#it was a streamed performance so when I google it all I find are the dead stream links >:

[chapuyes]

I know theater is meant to be a live in-the-flesh type experience but god I wish I could find a filmed version of Richard III from 2016 when Ralph fiennes played dicky 3 like I bet it was sickeningly good

[thisbluespirit]

How To Find Your (British Actor) Blorbo On The Radio: A Brief Guide

(Disclaimer: British, because the main tool I'm using is the BBC's Genome.)

If you want more of your fave actor, or you love full-cast drama podcasts/audios (and audiobooks/NF content too) here's a guide on how to get your hands on BBC Radio broadcasts.

The BBC have a great free resource called Genome, which has all the Radio Times listings from 1922 to the present day (plus some of the actual articles), and it's searchable. Up until its arrival, it was really hard to do that, so \o/

Not all actors do radio and not everything you find will be obtainable, but it's always worth a try! It's especially likely for actor-blorbos who do other audio work, or theatre (theatre tends not to pay so well, and radio is a handy extra thing that can be more easily slotted in between performances than TV/film.)

Go to Genome, and put your blorbo's name into the search box:

Press search, which will bring back a bunch of results from both radio and TV listings from 1922 up to the current year:

2. Filter down to "radio only" on the sidebar to avoid scrolling through all the TV. At the top of the page you can change the display order to First broadcast (or Availability, if you want it only to bring things currently available to stream on the BBC website), among other options.

I can also cut down on extraneous results by selecting a date range that only covers when my guy was active.

I scroll down until I find something that looks interesting, in this case a proper audio drama, called The Hornblower Story. It's from 1980 and is an adaptation of a well known book. The details give me enough info to search the wider internet, and see if I get lucky...

3. Search the internet and listen to your blorbo act in radio drama!

There are several ways to obtain radio drama online. If you use streaming sites like Audible and Spotify, it may be there, although usually only if it's had a commercial release.

The BBC still broadcast old programmes on the radio, so it might be currently available on their website to stream - and unlike TV, you can listen to BBC Radio anywhere in the world! (If you are in the UK, you can also download and use the BBC Sounds app.) The Genome will usually provide a link for you to go straight there, if that's the case.

However, obviously, most BBC Radio from past decades is not available commercially or being broadcast by the BBC now and some doesn't exist in the archives, or was never recorded (as with TV), but as methods of recording audio at home have been widely available since the 1950s and 60s, there are loads of off-air recordings of radio made by listeners/collectors, and some have freely shared their copies online. Some are in closed forums etc., but three good sites to try first are YouTube, RadioEchoes & the Internet Archive.

I usually start with a Google search - e.g. '"Title" radio' or radio bbc and if that doesn't give me anything add on first "Radio Echoes" and then "Internet archive" to the search.

And I'm in luck! Radio Echoes appear to have the adaptation I'm after. I need to check the broadcast dates to see if they match up & then I can stream or download for free - and hear my blorbo play a stern Admiral for 5 minutes or less, hurrah!

Clicking on the links takes you to a screen where you can press play to stream or right click on the play bar to download the mp3 file to your device. (Click the "Save audio as..." option).

These are archive off-air recordings, so the quality can vary, especially for older programmes.

4. Rinse and repeat with each new likely Genome discovery.

If you find a copy of what you're looking for on the Internet Archive instead, you'll get up a page with a play bar (like the one above), with episodes listed plus details (to varying degrees) below. If you want to stream, just click play and enjoy. If you want to download it, then click on the MP3 files line on the right-hand sidebar, which will then give you an "X no of files" button to click and you can download them to keep.

(You can download all the files, but I usually cut straight to the chase and just nab the MP3s.)

Sometimes the BBC have released a commercial audiobook. In those cases, if you already use audio/music streaming subscription sites like Audible or Spotify, you should be able to find it there.

If you don't, or you want to buy a download, I've found the best option (weirdly!) (for UK users, at any rate) is to get the audiobook up at Penguin Books, which links to various paid subscription streaming and download options, so you can find the best one for you (and you know it's been recced by a hopefully reputable source.)

Last year, I wanted to buy Vivat Rex, the BBC's landmark dramatisation of all the English history plays rolled into one giant starry-cast Jacobean audio serial, and successfully used this route. (I'm very old by internet terms and still like listening via MP3 files on my MP3 player, as long as it survives.)

Pretty much the only affordable download option I've found so far I got courtesy of Penguin's links to Hive. (But this may be a UK only option.)

If what you're looking for seems likely to exist even if you can't find it by any of these methods - keep trying! New things are being added daily to all these websites, and the BBC cycle round old shows all the time.

And if you want to go deeper, there are closed forums etc. for radio enthusiasts where you need to make an account, but you may then be able to torrent or download an even wider variety of things.

Of course, whether or not your blorbo has been in anything good or any radio at all will depend on them, but I hope this guide will help enable you to find out!

YouTube, Radio Echoes, the Internet Archive and Old Time Radio all have radio from other countries too. So while the BBC Genome can't help you with anywhere outside the UK, the other links here can be good places to look around and browse for things you might be interested in.

You can of course use the same methods to search for things like a favourite author, or particular plays, to see if the BBC have done any radio adaptations - BBC Radio have done heaps of things that have never been adapted on screen, so it's always worth a look for anything you'd be into.

Radio Echoes is browsable as well as searchable, and while Internet Archive is a bit less so, there are some excellent collections you can look through, like the Saturday Night Theatre collection, and the BBC Radio Shows listings.

[crooked-wasteland]

How did you calculate the estimation of how much each Helluva Boss costs to make?

I should clarify that my estimation for the cost and income of the series is extremely generous. The pricing for YouTube views can be as high as $0.05 per view which would increase Medrano's income by 46%, though that is something reserved for only exceptional creators. It's less money for YouTube in that case, and her sporadic uploading schedule would make such a deal undesirable for Google.

If you were to ask me how much I actually think the episodes cost, it would be closer to $500k. However, there are multiple factors I considered when I came to my generous(?) estimate.

Firstly, I looked into how much it cost to make a professional animated episode such as Rick and Morty, which is between $1.2 and $1.5 million per episode. To be honest, I think there are some episodes of Helluva Boss, specifically Truth Seekers, that cost at least near that threshold.

Which it should be noted that Rick and Morty should actually cost less than Helluva Boss due to the style the shows are animated in. Rick and Morty reduces the labor needed for their animation and thus costs by utilizing rigging in their animation, save for select scenes. Medrano pushes her animators to draw nearly every frame by hand. At least she did for the earlier episodes.

The fact that the animation has been declining has not been lost on watchers. And this is the second factor I took into account: Medrano's attitude towards animators and the cost of animation. We saw this during the Hazbin debacle where they ran out of money for the series in the final episode. Which is something we really need to interrogate. A24 is not known for expensive advertising, in fact, they often rely on social media and word of mouth which keeps the budget for a project low.

For example, Elemental was a financial disaster for Disney despite making back the budget for the movie, that's because they spent another several million for their ad campaign which ironically turned audiences away from the film. That counts towards the performance of a movie and a series.

If A24 was unwilling to go over budget for the last episode of the series to be made, her niche form of advertising her streaming cartoon series on a historical theatre marquee in Hollywood was not something they would have shelled out the extra thousands for. Which means the money most likely came from the initial budget for the show. And between paying animators and having a marquee (which to mind you the theatre never had a showing of Hazbin in the building, it was solely for advertising), she chose the marquee. Paying cleanup artists the equivalent of $4 an hr to make her series.

And it needs to be said, that sort of advertising is a waste. Like crypto bros buying ad space in Time Square for their NFTs, this sort of advertising doesn't actually draw in new audiences, but, in the words of Dan Olsen:

"All it's good for is internal propaganda. Making insiders feel like the money that they've spent is buying credibility."- Chapter 5: The Unbearable Cringe of Crypto

We also know that Medrano has a penchant for hiring animators fresh out of college, self-taught with no professional experience or references, and fans. This means she finds people who don't know the value of their work and are easier to exploit, or are simply so sycophantic and blinded by social media clout that they agree to work for what amounts to exposure.

As such, I significantly low-balled the cost of every episode to show just how rough things are going financially. But there is an aspect I didn't touch: Patreon.

Medrano sees a daily rise to her Patreon of around 3k paying members with her monthly total being 11k. It's estimated she makes about $5k a day through her Patreon, which is $150k-$200k a month. It's also worth noting others have pointed out that she has significantly increased the cost of her Patreon tiers, and the massive drops at the start of the month with the gradual rise are members dropping said memberships and rejoining throughout the month, going up and down tiers. She's squeezing the Patreon crowd the most, as that is her actual fanbase.

Add to her income average of $375k from episodes and Medrano can absolutely afford to pay $500k per episode as I actually suspect she does. However it is still clear she is losing money in regards to merch and has had to change manufacturers and how she stocks her store.

The reason I low-balled the cost was to simplify the maths involved and highlight how the show itself is not cutting it to keep Medrano's business model afloat. Obviously when we expand the scope, numbers get larger and more moving pieces come to light. But the merch must first come from Medrano's own income, and we know she first cuts her animators before risking her own income. So she has decided to take the money from her audience in the form of merch quality rather than take a haircut from her lifestyle.

Ironically, she makes and keeps more money when she isn't pushing new merch.

[wheels-of-despair]

Enough | A Make Up Story | Tom Grant x You | Series Masterlist

Epilogue: Are You Fucking Kidding Me? Words: 2k

WINTER

Just as you feared, your life had been waiting for you back home.

