#like. for a show like this you need a strong punchy and SHORT intro like. you know. dghda had 😮‍💨

[williamrikers]

haven't finished watching 1899 yet but the fascinating thing about it is that they put just about every single horror trope they could think of in there and yet none of them are executed well. for every single story element, i can name a show that Did It Better™

[getaroomyouheck]

Album Analysis #15: Linkin Park, The Hunting Party (2014)

(ayyy sorry for taking so long, we’re finally back with the album analysis’! thank you all for being patient with me, i hope this meets your expectations)

Linkin Park was a band that had always been a piece of my childhood. Yet for the longest time, I only knew of Hybrid Theory (2002), Meteora (2003), and Minutes to Midnight (2007). Despite the memes and such regarding the group, I held them up in high regard, with Minutes to Midnight standing as one of my favorite albums ever made.

It wasn’t until the passing of frontman Chester Bennington that I really begun giving attention back to this band, and began to survey releases I hadn’t listened to, like A Thousand Suns (2010). And while that album is fine for what it is, what drew me to The Hunting Party was its heavy rock sound, reminiscent of their earliest works.

So going into this album, I want to hear that heaviness really come to life. I wanna hear Chester’s screams and those chugging guitars and that aggressive beauty. Let’s begin, shall we?

Keys to the Kingdom: Instant attention grabber of an intro, a really great way to begin the record. Chester’s pained screams diluted with an audio effect over them, sounding glitched out and demolished. Only for the roaring guitars and heavy drums to kickstart and fire off into the song. Just hyper aggression and energy, throttling drums and soaring vocals and guitars atop it. Hell, even this structure feels like classic Linkin Park, Mike rapping or singing over the verses, with Chester coming in and screaming his way through the chorus. What changes it is that instead of the nu-metal sound of Hybrid Theory or Meteora, this is full heavy hardcore rock and metal, and I adore it. It’s aggressive, it’s punchy, and above all else it sounds wonderful. I especially love the instrumental bridge, the sound cuts out abruptly and begins to build back into itself, with a buildup of layering guitars and drum patterns. Eventually it just builds into this absolute explosion of grimy guitars and crashing cymbals and snare hits, an overwhelming cacophony of sound, which leads us right back to the refrain of the chorus to end it off. 

Lyrics are not as huge a highlight here, which might be my only criticism to it. What stands out, stands out very much, like the chorus where Chester screams out “No control. No surprise. Throw the keys to the kingdom down that hole in my eyes.” and the verses are rich with shit talking and imagery paralleling war. Linkin Park is, in a sense, committing war and fighting back against all their naysayers. With the 2nd verse from Mike being a direct callout, with the line “Careful what you shoot because you might hit what you aim for”. Some bars from Mike do get kinda swarmed in the sound of the instruments, which while sounding good does take away from his words. Other than that, this is an amazing song which kicks off THP near perfectly. Fantastic, a favorite for sure. 9.5/10

All for Nothing (ft. Page Hamilton): A slower more methodical track after the punchy opening Keys to the Kingdom was, and a little bit worse in my opinion. Definitely not bad, I think the verses from Mike are some of the best on the project, and the instrumentation and production is crisp and fantastic. I especially love the grimy fuzzy guitars on this one, they really underscore the verses incredibly well. Mike’s bars themselves are charged and full of anger. It’s egotistical, but in an entertaining way, like how he states “And no, I'm not your soldier, I'm not taking any orders. I'm a five-star general infantry controller”. It shows that even years on down as an MC he still has that anger and energy that made his bars work. What holds the rest of the song back is I think the pre-chorus and chorus kinda kill the momentum and anger of Mike’s verses. It doesn’t link together well, and instead of feeling like a nice natural link between verse to pre-chorus, it feels like the song hesitates and stutters a bit. It’s a shame, because everything else is still great. I just wish the chorus and how it linked to the verses was better. 8/10

Guilty All the Same (ft. Rakim): In sharp contrast to the last track, this one is bursting with energy and passion. I ADORE the minute long instrumental opening. Beginning with lo-fi crashing cymbals and guitars to loop into a super crisp version of it. Then cutting off to an instrumental buildup from guitar into the main riff utilized in the chorus. Just in general the instrumentation and production of this song is perfect. They know when to make the guitars sharp or fuzzy, exactly how to make the cymbals crash and smash in the right way, how to make each hit of the snare sound like a gun going off. It sounds wonderful, especially underneath the vocals. Unlike most of the songs on THP, this is mostly just a song with Chester. He handles most of the songs vocals besides the guest verse by Rakim, and as always his vocals are infectious and commanding. His utter power as a vocalist in both singing and screaming was always what drew me and others to Linkin Park, and that’s in full effect here. The guest verse from Rakim is also incredibly good, he finds an interesting way to find all these pockets and flows overtop these fuzzy guitars and bass-filled drums, it’s like rap-metal almost. This then breaks back into one more repeat of the chorus and the final explosion that breaks into silence.

