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itsclydebitches · 4 years ago

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YYH Recaps: Episode 1, Surprised to be Dead

Hello, all you hypothetical readers! It's a beautiful spring day and I have a free afternoon ahead of me, so what better time to start another massive project while I guilty stuff my other WIPs deep into the depths of my hard drive? Yeah. Iffy life choices aside, someone mentioned a few weeks back that they'd love for me to recap a show I have more positive things to say about than negative (RIP RWBY) and ever since Netflix announced that their live-action adaptation of Yu Yu Hakusho is in the works, I've been itching for a re-watch of the anime. With the RWBY hiatus underway, it seemed like the perfect time to fulfill both desires.

Before we begin though, I'd like to touch on a few things that are going to influence this project.

First, YYH is near and dear to my heart. Written by Yoshihiro Togashi in the early 1990s and later adapted for an American audience by Funimation, I had the pleasure of experiencing this story five different ways: as a serialized tale in Shonen Jump, a binge read when I had the money to buy the manga, tiny snippets of the anime on Adult Swim late at night — don't tell my parents ;) — as an after-school treat on Toonami, and then years later as a re-watch when I introduced it to a friend (who, in turn, blessed me by having us watch Fullmetal Alchemist next). I used to keep a Hiei bookmark in everything I was reading, the spirit gun made it into our witch-wolf-space adventures on the playground (middle school was wild), and there was a long period of my life where I tried very hard to teach myself to stand with my hands behind my back, precisely as Genkai does. Spoiler alert: I failed. So to say I love the series is... a little bit of an understatement. I bring this up simply as a way of demonstrating that there's more than a bit of nostalgia attached to YYH for me and that will inevitably cloud my reading of it. How can it not? So that's just something to keep in mind as I work through a series that, like any having hit its 30th birthday, has its outdated, flawed, and other questionable aspects.

Second, but very much connected to the first point, is that these are pretty casual recaps. I summarize and extrapolate, focusing primarily on plot and dialogue (but with the occasional cinematography aspect tossed in). I'm not conducting research on the cultural history here — something that will come up at least once in this episode — I'm not arguing an overarching thesis, and I've never been someone who focuses on the author/production/trivia of a series. I'm here for the story as the story is presented to the viewer. If you've read my RWBY Recaps, this will function precisely the same way, with the only difference being I'm engaging with a finished text as opposed to an ongoing one, so there’s a lot less, “Maybe ___ will happen” theorizing going on.

Third, I obviously recommend that you watch the show yourself (you can find it on YouTube!), but you don't have to know the series to follow along. As these massive paragraphs attest, I tend to be both detailed and verbose, so we'll be covering every major plot point — and most of the smaller ones too.

Finally, I'm working from the dub. I know, I know, the horror. But it's what I grew up on and, honestly, I think it's superior to the sub. YYH's dubbing is in a class all its own and to this day there are very few shows that compare to it. Trust me, it's a good call.

That's enough of the boring chit-chat though. Let's get started!

Our very first episode "Surprised to be Dead" opens on a crowded street. We see lots of traffic, people going about their business, and a pedestrian crossing sign that, crucially, turns red. This is our normality and, like in every genre story, you need to break that normality at some point so that the protagonists can go on their fantastical/supernatural/science fiction journey. YYH eases us into things by first breaking the normality of an everyday afternoon: there's a screech of tires, quick shots of a man pushing a child out of the way of an oncoming car, and then his back is hitting the windshield. We begin this story with a horrible — but otherwise mundane — car crash.

Now, these flashes alone have a fair bit to unpack. Despite later getting a brief shot of the man's scared face right before he's hit, the moment's focus is really on the child. He's the one foregrounded in the initial, slow-mo shot. He's the one who appears in color while the man is kept in shadow. This isn't just a hit, it's a rescue. The camera is also careful to follow the soccer ball this kid was playing with (more on that later in the episode), with it flying through the air as the man is hit and bouncing to a stop in the street, acting as the dramatic finish. It's childhood! It's innocence! It's play on a sunny afternoon! And it's all gone wrong.

This moment is chaotic and even a bit confusing. Not in the sense of what's happening — that is quite obviously a guy being hit by a car — but who the victims are, how precisely this came about, or even why we're meant to care about this beyond a generic capacity to feel for other human (fictional) beings... that's all removed. And it works. As the crash takes place, the camera pans across the stunned crowd and we, the viewer, become a part of that crowd. They don't know what precisely is going on either. We're all just horrified onlookers as a sudden tragedy takes place. We're all watching the same show.

So everyone realizes this guy has been hit. People are staring in shock and someone calls for an ambulance. We see the driver fall to his knees in the street, distraught, shakily saying, "I didn't mean to..." It's a very serious and emotional scene that —

— is immediately tempered by this guy waking up, complete with a cute 'pop!' sound effect when he opens his eyes.

This is YYH's brand, this Very Serious Circumstances skillfully interwoven with casual indifference/comedy. It's admittedly far from a unique brand, but it's an excellent choice given that this is the same attitude that will drive 99% of our protagonist's interaction with the world.

Speaking of said protagonist, our guy wakes up, opens his eyes, and realizes that he's floating. There's a great, disorientating shot from his perspective where everything is upside down, causing him to nearly fall out of the air. Well would you look at that, he's as confused as we are. It's our audience surrogate!

A narrator says, "And so it all begins. This boy's name is Yusuke, he's fourteen years old, and he's supposed to be the hero of this story. But oddly enough, he's dead."

Game of Thrones might have made it popular, but YYH did it better.

(Yeah, yeah, I know one death kick-starts the journey and the other is a shocking twist. Just let me have this.)

Now, it's a weird introduction, right? At least at the end. The announcement that change has occurred, a name, an age... that all checks out. But "supposed to be the hero"? What the hell is that “supposed to” mean? Our narrator gives us the easy, surface answer: "But oddly enough, he's dead." We're capitalizing here on the audience's expectation that death ends a character's journey and though they may have been a hero previously, they can no longer be one moving forward. That function within the story has passed. So it's this intriguing question of, "What kind of hero do you have when that hero is dead from the start?" but as we'll see soon, there's an additional meaning here of, "How can Yusuke be the hero?" As this premiere sets up, Yusuke doesn't act like the hero is “supposed to” act.

Until he saved this kid.

But right now he's just confused: "Okay, this is weird. Stupid weird."

Two EMTs arrive on the scene and are hilariously useless. You know how in any medical drama a doctor will stop CPR after a couple of seconds because obviously you're not going to spend half the episode on realism? Well, that's this only a thousand times worse. One guy just looks at the kid and announces he's fine except for some bumps and bruises. Meanwhile, the kid is sobbing.

"Well, at least one of them is," replies the other EMT, because I guess he can tell Yusuke is beyond hope without taking a pulse or anything? "I hate cleanup," he complains as they load his body onto a stretcher because that's? An empathetic response to have??

Honestly this scene is wild.

Yusuke is understandably upset that he's, you know, dead and all. He starts hounding the EMTs who, unable to hear him, just go about their business of taking the kid and his body to the hospital. "You think you can just do whatever you want because you have that stupid uniform on? You can't just write me off. Listen to me!" and Yusuke tries to punch one of the EMTs in the head, resulting in him floating right through.

What a great way to introduce your protagonist's personality. We see here that when things go wrong Yusuke's default emotion is anger and it starts creeping in even before he thinks the others are ignoring him: "Stupid weird." He has problems with authority — "You think you can just do whatever you want because you have that stupid uniform on?" — is used to others listening when he gets angry — "You can't just write me off!" — and is poised to use violence at the slightest provocation. Yusuke is a guy who, right now at least, is ready to punch first and ask questions later.

As Yusuke floats back up into the air and the ambulance drives away, he finally cools down enough to try and think his way out of this. "It's not like this is the first time you've been in a jam,” he thinks. Yusuke recalls that yeah, something was different about today...

...he actually went to school.

Catch me laughing that this idiot boy equates the weirdness of him dying with going to school. Good lord.

Anyway, this jumpstarts our flashback. We open on a generic, anime middle school (that always feels like a high school to me) where the principal is calling for Yusuke through the loud speaker. Oooo someone’s in trouble! We follow a young girl up to the rooftop and she gets a classic hair-blowing-in-the-wind moment to establish that she's our love interest. Meet Keiko Yukimura.

Keiko finds Yusuke hanging out and immediately starts lecturing him for trying to chew gum and refusing to wear the boys' uniform. "Oh, give me a break, Keiko. I look better in green." Note that it's here we learn her name and it's an easy, casual way to introduce it. I bring this up because Yusuke's introduction via our narrator is very much... not that. It's an on your nose statement about his name, age, and importance to the story, and if you're just starting the show in 2021, it might come across as a rather armature move. Like something out of a kid's show, perhaps. Yet here we see that this was a deliberate choice, considering that YYH is capable of introducing character information naturally when it wants to.

This moment also tells us that Yusuke cares a great deal about his image. More on that in a bit. Because Keiko isn't finished her list of grievances yet, going on to say that his attendance record has hurt their entire class, hurt her as class representative, and if he keeps going down this path he won't even graduate middle school. "Sometimes I think you don't care about anyone but yourself and then you don't even do that right!"

They're legit complaints. Too bad Yusuke is busy looking up Keiko's skirt.

Yeeeeah. Sadly, this is common for anime, particularly a 90s anime like YYH. Even presumably more progressive series like My Hero Academia feature characters like Mineta, whose entire personality is being a pervert, and the creation of abilities that "require" kids/young women to be scantily clad. See: Yaoyorozu. YYH is no different in this regard, with various forms of sexual harassment functioning as a shorthand for how much Yusuke secretly likes Keiko. "Boys will be boys," right? Obviously not.

Like so many others series, the creators get away with it because they’re framing it as a bad thing. It's totally fine because look, Keiko slaps him! This is teaching the viewer how wrong this behavior is. Never mind that this is clearly an established habit between them, that Yusuke laughs off Keiko's discomfort, and that the whole scene is meant to be funny for the viewer. That's the real purpose here; it’s not a PSA on harassment.

That, and to establish the long-suffering love Keiko has for Yusuke in turn, largely stemming from a life-long friendship. "Dumb boy! He hasn't grown up a bit since he was four years old." We see that Keiko's early interactions with Yusuke have given her insight that others lack. As she heads down from the roof she runs into two girls hiding around the corner, too scared to come out lest "the great Urameshi" set his sights on them. Isn't Keiko terrified of what he might do to her? "Or worse, what others might say of it?" Like any classic high school middle school setting, one's reputation is king. Yusuke cares about how others see him — maintaining that tough boy attitude — and the girls care more about what the rest of the school might think of Keiko's interactions with him than the presumed harm Yusuke could do to her. They heard he can summon 2,000 men with just a whistle and that he "kills for fun!" But that means nothing in the face of people talking about you. Despite being one of the most popular girls in school, Keiko is the outsider here via her disinterest in what other people think.

The animation changes here, giving us a good look at how the girls picture Yusuke: tough, scowling, surrounded by shadows, and backed by an entire army.

In contrast, we've already seen what Yusuke is really like.

Keiko laughs the image off too. Yusuke is more like a "lamb" than a killer and besides, he couldn't order around two people, let alone two hundred. "He doesn't have many friends."

"That's not what I heard," says one of the girls.

"Yeah," goes the other. "I think we would know."

Again, rumors rule here, with whispers in the hall considered more reliable than someone who interacts with Yusuke on a daily basis. Keiko doesn’t have a hope of changing their minds.

Oh, as a side note, I love that they gave Keiko Miyazaki-esque hair. It's very emotive.

Yusuke escapes outside where the principal is still calling for him to report to his office. He overhears a conversation around the corner and we cut to two boys, one of which is showing a wallet off to the other. He explains that some bully tried to rough him up, but he said he was Urameshi's cousin and the bully took off, dropping his wallet in the process. The guy's friend is impressed, but what is he going to do if Yusuke ever finds out he lied? Not to worry, he says, that "blockhead" would probably think it's true even if he did somehow hear.

Yusuke, obviously, does hear about this and he, also obviously, does not believe this guy is his cousin. He looms ominously and they scurry up against a wall, terrified and offering him the wallet as an apology.

"You think I want your money?" Yusuke yells.

YYH is, in many respects, a rather simple story, but I appreciate the hints of complexity in these otherwise straightforward interactions. It's not that this guy used Yusuke's name to steal a wallet, he used it as a form of protection against another bully — a far more sympathetic motivation. It's not that Yusuke's fearsome reputation has resulted in any genuine respect because once people think they're safe they reveal how little they think of his intelligence — he's a "blockhead." And Yusuke, though intimidating and violent, is not your average, schoolyard bully. He doesn't care about money, only the insult and the damage this guy using his name might have done to his reputation. There's a little more nuance here than you might otherwise expect.

Also, note how dark the boys' standard uniforms are and how much they blend into the rest of the world. Yusuke, as our protagonist, stands out in his bright clothing. He was right, he does look better in green!

So he's ready to clobber this kid when one of the teachers arrive: Mr. Iwamoto.

Iwamoto demands to know what's going on, but the boys are too terrified to rat Yusuke out. Noticing the wallet on the ground, he assumes that Yusuke was after their money, something that greatly offends him: "Whatever!" Iwamoto goes on to say that, "No good weeds like you should have been plucked a long time ago," making it clear that he considers Yusuke a hopeless case. The positive aspects that Keiko sees, as well as the complexity the viewer sees — to say nothing of his introduction of saving a kid — aren’t considered here.

Notably, Iwamoto exists in part to show us what Yusuke could become. Not a teacher (he's obviously not attending school enough for that!), but a cynical man who is cruel for cruelty's sake. Yusuke is already barreling down that path, ignoring Keiko's advice, terrorizing other students, trying to punch EMTs, etc. If his life (or afterlife...) hadn't changed through that accident, this is the kind of person Yusuke might have grown up to be, and we can see that clearly in the visual parallels between them. Dark haired men dressed in green who scowl with ease and toss out cutting insults. Yusuke is staring his future in the face.

For now he walks off with a final shot, "You shouldn't talk. It makes you sound stupid." This time Yusuke makes it to the school's entrance and tries to enjoy his second attempt at chewing gum, but someone hits him in the back of the head.

"Okay, somebody's DEAD — ah. Sorry, old man."

"That's Mr. Takenaka to you."

Our principal has finally left the office and hunted down Yusuke for himself! Putting this interaction immediately after the one with Iwamoto allows the viewer to compare them. Yusuke might be irreverent towards his principal, but it's clear there's still some kind of respect between them. Yusuke only starts threatening because he doesn’t realize who hit him and once he does realize it's Takenaka, he immediately apologizes. That "old man" comes across as a teasing insult and Yusuke allows himself to be briefly dragged back towards school, rather than throwing a now classic punch. In turn, Takenaka cares enough about Yusuke to try and keep him on the straight and narrow. He utilizes Yusuke's preferred language — violence — but in a casual way, nonthreatening way: slight hit to the back of his head, noogie, pulling him along by the ear.

