up when a horde of villains crash their first rescue training mission, their personalities are able to leak a good amount of comedy where needed.

Then the entirety of the second season is dedicated to the required tournament arc. Which… okay, time for Canvas to zone out, right?

Well, no. Because My Hero Academia is pretty good at both dynamic combat and interesting situations. Further, the previous season already did a good job of establishing people’s powers, so there’s space to split the focus between showing fine details and solid character work.

UA’s tournament is actually a broadcasted sports festival, so the competition starts with a obstacle course, which revels in all the slapstick potential inherent. Deku also wins it by looking at the mine field that is the final obstacle, and says ‘Nah. I can use this.’

Good for our hero!

Then, the second event is a cavalry battle,[8] where Deku’s reward for winning the first event is getting a 10 million point bounty on his head. It’s so unfair it turns to the realm of parody. Which I’m all about.

The second event is thus a showcase of Quirk Synergy, more of Deku’s strategy and resulting counter strategies, and more slapstick. So that’s nice.

Since Deku soundly won the first round, our protagonist is getting diminishing returns for the rest of the arc.

The third event is straight up tournament battles, but with most of the cast already eliminated, so that saves time, and the show only really focuses on the big events, split between the second half of one episode and the first of another. Between those, there are match ups that are just squashes[9] and comedy.

The final winner is then Hannibal Lecter’d on the podium in a great mix of character drama (he didn’t like the way he won) and comedy (because the final winner has to be actively restrained and muzzled. That’s just silly!)

Then the cast picks out their codenames.

Which pretty much brings us even to where the dub’s gotten.

I’m having a good time with the show, and I look forward to more episodes. It’s going to be interesting to follow an anime episode by episode instead of marathoning the whole thing through. Let’s see if I can keep my sanity.

Kataal kataal.

[1] There are exceptions, mostly in the form of webcomics and Discworld. [2] Dragon Ball, meanwhile, had a youthful energy that drew me in. But it also aired infrequently so I never got totally invested. [3] Okay, I had a high school friend who was interested, much to the annoyance of another high school friend, who had a weak understanding of difference in media interests. [4] You had your chance Crunchyroll! [5] Seriously, ask Vulpin, it’s exactly my humor. [6] Again, never got into Bleach. [7] Depowered All-Might looks like a muppet. [8] A sport I’ve only seen in the context of anime, but should totally be more common. [9] Following a wrestling podcast may be helping me appreciate some of the meta-aspects of fight scenes.

[avoresmith]

About Ajin and AV’s delicate feelios

I want to explain why I love Ajin because it's quite personally important to me and while my immediate social circle has heard me talk about this quite a bit in the last few days, ya'll haven't. In fact, most of you probably haven't even heard about this manga.

But to talk about it means spoiling a (fairly early) reveal of the manga. It's not a big deal to be spoiled for it probably, but I wasn't. So I'll start with just the Impersonal Deets for those of you who might like to go in unspoiled.

Ajin's premise is that of a world wherein within the last generation, humanity has discovered that there are ajin/demi-humans living among them. Demi-humans are in a lot of ways no different than regular humans, except that they can't die. They don't have super strength, they aren't a different species in the sense that ajin parents have ajin children (not as far as we know, anyway), they can summon cool ghosts with limited abilities and if they die they will return to life within seconds, unharmed.

You don't find out you are a demi-human until you die once, but demi-humans are considered nonhumans with no rights and society is quick to turn on them.

Ajin's focus is primarily on a ruthlessly efficient exploration of the world dynamics it's established around the powers of demi-humans and how they operate. It is really fun, because so many manga see the solution to whatever problem they set up as more strength, cooler super powers. Ajin is much more interested in playing chess with a pre-established and limited number of pieces.

Think about it: normal humans who don't regenerate from any injury unless they die, but WILL come back from any kind of death. How do you stop such a person and how do they make themselves harder to stop? Incapacitate them, okay. But if you injure them, can't they then just kill themselves to recover from any injury? Knock them out then, but not too hard or they might die, and then you're back to square one. Or tranq them, but careful not to cause an OD. Or, kill them repeatedly so they can't move. Long enough to get them in restraints that a human can't escape.

