#in between. I should be able to do this myself. I'm the worst player on the best team and the best player on the worst and I don't fit in

[missveryvery]

Would you ever play bg3 as Trelle?

I keep thinking about it.

But you have unlocked something I want to vent/ramble about, anon. Forgive me.

Here's a TMI/depression dump that you can skip if you like to get to the pertinent answer at the bottom.

I, myself, am getting some, idk, ptsd shit from the game from how much trauma they dump on you and how you have to check in on everyone and do things for them and no one is taking care of you or asking about your own shit. I'm in too deep at this point to not finish at least one of my playthroughs but there's different places where characters are really fucking with you in painful ways.

So after I finish one (1) I will need to take a fucking breather before I start another. It can be good to go "ok, do you see the red flags you missed here? All the things that made you uncomfortable that you ignored for affection/attention/"the greater good"/being a team player/"being a good person" etc? Do you see how you could recognize it happening to other characters but not yourself?" in the safety of a game, but the feelings and sensations it brings up are real.

I get really bad nightmares, but the difference between a normal person with nightmares and me is that my brain doesn't "let go" of them the way it's supposed to so I get the trauma without the cleansing benefits of processing that stuff your brain is supposed to do when you sleep. This is why I avoid a lot of content with bad endings or that are just too fucked up or upsetting. I avoid a lot of media period now, I can't finish shows because I'm afraid of how they'll end, that they'll end badly (even just in some unsatisfying way like it's just badly written) and I'll be residually upset for too long.

I did not realize how upsetting this game would be, I thought it would be more "Honor Among Thieves" fun in tone but it's relentlessly heavy, and your "accomplishments" are all "realistic" in a "you can only do so much way". You save the Grove and...horrific things still happen. Some of the people there are still exclusionary pieces of shit. Even Halsin comes to the city and starts going "wow everyone is so shitty to refugees here, maybe the shadow druids were right, this city should be razed to the ground" like my GUY. Your Grove that you led did all the same fucking shit. What are you talking about. Shadow druids would just do all this harder. The fuck are you saying to me.

I don't think there's a way to slap him and point that out?!?

All that said, Trelle could not handle the shit happening in that game. It is Too Much. There were very fucked up things in CH but Rodrigo wouldn't go "there" and definitely wouldn't linger there if he did. She is not built for that. She has fucked up things in her past but there's ways of handling those things in the delivery and part of that is not making it Everything Is This and It is Constant. Like the ratio of Clown Business to Worst Thing You've Ever Heard is different.

That's a big difference between bg3 and an actual dnd game is that the DM can feel out what the players want and adjust. If your DM is good, they are constantly tweaking to make the experience as fun as possible for the group. Sometimes that means your players want more fucked up stuff and less clown, sometimes it's the opposite. Sometimes what they want differs from day to day. Like "ok everyone wants to go shopping, it's shopping day" and sometimes it's "everyone is going to go nuts if they don't fix what's happening".

This all sounds like it's a bad game. It's not. It's a masterpiece of game making and writing. But it's demanding.

NOT TMI ANSWER:

if I "stayed true to the character" trelle would fuck up so bad, she would not be able to beat the beegees, that girl would not survive that experience even if she did somehow complete the bigger goal. Obliterated. Done-zo.

[medicinemane]

Ok, this is the kind of thing that annoys me with minecraft. See, once you have an account, you kind of tend to stop noticing the DRM stuff going on with it, but... it's kind of bad if you think about it, needing an account to play even in single player?

Anyway, just went to log on to the server, realize oh yeah... 1.19, not 1.20 on the survival server, haven't updated or played it yet since I was working on the library

So I think to myself... ah hell, I'll just make my computer suffer a little and boot up a second minecraft client in 1.19

No, fuck you, your account is already logged in to one thing

Like fuck you man, I should be able to have open as many instances of minecraft as I want without having to pay for each new one

Minecraft's a great game, I love it... but we gotta be honest that it has some of the worst DRM of any game around, and in my book any DRM is bad. Even if it's not the kind that makes things quantifiably worse like deneuvo, sorry but if I own a product I deserve a clean version that I can use how I please

...so yeah, it is annoying having a "oh you own the software, and you own the world, but you don't own the ability to use it, that you have to log in to do, which means you'll never actually own it" (which I forgive in an online game... not in something with privately hosted servers)

Makes me want to pirate it out of principle, if it it wouldn't be a huge pain in the ass to do, I would

(This probably seems dumb, but to me this is along the lines or right to repair, in that I should own what I buy. I own my minecraft world, cause it's on my hardware and no one can take it from me. I don't own steam games because they can just turn off my ability to access them at any time... minecraft itself exists kind of half way between steam and actually owning... but it's like steam, which means it's not horrible but I'm also sick of not actually owning stuff I buy)

[rpmemesbyarat]

RP meme from Tori Amos quotes

- Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it.

- I think that people who can't believe in fairies aren't worth knowing.

- I know I'm an acquired taste - I'm anchovies. And not everybody wants those hairy little things.

- Some of the most wonderful people are the ones who don't fit into boxes.

- I have so many different personalities in me and I still feel lonely.

- The violence between women is unbelievable.

- I'm too wacky for most weirdos. Who am I to judge?

- If they keep crashing stuff into the moon, the moon's gonna get pissed off, and the tides'll change, and all the women'll start PMS-ing together. Then you guys are going to fucking regret it.

- If you really want a challenge, just deal with yourself.

- I don't see myself as weird, I just see myself as honest.

- I see the dream and I see the nightmare, and I believe you can't have the dream without the nightmare.

- Some people are afraid of what they might find if they try to analyze themselves too much.

- Once the bleeding starts, the cleansing can begin.

- On some of my darkest days, Lucifer's the one who comes and gives me an ice cream.

- Most people would rather be sheep than stand on their own with antlers on.

- The sense of loss is such a tricky one, because we always feel like our worth is tied up into stuff that we have, not that our worth can grow with things we are willing to lose.

- When you've got the virgin and the whore sitting next to each other, they're likely to judge each other harshly.

- I think you have to know who you are.

- Get to know the monster that lives in your soul.

- Dive deep into your soul and explore it.

- I don’t want to renounce my dark side.

- The truth has always held an enormous interest for me.

- Healing for me is being able to sit next to the butcher and say 'Yes, I’m sitting next to the butcher now,' instead of saying 'there is no butcher'.

- This is very simple in the world of chicks; some are hoochies, some are not, and some should never try to be.

- We don't often see our own stories. Good artists are the ones that whisper our own stories back to us.

- Music is about all of your senses, not just hearing.

- Again, we go back to the power of words and how they can make you feel. They bring liberation or stagnation, they're chains.

- You don't have to apologize for growing and learning and changing your mind.

- Music has an alchemical quality.