It's the sort of physicality we're used to seeing in media between a parent and child who are outwardly antagonistic, but actually share a deep bond. Takenaka is also careful to frame their return to his office as a "discussion," not a punishment, and offers Yusuke tea along with the conversation. Whereas Iwamoto considers Yusuke to be a "weed" that should have been plucked from their school long ago, Takenaka is determined to help Yusuke bloom.

If we're continuing the flower metaphor :D

Yusuke isn't in the mood to play along though. He gets away by using a fake ear, startling Takenaka when it unexpectedly pulls free. Yusuke escapes the school grounds and Takenaka, suffering a back twinge from his fall, can't chase after him. Poor guy. I understand that pain lol.

Yusuke heads home where we're introduced to his mother, Atsuko. Most notable in her first shot is the soft lighting that highlights her looks. We're not told how old she is here, but I believe she's around 28 — and she looks it, if not younger. Given that Yusuke is 14, that means Atsuko was a mom at his age. This is a quick and subtle way to tell us about Yusuke's home life. There are more overt details in this scene — it's at least lunchtime and Atsuko hasn't left her bed yet, she demands that Yusuke make her coffee instead of greeting him, it's all meant to imply (before we actually see) that she's an alcoholic — but her age is another way to highlight the broken household here. There's no partner in sight and she clearly had Yusuke as a teenager. He hasn't had a strong parental figure to take care of him. If anything, Yusuke is taking care of Atsuko here.

"Oh great, mother of the year!" basically sums things up.

Atsuko wants to know why Yusuke isn't in school and he says that everyone is pissing him off today, particularly with their preaching. "Dear, if you hate preaching so much you should live on your own... but you can't do that, can you?" Alongside a rough upbringing, Yusuke is suffering from the common problem of being trapped in a dead-end life. He hates his school, his town, and coming home to find his mom hungover. Yusuke has no prospects and, outside of one principal, no one who is actively working to help him find some. Even the little things he hates, like being preached to, are unavoidable because if you want to live on your own, that requires money. Good luck pulling that off as a middle schooler whose only skill is street fighting!

Yusuke walks off in a huff, literally shouting in a street about what a bad day he's having (and hilariously scaring off pedestrians in the process). His shout brings trouble though. A couple guys appear to ambush him, their boss close behind. The music increases the tension, Yusuke's expression is serious, and we even get a Dutch angle thrown into the mix.

For any who don't know, the Dutch angle is a popular film technique to establish that something is wrong. There's tension in the scene, something uneasy is at play, and the world is now literally off center. It's perhaps most famously used in Do The Right Thing to establish the friction between an Italian-American pizzeria and the predominantly African American neighborhood it's based in.

But it's also used a great deal in horror as a way to say: yup, shit just got real. Scary real.

This Dutch angle introduces a character you may not appreciate at first, but absolutely should: Kazuma Kuwabara.

He's initially the comic relief and that's clear in his introduction. Within seconds we move from that intimidating arrival to, well, seeing him. To be clear, I've got nothing against redheads with big chins, but compared to Yusuke's design, Kuwabara is meant to be the funny looking one. His threat level plummets the moment we get a look at his face, especially in a series that will occasionally use looks as a (supposed) measure of intelligence.

Also, Kuwabara is dressed in light blue so, like Yusuke, we know he's important!

Any assumptions that his appearance isn’t meant to imply a goofy, embarrassing personality are put to rest when Kuwabara starts rambling about how they last time they fought Yusuke just got a cheap shot in and he'll definitely win this time. Yeah, he won't. Yusuke is thrilled by this diversion though and we get a shot of him looking almost as creepy as Keiko's friends think he is. Whatever else might be said about Yusuke, he is absolutely a monster in a fight.

Which we see here. If anyone picked up the series without knowing this was a fighting anime, they'll realize it now. Yusuke's choreography is stylized to show off his skill: he disappears with a 'whoosh' and dark lines to suggest inhuman speed,

attacking Kuwabara with a knee to the face, utilizes flying kicks, lands perfect, precision punches, and ends it all with the toe-tip landing we've come to expect of all powerful fighters. Kuwabara never even got a hit in.

Happy as a clam now, Yusuke wanders off whistling and Kuwabara's friends are left to pick up the pieces. AKA, his likely broken bones. I love that they're legit friends though and not just nameless goons for the sake of giving Kuwabara a small gang (though their names won't come up until later). "That makes 0 wins an 156 loses!" one of them cries, trying to get Kuwabara to stop ending up in the hospital, probably. We establish that Kuwabara is The Most Dramatic Ever when he pulls his broken body into a seated position, shouting, "No! I almost had him that time!"

Then he passes out.

Kuwabara, honey, you obviously did not almost have him, but god bless you for the outlook. The most optimistic thing on this Earth is a well-loved Golden Retriever, but Kuwabara comes in at a very close second.

With his dream to one day beat Yusuke in combat established, we cut to Yusuke wandering the street where the episode opened. "Okay, I'm remembering" he says in a voiceover. "After that I met the kid."

The soccer ball reappears as it rolls to a stop at Yusuke's feet. He grabs it and immediately starts yelling at the kid. Horrible protagonist, right? Well, Yusuke is trying to instill in him the danger of using this street as a playground, a worry the viewer already knows is 100% justified. “Listen, kid, that’s dangerous! There are cars going by that will splatter you into the pavement!” It's one of those quick moments where we get to enjoy Yusuke's duality: he's someone who is nearly making a toddler cry, but for rather understandable reasons. He's got the right idea, but needs to go about it in a more mature manner.

Which is precisely what he attempts to do. Sort of. Yusuke changes gears, though whether it's a more "mature" route is certainly up for debate lol. He tries entertaining the kid instead, raising and lowering the soccer ball to reveal goofy faces.

When these fail to impress, Yusuke goes full out by stuffing the ball into his pants, pushing his nose up with a pair of chopsticks he got from god knows where, and generally just putting on a display.

So Yusuke cares very deeply about his reputation... but only when it comes to those who are an established part of his life. Keiko, Mr. Takenaka, and the other kids at school all need to maintain a particular image of Yusuke, one that he's carefully cultivated. But random pedestrians on the street? Who cares about them? Let them talk.

This shows us that Yusuke does indeed have priorities over his own, selfish goals. Namely, the happiness of some kid is more important to him than looking "cool" for a bunch of strangers. Lots of characters with Yusuke's surface attitude would sneer at the idea of degrading themselves for — their words — some brat. But Yusuke, as we constantly see, actually does have that heart of gold. “Well, if all else fails I can still make kids happy.”

Although... I'm not sure what to make of his display itself. I have the distinct sense that there's something prejudiced here that I'm not able to fully articulate, what with the chopsticks, slanted eyes, bald head, and the like, though to be entirely frank I don't have enough knowledge of Japan's history to say precisely what it might be. Or, really, whether it exists at all. Just something to chew on.

What I am sure about though is the importance of having the child label Yusuke as monster — "Yeah, monster! — but in a delighted manner. Yusuke is indeed some kind a monster, someone who disappoints adults and terrifies his classmates, a demon fighter on the streets too, but here that identity is reworked into something positive.

Having successful secured a laugh, Yusuke tells the kid — calmly this time — to go play elsewhere. The toddler stares up at him with the blank expression only kids can manage.

Well, kids and whatever headspace I'm in after writing these metas.

To absolutely no one's surprise except Yusuke's, the kid does not go elsewhere. Instead, he continues kicking the ball down the street, causing Yusuke to exclaim, “Dammit, what’s the use? The kid can get smashed by a car for all I care!” Liar, liar.

The picture becomes desaturated as the kid kicks the ball and it flies into the street, time slowing down to show it landing precisely in the middle of the road. Yusuke again yells for him to stay put, but when has a toddler ever listened? He begins to walk into the road as our driver arrives, speeding, swerving, and paying more attention to the girl at his side than what's in front of him.

This time, we see the accident from the front with both Yusuke and the kid presented equally.

There's a cut to black and when we return we're in the present, Yusuke floating above the policemen now investigating the scene. “So that’s it? I’m roadkill?” As Yusuke realizes he's dead, specifically that he's a ghost, a voice goes,

"Bingo! Bingo! You win the prize!"

A woman has appeared who is quite obviously othered by the standards of the episode so far. Unlike the greens, blues, and browns of the series' modern clothes, she's dressed in hot pink kimono with blue hair to match. She's also, you know, floating on an oar.

“I didn’t expect you to figure it out so quickly," she says, referring to Yusuke's revelation that he's dead. Apparently, those who meet unexpected and/or violent ends tend to take some time coming to terms with their demise. It's a nice acknowledgment of Yusuke's intelligence in an interaction that's otherwise... not great for his self-esteem.

Meaning, this woman is about to drag him lol.

She introduces herself as Botan, pilot of the River Styx and guider of souls to the afterlife. You might also know her as the Grim Reaper.

(Hey, RWBY fans: I originally wrote that as Grimm Reaper 🤦‍♀️)

It's an claim Yusuke takes issue with because 1. Botan is too pretty to be the Grim Reaper and 2. If she was really some god of death she'd be taking this much more seriously, not laughing and saying, "Bingo!" For the audience this does two things. First, it acknowledges our own expectations and validates them. Yusuke's world isn't so far removed from our own that he takes Botan's looks and personality at face value, he also expected a skeleton with a scythe. So don't worry, all the weird stuff in this series is weird to our protagonist too. They'll be explanations. Or, even if there’s not, you’re not wrong for being surprised.

Second, it sets up the very common theme in YYH of undermining those common assumptions again and again and again. We've already seen it with Yusuke, wherein characters who look and act a certain way are, supposedly, destined to be that person and nothing more. Yusuke is meant to be just a "weed," a dumb, violent, angry loser who goes nowhere in life... but we already know he's more than that. Botan is supposed to be scary and serious, but she says nah, I want to be cute and bubbly instead. No character in YYH embodies who they're "supposed" to be when you look past those surface characterizations. They play the part of archetypes — and do keep certain parts of their expected personalities — but they're also far more well-rounded than that. Which yeah, is something most people expect from any story nowadays, but YYH is particularly adept at making you think you're watching Simple Show A only to turn around and surprise you with More Complex Show B.

It's great, trust me.

So Yusuke is pissed that Botan isn't adhering to those expectations, in the same way that he works hard to validate others expectations of him. He doesn't know how to deal with someone challenging his world view yet. Rather than angering Botan though, she just nods and says that this response makes sense for him. “Rather than being scared, or surprised, you yell a lot and tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about." Taking out a notebook, she quickly summarizes everything we learned in the flashback — minus Yusuke's complexities: he's fourteen, in middle school, is ill-tempered, violent, hates authority, and is a horrible student.

Typically, Yusuke responds by getting angry and trying to snatch the booklet out of her hands, only for Botan to pull it out of his reach, laughing. The tables have turned! Rather than being surrounded by people who cower at Yusuke's imposed authority, he now finds himself faced with someone who laughs at his transparent attempts to take control of the situation.

Calming down, Yusuke wants to know if the kid he saved is really alright and Botan offers to let him see for himself. That offer produces Yusuke's first, genuine smile.

They fly to the hospital where a doctor is in the process of giving the kid a clean bill of health, his mother crying with relief.

That's enough for Yusuke. “Alright, Botan, I’ve got no regrets, so you can take me to hell or wherever it is I’m going.”

That tells you all you need to know about Yusuke's self-worth, despite his bad boy attitude. His life is a dead-end as far as he can see and most of those around him haven't done anything to dissuade him of that idea. He says he doesn't care if the kid lives or dies, but then instinctively saves him. Post his death, Yusuke doesn't have anything he considers a regret, or anything he'd like to do before he leaves, like saying goodbye to a loved one. Oh, he's also pretty sure he's going to hell and has resigned himself to that without a fight.

Uplifting!

Botan just laughs though, saying that she's actually here to offer Yusuke an "ordeal" that could bring him back to life. See, he wasn't supposed to die today — let alone die saving a kid — and frankly they don't know what to do with him. It's another neat summary of what we've already learned: Yusuke is a far more complicated case than the afterlife assumed and now, when push comes to shove, deciding whether he belongs in heaven or hell is... muddled.

There's a fantastic story there about the problems with an afterlife that reduces a person's entire life to a few surface characteristics recorded in a book, refusing to acknowledge the context of their situation, or their capacity for change. “Run someone with your credentials a thousand times and they never would have saved a kid like that." Except, of course, Yusuke did save him, so those "credentials" are suspect, to say the least. However, YYH is not a story that explores these issues. Instead, I recommend you watch this!

Rather than being upset at the afterlife's low opinion of him (because let's be real, Yusuke shares it), he latches onto a little detail Botan let slip. If he wasn't supposed to die today... then was the kid?

Mmm... no. Actually, without the chaos of Yusuke jumping into the road, the driver would have swerved at the last second and the kid would have not only lived, but actually come out with one less scrape.

So Yusuke is obviously upset by this news! I would be too!! Holy shit, hang onto the "it's the thought that counts" message with everything you've got.

Also, don't think too much about the fact that the afterlife apparently knows exactly what will happen to people, down to how many cuts they accumulate in an accident. Also, don't think too much about where the afterlife foreseeing the crash begins and the unexpectedness of Yusuke interfering ends. That way lies madness. This will never come up again, so just let it go.

Sorry, 2013 me hijacked the post for a second.

As said, Yusuke is understandably upset by this revelation and as he fumes I'm reminded that this series likes to pull some amazing expressions.

Botan reiterates that it's all fine because Yusuke can come back to life. Weren't you listening? He should feel honored, in fact, considering that an offer like this only arrives every 100 years or so. Well, that explains why all of humanity isn't grappling with people coming back to life on the daily. One person every generation isn't going to cause much of a stir.

However, instead of jumping at the chance Yusuke announces that Botan is just like the teachers at school: she doesn't know what she's talking about. “You said yourself my life was kind of pathetic, right?” he says, going on to explain that everyone will be happier now that he's dead. His school won't have to deal with his behavior, Keiko won't have to nag him, and his mom will be able to party whenever she wants. It's a win-win for everyone involved.

Hmm, this feels familiar.

Don't worry, Yusuke doesn't need to experience a whole alternate reality to get the message.

“I’m sorry you feel that way at such an early age," Botan says and she is sorry, because despite her teasing nature that's a legitimately horrifying thing to believe. Yusuke won't budge though and after a little back-and-forth Botan leaves, telling Yusuke he should think it over while visiting his wake. She'll come back once he decides what to do.