So then you have them, what do you do with them? What does an undying body that will regenerate any lost body parts upon death mean to what group of people? What would a government organization do with such a thing? What about a criminal one? What about a scientific one? What about a corporation?

What is the value of an undying body, and to who, how do you extract that value from it? And if YOU are unable to die, what do you do with it? Do you fight, knowing that death isn't an option as a release from your war if you lose? Do you hide? Do you go on a power trip? Do you see more or less value in life overall?

Ajin is largely a systematic exploration of these questions and dozens of others extrapolated through a very simple premise and lived by a group of amoral and largely un-empathetic characters.

It's terribly smart, pretty fast paced, and absolutely dedicated to its premise.

Character wise, you may care about about 3 or 4 people, as long as you aren't bothered by No One Is Actually Very Good and Almost No One Scores Higher Than A 3.5 out of 10 On Giving A Fuck About Other Human Beings.

It actually has some of my favorite character writing ever, but I don't have an issue with a cast of low empathy assholes.

For warnings other than that:

Bad at remembering women exist. For the majority of the manga there is Only One Actually Relevant Female Character. Weirdly also has some of the best writing I've ever seen for a tertiary female character. There isn't any fanservice, the author just seems to forget women exist outside of very specific tropes, but does write those tropes well. Seems to be improving slowly. I believe in him on this front more than I believe in Kojima.

The writing in the first four chapters is Not Good. It's very trope heavy, contrived, and nonspecific. I didn't find it painful but I did roll my eyes a lot and it set a really low bar, haha. Then artist takes over the job of writing as well, and there is pretty immediate improvement in both art and writing over the course of the manga. Has some fantastic scenes. Possibly the best mother character I've ever seen?? Also has one of the best versions I've ever seen of a specific villain trope.

Don't watch the anime, read the manga. It's available legally online via Crunchyroll and Comixology.

Now if you're like. GOSH AV, SEEMS INTERESTING, BUT IT'S WEIRD YOU HAVE SAID BASICALLY NOTHING ABOUT CHARACTERS.

Well friend that's because Ajin also has perhaps one of my favorite protagonists of all time but I can't tell you why without spoiling the first uuh. 17ish? Chapter of the manga. (it's monthly so that's about the first 3rd of what is out now).

So if you want to know more than I THINK NAGAI KEI IS THE BEST EVER AND YOU SHOULD READ HIS MANGA. Continue under the cut:

Nagai Kei, the 17 year old protagonist of the manga who gets hit by a truck in chapter 1 and finds out he can't die, is a sociopath.

Or maybe he's Incredibly Low Empathy.

I honestly don't care which, I feel like if you're quibbling over Full Sociopath or 90% Sociopath you're missing the point. He literally popcorns the deaths of thousands of civilians and acknowledges it as a 'pretty good move' of a terrorist to make. He has incredibly little empathy.

But he is also, inarguably, the hero of the story.

Not the most heroic of heroes, also inarguable. But that's sort of what the story is about, when it isn't about murder chess. The exploration of a kid who isn't motivated by how much he Cares About People, still coming to risk everything he has to Do What Is Right. And him turning away the chance to BE a villain, even though, aren't sociopaths always villains? Isn't that the constant implication, that if you don't Care Like Most People Care, you don't care at all? Without empathy, what motivates one to not be a villain? A huge number of canons would suggest the answer is nothing.

Fandom AND mainstream media really likes the romanticize the villainous sociopath. And look, me fucking too! I love many of those assholes. But it's also frustrating to watch people struggle to scrounge up reasons to justify lack of empathy as somehow an excuse for why a character can still Not Be That Bad even when they have done Super Bad Things.

Ajin, though Kei, sets a different standard. You can try to stop a war and save countless lives for motivations other than how much the suffering of others bothers you. You can choose not to kill for reasons other than some inexplicable conviction that 'all human life is equally valuable'. You can not give a fuck about someone's pain without being a sadist, and you can protect someone without fearing a life without them. You can make tons of Right Choices Which Benefit Others without thinking your life is worth less than a large quantity of people you have no personal investment in.