- Certain relationships can just wear you down.

- Containment of your opinion is a must if you are going to nurture an artist's development.

- It's a good thing I'm curious, because sometimes I just research how a soccer player kicks a ball and the impact it has on his foot. I haven't used this yet, but I might.

- But over the years you can cultivate hate for the art you love.

- I don’t believe anyone’s story is boring. Every story has value because it belongs only to you.

- Sometimes I fantasize backstage about how people do their laundry. Woolite? Mixed-color loads? Do they fold? Do they press? Do they Shout it out? And the thing that kills me—do their whites come out dingy?

- Our generation has an incredible amount of realism, yet at the same time it loves to complain and not really change.

- We like our pain. And we’re packaging it, and we’re selling it.

- Festivals or radio shows can be the heavyweight championships of arrogantly detached clusterfucks.

- People who are addicted to power can live on the same street or attend the same school as us or even play on the world stage.

- None of us are this light and dark fantasy. What's dark to you may be light to me and vice versa.

- I don't think that many performers necessarily want to see their audience empowered. I think a lot of performers, no different from priests, need the hierarchy.

- Modern, celebrity-driven entertainment turns the stage into an altar, and so many celebrities refuse to be removed from those altars once they manage to ascend.

- All storytellers, all troubadours worth their salt knew their myths.

- The Sídh's historical myth is the source of the bastardized concept of a fairy—as if anyone gives a rat's ass.

- The problem with Christianity is, they think everything is about outside forces, good and evil. There's not a lot of inner work encouraged.

- Over the last few hours I've allowed myself to feel defeated, and just like she said if you allow yourself to feel the way you really feel, maybe you won't be afraid of that feeling anymore.

- I'm the queen of the nerds.

- Don't give up. Don't listen to these foolish critics that are so small minded they don't get it tonight.

- Sometimes listening to music can motivate you.

- I think even in a good marriage, especially if you stay together long enough, there are going to be events that happen.

- An ounce of breast milk is even more potent than the finest tequila.

- Music is always a reflection of what's going on in the hearts and minds of the culture.

- Many people lock a part of themselves away. It's a bit sacred.

- I've always seen the songs as having a consciousness.

- Our world is a huge mess right now, and not big enough for masses of intolerant people.

- We are all fairies living underneath a leaf of a lily pad.

- That is some funky-fresh, pop lockin' shit.

- If I saw someone destroy a piano I'd fuckin' kill 'em. Wouldn't think twice.

- I experiment with things that are usually an internal experience, because that's just what excites me. And yes, it does sometimes give me visions.

- Some of those trips were eighteen hours long and I'll never forget, once I ended up sitting by the bush trying to ask the flowers why they didn't like me. It's like, Why can't I be your friend?

- You might not like my story because I'm not gonna tell you how it ends yet, and you need to travel it with me.

- I just imagined a huge juicy vagina coming out of the sky, raining blood over all those racist, misogynist fuckers.

- You can't control your popularity

- If you can't create physical life, you find a life force. If that's in music, that's in music.

- I started to find this deep, primitive rhythm, and I started to move to it.

-I held hands with sorrow, and I danced with her, and we giggled a bit

- I usually get myself into situations that cause sparks.

- I love feeling alive, I love walking out in the cold in my bare feet and feeling the ice on my toes.

- For the most part, pianos are female to me.

- Anger is natural. It's part of the force. You just have to learn to hang out with it.

- In our minds, love and lust are really separated.

- I think all the boys that write the screaming stuff would write the best love songs

- When you stop putting yourself on the line, and you don't touch your own heart, how do you expect to touch other people?

- Guys would sleep with a bicycle if it had the right color lip gloss on. They have no shame. They're like bull elks in a field.

- Your worst enemies are made when you ignore people.

- It's as if the horses have come to take us back, to descend, to find the dark side. By dark I mean what's hidden, not necessarily satanic.

- There's room for everybody on the planet to be creative and conscious if you are your own person. If you're trying to be like somebody else, then there is isn't.

- Sometimes you have to do what you don't like to get to where you want to be.

- You know that saying, bad things don't happen to good people? That's a lie.

- I'm not a habit, I'm a lifestyle.

- There are a lot of hidden nerds.

- People who become the front runners often used to be outcasts or loners.

- Um, don't get me wrong because I love boys, it's just that sometimes we don't need you.

- There are only ten ideas under the sun. What makes the difference is how you spice them.

- So I'm in Virginia, and I had crabs--I keep saying that! I had crab sickness, I had eaten bad crabs in Maryland!

- I'm a winter girl; I like coming out when things are desolate and everybody's ready to slit their wrists.

- You can only be you. A lot of times it's never enough for people.

- I've never played the guitar, except throwing it against the wall cause it was pissed off I couldn't play it.

- Truly, I was a sweetheart when I was little, like the Honeysuckle Faery. Sweet-pea. But sweet-peas are not popular after second grade. Sweet-peas become nerds really fast.

- I really enjoy having a giggle with a friend, but then someone crosses my line, then I don't really take it lightly.

- I sometimes forget I'm not 7'2" and a Viking.

- A boundary was crossed. And maybe I drew a boundary, consciously.

- It was a bit violent, a bit sexual.

- When nothing makes sense, music seems to come and bring me a margarita and sit down with me.

- You don't have to justify everything. Being pissed off is just absolutely okay.

- There is a level of the vampire in me, which is OK.

- It hurts me when a woman doesn't come through for me, more than a man.

- I'm a grown woman. I've earned my experiences, my scars.

- What is an angel but a ghost in drag?

- I'm beginning to accept and love the parts of me, of women that I was trained to hate all my life.

- People can be so vicious toward the imaginary world and it saddens me. You kill a lot of little people's dreams that way.

- Even if you don't read history or you aren't interested in anything that happened before the '60s, there are reasons why we think the way we do.

- That's how the story goes but I don't believe the story.

- I would find myself either the lovey-doveyest-woviest sweet pea, or a mad-woman.

- I believe in eating.

- You can't change what happened. And nobody's asking you to forgive.

- Why be afraid of these cuddly, soft, adorable things?

- I have good days. Like if I get really good coffee ice cream with just the right amount of chocolate syrup.

- A lot of people see themselves as victims, even when you have to stand in line for ice cream.

- It's so difficult to be critical of children because they need to discover themselves. We're always telling them, "No, the tree has green leaves!"

- I'm tired of being a rebel. Now I just want to be me.

- When things get really empty for me, empty in my outer life, in my inner life, the music world, the songs come across galaxies to find me.

- Do you know what it's like to be a girl and have blood running down your legs and think that you're dying, just because no one's told you that's what happens? It's horrible.

- An angel's face is tricky to wear constantly.

- Mess with me and you will not survive.

- I think that happiness is when you can let yourself feel every emotion you want at any time instead of being a lying little fuck.