“Do you have worms in your ears, lady? I did decide!” but Botan is long gone.

We cut to that night where Yusuke has indeed decided to attend his own wake. Maybe because of Botan's advice, maybe because he's just morbidly curious. We’re not given insight into the decision.

Atsuko is a mess, to put it mildly, not dressed for the occasion and sitting slumped against the way, staring vacantly as the guests offer their condolences. Yusuke is surprised by the fact that his entire class is here, but quickly writes them off when he sees two of the boys laughing. I'm on the fence about this detail, which I'll unpack in just a second.

First though, Yusuke sees Keiko exiting the house, inconsolable in her grief. She collapses on the ground with her two friends trying to offer comfort, despite the fact that they had nothing good to say about Yusuke himself. Good on them.

Before he can think too long on this though, Yusuke is distracted by Kuwabara's arrival. Unlike Keiko's crying, he expresses his grief through yelling. Specifically, yelling at Yusuke. For dying. For daring to "run away." His own friends are physically holding him back as he charges into the wake, screaming, “Who am I gonna fight now, huh? Who am I gonna fight?" It's not really about the fighting, of course. At least, not the fighting alone. "You’re supposed to be here for me," Kuwabara finishes, the punch he's thrown at Yusuke's photo going limp and catching his first tear.

You know, for all the goofy expressions, this show really is gorgeous. Just wait until we get to the fight animations.

Kuwabara's reaction is why I hesitate to write off the classmates like Yusuke has. Granted, we have no reason to believe that they care for him as Kuwabara does — they're nameless background characters defined only by their terror of "the great Urameshi" — but it's still a split second taken out of context. We don't know what they were laughing at, or if laughing is a part of their grief. God knows I personally laugh at the most inappropriate moments. If you tell me someone has just died there is a very good chance I will laugh awkwardly as I try to process that. It’s just a reflex. All of which I bring up not because these side characters are important, but because Yusuke's perception of his own worth is. The point of each of these moments is to show that those around him have always cared for him, even if Yusuke didn't notice. It's nice to think that extends to his classmates too. The variety likewise exists to show us how people grieve differently, with Kuwabara's friends not understanding that this is how he's working through the trauma: “This place is for mourning!” He is mourning, even if his way of mourning isn't as socially acceptable as Keiko's. So if screaming and throwing punches is valid, crying is valid, staring stoically in a drunk stupor is valid... why not laughter too?

Not likely, perhaps, but possible.

As an additional possibility to chew on, watching this premier again, it struck me how more emotional Kuwabara's scene is compared to Keiko's. Don't get me wrong, crying and calling Yusuke’s name gets the point across, but it's two seconds of generic grief compared to a much longer scene rife with intensity. When Kuwabara arrives the music swells and everyone is forced to pay attention to him. His grief is loud, violent, and given symbolism with his fist and the photo. There's more effort put into his reaction, frankly, so it wouldn't surprise me if fans started shipping them after this. That grief combined with an "enemies to lovers" possibility is a pretty potent mix. To be clear, Yusuke/Keiko is the (oh so obvious) canonical endgame and in the fandom Yusuke/Kuwabara can't compare to another slash ship that will turn up later, but this is a good example of how writers can craft some Very Gay Scenes without realizing it. When you have the girl crying prettily for a second and the guy absolutely losing his mind over Yusuke's death, questioning his purpose now, his support network, and then collapsing in grief... don't be surprised if your audience goes, "Oh hey, maybe they'd be a good couple instead."

But I digress.

The only people who are unquestioningly happy about Yusuke's passing are Mr. Iwamoto and his co-conspirator, Mr. Akashi. You know Akashi is another bad guy because he has bucked teeth and "ugliness" is an easy way to code for evilness. YYH is not immune to those mistakes :/

These two are really something else though, standing in the middle of a wake and claiming it's “too bad that car wasn’t big enough for them too," referring to Kuwabara and his friends. Wow! What stellar members of the academic community. Iwamoto goes on to say that Yusuke dying at least accomplished something good. Not, mind you, saving the life of a child, but rather looking good for their school's reputation. Akashi agrees, but says it's likely Yusuke only accidentally saved him while trying to steal the kid's lunch money. Remember, that accusation of theft is the one thing Yusuke has said outright that he does not do.

He's pissed listening to all this — wouldn't you be? — but knows by now he can't do anything about it. In another fantastic shot, Yusuke hovers his hand over Iwamoto's shoulder, desperate to grab him, when Takenaka's arrives there instead.

“What do you suppose is more disgraceful? That boy showing his misery, or your insensitive and idiotic words!”

HELL YEAH. You tell 'em, Mr. Takenaka.

Yusuke gets his third shock of the night at this passionate defense. Takenaka leaves the teachers to go pay his respects, but admits to Yusuke's picture that he just can't speak well of him. He was surprised to hear that Yusuke gave up his life for another and it's a fact that he acted selfishly. Though he doesn't say it in as many words, Takenaka explains that he's not grieving because Yusuke was a good person, but because it's so clear to him that he might have been. “Why didn’t you stay? You could have made something great out of yourself.”

Normally, "Why didn't you stay?" is just something for the living to grapple with, as the dead obviously don't have any say in what happens to them. But Yusuke does. It's here that the lighting grows soft again and Yusuke considers Takenaka's words. Keiko and Kuwabara grieve for who he was, but Takenaka grieves for who Yusuke could have been — someone that might still exist if Yusuke decides to undergo this ordeal.

Atsuko adds fuel to the emotional fire, breaking down and hiding her face in her knees.

Finally, the kid Yusuke saved arrives with his mother. Because yes, Yusuke saved him in every way that matters, considering no one else knows — or will know — that he'd have lived anyway. I like that the show doesn't allow that knowledge to undermine the emotion of their arrival, or what Yusuke’s act meant to them.

The mom tells her son to pay his respects and the kid thanks Yusuke for saving him, and for "making faces." He clearly doesn't get what's going on here. This is confirmed as the two leave and he asks his mom if he can play with Yusuke again tomorrow. “I know some people sounded angry at him, but he’s really nice!"

They're probably just crying because they want to play with him too, he thinks, which just makes his mom join in. Everyone is crying in this club tonight.

Those words are the cincher for Yusuke and with a brief montage of all the grief he's witnessed, he makes his decision.

We cut to later that night where Yusuke floats above the city, admiring the moon. Botan reappears and he asks, “Have you ever not known about something that seemed obvious to everyone else?” Yes, everyone has experienced that at one point or another. She asks if he's made his decision and Yusuke agrees to try and come back to life.

Emotional revelations out of the way, we're allowed another tone shift as Botan yells with joy, speeding off and causing Yusuke to grab hold of the end of her oar, lest he be left behind. Cranky as always, he demands to know where they're going. "To the spirit world, of course!" They're off to see someone who can explain the ordeal and give Yusuke the tool needed to complete it. Just hang on and enjoy the ride.

Thus ends our very first episode! Ah, the nostalgia. This is part one of a four arc series, with the anime cutting out a lot of the filler stories found at the start of the manga — a smart decision, I think. They primarily do the work of teaching Yusuke what he learned at the wake, so if you can accomplish that as quickly as the adaptation did, all the better. Especially since Yusuke needs to grow a great deal beyond the basic understanding that people might, sort of care for him, and that work will occur primarily through a job he's going to take on. The series isn't really about his death and it's not about an attempt to come back either — it's about what happens once you get that second chance. So this is the setup, but it's important setup all the same.

No need to skip ahead though. I've blathered enough for one recap. I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you when the writing gods next bless me with energy! 💜

#YYH #Yu Yu Hakusho #YYH recaps #mymetas

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hayjeon · 5 years ago

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Practical Tips on getting your fics out there!

I’ve gotten an influx of these types of questions here recently, and the more i thought about what i was gonna add, it became really long :(

disclaimer: a lot of the things i bring up are just from personal experience as a writer on this site, what my followers have told me they appreciate, and what i tend to look for when im looking for fics to read! If you don’t like these tips then pls move on :)

although i’ll mention them, i’m also not going to be focusing on cliche tips like “write for yourself” or “grammar issues” cause those are pretty obvious!

1. accessibility of your blog

when you’re trying to get your name out there, make sure that you’re creating an inviting experience for any potential followers! this includes:

a memorable url! be creative!

have some fun designing your blog’s aesthetic! (i love cute blogs because it reflects a bit of the writer’s personality), and (i prefer blogs with white backgrounds because it’s easier to look through/read, say, in contrast to a pitch black one where the words need to be white!)

put your masterlist link in your bio (even better if you can link most recent fic! found this most helpful when i revisit authors that i like and can easily see if they’ve updated or not)

an organized and easy-to-navigate masterlist (personally, i prefer masterlists organized by band, instead of types of fics ie. i hate when i have to choose between drabbles, oneshots, and series masterlists; i really prefer to see them altogether!) --> see section 3

organized tags (if you’re going to be posting a lot of non-fic-related content like pictures or videos, tag them properly so followers can sort through and find your fics easily!), or (if you’re going to be writing in different mediums like drabbles, or answering asks, make sure to use a unified #mine or #writing or #fics to centralize your content)

2. get your name out there!

write write write! once you have some fics that show your talent, don’t be shy!

join writing groups: when i first started out, I joined a bunch of groups that would reblog my fics in the midst of the content of much bigger writers; these blogs developed a following, and as a result of my content mixing in with bigger blogs’ content, so did my own tumblr! there’s been a stigma recently with these groups, but im sure you can find one thats supportive and not clique-y!

send your fics to rec pages: what’s the harm? the only bad thing that can happen is that they ignore you! who cares! get out there!

if you can do the above, i really encourage you to ask your fave writers for advice/to read your fic: again, the worst that can happen is that they say no or don’t respond or don’t have enough time, but it’ll be a good opportunity to get some feedback! i for one read (or try to read) every single rec that falls into my inbox. if i like it, i’ll #rec it, and if i don’t, unless the writer asks me for feedback, i move on!!

utilize your tags!!: i’m not entirely sure if this is still the same or not, but from my memory, it’s the first 3-5 tags that matter the most? so utilize them well; push back the tags that aren’t really relevant (ie. #writing, #fics) and push more the main subject line of what you wrote (ie. jungkook fluff, bts smut, namjoon angst). these will populate your fics into the tags better!

headers!: when i’m scrolling through an infinite page of fics, the headers catch my eye the most; try being creative! you can find a lot of info out there on how to make ur headers super aesthetic, but i can share my tips too! --> see section 3

3. your masterlist

here are some practical tips!

organize by band, not type of fic/member/centralize your masterlist: i went onto a blog recently and clicked their bio mlist link to find a page full of 20~ish “JUNGKOOK MASTERLIST”/ “JAEHYUN MASTERLIST” and when i clicked on each one, they only had like 2 or 3 fics per member. i think it would’ve been better if she’d centralized all her fics! that keeps whoever is looking interested and more likely to click on another fic while browsing

add info about the fics!: when scrolling through a masterlist, it’s easy to get lost; try to add some snippets of info (ie. a short sentence you liked from the fic, a quick summary, a description of the au/scenario, or even a header!) this all gives some info about the fics you have tagged!

headers: this isn’t a requirement, but i personally love a good header on fics i read and i love making them myself as i finish up a fic and get ready to upload it; here are free sources: unsplash for HQ stock pics, crop/edit/filter in VSCO, and then add aesthetic script with fontcandy)

try to fill it up!: after i visit a blog after reading one good fic, i usually browse through their mlist to see if there are any more that i’d be interested in. if there’s a lot to look forward to, i’ll almost always follow; try to write as much as you can in the first few months to try and fill up your mlist and give blog viewers a reason to visit your blog again, follow, or even reblog your content!)

4. try not to reproduce cliche fics:

honestly tumblr’s writing community (and armys) has grown insanely these past few years and, unfortunately, even from my perspective, in the past 3-4 years, all the writers have sort of become blended together in my brain. but, i can say that the ones who consistently stand out are the ones who produce consistent content and think outside of the box!

i tend to gravitate towards fics that have really interesting plotlines (ex. btssavedmylifeblr’s VOID is always a surprise to read because it’s sO unique! i usually don’t read ot7 fics but this one is legit my fave)

I know it’s tempting to try and just write typical smut fics to try and gain some traction, but tumblr is already too overloaded by that kind of content; try to write something that’s special and unique! this will set u apart from the thousands of other writers here --> see next section

5. create unique fics:

this is also personal to my writing style, but i get so bored writing just casual fics about the members, and it affects the fics i choose to read too; i prefer unique fics which you can achieve through:

circumstance/au: create a fun au!; don’t just create an arranged marriage, create an arranged marriage in joseon dynasty, or between a werewolf and a hunter! (shameless self plug); don’t just give me friends to lovers, but give me spiderman!jungkook friends to lovers! (ie. cupofteaguk’s exchanges)

jobs: give them out-of-the-ordinary jobs; don’t just give me enemies to lovers, but give me rival!anchors who end up loving eachother! (ie. jimlingss The Newscasters)

fun dialogue: create good back-and-forth, (something i’m still working on!)! this will help your characters develop personality, and that way, readers will start to develop that themselves as well (ie. dad!yoongi from insemination wars by prolixitae is such a specific character that i love so much!, or obiwrites’ garden characters were so memorable!)

create memorable personalities: don’t give me a flat character, try to develop 4d personalities in all of your characters! (im still working on this too!) this way you can really make an impression on your followers! a great way to practice/recognize this is: “Ask my Character.” Can your followers ask a specific character a specific question, and would you be able to deliver an answer that is very specific to that character’s tone/voice/personality? If yes, then ur doing well! If not, try to think of ways that you can make tht specific character from a specific story, really unique and separate from your other characters.

