#niche ​STEM stuff i can’t understand included. i’ll read it.

[mithridacy]

can any of you currently in school or who keep up w this stuff give me a link to a good academic article you enjoyed reading recently. any subject. the more obscure the better

[engekihaikyuu]

Anonymous Asks Answered

Part 1

All answers under the Read More!  This is gonna be in 2 parts since I did get quite a few.  A few of these have been answered separately on their own.  If you missed them, just search the tag “asks” or “replies” on this blog and you should be able to find them.  

If you’re viewing this on the app, you won’t be able to read under the Read More apparently, so please view it in Desktop mode on your phone browser.

I feel like my answer to this should be obvious lol.  As you’ve seen, I basically scanned the entire thing, so if you looked at all that and you’re still on the fence, I’d still say buy it because it’s really great quality and you’d be supporting the production!  I understand giving the postcards a pass since one of them is literally just a picture of a volleyball on the stage (I still bought it tho), but I think the guidebook is absolutely worth it.  

Ahhhhh always a really difficult question!!!  Ok in no particular order, my favorites include, Suga Kenta, Kimura Tatsunari, Akisawa Kentarou, Hashimoto Shouhei, Ino Hiroki, Kondou Shouri, Nagata Takato, Kawasumi Bishin, and Arisawa Shoutarou (I decided to stop at 10 lol).  

For future reference, this is literally one of the more specific asks and not vague at all!  But unfortunately, I really don’t know of any Judai/Sonde specific blogs.  I will say that it would be hard to run one for Sonde because he only has a blog, no twitter or instagram, and he updates it REALLY rarely.  I’m talking like once or twice a month?  So just based on that you’re more likely to find a Judai-specific blog.  I can try to update on him more but he is one of the actors that tends to not say that much when he updates, which is every day.  Just usual things like, went to rehearsals, came home, gonna sleep lots!  That’s like 85% of what he posts.  

I reeeeeally could not give you those specifics, EVEN IF I knew them, which I don’t.  I especially could not give an answer as to how theater staff are paid, but whenever possible, if you can financially support the productions, I will always encourage people to do so.  With DVD purchases especially.  And then after that, whatever they make, at least you’ll have contributed a little!  As to how popular it is compared to other 2.5D shows, there’s no denying it’s up there.  It gets a lot of press, and a few avenues of promotion that certain other plays don’t get because it stems from an already-existing, very-popular Jump series.  It’s still no Tenimyu, and I don’t think it out-performs Touken Ranbu, but it is very highly regarded and stands in the top tier.  But stage plays are still a niche market, and you can be in the top-level productions as a minor character and still not make very much.  

They all wear face masks all the time actually, especially as the weather gets colder.  Japanese people habitually wear face masks to avoid getting sick, prevent other people from catching what they might have, and also just to keep their faces warm because Tokyo is WINDY and cold as fuck in winter.  I used to wear one just to keep my face warm, and so did most of my friends.  

Well I’ve posted the two major parts of the rap battle in two posts already that I’ll link below, but I don’t know where you can download it.  I bought my own DVD to rip those clips from, and I highly encourage people that can buy their own DVD to do so.  

Part 1: (x) Part 2: (x) 

I’ve mentioned before in several prior posts and have also shared dress rehearsal footage for Winners and Losers in which both Shouri and Takato cross-dress to play Aoba Johsai fangirls for the match between them and Karasuno.  Shouri is talking about his cross-dressing experience playing that fangirl.  

They both wear wigs.

I claw my face about this pretty much every week.  Basically, just use Tumblr on your internet browser on your phone and set it to Desktop mode because if you’re using the Tumblr app, it’s shit.  There is no way to get those links to work on mobile and that’s not your fault or mine, it’s that the Tumblr mobile app SUCKS BALLS.  

It really depends on the agency.  Obviously some of them are more restricting than others, but in general most talent agencies feature a wide variety of talents, including models and singers, not just actors.  Many of the actors belong to smaller subsidiary agencies of Watanabe Entertainment which is a huuuge agency featuring many many actors and singers and other types of entertainers.  Japanese talents tend to work a little differently; you pick a specialty for sure (acting, singing, dancing, etc...) but you’re generally expected to be able to do a little bit of everything.  ESPECIALLY stage actors.  In Hollywood, we have a bunch of actors and actresses who can’t carry a tune to save their lives, but in Japan, they try to use every person for as many different things as possible so even if your specialty is acting and not singing, you may be required to sing for a role at some point.  Every actor therefore does their best to expand their overall repertoire of available skills.