- I'm not into this dieting thing.

- The cross has been used as a weapon, as it has been used against all women throughout the ages. And that's the greatest evil of all.

- I think you've got to find a giggle somewhere in stuff that would scare the poop outta ya.

- A cornflake girl is Wonderbread whereas a raisin girl is whole wheat bread.

- I would like to think I'm a raisin girl, because in my mind they're more open minded. Cornflake girls are totally self centered, don't care about anything or anybody.

- I like butter and the people who like butter."

- I'm known as that girl who has tea with the Devil.

- I'm not afraid of sadness.

- Everybody has creativity and each person has it in a different way. Some people aren't musical, some musicians can't even think about painting or gardening. There's so many different ways to be creative.

- I wanna be burned, definitely burned, like the witches.

- Give the kids tools, so they can go build their own houses; not the blueprint of what the houses should be.

- Look at me now. I'm breast feeding pigs.

- I wish I had more of a sense of humor.

- I can be so hard on people.

- If somebody's being a jerk, I would like to go wee on their head. And then I do that, mentally.

- The people on the internet know more about what I am doing than I do. Like, they will say that I am going to be in this mall on this day, and sure enough, I am there!

- I'm like a lioness who kills her own prey and no one else has to kill for her. But if some other lioness comes to me and says "I just got a good prey, do you want a piece?" I can say "of course" - and the other way around.

- There are things that I would disagree with Jesus about, and I feel really good about that.

- History has recorded some pretty nasty things that have happened to people. I think we remember. I think it's in our cells and I think it can still hurt sometimes."

- I don't believe in the saying that it all happens for the best, it's just not appropriate.

- Of course I believe in past lives, I mean, three quarters of the human race believes this, it's not like a great new thought here.

- I use innocence in my demeanor like a Venus flytrap.

- I do like to talk about things no one wants to hear at the dinner table.

- I'm not interested in being a really nice person; I want to be a creative, responsible person that's balanced.

- Boys are cute but food is cuter

- Do any of you dream about crocodiles?

-I know I dream about crocodiles. I'm obsessed with them.

- If people can't see things from the other side that's not my problem, it's theirs.

- I think I give equal time in my hatred, right?

- Sometimes I'm mad at some guy, sometimes I'm mad at some girl, and sometimes I'm totally loving some guy, so and sometimes I'm loving some girl.

_ Well, Pele is the volcano goddess and I thought of like, um, sacrificing some of the boys in my life to her but then I decided that that wasn't really a very good idea.

- Anger originates from envy and outrage, not being seen, not being heard.

- We don't know where souls go when they die. We don't know a lot of things. We didn't create the planets. We didn't do this all by ourselves. So, therefore, why wouldn't there be a creative force if it can create humans and planets?

- I've been hanging out with some of the Hell's Angels in England. They're some of the sweetest people I've ever met.

- Real friends have to be understanding of each other, and their faults.

- I think I'm really hard to get to know on a personal level.

- Thailand is calling me.

- People I see laughing all the time, check for razor blades in their anal-force underwear, because it's just a little lie.

- I'm not interested in taking drugs. I do hallucinogens once in a while for journey experiences.

- I hear the wine. It's like a structure. I see it as a piece. I hear it before I taste it. It's calling me. And then I start to hear it when I'm tasting it.

- Not that I use crystal suppositories, I'm not New Age.

- A peach tree says, 'Some of me will be juicy and some of me will be dry I'm not growing for you; I grow because that's what I do.' You always hear some person complain about how dry their peach is and the peach says, 'It's not our fault you have no understanding on the proper use for dry peaches.'

- My theory is that women were the Mona Lisas for a long time and now men are Mona Lisas with little goatees. They are our muses.

- If you're gonna tell a story, you have to grow into the head of the rapist as well as the raped.

- He was a lite sneeze, and not the flu. Most boys would like to think they're the flu, wouldn't they? But they're really just a achoo.

- If you call me an airy-fairy new age hippy waif, I will cut your penis off.

- It's a double-edged sword and if you pretend you don't want it you're a liar and that is going to rip your soul to pieces.

- I'm always dreaming that these bulls are chasing me. Half the time I don't get away - I almost get over the fence, and then they gore me.

- I believe in energy, everything is energy. And therefore sometimes magic can be created if somebody is open to letting energy do what it does, instead of being so cynical, that you miss magic happening.

- I feel like a work really has many sides to it when people have such extreme reactions. When a work is greeted with just, 'Oh, you know, it's nice', then it's not affecting people. So love it or hate it, that's okay.

- I am a real believer in looking at pain and taking it out shopping.

- The music is the magic carpet that other things take naps on.

- I just try to strip myself, peel myself like an onion. At different layers I discover stuff.

- Why is the world where it is? It's so deep-rooted, if we really start looking, and we might not like what we find. But I think we have to, we have to ask the questions.

- I'm beyond the fury of youth.

- I love young women who are angry. They're wild mustangs.

- I didn't want her looking and hearing me and thinking, "Oh my God, that's a scary lady!"

- They felt that it was detrimental material for their children and that it was blasphemous.

- They've decided they kinda' have you figured out.

- My nightmares are so bad, that I mostly reject it when my friends want to take me to a cinema to watch a horror movie. Then I say, "No, thank you. I will dream in a few hours."

- I don't know of anybody who's gonna be fulfilled if they get hit by a bus. You have to surrender to that eternal need to be fulfilled.

- How do you know I'm not having a margarita with Jesus tonight at 10 o'clock?

- Let's be honest, religion has not supported women and men exploring all sorts of their sides, their unconscious. It has not been supportive of, you know, go into the places without shame, without blame, without judgment, and just let yourself really see what's cooking in there.

- I think human beings are so much more capable of what they told us we're capable of.

- Anyone can attend yoga, kabbalah classes, church, lectures by the 'Dalai Lama', yada, yada, yada - but can you be present for your life, and live with the way you treat other people?

- Only a few people should have a "greatest hits". I'm not one of those people.

- I feel like our leaders have hijacked America's personality, and taken her to personality plastic surgery school. And they decided this is who she is.

- The playground is the biggest war-zone in the world.

- You have to read visionaries to have visions.

- They squash the baby bird because their bird got squashed.

- I love reading. I'll read the first sentence and if it makes sense to me I pick it up.

- It's ridiculous saying there's only one true faith, it's like saying there's only one map to get you up the mountain. I want to see those other maps, man.

- I kinda have all the aspects of my personality round one table for spaghetti.

- If it's too loud, turn it up.

- I was doing drugs with a South American shaman, and I really did visit the devil and, well, I had a journey.

- There is no passion without broken crockery.

- You have to ask, how could a nation nearly vote in somebody who isn't qualified for the job?