6. some practical writing tips

be yourself, write for your own pleasure, blah blah blah; yeah you know already haha but here are a few more practical tips!

grammar check: if you can, try and hone your grammar! makes for an easier read

write like you: i personally LOVE this by obiwrites, but even the way she writes exudes her personality and is so specific; try not to be caught up in adding hundreds of synonyms and exquisite language; in fact, simpling it down and being more concise and honest with your writing is better than a superfluous sentence; this will also give ur characters so much more dimension and funk

use those commas/sentence variation: try to use more commas; this will feel like you’re the narrator to your own story; it also makes it more fluid to read in my opinion, over those short. clipped. sentences. (ie. “he came over, sitting down on the corner of your bed with an expression you’d never seen before” over “he walked over. he sat down, looking sad.”)

half-half dialogue/narration: a fic with too much dialogue can get confusing, and a fic with too much narration can get dry; try to balance them out, and weave in and out of each!

quality over quantity: don’t feel burdened to write a 30k word fic. in fact, i think some of the shorter fics (ie. any of versigny’s stuff) made a bigger impression on me over the longer fics because they were short, left me wanting more, and were just so high-quality in such small quantities. try out your hand at drabbles and one-shots, and don’t feel too burdened to try and develop a series right off the bat!

abandon pigeon-holes: i’m guilty of this; i start series and then end up with no vision for the stories and they end up giving me writers block. its okay. just stop or discontinue them or leave them on a hiatus; it’s okay. your priority is yourself, and if abandoning certain works are part of that, then go ahead. it’ll help you progress more.

and finally.......

i’ll add more as they come up! but if you liked this, then pls lmk! i’d love to give more tips and tricks; i think i started this blog 3-4 years ago when there weren’t as many writers here, but im glad you’re thinking of starting out/wanting to grow more! don’t feel intimidated! it’s not all about the notes/followers but creating a blog you’re proud of.

so write what you’re proud of, or interested in, and keep going. i truly thoroughly had so much fun writing this post. if there are any writers who read through this and have some more advice, pls msg me!

all the best to you!

#writing tips #story talk #if ur a writer pls lmk if theres anything u wanna add #if ur a reader then pls lmk any questions or comments!

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howsermax · 6 years ago

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Thoughts on Pet Sematary (2019)

So I saw Pet Sematary in theaters a few days back, and I’ve gotta say, I was deeply, deeply disappointed. While I love the 1989 film about as much as I love the book, with the screenplay for the film being one of the only good screenplays written by King himself, it was admittedly in dire need of an upgrade. From Louis Creed’s hilarious line delivery, to the obvious switching to a Chucky-style doll during certain scenes with Gage, to the cinematography, the problems with the 1989 version of the flick were only in execution. The story could have been kept entirely the same (with a more ambiguous, book accurate ending), and it could have been an amazing remake. But instead, we got a very disappointing film.

First, I’ll go over what I liked. The cinematography, while gray, was still pretty creative at times in terms of camera movement. All the actors do a pretty good job for the most part, however, Ellie only does a good job after she dies. The practical effects were all pretty amazing, even though Ellie could have used a little more rot. The score is also pretty memorable and interesting. Surprisingly, the movie makes a few changes to the source material I actually really welcome. For example, the Zelda storyline is changed up in a way where it makes more sense why Rachel’s feeling of disgust towards Zelda added to her guilt by making Zelda’s death directly involve Rachel’s reluctance to interact with her. The Zelda flashbacks also have very creative transitions. However, those are all the praises I can really sing for this movie.

The writing is the most noticeable flaw with this movie. The characters never once talk like real people, they simplify story concepts way too often (for example, Rachel’s feelings of guilt in the first place are barely explored), and the movie brings up it’s themes of coping with death and loss in the most amazingly ham-fisted and basic ways possible. After Ellie asks about what will happen when Church dies, Rachel and Louis share a conversation IN PRIVATE about whether or not they believe in the afterlife. The movie quite literally decides it’s going to directly tell the audience that the character who is a surgeon doesn’t believe in the afterlife. Keep in mind, this isn’t really written into any other aspects of his character. I really don’t think these writers passed Screenwriting 101.

But on the other hand, the movie also has a recurring tendency to forget to write about the themes of the story altogether. For example, Pascow is criminally underused in this movie. You may remember in the original movie, Pascow was extremely important, as he spent his screen time trying to stop Louis from trying to cross the barrier between life and death, so Louis can learn to accept death. However, Remake Pascow is the most vague, boring, cookie-cutter horror movie ghost you can imagine, complete with never explaining what he means, and not influencing the events around him. Pascow also doesn’t appear at all during the ending. The writers genuinely don’t understand the importance he serves to the themes of the story. But his underuse is the least of this movie’s problems.

Now, I don’t have a problem with just the concept of changing things from book/old movie to movie. It’s necessary at times, and this remake has some welcome changes up it’s sleeve. However, this movie is almost entirely full of unnecessary changes that make the movie worse in one way or another. The first one I want to talk about is the decision to have Ellie be killed on the road rather than Gage. This is something that was explicitly revealed in the trailer to anyone who remembers the original story, and what’s worse? They extensively spoke about this major plot point in the film industry press surrounding the movie before release. I get that the trailer thing is a topic for a separate nerd tirade, but I can’t describe how stupid it was of these producers to talk about such a big change pre-release. Even though it’s a remake, it’s kind of alienating to movie-goers who don’t know the classic Pet Sematary story somehow. The filmmakers extensively spoke about how they made the change so that the resurrected child could be bigger and more threatening, though I think they were too weak to give us the true depressing movie we came here to watch. Because I guess movie audiences are somehow more emotional than they were 30 years ago? Comparing this attitude to how they actually put the scene together, it looks more like they were trying to pull an ol’ switcharoo on the people who know the story. Which begs the question: WHY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT IT IN PLACES WHERE POTENTIAL MOVIE VIEWERS CAN SEE IT??

Another huge issue I have with this movie is how fucking seriously it takes itself. The original had a very light sheen of comedy to it, think something similar to An American Werewolf in London. This is extremely prevalent in the scenes involving Pascow, where he casually stands around the afterlife, contrasting against everything and everyone as a walking corpse that nobody can see. The remake genuinely lacks all intentional comedy, which makes it really really hard to actually remember the experience, or care about it. It also ends up making certain parts of the movie unintentionally funny. For example, during the scene where Louis does his internet research on the Pet Sematary, he finds a fucking newspaper clipping about a literal fucking bison being implied to have been buried in and resurrected by the Pet Sematary. I subsequently chuckled out loud in the theater, as my mind was crossed with the mental image of a grieving child lugging an entire bison to the Pet Sematary, and struggling to find a place to bury it in the already cramped cemetery.

The editing and scene pacing is legitimately the most stereotypical modern horror film schlock ever put to screen. Firstly, jumpscares are all over this film, and it’s not a look. From the Orinco trucks, to Zelda in the dumbwaiter, to Church, everything in the film is given a loud THUD effect to accompany it, and I was supplied with many Silent Hill: Revelation 3D pop-tart jumpscare flashbacks through it’s run-time. The placement of the THUDs at times felt like watching one of my Spooky Guys episodes. Again, back to Pascow being utterly useless in the story, he instead spends this film being relegated to “look at me, I’m vague and say 3 spooky sentences I repeat over and over and I’m in a modern horror film and that’s my whole character I’m scary I say stuff about ghosts and death”.

Now here’s the big one. The ending. The ending is genuinely the worst thing about the entire film. Here’s a basic summary from what I remember. So Louis buries his dead daughter and waits for her to come back as his family tries to contact him, while Gage is troubled by visions of Pascow (who does nothing of note through the whole story). Ellie comes back and catches on to the fact that she died, but Louis denies that and gives her a bath. Jud goes over and suspects that Louis has brought Ellie back from the grave, and Ellie gets mad about it and kills Jud. Rachel and Gage arrive back at the house after Louis stops returning their calls, and Rachel is greeted by an undead Ellie. Ellie thinks that Rachel doesn’t want her around anymore, and tries to kill her, Gage, and Louis. Rachel manages to allow Gage and Louis to escape, but she’s impaled and buried by Ellie. Louis puts Gage in the car and tells him to not open the door for anyone, not even Ellie. Louis faces off with Ellie in the Pet Sematary, before being killed by the now resurrected Rachel. Rachel and Ellie resurrect Louis, and for some reason unlike Ellie, Louis and Rachel are big dumb traditional zombies. At daybreak, they approach the car with a can of gasoline, having burned down Jud’s house. However, instead, they decide to unlock the car for Gage. I have a lot to say about this.

First off, this ending is fucking weak compared to the original ending. In the original film, the process of Louis killing Gage with the lethal injection is so indescribably heart-breaking. It’s actually a high point for the actor’s performance, and he definitely sells the sheer emotion of the scene. The remake’s ending definitely suffers from how frequently it fails to actually capture the emotion of the original story and film. With that, let’s just say, this movie is the prime example of why horror movies with dead protagonists fail so often. If you aren’t both careful and skilled, killing your protagonist can result in your protagonist’s character arc not being fulfilled or completed. The original Pet Sematary story has a very strong and compelling character arc for Louis. In the final scenes of the original film, after Louis has begrudgingly put down Church and Gage, and has burned Jud’s house down, he carries Rachel’s corpse with him. Pascow tries to get him to no longer try and cross the barrier between life and death, and that he needs to let go of those he loves. He needs to learn to cope with death, and understand that dead is better. Louis, however, doesn’t listen, and finds a reason to think it’ll be different this time: because she just died. Pascow realizes that Louis has failed to learn his lesson, and shouts an admittely hilarious “NOOOOOOO” as he fades away. Louis waits in his home after burying Rachel, and as she walks in, now decayed and deformed, Louis makes out with the walking corpse, before being killed by her. What works here is Louis has completed his character arc. Granted the character arc consists of failing to learn his lesson, but it’s a powerful arc no less. It drives home how much the movie is truly about being as grateful for death as we are for life, and how a life spent yearning for those who’ve passed to return is a life spent suffering. While the more ambiguous book ending is more favorable, the 1989 film version still drives home this theme extremely well.

Overall, very bad movie. Don’t waste your money on this. Save your money for Endgame, that looks good. Or if you’re a King fan, wait for It: Part 2. Just... please no more ‘80s jokes guys, it isn’t funny anymore.

#pet sematary #pet sematary 2019 #pet sematary remake #stephen king #horror #movie review #horror movie review #critique

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snkpolls · 6 years ago

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SnK S3E04 Poll Results (Manga Reader Version)

The poll closed with 407 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that this is the results of the manga reader poll. Anime only watchers are suggested not to read if you do not wish to be spoiled about certain events! Anime only viewers, click here to view your poll results!

Rate the episode

Overall, respondents gave the episode high ratings, with 90% total feeling that it was at least very good. The pollsters are very happy to see these ratings improve!

The episode felt short. I wanted more after watching it :)

The pacing of this episode was much better than the first two

We're only on episode 4 and about to enter the climax of the arc, not sure how I feel about this.

Very good. I hope that the skipped scenes appear in a later episode.

It was pretty neat. Sometimes stuff is a touch slow, but I know it’s all a lead up to what’s to come, and like, it’s important to have stuff that is slow sometimes so the big stuff feels even bigger.

This recent episode found a little boring to me. I feel like there's wasn't much action less Levi

Bruh I need the next episode like rn

Did you notice the subtle changes made to the animation in the OP this week?

Less than a quarter of respondents initially noticed that there was something different about the OP this week. However, just over half noticed them upon a second watch or seeing it pointed out by others.

I didn't notice the changes in the opening because I always skip it.

Which of the following scenes were your favorites?

Hange and Moblit taking out the MP’s won by a good margin. The runner up is Spider-Hange. Levi and Mikasa reacting to Kenny’s last name, Levi interrogating the Central MP and Jean testing Marlowe and Hitch were also very loved moments!

The moments between Jean and Marlowe is one of my favorites. That was really fantastic and Marlowe is going to be a wonderful SC member. Too bad he will die later. I was really upset about it while reading the manga. He was such promising and brave guy.

I enjoyed the moment when Erwin asked Nile about Marie. It felt like he still had some feelings to her. I wonder if they're going to go back to this topic later (in flashbacks). Probably not.

This episode was so fucking amazing after the exposition heavy episode 3! I have literally waited years to see Hange taking down that MP animated, shit, the way she just casually like ducks away from the bullet... I used to keep staring at the badassery in that manga panel and now I am watching it on repeat, Wit got that scene so perfectly right!!

My whole life has lead up to this moment with Hitch and Marlo!!! Bless WIT for doing so good by my precious MP!

It was hilarious when 3MPs ran on the ground to chase Flegel while they are equipping ODMG. It was even funnier when one of them cried for joy catching Flegel without using ODMG.

Faithful to the manga with a healthy combination of action and world-building. LOVED Flegel's "I'm the boss" scene.

Erwin’s VA was superb! I was close to tears during the scene when he and Nile were talking.

Who made the best face when ambushing the MP base?

Connie won by a landside! There was no contest here, folks.

How bangable was Levi this episode on a scale of 1-5?

As expected, over half of respondents would love it if Levi totally wrecked them. Although there are still quite a few of you who would rather he not.

LEVI DADDY PLEASE STEP ON ME!

Levi in the moonlight was everything I never knew I needed.

Levi cutie crazy ass bitch

Levi. Le-vi. LEVI.

On a scale of 1-5, how distressed were you to see Erwin beat up and chained?

More than half of respondents are anxious to see Commander Handsome out of chains and cleaned up!

How Erwin can kneel before them on his own? When he knows how horrible they are that they made decisions that killed his father? How can he be like that? Oh just take my heart away already! It's not that I need it…

Also, seeing my husband all beat is tragic and seeing him hanging was far too distressing and I know what’s going to happen in this season, but I want to pretend it isn’t happening and that he might be happy when he reunites with Levi

Erwin also manages to look hot not matter how beat up he is, which isn't even fair.

I love Erwin and he deserves the world. That is all.

Are you feeling better or worse about the season so far?

Most voters either felt great about the season from the beginning or have started to warm up to it a lot more! There is still a small percentage of those who are still unsure or unhappy, however.

Feeling alright overall about it but disappointed about some parts being rushed/skipped

I did not like the first two episodes, but now that the pacing has slowed I’m starting to like the episodes better. Still salty about the first two though.

I knew I was going to love it just because it's AOT, but I won't know how much I love it until I've seen how they handle the RtS arc

I havent feel good, still dont feel good but its better than before, so a combo of the 2nd and 4th option

I'm loving the episodes, but I'm still unure about some of the removed scenes, specially the ones involving Historia and Levi COS i swear to dead Marco if they do not animate Levi's smile im gonna riot

I'll wait until this arc is over to cast any judgement. However, I do wish they would've expanded the Reeves' storyline. It kinda fell flat for me in the anime.

Was unsure at first with all the changes from the manga, but have come to accept that some things are gonna be different so I'm just gonna enjoy it as it is. At the end of the day, it's still Attack on Titan so I'll always enjoy it.

I’m just happy we’re getting this season at all

I never thought they could make the uprising arc funny and interesting

Instead of attacking the Centrap MP HQ, Squad Levi ambushed a small outpost on the outskirts of Trost instead. Did you like this change?

Nearly half of respondents were okay or even preferred this change. 36% are let down that there was no slicing and shooting though. Chin up guys, the cave is coming soon!

I always thought it was a little confusing that squad Levi would go all the way out to the central base, so I think this made more sense because of how they're still on the run. The anime version feels a lot more like they could be caught at any second, which is great!

