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sergeanttpoliteness · 6 years ago

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➹one make out session, please➹ (peter b. parker x reader)

The sad and divorced man who's become a regular for the past year is constantly spilling his emotions to you, his favorite bartender. This wasn't something new; you can't count with both of your hands the times you've heard someone recount the odyssey of their life. But these flutters in your stomach were definitely something you didn't experience with your customers, and you definitely did not end up making out with them at the end of the night. Maybe Peter B. was your only exception, though.

(PART II)

word count: 7.1k (sorry)

a/n: i tried like 8484 times to add a gif but tumblr wouldn’t let me so ((:: hello @ whoever’s reading this tho!! love how i went from 2k to 7k words lol, i’m sorry about that i don’t know how it happened. feel free to help me out w ideas and send requests if you want (: hope u enjoy !! Tiresome was a massive understatement when it came to having to describe enduring the same routine most nights. Not that you slept peacefully like a newborn baby all the time before taking a job as a bartender at the bar; but once in a while, when you returned home and watched the bright red numbers of the clock switch to 5 o’clock in the morning since your brain was punishing you by not giving you your well deserved rest, you sure did miss those simpler times when you didn’t work at night. Yes, at first it may be amusing to watch a drunk customer go haywire as they try to understand the meaning of life, and it’s nice listening to the story of how someone ended up drinking five shots of tequila that evening. You relished listening to other people’s problems, their stories, their lives— perhaps because, as much as it ashamed you to admit it, you didn’t make much out of yours. However, two years of the same old passed, and soon enough, every conversation and dusk began to blur together; everything became a monotonous daze, like an old movie replaying endlessly every week. The obvious route would be to quit your job as a bartender before you lost your mind, but the old lady who owned the bar paid somewhat generously considering the career— both with affection and money— and, despite how cocky it might’ve sounded, you knew well that the customers would be lost without your glorious daiquiris and margaritas. You’d also grown fond of the few people there and the new friends you made once in a while; you didn’t have the exact explanation as to why, but whilst you were in that hazy trance, you were quite the charmer.

Every night was just like that: nothing more than a few more hours to your life, until a man who you guessed was probably nearing his forties and with a really, really nice nose (what could you say? You had an appreciation for the art of beautiful noses), dropped on the stool directly in front of you with a heavy sigh.

“One whiskey served over ice, please.” He muttered, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. You didn’t think much about it as your hands got to work and moments later handed the man his drink. You later spent your time trying to distract yourself with the preparation of other beverages, yet your eyes were drawn to him momentarily once or twice. Even as you talked with a tourist— a woman from Croatia asking about the best restaurants and stores in the city— the image of the guy itched at the back of your head, and you couldn’t figure out why. He was attractive, you decided, in spite of his rugged looks; he honestly appeared as if a train had hit him. Whether it was a physical or emotional train, you wouldn’t be surprised if it had been both.

The tourist sadly ended your conversation, distracted by the game on the TV, but you took it as an opportunity to comply with your desires and approach the man. You see, you liked to believe you possessed powers— useless ones, to say the least: just by a quick scan, you knew if a person needed a good talk; it could’ve been after their third drink, maybe even when they’re still sober. Suddenly, though, your bartender-senses abandoned you along with your charm and you simply couldn’t find a way to spark up a conversation with the guy. Really? You thought to yourself. Right now, when a cute older dude is sitting right in front of you, probably in need of your comradeship? Yeah, he was most definitely older than you, perhaps by some ten years, but did you really care?

You were stuck, unable to crawl out of the crater until, eventually, he asked for his third drink. Showtime, you breathed in, the confidence hugging your entire body. “Just saying, but I could already sense this third drink once you walked in through the door,” You tried to joke.

He huffed through his nose, a hint of a smile on the corner of his lips. “Do I look that bad?” He asked, a playful tone in his voice. A lopsided grin found itself onto your face and you slightly leaned over to wipe the surface next to where his hand rested.

“The opposite, actually. You’re quite the handsome guy.” Oh, there it was. He didn’t seem repulsed, which could’ve been a good sign, except that he didn’t look like anything— his expression was unreadable.

He raised his glass up to his lips. “Yeah, well, don’t really feel like it right now,” He said before taking a swig of his drink. You picked up a wet empty glass and dried it with your towel, like the true bartender you were.

“Well, do you feel like talking about it?” His eyes darted up to you and he lifted a brow. “There’s obviously a reason why you’re sitting here right now, no?”

You waited for an answer, but he swallowed his entire drink before he set the dry cup on the bar. “Maybe another time, kid.” Ouch. Kid? Really? You thought this was over once you turned twenty-three. “But I gotta get going now.”

That was the first conversation you two shared, and you bit the inside of your cheek as you watched him leave, disappointed that it also could’ve been the last one. You should’ve learned by now, though: this wasn’t the first time you made a “friend”, hoped that they would drop by again in the future, only to never see their faces again. You took in his appearance one last time then, cherishing the fleeting buzz in your head. But you were lucky when two weeks later he entered through the same door again. Nonetheless, not lucky enough, since he arrived the only day your shift ended early.

“One whiskey served over ice, please.”

You didn’t realize he was there until you heard that scratchy voice, the one you thought you’d never have the pleasure of hearing again. Your head jerked up and you didn’t miss a beat before gladly serving him— there was no way you were leaving without interacting with the older man, regardless of how small and brief the action was. It was a Greek tragedy in your eyes: saying goodbye to the back of the head of the attractive man in his thirties. You jokingly (but not really) warned your coworker to not make a move on the man; and, of course, you asked him to update you the next day if he mentioned you even just once. The next day (or rather, night), the first thing you obviously did was pester your friend to spill all the juicy, if any, details.

“I don’t know, he didn’t really say anything. He so checked you out when you left, though. Like— okay, maybe not check you out, but he definitely stared at you for a few seconds.”

You deflated. Anyone else would’ve cheered, but all you needed to hear was the first part; your friend had the poor tendency of overanalyzing and exaggerating every small detail— you learned that when, after some customers had a lousy argument, you both recounted the event to your boss during your monthly coffee session. What had probably happened was that the man merely breathed in your direction and your coworker’s eyes jumped out of their sockets. You brushed away your discontent, though, reminding yourself of your principles: you never hooked up with customers, especially since your boss was adamant about that after an incident with another bartender, and you didn’t want to endure new job interviews for as long as you could.

But the rush made you want to have fun with this guy.

Another entire month went by; no sign of mystery guy, no whiskey served over ice. No drops of your stomach, until one evening you couldn’t believe your eyes when you saw that beautiful mess of a man, a scratch on his forehead you didn’t think much about since you’d seen much weirder things, sat in front of you. “Would you look at that! We meet once again,” He smirked. You placed your hand on your hip, biting your lip.

“Thought I’d never see you again. Tell me, do you want to try out something different tonight, or your boring, usual—”

“—whiskey served over ice. Yeah, please.”

Whiskey served over ice was quickly becoming your favorite order.

You didn’t exchange any other words— you were too engulfed into the breaking news playing on the flatscreen: a poor quality clip— something that still occurred even if it wasn’t 2005 anymore— of Spider-Man stopping a truck before it crashed into a hurt kid in the middle of the street. You grabbed the remote control and boosted the volume a bit, deciding you could perhaps multitask for a while. “So,” You started while maintaining your attention on the screen, catching his own. “You ever met Spider-Man?”

An odd question which made him snort as he turned his head to watch the screen. “No, not really. Wouldn’t want to, though, he’s kinda overrated.”

Your eyes went round, and you had to unstick your view from the TV to search for any sign of playfulness in the man’s face. He seemed dead serious. “Overrated? Full offense, but I can’t let you say that about Spidey, an actual superhero.”

He rolled his eyes, amused and defensively holding up one hand. “I’m just tired after hearing about him for the last twenty years. Can’t believe he’s not going around with a walking stick yet.”

You returned to your previous position, your forearms resting on the counter as you continued to observe a recap on a football game of the night before. “Yeah, I won’t argue against you on that. I remember watching him swing on TV back when I was seven-years-old. Big part of my childhood, the guy.”

He inclined closer to you, his brows drawn together. “What’s your age?”

“Twenty-nine.”

He let out an ‘oof’. You would’ve been insulted if it weren’t for the exaggeration in his tone. “You’re getting old. Soon you’ll be complaining about how much your back hurts and wishing for the sweet release of death.”

You chuckled, eyeing his appearance. “Ah, well, too bad because I already do that. How old are you? You’re acting like you’re sixty when in reality you’re probably just like forty, or something.”

“Eh, close,” He grinned, and then took a deep breath. “I’m thirty-seven.”

“And you’re calling me old?!” You exclaimed, earning a laugh from him. “You’re basically almost on your deathbed. Age doesn’t hold me back, though.” You winked jokingly and he bit his lip, his eyebrows raised.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, you know— more experienced, sometimes wiser, sometimes more of a gentleman…” You mused, drawing patterns on the bar. You didn’t notice him giving you a once-over. Someone called for your attention, and you let out a disappointed sigh, pouting at him. “Gotta go! Duty calls.”

“Have fun,” He raised his drink, bowing his head. As you walked away, you allowed your face to pale with terror and you began to wonder if the air-conditioning suddenly malfunctioned, for you were too heated for your comfort. You took as much time as you could with the rest of the clients, too frightened to face the man after your shameless flirts, dreading the repercussions. But you were finishing the preparation of a mojito, wishing you could down it yourself, when he lifted his empty glass and whistled at you. You nervously glared at him, motioning for him to wait before you served the finished beverage to its rightful owner and you met him once again.

“Tell me,” You began as you poured the liquid in his cup, trying to change the subject and mask your trembling hands. “I’m tired of thinking of you as the whiskey man. What’s your name?”

He let out a short laugh, thanking you before he took ahold of his drink. “Peter. Peter… B… Parker,” He moved his head along to each word and you sang out an impressed ‘ooh’.

“Peter B. Parker. Catchy. Giving me some boy band vibes.”

“Boy band vibes?”

“Yeah, like, ‘pretty boy in a band who’s a total teenage heartthrob’ type of vibes. You definitely fit the description.” Goddammit, you did it again. Just this once, you wished, just this once shutting your mouth would make everything easier for you.

Peter, his face finally having a name, licked his lips after sipping the alcohol. “So you think I’m pretty?” He inquired, a crooked smile on his face. You were good at holding back the tingling that wanted to suffocate your cheeks, the way you wished you could with your words. You hummed, surveying him quickly.

"Well, I did say you were handsome last time, didn't I?"

"Yeah— yeah, I remember that," He squinted his eyes, pointing his finger at you. "And you're...”

“Y/N.”

“Well, Y/N…” He took his phone out from his back pocket and frowned down at it with concern. “Can you help me? There’s something wrong with my phone— it doesn’t have your number in it.”

Oh, my God.

You glanced down at his cracked screen and then back up at his face. Snorting so loudly it hurt your nose, your hand flew up to cover your mouth. “Oh, my God. I’m sorry, I’m just—” You pinched the bridge of your nose, wheezing. “I can’t believe you just did that. That was so cheesy, oh my God.”

“Are you gonna fix it or not, though?” He smirked, offering you his device. “‘Cause it’s a real problem.”

He got your number. After you returned his cell phone, you noticed his yet again empty glass, wondering how he downed it in just the time you were adding your phone number to his contacts. You grabbed it and poured more ice, seeing as the previous had already melted. “Since you successfully made me want to walk away from you and stroll around the place to try and heal myself after that awfully cheesy pickup line, this next round is on the house.” You declared as you opened the bottle of whiskey. He declined, emphasizing his refusal with the flutter of his hand.

“That’s not necessary.”

“Whatever, I’m gonna do it anyway,” You slid the alcoholic beverage towards him, and his eyes softened along with his entire face, too.

“Thanks.”

Your conversation continued the entire night. You talked non stop— so much that you might have forgotten about the existence of other customers. But it didn’t matter. Despite their annoyed expressions, it was worth it. You heard the story you had so desperately yearned for him to tell; he reminisced about his dead aunt and uncle— the lovely angels who raised him and the ones he looked up to the most. But your heart cried out when Peter sorrowfully stared into his whiskey, and you first heard the name. MJ. His ex-wife. The owner of his love for the longest time, the woman who crushed him a year ago. The one whose heart he broke, too, though, all because he was too terrified, too much of a wimp to take the next step, ‘not enough’, he said. You remained silent, realizing your flirtatious exchanges earlier were solely a way to muffle Mary Jane’s memory in his mind. Nevertheless, your hand reassuringly rubbed his shoulder, the action alone speaking the comfort he needed.

It wasn’t the last time it happened. After that, he began to show up at the bar more frequently, once a week. And whenever he did come, he left until your shift neared its end.

“Like, what type of father would I even be? Look at me!” Peter pointed at his head, stirring the whiskey with a finger of his other hand. “I’m a mess, I can’t even take care of myself— how could I take care of a child?! I just… I don’t have the time,” He sighed, laying his head atop the bar. You frowned as you prepared a second margarita for the mother of one of your classmates from high school, which was what initiated the conversation of parenthood and such in the first place.

You shrugged, aggressively rattling the shaker with your two hands. “I don’t know, maybe you’re underestimating yourself,” He peered up at you, doubt in his expression. “And you do have the time to come here every week, though,” You pointed out, wiggling your arms from how sore they were.

“Yeah, but you’re… this is different, this is…” He slurred, waving his hand. “Whatever. Work always ruins things for me. It has ever since I was a little tot.”

“Damn, what is your work?”

Peter began to gulp down his entire drink after your question and seconds later slammed it on the table with wide eyes, attempting to digest the liquor. He cleared his throat, rubbing his eyes. “It’s… it’s, uh, I-I work at the Daily Bugle.” You opened your mouth with astonishment, stopping in the midst of rubbing a lime on the rim of the glass.

“The Daily Bugle?” You asked incredulously. “That one newspaper with the dude who’s obsessed with Spider-Man? J-something-Jameson?”

“Yeah… yeah, that’s my boss.”

You grimaced, instantly comprehending his daily fatigue and he nodded, agreeing with you. “What do you do? Write?”

“Nah, I’m a photographer.”

“Ooh, so you’re a photographer? That’s hot,” Moments ago he’d been complaining about his marital issues yet there you were, calling Peter hot. You might have slipped the compliment right before you left to give the margarita to your ex-classmate’s mom in fear of his response, therefore missing the faint heat that overwhelmed his cheeks and ears.

“Is… it’s nothing, really,” He dismissed your words, being all humble and shit. You placed your elbows on the counter, coming closer to him.

“Could I ever see any of your pictures?”

He threw a block of ice into his mouth. “Mm, thure,” He said, his mouth full. Your mouth twitched in amusement, and you decided to sit down considering the night was particularly slow. Your boss lectured all the time that there was never time to sit down and there was always something to do; keeping that in mind, you still ignored the four dirty glasses, instead choosing to spend time paying attention to the man with ice in his mouth. “I’m boring, though— tell me more about yourself. There’s gotta be more to the attractive barista who works at the bar near my apartment.”

You were taken aback, both by the fact that he considered you were good-looking and that he was pushing to hear about you. “Me?” You blinked. He nodded, looking at you expectantly. You lowered your head, picking at the skin around your nails— damn past you for cursing you with the habit and, consequently, terrible nails as well. “This is… weird. I don’t really talk to customers about my life. They even tell us to not do that specifically.” You laughed.

“What? Why?”

“Well, because you don’t want to hear about me: my childhood and the drama in my life, I guess,” You said with an obvious look. He scrunched his brows together.

“But I do.”

You despised the way your heart missed a beat. “Alright, well… I don’t know, what do you want to hear about?”

“Were you born here? In New York?”

You shook your head. “Nah, I moved here after finishing college. I thought I was gonna be a successful artist and stuff.”

Peter gasped with wonder. “Artist?! Cool! What, what type of artist?”

“I paint,” He whispered an adorable ‘whoaa’ and your shoulders shook with laughter. “It’s really not that cool. I do paintings once in a while. Pays well and can help with the bills if someone buys them.”

“I’d buy many if I had the money.”

“Nah, I would paint you one for free,” You smirked, leaning closer to him.

“Oh, sweet— you can paint me naked. You know, like one of your french girls.” He hummed, a goofy grin breaking out on his face. You quirked a brow, giggling.

“That’d be interesting.”

“I know, I’d be a great muse. Tell me more, though, you got any friends? Family?”

You hesitantly nodded. “Yeah, except they’re all back home. The only people I’ve got here are at the bar, my boss basically adopted the few people who work here.”

“Wish my boss was like that,” He grumbled, grasping more ice. “Well, now you’re stuck with me too, though.”

You gripped your knee, your lips pressed together to retain the beam threatening to appear. “Is that so?” The ice he had shoved into his mouth was too big for him to speak without drooling all over his chin; so with his chipmunk cheeks, he moved his head up and down. “Is this us officially becoming friends?” You waggled your brows teasingly, your lips now stretching widely.

“I thought that happened the second you gave me a free round of drinks.”

Three more months passed by. You realized your nights weren’t a blur anymore. No— now they were Peter B. Parker, his weary brown eyes, and his whiskey served over ice. You couldn’t help the scrunch of your nose and your slight smile whenever someone else ordered whiskey, since, as ridiculous you knew it was, those words were Peter. You held yourself back each night you two shared from leaning over the bar and tasting the cold liquor in his tongue. You wondered if, perhaps, that’s what Peter Parker tasted like. But it didn’t matter how strongly you craved to find out; you couldn't be anything more than a friend to your customers, you constantly reminded yourself. Not that it even was a possibility with Peter, anyway— it was evident he still cared about Mary Jane. It was clear she lingered in the fog of his memory, despite how much he drank or how hard you attempted to take her place with every conversation. You tried to convince yourself that it was alright, and it wasn’t working, but you hoped someday it would.

It was a Saturday night— or more like the early hours of Sunday— when you went to joyfully take Peter’s order after he sat down, only to be met with an awful bruise on the bridge of his nose. You winced, unconsciously reaching out to touch his face, but drawing your hand back before he noticed. “Pete, what the fuck happened to your face?”

“That’s not a nice thing to say about someone.” He simply responded, evidently trying to disguise the swelling with his hand, but sighed after seeing your scowl. “Fine, it’s embarrassing. Like… really, really embarrassing—”

“I’m listening.”

He squirmed, his gaze moving to his right and his voice coming out high pitched as he searched for a way to explain himself. “I tripped.”

Something you’d learned throughout the past months of weekly meetings with Peter Parker was that the man was not subtle. Far from it. And this wasn’t the first time he arrived with a scratch or sort of bruise, which truly clutched at your stomach in the wrong way, but although he’d talk about anything— from what he ate for breakfast that day to confessing a pestering fear in his head, he never ever talked about how or why he got hurt. He always managed to steer away from the subject; the sneaky bastard, you’d think to yourself when minutes later you two were thoroughly discussing the best ways to eat an egg. You never budged, though, for you couldn’t bear to lose his trust or him getting mad at you; which hadn’t occurred yet, and you wished to keep it that way. You questioned your decision, however, as you grabbed the box of bandaids hiding under the counter (the bartenders there could frequently be quite clumsy), and grasped one with your fingers. You opened it, detaching the paper from it.

“It’s really nothing,” He continued insisting, trying to erase the creases between your eyebrows. “I just gave the ground a real nice smooch—” He stopped talking when you leaned over to touch his face, your hand cupping his cheek as you smoothed the plaster over his nose.

“I… what?”

“Sorry, it just looked really gross,” You lied, truthfully concerned about his well-being. “You couldn’t go around walking like that.”

“But I can go around walking with a…” He inspected his reflection on the cupboards, squinting to make out the pattern of the bandaid. “Spongebob bandaid on my face. And how is that supposed to heal a bruise?”

