#never has a piece of media satisfied every single requirement of what i think is amazing

[mcromwell]

I can't believe Scavengers Reign exists. It's perfect. Man vs nature but as an allegory for man vs himself, the actions and conflicts mirroring each other perfectly, the ecology of the planet serves as alien as fuck while serving as an example for human's effects on nature and therefore ourselves because we're intrinsically tied and actually all One??!? @!#? THIS SHOW IS REAL

[silentfcknhill]

FAVORITE SHOWS IN POSTERS

Well, we’re back for another installment of this tagged meme, this time for TV shows! I also stole this from/was indirectly tagged by @jcmorrigan. My taste in shows also differs a bit from my taste in movies, as I tend to like a lot of comedy shows with not as many horror ones. I’m not into shows as much as movies overall, but there are some that I am very passionate about so I picked twenty again. So, here we go for part 2, in order:

1. Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend Of Korra (2005-2014)

I'm including these as one show since they take place in the same universe and tell a continuation of the same overall plot. Altogether this is probably the best piece of media to ever exist, including movies. It has so many great characters and villains especially and some of the most epic sequences, charming humor and heartwarming moments ever. I've never met a person who didn't like these shows, even people who normally don't like cartoons. My dad, who is biased against animation? He loved it. My mother? She loved it, watched it with her multiple times. My grandmother? Loved it. My ex-boyfriend? Loved it. My best friend? Loved it. I dare anyone not to, and I'm so glad it's making a resurgence since it's on Netflix for a new generation to enjoy.

2. Black Butler (2008-2014)

I never was big into anime growing up and only really started watching anime when I was like 16 and above, but this is one of the exceptions because holy shit is it ever dark and epic. I'm not sure I'd really recommend it for kids, it's more of a teens and young adults kind of anime and that's probably why it's so good, because it isn't afraid to explore dark and mature topics and do it with all of the intensity and gravitas required to do said topics justice. It has lots of great characters, and the story of demons who make deals with children who have a dark side is fun to watch play out.

3. Seinfeld (1989-1998)

My dad was a huge fan of this show so I watched it growing up since I was a toddler and it became a classic for me. I've watched thw hole show through at least 8 times, and I'll never stop because it never gets old or boring. It's also my only comfort show when I'm having a panic attack because of one time a few years ago when I was having a drug-induced psychosis episode and watching it calmed me down, so now it's like the opposite of a trigger and whenever I'm having an episode or something I watch it to bring me back to reality. For that reason it's more than a show to me, it's a medical treatment and I'm forever grateful to it.

4. The Good Place (2016-2020)

The big four shows made my Michael Schur all made it on this post (The Good Place, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Office and Parks And Recreation), either in the main list of the honorable mentions, but this is my personal favorite of the four. It's so funny, quirky, relatable and basically tailor-made to suit my interests. Not only is it an entertaining and wholesome show, but I think watching it helped me come to terms with a lot of things like mortality, ethics, philosophy, religion and my relationships with other people. It gets  alot of different viewpoints across and if you're a very analytical and philosophical person like me you'll probably enjoy seeing it all play out. Not to mention, every single character is 'favorite character' material. It's rare you find a show with no filler characters in the main cast, but I genuinely can't choose who is best.

5. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-?)

Another of Michael Schur's shows, this one is just barely under The Good Place and to be honest it was tough to pick my favorite between the two because they're both equally funny. I know it's kind of controversial right now because of the whole law enforcement thing, but I actually think they do a good job of handling social issues in the show and remaining respectful of real-life systemic problems. As for the characters, this is another one of those shows where every single character is gold and I think that tends to be a trend among Schur's shows in general. He produces damn good comedy, and damn good characters. I can't wait to see what they bring next.

6. Rick And Morty (2013-?)

This is unfortunately one of those cases of 'great show, horrible fandom' and for that reason I don't get involved in the fandom even though I love the show. It's a shame because it really is a great show, so funny and, again, such good characters. I think it's a lot more accessible than the fandom likes to claim, so I'm hoping more people will give it a chance and not get put off by the intellectual elitism of the fandom because it does have some of the most entertaining and batshit crazy episodes ever, poking fun of some of the staples of science fiction in media while also poking fun of itself the whole time. Unlike the fandom, the show doesn't take itself seriously and that's enjoyable nowadays.

7. Orange Is The New Black (2013-2019)

While this show is a comedy, it is also a lot of other things and it's probably made me ugly-cry just as many times as it's made me laugh. Well, maybe not as often, but those few scenes (if you've watched the show then you know the ones I'm talking about) made me hysterically sob hard enough to be worth like fifty minor sads. But I didn't even mind because the show is just that good, and it makes you /feel/ something in a real way. Probably because of just how real it gets in terms of telling stories that happen all the time in the real world, sometimes with inevitably tragic endings. But these things do happen every day, and it's important to shine a light on that. It's not just representation for LGBTQ+ but also for POC, the neurodiverse, the poor, and many more. Give it a watch to broaden your perspective!

8. Big Mouth (2017-?)

This is probably the grossest show I've ever seen but by god is it ever funny. Maybe it's because I have an immature sense of humor or something, but I love this show. It definitely won't be everyone's cup of tea and I don't recommend you watch this show with anyone else around because it will get awkward. I think part of its appeal to me is that everyone I talk to who likes it considers it so relatable to their lives growing up but for someone like me who grew up on the autism and asexual spectrum and who was physically an early-bloomer by years, nothing about this show is relatable to me in any way so it makes it all the more crazy and bizarre watching how the people around me must have experienced things. Did y'all really have these experiences with puberty in middle school???

9. Dexter (2006-2013)

I recently heard that this show is coming back for a reboot soon and I'm so excited because this is my absolute favorite drama/thriller show, as evidenced by the fact that it's the highest one on the list so far that isn't a comedy. I love the idea of having a protagonist who is sort of a villain (or at least morally dubious), and the idea of a serial killer who only kills bad people is particularly satisfying for some reason. Maybe because he's the vigilante we all deserve and want in this unjust and evil world of modern times? Idk but the very premise of this show set it up for big things and aside from the ending I think it delivered consistently.

10. Once Upon A Time (2011-2018)

This show took us on some journeys, and you can't deny that. Sure, maybe it didn't always finish what it started and didn't always end in the most satisfying way, but part of its charm is that you didn't care because the experience was just so much fun. They took characters and stories that have been told to death and somehow managed to put a unique and unexpected twist on them, and that alone is admirable. Good twists, good villains, and pretty much every cliffhanger known to man will keep you hooked on binge-watching every episode.

11. RuPaul's Drag Race (2009-?)

A bit different than the other entries on my list in that it's not fiction but a reality competition show, but I couldn't leave Drag Race out because it's just so fucking iconic and perfect. Even when you disagree with the judges or can't stand a certain contestant you'll still be having a good time. It's got the personalities you love to love, the ones you love to hate, and the comedy that's completely meme-able. I mean just how much has this show contributed to pop culture and the internet? More than most of us, henny. I've watched every single season, even the international ones and all of the spinoffs. This show will probably be on for another thirty years when Ru is throwing shade from a hospital bed and I'll still be watching.

12. House (2004-2012)

Some people hate on this show, and I don't get it. I love House. Yes, he's an ass. That's the point. He's supposed to be unlikeable, and that's why I like him. Maybe because I always love the rude, sarcastic, misanthropic jerkass-genius characters for some reason. And I also love procedural shows, so it's a win-win. I also work in the healthcare field so it appeals to me for that reason too, because obviously the whole premise is outlandish which is what makes it funny. Of course it's not realistic for a hospital, so just enjoy the absurdity and don't get too hung up on the details of medical accuracy and professional ethics and you'll be fine.

13. The Office (2005-2013)

The third of Michael Schur's show and the last one that made the main list (sorry Parks And Rec, I love you too but there was just so many good shows to choose from and I saw you last so the nostalgia isn't as strong!) I don't think I need to hype this show up any, it's already a classic and you can't even turn around online without getting hit in the face by a dozen Office memes. You'll have to pry this show and it's relatable characters (especially Michael Scott) from my cold, dead hands.

14. All Hail King Julien/The Penguins Of Madagascar (2008-2017)

Like Avatar/Korra, I also consider this as one show for the sake of this list because it also takes place in the same universe (Madagascar, specifically) and I just couldn't choose one over the other because they're both so perfect. They're funny and I love all the characters (it cut out the weaker links of the Madagascar film series and just focuses on expanding the standout side-characters like King Julien and the penguins). It also delved into some lore, particularly the first show, and even though I didn't also agree with the directions it took (you may have seen me get salty about the ending because I cared too much), I can't deny how much I love it.

15. Bones (2005-2017)

One of the other scarce non-comedy shows on this list, it still has it's funny moments. It's also, like House, another procedural show that involves some medical stuff, but this time on a more scientific and forensic level which is even more interesting. It's nice to see a lead female with Asperger's, too. There's a lot of cop/law enforcement shows where they try to solve crimes, but this one is the best, and I'm saying that as a fan of CSI as well. Don't fight me on this, I'm right. Oh yes, it's corny, it's campy, it's cheesy, but I love every minute of it. Don't watch if you have a weak stomach though.

16. The Simpsons (1989-?)

We all grew up with this show, don't lie. It's been around longer than most people on tumblr have even been alive. Should it have ended seasons ago? Hell yes. But that doesn't take away what the first like 20 or so seasons gave us (there's a lot of argument about when the show jumped the shark, for me it wasn't until much later than the popular consensus). The characters are amazing, but the secret to the show's longevity is that they always return to status quo and there's comfort and nostalgia in that. Bart will still be in 4th grade when you're out there pushing 90. This show is persistent. This show is eternal. This show will outlive us all.

17. Ash Vs. Evil Dead (2015-2018)

Sorely underrated. This show is hilarious, gruesome and campy as hell and I love it. I don't think you necessarily have to watch the Evil Dead movies beforehand in order to get the plot of the show, although it would probably help. In my opinion this show ended way too soon and I'm hoping someday we'll get a comeback because Ash is the reluctant, self-absorbed hero we all need and it's 2020 so at this point there really might actually be a demon-zombie apocalypse and who's gonna save us then if not for the impulsive womanizer with a chainsaw for a hand?

18. Malcolm In The Middle (2000-2006)

Another show I grew up with, I don't think it gets as much credit as it deserves. It has some damn funny episodes and great characters, and it did a lot of the popular sitcom tropes before they were 'cool'. Some other great sitcoms, The Middle in particular, took a lot of influence from this show and it helped pave the way for the future of sitcoms at a time when they were about to make a comeback. If you want a good show about the real experiences of growing up, this is a much more accurate representation of the highs and lows of being an awkward tween from a dysfunctional home.

19. A Series Of Unfortunate Events (2017-2019)

Unlike most people I actually liked the movie version from the early 2000's, and I read the books growing up so I was excited when I saw there was a live action television adaptation of it on Netflix because I felt like they cancelled the movie franchise too soon. I was interested to see how new actors would handle the roles, and I was not disappointed. I wouldn't say I liked either portrayal of the characters better or worse, they both added their own twist to it and this show is a great and loyal adaptation to the books, probably because the author was so heavily involved. He knew just when to stick to the books and when to improve upon what he had done with the benefit of hindsight. This show is basically the books, but remastered.

20. Winx Club (2004-?)

Sort of an odd one out on this list, but I really love this show even as an adult and it may surprise you to learn it is still going on and the most recent season came out last year. They take big breaks sometimes in between seasons, but it's still going strong and in multiple countries. The only thing I don't like about watching this show is all the different and inconsistent dubs since the original show is Italian and each dub only goes for a couple seasons so by the time you get used to one set of voices/names for the characters oyu have to abruptly switch to another, but it's still worth it for the beautiful animation and cool characters (especially the villains!)

Honorable Mentions: 

13 Reasons Why, America's Next Top Model, American Horror Story, Arrested Development, Bates Motel, Battlestar Galactica, Black Mirror, Care Bears, Chernobyl, Courage The Cowardly Dog, Criminal, CSI, Duck Dodgers, Goosebumps, Kenny Vs. Spenny, Kim Possible, Kingdom Hospital, Lazytown, Lost, Making A Murderer, Mayday, Mindhunter, Modern Family, Monster High, Obsession: Dark Desires, Parks And Recreation, Prison Break, Project Runway, Queer As Folk, Queer Eye, Salem, Schitt's Creek, SCTV, Spongebob Squarepants, The Emperor's New School, The Good Doctor, The Haunting Of Hill House/Bly Manor, The Middle, The Pretender, The Walking Dead, The X-Files, Through The Wormhole, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Unsolved Mysteries, Yugioh

Tagging: @bullet-farmer​ and anyone else who wants to!

[mousehole5000]

the rest... of... book 4..... through chapter 225

i sad.

“He was lying to himself and lying to others! All nothing but deceit! No matter what, it was impossible to pretend nothing had ever happened, and it was impossible to return to before!!!” - i know :(

“Before Feng Xin went, he was afraid. Now that Feng Xin had gone, he wasn’t scared any longer. But, even though he wasn’t afraid anymore, he was in deeper agony.” - ah yes. being afraid of your friends leaving so you do things to drive them away so you can have something to point to and say that you were the one who made the choice and you dont have to fear it anymore. except that has never once worked out ever and turns out losing people just means you lost them and it still hurts. not that i would know or anything.....

“He saw upon the table there were a few plates of horrid-looking dishes that were now cold. They were what he made the queen take away without eating a single bite the night before. Now, he pulled them over absent-mindedly, and ate everything, not daring to leave behind a single leaf, afraid to miss a single grain of rice. After he ate he started puking.” - this broke me and the bad cooking isnt funny anymore :(

all this happens after they have money again. no further commentary on this chapter

i know for a lot of book 3 i just wanted hua cheng to go away but now i would give anything for wuming to come and interrupt these interactions with white no-face

“Lang Ying, a brute commoner, led an army and destroyed Xianle. With the aura of the king enveloping his body, ordinary evil wouldn’t be able to come close to his person. However, at this moment, what Xie Lian brought with him were millions of souls of those who died on the battlefield!” - interesting to think about this story from lang ying’s point of view. the bit about his wife and child... oh my god... the things we carry with us...

“Will it really be alright to leave him like this? How about, I give him a cup of water?” - cup of water motif is back... ouch

“One person. Just one. Really. Just one person was enough!” - for like 20 minutes after reading this i really was just sitting here thinking about every time a stranger did me a small a kindness and the times i did the same it just made me cry harder i love people and they really can be awful and choose to be cold and cruel but it means that when they choose to be kind..... it doesnt negate the cruelty but its still indescribable.. and being able to see that and remember that even after all the pain..... 

ugh still just thinking about the times ive gone through something that changed me and having the cold numb fear that i would never be the same as i was before that i would lose some precious part of me forever and wondering if this would be the thing that finally did it... i dont know if ive ever actually experienced a piece of media that really make me think about that tbh

“Stop thinking so highly of yourself! I don’t need you to teach me anything, I can learn on my own. If you represent heaven’s will, then something like heaven’s will should be destroyed!” - why is defying the heavens so sexy.... keep it up (edit after white no-face identity reveal: HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!)

the fact that xie lian went through what he did and got nothing out of it and in fact lost everything he had left due to the trauma,,,,, but just one person is enough for him to willingly offer to do it again, even if all he could save is one person,,,,,, crying again.... and who it is who takes it all on instead... ok...

“After all, everyone knew that Mu Qing ascended because he cleaned up all the remaining stubborn resentful spirits in the old capital of Xianle, so to understand it as “generous and kind” wasn’t unreasonable. In any case, everyone in the old capital of Xianle were all very grateful for him.” - its not unreasonable at all!!! this boy picks cherries for his mom and the neighborhood kids leave him alone

“Shaking his head, Xie Lian contemplated, then he ladled two large bowls of rice, one offered inside the Temple of Ju Yang, the other inside the Temple of Xuan Zhen. Finally, feeling that everything served its purpose, he clapped his hands close, completely satisfied.” - please i just want them to be friends again

ruoye........ xie lian bidding farewell to the tiny red flower.... ok i feel a totally normal amount about all these things

book 5 time!!!

xie lian king of taking a third option.. no one dies in the kiln at all we’re just leaving bitch

“Xie Lian didn’t know why he had to use his hands to cup Hua Cheng’s cheeks, but he did so subconsciously, probably so he could comfort him, but also because Xie Lian was afraid Hua Cheng’s face would be frostbitten by the snowstorm.” - gay people.....

“This giant stone divine statue must’ve been sculpted when Hua Cheng was trapped inside the Kiln, when he was severely beaten down and in intense suffering.” - ohhhh my god. okay. okay. look. i get it....

“The divine statue obeyed his command and took off with a gigantic, wide step, going along with the rolling current of snow. One slide was several miles, and the snow waves it created crashed around its body. Because both its arms were open, even though it was a body of a million tons, it still maintained good balance.” - HELL YEAH!! HELL YEAH LETS FUCKING GO LETS GOOOOO

the statue that requires transfers of spiritual energy... statue of make you kiss me i see how it is.....