- We're living in a frightening time and I wish people would wake up and realise they're surrendering their civil liberties.

- Who wouldn't want to shag a queen?

[unbaiatoarecare]

Okay so I played the last chapter of Blades and I have some things to say before the final chapter of Book 1 (thank God we're getting a Book 2 otherwise I would've killed everyone at PB and then myself).

I should also say that I'm a veteran player, I've played every book and I've played Choices since it only had three books. So I've been here since the beginning, watched it grow, change and I did with it too. What I wanna say is that I can state a personal opinion that I think would encompass maybe even the general one.

After almost a year, basically since It Lives Beneath ended, not counting Bloodbound II (not that amazing but still good) and Nightbound (unique, very good and still mad it didn't get at least a sequel), the Choices fandom was in some kind of Dark Ages of this app.

Sure, Bloodbound III came and it was amazing and Mother of the Year turned out to be even better than anyone expected, also Platinum and The Royal Masquerade were very entertaining.

I am not a writer myself, although I used to write. I can understand though very well the amount of time and work and, considering this is an animated interactive novel, I can imagine the funds and everything else that may come into the making of every book. And I appreciate it all.

But let's be honest, besides the books that I've aforementioned that kept us from maybe giving up on the app (myself included) we've had some mediocre and even (very) bad books *cough* Sunkissed *cough* Baby Bump *cough* (insert Cardi B's Coronavirus here) – and these are the worst examples.

We've been starved, famished, thirsty for some ol' epicness and awesomeness that we know PB can make. Something to really blow us away, something to leave us thinking and figuring out the whole time between chapters, something that keeps us on our toes every chapter and makes us not able to wait until the next one. For me that didn't happen since It Lives Beneath. And other examples from past times are Endless Summer, The Crown and the Flame, Perfect Match and It Lives in the Woods. The Elementalists and other good books are top tier, so don't come at me. We're talking God tier.

And then the writers promised us everything with Blades of Light and Shadow. I was very skeptical, because I've heard that before about other books. And then it came out. And it literally did what everyone promised it would do and even more.

Y'all, this book outdoes itself week after week and it had some of the most amazing progress and it didn't flop, not one single time. I've literally not seen anything bad about it. And you know why? Cause there isn't. This book really was and still is the savior that brought me back faith in Choices. This really is the Light that broke the Dark Ages of this app. And I am so here for it and it made me a broke bitch but if that keeps it alive and motivates PB to do more books like this one then a broke bitch I'll be.

Seriously, this for me surpassed my most favorite God tier books, and has now reached no. 1 as the most badass, well-written, spectacular book and it did that before its final chapter, from the first few actually but I usually wait until a book is finished to form a complete opinion. Here is not the case. The art, the music, the lore, the items, the action, the comedy, the drama, the romance, the narrative, the dynamic, everything is perfection. All hail Blades of Light and Shadow! She is THAT bitch!

[three-lionesses]

SBC - Japan 🇯🇵 Vs England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 : Pre Match Analysis

So... How you feeling Lionesses fans? Fed up? Tired of the same old crap? Sick of Phil Neville? Because don't worry, you aren't alone!

Let's not dwell on the result but some positives from last game were good individual performances from Hemp, Williamson, Nobbs, Walsh and Telford. Even Houghton stepped up her game. The first half gave fans a false sense of hope but then it all went downhill fairly quickly (but we all know that 😬) .

So let's look ahead to tonight. Both England and Japan lost their opening games so will be looking for a win to help retain some of their dignity. The last times the sides played each other was the World Cup where England recorded a 2-0 victory with a brace from Ellen White.

This is a must win game for the Lionesses. They have the capability to win as they demonstrate it time and time again at club level but obviously factors like PN come into play here. All we can hope for is solid performances from the girls.

The main change I would like to see is England and Nobbs in the starting 11. Bethnay England should've started against the US and unfortunately the damage had already been done by the time she came on. From a Jordan Nobbs point of view, the performance from the England midfield was one of the worst I've ever seen it in the US match and the fact there was no solid linkup from defence to attack was exploited many times by the Americans. Jordan Nobbs helped stabilise the midfield and became a gateway between the two areas. Her ability to dictate play was noticeable as soon as she stepped onto the pitch and with big figures like Mead and Bronze missing, players like Nobbs are needed to steady the team.

In no way should the Japanese be underestimated but the Spainish team were able to find gaps in the Japanese defence very easily. Hemp could be able to drive towards the goal like she had done before and find these gaps and hopefully a player like England, with her immense attacking prescense, will be able to find the correct positions to convert these chances. Something that was missing in the last game.

Predicted Starting XI:

Honestly I have no clue. As it's the easiest game out of the three, maybe players like Stokes, Roebuck, Daly or Staniforth will get a chance. It's vital for Nobbs and England to get their starts though as we need to establish an early lead.

(A/N: Right so regulars around here will notice I didn't do a follow up to the US match. Main reasons being alot of things were already said about it and I didn't want to repeat anything, I've been fairly busy with work and personally I didn't think their was a nice atmosphere in the wofo fandom and didn't have the motivation to produce anything 🤷‍♀️. Don't think I'll write follow ups to SBC games to avoid repeating things and to allow myself to write Pre Match stuff but look out for a Big post SBC analysis I'm planning to make it up to you all!)

[itskindofafairything]

Growing Pains (part 1)

Warning: mentions/suggested of anorexia cussing

(rewinding to season one a bit I'm replacing Sherri with Avalon I'm also changeing the order making her reason 10 she'll being giving the tapes to clay. P.s. Sherri running over the stop sign doesn't happen Jeff is alive )

Flashback freshman yr.

"Seriously Hannah just drop it I'm fine" Avalon huffed biting her cheek.

"fine? Looking like a twig is not being fine Av seriously you know we I can literally ditch class and grab you food from the diner" xi" Hannah trailed off.

"HANNAH SERIOUSLY FUCKING STOP GOD KAT WAS RIGHT YOUR NOT HAPPY UNLESS YOUR CONTROLING THE SITUATION. IM FINE JUST DROP IT BETTER YET. JUST DO ME A FAVOR AND STOP SOCIALIZING WITH ME BETTER YET FIND A NEW FRIEND" Avalon yelled slamming her locker before rushing down the hall leaving people starting.

Fast forward.

Avalon sighed pinching her skin . Before shakily putting the head phones into her ears and pressing play.

: Hey, it's Hannah, Hannah Baker. That's right. Don't adjust your... whatever device you're listening to this on. It's me, live and in stereo. No return engagements, no encore. And this time absolutely no requests. Get a snack. Settle in. 'Cause I'm about to tell you the story of my life..

Avalon blinked slightly confused but more disturbed why was she listening to a dead girl?pausing the tape chewing her lip.