Across the board though, there is an overall restriction across 99.9% of agencies that forbids actors from talking about their personal lives and relationships.  Commonly known as the “love ban” it applies most strictly to idols and musicians, but also gets applied to actors and seiyuu.  For the most part, nobody is known to be dating until they’re about to get married.  And then maybe you’ll see a marriage announcement, or in some cases, you have to keep your marriage a secret.  I’ve seen stage actors announce upcoming marriages and now even some seiyuu, so it’s not impossible.  Overall, stage actors are allowed more freedoms than TV/movie actors and musicians/idols.  I feel like models have the most freedoms allowed based on what I’ve seen.  

MAN THAT DRAMA WAS HELLA BAAAAAAD but I love Peacemaker Kurogane~ Kenta’s been around though... he’s been acting since he was a child, I think his first role he was 4 years old?  He features in a wide variety of stuff from TV shows to movies and variety shows.  Since his role in Peacemaker, he’s done mostly movies, but he obviously made the transition to stage because he absolutely had to play Hinata no matter what.  ^_^  

I get this question about Allen a lot and I need to clarify that I don’t actually have a 100%, for-sure answer since I don’t have his birth certificate and I don’t know his parents, but I do not think he is half.  I have mentioned before that his name is spelled with Kanji ( 亜廉 ) and that Aren is an existing Japanese name that just happens to have a really nice English equivalent.  Allen did study English back in school, so he would know that better than most.  And I will say that he’s at least a quarter if not half Okinawan (he mentions an Okinawan grandmother in an older blog post).  So his features aren’t entirely main-island Japanese, and that may be where people are getting the impression that he’s half along with the romanization of his name, but I really do not think so.  To me, his features still look entirely Asian.  Justin we know is half Australian.  

Winners and Losers pretty much covers just the Interhigh match between Karasuno and Aoba Johsai.  They do cover the post-match meal and Hinata and Kageyama getting upset and promising to never apologize anymore, and they do go through the third-years deciding to stay on the team, but in 3 acts it covers mostly the match.  They do throw in a lot of flashbacks and they do include a flashback about the Karasuno third-years that in the manga occurs during the Shiratorizawa match (so that’s earlier than expected), but it’s still mostly just the match.

[shenzhenblog]

Why you need a passionate copywriter

By Susan Hammond

    It’s February (no, I can’t believe it either) and Valentine’s Day is fast approaching. Are you ready for a bit of luurve?

This is the time of year when even we Brits like to show our passion. Well, some of us… some of the time… perhaps…

But does passion have a place in copywriting?

Of course! And I’m going to tell you why.

But first…

  What is passion?

Here’s one definition of love: “an intense feeling of deep affection, a deep romantic or sexual attachment to someone.”

And passion: “a strong and barely controllable emotion, intense sexual love.”

But surely this isn’t the kind of passion a professional copywriter needs?! (At least not in the context of providing you with writing.)

Well actually, it might not be so far off the mark. Although with copywriting your passion is probably not aimed at a person (and hopefully it’s not sexual), a strong and barely controllable emotion…? Sounds plausible to me.

Perhaps a more appropriate definition is: “a great interest and pleasure in something” or, “an intense enthusiasm for something.”

  How does a copywriter’s passion help you?

So what? How does a copywriter being passionate about something help you?

Well, passion is the fuel that keeps the fire burning. And with it your copywriter will be able to 1. keep writing and 2. keep writing well for you.

  1. Your copywriter will keep on writing… and writing… and writing…

Passion is a force so strong it will keep your copywriter going, even during tough times.

Over Christmas I read World Without End by Ken Follett. A fantastic novel by all accounts, but what really struck me was one of the main characters, Merthin Fitzgerald.

Merthin is a humble builder living in the Medieval English city of Kingsbridge and his passion (plus skill) for creating beauty out of stone is unsurpassed. Yet his life is hard. He lost most of his family and many friends to the plague and was constantly opposed by the city’s alderman. And to top it off, Caris, the love of his life, took her vows and committed to life as a nun! But despite this (spoiler alert), he still achieved his greatest ambition to build the tallest cathedral spire in England. And he even got the girl!

While he could have been swallowed up with grief and bitterness Merthin’s passion for building kept him going. It turned a seemingly impossible dream into reality.

The fire in his belly pushed him forward, drove him to accomplish great things and momentum spurred him on.

Copywriters can use this force too. The fire also keeps us going.

Passion has helped me persevere with running my business – definitely a challenging pursuit. A spark of enthusiasm lights up my mornings and drives me out from under the duvet so I throw back the covers in anticipation of a great day! Well, sort of. We all have bad days sometimes, but you get the picture…

I’m eager to get started even though that pesky website SEO is lurking menacingly beside your mindfulness blog. Even though a million emails must be sent before I can create your canoeing advert. And even though, boring of most boring things on Planet Zzzzzzzz, I must get the accounting done first thing.