“Hearing this, Hua Cheng raised his brows, his expression seeming to say, please have them beat each other to death, that’d be great.” - when you dont like your SO’s friends and they dont like you

“With a sharp sword in hand, Xie Lian was like a tiger with wings added, his might increasing exponentially, and he struck out!” - YES!!! GET EM!!!!

“No one could blame him for not knowing what was going on. Perhaps, he was confused the entire way: Why was he beaten? Why was he buried inside a wall? Why was he turned into a daruma doll? And why did he have to turn into a sword, too? There was not a single point where he’d figured out what was happening.” its okay qyz its okay i know honey me too

HELLO?? SQX IS BACK???? omg what a development omg omg okay okay interesting... okay so shi wudu would have rather died than lose everything but shi qingxuan is still trucking

“Hua Cheng responded lazily, “Oh? So you mean to say, beggars can’t save the world? Is it because they don’t have the ability to, or because they’re not worthy?” - KING okay i know this is a motivational tactic but also... who was it who took on all the souls for the human face disease and did in fact save the world back then hmmm?

absolutely enthralled by the fact that in chapter 207 we find out that the guoshi is in fact just. still here. and the name of the chapter is "Seeking Affection; Ghost King Fakes Displeasure” which i mean that happens too but fjasdlkfajsld

bruh okay. okay. okay. everything is happening okay. okay. chaos in the heavens okay. ling wen is still invited to kiss me on the mouth tho idc

“Indeed Yin Yu didn’t have enough confidence, and said weakly, “Chengzhu has shown me grace, he saved me…” “I know,” Jun Wu said. “He even helped you pacify and send off the resentful spirit of Jian Yu, who died during banishment, am I right?” - awww im glad they resolved that bit that whole situation was awful also give me the forbidden hua cheng ghost king lore...

“Yin Yu finally couldn’t take it anymore. He clenched his fists tight, his knuckles cracking, and he whipped around. “I DO RESENT HIM! I DO HATE HIM!!! BUT, SO WHAT??” - yin yu kiss me on the mouth right now

“Xie Lian hugged him. “It’s alright, it’s alright. These are all small matters, really. Your Highness Yin Yu, just live in this world for another few hundred years and you’ll know that none of that really matters. Either driven to madness or really wishing someone would die, whichever. Who in the world has never had such thoughts? I’ve even thought of massacring all in the world who had wronged me, it’s true, and no lie, I’d almost done it. But look at me, haven’t I shamelessly lived until now? You haven’t actually done anything in the end, and that’s the most important thing.” - he’s right im crying again

“But…in the end, I…still think…it’s so unfair,” Yin Yu sobbed. “If I was already destined to be no one remarkable, then at the very least, I…wanted to be a kind and perfect person. But…I couldn’t even do that. It’s really…so unfair. And truth to be told, even in this moment, just thinking that I’m dying for Yizhen, this little dummy, I still can’t get over it. I can’t even let go and die with a heart with no resentment and no regrets, what is that.” - YIN YU YOU CANT DIE NOOOOOOO youre the only man in this whole book i would kiss why does this always happen im actually really sad ;_;

“If the Rain Master was killed directly, and a better heavenly official couldn’t be found to replace her, the people put food above all else; if agriculture isn’t running smoothly, the world will be thrown into chaos. You don’t let people eat, people won’t give you a job. Besides being displeased with the Rain Master, the people of the world might also begin to be dissatisfied with the great god above Rain Master’s head. Which means, if he isn’t careful, the fire can burn all the way onto him. If things aren’t controlled adequately, it might incur riots to topple gods.” - rain master my friend rain master... also yes!!!!! food production!!!! critical!!!!!!! theres a lot you can get by without but food is not one of them!!!!!

“Feng Xin was Xie Lian’s servant, his good friend, but not his slave. He could’ve built his own home, had his own family. And he had actually already met those people, but the encounter just had to be during Xie Lian’s first banishment, the toughest days they suffered back then.” i am very sad about all of this

hua cheng in the palace of ling wen looking for the brocade immortal while the heavens are in complete chaos as the world turns on its head and STILL taking the time to beg for kisses is making me lose it fjalkdfjlsd

oh my god the guoshi and the cards thing..... hmmmm

delighted that mount tong’lu has such great significance beyond just being the kiln or whatever

hmmm crown prince of wuyong... its truly sad... but dude.....

the way that the heavenly capital is literally built out of previous gods... wow

the outright attempt to continue to cycle of trauma that failed simply bc 1. xie lian is his own person and 2. xie lian recieved kindness and gave it back to the world even to the people who refused to help him im ;_;

the absolute mess of xuan ji/rong guang/pei su/banyue/ke mo going down in the palace of ming guang... entertainment

okay i think im to a point where i dont have any possible spoiler knowledge in my brain about what happens next (only thing i have is theres a joke about he xuan eating that i dont understand yet and i think we might get like an emily corpse bride moment but if we do i dont know why) but oh my god things have escalated

[abigailnussbaum]

Legends of Tomorrow, Season 5

I was going to write weekly reviews of this season, and then with one thing and another ended up dropping it in the spring (hey, remember when there was so much weekly TV that you couldn’t keep up with all your shows? Wonder how long it’ll be before that happens again). I caught up with the entire season this weekend, and honestly, that feels like a better standpoint from which to write about it - I think if I’d stuck with weekly reviews, I would have ended up saying the same thing week after week.

A couple of years ago, Emily VanDerWerff suggested that there is a standard lifecycle for high-concept, large ensemble, off-the-wall genre shows: 

Season 1: still figuring this whole thing out 

Season 2: now we’re cooking with oil 

Season 3: we can do anything! 

Season 4: whoops, no, we’ve gotten a bit over our skis here 

Season 5: ??? 

Legends, I think, encapsulates this progression to a T. The show’s second and third seasons were some of the best and most exciting genre storytelling on television, but last year was a bit of a mess. That’s not entirely the writers’ fault - Nick Zano’s limited availability due to family obligations forced them to beef up the Time Bureau’s role in the season, and their desire to keep Maisie Richardson-Sellers on board even after Amaya’s story had wrapped up led them to create a character, Charlie, who had no real reason for being on the Waverider. But a lot of it was self-inflicted. The cast was too unwieldy, the Time Bureau story seemed designed to expose the thin spots in the show’s self-presentation as irreverent but fundamentally compassionate (it certainly didn’t help that the decision to rewrite Nate Sr. into a good guy was made almost at the last minute, requiring the entirely unconvincing argument that forcing magical creatures to perform in a circus act is somehow morally superior to forcing them to be secret agents), and some of the character choices felt entirely parachuted in (Zari/Nate, anyone?).

Season five, therefore, had a lot of clean up work to do, while also demonstrating that the Legends formula had more life in it than just those two transcendent early seasons. And while this is undeniably a more successful, more enjoyable season than the one preceding it (which also does a great deal to address some of the show’s structural issues, chiefly the overlarge cast), I also can’t help but notice that instead of finding new places for the show to go, what the fifth season delivers instead is a hodgepodge of story elements from seasons two and three. So we’ve got a mystical object that can rewrite reality (The Loom of Fate vs. season two′s The Spear of Destiny); a token hunt across time and space in which the Legends face off against the estranged relatives of one of their members (the totems in season three vs. the search for the pieces of the loom, Amaya’s evil granddaughter vs. Charlie’s evil sisters); a late season loss that forces our characters into a nightmarish alternate reality in which they don’t even remember who they are (the Legion of Evil rewriting the Legends’ lives to make them ordinary and unsatisfying vs. being stuck in TV shows in a world run by the Fates); which comes about because of a betrayal by a member of the team (Charlie in season five, Mick in season two) whose eventual return to the fold enables to Legends to win in the end. There’s even an abandoned, abused girl who has turned evil, and has to be won back to the side of good through the offer of true companionship and understanding (Nora Darhk vs. Astra Logue).

This isn’t exactly a bad thing - a lot of these storytelling beats cut to the very core of what Legends is and what makes it work, so it’s not necessarily wrong for the show to repeat them. And even if the basic structure is the same, Legends just keeps getting more adventurous in how it delivers that structure. I’ve already written about how well done the season’s mockumentary episode was, and the same can be said for the 80s slasher movie riff, the Mr. Rogers parody, and of course, “The One Where We’re Trapped on TV”. Like the multiple universe episode in season four, these are things the show couldn’t have done when it was just a few seasons old, and they’re proof that whatever other issues it has, Legends is constantly pushing the envelope in terms of the kind of tropes and genres it can graft onto a superhero template. That said, there’s a very real possibility that this is all the show will ever be - a standard story template, enlivened by increasingly gonzo riffs on existing tropes.

Some more thoughts on where the season worked and where it didn’t below.

THE GOOD:

I really hated the decision to make Nora a fairy godmother in season four, not least because it felt like yet another way of infantilizing her (it certainly didn’t help that it was a choice she was forced into, and that she spent the remainder of the season catering to the every whim of Gary, a character I still have very mixed feelings towards). But season five really reclaims that choice. Having Nora embrace the fairy godmother life as a way of both helping children and working through her own issues makes a lot of sense, and the character feels happier and more confident than we’ve ever seen her (certainly a step up from how gloomy she was last season). I even like the wardrobe change - once the fairy godmother dress was ditched except for specific occasions, having Nora dress all in teal is a nice touch, and certainly an improvement over her rather boring season four wardrobe. I still think Legends missed a lot in how it handled Nora last season (I will never stop being annoyed that she and Sara didn’t develop a deeper friendship, given how similar their life trajectories have been), but this was a good way of righting the ship, even in a very limited timeframe.

I already mentioned this in the episode review, but watching the rest of the season really cemented my admiration for how quickly the show embeds Behrad into the crew, and makes it feel as if he’s always been there. That’s all the more impressive given that Behrad doesn’t really get an arc in season five. Most of that storytelling energy goes to establish Zari 2.0, and Behrad is, of course, absent for much of the latter half of the season. And yet he feels almost instantly like a fully-rounded character who is integral to the show, so much so that you’re heartbroken by his death (and convinced that it will be rolled back, even though Zari could easily take over his superpower). That’s really excellent work by both the writers and Shayan Sobhian.

I was a bit nervous when Zari 2.0 was introduced, because replacing a heroic, cool-girl-coded, nobly self-sacrificing character with a version of herself who is extremely femme-coded and obsessed with things like fashion and social media is the sort of move that is ripe for easy misogynistic point-scoring in the guise of feminism - of course the Zari who is good with machines and eats donuts is superior to the one who has a perfume line and spends hours in the bathroom every morning! But the show very quickly established that Zari, though certainly not without her flaws, is awesome in any guise, and it did so without trying to change her into “our” Zari, eventually even establishing that they are two completely different people, each with a right to exist (though not simultaneously, unfortunately). I get why the show didn’t keep both Zaris around - it would be asking a lot of Tala Ashe to play two characters, much of the time against herself, not to mention a production nightmare - but I appreciate that it didn’t decide that Zari 2.0 was the lesser version. (Also a nice touch: Behrad, though obviously fond of Zari 1.0, doesn’t think of her as “his” sister, even though to us she’s the “real” version of the character.)

Similarly, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when Ava moved to the Waverider full time - obviously, it would be an improvement on her playing a tinpot fascist at the Time Bureau while the show pretended that this wouldn’t really bother Sara, but at the same time Sara and Ava are both so similar in their functions and abilities that I worried they’d step on each other’s shoes. Instead, the show leaned into their differences and made the season about Ava finding her place as captain of the Waverider, a role she fills in very different ways than Sara while still doing a good job at it. It also allowed her to expand her point of view a little - bonding with Zari 2.0, or reaching out to Astra, both things that would have been outside of her comfort zone in the past. Obviously, this is setup for Ava taking over as captain in season six now that Sara has been abducted (though I hope not for very long - Legends isn’t Legends without Sara), but good on the show for taking the time to bring Ava to a point where she’s ready for this, and in a different way from Sara.

And speaking of looking ahead, the show takes the wise step of thinning out its cast. Personally, I would have kept Ray, Nora, and Mona and written off Constantine and Nate (and possibly also Gary), but either way, it’s good that the writers realized their cast was getting unwieldy. I was concerned, for example, that the show figuring out what to do with Charlie and giving her an elaborate backstory was a sign that she would stay on, but instead she leaves once that story is resolved. And I think that in an earlier season, Astra would have been positioned to stay on the Waverider after the end of the season, but instead she’s clearly a one-off character, who goes off to live her own life once the show has brought her story to a satisfying conclusion. (This also, however, means that Legends has written off two black women in a single season, not to mention Mona, and in fact has only one WOC main character remaining; I hope that’s something season six addresses.)

THE BAD:

I realize that I am very much in the minority on this, but I’m sorry: John Constantine does not belong on Legends of Tomorrow, and certainly not as a main character. Season five feels, in fact, like a perfect demonstration of this simple truth. The early parts of the season feel like two different shows, the Legends show and the Constantine show, that happen to have some points of intersection and shared characters. And even once those storylines converge, it’s notable how John’s quest for the Loom of Fate very quickly becomes Astra’s quest for it, and then Charlie’s, and how they both feel more grounded in that story and more affected by it than he was. What it comes down to, once again, is that John Constantine is a character who can’t change, and putting him on a show that is all about change and growth can’t help but feel unsatisfying for both the character and the show. Season five tries to suggest that change is possible for him - he finally comes clean with Astra and make a real apology to her; he admits that his pursuit of magic has cost him relationships and a chance at happiness; he reaches out to his friends when he thinks his life is about to end; he even quits smoking. But the character just doesn’t have that much give in it. To be John Constantine, he has to be the cynical, arrogant, self-destructive fuck-up we’ve always known. On a show like Legends of Tomorrow, that can work in small doses, but not as the main character that Constantine has been positioned as.

Though I’m glad that the show figured out something to do with Charlie before writing her off, the similarities between her story and Mick’s can’t help but shed a light on how poorly thought out this character has been, and how much her season five story is parachuted in. When Mick betrays the team at the end of season two, it’s barely a season after they’d put him off the ship for being perennially untrustworthy, leading to him becoming their nemesis. They only take him back out of pity for the decades of torture he suffered, and sympathy for the loss of his only friend, Captain Cold. His betrayal is a direct outcome of those cracks in the relationship - he does it because he wants to live in a world where he hasn’t been hurt or hurt others, and where his friend is still alive. When he changes his mind at the end of the season, it’s a culmination of two seasons of character growth, the realization that holding on to the pain in his life is worth it if it means he gets to keep the friendships he formed on the Waverider, and to continue to grow as a person - as expressed by his choice to put Snart back in his timeline, where he will become a better person (and eventually inspire Mick to do the same) but will also die. Charlie’s very similar storyline just doesn’t have this kind of depth. Neither her heel turn nor her face turn feel particularly earned, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that it took the writers so long to figure out who this character even was.

For a season of Legends, this was an awfully heteronormative stretch of episodes. Sure, Sara and Ava are still center stage, and that’s fantastic. But every other romantic relationship in the season, and there are quite a few of them, is a straight one. You might blame this on the fact that season five is a housecleaning season, wrapping up dangling storylines like Ray/Nora or Nate/Zari. But even the new characters like Behrad or Lita express only opposite-sex attraction (I guess Astra never demonstrates a preference). I mean, if you give John Constantine two different love interests in a single season and they’re both women, surely something has gone terribly wrong?

And speaking of John Constantine’s love interests, is putting him together with Zari meant to make the old her’s romance with Nate look organic and true to the characters in comparison? Because I can’t think of another reason for it. Do not want.

THE UGLY:

Words cannot express how much I hate the Damien Darhk episode. Not all of it, obviously - the Mr. Rogers riff, as I said, is pretty good (and pays off handsomely later in the season), and pretty much all the Ray/Nora stuff, especially the moment where she realizes she’s not going to lie to her father about the man she loves and the life she’s chosen, are golden. But it is simply mind-boggling that after two seasons in which Nora was firmly established as the survivor of a lifetime of abuse, Legends takes an entire hour to not only rehabilitate Damien, but pretend that he was always a loving father who just made some mistakes. For crying out loud, the man fed his daughter to a demon in order to gain power for himself. It was always an interesting wrinkle in his character that he clearly saw himself as a loving, protective parent, and was even capable of some level of self-sacrifice on Nora’s behalf, but I had assumed that the show realized this was at least partly a self-serving lie. To discover that we’re actually meant to think that one act of sacrifice cancels out a lifetime of abuse is nauseating. I wanted Nora to stand up to her father, but as a victim calling out her abuser, not a loving daughter trying to renegotiate a relationship with an overprotective parent. It certainly doesn’t help that the episode features inexplicably popular wedding story tropes, such as the groom asking the bride’s father for permission to marry her, or the father trying to keep the couple from physical intimacy before the wedding, which are gross in any context but especially so here. I suppose in the end it’s all worth it to be rid of Damien once and for all, but I was squirming with discomfort and rage throughout the entire episode.