“I’m sorry—”

“No, it’s alright. I… I like Spongebob. One whiskey served over ice, though, please.”

You scoffed, picking up a glass from the cabinet. “I’ve held myself back from asking, but…” You shut your mouth as you continued preparing his drink, doubt winning its battle again. He tilted his head.

“But?”

“But… how come you’re always getting hurt in some way? It’s kind of concerning,” You laughed nervously, not wanting to reveal how much it truly worried you. He shrugged one shoulder.

“I guess I’m just really clumsy.”

“This isn’t clumsy, though,” You argued, your forehead furrowed. “This is… getting beat up type of stuff. Is that it? Do you get into street fights or something?”

“No! No, I, uh…” He hesitated, avoiding your gaze. “That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?”

Peter searched for words, his mouth ajar. He closed it and rolled his lips. “I want to tell you, I really do, but now is not the time. I promise I will in the future.”

You prepared to question him more, until a tune filled your ears. You raised your hands up to your head, your palms squeezing your temples as you gasped. Peter raised an eyebrow, entertained. “I fucking love this song,” You explained as ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ by Whitney Houston played on the TV. Peter sat still as he paid attention to the music, confusion glinting in his eyes until he recognized the melody and his body lit up.

“Wait, so do I—”

“Clock strikes upon the hour, and the sun begins to fade…” You shouted, your head jerked back. Peter put his fist against his mouth, embarrassed by your hilariously terrible singing, but at the same time holding himself back from joining you in your performance. “Still enough time to figure out how to chase my blues away!” You sang, pointing your finger at him. He muttered an ‘ohmygod’ under his breath, his face beet red.

“I’ve done enough ‘till now, it’s the light of day that shows me how!” You dramatically laid back on the counter, true singer-like style, holding an imaginary microphone up to your mouth. “And when the night falls, loneliness calls…” You turned your head to face Peter and booped his nose, an action which you would undeniably regret once the euphoria of hearing one of your favorite songs ended.

“Ah, fuck it…” He whispered, beaming at you and grabbing your fist to sing into the invisible mic as well. “Oh! I wanna dance with somebody! I wanna feel the heat with somebody!” He cried out, his eyes passionately closed and his hand pressed flat against his chest. You scream-laughed at him, holding your torso. However, you quickly rolled onto your stomach, your faces now in close proximity.

“Yeah! I wanna dance with somebody! With somebody who loves me!” You both sung into your clenched hand, incredibly out of tune. “Oh! I want to dance with somebody!”

“I wanna feel the heat with somebody...” A customer in the background yelled out. You two exploded with laughter, your head pressed against his cheek and Peter gripping your hand tight.

That night, you sang with somebody you loved.

The end of the year arrived too quickly, and you were disconnecting the plug of the Christmas lights adorning the windows of the bar as you wondered whether you should get Peter a present for the holidays or not. Some new sweatpants, you considered; they were his favorite piece of clothing, you had come to learn, and in the times that he wore a pair, you noticed it was always the same. But you also questioned if it would be bizarre to hand him a gift— you only saw each other at the bar, after all. There weren't any instances where he called you to meet up for lunch, or something similar; and once in a while, you hoped to hear your blaring ringtone and to answer your phone to him. That never happened, though; your relationship would never evolve from the occasional text throughout the week. To make matters worse, you hadn’t even seen him for three weeks, three days, and counting. And, my God, did it sadden you that you knew that. Every time you’d type a greeting along with a question about his whereabouts, you’d stare at the screen of your cell phone for far too long and eventually delete your words— the exact process repeating over and over again. Maybe he’s with his friends or remaining family, you concluded. Hanukkah did end yesterday, stop being so obsessive.

A knock on the door provoked a startled squeak out of you. You jerked your head, confused, because who in the world was knocking on the door at three o’clock in the morning? Your terror was fleeting, however, for behind the foggy glass existed Peter B. Parker’s guilty smile. You exhaled and headed to open the door to shelter him from the violent and raging winter wind outside. He barged in, the tip of his nose the color of raspberries, most likely a repercussion of his poor clothing coverage for the season. “Hey,” He greeted you, rubbing his hands together.

“Wow, I think you got here a little too late,” You teased, folding your arms across your chest. The bags under his eyes were particularly prominent that night, not that it surprised you in any shape or form. He leaned against the wall, resting the back of his head on the timber.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” He apologized and you shook your head. It was useless. You were aware that there was no chance you could be mad at him for finally visiting you; in fact, you were ridiculously elated to be seeing him at such late hours, in spite of your bed crying out for your company. “I guess I lost track of time.”

“What are you doing here, anyway? I haven’t seen you for three weeks and when you do show up, it’s at three A.M.”

“I don’t… know.” You quirked a brow, wondering if he’d had a few too many drinks. “I sort of just walked and my feet got me here.”

“Are you drunk? And did you get in a bar fight or something, because you’ve got a bruise forming under your jaw and it looks too animalistic to be a hickey,” You asked with a gesture of your hand toward his face, relieved the jealousy didn’t bleed through your voice if the latter turned out to be more than a mere speculation. The scarlet on his nose spread to his cheeks. “I hope not, because that would mean you cheated on me by going to another bar.”

He chuckled, rubbing a hand over his stubble. “Nah, I wouldn’t ever do that to you.” You walked up to him and patted his shoulder, congratulating him for his great response but also to move him away from the window to check if it was closed. “I’m just tired.”

“Long day?”

“Awfully long.”

You still didn’t get an answer to why he was out so late, but you didn’t have the energy to continue budging. “Yeah, same.” You whispered, lifting a chair to place it upside down on a table.

“Wanna talk about it?” You looked at him confused. “Your day?”

“I would, but, uh, I kinda have to close this place. Y'know, it’s the holidays, so we’re not open 24/7 because my boss likes spending time with her family,” You explained, hearing his understanding hums. “Everyone already left and I didn’t have anything to do, so I promised her I would do it for her.”

He moved to stand opposite to you and copied your actions of setting the chairs atop the table. “That’s not safe— you being here alone, I mean. I can help!” He offered, as if a random spike of energy flourished in him.

Your brows drew together. “Shouldn’t you go home?”

He paused in the midst of reversing a seat, the furniture cradled in his chest like a baby. “Yeah, but so should you. It won’t hurt to sacrifice one hour of sleep just to help a friend,” He smirked, shrugging.

You allowed him to give you a hand in arranging the place, not that you had much of a choice, anyway; he would’ve done it nonetheless despite your refusals. Thirty minutes later, you were standing outside, your body aching tremendously. Peter noticed your soreness and, before you could even react, he was lowering the roll-up gate. “I could’ve helped with that,” You mumbled as he wiped his hands on his sweatpants. “Don’t want you breaking your back, grandpa.”

He laughed, shoving his hands inside his jacket’s pockets. “I’m a cute grandpa, though, right?” He asked with a flirty smile. You rolled your eyes.

“Hm, yeah, a total gilf.”

“Gilf?”

“Yeah, you know, like a ‘dilf’ but instead of a dad it’s a grandpa.” You both giggled as you began to walk to who knows where, visible breaths leaving your mouths like small dragons puffing out smoke.

You stopped in your tracks, gripping the straps of your backpack tightly. “Oh snap, I forgot!” He turned around with a questioning brow. “My car broke down, so I have to take the subway back home.” You explained, nudging your head back at the green stairs heading down to the metro station. He tilted his head, frowning.

“Y/N, it’s four in the morning. I don’t think going to the subway this late is such a smart idea.”

You rocked on your heels. “Yeah, but… how else am I gonna get home? You want me to sleep in the bar?”

His gaze shifted as he pondered, grunting. “Do you, uh… do you want to go to my place?”

Your stomach clenched, your heart starting a run when you heard his suggestion. He doesn’t mean it that way, you idiot, you scolded yourself. Yet you wished he did. “...Your place?”

“Yeah, it’s just a few blocks away from here, like a ten-minute walk.” There was a prolonged silence as you entered deep in thought, making him panic and stutter. “T-that’s if you want to, though. Don’t want you to feel pressured—”

“No, Pete, I…” You stopped him, grinning. “I mean, you sure?”

“Yeah,” He clapped his hands and held them together up to his chest. “Why not?”

“I guess I’ll take you up on that offer.”

“Cool! Uh, cool.. just… c’mon,” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder and you began your trek to his apartment, your shoes thudding lightly against the concrete of the sidewalk, wet due to the rain two hours ago.

“Thanks…” You started, wiggling your fingers, numb from the bitter cold, but to wake yourself up as well. “I actually am sort of terrified of taking the train, so I’m glad you offered. I’ll sleep on the couch, don’t worry—”

“What? No! No, I’ll take the couch, you’re the guest.”

“No, no, no, I insist—”

“Y/N.” You looked up at him, a teasing smile on his face. “You keep the bed. Plus, the change of place will be nice.” You groaned, your eyes closed.

“You’re such a great dude: offering me to sleep at your place so I don’t get mugged and shit, and here I am, stealing your probably comfy bed.” You then moaned, your eyes going blank. “Bed. God, just thinking about sleeping really turns me on right now.”

He huffed softly, bumping into your side. “What… what’s happened, though? We haven’t seen each other for a hot minute.”

You looked heavenward, your mouth ajar as you tried to recall your previous three weeks. “Mm, well, I honestly can’t even remember if I had breakfast or not— oh!” You exclaimed rather sleepily. “Well, this pretty boy working at a Taco Bell I went to asked me out on a date.”

“Oh?” He scrunched his brows together and you hummed. “And what did you say?”

“No.”

“No?! Why not?”

“I just…” Your eyes darted up to his curious ones, your face softening after inspecting him for a while, but not long enough to embarrass yourself. “I don’t know. Wasn’t feeling him, y’know?” He nodded comprehensively. “What ‘bout you?”

His entire mood shifted. His shoulders slumped, and he nibbled on his bottom lip, his jaw tightened. “I… I saw MJ today.” Your heart broke.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Wh-what, like, you two met somewhere?”

“No, more like ‘saw her coming out of the coffee shop while crossing the street and then a pedestrian yelled at me because I was standing in the way’.” He grumbled. You didn’t know what got in you, but you grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He glanced down at your linked hands and then up at you. That’s when you instantly let go, your pinkies still connected for a bit until completely detaching. You were too busy ogling the ground to see his fingers searching for yours.

“You’ll be alright one day,” You cleared your throat, a bashful smile on your face. “You’ll figure this out.”

He prevented you from continuing with your walk with a hand on your shoulder. You hesitantly turned your body to face him, gulping. Oh, no— you worried, your heart picking up its pace again— did the hand holding make him uncomfortable? Is he now gonna question me? Why am I such a damn idiot? But then you saw his dilated pupils, and your mouth went dry. “I…” He began.

“You… okay?” You questioned when his stare lingered on you. He blinked, his arm dropping by his side as he coughed.

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry, that was weird. I’m just—”

“—tired.” You finished for him and he scoffed, giving you a half-smile.

“Wow, you know me so well,” He joked, and scratched the back of his neck, pointing at the building you two stood in front of. “Uh, this is where I live.”

“Oh!” You spun around, studying the apartment complex. It appeared simple: not too big or small, modest-looking. “That was faster than I expected.”

“Yeah…” He muttered as he climbed up the stairs, holding the door open for you when he reached the top.

The man’s apartment was tiny, somewhat too messy, you decided; there was an empty pizza box on his bed, and he awkwardly dumped it in the trash can when you two walked in, apologizing for the mess. You sat on his bed and he stood at your feet, stroking his neck. "Do you want some clothes? I can give you a shirt or some—” You stopped him when he turned to go to his dresser, gently pulling his arm. “What?” You continued to wordlessly tug on his sleeve until he sat next to you, sighing deeply. Slowly, you leaned backwards until your back bounced on his mattress. Peter’s confused by your actions, but you simply patted the area behind him. He got the message and lied down on the rumpled sheets.

You looked at each other, a few inches apart, yet for some odd reason, you felt closer to him. Perhaps you could blame the different location, or the way in which your silent gazes stayed on each other. Somehow, you were both alright with it. No discomfort took ahold of either of you as you remained like that for a while, no words or sounds other than the city outside, both later with your eyes closed. To your embarrassment, you were on the brink of dozing off, but you couldn’t help it; you drowned in tranquility, and the exhaustion of your body cooperated— it was surprising you hadn’t fallen asleep yet. You could hear Peter’s steady breathing, and his voice brought you back to consciousness when he spoke. “Y/N?” It was soft, softer than your pillows back at home. Softer than your lonesome bed. You acknowledged him with a mumble, opening one eyelid. His eyes were almost shut, but you could still see the glimmer in his dark eyes. His whiskey eyes. “You’re really nice.”

Your eyes sealed closed again. “You’re really nice too, Pete.”

“No, but…” His sentence died out and he did not continue for a long period. You believed he had fallen into a slumber until he talked again. “You’re really nice. Like that hot chocolate I had in the morning while I was freezing type of nice.”

“I… I don’t know if it’s because I’m about to pass out, but I don’t get it.” When you blinked your eyes as wide as you could, he was closer than before. Closer than ever. You took the chance to discover, note every part of his face more closely, every freckle, every lash, his growing stubble. Everything.

“What I mean is that… you really bring warmth to my life, Y/N. Not to sound too cheesy like I usually do, or anything. But everything’s a mess and you’re there, and I’m glad about that.”

“You’re just tired.”

“Yes, but a drunk man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts.”

“You’re not drunk.”

“There’s really no difference.”

You could now feel his breath on your face. It was as if with every flicker of your eyelids, he had managed to inch nearer to your body. “Pete…”

“Y/N…” Your lips were roughly touching. You felt his arm slip around your waist, his fingers ghosting over your prickling back.

“We can’t do this.” You said, regardless of your hand cradling his neck. Your foreheads were now touching.

“Why not?”

“Because…” You tried to claim that he was your customer, but you truly did not care about it anymore, and you never did. “What about Mary Jane?”

He hesitated for a moment. “What about Mary Jane?”

“You still want her back.” You breathed out, your body quivering as his eyelashes tickled your cheeks.

“I can forget about her just tonight.”

You kissed. Your lips remained interlocked for a few moments, the both of you too tired to move them. It was like sixth-graders kissing for the first time— a lingering peck on the lips. But an energy sparked within you, and you moved your lips. Soon, you were on top of his body, your shirt almost completely off except for one of your arms still inside one sleeve, your fingers desperately tangled in his greying hair, his crooked nose bumping with yours. He didn’t taste like whiskey or ice, but he did taste like a year of laughing with each other in the bar, and him not noticing as you slowly fell for him.

#peter parker #into the spider verse #spider man into the spider verse #itsv #sm:itsv #peter b parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker x you #peter parker one shot #peter parker x y/n #peter b parker x reader #imagine #peter parker imagine #gender neutral #male!reader #fem!reader #peter b parker fan fiction #peter parker fan fiction #itsv fan fic

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yasbxxgie · 5 years ago

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Why Octavia E Butler’s novels are so relevant today

It’s campaign season in the US, and a charismatic dark horse is running with the slogan ‘make America great again’. According to his opponent, he’s a demagogue; a rabble-rouser; a hypocrite. When his supporters form mobs and burn people to death, he condemns their violence “in such mild language that his people are free to hear what they want to hear”. He accuses, without grounds, whole groups of people of being rapists and drug dealers. How much of this rhetoric he actually believes and how much he spouts “just because he knows the value of dividing in order to conquer and to rule” is at once debatable, and increasingly beside the point, as he strives to return the country to a “simpler” bygone era that never actually existed.

More like this:

- The 1968 novel that predicted today

- The fiction that predicted space travel

- The story of cannibalism that came true

You might think he sounds familiar – but the character in question is Texas Senator Andrew Steele Jarret, the fictional presidential candidate who storms to victory in a dystopian science-fiction novel titled Parable of the Talents. Written by Octavia E Butler, it was published in 1998, two decades before the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States.

Like much of her writing, Butler’s book was a warning about where the US and humanity in general might be heading. In some respects, we’ve beaten her to it: a sequel to 1993’s Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Talents is set in what is still the future, 2032. While its vision is extreme, there is plenty that feels within the bounds of possibility: resources are increasingly scarce, the planet is boiling, religious fundamentalism is rife, the middle classes live in walled-off enclaves. The novel’s protagonist, a black woman like the author herself, fears that Jarret’s authoritarianism will only worsen matters.

Fourteen years after her early death, Butler’s reputation is soaring. Her predictions about the direction that US politics would take, and the slogan that would help speed it there, are certainly uncanny. But that wasn’t all she foresaw. She challenged traditional gender identity, telling a story about a pregnant man in Bloodchild and envisaging shape-shifting, sex-changing characters in Wild Seed. Her interest in hybridity and the adaptation of the human race, which she explored in her Xenogenesis trilogy, anticipated non-fiction works by the likes of Yuval Noah Harari. Concerns about topics including climate change and the pharmaceutical industry resonate even more powerfully now than when she wove them into her work.

And of course, by virtue of her gender and ethnicity, she was striving to smash genre assumptions about writers – and readers – so ingrained that in 1987, her publisher still insisted on putting two white women on the jacket of her novel Dawn, whose main character is black. She also helped reshape fantasy and sci-fi, bringing to them naturalism as well as characters like herself. And when she won the prestigious MacArthur ‘genius’ grant in 1995, it was a first for any science-fiction writer.

Octavia Estelle Butler was born on 22 June 1947. Her father, a shoeshiner, died when she was very young, and she was raised by her mother, a maid, in Pasadena, California. As an only child, Butler began entertaining herself by telling stories when she was just four. Later, tall for her age and painfully shy, growing up in an era of segregation and conformity, that same storytelling urge became an escape route. She read, too, hungrily and in spite of her dyslexia. Her mother – who herself had been allowed only a scant few years of schooling – took her to get a library card, and would bring back cast-off books from the homes she cleaned.

An alternate future

Through fiction, Butler learnt to imagine an alternate future to the drab-seeming life that was envisioned for her: wife, mother, secretary. “I fantasised living impossible, but interesting lives – magical lives in which I could fly like Superman, communicate with animals, control people’s minds”, she wrote in 1999. She was 12 when she discovered science fiction, the genre that would draw her most powerfully as a writer. “It appealed to me more, even, than fantasy because it required more thought, more research into things that fascinated me,” she explained. Even as a young girl, those sources of fascination ranged from botany and palaeontology to astronomy. She wasn’t a particularly good student, she said, but she was “an avid one”.

After high school, Butler went on to graduate from Pasadena City College with an Associates of Arts degree in 1968. Throughout the 1970s, she honed her craft as a writer, finding, through a class with the Screen Writers’ Guild Open Door Program, a mentor in sci-fi veteran Harlan Ellison, and then selling her first story while attending the Clarion Science Fiction Writer’s Workshop. Supporting herself variously as a dishwasher, telemarketer and inspector at a crisp factory, she would wake at 2am to write. After five years of rejection slips, she sold her first novel, Patternmaster, in 1975, and when it was published the following year, critics praised its well-built plot and refreshingly progressive heroine. It imagines a distant future in which humanity has evolved into three distinct genetic groups, the dominant one telepathic, and introduces themes of hierarchy and community that would come to define her work. It also spawned a series, with two more books, Mind of My Mind and Survivor, following before the decade’s end.

With the $1,750 advance that Survivor earnt her, Butler took a trip east to Maryland, the setting for a novel she wanted to write about a young black woman who travels back in time to the Deep South of 19th-Century America. Having lived her entire life on the West Coast, she travelled by cross-country bus, and it was during a three-hour wait at a bus station that she wrote the first and last chapters of what would become Kindred. It was published in 1979 and remains her best-known book.