It had taken five awful hours of driving to get there. You'd collapsed on your bed as soon as you walked in, still in your clothes that smelled slightly of him, and stayed there until morning.

The temp you'd trained had proven to be useless, and your work had piled up during your week away. It took you a month to get caught up again. You'd never exactly been fond of your job, but after your week with Tom, it had reached a new level of joylessness.

You sent out several resumes, but never heard back from anyone. So you kept plodding along, performing tasks you disliked and taking orders from people you hated. What else could you do?

You went on a few dates, each one worse than the last. You accepted invitations to events with people you barely tolerated, hoping it might spark something inside of you. Maybe you'd find something you enjoyed. Maybe you'd find someone you liked. Maybe you'd stop going home and thinking about things that weren't meant to be.

One night, several drinks deep on a dance floor so crowded it felt like you were fighting the bodies around you for air, you realized… here, in this crowded room, surrounded by people, was the loneliest you'd ever been in your entire life. You froze. The excessively loud music became a dull roar, bodies knocked into you, and all you could do was stand there feeling like a shell of a person.

You're not neon lights and wild adventures and meaningless hookups with people who won't bother to learn your name. You're talking 'til sunrise and listening to the rain and goofing on crappy movies.

You don't belong here.

You battled your way to the exit and walked home, head ducked so no one could see the tears streaming down your face.

You spent your nights watching stupid movies alone in bed after that. Why force yourself to do things that only made you feel worse?

Your mind always drifted to a curly-haired beauty in Cornwall. What would Tom think of this movie? Or the state you're in? What was he doing? Had he found someone who deserves him? Was he still angry with you for leaving? Did he understand that it was for his own good?

You thought of Jade, too. Did Ruth take care of her? Were they still together? Would she show up on your doorstep in a few months like nothing ever happened? Would you drop everything for her if she did?

Thinking of them was painful, but it was better than feeling nothing.

One cold and drizzly day that winter, after a long and dull day at the office, you were looking down and fumbling for your keys in front of your building when you ran into something solid.

You jumped back, realizing it was a person.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't…" You looked up and froze.

"At least it wasn't a car this time, I suppose."

Tom.

"Is this an 'I missed you' stare, or an 'oh God I thought I got rid of him' stare?"

"First one," you croaked, not quite believing your eyes.

Tom opened his arms, and you stepped into them instinctively. You didn't think you'd ever get to feel this embrace again.

"What are you doing here?" you ask, trying not to melt into his chest.

"Kind of a long story."

"Will you come inside and tell me?"

"Mhm," he hums, not moving.

"C'mon," you whisper, wondering if this was a dream. He felt real enough. You reluctantly pull away and lead him inside by the hand, fighting the urge to glance back every few steps to make sure he's still there. But he's right there with you when you unlock your door.

You shed your jackets and retreat to your bedroom, not knowing when your flatmate would come home and ruin everything. You sat on the bed while Tom wandered around, looking at the pictures cluttering your walls. You wonder if he'd notice the Cornish sunset that looked suspiciously like the one you'd seen on your last night together. You'd found it on Google and printed it at work in a particularly intense moment of weakness.

"How've you been?" you ask.

"Miserable, and you?"

You laugh. "Same, actually."

Tom focuses on your bookshelf. "Seeing anyone?"

"Ha," you chuckle dryly. "No. You?"

"No. Found someone great a while back, but she ran away from me."

You feel your heart sink as he sits next to you on the bed.

"Jade came to see me."

"Yeah?" This should be interesting.

"Yeah. She's sold her gran's van. She and Ruth are going to go see the world."

"Really? Where are they going?"

Tom shrugs. "Said they were going to pack their bags, go to the airport, and get on the first cheap flight to somewhere hot."

"Sounds like Jade."

"Sounds like a fucking nightmare."

"I know!" You laugh incredulously. "Where are they going to stay? What if no one speaks English? What if they get lost? What if they run out of money?"

"My thoughts exactly," Tom grins. "Said they'd figure it out as they go."

You thought about it for a moment. "Can't decide if that's brilliant, or insane."

"Insane, definitely." His smile fades. "We talked about you, too."

You drop your gaze and begin tracing the pattern on your blanket. You don't know what Jade told him, but it stings like a betrayal.

"What are you doing here, Tom?" You pick at a loose thread, unable to meet his eye.

"I'm here for work, actually," he says, getting up to inspect the knick-knacks on your desk. You're suddenly self-conscious about the seashells from the day you watched him scramble his brains in the sea. You'd forgotten all about them until you finally made yourself unpack, finding them scattered in the bottom of your bag. You spent nearly an hour sobbing over them that day. They were the only pieces of Tom you had.

"Oh yeah?" Of course he's not here for you. "Shirley expanding her empire?"

"I wouldn't know. She fired me."

"What?!" Your jaw drops in surprise.

"Yeah, about a week after you left. Not exactly a great time for ol' Tom Grant." He picks up a shell and runs his thumb across the smooth surface. You wonder if he knows where it's from.

"Tom, I'm so sorry. I know you loved it there."

"A blessing in disguise, really. You did me a favor."

"I did?"

"Yup." He puts down the shell and picks up another. "You left, I moped… then I beat the shit out of Kai. Fucker's really gotta stop running his mouth. Anyway, that was my third strike, so she sent me packing. But they broke ground on a new caravan park a few minutes up the coast last autumn, so I dropped by to see if they needed any help. Talk about perfect timing. Their handy-man had just gotten a better offer and bailed. Owner hired me on the spot. I'm head of maintenance."

"Tom, that's amazing!" He puffs out his chest and grins.

"It comes with a lot of perks, too." He puts the shell back and leans against your desk, crossing his arms and waiting for you to ask.

"What kind of perks?"

"I've got my own truck. Get paid more than double what Shirley was giving me. Got my own caravan. Brand new, too, but it has a few flaws." He pauses.

"Such as?" you prompt.

"It's twice the size of my old one. Got a bloody bathtub in it. And the bed? Way too big for one person."

Is this going where you think it is?

"Anyway, I'm here on a recruiting mission. We got the big stuff set up, but we're opening in the spring. Gonna need a full staff. Lots of openings to fill, in everything from housekeeping to the office. So if you know anyone dependable who's willing to relocate for a job… and maybe a handsome lad who makes great pancakes…"

You shake your head, trying to make your brain process everything he's just said to you. He grins in a way that does not help you get your thoughts in order.

"Jade said to always tell you what I want and how I feel, so here it is," he says, dropping back onto the bed next to you. "I want to give this a shot. I want you to come back to Cornwall with me, and I want you to stay. I want you to be the first thing I see when I wake up, and the last thing I see before I go to sleep. I want you. Because I love you."

You stare at him in disbelief, head spinning, tears threatening to spill.

Tom suddenly looks nervous. "I mean, if that's what you want too…?"

Of course it's what you want. You've never wanted anything more in your entire life. Not even her.

"Are you sure?" You have to ask.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

You tears spill as you rush at each other, desperately needing to make up for several months of lost kisses.

"I'm guessing that was a yes?" he asks when you break for air. His curls are out of control, thanks to your roaming hands, and most of your clothes have somehow disappeared. A devilish smirk decorates his face. He's the most beautiful person you've ever known.

You nod, unable to find your words.

"You don't have to work there, by the way. But I think you'd like it. Owner's rich and clueless, but he's a good guy. You and me could fucking run this place. Make it better than Shirley's ever was. Teamwork, love."

You take a moment to imagine what your life might be like, living with Tom and working in a place you actually liked. A place that Tom helped build, even. You imagine welcoming guests and watching sunsets and cooking together and playing in the sea and putting up a Christmas tree and trying out that bathtub… and maybe squeezing into a rental shower every once in a while for old time's sake.

"This is what you want, right?" he asks nervously.

Tom has mistaken your fantasies for hesitation. You smile and cup his face. You've had so much time to think about what you want… and this is better than anything you could have possibly imagined. But at the center of every fantasy lies one little thing.

"You said something to me one night…" you begin quietly, as if it might shatter the illusion. "I think it was the night we had dinner at April's. But you said 'if you love a person, they should be enough.'"

Tom nods his head in your hands.

"That's what I want, Tom. I want to be enough." You hold your breath.

"You are," he whispers, eyes wide and genuine. And you believe him. You really do.

"So are you," you whisper back. "You're everything to me."

"C'mere," he smiles, reaching out and pulling you to him before you can start crying again. You lift your head and meet his lips in a sweet kiss that soon turns needy and desperate. You do have a lot of lost time to make up for, after all.

An hour later, you lie on your backs in your twisted sheets, staring up at your ceiling and trying to catch your breath.

"Was that my sign-on bonus?" you joke.

"Don't tell anyone else, or they'll all expect it."

You laugh together and reach for his hand.

"We really doing this? You and me?" you ask.

"Absolutely," he says.

"Guess I get to live out my job-quitting fantasy tomorrow," you grin. "How long do you think it'll take us to pack?"

"As a team? With our motivation? Sunrise."

You laugh, feeling happy and whole again for the first time in months. You get to quit your job tomorrow and come home with boxes so you can start packing. You get to leave this place and all the people in it behind, and start a new life with someone you love. Someone who loves you back. Someone who wants to keep you.

"I love you."

His words make your heart soar, and you have no doubt that he means them. He means them as much as you do.

"I love you too, Tom."

[ao3cassandraic]

I'm a little confused, what trouble did the Internet Archive get into exactly?