And it does it without actually disparaging empathy, either. The lesson isn't That Feelings Are Stupid And You Should be 100% Rational at all.

Rather, it's the nuanced story of a boy with little to no empathy struggling to navigate the feelings he very much actually has but has convinced himself he doesn't and can't have because lack of feeling for others is often conflated with lack of any kind of emotion. Kei has bought into this narrative as much as anyone, and constantly has a Logical Reason for everything on hand, lest he ever be forced to admit He Had A Feeling.

Kei's primary struggle as a character is admitting to himself that he cares about Very Specific Things, and that this motivates his actions when by every logical choice he really should be running as far away from the plot as he can get and never looking back.

And I… relate. Incredibly.

And I never have before, is the thing.

And that's okay. I was not yearning to have a character of low enough empathy that processes the world the same way I do. That inofitself would probably be a weird thing for someone with low empathy to even think to need. You don't really grow up giving incredibly little fucks about how others feel only to be distressed when there isn't media that you can relate to. I long ago Accepted The Importance Of Representation In Media but never in a million years would have told you "I wish I saw someone who had as little empathy as me being a hero, because actually I work pretty hard to fit a certain standard of Good Person, and this is an incredibly underexplored perspective".

But now that I've seen it, and it happened, I can tell you it Means A Lot, and I Had Quite A Few Feelings About It.

Reading Kei's story is in a lot of ways like flipping through a diary of my own emotional growth. We went into our teenage years with very different priorities (I was raised to value interpersonal relationships very highly and got into fiction at a young age, Kei was raised to see relationships as tools and has been fixated on medicine most of his short life), but none-the-less we've had a lot of the same questions, insecurities, frustrations.

And because SO MUCH of what Kei says, how he processes the world, how he responds in almost every situation, is viscerally familiar to me, I find myself terribly fond of him. I've never so much honestly wanted to shake a character and give him life advice because I know what he's going through and I know he can come out of it.

I'm also unfortunately fond of the author at this point. It certainly isn't impossible that I'm completely wrong and he is just very good at character perspective, but I find it difficult to imagine that he hasn't also really really been there.

And I'd kind of love to take him out for a beer sometime and shoot the shit about what it's like to be a confused teenager who is constantly disappointing people because they keep expecting an emotional resonance you haven't learned to perform on cue yet.

[ralphlayton]

6 New Rules for B2B Marketing in the COVID-19 Era

I was supposed to go to an Alanis Morissette concert this July. When the pandemic hit hard in March, I wasn’t ready to cancel my ticket yet. Surely, surely we would have it sorted in time for an outdoor concert four months from now. I held out hope. Then, in June, she rescheduled for July, 2021. And now I’m wondering if that will be enough time. Isn’t it ironic?  Don’t you think? All of which to say: This pandemic has been around for longer than we thought it would, and is looking to linger far longer than we would like. What seemed like a brief, surreal interlude to be gotten through has now become a reality to live with, at least for the time being. As B2B marketers, we need to reassess how we are adapting our marketing to our buyers’ current situation. We’re no longer scrambling to cobble together short-term fixes — we need to be out of reaction mode and into strategic planning mode. Our marketing agency has been helping clients revise their marketing plans for months now, from messaging and audience to tactics and measurement. Here are a few rules we’ve picked up that other marketers should follow:

6 New Rules for B2B Marketing in the COVID-19 Era

Rule #1: Always Be Relevant

Okay, this is less a NEW rule than a timely reminder. I’m sure most marketers who read our blog (as smart, skilled and beautiful as you are) don’t need to hear it. But just in case: You should never come to an audience without something of value. Corollary: “Something of value” can not equal “Knowledge of how our product/solution can improve your life.” People are distracted and stressed. They’re dealing with a new crisis every day. They’re spending way more time with their children than is psychologically healthy. And they have more content than ever before to occupy their free time. If you’re asking for their attention, you must reward it. Be entertaining, be useful, be both if you can. [bctt tweet="'Be entertaining, be useful, be both if you can' in your #B2B content marketing, says @nitewrites." username="toprank"] After you deliver, then you can ask for a next step. But make sure your content is intrinsically valuable.