"The rules here are pretty simple. There are only two. Rule number one: you listen. Number two: you pass it on. Hopefully, neither one will be easy. It's not supposed to be easy, or I would have emailed you an MP3. When you're done listening to all 13 sides, because there are 13 sides to every story, rewind the tapes, put them back in the box, and pass them on to the next person."

Avalon rolled her eyes "dramatic much Baker?" She scoffed frowning as she sucked in her lip biting down hard as if not to let herself cry.pressing play again.

"Oh, and the box of tapes should have included a map. I'll be mentioning several spots around our beloved city. I can't force you to visit them, but if you'd like a little more insight, head for the stars. Or, you know, just throw the map away and I'll never know. Or will I? You see, in case you're tempted to break the rules, understand I did make a copy of these tapes, and I left them with a trusted individual who, if this package doesn't make it through all of you, will release those copies in a very public manner. This was not a spur of the moment decision. Do not take me for granted. Not again."

"this is sick" Avalon whisphered pulling out the map and counting the tapes and continued to listen.

"See, I've heard so many stories about me now that I don't know which one is the most popular, but I do know which is the least popular. You all have a reason for being on here. The truth. See, the truth isn't always the most exciting version of things or the best or the worst. It's somewhere in between, but it deserves to be heard and remembered. The truth will out, like someone said once. It remains."

It'd been 3 days and 12 hours since Avalon started listening to the tapes. She couldn't do it in on day each time she tried listening again she felt sick and disgusted. Hand trembling she put in another tape her fingers pressed play.

"And now we come to reason 10. Little Miss prefect. Might want to sit down your in for a ride because you miss Avalon Frost have a whole tape to yourself. Isn't that nice. Well no no not really. Not nice for ethier of us.. are you ready . You see my brain say you don't belong on here but my hearts says you do. Now let go back to that one day. You know what I'm talking about the hallway incident. .

"you my dear dear Avalon may not have meant to start it but you lit the match and started the spiral. Your secerts aren't safe anymore and thank God they won't be maybe finally you'll stop the act, and while I wasn't able to save myself maybe I can save you.,"

Avalon pressed payse throwing the earphones off and the player on the bed.

She hastily threw in a jacket grabbed her key and wallet. Yelled out even tough she knew no one would answer "going out".

She rushed herself out the front door before long her feet and body found themselves a Rosie's. Once inside she said into a booth.

Smoothing out her hair she picked up a menu to hide her face from the crowd. She only looked up when she felt someone sliding into the booth with her.

"hi Zach" she said forcing a smile.

"don't take this the wrong way but you look like shit"Zach replied brushing a strand of hair out of her face.

"well you would to if "she started

"listened to the tapes?" Came a whisper as Jessica slid in on her other side.

",I haven't even gotten I just started mine" Avalon admitted voice shaking "I don't know if I can even finish it" she muttered.

Zach ran a hand up and down her tight comfortingly.

"Av I'm sorry if I'd known what you were going through I would've tried to help" Jess admitted.

Avalon sucked in a breath nodding "it's ok Jess" she moved her hand under the table lacing her fingers into Zach's hand hoping he wouldn't pull away "I didn't know it'd ever get that far ya know?" She shrugged feeling a slight squeeze against her fingers from Zach's hand she relaxed abit.

[gameting]

“If you haven’t heard of this game already then that’s okay, but if there’s room under that rock what’s the rent like?”

Minecraft Review - Perfectly crafted

Originally created by Markus Persson in 2009, published by his own company funded by the game's huge success Mojang in 2011, and bought out by Microsoft in 2014, the original Minecraft is a far cry from the most current release. Having been in constant development for a decade it's safe to say that Minecraft has only grown mightier as the years have gone by.

The charming pixelated sandbox has gained a following akin to other gargantuan franchises like Star Wars or Disney, striking a flame with the first Minecraft convention dubbed 'Minecon' in 2010. The game itself is very much a love child of the now billionaire Markus' favourite games of the time, and what started out as a passion project has since become a staple of the gaming world.

Story: As a completely open world experience the 'story' of Minecraft is entirely in the players hands; Want to spend the next three weeks farming? Go for it! Want to focus on finding that sweet spot to build your next house? Build away! Wanna murder some tall purple-black dudes who steal your stuff and then use their eyes to find and jump into a portal to then fight a massive dragon? Yeah, me too! The story of Minecraft is non-existent; it's a truly open 'sandbox' experience where the player has total freedom.

As time has gone by however there have been updates that add end goals, such as the aforementioned dragon, but there's no “Nice one for completing the game!” screen so to speak. So what is there to do in Minceraft if there's no story, no tension, no drama or purpose? Well...

Gameplay: The gameplay can be stripped down to four basic functions: kill, eat, build, sleep. At least that's what the alpha version could have been described as. Now, however, you can ride pigs, plant wheat, breed animals, fly, enchant weapons, fish, that's right I did say fly, kill under water zombie dudes, ride horses, keep cats, ride carts, and of course mine AND craft.

It isn't very telling from the list, but there is a lot to do in Minecraft that I haven't even mentioned. So much so that if you leave the game for a few months you could come back to entirely new items and features that seemed inconceivable in the past. I mean the fact that you can fly now? I don't even know how to do that I just saw a friend do it and I've already poured the last week into trying to find out how.

I mentioned that you can enchant weapons, but you can also enchant yourself, albeit temporarily, through the use of potions. Get some glass, make a bottle, and you're one step closer to being able to see better in the dark, jump really high, do more damage or even swim faster under water. The amount of stuff to do in Minecraft can be dizzying, but part of the fun is trying to figure out how to do everything as hard as you can before turning to the wiki.

There are of course baddies in the game outside of dragons and block stealing weirdos; zombies, creepers (the green thing that go boom), skeleton archers, drowned (wet zombies), slimes, blazes (hot shooty boys), spiders, baby zombies and drowned (the worst), Ghast (big white screamy memey shooty boys) and of course other players, the latter of which is one of the best ways to experience the game.

The world in which you inhabit in any video game is just as important as the baddies you slay. Some games push you down linear corridors, some games even tie you to a single path and all you can really do is aim and shoot, and while some games give you large sprawling maps for you to explore at your leisure, in Minecraft, well, the world is made of “chunks” as we pros call it, and it never ends. No, really, it never ends, the game world is procedurally generated, which means you can pick a direction and keep going until you find the perfect mountain to make your home.

There are also a variety of landscapes in the game: taiga (snowy bois), deserts, giant mushrooms, dark woods, regular woods, birch woods, mountain ranges, swamps, igloos, flat plains, and sometimes it's just a lot of water. Whatever your favourite flavour of the real world is, Minecraft has it, and with the ability to pick your seed (the combination of numbers generated when a world is made) you can customise the world you inhabit.