By this I mean, is it going down? Or is it just dealing with politics behind the scenes?

(I occasionally find the Internet Archive to be useful, so I hope it doesn't disappear)

Okay, so, it helps to have context here. First, IA.

IA has its fingers in several pies:

the Wayback Machine (and allied services such as Archive-It) for website preservation

software (including game) preservation

print digitization, which started (I think) as an add-on to software preservation (because manuals matter!) and expanded to pretty much whatever print IA could get its hands on

a lending system for the above digitized collection, known as the "Open Library"

lately, machine-learning tools intended to operate over its digitized-print collections (it's still building this out, I've seen some of the grant applications) -- nothing generative-AI-like yet that I know of, however

A lot of this work is only dubiously and uncertainly within the scope of US copyright. (N.b. IANAL, IANYL, I am certainly not Internet Archive's lawyer, TINLA.) IA takes refuge largely in audacity, and in the centrality of the Wayback Machine to web preservation generally. So they have been known to pull the "if we lose this legal case totally unrelated to web preservation and have to pay gonzo fines, Wayback is in peril!" ripcord.

Is this true? Hell if I know, I don't audit IA's books. I doubt it, though.

What they're in trouble for -- what an appeals court shot them all the way down for yesterday -- is what they did with their Open Library of digitized print books, many of them in-copyright, during COVID lockdown. And to understand all that, we have to untangle some things about US copyright. Ugh, somebody hand me a read-more link.

Why can libraries lend print books, vinyl, cassettes, CDs, and DVDs in the US? Because of a legal doctrine called "the first sale right," which goes like this: if you have a legally-produced physical object containing copyrighted material, you can do whatever the fuck you want with that physical object with zero copyright implications --other than reproduce/copy or perform it (which does have copyright implications, complex ones).

You can (yes) burn it. You can lend it to a friend, or an enemy, or a random stranger. You can give it away. You can throw it away. You can resell it. You can hang it on your wall or in your window. You can make an art installation with it. And the copyright owner cannot win a copyright-based lawsuit over any of this, even if they hate what you're doing! Even if it competes with them selling new copies (as the resale market absolutely does, and as some jerkfaced copyright owners -- usually corporations, not authors! -- love to complain that libraries do)!

Here's the thing, though, and it's an important thing so I'm gonna big-type it:

The right of first sale does not apply to anything digital ever.

Not ebooks (digitized or born-digital, doesn't matter). Not streaming anything. Not paywalled online news or research.

When libraries offer these to patrons, it's through contracts with publishers or aggregators. Long story short, a lot of these contracts are ridiculously restrictive (not to mention expensive) to the point of cartoonish evil, but it's what we have to work with.

The idea behind Controlled Digital Lending is "if libraries purchased a physical item legally, we should get to lend the item to one person at a time as we always have, and it shouldn't actually matter whether what we lend is the physical item or a digital version of it, as long as only one or the other is out to a patron at a given time."

Which is an untested legal theory! I can't tell you whether it's legal! Nobody can! The case law doesn't exist! Yeah yeah, there's relevant past cases in both directions having to do with accessibility or Google Books or whatever, but a specific precedential ruling on CDL is not a thing that presently exists.

No, not even now. Because what IA did with its Open Library during lockdown, and got slapped down for by the court, is not CDL as defined above. IA didn't hold to one-person-at-a-time-per-book. They tried to make a fair-use argument for what they actually did (that is, not for actual CDL), and the court was not having it.

The thing is, IA's stumblebummed legal fuckup means that actual CDL, as actual libraries (n.b. the IA is not an actual library or an actual archives, I will happily die on this hill, I loathe IA like poison and do not want to admit them to my profession, IA people have dissed me and my work TO MY ACTUAL PHYSICAL FACE and they only love libraries or librarians when trying to hide behind us) were trying to design and implement it, now faces additional legal hurdles. Any court looking at an actual CDL program has to take into account IA getting slapped down. And that's if we can even find a library or library consortium with deep enough pockets and hardcore enough legal representation to even defend such a case.

The thing also is, IA just issued Big Publishing a gilt-edged invitation to use this precedent to sue actual libraries, especially academic libraries, over other things we do. (I'm gonna pass over exactly what in silence because I do not want to give those fuckers ideas, but... there have been past lawsuits, look 'em up.) THANKS, BREWSTER. THANKS EVER SO. Asshole.

For a calmer take than mine, check out Library Futures, which to their credit has not given up all hope for CDL.

This IS the short version of all this nonsense, believe me. I used to teach a whole entire three-credit graduate-level course in the long version. (Which IA would doubtless diss to my face if they knew about it.)

[melliotwrites]

hi again!

as a follow up to those that asked for a more detailed breakdown of your shows, i was wondering if i myself would be able to create a traditional (wiki style) synopsis of the show to improve accessibility? i know it’s a pretty laborious process, and totally get why there isn’t a broken down summary yet. if so, id have no problem passing it on to you guys to share, rather than posting myself :)

Sure, you can make wiki-style synopses of the current Adamandi and TAOPP YouTube recordings (with the caveat that it's specific to the date of production -- we're revising both shows, and with only one production of each online right now, it's kind of impossible for an outside eye to differentiate actor/director interpretation from what's actually written down in the script. Accordingly, we'd personally be a bit uncomfortable with a summary of, for example, the Youtube recording of the Princeton University Players 2022 TAOPP performance standing in as a summary of TAOPP the Musical, if that makes sense.) And as long as people don't think we wrote the summaries, you can feel free to write them and share them on your social medias/with other fans. Obviously, the full story of Ghost Story is not yet available, but you can feel free to similarly summarize the concert on YouTube in a wiki-style article.

To clarify, we do have outlines of all the shows, we just don't feel comfortable sharing them online for intellectual property reasons. What we share of Melliot musicals are works in progress, unlike companies that make their revenue from online streaming or are based around providing online content (e.g., Starkid Productions.) It's more like offering you a peek into our sketchbook than displaying a painting at a gallery. While we do post silly snippets from our writing process on Tumblr, at the same time, we are actively writing and rewriting and shopping our shows around to professional theater places (that would be very angry to find an outline of one of our shows online, etc.) Heck, we're still working on our current Ghost Story draft until our residency's up, so we don't even know what our outline will look like in a week, much less by the time a producer might dredge it up by Googling the right combination of Ghost-Story-related keywords.

We also wouldn't feel comfortable with giving people any sort of "official synopsis" to read instead of watching the musicals. We worry a centralized, simplified explanation would take away the kinds of complicated ideas and competing readings that we want fans to have of our shows -- they're the length and complexity they are for a reason. As long as a fan-generated summary is just one of many interpretations and not intended to take the place of people interpreting the show for themselves (or to take the place of watching a production of the show itself, especially ones that will get clearer with a fuller production like Ghost Story), that's fine by us.

I hope that makes sense! I appreciate the sentiment of sharing the show with your friends right now, but it will definitely be in a fuller, more public, and more accessible form later down the line that will hopefully clarify some things. For now it's just fun to have fans excited about this peek into the show, and we're looking forward to showing off more when we get the chance!

~Mel and Elliot

[teejaysnow]

It’s 04:00, I’m on the nightbus back to Stockholm (where I will arrive at around 06:10) - and no, I don’t regret all of my life choices. Yet.

My plan for today was to get a hot chocolate at Kaffebrenneriet, do some shopping at Outland and Platekompaniet, and then head over to Dramatikkens hus to watch six scriptwriters from Den Norske Filmskolen “revive the art of theatre”.

Well, at least I got my chocolate - but the shopping spree at Outland was cut short because of a fire alarm, and I didn’t find anything I wanted at Platekompaniet. So the scriptwriters better be reviving the hell outta that theatre, thanks.

First off, I did find Dramatikkens hus after circling the place only once. (Without google maps, I’d probably still be looking for it - they don’t really advertise their existence, do they?) Also, it’s definitely not bigger on the inside - which was good since I’d forgotten to bring my glasses and is pretty much blind as a bat without them. Usually not a problem, my sonar system is pretty good - but for theatre performances I prefer to rely on my glasses, thanks.

So, we all got our hands stamped (well, when I say stamped…), a small program (well, when I say program…), and a lottery ticket - which I suspect was a scam (I mean, as someone with quite a few memories she’d like to forget, I had high hopes for that lottery prize) and were then set free to find a seat. I found a nice one by the wall and curled up to enjoy the show(s).

Anyway - from here on, there be spoilers:

The first play was the lottery one. As I said, I had high hopes for my I19 ticket, but… yeah, I’m pretty sure it was rigged… 😏

Anyway, it was a pretty interesting play. The lottery winner was adamant that she regretted nothing despite the host dragging up things like making her younger sister drink her own urine (thanks for that mental image). It wasn’t until the host talked about how she’d sexually abused someone that the winner started to get uncomfortable and denying it had ever happened. She would never. She wasn’t that kind of person. And anyway, he was a guy, guys wanted sex. Also, guys wanted her. Finally she accepted that she might have been guilty of abuse and asked to get her memory removed. After some further thought, she instead wanted the guy’s memory to be removed. And after even more thought she decided that they both should keep their memories, thus turning down the prize, because it would be weird no matter whose memory got removed.

There were no curtain calls between the sets (well, there was no curtain either, so 🤷🏻‍♀️), only some nifty stagehands moving and removing the few props each scene had. So for Bruduljen, they produced a table and two chairs.