Rule #2: Encourage Interaction

The pandemic lifestyle is, to put it lightly, isolating. Who would have thought you could miss hearing co-workers rock in their chairs, play music a little too loud, or bump into you in the hallway? Most of us are craving social interaction. If you’re used to broadcasting with your content, it’s time to consider how you can start conversations. How can you interact with your audience on a human level? How can you encourage them to interact with each other, too? Think how much your audience would value a lively, thought-provoking conversation with their colleagues and peers. You can encourage interaction with content in a few easy ways:

Host a LinkedIn Live chat

Run a Twitter chat

Sponsor a topic-themed chat in a video conferencing app

Run an interactive webinar

In general, look for ways you can call out a subset of your audience and get them talking, both to each other and to your brand representatives. We can all use a little more social interaction right now.

Rule #3: Keep Messaging Empathetic

I don’t know about you, but I cringe every time I see an ad about something “going viral.” We are 6 months into a viral pandemic and marketers are still running ads about going viral! How can this be?  This is just one example of how completely innocuous messaging pre-COVID can seem tone-deaf now. Does your content have an anecdote about a dinner party with 15 people? Does your header image feature a crowd of people? Are you talking about “going into the office” or “thinking about this on your commute?” If so, you’re alienating your audience. Not every piece of content has to be about the pandemic, or being nostalgic for the world that once was. But there needs to be a baseline of empathy: Working from home, social distancing, and mask-wearing are all facts of everyday life.

Rule #4: Experiment with Formats

In the time before the pandemic, we all spent hours looking at screens every day. It’s just there were different screens, in different environments. It was easier to differentiate between the office and home, work and play. Now, our surroundings are homogenous throughout the day — and the content we consume feels same-y, too. Think about content fatigue as you plan your calendar. Is your audience looking for another wall of text? Do they want to look at another grid of talking heads?  Our agency is finding more success right now with multimedia, interactive content. Our B2B Influencer Marketing report is an example. The content includes case studies, influencer participation, and original research, presented in an animated, dynamic way. Essentially, keep in mind that idea of efficiently delivering value. Can your blog post be a quick video or audio interview instead? And can that video be five minutes long instead of 10?  [bctt tweet="Can your blog post be a quick video or audio interview instead? And can that video be five minutes long instead of 10? says @nitewrites." username="toprank"]

Rule #5: Collaborate on Content

For me, one of the stranger elements of pandemic life is learning how similar I am to everyone else. I had an urge to do puzzles in March — all the stores were sold out. I wanted to make bread in April — the stores ran out of flour. In May, everyone bought bikes.  Right now, every B2B business is missing their trade shows and in-person demos. So most of them are doubling down on content. The best way to differentiate your content is to bring your audience voices they can’t hear anywhere else. Co-create content with influencers. Feature subject matter experts in your organization. Tap your current and prospective customers to get their take. The more voices you can bring to your content, the more it will stand out to your audience.

Rule #6: Re-Align Measurement with Current Goals

Per rule #1, people are less interested in promotional content right now. Businesses may have put their purchasing plans on hold, or at least tightened budgets. Marketing’s chief goal right now is likely to be establishing brand credibility, creating thought leadership content, and building relationships for the future. As your goals change, your measurement must change as well. You can’t measure an awareness campaign in SQLs, or relationship-building in number of demo requests received. That doesn’t mean giving up on measurement or accountability — it just means making the metrics match your goals. For example, you could measure:

Brand share of voice

Email/Blog subscribers

Social media audience/interactions

Content consumption metrics (time on page, scroll depth, links clicked)

Content resonance (backlinks and social shares)

How New Are These Rules?

So here’s the $100,000 (adjusted for inflation) question: At what point should you stop producing relevant, interactive, empathetic, dynamic and collaborative content? When can you heave a sigh of relief, stop listening to your audience, and start broadcasting promotional messages? When you put it that way, it’s obvious: These rules are best practices for content no matter what’s going on in the world. The pandemic didn’t create the need for these rules; it just amplified how crucial they are. Back in January, we might have had the luxury of ignoring one or more of them. Now we have the joyous necessity of being forced to do better. And that’s the good news: Making your marketing better for the pandemic will make you a better marketer now and for whatever comes next. Need help creating content? We’re here for you.