Both Chester and Rakim’s lyrics stand out wonderfully and match the angry aggressive sound of the song. Calling out the industry as a whole, caught in their guilt whilst trying to set blame, attaching that grander message and applying it to record labels and their ever present lust for money over genuine talent or strong music. Where Chester’s verse is more basic and has larger more broader strokes in its narrative, Rakim’s verse is clearcut, and the message is sharpened and jagged in its bladed diatribes. Mentioning “corporate hands is filthy” and “All they think about is bank accounts, assets, and realty.” as direct stabs at the grander corporations iron grip on the media we consume. Passion is snuffed out in favor of what sells. It’s a message stated wonderfully through both vocalists, mixed with the crisp instrumentation and energetic fervor, this is definitely one of the favorites. 10/10

The Summoning: Probably the weakest piece here, there isn’t especially much to say. It’s just a 70 second interlude piece between Guilty All the Same and the next song, War. While the sonic landscape it builds is nice, it’s cut far too short to really build up to anything worthwhile or impactful. In the grand scheme of the album and with so many other far more impactful cuts, including a far more atmospheric instrumental piece later in the record, this one just falls to the side. Inoffensive and nice on the ears for the time being, but not anything close to standout or memorable in a way most other songs here are. The one song that being cut from the record would not detriment it in any real way. 6.5/10

War: Easily the track with the most blistering punk energy here, at just over 2 minutes it’s an incredibly scorching speeding track filled with fast energetic guitar riffs and a frenetic blood pumping drum performance layered in with Chester’s screams and strong vocal performance. There’s barely any breaks, from the opening lo-fi guitar scratches and riffs to the looped audience laughter at the end, it’s a pummeling track that has you headbanging and screaming the whole way through. Like most of the albums songs, the lyrics feature a heavy war motif, this time speaking of the general chaos found in war. As Chester states, “It needs to sides to justify, laying down your life”. War does not care about the sides you fight on, if it’s right or not. It will render you null and slaughter you all the same, no matter whom is ostensibly correct. Really the only issues I have with the piece is that like The Summoning, I feel it doesn’t have enough time to really flesh out to be a super standout track. It’s incredibly fun and powerful for the time it’s active, but it doesn’t have too long to be something I can truly say wowed me. Still awesome though. 8.5/10

Wastelands: A nice cooldown from the blistering heat of the last track. It feels more in the Linkin Park wheelhouse, Mike rapping the verses and Chester handling the chorus. It has a very nice production crunch to it, amplifying the drums during Mike’s verses only to have the guitars explode out with energy in the chorus. There’s a nice push and pull dynamic in the song that’s created by this choice, creating a nice duo between the poetry being rapped and the poetry being sung. It once again features pieces of war imagery, but it’s more direct in its commentary.  Rather than being a conceptual musing on war or some metaphorical drive, it’s a very angry critique at the direction of rock, or rather it’s misdirection. Referring to the grand landscape as a metaphorical wasteland, where all true musiciosos who once made rock have abandoned. Mike’s verses are lined with braggadocio, stating his verses rise above all and that what he’s spitting is far above the drivel his contemporaries spit. For the most part, it works, but there are a couple issues I have with the piece. Some of Mike’s rapping can feel stilted and a fair amount of the lines don’t seem to particularly connect to the topic of the song, and feel more like the people he is supposedly stating are trash. It’s still a very well done song, and one I would easily return too, but it feels kind of weak in that department. 8/10

Until It’s Gone: This piece is one of the more emotionally resonant and impactful tracks on the entire record, taking a more lamenting and heartfelt passionate performance in both instrumentals and vocal performance from Chester. There’s a definite boom in each smash of the snare, a bassy overwhelming crunch in the guitar, the instruments layer and unite with the vocals to create this almost marching feeling. It strangely reminds me of the booming repetition found in a couple songs on Swans LP To Be Kind (2014), particularly the cut Nathalie Neal. It creates a feeling of marching to war, that you and the insurmountable masses are all marching towards another goal, a brighter future perhaps. It’s one of the more triumphant songs Linkin park have crafted in terms on the progression and feel from the piece. In that strength I feel it resonates and booms with impact as one of the strongest cuts here. The only real weakness is that the ending with the small beat with skittering hi-hats and explosive snare hits feels a bit tacked on; but it doesn’t take away from the core song and experience found here.

 Speaking of which, the lyrics and poetry Cjester sings here are what make the song whole and piece everything together. Rather than building on the anger and prevalent war imagery found all over the record, it stands out with a muse and waxing poetic on the concept of what you have and what you lose. Specifically, the famous saying of “You don’t know what you have until it’s gone”. It’s that exactly mantra Chester passionately sings in the chorus of this song, verses taking on a similar tone and message. Lines like “I can finally see your light when you let go” refer to this idea, that sometimes you can only recognize the true benefit and reason for why you have something or someone only when they’re gone. It’s a message to cherish the things you have and never let them go. Which, given what’s happened to Chester, is simply heart wrenching. One of my favorite cuts here, amazing in most every way. 9.5/10