I was looking forward to this one. I read and really liked Camilla’s photobook, which felt very stream of consciousness-y, so I was interested to see if she’d also use that style for script writing. (The answer was no, but I still liked the play a lot.) A teacher and the mother of a girl that had assaulted her were working on a report on what had happened. The mother was trying to soften the language - was it really an assault, wasn’t it more of an argument that got out of hand? Did she really punch you, wasn’t it more of a slap? Talking about how she has a picture of her five year old daughter with her face full of ice cream taped to the refrigerator, wondering what happened to that sweet girl who now colour her hair and have a… well, rather colourful language to match? The mother and the teacher got into a shouting match, then there was an actual fight where the teacher’s ptsd from the assault kicked in and she hid under the table, and then there was a sweet (and very funny) bit where the mother tried to coax the teacher out from under there. And then they went back to work on the report.

Stagehands in to exchange the table and chairs for a sofa with a… well, body, I guess? Enter my favourite play of the night.

The description of this one gave me a bit of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf vibes beforehand. Afterwards? Yeah, I’m still sticking with old Virginia here. It’s really funny with some pretty loud arguments in between. As well as a whole cooked turkey thrown on the floor. Twice. I guess nothing says Christmas like a good family argument? Even if one third of the family is sitting dead on the sofa…

The play began with mum talking to her (very dead) hubby and offering him whisky. Which he - surprisingly enough - didn’t drink. She blamed it on it being cheap whisky - me, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have drank it even if it had been Talisker. Enter daughter, who complains about the smell. I wonder why 🤔 She also complains about rats. I wonder why 🤔 Exit mum to the kitchen to fetch the turkey - leading to my favourite joke of the night (that didn’t get a laugh - I wonder why?? 😠) where the daughter pours a glass of whisky, holds it out to her dad and with an absolutely perfect delivery says “Whisky?”. Anyway, enter the turkey, daughter throws it to the ground while yelling at her mother in english, picks it up, hands it to her mum, and apologises - only for her mother to throw it to the ground while yelling back, also in english. Then the doorbell goes off and her mum asks if the daughter had invited anyone. Which she had. People from the funeral parlour. Her mum still doesn’t want to let go of her dead husband, so the daughter agrees not to let them in and that they can all just sit and wait for death and then get buried together. Always look on the bright side of death, I guess.

Okay, so out with the sofa, in with… nothing? Except for two actors, that is. So this was basically my reason for going to Oslo. Well, this and Kaffebrenneriet’s hot chocolate.

Now, let’s start with the fact that the Bergen accent is not my friend, so… the struggle was real. I most definitely didn’t get all of the dialogue.

The play was about a seventeen year old drama student wanting to do a Chekhov play topless (but I’d say she definitely gave off more Shakespeare’s Ophelia vibes with the whole waif-y dancing and singing). Anyway, she baited the drama teacher about it and how she felt that Nina would definitely have her boobs out. The drama teacher didn’t fully agree, trying to argue that it was a school play and the sixteen year old boys watching would just see her boobs. The student argued that it would be Nina’s boobs they saw, not hers. (I think both me and the drama teacher doubted that the boys would make that distinction) The student kept provoking the teacher, calling him out about having liked to see her boobs. The teacher altered between confessing that he had and saying that he hadn’t and that he was being her teacher. It all finished with her dancing off the stage while humming an eerie melody, apparently off to drown herself in the river (as I said - Ophelia vibes) Between this and Kunsten er død, I have a feeling Tarjei is in his “exploring what art really is” era.

Anyway - no stagehands this time since we were getting another props free play.

This one was the age old story of boy leaving a party early because ex is there with her new beau, ex comes after him and calls him out on it, boy admits to it. Although a bit more complicated. (Don’t get me wrong, I did like this one.) So, boy and girl used to be a couple when they were younger. At seventeen, girl got pregnant. Girl then lost the baby, which led to the break up - apparently without the two of them really talking about it. Until now. Let’s just say there were some left over feelings still around and they kept skipping around the stage, getting closer and closer to each other. Until they got very close. And then her phone rang and it all crumbled into pieces. Boy is about to walk away, girl is waiting for her boyfriend to drive her home - and then we get a fifteen minute flash forward indicating that there will be an accident. Boy imagines asking (what we now know is future dead) girl to tell their unborn baby that he loves her. Sad now. (Also, all the actors were great, but I think these two were my favourites.)

And now the stagehands are back for the final play. Hooray! Enter a park bench and one actor - who is taking a magazine test on sexuality. S&M. Whips. Dogs. (I might have misheard that last one. At least I hope I did.). This is when actor number two arrives and starts going on about Will Smith and Chris Rock. (Both me and actor number one are of the opinion that it’s been years, just get over it.) Actor two talks about having sex with multiple people - which actor one quickly labels “poly” and - after a bit of explaining - actor two happily accepts. They continue to talk about the sexuality test and actor one goes full gossip girl and spills about how his girlfriend and a male friend got the same high score on the sadist category. They then do a bit of fuckboy sniggering until actor two shoves actor one hard enough for him to kick over his soda bottle. And that soda had cost him thirty crowns, thank you very much. So actor one tries to fight actor two over it. Very unsuccessfully. So actor one ends up lying on the ground moaning while actor two returns to the bench and starts up on the whole Will and Chris thing again. Actor one yells at him to stop (otherwise I’d have probably done it 😒), and actor two realises that actor one laying on the ground whimpering meant he’s masochistic - which is the perfect pairing for his sadist girlfriend. And then they all lived happily ever after.

The whole thing took about 90 minutes - which meant I had eons of time to catch my bus. I even had time to meditate a bit over the Opera House by night.

And now, here I am on a bus back to Stockholm, bum complaining about the uncomfortable seat, head complaining about the lack of sleep, stomach complaining about not enough food, and bladder complaining about having had too much to drink. And I’m still not regretting any of my life choices. Today’s been fun!

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Leaning against Scott Monument in a park, view of the castle, passing time before Mark Watson starts. Some good performer could probably create a routine about my thought on this is "It's like Google Earth come to life" is indicative of a certain relationship to technology. Of course, the fact that I thought of an observation about the meaning of my own thoughts, and my idea for how to convey it was by saying: this is how it would be described by a performer in a show, might be indicative of my relationship to live entertainment at the moment.

Anyway the Olympics are on right now, which is so weird. All week I keep coming out of shows to find 100 or more new messages after not checking my phone for an hour, because all my group chats are going. Coaches, larger team chat, my old university team, my old coach group chat with people who've moved away.

This is the first year since 2004 when the Olympics have happened and I haven't spent the whole time glued to the wrestling livestreams and results. Usually with my teammates, though not always. In 2016, my old high school teammate won a gold medal, and I was out of town visiting my grandparents. I watched her win her semi-finals on the stream, realized the biggest moment in the career of anyone I know might be happening that night and I can't be alone to experience that, so I called an old university friend who lives 2 hours from my grandparents and drove to spend the night with her. We drank a bunch of whiskey while I told too many stories of hanging out with this athlete at old high school tournaments (many of those stories involved me playing Pokemon in a hotel lobby until whatever guy from some other team she'd met vacated our hotel room, it was always just her and I sharing rooms because we were the only girls on the team) and how I couldn't believe where she was. I called into the watch party that my team was having back home and watched the finals on the phone with them, when she won I heard my best friend's living room burst into loud screaming cheers from the 30 people he'd crammed in there, I burst into tears and hugged my one friend who was with me, my best friend back back home took his phone into another room for a bit so we could just remember stuff together.

I remember saying to him, on the phone, that maybe she'd done enough finally. Whenever anyone does anything, everyone in the community says "Well it's not like they did [other bigger thing]." The silver wasn't a gold, the gold wasn't in a tough year, the national win wasn't international, the international tournament wasn't that great. But this was it, gold medal at the Olympics. Maybe she, for the first time of anyone I know, gets to be good enough, and gets to be done trying to meet ever-increasing expectations. It's a gold medal at the Olympics. You can't move the goalposts any higher.

When she came home frpm Rio I was part of a whole crowd greeting her at the airport, she pushed past people to give me a hug and tell me she remembered training with me in the early days and that big high school tournament that I won and she didn't and she let me be the first person to hold her medal.

Of course it didn't work the way I imagined it would. For the next 4 years, every time she lost a match, which was rarely but sometimes, everyone in the community said she was overrated and her Olympic win was a fluke. At the 2021 Olympics, she competed again, my best friend and I snuck out of a friend's birthday party to watch the stream on his phone. She made one big mistake and lost her first match, and then everyone we knew said "Sure she won it once, but she couldn't defend her title." Fuck off.

That's not the only person I've known whom I've watched compete at the Olympics, of course. In 2016, I also had a chat going with my old university roommates, as we watched our old university teammate get beaten up in Rio. I mean, all the group chats were going about him, but we had a private chat just for making fun of all the press that made him sound so great. Calling him a warrior, a man with the grit and determination to fight his way to the top. When in fact we knew he was a man with the word "tits" tattooed on his foot and an alcohol problem, who liked to sexually harass 17-year-olds and cheat on his wife at tournaments (everyone does that but most at least do it in hotel rooms, he frequently did it in venue bathrooms).

Anyway I don't think I've made my point very well, which was just trying to illustrate that the Olympics are normally when everyone I know gets together to watch and talk shit and make bets and get back in touch. None of my old teammates are competing there this year, but some people I know are. Some I like and some I don't. Everyone I know is talking about it. And I couldn't give a fuck.