[snkpolls]

SnK S3E17 Poll Results (Manga Reader Version)

The poll closed with 362 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

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

RATE THE EPISODE 354 Responses

Similar to ranking systems seen outside of this poll this week, the episode has gotten a very high score, with no one voting for anything under a 4. WIT really outdid themselves with this one!

Chapter 82 is one of my top 5 favorite chapters of the series to date. This episode is top 5 of the series to date. Absolutely top notch.

Best episode of all media (and i'm not kidding!!!!) We don't deserve SNK/WIT

Absolutely amazing. I’m a manga reader who watched with an anime only. We normally discuss while watching, but even I who knew what would happen couldn’t make a sound. We were completely speechless. Amazing episode. Definitely top 3..maybe 2.

Best ep in the series. WIT and the cast absolutely delivered these past two eps.

It's great. Hats off for staffs who delivered this episode

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 356 Responses

Levi taking out the Beast Titan was ranked as the most favored moment of the episode. Following closely behind was Armin’s sacrifice. The third most popular moment, aside from the votes of those who can’t just pick one scene, was Eren dealing the finishing blow to the Colossal Titan.

Let's not forget about the jawdropping Sawano music pieces, the music during the Armin burning scene made the scene so powerful i teared up, as well as Marlowe's monologue one!

I've waited almost two years to see Levi vs Zeke animated and it was so much more glorious and heart breaking in the anime. And the Armin scene had me in tears, every single time, which didn't happen when I read the manga. (Then again I didn't cry at all while reading manga).

I was extremely disappointed with the Levi vs Beast Titan fight, the music choice for that scene was so underwhelming and out of place, and the animation - while better than anything else in the episode - still manages to look extremely lazy.

Am I the only one who actually likes Zeke's monologue? Yes? Ok then.

I never cared much about Armin, he isn't even in my top 5 characters but his death made me cry and every time I see the scene I get emotional. Music was perfect and Inoue Marina did an amazing job.

WHO WAS THE EPISODE’S MVP? 356 Responses

Armin easily takes the mantle as the Most Valuable Person this episode, with Levi following behind at 15.4% of the vote. In third, people voted Pieck as the MVP.

Armin is the mvp of this episode. No matter how much wit wants us to think it’s Levi with the end card, Armin is the mvp.

Levi was, is, and always will be glorious. That break in his voice, that rage... I'm in tears.

WHO’S SACRIFICE HAD MORE EMOTIONAL IMPACT ON YOU? 357 Responses

Erwin and Armin had to make choices that brought them to the brink of death. 63.9% of respondents expressed they felt more emotional for Armin’s sacrifice while 36.1% hold Erwin’s closer to their heart. We thought about adding a “both” option, but some poll makers wanted to be evil and prepare you for the next episode. >:)

I HATE the question with Erwin and Armin as the only choices btw. :( Both of them sacrificed their biggest dreams to ensure victory for humanity, and choosing one over the other downplays the strength of both of them in making their choices. That's what made serum bowl so terrible imo. I love both the characters dearly, and the entire thing is a clusterfuck of a Sophie's choice type scenario (I picked not ready for the serum bowl question, if you couldn't tell).

WHICH CHARACTER HAD THE BEST “FINAL BLOW” AGAINST THE ENEMY? 358 Responses

At 45.8%, Eren gets the most vote for “best final blow” for taking down the Colossal Titan, with Levi following closely behind at 41.6% with the Beast Titan.

Levi vs. Zeke was Imai at his finest, Marina killed it once again as Armin, Reiner vs. Levi Squad was incredibly satisfying, and Eren finally taking down Bert was breathtaking. This episode deserves all the praise it's getting.

Didn’t expect to be so conflicted over Eren taking down the Colossal - he finally got revenge but at what cost ;_;

Daaaaaaayyyyyuuuummmmm. Levi VS Zeke was just *chef kiss*.

WHICH WAS THE BETTER ONE LINER FROM MIKASA? 353 Responses

“Annie. Fall,” still remains as the more iconic pre-mortem one-liner from Mikasa.

THOUGHTS ON WIT CHOOSING TO OMIT ANY MUSIC WHEN EREN TAKES OUT BERTOLT? 355 Responses

Nearly 66% of respondents were happy with WIT’s decision to keep the environment quiet during the Colossal Titan’s takedown, allowing the audience to truly focus on the moment. 21.4% were happy with the choice but also would not object to there having been music. 9% feel that it would have had more impact with some music.

Not having any music was a parallel to back when Eren tried to kill Bertholdt in Trost and failed, also because Armin is badly wounded, not having any music gave respect to his "sacrifice"

I never consider the music of an episode beforehand and I was too into the moment to notice there wasn't any

I'm pretty confused abouy how they chose to do it, i guess i was expecting something more impactful, and the no-music, seen from afar thing didn't do it for me

I was too busy crying to notice there wasn’t music

Would’ve been perfect if the silence hadn’t been blocked by berts needless exposition imo

Sometimes silence is better than music.

850 YEARBOOK VOTE: WHO HAS THE BEST TEETH? 349 Responses

It was almost a tie, but Zeke’s teeth win the yearbook vote with 30.9% of the vote. Just behind him with 30.7% of the vote is the random redshirt that got 2 seconds too much of screen time. 26.6% feel that the Attack Titan has the best teeth. Sorry, Bertolt.

The vast amount of weird looking teeth in this episode freaked me out

WHO WORE THIS LOOK BETTER? 344 Responses

Reiner wins the most handsome look with 61.3% of the vote. But you have to admit, the resemblance is uncanny.

REINER LOOKS LIKE JAMES CHARLES IN HIS TITAN AHAHAHA

HOW WELL DID THIS EPISODE ADAPT THE CORRESPONDING CHAPTERS? 354 Responses

The majority of manga readers feel that the source material was handled extremely well this episode, with only 0.3% of respondents feeling it could have been handled better.

Mikasa taking down Reiner was definitely more badass in the manga too. Her expression is too serene here. Hange was infinitely more BAMF-y and I am very glad for this at least.

Levi vs Zeke had an amazing animation, but i didn't like Levi's slashing flurry at the end of it. It didn't make any sense

I thought I was going to be ready for that Armin scene, but it was so much more intense than the manga. I ended up crying so much.

I wish they added more emotional Levi's faces like in the manga, but it turned out pretty ok

The adaptation was pretty badass this time around imo. My roommate lost her appetite watching Armin's sacrifice

If it weren't for the perfect plot that WIT was adapting, this episode would have been one of the worst quality wise, and I wish they would have taken more time and care to adapt one of the best moments of this series.

WAS LEVI VS. ZEKE: ROUND 1 ALL YOU HOPED FOR? 357 Responses

71.1% of respondents were left feeling extremely pleased with WIT’s adaptation of Levi vs. Beast Titan. 21% were happy, but perhaps not totally blown out of the water like the others. A few small groups of people are either neutral, or felt underwhelmed and/or disappointed.

This was so awesome!! Levi was so badass and damn, rage looks good on him. Zeke clearly didn't see any of it coming!

The voice acting on Levi's part was beyond what I'd hoped for so I was emotionally into it, but the over-the-top drama of the slishy-slashy moment kind of downgraded the actual visuals for me. But you know what, overall I think it was quite good - not brilliant, but good.

It was way too flashy

Zeke's monologue didn't really feel well this time. Yet, the whole scene was pretty good.

SO COOL ALL HAIL GOD LEVI!!

Couldn't fully enjoy Levi slicing Zeke now that I know he'll have him another time and fail at killing him again (with yet unknown circumstances for Levi) :c

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WIT CENSORING THE SCENE WITH LEVI’S BLADE IN ZEKE’S MOUTH? 353 Responses

52.1% of respondents were pretty understanding of the situation, feeling that the censorship couldn’t have been avoided. 23.2% feel that they could have at least shown a little bit of sliced flesh. 14.4% are hopeful that we’ll get a more gorey version of the scene when the bluray animation comes out. A small percentage were very displeased.

Censorship is understandable all things considered, but it managed to be effective. Sometimes, your imagination makes things worse than the reality of it, such is the case here.

HE HAS SO MUCH TEETH WHY DID THEY GIVE ZEKE SO MUCH TEETH NO HUMAN BEING HAS TEETH THAT GO THAT FAR

The guy got absolutely destroyed right before, the blade still pierced his mouth, I don't give a shit.

I actually think that too much realism would be overkill for fast paced animation. They managed to keep the scenes intense and smooth and i wasn't bothered by it at all.

I was pleasantly surprised we saw the blood from the blade thrusting in his face. I don’t require more gore than that lol

i wanted to see it SO BAD ugh :rip:

Anyone disappointed about censorship in anime in 2019 isn't really knowledgeable about the industry.

I don't care, gore is cheap, snk is better than that.

HOW DID YOU FEEL SEEING ARMIN’S SACRIFICE ANIMATED? 356 Responses

Over half of the fandom felt more emotional about Armin’s sacrifice than they did reading the manga, a testament to how well WIT adapted the material, given we all know the ultimate outcome of Armin’s fate. 26.1% of respondents felt that the scene was equally moving in both mediums, while 12.6% felt more emotional while reading it happen in the manga.

Both were equally moving for sure but the anime version had that extra element of Body Horror™. Armin's skin literally melting off is something I will not forget for a long time.

Emotionally, this episode didn't get me as much as the manga did but that is mainly because I've got like 2+ years of rereading it and working through my emotions.

Armin was just as annoying with his ocean and he should've died here.

Showing the skin melting off was an absolutely brutal touch

After I read that scene I spent a lot of time thinking and mulling it over. After I watched that scene I had to pause because I couldn't see anything through my tears. They are just different types of impact, there's no way to compare them

Seeing his pants in pristine condition right after took me out of it, so probably manga > anime,  but both really good

I told you I wasn’t ready. I had to watch my son melt. M e l t. He is truly a hero and I’m sobbing.

THOUGHTS ON BERTOLT’S STEAM BECOMING AN INFERNO? 353 Responses

61.8% of the fandom felt that WIT’s animation helped really put into perspective the pain that Armin was dealing with during his sacrifice. 21.% really enjoyed WIT heating up the steam attack by turning it into an inferno as a cool effect. 9.3% may have felt that it was a little too dramatic, and a small few didn’t really care either way.

The inferno made the decoy plan even better and shows how powerful bert is with his titan.

It made it even more suprising that Armin survived this

Not really consistent to 02/06 where he just emits hot steam, but whatevs.

I was willing to buy Armin miRaCulOuSlY surviving in the manga bc it was just hot steam (and a nearly 50m fall but whatever). He was literally cooked alive. He caught fire, everything was fire. He’s dead. It’ll be even worse when he’s alive and starts the serumbowl in anime form. The inferno cheapened the whole premise of that fight because there’s no way in hell that armin should’ve survived all the shit they added in the anime. Rant over.

Bert for the win

Shinganshina’s first deep fryer looked pretty cool!

DID MIKASA TAKING OUT REINER HAVE AS MUCH IMPACT AS IT DID IN THE MANGA? 353 Responses

45.6% of voters felt even more excited about Mikasa delivering the final blow to Reiner than they did while reading the manga. 41.1% felt that the scene was adapted well, but that it could have been done better. 8.8% found the animation a bit awkward and didn’t enjoy the moment as much because of it.

Finally Mikasa played bigger role in the anime. She was a real badass.

The only knock that scene has is just... Mikasa get out of the mouth! There's an explosive in there! How did you not get hurt?!

Mikasa has come a long way from being picked up and carried away to safety. The girl who watched Shiganshina crumble because of this guy just stuck her whole-ass body in his mouth like nbd and blew his shit to pieces. Call that narrative satisfaction.

It was wonderfully animated, but when I read it in the manga I felt very sad for Reiner. In the anime, the music was very triumphant

I loved the fluid animation. It’s so fitting for the scene!

Yes. It simply made me cry another time for my poor Reiner

THOUGHTS ON WIT MOVING UP THE FLASHBACK SCENE OF EREN AND ARMIN BECOMING FRIENDS? 356 Responses

The majority of the fandom, at 64.9%, felt that moving the childhood flashback scene added more weight to Eren finding Armin’s burned body on the roof. 21.6% aren’t too concerned about the placement and are just happy to see it at all. A small amount of people felt it was better placed in the manga.

Torn, it made the end of this episode way better but might make the start of next episode a little less impactful, we'll see.

I think their voices should have been more childlike. They sounded too mature.

Baby armin is the cutest thing ever. I' m also glad they did some justice for eremin for the first time in the anime

WHO IS CUTTING ONIONS?? WHY MUST YOU HURT ME WIT?

WHICH SCENE FROM THE PREVIEW ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 354 Responses

Seeing the Yeagerbros meet for the first time won out with 37.3% of the vote. Following closely behind is the moment when Levi tries to inject Erwin with the serum. 24% of the fandom are looking forward to seeing Eren and Mikasa’s defiance once Levi realizes that he can still save Erwin.

BUT REALLY, HOW EMOTIONALLY READY ARE YOU FOR THE SERUMBOWL? 354 Responses

34.2% of the fandom feel the impending turmoil coming up as they watch a number of beloved characters either dying or fighting each other. 29.7% are ready to feel everything. 26.3% are looking forward to seeing the characters express their very base and raw emotions. A small few either don’t feel affected or are not really looking forward to the chapter being adapted at all.

One of my favorite characters is Bertholdt so I'm not prepared to see him begging and death next week…

I watch with two anime-only siblings, the serumbowl is going to divide the household into WW3

oh jesus oh fuck i'm not fuckin ready for serumbowl 2.0

I’ve cried so much the past three episodes. I can’t even imagine how bad next week will be.

Last week before Bert dies please no

At least the serum bowl will be dealt with in one episode and we won't need to deal with the endless cliffhanger which definitely did not contribute positively to that part of the arc. It's inevitable with a monthly manga, but man, those few months were rough.

My body is not ready, send help

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

It was so good overall! The anime continues to do a really great job in bringing life to the manga, this episode especially. Not ready for the emotional rollercoaster of next ep tho asgskdk

It was fantastic. I'm so happy with this season. But how dare you guys not give us multiple choice or "all of the above" as options on some of these

So because of the manga I was reAlly beginning to dislike Floch but seeing the survivor scene really reminded me of why his character is the way it is

Zeke’s monologue was much more terrifying than in the manga, specifically when he raged at the soldiers, it was intense. It’s really got me hyped for the next chapter. “Game set” indeed. The way they are lining this up can’t be a coincidence.

i wonder what the cart titan/pieck was doing the whole time

The preview for E18 was wayy to much spoiler imo.

Armin is MVP 5eva but also RIP the anime only fans, it's been so satisfying to see their reactions all over the interwebs

NGL, they put more in the episode than I thought. Guessing that they’ll dedicate 3-4 eps on post photo exposition

This episode was the best of them all. It brought powerful emotions and made me 100% sure that Levi made the right choice with saving Armin's life. Armin is the bravest of them all and I hope he will become a hero in the final arc of the manga. However, for now I can imagine the feelings and emotions the anime-onlies have. They didn't expect Armin to sacrifice himself and die. In the other shonens main trio always survives, while here the situation is different. However, I hope they won't be disappointed after finding out that Armin is still alive. It may feel like strong plot armor for them. Anyway, I love this episode very much!

I've never been so glad to be a manga reader. Watching this episode without knowing that Armin will be okay would have fucked me up for a long time.

I do feel that Zeke's animation turned out a little too cartoonish as he was ripped from his Titan. Which is a weird critique on an anime episode I know, but. The style seems off. Sloppy somehow. Compare this animation to the beautiful chase scene with Levi in episode 2 of part 1 of this season and it feels like two completely different animes. The VA's have done an outstanding job, though.

Armin has evolved to Arman

Can we appreciate how Bertolt was rendered in this episode? His VA did a fantastic job as always and made him more sympathetic. You could sense that Bertolt was rather chill with his monologue. At several times he wasn't ready to commit but he did anyway. Emotional parting is hard for him.rman

Marlowe's scene in chapter 81 was heartbreaking and eerie enough, but this... that shit H U R T E D

My poor heart still hurts after Armin's sacrifice. Like if you cry everytime.

No question regarding Levi vs BT ost? They used such an awesome ost for Armin's sacrifice and made the scene more epic than the manga, which made me really really happy. On the other hand, in Levi vs BT, they used such an ost which didn't even match the fight's mood. Just because of the wrong choice of ost the scene had much much lesser impact.

For me, this episode was the most anticipated from the manga ever since I read it years ago, and they delivered. It's the best so far, but I hope Blu-Ray can make it better

Like a roller coaster of emotions this show was for me, Levi's fight against Zeke put the animation on a high level if I forgot the two last episodes (because it was "meh" for me but good anyways). The promise that's still remain in force, the sacrifices in vain, three epic and decisive battles that put a semicolon in the saga AND the next episode or serum bowl nightmare. Ugh, I need to take a breath because I've cried more that I expected

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 332 Responses

Thank you to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again in a few days!