Rebellion (ft. Daron Malakian): In a very sharp contrast to the prior cut here, Rebellion is one of the most blistering and energetic throttling cuts here on the entire record. In no short part to the guest guitarist Daron Malakian, of System of a Down fame. This feature immediately excited me, as SOAD was one of the most creative and very incredible metal acts to sprout up in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. Blending alt-metal with elements of polka, Russian folk music, Armenian hymns, and much more. The instrumental performance here is nothing short of excellent, fast and powerful guitar riffs and chugs connect wondrously with the tumultuously churning drum beat. Overwhelming with it’s instrumental power, barely any breaks to be held here. Akin to a cut like War, but even more filled out and more standout in the way the piece progresses and the vocal cuts found from both Chester and Mike. It almost feels like a SOAD track, just featuring vocals from Linkin Park. With how creative the chord progression is and the multi-faceted structure and switching tempo’s found all over the cut, very reminiscent of a piece like B.Y.O.B or Radio/Video in that sense.

Lyrically I feel it stands out prominently as well. It’s a piece focused on the political instability found all across the world, more specifically calling out the whinging and whining from those in first-class worlds. The message is best exemplified by the chorus’ repeating of the line “We are the fortunate ones, who never faced oppressions gun”. In comparison to places where people's rights are violated almost every singular moment, us in First World countries have no right to complain. While I feel that it’s a bit too broadly painted, the core message of “There are people who suffer far worse than us, so sit down and shut the fuck up” I agree with. And even discounting that, it’s still a wondrously put together piece. Arguably my favorite song on the entire record, def one of the best songs Linkin Park ever put together. 10/10

Mark the Graves: Much like the prior track, Mark the Graves is a very instrumentally-oriented track, driven most heavily by the ever present guitarwork lining the record. An incredibly creatively structured and segmented piece, not following the standard song structure found in other pieces here. Alongside this chopped abstract structure, there are constantly changing rhythms and tempos, cutouts of silence that lead into explosive colossuses of sound, smashing drums and overblown bass layer in alongside the guitars. Buildups and blistering walls of flame give way to a repetitious marching drumbeat, echoing and bridging towards another beast of sound. Chester’s screamed delivery following a softly delivered refrain into the outro. The entire piece oozes creativity and uniquity in structure and delivery, sound and presentation, and it hits aces in essentially every aspect. Even lyrics, while not the prominent quality, still fuse and work with the soundscape quite well.

This is a song about memory and mistakes, more so the mistakes of your past and trying to reconcile and atone or make peace with what you have wrongly done. Each line in the verse makes references to the past and seeking to atone, specifically within the line “If we can’t let go, we’ll never say goodbye”. Chester is telling us that to truly say goodbye and forget the past, you have to let go and make do with your mistakes. All you do by holding on is chasing yesterday’s ghosts, and ignoring tomorrow’s premonition. You have to live and let go, otherwise you’ll forever be trapped in the sin of your own failures. A sin of your own machinations, manifest by the mistakes never once rectified or forgiven. It’s a beautiful piece, firing on each cylinder and making no mistakes in idea, or execution. An absolute favorite for sure, no problems whatsoever. 10/10

Drawbar (ft. Tom Morello): This cut was actually one that took me a long while to really get into. Like The Summoning, it’s another instrumental track that serves as an interlude between Mark the Graves to Final Masquerade. Featuring the acclaimed guitarwork of Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine fame. Arguably one of the most talented and creative guitarists in the entire scene. Yet, for the longest time I thought this was the weakest cut here. It felt far too plodding, not nearly as throttling or memorable as most other cuts here were. But one day, it clicked, and what I once saw as plodding, was slowly creeping and building suspension and tension in the piece. Each swirling synth, each sangling piano hit, each small snare hit or hi-hat tap, they all add to this creeping feeling of the piece. It’s a languorous and dreading piece, that builds to a climax within this sonic landscape. While I still feel the production sounds cheap at times or that the guitar work can sound somewhat flat for someone as skilled as Morello, it serves its purpose well, and is a track I can easily see myself coming back to. 8.5/10

Final Masquerade: Unlike both Rebellion and Mark the Graves, this is a heart-bleeding cut in which the power comes from the lyrics and Chester’s incredible vocal prowess, almost ballad-esque in the sonic ideas found here. Slower than virtually every other song on this record, it holds a heartbreaking resonance to it that rings true through the entire piece. Instead of blistering and energetic, this penultimate piece has hollow, lamenting guitar tones and a slow, pounding, consistent drumbeat, as if a heartbeat to the final moments of life breathed. Of course, the main focus here is Bennington’s vocal performance, and this is one of his most emotionally powerful and sorrowful pieces he’s ever delivered. Barely any screams to be found here, simply powerful delivery in sung vocal passages, tugging at the heartstrings and making his words manifest in their consonance and passion. Lyrics here are the other main standout besides Chester’s ever beautiful singing, and they’re some of the most powerful in the entire bands career.