The 1980s would bring a string of awards, including two Hugos, the science-fiction awards first established in 1953. They also saw the publication of her Xenogenesis trilogy, which was spurred by talk of ‘winnable nuclear war’ during the arms race, and probes the idea that humanity’s hierarchical nature is a fatal flaw.The books also respond to debates about human genetic engineering and captive breeding programs for endangered species.

In her author photos, Butler appears a serious woman with an exceptionally penetrating gaze. At a talk she gave in Washington DC in 1991, later reported in the radical feminist periodical, Off Our Backs, she offered a fuller description of herself: “comfortably asocial – a hermit in the middle of Los Angeles – a pessimist if I’m not careful, a feminist, a black, a former Baptist, an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, certainty and drive”.

That certainty and drive can be seen in papers from her archive, now housed at the Huntington Library. In 1998, some motivational notes written on the back of a ring-bound writing pad begin “I shall be a bestselling writer!” She goes on: “I will find the way to do this! So be it! See to it!” Elsewhere, she’s to be found urging herself to “tell stories filled with facts. Make people touch and taste and know. Make people feel! Feel! Feel!”

Butler died in 2006, following a fall near her home in Washington state. Though she had begun suffering from writer’s block and depression, caused in part by medication for her high blood pressure, she’d continued to teach, and in 2005, had been inducted into Chicago State University’s international black writers hall of fame. She published a novel that year, too, Fledgling, whose vampire heroine must avenge a vicious attack, and rebuild her life and family. By then, her books had been translated into 10 languages, selling more than 1 million copies altogether.

In the years since, her fanbase has only grown. It turns out that she didn’t invent the campaign slogan beloved by Trump. It was used by Ronald Reagan in his 1980 presidential campaign, and later by Bill Clinton, although later he described the phrase as a “racist dog whistle to white southerners”. Nevertheless, as Tarshia L Stanley, dean of the school of humanities, arts and sciences at St Catherine University, notes, when readers spotted during the 2016 US election that Butler had chosen the slogan for Jarret, it “jarred people into recognising that she’s been doing this work all along. She’d been trying to tell us that if we do not make changes, this is what’s going to happen. She constantly gave that message: this is the logical conclusion if we keep treading down this path. I think when people saw that phrase, it started a whole new group of people reading her work.”

Butler’s work is today the subject of fan fiction, television adaptations (there are at least two in the works), and lively attention on college campuses, where it’s read from perspectives as varied as critical race theory, Afrofuturism, black feminism, queer theory and disability studies. Stanley, who last year edited the essay collection Approaches to Teaching the Works of Octavia E Butler, is also president of a society dedicated to the author. Its membership is broad, she says, but the most gratifying surprise is how many young people Butler’s work is engaging. At the inaugural conference, there was even a panel of high-school kids.

What would Butler have made of the present political moment in the US? “I don’t think she would have been surprised”, Stanley says. She puts Butler’s ability to envisage our future down to a deep understanding of human nature – knowledge gained from having the role of outsider foisted on her in girlhood. This she backed up with research, reading journals including Scientific American, listening to lectures, travelling as far as the Amazon. For Stanley, the one lesson to take from Butler’s work is hope. “World building is huge in her canon, and so there is always hope that since we built this world, we can build another one.”

There’s a scene in Parable of the Sower when the best friend of heroine Lauren Olamina insists “Books aren’t going to save us”. Lauren replies: “Use your imagination,” telling her to search her family’s bookshelves for anything that might come in handy. “Any kind of survival information from encyclopedias, biographies, anything that helps you learn,” she goes on. "Even some fiction might be useful".

Butler’s novels are just that kind of fiction. The child who began writing as a means of escape, ended up crafting potent calls to socio-political action that seem ever more pertinent to our survival as a species.

Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Talents, and other books by Octavia Butler are published by Headline.

[fmr]

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sharpdressedbman · 5 years ago

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A Tribute to Chester: Life, Death, Rebirth, and How He Lives on in Memory

How do you properly memorialize one of your childhood idols? Are you supposed to scream, cry, and gnash your teeth? Or do you put on noise-canceling headphones and block out the ambient noise of the outside world for a while? All of these are difficult questions to answer. I guess that’s why they’re rhetorical. It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost two years since Chester Bennington passed. So in a way, this simple little essay is how I can honor him. It feels nice to write something that isn’t fiction or related to a blog for a change[1]. Let’s see how it goes.

Part Zero: Notes from the Underground

I must confess that I was never a member of the official fan club, the LP Underground. I suppose in retrospect that’s how I could have proven I was a legit fan despite never seeing them live in concert except via live stream. But even then, that was a rare occasion. I do remember a t-shirt I got from Hot Topic when I was 12 or so – it had the faces of all of the guys gathered around the classic script font of the band’s logo.

I don’t remember what happened to it. The last time I remember wearing it was in August 2014. I supposed by then I had outgrown it. But still, buying whatever merch I could and getting all of the CDs and eagerly anticipating the next music video all had to count for something. I knew the names of all the guys, even Mark Wakefield, who was never an official member, and Phoenix Orion (Dave Farrell?), who left before Hybrid Theory but was back in time for Reanimation – more on that later.

But I digress. Let’s get on with the real meat of why we’re here. In terms of structure, I thought it would make the most sense to go album by album, discuss some memories I have associated with each, and attempt to unpack why they remain so important to me even as time has marched on since then. Growing up with the band, as I’m sure many of you did, you might feel a similar connection that you never fully grasped until the night of the tribute show in December 2017.

Part One: Hybrid Theory

#Forfeit the game/Before somebody else/takes you out of the frame and puts your name to shame/Cover up your face, you can’t run the race/the pace is too fast, you just won’t last. [HT Track 4: “Points of Authority”]

Although Hybrid Theory came out in October 2000, I think the first time I heard it was for another month or two after it came out. It’s still one of the most vivid memories I can still recall, the first time “Papercut” blared out of a cd player. I was sitting in the basement at my buddy Andre’s house and we were playing Perfect Dark with our mutual friend Alberto. It was honestly the perfect soundtrack for the game. Here’s what I said back then: “Dude, who is this? This is awesome!”

“It’s Linkin Park.”

Even then I thought the name was cool, the way that they intentional misspelled Lincoln – the rule of cool and all that. Elementary school hadn’t even ended yet, but it was still part of my formative years, musically speaking. Before then, I had never discovered any music on my own – my friends had always shown me. My parents didn’t raise me to enjoy music – I hated classical and most of the “standards” went over my head. My parents were still throwing karaoke parties. My old neighbor John showed me James Brown. That’s how I latched onto my first favorite song of all time “I Feel Good”. Then came Third Eye Blind, another early love of mine. But that’s a story for another time, as is my recollections of Limp Bizkit. This tale is about LP.

I wouldn’t realize it at the time, but Hybrid Theory would continue to be one of the most important albums to be me as I left elementary school and hit middle school. The days of Perfect Dark and WCW/nWo Revenge began to fade[2] as Diablo II and Starcraft emerged. The sound of Chester’s howls and Mike’s swagger along with the rest of the bands driving instrumentals provided a backdrop like you wouldn’t believe. “In the End” stood out in particular, although as middle school came to an end, it became clear that those reasons weren’t ones I wish to discuss here, now. Ask me again another time. It was at the end of middle school (hell, even before) that I confronted the notion of how deeply uncool I was, and probably tangled with imposter syndrome, anxiety, and depression long before I knew what any of those terms meant.

I already knew I was an introvert who was much more inclined to stay inside playing video games, reading, or writing instead of going outside to play street hockey or anything like that. That shouldn’t have meant that I was an easy target for bullying, but hey, it was the 90s and then the early 2000s, so what could you do? LP helped me cope, even if I couldn’t always express my anger in responsible ways.

I think here is a good place to stop and point something out: mental illness has been something that has been immensely important to me – it affects me and I know it damn sure affects my wife and mother in law. I went through a very dark time in my life roughly five years ago that LP also helped me pull out of – but I’ll get to explaining that more in-depth later on. Right now we’re still in the HT era; I just wanted to talk a little bit more about my motivations for writing this piece.[3]

Part Two: Reanimation

#Keep that in mind/ I designed this rhyme/ when I was obsessed with time. [RA Track 3: “Enth E Nd]

Full disclosure: when I first heard Reanimation, I thought it had its moments. But it wasn’t something I could listen to end-to-end and love every single song. Heck, even HT wasn’t like that, since some of the songs had to grow on me. The video with the robots and aliens having a war while the disembodied robot heads of the band sing the remixed version of “Points of Authority” by Jay Gordon of Orgy was definitely awesome, but I don’t know, I had mixed feelings about the album that took years for it to resolve into me think of it as one of the LP’s early era classics that would culminate with Meteora and Live in Texas.

I have a very distinct memory of popping this cd into the car’s stereo while we were out in…Houston? Taiwan? The details are blurry now because it’s been too long. Seventeen years was a long time ago, and 2002 me was simpler, less refined, and yes, much dumber and naïve. On an emotional level, “p5hng me Aw*y” stood out, and even though it wasn’t actually a true Linkin Park song, “It’s Goin’ Down” stood out from this time period too.

Part Three: Meteora

#I’ll never fight again, and this is how it ends…I don’t know what’s worth fighting, or why I have to scream, but now I have some clarity to show you what I mean… [MA Track 9: “Breaking the Habit”]

Meteora is one of those albums I more clearly associate with Diablo II and Starcraft more than any other games. Just something about the overall darkness and broodiness of the album really fit both of those games. Also, this essay project is making me want to go back in time. Not really from a nostalgia standpoint – okay yeah I guess from a nostalgia standpoint. But it was during this era that I really started to enjoy their music videos. Believe it or not, for the longest time, not all of the songs on the album were rated five stars. I used to be stingier with that rating that I am now. It took a while for some of the songs to grow on me, but “Somewhere I Belong”, “Faint”, “Easier to Run”, “Breaking the Habit”. “Nobody’s Listening”, and “Numb” were instant standouts. I’m still not sure what happened to my original copy of this album. The last I checked, I had a burned copy, but not the real deal.

Part Four: Live in Texas

#When I look into your eyes there’s nothing there to see/nothing but my own mistakes staring back at me# [LIT Track 8: P5hng Me A*wy – Live]

Man, I remember this too. It must have come out six months or so after Meteora did, and grabbing it from Kmart was one of my best days. I think it was also the first LP album to have the dreaded Parental Advisory sticker on it, and this is probably the album I blame most for me disliking the edited versions of songs. Sometimes edits can be clever, but when they’re just bleeps or certain naughty words are blanked out, then it gets annoying. Then again, I probably wasn’t a stranger to this concept thanks to early exposure to Third Eye Blind and Limp Bizkit, as I mentioned before. Was this the first time I heard “live” performances of LP? I think it was, and it probably stoked my eagerness to see them live in concert. Alas, it was never to be.

Part Five: Collision Course

#Yeah/Thank you, thank you, thank you, you’re far too kind# [CC Track 4: “Numb / Encore”]

It’s fitting that as I pick this up on (7/21/19) it’s the day after the 2 year anniversary. I meant to have this finished by the 20th, but it just didn’t happen. Plus “Numb/Encore” was one of the first songs that started up on this go-through of the playlist. If you’re interested in listening to it, I can direct you to my Spotify profile! Numb is one of those songs that have taken on new meaning since his death, but out of all the collaborations on this mashup album, I think it’s the one that works the best sonically and thematically, especially with the juxtaposition between angst and bravado[4].

Part Six: Fort Minor & The Rising Tied

#So sick, if he’s gonna think/That the good lord would come take him/I’m shaking him, “Wake up, you son of a bitch!”# [TRT Track 14: “Red to Black”]

It was four years between the era of Meteora and Minutes to Midnight. In between that time, there was a sea change. First there was the mashup with Jay-Z, and then this came along in November 2005. I remember being more stoked for it than probably any other music that I discovered that year – and this was when Fall Out Boy, 50 Cent, and Coheed and Cambria dawned on me, among others. For those who don’t know, Fort Minor is/was Mike’s side project. He’s since done other solo stuff under his own name but between then and now he would bust out verses from The Rising Tied and incorporate them into existing songs. I always thought that Red to Black was the most LP-sounding song on the entire album and that for the longest time I thought Chester used Jonah Matranga as an alias and it wasn’t a separate person.

Part Seven: Minutes to Midnight

#In this farewell/There’s no blood, there’s no alibi/Cause I’ve drawn regret/From the truth of a thousand lies/So let mercy come and wash away# [M2M Track 6: “What I’ve Done”]

In the interest of time, these entries are probably going to get shorter and shorter. At this point, I just want to get the damn thing over with. “What I’ve Done”, the lead single was the one that struck me the most at first; I remember LP making a big deal about how they wanted to start a new sound after leaving their classic era behind. The music video was awesome, and I think LP was one of the best choices for the Transformers movies. I always thought that “What I’ve Done” would make a great wrestling song. Not necessarily as an entrance theme, but as a hype video for a PPV or a feud or something like that. EWR back in the day helped reinforce that belief though I can’t exactly remember what I associated it with – anyway, that’s neither here nor there. The day that I got this album was the same day the shooting at Virginia Tech happened. Finding out that the shooter was a mentally ill Asian dude spooked me. In today’s parlance, I was shook.[5] That’s something that has always stuck out even though it’s something I’ve not been fond of discussing, for obvious reasons. Still, for our purposes here, it is for once, actually relevant.

Part Eight: Dead by Sunrise and Out of Ashes

#Don’t want to lose my innocence/Don’t want the world second-guessing my heart/Won’t let your lies take a piece of my soul/Don’t want to take your medicine# [OOA Track 2: “Crawl Back In”]

The melodies that emerged on Minutes to Midnight, especially when it was Chester’s turn to take the mic, evolved. They turned into another platform for his music: the side-project Dead by Sunrise and their only album, so far as I know: Out of Ashes. I lump this album in with Welcome to the Masquerade by Thousand Foot Krutch and Dear Agony by Breaking Benjamin. All three emerged during my sophomore year of college[6], which was another difficult year for me. I think that is when I had the most trouble sleeping, either by choice or for other reasons. Out of everything LP-related, I think I have given this the least amount of attention. It’s probably time for that to change, ten years later.

Part Nine: A Thousand Suns

#Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds/I suppose we all thought that, one another# [ATA Track 2: “The Radiance”]

If Minutes to Midnight was an attempt to step out of the shadow of Hybrid Theory, then A Thousand Suns represented an aural breakaway. It was vastly different, integrating more spoken word and turning up their signature sound to 12. I can’t remember exactly if it was in 2009 or 2010 that I was meant to go see LP as they rolled into DC. Ultimately, I couldn’t go because of a lack of transport. It all ended up moot anyway because that was the show that got canceled because of Chester being sick. Trying to dig up that post on Facebook is probably beyond me now because it’s a day late. Maybe someday I’ll be able to find it again because those days were golden (at least my pathetic little eulogy for him that I wrote two years ago.)

Part Ten: Living Things

#Fly me up on a silver wing/Past the black where the sirens sing/Warm me up in a nova’s glow/And drop me down to the dream below# [LT Track 6: “Castle of Glass”]

So if LP had been striving to break away from the sound that made them famous, it was at this point where they were “Nah bro” and went full bore back around into an ouroboros[7] of awesome. While the vast majority of A Thousand Suns[8] had to grow on me over the intervening years, Living Things grabbed me by the throat and never let go. It followed the Hybrid Theory blueprint to a T. After all this time, “Castle of Glass” still stands out as my favorite from the album, but as is often the case, it’s hard to pick favorites.

Part Eleven: Recharged

#When I was young, they told me, they said/Make your bed, you lie in that bed/A king can only reign ‘til instead/There comes that day it’s off with his head# [RC Track 1: “A Light That Never Comes”]

The less said about this, the better. It had its moments, especially “A Light That Never Comes” which showed me the potential of Steve Aoki. But the memory that stands out most clearly about the day I got this album was getting a case of Hell or High Watermelon beer. I think since I got it from Record and Tape Traders, it was the day I found the TARDIS socks for Ally and sent them to her later that week. As you probably gathered from the cluster of footnotes, this was deemed my least favorite “official” LP album, and that ranking has held up in the last six years. It does to Living Things what Reanimation did to Hybrid Theory, but for whatever reason, I can’t bring myself to enjoy it more.

Part Twelve: The Hunting Party

#Cause you don’t know what you’ve got/it’s your battle to be fought/until it’s gone# [THP Track 7: “Until It’s Gone]

Ah, here we go. LP seems to follow patterns in the creation of their albums. Cause roughly a year after Recharged, there came The Hunting Party. After A Thousand Suns came and went, it seemed like LP was on a creative lull. But then we got LT, Recharged, and THP in three straight years. This came out in 2014, and it’s hard to believe that five years have passed already. To this day, I still think that my favorite part was all of the guest appearances on their album, especially from collaborators they hadn’t featured before then, like Daron Malakian and Tom Morello.

Part Thirteen: Welcome

#First time I did it, yeah I’ll admit it/I kinda hit it and quit it and left y’all hanging# [“Welcome”]

In all honesty, this should be a footnote for The Rising Tied. It came out 10 years later, as a way for Mike to tip a wink and a nod at all his fans that were still waiting for a full-fledged sequel. Fate had other plans, though. I can still remember helping to clean Tidewater while this song blared through my headphones. This probably became one of my most played songs of 2015.

Part Fourteen: One More Light

#Who cares if one more light goes out? Well I do# [OML Track 9: “One More Light”]

We’re almost to the finish line. I was super excited for One More Light because it broke a drought of no new music until 2017[9]. The song One More Light became more poignant after his passing. I hope it still makes him proud.

Part Fifteen: Afterword

So where do we go from here? Honestly, not even the remaining members of the band know. They’re not actively looking to replace Chester, and as a group, they’re still officially on hiatus. I didn’t even touch on any of the DVD or special edition releases that I’ve barely heard. I guess in a sense they’re honorable mentions, but without having listened to them, I can’t form any honest opinions or associations for them.[10]

[/mrhahn]

[1] It seems fitting that I mention that shirt I got as a twelve-year-old because that’s when I started picking up on writing as a hobby. It was a way to release my imagination and translate what I had in mind into a story, even if those early stories were embarrassingly bad. These footnotes will serve to flesh out those asides since they’ll more than likely distract from the main narrative I’m trying to spin here.

[2] Although Revenge remains iconic! Even to this day, I still long for an N64 and another copy.

[3] Chester struggled with MI too, even though hardly anyone knew it. It’s what ultimately got the best of him.

[4] My fascination with Genius Lyrics is really helping me to analyze and better understand the meanings of the words.

[5] It didn’t help that he bore an uncanny resemblance to me…

[6] 2009, how time flies!

[7] Not sure how to spell this dang word.

[8] I regarded it as my least favorite LP album until Recharged came out. More on that later.

[9] It wasn’t until that I built the playlist that inspired this essay that I learned that there were some other singles issued between The Hunting Party and One More Light. These tracks include “We Made It” with Busta Rhymes, which actually fell between Meteora and Minutes to Midnight; “Not Alone”, which was between A Thousand Suns and Living Things; and “Darker Than Blood” with Steve Aoki that was between The Hunting Party and One More Light.

[10] One was called “Frat Party at the Pankake Festival” and the other one was “Road to Revolution”, I think?

#chester bennington #Linkin Park #mental health #mental illness #make chester proud

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britesparc · 6 years ago

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Weekend Top Ten #364

Top Ten Original Xbox Games I’d Like to See on Games With Gold

So with Mercenaries in November and Jedi Academy in February, it’s nice to see that original Xbox (2001-2006) games are being made part of the Games With Gold initiative. I like free stuff, and GWG is a great little addition to the Gold service. I tend to find nowadays that I get more excited by the older games, as they’re increasingly things that I missed out on last generation; Jedi Academy doesn’t quite fit the bill (I had it on PC) but it’s always fun to swing a ‘saber and party like it’s 2003.