The post 6 New Rules for B2B Marketing in the COVID-19 Era appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

6 New Rules for B2B Marketing in the COVID-19 Era published first on yhttps://improfitninja.blogspot.com/

[samuelpboswell]

6 New Rules for B2B Marketing in the COVID-19 Era

I was supposed to go to an Alanis Morissette concert this July. When the pandemic hit hard in March, I wasn’t ready to cancel my ticket yet. Surely, surely we would have it sorted in time for an outdoor concert four months from now. I held out hope. Then, in June, she rescheduled for July, 2021. And now I’m wondering if that will be enough time. Isn’t it ironic?  Don’t you think? All of which to say: This pandemic has been around for longer than we thought it would, and is looking to linger far longer than we would like. What seemed like a brief, surreal interlude to be gotten through has now become a reality to live with, at least for the time being. As B2B marketers, we need to reassess how we are adapting our marketing to our buyers’ current situation. We’re no longer scrambling to cobble together short-term fixes — we need to be out of reaction mode and into strategic planning mode. Our marketing agency has been helping clients revise their marketing plans for months now, from messaging and audience to tactics and measurement. Here are a few rules we’ve picked up that other marketers should follow:

6 New Rules for B2B Marketing in the COVID-19 Era

Rule #1: Always Be Relevant

Okay, this is less a NEW rule than a timely reminder. I’m sure most marketers who read our blog (as smart, skilled and beautiful as you are) don’t need to hear it. But just in case: You should never come to an audience without something of value. Corollary: “Something of value” can not equal “Knowledge of how our product/solution can improve your life.” People are distracted and stressed. They’re dealing with a new crisis every day. They’re spending way more time with their children than is psychologically healthy. And they have more content than ever before to occupy their free time. If you’re asking for their attention, you must reward it. Be entertaining, be useful, be both if you can. [bctt tweet="'Be entertaining, be useful, be both if you can' in your #B2B content marketing, says @nitewrites." username="toprank"] After you deliver, then you can ask for a next step. But make sure your content is intrinsically valuable.

Rule #2: Encourage Interaction

The pandemic lifestyle is, to put it lightly, isolating. Who would have thought you could miss hearing co-workers rock in their chairs, play music a little too loud, or bump into you in the hallway? Most of us are craving social interaction. If you’re used to broadcasting with your content, it’s time to consider how you can start conversations. How can you interact with your audience on a human level? How can you encourage them to interact with each other, too? Think how much your audience would value a lively, thought-provoking conversation with their colleagues and peers. You can encourage interaction with content in a few easy ways:

Host a LinkedIn Live chat

Run a Twitter chat

Sponsor a topic-themed chat in a video conferencing app

Run an interactive webinar

In general, look for ways you can call out a subset of your audience and get them talking, both to each other and to your brand representatives. We can all use a little more social interaction right now.

Rule #3: Keep Messaging Empathetic

I don’t know about you, but I cringe every time I see an ad about something “going viral.” We are 6 months into a viral pandemic and marketers are still running ads about going viral! How can this be?  This is just one example of how completely innocuous messaging pre-COVID can seem tone-deaf now. Does your content have an anecdote about a dinner party with 15 people? Does your header image feature a crowd of people? Are you talking about “going into the office” or “thinking about this on your commute?” If so, you’re alienating your audience. Not every piece of content has to be about the pandemic, or being nostalgic for the world that once was. But there needs to be a baseline of empathy: Working from home, social distancing, and mask-wearing are all facts of everyday life.