This song dictates the falling out of some sort of relationship. Words never said, thoughts never expressed, slowly creating a gap and filling both members hearts with despair and mistrust towards one another. Each day becomes darker, light ebbing away into the darkness of both their locked hearts, apathy rendering what was once there null. As said in the song, “All I ever wanted, the secrets that you keep. All you ever wanted, the truth I couldn't speak”. One refuses to tell them their secrets, the other refused to tell them their truth. It’s the natural way fallings out tend to happen. Both partners simply feel nothing, and refuse to just open their hearts and just speak what they need to speak. Only speaking when it’s too late, when there’s no longer a red string of fate tying them both to the same destiny. No flaws about this piece, beyond gorgeous. Absolutely top 10 Linkin Park song, favorite song here next to Rebellion. Perfection. 10/10

A Line in the Sand: This isn’t the first time LP have concluded a record with a 6+ minute long epic, their album Minutes to Midnight ended in much the same fashion with the piece The Little Things Give You Away. Though whereas that was lamenting, heartfelt ballad about Hurricane Katrina and the horrific damage and fear it brewed in millions, this is a blood pumping, throttling cut packed with screams, slowdowns and swift tempo changes, adrenaline pumping rap sections, and much more. Powerful vocal performances from both Mike and Chester, as per usual I suppose. Long instrumental bridges that lead into charged, anger intensified pieces of energy and flame, into quiet leading passages once more. Genuinely, this feels almost like the bands quintessential song. It feels like Linkin Park’s message and ethos of how and why they make music distilled into a singular piece. Hell, I’m pretty sure Shinoda has said something to that effect in some interview a while back somewhere. Lyrically, this is no different as well.

Lyrics are essentially an encapsulation of the lyrical themes and ideas found present within the rest of the record prior to this. Anger against the ineptitude and growing complacence in the rock scene and music industry. Rage against the critics and those who lambasted LP when they dropped their nu-metal sound post-Meteora, calling them out on their hypocrisy against them. Shinoda puts it best with his lines the 2nd verse, stating “I'd never been a coward, I'd never seen blood. You'd sold me an ocean and I was lost in the flood”. He put trust into these critics and faith in this industry, as he was inexperienced and didn’t know what to think about these things. Like he said, he was sold an ocean but was lost in the flood. From his inexperience came anger, and now he’s here to pay his dues and collect his repentance for what these critics gave done. While not a perfect encapsulation and send off like Final Masquerade probably would have been, it’s essentially who Linkin Park is, or was, distilled into a singular song. Fantastic, a favorite for sure. 9.5/10

Final thoughts + rating: After the relative disappointment of Living Thing’s (2012), this was an incredible return to form for the group. That heavy, aggressive sound I was searching for was found in aces all across this record, plus the wonderful bonus of some more slower melodic pieces as well. And alongside with some incredible instrumental features really making the whole thing come together. Just front to back, nonstop aggression, adrenaline and excitement. All around, this album is a 9/10 for me. Easily one of my favorite releases in the Linkin Park discography, second only to Meteora and Minutes to Midnight. An album I have returned to several times prior to writing this, and one I will continue to return to several times afterwards

Favorite songs: Keys to the Kingdom, Guilty All the Same, Until It’s Gone, Rebellion, Mark the Graves, Final Masquerade, A Line in the Sand

Least favorite song: The Summoning

[sempiternalsandpitturtle]

Professional email writing tips and tricks (+ examples)

If you’re looking for ROI in your digital marketing strategies (and who isn’t?), then email needs to be a part of your plan.

Email is arguably the most important form of communication in business today, and the right email marketing strategy can pay big rewards in terms of engagement, lead nurturing, conversions and other key metrics. In fact, 73% of marketers say that email is the best digital channel for generating tangible ROI.

To really capitalise on email marketing’s potential, you need to craft compelling and engaging professional emails.

Take a page from these examples and follow their professional email writing tips and tricks.

6 professional email writing tips:

Start with an attention-grabbing subject line

Use a conversational greeting

Keep it short and sweet

Balance style and tone with your target audience

Give a warm farewell

Don’t forget your email signature

1. Start with an attention-grabbing subject line

Let’s be honest, the vast majority of recipients are not going to open your marketing emails.

The average open rate for email marketing campaigns is a paltry 17.9%.

You can boost your odds, however, by crafting a subject line that actually resonates with your target audience.

People have become pretty discerning when it comes to quickly spotting emails that are relevant to them and those that can be swiftly sent to the trash folder. If you come on too strong at the outset, you’ll find yourself in the latter camp.

Subject lines should be concise and to the point.

Get a little too verbose in your email subjects, and the whole thing won’t even appear in the recipient’s inbox.

There is such a thing as too much brevity, however. If a sales prospect can’t get a good sense of what the body of an email contains just by reading the subject line, then they probably won’t open it.

Welcome to the 82.1% of unopened emails.

Your subject lines should offer something valuable to the reader.

Maybe it’s advice on how to solve a common problem in their industry or a special discount on your products – whatever it is, the recipient should feel that they’re about to get something in return for opening your email.

Another approach to crafting engaging subject lines is to pique your audience’s curiosity.

Thought-provoking headlines are more likely to intrigue recipients and can improve your open rates. The key is to not give too much away up front. If the subject line tells the reader everything they need to know without even having to open the email, then why bother clicking on it?