The following of Minecraft also came with game altering mods that can add new blocks, features, animals, bad dudes, good dudes, currency, heck you can even mod in completely different game modes which have since become easily accessible outside of the modding community.

All of this is wrapped up in an easy to learn control scheme with hit, not hit, jump, other not hit, crouch, move around and change your characters perspective between first and third person.

Graphics: Imagine really cool pixel art. Just loads of squares dude.

Sound: The sound design in Minecraft is just so good. Open a door? Mm chunky door sound. Walking on some snow? Crunchy snow sound. The sound effects for items in the game are top notch, but the game really shines with the sounds of the enemies, specifically the creepers. Casually mining and you hear that hissing sound? Well, you were mining.

The music in the game is, as it always has been, gorgeous. Subtle tones that chime in from time to time, gentle piano as the rain starts to fall, ominous noises that can only be described as “bwam” while exploring the depths of the world, all of it works together to create a cohesive sound scape that peacefully fits to whatever you're mining, crafting or slaying. Every thing sounds as it should, and the music has a mind of it's own so it never feels noisy or excessive.

Personal experience: My first real experience with Minecraft was after I 'legally' downloaded it with 'money' on 'my' computer in my own home with my 'hands' on a 'keyboard.' It was an early alpha build and I remember running away from zombies and the hissy green boys by hiding in a mountain. I figured, y'know, wait until day, hang out, then dig my way back to the real world. Only, I'd forgotten which way was out, I wasn't paying attention and ended up spending half an hour punching my way out of an endless wall of dirt.

Between then and now I'm only slightly better at building a 9x9 wooden house, and the green boys don't scare me (as much) any more. Minecraft has been a game that I've left and returned to multiple times, and now as I write this review I find myself playing online with a friend and more invested than ever; when do we fly I ask, I don't know maybe after the dragon my friend replies, and we continue to routinely murder the same bloodline of cows until we're both wearing pink boots and hats. I'd say play it with friends, but sometimes going it alone is just as fun.

Score /10: To be honest I was going into this review with a number in mind, but now that I've finished it I have to say I'm going to keep the number: it's a 10/10. From the timeless gameplay, to the addictive nature of mining and crafting, and figuring out how the hell to fly, I find myself captivated by the simplistic depth of Minecraft, the allure of dying all my sheep the same colour and making all my tools shiny. Definitely leaving my Minecraft world in my will/10.

[goetzeus]

BVB Feiertagsmagazin w/ Roman Bürki  (03/02/17) - English translation

Nobby: Roman, you were injured for two months, longer than ever before in your career. First question: How was your rehabilitation and how glad are you to be back on the pitch?

Roman: Like you said this was the first major injury of my career and-

Nobby: Where was it?

Roman: (shows Nobby his hand) Here. You can still see it a bit.

Nobby: What was there?

Roman: The fracture. The hand fracture.

Nobby: What's the procedure for that?

Roman: I have a metal plate which stabilises things very well.

Nobby: Is it still in there?

Roman: Yes.

Nobby: If you punch someone with that now...

Roman: Well...

Nobby: A defender...

Roman: I'd rather not try it. (both laugh) I obviously still try to protect the hand as good as possible in my free time but I'm very happy to join the team again. It was tough to always just watch. Still, I had a very good time with the physiologists and all the other people who have cared for me.

Nobby: What's it like to be sitting in the stands and not being able to do anything? Strange, isn't it?

Roman: Very strange, yes. The Süd impressed me once more, having experienced it from the stands. It was actually the first time that I've watched a Borussia Dortmund match as a spectator. You want to help somehow but you're forced to... The worst thing was the away match against Real Madrid; I obviously would've wanted to be involved in that.

Nobby: I can imagine.

Roman: Yeah, I really had to pull myself together while I was watching it on tv.

---INTERLUDE---

Nobby: Well Roman, Leipzig is strong. They've been playing a strong season so far, they're rightfully second on the table but we have been undeafeated at home for 1 1/2 years. That's something we, you, should keep in mind at all times. How would you - you're kind of an "old stager" already - agitate against Leipzig? What would your tactic look like? Full on attack mode or... ?

Roman: I'm in fact one of the older ones in the team. We have a lot of young players that have to be guided. We will definitely find the right tactic to win the three points against Leipzig. And that's basically it, I don't want to spill too much. All I can say is that we're being prepared really well.

Nobby: It's the first match at home and an encounter between two top teams straightaway. How pumped are you for the match and do you already notice this kind of mood during training? Everyone being like "Yes, let's kick Leipzig's ass!"?

Roman: Yes sure! I mean, it's the first home match of the new year, of the second half of the season, and we're very excited to play in our own stadium in front of our fans again. We don't need any special motivation for that. Sure, the second in the table will be here and we'll do our best to win, to fight, but I think it's already enough of a motivation to play at home.

---INTERLUDE---

Nobby: The Super Bowl will take place on Sunday. The biggest sports event of the world second only to BVB home matches (laughs). Are you interested in American Football? Are you going to be watching the match?

Roman: Yes definitely! It's a bit of a weird time of the day for us but I certainly won't miss it.

Nobby: Who's gonna win? Do you have a favourite?

Roman: I watched the semi final and Tom Brady is in an impressingly good condition that's why I bet on him.

Nobby: With tomorrow's match the double fixture weeks will start again. We take part in all three competitions which we're happy about. How important is it to have a fit and most of all a large squad right now?

Roman: It's extremely important. I think that has also partially been the reason for our performance fluctuations. We have never been able to play with the same line-up, we could never establish a rhythm and I think it's very important for the second half of the season to have as little injured players as possible, to have the team in good shape and then I'm confident we can make a big jump ahead.

Nobby: What kind of impression does the team have on you? Is everyone excited, eager?

Roman: Yeah absolutely! There's a certain amount of tension, sure, aggressiveness, but also a healthy amount of ease. You always need that. And with the right tactical instructions from the manager staff I'm convinced we will be triumphant.

---INTERLUDE---

Nobby: Before Mario, you were the last person to take a seat in our Sparda-Bulli. How did you like it to tour around our city with Josef?

Roman: It was very enjoyable. I was lucky to have visited the big Christmas tree and the Christmas market. I really liked it a lot.

Nobby: Would you have thought that Dortmund could be so beautiful back then when you joined us?

Roman: I really didn't know a lot. I was in Freiburg and before that in Switzerland-

Nobby: It's also very beautiful there.

Roman: It's defintiely very beautiful there, too but here, with this stadium, it's - how do I say - a great tourist attraction. And the city is beautiful as well. There are a lot of things to admire, especially during winter; like I said I really like visiting the Christmas market.

Nobby: We truly do have some kind of football tourism by now, did you know that? A lot of people from England come here to watch Borussia Dortmund play.

Roman: I didn't know that but I can imagine-

Nobby: Prices in England are quite high so it can be cheaper to fly over here-

Roman: You can see better football here, anyway.