Praise the Lord for passion!

  2. Your copywriter will keep writing well for you

Your copywriter will also keep producing quality content for you. The fire of passion leads to desire to keep learning. And learning coupled with practice leads to expertise.

Let’s go back to Merthin.

He designed and built some astonishing architecture despite the difficulties in his life. Sometimes the tough times even fuelled his desire to be the greatest builder in the country. When Merthin’s employer, Elfric, destroyed his exquisitely carved door he was enraged. Although initially Merthin felt like giving up, his spark of passion kicked in and he couldn’t help carrying on.

But his creations were not just built for practicality using the bog-standard methods of Elfric, but they were innovatively-designed employing the latest techniques. Heck, Merthin even travelled to Italy (not easy in the Middle Ages) to learn from the masters.

And the result? A bridge that didn’t need reinforcing after only a few years use, a plethora of houses that didn’t have to be rebuilt after every storm and his ultimate dream, the tallest cathedral spire in England. Merthin’s designs were leagues ahead of Elfrics because he was willing and eager to learn. And practice. He couldn’t coast, learning only from people stuck in the old ways, but continually improved at his craft.

I wonder what he was thinking. “Life sucks but at least I can keep doing something I love.” Or, “Come on! If I can keep making beautiful buildings I’ll not crumble. I can live without my girl. I can manage without family. I can still be the best.”

By focusing on his passion Merthin became Alderman of the town and the top builder in the area.

In the same way a copywriter’s passion will lead them to excel.

A passionate copywriter = the firecracker that will take your business to the next level.

  How do you know what your copywriter’s passion is?

To hire the right copywriter, it may help to know what their passion is. There are several ways you can do this:

Check out their website. There’s often an ‘about me’ page or something like it. And if not you may be able to gauge from the other content where their interests lie.

Give them a call. All good copywriters will be happy to chat with you so use this as an opportunity to suss them out.

Look at their LinkedIn profile. Like a website you can find out a lot here (as long as their profile is good – which it should be as they’re a copywriter…) Follow them or send a connection request so you can get to know them better.

Link up on other social media.

It’s always worth Googling someone – you never know what little gems you may find.

It could be that you own an upmarket London restaurant and you find a copywriter that has previously worked as a chef travelling the world to discover new food combinations. They’ll understand the food industry so, wise choice.

Or perhaps you’re a reflexologist so someone who regularly enjoys this kind of treatment may be the best copywriter for you.

There are infinite options and many copywriters have a specialist area.

If your business is in the outdoors and wellbeing niche, that’s where I can help…

  How can I help you? What is my passion?

I love helping people feel good by getting outside and enjoying nature’s benefits. That spark I was talking about earlier propels me toward all things living and green, to go find big skies and to share the joy of that with others.

This passion stems from my own experiences of fun times, educational stuff and embracing nature’s healing power. I’ve enjoyed adrenalin-inducing pursuits like whizzing along zip-wires through the trees and hurtling down near-vertical ski slopes. But also more sedate activities like canoeing expeditions and mountain walking in the Scottish wilderness. As a geologist I cannot help sharing the beauty of nature with you – I love educating and inspiring people while out and about.

And there’s lots of research on why nature is good for you, how best to enjoy it and reap the benefits. So isn’t it a bit daft not to get outside more? My own recovery from depression was helped by getting up those mountains.

There are too many people who don’t enjoy the great outdoors – through ignorance, laziness, lack of time or other circumstances – and I want to help you get more people outside or enjoying natural products, caring for the environment and having better wellbeing.

  Summary: Passion is good!

Despite what some may say I firmly believe passion is good! No-one can achieve much without it, copywriters included.

And do you want a copywriter that gives up at the first hurdle? Who can’t keep going under pressure? A copywriter who wants to curl up under the duvet and hide?

I thought not.

Your copywriter should be passionate because passion is the fuel that keeps the fire burning. There has to be a ‘why’ behind the ‘what.’

But this passion doesn’t have to be specifically about copywriting. For some it is, but for others, like me, it is something quite different (i.e. the great outdoors and wellbeing.)

Whatever that passion is, as long as your copywriter also has the right skills your business will prosper.

passion + copywriting skills = a cracking copywriter who’ll help your business succeed

  [This article was originally published on susanhammond.co.uk on 04/02/19]

Why you need a passionate copywriter was originally published on Shenzhen Blog