It’s all about finding that happy medium between telling your audience what they need to know up front and giving them a compelling reason to keep reading.

Whatever you do, stay away from gratuitously clickbait subject lines. No one is going to take you seriously if you resort to those kinds of tactics.

2. Use a conversational greeting

Arguably the biggest mistake people make with any kind of professional writing is to veer too hard into formality.

Professional does not equal stuffy.

If you want to come across as genuine, you’re going to have to ditch the “Dear {blank}” greeting.

I know, I know, everyone and their grandmother were taught to open any letter or email with “Dear”. but it comes across as incredibly stiff in the age of the emoji.

Kicking off a professional email with a simple “Hi” shows customers and prospects that it was actually written for them by a real person who didn’t pick up all of their business writing etiquette pointers back when typewriters ruled the world.

If you want to get even more conversational, “Hey” works too. Some people might find that a little too familiar, so as always, know your audience.

There are some instances where you’ll want to drop the greeting altogether.

Certain newsletter templates don’t really require an intro because they speak for themselves or lean on graphics to tell their stories. Take this example, for instance – we began the email without a greeting, but let the visuals grab the reader’s attention:

If you’re not sure what your target goes by – for instance, “Mike” vs. “Michael” – it might be better to lose the greeting and avoid calling them by the wrong name. It’s a simple mistake, but all of your efforts to come across as casual and friendly could blow up in your face if you get it wrong.

3. Keep it short and sweet

Of the approximately 196 million emails that get sent every day, only 20% are actually opened.

With those odds, just getting your sales prospects to click on your emails should be a win, right?

Measuring the success of your email campaigns by open rate is kind of like judging your content marketing strategies on the basis of organic site traffic alone. All it really tells you is how many people saw your content. What it won’t tell you is if they actually paid attention to it.

That’s why many industry experts view click-to-open rate (CTOR) as the best email marketing metric to use. That’s not to be confused with your click-through rate (CTR), which measures how many recipients actually clicked through some element of your email. CTOR is similar to CTR, except it’s limited to the people who opened your email rather than the total number of recipients. It’s a bit more granular and focused on the effectiveness of your email messaging.

In 2018, the average CTOR was just 11%, which actually represented a dropoff from the previous year.

So, of that original 20% who opened your email, only 11% actually clicked on a link or otherwise engaged with the content.

Now, I’m not a maths whiz, but that doesn’t sound great.

You don’t have a lot of time to make an impression – good or bad – on your audience. Assume that if nothing catches their eye within a second or two, they’ll delete your email without giving it a second thought.

That means you have to keep your emails short and punchy.

Don’t bury the reader with an info dump or bore them with a bunch of deep analysis – save that for your whitepapers. You have to get in, make your mark, provide some actionable next steps and get out of there.

Take a look at how Airbnb approaches asking a customer to take a survey and give some feedback on their recent experience.

There isn’t a single ounce of fat on that message.

It’s personalised, and it has a clear message with a direct ask. There’s even a clickable CTA to make the next steps as easy as possible.

Consider what matters most to your audience and deliver a message that speaks directly to it.

Make every word and phrase count.

You’re going for maximum impact, so don’t waste a single precious moment of your audience’s time or attention.

4. Balancing style and tone with your target audience

Digital communications beg for a looser, more conversational tone, but you don’t want to overdo it. Finding the right balance with a breezy, informal style while maintaining a professional demeanor is key.

If your email is littered with grammar and punctuation errors, your audience won’t take you seriously. That just makes you – and your brand – look sloppy and inattentive.

Getting too cutesy with emoticons, GIFs, emojis and slang is another cardinal sin of professional email writing.

Remember that scene in “Lethal Weapon” where Murtaugh raps with his kids at the dinner table? That’s how cringey it is when marketers try to imitate Gen-Z text messaging and work fire emojis and YOLOs into their emails.

Of course, the other side of the spectrum is just as bad.

Stilted language and flowery prose has no place in a marketing email – that is, unless you want your prospects and customers to think you’re some 1950s tweed-jacket-wearing college professor.

There’s a pretty simple trick to finding the right balance and nailing a conversational tone:

Read your email out loud.

Does it sound natural? Could you see yourself actually saying the same thing to a co-worker or friend?

If it’s awkward to say out loud, it’ll read that way in an email too.

The more natural the style and tone of your email message, the more personalised it will seem. You want the reader to feel like every email has been carefully crafted specifically for them. That’s a lot easier to do with a more playful, conversational tone.

5. Give a warm farewell

Ending a professional email can be tricky, but a lot of people probably don’t give that much thought to it. They might use the same canned sign-off with every email, regardless of context or circumstance.

That’s too bad, considering it’s your last chance to leave a memorable impression. To come so far only to bungle things in the final moments would be a real shame.

The old standby, “Sincerely,” can work in some situations, but it’s a little formal for many tastes. Same goes for “Best Wishes or “Best Regards.” “Cheers” seems to be pretty popular these days, but it’s almost a cliche at this point.