I was looking forward to the 104th's subtle distressed reactions after having done what they had to do. But I guess the anime is not for subtle.

I'm not sure if replacing the newfound edge from the SC by a lulzy moment was a right choice. I feel like we're losing the grim aspect of the SC not being good guys anymore.

I didn't even remember how the manga handled that, so I didn't notice the change.

I honestly like both situations

While i did want to see the gang cut up peoples legs, the anime version made more sense and I'm down for any Springlestein.

While the cart charge was hilarious, I'm not sure why a small outpost would know anything about Eren and Historia's location.

I quite honestly didn't notice the difference, the real attraction was Levi fucking the old boy's shit up

While I hopedd they'd make it bigger, after watching the episode I grew to like it, it makes sense both geographically and in terms of the scale of the event.

Oh lol I totally expect them to go ahead and get the Central MP HQ next. I mean, didn't they also do that so that the MP's couldn't mobilise and come to Kenny/Rod's defense later on?

Were you expecting there to be more focus on the press?

Most respondents were expecting to get Hange’s talk with the press prior to exposing the Military Police. A few are certain it’s lost not, while a good 30% are hopeful that we’ll still get it in another way.

By making the newspaper Trost local, their presence didn't need to be explained, and some aspects from their talk from 60 can be merged with the little moment from the Rookie from 61 after Erwin's trial so as to not be redundant.

The talk with Hange and the press will no doubt happen next episode.

Having a flashback would be good, but I don't have much faith in them doing it

Indifferent to it, doesn't make much difference to the overall plot.

we will get them though not in a flashback half the arc has been rearranged remember.

I NEED Hange brooding on a desk in the press office, it's an important part of my spiritual development

I hope we get more Peaure :(

Which scene from the PV are you most looking forward to next week?

At 41%, the largest group is most anticipating getting a flash of Frieda in the mirror. It’s about time we get to see her in anime form after all these years, right? The remaining three scenes are at an even split.

Since we’re getting Frieda in the mirror, do you think there will be a flashback to the conversation about Eren’s experiments?

To build off of the previous question, over half of respondents are anticipating the potential for the bedside flashback to happen after all. 35% are optimistic that it will definitely happen, while 11% believe we’re getting Frieda flash in another way.

I'm hoping the Frieda content doesn't come across as too rushed in the next few episodes. In the manga, almost a year passed between the first Frieda flashbacks and Rod's full story in the chapel underground, but it seems Frieda's anime debut will be only an episode or two before the story. Still looking forward to how it all plays out!

Where do you primarily discuss the series?

Additional thoughts on the episode?

*chanting* STICK! STICK! STICK! STICK!

the changes are fine, doesn't stray too far from the manga. Maybe also makes the anime less of a drag.

Connie had goofy hat. All my stanards has been pleased.

Finally the pacing slowed down to a human level. I'm happy to see so much of Erwin, but it still pains me how he is characterized.

HITCH WITH THE STICK HOLY HELL. Honestly that whole fight scene between Hitch, Marlowe and Jean exceeded my expectations (hopefully not sounding too much like a worshiper). I just love it (probably too much).

Hanji can punch me and I’ll thank her

I MISS EREN AND HISTORIA

I can't believe Flegel sat on the dude's face lol.

Why did Not!-Marco not look like Marco at all?

I don't have a great memory of manga events but I'm feeling shocked - as though the anime is really rushing through events, so I feel worried now!

I love it. The animation when Hanji and Moblit attacked the MP was spectacular. The animators have continuously outdone themselves this season so far.

I'm not sure about my feelings and impressions about this season so far. I got disappointed before with other mangas adaptations, and now, I don't feel like trusting WIT for the moment, until I see some logical modifications.

When it was announced that there would be changes made I was skeptical and thought that the manga was perfect the way it was. Oh boy was I wrong. While I am still angry about some scenes, others just make more sense. I think wit is doing a great job.

Only thing that makes me sad is that Armin's glorious gesumin expressions weren't animated till now.

Honestly so excited to 24 episodes this time not 12. But still proper sick episode.

I've mentioned it on Tumblr before, but while I like how things have been centralized around Trost in this version of Uprising, it does cause an issue. How did Erwin, his captors, and Nile all get from Trost to Mitras in the space of a single morning? They military police either has teleporting tech or an underground bullet train. Or Isayama really wants to replicate S7 of Game of Thrones with characters teleporting all over.

NEXT EPISODE WE’L GET OUR ACKERTALK!!!!!! Eeeeek!!!

No Kenny?! So what kind of episode was that?!

I enjoyed this chapter a lot. Can´t wait to see Eren again.

Well fuck. Manga readers, we know what happens at the reiss chapel

Thank you to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again on Monday!

#snk poll #snk polls #snk spoilers #snk s3 #poll results

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ais-n · 8 years ago

Text

some random updates and manga commentary

I read more manga than books usually, but then don’t always say much about it because idk, usually I just have a thought or two and then move on. Sometimes I do these posts where I mention a bunch of series in one place in passing. If that sounds interesting, read on.

But first:

I’m fucking obsessed lately with One Piece Treasure Cruise somebody stop me I have problems I already spent $10 on it help

Ok, now onto manga mentions, commentary, etc:

I bought the latest Livingstone volume (4) and was all excited to continue reading that series only to realize unexpectedly the other night that it was the end of the series. MAN. It’s been awhile since I watched Deadman Wonderland but I seem to recall feeling the same way about that as Livingstone, only maybe less dramatically so, and that’s this: the creator is the same for both series, and comes up with really interesting ideas and throws in some interesting characters. But then the story itself feels like it ends before it explores the concept as deeply as it could or should. It’s not that I recall Deadman Wonderland’s ending being terrible, and it’s not that Livingstone necessarily had a bad ending either; it’s just that I feel like it ends right as it’s developing, so some of the impact is lost on me because I feel like so much more story still should have been told.

Finally got caught up (again) on Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler and D.Gray-Man. I’m seriously getting worried about Hoshino’s health for DGM :( I’m so worried something will happen to her that is more permanent even than has happened already, and I’m also worried the series will not be able to end properly as a result. Which is really sad to me because I want Hoshino to be okay, and I want her and her readers to not have any regrets about the series itself. I wish she would get an assistant to draw for her while she dictates the story, if for no other reason than to preserve her health more, but I imagine she is hesitant to do so because she has such a beautiful art style and it has to be incredibly difficult to struggle against health issues when you know once upon a time you easily could do far more than now you struggle to achieve. It’s so sad :( I don’t want her to push her health beyond its limits. Ganbatte, Hoshino! :( As for Kuroshitsuji, I swear to god that series is simultaneously the most ridiculous and sometimes most amazing thing XD I’ve been pretty embarrassed by the whole pop star thing because idk lots of reasons, but that’s happened for me before on other arcs that have happened and it always swings its way back. Anyway regardless I love Ciel and Sebastian and everyone and YES UNDERTAKER YESSSSS. Also, it’s been cracking me up seeing how much Soma seems to be having a ball in the latest arc XD

Just realized I’m a couple chapters behind on Magi, that’s the next thing I need to catch up on. Also I need to check on Love Stage!! because it’s been months since I last looked. Yotsuba&! came out with a new chapter too! But I need to read it still. Same with a few BL manga I’m following whose names I’ve managed to briefly forget so I have to track that down to look for updates ugggh I’m real good at this lol

btw did I mention I watched the Seven Days live action movie awhile ago? Because I did. I liked it! I was worried I wouldn’t but I did. I mean, I fucking love Seven Days so that’s probably no surprise, I just rarely watch live action of manga or anime, especially BL, so that’s why I wasn’t sure how I’d feel. But oh my god they paid so much attention even to little idiosyncrasies and movements! Good job, guys, good job

I still need to read Haikyuu!!, I don’t know why I haven’t yet. It’s my goal to do so at some point, because so far I’ve only seen the anime and read the first 2 volumes, and I want to read everything and be up to date with others!

I started Black Clover and was pretty excited about it but then it started pulling full on bullshit fanservice moves in the 3rd volume or something and it annoyed me so much I stopped reading... I should probably start up again but ugh, so sick of unnecessary fanservice

WAIT have I read the latest Noragami?? ....Shit yes I did I FORGOT ok so that series THAT SERIES goddamnit I love that series...

Same with Natsume Yuujinchou like goddamn, just as soon as you think surely you won’t cry at some new story in it because surely you’re immune by now, the series is like “So anyway here’s this really bittersweet or heartwarming-slash-heartrending story I’ll casually throw out there and Bee-Tee-Dubs, just a reminder that as nice as Natsume is, his life will probably always be a pretty sad and precarious mess because he cares too much about both humans and Ayakashi”

which now that I’m thinking about it is a bit Allen Walker-like.... no wonder I love both Natsume and Allen; they both are stuck in between all these other things but don’t use it as an excuse to hurt or hate others; if anything, they hurt themselves while trying not to hurt others. I just really love characters and people who don’t use misfortune as an excuse for harming others

There’s probably more but I’m getting so distracted by this gif faded in the background on tumblr that I can’t focus omg wut

Oh right, I hope Gangsta comes back sometime in the future. They have some spin off out I think, right? Based on Marco Adriano, called Cursed? I’m debating if I should give it a try.... Actually I don’t remember, maybe I bought the first volume and haven’t read it yet lolz0r Anyway if anyone’s read it, is it as good as Gangsta? The thing is, I don’t really care about Marco, so that’s why I haven’t read it yet. Not that I hate him or anything but I feel pretty meh about reading something solely based on him so I’ve hesitated. I mostly like Gangsta primarily for Worick and secondarily for Nicolas, and then I liked others like Doug, and it’s not like I hate the rest of the characters but they work best for me as the background to Worick and Nicolas’ story. So idk.

Similarly, I gave up on Dogs! Bullets & Carnage around volume 9 mostly because I love one character (Badou all the way, motherfuckers!) and am mostly ambivalent or not in love with the rest. Badou totally carried the series for me in the beginning, when he and Heine had all those great interactions, but now Naoto’s more prominent with Heine and I’m like bleggggh not a fan of Naoto almost at all, and Heine’s okay but I feel like he’s kind of a non-character so he doesn’t really work as the primary MC for me. The pacing of the story is not the best so it makes it harder for me to care about what’s going on. Basically I just want the series to follow Badou around and tell me occasionally about the crazy shit the others are getting up to. Give me a spin off on Badou and I’ll buy that any day! Come on! Anyway so if anyone is still reading that, I’m just curious if I should keep going... I’m a little curious about what the hell is even going on with the plot and background and etc but mostly I just want more Badou :( ...wait a second, I just saw there’s a prequel called just Dogs, that may be more along the lines of the story I want to read. I want just Dogs, man! Did I read it already years ago? Fuck if I can remember...

I also gave up on Tokyo Ghoul:re after it was so incredibly different from Tokyo Ghoul and the pacing and just everything kind of fucked around with what I was hoping to read as a continuation of that series, and in particular with me wanting to see more of Kaneki. I’m months behind at this point and idk man. I will probably read further at some point because I do think it’s an interesting world and I liked a number of characters in Tokyo Ghoul quite a lot, especially Kaneki. But :re has just been... I’m trying not to say mean things lol it’s just that I guess the pacing and style and story and character designs and just everything is basically like a whole different series. Which would be fine, if that was what I wanted. But what I wanted was more Tokyo Ghoul, so I’m disappointed so far. idk. I don’t think I’ve given up completely on it. I just think I have to wait until I’m in the right mood...

That just randomly reminded me I never finished Claymore. That was another series that started out interesting but then idk. The pacing or story or what just dragged a lot after a while, or made it difficult to follow. I should finish it sometime I guess. I think I probably only have a few dozen chapters to read to end it.

I did the same thing with Shingeki no Kyoujin/Attack on Titan... I was pretty obsessed with it when I first started reading it, then the story/style started wavering around the same time I got caught up with Japan and had to wait for new chapters, I read as chapters released for a few months, and then idk. At one point I just got too annoyed/frustrated with the series and stopped reading. I guess that’s another series where maybe I should wait until it’s ended and then read it all at once. I’m curious about some of the plot lines but I really only liked one or two characters pretty well and the rest I was ambivalent about or my feelings on them varied too much, and since I’m so character-driven as a reader/viewer I just can’t stick with series that don’t have strong and consistent plots while also having strong and consistent characters and character development. At least not week by week or month by month, one chapter at a time. It doesn’t seem to work for my attention span.

In anime news, I wish we’d get some sequels of some series like re:Zero or K Project or my god wouldn’t No. 6 be nice?? But these are all light novel based so my hopes are probably for naught. Actually, I take that back. K wasn’t based on LN, it just has novels in addition to the anime. But now I’m realizing, maybe I missed some things. That series is kind of weird with stuff all over the place and individualized outside of the anime itself so I probably missed things. Unsurprisingly, I’m sure, Shiro is my favorite, Kuro secondarily. But I primarily watched for Shiro lolz

Wow ok I just managed to use up all my time on StayFocusd rambling on all this shit so there you go, there’s a bunch of random thoughts about a bunch of random series, and I didn’t even cover everything but I had to stop somewhere I guess.

Probably no one even read this far but that’s fine; sometimes I write this even just to remember later my thoughts on some things. Like I said earlier in the year, I wanted to do Voice as my word for 2017, which means not silencing myself on stuff unnecessarily, so for things like this where I want to write a post talking about a bunch of different stuff just touching on them it’s silly to not do it if it’s something I want to do. If that makes sense.

Anyway if you are reading this, I hope you have a lovely day/night/whatever it is for you! And hey, let me know if you have thoughts on any of the series I mentioned or I guess if you want me to go more in depth on something if it was of interest to you. idk, just whatever.