Nobby: Exactly!

Roman: Win-win. (both laugh)

[imagine-ikebukuro]

Hi! My name is Sheridan and I'm curious for a Durarara!! matchup! I'm a huge nerd. I play video games frequently but I hate online games with others as well as shooters and only really play JRPGS and RPGs on Single Player mode. My favorite games of all time are The World Ends With You and Final Fantasy 4 since they go in depth about life and the human phyche. I'm also an avid reader and very mature for my age. I'm several years above my reading level and can nearly always be found -Sheridan (1)

reading at school, with a Supernatual Fiction novel in my hands. My favorites include Hush Hush and The Mortal Instruments since both have smartass guys who are extremely attractive in a pretty boy manner and exceedingly playful, as well as subtly sadistic and rough. I’m also quite intrested in Ninjas and have wanted to become a Kunoich(female ninja) since I was a child. I love to watch TV as well and my favorite shows are Teen Wolf, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, This is Us, -Sheridan (2)

Criminal Minds, Scorpion, and Girl Meets World. My favorite movies are The Princess Bride, Meet Joe Black and Good Will Hunting. I also enjoy Anime. My favorite Anime series are Death Note, Ouran Highschool Host Club, Fruits Basket, Ghost Hunt and Naruto. I’m very intrested in Psychology and hope to be a part of the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. I have a knack for reading others as my number one interest and skill is in reading body language. I have a code though. I refuse to -Sheridan(3)

read someone unless they ask for a full reading since I can’t hold myself back and tear their life and everything they’re feeling apart. The only other time I read someone is if I feel threatened or am injured mentally by someone close to me. It emerges as a defense mechanism and I regret it soon after it happens. However, when it’s just me out in the city, I let myself observe those around me with no filter and often spend many hours doing so. I often find myself lost in thought -Sheridan (4)

with what they do, why, what their motivations are, what would happen to them if they were put in certain situations. Purelu speculation obviously but I greatly enjoy it. It’s my greatest passion. I also love Theatre and have been attempting to get into the musicals at my school for 6 years. For 5 years I did Stage Crew as I didn’t get in. This year was the first year I got in and I’m Understudying for a lead and also in the Ensemble for the musical Pippin. It’s somewhat of a dark -Sheridan (5)

comedy with a mix of a Circus theme and a Gothic theme. I’m extremely nervous but also as excited as I’ve ever been since I even get to be in the smallest musical number and also get to be up front while singing for a part. Also, I have this thing called a tickle fetish in where I derive pleasure from being tickled. I’m extremely self-concious about it and it takes me a long time to open up about it. I get so easily flustered about it that I find it difficult to even say the word -Sheridan (6)

“tickle” out loud. However, I do really enjoy bring tickled even if I sometimes pretend I don’t put of embarrassment. Speaking of getting flustered I also blush very easily in general. Even an average compliment or especially a teasy pet name can make my face as red as a firetruck in seconds. Thank you so much! Sorry this was so long! (7)

So, you didn’t mention whether you wanted to be matched with a male or a female or if either is fine, so if the result is not to your liking in that sense, go ahead and tell me to correct myself– BUT! but. listen. buddy.

Your asks scream Orihara Izaya (and that’s really fascinating to me). It should be obvious as to why, but I’ll elaborate on it further. Clearly you share a very similar – if not exactly the same – hobby as Izaya: human observation. Now, he might be a creep about it and use it to his advantage through getting to manipulate people to his liking, but at the end of the day, it’s all about reading people like a book, understanding each individual, their thoughts, their feelings, them as a person. It certainly is something you have in common. Izaya has a very complex personality that might be difficult to understand for sure, but perhaps to you he’s just as much of an open book to read as to anyone and that would create a very interesting dynamic between the two of you. I’d imagine he wouldn’t exactly love being in such a vulnerable position or let anyone that close to closely be able to analyze him, but Izaya being Izaya would at the very same time be too intrigued to keep distance of such an opportunity. He likely hasn’t stumbled upon many people in his life trying to look at him from a psychological point of view. The fact that you both share this skill and interest despite being on such opposite ends (him as an information broker, dealing with the manipulated human mind, working with shady people, being a shady person himself and you aspiring to work for the FBI, which indicates a strong sense of justice) is like two sides of the very same coin.

Plus, let’s be real. You mentioned you have a taste for them bad boys and Izaya is the worst LMAO

[dorothydelgadillo]

Everything You Need to Know to Build an Extraordinary 2019 Facebook Ads Strategy [Expert Interview]

"I still think a lot of people don't understand all of the potential that's there for Facebook ads," says IMPACT Facebook Strategist Ali Parmelee.

Why? Because when Ali gets a chance to look under the hood of a business' Facebook ads account -- even if they've just come from another seasoned agency -- she's often surprised at how much they're not doing with the social advertising platform.

"They're still using Facebook ads as standalone a channels for one-off promotions and sales, instead of what they should be doing -- looking Facebook ads as a full-funnel solution."

After seeing Ali speak at IMPACT Live about full-funnel Facebook ad strategies, and having had the chance to pick her brain multiple times about Facebook since THINK merged with IMPACT last year, I had two thoughts. 

One, she is a Facebook ads wizard. You only need to hear her speak for about 30 seconds before that fact becomes abundantly clear. 

Two, given her "wicked New England smahts" about Facebook ads, I thought it would be a great idea to sit down with her to talk about how strategic and tactical marketing professionals should be looking at Facebook ads in 2019. 

Her response?

"Absolutely! Marketers need to realize that -- most likely -- what they've been doing with Facebook ads is just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many more things they can and should be doing. I would love for them to start thinking about Facebook ads as part of their entire digital marketing strategy, not just a standalone piece."

Before we dive in, keep in mind that when we talk about Facebook ads, we're also talking about Instagram ads. The former owns the latter, and you manage both within the same Facebook ads portal.

OK, let's go! 

What Were Some of the Big 2018 "Headlines" for Facebook Advertising?

First, Stories & Bots

According to Ali, Instagram stories stole the show last year -- which is why no one should have been surprised by the fact that Facebook has been aggressively pushing their own stories feature with users. (In fact, one of Ali's clients saw more than $50,000 in product sold from a single 15-second story ad that ran during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.)

The other major innovation in the Facebook ads space was the rise of the bot. 

"The other huge, huge story for 2018 are bots. If you do not have bots as part of your Facebook ads repertoire, then you are missing the boat. People are already using Messenger for the customer service, but bot advertising is massive."

Ali recommends that if you want to learn more about bots and Facebook ads, you need to get familiar with ManyChat -- they're the primary player in the space.

But for Facebook, 2018 Was Also Basically One Long Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Of course, Facebook also spent the vast majority of 2018 mired in controversy:

With Yet Another Facebook & Instagram Outage, What Are Marketers Supposed to Do?