If you’re asking something of the recipient, even if it’s just to reach out with any questions they might have – ending the email with a simple “thanks” can do wonders.

In fact, emails that close with some variation of thanks – i.e., “thanks in advance” or “thank you” – are more likely to receive a response than any other sign-off.

One thing to keep in mind is to switch things up if you are going back and forth with a prospect or client. Spamming “best wishes” over and over again in your responses is not going to come across well.

6. Don’t forget your email signature

You don’t really have time or space in the body of your email to explain your role in your organisation and how people can get in contact with you. That’d just be wasted email real estate.

Email signatures are a simple way to give recipients the most pertinent information about yourself:

Your name.

Your company.

Your job title/position.

How to reach you – email address/phone number.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel here. The whole point is to deliver the most essential details in the most compact package.

Knowing how to write a professional email is an important skill for any marketer to have. Whether you’re sending out brand newsletters, following up on qualified leads or working with a vendor, finding the right way to present yourself and your brand is essential.

Do you have some can’t-miss email writing tips of your own? Drop some of that marketing wisdom in the comments below!

from http://bit.ly/2n14ICY

[kpop-music-reviews-blog]

EXID’s I Love You

Can I just say I’m so pumped for OT5? As amazing and strong EXID has been the past two years without Solji, I’ve missed her voice so much. Since they’ve really been experimenting musically, I was really interested to see what this release would be like.

The song opens (0:06-0:25) with some lady’s voice going “I love you like la la la.” I don’t know why they didn’t choose to use one of the members’ voices, but whatever. I do like this part of the song, but I feel like it goes on way too long. Almost 20 seconds of the same line being repeated over and over? I think 10 seconds would have been plenty.

As soon as I heard Hani’s part (0:25-0:32), I felt really excited. It’s a punchy, enticing part that really grabs my attention. I could’ve done without the random “I love you likes”. It feels like they were trying to fill every blank space with words, when the instrumental is enough to fill that space. If not, I would’ve rather they used another member doing an adlib or echo since the “I love you like” is reused a million times throughout the song. Even 30 seconds in, I’m a little bored of it. 

Unrelated to the music but, Jeonghwa looks absolutely gorgeous with her short hair. Her part (0:33- 0:42) confuses me a bit. I like the first part. It’s the same melody as Hani’s part just before, but then they go into this weird semi rap-singing auto tuned part (0:38-0:42). It feels so out of place in the song? First of all, I don’t know why they auto tuned it. Second, it’s such an abrupt change from the melody we had just heard earlier, and it’s too short to be its own section. It feels like a weird tail at the end of the intro melody, and I don’t know why it’s there.

LE’s rap (0:42-0:59) is straight fire as per usual. She really incorporates the vibe of the song so well into the rhythm of her rap. I feel like that’s something that’s hard to do since the instrumental doesn’t change, and rap doesn’t have a melody. I have the same complaint as before with reeling back on “I love you likes”. It really messes with the great rhythm and flow LE has and disrupts the feel of the song. However, LE still manages to give the song some good momentum, and it transitions into Hyerin’s part perfectly. 

Hyerin’s part (0:58-1:06) is one of my favorite’s in the song. It’s got such an EXID vibe, but it doesn’t really sound like any of their other songs. Her voice is strong and powerful, and her part really works well with the instrumental (which has thankfully changed from constant “I love you likes”). 

Then, we have the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Solji (1:06-1:24). Her part continues seamlessly from where Hyerin’s left off. Her part shows off the strong vocals we’ve missed so much of and marks a powerful return of one of Kpop’s great vocalists. 

Then we have so much of the “I love you likes” (1:32-1:50). I think it makes sense to bring it back here as we transition out of the chorus and into the second half of the song, but 20 seconds of this is just too much. I know I said it before, but I feel like it needs to be said again. 

Hani’s next part is cool and sexy (1:50-1:58). The instrumental changes to a groovy, dance tune, and her vocals mesh perfectly with it. My problem is that it sounds like nothing what we’ve heard in the rest of the song. This part is great on its own, but in the context of the song it doesn’t make much sense? Maybe if they had a transition that sounded more like the beginning with Hani and Jeonghwa’s vocals, but straight out of the “I love you likes” felt like sharp turn in a different direction.

LE’s rap (1:59-2:08) works well coming right after Hani’s part. She keeps the dancey, rhythmic vibe that Hani’s part encapsulated. 

Jeonghwa’s and Hani’s part (2:08-2:23) makes absolutely no sense to me. Jeonghwa’s part transitions back to the instrumental from the beginning, but coming after LE’s rap feels backwards. Her run at 2:14 sounds messy, unnecessary, and it just doesn’t suit her voice. Hani’s part after this literally sounds like a placeholder (2:16-2:23). I get it Hani’s super hot, but like what is this? She’s just rap-talking in a sexy voice? Why did they leave this in? It’s such a bad transition into the chorus, and it feels incredibly messy.

The rest of the song is the chorus, which sounds great like it did before. And the I love you likes. I really didn’t think they could make the I love you likes worse, but this time it’s 30 seconds long. Literally 1/3 of this song is I love you likes. I’m so mad. 