Rule #4: Experiment with Formats

In the time before the pandemic, we all spent hours looking at screens every day. It’s just there were different screens, in different environments. It was easier to differentiate between the office and home, work and play. Now, our surroundings are homogenous throughout the day — and the content we consume feels same-y, too. Think about content fatigue as you plan your calendar. Is your audience looking for another wall of text? Do they want to look at another grid of talking heads?  Our agency is finding more success right now with multimedia, interactive content. Our B2B Influencer Marketing report is an example. The content includes case studies, influencer participation, and original research, presented in an animated, dynamic way. Essentially, keep in mind that idea of efficiently delivering value. Can your blog post be a quick video or audio interview instead? And can that video be five minutes long instead of 10?  [bctt tweet="Can your blog post be a quick video or audio interview instead? And can that video be five minutes long instead of 10? says @nitewrites." username="toprank"]

Rule #5: Collaborate on Content

For me, one of the stranger elements of pandemic life is learning how similar I am to everyone else. I had an urge to do puzzles in March — all the stores were sold out. I wanted to make bread in April — the stores ran out of flour. In May, everyone bought bikes.  Right now, every B2B business is missing their trade shows and in-person demos. So most of them are doubling down on content. The best way to differentiate your content is to bring your audience voices they can’t hear anywhere else. Co-create content with influencers. Feature subject matter experts in your organization. Tap your current and prospective customers to get their take. The more voices you can bring to your content, the more it will stand out to your audience.

Rule #6: Re-Align Measurement with Current Goals

Per rule #1, people are less interested in promotional content right now. Businesses may have put their purchasing plans on hold, or at least tightened budgets. Marketing’s chief goal right now is likely to be establishing brand credibility, creating thought leadership content, and building relationships for the future. As your goals change, your measurement must change as well. You can’t measure an awareness campaign in SQLs, or relationship-building in number of demo requests received. That doesn’t mean giving up on measurement or accountability — it just means making the metrics match your goals. For example, you could measure:

Brand share of voice

Email/Blog subscribers

Social media audience/interactions

Content consumption metrics (time on page, scroll depth, links clicked)

Content resonance (backlinks and social shares)

How New Are These Rules?

So here’s the $100,000 (adjusted for inflation) question: At what point should you stop producing relevant, interactive, empathetic, dynamic and collaborative content? When can you heave a sigh of relief, stop listening to your audience, and start broadcasting promotional messages? When you put it that way, it’s obvious: These rules are best practices for content no matter what’s going on in the world. The pandemic didn’t create the need for these rules; it just amplified how crucial they are. Back in January, we might have had the luxury of ignoring one or more of them. Now we have the joyous necessity of being forced to do better. And that’s the good news: Making your marketing better for the pandemic will make you a better marketer now and for whatever comes next. Need help creating content? We’re here for you.

The post 6 New Rules for B2B Marketing in the COVID-19 Era appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

from The SEO Advantages https://www.toprankblog.com/2020/08/new-rules-covid/

[unixcommerce]

Getting to Know Your Customers: 13 Most Valuable Bits of Data to Collect

One of the most significant elements in helping a business get to know its customers is their data. Over recent years, consumers have started to take notice of how businesses use their data. While many aren’t bothered, a few are against a company getting its hands on their information. As a result, they are averse to sharing access to their data.

By limiting the data you collect to just the most pertinent pieces, you will still be able to extract useful knowledge about clients while also earning their trust. To help businesses wondering what kind of data to collect, we asked 13 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

“Getting to know your customers is wildly useful in better meeting their needs. What would you say is one of the best pieces of consumer data to collect from your customers, and why is it so valuable?”

Here’s what YEC community members had to say:

1. Communication Preferences

“Find out how they like to receive communication. Your audience likely uses streamlined media sources and in order to best serve them you want to communicate on their platform of choice. If you send emails to a group that lives primarily online via video apps, you are going to lose them. Know where they like to receive communication and what consistency they are comfortable with.” ~ Matthew Podolsky, Florida Law Advisers, P.A.

2. Contact Information

“Get their contact information. Believe it or not, email addresses and phone numbers and other points of contact change often. Put together a program where your customers can update their contact information and encourage them to do so in order to be able to reach them. If you can’t, your sales opportunities are essentially lost.” ~ Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

3. Their Pain Points

“Understand the pain points that your customers are experiencing and, more importantly, how much money they are willing to spend in order to solve those problems. This is one of the most financially smart pieces of data that you can get directly from your prospects.” ~ Nicole Munoz, Nicole Munoz Consulting, Inc.