Hmm maybe I’ll make a tag for these kind of posts so I can find them later... I think I’ll do “ais manga ramblings” hmmmm

#ais manga ramblings #manga thoughts #1 am ramblings #rambling like a mofo #and other rambling things wow how many times can I say rambling lets count

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god-and-janjo · 7 years ago

Photo

How to Make a Website - Web Design Tutorial

G'day Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Draw With Jazza! I'm Jazza and today we're going to talk about web design. Having your own website is one of the most important things, when it comes to building your brand, building an audience or serving a product. I'm going to be sharing some tips, tricks and techniques that you can use to make your website stand out that, when applied, will help your website serve it's core purpose to the best of its ability, be it to sell your product your artwork, to build an audience, so on and so forth. This video is sponsored by wix.com, an amazing place where you can build your own website fast and easy! It's an incredible place to build any kind of website, from a really simple portfolio or contact page, through to a really robust business website with e-commerce and more. So if after this video you want to start a website, perhaps as an art portfolio or a place to sell your work or find freelance or tell your story WIX is a really great place to do that and get started today, for free. So i'm going to jump into today's video by breaking it down into eight different parts and I want to talk about these eight different principles and give some examples of each in application. The first and most important thing to ask yourself when building a website is, 'What is it's purpose?' Specifically broken down into two questions; 'What is the hook?' and 'What is the call-to-action?' This website is an example of someone who sells typography posters for children. As soon as you visit the website you see examples of the typography posters, as well as a clear statement of what the product is and the name of the brand. Immediately after that you see the call-to-action- 'SHOP NOW' which when you click on it, then immediately people are able to make their purchases and the call-to-action has been made. There are, of course, other parts of the website; all posters, custom things, statements and 'About' sections but really, as soon as you go to the website these are the most commanding aspects that you see. Further browsing the web site reveals all the other stuff but really, that call-to-action and the hook has been served immediately. Here's a website where, even though it's in Turkish and I can't understand it, it is a great example of how the first thing you actually see is the call-to-action, that being booking a stay in what seems to be a hotel, and it gives some very large, very colorful images to help make that happen. Before you jump into designing the visual aspect of your website you first want to understand what you want the viewer to do and then you need to ask yourself 'How can I keep them there long enough to convince them to do that?' The next thing I want to talk about is clarity. I've seen time and time again, when people design their first website, they follow an instinct quite often of putting as much content on the website as possible. Essentially, the instinct being followed there is the thought that, the more you offer, the more value the viewer gets. But the reality is, people who visit your website are used to visiting a lot of websites very quickly and dismissing them just as quickly. Most people are familiar with the same don't judge a book by it's cover, but anyone who's ever been into a bookshop knows that you do tend to judge books by their covers! It's only natural and when you visit a website, you're presented with the cover and you're only really going to scan the synopsis and scan the cover before you decide whether you're going to invest more time in this or not. Imagine that this is a book that you picked up in a shop. You know that it's pretty, it's really simple and straightforward and if you want to find more information all you need do is go to one of these few links; gallery, video or contact. It's that straightforward. They just show you their product and invite you to see perhaps more if you're interested or to contact them if you want it. Here's the landing page of a photography website which, as you can see, is extremely simple and when you click to enter it then you're presented with a gallery of their work, which is easy to click on and navigate and explore, highlighting the work and what the creator of the website, the photographer, wants you to see. When you design your website treat it as if it's going to be a book, flipped through casually, by people not necessarily invested in what you're writing, or putting out there. Make things clear and simple and make the hook and call-to -action appealing and immediate. Now let's talk about reading rules. This is probably something you may be familiar with and that is quite clearly that people read from left to right and from top to bottom. This is important when it comes to design, especially because our eye naturally scans over a page, rather than reading meticulously through everything presented. As a result designers often put the most prominent information in the top left and design the rest of the webpage in, a sort of F shape design. Not of course having nothing in the bottom right, but prioritizing the information and imagery and text towards the top left corner. Here's a great example of a website that uses this left to right and top to bottom viewing experience. Our eye's immediately drawn to the upper left where we can see first the logo and then of course, the menu options, but that is complemented subconsciously by this very attractive image, also clearly demonstrating the service offered and reinforcing the quality and the brand of this artist. Here's a really different context using a similar principle. Of course, a very large image takes up this home space, even on the homepage, we're presented with a large image that takes up the majority of the space, but our eye is almost immediately drawn up to the top left where we see the logo and the business name. And then, now that we've already seen this large image and the logo, we are brought to our different options at the website, immediately enticed to browse their services. There are exceptions to this rule but this is really important to keep in mind, because it's a behavior pattern that has been scientifically tested and proven. The next we want to talk about is making your website mobile friendly, and it's funny that so many people think of this as a feature. I'm sorry people, it's 2016 going on 2017 and having a mobile-friendly website is no longer feature, it's a necessity! More people browse the internet on mobile devices than on desktop computers. On top of this exponentially changing trend, the other thing to remember is that viewer habits also change, along with this. So aside from just having a website that presents clean and clearly on a mobile device, I recommend keeping in mind two things. Keep in mind scroll fatigue- people aren't endlessly going to scroll down and down and down on your webpage on a mobile device. They're going to leave before they have to scroll too far. And, of course, remember to use a 'click economy'- essentially meaning you don't want people to have to press too many links or buttons to get to a place you want them to go through. If you want someone to buy an item from a shop, you want that checkout process to involve as few clicks as possible, from the moment they make the decision to buy something, all the way through to completion of the purchase. Likewise, if you want people to sign up to a newsletter or contact you, make sure to keep the 'click economy' in mind. Now let's talk about text. This is a pretty straightforward one. I'm sure a lot of you who are sort of 'design savvy' will know the difference between 'Serif' and 'Sans Serif' font, so just quickly cover that. Simply put, the difference between Serif and Sans Serif fonts are that Serif fonts have little structural details or embellishments. So, as you can see here, for example, the lines on the edges of the S, on the bottom of the R, I and F. However, on Sans Serif fonts, these embellishments and details are not present. The reason it's worth mentioning this is that, while Serif or Sans Serif fonts are both equally usable or appealing for titles and headers, it's highly recommended that, in areas of the body text of the website, that you use sans-serif. Now, when it comes to text it's not just the fonts that have the potential to entice or push away the reader. This wall of text here is an article that I copied and pasted, written by Matthew Schnipper, that is on virtual reality, but when presented like this, nobody in their right mind, especially if they're visiting a website for the first time, is going to have any interest in reading this, no matter how interesting the article is, unless of course they already know and trust the author. All of a sudden, just by slightly repackaging and breaking apart the wall of information that we had, even a larger article can be much more enticing and readable. This is just a really simple scratch together example of what I'm talking about. You can see by using a different font for the title, something that makes a bit more of a statement, catches the attention and entices the reader to start scanning that article bit. Aside from breaking apart the information into easily digested paragraphs, there are also a few key segments of the article that I made stand out in different ways, either by indenting and italicizing, like up here in the top left, or selecting a slightly cryptic or mysterious statement like 'not enough it turned...' out, isolating that putting that in the middle there, just so that people know that a story is going to be told to them. And then later on something big happens, the reveal of a 'two billion dollar.... 'something" just by simply scanning over this article top-to-bottom, the person can get an idea as to whether this is a story that they may not be engaged in, and you sort of do a lot of that work for them. The other thing worth mentioning when it comes to text is that there are some, I suppose you could say, 'blacklisted' or very unappealing fonts to people, simply because of how overused or inappropriate they tend to be for design. So it may be worth a little bit of your time or energy to google search what some of the font trends are and what some of the front 'no-no's' are. Now let's talk briefly about images. If a picture says a thousand words, then surely it stands to reason that you just want as many great images on your website as possible, and you'll be giving as much value to people visiting your website as they can get? But once again, it comes down to quality over quantity and we also come back to that 'less is more' principle. I really recommend not overusing images, but where you use them make sure that they do one of these three things; that they effectively inform your visitor of any information you're presenting, or any service you're providing; or that your image intellectually or emotionally connect the visitor of your website with your service, product or brand; or of course, that the imagery on your website reinforces the identity of your business. Now, I want to talk briefly about schemes. Essentially, color palettes and methods of structure that will entail the foundation of the visual presentation of your website. Your website is an interactive user experience and as such you're building their expectations of that experience from the moment they land on your website, so you want the browsing and the visual presentation to be consistent across every single page, so that the interaction with your website and the way that they learn about your product, service or business is effortless and consistent. Last but not least and most certainly worth reiterating is 'less is more'! Also echoed in the design principle adage 'Keep it simple, Stupid!' Also known as the KISS principle. Always remember, whether it comes to the content of your website, or the visual presentation of your design, that less is more and that effective simplicity is far more appealing than an approach of design or content that overwhelms your viewer. I thought it'd be fun for we go to take you through a bit of a trip through time. In getting ready for this video and preparing the content and the lesson plan I actually dug through all of my old versions of the JazzaStudios.com website and found deep within the archives of my storage and folders and backups, the folder called 'Old Poo' which has my oldest versions of Jazza Studios. I was 15 years old when I made this, you can see there's this really great, you know, repetition of the background across here. I think I acknowledged I wasn't a coder and so I tried to build my website in Flash and this was my first attempt to do that. What does this look like? There we go. So this was my Jazza Studios website in Flash. What's this? Hosted by Freddy Jr. Jr. dot com. No, doesn't exist anymore! Okay... and then I think this was actually my first official release of Jazza Studios, nicely anchored in the top left corner there because I didn't know how to center things. HTML. I didn't know how to put the content on there so I just had buttons that led to other places. Do keep in mind this was when I was like 15, 16 years old and then eventually I did painstakingly start to learn to code and put things together. And eventually ended up with something like this, but the amount of pain and effort I went to to put this stuff together. It took me months and months to like piece any website together because I am NOT a coder! I just needed a place to show off my stuff and I had to make it work. I wanted to show you that because I wanted to reiterate the reason that I'm really excited about WIX being the sponsor of this video, because if I had of had the tools that WIX provides, back then, to make Jazza Studios, it would have looked a lot better and a lot different and it would have taken me a few days as opposed to a few months. Before making this video I spent a full day using WIX.com, making a free website. Seeing how it feels just to put together a bit of a sample portfolio website with a contact page in a gallery and it really only took me like two hours which is mind-blowing compared to what the job used to entail, when I built my earlier website. So if you're an artist or writer or a designer and you need a place to showcase your work or get freelance or feedback, go check out WIX.com because you can start today for free. Keep in mind some of the tips and tricks I shared through this video, when putting website together, but there are loads of great templates you can use and it really just simplifies the whole process because they handle the hosting and security, search engine optimization and all that stuff and once again you don't need to know any code, which for people like me, is a big thumbs up! That's it for this video, Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you so much for watching! Make sure to like and subscribe if you haven't yet and, until next time, I'll see you later. Thanks for watching! Make sure to subscribe to my channel for new content every week. If you want to support my work and get some goodies for yourself, head over to my store for archives, ebooks, digital brushes, video courses and more. If you enjoyed this video, here's a link to another video you might like from this channel. If you want even more, make sure to check out all my behind-the-scenes action on my vlog channel, Daily Jazza. That's it for now! Thanks for joining the 'Arty Party' and until next time, I'll see you later.

See more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaVOBy13beo

#web design

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nelliwenigrxr · 8 years ago

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The Sunny Side Group!

I’ve recently realized something about myself that I do not like! I have a tendency to go through streaks where I constantly catch myself thinking about and focusing on, the negative side of things instead of the “bright”! I’ve heard the phrase “look at the bright side” so many times that it’s lost the intended affect. If my husband says, “look at the bright side…” I often just groan inside and then wander off and continue to bicker, mumble and complain to myself or other people. I do this despite the fact that I devoted an entire chapter of my book to the subject of “focusing on SOLUTIONS” instead of the “PROBLEM” at hand. For the most part, this is the way I live my life, but I still have those NEGATIVE streaks. The truth is, complaining, bickering, arguing, etc, ALWAYS causes my life to be frustrating, difficult and miserable!! This is why I’m confessing this issue to everyone and I’m bound and determined to break this horrible habit!! I’m asking everyone who reads this blog including my family, friends and even casual acquaintances to please hold me accountable. If you ever catch me writing, talking or even thinking about the negative side of anything, CALL ME OUT! I want you to BUST me on the spot! I’ve asked my husband to use the phrase, “focus on the SUNNY side, HONEY” instead of the old cliché’ “Look at the bright side” since that phrase seems to always trigger negative feelings in my mind.

I know that some people would much rather discuss negative rumors, gossip and many other situations of this nature. It’s very easy to and even somewhat enjoyable to get together with a small group of people and feed off this negative energy. I’ve been caught in this trap many times! I declare myself “GUILTY as charged charged”. It’s human nature to take the “easy road” by adding our own little negative spin to a conversation or even starting the flow of negative energy hoping that others will join in. We all seem to have a natural weakness for being attracted negative information. If you want proof just read the headlines in any news source, TV, internet, newspaper, etc. The headlines are almost always focused on negative stuff because that’s what attracts readers and viewers. In fact, I’ve completely stopped watching the “news” because it makes me feel depressed!

As I previously stated, focusing on negative things such as criticizing, condemning or complaining always results in making my life miserable! I recently to read a book written by the richest, most powerful and wisest man who ever lived. I believe success breads success and even though I’m not much of a reader, I decided to take 5 minutes a day to learn what this man had to say about true success. The man is King Solomon and the book is Proverbs. It has 31 chapters and I read 1 chapter every day of the month. Some tidbits that hit me really hard on the 15th of this past month. Proverbs 15:4 “Gentle words bring life and health; griping brings discouragement.” 15:15 “When a man (or woman) is gloomy, everything seems to go wrong; when she is cheerful, everything seems right” 15:30 “Pleasant sights and good reports give happiness and health.” The entire 15th chapter seemed to say to me, If you want to be miserable, unsuccessful, and depressed, hang around negative people and focus on negative information.

If you want a great life, full of joy, success and happiness, hang around positive people and focus on the “sunny side” of your circumstances. As a result, I’ve made a decision. From this day forward, I’m done poisoning my life with negative people, conversations, actions, thoughts, etc! Instead, I’m rededicated to hanging out and communicating with positive people, focusing on solutions instead of problems, looking for the sunny side of my circumstances instead of all the negative situations and events that occur in life.

I want to find at least 100 women who are willing to join me! We’ll call us “The Sunny Side” sisters! LOL!

This doesn’t mean that you can’t tell us about negative situations, events or problems that you are going through. There is nothing wrong with expressing these things to the group. Together, we’ll help each other find and concentrate on the solutions so we can get through tough times. We’ll team up to focus on the SUNNY side… honey! I’d like to incorporate this into the Rally Room (our TEAM BUFFMOTHER private women’s only group) since this is one of the many reasons I created the Team BuffMother in the first place! If you haven’t joined the Team BuffMother group I encourage doing so. It will change your life! If you already are a Team BuffMother member, and want to commit or re-commit to this positive group, please respond to this post.

Feel free to add your own special twist in your post but don’t feel obligated. It’s fine to just say something like, “I’m in! But, if you have any additional thoughts, insights and/or stories that popped into your mind regarding this topic, please jot them down in your post. Please keep in mind this is not a writing contest or anything like that. I know most of us don’t have tons of extra time and energy and I don’t want that to stop you from joining us. I’m member #1, who wants to be member #2, #3, #4…?

xoxoxo~ BuffMother! http://ift.tt/2oLWFFu

The Sunny Side Group! published first on http://ift.tt/2jYy0ej

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fitnetpro · 8 years ago

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The Sunny Side Group!