Overall, I’m kind of disappointed by this song. I like it, and there are some really great parts (Hani’s beginning part, the chorus, LE’s raps). But the song just has absolutely no direction or idea of what it’s supposed to be. The second part of the song (1:50-2:08) with Hani and LE is great, but it just doesn’t make sense with the rest of the song. SO much of this song feels like a placeholder and EXID deserve better than that. I would’ve loved to hear some adlibs from Solji and Hyerin who I feel like I barely heard from since their parts were the exact same both times we heard them. What this song needed was less I love you likes and just more EXID. No nonsense autotune and sexy talking placeholders. EXID is plenty talented on their own, and their songs should reflect that.

Rating: 6/10

[rawinternets]

Star Wars Episode 4: A Rediscovery

STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE

Where it all started: a runaway ship and a jettisoned escape pod to Tatooine. This movie was and is truly great: iconic, consistent throughout, unique, creative, funny, exciting, with only a handful of dud scenes, particularly toward the end (surprising). The opening scroll of Episode 4 is one of the best scenes in all of the series, particularly good when you compare it to some of the later scrolls that sound like a 7th grader wrote it for a homework assignment entitled: “Use seven different adjectives in a three-paragraph mini-story.” And this movie also has the Cantina scene, which might be the best scene of all. 

A few other surprises: 

The movie drags in the end of the beginning, after the droids land in the desert. It takes some time to pick the meandering storyline back up. 

The scenes with Vader and Tarkin are always consistently incredibly well acted, scripted, and executed. They zip along and you feel like you’re in the room. 

The Obi-Wan / Vader fight was much better than I remember.

The Trench Run has not aged well. The tactics are asinine and sort of brought me out of the movie.

There is a terrible and wholly forgettable scene right after successful DS destruction and right before the iconic and awesome throne room / medal-giving scene at the end, and this forgettable scene suuuuuuucks. Maybe I was a little harsh, but singlehandedly kept Ep4 from being the best of all the movies. 

Average score: 8.00 Standard deviation: 1.39

Opening scroll. 10. Perfection. Punchy synopsis of Rogue One, brings you right into the action, no superfluous words (again, a sin that is committed many times later on in the series). 

Chase and escape. 9. SUCH an iconic shot, with the Corellian Corvette desperately trying to outrun a Star Destroyer (we don’t know what they are yet, but they are mesmerizing images). Beautiful and unique music. After seeing Darth Vader crush in Rogue One, I wonder a bit why he didn’t just slaughter them all here, but I suppose he needs to make sure the plans are secure. The first look at Iconic storm troopers. Droids manage to advance plot without being annoying (spoiler: won’t last for long, because C3PO sucks). This set piece ends with an iconic shot of the jettisoning escape pod, beautiful sweeping planet shots, and Vader being a sharp badass. 

Tatooine droid landing. 6. The pacing is a bit slow. C3PO and R2D2 are iconic, but annoying here. Why do they shout at each other instead of transmitting signals, I find myself wondering? 

Jawas. 7. Super tense, eerie, spooky, and weird. Love this. No music helps. Manages to be funny without trying too hard, and lets the weird lead. Cool steampunk tech and funky droids. I still give it a 7 because the pacing is a bit slow. 

Searching in desert. 8. Why are the stormtroopers riding animals? No matter. The tension is rising right on cue. The Jawa... trailer? moving city? is really cool.

Meet the Skywalkers. 8. Love the uncle here. “Alright, shut up” to C3PO - crowd pleaser! Luke is whiny but not overly annoying. Seems very natural. Surprised R2 units aren’t worth more, but for reasons I’m not supposed to know yet. 

With Luke and Uncle. 8. Who is Obi-Wan Kenobi! Love the mystery here. The iconic double-sunset overcomes Uncle Owen being a dick. Great hinted line about “too much of his father in him.” ... “that’s what I’m worried about.” 

Speeder and sandpeople. 8. More mystery and weirdness. Great tension. Into it. 

Obi-wan. 8. More mystery, more intrigue. Great dialogue here as we learn more about the galaxy we’re in. We learn about the force (deeper than we learned in Rogue One). The backstory of Luke’s father doesn’t really make sense the way he tells it, but I suppose with hindsight that lack of clarity is forgivable. Why is he so willing to train Luke in the force - desperation? 

Death Star conference. 9. Tarkin is a badass. Vader is a badass. 

Tragedy at Skywalker farm. 9. Serious emotional heft here. Smoldering bodies. Wow. 

Leia tortured by Vader. 9. Short scene but so very well paced and tense.

Mos Eisley. 10. This sequence is just amazing. The Jedi mind trick, the Cantina. Music restarting after the lightsaber fight. All this interspersed with the tension of the droid search. Han crushes his intro, Obi-wan Dads Luke so hard. Greedo is great. Both shoot at the same time, so that controversy is solved. This scene will be considered for “best overall.” 

“Set your course for Alderaan.” 9. Near-perfect scene again with Tarkin. Short and well-paced to keep the story moving. 