If I were back home, I'd be probably feeling quite depressed about that, watching while not being part of the community anymore. But instead I'm swiping the notifications of 100+ messages away as I run between Edinburgh shows. I don't have time to worry about how many upsets there have been. I haven't even stopped to think about it at all, until I sat down in a park and had an hour to do nothing before Mark Watson. And then did start thinking about it, started feeling vaguely depressed about that, wrote it down in a Tumblr post, and that actually helped me feel quite a bit better.

Okay, I'm now off to see a man who does have an alcohol problem and has cheated on his wife on trips, but probably doesn't have the word "tits" tattooed on his foot, and I hope to God has never sexually harassed any 17-year-olds. Let me believe in something.

[sageistri]

The Yunjin collab is my favorite song from Hobi's album (At least from the snippets I listened to). I also liked the Nile Rodgers one, but not as much. I don't know how he chooses the main tracks because he always picks the worst songs, objectively. It's not like they sound bad, at all, but there are songs with more potential. Arson was also not the best song in his last album (it's my least favorite), it was too monotonous and repetitive, lacked instrumentation and melody.

Also, seeing the way the fandom is behaving with his release... I feel sad for him. I guess we'll have to see the streams tomorrow, but the mv views, melon, itunes, it's disappointing. I seriously believe the fandom has completely crumbled, they are not moving unless they have tools (payola), and I feel like the reason why is because they know it will give them a reason to brag on fanwars, not even because of the music. I wonder if it's also the boycott that is affecting the performance, or even the fact that the members are not here to promote.

One thing I'll never believe is that the "boycott" impacts anything, especially not when it's armys having to boycott BTS.

I think it's easier to decide you don't want to stream the music when you weren't even one of the real streamers in the fandom to begin with.

I'm seeing some armys claim that they're boycotting and I find it funny because it's mutuals I had on armytwt who haven't had BTS as their top streamed artist since dynamite era, so what are you boycotting exactly?

How many people are actually boycotting is the question? They're not listening because they don't like the music. Everyone wants me to believe that they only listen to music so far through Google drives? I assure you that these people are still listening to the music they prefer from the artists they like on official streaming platforms.

I don't think the boycott is affecting much. Hobi has never been popular and armys have never been big fans of rapline's music, the only rapline songs I've seen armys eat up as much as pop songs was CNS and daetchwita. The advantage hobi always had was the fact that he's always been the first to delve in when it comes to solo work.

He was the first member to release an official promoted single with a western artist with CNS and he was considered the most successful soloist at the time because he was the first to have a solo hot 100 entry, "more" His pre-release single had good first day numbers simply because he was the first to release a debut album, and then on the street stayed stable for a while because of j.cole.

But like you said, A lot of armys have gone on rest because the group isn't active. So unless you're actually giving them something exciting to work with, they're not going to be tuning in.

[adultswim2021]

Metalocalypse #27: “Dethwedding” | April 1, 2008 - 1:15AM | S02E07

Hey it’s been a little while since we got to watch Metalocalypse. In this one, Pickles brother Seth invites Dethklok to his wedding, which already advertises the fact that the wedding “features” Dethklok. His video invitation is hilarious. Seth is dressed in his Sunday best set against serene backdrops while he brags about his sobriety. Pickles is mortified to the point of despondency. The other band members just think it’s very, very funny. 

The tribunal explains what American weddings are during one of their meetings. These scenes can be a pointless reminder that there is such a thing as the tribunal, and it also lends a false sense of gravity to the plot of each episode. It also serves what might be an accidental function of supplying future-proof context; let’s say there comes a day when the once-standard American wedding becomes an obsolete curiosity.

Or, let’s say this episode is being shown to a species of aliens who have no idea what a wedding is. You know the type of aliens I’m talking about: the kind that mock our god, oppressively holding up the Holy Bible and remarking “HUMAN PROPAGANDA”.* Just by satirically describing what a wedding is brings all those weirdos up to speed, even though it seems gratuitous. The tribunal actually declare that they will not intervene. Why would they? Dethklok’s just going to a wedding, for fuck’s sake. 

*I am actually making a very specific reference to a circa-early-2000s episode of The Outer Limits, where a robot does this. I don’t know the title of the episode, but Heather Graham is in it. 

Things are tense between Pickles and his brother. Seth immediately starts drinking again. He has scumbag friends who suck. Seth constantly asks for money. Dethklok perform a song with a little music video accompaniment (for us watching on television at least) featuring a married couple decaying and then eventually mutating into one another, getting all Cronenbergy. Dethklock get Seth a blender, which is just an item on his wedding gift registry. When Seth chews out Pickles for cheaping out, Pickles beats his brother up. Later, he feels bad, so he installs Seth as the head of Dethklok Australia, whose leader was recently assassinated by the Revengencers. Over the closing credits we see Seth thriving in his new position at the absolute expense of Sydney, Australia, which is practically in ruins while he surveys his land, doing a big smile like a tyrant would. 

This one is very good. Metalocalypse’s misanthropic sense of humor really shines. The show will often show spectacular examples of gore and mayhem, but nothing is treated with grim incapability like family is...treated. With. Fuck. You know what the whole not ending your sentence with a preposition thing is lame and bad. It’s not that I’m bad at writing. I’m taking a stand.

The show has been taken down from HBOMax since the last time I watched it. It’s currently streaming on Adult Swim. At a glance it seems like it’s streaming in its entirety. It may or may not require a cable log-in. Actually, I’ll check in a private browser. Hang on. Okay. I did it. It played! It’s also on DVD, which is nice, but my copy’s digipak has shattered disc hubs so the discs are not fully secure in the box. Not good. Is there a way to fix this? Wait. Let me google it myself. Okay. Huh. I found something called “adhesive-backed spider DVD/CD disc hubs” that literally might be the exact thing I’m looking for. Wow. Well, you learn something extremely important like that every day, don’t you?

EPHEMERA CORNER

Robert Zunes In (2007)*

Remember when I was asking about the Robert Osbourne host intros? I’m guessing these are what that wiki was talking about! Either whoever wrote that got confused (these were taken from a ZUNE that Adult Swim gave away I guess with select episodes of select shows loaded onto them), or they repurposed some of those intros for the April Fools stunt. Neat! Thank you Kon for finding this and showing me them. Thank you.

*JOKE STOLEN FROM LONDON ARBUCKLE BECAUSE I DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO ASK IF I COULD USE IT

[damacbycavalli]

What is Better for Your Business: SEO or Digital Marketing?

SEO and digital marketing are closely related, but they’re not quite the same thing. Digital marketing takes many forms, from search engine optimization (SEO) to social media management to pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on sites like Google and Facebook. Together, SEO and digital marketing help businesses maximize their visibility and engagement with potential customers, which leads to increased sales, subscribers, and foot traffic in the door. So which one is better? Search engine optimization (SEO) and digital marketing are both important parts of online business marketing, but what’s better? Which method should you use to help grow your business? The answer depends on the stage you are in right now as well as what your ultimate goals are. Read this carefully to know in detail.

On-page tactics

To be found in search engine results, you need to optimize your website for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). These are tactics that are done on your website to make it rank higher on search engines. It can be as simple as creating an about page on your site and filling it with keywords and phrases that people will search in the search bar.

Advertisement

In addition to SEO, you should also invest time and resources into Online Marketing (OM), which is all the marketing done over the Internet. OM can include social media promotion, email marketing campaigns, influencer relations, and more. OM includes Search Engine Optimization so these two terms overlap a bit but OM doesn’t always include SEO as part of its strategy. For example, if you’re looking for someone to write blog posts for your company blog then SEO is important because blogs depend on Google searches.

On the other hand, if you want to promote a coupon code online through Twitter then Online Marketing might be best because Twitter does not affect SEO rankings while still promoting content across many different platforms. Online Marketing is better when you’re looking to get a quick burst of traffic to your site. SEO, on the other hand, is more effective long term because it requires less maintenance and will help keep visitors coming back month after month. You’ll have a steady stream of revenue throughout the year instead of just one short burst. In short, they both work well together, but one isn’t necessarily better than the other.

Link building tactics

Link building is a great way to improve your SEO and get more traffic to your website. In addition, it helps you rank higher on search engine results pages. Link building isn’t hard, but it does require some time and effort. The first step is determining which websites are relevant to your industry or topic. You can find these by using the Google Search Console Tool – an invaluable tool that will help you identify any websites linking to the competitors that aren’t linking back to you yet. Next, reach out to them via social media and email; use call-to-actions like Hey, I noticed you linked back to our competitor instead of us.

Can we swap links? In this message include where they can find your link (e.g., in the footer of your homepage). Be sure to follow up with those who don’t respond on time. To increase the chances of getting a link, include keyword-rich anchor text when possible. Finally, be persistent!

When done correctly, link-building can have a significant impact on your digital marketing efforts and performance. It not only increases your rankings in search engines but also helps gain recognition from influencers in the industry. If you’re not prepared to put some time and effort into reaching out to influencers, then focus on other digital marketing strategies such as content creation and social media management.

These two strategies work together to create brand awareness and drive traffic to your site. They also make it easier for people to find you online. However, if you want a little bit more guidance with your strategy, consider hiring an experienced marketing consultant. Doing so could prove extremely beneficial because consultants have the expertise needed to effectively execute campaigns through all avenues of digital marketing – including content marketing, social media management, paid advertising etcetera. Keep reading to know more in detail.

Content marketing tactics

Which marketing tactic is better depends on what you’re looking to get out of it. For example, if you want to increase your site traffic, then search engine optimization (SEO) might be a better option than digital marketing.