I want to find at least 100 women who are willing to join me! We’ll call us “The Sunny Side” sisters! LOL!

xoxoxo~ BuffMother! http://ift.tt/2oLWFFu

The Sunny Side Group! published first on http://ift.tt/2kRppy7

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robertsmorgan · 8 years ago

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Psychology of Eating Podcast Episode #179: A Doctor Rediscovers Self Care

As a doctor, Dan has devoted his life and energy to helping others heal. Lately, though, he finds his own energy is dropping day by day. Waking up exhausted and feeling burned, Dan feels embarrassed that even his patients are beginning to notice. When his blood tests did not reveal anything unusual, Dan is feeling tapped out looking for answers. In this breakthrough session, Marc David, Founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, works with Dan to uncover what’s really behind his fatigue. As a father, the primary breadwinner, busy professional, and someone who is in the beginning stages of building a new clinic with colleagues, Dan’s body is tapped out. Dan owns up to how he has to take more responsibility for his self-care. Find out what he discovers and listen in on this eye opening, humbling, and inspiring conversation.

Below is a transcript of this podcast episode:

Marc: Welcome, everybody. I’m Marc David, founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating. We are back in the Psychology of Eating podcast, and I’m with Dan today. Welcome, Dan.

Dan: Hello. How are you guys?

Marc: I am doing good. Let me just take a moment and check in with viewers and listeners who are new to the podcast. Let me tell you how it works. Dan and I have just been kind of hanging out for a few minutes before we jumped on here. So we’re meeting for the first time. We’re going to have a session for about an hour or less and see if we can do some smart things and move the needle forward and push the fast forward button and hopefully get to a good place.

So, Dr. Dan—I’m going to call you—if you could just wave your magic wand and come out from this conversation with something that would be really useful for you, what would that outcome be?

Dan: Probably to find more energy is the number one. I’m kind of constantly exhausted these days. In a way, I just feel like my life is disorganized. I feel like I’m reacting to things rather than responding necessarily. I feel like time management is a massive issue of mine, and that’s probably feeding into the exhaustion. To tell you the truth, my eating has been a bit dodgy as well, and I think that it’s all related perhaps. If I could get anything out of this, I’d love to get some good health habits, routine, and just to delve into why I guess I’m doing this. I’m at a bit of a loss.

Marc: Good question. I love that. I love that. I love that. Thanks for being so honest. Why don’t you give us a sense, give me a sense what’s—talk about how your life looks these days and what is life for you.

Dan: Well, I’m 38. I’m a GP, so that’s a family physician I think in the US there. I’m also an acupuncturist, so I do acupuncture. I work in a relatively straight-laced, I guess, general practice for four days a week. And I try to bring in my style of care which is, I’d like to think, more holistic and whatnot.

But then one day a week I’m now just starting a practice with a number of other great professionals, I guess, yoga teachers, craniosacral masseuses, naturopaths. So I’m trying to get that off the ground as well. And so, that’s very exciting. I’ve been wanting to do that kind of thing for a long time now.

I’m married and have a lovely 5-year-old boy.

Marc: Yay.

Dan: He is energy, energy, energy. He’s great. He’s lovely, but he’s tiring is all. And, yeah, married, I think, happily. And live in a beautiful area on the beach close to a rainforest. So all on that surface it’s exciting and whatnot. I think the main thing is that I’m waking up just blasted, just wanting to go back to sleep. I’m just exhausted all the time.

At work, particularly, that’s the more concerning thing for me. The more fatigue I get the less I find I’m able to I guess be present with the people I’m with, the clients.

That is a worry of mine because I don’t want that to get any worse. It’s very much my passion, and my heart is in that setting. That’s where I’m at I guess. I have weekends off on the whole, and they’re pretty nice.

My wife’s family live around about an hour away, and we often drive up there to catch up. Otherwise, summer’s coming down here. It’s lovely. It’s getting really hot actually, so I get to the beach. There’s a creek, a lovely creek, nearby. We have a pool, so I go falling in that now and again. I’m very much—I feel like I have nothing to complain about. I’m quite happy and blessed in that way, but in many other ways I feel kind of stuck. I don’t know.

Marc: How many hours a week have you been working?

Dan: I have a very civilized start of a quarter past nine, so that’s kind of nice. I normally get home around about 6-6:30, and that’s Monday to Thursdays. On Fridays, we’ve just moved to a different location in this new practice. So we’re kind of still figuring out the bugs of it all. Normally, I work there from nine to probably one o’clock, still kind of finding clients. It’s really at the very beginning of that practice.

Marc: Sure. And are you the primary breadwinner in your family?

Dan: I am. My wife just graduated from primary school teaching, and she’s just getting some jobs now, just casual jobs. But for a long time, decades. I’ve been married to my wife for ages now. And most of that time I have been the primary breadwinner, particularly once Elijah, my son, was born.

Marc: Yes. How long has it been that you’ve been feeling a little burned out?

Dan: It’s been getting worse over probably the last five years I think. It’s only really got me now where I actually have patients or clients who are telling me I look exhausted like I haven’t slept or whatnot. That’s always a little bit embarrassing when you have someone coming in who’s sick and then telling me that I look horrible, which is probably true. That’s the thing. I’m not putting them out.

Marc: So why do you think you’ve hit this point? Do you think it’s overwork? Do you think it’s stress? Is it both? If you were diagnosing yourself—you’re a smart guy—what are some of your thoughts?

Dan: I don’t think I have a very good balance in terms of… I’m giving myself at work I guess, and when I come home, I’m with my family and I love that. But there’ll be a certain point where Elijah goes to bed, my son goes to bed, and I feel that’s my time. And it’s kind of my only time sometimes. As a result, I stay up quite late. The later I stay up, the more I kind of do little snacks of—it seems healthy, but just the quantity sizes are crazy.

So I’m getting into nuts. I have a particular weakness for cheese, I have to admit. I’m just eating kind of snack foods in general—and also sugar—at anywhere between nine to 12 sometimes, 12:30. I feel like that’s got out of hand. I’m not completely sure why that’s got out of hand. So I’m a bit stumped I guess in terms of diagnosing myself, and I’m also aware that I think if I came to a conclusion it’s probably going to be pretty biased as well.

Marc: So then these days, what time are you usually roughly asleep by?

Dan: I’m trying to make an effort to go to sleep before 10, but realistically, these days, 11:30 or 12 would be a normal night for me.

Marc: Got it. And then you’re up at what time?

Dan: Around seven or 7:30.

Marc: Okay. So then maybe you get about seven, eight hours of sleep at the most is what it sounds like.

Dan: Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. Elijah always has to jump on me and kind of semi wake me up and, ugh, and that kind of grumpy dad in the morning. But, yes, probably seven hours.

Marc: Let me ask you this question. Are you under a physician’s care? Are you under somebody’s care who you trust, you like, and looking at your labs and all that sort of thing?

Dan: No. As a general rule, I think doctors make the worst patients.

Marc: Oh, they do. 100% agree. 100% agree.

Dan: Yeah.

Marc: Here’s a challenge. Doctors make the worst patients, but doctors also have some of the most bizarre pressure on them of just about any profession because we want our doctors to be gods.

We want them to be right. We want them to do everything right because you doing everything right means my health is going to be safe. The training of a doctor is a burnout kind of training.

Dan: Yeah.

Marc: So the training itself basically teaches you to be in a lifestyle that’s impossible to maintain, a work-style. So doctors are really given a very odd beginning which is push, push, push, push, push. Some of them shake it off, and some don’t because it has its demands, depending on where you’re working, what hospital, etc. So all I’m saying is that I feel for you because the odd thing is here you are in this profession, but you’re an insider so you can’t always get the best of it in a weird way.

Dan: Yeah.

Marc: Is there somebody that you have in mind who’s local to you that you would say, “Ok, I could trust that person”? Somebody who’s got some good distinctions and good training and good skills who can help you do a little bit of detective work.

Dan: Yeah, there is. There’s someone who I work with. I used to be a nurse before I was a doctor, and he used to be a nurse as well before he was a doctor. And he’s a good guy, and he does understand that holistic side. I’ve gone to him in the past, years ago, for random signatures here and there for a driver’s license or whatnot. Yeah, he’s probably the guy to go to. You’re right. It’s easy to get embarrassed, I think.

Marc: Yeah. First and foremost, Dan, what I’m wanting for you is—what I’m getting from what you just shared it’s like you pour your heart and soul into what you’re doing, your life, your family, your work, and you’re feeling a little fried. We don’t know exactly why. There could be something going on. There could be some metabolic issue.

There could be some imbalance going on. And the challenge is you’re a doctor, so you’re around this stuff. Part of you wants to be immune to it all.

Dan: Pretty much.

Marc: Part of you wants to be immune. I get it. Well, if I’m a doctor, I shouldn’t get sick. And there’s a level where I can totally relate. I can totally relate because I have self-treated myself forever. Forever. And I’ve had to stop that because I also hit a burnout point, and the hardest thing about hitting the burnout point was having to admit to myself that I can’t do this alone. I don’t want to figure it out. I literally don’t want to figure it out by myself. It’s too hard. It’s too hard. It’s hard to have your patients be your relatives, your kids, and yourself.

Dan: I understand.

Marc: It’s very difficult.

Dan: Yeah.

Marc: All I’m trying to say is to me I want to see you start to get people who are supporting you and in your corner and where you could just go, “Hey, tell me what to do. What do you think? How should we proceed?” But it has to be people that you trust. Because I would love to see just some standard blood tests done, standard hormone tests, just kind of find out what’s going on.

Dan: I did do some labs probably two months, maybe three months, ago.

Marc: Anything interesting? What did you find?

Dan: Not a hell of a lot. My liver, kidneys, salt, all of that are good. Thyroid is good. Cholesterol strangely was good or okay. I did some magnesium, selenium, your trace elements, that were fine. If I recall, probably my magnesium was a bit low actually or at least borderline.

I remember there was some low-grade, acute inflammation. My CRP was elevated. I think my cortisol was mildly elevated as well which I guess goes with the territory.

Marc: Did you look at testosterone?

Dan: No, I didn’t actually. No. That’s a good idea.

Marc: Yeah. Might be an interesting piece of the puzzle to check out. So far, there’s a little bit of a cleaner bill of health, at least on paper.

Dan: Yeah.

Marc: Right. It’s on paper, but we know you’re feeling different. How hard is it for you to take time off at this point?

Dan: Look, as long as I’ve got probably two weeks’ notice, I can do that. That’s reasonable. There’s a lot of practitioners from the Monday to Thursday, and it’s a pretty good understanding that you can take time off. For this Friday, it’s just starting up. I want to get that word of mouth. I want to get a client roll, if you know what I mean. So it’d probably be a bit difficult in my mind at the moment to take those Fridays off, but the health comes first at the end of the day.

Marc: Yeah. It feels to me, plain and simple, like you need some momentum in your court, some momentum towards your health. So momentum to me means, okay, we get a practitioner who can help you out, and we start taking a little bit more time off. And you start doing things that rejuvenate you that are very specifically all about rejuvenating you.

You have to tell me what that is for you. I know what rejuvenates me is good acupuncture, good massage, a little bit of time off and just being by the ocean. Literally, it feels like a part of you needs to catch up and come back. And maybe it’s also a part of you needs a little bit of quiet to see, “Who am I? And what’s going on here?”

Dan: Yeah, that resonates a lot really. I think that’s probably part of the issue in the last particularly years is that I have felt that I’ve walked away from something that I held onto—walked away from a part of my identity or whatnot. It’s very difficult to explain I guess at the moment. I usually do a martial art, and for some weird reason I put that down, just felt too exhausted to do it. The ocean, definitely, and now that it’s coming summer.

I’ve found my health in general, particularly more my lung capacity and whatnot, has decreased to the degree that I can’t go in and do the kind of more full-on things I used to do. That kind of gets me too.

To me, the irony is that all I have to do is get back into it and probably my lung capacity will get better. But I don’t know; it does make a difference. I think motivation is a problem.

Marc: Yeah. So motivation is a problem in part because you’re tired, in part because you’re burnt out a little bit I think, and in part because you’re probably in a mild and I mean mild version of a midlife crisis. I think these days what I start to notice with men anyway is they don’t just have a midlife crisis; there’s usually two or three that can come along, which is a good thing. I look at it as just time to look in the mirror and say, “Who am I? What’s going on? What do I want? What’s important to me? What helps me be a man in this world and feel good about myself?”

So the tricky thing is right around the age that you’re at is when mortality starts to creep in. When you say, “I don’t have the same lung capacity anymore,” correct. You don’t. You’re not going to have the same anything capacity anymore, so it’s harder to just kind of get up and be a superman because the habits that got you to this point have to change. The habits that got you through life, through medical school, through sports, through martial arts, whatever they are, they’re changing because you’re getting a little older. And we’ve got to refine our game.

I’m going to say we as men, we as people, as we get older, we need to play a tighter, specific game because otherwise the body’s going to talk to you.

Dan: Yeah, I feel like it’s doing that already.

Marc: Yeah, so body’s talking to you. The body’s talking to you, and you’re going to have to, have to, have to move past your resistance to being the doctor and the healer who usually is taking care of everybody else, and you’ve got to let it in. You’ve got to let it in. You’ve got to invite it in, and you have to be the general manager of your own healing journey here.

Here’s my selfish desire for you. I’m going to just be very selfish right now. My selfish desire for you is that you say to yourself, “I want to go on a bit of a healing journey. I’m not quite sure what that means, but I want to focus on my healing like never before, focus on my health in a different way.” That doesn’t mean you have to be a fanatic. It just means to start to identify the little things, the little things. I’m not talking about big, humongous things. Little things day to day to day that will start to put some gas in your tank. It just feels like the tank doesn’t have a lot of gas in it, and you’re good at running on fumes.

Dan: Yeah, pretty much. And I think I have for a while. I think I’m a good improviser.

Marc: You are.

Dan: I think that’s got me through a bunch, but it’s not a good way to be.

Marc: Really, it’s about rest. It’s about time off. It’s about whatever it is that fills you up that doesn’t take a lot of effort.

Dan: Yeah.

Marc: And I would do a little bit more sleuthing. I’d be interested for you to check out your testosterone level, because oftentimes if it’s a little low that’s enough to take away enough of the edge. So we do become less motivated.

Dan: Yeah.

Marc: And it’s going to lower with stress for sure, and it’s going to lower with less exercise and movement for a man. So that could potentially make a difference for you, but it sounds to me like it’s a mindset shift. Because even what you shared about what you do at night, sometimes which is like, “Hey, I find myself eating. And maybe it’s good food, maybe it’s not good food. But it’s like all of a sudden I’m eating.” And it could be for a number of hours.