[bryanfaganlaw]

Preparing for the end and immediate time period after your Texas divorce

If you have need a best suitable service your Child Law experience, Preparing for the end and immediate time period after your Texas divorce with the great process!

Divorce Houston: One of the most difficult parts of being a family lawattorney is not always having the exact right advice to give to your client at any particular moment. We can know the law, know the possible outcomes of a given situation and be prepared to speak to you about that, but in some circumstances, it is downright impossible to give you just the right word or words of advice.

I see this happen when clients are having to “deal” with their spouse in matters during the divorce. Whether it is coordinating the payment of bills, the putting of their house on the real estate market or working through visitation issues regarding their children, it is undoubtedly an awkward situation to have to work with your spouse so closely during a process that will serve to separate the two of you.

How can you best work with your spouse during the divorce? Let’s begin today’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC by discussing that topic in detail

Working successfully with your spouse during a divorce

While it is tempting to do so, it is probably best not to think about your spouse as an “ex-spouse” during your divorce. From my experience that causes people to think of their spouse as someone who doesn’t deserve the respect that they likely do. “Ex-spouse” makes you want to roll your eyes at the thought of that person. Considering your spouse to be someone with whom you need to be cordial and work issues out with is likely the best position you can put yourself in during your divorce.

To me, that starts with being professional. It is easy (and sometimes even satisfying) to take cheap shots and be generally nasty to your spouse during your divorce. However, you won’t make any progress on your case if that is your mode of communication. It is entirely possible to both achieve your goals and act like an adult to your spouse during your divorce. In fact, I am here to tell you that this is the right way to conduct yourself.

For one, you catch a lot more flies with honey than with vinegar. I have seen no proof from other attorneys that being a jerk and a pain in the backside to deal with actually accomplishes more than being a civil and dignified person. Again, you will likely never get the satisfaction (temporary satisfaction, I may add) that is associated with calling your spouse on the phone to give him or her a piece of your mind, but you can help achieve your goals much easier by keeping your spouse on your good side.

If your spouse doesn’t follow these rules it can be harder to motivate yourself to do so. For example, if your spouse spent the better part of a weekend blasting away at you in front of your daughter this will likely you to become a tad frustrated. Rather than use that frustration to continue the game of showing disrespect towards one another in front of your child, you can choose to be the bigger person and ignore it. Address it with your child, making it well know that you do not approve of that behavior, but rise above it and do not reciprocate.

Social Media usage during your divorce

One of my favorite topics to discuss in the area of divorce is the use and prevalence of social media. Just about all of us have some form of social media available to us and that means we have ample opportunity to use it for good or bad. I can tell you that almost all users of social media during your divorce will work out to be on the “bad” side of that ledger.

The reason why most social media use is bad during a divorce is that it is hard to say using it in any way is actually a positive for your case. There is just very little to gain when it comes to social media use during a divorce.

An offhand comment or posting a photo without thinking about its context or meaning can have important impacts on your case. The use of social media postings as evidence in divorce cases is extremely prevalent. My advice would be to log off the internet for a few months and to stay away from social media during your divorce.

How you can avoid uncomfortable conversations that are ultimately unproductive

Family Lawyers Houston: If your divorce is one where there are a couple of moments or issues that almost all of the acrimony in your marriage is based around then it is hard to avoid those issues coming up in conversation. Infidelity, violence, and things of that nature are what I have in mind. So much of a divorce involves you and your spouse negotiating with each other and with the assistance of your attorneys. If you are seeking to end a divorce in an amicable fashion you will need to change your mode of conversation.

Try talking with your spouse about the future rather than the past. Trying to re-litigate every minute issue in your divorce is asking for trouble. How do you want to co-parent with this person? How do you plan on taking steps to actually improve your relationship with your spouse after the divorce?

You are going to be expected to be an effective parenting team with this person if you have kids. If you don’t have any children you can expect that your spouse will be more willing to negotiate with a pleasant person than a person who is irate over incidents that cannot be changed.

What to do after your divorce is finalized

If you have followed the tips that we have been laying out for all of you in the past few days you probably made it through your divorce just fine and with most of your sanity still intact. However, just because the judge has signed your Final Decree of Divorce does not mean that you can sit back and kick up your feet. There is still work to be done to ensure that your divorce is completed in all aspects.

I’d say that most people who get divorced never actually take the time to sit down and read through their Final Decree of Divorce. It is up to you to make sure that you know what it says. Yes, I realize that by your having signed the document it is assumed and presumed that you have read every single word on every single page. However, we all know that would be an unrealistic expectation and assumption to make.

You need to know what your responsibilities are under the Decree and what dates you are required to do things by. Ignorance of what is required of you is no defense for your failure to make a payment on time or to drop your child off at the scheduled time and location.

Next, you can go through your life insurance policies and will in order to update beneficiaries and other specifics that are no longer applicable. I’m willing to bet that it would make you a little upset to learn that after your divorce has been completed you are forced to give everything in your estate to your ex-spouse because you didn’t change your will once your divorce was completed.

Questions about the divorce process? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC

Family Lawyer in Houston: The attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC are ready and able to assist you in your divorce case. We take pride in representing people just like you in our community. For a free of charge consultation with one of our licensed family law attorneys please do not hesitate to contact our office today ... Continue Reading

[donnerpartyofone]

TL;DR - i finally got an MRI for my ear, which has been fucked up and constantly clogged since september and developed tinnitus in february, and apparently, supposedly, there is nothing wrong with it. so there’s nothing to do about it. so just like with my eye and my skin and my lung and my etc, i have a problem that i can’t do anything about, that i can’t even get the satisfaction of a diagnosis for, and i’m so pissed off about how much time and energy i’ve spent trying to improve things for myself when there was absolutely no point in doing so, that i just want to set my body on fire to really show it what i think of it.

i’m so, so mad. the last couple of months have been almost nothing but wall to wall doctor’s appointments, and with zero exception, they have all been a complete waste of time. it hurts because my body tortures me, of course, but it hurts worse than that because i convinced myself that i HAD to do this, that it was Mature to face my fear of doctors and generally the Right Thing to Do, when i absolutely didn’t want to do any of this at all.

i suffer a lot from an internalized impression of myself as being lazy, defeatist, and dramatic. it comes from a lot of places. i grew up in an environment where i was the only open depression sufferer, under one parent who definitely considered depression to be an antisocial behavioral problem, to be treated like any other shallow cry for attention. i also grew up in an environment full of obvious talents, all of whom would go on to be published, or even public figures, and not to be a complete asshole, but the idea that “you can do anything you put your mind to” is kept alive by people who have the baseline talent necessary to succeed at things they put their minds to. if you subscribe to the idea that success requires nothing other than commitment, then the implication is that all failure is a matter of laziness, petulance, and defeatism--never lack, never inferiority, never ordinariness. on top of all this, my personal interests--horror, sexually graphic media, comics, underground music movements, the usual roundup of morbid or antisocial cultural items--were considered pretty much...well, not very adult. so what i’m coming to is that if i can’t prove my adulthood in any way that has to do with who i am or what i’m capable of, then the very least i can do is Be Responsible. (and of course i get made fun of all the time for being an uptight rule follower but JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, LITERALLY WHAT ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO DO)

one of the main ways you can Be Responsible, if you have the means that is, is to look after your health. the world is full of icky, boring, degrading, depersonalizing, and occasionally painful tasks that are necessary to keep the societal cogs turning. if you can’t make art or have ideas or be beautiful or become an athlete or whatever, you can still show that you’re alive and generally hygienic by going to the dmv, voting, showing up for jury selection, or going to the doctor. you can still grasp the final shred of integrity offered to you by doing things no one wants to do, but that we know are necessary for the vitality of self and society. so i’m extra good at doing stuff that people my age frequently shirk--the dentist appointments, the doing your taxes the second the forms come in, etc--because they’re sort of the only things i can do that prove that i’m not, you know, a complete piece of shit.

so this year, at the start of february, i decided i was going to get a real handle on my health. i’d been going to doctors for various things already, of course, even though it was pretty much never satisfying; the only thing i can think of that ever got fixed or explained was the pathological growth of scar tissue over my eyeballs, which required some pretty fucked up surgery. but at this time, i had a lot of problems building up. my left eye developed a small spot, and a constant glare that borders on having double vision. my right ear remained completely stuffed up since i had a cold last fall, and began to ring constantly at the end of the winter. my right lung has felt alarmingly tight and weak for...years actually. the right side of my face is constantly beet red, like i go fresh with somebody’s wife, and i can see how it’s thickening and bending my flesh all out of shape, which rosacea will do progressively and incurably throughout your entire life. i decided that instead of quaking in fear of doctors, and also in fear of wasted time, i was going to straighten my back and go nip this shit in the bud. after all, when you’re miserable but not doing anything about it, people kind of hate you, and then you have THAT problem on top of all your real problems. sometimes you gotta give the people what they want.

so how did it all go?

my skin: since no insurance company considers rosacea a medical problem, which is actually complete fucking bullshit, i decided to take matters into my own hands. i researched what rich people do for their uninsurable problem, and decided to use my recent (traumatic) inheritance to take care of myself. i tried three different preposterously expensive topical treatments that i was told are a “magic bullet” for rosacea, and all of them made my face blow up like a fucking macy’s day balloon. then, after four rounds of extremely expensive, painful and scary laser treatments, i had absolutely no results other than that my face was actually MORE reactive for about a month after the last one. i’m fucked.

my eye: according to my optometrist and ophthalmologist and corneal specialist it’s “just” regular scar tissue from my terrifying surgeries, not the pathological scar tissue that i had to have removed via terrifying surgery and localized chemotherapy. this kind of sucks because it means i can’t just get it removed again, but at least there is a slight chance that my body will reabsorb it like regular scar tissue. (oh yeah? and what’s my luck USUALLY like?) my only “treatment option” is to use eyedrops four times a day, which is actually extremely uncomfortable, and which pretty much means i’m just not allowed to wear makeup ever again.

my lung: after two rounds of clear x-rays and a breathing test that only detected slight asthma, through two GPs and a pulmonologist, nobody has anything to say about why i have this chronic breathing problem. there’s some indication that it might be a “muscular-skeletal problem” that’s putting pressure on the one lung, so i guess i need to add a physical therapist or something to my endless list of specialists.

my ear: two or three trips to urgent care (i forget how many now), two GPs, an ENT, a fucking weird hearing test, and an MRI have done absolutely nothing for me. after a cold with a sinus/ear infection last fall, my right ear remained permanently slammed shut; if i pop it, it closes back up in seconds. i do not have the same problem with the other ear, it is clearly a physical problem. in february, my ear began to ring agonizingly and has not stopped for a second. in all this time, i went through round after round of antibiotics, antihistamines, anti-inflammatories, steroids, etc. nothing works. no one can see any type of problem. apparently i have the option of electing to have a tube surgically inserted into my ear, although i can’t quite figure out what the risk factor is, both for my tinnitus, and for my hearing in general. 

and OF COURSE, depression: part of the stigma against depression is that it’s a choice, somehow. like fresh air and exercise and looking on the bright side are so effective that if you’re depressed, it must be because you LIKE IT THAT WAY, because otherwise you would use these simple and free cures for your so-called illness and it would be all over, right? anyway i kind of hate being depressed, and i’ve been working my fucking ass off trying to deal with it. i see a nutritional therapist (a licensed psychiatrist) who prescribed me a number of nutritional supplements that i do think help, but they are unthinkably hard on my stomach. i tried lexapro, and it made me feel so abnormal, and cut into my general quality of life so badly, that i didn’t keep it up. i tried a generic version of wellbutrin, and it made me violently sick to my stomach, and caused my ringing ear to ring deafeningly for days after a single dose. the brand name version wasn’t much better. then i tried lamictal, and felt totally great AND NORMAL for like a week, and then i got the rare and potentially deadly lamictal rash. sometimes this just indicates a basic allergy, and sometimes it indicates Stevens-Johnson Syndrome which causes something called TOXIC EPIDERMAL NECROLYSIS WHICH REQUIRES LONG TERM HOSPITALIZATION TO GROW YOUR SKIN BACK. i had to deal with this on the day of mandatory final exam presentations in a class where i was already struggling, and this was one of the darkest days i can recently remember. after this, my psychiatrist tried to prescribe me abilify, but after i started to hear about the side effects and personal testimony of certain friends, i decided i couldn’t handle it. very possibly, i just cannot be medicated for depression, unless i’m willing to sacrifice everything else around the depression too. 

...this is all pretty much a retread of an experience i had for a few years, a few years ago, where i was having these abnormal paps, so they constantly had to drill painful core samples out of my cervix to keep checking up on the NOTHING that was going on in there, until one day they were just like...uh your tests are coming back fine now, and we don’t know why they didn’t before, and it just doesn’t matter, you don’t have to do this anymore PLUS you could have just been sitting on your couch jerking off this entire time and it would have done exactly as much good as this cycle of being humiliated and tortured by doctors in a while that leaves you curled up in a ball sobbing every time. i’m still pretty pissed off about it, if you can’t tell.

so like i don’t know why the fuck i’m doing all this. i don’t know why i do anything. nothing fucking comes from even my most herculean effort except a relentless sense of mystery that is starting to border on satire. i don’t know why i have so many problems. i’m 38 years old and i’m in ok shape. i don’t have generalized immune issues or anything. my doctor said i have some of the best lab work she’s ever seen. why the fuck does all this shit happen to me. i’m trying so fucking hard to enjoy my life. it’s hard to be in mental and physical pain all the time, the latter for absolutely no coherent reason. i mean i’d rather have a bunch of random problems than like, lupus or MS or something, for sure, but everything that happens to me is so meaningless and arbitrary, i’m starting to get that feeling like god hates me. it’s also hard to have the constant feeling that so many people think that failure to enjoy life is exclusively a matter of “not trying hard enough”, being a pill, looking for attention. i don’t know what to do anymore. i’m real pissed. i think what i need is a change of philosophy, which will be a long hard road. at least i know it’s the one and only area where i, and only i, have some level of control. wish me luck.

[aureoledawning]

In the Name of……..

I think that religion is a beautiful way for people to gather and express their devotion for a power higher than the human existence. Unfortunately our world has seen too much damage and disgrace from individuals, that just want to create trouble and to be self-righteous. These individuals use religion and faith as an excuse to be cruel, malicious and parade their own morally just lives. I have never heard of any God, Deity, or Religious Stature be so merciless as to cause pain to any human life or creature upon this earth. This is all made up in the minds of self-appointed individuals, that they are some kind of warrior from the heavens. They think they are here on this earth to cast judgement and punishment.  In reality they are just warmongers stirring unrest and satisfying their own agenda of  what they deem as a pure bred world. What a ridiculous notion. There are very few on this entire earth that has mastered the human condition, to by pass the mind and lead with the heart of true wisdom. Those who gather just to judge and condemn, are not people of faith. They only gather to serve their own inadequacies and to avoid their own responsibilities in this world. Perhaps if these individuals focused on their own lives, instead of minding everyone else’s business, there would be much more peace in this world. In the name of truth and honesty these individuals should say the real reason why they gather. They need to point the finger at others to show how bad they are and praise themselves for being so holy and living such a saintly life. 

I am always open to visiting different faiths and religious gatherings. I spent some time at a Christian gathering. I very much enjoyed the Sunday lunches and the bible study groups. Sadly the arrogance for the people outside their faith began to be very apparent. This one occasion the Pastor scoured the bible for every passage and verse that denounced homosexuality and posted it to social media. It would have have taken him a month of Sunday’s to find every single piece of damning evidence to condemn the gay community. What on earth did this ever prove and to who ? What a useless waste of time when he could have been doing, I don’t know ? Yes, I do know know. Perhaps he could have been looking up the definition of respect and learning how to respect. I say this because one particular time I was at their bible study group and the very same Pastor was making a comment upon the commoners that surrounded Jesus. The Pastor said, “Oh they were all cow licking Jesus” I was stunned by what the Pastor had just said. What kind of an ill mannered and uncouth reference was that to say in bible study group. I looked up (from my bible), and everyone was unperturbed by the Pastor’s comments. Now I certainly wasn’t a fully fledged bible person, however I even know that there is a level of respect and decency when people are discussing holy scriptures. If that wasn’t enough, another member of the group was making a comment upon another one of the readings. The woman said, “bullsh_t”. Again I looked around, but the other members were happily still listening to what the woman had to say. Is this just me in thinking these people have little regard for something that should be treated with much more reverence.  A couple of days later the Pastor had called me and I let him know how disrespectful it was for him to make such a crude remark. His response was, “well its my humanness that sometimes gets in the way”. No, I thought. It’s an all encompassing smug notion of himself. He did not keep himself in check. When an individual becomes too used to judging and condemning others for their sinful lives. These individuals cannot see what they need to look at in their own lives. This was a feeble excuse to sidestep the crude talk that was used in the bible study group, than to recognise it was the Pastor’s own unrefined manner and indeed lack of respect to lead this group with a higher level of decency. This is an issue of significant concern and it is not just isolated to one specific religion. Religious leaders are responsible for teaching and guiding people to a higher ideal of life. 