Anyway, with all this in mind, here are ten games released on the first Xbox console that I'd love to see on Games With Gold, either because I didn’t play them the first time around, or because it’s been sixteen years and the game disc is stuffed in my loft somewhere and it’ll just be easier to have it digitally nowadays, y’know?

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003): however good the Mass Effect games are, I still miss the dynamic of this, BioWare’s best work (IMO). A terrific story, a tremendous twist, and a great combat dynamic that I wish they’d return to. And yes, my disc is stuffed somewhere at the back of the loft.

Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding (2001): I was one of those who bought an Xbox just before Microsoft knocked a hundred quid off its price, so as a consolation they sent me another controller and two games. One of those was Amped, a game I didn’t really expect much of but which was great fun. Channelling the vibe of Tony Hawk games, but faster and more colourful, it was an accessible and fun stunt racer that took advantage of the Xbox’s ability to create custom soundtracks from your own music library.

Project Gotham Racing (2001): still to this day my favourite PGR and possibly, by extension, my favourite racer of all time that doesn’t feature a short hairy plumber. The graphics were great, the Kudos system was inspired, it was great fun tearing round London, but really it was the progression mechanic that I loved, and which they messed around with a bit too much in subsequent games. Due to the custom soundtracks, certain songs from Pink and Nick Cave remind me of PGR courses to this day.

Burnout 3: Takedown (2004): I didn’t actually play this on the Xbox (my brother had it for the GameCube) but I loved the crashing dynamic so it’d be tremendous to have it again. I think I have Burnout Paradise somewhere, but it’s not quite the same for some reason; I liked the more old-fashioned, prescribed nature of tackling the crash courses, ticking them off almost like a puzzle game.

Psychonauts (2005): another one I've never played, but it gets rave reviews and I’ve loved Double Fine’s other work. With a sequel due out soon it’d be great to jump into the original.

Jet Set Radio Future (2002): I missed the Dreamcast and therefore the original JSR, but I played the demo of this “Back in the Day” (it came on a disc stuck to the front of a magazine that I had to buy in a shop, would you believe it?). It was great, great fun, just sliding around a beautiful, magnetic future-city. I wonder if it’d still feel fresh, or has the seriously underrated Sunset Overdrive scratched that particular grinding itch?

Spider-Man 2 (2004): I never had this; I don’t think I'd ever played it. But I remember playing the first Spider-Man game and wishing the swinging mechanic was a bit better. I think the consensus is Spidery 2 nails it perfectly. Seeing as the game I really want to play – Insomniac's PS4-exclusive Spider-Man from last year – remains out of my grasp, this would be a soothing balm.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002): I love a good RPG, but I've never gotten into Elder Scrolls. I know we’re now all looking at whatever’s coming over the horizon on the PS5 and Xbox Infinity, but it’d be nice to go back to a simpler time and enjoy this lost classic (well, lost to me coz I never played it). Fun aside: this was an early example of a game I nearly played, of a game I knew I'd probably like, but also knew I didn’t have time for. It was a wrench not buying it; I made that decision consciously because it was just too much money to lay out on something I couldn’t get to immediately. I mean, I probably have even less time nowadays, but it’d be free, so, y’know. That's something.

The Simpsons: Hit & Run (2003): this is another one I played on the GameCube. It’s probably the best Simpsons game? Maybe? Certainly it’s the only one off the top of my head that managed to capture the sense of Springfield as a place, even if its gameplay didn’t always gel with the world of the show. I do remember it being fun to play and very funny, however, so it’d be nice to revisit it properly on Xbox.

Deus Ex: Invisible War (2003): I bought this on PC, along with Thief 3, taking advantage of a sale at (I think) either HMV or Game. I barely played either of them, as it was that period where I was sort of naturally segueing from playing games on PC to playing them on a console. As such, although I enjoyed what I experienced of it, I'd love to try to go back and complete it. My memory of it is that it was unfairly maligned whilst simultaneously not being anywhere near as good as the first game. But then what is?

To be honest, guys and gals, I've gone through this listing games I'd love to play (and there were several more that didn’t quite make the cut – Fusion Frenzy, Blinx, Dead or Alive 3, Wreckless, Republic Commando, the list goes on) and I've been made aware that, thanks to the generousness of Games With Gold I already have tons and tons of games I doubt I'm gonna get round to. I guess the collector in me can never be satisfied! Anyway, OG Xbox. Good times.

#top ten #xbox #gaming #xbox one #microsoft #games with gold

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scripttorture · 7 years ago

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Effective investigation: strategies that actually work

In modern popular culture torture is consistently linked to interrogation: to getting information from a prisoner.

Now I’ve written several times why this trope is not only wrong but also harmful and is used in the real world to justify torture. O’Mara and Rejali also cover this in depth over several hundred pages for anyone who wants more information.

I often get asked for realistic alternatives: what does actually work? How can characters, bad or good, actually go about gaining information in a realistic way?

This isn’t going to be an exhaustive list, and I feel I should state that I have no practical experience of interrogation. Hopefully though it can serve as a starting point that will help you think about how characters come by information in your stories.

The first important point is that interrogation generally isn’t very effective.

Very little useful information comes from interrogation of suspects when compared to all the other sources of information police and intelligence agencies draw on.

There are a several reasons interrogation isn’t hugely useful including:

· Human memory isn’t that good. Even well meaning people who want to help forget important details.

· People are much better at lying than detecting lies. Even people who describe themselves as good at detecting when someone is lying do a very poor job.

· Memories are easily modified in stressful situations. Even someone who isn’t trying to can plant suggestions leading to false memories, directing the interrogation in a particular direction without even realising it.

Some useful information does come from interrogation (and I’ll come back to how to handle it in a moment) but, realistically the following are more important sources of information in any investigation:

Physical forensic evidence

This doesn’t just mean things like hair samples and DNA. Computer records, credit card bills, surveillance camera footage, library records and letters can tell you an awful lot about a person. Reading a character’s emails or letters and keeping track of their bills can reveal a lot of plot relevant information such as whether two characters are in contact or why a character might be desperate for money.

Gathering this sort of information takes a lot of time and hard work. It’s not as simple as collecting evidence, such as a piece of hair or a computer hard drive, the information has to be analysed and interpreted correctly.

The hair could be DNA tested and cross referenced with a database or simply identified as human and of a particular type and colour. (Identifying it as human is important, I know at least one forensic tech who was handed cow hair and told it was definitely from a suspect)

The computer hard drive would need to be poured over file by file. It’s not quite enough to suppose character A could access character B’s emails, A has to have the time and inclination to read the damn things.

An important point to consider is how dedicated your characters are. Careful collection and examination of evidence is probably the best way of finding something out. But it requires patience, hard work and a lot of time.

There’s a reason police work is a full time job and there’s a reason a lot of people in professions like policing might think torture is easier. Gathering and analysing evidence is hard.

It’s worth considering whether your character has the resources and inclination to go down this route before you decide to use it.

Observation

This is the stake-out scene from every police movie and tv show. It’s having one character physically following and watching another character for as long as humanly possible, recording everywhere they go and everything they do.

It means finding out where a character lives, watching them at work, noting where they eat lunch and who with. Finding out where they go in their free time and how often. When they go to bed. Who they visit. How long they do it for. The minute detail of everything someone does in their day recorded for a period of weeks or months to build up a picture of the person.

If that sounds creepy that’s because it is.

This is a very time consuming strategy. It requires a lot of focus and patience and dedication or the ability to hire someone who has those qualities. It’s simpler than systematically gathering physical evidence and it’s easier to do discretely.

Informants

This is probably the simplest major method of gathering information. It can be as complicated as the Soviet Union network of paid informants or as straight-forward as people coming forward and volunteering information.

This is incredibly important to police investigations. Information from voluntary informants led to the capture of the London tube bombers in 2005. The suspects were identified by their family and neighbours who went to the police.

This sort of informal reporting doesn’t just occur in police contexts. From a writing perspective the way I tend to think about it is in terms of crossing societal lines.

Every culture and subculture has ideas about what is and what is not acceptable. Every group has an idea of what’s ‘going too far’.

You might be writing a story set around a violent, criminal subculture where theft and murder of other adults are the norm. But the same characters who wouldn’t dream of reporting an enemy for killing another adult might feel differently about the murder of a child.

A religious character might excuse their priest’s affairs, but report anything they’d see as desecration or blasphemy.

A scientist might ignore a colleague harassing their lab assistants but report data fraud.

Think about what matters to the characters and you’ll be able to tell when they’d freely volunteer information.

If you can’t think of anything emotional that would cause them to inform remember that your characters could pay informants. And then consider how many people who really need some cash might be in a position to watch or steal from other characters.

Cleaners, drivers, people who deliver supplies- anyone who would be on a low wage, have regular contact with the character but only a superficial relationship could be a very valuable informant.

Interrogation

At the time of writing there is really not enough systematic research on effective interrogation. As a result I’m going to try and concentrate on things we’re reasonably sure help rather than getting bogged down in academic discussions about what might be useful. Those discussions are interesting but not much help to writers.

1) The first important point is that interrogation takes time.

If a character is volunteering information that probably won’t take as long but somewhere in the region of 3-6 hours would still be reasonable. A witness to a crime or victim would probably need time and reassurance in order to tell the authorities what they know to the best of their ability.

Someone who isn’t really willing to talk (for whatever reason) will need much longer. A day is actually unusually short. Weeks or even up to a month is not unreasonable. Timeframes are going to vary depending on the characters and the situation the plot has put them in but I think it’s important to remember that interrogation isn’t quick and it isn’t simple.

2) Interrogators and characters being interrogated should speak a common language.

It sounds simple and obvious but if the characters can’t communicate effectively interrogation is almost certainly going to fail.

Using translators does not seem to be as effective as using people who speak the language but there haven’t been systematic studies of speakers vs interpreters as far as I know.

3) Good record keeping is essential for effective interrogation.

That’s straightforward in a modern setting with recording equipment but less so in a historical one.

Having a record of everything the suspect character says when interviewed means that everything they say can be analysed by multiple people, can be cross checked against what they said previously and can be stored in a legible format in case it’s needed later.

Checking what a suspect character said today against what they said yesterday or even last week helps investigators to tell the difference between fact and fiction. Lies are difficult to keep consistent, especially over longer periods of time. Inconsistencies can be helpful and consistencies can help highlight areas investigators should look into in greater depth.

Having multiple people able to analyse information also helps hugely, each individual brings their own specialist knowledge to the investigation. Which can be as simple as recognising a local’s nickname (and so correctly identifying them later) or as complex as analysing how a suspect claims they made a bomb and recognising that that process wouldn’t work.

4) Even someone who genuinely wants to help will forget details and get things wrong.

That isn’t unusual and it certainly isn’t a sign that the character is unwilling or being deliberately unhelpful. In fact a story that sounds too detailed and too precise might well be a sign of a pre-scripted and pre-rehearsed lie.

5) Very very few people refuse to talk.

Whether they talk about anything helpful is of course another matter but the stereotype of a tough criminal sitting completely silently and staring down a cop is incredibly rare in reality.

A smart interrogator will try to get their suspect chatting in the hope that some useful information will come out.

Let’s say one of our characters is suspected of being part of a larger conspiracy of some kind. And he won’t chat about any of the ‘interesting’ material the cops have found in his house, but he’s happy to talk to the interrogator about the local football team.

The interrogator might notice that he seems to go to watch the local team regularly and that he goes with the same set of friends. Friends who might not be part of this conspiracy but might have heard something useful from the suspect.

A smart suspect will try to keep up a conversation peppered with misleading hints and misinformation.

6) Have the interrogating character establish a friendly rapport with their interviewee.

It is easier to talk to someone who comes across as friendly, interested in what you have to say and broadly sympathetic to your position.

It is much more difficult to talk to someone who shouts, screams and acts in an aggressive and confrontational manner.

The interrogator’s job is primarily to make it easy for the suspect to talk. Everything else follows from that.

A polite, engaging, sociable character who can keep calm under pressure would be a good pick. Someone who can be ‘friends’ with anybody.

Let me stress that this can be extremely difficult. We’re talking about a character who can walk into a room with the worst possible criminals and try to make friends with them; a character who is successful at doing so. Don’t be afraid to show the kind of toll that takes on the character.

7) Don’t let suspects talk to each other before hand.

I’ve discussed elsewhere why solitary confinement is harmful- keeping characters completely isolated might well impair their memory of events.

But allowing characters to talk to each other before their interrogated also affects memory both for characters who want to mislead interrogators and for characters who want to help.

Essentially we edit our memories all the time. Discussion of shared experiences with other people is a major trigger for natural alternation of memories.

Four witnesses of the same events who don’t talk to each other in advance will give four different but broadly similar accounts.

If the same witnesses talk to each other before they’re interviewed they might well all report the same inaccuracies.

8) Have interviewed characters tell their story backwards.

This is a pretty simple memory aid that makes it easier for interrogators to spot inconsistencies in a story. These inconsistencies don’t necessarily indicate a lie but they highlight areas a character might be unsure of or might have inaccurate memories of.

For instance if a character witnessed a car crash they might be instructed to start their account from the moment the ambulances arrived at the scene and work backwards from there until they reach the moments just before the crash.

This technique can also help remind characters of additional details as they tell the story.

9) There is no reliable way to tell if someone is lying by looking at them.

Even people who judge themselves as ‘good’ at detecting lies perform poorly in tests.

There are no reliable ‘tests’ for lying. There are no working lie detector tests and based on how complex an action lying is short of literally reading minds I don’t think it would be possible.

The only reliable way to tell if someone lied is to double check everything they said.

10) Body language is not a reliable indicator of a character’s guilt or innocence.

A lot of people still believe that it is and there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with your characters believing that- but I’d advise caution.

An interrogator character might recognise that a suspect character is nervous, but to instantly ‘know’ why they’d need to be psychic.

The vast majority of people who conduct interrogations in real life have little to no formal training. In the USA (2013) the average was between 8-15 hours of the full training program. Consider how many hours you’d spend on a year long full time education course and you’ll get an idea of how little training that is.

We are what fills in the gap.

People with almost no training look to our portrayals of tough, aggressive interrogators who ‘always’ get results and, consciously or not, those portrayals influence them.

The truth is interrogation isn’t a great way of getting information and interrogators are only human: they don’t have a supernatural insight into the suspect or crime.

But we tend to write them as if they do. Personally I think that’s part of the problem- We focus on interrogation because of its dramatic potential. That focus warps how both the public and people involved in investigations view interrogation. It places too much focus on a comparatively poor information gathering technique and leads to assumptions that interrogators are capable of more than they realistically are.

Trust, human interaction and treating other people as human is important. Anything that undermines that undermines interrogation.

Edit: Since I’m seeing some response in the comments from people who don’t quite see how bad portrayals of torture in fiction can affect real life, I’m linking back to this older Masterpost- Accurate Portrayals of Torture in Fiction are Important

Disclaimer

[Sources: Why Torture Doesn’t Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation. Harvard University Press, S O’Mara

Torture and Democracy, Princeton, D Rejali

The work of E Alison and L Alison, discussed in this newspaper article and listed here on their University home page papers are behind a pay wall (one specific to interviewing terrorists can be found here).

New Scientist 2015, article on evidence based policing]

#tw torture #tw police brutality #interrogation #effective interrogation #effective inevstigation #Masterpost

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emeraldnebula · 6 years ago

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In light my recent posts about the idea of creating a brand-new superhero love interest for Superman (the real one, not the impostor parading about in “Rebirth��), I thought it might be fair to share with you some old message board posts from the official DC Comics message boards, circa 2001-2005. This was back when the Superman fandom hadn’t atrophied to the point where only the regressive nutcases were running the show, so there were still some voices of sanity active at the time.

Even 13-17 years ago, DC’s arrogance, inability to accept criticism over their failures, and insistence of stagnation was a major sticking point, and it led to lot of debates over what needed to be updated about Superman to keep it alive, what was absolutely essential, and what needed to be kicked to the curb. I copied and pasted a lot of these conversations into Microsoft Word (I knew nothing of screen-capping at the time), so there’s some choice posts that, I think, are even more relevant than ever in light of “Rebirth” being a failure in every respect.

Some of these posts will be anonymous, as I no longer remember who exactly posted what. But some posters were fairly notable fan personalities, such as comic book blogger Bizarro Mark Engblom, a fan from the Silver Age days:

“ I wouldn't lose much sleep if Perry and Jimmy went the way of the dodo bird. I think they worked better in the age when newspapers were actually a vital element of our society, but they're now (at best) a quaint anachronism. An optional feature of our lives, rather than the necessity it was in past eras. Lois? The current interpretation of Lois is an annoying shrike, but I would think she would need to be around in some capacity. What that is, I have no idea. As it stands, she occupies a much more prominent role that I would ever give her. The real trick seems to be separating the “essentials” from what I like to call “furniture.” Essentials: Krypton explodes, Jor-El and Lara send their baby Kal-El (the baby's age never mattered much to me) to Earth, found and raised by the Kents as Clark Kent in Smallville. Grows up to become Superman. Furniture: Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, various Fortresses, super-pets, kryptonite, villains, blah, blah, blah. Of course, just as in my home I'm more fond of some pieces of furniture than others, it's still just furniture and, ultimately, expendable. From my perspective, there is precious little that absolutely must remain in order for it to still be Superman. Whenever the Superman experience starts to become more about rearranging the same old furniture than advancing the narrative into new territory (or, to beat the analogy to death, “buying some new furniture”), you know the franchise is stuck in a rut.“

An anonymous fan, quoting previous poster Cooky La Moo:

“You know, I kind of like the idea of The Daily Planet, Perry and Jimmy BEING an anachronism. Perry as an old-school newsman standing like Canute against the tide of time. The Daily Planet doesn't HAVE to be a great metropolitan newspaper, it could be seen as a somewhat eccentric throwback to a simpler age, sneered at by other media types, but respected when it can pull in stories like the debut of Superman. Maybe it could become “old-fashioned” in the same way that people see Clark's character itself as being “old-fashioned.” Or, like Cooky said, make the Planet a news agency. Or a web-based news site. How are magazines like Time doing? Are they being superseded like newspapers? Of course, is it necessary for Clark to be a reporter? With 24-hour news media, he doesn't need to be at a newspaper to get access to news stories. Could he be a teacher? Perry a principal, Jimmy a student teacher? Or some other profession? I've always thought that Perry, Lois and Jimmy should form something of an artificial family of some sort, so I think the characters should stay, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't get other jobs. You know the thing that annoys me? The fact that we sit here discussing issues like this when DC just doesn't seem bothered. What's going on?”

Two posts by DC forum regular Kilgore Trout:

“ The strict adherence to “continuity” is what got us to the point we’re at now. It has become impossible to just tell a story WITHOUT going through 16 years of “continuity” to make sure you’re not stepping into a pile of shit that someone left laying there 10 years ago. To me, continuity means this: Strange visitor from another planet [which is destroyed—along with his family—in a horrific cataclysm] rocketed to earth as a child. Raised by kindly older couple in the heartland of America. Has powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Works for a great metropolitan newspaper. And who, disguised as Clark Kent, fights a never-ending battle for Truth Justice et al…. Everything else is superfluous. Superman should exist inside AND outside of the DCU. The age of anal-retentiveness needs to end. The books are completely stifled under the weight of 16 years of step-by-step continuity. This isn’t the life story or autobiography of a real person. Superman’s story used to be BIG and GRAND. It wasn’t mired in small details and the mundane goings-on of normal folks. The “Hi, honey! I’m home!” approach isn’t working anymore and it’s why I am looking forward to Birthright and the promise it holds.“

“ Here's a simple solution... AFTER they revamp the current Moderateman and change him BACK to Superman, they can actually explain the Lois and Clark relationship in a way that would finally make sense. Here’s how: YES, Superman IS the OLDEST and most RESPECTED Superhero in the DCU BECAUSE of his MANY YEARS of service to and for humanity. And that would require that he's been around for over 60-some odd years, so here's my thought: Lois Lane is a woman that Superman USED TO have a thing with. She aged. He barely did. She is NOW about 60 and is his oldest friend and confidant. Nothing more and nothing less. The end. No marriage and no messy divorce. Just good friends and still an important part of the mythos.”