If you’re more interested in increasing sales, then digital marketing would be the best bet. Social media platforms can be great ways to boost brand awareness and encourage customer engagement. So, should you focus on social media marketing or SEO? It all depends on your goals and objectives.

If your goal is to build a large audience for an upcoming product launch or event, then social media marketing might be the way to go. On the other hand, if you aim to rank higher in Google’s organic rankings, then SEO may be the most effective strategy. Ultimately, you’ll have to figure out which avenue best suits your business needs and resources. What are you trying to achieve? What has been successful for your competitors in the past? Who are your target audiences and how do they typically engage with content that they find valuable?

These are just some of the questions that need answering before settling on a marketing strategy. The answer will depend on your company and its objectives. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Experimentation will always be necessary. You never know until you try! A combination of both SEO and digital marketing could work well depending on the type of business you have. Get creative!

Social media tactics

Don’t be afraid to experiment with social media platforms! You may find that you love Twitter, but find Facebook a waste of time. Not only will experimenting help you determine what works best for your business, but it will also show the people who follow your business that you’re open to change and willing to try new things. It’s also important to note that not all content is created equal- not everything needs to go on every channel.

Choose one platform where you want to focus and put most of your efforts into perfecting your content for this platform before branching out again. That being said, don’t forget about the other networks either; just because they aren’t as popular doesn’t mean they should get ignored! Just like in any other aspect of marketing, it’s vital to diversify your tactics.

A lot of digital marketers are finding success by implementing a series of micro-posts rather than uploading a single post once per day or week. Posting more often can lead to higher engagement rates due to the human tendency of reciprocity- if someone likes or comments on your content, we’re likely to do something nice for them in return.

Additionally, posting more frequently (even if it’s less than 10 times) can lead to a higher number of followers over time since these consumers see that you’re constantly sharing updates and staying active. Lastly, when crafting your message it’s important to keep in mind the differences between platforms. For example, Pinterest has a very visual aesthetic while Instagram is much more focused on imagery than text.

Though there are no hard and fast rules here and different approaches work better depending on what type of content you’re posting, always ask yourself will my audience appreciate this? before pressing send.

Paid advertising tactics

Marketing is never a one-size-fits-all scenario. What might work well for one company may not be the best fit for another. One of the most important parts of any marketing strategy is figuring out how to spend your advertising dollars so that they have the maximum impact on your business. To figure this out, you need to understand which type of advertising will give you the best bang for your buck. That’s where digital marketing and SEO can help – let’s take a look at each in turn. SEO stands for search engine optimization. When executed properly, it boosts the website rankings for targeted keywords in search engines like Google and Bing so more people are likely to find your site when they do an online search. It also helps with generating organic traffic by attracting links from other websites.

The benefits of SEO are substantial, but the downside is that these benefits don’t typically show up immediately. You could be looking at a 12-month timeline before you start seeing real results from SEO efforts alone. The best way to get started with digital marketing is by creating social media profiles for your business and then investing in paid ads such as Facebook Ads or Google Adwords campaigns. These platforms allow you to create compelling ad copy targeting specific demographics and interests who are likely to become your customers. They also allow you to set goals such as clicks or engagement rates, allowing you to monitor success rates easily over time.

The advantage of digital marketing is that the ROI (return on investment) often shows up much quicker than with SEO because there’s no waiting period involved in producing measurable results. The disadvantage is that the costs of digital marketing can add up very quickly – especially if you invest heavily without knowing what works and what doesn’t. SEO takes longer to produce tangible results, but it offers a sustainable long-term approach to building customer loyalty and trust through quality content.

The key takeaway here is not about choosing one option or the other – both approaches offer advantages and disadvantages, meaning that every company needs to weigh them against their own needs to decide which suits them best. If you want to see quick results in your ROI, go ahead and explore options like Facebook Ads. If you’re able to spend a little more time and money upfront, put your energy into finding a top-tier SEO consultant who can guide you along the process of making your website rank higher in search engines.

Video marketing tips

Video marketing is a great way to get your message across and in front of more people. Studies show that videos can increase your viewers by up to 300%. Here are some tips on how you can start video marketing today.

1. Create a video with a call to action at the end. This is a great way to encourage viewers to take an action like signing up for an email list, following you on social media, or buying something from your store. Make sure that whatever you ask them to do has value so they will be likely to act on it.

2. Promote your video everywhere possible! You want as many people as possible to see it. Share it on social media, put links in your blog posts, send out emails with a link back to the video and post it on any other websites you may own or have access to.

3. Include subtitles in other languages if applicable.

4. Use captions instead of subtitles if possible because captions make it easier for hearing-impaired individuals to watch your video.

5. Incentivize viewers to watch your entire video by including quizzes, polls, surveys, and games related to the content throughout it. They will then feel rewarded when they finish watching it.

Remember to include a call-to-action near the end again so they know what you would like them to do next. Even after all this, there are still tons of other ways you can promote your video such as paying for advertisements. Hopefully, these five tips help you get started with video marketing!

Conclusion:

You might think that SEO and digital marketing are interchangeable terms, but they’re different processes for accomplishing slightly different goals. While both can help to improve your search rankings and attract new clients, it’s important to know the differences to decide which strategy will work best for you. In this guide, we have looked at the unique features of each service, so you can choose what’s better for your business: SEO or digital marketing. So, this guide is worth reading!

Source: What is Better for Your Business: SEO or Digital Marketing?.

[oldguy56-world]

The Winner Takes it All

Last night was Oscar night! A big night for rich people to get richer. I do not have a problem with that, but I do have some other things eating at me.

Are people really celebrities when you need someone to tell you who they are? Even after their names are given most of them are still a mystery to me. They should be referred to as performers or actors until the majority of people in all age demographics can identify who they are and what they have been in. Call it age bias but most of the younger ones all look alike to me. (And please, of you are under twenty five and are interviewed on the red. sorry champagne carpet before the ceremony DO NOT SAY how you have been working your whole life for this honor. They should have Will Smith standing by to slap you if you do).

Let's look at the winners. I may be wrong but there appears to be a criteria for this. When it comes to best movie the ones that made the most at the box office rarely win. I believe it is because those movies have already made enough money. They want you to go see the ones that didn't. The rich taking care of the less rich. When it comes to acting awards, that is a whole different enchilada. Hollywood likes diversity so that is how they vote. If you want to win you need to

a) lose a lot of weight

b) gain a lot of weight

c) kiss someone of the same sex

d) have your character addicted to something

e) be old and this could be your last chance to win one

f) be the first person with your background to be eligible. They love to say that this is the first xxxxx to win. If you are a cyclops from Patagonia with turret's and you were in a movie, clear a spot on your mantel.

g) do a nude scene especially if you are way out of shape

h) don't wear any make-up

The above is a broad view of my findings over the years. Let's talk about last night. I have some thoughts on what I saw, which I must confess does not cover the entire event. There were two interruptions. Salma Hayek came out to present something. I saw her and temporarily passed out. I like her. the second thing is anything that happened after 10 o'clock eastern time. I fell asleep so I missed all the fun. I did see the results this morning. Following up on point 'f' above it was a good night to be a Canadian. Other than that here are a few things I noticed.

What the hell do these people wear when walking the carpet or greeting the 'celebrities'? One woman was wearing see through pajama bottoms, many had bed head, and some are apparently color blind.

I was listening to one of the Oscar nominated songs and thought it was from a foreign film. I could not understand a word the singer was saying so I googled it and to my surprise the words are in English. I would say that I will never go to one of her concerts but for the life of me I have no idea who she is.

I was disappointed because no one got slapped. Where are the Three Stooges when you need them?

A lot of movies were not seen by either my wife or myself so they can't be good. We see a lot of movies.

There were a lot of sequels and remakes nominated. I do not believe they should be unless they are better than the original movie (or first in the franchise) AND that first movie won an Oscar. We need more originality. I know this will exclude John Wick 4 from next year's Oscars but I stand by my decision

All the big categories come after I am in bed. Put the Oscars on in the afternoon. It will also give the winners and losers more time to party afterward and get home at a decent time. Sleep is important.

Did I say it was a good night for Canadians? Just checking. But if we keep winning we will stop winning as it will not be unique unless we find someone from Newfoundland that can read or a person from BC who is not stoned all the time.

What is next for me? The Emmy's of course, where there will be a lot of shows nominated from streaming services I do not have so I will not know anything about the shows or actors. It will force me to get those new services. It is all a plot I tell you.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: I am not sure why we need to declare the best of something, although it is nice having plaques or trophies with your name on them.

[jinhogae]

Hey! b.a.p anon here. Thank you so much for replying to my ask. @suuho recommended your blog to me after I asked him this question, and I can see why he did that. Your reply was concise but quite informative.