4. User or Customer Intent

“User intent or customer intent is extremely valuable when trying to build good content and to rank for a specific keyword on search engines. When you understand what users are looking for and why, you’ll be better placed to help them get it through your business. Using analytics and other tools like customer relationship management software can help you understand customer intent and serve them better.” ~ Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

5. What They Value

“In my field, one of the greatest pieces to understand more than price point or budget is what customers value the most. This is gathered through questioning to identify their pain points and get deep on what they look for to feel safe, and what would provide them happiness.” ~ Julian Montoya, JM11 Investments

6. Their Perception

“Perception is key. Despite having great reports, scientific findings and rising revenues — none of that matters if it doesn’t resonate with the customer’s view of success in the transaction. Ask them how they feel about the product, and what they perceive is important in either pivoting your messaging or improving the visibility of the value you bring to the table.” ~ Richard Fong, Ready Green

7. Consumer Sentiment

“Sentiment — the qualitative approach most people don’t value enough. Too many marketers rely on surveys, which show good data, but they fail to do good qualitative research. Do actual customer interviews and listen to the emotions behind their responses, as this will tell you a lot about how they really think. For instance, did they get excited when you shared the ‘secret sauce’ of your product?” ~ Andy Karuza, LitPic

8. The Latest Changes

“Ask the question, ‘What has changed since we last spoke?’ We are a content marketing agency so understanding the frequent changes in our customers’ businesses is important, and without a doubt there is always an answer to that question that affects our content strategy plans for the account.” ~ Kelsey Raymond, Influence & Co.

9. Everyday Feedback

“Everyday feedback regarding our product is the most helpful piece of consumer data that we collect from our customers. By making it easy for users to contact us via our app and website, we receive daily feedback from them. This feedback has helped us improve our product and identify any tech issues quickly over the years.” ~ Brian David Crane, Caller Smart Inc.

10. Their Performance Evaluators

“In a business-to-business environment, knowing your customer’s performance evaluators can be crucial to success. It will allow you to hone your presentation in on the factors that will most influence their decision, whether it be cost, quality, etc. Equally important, you won’t waste your time promoting features and benefits that are impressive to you, but are inconsequential to the purchase decision.” ~ Charles Bogoian, Kenai Sports

11. Website Analytics

“Knowing where visitors spend the most time on your website tells you what they’re interested in and enjoy the most. This helps you refine your conversion strategy to produce content and products that specifically cater to their needs. Likewise, it’s important to pay attention to your bounce rate so you know what to avoid in the future.” ~ Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

12. Customer Support Call Volume

“Customer support call volume is very useful to a business because it tells you whether your products are meeting customer needs and whether your training or onboarding materials are adequate, and it gives you insight into the gaps you need to close in the future. That data can help multiple teams in your organization, including marketing, sales, support and customer success.” ~ Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster

13. Physical Location

“It’s always a good idea to find out where your audience lives. You can make smart decisions when publishing content and pushing out updates if you know your primary audience resides in a different time zone. As an added bonus, you can use this information to create personalized marketing that targets users based on their location.” ~ John Turner, SeedProd LLC

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “Getting to Know Your Customers: 13 Most Valuable Bits of Data to Collect” was first published on Small Business Trends

https://smallbiztrends.com/

The post Getting to Know Your Customers: 13 Most Valuable Bits of Data to Collect appeared first on Unix Commerce.

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[businessreviewguidenow]

Getting to Know Your Customers: 13 Most Valuable Bits of Data to Collect

One of the most significant elements in helping a business get to know its customers is their data. Over recent years, consumers have started to take notice of how businesses use their data. While many aren’t bothered, a few are against a company getting its hands on their information. As a result, they are averse to sharing access to their data.

By limiting the data you collect to just the most pertinent pieces, you will still be able to extract useful knowledge about clients while also earning their trust. To help businesses wondering what kind of data to collect, we asked 13 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

“Getting to know your customers is wildly useful in better meeting their needs. What would you say is one of the best pieces of consumer data to collect from your customers, and why is it so valuable?”