Facebook & Cambridge Analytica Roundup: 7 Updates on the Data Privacy Scandal

Should You Delete Your Facebook Account? Responses from Our Community

Advertisers Who Sued Facebook for Inflated Video Metrics Now Claim Fraud

NAACP's #LogOutFacebook Protest Uncovers a Whole New Danger of Data Misuse

4 Key Takeaways from Day 2 of Mark Zuckerberg's Congressional Hearing

Basecamp Deleted Facebook; Here's Why They Want You to Join Them

Ali's take?

"I think people got really caught up in the idea that there's all of these privacy issues happening -- Cambridge Analytica, Zuckerberg is going to Congress, Facebook has been exploited by foreign actors, lawsuits. Those are all serious issues, of course."

She continued, "You're always going to have ebbs and flows in the marketplace where you're going to get people who say, 'I'm out. I'm done. I'm not going back there.' I mean, my mom even did it. She took a break. And now she's still back posting cat videos a month later. Facebook has become so important in so many people's lives for different ways. And I think human nature of FOMO will always help with Facebook, as well. Plus, Facebook has also diversified to the point where it is amazing to me how many people don't realize that Instagram and Facebook are one and the same."

So, bottom line, we can't tell you what you should think about Facebook. But we can tell you that it's a powerful platform with millions and millions of users -- and right now, those numbers that aren't dwindling. 

It's your choice whether or not you want to leave money on the table.

What Should Marketers Focus on with Facebook Ads & Instagram in 2019?

So, we've already discussed bots. And we've touched upon Instagram stories. But what lives at the heart of the success of Instagram (and soon Facebook) stories is UGC (user-generated content) and a type of marketing many are claiming is out of fashion -- or at least soon will be. 

Influencer marketing. 

A New Kind of Influencer 

But instead of looking toward influencers that live at the top of the celebrity stratosphere -- like Blake Lively or (cringe) Kim Kardashian -- 2019 will be the year of the nano- and the micro-influencer. 

What's the difference between those types of influencers?

Ali used me as a non-Blake Lively example. Three times a week, I go to 24 Hour Fitness to pick things up and put them back down again for up to an hour. To make it fun and hold myself accountable, I post an Instagram story of my Apple Watch showing my completed workout. (I've earned the right to brag, which brings something positive out of the pain.)

I'm not at a micro-influencer level by doing that, Ali says. 

"Let's imagine you're talking that to another level, where you're specifically showing video of what it looks like there -- or you're talking about how they have this brand new program -- and it's amazing. If you have a super strong following, that's where it takes your user-generated content brings you into the sphere of being a micro- or nano-influencer."

Still, it wasn't clicking for me.

If I'm a brand, why are nano- or micro-influencers more powerful than say, getting a Ryan Reynolds to do something for me?

"They're more accessible," Ali pointed out. "Because people love to see themselves in these aspirational ads, and that more niche, every day-person influencer makes that much easier."

Also, Video Is Still King (Duh)

Next, Ali says video is another massive opportunity for 2019. But in a much bigger way than most marketers think, because -- as she pointed out at the start of our conversation -- too many marketers leverage Facebook as a one-dimensional platform. 

"Everyone thinks you have to do 15-second, 30-second, 60-second videos ads, and that's what's going to work. I can tell you from tons of experience, that's one way to do it -- but that's not the only way. We have hugely massively successful clients where, we take their Facebook Lives -- that are in essence like mini shows that are 30 to 60 minutes long -- we turn those into ads."

An example from one of our clients.

Why do these more top-of-the-funnel, long-form videos work for brands trying to drive revenue growth?

"Because it's content, and it's helpful," Ali pointed out. "It's inboundy. You're not selling something, but it's educational -- you're going out of your way to empower people with genuinely valuable knowledge. So, who cares if it's sponsored? I'm learning something."

That's why Ali says she wants to challenge marketers to think outside the box with video and Facebook this year. Facebook Live, long-format videos... any kind of video that you can think of! Keep playing with it all and exploring. 

Bots, Bots, Bots! 

Also, bots will carry through to this year -- and like video, Ali encourages marketers to pretend like they're scientists in a laboratory. Now is the time to experiment.

"It's kind of like the Wild West right now with bots. There's so little known, and it's all just theory. So, be bold. Try things. But I will say, follow the rules. There are very specific rules for engagement that you have to follow with this."

What are the rules? Again, Ali says, "Get thee to ManyChat!"

Also, Don't Mentally Glaze Over Mobile

The only thing marketers talk more about than video is mobile. Mobile, this. Mobile, that. Mobile, first. Mobile, now. Always. Forever.

Unfortunately, that repetitive refrain of "Give me mobile-first, or give me death!" means that us marketers may forget how important mobile devices are to the effectiveness of more niche strategies -- like Facebook advertising and Instagram. 

That's why Ali says, "Mobile is absolutely something that you have to be obsessive about this year -- from your ads to your overall digital footprint. What does it look like? How is your site working? When you're dropping people to your site, is it optimized or a proper mobile experience?"

It's not enough to ask, "Is my website responsive?"

For everything you create -- especially ads -- you need to run through the user experience of going from your ad to your landing page to... whatever comes next. You have to evaluate your Facebook and Instagram ad collateral and digital footprints from the perspective of, "What would I think of my brand and the experience, if I were to never interact with these ads or pages on a desktop?"

Ali's testing process is rigorous:

"Whenever we bring on a new ecommerce client, I have them issue me a test promo code. Then I run through the purchasing process, and I will check it on every platform to see what the experience is like. I'm checking to see if there are going to be UX problems. Is there going to be a conversion issue where, once I lead the horse to water, they won't be able to drink? That's my worst nightmare, and you'd be surprised how often businesses miss obvious roadblocks that will prevent the action they want their customers to take."

Still, Your Results with Facebook Ads & Instagram Will Only Be as Effective as Your Mindset

"You basically need to sit down and look at your entire marketing plan," Ali says.

Because if you continue to approach Facebook and Instagram advertising as if they're islands you only vacation on occasionally, when it comes to your marketing, you'll never see the results you're looking for. 

Yeah, you'll see some results, but they'll be fractured. Never quite reaching the potential of what could be. 

You'll never be like Ali's current client at IMPACT who saw 20% of their sales for December 2018 come from a single Instagram stories ad.

So, Ali says you need to embrace Facebook as an equal player in your overall strategy.

"What are you doing for email? What are you doing for your blog? What are you doing for video? What are you doing for your Google ads? Then, you need to ask with the same level of importance and weight, what are you doing with your Facebook ads and Instagram? Because everything that you're doing goes together as an omnichannel experience."

from Web Developers World https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/facebook-ads-strategy-tips-2019