Droid search and getting off Tatooine. 8. Great tension in the searching, I’m fine with the added Jabba scene to show how “deep” Han is in it, and the fantastic iconic shot of the Falcon taking off. Lots of fun.

Falcon chase. 8. Great tension and space shots. 

Alderaan destruction. 8. Great acting. Leia does her best, but it’s hard to get a sense of the destruction of the whole planet. Not much at stake since we haven’t seen it or met anyone from there. Rogue One did this better. 

Talking in the Falcon. 8. “Let the wookie win.” All sort of out of place after we just watched a planet get blowed up. Great Han stuff, great stuff with Luke getting a taste of the Force. 

Asteroid field Alderaan. 9. “That’s no moon.” Such cool shots. Falcon gets pulled into the Death Star. Vader is on point again. Just perfect pacing. 

Death Star sneaking. 8. The “first” (or second, in my order) of a long line of scenes where small numbers of rebels sneak around a large Empire base, but this one is fun. Good tension. R2 Hax0ring and Obi-Wan jedi ninja sneaking are fun. Not big into the stupid crackpot idea to save the princess from the jail, but the Han vs. Luke argument here is fun. C3PO manages not to be terrible, but also not good. 

Leia rescue. 6-8. The cleverness of the “my god, he’s loose!” Chewy prisoner plan is fun. Great sexual tension with Leia and Han from the get-go. Great, iconic trash compactor scene and first (and most natural?) “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Very annoying “3PO!!” repetition by Luke. The blaster accuracy and subsequent shitty hollywood rope-swing with Leia and Luke is kind of grating and that part is a 6. 

Vader and Obi-wan. 9. Starts out with yet another great scene with Vader and Tarkin. Watching Vader vs. Obi-Wan is so much more interesting after watching him go HAM in Rogue One - Obi-Wan must be powerful and dangerous. The fight is better than I remember, and you almost forget Luke’s annoying “Ben!?” exclamation. How does Luke get Ben’s lightsaber!?

Escape in the Falcon. 7.  Takes a while to get the scene setup, but builds some good tension. Great soundtrack, great effects. R2 putting the fire out is funny. “Great kid, don’t get cocky!” But why only 4 TIE fighters chasing them? What about the tractor beam? Why are these star destroyers so big? Why are you so happy that “we did it” when you’re still right next to a huge death star? 

Leia and Han. 8. These interactions are incredible. Luke is a schmuck here, and Han fucking with him is funny. 

Yavin 4 pre-attack. 6. Great tension-building with the Death Star getting to Yavin vs. planning for the trench run. Han leaving with the reward is great. Pacing is a little slow given how urgent this should be - what’s with all this pilot grabass? Luke and Leia is a mediocre scene. X-wing takeoff scene is fine at building suspense but is it really necessary? 

Trench Run. 7. Great action vs. Death Star approaching its range. Great aerial battle with TIE fighters. “X-wings too small for a huge battle station” trope will be repeated so many times you wonder why they build the ships so big. LOVE Vader getting after it himself in the TIE fighter. The A-wing trench run is very fun. Tarkin’s arrogance here makes no sense given Rogue One... he should know there’s a vulnerability. It’s a very tragic attack... everyone is dead and it comes down to Luke. But why are all the pilots simply acting as fodder for Luke? Why don’t they try to engage the TIE fighters? “Use the force!” and “The force is strong with this one!” are hokey but I guess that’s OK. We get Tarkin saving the scene with “you may fire when ready,” which is so well delivered every time. Han ex Machina at the end here. And Luke succeeds. 

Short celebration. 3. Vader is alive, straight into a god-awful scene. Sparse clapping and quiet “hoorays” and hokeyness all around. What the shit, Lucas? 

Ending celebration (Throne room medal scene). 9. Fantastic music and framing and imagery. R2′s back! Yay hokey!

Credits. Such memorable music. Fantastic. Credits in the stars. 

VERDICT

Yep, there’s a reason this movie launched a multi-decade world-changing franchise. Lucas’s vision is powerful but you can also see how he was helped along by great editing, and you can see where the editors met their limits (post-DS celebration scene... man, so bad). Most scenes were 8′s or 9′s, a couple 10′s in there, and only one score below a 6 at all. Great movie.

REVIEW LINKS:

Introduction: Star Wars, a rediscovery.

Rogue One: 6.92 / 10.00 (stdev 2.06).

Episode 4: A New Hope. 8.00 / 10.00 (stdev 1.34).

Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back. 8.00 / 10.00 (stdev 1.29).

Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. 5.00 / 10.00 (stdev 2.08). But probably worse than that, actually.

Episode 2: Attack of the Clones. 5.48 / 10.00 (stdev 2.07).

Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. 7.00 / 10.00 (stdev 1.77).

Episode 6: Return of the Jedi. 7.90 / 10.00 (stdev 1.91).

Episode 7: The Force Awakens. 6.57 / 10.00 (stdev 2.01).

Episode 8: The Last Jedi. 6.31 / 10.00 (stdev 1.89).

Verdict: Star Wars, A rediscovery.