Instead of touting a self-righteous attitude of being such a saintly person, individuals need to recognise the significance to develop themselves. To develop in body, mind and spirit. That is the fundamental teachings in every religion isn’t it? Not one person especially Priests, Pastors and Leaders in the philosophical teachings, is above keeping themselves to the order of themselves. It is about developing character and to live from a class of dignity and decorum. Without these qualities there isn’t even any point to hold a bible study group nor to gather In the Name of any God or any other religious reason. When there is no sincere connection to serve humanity, individuals only serve the Devil’s wretched will. One would only need ask what is this truly In the Name of ?

All Praise for thy Self

I trained at a club for years. The coach made it a point to herald his Christian faith and make his charitable efforts well known. This was not for the glory of his faith, it was for seeking out the glory for being a do-gooder. Ensuring that others knew how much of a good samaritan he was. A good deed never needs a fan fare. I was very sad to find this truth the hard way. After four years of having my club membership payment go through my credit card, the payment details had changed. The financial institute that oversaw the payments required that payment be deducted from personal accounts. I had told the coach that I was not comfortable with this. I do not know why the financial institute needed to dictate the way the payments were structured, given they actually were taken on by the club, meaning they do not layout the terms. Coach went on to say, “couldn’t I used my mother’s account, or someone else’s ?”. I began to see everything in its own truth. Even after I had told coach that I wasn’t comfortable having a financial institute having access to my account. 

Coach did not hold such a high concern for people, he just wanted praise to be seen as a person doing such good things for others. Even the very spot in which this conversation took place, confirmed the contrast in his efforts to help people find solutions and be where they wanted to be. We spoke at the back of the club in the darkened corner, just outside the bathrooms. Just as well because his God could never see or hear him say what he had said. He then told me that I needed to find another club, if I could not pay. I actually was managing the payment for the past four years. There was no concern for my jujitsu journey, like he had said to me many times before. It was about money and only one way that I was supposed to make the club membership payment without question. My worth was my concerns and it was not acknowledged. 

Charity and the pretence of goodwill is not something that is touted to receive praise. Charity is the contribution to society to ensure dignity, respect and value is kept at a high level. Coach had no hesitation to tell me to go or to offer me any other alternatives for me to stay at the club, because there wasn’t anyone else around for him to praise him for his efforts. As too I questioned the system.

Faith for Self-Indulgence

It is a disgraceful dishonour to use faith and religion as a shield to hide behind. To vilify others and become so self-indulgent in the glory of self-acclaimed good deeds. It is so sad that individuals stand in religious faiths and manipulate these teachings for their own selfish purposes. It has corrupted what was meant to be a wholesome expression for human kind. Irrespective of the denomination, religion was always for the kinship of the human spirit. I share my experiences to highlight it is not within the beautiful gatherings of faith, that religion is merciless and foreboding. It is within the self-indulgent and attention seeking individuals that spill off self-righteous sermons. It is within the inadequacies of individuals that publicly declare their own saintly lives, then harbour in the shadows to hide their misdeeds and deceptions. The truth is when an individual is professing a faith, for their own self-serving purposes, then it is never In the Name of Goodness or for the goodwill of humanity. 

[networkmarketingspeaker]

10 Ways To “Up-Level” Your Network Marketing Business

Network marketing is not just an excellent way to add an additional stream of income to your life, but it also gives you the amazing opportunity to be a part of a strong community of like-minded, passionate people! This business concept has been around for decades and is exponentially growing on a global scale year after year due to the fact that … It works! The residual income and dual business model that most companies provide offer individuals the opportunity to make it either a full-time career or a substantial second income.

With all of that said, in order to be successful in this business, it does require hard work, stepping outside of your comfort zone, and being persistent. Thankfully, once you set up a solid network of relationships, your business becomes MUCH less time-intensive, and it’s almost like going on “autopilot”. As I’m sure you can imagine, the key is to get to this crucial point as fast as possible!  

Here are 10 simple steps to help you jump-start your business and maximize your network marketing potential in the next 7 days:

 1.    Use Your Products Regularly

This is number 1 for a reason! This is the most ignored part of almost every network marketing business. How do you expect your business to succeed if you will not even use your own products? Having a first-hand testimonial story from your products is HUGE. Being able to expertly answer your customer’s questions, post photos of yourself with your products, and educate people on the benefits your product may deliver are all keys to great marketing and repeat sales. If you are not already, make a commitment to start using your products this week and see where your business goes!  

 2.    Educate Yourself Constantly

This is very important! Business and self-help books are a great way to start. Many industry leaders or stand-out CEOs have written books about how they got their business started and how they reached the top. Following the path of successful people before you is always a smart way to start in any business. Reading books on cultivating a positive attitude and a business mindset will set you up for success when you are facing a lull in your business or feel like you don’t want to keep going. Successful people are constantly working on their self-development and expanding their horizons. I recommend reading a mindset, business, or self-help book for a minimum of 15 minutes each day, preferably in the morning, to set the day off right!

 3.    Spend As Much Time As Possible With Your Upline

Your upline is a vast source of knowledge and information. Mingle with top distributors in your group, or other groups, and ask how they made it. Do three-way calls with your prospective customers/ business partners and your upline so you can get comfortable talking about your products and your business model as soon as possible. Most people are more than happy to share tips and advice with you. Be coachable and listen to their advice.

 4.    Start Making a List And Reach Out To A Minimum of 10 People Each Day

Start by making two lists: one of the people who you know would be interested in your products and another of the people who you think would be interested in hearing about your business and possibly want to join you. Making these lists are essential, and moving through these lists every day and reaching out to a minimum of 10 people per day will put you on the fast track to success. Almost every successful network marketer has done this at some point, and many habitually continue to do this because they know it works! It keeps you consistent, it keeps you actively engaged every day, and it continues to open new doors of opportunity to move more product or reach more people who may be looking to join a business like yours.

 5.    Care For Your Downline

An entire book can be written on this topic. Usually, it’s the little things that show how much you really care. Maintain regular contact, especially in the beginning. Offer online group hangouts and trainings to get your team started strong and always praise your team members’ accomplishments. Offer incentives for specific achievements, such as free product, recognition, free admission to a company training, money, or other rewards that will keep your group motivated. The more you can motivate them in the beginning and get them connected to the group, the more they will want to stay engaged and be excited about continuing to build, make more money, and move up in the ranks of the company.

 6.    Duplicate Yourself By Making Your Team Independent Of You

This will help to multiply your time and make you and your team more effective. Always lead by example. Never stop recruiting, training, and retailing. Remember the KISS formula - “Keep It Simple, Sweet” I know, I know, I changed the last word, but you get the meaning. You do this by conducting simple, brief, yet dramatic presentations and teaching your downline to do the same. Help your team with their personalized “elevator pitch” so that they feel comfortable sharing the products and the business opportunity as soon as possible.

 7.    Create a Large Customer Base

This is another largely ignored, yet very important, piece of your network marketing business. Don’t focus so much on building a huge downline that you forget how much profit you can also make by selling your products to retail customers. Some people will just not want to become part of your downline, no matter how great a product/system you may have. But, they may be very interested in buying your product directly from you. Social media has allowed us unlimited access to free marketing to people we know, and to people we have never met before. The more you post about your products or lifestyle and educate people on the benefits of what your product offers, the more you will create a consistent flow of customers and a steady stream of monthly, residual income.

 8.    Focus On Your Customers’ Needs

You must give customers more than they expect, and always satisfy your customers’ complaints immediately. Try to listen 80% of the time, and talk only 20%. Asking questions and choosing products based on their individual needs will keep them coming back. When posting, don’t just post about your product; post about the problem that your customer has and why this product will help. Focusing on people’s pain points is what will draw them to you and the solution you have for them. As stated above, your customers can be a huge source of future referrals and/or business. You must earn and maintain their trust. Once you have their trust, you can always ask for referrals, which leads to even more business and a larger downline.  

 9.    Set Daily, Weekly, Monthly, & Yearly Goals - and Write Them Down!

Goal setting is essential, and creating achievable goals so as not to get overwhelmed right off the bat, is important. Breaking up a larger goal into smaller, more easily attainable goals is the key to success. You cannot just jump to the end. You have to make progress every day. Writing your goals down will help you succeed. A goal is just a “passing thought” or “wish” until you put it in writing. That is when it becomes concrete and real. It is also a great idea to keep a business journal of your daily activities, as it will help you to become more productive and time-conscious.

 10.  Get Out There And Do It Now!

The most important ingredient is ACTION! The quicker you start following the guidelines your upline has created for you, learning the products and their benefits, and start reaching out to people every single day, the quicker your business will take off and the more motivated you will be to keep going! If you are unsure about what to say or are still learning about your products, use your upline to help you reach out to your prospects. When your friends, family, and colleagues see your excitement and enthusiasm for your new products and business venture, they will automatically want to know more about what you’re doing. Not taking action is the #1 reason for failing at anything in life. If you commit to consistent action every single day, you will be a success at network marketing!

  By following these simple steps, you should begin to see the results start to materialize fairly quickly in your business! Hopefully, this has provided you with some actionable insights to help you to grow and succeed as you dive into this exciting business opportunity. And, as with anything worth working towards, please don’t forget to enjoy the journey on your way to the top!

[danyelle756games]

What do you get in a $400.00 gaming pc

‘Mortal Kombat 11' Director Shares Shaggy ‘Mortal Kombat 11' Meme TWO BEARD GAMING

No matter if you are a 1st-time gamer or an individual who has been gaming because the golden age, there's no denying that the sector has grown. These numbers can definitely differ per study, but it does look like the quantity of female significant gamers are on a downward trend. The last time we checked in females have been closer to 45%-48% of gamers. We can speculate as to why this is. Probably females are significantly less fond of the emergence of the eSports trend. Possibly females are feeling much less incorporated in gaming forums and on the net communities immediately after the harassment accusations of the final couple of years. Perhaps they are just a lot more drawn to other entertainment industries, but this is undoubtedly a trend to continue watching.

As with video content material, adding personality, character, and high-quality to your written content will make it extra compelling, and would pique the interest of gamers. These types of articles resonate improved with your audience, which assists you get greater internet visitors. Game critiques, news, and analyses are some of the most preferred articles in gaming sites, and are guaranteed to get you website traffic, given that it is high good quality. It is very best to look for some exceptional examples of video game writing, and come across a writing style that would match your branding, and make you stand out from the rest.

Some folks may think about the Microsoft DOS (MS-DOS) era as the golden age of Pc gaming. That's when games like The Secret of Monkey Island, Ultima VI: The False Prophet, Doom, SimCity, and a bunch of other retro-tastic titles emerged. Unit-e, the similar corporation that built a giant (and functioning) NES controller that doubles as a coffee table, is hoping to recapture some of that magic with a pint-sized Computer.

The publisher funds the game and its release, when the studio styles and develops the game. Through the 2000s, publishers began funding studios that created games of all sizes and excellent. This fostered an market that developed video games at a volume too substantial for customer demand and with little focus on top quality Eventually demand for these low-high-quality games faded and publishers stopped funding these studios, eliminating a massive portion of the gaming labor market place.

Solardream - If you are a person who is into higher-end gaming keyboards, then this one particular is fantastic for you. The design and style is very distinctive with the RGB strips on either side of the SolarDream. The backlight has different light modes which let you customize your time with this keyboard. It also has 5 programmable keys which is a have to have for gamers. The programmable keys are on the left side of the board. A lot of people also uncover a lot of use out of the 12 media and function keys present in this model.

This UK primarily based gaming community website is sure to amaze you with its quirky reviews and attributes on the trending on the internet games. Find also curated columns and interviews that give you just about every detail about your pick. As Google Play and the Apple iOS App Retailer celebrate ten years of delivering applications to smartphone customers, gaming technology for mobile devices continues to boost in leaps and bounds.

PenNews is a contemporary and clever responsive WordPress multiconcept news & magazine web site theme. It really is a effective platform for webmasters across the spectrum. Regardless of industry or niche, PenNews has the demos and templates to make your life less complicated. You never want to know any coding to operate the WP Bakery like a pro. Great post designs match various stories, to always deliver the message appropriate. Gaming magazines and news blogs are a best match for PenNews.

Hold in mind that though lots of ladies gamers are merely casual players, many more are involved in the gaming globe beyond merely choosing up a mobile game or two. Women are interested in each games and gaming influencers, and tend to take suggestions from stated influencers pretty seriously. In reality, they account for 30% of YouTube gaming video views alone, and the quantity is only expanding. In addition, 39% of female gamers look to the guidance of friends and family members when thinking about a new game, so word-of-mouth is significant as effectively, even if the games they are playing tend to be more of a solo endeavour.

The Best Way To GAMING

Really glad that my blog inspired you to start your own. Yes it's hard perform and it takes some time to develop, but if you do it properly you can have a terrific on the internet brand. Beginning the weblog is only the starting, so make sure to study the rest of my articles in the Gaming Blog Series which will take you via all the actions. If you have any inquiries never hesitate to ask me, I am satisfied to enable exactly where I can.

For the moment, standard consoles are more well-known than ever, but it's not a stretch to consider them dying out. Cloud gaming technology is swiftly maturing to the point where it could quickly turn into the mainstream solution, even if other folks continue to exist for enthusiasts. Comparable to how film buffs nonetheless seek out physical media and music fans nonetheless spend thousands on record collections, specialised hardware will in all probability normally have a place in the houses of hardcore gamers.

Jay Is Games a free on the net gaming arcade more info as effectively reviewer of casual browser gaming. Even though gaming has been prevalent in our culture for decades, the rise of gaming video content material is fairly current. Brands have a distinctive opportunity to jump on a rising trend that millions of millennials engage with just about every single day and connect with them in a genuine way.

Octro, the developer behind the wildly well known Teen Patti and Indian Rummy casino games have revolutionized Indian gaming by allowing players to play with buddies although monetizing every single aspect of their game to good accomplishment. Globally recognised as the second most significant digital retailer of video games, Green Man Gaming was founded in May possibly 2010, and is the fastest developing multi-platform digital retailer in the video games market targeting millions of gamers about the planet via its exceptional data-driven social commerce web site.

Play, win, repeat, this is the tagline of Entropia. This also applies when designing your web site with this gaming WordPress theme. It also operates to build game-altering components that can win you over potential customers and anticipating fans. Sell your products and solutions triumphantly with the enable of the WooCommerce framework. Entropia is responsive and retina-prepared as properly. It comes with tons of widgets and shortcodes that permit you website personalization alternatively of imitating other individuals. What is most effective? You do not will need to plan and code or do any advance tasks to function with Entropia seamlessly.

The Atlantic Gaming Desk is a piece of steel furniture that is specifically built for today's modern day gamer or even a house office owner. Its sturdy legs come completely integrated with cup holders and other attachments that are basically best for organizing a variety of your personal computer accessories and peripherals. The Atlantic Gaming Desk also capabilities a special cable management technique that organizes the different wires and cables that your devices possess. There is a charging station, a monitor stand, game storage rack, game controller hooks, gaming speaker trays, and a complete lot a lot more. Its padded feet will not also scratch your floor.

Networking on-line doesn't require the exact same attitude of in-particular person networking. And due to the fact most bloggers connect via the World-wide-web it's a lot less complicated for new gaming bloggers to reach out and meet other individuals in the field. Why Tiny Cartridge is a Top Video Game Resource: Handheld fanatics really should surely follow this blog to learn about the latest big and indie releases, handheld gaming peripherals and other solutions, and additional. They even have a podcast so you can download the most current handheld gaming news on the go.

[supercoolgamesstuff-blog]

Google Stadia Reviewed – Against The Stream

New Post has been published on https://www.coolgamingzone.com/google-stadia-reviewed-against-the-stream/

Google Stadia Reviewed – Against The Stream

Introduction

By the mid-2000s, Blu-ray felt like the future of media. Blu-ray video looked incredible and offered cleaner picture and sound quality than previous media formats. “Surely,” we thought, “the technology that comes after Blu-ray will look even more impressive!” But then something strange happened; as streaming services like Netflix took off, more and more of us ditched physical media in favor of the cloud. Streaming didn’t offer the same level of fidelity as Blu-ray – or sometimes even DVD – but it was good enough. More importantly, it was convenient. The desire to watch anything anywhere outpaced our desire for image quality.

Now it’s 2019, streaming services have come a long way, and tech goliath Google thinks it has figured out how to Netflix the gaming industry. The tech is surprisingly functional, but its ability to upturn the industry will depend largely on its ability to implement its grand blueprint. Sadly, Stadia’s current design is missing several important pillars.

Gaming on Stadia

Gaming on Stadia

Stadia’s concept still sounds a bit like science fiction: Earlier this year, Google sold a vision of players using wi-fi-enable controllers to communicate with a hive of supercomputers in the cloud, which would allow users to stream the most advanced gaming software to decade-old laptops and mobile phones. Google’s system worked well at trade shows, but those were highly controlled environments. How does the service work now that we’ve been able to test it in the wild? Surprisingly well … if you have a stable internet connection.