I wanted to know more about b.a.p because I recently re-watched a couple of Peak Time, and that reignited my Jongup obsession. Last year when I watched PT, I didn't think of looking him up. Thankfully, this time I did. But, finding information on Google about someone is different from seeing them through the eyes of a fan who knows/has known them for a long time. So, thank you once again for replying to my ask 💚

Speaking of my Jongup obsession, he seems to me to be a very soft-spoken and introverted person who transforms into an untouchable, unbeatable idol on stage. Can you tell me a bit more about him, what he is like as an idol and a person (i mean, how you see him as a fan)?

i am soooo glad my ask could help a little! it's been a while since i've gotten to sit down and really talk about b.a.p so that just made my day lmao and i am so happy it was informative! tbh i can totally recommend just putting on their albums on your streaming service of choice and seeing if you'll enjoy them and jongup's solo stuff is great too as it is, so you are definitely not lacking for quality there either.

also big mood to seeing him on peak time! i remember my brother watching the show and he was like, hold on, moon jongup just walked into the room ??? and then to see sunggyu and gikwang both lose it over him because they've known him for ages and he's also just that performer was very amusing and just super sweet too. like, yeah, you better lose your shit when he's on stage! and to me he's always been this way. of course, he had to grow into his stage persona but he is a beast of a performer. the way he can embody that sensual level of performance so readily and sooo well these days is a testament to his growth as an artist! i remember someone joking recently that no one took break-up song performances as seriously as b.a.p (or infinite) and that person was right ..... jongup graduated from those mv sets with a degree in drama and serving cunt and honed his craft ever since.

and i like that this is his stage persona while off stage he really is a bit quieter, but also just warm and charming, and very funny and supportive around his fellow b.a.p members. i feel like he's always been understating himself a little and gets a bit bash when people hype him up, but he's getting better at talking about his aspirations and the effort he puts into his work. but, yeah, sometimes he's too humble for my liking off stage like live up to that talent! and he just seems like a well-rounded guy off stage as well, in the fandom he's always been known as the performer and that is what carried over and i think he is finally really settling into the role that was given to him a decade ago. he is growing into himself! he is becoming a more realised person. like b.a.p debuted incredible young (jongup was 17! zelo was 16!) and these men are all just settling into their personalities as adults more and more. and you can tell that with jongup gaining more confidence as who he is, which is great! to me that is the best thing, that i see him being a more realised performer and a more realised person, instead of the persona they put on him and any of the other member when they debuted.

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

Kim and I had the grandkids overnight so they’re worn out and we’re worn out. Heck, even our pups are worn out. The house is really quiet, just how I like it. I’m sitting here in the dark, sipping coffee, composing today’s post.

This week work was mostly about onboarding a couple new iOS Devs who’ll be working with me on our project to add React Native support to existing native apps. I’m really enjoying it. 😀

Caitlin Harrington • WIRED

Last month, Grindr gave its all-remote staff two weeks to pledge to work from an office two days a week starting in October or lose their jobs come August 31. Many declined to return: 82 out of 178 employees—46 percent of the staff—were let go after rejecting the mandate, according to the Grindr union, which went public two weeks before the ultimatum.

Wow. That’s about all I had to say when I read this piece. I have a friend who took a job there — as a remote test engineer — only to have this mandate cross his desk two weeks later. Needless to say he didn’t move and is now looking for a new gig. It’s a real head scratcher.

Ron Amadeo • Ars Technica

The Federated Learning of Cohorts and now the Topics API are part of a plan to pitch an “alternative” tracking platform, and Google argues that there has to be a tracking alternative—you can’t just not be spied on.

Emphasis is mine. At least they admit what they’re doing and it’s pathetic. 😳

You know what’s worse? People won’t switch away from Chrome.

thehackernews.com

Apple on Thursday released emergency security updates for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS to address two zero-day flaws that have been exploited in the wild to deliver NSO Group’s Pegasus mercenary spyware.

Update your devices right away. The talent possessed to do this type of ferreting around an OS looking for holes is both impressive and terrifying all at the same time.

Branko Marcetic • jacobin.com

The inflation rate — that is, the pace at which prices are going up — might be slowing down, but that doesn’t mean prices are lower. In fact, they are much, much higher for all kinds of goods and services than they were three years ago.

I’ve definitely noticed this when we go to our favorite Mexican restaurant here in Charlottesville.

It’s really becoming apparent in the streaming business. I just received email saying our Hulu subscription is going up to $81.99/month. We currently pay $64/month. That’s close to a 25% increase. 🤬

Taegan Goddard • politicalwire.com

Pence Calls Trump’s Populism a ‘Road to Ruin’

Wow. Pence finally figured it out. Took long enough.

I know folks have praised him for what he did January 6 — myself included — but the truth is he could’ve done a lot more prior to the sixth to avert this, like call the FBI.

MSRC • msrc.microsoft.com

Upon identifying that the threat actor had acquired the consumer key, Microsoft performed a comprehensive technical investigation into the acquisition of the Microsoft account consumer signing key, including how it was used to access enterprise email. Our technical investigation has concluded. As part of our commitment to transparency and trust, we are releasing our investigation findings.

Reading these reports is fascinating. I love seeing them own up to mistakes and solve the problems that lead them there. I personally like to focus on the problem and not point fingers. These reports come across like that to me.

Greg Jones • enginebuildermag.com

As a kid, Dan Keenan loved fixing things, tearing things apart, and figuring out a way to build something new. But he never dreamed his skills would one day lead to being a key player in designing a brand-new race engine for NASCAR.

This is an older piece but is a great little read if you’re at all interested in engine building. I most definitely am and would love to see some deep dives of all the motors used in the NASCAR Cup Series. The teams use a new motor each week! It’s amazing to me how consistent the builds are from week to week.

They do see the occasional failure but those are rare. It would be amazing to see reports from engine builders outlining the failures and the steps taken to mitigate them, just like that Microsoft Security piece linked above.

Michael Meng • eng.lyft.com

Lyft runs hundreds of microservices to power the company’s offerings. Our team, the Developer Infrastructure team, aims to build the best tools to enable microservice owners (our “customers”) to reliably and quickly test changes in a local and/or end-to-end environment.

When we crossed that line from desktop focused computing on local networks to service based computing on the open web software development became infinitely more complicated. I know a lot of folks who’ll disagree with that assessment and that’s fine. It’s how it feels to me. I’m a simpleton and prefer my little self contained IDE and platform. 😃

GMS Racing • legacymotorclub.com

LEGACY MOTOR CLUB™ Signs John Hunter Nemechek to Drive the No. 42 in 2024

It’s fun to watch NASCAR teams make lineup changes for next season. How many more changes will we see between now and next season? Who knows.

It’ll also be nice to see where the Stewart Haas Racing rumors land. Do they run two or four cars next year? Do they have charters for sale? If so, who picks them up?

Oh, right, when is Dodge coming back! 🤣 Yes, I really do want to see it.

Lane Brown • Vulture

The Ophelia affair is a useful microcosm for understanding how Rotten Tomatoes, which turned 25 in August, has come to function. The site was conceived in the early days of the web as a Hot or Not for movies. Now, it can make or break them — with implications for how films are perceived, released, marketed, and possibly even green-lit. The Tomatometer may be the most important metric in entertainment, yet it’s also erratic, reductive, and easily hacked.

I’d not heard of folks gamifying Rotten Tomatoes scores but it makes sense it would happen. Gotta keep those scores fresh so folks will watch your movie and put money in your pocket. 🍅

[arcanamusica]

Arcanamusica Novel #002- His Case (彼の場合) Translation

As I finally finished the recording that I was creating for Arcanamusica, I pressed the upload button so that my song published itself immediately. I hung my acoustic guitar back up on its stand, flopped down on my bed, and prayed that I would go viral with bets this time. 

One of my bandmates introduced me to Arcanamusica a few months ago, and I’ve been using it as my main streaming platform ever since. It’s nothing like performing at a live house, hearing the cheers and screams from my fans…Even so, knowing that my music is being listened to through the app is still rewarding in its own way. Well, if they listen to it, that is. Lately, my songs haven't been doing well at all. I sighed and leaned back. Last week, the new song I posted only got around 50 views and 10 bets.. Not to mention, there’s only a few people that subscribed to me who aren’t my friends. Even though this is an app that encourages finding new artists, it’s hard to get people to listen to things outside their comfort zone. Well, hopefully I can get there little by little.

As my depression roused itself, I started to doom scroll and look at the stats of the popular singers that I followed. I saw their hundreds and thousands of followers and tens of thousands of bets. It blows my mind, but I wonder if we’re really on the same app-or even in the same world. Apparently, some of the singers are professional…

I suddenly bolted up from my pillow when I saw the “New” icon shining at me on the screen. Legge released a new song! He was my favorite singer on Arcanamusica, without a doubt. I remember hearing his song “Dancer in the Palm” for the first time and I fell in love with his voice and rhythm. It was so unique that I became drawn to it unlike anything else. Legge’s second song, “Stray Dancer”, had such raw emotion weaved into his lyrics and tune… I wanted to be like that, and I wish I could learn how to make songs to make people feel that way too. Ever since then, I’d been waiting for a new song while looping his previous music nonstop Finally, after all the waiting, anew song was released! But...it was a duet.

This song I had been waiting for.. It wasn’t just Legge. His partner was someone I hadn’t heard of before, named “Shibukuchi”...Not only that, he included a comment on his upload. I don’t remember seeing anything like this before…Legge wrote that he was dueting with Shibukuchi because of the “Destiny Game”? I decided to google what this was, but nothing came up, even when I included Arcanamusica in the search bar. I checked social media instead, and eventually dug up info that Arcanamusica had a premium membership, where premium members got to participate in the “Destiny Game” Legge had mentioned. Even though I had been posting my music for months, I had no idea anything like this even existed.

But then, I realized-if I could play this game, then maybe I could duet with Legge himself. It looked like the only way to do this was to become a premium member. 

I went back to the app and tried to scrounge up any information I could find-eventually, I happened upon a link under the app settings, reading “Premium Members click here”. I couldn’t believe it was in such a hard to find place- was it really this easy to become a premium member? Did they think nobody would bother to look? I clicked it and held my breath, but I was met with the notice:

We are not recruiting premium members at this time.