Here’s how I read that. Here’s what that tells me. What that tells me is you’ve said, “Evening time for me, that’s my time.” I get it. You’re a dad. You work during the day. Your kid’s asleep, and all of a sudden, finally, you’re not responsible for all these humans. So, good for you. So you made it to that point. And what’s happening is there’s so much discomfort in your system that the best way your body knows how to manage that is with food.

Food is right now for you the best way and it’s the easiest way for you to manage your discomfort. So when you’re eating at night, all I’m hearing is you’re entertaining your taste buds. You’re stress reducing. You’re probably also reaching for nutrition that your body’s hungry for. Because if you’re not…

Dan: I do.

Marc: If you’re not nourishing yourself well during the day, you will want to eat like that at night. It is predictable.

If you gave me a million dollars to turn somebody into a nighttime binge eater, I would just be working them during the day, starving them a little bit, make sure they skip meals and don’t get enough good food, and they’ll be bingeing in the evening time.

Dan: That’s me.

Marc: Okay. So there we go. So what you’re doing at night, just so you know, actually makes perfect sense. It’s what you should be doing because you’re actually listening to your body signals. Your body’s telling you it’s hungry and nutrition-starved and in need of stress reduction. Hungry, nutrition-starved, in need of stress reduction. So those are three things we can handle in a different way, in a better way. But that’s what you’re using them for, and it makes perfect sense because your system needs more nutrition. It’s not getting it during the day.

So what happens when the brain is finally a little bit relaxed, no kid, no patients, just me, the first thing that comes up is basic survival needs: hungry, need nutrition, need density. If you’re going for nuts and cheese, what that tells me is your body’s needing density. It needs grounding. It needs strong nutrition.

Is it possible for you to have time for a meal or two during the day?

Dan: Yeah. I try. Particularly for lunch, I try to keep to a Chinese medical hourly clock where I really want to eat lunch around 12 to one with others, you know the heart time. But I don’t know. Practically, it’s very difficult. Over the last couple of weeks particularly, I’ve just had these huge days, just lots of particularly mental health stuff. I’d say a third of the time I’m working I probably eat virtually nothing really, stuff here and there.

Again, I guess that’s one of the things, coming back to the magic wand, I’d like to kind of problem solve. I don’t know how to get around that other than maybe nibbling on stuff as I go.

Marc: Let me ask this question. Is it possible to have a scheduled…? So your schedule, like there’s a 20-minute lunch period, like 20 minutes. Is that possible?

Dan: That is. That’s a good idea. I can get the receptionist to just say, “Don’t book between this time and this time.”

Marc: Right. What I’m looking for, for you, is a scheduled time where the books are clear at a consistent time as best as possible every day, consistent time. Here’s my fill-in-the-blank. If you could do 20 minutes, 20. If you could do 30, great. If it’s only 15, great. But 15 minimum. Fifteen minutes, so there’s your time where it’s you and nourishment.

Now, where’s the food coming from? Who makes the food for you?

Dan: Peeta, my wife, she’s an excellent cook. And now and again, I’ll bring stuff in. I get a fair amount of it’s kind of like a shallow fried, chili calamari from a sushi place of all places. Otherwise, there’s a tavern pretty much next door, and I don’t have a drink or anything. I feel like it sometimes. But they have good food there. I wouldn’t necessarily say I always get the best, but I try to get salad.

It’s an odd thing though because I’m there and I’m talking to others, and I end up not really eating a lot. I think I must be still unwinding from the morning. I eat probably anything from like a beef salad to like fish and chips really, an odd burger. It’s not bakery food in the morning. Definitely not the way I want to be, but that’s where I’m at.

Marc: To me, it’s going to be a nice evolution for you to have a consistent slot every day you’re at work where there’s going to be a mealtime, and you either bring in your meal… I’m almost not caring what you’re eating because I’m hearing that you’re going to make at least some good choices. I want you to have food. I want you to actually be clear that you’re nourishing yourself, and you’re going to try to make the best choices possible. When you don’t, that’s fine. But even if you go next door to eat, you have to figure out a way where you’re eating.

So if that means bringing the food into the office and eating by yourself so you don’t get distracted, because what’s going to happen is, yeah, you are unwinding. And if you go next door and if you get distracted, that kind of circumvents the whole point here which is I want to get you feeding yourself during the day. At a regular time, get a meal in there. I don’t care if it’s fish and chips. I don’t care if it’s a big salad. I don’t care what it is. Whatever it is, whatever it is, whatever it is, get food in there.

Next, what I would love to say is pack what you feel like are healthy snacks. Have your wife make you some healthy snacks. Pack what you feel are healthy, small, tiny, mini meals. And find times during the day to take five minutes and fuel yourself. So think of it as I’m taking five minutes to fuel. And anybody could stop for five minutes and fuel. So the net result is you’re putting attention on your nourishment. And especially if you could do a little bit of forethought in bringing food in so you’re not stuck, I don’t know, without food, without what you want to have. So it’s a little bit more pre-planned. You know you’re bringing these things in for the day.

I don’t care, honestly, if you snack four or five times when you’re at work. This is about you adapting to your lifestyle. We are like creatures in the wild. So it’s winter. Great. We’re going to eat differently. It’s summer. We’re going to eat differently. The food source got cut off. We have to wander a little bit further. So we’re being wild animals, and we are adjusting to our environment. So if you can’t take two hours for a meal, then, great. Take 15 minutes for a meal. And if you’re going to be working on your feet all day and giving out energy, I want you to at least have snacks and go, “Okay, here’s a snack here. Here’s a snack there.” That’ll give you consistent nourishment, and it’ll give you nourishment when you need it because that’s when you’re doing all your activity is during the day.

Dan: Yeah.

Marc: Right. So that’s when you need to be fueled. So it makes sense to me that you’re going to feel burned out or even you’re going to get inflamed. Because if that’s your output, if you’re outputting during the day, if you’re hunting and gathering during the day and you don’t have a fuel source, you’re going to burn out.

Eating at night is not working for you. Eating the bulk of your calories in the last third of your day is not going to work for you. Do you follow me?

Dan: Yeah, I do. I do. That makes sense. It really does. Yeah.

Marc: And, Dan, also, another part of this here, and I’ve kind of said this but I want to emphasize it again, which is this is you as a man making a choice to take care of yourself in a whole different way. You have to step out of immortality.

You are functioning—and trust me. I did this up until my 40s. I functioned as if I was an immortal teenager, meaning I could do whatever I want because I had a strong body. I took good care of myself, and so I’d push myself. I’d push. I’d push. I’d push.

Think of your child. Think of this as a long-term game. This is a long-term game. You want to be around for when your kid goes to medical school or your kid graduates college or whatever it is. You want to be there for the grandkids, I’m assuming. So you’ve got to be healthy. If you want to be a good father, you’ve got to be a healthy father, number one. This is not just you taking care of you. This is you taking care of your people, meaning wife and kid.

It’s like extra level of oomph and push and commitment there because right now it’s not just you not taking care of you. It’s you kind of not really 100% being responsible in your role. If you’re the primary breadwinner and you’re the father and you’ve got a little kid, I’m sorry, you’ve got to take care of yourself. You’re smarter than that. You’re smarter than that.

So I’m just being big brother here and telling you I want you to do this for you and for them.

Dan: It resonates hard. It makes sense. It’s time. That’s the other thing.

Marc: It’s time. You need a little push here. You need a little push, but I want to make sure that there are people kind of urging you on a little bit. So who can be in your support system of people who are going to be by your side going, “Okay, Dan. Are you bringing meals today? Are you taking a little extra time off? Are you getting to the ocean? Are you getting acupuncture?” Who is that person or people?

Dan: Definitely my wife. She’s great.

Marc: Yes.

Dan: There we go. I have some great friends, and we’ve gone through a lot of health journeys and education and whatnot together. They live around about an hour away or even an hour-and-a-half away. But I should link up with them. I used to call them all the time. I used to visit them much more often. But that’s kind of fallen by the wayside. And they’ve always been great in—I’ve known them for a long time, and they don’t kind of hold their punches I guess. They tell me what I don’t want to hear sometimes which is exactly what I should hear I think. I think I would do well to get back into nurturing that relationship more.

And I think the people on this Friday new practice, there’s a psychologist who I’ve gone on—we’ve kind of started this adventure, if you will, together. And she’s very good. She’s a good listener. She has the skills I guess in many ways. But she cares. She’s a lovely person. To a degree, I feel a little bit of trepidation about that because I feel like I’m going into a venture and then kind of asking for help essentially. But I know that she’ll be fine with it. She’s a lovely person, so I think that’d be fine.

I think they’re probably my main go-to. I also have some other friends who, again, are around about an hour away. And they’re very good as well. They’re nice and supportive. They have the same kind of mentality or outlook as myself. And it’s just really fun to be with those guys. Now that you asked the question and I’m answering, I feel like I have cut myself off a little bit from these good, good friends, good support.

Marc: Life happens. We become parents, and your kid becomes your focus. So totally understandable. And then work becomes a focus, and family is a focus. And all of a sudden, getting sleep becomes a focus. And finding some energy becomes a focus. So it’s understandable is all I’m saying, and it just feels like this is a time for you to start to gather up your support system so you can put gas in your tank. It’s like I just keep getting you having situations, people around you who are supporting you in moving in this new direction and that’s a mindset shift for you. It’s a real mindset shift because it’s a little bit of humility around health and mortality. It’s a little bit of humility around, “Hey, I could use some help and support because it’s hard to do on my own here.” That’s plain and simple.

That’s why there’s just lots of us in this world and not just you or me because we need each other.

This is a good time in your life to reach out for that. Again, you’re in a kind of job that takes a lot of energy, and I have a feeling you might not even realize how much energy it takes. Because on the one hand, it’s physical energy, but on another hand it’s also emotional and psychic energy when you’re dealing with people’s health and their health issues, their fears and their concerns. And it might be—maybe, maybe not—impacting you more than you realize. That’s why I just want you to have support in your corner, plain and simple.

Dan: That can never be a bad thing.

Marc: Right?

Dan: It can never be a bad thing.

Marc: Yeah, I agree.

Dan: Yeah, well, I think that’s the next step then definitely. I’ll reach out. I’ve got a couple of free weekends coming, so I don’t see why there’s any reason not to travel and see some of these guys.

Marc: Or have them come to you or even just visit over the phone. It’s really I’m looking for anything that you can do that adds to your life that makes you feel better, that fills up your tank, that doesn’t deplete your tank.

Dan: I feel hot and hollow if that makes any sense whatsoever.

Marc: No, I get it. I totally get it. So there’s something that your system’s wanting, and I want you to get it. And part of that means you have to put it out there. So we’re talking regular food, regular meals for you, regular snacks at work. And then see how that affects your evening eating. We’re talking about you seeing your doctor friend who can maybe advise a little bit more. Any other health services that support you and feel good and help you get more energy. I don’t care what it is literally.

Especially passive stuff. Passive might be good for you. When I say passive, I mean, yeah, martial arts. If you can get back into sport, great. But at the same time, if you could lie down on a table and have somebody give you a good body work.

Dan: Geez.

Marc: Yeah.

Dan: Yeah. It’s funny. I’m an acupuncturist, and I probably haven’t had acupuncture on myself for five years or something like that, something crazy.

Marc: Bad boy. Bad boy. That’s got to change. Change that by next week, please. You should be getting regular acupuncture. It makes a difference. I get regular acupuncture. It makes a difference for me, so I know.

Dan: Preaching to the choir.

Marc: Yeah. Good.

Dan: You’re right. Excellent. There’s so many acupuncturists around here as well. Some of them are great. Maybe that’s part of the humility as well. Maybe I have to give that up a bit.

Marc: Yeah. Oftentimes, nobody’s as good as us in our minds. It’s hard for me to go to another nutrition person because that’s my life and my field. And the truth is we don’t know everything. I don’t know everything, and it’s hard to self-treat and self-medicate. Sometimes it’s very effective, and other times it just ain’t. It just ain’t.

So to me, you’ve just needed a little bit of a push. You just need a little push. You just need a push. So I’m hoping this is enough of a push to get you into action, but you’ve got to push yourself to the next place of gathering support. I would love for you to speak to your wife after this conversation and say, “Honey, here’s what we talked about on this session. Here’s what I want to enroll you in. I really need to start turning things around for me, for you, for Elijah. That’s what the deal is here.”

So let’s nip this in the bud. I would rather this conversation than you talking to me, telling me you have chronic fatigue and you can’t get out of bed and you can’t show up for work. That would suck. Here we are at the beginning stages, taking care of business before things get out of hand. That’s how I look at this time for you.

Dan: I feel that. That really resonates. Yeah. No, no. That really resonates. I think you’re right about the push in a way. I feel good already. I feel propelled if that’s the right word.

Marc: Yeah.

Dan: But, yeah, I feel like these last couple of years I thought it was discipline for a long time, and it still very well could be. But you just said that it’s so much easier to sit on my bum rather than get out and go. My martial art often ends up just being qigong or more like tai chi type stuff.

Marc: That’s perfect. That’s fun.

Dan: Yeah. But even then, it’s just like, ugh. Then I go home and at 10:30 I eat cheese. I think you’re right. I think a bit of a push is good. Recruiting friends resonates as well just because I want to enjoy their company again. I miss them.

Marc: Yeah. That’s going to give you energy. You’ve got to be a guy.

Dan: Yeah. It’s true.

Marc: Yeah. So good job, my friend. I think we did the piece here today that we could do together. I got really clear that I wanted to inspire you to really take that step and make that leap and give yourself a little push and gather momentum, gather support, gather help, gather people who will give you a little push. And that’s a good thing. That’s a good thing to do.

Dan: Thank you, my friend.

Marc: You’re so welcome.

Dan: Yeah, that’s lovely. Yeah, just thank you. I don’t know. It feels like it’s a lovely, warm, little hug. So thank you very much.

Marc: Yes, that’s exactly what it is. It’s an honor for me to be in this conversation with you and to be of help in any way because you’re a helper and that’s kind of what you do for a living. And sometimes the helpers need to learn a few things of how to self-help.

Dan: Indeed.

Marc: Great job, Dan. I really appreciate you taking the time and doing this.

Dan: Thank you, my friend. Thank you.

Marc: Okay. And thank you, everyone, for tuning in. Much appreciated. Once again, I’m Marc David on behalf of the Psychology of Eating podcast. Always more to come, my friends. You take care.

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from Robert Morgan Blog http://psychologyofeating.com/psychology-of-eating-podcast-episode-179-a-doctor-rediscovers-self-care/

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12 Building A Blog For A Venture

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