Here’s what YEC community members had to say:

1. Communication Preferences

“Find out how they like to receive communication. Your audience likely uses streamlined media sources and in order to best serve them you want to communicate on their platform of choice. If you send emails to a group that lives primarily online via video apps, you are going to lose them. Know where they like to receive communication and what consistency they are comfortable with.” ~ Matthew Podolsky, Florida Law Advisers, P.A.

2. Contact Information

“Get their contact information. Believe it or not, email addresses and phone numbers and other points of contact change often. Put together a program where your customers can update their contact information and encourage them to do so in order to be able to reach them. If you can’t, your sales opportunities are essentially lost.” ~ Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

3. Their Pain Points

“Understand the pain points that your customers are experiencing and, more importantly, how much money they are willing to spend in order to solve those problems. This is one of the most financially smart pieces of data that you can get directly from your prospects.” ~ Nicole Munoz, Nicole Munoz Consulting, Inc.

4. User or Customer Intent

“User intent or customer intent is extremely valuable when trying to build good content and to rank for a specific keyword on search engines. When you understand what users are looking for and why, you’ll be better placed to help them get it through your business. Using analytics and other tools like customer relationship management software can help you understand customer intent and serve them better.” ~ Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

5. What They Value

“In my field, one of the greatest pieces to understand more than price point or budget is what customers value the most. This is gathered through questioning to identify their pain points and get deep on what they look for to feel safe, and what would provide them happiness.” ~ Julian Montoya, JM11 Investments

6. Their Perception

“Perception is key. Despite having great reports, scientific findings and rising revenues — none of that matters if it doesn’t resonate with the customer’s view of success in the transaction. Ask them how they feel about the product, and what they perceive is important in either pivoting your messaging or improving the visibility of the value you bring to the table.” ~ Richard Fong, Ready Green

7. Consumer Sentiment

“Sentiment — the qualitative approach most people don’t value enough. Too many marketers rely on surveys, which show good data, but they fail to do good qualitative research. Do actual customer interviews and listen to the emotions behind their responses, as this will tell you a lot about how they really think. For instance, did they get excited when you shared the ‘secret sauce’ of your product?” ~ Andy Karuza, LitPic

8. The Latest Changes

“Ask the question, ‘What has changed since we last spoke?’ We are a content marketing agency so understanding the frequent changes in our customers’ businesses is important, and without a doubt there is always an answer to that question that affects our content strategy plans for the account.” ~ Kelsey Raymond, Influence & Co.

9. Everyday Feedback

“Everyday feedback regarding our product is the most helpful piece of consumer data that we collect from our customers. By making it easy for users to contact us via our app and website, we receive daily feedback from them. This feedback has helped us improve our product and identify any tech issues quickly over the years.” ~ Brian David Crane, Caller Smart Inc.

10. Their Performance Evaluators

“In a business-to-business environment, knowing your customer’s performance evaluators can be crucial to success. It will allow you to hone your presentation in on the factors that will most influence their decision, whether it be cost, quality, etc. Equally important, you won’t waste your time promoting features and benefits that are impressive to you, but are inconsequential to the purchase decision.” ~ Charles Bogoian, Kenai Sports

11. Website Analytics

“Knowing where visitors spend the most time on your website tells you what they’re interested in and enjoy the most. This helps you refine your conversion strategy to produce content and products that specifically cater to their needs. Likewise, it’s important to pay attention to your bounce rate so you know what to avoid in the future.” ~ Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

12. Customer Support Call Volume

“Customer support call volume is very useful to a business because it tells you whether your products are meeting customer needs and whether your training or onboarding materials are adequate, and it gives you insight into the gaps you need to close in the future. That data can help multiple teams in your organization, including marketing, sales, support and customer success.” ~ Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster

13. Physical Location

“It’s always a good idea to find out where your audience lives. You can make smart decisions when publishing content and pushing out updates if you know your primary audience resides in a different time zone. As an added bonus, you can use this information to create personalized marketing that targets users based on their location.” ~ John Turner, SeedProd LLC

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “Getting to Know Your Customers: 13 Most Valuable Bits of Data to Collect” was first published on Small Business Trends

source https://smallbiztrends.com/2020/07/getting-to-know-your-customers-13-most-valuable-bits-of-data-to-collect.html

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