What the hell was I thinking? I felt all the hope I had building up drop again as I fell back down on my bed. As I looked at the notice again, I saw that to become a premium member, you had to accumulate something called “Arcana Points” that were gained through getting a certain amount of bets. I didn’t even have enough bets to do that in the first place.. And even if I did become a premium member, there’s no guarantee I would be able to duet with Legge…

"Agh, fine! Show me what you can do, Shibukuchi!"

With reluctance, I decided to give the duet a listen to see what he had that I didn’t. I was fully prepared to critique Shibukuchi if he was worthy to sing with Legge, but as soon as the music started playing, I was taken aback by how good it was. It wasn’t like a typical Legge song, but rather a clashing of both singer’s tones that created perfect harmony as a result. I found myself not only focusing on Legge, but intently on Shibukuchi too. I did a search for his name and a few different songs popped up-all with the “special” label, just like Legge. I wonder what made these songs “special”...I didn’t have any option to do that on my songs, even though they were originals. I clicked on the song that appeared at the top of the page, “You are My Friend”. As I listened, I thought that he didn’t even come close to Legge’s skill and maturity as a singer-you could tell that he was a hard worker and did his best, but so was I. Why did it make him special?

No.

That’s not it. 

I can’t sing like he does.

Shibukuchi wasn’t like Legge at all. Instead of feeling like he was somebody that I aspired to be, I felt more like I was being left behind in his dust, and it made me ashamed.

This is so unfair.

It’s not like the special song was super cool or showed off all of his skill. Instead, it was something that spoke to the emotions. It felt like he was speaking directly to me, saying that no matter how much despair I feel, I can’t let go of my dream. It made me feel like maybe, just maybe, I could be unstoppable if I tried hard enough. I saw the amount of bets and views that Shibukuchi had, which seemed almost unreachable in comparison to all of the other singers on the app. Well, after all, he did do a duet with Legge. 

Both of them seemed so far away from me, but with my newfound inspiration, I thought…

Maybe, someday.

I gathered up my determination and decided that I would make a new song to upload in the coming week. I grabbed my guitar from the stand I had hung it on, and with a burst of energy, I got back to working on a new tune.

As the arpeggio I played rang out, it seemed to respond to tell me I was on the right path, and I began to create my next song.

[tmlfan1977]

For those who don't know, I've been a singer for most of my life. I'd first discovered my love of singing when I was 11 years old when a friend of my sister's had invited us over to visit one day. It was there when I was introduced to karaoke. The girl's father owned a machine and a plethora of tapes. Up until that point, I'd spent much of my childhood singing along to songs on the radio. But karaoke was a game changer. The ability to sing my favorite songs using instrumental backing tracks was a concept I'd not known about prior to then..... and I was hooked!

It wasn't until I was 14 years young when I decided to take a chance by calling every bar and restaurant in town which ran karaoke. I was brutally honest with each of them by stating my age and that all I wanted to do was sing. Surprisingly, 95% of the places were cool with it! Even better, my mom was ok with me going to these places to do it!

I still remember the first bar I'd ever sang at. It was a place called "My Uncle's Pub". As coincidence would have it, the man who ran the karaoke there was none other than the father of my sister's friend who had introduced me to it only 3 years prior. Small world!

Needless to say, I took every chance I could to go out and sing, and even became a "regular" at a number of places. Friday nights (and some Thursdays), I'd sing at a bar called Brewsky's.... and Sunday nights you would always find me at the Desert Inn in a lounge called Stingers. A few years later, I'd spend my Friday nights singing at RJ's Bar & Grill, which was located inside Woodlawn Bowl (a bowling alley).

When I turned 19 (the legal drinking age in Canada), I switched up RJ's for Knights of Columbus on Friday nights, which became my watering hole for close to 20 years. I have so many great memories of that place, and had made a lot of friends!

It was around 2009 or so when I was asked by a longtime friend if I'd be interested in joining his band. He was a drummer, and his friend was a keyboard player. So the 3 of us played together for a few years. We didn't really "go" anywhere, save for a couple of private parties. Unfortunately, the drinking and the drugs between the two of them were a little much for me to deal with, so I chose to leave.

From that point on, I'd sang very little. I would go to karaoke at the Red Chevron Club maybe 2 or 3 times a year at best. I really didn't have the passion for it anymore.

This past October, I'd received a call from the aforementioned friend from my previous band of which I'd left, asking me if I'd be willing to sit in with him and another fellow who played guitar. Knowing why I'd left previously, I was promised that drinking and drugs would be non-existent. So I agreed.

We called ourselves The Basement Dwellers, a name I concocted as we played in the basement of 90 Carden Street in downtown Guelph. Google that address if you'd like to learn of its significance.... or lack thereof.

We didn't go far as a 3-piece, aside from a Facebook live stream we put together in mid-December. But, we were asked by the Pastor of the Royal City Mission to perform as part of their "Beat the Winter Blues" fundraising concert in March of this year.

That night will forever be ingrained in my mind as one of the greatest nights of my life. We performed a 7 song set along with a guest bass player. Prior to the show, I was incredibly nervous about being a "front man". After all, I'd done nothing but karaoke my entire life. They call your name. You get up. You sing your song. You sit down. You wait your turn to do it again.

For weeks prior to the event, I'd rehearsed in my head what I was going to say before and after each song. I'd literally never had to do anything like it before. So when I went up there that night, I'd put all insecurities aside, and I was a FRONT MAN! I had people clapping and cheering. I was cracking jokes. I sang "Happy Birthday" to one of the attendees. After our set, we even received a standing ovation. Watching the footage back, I'd absolutely shocked myself. I didn't realize I had it in me to do what I did that night. It goes without saying that I didn't come down from that natural high for days!

Anyway, we had decided before that point that this would be the Basement Dwellers' first, last and only gig. There were a number of issues surrounding a particular member of the band, which at that point had reached a level of absurdity.

But as they say.... When one door closes, another one opens.

I had started attending these Thursday open jams at a downtown establishment, where shortly after I was asked to join a newly formed band by the guy who was running the open jams. The rhythm guitarist from my previous band was also asked to join. Soon thereafter, a drummer had joined us, as well as a bass player, who concurrently played with the drummer in another band. We were known as the Downtown All-Stars.

From February until June, we'd play at the same place every Thursday hosting these open jams. It was fun for the most part, but quickly became cumbersome as many times our only audience were the same few regulars week after week. We had a handful of weeks where a plethora of talent would come and grace the stage. Those were the nights I enjoyed most. Unfortunately, in the four months we'd hosted this event, we received no payment of any kind. It seemed unfair because, especially on the busy nights, the establishment was thriving. I'd advertised the open jams to the hilt on as many platforms as I could find, and I gave 110% every single week on that stage to the point where my throat would be hoarse for most of the following week.

In late May, a gentleman saw us perform and had asked us to perform a set for Royal Distributing's inaugural "Bike Night" of the summer, an annual 2-month long event where bikers would come and show off their hardware, etc. I was absolutely ecstatic about being asked because I'd considered it our first big break!

During our soundcheck, I literally could not hear myself through the monitor to save my life. As any singer will tell you, you HAVE to be able to hear yourself. Otherwise, you're more or less tone deaf. I was quickly in panic mode because I literally didn't know how I sounded to the audience because I didn't even know how I sounded to myself. The problem was, the guitarists always had a tendency to be VERY loud. Even during open jams, you would constantly find the rhythm guitarist turning up his volume. The lead guitarist, who concurrently played in a punk band was equally as loud.

A few days following the show, I'd addressed the issue via group chat. The drummer and bass player were in agreement, whereas the rhythm guitarist's reply was standoff-ish, as though he'd done nothing wrong. It took 4 DAYS to get any kind of reply from the founding member and lead guitarist of the band..... Only for him to create a short video telling me that he didn't think anything needed to be changed. After all, he'd been in the business for yadda yadda years, and that there are a lot of places where singers can't hear themselves.

All this told me was that he didn't give a shit, and wasn't going to accommodate my concerns one iota. So I chose to leave. They'd held an open jam that following Thursday. I fully intended on going for one last go-round, but I'd decided against it at the last minute. If I was going to be disrespected THAT much, well..... What's good for the goose.

A couple of weeks after leaving, I'd posted an ad on the Guelph Musician's Hook-Up group, basically in search of another band looking for a vocalist. I'd specified that I was looking for like-minded musicians who were free from drama, ego and substance abuse issues.

Well wouldn't you know? This past Friday, I receive a private message from my former lead guitarist literally THREATENING me to take the ad down. He claimed that I was taking cheap shots at him, his band and his production company by stating "substance abuse" in my ad. The truth is, it had absolutely nothing to do with him. This was a personal preference..... a preference I'd even made when I created an ad 10 years ago when I was looking for a band. I told him. "Show me EXACTLY where I mention you, the band or your production company...... I'll wait......". He said if I didn't take it down, he would publicly defame MY character. For the sake of avoiding any kind of bullshit, I reluctantly took it down. After all, you can't reason with the unreasonable.

After talking to a few people however, I decided to re-instate the ad. I chose NOT to allow myself to get bullied, and I certainly don't take too lightly to threats. There were times over the past month where I had regrets, questioning whether leaving was the right thing to do..... but after he had threatened me, there was absolutely no question about it! I HAD done the RIGHT thing!

Anyway, as it stands. I don't know what the future holds in terms of singing. I'd like to think that the right band is out there somewhere. It's like someone said. You need to go where you are WANTED..... not needed. Truer words have never been spoken!