On the whole, Stadia performs better than I expected. The high-speed internet at the Game Informer offices regularly gets download/upload speeds of 280 Mbps, so I rarely noticed even a hiccup while playing games at work. Mortal Kombat 11 on a stable Stadia connection booted up in seconds and feels about as responsive as its console counterparts. I had no problem dialing in combos and Fatalities even though my inputs had to travel through miles of infrastructure to bounce off Google servers.

Unfortunately, the experience quickly degrades as your internet speeds dial down. At a nearby coffee shop, where I recorded download speeds of 38 Mbps, I noticed a few frame skips every couple minutes. At home, where my speeds regularly drop to 20 Mbps, I experienced some visual artifacting and a regular picture stutter. With these slower internet speeds, I didn’t feel competitive in Destiny 2’s PvP modes, but I was able to complete a strike without a problem. Everyone’s tolerance for this kind of experience will vary, but my frustration over the occasional hiccup was mitigated by the revelation that I could play Destiny 2 in public on my phone (see the controller sidebar for more).

Stadia’s service only dropped out completely on me once due to a poor signal, but an instance of my game was saved and I had five minutes to hop back online and pick up where I’d left off. I wish Google would extend that grace period and allow users to create their own save states (a feature called State Share, which is still in the works), but I never lost any progress in a game, and my experience was stable enough across the board that I didn’t live in fear of being unable to access my games.

Google’s service isn’t a one-size-fits-all streaming solution, and you should carefully measure your internet speeds before committing to the platform. Many will find Stadia’s occasional stutters unbearable, while others will feel that it’s good enough. Personally, I can’t imagine trading any of my game consoles for a Stadia stream anytime soon.

  What about that controller?

An online-only streaming service seems like a bold new direction for the gaming industry, but Google isn’t interested in reinventing the controller. The Stadia controller smartly hews close to modern controller design. The pad itself has a nice weight and feels a lot like the PS4 controller thanks to its ergonomic shell and symmetrical analog sticks. The buttons produce a satisfying click and feel sturdy, and I got about seven hours of use from a single charge. Of course, Google has its equivalent of the start, options, and home buttons. However, Google added a screen capture and virtual assistant button to the mix, and this creates a jumble of buttons near the center of the controller. I constantly hit the screen-capture button when I meant to pause a game, which was frustrating.

At launch, the controller also doesn’t work wirelessly with any device other than the Chromecast. This means that in order to play on a laptop or phone you have to connect your device to a controller using a USB C cord, which I found cumbersome. In fact, I was actually a little embarrassed to pull out my tangle of gadgets to play games at Starbucks.

I also wasn’t able to connect the Stadia controller to wi-fi that featured a web browser login, meaning you probably won’t be able to use Google’s controllers wirelessly in locations like hotels that -require a secondary login screen. The Stadia controller might be a nice piece of physical hardware, but these tech issues need to get ironed out as soon as possible.

Under Construction

Under Construction  

Google’s streaming tech might be ready for prime time, but its service certainly isn’t. Many of the more exciting features either aren’t available for launch or won’t roll out until 2020. For starters, Google’s Pixel smartphones are the only phones that Stadia users will be able to use for streaming at launch. Achievements also won’t be viewable at this time, but Google says that Stadia is recording your progress, so once the feature is enabled, users will receive credit for everything they’ve done since then.

The Google Assistant is another exciting feature that is being kicked down the road. During the Stadia reveal event, Google said that with the tap of a button users could speak into their Stadia controller and pull up YouTube walkthroughs or other helpful advice for any game they played. This feature is absent at launch. Google says that the Google Assistant will be available soon, but even then, the Assistant will only be available from the Stadia home screen and only allow users to launch games or turn on their TV.

Stadia’s incomplete feature list is so long it’s a little embarrassing. What about Stream Connect, which is Google’s way of supporting multiplayer by allowing Stadia users to create local couch co-op experiences via split-screen? Coming later this year. What about Family Sharing, which lets you share games with other users in your family? Sometime soon. What about Crowd Play, which lets streamers play games with their viewers? Hopefully, sometime next year. What about streaming over cellular networks? I’ll let you take a guess. If Stadia had all these features, it might feel like the next big leap in gaming, but as it is, the platform is just a basic streaming platform that offers less than a home console. 

In the end, Stadia’s biggest problem is likely its lack of software. Stadia doesn’t have many dedicated experiences that will drive longtime gamers to the platform. The system’s launch lineup features some great games, such as Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Red Dead Redemption 2, but those are all more than a year old and there isn’t a single triple-A exclusive on the horizon. This is a big problem for Google. If the company hopes to attract more people to the service, it needs to provide a reason to be on Stadia. In other words: It needs more games.

A look at Google’s data center that allows Stadia to run

Launch Lineup

Google Stadia Launch Lineup:

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey  

Attack on Titan: Final Battle 2

Destiny 2: The Collection (available in Stadia Pro)

Farming Simulator 2019

Final Fantasy XV

Football Manager 2020

Grid 2019

Gylt

Just Dance 2020

Kine

Metro Exodus  

Mortal Kombat 11

NBA 2K20

Rage 2

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Red Dead Redemption 2

Samurai Shodown (available in Stadia Pro)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Thumper

Tomb Raider 2013

Trials Rising

Wolfenstein: Youngblood

Reportedly Releasing Before The End Of 2019:

Borderlands 3

Darksiders Genesis

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint

The Bottom Line

The Bottom Line: 6 out of 10

Stadia seems tailored for a different crowd – the kind of game-curious individual who only pays attention to the occasional blockbuster release and isn’t willing to throw down a few hundred dollars on a dedicated piece of gaming hardware. Next year, when Google launches the free version of the Stadia service, the platform might find that audience. On the other hand, Stadia’s service isn’t currently valuable enough to justify the $129.99 early adopters price tag. Anyone devoted enough to follow industry trends probably cares enough about this hobby to spend the extra money on a console that provides a lag-free experience.

Still, I want something like Stadia to succeed. Purchasing a game and immediately booting it up without concern for downloads or updates is liberating, and when you have a stable internet connection, streaming games off the cloud feels like magic. Oddly enough, Stadia filled me with excitement for a game-streaming future, but it left me with less confidence that Stadia would be the platform to usher us forward.

Editorial Note: This review was conducted in a pre-release environment. We may revisit this review as we play more games after launch and as Google releases console updates.

Understanding Pricing

On day one, consumers can purchase the Stadia Premiere Edition for $129, which includes three free months of Stadia Pro, a Google Chromecast Ultra, and a Stadia Controller. Stadia Pro is Google’s subscription service, which costs $9.99 a month and gives players access to the highest quality streams (4K/60 fps/HDR/5.1 sound) as well as exclusive discounts on game purchases (TBA). Early next year, everyone will be able to stream games through Stadia at no cost, however, the streaming quality will be throttled to 1080p/60fps with stereo sound. No matter how you approach the service, games still need to be purchased à la carte.

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[builderfly]

Can you see the way online shopping has changed?

Now, you are never again constrained to spend hours on online shopping sites—you can simply click through a brand’s Instagram and effectively buy that shirt updated in a post. Social media is capable of boosting the growth of any business, which is the impact of ecommerce.

Considering everything, both social media and online shopping turn out to be an integral part of our lives. Their collaboration is making it significant and influential ideation for businesses to actualize their dream idea.

Here’s the reason.

Quality in Numbers

What is one thing that isolates social from other marketing channels? NUMBERS! Holy yes! Would you be able to envision that Facebook alone has 2 billion dynamic month to month clients? That is two trailed by I-don’t-know-what number of zeroes long. Furthermore, even though Facebook is the father of social media, there are different powerful platforms to be dealt with, like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and the rundown goes on and on.

Is Socila Media empowering ecommerce or Ecommerce empowering Social media?

This is the part where ecommerce organizations can literally have clashes. One essential requirement for an ecommerce site is Sales! Who triggers these deals? People or site guests as they are named in the online marketing language. Subsequently, social media ticks all the privilege boxes here by allowing ecommerce site owners to exhibit their items and services to the world; honestly, truth be told.

Am I not persuaded at this point?

We should dismember this a little bit at a time and see how social media and ecommerce are bound to go inseparably:

Revealing to People Your Brand is Alive

How would you anticipate that individuals should realize that the image of your business exists? Can’t shout and yell till everybody gets the message currently, can you?

All you have to do is start via social media and present yourself before the world. The world that remains online seven days per week, 365 days per year.

This is the pre-imperative of all marketing endeavors.

Storytelling Is A Must!

Gone are those days when individuals like to scan through long entries and sections of content. Nobody has saved time any longer!

This is the time of visual creativity, about relating to a story instead of merely advertising your items with a single site connect.

Tell the story of your brand, how it came to the realization, what’s the motivation, early-day battles, about its legacy. Hence, people connect with the brand itself and build a stable relationship.

Building Your Brand

How would you need your ecommerce brand to be depicted as? What hues do you see your group wearing? How would you need your clients to resemble? Who’s the one to be focused in the crowd? What sort of a client would you say you are serving? What’s the age band you need to target? Each one of these inquiries can be replied with the strength of social media.

You need to make a brand around your ecommerce site with the goal that clients don’t simply run in for deals; however, for the contact too.

Hi Customers!

This is somewhat of an easy decision! Social media ensures numbers. What can be another place where you can get a canvas of conceivably millions basically by signing in?

This is a one-stop answer for potential people who are simply standing by to purchase what you’re selling.

The best thing about being present via social media is that it’s pretty much free! This is the sort of ROI that you find in paradise.

Amazing Customer Service

Businesses are continually progressing in the direction of improving relations with clients, and social media gives a superior approach to do so. Companies can improve how they can satisfy clients’ needs through a value-based web approach. This encourages you to better draw in with your clients and the market.

The instantaneous response is a significant component in web-based life, giving temporary access to what you’re doing. Social media gives you ease, as a business to rapidly react to real client questions, while at the same time making it simpler to see and respond to those disagreeable remarks. This gives you get a prompt response to support your clients, and you can build up techniques to react through these stages.

At the point when everybody’s utilizing these objectives, it bodes well to react and arrive at clients along these lines. Shoppers will adore that you’ve adopted this strategy to draw in with the brand.

Drive Visitors To Your Website

Make social media the channel through which people arrive at your site, which is the whole ballgame by the day’s end. You need deals, and this is how you’ll get them.

Social media is an effective tool loaded down with natural traffic; no big surprise why organizations burn through millions for genuine leads.

Helps Your SEO Efforts

You probably won’t know this yet; however, having a decent social media presence supports your site’s SEO remainder primarily. Indeed, even the best SEO company out there will recommend a similar immediately.

Just as the significance of SEO for e-commerce is mammoth, social media isn’t excessively a long way behind.

These are two powers if functioning couple admirably can soar your deals in only months.

Google considers how you’re contacting your crowd, how you’re interfacing with them, what they’re stating about your brand, the rating, and the criticism you’re getting while at the same time choosing search engine ranking positions, makes a successful situation for your business.

Making Community

Your customers and clients are something beyond that—they’re a piece of your locale. Your customers have discovered something in your image they identify with. This is the reason they like you.

You need to develop that network, notwithstanding building reliability inside it. Strategize how you can build your followers and guarantee every one of your posts is much increasingly viable and locks in. Offer fun, astonishing, and helpful substance that your crowd identifies with. Start discussions, regardless of whether it’s by commenting on the post or identifying a companion.

Social media enables your image to pick up trust and assemble credibility. Think of your social profile as your retail facade. Reliably present connecting with the content to develop your business and keep the network that cherishes all that you do.

Impact Buying Decisions

We just said how clients interact with social media, is an impacting factor in their buying choices. On the off chance that your profile needs content—or you aren’t even on the stage—you’re on a difficult task with regards to persuading your crowd to purchase from you. You need compelling content for each phase of the shoppers.

In the advanced age, you need to go on the web. Online networking impacts brand notoriety, to such an extent that it impacts the purchasing choice. An incredible online life nearness is vital for unmistakable ecommerce results.

Solid Brand Image

A functional social media presence enhances how individuals see your brand. Positive client surveys, input, and recognition help in ecommerce conversion. Make it a piece of your system to incorporate item surveys and client created content. This gold-mine strategy is how a client exceptionally acknowledge because they perceive themselves in the matter.

Individuals are as of now discussing you. Internet-based life places you as an in-charge of your brand’s account. Utilize this to grow your potential benefit to design the full picture. At the point when your crowd sees a strong reaction, they are forced to discover progressively about you. Customers account for validity, and this ultimately grows their trust upon you and your business.

It’s About More Than Selling

We know that the sole reason for your social presence is to sell, but if you follow through this approach, your followers and clients will quickly catch it. So, try to be contributing to the community. Social media is more than a gateway to a web-based business. You need to draw in with clients on another level, one that isn’t just about purchasing.

Individuals use Instagram, Pinterest, and different platforms for interest and human touch. Offer your image, its advantage, and relatable substance that is in line with your clients. Think about internet-based life past its selling potential: It’s a new method to draw in with your crowd and an instrument to hype the best material that shows off your image. You don’t need to do everything solo either—curation is staggeringly accommodating.

You’re constructing an association with clients, and you need to cultivate a sound association with them. Try not to be dynamic just when you’re attempting to sell.

Platform Purchasing Techniques

Utilizing an assortment of systems is significant because everyone is made with various ultimate objectives. Amplify your effort’s potential and take advantage of every stage. Not exclusively would it be able to facilitate the business procedure and permit an increasingly successful connection with clients, utilizing every step enables you to change your methodologies and complete deals in various ways.

Facebook, for instance, remembers worked for instruments for occasion advancements and is incredible for profoundly focused on broadcasting. Instagram is, to a great extent, considered the millennial go-to, with its convincing invitations to take action and high-caliber visual substance. Every stage has its very own advantages that engage your clients to purchase.

Exploit the trendy things inside every interpersonal company activity, such as hashtags, live video, join fastens. A significant piece of social networking includes the following patterns, and these subtleties help to flourish your business’s perception.

Conclusion

As observed above, Social media marketing isn’t a choice with to do or not to do; however, an impulse for each brand, be it a little developing one or effectively settled. Making social media channels the key idea of communication, the companies can connect with a more extensive unbiased crowd and convert them into a client base. Being embraced by numerous online business organizations now, social media marketing has just demonstrated its value.

Remember, the quantity of social media clients is required to arrive at 2.5 billion by 2018, and it is a major open door for all organizations. Is it safe to say that it isn’t?

[thatguywhowearspink]

Run after your data, Not the IT

I . T .-'IT'-is pricey. Almost every Chief executive officer, CFO, COO-virtually every manager at each level of any company on the market understands that irrefutable point. It's ordinarily a key series product in every enterprise budget.

For the IT team, handling the provider practical ability indicates initially locating a product that satisfies regardless of what have to have the enterprise has come up with (and in most cases the strange whim of the individual director), then your purchase, installment, exercising, and repair of the component, software, networking systems, and databases which go with the application. Then you get to be worried about interfaces between the resources, reviews, security (equally external and internal), and the superb, irrepressible, unusual, and quite often exploitation behaviors of the customers despite you've supplied accomplish last part-to-stop exercising on the cool product.

Then a person changes their intellect and you get to do it all through just as before.

Personally, i consider every metro spot must have a non-public asylum correctly leaders. This facility will need to can come that comes with places for your for the moment insane to perform individual and brutal exploitation of computer hardware, provide you with them a setup of punching bags designed to look like ignorant (not foolish, just unlikely) firm officers, plus an even more stomping floor loaded with beginners meant to resemble a variety of knuckle-going end users. Together with a exclusive place of heck for hackers...

A really center could well be packed to capability at all times.

The madness doesn't end using the IT team. For other business staff, IT changes means that a long time or times of training, down time and loss in productivity that is included with IT concerns, failures, or program renovations.

For sales staff, an IT glitch can mean missing chance, reduction in profits, and a lower than stellar picture of this company that may remain in a customer's head for some time. Salesmen may possibly never beat an undesirable buyer experience produced by unsuccessful IT. The term "your computer will probably be your friend" is simply not greatly talked amongst sales agents.

However it is an essential bad, isn't it? What organization could perform without this?

Well, it is actually needed. Even an resourceful young male or female going into the workforce the first time mowing back yards requires a opportinity for people to attain him/her, the right way to run a routine, even perhaps methods to monitor who has paid out their costs.

But could it need to be satanic?

Imagine if the satanic-ness happens due to the fact we're planning to fix an incorrect issue with the IT? We're wanting to drive a round peg right into a square gap, visualizing It will clear up our trouble without the need of actually discovering what the catch is? We shop for computer units, communities, communication, and many types of activities something-take and regulate facts. A very simple proven fact that we inherently are all aware but gloss in excess of-it isn't the IT that's vital, it's what's traversing that this.