Responses to the above, from anonymous posters:

“ Kilgore Trout, I’m sorry but, huh?!? what do you mean exactly? Are you talking for TPTB up at DC to just reboot the titles to have it so that now in Post-Post-Crisis, both Kal and Lois have aged but within Kal's case though, the higher-ups have made it so that he has retained his youthfulness in his physical appearance, and so that Lois is now a grandma in the new DCU too? Yeah, I suppose that if done right it could work in the end. It would sure give another gal a shot at becoming his lover (Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan, Wonder Woman, etc.).”

“ Do we NEED Lois and Clark to be lovers? Okay, sure we do at the moment, assuming there's no reboot on the horizon. But if things started again, do we NEED a Lois/Clark ‘ship? Yes, I know. They've been an item forever. Their names are linked together in the public consciousness, but...what if, in another universe, Clark and Lana ended up together? Or Clark and Chloe? What if—Shock! Horror!—Lois and Clark were just good friends, maybe even best friends, but platonic friends nonetheless? I know that the secret identity causing trouble for Clark's relationships is an important part of the mythos, but can that be played out in another form other than a love triangle? Could it work with friends like Jimmy and Perry if their roles were beefed up? Thinking about it, that sort of situation perhaps works best in a romantic relationship, but that relationship doesn't have to be with Lois. I know, I know. Lois is an important character. I think a lot of the problems are down to poor characterization and a lack of vision for the supporting cast. But sometimes, and especially in conversations like this, it’s worth throwing out ideas and thoughts and seeing if any of them stick, even if they're not how things have been in the past. We hear a lot about redefining Superman, but of all the aspects of the mythos, Clark's character is perhaps one of the things that doesn't NEED changing. Maybe Lois’ role IS something that could change…. (Is there a devil's advocate smiley?)”

Post by Elroy the Cat, specifically citing the Lois/Clark marriage as a death knell:

“ The more fundamental problem with Lois in current continuity is not whether she's married to Superman or not. It’s whether readers can understand what the fuck Clark sees in her, because Lois is either annoying or more annoying, depending on the writer who's handling her. She's a difficult character, apparently, for male writers to pull off successfully. And that's a problem, because you can [and already do] have readers going, “This man could have ANY woman he wants! Why this troll?” It's distracting, and no one has thought to explore whether or not it speaks of a deficiency in Clark that he should seek to be loved by someone as clearly flawed as Lois is. Great story there…but then you'd have to have a real writer to write it. Having said that, the marriage as an idea is only as good as its usefulness to the greater story. Presently, it’s about as useful to the greater “journey” of the character of Superman as shoes are to fish. And therein lies the problem. Bottom line: the marriage is the nail that makes an eventual total reboot of this version of Superman inevitable.“

Another anonymous post in response to infamous forum troll Michael “ManoftheAtom” Sacal, pretty much backing up Bizarro Mark Engblom’s previous argument:

“To me, all Superman needs to be is… An infant rocketed to earth from a dying planet. Raised by the Kents. A reporter. And THAT’S IT!! I don't understand what these “established guidelines” are, exactly. So you guys are saying that if Superman is rebooted 1000 times, he always has to live the same exact life in each and every one of them??”

Excerpt from another anonymous post, again in respose to Kilgore Trout vis-a-vis DC’s pet failed decisions:

“I could not have said it better [following a laundry list of bad ideas DC implemented]. Actually the addition of each of these things was usually a part of a good story. But retaining them after the story as part of the Superman legend has created this disaster that I describe as clutter. Besides, kids who are getting their driver's licenses today (and probably giving up comics) were not even born at the time of the Crisis. It is time to relaunch, have another Crisis, or simply designate everything since the last Crisis as having occurred on some alternate earth (like the GA's Earth 2 or the SA). Then start writing comics for the next generation. Superman could discover Kryptonite again. He could be a bachelor and play the field. He could marry Lana instead of Lois (and that would not require a divorce)—in this brave new world maybe he had been a Superboy before becoming a Superman. He might have a cousin, fly in space, or travel in time. Or maybe not. But there would be room to do new things without having to screw up everything that has gotten him to where he is today.”

Again, some of these suggestions are from longtime fans whose readership stretched back decades. And even as far back as the early 2000s, there were those pondering if perhaps the Superman franchise needed a drastic makeover. I can’t imagine those sentiments are any less now in the wake of DC’s regressive tactics.

#superman #reboot #revamp #fan suggestions #blast from the past #still relevant

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megamoses · 6 years ago

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Backblog #16 - Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom (NES)

The game I played immediately after Portopia was Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom. Developed and published by Hudson Soft in July of 1984, a little over a year after Portopia, it was originally released for various Japanese PCs before being ported to the Famicom in 1988, which itself got an English release for the NES in 1991. The NES/Famicom version which I played is really almost a completely different game compared to the PC versions, featuring completely redrawn graphics and over twice the amount of chapters. The Famicom version later received a straight port to the GBA in 2005 as a part of the Hudson Best Collection Vol. 4: Nazotoki Collection, which includes a couple of puzzle games, Nuts & Milk and Binary Land, as well (Nazotoki means to solve a mystery or riddle). There was also a mobile version released in 2004 with further improved graphics. I don’t know much else about it beyond that, but I imagine it probably plays the same as the Famicom version.

The story of the game goes that, one day in the Salad Kingdom (which is, uh... mostly inhabited by anthropomorphic fruits and vegetables), Minister Pumpkin betrayed King Broccoli, kidnapping his daughter, Princess Tomato, and stealing the Turnip Emblem, which gives the right to rule. He then retreated to his castle in the Zucchini Mountains and sent out his farmies (human farmers who eat vegetables, which of course makes them the bad guys) to terrorize the citizens. It’s up to you, Sir Cucumber, the bravest knight in the land to rescue Princess Tomato and restore peace to the land. Along to help you is Percy, a young persimmon who you help in the first chapter and becomes your squire, essentially fulfilling the some of the same role as Yasu in Portopia by acting as your narrator and sometimes giving you advice.

You spend the game traveling from location to location, gathering clues and talking to various cute and wacky characters. Structurally, the game is a lot more linear than Portopia, being divided into nine chapters (or four in the PC versions). It’s a much longer game too, but thankfully there’s a password system you can use to resume your progress from the beginning of whichever chapter you last reached. Each chapter takes you to a different location in the Salad Kingdom, from the Celery Forest to the capital city of Saladoria to the resistance base (where you meet Princess Tomato’s sister, who is a regular human for some reason) and eventually to Minister Pumpkin’s castle itself where you finally meet the princess and have a showdown with the villain.

Obviously, it’s a very lighthearted and cutesy game, especially in the Famicom version, which probably contributed to its success with a female audience in Japan (I remember Arino mentioning a few female celebrities that considered this game a favorite of their childhood in the game’s GameCenter CX episode). It’s also a pretty humorous game, with a few gags that actually made me laugh out loud. While Sir Cucumber acts as the silent protagonist, Percy actually has a fairly fleshed out personality thanks to all of his dialogue over the course of the game, coming across as a bit cowardly. There’s also a gameplay purpose he serves at the end of every chapter where he gets rid of all the items in your inventory that are no longer necessary. But because of the way its presented, usually as him losing the items, it makes him seem like a bit of a fuck up.

The game itself plays very similarly to Portopia, seeming to wear the influence on its sleeve in a couple of ways. The original PC versions, like the PC versions of Portopia, featured a simple “verb noun” text parser. And like the Famicom version of Portopia, the Famicom version of this game replaced that with a menu, with the overall HUD even looking kinda similar.. Also like Portopia, the Famicom version added a few first-person mazes, but apart from the third one they’re actually much simpler to navigate than the one in Portopia, though it can still be somewhat easy to become disoriented.

Another thing the Famicom version added, which is very strange, is the combat system. The combat, or finger wars as the game calls them, plays out as rock-paper-scissors. Specifically it uses what I’m assuming is an additional Japanese rule where, after somebody loses the toss, the winner points in a certain direction and at the same time the loser looks in a certain direction, and if the loser looked in the same direction as the winner pointed then they actually fully lose the point. It’s a pretty strange addition, but most encounters have some sort of pattern you can exploit or a weakness such as always throwing the same sign or looking in the same direction. If not, then it really just comes down to luck, which can be a bit frustrating.

The graphics of the PC versions have a somewhat similar style to the PC versions of Portopia in how they’re drawn, with very simple lineart with solid fills. But the sillier tone of this game allows that graphical style to work very much to its advantage compared to Portopia. The characters are very colorfully drawn with some really out there designs. Overall the game looks very stylish but also completely weird and crazy, similar to a couple of Hudson’s other visual novels from this era: Dezeni Land and Dezeni World. The Famicom version on the other hand ended up having to redraw the graphics, mostly due to the fact that they had to be crammed into a smaller area to make room for the new menu elements. The graphics in this version turned down the crazy and turned up the cute, which I’m sure gave it some wider appeal. And the characters really do look cute, especially Princess Tomato herself, who is just precious.

The game, at least the Famicom version, also has a huge leg up on Portopia in that it features music. It’s pretty serviceable and mostly has the same cute feel as the rest of the game, with the exception of the music used in the maze sequences which sounds appropriately mysterious and the music that plays in chapter 5 (the resistance base) which sounds way overly dramatic for some reason. My favorite tracks are probably the songs that play in chapter 2 (Saladoria) and chapter 8 (Minister Pumpkin’s castle).

I think this is a pretty good game and actually wish the PC versions of it or even the two Dezeni games had translations so I could check them out more fully and see just how weird Hudson got with them. Before playing it, my only experience with the game was the GameCenter CX episode, where it became known as “the game that made Arino fall asleep,” but it probably just isn’t his cup of tea, who knows. Anyway, next time I’ll be tackling either J.B. Harold Murder Club or Crystal Dragon, neither of which I really know anything about. Until then, take it easy~

#text post #backblog #backlog #backloggery #video games #princess tomato in the salad kingdom #salad no kuni no tomato-hime #hudson soft #nintendo entertainment system #famicom #adventure #visual novel

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jurakan · 6 years ago

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On Netflix’s Avatar

[I did an essay about the Netflix Avatar on Facebook. I’m sharing here.]

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So this past week it was announced that Netflix was working on a live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Not a spin-off, another story set in the same world--it’s a remake, just this time in live-action. Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko (or Bryke, as they’re often called), the creators of the original series, are coming back to run the show. Here’s their statement, copied from Deadline:

“We’re thrilled for the opportunity to helm this live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. We can’t wait to realize Aang’s world as cinematically as we always imagined it to be, and with a culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed cast. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to build upon everyone’s great work on the original animated series and go even deeper into the characters, story, action, and world-building. Netflix is wholly dedicated to manifesting our vision for this retelling, and we’re incredibly grateful to be partnering with them.”

The line about “a culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed cast” is of course, a reference to the movie that was released about a decade ago, in which the majority of the cast was Caucasian (when the animated series was inspired by Asian mythology and folklore, and had characters that matched that), despite being directed by an Indian man. If you’re ever curious when the ever current (and almost always justified) outcry of whitewashing in Hollywood became a mainstream cause of the Internet, the release of The Last Airbender is a good place to start looking. So of course, the makers of the series want to assure fans that this won’t happen again.

Here’s the thing: I think this is a terrible idea. And the statement from Bryke makes me worry even more.

There’s this common unvoiced idea in popular consciousness that the ultimate form of a piece of fiction is the live-action film. We read a book and if we like it we think it should be a movie. We read a comic and if it’s great we think it should be a movie. We watch a television series we like, animated or live-action, and if we think it’s great we demand that it get a movie. To be fair this has changed in recent times with the release of acclaimed live-action television serieses like Game of Thrones in which it’s become obvious that for screen adaptations sometimes a television series makes a better translation, because it’s got more time to keep in material from the source, unlike a movie which has much tighter time constraints. Clearly that’s the attitude being taken here.

Because Bryke very clearly sees live-action as a better form of storytelling than animation. The above statement includes the bit about “realizing Aang’s world as cinematically as we always imagined it to be.” In other words, the original Avatar: The Last Airbender (and by extension The Legend of Korra) isn’t the series they ever wanted to make, they wanted to make a live-action story but they settled for animation because that’s what they had. That’s an insult to the hard work that went into both of those series. Apparently a beautiful, consistent art style that they’ve kept up in animation and comics since 2005 is not actually what they hoped to be doing, and wanted to do it all in live-action instead.

More to the point, the world of Avatar works in animation. It works really well in animation. It’s a fantasy world with strange hybrid creatures, elemental powers, and powerful godlike spirits. And they aren’t small parts of the story; elemental bending is in every story, and the Gaang travels around on Appa the six-legged sky bison. That means if they’re going to look realistic at all, each episode is going to need an astronomically high budget for special effects, especially one that has multiple creatures, large battles, or scenes involving spirits. It’s a series inspired by Asian mythology and folklore, but also by wuxia films, so that also means lots of stunts and wirework.

All of this is much simpler in animation, where this isn’t an issue. Yes, it still requires funds to make animation look good and polished, but it isn’t as if there would be extra for a CGI character, or that you have to get stunt actos to work out all of the action on screen. You may have some consultants and martial artists so that you can model human movement, and you might use CGI for some things, but it’s a lot less of a worry about making it realistic because, well, it’s animated. It doesn’t look realistic to start with. It’s not the point.

There are other issues with live-action that people aren’t really addressing in this discussion too. The main characters are all kids. The oldest character is maybe sixteen? In an animated series, years of production don’t make too much of a difference because animated characters don’t age. Maybe their voice actors do, but generally voice actors who can imitate kids’ voices will be used over actual children. In a live-action television or movie series, child actors aging has always been an issue. In a multi-season live-action adaptation of A:tLA, I wouldn’t be surprised if the cast is significantly older than at the start of the series.

There’s also been some talk along the lines of “We don’t have to worry because Bryke’s involved, and as long as the series’ creators are involved they’ll know what they’re doing and it’ll turn out fine.” As if the creator of the source material being involved is a guarantee of writing quality. They were involved with both Legend of Korra and the spin-off comics to both serieses, and they had many of the problems that the original series didn’t. Some people point to the lack of involvement from Aaron Ehasz, the leader writer on Avatar: The Last Airbender (who is currently lead writer on the Netflix animated series The Dragon Prince and it’s great, so please go watch that). Ehasz is generally credited with many of the best writing decisions in A:tLA, including Iroh not being evil. I don’t know if this is entirely fair, mind you, as not having sat down with the entire writing staff I don’t think we can come to solid conclusions either way. And I think a huge problem with Legend of Korra is that it had much shorter seasons and for the first two of those the staff had no idea if it was going to continue past the current season. But it still had major storytelling problems like unnecessary romantic subplots, cool concepts that get dropped, inconsistent character motivations, and deus ex machinas.

Basically: no, Bryke being involved does not reassure me in the slightest.

This strikes me as another attempt to cash in on nostalgia on Bryke’s part. Legend of Korra, for its flaws, was still overall a good show, and had its own story to tell and points to make. Had Bryke announced they were working on a live-action spinoff I’d be a bit more open. But a live-action remake of A:tLA? That just seems like a blatant cash grab. Maybe it’ll be good, but I sincerely doubt that it’ll be as great as the original animated series. So what’s the point?

#Avatar: The Last Airbender #AtLA #Avatar #Legend of Korra #Netflix

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ironflowerbluebird · 3 years ago

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Trifle

The story is written based on the story told to the author by a teacher of civil procedural law. The beginning partly actually took place. Otherwise, all events are fictitious, coincidences are random. https://medium.com/@com548510/trifle-7208f74939eb

In the courtyard of the police dormitory (the story happened in 2005 before the adoption of the law on the police) belonging to the same university of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, two future “defenders” of civil order drank plenty of beer. And they did it during the school day, deciding that the lesson of forensic science is too boring compared to a can of cold beer. There was no exchange of biting swear words. The abuse seemed to fly tens of kilometers away from the hostel. But not as far as their wild laughter, reminiscent of the cries of a donkey, which they are diligently trying to brand, but the brand stubbornly cannot get into the side.

Their names were Yegor and Stas. Despite this dismissive attitude towards their studies, they both made truly ambitious plans for their future careers in law enforcement. At a minimum, he will rise to the rank of major, and in a very short way. About five years after they'd done well and promoted themselves, they intended to keep their little "business" illegal of course. Then having received enough funds to learn how to get a promotion bypassing the formalities, as they now say through the cashier. And already further develop your “business” with great opportunities from the captain's rank, more seriously than brothels and small workshops for the production of burnt vodka.

It all seemed so easy to do. So quickly you can reach the coveted shoulder straps, as if they were prepared in advance for two vain young people. The strength with which they come has already filled the hands whose signature can decide the fate of a person.

The city is their crystal ball with a snowball. Shake it and enjoy the beauty of the hand-made power. Inside the little men are objects serving their owners of the crystal ball. The benefit if they bring money is the only valuable item for them in this boring life.

But now these were just fantasies of alcohol-stained brains that did not understand their very modest prospects even for working at the teaching staff for eternally entertaining students who once miraculously did not fly out of school for being drunk on a steam room. Abundant kindness to the administration, followed by a promise to improve, saved me from a shameful expulsion. For the future, they remembered not the consequences of their misconduct, but the name of the teacher who complained about them. Then, when they themselves begin to resolve issues in their own way, he will get a “good” gratitude. You definitely won’t get a job anywhere except for places where you need to polish the floors well. Although it can be simpler: watch him at night with a weighty argument in the form of a pipe wrapped in a newspaper pipe.

After drinking quite a bit more than usual, they went to the hostel. You need to sleep well, or rather sleep before the next couple. Even though I didn't want to leave. We should finally have some fun. Make a trifling stupidity, and already calmly on the side.

I don’t know why Stas decided that on the branch of the tree closest to them, there is an opportunity to do that very trifling stupidity.

To the laughter of his friend, Stas carefully began to climb up, as far as his intoxicated hands allowed him to slip off the rough bark. Picking up a large trunk with his foot, pushing incredibly with his heel from the lower branch, he rather deftly climbed onto it. Yegor downstairs met this trick with a shout of approval and a bottle thrown at him, which, however, did not reach the goal.

Stas saw at the end of a tree trunk a strange pile of branches and other rubbish superimposed on each other. Inside there was a white mass sometimes combined into a shapeless round bowl. It seemed to pulsate within this heap, swelling to the size of a huge white ball. Stas hit himself on the cheek - such a technique always brought him to his senses with the advent of "funny pictures". Now it is clearly seen that this is an ordinary nest. It contained six neat white eggs. Gently moving closer to the nest, he took one egg in his hands. He could not focus on it in any way - a new image was not long in coming. The egg began to pulsate and shake in his hand.

Something hit Stas's right leg. It was Yegor who threw stones at him, accompanying each throw with a very hard word. Stas dodged another stone, and without thinking twice launched an egg at Yegor. He dodged the answer, showing the middle finger. A still alive chick crawled out of a broken egg, not quite ready for the appearance. He fluttered a little until Yegor stepped on him, smearing him on the ground with a solid red spot.