It's around the data. Individuals little parts and bytes that make up people that comprise info things that coalesce into information that provides us practical knowledge that further more transforms into learning ability you can use and behaved on.

It's relating to the files. Still we run after the instruments cruising the data.

But delay (you say)! We have now our directories. That's area of the IT. That's just where our data is stashed. We need the IT to get at our data. It's OUR data.

Properly, sure... type of.

But not genuinely. Your business does retail store records into your databases regarding your small business, ordinarily within a proprietary collection that is certainly piece and package with the software you've procured. Most-at least quite a lot-of that particular info is repeated in other products, some internal for your firm, but the majority absolutely using some other outer technique. And starting a databases is actually difficult work, what with having things discovered, parsed, migrated inside the suitable job areas, verified, and the like. It may take time and manpower which means money spent.

And exactly how uncomplicated might it be to have it back again from that data bank after you've chosen to proceed to our next great IT item? How many IT leaders operate an exit tactic while doing so they're producing their purchase tactic? If you pick a proprietary products, are you aware what information proper rights you may have and exactly how you'll get out of that products once the time occurs? Mainly because it will. (In addition, the answer then is frequently 'no'-it's hard enough to acquire the product or service ready to go despite the fact that suggesting to your merchant and organization control that you're actually thinking about (and shelling out cash on) its demise.)

OK, so who may have the data (where is the best data bank truly placed and who handles it? Who may have get? Who possesses it (don't make an supposition listed here))? How might it be sent back again in order to relocate it towards a competitor's base? Do you need to obtain a amazing (meaning, overpriced) tool to get the details? Who manages concerns? Who offers the proof in recent times and that means you really know very well what that data base appears to be and precisely what every single element means that (due to the fact that changes too)? This edges for the geeky but X would possibly not generally and eternally indicate X, or possibly now its X 2. Could be X is currently alpha-numeric unlike it started off as numeric only. These facts is completely crucial-what modified then when? Without the need of that documents, you will have absolutely no way of being aware of should your information and facts are accomplish, if its in fact perfect or if perhaps its been damaged.

Really like your repository professionals.

So, back to who essentially holds the information. Despite the fact that your imminently practical IT manager has the bases protected in terms of data source ownership and many types of, do you really essentially own personal the info things?

No. You hold the intelligence which comes from utilizing the information, as well as any future safe-keeping and retrieval of this learning ability, and you don't really arrive at determine the information components that make up that cleverness.

As an illustration, the US Interpersonal Security amount. The US Govt has it-its shape and rules, plus the material allocated a unique. Your organization has no say inside the make any difference. It may possibly, however, be applied in numerous methods. Some IT devices utilise all nine people-with or without the dashes-even though some only keep your last four, 6, or several. Other nations have particular detection numbers that appear to be absolutely nothing similar to the US Social security number. So what now?

How long is definitely a 'name' and who grows to consider exactly what it may resemble (no program I'm aware about could catch the symbol Prince employed for quite a while)? The length of time can an identity be? What unique personas are enabled? The amount of nicknames can a person have (very first/final/center or 6-7 brands, Aliases, Formerly Named)?

Throughout countries, many will repeat the authorities has a lot of additional actually identifiable material (typically abbreviated to "PII") for that nation (most likely the US and this includes). There could also be some worldwide consortium that believe that they 'own' files related to their niche of know-how (although i option there's other consortium that is going to disagree with the placement).

We might proceed. The point is that no one 'owns' a files element, at the very least very little that's decided upon internationally, and that's a challenge.

Why?

Given that we have been worldwide pests life as people in an international setting. No male (or country) is an tropical isle. Records travels around the world within the speed of believed by way of social media and connected methods. It's perpetual-once a 'thought' has gone out there, it's available for good for the reason that a place it's been recorded by an IT 'system'.

Information is easily accessible from almost anywhere therefore we can discover a little something about nearly anything with just a few critical cerebral vascular accidents (whilst we now have no way of knowing the veracity products we discover).

So, stuff has gone out there in an array of kinds, a number of it really is correct, a number of it isn't, and you also need to have special devices to find the majority of it.

Just how do we realize whatever we know? Individually, I do believe this age will finally be referred to as the Second Dimly lit Gets older for the reason that we don't understand what we realize and also have not a way to seize (into perpetuity) our know-how. And the trail of e-mail, notes, memos, etc that shows how we arrived at that know-how, why we produced that conclusion, why that particular track was preferred, and so forth.

Computers, laptops, cellular devices consist of a wealth of details that is owned by an individual or generally, a corporation or corporation. When that machine would go to the good Recycling Container during the Atmosphere, ordinarily via a fried hard drive which makes the info it contains not reachable, all of that info is misplaced. Lose color to black.

I attended a lecture the moment however in 1900 human knowledge was increasing every 50 a long time. In 1950 it was almost every 25 decades, in 1998 (after i read this) it absolutely was almost every 10 several years, as well as 2020 it might be each and every 72 times. Say what? Just how can we grab that? Can we all know that which you know when it's all seized in disparate directories, disparate tools, in a variety of kinds?

How on this planet can we handle everything facts/data/practical knowledge/intelligence?

We must have guide. We require the computer systems to aid us. As with, Unnatural Intellect (AI). AI might help us sound right of everything, with the exception of the 'all of it' is dotted and parsed around the world without the conventional develop or business design.

So-imagine if we stopped operating the IT and instead drove the data (that is whatever we want nevertheless)? Just assume we received management of our records, managed it, and standardized it around the world?

Think about it-files element X appears like this, signifies this, is seen at this nomenclature, managed (controlled) in that enterprise and (could be) even up to date that way. It may do what ever it required by using it provided that it didn't switch the composition in the element!

It wouldn't matter precisely what it instrument we applied-whatsoever fitted our necessities and budget-simply because our files was stand up-on their own and regulated just like the Borg-group. IT is unable to customize the construction or meaning of the data. Opposition is futile. Corporations wouldn't ought to devote millions understanding and documenting their data source mainly because it is consistent. They would need only to establish the info things they're enthusiastic about. A dealer developing a new IT tool wouldn't need to revise their method for any purchaser-the data programs could be normal (consider Solutions Driven Structure on steroids).

Wow! Wait, how? How would be proceed with sealing straight down data?

It may well relax and take a universal opportunity, almost certainly a thing underneath the United Nations.

Imagine there had been an organization that needed care of anything affiliated with Professionally Identifiable Details, yet another for knowledge, one more for wellbeing, an additional for accounting, and so forth and so forth and many others...

It's brain-boggling. There'd should a group merely to select which crew a bit of files need to be provided for for administration (is 'checking account' element of business banking, bookkeeping, very own, or company data?)

There is reasons.

It's been tried well before however, on smaller scales by little businesses. None of them were profitable mainly since the team didn't in fact own the data. You can't command what you don't own personal.

I argue right here, yet, that it must be not reliant on decision. After we are to stay away from becoming that Following Dimly lit Age range, we have to find a way to get command over our info and it ought to be a universal effort.

Begin small, consider big, transfer speedy...

Why not start out with an organization committed to unique properties? Explain individuals variables. Ascertain the information construction. Establish the knowhow to go to, revise, and terminate that records. Then proceed out of there.

Visualize a environment in which suppliers or people today can get any IT merchandise out of the box-with no existing bureaucracy related to significant buys-every time they want, with whichever special features they really want, considering that the facts it makes use of is widely designed. It could keep millions of money (right after the Wonderful Data Design in the Skies was put together regardless).

Visualize a entire world in which details are separate from the IT traveling it. You could have a repository however, you can't customize the framework or indicating. Some ingredients could possibly be un-updateable except for by a certified team (e.g., supplier information like date of birth) plus a grasp type grabbed at whichever level deemed ideal-could be nationwide then synchronized along with a society-extensive repository. You are able to coalesce the details into data and intelligence that (may well) turn out to be an additional part of facts and seized it specific proper but you will NOT revise the 'truth' details element.

Of course, I know-get two aspirin and believe that it by means of... it can injure the gray make a difference. It's quicker to chase the IT than have a take on around the facts, which explains why we go that course. But we must start off.

Write-up Origin: http://EzineArticles.com/9766302

[equalmeasurefiction]

What are your thoughts on Tarrlok's character development?

So, I’m going to assume you mean his character arc and his development during the course of the series.  Mostly because character arc questions are fun to answer…

Woooo… where do I even start? There is so much to talk about when it comes to characters and character arcs in Legend of Korra.  I guess I’ll start by saying that Tarrlok’s arc is actually one of the stronger ones–it’s a solid downward spiral from the top a la That Scottish Play.  But Korra’s an interesting show… it’s full of ideas that aren’t fully developed, themes that are introduced only to be phased out, and moments of character development that have nothing to do with the story itself.

But I think the core of the question here is whether or not Tarrlok’s development/arc is ‘good.’  In order to establish the relative quality of any given character arc, I believe it’s important to work from the ground up–or in this case, from the base-structure up.

So, a character arc is a plot-line, but for a specific character.  Ergo, any good character arc should follow the same beats as any given plot.  That means that the character should be introduced, they should be given action, they should experience a turning point (a moment when they make a choice that changes the direction of their narrative drastically), which should lead them to make a series of choices… before they reach a satisfying, logical conclusion.

And Tarrlok’s character arc hits every single one of these points:

We are introduced to him and we get a sense of his goals and general direction.  He’s an arrogant, manipulative, power hungry politician, who wants to use the Avatar to his advantage.

He acts upon/affects the main character.  He asks Korra to join his task force, and when she refuses he manipulates her.  They work together until she leaves the task force.  After she leaves, he clearly wants her to return.

His character experiences a clear turning point.  Korra confronts him, they fight, she goes in for the kill and he blood bends her.  This choice changes the course of his narrative and initiates the series of choices… the spiral.

Tarrlok makes a series of choices that gradually push him further into a corner. He kidnaps Korra, he tries to frame the Equalists, he blood bends a group of people, he tries to take Korra and run… each one of these decisions digs him deeper into the hole he’s already built for himself.

Finally, in the climax, Tarrlok comes clean to Korra about his past, giving her vital information and he commits murder-suicide (so sayeth the creators).

So yes, it’s a solid character arc, it hits every point it needs to hit. There’s even a delightful emotional angle to it–watching a great man fall is always good drama.  But it’s also very choppy.

What do I mean by choppy?  I mean that Tarrlok’s character arc, his development, is very uneven.  We get a little of it in the beginning, but he phases in and out of the series, right up until the series hits it own turning point.  And as a result, the information the audience is given about his character falls more toward the end of the series, which makes him seem less developed than he actually is.

The problem with info-dumping is that it often requires the audience to accept a huge amount of information very quickly.  This works great for games, where that large quantity of information may provide vital pieces of a puzzle or important instructions, but it does not work in writing or media.  And it really falls flat when the information is being given by a character that has been shown to be untrustworthy.

And the first four beats of Tarrlok’s character arc show him to be a manipulative, cruel, secretive, liar who will do whatever he has to in order to achieve his ends.

Audiences aren’t dumb.  They pay attention to cues and, when a character is shown to be ‘bad’ or untrustworthy, they usually don’t want to trust them.  The only way to get an audience to trust an ‘untrustworthy’ character is to redeem them and there was no redemption arc for Councilman Tarrlok.

So, that big information dump really hurts Tarrlok’s character development more than it helps it.  And when you factor in how important Tarrlok’s character is to the actual plot and thematic direction of the series (intentional or otherwise), the fact that the viewer doesn’t see much of him early in the series is a big problem.

I say this, because Tarrlok’s character arc is tied to his relationship with Yakone and Amon–the major antagonists of the series.  And we don’t get any interaction or sense of connection between these three characters until episode 9, and the interaction we do get is too little too late.

Think about that for a minute.  Tarrlok’s connection to Yakone–the lynch pin of the series, which facilitates the reveal of Amon’s true history–is only revealed in Episode 9.  There are only three episodes left after that to wrap things up, and that’s not enough time to really dig into the implications of the connection or to let that connection sink in.

Worse still, we don’t get anything about about Tarrlok’s connection to Amon before that flashback sequence.  And while that was a beautiful flashback, it wasn’t really satisfying.  Instead of answering questions and letting the audience make connections, it served up a narrative and expected audience buy-in on the spot.

In order for Tarrlok’s arc to be satisfactory, we needed to see more of Tarrlok, more of Amon, and much more of Yakone.  And that didn’t happen in the series.

Sure, Yakone comes up before that point (and Amon is an ever menacing threat), but his legacy is never openly discussed.  And, really, this entire first season is actually about Yakone, his relationship with the Avatar, and how that relationship is perpetuated through their respective legacies (Yakone’s sons and Korra).

The show barely discusses these themes, instead it focuses on subplots and fake-outs.  Characters are underdeveloped or aspects of development are pushed aside to make room for pro-bending and romance (the pro-bending was kind of excessive, the romance was awful).  Even the Equalist Revolution, as compelling as it was, is kind of a fake out, because let’s face it, we never actually see the lives of non-benders explored in the course of this series.  It was never a priority.

What I’m saying is that Season 1, though awesome in its way, lacked focus and didn’t build momentum toward the finale.  It did a lot of “awesome things”, but those “awesome things” didn’t come together into a coherent whole in a way that satisfied the viewer.

Now, criticism is great, but it doesn’t offer solutions.  So, here’s something I’ve learned in the course of reading and writing:

Never sneak up on your reader/viewer.

Yes, people say they love surprises, but that’s not really true.  People like the anticipation that leads up to a reveal, not the reveal itself.  They like to pick up the clues with the main character, study them, think about them, and come to conclusions.

Tarrlok’s arc, from a structural perspective, was fine.  Like I said, he has a strong character arc and decent development.  But, in order for the dramatic reveal in Episode 11 to work, we needed a lot more clues and hints about Tarrlok’s background.  

Maybe those hints could come from the triads–they’d remember Yakone.  I imagine there would be thugs who hold up Yakone’s legacy as a means of earning respect and power.

Having some triad members claim: “I was trained by Yakone!”  Or that they were: “Yakone’s son!” (even though they weren’t) would have introduced the idea that Yakone might have a legacy and, if these were powerful benders, it would have helped cement Yakone as a menacing and threatening figure in Republic City, instead of just an odd piece of the past that keeps coming up.  I mean, really a blood bender that terrorized a major city?  A man who escaped incarceration?  He’d be a local legend!

I think getting more interactions between Tarrlok and Amon would have also helped.  If we’d had scenes from Korra’s time on the task force where they confronted Amon and Amon refused to attack Tarrlok… that would have raised some questions and helped the audience come to terms with the narrative direction long before the end of the series.

Maybe we could have had more scenes were Tarrlok compared himself to Aang and Amon to Yakone.  An obsession with that narrative would have provided a bit more context for Tarrlok’s relationship with Yakone, but also his interest in Korra.

[themailworksinc-blog]

[Video Case Study] Dental Practice Marketing- How to Use Direct Mail to Increase Your ROI

How to Use Direct Mail to Increase Your Dental Marketing Success (and Bottom Line)

Today's world of Dental Marketing can be challenging. Every time you turn your head, there's some new "social hype networking Face-gram-insta-snap... app" that you are required to master or "miss out on acquiring new dental patients". First of all, none of this is true. So calm down, and let's talk about what WILL work for your dental marketing campaign. In this article, we're going to break down the power of using a medium most dentists and medical practices tend to forget or use incorrectly. The marketing we're referring to is the "not-so-trendy" but "oh-so-VERY-effective" Direct Mail campaign (with a sexy twist).

  FACT: Dental Marketing Direct Mail is NOT Dead.

In fact, dentist mailing campaigns are very much alive and well. And for most dental marketers, it's their best kept secret. Why? Because direct mail is often overshadowed by the trendy and vibrant advent of "social media/digital marketing".

Now, social media marketing components do have their place in your marketing mechanism. But to fully engage your leads and convert them into dental patients, you must leverage ALL of the right mechanisms into one cohesive marketing machine. ​The most EFFECTIVE way to do this is with direct mail. Let me show you how...  

Dentist Marketing Direct Mail Breakdown

Watch the video below and read the step-by-step breakdown to learn how your dental practice can significantly increase it's bottom line with a simple and cost effective direct mail campaign solution.

(video source: ROI Case Study - Why Direct Mail is still king)

  The Truth About "Return On Investment" (ROI)

ROI is really just "money math". You've got to know your numbers to know what your return on investment is or will be. Let's do this together by breaking down a successful dental practice post card marketing campaign. ​

The $12,000 ROI Case Study

A very successful dental client sent out 3,000 postcards.

These post carts cost her $0.50 cents a piece. So, in total: ($0.50/ post cards) + (3,000 post cards) = a $1,500 investment.

That's $1,500 for the total investment of sending these dental marketing post cards out via direct mail.   Out of the 3,000 post cards, the client received 100 phone call responses from this single direct mail campaign.

    What is a "Successful" Direct Mail Response Rate?

You might be thinking to yourself... "Okay, so what? 20 responses from 3,000 mailers? Is that good or bad?" Well, it all depends on what your ROI is in the long run. Let's see how it breaks down...