Stas continued to throw the remaining eggs at Yegor. He dodged from them and crushed with his foot what was left of the chick. Around the tree formed a whole puddle of blood with small pieces of meat and shells. In desperation, Stas threw a nest at him and hit Yegor exactly on the forehead. He kicked the nest in a rage, and Stas happily spread his arms, celebrating the victory to the side. Suddenly losing his balance, he nearly fell off the branch. At the last moment, he grabbed the barrel with his hand. Egor did not fail to take advantage of this. Pulling his friend's leg, he flew the fifth point to the ground. Stas did not suffer after that.

A small altercation began between the young people. Yegor just shrugged his shoulders, comforting his friend. As a result, alcoholic vapors did their job. Stas felt dizzy, and he almost fell to the place where the chicks were slaughtered. Yegor held his hand, dragging him towards the hostel.

They did not regret what they had done. For them it was just a trifle, simple innocence. Well, they killed the completely defenseless chicks, and then what? What not to do in a drunken stupor. Much can be attributed to drunkenness. And they don't care what they can do in such a state. The main thing was to have a good time.

A powerful blow to the back of the head, almost knocked down comrade Stas, who was barely holding on to his shoulder. Putting his Hand to the back of his head, he felt some kind of liquid flow down there. Looking down at his hand, he was horrified at the sight of his own blood.

While he looked at the bloody hand with a dull look, His friend shoved Stas away with a cry, and they both ended up on the ground. With dull eyes, he tried to see what had happened. Another blow to the forehead now restored his sight. Until the blood from the top of his head flooded his eyes, he saw him holding his right eye with his hand, from which blood flowed profusely.

To the heart-rending cries of a friend, Stas rose to his feet while wiping the blood from his eyes. We need to see who attacked them. Nobody around. Not a single person on the road. Absolutely empty. Who is doing this? What kind of creature? No, not a creature.

It can not be.

A blunt blow to the forehead from nowhere. Blood trickled down.

Egor screams again.

There are new lacerations in his head.

Nobody around.

How is this possible? What unknown creature is attacking them? Are there monsters, and they disturbed him. And how? The monster is only in mediocre American horror movies. In reality, this is not. In a drunken stupor, you can even see zeliboba. In reality, there are no monsters. It can't be.

Stas hobbled over to Yegor to take him to a safe place. He desperately screamed in pain with an inhuman scream that could probably raise all the dead from the graves, even those from whom a handful of ashes remained. Stas tried to calm his best friend, but he pounded on the pavement with his free hand, breaking it into blood, as if there wasn’t enough of it.

A new blow nearly broke Stas's neck. Got it on the cheek. His mouth filled with disgustingly warm blood. A lacerated wound was bleeding on his cheek. He spat blood onto the ground along with a thin piece of skin.

Apparently, Yegor was able to see who attacked them, so he removed his hand from his injured eye and grabbed Stas with both hands at once, begging to save him, taking him away from here. In the only remaining eye of Yegor, primal fear froze. With such a look, a person meets death rushing towards him with a malicious grin, anticipating his painful end.

They weren't attacked by a person. No normal person can cause such deadly horror. Something otherworldly has risen from sleep to drink their blood. Imagination immediately drew a huge ape-like creature, covered with sharp quills like those of a porcupine with red furious eyes and a mouth resembling a razor cut with thin shark teeth. His paws are almost like those of a person, but gray in color with thin claws ending in hooks. Now it circles around them, waiting for the next blow. It is close, but not visible to them until it wants it to be. They will see him if the monster needs to enjoy their fear.

So there are monsters. As in horror. As invulnerable as those who scare from the TV screens. It's a miracle to defeat them. Better to run away. In horror, the strongest or the most intelligent survive. Who dies at the very beginning? Helpless, weak, stupid, and of course those whom the monster managed to get to. Wounded by his fangs. Then they die sooner or later. That's how it's done. Yegor was now wounded, which means he is weak. He has no way to survive. Stas is strong while standing on his feet. He also thinks in order to reason sensibly, and he knew the right idea: throw Yegor to the monster to be eaten and while he is eating him, run away.

He pushed Yegor's hands aside. I didn’t even look at his completely covered in blood face, turning towards the hostel and running there as fast as Yegor screamed. Gradually, they got wet behind him only because they turned into curses. Then into the roar of a man who knows that he is doomed to a terrible death.

Gradually, Stas's first impulse ended. Unexpected fatigue fell like a terrible burden on his shoulders. The profuse loss of blood together with the alcohol accepted earlier has affected. New streams of blood flooded his eyes again, not facilitating his orientation in space.

Turning sharply a meter from the entrance, he leaned against the wall of the hostel, leaving bloody footprints there. The entrance was nearby. Why did he become, moving away from him, moving forward, narrowing forward to the size of a spindle with threads. The stone steps went inside the spindle, becoming its stone likeness of gills.

The monster mocks him, sending such an illusion. It shouldn't get in the way. He was not going to be his dinner.

Even moving along the wall, holding on to it with his hands, the entrance did not get closer, but even more began to jump in place now. Nausea approached his throat, but shaking his head to remove the delirium before his eyes, Stas literally dived onto the stairs, which almost went inside the entrance again. Now the illusion has ended.

The feeling of imminent salvation again gave strength. There was so little to safety.

There was no one on the watch inside. Apparently the watchman again went to the library to read Solzhenitsyn, with whom he buzzed everyone's ears.

WITH

the fuck has already let him go, which means he is completely safe. The monster is too busy to be hunted.

The hostel was surprisingly quiet. All students were in class. All that could be heard was the movement of the second hand on the clock hanging over the entrance; the rumbling of water coming down the pipe seemed deafening.

Good silence before the unexpected attack of the monster. In films, this portends the unexpected appearance of a monster around the corner. Stas fully believed in such a turn. After all, he was in a real living horror movie.

While he was going upstairs, no one attacked him, no one hid in the shadows, preparing to attack. Who exactly can be scared is the students, from the countless bloody footprints left at the entrance of the hostel and on the stairs.

Stas slowly walked to the room leaving a trail of blood. Thoughts left him. There was a dull apathy and one goal: to get into the room and quickly rest.

Having reached the room, he, having barely gone inside, without thinking how he could, fell on the bed to stain everything with blood. The forces have gone away.

The head could now calmly analyze what had happened. What he came to was disappointing - he left his friend to die.

Previously, he did not realize how dear Yegor was to him. They have been friends since childhood and have always been together. Any of their even the most infantile idea turned out if they did it together. Two boots of a pair are talking about such. Any alteration was experienced together. Any party was a success if there was always Egor, who always knew how to light it, or the real ringleader Stas. They managed to meet the best girls together. Their tastes matched. A further career in the bodies with all the plans was, perhaps, only with mutual assistance. Egor was the only one whom Stas trusted in everything.

Now he is gone. He is already in the stomach of that monster from his alcoholic delirium that penetrated the real world, and he is alive. Lying quietly and safely away from what was his friend. But if the monster even left a bone from him at all.

Here he is left all alone. This is what he was always afraid of. When his parents died, Stas realized for the first time how afraid he was to be left alone. That's how to fade away quietly now, knowing that no one will be around. Only in a month, or even a year, doctors unknown to him will take away his withered body, bury him outside the cemetery under a rusty cross, and no one will even bring him a wreath in farewell. No one will get bored, remembering with a bitter smile what a tough guy Stas was.

How to live with such a pood of sin? And it’s not life at all when you betrayed the only person who was interested in your fate. Stupid animal survival. Here he became on the same level with this monster.

Head ached from profuse wounds on the head. The cheek is numb. Probably now the floor of the face will be paralyzed. Maybe he will, like Stallone, speak half his mouth. Find time for irony. Perhaps this distraction will keep him from crying.

You have to take care of yourself only. Stas must survive. You have to live for both of them. The plan will be implemented in splendid isolation, but implemented as they wanted.

Ahead of a long and successful career in the police. Having received captain's shoulder straps, he will drive a company car. Subordinates will stand in front of him at attention. Address only by first name. There will be so much respect ... with Yegor, perhaps, it would be a shame to share this. Maybe it's a good thing he's gone now.

He will earn enough money to make many new friends. For a hundred thousand new Yegorov. Ordinary friends, after all, are easily acquired, it is worth shaking a pack of rubles. Yes, life will be easy without Yegor. Stas will not grieve. His death was due solely to his own weakness and short-sightedness. So you can write down forensic experts. Yegor has always been like this. God bless him. You need to think about your future now.

To hell with Yegor, to hell with everyone. Stas lived only for himself. Yegor was just lucky to be with him. Now his fate is entirely up to him. The burden of friendship is always a lasso that pulls down. Complete freedom of action. He will take full advantage of her.

At the moment, it is necessary to attend to how to explain his death and such wounds. The head is a little clear thinking, despite the pain. The monster version seems unlikely even to him. It is not clear who attacked them. Yes, you shouldn't think about it. He didn't kill his friend. He himself is a victim. Let his future colleagues rack their brains over this. He's still just a student.

Stas decided to think about what he would tell the police later. Now it is important to call an ambulance. He himself would not treat such wounds for himself. I don't know how much blood I've lost by the time I got here. It's nothing. He will be kept in the hospital for at least a month until he recovers. During this time, he will have time to figure out how to explain what happened, but for now it would be nice to learn how to portray shock for a long time. Stas left him a couple of minutes ago.

Rising up on the bed, Stas felt a light breeze from the open window. The door was wide open too. Not the smartest decision for a person who decides to hide.

He was about to try to get up, but suddenly he heard footsteps behind him in the corridor. Or he thought he heard footsteps. My ears were ringing from the shock. How else to explain the rustling heard outside the window, except as a slight auditory hallucination. I wish it was all a big hallucination. The usual delirium from drunk.

The steps seemed to get closer. There is someone there

The rustling got louder. It's coming.

Or is there no one?

You need to close both the window and the door as soon as possible.

But Stas did not have time to really understand what happened when he felt a strong blow to the neck because of the black darkness that had thrown into his eyes. She then retreated and he felt a terrible pain in his neck. Blood flowed from the punctured artery. An unknown force, or maybe the approach of death, pressed his face to the bed. Blood meanwhile flooded the entire sheet. She had a lot.

While Stas was slowly dying, he was visited by one thought that was clearly inappropriate for the situation. When they find him, that much blood will have to be pumped out of the bed with a pump.

FPM- Felix Ostankovich

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cominyern · 3 years ago

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you know hwat. my impression of yakuza kiwami was unfair because i was super excited after finishing 0. the game is half the size of 0, and the content it has is generally a lower standard than 0.

the substories in yakuza 0 explore a wide array of topics with good writing, funny when it wants to be and also capable of putting other emotions on you. in kiwami, a majority of them are lifted straight from the 2005 original, before the developers really came into their own. many of them are repetitive, way too many of them are simply "guy trying to scam kiryu" or just bland and extremely forgettable in other ways. theres like 15 or 20 i would call worthwhile, while in 0 i think they all are.

the best side content in kiwami is the stuff that was added for the remake. the elephant here is majima everywhere, which is a game spanning journey where majima fights you over 100 times to restore the strength you lost in prison. its really inventive, i find it genuinely really funny, and majima just fights smoothly in a way i dont get sick of.

the original story suffers from lack of development. stuff will happen and then get thrown out, the main cast except for kiryu and haruka are like cardboard cutouts of fleshed out characters. so many things will happen only to never get brought up or have any significance again.

the main story is a sour spot, but the new cutscene additions are really good for substance. as the 2005 story unfolds, you get one flashback per chapter back to 1996 to watch nishiki drowning and kicking like a fish on dry land. as everything continues to fall apart around him and everyone just says out loud to him that they wish he went to jail instead of kiryu, and he is being run around by people who are supposed to be obeying him as patriarch, and his sister is dying and the doctor uses that situation as leverage to clear his debt and skip town at her expense. he gradually abandons his morals before finally taking the plunge and becoming The Patriarch of The Nishikiyama Family. and then hes just going around killing shit up from then on. nishiki's downfall is really believable, he is extremely sympathetic even as he strays from morality and is my fav character from the game exclusively because of this new context.

the intro is also really good. yumis brithday at the bar is such an idyllic nice moment that even before it ends, you feel like youre mistily remembering a simpler time. but at the same time you see the sprouting beginnings of nishikis jealousy and eventual downfall.

coming off yakuza 5, kiwami was a nice, comparatively EXTREMELY straightforward change of pace. ive heard that 6 is quite a bit smaller than 5, and im grateful. i got my big conspiracy fix from 4 and then 5 was mostly good for its character moments. kiryus part was good emotionally, saejimas part was good because i like him and baba :) and it took you through a nice amount of content, at the start of akiyamas part i joked that he was my dad (before deleting that post bc i realized how weird of a comment that was) and then akiyama ACTUALLY had a dad arc with haruka. and of course shinadas part was super good, probably bc it was so divorced from everything else. the finale, when it all converged, it all got extremely confusing and i admit i dont know what happened. generally i find that yakuza games are really good UNTIL the finale, where it gets stuck on a loose nail and pulls itself apart. except 3 which had a nice finale and 0 which was just really good overall.

either way i think its finally time for a break with yakuza. 6 is the end of kiryus story so i want to let everything marinate in my head before i go for it.

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noritermain · 3 years ago

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Police bust underground 안전한놀이터주소 in Toronto-area mansion

Players hope to get a total card value of 21 or to come closer to it, without going over, than the dealer, against whom all betting is done. Ultimately, you’ll find that these low pairs will prove to be quite valuable and you’ll be able to knock the dealer out of the game quite frequently and win what’s in the pot. Hence, you should keep your low pairs and hope for the best. In The Rape of the Lock, Pope’s mock epic about a game of cards, we read that “mighty Contests arise from trivial Things” (I:2); and since the entry of this line into the English language, the word ‘trivial’ has been inextricably linked to the playing card. Poker itself is a game with significant history. It is believed the game officially developed back as early as the 19th Century; however it’s dawning is thought to stem back to a much earlier date when simpler disciplines existed.

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This design belongs to the seller which was uploaded to our MarketPlace, the online buy and sell platform for game designers and creators. http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/?action=click&contentCollection®ion=TopBar&WT.nav=searchWidget&module=SearchSubmit&pgtype=Homepage#/몰디브바둑이 Columbia University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library holds the Albert Field Collection of Playing Cards, an archive of over 6,000 individual decks from over 50 countries and dating back to the 1550s. Casinos are a huge source of interesting myths, legends, and stories that almost seem too good to be true. A 2014 study showed that pathological gambling tendencies among Japanese adults was 9.04% in men and 1.6% in women, higher than the North American prevalence of 1.6%, particularly for men.

The higher payoff of the flush attack represents one of the higher overlays of video poker. These machines, once common, are now relatively rare. Turkey, in particular, is known to use the former design almost as a standard, keeping the French indices (V, D and R), despite the suits and the courts are locally referred to with Turkish names (see glossary at the end of the page).This rule is enforced in order to allow the casino to easily monitor and record all transfers via overhead surveillance cameras, and to reduce the opportunity for cheating via sleight-of-hand. Anything less should be folded. When following this out properly, other odds can be determined. If you fold your hand every time you have less than the above, you should, on average, fold your hand 47.5 percent of the time.

To see all of our articles on poker rules and advice, go to our main article on How To Play Poker. Likewise, a craps player who does not understand the available options might make bets giving the house a 16.67 percent edge, when bets are available at the same table that limit the house advantage to .6 percent. 메이저추천 Casinos take steps to prevent this. The dice are usually required to hit the back wall of the table, which is normally faced with an angular texture such as pyramids, making controlled spins more difficult. During the Second World War, it was reputed to be a gathering point for spies, dispossessed royals, and wartime adventurers; it became an inspiration for Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 novel Casino Royale.

In casino play each player places a bet, and then the dealer gives two cards to each player (both down, both up, or one down and one up, depending on the casino) and two to the dealer’s own hand (one up and one down; in British casinos the dealer waits until all transactions are over before dealing the last card faceup). Thus, each player except the dealer receives two cards face up, and the dealer receives one card face up and one card face down.Of course, these probabilities are a critical determinant of the house advantage – that is, the long-term price of the wager. If there is a stand-off (a player having the same total as the dealer), no chips are paid out or collected.

Place bets to win pay out at slightly worse than the true odds: 9-to-5 on points 4 or 10, 7-to-5 on points 5 or 9, and 7-to-6 on points 6 or 8. Many other games may also be found in some casinos—for example, sic bo, fan-tan, and pai-gow poker in Asia and local games such as boule, banca francesa, and kalooki in Europe.Bank craps is a variation of the original craps game and is sometimes known as Las Vegas Craps. For example, in May 2005, a parlor in Kanagawa Prefecture reported to the local police that someone had counterfeited their tokens and made off with the equivalent of US$60,000 in cash by trading them in at their nearby exchange center.

The track guides the ball around the edge of the playing field, then when the ball loses momentum, it falls into the playing field from near the top. Casinos are one of the most interesting ways of learning more about the gambling industry and people involved.A variant known as "tiers 5-8-10-11" has an additional chip placed straight up on 5, 8, 10, and 11m and so is a 10-piece bet. In some places the variant is called "gioco Ferrari" with a straight up on 8, 11, 23 and 30, the bet is marked with a red G on the racetrack. Lay odds behind a Don't Come are subject to the same rules as Don't Pass lay odds.

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jbaquerot · 7 years ago

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You’ve surely seen the countless headlines about Cambridge Analytica. The firm’s use of personal data from Facebook has prompted outraged claims and counterclaims. Calls for investigation, a #DeleteFacebook movement, Mark Zuckerberg called to Congress to testify.

The story, clearly, has a long way to run.

But allow me to leave the particulars of Cambridge and zoom up to the bigger picture about Big Data. Forget Facebook, forget that awkward video of Cambridge executives. What this affair reveals about ascendancy of data mining has far deeper implications than the immediate headlines.

1. This is the role that Big Data plays in our lives. It’s nothing new or even slightly unusual.

At the center of all the outrage about Cambridge is this: a Big Data company gathered data and then used it to persuade consumers, or at least attempt to. This was not due to any “breach.” It’s about as common as doughnuts for breakfast – part of every normal day (though perhaps not the healthiest part). Marketers harvesting our data is so interwoven into our lives that we humans might miss it if were gone.

It was way back in 2012 that The New York Times revealed that Target analyzed data about purchasing patterns to predict if a customer is pregnant. At the time it was quite the shocker – widely reported – yet even then it was routine data analytics.

As the report noted, businesses “can buy data about your ethnicity, job history, the magazines you read, if you’ve ever declared bankruptcy or got divorced, the year you bought (or lost) your house, where you went to college, what kinds of topics you talk about online, whether you prefer certain brands of coffee, paper towels, cereal or applesauce, your political leanings, reading habits, charitable giving and the number of cars you own.”

In short, Big Data analysts know more about you than your spouse or best friend. And that’s old news

2. Expect calls for regulation. Don’t expect much change.

Big Data professionals are aware of a romance that shows no sign of ending: Consumers and marketers are locked in an embrace that both are apparently quite happy about.

Marketers, of course, are always eager to scoop up any data from their beloved consumers. And we consumers are eager to share. Every tipsy party photo, every burger for lunch, every big event. A researcher gathered the Cambridge data using quirky Facebook quizzes. Zillions of users revealed their preferences – favorite movie? favorite vacation? – and hit Submit.

Privacy? Naw, we don’t care about privacy.

Our phones are the ultimate tracking devices. They’re like those ankle bracelets that prosecutors give to defendants, but more fashionable. How many people will put down their phone?

The Europeans, those lovers of regulation, enacted the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), which requires companies to protect the personal data of consumers within the EU. It goes into effect May 25, and it’s a laudable step for consumer protection.

American publishers/platforms doing business in Europe – like Facebook and Google – will be bound by the GDPR. Industry experts opine that the tech giants will alter privacy practices worldwide since they’ll be adapting for their European audience.

Still, regulation won’t change the fact that consumers don’t seem to care about privacy, beyond lip service. So on one side of the battle is sophisticated Big Data practitioners and marketers; on the other is privacy advocates protecting consumers who usually dismiss privacy.

Clearly the Big Data miners hold the upper hand for the foreseeable future.

3. The Cambridge news reflects that Big Data has produced “a cultural shift.”

What we now call Big Data has been around for ages. In the 90s it was called “business intelligence.” Its data nerd practitioners were generally ignored, with good reason – the numbers crunching software was limited.

It wasn’t until 2005 that the magic phrase “Big Data” was coined. Since then the power of data mining software has zoomed upward. It’s also become simpler to use. Now any junior sales rep can glean insight from the company data lake.

The Cambridge affair’s role as a milestone in this progress is ambiguous. Even if its data crunching made the key difference – debatable – it all turned into a public relations melt down. It suggests a great clumsiness, at the least.

In contrast, going forward Big Data will operate with a great seamless smoothness, for better or worse. Its practice won’t produce headlines, but will produce results – ever greater results.

Investment is gushing into Big Data. Research firm IDC estimates that revenues for Big Data will surge upward from $130.1 billion 2016 to more than $203 billion in 2020. 

The growth of data science has led to “a cultural shift toward data-driven decision making,” says IDC. The sound of number crunching now emanates from cubicles across the land. We live in the Age of Metrics.

“IDC research shows that [Big Data] cognitive systems will be a major disruption and will significantly impact businesses, healthcare, work, society and economies.”

That dry statement portends a titanic shift in human decision making. Buckle your seat belts.

4. Not mentioned in the dark headlines: the Big Data force for good.

Clearly the Cambridge headlines carry the whiff of scandal. Yet if you look at Big Data in the larger sense, it holds vast potential to lift up humanity.

Notes the World Economic Forum: “Policymakers are beginning to realize the potential for channeling these torrents of data into actionable information…to identify needs and provide services for the benefit of low-income populations.”

Similarly, the United Nations’ Global Pulse initiative leverages Big Data for humanitarian goals. For instance, Global Pulse used privacy-protected data from mobile phones to monitor the outbreak of measles and typhoid in 2013, and also tracked major fires around the globe to enable quicker response.

Expect Big Data to get reams of bad press as Facebook’s data mining becomes the whipping boy. Expect hardly a single headline about Big Data’s potential for uplift, though it’s growing rapidly.

5. If you’re in business – or any competition – and you think you can compete without Big Data, think again.

Imagine a management team sitting at the control panel of a Big Data program. Across the glowing screen they see colored graphs and charts, shifting inputs and outputs. Arcing trend lines reveal the response to their latest ventures.

Now imagine another team across town. These managers have no data analytics program. They’re experienced and they have some hunches, so they take their best guess. Throw the dice and hope.

The differing results of these two teams reveals the competitive advantage of Big Data. Knowledge is power, and the first team’s data mining provides real knowledge. They’ll almost certainly outperform their flying-blind competitors.

Of course Big Data alone doesn’t produce success – we humans remain capable of foolishness regardless of data. But even a wise hunch goes further (usually) with some feedback from the numbers.

The experts who mine data are remarkably powerful, without guesswork. They know us intimately. They can push buttons we don’t even know we have. Statistics can be used to shape narratives – using psychographics and microtargeting – that move us in ways that old-fashioned marketing never could.

Bottom line: you can’t – you don’t even want to – compete without Big Data. Love it or hate it, it now rules our world.

#big data #strategy

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nanowrimo · 7 years ago

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5 Tips to Help You Reach the Finish Line with Scrivener

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Scrivener, a NaNoWriMo 2017 sponsor, is an award-winning word processor and project management program that has been enthusiastically adopted by best-selling novelists and novices alike. Today, they share some of their top tips to help you keep writing through the end of the month:

It’s November 22th, and for Wrimos everywhere, the end is in sight. Some of you might be putting together your finishing touches—but for many others, chances are that by this point in the month, you’re feeling pretty fatigued. Maybe you’re getting tired of elements of your story, or are stuck on resolving a particular plot point; perhaps the names of your characters don’t trip off the tongue; or perhaps you’re at that dangerous point of despair where you think the words are wonderful but they are all in the wrong order. Take heart. If any of that that sounds like you, read on…

Here at Literature & Latte, we’ve been taking part in NaNoWriMo for years, as well as answering questions from other Wrimos who have been using Scrivener—our app for writing long texts such as novels—about how it can help them keep going to the month’s end. From this, we’ve put together five tips to help you keep pushing on over the finish line:

1. Keep an eye on your targets.

In Scrivener’s Mac version (and coming to Windows) you can set a deadline and then see how many words you have to write each day to reach your goal. Knowing you’ve met your target for today will make tomorrow that much less daunting.

2. Keep up that forward momentum.

If you’re stuck on a section, jump ahead to another part you know you need to write. Put it into a new document in your Scrivener project and place it somewhere at the end of the Draft folder or in an “Unplaced Scenes” folder. It will count towards your word count and you can then go back and create other sections before it to fill in the gaps. Writing a later scene might just unlock ideas about what needs to lead up to it.

3. Set yourself some waypoints.

Open the Draft folder in outliner mode and create some blank documents with titles and short synopses that tell you where you’re going—just rough it out. These can just be a handful of major waypoints vaguely leading to the end of your book. Now you can work towards them, filling in the spaces in between, and completing the waypoint text when you get there. They’ll sit in the binder (Scrivener’s source list) and make sure you know where you’re going. And if the plot suddenly veers, you can change them or delete them as needed. Having a destination can help you keep moving forward even if you decide to change course later.

4. Integrate your inspiration.

Stuck on a description? Find an image of a character or location for inspiration. In Scrivener, you can place it in the split editor right alongside your writing.

5. Use a name generator.

If you suddenly find you need to bring in a different character, don’t waste time thinking too hard about the name. Use Scrivener’s name generator. You can always use Project Replace to replace it with a name that works better later.

Most importantly: don’t despair. It’s not uncommon when you’re this far into the month to be wondering if yours is the worst draft ever written. It’s not. (You haven’t seen some our ours!) Remember Terry Pratchett’s quote about first drafts: “The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” And Stephen King’s: “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open”. The important thing right now is to get your thoughts down and explore your idea’s possibilities. To help, you can switch to full screen mode in Scrivener to block out distractions and ignore the internal editor so that you can just get on and write.

And now a little note about us—if you’re enjoying using Scrivener, or are curious to find out more, we have some news. Scrivener was first unleashed upon the world right here, on the NaNoWriMo forums, way back in 2005. Twelve years later, we’ve just released our biggest update yet, with Scrivener 3 for macOS (Windows 3.0 will be following next year).

Scrivener was originally built around four core ideas: write your novel in sections as small or large as you like and easily rearrange them; add synopses to sections so that it is easy to work with an overview of the manuscript; view research and other sections side-by-side with your writing; export your work using different formatting for different requirements.

Scrivener 3 takes all of this to the next level. Scrivener’s export features are now easier to use but even more powerful. We’ve added ePub 3 and improved Kindle support. There’s a full styles system, making it easier to simpler to format your text, and you can review how much you’ve written each day using the new Writing Statistics feature. You can even track story threads with index cards on coloured lines.

All these improvements are designed to help you get writing and keep writing. We hope you’ll give them a try and enjoy using them—but most importantly, that they’ll help you get where you’re going with your 50,000 words. Good luck!

#nanowrimo #nanowrimo 2017 #nanowrimo sponsor #scrivener #literature & latte #writing

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michaelandy101-blog · 4 years ago

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The Evolution of search engine optimisation [Video Presentation]

New Post has been published on https://tiptopreview.com/the-evolution-of-seo-video-presentation/

The Evolution of search engine optimisation [Video Presentation]

Final November, Moz VP Product, Rob Ousbey, gave a presentation at Web Con 2020 on the evolution of search engine optimisation, and we’re sharing it with you at the moment! Rob attracts on his years of analysis expertise within the trade to debate how search engine optimisation has modified, and what meaning in your methods.

Editor’s Notice: Rob mentions a promo within the video that has since expired, however you’ll be able to nonetheless get a free month of Moz Professional + free walkthrough here!

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Video Transcription

Hi there, everybody. Thanks for that introduction. I very a lot recognize it, and it is fantastic to be with all of you right here at the moment. I am Rob Ousbey from Moz.

Actual fast, I used to be going to share my display screen right here and say that my present to you for coming to the session at the moment is this link. This may not simply get you a free month of Moz Professional, however everyone who indicators up can get a free walkthrough with an search engine optimisation professional that can assist you get began. I will put this hyperlink up once more on the finish of the session. However in case you’re keen on search engine optimisation or utilizing a device suite that can assist you, then Moz could be the toolset that may assist.

Additionally, if you wish to be taught extra about search engine optimisation, come be part of me on Twitter. I’m @RobOusbey, and it could be fantastic to talk to you over there.

One purpose I put my bio up right here is as a result of I’ve not been at Moz for all that lengthy. I simply began a few yr in the past. Earlier than that, I used to be at Distilled, which is a world digital marketing company, and I ran the Seattle workplace there for over a decade. I point out that as a result of I need to share with you at the moment examples of what I found after I was doing my shopper work. I need to share the analysis that my group members did once we have been in your sneakers.

A troubling story

So I needed to kick off with an expertise that caught in my thoughts. Like I say, I have been doing this professionally for about 12 or 13 years, and again after I began, search engine optimisation was definitely extra easy, if not getting simpler.

Individuals like my pal Rand Fishkin, the founding father of Moz, used to do correlation research that will uncover what components appear to correlate with rankings, and we might publish these sorts of stories. This was the highest rating components for 2005. And again then, they have been broadly break up between components that assessed whether or not a web page was related for a specific time period and people who requested whether or not a web site was authoritative. Plenty of that relevance got here from using key phrases on a web page, and the authority was judged by the variety of hyperlinks to the location. So we might assist corporations by doing good search engine optimisation. We might put key phrases on a web page and construct a bunch of hyperlinks.

And I need to inform you a narrative about one among our shoppers. That is from simply a few years in the past, however it positively caught in my head. We have been doing a variety of content material creation for this shopper. We created some actually informative pages and a few actually enjoyable pages that will go viral and take over the Web, and all of this earned them a variety of hyperlinks. And this was the results of our efforts — a constant, regular progress within the variety of domains linking to that web site. We had an unimaginable impression for them.

And this is the graph of what number of key phrases they’d after they ranked on the primary web page. That is implausible. They ranked for lots of key phrases. And eventually, this is the graph of natural visitors to the location. Superb.

However in case you regarded a bit of nearer, you discover one thing that may be a bit troubling. We by no means stopped buying hyperlinks. In actual fact, a variety of the content material we produced is so evergreen that even content material constructed two or three years in the past remains to be gathering new hyperlinks each single week. However the variety of key phrases now we have rating within the prime 10 went up and up after which stopped rising. And never surprisingly, the identical development is there in natural search visitors as nicely. What seems to have occurred right here is that we received sturdy sufficient to get on the entrance web page with these key phrases, to be a participant within the trade, however after that, simply constructing extra hyperlinks to the location did not assist it rank for extra key phrases and it did not assist it get any extra search visitors.

search engine optimisation fundamentals

It looks like all of the search engine optimisation fundamentals that we have realized about, key phrases and hyperlinks and technical search engine optimisation nonetheless apply and so they’re nonetheless mandatory that can assist you grow to be a participant in a specific trade. However after that, there are different components that that you must give attention to.

Now this evolution of search engine optimisation into new components has been an accelerating course of. My colleague at Moz, Dr. Pete Meyers has been monitoring and gathering a variety of information about this. Final yr, Google made near four,000 enhancements to their outcomes, and that is the results of operating one thing like 45,000 completely different experiments.

Pete has additionally been monitoring how a lot the search outcomes change daily. Blue is absolutely steady outcomes. Orange is a variety of adjustments. And so in case you felt like your rankings in your web site are getting extra unstable than ever, you are not unsuitable. After we hit 2017, we noticed extra adjustments to the outcomes daily than we ever had earlier than.

Now the best way that Google’s algorithms was once up to date was by a bunch of individuals in a room making selections. In actual fact, it was this bunch of individuals on this room. They determined what components to dial up or all the way down to create one of the best outcomes.

Google’s purpose: portal to the Web

However what does this imply? What does it imply to make one of the best outcomes? Effectively, we must always take into consideration what Google’s actual purpose is. They need to be your portal to the Web. They need your net expertise to start with a Google search, and you will proceed to try this in the event that they make you happy with the outcomes you see and the pages you click on on. In the event that they ship you to the right net web page in your question, that is a satisfying expertise that displays nicely on Google. In the event that they ship you to web page that is a nasty expertise, it displays poorly on them.

So it is attention-grabbing to ask, “How would Google avoid doing that, and what would be a bad user experience?” Effectively, there are some apparent issues, like in case you arrive on a web page that installs malware or a virus in your pc, otherwise you arrive at a product web page the place all the pieces is out of inventory, otherwise you go to an internet site that is actually gradual or stuffed with adverts. These are the pages Google doesn’t need to embody of their outcomes.

And so they’ve all the time been good at measuring these items fairly instantly. Greater than 10 years in the past they have been testing how briskly websites are after which utilizing that to tell their rankings. In the event that they spot malware or viruses on a web site, they will briefly take away it from the search outcomes.

However in addition they tried extra opinion-based measures. For some time, they have been operating surveys to ask folks: Are you happy with these outcomes? This was how they knew if their algorithm was working to get folks what they needed, to present them a very good expertise.

However the Google means of doing that is to try to do it at large scale and hopefully to do it within the background, the place customers do not should reply a survey pop-up like this. And doing this within the background, doing it at big scale has been increasingly more attainable, firstly due to how a lot information Google has.

Click on by way of charges

So I need to try a number of the sorts of issues they could be taking a look at. Here is an instance of one thing they might need to do. Let’s think about the common click-through price for each rating place within the search outcomes. Think about that Google is aware of that 30% of individuals click on on the primary outcome and 22% click on on quantity two and 5% click on on quantity six and so forth. They’ve a very good understanding of those averages. However then for a specific key phrase, as an instance they discover quantity six is getting 12% of the clicks. One thing is happening there. What is occurring? Effectively, regardless of the purpose why that is, Google might be higher satisfying its customers if that outcome was larger up within the rankings. Whoever is rating at quantity six is what folks need. Perhaps they need to rank larger.

“Pogo sticking”

Here is one other instance. That is what we name pogo sticking. A consumer does a search after which clicks on a outcome, after which after a pair seconds wanting on the web page, they understand they do not prefer it, in order that they click on the again button and so they choose a unique outcome. However as an instance they do not like that one both, in order that they click on again and so they choose a 3rd outcome, and now they keep right here and so they use that web site. Think about lots of people did the identical factor. Effectively, if we have been Google, once we noticed this taking place, it could be a reasonably sturdy indicator that the third result’s what’s truly satisfying customers. That is truly a very good outcome for this question, and it in all probability deserves to be rating a lot larger up.

Person satisfaction: refinement

There’s even an extension of this the place customers pogo stick across the SERPs, after which they determine they cannot discover something to do with what they needed. In order that they refine their search. They struggle typing one thing else, after which they discover what they need on a unique question. If too many individuals are usually not happy by any of the outcomes on the primary web page, it is in all probability an indication to make a reasonably severe change to that SERP or to nudge folks to do that different question as an alternative.

Google’s evolution with Machine Studying

And doing this type of big evaluation on a large scale is one thing that was made a lot simpler with the appearance of machine studying. Now for a very long time the oldsters in control of the search outcomes at Google have been very reluctant to include any machine studying into their work. It was one thing they didn’t need to do. However then Google appointed a brand new head of search, and so they selected somebody who had spent their profession at Google selling machine studying and its alternatives. So now they’ve moved in the direction of doing that. In actual fact, Wired journal described Google as remaking themselves as a “machine learning first” firm.

What we’re seeing now

So that is the place I need to transfer from my conjecture about what they may do into giving some examples and proof of all of this for you. And I need to speak about two explicit fashionable rating components that now we have proof for and that in case you’re doing search engine optimisation or digital marketing or engaged on an internet site you can begin contemplating at the moment.

Person alerts

Firstly, I talked about the best way that customers work together with the outcomes, what are they clicking on, how are they participating with pages they discover. So let’s dive into that.

Plenty of this analysis comes from my former colleague, Tom Capper. We labored at Distilled collectively, however he is additionally a Moz Affiliate, and a variety of this has been printed on the Moz Weblog.

Person engagement

Lets say you begin on Google. You sort in your question, and this is the outcomes. Here is web page one among outcomes. Here is web page two of outcomes. Not going to fret a lot about what occurs after that as a result of nobody tends to click on by way of additional than web page two.

Now let’s take into consideration how a lot information Google has about the best way folks work together with these search outcomes. On the entrance web page, they see tons happening. There are many clicks. They’ll see patterns. They’ll see traits. They’ll see what folks spend time on or what they pogo stick again from. On the second web page and past, there’s little or no consumer engagement taking place. Nobody goes there, so there’s not many clicks and never a lot information that Google can use.

So once we take a look at what components appear to correlate with rankings, this is what we see. On web page two, there’s some correlation between the variety of hyperlinks a web site has and the place it ranks. That is type of what we anticipated. That is what SEOs have been preaching for the final decade or extra. However once we unravel web page one, there is a weaker correlation with hyperlinks. And on the prime of web page 1, there’s virtually no correlation between the variety of hyperlinks you’ve and the place you rank in.

Now we do see that the oldsters on web page one have extra hyperlinks than the websites on web page two. You do want the search engine optimisation fundamentals to get you rating on the primary web page within the first place. We speak about this because the consideration set. Google will think about you for the primary web page of outcomes you probably have ok search engine optimisation and you probably have sufficient hyperlinks.

However what we will take away from that is that when all that consumer information exists, when Google know the place you are clicking, how persons are participating with websites, they’ll use these consumer metrics as a rating issue. After which in conditions the place there is not a lot consumer information, the rankings could be extra decided by hyperlink metrics, and that is why deeper within the outcomes we see hyperlinks being a extra extremely correlated issue.

In the same means, we will take a look at the entire key phrase house, from the very talked-about head phrases in inexperienced to the lengthy tail phrases in crimson which are very not often looked for. Head phrases have lots of people looking for them, so Google has a variety of consumer information to make an evaluation about the place persons are clicking. For lengthy tail phrases, they could solely get a few searches each month, they only do not have that a lot information.

And once more, what we see is that the favored, aggressive phrases, the place there’s plenty of looking taking place, Google appears to be giving higher rankings to websites with higher engagement. For lengthy tail phrases, the place they do not have that information, the rankings are extra based mostly on hyperlink power. And there have been loads of research that bear this out.

Larry Kim discovered a relationship between excessive click-through charges and higher rankings. Brian Dean discovered a relationship between extra engagement with a web page and higher rankings. And Searchmetrics discovered that point on web site correlated with rankings higher than any on-page issue.

Modern search engine optimisation

And though Google retains a decent lid on this, they will not admit to precisely what they’re doing, and so they do not describe their algorithms intimately, there are sometimes insights that we get to see.

A few years in the past, journalists from CNBC had the possibility to sit in on a Google meeting the place they have been discussing adjustments to the algorithm. One attention-grabbing a part of this text was when Googlers talked in regards to the issues they have been optimizing for after they have been designing a brand new function on the outcomes web page. They have been taking a look at this new sort of outcome they’d added, and so they have been testing how many individuals clicked on it however then bounced again to the outcomes, which they thought-about a nasty signal. So this concept of pogo sticking got here up as soon as once more.