Converting Responses into Customers

In this case study, the 100 "potential patient" responses called our client's dental office. 20 of these respondents scheduled an appointment and ended up walking into the office as a result of the direct mail marketing post card.

  Of those 20 responses, 10 of them purchased the special offer mentioned in the dental marketing mail piece!  

Money Results From the Dental Practice Direct Mail Campaign

What does "10 new customers" mean to this dental office? The value of a single customer purchase for this dental practice is $1,200. So, 1o new customers made this dental practice $12,000 from a single direct mailing campaign.

    In other words... our client was able to make a tiny $ 1,500 investment in a direct mail post card campaign and turn it into $12,000 OF NEW BUSINESS!  

Analyzing Your Return on Investment (ROI)

Now that you understand the amount made, let's break down the TRUE cost of this campaign and the cost of goods sold to establish the FINAL RETURN ON INVESTMENT for this dental practice using direct mail marketing. The cost of goods sold (COGS) for this dental package is 40% of $1,200. Said another way; the cost to deliver the procedure is $480 per customer.   This leaves the dental practice with a 60% profit margin. (i.e. $720 per new customer.) ($1,200) Gross Profits per customer - ($480) COGS --------------- $720 Profit per Customer   And if we take our $720 profit per patient and multiply it by 10 new patients... We get a Profit of $7,200! Now, let's take that $7,200 and subtract the initial direct mail investment of $1,500. ($7200) Profit - ($1,500) Direct Mail Investment --------------- $5,700 NET PROFIT RETURN ON INVESTMENT  

  In other words, this dental office successfully made $3.50 for every $1 they invested on their direct mail post card marketing campaign!  

  You don't have to be a math whiz to know how amazing these results are for your dental practice.  

Lifetime Value of a Dental Patient

This doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the lifetime value that the dental practice can make over and over from these 10 new those patients. Plus the added benefit of "word of mouth" referrals. All from one simple and cost effective direct mail dental marketing campaign.  

Now Ask Yourself This Question:

"How much money are you going to spend to get people to walk through the front doors of your practice?" We have only talked about a 3:1 ROI. But remember, the return on investment continues after they walk through the front doors. And don't forget that we still have 80 other people who raised their hand and called to inquire about more information from the post card! Only 20 walked through the front door. Those other 80 people are still fair game. So how do you entice them to become patients?  

The Secret Art of "The Follow-up"

The dental practice in our case study took it a step further. They sent a follow up direct mail campaign. Which means they sent out a 2nd post card to all of the 80 people who inquired, but did not book any appointments. They did this to increase the customer's touch points with the dental practice and therefore stay "top-of-mind".

In this follow-up, the dental practice added a clever tactic of stating "FINAL OFFER" on the post card. By using this "FINAL OFFER" approach, the dental office received 50% more responses from the 80 that didn't walk through the front door the first time! Why? Because these people were already interested, they just hadn't taken action. From this case study, it's clear that ROI is an ONGOING MEASUREMENT. Used effectively, it has the power to triple or quadruple your marketing dollars in less than 30 days. Can you think of ANY other business investment that can multiply your money in less time?  

But...What About Social Media Marketing/Advertising?

Ah, yes... back to that stubborn elephant in the room... Here's the ugly little truth about social media marketing/ PPC advertising: That "targeted online marketing" that everyone seems to worship may be slightly cheaper at face value... (i.e.- pay per click leads/ Facebook wall video streams, promoted Tweets, etc.) However, 3 factors make this medium a double edged sword. Here are the 3 things to watch out for with social media ads:

Your "quality" of Cold Online Leads Can be Random and Dangerous You might attract the type of patients you REALLY don't want. The ones who are never satisfied, only come for the discount, and expect you to move mountains for them, their friends, and their family members.

Wasted Marketing Dollars Usually from random people clicking on your ads by accident and never taking action on your offer. (Your competitors could also click on your ads too just to drain your PPC budget. We've seen it happen...)

Over-stimulation From Other Advertisements You've experienced this yourself when looking for a good deal on flights, hotels, a gift on Amazon, etc. When prospects are overwhelmed, they usually experience "decision fatigue". If this occurs, your message ends up never reaching their conscious awareness. And they may (subconsciously) resent you for it.

These 3 reasons (among many others) make online advertising dollars potentially less effective for your dental marketing patient acquisition.  

Okay, BUT... What If I HAVE TO Use Social Medial Marketing...

If you MUST use social media marketing, there's a little known trick to do it effectively. Here's the trick: Start your ENTIRE campaign with a direct mail campaign FIRST.  

What?! Why?

Because using direct mail BEFORE launching an online marketing campaign will let you zero in on your target customer like a marketing sniper rifle that ONLY YOU HAVE ACCESS TO. This gives your dental practice absolute leverage... because 99% of your industry (and direct competitors) are NOT doing this. In every industry we've worked with, the most successful companies are using both methods of marketing to DOMINATE their competition.

Here's How it Works:

If you start using direct mail as the "hand raising" process, you can systematically guide these mail leads to visit your website and collect more information. This allows you to "screen" your prospect and make sure they are TRULY QUALIFIED to do business with your dental practice. From there, you can launch your online ads and use the power of "retargeting" to show these ads ONLY to the prospects who visited your website through your direct mail campaign.

"Integrated Marketing"

The process we just described (combining "direct mail" + "social medial ads") is called "Integrated Marketing". Here's what the Integrated Marketing process looks like:

Send out a targeted mailer (using MailWorks or your favorite direct mail house).

Get interested prospects to visit your website with a special website address on the mailer (P-URL).

Capture their information on your website

Follow up with the qualified leads you capture online (via phone or email)

Measure your website's analytics (demographics, age group, market segments)

Use digital marketing/social media "retargeting" to continue advertising ONLY to the people who visit your website from the direct mail campaign

Send ongoing direct mail pieces to those qualified leads that gave their information on your site but DID NOT buy

  That's the basic framework for a successful online marketing campaign.  

  Using this Integrated Marketing approach ensures that you don't waste tons of money on random/ crappy online clicks to your website or bad patients booking appointments to your dental office.  

Your Next Actions

So, now that you know what to do and what NOT do in your dental marketing... HOW can you start taking advantage of direct mail? For starters, you could visit the MailWorks Contact page (that's us!) to get a 100% free direct mail custom quote. You don't HAVE to hire us, but if you do pursue direct mail or integrated marketing, just make sure the company you choose to work with has experience in your industry. Make sure to ask them for "examples of previous successful campaigns" or a list of "case studies" like the one we talked about in this post.  

Got Marketing Questions for Your Dental Practice?

Feel free to leave a comment below. We're always here to help out!

[toomanypizzaboxes]

Story Process, Start to Finish

Or, how to write multi-chap stories and balance thematic content.

So I recently received a PM on FFnet with these questions: 

And basically, I was just wondering if you had any tips on how you do it? How do you get inside each character’s head? How do you manage to write a story that is both serious and light hearted at the same time?

And I was going to reply right away, except when I actually sat down and thought about it, I realized I’ve never put much thought into the hows of a project, just mainly focused on getting it done. I also realized that these questions have much longer answers than I was prepared for, as I’m terrible at summarizing. It’s one of my big weaknesses. So I thought, since I was going to be answering this anyway, why not make a post of it? Because of course what I need is more attention right? (lol, don’t answer that.) Okay, so let’s get started!

1) Start with a very vivid image of a complete scene.

This is the way I’ve started every single one of my fics. I usually get a lightning strike image in my head of a “fully-rendered” scene. This includes the the setting (colors, time of day, place, sounds, era), the characters involved, and even an aesthetic to an extent (cinematic, old-fashioned book, play). For example, Eyes Wide Open started with the final chapter, where Hinata and Sasuke confront each other while Hinata is wearing Itachi’s clothes. I pictured the tension that would exist between them, with Hinata being very passive usually and Sasuke being overwhelmed by how upset he was by his own petty jealousy. That scene was the springboard for everything else.

You may be thinking, “but that’s ridiculous and very lame advice, not everyone can do that/seems unhelpful!” but it’s not true. Everyone can; it’s just a matter of patience. If you wait long enough and daydream about subject matter that you want to write about, eventually your subconscious mind will do all the heavy lifting for you and puke out an owl pellet of fine content. That may be a little gross of a metaphor, but it’s all I got. Just keep mulling over the same variables you want to include and I promise the scene will come to you.

2) Think about what needs to happen for that scene to be accomplished.

So, now that you have the crux of your story, your visualized scene that will become the seed to the rest of the tale, it’s time to figure out what that seed needs in order to grow. 

A lot of people who write romance fics start with the same motivation I do: you have your main ship and you want them to kiss/enter into a relationship. However, a lot of younger/less experienced writers stop there. A kiss is easy, right? All they have to do is be in the same room and make eye-contact, duh! What I’m getting at is that a lot of younger writers do just that. They place each party in a setting where they’re together and of course, since we love them and want them to love each other, they immediately fall in love inexplicably and kiss that very same night, story done! 

There’s nothing wrong with that. If you want your ship to just kiss and be done with it, you can write that. However, not everyone wants to accept that it’s that easy, especially if one ships a crackship like sasuhina. It can be really difficult to keep people in-character and have them fall for each other instantly, and most people who’ve been reading/writing for the ship for a long time might not be interested in or satisfied with the usually-shallow setting that these love-at-first-sight romances offer. It’s just not fun. I, for one, want to suffer with my OTP as they grow and change in order for their love to take place!

So that’s what you have to focus on. Keeping with the Eyes Wide Open example…. There’s no logical reason for Sasuke and Hinata to be around each other. Sure, they were contemporaries in canon, but Sasuke barely paid attention to his own teammates, let alone people who held no bearing on his life in the slightest. So I changed the setting and the age group. Of course people in the same town who come from similar family backgrounds have a likelihood of sharing classes, so it’s not that difficult to imagine them meeting on the off-chance. Most of the big developments in Eyes Wide Open happened because of Sasuke’s and Hinata’s outside influences, who all knew each other and thus pushed them together. 

What does your ship require? What needs to change for them to be open to love/a relationship? I like writing slow burns because most realistic romances are slow burns. The involved parties rarely realize the road they’re on until it’s too late and then messy feelings get involved and all the delicious events start occurring. 

3) Saturate yourself with the canon materials, then study up on fandom materials.

“How do you get inside each character’s head?” It’s a really good question and I’m not too sure myself, but I’ll do my best to explain my method. 

Most of my stories begin on a whim because I’ve been binge watching/reading/playing something non-stop. If it’s gone on long enough, I’ve usually picked my favorite characters and naturally started shipping them. (Ah, the life of a crack-shipper!) 

When you want to write for a fandom, it’s wise to know the canon material as inside-out as possible. If it’s a movie, make sure you’ve watched it recently. If it’s a TV series, make sure you’ve seen all the episodes with important details. (I’ve skipped a lot of Naruto filler, for instance.) Surround yourself by canon knowledge and study it until you’ve got a grasp of the canon universe. Abilities, physics, politics, hierarchies, interaction, setting, etc. This is your foundation to branch out from. I once opened a Naruto fic where the author repeatedly referred to chakra as Charka, capitalized and all. It generally bodes poorly for the future content of the fic because if they didn’t even pay close attention to the canon really, how much effort are they going to put into writing for it? This is an important process for making your written piece feel close to the same level of charm/draw that the canon has.

Narrowing that down, if you want to write a character-driven piece, you need to know the characters. Treat them like they are real people that you want to be close friends with, then pay attention to everything about them. Fall in love with them. Study their motivations and personalities. What causes them to react in varying situations? What draws out certain emotions? It’s okay to use references. Make use of the well-curated wiki pages that many fandoms have. Get to know ages, heights, tastes in food. Manga are usually really rich in these smaller details, as it’s common for them to be sidebar filler.

Once I’m sure I’ve gotten a strong handle on the canon character, it’s time to dive into fanon. If I’m writing a fic, you can bet it’s because I’ve read up and down every website category for this pairing and haven’t found what I wanted. But the key is I’ve read so much fanon. Study how other authors write the characters. What aspects do they focus on? Do you like the way they portray x/y/z? A lot of people made Sasuke an overly-romantic, can-do-everything-perfectly type who referred to Hinata as “love” or “darling”. That didn’t really feel like Sasuke to me. In canon he’s a bitter snot who has a bit of an inferiority complex and he acts out by not using honorifics and being sort of casually disrespectful. He can also be incredibly lazy in his human interactions, so he wouldn’t be confrontational or talkative unless it got him something or he was provoked. A lot of people also made Hinata an overly-stuttering mess who’s just there to be pretty. Listen, it’s a real turn-off to be constantly bombarded by what Hinata is wearing to show off her “feminine curves” in “all the right places” and how slender or petite she is, how her long, milky legs are so enticing. You want your characters to be human and relatable. When Hinata is a runway model who can pull off some cool jutsu, I get bored. I’m not pretty and jutsu doesn’t exist in reality, so what else is there to connect with? What goes on in your character’s head? Their feelings, their dreams. What do their mannerisms do to illustrate those thoughts? Don’t focus on appearance unless necessary. It takes away from the emotional impact of your story.

How does fandom portray your chosen characters and what do you want to do differently? That’s your goal for characterization. 

4) Summarize each event needed to reach the conclusion.

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. It’s a method I got from an old “how to write shoujo manga” book. Separate the various plot points into their own, standalone-events, then write them on their own note cards. Write scenes you want to include for the heck of it, too, go crazy! This is your story, have fun! When you’re done, arrange them into a timeline with a build up to a climax and then a wrap-up. Boom, your story is half-written already. This really helps avoid (most) writer’s block, as well.

5) Start writing.

Go forth and write! Trust your instincts. You’ve gotten the hard parts out of the way and your foundation is strong at this point. Take your time and if you get self-conscious or confused, go ahead and reach out! Get a beta-reader, or maybe a friend to bounce ideas off of. Make sure it’s someone you trust. If you like, you can write the whole thing in a first draft before posting so you have time to go over it for plot holes/errors/etc, or if you’re impatient like me and don’t care as long as your ship reaches a romantic conclusion in a satisfying way, go ahead and post as you write. 

6) “How do you manage to write a story that is both serious and light hearted at the same time?”

My number one piece of advice for this question is this:

Ingest the kind of media you want to produce. 

I’m a huge fan of romantic comedies, but specifically the older ones from the late eighties and the nineties. Even more specifically, Nora Ephron. Nora Ephron is fantastic at creating a story that is just as implausible/fantastical as every other romance, but her characters are well fleshed-out, relatable, and funny. Her settings are a wonderful balance between the tantalizing energy of  fictionalized big cities and the quiet, intimate moments you get between friends and families within those cities. The structure she utilizes has a draw to it. It pulls you in and makes you feel like you’re experiencing it along with the characters. While many of her stories are really, truly comedies, there’s usually a sense of drama woven in with a skill I can only hope to achieve someday. I think the key for keeping a story light-hearted even while it deals with heavy subject matter is to keep the dramatic aspects lingering along the outskirts.

For example, in When Harry Met Sally, you follow along with Harry and Sally as they age over twelve years. Natural comedy is easy to write, because everyone has their own sense of humor that shines in the right circumstances. Harry and Sally clash over their opinions but in a way that makes it easy for them to get along, as well as providing witty, engaging dialogue throughout the film. Most of the content of the story evolves through their shared awkward encounters involving friends, romance, bad decisions, and other things that real people experience every day. However, the whole time there is an underlying message that is being slowly brought to the front: the stress over finding someone to love and belong with before one gets “too old” or time runs out. Small moments are placed amidst the various sequences, off-hand comments about aging, competing with more attractive people, disgust with the opposite sex but the desire to still find someone to love.

In reality, we deal with drama every day. A person living in poverty might be one paycheck away from homelessness, and while that detail weighs heavy on their mind, they won’t think about it constantly because that would be exhausting. Most of our time is spent living in the moment, thinking about the past and the present until we are forced to deal with drama. Utilize that in your writing. 

In Eyes Wide Open, the bulk of the story is spent in everyday life of going to college classes, eating out at a cafe, spending time with friends or spending time at home. That’s the light-hearted part of the story. The rest is comprised of the small details hinting at drama like Itachi’s cough building into his collapse and consequential surgery, Sasuke’s space-outs as he struggles with his anxiety and PTSD, Hinata’s background growth as she develops into her own person separate from what her family wants or what she thinks Naruto wants.

Compartmentalize the different subjects you want to tackle in your piece, then organize them in ways that make sense story-wise and feel satisfying emotionally. It takes practice and I’m not saying I’m the best by any means. You can write one-shots to practice until you feel good enough to try a multi-chap fic. 

I hope that I answered the questions sufficiently, and that this is helpful to anyone who reads. This is by no means a one-answer-fits-all process; it’s just things I’ve learned from my own experiences. If you have anymore questions or want to discuss something more in-depth, feel free to inbox me any time! I’m always available! Thanks for reading!