If that was one thing that they have been monitoring within the SERPs, we must always be capable of see examples of it. We must always be capable of see the websites the place folks pogo stick do not achieve this nicely in search engine optimisation, which is why I am all the time after I discover a web page that has, for no matter purpose, it has a nasty expertise.

Person metrics as a rating issue

So this is a web site that lists film trivia for any film you could be keen on. It is so stuffed with advertisements and pop-ups that you may barely see any of the content material on the web page. It is utterly overrun with adverts. So if my speculation was right, we might see this web site dropping search visibility, and actually that is precisely what occurred to them. Since their peak in 2014, the search visibility for the location has gone down and down and down.

Here is one other instance. It is a bizarre search. It is for a specific chemical that you just purchase in case you have been making face lotions and lotions and that type of factor. So let’s take a look at a number of the outcomes right here. I believe this primary result’s the producer’s web page with details about the chemical. The second is an industrial chemical analysis web site. It has all the information sheets, all the security sheets on it. The third is a web site the place you should buy the chemical itself.

After which this is one other outcome from a market web site. I’ve blurred out their identify as a result of I do not need to be unfair to them. However if you click on by way of on the outcome, that is what you get, an instantaneous blocker. It is asking you to both log in or register, and there is not any means I need to full this manner. I’ll hit the again button immediately. Google had listed 9 different pages that I am going to take a look at earlier than I even think about handing over all my information and creating an account right here.

Now if my principle is true, as quickly as they put this registration wall up, guests would have began bouncing. Google would have seen, and their search visibility would have suffered.

And that is precisely what we see. This was a fast-growing startup, getting plenty of press protection, incomes plenty of hyperlinks. However their search visitors responded very poorly and really rapidly as soon as that registration wall was in place. The underside graph is natural visitors, and it simply drops precipitously.

Here is my last instance of this, Forbes. It is a 100-year-old publishing model. They have been online for over 20 years. And if you land on a web page, that is the type of factor you see for an article. Now I do not begrudge promoting on a web page. They should make some money. And there is just one banner advert right here. I used to be truly pleasantly stunned by that.

However I am baffled by their determination to incorporate a video documentary within the nook a few completely completely different matter. Like I got here to learn this text and also you gave me this unrelated video.

After which instantly this slides into view to make completely positive that I did not miss the opposite advert that it had within the sidebar. After which the video, that I did not need any means about an unrelated matter, begins taking part in a pre-roll advert. In the meantime their browser alert factor pops up, after which the video — in regards to the unrelated matter that I did not need within the first place — begins taking part in. So I am making an attempt to learn and I scroll away from all this litter on the web page. However then the video — about an unrelated matter that I did not need within the first place — pins itself down right here and follows me down the web page. What’s going on? After which there’s extra sidebar advertisements for good measure.

And I need to say that if my principle is true, folks can be bouncing away from Forbes. Individuals will keep away from clicking on Forbes within the first place, and they are going to be dropping search visitors. However I additionally know that they’re a powerhouse. So let’s take a look at what the information mentioned.

I grabbed their hyperlink profile, and other people is not going to cease linking to Forbes. They’re incomes hyperlinks from 700 new domains each single day. That is unstoppable. However this is their natural search visibility. Forbes is down 35% year-on-year. I believe that is fairly validating.

At this level, I am assured saying that Google has an excessive amount of information about how folks have interaction with the search outcomes and with web sites so that you can ignore this. In case your web site is a nasty expertise, why would Google allow you to within the prime outcomes to start with and why would they maintain you there?

What are you able to do?

So what are you able to do about this? The place are you able to begin? Effectively, you’ll be able to go to Google Search Console and have a look by way of the click-through charges in your pages after they seem in search. And in your analytics bundle, GA or no matter else, you’ll be able to see the bounce price for guests touchdown in your pages, notably these coming from search. So search for themes, search for traits. Discover out if there are pages or sections of your web site that individuals don’t love clicking on after they seem within the outcomes. Discover out if there are pages that when folks land on them, they bounce immediately. Both of these are unhealthy indicators and it might be letting you down within the outcomes.

You too can qualitatively take a essential take a look at your web site or get a 3rd get together or another person to do that. Take into consideration the expertise that individuals have after they arrive. Are there too many adverts? Is there a irritating registration wall? This stuff can damage you, and so they may want a more in-depth look.

Model alerts

Okay, so we talked about these consumer alerts. However the different space I need to take a look at is what I speak about as model alerts. Model can apply to an organization or an individual. And after I take into consideration the thought being a model, I take into consideration how well-known the corporate is and the way well-liked they’re. These are some questions that sign you’ve a robust model, that individuals have heard of you, persons are on the lookout for you, folks would advocate you.

And this second one seems like one thing SEOs know the right way to analysis. After we say persons are on the lookout for you, it seems like we’re simply speaking about search quantity. What number of instances each month are folks typing your model identify into Google?

Once more, my colleague, Tom Capper did some analysis about this that is published on the Moz Blog. He checked out this downside and mentioned, “Okay. Well, then let’s see if the number of people searching for a brand has any correlation to how well they rank.” After which there is a load of math and a protracted story that led to this conclusion, that branded search quantity did correlate with rankings. That is in blue. In actual fact, it correlated extra strongly with rankings than Area Authority does, so that is the measure that reveals you the hyperlink power of an internet site.

So take into consideration this. We have nervous about hyperlinks for 20 years, however truly one thing round model power and possibly branded search quantity appears to correlate higher.

For information geeks, this is a means of utilizing the R-squared calculation to reply the query, “How much does this explain the rankings?” Once more, what that you must know right here is that branded search quantity defined extra of the rankings than anything.

So we have been preaching about this for some time, after which actually two days in the past I noticed this tweet. A group within the UK was asking about controversial search engine optimisation opinions. And the search engine optimisation supervisor for Ticketmaster got here out and mentioned this. He believes that when Google sees folks looking for your model identify alongside a question, they begin rating you larger for the non-branded phrases. And I do not suppose that is controversial. And actually, one of many replies to this was from Rand Fishkin, the founding father of Moz. He additionally now believes that the model alerts are extra highly effective than what hyperlinks and key phrases can do.

What are you able to do?

So what are you able to do about this? Effectively, first you must understand that any funding you make in model constructing, whether or not that is by way of PR actions or by way of like conventional promoting, is sweet enterprise to do anyway. Nevertheless it now has twice the worth due to its impression on search engine optimisation, as a result of these actions will get folks on the lookout for you, following you, sharing your model. For those who work for a billion-dollar firm, you need to make it possible for your search engine optimisation and PR groups are well-connected and well-aligned and speaking collectively. For those who do not work for a billion-dollar firm, I’ve received two small, attention-grabbing examples for you.

Instance: AdaFruit

First I need to name out this web site, AdaFruit.com. They promote digital parts. There are numerous, many websites on the net that promote related merchandise. Not solely have they got nice product pages with good high quality photographs and useful descriptions, however I also can take a look at a product like this after which I can click on by way of to get concepts for issues I can construct with it. That is some LED lights that you may chain collectively. And this is an thought for a paper craft glowing crystal you’ll be able to construct with them. Here is the wiring diagram I would want for that undertaking plus some code I can use to make it extra interactive. It is solely an $eight product, however I do know that this web site will make it straightforward for me to get began and to get worth from making this buy.

They go even additional and have a reasonably spectacular AdaFruit channel on YouTube. They have 350,000 subscribers. Here is the movies, for example, that they publish each week strolling you thru all the brand new merchandise that they’ve lately added to the location.

The CEO does a hands-on demo telling you about all the pieces they’ve in inventory. After which they produce other collections of movies, like their ladies in collection that reaches an viewers that is been sometimes underserved on this house.

AdaFruit made a big funding in content material for their very own channels, and it paid off with some model authority, however model belief and model engagement as nicely.

Instance: Investor Junkie

However I need to present you one different instance right here from arguably a a lot much less thrilling trade and somebody who could not make investments a lot in content material. That is InvestorJunkie.com, a web site that does opinions of economic companies and merchandise. And after I was working on the company, we labored with this web site and particularly with its founder, Larry. Larry was an professional in private finance and notably in private investments. And this was his solo undertaking. He blogged on the location and used his experience. However as the location grew, he employed some contractors in addition to our company, and so they created a variety of nice content material for the location, which actually helped with search engine optimisation. However to make a big impression on model power, we needed to get the phrase out in entrance of a great deal of individuals who did not already find out about him.

So we took Larry’s experience and we provided him as a visitor to podcasts, a variety of podcasts, and so they beloved having him on as a visitor. Instantly Larry was capable of present his experience to very large new audiences, and he was capable of get the Investor Junkie model and their message in entrance of tons of people that had by no means heard of the location earlier than.

However higher nonetheless, this had a compounding impact, as a result of people who find themselves keen on these matters sometimes do not simply subscribe to one among these podcasts. They subscribe to a bunch of them. And so in the event that they hear about Larry and Investor Junkie as soon as, they could by no means give it some thought once more. But when he reveals up of their feed two or three or 4 instances over the course of some months, they will begin to type a brand new affiliation with the model, possibly trusting him extra, possibly looking for out the location.

And as an apart, there’s one different factor I really like about podcasts, which is that in case you’re making a weblog put up, that may take hours and hours of labor. For those who’re making a convention presentation, it may well take days or perhaps weeks of labor. For those who’re a visitor on a 30-minute podcast, it actually takes you about 30 minutes. You go online, you discuss to a number, after which your a part of the work is completed.

So this could get you in entrance of a brand new viewers. It will get folks on the lookout for you, which Google will discover. Nevertheless it has much more search engine optimisation worth as nicely, as a result of each podcast sometimes has a web page like this with present notes. It is a web page that Google can index, a web page that Google can perceive. And Google can see the alerts of belief. It could possibly see your model being talked about. It could possibly see the hyperlinks again to your web site as nicely. I clearly cannot communicate extremely sufficient of podcasts for PR, for model consciousness, and even for search engine optimisation.

Did this assist Larry and the Investor Junkie group? Yeah. This clearly wasn’t the extent of their search engine optimisation technique. However all the pieces they did contributed to them getting nice rankings for a wide range of aggressive phrases, and it helped them rank up in opposition to a lot larger websites with a lot larger groups and far larger budgets. And that story truly got here to an finish nearly two years in the past, as a result of the location was lastly acquired for $6 million, which isn’t unhealthy for a solo founder who was simply busy constructing his personal model.

In abstract

All proper. I will wrap up with a few of these ideas. Google has been evolving. They’ve now been capable of gather a lot extra information about the best way folks work together with the search outcomes and different pages, and so they’re now utilizing machine studying to course of all of that to allow them to higher assess: Are we giving folks a very good consumer expertise? Are the websites that we’re rating those that fulfill folks’s queries? The sport of search engine optimisation has modified.

Now if you’re beginning out, all of the fundamentals nonetheless apply. Come to Moz, learn the Newbie’s Information, do nice technical search engine optimisation, do nice key phrase analysis, do nice hyperlink constructing. These are nonetheless essential to be thought-about to grow to be a participant in your trade to assist get you close to the primary web page for any phrases you need to goal.

However if you’re making an attempt to maneuver up the entrance web page, if you’re making an attempt to determine your self a lot additional and grow to be a a lot larger model, we’re not seeing a variety of correlation between issues like hyperlinks and moving into the very prime rankings for any explicit time period. As a substitute, take into consideration the great recreation that Google is taking part in. They need to make it possible for when somebody clicks on a outcome, they keep there. They do not need to see this pogo sticking. They do not need to see the hyperlink and the title that individuals need to click on on sitting down at quantity six. So goal their KPIs. Take into consideration how one can assist Google by ensuring that your outcomes are those folks need to click on on. Make it possible for when folks click on in your outcomes, that is the web page that they keep on.

However in the end, you’ll by no means lose out in case you enhance your model authority and engagement together with your content material. These are simply good issues to do for enterprise. A stronger model, content material, and an internet site that individuals need to spend time on is massively vital and pays dividends. However now it is all doubly vital as a result of it additionally has this large impression in your search engine optimisation.

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easyfoodnetwork · 4 years ago

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How Rotel Became an Essential Part of Any Queso

Sheila Fitzgerald/Shutterstock

How a canned blend of tomatoes, chiles, and spices became at million-dollar business

When Erin Smith, chef and owner of Houston’s Feges BBQ, makes queso, she does it the Texas way. She cuts a package of Velveeta cheese into half-inch cubes and adds them to a saucepan until — after the addition of peppers, spices, and tomatoes — the resulting mix is fully melted. By the time the queso is served alongside chips for dipping, it’s rich, yes, but also a bit spicy. Hints of chile pepper and tomatoes seep through the layers of cheese, thanks to a not-so-secret ingredient: a can of Rotel.

“I am a native Texan, and I lived in New York and San Francisco for a few years,” Smith says. “At the time, you couldn’t find Rotel in either of those cities. I would get care packages with shipments of Rotel because it was the only way to make a proper queso. I truly believe that you just can’t make a proper queso without Rotel.”

The original Rotel was and still is a simple mix of diced tomatoes and chopped fire-roasted green chile peppers, plus minimal amounts of cilantro, citric acid, salt, and the ever-ubiquitous “natural flavors.” The marriage of chiles and peppers is stirred at the canning site into tomatoes simmering in a bit of water, and it packs heat — the branding is quick to label the taste “zesty,” with a “distinctly regional flavor.” For Sade Onadiji, Rotel was one of the essential ingredients her mother adopted when she moved to Texas from Grenada. “I only use it for nachos and queso,” Onadiji says. “It’s part of my mom’s queso recipe, which I’m sure she had to pick up in Texas, because she’s an immigrant from a country where queso isn’t a thing.”

The story of Rotel, which is now available in different spice levels and chile types, dates back to 1943. It originated in Elsa, Texas from a vegetable canner named Carl Roettele. Evolving from chile con queso in 19th century Mexico, recipes for cheese dip with various veggies in the early 1900s called for an exhausting process of roasting, peeling, and chopping chiles, then sautéing them with tomato and onions and mixing them with grated cheese. By the 1920s, this type of chile con queso was a common menu item in Texas restaurants and home kitchens. However, according to food writer Robert F. Moss, the cooking process of pepper roasting and cheese grating was exhausting, leading Texans to wonder if there was a simpler alternative.

A Mexican horticulturist named Fabian Garcia is considered the father of the Mexican food industry in the United States, according to Paul Bosland, director of New Mexico State University’s Chile Pepper Institute. In the early 20th century, Garcia invoked hybridization to create the “New Mexico No. 9,” a pepper that was a bit milder in heat, and was sized to allow for more cost-effective processing. This chile became the prototype for more commercial chile processors of both canned green chiles and dried red chiles. Merchandisers were able to scale up their production, which expanded the chile pepper’s reach and popularity across the south, including Texas.

Recognizing the penchant for tomatoes and chiles in Texas, as well as the frustration with preparing them, Roettele came up with a grand idea. “He saw how popular the combination of tomatoes and chiles were together, so one day, he just had this idea: Why not can those together?” says Rotel brand communications manager Dan Skinner. Skinner says while there are new flavors and versions of Rotel — like chipotle and chili fixin’s — the original recipe stands as a foundation. “Rotel,” a phonetic spelling of the inventor’s last name, took off.

Throughout the rest of the ’40s, Rotel became popular in the major Texas cities like Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, finding a place in dishes like guacamole, stews, nachos, crockpot dishes, mac and cheese, and of course, queso. Numerous iterations of queso already existed throughout the south before the inception of Rotel — even inciting some friendly border wars between states — but Rotel quickly became an essential ingredient, and queso’s popularity as an essential dip for football games, family events, and other gatherings became omnipresent. Rotel began marketing itself as a queso ingredient in 1949 through a recipe for chile con queso that simply required adding the canned good to melted cheese and serving it with chips.

Similar to many other canned good companies of that time, like Van Camp’s, Dinty Dinty Moore Beef Stew, and Campbell Soup Company, after gaining hometown popularity, Rotel slowly began to spread to nearby states like Oklahoma and Arkansas in the ’40s and ’50s, inspiring a cult following of sorts in the South. Not having to dice peppers was appealing, and an inexpensive canned good that could add so much seasoning to household staples was appreciated. Between 1948 and 1958, the number of supermarkets in the United States doubled to more than 2,500 stores; though fresh ingredients were valued at the time, housewives gained a renewed appreciation for consumerism and convenience after World War II, sparking a devotion to canned goods that reached homes and neighborhood cooking competitions throughout the country, including the White House.

“In 1963, when Lady Bird Johnson was second lady, she gave Rotel its first big PR win when she listed some of her favorite Texas recipes,” Skinner says. “She had a chili recipe that she shared, and Ro-Tel was the secret ingredient.” Lady Bird’s Pedernales River Chili was served at the family ranch and the White House. Though many versions of that recipe simply called for canned tomatoes, purists have remained committed to the version that Lady Bird touted publicly, which includes the beloved ingredient in exchange for the listed whole tomatoes.

In 2005, Rotel and Velveeta, that other essential queso ingredient, became partners, allowing Rotel to reach the Northeast and Midwest. Over the last 10 years, Rotel has become nationally available at 95 percent of retail locations; it’s now available at about 82 percent of stores in the Northeast. In 2002, ConAgra Foods acquired the Rotel brand, and now, its reach is far beyond the Texas cities that first popularized the pantry item. According to financial news site 24/7 Wall St., “Original” Rotel was the fifth most sold canned canned good in the United States in 2018, with $69.1 million worth of cans sold. The “Mild” variety placed 24th, with an additional $36.4 million in sales in 2018.

According to Skinner, the flexibility of Rotel is what’s made the item so popular both in Texas and around the nation. “You can take a basic recipe you’ve done a million different ways, but then you add Rotel, and suddenly it becomes spicy mac and cheese,” he says. “I think that versatility appeals to chefs and home cooks.”

For Savannah Bock, who has roots in Georgia and South Carolina, Rotel was an essential ingredient at her home, even if she didn’t know it growing up. “My mom put it in so much: ropa vieja, stewed okra, and black beans whenever we’d have taco night,” Bock says. “I found out Rotel was that secret ingredient when I went to college and tasted it in this Velveeta queso mix — I realized that my mom had been using Rotel all along.”

But not everyone is fully committed to the can. Mexico native and Houston chef Felipe Riccio prefers making his queso — tomatoes and chiles included — from scratch. Still, he recognizes the value of pre-canned tomatoes for home cooks and chefs alike.

“Rotel is a comfort food,” he says. “I don’t think it’s a bad product, I just prefer to tweak it or use it as a base.”

In a world burdened with the ongoing effects of a global pandemic, comfort food is exactly what many home cooks are looking for. “It just has a really nice flavor that’s unique, and slightly spicy,” says Bock. “It’s really something that you have to bring to your dishes.”

For home cooks and chefs throughout the south, Rotel will likely make an experience on the football snacks table, in warm stews, and in old family recipes. Packing the harmonious blend of tomatoes and spice, Rotel — demonstrative of a beautiful marriage between convenience and flavor — will be a fall pantry essential for years to come.

Kayla Stewart is a freelance food and travel writer based in Harlem with roots in Houston, Texas.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/3esnZnb https://ift.tt/3kSHtnz

Sheila Fitzgerald/Shutterstock

How a canned blend of tomatoes, chiles, and spices became at million-dollar business

“Rotel is a comfort food,” he says. “I don’t think it’s a bad product, I just prefer to tweak it or use it as a base.”

Kayla Stewart is a freelance food and travel writer based in Harlem with roots in Houston, Texas.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/3esnZnb via Blogger https://ift.tt/389WHAW

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